#and that's kinda the point of most of the characters people send. they either seem like they could genuinely BE Christian

[your-fave-is-christian]

I have a dumb question, and I really hope this doesn’t sound rude. What’s the logic for some of the characters? Like, if they’re the “hero” in their storyline, but they don’t seem to follow Biblical doctrine… does that even count? I’m sorry if that sounds snotty; I don’t mean to have an attitude.

No, you're fine!!

Short answer: I don't know, I'm not the one sending in the characters 😂

But really I would say there's not necessarily a consistent logic that they have to fit. That's part of the beauty of Christianity, isn't it? Anyone who repents and believes is welcome; it's not limited to any certain type of people. For the characters people are sending in here, I think there are a few categories. There are some that fit what you said, who already hold Christian morals and who one could easily headcanon as being Christian within the story. Sometimes people send in villains who they want to have redemption arcs and become Christian. Sometimes it's characters who are Christian; mostly it's characters people would like to see become Christian.

[ungrateful-cyborg]

On Minfilia

When you take Minfilia at face value, she’s honestly a good character. And her writing is consistent enough that I can’t completely say that the way the community reacted to her was due to it but at the same time... it kinda is, in my opinion, and most of the arguments given to “hate on her” by people are mis-attributed griefs with the storytelling itself or the gameplay.

(The way some choose to mis-attribute it speak more of those people than of the story or devs, though.)

To me, Minfilia is a just and kind woman, if a bit politically naive, who tries her hardest to fill in the shoes of Louisoix when it’s very much not what she signed up for in creating the Path of the Twelve. It’s a hell of a role to take on at 22 (time of the Calamity, since she’s 27 in ARR) and she did an admirable job with it. You can understand why those who’ve known her for a long time feel like she’s incredible, given the facts.

But if you’re not a Legacy player, you don’t know those stakes, you don’t know her, and she doesn’t know your character either (she recognizes Legacy WoLs from what I've gathered).

So your actual introduction to Minfilia goes like this: you get told by Momodi that a secret organization is interested in hiring you and to go to Vesper Bay. You go there and speak to Tataru.

A summary in two screenshots:

The named Scion depends on where you started: Thancred for Ul'dah, Y'shtola for Limsa, Yda and Papalymo for Gridania. It's not Minfilia who recruits you, it's them. She just gets to make it official because she's the boss and got the last word.

And not only that but you've traveled to the town, then get to pass three doors (and two loading screens) in total before meeting her: to enter the building, to go to the basement and, finally, to enter her office where she's talking to the main Scions.

Which seems entirely trivial but I feel like it create a pre-existing distance before you even get to meet Minfilia.

In the Solar, she introduces herself, then immediately puts some distance between you and her by walking behind her desk—ironically while telling you that you're amongst friends—and starts her speech about the Scions, the Echo, the Primals and the fact that your Echo is especially strong. A speech she ends with this (notice the crossed arms—distance, again):

The next cutscene is about the perks of the job, settling once and for all that your relationship with her, even though she calls you friend, is transactional and hierarchical.

Which is fine, I'm not complaining. But she's our boss, which sets her apart from every other character in the story, Scions included.

The next hours are literally spent executing her orders, going back and forth between Vesper Bay and wherever she sends you (and we didn't have the aetheryte tickets until patch 5.3) until she gets abducted.

We meet quite a lot of NPCs who tell us that she's a great diplomat (something we didn't get to see so far since she doesn't accompany us on our diplomatic mission to talk to the Sylphs about Ramuh) and talented to bring people together (which is probably true but always happens off screen). We don't get to see it until well after they made her go from our boss to a damsel in distress we need to save.

To quote Erenville: first impressions last.

Especially when the story doesn't give you opportunities to change it for hours of gaming time.

She's not as passive as people tend to remember, but they botched her introduction to non-legacy players, in my opinion.

So I can't say it's entirely fair to pretend there's no reason to dislike her, or at least to not care much about her. There are other characters who play a similar role to her up to a point: the Exarch for example. But the Exarch goes, literally, outside to meet with us. We get to see him deal with Ranjit and the threat of Eulmore. By the time he needs saving, we've seen what he can do, even discounting his help in the first dungeon. I don't think he would have received such a warm reception if he'd just been waiting for us passively in the Ocular for the first half of Shadowbringers.

It's worth mentioning that the writers were working on the 1.X patches at the same time they were writing ARR, though. And to me, it feels like they either forgot or didn't care that new players wouldn't have a pre-existing rapport with Minfilia.

After all, Louisoix tells her in one of the short stories to wait for "one who bears the light". When we meet her in the Solar, we doom her: her role was to serve as a bridge between 1.0 and 2.0. To wait for us.

And we're here now.

(I don't think they meant to keep her around, even without the general disliking of her that players had—and that's probably why the twins were here from the start.)

[moralesmilesanhour]

I'd love to hear what fundamental issues you have with spiderverse... 🎤

Hm I'm just gonna rattle off a few from most to least important before I forget (note: some of my issues with spiderverse are less about the concepts or characters themselves but more about how the writers or producers chose to handle them, or even just exploring the possibilities of what could've been. I still think it's a really excellent movie and complex story.)

If you're someone that skims through longer paragraphs a lot, I've also put my most important points in italics so that you get the gist of what I'm saying :)

Making Miles' story about everyone else but Miles. I understand that Miles' whole thing in Spiderverse is that by defying the odds, he inspires the people around him. But there's a certain point where the story become *about that* and the other characters more than him and his interiority. In its efforts to focus on his growing into the mantle of Spider-Man, the films only kind of allude to the fact that he has a life outside of the mask. His mental health and relationship to his community are pushed to the wayside so much that even Ganke is only on-screen for a few minutes at most.

(This is a long one sorry) Spiderverse as a movie doesn't seem to know for sure whether it likes cops or not. It presents the literal police and policing as a concept as something that is inherently neutral, likening it to the mantle of Spider-Man where they simply have power that they have to use responsibly, and that there are just "bad apples". But the way that Spider-Society operates quite closely parallels how policing and criminality work: you have a bunch of spiders go out and detain people and send them where they're "supposed to be" under the guise that a) the order of things will essentially fall apart if you don't, and b) there is a specific way that your story is supposed to go, and you should be willing to sacrifice lives to maintain that status quo. There's also the categorization of those who break those rules as an Other (anomalies), and the fact that Spider Society reacts to the presence of the anomalies instead of addressing the thing that created them (the collider. HELLOOOO). With all that being said, Miguel and the rest of Spider Society are clearly framed as anatgonistic forces by the film and even has a punk anarchist character calling them out and being right about it. The movies simultaneously critique policing metaphorically through Spider Society while trying to justify it in the real world.

Girl where is Pavitr. His character is literally perfect for Miles to interact with, but we don't see him again until the very last scene. Same thing with...literally everyone we just met. The movie is over two hours long, where did all that time go--OH WAIT

Gwen and the scene with her dad take up wayyyy too much of the movie's runtime, I'm sorry. We spent the entirety of the beginning of the film learning information about Gwen and her dad that could've been quickly conveyed in much less time. Not to mention that, apparently, Mr. Stacy literally gets fired in the comics for letting Gwen go, so that whole plotline didn't even need to happen. Why change that? To say he's a 'good cop' that does his job? The trauma of losing Peter would've been present in her story either way.

The art style. No, this doesn't mean what you think it does. I do not have an issue with the 3D and 2D hybrid style of animation obviously. Spiderverse has literally revolutionized the field, but there are some limitations to it that were made especially clear once TMNT:MM came out. You may or may not have noticed, but isn't almost everyone in Spiderverse...kinda gorgeous? Hear me out here. Someone has pointed this out before me, and it really changed the way that I look at aesthetics in animation. In Spiderverse, everything from the environments to the way that things are shaded and colored is extremely stylized and pushed quite far...until you get to the main characters. Yes, there is diversity in features the likes of which we haven't seen 'till recently, but I'm purely talking about the style in which they're drawn. Compared to everything else, they look closer to something Disney or Pixar might produce. This is not inherently problematic or "bad", but I do wonder how much cooler and cutting-edge and comic-y we could get if it wasn't so pre-occupied with beauty. You can disregard this one, it's just a thought. Apparently the idea that not every cartoon character you see on the big screen has to be hot makes people very angry.

I think those are all the big ones. I'll reblog with new additions if for some reason I come up with new things to complain about lmao

[trans-luis-serra-navarro]

I remember there was a headcanon about Luis attending a school that had secret connections with Umbrella. Now I can't help but think if Leon and Luis have a kid, they would do extensive background checks on schools their kid would attend, because they'll want to make sure none of those schools were associated with Umbrella/have ties to corrupt companies/organizations.

