#and then not being able to interact with Those Things I Like

[quitealotofsodapop]

As part of my rabbit hole into Jttw, I've been looking at more and more monkey-related articles and science topics. I am an irl biology undergrad. It's my thing.

And I noticed a lot of focus in the LMK fandom on Macaque's scarf.

In the Harry Harlow monkey experiments (tw for distressing stuff) one trait that would frequently occur is that "orphan" macaques would become emotionally attached to pieces of cloth/towels. Even with the presence of a "wire mother" that provided endless food, the baby macaques would cling to bundles of cloth to simulate being held by their mothers. In experiments where the baby was provided a "cloth mother" that had no milk to give, they would still cling even if it meant starvation. If the researchers attempted to remove the cloths, the babies would panic and lash out. Those whose cloth was removed actually died from grief. The reason is simple; it was literally their security blanket.

Btw; These experiments weren't done out of cruelty. There was a really damaging parenting belief during the 1950s that believed that babies should be held as little as possible, less they become "spoiled" from too much contact. Harlow's team was able to prove that yes, you need frequent positive physical contact to survive/thrive as a baby.

The cloth-clinging can also be seen in macaques raised by humans that don't understand their instinctual need to cling. Even when dumped in the wild, former "pets" will cling to their security blanket like their life depends on it. Because it really does.

SO I had a thought;

What if Macaque's red scarf is his security blanket? His "cloth mother"? It being one of the few comforts he had as a baby monkey? Or even the only memento of a life before the Brotherhood? A simple piece of cloth that holds more value to him than all the treasures of Heaven?

I've seen ideas/headcanons that the handkerchief he wears on his armour in the Brotherhood-era is actually his trademarked scarf, and that he began wearing it more loosely because Wukong hasn't been adjusting it for him. Since we don't see an earlier form of Macaque, he is literally almost never seen without his red scarf, save for glamours and at the beach in S4.

Macaque, who tries his best to be a self-sufficient loner, getting panicked when he can't find his scarf or when it becomes damaged. Wukong learned a long time ago not to touch the scarf without permission, and was only allowed to interact with it when Mac was in a good mood.

And you know who else is a monkey with a piece of red cloth that they're never seen without?

You touch MK's bandana - you die. I believe it was likely Tang and/or Pigsy who used the cloth to keep the hair out of the baby's face, and MK psychologically attached to it as a form of comfort. He's not evne sure why he's so attached to it.

[memphisflash]

𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐰

⊱ word count: 3,9K

⊱ warnings: dead dove do not eat!, stepbrother!elvis, stepsister!reader, reader hates elvis but honestly... not really, reader is a virgin but not completely clueless, ages are not mentioned but i figured reader is somewhere around 17/18 and elvis 21/22ish, very dom!elvis, non-con/dubious consent, strong language, pwp, smut; semi-public, unprotected sex, fingering, oral (m. receiving), forced deep throating, first time penetration, reader bleeding on elvis as he breaks her hymen, he pretty much splits her open OKAY, creampie, crying during sex. MDNI!!!

⊱ authors note: it's kinda short bc i wrote it in like an hour- i was too excited, lol. proof read it once bc the more i read it, the more i hate it, ANYWAYSSS. i probably missed a few triggers here or there, so if i did, let me know! my first darker fic, but knowing how much y'all love the feral stuff, i'm sure it's considered tame to some. ha! anyways hope y'all like, and don't forget to interact- i love reading what you guys think!! <333

⊱ dead dove masterlist | main masterlist

If there was one person you hated the most in the world, it had to be Elvis Presley.

You didn’t even have a good reason for it, you just did. Couldn’t stand the sight of him – that stupid crooked grin that tugged at his lips, which looked way too soft by the way, and had all your girlfriends swooning over. Those eyes that were oh so blue and able to turn a shade darker whenever he was moody. The way he knew how to push your buttons.

Every single time.

He was capable of making your blood crawl, getting you so annoyed and angry at some points where all you wanted to do was cry. You never did, though. Couldn’t let him catch you spilling tears over him because he’d never let you live it down.

Long story short: you cursed the day your mother married his father.

Vernon was a nice man and your mother genuinely seemed happy with Mr. Presley, which is what you still called him despite his protests. And you were a good girl, the perfect daughter – you weren’t going to get in between your mother and Elvis’ father just because you despised the Presley boy.

You were just going to bite your tongue and suck it up… even on this damn road trip that your mother and stepfather deemed the perfect opportunity for the family to bond.

You hated Route 66 for existing. Crossing eight states and three time zones on the backseat with Elvis? Your own personal hell.

“Stop hoggin’ the damn blanket.” Elvis hissed at you as he tugs on the fleece blanket you had draped over your body, while flipping through one of the dozen magazines you either brought from home or bought at the last gas station.

The sun had set a little while ago and you lost interest in the barely able to see view. The only thing you knew was that you were in Missouri, the second state. Six more to go.

“It’s my blanket. I told you to get yours out of the trunk.” You snap back at him, though keeping your voice low as you’d noticed your mother drifting off to sleep in the passenger seat in front of you.

Elvis rolls his eyes and tugs on the blanket a little harder, succeeding in stealing most of it and exposing your bare legs. Before you had the chance to protest, he was scooting a little closer and draping the fluffy blanket over the both of you.

“Where’s the fun in usin’ my own?” He smirks as he pulls it up so it was covering the both of you up until your shoulders, causing your magazine to crumble under the fabric. You scoffed in annoyance and glared at him, blue eyes holding a mischievous gleam in them as they looked up at you, your stepbrother having put his chin on your shoulder.

“Ugh, get off of me, Elvis.” You groaned softly, lifting your shoulder which forces him to pull back a little. You wanted to scoot away from, because why does his cologne smell so good?!, but you couldn’t. Trapped between the car door and his larger frame, you had absolutely nowhere to go.

And Elvis only intensified the sense of being trapped by sliding his arm around your waist under the blanket, pulling you in his side. Grin plastered on his face, he didn’t break eye contact once.

“I’m bored, sis.”

“I’m not your sister.”

“Yes, you are,” He whispers lowly as he grips onto your hip, squeezing it firmly as he leans in a little closer. “Our parents are married, remember? That makes me your brother. Older brother, in case ya forget.”

Your heart skipped a beat, breath hitching in your throat. You hated him, you hated him, you hated him… but then why did it feel so good to have him this close to you?

And oh so dangerous. So damn dangerous.

“Your father is r-right there, Elvis,” you whisper as your eyes shift to Vernon, who had his eyes on the dark road ahead, fingertips softly tapping on the steering wheel to the beat of the song that was softly playing on the radio.

Elvis chuckled softly, as if to say he didn’t care. And he didn’t. The blanket was covering the both of you completely and it was too dark inside the car to see what was going on. He knew for sure his father wouldn’t take his eyes off of the road.

“All the more reason to keep quiet.” He simply says and you didn’t expect his next move as he slips his hand in the pyjama shorts you’d put on in the toilet of the last gas stop. He didn’t waste any time, obviously eager to get his hands on you, as his hand had slipped right in your panties at the same time.

Maybe it was intentional, maybe it wasn’t. But it had you gasping softly, the magazine which had been clenching in your hands dropping to the floor.

“Elvis, n-no,” You grab his wrist when you feel his fingertips sliding down your slit, parting your lips for him so he could feel if you were wet or not.

You were, but definitely not enough to get fingered on the backseat of your parents’ car.

He pulls his hand out of your shorts and out from underneath the blanket, holding his fingers in front of your mouth. “Make ‘em wet.”

You look at him, eyes widening as your cheeks flush. Your eyes shift over to Vernon again, who wasn’t suspecting a thing, but your paranoia was growing. Shaking your head at the older male next to you, you keep your lips firmly shut.

