#and then I think about the really nasty response I got to the Loki fandom video I made

[galaxythreads]

Yeah lol. So my Loki season 2 yt video essay has been sitting complete on my computer for a week now and I am too scared to publish it. 👍 I'm amazing. I know. Super brave.

[sharinganqueen22]

Okay, so...this is my first attempt to try and find roleplay partners here. So, with all further Adu, allow me to get started on my introduction. ((Bonus if you wanna do The Originals!)).

I've been roleplaying since 2012, and I'm a literate - advance roleplayer who mainly does fandoms. I'm over the age of 18, therefore it's a requirement of mine that all my partners (if I manage to get any) are also over the age of 18. Here are my rules:

Rules:

1: if you don't like 50/50 mixture of sex scenes and story, don't bother hopping into my inbox. I'm fine with sex scenes, but when it's constantly back to back, the roleplay itself gets boring.

2: Be literate. No one liners. I like to write..it's annoying when I send a 2-3 paragraph response and I get 3 lines...just...no. I am not accepting people who are just starting out! If you aren't experienced in writing or roleplaying, kindly stay out of my inbox.

3: Be okay with playing canon characters. I'm mainly doing fandom roleplays right now and it's going to be Canon x my oc. No, I'm not doing double ups. Do not even ask, because the answer will be no every time. I do not give a shit if you think that makes me 'lazy' or 'selfish', if you've got a problem, you can simply ignore or block me. Commenting on my post to bitch and whine about me not doubling up will only result in me blocking you. The ONLY time I'll double up, and if I'm confident enough, I'll only do female characters. I suck at males. Got a problem? Not my issue. Block and move on.

4: Roleplay in third person. I can't and won't adapt to first. Don't even bring up the idea of you playing first person and me playing third. Believe it or not, I've been asked this twice and that is just a hell no for me. The only time I do first, is when I'm writing into my book.

5: if you don't know how to share ideas, then don't bother messaging me. I'm tired of carrying the story when the other person doesn't help. If you've got ideas, then PLEASE speak up! Your opinion on the roleplay matters too! I'm an easy going person, and easy to get along with (dispite my rules).

6: DO NOT control my character. I control what she says, does, hears, sees, ect. I don't control yours, so don't control mine. HOWEVER, if it's highly necessary and needed, then run it by me first and ask me. Just leave me some wiggle room so I can make a decent response. Failure to comply by this rule, results in immediate drop of the rp.

Here are the list of Fandoms that I'm really wanting to do:

Fandoms & Pairings

Scream. (I've seen all but the newest movie. But Billy Lumis is 😍).

Deadpool (Wade x my oc)

The Adam's family

Pokemon ((MAYBE. Don't be nasty about it either!))

Bridgerton (or something like it. Can be Oc x Oc)

Disney Decedent's (or anything Disney) (oc x oc)

Orange is the new black (this can be oc x oc).

Criminal Minds (REALLY wanna do)

Marvel:

Loki x my oc

Spiderman (Tom Holland) x my oc

Dog The Bounty Hunter (REALLY wanna do):

Dog Chapman x my oc

The walking dead (REALLY wanna do!!):

Daryl X my oc

Batman x my oc

Lucifer (Netflix show series) x my oc (really wanna do)

The Originals: Klaus x my oc (PLEASE !! I REALLY wanna do this one!)

American Horror Story: Tate x my oc (REALLY wanna do)

Dragon Ball Z - Super (vegeta x my oc) (really wanna do)

Naruto: Minato x my oc

Harry Potter (thanks to the wonderful world of rp, the characters will be 18 or older. For me, I'd like it if it was Draco x my oc. REALLY wanna do)

Game Of Thrones (I'm still very early in the show, but I think we could think of something!)

Once Upon A Time:

killian x my oc, REALLY wanna do 🥺.

Avatar the last Airbender:

Zuko x my oc

Twilight:

Jacob x my oc

(Course, our version will be alot better than the movies).

Congratulations! You've made it to the end. Still interested? You've got the password. Message me and let's get started 😁. I also rp on Discord!

[mareebird]

I accidentally wandered into an antis blog while trying shrink down something I wanted to reblog down to the parent thread, and I had I thought.

I think why the most vocal ones, the ones who are declaring war, fundamentally see Loki differently can be distilled down whether or not they agree with Loki's statement about being a narcissist.

This section of the anti crowd seems to think he isn't one. And yet, in the same post, they will go on about his charisma and ability to control a situation and his need to cut himself off from various "bad" people. You see where I'm going here? They seem to characterize Loki as being an actual narcissist already, focusing on all the "fun" charactistics and balking at him having any responsibility for the negative ones, and they also don't like to see him be empathetic toward people they feel are undeserving.

>.>

Now, I actually don't think Loki's a legit narcissist at his core, but that he has narcissistic tendencies that grew as a defence mechanism. (My father is a psychiatrist. I have some cred here.) But those tendencies are still a legit problem for him. He's got bad habits, shall we say, and he's not having much fun. He's a victim of his own anger. It's not healthy.

