#also shes kind of evil for some reason idk where that came from

[snakes-on-skates]

hey look at this thing i made

hopefully tumblr doesnt fuck the quality or anything idk. I dont know how this works

anyways i randomly got really attached to my minecraft skin and ended up making them a whole character with lore and shit so he exists now. I hope you like her

its pronouns are literally just mine. So all of them

[whiteboardartstudios]

Goodbye, Gendaen

fan art for @mtqcomic

Thoughts and LONG ramble under the cut! (includes spoilers!!!)

A while ago (like last week maybe?) I realized that I've been following this comic for almost a year, and I still haven't drawn Mysta yet! I figured that with the recent end of Chapter 3 and that *huge* lore drop (I was NOT expecting that oh my goodness the theory wheels are turning in the void that is my brain) now would be a pretty good time to draw her! So that's where this came from! :D

I thought that it would be fun to draw Mysta looking sort of like a knight? Partially because it makes for cool posing and composition but also because I think that if she was in D&D she would be a paladin due to the whole "Hero sent by Destiny" thing (I considered sorcerer or warlock as well, but her moveset is mostly melee at the moment so I thought that paladin fits better. Plus this opens up the possibility of Gendaen being an Oathbreaker paladin, depending on how that whole situation with the Crimson went. (also now I kind of want to put the main cast of mtq in D&D even though I don't actually know a lot about D&D ToT. I think Eth would be a ranger maybe multiclassed into something magic-related, because rangers have a favored enemy mechanic that gives them advantages on fighting a certain type of enemy, which could be Crimson enemies for D&D Eth. Yele is (kind of obviously) a druid because of the whole dryad thing, and Zaïl is definitely giving rogue energy to me.)) Anyways, D&D-related sidetrack aside – hello??? End-of-chapter-3 lore drop? (/positive) I have SO many questions. First of all, what happened to convince Gendaen to switch sides? For someone who allegedly spent his entire life trying to cleanse the Crimson, it would've taken one heck of a worldview-upending revelation to get him to join it. With the information we currently have, it seems pretty clear that Gendaen isn't mind-controlled or corrupted or anything – not just because of the reasons Eth gave in page #169, but also because from all the interactions we've had with Nelun Soma'o/Gendaen, he seemed to be pretty chill? I pointed out in my first fan art post that it doesn't seem as if Nelun Soma'o is being built up to be a villain character and is instead more of an antagonist with a slight mentor role, and I think that still kind of holds up now. Gendaen definitely wants Mysta to help him and/or the Crimson with something, and as Yele said in that recent comic, things aren't really adding up. I'm still slightly suspicious of the Order of Learning as well (insert person pointing at conspiracy theory board meme here lol), since you would think that if Gendaen and Eth are really close then Gendaen might have told Eth about the whole Crimson situation, right? On Page #250 (which is marked as 150??? probably a typo but idk) Gendaen says that he didn't want Eth to be roped into this whole situation, which could be a reason for keeping him in the dark – though if he knew Eth really well then he might have suspected that Eth wouldn't just let him disappear and would go searching for him. Another possible reason (in my theory) if the Order is evil or something and Gendaen learned something that he shouldn't have learned, maybe he knew that Eth wouldn't believe him because of his loyalty to the Order? I may just be connecting random dots and calling it a picture here but *something* is going on and until we get more clues on what that may be, I'm sticking with this theory lol :P EDIT, I was rereading Gendaen's character sheet and it says there that he has a strong code of honor and fights for the underdogs (not the exact phrasing but it's close). 👀 does that mean the Crimson is in some sort of underdog position? 👀

Anyways back to the drawing a little, I gave both Gendaen and Mysta a sort of braid-like element in their designs to sort of tie them together a bit visually (Mysta's is on the sides of her head, which is kind of hard to see so I added a little ribbon to show that parts of her hair is tied back, and Gendaen's is in his golden hair accessory thingy). I think that there's definitely some sort of correlation between Gendaen's disappearance/switching to the Crimson and Mysta being sent to Sol Ybberia, and I also think that both of them are going to play an important role in whatever happens in the future, hence the braids (to show that their destinies are kind of intertwined, as the two Heroes of Sol Ybberia). I also thought that it would be fun to put Gendaen in a stained glass window instead of actually physically being present, because up until the Nelun Soma'o reveal, all the things we know about Gendaen are basically all from Eth's recollections of him, which for me definitely paints a bit of a "Character haunting the narrative" kind of vibe. I also think that with the Nelun Soma'o reveal, the somewhat glorified (for a lack of a better word – I think Eth might be a little biased when it comes to Gendaen, considering that Gendaen has been missing for about 5 years, if my math is correct? 5 years feels like a long time to me and I think that if a person important to me has been missing for that long then my impression of them would definitely start warping to how I want to remember them/who I wanted them to be and I might start unintentionally ignoring the things that doesn't quite match that image in my head. Speaking of/case in point, Eth's reaction to the Nelun Soma'o reveal!) image of Gendaen that we had got thrown in a metaphorical blender with our idea of the Crimson at the time, and it just makes things a whole lot more complicated in a very interesting way. (If you look at the bottom right of the image you can see Nelun Soma'o's cloak coming out of stained-glass Gendaen's cloak, which I thought would be a fun little detail to include). Hence, the stained glass is kind of the "perfect Hero who disappeared to advance the plot" Gendaen and we can see Mysta kind of splitting the glass with her Rotted Fork from a composition point of view, referencing that huge lore bomb she dropped a couple of pages ago and how that changes our (or at least my) perception of Gendaen as a character entirely. I really do like the plot twist, as I think it makes Gendaen a more 3-dimensional character with more complicated motivations and narrative significance, as before I mainly knew him as "predecessor to Mysta" and "one of Eth's sources of motivation", but now he my understanding of Gendaen also extends to things about Gendaen himself and not just about his role in relation to other characters (for example, "Gendaen is helping the Crimson for reasons currently unknown" or "Gendaen is planning something that involves Mysta??? and he's in the Void??? And apparently Mysta is supposed to jailbreak him out at some point in the future?" He definitely has something planned behind the scenes, I don't know what it is and I want to find out).

MORE THINGS about Gendaen (can you tell that he's my favorite character at the moment ToT), what's up with those last words? If I'm correct (and I think I am, I scrolled all the way back to the page where the gods were introduced just to check this ToT), Nomù is Compassion? How is compassion related to Gendaen's alliance with the Crimson? I mean, when you think of the Crimson, compassion definitely is NOT the first value that comes to mind. Right now it seems that to me, Gendaen's plan with Mysta and the Crimson and the Void is connected to Nomù somehow? (the "I won't disappoint you" is definitely interesting). I don't have a lot of thoughts or theories on where this might be going, I just thought that it was something interesting to metaphorically chew on for the next while. It definitely seems like it has some sort of narrative significance, at least.

There might be more things that I wanted to talk about, but I can't really think of them off the top of my head right now (it might be due to the fact that it's currently quite late in my time zone ToT I am sleepy) so that's all from me for now :D (Also dropping the version of the drawing with just the lineart here because I think it looks really cool)

I hope you have a really nice day and/or night! :D

*a starry rift in space opens up in front of me and I faceplant into it like it is a mattress* (gotta make that dramatic exit!) [Image ID: The first image is a colored and rendered image of Mysta from the Mysta's Terrarian Quest webcomic standing in front of a stained glass window of Gendaen. She is holding the Rotted Fork spear from Terraria, and she has a determined expression on her face. The stained glass shows Gendaen with his back turned to the audience, and one closed eye is visible. His cloak is flowing to the right of the image, where it emerges out of the stained glass as it fades from green to dark grey. Crimson vines, green trees, and white clouds surrounds Gendaen in the stained glass. Outside of the glass portrait, real crimson vines are creeping along the stone walls that the portrait is on, framing the portrait and Mysta in the middle. A red light source is shining down from the upper right corner of the drawing. End ID.] [Image ID: The second image is a work-in-progress version of the first image without any color and only some minimal shading, with all shades being in monochrome. Mysta's lineart is noticeably darker compared to the line art of the background. End ID.]

