#and theres lots of conflicting details

[thefaeriecreek]

Continuing my series of botw redesigns, I'm working on my boyfriend Revali!

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

yaz voice: i keep thinking,,, i keep thinking abt the.....future affecting the past of it all. the "if he runs out of time the hostile action would end and a time machine would know", "im fine because you fixed yourself", and "because it's not a grave"

like if it were me. if it were me. i still would have gone with the villa diodati conundrum. "save the poet, save the universe" what do we do when the poet IS the universe. "watch people burn now or tomorrow" like the distinction exists? like tomorrow isnt yesterday?

so we make them face the child. the doctor loses this one, right? too beholden to their rules. lost with shelley, will lose with the child. because there is no way to win it. not with the rules of the universe theyve clung to up to this point. not without play

so theres a child that needs to be saved but the doctor cant do it because it will take the foundation out from under the universe. she Can Not interfere. she fails to be the doctor when it comes to herself. but yaz is there. doctor's doctor. wont accept this. saves the child

the universe crumbles, but this or tecteun's revenge the outcome is similar except. the universe that crumbles if you save the child is the timelords' universe, their imposed histories, their laws, their logic. nothing makes sense anymore. it's terrifying. gotta let go gotta let go gotta let go. you HAVE to play. play or perish. please it's not that serious. it's just identity! funniest game there is. listen to the master; tag, youre it

[undefeatablesin]

Taking the time to finally start drafting up Ruza's new bio more like this thing is slowly turning into my very own cosmic horror mystery soap opera.

[darabeatha]

@soverina​ interacted with x ; for the funsies of course! 💐  /  𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒’ 𝐃𝐀𝐘

   ❝ Surpriseeee ~♥ Ah, yes; I’ve subtmitted my name specifically in this little box. The reason? it’s a special day, of course― .. huh? Don't tell me you thought I forgot? ❞  

Honorable mentions! 

[4filen0tfound4]

Oughhhh finished s4 of monkie kid. And I hate it I hate it I hate it <- mad the episodes aren’t longer

[halcified]

dont get me wrong, i like tsubomi as much as the next mob psycho guy and i understand the desire to see more of her but i do think theres something to be said for the exact amount we Do know about her

shes the device through which the story is framed-- we begin on mob deciding he wants to impress her and end on finally asking her out. theres a lot that could be attributed to mob/shigeos inner state and how he sees her, and you can definitely say that the narrative is contained in the time it takes mob to accept himself, but since that sense of self is so deeply linked to his view of tsubomi its sort of difficult to separate the two, especially when that shadows onto her so heavily.

its important that their relationship is only referenced or implied, because this show is as shaped around her as mob is, and as such its important that We, The Audience dont know a lot about her, on a meta level. we get gleams of her personality from other characters but its never allowed to be substantial, because if mob Knew tsubomi through his main arc things would have to be significantly different, there would be a genuine chance at not being rejected in the end which would (arguably) unravel Other threads. the idea that you must be kind for the sake of it, for the sake of self improvement, would then conflict with the incredibly solid ending of Doing the right thing, being the kind person, but ultimately having to do it for yourself instead of to impress/win over someone else

this is also why tsubomis writing has never come across as shallow or like, misogynistic to me, bc in a lesser show she would be perfect and unattainable and mob would get with her at the end as a reward for being a good person, but mobpsy ISNT that show. it treats tsubomi with the same amount of care that it treats any other character. even more minor characters like mezato and the claw members, who dont have a lot of depth as a whole, have Something to say for themselves. there is something you could find there. so the amount of details put into tsubomis character (as the Leading Force of the show) is then made so much more deliberate. the one thing emphasized by this show (especially over time) is that shes a person. a regular person. and thats the best way she could have been treated

[novlr]

I’ve been reading some craft books and online posts about the world building because my story is an urban fantasy set in present day US, in a fictional town, and theres not a secondary world where the fantasy happens, it’s all in the real world, except the magic is a secret that only certain people know about, but all of the resources I find about world building only talk about fantastical worlds that exist by themselves and not the kind of more subtle world building that I’d have to do. Do you have any tips?

Worldbuilding for urban fantasy is the perfect opportunity to explore the mix of the mundane and the magical. It involves crafting a universe where the impossible becomes possible, yet is grounded within the familiar settings of our own world. This requires a delicate balance—immersing readers in the fantastical without breaking the spell of believability. Here are some essential tips on worldbuilding for urban fantasy writers.

Understanding urban fantasy

Before delving into building your urban fantasy world, it’s crucial to understand what sets this subgenre apart from other forms of fantasy.

Recognise the defining traits of urban fantasy, which typically include a contemporary setting combined with supernatural elements.

Familiarise yourself with the genre’s common tropes and themes, like hidden magical societies, the coexistence of magical and non-magical beings, and the contrast between the ordinary and the extraordinary.

Critically read successful urban fantasy novels to see how other authors have balanced the real and the fantastical.

Consider reader expectations for the genre, and the flexibility it has for innovation and subversion of norms.

Determine the tone and mood you want for your setting, as this will influence all other aspects of your worldbuilding.

Creating your magical systems

The magical systems in your urban fantasy will offer a unique flavour to your world, determining the capabilities of your characters and the challenges they face.

Where does the magic in your world come from—is it drawn from nature, ancient artefacts, parallel dimensions, or something else?

Decide if magic is commonly known or if it’s a secret kept from the general populace. If it’s a secret, why? And what are the consequences if it becomes known?

Develop the limitations and costs of magic, as these constraints can drive conflict and plot development.

Invent magical organisations, guilds, or societies, detailing their roles, influence, and how they operate in your story world.

Create distinct magical phenomena that occur within your urban setting, which can become landmarks or points of interest in your narrative.

Consider how technology and magic interact; do they coexist harmoniously, or are they in constant contention?

Creating realism in your urban setting

Realism in urban fantasy is about making the reader recognise and connect with the world you have created as something that is both other and familiar.

Include lots of real-world details, including accurate descriptions of city life, technology, and culture. Make sure you research for accuracy.

Use sensory details to make the urban environment come alive—smells, sounds, textures, and tastes that the reader can relate to.

Include social and political issues that resonate with contemporary society, allowing readers to draw parallels with their own experiences.

Develop a diverse cast of characters whose life experiences and backgrounds reflect the complexity of a modern urban society.

Integrate authentic dialogue that mirrors the way people communicate in modern life, including local slang and mannerisms, both real-world accurate and unique to your setting.

Consider the logistics of an urban environment, like transportation, law enforcement, and the economy, and how these are affected by the presence of magic.

Character development in an urban fantasy

Characters are the heart of your story, and the way they react to fantasy elements in their real-world environments will drive a lot of your narrative.

Create protagonists and antagonists whose motivations are shaped by the intersection of the real and the magical in their lives.

Develop backstories for your characters that explain their relationship to the urban setting and the magical elements within it.

Design character arcs that reflect the challenges and growth that come with living in a world where fantasy is reality.

Introduce secondary characters that highlight the diversity of the urban fantasy landscape, from magical creatures to human allies and adversaries.

Explore the psychological impact of a dual-world existence on your characters, including the strain of keeping secrets and the wonder of discovering magic.

Use character relationships to explore the nuances and complexities of your urban fantasy world.

Plotting your urban fantasy

Your plot is the vehicle through which readers experience your story world. Urban fantasy requires careful attention to pacing to give both elements equal weight.

Construct a plot that intertwines the urban and the fantastical, using the unique aspects of your setting to drive the story forward, rather than relying on the mundane.

Introduce conflicts that arise from the overlap of the magical and the mundane, be they societal, personal, or existential.

