#and a really lovely character analysis i'll definitely be responding to

[sporeclan]

i know for sure if Dawnpelt was a tom everyone would want her dead and no one would bat an eye, but bc she is a lil messy girl it's 'mean spirited' and 'too intense'? okay lmao 👍

HUH??

[finisnihil]

god, I love your luocha posts.

I know, and I KNOW that hyv thinks that i would get luocha off my mind if they released a whole new planet n new quests...but it's not true. I'm so intrigued by that man and deep down I pray he doesn't turn out like otto. I love otto's character by all means, but at the same time I hope he's not just a rip-off, the story would be too repetitive. his relationship with the one in his coffin isn't exactly a close bond, his signature lightcone story confirms it, but the way the coffin responds to his caresses quite raises questions for me. he also made a "deal" about the coffin with someone, most likely in exchange of something, perhaps true immortality without the consequence of mara...or, even better, a cure for an illness. considering that his name isn't actually "luocha", and his name as we know it is only used by him inside of the xianzhou, it translates to "rakshasa/raksha" just like ggz otto's on his trip to the shenzhou. as far as I'm aware, the name raksha was given to otto by the characters because they weren't very familiar with europeans (?), correct me if I'm wrong. so, luocha might have some sort of illness, perhaps he's an emanator or a demon (reference to christianity perhaps) since the translation of his name "rakshasa" is a flesh eating demon from buddhist mythology.

jingliu said that they plan to "put the abundance in their grave" and i believe luocha's coffin plays a role in this. however, there's surely something alive inside his coffin already, which contradicts my theory.

personally, just like you said in your previous posts about that one relic set "knight of purity peace" or something similar if I'm not mistaken, he has ties to christianity, just like sunday, except that aspect of sunday isn't very subtle. I believe luocha might be motivated to achieve his goal of ending yaoshi by the destruction of his home planet. honestly, I hope it isn't like this, there are already characters driven by the desire of getting revenge, like nanook.

I'll be very glad if you responded to this, I want to know your opinion. I'm desperate to learn more about him, absolutely desperate. I may not know his lore, but I know for a reason that we luocha lovers share one braincell.

HELLO HI I HAVE BEEN SUMMONED!

First off I also hope he isn’t just Otto 2.0. I’ve said it before but I personally think what makes Luocha stand out to me is that he doesn’t seem to have as many strong ties to Kallen and as such so much of his character isn’t reliant on her. I really hope this is maintained because I like him and the independent traits he exhibits. He’s sus, yes, but he also goes out of his way to be kind in small ways with no intention of being repaid or recognized. Everyone calls him a villain because he’s an Otto Expy which I don’t care for because yes he is presented as possibly antagonistic but he isn’t villainous. Most of the other Expy’s got deviating characterizations and fates without compromising their foundational traits, I hope he does too.

Second off I don’t play HI3 but I know a little lore from research and I know Otto’s wiki noted that when he was a child he was kinda under house arrest because he was really sickly and his first meeting with Kallen was because she kinda climbed over the wall of the estate’s yard while he was being belittled by his brother for being outside instead of in bed resting and for being “weakly” and “fragile”. He does have an interest in immortality but we also see him condemn it somewhat because he has voicelines like this:

His stance on immortality is a bit murky but yeah.

Anyways onto analysis because bestie you have asked the question I’ve been hoping somebody would. Luocha definitely has a bunch of Christian allusions and symbolism and it leads me to believe he’s an Emanator. One of my first posts on this site was the theory that he’s an Emanator and I’ve yet to make a post fully analyzing his allusions BUT he has a ton and what’s most specific is that he has Jesus allusions. For example, one of his Eidolons is a literal reference to the crown of thorns. He uses his rosary to heal implying a connection to a higher power is where he gets this power which he confirms. Yaoshi hates death, pain, and suffering and Luocha emphasizes he isn’t a fighter even though he can hold his own. Even his sword shows it, it’s an Épée, a kind only really good for small-scale conflicts as it’s primarily used for fencing. The artifact set I noted might be connected to him also fuels this.

If you asked me I suspect he grew up in a church setting like Otto did but instead of everything in HI3 happening again, the church caught the attention of Yaoshi. Yaoshi’s blessing brought Mara as it does and in the process Yaoshi took a liking to Luocha, probably due to his sickly nature as Yaoshi hates suffering. The Maiden and her knight destroyed everything to stop the spread and Luocha was forced to watch as a final witness, no longer having a home and doomed to be hunted like his god who brought devastation through salvation. Of course I have more in-depth thoughts but that’s for a post.

As for who’s in the coffin… I’ve actually spent hours collecting everything we know about the coffin entity and I plan to make that a post too lol I have a lot of posts I need to make but! You’re right! A lot of people keep saying it’s the Stellaron, Kallen, etc but none of those things align with what information we have about it. Mihoyo’s done a good job of keeping it under wraps and I’m excited to see what it is. Whatever it is, Luocha is delivering it for somebody else and he intends to take it straight to the Ten Lords. I suspect it may be another entity of the Abundance like Shuhu, but I don’t think it’s Yaoshi. Whoever it is, they are able to kill Yaoshi or be used for it.

I also believe Luocha is the one stabilizing Jingliu’s Mara like how Kafka stabilizes Blade’s but I’m pretty sure that’s basically canon.

Anyways thank you for the ask!!!! I love Luocha dearly and I’m currently trying to get as many Eidolons as I can so the brainrot is strong. Rest assured I have more Luocha analysis for the future rattling around.

[piosplayhouse]

Do you know why so many people hc Shen Yuan as trans/genderqueer? Some posts in the svsss tag seem to allude to canon instances that inspire the idea, but I've read the 4 volumes twice trying to find clues to what people are talking about to no avail. Is it just a popular fanon thing? Not against people reading it that way, just wondering if I'm missing something.

