#Well I guess it is normal to be obsessed with your own characters (I mean it is for me)

[artemismatchalatte]

Also I was testing the censors on the icons, unintentionally. Originally my icon had Gerry saying "Fuck Yeah" then "Hell Yeah" then finally "Heck Yeah" but with an exclamation mark.

I can't imagine her ever saying "Heck Yeah" but hopefully you get the point. And even that got cut off so we're stuck with my current mess of an icon until I decide to make another one.

[gentlegiantberry]

Stalkers

Stalker! Idia x stalker!gn! reader

Prompt: Idia and reader stalking eachother, eventually finding out.

Warnings: stalking, light cursing, obsession

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮

Idia Shroud. Your one and only true love. How did you meet him? Doesn't matter. Are you friends? Well... you could say that. He knows you, you think. Maybe not. Who cares? You love him, that's all that matters.

It's another regular day. Wake up, go to class and then do whatever until tomorrow. Well, that was the original plan until you saw him. Your one and only.

What was he doing there, out in the open? Meeting up with someone? No, he couldn't have. He doesn't like being outside, why is he here? Doesn't matter. You need photos.

Click.

Click.

Click.

It's a good thing you brought spare film. Taking secret photos for your shrine is a tough job. Idia is just so perfect, how can you not take as many photos as possible? Just look at him. That dark blue hair which reminds you of the starry nights when you stare at his photos, those bright yellow eyes you could get lost in, those blue lips that just look so kissable...

He's perfect in every way, really.

And then he leaves your sight. He's in the Sam's Mystery Shop. That's okay, you can wait. You can wait as long as needed. For him.

Two minutes, three minutes, four, five... what's he doing in there? Avoiding you? No, he couldn't be. He would never.

Ah, there he is. He's carrying a bag in his arms. What's in it, you wonder...

Click.

Click.

Click.

More. You need more. From every angle possible. He's so perfect. You really do adore him. But why is he in such a hurry? Did he see you? Possibly. You hope not.

You keep taking photos, not even realizing you're following him. Many photos later, you're already in the Ignihyde dorm, watching him enter his room. How sad... But that's fine. You have photos. You can cherish him in the comfort of your own room, where no one will disturb you.

You start to walk back to your dorm, not even knowing your beloved is watching you. Sure, it's just through the security cameras but it's the best he can do. Watching and admiring from the comfort of his room. He's been watching for awhile. Following, not leaving you out of sight. How could he? You're so perfect... I mean, the camera footage shows it right there. All the clips he has saved, all the angles, everything. It's just adorable. Of course he knows you love him, he's seen you taking photos. He knows how much you adore him and yet he can't bring himself to tell you. Why? Not even he knows.

Well, that was until one day, while you were going about your normal routine. You've been taking photos for hours now. This is the longest Idia's ever spent outside, I mean, it's a miracle! Sure, it's out of character for him but whatever helps you get more photos.

He's on a bench, scrolling through his phone. He stood up. Take more photos, he's leaving. Should you follow him? Yes.

Where is he going? Oh, the Mirror Chamber. He's going back to his room, you guess. Or not..? That's the mirror to your dorm! Why is he going there? Does he want to pay you a visit? Shit, what are you supposed to do now?! You can't just run past him!

Idia walks through the hallways of the dorm. God, he's cute even with his hood up... He knocks on the door to your room. No answer. He knocks again. Nothing. He looks around and grabs the door handle. He opens the door and...

Wait, he opens the door?! Did you not lock your room?! Shit, shit, shit! He's in your room, he's gonna know! You have to run after him, you have to explain! He's gonna understand.

"Idia, I can explain!"

You stand at the door way to your room, Idia is right in front of you, staring at all the photos of him that are plastered all over the walls. You just hope he doesn't hate you now.

He turns to you, , giving a slight smile.

"You... like me?"

"I'm obsessed."

"...me too."

It was the happiest day of your life.

╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯

I tried my best. I can't really write stuff like this but it's been on my mind for some time, yk yk.

Rules and preferences of my writing! Please read before requesting!

[evilminji]

OKAY. *slams open door in manic about to have opinions*

MAYBE i am binging so, SO much unhinged bnha fics? Have already sent this to all my mutual and is not ENOUGH? But everyone is focused on these BABIES and not the MOST unhinged of them all? You COWARDS!!!

That's RIGHT! Ya girl has been hitting the "yandere/obsessive/possessive" behavior tag on Ao3 and is REFUSING TO BE NORMAL ABOUT IT! I have THOUGHTS DAMN IT! AaaaaaaaaaAAAAAA-!!! *Flips table*

Why the FUCK everyone focusing on BABIES?

I get it, don't yuck someone else's yum. To each their own. I respect that. But ALSO? What lvl of unhinged could they POSSIBLY HAVE? They are FIVE. SMOOTH FACED TODDLER BABY BOYS! A CHILD!

Like? Listen...

You know how Quirks are basicly evolutionary advantages? Random protections that are hit or miss? I have touched on this before in my naruto WIP (that i never posted but shush), but there must exsist a theoretical opposite of killing intent.

A sort of loving/peaceful intent if you will. A SAFETY intent. Or, for the purposes of THIS scenario and slightly to the left of that, a "love me" field. Which? Unlike what the perverse might believe or suggest? Just makes the target... love you.

Not sexually desire.

Love. Care about. Emotional connection.

And, yeah, maybe i've just been reading too many fics where shigiraki do what shigiraki does, and he is his unhinged obsessed lil self. Too many unhinged yandere fics where i darkly mutter "you are forgetting their Core Character Motivatioooooons! Just write an OC!"

Because you can twist a characters personality WITHOUT forgetting who they ARE. Thats what makes it INTERESTING, after all. Seeing how it could go so very, very wrong. How a good emotion, taken too extreme, can corrupt! N it's not just "oh that means violence n cursing right? Immediately jumping to cruelty?"

Its the obsession. The need to consume. The manipulation and care in which they try and maintain the illusion. It isn't one crack and "whelp, fuck it I guess!". Every character is different! Breaks under the strain of 1000% loving someone, DIFFERENT. And it brings up FASCINATING dynamics n potential quirk reactions?

Cause a emotional quirk WILL work. Even on people who supposed "dont have any" emotions? Because thats not how the human body FUNCTIONS. They HAVE all the necessary components. They just have a disorder. The Quirk would be forcing their body to MIMIC "feel-Y.exe" and their body would go with that. How THEY would process that data? What would it FEEL like to THEM? Whole different story.

But they WOULD feel "love" in what ever capacity THEY understand it.

You don't want to hurt your BEST FRIEND do you? You love them. Your BELOVED SISTER? This CUTE CHILD? She seems so NICE. Or maybe it's a precious and to be protected PET? She doesn't know what she'll get, "love" is nebulous and multifaceted. Could be platonic, familial, romantic. The love of a comrade. But it's never failed BEFORE. (Not, that I imagine, she being a well adjusted young lady, would feel morally comfortable USING said quirk in such times of peace. On anybody.)

We're all friend here, right? No need to be aggressive! Hurt anybody! Let's all put our weapons down, yeah?

But! This runs into a PROBLEM. The fuckin Yandere. Your bog standard sociopath. Those to whom this love field/targeting/ray/what-have-you is either so completely foreign too or NOTICEABLE as to be ineffective. Or to whom "love" is AGGRESSIVE.

Who's concept of "love" would actually make the problem WORSE.

I bring this up? Because I am FACINATED by the concept of AfO falling in love.

He... he would be COMPLETELY unhinged about it. The very act would unlock LAYERS to his deeply fucked up, highly obsessive, mind games and bank vaults, squirrel brain.

But I don't think he'd ever WILLINGLY fall in love. Or even be capable. Might be a brain chemistry thing, honesty. But the very reason his CLINGS to his his brothers quirk? Is because his brother was HIS. They were connected. It was... the closest thing he understood to love. And he is unhinged even to this day about it.

EIGHT GENERATIONS OF USERS LATER.

So like? If he spooked some poor soul? With a "love me" quirk? And she, in terror, tried to blast this Scary Supervillian into Not Hurting Her? She would have NO WAY of knowing that she just made a HUGE fucking mistake. Like... conceivably, the WORST mistake.

Because all it would take? Is her NOT instantly dying. No reflexive "how dare you use your Quirk on me". And? The altered brain chemistry starts to kick in. He's suddenly getting?? All these NICE happy brain chemicals that his body has been fuckin STARVED off? Fascinating new sensations? Elevated mood?

It's fake. He KNOWS it's fake. :) But that doesn't mean he won't murder her if she STOPS :)

Looooove yoooou~♡

Does it shift in to real, deeply deranged, love? Impossible to tell. Someone for the LOVE OF GOD call All Might. But?? He's just such an unhinged MESS it's fascinating to explore how emotional quirks would even react to him? Fascinating to think about how he would REACT if he had a SECOND "little brother" scenario. A person he CARED about. But this time... WORSE because it was in a way he could somewhat comprehend AND he had FAR more power then before.

Would it derail everything? Would he be able to focus on his Machiavellian plans while being able to fold them into them? Would he fuckin CONSUME THEM like he did Tomura? Ultimate form of love, after all, to become HIM.

How long could she, the hypothetical Quirk holder, keep that Quirk ACTIVE? Fear is a powerful motivator.

Just?? Why are there not more fics about the Ultimate Creep, BEING CREEPY AND UNHINGED??? He's VERY GOOD AT IT. Has had a LOT OF PRACTICE. LET AfO be deeply insane, 2XXX!

[retrobr]

Lazytown Shenanigans pt. 2

So this time I've watched two episodes in a row: "Sportacus Saves the Toys" and "The Lazy Cup." I can't say that I liked both of the episodes, but they weren't bad either lmaoo. And, well, I think I liked the "Sportacus Saves the Toys" episode more than "The Lazy Cup"

So,

"Sportacus Saves the Toys."

In the first of the above-mentioned episodes, there were – holy moly – some new locations, even despite the fact that they weren't shown for too long. I liked that China and France looked somewhat identical to Lazytown, like they looked funky and colorful as well as Lazytown, u know

This episode made me feel a little bad for Ziggy tbh. I mean, Ziggy is one of my favorite characters; he has a very sweet (badum-tss) and kind personality. I live for this kind of character who is mostly cheerful and happy about everything in their life. And this episode was one of those in which someone ruined his mood, so that made me feel sad. I am sad /ref

And it was Stingy and Stephanie again who did that, just like in the "Ziggy's Alien" episode. Bruh why are they doing that to my boy :(

OH AND ZIGGY'S AND SPORTACUS' "FAMILY BONDING." I fucking adore their interaction, and I fucking love when Sportacus tries to cheer Ziggy up. I just can't do it anymore why are they so adorable 🥺 But then Stingy and Stephanie (mostly Stingy. All the blame is on him /j) ruined his happy mood once again. DAMN WHY JUST WHY ARRERGH-

A few words about Stingy. My God, he can't even play peacefully without proving that things belong to him. BRO UM JUST PLAY NORMALLY, GODDAMMIT, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?? Holy chimichangas, he even took all the sunscreen for himself, what the hell, seriously.... I just despise him at this point, but I can't help myself. He's just annoying.

Anyways. Milford and Bessie were adorable, as always. Can't help but smile like a dork when I see them interacting 🥺

And for goodness sake let Robbie rest and eep!! I can't say that much about him because, well, he was acting silly again as always, so yeah. But the machine that he built was a TOTAL MONSTROSITY. I would've shit myself if I saw that thing walking towards me omg 😭 /hj

And, finally, the "grab my hand" line. Nothing much to say because I'm shaking fiercely like a small pathetic chihuahua..... these dorks are going to be the end for me fr.

"The Lazy Cup."

Well, um, that was something I guess 😭 I don't even know what to say about this episode, except for some small things.

