#and even iterate on it if necessary

[mythicaldemonart]

So, I've been frustrated with Monk in DnD for a long time and I finally decided to write out my own ideas on how to rework it to allow it to finally be a viable pick over the other martial classes. Just a quick disclaimer, this has not been playtested yet, and I'm posting it here cause I don't really know what else to do with it. This is also just the base Monk abilities, any subclasses will most likely need to be altered/reworked to fit a lot of the reworks.

Okay, I also want to start off by explaining my reasoning here for such a drastic overhaul.

So the problem with Monk in my eyes is that it's caught in a "worst of both worlds" where the class feels like its trying to be a pseudo-caster class and a martial class at the same time, both your martial and caster abilities cost ki, and the ki system itself is practically interchangeable with the spell slot system. And you can't really buff either side in a meaningful way because they are both right on the cusp of being really strong, and that could make a Monk overpowered. And simply giving them more ki, or more ki regen options is a stopgap solution that can fix some of the problems, but doesn't really address the core of the issue. As a martial class, Monk cannot deal as much damage with physical attacks as the other martial classes, whilst also generally being less tanky than those same classes. And as a caster, Monk is far less versatile and capable than other caster classes. And like even some of their abilities that allow them to more easily get out of dangerous situations are a little less useful when the Rogue can do it too and without needing ki points to boot. So a lot of the advantages of being a Dex based martial character are kinda negated when you can just play a Rogue instead and have all the same benefits with almost none of the caveats. So yeah, like I said, it's the worst of both worlds.

But more than that, the whole class lacks a certain amount of its own unique identity, mechanics-wise. Basically anything that you like about Monk in its current form exists in a more powerful, more polished form on a different class. Want to be fast and Dex based for stealth and sleight of hand shenanigans? Play a Rogue. Want to be a martial character with lots of versatility? Battlemaster fighter. Do you want to just hit things with your fist and facetank all the damage? Literally just play a Barbarian. Do you want focus almost solely on casting, with a spell-casting resource that comes back from a short rest, whilst also still having the option to run up and hit things? Well do I have a class for you, its called being a Warlock. So yeah, I came to the conclusion that the first thing that needed changing is the ki system, which is long-overdue a complete overhaul in how it works. It's just a really uninspired design now; it may have worked back when it was first created, but it doesn't anymore, and it's holding the rest of the class back at this point. Monk being one of the weakest classes in 5e is a widely known issue in the DnD community and you can't always just iterate your way out of such fundamental issues with a class. Sometimes big problems require big redesigns. Monks are a class that is all about speed; you move fast and you hit fast. So with a lot of aspects about Monks being designed around the theme of speed, I wanted to tie their kit together with a theme of Momentum. My idea is that Monks are also persistent fighters, who can get stronger as they fight and can also draw a seemingly endless amount of strength from within. And even when they should be at their physical limit and be unable to move, much less fight, through channelling their spirit into all of their movements and also sheer force of will, they still refuse to slow down. And I wanted to reflect that mechanically in their ki system, in a way that could allow their physical attacks to be useful to their kit, and allow their spells and abilities to be more powerful, without pushing them completely into "unbalanced" territory. Oh, I also made them start with ki at level 1, because it's really dumb to me that they don't. It's like a level 1 Wizard not having spell slots, or a level 1 Barbarian not having Rage; it's just such an important part of their kit and they should have access to it from the get go. So here's a rough framework of the levels and abilities:

Unarmoured Defense

Beginning at 1st level, while you are wearing no armour and not wielding a shield, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier.

Martial Arts

Your practice of martial arts gives you mastery of combat styles that use unarmed strikes and monk weapons, which are shortswords and any simple melee weapons that don't have the two-handed or heavy property.

You gain the following benefits while you are unarmed or wielding only monk weapons and you aren't wearing armour or wielding a shield.

You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes and monk weapons.

You can roll a d4 in place of the normal damage of your unarmed strike or monk weapon. This die changes as you gain monk levels: At 5th level it changes to a d6, at 11th level it becomes a d8, and at 17th level it becomes a d10.

When you use the Attack action with an unarmed strike or a monk weapon on your turn, you can make one unarmed strike as a bonus action. For example, if you take the Attack action and attack with a quarterstaff, you can also make an unarmed strike as a bonus action, assuming you haven't already taken a bonus action this turn.

Certain monasteries use specialized forms of the monk weapons. For example, you might use a club that is two lengths of wood connected by a short chain (called a nunchaku) or a sickle with a shorter, straighter blade (called a kama).

Ki

Starting at level 1, your training allows you to harness the mystic energy of ki. Your access to this energy is represented by a number of ki points. The number of ki points you start with is equal to your Wisdom modifier. You regain ki points upto a number equal to your Wisdom modifier whenever you have a short or long rest. You can spend these points to fuel various ki features. You start knowing three such features: Flurry of Blows, Patient Defense, and Step of the Wind. You learn more ki features as you gain levels in this class.

Wearing armour of any kind, or equipping a shield weighs you down considerably and prevents you from opening your ki pathways. You cannot spend ki points whilst you are wearing armour, or using a shield. Some of your ki features require your target to make a saving throw to resist the feature's effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows:

Ki save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier

Flurry of Blows. Immediately after you take the Attack action on your turn, you can spend 1 ki point to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action.

Patient Defense. You can spend 1 ki points to take the Dodge action as a bonus action on your turn.

Step of the Wind. You can spend 1 ki points to take the Disengage or Dash action as a bonus action on your turn, and your jump distance is doubled for the turn.

Ki Flows

Starting at 2nd level you gain the following:

Momentum strike. You gain a deeper understanding of ki and how it flows through your body, consecutively hitting enemies with your attacks allows you to open your ki pathways and channel more spiritual energy in the heat of battle. When you hit an enemy/enemies with two or more unarmed strikes or Monk weapon attacks, you may gain 1 ki point for each successful hit. Any ki points you gain from this ability lasts until either spent or until you have a short or long rest. Ki-Fatigue. You have the capability to gain frightening amounts of momentum on the battlefield, but you’re not a perpetual-motion machine, even birds that can fly non-stop for days need to rest at some point and you are no exception to this. You have a safe maximum number of ki points you can gain from Momentum Strike which is equal to your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier + your Monk level. This counts over multiple uses of the ability, and once the safe maximum number has been reached, you become Ki-Fatigued. While you are Ki-Fatigued, any ki gained using Momentum Strike is halved and rounded down. If you surpass half the safe maximum number (rounded down) again whilst you are Ki-Fatigued, you gain 1 point of exhaustion. Ki-Fatigue lasts until you have a short or long rest with meditation.

Unarmoured Movement

Starting at 2nd level, your speed increases by 10 feet while you are not wearing armour or wielding a shield. This bonus increases when you reach certain monk levels: at 6th level your speed bonus increases to 15ft, at 10th level your speed bonus increases to 20ft, at 14th level your speed bonus increases to 25ft, and at 18th level your speed bonus increases to 30ft.

Deflect Missiles

Starting at 3rd level, you can use your reaction to deflect or catch the missile when you are hit by a ranged weapon attack. When you do so, the damage you take from the attack is reduced by 1d10 + your Dexterity modifier + your monk level.

If you reduce the damage to 0, you can catch the missile if it is small enough for you to hold in one hand and you have at least one hand free. If you catch a missile in this way, you can spend 1 ki point to make a ranged attack (range 20/60 feet) with the weapon or piece of ammunition you just caught, as part of the same reaction. You make this attack with proficiency, regardless of your weapon proficiencies, and the missile counts as a monk weapon for the attack.

Monastic Tradition

When you reach 3rd level, you commit yourself to a monastic tradition, chosen from the list of available traditions. Your tradition grants you features at 3rd level and again at 6th, 11th, and 17th level.

Ki-Fueled Attack

Starting at 3rd level, if you spend 1 ki point or more as part of your action on your turn, you can make one attack with an unarmed strike or a monk weapon as a bonus action before the end of the turn.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

If your DM allows the use of feats, you may instead take a feat.

Slow Fall

Beginning at 4th level, you can use your reaction when you fall to reduce any falling damage you take by an amount equal to five times your monk level.

Extra Attack

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Stunning Strike

Starting at 5th level, you can interfere with the flow of ki in an opponent's body. When you hit another creature with a melee weapon attack, you can spend 1 ki point to attempt a stunning strike. The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the end of your next turn.

Focused Aim

Starting at 5th level, when you miss with an attack roll, you can spend 1 to 3 ki points to increase your attack roll by 2 for each of these ki points you spend, potentially turning the miss into a hit.

Ki-Empowered Strikes

Starting at 6th level, your unarmed strikes count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage. 

Concussive-Ki

Your ki more freely flows through your body’s pathways, and can now be focused to the very tips of your extremities and then beyond into your aura; the outer-reaches of your ki can be hardened into vicious shockwaves that amplify your strikes into devastating blows. Starting at 6th level, you may spend 3 ki points a turn to gain the Concussive-Ki condition. Whilst you have the Concussive-Ki condition, your unarmed attacks also deal Force damage equal to your Martial Arts die.

Monastic Tradition feature

At 6th level, you gain one feature granted by your Monastic Tradition.

Evasion

At 7th level, your instinctive agility lets you dodge out of the way of certain area effects, such as a blue dragon's lightning breath or a fireball spell. When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.

Stillness of Mind

Starting at 7th level, you can use your action to end one effect on yourself that is causing you to be charmed or frightened.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 8th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

If your DM allows the use of feats, you may instead take a feat.