EDIT: Forgot to add image ids, they're here now TwT

[caliburn-the-sword]

i think one of the biggest let downs for me in ouat was the daily mirror (honestly my own fault for thinking too hard). i'm sure that this has been said a hundred times but i feel so much about it.

not to be captain of the obvious, but within the very first few episodes of season 1 the major power structures in storybrooke are established: mayor's office, sheriff's station, mr gold's shop, and the daily mirror. prior to emma's arrival as the saviour, all of these uphold regina's reign.

then over the course of the first season (with exception), you see the figureheads of these establishments lose their position some way or the other. graham dies early in the series, sidney glass loses his job and then gets arrested, and this all cumulates in the finale of season 1 and the beginning of season 2, where everyone's got their memories back and regina, while not formally losing her position as mayor, but does face the backlash of the entire town. gold is a notable exception to this since the writers always intended for him to be a major player, but it only takes him til season 3 to no longer own his shop cause he died, and then again in season 4 when he's banished.

but beyond this, everyone regina had in her pocket was replaced by someone on emma's side. emma herself takes over the role of sheriff when graham dies and that's where we see the first crack in the foundation of regina's authority. belle becomes the owner of the shop both times gold is indisposed. i'd like to reiterate for regina that while she never formally loses the role, david acts as a stand in during early season 2 to fill in that leadership role over the general town, and then in season 3 we see snow become mayor in title for a time (whatever happened to that plot...?)

circling back to the start, the only one that is never replaced is sidney in the daily mirror, which arguably should be the most important role to fill post breaking the curse since meta wise, the magic mirror is the evil queen's most iconic henchman, more than the huntsman ever was. additionally, i'm a very big fan of free press. it's SO influential and could have played a much bigger role in storybrooke. sidney had clearly been replaced, given we still see newspapers throughout the seasons, but i just wish something more could have been done with it.

my number one nomination AND expectation was that this was gonna be a slowburn of sorts to build up henry as he grew up over the series. not only would it be perfect for the obvious reason of henry's subsequent author storyline, but there would be something delicious about regina's most loyal confidant eventually being replaced by her own son. something it being some kind of foil, where instead of the loyalty being built upon obsession and coercion and control, it's built on mutual respect and love and trust. which would then ALSO tie in very nicely to the ending of season 6 when regina becomes mayor again, and of course her and emma are allies.

i assumed that this was pretty much confirmed during the whole author storyline, and that the second he became working age in the usa (forgive me idk what it is) he would start an internship at the daily mirror and eventually work his way up to becoming the most high profile journalist in storybrooke. season 5 touched on the author plotline nicely tho i wish we could have gotten a little something more. season 6 came and went, and if it touched on anything, it was so minor that i don't remember it.

this is probably what makes it most painful to me that SEASON 7 of all seasons was the closest (and yet simultaneously also the furthest) from achieving this. yes, his journey through the realms is important, but arguably defining his writing ability in season 7 to a novel of what he thought was completely imagined, serves almost the same purpose as the storybook from seasons 1-6, but undermines him and does a disservice to him. the whole podcast subplot was close but because this was seattle and not storybrooke, and so it's not a one for one replacement of sidney with henry.

[thegamingcatmom]

OK, I know that Tanya and Carmen most definitely won't allow it....BUT

Sometimes, a girl's gonna crave a good burger and fries or like ice cream.

And I can't help but think MC asks one time idk on a car ride if they can stop at McDonald's or something, and they go no, immediate shut down.

Carmen and Tanya give her the look when MC tries to reason with them

And MC just gives up after getting the look.

BUT who's the most likely to allow it cause they dont care as much? 👀

Kate

So I'm imagining MC after knowing what Carmen and Tanya would say when a craving for junk food hits just looks over to Kate and later finds her to ask if she can take her to McDonald's or to get some junk food to hide or snack on.

Kate? On board

Easy way to score points with MC

Cheshire cat grin of evil cause MC came to her for this

Or reverse it

When MC is eventually comfortable enough around the Denali's and has accepted her fate(kinda?idk)

She bargains

Kate:hey wanna go somewhere, but I get to carry you around

MC:is it home? (like MC's home before she got taken)And what's in it for me?

Kate:no? And what do you want besides going home?

MC:.....can we get ice cream on the way? Or maybe just stop by McDonald's? I just crave fast food

Kate:the widest grin as she speeds up to MC picks her up bridal style and rushes off

(Wait I forgot MC don't know bout vampires....eh small details) :p

So yeah, the thought of Kate just secretly buying like gummy worms, candy, other junk foods as treats

For MC, if she craves something to score points, get on the good side of MC getting closer to her, pissing off Tanya

-📚

Okay, I just HAD to answer this as soon as I got home from- *drum roll*

MC DONALD'S. 🍔🍟

(No kidding. 😅)

And, seeing how I've read your ask this morning (before going out), I couldn't not imagine MC and her forced-found family in that very scenario. I was sitting there, eating my burger, like-

LMAO.

Anyhow-

.

First of all: Tanya might be persuaded. With the correct...incentive. 😏

Second of all: Seeing how that´s never (for the time being) gonna happen in MC´s books, guess our girl will have to bribe someone else.

.

Carmen?

I mean-

Listen-

That woman would do just about anything for her daughter-in-law charge. Unless that anything is dangerous, or reckless, or foolish, or suicidal, or-

In other words: Anything to do with fast food. 💀

.

Eleazar?

Well-

Listen-

He´s...alright...ish(?) to be around. When he´s not being creepy, that is. (He´s just a bit of a nerd, leave ma boy alone, MC.) But he´s also very devoted to his wife, which is a great thing in itself, no doubt about it. However-

He´ll ask what his wife said.

(MC will lie.)

(Eleazar will see right through it.)

Then he´ll deny MC because Carmen has too. It´s as simple (and painful) as that. 🤷‍♀️

.

Irina?

...

Do you think MC has a death wish?

.

Well, that leaves only one option, really-

Kate.

The middle sister wants to give in right away.

FINALLY some fun happening in this house. Fun that clearly goes against her sister´s wishes. Could this get any better??

...In fact, it can.

Because Kate also realizes how desperate MC is (despite trying her damnest to hide it.) And thus, she realizes she´s in a position where she can make demands. See what else she can get out of it, yknow?

(Kate´s the biggest lil shit, what did yall expect? Then again, Tanya ain´t that much better. She´s just less...straightforward about it. 😏)

"What kind of demands", you ask? Well-

.

(This is clearly after MC has already asked the dreaded question and then some because conversing with Kate Denali is anything but simple...)

MC, already done af with this conversation: "...Well?"

Kate: *eyes MC up for the umpteenth time, the shit-eating grin still firmly in place*

Kate: "Hmm..."

MC: 🙄😑

Kate: 😏

Also Kate: "Say, little spitfire...do you remember our conversation about how you ask for something?"

(Yes, the one in Chapter 3.)

MC, not in the mood for that shit...again: *turns around and begins to walk off cause fuck that, she´s gonna get that burger, with or without the help of that-*

Kate, internally: *panics cause her plan is about to backfire...again*

Kate, pretends to be annoyed: "My god-Wait."

MC: *stops but doesn´t turn back around yet*

Kate, while MC´s back is still turned: 🤯😩💀

Kate, internally: *think, think, think!*

Kate, pretends to be annoyed: "I´ll do it."

MC: *starts to turn around-*

Kate: *from 💀 to 🙄so damn fast cause girl gotta play her cards right while she still has them*

MC, suspicious af cause there ain´t no way it´s that easy: "...Really? Just like that?"

Kate, internally: *starts celebrating cause that´s the cue she´s been waiting for*

Kate: 😒...😏

MC: *already regrets every decision that has led to this very moment*

MC: "What do you want?"

Kate: "Careful with that phrasing, little one..."

MC: *starts to turn around again-*

Kate: "Why me?"

MC: *turns back to face her*

MC: "...What?"

Kate: "You heard me."

MC: "..."

Kate: 😏

Also Kate: "You wanna know what I think?"

MC, without missing a beat: "No."

Kate, without missing a beat either: "I think-"

Kate: *slinks closer*

Kate: "-that my stuck up family denied your cute little ass, so you came to me."

MC: "..."

Kate: *comes to stand directly in front of MC, that shit-eating grin back in full force*

Kate: "Am I right or am I right?"

MC: "..."

Kate: "Yknow...this won´t work if I´m talking to a toaster-"

MC, thoroughly done with listening to that voice: "And what of it?"

Kate: *bull´s-eye*

Kate: "I wanna hear it."

MC: "...What?"

Kate: "You heard me."

MC: "..."

Kate: "Come now...it´s not that hard."

MC: "..."

Kate: "Lemme help you:

'Kate the Great is so awesome for taking me to MC Donald´s!'

...See? Not too difficult, is it?"

MC: "..."

Kate: "...No? Hmm, how about-

'Kate the Great is the coolest Denali to be around and not at all stuck up like the rest of her family!'

...?"

MC: "..."

Kate: "...Yeah, that was a bit too simple, wasn´t it? Everyone knows that."

MC: "..."

Kate, sighing: "...Look, if you want that burger, then you gotta make amends."

MC, confused af: "...Make amends?"

Kate: "Ahh, she speaks! But yes, make amends."

MC, still confused af: "...For what??"

Kate: "Well, I did ask if you remembered our convo all those weeks ago."

MC: "..."

Kate: "Yknow, the one where you left poor ol me standing there like a fish out of water, waiting for a plea that would never come."

MC: "..."

Kate: "...Ask me again. Nicely."

MC: "..."

Kate: "What´s the magic word?"