The Sportacus' "ball" shout from the very beginning set the mood for the whole episode, I tell you guys. (/j) I mean that was just very sudden, I just turned on the episode, and the very first thing I heard was "BOAHL" 😭

Won't say anything about Bessie and Milford again because I told about them earlier; they're just cute, like a married but not actually married old couple. Good for them

And speaking about old couples and stuff. There's no doubt to me from this point that Robbie is fucking obsessed with Sportadork. I mean, bro says that he hates him but at the same time HAS A GODDAMN MANNEQUIN OF HIM; bro says "ooohhh noo not him again" and still continues to watch him. Like dude, my dear, calm down 😔

But whatever. Robbie's disguise was pretty nice, I should say; I think his name was Sergio?? I honestly don't remember, but I think it's one of my favorite disguises of his.

And I would like to say that Robbie's team was SO FUCKING ODD I JUST UGH?? 😭 BRO GATHERED THE MOST CRINGE GUYS THAT HE HAS I SWEAR. And like, how did it even work? Did he just bring his own disguises to life? I don't know maybe I'm just stupid, but I didn't know that his disguise machine could do things like that

Finally, Stingy again. In this episode he actually did something nice – in other words, he helped Stephanie. Ok bud, that was a good act of yours 🙄

Well, I guess that's all.. It turned out to be a little longer than I expected, so I want to thank you if someone read this to the end :]

[kob131]

Pokemon Team Symbolism in Pokemon

You would think a series that emphasizes a colorful cast of creatures would try to use them to symbolize a character and their journey.

They have. Just not as often as you would think. It's damn good when they do though.

What Symbolism?

The symbolism I am talking about is using a Trainer's Pokemon to demonstrate aspects of the Trainer's personality and/or journey. For example, a Pokemon evolving after the Trainer has reached a turning point in their story or a Pokemon's move or Ability to demonstrate a personality trait that isn't so obvious.

Gen 1

Now normally I would begin off by talking about how a Pokemon represents a character and how they change alongside the Trainer...but Gen 1 doesn't really...have this.

This isn't an insult or anything- Gen 1 simply doesn't have the variety to pull this off. For example, what Pokemon can you use to represent Misty within Gen 1? Maybe Seaking or Gyardos but there's a reason why, in her Heartgold/Soulsilver rematch, she uses a Milotic due to it's heavy association with the fluidity and grace of water alongside being a counterpart to perhaps Gen 1's most famous Water-Gyardos. It's because no other Water type can really symbolize who Misty is, especially since there are no rematches to give her a more expansive team. And Misty's one of the EASIER people to make a more symbolic team with.

I guess of particular note is Blaine's use of Arcanine as his ace, due to how supplementary material implies he helped make Mewtwo and how Arcanine is referred to as the 'Legendary' Pokemon. Or Alakazam's immense power and almost alien appearence fitting with Sabrina's creepy vibe. And Giovanni using Nidoking and Nidoqueen, Ground/Poison types, can symbolize his leadership of Team Rocket and his status as the Ground Gym Leader. It's all cool... But not really anything special.

Gen 2

Ah here's the good shit.

This is where Game Freak started experimenting with more...expressive uses of Pokemon. Before we get to the big example, I want to try and talk about some of the other trainers.

In particular, I want to make a special mention of Clair and Lance's teams. With Clair, her team consists of three Dragonairs and a Kingdra. Now this doesn't look all that special aside from the Dragon-Type's status as being uber powerful in earlier gens but it does gain quite a bit of significance if you consider her relationship with Lance (him being her stronger and older cousin that she's implied to feel inferior to) and his own team. Namely that her Dragonairs all only have one move seperating them (Surf/Thunderbolt/Ice Beam) which is very similar to three Pokemon from Lance's team...except that the moves chosen (Thunder/Blizzard/Fire Blast) all have higher BP and the Pokemon in question are his Dragonites, the fnal stage of Dragonair. Meaning that Lance's team is basically an upgraded version of Clair's, showing why she feels so inferior to him.

And this chink in her armor is further emphasized through her ace, Kingdra. Kingdra's typing of Water/Dragon actually removes the signature Ice weakness that Dragons have (as well as giving it a STAB against the Swinub line the player will likely try to use against her) but it leaves it weak to Dragon-Types still. Meaning Lance's mastery will lead to Clair facing a harder battle. And for extra points- Lance's Gen 3 rematch team even gives him a Kingdra, further connecting them.

Now to move on- Silver.

I've come to the realization that Silver might be one of the most important characters in Pokemon. Not story wise mind you- he basically falls off outside of his Gen and it's remakes. But rather, in his writing. Because Silver's team actually includes the first notable use of Evolution to symbolize a Trainer's personal development. In his own story, Silver begins as your average edgy teen with an obsession with power and being a badass, even though you keep whooping his ass. However unlike Blue, Silver actually reacts to being beaten by you as he grows more and more frustrated. This coincideces with everyone he fights telling about how cruel and abusive he is acting towards his Pokemon. And by the time you beat him in Victory Road- he accepts what he did wrong and works to improve himself, not just his Pokemon. And this is shown as his Mt. Moon fight (...Really Game Freak?), his Kadabra and Haunter have evolved, meaning that Silver had to have become more personable to get someone to trade with him and his Golbat evolves in Crobat in his finale fight, a friendship based evolution. (Bonus points- Zubat/Golbat are commonly used by Team Rocket members, with Giovanni their leader being Silver's dad.)

This really shows how a Trainer's team can be used to symbolize their growth as a person. I can't wait to see what the next Gen accompli-

Gen 3

... God damn it.

So Gen 3 kind of falls back a bit in turns of using Pokemon teams for characterization. You have the usual basic symbology- like Brawly the martial artist using martial arts focused Fighting types, Norman being an everyman and a mundane but everpresent presence in your life being the master of powerful Normal types and the sea surrounded Sootopolius having a Water Gym. But nothing like the interplay between Lance and Clair or the subtly of Silver.

Best I have is the quite and sensitive Wally using the sensitive and shy Ralts evolving into the powerful Gardevoir/Gallade. But poor Walley doesn't get much time. The rivals...aren't really characters in Gen 3 and I've never played the Gen 6 remakes. For fuck's sake- they didn't even fully evolve her starter in the original games!

At least the Gym Leader aces do a better job of portraying them. Like Tate and Liza's Double Battle makes them like souped-up versions of the twins you've encountered in the game, their teamwork is shown through their Claydol always having access to Earthquake while their other Pokemon have some way of mitigating its team hitting function. Steven's love of rare stones and minerals is shown through him using the fossil Pokemon and Metagross. Or Winnoa's love of the sky being shown through her cloud-shaped Altaria. And Wallace's love of elegance being echoed in Milotic.

... Let's move on.

Gen 4

Okay, we're getting better.

Specifically, I'm talking about Barry. Specifically, his second to and last fights alongside his general team composition.

In his second to last fight, Barry fights you in Calvacade City, right before the sixth. By this point, most players will have evolved their starter. After all, Byron's team is edging Level 40 and the starter's evolve at Level 36 (Infernape/Empoleon) or 32 (Torterra). This is because Barry hasn't hit his turning point yet, in his loss to Jupiter at Lake Acuity which results in Uxie's capture. This causes Barry to become more serious and focused in his later appearances, as shown by his team battle with the player and his final fight at the Pokemon League having his starter fully evolved.

There's also the fact that Barry's team is actually rather well balanced, better than even Blue's team. As it turns out, Barry's family has a history of being tough trainers as his Dad, Palmer, is a Battle Frontier member. The Battle Tower, in fact. Which is basically the Pokemon location for 'ultra tough battles.'

Of course, there's also Cynthia. Her team is where Game Freak really go out of their way to try and capture the feeling of a 'Pokemon Master'. She begins with Spiritomb, a VERY rare Pokemon that the player likely knows nothing about. She also wields Milotic, a former Champion's ACE; Lucario, another rare Pokemon that you can only get from being gifted an Egg; Togekiss, a Pokemon that involves evolution through friendship and a Gen 4 stone; Roserade, a similar Pokemon to Togekiss through it's evolution line as well as being Gardena's ace and Garchomp, a Pokemon that takes advantage of Gen 4's more varied BST distribution to be a kind of Master of All pseudo-legendary. All of this together showcases Cynthia's power as a Champion- the varied methods of evolution display her wide range, the rarity of her Pokemon show her extensive travels, her use of former aces show her higher rank and her own ace being almost specifically stated to take advantage of every single advantage possible show her sheer strength.

Of smaller note is also Volkner and Flint, friends as shown in game, having similar kinds of teams whose aces are Electrivire/Magmortar, two evolutions of Gen 1 counterparts Electibuzz/Magmar with Gen 2 baby pre-evolutions. And Rorak and Byron's Aces, being Ramphardos and Bastidon, showing them to both be miners and having Byron be a Steel Gym Leader, when Steel is essentially an upgraded version of Rock, to show them being father and son.

Gen 5

Oh this is the good shit.

Gen 5 is famous for the MASSIVE leap in story quality and it really shows. Ignoring the two green elephants in the room for right now, let's start with the rivals.

With Bianca, her story is all about wanting to go out into the world with her childhood friends to live out her dreams, like them. However, she comes to learn that she might not be suited for being a Trainer since even with her strong resistance to her father's demands- she can't really keep up with the other two. And this shows in her battles- Namely that she fights you less frequently than Cheren (five vs. his seven) and with Cheren having better strategies.

Speaking of, Cheren is someone heavily focused on becoming a stronger Trainer and being determined to overcome the Player, which is reflected in his team. He not only fights you more often but his team is at a higher level before the post game than Bianca and he's one of the Trainers in the series to use extensive use of held items. It also demonstrates a knowledge of Pokemon battling than most Trainers in the series, showing why he'd qualify for being a Gym Leader in the sequels.

Then we have perhaps the two who stand as the standards, if not pinnacles for great team symbolism- N and Ghetsis. With N, it's already noted that for each battle he partakes in, he catches nearby Pokemon and uses them for his battles. And it's already said that he does this because he thinks capturing Pokemon is wrong and that humans and Pokemon can't coexist. But the interesting thing comes from his teams in the original games and the sequels.

In the first game, N is unique in that he sends out his ace, Zekrom/Reshiram, first. While on a gameplay level it makes sense as your own dragon will be sent to the first slot, it works on a story level too as N sees this fight as the big, determining battle to see whose side is right with your dragons representing your sides of the conflict. I even think N will always start the fight with the Fusion attack of his dragon, showcasing how you have affected him and his view of Pokemon and humans. You also have his other Pokemon- like how he has Carracosta and Archeops, the fossil Pokemon, and Klinklang and Vanillux, a futuristic Pokemon and a Pokemon inspired by a modern beverage, showcasing Black and White's duality and focus on the past and future while also showing N's deep connection to Pokemon old and new. And finally we have his Zoroark, a Pokemon shown in the opening of the game as a Zoura to have been with him his whole life, likely feeding into his beliefs through its experiences...and how said beliefs were based on lies.

Then we have his sequel teams, themed after each different type of weather for each season (Rain for Spring, Sun for Summer, Sand for Autumn and Hail for Winter)- implying that not only is N such a masterful trainer that he has mastered multiple kinds of teams but also showing that he's unwilling to force himself onto nature and Pokemon, instead working with them to achieve the best they can.

Very much unlike his father, Ghetsis. With him, he starts with the defensive and stalling Cofagrigus which uses Toxic and Protect to slowly whittle away at the player with his Mummy ability representing the way he infected and controlled N; Boffluant with Reckless demonstrating his wild emotions and how he views his Pokemon as expendable; Seismitoad and its sweeping power to demonstrate his threat; Bisharp with Defiant to show his status as the final boss as well as how he truly commands Team Plasma much like how a Bisharp commands Pawniards; Eelktross and it's almost leech like appearence to show how he used N and his Hydrigeon, Gen 5's Pseudo-Legendary and known for its violent disposition to show what Ghetsis is really like.

This gets especially blatant with his sequel team, which is far less effective with his Sesimitoad losing Swift Swim for Poison Touch, losing his Bisharp and Boffulant for Draipon and Toxicroak and finally his Hydriegon losing its Special set for an inferior Physical set (the only upside being a maxed out Frustration. Which...yeah, three guesses why). All to show how far he has fallen, how he has lost his ability to lead by this point, how corroded his mind actually is now and how he's lost his effectiveness.