Thank you so much for sending in an ask!!!!!!! But yesyesyesyesyes I know the headcannon you’re talking about!!!!!! From memory I think either @geddy-leesbian or @hamartia-grander made some pretty extensive posts going into this idea??? Either way its really fascinating to think about!!!!

For those of you who don’t know, the headcannon/theory basically revolves around the fact that Luis was able to graduate school seemingly pretty quickly/was considered a ‘child prodigy’, and that in-universe theres a few characters who attended schools created specifically by Umbrella to essentially indoctrinate them; one of the most notable being the Umbrella Executive Training School that William and Wesker attended.

Umbrella has a few random facilities like this (like the Rockford Prison) And considering the fact that Europe seemed to be a relatively big hub for Umbrella, it DEFINITELY wouldn’t be much of a stretch to say that they’d have a similar school with the intent of training/indoctrinating ‘child prodigies’ to work for them in the future, and it’d be even less pf a stretch to assume that Luis, who came from a VERY sheltered religious background, would be a very easy subject to pick (cuz! yippee!! capitalist grooming am i right or am i right!!) It’d also absolutely lend a hand to why Luis grabbed as many items as he could and just BOOKED IT immediately after finding out what their plans for Nemesis REALLY were (I could talk about that part of his life/that realisation for HOURS oh my GOD)

EDIT I FORGOT TO ADD: Umbrella on some level does work quite like a cult. I’ll link a post that does a MUCH better job explaining it than I could in the replies of this post, but creating facilities for the sole purpose of indoctrinating already vulnerable young people into being on board with your project and isolating them from friends and family is like. Cult behaviour 101 BFNEHENDJDJ which is VERY painful to think about how Luis got roped into cults THREE times. Valdelobos before Saddler showed up wasn’t EXPLICITLY a cult, but considering it was isolated from modern society and heavily Catholic theres a strong argument to be made- then of course theres Umbrella- then of course he was blackmailed into working with Los Illuminados. I’ll make a post going deeper into that SOMEDAY, but like,,,, just the tragedy of his life being one big cycle he cant break is just. So devastating man are you KIDDING ME

I’m not like. SUUUUUPER knowledgeable on super obscure lore stuff like locations/facilities etc, so if you have a question about that specifically @highball66 would probably be a better person to ask!!!!

But again we know like. NOTHING about the inbetween time between Luis running away from Valdelobos as a child and him popping up as one of Umbrella’s top scientists other than the fact that he was a child prodigy and he excelled in college- hell even the dates/ages get kinda wonky at times BHFNEHENEUDNSIS but also this is Resident Evil where things get wonky a lot of the time so!!! Eh!!!!!!!

I have my own personal theory on what he did during that time inbetween I would be SO MORE THAN HAPPY to ramble about HDNEHENDJDN

BUT TO THE POINT OF YOUR QUESTION!!! YES!!!!!!!! ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!!!! Plus just in general with Leon having a lot more enemies than friends, doing background checks on teachers or whatever would probably seem like paranoia to an outsider but to them?????? Nah you can NEVER be safe. Plus Leon’s like, a government agent- he obviously doesn’t have a TON of autonomy but I can imagine he at least has SOME power to dig up information on people. AND, the both of them literally went through hell and back to save Ashley, who was kidnapped right under the presidents nose- So like!! Hell yeah they’d be paranoid abt where their kids going man!!!!!!!! Rightfully so I think!!!

[death-in-a-handbasket]

I am ALSO a huge aku fan and I have tons to discuss about him! I totally agree with you about him being quiet/nonverbal when off work, also super awkward and kinda offputting in some situations. Also feel like that if he had a s/o he would prefer to show love and affection through actions and gifts rather than with words. He would def do household chores/cook etc for them. But when he does tell them he loves them it’s always really sweet to hear and AHHHH I LOVE HIM SM. I’m def gonna be in your asks a lot, I’m bee btw

hello bee ! lovely to meet you :D I saw you going through my aku posts in my notifs, thank you for sending something in ^_^ !! I love this man and I am always ready to talk about him more

I’m glad we can shake hands over the fact that he is indeed odd and offputting, I feel like if people want to get a better handle on his character they should def read beast, I mean it’s shot from his pov and this man’s ways of thinking are very direct and whenever he’s conversing with someone else he really seems to either remain silent or incite the most uncomfortable conversations known to man

this is not a man who socializes well, he has no way with words to speak of, literally

so yeah, I don’t see words of affirmation being a talent of his in relation to his partner and by proxy I don’t think dirty talk would fly well unless you’re looking to get degraded in the same way he talks to his adversaries 😭 speaking kindly is foreign to this man

I 100% agree he shows love in actions or gifts, he knows how to appease people with actions and performing well, so I think he’d take a cue from that and try his best to express love in that way, whether it’s being protective or keeping the house tidy or even gifting you something personal after some quiet observation of your interests, he’s doing his darndest 😭

when he does speak to you, he doesn’t say much but what he does say is incredibly genuine and profound, and for him to say something so tender would probably be a huge step for him in learning how to love

committing to someone would take a lot of trust and by that point I feel like he’d really give it his all even if he doesn’t really know what to do or how to express it properly, the mere fact that anyone would choose to be with him speaks volumes and means a great deal to him especially since his lifespan is unlikely to last long

also please do send lots of asks 🙏 I love this

[bloodywings]

MHA characters as your best friend

Hi, this is the first set of head cannons I've ever done, so if there's anything wrong with them please let me know!

So this is what I think the these BNHA characters would be like as your best friend.

CW - One mention of depression, fluffiness galore

Characters in this include: Izuku Midoriya, Katsuki Bakugou, Eijirou Kirishima, and Denki Kaminari.

Enjoy the read darlings <3

Izuku Midoriya

I feel like he would probably get on your nerves at first.

Like not Bakugou type of get on your nerves, but his insistent mumbling would probably be agitating.

That's why I feel that you would probably become friends during a project.

You two were partnered together (forcibly) for an English project.

When present mic informed you that you two were paired together, you weren't upset, but you weren't jumping up and down in your seat either.

Regardless you sat next to him in class and started your project.

You both decided that the project would go by quicker if you did it outside of class, so you met up in the library.

The project wasn't that long and the two of you finished it in a few hours.

Before you could speed walk back to your dorm, Midoriya asked if you wanted to go down to the café down the street the next day.

"I don't really know anything about you and I want to be your friend :)"

How could you possibly say no to that :( ???

also because he said it was his treat, but that's besides the point-

And then you find out that he's such a sweetheart, and so inspirational.

Okay now past the mush BS and onto how he'd be as your bestie.

I feel like he talks about you so much to the point where people think he has a crush on you.

He doesn't, he just thinks you're amazing and such an inspiring hero :(

I also firmly believe that he will send you voice messages in the middle of the night when his brain is awake.

Like you've learned to keep your phone on silent at night or else you'll wake up to pings over and over again.

Sends like ten on a slow day, on the regular, twenty to twenty-five

Most of the time sometimes they're about hero's, others times they're about something that just doesn't make sense.

Like Helen Keller (SHE DIDN'T EXIST AND I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL-)/hj

He will do anything for you, no matter how ridiculous.

Go get snacks with you at 1am because you're hungry? Let him put his shoes on

Order food for you if you're feeling anxious/non-verbal? What kinda sauce do you want with your tenders?

Come and bring you toilet paper directly after training? He's on his way.

(for my uterus havers) Go to the store at 5am because you're out of period products? What size do you need? Do you need snacks too? He can get those as well.

Take a bullet? Done and Done.

Over all, he's a really great friend to have.

But don't you fuck him over, because he'll forgive, but he will never forget

Katsuki Bakugou

This son of a bitch (who I'm totally not enamored with) would take a while to warm up to you.

I think you, him, and Kirishima, are a trio.

You and Kirishima being the only people he actually trusts a pain in his ass

Constantly bothering him

He can't stand the two of you

(which translates down to, he loves the both of you and would die for you)

Because he's not good with his words, his love languages are acts of service and quality time

So he cooks for you two.

If you're having a depressive episode he'll come into your dorm, and start picking up junk off of your floor

Mumbling something about how "this idiotic little shit can't even take care of themselves"

He makes it seem like him taking care of you is a burden on him

In reality, he's just worried :(

I hope you can read body language though.

Because yeah, most of the time when he tells you to fuck off and to get off of him when you're hugging he doesn't mean it.

And if you let go his scowl will deepen tenfold.

But sometimes he generally just doesn't like to be touched

And you need to learn how to read that, or he'll drop you so fast it'll make your head spin

Much like Deku, if he trusts you enough, he'll die for you

No seriously

It's actually kinda concerning

Make sure you check in on him every once in a while.

