#Video Course Generator Tool

[reazreviewzone]

ProductDyno Review - AI-Powered Membership & Licensing Platform & Create 1-Click Digital Product

Welcome to my honest review and ProductDyno Review. Now it is easier to create and sell your digital products. Recently launched a brand new software ( Matt Garrett ) that makes sells and delivers digital products, you can create and sell digital products with jam-packed content like text, audio, video, and downloadable files with ProductDyno Review.

What is ProductDyno? ProductDyno is an AI-powered creates and sells digital products software that helps you Create and Sell Memberships, Video Courses, And Digital Products, jam-packed content like text, audio, video, and downloadable files with ProductDyno. Choose your digital product from the list, then create and edit the content of your choice, and then make the intuitive content design. You’ll be able to integrate your payment processor and create favorite marketing tools at the product level with just a few clicks. ProductDyno review has a user-friendly platform that makes it easy to create, sell, and manage all your digital products from one convenient place or dashboard. ProductDyno Review provides you with a massive opportunity.

Get access here>>

Overview – ProductDyno First, a customer optimizes the products quality or benefits the site. Who is the person who built the app? Discount price: why build the app? And who is the best choice for it? Everything. That is an ideal customers quality. Don`t worry; I covered the part for an ideal person. I think you are an idealistic reader.

Author/vendor – Matt Garrett Product –ProductDyno Launce date – 6/03/25 Create Digital Product - highly recommended Official website – VISITE HERE Front-end price - $47 Business – ok Hosting Domain – Highly recommended Instantly Create Text Into High-Quality 4k HD Video Create Instantly Book – High recommended Watch/ Create Video – Any Language Social Media Marketing – Number One passive income – ok Recurring System – OK Payment – ONE Time Local Business – High Recommend Money-Back – 30 Days Money-Back Guarantee Funnel/Tool – Automated & Done-For-You Support – Effective Niche – Any Niche of your choice

How Does ProductDyno Work?

Every app works with a few simple steps like the ProductDyno review works on 3 simple steps.

Step 1. Sing up: Every app follows the role. This is an easy step to create an account.

Step 2. Collection Your Product: Then choose your digital products with 1000 free themes.

Step 3. Customize Design & Promote: Easily customize & promote your products easily and instantly viral worldwide.

Awesome Key Features Of ProdutDyno?

Software indeed depends on some valuable features. The software will be attractive because of its features. Besides, how to work the software features smoothly or effectively in the future. Firstly, a customer consideration before purchasing this app. Therefore, an agency builds any software`s features discerningly for a client. After pricing, an agency wants honesty and satisfaction from its customers. It has responsibilities or accountability to a customer. The software boosts your earnings 10x with its awesome and interesting features, I can say obviously. I described the software beautifully below.

-Software/SAAS module: The ProducDyno review provides a software/SAAS opportunity.

-Custom Link To Product: Easily customize any link to a product and promote it.

Labeling/Branding: A member can easily promote and brand their products.

-SSL Certificates: The ProductDyno Review gives you a commercial SSL license or certificates:

Unlimited File Upload: Upload unlimited files like text, video, and PLR.

Import Members Via CSV: You can join your circle member on this site.

Connect Your Storage: Connect your storage with AI-powered tools.

Included Current Standard Themes: They provide all done-for-you themes for their members.

-Zero Monthly Cost: One-time get access and auto-updates all features.

-Reporting and Analytics Dashboard: ProductDyno review built advanced quality reporting optimized dashboard.

Why Should Use The ProductDyno?

ProductDyno Review always helps & supports you create external content and hosted on other platforms. We can customize your digital products with different themes, colors, fonts, and even language translations with ProductDyno.

1 Delivery Content: The agency helps us Create And Sell Memberships, Video Courses, And Digital Products.

2 Sell Membership: Might get more profit selling your AI Membership.

3 Coding & Plugins System: We can easily customize your digital products with different themes, colors, fonts, and even language translations.

4 Design and Customize: ProductDyno provides all features including colors, fonts, and themes with the content designer.

5 Bundle Collection: ProductDyno is packed with 50+ native integrations & connects all your favorite tools for payments, emails, webinars, and file hosting.

6 All In One: We get in one platform like create videos, and courses, customize design, free themes.

7 Auto Updates: The agency provides auto updates without any fees.

8 Money-Back Guarantee: They give a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Why Is ProductDyno High Recommended?

Proven Results: Users report significant improvements in content quality, engagement, and ROI

AI-powered Smart Editor & Rewriter – Polish, rewrite, and enhance content with ProductDyno Live optimization.

One-Time Payment: No recurring fees or hidden costs.

Automate Repetitive Tasks: Set up workflows to automate tasks like email campaigns and social media posting.

Import Members Via CSV: You can join your circle members on this site.

Design and Customize: ProductDyno provides all features including colors, fonts, and themes with the content designer.

Coding & Plugins System: We can easily customize your digital products with different themes, colors, fonts, and even language translations.

Custom Link To Product: Easily customize any link to a product and promote it.

SSL Certificates: The ProductDyno Review gives you a commercial SSL license or certificates:

Why Choose ProductDyno?

Real-Time AI Web Access – Unlike most AI platforms, Workforce AI searches the live web for real-time data.

24/7 Support: Get assistance whenever you need it with round-the-clock customer support.

Multi Funnel: Promote affiliate links and products with video and text

Free Bonus: The agency gives their customer a lot of free bonus.

Custom: A member can custom CSS or third-party widgets

Free Template: The agency gives free templates to its members.

Free Commercial License - ProductDyno A free commercial license allows individuals or businesses to use, modify, and distribute software, content, or products without paying licensing fees, even for commercial purposes. Unlike personal-use-only licenses, it permits monetization, such as selling the product or incorporating it into commercial projects. Popular examples include open-source software under MIT or Apache 2.0 licenses. However, users must comply with specific terms, such as attributing the original creator or sharing modifications under the same license. Free commercial licenses foster innovation, collaboration, and accessibility, making them valuable for startups, developers, and creators seeking cost-effective solutions. Always review the license terms to ensure compliance and understand any restrictions.

Who Is ProductDyno Best For?

Affiliate Marketer: Easily promote digital products with AI tools.

List Builders: Generate a list and customize the template.

Email Marketer: Design a template for an email to a unique quality

Publisher: The ready-made template helps grow the business.

E-Come Sore Owner: Create high-quality products using their tools.

Agency: Built trust in any client of your agency.

Resale: Work with the owner of the app as a product resaler.

Money-Back Guarantee A 30-day money-back guarantee is a customer-friendly policy that allows buyers to request a full refund within 30 days of purchase if they are unsatisfied with a product or service. This policy builds trust and confidence, encouraging potential customers to purchase with minimal risk. It demonstrates the seller's commitment to quality and customer satisfaction. To claim a refund, customers typically need to return the product in its original condition or cancel the service within the specified period. This guarantee is commonly used in industries like software, e-commerce, and subscription services. While it can increase sales, businesses must ensure clear terms to prevent abuse. Overall, it’s a win-win, offering customers peace of mind and businesses a competitive edge.

Get access here>>

Pros & Cons – ProductDyno The part! Any app has some pros & cons. But such an app hasnt cons or bad sites. Accordingly, I covered the part that information an agency delivered to me. I hope you dont waste your quality time reading useless articles. I tried to write a more informative or helpful article for the reader. Now, I want to start with the pros and cons of the software.

Pros: ProductDyno Review -Generate Video Course -Affiliate link -Customize theme design -Optimize tools -Free Bonus -30-day money-back guarantee -Features auto-update -List Building -Promote any product -Create agency -Local business

Cons: ProductDyno Review -Limited time offer -Internet connection -Your idea -Use opportunity

Conclusion – ProductDyno In conclusion, ProductDyno review is a must-have tool for anyone looking to streamline their workflows, create high-quality content, and grow their business. With its Exclusive Bundle Deal, you can unlock the full potential of this powerful platform at an unbeatable price. Don’t wait—get ProductDyno today and start transforming your digital marketing efforts!

OTO & Pricing – ProductDyno

Front-End Price Starter Plan ($49)

. Import members via CSV . Link custom domains to products or collections .Software/SAAS licensing module .mport members via CSV .White labeling/branding removal .Complimentary SSL certificates

OTO1: VIP Platinum Upgrade ($967)

.Each DFY White Label Membership includes: .Hosting, Customization & Integrations .Monetization & Licensing .Student, Customer & Member Management .Personalized Certifications .Progress Tracking & Member Engagement Tools .Drip Content & Schedule Releases .Sell Digital Products .Create Checkout Pages .Create Landing Pages

OTO2: DFY Addon Bundle ($499)

.High-Ticket Course Creation .Affiliate Marketing & Sales Funnels .Email Marketing & List Building .Includes TWO Premium Add-Ons! .Downsell 1: Pro Plus+ Plan .ALL Features from Your Starter Plan, PLUS .These DFY memberships cover: .How They Are Distributed:

OTO3: AI Creator Suite Free Trial -$99/year

.AICS Now Covers Sub-Accounts – Works across all sub-accounts (NEW) .Marketing Automation – AI-powered sales video scripts, social media content, and content calendars .Sales Page & Email Writing – AI-powered content & promotions .Instant Course Creation – Push-button course generation

OTO 4 - VIP Platinum $997

.Each DFY White Label Membership includes: .Exclusive VIP Platinum BONUSES ($7,000+ Value!) .Hosting, Customization & Integrations .Monetization & Licensing .Advanced Marketing & Engagement Tools .Full Learning Management System (LMS) .ProductDyno VIP Platinum – The Ultimate Digital Product & Membership Platform .One-Time Payment for Lifetime Access

OTO 5 - DFY ADD ON BUNDLE:($499

.VIP Platinum members will receive 3 white-label memberships included. .These DFY memberships cover: .How They Are Distributed:

OTO 6 - AI Creator Suite Free Trial -$99/year

.Marketing Automation – AI-powered sales video scripts, social media content, and content calendars .Sales Page & Email Writing – AI-powered content & promotions .nstant Course Creation – Push-button course generation rent-

Free Bonus – ProductDyno There is a customer who gets a free valuable bonus from the agency. An agency wants to convenience their client, or they want to hold customers. Where do you get the free valuable bonus? But the agency gifts you a valuable bonus of a thousand dollars. The last word is that a customer can boost her earnings 10x with the app. Let`s see, what is the valuable bonus from the company.

1 Bonus - Membership Mavericks Course ($499+ Value) Get the Bonus and Membership Mavericks, you'll unlock the exact methods used by the most successful membership site. If you want to generate consistent, predictable income, this course is your roadmap instantly.

2 Bonus - Rapid Digital Products Course ($499+ Value) If you want selling digital products is one of the fastest ways to build an online business—but if you know what works. This course helps you through the entire process, from idea to execution, so you can churn out high-demand digital products in a few seconds.