The aim of the series was about Loki learning how to be vulnerable, exposing himself to pain, in order to break him down to a fresh start, because only then can be be the "hero" he's always wanted to be. In Ragnarok, we got the beginnings of that arc, but it was cut short by Thanos--which is why the film reel in Ep1 is so so so important. It's like the series is literally asking him, "Are you happy with the way your life has gone?"

And there's a contingent in this fandom that really thinks they answer should be yes. That Ragnarok derailed Loki's ascent, and it led to everything else they haven't liked. I stress that this is a contingent. I am specifically talking about the nasties. But that, to me, is the fundamental difference. Narcissism.

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

@10catslover​ @random-ass-fanboy​ ugh I guess this is how I’m doing this because apparently there still isn’t a better way to reply to replies in new posts, anyway these are replies to this post

my impression is that it’s because...a lot of Loki fans are also big Tony Stark fans, for a variety of reasons (the same reasons Frostiron is almost certainly the biggest Loki ship that isn’t Thorki, and for that matter I don’t actually know how the two compare to each other in numbers). I mean there are other reasons to be frustrated, like the fact that they’re both magically powerful in comics and only one of them gets to be that way in the MCU, or the way MCU Loki and MCU Wanda both started out as significant enemies of the Avengers for kinda complicated reasons and the writers only gave one of them a chance to earn forgiveness and fight for the good guys when in any just world Loki would’ve had that chance a while ago too...although as far as the latter goes, Nebula represents an even more egregious case because as far as I’m aware she’s still pretty solidly a villain in comics--one you can’t help feeling bad for, but a consistent and mostly intentional villain anyway--and she got a definitive redemption arc in the MCU regardless, and I...don’t typically see Loki fans hating her for that? I mean, they shouldn’t, I love MCU Nebula and her arc, but I am mad MCU Loki didn’t also get to have basically the same arc like he deserved, especially when I consider that his comics counterpart seems to have a much more complicated history than Nebula does, which means you can’t even go “well one is a Hero in comics and the other is a Villain” as a way of explaining it the way you can with Wanda and Loki. obviously Nebula is not the one on everyone’s minds right now, which I’m sure has something to do with it!

but--yeah, my sense is that this pattern of some Loki fans disliking Wanda is largely because a lot of Loki fans are also Tony fans, and generally speaking, Tony fans tend to not like Wanda very much because of how she was introduced in Age of Ultron...and then Civil War compounded the issue...and the reverse is also true to some extent, so it kind of turns into a nasty feedback loop where, for instance, someone who likes one character and is indifferent to the other starts actively disliking the second character because that character’s fans dislike their fave, and the more defensive people get about their faves, the more they tend to go on the offense and the nastier everything gets.

just taking myself as an example, my knee-jerk response--which I usually don’t actually say, I just silently seethe about it--whenever I see Wanda-negative posts (or Steve-negative posts because there’s typically a lot of overlap there too) basically boils down to “yeah well what about YOUR fave’s death count, what about all the shit YOUR fave gets away with, why is YOUR fave’s trauma a meaningful reason for his actions but my fave’s trauma isn’t, how about THAT”...even if the post in question never actually mentioned Tony. I mean, it usually does at some point in the reblogs or in other posts so I think my assumption is justified, but it’s also true that I automatically assume someone’s Steve or Wanda negativity is a direct result of them loving Tony whether the post itself gives me a reason to think that or not, so my defensive reaction of my faves immediately jumps to what is probably a preemptive attack on Tony’s flaws because of the assumptions I’m making...and again, I suspect the reverse is also basically true (i.e., people who were mostly indifferent to Wanda start disliking her more because they see what seems to be random Tony-bashing from Wanda fans).

so it’s all just...one big nasty feedback loop that I really wish we could all try harder to avoid. like...there are probably ways we can criticize narrative treatments of different characters without actively shitting on those characters, right? or, I don’t know, focusing more specifically on “here’s why I think Character A keeps getting shafted and it sucks, especially when Characters B through G do similar things that are portrayed differently, which is a problem of writing and not one of those characters and their fans inherently being The Worst” rather than “Character A keeps getting shafted and that’s why I made 10 posts in a row about how much I hate Character B”? or at least really trying to look at things in good faith instead of jumping straight to “Character B’s stans are delusional”? I mean fuck, we’re all here because we love something about the fandom, right? can we...try to focus on that? can we at least stop calling each other delusional (a specific thing that seems to come up a lot) for having different opinions and interpretations?

[flowercrown-bucky]

Loki Takes The Tube

Fandom: Marvel

Pairing: Loki x Reader

Warnings: Swearing, fire 

Summary: After the cycling incident, you are forced to take Loki on the Tube again. Just about everything that could go wrong, does. 

To the delightful individual who sent me an anonymous ask declaring that they think this series is “stupid” and that the titles make them sound like a children’s book - Congratulations! That is, in fact, the idea. Glad the penny finally dropped for you. 

