#They're just making a lot of assumptions right now and thinking they can deal with stuff on their own

[astro-b-o-y-d]

"Why don't they just TALK TO EACH OTHER" I was saying this last week about the Stans, and yet here I am: saying it once again about my own writing.

[leonawriter]

Excuse me while I basically make Azure Throne into a hakukai fanfic.

This got... really long, and veered off from what I intended for it several times, but is basically at heart as I said, a look at Azure Throne through the lens of "what if we work on the assumption that Hakuba knew it was Kaito from the start, and/or they're actually outright flirting."

Hakuba: Kuroba what are you doing here. Why aren't you even in a disguise- oh, I see. This is interesting.

Kaito: Oh god it's Hakuba he's going to see through me like I'm made of cellophane or something. Please don't call me out here. I am pretending not to know you. Shush. PLAY ALONG.

Kaito: Come on please let one of my detectives have SOME faith in me. Restore my faith in humanity. Take the fucking bait, Hakuba.

Hakuba: Oh, that's. That's... I see what's going on here. That does complicate matters. All right, fine. I'll play along. Because I want to find the truth more than I want you arrested.

Hakuba: [Merely pays more attention to the actual suspects]

Kaito: [internally shouting "THANK YOU."]

Hakuba: We need to know exactly where everyone is, what they were doing, and if you'll excuse me I am going to geek out over science now-

Kaito: Okay well watch me explain in detail how Kaitou Kid (who is Not Me, by the way, in case you needed to be reminded) got in here. And let's conveniently not bring up how no one knows how Shinichi got here and Kid left.

Hakuba: Oh, and I anticipated your entire trick.

Hakuba: Because I know exactly how you work and I also know exactly what your clothes are made of.

Kaito: Wow... you're creepy, you know that? This is why I try and send you off on a wild dove chase each time you're heading to one of my heists.

Hakuba: Isn't it funny how I planned to catch Kaitou Kid that way, and instead I caught you two. I'm sure there's absolutely no connection between either of you and Kid... is there? Kaito?

Kaito: Oh but you know you can't say anything until this case is closed. I know you can't.

Hakuba: This means you too, Kaito. I'll be needing your firsthand knowledge of the way things went, of course.

Hakuba: It'll be good to have another actual detective on board for this!

Honestly I can just leave this one be. Kaito is enough of a tsundere that "But, to think Hakuba came back... he should have just stayed and studied in London forever!" is accurate to what I think he'd be thinking right there.

It also matches with the several times (Dark Knight and Green Dragon especially) when he's personally redirected Hakuba away from the heist.

Plus, with his attachment issues (one parent he idolised is dead, the other is barely home), I think Kaito would have a very hard time dealing with Hakuba, who (like his mother) travels a lot, and is... barely there, really. :(

Hakuba: Now, I wonder if you can keep up as a detective when playing one?

Kaito: Oh yeah? Watch me! Uh... I just need a pointer. That's all.

The interesting thing here is that Kaito has played at being a detective in the past. He's even played at being Mouri Kogoro right next to Hakuba here, in the Twilight Mansion case. However... in that case he wasn't needing to play a smart detective, and in any other instance he wasn't technically a "detective" (Magic Lovers Murder Case, where Katsuki Doito is a medical student) or he knows that Conan is capable of solving the mystery if he gives the right hints (Four Masterpieces, when he's being Takagi).

There's also the time when he played Hakuba himself in the movie Private Eye's Requiem, and we don't know how many times he'd have done that, that we haven't seen.

Point is, though, Hakuba doesn't know how good Kaito's observational skills are as a detective and it feels kind of like... if he knows (and I'm sure he has a gut feeling from the start even if he doesn't have evidence) he wants to know- "I can keep up with you, on your territory, but can you keep up with me, on mine?"

With that in mind, the fact that Kaito's only relaying what Shinichi's telling him must be... frustrating, for someone who'd actually be curious what Kaito can do, and I'm sure Hakuba would want to push Kaito to be able to figure things out for himself as well.

But I digress. Moving on.

Hakuba: [Has just seen "Kudo" flirting and being sentimental with Ran, "his" girlfriend, in a way that Shinichi himself says is so spot-on its kinda pissing him off] Oi. Kaito. I thought you were interested in Aoko. Watch it. [Also kinda jealous himself.]

I freakin' LOVE these two panels. This entire sense of "Yeah Hakuba's got Kaito sussed and he's already got half of what's going on with Conan, and yeah the next thing he does is question "Are you really Kudo Shinichi?" it's because of a potential flawed deduction when Shinichi's supposed to be this perfect saviour of the Japanese Police Force.

And in posing the question in such a way, he's allowing Kaito - master of disguise! - to come up with a cover story. Which, of course, he does.

But overall? It's the sense of... actually, just as I said. Hakuba's going "Shh. I'm talking to [him]! Don't interrupt us, okay?" - He's going "I know you're helping him, but I want to know his capabilities. Not yours."

Kaito just calling his ass out like "Hakuba I know you're obsessed with me- I mean Kid- c'mon I know you better than that~"

Also the phrase "Rumoured to have his eyes light up at the mere mention of Kid" more like. Kaito you have seen that in person.

More like I look at it and I'm like, is this Kaito saying "I Know What You Are"?

I know that it's not just them, but it's this nice little touch of the two of them standing next to each other, while Conan is on the other side of the group, and they're both mirroring the other's posture.

Kaito's already thought to himself how he barely needs to change his voice, and it's easy to imagine him barely changing his behaviours but adjusting so that he's more serious and less playing the clown or showman.

In this case, he's fully paying attention to the case (just as he has in previous ones as a witness) and...

He and Hakuba are on the exact same wavelength, with Hakuba finishing Kaito's sentence here.

Again with the twinning. Kaito has a slightly more clueless look about him, I'd say, but that's because he is out of his depth. Other than that? He's just as much taking Hakuba's lead on the case as he is Shinichi's!

The sheer amount of "Kuroba, your alibi is slipping!"

Hakuba's not going to outright cover for something that might be noticed as a flaw later on, nor is he outright going to call Kaito's disguise out immediately when other things are going on. He is, however, going to tease him to hell and back, push buttons, you name it.

And, of course, Hakuba in hearing Kaito's alibi and seeing Conan back it up, will also know that Conan is on Kid's side here even more than before.

Small and simple observation: Kaito is behind Hakuba.

At this point Hakuba in canon and the Hakuba who knew from the moment he laid eyes on him both know that this is Kaito. It's Kaitou Kid.

The start of the case had the crime get pinned on Kid.

Yet - Hakuba's just fine with Kaito watching his back and/or fully capable of doing whatever he likes behind him, knowing full well that Kaito's a skilled magician who'd be able to hide his actions. The obvious point is that he trusts Kaito.

And then - we get to the Flirtening.

I call it that because in canon it's bad enough, with Hakuba clearly only started making moves on Ran to make Kid slip up.

But in a world where he knows it's Kaito from the start? In Hakukai Fanfic Land?

First off- I'd say that this is actually payback.

Earlier on in the case, Hakuba saw Kaito (as Shinichi) flirting with Ran. Thinking back to the very first set of cases Hakuba ever appeared in, and... he'd walked into class for the first time and seen Kaito being mean to a girl, to Aoko, who was clearly hurting, and then tried to be nice to her by saying, basically, "If he won't take you to the concert you wanted to go to, I'll go with you."

Going on him knowing that this here is Kaito? He'd be seeing Kaito flirting with someone who isn't Aoko, and getting very in character, and... basically going "watch it."

So Saguru is a) defensive for Aoko, b) jealous because oi, why are you flirting with her, when he is right here, and c) using this as a means of poking a hole in Kaito's disguise, because sure he's more interested in the truth than he is in arresting Kaito, but that doesn't mean he's above making life hard for him.

In which case...

Kaito going "What did you say, jerk!!" is just as much "oh shit yeah I'm supposed to be being Shinichi right now" as it is "Hakuba why are you flirting with someone else?"

The reaction would be delayed because a) Kaito knows Hakuba's not interested in Ran, or not interested in girls in general, and b) the sheer amount of "what the fuck is happening. what is going on in front of me here" he'd be feeling.

Because for one thing, Conan's down there making attack dog noises, and for another- d'you think Kaito would just reflexively fall back into poker face if he saw the guy he likes/who he knows is interested in him just easily flirting around? I think that ordinarily Kaito would just be like "eh, that's just Hakuba being Hakuba" but I'm also aware of how fragile Kaito's social connections and relationships often are, as well as the rift between logic and emotion.

After this we have a few different things happening at once.

We have Kaito not having asked which cheek Ran had kissed Shinichi on and gesturing to the wrong one, which Ran instantly notices:

Note that the flashback isn't just for our benefit; we see later on that Ran realises probably in this moment that there's something Wrong with "Shinichi" because how could he forget which cheek she kissed him on?

This being relevant because right before that...

He'd told Ran to not "space out" - but with the weirdness going on between him, Hakuba, and Conan, I wonder if it was actually Kaito who knew he was kind of spacing out here! Like, sure, Shinichi's sending Kaito lines, but in terms of narrative and themes...

And in canon, this is where Hakuba first notices the mike and earpiece that Kaito and Conan are using to communicate. Even in a version where he knew it was Kaito from the start, this would still be where Hakuba realises "Hey, what's UP with that kid?"

Hakuba, in canon: Could it be... that those two...

My headcanon for that is that he was meaning to say "are working together," which is the easiest and most obvious/simple conclusion of his sentence.

Hakuba, in fanfic hc land: Hey, why are they working together? I know I didn't warn him I'd be here, but he could have been working with me. That kid already stole some of my reputation regarding going against you, and now this too?!

Honestly, sometimes I remember the times when Kaito has shown himself able to figure out a trick or even a murder trick more or less on his own or at the same pace as Shinichi, and I see times like this when he's shown as needing a lot more help, and I feel frustrated that Kaito's seeming to be dumbed down a little to make Shinichi look better.

But then, I think about how there's multiple times over the course of not just Detective Conan but also Magic Kaito itself, where Kaito is uncomfortable around murders and dead bodies.

Which then starts to make sense of the times when he relies more on his detectives' wits for things like this; if it's a logic puzzle trick that he can treat as one, then he can keep up. If there's blood and bodies and Someone Died Here, which they did - someone died before his heist could even begin! - then his mind has a hard time, skittering around the unnerving parts and not being able to give the trick the attention it needs.

I'd imagine his thought process goes kind of like "Okay okay so if I could think of anything that'd be really useful (but a guy died a minute ago I was out there and doing normal things and a guy died) yeah but if you don't think smart now it's going to happen again or they won't get caught (oh god what if I can't do it) I have to but-" and... so on.

And back to point, but - Hakuba hasn't really seen Kaito in the direct aftermath of him having seen someone die, when Kaito isn't pretending to be someone else.

Technically, he still hasn't here, because Kaito is Being Shinichi.

Dark Knight had Hakuba arrive on scene late, as Kid was already leaving the scene, and in Twilight Mansion Kid was Mouri Kogoro, so even if his reactions were touched with reality, no one could tell what was Kid and what was Kogoro. Here, Hakuba wasn't the first on scene, and he only sees Kaito once Kaito's had a chance to put his poker face (and a Mask of Shinichi) on.

I'd even say that... this being Detective Conan, we've had a chance to see an entire character development arc between Shinichi and Kaito, even if it is still one-sided and not the healthiest of dynamics. We know that Shinichi's not really going to hand Kaito to the police on a silver platter.

But Hakuba? The irony is that in MK canon Hakuba is KNOWN for calling Kaito with helpful knowledge about his opponent (Golden Eye, infamously) and withholding information that would put suspicion onto Kaito's civilian identity (Midnight Crow, at least). And yet in this heist, because we're a) seeing things from Conan and Kaito's perspective here, and b) we haven't seen what Hakuba would do in this sort of situation before, he seems... more of a threat if he outright found them out than if it were just the police (who they can trick) or Hattori (who Shinichi would be able to shush).

Personally, I believe that Hakuba WOULD have worked with Kaito to come to all of the same conclusions that they came to in canon with Shinichi as the POV. Hakuba's a good enough detective, after all, as we even see him doing this in canon, drawing the same conclusions without Shinichi having to whisper in his ear once.

Is Kaito side-eyeing Hakuba because he knows Hakuba's being a little shit over this but he can't say anything because he can't admit that he knows the guy personally as well as he does? Is Conan flailing because he feels like they've been sussed out?

Or is it more along the lines of "Oh, you think you're so smart, don't you? Soooo clever. Yeah sure, after you've been hounding me all case- but don't think I'll let you have the last laugh"?

And now, I'm thinking of Shinichi hearing some of the familiarity come out in their voices around now, if not before, and he's finally realising "Oh- okay so Kid knows this guy. Not just aware of him, he knows him. Oh. Oh shit."

Fun fact: we do not see Conan again alll the way through the explanation of the fireman's carry that Hakuba is doing with Kaito as his partner. The next time we see Conan, it's after they've pinned the criminal in place.

I find this interesting because... in spite of this being a case that Hakuba is starring in - the guy who is well known for asking "Why did you do it?" - it's the victim's wife who asks that, by way of her "But why did you kill my husband!?" and it's Conan who suggests a potential reason.

In a sense, they've both stolen Hakuba's thunder here, the wife by taking his catchphrase and Conan for taking the words out of the criminals mouth before the guy can admit it himself, in his own words.

(Ironically, Kaito would agree with Conan on this, probably, what with him having said "isn't it your job to figure [motive] out?" but as I've said before, I see worth in Hakuba asking for it in the criminals' own words.)

I feel like both I and other people have probably made all the jokes about the "I've got the stamina to keep carrying you for ages" part that I don't need to rehash it that much, haha.

But I DO have other observations.

Kaito: So, you figured it out, huh... Hakuba: Of course!

Like... even way aside from the fact that Hakuba's probably just internally going "you're SO lucky I like you, otherwise I'd have just pointed out that you just flattened your hair the moment I walked in" there's something this reminded me of.

In the translation here, Kaito trails off on an ellipsis, but... in a way, that's a question. It's literally "So, you figured me out?" except Kaito may well have been expecting it even in canon, so it's no longer a question.

What's the significance of this?

Well.

It brings to mind how Toichi asked "Will you be able to stop me?" and Yusaku said "[Yeah...] of course!"

And of course we know that whatever Yusaku was able to do, it was never enough to stop the legend of Kaitou Kid from growing - and we also now know that he almost certainly knew that it was his brother Toichi right from the start.

In many ways it's meant to show how Kaito and Shinichi have taken up their fathers' mantles and become each other's rival... but this moment of "You found me out?" "Yeah, of course!" shows that Hakuba is just as much Kaitou Kid's worthy rival. He is thematically and narratively Kid's rival.

(And this is where I get my post limit for images, whoops!)

So, yeah. Kaito then has a space of about three [3] panels between Hakuba saying "I know you're Kid" and then Hakuba trying to walk and finding his legs are cuffed together.

I'd also say that in terms of pranks that Kaito (as Kid) has played in order to get out of a Situation, that was... a lot more on the immature roughhousing side than a lot of what he does. So much of his DC appearances relies on... action movie stunts? Stuff that's actually really risky? Because he needs to rely on that. But with Hakuba he doesn't have to. It reads more like play fighting.