3 Bonus - Digital Publishing Mastery Course ($499+ Value) This exclusive training reveals the same strategies that have helped PromoteLabs generate over $10M in digital product sales worldwide or in your selected place. You’ll discover how to launch, market, create video, design, use ready theme, and scale your digital products with high-converting funnels, automation strategies, and advanced audience growth techniques & more.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Thousand of questions in a customer's mind. The app be good or bad? Have they a money-back guarantee? Have a bonus? Etc. I cleared your dude of mind. Particularly, a new customer has dude too much. Because they are a smart person of the current generation, generally, they don`t want to waste their valuable time. Ok, no problem, I clear dude questions of your mind. I covered some important questions that help customers buy the app or take the service. IS THERE A MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE? Yes, we offer a money-back guarantee. If you are not satisfied with the app within [specific time frame, e.g., 30 days], you can request a full refund. Please refer to our refund policy for more details.

WHY DO I INVEST IN THE APP? Investing in the app provides you with a powerful tool to [state the purpose of the app, e.g., streamline your business, improve productivity, or enhance user engagement]. It is designed to save you time, reduce costs, and deliver a high return on investment through its innovative features and user-friendly interface.

DO I NEED ANY TECH SKILLS? No, you don’t need any technical skills to use the app. It is designed to be intuitive and easy to navigate, making it accessible for users of all experience levels. However, if you have any questions, our support team is always available to assist you.

DO YOU PROVIDE ANY SUPPORT? Yes, we provide comprehensive support to ensure you have the best experience with the app. Our support team is available [state availability, e.g., 24/7 or during business hours] via [support channels, e.g., email, live chat, or phone]. Additionally, we offer a detailed knowledge base and tutorials to help you get started.

WILL YOU AUTO-UPDATE THE APP FEATURES? Yes, the app will automatically update to ensure you always have access to the latest features, security patches, and improvements. You don’t need to worry about manually updating the app—we handle everything for you to provide a seamless experience.

Affiliate disclaimer Thank you for reading my honest review. My honest opinion is shared in the review. An affiliate disclaimer is a statement to inform audiences that a company or individual may earn a commission or other compensation if they purchase products or services through links on their website, blog, social media, or other platforms. This disclaimer is essential for maintaining transparency and complying with legal requirements, such as those set by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the United States. It ensures readers or viewers know of any potential bias or financial incentive behind recommendations. Typically, the disclaimer is placed prominently, either at the beginning or end of content and clearly states the nature of the affiliate relationship. For example, "This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I earn a commission if you purchase through my links at no extra cost." This builds trust with the audience while protecting the content creator from legal issues.

[torchickentacos]

I'm getting so sick and tired of AI. Someone needs to start mass-feeding it eng dub AG pokemon scripts only or something. Make it watch Spontaneous Combusken 87934573489 times. I think that would sufficiently poison its datasets if we could do it enough times.

[keynotespeakeraj]

Ultimate Lead Generation Course | DGAS by Amit Jadhav

Digital Growth Accelerator System DGAS by Amit Jadhav is an ultimate lead generation course. Utilize established tactics, gain access to exclusive templates, checklists, worksheets, leverage digital and AI automation tools to facilitate the implementation and automation of your growth. Get registered now!

[little-saw]

ᯓ★ tips for hidden/closeted littles . ݁₊ ⊹ . 🌞

note: There is nothing wrong with your regression, but I understand the need to hide it from others. But please know you are not gross, wrong, or bad for regressing. These are tips I've gathered as a closeted regressor myself, hope they help<3

╰┈➤ look into mobile games, they're great for regressing! There's lots of cute and soft games on the appstore and google that can help with regression and slipping into little space.

╰┈➤ im big on asmr. as a tool to relax, unwind, and regress. linked here and here are two videos I think are great for littles who would like to try asmr to help their regression!

╰┈➤ if you're older, look into adult coloring books and other crafts and hobbies. Sewing, crocheting, etc. are good options! Creating, in general, is a fantastic way to slip into little space!

╰┈➤ if you have a form of control over when you regress, try to regress when you're alone and safe to limit being caught.

╰┈➤ ring pops are a good alternative to paci's, and water bottles with straws work well, too!

╰┈➤ try purchasing gear at second-hand shops, make sure to clean and sanitize everything, of course! My baby bottle, rattle, and plushies are from a second-hand shop!

╰┈➤ make yourself a regression playlist of songs that help you feel small or fit the vibe you'd like to experience when regressed

╰┈➤ watch your favorite kids' shows! Or shows you watched when you were physically younger!

[ms-demeanor]

Why reblog machine-generated art?

When I was ten years old I took a photography class where we developed black and white photos by projecting light on papers bathed in chemicals. If we wanted to change something in the image, we had to go through a gradual, arduous process called dodging and burning.

When I was fifteen years old I used photoshop for the first time, and I remember clicking on the clone tool or the blur tool and feeling like I was cheating.

When I was twenty eight I got my first smartphone. The phone could edit photos. A few taps with my thumb were enough to apply filters and change contrast and even spot correct. I was holding in my hand something more powerful than the huge light machines I'd first used to edit images.

When I was thirty six, just a few weeks ago, I took a photo class that used Lightroom Classic and again, it felt like cheating. It made me really understand how much the color profiles of popular web images I'd been seeing for years had been pumped and tweaked and layered with local edits to make something that, to my eyes, didn't much resemble photography. To me, photography is light on paper. It's what you capture in the lens. It's not automatic skin smoothing and a local filter to boost the sky. This reminded me a lot more of the photomanipulations my friend used to make on deviantart; layered things with unnatural colors that put wings on buildings or turned an eye into a swimming pool. It didn't remake the images to that extent, obviously, but it tipped into the uncanny valley. More real than real, more saturated more sharp and more present than the actual world my lens saw. And that was before I found the AI assisted filters and the tool that would identify the whole sky for you, picking pieces of it out from between leaves.

You know, it's funny, when people talk about artists who might lose their jobs to AI they don't talk about the people who have already had to move on from their photo editing work because of technology. You used to be able to get paid for basic photo manipulation, you know? If you were quick with a lasso or skilled with masks you could get a pretty decent chunk of change by pulling subjects out of backgrounds for family holiday cards or isolating the pies on the menu for a mom and pop. Not a lot, but enough to help. But, of course, you can just do that on your phone now. There's no need to pay a human for it, even if they might do a better job or be more considerate toward the aesthetic of an image.

And they certainly don't talk about all the development labs that went away, or the way that you could have trained to be a studio photographer if you wanted to take good photos of your family to hang on the walls and that digital photography allowed in a parade of amateurs who can make dozens of iterations of the same bad photo until they hit on a good one by sheer volume and luck; if you want to be a good photographer everyone can do that why didn't you train for it and spend a long time taking photos on film and being okay with bad photography don't you know that digital photography drove thousands of people out of their jobs.

My dad told me that he plays with AI the other day. He hosts a movie podcast and he puts up thumbnails for the downloads. In the past, he'd just take a screengrab from the film. Now he tells the Bing AI to make him little vignettes. A cowboy running away from a rhino, a dragon arm-wrestling a teddy bear. That kind of thing. Usually based on a joke that was made on the show, or about the subject of the film and an interest of the guest.

People talk about "well AI art doesn't allow people to create things, people were already able to create things, if they wanted to create things they should learn to create things." Not everyone wants to make good art that's creative. Even fewer people want to put the effort into making bad art for something that they aren't passionate about. Some people want filler to go on the cover of their youtube video. My dad isn't going to learn to draw, and as the person who he used to ask to photoshop him as Ant-Man because he certainly couldn't pay anyone for that kind of thing, I think this is a great use case for AI art. This senior citizen isn't going to start cartooning and at two recordings a week with a one-day editing turnaround he doesn't even really have the time for something like a Fiverr commission. This is a great use of AI art, actually.

I also know an artist who is going Hog Fucking Wild creating AI art of their blorbos. They're genuinely an incredibly talented artist who happens to want to see their niche interest represented visually without having to draw it all themself. They're posting the funny and good results to a small circle of mutuals on socials with clear information about the source of the images; they aren't trying to sell any of the images, they're basically using them as inserts for custom memes. Who is harmed by this person saying "i would like to see my blorbo lasciviously eating an ice cream cone in the is this a pigeon meme"?

The way I use machine-generated art, as an artist, is to proof things. Can I get an explosion to look like this. What would a wall of dead computer monitors look like. Would a ballerina leaping over the grand canyon look cool? Sometimes I use AI art to generate copyright free objects that I can snip for a collage. A lot of the time I use it to generate ideas. I start naming random things and seeing what it shows me and I start getting inspired. I can ask CrAIon for pose reference, I can ask it to show me the interior of spaces from a specific angle.

I profoundly dislike the antipathy that tumblr has for AI art. I understand if people don't want their art used in training pools. I understand if people don't want AI trained on their art to mimic their style. You should absolutely use those tools that poison datasets if you don't want your art included in AI training. I think that's an incredibly appropriate action to take as an artist who doesn't want AI learning from your work.

However I'm pretty fucking aggressively opposed to copyright and most of the "solid" arguments against AI art come down to "the AIs viewed and learned from people's copyrighted artwork and therefore AI is theft rather than fair use" and that's a losing argument for me. In. Like. A lot of ways. Primarily because it is saying that not only is copying someone's art theft, it is saying that looking at and learning from someone's art can be defined as theft rather than fair use.

Also because it's just patently untrue.

But that doesn't really answer your question. Why reblog machine-generated art? Because I liked that piece of art.

It was made by a machine that had looked at billions of images - some copyrighted, some not, some new, some old, some interesting, many boring - and guided by a human and I liked it. It was pretty. It communicated something to me. I looked at an image a machine made - an artificial picture, a total construct, something with no intrinsic meaning - and I felt a sense of quiet and loss and nostalgia. I looked at a collection of automatically arranged pixels and tasted salt and smelled the humidity in the air.

I liked it.

I don't think that all AI art is ugly. I don't think that AI art is all soulless (i actually think that 'having soul' is a bizarre descriptor for art and that lacking soul is an equally bizarre criticism). I don't think that AI art is bad for artists. I think the problem that people have with AI art is capitalism and I don't think that's a problem that can really be laid at the feet of people curating an aesthetic AI art blog on tumblr.

Machine learning isn't the fucking problem the problem is massive corporations have been trying hard not to pay artists for as long as massive corporations have existed (isn't that a b-plot in the shape of water? the neighbor who draws ads gets pushed out of his job by product photography? did you know that as recently as ten years ago NewEgg had in-house photographers who would take pictures of the products so users wouldn't have to rely on the manufacturer photos? I want you to guess what killed that job and I'll give you a hint: it wasn't AI)

Am I putting a human out of a job because I reblogged an AI-generated "photo" of curtains waving in the pale green waters of an imaginary beach? Who would have taken this photo of a place that doesn't exist? Who would have painted this hypersurrealistic image? What meaning would it have had if they had painted it or would it have just been for the aesthetic? Would someone have paid for it or would it be like so many of the things that artists on this site have spent dozens of hours on only to get no attention or value for their work?

My worst ratio of hours to notes is an 8-page hand-drawn detailed ink comic about getting assaulted at a concert and the complicated feelings that evoked that took me weeks of daily drawing after work with something like 54 notes after 8 years; should I be offended if something generated from a prompt has more notes than me? What does that actually get the blogger? Clout? I believe someone said that popularity on tumblr gets you one thing and that is yelled at.

What do you get out of this? Are you helping artists right now? You're helping me, and I'm an artist. I've wanted to unload this opinion for a while because I'm sick of the argument that all Real Artists think AI is bullshit. I'm a Real Artist. I've been paid for Real Art. I've been commissioned as an artist.