MC: *knows exactly how that convo went down, most tempted to give the same answer she gave back then*

MC: "..."

Kate: 😏

MC: *imagines taking a bite of that burger*

Kate: 😏

MC, gathering all her willpower: "...Please."

Kate, internally:

Kate: "...Good."

MC: "..."

Kate: "..."

MC: *coughs in awkward*

Kate: *stares right into MC´s soul*

MC: *stares back*

Kate: *gaze starts drifting down-*

MC, loudly: "WELL-"

Kate: *jumps slightly, which is a feat considering she´s a vampire and not easily startled*

MC: "I dunno about you, but I´m starving and I believe I was promised a burger, sooo..."

Kate: *takes a moment too long to get her shit together, how embarassing-*

Kate, back to being Kate: "First of: I didn´t promise anything. Second-"

MC: *mentally preparing to have her dreams crushed because ofc it was too good to be true-*

Kate: *back to staring right into MC´s soul*

Kate: "...I´m starving too."

MC: *way too focused on finally getting that burger to grasp the actual meaning of that statement*

MC: 🤩 "Great! Let´s go then!"

Also MC: *proceeds to skip out of the room*

...

MC has never skipped out of a room before.

MC has never smiled at her before.

Kate thinks she likes it.

A lot.

.

OKAY-

This got WAY longer (and more emotional) than I thought it was gonna be, BUT-

It got us some soft!Kate and I´m so here for that. 😤✊

Also, every time I´m thinking MC can´t possibly get any more blissfully unaware, she goes and is even more blissfully unaware. 😭

.

.

.

Oh, btw: Even if the sister were to use their super speed around MC (which they have, if you remember), she won´t be any wiser. Why should someone conclude that they´re vampires from that? As far as MC´s concerned, they´re humanoid creatures with special abilities/super powers.

They could be Power Rangers, for all she knew. 😅

Thanks a lot for your ask! 💋

.

EDIT:

Oh, and also: Kate would´ve said "yes" sooner or later, regardless of how that convo went. As you said, it´s all about scoring points with MC. And if she gets to annoy her sister while she´s at it?

Jackpot.

Also also: She´s no doubt very pleased MC came to her, no matter if she was the first choice or the last resort. What counts is that she got to spend some quality time with the hooman.

...Something her older sister seems to be struggling with. 😏

(She´ll also be very pleased to rub it in Tanya´s face later that day. 😌)

[ferociouslycreativemystery]

Doctor Who (1996) reaction

My hopes were for this to be quite cheesy and a little bit shit, and it turned out to be supremely cheesy and quite shit, so I'd say that was a good reason to watch the movie. I mainly wanted to see what the 8th doctor and his TARDIS looked like in action after listening to the big finish audios, so I got what I came for (plus a little bit more). On to the actual 'live' reaction (spoilers, obviously):

The time vortex looks really good!! I love how organic it feels.

Yeah, I suppose you would describe that control room as gothic. Not quite the way I'd imagined it though, a bit more stripped back, mechanical and certainly much larger and more open than I thought. I do recognise the Meccano pillars/cage around the console. He's got an armchair! Of course he's got an armchair.

The first five minutes are certainly very 👁️👁️ eye centric

Ah yes, the US. I knew that would feature heavily. Wow that's a lot of guns.

SDFHALFKHA WTFFF that death is the goofiest thing I've ever seeeeen

So we're in "the future" are we? New year's 1999! I'm about to be born in 3 weeks :)

Water snake.

BRILLIANT companion introduction (I'm assuming that's her?). The poise? The valour? This is the sincere commitment to drama that modern cinema is too cowardly to pursue.

They're making this regeneration soooo difficult for him fkajhhfa I'm loving it

The morgue guy is fantastic. So sorry but you're about to lose your marbles my dude.

Okay nvm he's actually watching Frankenstein, in a morgue, during a thunderstorm, on new year's eve. He's asking for this.

Das him!! 🫵

Idc if the dead guy just kicked in your big metal fridge door, that reaction is not befitting of that tiny little thing wrapped up tight in a littol blanket SKGNAFKAF the Frankenstein parallel is Hilarious. Sir that is a baby. Why are you fainting

Why can't movies commit to visuals this hard anymore I'm actually getting mad. Where in an active hospital do they have this apocalyptic wing you ask? I don't know, but don't you think every major hospital should be required to have a bad vibes room to attract the evil spirits and let the psychologically unstable see themselves literally reflected in their broken surroundings? This could be our future if you're not a coward.

hmmm... there's a green haloing effect behind the Master's head when his eyes go green the first time. Wonder what post production process created that artefact? I want to look into that later.

OOOOHHH THAT CLOSE-UP OF THE CLOCK!!!! IT'S THE SAME AS IN RORY'S HOSPITAL IN THE 11TH DOCTOR'S FIRST EPISODE!!! REFERENCE I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WAS A REFERENCE!!!!! (or maybe that's just what hospital clocks look like idk. It's a reference in my heart anyway. Also it's extra special to me cause I know it from this video, which is the reason I've wanted to make fan edits since I was 12.)

She's even called Grace?! Perfection 👌

He's gonna get in the elevator with her isn't he? YES YES HE IS. Oh god he's so weird <3333

Pulling that thing from his chest was genuinely unsettling to watch 🥴

I saw someone say in a post that they thought the 8th doctor was Like That because of his regeneration being interrupted. I think I agree entirely

DKSJHGSKDHG even the tardis doors don't look the same on the inside. What a mindfuck. Wow that thing is HUUUUUUUGEEE. (edit: wait I think the inner doors were different for the 1st doctor as well? Maybe others too? Then no one came in immediately pushing the doors wide though, so it wasn't as jarring. You could imagine there was maybe some kind of gap between them since they opened in different ways.)

*squeal* he's ADORABLE (That's just what getting a good pair of shoes feels like though!)

"The cloister room" are you FUCKING kidding me 🤣 okay there's the gothic look I was missing—bats an' all! Is this where he keeps the error bell?

Did the audition process for the Doctor mainly consist of pained grunts and moans? I mean he does do them well, would check out if that were the case.

And there's the kiss, already knew about that one as well.

Those are some Crusty glass effects.

Things are just happening now. Guess we're on a bike?

"I'm half human" and I'm entirely sure canon never meant anything on this show (are the writer(s) aware this isn't Star Trek?)

Just gonna skip over the fact that the master slimed up all those men pointing their guns at him real quick I don't need to know how that happened (why is he goo?)

The cop drove into the TARDIS! And straight out again! Fantastic!!

THE CEILING CAN BE SEE-THROUGH I WAS RIGHT! Really neat feature I like it a lot 👀

Oh no we're breaking the 180 degree rule 😬 that's so jarring

Grace NOOOO

Going heavy on the jesus symbolism what with first emerging from the death cave and now that spiked crown-vice thing aren't we? Also with the butchering a fish right as we arrived in the US. Was this written by an American or just heavily tuned for an American audience? (edit: the writer is British and has a history with the show, so probably just over-tuned for the American market appeal. They were trying to get the show picked up over there iirc.)

The hospital clock is back! :D

Okay maybe don't put your main actor in a device that doesn't allow him to actually act? Just a thought.

This has too much physical confrontation for doctor who 😂 Unless the choreography can be done in a single take by a guy in his 50s (50s?? I thought he was older) wearing frills, I'm afraid it just won't compute.

"Life is wasted on the living" What a... line.

And there's magic fairy dust of ressurection now too? Canon really does mean nothing. Oh thank god they just hug.

Also apparently this doctor is ominously all-knowing? Yeah, definitely going heavy on the jesus symbolism.

Unnecessary final kiss.

And that's it!

Thoughts: It's fine. Loved the cheese. The romance added nothing, the Master had no personality (they turned him into the terminator 😭), and the Americanisation is rampant in more ways than just the jesus thing. It lacks much of the genuine passion and respect for the unknown that carries the rest of the show. The Doctor knows a lot of stuff because he loves exploring and finding out there's more to learn, not because he's god. There were flashes of this here and there, but it didn't carry the story.

My pet theory is that this is a common thing when comparing British and American stuff. Like with Ghosts: in the British one, they're all just stuck as ghosts because fuck them ig and there is no clue as to the rules. The point is they're all just trying to make the best of it, and how they succeed or fail in doing that. But in the American one there has to be a System, and figuring out and finding your purpose in that System is what makes you happy—and that's when you 'die', cause you've nothing left to live for then, have you? Apparently they have a 'go down' as well as being 'sucked off', which just reinforces the apparently cosmic importance of Rules (I didn't watch that far though).

Anyway, I really liked the beginning, as is often the case with stuff I watch lol. Probably the reason I love Merlin so much is that it all just feels like one long beginning, so that I can make the story what I want when I want it in my mind.

I'll give this movie two out of five stars ★★☆☆☆. Would recommend to weirdos and bad movie enjoyers. I am at least one of those, so I enjoyed it well enough!