“Lick my fingers or I’ll move this blanket away. Now, Y/N.”

It wasn’t a question, nor a suggestion. It sounded a god awful lot like an order.

Scared that he would actually follow up on his threat, you slowly part your lips as you look at him, a warmth spreading throughout your belly as you wrapped your lips around his digits and suck on them. He grins as he presses them against your tongue a little, before the wet muscle swirls around his fingers for a few seconds.

He’s quick to restract his fingers out of your mouth and move his hand under the blanket again, slipping into your shorts and panties once more. He raises an eyebrow as he glides his fingers down your slit, opening you up again and feeling you’d grown a little more wet.

The way his fingers were exploring you so shamelessly yet so sneakily in the enclosed space of the family car had your heart thumping wildly in your chest. Yet, you couldn’t stop yourself from growing wetter and wetter.

You were aware of how wrong this was, yet you did absolutely nothing to stop it. And neither did Elvis – if anything, he seems to be enjoying himself thoroughly.

“You like this?” He whispers as he looks at you, grinning smugly at the way you’re trying to keep your face neutral, lips pressed firmly into a thin line, brows slightly frowned. “Havin’ your brother feel you up in the backseat?”

You huff out a little sigh of air, trying to clamp your thighs together but every time he feels you’re doing it, he pinches your thigh until his other hand finds home on your left thigh, keeping your legs spread enough for his liking. “You’re n-not.. my.. b-brother..”

He laughs softly, making sure his father doesn’t hear it and tilts his head a little as he looks at you. Without warning, he slips his middle finger inside of your cunt, making you let out a quiet gasp. You clench around him instantly, and he smirks. “I think I am. Nah, I know I am and so do you, honey.”

Your eyes nearly roll back at the pet name and you truly hate yourself for being this weak. For liking this, having his finger push into you knuckle deep.

You couldn’t answer him as he started pumping his digit into you, movements still somewhat restricted because of your shorts. But that didn’t bother nor stop him for a second.

As if your body had a mind on its own, you were pulling your legs up a little, feet pressed against the edge of the seat. Clawing at his arm, not knowing if it was to get him to stop or to just have something to hold onto it. You didn’t know, didn’t know anything anymore as your brain was growing fuzzy.

You weren’t all that experienced when it came to sex – only ever having been felt up by a boy you liked during summer vacation last year and he didn’t exactly put it inside you.

Neither his finger, or his cock.

The only thing that’s ever been inside of you had been your own finger and even your own slender digit had been a stretch, not able to fit fully. You were a virgin and here you were, getting fingered by your brother. Stepbrother, you forcefully reminded yourself.

Your virginity was not something you were planning to tell Elvis about – he’d tease the hell out of you for it. At least, that’s what you thought he would do. Either way, you weren’t going to say anything.

His finger stretching you open wider than you’d experienced before was just something you were going to soldier yourself through.

“So goddamn tight,” Elvis grunted lowly next to you, allowing you to hide your face in his chest a little, making it seem as if you were catching up on some sleep. “Think ya can take ‘nother finger?”

No. Definitely not.

“Y-Yes..” You muffle in his chest, biting down on the fabric of his shirt as he shoves his ring finger inside of you as well, making your eyes roll back.

God, you couldn’t believe you were doing this. Allowing this to happen. If Vernon decided to look through the rearview mirror or your mother woke up, the both of you would be disowned.

Surely.

You didn’t have much time to worry about it though, because the slight sting of Elvis’ fingers stretching you out has you softly panting in his chest. You were clenching around him visciously so and it has him cursing under his breath.

Neither of you were paying attention to anything else, but as the car pulled up into a parking lot just as the sting was disappearing and you were relaxing a little more around Elvis’ fingers, the two of you were rudely interrupted by a neon light shining into the car as Vernon parked under it.

Elvis moves quick – pulling his fingers out of you and out of your clothing, he creates more space between the two of you and gives you most of the blanket to cover yourself with. He looks at you as he smirks, bringing his fingers to his mouth to suck your slick off of the digits, shooting you a wink as Vernon announces this is the motel they’d be staying at for the night.

If your cheeks weren’t flushed already, they deepened in shade even further and the image of him licking his fingers clean stayed imprinted on your brain as you got out of the car and your parents booked the rooms.

As if God was playing an awful joke on you, Vernon and your mother decided you and Elvis could share a hotel room together.

“To bond. I’m sick of you two fighting.”

Those had been your mother’s exact words – if only she knew what had happened between the two of you when she was sleeping in the passenger seat.

You should’ve known that being alone in a motel room with your stepbrother wasn’t going grant you the privilege of sleep.

Having never seen a cock in your life, other than from seeing it in pictures and getting a general description of it from your girlfriends, you had nothing to compare it to.

But the one that belonged to Elvis was pretty.

Big too, which scared the hell out of you, but you figured as long as you’d keep playing with it with your hands and mouth, he wouldn’t be in a rush to take things a step further.

Laying completely naked on your stomach in between Elvis’ legs, because he’d pretty much tore your clothes off of you as soon as the door closed behind you, your little jerk off session was interrupted by his own hand wrapping around his girth. He looks down at you with a little smirk on his face, guiding his tip across your lips.

You were nervous and turned on at the same time. Nervous because you were afraid you weren’t going to be good at this, but your lips parted nonetheless. Looking up at him, you liked seeing his reaction when your tongue hesitantly licked at the soft skin of his tip when he pulled his foreskin down – gasping softly, his eyes fluttering shut.

He keeps his hand wrapped around himself until you wrap your lips around his tip, frowning a little at the foreign taste of his precum on your tongue but you forced yourself to continue. You squeezed your eyes shut as you concetrated on the task of taking him in deeper, immediately gagging as he took his hand away and you felt his tip caressing the back of your throat.

As soon as you went to pull back, he placed a hand on the back of your head and looks down at you with a teasing, nearly mean, chuckle when he saw your eyes shooting open and widening. “Keep goin’, sis.”

You whine around his cock as his fingers tangle in your hair, keeping you right where you were, and your throat spasms frantically as he keeps you pushed down, not allowing you to move. Tears blurred your vision as they formed on your lash line, unable to stop yourself from gagging.

You couldn’t breathe.

He was choking you with his cock.

Panic settles in your chest and you place your hands on his thighs, trying to push yourself off and create distance, but his grip was stronger. And he wasn’t letting up.

“Breathe,” he cooes, his voice sounding sickeningly sweet but you didn’t miss the taunting tone in it. “Through y’er little nose. Breathe.”

You try to do as he says and he watches you struggle for a little while, the sight of tears rolling down your cheeks and your flushed cheeks making his cock twitch on your tongue. But he decides to go at least a little easy on you and tugs on your hair, pulling you off of his cock.

You immediately gasp desperately for air, a string of saliva connected from your tongue to his cock. You looked at him through the tears, your head tilted back because he was still tugging on your hair.

“Look at that, droolin’ all over my cock.” He smirks as he watches you lick your glistening, swollen lips.

You were even more wet than you were in the car. So damn wet. Rubbing your thighs together to create some kind of friction, you barely recognized yourself as you realised you were actually liking this.

“A-Again..”

“Again?” Elvis raises an eyebrow, letting out a laugh. You nodded, not caring about how eager you seemed.

He slowly lets go of your hair and with a shit eating grin on his face, he puts his arms under his head and gets comfortable against the pillows. “Be my guest.”

It was truly pathetic how fast you’d taken his cock back in your mouth, slobbering all over it like a bitch in heat. But you were so horny that you couldn’t get yourself to stop, even if you wanted to.

This time, you were deepthroating him on your own. Taking him in so deep that your nose was pressed into his pubes, cockhead assaulting the back of your throat. The whole time you practiced breathing through your nose but you failed at times because the way Elvis was grunting and groaning had you moaning around him, which forced you to have to pull up again to get in a breath of air.