We even have some interesting symbolism in the Gym Leaders, like with Clay's ace, Excadrill, not only being based on a mining tool but also seems to be perfectly designed to defeat the ore-based Roggnerola line (with Ground/Steel attacks to it's Rock, Mold Breaker to ignore Sturdy and Sand Rush/Sand Force to take advantage of the line's future Sand Stream ability). Things are looking up once aga-

Gen 6

... I need to stop pissing in the face of fate.

So...Gen 6, probably the worst Generation of Pokemon, has next to no interesting Pokemon symbolism. Cool, the dancing rival has Pokemon that use dance moves. ... That's it. Trevor wants to travel Kalos because his parents left him behind but his team is a Raichu, a Aerodyctal and a Florges. Shanua is aimless and has a crush on the player character, gets the type-weak starter and fights you twice. Calem and Serena are the kids of famous Pokemon battlers...but their teams aren't very well put together.

The Gym Leaders have nothing. Best is Wulfric, a bulky guy, uses the iceberg Pokemon Avalugg.

The villain leader Lysander does use a Pyroar in his matches, matching team Flare's colors and showing their obssession with beauty. And Malva also uses a Pyroar to show she was a supporter of Team Flare.

That's it.

.... Moving on.

Gen 7

Getting back on track. Again.

First up is Hau. In the Sun and Moon games, Hau is a very laid back and generally easy going guy who doesn't put much stock into the battles he gets into. While this would normally be seen as a good thing, a few characters call him out for his easy going attitude which ends up affecting his performance in battle. The culminates in his loss in Aether House, hammering home that he cannot continue this path. And so, he works harder to become stronger for the sake of his friends. It's around this time the games visibly have his starter, previous stuck in its middle or 'teen' evolution, grow into it's final stage. There's also quite a bit of Fighting Type hate in his team, from his Pichu knowing Charm and it evolving into a part Psychic type, his Eeveeloution also having Charm and Baby-Doll Eyes as well as having a Noivern on his team. Showing that he's still focused on beating his grandpa, Hala. And yet, he's still proud of his heritage, as shown with his Tauros (commonly found on Melemene island as a Ride Pokemon) and his Crabmomible (the ace of his grandpa).

Things don't end there, since there's also Gladion and his ace, Type: Null. Gladion is a runaway young team having recently lost his dad and basically his mom (since she goes either coocoo from neurotoxins in the original games or goes all Count of Monte Cristo on aliens in the Ultra games). Much like his ace, Gladion is bound and chained by his past, driven to either stop his mother or protect who he has left but can't really take advantage of his strengths because of it too. So instead he's kind of stuck seeking power even when we know he's way in over his head. That is until he meets the player and Hau, whom he learns to trust and put his faith into. And by the end- he's free as his family is safe and he can pursue the life he wants. A story neatly packed into Type: Null's own evolution, going from a rampaging beast bound and restricted to a freed and kinder creature. For bonus points, out of Gladion's other six Pokemon- three of them are friendship evolutions with one being a Lucario, a Pokemon that only follows those who have justice in their hearts.

Oh and you get a nice dose of N with his Zororark imitating his Silvally, showing that his threatening demeanor is just a really complicated version of teen angst and coping.

Speaking of coping- Guzma. A tough looking leader of Team Skull...whose actually a man who grew up abused by his dad before beating him up and running away, took up the Island Challenge and is now a washed up leader of bitter people desperately trying to make something of themselves. And wouldn't you know it- He uses the Bug Type, a type that gets shit on both in universe and out for its weak members and generally being outclassed. This shows Guzma's inner weakness and connection to the weak and discarded Team Skull. They're also some of the more threatening Bug Types, including his rather strong ace Golisopod. This Pokemon in particular represents Guzma, as it begins as a weak and scared Wimpod before evolving after a lot of hard work into the threatening and determined Golisopod. Rather fitting for a man who once jumped into an interdimensional portal to fight aliens and also got involved in the downfall of the Super Interdimensional Gay Mafia. Awesome.

Moving back to the blondes- Lusamine. Said mother who went coocoo over her husbands death. A woman obsessed with the beauty of Pokemon, herself deceptively beautiful for a violent and destructive person. Her team consists of Pokemon commonly considered beautiful or cute...while also being rather strong. Those being- Clefairy, a kind hearted and helpful Pokemon showing her loving nature that is either hidden or wrecked; Lilligant, a Pokemon heavily associated with beauty and grace that requires skillful care to ensure its flower blossoms to show her geniune love for Pokemon; Lopunny, a cautious and active Pokemon that also displays Lusamine's kinder side; Mismagius, an eerie witch-like Pokemon known for its cries harming but sometimes helping others, showing Lusamine's violent mood in the earlier games before being switched with the kinder Lopunny; Milotic...we've already talked about it and Bewear, a giant fluffy Pokemon that loves to give hugs...that smooths and crushes those it hugs due to not understanding its own strength. ... Take a guess as to what this Pokemon represents.

And finally we have Lillie. A girl who starts off scared, indecisive and unable to do anything until events force her to help out or lose everything. WIth the likes of Hop and the player's actions, she's inspired to take a more proactive role in battles...while still not being the best and acting as support. As shown with her team being support based Fairy types. A type that just so happens to be heavily connected to feminine beauty. And her signature Pokemon is a Friend Guard Clefairy. ... Did I mention Lusamine's first Pokemon in all her fights is an offensive Magic Guard Clefable?

Sadly can't say too much about the Kahunas- they aren't really focused on. It's more the Totem Pokemon...and those aren't teams. So...moving on.

Gen 8

Okay, get a snack and a drink. We're going to be here for a while.

Let's try something simple- Marnie. One of the more static trainers, this isn't to say she doesn't have any symbolism on her team. It kind of seems odd for someone like Marnie, who isn't even really aggressive in her rivalry with the player, to be using a Dark type team, since Dark types are known for their underhanded tactics and propensity for malicious behavior. But it does make sense when you see that she hails from Spikemuth, which is the hometown of Team Yell. Said team is, in actuality, her brother's Gym Trainers having gone off to support her. This is shown by her team being made up, while perhaps not fully moral Pokemon, are the more beign Pokemon of their types. Like her Liepard, Morpeko and Grimmsnarl are all more akin to tricksters rather than the malicious Pokemon usually associated with the Dark Type. Even her Poison type is a Toxicroak, a Pokemon known for its toxicity but not for any underhanded tactics. This is also a Pokemon that appears frequently on villain teams, hinting at her connection to Team Yell. Further connecting her to them is Scrafty, a Dark/Fighting type she shares with her brother Piers. Over half her team also has a type ADVANTAGE over Team Yell, indicating how she not only controls them but also takes over for her brother in the end.

Yeah, that was one of the more...easy examples. Bede is a bit more complex. He starts off as your typical example of a 'jackass rival', being smug and condescending to you and your friend Hop. As he seems to be a call back to the likes of Blue, Bede uses the Psychic type, which was infamously overpowered in Gen 1. However, Bede is..not good. His team entirely consists of Psychic, Normal and Fairy attacks which sounds good...until you remember that A. this leaves Bede with no means of answering Steel types which resist Psychic, Normal and Fairy and B. Half his moves use his Pokemon's inferior attacking stats (like Gothorilla used Rock Tomb and Galarian Pontya uses Special moves). These kind of leave him as an ill fitting opponent despite his arrogance. And that weakness to Steel types likely isn't a coincidence- his benefactor is Chairman Rose, a Steel type specialist who helped Bede become a Gym Challenger before revoking his right later. Around this time, the Fairy Gym Leader Opal takes a liking to him and proceeds to drag him off. Next time he appears, he shows up as Opal's apprentice and successor, becoming a Fairy type trainer. From here, we see that he has learned a bit of humility and understanding on where he went wrong. This nicely coinsides with his team having far more diverse type coverage, being fully evolved and even having a coverage move against Steels. Coolest part is that Bede retains half his team, with his formerly pure Psychic Ponyta and Hattrem evolving into Psychic/Fairy Rapidash and Hattrene, which is now able to stand against Rose. Even so, he still cares for him, as shown by his Mawille, a Steel/Fairy Pokemon, being his lead. It's part Steel typing and Intimidate ability summing up Bede before his encounter with Opal and displaying Rose's permanent impact in his life.

And yet they both pale in comparison to your main rival- Hop. Hop is the childhood friend of the player character and brother to the current Champion, Leon. An energetic boy with high hopes for his travels, he starts his adventure with his Wooloo (this game's first Normal type) and the starter weak to yours. SO naturally you beat the crap out of him. Simple as always. .... Except. Hop...doesn't just take it. When you beat him after obtaining your first badge, he briefy bemoans how he's weaker than you before admitting he need sto keep his guard up. And this isn't a one and done deal. He later loses to Bede who proceeds to insult him, telling him that he's dragging his brother's name through the mud. Which he later admits to really affecting him. And so...Hop does something that no other trainer in the series has ever done. He does a near full revamp of his old team. He benches his Wooloo and Corvisquare he had been using up until then for various different Pokemon in not just his next fight but the one after that. And after each loss, Hops becomes more and more despondent. After all, if he can't beat you even after overhauling his team twice then does he really stand a chance of beating his brother? However, upon hearing about the Galar legend about the Darkest Day, Hop resolves himself to stop doubting himself and simply focus on getting better, as shown by him returning his old Pokemon (now fully evolved), including a Pinurchin and adding the Snorlax he had been using before. So alls well that ends well.

Until you beat Hop in the semifinals before proceeding to beat his brother, the so-called unbeatable Champion. The man whom he looked up to. The man he dreamed about beating and surpassing. The man YOU just beat after beating him multiple times. ... Yeah. After the credits roll, you and him are called back to the resting place of the Legendaries where Hop asks to fight you once again. And here's the return of one the Pokemon from his 'doubt' period. And once again, Hop loses to an asshole insulting him (Sorward or Shieldbert) and even run off with the Legendaries' items, causing a huge hit to his confidence. It even makes him question whether or not he can even help you as you try to catch the brothers, even though Hop had done as much in the plot as you had. Even though he kept one of the items the Legendaries used to fight Eternatus. Even though he helped you BEAT Eternatus. Which is far more than can be said of most rivals. But Hop proves himself once more- he helps quell the raging Dynamax Pokemon, helps defend you as you chase after the brothers and even risks his life to go quell one of the Legendaries as it runs wild. All culminating in an honor that no other rival in the series has gotten: Hop catches the opposing Legendary and adds it to his team. Proof that he is just as much a hero as you are.

And he deserved it.

But this section is going on long enough by this point so we really need to move on. Because Hop sets a standard for the next Gen of Pokemon.

Gen 9

We're FINALLY at the last Gen as of this post's making (Gen 9 Teal Mask DLC). And...fuck my arm is tired.

So, let's try to get the Gym Leaders out of the way quick. Because yes- The Gym Leaders all have some kind of symbolism, rivaling their Gen 5 counterparts. Like Katy bemoaning that she's forced to go easy on Trainers is neatly symbolized by her cute ace Teddiursa becoming the fierce and violent Ursaring; Brassius' signature artwork being a stone statue of a Grass Type with his ace being a Tera Grass Sudowoodo, a Rock Type that emulates a tree; Kofu being a seafood chief using a team themed around seafood (including the self fillieting Veneluza); Larry's ordinary profession belying effectiveness shown through his Tera Pokemon sharing it's type with it meaning it gets extra damage; Rhyme being a rap artist connected with the dead through her Tera Ghost Low Key Toxicricity ect. I can't speak too much about them cuz shit's gonna be long.

