#and none of these are spoiler related or i removed the spoilers

[alucardens]

Yeah though seriously- you might not ship Buck and Tommy and that's okay- everyone is entitled to their opinion as long as it doesn't harm anyone- what makes it not okay is when you say things like you're being queerbaited- in a show that *literally* has a canon lesbian couple (where one half of the couple is a main character) SINCE the first episode of the show, that, 1) consistently, as a couple, have storylines that get resolved in a way that shows the writers aren't brushing the characters away, and arcs that show character growth.

2) NONE. NONE. Of the canonically queer characters have been harmed in a way that resulted in permanent death. And when they do get in harms way (which is inevitable- this is the nature of the show), it's done in a thoughtful way- their actions and risk of death/ injury WOULD add something to the plot/ storyline. Their loss would have an impact on us as the viewer. They would not be meaningless deaths. And aside from death, even queer characters who 'exit the main storyline of the show' but are otherwise alive, are still done with thought and care. I mean, (and spoilers for the first few seasons of the show,) Michael's storyline lasted (iirc) about 3-5? seasons. (We are not talking about meta events such as why they removed the actor from the show). He and his (named AND on-screen) husband, David, move to help people. His husband is literally a neurosurgeon. There was literally an episode revolving around Michael's proposal to David. Even after they've moved away, they're STILL referenced and talked about. They're not pushed away or ignored like the way some shows treat characters who aren't there anymore.

Josh (my bby fr), who's also been canonically gay since his first appearance, also has a arc that's real and very very relatable to most of us. The show takes it fucking seriously as well. And Josh is GOOD. Even as a side character, he's not reduced to the 'gay best friend'. As I said, he has his own storyline and arc, he has his own opinions, he's good at his job.

Aside from the main characters, imo, 911 also does a damn good job of showing that queer people exist. You might not like it because 'oh they're showing queer people who are in danger/ not happy/ dying.' To which I'd respond by saying that you're watching a show about paramedics. As much as we like to say this is the gay firefighter show (accurate lmao), we need to remember that there's going to be dark themes in this show.

I don't remember every call they've come across that involved queer people, but we for sure remember the 'we ever only wanted to go together' scene, with the elderly husbands. Yes it involves death. That's why we're seeing this scene in the first place- the engine wouldn't have to respond to a call if there wasn't a call in the first place. But it also fucking shows queer people growing old together and making a life for themselves. The opening scene is literally a montage of the husbands' relationship over the years. I don't know how many mainstream shows put that much fucking care in queer characters.

And then there's also the wlw couple in that car accident thing- not as significant as the husbands but like, that's the point, is it not? Not all their calls are significant- we don't even see all of them. The point is that they just show queer people existing as a general thing. It's not strange that the two women who were in the same car in a crash are both gay. There's no weird over-sexualised kiss. There's no show or mention or even hint of homophobia or confusion by the firefighters. It's fucking normal. So yeah. Do I ship endgame Tevan? Not at this moment. Do I like them together as a couple right now? Fucking yes. My personal opinion is that I like Buck and Eddie together more (at least for now), but why would I not ship Tommy and Buck right now? It makes no fucking sense not to. Buck is in a happy (queer) relationship, he's still figuring himself out as a bi man in his 30s, he's dating a masc man, who's past is messy and has since grown (oh look at that, another character arc revolving around a queer person), and they're clearly fucking happy together.

Anyway. I have a lot of feelings about this lmao. You want proper bi representation? Bro. I don't know what to tell you but you're looking at it.

[gaywriterthings]

SquidBob Master List: Your SpongeBob SquarePants Guide to SquidBob Episodes

NOTE: Some episodes that focus on Squidward and SpongeBob's relationship are not counted either because of there being other characters directly involved too* (like "Naughty Nautical Neighbors"), Squidward is only shown to dislike/strongly hate SpongeBob or their relationship is not painted in a very positive light (like "Restraining SpongeBob" or "Employee of the Month"), their relationship is painted in a pretty neutral light/there's nothing special to note there** (like "Just One Bite"), the episode is focused mainly on Squidward (like "Squid's Day Off"), or because of the episode just being bad/universally disliked or there being a bunch of Squidward torture (like "Smoothe Jazz In Bikini Bottom" or "Abandon Twits"). I made this list to focus on their friendship and for people who like the ship, so only episodes that actively do that a positive are going to be listed, even if they just have one notable scene.

I will also provide descriptions for those who don't just want to watch the episodes for themselves, so that means there will be spoilers ahead. The descriptions of the episodes will be focused on Squidward (with a few exceptions), as it's far, far, far more apparent in the show how much love and care comes from SpongeBob's side of the relationship. What I want to highlight here is that there's a lot of love and care coming from Squidward's side too, despite how less it's shown.

*One episode I was thinking about including, season 11's "Mustard O' Mine," was removed because it technically falls under this category. However, I will label it before we begin as an honorable mention, as it's a Krusty Krab related adventure starring SpongeBob, Squidward, and Patrick where Squidward gets along very, very well with both of his neighbors and is shown to be incredibly happy for a good chunk of the episode's time. It is very good by season 11's standards.

**Another episode I was thinking about including, season 13's "Food PBBFT! Truck," was removed because it technically falls under this category, as I surprisingly couldn't find anything special to note about it during my rewatch. I wanted to label it as another honorable mention though, since it's one of those "SpongeBob and Squidward Krusty Krab adventures," one of my favorite episode genres. It's like "SpongeBob in RandomLand," but more tame and taking place in Rock Bottom. It is pretty good by season 13's standards.

I will try my best as someone who's shipped SpongeBob and Squidward for years to remain unbiased, only stating the facts of what happens in each episode and none of my personal opinions or interpretations, other than an emoji to let you know which ones are my favorites. However, if you would like to know more about what I think of any particular episode on this list, please let me know and I will be very, very happy to talk about it.

With all that said, please enjoy!

KEY:

⭐️ - Classic Episode

🍔 - Krusty Krab Related Episode/Adventure

🩵 - Caring Squidward

💕 - My Personal Favorites/Recommendations

❣️ - Specific Notable Scene

1. ⭐️🍔🩵💕 Pizza Delivery - Season 1

As the title suggests, Squidward is thrust into a pizza delivery with SpongeBob, during which two quickly get lost, and he makes known how adamant he is of disliking the entire situation. However, in the end, when he watches a customer act terribly mean to SpongeBob for forgetting a drink he never even ordered, Squidward is immediately shown to be worried about him. Upon seeing him break, fall to the ground, and sob, Squidward becomes furious, and pays the customer his karma for what he had driven SpongeBob to by slamming his pizza in his face.

2. ⭐️🩵❣️ SB-129 - Season 1

Though this episode happened because Squidward was trying to get away from SpongeBob, in the end, when there's no way for Squidward to get back home, he realizes just how much he actually misses him. Saying so out loud is what ultimately does bring him back home, where he then tells SpongeBob (and Patrick) they don't know how happy he is to see them.

3. ⭐️🩵❣️ Fools In April - Season 1

Though Squidward pulled a horrible prank on SpongeBob in this episode that drove him to tears, he soon begins to feel very bad about it, saying he never meant to make SpongeBob cry. However, he has difficulty telling him he's sorry, but his conscience and sheer amount of guilt eventually drive him to run to SpongeBob's house and shout through the door, saying three times he's sorry and that he never meant to hurt him, but in fact likes him, likes living next door, and likes hearing his foghorn alarm in the morning and his high pitched giggling at night.

4. ⭐️🩵💕 Dying For Pie - Season 2

Once Squidward is told by Mr. Krabs that SpongeBob is going to die by the end of the day, he immediately becomes very scared and worried. He begins to freak out and cry, and tells Krabs that he's going to "make SpongeBob's final hours the best he's ever had", and that there's gonna be so much love "he's gonna drown in it". He then asks SpongeBob what the most fun thing he can think of is and spends the entire day with him doing everything on his "friendship list," a list he keeps of the fun things he likes to do. It is incredibly obvious just how much Squidward genuinely doesn't want SpongeBob to die, and when he finally thinks he has, he immediately begins to sob. He shows nothing but care for him almost the entire episode.

5. ⭐️ Squidville - Season 2

Though Squidward finally moves out of Conch Street in this episode, he's quickly shown to find his new life in Tentacle Acres boring and repetitive. SpongeBob is still on his mind, something as simple as the sound of a reef blower making Squidward think he's there. He realizes he prefers the life on Conch Street with someone like SpongeBob, as different from him he may be, rather than the life in Tentacle Acres with other octopi just like him. In the end, he becomes the "SpongeBob" of Tentacle Acres before ultimately moving back home by the next episode.

6. ⭐️🩵💕 Christmas Who? - Season 2

Despite how jerky Squidward acts towards SpongeBob in this special, once SpongeBob tells him he made something for him so he "wouldn't be left out when Santa came", his whole attitude changes. Once he opens the gift and calls it "the greatest gift he has ever gotten,” Squidward realizes how just awful he'd been acting. He realizes all SpongeBob had wanted was to spread a little joy, and despite still not liking the holiday, Squidward then dresses up as Santa to convince SpongeBob his wish really did come true. He tells him that he was the one who brought Christmas to Bikini Bottom, causing him to become so happy he faints. Squidward then keeps this Santa charade up for the rest of the episode, "giving away all his stuff just so SpongeBob wouldn't be sad." The episode ends with Squidward playing the clarinet SpongeBob had made for him.

7. ⭐️🍔💕 Graveyard Shift - Season 2

SpongeBob and Squidward are together the entire episode and get along fairly well, with Squidward teasing SpongeBob and telling him a fake story to scare him during the night shift, letting him know it was a joke when he got too scared. Later on when they believe the story had become real, Squidward holds on to SpongeBob and tells him he's "always sort of liked him."

8. ⭐️🍔💕 Krab Borg - Season 3

SpongeBob and Squidward get along very well in this episode. When SpongeBob tells Squidward he believes Mr. Krabs is a robot, Squidward, although not really believing him, keeps up conversation with him and goes along with his attempts to prove to him that Krabs is a robot. After Squidward is finally convinced, he works together with SpongeBob to interrogate who they think is Robot Krabs and get him to tell them what he did with the Real Krabs. After SpongeBob tells Squidward that the robots in the scary movie he watched that led to all this ended up being in the characters' imagination, he makes up a lie to excuse himself and leaves Squidward behind with an angry Krabs, and he doesn't even get mad at him for doing so.

9. ⭐️❣️ Born Again Krabs - Season 3

After Mr. Krabs breaks his deal with the Flying Dutchman, he angrily shows up at the Krusty Krab. After SpongeBob sticks up for him, the Flying Dutchman tells Krabs that he'll give him another chance if he helps him settle a bet. He then makes him choose between SpongeBob and all the money he has in his pocket- which ends up being 62 cents- and Krabs immediately chooses the money. After the Flying Dutchman takes SpongeBob to Davy Jones's locker, Squidward is angry at Krabs for letting it happen and stands up for SpongeBob. He tells Krabs he should be ashamed of himself for what he had done, and makes him feel remorse for his actions.

10. ⭐️💕 The Two Faces of Squidward - Season 5

SpongeBob and Squidward get along very, very well the whole episode. Though Squidward is initially angry at SpongeBob for hitting him with a door and landing him in the hospital, once he realizes he has become handsome, he leaves the hospital with SpongeBob and hangs out with him for the rest of the day. Squidward is smiling the entire time, not once finding SpongeBob's presence annoying or getting angry at him. The next day, when Squidward realizes the Bikini Bottomites adore him too much, he runs to SpongeBob's house to get away from them and ask him for help.

11. ❣️ Keep Bikini Bottom Beautiful - Season 7

When SpongeBob offers to help Squidward with his community service, he cleans up every single piece of trash in town for him. Squidward is shown to be very shocked and grateful and tells SpongeBob he "hates him a little less now," to which SpongeBob tears up at and tells him it was a "beautiful thing to say". Even after Squidward finds out what he had done with all the trash, in the end, when he sees it had caused Squilliam's statue to melt, he thanks SpongeBob a third time.

12. 🩵❣️ Sponge-Cano! - Season 7

After SpongeBob sings a song to Squidward all about being grateful for the life he is living, Squidward tells him that "being his neighbor leaves him with nothing to be grateful for." He soon tells him he doesn't want his help ever again, and SpongeBob obeys his wishes. However, as the episode nears its end and Squidward is about to fall into a volcano and SpongeBob is the only one who can help him out, he lets him know that he does appreciate his friendship and he is grateful, even quoting his song and saying "I am grateful for the life I am living, who knows how long I will have it?" and reminding him that he learned that from him. After SpongeBob pulls Squidward to safety, he tells him he always knew he felt that way and thanks him for opening up to them.

13. Love That Squid - Season 7

This episode is all about Squidward crushing on a sophisticated female octopus named Squilvia. SpongeBob offers to help him when he has difficulty asking her out, and he lists to Squilvia all the reasons why one should want to date Squidward, concluding with the fact that he knows "anyone who is lucky enough to go on a romantical date with him would get to experience things on a whole 'nother and very special level". After this gets Squilvia to agree to go on a date with Squidward, SpongeBob puts on a wig and a dress and takes Squidward on a "practice date" to prepare him for his real one. Squidward goes along with this, and stays fairly calm throughout the whole date. Though he does get angry at SpongeBob at the end, when he realizes Squilvia had overheard his outburst and finds him dreamy because of it, his anger immediately fades and he gushes to SpongeBob about it, leaving him happy for him.

14. Are You Happy Now? - Season 8

SpongeBob acts nothing but nice, caring, calm, and patient towards Squidward in this episode, more so than he has in any other. Concerned after Squidward tells him he doesn't have a happiest memory, the two cry together before SpongeBob offers to help him create one, which Squidward accepts. With each try, something goes wrong the second Squidward begins to feel happy that instantly crushes his mood, but nothing that happens is SpongeBob's fault in any way. When the two return to Conch Street, Squidward concludes that he will never have a happiest memory and retreats into his house for two weeks. Not once during those two weeks does SpongeBob invade Squidward's personal space or try to check up on him like he would in any other situation. He lets him have that time to himself because he understands he needs to leave him alone, and only tries to get a hold of him once he becomes concerned and fears the worst.

15. 💕 Hello Bikini Bottom! - Season 8

In this special, SpongeBob and Squidward go on tour with Mr. Krabs as their cheap manager and Patrick as their dimwitted roadie. Though there are a lot of things in this episode that don't necessarily go Squidward's way and he was shown to complain a lot, he got along fairly well with SpongeBob almost the entire time. It was evident in his face how happy he was during his first gig when he was duetting with him in the supermarket. More and more things begin to go wrong on their tour, however, and after their tour bus drives off a cliff suffering a flat tire with no spares available, Squidward finally decides he's had enough and begins to walk back home to Bikini Bottom. Saddened after his failed attempts at getting him to stay, SpongeBob hops up onto the top of the bus with his ukulele and begins singing a song directed at Squidward with a self-explanatory title of "Never Give Up." About 40 seconds in, the song turns into a duet between the two of them, during which Squidward decides to turn around and head back to SpongeBob. The song ends with the two of them playing their instruments together, and comes to a close after Squidward joins SpongeBob on the top of the tour bus. Squidward is pleasantly surprised at the way their duet sounded, telling SpongeBob "that was actually kind of good", before the two raise their hands to high five.

16. 🍔 The Sewers of Bikini Bottom - Season 9

SpongeBob and Squidward get along pretty well basically right from the start of the episode. Almost immediately, they begin to have a sort of childlike fun together flushing random stuff down the toilet in the Krusty Krab's bathroom, smiling wide and laughing. When they accidentally flush Mr. Krabs' safe containing the secret formula, however, they begin to freak out and Squidward tells SpongeBob to go retrieve it. After he steps into the toilet and flushes himself, Squidward realizes the severity of what he had done, and tells himself that flushing SpongeBob down the toilet was "despicable, even for him," and then flushes himself to go after him. As the two of them begin to make their way through the sewers, they continue to get along well, and Squidward goes along with every little thing that happens without question, remaining fairly chill about his situation right up to the end of the episode.