And I find a hell of a lot of AI art a lot more interesting than I find human-generated corporate art or Thomas Kincaid (but then, I repeat myself).

There are plenty of people who don't like AI art and don't want to interact with it. I am not one of those people. I thought the gay sex cats were funny and looked good and that shitposting is the ideal use of a machine image generation: to make uncopyrightable images to laugh at.

I think that tumblr has decided to take a principled stand against something that most people making the argument don't understand. I think tumblr's loathing for AI has, generally speaking, thrown weight behind a bunch of ideas that I think are going to be incredibly harmful *to artists specifically* in the long run.

Anyway. If you hate AI art and you don't want to interact with people who interact with it, block me.

[ohnoitstbskyen]

Okay, here’s an interesting one.

Before seeing your content, I’d basically only ever heard the term “power fantasy” used as a derogatory term to describe over-the-top protagonists who are strong and cool, but also boringly devoid of personality so the audience can project onto them. But then some of your League videos talked about skins letting characters like Gragas “inhabit more interesting power fantasies.”

So… when are power fantasies a good thing? The best I’ve got is that it only works in interactive media like video games so that the audience can more directly engage with the fantasy (essentially: Dante from DMC works, Kirito from SAO does not)

I mean, power fantasies are just endemic to storytelling as a whole. There isn't really a hard "this is when they're good, this is when they're bad," they are core to several genres of media and can't be extracted from them. Most video games are power fantasies, just by nature of their mechanics.

Power fantasy isn't a genre (usually), it is just a tool, same as any other trope or convention. It is a means to engage the audience with a story.

An RPG where you level up and become stronger to defeat more difficult enemies? That's a power fantasy. Undertale where you get the best ending by finding some way to spare absolutely every monster and end every fight mercifully? Power fantasy. The Tomb Raider reboot games that take an almost sadistic glee in putting Lara Croft through absolute hell both physically and emotionally? Those are power fantasies about overcoming and surviving those impossible challenges.

They're not just power fantasies, they have lots of other stuff going on, but power fantasy is an inherent part of them. Romance stories also often include power fantasies, specifically about the power of love. "He's broody, dark and broken, but my love can fix him" is a power fantasy, for example, as is "an unjust society keeps us apart, but we will defy everything to be together!"

Even being The Final Girl who beats the horror monster and walks away at the end of the movie can be a power fantasy, if a rather grim one.

If there is a general case where power fantasies become "bad," I think it is when the power fantasy is all there is, and it subsumes all other parts of the story. Shonen manga often runs into this as they get longer, and the power system and escalating battles against ever more powerful foes become the overriding driving force of the story, to the exclusion of everything else. Shaman King comes to mind for me as a particularly egregious example, or Bleach.

Isekai is also riven with this. You can't walk two steps these days without tripping on a "TRANSPORTED TO ANOTHER WORLD WITH MY SUPER OP CHEAT SKILL" premise, where the entire purpose of the story is simply to act out unchallenged wish fulfilment with no friction or tension or character development. Those stories get boring very very fast... unless of course the power fantasy being played out is your specific power fantasy. Yes, OP protagonists winning everything with no challenge is boring, but this OP protagonist is building a sapphic cottagecore witch polycule with an ever-expanding harem of emotionally damaged lesbians, so... y'know. Maybe I'll give it a pass.

It's generally less interesting and useful to observe THAT something is a power fantasy, than it is to observe WHAT KIND of power is being fantasized about. Zombie apocalypse stories are often power fantasies, for example, but there's a pretty noticeable difference between stories where the power fantasy is banding together and building a life with a found family in horrible circumstances, stealing joy from the end of the world in spite of everything... and stories where the zombie apocalypse is an excuse to enact paranoid right-wing prepper fantasies where the hero protects their property (home, land and women) against the verminous hordes of the monstrous Other, and is reified and uplifted by the employment of brutal violence.

[morimagdalene]

some graphic design resources cause im bored and itching to write something but i cant write anything i'm happy with--- anywayssss

unsplash for lots of royalty free pics

heres a cool site to learn how to pair fonts together

heres another site to learn kerning [spacing]

in fact heres a bunch of games to help u get better at graphic design stuff

some free online video editors x x x

color accessibility resources :]

savee.it - like pinterest but for designers!! unfortunately it has a save limit for free users but u should still be able to browse it for inspo i think?

some free fonts

aside from coolors i really love adobe color!! it has color palette generator [triads, monochrome, complementary, etc.], accessibility tools, palettes+gradients extractors, and color palettes inspired by trends within diff industries.

make moodboards online for freeee i miss u polyvore

spline and womp for web based 3d design! + blender of course [go make that donut!]

we all know and love them: photopea [photoshop but free and on a browser?!] and canva [no introduction needed im sure]

upscale the resolution / quality of pics it says anime but it works really well with most stuff like video game screenshots [gets rid of hard edges/pixels]

typography inspo

more color palette generators [already meets accessibility guidelines]

filmgrab - a curation of movie scenes 💕

here's another one but for color palettes from films

more inspo and tutorials

cargo - for web design stuffs

an archive of BRANDING GUIDES

free online zine hosting

milanote - very very useful for organizing creative projects :D kinda like a mix of notion and pinterest ? [its basically notion but more visual]

a collection of free luts

lots of pngs for editing

freepik - lots and lots of free design assets.

flaticon - lots of flat icons / vectors. i haven't used this in a while, but it was free last i checked

in case u need more help pairing fonts go here and here

idk ilu all have fun!!!!

[exeggcute]

this isn't the first time we've seen evidence that the current climate of anti-trans panic in the US has largely been manufactured by (or at the very least, stoked by) a small number of conservative interest groups, but the leaked materials from this group do make it pretty clear that trans people are being used a wedge issue to increase republican turnout:

In a member briefing video, one of Ziklag’s spiritual advisers outlined a plan to “deliver swing states” by using an anti-transgender message to motivate conservative voters who are exhausted with Trump.

although it does seem like they believe their own rhetoric and aren't "just" willing to turn trans people into collateral damange:

Other internal Ziklag documents voice strong opposition to same-sex marriage and transgender rights. One reads: “transgender acceptance = Final sign before imminent collapse.”

and somehow this is only the tip of the iceberg here:

a charity funded by mega-wealthy christian donors who think that secular mega-wealthy donors are more generous than christians (much to unpack there lol) and want to close that gap

the fact that it's set up a tax-exempt 5013c org but 100% operating as a PAC, which according to a little group called the IRS is super duper illegal

general christian nationalist shit, including a belief that “the biblical role of government is to promote good and punish evil” and that “the word of god and prayer play a significant role in policy decisions"

using a tool called eagleAI that "claim[s] to use artificial intelligence to automate and speed up the process of challenging ineligible voters" in a bid to kick 100k+ voters off the rolls in swing states

a seven-pronged plan that extends into non-political avenues like the entertainment industry, like a goal to make 80% of movies produced either have a G or PG rating and offer a tidy moral

the hobby lobby family is here because of course they are

[antiyourwokehomophobia2]

I wish women did not feel so strongly about the fact men, on average, are physically stronger than them. I feel like women have such negative feelings about this that it drives them to ridiculousness. Listen, I get it. I get it, I get it, I get it. The fact men are stronger is frightening. It’s scary to know that if a man decided to physically attack you then you are probably fucked. The USWNT, women who have spent years honing their skills on the field, lost to teenage boys who—when compared to the women—were basically just beginning to develop their talents. I understand how demeaning that can feel to every woman who hears this fact. I can imagine how demeaning it was for the USWNT. I’m sure every woman has been in a situation, playful or threatening, where they have tested their strength against a man and lost miserably. I’ve seen videos where women hit and slapped men with genuine rage and fury and the man barely even flinched. I understand how embarrassing and scary it can be to come to terms with the strength disparity between men and women, but you simply must come to terms with it. Far too many women have taken to pretending that it's not there—this is not a good approach.

Women choose to pretend it's not there because acknowledging that it's there makes them feel inferior. I ask women to remember that this world was built with the ideals of men in mind and to cater to their specific strengths. Men value strength and violence so of course the world is going to seem like those two things are all that’s valued in it. It's no coincidence that many male heroes are physically strong/easily able to cause harm—such as Naruto or John Wick or the Avengers. Of course it feels shitty, as a woman who inhabits this world, to have to acknowledge that your biology generally prevents you from being able to have the ‘can beat anyone in a fight’ type of strength that gets constantly praised.

However, I implore women to consider that men being physically stronger than them is no more of a significant fact than women being able to give birth while men cannot. Women also have biological advantages over men but when was the last time you saw a man calling himself inferior because of them? Imagine if the world was built with female advantages in mind. Imagine a world where the ability to give birth was seen as some sort of pinnacle of human worth. I mean, the ability to give birth is crazy. You are literally creating a whole new life. The female body is capable of providing the necessary tools to bring about a whole new person. Every brain that has thought of something life changing and every hand that has built something new was brought into existence by a woman’s reproductive system. Every single person that has ever so much as breathed was brought to life by a woman, but men never think women are superior for this fact.

Oh, but women couldn’t get pregnant without men, right? No. IVF exists. But even without it, the correct thing to say would be that women cannot get pregnant without sperm. A woman can get artificially inseminated. She never has to go out and find a man to have sex with. Is that not an advantage? Because, I mean, what can a man do if he wants to have a child but no woman is willing to give him one? Hire a surrogate? That comes with a list of complications, is far more intimate than artificial insemination, and is incredibly expensive. How is that not a disadvantage of being male? You may be thinking that you, as a woman, never want to become pregnant, but that is not the point!  The point is that it's arbitrary to look at biological advantages as anything other than completely neutral.

Women also survive famine better and live longer than men. Imagine a world where women held this over men’s heads? But we don’t live in that world. In this world, I’m certain a man would say that they die sooner because of being braver, taking more risks, and doing dangerous jobs. However, if it were women putting themselves in danger and dying as a result, men would not be quick to call us brave; they'd call us the opposite. Idiotic. Foolhardy. Too stupid to take the necessary precautions to keep ourselves alive.

It is just so painful to see women lamenting over the physical disparity between men and women. Let it go. Consider being neutral on the subject of biological advantage. Consider that male strength isn't something to pretend doesn't exist and isn’t something that proves women are inferior.

I understand that acknowledging vulnerability is against the survival Instinct—I get it—but come on. How can we let this get to a point where we’re saying it’s okay for males to enter female sports and beat the absolute crap out of/wipe the floor with women? Them being stronger is neutral! It does not mean anything! But it’s fact. Pretending it’s not only serves to put women in a losing position. Pretending it’s not only serves to make women into a laughing stock. Men will gladly collect medals that belong to women—they’ve been doing that forever. If there was no reason for male and female leagues then there wouldn’t be any. You cannot deny your way into something being true. I also wish it were true that the average woman was evenly matched against the average man, but it’s simply not reality. In the same way that it’s not reality that the average woman is taller than the average man.

I am begging women to think neutrally about this topic instead of being in such deep turmoil over it that they open the door for men to walk all over us.

[ariaste]

Do you have any advice on how to get funnier? Do you bounce jokes/plots/etc. off other people to see what hits? Do you just write what you find funny? I feel like I'm funny enough in real life, but it's hard to translate that to the page.