His mental health is shit I'm ngl

All in all, when he warms up to you, he's a great friend.

Eijirou Kirishima

THIS RAY OF SUNSHINE

OH MY GOD, I LOVE HIM SO MUCH

Anyways-

I feel like with this, you, him, and blasty wouldn't be a trio :(

Sad I know

His whole thing with you is,

"Yeah Bakugou's my best friend, but you're my best best friend :)"

HE IS SO SWEET

Not to the point where people assume you're dating when they meet you, but people do think you two should be together

Saying things like "you two would be so cute together :("

But you and him have discussed this and are just friends.

He still loves you though!

You two spar together all the time.

As he claims "It's beneficial! We get to spend time together, and better our combat skills" while flashing you that bright smile.

But he'd feel so bad if he hurt you badly in training, like if his skin accidentally cut you

Poor baby would shut down, the last thing he wanted was to hurt you

It doesn't matter what you tell him, he's gonna be upset for a few days.

Just reassure him that he's still manly, and all will be good in about a week.

I just know he is so clingy, in the best way possible

Physical touch is his thing, he hugs you every time he sees you!

Cuddles galore, it's amazing

But if it makes you uncomfortable, let him know, and he'll stop right away

He's such a good person, the manliest man ever

Denki Kaminari

Okay, you know how I said people don't assume you and Kirishima are dating.

Yeah, complete opposite with this guy.

Everyone thinks your dating

To the point where Aizawa separated your desks during the next semester.

You two are all over each other

Flirting back and forth with one another

Holding hands

All of it

Basically, the two of you are attached at the hip

You became friends at the beginning of the year

Y'know, when he was flirting with people and asking them out on dates?

Yeah, you were one of his victims

But you flirted back with him

The two of you went on a date, and realized that you weren't right for one another, and you'd be better off as friends

And after the awkward phase, you two were inseparable

He'll just walk up to you with a random pick-up line, and that's how your conversation starts

Now, your relationship isn't all flirting

You two still do things friends do

You hang out together, hype each other up for dates and shit

(not me projecting of me and my best friend's relationship)

And comfort each other when needed

I just KNOW for a fact that he will talk shit about people with you

Like if you both mutually hate/dislike this person, you'll have a ball talking shit about them

And when they do something stupid, you'll make eye contact and not say anything.

But as soon as you can, you pull out your phones and start talking the most shit

He's amazing your honor

A/n: Hii, so how was it? Please let me know in the comments! If you have any ways I can improve as a writer please let me know! (remember there is a difference between constructive criticism and being rude)

I know some were longer than others, but whatever ig. Let me know if you want this scenario with other characters, or just a different one in general. But make sure you read my pinned post before you ask!

Notes and reblogs are appreciated &lt;3

I hope you're having a good day! And if not, I hope tomorrow is better! bye darlings <3

[literallythegrabber]

Could you rank the TBP boys about how who is the fastest to slowest to confess? Thanks for reading and writing : )

thanks for requesting! I'm aware that this post came in months ago, but I was swamped with school and sports, so sorry. enjoy!

Bruce

I think Bruce would be the quickest to confess due to his confidence.

His personality plus his general popularity with girls would definitely fuel his ego, so he wouldn't think too hard on confessing.

I think he generally just gets along with all people, no matter their personality, so if u were to be more stoic or quiet, it wouldn't stir him up when it comes to reading u.

He's good with social cues, so if u wanted a big, flashy confession with a lot of attention, he'd cook up something big. If ur more like me and would prefer something more private and intimate, then he'd take u to a secluded area and pronounce he feelings for u without being too cheesy.

Billy

I think Billy would confess next because I dont think he cares about rejection.

Like he would want you to say yes, and would obviously be disappointed if you said no, but he would get over it fairly quickly.

He'd probably write something sweet in a newspaper or something and deliver it to ur house, praying that ur parent/parents don't notice it.

Sorry if his seems lacking in a way. He just doesn't get enough screen time for me to get a good judge of his character, other than him being hilariously sassy.

Vance

I think Vance would kinda be in the middle.

I was gonna put him in second to last place, but then I thought about a bit more.

I feel like he'd confess to u so his life could return to normal.

Like, him realizing his feelings for u literally destroyed his world, and he thinks the only way his dangerously nice thoughts about u will cease if he either confesses or tries to scares u and his feelings away.

I think he'd try the latter first, and literally become a big evil monster towards u.

He'd snap at u for basically nothing, yell at u, be 10 times as mean, and genuinely go out of his way to be a total ass towards u.

If his crude behavior distances u from him after being verbally abused way tok much, he'd be happy at first, thinking that without u in his life, his thoughts would return to normal and he could finally focus on pinball.

But after a few weeks, he actually finds himself missing ur presence. So instead of apologizing like a normal person, he decides to confess his feelings right out of the blue! very clever vance😐

So if spots u alone at school, he'll just pull u over and confess in the most confusing, unromantic way possible.

He won't expect a romantic relationship right and away (and u shouldn't either), but this could be the beginning to a healthy friendship and perhaps something more in the future.

Robin

Robin would be second to last, probably because he doesn't want u getting involved with his never-ending beef with the majority of the kids at school (the bullies).

He thinks that if he starts a relationship, his opps will go after u to hurt him (he's probably right).

So, although he steers away from a romantic relationship, he tries to become close friends with u to intimidate other potential suitors.

He'd use bf like behavior with u while also trying to be ur friend, and it was honestly very confusing.

I just think the mixed signals he'd be sending would be too annoying and confusing, to the point where you'd just have to confront him.

So he'll stumble over his words, and just give off awkward teen vibes before he actually gets to his point.

If u reciprocate, then you'd have to agree to not being too flashy with ur new relationship and take things slow.

You'd also need to know how to throw a punch or sm cause those ugly school vultures are unpredictable.

Finney

suprise suprise Finney's last!

Given his shy personality, low self-esteem, and his experience with bullies, it's obvious it would take him a while to confess.

He'd watch u from afar for a while, so you'd def have to start up a conversation.

Yalls' relationship would very much be a slow burn, filled with awkward moments, hidden meanings behind simple words, subtle affectionate gestures, and a lot of teasing from Gwen.

He'd accidentally blurt it out one day, taking u completely by suprise.

He'll instantly try to dismiss it, rapidly trying to change the subject.

But if u press him, then you'll get a proper confession, and the rest is up to u!

thank u for reading!!

[wenellyb]

oh yeah the Ryan stuff is,,, hm pretty awful. idk I remember Oliver stopped following him on instagram for a while, there were rumours that they didn't get on and tbh I wouldn't be surprised if they took a step back from each other at that point (could be wrong but I think it was like a year) - kinda ruined some of the character a bit for me but generally most of the fandom seems to have 'moved on from it' (I'm not judging ppl either way bc I dont feel like it's my place). idk I dont like to be one of those people who spreads shit about actors regardless of what they did but yeah. it was pretty bad. I think most ppl in the fandom figured it had 'blown over' (ie, he'd apologised to other cast members etc) by Aisha's wedding since they were all in photos together. always sucks when someone is so openly racist tho. - feel free not to respond to this, I can see why people wouldn't want this stuff on their blogs but yeah generally this is common knowledge in the fandom from what ive seen also pls excuse poor word choice since im essentially repeating what ive seen said about what happened so some of these phrases don't necessarily reflect what I think about what he did

Hi Anon!!! Thank you for providing context, arriving in a fandom later means not knowing what has happened before. The Ryan Guzman thing is really awful especially since most people seem to have "moved on"....

His wife saying racial slurs is one thing but then him doubling down and excusing that behavior is disgusting...

Thank you again for sending me this and explaining what happened. I see no problem with your choice of words and I understand what you mean.

I get you not wanting to spead stuff about actors because some people don't understand the difference between calling out problematic behavior and cyberbullying... I wouldn't want to contribute to the latter either.

That being said, I'm still dsitrustful of that man, he didnt seem remorseful in that article I reblogged. So if he did apologize he must have done it because of the backash not because he believed it...You see, since he has so many Black friends, he should be allowed to use racial slurs.

[heroesriseandfall]

Regarding your post about the Titan’s Tower thing, I think it’s a little irritating how many people treat it in fanon. In canon, Jason beats Tim up badly but doesn’t do anything too extreme, so it makes sense that it wouldn’t be Tim’s biggest trauma at the time. Fanon ramps it up to 11 and often makes so that Jason gleefully tortures Tim to the point of it being irredeemable. But then they double back and try to make us feel bad for Jason and try to make both of them reconcile by saying “it was the pit that made him do it”. I find it tasteless and honestly a little triggering.