(Because Hakuba, he knows, isn't going to attack him with a deadly soccer ball or knock him out midair.)

A thought on why he cuffed Hakuba's legs together like he did even if they're on better terms would also be the easy "Kaito knows that Nakamori is there, knows that Hakuba wouldn't be allowed to carry him all the way to the station, knows that something would go wrong, and almost certainly by this point knows that he shouldn't go out in public as Shinichi. So he's just as much going "yeah nope, not doing that, bad idea on SO many levels" as he is "I don't fancy going to jail today."

And, for an ending note: Hakuba at no point seems frustrated or upset that Kaito got away. Not for one single moment.

If anything, I'd say he's just going "Ah, there he goes again. Look at him go." with a fond look in his eye.

[leog4u]

Game Design and Porn Pt. 1

or, How To Fuck Up The Best Intrinsic Reward Ever

Hi, I'm Leo G, veteran pervert. One time while chatting in a server exclusively made of porn artists, I brought up the game design of a porn game I enjoyed. One of them laughed, saying "Who cares, it's just a porn game?" Being unwell, I never let this go. Since then, I have played many adult games and took each one as serious products made by professionals. Fast forward to today, and the demo for my porn game, Joker's Trip, is nearing completion. I also have some sci-fi erotica you should check out.

So you wanna make a porn game. You heard they make money, and hey what’s more fun than making a video game AND porn? But you don’t know where to begin! Well don’t worry, Leo’s got you covered. We’re gonna walk through the line of thinking you should have when designing your porn game. There's gonna be at least three parts to this, with part 1 focusing on how to reward your player.

Define "porn game" for me, Leo.

There are porn games, and then games with porn in them. A porn game is a game where you won’t last 5 minutes, where everything exists solely to meet and, subsequently, fuck. A game with porn in it is a game where everything exists for the purpose of the game, and also, you fuck. Fate Stay Night, for example, is a VN with a story that just so happens to have some CGs where the protagonist rails Saber, but is mainly about Shirou and the Holy Grail War. Much like how I would call Castlevania a game with horror in it, but not a horror game.

Porn games are a lot like horror games. They both get a bad rap for being cheap to make, appealing to base instincts, and generally being low quality. They're also both not actual genres of games, but genres of content. Think about it, if I asked you what a horror game is, you'd say a game that's scary. But what's the actual game part? The unfortunate answer would most likely be "walking sim," but there are a lot of examples that are FPSes, puzzles, driving sims, platformers, deck builders, the list goes on.

The most common genres of game I see for porn games these days are by far RPG Maker RPGs and VNs. I won’t be talking about VNs because they’re closer to writing than game design, which isn’t a flaw but a feature. What used to be everywhere, in days of old, were breakout games, where the more bricks and levels were cleared, the more of the sexy image would be revealed in the background. Other arcadey type deals like shoot ‘em ups and mahjong were also around, and had a similar “strip ‘em down until you have sex” gameplay loop.

Okay, so what’s an intrinsic reward?

There’s intrinsic rewards, and there're extrinsic rewards. Extrinsic rewards, generally, are the number go up rewards. Things that make your character stronger, or give you more resources to buy new gear or whatever. Intrinsic rewards in games can cover a large swathe of things. It can be the feeling of satisfaction of completing a puzzle, a piece of lore or world building, or a new dialogue option with a character you want to fuck.

I like fucking characters, are we talking about porn now?

Yes! I’m of the opinion that you literally can’t make a better intrinsic reward than pornography. On top of setting the tone for the entirety of the game., at its best it can add to a story, add to someone’s character development, or be a beautiful piece of art to look at. AND you can jack off to it! Unfortunately, that’s at its best. Let’s talk about how porn is delivered in a theoretical RPG porn game. (As a head’s up, there will be talk of “bad end” scenes, but this is under the assumption that the player is the one consenting.)

So you’re playing an RPG and get into a fight. Maybe you were underleveled or too cumbrained to remember to buy healing potions. Then your HP goes to zero, and instead of going back to the title screen, you’re getting fucked by orcs. That’s right, let’s talk about Game Over CGs.

You get to watch porn when you lose?

To someone making a porn game with a battle system, this delivery method makes sense. The characters in this world are driven primarily by lust, this is just the obvious conclusion. And it doesn’t even have to be non-consensual! Games like Future Fragments show that it can be presented as a sexy inconvenience rather than anything uncomfortable for the player or our hero. Game Over CGs even have the benefit of softening the blow of defeat, by giving the player a chance to reflect on their defeat and jerk off. Even better if losing a fight isn’t lost progress, but rather a bump in the road. However, there’s a problem here. The player is a dog, and we’re rewarding bad behavior.

The porn is an intrinsic reward, so why are we giving it to the player for losing? Incentivizing losing on purpose isn’t just bad game design, but a waste of time. And to that end, a lot of porn games try to give solutions to this. One being a kill button on the keyboard or a skill that instantly KOs our hero to get to the lose screen faster. What might seem like a convenience is really just expediting failure.

What it says is that the gameplay doesn’t actually matter. You’re just here for the porn, right? In that case there’s plenty of places I can go to see a chick with huge knockers get railed by an orc, with the added bonus of not having to play forgettable and mid turn based combat!

Another solution I’ve seen is the game outright telling you, “hey don’t bother killing yourself to see the porn. Once you beat the game all of the scenes you missed will be unlocked!” At first this seems like a reasonable way to go about it, but it comes with another problem: your game better be fucking good to make me play through the entire thing before getting to see cock. Like I said earlier, porn at its best can reveal things about the world and drive character development. I uh. Just beat the game. I don’t care anymore. Showing me a scene that’s taken out of context by a factor of 5 hours or more isn’t what I’d call great game design or story telling. It’s also too little, too late.

What if we made the porn actual rewards?

Now we’re getting somewhere! Let’s make the reward…a reward! What if, every time the player beats a level, we get some porn? If we tie the CG to beating the boss, we’ll be tying the reward to game progression. That’s good right? So now, on top of the extrinsic rewards you’d normally get for beating a boss (a lot of EXP, better gear, opened areas) we also get that sweet dopamine rush of pornography! So we’re good, right?

There’s 1142 words left in this post, so I’m assuming no.

Well. It’s a start. It has the problem of predictability. If not handled properly, it comes off as lazy. As a game designer, one of your goals is to not constantly remind your player that they’re playing a video game. Get through the level, get porn. It feels a little too “mouse in a maze looking for cheese” for my taste. And much like the game over method, if the actual game itself is mid, the player will start to question if the reward is worth it, and might be afflicted with the worst condition a player could receive: boredom.

Of course there are exceptions. In puzzle or arcade type games where you don’t get extrinsic rewards, giving the player porn as another form of reward per level or whatever is perfectly reasonable (though it does have the issue of being predictable.) This is a perfectly good way of doing it if your game is short, or if the game is, y’know, good and fun to play. Bad Color’s game, Heroine Conquest, is a level based puzzle game with porn as the reward, but only when you do good. Combining the actual challenge of mastering the game, with a genuinely unique game loop makes for a feeling of accomplishment when beating a level. Pair that up with a sex cutscene, and the dopamine rush will hit.

So! Let’s combine giving the player a power trip, with a less rigid structure for giving the player porn. Instead of tying the porn to purely progression gates, let’s tie it to the progression.

Plot milestones

In Third Crisis, sex scenes are peppered throughout the regular game’s plot, starting with some lesbian bondage before introducing the protagonist, who goes through a tutorial before having their own horny encounters. It’s not just given when you win or lose, but is a natural part of the game. Beating bosses, losing to enemies, and exploring dialogue options in sidequests all lead to unlocking new CGs.

Now what’s nice about that, is that the sex isn’t placed somewhere extremely predictable. It isn’t just a reward for beating The Boss Of Forest Zone, Now Go To Ice Zone And Beat The Ice Boss For More Cock. Because that’s the biggest issue of predictable rewards, you know you’re not getting anything until that checkpoint, which will make the player weigh whether or not it’s even worth continuing. This is fine, again, for an arcade type game, not an RPG or adventure game. By sprinkling sex throughout the plot itself, the player will not only want to progress, but their curiosity will have them wondering “what else is out there?”

Rewarding exploration

By putting sex scenes behind optional side quests or encounters, the dog that is the player will scour every single corner of the map, and leave no pixel unturned. Personally, that’s more exciting to me than what you’ll get in the main progression route. In Future Fragments the player can find their rival Faye in sexual situations if they explore the map enough. These are completely optional, and don’t give any direct rewards like more HP or an item, but they’re by far what motivates me to explore the maps as thoroughly as possible, more so than the plot macguffins the game is named after!

So now the player is excited. Sex can happen anywhere. Maybe that daunting off road path with stronger monsters isn’t just hiding a secret, but a sexy secret! They’ll be more likely to venture down those optional paths you painstakingly made.

If we’re using sex in game overs, boss fights, and just randos, why not put it everywhere?

So now I want to talk about the concept of a “sex stat”. It’s not a bad idea! Say, the higher the player’s sex stat is, the more opportunities you unlock for fucking. It could even be tied to the player character’s personality, and affect the story! Instead of using a sword and shield, they’ll end any conflict with sass and sex. They open their eyes to the horny world around them and stop being a hero, and instead become a succubus, and the ending is a massive cum filled orgy.

That sounds excessive

Yeah, it does, doesn’t it.

I’m not a fan of “corruption” systems in porn games. Corruption as a kink is totally fine, and having it be a part of the story lets you incorporate more sexuality into the plot. But as I alluded to, it snowballs pretty fast (and I’m not talking about spitting in someone’s mouth). It ends up being like a cheat code, where you’re bypassing parts of the game for no cost. It stops being a reward, it stops being unexpected, and it stops it from being sexy.

Wait, what? Stops being sexy? What’s not sexy about a succubus orgy?

Alright, listen, we gotta rein it in for a minute. This isn’t so much about game design as it is about writing erotica, but if you have a world where everyone’s fucking and sucking 24/7, there’s no contrast to make what would normally be a hot taboo a hot taboo. If everybody’s naked, nobody’s naked. The aforementioned snowball effect of a corruption system can be seen if you play literally any game that has one. It won’t take long to not have to engage with any combat or adventuring system if you can just press the “Submit to the big dick warlock” button and watch porn to progress.

Which, now that I said that, is exactly the problem. Imagine any other rpg you’ve ever played. Now imagine if every encounter and dialogue option had an option to just watch a short cutscene to skip the encounter. That would suck ass, right? Literally no difference here.

It would. Hey, I’m sort of lost now.

Don’t worry, we’re wrapping this up.

So what did we learn? We learned game over CGs have a critical design flaw that shouldn’t be relied on. We learned that predictable rewards can lead to boredom. We learned to keep sex as a reward and not devalue it.

To summarize, here’s a neat trick to know where to put your porn scenes.

”Would I put an Xbox Live achievement here?”

It’s that easy. “Lose to Goblins for the first time,” that’s an achievement. “Beat orc commander,” that’s an achievement. “Find Hubert the Magical Dickhead,” that’s an achievement. Using that as a guideline is foolproof. Almost.

This sounds like it’d take a lot of resources

It sure does! But don’t worry. I’ll cover that in the next post talking all about how to deal with the resource management of a porn game.

(Shoutout to Taylor, my guy for editing!)

[sarcastic-sketches]

Suddenly bowled over by the image of Anakin with a baby Ahsoka strapped to his front during the middle of work. Ok I guess??

Ahsoka getting cursed into a toddler during the Clone Wars and Anakin is now suddenly responsible for a literal baby. He is now acutely aware of the fact that the 501st are in an active engagement and his protective instincts are dialed right up to max. They have to be pulled back from the front, a young padawan was pushing it as it was but this is a Babby.

He's having to think about what baby togruta eat. Ahsoka can't feed herself or defend herself or anything except wiggle around like a striped potato. Her montrols are non existant, just little nubs, and its almost bringing this Jedi Knight to tears with how cute she is. He knows she's a carnivore but surely they don't eat meat that early?? Do they need anything else to develop correctly?? Is he going to accidentally harm her somehow through neglect?!

Anakin: Master Ti, what do baby togruta eat??

Shaak: Pardon?

Anakin: Help.

She gets the explanation from Anakin in pieces and a better explanation from Kix. She can tell him how to look after her until they can reach Coruscant, milk if they have any on board will do fine in the interim and Ahsoka will like being bundled up. The pressure of being cocooned is soothing (thinking of Momma Tano strapping babby Ahsoka to her front but now it's Anakin making sure she goes with him everywhere) and will prevent her from becoming too agitated.

She keeps chewing on his leather glove when he holds her but he doesn't mind, and just lets her gnaw on his knuckles like a chew toy. Its not his flesh hand anyway so it's fine. He can’t effectively secure her to him on his own so he has to get Rex to help him do it properly with Shaak still on speeddial for instructions.

She can’t help but notice how oddly domestic the scene looks as Rex carefully wraps Ahsoka in her papoose cocoon to Anakin's chest. They're both cooing at her. Shaak cannot wait for a Council meeting to be called about this.

The clones are caught between being distraught at what's happened to their Commander, as well as thinking she's the cutest thing they've ever seen. Since Anakin is now focusing harder on keeping Ahsoka safe since she can't protect herself anymore, Rex has taken it upon himself to stick at their side even more than usual. Just a very protective satellite orbiting around both Jedi in case they need anything.

No, the other men are not jealous that Anakin automatically hands Ahsoka off to his Captain if he needs to be free if her for a minute or two.

Back on Coruscant he knows she's better off being handled by the creche but ... that's his Padawan, just small. Everyone on the Council had hoped he'd deal with a Padawan just fine but were admittedly a little surprised by just how well he took to it. Seeing him immediately throw himself into taking care of baby Ahsoka, and all her species specific needs, has a lot of them second guessing their assumptions of him.

It's Obi-Wan who eventually asks where his almost instinctual knowledge comes from. The answer is that Shmi Skywalker was the go to mum for any new mothers on Tatooine and there were quite a few in the slave quarters during Anakin’s time there. He learned by just being there to help out.

Obi-Wan: if you want to continue to care for Ahsoka, you could do so by just working in the Creche and helping there with the rest of the infants

Anakin: !!