This is the third instalment of “Loki Adapts To Modern Life”. 

Loki Learns To Cycle | Loki Learns To Cook

Send any other ideas into my askbox or my messages! There are currently two additional chapters under construction. 

Loki Adapts To Life taglist is open. Please comment or message me if you’d like to be added. 

THE tube was an unusual delight.

Typically English and almost exclusive to the residents of the capital, it provided an affordable rapid-transport system to the wider public both over and underground throughout London, its outer boroughs and into certain areas of Bucks, Essex and Hertfordshire.

Naturally, they hated it.

It was dark, dingy and crammed. It smelled at the best of times, and woe betide any unfortunate soul who wound up travelling the Circle line at quarter-past five on a Thursday evening.

It was a hellish and arduos commute, and every self-respecting Londoner was convinced their daily commute was worse than any other resident of the city.

It was, however, better than the bus.

So, it is stoically endured, full of stiff postures, tight-lipped smiles and curt conversation - but only when absolutely unavoidable - in the way that British people do best.

After all, the English are renowned for their almost painfully polite manner.

Asgardians, however, were not.

You'd taken the Tube almost every day of your adult life, alone. 99.9% of the time, it was relatively hassle free. Unpleasant, but not unbearable.

Loki, had been entirely responsible for the 0.1%.

--

You had, you were fairly certain, gone quite mad.

Your first trip on the Underground with Loki had been nothing short of terrible, and as you made your way along the pavement to the station, you pondered the two relevant objectively poor decisions you had made.

The first? Taking Loki back on the metro system - although you clung to the futile hope that being on the Overground might change his mind.

The second? Deciding to live in a borough that was famous for its lack of Tube stops.

It was, you had decided, for the better sake of all humanity, that while he adjusted to mortal methods of travel, he did not go unaccompanied.

It had been quite the struggle to persuade him to wear the baseball cap that was currently jammed on his head, or the sunglasses that currently adorned his face. People weren’t, on the whole, that keen on him after the whole New York incident, (Very few countries had bought into the idea that Loki had been acting under the control of a meglomaniac from a distant solar system) and your boyfriend drew enough attention to himself without being contained in a space the size of a beer can. 

You approached the turnstile, turning to Loki. You took his hands gently, praying to every god you could think of that this would go hassle-free. 

When was anything ever hassle free with Loki in tow? 

“Do you remember what to do with your Oyster card?” You asked, holding out the blue piece of plastic to him. You normally used the contactless pay on your phone, but you’d not even breached the concept of a bank account with Loki, let alone smart phones. Plus, you were fairly certain having ‘war criminal’ on your resume exempted you from most high street banks. 

“Yes, I’m not a toddler.” He grumbled, snatching the card out of your hand. “Why is it even called an Oyster, anyway? It’s rectangular.” 

You rolled your eyes, pulling your phone out of your pocket to swipe the turnstile, leaving your godly boyfriend to ramble about molluscs by himself. 

The disdainful look on his face as he walked through the barrier was enough to make the Mona Lisa crack a grin. 

“That man touched me.” He screwed his face up in disgust. “Mortals and their mortal germs and their mortal diseases and their mortal....” 

“Loki, that’s what happens when you queue. You’re going to have to get used to it.” You squeezed his hand reassuringly. “It’s what we do in England.” 

“But why?” He asked. “That cannot be the most efficient way of having lots of people waiting at once.” 

“I don’t really know.” You wrinkled your nose. “I’m not sure anyone really does, to be honest.” 

“Stupid.” He replied, glaring at the woman next to him on the platform. “I hope you know I’m only doing this to humour you.”

“So you’ve said.” You sighed, more to yourself than anyone else. “Many, many times.” 

“And this disguise, is futile.” He gestured to his hat and glasses. “I’m wearing sunglasses underground. I would be less conspicuous with fairy lights strung around my neck.” 

“It will work, trust me. Stop complaining.” 

--

You gritted your teeth, rolling your eyes in despair. Of all the fucking days for the train to break down, it just had to be this one. 

You turned your gaze to Loki briefly. He’d been holding his limbs in the same stiff position since you’d stepped on the train - fifty two minutes ago. 

Being accustomed to the many sudden directional jolts that characterised a ride on the Underground, you had reached up to grab the bright yellow rail above your head, gesturing for him to do the same. He had refused to even touch it, muttering something about bacteria. A sudden left turn had sent him flying, flooring the unfortunate gentleman to his right in the process. 

Loki was, as he had reminded you on several occasions, completely incapable of blushing, but if he was, you were fairly certain it would look something like the way he had as he got back to his feet. 

Needless to say, he didn’t think it was nearly as funny as you had. 

Your mirth was short lived, due to the train promptly stopping for some unapparent reason. 

You reached for his hand, smiling at him reassuringly. He’d not said anything in the thirty-four minutes you’d been stationery, opting instead to glower at anyone who made anything remotely resembling eye contact with him. 