Hi! I actually got a very similar question a while back but responded to it kind of poorly since I had a lot going on irl so I'll try again with some stuff I said before:

Ultimately it is just popular fanon and lots of subtextual reading- I don't think anyone could fully say gendersomething sqq is 100% intended and canonical, but there definitely are some instances that people tend to point to to support this hc:

Even beyond positioning himself as the “woman” (literary role) in his relationship with the skinner and dream demon arcs etc., sqq repeatedly compares himself and his experiences to women in a very frank way– I believe this is most obvious by his comparison of his pain to period cramps, but there’s also the significance of the Skinner mission featuring a demon which is described as an originally male demon that wears female skins but yearns for another male skin (Shen Qingqiu’s). You could argue this is just a reflection of transphobia in the story but I do think it’s interesting to note that this is sqq’s first mission, and comes during a period of time that he still clearly believes himself to be a man (Shen Yuan) wearing another’s skin (original Shen Qingqiu’s). And of course he continues to project his own feelings onto the female characters around him, which you could argue is due to his literary role becoming that of a female love interest’s, but a point that I find particularly interesting is that he also compares himself to Binghe’s mother completely unprovoked, something that easily (maybe even more easily bc lets be real why the fuck did he say 'Binghe if i was pregnant with you I would never abort you' there are so many other things you could say that arent th) could’ve been substituted for a male comparison for him using Confucian values of the teacher/student relationship relating to that of a father and son. Instead, he becomes the mother. He's a strange little Freudian specimen to be honest. Speaking of which if you would like to read a much more in depth analysis of topics including this with textual evidence I do have to recommend tshirt3000's Freudian reading of Scum Villain which can be found as a pdf here:

I hope this makes a little bit of sense! Tldr yes it's mostly just fandom but so much about scum villain is about gender and toxic masculinity and what does it really mean to be a man in a genre where your masculinity is a tool to attain power for your desperate search for unattainable reciprocated love in a hopeless world where you are promised only shallow sexual comfort to appease horny viewers that would discard you as soon as you begin to feel emotions other than rage. If Shen Yuan was a horse he would be a gelding because the castration mellows their temperament just so

[ot3]

hi! i love reading your analysis/thoughts/etc on media (i think i sent in an ask about kim kitsuragi way back that you very thoroughly responded to—thank you btw loved reading it!). i finally got around to playing the first chapter of soul of sovereignty—don’t want to put outright spoilers in the ask but i’d love to hear anything you have to say re ysme and loic! they truly have taken up so much space in my brain. keep thinking about a) the subtext of ysme being trans (in addition to her whole deal) and b) loic making his choice at the end of the chapter & his Big Line re the world a character will create and what that says about him. i knew i’d become obsessed with soulsov like all of ggdg’s work but i didn’t expect for it to be so outright political? i’m so intrigued by what’s to come.

thank you! i wish i felt like i had something to say here for you! but i feel like it's still way too early into things for me to really have anything coherent to say. i feel like i'm notoriously kind of bad at having complex or insightful things to say about media where not a lot of stuff is locked in yet. my first go through of anything is really just a wow! cool robot! level of engagement where i try and take whatever i'm being given. i'm sure i'll be getting around to replaying it at some point because i love all of gg's stuff so much, and once i do i'll definitely be able to form some sort of more thoughtful things to say other than 'its good'. ill try and post whatever that ends up being when the time comes !

[shychick-52]

Thanks for the tag, @justaboot!

how many fics do you have on ao3?

22!

what's your total ao3 word count?

171,863

what are your top five fics by kudos?

You're the Inspiration, The Heart of This Star-Crossed Voyager, Circumstances and Control, Wait, What? and A Definitely Real Man

what fandoms do you write for?

Mostly DuckTales (2017), and occasionally the Topolino duckverse comic.

do you respond to comments? why or why not?

Most times! It makes me really happy to engage with somebody who took the time to leave a comment!

what's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hands down, There Was Never Grey In Black and White. It's one of the few Mad Ducktor stories I have. I really wanted to do a deep-dive character analysis on that one and explore the tragedy of his character.

what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

That's a hard one! I try to have all of them end on a happy note. When it comes to angsty stories tho, I really try to make sure the happy endings are good and earned... so, I'll have to go with Who Am I?

do you get hate on your fics?

No, thank goodness! I've gotten some harsh criticism on a chapter of one of my stories, but I wouldn't quite call it hate.

do you write smut?

No, not generally. Both reading and writing smut makes me very uncomfortable, especially for cartoon characters (I know not every other ace/sex-repulsed person feels that way, tho). I did, however, write a spicy fenro story once. But it wasn't straight smut for the sake of it, it was very tender and hurt/comfort.

do you write crossovers? what's the craziest one you've ever written?

No, for the most part I can't stand crossovers. Unless it was logical, like Count Duckula crossed with DuckTales.

have you ever had a fic stolen?

No, thank goodness!

have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope, but it would be neat!

have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Yup, the amazing @wacky-nameless-inventor-24 co-wrote a chapter in two of my stories, respectively.

what's your all time favorite ship?

FENRO. I will die with that ship.

what's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I have a couple of unfinished wips on FF.Net- a Darkwing Duck story that's over a decade old, and an Inside Out fic. I just lost inspiration for them and nobody reads them anymore, so XD

what are your writing strengths?

Dialogue and descriptive language (especially metaphors and similes).

what are your writing weaknesses?

Run-on sentences! I have a hard time making my sentences shorter; I may overuse dashes, brackets, and semi-colons.

thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Sadly, English is my only language.

first fandom you wrote for?

Sonic the Hedgehog, specifically the 90s cartoon of the same name (commonly known by the fandom as SatAM). That was way back in high school!

favorite fic you've ever written?

Who Am I? holds a very special place in my heart. It was my first DT story, and my love letter to my favorite episode 'Astro B.O.Y.D.', a love letter to Gyro (and the father-son relationship we hardly saw anything of in the third season). It's very angsty, taking even more inspiration from the 'Astro Boy' anime and manga the episode lovingly parodied, and focusing on the darker points of the lore.