17. ❣️ The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water

Whenever SpongeBob and Squidward are together in this movie, they get along pretty well. After SpongeBob turns them all into superheroes, Squidward loves how buff he becomes, and is very upset to lose all that muscle when they return home to Bikini Bottom. Back there, however, SpongeBob tells him not to be sad and that he left him a little surprise under his shirt. After Squidward lifts his shirt to reveal rock hard abs, he smiles wide and playfully punches SpongeBob on the shoulder, telling him he's "okay in his book."

18. Out of the Picture - Season 10

SpongeBob is the only one in this episode to show genuine interest in and love of Squidward's art, both convincing Mr. Krabs to hold Squidward's art show at his restaurant and buying one of his paintings because "he loves it". Despite the things Mr. Krabs puts Squidward through in this episode, he doesn't catch on to the fact that Krabs is trying to get him killed and remains pretty chill about it all. That is, until Krabs gives up and just starts chasing him with a mallet, during which SpongeBob is on Squidward's side and is determined to keep him safe no matter what. All in all, the two get along very well the entire episode.

19. 🍔 The Check-Up - Season 11

In this episode, SpongeBob and Squidward work together to give Mr. Krabs his physical without his knowledge because of his fear of check-ups. While working together, the two get along well, and Squidward never really gets mad at SpongeBob at any point in the episode.

20. 💕 Squid Noir - Season 11

SpongeBob and Squidward become hard- boiled detectives in this episode, getting along fairly well the entire time. They work together, side by side the whole episode, to solve the mystery of who stole Squidward's clarinet after it goes missing.

21. 🍔 Bottle Burglars - Season 11

SpongeBob and Squidward get along pretty well the entire episode. After they accidentally throw away the secret formula and Plankton finds it, they work together to sneak into the Chum Bucket to steal it back. Though they fail, Squidward goes basically the entire episode without complaining or getting mad at SpongeBob, simply just working with him to accomplish what they need to.

22. 🍔 Sanitation Insanity - Season 11

After a trash problem at the Krusty Krab, Mr. Krabs is sentenced to pick up all of the trash around Bikini Bottom. Instead of doing so himself, he orders SpongeBob and Squidward to do it for him. Though Squidward makes it known that he doesn't want to do that job, he gets along well with SpongeBob the entire time, simply going along with everything that comes his way.

23. 🩵❣️ Appointment TV - Season 11

In this episode, SpongeBob is in a rush to get home after a long day at work to watch a never before seen episode of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy that is airing on TV that night. However, he is constantly stopped by people asking for his help, and by the time he finally gets home, he has missed the airing and finds that his VCR had gone haywire, causing things to burst into flames and rendering him unable to watch the episode. He begins to cry loudly and says his life now has no meaning, and all of his friends- including Squidward- immediately begin to feel guilty for taking advantage of him and his kindness. They then work together to create a live performance of the episode for him, Squidward reprising his role of Dr. Negative from the season 10 episode "Mermaid Pants," and SpongeBob, in tears by the time the show is over, tells them he "loved the love they showed him."

24. 🩵❣️ Pineapple RV - Season 12

Although Squidward is mad with SpongeBob (and Patrick) almost the entire episode, near the end when he leaves them in the woods and starts to drive back home without them, he immediately begins to worry about their safety. Quickly, he turns around and drives back to frantically search for them, only to be met with the sounds of their screams from inside of a nearby cave. He then runs into the cave, delivering a karate chop to one of the sea bears inside- despite the fact that he is terrified of them, shown in the season 3 episode "The Camping Episode"- and shouts "Don't you dare eat those morons!"

25. 🍔 SpongeBob In RandomLand - Season 12

Despite how many weird and random things happen to SpongeBob and Squidward in this episode, Squidward goes along with every single thing like they're common occurrences, barely ever complaining and simply just working with SpongeBob to accomplish what they're in RandomLand to do. The two get along well the entire adventure.

26. Pat Hearts Squid - Season 12

Though this episode is focused on Squidward and Patrick's relationship, when Squidward is enraged after Patrick becomes "a better Squidward," SpongeBob is on his next door neighbor's side. He gives him good advice on how to deal with his situation, Squidward is very grateful (showing so by picking SpongeBob up and air-kissing him), and he gladly hangs out with SpongeBob as he follows his advice.

27. 🍔💕 Bubble Bass's Tab - Season 12

In this episode, Mr. Krabs sends SpongeBob and Squidward to Bubble Bass's house to collect his tab after he refuses to pay it. Squidward is the most determined to complete this task, starting off by kicking down the door to his house- which SpongeBob calls "masculine," and Squidward briefly gets flustered at. Once they're inside, Bubble Bass tells them he'll pay the money he owes if they play a board game called the Three Deadly Challenges with him. SpongeBob, who loves the game, immediately agrees, but Squidward doesn't want to go along with it, questioning why SpongeBob is giving Bubble Bass the upper hand while he's the one that owes them money. He gives in, however, when he sees how much SpongeBob really wants to play. He then plays alongside him in a life size version of the Three Deadly Challenges, going along with each one and eventually actually getting really into it with the help of SpongeBob's imagination, defeating Bubble Bass at last. The episode ends back at the Krusty Krab with SpongeBob and Squidward happily dancing the tango together.

28. 🩵💕❣️ The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run

After Mr. Krabs, Plankton, Sandy, and Squidward find out that SpongeBob and Patrick are going to be executed in the Lost City of Atlantic City, they rush over to save them. Even though Squidward says he's just going to see Kelpy G, he says his piece to Poseidon and his audience to try and convince them to save SpongeBob's life when they arrive. He says that even though he can't stand him, he loves him. Though he calls him annoying, he also calls him sweet and nice. Finally, he concludes by calling him his friend, and saying that he doesn't deserve to die. This brings the audience to tears and makes SpongeBob incredibly happy.

29. Squidferatu - Season 13

After SpongeBob finds out that Squidward has been getting Nosferatu's mail for years, he lets him know he needs to deliver it to him and Squidward tells him to come along. Once they finally arrive at Nosferatu's castle, Slappy tells them that they need to spend the night due to "inclement weather." However, the two soon believe that Nosferatu is trying to attack them, and they run through the castle, working together to figure out how to stay safe. They get along pretty well the entire episode.

30. Mandatory Music - Season 13

In this episode, Squidward lands himself in a court ordered music class for his poor clarinet playing. SpongeBob ends up being in the class as well, wanting to practice playing his nose, and nearing the end of the episode, Squidward has shown no improvement and his clarinet is forcibly destroyed. SpongeBob comforts him when he is crying, offering him a tissue, and once he blows his nose, it is found to create trumpet noises. SpongeBob starts cheering him on, telling him he's "finally found his instrument." After Squidward is declared the "most improved student in the class", he smiles, and the episode transitions to him giving a public performance with his nose playing. SpongeBob continues to cheer him on the loudest, and the episode ends with Squidward wiping a tear from his eye and happily continuing on playing.

31. ❣️ Swimming Fools - Season 13

Though Squidward was mad at and rude to SpongeBob at a couple points in this episode, near the end he calms down and becomes soft and apologetic. He comes clean to SpongeBob about using his pool without his permission, admitting to him how jealous he was of it. SpongeBob then comforts a crying Squidward and lets him know that they're "best neighbors", and that he can use his pool "any time, day or night". Squidward then smiles and thanks him.

[darrowfire15]

TF2 x TOH AU Info

This will have BIG Spoilers for both TOH and TF2, so I suggest at least reading all the TF2 comics and watching TOH before proceeding.

Also, this is a very, very long post, so I suggest to strap yourself in.

Main 9 Mercs

Scout 

A half-witch, half-bipedal demon hybrid. Forced into Illusion magic, but wants to do Bard magic like his Ma. Grew up in Bonesburough and went to Hexside. He’s the first of the group to verbally speak out about the Coven system. 

Branded?: No

Palisman: A hare named Knucklehead.

Soldier

A witch who practices Beast Keeping and Abomination Magic, but mostly a Wild Witch (emphasis on “Wild”). Lived in the forests of another carcass before being brought to the Boiling Isles. Considers himself Merasmus’ best friend. 

Branded?: No

Palisman: A raccoon named Lieutenant Bites. 

Pyro

A bipedal demon who is a Wild witch. They are very skilled with fire magic, but was put in the Conformatorium for only using fire magic. They were released when the Mann brothers were looking for a pyromaniac. 

Branded?: No

Palisman: A unicorn named “Hudda Hudda” (no known translation)

Demoman

A witch who practices Potion magic and owns the biggest Apple Blood factory. Originally wanted to practice Bard magic, but was denied by his father. Was the first to create small portable exploding potions. 

Branded?: Yes

Palisman: A macaw named Aberdeen.

Heavy

A towering bipedal demon from the Knee who practices Abomination magic. Was forced to be branded when he accepted his job for the Mann brothers. He learned Abomination magic to keep his family safe. 

Branded?: Yes

Palisman: A bear named Sasha. 

Engineer

A Grimwalker of Radigan Conagher who practices Construction and Healing magic. His family has been working with the Mann family since the Savage Ages. He eventually helped make the technology to remove sigils.

Branded?: No

Palisman: None, built an artificial staff and uses artificial magic.

Medic

A witch who practices Healing magic, but is not part of the Healing Coven after some unethical experimentation. When Cmedic mysteriously disappeared, they reluctantly allowed him to become a Coven Head. He eventually helped make the technology to remove sigils. 

Branded?: Yes

Palisman: A dove named Archimedes. Sacrificed himself to heal Medic after Cheavy killed the witch. 

Sniper

A Titan under the impression he’s a Bipedal demon. Practices Oracle and Potions magic, but mostly a Wild Witch. He found out he was adopted when his parents died and found out he was a Titan when he went to learn more about where he was taken from.

Branded?: No

Palisman: An owl named Sir Hootsalot.

Spy

A bipedal demon who practices Illusions and is working for the Emperor's Coven. He goes undercover and locates Wild Witches to brand. Changes his appearance so Scout doesn’t suspect they’re related. Misses his palisman every time he sees everyone else use theirs. 

Branded?: Yes

Palisman: N/A

Emperor's Coven

The Administrator

A human who came to the Boiling Isles back in the savage ages. She leeches off other witches magic so she can live longer. Established the Emperor's coven. The Day of Unity was to give her eternal youth by draining everyone’s magic. Their "Belos", if you will. She tries, and fails, to drain the Mercs of their magic before the Day of Unity. 

Miss Pauling

A witch who works under the Administrator and is in the Emperor's coven. Very amused by Scout's flirting, but gets tired of it quick. She has no idea about the Day of Unity’s true plans. Didn’t have a palisman, just went straight to working for the Administrator. 

Branded?: Yes

Palisman: N/A

Administrator’s Messengers

Witches who work for the Administrator to deliver messages. Many of these messages are threats to known Wild Witches, but others are to just to send messages to the mercenaries. When they return, the Administrator drains them of their magic. 

Branded?: Yes

Palisman: N/A

Coven Heads

CHeavy

A bipedal demon. Head of the Abominations Coven.

CMedic

A half-witch, half-bipedal demon hybrid. Head of the Healing Coven.

Bea (CPyro)

A Beast demon. Head of the Bard Coven.

Virgil (CSniper)

A witch. Head of the Oracle Coven.

Fred (CEngineer)

A witch. Head of the Construction Coven.

Greg (CScout)

A witch. Head of the Plants Coven.

Ross (CSoldier)

A bipedal demon. Head of the Beast Keeping Coven.

CSpy

A Basilisk. Head of the Illusions Coven.

CDemo 

A bipedal demon. Head of the Potions Coven.

The Mann Family

Zepheniah Mann 

A witch who died in the Savage Ages and gifted his sons his land on the Boiling Isles and other titan carcasses. 

Branded?: No

Palisman: A German Shephard named Gravel. Gravel lives with the Bat Queen.

Redmond, Blutarch, and Gray Mann 

Three of the most powerful witches who have been alive since the Savage Ages. Redmond and Blutarch helped create the 9 main covens while Gray secretly backed the support of the Emperor's coven. Gray eventually killed his brothers and gained control of all the other covens. 

Branded?: Only Gray was branded. 

Redmond’s Palisman: A cardinal named Carmine. Carmine was taken by the Administrator. 

Blutarch’s Palisman: A blue jay named Azure. Azure was taken by the Administrator. 

Gray’s Palisman: An eagle named Silver. When he dies, Silver leaves to live with the Bat Queen.

Olivia Mann 

A young witch who lives in the Emperor's Castle and is Gray Mann’s daughter. She wants to learn Plant magic. 

Branded?: No

Palisman: N/A

Other Characters

Saxton Hale

A big burly Bipedal demon who has a goal to fight every known beast demon. Specializes in Beast Keeping Magic (somehow) and wants to hunt down all the Slitherbeasts. Lost his backing from the Emperor’s coven when he declined a Witches Duel against Olivia Mann. 

Branded?: Yes

Palisman: A lion named Leo.

Scout’s Ma

A witch who is the mother of 8 boys and practices Bard magic. She is a well known singer in the Boiling Isles, but wanted her sons to find something they like instead of following under her popularity. 

Branded?: Yes

Palisman: An oppossum named Rose.

Mr. and Mrs. Degroot

A pair of witches who ran the Isle’s most successful Apple Blood Factory. Mr. Degroot practiced Potion magic while Mrs. Degroot practiced Oracle magic. When Mr. Degroot passed, Tavish inherited his palisman.

Branded?: Yes

Palisman: Mrs. Degroot’s palisman is a bat named Squeaks. 

Mr. and Mrs. Mundy

A pair of bipedal demons who took in Sniper when finding his egg. Mrs. Mundy practices Plant magic and Mr. Mundy practices Beast Keeping magic. They lived on the left thigh of the titan on a farm until their deaths. 

Branded?: Yes

Palisman: Mr. Mundy is the only one with a palisman, a sheep named Woolly. Woolly went to live with the Bat Queen after they passed. 

The Titan

Sniper’s real father, the Boiling Isles himself. He’s been watching his son since the Mundys took him in. He hopes that someday he’ll be able to say hello to his son face to face. 

Radigan Conagher

A witch who worked all of his days behind the nine covens. He created the first artificial staff with artificial magic, as well as other great inventions. Unintentionally helped make the sigils stronger. When he died, Fred made a Grimwalker from his corpse and named him Dell.

Branded?: No

Palisman: A coyote named Ruth. When he died, she went to live with the Bat Queen. 

Heavy’s family

A family of Bipedal demons who escaped the Conformatorium after their father was petrified for going against the Coven System. They live on the Knee and hunt down beast demons to eat. Heavy stole palistrom wood and helped his sisters carve their palisman like their father did with him. 

Branded?: No

Palisman: 

Heavy’s mother lost her palisman when escaping the Conformatorium.

Zhanna has a wolverine named Fyodor.

Bronislava has a snowy owl named Swift.

Yana has a borzoi named Eva.

1850’s team

The first witches who bore an early version of the sigils. It left them paralyzed and they died in the snow on the Knee. Their palismen were taken by the Administrator and drained of their magic. 

Merasmus

A trapped Collector who lives in the skull of the Titan and aided the Administrator in perfecting the sigils. Sniper was the one to free him from his prison in exchange for the draining spell to stop. 