“Hey, where have I seen you before?” You winced as someone tapped his shoulder. “Have you been on the TV or something?” 

He raised his hand to his face, removing his sunglasses before turning to look at you, his face completely deadpan. 

“I told you.” 

--

You shifted uncomfortably, feeling the zip of Loki’s trousers pressing rather painfully into the soft flesh of your stomach. Eventually, the train had gotten moving again, only to become extremely, uncomfortably full two stops on. You’d ended up pressed flush against Loki’s broad chest, something you would not normally complain about - although there were normally not so many people present and far less clothes involved. 

“Darling.” He hissed. 

You raised your eyebrow inquisitively, looking up at him. He’d bitten his lip so hard that you thought he might chew it, his gaze trained on the flaking roof of the carriage. 

“What?” You mouthed up at him. 

“I can feel someone’s hand.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “On.. On my buttock.” 

You bit the inside of your cheeks to stop yourself from laughing. He glared down at you. 

“I’ll cut it off.” He hissed. 

“Loki.” You warned. 

“Fine.” He muttered. “I’ll just make it look like it’s been cut off.” 

“Behave.” You growled. 

He pulled a face at you, waggling his head from side to side as he imitated you in a mockingly high-pitched tone. 

--

“See? It wasn’t so bad.” You chirped, breathing in the fresh air after just over an hour on a stuffy train carriage. 

“Wasn’t so bad?” He turned to you incredulously. “Were we on the same train?” 

“I’ve had worse.” You shrugged. 

“A twenty five minute journey lasted over an hour, over which time I was felt up by a stranger and fell on my face.” He raised his eyebrows. 

“Eh, just a fairly standard commute really.” 

-- 

[If you have any nasty, rude, or generally unpleasant thoughts and you feel the need to share them with me - before you do, please take my reminder to fuck off and get in the bin.] 

[rpedia]

[Ask RPedia] Does the Main Character Have to be “Good” to be Liked?

Anonymous asked: Do you think a character HAS to be likeable for people to like them, if they're the protagonist in the story? I've had a lot of conflict over this, as I myself enjoy having unlikeable/mean/"villainous" characters as the main character, but I'm unsure as to whether this would go well over with the majority. Do you think being likeable is a must-have trait for a popular, or enjoyable character?

Hi yeah okay uhm, no. Never. Nope. Honestly people just love a character they can connect with, and there’s a lot of people out there who look at themselves and are guilty that they have less-than-perfect responses to situations. Seeing someone who does similar, yet thrills and interests them, can give them that hook. Let them know they aren’t alone, and give them a fictional anchor to see themselves in. That connection, be it fascination, love, attraction, or reflection is the important part. Let’s examine a few of the ‘most popular’ characters from recent shows and see why they were popular, because surprise surprise, most of them were straight up villains yet everyone loves them. ... I’m going to talk a lot about basically these two paragraphs ad nauseum as I explain, get ready for it.

So we’re going to jump right into some fandoms people have hashed back and forth to the point that, really, we want to gag. Yes. Let’s walk directly into hell and pick up BBC Sherlock, the MCU’s Avengers, Game of Thrones, and... you know what, let’s do it. Let’s go grab that Nolan version of Batman.

You probably realized who I was talking about first for each and every one of them, so let’s point at our targets. Moriarty, Loki, Joker, and Joffery come on down! Actually GoT has a lot of fucking targets let’s be real. We’ll leave that one for last because we can drain it of the most meat before we toss it aside. Anyways.

What do these characters have in common? They’re evil, yes, they’re strongly represented in their respective canons, and holy shit the fandom fucking loves them. Like everything about them, there’s fanart, and fanfics, and rewrites, and redemption arcs in every little fanish heart for miles. (peep TVtropes about this following phrase) They have more Leather Pants than Draco Malfoy, another fond favorite but we’re not gonna bother with him because he doesn’t have much hearty fulfilling canon meat on him. Fandom strongly wishes that these characters, despite their issues, were ‘good people’ and could care about another person. They want them to be a little bit goofy, and are completely willing to overlook everything they’ve done if they could get better now.

So my theory, and oh no I have a theory, is you can get away with a character being a total fuckface if you pick which part of Triumvirate of Attraction they fail at and keep the other two. It’s a triangle. The corners are: Attractive Looking, Witty/Sarcastic/Intelligent, and Relatable. So if you have a character who is relatable and funny, everyone loves them even if they are literally made out of goopy clay pasted onto some sort of twig framework. If they’re good looking and horrifyingly intelligent, no one ever has to bond with them or understand them on a deep personal level, because wow they’re funny and I can look at them! 

Seriously.