[veliseraptor]

For the AU ask game: Jiang Cheng from immediately post Guanyin Temple (not yet having had a chance for any processing after All That) somehow time travels to Gusu summer camp days.

ooooh a classic concept and a fun one. love to see jiang cheng wrestling with All That and also having to deal with a time loop now to boot, that's what he needed in his life

so I don't think his first thought in this situation is "how do I fix things," I think it is more likely to be "why am I being punished" because that's what it feels like having to do this again, and I don't think his assumption is necessarily immediately that he can change anything so much as just that it'll be the same thing all over again

but! he wouldn't be jiang cheng if he didn't try, so while he's still reeling from all the revelations in the last 24 hours he's going to see what he can do because surely this is early enough that he can make some kind of a difference.

but also he just wants to go home and see his mom and dad because they're alive again right now, I think that's one of the things that hits hardest, actually, that lotus pier is still intact at this point in time, has never fallen at all, and his parents are alive, jiang yanli is alive, everyone is alive.

dealing with wei wuxian is really hard, I think, because he is having all these really big wei wuxian feelings about everything that's happened since but those things haven't happened yet and wei wuxian is, of course, just acting like his normal teenage self and that feels so wrong to jiang cheng, how can he be so carefree and at ease, but of course he can because nothing's gone wrong yet, and jiang cheng is angry because of things that haven't even happened, miserable because of things that haven't even happened

(wei wuxian, meanwhile, like "what the fuck is wrong with my shidi", probably somewhat distracted from his burgeoning lan wangji obsession by this rather disconcerting and concerning situation, because jiang cheng is not necessarily the best at keeping a lid on his feelings even though he is trying)

the other thing is that I think jiang cheng in his emotions firestorm doesn't know how to keep everything from going wrong all over again, because the trigger point is, of course, the war, and how is he, a teenager (as far as everyone else is concerned), supposed to keep that from happening?

I don't know that if I wrote this I would have jiang cheng be "successful" at preventing things from going the same way, because one of the core things that I love about the past storyline and everything that goes wrong there is the fact that a lot of it is very difficult to resolve via one person's actions.

I think I would want this to be more about jiang cheng figuring out how to forgive himself (and wei wuxian) for being teenagers trapped in a situation bigger than themselves and not seeing another way out. and coming to a kind of peace with that.

[misc-obeyme]

Lesson 37 spoilers below - it's screenshot heavy again because OH BOY we had a lot going on this time too. I took almost 100 screenshots lol. But don't worry, I narrowed it down... uh but there are still a lot so I apologize for that.

I do believe I said in my last post that if they were going to go full Dante, they would bury Lucifer in ice.

I only said that because I WAS NOT EXPECTING THEM TO GO FULL DANTE.

Now listen, it's been a long time since I've read the Divine Comedy, so there may be a lot more references that I am missing. I can tell you that the four circles or sections or whatever that Simeon named for us are from Dante. That right there is straight from Dante's Inferno, along with their names and who they're supposed to punish. I don't really feel like any of this has much relevance except that they used it as a backdrop and to create reasons for us to lose most of the people who came to help us as we went.

And truly the lore was fascinating in general, but there are a couple of specific pieces about this that made me go EXCUSE YOU.

It's the Celestial Realm again, guys. Cocytus is part of their domain. And the last area is for those who betrayed "him" as they so eloquently put it lol. Both Mammon and Lucifer are considered traitors in this regard, but I kind of suspect that if the rest of the bros made it to that level, they would've had a similar experience.

Anyway, I was pissed. I was like Diavolo in the hard lesson.

Right, so let's talk Mephistopheles. I'm not familiar enough with the legend of Faust or its variations to know if the way they described his special power is based on that. However, I highly suspect it is at least somewhat inspired by it. Considering making a deal with the devil is what that story is all about.

But aside from all that - I LOVE HIM OH NO.

WHAT. This guy... all this time I thought he was really stuck up. And like I kinda get it, considering how he was supposed to be Diavolo's right hand man and everything. But he's straight up saying that he underestimated them. He seems to have no problem saying yeah, turns out I was wrong and you guys impressed me. So don't go around giving up now. AND he says they learned it from Lucifer? Like... he gets them. He understands them. And I was not expecting that at all. He keeps surprising me and I'm loving it.

Welcome to my life, Mephi.

It's pointless to resist.

I'm telling you, this is just how it always goes.

BUT OH! I'm not gonna lie, this made me feel something. All the brothers usually say such nice things to me, but this guy is basically like ARE YOU STUPID? And I love it?!?!? Augh I'm sorry I didn't give you a chance before, sir.

Okay, now let's talk Solomon being the hot old grandpa that he is. I SWEAR every time he shows up lately it's been making me more insane about him.

WE SUMMONED HIM. We needed him in Cocytus and he wasn't there, so we straight up SUMMONED HIM. We couldn't do it without Mammon giving us his power 'cause our magic is weak, but STILL!?!?

I think Simeon referred to it as teleporting, but really it was the same as summoning him. I think the words were even the summoning spell words.

If this was actually me we were talking about, I would start doing it ALL THE TIME. Consider yourself on call, old man.

And then we got this excellent exchange:

Not only am I always here for big bro Mammon getting protective, but Solomon bringing it right back was also great.

Okay, now let's talk about Raphael and Simeon.

Do you think we're dealing with Michael disguised as Raphael again? For some reason I don't think so, but... at this point, it's like how do you tell? I'm going to talk about it with the assumption that it's actually Raphael and not Michael.

Simeon during this part gave me chills. Because when Raphael showed up and spoke the punishment or whatever and Luke was about to protest, Simeon silenced him. Simeon wouldn't let Luke protest because he knew that wouldn't be good for our baby boy. Simeon was prepared to take the fall instead. And he wasn't about to just let things stand.

I can't accept it. I swear, Simeon's character is far more complex than anyone gives him credit for. He doesn't get anywhere near the amount of appreciation he deserves. I HAVE FEELINGS ABOUT IT.

Right, but back to Raphael.

Baby. He's crying. He was just delivering the ultimatum, the decision about the brothers' punishment, and he was crying. I was so surprised, it was so soft and sad and I wanted to hug him. And look at Simeon's frown. AND THEN

EVEN LUCIFER. This man is chained up in some ice and he still sees how Raphael is struggling and feels sorry for him. (Like maybe he's been there before himself...)

This is why I think it really is Raphael. Because this feels like such a significant revelation of his character, I think it'd be a disservice to him if we found out later it wasn't him at all. So I'm hoping it's still him.

Now. Let's talk about Diavolo. I'm pretty sure this was in the hard lesson, so be aware of that!

He is so pissed. I don't think I've ever seen Diavolo quite like this. Worried, sometimes serious, but angry? Like to the point where he thinks he might lose control? I don't think that's happened, has it?

AND BARB. His reaction is so interesting! At first he has this look of surprise, but then LOOK AT THAT SMILE. Here's Dia being like, I need you to stop me, but you can't tell me that smile on Barb's face belongs to anyone who's going to stop anyone. He looks like he's looking forward to it. I love him so much it's stupid. (Also I think Barbatos is just as much of a menace as Solomon is, he's just better at hiding it. Where do you think Sol gets it from??)

And of course the lesson ended with Lucifer BREAKING THROUGH HIS CHAINS. Ugh another cliffhanger.

In general, I really loved the brotherly affection that was running amok in this chapter. They were annoying each other and protecting each other and sacrificing for each other and it was all amazing. They banded together because they care so much about Lucifer, there's no way they would leave him to his fate.

And once again, the Celestial Realm is to blame. I think it makes sense that they're doing this. Before, they said that the seven brothers assuming positions of power in the Devildom meant that the power balance between the Devildom and the Celestial Realm was out of whack. That's why they wanted the brothers back. But the brothers wouldn't come back.

And while the Celestial Realm threatened war, they didn't do that, either.

Do you think perhaps the Celestial Realm collaborated with the House of Lords to get Lucifer trapped in Cocytus? The House of Lords controlled the train where everything went down. The Celestial Realm controls Cocytus. They probably knew that Lucifer's brothers would try to rescue him and counted on them getting trapped in the ice, too.

But perhaps they weren't expecting any interference from Mephisto or Simeon. They had to be expecting MC, I would think. Maybe they underestimated MC because they're human? And maybe they thought Diavolo would just accept it? (If so they are duuuuumb lol.)

Okay just a couple more screenshots because they made me laugh.

PLEASE. I love their dynamic SO MUCH.

Hmm. Is that a threat, Barb? 'Cause uh... you can casually threaten me with that slight smile any time I MEAN yeah, you tell 'em.

I cackled about what do you mean "ahaha" like I can't believe Levi actually said that out loud lol.

Cheer up, Belphie. Let Asmo live the otome dream, won't you?

Okay, okay, I'm done. Overall, I quite enjoyed this chapter, but I'm still sensing more drama, probably until the end of the season, honestly.

You think Nightbringer will make an appearance before it's over? It's almost like I forgot this whole new app was made to tell a story about him. He's just been mostly MIA. UNLESS someone else has been him in disguise all along...

Nope. No. I refuse to get into theorizing, this post is already too long.

[ask-the-rag-dolly]

Genuine question, how does one deal with someone being so insistent on their lack of (self-)worth? Not to vent too much, but I grew up with someone who was at least as bad, if not worse than Ragatha. I developed similar habits (this comic is a painful reminder of that) and my friends also tend to struggle with these feelings. But I never know how to deal with these issues, and it just leaves me feeling helpless.

I believe you‘re not a psychologist and it‘s fine if you don‘t want to answer this. But if you do have some advice or resources on this topic, I‘d love to know about it.

hi !

you're right , i am Not a psychologist ! my only credential is pretty much having it as my special interest of many years , so ... ! obligatory ' take this with a grain of salt ' disclaimer

i'm only answering this ask because i do like talking about these kinds of stuff ( in fact i'm in the middle of writing another psychology infographic with ragatha because of Course i am , ) and it's Relevant right now ... but for the most part i am literally just a stranger on the internet and thus i'll only be giving out general advice !! any specifics of the situation are stuff you'll need to figure out yourself

number one thing is that you should Always Take Care Of Yourself . it may be hard to admit , but these types of people can actually be Emotionally Draining - and i'm saying that as someone who had to deal with those people myself . and well you don't want to accidentally say things that make them feel worse

second thing is that a lot of it is ... really the other person's effort . all you can do is be supportive and gently encourage them . what took me so long to accept is that no amount of words or compliments will lift someone's self-esteem up - while it helps , it really has to come from Within , and that's something that'll take months or Years to build up . you can't force someone to start loving themself - and that's a hard pill to swallow

and the third thing is that ... well . there's a possibility that it could be a symptom of a mental disorder and thus you should encourage them to seek professional help . i am aware that the option is not available for everyone though , but i think recognizing that it might be a mental problem might take the burden off of you a little - as they're not really things a non-professional should handle .

as for resources , this article was extensive about this topic , including recognizing where the low self-esteem comes from , what Not to say to someone with low self-esteem , and tips that'll help the person ! very wonderful to read .

this article is for partners but i think it applies to people you're close with in general . what i like about it is how it Encourages open communication and listening . something you'll realize is that it's Different for everybody and it's good to learn more about the problem than jumping to a hasty solution or making assumptions . also it encourages them to talk more about their Feelings and talking about your feelings is what Very Cool And Hot People Do !

oh God sorry for the long post this should be enough to give me a diagnosis -

[cripplecharacters]

Hi! I know there are a lot of bad tropes about people with disabilities, and obviously I don't want to do them, but I was thinking that instead of avoiding them, it might be interesting to subvert/flip them instead.

For example, the "Super cool sci-fi prosthetic/aid that basically makes this character able bodied" except the character finds it a pain in the ass to use and just uses a normal wheelchair/prosthetic 99% of the time.

Or "Disabled people are monsters/inhuman" except the guy with, Idk, hypertrichosis named Wolf is just a normal dude and his petite, softspoken able-bodied girlfriend named Kitty is the one that turns into a werewolf on the full moon.

Or "The masking trope" but the person with a facial scar has to use a mask for safety reasons or they're at a masquerade ball and they get a custom mask that has their scar painted on it because they think their scar is cool looking.

Or "The disability reveal" except instead of being horrified or disgusted by the disabled person, everyone just sort of goes "Huh! Anyways, what were you saying earlier?"

Does this sort of thing sound like it could still be a problem? I love flipping/subverting tropes and I think it would be a great way to challenge people and make them think about their biases/assumptions regarding disabled people.

But I'm also worried that I would accidentally make something even worse. Do you guys have any advice?

Also, there are some that I don't want to flip or even deal with, like the "person fakes a disability". I honestly don't even know where to start with that mess and I can't think of a way to flip it that would make sense and not be some sort of incoherent nonsense lmao.

Hello lovely asker!

I think this sounds absolutely delightful (I especially like the one about the man with hypertrichosis and his werewolf girlfriend kitty.) This sounds like such a fun way to flip the tropes and the ones you picked and explained sound great.

And actually for the "person fakes disability" trope I think the show Special actually takes a sorta subverting take on that trope and does it in an interesting and comedic way (also it's a good show) if you would like to see a possible example. Another good Invert of a trope is in "Where the truth lies" (1999) and it takes a twist on the "The disabled person could never commit that crime!" trope. It stars Marlee Matlin and again another movie I highly recommend especially if your into messing about with tropes.

Subverting I think can make people a bit anxious just because you're not sure if it's actually going to end in the trope or be subverted, that sorta last minute switch and "Oh it didn't happen, phew" thing. But if it's done good, well, it's good. Subverting the trope from the get-go (like Special does) is a way to kinda ease that worry, but either way they both can be good.

Another thing you can do is change the trope where tropes are known within the story. The first one that comes to mind is like the "Disabled people die first" trope. So your characters are about to go into somewhere spooky but then your disabled character goes "Oh no, I'm not going in there. Disabled people always die first, you guys go on ahead.". This is often done with the "Disabled villain" trope too where something happens and then the character goes "I'm not gonna go all [mention of prominent disabled villain in media that has the same disability as them] on you guys!"

The only thing I would keep in mind, especially for Inverting Tropes is that often they are played for laughs. Now I don't mean like above where the purpose of the story is supposed to be funny/a comedy. I mean in the instance that the disabled person, even with the trope changed, is made the target of the joke. And as you said, you are right that some of the tropes are just better left alone partly because it is hard to make something good out of them. The "Cure Trope" is one that I just can't think of anything for, and there are many more that are just bad and are better left alone to perish.

This all sounds fun though! I hope you do end up doing something with any of these ideas of yours (if you write the hypertrichosis one I would absolutely love to read that one!). Happy writing!

~ Mod Virus 🌸

[hylkun]

30 DAYS | L. HEESEUNG

DAY 2: the consequences

SYNOPSIS: in which y/n l/n gives lee heeseung 30 days before graduation to prove his feelings for her are genuine.

PAIRING: popular!heeseung x quiet!fem!reader

GENRE: high-school!au, angst and lots of it, fluff, smau

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8:30 a.m.

You sigh in aggravation and place your phone on the wooden table before putting your head in your hands. You'd now realised what you've done. What were you thinking? You basically just gave Heeseung an excuse to annoy you for the rest of the school year.

'Good job, (Name),' you think to yourself.

However, the bell rings, interrupting your thoughts. You'd just have to survive the rest of the day. But, that idea was thrown out the window when you exited the library and was met with Heeseung.

The person you weren't exactly ready to see just yet.

"Oh. Heeseung, what're you doing here?" You ask, knowing damn well why he is here. He doesn't answer, but instead takes your bag and slings it over his shoulder.

"We have Physics next, right?" He asks, and you give him a mere nod in response. "Let's get going, then!" He exclaims, walking with a big smile on his face. Who would've thought Lee Heeseung would be this happy going to Physics Class?

You sigh to yourself. It's not like you can just change your mind and tell him you don't want him to court you until graduation. Well - you could - but you just didn't have the heart to.