Branded?: No

Palisman: N/A

Spell Circle Colors

Red

The Administrator (Artificial Magic)

Medic

Redmond Mann

Greg

Orange

Pyro

Demoman

Mr. Degroot

Cheavy

Yana

Yellow

Saxton Hale

Scout

CDemoman

Mr. Mundy

Lime

CSpy

Merasmus

Green

Olivia Mann

Ross

Bronislava

Mrs. Mundy

Cyan

Engineer (Artificial Magic)

Spy

CMedic

Heavy’s mother

Radigan Conagher

Blue

Sniper (Titan magic)

Soldier

Blutarch Mann

Fred Conagher 

Scout’s Ma

Purple

Miss Pauling

Virgil

Zephaniah Mann

Mrs. Degroot

Magenta

Heavy

Zhanna

Bea

White

Emperor’s Coven

Gray Mann

Administrator’s Messengers

Storyline

Thousands of years ago, Titans roamed the demon realm and did as they pleased. Until the Collectors struck. They drove the Titans to extinction, the last Titan hiding his egg and capturing one of the Collectors named Merasmus. He captured the Collector before dying and decaying. That decay became the Boiling Isles. 

Life began to blossom on the carcass, along with the creation of magic within those creatures. These beings separated themselves as witches and demons. 

During the Savage ages, a human named Helen had stumbled in the Boiling Isles. She learned that by absorbing the magic of witches, she could stay young and beautiful. But her greed and crimes caused her to be run out of every town. To hide her identity, she went by the name Elizabeth and hid herself deep in the Isles. She drained any witch that crossed her paths. When traversing in the skull, she stumbled on Merasmus’ prison and promised to release him in return for an easier way to drain magic. 

One wealthy witch, Zephaniah Mann, would come to have three sons. One of the babies, Gray Mann, would be kidnapped by a Griffin. His remaining sons, Redmond and Blutarch, would grow up to be great witches. Of course, they always fought for everything from their father. 

When he was nearing his deathbed, Zephaniah split his lands between his two sons. Around this time, Elizabeth had heard about the brothers’ feud and snuck into their operation. Once he died, she approached the brothers and proposed a Coven system that would aid in their feud. Blind to her real intentions, the Mann brothers both supported her idea with enough Snails to make it happen. She gained the title “the Administrator” as she was head of the project. 

With Merasmus and the Mann Brothers, she began her work to stay young forever. Her first version of the sigils were attempted on the 1850’s team when their fighting term ended, meaning any casualties wouldn’t be a complete loss. The first version failed, but she still drained them of their magic and took their palisman. She didn’t have the right materials, but someone else did…

Radigan Conagher, a smart witch, was hired to begin working behind the scenes for the 9 covens. He talked to the Administrator about the use of the Sigils and helped perfect them, making them stronger so that magic would be cut off indefinitely. 

The Classic team was hired after the 1850’s team’s deaths, when the sigils were perfected. Because of the Mann Brother’s influence, witches slowly began getting sigils. After the Classic team’s fighting term for the Mann Brothers ended, they were promoted to be Coven Heads for the 9 covens by the Administrator. 

Another Coven, the Emperor’s Coven, soon came into play. It was promised to the Mann brothers that it would give them dominion and power over the other residents of the Isles. In reality, the Administrator was the one getting all the power secretly. She hid her work so well that not even someone from the Oracle Coven could see it. 

As time went on, the law on the Isles grew stricter to make sure that most witches had a sigil. Those who didn’t conform were called Wild Witches. They would either be sent to the Conformatorium and coaxed into getting branded, or publicly petrified if they fought back. Many Wild Witches were petrified early on just to instill fear, even when they agreed to being branded. 

Present day, the battles for the lands continue with a new group of mercenaries. Each from different backgrounds and abilities from the Covens. One of the mercenaries, the Scout, began to question the Coven System. Secretly, he began to look into the creation of sigils with other Mercenaries, the Heavy and Sniper. Their research was constantly vandalized by the Spy under the Administrator’s orders. But even he began to question everything.

Scout eventually explained his thoughts to the other mercenaries in private, away from the Administrator. Eventually, with more digging, they found that the Day of Unity was a disguise to drain everyone’s magic. They didn’t know to where though, just that magic was to be drained. 

When Redmond and Blutarch died at the hands of their brother, Gray Mann, the Mercenaries scattered by the command of the Administrator. He had been the one backing up the Emperor’s Coven financially. Publicly, he took over his brother’s positions, but the Administrator was still quietly in charge. 

As the Day of Unity approached quickly, the Emperor’s coven became more uptight about Wild Witches being branded. They commanded that everyone who had magic should be in a Coven or be thrown in the Conformatorium. All of the split-up mercenaries kept in contact with one another about how to stop the Day of Unity. Their letters would be intercepted eventually and shown to the Administrator.

Figuring that the mercenaries were close to discovering her true intentions, the Administrator sends out the Coven Heads to track them down and hold them hostage for the Day of Unity. Working for them unknowingly, Miss Pauling was also sent out to collect the mercenaries under the guise that they would be “extra protection” for the Day of Unity.

Medic was brought in as a replacement for CMedic, who mysteriously disappeared. He hid his palisman, Archimedes, from the Administrator so she wouldn’t take him. Despite the other Coven Heads knowing, they don’t tell on Medic because they want the Day of Unity to go smoothly. 

As Miss Pauling rounded up the mercenaries, the Sniper would discover that he’s a Titan when his parents passed. He would learn more when he convinced some of the rounded up mercenaries to join him to an uncharted island. As they explored the island and the tower, the Classic team cornered them and injured Sniper. 

The Classic team locks everyone in the Conformatorium, sending Sniper to be patched up by Medic. Secretly, Medic hatched a plan to fight back against the Coven Heads and told Sniper. A while after Sniper was in his cell, he broke out with the other mercenaries and ran out to face the Classic team. Medic joined as his mask around the Coven heads broke. 

Grouped together again, the TF2 Mercenaries have a confrontation with the Classic team. The Classic Mercenaries would get picked off one at a time, except Fred, who would run to return to the Administrator. During the fight, Medic dies at the hands of CHeavy and Heavy fights for his revenge. Archimedes would sacrifice himself to heal Medic just as the Classic team is beaten. To solidify their victory, the Classic team is petrified together. 

With no back-up Coven Heads to complete the draining spell, the Administrator decides to lure in the TF2 Mercenaries and Miss Pauling. She would use them as stand-ins, to finally have her eternal youth. 

Angry at the Administrator, Miss Pauling and the mercenaries make their way to the Emperor’s Castle. On the way, Coven scouts ambush them and knock them unconscious. When they come to, Sniper and Engineer are nowhere to be found. The mercenaries who weren’t branded before suddenly had sigils on their wrists. 

Engineer is taken to the side to study Sniper since learning he’s a Titan. He hastily creates a plan and tries to execute it as the hours count down to the Day of Unity. 

While he creates his plan, Engineer finds out that he’s a Grimwalker of his grandfather, Radigan Conagher. His father’s writings tell him everything he needs to know. Unfortunately, Fred finds his son going through his work and they have a tussle. During the fight, Fred brands Dell with the Oracle coven’s sigil, completing the set needed for the draining spell. 

Taking place in the Skull, the Day of Unity is about to commence and the Administrator forces the mercenaries to participate. Of course, they retaliate, but the draining spell activates before they can do anything. All of the Isles attempts to escape the Skull, but faint and/or pass out before they can. 

Sniper escapes from his cell as the spell begins. He finds Miss Pauling and, surprisingly, CMedic, and releases them both. CMedic was silenced after learning of the Administrator’s plans, but couldn’t be petrified quickly. All three travel to the Skull and find Merasmus, who is waiting to be freed by the Administrator. He recognizes Sniper as the last Titan and makes a deal; the draining spell stops in exchange for his freedom. 

Merasmus is freed by Sniper and he stops the draining spell with the snap of his fingers. Everyone survives, the Administrator disintegrates via Mother Gothel style, and the Isles is saved. But Merasmus immediately begins to change the scenery, stretching out his ability after being captured for so long. He forces Sniper to help him rule his new kingdom and creates a castle in the Skull.

The mercenaries, CMedic, and Miss Pauling flee the Skull with the other Boiling Isles residents as Merasmus expels his magic to the land. Miss Pauling brings them to a secret hideout underground so they can work on a plan to stop Merasmus. 

Meanwhile, Merasmus makes Sniper his Second in Command for his kingdom. He wants the power of the Titan all to himself to further his kingdom’s power. He also captured the residents of the Isles and as them either working or held in cells. No one is spared. 

Figuring he needed protection, Merasmus took some of the petrified Wild Witches and reversed the effects. Some of those witches were the Classic team. All but Greg and Ross were resurrected. 

As the months continue, Engineer continues to deal with the fact that he’s a Grimwalker, Medic is grieving from his palisman’s sacrifice, and those who were branded are trying to adjust to their confined abilities. Sniper sneaks out of the castle to meet up with them in secret. 

One day, after careful planning, the mercenaries and Miss Pauling decide to infiltrate the castle. Sniper had given them a map of the inside and drew out where they should go. Unfortunately, Merasmus caught on to what Sniper was doing. When he returned next, he held the Titan in a cage and prepared himself to fight the mercenaries. 

The TF2 team and Miss Pauling fight their way through the castle, taking down many wild witches before having one last confrontation against the Classic Team. CMedic tries to reason with CHeavy, but it’s no use and the Classic team gets beaten again. They run to the throne room and confront Merasmus. 

Miss Pauling tries to reason with Merasmus, standing between him and the TF2 team. While she talked, Merasmus created a ball of flames in his fist and threw it at her. To save her from the blast, Scout jumped in the way and tries to shield her. He gets hit and slowly turns to stone until he dies, disintegrating. Spy, in a fit of rage, attacked Merasmus head-on, setting off the other mercenaries. 

Drifting in the in-between, Scout meets the Titan himself, Sniper’s real father. He and the Titan talk about the Administrator and Merasmus, choices they made in life, and what could’ve been done. The Titan cannot remove the sigil on Scout’s arm, but he does trust the man to go back and fight against the Collector. Before Scout is revived, he asks if the Titan has any words for Sniper. Once he told the witch, the Titan revived him. 

Scout is resurrected and infused with the Titan’s magic as the mercenaries are progressively losing. Merasmus took Sniper and fled the throne room, leaving the others to briefly admire Scout’s new look. They split up in two groups; half would go and free the Boiling Isle residents, the other half goes after Merasmus. 

Medic, Heavy, Soldier, Miss Pauling, and Engineer go to the cells to free everyone. They escort everyone out of the castle as quickly as possible and Heavy reunites with his family. 

Scout, Spy, Demoman, CMedic, and Pyro run after Merasmus and Sniper. On the way, Merasmus set up some obstacles to slow them down. Spy and Scout have a father-son bonding moment as they blast away the obstacles. 

When they finally corner Merasmus, it’s on the room of the castle. Pyro and Scout distract the Collector while Demoman and Spy release Sniper. Scout used the rest of his power, combined with Sniper’s magic, to cast Merasmus out of the Demon Realm and deep into space. Once that’s done, Scout is returned back to normal as the Titan magic is used up. He tells Sniper what the Titan told him and Sniper feels content with the answer.

With the defeat of both Merasmus and the Administrator, the Boiling Isles started to slowly heal. The future few years change with the mercenaries as they find new occupations to busy themselves with.

Heavy begins a palisman carving business as the palistrom trees are replenished. He would carve Medic’s new Palisman, another dove named Hipparchus. 

Engineer, Medic, and CMedic work together to create a devise to remove sigils, which prove to be a success. Scout is the first to have his sigil removed. 

Spy and Scout are learning each other how to wield other magic types together. Spy has also acquired a palisman from Heavy. 

Soldier is in charge of a rehabilitation center for injured Beast Demons with his wife Zhanna. Pyro is his only other employee. 

Demoman’s Apple Blood business blooms, as well as his side job playing the piano in bars. He also has a business in selling Elixirs. Mrs. Degroot is still unpleased.

Sniper and Miss Pauling go off to discover more about Titans on other carcasses. They still come back to occasionally visit everyone. 

The Classic Team (those remaining) retire from their mercenary work and help rebuild the Isles.

Saxton Hale is still off fighting every Beast demon, venturing off to new lands for the thrill of nature. 

Gray Mann is petrified after trying to incorporate the Coven system in the new era. Olivia Mann lives as a normal witch studying both Plant and Potions magic.

[anonymouspuzzler]

awright who let puzz play psychonauts again and start Thinking

It Never Ends! I am once again thinking about Psychonauts and specifically thinking about Loboto. Even More Specifically, I replayed the first game Yet Again recently and on hitting the scene where Loboto removes Dogen’s brain, had a moment of “huh, he’s like, way more measured and composed than I remembered,” and God Help Me that sent me on a horrible unending spiral of Revisiting and Thinking About and Theorizing On Things. And Now You Must All Read My Discoveries As Well. (placed under readmore because 1) this is gonna get long and 2) my god there will be major spoilers for Every Psychonauts Game.)

Welcome To The Thunderdome. Let’s Begin. In particular I am going to present to and discuss with you Three Distinct Things I Am Thinking About Loboto Based On In-Game Evidence That I Will Extrapolate, Present, and Argue To You All:

Cal’s childhood lobotomy did not, in fact, remove his psychic powers, only cut off his ability to consciously access and utilize them. He is still unconsciously using psychic abilities at the point that we see him in the games.

One of the most prominent impacts of the lobotomy on Cal appears to be his inability to recognize when he is doing harm, and to a certain related degree, how to interpret other peoples’ responses to him. When Raz helps recover his “moral compass”, Loboto actually becomes significantly more unstable as he struggles to process this, having likely gone most of his life without these capabilities.

Both of the above are causing some variant of Mental Projection to occur in Loboto’s mind, creating multiple conflicting archetypes/personas similar to what’s happening in Cassie’s mind.

So let’s go through each of these one by one! In excruciating detail!!

1) Cal’s childhood lobotomy did not, in fact, remove his psychic powers, only cut off his ability to consciously access and utilize them. He is still unconsciously using psychic abilities at the point that we see him in the games.

So for this one, we’re going to go through my evidence from “most textual” to “a little more speculative” in roughly that order. Obviously, none of this is explicit, but I’m doing my damndest to use things that can be fairly reasonably cited from Actual In Game rather than too deep in fanon/speculation.

The most textual example of Loboto having lingering psychic abilities despite his lobotomy is, in fact, his mental world in Psychonauts 2! This is something that’s a little more obvious on a rewatch/replay.

When you’re going through the game/level the first time, Sasha especially spends a lot of time discussing how Loboto’s mind must have been booby-trapped and messed with by his employer, because otherwise Loboto wouldn’t be able to resist the construct and otherwise give the agents the degree of run-around he’s putting them through. On a first playthrough, that makes perfect sense, especially when this plus additional evidence leads the agents to conclude Loboto’s employer was a mole within the Psychonauts itself. Obviously, a psychic from the agency messed with Loboto’s head and left all these psychic booby-traps for their coworkers!

But once you reach the end of the game and go back and look at this again, you realize, hey, wait. Loboto’s boss wasn’t a psychic at all! Quite explicitly!

Now I’m going to take a moment to argue against my own argument here, because there is evidence that Gristol would have been able to psychically fuck with Loboto despite not having psychic abilities himself.

[Image ID: A screenshot from a cutscene in Psychonauts 2, showing the receptionist at the Motherlobe levitating a ThinkerPrint Reader (a small brain-shaped disc with a blue glowing eye symbol in the middle). End ID.]

We see in-game that these little brain-disc-things - which Gristol would have had access to via Truman, since Truman has one on his person - are able to provide some limited degree of psychic power even to people who don’t otherwise have those abilities. Namely, the front desk receptionist is able to telekinetically lift one and scan Raz with it when he arrives, despite dialogue later on suggesting she isn’t a psychic herself. It’s entirely possible Gristol used that to fuck with Loboto’s head and place all those psychic booby traps.