Unarmoured Movement improvement

At 9th level, you gain the ability to move along vertical surfaces and across liquids on your turn without falling during the move.

Purity of Body

At 10th level, your mastery of the ki flowing through you makes you immune to disease and poison.

Monastic Tradition feature

At 11th level, you gain one feature granted by your Monastic Tradition.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 12th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

If your DM allows the use of feats, you may instead take a feat.

Tongue of the Sun and Moon

Starting at 13th level, you learn to touch the ki of other minds so that you understand all spoken languages. Moreover, any creature that can understand a language can understand what you say.

Diamond Soul

Beginning at 14th level, your mastery of ki grants you proficiency in all saving throws.

Additionally, whenever you make a saving throw and fail, you can spend 1 ki point to reroll it and take the second result.

Timeless Body

At 15th level, your ki sustains you so that you suffer none of the frailty of old age, and you can't be aged magically. You can still die of old age, however. In addition, you no longer need food or water.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 16th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

If your DM allows the use of feats, you may instead take a feat.

Monastic Tradition feature

At 17th level, you gain one feature granted by your Monastic Tradition.

Empty Body

Beginning at 18th level, you can use your action to spend 4 ki points to become invisible for 1 minute. During that time, you also have resistance to all damage but force damage.

Additionally, you can spend 5 ki points to cast the astral projection spell, without needing material components. When you do so, you can't take any other creatures with you.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

If your DM allows the use of feats, you may instead take a feat.

Perfect Self

At 20th level, when you roll for initiative and have no ki points remaining, you regain a number of ki points equal to your Wisdom modifier.

Like I said, this is just a rough concept. But by overhauling ki this way, it allows you to more freely give monks more powerful abilities and ways of buffing their melee strikes that cost ki, without it being too broken. But I would love to hear thoughts and critiques on it. Thank you for reading this, and I hope that at least someone likes this idea

[xenomorphicdna]

On the string propaganda

Heeellll yeah

Bestie is an entire PLACE

I look at those guys and let me tell you the soul of that thing ain't just in the puppet, it's in all the neurons carrying the thoughts and emotions, it's in the power rails that serve as the heart. All the memories in the memory conflux and all the numbers we see flicker across displays, the flux condensers, the puppet; a little avatar.

No way these massive machines see life the same way we do. They have their own experiences and senses and things they hold dear. A world we can't imagine, a way of living we couldn't even comprehend.

I could never tear an iterator apart to be just a puppet. Who am I to decide how's life supposed to be enjoyed or perceived?

You treat your creechurs however you want- I ain't gonna dictate that. But damn, hearing the thrums and buzzes of the linear systems rail? They are alive with so much power, these mechanical beasts are exactly what they should be.

[crypticemerald]

I cant stop thinking of this one idea that when SRS was built (my hc is that theyre gen2) they promoted their city by "partnering" with LTTM, effectively launching a ship campaign within the ancient community. It was mostly for ads and to increase moving to newer iterators/keeping good relations within population.

Where am i going?

I think it would be cute and funny if that made them legally married to eachother, even if i dont see them romantically involved in eachother just as a gig it would be cute.

Both would be neutral if not a bit akward around eachother because of it, bringing them closer to eachother politics/population wise but it doesnt really affect their own personality and not. If anything it serves better as its thanks to that that SRS befriends NSH and FP :)

This would happen a few years after the activation of SRS i guess!

For the drama of it it would be interesting if SOS was a bit... pissed that the ancients didnt dissolve the marriage as i imagine her being older would mean that it was initially planned for SOS and LTTM to be married.

Oh yeah! Most iterators in their group dont really know about it as while its not a gatekept secret its not really talked about. So people would find out around gen 4, after FP gets activated and his specs are talked about +hes sync-ed up to LTTMs storage. (damn boy youve got some nice specs) IF NOT. after the ancients ascend, leaving to many iterators now communicating a lot more which leads to many fun reactions to the local group.

[prokopetz]

The necessary corollary to "people who think Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition is 'rules light' have relatively narrow literacy of tabletop roleplaying games" is "people who think Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition is the high end of 'rules heavy' also have relatively narrow literacy of tabletop roleplaying games".

Like, 5E isn't even the heaviest iteration of Dungeons & Dragons, and I have a dozen popular games just within arm's reach which are crunchier than any version of D&D that's ever been published. Figure out how skill defaulting works in Shadowrun 3rd Edition and tell me again that D&D5E is some freak mutant that's more complicated than any human being would ever willingly play if they had a choice. Yeah, it's above the median as complexity goes, but not terribly far above it!

[nyoomerr]

Demon!SY? It's interesting to think of this ridiculous, doting man finding a persona that lets him exist within that culture

i adore all iterations of demon!sy and honestly would love to make a longer fic of it at some point... every version of it is just so tasty, shout out especially to every single person who's done abyssal monster! sy ....

---

When Shen Yuan first realizes the particulars of his transmigration - that is, the fact that he’s a moderately powerful demon in this life - he’s absolutely delighted.

For normal reasons, obviously!! For normal, not-weird reasons!! Like - like the fact that Shen Yuan has the power to help Luo Binghe, as a demon!! Not because of the extra eyes he has, or the too-long limbs, or the scales that glisten in the sun, or three rows of teeth that snap through anything -!

Ahem. Not those things. Just the parts about how Shen Yuan could be useful to Luo Binghe!!

Still, when it comes to actually doing the whole be-useful-to-Binghe thing, it isn’t so simple as waiting around in the demon realm for Luo Binghe to show up before volunteering to be his advisor or whatever. By the time Luo Binghe makes it to the demon realm, he’ll be full steam ahead focusing on conquering and gathering power, and Shen Yuan falling into line wouldn’t really be seen as anything especially useful. 

Shen Yuan wants to help Luo Binghe when it counts, when Luo Binghe will need the help - so naturally, Shen Yuan finds a way into the Endless Abyss.

It’s the perfect plan! Shen Yuan may not know exactly where Luo Binghe gets dropped, but he knows the general topography. On top of that, there are places where the boundary between the Abyss and the human realm is weaker and more prone to tears - if Shen Yuan uses that to map out potential places for the Abyss to open during the Immortal Alliance Conference, and cross references that with what Luo Binghe experienced in the Abyss, then Shen Yuan can certainly find the general area to wait for Luo Binghe in!

And, while he’s waiting, Shen Yuan may as well prepare to be useful! He can make a sturdy little shelter for Luo Binghe to rest and recover in before he has to face the rest of the Abyss - or, wait, should Shen Yuan make more shelters, scattered around the Abyss in the general path from where Luo Binghe will fall all the way to Xin Mo?

Shen Yuan found Xin Mo no problem, after all - of course he wasn’t going to take it, that’s Luo Binghe’s! He just wanted to make sure it was all ready for Luo Binghe when he got there! And really, it isn’t necessary that Luo Binghe fetch the stupid sword from the carcass of a beast, so Shen Yuan can just fetch Xin Mo out of there himself and get it cleaned up, and perhaps put it on a nice little pedestal for Luo Binghe to find later -

Wait, should Shen Yuan just take Xin Mo and have it ready to give to Luo Binghe in the very first little shelter, the one Luo Binghe will stay in after falling into the Abyss? No, of course not, a little bun protagonist like he’ll be when he first falls wouldn’t be ready to wield something as nasty as this toxic sword stinking up Shen Yuan’s yard - the journey through the Abyss is what prepares Luo Binghe for it.

Shen Yuan will just leave Xin Mo where he found it, guarded off from other predators but otherwise cleaned and sharpened and ready for Luo Binghe, and go back to waiting for Luo Binghe in the starting area.

…What if Luo Binghe can’t make it between shelters fast enough, though? What if Shen Yuan had built them too far apart?? 

Ah, he’ll have to wrangle a Snake Headed Horse Monkey for Luo Binghe to ride on! Shen Yuan can train a few of them, even, so Luo Binghe can have his pick, and -

Luo Binghe falls from the sky, landing perfectly safely in the pile of Abyssal Weed Stalks that Shen Yuan keeps to feed his farm animals with.

“Oh!” He cries, brushing dust and grime from his robes, trying to make himself presentable as Luo Binghe scrambles to sit up. “Binghe, you’re here! Ah, but I haven’t finished preparing all the maps you’ll need, and I only have enough food stored for you to last several months, and -”

Luo Binghe blinks at him, looking around with wide eyes at the stable he crashed through on his fall down into the Abyss. His robes are stained with blood - and wow, Heavenly Demon blood really does smell good! Or, haha, Shen Yuan just means that it looks so pretty! Because it came from inside of Luo Binghe! Who is very pretty!! 

….Shen Yuan looks away from the blood stains. He has enough miracle healing plants in his garden for Luo Binghe to have his pick of them later, anyway, it’s fine!!

“...Do you know me?” Luo Binghe asks, wary. 

“Of course!” Shen Yuan says, delighted to be asked about his knowledge of Luo Binghe. “You’re the most incredible person in the world!”

Luo Binghe, somehow, grows more suspicious. 

“Who are you?” He asks, standing and taking on a ready stance despite his missing sword. 

His expression has sharpened into something dark and distrustful, lacking all of the cute confusion he’d worn when first taking in his surroundings, and it makes Shen Yuan want to tut at him. Cute boy, sweet boy, Shen Yuan won’t hurt you!!

Shen Yuan moves closer to Luo Binghe, curling one of his extra arms around him dotingly. 

“Binghe can call me anything he likes,” he says, which is true. Shen Yuan wasn’t given a proper name in this world, after all! “Why don’t you think of something while I get you inside, hm? I have some swords for you to choose from to replace Zheng Yang, and you’ll let me wash your hair for you, and you can get a good night’s rest before you head off to Xin Mo.”