[fantasiac]

Sonamy Novella AU Idea I just had

main dramatic romance is Sonamy, the dynamic is similar to idw, where they know eachother and are friends, Amy likes sonic and sonic thinks he might like Amy back, but sonic doesn't handle it well, and they're both kind of awkward, but there's sparks sometimes, they eventually go on a few dates, sonic is fidgety and nervous of course, and Amy likes him for who he is and doesn't get mad when he fails socially

Eggman is an ex government (GUN) weapons manufacturer that got fired for war crimes or something, he wants Amy's family jewels the chaos emeralds, eggman also killed Maria which makes shadow and Rouge try to take him down, they are detective partners that work for the chaotix agency, metal sonic wants Amy to themselves, and Knuckles is Amy's big brother and has a security job at the Rose mansion guarding the emeralds, Tails is sonics little brother and works for Eggman without knowing that Eggman is evil (insomniac doc oc style), Knuckles and Tails helped Amy get sonic to agree to dates, Metal Sonic works with Eggman to keep the Detectives from arresting him for killing Maria, and also wants Amy so they can get the emeralds

knuckles and Rouge have a secret love interest, shadow is a lone wolf that does things his way and doesn't care about the law, just wants revenge, and sonic used to work for Chaotix, but quit, Rouge is always trying to get sonic to rejoin, and sonic doesn't want to

Maria was a kind woman of eggmans age who took shadow in as he was a lost orphan, Eggman killed Maria because she had reported his actions to the chaotix multiple times

(update:) Blaze is the mayor of the town, and silver has a romantic sub plot with espio, idk what silvers role in the story is yet, maybe he can be a bartender or something, espio visits the bar because being a lieutenant is stressful or something, also Rouge may or may not be a GUN spy sent undercover as a detective to keep track of Eggman, and also may or may not double cross the government to invade the Rose mansion and steal the jewels for herself ;)

I came up with all of this while listening to Soranda Guitar's sonic covers

this one would be the "previously on [Sonic Novella Name]" screen

this one would be sonic and Amy's first date

and I imagine this one being shadow and Rouge having a shootout against Metal Sonic with a Tommy gun for some reason lol

[coolspacequips]

I think it's so reductive to say Shuro only liked falin while disliking laios bc he wanted to "fuck her", kind of a bad faith read and needlessly crass like...

It's a good point that ppl react to autistic traits differently depending on how attractive they perceive a person, but I think what happened w shuro and laios is a larger conversation about how boy autism manifests and is treated vs girl autism, a conversation I've seen gaining traction re: the fact that ppl filter their Perception of autism thru a male white filter, and that girls have a drastically lower rate of being clocked early if at all, and that ppl struggle to even conceive of say a brown girl w autism (this of course being in the simplest language without getting into a more complex look at genders and other social dynamics and how that intersects w neurodivergence)

Also along those lines, I think it's a larger conversation on how men socialize vs women, stereotypically. Of course men feel deeper feelings than they are often given credit for, for patriarchal bullshit reasons. It's common for ppl to express that "men don't need/want to talk about their feelings", which they do and benefit from of course, but that doesn't remove the fact that they often are socialized not to, and don't always get the support they need to talk about them well. It's a common thing and used to be a common media trope that bad tension might simmer between two guys, then they get into a physical fight and the air is cleared and they are friends again, hell it happens it shonen all the time, and in text that's a version of what happened with Shuro and laios. They didn't know how to discuss it, things came to an emotional head in a charged moment, they threw hands for a bit, then that release cleared Shuro's head enough to reconsider his perceptions and the two have a much more level conversation.

This of course all without touching on how I and a lot of others read Shuro to be autistic as well, and how lots of fans are determined to read him in as bad as faith as possible and can once again only clock white boy autism, where laios gets a pass for any boundary pushing that he does, but Shuro is evil for not being able to express or understand some of his feelings until they come out at crit mass, or struggling social conventions

This also discredits his feelings for falin so much where I get everyone wants to hate him for being het or whatever, but I get the impression that he saw the things that were strange about falin and liked her because of those things, that she was someone who was kind to him without the same over the top energy that overstimulates him when it comes to laios, and having shown no romantic interest in anyone in the past, fell in love. He isn't creeping on her and trying to see her body and grope her for comedy beats or anything, we see him looking at her with eyes full of love as she plays w a bug she found on the ground, and we know she saved him from a nightmare in the past, which we saw involves waking someone from a dream about their greatest trauma and helping them cope with it. This stance that he's just trying to fuck her undermines these things, misinterprets what is overall a pretty chaste romance, and cheapens the fact that falin is THAT LOVABLE. He loved her because she's lovable, and despite having a horrible childhood where she was assigned no worth, the reality is that a group of people love her so deeply as to risk everything, which is something you often kind of wish for when you were an ostracized nd person like she was

IDK this whole post is a rambling unedited mess I just saw some post about this that pissed me off LMAO IDK why this fandom is so determined to deny shuro any personhood, I try to just brush this discourse off but it's hard when the topics of discourse can remind u how rampant fandom racism is constantly 😔

[dandelion-wings]

Dendro Delusion AU. spill.

Ahahaha that's a small (but important! for the porn!) part of a larger AU that @theabysscomeshome and I first came up with... years ago when Inazuma first came out, which I mention mostly because some of the lore/worldbuilding premises have been jossed and we have not updated them. XD;; (In particular I actually wrote fragments of the initial Jean-Diluc-Kaeya meeting that are now thoroughly upturned re: both the Abyss and hilichurl biology, and I'm sad about both.) @theabysscomeshome describes it occasionally as a "sexy evil mirrorverse au," and it is, but I also think of it as a double role-swap AU: Jean and Childe, and Venti and the Tsaritsa.

See, the aforementioned Jean-Diluc-Kaeya meeting happens when Jean and Diluc end up in the Abyss (initially they fell in by accident, we've since revised it to "they plunged in to rescue Barbara from something" and thus Barbara ends up there too), and meet a Kaeya whose father was taking him to Mondstadt via the Abyss and fell afoul of monsters before they could get there. Diluc's Vision, in this premise, protects him from the corrupting effects of the Abyss, but Kaeya (due to the Abyss effects + the curse) is at this point at least 10%, maybe 20% a little samachurl, and Jean ends up Childeified! (Barbara to some extent too, in the revision.) Kaeya leads them to an exit from the Abyss and gets them out, but they are all Forever Changed to greater or lesser extents.

And the Venti-Tsaritsa end occurs because Venti, in this AU, does not get any of his canonical naps. This is very bad for him and essentially sends him off the deep end and leaves him conceiving some very bad and sleep-deprived plans to storm Celestia. So when he shows up in Mondstadt with those plans in hand and finds 16-ish-year-old Jean Gunnhildr working on body disposal because she, Diluc, and Kaeya just finished ~interrogating~ Eroch for Suspicious Behavior (IDK who he's spying for in this universe. It might still be the Tsaritsa and her subordinates, who've we've kind of put into a role as Venti's main opposition, but left vague because we Know Nothing about her yet), he looks at this Gunnhildr who is a lot more willing to do violent murders than he's accustomed to and is like. Perfect. He's just found his foremost assistant :> and the other two look great, too, he'll keep them also. A wonderful start to what turns into an off-the-rails aggressively martial theocracy.

Anyway this includes Delusion development and research (there's a whole side-thing where Crepus is put in charge of that because he's totally willing to use his family funds for that in exchange for acknowledgement from Barbatos Himself, then dies while personally testing an early model--possibly because he has a useful subordinate named Zendik--and it's not the only reason Diluc eventually ragequits but it's a major factor), and Venti ends up with Harbingers but not Fatui because "Jean Gunnhildr, 1st Harbinger of the Knights of Favonius" sounds badass and rolls nicely off the tongue. The "sexy evil mirrorverse" part comes in because between the Abyss influences we imagined and the Delusion-caused mental influences we imagined, almost everyone's moral compass has been turned roughly upside down. There is a lot of torture, war crimes, summary execution, etc. going on here. Lisa's vines are useful for restraining Jean at Jean's request both in and out of the bedroom (sometimes Jean is overwhelmed by the urge to kill when she rationally knows she needs to not be killing), but they are also useful for holding one of Kaeya's interrogation subjects still while he flays them alive. :> They're besties engaging in fun friendship activities together~!

A few people have not had their moral compasses turned upside down here, which provides some extra fun. I love writing Fredrica so she is present and ends up gathering up other Knights who have had issues with all of this and allying with Diluc and Lumine in our imagined endgame as they take Jean and Venti down. (A lot of Diluc's motivation in teaming up with Lumine in the first place is that he wants an ally strong enough to face them but who is willing to let Jean and Kaeya live, which is hard to find in a Teyvat that has suffered a lot from the KoF trampling both national and ethical boundaries all over the place in pursuit of Venti's goals.*) Klee is still as innocent as ever, she's just encouraged to set off her bombs in places that canon Jean would have a heart attack about. Amber is Kaeya's best spy and secret agent because she's just so fucking cheerful and sincere. A nice little bit of juxtaposition for what is mostly Knights of Favonius: War Crimes Edition.