Yeah, it’s a little bit backwards because in fanon it seems like a lot of people are writing about Titan’s Tower to try to...fix Tim and Jason’s early relationship, I guess, while still keeping it angsty? But without reading Teen Titans #29 or the surrounding comics, there’s no context for what they’re trying to fix. I think a lot of them don’t realize that the throat-slitting thing was in Batman: Hush, for example, not at Titans Tower. So they make this particular attack worse just by adding that in.

I’ve also noticed a lot of confusion over ages, making Tim much younger than he was (like 13-14 instead of 16) and Jason a bit older (he should be 18, but fics often seem to have no idea--and tbh that’s fair because the comic artists didn’t seem to know either lol). Which, like with the Tim vs Damian issue, it does change the dynamic of the fight when they have a larger age gap.

Also IMO Jason wasn’t even trying to leave Tim for dead, like I don’t think that was the point of the fight for him. It honestly seemed like the fight itself doesn’t last long and it was mostly Jason venting and seeing what Tim is like, along with kinda sending a message of “I’m here and I’m different than I was before; I did this.” Which doesn’t excuse Jason, I just don’t think people really get what the motivations were. If Jason wanted to kill Tim, he could have, but I honestly don’t think that was the point of the fight for him.

And yeah, the mischaracterization of pit madness is a big part of it. Not that Jason couldn’t have been affected by the pit at all (Ra’s seemed to think there was some influence), but he DOES have full autonomy over his actions, the pit can’t take full control of Jason and make him do things against his will—in comics, pit madness is not really an embodied force of the pit with an autonomous will to control peoples actions so they do specific things it wants (can a vat of mysterious chemicals even want anything?).

Jason is not really being mind controlled or possessed by the pit...because the pit isn’t an entity that can do that, at least not in any comics I’ve read. But fanon does treat it like it almost has a mind of its own, giving him glowing green eyes when its influencing him most (even though Jason wasn’t even dumped in a green pit, it was orange; and his eyes were still blue because the pits don’t usually change your eye color...).

I understand people like the supernatural element of all that, but there’s already a supernatural element to the Lazarus Pit, just not in that way, and adding all of this would require reworking a lot of other things. Jason was absolutely the one who chose to go after Tim, even if his psyche was changed from being healed by the pit. And while Jason very much needed help because he was traumatized and mentally unstable, his need for help doesn’t absolve him of responsibility over his harmful actions—and it was his responsibility, not the pit’s or Talia’s.

Honestly, creating a new excuse for Jason’s actions does a disservice to his character and to every other character he hurt at the time. It doesn’t actually change anything Jason did, it just shifts the blame and autonomy of his actions away from him, even though he canonically did it of his own accord. Which then makes everyone else’s reactions look less reasonable just because they correctly recognize his autonomy in the harmful choices he made. If you don’t like what Jason chose to do in canon...maybe change his actions, not his responsibility over them?

It also completely undermines Jason’s point, which is that he is the one who did it. He set up the whole elaborate plot specifically because he wanted everyone (especially Bruce) to know it was him doing it. If you make the pit do it, that defeats the point. There are so many good ways to make Jason’s return kinder to his character, without changing nearly every feature and context of his story (and everyone else’s).

[ackermental]

Listen, I have no idea how that’s even possible, but the second episode is just as good as the first one, if not better.

  I’m actually struggling to think of anything that was not to my taste, so again, I’ll begin with cons, since I have a feeling those will be much shorter:

1. Alicent harming herself 🙄🤨😒

Not so long ago I’ve made a post about different show where I’ve pointed out this newest trope writers use. They make the most unlikable character in the story either a victim of rape, self harm, or a minority in order to make them look more sympathetic. More often than not, they do that to female characters. It’s disgusting, it’s on the nose, it has no place in this story. I hate it. Let women be bad characters, we are only people, we can be terrible bitches just like any other random dude.

2. The Wigs™. Nothing new here, still bad though. The one for Laena is sending me 🤣🤣, they did my girl dirty.

3. Rhaenys’ talk about men not choosing her, when she was supported by two Great Houses and the House with the largest fleet in the Kingdom 🙄. This woman should know better than anyone that the Great Council was a suss and the voting was cheated. I have to say, though, that there is a big chance she was simply manipulating Rhaenyra, just like Corlys was manipulating Viserys. I’m putting this in cons just in case for now.

4. I hoped that they would change Dragonstone’s design, at least the interior. That’s an ancestral seat of the Royal family at the time of their peak. It kinda made sense for it to look dreadful in GOT, but not in HOTD.

5. The little figures shown during the choosing of the next Kingsguard were pretty and all that, but what was the point of them? I have no idea.

6. It seems they’re not going to make Strongs members of the Oldtown Triad conspiracy, and that’s a shame. It takes away a lot of depth from Harwin’s character, if not all of it. It also simplifies the coup for ‘common viewer’. As if we were not capable of understanding it. Not to mention we’ll no longer have the tragic irony of Viserys replacing Otto with Lyonel thinking he made a difference, when in fact this changed nothing 😞. 

And that’s it. The rest was wonderful.

1. I simply adore Corlys being a manipulative asshole, playing for himself and his family and for no one else. I was so worried that the writers would go for Velaryons being Targaryen’s bitches and besties and *Yay! We are so proud to be light!Targs* thing. It sure is what most of this fandom has thought about them for years. Corlys twisting the situation on the Stepstones into an excuse to wed his daughter to the King and going after Daemon as soon as Viserys puts him aside was brilliant. The fact that he straight out admits by the end of the episode, that the situation on the Stepstones puts HIS House in danger 🥳😍. Love to see it.

2. We can witness Rhaenyra slowly trying to gain her voice during political meetings and how quickly the entire Oldtown Team shuts her up. It shows us so clearly, that they’ve used her for their own agenda and that with Daemon gone, nobody, even her own father, gives a single fuck about what she wants to say. It’s so heartbreaking, seeing just how strong Otto’s grasp on Viserys is.

3. Rhaenyra choosing Criston was such a great scene covering multiple pieces of storytelling. The way she has to stand on an increase, to make us understand how ‘small’ she still is. Rhaenyra smiling, truly smiling for the first time in the entire episode before she sees Daemon again, while she chooses a man who will later bring death to her and her children, almost brought tears to my eyes. Also, her already having stronger backbone and doing something Viserys couldn’t do for years – standing up to Otto. The fact that she picks Cole not because she’s smitten, but because Criston is a great fighter.🤌🤌 

4. Love the little detail of Otto trying to put someone from House Crakehall or Mallister on the Kingsguard. Crakehalls will later fight for the Greens, while Mallisters wanted to fight for the Greens and changed their minds only after Velaryons’ threatened them intervention.

5. I still hate Alicent being Rhaenyra’s friend, but their scene was full of brilliant characterization. They used it perfectly to show the contrast between the two. Alicent being this pious, well-bred Lady, who knows her place, does her fathers' bidding, goes to Sept, prays for her mother and tells Rhaenyra that she should not get involved with politics. And Rhaenyra, talking about men plotting behind her back to a person who is actually plotting behind her back (and good lord, I love this scene!) and trying to act for herself. It’s a beautiful build up from the last episode, with Alicent being terrified of the septa and feeling this pressure to learn, because that’s what is expected of a Lady vs Rhaenyra already having the knowledge, because it’s an interesting story worth knowing and remembering, as well as the iconic „fuck the septa”. 

6. I love how the show emphasizes the difference between Valyrians and the Andals and how Rhaenyra and Daemon are the main representatives of their culture. They refuse to abandon their traditions, to forget their language and faith. I love how it shows them not really belonging in this country, in their own court. Love how it explains Oldtown preferring Viserys who managed to acclimatize better. Rhaenyra doesn’t even know what to do in the Sept, because those are not her gods, yet she’s still being respectful. But that was never enough for the Andals, was it?

7. I’ve changed my mind. Velaryons being at King’s Landing actually explains the large plot hole of just how Laena managed to bind Vhagar to her, when Velaryons haven’t been around any dragnos (except for Meleys ofc) for years in the books.

8. I like how smooth the exposition for Rhaenyra’s age was. Viserys talking about her being fifteen makes perfect sense, because what father doesn't find the adolescence of his little girl to be terrifying? I salute all the idiots screaming about her being eleven.

9. The microexpressions Emily gives are just cheff's kisses👌. Alicent knows very well what she’s doing.

10. Rhaenyra wearing Daemon’s necklace even after all this time and ‘the heir for a day’ rumor 😭. She doesn’t believe it for a second, and I love it!