But ho ho!! Now I’m going to counter-argue this counter-argument, to get you all back on board with my original argument!! Because despite this possibility, it’s also pretty textual that Gristol is a fuck-up who’s not very good at planning. The entirety of Psychonauts 2 is a display of him not really having any back-up plans for any possible hiccups in his original plan (as soon as Lili reveals a boyfriend he didn’t know about, his response is Fake A Coma), and of said plan being undone mostly by his own sloppy work (shipping his own body back to the base in a poorly-taped box with a key to his former residence in his pockets). The thought of this same man having the capability and foresight to set up numerous highly effetive psychic booby-traps in the brain of his hired help, just in case that hired help got captured and psychically interrogated… it doesn’t feel likely.

(Now that I write it all out, in a lot of ways it feels like Gristol just… forgot about-slash-disregarded Loboto after he did the dirty work of kidnapping Truman and swapping the brains. Like, he only appears once in Gristol’s Big Special Mind-Ride of his Brilliant Plan, at the very end, in a barely-held-together-backroom type of area, and Gristol never so much as brings him up by name. Heck, in retrospect, I wouldn’t be surprised if Gristol deciding to Play Coma was equally as prompted by Guy Who Knows Everything, Who He Completely Disregarded and Left For Dead, falling out of a luggage rack unexpectedly right in front of him and Five Guys He's Trying To Fool Into Thinking He's Normal All The Time Truman. This is all totally off the topic at hand, though.)

Anyway! So Gristol being able to do anything significant and sophisticated vis-a-vis “psychic traps in Loboto’s mindscape” is wildly unlikely. While there’s still other possible explanations - Gristol maybe having other psychics in his employ in the Delugianaries or secret police, for example - that’s purely speculative and not supported by the text in any kind of reasonably-explicit way, which is what I’m trying to focus on for the purposes of this argument. Hey, you know what is explicit in the text, though? Loboto once having psychic powers, to a degree that he was using telekinesis Very Capably as a Literal Infant. That, combined with all the above evidence (plus other circumstantial stuff we’ll get into in a second), means the most likely answer to “how is Loboto resisting the agents and the mental construct?” is “his psychic powers are still There, and acting subconsciously to protect Loboto in this situation, even though he’s no longer able to access and use those powers by conscious effort”.

Now let’s get to evidence of a “still textual, but not as compelling” flavor. For this, we’re going to go back to the original Psychonauts, and also touch on Rhombus of Ruin a bit.

As some of y’all probably remember from messing around in the original game, because there’s still some of that point-and-click inventory flavor, you can try to use the psycho-portal on characters that don’t have mental worlds, and you’ll get some flavor text explaining in some form or another why you can’t do that. This includes Crispin (you get a note from Loboto saying he’s protected “his patient” from psychic procedures, Haha Hey Man Uhhh How Did Y), Sheegor, and most pressingly for this line of argument, Loboto himself, who claims his shower cap is protecting his mind from being entered.

This Is All Well and Good until Literally The Next Day In-Universe when his mind is able to be entered. Twice, in fact. Please recall that the start of Psychonauts 2 is, at a stretch, maybe a few hours after Rhombus of Ruin. (“Haha well Puzz clearly they just retconned it so they could do a Loboto mental world–” no. That’s not Fun and it’s not Text. This overthinking-ass essay is about Engaging With The Text As It Stands.)

So what’s different about the first time Raz (et all) attempts to enter Loboto’s mind (in the original game) and the second-slash-third time (during and after Rhombus of Ruin)? Nothing that would particularly have an impact, except for one big thing: in the latter cases, Loboto is either “immediately in the presence of” or “has just barely left the immediate presence of” Like A Lot Of Psilirium. You Know. The Rock That Dampens Psychic Powers. Which leads me to believe Loboto’s psychic powers are still active, just in an unconscious way (protecting him from psychic invasion without him even realizing it) instead of in a way he has to consciously act on.

Now, why am I categorizing this as less compelling evidence than Loboto resisting the mental construct later on? Because unlike that case, there actually is a reasonable, textual alternative to the answer of “yeah Loboto’s still unconsciously psychic”. The answer is named Coach Morceau Oleander.

Unlike Gristol, Oleander has a lot going for him on the level of “could fuck with Loboto’s mind a bit to put up some psychic defenses”. For one, Oleander is a psychic, and despite everything, a highly trained and very powerful one. (Like, much as he’s kind of a goofy fuck-up, Oleander’s also implied to have been an agent for at least as long as Sasha and Milla, and he’s able to hold his own in a fight against both of them at once - it literally takes Ford flying in and de-braining him to win that confrontation.) Two, we already have textual evidence of Oleander messing with people’s brains to his own ends, in the form of both Linda (though in some ways that could loop back around to supporting Loboto Is Still Psychic, since he seems to have had some degree of a hand in that) and more prominently, poor ol’ Boyd. If he was able to do that much involuntarily with Boyd, it doesn’t seem out of the question for him to hop in and put up some psychic defenses for more voluntary subjects like Crispin and Loboto. It would also make sense for those defenses to either wear down or wear off once Loboto was in the presence of Psilirium, thus continuing to explain why Loboto’s protected in the first game but not in any of the games following.

So - taken on its own, not particularly decisive evidence. In combination with the much-stronger “resisting the mental construct” example, though, I’d say it presents a pretty strong case.

Now comes my most tenuous and speculative example. This is about as much as a stretch I’m going to let myself go with any of these - a case of “well you can extrapolate this from the text provided, I guess, even if it never says it explicitly to any kind of degree”.

Ladies, gentlemen, and those rightfully opting out. It is time to talk about Loboto’s Fucking Prosthetic.

[Image ID: A full rotation of Loboto’s “Monstroboto” character model, which shows him shirtless with the full prosthetic right arm visible. It is attached to his torso with several straps and has a single visible hinge at the elbow.]

Look at this thing. This is a fucking mannequin arm with a pepper grinder on it. How Is This Thing Able To Operate With Any Kind of Sophistication Without Telekinesis. Like, the man is gesticulating and grabbing objects and tapping his little knife fingers, how in the Hell.

There’s a lot of reasons this is tenuous evidence at best. For one, we only get this super clear view of the entire prosthetic construction inside Loboto’s mind, which means it’s extremely possible it’s abstracted, metaphorical, or an abstracted metaphor in one form or another. (I don’t interpret Loboto’s exposed brain as textual in the “real world” for this reason - we only ever see it exposed in his mental worlds, and in both cases in a scenario where him having an exposed brain under the cap serves some kind of symbolic/metaphorical purpose - but for several reasons, the prosthetic feels more grounded in reality despite this. Anyway, that’s all a tangent regardless.) There could also be hidden mechanics that allow it to move the way it does, or it could just be an abstraction of the art style (though again, I’m trying not to let out-of-story things like that be answers to these questions). But it’s really hard to imagine the Hinged Peppermill With Claws having the range of movement it does without Loboto unconsciously moving it with telekinesis.

For that matter, I feel similarly about his eye lenses - we see them moving around independently, zooming in and out without him touching them, and so on, and like… how? How?? Maybe it’s just that I’m not biomechanically minded-slash-informed, but “yeah he’s just moving them psychically without realizing” does feel like a more viable answer than any alternatives, if not one with a ton of super obvious and textual evidence behind it. Once again, though, in combination with other evidence, it does have more weight behind it.

In summary: Loboto’s able to resist psychic interference, actively fight back against trained Psychonauts in his own mind, and move his various prosthetics and augments in highly refined ways. All these things, especially taken all together, make the most sense if you assume his psychic powers are still acting subconsciously, and he’s just not able to consciously access and use them in the ways he did pre-lobotomy.

2) One of the most prominent impacts of the lobotomy on Cal appears to be his inability to recognize when he is doing harm, and to a certain related degree, how to interpret other peoples’ responses to him. When Raz helps recover his “moral compass”, Loboto actually becomes significantly more unstable as he struggles to process this, having likely gone most of his life without these capabilities.

This is going to be a little less “I cite direct evidence in support of my argument” and more “I point out specific scenes and instances of behavior, how I’m interpreting them, and why I’m interpreting that way”. Hopefully you will stick with me here.

So, as I stated waaaay back at the start of this, what set me off on this whole journey was going back through some of the original Psychonauts cutscenes, seeing Loboto in action, and going, “Woah, hey, he’s like way more measured than I remembered him being”. So let’s go into more detail on that and unpack it a bit!!

There’s a consistent and distinct pattern of behavior Loboto exhibits in his scenes in the first game: screeching, in-your-face Mad Scientist rambling, and then suddenly, these dips into like… oddly quiet, composed, weirdly Professional (if decidedly eccentric) behavior. The cutscenes with Dogen are a really good example - he has his big INSANITY OF A MANATEE THIS WILL ONLY HURT TILL YOUR BRAIN COMES FLYING OUT speech, but in-between and especially after that, he kind of quiets down and starts acting like an Actual Slightly Eccentric Dentist. (In fact, here’s the full transcript of the scene that sent me down this whole rabbit-hole, for context:

Dr. Loboto: Oh, good boy! There's that pesky brain. Here's a tissue. Now don't you feel better, my dear lad? Dogen: [Now brainless] TV..? Dr. Loboto: Of course! Right here. [Loboto picks up Dogen's brain off the floor.] And THIS bad tooth, we'll just drop it in the ol' garbage chute. Now don't chew solid foods for the next six hours!

It really knocked me off balance seeing it, so I made a point of going and watching the full Lili’s bracelet clairvoyance cutscene in full, to see if he behaved similarly there. And he didn’t! He’s full Mad Scientist Haha Crazy there, the entire time!! I had to think on it for a while, and I realized there was one major difference - Lili continues to be defiant and difficult in conversation the entire time, while Dogen responds pretty calmly and doesn’t start freaking out until it’s clear His Brain Will Be Removed, which is also when Loboto starts going more Mad Scientist again. (Again, below’s the full transcript of the Lili scene for context.)

Dr. Loboto: Well, I've reviewed your chart, little girl. The bad news is, we're going to have to remove your brain... strap it into an armored battle tank, and have it shoot down innocent civilians with its concentrated psychic death beam! Lili: I'm gonna kill you so much. Dr. Loboto: The good news is that your insurance is going to cover the whole thing. So! ... Hey, is it getting warm in here? Lili: No, I'm trying to set you on fire through this stupid hat! Dr. Loboto: What a delightfully mean little brain you have! Just what we want! Here, do me a favor. Tell me if this smells like... YOUR DOOM! Heh heh! Lili: I-I can't smell anything. Dr. Loboto: Curses! [Lili laughs at him] You're a stubborn little ball of phlegm, ain't ya? Well, that head cold won't protect you forever, little girl, and when it's gone you'll be sneezing a different tune. A tune in the key of... brains! HAAA HA HA!

His last big cutscene with Sheegor really hammers everything home. He’s full Mad Scientist again, he’s screaming and experimenting and Actively Threatening and Tormenting Her the entire time. Then Sheegor leaves and just, measured and nonchalant as anything: “When you're a dentist, you have to learn to have a sense of humor, you know. It helps to calm the patient down.” (It’s also worth noting a lot of the torment, at least to me, comes off as kinda “dipshit older sibling who commits to the bit of teasing Way Way Past where it’s all in good fun for the younger sibling”. Like he just keeps Going and Playfully Backing Off and then Actually Still Going. It’s so awful it loops around to being funny again. I'm so so sorry Sheegor I love you and you don't deserve this but I am laughing)

I think Loboto really, unironically, genuinely thinks this is what he’s doing in all these situations. He’s a dentist, he’s got all these difficult patients around, so he’s going to joke with them! A bit of friendly teasing and playing up his eccentric behavior to get them to calm down for the procedure! At the point where all this is happening, I think he’s genuinely incapable of comprehending-slash-accepting that he’s actually doing harm and that they’re actually, rightfully scared of him. Not in a like “oh uwu he didn’t know he did anything bad he’s just a nice guyyyy” way, but in a “his brain is literally, textually, physically damaged in such a way that he cannot comprehend this” way. As far as he can tell, he’s doing some freelance dentistry (plus or minus a few things, you know how it is when you’re doing work-for-hire type stuff, you never know what the client’s gonna ask you for) and sometimes he’s gotta joke around when he gets a patient that’s nervous or difficult. All in good fun!

Then, of course, we get Rhombus of Ruin and the mental compass. If you’ve played or watched that game, you know all this already. Raz recovers the mental compass from the vault and Loboto’s demeanor completely shifts again. He recognizes aloud, for the first time since we’ve been introduced to him, that he has done Horrible Things. (We will see him continuing to do this in his level in Psychonauts 2, but we’ll get to that.) He seems, very genuinely, saddened and horrified with himself as he says all this. Raz has very literally reintroduced Physical-Slash-Psychic Capacity To Recognize Harm to Loboto’s brain. Given what we learn about Loboto’s past here, it is very much possible that this is the first time he has had this capability since he was a very young child.

Another thing that happens is, in rapid succession, Loboto chooses to Immediately Make Reconciliatory Actions (releasing the Psychonauts, telling the fish henchmen to leave), and then also Blow The Building Up Right Now. For No Clear Reason. For Zero Benefit, In Fact, The Opposite Of Benefit, He Also Has to Frantically Escape This Now. It’s completely illogical, erratic behavior that’s in conflict with itself. And that pattern… kind of stays consistent from that point out, actually! Almost his entire appearance in 2 is him very literally arguing with himself, acting in erratic and conflicting ways - pretty much going to the Psychonauts for protection and redemption yet also actively giving them the run-around and preventing them from finding his boss; alternately trying to connect with or get pity from the agents, then being aggressive or insulting towards them, then being kind of playfully, teasingly antagonistic at worst. While Raz reintroducing his moral compass is probably objectively a good thing for Loboto in the long run, in the short-term having that level of major, major change in his damaged brain seems to have significantly destabilized his behavior and sense of identity (we’ll get into that in just a moment) in ways that make him much less predictable and more erratic compared to how he was pre-RoR.

In summary: Loboto at the time of the original Psychonauts is eccentric and dangerous, but he’s also consistent and stable in his behavior and identity, acting consistently as a freelance dentist who plays up his eccentricity, teasing or otherwise joking around in an effort to “calm down” his “patients”. It’s likely he’s physically unable to comprehend that he’s doing harm and scaring people, due to the brain damage from his childhood lobotomy. Raz reintroducing his moral compass in Rhombus of Ruin fixes this, but makes Loboto much more unstable and unpredictable as he grapples both with the harm he’s done over the years, and with trying to suddenly live with a brain function he hasn’t had for most of his life.

3) Both of the above are causing some variant of Mental Projection to occur in Loboto’s mind, creating multiple conflicting archetypes/personas similar to what’s happening in Cassie’s mind.

In connection with the above, It’s Time To Talk About the Multiple Lobotos.

[Image ID: A screenshot from Psychonauts 2, showing two Lobotos in his mental world - one in bright light sitting in a dentist chair on the right side, the other standing in the shadows on the left. End ID.]

Every time we see Loboto’s mental world, there are multiple distinct, individual, and simultaneous versions of Loboto Himself in operation. Not different and distinctly individual personalities, like Fred and Napoleon. Not separated alter-egos representing a part of oneself, like Edgar and El Odio, or Bob and Turnip-Bob. Not even fragmented personalities that appear one at a time, like the different versions of Ford. There are multiple versions of Loboto that are Just A Loboto - literally the most different they get is “one time one of them pretended to be a whaler” - operating at the same time as each other, in the same scenes as each other, interacting with each other, sometimes in direct opposition to each other. There is only one other place in the entire series where we see this happening.

[Image ID: A screenshot from Psychonauts 2, showing the “librarian” Archetype of Cassie O’Pia tearing up a book with Raz on the left side and her three other Archetypes on the right. End ID.]