Tagging @tokuvivor

[pipermca]

I am accepting @altraviolet's challenge (from the post here) for the fic writer questionnaire. This looks like fun! *cracks knuckles*

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

90

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,133,042 (holy shit)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I mostly write for Transformers these days. I do have a little short story cooking for Centaurworld; maybe I'll get that jotted down some day.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I can definitely see how writing for a popular ship will skew your stats on your fics, and smut gives bonus points. 😅

Frag the Police. Jazz/Prowl, NSFW

Claim Rejected. MegOP, SFW

Peer Review. Starscream/Wheeljack, NSFW

Anamnesis. Jazz/Prowl, SFWish (has plug-n-play interfacing)

Public Indecency. Jazz/Prowl, NSFW

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes! I love comments and I want to pass on that appreciation. 💗

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hmm. Even my darker stories usually have a bit of light in the end, since I am a sucker for happy (if possibly bittersweet) endings. But the story Atrocity (please mind the tags on that one) leaves Bluestreak in a bad place at the end, and nothing is really resolved.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I have lots of fics with really happy endings! But in terms of having no hanging ends, I think The Renegade and the Hound might be the happiest. 🤗 The last chapter of that fic is all warm fuzzies for the characters.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not yet. 😄 I've gotten some vaguely critical comments sometimes but I wouldn't call that hate.

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

Ooooh yeah. I write it all. I'll even write the weird stuff there's no terms for. Give me that weird-ass smut.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I tend to write fusions rather than traditional crossovers, but the weirdest one was very recent: The Spark and the Lightning, which is the War for Cybertron game crossed/fused with Dune.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I am aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! The fic Becoming has been translated into Russian.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Sort of? A friend and I tossed little bits of a story back and forth several years ago, each of us building on what the other had just written. I have the bits all collected, but I'm not sure if it'll ever see the light of day.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Bluestreak/Hound. 💗

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

It's in the Alt Modes and Alchemy AU. Basically it's the events of the climax of The Renegade and the Hound and a period immedately afterwards, but from Perceptor's POV. It's written as a half diary/half academic paper. The title is:

On the Restoration of Cybertron: An Analysis and Personal Account, or A Treatise on the Effects of the Destruction of the Matrix of Leadership on Cybertron and its Inhabitants from an Alchemical Perspective, and a Personal Account of said Event as Recalled by Perceptor of Iacon, Head Alchemist of Optimus Prime.

It's hella fun, and I'd love to finish it, but it keeps moving out of my "currently working on" stack into the "shelved" stack. :/

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm good at worldbuilding and writing those juicy emotional scenes.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Finishing stuff. 😅 But seriously, I have a tendency to go back and rework stuff I've written (but not yet posted) instead of working forward on getting more words down. I love editing too much I think. >.<

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

It's fine? It should be clear to the reader what the dialogue says without them having to Google Translate it. Anything that stops a reader and takes them out of the flow of the story is a Bad Thing imo.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Hahaha! I think the first actual fanfic I wrote was in the Time Quintet series (specifically after reading A Swiftly Tilting Planet) by Madeleine L'Engle. I think I was about 8 or 9.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Hmm. My favourite long fic is Mind, Body, and Soul (which was long and self-indulgent and I said everything I wanted to say about the Big Themes of the story). My favourite short fic is probably Datastream, mostly because I dipped into Cybertronian brains and weird sci-fi elements, mixed with formatting to help tell the story. :)

That was fun! Consider yourself tagged if you want to play along.

[jellybeanium124]

I don't know who you were talking about so I could be wrong, but I think that those "people who talk about Ed stans like they're a problem" most likely are not referring to all the people who like/love Ed but specifically to those you talk about in the post that in order to discredit Izzy at all costs they only see him as someone who exists to further Ed and Stede's character development. Apart from that, this way to see "non protagonist" characters sadden me… If they weren't also important why do Jenkins spent time on Jim's story, on Lucius and the others? Just to fill and make the episodes longer?? D:

I disagree with people who think "ed stans" are a problem in the fandom, especially when people think they're an equivalent problem to the canyon. no they're not. there is at least one guy on """my side""" of things that I find really annoying, and I've definitely seen takes from other people out in the open (aka not in the canyon) that I don't like. but you cannot call the issues equal.

first of all, I've never seen "ed stans" the way izzy people talk about them. granted, I don't go into the tags. I can't say I've seen everything. but like, if you have 2 groups, and the 2 groups don't like each other, they tend to exaggerate and make up shit about the other group to continue the antagonizing relationship. ngl I've seen it on """my side""" too. I have seen some canyon takes first-hand. I'll occasionally scroll down their blogs out of curiosity. there's varying levels of canyon-ness. and people on """my side""" have sometimes exaggerated things or made it out to be that everyone in the canyon thinks this versus it just being one dumb fuck's take. we see the canyon as a monolith but it really isn't, same way we aren't a monolith. anyways, long story short, you cannot call these two groups equally bad because of the canyon's obvious racism problem. this was just a long-winded way of getting to the fact that izzy stans and the canyon have a racism problem.

I'm not saying """my side""" is perfect, nor am I the person to discuss that in depth because I am not a person of color. I'm just saying that the canyon is continuing to perpetuate racist tropes in fic and art after literal years of fans of color discussing how these things are racist. stede and/or izzy having to teach ed how to bathe/take care of his hair immediately comes to mind, for example. writing ed as uniquely violent, and responding to feeling threatened with gratuitous violence instead of hiding and curling up into a ball. continuing to reference slavery in their fics.

why don't "ed stans" talk about how ed did bad shit more? because the canyon won't shut the fuck up about it! I think having a frank and productive discussion surrounding ed's actions in 2x01-2x02, as well as a bit of 1x10 is impossible in any sort of public space, and could only happen in a private discord server. I don't think there's anyone who seriously believes ed did nothing he had to apologize for. he did do horrible things. he did have to earn the crew's trust back. the show did really, really rush through it due to The Shortening. but we don't talk about it because we're too busy trying to counter canyon takes.