Oh gosh, this is a toughie. HOW TO FUNNY.

Well, for one thing, being funny in writing is a lot harder than being funny in person, because in person you're generally talking to people that you've built a rapport with (friends, acquaintances, coworkers). Humor is one of those instinctive evolutionary tools that we developed in order to help form social bonds. Like how our brains register babies as cute because or evolutionary development requires us to be really invested in caretaking. That's how an adult bonds to an infant, yes? But then there is also an evolutionary advantage in adults forming bonds with other adults. Sometimes this happens with physical traits like cuteness or hotness (romantic/sexual attraction is one type of bond), sometimes with vulnerability and "this person needs me" (caretaking is another type of bond)... There are lots of bonds. Leadership. Respect. Solidarity. Community.

But then humor is a REALLY effective form of bonding -- arguably the MOST effective, because it can trump any other of the other bonds any day of the week, and twice on Tuesdays. We have all met someone who was physically not that spectacular to look at, just sort of a Normal Looking Human, but then you find out that they are SO FUNNY and suddenly they are the "hottest" person in the room. We have all heard of a situation where someone was the leader of a clique and had managed to get everyone to worship them... Until a new jokester entered the social circle and suddenly the leadership-bond is not nearly so compelling as THIS GUY WHO MAKES EVERYONE LAUGH (and the leader gets huffy and grouchy about it, and suddenly everyone notices that the emperor has no clothes and that the leader were faking it the whole time. And then the local jester has won the day).

So how to GET FUNNIER? And how do I advise you, when comedy is so individual and what you find funny might be different than what I find funny?

First, study funny shit. Study it like a bug. Read funny books or watch comedy shows with an eye of "How are these jokes constructed? What is making it funny?" Frequently you will notice that some comedians aren't actually all that funny, they're just snarky and good at building rapport with the audience, so the audience laughs as an expression of the social bond, not because the joke was legitimately hilarious. (Here is my "this made me Actually Laugh out loud" tag if you want some insight into my comedy style and possible raw material to study)

Second, a lot of writers like Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams have written about the art of writing comedy, and I'm sure that there are how-to books for comedians as well.

There are a couple main things that make something funny: The juxtaposition of things, the element of surprise, anticipation that pays off, repetition of an established joke, and comedic timing. (Notice that surprise and anticipation are OPPOSITES -- sometimes a thing can be funny when we see it coming a mile away. Sometimes a thing is funny when it is unexpected.)

Examples: In this video, the comedy is coming from the juxtaposition of the background song against the long shot of the Oreos. We see the punchline coming from a mile away (the oreo package says "MOST STUF" and yet he takes the oreos apart to increase the stuf, thereby disproving the package's claim), and so it reasserts something that many people already know and have experienced for themselves. It's the "we've all been there" effect. This would probably not be a funny to people who did not grow up eating Oreos, or who for some reason did not go through the spontaneous phenomenon of "take them apart for MORE SUGAR".

Comedic timing is, of course, the king of comedy techniques, and it is the hardest to pull off in writing. Or, well, people say that it is the hardest. It's not actually the hardest, because it's just a subcategory of the technique of Pacing, both on a story level and on a sentence level. If you can figure out how to take control of the reader's mind and ride them like they're a jaeger and you're the pilot, then you can make them laugh. This is done by controlling the SPEED that they're reading at and the rhythm -- control their speed and rhythm and you control comedic timing. Controlling a reader's speed is done with relatively simple techniques, of which there are two big ones:

Sentence length. Really short sentences read fast. Use a lot of short sentences. Your readers will read quickly. This style is easy to skim. Unfortunately, it can also get boring. See what I'm doing here? Lots of short sentences. On the other hand, as everyone knows and as you have probably experienced for yourself, longer sentences give the impression of a longer and more complex and nuanced thought, even if not as much information is being conveyed; it's a simple matter of hanging a lot of dependent clauses off of one main thing and seeing how long you can go before you hit that final full stop. Varying your sentence length varies your timing and starts to unlock some of the timing control necessary to generate comedy. You can put something in a joke rhythm with this and then it will read like a joke.

Forcing a pause. A pause is the alpha and the omega of comedy. Thus, do not underestimate the comedic potential of a strategic paragraph break. The human brain works so quickly that even the NANOSECONDS it takes for your eyes to physically move from one line, through the strategic paragraph break, to the punchline -- that alone is enough time for the brain to register a pause and for the reader to then feel "surprised". Strategic paragraph break is perhaps the king of comedic writing techniques, IMO. (Careful not to overuse it!)

There are other mechanical techniques involved, but these are the big ones for timing. With these, you can take an otherwise unfunny scene and adjust it through nothing but timing alone to suddenly be funny.

Finally, a fun fact: When I am writing comedy, I am writing with a dead straight face. I am a cold and ruthless joke-engineering machine. I nearly never laugh at my own jokes. There is ONE (1) joke that got me to crack when I was writing Running Close to the Wind, and that was someone talking about Avra "scuttling up a tree like a little rat that's got something badly wrong with it". Still makes me grin to this day. Idk man.

Anyway I hope that helped!! wow this got long

[hiding-under-the-willow]

This is too short to justify posting on Ao3 but I think it's silly so. Here's a little impulsive scene I wrote based on a bit from Joe's video today where he commented on the fact Helsknight cards keep ending up in booster packs despite the randomizer

*****

"I think your machine's haunted." Joe says one day, unprompted, pressing buttons on the card randomizer to throw together a booster pack, restock the machines upstairs.

Etho looks up from the line of redstone he's plucking away at, brows furrowed.

"What?"

"Or maybe Beef's game," He shrugs nonchalantly, "One or the other, though."

Etho puts down his tools, turns his attention fully to Joe from his place on the floor as the green haired man wanders across the room to the spot where the newly made booster pack had been deposited.

"Why do you say that?" He asks, head tilted to the side as the poet lifts open the lid of the shulker, a look of discontent settling on his face.

Joe reaches into the box, begins to fish something out, "Because I keep pulling Helsknight cards." He says, tone all matter-of-fact annoyance, as, with a flourish of his hand, he produces a card depicting the knight from the box, holds it up for Etho to see.

Etho frowns, the edges of his mask pulling downward, "Helsknight’s not dead. He can't exactly do much haunting without being a ghost in the first place."

Joe places the card back in its place in the shulker, "Hey now, you don't have to be dead to haunt things." He states, closing the box and tucking it away in his inventory, "Ghost is more a state of mind than a state of being, and I would know." He wiggles a few fingers in front of himself performatively as he walks back across the room to hit more buttons, and for a brief moment his hand is translucent and blue, almost glowing.

And then he wanders over and punches the hermits card button, hand looking as human as it had before.

"I don't think that's exactly how it works for most people, Joe." Etho laughs nervously, picks at the edge of his gloves, tries to suppress the chill that threatens to run up his spine.

"Well, I'm pulling Helsknight cards more often than not either way." He says with a huff, walking over to the next button, "and I know there's not any more of those than there are any other cards, cause I made the damn things."

Etho shrugs, "True randomness doesn't always look random to the human eye." He flashes Joe a mischievous look as the man wanders by him towards the next button, "Hey, maybe he's made his own cards, stacked the system with them solely to annoy you." He teases.

Joe scoffs, "I could care less if he was so intent on haunting the narrative, to each their own and such. I'm just worried about the other hermits getting annoyed when they keep pulling him in their packs." He punches the button, hesitates as it makes its various beeps and dings, "Besides," He says sheepishly, glancing back over his shoulder at the engineer, "I checked for that already. Perfectly normal number of cards in there."

Etho rolls his eyes, "Of course you did."

"Diligence is the mother of good fortune." He says brightly, skipping a step as he bounds towards the next randomizer, "Anyways, like I said, haunted. Your machine or the game."

He pauses, hums thoughtfully.

"Maybe just Beef in general, actually."

"What, just cause it's his game?" Etho asks, picking his tools back up to return to his work on the redstone, realizing this wasn't a conversation that would be over with quickly.

"Well, I mean, yeah, the game was his creation, and, I mean, if you wanna get technical with it, so was Helsknight." Joe moves across the room, "Did you see his starter deck was a PVP type? Hels is in there, too."

Etho rolls his eyes, "You sent those out." He says, tactfully choosing to ignore the first half of the statement.

"Randomly." Joe reminds him, walking up to the next newly created booster pack, "Don't make this out to be my fault."

"Yeah, just as randomly as those booster packs are being created." Etho snorts, tinkering with a new wire.

"I'm gonna choose to take that as you complimenting my randomization ability and not you insulting your own redstone." Joe pulls open the box, "and anyways, believe whatever you'd like, but," He leans down into the box, pulls out another card, and tosses it towards Etho with practiced precision.

Etho fumbles with his tools to free up a hand to catch the card as it flies towards him, and when he does manage to snatch it out of the air, see who's on the front, he frowns.

"Obviously, something or someone's getting haunted."

"Hm." He stares down at the freshly pulled Helsknight card, "Not sure how fond I am of ghosts.”

[ivegotyourbackbuddie]

I would love if there’s an episode of season 8 called “The Buzz” which of course starts with a bee emergency. But the thing about the emergency that gets to everyone is that a man was beekeeping for several years in the shed in his backyard, but he never told his partner.

So, when said partner finally went to check out what was so important in the tool shed or maybe they needed something, they panicked when they discovered the bees and started swatting at them. Long story short… lots of bee stings and 911 is called.

After the 118 treats the spouse, they ask the husband, “Why did you keep this from your partner for so long?”

And the man simply answers, “Everyone keeps secrets from their partner. If they say they don’t, they’re just lying.”

When they get back, it sits uneasy with everyone and unfortunately for all of them, their shift is very very quiet. So much so that Bobby secretly goes off and whispers “quiet,” to try and keep everyone from going stir crazy. It does not work.

Of course, the stir crazy leads to 118 asking what’s the worst thing they kept from their partner and if they ever kept a secret from each other. And when they ask Buck, Eddie laughs and says, “No, he’s horrible at keeping secrets. He’s never kept anything from me for too long.”

And Buck kind of looks around uncomfortably and says, “Uh… actually I have.”

Chimney then turns to Hen and asks if she’s kept anything from him, but Hen gets distracted by Buck abruptly getting up and leaving, offering them an awkward excuse about something he needs to do.

As soon as he’s gone, Chimney, Hen, and Ravi all start gossiping about what it is that Buck could be keeping from Eddie which generates a lot of buzz. But the main rumor that takes Eddie off guard is the possibility that Buck had a crush on him when he first joined the 118.

Of course, at the end of their shift, after many crazy accusations - including one about Buck secretly being British - Eddie finally asks Buck what he kept from him.

Buck blushes a bit before finally mumbling, “I don’t actually like video games that much. Yeah! I love playing them with you and Chris but on my own… I don’t know.”

And Eddie lets out a huge breath of relief and confesses, “I didn’t really like them until Christopher, but hey, we can always switch it up a bit and play more board games.”

Buck just kind of smiles at the answer but then narrows his eyes at Eddie. “What did you think I was going to say? Obviously you had something else in mind.”

Eddie just laughs and shakes his head while grabbing his stuff out of his locker. “I don’t know. Honestly, we were theorizing about it all day.”

“And what was the main theory?” Buck asks, leaning against his locker with his arms crossed, a curious smile on his face.