THAT’S RIGHT BABY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS I FINALLY RETROACTIVELY FOUND AN EXPLANATION FOR THE CALLY O’PIA AU anyway where was I. Yeah.

The way the different versions of Cal operate in his mind and interact with each other is more similar to Cassie’s Archetypes than anything else we see in anyone else’s minds. The only major differences are “Loboto’s Archetypes aren’t flat paper illustrations” (and I think it’s remarkably easy, even reasonable, to assume that’s a Cassie-specific stylization that Raz only retains because Cassie directly teaches him and he’s thus using her Archetypes as a reference point - Cassie’s a writer; what reason would everyone else in the world have to render their Archetypes as if they were illustrations in a book?) and “Loboto doesn’t refer to or treat the other versions of himself as Archetypes” (of course he doesn’t, I don’t see any reason or scenario where he could have reasonably learned about Archetypes, in either a psychological or psychic sense - he literally does not have the knowledge or the language to do this). Honestly, interpreting the different Lobotos as different Archetypes explains a lot about how they act, what they’re doing in Loboto’s mind and why they’re in the parts of the story they are. I am going to talk about each individual version of Loboto and what I think they’re doing Archetype-wise based on the text now, because none of you can stop me.

Psychonauts 2 Loboto #1, AKA Patient Loboto: This guy, and Psychonauts 2 Loboto #2, tie in the most to the above discussion on Loboto becoming more outwardly unstable after recovering his mental compass, and so I’m going to refer back to and expand on that with the both of them. This Loboto is explicitly the one we see in the patient chair during those cutscenes in his level, the one we see speaking to Raz directly in the poster hall section, and I would argue he’s likely the version we see at the very start of the level in the office construct (or at the very least, he's the one "running" Loboto at that point, in the same way the Librarian is "running" Cassie when we first meet her). He’s the version of Loboto we see most blatantly grappling with the return of his mental compass - he regrets the things he’s done in the past, he’s seems to be vying to connect with the agents on some level, he’s genuinely upset about being tricked and about being unable to tell Raz what’s up with his boss. This puts him in direct conflict with…

Psychonauts 2 Loboto #2, AKA Doctor Loboto: This guy is also the result of Loboto’s Newfound Ability To Recognize Morals, but in the opposite direction. He’s the one who’s fully embracing the identity he’s built as an amoral mad-scientist-for-hire, figuring he’s better off just continuing the path he’s already on and disregarding the new knowledge that It’s Wrong, rather than go through all the trouble and misery and Active Risk To Self of trying to Be Redeemed. Basically, he’s the one looking at OG Psychonauts version of Loboto and going What If We Just Went Back To That Actually. Fuck Character Development. He is, obviously, the one we see as the dentist in the cutscenes in Loboto’s level, as well as pretty textually the one who grabs Raz from behind the painting in Lili’s section.

Monstroboto: Back to RoR now! This one’s pretty textual as well - this the uncontrolled, untethered, don’t-know-or-care-if-it-hurts-someone version of Loboto. (As I type this, I realize it’s worth noting, this version of Loboto is very obviously “playing” as he attacks, in the same way I observed Psychonauts 1 Loboto having a playful tone to his antagonism, as if he’s not recognizing that he’s actively hurting and terrifying people while doing so. All his attacks are either that, or actively retaliatory. I'm Simply Saying I Can Read Some Subtext.) Between that and the exposed brain, it’s pretty obvious this is representing the post-lobotomy Loboto (how he sees himself? How he thinks others see him? All that’s speculation, mine friends…) - wreaking havoc on Loboto’s ability to engage with other parts of himself and develop a fully fledged mindscape.

First Mate Loboto: This one’s a little more speculative and could mean a lot of things, but bear with me. As above, this could well be the part of Loboto that wants to distance himself from what he became after the lobotomy - whether that means ignoring it entirely and trying to go back to how things were “before”, or more likely, based on his dialogue, trying to move on and grow past it; “sail for new waters”, in his own words. It’s also possible he’s something of Loboto’s idealized self - he’s just as eccentric and dramatic as the real deal, but at least more theoretically heroic and adventurous - and/or, tying into a lot of the themes of the RoR version of Loboto’s mind, kind of a childish “what I want to be when I grow up” version of himself. (We see lots of nautical themes in Loboto’s childhood, after all, with the sea life toys and the little sailor boy outfit and all; while it’s certainly speculative, it’s not a huge leap to think little Loboto might have wanted to grow up to be like, a sailor or something of that ilk.)

Young Loboto: This one’s pretty obvious; he’s very literally the Inner Child. (You Know. Like Psychology.) Just like Li’l Oly in Oleander’s mind, this is the part of Cal who was Very Hurt when he was Very Young and has never had the means or opportunity to process it - he’s just stuck in that mental vault, buried away, playing out what he’s experienced over and over and over again as a helpless, outside observer. (I think it’s Very telling that Raz releasing the vault and, in essence, establishing a connection between Inner Child Loboto and the other parts of himself is what restores Loboto’s ability to use his moral compass.)

So, in total, we’ve got five distinct Lobotos in play through what we see: Inner Child, First Mate, Monstroboto, Patient and Doctor. And, in a case very similar to what we see of Cassie’s Archetypes, each of these versions of him are a result of a Very Specific Point in his life and a subsequent need to fulfill a Very Specific Purpose for his continued functioning and survival. The Inner Child is, well, Loboto As A Child (and less literally, the version of him that’s kind of holding on to his trauma so the rest of the versions of him don’t necessarily have to reckon with it); Monstroboto is what’s taken over post-lobotomy; First Mate is what he either Wanted or Wants to be and isn’t because of said lobotomy; and Patient and Doctor are the two options he has post-recovering his moral compass, either continuing on the path he’s already on, or abandoning it for the hard road of Trying To Be Better.

And again, much like Cassie, none of those Archetypes on their own are getting the job done on their own. Doctor and Monstroboto are extremely destructive and don’t seem much able to form meaningful relationships because of it, Patient is an erratic coward who’s constantly miserable and collapsing under the weight of What He’s Done, Inner Child is a Child, and First Mate is a cartoon character. It’s very likely that a theoretical healthier, more functional version of Loboto would have to reconcile these different Archetypes the same way we eventually see Cassie do, or at the very least get them on terms where they’re not Actively Opposing Each Other At All Times.

In summary: Loboto has multiple Archetypes active in his mind the same way Cassie does, and much like Cassie, the Archetypes being in conflict with each other plays a major role in his instability, especially post-RoR. Again like Cassie, it’s likely Loboto would have to reconcile his different archetypes - especially the ones in direct conflict, as we see in his mind in Psychonauts 2 - in some form or another to become more mentally stable.

SO IN CONCLUSION, I hope this Rambling Essay and Cited Evidence has convinced you all that:

Loboto is still psychic, but his powers only manifest unconsciously, and he isn’t able to use them by conscious choice as when he was a child. (Whether or not it’s possible for him to eventually re-access those powers consciously is very much a “your guess is as good as mine” situation - Loboto's the only lobotomized psychic we see in the series, and no other in-game sources on the history or results of the practice.)

Regaining his moral compass for the first time since childhood makes Loboto behave significantly more erratically and unpredictably, in no small part because–

Loboto has several mental Archetypes in direct conflict with each other, especially after regaining his moral compass.

What does all this mean? I’m gonna be honest. I don’t know. I just wanted to get all this out of my head. Now it lives in yours instead. Have fun!!

[probablyintensemuses]

INCOMING: A DESPERATE COLLEGE STUDENTS OATHBOUND PREDICTIONS!!!!

CC @mageofspace__ on IG

TRACY!! I JUST FELL TO MY KNEES IN THE MIDDLE OF WALMART! THE WHOLE GANG!! I’m so happy to see Valec, Alice, Will, & Mariah in the flesh like wtf! But while we are here, I want to talk about some of my Oathbound predictions…because I can. ❤️⚔️💙

P.S. IF YOU HAVEN’T READ LB OR BM I SUGGEST YOU DO NOT CONTINUE! Spoilers ahead!

• Okay first, I truly believe that Bree has had her squire and kingsmage all along, Nick and Sel. I mean just with the relationships between those three, there is no way it goes any other way.

also, Alice will wake from her coma and have somehow inherited powers from Will as she was LITERALLY breathing his aether signature in. Like I’m not 100% sure how that would work, but we’ve seen it in media before, take Monica Rambeau and Wanda’s hex for an example! Maybe that interaction with magic will awaken Alice's own unique magic too, or maybe it's closely related to Bree again how the Mesmer did too in LB.

Regardless, when she awakens I think bby girl will be given an even more important role in the finale of this series. Maybe like being Will's squire...

• it’s going to come out that not only is shadow daddy, IYKYK not spoiling for potential new readers who have no sense of self-preservation and are reading this anyways, is not only Sel's father but VALECHEZ’s! Like not only would that be pure comedy considering how they were at each other's NECKS in BM, but it makes sense as to why Sel was succumbing to his demonia so fast, faster than others, maybe because a little more demon than others…

•I think this new magic system that Tracy is cooking up is going to tap into Natasia and Faye’s relationship a bit more and even Sel and Bree’s.

I also think it’s going to be the solution to not only Sel’s demonia, but Bree’s bloodmark, and even abatement and all these fucking legendborn oaths. I mean think about the word OATH, practically meaning something one HAS to abide by. Vera took an oath of sorts with the blood mark “one daughter at a time for all time.” The legend born and their oath of service and all this, as I call it, greedy magic which shortens their life spans, the Merlins too! What if, just what if, Faye and Natasia found a way to combine both their forms of magic (root + aether + blood craft) and created something entirely new? Something so potent and powerful, defying these “oaths” or what you could call them, curses, to cure all these things…and what if since Bree is from Faye’s lineage, sel from Natasia, what if they can do it together too.

• I think we will learn more about the Morgaine. More on Nick….hmm. A lot of LB fans keep calling him boring, but with his mom's disappearance, and the fact that Tracy is too good of an author to simply leave his arc hanging, I don't trust it. Maybe he will even go rogue, I'm not too sure ATP, but don't sleep on Nick!

• Lastly for my final predictions…more like a pipe dream. I really, for the life of me, need Bree to pull a Wanda from episodes 8-9 of WandaVision with Shadow Daddy.

We know Bree is smart and clever, this ain’t new! So, I need her to take what she has learned from shadow daddy, and then pull a clean uno reverse, and get out of there! EXPEDITIOUSLY!

Then from there, I need her to find Sel and Nastia (preferably in some cute cabin in the woods, and Natasia needs to be a MILF) this revelation of Bree's survival prompts Natasia to discuss the above ^^^ She and Bree get to work! Sel is now cured and they can get these oaths removed!!! Once these oaths are removed, the REGENTS ARE TOAST, TOR TOO! Then we get to work on Camlann in book 4! Cuz that’s how tf Tracy does it! Period!!

THESE ARE JUST MY PREDICTIONS, NONE OF THESE ARE CANON!! All I have to say is I'm fucking so excited about this book and even though it's still two years out I'm trusting Tracy's expertise to bring us something DE-LI-CIOUS! Also is it too much to ask that if this is adapted for television to have it animated, we know how much Tracy loves and takes influence from anime... it's only fair, and I feel can make for a more accurate and dynamic visual medium.

That's all for now. PEACE.

[taybatwo2]

Monster High IDW Comics Review: Part 5 of ?: Monster High Pride 2024 Issue (“I Put a Spell on You”)

Okay, now we can actually look at the comic. Bring it in boys!!!

Beautiful! Thank you boys.

First off, the info:

“I Put a Spell on You” is written by Megan Brown (she/her, has her own website and is on “x” @ megan_mb. She has done a lot of other writing on IDW comics). The art is done by Bowen McCurdy (she/her, her BEAUTIFUL artwork can be seen on her Instagram @ bonesbunns).

The fantastic coloring was by Bex Glendining (she/they, they have their own website, and you can see their artwork on Instagram @ Igions). The front cover’s art was done by Céli Godfried (they/she, they have their own website, are on tumblr @ pianta)

None of these people worked on the previous IDW Monster High comics.

Both this and Summer Fangout and the IDW Free Comic Book Day comics had Kielamel Sibal as the letterer (she/her, another artist on Instagram @ labis_lemaleik), Riley Farmer as the editor (she/her, I think, I can’t access her LinkedIn profile), and production and design done by Johanna Nattalie (she/her and has worked on a lot of IDW Sonic titles). All three had worked previously on the FCBD issue.

It is 10 pages long Vs the twice as long “Summer Fangout.” Which is a shame.

Synopsis (spoilers below).

“I Put a Spell on You” has Spelldon try to become friends with Draculaura on his road to bettering himself. He is so upset by her not wanting to fang out with him that he asks Spelldon to remove all of his love emotions through a potion. They track down the three ingredients, Valentine catches feels for Spelldon (who already had them for Valentine) and last minute decides he doesn’t need the potion. Spelldon drinks it and tells him it was just a “murktail” (“mocktail”), and they begin dating (YESSS).

My personal thoughts/feelings/breakdown and more photos under the cut:

Like the previous comic, I will be whiting out the speech bubbles to try and circumvent the copyright on these pages I’m uploading.

On with the comic!

page 1:

It starts off with Valentine talking with Whisp (whom he’d become friends with in his SDCC doll diary) about how he wants to turn his life around. The first step is asking Draculaura if she’d be friends with him and he’s SO NERVOUS (Look how is hand is shaking! Fangtastic detail). So nervous that he walks head first into a locker (can relate - that hurts). Whisp sees this as a perfect opportunity to duck out (I love her so much).

Pros:

(Most of these are just going to be me gushing over the artwork. I absolutely adore it and REALLY wish the other IDW comics had her as their artist and kept the same colorist).

I like how his voice’s accent shows through the writing and “turning over a new grave” is a great pun.  The reactions are pretty good too (the RIP sound effect, mwah). 

And the angle on his face while in the floor is beautiful! He even has a little nose scrunch.

Call backs:

They mention him getting knocked into the pit of “eternal body odor” again (I believe he also dealt with those ramifications in his diary). 

I already mentioned it, but I like how he is friends with Whisp in this (like in his SDCC release/diary).

Other:

They did lightly alter Valentine’s outfit (I assume so it was easier to draw -it had a lot of detail on it in his 3D model and SDCC doll), his sleeves are a bit shorter, he is missing cravat, they gave him black nails and more maroon colored hair instead with some reddish streaks instead of pure black with red streaks. :)

page 2:

After being knocked on the floor, Valentine rights himself and quickly asks Draculaura (first in his normal accent and then in his southern swagger) if she’d like to be friends/see a show together “to rekindle our- er-our friendship.” She says she can’t (it sounds like she’s not necessarily against it), she has a full schedule. I saw someone mention that they took at as her trying to blow him off by mentioning all these things, but I read it as she was actually that busy *shrugs.* And Valentine takes this really hard, because he’s replaying that conversation back in his head in class. 

Pros:

Again, I love all the facial expressions!  Also, look at those hands! Look at the use of shadow and they even painted both of their nails. FANTASTIC!

Also, good use of paneling to show that was a flashback.

Call Backs:

The inside of the school looks like the webisodes’ school interior (so maybe these are not following the IDW comics? They used the CGI model of the school).

But, Draculaura being overwhelmed with duties/work does sound like it’s keeping in line with this G1 “Once Bitten” canon.

Nitpick…kinda:

Valentine is REALLY taking it hard that Draculaura is not wanting to hang out with him right that second. Is he just overthinking it? Does he think she’s blowing him off? He probably feels like he keeps failing and can’t make up for his past misdeeds.