Elvis wasn’t complaining. Far from it.

He had you right where he wanted to have you for the longest time now. The whole annoying brother act was just because he’d wanted to fuck the hell out of you from the second he laid eyes on you. The fact that you were his family now sure as hell wasn’t going to stop him.

Even though you were surprisingly enjoying yourself sucking him off, practicing your skills, Elvis had you pinned down on the bed before he’d cum down your throat. Something he did not want, because he was planning on filling you up in other ways.

Him sliding his cock through your folds, spreading your slick around and rubbing his tip against your clit had you moaning and whimpering – but as soon as you felt him lingering at your entrance, the nerves were flooding back.

Placing a hand on his chest, you tried to close your legs but it was impossible because he was right there in between them, preventing you from doing so. You widened your eyes as you shook your head, writhing underneath him a little, your untouched hole clenching nearly shut as he tries to push himself in.

“N-No, no, Elvis. ’S Not gonna fit..”

“It will.”

“It’s t-too b-big..”

“Jesus,” he huffs out, grabbing your wrist and peeling your hand off of his chest. He put both your hands above your head and trapped your wrists together with his hand, his other hand moving in between your bodies to guide himself back to your entrance. “I will make it fit. Now shut the fuck up and let me in.”

You try to free your hands out of his grip, but it’s useless. He’s too strong.

Tears form in your eyes all over again as you whimper, breathing erratically as he pushes the tip inside of you. Even that was already stretching you further open, and you're clenching so hard that you were pushing him out again.

Elvis groaned in annoyance, moody eyes shooting you a a warning glare. “Goddamnit, Y/N. Relax.”

“I can’t! I c-can’t!”

“Fine,” he growls as he places his hand on your hip, forcing you to keep still as he roughly pushes fully into you. “Then don’t.”

A sharp pain shot through your body, making you cry out in panic. Despite the fact that you were absolutely soaking, the stretch was unbearable.

“I’ve never.. I’m not.. Never have-“

“Never been fucked before? I know.” He growls deeply as he bottoms out, holding still. At least he was granting you that. “But you’ll like it, baby, believe me.”

You were naive. Stupid, even. Because even though you felt like he was painfully splitting you open right now, you truly did believe him.

It was going to feel better. It had to.

Still holding onto your hands because he didn’t quite trust you enough to know you wouldn’t push him off, he pulled back a little only to slam into you again. He growls a little louder as he feels more wetness engulfing him, slipping out of you and onto him.

As he looks down, he notices a little bit of blood on his cock when he pulls back again. He smirks as he sees you looking down too, his eyes meeting yours. “I popped y’er little cherry,” he hums as he leans his face closer to yours, lips ghosting along yours. “You know what that means, sis?”

Cheeks flushed in embarrassement for bleeding on him, you whimper softly as you stare into his eyes with your own teary ones, finding yourself chasing his lips, wanting to kiss him but he wasn’t giving it to you yet.

“You’re mine now.”

The way he whispers those words against your lips has you letting out a soft sob, crying as he kisses you feverishly.

He starts thrusting into you, hard enough for his balls to slap against your skin every time his hips snap forward, but not hard enough for him to cum yet. Because you were tight, so incredibly snug, he had to force himself to not fill you up prematurely.

He wanted to enjoy it for a little longer.

Letting go of your wrists and hip, he places his hand flat on either side of your head and breaks the kiss, looking down at you as he rams you into the mattress. The headboard was slamming against the wall, probably alerting your parents in the next room to what was happening but he was too far gone.

And so were you.

All you could think about was Elvis and how he was railing you into tomorrow, drunk on his cock.

The sting was still there, but the intensity was wearing off, making way for pleasure.

Pure, raw pleasure.

Heat overwhelmed you, an unfamiliar feeling coiling in the pit of your tummy and you knew enough of your friends’ stories that your orgasm was nearing.

“Elvis!” You moaned out loudly, your nails running down his back, clinging onto him. “I’m g-gonna cum!”

It felt strange saying those words, but your brain was too cloudy to think or worry about it.

“Fuck. Me too, baby,” he growls as he presses his forehead against yours, staring into your eyes. “Gonna fuckin’ fill you up until you feel it all the way in your tummy.”

You had no idea if that was even possible, but it sounded hot.

You wanted it.

Wanted all of him.

With your spread legs in the air, your toes curl as your nails dig into his shoulder blades. Your back arched and Elvis’ hips stuttered, both of you exploding at the same time.

You milked him for all he’s worth and he paints your insides white, thick strings of warm cum filling you up to the brim. A weird sensation spread throughout your stomach and you wondered if it was because of what he said.

He collapses on top of you with his face hiding in your neck, panting heavily against your skin. You could feel his cum spilling out of you as he pulls his softening cock out and you whimper, shivering underneath him because of your first orgasm you’ve just experienced.

“N-Need to p-pee.” You whisper in a shaky voice, trying to get your breathing back to normal.

He rolls off of you but instead of letting you get up, he wraps his arm around your waist and spoons you. His hand moves in between your legs, cupping your sensitive pussy. “No,” he simply tells you, grinning as he softly bites your shoulder, moving his other arm underneath your head and wrapping it around your throat without too much pressure, pressing your back against his chest firmly. “Keep it inside ‘f ya for a little longer. Don’t be ungrateful, baby.”

You squirm against him a little and gasp as he shoves two fingers inside of your cunt, pushing his cum deeper inside of you and keeping it there.

He was right. Spilling the load he’d worked so hard to release right away would be ungrateful… and that’s something that you weren’t.

You were a good girl, a good daughter.

And a perfect sister to fuck.

⊱ taglist: @notstefaniepresley @powerofelvis @peaceloveelvis @ccab @jkdaddy01 @atrophyingaphrodite @ladelinee

[saintjosie]

hi! no idea if you take asks like this but thought i'd try. i'm writing a transfem character in a fanfic (in canon they are a cis guy, i just headcanon her as trans), specifically about effects of estrogen. i'm doing a lot of research but i was wondering if there's anything specific you think would be important to know? ty in advance if you do answer! <3

oooh what a fun ask!

having recently taken a stab at writing some fanfic myself, i think the things that would be the most helpful are the things that are more anecdotal because i’d imagine those would be the things that would help get inside her head.

first, there’s a lot of stuff about some of the physical changes out there like softer skin, thinner body hair (but not necessarily less) boob growth, fat redistribution, changes to color perception, eyes and lips appearing bigger because of skin changes and fat redistribution etc. but also really important to writing a trans character is the pacing of the those changes.

the changes are slow. much much slower than most people want. there’s a specific frustration in the slowness because while some changes happen quickly, other take years. and also frustration in comparison. some people see changes within weeks or even days. some people don’t see anything for months or years.

in my own personal experience, everything happened FAST. within a few DAYS i had the beginnings of breast buds. within a few weeks skin had visibly softened and changed texture, especially on my face. but other things took more time. i didn’t really have real boobs until 2.5-3 years in, even though i saw other people with the same timeframe or shorter have much more breast development. the patience required can be excruciating but also the joy is overwhelming and it’s a constant cycle.

and another thing i don’t see talked about too much bc it’s hard to qualify and sometimes hard for some people to notice are the way i process emotions and the way i think about things. now HUGE caveat, some people will use this as a way to justify bio-essentialism and transmedicalism and so it’s very important to note that this is MY experience and uniquely interacts with my own journey.

when i started hrt, within a few hours of taking the first dose, i felt different. not physically, but almost as if there was a peace in my soul because my mind became less cloudy and i could differentiate my emotions more clearly. and i used to think this is because t-blockers means no t and no t means less angry but trans mascs would tell me that their experience with t is the same and not the opposite. i’ve now realized that kind of thinking was actually invalidating to trans mascs on t. and ive realized that its actually because testosterone didn’t feel right in my body and removing it from the equation helped me understand myself better. i had always experienced emotions in this way and my discomfort with my body had stopped me from understanding the complexity and nuance with how i was feeling.

and it took me YEARS to understand what had happened. and it happened alongside of being in therapy and a lot of personal growth. hrt was the catalyst but it was the effort i put into growth that made the difference.

if you have any more questions, i’d love to share more cause i think it would be fantastic if more people who were not trans fem would be able to write trans fem characters with substance, nuance, and complexity! it’s difficult but important and thank you for attempting to do so and approaching this with respect!