You'll just have to deal with Heeseung's antics until Graduation Day.

9:00 a.m.

When you all enter the class, practically all eyes are on you and Heeseung. You, the girl with literally only 2 friends, coming to class with Lee Heeseung, who's probably dated every girl you can think of.

Heeseung seems to sense your anxiety, so he quickly takes your hand and leads you to a seat, then takes one beside you.

Just two more hours and you'd be free, you tell yourself. Just two hours.

But Heeseung just seems to read your mind, because;

"Hey, at lunch time would you like to sit with me and my friends? I know they may seem... unfriendly, but they're pretty nice once you get to know them." He asks, so nicely it seems impossible to refuse.

"Uh, sure, I guess." He smiles wide at your approval. Now, you would just have to explain this to Yunho and Leeseo.

10:57 a.m.

"Who's that?" Heeseung asks, referring to the conversation on your phone.

"It's just Yunho and Leeseo." You reply, sliding your phone in your back pocket. Heeseung still insists he holds your bag. It's pretty embarrassing. Everyone you pass in the halls assumes you and him are a thing. Definitely not the assumption you are looking for.

"Oh yeah, now that I remember - could I get your number? Only if that's okay with you, of course." He asks sweetly.

"Yeah, sure." You hand him your phone for him to put in his contact information. What the hell is wrong with Heeseung, and why can't you tell him 'no'? Maybe it's your shy personality. He returns your phone and grabs your wrist.

"Let's go, they should be in there by now."

Your heart beats from the fact you'd have to sit and eat your lunch with people who weren't Leeseo or Yunho. Why did you have to accept his offer for lunch? You're really starting to regret it now.

He leads you to the table where his friends sat, and to say they weren't pleased to see you was an understatement. "Hey, Heeseung, and other girl," one says, looking at you in a way that made you feel small.

"Hey, uhm, this is (Name), the girl I told you all about?"

What?

He talked about you? To his friends?

"Hi! My name is Sunoo, so nice to finally meet you!" The boy says, his bubbly personality calming the tension in your gut. Maybe he will make this encounter more bearable.

But it seems Sunoo was the only one who was just a little fond of you because the rest of Heeseung's friends didn't even bother to introduce themselves. You'd survive, right? You'd just have to survive until 11:30.

Heeseung clears his throat awkwardly and takes a seat, patting the space beside him signaling for you to sit next to him. Once you sit down it's as if the tension becomes even stronger. At this point, you just want to be swallowed whole so you wouldn't have to experience the most awkward encounter of the century.

Silence usually calmed you, but not here. You knew that in the silence, chaos was running through their mind. You finally listen to yourself and stand up abruptly, making Heeseung and his friends look up at you in confusion.

"I actually just remembered I have plans with my friends, so I'm just.. gonna go. See you later, Sunoo." You say a goodbye to Sunoo, since he was pretty much the only one who enjoyed your presence.

Heeseung follows after you, even after you exit the school and walk into the courtyard. "(Name), I'm sorry if my friends made you feel uncomfortable, I just-"

"Don't worry, Heeseung, you didn't do anything wrong. I'm just gonna go with Leeseo and Yunho. I'll see you tomorrow." You say, and continue walking without looking back. And you're glad you didn't, either, 'Cause you don't think you would've been able to take his sad face.

Heeseung's friends weren't the right crowd for you.

This is what you were scared of.

Now you're stuck with Lee Heeseung for the next 28 days.

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TAGLIST: @zerobaseone-zhanghao @jooniesbears-blog @heeswif3y @nshitae @llvrhee @ikeusimp @starfallia @softieluvsyou

[creature-wizard]

I need people to understand that when you're dealing with anxiety, depression, irritability, whatever, anything that puts you into a competitive mindset can Fuck You Up.

Affirmations like "I'm an it girl, I'm so gorgeous I turn heads everywhere I go, people can't stop thinking about me" put you in a competitive mindset because you're defining your worth by how much popularity you have; basically, you're programming yourself to think that the only way you can be happy and have worth is if you're more popular than others.

Every time you stop and think about how you don't have all that popularity, your mental health is going to take a hit because right now, you feel like a worthless, unlovable loser. You might totally spiral into some very dangerous territory, psychologically speaking.

Being in a competitive mindset makes you a meaner person because you see people who are more popular and successful than you (or at least seem to be more popular and successful) as your enemy. You feel like you have to defeat them to get ahead. And if you can't take that urge out on them, you're probably going to redirect it somewhere else - on someone else - because displaced aggression is a thing.

This is also why the Law of Assumption is so dangerous. Being an early 20th century form of capitalist mysticism, it frames your personal success as a simple matter of belief and willpower. Today, it lures people in with the promise that you can become a "high value person" if you just put your mind to it.

If high value people exist, then it also follows that there must be low value people. If you are not a high value person, then you are a low value person - and therefore unworthy and unlovable. This is psychological poison, especially to those who already struggle with their self-image.

The solution to self-esteem problems isn't to try and lifehack your way to the top of the hierarchy. Not only is highly unlikely it'll work, but it wouldn't even make you happy if it did. Look at Donald Trump and Elon Musk; they have billions of dollars and loads of fame, and yet they're both miserable and insecure.

The solution is to get yourself out of competition mentality. Instead of saying affirmations like "I'm so beautiful that I turn heads everywhere I go," try "I deserve love and respect no matter how I look." Instead of "I'm an it girl," try "I am capable of learning and growing." Instead of "I'm a high value person," try "I deserve happiness and fulfillment."

Get yourself out of the competition mindset, and you'll very likely find your mental health improving quite a lot.

[good-beanswrites]

Reworking my neurodivergent Fuuta post because I had more to add and wanted it in one place 👍It started out just silly thoughts and projection but I have a lot of evidence now??? It feels pretty solid!

🔴 He holds to an overwhelming sense of right, wrong, rules, justice, etc. It’s a system that makes sense to him (you learn to apologize before anything else, right?) and he’s obsessed with it. He's an extreme rule follower. He's obviously careful so he's not called out online, but even inside Milgram. He follows Es' orders naturally. Even though they’re silly, in the minigrams he’s repeatedly reminding people of the rules about requesting items. Even though he'd been shown to voice thoughts about escaping, he refuses, and is too much of a stickler that he won’t even let other people request things considered dangerous.

🔴 He takes things very literally, most notably some of the interrogation questions. In both his vds he’s pretty particular about describing his involvement, taking a long time to admit he could be a killer because his situation falls pretty far out of its normal definition.

🔴 He’s shown to be intensely lonely: sitting alone, walking alone, watching others from the outskirts, but thriving online where the social rules are different. He has trouble identifying/defining friendships, choosing to focus on the sharing of interests and excitement.

🔴 However, he does find a group that accepts him and listens to him -- and that feeling of belonging becomes intoxicating. The typical “gets a taste of doing something correctly but then gets carried away and crosses a line in excitement”

🔴 He doesn’t think hard work can get him anywhere in society, he doesn’t have any goals, he struggles at school, he wants to just go with the flow -- aka, burnout from trying so hard in a society that isn’t made to accommodate you. Instead of focusing on that, he loses himself in fictional worlds of heroes and villains. He sees connections in everyday life, occasionally getting so lost in them that thoughts of them bleed into reality.

🔴 He's bad at lying. Or, he has to deal with people pointing out nonsensical body language cues to make assumptions about his emotions (which is just as much a neurodivergent experience, unfortunately).

🔴 I know all the prisoners have some kind of act they put up to cover up their true emotions, but it’s still so obvious how he lashes out in anger instead of properly processing/expressing his legitimate fear of the entire situation.

🔴 Extreme restlessness when waiting in an empty room all alone

🔴 This may be more personal interpretation than evidence (because I don’t know how it holds up in the original Japanese), but his line in Muu’s bday timeline just struck me as someone who isn't usually accepted or accommodated for when they're feeling down.

🔴 Also. Transed Gender. 🏳️‍⚧️

[tavyliasin]

Raphael - Archduke of Asexuals

Welcome to another essay from Tavylia! We need some words about the handsome devil himself now, darlings, do we not? Because there's something very Ace about him - and I don't just mean "what a nifty guy", strap in (but not on) because we're going on a deep dive on...

Why Is Raphael the King of Asexuals and What Is It About Him That Draws So Many Of Us To Him Like He Is Made Of Garlic Bread: Another "Short" Essay by TavyliaSin (Who Frankly Rebels Against The Idea Of A Concise Title) ((Because This Is More Fun)) (((I Might Have Some Volo In My Family Tree)))

((Side Note - Ended up discussing more of Asexuality in fandom in general, but that's cool, right?...Right, well, the sections are marked, read as you so wish~)) Alright, this time we're not going to go too heavy into any darker topics, but there will be a deep examination of character, lore, asexuality, and a large heap of headcanons. There will also be a lot of microlabels, so I'll pop a short glossary at the end and some resources.

Also, please remember that no headcanon of mine is ever intended to override canon, or anyone else's HC - each HC is true and valid to the head it lives within~ that's the beauty of them, they are ours, and even when shared they remain our own to enjoy too.

What in the Hells is Asexuality Anyway? Aka, is Lia really trying to say the man she writes so much smut for is not sexual at all? (A brief overview of Asexuality)

Asexuality, in the most basic definition, means quite simply: "Experiencing limited or no sexual attraction." Now, look very closely. Some Asexuals, or Aces as we are sometimes called (and will be in this essay) experience absolute 0 sexual attraction. Some experience a very limited amount, or only under specific circumstances. It's also about Sexual Attraction and does not necessarily include feelings towards Action. I find this is best explained by the Split Attraction Model: Sexual Attraction - Attraction with a sexual component. Romantic Attraction - Attraction with a romantic component. Libido - Arousal, physical desire to act on arousal whether alone or partnered. Sex Drive - The desire to engage in partnered sexual activity, with or without arousal. A lot of people might look at those criteria and think "but those are the same thing", and for many that would be a fair assumption if they tend to be experienced simultaneously. But many among us only experience some parts, or they're not connected. The key is that whilst some Asexuals may experience little or none of any of those four, the only one relevant is the first, and an asexual with high libido or sex drive is no less asexual than any other, there's just no person attached to that libido or drive. So there are asexuals who enjoy sex, who have sexual relationships, and there are also asexuals who have no interest in any of that - the best part is, we're all valid!

Alright, But What Does This Have To Do With Raphael? The Devil Who Seduces In Every Other Sentence?

Right, see, here's the thing. He does flirt, but it never goes further. Seduction is just another tool that he uses, the same way he uses intimidation, promises, and bargains. It would be foolish of him to ignore the potential to bend someone to his schemes when he notices the colour rise to their cheeks when he talks, his goals need a lot of pieces to fall into place. None of it feels genuine. Raphael simply needs people to agree to his terms, and if the promise of sex secures a signature then so be it - besides, he has a hungry incubus at home who can fulfil that side of the deal without him ever having to lift a finger~ It isn't uncommon either for asexual people to make innuendo, lewd jokes, or to flirt without intention - some may even find that it's very easy to do this when there's no attraction or expectation. So for that... He reads as very Ace to me, it's all a part of the manipulation and the grand scheme. There's no actual attraction there. Interest? Certainly, the player character can be a very useful tool in his needs.

What About Haarlep? How Do They Fit In If Raphael Is Asexual?

Haarlep is an extremely sexual being, by their very nature they feed on sex and sexual energy, and we know by what they say that Raphael does indeed sleep with them. The canon would lead one to a logical microlabel when looking at Raphael and Haarlep together: Autosexual - This means experiencing more sexual attraction to yourself than to anyone else. This is a rarer microlabel, but still under the Ace umbrella as "limited sexual attraction" which can mean "attraction is very infrequent" and/or "attraction is only experienced under specific circumstances". And, of course, the HC territory can veer into Haarlep feeling like a safe enough option to deal with Libido and Sex Drive without having to find another partner or worry about attraction. You can also, if you really want to, bring in the canon that so many Anti-Raphael people love to scream about, "Haarlep says Raphael is bad in bed". Perhaps he is, perhaps he's just not into it beyond the simple release of tension and need. I'm not judging him for that, even if my HC is wildly different.

Why Is It Asexuals Like Him So Much? Is It Just Because He's Ace Too?

Well here come the deeper theories, based more on my own personal angle than anyone else's, so please do not assume this is the "only correct interpretation" nor the only way an ace may adore him. Plenty of aces don't feel any sexual or romantic attraction to Raphael, they're simply very fond of him as a character. He's interesting, oddly non-threatening because that flirtation is never pushed too far, never acted on, it's just there, a part of his clear interest in the player character (and he is obsessed, in his way, those diaries read like self-insert fan-fiction Raphael, my love, I see you). There's depth, intrigue, and the same things I've talked about before with villain fandom. So we can look deeper. Flirtation can be nice for anyone to feel, and oddly enough as an Ace I have often preferred characters who are open and overt in their attempts to seduce. This isn't necessarily true in life, real people and fiction are very different (hello, fellow FictoSexuals, good to have you here darlings~) but there is something appealing in the casual manner and clear tone. We also might have more of a draw to villains in general, but I've covered some of that in my last little ramble~ Reciprosexuals may also feel more for Raphael as he's initiating the flirtation, expressing potential attraction. Demisexuals are also likely to find that getting to know him is what draws them in. There's an element of "Forbidden Fruit" at play here too, in the way there isn't a romance for him (Haarlep does not count, they are their own being, a different personality). Then, of course we have kink.

Aces In Kinky Spaces

Here's the controversial one, loves, but I do ask that you approach this with understanding and compassion~ Not all aces are kinky. But there are a good portion who are. Kink is not always sexual, although it very much can be there are some people who enjoy, for example, "subspace" in BDSM - this is where a submissive reaches a kind of blissful inner peace as a result of being made to submit, their senses brought to focus on bondage, pain, or following orders. It varies from person to person, but it often described as a floaty feeling, freeing, relaxing, deeply satisfying without necessarily including anything sexual at all. Of course, kink can be sexual too, which you will find in a whole lot of my writing, don't think about it too hard darling let me have this one~ This can be helpful for someone not experiencing sexual attraction, but instead finding sex drive and libido from kink instead, allowing them to engage in sexual relationships and activity in a manner they are comfortable with and enjoy. There is also the safety of trust and rules with kink play. So the obvious reminder goes here: Consent is key Safe words and signals are binding and must be instantly respected when used Nobody should be shamed for safe word/signal use Aftercare is important and not optional Negotiation needs to happen before a scenario, not during/after When I write with Raphael, there's almost always the kink angle because he so naturally falls into D/s and Power Play tropes. On the surface you have a very Dominant personality, so it's easy to see him continuing that role in the bedroom. But then there's the other side, Raphael as a sub, not only because of what Haarlep says (and do remember "sub" and "bottom" are not the same thing), but because people who are often in control and making decisions in their daily life find freedom and enjoyment in giving over that control to someone else, not having to worry about anything but enjoying the situation while another takes on all those decisions. So he fits very well with plenty of kinky ace themes, and I quite like that feeling of "he's not just going to get into bed with someone who is pretty, there's going to be a genuine interest and desire there that's beyond the surface, a deeper need and longing for who they are". That's rather nice, honestly.