Each of these character has unlikable aspects, and I’m sure the fandom can give me a real debate about each so this is a minefield. Just remember, everyone has their own interpretations of the characters, and mine are not 100% correct, nor do I claim them to be. But my view is useful for breaking them down and explaining them as a POV to learn from, so bear with me even if I insult your favorite by accident because I’m using them for examples of assholes right now. (Hint: I've roleplayed most of them, so I love them too, I love them even if they’re horrific pieces of burning trashfire. )

So, Loki. He was raised as the second son to is King-God father and warrior son, tended towards trickery because of a rift between him and his family. He tended to be blamed for things, and then do other things. We know him as a character who has ripped people’s minds out to use them as pawns, murdered people by stabbing them through the gut, and seemed to quite enjoy warring with other planets. These, regardless of how desensitized to them we are, are not good things. That’s mind-control, murder, and murder on a team he tricked into it, and we aren’t even going to look at various things he may have done elsewise. This character is not a good man, he’s flawed, and yet people adore him. Why? Well, mostly it’s because he’s hilarious. The man turned into Captain America for a crack, he says those snappy little one-liners we all wish we could, and he’s brilliant when it comes to an extended master plan. He keeps things interesting. He’s also not bad looking, sure he might not be to your specific taste (especially after people have harped on it so long) but he’s got the kind of face that blends in with the bland circus of ‘handsome actors’ well enough. Not to mention we also identify with him, he’s got the triumvirate. The outcasts, walking in people’s shadow, who feel they’ve been pushed into being bad. Those people who want power to help others, even if it means destroying them in the process. People who need to prove themselves, and get the love they crave. They’re all seeing their reflections here, even if Loki is haughty, extremely intelligent, and out of reach as a bit of an Ice King.

Now Moriarty. Once again, we have someone who is handsome and witty! He’s sarcastic as hell, uses his voice in a certain patter to draw you in for the punchline, and then lets it rip. He knows how to keep people pulled in waiting for him to say his next memorable line. He also fucking poisoned kidnapped children with mercury, paid men to kill other people with Russian Roulette style bets, caused several man hunts, and forced people to commit suicide for kicks. Wee bit of not-good there. Is he relatable? Maybe on some shallow level, but widely, he’s too smart for us, he’s doing things we probably wouldn’t do because, well, they’s a bit mean ain’t they? He’s a mystery in many respects, and we can’t so much as bond with him, as pretend to bond with him by trying to enforce the character of Sebastian into a world he doesn’t exist in as our ‘in’, or by using Sherlock to wedge in the same ‘mirror’ so we can understand the guy who is outside of our league. We fake understanding him because we like him. So, strike relatable, keep him attractive (bisexual jokes nab a lot of looks and he’s handsome) and witty! Add as much asshole as you want the fans are snagged. He could kick a puppy and fans would croon about how evil he is, an awful sinnamon roll they want to see more of. That’s how it works. (And as a reminder, our Smart/Pretty Sherlock over there isn’t much of a relatable person or nice either.)

Why not jump to Nolanverse’s Joker now. He’s one of the first who break the ‘Handsome and Witty’ pair up, because look at him. He runs around in unshaven legs in a nurse costume with soggy makeup. He’s not clean, he probably smells funny (get it, because clown), and he’s an abusive piece of shit out to murder half the city for kicks and to get Bat-Sempai to notice him. But we find him funny and relatable, he hates how the world is dependent on money and wants to change it. He considers the world one big nasty joke being played on the people. He’s got one-liners everywhere, and frankly good advice (never do something you’re good at for free). He’s against society, against money controlling people, and wants to ‘level the playing field’. Sure, he finds that graveyards are all remarkably flat as a playing field goes, but we get it. He’s miserable and wants to do something with his life. This is how cults start to be honest. He’s an angry ugly man with a funny way of looking at the world that makes you think he’s just like you, and maybe he does have a point? So people latched onto him, he became the figurehead of a movement. Anarchy, and chaos, something they could look up to even if it wasn’t a very good thing. He is beloved, whether or not you personally like him.

Then there’s Joffery. I want to make an agonizing groaning noise over him because he’s got one trait: he’s not bad looking. If he wasn’t a raging shitstorm of pubescent narcissism bent on destruction for kicks, he’d be kind of hot. He’s not very smart, he’s not witty, he’s just cruel. If he’s relatable, it’s not through direct relation. It’s through knowing that one little prick you had to deal with your whole life who was just like him but without the power. Or I guess, there’s a lot of power fantasy loving folk who probably just liked him for him. I’m not judging. ... I’m judging a tiny bit. There’s some judgement. He’s a little shit okay, he’s a pretty nasty little shit. But was he popular as fuck? Hells yes! Everyone knows Joffery if they’ve watched the series! He’s bigger than life, people groan loudly at his name, he’s got a fandom supporting him and his tragic life. Tragic in part because he had one. People looked forward to episodes with Joffery to see what evil stunt he’d pull next, to see what happened to his victims, and most importantly to see the evil little booger meet the finger that picks him. We couldn’t wait for something to happen to Joffery, whether it was a slap to the head, a stabbing, being shoved off a building, being eaten by dire wolves... the list goes on, everyone wanted to see his comeuppance more than anything. He was also, somewhat, creative and stylish about how he went around shit. Not clever, but creative, and he made evil look descent. 