[fallloverfic]

Mithrun and the changeling shapeshifting

This isn't directed at anyone in particular, but I see comments about Mithrun and the changelings/shapeshifting mushrooms a bit and I think there's some misunderstanding about what the shapeshifting does. Spoilers for the manga for chapters 51-the end/volume 8-beyond, and the Delicious in Dungeon World Guide: Adventurer's Bible (first one) below the cut. (Also yes, I know it's partially played for laughs in the manga, but I think Kui also does some neat stuff with it, particularly in Mithrun's case).

The shapeshifting emphasizes different racial traits, and that's going to be defined differently by each race, like how each race has different beauty standards, abilities, and puts on muscle differently (e.g., Senshi is maybe beautiful by dwarven standards, and his beard is huge, so as an elf he's beautiful by elven standards, but his beard is too powerful to shapeshift, so he has a mustache despite the fact no other known elves have facial hair). Kabru, for instance, is a sort of smaller tank, and is kind of waify as an elf (possibly because elves are just kind of waify generally, though this might also be due to his losing weight after being revived; he also doesn't have much magical ability: he has even less than Laios does, versus Mithrun, who's maxed the magic stats chart).

The most muscular elf we know of is Lycion, on the left:

Lycion still looks "skinny" in a way, but he's strong and muscular, just not Hollywood bulky. He matches a race that doesn't put on thick, bulky muscle, at least not easily. Compare this to Mithrun on the right, who isn't as naked as Lycion so we can't quite see what he looks like as an elf under his clothes, because the clothes give him some padding. The closest we get to modern him as nude as Lycion is, is that shot in his cabin in the Adventurer's Bible:

It's hard to tell, but his arms are decently muscular for an elf (also one-armed push-ups are hard, that's not something you do on a lark). His whole thing since Milsiril talked him into getting back into shape to go to dungeons has been solely that: getting back into shape to go deal with the demon, and he's had to build up his body to be able to walk on his own and stay alive long enough to deal with the demon. Given he's also a powerful magic user, but he seemingly doesn't have those abilities as a human (or at least he wasn't using his magic on the door), it might be his human form is also compensating for that. This is Mithrun's stats chart:

"Though he's an elf, both his strength and stamina are excellent. His one weakness is his terrible sense of direction." p.73, Chapter 01 / Characters, Delicious in Dungeon World Guide: Adventurer's Bible. Dudes' beefy even for an elf, even if he doesn't precisely look it. But compare Mithrun and Lycion here:

Mithrun's shorter, and the clothing is probably making him look bigger than he is, but they're somewhat similar, comparatively, once you compensate for the height differences.

We also get some shots of him in motion and wearing that tightish shirt/dress.

Clothing can of course make your bust look more defined than it is, but it's notable that we get some obvious muscle definition to him in the chest area (for an elf), and his lower chest/trunk is rather solid-looking, rather than the thinner forms of his female companions. He seems to be a bit thicker in his mid-section than Pattadol, for instance, who's only slightly taller than he is, and she and Cithis have similarly-sized waists (actually Cithis might be a little thinner? Which would make sense as her focus is on casting).

His focus is movement and physical interaction more than the other casters in his party (he has to touch stuff a little to teleport it), so he builds up his body accordingly. Which also makes sense for how he does one-armed push-ups in his ship cabin in his spare time.

I think a big reason Mithrun is viewed as weak/tiny is because he's often around Kabru so we often compare them physically. Mithrun is thinner and six inches shorter than Kabru, who is not in the best physical shape due to his revival, on top of, at this point, not having a great meal regimen due to neither of them being good at gathering or apparently making meals.

Some shots of Kabru and Mithrun together, for comparison, including Mithrun helping Kabru stand. Kabru is more muscular, but not the bulkiest for a tall-man (he's smaller than Laios, even accounting for the height difference, though still tanky in his own right, I mean he grabbed Falin pretty easily, and Kabru and Falin are the same height; Laios is just big).

(I know Laios' armor makes him look bigger than he is, especially when Kabru has his off, but, ignoring the height difference, Laios is broader than Kabru, seemingly, particularly in the chest and arms).

Yeah, Kabru lost weight after the first revival, so he's not the best comparison, but if Mithrun, an elf, doesn't look rail thin even next to Kabru, who's not that skinny for a tall-man (skinnier than he used to be, but not skeletal), it kind of also says something about Mithrun. He's not like... bones. He's thin, but not rail thin (we know because he was shown rail thin in Daydream Hour during his recovery, and he put on muscle since then). And shots of him, while variable at times - sometimes he's drawn thinner, sometimes thicker, often in comparison to who he's sharing a shot with, e.g., Sissel - often emphasize how thick his arms are, even near Kabru, who is broader and more muscular. I think my best description of Mithrun is "mostly solid for a dude often running on fumes".

And we see him moving fast and hitting hard a lot. Whenever he fights, he's running, jumping, punching, or kicking something. Being lithe would help with that, but he'd need muscle too, especially for how fast he is (an easy comparison is a ballerina or a track runner, both of whom have to build up specific muscles for their craft, and regimens for both can be grueling). And he's not just teleporting people, he's smacking them hard.

He also was (and is) still notably good-looking for an elf. He has nice hair (that he doesn't pay as much attention to as he used to, but still is nice), a good body (even without half his ears, which seem important for elves), and would be considered attractive by a lot of people.

So yes, he's possibly still stringy-ish for an elf because he's likely exhausted due to lack of proper sleep (the bags under his eyes, his noted issues sleeping while in dungeons without aid), and doesn't eat regular meals (while in dungeons). But he's still muscular - to an elvish degree, anyway - and strong, particularly in terms of magical power, so it makes a lot of sense that the guy on the left would become the guy on the right when shapeshifted into a tall-man to become a race that better creates bulkier muscle and has to compensate for Mithrun's magical abilities (also looks kind of cliche handsome, maybe mimicking how Senshi looks as an elf).

I mean obviously there are strong human magic users, like Falin... and she has stronger stats all around than he does/roughly close in some places, so it makes sense he'd be as tall and bulky as she is.

Mithrun is, canonically, way more powerful than Kabru, as well, (at least against monsters), hence probably part of why he's seemingly bulkier than Kabru as a human. Mithrun is the one who deals with almost all the monsters for a reason. It's only when Mithrun is distracted or tired that Kabru gets one over him (e.g., in Sissel's house, or when Kabru grabs Mithrun at the dungeon entrance). Notably, when Mithrun crawled out of a spider and got knocked out by Kabru in chapter 76, Kabru was pointing out that Mithrun needed to rest. He was at his most wet cat moment then... when he was exhausted. So to me at least, this shapeshift makes sense. Normal Mithrun isn't really a wet cat most of the time. He's strong. He just runs himself ragged for various reasons.

[the-uninformed-zennial]

So, uh, Fable ended.

And now I’m gonna be sappy on main.

I started watching Fable about half a year before I started being active in the fandom, around the time I started falling in love with my partner @hoardingpuffin . Watching Rae and Caspian’s relationship develop was actually part of what helped me realize that the things I was feeling for them were romantic and not just platonic. Surprisingly enough, that’s just the beginning of the profound effect Fable had on me.