I do agree with you on that last bit. I am not inclined to view any sentient character in any story merely as a plot device for the protagonist(s). it's just not a method of literary analysis that I particularly jive with. symbolism is cool, and obviously it should be discussed, but at the end of the day, I view characters as people within their own universe, not objects within their own universe, regardless of their importance to the narrative. take jack, for example. one of the most plot-devicey characters in the show. but I still prefer to, and find it more interesting to, see him as a person within the world of the show rather, than a plot device puppet. my point with the post was I see people arguing that izzy's side-characterness makes him less of a person inside the world of the show than stede and ed, but never ever apply that line of thinking to any other side character, and I find it reactionary and hypocritical. now, if you view all the side characters as plot devices, then you're being consistent, and while I don't agree with you, I don't particularly care, and I think that's fine.

[sweetingseva]

I need your over-analysis of all of Stephanie’s Cosmopolitan answers😭

Hello! Here you go! I thought there wasn't much to analyze, but as it turns out, there was!

Sorry for the slight delay in responding this one 😊

(Also, there are some questions I did not analyze as I thought they did not concern ACFTL).

I answered Question 7 & 9 here! The full interview is found here! 😊❤

Question #1

Jacks is the one who she's definitely referring to when she said, "I was trying to break a particular character, who I felt really needed to be broken." After that ending, we now see how exactly Stephanie broke Jacks's heart in TBONA 😭💔.

Question #3

And thank goodness for that! I know I couldn't say goodbye to Evangeline and Jacks, and the Magnificent North so soon 😭

Question #4 and Question #5

"Currently" is the keyword here 😉 I'll be so excited to see her write a Chaos story! As a vampire prince, Chaos seems like someone who would go above and beyond for his desires. Or any other story about other Fates or a certain daughter!

Question #6 and half of Question #9

When I first heard that ACFTL was "unexpected," I really thought Stephanie was writing something so gut wrenching that would break all out hearts. However, I got more clarification here. ACFTL seems to have gone beyond an outline and now the story has changed somewhat. But fear not! Evajacks is endgame! They will get married! 😉🦊🍎

As for the shocking ending, I think she means TBONA and endings in general. Not that ACFTL would end with something ambiguous. It would be shocking, but not in the way that TBONA was.

Question #8

I'm so intrigued by this! It must be such a grand ending or latter part of the book! In TBONA, the first THE END and the second chapter 43 and onwards was one of the most incredible things I have read in a book 🤩 I imagine ACFTL would have something similar in that respect.

Since it's going to be two POVS, then I'm guessing these two PoVs would collide toward the end to officially close off the story 😭❤

Question #11

I really think Stephanie is apologizing for what she did to Evangeline in TBONA 😄 and some for what would happen in ACFTL. But I'm not really worried about this. It makes me feel reassured. Evangeline will get her memories back, because if Stephanie was hypothetically apologizing to her at the end, Evangeline would have to know for what 😉

Question #12

Not really ACFTL-related, but oh boy I'm so excited to see who these morally-gray characters are. The way Stephanie writes villains and enemies is chef's kiss 😘 She definitely gets it, and I love that so much!

Question #13

This one has so much information! There will be scenes that will possibly upset us, scenes that will delight us, and others that will give us all the good stuff! She wrote this for the readers, after all! 😉

I'm sure she knows how much we're rooting for Evangeline and Jacks to be together, and seeing this makes it seem like a promise that, yes, they would be ❤💘

A Curse For True Love, come home please! 😘

[nieithryn]

GET TO KNOW THE MUN.

respond to the prompts out of character!

what made you pick up the current muse(s) you have? These days, especially in this fandom, it's usually the relationships between either a friend's muse and the character, or another of my muses and a character. But looking at some of my main kiddos, or my OCs? I write characters that embody something that fascinates me. Frequently it's a new take on strength through adversity, or the reforging of the self after trauma. Sometimes it's something I identify with deeply, like Mace and Quinlan's struggle with the Dark from a young age. Or Yularen being willing to do bad things for the greater good as he sees it. Or Cody being a protective big brother who can't always protect his brothers. And sometimes, just because it seems fun, like with Zam!

is there anything you don’t like to write? There definitely are, though they're rare. Few and far between, aside from the obvious hard no's of various kinds. I'll write almost anything if a partner and I have enough chemistry. But some of the things I'm less comfortable with are crossovers (never been quite sure why, fandom AUs are fine, but crossovers I struggle with), true crack, and angst or smut without some kind of purpose or plot. I love me some angst, but I need the comfort after, unless I'm writing a symbolic unhappy ending for some reason. There's a few muses I have for whom that would be appropriate or canon compliant, but otherwise the angst needs a gentle comfort after or some reason.

is there anything you really enjoy writing? Basically anything else! I'm pretty flexible, if my partner is interested I'll do damn near anything tbh. I love hurt-comfort especially, but I love me some good canon divergent "what ifs" and alternate takes on how characters meet or even hook up. It's fun sometimes to see how a complicated relationship can go so many different ways, where along the forks they might have gone different directions. I love writing the inbetween moments canon never shows us, because there's never enough time to. The ways those inbetween scenes might affect entire relationships, or should have. Honestly, give me all those little bits inbetween.

how do you come up with headcanons? Usually headcanons develop from my analysis of whatever canon I accept for my muse, sometimes from small facial or body language tells during a panel/scene, sometimes by extrapolating from something they say or are described to do. But sometimes it's actually extrapolating from their relationships with other characters, both the muses of my partners and the people they interact with canonically. You can tell a lot about a character by how they interact with loved ones, for instance.