Aces and Spicy FanWorks

Alright going to draw this in to a close now loves we are running long with this one! FictoSexuals will be more aware of this than most, but fictional characters and works often have more draw because there's a layer of disconnection to it. There's no actual partner with expectations or needs, you can step away from fiction at any moment. You can close the app/browser, scroll past the art, stop reading, save and exit the game - there is complete control in how and when you engage with the content, whether consuming it or making it. So there are a fair few of us, playing around with those fantasies in art and writing, things that are fun and comfortable in our own ways, and I'm grateful that we have this space to do so~ I've met more than one fellow ace in the creative side of fandom and I'm simply never surprised by it. We aren't defined by our attractions, and we are collectively rather talented at this little hobby of ours~ The fun theory there is that when we don't experience much (or any) sexual attraction, we are looking that much closer when writing about it. We don't tend to skip it, we analyse what is attractive, where it comes from, how it might feel, why it feels that way, and that can present itself as deeper and more detailed fictional works. Whether that's in the posing and expressions of visual arts, or in the narration and dialogue of writing, we are paying attention to trying to get it right, whether it's an experience we can ever relate to personally or not.

Alright, Is This Thing Ever Ending?

It really should, you're so right~ Raphael Fandom, and other more niche characters, do have a fair amount of Asexuals for all the reasons above and likely a whole lot more too. I love that for us, and I love talking about it because there is so little Asexual visibility sometimes that people take many many years to even know they're ace because it's simply not an option they're aware of. So hello to all of you who slid down the OverCompensating Bisexual/Pansexual -> Asexual pipeline because you thought "feeling the same way towards any gender" was all that meant and didn't realise "feeling nothing towards any gender" is actually different and its own thing, oops. We're here now, and that's just fine~ Take care, beloved Aces, regardless where you are under the Asexual Umbrella, or what microlabels you wear.

You are valid, seen, heard, and loved.

^ Raphael realising he's not Bi/Pan, he's Ace and owning it, like the king he is. Or perhaps not king... Archduke of Asexuality~

---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- ASEXUAL RESOURCES AND MICROLABEL DEFINITIONS ---------------------------------- ----------------------------------

Asexual - Experiences little to no sexual attraction Greysexual/Grey Asexual - Experiences limited sexual attraction Demisexual - Only experiences attraction after an emotional bond has formed or knowing the individual well on a personal level Fraysexual - Sexual attraction is brief and does not last once an emotional bond is formed Fictosexual - Experiences sexual attraction towards fictional characters (art, writing, film, games, other media, but not real people) Autosexual - Attraction is towards the self more than to other people Reciprosexual - Only experiences attraction after attraction towards them has been clearly expressed --- This is not a full or comprehensive list of microlabels! Nor should people feel a need to use them. They are there to help us understand ourselves and to relate to others in the community. None have to be strict, and it is perfectly valid for your sexuality to shift during your lifetime for any reason. --- For more information and resources on Asexuality, I strongly recommend seeking out Ace communities, even on places like Reddit, and this website:

Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) Website

[theerurishipper]

The Issue with Felix Fathom

So, I'm not a fan of this character. I think there was a lot that could be done with him. I think he was done really dirty by the writing (but what's new there XD). He had a lot of potential; he was genuinely entertaining when he showed up and he slayed in that musical number. And that he was the only one to actually advance the plot meaningfully? Respect. But Season 5, as Season 5 does, ruined his character. And I don't like when bad writing ruins good characters. So I took it upon myself to break down his character and how Season 5 took a sledgehammer to it. I divided it into three parts.

A) Inconsistent motivations

B) Half-assed Redemption

C) Feligami is a bad ship

This gets long, so here we go.

A) Inconsistent motivations

The first time we're introduced to Felix in the episode named after him, he seems to just be a grade A dick, going out of his way to ruin his cousin's life and making deals with Hawkmoth to get his hands on some rings (which we now know are Adrien's amok) and the natural assumption is that he's just a spiteful asshole who's angry that Adrien didn't attend his father's funeral. Then he comes back in the finale of Season 4 (after a not really noteworthy return in Gabriel Agreste the episode) and proceeds to spend that time betraying Ladybug and giving all the Miraculous to Gabe, along with Adrien's Amok in exchange for the Peacock Miraculous. Then he shows up again in Season 5 as an advocate for Sentimonster rights and commits genocide, only going back on it when Adrien and Kagami called him out. Then he spends a while stalking Kagami and saving her from her mother, and then reveals his tragic backstory to her, instantly earning her trust. Then they get together, and the next time we see them, Kagami is declaring that they're doing this to stop their parents from getting in the way of their love. Then he is straight up missing from the finale, so that really did go somewhere.

So, let's take a look at his motivations through all these episodes one more time.

Felix: Just seems to want to ruin Adrien's life and get his hands on the rings that have his Amok in them.

Strikeback: Wants the Peacock Miraculous in exchange for the rest of the Miraculous and Adrien's Amok.

Emotion: Wants to rid the world of humans in an effort to create a better world for his fellow Sentimonsters.

Representation: Wants to stop Monarch so that he and Kagami can love each other freely without their parents' interference.

Recreation: Is a part of the hero team.

That's five different motivations within the course of, what, 8-9 episodes? And it causes some major inconsistencies in his characterization.

For an example, the episode Emotion introduces his whole Senti-rights thing, and he starts snapping the world away so that he and Adrien, and later Kagami can live happily ever after. He only let Kagami stick around because he realized she was also a Senti later (and Marinette too was only spared after he realized the relationship between her and Adrien), so we assume it was just going to be him and Adrien. He goes as far as to say he did this all for them, showing that he really cares about their opinion and well-being. And considering that Kagami and Marinette only factored into this later, we assume he was originally doing this just for Adrien.

Then why did he treat Adrien like such absolute shit over his past appearances? Let's review exactly what Felix has done to the cousin he claims he loves enough to snap out the world to protect him.

Victim blamed him for not standing up to Gabriel (despite knowing he was being mind-controlled and had no way of standing up to him).

Took on his identity to ruin his relationships with others he cared about.

Sent a cruel response to his friends' kind video to isolate him from his friends.

Stole his Amok from Gabe.

Realized his father was Shadow Moth and didn't tell him of the danger he was living under, or you know, give him back his Amok which holds his very autonomy in it.

Didn't try even a little to help Adrien when he realized the danger he was in.

Didn't tell Adrien he was a Sentimonster.

Gave Adrien's Amok back to Gabe without a hint of regret or hesitation.

Snapped everyone he cared about out of existence.

And yet, he loves him so much.

For someone who supposedly cares about Adrien, he sure did go out of his way to bully him and treat him like garbage. A clear example of how his motivations were retconned. He went from being a grade-A douchebag to Adrien to supposedly caring deeply about Adrien and wishing only for his well-being. He went from screwing over Adrien to doing everything for him apparently. He traded his Amok with no hesitation and with a grin on his face, and yet he supposedly did all this for Adrien.

Then the next time we see him, he's a Senti-rights advocate and is committing genocide for that cause. Which, fine. It was set up in the Season 4 finale that he seemed to care about Sentis. Still doesn't explain him caring about Adrien suddenly, but okay. Then we see him get into a relationship with Kagami, and the next time we see him, he's completely over his Senti-rights phase, and is now focusing on making sure Gabe gets taken down so that he and Kagami can love each other. There is no mention of his earlier motivation that he would not shut up about, and the only motivation is Kagami stating that they can't love each other unless they take care of Monarch. Sentimonster rights? Who cares about that? All that they need is to protect their love, because they're all that matters right? Not like there's a third Sentimonster still being controlled by his supervillain father that might need rescuing. Which is something Felix should probably care about if he's such an advocate for Senti-rights and freedom. Instead of, you know, focusing only on one girl he met less than a month ago.

And I'm not saying that wanting to protect his love can't be his motivation. Except when you make Senti-rights his motivation and then forget all about it to push an already rushed ship, it just ruins his character. Constantly retconning character motivations doesn't make for good storytelling, who woulda thunk it.

And just to drive in this complete reversal, the episode Emotion where Felix begins his quest for Senti-rights ends with him breaking down over having to destroy the Red Moon. And what do you know, this complete change in his motivation makes him create a Senti-projector for no reason and destroy it with no hesitation! Almost like the writers forgot what he was all about in the first half of the season! That they established him as someone who fought for giving Sentimonsters agency and treating them like people, and who would break down at having to destroy them, and only created Red Moon because he thought he wouldn't have to destroy her! But when his motivation changed to being in love with Kagami, I guess that all just up and vanished. And it just makes him come off as a hypocrite.

(Which is honestly what he is. Felix is a hypocrite. Despite not having been able to break free of his abusive father until his death, he mocks Adrien for not doing the same. To be clear, this is not criticism of Felix for not being able to fight back against Colt. He is not to blame for that whatsoever, and he did not deserve that treatment. This is criticism of him blaming Adrien for not fighting Gabriel, which is pretty hypocritical of him. And as I mentioned before, he says that he's not like others and that he wouldn't bring a Sentimonster to life just to destroy it later. Senti-projector would beg to differ.

These moments are transparently hypocritical. But the thing is, the narrative doesn't portray these as hypocritical moments, and never seems to acknowledge this aspect of his character. Instead, it's played straight and never addressed. You'd think that Felix doing the one thing he swore never to do would be addressed, but nah.)

And then Felix, the most proactive character in the series, whose whole appeal is that he gets shit done, decides to leave it to Ladybug to handle and fucks off to who knows where. And then he joins the team at the end despite having shown nothing but disdain for these people the last time he saw them, and despite having never shown the desire to work in a team.

B) Half-assed Redemption

That is, if it can even be called one.

So, yeah, let's start by listing all the awful shit Felix has done. We've already covered the list of things he did to Adrien specifically. But we can move onto the rest of his awful actions.

Tried to kiss Ladybug without her consent.

Betrayed Ladybug and gave all the Miraculous to Shadow Moth, putting Paris in grave danger.

Committed literal genocide.

That's it, pretty much. Until you consider the magnitude of what he's done, and then it all becomes a whole lot worse.

Like, he gave all the Miraculous to Gabe. He directly enabled a terrorist for personal gain. He actively put the lives of countless people in danger for his own desires. He betrayed Ladybug's trust and caused her great suffering. And did I mention he enabled a terrorist?

And his defense for this?

Argos: True, except I work for no one. (kicks Ladybug, causing her to crash onto a building) I only helped Monarch cause it served my plans! (charges in to punch her and she dodges) I needed the Peacock Miraculous and today I need yours and Cat Noir's so I can make my wish! (makes another attempt to attack Ladybug with his heel as Ladybug rolls away to evade it)

Oh yeah, so sadness, much remorse. Very redeemable.

But the funny part is, this isn't even the worst of it. He then goes on to commit literal genocide. I know I brought this up more casually before, but I need to emphasize how actually fucked up this is. Felix, of his own free will and of completely sound mind, killed all the people in Paris and possibly in other parts of the world, whilst singing a peppy song and enjoying himself.

And yeah, I got a good laugh out of that scene too. Doesn't make it any less fucked up. He committed genocide without a care in the world. Mf literally pulled an Eren Yeager, but even Eren had some remorse or something. And he didn't even bring them back because he realized mass murder was wrong, he did it because the people he did it for turned on him, and he realized that maybe people with morals don't appreciate him killing everyone in the world including the people they love.

And what does that episode do? Have Ladybug blindly trust that Felix would fix things himself, with no reason for her to do so. He literally just admitted he feels no remorse or regret for helping Monarch, that he wants their Miraculous to make a wish and that he has nothing to lose. And she just... decides to trust him because... the Lucky Charm said so? Because she was able to feel positive vibes coming from deep within him even though he has proven to be nothing but a self-absorbed piece of shit? Even though he's betrayed her trust so much and caused her a great deal of pain and suffering? And it's not even like it was right, because he didn't change and fix things because he could be trusted. He did it because his plan failed to please Adrien and Kagami and he realized he had fucked up with them. Not the people he killed, just them.

Okay.

After this, we see him in Pretension. To his credit, he seems to have given up on genocide, and has taken up stalking as a new hobby to keep himself busy. And then he kidnaps Kagami, yadda yadda, Sentimonsters are people, we don't abuse them in my house, all that. And then, this is what gets Kagami to start advocating for Felix.

Like, he just not too long ago snapped her mother out of existence right in front of her. He just snapped the entire fucking world out of existence. He should be publicly despised. People should be out for his head. Ladybug and Chat Noir should have made getting his Miraculous back one of their top priorities. But no one does anything. And hearing one speech about how Sentimonsters should be protected makes Kagami just flip her whole tune about Felix, as though he didn't commit unimaginable horrors. One hint at a tragic backstory and a passionate speech about Sentimonster rights, and suddenly he didn't do anything wrong. He was actually a good guy all along! There's certainly no reason for anyone to distrust him! He may have done all that awful shit, but he had good intentions! That makes it all okay!

Like, I get it. I get that his motivations are sympathetic. But that does not absolve him of wrongdoing. He doesn't get a free pass from consequences and accountability just because he had good reasons and a bad childhood. Kagami goes from being unbelievably hurt by him essentially murdering her mother, to being okay around him when he kidnaps her, to literally shielding him from consequences a short while later, and ends the episode by going on a date with him. As though she doesn't remember what he did.

Really. Kagami would do that. Kagami Tsurugi. You expect me to believe she'd do that? That she'd be swayed by one passionate speech and start coddling and protecting people from facing justice? Kagami would do that? Sure Jan.

Seriously, this is like listening to a terrorist go on about how animals deserve to be treated well and shouldn't be abused and deciding that their fervor for animal rights means they're a good person at heart. They aren't completely insane, cool. Doesn't mean they still aren't a horrible, monstrous person! And yes, I am comparing the two situations. Just because Felix brought all the people back doesn't change the fact that he first did it with the intention of having it be permanent, only brought everyone back because it was hurting the people he tried to please and not because he realized genocide was wrong, and then never expressed remorse for it. The writers aren't good enough to properly explore the implications of what just happened, but it doesn't mean I'm gonna brush by it, especially since they want to be taken seriously this season.

But Felix had a bad childhood, and he had good reasons, and his heart was in the right place. So naturally, he doesn't need to be called out, and Kagami's word is enough for Ladybug and Chat Noir to just... straight up forget that he happily gave up the Miraculous to Monarch and let him do whatever he wants. Sure, he betrayed them horribly and said he wasn't sorry at all about it, but this girl who's known him for a few hours at best says he's a good guy, so it must be true! The show tells us that he's not bad really, he's just misunderstood! Even if he never really apologized or expressed regret and remorse. Ladybug and Chat Noir have valid and justifiable reasons for going after Felix, and the narrative hasn't yet proven them wrong. And yet, him simply having sympathetic motivations is enough for him to be considered a good person and have all his mistakes forgotten. That's not how a redemption works.