11. Viserys straight out admitting that he thinks of Otto and Grand Maester as the Small Council. Not that he’s wrong, but the fact that those cunts don’t even have to pretend, yet still do, shows you just how calculating they are. The little comedy Otto does with Mellos, trying to make it look like one is for Laena and the other is not, yet we still got treated to the little look maester gives Otto, like „c’mon man, this is your line now”. I want to kiss the showrunners.

12. Laena asking after Vhagar. Yes girl, you have your priorities in the right order!

13. The fact that they point out Lords making vows to Rhaenyra and how it does change everything. Finally somebody understands how feudalism works. Rhaenys storming off with a huff, because she knows she’s been talking nonsense and trying to twist the facts, yet it’s still not working on Rhaenyra. „Your father is not a fool”, please Rhaenys, you can do better than that.

14. Otto jumping out of his chair to stop Viserys, because he knows that if he allows the two brothers to meet, they will make up and all of his hard work will be for nothing. The audacity this man has, to say that Daemon would harm his brother, when he’s the one plotting House Targaryen demise!

15. I know I’ve made many jokes about it as soon as I saw it, but the scene on Dragonstone is actually brilliant. Daemon increasing his provocations to the point where he can no longer be ignored was a smart idea to make his brother meet up with him. If not for Otto, it would have worked. The fact that he takes the specific egg, hoping that if he doesn't get to see his brother, he at least gets to see Rhaenyra, again shows you that this man just wants to be with his family. And when it doesn’t go as he’s planned, he at least makes an attempt to rouse Otto, counting on him to take the bait and give Daemon an excuse to finally kill the cunt where he stands.

16. The dismissing way in which Daemon addresses Ser Cunt, the “very good” line. Oh, how well we were served this week 🤭🥰.

17. The way this episode makes it explicably clear that dragons are the most deadly weapons in the world and that dragonriders are a tremendous power the King wields. And show writers are hammering it down hard. First when Rhaenyra points it out to her father, who’s constantly being manipulated into forgetting just how large of a force he has at his disposal. Then again when Otto calls the egg weapon. And then again when we see Ser Cunt, the rest of the Kingsguard, and Otto cower before Caraxes. Yes, Cole might be a better knight, yes, Kingsguard might be better trained than City Watch, but it still makes no difference because Targaryens have dragons. It was a great scene to make viewers understand, that if you wish to get rid of Targaryens, you have to do it without openly challenging them. Because if you do, you’ll lose every time.

18. The face Otto makes when he sees Caraxes 🙌👏. The fact that book readers can see the moment he remembers Hightowers' own prophecy. That if they ever dare to fight dragons, the Oldtown will burn. The fact that he almost believed the lies he’s been feeding Viserys and forgot for a second why Targaryens are the Royal family in the first place. His forced calmness, the way he straightens his back and gives his men the command to stand down. That was some wonderful characterization done with only one line of dialog. And it makes him look like a badass even though he’s retreating.

19. Daemon standing down as soon as he sees Rhaenyra, his little smile when she lands, him throwing her an egg. She’s been so alone this whole time, with both Rhaenys and Alicent dismissing her new role, her father ignoring her, the Small Council basically treating her like a joke. And here Daemon is, giving her what she wants without any fight. It’s also such an important little detail for how this story will unfold. This man hates the mere idea of Rhaenyra being angry at him, she’s the only family member who still loves him implicitly and for a man who craves love as much as he does, it makes perfect sense that he’s ready to do anything to prove himself to her. The fact that Otto is right there to see it, explains even more the Oldtown Triad using this affection against them later on.

20. By the way, I love how Otto begins this episode with absolutely ignoring Rhaenyra as an opponent and only seeing her as a naive girl, who's there just to serve his purpose (the same way he uses his own daughter), only to realize by the end how much of a real threat she is. He’s just caught up to the fact that he made Lords of Westeros swear fealty to a woman who’s a dragonrider, a dragon hatcher, is actually very comfortable with her valyrian roots, has a very good relationship with another dragonrider, and who at the age of fifteen dares to challenge him and straight out ignores his council. The irony of replacing Daemon with someone much, much worse is slowly starting to bite him in the ass. 

21. The writers really be out there, pissing on all those morons claiming that Daemon is a power-hungry madman, who wishes to take his brother’s crown. „I’ll speak of my brother as I wish. You will not.”

22. I loved watching Corlys exploiting Daemon’s position in order to get Caraxes to deal with his war. It’s a really well-played move.

23. And here we have it, Rhaenyra’s final realization that she’s truly alone, that she can’t trust anyone, that nobody at court stands in her corner. Which will later explain her need to find someone just for herself, and the way she’ll see and use Criston, and her happiness at having Daemon back again, and jeez, it’s such a well-writen story!

So yeah, another episode that turned out to be great. I was still not over my shock from last week and they did it again, they gave us good ASOIAF content. Can’t wait for more.

[mykatsudon]

My thoughts on Yuri On Ice and where it went

So I’ve been wanting to properly articulate what I feel is off about the Iceado production and how abnormal it is, what I think could be happening and my reasoning. So far I’ve only posted about these feelings on asks, replies and discord but I want to expand on them in writing. This is kinda long so I apologize in advance. Feel free to send me asks or reply to this post with your opinion.

First of all. Anime is a product and a property, and as such, it is usually milked until it no longer produces enough money to be profitable for the studio.

Yuri on ice was a total best seller, It trended #1 every Wednesday on both Tumblr and twitter. Episode 7 crashed Tumblr. They have a huge international audience, which is something that is so valuable. 

The first 2 years after YOI ended we had had all sorts of events. Collaborations, pop ups, the live stage, all sorts of merchandise etc..

Please. just read this bit on the popularity and success of YOI  ( X ) 

with that in mind, 

what in the hell happened?

Here’s the two train of thoughts I see a lot in asks/replies:

It’s a “focusing on other bigger projects” kind of issue

It’s an LGBTQ censoring issue 

Here’s why I think it’s neither of those two:

focusing on other bigger projects is the most popular theory and the one that honestly makes more sense. yoi being put on pause to produce the money cows JJK, AOT, CSM, and Vinland saga. It makes sense except for the fact that they still found the time to animate 12 episodes of a relatively obscure Ballet manga, Dance Dance Danseur. which already finished airing and despite being a MAPPA property, it wasn’t very popular online. Why take the chance to order 12 episodes from DDD and not Yuri on ice? which if you read the link I placed earlier had impressive statistics. This exact fact leads me to believe it's not a time or focus issue. 

If LGBTQ censoring was the issue, we wouldn't have BL animes coming out every year, and since Yuri on ice came out we’ve had quite a bit of BL animes and movies, for example: Given, the clouds gather, Given the movie, Sasaki to miyano, Umibe no étranger, Yes Ka No Hanbun Ka, sankaku mado, and a bunch more including live actions. 

and you might say “but yoi is not tagged BL so it could be censored” well, just a year after Yuri on ice aired Banana fish, a Mappa property, had a full on screen kiss between the main two characters. and that wasn’t tagged BL either. Y*richin B*tch cl*b got an anime adaptation and it doesn’t get more explicit than that so no. While I’m not claiming censoring doesn’t exist in anime, the laws aren’t a strict regime as some people make it seem. Implying the whole project got scrapped because of the main gay relationship is beyond unlikely. I don't think anyone could possibly deny that Yuri and Victor’s relationship was by far the biggest selling point of yuri on ice; the audience  knows it, the creators know it, the producers know it. 

So what is it? 

I present my leading theory... simple yet I find it quite likely...

Creative differences and doubts about where to take the story. 

what do Jujutsu Kaisen, Attack on titan, Chainsaw man, Dance Dance Danseur,  Vinland saga, and hell’s paradise have in common? 

they’re all manga adaptations. 

Yuri on ice is an original story through and through. Thought up by the wonderful minds of Kubo Mitsuro and Sayo Yamamoto. Yuri on ice has been both the last anime they’ve worked on so far since 2016. 

The thing about Yuri on ice is that the story, by virtue of being so original in it’s plot and setting, deviated heavily from the usual money-making structure of your average sports anime. 

The characters were not teenagers in high school 

A major plot point is that both of the main characters are nearing the end of their careers. 

the story wraps and by the 12 episode mark you’ve already been to a bunch of competitions that in other sports anime would’ve taken seasons. EX: Kuroko no basket, haikyuu, slam dunk

Most important character arcs are resolved. 

Main conflict in the series is resolved. Victor and Yuri get together. 

The truth is, Yuri on ice is a series that really wraps up neatly. where can you go from there? go through competitions all over again until Yuri wins gold? when we’ve already stablished that Victor loves Yuri for who he is and will stay no matter what? what would be the point of that? Have Viktor keep being a playboy celebrity when already his search for live & love was resolved? 