do you write in silence or do you play music? This depends on the ADHD mood of the day. Most days, I have 1-3 songs on repeat to become such a smooth background I can write without silence, but not get distracted by lyrics or the instrumentation. But some days, I need complete and absolute silence because any noise will distract me and the replies will never happen. Oh the joys lol.

do you plan your replies or wing them? Kinda both, and it usually depends on the muse the reply is for. Some I can plot out really well, or get so excited to write that I spend hours plotting the right reply. And some either flow so naturally I can wing it, or unexpectedly just decide the plotted reply isn't the vibe of the moment when I'm actually writing, and off we go to the races!

do you enjoy shipping? Oh hells yes, absolutely. Romantic, platonic, absolutely I love shipping. In the purely romantic sense, while many of my muses over my time RPing are demisexual, I am always down to give them partners, and in platonic senses, family and friends and found family are just. So wonderful.

what’s your alias/name? Liz or Argent

age?  25

birthday? April 2nd

favorite color?  Dark Blue, Silver, Gold

favorite song? 

last movie you watched? 

last show you watched?  Uhhh Family Feud I think lol.

last song you listened to? Will The Circle Be Unbroken by Peter Hollens & Malukah (Honorary shout out to Baba Yetu as well bc they've been on a two song repeat lol)

favorite food?  Oooh hard choice. Steamer clams or steamed artichokes.

favorite season?  Autumn

do you have a tumblr best friend? I used to have a really close friend group on Tumblr I would've tagged, but many have since disappeared. Now it's @strcngered and I against the world, lol. Though @valorums/@prodijedi and @mayxthexforce are very very swiftly making it into that same level of vibe, so I'm rebuilding slowly but surely.

TAGGED BY: @valorums

TAGGING: Ohhhh just steal it, Callie snagged most of you anyway lol.

[linkysmommy]

Orion Murphy x Lincoln Aquino Relationship Analysis

I was chatting about Enneagram types and doing ILW MC character analyses on discord with some friends, and ended up doing an analysis of Lincoln and Orion (my ILW MC) and their relationship. It was really sweet, and so I decided to share here!

For context, Orion is a 9w1 (further information on that can be found here) and Lincoln is a 4w5 (further information on that type can be found here)

The thing about Orion and Lincoln is that Orion is just a really sweet, healthy, soft 9w1, and that type of nine has a very gentle, healing presence. One of Lincoln's biggest struggles has always been feeling like his authentic self is valued and accepted, and Orion provides that unconditional acceptance, this safe space that Lincoln knows, no matter what, will always be there to support and love him. He knows he doesn't have to try to be anyone else or prove anything to Orion, which after a life with how his relationship was with his father, is extremely soothing and healing for Linky 🥺 But the good thing is that both of them are very giving and focused on the other person, so it's not just like Orion is giving so much and getting nothing in return, and also this kind of giving is really easy for Orion, and not something that requires a lot emotional or mental energy.

Lincoln, as a 4w5, is a very perceptive and sensitive person who thinks and reflects a lot, not just on himself and how he feels about things, but about other people. Because of this, he's definitely aware of what Orion needs specifically, and is very focused on meeting those needs the way he needs them to be met. This overcorrection in part stems from when he was younger, and how his father always did love Lincoln and tried to show his love for him, but the way he did it was in the way that Matthias thought Lincoln should receive that love, not in the way Lincoln actually needed to receive it. So being so carefully in-tune with the other person and what they need and how they need it allows Lincoln to be a very devoted, sensitive, and caring partner to Orion.

It's very sweet, because Orion would never demand any of this from Lincoln, and vice versa honestly, but they're a really lovely couple because they both are very willing to love and give without expectation. This allows their love to be very selfless and giving without an ulterior motivation or expectation of receiving in return, while they both receive all the love and care that they need and deserve to be happy.

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

Interested in your own character and relationship analyses involving ILW LIs? Send me an ask with the couple, the personality type of the MC (gen/sarc/aggro), and a quick blurb about the character, and I'll give you my perspective on the character and/or relationship! Just let me know if you want a character analysis, relationship analysis, or both, and I'll respond as soon as I can. 💞

[crystalelemental]

I've finally had the time to read through your Pokemon Team characterization! Gen 5 was when I realized that, maybe the Pokemon team and the arrangement actually had something to tell about the characters, but reading through your characterization made me realize that perhaps that already happened a lot sooner than I thought! Thank you for writing all of those, I had fun reading them.

Steven was the trainer that made me want to add Skarmory to my team. Raising it was rough since it's purely defensive, but I had a good experience having it. The Claydol setting the screens...I still remember my Emerald team almost getting defeated because my 10-years old brain didn't understand why his Metagross took less damage from my Blaziken. But yeah, Steven's Emerald battle was so much fun, and I agree his ORAS fight is kind of a downgrade.

I also like your analysis of Cynthia's team, and I very much agree with them. No matter what team she's using, she'll always be a challenge and difficult to defeat...that Double Team-spamming Spiritomb, I hate it. And the fact that I had to raise my own Garchomp just to counter hers in my Shining Pearl playthrough said a lot about how strong her ace is.

And your Hop team analysis...I love it so much! I think the story and characterization behind his team composition are more apparent than the others, especially because he takes center stage in Gen 8. That doesn't mean it's a bad thing, I like it. He's one of my most favorite rivals alongside N and Hau, so I am very happy when you did a post of him.

I read through Whitney and the Poison specialists too, they're all great! This makes me want to request some as well, but feel free to take your time and do it whenever you want to. I was going to request N's BW final fight team and B2W2 seasonal teams but realized that'd be way too much to work on, so...Morty and Zinnia! For Morty, you can do his GSC or HGSS, or B2W2 version, your choice.

I'm honestly interested to see what your characterization analysis of their team will tell about them, especially Morty (other than the fact that Johto doesn't have that much Ghost Pokemon selection he resorted to the Gengar line).

There's a lot, so I'll respond fully under the cut.