Not that the comic has any room for this, but what if the first scene stayed the same, she tentatively says, “yeah, I think we could try being friends.” Then it’s a montage of him trying to fang out/help her and he has just the worst luck (he interrupts her in the middle of fear practice and it topples their human pyramid, he knocks over a vase of flowers he brought her all over her creative writing assignment, maybe he’s forgot how she reacts to blood and gets her some chocolate covered blooded jelly truffles)??? After a week of mess ups, and Draculaura not answering his texts anymore (because she feels overwhelmed-but he doesn’t know), then he can feel like he majorly blew it (but maybe that is too much of a retread on what happened in “Only Have Eye for You”).

Maybe he is overthinking it because his emotional vampire side is hangry (his SDCC diary mentions that he gets energy off of people’s love -more so if it is freely given - so maybe he’s running on low. I know I get a bit dramatic and paranoid when I’m low on fuel).

Valentine is drawn a bit too short/Draculaura is too tall(Draculaura’s head shouldn’t reach above his shoulders and her lipstick and fangs are missing). 

page 3:

He is snapped out of it by Spelldon. After Spelldon takes one of the roses, Valentine laments to Spelldon about his lack of emotional intelligence and how his love for others have only brought him “pain and suffering.” AND he tells Spelldon he no longer “like likes” girls. Which is really sweet, but again, I would love it if in the PRIDE ISSUE we could get a full on: “I am GAY Spelldon.” Instead of a “You know what I mean!!”

Pros: Valentines’ face in the sixth panel is well drawn.

Valentine being over dramatic is a nice touch. Kid is spiraling. Maybe he’s hangry…?  The background continues to be great. I like the background posters of the fanged mouth.

We get the long awaited appearance of SPELLDON. I really like his design (how he has black features, his pointed ears, his outfit, his sparkly shirt). I would love to break down his appearance in another review, and compare it to how fanon (and Garrett Sander) had designed him (and how it’s evolved over the years).

Call Back:

Spelldon apparently likes black roses. :) Which is great because those seem to be Valentine’s specialty (besides in the movie, those were pink).

They name drop “lap dragons,” which are one of the pets that Valentine took care of in his SDCC diary for Mrs. Goblin (which ties back to him wanting to take an interest in Biteology to be a vet).

page 4:

Spelldon (begrudgingly) is talked into making a potion to make Valentine stop feeling all the feels. 

Pros:

Spelldon is so much taller than Valentine (“he sure is big,” isn’t he Valentine?).

The passing of time is well done in the paneling (and the zoom-in to the book is also great).

More great facial expressions and HANDS!!

There is some great foreshadowing with the book. See how Spelldon’s right hand is covering most of the page (like he doesn’t want Valentine to see what it says), and Valentine is not paying attention to the title of the tome? Well, the tome says: “Party Potions,” which doesn’t sound like a title heavy enough to contain an emotion erasing potion.

It also implies that this comic takes the span of about a week.

Nitpicks: Valentine calls Spelldon a magician? Hahaha, sounds like he does stage magic. Just call him a witch Valentine. :)

page 5:

Valentine and Spelldon go to the store to get a “Hydra Heart Scale.” Apparently they are both Elissabat stans and go to see her movie off screen-err page (I would have LOVED to have seen this).

Pros:

I love the look of the background of the store. It’s nicely faded out, the casual inclusion of rib cages (symbolizing where the heart lays and the other new character that had appeared in “Why do Ghouls fall in Love:” Cupid), bat wings, and even some hockey masks like a certain mama’s boy, camp serial killer might be known for wearing. 

This conversation on how much they should get is done SO MUCH better here than in Clawdeen’s/Toralei’s previous short story (in my opinion).

Spelldon looks really cute in the third and forth panel, and Valentine looks really good in the fifth and last panel. I like the hatching they add to Spelldon’s hair shade. I like that they have a little lore drop in here as well about what Spelldon is good at (top of the class in Potion-Crafting) and what Valentine is (really) good at (Biteology).

Call Backs:

The goblin lady he helped during the summer is from SDCC diary and the “unfortunate birthday party incident (is from “Why Do Ghouls Fall in Love?”). Honey, you almost made Draculaura an empty, unfeeling husk FOREVER, I think that would be a bit more than unfortunate.

Nitpicks: Apparently Elissabat the Vampire Queen and movie star is taking up sponsorships for Fake Blood Murktails (I’m not really feeing that pun….?).

And while Elissabat is a fun cameo, it feels a bit off here, but I know they already wanted to hint at Murktails being a thing.

But, why murktails? Are mock-tails popular with today’s youth?? Why not smoothies…boo-thies? I know flavored/carbonated waters and energy drinks are popular…

Maybe have Elissabat in a new costume in a promotional outfit for the “Cracking Dusk” movie mentioned here

(I would have loved to see a new design on her, like they did for her Vampire Heart movie poster in “Frights, Camera, Action,” and the Draculaura Maul Monsteristas dress).

Also, I wish that the last speech bubble in the second panel was moved over and down a bit more, so you could see Valentine’s hand counting down “two” (I saw their line art on the artist’s page -serious check out their Instagram and I think it’s a shame to cover up such lovely hand artwork, also, you can see how the background line art doesn’t touch the character’s line art, helping them not get lost in the panel).

page 6:

The next thing they have to get is “Himalayan Ice Malt from the Lair or a Yeti.” Valentine and Spelldon….well I actually don’t know what happens. I originally flipped back and forth several times to see if I skipped a page because it just didn’t seem to flow as well, and what happens to cause a distraction for the yeti to leave his office -and his malt- is a bit unclear (to me).

Spelldon mentions that having skates would ruin the plan, Valentine trips stepping forward, but then looks like he’s falling back and the next (BEAUTIFUL PANEL) he’s kneeled down,

gripping his shoulder in pain, leaning over Spelldon, while Spelldon is laying under him (I LOVE his pose), and an explosion is going off. Did Spelldon sneak over to the fishing hole and summon the sea monsters/put an explosive potion in the hole?? Unknown. Then the panel jumps back up and see a bunch of monster fish trying to come out of the fishing hole. 

Am I missing something??? Anyways, the Dreddy the Yeti is distracted and both boys run into his unprotected office and steal the malt.

Pros:

Dreddy running out to fix the problem has some funny dialogue and I love Spelldon’s and Valentine’s conspiratorial look they give one another. 

Again, lovely shading (on the neck, cheeks, and hands especially), even the way the clothes lay on them is great (look at those clothing folds). 

I like the Yeti’s design (the horns, furry arms and legs, the tail is cute, but I’m not sure if it fits….maybe he has some Norwegian Troll blood in his veins). His cardboard cut out is really fun.

Nitpicks: The colorist forgot to color in Spelldon’s jacket’s studs.

page 7:

“And a grave chalice to drink it from,” is the last ingredient. Before they do, Spelldon slips into his Southern twanged accent and Spelldon questions him on why he does that, he doesn’t do it around him. Valentine shrugs and says he doesn’t know but maybe it’s because he feels more comfortable around Spelldon. Spelldon and Valentine go to a mausoleum to get the chalice and instead of Scarah coming in clutch to scare Valentine into Spelldon’s arms, Spelldon somehow trips and bonks his head. 

Pros:

I love the Chibi art for them! It’s so cute!!

Scarah shows up!! I wonder if she could hear Spelldon’s feelings for Valentine and wanted to help?

I love the opening panel. It’s very lovely, and I love the coffin lights and the soft glow they emit (it’s handled here much better than the coffin lights I the previous short).

The part where Spelldon questions Valentine’s accent is a nice addition and fun to see. I like the idea that Valentine puts on the southern gentlemanly air because he thinks it makes him cooler, is funny and the fact that he feels so at ease with Spelldon, he doesn’t bother with it, is also sweet.

I had headcanoned that when going to school in Transylvania, Valentine was getting crap for being a new world American vampire -so uncool and uncivilized for the Transylvanian pure breed Vampires. He was (literally) starving for love/friendship, so he adopted the “perfect” romantic, southern gentleman person. Roughly akin to southern gentleman trope maker: Rhett Butler from “Gone with The Wind,” (it doesn’t really fit with that time period of Valentine living Transylvania being Edwardian/Victorian -the movie came out in 1939- but was one of the highest grossing movies ever and really catapulted the southern gentlemen into public conscious and Monster High timelines are a mess anyways). And it worked great in giving him all the emotions he could feast on.

Nitpicks:

This one I like better than the previous page, but I still feel like it’s a bit out of order. I feel like the panels where Spelldon is asking Valentine about his “bad southern accent” should have been right under the first panel. Then it has Valentine asking Spelldon “what’s the plan?”.

page 8:

It cuts to them finally mixing all the ingredients together in the library, Valentine second guesses and then decides against drinking the potion and Spelldon chucks it back. 

Pros:

Once again, I love the opening panel (Valentine’s face is great on the opening, fourth and seventh panel).

You get some close ups of that rose he took from Valentine’s bouquet as a bracelet and it hasn’t died yet. :D

And Spelldon still has his poor head wrapped. 

Call Back:

I like that Valentine says he has been bettering himself after the “incident” (in which he nearly made Draculaura an emotionless husk).

Nitpick:

Valentine mentions he already considers Draculaura a friend here???? So he IS just upset that she won’t hang out with him/is really busy? >:P

page 9:

Next page! Spelldon reveals that it’s just a Murktail and that he cares for and “likes hanging out with” Valentine. Valentine admits he likes fanging out with Spelldon too and then THIS CUTE PANEL where they flirt. Aaaaand no kiss….again!!! >:/ 

Pros:

Again, I love this artwork (Spelldon looks down-right gorgeous in that last panel) and the two boys admitting that they like each other.

Their facial expressions and how Valentine grabs Spelldon’s shirt is just SO GOOD.

Nitpicks:

Also in that last panel, it looks like the three “…” were accidentally copied into Spelldon’s bandaged head. Haha.

I just wish they were more blatant and we got a dang kiss! 

page 10:

The last page again fast forwards again to sometime later and Valentine and Spelldon are holding hands down the hallways of Monster High. Draculaura runs up and apologizes to Spelldon on how much she thinks he has the wrong impression, she does want to be friends, she just has a lot going on (what’s going on with you in this TIMELINE ghoulie…??!?).

I do like that Valentine catches himself slipping back into his southern drawl (I like that it’s pretty obvious when he falls back into it- but does anyone else have a hard time trying to remember what his voice sounds like without it or is that just me). 

It ends on a great note (calling back to how Valentine does have friends now - with Whisp calling him to ask about his new boo-friend and Spelldon asking how he’s feeling now). 

Pros:

THE ART! All the art. It’s all so good!! The hands in the first panel, the shading on all of them! The little heart drawn on the bottom of Valentines’s shoe. <3 Valentine’s realization he’s slipping into past habits in the third panel. So good!

Nitpicks:

Valentine DOES think they’re already friends, so maybe Draculaura should have ran up and said she thought about it and he does seem to be turning over a new leaf and she does want to fang out with him and maybe try being friends. If he would like, she’s free on -insert day here- maybe even for a double date. Valentine blushes and says he would like that. (CAN YOU IMAGINE A DOUBLE DATE WITH THESE GUYS?!?)

Spelldon’s jacket studs are missing in the fifth panel.

Draculaura is still draw a bit too tall here.

Overall:

I’ve already said it a million times, but I think the artwork is SO MUCH better in this comic than the others. The emotions seem to flow better, the characters are not as stiff, the line work varies, the color story is complimentary, the space doesn’t feel empty, the paneling flows together better. Just on a whole other level than what the previous comics are doing.

The colorist did an AMAZING job on the whole short story, she just elevated the already great line work. It’s FANGTASTIC! I’ll be curious to see where the characters go from here and if they will get dolls (please oh please oh please oh please) or at least another doll that is SDCC exclusives only…

I LOVED seeing Spelldon. Spelldon played more of a supporting role here to Valentine, but I think it worked well as an introduction. His personality seemed a bit quiet and mature, very observant and kind, and he has some wit and sarcasm to him. It’s a nice contrast to the more emotionally turbulent Valentine.  I still wish it was longer, and Valentine getting upset over the fact that Draculaura is friends with him but is too busy to fang out with him (but she implied she didn’t know they were already friends: “of course I want to be friends with you!”) is a bit “eh.” And I would have liked to see at LEAST one kiss.

I could see this short story fitting right into the main G1 canon (even with Draculaura still being suspiciously busy and not her bubbly self, which seems to be part of the new-“Once Bitten”/IDW comic-G1-verse canon).

This took a lot longer than I thought to make, but I managed to do it!

I’m still thinking about maybe doing a Spelldon fanon to canon evolution post, but it might take awhile to compile stuff. I find how the whole fandom basically willed this character into existence and all the different interpretations fascinating. Perhaps I will read the new issue of the IDW comic when it drops in August and make a post (to give the comic an actual fair chance). But I can’t see myself doing it to every issue due to me not collecting floppies (I’d rather wait for them to be all collected first, my cat has already stepped on and badly wrinkled my Pride Comic).

Maybe I’ll begrudgingly picking up the new “Once Bitten” book (I’d really rather get that on a super sale then give them full price for THAT) and report on that. TT^TT

What were your thoughts and feelings? Did I miss something? Have horrible takes? Did I mention the beautiful artwork too much?? Let me know. :) 

[stitched-mouth]

Madame Web Production BS

Just to be clear, I love this movie. But I love talking about what a dumpster fire it was behind the scenes so let me point everything wrong with my favourite of the year so far. SPOILERS!

• Cass’s personality is not fleshed out… that’s a major problem. I feel like they just told Dakota Johnson to do what she wants the whole movie BUT then right at they end they decide to give Cass a personality completely ripped from the comics. And it doesn’t work with the way Dakota was playing her the whole movie and these no character development over the course of the movie, so it’s actually a little scary seeing her switch at the end.

• None of the characters have a personality actually. The villain was the worst to be fair because I still don’t really understand his motives. Like… you tricked and murdered a pregnant woman and a few others because your family was poor? And you think Spidey strength will fix that? Um, ok. So is mine but I don’t know.. wouldn’t kill anybody over it though.

• I hate Sydney Sweeney’s image. And it’s not her or her marketing teams fault. It’s her fans’ and her directors. She’s constantly purposely dressed sexy in movies (even when dressed down like a nerd, she’s still sexualised) but then is playing a child. Like wtf. They did it to her in Euphoria and they’ve done it to her again in Madame Web. And how Sydney dresses for press also is clearly influenced by directors and fans’, like the look isn’t just what they want for her characters but also how she’s expected to be irl too. It’s kind of sick and related to how paedophilic things are still normalised in our society today, I’ll have to say that rant for another day though.

• Why does it feel like nobody cared about this movie? The script feels like the first draft that was supposed to have rewrites but nobody was bothered. Same with the editing, everything but especially the dialogue and music feels so placeholder, why was it in the finished project? Like even the Google cast page is not finished, only the leads have their character names on there. Zosia Mament (the villain’s assistant) is credited as fucking ‘Actress’.

• Why was Cassie able to fly to Peru when she’s a wanted criminal? Why is she flying to Peru when talking about laying low because she’s a WANTED CRIMINAL??!

• The writers constantly forgetting what year it is was hilarious and the editors just throwing one Brittney Spears song in and a few Beyonce billboards in to cover up their mistake is also hilarious.

• ACTUALLY, apparently the whole reason the movie was set in 2003 was because the director really wanted to use Toxic in the movie. Because apparently you can’t play a song in a movie if the movie doesn’t take place in the same year the song was released 🤡

• BUT Toxic was released in 2004 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

• The writers taking the time setting as a opportunity to reference Garfield’s Spider-Man but then also forgetting that that SM was born in 1995 🤡🤡🤡🤡

• Yes I checked, they specifically wanted to reference Garfield’s Spidey, but through editing they realised their mistake and started trying to make it look like they were talking about Tom Holland’s SM instead, which risks breaking some rules with Marvel… AND THAT SPIDEY WAS BORN IN 2001 SO THEY STILL FUCKED UP. The fact that a simple Google and common sense (like they must of know Garfield’s fist SM movie took place in 2012 and if he was born in 2003, he would of been only 9 years old in 2012 😑) would of fixed this problem is again hilarious.