Use the setting itself as a character, with its own moods, secrets, and evolving role in the narrative.

Create set pieces that showcase the extraordinary within the ordinary—magical battles on the rooftops, secret meetings in subways, or enchanted parks hidden in plain sight.

Develop a pace that balances the exploration of your urban world with the unfolding of magical elements and plot progression.

Consider the use of multiple viewpoints to give a broader perspective on how the urban fantasy elements affect different characters and society at large.

Blending the real and magical

The key to urban fantasy is making the reader believe that magic could exist in their own world, interwoven with the everyday.

Introduce the fantastic elements gradually, allowing the real world to serve as an anchor for the reader’s suspension of disbelief.

Develop a set of rules for how magic operates in your world to maintain consistency and a sense of order.

Use recognisable landmarks and urban elements as grounding points, then twist them with your fantasy elements.

Establish the history of magic in your world and how (or if) it has shaped society and its infrastructure.

Consider the impact of magical events or beings on the everyday lives of both your characters and the city’s unsuspecting inhabitants.

Intertwine the real and the fantastic so that they feel inseparable, each substantiating the other’s existence.

[arsonkoobi]

taekooker to jikooker: my personal experience.

this is merely how i felt and all the things i saw while being a hardcore taekooker for almost a year and a half. if you get offended, im sorry but the unfollow and block button is right there, i dont mind. i love taekook themselves, but i can no longer look at them in the way i used to. now they genuinely look like best friends to me. people change, and their perceptions and views on different aspects of life change. thats what happened to me.

I first joined this fandom 5 years ago in mid january 2018 through my friends. taehyung was my first ever bias, so most of the bts related yt recs i had were mostly of taehyung and ot7, and occasional ship videos among which taekook was the most prominent. me being a curious lil unsuspecting lamb, clicked on one, it also helped that my friends were taekookers as well so i dived pretty deep into the rabbit hole of taekook. im gonna be writing my thoughts and experiences on shipping taekook at different times of the year. i dont remember every single detail clearly (like this was 5 years ago) so forgive me if i sound vague at times plus this will only be a summary. without further ado, lets start, shall we?

february-march, 2018

by this time, i already watched quite a few taekook analysis videos, i also came across a few tkk_lives' videos(i think i came across her vids like much later but i just included it here) as well as other deluded channels. i fell even deeper into the rabbit hole. i thought taekook were the epitome of boyfriends silly in love, i felt like they had the best chemistry and that they were the ones whose ship actually made sense. i feel so embarrassed to admit this but one of my rather major reasons for shipping them was how good they looked tgthr🤦‍♀️(im a changed person now i promise). now i realise many tkk analysis channels tend to heavily edit things to make it look like theres something going on, overanalysing things to no end, it made me see them as if they were closer than they actually are, and as if theyre hiding something, but it was really just heavy and clever editing that forces your mind to get convinced. it was quite literally manipulative. plus back then, i was rather immature and hadnt even been in a rltnshp yet, so i blindly believed whatever they said. i believed every narrative and every theory they put out even if i knew lots of them didnt even make sense. they constantly also put out the jealous jungkook/taehyung whenever the other breathes next to another member..as i now realise, thats one of the biggest toxic traits a person can have. they were always pushing tkk as a toxic relationship without even knowing it(or just ignoring it). i also do not like jikook analysis vids where they are portrayed as the same territorial mfs who cant stand the other interacting with anyone else but himself. bc thats literally pushing their relationship as a toxic one and making them look toxic, and i would rather not do that.

march/april-september, 2018

i only watched taekook vids and funny bts moments for a long while as a baby army. i didnt watch official content very much, i ddint even know how to watch official content..i didnt know bangtantv existed yet💀 this tkk analysis watching continued for around 4 or so months after i became an army before i took an unintentional break from them(analysis vids) and i went on twitter. twitter, was so much worse(as i now realise). i didnt have an account at that time and learnt to browse on twt without one(it doesnt really let you do that anymore). at first, i found nothing weird or unusual and i enjoyed lurking on twitter, but slowly i started to see the ugly side of the community. i found multiple accounts directly or indirectly hating on jimin. i was weirded out. very weirded out. i was quite conflicted but..i only thought of it as jimin haters who were coincidentally tkkrs, maybe i refused to see tkk shippers in a bad light? probably, unfortunately i cant remember much and as i said, i was immature.

october-december, 2018

i stumbled across gcf in tokyo somewhere in october, i think it was in a fanwar on twitter and a jkkr said "at least we have this" or sumn along that line and put a link to gcft . idek how i didnt see it earlier. immediately after watching it, i felt..weird, conflicted, insecure. insecure about my ship. it seemed so romantic to me even then. but ofc i didnt let myself give up immediately, and i searched interviews + info about it, i found tkkrs saying vminkook were supposed to go tgthr and jikook only went bc they had a few days off and tae didnt. that gave me a lil bit of security and i held onto that thread of security and refused to believe or even hear out the actual fact(which i will come to later). as you can see, i was a stubborn mf. inside i knew that even if tae not having time off was the "only" reason behind jikook's japan trip, it was still unusual and suspicious to go on a trip with only your "bro" when said "bro" has told you and the world multiple times that they wanna go on a trip alone with you, when the hotel room you're staying at with your "bro" has a see-through glass wall for the bathroom and when you make a whole love confession in the guise of a travel log for your "bro" while your boyfie is waiting for you at home.

in conclusion, i was very insecure.

did i give up? no, not yet. we're getting there.

so as a masochist and out of curiosity caused by insecurity, i searched up jikook videos on yt, thinking "there's no way they could ever have more chemistry than taekook 🙄" - when i tell you i was wrong as fuck, i mean it. i was HUMBLED. the chemistry and tension between jungkook and jimin was undeniable. i felt uncomfortable watching some certain moments, felt things that i didnt feel while shipping taekook, saw things i didnt see in taekook.

i was confused plus the sinking feeling you get when you've been too loud about what you think and your opinions but then it turns out you were a stupid ass bitch.

there was a plethora of jikook vids, and i think my first jikook video was from Made in Busan, ig it was the "serendipity" analysis? back then it made lots of sense to me, but now it looks slightly overanalyzed (i still believe "serendipity" is very much connected to jikook tho). i slowly got more introduced to jikook in general. this mainly occured in like the first week of october and december as i had my boards in november.

december/january-february, 2019

so its been more or less of a year since ive become a tkkr, gcft is still in the back of my head screaming at me. and then jikook drop another bomb. that is, 2018 MMA.

this..was just, just..i cant explain it in words. jungkook had every bit of his attention directed towards jimin, they were giving each other loving glances, jimin giving jungkook a flying kiss, jungkook giving jimin a finger heart, jungkook subconsciously massaging jimins nape..it was just so domestic and coupley. i've never third wheeled so bad in my life. i felt like i was interrupting something by watching them. imagine how hyunjae next to them felt😔✊not to mention how it very much looked like jungkook was saying "남편"[ nampyeon] meaning "husband" and "형의 남친"[ hyung-ui namchin ] meaning " hyung's boyfriend" in their conversation after jimin pointed to himself and jungkook (forgive me if the spellings/romanizations are not accurate enough, im not fully fluent in korean). plus, after jungkook said it, jimin smiles and shyly looks down..LIKE??

watch from 31:00 to see for yourself. im not kidding.(p.s i love this video so much)

i was bamboozled. i was shocked. i was frustrated. i was feeling stupid. i was begging for taekook to drop something mindblowing or sumn that would regain my secuity in the ship and i found some moments during other award shows but, it didnt feel the same. to me it was really looking like taekook had boundaries and limits between each other, the limits that apply when you're good friends. but with jikook, i couldnt see how their gazes towards each other could be passed off as anything platonic, how their actions+body language could ever be seen as platonic.

so what did i do? did i give up? oh hell no im stubborn as fuck. but we're getting there.

i ignored every jikook moment and brought my focus back on taekook, i started watching analysis and moments again. in a span of a few weeks, the security around my ship had improved after pretending that i didnt feel like a stupid mf after MMA 2018. haha. it sorta worked lol. sorta.

march-may, 2019

these were my last months as a taekooker.

after all that shit, all i wanted was more taekook moments to make me feel better about myself. and i did get quite a few. however, as i said before, they looked like they had boundaries. i couldnt look at them exactly the same.

i was busy in april with my class tests, i doubt i had much time to catch up with the boys. so when the tests ended, it was most likely in the last week of april or the first few days of may.

we all know what happened in the first few days of may, don't we? in case you don't, this is what happened.

surprisingly, i clearly remember the first time i got to know about it.

it was in class, i just arrived and then one of my friends and i start talking and she goes [this convo is all translated from bengali]

"hey did you see what jungkook did at the latest concert?"