Let's start with Arven. A boy who isn't much of Trainer, closed off and hostile because of his parent(s?)'s neglect- Arven doesn't really have any Pokemon to speak of at the beginning. He has a Skwot...and that's it. He even admits he just caught the damn thing. But as he travels with the player, slowly opening up to them and becoming friend with them, he catches nearby Pokemon and uses them to fight off the Titans. And he does a pretty damn good job- His Pokemon will always have a type advantage to be advantageous and each are fairly decent Pokemon in their own right (Cloyster, Scovillain, Garganacl and Toedscruel) along with his previously caught Greedent and his old friend Mabosstiff, an intimidating but loving and loyal Pokemon. Much like Arven. And like Mabosstiff, Arven gains friends and allies in his efforts through his adventure with the player.

One of said allies is Penny. An unassuming girl who the player saves from being harrassed by a group of deliquents called Team Star...who ends up being a skilled hacker and also the LEADER of Team Star under the pseudonym of 'Cassiopea'. And Penny's team is...entirely standardized with six Eeveelutions that share the moves Baby-Doll Eyes, Quick-Attack, a STAB move and a single coverage moves. A rather...underwhelming team of Pokemon, especially for the climax of a storyline. ... But that's intentional. Penny maybe the leader of Team Star but, as you could probably guess, no one had ever even SEEN Penny face to face before. While Team Star have formidable Trainers in their upper ranks, Penny never took to the battlefield personally. Penny is not a fighter and her team reflects this. Her Eeveelutions are not specially trained Pokemon- they're effectively pets. This is why they all have low-level moves in their movesets: they're hold overs from when they were Eevees that were never removed because Penny never had a reason for it. In fact, Quick Attack and Baby Doll Eyes arguable work better for a pet (being able to zoom around quickly to release energy and beg for food) than a battler. Hell, her Pokemon all provide some kind of utility and two of which are friendship evolutions- they really ARE pets.

Next we have Nemona, the rival character of the game. Unlike the other rivals, Nemona is in fact a more accomplished trainer than the player at first. In fact, she's so strong that this combined with her obssession lead her to becoming isolated from her peers. And for a peak at her strength: she beat the Top Champion of Paldea while still holding back. And it shows in the contrast between her fights with the player throughout the Victory Road story. She constantly talks about holding back, carefully considering her team to match what you should be at that point. And her teams are, consequently, nothing special. Just some basic level up moves. Right up until the very last fight of the storyline. Nemona, having changed her class from 'Pokemon Trainer' to 'Champion', is not only using a full team but is now packing STAB for each of her Pokemon AND coverage moves to smack your Pokemon hard no matter the matchup. Even with her choosing the starter weak to yours- her team is made up of rare and powerful Pokemon like a Goodra (pseudo-Legendary), Orthworm (a Pokemon previously fought as a TITAN), Lycanrock (a speedy Rock type), Pawimot (a Pokemon with the rare Electric/Fighting type) and a three segment Dundunsparce (a bulk and strong Normal Type that's also a 1/100 evolution, showing her sheer talent). Unless you overlevel your team, Nemona will be knocking out some of your team. As befitting a Champion. Moreso than fucking Geeta...

And if that's not enough, we also have the Professor stand in- Director Clavell. Introduced as the well meaning, attentive, kind and reasonable principal of the Academy, you would be forgiven for thinking that he might just be okay fight. ... He has more strategy to his team than 90% of Trainers in the series. No really.

He starts with an Oragnuru, a Pokemon noted for its intelligence and ability to use tools. FIttingly, it's a support Pokemon that lacks the usual weakness to Ghost types that Psychics have (important as SV is lousy with absurdly strong Ghosts), Oranguru will debilitate your team with Yawn to smack you with Dream Eater, Foul Play any cheeky Physical Attackers and use Reflect to shore up his team's Physical weakness. He then uses an Abomasnow, which sets up snow to further boost its defense. He then uses it to smack your team hard with STAB, perfect accuracy Blizzards, Wood Hammers and priority Ice Shard. And you want to kill it quick because it setting up snow means it can use Auorua Veil, effectively Reflect AND Light Screen in one. Which is bad because his next Pokemon is a Shell Smash using Poltigeust that spams Shadow Ball for STAB and Sucker Punch to punish priority and revenge killers. And it ALSO has Will-O-Wisp to weaken Physical attackers, which is bad because one of his next two Pokemon can be a Hex-spamming Amoongus which also has the lovely combination of Toxic and Spore to fuck with your team. And it has Giga Drain for recovery. Literally the only thing separating this Pokemon from its competitive counterpart is lacking Regenerator and Leftovers. He can also have a Gyardos, an almost evergreen Water type with a ton of coverage. Telling that his easiest Pokemon is a possible Houndoom. Oh and he uses the starter not picked in the beginning. The one strongest against you.

Really goes to show that Clavell really did earn his spot as the Director.

And if this was just about the base game, I could end it here. But even with all this and more- this wasn't what inspired me to make this post.

No, that would be the Teal Mask DLC and its two key players- Carmine and Kieran.

Starting with Carmine, a basic overview of her story here- she's a dickhead who has a more caring side but is basically covered by her being utterly awful at expressing herself and not being the best sister. She doesn't like outsiders due to people treating her hometown of Kitakami as a tourist trap but grows more open as she befriends the player. Why am I saying all this?

Because her team is a perfect representation of this.

She will always start her fights with a Poocheyna that evolves into Mightynea. A threatening Dark type that excels in pack tactics and is known to follow strong Trainers. Showcasing that despite Carmine's dickish attitude- she's most certainly a skilled trainer while also demonstrating how she bosses around her little brother.

Next is her Morpeko. An Electric/Dark type that wildly switches mood based on hunger, from friendly to aggressive. This duality is a summation of Carmine's character- how she switches from arrogant and standoffish to kinder and sweeter.

Then comes her Swadloon that evolves into Leavanny, a kind and nuturing Pokemon known for taking care of small Pokemon by weaving clothes for them. This showcases Carmine's real feelings for Kieran as despite acting like a bully towards Kieran- she geniunely loves and treasures him. Hell, the Pokedex in Scarlet even deviates a bit from its usual depiction of Leavanny to mention its protective instincts, similar to Carmine's own protectiveness.

Next comes her Ninetails, a Pokemon based off a kitsune and known for its mystical power but vengeful nature. A rather apt summation of how Carmine usually acts- a strong trainer but very easy to set off.

Finally comes her Poltchageist that evolves into Sinistcha- a Pokemon exclusive to her hometown of Kitakami, a Grass/Ghost type that tries to trick people into drinking it in order to drain them of their lifeforce...but failing most of the time. Whereas Morpeko is an overview of Carmine and Ninetails is the usual side of her, Sinistcha is what Carmine really is at the end of the day- a harmless fool. While she can burn people much like her Sinistcha can through its signature move and Scald, she means no ill will and can't do much to hurt anyone. And she can help as much as she can harm, just like how Sinistcha can aid others through its ability, Hospitality.

And what makes this interesting is the effectiveness of the team. As her Mightyena has one of the most useful lead abilities in Pokemon along with Howl to boost it's Sucker Punch and Play Rough; her Morpeko taking advantage of Aura Wheel's Speed boost through a held Focus Slash; Leavanny being a setup sweep through Swords Dance and Fell Stinger; Ninetails supporting the team through Disable and Will-o-Wisp and Sinistcha negating Grass' Fire Weakness through a Berry- it communicates that Carmine is an effective trainer. Fitting as her school is said to be specifically focused on Poke Battles.

But even this pales in comparison to her brother, Kieran. A shy boy who starts out looking up to and befriending the player character, neatly shown through his first two fights being simple 2-3 Pokemon fights. And as the story progresses, we learn a bit about him. That he expresses an admiration for the ogre in the village myth, having defeated three strong Pokemon by itself. He admires that strength and the seeming independence it has, since he himself wants to be strong and relied on due to his sister's unwitting damage to his ego through taking over his tasks. He even comes across having a crush on the player character to add to his likeability.

Then you meet the mascot of the Teal Mask DLC and the ogre from the legend, Ogerpon. Through a series of events involving Carmine making you swear not to tell Kieran about this to preserve his feelings and Kieran evasdropping- he learns that we met Ogerpon and we unknowingly keep lying to him. Which, considering we met the Pokemon he had been admiring for so long and being his first friend...he takes it hard. Things spiral out of control as his mental state burrows down, with him lashing out at the player character and Carmine for percieved injustices, eventually resulting in Kieran challenging the player for the right to be Ogerpon's partner...even though she had already chosen the player character. Even Kieran admits this is selfish but still pushes for it.

It's around this time that his team starts changing for real. Before his team consisted of a Yanma, Furret and Poliwhirl; all with unremarkable moves. Now his Yanma is a dedicated Special Attacker, his Furret is a setup Pokemon using a breeding move to clean hazards and get a Dragon Dance boost; his Poliwhirl evolves into Poliwrath with Haze to clear boosts and he adds a Applin evolution, Dipplin, based off of the candy apples he likes. His next battle has him shelve the Furret for a Cramorant, he adds a Gilgar to his team and his Yanma has evolved into a Tinted Lens Yanmega. ANd then there's his final team.

A Shiftry with a Focus Sash and the new Wind Rider ability with tailwind to boost Speed and Attack at once; the afromentioned Tinted Tens Yanmega so resistances are less effective than ever; Dipplin for more speed control and Leftovers for recovery; Probopass with Sturdy and pinch berry to become a cannon of a Special Attacker; Poliwhirl is now a Belly Drum-Sitrus Berry user to be a massive sweeper and now a fucking Yache Berry holding Gliscor. ... This is one of the most well put together teams in Pokemon history. Which, again, makes sense since Kieran is ALSO a student at Carmine's school. And not only that- he is actively trying to prove himself worthy of Ogerpon. He will obviously put out ALL the stops to beat you.

And the symbolism isn't just limited to movesets. Each Pokemon have...eerie undertones. Yanma, despite its looks, is a rather big Bug Type known for moving very fast and keeping a close eye on prey with Yanmega capable of crippling foes with its wingbeats and BITING the heads off prey. Shiftry can level houses and its Violet entry posits that it's based off a bird Pokemon that recieved divine punishment. Both representing Kierian's radical change. Poliwhirl goes from a dopy sleep inducing Pokemon to powerful swimmer, reflecting his desire for strength. Probopass manipulates the little mini-units to catch prey and Gliscor is a terrifyingly effective predator, reflecting Kierian's sheer hostility by this point. And Dipplin, the last remainder of the child-like innocence his team once had after Furret gets benched? Its apple is hollowed out and filled with two dragons, unlike Flapple and Appletun who coexist with the apple. Much like how Kieran's childlike demeanor has been hollowed out into a shell.

And just like how Kieran's story isn't done with the Teal Mask- datamines and experimentation with Eviolite has revealed Dipplin will be getting an evolution in the Indigo Disk.

Conclusion

You would think a series that has a core gameplay mechanic like Evolution, basically the symbolic progression from childhood to adulthood, would use these aspects for characterization more. But the history of this is rather bumpy, since the games have prioritized gameplay over story for so long. But good god damn, I would say that Pokemon beats out its contemporary in SMT for using its Mons cast for symbolism when it does.

I mean, you don't write an essay of THIS length over nothing. And I would like to remind people- I glossed over a few things. As in depth as this is: it's not all encompassing.

So I do think Game Freak deserves credit for this.

[khalixvitae]

vil is so "no talking stage. mutual obsession and you see god in my eyes or die a painful death." and rook is "all day talking stage about how obsessed i am with my most specialest girlfriend now cheer for her or ill blow this whole building up" and it's like yea man. shit. i see god in vil's eyes too. he haunts me. hate it when gnc men make me homosexual.