Eddie sends him a nervous glance and shrugs. “That you had a crush on me when I first got here, but I know that’s ridiculous.”

Only, Buck doesn’t laugh in the way he does when he finds something ridiculous. He merely gets a pinched look on his face, the same look he’d have when he helped Chris with math - pre lightning incident.

Some clarity washes over his face, then Buck laughs and says, “You know, I thought I was jealous of you, but the crush kind of makes sense. I mean, it explains why I was so obsessed with you, always showing off in front of you, watching your every move on the job and back at the station. I even got this fluttery feeling in my chest when I first saw you, but I thought that was like… my heart skipping a beat in jealousy. Which is really dumb.” And Buck just flushes a little and laughs again as if this confession isn’t literally sending Eddie spiraling. “I guess I did have a crush on you when you joined. Just didn’t know I was keeping it a secret from you.”

Eddie just stares at him and swallows hard. He tries to get some words out, but he doesn’t even know what to say.

Then, Buck puts on his coat and grabs his stuff asking, “We’re still good for the zoo tomorrow at nine?”

And all Eddie can do is nod and plaster on a smile, performing as always.

“Great. I’ll see you then.”

Then, Buck’s gone, and Eddie is left reeling in the confession. He suddenly understands why partners keep stuff from each other.

Later when Buck texts hey I forgot to ask. have you ever kept something from me? something I never found out about?

Eddie quickly replies I’m sure I have, but nothing too life altering.

But he’s absolutely lying because he’s pretty sure his own feelings for Buck that he’s always kept under the surface are, in fact, very life altering.

[oathem]

is it okay if i ask how you made the animated pfp icon thing TT i really like the things u make , n i hope u have a nice day !! (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)

Of course! I can't do a video tutorial, but if I make more in the future please feel free to ask again and maybe then I'll be more available to do so.

This was done in Photopea!

Take a shape, or just in general any cutout of any image, I used this one from Pinterest!

Then, import in a GIF of some sort of pattern (<- most recommended, but it can be anything else if you feel it suits better). I used this one here.

Move the folder of the GIF over top of your current shape, and then right click the shape to select "Select Pixels" (or something on those lines) and it will make a selection of the whole cut out shape. Click "Add Raster Mask" from your tools at the bottom like so.

This is the Raster Mask! That specific mask is able to move from layer to layer, so put it on the layer of your GIF.

And it should look a little bit something like this!

Furthermore, if you would like to cut out a section of the GIF'ed shape, this is how to do so. Background was added for clarity.

Select inside the shape,

And then change layers to your masked gif, and remove the area!

And done ^_^ This is after changing around the colors and adding a stroke, I did not do any further steps, and here on out is completely your creative choice.

This was not an ideal shape to use unfortunately, but I do hope it could help just a tad bit. ^_^

[rorynn]

Can I request rotmnt with anger issues teen!reader (gn, 15-16) who has difficulty with expressing that they see the turtles as their sibling figure? They don't wanna admit on how they see the turtles cuz if they said that the reader would be embarrassed due to how they were treated by their bio siblings about it so they just don't say anything, only that they are just friends.

A/N: Of course! Here's a set of headcanons for the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (ROTTMNT) with an angry, reserved teen reader who secretly sees the turtles as sibling figures but has difficulty expressing it. I HOPE YOU ENJOY IT!!

General Dynamics

The Turtles’ Initial Perception: At first, the turtles assume you’re just a moody, tough teenager who prefers to keep things casual. They respect your boundaries but are curious about the walls you’ve built around yourself

Your Struggles: You often lash out when things get too emotional or personal, fearing vulnerability might lead to mockery or rejection, like what you experienced with your biological siblings.

Silent Acts of Care: Despite your reluctance to express your feelings, you show you care in subtle ways—fixing things they break, grabbing their favorite snacks, or patching up their gear without being asked.

Individual Turtle Dynamics

Leonardo:

Leo teases you constantly, but he’s careful not to push too far when he senses you’re genuinely upset.

He makes lighthearted jokes about you being “the angsty middle sibling” to see if you’ll slip up and admit you see them as family.

When you’re overwhelmed, Leo offers distractions rather than deep talks—movies, video games, or spontaneous rooftop hangouts.

Raphael

Raph is incredibly protective of you, even if he doesn’t fully understand your emotional struggles. He sees you as part of the team, even if you insist you’re just “friends.”

He’s the first to notice your hidden acts of kindness, like repairing his punching bag or leaving protein bars in his gym bag.

During heated moments, Raph is the one to remind you it’s okay to be angry, but he also encourages you to channel it productively—sparring matches become your shared thing.

Donatello

Donnie appreciates how you quietly help out with his experiments or organize his tools when he’s too busy to do it himself. He doesn’t say it outright, but he considers it your way of bonding.

He’s great at giving you space when you need it but will also deliver blunt truths if he thinks you’re being too hard on yourself.

Donnie surprises you by creating small gadgets that help manage your anger—like stress-relief tools or a punching dummy that fights back (lightly).

Michelangelo

Mikey makes it his mission to break through your emotional barriers with kindness and persistence.

He often pulls you into group activities like cooking, painting, or prank wars, subtly reminding you that you’re part of their “family unit.”

Mikey is the one who comforts you during rare moments of vulnerability, assuring you that it’s okay to care about them without fear of rejection.

The turtles, being who they are, would likely accept you with open arms, helping you work through your anger and fears while showing you that family isn’t about blood—it’s about love and loyalty.

[girlcowboy1]

I think gen z ultimately lost the war against mental illness when they decided to adapt the older generations rhetoric of "mentally ill ppl who have noticeable symptoms are bad and evil and must be avoided at all costs, they deserve to be alone and die alone" which... most people are not saying that outright, but that IS what they're saying, whether they realize it or not, when they choose to discuss these issues based on personal concepts of morality and punishment instead of approaching it with a mix of empathy and an understanding of science, and how the brain operates.

"Having a mental illness isn't an excuse" is true to a certain extent, but I think a lot of people don't understand that to an extent, it also IS an excuse. The only reason people like to believe that it isn't in any capacity is because mental illness is an invisible disability, and if there's one thing that people love to dismiss the impact of, it's invisible disabilities. Because we can't see what's going on beneath the surface, we struggle to understand the issue, we struggle to empathize with the affected person, whom we may prefer to instead write off as being lazy or malicious, when in reality they are in pain and/or are missing an important tool that helps them function the way they'd like to.

Before getting on medication, I felt and (still sometimes feel) as though I existed behind an invisible glass that separated me from everyone else. I could not understand the point of a lot of mundane things, I couldn't relate to those around me, I felt like my existence was a mistake that should have never happened and the universe was attempting to expunge me by making my life so hard I would kill myself.

And then I got on medication, and suddenly I was able to see things that I had never seen before but had existed in front of me the whole time. I was able to be kinder to people, to be more patient, to talk myself out of bad thoughts I would previously ruminate about for days and weeks. I was able to communicate more coherently, to express my feelings in a way I couldn't before. I wanted to do things again. I wanted to dress up, look nice. I wanted to BE nice.

Of course, these are all still things I struggle with. Like with most tools for disability, medication is helpful in giving me the ability to function in a way that makes life more enjoyable— but it doesn't completely cure the issue. The point is. I tried so hard, time and time again, to change on my own. I tried taking supplements, I tried mindfulness, I tried changing the way I eat, I tried self-help videos/books. But I was a deeply depressed, deeply agitated person whose brain was not wired the way it should have been. So none of what I tried would stick. I would act out in ways I KNEW was wrong, but when you get into a certain state of mind, it's difficult to speak to yourself, to talk yourself down from doing or saying things you know you probably shouldn't. Especially when you feel so isolated from others, and struggle to see the point in anything.

It was only after medication that I made long-term improvements. It was only after my brain chemistry was physically altered in a positive way that my brain could begin to function better, and that my outward behavior improved.

How the anatomy of the brain effects a person is a crucial part of mental health that gets left out of relating discussions too often, I think, and its where I believe gen z unfortunately tends to overlap with gen x and boomers. The brain is an organ like any other, and if it is damaged, or sick, or lacking somewhere in its anatomy.... it will not function properly. The person whose body it inhabits will not function properly.

[aquilaofarkham]

Dying Has Never Frightened Us: Intergenerational Trauma, Healing, & the Burden of Legacy in Castlevania

An analytical and interpretation essay that discusses how the concept of family legacy and duty can lead to intergenerational trauma in the Castlevania franchise. Focuses primarily on the Belmont who found strength from his pain by honouring his family’s legacy no matter how heavy it felt or the burden that came with it and the Belmont who found his own strength from the ones he loved and who loved him in return.

☽ Read the full piece here or click the read more for the text only version ☽

THE BURNING NEED FOR RETRIBUTION: INTRODUCTION

The world has trauma. It is deep, collective, spanning its roots over centuries and territories dating back to when the borders of today never existed, and it has largely gone untreated—but not undiscussed.

From children’s cartoons to award winning dramas, trauma has become one of the most common topics for media to discuss, depict, and dissect. It makes sense given the sort of physical and mental gauntlet which society has been through in the past five years. Sometimes even in just the past twenty-four hours. From an uptick in disasters stemming from climate change, the rise of publicised policy brutality, genocide as a result of settler colonisation, new developments coming to light after decades of denial regarding the residential school system in Canada, and of course a global pandemic which is still making ripples. Then there is the recent examination of generational trauma which differs from culture to culture. The open wounds we’ve already left and will be leaving for future age groups.

Seeing how fiction reflects reality and vice versa, it isn’t any wonder that movies, television shows, and video games find ways of processing this worldwide sensation of frustrated ennui along with the need to find answers as to how regular citizens can fix things, including ourselves, when politicians and world leaders cannot. When reality cannot provide satisfying resolutions, when we are left confused and even angrier than before due to the apparent shortcomings of institutions meant to provide relief towards the average person, it’s natural to look towards specific media. Whether for coping mechanisms, validation for this collective and personal trauma, or simply for cathartic release so the emotions don’t have to remain bottled up.

Castlevania , both its original 2017 series and the most recent entry of Castlevania: Nocturne (as well as the video games which the show is inspired by), is no stranger to this popular trend of storytelling and characterisation. Yet this trend also comes with its own controversy. When done with a deft writer’s hand and a layer of empathetic critical thinking, trauma in fiction and how we heal from its intergenerational effects can be a powerful tool in raising awareness in regards to something left forgotten by the larger public or it can allow viewers to look inwards at themselves. Done poorly or with a lack of empathy and taste, then the floodgates open.

But beyond the usual discourse surrounding trauma in fiction (how to portray a “realistic” panic attack, what makes a “good” victim, the problematic connotations of forgiving one’s abuser, etc.), Castlevania has its own things to say about the lingering effects of grief, guilt, and pain over the course of thirty-two episodes (now a fourty episode runtime with the inclusion of Castlevania: Nocturne season one). The series—particularly the first which ran from 2017 to 2021—has now gained a reputation for being one of the darker animated ventures tackling themes of religious corruption, abuse, sexual manipulation, and injustice among many others. The value and thoughtfulness of each depicted theme ranges from being genuinely compelling to delving into mere shock value yet the series is also known for its uplifting ending and cathartic release from such dark themes.