Luo Binghe tries to duck under Shen Yuan’s arm, but Shen Yuan catches him with several of his others. 

“Let go of me -!” Luo Binghe cries, eyes wide and panicked, and Shen Yuan sighs. 

“There’s no need to be afraid,” he says soothingly, his teeth clicking reassuringly at Luo Binghe. “Here, look -”

Shen Yuan pulls Luo Binghe up off the ground, cradling him in his arms and leaning down to press his mouth gently to Luo Binghe’s forehead.

It isn’t a kiss, for the record!! Shen Yuan would never dare to kiss Luo Binghe, or a man in general, or -

Anyway, it’s not a kiss!! Shen Yuan is just showing Luo Binghe that no matter how cool and dangerous his mouth looks, it won’t ever hurt Luo Binghe!!

“See?” Shen Yuan says, straightening but not setting Luo Binghe down. “I won’t hurt you.”

Luo Binghe stares up at Shen Yuan with wide, shocked eyes, his cheeks flushing with color, and stops struggling. Shen Yuan hums, pleased, and uses one of his spare arms to pat indulgently at Luo Binghe’s head.

“Good boy,” Shen Yuan says. “Now, let’s get you taken care of, hm?”

[amerricanartwork]

RW Headcanon: Know the Difference! | An Overview of Quetzalli's Slugcats

Here’s a headcanon I’ve wanted to elaborate on for a while, and today I finally felt compelled to make it real! Also, just a disclaimer I am not a huge biology nerd nor have I studied it that heavily, so I apologize if something here doesn’t make sense or if I get something wrong. I just like fantasy worldbuilding from time to time, and I always like trying to make sense of things I’m interested in!

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Basically, I’m in the crowd that interprets slugcats as mustelids rather than literal slugs. When I say this, however I don’t mean that slugcats would necessarily be classified in the actual mustelidae family, seeing as Rain World’s world is most-likely not Earth and therefore our taxonomic classifications and phylogenetic relations can’t necessarily apply. Thus, when I call them “mustelids”, I really just mean that I imagine them as some kind of weasel with all the necessary physical traits to earn that general label. 

The first half of the name “slugcat”, in my headcanon, is thus not referring to any literal connection to slugs or other mollusks, but is instead derived simply from their appearance. Due to their long ears and thick tail, and because their fur and fat often squishes together in such a way that it makes their features blend together and their bodies appear more smooth (it’s the same physics as that whole “cats are liquid” idea), the general silhouette of a slugcat can easily be likened to that of a literal slug. The second half of their name is also not literal, and instead refers to their jumping and acrobatic abilities and their skill in hunting and pouncing on small prey, which is very similar to that of small cats.

Species Overview

Now to give a little more detail on slugcats themselves as a species! I headcanon them as small to medium-sized mammals most similar to Earth weasels in both their biology and their ecological niche, who originally served as cute low-maintenance pets for the Ancients and as hunters of small pests in facilities on the ground. They’re clever by nature and good at fitting through tight spaces, and later on they evolved greater jumping abilities to pounce on prey. They’re also very social creatures, who’ve taken to forming medium to large colonies primarily in and around the massive trees that thrive between the cracks in iterators’ rainstorm areas (like the one Gourmand, Survivor, and Monk’s colony lives in). Due to this social nature they also generally travel in groups of at least two, both for company and protection against tougher animals. Travel partners are usually siblings or good friends, and sometimes even whole families will journey out together to find food and other resources for the rest of the colony.

Despite being a small prey animal, slugcats have managed to get by not only due to their intelligence — the evolution of which would be seen as a rather unexpected twist of events if you asked their creators, for the Ancients found them cute but rather simple — but because of their impressive adaptability. It’s similar to that of real life red foxes and pigeons, and it allows them to survive decently well even in less ideal environments; a trait especially necessary for a world as industrialized as this one, even if its people are gone and most of the machinery is inactive. As such not all colonies live in trees; some find homes in the abandoned facilities, large underground hollows, and a few bold colonies have even claimed territories high up in iterator cities alongside scavengers. Slugcats are opportunists and masters at making the best of their surroundings, yet even beyond that they carry a certain other, “special” ability of their own that makes them as diverse as they are clever. But that’s a headcanon for another day…

Reasoning

Now for some out-of-universe explanation for this classification choice. I’ve always seen slugcats as some kind of small scurrying mammal (kind of a bias on my part, I just like mammals honestly, and they’re most familiar to me), mainly due to the way they look and move when on all fours, and their place in the game’s food chain. Originally though I saw them as rodents and compared them to mice and rats, which I still sometimes use for anatomy reference for these creatures. But one day a friend of mine saw me drawing slugcats and thought they were weird ferrets, and the more I thought about it and the more I developed personal speculative biology headcanons for slugcats, the more that label seemed the most fitting for them. It was also solidified when I did a bit more research and realized the main characteristic of rodents is their buck teeth, which just didn’t seem to fit with how I perceived slugcats. Not to mention rodents aren’t really predator animals, and slugcats’ implied natural diet and the gameplay itself does strongly imply if not confirm they have some instinctive hunting ability. 

Thus, it seemed “weasel” was the best classification for these creatures, and I quite like it so far! Once again it satisfies my mammal preference, but I also just think it’s a fun idea that neither part of the “slugcat” name is literal, similar to a lot of real-life creatures named after completely different animals, including fellow weasel, the polecat. Plus, I realized recently it’s kind of ironic with how I perceive the messenger slugcats, Hunter and Spearmaster, as being like hunting or guard dogs for their creators, when weasels are exactly the kind of animal humans with their dogs would normally hunt for! It’s cute, it’s familiar, it’s fun, yet I think it still has just as much potential for some interesting speculative biology ideas as the literal slug slugcat interpretations!

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

I'm so glad to finally get this out! I like seeing specbio slugcat headcanons in the RW fandom, yet I haven't seen many more in-depth takes from artists who don't take the "slugcats are literal slugs/mollusks/primarily mollusk-based" angle. Not that that's a bad headcanon of course; do what you think feels right! But once again I personally prefer slugcats being mammals, and I always look for fan-content that's as close to my personal preferences as possible. And when I can't find enough of it, I make it myself!

So hopefully this serves as a bit more of that kind of representation for the mustelid slugcat interpretation. It at least helped me develop my own idea of the species a bit more; much of that stuff in the overview part was ideas I came up with while typing this whole headcanon out!

As always, I hope you enjoy this headcanon of mine! I've still got so many ideas to develop and share, and even more coming as I continue to ponder these characters and their stories, so as long as you guys still like these Rain World headcanons of mine, they'll keep coming!

[amanhashisneeds]

High Concept: Girl Script

alright, someone has to say it: there is a practical problem in making your fuckdoll completely unable to read or write.

don't get me wrong! the idea is VERY hot. i love the idea of stripping away language from a slut because language is just so human, and stripping away someone's ability to speak, read, or write, partially or fully, is in essence turning that person into an animal.

but this is the real world. and as much as i actually want to do that, it'll make doctor's visits, using the internet (for porn, of course), and, frankly, living in the modern world very difficult to navigate. and yet, it remains extremely important to control her information diet. you can't have your toy just being able to read or write anything. that would be chaos!

my solution: girl script. girl script is a hypothetical english writing system to be used only by bimbos. only pro-bimbo content is allowed to be written in it. any content which doesn't reinforce their submission or sexual objectification is kept in the regular latin alphabet -- which girls should ideally not be taught in the first place, but, if necessary, girls can be forced to unlearn it.

girl script should ideally be clunky and unwieldy. it should be difficult to write in in order to discourage intellectual activity. i propose a system of ideograms, somewhere in between emojis and sitelen pona, so that writing anything takes a lot of physical effort and pushes the limits her already tiny memory. additionally, using an ideogramic system means that every symbol has to be individually taught. therefore, your slut can't write down words she isn't allowed to know, and she can't easily create new words in order to try and get around this limitation. for example, you could entirely remove her ability to write non-degrading words; she doesn't know how to write the word for "vagina" or "boobs," but she does know how to write "cunt" and "tits."

it would still represent english words, so it should be very easy for a man to learn it and translate. however, for convenience, programs could be written which automatically translate from girl script to the latin alphabet and vice-versa. it could also be used as a sort of international bimbo auxiliary language, like how simplified chinese is used for multiple languages across china. though differing grammar may make this difficult, if the system is simple enough, that may not be a serious obstacle for comprehension.

i'm open to iterations on this blueprint or any other ideas on how to make a closed information ecosystem for bimbo girls. it's important to me that our dollies never come into contact with any thoughts we don't want them to have, so that they can't even think of anything other than pure obedience.

[thewertsearch]

TT: It reminds me of when Dave and I were trapped in the doomed timeline, and he left to change the past. TT: The timeline ceased to exist, along with my dream self, who in a way became merged with my dream self of this timeline. I kept some of her memories. TT: Is the situation similar? Similar, but more severe. Since this timeline will undergo such a violent upheaval, such a merger of memory cannot happen.

Unlike Future Rose, we're not merely fleeing a doomed timeline - we're resetting the timeline, the real deal.

If you squint, it kind of looks like the Davesprite situation, but the rules are completely different. This isn't a rewind, it's a reboot, complete with entirely new incarnations of John, Rose, Dave and Jade.

It doesn't sound like the original Players are supposed to survive the process - but if you pay attention to Scratch's phrasing, he doesn't actually confirm that it's impossible. He asserts that this type of memory preservation is impossible, but that doesn't mean there's no way for the kids to reach the reboot. I strongly believe that our endgame here will feature both iterations of the kids, allowing us to develop their personalities from two completely different angles.