Forgive me for being a basic bitch, but look at ATLA and how it handled Zuko's arc. Yeah, Zuko had sympathetic motivations, but that was never used as an excuse. He had to go through a whole arc of realizing the error of his ways, and no one coddles him through it. He actively owns up to his mistakes, accepts blame and responsibility for them, and works hard to earn the Gaang's forgiveness and trust. They don't forgive him immediately either, and he literally puts his life at risk to be accepted by them. He openly calls himself out and apologizes. Contrast that to Felix's "redemption," where his sympathetic motivations are used not to explain his actions, but to excuse them. Him having sympathetic motivations makes another character start to like him enough to shield him from being called out. He gets sympathy and understanding despite having done nothing to earn it. He never apologizes or tries to fix what he did, he never even admits that he hurt people and made mistakes, and yet just because he showed that he's not a heartless monster, the people he hurt are just supposed to accept that he's not a bad person. He's done so many awful things, but he's shown that he can potentially have a compassionate side (for very a specific thing but okay) so all is forgiven and forgotten.

The thing is, having sympathetic motivations and qualities that indicate that he's not completely cruel don't mean a thing if he doesn't act on them. It doesn't matter that he says he loves Adrien if he treats him like shit anyway. It doesn't matter if Felix cares about things and isn't actually as untrustworthy and selfish as he came off if he never shows those qualities in his actions. Sure, Kagami might trust him for whatever reason, but Ladybug and Chat Noir (as Adrien) are victims of his toxic actions, and Kagami's word about how he's not their enemy shouldn't be enough for them to just blindly let it go. Because they have no reason to trust him, and he has not shown any sign that he wants to make up for what he did or even that he feels bad about it at all (again, he literally says he doesn't).

Sympathetic backstories are supposed to help us recontextualize a character's actions, yes. Zuko too came off as a lot more sympathetic after we learnt of his past. That didn't mean he didn't have to make up for what he did. He had to work to change and grow, and actively states that he was wrong and that he wants to make up for it. Where does Felix do this? All he does is start talking about Senti-rights and suddenly all he's done is water under the bridge? All the things he's done can be forgotten because he did them for good reasons? One emotional moment means he's not that bad after all and means they can trust him, even though he's done nothing to prove that? Him having sympathetic motivations means he's now justified in what he did and doesn't need to make up for it?

That's not redemption. That's excusing bad people because they did what they did for "good reasons". He never admits to his mistakes, and he never takes accountability. Instead, Kagami is there to vouch for him despite not being the one most affected by him. And then no one calls him out anymore. And according to that little play, he still thinks it was justified for him to do those things because he had a good reason, and the show agrees with him!

A good heart is not enough for a redemption. It involves learning and growing and taking accountability. It means showing regret and remorse and the desire to do better. It means apologizing and accepting consequences. In canon, Felix has done none of those things. He expresses some kind of noble reason and is immediately validated and entitled to understanding and forgiveness. The characters don't bring up his past crimes, and he joins the team with no issue in the finale, as though he didn't snap these people out of existence gleefully, or as though he wasn't the reason they all suffered under Monarch.

You want me to believe Felix is a good guy? Give him an actual arc of growth. Actually make him confront the things he did. Actually let him face consequences and make it up to the people he hurt. Let him admit to his faults and learn how to be better. Don't give him a girlfriend who acts as a shield to exonerate him of all fault. That's not how a redemption arc works. That's not how any of this works.

C) Feligami is a bad ship

Imma say it. This is not a good ship.

Yeah, in concept it's fine, even good. I always love me some enemies to lovers. But the execution is so rushed and so poor that I really can't understand why they even got together.

The short version? It actively detracts from both of their characters.

The long version? Here we go.

It's so rushed.

We get Felix and Kagami together in Emotion, Pretension, and Representation. They go from enemies to lovers in three episodes, and in about a week in canon. In Emotion, they are very assuredly not friends. Felix only spares her because she's a Senti like him, and she straight up attacks him for killing everyone.

In Pretension, he stalks her for a while, saves her from her mother, reveals his sympathetic motivations leading her to start trusting him, and they go on a date at the end of the episode.

A few problems:

Kagami seems to have forgotten everything Felix did to her and the rest of the world just... a few days ago.

Kagami just admitted to still being in love with Adrien.

So for her to just... go along with him with no distrust or hatred is so strange. She called him out for stalking her, but what about the mass murder? Surely she hasn't forgotten about that?

And also, she literally just admitted to still being in love with Adrien. And she's immediately going on a date with Felix? I'm not saying she can't or that she shouldn't but... why have her still being in love with Adrien be such a big part of her arc this season, so much so that it had an episode dedicated to it, if it's going to be resolved in no time at all? Where did her feelings for Adrien go? They are never brought up again. Did they disappear off screen? And Felix and Kagami end up together in one single episode! They barely know each other! And by the time the next episode with them in it rolls around, Kagami is saying shit like "My mother and Gabriel Agreste will never allow us to love each other freely." Baby girl you've barely known him for a week, slow down please.

So yeah, rushed. But that's not all the problems I have with it. In their effort to pair these two together, there are some problems with the very concept of this ship. Now, the reason I said earlier that it's conceptually a good ship is because there are a few minor issues in it, but nothing that cannot be fixed with time and good writing. So overall it's a good concept. Problem is, we have the end product but the writing is shitty and ruins the whole thing.

It damages Felix's arc.

At least, whatever Felix's arc was supposed to be in Season 5. It started out with him trying to create a better world for Sentimonsters like himself. There are two aspects of his arc that the writers were trying to go for here. To integrate him into the protagonists' side from his role as an antagonist (his seasonal arc), and to flesh out his goal of getting more freedom for Sentis (his overall character arc).

Feligami as a ship undermines both these goals. Introducing Kagami as a love interest for Felix makes her more or less a shield for him to protect him from consequences, undercutting the "redemption" part of his arc. It stops him from having to face consequences or make amends or take accountability, because having a good person be in love with him is an easier way of painting him as also "good," thereby reducing the need to have him go through any actual growth. Having Kagami love Felix instantly prevents him from having to grow. It makes it cliche "Guy changes with the love of a girl" trope, except done poorly because he never really changed, she just started making it seem like he did by excusing him.

And as for his goal of freedom for Sentimonsters, his relationship with Kagami switches the focus from developing him, developing the lore of Sentimonsters (because the previous seasons did a piss poor job of it) and his goal into developing Feligami, which changes his goal from what was previously established to Being In Love With Kagami. He goes from wanting all Sentimonsters to be free to wanting to protect his relationship with Kagami and only that. You could say that he and Kagami are Sentimonsters and therefore saving their relationship falls under this, but that's not how it's framed. It's not framed as something Felix thinks furthers his goal, it's something else entirely. Felix spares no more thought to the freedom of Sentimonsters and does not mention it again, or else he would have thought about the other Sentimonster, his cousin, whom he damned in the previous season. He spent his reintroduction in Season 5 professing how deeply he cares for him, and yet after Feligami becomes a thing, he barely spares a thought to the only other Sentimonster (whose free will he traded for personal gain) even though he's such an advocate for Senti-rights.

It ruins Kagami's arc.

Kagami's overall arc is to win back her free will from her mother and find her own path in life, and this arc this season focuses on Kagami learning how to allow herself to be more passionate and emotional and want more from her life, both in terms of companionship and freedom, which is a step on her way to freeing herself from her mother's control. A big part of this arc is her still being in love with Adrien. She's also a Sentimonster, making her arc about autonomy and freeing herself from the control of her mother, finding new relationships and forging a new path for herself. This is something that has always been a part of Kagami's character. She's stubborn and headstrong. She finds her own way. And with the introduction of the plot point of her being a Sentimonster, you'd expect a pivotal moment to be her reclaiming her own agency. Except that's not what happens.

In Pretension, Tomoe asks for her Amok, and Kagami gives it to her. And at the end of the episode, it's revealed that Felix stole her actual Amok, and gives it back to her, thereby being the actual one who saves Kagami from being controlled by her mother. And it undercuts Kagami's arc of standing up to her mother and asserting her independence, because it's not her asserting herself, it's Felix sneakily saving her Amok for her. Kagami, who paves her own way, has a pivotal part of her arc where she reclaims her autonomy done for her by someone else. And we never see anything related to them again. So it makes an important moment which the episode has been building to, of Kagami standing up for herself and progressing her character arc into her being saved by a guy. She basically becomes a damsel in distress. And her arc never progresses beyond that, so her character journey in Season 5 which was supposed to be about freeing herself ends up being Kagami Finds A Boyfriend.

The episodes before this were building up her relationship with Marinette and Adrien, showing that Kagami is progressing in her social life, making friends and opening up to more people as a part of her development. Her development happened mostly starting from Season 3 and since she was only in a handful of episodes, we only saw it progress slowly. But we see a progression in her relationship with Mari and Adrien as she becomes more comfortable, open and vulnerable with them. And episodes like Perfection show how she is making more friends, that she is loved by many people. We see her start to want more friends, more freedom. And this is emphasized more than in the previous seasons. But once Felix enters the picture and Feligami happens, it's like her other relationships go out of the window. All she cares about is Felix. She doesn't want to assert herself to protect her other friendships too. All she cares about is that she and Felix won't be able to love each other. This straight up ruins her arc about finding many lasting relationships that she values and wants to fight for, because now she has one boyfriend to focus on over the many friends she was making and wanted to make, which was one of the things I actually liked about the Season. Kagami started the season with wanting to fight for all her relationships, and ended it with only caring about one guy she met a week ago. Thanks, I hate it.

It makes them both act OOC.

Feligami as a ship alters both Felix and Kagami's characters to revolve around their romance, even if it means they act in ways that are out of character. It drastically changes their personalities and their roles in the story.

For Kagami, it manifests itself the worst in Representation. Kagami is a very direct, to the point individual. If she wants to say something, she says it. If she wants to do something, she does it, or at least tries her best to do it. And Kagami hates lying. She broke up with Adrien for this very reason, because he wasn't being honest with her. So for her to go through this elaborate scheme to trick Marinette into going to the school by following Felix disguised as Adrien is unnecessary and... kind of cruel. And for her to have discovered Marinette's identity as Ladybug, and to go behind her back and tell Felix without informing Marinette herself, is so out of character for her. Felix is not entitled to this information. In fact, he is the last person Mari would want to reveal this to, other than Monarch and his lackeys. And for Kagami to betray Mari like this when she hates secrets and lies is so out of character for her.

And it's the same thing with Adrien. This is someone she loves so much that breaking up with him hurt her so badly, and she chooses to not tell him vital information that she knows about him, that he is a Sentimonster and his father is Monarch. Anyone who is keeping this secret from Adrien by thinking they know what's best for him is actively denying his ability to break free of his abusive father, whom Kagami is already trying to fight against, and yet the thought of telling Adrien the truth never crosses her mind. Even after she pushed him to assert himself and stand up for himself. She called him out for this in Risk, and yet now she is complicit in denying him the information he needs to do that. Kagami, who told Adrien to stick up for himself, is denying him what he needs to do that and making decisions for him.

It undercuts her personality in other ways too. Kagami is a very stubborn and very straightforward person. And so, for her to coddle Felix when Ladybug and Chat Noir come to rightfully take back the Peacock Miraculous and call Felix out is so against how she usually is. She is reduced to being Felix's protector. Kagami does not take shit lying down, and she does not shy away from calling people out, even if she loves them. For her to validate Felix just because he said and did a few nice things makes her come off very differently from who she is.

So basically, her personality changes. Since she is around Felix, whose MO is usually being tricky and sneaky, Kagami also goes along with it to advance the relationship and the plot, even though it is the antithesis of her character. She willfully abandons all her principles so that this plot can progress. Because Feligami can't happen as fast as it needs to if the writers have to explore this drastic difference between their values, as it would make them incompatible with each other. It could be resolved, but it needs time which the writers don't have because Feligami needs to happen quickly before the season ends for plot purposes. So this lack of exploration of their dynamic makes the ship seem very shallow, and so they would rather remove their defining traits altogether than take the time to flesh out their dynamic and reconcile their contradictory values which would make their relationship more natural.

The relationship also hurts Kagami's role in the story. The first half focused on her relationships with her friends and her mother. But once Felix came along, like I said, her arc switched to revolve around him. Not only does this hurt Kagami's arc, but it also removes her from the plot. Her mother is now part of the main conflict, and yet Kagami is separated from her at this crucial time and put into a romance with Felix to keep them busy and away from the main plot. Them being Sentimonsters too only really matters for exposition purposes and to force a relationship between them. And her arc of breaking free from her mother is abandoned, because now her relationship with Tomoe barely matters to the story. Only Feligami matters now.

And as for Felix, one of his greatest appeals as a character is his proactiveness. He pushes the story forward, he gets things done. He is interesting and engaging to watch because he doesn't sit around and let other characters make a move before he does something. And this romance arc with Kagami makes him do just that. Once his romance arc with Kagami begins, Felix's character is resigned to this arc, and therefore his pivotal role in the story proper ends. The relationships that were developed for him that gave him an active role in the story, such as his relationship with Adrien and his enmity with Gabe were all pushed to the side. These are the main characters in the show, and Felix's relationship to them was what allowed him to be close to the conflict. But after Feligami became a thing, Felix's connection to the main plot was severed, and all that he could contribute to it was the information he had figured out about it. So that's why his main contribution to the conflict this season was just telling Mari that Gabe is Monarch.

Basically, he was a mouthpiece for exposition. Compare this to his role in Strikeback, where he was an active part of the conflict because of his connection to Gabe and Adrien. And him being cut off from everyone except Kagami, who is by no means anything but a side character and who is certainly not as involved in the final conflict as she should be, his role also moves with hers because his arc is written around her. And his role only extends as far as hers, which is why he is barely in the finale except for a few seconds at the end. He goes from an active character to a passive one, which massively reduces his appeal in the story. He goes from proactive to complacent, which is so different from the type of person he was established as. Look me in the eye and tell me that Felix from Season 4 would let Ladybug handle things instead of marching up to Gabe and snapping him out of existence himself.

Feligami as a ship alters Felix's personality (the very little of it that was left after Season 4 ended). He was introduced as conniving and cruel and selfish. Him caring about Sentimonsters doesn't change that about him. But once Feligami becomes a thing, that aspect of his personality straight up disappears. From a writing standpoint, there is a reason for this which I'll get into later, but suffice to say that in order for Feligami to happen, they had to retool Felix's personality to be more appealing, and tone down his cruelty and lack of morals.

And as I've already mentioned, him destroying the Senti-projector without any sort of hesitation or guilt when he completely broke down about having to kill Red Moon shows how much his character had to change, even withing the season for this to happen. Felix being willing to kill a Sentimonster for any reason is completely unfathomable (lol) and yet he does it in order to save his relationship with Kagami without a hint of remorse.

Once again, the romance messes with their fundamental character traits and roles in the story.

Their relationship is diet Adrienette.

It is. Kagami is introduced to Felix when he is masquerading as Adrien. She later compares him to Marinette. Kagami is the reserved, isolated kid, like Adrien. Felix takes on the role of the "awkward" Marinette. Kagami is locked away by her parent like Adrien, Felix comes to her rescue like Marinette is supposed to for Adrien.