"no, i didn’t, what did he do?"

"he went and literally sucked on jimins ear!"

i was shocked once again, my eyes went wide, my heart did a backflip..all that shit. i didnt believe it at first.

"don't joke around like that, you're being absurd" i said.

"im not kidding bro, he sucked jimins ear in the rosebowl concert last week, ill send you a link too"

when i got back home, sure enough, the link was there and i saw jungkooks ear nibbling in all its glory, albeit a bit low quality. but no doubt he took that ear into his mouth and i knew it.

surely i must've given up now? no, but im this🤏 close we're almost there i promise

i went online and found lots of tkkrs denying that jungkook ever took jimin's ear into his mouth and that jimin's ear only got caught on jk's chin. but..if it got caught on jk's chin then that means his chin was behind jimin's ear, and his lips must have been at least kissing jimin's ear, given that we couldnt see them very well. the lip we could see was the upper lip, which again lead me to be believe that jungkook did indeed, suck jimin's ear.

yeah, my faith in tkk was crumbling into millions of pieces. because i couldnt see how jungkook, being in a supposed relationship with taehyung, could do that with tae's best friend. i sure as hell wouldnt let my partner get away with that, nor would i ever do that myself with someone else other than my partner. even if its to comfort them. it just goes way over platonic boundaries.

i was seriously considering shifting over to jikook by now. but before that, i searched lots of shit up abt jikook.

there i saw an interview where jimin talked about the tokyo trip with jungkook. what i believed until now was that vminkook were supposed to go tgthr but jikook were the ones with time off, and tae didnt have time off. jimin said he told taehyung and jungkook that he wants to go on a trip to Japan. he didnt say he wanted to go on a trip WITH taehyung and jungkook. yall, ive told my wishes to go to japan and turkey multiple times to my friends, does that mean im taking their asses with me? no. mind you, jimin has said he wanted to go on a trip alone with jungkook multiple times in their rookie era. on jimin's bday of 2017, jungkook tweeted a pic of him(jimin) with the caption "Its not over yet.." and shortly after, we find out jikook went on a tokyo trip by THEMSELVES with no staff, no managers and no other members. dropped off at the airport by jungkook's dad and brother and jimin's dad. jungkook paid for everything and put a hell lot of time into making the masterpiece that is gcf in tokyo WITH a bgm of a gay fucking song by a queer fucking artist and showed the fucking rainbow colored ferris wheel at the line "love is a road that goes both ways".

also

its clear who the main model of gcf is.

you can deny the trip being only for jikook, but you can not deny the symbolism and significance shown in gcf in tokyo. saying "jungkook didnt understand the song, hes not fluent in english" - is so small minded and belittling.

saying he didnt show jimin on the parts "boy, im holding onto something, wont let go of you for nothing, im running, running just to keep my hands on you" on purpose is not only straight up denial but also understimating jungkook's intelligence and artistic capabilities, saying that jungkook isnt smart enough to get the meaning behind these words. and just because hes korean. thats fucking racist if you ask me.

then i discovered the iconic osaka vlives, i was convinced. it was my last straw along with rosebowl.

alas, after around a week of denial, i gave up and became a jikooker in mid may of 2019. ive never looked back. over the years they've only given us more and more evidence and i doubt my beliefs will ever change soon.

i hope this was kinda fun to read, i had been planning to do this for a long time. im glad i finally got to say my thoughts out here. thank you for taking the time to read this<3

[blossomthepinkbunny]

Not a lot of variety in Hazbin Hotel

Another thing I dislike about Hazbin Hotel is the genuine lack of diversity.

With a setting like Hell you have the amazing opportunity to have characters from so many different time periods interact. With different fashion, different skills, different believes or upbringings it's incredibly easy to make characters that stand apart from eachother and create conflict (atleast it should be).

But with Vivzepops disinterest in making characters that even slightly stray away from the specific way she likes to write them, a lot of them end up blending together in how they act/look. Hazbin Hotel has this pretended diversity, where it seems like the cast should vary because on the surface they are very different, but in the show they blend together. This is because Vivzepop throws around different jobs, sexualities, nationalities, goals and inspirations for her characters, but never puts in the work to make them feel like it.

Sir Pentious, Alastor and Vox are all from different times, with different occupations. Sir Pentious was an inventor in the 1880s, Alastor was a radio host from the 1930s and Vox was a TV show host from 1950 (that's the era they died in). Yet they all wear very similar suits, just colour shifted. They all have shoulder pads, the same lapels, stripes and bowties. Alastor and Vox even wear the same pants and have the same shoes (atleast in shape).

Not to mention that in almost all of the designs there's that obnoxious red colour (especially with the red-black-white combination she just loves to put on her creations).

Even characters like Vox who seem like they have different colours (for him a mostly blue colour sceme) still have red accents and only very few characters are allowed designs without any red. Which is not that great since the background is also mostly red and it just hurts to look at sometimes.

Theres also all of the "typical" Vivzepop desing traits. Mostly sharp shapes and features, very slim bodies, sharp teeth, tophats, suits etc. A lot of her characters already blend together even though it doesnt make sense for them to. Would an inventor from the 1880s really dress the same as a TV show host from the 1950s?

Here I should mention that I don't mean blend together as in being completely indistinguishable from eachother but rather having too many similarities that it doesn't make sense for them to have.

As far as personality goes I do have to say that the characters are different enough in their basic chatacterizations. Vaggie especially was mostly refreshing because she acted as a voice of reason sort of and Charlie with her often naive (but very childish) attitude also stood out. But the devil is usually in the details.

I've heard people complain countless times about how pretty much the only continuous joke the show has is a character cursing, insulting others or making a sex joke. I get that cynical characters are sort of the appeal of HH but there's also just a lack of variety there for me. This is probably just a small nitpick here and something that is already done sometimes in the show, but there are different ways a person can be insulting and mean.

Like, for Husk it makes sense to be so up-front with being rude. He's a bartender and dealing with drunk people often requires being very clear and assertive.

But why does Angel never get to do anything else then directly talking about being sexy and making fun of others in such an obvious way. I think they wanted to give the appeal of him reading someone like a drag queen would but he just makes the same observations again and again and not in really clever ways (from what I remember!).

Alastor and Vox could've also been used better in the sense that atleast from what I know people in the entertainment industry (especially ones who do interviews or that stuff) won't directly tell someone that they don't like them. It's much more common for them to bring it up in small ways, like asking a question tied to an embarrassing topic to force the person into having to talk about that stuff.

Like I said this isn't really all too important though. What makes me more annoyed is the lack of diversity when it comes to the villains and how they're treated.