I'd love to speculate about what Scratched!John and his team will be like, but I don't want another theory that's dead on-arrival. Let's wait and see if Rose learns anything more about the reboot first.

TT: So if the Scratch isn't specifically meant to banish Jack from the session, TT: And our quest to destroy the sun is meant to kill him, TT: Why is the reset necessary at all, especially if it means oblivion for us? Because you cannot achieve the ultimate reward in this session. […] Don't you want to fulfill your purpose?

Whether they should actually want to make a universe isn’t exactly a trivial question. Rose is a little too emotionally compromised to consider it, but I’m not.

For starters, what if their universe is an awful place? Alternia is proof that Sburb's universes can be complete dystopias. We have no idea if Alternia's creators intended for the Empire to exist, but the fact that it's even possible should make any Sburb Player very, very nervous about releasing a new Genesis Frog into the cosmos, lest it become another host for an intergalactic empire.

I suppose the question is kind of moot. The kids still need somewhere to live after the session, and I doubt their own universe is still an option. Their planet certainly isn’t.

[…] if you are inventive, you may find a way to survive the reset and participate in the renewed session. It's up to you.

...hmm.

Do you think the effects of the Scratch extend into the Furthest Ring? Surely not, right? Surely they're localized to the session in which the Scratch was triggered, lest a Scratch reset the entire multiverse.

Could it really be that easy? I guess it would normally be dangerous to enter the domain of the Gods unprotected, but Feferi's alliance should keep them safe. Plus, Rose has an accord with them herself. This feels workable to me - provided the Gods are willing to let our heroes influence the reboot.

[hesperocyon-lesbian]

Can’t reblog this post cause op has me blocked so I’ll just respond here:

And how many people are dying as “acceptable collateral damage” due to capitalism and the global structures of imperialism that churn through the lives of workers in the global south? Also, iterative change within the system (if it even worked) is just a commitment to more and more years of people dying and suffering so their blood can fuel the gears of business.

You view the violence necessary to uphold this system as moral neutral, as not violence because it is non-transgressive, or you are ignorant of its existence, but it is the ongoing price of the status quo. How many diabetics have died because they couldn’t afford insulin, how many other disabled people died because they couldn’t afford care, how many exploited nations in the imperial periphery have a paucity of medical care because their wealth is continually looted?

The hypothetical power cuts under a revolution factor in for you, but not the deaths due to the repeated failures of the Texas power grid, let alone the deaths of the miners around the globe who dig up rare earth metals for a pittance so we can have cheap consumer goods.

A revolution is no more violent than that which you perceive as peace, because your worldview views the capitalist state as an authority that is ultimately just in its wielding of the monopoly on violence

[badaziraphaletakes]

Fair warning to fans, especially ab*se survivors, before you venture into the murky waters of the fandom on this Season 2 anniversary.

I was hoping today would be a day where the fandom would be celebrating this beautiful show that we love and how lucky we are that we got a Season 2.

But no. People are using it to re-iterate the same bigoted, victim-blaming hot takes that they felt the need to spew last year about how Aziraphale being forced back to heaven by his ab*sers is somehow his fault.

They’re choosing to continue to make the fandom an unsafe place for survivors. We’re not even allowed one day where we can just celebrate and be happy without being triggered.

Nice to know there’s been virtually no progress. This blog and the space it provides to escape that are as necessary as ever, it turns out. We pledge anew there will NEVER be any of that crap here. And we’ll keep doing this as long as we need to.

Come sit with us and have a hot chocolate. Stay as long as you need. We’re here for you.

[afsosville]

You know what would've been nice? Shen Jiu ending up on a different peak that's actually good for him. Maybe Qian Cao, or the beast taming peak could've been hella therapeutic. Or the alcohol/brewery peak to drown away all his sorrows. But what if he stayed fucked up, in a way that's actually good and productive for society? Yeah, I wanna toss him over to Yin Hui and let him run wild! I've seen many iterations of Yin Hui, the fanon peak for espionage and poisons in fanfics. By extension, Yin Hui is also covertly the assassination peak, and I wish this peak got more attention around here tbh. Why do I think this peak is the most well suited for Shen Jiu? BECAUSE ASSASSINS. Duh.

So here comes a baby demonic cultivator Shen Jiu and the Yin Hui peak lord immediately wants him. Shen Jiu would be more readily accepted by his peak martial siblings, and no one would bat an eye at Shen Jiu, his standoffish personality or shady past. A lot of Yin Hui disciples are from questionable backgrounds since the Yin Hui peak lord naturally has to be very particular about selecting their disciples. Yin Hui was established to protect the sect and its people by any means necessary. Sure, the rest of the sect may fight against the supernatural, demons, and the undead, but Yin Hui fights an even greater monster: people.

The Yin Hui peak lord manipulated things so that the first impression the rest of the sect has about Shen Jiu is 'that new badass Yin Hui disciple that killed the criminal Wu Yanzi and saved the future sect leader!' (Seeing as Wu Yanzi would be the very sort of ppl they assassinate, he's already getting goated on Yin Hui too.) So Shen Jiu is known as that new prodigious disciple from Yin Hui and is getting some goddamn respect! And just because of his association with his peak, fewer people are inclined to question his background and whatnot since there's an understanding that the identity of the YH disciples needs to be heavily guarded. The Yin Hui peak lord finds out about the Qiu's soon enough, and they erase any and all traces leading back to Shen Jiu. Even framing it in a way that makes it look like WY did the massacre. Any credibility Qiu Haitang could've had for Shen Jiu's murder accusations is thrown out the window. (Ain’t no way in hell the Yin Hui peak lord is going to name SJ that stupid trauma inducing name like a certain Qing Jing peak lord, that's for sure.)

I'm pulling in elements from MDZS over here. In my version of Yin Hui, they have disciples who practice demonic cultivation, but they make sure it's in a safer way that won't hurt them. There's a surprising number of disciples who have damaged cultivation and chose to cultivate the ghost path. The previous generations of Yin Hui peak lords have created Wei Wuxian's inventions in this AU, and is used by the rest of the peak, like the compass of ill winds, paper metamorphosis, the spirit attraction flag, and empathy. I lowkey want a Wei Wuxian that's native to SV to be the Yin Hui peak lord, now that I think about it. He's good with his kiddos and would be an awesome shizun. And ofc, Shen Jiu is a reflection of his environment, so he's certainly making an example out of Wei Wuxian, one of the only positive influences in his life.

Shen Jiu still has his violent tendencies, so nothing has changed about that, but he learns to take that pent-up energy out on missions instead. And he does them well. It even gives him an edge. Everyone else thinks he's just reallyyy good at his job, as expected of the talented head disciple of Yin Hui!!

He really does try his best to not be an ass (bc he gets the love he deserves on Yin Hui) and ends up venting in a different way (coz he knows better than to take it out on people who don’t deserve it.) His shizun really gave him the free reign to kill sl@ve trad3rs, human tr@ffick3rs, r-ists, and other scum whenever he wanted, in the name of stress relief lol. If killing a particular person becomes politically complicated, like the Old Palace Bastard, then you best believe he's going to scheme like the little schemer he is. He's going to Nie Huaisang the OPM.

Since Shen Jiu is not salty about his fucked up cultivation, and his martial siblings respect him, they get along just fine. His cultivation is some parts similar to Wei Wuxian's: Shen Jiu is a ghost cultivator influenced by music. Sure, he may not be that great of a spiritual cultivator, so what? He's pulling up like the Yiling Patriarch with his demonic cultivation and a haunted guqin of his own.

And guess what? Shen Jiu enjoys teaching. He's training miniature assassins, spies, and the art of demonic cultivation, so forgive him if he's more than a little enthusiastic about it. I imagine that he's exactly like Shifu from kung fu panda when it comes to teaching. Still extremely harsh and strict when training, but outside of actually teaching, he's an attentive and caring shizun. And yes, he completely does act like a father figure who is proud of his murder babies, and ends up being called A-Ba so much that all of Cang Qiong thinks he's officially adopted every single one of his disciples. (After being saved by SJ on a mission, NYY persistently begs SJ to take her in even though he desperately thinks Yin Hui isn't a good fit for her. And then, after being under him for a while, she's completed her first mission successfully, has smn else's blood on her face, and is smiling brightly. 

Ning Yingying: "I completed my mission shizun! Are you proud of me?"

Shen Jiu: "..."

Some other peaklord: "Haha like father like daughter! She's definitely your girl alright!"

Shen Jiu: "...!?!" )

Yue Qingyuan is conerneth about his Xiao Jiu, but as long as he's happy, who cares. Shen Jiu has a better relationship with the other peak lords, so when asked about why he visits brothels, he straight up tells them that it's the best place to gather information in the dark. He doesn't have that mentality of "why explain myself when no ones finna believe me anyway" He actually trusts them and is more honest with time. Shen Jiu does come clean about killing the Qiu's at some point, and the peak lords are all like-

"I didn't hear shit"

"See, I'm blind in my left eye, and 75% blind in my right-"

"Completely understandable, Shen shidi!"

They don't even ask why he did it and just assume he had a valid reason, and he absolutely fucking did.

Oh, Shen Jiu gets accused of playing dirty? Liu Qingge, he literally kills ppl and makes poison as a daytime fucking job ofc he's gonna play dirty! Shen Jiu tried killing you that one time on the well mission? Bro you good? The fact that you think he tried to kill you and failed?? You just insulted an entire peak of disciples and their ancestors. You would've been dead before you could even think of sensing their killing intent if it were true. And there was a witness too, doofus. Be fucking for real. Nahh coz there definitely would be more people who are taking Shen Jiu's side whenever the two of them fight.