This is so accurate actually??? I’m working on smth for Vil rn and I’m trying to find a balance so I can convey that kind of 0 to 100 commitment. I keep going back to that line of his in book 5 about how he has no interest in strong arming people into bowing to him and how he prefers it when people do so on their own accord. Vil wants unwavering loyalty, but he also wants to be treated like a person rather than a two dimensional character. He just wants you to see him as the most perfect person to ever walk the earth- and that’s where seeing god in his eyes comes in. He needs to know he can trust you, not just because you’ve got some flighty crush on him- so does everyone else, get in line- but because you’re enamored with his whole being. This means being honest and upfront with him when he does something you disagree with, as well as refusing to shy away from hard truths he has to hear. He doesn’t want you to kiss his ass- honesty like that is a good measure of loyalty, and a foundation for any sort of relationship when he has millions of people obsessing over him. He needs to know you really mean it. It’s complicated, I guess. To me it seems like Vil would want you to level the playing field and treat him like any other person, but then choose him over everyone else in the world because you find him to be so perfect (all his baggage included). But I feel like the mutual connection and respect would be a start for the inevitable mutual pining. Vil is observant by nature and brutally honest to a point- if you reciprocate that without any sort of prompting, he’s going to take to you once he’s sure you’re not trying to get something out of him (just as he took to Rook). You’ll have to know him well to see that he’s in love with you. His affection comes in ways like hard truths big and small, inviting you to do extraordinarily mundane things with him (working out, a quick brunch, etc.), and cosmetics he’s formulated just for you. It’s exceedingly normal for the longest time- he has to know you won’t get bored of him, that you aren’t just interested in his public persona. If you know him that well and still fall head over heels, if you still find god in his eyes? Then he floors it. Or rather it‘s difficult to floor it when the two of you have already so deeply entangled your day to day lives. When did you two get this close? When did you learn so much about him without him telling you outright and Vice versa? Nonetheless it just escalates from there, because then Vil really wants to pick your brain- that mutual understanding gets far deeper far faster once the safety brake is disengaged.

ANYWAYSSSS LMAO I DIDNT. MEAN TO SAY ALL THQT ???? I JUST WOKE UP HAHA ??? THANK YOU FOR YOUR WORDS ANON HEHE HOO !!! YOURE INSIPIRING ME!!!

I am also so very homosexual for gnc men!!!!

[thefandomenchantress]

Asks you more stuff because why the hell not What do you think of the ship: Levi x Ace x David? What do you think of the theory of David being the real protagonist? Apart from Acevid, whats your favorite David ship? (Acevid >>>>>>) What do you think *my* MBTI is? (I love asking people this so sorry) Who do you think killed Arei and why? Out of all my current Acevid oneshots, whats your favorite and least favorite? (Any why ofc bc I just love hearing what people think about things I make) While we're on the topic of Acevid oneshots, whats your favorite and least favorite out of your own? Whos your favorite DRDT VA? (Probably Ace) Is there anything you genuinely don't like about Ace? Do you like Arturo? Which DRDT character would you say is the emoest?

Yaaaay more questions to answer! I love when people ask for my opinions and stuff! :D (/gen)

What do you think of the ship: Levi x Ace x David?

Hmm, I’ve never considered this ship before, surprisingly. And here I was thinking I shipped every Ace ship in existence!

But since I ship acevid and acevi, and I’ve read at least one good David x Levi (Levid?) one-shot, I think they could all be cute together! I think their personalities would even each other out, if you know what I mean. I kinda wanna see a fic about them now, though I’m not sure how I would approach writing one myself.

What do you think of the theory of David being the real protagonist?

I’ve never seen this theory around before, so I can’t be 100% sure I know what you mean, but I do think it’s interesting that he stands where a protag normally would in a canon game.

I suppose maybe in the in-universe TV show the cast is on David could maybe be the protag? Since, as mentioned before, he stands where the protag would. Maybe audiences got bored of the hopeful protags and wanted one that was more interesting and morally grey like David.

But I think, in terms of the real-world YouTube series, we’re going to have Teruko as the protag the whole game.

Apart from Acevid, whats your favorite David ship?

Honestly? Probably Teruvid. Their banter makes me smile, and I’m a total sucker for the rivals to lovers trope (hence my obsession with acevid, haha).

I’ve seen some Nico x David stuff, too, and I think they’re also pretty cute.

Honestly, most David ships fascinate me, just because each character deals with David’s whole personality change/reveal a bit differently.

What do you think *my* MBTI is?

Hmm…ENFP?

Who do you think killed Arei and why?

Okay, hear me out…Eden. NOT BECAUSE I THINK SHE’S SECRETLY EVIL OR ANYTHING! Nice people are allowed to be nice. But there’s piece of evidence pointing to her as the culprit I don’t think we can ignore.

When Ace wakes up from almost dying and knocks Eden to the ground, a few moments later the tape that was on the floor of the crime scene disappears from the background, seemingly stolen while Teruko was distracted by Ace. Then later, we have a whole scene with Teruko and Rose (the pull-up scene) confirming it’s gone. If Eden stole the tape, then I say that she definitely killed Arei.

If you want to read something more in-depth about this theory I suggest checking out @1moreff-creator’s theories about it, they were all super interesting and convincing, at least to me.

Out of all my current Acevid oneshots, what’s your favorite and least favorite?

I guess to properly answer this question I’ll have to go reread all your one-shots, AKA some of my favorite one-shots to reread…oh no…/j

But in all seriousness, after rereading all of them my favorite is probably ‘Red and Blue Work So Well Together’ and the sequel ‘Love Between a Ruby and Sapphire’, which I’m counting as the same one since they’re in the same timeline. I also really like ‘It All Started with a Bet’!

And I honestly don’t have a least favorite, since I think all of your one-shots are good! :)

While we're on the topic of Acevid oneshots, whats your favorite and least favorite out of your own?

My favorite would probably have be either ‘Synonyms’, which will always hold a special place in my heart as the first Acevid one-shot I was really proud of, or ‘Stealin’ Shit’, my most recent one, since I’m pretty proud of the overall story and longer length of that one. Plus I got a chance to put Jarei in that one!

My least favorite is probably ‘Sleeping Soundly’, just because it’s so much shorter than my other ones, or ‘Soap’, because Ace felt a bit out of character.

Who’s your favorite DRDT VA?

I know that this is super predictable…But yeah, it’s Ace’s. He just sells Ace’s emotions so well, and it’s so cool to listen to any voices lines of his!

But I also really like Hu’s voice actor. At first, since Hu was usually pretty calm and delivered most of her lines in the same tone, I didn’t really notice her voices lines as much as Ace’s, but that one moment in the 2nd trial when she says “I am trying my best” and goes on her tangent about usefulness? My God, that was such a stand-out moment for me. I can still hear it in my head.

But honestly, all the voice actors are amazing! I love and appreciate every single one of them so much!!!

Is there anything you genuinely don't like about Ace?

Even for someone who loves him as much as I do, I will admit his bullying of Nico wore me down a lot. Every time in Chapter 2 when we saw them arguing, I would go, “Ugh, he’s doing this again?”.

But that’s not a bash on the writing by any means! The failed murder attempt would have felt like it came out of nowhere if not for all the necessary build-up, and I can totally understand why the DRDTdev showed them arguing as much as they did.

But seeing my silly little angry coward turn into a certified bully definitely made me…Well, not annoyed, but really sad? Like, I was under the impression Ace would get a redemption, only for him to get worse.

But despite the fact it made me feel pretty sad in the moment…I think I kind of like it. It would make sense for someone like Ace to get more desperate, more aggressive, than to just get redeemed this early on. It wouldn’t have been very realistic if they didn’t take this route. And like I said, it’s not even that this makes me dislike him…It just makes me feel bad for him. With a group of people like the one in the killing game, he might have finally started to grow as a person, but instead someone murdered and this happened. It feels tragic, and I can’t wait to see where the character goes next.

My tangent about what I don’t like about Ace kinda turned into another reason that I like him…Whoops. What I’m trying to say is that Ace’s abrasive personality can be a lot to process, even for me. I can kinda see why some people just write him off as a jerk, but I think a closer inspection can yield a lot of interesting stuff.

Do you like Arturo?

In the past I’ve said I’m kinda meh about him, but he’s grown on me a bit. His mindset is…unique, let’s put it that way, but it seems he’s got an interesting backstory and I think the prologue/chapter 1 version of him is good for comedic purposes.

He’s a good character. Not my favorite, not even close, especially not with the developments of chapter 2 and him following J around, that was hard to watch (not a bash on the writing, I can honestly appreciate how they’re not using the stalking/obsession thing purely for laughs, just treating it as creepy, unlike other pieces of media will do sometimes).

Overall, still not one of my favorite characters, he might even be my least favorite. But I love all the characters in DRDT so much that saying he’s my least favorite isn’t even an insult. There’s just some tough competition.

Which DRDT character would you say is the emoest?

Oh, I’ve never really thought about this before. I wasn’t sure what the definition of emo was so I looked it up:

And I think the person who would be the ‘emoest’, or the biggest fan of emo music…Would probably be J? She feels cool and badass listening to it, especially if her Mom called it ‘distasteful’ or something. In that case she’d also listen to it out of spite.

Welp…That’s it. This was super fun to do again! Sorry it took me a while to answer this ask. Tumblr reloaded and deleted my unsaved draft answering the first few questions, and it took me a bit to get the motivation to retype them and (after triple-checking it saved) answering the rest. But again, I love when people ask my opinions and stuff, so this was super fun, thanks for the ask!

[summae]

can you elaborate on your goku is gay and unfit for marriage thing (also loved your kakavege)

Hi first of all thank you :) I'm glad you liked it! Second of all I can but I'm afraid people will stone me to death even though I don't think it's too controversial of an opinion, so I have to preface this by saying that while I am using canon to make a statement I am in no way saying it's the only right way of analysing Goku ok 🫶 have fun be nasty do whatever you want but don't engage this in bad faith because I'm an adult & I don't care about petty fights on the internet.

That being said, my overall opinion of Goku is that he's too Other to fit in. In any sense, he doesn't ascribe to any moral & ethical value of the human world, and how could he, he was socialised by two old men who weren't exactly paragons of virtue (and this plays another part in my analysis) & every person he's met with has only ever thought Ah this is an odd one & all the explanations possibly given fell flat to his ears. Goku can never be anything else than Goku, even before the reveal that he was a Saiyan & not from Earth, he was never going to fit in. That's how it works, you can criticise the choice but I actually think it's perfectly fine. The explanation of alien genetics aside, Goku's role in the story is one of extreme separation. Any choice a 'normal human' would make looks wrong on him. The manga establishes this very well: Goku is not a voluntary hero. He's selfish and greedy, he's childish and doesn't like when things don't go his way. He's singleminded: he fights evil not because it's his moral duty but because he wants to find his limits, he obviously cares a lot about his friends and he wants to protect them, so it's partially incidential that the evil who threatens the planet & the universe is also the evil that threatens his friends. That's why I think his choice to remain dead was at the same time the most selfless he's been & most selfish but that's besides the point.

What I am saying is that Goku isn't made to remain still in a society that wants to bind him to certain hyperspecific roles he doesn't understand. Husband and father are just not things Goku can be; he's too evanescent, he's a presence that guides and leads the narrative but he himself has little place In it, meaning the milieu he inhabits & frequents is not his and never will be, because he has no need to and most likely doesn't want to. And again, I want to stress that he does care about his friends, and he loves them, and he's willing to go to extremes to protect them, but that doesn't make Goku understand social norms. He is wild, and he will remain wild, because that's how he was raised and how he understands himself. His discipline is self imposed.

So he will never be a husband, because he can't be one. He doesn't want to be one, it's too restricting, it's a role he cannot fulfill. Same thing as a father, he doesn't understand what being fatherly entails. We can argue all day whether Goku is a good parental figure or not but on this regard I will only say that caring for your child's wellbeing does not make a good father on its own.

As for the gay aspect, it partially stems from all of this. I don't want to go for the route of 'character x never expressed interest in y gender so they are z sexuality' because that's stupid, & for Goku in specific it can be partially attributed to his childish insight but at the same time. Goku shows interest for other people, he's downright obsessed by them at times, and you can say it's because he admires their strengths but I think it can be read as more than just 'aesthetics'. I think since he was raised by two terrible men his own perception of what's normal in a relationship is askew, add to this the fact that the first people in love he's ever had prolonged contact with are Yamcha and Bulma well, you can guess what that does to a kid. There can be no romance for Goku that is heteronormative, he doesn't care. Like I said, he is selfish & I think that's what compels him. With Vegeta it's mutual obsession, and again in my reading of them as characters they never 'settle down', they'll never have a normal relationship. Vegeta might crave it but Goku is unable to give it to him, because of how fundamentally Goku he is. And to repeat myself a third time, he cares about his friends. He cares about Chi-Chi, just not in the way Chi-Chi would like.