*Except for Watatsumi, which got full, non-just-for-our-own-goals support from militarized Mondstadt for their rebellion and thus did not just get a peace treaty but full-out won their war in this universe. Jean successfully killing Ei (and uuuuh Yae Miko and Kujou Sara in the process. rip) did not hurt.

And, yeah, Jean and Lisa and Kaeya have so, so much extremely kinky and often deeply problematic sex. :>

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for not taking revenge over the death of my mom?

So my (M, 33) mom (F, 500-ish?) was murdered five years ago by this girl, let's call her A (F, 32). My mom and I had a great relationship, she taught me everything I know and I respected her a lot. To be honest she was kind of my whole reason to be alive? So her death affected me greatly, but also the idea of avenging her never crossed my mind.

I mean, my mom did kind of murder A's father in cold blood, and I do like A, she's a great gal, well, except for the whole, mom murdering thing, but, I mean, she kind of had a good reason, given the whole father murdering thing. Honestly this whole thing feels very vicious-cycle-of-violence thingy? And it's not like my mom would come back to life if I took revenge so, no point on killing A back, right? So I just, moved on from that.

However! Recently I learned that A had just... sort of been expecting me to avenge my mom? This whole time? Like apparently she made all these elaborated plans to protect herself from me and stuff? And apparently the reason she never returned to her town was because she was 100% sure I would go kill her if I knew where she was? Apparently she hasn't even contacted her loved ones as a way to, like, keep them safe or something? I don't get her logic tbh but whatever.

And, like, all this time I thought she was living this nomadic on-the-run sort of lifestyle because she liked traveling, but it turns out she was hiding from me????

Anyway this entire thing came to a head a week ago when this situation that's not relevant to the story forced us go work together for a couple of days.

It was the first time I saw her in person since she killed my mom, and I did notice she was very tense, but I thought it was just awkwardness given the whole, you know, mother killing thing. I mean, I was awkward too, like. How do you talk with someone who killed your mom, you know? Like, I like A, but, still, you know? But I still tried to be friendly and stuff.

Then, eventually, A just, she got really mad, and started yelling at me asking me what my "plan" was and "what I was playing at" and stuff, just convinced I had some nefarious scheme or something. I told her I had literally no idea of what she was talking about, but she didn't believe me, and I can tell the fact I didn't like, try to stab her or anything left her feeling disturbed.

Anyways, my point is, idk, I just feel kinda bad that she's putting so much effort avoiding some revenge plan that doesn't exist? And just, thinking about me waaaay more than I think about her? Like, I get the impression she thinks we're like, sort of arch nemesis now or something? When really I just think she's rad, like idk how to interact with her given, everything, but also she's just a rad acquaintance, you know?

I have considered just, actually doing some evil scheme or whatever, you know? To like, make her feel better and like she isn't wasting her time. Like, I get the feeling she WANTS me to be doing evil schemes and stuff to, idk, ease the guilt for killing my mom? So I thought of maybe actually planning one just so she felt better, but secret evil plans take so much effort and I just get SO bored!

So. I'm not, like, planning anything against her, really. I gave up on that, too much work.

But still, I feel like I'm kind of the asshole here since I'm not like, reciprocating this? She's putting so much effort on our supposed rivalry and stuff, and I don't even dislike her. And I mean, she put so much effort when it came to avenging her dad by murdering my mom, an yet I'm just, not doing anything. And idk. It just makes me feel bad, man. Like I'm leading her on?

So. Am I the asshole for not taking revenge like she's expecting me to?

[crossovershipstournament]

SIDE 2A: ROUND 2: Megaman (Megaman)/Pit (Kid Icarus) VS Selina Kyle (Catwoman) (DC Comics)/Loki (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

Propaganda for Megaman/Pit:

This ask, which includes the art used in the bracket image!

Oh my god. This one came immediately to mind. Idk how big the ship is now, but I remember like seeing it everywhere back when Super Smash Bros Ultimate was like popular on Tumblr/Twitter. I think it was originally a crackship cause both of them were in Captain N (a cartoon), but it’s like a serious thing now. Literally all it took was one interaction between them (there’s like dialogue you can get if you do some combination when you play as Pit) which is just Pit gushing about Mega Man. It’s cute. And honestly kind of iconic

#MEGAPIT ?? good for them #go back in time and tell kid me the ship he came up with on a whim would be in a tumblr bracket :'3

#megapit sweep!

#megapit nation let's pokémon go to the polls #let's give it for a wholesome and iconic crackship

#MEGAPIT NATION RISE. RISE. RISE #MEGAPIT

#MEGAPIT!!!1!

#MEGAPIT NATION RISE UP

#c'mon megapit nation #sure they may lose but let's get them some votes anyways!

Propaganda for Selina Kyle (Catwoman)/Loki:

Two not quite villains who will never be content as heroes despite how much their friends and family would like them to be. They can sass each other and steal things together. In fact, Loki, being old as most artifacts, can claim that anything they steal technically belongs to him through some convoluted story that may or may not be true. So they've got this game going on with Batman. If he catches them, the museum can keep the object. Otherwise, Loki gets to keep "his stuff" and no one bothers them to avoid an incident with Asgard. It drives Batman up the wall. Loki and Selina are two beautiful Neutrals with a dash of chaos. He adores her and she loves his mystery and pizzazz. They bring out the best in each other. The Joker is dead and Loki has taken over his turf as the Crown Prince of Crime Alley. He sits on his ice throne with his darling Selina, finding new and vicious nonfatal ways of dealing with those who try to usurp them. They might intervene if they hear someone is doing something evil enough, so if you want to get rid of your enemies, feel free to snitch. Selina and Loki both think the other is sexy. Selina loves that Loki isn't quite evil but she doesn't feel bad for stealing when she's with him. He makes it fun. Loki loves that Selina has given him a chance and doesn't have grand expectations of heroics from him. That he doesn't need power to keep her.

Reasons why Batman does not like this ship:

-Selina knows Bruce Wayne is Batman, and by virtue of that fact, so does Loki. To keep things fun and remind the other rogues he's still a "villain" Loki likes to kidnap Bruce once a month and demand Batman come and rescue him. It's very annoying. The other Rogues assume Loki does this since Batman and Catwoman used to be a thing. Really Loki just thinks it's funny that Bruce can't escape without ruining his whole "Brucie" image. It's also a great way to clear a fancy restaurant and have a private date with Selina when she's called to "talk him down" until "Batman" shows up.

-Loki doesn't know how to drive. Selina has decided to teach him. And since Bruce is a family friend, she has decided that means she can "borrow" his cars any time. Bruce has lost track of how many times he's left the office to find his car isn't where he parked it. Loki is a madman on the streets. So ofc he gets pulled over a lot. Never fear! He just magics him and Selina to look like Bruce and his latest girlfriend. Bruce is this close to getting his license revoked.

-Loki and Selina wait until Batman is about to head from his patrol to rob the museum. They've made a game out of it with a point system and everything. Thankfully they only do it on relatively quiet nights to make sure the gets his steps in.

Reasons Batman likes the ship:

-Selina is happy. Really happy. She lights up whenever she's with Loki. Loki just melts in her arms. Any idiot could see they're in love. They banter and flirt with each other everywhere from the grocery store to the middle of a high speed chase.

-He knows Loki would tear the world apart for Selina. He would face down Thanos all over again if he had too.

-Any villain stupid enough to interrupt their date night will be swiftly returned to Arkham.

Reasons Robin likes the ship:

-Selina and Loki are going to adopt his best friend Colin Wilkes.

-Loki and Selina protect all the animal shelters.

-Loki and Selina are always down to help him sneak animals into the manor.

Reason Robin does not like the ship:

-Loki and Selina are firm believers in PDA and Damian is at the age when cooties are very much still a thing.

Lovely art~!

Art Credit: Megaman/Pit art by @/farraigeart Catwoman/Loki art by @/kannra-orhara

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s3 ep10: Warlord

Another alien possession episode, this time mixed with a rare foray into castle intrigue, this is also a big Kes episode. Kes was one of my favorites when I was a kid, and I loved getting to see her fighting spirit come out here. Despite not having the strongest plot, this is def one of her strongest eps.