There is a danger of falling into the same story beats and a season 2 would have to be carefully constructed. Where do you take this franchise?

I used to not understand why they opted for a prequel movie instead of a season 2. Now that I look at this decision from a different perspective and while I do not personally agree with it, I can totally understand it. 

Going forward with this original series is difficult, and I can tell the writers Sayo & Kubo care a great deal for their creation. The way YOI is so carefully structured shows that so much thought and care went into it. seriously, have you ever thought about how much detail, narrative, interaction, and character arcs YOI manages to have in just 12 episodes? it’s quite impressive. this is a project that they had no idea would get green lit for a second season and they knew the studio was taking a chance on them with this original series so they were incredibly concise as to have it end as neatly as possible.

but that “see you next level” was a promise to an eager fandom. 

Back to why I think creative differences and testing the waters as to where to take the story is what’s happening: 

In January 2019 an Ice Adolescence teaser was shown in Japan only, in complete exclusiveness. the people who saw it weren’t allowed to record it so they talked about it in great detail on twitter. For more than a year, this very same teaser was kept from the international audience until it dropped on YouTube on November 2020. According to the people who saw it in the exclusive screening nothing had been changed or added, it was the very same.  So why the long wait? It’s like there is an uncertainty as to where to take the project and if it should continue in the same direction. “Let’s give it a year and see if we’re still on track with the current story”

To be honest, there have been many times where I’ve genuinely believed the project has been dropped. I know there are franchises that take longer to produce, look at Evangelion’s last movie, it took like 9 years to be made. As I was reading on the story of EVA 3.0 + 1.0 and why it took so long to be made when Eva is a well stablished money making franchise, I learned that Hideaki Anno, the creator, developed severe burnout and had to take a break, he was undecided on where to take the story and other people who worked with him in the project left the studio. 

Since I am a yoi blog, and I’m always scanning the tag, replies, twitter, reddit, I see that a lot of discussion surrounding Iceado always seems to point to the fact that people believe this is studio meddling. What happened to Hideki and EVA could’ve happened to yoi. That even a huge property like EVA took 10 years because the creator was not comfortable, and did not want to continue just yet points to the weight the creator holds. I believe that if it were up to mappa, given how much money yoi made them, we would've had yuri on ice season 3 by now. But no, this is ultimately Sayo and Kubo’s child and I strongly believe that if we do not have something by now, it’s because something is taking place between these two, perhaps burn out, perhaps creative differences, or perhaps they seriously just need lots of time to think this one through. Even though it’s hard sometimes because I love this franchise, I want to trust Kubo and Sayo as I did before. I want to trust they’ll deliver a product that is good, and campy, and fun, and deep and sometimes heartbreaking. I will wait until I can see this through 

[tetsunabouquet]

(Un)popular SK Opinion: Ren&Jeanne make no sense and Men's existence is the most questionable of all

Alright, let me first get this out of the way because I'm a known Ren fangirl- no I don't hate Jeanne. I kinda used to after watching the original anime, but the manga as well as growing up and realizing she was just a brainwashed little kid who should be playing with dolls made me a defender of Jeanne and I firmly believe Marco should be in jail for what he did to her. But that still doesn't mean Jeanne and Ren started making sense, not even after Red Crimson. The only thing they share is a similar pain from their pasts, and that's not enough to make a relationship work for the long-term. Ask my parents. A relationship is build on so much more then just having a similar backstory and regrets. What do these two have in common, except for perhaps a better-then-you mindset on top of the aforementioned similar background?! We see NO build-up at all. Even in Red Crimson, all we get is as much as a two page scene of them being a couple. Yet even during that one scene between Yoh and Ren about having a family, it was implied he might already have a crush on Jeanne

HOW?! In every scene they were in during the main series, he was pretty much annoyed with her and the X-LAWS. So HOW?! And then we get to their actual relationship, which seems messy AF. Like, Jeanne and Ren got engaged before she was pregnant, but she had short hair during their wedding. Ren said she cut her hair short after she had Men. So, did she get pregnant during their engagement and is Men being babysat by the Jiang Shi during the wedding or something? Also, the 'holy maiden', giving birth to a child out of wedlock?! Are you kidding me?! Am I seriously supposed to believe that considering Marco was so strict and religious, Jeanne grew up to be like, 'A baby before getting married? Okay, no problemo.' It's not unheard of for teen moms to be allowed to get married when they are above 16, so why the fuck didn't Jeanne and Ren get married first in order to legitimize Men as their child? And then we get to their actual married life. Iron Maiden Jeanne, THAT Jeanne, who would shoulder all the sins of the world on her shoulders through regular self-torture, would travel through war conflicts to aid the people in need and would sleep in camps having barely anything, who turnt the X-LAWS into the world's largest charity organization, THAT Jeanne became a STAY AT HOME HOUSEWIFE?! EXCUSE ME?! Where the fuck did her noble mission go?! She's an ambitious martyr, yet she gave everything up that she worked so hard for to mope the floors of her home? That's character assasination if you ask me. As parents, they make zero sense either. Ren's pain and hatred of his family came from them robbing him of his childhood. Yet he's perfectly fine to send his SEVEN year old son into a dangerous tournament where nobody can be revived from the dead for the SLIM chance of them getting back Jeanne. EXCUSE ME?! This doesn't fit Ren AT ALL. The more you actually think about Ren sending his son into the Flower of Maize and how it is in stark contrast with how he wants to be different from his family's ways and his established character, the more confusing it gets. And I didn't understood why until I watched a YT video about Ren's character the other day, in which they pointed out the Shonen trope of having a rival-friend that the audience could root for in case they didn't like the main character like Goku and Vegeta. That's what Ren and Yoh are in the series, and obviously, a lot of the people reading the sequal read the main series. The more I think about it, the more I feel like Takei created Men and the Jeanne storyline to keep the Ren fans invested in the sequel. Which is why, its definitely poor lazy writing, and not even the only problem of poor writing in the sequel (I am looking at you Miss Alumi, you're way too much like some fanfic's poorly written OC).

[cursedvibes]

To have such a long boring fight that I skimmed over every week just to have Gojo die feels kinda... Pointless?? Idk it just feels anticlimatic af. Villains winning in Jujutsu Kaisen is not a big plot twist at this point. Also I think Sukuna is ugly and needs to be humbled and more than Gojo dying I think he's gonna be all smug now. Unless Gege pulls the same shit that happened during the Toji VS. Gojo fight. Plot twist within a plot twist.

To be honest, I didn't expect him to die either. I thought he would get majorly depowered - just like Sukuna - to make the story more interesting because he clearly couldn't stay just as he was or everything would be over in 10 chapters. But I didn't think he'd bite the dust so soon. It does make some sense though because this entire fight it seemed like Gojo had barely any long lasting plan besides countering what Sukuna throws at him and trying to get hits in when he can, which only worked in Sukuna and Mahoraga's favour and destroyed even more of whatever is left of Megumi's consciousness. The execution was just terrible. I would have less of a problem with it if it was a team effort, but when you send Gojo in there alone with seemingly barely any prep, what did you (protag team) think was gonna happen? At least the other characters will finally have room to move and develop now.

I would have liked Sukuna to take more damage and come closer to losing to spur some character development, but a lot of that is probably saved for his confrontation against the students, mainly Yuuji. Same goes for using more CTs than just Cleave and 10 Shadows and bringing out Yorozu's gift. Yuuji is much better in humbling him anyway, especially in an emotional sense. He's not the strongest, he's Sukuna's ex-cage and in his eyes lowly vermin (that has a unique power over him). It's very easy to get a rise out of Sukuna when Yuuji is around, he's not as collected as with such a far removed opponent like Gojo. That's also why this fight happening at all confused me from the start. Aside from "strength brings loneliness", there is almost no connection between Sukuna and Gojo on a character level and even that barely got any focus. There's the task of freeing Megumi, but Gojo seemed to just forget about that. It's not even a concern to him when he's dying and Sukuna still alive and more or less well.

All that one eye foreshadowing did make me wonder if Gojo would come back somehow, but after the Hidden Inventory reunion and Gojo half lying on the ground it would just feel cheap. Not to mention, that this would be like the 6th death scare we got for Gojo during this fight? Just give it a rest already. "Gojo won!" "nevermind, he's dead" "jk he's alive again" that would just be...bad. These scenes would lose all impact they had. The death scare against Toji worked because it seemed realistic and wasn't danced around ad infinitum. Clearly Gege put more thought into the airport scene than the whole fight (at the expense of Gojo forgetting his students exist), so I think this is it.