• Obviously the biggest goof was Dakota Johnson not realising she’s not in a Marvel movie and firing her agent the same day the trailer got dropped 🤡

• She also might be in trouble for posting the teaser on her Instagram and tagging Marvel before the trailer dropped (so before she found out), but I don’t think Dakota manages her own socials tbh. That post was removed then put back up without a Marvel tag.

• The press tour is amazingly bad, I love it.

• Not seeing the girls turn or become heroes was probably the worst part about this movie but I knew that going in so didn’t mind too much. But the real issue is with how Sony keeps straight up lying to their audience with their trailers. Obviously some studios add somethings into their trailer to create more interest for the audience but that’s not what Sony is doing, they are straight up LYING. And they do it so often now I want to fight whoever is in charge of that, they are the reason this movie flopped.

• Them and the writers… and whoever decided to hire the Morbius writers again, everyone there deserves to lose their jobs.

• The only reason I want this movie to do well is because I want Madame Web to have more movies with Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Adam Scott, Isabella Mercer, Emma Roberts and Celeste O’Connor all returning. But I really don’t see that happening now, I can’t see Dakota signing another contract with Sony or doing everything to get out of this contract if it’s not over yet.

• The fact that they had to dub the villain’s lines makes me so confused to why he was hired? He didn’t even give a good performance, not saying he’s a bad actor (I’ve heard he’s great on other movies), but he really didn’t do anything in MW.

• And the part with the FBI agent and the villain had me so confused too. Like, did she seduce him to find out information about him? Because it makes sense that the FBI would be suspicious of this guy. But then did he see through her act and decide to at least get laid before killing her and stealing her passcode? But everyone is saying he seduce her for her passcodes and yeah I’m confused.

• The problem is the pacing and how everything that needs explaining isn’t, but everything that doesn’t need an explanation IS explained. And too much.

“He worked with my Mom in this place looking for this spider right before she died”

That’s not the exact quote but it’s pretty close to and that’s less than 5 minutes in. Ok thanks spoiling the whole movie to me. I really didn’t know a movie could spoil the movie to me.

• I’ll add more to this post when I remember more bs this movie endured or forced me to endure, feel free to add to this list in the comments or reposts.

[a-midnight-rabbit-writes]

🏛️Sorting TWST Characters into PJO Cabins🏛️

***CW: SPOILERS FOR SILVER'S UNIQUE MAGIC***

To celebrate one of my very first fandoms finally getting the live-action series it deserves (debuting on my birthday no less) I've decided to sort characters from my current fandom into which cabins I think they'd be in were they all campers at Camp Half-Blood, starting with:

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

DIASOMNIA

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

🐉Malleus🐉

The Big Three aren’t supposed to have children with mortals, but Zeus might have slipped up. (I’d probably slip up for MalMal’s mom too, let's be honest) Coming from an old money family with a long lineage, Malleus was raised by his grandmother for the first few years of his life, before her mysterious disappearance. Only after showing up at Camp Half-Blood in his late teen years did it come to light that his grandmother, unbeknownst to anyone else, was none other than Hecate, Goddess of Magic, leaving him descended from not one, but two of the Greek Gods. (Gotta keep our favorite Draconia OP somehow)

🗡️Silver🗡️

With how often he falls asleep, even in the most bizarre of places/situations, one could easily suspect that Silver was a child of Hypnos, the God of Sleep, whose children are notoriously sleepy, it was a little bit of a surprise to everybody when he was claimed instead by Morpheus, God of Dreams. However, to Silver, his dream-hopping ability suddenly made much more sense.

⚡Sebek⚡

Grandchild of Zeus. Extremely ecstatic that he shares godly lineage with Malleus. He may be a generation removed from his godly parent, but we all know that won’t stop him from bragging to Silver about being descended from one of the Big Three, as opposed to Silver’s relation to a "mere minor god".

🦇Lilia🦇

Everyone at camp is pretty sure that Lilia isn’t a god or a demigod, and certainly isn’t human either. How he keeps entering the camp’s boundaries is anybody’s guess honestly. (Diagnosing Lilia as a Creature™)

[vindrawin]

WITCH HAT ATELIER CHAPTER 75 SPOILERS!!!

Okay so all that shit with Qiffrey’s eye? Holy shit???? Anyway here’s some thoughts and theories

I have a feeling the “cold gust of wind” Vinannia mentioned is connected to Qiffrey’s eye pain and Custas’s failing legs.

Vinanna only mentions the “cold wind” after Beldaruit pesters her for changing her stance about the healing magic idea. She says that because of the cold wind, she “had to do something”— that something seeming to be aiding in people’s recovery.

This is weird enough. What does the “cold wind” indicate and why would it make her rush to heal people against her own ideals? Perhaps some big danger that people need to be healthy in order to escape? Or maybe some spell that amplifies all injuries?

Then we see Custas and Qiffrey doubling over in pain that’s centralized in places of their injuries— Qiffrey’s eye and Custas’s legs. It seems strangely related, especially given how closely the two concepts are introduced.

But that got me thinking, maybe it’s even more specific than whatever the “cold wind” entails somehow effecting peoples injuries. Maybe it’s more related to magical injuries, or magical dangers

Custas grabs towards his legs, but more exactly at his augmented branches. His legs have very obviously been changed using forbidden/brim hat magic. While it’s harder to say if Qiffrey himself has been augmented, he clutches at the spot where the brimhat’s removed his eye.

Both of their brimhat related injuries react at the same time, while none of the other injured characters in the background react.

Additionally, Qiffrey says this:

Qiffrey’s body— through giving him killer phantom pains where he’s been affected by brimhat’s— is forcing him to avoid Custas. That alone is bizarre.

Then, Qiffrey notices Custas’s eyes have grown paler. This could imply a number of things— especially with the following line of

“Oh no… could he have… if so I have to tell Coco! If I’m right, we could be too late. There might not be anything we can do to save him!”

I’m not confident the first “He” (underlined in the image) is referring to Custas.

If it is referring to Custas, he might have made some sort of trade or agreement in order to receive help from the brimhat’s and they’ve placed some sort of spell on him— the side effects of which being his paling eyes and now failing legs. Perhaps he was even tricked into it.

That would mean Qiffrey is mentally admonishing Custas for agreeing to such a deal or falling for it. Or just expressing worry for him.

This is assuming the pale eyes are new based on the fact that Coco and Tarta didn’t notice.

If the “he” doesn’t refer to Custas… well we know one other brimhat that deals with eyes. One that also has ties to Qiffrey’s injuries that just happen to react at the same time.

If coco and Tarta just didn’t notice somehow and Custas has had pale eyes since he got the legs, that would be. Bad. Because that opens the possibility of Custas eyes themselves being tampered with— maybe even replaced. Do I think that’s what happened? Ehh, not really. But worrying still. (Also I trust Dalga would have noticed that even if he forgot immediately lol)

Anyway, just food for thought. Feel free to reply/message me, I’m goin crazy over here wondering what the “cold wind” was and why it freaked Beldaruit out so much! Also all the Qiffrey art <3 AND THE DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD!!!!

[pottedplant53]

I had a thought I can't decide whether I like or not

(Mild chapter 7 spoilers)

At the end of the Diasomnia arc, Silver leaves his position as Malleus’s bodyguard. He doesn’t leave the school with Lilia, and there’s no bad blood whatsoever between him and Malleus, but he actively makes the choice to leave the only life he’s ever known. This chapter is about how change and partings are inevitable, and I feel like this would be an incredibly hopeful ending for Silver’s story.

It’s been shown to us plenty of times how content he is with his current life, how badly he wants to stay by Lilia’s side and how deeply he wants to continue serving Malleus, but half of that is about to go away whether he likes it or not. In writing, a common practice is finding the one thing that your character would rather die than do, then making them do it - for better or for worse, this will force them to develop. They probably won’t, but I think it would be really interesting if they did this for Silver. He’s absolutely terrified at the thought of anything changing, but in order for him to grow as a person, he absolutely HAS to go his own way. It’s possible that chapter 7 will end with him realising that, and making the most difficult decision of his life by distancing himself from the Diasomnia family. I love their dynamic, but for Silver’s growth it may be a necessary sacrifice.

As much as it pains me to say it since he’s my favourite, Silver is…kind of boring. His entire character is based around Lilia and Malleus, and almost everything interesting about him relates back to them in some way. All of his goals, aspirations, likes and dislikes, all link back to the Diasomnia gang. He’s been in training to be a royal guard since before he was old enough to choose, and was raised in an isolated cottage with only three regular companions – his entire life has been undeniably laid out for him, even if he’s quite happy to walk with the path that Lilia set him on.

It’s no wonder that he’s more attached to his family than most people, but like every other person in the world, he deserves to be more than just that. While the Diasomnia family is extremely closely-nit and have all shaped eachother’s personalities to some degree (Lilia raising Malleus and Silver, Malleus being an object of worship for Sebek, etc), none of them are quite as dependent on the group as Silver is. Take Malleus away and Lilia is still Lilia. Take Lilia away and Sebek is still Sebek. The exception to this might be Sebek without Malleus, but even if Malleus was removed from the equation Sebek still has a plethora of other character traits and struggles, such as his self-worth issues around being half human.

Silver’s character, on the other hand, cannot function without the rest of them. Take the group away and all of Silver’s aspirations, struggles, everything – it just crumbles. The reason he does everything is for them, never for him, and he doesn’t have enough independent personality traits to balance this out. The only things he has going for him aside from his strong relationships with the Diasquad are his sleepiness and difficulty displaying emotions, and as chapter 7 goes on we’ll probably find out that those are somehow related to Lilia as well.

As sad as it would be, I honestly think it would be great for Silver’s character to make the decision to focus on himself.

But yeah like I said this probably won’t happen, but I just think it would be sort of cool if it did? It would be unexpected, at least.

[theokusgallery]

Little Arsenic concept ficlet set right after the incident (so only read if you don't mind spoilers)

As always, cw for implied domestic abuse/violence, discussions of domestic abuse/violence (+ cw for eye injury and hospitals!)

Word count: 718

Next thing he knew, he was waking up on a hospital bed with a splitting headache.

Although Sunny hadn't yet been warned about the migranes — the nurses and doctors had been too busy rummaging around his skull, he supposed — he had been anticipating them. He'd heard just enough about bad eyesight causing migraines and about phantom pains to know they were coming.

(The cornea was part of the brain, after all. He supposed if his eye was the only injured part, he'd been lucky. Though, if he had to be honest, he still didn't like the idea that there had been scalpels so close to his brain matter.)

The next few minutes went past in a bit of a blur as Sunny tried to adjust to his new (hopefully temporary) half-vision. His dominant eye had been the one to get the glass shard, and he apparently had a worse left eyesight — though he couldn't really tell if it was because of the headache that the edges of the bed were slightly blurry. Maybe he'd need glasses in the future (or a... monocle? lense? He had no idea what the plan was from there). Eventually, a nurse walked in (he was evaluating the distance at which things became blurry, so he didn't notice her immediately and thought she might've been standing there for a moment already before she announced herself). A doctor (surgeon? That'd be a doctor anyway) walked in, started explaining how the surgery went.

"There was no way to salvage your eye, so we had to remove it."

Ah.

Well, at least he knew.

(Was this going to affect his abilities? He wasn't very sportsy but his favorite sport did involve depth perception. Was it going to affect his art, somehow? On a 2D plane, it shouldn't be too much of a problem, but what if he needed to reference the real world for perspective or something? Would it affect hands-eye coordination while he adjusted? Or even afterwards? Was there anything that wouldn't recov–)

"Well, I still have one left."

The doctor didn't laugh.

"Your brain was completely fine — your eye protected it, in fact. So you don't have to worry about your cognitive abilities — but if you feel any changes you should tell your doctor immediately."

Sunny nodded. "So the headache is just about the eye itself?"

The woman winced. "We can ask a nurse to give you painkillers if the pain becomes too uncomfortable. You will experience headaches as it heals and as you adjust to the new eyesight, it's quite common with issues related to vision. Most of your eye is a part of your brain—"

"I know."

Too quick, too harsh, too short. Course-correct.

"I– The cornea, right? I... study art, s–so we've had to look at how the eye works."

Eyes. How the eyes work. Not eye. Damnit. At least the lie made sense, this time.

"Yes, right. Since it's so close to the brain, it can give very painful headaches. You will be prescribed painkillers for a time, and you'll be able to ask your doctor to keep prescribing them if the pain subsists."

"Okay."

Too short,

"That's good to hear," he added.

Christ.

Sunny just wanted to be alone already.

"One last thing," (for the love of God could they not just let him suffer in peace) "You can't get a glass shard in your eye by making a vase fall to the floor unless you are also falling to the floor."

A mixture of embarrassment and frustration rose through Sunny's chest and he narrowly avoided spitting out a "None of your business."

"I made the vase fall because I was falling," he said instead.

"Okay." She didn't believe him. Of course. (She needed to stay in her fucking lane.) "If there are any issues with your situation, though, please know that you are safe here and that if you feel like you need help–"

"Okay."

"–We do have resources for domestic abuse victims."

"Okay."

Leave me alone.

The doctor stared at him blankly for a few seconds, then got up.

"Rest well, miss."

Go fuck yourself.

____________________

Arsenic came to see him later in the evening. He'd brought flowers.

(When Sunny asked him what vase they were going to put it in, he had the decency to look contrite.)

[lemotmo]

https://www.tumblr.com/lemotmo/758424622758756352/i-just-heard-people-are-now-leaving-comments-on

Ok so I was there last night when both things went down. It’s kinda long so I apologize in advance 😅

It was all kinda interconnected but also separate which will make sense in a moment. But The 911bts stuff was from the BT fandom

A crew member had posted during the day yesterday a photo of an Air Force hanger that he was scouting to film something in, and the photo was clearly labeled in Ontario International Airport. Now the crew member does typically work mostly for 911 during the seasons while they are going BUT he does work for other shows as well sometimes so it’s unclear if this was for 911 or another show, and it was unclear if it was Ontario in California or in Canada. So 911bts did not share it since she wasn’t 100 percent sure it had anything to do with the show. Which pretty normal for her. Now the BT fandom though got wind of the photo and immediately decided it was a sign of the coming of Tommy Kinard and then immediately started attacked 911bts for not sharing it even though she has shared things from this crew member before, and started to say she’s clearly no longer a neutral source and that she was purposefully not sharing the photo because it proves Tommy is there and she doesn’t want to admit it. Basically a conspiracy against the Tommy fans. This was mostly spearheaded by the typical main few hardcore BT fans, including the one who tried the whole fake contract thing yesterday but Naturally it wasn’t a conspiracy at all (shocker I know) and 911bts even posted explaining why they haven’t shared it yet or why they might not share a post at all (can’t confirm it’s for the show, they don’t always post every single thing because then we’d end up with 10 photos or videos of the same thing, it adds nothing new for the show, etc) and how none of this is new behavior for her. And she wants nothing to do with the ship war and to leave her out of it basically. And it goes for both sides. Some took her message and moved on and others (mostly on twitter) ignored it and continued going after her and it spiraled into a thing on twitter with buddie fans defending her etc.