It opens with a shot of Neelix experiencing some kind Talaxian foot oomax that's presumably supposed to be funny, but is actually just truly awkward, and something I didn't ever need to see. They're on the holodeck, and this is the first ep where we see the tropical resort program that the crew will take to playing around in for the rest of the season. (It's kind of cute how the crew goes through fads of which holodeck program is the cool one for them all to hang out in.) Tom and Harry are there, and Harry's wearing his slutty little see-through mesh shirt, which I love, because it's the same one we saw Libby wearing in the alternate timeline in 'Non Sequitur', which means Harry brought it from home when he left Earth. I love little continuity details like that! Plus, he's slaying in that thing, that look is fire! (And then later B'Elanna shows up in a sparkly swimsuit, and it's just like wow. ok. just gonna hit us over the head with half dressed hot people in this ep huh? Rude. And her saucy little 'yeah i'm a bad bitch' wiggle as she walks away is just like, illegal levels of hotness. how it took me until my late 20s to figure out I was bisexual when I grew up watching this show, I'll never know.)

Then we go to the bridge, where Voyager is rescuing a small ship that's going to explode. They beam the three survivors to sickbay, and one of them dies while Kes tends to him. Not long after, Kes's behavior starts to become odd. When she meets Neelix in the holodeck for lunch, she snaps at him, and tells him how annoying he is (valid, tbh, but so not Kes) and ends up breaking up with him rather abruptly. While I admit I wasn't sad at the idea of Kes and Neelix breaking up, it did feel very out of character. We soon learn the reason- Kes has been possessed by the spirit of the dead patient, a bloodthirsty warlord.

The possessed Kes and her alien friends shoot the transporter chief, then hightail it back to their planet. (Though why they shot him when they were already gonna get beamed down, idk!) I gotta say, I love the matte painting of the castle on this planet! They really went with a full on fairy tale type castle, and it looks really cool. I wish they'd have gone with something equally castle-y for the interior set though, because it was just another nondescript grey design without any distingiushing visual identity.

After they retake the castle, all trace of Kes's personality is gone, replaced by the 200 year old warlord Tieran, who changes into a black leather catsuit, and swans around killing people and yelling orders. Jennifer Lien does a great job portraying the evil warlord, making her voice gruff and growly, and sneering and slinking around the castle like she owns the place. Tieran uses her telepathic powers to hurt people, and attempts to seduce people over to his side, including Tuvok, when he came to rescue Kes- they really are determined to make her kiss every man who's old enough to be her dad on this show, aren't they?? Ugh. (But yet, they didn't go for her kissing Tieran's wife- Rick Berman probably said nuh-uh, no gays allowed! But then a few scenes later, no one had any problem with Kes/Tieran suggesting a threesome with the wife and the prince that Kes/Tieran is now betrothed to- I guess gay shit is okay, as long as it's only used to show how depraved the villain is - ugh!! Only allowing evil characters to be queer is worse than zero representation at all. Tbh, that shit is probably why it took me so long to figure out I was bi- growing up, only evil, immoral characters were ever depicted as bi on tv, especially on DS9, where the evil mirror universe characters were almost all depicted as queer. It's pretty hard to think of yourself as bisexual when even Star Trek depicts it as a perversion, rather than an actual normal thing for normal people to be. I know now most of the writers and actors didn't feel that way, and it was Berman's homophobia overruling everyone else, which makes me feel a little better, but still. It's a huge thorn in my side when I watch old Trek, and it makes me want to vandalize Berman's house with rainbow paint. Happy Pride Month, you asshole!)

But we learn that Kes's mind is still there too- that she haunts Tieran's dreams, and fights him so hard she gives him headches. I love the scene where she stands up to him, and assures him that she'll fight him relentlessly, and that he should be afraid of her; and best of all, we see that he actually is afraid of her! Tiny little Kes, spooking the hell out of a gruff, growly guy twice her size! We love to see it!! Kes is the clear winner of their battle of wills- Jennifer Lien brings so much intensity to it, she's truly ferocious, and it's awesome! I remember how happy I was to see Kes finally get her assertive badass moment back when this first aired. Kes was the relatable stand in character for the young girls in the audience- my grade school friend and I both loved her- so it was a real thrill for us to finally get to see her presented in this strong, forceful way, like all the other characters routinely were. One of the reasons she became less of a favorite for me as I grew up was recognizing how often she was infantilized, relegated to being a sex object, or an emotional caretaker, for male characters, or not fighting back when she was treated disrespectfully. So often she was written off as being the naive, softhearted innocent, when she was clearly capable of being more complex and interesting if they let her break out of that mold. I really appreciate that they let her do that here- it's a tantalizing hint at what her character could have become if she'd had more time on the show, and writers who believed in her more.

After Kes successfully fights back against Tieran, the final scene is her and Tuvok back on Voyager, discussing what happened. Kes admits that what she went through was a big deal that changed how she felt about herself and her relationships with her friends, and she wonders how she can go back to normal. Tuvok, ever the good space dad, tells her that she can't, but she can move forward in new directions, building on the strength she found in herself. It's rare to have characters on Star Trek actually talk about how much the crazy things they deal with every day actually effect them, and I appreciate that they did it here. It's a lovely scene, and even though Kes is still troubled at the end, we know she'll have the support of Tuvok, and all her friends on Voyager, as she finds her way forward.

Overall, this episode was a run of the mill 'bad aliens posssesed somebody, we must get them out!' story, with a twist of royal intrigue silliness that doesn't fit well with Star Trek's tone. It felt more like a Xena or Hercules plot than Star Trek. They literally have a Tony award winning actor in the cast- Anthony Crivello was playing Tieran's aide, Adin- but he practically blended into the scenery of this over-the-top, psuedo-medieval fantasy plot that gave him nothing to work with. Nontheless, I appreciated Kes being given an opportunity to take the spotlight, and to show a steely resolve underneath her sweetness and cuteness.

Tl;dr: One of Kes's strongest episodes, despite a weak plot, which marks a turning point for Kes's character on her path to becoming more mature. Essential for Kes fans, and anyone who wants to see her branch out beyond her usual storylines.

[russeliarat]

In regards to Cia in a lot of the LU fanon space (aka fics and headcanons), I feel like she's being portrayed far worse than she actually is in Hyrule Warriors. I do think that Wars would have a lot of trauma regarding her considering she's the whole reason a war was started in his name. I do also think that starting said war is pretty bad. But I don't think she really deserves the black-and-white viewpoint most people have of her, it undermines the (attempted - it was a bad and rushed attempt but an intentional attempt nonetheless) redemption of her character arc. I say this as someone who owns the game and has combed through it for hours to attempt to rewrite that bullshit game.

But I think a lot of people are missing the part where Cia actually had control over her one-sided love for centuries as she only watched each hero and never interacted, but it was when Ganondorf came in and corrupted her that she started the war. She was under Ganondorf's influence throughout most of the game, even when she defected from him and attempted to gain the Triforce. She eventually made attempts to redeem herself after becoming free of Ganondorf due to Lana. There's also an element that Cia herself was exploited for Ganondorf's own power fantasies, it was likely that he manipulated or even told her to go to such extremes as making a war to get the Triforce and just used Cia's quiet yearning as a motive.

As dogshit as Hyrule Warriors is as a game and story, I think the idea that Lana is this perfect good is a great foil to Cia's unwavering evil, both forced to these extremes because of Ganondorf, who then regained their humanity once Cia finally broke free of him, though is more subtle in Lana is actually expressed kinda well compared to the rest of the wonkiness of the game. I think there's something to be said about Cia treatment as a antagonist compared to others like say Shadow, the way they're treated as being redeemed villains who were manipulated by Ganondorf for his own gains is vastly different across the fandom. Idk if there's a reason but it feels so distinct and I can't answer why.

This isn't to say that I don't think Wars would have a lot of issues surrounding what happened, its quite obvious he would have a lot of relationship problems on top of everything going on about the war. Its more a ramble about how people portray Cia post-HW/during LU. I myself don't understand how it happened, but as a DLC that was added for free in the Definitive Edition, Cia was revived and re-evilised, so yes she is technically alive still. I don't blame people for thinking she's some mega evil seductress that wants to capture the hearts of all the Chain, she seems very one-sided as a character at first without either getting the game and playing through yourself or skimming every website about the game (which is surprisingly few compared to its Age of Calamity counterpart - which also has its issues) and analysing the very misleading text in wiki pages and reviews. But no, she's not portrayed as a rapist (wtf literally where in the game is it even implied) nor is her character shown to be a pedophile (each hero she has been shown to fawn over are very explicitly the adult heroes).

I'm fine with headcanons, but the kind of stuff I see passed around in LU fanon is basically character assassination. It's kind of sad to see Cia just absolutely obliterated. I'm fine with some of the tamer headcanons, but some of the aforementioned like her being a rapist or a pedophile is so gross to me (and yes I've seen both multiple times in many more words to try to soften the blow of the writer/headcanoner's implications). I don't really like her character myself but I feel like I've analysed her and reworked her and picked apart her character too much to even consider humouring these kinds of ideas. Saying things like she's hypersexual or playing into her seductress image and appearance is fine because it's almost canon, I'll even agree with people calling her a stalker because she definitely was one during the war, but saying anything close to her committing anything more extreme is just not it for me.