I had never really interacted with fandom spaces before Fable. But when I caught up with lore sometime in November 2022, I decided to join the discord. It was a crazy place. Being someone who’d never really been in a server before I was completely overwhelmed and nervous, so I didn’t interact much for the first month or so.

Then I discovered that, despite the incredible love for the project, no one had made a “which character are you?” Quiz yet, so, I decided to fuck it and make one myself. The response I got to that was unlike any I had seen before. I was getting pinged weeks afterwards with people’s results and it made me really happy to see how much my work was appreciated by everyone in the community. It got me thinking about other ways I might be able to give back.

Then, as you all know, the stream “Call” and it’s partner “Response” came out on Ghosty and HeyHay’s channels. I’d been feeling so similarly to the two characters, dealing with my long distance relationship with Puffin. So, I took those feelings and the words Heyhay and Ghosty had used to convey them for their characters and put them into a song.

And then something insane happened.

Everyone liked it. Like, everyone liked it. This crappy recording I made at 2 AM suddenly got hundreds and then thousands of views when I put it on SoundCloud and YouTube. It was insane. I had written some songs before, but they’d always been ridiculed, so having a large group of people like the fable community enjoy something that I wrote was absolutely insane to me, and it encouraged me to make more.

I found myself being inspired by the characters in fable, connecting with different storylines or sentences said on streams. I found myself writing songs, one after another after another.  At one point I was writing a song a week for a period of about three months. I had never experienced this amount of raw creativity before, but every time I put a new song out, I only got encouraged to make more.

And then people started to ask me when I was going to put them on Spotify. And that was another moment that everything changed. I realized if I was gonna put these out there in such an official way I didn’t want it to just be a bunch of crappy recorded singles. So I needed to make an album.

That was something I had never considered doing before. I knew nothing about music editing or sound mixing. Up until that point all of my songs had been made on GarageBand at 2 AM with very little editing or mixing going into them. So, I started saving for a real music editing program and within a few months I got there.

Then came the actual making of the album. I took a few months off in the summer and just dove headfirst into it. Every spare moment I wasn’t modding for the Sherbathon, or the discord, or streaming my own lore, was spent working on those songs. And while looking back now I wish I knew what I know now about music editing, I’m so glad I did what I did. Putting that album out, seeing how you all responded to it… it made me realize that this is something I love, something that I don’t have to wait for someone else’s permission or teaching to do.

This fandom is the reason I’m a musical artist and that is something I don’t think I will ever be able to express the importance of enough.



As much as I could talk about the unending support and encouragement I received from the wonderful cast members throughout my experience making the album, or how being given the role of mod on the fandom discord taught me so much about how to be a creator in my own right, or even the amazing experience I had being able to make songs for the lore. When it comes right down to it, it was the community, cast and all, that impacted my life in the profound way it has been. So thank you, each and every one of you, whether you are a cast member, a fan, a fellow mod, or even just someone who streamed a song you didn’t have any context for. Thank you for changing my life, for giving me the encouragement to pursue my dreams.

Thank you Fable SMP cast, crew, and community 💕

[baristabomb]

It’s funny to me that even Oda seems to have had misgivings about killing off Ace

He didn't seem realize just how impactful Ace continuing to live on would've been for the story and Ace’s character. It really feels like he just killed him for drama

I said this before already but the son of Roger being executed feels redundant because Roger already was executed. Ace already thought his life is worthless and you could say it's in character for him to sacrifice it for Luffy, but it just feels like things are playing into the Marines hands without it having enough of a payoff or justification for the narrative itself. Not to mention all his mother Rouge suffered to make sure he could live after she gave birth to him…..?

There's plenty that still could've been done with his character. What was even the point of him being Rogers son other than him getting executed before really accomplishing anything (sorry)

Coupled with the fact that most anything we know about Ace outside of his relationship with Luffy or Roger is information we learn in supplementary material that feels like it’s exaggerated/unwarranted because Oda never brought him up after Alabasta until Marineford (keeping in mind how short his screen time was in the manga compared to in the anime because him traveling with the strawhats was added in). Unless you count those silly one page cover stories.

I still think it would’ve been so much more interesting to see Ace be able to interact with Hancock and Rayleigh after the fight (with Luffy attached to him at the hip like glue, sobbing his eyes out because his big brother is still alive ugh I'm SICK).

Hancock would be acting like a bride trying to prove herself to a family member before they get married which would’ve been SO FUNNY as a gag (enough to make me forget certain things). And Rayleigh? Roger’s second in command? Could’ve finally given Ace a reason to be proud of his bloodline by telling him first hand accounts of his time on the Oro Jackson, so that Ace could learn to stop hating himself…missed opportunities.

And sure, Luffy’s reaction to Ace's death was gut wrenching and impactful, but the way he gets over it is so cheap to me because loss is so much more painful than knowing what you already have can actually fix so quickly. Especially with the loss of a family member or person you adored.

Sigh

It’s just…everything else in One Piece tends to make sense for the story and have real reason to be there, but Ace dying just doesn't…like of allll the characters to sustain horrible wounds and actually die from them why Ace? Damn.

[bridgertonbabe]

Signing off.

I never really thought I'd ever write a post like this and to be perfectly honest I feel a bit cringe for even making a thing out of this but I felt it necessary to address those of you who follow me and my writings.

In the last month I have been suffering severely from anxiety, waking up to what feels like a ball of dread clutching at my heart and being unable to shift it for the better part of the day. It's all come to a head as of late because I've reached a crossroads in my life where I've realised just how unhappy and unfulfilled I am. Truth to be told I really don't have any aspect in my life that I am happy with and for years I've dismissed myself and my own desires for the sake of others to the point where I have no self worth, no self confidence, and I just feel like a shell of a person. Realising that I can't go on like this, that I can't live the life I aspire to without sorting my mental health out, I've taken the first steps in getting counselling and in going to the doctors to be put on anti-depressants.

While I'm already starting to feel better, I've decided it's in my best interests to take some other steps going ahead; which is I'm logging off this account.

Don't get me wrong, this account has brought me fulfillment in the last two and a half years and I've had so much fun interacting with so many of you but as of late I've become very disengaged with Bridgerton. It's one of several of my hyperfixations which I have become anxious with in the last few weeks, in part because they are what I used to immerse myself in as a means to distract myself from a dissatisfying existence, but now I've decided to make a change in my life for the better, everything that I once used to bury my head in the sand has now essentially given me the ick. Bridgerton is just now one of several things that I feel the need to distance myself from in order to fully focus and concentrate on bettering my mental health as well as getting what I want out of life.

As much as I've taken pride in writing because of Bridgerton, my dream has always to one day publish a book of my own and I need to refocus my energies on writing my own original stories to have the chance of maybe being able to make that dream a reality. I would have so dearly loved to have been able to complete a whole host of WIPs (would have also loved to have been able to just focus on one story at a time but c'est la vie) and I can only apologise to anyone who's been hoping for an update from any of them.

You will still be able to read all of my works on AO3 (plus I've restored a couple I had previously hidden from view), and I won't be deleting this tumblr so all of my drabbles and various posts will still be here for you to browse and read at your leisure.

Though I'm stepping away from this account, I don't necessarily know if this will be forever. I might well end up in a better place mentally at some point and return with a healthier state of mind where I can enjoy Bridgerton again, and I would never rule out contributing writings again - however as it stands, I don't want to promise anything and taking care of my mental health is my main priority for now and the foreseeable future.

I also just wanted to take the opportunity to thank every single person who has ever liked, reblogged, and interacted with me since I joined. I had never previously shared any of my creative writing online and thought it would be nice if even a single person somewhere vaguely liked anything I had to share - but over the last two and a half years I've been given such a boost from the amount of people who have reached out and commented on any one of my silly writings. I don't think you'll ever understand just how much it has meant to me and the love and appreciation will stay with me forever.