Now here’s where we turn on GoT In full force, gimme a second. So we have Cersei, and her twinsie-lover Jaime. Both assholes, but we love them too. They’re pretty, and immoral, and actually witty as fuck honestly. We watched fervently to see what would happen to them, but were they specifically likable characters? Hell no! Especially not at the beginning when they started really being massive tossers. How about Littlefinger? Oh no, he was nice once. But he’s witty, and pretty, and relatable, but a total fucknard too. The Mountain? We love his rude, violent, smouldered off face. He’s not pretty, but he’s his kinda street-smart, and he’s relatable. See how this is working out? My triumvirate of interest is proving out in our illustrative pudding. It doesn’t even have to be bad guys, look at Tyr. He’s fucking smart as hell, hilarious, people adore the shit out of him. He’s not supposed to be that pretty, but he is. He’s a total cock to people a lot, but he’s funny, and relatable. Everyone relates to Tyr. This is why Tyr is so beloved.

... now that I’ve nattered uselessly on that for a while, let’s look at the other reasons these characters were delightful. Because believe it or not there are totally other reasons beyond my theory.

If you look at everyone I’ve suggested here, there’s another reason people watch shows with them. Morbid, or entirely reasonable, curiosity what the fuck is going to happen next. So you need to set up a story that draws people in not with your characters, but with what their future holds. Is the testy little jerk going to die? Are the demons going to eat him? What horrible thing is he plotting next? God, I just want to see if it gets worse actually... These are the thoughts in the back of people’s heads. This is why Clockwork Orange went over so well, the surrealist batch of malarkey, sex, and ultraviolence that was. This is why Neil Gaiman’s American Gods has so much pull, when the protagonist was drawn on by events, rather than being an excessively fleshed out and interesting character. He was surrounded by interesting things and characters, he didn’t need to take that away from them. Sure he had interesting moments, but he wasn’t in and of himself extremely out-there and trying to take the spotlight and yet he was the main character. And I still couldn’t put the damn thing down. Thank you Neil.

So if your character is lacking in ways for people to be attracted to them, if they’re mean, ugly, horrible little people, who want nothing more than to hurt others, who aren’t funny, or even very smart. Who are disgusting wastes of flesh, who are too violent to live, and empty hollow unrelatable characters-- you have to compliment them with the most excessively interesting plot anyone as ever made, with fantastic background-characters and a shout-outloud-at-the-library ending. Something’s gotta be palatable if your characters aren’t, but do they need to be? No. Not at all. 

Can you think of any characters that have had a complete failure even though they’re marketably pretty, supposedly witty, and but-we-made-them-relatable? You’re probably, through no fault of your own, going to think about lots of mass produced strong women characters written by people who don’t ‘get it’. They assume that prepackaging the deal will instantly catch them views, I mean, she’s got sex appeal right? That’s what sells! That’s all that matters! We gave her little quips, and made her fall in love or out of love or something to do with love or the usual standard ‘I’m just as good as the guys!’ storyline, so why aren’t you falling for her yet? Because, consumers (that’s you readers!) know when something tastes like plastic. It’s fake. 

So yet another thing to keep in mind is making sure your characters steam with realism. Balance your traits, good and bad. Make sure that their reactions aren’t forced or canned or seen in every version of that character ever. It’s surprisingly easy to write characters once you treat them as 3D human beings with entire lives we’re just dipping a tow into, rather than a 2D story helper to act out our little head play and then go away. Hint at their lives, draw people in. Make them realistic. Give them reasons to say the things they do, and show those reasons if you can instead of just telling them. Avoid serious stereotyping and handwaving characters as unimportant because they’re fictional.

You are a writer have one job. Make them real. If they’re real enough, it doesn’t matter what kind of a person they are. You’re telling a story, telling something that should feel real and thick like some sort of reality soup you’ve made special. Unlikable protagonists tend to be plastic cutouts, that’s the real big issue writers face. So, even if they are horrible, make them. Tell their story. Tell all their stories. Express them like the finest of anal glands. It’ll touch someone, in their heart we hope, and it’ll grow their vocabulary. People read to expand their horizons, not to fall for the same cookie cutter good guy everyone’s afraid to break the mold of.

Remember, you can write anything. Anything. Everything. It doesn’t matter if someone will find it offensive. It doesn’t matter if it grosses someone out, or someone hates it. It doesn’t matter if it looks like a first grader should have written it in crayon. Nothing matters except getting it down on paper. After that, you can pick through it with a fine tooth comb and clean it up. Then leave it alone for a while, reread it later. If you love it and feel like it’s something that can be shared without people throwing a fit? Share it. 

But before that, you have to write it, and you don’t need anybody else at all to tell you what’s good enough’ when you’re trying to birth a word baby at 3AM in a mad dash of typing. Story now, let the true thing out even if you’re embarrassed, guilty, ashamed, threatened, and upset by it. You know it will hurt others, but you’re already thinking it. Get it out of you, like a poison and onto the paper so it stops bugging you. 