[gumdefense]

Iris Fey <3

THANK YOU FOR ASKING ABOUT IRIS I’M TAKING THIS OPPORTUNITY TO TALK ABOUT HER AS MUCH AS I WANT APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE (and apologies for answering late)

I love her so much idk how to describe it. She is everything. She’s such a kind and gentle person, and she cares and loves so much which fits so well with Phoenix. She helped dahlia make the initial plan to steal the diamond and get away from their fucked family, she kept helping her with criminal plans from then on because she just loves her sister even if she wasn’t particularly happy about the path she was starting to go on, she volunteered to get the necklace back for her. You know the necklace full of poison. That dahlia used to (nearly) kill someone. She knew what it was, and still wanted to help her (at her own risk, might I add) because dahlia is and always will be her sister, and if she soiled her own hands to try to get her “off the sinful path” or however she worded it, so be it.

And then Phoenix. I think a lot about how she came to fall for him. Because she can’t have loved him immediately, there must have been a period where she didn’t have any feelings and just wanted the damn necklace, but was unable to get it. Can you imagine ? Realising she was getting attached to this man ? Realising she was actually falling for him, the very last thing that she should do ? I wanna know what this specific period of time was like for her so bad.

And in subject to how she loves— we all know the rest. She knitted that horrible sweater for him, which is by itself insane btw like that takes an enormous amount of time, effort, and money (with how much yarn has to be used). And it looks like a really complicated sweater honestly ! Like it looks quite thick instead of being a simple single layer, and— idk what the right wording would be, but ”doesn’t have holes”-y. It looks really well made. That is absolute smitten behaviour it’s hilarious and adorable

But most importantly, she went against her sister’s wishes, because of how much she ended up loving him. The same sister she loved so much as well. We know she wasn’t really happy with dahlia’s actions at this point, and she wanted to save her from sinning further etc, but as established, that was from a source of love. She knew dahlia could be different in the right environment. She believed in her. But somehow, for some reason, she loved Phoenix enough that, as she says, if she knew dahlia’s plan to kill him- she would have stopped her even if it meant one of their lives

There’s another thing about iris that I love, which is that she’s just as crazy as everyone else. We always joke about every character being insane and she is no exception

I do have thoughts about the decision to have her portrayed so… gentle, specifically in regards to how ace attorney treats women in general. I do think it’s kind of meh that the perfect female love interest (as she is sort of depicted I think, based on how the game ends hinting at her and Phoenix still having feelings for each other) is a “loves others so much she makes herself suffer” character. While her evil twin is an evil woman !! Who hates men and people in general !! And is mean and the opposite of caring !! (I’ve grown to really like dahlia too and to find her fascinating as a character, but I think with the way the game was written and how it portrayed her, you’re meant to dislike her)

But, in my biased purely subjective opinion, she is so fucking amazing and I just love her

And this part of her of caring about others to the point of self sabotage makes her connection with Phoenix so interesting. Because that’s exactly how he is, too. He loves and cares so deeply, and he constantly puts others before himself and places his own self-esteem and self-worth on how much he can help people; especially those he loves, i.e. maya, edgeworth, trucy… even apollo and athena based on how much he looks down on himself for his errors as a mentor in aa5. But of course, also iris. As he denied even after the trial that the woman at the witness stand was her, that she could have killed Doug and said those cruel things to him, and that she could have killed Misty, even after 5 years of not having seen her. Their relationship is built with two people who care so, so deeply, and for whom this amount of devotion they always show to loved ones ended up dooming their relationship to each other. Phoenix couldn’t give up the necklace, iris couldn’t take it away from him. I’m a narumitsu endgame kinda guy, but feenris is so incredibly compelling and narratively interesting I’m so unwell about them

Ahem. This long rant aside. What I mean by “most fandom takes are incorrect” is that !! No !! She is not some evil liar that didn’t give a shit about Phoenix and just cared about her selfish desires !! What the fuck !! And she did not fucking “rape him by deception” holy shit !! Like that’s such an insane thing to say, and shows a lack of understanding of what rape by deception is. ALSO: she is a huge victim of… how shall I call it. Gay shipper misogyny ? Let’s go with that. The phenomenon of people hating the guts of a female character for no reason other than “she gets in-between the two men I ship”. I’m not saying it would be the only reason someone would hate her; if you hate her that’s your business and it’s fine, but I’ve definitely seen people acting like she is wayyy worse than she is, and not so subtly showing what their real problem is is that there’s another character who could be a love interest for Phoenix instead of edgeworth. Tldr people are so mean to her :(

And what I mean by lost potential is that I think she could’ve been a lot more. This ties into the kinda misogynistic writing I touched on earlier. I don’t have a great explanation for this honestly, I just have this feeling she could’ve been a top 10 character if she was given a bit more time and more depth. Like if her fucked up parts like being willing to kill dahlia or herself was shown a bit more idk. Like I said I don’t really know how to explain this part. She should’ve been written more as her own character, a bit less as Girl In Love With Phoenix. Which ties with “not enough canon”

And for underrated, well that’s because no one appreciates her rip

This ended up being long as hell lmao anon I hope this is a good answer for you !! And thanks again for asking me I am so happy to talk about iris. Genuinely one of my favourite characters <33 I hope this is coherent I wrote all this late at night when I really should be sleeping as I’m supposed to wake up early tomorrow. But iris is of course more important

[marsipain]

hi i literally know nothing about cyberpunk but im DROOLING OVER UR DESIGNS…i like do not have the patience or mind to ever do smth like that so its so cool to see other ppl make really cool designs for several characters like wow. i think zane and harumi r my favorite IM OBSESSED.

what kind of things did u use for inspo ?😳

OH MY GOD?? OH MY GOD?? THE CLAM IS IN MY INBOX?? DIES

anyways hihihi sorry it took so long to answer this eeee

Okay so I didn’t actually do that much formal research for it, because anytime i try to do that i feel my creativity and livelyness is sapped out of me (probably one of the reasons i hate school lmao) anyways

It’s actually a really funny (and long) story how this au came to be, so at first i saw the party clone of MK in lego monkie kid (this won’t make much sense if you haven’t watched that show sorry, but also at the same time if you haven’t YOU REALLY SHOUDL ITS REALLY GOOD AND THE ANIMATION MAKES ME DROOL NGL) and i was like yo wouldn’t it be cool if Lloyd had an evil party clone too? and then it expanded to an RGB evil clone au (cuz i’m a sucker for RGB siblings haha) and then i got the idea for nya to be a racer and to have a cyborg gf (cough cough pixal) and i was like okay scrap all the clone stuff were making this a completely independent au because this is MUCH cooler. and yeah, idk where the whole cyberpunk thing came from, i just thought it would really fit into the themes of fighting rings, clubs and races :DD

After that i was a bit busy for a while with school (just like i am now :c) but the brain rot for this AU was still going strong, so I made a pinterest board where i saved just a fuck load of cyberpunk shit that i thought looked cool, and whenever i had time i’d use those to draw the designs! here are some sketches with their references :D (zane and harumi included since they were ur favs! ps zane is my fav too, he just gives off such manager vibes but, hot, HAHA)

(ignore the lines, procreate just fucks up stuff if you change the canvas size and you try to access prior versions of the drawing through the timelapse option lmao)

anyways as you can see not even all of the references are cyberpunk stuff

AND YEAH I USED UR LLOYD AS INSPIRATION, I REALLY LIKE UR ARTSTYLE OKAY MOVING ON

some of the stuff was different and changed a lot through the process, like for example i decided against harumi having the furs because she would never wear them in this AU, she needs practicality in her fighting matches haha. I also changed a lot of lloyd design, cuz i was like “hehe, heelies” cuz zoom zoom, yk? and then u have zane, which was really straightforward coz i had almost exactly how i wanted him to be set in stone in my mind xd

Here’s a link to the pinterest board if ur interested! there’s a bunch of stuff in here i never got to use, so if anyone is interested idm it being used for stuff ^-^

ANYWAYS THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SENDING IN THIS ASK, I HOPE IT WASNT TOO LONG AA

[kiwibirdlafayette]

I’ve been thinking about season one (again) and I feel like the most important person in the “saving Ianite” mission is Tom. He is the literal key to unlocking the vault where Ianite’s heart is kept, it’s his ship that gets everyone to Aethoria, and he kills Dianite. I also feel like did more for the pirates (Capsize specifically) than anyone else.

I wish there was more of an emphasis made on Tom being a dianitee while helping the pirates. Like, more consequence? or weight because he would still do what Dianite wanted but he would also help Capsize n Red. He was helping the pirates Not Ianite (I feel like that’s an important distinction). Which is why I feel killing Capsize off doesn’t make any narrative sense, because he builds a positive relationship with her so he would at least have someone to vouch for him (co captains in my heart).