One could write entire dissertations on each complicated character and their developments. From Dracula’s suicidal tendencies as a result of unchecked grief to Isaac’s conflicted redemptive journey beginning with his unflinching loyalty to the king of vampires and ending with him forging down his own path in life. How characters such as Carmilla, consumed by her inner agonies and burning hatred towards the world to the bitter end, was left isolated from her sisters until she was forced to choose the terms of her own death, while others like Alucard, Sypha, and to an extent Hector rose above their individual torments in favour of hope and survival. However, this examination will focus on the series’ titular family of vampire hunters. Namely, the Belmont who found strength from his pain by honouring his family’s legacy no matter how heavy it felt or the burden that came with it and the Belmont who found his own strength from the ones he loved and who loved him in return.

Note: this essay will delve into speculations and purely interpretative hypotheses stemming from the author’s own opinions in regards to how they personally read the presented text. It will also discuss heavy spoilers for the majority of Castlevania games and the first season of Castlevania: Nocturne.

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WHAT A HORRIBLE NIGHT FOR A CURSE: THE CYCLE OF TRAGEDY IN THE CASTLEVANIA GAMES

This examination begins in the exact same place as the show began with its inspirations and references: the original video games developed and distributed by Konami Group Corporations. It’s easy to get swept up in the notion that because of the technological limitations with video games at the time, the Castlevania games are devoid of story or characterization. Yet even the most bare bones of a story found in the games can still have something to say about the burden of legacy and how trauma left unconfronted has the possibility of tearing down that legacy. The most prominent example being Castlevania: Symphony of the Night , arguably the first game to begin delving into a deeper story and character driven narrative. It follows the events of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood , a game which portrayed its protagonist Richter Belmont as a force of nature in the face of evil, always knowing what to do, what to say, and emerging victorious without so much as breaking a sweat (or candelabra).

In keeping with the time of its release and the landscape of popular media particularly in Japan, Rondo of Blood feels like a traditional 1990s action anime complete with brightly coloured cutscenes and character designs reminiscent of Rumiko Takahashi and Rui Araizumi (despite the usual classic horror elements present in every Castlevania game). This is most evident with Maria Renard, the second playable protagonist who attacks with her own arsenal of magical animals and even has her own upbeat theme music during the credits when players complete the main story in “Maria mode”. Richter also shares many similar personality traits with his counterpart, namely his optimism in the face of danger and the confidence that he will be the hero of this narrative.

Of course all this changed in the direct follow-up to Rondo of Blood , the aforementioned Symphony of the Night . Arguably the new staple of future Castlevania games to come, not only did it change the gameplay and aesthetic, it changed the very core of the characters as well. The game even begins with the same ending as Rondo of Blood where Richter fights and defeats Dracula with the help of Maria. Then during the opening crawl, we discover that during a time skip, Richter has vanished and Maria is searching for him. Surely this will be nothing less than a heroic rescue and the most powerful Belmont of his century will be restored to his rightful pedestal.

Yet for the first half of Symphony of the Night , the player is faced with a sobering realisation—the villain we’re supposed to be fighting, the one responsible for conjuring Dracula’s castle back into existence, is Richter himself. No longer the hero we’ve come to adore and look up to from the previous game. Of course, the player along with new protagonist Alucard both know that something isn’t right; perhaps Richter isn’t in his sound mind or some nefarious force is possessing him to commit evil deeds. But unless the player solves the right puzzles and find the right in-game items, Symphony ends with Alucard putting down Richter like a rabid dog. However, this ending can be avoided and a whole second half of the game is revealed.

Richter’s canonical ending is left ambiguous at best, tragic at worst. He laments over his moment of weakness, claiming the events of the game were his fault despite Alucard’s insistence that confronting Dracula was always going to be inevitable. Still, the tragedy of Richter’s fate and how he is portrayed in Symphony of the Night comes much later, when it’s implied the Belmonts are no longer capable of wielding the fabled Vampire Killer, a leather whip imbued with supernatural properties that has been passed down generation after generation. One mistake and misjudgment left the Belmont legacy in a perpetual long lasting limbo with the titular hunters themselves seemingly disappearing from history as well, leaving others such as the Order of Ecclesia to pick up the fight against Dracula’s eventual resurgence. It isn’t until the height of World War II (the setting of Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin ) when the whip’s true potential is finally set free thanks to the actions of Jonathan Morris, a distant relative of the infamous vampire slaying family. However, the only way in which Jonathan can reawaken the Vampire Killer is by defeating a manifestation of the person who last wielded it and also whom the whip abandoned nearly two hundred years prior—Richter Belmont.

Yet players and fans don’t get to see it in the hands of another Belmont until the events of 1999 when Julius Belmont defeats the latest incarnation of Dracula and seals his castle away in a solar eclipse. Even then, he loses his memory until thirty years pass and he’s forced to do battle with Soma Cruz, an innocent transfer student who is also the reincarnation of Dracula. If the protagonist of Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow succeeds in defeating the cosmic threat that has awakened his supposed “evil” destiny, then Julius can finally lay down the Vampire Killer in peace (until the sequel Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow , of course). If not, the game ends with Julius keeping his promise to Soma should he lose sight of his human side and let Dracula be reborn once again. In a scene that directly mirrors the beginning of Symphony , Julius enters the castle throne room, Soma throws down his wine goblet, and the screen goes black. The cycle continues anew. Julius has upheld the duty of his family name but at what cost.

The theme of tragedy getting passed down through different generations, permeating from person to person even with those who are not Belmonts, is a staple of later Castlevania games following Symphony of the Night . In some instances, pain and trauma is what jumpstarts the story moving forward. Castlevania: Curse of Darkness begins with its protagonist Hector in a direct parallel to Dracula swearing revenge on the one responsible for the murder of his wife; an ultimatum that follows him every step of the way, fuelling his rage and determination up until the penultimate moment when his goal is within reach. Yet even then he cries out, claiming this “murderous impulse” isn’t truly him—it’s the result of an outside force he himself once aided before defecting before the events of the game.

Something similar occurs in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow , an alternative reimagining of the franchise that while still a topic of division amongst most die hard fans has also seen a resurgence of popularity and reevaluation. It begins with Gabriel Belmont grieving over the death of his own wife (a trope which is unfortunately common amongst the majority of Castlevania titles). This is a wound that follows him throughout his journey until an even more painful and shattering twist regarding Marie Belmont’s demise is revealed to Gabriel later in the game.

However, there is one example from the games that stands above the rest in regards to the sort of damage which generational trauma as a result of familial duty and legacy, upheld to an almost religious degree, can inflict. So much so that even a declaration of retribution can evolve into a generational curse.

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HUNT THE NIGHT: LEON BELMONT & THE MYTH OF FREE WILL

The Castlevania timeline didn’t always have a set beginning. An inciting incident by which all future stories, characters, and inevitable calamities could base themselves off of. Rather it changed from game to game until a definitive origin was settled in 2003 with the release of Castlevania: Lament of Innocence . For at least two games, the starting point was supposed to be with Simon Belmont, making his way through a labyrinth of dark forests and cursed towns, before finally traversing the ever changing fortress in Transylvania to defeat Dracula. He even went as far as to gather the remains and resurrect the eponymous lord of his own choice just to rid himself of another curse entirely. 

Castlevania protagonists are always cursed by something. Whether it be the cause of Dracula’s influence, their own actions as seen in Lords of Shadow , a curse of the flesh like how Simon had to tackle his own ailment in Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest , or something else just as common as Dracula’s curse: the burden of honouring a family duty.

A basic yet iconic 1986 entry followed by a sequel that had potential especially with the first appearance of the now famous “Bloody Tears” track but suffered from a rather confusing and lacklustre end product. Then suddenly the starting point for the franchise timeline changed drastically. Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse despite the numerical inclusion in its title stands as more of a prequel, detailing the exploits of the Belmont who came before Simon. Not much was altered in the grand scheme of things; the titular vampire hunter still essentially slays Dracula with the help of three other playable characters, said final boss having been driven mad and more violent than ever by humanity’s slight against him. However, not only were the methods by which Dracula is defeated changed but players were given more insight into the sort of burden placed upon the Belmont family name.

When the story of Dracula’s Curse begins, protagonist Trevor Belmont isn’t revered as a legend or hero but rather a blight on larger society who the people only turn to as a last ditch effort against rising evil. The regular god-fearing people of Wallachia now fear the Belmonts and their power (it is also implied that some still feared the barbarian-esque Simon despite his legendary status) so the family is excommunicated. Trevor is forced to enlist three other outcasts—or simply two other fighters, depending on which version of the story you examine—in order to carry out the family business. Even when the rest of the world has shunned them and there are plenty of others just as capable of stopping the forces of evil, a Belmont still has a destiny to fulfil. 

Yet once a series has gone on for long enough, things within the established canon are bound to change—again and again. Whether through re-examination in order to line it up better with present day morals and sensibilities, or through good old fashioned retconning in favour of something more interesting, more thought out, or less convoluted. Other times, it’s simply because either the creator or viewers wanted it to happen. In 1997, this occurred with the release of Castlevania Legends on the GameBoy, a prequel to Dracula’s Curse that was meant to serve as the actual origin for the Belmonts, Dracula, and even his son Alucard. Instead of Trevor, the very first Belmont to fight Dracula is now his mother, Sonia Belmont, seventeen years old and already burdened with the glorious purpose of her bloodline.

Sonia is undoubtedly the protagonist of her own story with agency and drive. However, the game ends with a stark reminder of why the Belmonts have a place in the Castlevania universe. The last we see of Sonia in Legends is in the form of an epilogue where she holds her newborn child and states that one day when he’s grown, he will “be praised by all the people as a hero”. Despite her triumph over Dracula—a monumental feat itself—it seems that her purpose in the end (the purpose of most Belmonts other than to forever fight evil in fact) was to merely continue the bloodline so that descendants can carry out a promise made centuries before by another Belmont—someone that neither Simon, Trevor, Julius, or Richter ever knew.

The inevitability of sudden retcons within long-running media was not as kind to Legends as it was to Dracula’s Curse . Because of how the in-game events conflicted with subsequent entries (for example the implication that Trevor is actually the son of Alucard, thus further tying the Belmonts to Dracula through blood as well as duty), both Legends and Sonia were completely removed from the canon timeline. This is merely one reason why the next attempt at creating the definitive origin for the franchise, now a cult favourite among certain subsections of the fan community, was regarded with some animosity. However, twenty years after its release, Castlevania: Lament of Innocence is considered by many as an underrated entry. It is certainly the darker title where both the hero and villain stumble through their own hardships yet neither emerges completely victorious by the end.

The opening narration crawl of Lament of Innocence describes the lives of Leon Belmont and Mathias Cronqvist. They spend most of their lives as reflections of each other; one grows into more of a fighter while the second is coveted for his intellect and ambition. Both are valorous, honourable, and products of their own respective plights. Despite his service to the church, Leon is soon systematically stripped of everything save for the clothes on his back because he wouldn’t follow their orders blindly. While Mathias is forced to watch as an uncaring god (the very same god he serves) takes away a figure of pure virtue and love. This figure, Elisabeta Cronqvist who appears to be a splitting image of Dracula’s next deceased wife Lisa Tepes, was the last remaining tie Mathias still had to whatever bit of morality he still feels, which he eventually throws away when deciding to drag his only friend and everything he holds dear into hell alongside him.