Shen Jiu uses a shit ton of versatile weapons because most of his fighting and cultivation prowess comes from his wits and adapting to fighting with different styles/methods. He is kinda similar to Xie Lian bc both of them lack spiritual energy/qi (damaged spirit roots in Shen Jiu's case), but that does not mean they are weaker. It just means they learned to train their body and minds instead of relying on cultivation/qi. He has a massive arsenal of weapons along with the demonic cultivation. (Airport security would hate him)

Yin Hui has got to be my favorite fanon peak, and Yin Hui! Shen Jiu plauges so many of my waking thoughts, I can't stop-

I can add elements from my other hyperfixation into this AU, the Avatar Chronicles. Which are the written books from ATLA. The criminal organization Kyoshi joined, the Daofei, for example, could be a good plot point. Or the Platinum Affair from the Yangchen books. If you don’t know what the Avatar Chronicles are, just ignore this last part lol.

[nobodyfamousposts]

Why Scarlet Lady Is Better Than Canon: Lila Rossi

I had mentioned before at length regarding my distaste, dislike, and dissatisfaction with the character of Lila Rossi in Miraculous Ladybug canon. A character so horrible, so poorly written, and so two dimensional that I did not think it was possible to make any iteration of her I wouldn’t dislike.

And yet it seems @zoe-oneesama has come through for me yet again in Scarlet Lady by taking what was quite possibly one of my biggest issues and most despised characters within canon and with only a few changes, turning her into something enjoyable. Dare I even say…likable.

More than that, even. It says something when my least favorite character in Miraculous Ladybug canon can somehow become one of my top favorite characters in a different variation of it. 

It’s because Zoe shows an understanding of the characters and what makes them engaging, and other than SL Adrien, it shows the most in the form of SL Lila.

See, Canon Lila Rossi is a selfish, manipulative, egotistical, petty, and self-centered liar.

Scarlet Lady Lila Rossi, on the other hand, is a selfish, manipulative, egotistical, petty, and self-centered liar.

Now I’m sure all of you are looking at those two sentences and noting that they’re the same thing. And you are right. That’s the point! Because the difference between the two versions isn’t who Lila is but rather in how the narrative and writing treat her and what Lila ends up doing because of it. And it’s why Scarlet Lady is superior in its handling of Lila.

Lila in Scarlet Lady is not a good person. Nor does she become a good person. She admits that she lies for fun and just to see how far she can take it. She’s fully on board with continuing her lies and trying to fool her mom and the school to get away with staying out of school for a year. This is all in lines with regular Canon Lila and shows that they are still the same person, it’s just the events and situation and narrative that differentiate them. It’s in how the Scarlet Lady story handles Lila and her character.

For the sake of convenience, I'm going to be using Scarlet Lady to refer to the comic itself and Scar to refer to Chloe's hero identity specifically.

Let’s review and compare Lila in Scarlet Lady to canon:

1. Lila in Scarlet Lady is NOT a plot device. 

She doesn’t need to be. It’s clear that the plot is and has been moving forward on its own without her. Even if Lila were to have been removed from Scarlet Lady altogether, it’s pretty evident from everything else that’s been happening that we would still be getting to some plots and story points without too much difference or delay.

Scarlet Lady has a natural progression. The story and characters aren’t so rooted in the status quo that sudden additional character like Lila or Felix are necessary to throw in just to move things along. And Lila isn’t simply forgotten about when she’s not needed to do so. She doesn’t vanish without an explanation only to return also without explanation just to be able to force the plot to move.

Events within a story can be dependent on the characters, but the plot itself should not be dependent on what feels like a third party to show up and force things to happen when they should already be happening. That speaks of bad writing.

Canon Lila existed for the purpose of getting the Grimoire into Marinette’s hands so she could be the one to take it to Fu and learn about the Guardian and Miraculous secrets, as well as to be a future helper to Hawk Moth. Up until that point, the plot had done nothing with Fu and had done nothing to move things forward in learning about the Miraculous or why Hawk Moth would want the specific two. And after Volpina, the episodes that feature Lila are the ones that display more plot progression or involve Hawk Moth having layers to his plans. Lila only appears when she’s to be used to further a plot, then disappears until needed again.

In Scarlet Lady, by the time Lila appears, it’s already clear to Adrien, Plagg, and Fu that Scar is a horrible person and that she had no business being a hero. It’s also clear that Adrien is handling the hero work on his own and needs help. This is part of what causes Adrien to know that Lila is a liar and call her out on his own because in addition to Lila stealing his book, he already knows Scar well enough to know Lila’s story of Scar saving her would never happen. Lila isn’t the reason they find this out, nor is she the reason that the book is discovered and gets to the Guardian because Plagg chooses for himself to take Adrien to Fu. And afterwards, Lila’s appearances are more natural. Plot progression happens with and without her. Her appearances involve her interacting with her classmates like a person. They don’t have to have a plot-relevant purpose.

Narratively, there are three reasons to put in a scene.

Plot

Expansion/information/character focus

Entertainment

In canon, all of Lila's scenes are plot-focused and plot-driving.

In Scarlet Lady, they vary. Some are plot (like Lila's anti-Scar attitude getting more focus and validity over time). But more of Lila's scenes are focus in on her character and entertainment. This builds Lila as a person and makes her enjoyable to watch.

Lila is not a plot device as the plot doesn’t NEED her to progress. But that’s not to say that Lila doesn’t matter…

2. Lila has a role that nobody else in the story could cover.

As I’ve stated before, Canon Lila is pretty much another Chloe and there was nothing she was used for that Chloe couldn’t have or wouldn’t have been able to do. As a rival/foil to Marinette, as another love interest for Adrien, and even as a helper to Hawk Moth—by the time Lila started any of these roles, Chloe was already there and fully capable of filling them.

In Scarlet Lady, due to Scar being the hero Lila is butting heads with and being outted earlier on, SL Lila ends up not filling those same “roles”. She’s not a rival to Scar or Marinette, just a hater/critic of the former and a friend to the latter. She was called out by Adrien so she is shown to have no further interest in trying to pursue him. And as of yet, there has been nothing of Lila helping Hawk Moth.

Instead, Lila’s scenes show her engaging with the other classmates. More of the results of her being revealed as a liar. Her being a queen of sass and snark. And most importantly, her going head to head with Chloe and Scarlet Lady in verbal lashings that prove her silver tongue is no duller for people knowing of it.

In fact, she’s a part of people starting to realize that Scar is in fact horrible and her popularity starts to break down. 

Yes, yes, we do have both Adrien and Marinette who realize how horrible Scarlet Lady is and hate her, but other than some snarky comments at her expense, they don’t do much about it. Mostly because they can’t. Especially early on, it’s clear that they’re forced to keep Scar around because as useless as she is otherwise, she is the only one who can purify the akuma and undo the damage. And as Fu has told them, Scar is still too popular with the city that trying to take the earrings from her would result in more problems. The two of them have to focus on dealing with the akumas more than trying to deal with Scar. Plus let’s be real: even as snarky as they both can get, they’re just too nice.

Others are also similarly of no help. Alya is still completely wrapped in Scar’s facade of a hero to see how selfish and unheroic she is. Most of the other classmates also go along with this narrative. But even the ones who DO know like Alix and Nino aren’t that active. They know but they don’t do anything with that knowledge.

Lila has no such barriers. She’s not a hero. She doesn’t know how “necessary” Scar is in akuma battles. And she doesn’t have to worry about not upsetting Scar since the “hero” already hates her. And thanks to Marinette and the other classmates with their “we still care about you for you” bit, she now has no reason to put up a mask…or a filter.

This makes Lila in prime position to try to push more against Scarlet Lady’s popularity and talk at length about how horrible she actually is. Something she is MORE than happy to do.

Lila is essentially the first main civilian hater of Scarlet Lady.

And with that in mind…

3. Lila’s actions are reasonable. Perhaps not intelligent, but they are reasonable.

She commits a number of the same acts as canon in Volpina. Stealing Adrien’s book, buying a necklace to be a fake Miraculous, trying to claim herself as the hero’s best friend for attention, and trying to claim she is a hero herself to get Adrien’s attention.

SL Lila is not a master manipulator or an up and coming villain. We are not expected to view her as a real threat to anything except Chloe’s ego.

Sure, she wants to speedrun the popularity and attention and maybe a nice rich blond boytoy to be her arm candy, but it’s clear in the very first comic she appears in that Lila has NO IDEA what sort of people she’s interacting with or telling lies about, and so has no way to prepare for what happens. First in that Adrien is so DONE with everything that he calls her out himself from the get go. Second in that Scarlet Lady appears to “save” Adrien from Lila’s lies when it was no longer necessary, proclaims aloud to the multitude of bystanders that Lila is a fraud, and then dumps her in a fountain for good measure and further insults her to boot. And at the end of it all, Scar doesn’t apologize for her actions, doubles down, and only further insults Lila. And as if all of that wasn’t bad enough, still being wet AND being on top of the Eiffel Tower results in her getting sick.

As such, Lila’s hatred of the Ladybug Hero in this version of events feels more understandable and based on a legitimate grievance. Several even. Scar’s actions go well beyond canon’s version. We clearly see how hurt and humiliated Lila is. Plus we have all of Scar’s previous antics to look back on and…well, we already came into this with more reason to hate Scarlet Lady than Lila, and Lila simply jumped on the bandwagon that was already there.