To me Viv has an issue with trying for every villain to play a more goofy role even though it doesn't always fit. Of course you can have "stupid" or silly and mostly funny villains but that shouldn't be every single one. When there are multiple villains in a show what makes them interesting is often how they differ from the others in their attitude and motivation and in HH we just don't really get that.

Sir pentious is never taken seriously as a threat and is mostly treated as incompetend, (I know he gets out of being the villain rather quick but even before that) Adam is just constantly portrayed as a dumb and irrational until we are supposed to take him seriously in the end. Vox doesn't do anything in the show apart from be kinda antagonistic towards Alastor and outside of that he is mainly also presented as being a fun villain rather than an intimidating one (very prominently in the song he has with Alastor where Alastor just completely bashes him at the end). Velvette also has nothing to do. Lucifer isn't treated as an antagonist (even though he should be in my opinion) and is shown to be just a "goofy and silly little guy" ig.

And apart from Valentino's genuinely terrifing scene he has with Angel Dust in episode four, he too is shown to be whiny, obnoxious and mostly dumb in his other scenes (this isn't helped by Viv pushing the idea that the Vee's are just like fun little saturday morning cartoon villains outside of the show). I guess Alastor is different in that regard kinda.

This plus the fact that outside of the characters who are obviously villains no one is allowed to be even slightly critical of Charlies idea without being presented as totally irrational, makes for no variety when it comes to the opposition in Hazbin Hotel. It's just kinda dissapointing to me that a show with this opportunity to create different characters gets stuck in the same conflicts and ideas over and over again.

[the-s1lly-corner]

Hi! I hope I don’t bother you with a TADC request, but can I have a platonic reader x kinger, gangle and caine with a reader who’s a curios detective and sees the circus as one big mystery to solve so they’re always interviewing the others? Thank you and happy New Years!

Kinger, Gangle, and Caine x detective!reader!

eheheh happy new you to you too, anon!! i hope the new year treats you well! i hope you enjoy this! had a real fun idea for caine and theres likely a chance he may or may not have outshined the other two SOBS

CAINE:

honestly i think he might play into it a little too much... do i think he would tell you EVERYTHING he knows about the circus and its secrets? oh definitely not! otherwise whats the point of letting you play detective? but i do think he might lead you on a few searches and clues, whether all of these will lead to any valuble info is debatable, though.... i do think he would tell you SOME stuff... just not all... hmm... maybe he even tags along with you while youre trying to find clues for an escape, like a weird sidekick, you know! when you take him to the side to be interogatted i think he really puts on a show for you; but he cant quite seem to dedicate himself to one role... does he blabber on about how he doesnt know anything? or will he commit to stonewalling? really it kind of leaves your head spinning and he thoroughly enjoys it

KINGER:

a little clueless... i mean yeah hes willing to tell you everything he knows... but a lot of the stuff hes going to tell you is going to be stories about some of the former and current circus members as well as some old in house adventures.. you might have to remind him every now and then to get back on track because he might get carried away with telling a story. might tag along with you if you decide to go snooping around for some information, but i think he more so does this out of curiosity than anything! does lend a hand with trying to solve some smaller mysteries that you come across along the way; usually theyre inner conflicts with the other circus members.... usually they involve jax being an ass... but hey, it keeps you busy and gives you something to do other than sitting and losing your marbles! not the best partner, though, if the pilot anything is to go by... though he does look like the type of character to randomly remember a really obscure detail.. like a lil gag or something

GANGLE:

definitely clams up when you try to get some clues and other stuff out of her... not that shes guilty of anything, no no its not that... but you might just come off as a little intense depending on how youre going about trying to draw information out of her! shes sensitive! occasionally tags along when youre looking for things, kind of out of a mix of curiosity and worry me thinks... what are you doing, exactly? honestly i can kind of see you utilizing her for info, in a weird way. shes quiet and tends to stick to herself so she might be able to sneak around and be able to soak up information from others as they talk. kind of fades into the background... kind of sad, actually, and that might actually lead to some conflict between the two of you depending on how you go about asking her for help in that way; sometimes makes her feel used... hmmm... generally does not help you unless asked, though, as she wishes to stay out of the way fearing that shes going to gum something up, you know?

[20001541]

🙌 isekaied into captain hero afo au!!! Please share some ideas if you want!

yes, I have some! gonna be messy as I'm still thinking through a lot of things but here we go.

for people who don't know the premise of this au is that after afo dies in canon he gets isekaied into the captain hero comic universe and wakes up as captain hero. he's forced to be a good hero and he's unable to do any evil deeds. even if he tries they somehow always turn out to be good in the end.

anyways I like to this au as it's afo at his most miserable. his attitude is mainly like why couldn't whatever power out there that forced him here just have let him just die? why force him through this humiliating tirade? theres praise from civilians which he finds sorta nice, but then he's reminded of how captain hero will suffer a humiliating defeat by the demon king and all the pain and strife he has to go through until he defeats him once and for all. pain and strife that afo will be forced to go through and he's going to have to defeat the guy he's admired and wanted to be like since he was a kid. he thinks he should've been made the demon king in this world, he's so upset about this more than anything he's forced to fight the demon king not to take his spot but only to stop him from doing more evil. the demon king would be so confused as to why the hero is always complimenting his work lol.

but I think it would be an interesting way to explore the man beneath the villain persona. we all know afo has made his whole identity about being villain, to the point where he only goes by afo and nothing else. so you put him in a situation where he no longer has his power, total control and in the body of a character he hates. well it'll be interesting to see afo's true colours shine through as the mask he's so carefully crafted throughout the years begins cracking more and he is at his most vulnerable. 

and as I said yes yoichi also got isekaied as well, he actually got isekaied into the body of an upcoming journalist thats chases after captain hero and tries getting pictures of him and talk with him. yoichi enjoys the quiet life and freedom he has. he only got to enjoy one month away from afo before dying so he's enjoying his freedom. so you can imagine how he feels when he sees afo once again only in captain heroes hero suit. at first he laughs right in his face then tries to get away because that's the last person he wants to see right now. afo is so so so happy, happier than he's ever been and he kind of forces him into a hug. he can suffer anything as long as yoichi is there by his side. he's basically like even if I wanted to kidnap you and force you to stay by my side (I do), I can't because the rules of this universe won't allow me to so you're safe :). yoichi isn't amused, but after some arguing he decides he'll keep in contact with afo and even help him with some hero stuff.

afo and yoichi get to talk with each other without having to fight each other and it's awkward. they choose to avoid the topic of the past when trying to spend time together however it's hard to ignore the elephant in the room. eventually though they begin having some normal conversations and get to know each other better. it feels oddly domestic and strange, but it's nice in a way and it also makes afo slowly realize how much happier yoichi looks and how yoichi was more willing to open up to him when afo isn't forcing his presence and beliefs on him. he won't admit it, but it hurts to see how much better yoichi seems without him.

there is a catch to all this however, yoichi actually took the place of a character that dies during some point in the story. yoichi knows this detail because he read past the first three volumes, but afo doesn't know because he stopped reading after volume 3. yoichi doesn't tell him about this until later on which almost causes afo to have a meltdown at the thought of losing yoichi all over again. most of the conflict lies here, will they even be able to save yoichi or will he just die a terrible death once more? is afo forever going to be forced into the role of the hero or can he get out of it? putting afo into situations he feels completely helpless in and has to cooperate with yoichi, good stuff to me. can't rely on your previous methods of getting out of trouble so what will you do now that almost everything has been taken away from you? that's all I really got lol.