That about does it, so thank you all for everything. I wish you all a lifetime of health and happiness.

Signing off,

Shinnie

xxx

[natsukishinomiyaswife]

ꕤ 𝓨𝓾𝓵𝓲𝔂𝓪 ꕤ

*Please note: The artwork of Yuliya used in this post is a commission I got from Caatyeart on Etsy ♡ Link to their shop here! ♡

Voice claim: Kana Hanazawa as Mitsuri Kanroji - Demon Slayer

❥❥❥ Character Info:

An introvert who enjoys rhythm games, Yuliya ended up in Twisted Wonderland by accident. She was feeding the stray cats near her school (as she usually does) when a cat she had never seen before ran by. Curious, she chased after it, causing her to fall into a hole and end up in Twisted Wonderland. (Like in Alice in Wonderland)

Yuliya does not replace in game Yuu, who I have made a separate OC for. (Their name is Yuurio, and they go by they/them or he/him pronouns) But she does show up in Twisted Wonderland before the events of the prologue (so before Yuurio arrives, and before Grim and the first years come to Night Raven)

Since she is magicless, she primarily helps Sam in his shop (or works at the Mostro Lounge) while attending the few classes she's able to take. She doesn't really excel at any subject (since she doesn't like to stand out or draw attention to herself), and is just trying her best to get by.

Personality wise, she is an introvert, and suffers from anxiety. She is a very cautious person, and has to think things over or plan things out before she does anything, as it helps ease her mind. Once she's comfortable around someone, she becomes more open and bubbly around them, no longer overthinking her interactions with them.

(Please note: Yuliya is plus sized. I know it may be hard to tell through this artwork of her, so I thought I should mention it just in case ♡)

❥❥❥ Basic Info:

Height: 163cm

Age: 17-18 years old

Grade: Sophomore (2nd year)

Nicknames: Liya (Yuurio, close friends), Mademoiselle/Madame Cautious (Rook), Leaf Sheep (Floyd) *A common name used for the Costasiella Kuroshimae, Herbivore (Leona)

Birthday: October 16th

Dominant hand: Right

Favorite food: Chicken Katsu Curry Rice

Least favorite food: Condiments (Ketchup, Mustard, Mayonnaise, etc)

Best subject: None

Hobby: Mobile Gaming, Listening to Music

Club: Board Game club

Talent: Losing 50/50's (in gacha games)

❥❥❥ Relationships/Dynamics:

Yuurio: She knew of Yuurio before they came to Twisted Wonderland, having seen them feed the stray cats she normally would on occasion. Though she did not know their name, she knew of their reputation (For context, Yuurio is a delinquent), and would keep her distance from them. Yuurio was almost expelled near the beginning of their freshman year, being accused of vandalism they didn't do. Yuliya, knowing they couldn't have done it, mustered the strength to intervene, stepping in and vouching for them. Shortly after this happened, she ended up in Twisted Wonderland, and wouldn't interact with Yuurio again until they showed up during the main story's prologue.

She has a close relationship with Yuurio, doing her best to keep them out of trouble. She is essentially their voice of reason, stopping them from rushing in headfirst (when she can), and having them think things through. She worries about them, and always patches them up after they get into a fight (while gently scolding them).

On Yuurio's end: They greatly admire Yuliya, not having forgotten what she did for them before ending up in Twisted Wonderland. It was the first time someone had believed in them, and they refuse to take the trust she has for them for granted. They do their best to look out for her, much like how she does for them. They have a tendency to pick her up and run when there's danger, and it's a fight they know they can't win. They enjoy teasing her (affectionately) and jokingly flirting with her, enjoying how it riles certain characters up when they do.

Kalim Al-Asim: One of the very first among those she met when ending up in Twisted Wonderland, she and Kalim are good friends. When Crowley wasn't sure what to do with her (as he didn't consider Ramshackle until Yuurio showed up), Kalim offered for her to stay at Scarabia, making her an honorary member of the dorm. She appreciated his kindness, opening up to him with each interaction they had. Through their interactions, he learned it was best to inform her of parties in advance, and would make it a point to let her know as soon as possible (though sometimes he would forget, which he would apologize for).

She developed a crush on him as they got to know each other, but it quickly faded as she realized the love she had for him was platonic, not romantic. She makes it a point to attend the Pop Music club concerts, wanting to support him. She usually stays towards the back of the crowd though, and doesn't approach him afterwards until everyone has left.

On Kalim's end: He considers her to be a good friend, and he appreciates how she takes the time to help him as he tries to become more independent after Book 4.

Jamil Viper: She could tell that Jamil wasn't fond of her, making sure to keep her distance. They got to know each other better through Kalim, almost becoming friends before Book 4 happened. After Book 4, their relationship is strained, with Jamil being distant and simply watching her from afar. She is under the impression that he dislikes her, keeping her distance as she silently wondered what she did wrong. Their relationship gets better with time (and Kalim and Yuurio's help lol)

On Jamil's end: From the moment Kalim offered for her to stay at Scarabia he wasn't fond of her, already considering how it might effect any future plans he had. As he slowly got to know her though, he found that he enjoyed her company, talking about music and dancing (usually from the rhythm games she plays). With her willingness to help him with his duties (when he insists she didn't need to) and her genuine care for his interests, he realized he was starting to develop feelings for her, immediately pushing them down. Before Book 4 begins, he has her transferred to Octavinelle, not wanting her to interfere with his plan. This ends up backfiring for him, as Yuurio (plus the octotrio and Yuliya) put a stop to it.

After his overblot, he decides to keep his distance, not wanting the feelings he was starting to develop for her to grow. He is under the impression that she is in love with Kalim, and tries to deny the jealousy he feels whenever he sees them together. His feelings for her fade eventually (or so he says...)

Azul Ashengrotto: She has a love-hate relationship with Azul, steering clear of Octavinelle entirely at first. She didn't trust him (or anyone in Octavinelle really), and it didn't help that he kept trying to persuade her into going to the Mostro Lounge the few times they interacted. Being in the same club as him did help her perspective a little bit, and she did end up going to the lounge eventually (Floyd dragged her there...) But the moment she heard contract she was on high alert all over again, refusing him if he even hinted at it.

He didn't help his case when he started telling her to transfer to Octavinelle, having noticed she's more intelligent and perceptive than she shows. Jade and Floyd would also "encourage" her to transfer, even though she would refuse every time they brought it up. Their relationship got better after Book 3, with Yuliya even agreeing to work in the lounge on occasion, willing to give him a chance. When she transfers to Octavinelle before Book 4 begins, she fully believes it was his doing, causing their relationship to worsen as she loses all trust in him. He regains her trust by the end of Book 4, with their relationship being better than it had been before. Though she may deny it, she does enjoy Azul's company, and thinks that being apart of Octavinelle isn't so bad.

On Azul's end: While she may not be fond of him, he is fond of her, doing his best to get her attention. He was surprised (and ecstatic) when she finally transferred, though he was suspicious at her sudden change of heart. He realized what was going on when she began accusing him of filling out the transfer paperwork and forging her signature, losing all the progress he made with her. He was happy he was able to regain her trust by the end of Book 4, and that their relationship turned out better from it. He hopes he can convince her to drop her job at Sam's shop, and get her to work at the lounge exclusively.