Now as for the comments left on the crew post. This is where it was interconnected but separate. Interconnected because it was unfortunately the same crew members photo from above 😅

but it was a thing from both sides. A new BT fan reshared his post and didn’t remove the crew members username or anything and a new Buddie fan left a comment on it about their dislike of Tommy and wanting to know if the photo was for 911, and about Tommy or if Tommy was gone. Both eventually got a tiny, tiny pass because they are new to the show and fandom so “they didn’t know better” but at the same time let’s all have some common sense and basic etiquette for these types of things going forward. Anyways, Now the crew member responded that essentially part of being the crew for the shows and posting means he can’t give away plot related information so he couldn’t/wouldn’t give an actual answer. But this incident also turned into a thing because neither action is ok. And both sides went after the other over them because Like the BT fan should have made sure to remove the crew members information because we typically don’t show it to make sure they don’t get in trouble since we don’t know what might happen to them for sharing certain things etc and the buddie fan shouldn’t be leaving comments on their stuff about personal dislikes and trying to get essentially plot spoilers etc.

Eventually 911bts also found out about that incident and also made a post(s) essentially saying leave the crew alone and don’t post comments like that on their stuff and to make sure if you are sharing their stuff then remove their information first.

And that’s what happened last night 🫠

Thank you for taking the time to explain Nonny. I appreciate it.

While reading your explanation, I kept going like this: 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

We as a fandom need to be better than this.

Leave the crew alone. They are just doing their job. Don't just post their information for everyone to find

If you do come across a crew post and you want to comment on their posts, make it something positive. Tell them how much you appreciate their hard work. Show them some respect. But keep fandom sh*t and shipping away from them.

Being polite and respectful will always get you further in life than hating, shouting or yelling.

Keep this in mind and do better.

[midnightshade]

The Lost Potential of Mimiko and Nanako Hasaba

Spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen Manga

I have very little issue with Jujutsu Kaisen and how it's written. It's a solid series and Akutami is clearly a competent writer, but one of my few issues with the series is how Mimiko and Nanako were handled.

I'm of the opinion that they were the biggest example of wasted potential.

Similarly to Geto Suguru himself, they suffer from being prequel characters. They were introduced in the prequel story and were attached primarily to Geto, which therefore did not offer many opportunities to develop them. This problem can be seen with the rest of Geto's family, but if anyone should have been developed in relation to Geto, it should have been them.

One of the many running themes in Jujutsu Kaisen is how non-Shaman treat Shaman; how society is stacked in a way that favors non-Shaman over Shaman. One of the most explicit and cruel examples of this we see comes from Mimiko and Nanako!

They weren't simply bullied or ostracized for being Shaman, they were flat-out tortured for it. They were sentenced to death and their parents were murdered. Out of everyone in the story, they had the most raw and real experience facing Shaman oppression, and yet this is never explored further!

People argue that Geto groomed them into hating non-Shaman, but not only is that factually incorrect (even Gege disproves this in a QnA) it ignores the very real trauma they suffered at the hands of an oppressive group. It removes their agency in how they reacted to their trauma. They had every reason to distrust non-Shaman after that.

We never get to see them discuss their beliefs with anyone. Never with Geto, never with each other, and never with the primary characters in the story. In JJK0, Yūta even argues that Geto, "Might be right, " and that he has no way of knowing if he is or not. The fact that we don't even let characters like Yūta or Yūji even get to experience the other side of the debate from two people who experienced the worst of it is so frustrating!

How much better would it have been if Mimiko and Nanako had to interact with the others? If they could share why they held their beliefs. If those said beliefs could make characters like Yūta or Yūji stop to question the system and Shaman oppression.

The point doesn't have to be black or white or wrong vs. right, the point is that there should have been more of an opportunity for a dialogue between these differing points, with both sides continuing the conversation!

Mimiko and Nanako were Geto's heirs, his adopted daughters who shared his views. Compare them to characters like Megumi or the other students who would then carry Gojo's ideals. Just like the ideological battle between Gojo and Geto, the younger generation should have been able to continue that conversation.

Speaking of Megumi, I always hoped that the Twins might act as a foil to him. All three have similar situations: they were taken in by the strongest under unique situations. Megumi was raised to be a Sorcerer, thus working within the system, while Mimiko and Nanako were raised outside of the system.

We see Megumi grow and change over the story. We see him train and how his relationship with Gojo is explored, but we never get that with Mimiko and Nanako. We never see them develop in their ideals. Never see them train, and we get very little in terms of their relationship with Geto.

We never even see their Techniques or learn how they work. All we know is that Mimiko can manipulate her doll and rope while Nanako can alter images. Nothing beyond that is ever explored.

All of that potential for the story, what they could have offered in terms of viewpoints, and increasing the main characters' worldview is erased the minute Sukuna kills them. And for what? What was the point, legitimately, other than shock? To show Sukuna is cruel? We already knew that.

None of those characters even care or mention them after their deaths. They're just gone, a complete and utter waste of potential storytelling from two characters that offered so much. Their deaths have impacted me the most, just because of what could have been.

[goingrampant]

Alright, I should probably talk about the bat mitzvah scene in The Boys 4x02. It's... some manner of cringe, if not literally antisemitic, as, I imagine, is on a lot of people's minds. From my perspective, it's more of an issue of Amazon consumerism and badly written antifascism than straight-up antisemitism.

Okay, let's recap (spoilers): The Boys are examining a far-right wingnut convention (Truthcon, a conspiracy theory con, filled with Stormchasers: in-universe neo-Nazis) hosted by a hotel and investigating Nazi supes but are discovered by their targets, who engage them in a brawl. This brawl spills into a bat mitzvah also hosted by the hotel (great job, organizers, btw 🙄), which is themed like Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, complete with cardboard cutouts of characters. Splinter, a Nazi supe who makes clones of himself, antagonizes the Jews with a militia of naked versions of himself holding guns, and the Jews run away while the Boys fight Splinter. M.M. does so by weaponizing a menorah to bludgeon Nazi clones. At the end, Nazi influencer Firecracker makes an absurd vlog about uncovering a Zionist conspiracy by virtue of stumbling into a bat mitzvah that happens to be hosted at the same site as Nazicon.

On a high level, it is not antisemitic; it is an antifascist show that uses the depiction of antisemitism as an accurate depiction of Nazi antagonism in the service of a narrative about antifascists taking them down. Butcher and M.M. especially come across as antifa types, while main villain Homelander was always meant to come across as fascist. The show has many Jewish creatives behind it; it's not literally antisemitic. *looks pointedly at performative Stormfront haters*

That said, this scene wasn't executed particularly well. The Jews are othered by the weirdness of the theme and made into props for the Boys vs. Stormchasers (gentile antifa vs. neo-Nazis) conflict. They aren't treated particularly empathetically as characters, as is bolstered by the weirdness of the theme, which is a set-up for the joke about Firecracker being absurd. Unfortunately, by creating a payoff where Firecracker looks silly for characterizing a weird party as menacing, the set-up for it makes the party itself silly and ineffectual. None of the Jewish characters, props, or set dressing actually matter that much except as set-up to the joke.

The joke itself doesn't make that much sense. So, Nazis are absurd. So what? Does this add anything? We know they're absurd; they're still dangerous. Yes, a Nazi pointing a camera at a cardboard cutout of Tony Shaloub while rambling about a Zionist conspiracy is silly... but that's not far removed from how they actually act. That's an overall problem with the Nazi jokes in the episode: an inability to exaggerate Nazi absurdity to a significant degree because they're already absurd. Antisemitism itself is absurd; it's a hate group.

It's all just flailing at trying to pull off The Producers humor, which worked there because of the specific comparison of Nazi pageantry to Broadway by someone intimately familiar with both subjects. Jojo Rabbit was similarly effective because it compared Nazi ideology to childishness with a literal indoctrinated child figure repeating propaganda in a way that draws a direct comparison. The Boys just repeating Nazi conspiracy theories but making them silly in different ways falls flat in comparison. Half the time, Nazi ideology is repeated verbatim, and it blends right in with the parodies.

The Producers and Jojo Rabbit also have overtly Jewish characters to anchor the viewers. When Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder make a Nazi play to be offensive, it's specifically in the context of them being Jewish characters. The Nazi absurdity is in relation to them as sympathetic figures. Likewise, Jojo Rabbit has the romantic and witty Jewish girl Elsa as the foil for Nazi villain protagonist Jojo, creating an empathetic anchor point for viewer sympathies in relation to all the Nazi stuff. In contrast, The Boys just has the Jewish party floating in the middle of the existing Boys vs Stormchasers conflict as mostly a joke or the set-up to a joke without any empathetic anchor points past the simplistic not wanting bad guys to hurt innocent bystanders. As a result, they're turned into props and othered for the weird theme, which is a joke that doesn't land well for me.

While Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is popular with Jewish people, in context of The Boys and Marvelous Mrs. Maisel both being Amazon shows, it's fundamentally Amazon promoting itself in a display of brash consumerism. This goes against the general anti-corporatist theme of the show. We're led to hate Vought as the stand-in for every megacorporation in America, and now we're reminded that The Boys is a product of a megacorporation and is being used to promote another property of it. For me, this makes the whole joke fall flat and have a cascade effect of jokes falling flat: the party itself (othered props of Amazon consumerism) , the use of a menorah as a weapon (an othered religious item used as a prop), and Firecracker's vlog (absurd but not that absurd).

So, when Firecracker points her camera at Tony Shaloub's image while ranting about stumbling into a menacing Zionist conspiracy... I really don't like that cardboard cutout. I don't like the cross-promotion. I'm reminded of Amazon casting Tony Shaloub to play Jewish when he's not and the controversy there. It's all just a masturbatory mess of Amazon applauding itself. My disdain for that mingles with Firecracker's commentary, and I'm ultimately feeling like I'm being asked to ignore a bunch of problematic things to keep from being on the same wavelength as the Nazi, which now makes me dislike what they're doing with her as an antagonistic figure, now being used to inversely affect viewer emotions regarding Amazon consumerism.

This scene was a mistake.

Your mileage may vary.

[stingrayloveblog]

Whee side order

My thoughts on it! THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!! Youve been warned.

So, here are my honest thoughts. Let me just start by warning further that this is mostly negative.

Took me about two hours and one attempt to beat all 30 floors. Was pretty fun. I used splattershot though because i suck at dualies.

But... it felt very quick. Felt like there was a whole lotta nothing plotwise, too. It was fun, but the plot is pretty weak. Its just another rogue-ai-tries-to-assimilate-everyone plot. Which has already been done. For some reason they keep trying to do octo expansion but again and they keep failing to do that.

Taking everything into consideration, acht really had no reason to be there. You could remove acht entirely and have the same results. And im not just saying that because i dont like dedf1sh. They dont add anything to anything.

I havent unlocked all marinas dev notes but so far theres been her motive of saving the sanitized octarians which......... i have my own personal issues with that. They seem to not be able to decide how they want sanitization to work.

Doing the pallets, i assumed they would give you some memory thing related to the associated character, but you just get a stupid little comment from the post-final boss that doesnt really add anything to the plot or the characters. Also murch is on luna blaster for some reason. I was speculating a lot on who luna blaster and octobrush could be assigned to, but seems like theyre just doing anyone. Murch is very irrelevant to everything as a whole so its kinda just like whatever.

That being said, i feel extremely bad for agent 4 fans. Those humanoid red eyed things with one of them looking like 4 and then them not doing anything with that at all was a huge fake out.

From what i saw, a lot of people were theorizing and expecting things based on all the evidence we got that we never did end up getting because they went an entirely different route. No agent 4 being possessed or whatever (unless thats still true and just unlocked much later, which im hoping because it would make everything a lot more interesting), no implied body swapping, no copybots.

And most of all, nothing from the first trailer we got. With all the concept art. I know it was just CONCEPT art for a reason, but surely you cant just show off all these things and then have the final result be absolutely nothing like it? Then again, splatoon 3 has had more than enough false advertising already, so i guess it was wrong to expect things to be as shown. I just really really liked the giant hostile architecture black spikes picture. And theres none of that at all.

Basically, everything that was expected was significantly cooler than what we got, and to be completely honest, i dont think it was worth splatoon 3 being in really bad shape for such a long time. I dont think it really justified the amount of dumb things that happened over the past few seasons.

I do still think its fun, and i absolutely am going to try to collect everything, but it was significantly less interesting overall than i anticipated.

I do think the final boss attacks syncing with the rhythm was cool. But other than that the level design is extremely repetitive and there really is no variation. Im only enjoying it now because ive used weapons that i like/dont mind using, but once i have to start using weapons im bad at i just know itll be insufferable.

Overall, i am unfortunately disappointed but i still have hope that maybe there is something more, because surely that couldnt have been it.

Also just because it doesnt go along with any of my oc stories at all and i am absolutely not changing anything on my end because frankly im sick of doing that

[pavedinashes-if]

If you really want to stick to a young MC, do all ROs really need to be ROs? Like the ones in their 30s could just be characters involved in the story who aren't ROs. I know it'd disappoint a lot of people, but I have a hard time accepting a relationship between a 19 year old and a 30+ year old as healthy, so I'd worry about their romance paths kinda romanticizing it?

It's ultimately up to you, though! A lot of people with issues with it like me will probably just avoid pairing the MC with the 30yo+ ROs, so I doubt you'd lose a lot of your audience over it.

First of all, i received a lot of messages which actually gave different input than the ones i received for the other age related polls in the past and they helped me a lot here. Thanks to everybody for sharing your thoughts!

To anwer most of them at once, here‘s my feedback:

I like offering the option of this age gap and I do not feel uncomfortable with writing it if I stick to certain parameters I set in my initial idea. Especially, when the age of the Mc is a bit more vague and of the older ROs as well. Why is that? Because I never planned to make it a „ooh young fresh blood“ kinda intention for the older ROs, but instead just the age gap being a given fact, offering the Mc an insight into a different world / dynamic. >>>The ROs having respectful thoughts & doubts about the MCs age - wow, that must sound like fantasy eh? 😉 but I mean it.

So in the end, my idea of the offered ROs never made me uncomfy,instead just the thought of making you uncomfy is what made me uncomfy. I hope that makes sense. No idea why I have less doubts about introducing other potentially triggering topics.

I think the magical and also relieving expression here is romanticising it and I am very very grateful for your wording Anon.

Because yes, that is exactly it! I am not here to romanticise it, in fact any of the potentially triggering parts of this IF. It is up to the reader, up to you, to choose your paths and I think all these little details and choices sre what makes this IF so special. Take all the drugs you want! Wohoo! Overdose! Sleep with almost everybody you meet! Wohooo! Get into bloody fights every offered opportunity. Wohoo! Lie and hurt people around you, people that care for you! Wohooo!

I ain‘t romanticising any of it but I will offer the choice to act it out.

I think it still fits the plot if we don‘t know the acutal age of D. Even though I intend to make it more questionable if regarded from the age perspective only, i do not intend to make it a harmful path. Therefore you can just skip it if it ain‘t your cup of tea.

I consider some age similar paths to be way more triggering and toxic than the older ROs. So it is actually about what somebody tolerates or agrees to and what not.

C‘mon the whole IF has some optional questionable items in it 😅😇

The stranger‘s path cannot be spoilered due to plot reasons. But what I can say and repeat from earlier responses: almost none of the ROs plots is an average meet-date-fall in love-stay together path. > length, intensity, intention differ

I could remove the older characters from the ROs list and just change them into regular characters, but I won‘t. D’s role is one I really enjoy writing, as the dynamic is something else. P’s path, it has their own reason. We have other characters like the Queenpin (and some more) that are older but not romanceable. Here I will give you the option to flirt if you want but they will never be a RO. So we‘ll have characters who aint ROs because of the age gap, even though they might find the Mc fascinating and intriguing.

So in the end I think e.g. D‘s path is a slow one anyways, same goes for the Doc, so the Mc has to work here and therefore (especially for D) the reader will have the impression they aren‘t interested, well actually they are not interested in fact, for a very long time before thinking differently of the Mc. In conclusion this means, you can have this experiwnce of being rejected for your age if you want.

Ah, that felt good. So yeah, good mornin everybody.