The difference is how both men react to those personal horrors and how they let it govern their pasts, presents, and futures not just for themselves but for others who follow after the dust has supposedly settled. Two men, two best friends turned hateful enemies because of an interlinked tragedy. Not only that, but also because of their perspectives, morals, and the way they view a world that is unkind to them. Both were spurred by the death of loved ones, both used it as a conduit, or rather a catalyst for the radically opposing directions in which their choices take them and their families. Leon chooses to struggle onwards towards a world free from darkness and horror despite his pain. Mathias chooses to revel in that very same darkness and pain with a fire that would burn for aeons. In the end, one thing is absolute. A single thing the two men can agree upon as they flee down adverse paths: one of them will destroy the other.

Yet the timeline of Castlevania proves that this choice comes at a great cost for the Belmonts in particular. By the end of Lament of Innocence , Mathias has revealed himself to be the great manipulator pulling the strings behind the scenes. Due to the immense grief he felt over losing Elisabeta to a presumably common illness made untreatable because of the time period’s medical limitations (coupled with his own arrogance and narcissism), Mathias finally becomes Dracula. Dominion over death and even god by has been achieved by doing what Leon’s righteously moral mind cannot comprehend: transforming himself into an immortal creature driven by bloodlust. All he had to do was lie, cheat, and cruelly outsmart everyone else around him. That of course includes Leon as Mathias’ manipulation tactics were also the cause of the mercy killing of Sara Tarantoul, Leon’s fiance, to stop her from turning into a vampire herself. After watching his former friend escape before the sun can rise and disposing of Dracula’s constant right hand man Death, Leon finally feels his anger over such a betrayal boil over. He gives one final message to Mathias, now the new king of the vampires: “This whip and my kinsmen will destroy you someday. From this day on, the Belmont Clan will hunt the night.”

This is how Castlevania: Lament of Innocence ends. Unlike other entries like Symphony of the Night, Aria of Sorrow, or Harmony of Dissonance , there is no good, neutral, or bad ending that can be achieved if the player is aware of certain secrets and tricks. There is only one for Leon and Mathias. The inclusion of multiple endings in some Castlevania games versus a singular set ending in others may seem like a small coincidental narrative choice in conjunction with evolving gameplay, but it matters in the case of Lament of Innocence. From the moment Leon enters the castle to rescue his fiance, the wheel has already started turning and his fate is sealed. Mathias has already won and Sara, along with future Belmonts, are already doomed. And Leon’s ultimatum made in the heat of the moment would go on to have repercussions centuries later. “Hunting the night” gave the Belmonts purpose but it also burdened them with that exact purpose. While Dracula deals in curses, so does the Belmont family—a curse of duty that gets passed down throughout the bloodline.

Leon Belmont was of course never malicious or cruel like Mathias was. He never wanted to deliberately curse his family because he suffered and so should they. His choice was made out of anger and retribution. Still, it goes on to affect Simon, Sonia, Julius, and others in drastic yet different ways. Yet in the case of specific Belmonts like Trevor and Richter, we see how this family legacy can have varied consequences in far more detail through the introduction of animation and serialised writing into the Castlevania franchise.

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SOMETHING BETTER THAN A PILE OF RUINS: TREVOR BELMONT & STRENGTH FROM LEGACY

If there’s one thing that Castlevania makes abundantly clear with its four season runtime, it is that trauma does not inherently make people better or more virtuous. We of course see this from the games with Mathias and his personal crusade against god which leads to the complete dissolvement of his closest friendship. Or with Hector and the rage he feels towards his wife’s murderer, who also happens to be his former comrade under Dracula’s employment. Even Leon’s promise to both his friend, now his most despised enemy, and future descendants can also be an example of how gut reactions to pain, grief, and betrayal can have damaging consequences in the long run. This particular dissection of trauma when it affects a survivor negatively and in almost life-altering ways while still giving them a chance at achieving their own method of healing is most apparent with the animated representation of Trevor Belmont.

At its core, the first season of Castlevania airing in July of 2017 with four episodes in total is inspired by the events of Dracula’s Curse with the following seasons taking more from Curse of Darkness along with original story elements. It begins with the brutal execution of Lisa Tepes after she is falsely accused of being a witch. Shortly afterwards, Dracula declares war on all of humanity in an explosion of grief-riddled vengeance (a declaration that is not dissimilar to Mathias’ cursing of god after Elisabeta’s admittedly more natural death). Hundreds of civilians are slaughtered in the capital city Targoviste and hoards of night creatures descend upon more townships across Wallachia. 

This would be the perfect opportunity for a Belmont to stand up and fight back except there is one problem: the Belmonts have been eradicated from this world on false grounds of black magic and aiding the vampire lords instead of hunting them—much like how Lisa was slandered and paid the price with her own life.

The only Belmont left surviving is Trevor himself and his introduction does not paint him in the most optimistic or even heroic light. In the midst of being excommunicated by the church, he’s been wandering aimlessly for the past few years while languishing in whatever tavern he stumbles upon. In one particular bar Trevor finds himself in, he overhears the other patrons cursing the Belmonts and blaming them for Dracula’s siege upon humanity. He tries to stay out of it and not bring too much attention to himself until one glance at the family emblem stitched into his shirt breast is enough to ignite an all out skirmish.

Trevor hides his true identity not because he’s ashamed of it, but for his own safety and self preservation. In fact, the opinion he holds of his family is the total opposite from disdain for the sort of legacy they have saddled him with even in death. He reacts strongly to false accusations directed towards the Belmonts, angrily correcting the bar patrons by stating that his family fought monsters. However, he quickly realises he’s said too much and tries saving face by once again detaching himself from possibly being connected to the aforementioned Belmonts.

It’s only when Trevor is backed into a corner and is fresh out of snappy drunk retorts (thanks to a few hard hits to his nether regions) does he finally admit to his real lineage. As mentioned earlier, Trevor finds himself caught up in the first real brawl of the series not because of the pride he feels in himself but the immense pride he feels for his bloodline. All the while, he’s given up trying to hide what he is—a Belmont—and what he was born to do—fight fucking vampires.

Every time Trevor has the opportunity to bring up his bloodline whether in a fight or in conversation, it’s usually spoken with some bravado and weight even when he’s inebriated. However, when visiting the ruins of the Belmont ancestral home in season two and thus directly confronted with what little remains of his family legacy, Trevor loses all that previous bluster and becomes far more contemplative. He doesn’t reveal much of what it was like to actually live as a Belmont, only that it was “fine” and “no one was lonely in this house”. Even when staring up at the portrait of Leon Belmont, he says nothing and instead firmly  grips the very weapons which his ancestor must have also wielded.

It’s clear that Trevor feels no shame, bitterness, or lack of respect towards his family history despite the hardships that have come with it. Still, it’s difficult for him to truly accept the duty of being a Belmont and Trevor continually struggles with it over the course of two full seasons. Upon arriving at the ruined city of Gresit which is under constant threat of night creature attacks, Trevor doesn’t seem particularly concerned with the people’s plight or with helping them. He inquires about what’s been happening by speaking with a few local merchants but it’s only in order for him to gain a better picture of the situation that Gresit finds itself in. Otherwise, he’s simply passing through on his way to another tavern, fist fight, sleeping spot, or all three. Until he puts aside his own needs for self-protection in favour of saving an elder Speaker (a fictionalised group of nomads original to the Castlevania show who have made it their mission to help less fortunate communities and pass on their histories via oral tradition) from a potential hate crime committed by two supposed men of the cloth.

This moment acts as a representation of the first chip in Trevor’s carefully maintained armour. During the bar fight, he claimed over and over again that he was a Belmont in both skill and purpose. However, Trevor hasn’t done much to prove such a proclamation. Because of his ennui and poor coping mechanisms due to lingering trauma, he’s been all talk and not a lot of action—until this point. At first he tells himself to walk away, this sort of confrontation doesn’t concern him. Then he remembers where he comes from and uses the very same family heirloom to help someone physically weaker than himself.

Yet when he accompanies the elder back to where the other Speakers have found shelter from the monsters repeatedly demanding their heads as well as future night creature attacks, Trevor’s metaphorical walls are erected back up. He won’t take any part in this eradication of humanity whether as a victim or perpetrator and especially not to stop it. The people of Wallachia made their choice in the unjust murder of Dracula’s innocent wife, they made their choice when they decided to massacre what was left of his family, and the church made their choice when they decided to fight Dracula’s armies themselves without the Belmonts. Why should he lift a finger (or whip) to save the masses?

Despite this nihilistic attitude, Trevor proves to be a poor defeatist. He still desperately wants to protect the Speakers and warns them of an oncoming pogrom planned for them. A massive hate crime fueled by superstition and facilitated by the corrupt Bishop of Gresit which will supposedly save the city from night creature ambushes (this can be interpreted as a direct allegory meant to comment on how minority groups such as Jewish and Romani communities were used as scapegoats during the Mediaeval period). However, the Speakers refuse to budge and decide to face the angry and misled crowds head-on. They instead tell Trevor to leave in their place which, in a burst of frustration, spurs him to finally act like a member of his clan should. 

What follows next is one of the most defining moments of the series for Trevor, cementing his place as a Belmont. Another corrupt member of the church demands to know what he could possibly stand to gain from fighting back considering his downtrodden state and the fact that he’s entirely outnumbered. Trevor’s answer is simple: nothing. The Belmonts don’t protect everyday people for any great reward or because of any strong personal ties. They do it because it’s their duty and the right thing to do. Trevor even mirrors something which the elder Speaker told him; a family mantra that encompasses the very purpose of the Belmonts, dating back to Leon: “It’s not the dying that frightens us. It’s never having stood up and fought for you.”

Trevor’s healing journey does not end at this moment. He still has moments of hesitation where someone like Alucard has to forcibly remind him of his place as Belmont, saying he needs to choose whether he’s really the last of a long line of hunters or a drunkard. This leads to a fight sequence that nearly spans the length of an entire episode where Trevor further proves himself by taking on at least three different creatures all with varying degrees of strength, skill, and fortitude. Episode six of season two is the ideal example of not only Trevor’s determination but also his quick thinking. Moments such as him wrapping his cloak around his hand so that it doesn’t get cut while his sword slices through the throat of a minotaur or using a set of sticks to beat against an adversary when his whip is knocked away. Being a Belmont means using one’s intellect (no matter how unconventional it may seem) as well as one’s muscles. 

There is also another albeit less violent instance at the start of season three where he still feels the need to hide his surname while in an unfamiliar village. Then there is the revelation that malicious stories about the Belmonts and their supposed demise still circulate amongst rural Wallachian communities. Yet despite coming from a family of old killers (a term Trevor uses before facing off against Death in the final season) his family name remains his strength and the weight of both the Vampire Killer and Morningstar whip keep him grounded rather than burden him. The Belmont name carries such weight throughout the series that by the end, there is strong consideration from Alucard of naming a new township nestled in the shadow of Dracula’s castle after that family.

Trevor deals with his pain and trauma quietly, almost numbing it with the assistance of alcohol and dodging the harder questions regarding what his family was really like. He still finds strength in remembering what the Belmonts are here for despite the tribulations that come with the family name. Hardships that continue and evolve nearly three hundred years later.