Jade Leech: While she didn't trust anyone from Octavinelle, she especially didn't trust Jade, running from him whenever she would see him. He found it amusing how scared she was of him, making it a point to surprise her whenever he could. Walking up behind her and putting a hand on her shoulder, watching her jump. Turning the corner and seeing her down the hall, waving with a smile on his face as she bolts in the other direction. He was curious to see what kinds of reactions he could get out of her, finding them quite cute. She becomes less afraid of him as she gets to know him, reacting less over time. He thought that once her reactions stopped he would become bored with her, but he keeps finding new ways to get a reaction, even if it's not out of fear. When she transfers to Octavinelle and starts working at the lounge, she always seem to work the same shift as him.

Floyd Leech: While she was hesitant around him at first, she was never as scared of him as she was with Jade, even knowing of his mood swings and violent tendencies. She gets along well with him, though they never really seek the other out (unless he's asked). He trades his shifts with Jade whenever he's scheduled to work with her at the lounge (as Jade asked him to). She is unaware of this.

Vil Schoenheit: At first she avoided him (and Pomefiore) due to misjudging his character, and apologizes to him after realizing her mistake. She isn't close with him, but they do get along.

Rook Hunt: She has a habit of looking around, feeling like someone was watching her. It was usually Rook, curious about her and observing her from afar. He was the one who helped clear up her misconception about Vil, noticing how she would avoid him (and Pomefiore as a whole) She gets along well with him, and they have a friendly relationship. She will stop by the science club on occasion, curious to know what he's doing.

Leona Kingscholar: While their relationship was rocky at first, she does get along with him, and they have a mutual respect for each other. He was surprised when she stood her ground with him, knowing of her personality. While others tend to be overprotective of her, Leona believes that she can take care of herself, and has developed a bit of a soft spot for her (that he'll never admit to). He prefers her over Yuurio.

Jack Howl: She and Jack have a good relationship, getting to know each other during Books 2 and 3. She is friendly with him, but they don't really seek each other out. She mainly sees him when he's with Yuurio and the other first years.

Idia Shroud: She technically first met Idia through a game they both play, each of them unaware of the other's IRL identity. She "officially" met him through the Board Game club, getting to know him with each club meeting. Azul would subtly help their relationship grow, bringing up things that Idia had mentioned that he knew she liked as well. Due to their mutual interests and her curiosity towards his engineering (along with Ortho's encouragement), they slowly grew to be close friends, and even developed feelings for each other. She doesn't tell him her feelings though (and neither does he), but it's obvious to those around them that they like each other. (If they were to become a couple, it would happen before the start of Book 7)

Ortho Shroud: She and Ortho have a good relationship, and get along well together. He enjoys how happy she makes his big brother, and does his best to encourage their relationship however he can.

❥❥❥ Fun Facts:

She has a big sweet tooth, with a preference for candy

She can cook/bake (Yuurio cannot)

She knows of Malleus, but doesn't officially meet him until the end of Book 5 (when he fixes the stage/auditorium after Vil's overblot)

She tried to transfer to Ramshackle after being transferred to Octavinelle (before Book 4 began), but Crowley told her that she wouldn't be able to transfer dorms again until next year, due to how long and tedious the transfer process is

She refused to go to Heartslabyul until she had read and memorized all the rules, worried about what would happen if she broke one

She's finally here! ♡

Ahhhh I'm so happy to finally be done with this lol ♡ I was not expecting it be this long! ♡

If you've read this far: thank you so much! I really appreciate your interest in Yuliya (and Yuurio too!) ♡

Yuliya and Yuurio are a duo, and while they may appear in each book, only one of them is considered the "main Yuu" or "main character" (depending on the book)

For example, Yuliya does appear in the prologue and Book 1, but Yuurio is the one that actually experiences the story (if that makes sense!)

𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴 𝔂𝓸𝓾! ♡

[tigressaofkanjis]

I heard the rumors of Transformers Earthspark maybe on the list of being cancelled for a new Transformers show and honestly, I'm quite neutral on it. It's not bad but Earthspark definitely didn't leave any impression on me, and I go into a series usually with a fresh mind. I don't like to compare off the bat. I will always give things a chance. Earthspark was one of those Transformers series that just never stuck to me no matter what I tried.

They say the cancellation may have to do with toy sales and bad reviews but the thing about the bad reviews is that they are mostly bad because of bias factors. That's in no way fair on how you are supposed to judge a series. Absolutely not. It should only come down to plot and characters interacting with the plot. It doesn't matter what their ethnicity or gender is, it's what they bring to make the show work.

Earthspark fell flat for me because of the introduction of the Terrans and the overall plot did not match what they were bringing to the table. The show would have done honestly better without them. I understand it's a kids show but you know Rescue Bots was for toddlers and they handled their plot really well for something that was made without a single Decepticon because they knew how to make their characters work in their setting. If I can't find that key element, no show works. I was fine the humans this time around which is often a problem element in Transformers. They weren't bad honestly. It's the Terrans I hated; they somehow took the qualities of human flaws and made them into a weird, worse mix.

One of the reasons I do see why it failed to appeal to children compared to the TF fans is because children are in no means more or less important than us in their opinions, but they prioritize what they need compared to what they want to keep themselves entertained. As soon as we had representation, new content, and other returning characters not used in forever in a Transformers show, it appeased what we wanted all along, but the catch is was it what the show needed against it's already experimental Terrans adding to boiling pot that is already overcooking. Children don't have the tendency to care as much as we do about connecting with their characters in this particular instance of a show with fighting robots. They like action, they like the awesome plots of the heavier shows and movies that make them pop with excitement over who wins and why. Autobots or Decepticons.

In fact, a good example of need versus want is what I said once in a post about I think the They/Them controversy with Nightshade that telling the audience directly they went by those pronouns subtracted from the character because good writing involves being able to present the fact they go by those pronouns without having to waste a minute explaining it in words. A child watching isn't going to give a shit they go by They/Them. They are going to like Nightshade by what they do and kids will memorize pronouns naturally by the effort the character makes to be involved in the plot that drives what they need out of the series to make it interesting to them. You don't have to graze a minute of this weird interjection that makes no sense explaining pronouns and as a writer, that scene kind of threw me because that was the worst way you could introduce a non-binary character...and children can tell stuff like that being off in how it is presented. if it doesn't add to the plot, throw it away and figure out another way to introduce those characteristics into your character.

So, back to the main point, you end up having all these characters that present nothing to enhance themselves other than being mostly nuisances to the main characters the kids actually wanted to see like Megatron and Optimus, so why would the general audience be interesting in buying their toys if they are forgettable? That explains your toy sales without explicitly blaming it on ethnicity or gender. As for the bad reviews, I assume the bias ones were filtered out because I have seen ones that aren't too far from my type of judgement who bring valid points as to why the show isn't the best at what it does. It had potential after that first season half, but it never seemed to really grow into something I and apparently others cared enough about. And children aren't stupid; they can kind of go by that judgement too.

Now, this is a rumor that it will be cancelled, no solid proof yet. But if it is, it's going to be less surprising than it is if it continues to Season 3. The only reason so far Season 2 exists is because it was greenlit during the first half of Season 1 which wasn't terrible per say but it had the excitement it was going to grow on you in the second half. The second part of Season 1 was...eh.

But that does raise the next question as to what this new Transformers series is and what it's going to put up against Earthspark? Is it influenced by a specific show, is it its own new thing like Earthspark's route? Will it feature humans at all? Will it be even on Earth and take Cyberverse's route in abandoning the typical Earth setting which is a route we really should start venturing into for a while in my personal opinion to kind of explore more about the world of Transformers themselves. If this new show has the better elements of what Earthspark failed to appease to its grand audience (kids, sorry TF fans), it's going to be better off. If it starts off good but falls into the same category, maybe their will be a finalized central element that can be confirmed as to what is really driving the general audiences away.

If the rumor is proven false and there is a Season 3, I will try my hardest to watch it at least once, see if it gets better than what we have currently. I said before I was going to stop watching Earthspark quite early because nothing was going for it for me but I came back to see the second half of Season 1 when it came out. I will see Season 2...but man, this is a tough show to watch.