I think what people fail to realise when reflecting on their marriage is that Chi-Chi is an extremely misogynistic character, in the sense that she's written in a very bad way. You're not supposed to like her, that's the thing. She's the shackles & the anchor & what have you, she's written like that & while the way she behaves is absolutely normal in a certain sense (she throws "fits" but they are justified lol...) I don't think erasing the fact that she's a badly written character that upholds misogynistic values in order to make her some sort of girlboss is good. A more nuanced analysis of Chi-Chi's character, and subsequently of Gochi, is what I wish people would go for. A failed marriage is much more interesting from a narrative point of view than a perfect one, and tbh I honestly can't see why people don't try to have more fun with this dynamic! But again, to each their own. I understand the need for comfort, I just don't think any relationship with Goku will bring any comfort to anyone.

Also there's a total of like five women in dragon ball so. It's like lord of the rings.

This has gotten way out of hands, a tl;dr is that I personally read Goku as an outsider from a human society perspective and thus I don't believe he will ever fulfill any kind of patriarchal heteronormative (I know how I sound) role because he hasn't been raised in these boxes and he has no desire to enter in them Now. And stemming from this my own view of the character is that Goku is much more interested in the male form & body and that the closest thing to romantic attachment he can show is obsession. You can read it as aromantic as well, I like the gayaro thing sometimes.

And AGAIN this is MY reading of the character, I am confident in my grasp of canon so I know I'm not pulling things out of thin air, but I am not saying that this is the end all be all for Goku. You can think anything you want it's within your rights & I appreciate any sort of analysis because that's what makes it fun. Ok thank you 😽

[pumpkinsy0]

Tim Shepard (Tv series) Head Cannons

🟦 ▅ ▆ ▇ █ 🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷█ ▇ ▆ ▅ 🟦

This is if you seen the Tv show or not its fine :P

***he really is a good artist (DID YOU SEE THE DRAWING OF CALIFORNIA HE DID LOL,,,,,HE EVEN GAVE IT TO PONY HOW SWEET OF HIM😭🙏🏻)***

🟦 ▅ ▆ ▇ █ 🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷█ ▇ ▆ ▅ 🟦

***I wanna see what you come up wit! I LOVE YOUR HCS THERE AMAZING! AND INTERESTING YOU MAKE ME LIKE THE CHARACTERS MORE JUST BY THE HCS LOL***

But take your time!! NO RUSH THANK YOU🙏🏻♥

🟦 ▅ ▆ ▇ █ 🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷█ ▇ ▆ ▅ 🟦

Sorry to ask this! Its just over seen the show and in my opinion i was a great show I loved it! I LOVES IT EVEN MORE CAUSE OF TIM. HE REALLY IS MY FAVE!🙏🏻😭 (IM OBSESSED WITH HIM! NOT IN A WEIRD WAY GOD NO😭) I KIN WITH HIM SO MUCH I RELATE WIT HIM SO MUCH🙏🏻🙏🏻😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Also your my favorite "OUTSIDERS" fanpage! Your my favorite person! (Love'ya :D )

🟦 ▅ ▆ ▇ █ 🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷█ ▇ ▆ ▅ 🟦

i havent seen the show in a while so what i remember is rusty and i dont think tim was rlly there a bunch so i only have like 3 hcs im srry BUT to make up for it i will go into depth about them kinda sorta, and by hcs i mean aspects of his character i liked in the show and just went “yea thats tim im including that in my tim most definitely” but i do have like 2 hcs

•hes a good artist

loved this part of his character in the show, i feel like he was one of those kids who would doodle on like desk n stuff like that, and maybe he was one of those kids who was into graffiti and he just liked designing things but had no real outlet, sometimes at night when he cant sleep or somethin or hes thinking of like idk gang stuff he draws cause it helps clear his mind, he also just thinks its funny to draw a lot of weiners, hes still a teen hes a lil immature, but i also hc that his artistic abilities kinda inspired angela and curly as well and they become artist in their own right

•hes close to pony

OK LOOK I LOVE THIS AS A FOIL RELATIONSHIP TO DARRY AND CURLY ITS GREAT, but HOW did they get close??? most likely after johnny and dallys deaths, pony spends more time w curly which means more time at curlys house which means seeing tim a lot more as well, at first tim would just pop in and go like “do yall want somethin to eat” and ofc pony was afraid at first but l as time went on, they just kinda clicked, maybe over art, bc each other using creativity as an outlet, or something or bc tim was like “o he is a bit fucked up actually” and took him under his wing

•hes somewhat involved w the curtis gang

mostly based off that one rumble episode, BUT i hc that after dallys death, tim became not close but definitely not a stranger to the curtis gang, he doesnt rlly hang out w them or anything like that, but he does see them quite a bit and talks to them, and especially teams up w them when they need it, think of tim as what dally was to the gang, the guy who came n went but was down w them, but in his own “yall cool but i got a gang to lead so ill help darry a bit when it comes to handlin yall” way if that makes any lick of sense

BUT FOR ACTUAL HCS OF MINE

•i hc that angela and curly werent there bc they were off w their grandma, y u ask??? man idk they love their grandma i guess who r we to judge

•perhaps it was around that time that angela and curly was gone that tim started getting closer to pony cause he kinda missed up and wanted someone to look after, he just got that “damn i need to b a guardian to a fucked up kid or else im gonna go insane my damn self” thing goin on and pony was there so

•i said it before but idc ill say it again, tims art is influenced by haitian art, maybe not like the style exactly, but the idea of it being vibrant, black ppl being shown using the actual color black, yknow that thing

•tim mostly draws ppl and landscapes, maybe he goes out of his way and draws like anatomy stuff wether its normal things or like horror

•he would never actually show his drawings to anyone, he rlly only shows pony it cause he knows pony wont judge, ofc angela and curly knows and have seen it but thats bc theyre nosey and poke around his things, he knows about it but they havent said anything so it’s whatever

thats all i could think of mb</33

and thank u im glad my acc beings some sorta joy, luv ya 2 anon🙏🏽🙏🏽

[yuikomorii]

I'm saying this on anon because last time I shared my opinion, other people (not you) attacked me. I am a huge fan of this blog, but I've been noticing something I'd like to share.

I agree that he isn't the worst in terms of meanness or abuse, but that still doesn't change the fact he is abusive to Yui. You do say this too, but it also comes off as disingenuous at times? It's briefly mentioned he does bad things (not really ever discussed what horrible things he's done), and then it's followed up by "well, at least he's not as bad as "X" person" or is followed up with a list of his "good" traits.

I understand you just want to promote your favorite DL boy, but the way its done feels very biased to the point where it's not consistent or sometimes hypocritical. For example, I found it a bit concerning with the criticisms of Laito as a child, as he was literally being sexually abused. Is it really fair to label Ayato's abuse as one to be more sympathetic towards, when they both were horrible? I guess that's the impression I was getting.

Once again, it's 100% okay to like Ayato as a character, and I do too, but the way your "facts" about Ayato and how the other characters are worse than him in terms of abuse, support, etc don't really seem all that consistent or fairly presented. You aren't obligated to write about the abusiveness of Ayato, but you do have a very large audience, and I know a few others feel the same but have been scared to comment.

// While I understand your point of view, I'd like to point out that you misunderstood me and almost everything I said in this post.

I literally always mention that Ayato is an abusive character, which must not be excused, and the reason I usually compare him to others is because he's seen as such a horrible person in this fandom while he's more on the nice side; he was even confirmed in a book as the friendliest and most approachable character. Abuse is still abuse, but there are different types of abuse. Ayato is a misunderstood and mischaracterized character who is always portrayed as the worst, despite being the poor excuse of a bad guy. I can't believe some people in HDB found his actions unforgivable while justifying and thirsting over characters who abused Yui in far worse ways.

His form of abuse is basically… pranks. He’s a DO-S but not in the way of harming people, but scaring them. Darts scene? He intended to scare her by piercing her heart with the darts, but instead kissed her. School scene? He drank her blood and pretended leaving Yui there but 5 seconds later he picked her up. Underground scene? He put handcuffs on her then pretended to leave but Yui kept screaming for him so he came out of hiding and let her go. Mysterious package scene? He gave her a mini skirt so as to make fun of her. The only time when he was violent (not counting bad endings since those are the “wrong” ones) was during the blood moon (when all vampires, as predators, get this desire to hunt and are more lustful), when he strangled her in one of the Maniac chapters. Normal HDB Ayato would never let Yui harm herself; he doesn’t get any satisfaction out of that, nor would he ever harm her in his routes (unless you count bites, lol, but he’s a vampire…). Even in Laito’s route, he helped Yui removing the handcuffs Laito had placed on her when she told him she wanted her hands to be cut off. Of course, nobody should ever allow such things in real life; it is bullying and toxic, and this should not be romanticized, but in a game about extremely sadistic monsters, he's definitely on the "not that bad" side. He never forced Yui to do anything scary, nor did he project his insecurities onto her or fill her with his own problems. And I know he called Yui "prey" in MB, which made her cry a lot, yet humans really are prey in their eyes. Still, Yui admits in the last ecstasy chapter that she was selfish for being too obsessed with Ayato's love rather than trying to understand him, and this was one of Yui's best developments because it demonstrated her learning from her mistakes. Ayato was also in the wrong; he should have tried to express his feelings rather than bottle them up, but I'm glad they both got together.

Side note: He is the Sakamaki who has insulted Yui the least (ik bare minimum). He called her flat (which everyone did) dumb and said her clothes lacked sex appeal, but he never made her feel insecure about her face. However, for some reason, he's always the one in headcanons who says things like "I don't like ugly women!" or stuff like that. One of the reasons I love Ayato is that he is the only one who genuinely used KIREI on her, and not only one time, which is something I will never stop talking about. This is so significant because in the majority of otome games, the love interests call the heroine “kawaii” and “kirei” is actually rarely used since it has a much bigger impact in Japan.

I may appear biased, but the thing is… Ayato is already a biased character by the company, and I'm not just saying that because he's always in the center of everything. He appears to be the favorite character of Rejet's most important employees, including Rejet's CEO (who also wrote some character songs and YB), Yamada-san (one of the route and CD drama writers + Young blood writer), and others. It's fine to express your displeasure with their bias toward him, but at the end of the day, we're just the players, and they're the creators, so there's nothing we can do. Also, Rejet confirmed all of the "horrible" things you mentioned:

1. When Ayato is accused of doing something bad, it isn't as sinister as you might think. It simply means causing mischief, or playing pranks on others, and this was demonstrated even on routes that were not his own. Still mean, but not horrifying.

2. It’s canon that all he did with the sacrificial brides was feed off them. Yes, they were innocent souls, but this official short story (translated by Koiiro on WP) explains the entire situation better. Basically, Yui explained that she has to eat meat even though she feels a bit bad for the animals killed in the process, but Ayato compares it to the sacrificial brides to cheer her up and explains that it's the circle of life. Vampires, after all, require blood to survive:

Ayato— “I don't feel sorry for those who are sacrificed."

Yui—"…eh?"

Ayato— "Because they're eaten by the great me. The weak can live within the strong, right? They should be grateful."

Yui— "Ayato-kun…"

Ayato— Titless looks surprised somehow. I look away from her, thinking that what just I said is an obvious thing.

Yui— "…thank you. You really are kind, Ayato-kun."

Ayato— For some reason, I hear Titless thanking me from behind.

Ayato— "Huh!? What do you mean?"

Yui— "…eh? I mean… at the very least, my blood isn't simply going to waste inside of you. When the thought crossed my mind, I just felt that way somehow…"

Ayato— Titless shyly smiles as she answers.

After hearing Yui's confession, Ayato goes into Tsundere mode, exclaiming, "It was about Takoyaki!" even though Yui knew very well he meant sacrificial brides.