In completely fairness, I'm making up a lot. None of this is confirmed, but the idea is to showcase that you can make stuff up, and that's the basis of developing a character back in those times. Gen 5 was the first character-centric game where they really had a lot to work with, and Gen 7, oddly enough, really emphasized character moments to the point you have a pretty effective idea. But before that, you just cobbled together, and I really wanted to see more of that than just the Red and Blue favoritism stuff, so I decided to try my hand at this. I'm glad it seems to be at least somewhat popular, given how some of them got a decent response outside of my immediate sphere.

I was kinda surprised that his first ORAS fight is exactly the same. Like, it's almost the same movesets. Which is kinda funny, the way things change just by mechanics and movepools. But yeah, I really love the Emerald team, definitely my current favorite fight.

Cynthia's generally tough. I haven't done the BW or BW2 fights in a long time, so I don't remember them too well, but I can't imagine it's any easier. And...yeah, my opinion on BDSP is low, but I think as a good example of "Cynthia is always really weak to setup," Cresselia swept both of her big rematches in my game. Cresselia is stupid good as a Calm Mind setter.

Hop's felt slightly like cheating because we know so much about him, but it seemed to go over well with Hop fans, so I'll take the win.

Whitney's...might have been my favorite so far? Because there's so little to go off of. Well...okay, no, Geeta's was my favorite because I have an ulterior motivation (being contrary), but Whitney felt the most cobbled together from stuff we don't know. Which I think was more fun.

I can do all three. No promises on turnaround time, but I'll give each a try. And hey, great news! Morty's in a similar bracket to Whitney, and I don't actually know much about Zinnia! So this will be cobbling together nonsense real good.

[plothooksinc]

fic writer asks: 🌈🎈☯️?

🌈is there a fic that you worked *really fucking hard on* that no one would ever know? maybe a scene/theme you struggled with?

There is not! Not that I don't work hard/struggle with my writing, but if I'm having difficulty with a scene you can bet I've been whining about it to anyone who'll listen |D For scenes/themes I struggle with in general, though, definitely the connective tissue scenes which are required between Plot Point A and Plot Point B. In which just enough has to happen to pass some time or set things up, and very often my mind goes very ???? ????? for those and I keep sort of tapping away with random lines until something clicks and I'm like "ah yes this will work". (I can think of themes I would definitely struggle with, but those are themes that would not tend to surface in my work at all, for a variety of reasons. You won't ever get high angst in my stories, for instance.)

🎈describe your style as a writer; is it fixed? does it change?

My style tends to be a kind of bastardisation between Janny Wurts, Guy Gavriel Kay, and Stephen King. 8|a It does change on the regular, subtle fluid changes which largely depend on who I've been reading more of lately-- I'm very easily influenced and inspired by the styles of others if I fall in love with their writing, but I suspect I have a base that stays the same underneath. The more confident I get with a piece of writing, the more experimental the writing may get, and sometimes I start something on a whim and go HEY YEAH LET'S BE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT and I end up first person present tensing all over the place or some such weirdness. I shift slightly based on the kind of story I want to write. Most of my stuff falls into the action/adventure category so that's what you'll see most of the time. But then I want to write something that focuses far more on environment and harsh reality, and I'll sit down and try and really make my writing reflect that. I can see the difference. (It's much, much harder and doesn't come naturally. I'd put Snowblind in this category.) So...mostly fixed, wavers a bit at the edges, then changes drastically for drastically different themed projects (but probably veers closer to what most people are familiar with as I go on those). ☯️how do you think engaging with each other through tumblr, twitter, comments, kudos, creates healthy fandom experiences? How do you deal with that if you're not a social person/experience social anxiety?

Oof. Okay, so, I actually have a social anxiety disorder and a generalised anxiety disorder, so... I can say that, for me, it's very hard to reach out to other fandom people. When they engage with me first I can meet them on their level and it's much easier from there as my brain has tagged them as "oh they want to talk to me! :D :D" and thus it's easier? This is why my reviews to everyone ever are extremely terrible and one note because my mind goes utterly blank when I try to tug on someone else's sleeve and go "...hey", but I can reply to people just fine! The onus shouldn't be on other people, though, so I keep trying. For the other part of the question-- I think engagement is very important. It allows people in fandom to feel seen, to engage and share their love of characters and find other people on their wavelength, and it keeps fandoms healthy and colourful and alive. (It also creates drama, yes, so navigate the waters with care and don't feed the trolls.) So I'm always happy to talk fandom with people and I reply to all comments I get these days (I did go through a huge portion of time I didn't respond at all and I'm sorry to all those people who wrote me at Underdark or elsewhere and didn't get a response, you were seen and I loved you) and I'm happy just being silly in my own corner with anyone who wants to come and be silly with me. \o/ ...just don't ask me for in depth analysis on stuff because I'm... decent at writing that in a fictional sense but not so much on the fly. lmao. Thank you! Ask meme is here.

[essayofthoughts]

🦋🕯️💌 for the emoji ask game!

🦋what are you most insecure about when you post a fic?

Not really insecure about anything these days? I've posted a truly absurd amount of fic and my previous fandoms include Harry Potter (TERF author can go rot) and MCU (... character roundabouts abound and the tonky stans refuse to admit it) so ... fandoms don't scare me much, I'm liberal with the block and delete buttons and I'm pretty confident in my own writing ability and general standing as a fanfic author.

I think the only thing I tend to worry about is my tags? I always either miss something, or tag something in a slightly weird way there's probably something better for. If you ever notice a fic of mine that could do with either tag pruning or an additional tag - please do let me know. I once managed to forget to add Whump to a fics tags and only remembered when a commenter mentioned it, I promise, I will not be mad.

🕯️how do you think engaging with each other through tumblr, twitter, comments, kudos, creates healthy fandom experiences? How do you deal with that if you’re not a social person/experience social anxiety?