Also! I like how you’ve written your Aitheaca Ianite (at least my understanding of what you e posted so far). I like that she is evil of her own accord, I feel like that’s more in line with s1 dia and s2 mia which is nice. Her choosing a malicious way of getting balance throughout her realm is also interesting. I enjoy that a lot better than the isles interpretation (I think? idk if I understand isles lore tbh) of her getting used and tricked by the darkness.

licantropa: I want to go more in depth on an ask I sent like a bit ago. Unfortunately, I am not the best at articulation, so please bear with me as I try to get to the point. I said “Tom is not helping Ianite, he’s helping the pirates.” and I do think that that distinction is super important when it comes to Tom’s character. Ianite and what happens to her isn’t ever something important to him, but I do think he values the pirates and in his own way cares about them. I think the same it true for Capsize, hates Dianite but grows to care for Tom. And not in a “I can change him” but as himself, as he is. And the way Tom is viewed and the way he views himself is as the bad guy. Which is why Capsize’s death feels narratively unsatisfying and, to me, doesn’t make any sense, because of how her character is closely tied to Tom and he is not yet on board with helping Ianite, but he is more than okay with helping Capsize. The pirate arc I feel should’ve had Tom at its center, because while it is about saving Ianite, I do believe that Tom’s shifting perspective about what he’s allied to is what is the most important thing to come up during that. Because while he is and will always be a dianitee, he chooses the people he cares about even if that choice feels foreign to him. Like I completely understand that everyone’s the protagonist of their own perspective but that statement is simultaneously true and false. (I also wanted to say something about c!jordan throughout but I feel like my interpretation is a bit too pessimistic and I felt bad so 😅 yea sorry.)

YES TO ALL OF THIS YOU'RE SO RIGHT

The pirate storyline/Capsize's arc and Tom's character arc so go hand in hand and I wish that there had been more of an emphasis on that rather than. Not gonna lie whatever the fuck was going on with her and cJordan cause it still i think was my least favorite bit (for more reasons then one, other than her using it to make comments about him and Tom LMAO) There were definitely some parallels there with how their connection to Ianite drives their devotion but imo its not near as strong as the parallels between Tom and Capsize when it came to their gods.

Like ya mention in the second part, I think what's neat is that both Tom and Capsize see each other as people separate from their deities rather than extensions/champions of their gods as is the more common perceived relationship in the realm- which is ultimately what the two are sort of defined by (Tom *works* for Dianite, Capsize is there to be Ianite's messenger). By bein co-captains they kind of encourage that in one another (yes, this is about Tom's arc and the "you know I will promise to stay" motif that I keep bringing up with his silly ass) that yeah! We see concluded when he choose his friends over his god in the finale, that was driven mainly by his closeness to Jordan, him bein good pals with Tucker and Sonja, but most importantly, from Capsize like I didn't get much into it when I wrote my intial Tom essay but I so agree that the pirate arc really kinda like. gave it that final push if ya know what I mean? Ya said it really well, something that was once so foreign because it felt like he was on his own side of the war became something familiar, like home.

But on the other side of it!! Yeah it made it really fuckin suck that we never did get the resolution from Capsize, from her in her way taking control of her own narrative apart of being there just to help bring Jordan to Ianite. Instead she just gets turned into an almost damsel-in-distress figure and just goddamn fucking dies. We never get to see the payoff of her taking an unconventional place next to the literal champion of the guy who fucked over her goddess in the first place, of her like being more then what she was introduced as- whether that couldve been following the main cast to Ruxomar, taking the lead in rebuilding Ianarea without Ianite's direction or whatever, a symbolic severence if you will. I think in that way it probably would have brought her and Jordan's narrative arc closer together in how their individualism breaks from their perceptions of balance and how theyre meant to serve Ianite through their faith (which I think would be fun to explore in Aitheaca, comparing post-revival capsize with jordan and flash), and how their interpretation dictates how they become less of an extension of their goddess. Its a little abstract but hopefully makes some kinda sense xD

I totally get how easy it can be to fall into a sort of apathy with cJordan because I think in not sort of seeing himself as not much but his lady's champion (like he really holds that title close, all the way through Isles) that he maintains that blind faith, that being mainly an extension of Ianite longer I think is what the point of disconnect between him and Capsize post-series could be rooted in, that she's separate, he's not. That's not to say he isn't his own person at all because he absolutely is, but its where the joke I keep making about him only feeling secure in what he knows/the homes he's made (home realm, friends, his relationship with Tom, following Ianite, etc.) comes from, whereas Capsize i think could be happy out on the open seas on her own, and also maybe just Red and Tom for shenanigans

---------------------------------------------------------------------

And also I'm super happy you like my Aitheaca Ianite! I don't know how darkenss!Ianite was handled in Isles because I didn't get to that ep yet (no worries about spoilers, I've already seen so much I dont care at this point) but I really did want it to not be her tricked into doing something, or coerced into, but rather something she did entirely on her own fruition :D I did draw mostly from Rux!Mianite on how he wanted ultimate order because *he* wanted it, in the same way that Aitheaca Ianite wants unwavering balance because of what she saw herself, not what the Darkness or whatever imparted onto her

[h5eavenly]

omg i literally sent you an ask like two hours ago thinking "well this can't get any worse now we're gonna be so up from here on" AND IT SOMEHOW GOT WORSE?????? AGAIN I DONT EVEN KNOW WHERE TO START WOAH yeji having it out for y/n over something that happened years ago and that hyune obviously got over is just soooo.. like she has so many reasons to give y/n a piece of her mind for and she chooses /this/ hill to die on?? AND not addressing her directly???? babyyyy this ain't it!! i think this is also a way of evidencing how distanced yeji and hyune have grown more than the distaste that she has towards y/n, like she doesn't know about hyune and her's connection and where they stand as much as the others do bc yeosang drove her away from them all which is so sad :-( sometimes she frustrates me a bit but i have a lot of sympathy towards yeji especially in this situation bc i know how hurtful it is to feel ostracised from your close friendships due to a toxic relationship and trying to hold on to the things you knew about them while not realising that they've changed bc you haven't been there enough to witness those changes :-( idk if this was your intention when you wrote it but it's really accurate. i know there's a lot of bad blood between yeji and y/n, now more than ever with the yeosang situation 💀 but i really do wish they can have a heart to heart sometime bc both of them have been so wronged and hurt by evil men and idk if a friendship between them is possible tbh but i feel like they can find a support system in each other even if they aren't friends. i just want my girls to be happy and i know there's a long way to go but they both deserve healing smsm :-(

now WDYM MFS RAIDED HYUNE'S HOUSE OH MY GOD????? this is y/n's fuckass father FOR SURE his ass wants to play gangster so bad HE AIN'T SHIT!!!!!!! i'm so flabbergasted i swear i never saw this coming??? i never thought that bum would ever go to this length to try to impose control on his daughter like that man's crazyyyyy. at first i thought the raid was bc of yeosang but you know that man ain't got no friends and is a coward he could never pull up like this 😭 so that's why i think it's y/n's father who's behind this bc he wants to have his godfather moment for some reason 💀 yk how weird men go crazy once they realise they can't control the women they feel entitled to so i think y/n moving out made him feel some kind of way. i can't wait for that asshole's downfall i swear i'm praying on it im going to church over it im manifesting it 🙏🏻 unless hyune is onto something that we're not aware of??? which idk im not sure about that honestly but i didn't see like half the things that ended up happening coming either so you knowww im seated, hyune and hannie living with y/n will be so cute too!! we love to see domestic hyune+y/n content we used to pray for times like this 🥹 so we might be kinda up after all maybe

thank you sm for the update so soon!! you're working overtime for this and it's sooo appreciated you deserve the world fr 🫂🩷🩷

genuinely curious what made you think "its only up from here" cus... 🫡efuhhfihw fyi anon i take my angst tag VERY seriously 🧐 some may say i'm not trust worthy but i just like being unpredictable

about the whole yeji situation it is intentional yes! im so glad you noticed its kinda hard to write such subtle things in smau without it being in your face because it's one of those things that i want ppl to notice but sometimes im like ahh idk if anyone would notice, i think for her she obviously views y/n as a rival but because she's left out (hence jinnie growing more distance ever since yeo came into her life) she tries to attack y/n with the only available card she has which is "you did smth bad to my friend" bc she doesn't know anything else and she wasn't even there when it all happened she only got snippets from the story and from jinnie's side when he was still feeling resentful towards y/n and you see the difference in this specific subject between her and lix (bc lix was there) he gets their bond sm more and it's so much easier for him to not hold it against y/n

listen y/n's dad might be a little worse than her mom idk they're competing for that title rn, ty for being so kind baby as alwayys i enjoyed reading and im sorry for talking sm i just get excited about my characters🥰🥰💞💞