No, @ DL fandom, he did not torture previous sacrificial brides as you might think. I know I'm probably one of the few DL fans who have access to a bunch of information about the franchise, but I'd really appreciate it if people would stop judging a character without knowing the facts.

Now, let's talk about Laito. I'm sorry, but I believe you completely missed the point of what I was trying to say. I never said Ayato's past was more worthy of sympathy than Laito's; I just said that both of them had it rough and that Laito shouldn't envy him for it, because Ayato's life wasn't perfect either.

As a person who got a pure 100% on my psychology exam, NEWSFLASH: Psychological, Neglect, Sexual and Physical abuse are the main types of abuse and they’re EQUALLY bad. Just because Laito was sexually abused doesn't mean Kanato, who was neglected, or Ayato, who was tortured and had many near-death experiences, had it better than him, and thinking that way is extremely insensitive. Worst past ≠ Saddest past. What makes Laito's past sadder than Ayato's is that Laito was severely impacted by it, whereas Ayato not so much. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love Laito, and I'm a Laito stan, but dismissing his brother’s trauma is still wrong. That is equivalent to saying:

Person A: I was beaten up everyday to the point that I almost died over and over.

Person B: But you will never understand the pain of being rap€d.

Abuse is not a competition; everyone reacts differently; some people heal faster than others; and one thing is certain: Ayato's, Laito's, or anyone else's trauma will never be an excuse for abusive behavior.

Oh and actually, everything I mentioned are 100% canon facts??? They aren’t sugarcoated in Ayato’s favor, he really is portrayed by Rejet as a hero. He even came in first place among all Rejet boys, from all of their games, when it came to protecting you/MC in a fight against a powerful enemy.

Ayato and Azusa are both the most helpful Diaboys in the franchise, so claiming that Ayato is less supportive than his brothers is a huge lie. Sure, he's not always supportive, but he's more than the other Sakamakis and unquestionably more heroic. I focus on his positive traits rather than his negative ones because he has more positive traits than negative ones, lol. Ayato has done far more good than bad, so he deserves to be reminded of those rather than his flaws.

I'm sorry you got hate for sharing your opinion; nobody deserves to be hated for something like that, but maybe think outside the box next time? Or perhaps try to better analyze the situation? I don't mean to come across as mean; I have nothing against this ask, and I appreciate that you enjoy my blog; it's just that some fans are extremely defensive of their favorite Diaboy to the point of being very irascible. ^^”

[the-force-awakens]

Hey, Nym, are you okay? I'm so sorry someone was ableist with one of your (amazing) hcs 🥺 I'm here if you wanna talk about what happened. But no pressure ♡

I debated answering this one publicly. Debated answering this one at all. Because sure, for all my playful kvetching, my passionate rants about why the things I like are cool and people shouldn't be dicks about it, and my occasional relatable depression text post reblog, I don't get negative on here. It's kind of my thing, or at least I like to think it is. I love to think my brand on here is that weird, positive autistic girl who is completely obsessed with Poe Dameron, and I also like to think it's a well earned brand. You don't stay on this bullshit for three years if you're normal.

So yeah, debated answering it because I didn't want to post the honest answer, but honestly this is a shitty situation, and it's important, so I am: I'm not okay.

I won't go into details, because contrary to what some clowns may believe I don't vague post (oh, oops, guess I just did a little), or at least if I kind of do, it's usually vaguing behaviors I see spread across multiple parts of a fandom, but I will talk about what it's like to be disabled and in fandom. What it is like to be autistic and in fandom.

I'm on Tumblr because it's a space where I can have a little dragon hoard of my special interest. It's where I can infodump about it. It's a space where I don't have to mask (much). In 2020, I jumped feet first into a certain special interest because life was shit and it made me happy. For every shitty take, every negative opinion I was hit with, I threw out more positive creations. I wrote. I giffed. I meta-ed to my heart's content and I was so fucking happy.

Then it....became a thing. I don't mind, as previously mentioned, my brand being that girl weirdly obsessed with a fictional pilot who isn't that popular outside of his fanon ships from a trilogy that this website loathes with as many burning suns as I hate - I don't even know something I hate that much. Anyway, I didn't mind that. But suddenly I became a wikipedia search bar. And....for the first little while, I didn't mind. Because I got to infodump about him, and I don't get to infodump irl, and my friends had heard plenty. And besides, I liked helping people! I like pointing people in the right direction of things.

But like I said. It became a thing. People were comfortable dm-ing me questions, getting mad about the answers I had, and sending back their own headcanons to contradict them. I got praised a lot for....having a special interest and being passionate about that subject. It started to feel a little bit...weird. But then I started realizing that people mostly only talked to me when they needed information from me, and that felt. Awful. It made me feel used just a little bit, and I took a step back from fandom because of it and some other mental health issues I was having.

(apparently if you're autistic this means you're 'distant')

But I wanted to keep creating, because making stuff makes me happy, and I'm autistic and I want a space to be autistic, and don't always want to (I know it does not bother you, but still) bother my friends with it, because there's loads of other conversations to have.

Fandom is more isolated now, but I feel that more keenly as someone who is disabled and audhd. Characters I relate to are seen as villains and monsters in the fandom, or manipulators that pressure people into doing what they want, or arrogant assholes who really just need to be put in their place. I try my best to ignore it.

It's harder to ignore when a not-super popular headcanon you made out of comfort after dissing your abled a bit more and living through a fairly traumatic job experience (and ergo losing out on a job because no one believed you were disabled), gets taken and written in an explicitly ableist way that mimicks precisely the trauma you were seeking comfort from.

I don't know who fandom is for anymore, but it's certainly not for me.

[daenystheedreamer]

honestly hadn't thought of the first men/native americans parallels before but you're right they're definitely there! personally my first impression was first men = celts, andals = saxons, ironborn = danes but that's v much from a british perspective.

i mean theres obvs a lot of inspiration from gaelic cultures for the first men (pre-andal reach is wales ill die on this hill) and i guess i would argue that the andal invasions are more similar to saxon settlement than european colonisation? as in, not nearly as genocidal, not coming in as a unified force or trying to create a unified state, those left in the andal/saxon controlled portion end up assimilating to the invaders' culture. oh and also im a bit obsessed with the whole mystery around the vanishing of brittonic languages in saxon britain and mayyy have elaborate headcanons on the andal replacing of the first men languages based on that.

oh and the whole ironborn/danes thing. well the viking parallels are obvious. and then the danelaw was my first thought when i read about ironborn controlled riverlands haha.

ah sorry just to be clear im not trying to say you're wrong!! i just find pre-targ westeros v fun and would love to hear more about your headcanons cause it sounds like they'd be p different to mine! i also don't know that much about different native american cultures - do u have thoughts on the inspirations for different first men regions? i mean obvs the north and wildlings you'd be looking at inuit cultures but do you have thoughts on the others? i also thought an interesting parallel to the north would be the saami altho im also pretty uneducated on them haha.

anyway i just really love worldbuilding fantasy cultures because of how it prompts me to find out more about various real world cultures - and it makes sense to take inspiration from multiple real world cultures. i mean one of the reasons i love tolkien's dwarves so much is they prompt the question 'what exactly would a fusion of old norse and jewish cultures + a few original bits such as a love of geology and craftsmanship even begin to look like'. (although i do also know it's important to remember that real world cultures are real and to be respectful of them, especially when they're not my own and especially when it's an oppressed culture)

anyway sorry for the essay in your inbox feel free to ignore i just love rambling on about this stuff! also in terms of your original point - yeah the people who whine about 'bla bla but they're meant to be white' are so dull. i mean 1) it's all made up anyway who cares 2) 'white' is either a post-colonial construction within a specific political, historical, and cultural context or just a description of skin colour. it means basically nothing from an in-universe fantasy perspective (obviously the choice of which characters are white and how they're written is important from an out-universe perspective grrm would it kill you to be normal about non-northwestern european cultures). also the valyrians aren't white they do not have pale skin just look at where valyria is located on a map. sometimes the author is wrong.

no worries i LOVE this ask i lovelovelove just talking and rambling about things im interested in and care about and i LOVELOVELOVE when people do it back!! 

yeah personally i figured the northern first men were based on the picts since the wall is clearly inspired by hadrian's wall and the celtic influence is clear too. in the show the spiral motif they introduced reminded me of the celtic triskelion (though its more proto-indo-european than celtic) which tickled my brain!! YES ON THE REACH WALES THING because garth greenhand and their national founding myth is SOOO king arthur they have such a culture of chivalry plus there’s a bunch of arthurian-inspired names sprinkled throughout the reach (off the top of my head there’s agramore(agravain), gawen (gawain) and perceon(percival))

the ironborn danes is very much text and canon, they’re clearly vikings and i think GRRM has specfically said that. however i think sea-faring peoples can easily be identified as polynesian/pasifika.

for me there what the text presents which is that westeros is grea britain with medieval moorish spain taped to the bottom of it, and then there’s the more culturally interesting fanon in my head that still mostly fits into canon! since the concept of whiteness obvi doesnt exist like you said and genetics are hand waved there’s really nothing in the text that denies an indigenous north. 

i personally see them as indigenous siberian (specifically yakut) since the first men allegedly travelled from the dothraki sea and many indigenous ethnic groups of siberia such as the yakut are north asian and turkic which fits into the way the dothraki are written. im not american so i dont know much about inuit and first nations american traditions but in my head i see the free folk as inuit! 

i really agree with your last paragraph, i think the way fandom projects whiteness onto these characters is due to a majority northern american fanbase who aren’t doing it out of malice but more ignorance. take the example of dorne: theyre obviously based on medieval al-andalus spain, specifically after the umayyad conquest. this textually implies west asian middle eastern influence. 

its a little funny how people cling to daeron targaryen’s racial classification guide when harassing artists over their depictions of characters because if anything that’s the literal whitest part of the text lol. his three categories (stony, salty and sandy) vary from ‘european’ pale skinned to olive-skinned to dark-skinned. whos to say that doesn’t fit a popular fanon dornish india, which famously has many ethnic groups of varying physical appearance? regardless of the fact this is fiction books where people can do what they want, there’s nothing textually that rejects a physically indian-looking dorne.

many characters aren’t described with pale skin. sansa, dany and cersei are a few i can think of but rarely are side characters described as such. there is a presumption from the reader and the author that these characters are white simply because that’s just the norm, right? but it’s not, nor is this series real-life. a lot of my headcanons are still based on the text but really that doesnt matter!! its fake books and we’re having fun and i can think of the characters however i want. and lastly, youre so right about valyria. i see them as east asian since theyre, well, from east essasia but i think its funny to argue with redditors by saying theyre egyptian since well thats obviously part of the inspiration!! what are you gonna do, argue with grrm???

idk your ask was really well presented and my answer is distinctly ramblings of a brain with no stoplights so apologies but your ask made me think lots thank you!!!!

[leffee]

i know youre mostly focused on the pets and all (especially Vinnie), but I’m curious- thoughts on Blythes human friends? I mean Youngmee, Jasper, and Sue. Maybe even Kora. and maybe even Whittany (even if it was just for one episode)

Ok, listen, back in the day everyone used to say that the pets' part of the episodes were much better because well, the pets were just better, and as much as I agree/d, I think the human side was pretty great too. Honestly? I don't think this show had any bad human characters, a lot of them were just straight-up great. While they were a few pet characters I found annoying or just bad, when it comes to people? I don't think I disliked any. But anyway, Blythe's friends, huh? This is actually something I really wanted to talk about, so thanks for that my dear anon.

Youngmee, oh boy, I love Youngmee. Though I always liked her, only recently I have developed genuine love for her. There's just something about her being nice and kind overall of course, but also mixed with some more "wilder" traits that I absolutely love. When Blythe said in one episode "Reverse psychology doesn't work on her. Neither does normal psychology actually." (or something like that) it was incredible. She has that sort of unnerving trait sometimes, like when in that one episode she kept creeping Blythe out by messaging her whenever Blythe hit new stage of her dad having a date (that we know he didn't actually but that's not important rn). Like, Blythe was just straight-up creeped up, it was great really. She's great. But after discovering that she has the same VA as Biskit twins I can't unhear her talking like them sometimes, it's especially easy to hear when she's laughing, check if you don't believe.