You aren’t breaking your morals, or doing something that anyone else matters in by letting a story out, if you don’t share it with anyone you know it will hurt. You’re just helping yourself. It already exists in your head, and once you accept it and let it go on the page, finally, you can pick to delete it, or just save it and never share it and die off before it gets published, whatever. Think about the details and fixes later, let the story flow, and do not let the judgement or enjoyment of some other fucker ruin that flow by making you second guess everything. 

You got this. Write that less-than-stellar character, and see where they lead you. Good luck.

[onceandalwaysenglishmajor]

We could totally be the Avengers

@espritneo, you said you’d be down for a snippet of the superhero/ alien fae story, so I decided to share this. Thoughts welcome! (Not really any plot relevant bits, but it does a good job introducing the characters.)

“Dude, we’re totally the Avengers!” Chad said excitedly. Lucy rolled her eyes.

           “No, hear me out,” Chad started in his explanation voice. Lucy sighed loudly, hoping to discourage Chad, but it didn’t do any good.

           “First, you have myself and Allen. Genius level intellect. And that’s being modest. The funding is somewhat lacking for actually being Ironman or Batman, though we hit Spiderman’s level of creativity quite nicely, though without the power-providing radioactive spider bite that gave Peter Parker his motivation…But overall we do ok. Especially without the comic book catalysts. Those tend to be pretty nasty, tragic backstories to provide motivation and depth and all that.” Chad drew in a deep breath before continuing. Lucy fixed Chad with a pained look, hoping to guilt him into stopping. Chad smiled at her cheekily, proceeding with his explanation full tilt.

           “Then there’s you, Lucy.” The glint in Lucy’s eyes told him that he was treading on dangerous ground, but that was half of the thrill. “You’re a very intelligent girl, though not on the same level as Allen and me, obviously…”

           “Obviously?” Lucy said dangerously.

           “Don’t be snippy about it. It’s a fact, nobody’s judging, we all love you just as much,” Chad replied saucily. “And you’ve got that whole super secret spy thing going on. I’m pretty sure you could kill me and not break a sweat. I greatly respect that, and it scares me a fair bit.”

           “You can’t prove anything,” Lucy said calmly. Chad nodded, giving her the point.

           “That’s very true. It just adds to the level of your mysteriousness. Very good for a superhero. Unknown backstories are intriguing. And unlike Allen and myself, you have actual talents, we just make cool stuff to compensate for the lack.”

           “Are you going to spend this whole meal monolouging?” Lucy asked.

           “Yes,” answered Chad. “Just listen and eat your spaghetti.” He shoveled in a couple quick bites for emphasis. “Now, moving on the more exotic members of our Avengers team. Jeb. As an actual alien, I’ll address his position on our team first.”

           “You do realize we just live together, that we’re not an actual crime or evil fighting team?” Lucy asked acidly. Chad ignored her.

           “Jeb is a real life alien. Real. Life. Alien. Like Thor! Jeb is totally our Thor! Position of authority on an alien planet, super buff, probably has all kinds of cool skills we don’t even know about yet, but will be slowly revealed as the plot advances!

           “Not in a comic book,” Lucy reminded him. “or a movie. There is no ‘plot’. Just our average lives…”

           “Lucy, darling, have you not been listening? Our lives are totally not average, we are on our way to being Avengers! We’re just one national disaster and passing our midterm exams away from our destiny!”

           “Have you even started studying?” Lucy asked.

           “Do I need to study?” Chad retorted. “Don’t change the subject. Where was I? Oh yes, Jeb and the crazy powers he may or may not possess! Do you have any crazy powers you haven’t told us about yet, Jeb?” The broad-shouldered brunette just shrugged. Chad seemed to accept this as a reasonable response and continued with his assessment of how they were totally the Avengers.

           “Then we have Vinn. You, dear Vinn, are our reformed villain.”

           “I’m the villain?” Vinn asked, disgruntled.

           “You did help an alien race try to invade the planet,” Allen reminded him gently. Vinn hung his head and pushed his spaghetti around with his fork. Jeb clapped a reassuring hand on the younger man’s shoulder. Frankie shot Chad a dirty look.

           “Hey!” Chad protested. “I said reformed! Vinn, buddy, you’re part of our team. You and I kind of butt heads, but hey, that’s family. That’s just how it works. And, you’re half alien, which is real cool, have you reconsidered giving me that blood sample yet? No? Fine… Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is, you actually have a power. Like, a legit power! You can shape shift! Do you even know how cool that is? Are you absolutely sure about the blood? Frankie, don’t look at me like that. It was worth a shot. Could you imagine how cool it would be if I could figure out how to shape shift?”

           “The world might very well end,” Lucy said drily.

           “It would not!” Chad protested. Then he thought about it for a moment. “Well, you might have a little bit of a point. I’m much better with tech, anyway.”

           “So you’ve described us,” Lucy said. “Big whoop. Even if we’re all a little bit… special, if you will, that doesn’t make us the Avengers.”