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THE THINGS THAT MAKE ME WHO I AM: RICHTER BELMONT & STRENGTH FROM LOVE

Depending on what sort of mood you might find the author of this essay in, their favourite Castlevania game will vary. At the moment, it’s a three way tie between Symphony of the Night for its artistry, Lament of Innocence for its story and characterisation, and Aria of Sorrow for its evolved gameplay. However, one personal decision remains relatively consistent no matter the mood or time of day: Richter Belmont is the author’s favourite Belmont and the inclusion of him in the latest animated adaptation Castlevania: Nocturne has only cemented that fact.

It makes sense from both a narrative and marketing standpoint as to why we’ve suddenly gone from the events of Dracula’s Curse/Curse of Darkness depicted in the previous series all the way three hundred years later to Rondo of Blood . Narratively, Richter and his companion Maria Renard already have a direct link to Alucard through the events of Symphony , which Nocturne will most likely cover and be inspired by in its second season. Marketing wise while also appealing to the largest demographic possible (even those less familiar with the games), amongst more recurring characters like Dracula and Alucard, Richter is arguably one of the most recognisable Castlevania figures right down to his design.

Certain traits and visual motifs of other Belmonts have changed drastically over the years and with each iteration. Meanwhile, from Rondo and Symphony , to Harmony of Despair and the mobile game Grimoire of Souls , to finally Nocturne and the inclusion of Richter as a playable character in the fighting game Super Smash Bros Ultimate , specific elements of Richter never waver. This includes his blue colour scheme, his tousled brown hair, and his iconic white headband. All of which carry over in the first season of Nocturne which not only expands upon Richter’s character first established in Rondo of Blood but also further examines said character.

For example, Richter’s true introduction directly following the downer cold opening is without a doubt the farest cry from Trevor’s. While Trevor’s first scene acted as a sobering depiction of what happens when physically/mentally damaging coping mechanisms mix with unacknowledged grief, Richter’s first fight gets the audience’s blood pumping, complete with a triumphant musical score and a showcase of his skill with the Vampire Killer. Richter is cocky, but not reckless. He’s sarcastic, but not sullen like Trevor was. Because of his upbringing after the death of his mother, filled with positive affirmations, he values the wellbeing of others along with their fighting experience. Yet his confidence does not overshadow his acknowledgement of the family burden. Richter is well aware of how heavy the Belmont legacy and duty can weigh upon an individual’s shoulders along with how closely it can tie itself around a person’s life and their death—a reminder as well as memory which haunts him for nine years.

When Nocturne begins, its first major fight sequence takes place between Richter’s mother Julia Belmont (an original character for the show) and the vampire Olrox, an enemy taken from Symphony of the Night now reimagined as a seductive, complex Indigenous vampire on his own path towards vengeance against the very person who took away the one he loved most in this world—just one of many thematic parallels to the first series, this time referencing Dracula’s motives and justification for his grief. Just when it seems like Julia has the upper hand thanks to her magical prowess, Olrox transforms and ends her life in a swift yet brutal manner. All of which happens right before ten-year-old Richter’s eyes.

Julia was simply doing her duty as a vampire hunter and her life as a Belmont ended the same as most of her ancestors did: in battle while fighting for the life of another. Why then did it hurt Richter most of all? Why does it haunt him well into his early adult years? And why was it seemingly more so than how Trevor’s trauma haunted him? There are two probable answers to this, one being that Richter was only a child, directly confronted by the cause for his mother’s sudden and graphic death with no way of fighting back despite being a Belmont.

In the case of Trevor, although he was a few years older than Richter when his entire family and ancestral home were burned in front of his eyes presumably by the same people they were supposed to be defending, the circumstances which followed them afterwards are vastly different. For nine years Richter was surrounded by those who loved and cared for him whereas Trevor only had himself and the hoards of average Wallachians who hated him because of superstitious rumours and the church’s condemnation. Trevor had over a decade’s worth of experience in becoming desensitised to his pain and trauma, masking it beneath self deprecation and numbing it with alcohol. He wasn’t even aware of the fact that he was a deeply sad and lonely individual until Sypha pointed it out to him.

Despite his bravado and brighter personality than his ancestor, Richter is also an incredibly sad, hurt person who suffers somewhat from tunnel vision. He obviously has empathy and wants to protect people from monsters, vampires, and the like. More so than Trevor did during his introduction before his moment of self-made rehabilitation. However, he doesn’t seem to care much about the revolution itself or what it stands for. He attends Maria’s rally meetings but he doesn’t take active part in them, opting to stay back and keep a watch out for any vampire ambushes. He admits that he doesn’t really listen to Maria’s speeches about liberty, equality, and fraternity. And in the most prominent example of his disillusionment with fighting for a larger righteous cause, when given a revolutionary’s headband, he shoves it into his pocket and mumbles about how tired he is of everything.

This could be interpreted as defeatist if Richter wasn’t already trying so hard to uphold his family duty and maintain a level head. He needs to have a sense of control and almost achieves it until Olrox so casually confronts him in the middle of a battle which Richter and his friends seemed to be winning until they’re forced to flee close behind him. When Richter runs away and emotionally breaks down the moment he’s finally alone, it isn’t because he’s weak or cowardly. On a surface level, it was due to his fear and panic over not being able to face his mother’s killer (someone who has proven to be much, much stronger and more powerful than any Belmont). Yet it was also a form of harsh admission to himself. He couldn’t maintain that aforementioned sense of control and perhaps he never will, not where he is right now at least.

It isn’t until he’s reunited with his grandfather Juste Belmont (long thought to have died, leaving Richter as the final Belmont) that this negative mindset brought on by unresolved trauma begins to shift. In many ways, Juste is another callback to what happened with Trevor. He suffered an immense tragedy in the past and has since spent his entire life drifting from tavern to tavern, avoiding his own grandson and instead leaving him in the care of people far more capable of raising him and instilling better morals within the youngest Belmont.

Other mentor-esque characters appear in Nocturne such as Tera who raised Richter alongside her biological daughter Maria. There is also Cecile, the leader of a Maroon group which Annette joins after escaping slavery. Despite their individual pains, these two women maintain the hope that humanity can be changed and the evils of the world can be defeated. Meanwhile, Juste has thoroughly lost his own hope. He reveals to Richter that “evil will always win” because of how it permeates everything and is far stronger than any Belmont, even the most magically inclined members. No matter how many Draculas, Carmillas, or Lord Ruthvens are defeated, it will always find a way to creep back to the surface whether through the upper class of France or through the very colonisation that nearly wiped out Olrox’s people or enslaved Annette’s family. 

One of the first things that Juste says to Richter directly references the sheer weight of the Belmont legacy, all of which culminates within the whip itself. This can also be a reference to the Vampire Killer carrying a living soul as Leon Belmont was only able to awaken its true power by sacrificing Sara Tarantoul. The whip has both a metaphorical and literal weight which the Belmonts must come to terms with.

Yet for Richter, family is maintained not through blood ties, which can easily die out or be abandoned because of generational trauma, but through the people we find and attach ourselves to. Under the immediate threat of losing his found family, all of Richter’s pain and anguish explodes when his magical powers violently return to him in one of the most visually impressive and cathartic moments of Nocturne season one, complete with an orchestral and operatic rendition of “Divine Bloodlines” taken straight from Rondo of Blood as he ties the same headband he nearly discarded earlier around his head. Then once the dust settles and Richter is asked by Juste how he managed to tap back into that great power, he simply responds with the most obvious answer he can come up with: there are people who love him and he loves them in return. 

This is reiterated when Richter is reunited with Annette and describes the same revelation when she asks how he was able to regain his magic. Not just a mental revelation but for Richter, it was a physical sensation as well. Just when he believed he had lost everything, something reminded him of all the things worth protecting in his life and all the pain he’s had to endure.

Richter finally donning his iconic white headband is symbolic of not only his decision to actively join the French Revolution but also his revelation that the love he feels for Maria, Annette, and Tera is his own righteous cause. That, to him, is worth defending just as much if not more than the concept of a centuries old curse turned legacy.

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SLAVES TO OUR FAMILIES' WISHES: CONCLUSION

Richter, both his game depiction and his recent Nocturne iteration, acts as a reflection and subversion of what a Belmont is along with what that family duty means to different members. Trevor found healing from his trauma through his duty. Richter found his healing through love. Of course Trevor loved Sypha and Alucard in his own way, but throughout the entire first series, from the moment he removed his cloak at the end of season one to standing up against Death in the finale, his driving motivation was always to preserve his family’s legacy despite his own shortcomings. The Belmonts were all but gone and Trevor had been exiled, excommunicated, and turned into a societal pariah. Had he given into despair and continued with his vagabond ways, who else would wield the Morningstar, the Vampire Killer, or any of the knowledge cultivated by previous Belmont generations?

But for Richter, family legacy is more of a nebulous concept. It gets mentioned in conversations and we see its varying effects on individuals, but even when Richter is reunited with Juste, the immediate priorities of his found family takes the place of his blood family. This, according to him, makes him a Belmont. 

It is also important to consider that we are still only on the first season of Castlevania: Nocturne with season two having been renewed and in production merely a week after its initial premiere. With the reveal of Alucard as a last minute cliffhanger in the penultimate episode, it will be interesting to see how his own characterisation as well as his close tie with both the Belmonts and his own family burden will further develop especially after three hundred years within the show’s timeline. One of the biggest possibilities is that in contrast with his youthful brashness and instability that was the crux of his character in the first series, Alucard might serve as a sort of mentor figure or perhaps his own generational pain will bond him further to Richter and Maria, more so than he was in Symphony of the Night . Then there is the question of whether Richter in the midst of the apparent losses he suffered during the finale of season one will follow down the same path that his video game counterpart did.

In 2020, the author wrote another Castlevania -centric essay which detailed the visual, thematic, and aesthetical shifts of the franchise from its inception during the 1980s all the way to the 2017 adaptation through focusing on how these changes affected Alucard. By the end of that essay, it was mentioned that despite the show being renewed for at least one more season, the overall future of Castlevania remained unknown. This is still the case for now. 

Though one can make educated assumptions and theories, there’s no way of knowing what sort of direction season two of Nocturne will take with its themes and characters. This is doubly true for the games themselves. Despite the anticipated releases of the Silent HIll 2 and Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater remakes, as of now Konami has not revealed any official decisions to remake, rerelease, or produce new Castlevania titles. One can hope that due to the success of both shows along with the anticipation for Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid remakes that something new will be in store for Castlevania in the near future.

Castlevania , both its games and animation adaptations, prove that there is a place in this world for every kind of story. In the last episode of season one airing in July 2017, Alucard states what could very well be the thesis of the entire franchise: “We are all, in the end, slaves to our families’ wishes”. Yet even if we cannot escape the narrative we’ve been latched onto or, for dramatic purposes, cursed with, there are ways in which we can combat it and forge our own healing process.

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MEDIA REFERENCED

Castlevania (1986)

Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest (1987)

Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (1989)

Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (1993)

Castlevania Legends (1997)

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997)

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (2003)

Castlevania: Lament of Innocence (2003)

Castlevania: Curse of Darkness (2005)

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (2011)

Castlevania (2017—2021)

Castlevania: Nocturne (2023—)