It also makes more sense then that Lila never even pretends to forgive Scar. Scar never apologized. She caused emotional and physical harm to Lila. And unlike Ladybug, Scar never tried to make an offer of friendship so Lila isn’t losing out on any opportunities out of spite. Heck, Scar’s treatment of Alya shows us that there is nothing to be gained from even pretending to be a fan of Scar. So Lila’s hatred of Scar is understandable and her refusal to be friends with Scar makes perfect sense.

When she hides away at her home, there’s a valid reason behind it due to her being sick. Her “plan” to fool her mom and the school in order to avoid going back also makes sense given the fallout she knows she would have to face if she did. (At least more sense than it made in canon for her to disappear for months just because Ladybug outted her to one guy who clearly seemed to be on her side more and neither of them did anything to inform anyone else of the truth.)

And when she returns to the school and the classmates, it isn’t out of nowhere. Once she was no longer sick, she was planning to continue some ruse. We clearly see how despondent Lila was over her situation and the feeling that she’s on her own and no one would side with her over Scar. This was deep. It shows real fears and feelings on Lila’s part. And it’s telling that it was the assurance from Marinette and support from her classmates that convinced her to rejoin the class. It doesn’t look like she would have had the willingness or perhaps the courage to do so if Marinette hadn’t reassured Lila that they had her back and had taken steps to try and help her, even when she wasn’t there and as of yet had done nothing to warrant it.

Here we see a Lila who is vulnerable and real. Who is clearly impacted by events on a deeper and more personal and meaningful level—or at least better than “GRR! Superhero revealed I was lying about her to a boy I like! I shall join the terrorist attacking the city and potentially destroy the WORLD for revenge!”

In this way, Lila is portrayed more like a normal girl. Since the narrative isn’t trying to play her off like she’s supposed to be some master manipulator the way canon does, Lila for all intents and purposes IS a normal teenage girl. A normal teenage girl who was humiliated and injured by someone with more power and social status than she can fight back against. She’s less of an archetype and more of a person with her own thoughts and feelings and ultimately choices which—even if we don’t like or agree with, we can at least see and understand.

Her actions are reasonable. Not just in that we as the audience can empathize with them but that they make sense. For Lila’s character, for her personality, and for someone in her position.

4. No plot armor.

SL Lila’s plans don’t just seamlessly work out. If anything, they go very wrong very quickly. Even before Scar calls her out, Adrien already made it clear that he knows she’s a liar. This effectively ruins her plan to try and get his interest and not just in the “Adrien being nice but not in to her” way. Furthermore, as she’s revealed as a liar in front of the entire class, we clearly see some of her classmates (Alya) continue to take issue with her later on. And even the ones who don’t have such issues are at least fully aware of Lila’s personality and don’t allow her to fool or manipulate them.

Sure, she still tries to manipulate her mom and the school to avoid having to go back, but that doesn’t last that long. And in Lila’s defense at that period of time, she was legitimately sick as a result of her dip in the fountain.

So it’s pretty clear that Lila lacks the plot armor that she had in canon. But it’s not just that Lila experiences losses, it’s also in the ways she succeeds. And unlike Canon Lila, SL Lila is not reliant on the plot to accomplish anything or make things work in her favor.

Some classmates still consider her friends. She’s still welcomed back—even with a bit more trepidation than before. She gets some epic zingers on Chloe and Scar. She got to have another interview with Alya just to be able to go on at length about how horrible Scar is. She manages to get on live TV just to heckle Scar. And over time, more and more people are seeing the problems with Scar.

Lila still gets some victories. Certainly not as many and not as big as what she gets in canon, but at least they don’t feel so forced. And they’re entertaining to see.

Which delves a bit more into an additional point I wanted to make…

5. There are consequences and responses to Lila and her lies.

With Canon Lila, everyone is in this weird sort of limbo where they automatically believe Lila JUST ENOUGH to not question her but at the same time NOT ENOUGH to actually follow through with some of her lies. In Chameleon, Lila claims to have and then magically be cured of Tinnitus and Bustier believes her just enough to rearrange the seats for her at her will but not enough to require some doctor’s note or confirmation of either the presence or recovery from the medical issue—even in the event the former could be overlooked, the latter could NOT and any school or teacher worth their salt would require SOME proof to discontinue an accommodation for someone with a disability because that would be a liability. In Ladybug, Lila claimed Marinette pushed her down stairs and the adults believed her just enough to admonish Marinette but not enough to get Lila actual medical attention, which is a liability and gross negligence. In Ono-chan, Nino believes Lila’s lies about needing Adrien to help tutor her just enough to give her an opening to go to his place but not enough to follow through, check up on her afterwards, or reasonably consider that maybe the supermodel with the super strict father might not be the best person to tutor her and he should ask for help from Max or Sabrina instead?

Each and every time, Lila is believed in the exact way she wants to the exact extent that would most benefit her with minimal effort on her part when it shouldn’t work that way. Even if we disregard how stupidly obvious many of her lies are, there is something wrong when they believe her enough to trust what she says over anyone else telling them otherwise but not enough to follow through on what that belief should then involve. They believe her when she says someone pushed her down the stairs but not enough to get her medical attention? Make sure she has no broken bones or internal bleeding? This has the issue of ruining the suspension of disbelief and making it look like the problem isn’t Lila being amazingly smart and evil so much as it is everyone around Lila being infuriatingly stupid and negligent.

Scarlet Lady nixes that problem in one episode by having Lila be revealed as a liar immediately, but furthermore follows up on it and the fallout of those lies. Nothing big or major or life-ruining—it’s middle school, after all. But the impact is still there.

Even episodes later, we see effects of Lila’s earlier lies. Chloe of course keeps referencing them in their encounters and yeah, it is reason for no one to really take Lila’s word against Scar’s—at least at first. Alya and Adrien both give her some pretty evil looking stares, showing that even five episodes later they both still very much remember what she did and do not approve of her getting free jewelry. Alya in particular stands out. She is shown to bear such a grudge against Lila for lying on her blog that she holds no sympathy for her being sick. And in the second intermission, she looks physically pained when she has to ask Lila for an interview on why she hates Scar. Something she had apparently sworn she would never do again after being fooled the first time. And something Lila looks completely overjoyed to do. There are people who are angry with Lila. They have every reason and every right to be. But it doesn’t have to mean the end of the world for her. It just means that there needs to be something.

The classmates don’t have to be made out to be stupid to make Lila work. They are canonically very kind and forgiving people. But canon makes them come off that way more because the lack of continuity seems to erase the lessons of previous episodes or somehow make them forget that certain people are horrible.

Zoe fixes this and a lot of problems in canon by having not just the classmates but EVERYONE in Paris remember and respond to things that have happened previously, even if just in little ways. Given how little room Zoe has to work with, this is HUGE. Simply adding comments here and there puts the scenes from canon in a new light and makes the classmates feel more fleshed out and like…dare I say it: PEOPLE.

The difference from Canon has a lot to do with how everyone else reacts to Lila, which makes these other characters and Lila appear more real and like fleshed out people rather than caricatures who only exist and move as the plot requires. They don’t have to bash Lila or try to light her on fire for it to be clear that Lila isn’t a good person and that there are consequences to her actions.

This is all leading up to the real possibility of…

6. Character arc?

It says something that contrary to most expectations, Lila is not what one would consider to be redeemed in Scarlet Lady. Lila is not a good person here just because she rejoins the class and becomes their friend and Zoe at no point tries to pretend that she is.

Marinette and other classmates made the choice to reach out and try to befriend Lila, but unlike most other arcs in other stories, this doesn’t result in Lila being redeemed. And she in no way got Lila to admit she was wrong and try to be a good person. 

Lila is not necessarily forgiven or absolved of what she did. Nor is anything Lila did magically erased. All Marinette did and all she had to do was encourage Lila to not run away now that the truth was out. She helped convince her to return to the class with everyone fully knowing what she’s done and the type of person that she is and move forward with that. She informs Lila that despite her lies, there are people in the class who genuinely care about her and are worried about her. 

Hell, it’s not even all up to Marinette. We see Alix sending messages to Lila encouraging her to join the class for Marinette’s birthday party. Sabrina fully admitted to inviting Lila to that party. Same with Rose, who has also been expressed to be worried about Lila. There are members of the class who are shown to care about her and who were noted to have made an effort to help Lila even after what had happened. Because they consider her a friend despite what she did, and that’s what friends do. All they asked was that Lila stop with the lies, stop with running away, and give people a chance.

And the result is the more mellow but passive aggressive Lila Rossi we see in Scarlet Lady. Not a Lila who is a good person or who is redeemed. This is a Lila who is at least honest with everyone about the sort of person that she is. She’s not pretending like she was in canon. She’s not being fake. She’s not putting on a mask of niceness anymore. This is a Lila who is fully acknowledged by everyone to have been a liar, to still be very selfish, and in some ways...a bad influence.

With a few episodes left, perhaps there is more we’ll see of Lila’s development and who she’ll become. Maybe we’ll get to see her take the steps to become better. To be a good friend, a good person, and maybe even a better hero than Scar. I don’t know for sure just yet what Zoe has planned for a character like Lila, but I do know what I see here:

A good start.

[abrakuxas]

Should I do a part 2 with Lilith, Mal, Gnarrk Karen and Duela?

Hey, it's the Teen Titans!