The thing is, these similarities are extremely superficial. Kagami and Adrien share a similar situation as abused children who are currently being controlled by their parent, but that's about where it ends. And Felix's awkwardness and shyness remind Kagami of Marinette, but that's about where their similarities end. And yet, their relationship is not built up much beyond that. There are some differences, but again, a lot of the concept is the same, and with so less screentime, it ends up coming off as a less compelling and way more rushed version of the main couple. Especially since the writers clearly didn't know what to do with Kagami and Felix, so the obvious solution was to give them each other and end that plot line. This relationship is literally just "Pair the Spares."

Of course, there are also differences, plenty in fact, but all things considered, it seems like the writers wanted to make Kagami and Felix prominent but didn't know how to end their seasonal arcs. Kagami's of finding lasting relationships (the plural being important actually)/being in love with Adrien, and Felix's of redemption and coming over to the good side. So they threw Felix at Kagami as a consolation prize and Kagami at Felix as a convenient excuse. Of course, this is a really poor conclusion to their seasonal arcs, and also warps their overall character arcs, Kagami's of asserting her individuality and Felix's of Senti-rights. It twists it into becoming all about their love when they could continue working on progressing those like they've been doing in the episodes prior to Feligami becoming canon.

And it seems to also be trying to compensate for Adrienette. Adrien and Marinette are having trouble kissing? Felix and Kagami can't stop. Adrienette took literally forever to happen? Feligami happened in a single episode. This relationship is built around the main couple with not much of a leg to stand on its own. They have no organic, natural build up. It just happens because the plot demands it. The reason I say their relationship is built around Adrienette because it is clearly only happening because they needed to get Felix and Kagami out of the way, and they try to make up for some of the criticisms levelled against Adrienette with this ship.

But speaking of differences...

They don't know each other.

Quite frankly, they do not know each other at all. They've barely known each other for a week. That's not enough to fall in love with someone, not enough that someone like Kagami is talking about it like they're soulmates, star-crossed lovers who are fighting the world or something. Their relationship is extremely superficial, and the only reason they are together is because the plot demanded it to be so. We've seen how it warps their characters to be involved in a romance and how them even falling in love necessitates that their personalities be altered. And there are a few other contrivances that leads to the conclusion that this is clearly less a natural and organic relationship and more a set of conveniences that are needed to give them something to do in the season.

Why do I say they don't know each other? Why do I say they aren't in love with each other? Well...

Felix only likes Kagami because she's a Sentimonster.

Because that's the reason he ever even noticed her. He only noticed her because she was a Sentimonster. That's why he spared her. That's why he followed her. That's why he likes her. Because she's just like him.

Ask yourself, what else does Felix know about Kagami? What does he like about her explicitly? Does he appreciate her character? Does he enjoy her interests? What would they talk about other than them being Sentimonsters? And the answer to that is we don't know. We don't know why Felix likes Kagami, aside from the fact that she's a Sentimonster like him and that she stuck up for him. The rest is inference, because they only appear in what, one more episode after that, and they spend all that time putting on that cringy play for Marinette (which does fuck all because Mari doesn't figure out that Gabe is Monarch from that anyway lmfao).

Kagami only likes Felix because he's similar to Adrien.

On the most superficial level, of course. Felix looks like Adrien, he sounds like Adrien. The reason Kagami broke up with Adrien is because she wanted him to be more assertive, and Felix has that in spades. He's kind of like Adrien... the way Kagami wants him.

Puts things in a different context, huh?

Adrien is kind and compassionate, he's empathetic and selfless. He cares about her. Kagami was drawn to that nature of his. And on the surface, Felix exhibits these traits as well. He's kind to Kagami, he seems to have a great deal of compassion and empathy for Sentimonsters. And it was only previously revealed that Kagami still has feelings for Adrien. And here she sees a boy who looks and sounds like her old boyfriend, who seems to share some of the same qualities as him, even doing things like drawing hearts on her window, which is something a romantic like Adrien would do...

Seems like Kagami is trying to replace Adrien with someone who seems to be just like him. She's projecting her feelings for Adrien onto someone who meets the criteria.

Of course, that's where these superficial similarities end. Felix and Adrien couldn't be more different. Adrien is a hero. He's Chat Noir, who risks his life on the daily to battle Monarch. Felix... directly enabled Monarch's rise to power.

And that's just it. Kagami has not seen this. Kagami does not know this. She sees that Felix is, on some level, similar to Adrien, and seems to like him for that reason. But she doesn't know Felix as he is. She's only ever seen his "nice" side. She doesn't know who he truly is and what he's done. She doesn't know him. She's never seen him at his worst, she doesn't know just how badly he's fucked up, she doesn't know that he wasn't sorry for it at all. And what he did do, she never brings up and never acknowledges it, so it's like she forgot. At least for the whole genocide thing, we can at least make the excuse that he brought everyone back to explain her not trying to cut him into tiny pieces the moment she sees him (again, it's a bad excuse, it should not have been glossed over and forgotten, but if I have to do the writers' work for them...). But she doesn't know him beyond that. All she's seen is his "good" side. She doesn't know how he betrayed Ladybug. How he allied himself with Monarch. How he treated his cousin. She doesn't know him at all.

How do you think she'd react if she knew all this? Would she still be in a relationship with him? No. And that's why the writers had to make sure she never found out, and only saw the "good" side of him. So that she could fall for him without having to deal with the atrocities that he committed. So that they could come up with justifications for why she liked him without having to have him face consequences and actually deal with what he's done. They had to erase the worst of his actions so that Kagami could come to protect his feelings from his victims. They had to alter his personality and ignore some of his more unsavory personality traits so that they could justify someone like Kagami falling for him. The moment Kagami is in the picture and the Feligami arc happens, all Felix's traits like his cunning, his selfishness... it's all gone. All to make him more appealing.

She liked Adrien because he was nice to her. Not just to her, but to everyone around him. Felix is also nice to her. But that's all she's seen. She doesn't know Felix. So she doesn't know that he's only nice to her (and his mom). She's only seen him in situations where he comes off as good and nice, and she hasn't known him long enough to get the whole picture (people will point to the events of Emotion, but it doesn't count if she never seems to hold it against him or indicate that she even remembers it). Which leads to Kagami having a fundamental misunderstanding of who Felix is, not knowing that he's selfish and cruel, and not like Adrien. They had to hide this side of him when he was with Kagami to make him seem more nicer, kinder and sweeter, more like Adrien. And this is the Felix that Kagami falls for. Not for who he is as himself, flaws and all, but only the positive aspects of him, the qualities that got her to fall for Adrien.

There is a fundamental lack of understanding between them because they don't know a lot about each other. Their relationship isn't built on acceptance of the other person, they only like each other because they meet their superficial expectations and haven't known each other long enough to understand each other deeper, which would make them realize how different they are, who the other person truly is. This is the kind of relationship that ends in a mess. Once Kagami finds out about Felix being a tricky and scheming person, more than what he showed in Emotion, and that he's selfish enough to damn them all for personal gain, do you think she'd stay with him?

Kagami has a strong sense of justice and right or wrong, while Felix is... morally ambiguous, to say the least. And so, it begs the question, how were Kagami "I hate deception" Tsurugi and Felix "serial manipulator" Fathom able to reconcile this fundamental difference in their principles that is a very defining part of who they are? The answer is they didn't. And that does not make for a sustainable relationship. They need to get to know each other better before acting like they're fated lovers straight outta Shakespeare. But as of now, they don't know each other, they don't know some very important things about each other that could cause conflict in their relationship. But dealing with that would take away from other important things such as Adrien and Marinette trying to kiss for the thousandth time, and so the writers fail to explore it and ignore it, opting to write Kagami and Felix both OOC to make it seem like they are totally made for each other and have a great relationship and are super in love.

It wouldn't matter if it was implied that Feligami have this conflict and the writers chose to hint at it and address it later. But they're portrayed as a perfect couple with only cute moments and stuff. And it really seems like there was no effort put into writing them at all. The relationship is only there to give them something to do. Watch as they never address any of this, watch as they just keep giving them cute moments instead of addressing some important issues with this relationship. Watch as they keep writing them OOC because they would hate each other if their personalities were left as they were.

Because it's not perfect. Quite frankly, it's not good.

Edit: Apparently she does know about Monarch. I forgot that play they did, and he mentions that he gave the Miraculous to Monarch. My bad. But my point still stands. In fact, it makes it worse. They made him justify himself in that play and Kagami just accepts it. Kagami accepts and willingly allies herself with someone who is the reason everyone is in such danger. She willingly allies with someone who hurt her friend in such a cruel way. It literally goes against her character to exonerate people just because they have a tragic backstory. And Felix's character and personality is still changed to be more appealing so that they don't have to deal with all this. You expect me to believe that Kagami, anyone really, would just brush over the fact that Felix sold them all out to Monarch? She knows about it, but they still had to brush over it in order for the ship to work. The writers knew that if they actually made Felix face consequences and acknowledged his actions, they could never get Feligami together, or even get anyone to associate with Felix for that matter.

And even if Kagami does know about Monarch, that doesn't change much of my criticism. She still doesn't know how he treated Adrien, she still hasn't seen his manipulative and cruel side. His personality was still made more appealing so that she could get together with him, which includes glossing over his flaws and unsavory character traits and erasing his mistakes. Kagami still doesn't know who Felix is as a person because she has never been exposed to that side of him. The show tries to sell it to us that he does everything for a good reason, and that's why Kagami decides to trust him (which I already addressed), but she hasn't seen all the shit he did to his cousin out of sheer spite. I stand by my point that Kagami would never associate herself with Felix if she knew who he really was, and the writers knew this. So, the show goes out of its way to downplay his mistakes and make it seem like they are noble heroics, and it literally changes his personality so that Kagami can like him. The way it's written, she might as well not know and nothing would be different, so really, none of my criticism is actually moot.

The writers couldn't find a way to have Feligami happen if Kagami held Felix accountable, so they just made Kagami brush over it/forget about it and had Felix justify himself. Their relationship isn't built on Felix genuinely regretting his mistakes and wanting to fix it, it's built on him getting a personality retool and justifying himself, and on Kagami miraculously (sorry) forgetting how egregious his mistakes are and excusing him because of his tragic backstory. Instead of dealing with his unsavory traits and acknowledging his mistakes, the show erases those traits and justifies his mistakes to make him seem better than he is. His awful actions are retconned into being noble deeds that were necessary and correct, so really, Kagami still doesn't know him because the story changed what he actually did into something else entirely. She doesn't truly know what he did, just the watered down, sanitized version of it. But to an audience who watched Felix remorselessly bargain with Gabriel and doom so many people to be victims of Monarch, it makes Kagami look bad by association for allying with someone who sold them all out to a terrorist and doesn't regret it.

Again, this is still changing his personality. Making a clearly bad act to be justified, thereby portraying it as some moral act instead of the scummy shit it was makes him seem better than he really is. I may have been wrong about Kagami not knowing about Monarch, but she still doesn't know him, because now he doesn't have those bad qualities and his mistakes aren't really mistakes. So, Kagami doesn't know who he truly is and thinks he and his actions are better than they really are. She doesn't accept him flaws and all, she doesn't realize he's changed or that he's trying to change. She's written so that she thinks that what he did wasn't so bad that he has to be held accountable for it. The writers couldn't put in the effort to actually deal with what he did, so they tried to justify him by having characters like Kagami not bring up his mistakes, and rather accept and agree with what he did. Which is just... yikes.

In conclusion...

Felix's character was stripped of his intrigue and plot relevance. He was turned from a compelling character and villain into a glorified love interest who barely mattered to the plot. His "redemption" was half-assed because the writers couldn't bother to put in the effort, instead choosing to drastically alter his personality. His motivations were retconned in twice in the season itself, and his story ultimately went nowhere. He was ruined so badly that he took Kagami down with him. And it's sad, because despite his villainous role in the story, he was a genuinely interesting character. He had a great presence and he actually acted and did stuff. He was fresh and fun. Sure, he was an asshole, but he was enjoyable and entertaining to watch. But once you take away what makes him so appealing, all that's left is a husk.

Thing is, most of the problems with Felix can be traced back to Feligami. And sure, maybe that handful of Feligami shippers who spawned after Gabriel Agreste were gratified, and you know what? Good for them. But I really didn't like it, and I thought it was a massive disservice to both Felix and Kagami's characters. For Felix to be reduced to a simp and a glorified trophy, and for Kagami to be reduced to "girl who fixes the guy" (which they didn't do well lol) and the damsel in distress for him to save. I didn't like how their characters were changed for this ship to happen all because the plot demanded that it had to happen.

I am not against a relationship between Felix and Kagami. I love enemies to lovers. But it has to be good. It shouldn't rely on the characters' personalities being changed and their past interactions and mistakes being forgotten in order to force a ship to happen within a single episode. It shouldn't gloss over their genuine incompatible qualities. And I've said it before, having opposing personalities isn't a sign that your relationship is fated to be doomed or something. Not at all. People can put in effort and work on their relationship to reconcile their differences. But it's not dealt with. Rather, it's ignored in favor of making them seem like the perfect couple just a week or so after they met? As though they are already like such a healthy and loving couple who know each other soooooo well. The show chooses to change their personalities rather than figure out a way for them to reconcile their actual personalities. And this hurts both their characters and makes them do things they would never do if it were not for the ship. And if you have to change your characters' personalities for a ship to happen... then no offense, but maybe it shouldn't happen.

And most of this problem with the ship is because of the lack of screentime. Maybe they could have cut down on the Chloe hatefest to, idk, give these important characters some more screentime? Maybe we didn't need Derision and we could have gotten some more of Felix and Kagami there? No hate to the people who like Derision, I'm happy that others got joy out of it, but was it really necessary? Maybe they could have given Felix and Kagami the time they gave to Socqueline, who is the most unnecessary character ever? And again, no hate to her fans, but was she really needed? Did she contribute anything that could not have been and wasn't already being contributed by an established character (Alya)? Does she have any plot relevance aside from being there?

Maybe if they had cut down on some of these useless decisions which no one really asked for (did anyone really look at Mari's awkwardness and think "oh I wonder what specific trauma she went through to be like this, it can't be that she's just nervous around her crush or anything"), they could have made Feligami a more natural and believable romance and had Felix develop as a character and join the team in the end without having to change their characters completely.

But Felix's character is riddled with inconsistency and hypocrisy, and he is the farthest thing from redeemed, even at the end of the season. And frankly, it baffles me that they decided to include him in the team at the end. The writing choices surrounding him did not help his character develop in any meaningful way. He was less a character with a story and an arc and more a plot device that the writers changed up whenever they needed him to do something. His personality and motivations changed according to the needs and demands of the plot. But it also went out of its way to justify and make the audience sympathize with him. So, Felix's writing is in this weird grey area where he's a victim of bad writing but it's used to his advantage more often than not.

(To get a little more into my personal feelings here, unlike characters like Chloe for whom I can get rightfully angry about her mistreatment by the narrative, I don't feel that way for Felix because the narrative favors him, and his personality is changed to make him look good in whatever plot he's in. His moments are at the expense of other characters. So, his character is inconsistent and poorly written, but it's often to his favor, and that makes it less... outrageous? to me than for characters like Chloe and Adrien. Idk, this is one of my most subjective points, feel free to disagree.)