[sol-lar-bink]

A few lil concept pieces for 3 of my Hollow Knight Kingdoms. Architecture is hard so... they're not super detailed. These kingdoms are all VERY far away from Hallownest. A few months travel at most to reach it.

Sundrea, a desert kingdom deep within a cave of falling sand. Nirandel, a peaceful kingdom illuminated by the mushrooms and roots that thread through it. And Highreign, a dark place of onyx and silver ruled by many kings and has a pretty bad reputation for starting conflicts.

A LOT more text below (:

Sundrea

Sundrea is a mix of the words... Sun lol, and Drea. I pronounce it 'Soon-drea' but say it however you wish. It is a kingdom of mostly Spearbugs (a species I made), scarabs and other desert dwelling insects.

I chose the name Drea since it seemingly means strong, but is a feminine name- which perfectly fits with my idea that the female Spearbugs are the strongest warriors in the kingdom. (Girlboss moment)

Spearbugs are all about fighting and brute force- you could compare them to vikings or barbarians, letting out mighty battle cries.

They are no architects... most of Sundrea was built by the scarabs beetles, who are a lot more creative and skilled in that field.

There are a mix of brilliantly crafted bronze homes, the large castle, and then clay domes for the less wealthy, though money isn't a huge issue in the kingdom, as most would rather do simple trades for goods. Theres a strong sense of union within the entire kingdom.

Magic is prohibited within Sundrea and is frowned upon by Spearbugs. Though saying that... the current Queen has taken an interest in it, and performs her own practices in secrecy.

Nirandel

Nirandel is a kingdom of white, incandescent bugs that are scholars in most kinds of magic, even Soul. The kingdom is surrounded by a lake, and has many long caves leading in and out of its vicinity.

The roots have a source- very similar to the White Lady. A gargantuan being who's body and roots help fuel the kingdom with magic/ mana. She is the source of it, and is why the kingdom has flourished in its magical studies.

The bugs there are peaceful, consisting of pure white bugs, silverfish, pallid moths, silver dragonflies and many foreign travelers in search of magical knowledge.

Highreign

A kingdom that sees little light in the endless dark cavern. It is only lit by faint glowing rocks and fireflies. The kingdom is grand and has an oppressive atmosphere to it.

Highreign is known to start conflicts with other kingdoms under the command of 4 kings. They have successfully destroyed at least 3 other kingdoms and reaped their resources. Some worryingly wait the day that Highreign targets them.

Not much is known about Highreign otherwise. Little who enter it do not leave, and those that were born and raised there do not venture to other lands unless tasked to.

Unity, Control, Fear.

The kingdom is split into the slums and the upper-class. The slums are simple stone cottages, run down and struggling to get by, while the upper-class areas have glowing silver interiors that contrast with the darkness of the outside world.