See, I am Bad At People. I had very few friends going up and whether or not I have any neurodivergency (unknown, not unlikely, Dad almost definitely is, but I also have trauma from bullying and a shitty ex to complicate matters) I don't always socialise so good. I tend to observe social interactions and write them well, but outside of my close friends I get very antsy about interacting with new people.

This is why, generally, I stay in my own lane on tumblr; I'll post my metas and analysis here or in response to asks and only occasionally add them to other posts - and then posts by either people I know or, for whatever reason, feel comfortable enough to add to. I used to be a lot more fighty but frankly that intersects with my social shit badly and I am trying to keep to things which spark joy, even if people being wrong on the internet regularly makes me want to fight them.

Anyway. Comments are also easy because like - an awful lot of people don't respond to your comments? And it's a massive load off my anxious back to know I can just leave a comment and probably won't get any response. And then, if there is a response, it's often delightful because I wasn't expecting it and it's to a comment I probably put way too much thought into which means there's often something fun to discuss. Likewise - I love when people comment on my work with clearly thought out considerations and I know, from my own experiences, that many don't expect a reply and it'll be a nice surprise for them.

And, like I said - I'm trying to keep to things which spark joy. Spreading that joy in fandom is one such. World sucks enough - lets not add to it.

💌share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

So uh.

I reblogged a meta from @exhaustedwerewolf a lil while back and it's because of that meta that Kash is now eating my brain apparently? I have gained a new blorbo. I will be resuming my other WIPs soonish - the intense rush of writing has definitely tapered off some - but uh. Now I have 2(.5) new WIPs, centring on Kash and Zahra.

Oops?

Look I just really like poking at characters and their trauma and Kash and Zahra are both fun and drastically different examples.

Anyway so uh.

From what we hear of Kash's backstory, that boy was raised in a cult? I'm so glad I've listened to the Gangster Capitalism series on Liberty University and read/watched/listened as much as I have to stuff about cults and cult-like entities and abuse within those structures because uh.

Boy has some shit to pick through!

(It's extremely engaging.)

[chronic-ghost]

Aww that really was such a bittersweet chapter 🥺

It was so nice to see them together like this but also sad because it’s all so wrong. It should be right but it just isn’t with their situation.. with Chloe (even tho I don’t like her, she’s still Dieters partner) and the drug… I just want them to be happy 🥺🥺

Im glad Dieter didn’t immediately regret and pull away from her after the last chapter! I do still expect him to spiral eventually.. I’m also a bit sad that he relapsed but I guess relapse is a part of recovery.. hopefully eventually they can both let the drugs and addiction go and find recovery together! But tbh, you did write their drug trip beautifully!

And he loves her 😭😭😭 him saying it while high af makes me weirdly sad. And that he doesn’t remember if she says it back 😭

Pls don’t ruin him Natalie 😭

Also this moment made me 🥺 “He’s being overtly playful, the low lighting and single burning candle at the center of the table as the only nearby light source making him even more daring. But he knew he’d be admonished – it was too much in public and –“

Because you know he feels like that because of Chloe, because she admonishes him when he just wants to show off his love. And he has so much love and affection to give and I’m so glad he didn’t feel this way with Natalie 🥺

They’re perfect together and I’m so glad eventually it will end well for them. But the road to get there is gonna be rough.

I already can’t wait to read the next chapter!! I loved looooved this one! Thank you (: (also btw, i don’t know how exactly AO3 works but while the chapters are all there, the update date is still June 28? Idk if that’s on purpose or not but just wanted to tell you! Because even tho there’s a new chapter, the story doesn’t show up as just updated on AO3 so people may be missing some updates!)

Much love you you! 💕💕💕💕

Ahhhh nonnie I was waiting for your thoughts!!! 💗💗💗

I'm so sorry I didn't get to this sooner but these kind of long, thoughtful, insightful asks always honestly make me tear up a little and I never know how to respond with the appropriate amount of gushing!

As per usual, your insights are totally dead on -- they finally get what they both want, but at rather big cost to both of them. for now, natalie is a new drug for him, one he has no pre-established tolerance for.

i am SO GLAD YOU NOTICED THAT ONE BIT!!! I was really hoping someone would call it out because yes, while things are trending toward bad things, there is some fundamental connection that these two exist in space that they are their most comfortable in. There is something there, but neither one are equipped to handle it.

This was the chapter that I was probably most nervous for, just because most people are turned off by drug/dream sequences but they were all important to show a different side of their relationship.

As for the Ao3 date . . . I am hanging my head in shame. I cannot believe I haven't noticed that. The original publication date was messed up because I had saved it as a draft, but I definitely didn't realize it was 😳Thank you very much for pointing that out! Since I update on Thursdays, I'll go back and change them to the correct dates.

Thank you again for your weekly comments and fantastic character analysis and let me blather on about my favorite little blorbos 💞 See you next week!

[mistergandalf]

Essay time!!! yay! here's hoping ask boxes are long enough.....

OKAY!!! to start out i ADORE this chapter!!!! ADORE!!!! I love everyone's interactions and the flow and the flangst (fluffy angst)!!! Once again you have shown yourself an AMAZING writer!!

THIS PART!!! I adore how Thorins first instinct is to touch. just..hus words can be caustic a lot of the time but one thing I've noticed in your fics is that his hands are - for the most part - gentle. it's as if they can say what his words often can't? if that makes sense. And I can picture his touch being hust....so gentle. I L9VE THEM.

Dwalin!! I love that you had him mention that they are kin. I dont often see ot in fics, but they're cousins!!! and it should be utilized. I also like how dwalin is....not gruffer? but his motions while gentle don't have tje same feeling as Thorins though I know both of them adore the boys.

AGAIN WITH THE PHYSICAL TOUCH. I ADORE THEM. And just...Thorin being a good uncle! yes! go Thorin!