While it was pretty bad, most likely the worst fight in jjk, it has to end somewhere and the plot has to move on. Put it out of its misery. The students and remaining sorcerers all working together to overcome Sukuna and Kenjaku is far more meaningful than anything we've seen in the last four(4!) months. There will be stakes, people will have to fight smart and not just rely on pure strength and I'm pretty sure with Yuuji back in action, the character writing will improve again as well.

[dipplinduo]

Blog Interaction Guidelines

So in the early stages of making this blog, I was once asked about "rules" for interacting, and pretty much responded with something to the effect of "I really don't have much to say outside of please be respectful and know that there's no place for hate/discrimination here". I have never ran a public blog before this and I felt a little weird telling people how they "should" conduct themselves. In fact, I still kinda do feel this way and prefer to deal with potential problems quietly. However, I've decided to revisit this idea now that this blog is nearing 800 followers. These guidelines are more specifically about things that have been happening repeatedly that I honestly just want to set some boundaries about:

- This is a dipplinshipping account, so the content posted/reblogged here has and will continue to be about dipplinshipping and pokemon. No hate to other fandoms or even other ships - I'm just not necessarily going to interact with unrelated content because it's outside of the scope of this blog. (Referencing other medias in asks about dipplinshipping/pokemon is totally fine, though!)

- I do not take headcanon/writing requests for OCs. Again, no hate, this is just not a self ship blog. I do take headcanon submissions related to dipplinshipping (and react/add onto them). I don't mind headcanon requests about the ship either because it's related.

- Please do not spam my inbox with repetitive messages. And by this I quite literally mean verbatim, word-for-word messages. (They're often unrelated to anything, too). I consider this harassment at a point.

- Please do not submit underaged/graphic/horror content, and/or ship content about minors and adults. Yes I've gotten these, yes they're highly inappropriate.

- Everything in this post (TLDR - please don't send "demanding" asks about my writing, e.g., repetitive, insistent questioning regarding updates, not-so-politely worded “requests” to either abandon certain storylines or add something into a storyline, or expressions of high dissatisfaction/disapproval for when I’m choosing to write for something other than Sweet & Sour Dipplins, which is my most popular work.)

- If you don't like a character I like, that's fine. You do not need to interact with me about it. I do not interact with you about what you should like or dislike.

- If you don't like a fic I write, or the direction of my writing, that's fine. You do not need to interact with me about it. I do not interact with you about what you should write or not write.

- Don't call me an excessive amount of pet names on anon (it seems to occur here almost exclusively). I appreciate kind messages, but this kind of behavior comes off a bit creepy in excess considering I don't know who you are.

- The same honestly applies off anon too, and includes comments that are borderline offensive toward me or others when being "playful". I want to interact with you and have fun! But please remember that if you don't know me personally, we are still very much strangers/good acquaintance mutuals, not close friends who are bantering. (You're more than welcome to call me out if I ever cross your boundaries with stuff like that, too; your comfort is equally important to me.)

- In general, I want to keep the anon feature on if possible because I know it helps some people express themselves with more ease. I've had to turn it off at times because people seemed to a little too comfortable with the feature. Right now it's on again; please don't ruin it for others. I don't want to have to do this since I consider it a very last resort, but I might just start blocking users who are being inappropriate on anon if necessary, as I can't identify who you are and have a conversation with you.

- Don't bash other people's ideas or say x is better than what they're saying, or whatever. Creative spaces are not a competition, but an opportunity to share and collaborate? And frankly, I'm very thankful to anyone who sends me ideas or reactions or whatever. I do not want anyone to feel discouraged from sharing. I will delete your comments or asks if you don't have nice things to say about others and their ideas. Be respectful.

- People seem to have the impression that I own servers on discord. I do not own any servers nor am I looking to continuously advertise servers that are not mine. Please go to the appropriate people if you are interested in joining a server.

- I try my best to keep this blog more on the PG side since this audience is more generalized/might have more variety in age. Many of you may follow me because I'm the author of Sweet & Sour Dipplins, where there's a time skip that ages the characters and has a suggested audience of mid to late teens and up (and in general is meant to be more in this YA genre). It's more than okay to send me stuff that references some of the themes depicted in there and in other works I may write for audiences that go beyond a general audience. I often get really funny and iconic asks in this direction, actually. But! Know that because I'm aware of the general audience on here, I might not be able to post and interact with you publicly about it (especially as people who don't read the fic don't have the context). I can interact with you more directly on spaces like AO3 comments! Otherwise, I'll try to message you to let you know you're hilarious. :)

- Regarding fics that are not by me & playlist recommendations: I actually would love to promote them provided it's related to dipplinshipping and they're appropriate! I just might need a little time to be able to sit down and screen through it myself because I want to be conscious of what I'm promoting, is all. So keep sending 'em!

I think this about covers it. If reallllyyyy necessary I might comment on this again? But I'm hoping not to, because at the end of the day I'm really just here to vibe and have a good time and I hope you are too. Please rest assured that if you aren't sure if you've done some of the things I listed here, that means you're probably fine. If you have, it's no biggie so long as the behavior stops (with the exception of the underaged/graphic/horror stuff; those I've just straight up handled so it doesn't apply to anyone as of now).

Thanks for reading, and feel free to let me know if something I listed here is unclear so we can have a better understanding of each other. And as always, thanks for your support and engagement! 💕

Lots of love,

dipplinduo

[danstupidaushit]

Cruel, Cruel World (Negativetale Danmaged)

Alright so, this is kinda hard for me to talk about it, but this was supposed to be one of my biggest projects. I really am a fan of negativetale, and always thought the au was really underrated despite having an entire coming depicting one of the routes being done, and, at least in my opinion, having a very interesting way to depict it's concept that, at first can seem like something you'd see in an underfell take, but it's so different that, i practically fell in love with it And with this project, i really just wanted to try and bring the au back to today's fandom, wanting to of course update some of the concepts from the original au, while also trying to keep most of the aspects that made the original au my favorite. But oh well, the thing ended up getting kinda mixed opinions, as i even got called out for being "unintentionally transphobic" for uh, making mettaton a girl ig?

But nonetheless, let me skip all of this babbling and go on to explain about the au itself. So, the original negativetale is about how the monsters have violence ingrained into their species, and have since being enthusiasts on it after Asgore made up a rule about wanting only the strongest monsters to prevail in the underground before he would be able to free them and break out another war against humanity. And in Cruel, Cruel World, i going with a similar idea, by basically simplifying it to "What if the monsters were as evil as the legends told?", and with that, i went on to conceptualize the world, as Cruel World focuses on taking all of the good traits of the characters, and spinning them into making them eiter monstruous or actual bastards instead of the goofy people they were in original undertale.

To better explain what i mean, why don't i get in detail about the characters?

Frisk: I don't have anything to say about them, they are just as emotionless as the og frisk lol

Flowey: Had gone through the similar process as the original Flowey, but instead of becoming a bastard like the original Flowey because of having no soul, he immediately grew depressed and truly emotionless after noticing the situation he was in. He doesn't do much, doesn't say anything, and kinda just stands around looking down, with a dead stare stamped on his eyes.

Napstablook: Here, instead of being depressed by the fact his life has become kinda miserable, he instead became irritated to the point where he lashes out his own problems on others, gaining more of a smug kind of personality as he began to pester around with some of the weaker monsters he can find, using the advantage of being immortal as a ghost in his own favor to be even more of a pest to the people around him

Toriel: She's one of the characters i decided to not turn into an actual asshole, but actually make her unintentionally evil. Basically, instead of her being mother like and accepting, she's very terrified of everything and everyone, including Frisk, as she would actually reactivate the puzzles in the ruins in order to slow you down from getting to her house after she ends up discovering a human fell down. And her appearence in the ruins would end in a fight where she believes she's getting cornered so Frisk can kill her, thus quickly fighting back as the fight can only have 2 outcomes, frisk can either manage to explain that they mean no harm, or do nothing and leave her scared enough to try and throw an all out attack on them, leading to such attack missing frisk, hitting the roof of the basement and sending it down, covering up Toriel in debri, killing her in the process.

Sans: Sans has the same mentality as the original sans, being very nihilistic, but using it as a way to just not take life seriously anymore. But, instead of being the chill guy that he is in undertale, sans here uses that reason to just be a straight up unempathetic ignorant, he doesn't care about anyone and will actively try to drag people down with his crude and tasteless humor. He doesn't like frisk at first, and will even try to beat them up to kill them the first time they meet, but becomes later on some kind of "friend" to them, not one that can be trusted, but at least one that won't kill you if given the chance. Frisk cannot kill him directly in any of the routes, despite fighting you in the Pacifist route, but it would be revealed that Paps killed him moments after he left you when your fight with him ended.