They have a massive Colosseum as well where they watch their warriors fight till their death, either against each other or ferocious beasts.

~~~~~

Aaand thats all I have for now (: I'm just happy to finally get some of my vision out onto a canvas.

If you read all this... then you're a champion! Thank you 🧡

[suffarustuffaru]

so @alderamiin said subaru for the ask…. yes your ask was the one i deleted on accident whoops 😭😭 BUT HERE WE GO I MADE SURE TO REMEMBER TO DO YOURS WKDNDN (and i LOVE subaru fr i simply could not skip over him also) (pls expect my usual chaotic rambling im so sorry i really am overusing the caps button 😳😭😭)

Sexuality Headcanon: bisexual 👍 subaru being somewhere on the ace spectrum isnt a super strong headcanon of mine compared to the bisexual hc but i am still fond of it <33 bc i do tend to just hc him as bisexual but i suppose i could kind of see it <33 :DD !!

Gender Headcanon: subaru is literally, as we’ve all discussed, like EVERY letter of lgbtq+ i swear. like natsumi EXPLICITLY being stated to be his ideal self….. what cisgender boy has his ideal version of himself be a woman…. come on….. and hes been like. dressing and trying to pass as a girl for his crossdressing pre-isekai too. like subarus Practiced A Lot at this. subaru clearly enjoys doing this and he was crushed when he couldnt pass bc of his voice pre-isekai :(( AND LIKE subaru and his complex relationship to masculinity and feeling insecure in his own skin like……………… and then natsumi being his ideal self…… natsumi being the Heroine……….. and its like. subaru clearly has a case of “do i want to be them or be With Them” when it comes to men hes attracted to (most notably julius.) so like. it could apply to women too. like. and then the way subaru reacts to felix’s presentation too………. i just think it says a lot. i dont care what tappei says but he wrote all this shit in the text fr!!! and also in general. natsuki subaru being a gender neutral name…. same with natsumi schwartz… so yes genderqueer subaru for the win. i personally hc subaru as genderfluid or bigender!! and also like. subaru being Very LGBTQ+ is so in line with rezero’s themes of self love and self improvement and self discovery and Identity. i think it hits so much harder if subaru Is lgbtq+ versus if he was just insecure straight cis man. like no wonder subaru was struggling Even More. hes so so far in the closet and struggling with like the internal homophobia and shit fr :(((

that and 1. subaru being lgbt is such a great subversion of what you would think when you first meet his character. and also a subversion of ur typical isekai protag which ADDS to rezeros subversion of isekai in general and 2. i love making Certain People mad with these hcs. like its so supported by the text the only thing missing is explicit confirmation. which. i have my doubts with tappei on that but iirc he DID say he nearly wrote a lust if with the guys…. tappei. come on. you already explicitly said that natsumi is subarus ideal self.

A ship I have with said character: im very open to most subaru ships!!! i just love a lot of them—reinsuba, ottosuba, emisuba, remsuba, julisuba… i just like how each kind of dynamic with subaru has so much range like even in just main route alone?? and then you factor in the ifs and it gets So Interesting. theres so much history with each pairing and so much to explore, whether its platonic or romantic. and subaru has a LOT of love in his heart.

i just like each pairing for different reasons hah—like ok ive talked a lot about reinsuba and emisuba already in other asks so. i DO like remsuba okay. not in the sense that i want it to be the endgame ship in main route bc thats very much not happening and i would prefer The Most Detailed emisuba development of all time. which would be more thematically relevant <3 but i DO ADORE remsubas relationship in general. like its so so complicated??? like. yeah theres the conflict in arc 2. theres the conflict in arc 7 with her waking up and being different and being so mean to him about natsumi :((( theres her “youre my hero” versus “youre not a hero” WHICH. URHGHF ITS SO GOOD….. and like yeah remsuba really do be. iffy. in terms of how healthy it is. but its so complicated bc you also have rem being like—she was like the first person, narratively, to be willing to DIE to save subaru the exact way he does for other people (including rem). and then the famous from zero scene in season one which is a MASTERPIECE but i hate how people fixate on “i love emilia” LIKE REM IS HAPPY FOR SUBARU. SHE IS HAPPY AS LONG AS HE IS. EVEN IF HE DOESNT LIKE HER BACK. but also he did like her back romantically for a time. and also of course rem had her fixation on subaru :(( subaru had his own obsession for emilia while rem had hers for subaru pre-being gluttonyed?? :(( yeah like. remsuba being so complicated is so interesting to me. like she and subaru are very passionate people yes. but also they do need to learn to tone it down sometimes you know? REM ESPECIALLY TOO BECAUSE EVEN AFTER SHE STOPS BEING MURDERY TOWARDS HIM… FOR EXAMPLE IN SEASON ONE SHE WOULD CANONICALLY GO TO HIS ROOM IN THE MORNING AND WAIT FOR HIM TO WAKE UP…. like she'd just sit there at his bedside and Stare at him... like girl chill a bit its okay T^T i havent read sloth if. but it seems like they learned to mellow out and have a happy life T^T apart from. a shit ton of people dying in the background and also subaru dying of old age and resetting back to arc 3. i am interested to see if we’ll get further remsuba closure in arc 8 yes. but also im bonking subaru on the head in arc 7 for saying even REM TORTURING HIM was a fond memory. pls let this be addressed again later i swear sodndn.

ok also julisuba and ottosuba. i am no expert on julisuba but on the other hand i have analyzed Too Much Ottosuba so perhaps i am an expert there wodndn. but YEAH i love those ships. they have so much history and moments between them and they are. definitely the more Explicit evidence of subaru being bi (between subarus Interest in julius and reid calling julisuba boyfriends and SUBARUS INTEREST IN JULIUS... vs ottosuba repeatedly being like “omg do you Like Like me?” “NO I DONT SHUT UP” and also their continued divorce arc dynamics yep). but also i will say i really like ottosuba because specifically they are the subaru pairing where theyre like. Very Much Closer To Being Equals. if theyre not already equals in something. like in terms of power levels and intellect and their very loving families and previous inability to fit in or be believed by people and also their status in the narrative as Being Just A Guy in comparison to everyone else. and yet ottosuba are the MOST important members to their camp for their jobs—subaru keeps everyone alive, and otto handles All the politics, which we see over and over again. they are literally THE power duo. otto is so so important too as the second person to die FOR subaru the same way subarus died for others. like the paralleling of otto pushing subaru out of the way when the white whale drove otto insane (and later otto tried to go back for subaru once he regained his senses ;-;;;) versus otto pushing subaru out of the way so he didnt get killed by garf ;-;;;;;. and otto being the second person after rem to also give subaru an EXTREMELY IMPORTANT speech to him (otto-rem parallels...???) <33 except ottosuba also foil a lot bc of their Different Morals. but theyre both stubborn as hell and have a tendency to go off and do shit they think is best without telling anyone bc theyre too deadset (hah) on what THEY think. (OTTO. SPENDING A WHOLE YEAR SECRETLY GETTING THE BOOK OF WISDOM AND HAVING IT RESTORED?? HELLO???) anyway yeah ill stop right here bc i have So Much ottosuba posts on this damn blog wkdndn but i really do think the appeal of ottosuba is that they Are on a more even playing ground. and their morality flipflops sometimes. ottos issues are just more lowkey than subarus widndnd. i am. however. nervous about all the ottosuba and vincent-chisha parallels in arc 8 bc………. possible otto perma death on the horizon??? 😭😭😭😭 itd CRUSH subaru.

also of course the similar flavors of julisuba and ottosuba….. u can have ur tsundere x tsundere ships in TWO DIFFERENT FONTS. anyway ill become a julius lore expert someday i promise.

A BROTP I have with said character: BROTP ottosuba and ramsuba are so so funny and great wofndn but special shoutout to garf and subaru in particular!!! i think its interesting how far their relationship has come bc they had a VERY rough start and its like. 1. im sure garf would immediately regret going into a rage and killing a shit ton of people in that One Failed Loop and 2. we learn garf is a traumatized fourteen year old whos been trying so hard to take care of the demihumans inside sanctuary while his sister and mom left him, one way or another, and hes very afraid of the outside world. and its like YEAH now your behavior makes sense. and its so good to see garfs growth and also his growth in his relationship with subaru (and otto) bc he looks up to subaru sm!!! subaru helped garf so much T^T theyre brothers guys 😭😭 i think its so adorable and so sweet. ill defend garf all day everyday. garf 🤝 subaru with their DAMN hero complexes while otto tries to keep them both on a leash so they dont do stupid shit. subaru IS a good role model for garf though ill say that. subaru tries so hard to be a good role model wkdndn. and yes i always laugh when garf teases subaru for drawing doodles and writing encouraging things for emilia in the temple.

A NOTP I have with said character: okay so. maybe i will spill some tea here. hah so i went over in ram’s ask how i think ramsuba in wrath if is actually super interesting widndns but otherwise ramsuba to me is bland. which. i also just feel like subaru/crusch and subaru/ana and subaru/priscilla are also bland. like. i dont think theyll ever feel interesting to me akdndn. like theres not. as much to work off of imo. like i just dont think theyre a good match romantically at all. like At All. priscilla especially LMAO…. and im tired of people reducing women in the story to just boobs and being fucked by subaru 😭😭😭 like i dont have anything against those subaru ships, my biggest notp is just seeing a bunch of characters be butchered just to have subaru have sex with various women. 😭😭 obviously not everyone in the fandom does that but i see this happens the most with priscilla fr. pls. shes more than just boobs :(((