My iteration of the fab5 with both Donna's costumes

Current headcanons of this version:

- Dick Grayson | Robin (14): mostly the same but I'd say he kinda forced Bruce to accept him. Bruce kept saying he would deal with Zucco with his billionaire influence but Dick would not accept it, telling Bruce he can and would escape the mansion to take revenge. When Bruce noticed Dick would end up in the same path as him, he decided it would be best to guide him through it and that having an adult around to help him do it right is better than letting him do it alone with no training and Dick would 100% do it alone if necessary.

- Wally West | Kid Flash (14): I'll be honest, I don't think I have any relevant or little difference in my head for Wally. Mostly because I haven't read him outside of Titans comics and I think he's cool there. He starts off a little annoying but then he drops off and as Flash he is just a great friend to Dick and everyone so idk?? Not enough knowledge about him.

- Garth | Aqualad (13): My immediate headcanon for Garth is him already being able to use hydrokinesis. I feel like he'd be the youngest and least experienced of them along with Donna as both of them came from other places and are still learning about other cultures and all that. He has particular beef with Roy who mocks his whole dependency of water thing but he comes to learn that Roy is just trying to feel better about his insecurity as Garth is not only capable of doing magic but also being raised underwater means he is actually very very strong while Roy feels shooting arrows makes him the weakest member of the group so messing with the youngest kid, the fish out of water makes him feel more powerful. I'd say Garth and Donna would be easy friends as they know about each other's culture far more. Garth is also the wisest and calmest of them, I'd say but when he does get angry it's a very scary thing as his magic powers are no joke.

- Donna Troy | Wonder Girl (14): Donna Troy is a mystery. She's not the only child in Themyscira as Amazons here are quite capable of having children with each other (hello, DC comics, you don't need to make them r*pists if your canonize trans Amazons. They can literally just have women centered pregnancies without magic or abusing men for it), but Donna was adopted by none other than Queen Hippolyta. As far as she knows, Wonder Woman saved her from a burning building but after never finding her parents and sensing something different about her, she decided to take her back home where they found out Donna is not only quite similar to Amazons, but quite similar to Diana specifically... But Donna is NOT an Amazon, nor a clone. Donna was created by the Titans of myth, from clay to life, just as Diana once was, she was named Troia by them as she was designed to work similarly as the Trojan Horse, infiltrating the Amazons and eventually growing into their champion to destroy the gods and free them from Tartaros. What they did not expect is that Donna would follow Diana's footsteps and go to men's world in her younger years where she would meet her best friends and learn not to be a warrior but a human girl. She is a great fighter, of course, the strongest of the team, she became fast friends with them and even thought at first they could even be demigods: Aqualad had power over water and came from Poseidon's Atlantis, Kid Flash ran like Hermes, Robin was a strategist as Athena and that Speedy boy? His bow and arrow and handsomeness could only be taken from Apollo, right? It took a while for Donna to learn about humanity and teenagers but she fell in love with that world, even developing her own sense of style and fashion, changing a lot from the Amazon warrior into a teenage girl. A superhero teenage girl. (Maybe I'll develop this more with her transformation into Troia later down the line)

- Roy Harper | Speedy (15): My biggest headcanon is that Roy's mother (who as far as I know we have no info about) was Navajo and died in childbirth. Roy's dad raised him until dying saving Brave Bow and Brave Bow took Roy and raised him knowing who his mother was. I'd just like to make him a little bit less of the white guy raised by natives trope that lots of golden age comics did for some reason. Well, Roy here was not much different, eventually being adopted by Ollie and training with him and Dinah. In the Team, Roy is the rival to Dick. He is flirty, a showoff and wants really bad to be a badass not only to impress Donna but to come on top of Robin as he feels GA and Batman are rivals and so should they as the only regular humans on the team and at points he even denies being part of the Titans, only being at the same place at the same time. After his insecurities and anxieties take him to a dangerous path and conflict with Ollie, he learns to warm to the Titans as friends and family after they take care of him and don't judge him, trying their best to help and understand him.

What do you guys think? :)

[kamaela]

WIP Snip

Thanks for the tag @its-the-allure, @phoenixortheflame, @tackytigerfic. Posting WIP snips make me nervous, because who the hell knows if this snip will make it in to the final iteration of the fic? Not me.

Harry raises his wand higher, his grip on his dagger tightening. 

A raised eyebrow. “I’m defenceless, Potter.”

“You expect me to believe that you don’t have any other weapons on you?”

Malfoy smirks. “Oh, you are so very clever.”

Harry scowls. “Is that really necessary?”

“Is what?” Another step. 

“That whole preening prat act you’ve got going on. I thought you might have grown past that.”

“I’ve done no such thing. Preening prat is my signature. I’ve curated it. No one does it as well as me.” Three small steps. 

“I agree with you there.” Harry says, dryly.

“Good.” Malfoy's lazy tone wraps around him. Squeezes and chokes. “Now are you really going to stand there with your wand and your little knife and that gun I know is strapped to your chest, while I’m surrendering myself?”

He’s so close now, Harry could stretch his arm just a bit further and the tip of his wand would meet Malfoy’s pointed chin.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” he replies, keeping his wand arm outstretched. 

Malfoy tuts. “What, are you scared? Scared you can’t beat me in the barbaric hand to hand combat your muggles are so fond of?

“My muggles? Just because I grew up with muggles, doesn’t mean all muggles are ‘my muggles’.”

“You’re focusing on the wrong thing here Potter," he whines, "Come on, drop those weapons and fight me. I know you want to. I’ll even let you keep the knife.”

Harry lowers his wand, only a fraction, but Malfoy doesn’t miss it. A broad grin cracks across his pale, carved face. 

“Oh wonderful. This is going to be such fun.”

Harry rolls his eyes and throws both of their wands to the side of the room, where they land on the floor with a clatter, rolling out of sight. After a moment's hesitation, he discards the dagger too.

Malfoy's grin turns leering. He walks back and forth in front of Harry. “Want to take bets on who’ll break who’s nose first? Odds are in my favour I think, what with my previous experience.”

“Stop prancing around and shut up. Get ready.”

Tagging @kk1smet @fastbrother @tripably @faiell @edieblakewrites. And go!

[kunikinnie]

kunikida wants to hold hands

BSD: Love is War? 100 Followers Event Genre: fluff Word count: 2k Warnings: none, I think Synopsis: This not-a-date couldn't get any worse. a/n: gotta make Kunikida happy somewhere, right? HAHAHAH AFTER 2 YEARS!!! also tagging @requiem626k! finally did it omg (also there's an Ace Attorney ref there somewhere hope someone notices heh)

This was not a date. 

That, dear readers, was the hundredth iteration of that very phrase in Kunikida’s mind. The ceaseless reminders were necessary for him to stay grounded in reality - or so he said.

Sure, he was in an amusement park. Sure, he was walking around with you. Sure, you were wearing clothes that were far more flattering on you than your usual.

But no. This was not a date. 

Your clients were chatting away in their line for one of the rides up to the very moment they entered it.

“It’s great that they’re having fun,” you said before licking your ice cream. It would be a shame if they hired bodyguards just so that they could have a “date” only for it to bore them, you thought.

“True, but don’t let it get to your head.” Your coworker’s eyes were fixed on your cone. “We’re not here to have fun.”

“I know. It’s still such a waste, though.”

You readjusted how you sat on the concrete bench, accidentally grazing his hand in the process. When you first entered the Agency, you used to apologize immediately after any accidental physical contact. However, years of working with your then superior have made you comfortable enough to ignore it.

For him, however, it was the complete opposite: the more he got to know you, the more he’d become mental over every single touch of yours, no matter how minor. 

That one just now was the 17th of that day alone - nearly thrice the daily average. Worse is that they lasted longer and had more skin contact than the average as well. Were you doing this on purpose? Or were you just that dense?

With how fast these numbers were rising, it’s no surprise how his blood pressure was about to set a new record.

“But we have to blend in somehow, right?”

“We’re already wearing casual clothes, Y/N.”

“Yeah, but we still don’t look like the others here - you know what I mean?”

Of course he knew what you meant. Most people that would visit an amusement park on a weekday were either students who had nothing better to do or couples whose schedules only allowed for these days. Guess which demographic happened to fill up the entire area during your mission.

…so what were you suggesting he did? Move closer? Win you stuff? Hold your hand? Because if you really wanted to, he would do any of those - even all of them at once. 

“We need to stay professional,” he said without missing a beat.

“Oh, just loosen up. Come on. You look like an annoyed dad forced to chaperone his teenage daughter with how deep your forehead lines are.”

At this point, he was used to your teasing, but still… annoyed dad? Really? Kunikida furrowed his eyebrows even further. “What should I look like, then?”

You stared at him, gears almost visibly turning. Under the scrutiny of your gaze he felt like the very ice cream that was melting in your hands. “Like this, maybe?”

Before he could guess what you were about to do, he felt something fluffy but stiff hug his head. It must have been a silly headband of sorts, judging from your barely-contained laughter - what the heck was it exactly?

He took the mystery headband off and stared at it. It was a pair of bunny ears.

“I thought you didn’t want us to stick out?”

“You wouldn’t stick out if you weren’t such a killjoy,” you grumbled. “At least you’d look cute with those on.”

 C-cute?

“Anyway, they're about to go to the next ride,” you said as you picked up your things and prepared to leave. “We should get moving too and stay professional.”

Ouch. A direct arrow to the heart. “Y-yes, got it.”

—

Unfortunately, Kunikida’s professionalism dwindled even further. But no, it wasn’t because of you. Well, yes, but actually no. 

The question of acting like a couple for the sake of the mission had been tossed around in his head countless times. Each and every assignment was given utmost importance and must be completed successfully at all means necessary. Had it been anyone else, Kunikida wouldn’t have given it a second thought.