[justallihere]

How did Xaden figure out Violet loves him rather than just feels safe around him? Or are those things connected?

Those things are connected, but Violet has felt safe with Xaden for a lot longer than she’s been in love with him. The difference comes both in the things she’s saying and doing and the things she’s not.

Violet isn’t unnecessarily cruel, and it would be entirely unfair of her to know how Xaden feels about her and to still choose to interact with him the way she does. She’s never said she’s uncomfortable with the fact that he loves her, and has in fact proved the opposite. She’s asked to hear that he loves her. She seeks him out—hugging him, taking his hand, willingly sharing a bed with him, telling him things no one else knows. This from a person who’s not very physically affectionate, it means something that Xaden is able to do those things with her when she might flinch or push others away; she almost flinches when Mira tries to touch her hair, but likes when Xaden does it. He’s observant enough to notice that her behavior is different, and he’s not so stupid or self-deprecating that he’d write it off as something it’s not, which is pretty clear in the way he talks about their relationship: “I like to think she does [love me].” and “She’s not ready for that yet.” He knows that it’s only a matter of time until things shift again between them, once Violet has had the time to work through her trauma. If she really didn’t feel something for him, she’d tell him and they would put distance between them.

And a couple months before this, she was trying to push him away. She’d say she wanted a divorce, she’d talk about what their lives might look like after she was no longer useful, implying they’d move on romantically with others. She’s not doing that anymore. She’s embracing their role as a married couple: “These are things that married people know about each other” which implies a sense of permanence to that being their relationship status. She calls herself Mrs. She buys him gifts that further enforce her role as his wife.

In short, she doesn’t behave like someone who hates the relationship she’s trapped in and is going to run away from it as soon as she gets the chance. She acts like she wants to be there and plans to stay, and does feel about Xaden the way he feels about her. He can see that, even without the words I love you.

[frecklystars]

i keep associating colt with someone who wasn't very nice to me (not anybody online!!! just somebody irl) and every time i've seen colt for the last like, three months maybe now, in trailers or promos or whatever i just get so. depressed. like....... dude the movie isn't even out yet...... somebody needs to throw a chair at my head or something. i feel on the verge of tears every time i see any trailers or photosets for the movie and for WHAT!!! well i know for what.... but still 😤😤

[the-judicial-assistants-notebook]

sits up in bed. so lana and ema definitely thought they were responsible for edgeworth "choosing death", right?

(the rest of this post was supposed to go in the tags, because it's not very well organised or written, but it got too long so. here are the slightly edited tags for your reading pleasure (or otherwise)):

i was going to make this solely about ema because she's the obvious one with her open adoration of edgeworth, but the thing about rfta is that it goes to great lengths to emphasise the connection between lana and edgeworth as well.

the sl-9 incident showed that lana grows attached to people deeply, hence angel starr's comment on how, when neil marshall died, 'she (lana) felt like her own brother had died.' with edgeworth, i think it was similar but worse. because he's not just a coworker or subordinate who's dear to her. he saved her life. and it cost him his own.

at the beginning of the case, edgeworth says he was mistaken for thinking that lana was always looking out for him post sl-9 (a statement interesting on its own because that's when everyone else says she grew distant), and, later on, he brings ema fingerprinting powder because lana asked him to. then, of course, there's the 'lady luck' comment he makes.

similarly, on lana's side, you obviously have the end of the trial when she says he did well, but there's also that additional moment post-trial where she's the only one to notice — in a group comprising her, ema, phoenix and gumshoe — that he's 'hiding', listening to their conversation. point is, there's enough to suggest that she might have been the nearest thing edgeworth had to a mia; his 'chief prosecutor' to phoenix's plain 'chief'. they're as close as two people can be in a relationship where one of them is constantly lying and the other is von karma's star pupil.

rfta is pretty straightforwardly depicted as the case which solidified edgeworth's resolve to do what he did; i don't think i have to prove that. rumours about him have reached new heights, his car and knife were involved in goodman's murder, he makes an unprecedented mistake in court by failing to connect the evidence room and carpark incidents, thus forcing the chief of police to enter the trial to do so himself, and he's publicly revealed to have relied on falsified evidence to secure a conviction in the sl-9 case, all of which only happened because of lana. jake marshall even claims that from the beginning — that if you trace edgeworth's rumours back to their source, you end up meeting one person: lana skye.

and it gets worse because at the end of rfta, she thinks he's fine!! she literally says, 'i was afraid the pressure would break you, but you rose above it,' and reminds him he's nothing like gant because he's not alone. she leaves the case thinking he will be okay. and then, what, like a week passes, and she finds out that he wasn't, and that he's gone, and it's her fault. even after she was freed from gant's control, even after she had finally stopped lying, she couldn't prevent herself from claiming another life. so much for 'lady luck', i suppose.

and the game reiterates this multiple times. gumshoe states at the start that edgeworth's ties to those higher up in the department have made him the subject of constant rumours, and phoenix says (in front of ema) that he shouldn't be held responsible for the forged evidence because that was all lana's doing, which then leads to edgeworth commenting (again in front of ema) that he feels as though 'something inside him has died.' it all goes back to lana. we can argue and say that it was technically gant's doing that caused all of this, but lana still took actions that led to it. even her complicated friendship with edgeworth isn't spared; it's that closeness between them that exacerbated those rumours. how could she not feel responsible in some way?

and with ema, it's rather obvious, isn't it? if she hadn't gone poking her nose into things, none of this would have happened or come to light. and, of course, she'd never choose anyone over her sister, not for anything in the world — it's simply not a question, but that's the problem, isn't it? it's not a question. it's not some hypothetical moral dilemma. it just is. she may not have killed neil marshall, but she still has one king of prosecutor's blood on her hands. and now she has to live with that. she just. has. to live with it. no matter if he chose otherwise.

moving on from that a little, i think it's actually wild how much of ema's journey to becoming a forensics investigator is paved with bad memories. neil marshall's death and her subsequent inability to testify are what drives her to begin pursuing it, her first proper investigation results in her idol's "death" and when she finally graduates, the person who saved her sister has been disbarred, and she can't even help because she isn't allowed to. all that pain and constant pursuit of her goals, and she's still the same ema skye, still that girl shrouded in darkness, always one step behind the truth, one step a little too late. no wonder she was angry in aa:aj. i would be furious.

[13eyond13]

I think the moment Light's crush on L first smacked him in the manga (like when it finally rooted and started blooming in his guts) was when L was like "you're my first ever friend" whilst smirking into his teacup. And not because Light fully believed he was being sincere about being friends, but because he KNEW L was slyly teasing him and speaking to him on more than one level at once. Nothing more unexpected funny flattering and intriguing than that for him right then

[hollis-art]

i love drawing characters doing cute things and just whisper-yelling "THE CUTIES. I LOVE THEM." in between brush strokes. giggling and kicking my feet at them every few seconds. simply can't contain myself

[pebblezone]

[sonknuxadow]

sorry mild hater moment incoming but . idk what it is with s/onadow fans (not all of them. just a very loud subsection) specifically and making every little thing shadow does about s/onadow even if its the biggest reach imaginable and immediately going "omg s/onadow" every time hes confirmed to be in some upcoming thing . or being so obsessed with the ship and letting it warp their perceptions of things so much to the point where they act like every little thing is a hint from sega that theyre in love for real. and they cant admit that its not canon or that just because they choose to interpret certain things romantically doesnt mean that thats actually what sega/the writers intended even if theres an obvious non so/nadow explanation for it

before people take this the wrong way i dont hate the ship i dont think that its completely baseless or that everyone who likes it is wrong and annoying or anything . but some of you look like this if im being honest