Papyrus: Also dubbed as Mr. Papyrus instead of The Great Papyrus, is a megalomaniac criminal who decided to take on the crime scene after he was expelled from the Royal Guard for being too much of an annoyance to the other members. He terrorizes the citizens of Desertown (The snowdin replacement) and believes the entirety of the Royal Guard are a bunch of cowards for not being able to handle him and his evil schemes (Something he uses to fuel his ego even further). He doesn't necessarily likes sans, and in facts gets easily irritated by the way he acts, being also the reason for why sans is missing an eye and has a crack on his head. If not prevented, Sans will end up taking the chance for when Papyrus gets tired during your fight with him to get him out of guard and kill him up on the spot, but if prevented, Papyrus will be able to dodge Sans attack and immediately scold Sans away, saying he will deal with you later, allowing you to continue.

Undyne: She's the result of one of Alphys' most successful attempts at making a "super soldier", having been heavily experimented on after volutaring herself to the "UNDYING Project", which lead to her being mutated into an almost mindless beast, being now put as the head of the Royal Guard with the only goal in her mind being to serve and follow Asgore's orders at all costs. She's basically a gigantic animal, she doesn't have much of a consciousness anymore and will go to any length to try and kill Frisk. She can either end up dying by being thrown in the lava in hotland if Frisk decide to cut the rope bridge where she's standing, or can be spared by simply continuing to run away and hide inside Alphys' lab

Alphys: She's the "Actual" head of the Royal Guard, and also the left hand of Asgore, having the entirety of hotland in her palm for her to control. She's cold, remorseless and only cares about the progress she makes in her own projects, having a strange fascination in studies related to DNA mutation and cyborg related projects, explaing why she went on to create the Undyne we see now. She can either be killed by allowing Mettaton to grab her and explode both of them, or can be saved by fully destroying Mettaton after Frisk's fight with them, reaching the expected results of Frisk's partnership with her, and thus, having her allow her to get out of the core and continue on your journey.

Mettaton: Mettaton was an attempt of Alphys at creating an AI to help her better administrate the Core, but the AI ended up going rogue after Alphys could not fully brainwash the monster soul she used to give consciousness to her AI. Mettaton would have to role of an annoyance because she's extremely interested on getting to know the human, leading to her eventual fight in the core's "core" (lol), where she would reveal that she had been building a robot body for herself in an attempt at leaving the "cage" that was the Core and going on to fulfill her dream, which was to be a television celebrity. Tho, because of the appearence she decided to take, having been taken out from the corny anime Mettaton had found in the internet, and the way she decide to run he first show, she's booed to the point she decides to go on with what her public wants, and give them the violence they so ask, almost killing herself in the process (the fight is basically that, her fighting Frisk because she wants to give the violence the audience wants). The thing can either end with Frisk destroying Mettaton fully and deactivating them, finishing up the contract they had signed with Alphys, or actually fake out their death so Alphys can attempt at grabbing the remainings of Mettaton's body, only go be grabbed by her and blown up by her, killing both Mettaton and Alphys in the process. Yeah, she doesn't really have a good ending either way lol

Asgore: The point of his character was that there isn't much known about him, just that he's the king of the monsters, wanting to lead an army of only the strongest for when he manages to break the barrier and start another war with the humankind. He's cold, silent, and the embodiment of pure cruelty. The only ending where he comes out alive would be the Neutral route, where, due to his fight being impossible, Frisk would have to give up their soul for him, and with that, he would absorb all of the 7 human souls and break out the barrier, causing a second war between the monsters and humans to break out.

Characters like Asriel and Chara would not have any actual role in the story, judging there would not be a fight against Asriel or an Omega Flowey, and neither would Chara revive at the end of a genocide run. The replacement however for the Asriel fight would be a fight with Asgore, which i will explain in the next sections.

The AU would have 3 routes, much like the original having a Pacifist, Neutral and Genocide fight

The Neutral route would consist of Frisk going crudely and letting most of the main cast characters die out by the unconventional means i've listed before, ending with Frisk not being able to win Asgore and having their soul taken away by him as another war of the monsters going against the humans would break. The Pacifist route would be based around Frisk impeding most of the main characters from dying, with the only exceptions being Sans and Mettaton, which would lead to the monsters helping Frisk out on their battle against Asgore in an attempt at overthrowing his government of a tyrant. This would lead to Asgore go on to absorb the six souls he had already acquired as a last effort of winning the fight, making the route truly end with a fight against a now version of Asgore with god like powers (His design would be something much more akin to Omega Flowey than Asriel, the same being applied to the way his fight would roll) The Genocide route would have Frisk killing out all of the monsters by themselves, and purposefully letting the main characters get killed, ending with a talk with Sans where he would thank you for taking care of everyone, saying that he despite being an asshole himself, knew the dangers that the monsters could bring if they continued with the way they were treating life, and most importantly, the mission they were trying to achieve. After the talk, Frisk would get on a last fight with Asgore, to which they would be able to defeat him and leave the underground, fully putting an end on the so said "evil" that lurked in the depths of the Mt. Ebbot.

And, i think that's all i needed to say primarily, now i feel like it would be cool if i put out some notes and fun facts:

Papyrus design is heavily inspired by the old concept of Papyrus from undertale, and also the character Dedan from the game OFF (at least, design wise) All of the scenarios would have their aspects reverted, as for an example snowdin instead of being a snowy forest, would be a hot desert called Desertown, and waterfall would be a bunch of tight caves surrounding a volcano rather than a bunch of flooded caves, called Magma Lakes. The reason Mettaton is actually female instead of male in Cruel World is because they are a Trans Woman. Ghosts are depicted as genderless in the original undertale, and they in fact only get the gender they feel most comfortable identifying as when they manage to succesfully fuse themselves with a body (Mad dummy being an example of that, as they went first by they/them, but started going by she after becoming Mad Mew Mew). With that being said, i believe the same happened with mettaton in og undertale, they were a genderless ghost but started identifying themselves as a man after they became the mettaton robot. So basically, same happens here, but mettaton transitioned into a woman instead of a men lol After i had somewhat finished with this AU, i was actually planning on updating my other Negativetale AUs to use Cruel World as their base, but judging i've lost the courage to continue Cruel World, the same came to be for the others. I don't know, i feel like stuff like Swapnegative and Negativefell could use well being based off Cruel World but, oh well. Uh, i guess that's it? Idk if i have much else to say Sorry for not having the courage to continue this, i really wished i could try and bring negativetale back with a fresh new coat of paint but, ig this au stuff doesn't really always work the way i'd expect, but that's alright.

[frenchiefitzhere]

You seem to be an expert on the Redacted things, as a newcomer or someone who wants to get into the stuff where do you recommend I start bc I’m overwhelmed with the amount of stuff.

Ooo, there are definitely better lore-keepers than me, but I have listened to the entire channel a few times 😅 and I do still wear my crown as winner of the Imperium round of trivia on the channelversary stream (since he skipped it this year...oop). There's a lot of content, and you can kind of go in any order, but it is probably best to start at the beginning of any given character or series playlist.

People have different opinions on this, but I recommend starting with Freelancer/D.A.M.N Season 1. You get a lot of the important lore and meet a bunch of characters, all with one listener. (Somewhere, there's a compilation version where all the videos are together along with a few on-screen text transitions to help you understand what's going on, but I can't find it.) But then...maybe don't go on to Season 2 until you've listened to some of the werewolves and vamps. "Sadism's Hold", "Sovereign State", "Carpe Deus" and "Project Meridian" are largely independent of what's happening with the D.A.M.N. crew and the werewolves and vampires...at least for now. From there, the only other listening advice I would give is: 1. ...NOT to listen to the E&E Games & the Inversion arc (posted December 2021/January 2022) until you're familiar with most of the characters. (Those were kind of "Infinity War"-style crossover events where characters who don't normally interact finally met each other, so you want to be at least a little bit familiar with most of them.) 2. Be aware that Imperium & Cataclysm are an AU and are very dark. (But kinda my favorite so....) Just be advised. 3. At one point last fall, Erik (Redacted Audio) had to move a lot of things off of YouTube, which has left some holes in the playlists, but he's very good about either leaving a modified version of the original in their place so maintain the plot OR leaving a placeholder there to send you to his Patreon, where you can listen to anything "Removed from YouTube" free of charge. If you ever get confused about lore: Erik has posted a timeline and the fandom is generally very nice and will gladly answer your questions here or in the YouTube comments. If you just want to listen to every single video in release order, there's a playlist for that.