anyway. my other notp is like. echidna/subaru but like. i feel similarly to ram/roswaal on this where its like. theres a potential there to show a nuanced complex toxic relationship bc THAT IS what echidna/subaru are. even more so in greed if. like theyve spent an UNGODLY amount of time together like their relationship is so fucked. like god the amount of details that were added to their dynamic in the greed if ln makes me go INSANE….. like you know how echidna said that subaru could use her body with this contract?? what she ALSO really meant was HEY SUBARU YOU CAN KILL ME IF YOU WANT. ILL JUST COME BACK BC WE ALWAYS MEET IN A DREAM WORLD AND THERES NO CONSEQUENCES BUT ITLL FEEL REAL TO YOU. LIKE HOLY FUCK FR 😭😭 and like in generally reading through greed if ln is a Trip alright. like “no yeah duh of course it is, suffaru, its GREED IF” but LISTEN……. echidna being subarus weird mother figure and then like. idk there are obvious implications i feel from like the body fluid tea and then echidna being like “you can use my body” and then theres a moment where she puts his hand on her chest and yeah its to feel her heart but LIKE…. SOMETHING ABOUT THAT SCENE FELT LIKE. SOMETHING. TO ME. AND THEN SHES SO OBSESSED WITH HIM AND HES DEPENDENT ON HER LIKE JESUS ITS A MESS. ITS LIKE HOW SHE WAS WITH OG ROSWAAL. GOD. *puts my head in my hands*

anyway my real notp is like. depicting echidna/subaru like it is a Healthy Thing like no it is not 😭😭😭😭 it never was healthy and it literally never will be unless ur changing echidnas character drastically. if ur gonna show off echidna/subaru then they are gonna be SO RANCID in like every way possible there is no other correct way to write them. she is terrible for him. she literally saw him and went “i can make him worse” and then it happened. bc greed if subaru is a Terrible Person. like. its not even a question. the biggest example i can think of rn other than obvious Rbd use is KEEPING MEILI. A CHILD. HOSTAGE AND LOCKED UP IN ORDER TO USE ELSA. HER OLDER SISTER FIGURE. JEEZ. my biggest notp of all time is treating unhealthy relationships as if they Arent unhealthy.

MY OTHER BIGGEST NOTP OF ALL TIME FOR ANYTHING IS SHIPPING A CHILD AND AN OLDER PERSON TOGETHER. subaru/petra SHOULD BE AN OBVIOUS NOTP BUT SURE DOESNT FEEL LIKE IT SOMETIMES….. guys she is a child. come on. hes seventeen and shes TWELVE. GUYS…. and then theres tappei making iirc an ACTUAL petra if????? and idk what the content in petra if is exactly but i worry given tappeis track record with the child characters sometimes 😭😭 AND THEN PETRA BEING IN LUST IF. TAPPEI…… N-NOTHING HAPPENS, RIGHT? *EXPLODES WITH RAGE*. even if petra and subaru get together later when theyre Older Adults in some AU or something its like. subaru knew her when she was a young child. and she had a crush on him then. um. personally idk if im fully comfortable with that hah T^T

A random headcanon: GONNA TALK ABOUT WRATH IF. anyway so the wrath if divergence point is that subaru gets beatrice to teleport him away and ram chases him down, ram tries to strangle him to death but fails, he smashes her head with a rock. yes. BUT OKAY when u watch the anime. beatrice comes for his aid AFTER subaru gets to the cliff and tries to psych himself up to like. jump off to save rem and stuff. THEREFORE wrath if subaru still considered trying to rbd via jumping off that cliff. he just decided not to and agreed to have beatrice teleport him away. this is something not many people seem to mention or maybe even notice (??) but I THINK ABOUT IT A LOT…. :((

General Opinion over said character: i LOVE SUBARU WITH MY WHOLE BEING. he is my absolute favorite anime character of all time. his character arc is so chaotic and complicated and i think the way he Does like still struggle with the same Inner Conflicts is so so much more realistic. recovery and self improvement are NOT linear and he shows that perfectly. and i hate how much people misread subaru T^T the whole chadbaru trend in fandom of how he should get harems or how he should leave everyone or be terrible to emilia for *insert a long list of Terrible reasons here* is so. like did we all read and watch the same damn story or what hah. the whole point of rezero is LOVE ITSELF….. and subaru ultimately has a lot of love for so many people around him. though of course i do worry for how rbd reveal is going to be handled, and im not entirely sure how to feel about subarus arc 7 development atm. rbd reveal is gonna have catastrophic consequences for Everyone. like everyone hes ever been close to finding out hes died a shit ton of times to save him?? that so many of them have like. maimed and killed him or at least Tried To Do That? like HOW are we gonna get a happy ending out of all of this—hows tappei gonna handle this?? 😭😭 i worry sometimes that when rbd reveal happens it wont be nuanced or itll gloss over certain things or it just. wont be so satisfying. bc u have arc 7 subaru out here with SUICIDE PILLS……. ARC 7 SUBARU IN REPEATED INSANE DEATH LOOPS AS A CHILD….. how are we gonna come back from this?? 😭😭 i have my doubts sometimes but tappei loves insane character development for subaru so i suppose i will hope. i just wish for all the trauma to be seen and addressed akdndn and the fact that rbd is so. complicated. it makes subaru and his relationships with everyone else so complicated. and rbd is inherently unfair in a lot of ways to both subaru and everyone hes close to. i cant wait for more subaru development but i also think after arc 8 he NEEDS a break or like otherwise, personally i think subarus gonna snap for good and not be able to return from it 😭😭 or ill just have to suspend my uhh disbelief. i suppose. but yes i do love subaru a lot!!! his hair is a Pain in the ass to draw but ill endure the pain just for him. <33

but regarding all of subarus loved ones maiming and killing him a lot—i think its fascinating how the if routes prove he is JUST as capable of ruining all their lives. like i feel like people forget that sometimes in favor of woaaah cool what if routes where subaru becomes “badass”…. but LIKE…. hes SO SO CAPABLE of so much destruction. he is choice itself. he is capable of changing the entire world and everyone around him. he is capable of causing the deaths and trauma for SO MANY PEOPLE… and like i think rezero itself and subarus relationships are like an extreme version of hedgehog’s dilemma, u know? like u get close to people to love and be loved, but ur also very vulnerable to getting hurt. and rezero is About love. and part of close relationships are that ur so close u Can be hurt. maybe you Will be hurt. but u will also Love….. unless ur one of the ifbarus then fuck u for making the wrong decisions ig wodndndn. im telling u guys that subaru is LITERALLY an eldritch being at this rate. todd is so right.

and. okay one last thing im gonna be real for a second. im a little eh on subaru being a child, honestly. like i DO like the trope of turning characters back into their child selves in order to explore their psychology that way!! but like. idk i feel like the childbaru arc is kinda too similar to the whole amnesiabaru arc in arc 6. it feels Extraneous. it doesnt feel different enough for me personally. (emphasis on personally. this is all my opinion hah.) and then he is STILL A CHILD IN ARC 8 EVEN THOUGH THE OTHER PEOPLE THAT GOT TURNED INTO KIDS ARE NOW BACK TO NORMAL…… LIKE…. im sorry but the childbaru has overstayed its welcome by the time we get to arc 8 imo 😭😭

[scalproie]

i cannot tell what is going on over there in mortal kombat. is your ship incest now? is this a dread pirate rogers situation? no idea!

buddy you really think I would be enthusiastic over fucking incest? If anything Im celebrating that its not. Its more a inter-timeline dread pirate rogers situation yeah

ok so for the actual explanation, three names you need to know: hanzo hasashi, bi-han and kuai liang.

For 30 real life years aka mortal kombat's entire runtime, hanzo hasashi has been scorpion: yellow ninja with fire powers, his whole deal was that he has been killed and came back with the only goal to take his revenge (either for himself or for his family that was also killed, it depends)

He was killed by bi-han aka sub zero, blue chinese assassin with ice powers. BUT bi-han is only sub zero in a particular instance: in the first tournament of mortal kombat aka always the first game, where he gets killed by scorpion. He comes back in following games as a literal shadow of his former self, and without ice powers. he never stays sub zero for long.

enters kuai liang, bi-han's younger brother who's also a cryomancer, who took the mantle of sub zero in the second game and has stayed the most consistent sub zero for the entirety of mortal kombat.

Theres been two timelines for mortal kombat, the og one going from mk1 to mk: armageddon (mk7), and the second one going from mk9 to mk11. Its a bit more complicated than that but im sparing you the details.

the og timeline has its moments (like scorpion deciding to protect the new sub zero to atone for killing his brother, even going so far as to switch sides and kill the big bad in his mk3 ending bc sub zero was on the opposite team), and the second timeline has even more (the mk9 sub zero ending and every single one of their shared scenes from mkx (mk10) to mk11) that makes the two enjoyable as an item. Its a fairly popular relationship in the fandom and their whole deal also happen to be my cup of tea idk what to tell you there. When people say "subscorp" it means kuai liang/hanzo as they were both the definitive sub zero/scorpion.

anyway we are at the dawn of a new timeline in mk12. and even tho its not the first mortal kombat soft reboot, as they already did that in mk9, this one is WHOLLY shaking things up. Mk9 was new but it kept for the most part the og backstories, dynamics and storybeats of the og timeline, with only some twists there and there to keep it fresh.

Mk12 drops the bombshell among other things that this time around, scorpion and sub zero are brothers, and if you think they mean "brother-in-arms" NO ed boon is very adamant to let everyone know every interview that they're blood brothers now, they have the same father and everything, and that their shared storyline is no longer a story of revenge, but a brotherly conflict of ideologies. Confusing and dark times (this was mere months ago).