I know you were worried about Oins characterization, but I think you got him PERFEFT. matter-of-fact but also concerned and clipped? I love him!

"You have touched but a corner of it" - see? I like this. jo shame. just matter of fact. Dwalin isn't berating him for not knowing. Hes acknowledging that they sheltered the boys as much as they could. and I love that they did. ALSO "That which sustains the life of evil can wreak havoc on the life of Free Folk" is a LINE AND I LOVE IT.

GENTLE THORIN! SOFT THORIN! GIVING LOTS OF LOVE! GO HIM! ALSO YES FAMILIAL PLATONIC TOLKIEN-ESQUE KISSES. MORE!

GO OIN TELL HIM. Kili listen to your cousin!

COMFORT THORIN = BEST THORIN. just AGA SKOANAGAYABAKSKDUSGBW I LOVE HIM SO MUCH YOU HAVE NO IDEA.

okay. yelling done. and this isn't so much an "essay" as me yelling at you. sorry! here's hoping this sends! I can't wait for the next chapter and you're amazing and I'm so happy you're writing again!

I LOVEEEEE YOU EVERY FANFIC AUTHOR DREAMS OF MESSAGES LIKE THIS. I shall respond to all points in order mwahahaha.

lmao I love the word "flangst." I guess that's really what h/c is when you boil it down, huh?

CRYING ABOUT THIS ANALYSIS OF HOW I WRITE THORIN. Like okay really the issue here is that physical touch is my love language so I've GOTTA write this way I guess. But also I love love love the idea that he can say with his hands what he can't with his words?? I guess I do that a lot. I write him pretty gruff a lot of the time, and reticent with what he says, but definitely not reticent with reaching out physically! I don't know what that says about anything but I do love it lmao.

And I think Dwalin is a huuuuge softie. Graham McTavish has my heart because he can slay me with a single expression... like have you ever seen Outlander? He destroys in his role in that show and even though I honestly hated his character a lot, his performance still brought me to tears. He did the same especially in the throne room scene in BoFA and uuughhh he's just soft inside and I don't care how he tries to come off, he's a teddy bear and I'll make sure anyone KNOWS IT.

AND YES. I honestly really really loved writing Oin in this chapter. I know we talked about it before, but I really did keep thinking about how he only starts getting heated when he thinks he's going to lose Kili in DoS, and tried to translate that here. Like he's quick, clipped, and down to business, and he's not going to let people get in his way in order to save a life. He's a good Dwarf and I feel like a lot of other fanfic authors don't make use of him like I do?? He's basically the family doctor in my fics and I don't care if no one else does that because I'll do it forever lmao.

AND: Thank you for pointing out that line Dwalin said, because him saying that and Kili's response was literally the very first thing I wrote of this entire fic and I was so so so excited to finally get to put it in!!! The Free Folk line I came up with while writing but ugh I was really excited about using that one specifically. You know how a writer loves to hear that a darling line really stood out to the readers, too!

YES GENTLE KISSES. SORRY EVERYONE ELSE BUT I'M ITALIAN AND I LOVE PHYSICAL TOUCH. And also this is exactly how I am with my own nephew so I'm just writing from experience here. Family kisses ftw RIP to all the touch starved cultures out there but I'm different.

I'm SO glad you love Oin's yelling! I really enjoyed doing that in this chapter. Kili is SO STUBBORN jsdfhsdg

I was veryyyy excited to write this chapter because honestly the entire POINT of the chapter was to write comforting Thorin. Not gonna lie. That was THE goal.

And the next chapter is gonna be from Fili's POV again... and you KNOW how proud I am of that first part I wrote already but the tumblr babes reading this don't get to know yet ;) I'll keep the suspense!!

THANK YOU LOVELY FOR THIS ASK I ADORE YOU

[everything-laito]

how can i start a blog like yours:(❤

First of all, I'm flattered you would come to me for this advice!!! :''') I hope I can help!

As for your question, do you mean an analysis blog or a DL blog/Tumblr blog in general? I'll answer both, because the answer is really the same: starting's the biggest step! I started this blog not expecting any type of success (which still absolutely blows my mind holy fuck) and just did it for me, really! Analysis and Laito is what I'm passionate about, so stick to whatever you're passionate about, whether it be mood boards, art, fanfics, OCs, general DL shitposts (those have passion in them too!), etc!

(edit: more under the cut cuz this was getting longer than I thought lmaooo)

People can really tell when you're not passionate about something, which is why I don't really do analysis on the other characters because I don't have the same passionate motivation to research and look deep into them like I do with Laito! (Although I do love and appreciate all the DL characters in their own way, and I do love talking about them and learning about them!! Laito's just on a whole other level for me) Passion is an intrinsic motivation, which is way more effective than extrinsic motivations. You can definitely use extrinsic motivations as an addition to your motivations, but make sure the core motivations are intrinsic!

If you're talking about analysis specifically, you can always learn analysis techniques! I still need to make a post about what good analysis is/how to do it (and I kind of have but it was responding to "drama" so I won't link it directly here but you can still find it) But a great way to start off is familiarize yourself with Aristotle's rhetorical triangle (if you're basing it off of rhetorical analysis, which in my opinion, is a great base to start off with when you're going into deeper things) and learn the different types of fallacies (there's a bunch)! I do a lot of psychology research when I do these posts, or even when I'm watching a video completely unrelated and a psychology term/concept that I believe relates to Laito, I'll write it down and stash it later. But if you're interested in the analysis things, check back sometime this late spring/summer for a "how-to-analysis" post!

Also, as a completely separate thing, feel free to absolutely get funky with how your desktop version of your blog looks. It really can tie everything together and can make navigation a whole lot easier for yourself and people who keep up with your blog on desktop! But maybe that's me because I really like how my desktop version looks with my lil Laito cursor :')

Hope that helps! I would love to support your blog, best of luck! My DMs are open if you have any questions, or feel free to put in more questions in my inbox!

Have a good night! -Corn