           “Luce, you’re missing the point. I’m totally Tony Stark, but without the money and arrogance.” Lucy made a sound of disbelief, which Chad pointedly ignored.

           “Allen is Bruce Banner. Mild-mannered, super sweet, but man, do not get on his bad side. It won’t end well for you. Lucy, my dearest, you are the Black Widow herself, Natasha Romanoff. You can argue and deny all you want, but you’ll never convince me that you’re not some kind of super spy. So don’t interrupt. We’ve already established that Jeb is Thor. That’s an easy one. I suppose that would make Vinn our Loki, but with a redemption arc. Vinn, don’t get all depressed again, do you know how much of a fan favorite Loki is? Especially with the ladies…” Chad informed Vinn with a cheeky wink. Vinn stared at Chad with his mouth slightly open. Chad viewed this as an invitation to break down the appeal of Loki to the ladies.

           “There has to be a reason all these girls are into Loki, right? So here’s what I think. First of all, he’s got that bad boy appeal. Girls love a bad boy. Usually because they think they can change him. Apparently chicks dig that. ‘He’s damaged, but I can fix him’ type of thing. I think that’s mostly it. That and being attractive. Did I hit it, ladies?” He looked back and forth between Frankie and Lucy, who were both just staring at him. Chad shrugged and returned his attention to Vinn, who was also staring at him somewhat blankly.

           “Not that you need fixing, or anything, Vinn, but, there are a lot worse things in life than being compared to Marvel’s most attractive villain.”

           “Then who would I be?” Frankie asked. “Since I’m not super smart, or a spy, if that’s true, or an alien, or a sexy ex-villain… Where does that leave me?”

           “Do I have to answer the question, or can I jump on the fact that you pretty much just called Vinn sexy?” Chad asked.

           “What, what, what!” Frankie spluttered, her face turning bright red. “I did no such thing! I was just going with your character explanations!”

           “Mmm, whatever you want to believe, Frankie-doll. But I’ll leave it alone for the moment in favor of addressing your question. You can be our Phil Coulson! Adored by Avengers and fandom alike!”

           “So I’m going to die a horrible, tragic death?” Frankie asked, more to needle Chad than anything else.

           “Perhaps, but the fandom will bring you back by the sheer power of their denial. And then you can have your own spin off tv show!”

Allen tapped Chad on the shoulder.

           “Chad, I think you’ve traumatized them with your opinion enough for one night, don’t you? And don’t we have a time-sensitive project going on down in the lab? Let’s go check on that and let everyone finish their supper in peace, ok?” Allen said.

           “Oh! Right! I almost forgot! What would I do without you keeping me on track?” Chad asked, obviously not offended by the implication he was overwhelming his roommates.

           “Blow things up more often,” Allen supplied helpfully. The rest of the table winced, very aware of the truth of that statement. Chad caused explosions on an almost weekly basis even with Allen to keep him in check.

           “Probably true,” Chad agreed cheerfully, taking his plate with him as he disappeared into the basement. Allen stood up to follow him.

           “Thank you all for your patience,” he said to everyone in general. “Chad does care for you all very much,” Allen explained. “This is how he expresses it, in case you were wondering.” With that, he followed Chad to the basement, hopefully to prevent any explosions. The slightly shell-shocked group at the table sat in silence for several minutes.

           “That really just happened,” Lucy said slowly. “Like, it really happened. Are we sure his IQ is as high as he says it is?”

           “I’m going to have to go with yes,” Vinn said slowly. “Whatever else that was, it was very well thought out. You have to give him that.”

           “Yeah,” Frankie agreed, “You’re not wrong…”

           “He’s so set on this superhero thing,” Lucy sighed.

           “And you’re so against it?” Vinn asked.

           “Not on principle,” Lucy admitted. “I just like playing devil’s advocate to pretty much anything Chad suggests. He needs someone to keep him humble, or that ego of his is going to explode.”

           “So… you do think we could be the Avengers?” Jeb asked.

           “I didn’t say that,” Lucy corrected quickly. “All my arguments are still valid. I just don’t disagree with it quite as much as I let Chad think I do. Someone has to keep that boy in line.”

           “Isn’t that Allen’s job?” Vinn asked. Frankie snorted.

           “Ish. You should have seen the two of them before the rest of you moved in. At least Chad is straight forward. Allen is devious. He scares me more than Chad, honestly. Chad, I always know where he’s coming from. I don’t always understand it, but his very nature is brutally honest. Allen is… sneaky. I never quite know what his angle is, what he wants to get out of a situation. Not that Allen’s not a good kid,” Frankie finished lamely. “You guys know what I’m trying to say?” she asked. Lucy rubbed her shoulder gently.

           “We know what you mean, sweetie,” Lucy reassured her. “We know how much you care for all of us. You wouldn’t tolerate this level of crazy in your house if you didn’t.” She paused. “Huh. Maybe you are our Phil Coulson. Moral support, anchor, and borderline babysitter all in one.”