But bad writing is still bad writing. Ultimately, the decisions made in Season 5 were detrimental to Felix's character and made him far less compelling than he was, and it's a damn shame. But hey, that's just me.

[glitchy-anime-fan]

Sinners aren’t the only ones who can be overlords (theory)

⚠️ HAZBIN HOTEL SPOILERS ⚠️

I’m not sure if anyone else noticed this (hopefully I’m not late to this idea) but I’m pretty sure overlord status isn’t solely given to sinner demons. I'll be focusing on Rosie and Carmilla but I'm also going to include other characters for comparison sake. I'm also going to reference the Wiki page for the characters as well as things that Faustisse has said in the past while they were still working on the series. Take these with a grain of salt, this is just a theory after all, if I'm proven wrong by the show then so be it lol.

I've seen some talk in the fandom regarding not only Carmilla and her daughters but also Rosie and the residents of Cannible Town. I think the biggest thing I've seen is people being confused as to how Carmilla could have daughters since sinner demons cannot reproduce. A lot of the confusion is regarding how Carmilla could have daughters if she's a sinner given the reproduction issue. I think one of the popular theories is that Odette and Clara happened to die as adults and reunited with Carmilla in hell which makes sense if we are looking at them as sinners. However, while I was looking at the wiki page for Rosie I noticed a pattern with the other characters; their species are typically specified as more than just "demon" if applicable. For example; Moxxie, Milly, and Blitzo are all specified as "imp demons" while Alstor, Vox, and Valentino are specified as "sinner demons" showing that they are different.

(Below is screenshots of the wiki pages from each character mentioned above so you can see what I mean)

Similarly, if we look at Stolas, Charlie, and Octavia, their wiki pages have them labelled as just demons, with no specification, however, we know all three of them are hellborns.

Now I bring this up because if we look at Carmilla and her daughter's Wiki pages, they are denoted as a demon with no further specification.

If we are to take this in the same context as Stolas and Charlie, it's a fair assumption to make that they are all hellborn demons. We don't exactly know how many different subspecies of hellborns there are aside from the ones that have been shown in Helluva Boss. To quote the HH wiki describing the hierarchy, hellborn demons include "Succubi and Incubi, among other unknown demon species of Hell". Who's to say that Carmilla and her daughters aren't part of this unknown subspecies of demons? This I think could help explain how Carmilla has two daughters as a demon.

Now in episode seven, we do see that Carmilla and her daughters were attacked by exorcists. As part of the extermination deal between Lucifer and Heaven, the exorcists are not allowed to kill hellborns. If this is the case, why would the exorcists attack Carmilla? Well, there could be a few reasons. The first reason could be that the exorcists mistook Carmilla and her daughters as sinners. Who knows how much the exorcists are taught about demons and the differences between hellborns and sinners. It could be that these angels mistook them as sinners whether it be because Carmilla looks similar to other sinners, or the exorcists were just caught up in th moment and attacked and demon who passed by. We could also guess that most angels just assume that all the demons in Pride are sinners since it seems that most hellborn demons originate from other rings.

On the other hand, perhaps the exorcist just didn't care. Who knows how long Adam had been planning to move up the exterminations. Who knows how the other exorcists see the exterminations from an individual standpoint. Lute obviously has her own opinions of demons and the exterminations so who knows what the other angels feel. These could have been exorcists who didn't care about the deal. Maybe they thought because they're angles they're better than demons and could perhaps get away with killing a hellborn (the hubris am I right?)? Maybe they thought they could come up with some kind of excuse to get themselves out of it. Who knows.

In a similar vein, I've seen once or twice people on Twitter talk about how the cannibals in Cannibal Town all look relatively similar despite it being shown that sinner demons have unique demon forms (obviously with some similarities if it's between families like Angel and his brother/father for example). I think I saw one tweet suggesting that the cannibals are another subspecies of hellborns (I unfortunately only saw it in passing and don't know the user off the top of my head) and I actually think this could have some merit to it.

Jumping back to the wiki pages, if you look at Rosie's page she also has the "demon" title without any sort of additional specification. Already this matches with what I mentioned at the very beginning regarding Charlie and Stolas. Faustisse also mentions that Rosie didn't die (it's included in Rosie's trivia section) alluding to the idea that she is, in fact, a hellborn demon.

Likewise, while I was looking at the wiki page for Cannibal Town, I noticed this little gem in the trivia section. I think it's safe to assume that the reason all of the cannibal demons look the same/similar is that they are just another subspecies of demons native to Pride. This, again, can explain how there are children in Cannibal Town despite sinners not being able to reproduce; none of them are actually sinners.

Now why do I bring this up? Well for two reasons; one it's just kind of cool to know that sinners aren't the only demons who can potentially gain overlord status. This means that, in theory, other hellborns could also gain higher status if they can make deals and collect souls. There is actually a good chunk of overlords that aren't specified as sinners, such as Velvette and Zestial alongside Carmilla and Rosie. As far as I can tell only Alastor, Vox, and Valentino are sinner demon overlords (we could also include Husk if we take into account that he used to be an overlord before the events of the show). This is just a cool little detail that I didn't catch at first that could end up being important or not important at all later in the show. And again, it can also show that those in the lower ranks of the hierarchy could potentially move up in status, not just the sinners.

The second reason I am bringing up this theory is that it adds another layer to Alastor's plan during the finale. So in the last episode, Alastor brings Charlie to Rosie to ask for assistance in fighting Adam. Now on the surface, we could read into this as Alastor knows Rosie will help because they're friends and he knows she'd be willing to support Charlie. This did likely play a part in why Alastor chose to go to Rosie.

However, if the cannibals are hellborns then perhaps he thought that the hotel would get some kind of win no matter what happened. I mentioned before that as part of the agreement for the exterminations to happen the exorcists can't kill hellborns. Perhaps Alastor took into account that with the cannibals around, the angels would have a harder time getting to the hotel as they would be trying to avoid killing demons that they aren't allowed to kill. This would allow the others more chances to sneak in and kill the exorcists while they're distracted.

On the other hand, he could have assumed that if the exorcists or Adam didn't care about the deal anymore then they would get in major trouble with the rest of Heaven for killing the cannibals. One way or another the Hotel is getting some kind of upper hand in the fight regardless; either they have a way to distract the angles or they put the angels in a position where they get in trouble later.

I tried looking back in the episode to see if any of the cannibals actually died and I couldn't see any. Perhaps it was just for the ease of animating or because it wasn't a huge focus in the battle so the effect the battle had on the cannibals just wasn't shown. Though, if I had to guess since Lucifer didn't show up until after Dazzle died and Charlie was in real trouble then none of the cannibals were injured or killed.

Overall I just think this is kind of a cool theory that I think adds some depth to the characters and/or their actions. Again, this is also just a fan theory so please don't take it as gospel. If anyone on the Hazbin team comes out and expands more on the cannibals and Carmilla that completely contradicts this then it is what it is! This was just something that I noticed today while I was working on a different Hazbin post and I had to write it somewhere lol.

sorry this got super long, I hope it makes sense. Sometimes I have trouble articulating my thoughts when I have ideas like this lol.

[shieldfoss]

Paul Graham's "Orthodox Privilege"

I've got a list of essays and articles I read that made me go "...oh that's how it is" (more than a few by SSC) but one of them, that I don't hear many people talking about, is Paul Graham's "Orthodox Privilege"

Orthodox Privilege

I'm just gonna fill it in here below the cut so you don't have to go elsewhere to read it but it's good and fast to read (short + well edited)

"Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions." -Einstein There has been a lot of talk about privilege lately. Although the concept is overused, there is something to it, and in particular to the idea that privilege makes you blind — that you can't see things that are visible to someone whose life is very different from yours. But one of the most pervasive examples of this kind of blindness is one that I haven't seen mentioned explicitly. I'm going to call it orthodox privilege: The more conventional-minded someone is, the more it seems to them that it's safe for everyone to express their opinions. It's safe for them to express their opinions, because the source of their opinions is whatever it's currently acceptable to believe. So it seems to them that it must be safe for everyone. They literally can't imagine a true statement that would get you in trouble. And yet at every point in history, there were true things that would get you in trouble to say. Is ours the first where this isn't so? What an amazing coincidence that would be. Surely it should at least be the default assumption that our time is not unique, and that there are true things you can't say now, just as there have always been. You would think. But even in the face of such overwhelming historical evidence, most people will go with their gut on this one. In the most extreme cases, people suffering from orthodox privilege will not only deny that there's anything true that you can't say, but will accuse you of heresy merely for saying there is. Though if there's more than one heresy current in your time, these accusations will be weirdly non-deterministic: you must either be an xist or a yist. Frustrating as it is to deal with these people, it's important to realize that they're in earnest. They're not pretending they think it's impossible for an idea to be both unorthodox and true. The world really looks that way to them. Indeed, this is a uniquely tenacious form of privilege. People can overcome the blindness induced by most forms of privilege by learning more about whatever they're not. But they can't overcome orthodox privilege just by learning more. They'd have to become more independent-minded. If that happens at all, it doesn't happen on the time scale of one conversation. It may be possible to convince some people that orthodox privilege must exist even though they can't sense it, just as one can with, say, dark matter. There may be some who could be convinced, for example, that it's very unlikely that this is the first point in history at which there's nothing true you can't say, even if they can't imagine specific examples. But in general I don't think it will work to say "check your privilege" about this type of privilege, because those in its demographic don't realize they're in it. It doesn't seem to conventional-minded people that they're conventional-minded. It just seems to them that they're right. Indeed, they tend to be particularly sure of it. Perhaps the solution is to appeal to politeness. If someone says they can hear a high-pitched noise that you can't, it's only polite to take them at their word, instead of demanding evidence that's impossible to produce, or simply denying that they hear anything. Imagine how rude that would seem. Similarly, if someone says they can think of things that are true but that cannot be said, it's only polite to take them at their word, even if you can't think of any yourself.

Orthodox Privilege

I never noticed, until today, the associated time - July 2020 - an so I never, until today, realized he might be talking about the reactions you saw to COVID.

[desultory-novice]

Have you gone over your interpreted dynamics that Magolor, Susie and Taranza may have with each other? (asking for 1-on-1 each, so three dynamics total)

My apologies if you've gone over them already, I just don't recall.

I have not!

In fact, I don't think I've done many character + character dynamics, so please, everyone interested, I request you send me even more combos! (Must...clean all this angst...off my dashboard...!)

Now then! Onto the dynamics!

-

Magolor + Susie

[Continued Below]

These two are possibly my favorite dynamic-holders of the Wave 3 gang! You've got your classic red oni blue oni except that Magolor is the exuberant one and Susie is the (slightly) more reserved!

Magolor is interested in ancient tech for its ability to make his dreams come true. Susie is interested in turning it INTO something that can be used to make dreams come true. Re-use vs repurpose.

And I think that old tech > new tech disparity would be at the center of their dealings with each other. (Frankly, everyone in the cast is "old tech" compared to Susie but someone has to be at the top XD)

Susie operates on a planetary scale: "How can my (father's) company be used to make things better?" whereas Magolor is very "I will make a thing that people will come to from all over to feel better!"

They're so near to each other's way of thinking but fundamentally different in a few ways that means they don't quite see eye to eye. But I think they can absolutely get involved in long drawn out discussions that involve lots of "Yes! And...!"

Clash indicates to us that Magolor DOES find Susie somewhat pesky. I can't help but wonder if part of that comes from a (potentially incorrect) assumption that Susie must have had EVERYTHING she ever wanted while Magolor had to dig around in the dirt of Halcandra alone for X number of years hoping to find a magic theme park building doohickey amongst the wreckage. (We know Susie's childhood was anything but ideal but HE doesn't.)

I guess DX josses the idea that the two of them met while Magolor was wandering AD, which is a shame as that was a very neat headcanon, but even if they had, I always assumed it would have been a neutral/short-lived partnership. Not enough to dramatically change their feelings toward one another.

...I also think that Susie will be constantly looking for opportunities to opportunities to turn the Lor Starcutter pink (which it wouldn't necessarily mind, but Magolor is vehemently against!) So, yeah, I would say "great collaborators when they're working together but not all the time, and Magolor is usually the one to snap first."

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Susie + Taranza

I've said I only "ship" one ship in this fandom, and that's true, but I am also guilty of thinking, "Susie/Taranza kinda makes sense, right?"

I mean, he very much seems to be preparing himself to flirt (?) with her in the Star Allies opening sequence. He's looking for a new queen to worship, and would Susie find that so awful, really...?

Not that I want to characterize Taranza as a pitiful loser simp-type for her, so I think it would be nice if they approached each other on more equal terms. In this case, I would think that  their dynamics come from a shared appreciation for beautiful things.

If you were to stick all three in one living space, Susie and Taranza would be the neat freaks, making sure everything is organized (and laid out in an aesthetically pleasing fashion too!) meanwhile Magolor lives on half-finished energy drinks and sleeps on the floor. XD

They are also, obviously, notable for being the two major characters in the modern games to have lost a loved one on-screen in a big Kirby game event. They really should be allowed to use this to bond.

And I'd like to think they have.

So they're kind of low-key get along. Nothing bombastic - they don't set the world on fire with how good they get along, but you're not too surprised when you see them out shopping together either.

-

Taranza + Magolor

I have a LOT of thoughts about the wizards. (In fact, I keep creating backstories for these two, because despite there being a few dedicated fans of this ship, I don't see a whole lot of people dig into Magolor having a shared backstory with Tara and Secty?!)

Despite that, my feelings on them tend to change depending upon how important I find giving them a potential backstory together. Because when on screen they feel very... neutral? They don't have the dynamism of Magolor and Susie's potential clashes, nor the obvious "lonely spider seeks confident beautiful queen" of Taranza and Susie.

Clash!Taranza sits on Magolor's shoppe, chilling out, and that is... really the best way I can describe them? They are very chill.

The concept of them talking deep magic with each other is interesting, but Taranza is a follower type of character. Someone who needs someone to be a catalyst before he will go off.

Magolor could be that for him, but I think Magolor needs to get in over his head first before he will go to Taranza for assistance.

Having said that, I think that what these two have over the other Wave 3 pair dynamics is the highest level of TRUST.

I once read a Japanese doujin about Magolor that was, frankly, even more depressing than MY most depressing works (if you know, you know, but I'm not linking it) but there was a moment when Magolor talks to Taranza about a serious issue and watching the two talk serious to each other (interspersed with some moments of comic melodrama from Taranza) was utterly FASCINATING~

I don't think they become their "true" selves to each other often, but I think that when they do talk about srs business, they are two of the strongest characters in the whole cast to do so...! (Which is probably why I would never "ship" them in the classical sense? I don't see them as going out on dates or sharing the same dessert or coffee shop stuff. When they are at their "closest" they are discussing forbidden history or the skeletons in their prospective closets....)

So, on the surface? They have a very vanilla friendship with nothing to stand out. But these two COULD (if they wanted to) get up to stuff so cursed it would drive even Marx from the room.