Jasper, I love Jasper, I love him so much, to me he is like Vinnie of the human group, trust me, they'd be bros. The one problem, much like Vinnie, he was often treated like the "stupid and obnoxious friend who talks without thinking" and sometimes it was genuinely annoying. It wasn't his fault though so I don't blame him, and that didn't diminish my enjoyment of him, thank the stars. Where did he disappear in season 4 I do not know, but we need to find him, where is bro. He deserved more, and I think he's my favourite out of Blythe's friends, but Youngmee is not far behind. Oh another thing, I said it before and I say it now, peak outfit design for me on a character is them wearing a hoodie, so like, he gets bonus points for that.

Sue while definitely my least favourite of Blythe's main friends, is still pretty good. I don't like her stubbornness though, it exists in some moments, an example? When in Blythe's crush episode she pretty much forced Blythe, who mind you had no roller skating experience, to ride on one leg. Like, miss, no, you don't force people to do something like that, especially when they can genuinely hurt themselves. And guess what? Blythe did, she ran into Josh and fell. Sure, nothing happened, but it could have. HoWevEr, there is one thing that absolutely sold her to me and to this day I think it was one of the most thought-provoking of the people's part of the episodes. When she praised Blythe to no end and wanted to be just like her, you know, Be yourself song episode? She just threw everything away and wanted to be 100% like Blythe, and if that doesn't speak of some deep insecurities then I don't know what does. You know I love me some confident characters that are actually deeply insecure, so that was my absolute jam. It bordered on obsession, and you know I love obsessions also. My goodness, she's just like me fr fr, wanting to steal someone's entire personality because (maybe) she doesn't like her own.

Kora disappeared ;-;. She was only in her introduction episode, and I think she was somewhere in the Pet Fest episode, but like in the background, and I think once more before that when she was helping Blythe with organizing this thing, but it was never a big role, or heck, she didn't even have any dialogue if I'm correct. Wait no! She was in one more episode in which Blythe worked with her and then bought too much and had to give back money, got it, I almost forgot about it. Still, that's not that much. That's a shame actually, because I think she was a really pleasant character, even if I don't have much to go over. Oh well, what I saw I did like, she's good.

Whittany huh? Biskit twins are great, they are great characters, because if they were real I would smack them upside the head, as characters they are incredible though and definitely entertaining, not to mention have good songs. When it comes to that one episode when they were friends, I must admit, it was very nice, them just talking and sort of bonding was heart-warming. In addition, it provided one of the funniest scenes in lps - Whittany: "This is my soap, just like everything else in this house." Blythe: "Everything in this house is your soap?" or something like that. Maybe it's just me, and now I don't find it as funny, but not so long ago I thought it was absolutely hilarious. Having said all that, I don't believe in that whole "I'm mean to you because Brittany doesn't like you and she's my twin sister," reason at all. Girl, you were there when you first met Blythe, and you didn't like her just as much, plus Whittany's usually the one who comes up or initiates plans against her.

At the end of the day, we all know that Roger is the best human character 😀👍. 

I need to overanalize and overthink this show all the time or I'm unfulfilled in life, I'm obsessed with it. It's crazy how the one difference between normal and abnormal obsession (like in obsessive-compulsive disorder) is whether it causes you mental distress. Lemme tell you, lps causes me only happiness and serotonin output that was repressed for years because I had no one to talk about it to.

[ina-nis]

It's funny looking back now that I know a lot of... myself is pure and unadulterated OCD.

Why do I post using different pronouns and acting as a narrator, or the main character, or as someone giving advice to another person, etc?

OCD. You'll see what I mean...

Whenever I did those psych evaluations where they ask if you hear voices in your head, I always answered "no" and that the only voice I hear is my own (and that's considered generally "normal").

But here the kicker: I started paying closer attention to this "voice" and although it is "mine" it feels different... and very uncanny.

The thing that really solved the mystery for me was the fact that this "voice" came as intrusive or impulsive thoughts, and actual monologues, conversations with "myself" - much like how this journal works!

These conversations, oftentimes, happen with me willing and "initiating" but they almost always derail into obsessive territory (now I know why), or they come at me and I need to "talk it out" to try and get it off my system. Regardless, I don't have much of a choice but to do something about them otherwise they'll keep on annoying me.

And that's the "disordered" part, I guess? It happens constantly, every day, and it causes "distress" in some way... annoyance or fear or anger, it elicits a response nonetheless, whether I want it or not: it's out of my control.

I'm sure knowing this now will help me in treatment because now I know things I thought were just "normal" behaviours, or maybe just a product of trauma or my other mental illnesses is actually its own thing! Obviously they all intersect, and that's taken into account as well.

[septemberrie]

Trope Game

Thank you for the tag @junkshop-disco! I really liked reading your thoughts on your tastes and found out they are honestly a bit different than mine! Love that our fandom isn't just one thing.

Rules: How much do these tropes affect your decision to click on a fic?

-10 -> very dissuaded

0 -> don’t care either way

10 -> very enticed

nope -> if it’s a hard no and you’d never click on a fic with that tag or or you even have the tag blocked or you’d insta click out of the fic if it wasn’t tagged.

Bonus points for explaining the rating and whether it’s conditional

Age Gap: 2/10

Age gaps used to be one of my kinks, but then I got older and well… tastes change!

Codependency: 0/10

I think my answer for a lot of these is going to be, “‘yes’ for my angsty ships, ‘no’ for my healthy ships.” So… yeano?

Enemies to lovers: 10/10

Gimme dat shit. I love starting with interpersonal conflict and growing from there.

Enemies With Benefits: 3/10

I actually will eat up dubcon if it’s in a dark setting that calls for it, i.e. fantasy. I’ll avoid it in contemporary/modern settings bc the real world has enough of that.

Fake Dating/Relationship: 0/10

I’m not opposed to it, upon reflection my issue with it is that “I can't relate to this trope IRL" but I could say that about most of the tropes on this list so I can’t really explain my hesitance lol.

Found Family: 10/10

Who doesn’t love found family??? What in the tradwife

Friends To Lovers: 0/10

Only if there's lots of pining.

Friends With Benefits: 0/10

See: “fake dating” above.

Hurt/Comfort: 100/10

See JD’s comments, and if I may add my own: whump is my shortcut to emotions. I love forcibly removing society’s layers of hesitation and complexity and expectations, and stripping characters to their basest needs and seeing how they react. I feast.

Love Triangle: 0/10

Probably done better on ao3 than mass media but I’m still pretty meh.

Mistaken/Hidden Identity: 0/10

Is this like the Patrick Crawley/Gordon episode of Downton Abbey? Or like… a secret spy falls in love with the mark? No for the former, maybe for the latter; I can't think of any fics like this that have showed up in my browsing.

Monster Fu… Relationship: -5/10

I did read the Burned One x Rosalind fic and ummmm it's not for me. I am however not immune to paranormal romances (still unironically Team Jacob).

Obsession, Possessiveness, etc: -2/10

I mean… for my angsty, unhealthy ships, yes. But I've got to be in the mood for it obv.

Opposites (like grumpy×sunshine, etc): 0/10

…yes? I guess? In that I like reading about two people that aren’t carbon copies of each other. How do they navigate normal difficulties, etc. etc.

Poly: 0/10

Smut, 100%. Relationships? I’m wracking my brain trying to think of an example where I care about all three characters lol. Iron Widow, that worked!

Pregnancy: -10/10

It's a "nope" if the whole point of the fic is pregnancy. If it's part of a larger story/plot then maybe.

Second Chance: 10/10

Holy shit yes, I love the angst. Especially when it’s something out of their control that forced them apart. I don't think I've written this yet but I should add it to my list.

Sex To Feelings: 3/10

Yes, but after reflecting I think I’m more interested in the opposite: Feelings without sex because ~angst reasons~ prevent/preclude the sex. Until it all comes out in a fiery explosion of lust! I digress.

Slowburn: 9/10

The hand touch from Pride & Prejudice (2005) dir. Joe Wright is my middle name. I’m willing to negotiate on how slow is “slow” as long as it makes sense within the story.

Soulmates: 0/10

Only when it creates more angst! I still live in the world @shadowofnight proposed, where Saul and Andreas are “soulmates” with the matching mark or whatever but Saul chooses to be with Farah anyway.

Tagging: @astrid-v @whenshesayshush @theperfectrose @veritaserum07 no pressure ofc!

[felixantares]

fic author interview

thank you for the tag @mirrorofliterature 🥰

How many works do you have on AO3?

technically 3, but one I'm listed as a co-author but I just did the art in it so I don't really feel comfortable counting it. so 2.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

37,317 words and counting!

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Well I only have two, so a sign in the midnight sky (297) and my floorplan for Grimmauld Place (24)

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes!! I try to respond to all the comments I get 💕 they always make my day

5. What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

hahaha well it's not finished yet so I'll skip over this question!

6. What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

like the above, ASITMS isn't finished yet so I don't have an answer haha, but I'll at least say that when it does end it'll probably be more happy than angsty (the angst ends will be for the rest of the series)

7. Do you write a cross-overs?

I haven't but I want to!!!!! I've got a HP Founders fic/Narnia crossover AU thing that's been sitting in my brain for ages and I definitely want to poke at one of these days (but I am trapped by ASITMS for the foreseeable future (i am okay with this i like it here))

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

nope! Everyone has been really lovely so far!!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Not in ASITMS, it's very firmly in it's T rating (and if I do boost its rating later it'll be for some uh. violence. i've got planned 👀) but later in the Shrines series there might be some, if I feel like it. I've never written smut before though so I think I'd be worried about the quality of it haha

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope!

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No

12. Have you co-written a fic before?

Co-written, no (though I want to! one day!). But @sandervansunshine wrote an absolutely stunning little Jegulus fic based off an art I did and put me down as a co-author on that one! You can read it here

13. What's your all time favourite ship?

oh gosh, I don't know. Like maybe a tie between Drarry and Wolfstar? I go back to drarry a lot, and I think a good chunk of my favourite fics to re-read are drarry

14. What's a WIP that you want to finish but think you never will?

ohhhh well I don't know that I'll never finish it, because I do intend to write it one day, but I've got a time travel tomarry sitting in my WIP folder gathering dust, and it'll probably stay there until ASITMS is done at the very least, if not the whole shrines series.

15. What are your writing strengths?

uhhh oh no... probably descriptions? I feel like I'm pretty good with atmospheric stuff and having characters interaction with their environment. Oh and worldbuilding, I do love worldbuilding. 😅

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Dialogue. The absolute bane of my existence. I don't know how to talk in real life and I definitely don't know how to make a conversation sound normal. (Though I've been told I'm doing a decent job of it, so I guess hours of obsessive editing do pay off lmao)

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in fic?

I mean, I don't mind it in fics (I do appreciate having a translation in the notes though) and if it feels appropriate, I'd definitely put a few lines in my own fic, but I don't think I'd put like... a whole conversation in a different language. If someone's having a conversation in a different language and it's really long I'm more likely to either just say they're talking (if the POV character doesn't understand the language) or write it in English but in italics (if the POV does understand).

18. What's the first fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter!

19. What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

I really really want to write a Dungeons & Dragon: Honor Among Thieves fic, for no other reason than I want to flex my forgotten realms knowledge somewhere other than my own campaigns 😂

20. What's your favourite fic that you've written?

Well it's a pretty easy answer when there's only one! a sign in the midnight sky. It's not only because it's my only one though, i'm really proud of the outline that I wrote (50k between two docs). The whole series is massive and honestly a bit of an insane project to take on, but there's so much time and research that went into it, and because it's 5 fics planned out from the very start there are threads I've already started laying down for the last fics and it's stupidly intricate, and I'm very excited to share the rest of it because I worked really hard on it!!!

tagging: @allalrightagain @girl-with-goats @gloivy