But this is you were talking about. Something as simple as holding your hand was sending him into overdrive. Sure, he could hide his feelings as best as he could the whole day if needed, but what if he screwed up somehow and ended up putting you in an awkward position? Worse, what if you caught on behind his hidden motivations and rejected him in the middle of a mission? 

That would suck. Hard.

Plus, knowing that Dazai skipped work today and recently purchased a pair of binoculars, Kunikida was intent on not slipping up. What if that bastard were to take photos and tease him - worse, you, about it?

That would suck. Even harder.

“Are you okay, Kunikida-san?”

No, no he was not. “I-It’s a bit colder today than I expected.” It couldn’t be further from the truth - if anything, he wanted to sit forever under the shade - but it was the first excuse his dazed mind could come up with.

“Really? That’s new. You always come prepared.” 

Well, he was prepared with dealing with the situation at hand (i.e. lying), but it wouldn’t be right to say he was prepared to deal with his emotions for the rest of the day. If he were, he wouldn’t have had to stick to a stupid lie like this in the first place… although the temptation to use it as a reason to hold your hand was flipping his brain inside out.

But he was Kunikida Doppo. Professional detective of the professional Armed Detective Agency. He must not ruin his image any further. “It happens to all of us-”

He was cut off by a sudden draping of gentle warmth - you had put your own jacket over his shoulders. The astonishment left him speechless, staring at you like he had violated you somehow.

“Don’t worry about me. I literally just ate ice cream - you think I feel cold?”

“But-”

“It’s fine.” You smiled so sweetly to ease him but the guilt only continued to swallow him up. “Think about it as thanks for everything you’ve done for me.”

If that’s how you want to put it, then he had no reason to refuse. But that didn’t change the truth. How shameful of him, really. What a terrible senior, let alone aspiring boyfriend he was. If he were to receive any punishment for his acts, he would accept it gladly. He’d atone for his sins and live as a renewed man.

…and it seems someone above heard his prayer.

The two of you were now standing in front of the attraction your clients just entered.

“D-do we have to go in?” He asked meekly.

“I mean, shouldn’t we? If someone wanted to hurt them, the haunted house is the perfect choice. It’s dark, pretty isolated, and they could easily pose as one of the actors.”

Yes, you were right. You were absolutely right. The haunted house is the perfect choice in more ways than one… 

And just as he promised, Kunikida accepted his fate and walked into the realm of his worst nightmares.

Stoic as he was, you still took notice of his strange behavior. Despite the dim lighting you saw his face turn pale and his grip on your small jacket tighten significantly. Only then did your other senior’s words echo in your mind.

Nothing’s better than watching a horror movie with Kunikida-kun! 

Ah. How brave of him to enter then, you thought.

But to him, it was a foolish decision. It was the most foolishly made foolish decision he made that day as his mistakes had made themselves known once more. Just the heat from the additional jacket increased his sweat production, and his clammy hands nearly tore through the fabric. Never mind that you witnessed him like this now; at this point he’s so done the only desire he had left was not to tarnish the reputation of the Agency to your clients.

Although his senses were bombarded in almost every way possible, he forced them all to focus on the two in front of him - as if there were no one else, including you - and soon, it eased him by at least 20%. Then suddenly, an unaccounted 20% decrease relieved him as well - why that was the case he wasn’t sure.

He didn’t give the last observation much thought, however. By the time his brain slowly began to function again, you and your clients finally made it out of the house. Alive.

“I see why it’s pretty famous,” you chirped. “It really was scary!” 

You didn’t even seem bothered at all. Well, as long as you and your clients had fun, then all his suffering would not go in vain-

 Wait, since when was he holding your hand? 

“Oh, someone’s calling.”

As quick as the realization came, so did you let go of his hand to swipe your phone from your pocket. The mix of embarrassment and disappointment that swelled as your lingering warmth slowly disappeared couldn’t be fully described. 

“Yes. Alright, sir. We’ll be right there.”

—

And just like that, your clients left. Quite satisfied clients, you might even say.

“What a day that was!” You said as you stretched your arms. It was a surprise how full of energy you were, considering that you two were in the park for as long as the sun was up. “Weird that they didn’t catch the fireworks, though.”

“Fireworks?” 

“Well, it’s actually for some other event in some other place. But this is where the best view is!”

You pointed at the largest attraction in the park: the ferris wheel.

“...if you’d like to join me, that is.”

The two of you knew he had plans after your mission. In fact, you were convinced that he’d have rushed to leave right after they said goodbye. But to your surprise, he gladly accepted your offer.

“Of course I would.”

Half of him was surprised he gave in. The silent cries of errands to be done were almost deafening, given how much he had to reschedule because he spent too much time getting ready that morning. But the other and embarrassingly louder half was simply overjoyed at this opportunity to fulfill a secret wish of his: to ride the ferris wheel with the person he loved most.

Perhaps it was that elation that erased whatever anxiety he’d gone through that day. For the moment he began talking with you casually from the end of the line to the moment you entered the cab, he almost forgot every single embarrassing act and thought he’d gathered.

How could he forget the joy of just talking to and being with you? 

“Kunikida-san-” 

The fireworks started bursting in the sky, lighting it up with colorful hues.  

“You’re right,” you continued. “It is cold today.”

It took a few moments before your words registered into his brain. “Ah, right. Sorry about that.”

He swiftly removed your jacket from his shoulders and gently draped them over yours. And he should have just as swiftly let go, but the way you were staring at him made it impossible to let go. The look in your beautiful eyes… the thoughts that followed were nearly just as impossible to resist.

“I’m sorry.”

You suddenly stole the words he should be saying. But why?

“I should have been more clear.”

Before he knew it, you took his hand and grasped it firmly.

“This would warm me up much better.”

Hearing you say that literally took him aback. What was the meaning of that? Why would- Wait-

Your chuckle only deepened the redness on his entire face. “I’ve been trying to stop myself the whole day, you know.” You couldn’t have been joking. With that expression, you couldn’t have been… right?

“Then-” he nearly choked.  “Then you shouldn’t have stopped yourself.”

His voice was so soft that if you hadn’t been in an enclosed space, you might not have heard it at all. Yet every word made it through. “I thought you said we had to stay professional?”

He smiled. You were right. As your cab reached the top of the wheel and the fireworks boomed as loudly as your hearts, he finally intertwined his fingers with yours.

“I suppose there can be exceptions.”

taglist: @stygianoir, @irethepotato, @kisara-16reblogs, @thatdazaikin, @dazaee, @menshusband, @celestair, @bloobewy, @renaxnnas, @kunikida-simp, @fyodorisbbg

[myfandomrealitea]

I really wanted to ask you about this:

Do you have any advice of how to develop critical thinking and media literacy?

There are many, many ways you can practice critical thinking, evaluation and media literacy. At its most basic, you can access student resources for lower levels of education like earlier high school years and look at the examples and guidance given there. Rehashing this will often give you a good foundation to build off of and apply.

One of the main aspects of critical thinking involves discerning what is fact and what is opinion. A good portion of media analytics is opinion. What is 'bad' by one person's standards is 'sub-par' or even 'great' by another's. Similarly, the majority of fandom space is opinion-based. The main pitfall of fandom spaces is that everyone wants their opinion to be taken as fact, which is where critical thinking and even basic communication begin to fall away.

"I'm right and you're wrong" and "this is the way it should be, if you do it or think differently, you're wrong" are common roadblocks people run into when engaging with things like media analysis and even basic fandom activities like fanfiction.

'Mischaracterisation' is fanfiction is one popular topic, especially here on Tumblr. What people often fail to recognize is the true creative depth of fanfiction and using someone else's pre-existing characters. Characters as they are in the source material may not make the choices or behave in the ways necessary to activate or validate certain plot material or author intentions in fanfiction. Which is, inherently, one of the main points of fanfiction. Exploring the alternate.

While you might immediately recoil and say "he'd never do that!" you then have to sit back and recognise that that's exactly the point. That this iteration of that character is not meant to directly reflect the source material. Its a re-imagining, a re-interpretation. That doesn't mean its bad. Its simply different.

'Mischaracterisation' is only actually applicable in fandom spaces when someone is trying to insist as a blanket fact that a character would do something or behave in a way that blatantly contradicts their canon behavior, opinions, morals and perspective or deliberately interpreting an action in biased bad faith. It is not actually applicable to fanfiction where creative liberty dictates you can do whatever the fuck you want with a character because you're not trying to claim it as part of the source content.

Questions To Ask Yourself

Am I reacting to [media] emotionally instead of rationally? Is my emotional response to [media] blinding me to the rational or critical approach(es)?

Am I allowing my expectations to get in the way of me understanding [media] fully? Am I forming a biased negative opinion of [media] because it isn't meeting my expectations?

Even if I disagree with [media], do I actually understand it? Can I recognise the reasoning behind choices made or actions even if I don't agree with them?

Am I searching too hard to hidden meaning or purpose in absolutely everything? Can I recognise what is simply passive information/detail and what is active information/detail? (E.g; English tutors saying a character's curtains are blue because they're depressed when throughout the literature its passively reinforced that blue is the character's favorite color.)

Even though I disagree with the statement or opinion shown, is it necessary to argue against it? Is there any benefit to making my counter-opinion known or is it simply a no-end argument? Am I just using arguing as a means of release/fulfilment? Am I treating this person poorly because of their opinion/statement?

Resources

Critical Thinking Exercises & Explanations #1 The Critical Thinking Activity Workbook Early Stage Critical Thinking Games Five Media Literacy Activities Six Media Literacy Ideas