Later the sub zero gets revealed to be bi-han, and now this begged the question: who is scorpion? He is dressed in yellow, have fire powers, and a literal scorpion tattoo. For many people it meant it was hanzo: he's been scorpion for 30 years, why would it change now (even tho this raised a lot of question like why is he now part of his enemy clan, why would he still be japanese and has a japanese name if his now brother and father are chinese, and so on). For others, the fact that this scorpion had: 1) kuai liang's brother, 2) kuai liang's dynamic with said brother, 3) kuai liang's face (as his face model was really similar to his mk11 one), 4) kuai liang's position in his clan, and in a later trailer revealed to also have 5) kuai liang's best friend, and 6) kuai liang's dynamic with said best friend, meant that uuuuuuh, maybe it was kuai liang. Even tho the guy named "Quick Freeze" in chinese had now fire powers.

Anyway this has been making me insane, if it was hanzo it had LITERALLY NOTHING in common with hanzo but the yellow outfit and fire powers, if it was kuai liang it was such a wild departure from kuai liang as we know him that this might as well be another guy completely. This guy is supposed to be the definitive sub zero but he cant fit that role anymore, he has fire powers.

Flash forward to last night, back on friday they revealed three mk trailers at comic con, and to keep the promo train rolling, they were invited by ign for an interview on saturday, and among the people there was yuri lowenthal aka smoke's new voice actor (let me remind you that smoke is and has been kuai liang/sub zero's best friend for both timelines). One of the dev was talking about smoke's role in mk12, and says this:

"We are playing up the relationship he had with Kuai Liang- uuuh Scorpion. Um. and-"

Its an accidental slip up so this is still to take with a grain of salt until we get actual footage confirmation that kuai liang is scorpion in mk12, but also come on, you cant fuck up that badly with context, kuai liang is scorpion in mk12.

And considering how HARD theyve been marketing it as "scorpion and sub zero are brothers now!" and not "one of the sub zero brothers is scorpion now!" Im guessing this was supposed to be a big reveal for later. Oh well.

Anyway now we know who sub zero is (bi-han), we know who has the mantle of scorpion this time around (kuai liang), and now the only person MIA is hanzo. Many people, me included, hope that he's narratively retired chilling somewhere and is enjoying life with his alive family for once, dude's had a hard life.

and to answer your question, no, its not incest now because hanzo is still unrelated to the sub zero brothers (tho one of them is scorpion now), and "subscorp" remains safe bc its really, again, more about kuai liang and hanzo than the ship of "scorpion" and "sub zero" regardless of who they might be.

[landoffreaksandfrogs]

what do you think beforus's ancestors were like?

SEE THIS IS REALLY HARD FOR ME BECAUSE ANCESTOR NAMING CONVENTIONS ARE CONFUSING AND SCARY.

like obviously i dont have to give them names i can literally just be like "oh beforus vriska was arrested for tax evasion" but theres nothing COOL about that but my brain has MELTED trying to think of eight letter words that were actually thematically resonant and interesting but i am NOT on enough amphetamines to do whatever the fuck andrew was doing in that comic.

in any case ummm i do have some rapidfire concepts that i bounced around in my head.

Beforus!Karkat is a STAUNCH opponent to Feferi's leadership. He basically acted as a pretty significant political rival during the early part of her reign and it was his bitching and his support from the public that would inspire a lot of political unrest and social reform. Like tbh? To me? He was troll Karl Marx. he was a true comrade.

Beforus!Tavros was....sigh. The founder of the. "Lost. Weaboos." (god that name still sucks and i fucking hate andrew hussie) He totally separated from Beforan society and negotiated for a piece of land completely exempt from Empirical law. It became a safe haven for a lot of trolls unsatisfied with being culled and denied their independence.

Beforus!Aradia was a researcher of the occult and discovered the future existence of Lord English, and that their own universe was ultimately destined to be destroyed. She would spend almost all of her life detailing the future downfall of Beforan civilization and her writings are regarded as scripture in certain doomsday cults. She is long since after regarded as a saint.

Beforus!Vriska's lusus was "put down" due to spidermom being a danger to society, leaving her without a lusus to care for her. She was culled and raised by highbloods, and she was absolutely SPOILED. She became relatively well-adjusted though. She became a game show host and hosted the most popular program on Beforus for centuries, becoming a really strong media personality and able to influence political events due to her fan following.

Beforus!Nepeta was relatively unknown before her death, but she wrote thousands and thousands of poems in her life-time that have become memorialized in history. Poems that would definitely be reposted on Beforus tumblr over and over in different languages and contexts. She is considered to be shrouded in mystery, with very few details about her personal life being known, as if they were VOIDED out.

Beforus!Kanaya above all wanted to negotiate peace between the disparate highblood and lowblood classes, trying to make both sides settle for compromises and upholding the status quo rather than openly campaign for social change. As a result, this made her somewhat of a contentious figure. She often would prevent conflicts from escalating to bloodshed, but it only allowed for minimal change to occur, social progress proceeding in increments.

[kijosakka]

i have so many hypotheticals for dramaturgy u dont even KNOW (i am going to sit here and go through them though)

so this is all coming up because i was considering a tiny detail about the initial cast relations on island (then turning into this whole. mess.) and wanted to do a little thing where i explore hypotheticals to this au that aren't necessarily 'canon' to it,,

CAST RELATIONS: in my rehash post of island and covering the casts' reactions to noah acting Like That, i say the feeling of uncanny detachedness was immediate. but it could also? not be?

maybe he just comes off as shy at first, or especially standoffish -- perhaps the sense of detachedness is a mounting realization that 'oh this guy is kindof Weird As Hell' instead of an immediate bad sense,, this effectively would not change the cast relations or dynamics at this point, but it would provide more exposition opportunities for cast members to try striking up anything at all with him and getting shut down immediately as opposed to (unintentional) ostracization from the beginning.

^ and also, conflict exploration. not during island, but during his shift in WT, there could be the issue of noah knowing these people already tried and he shut them down each and every time, so what reason do they have to give him yet another chance? (is it worth the emotional risks and potential hurt and no gains, etc etc)

PHOBIA FACTOR: as it is, 'canon' to the AU noah gets eliminated during dodgebrawl (which is necessary for his general character), but phobia factor is a lovely little 'consequences of forgetting about the cameras' if on a much smaller scale.

now,, im ngl this sounded a lot more fun than it is actually going to be. because the simple answer is just that noah lies. put in this position -- if his onscreen character is forced to have depth, then it will be fake for his own peace of mind.

^ the only thing that would potentially happen is that it would, in a way, isolate him from his castmates further, simply because his reaction,,, Isn't. the fear among the cast as they face their greatest fears is shared -- except for noah. because its not genuine. his reaction comes off as flat (and even then the response that he is showing is further, repeated theme, uncanny valley. to have never seen this guy fearful performing some facsimile of it? Weird.)

SIERRA / WT PAN-OUT: ok,, sierras role here is very closely connected to the other idea mentioned here -- a wt hypothetical season play-out,, thing. while not 'canon' to the au for the simple fact that noah has Little to No development in this and thats the point, im spilling all my 'what-ifs' and might as well include this one.

theres actually,, a shocking number of moving parts to this. to summarize: tyler is eliminated in noahs place in london (mostly to keep numbers even), and thus takes his place witnessing the Kiss.

^ im not sure why tyler would be eliminated honestly. havent thought that through. however i do have something mapped out (kinda) for the trajectory of the love triangle,, being that noah doesnt do Anything. it boils over eventually, obviously, since duncan and gwen both know that he knows, im thinking around picnic at hanging dork? (elimination-wise, between london and picnic [*greece & area 51] cody is eliminated, sierra is Struggling but i do need her here for future plot purposes)

[*greece; noah volunteers before duncan in the scavenger hunt and along the way kiiinda talks with gwen?? just a little, just kinda nudging her in a direction away from any Dramatic, Exploitable behaviors]

^ so noah says nothing, right? he doesnt want to get involved in this Plotline, but he can get duncan to spill. so he does that -- talks to others, sometimes points over at him, and through the two challenges and the time between ends up freaking duncan out enough that he confronts noah post-picnic (theyre just outside the plane getting uhhh idk drinks. its Hot.) while the cameras arent rolling. the cast is around though.

duncan spills it all by himself, noah has a little moment of 'i didnt tell anyone, but you just did' -- courtney is pissed, but duncan is downright furious and gets all in noahs face, to which he responds much like he did at the very beginning of island: he doesnt.

he says something to the effect of 'if youre looking for a reaction, im the wrong person to look for it in' (or he doesnt say anything -- this is a work in progress) and Leaves. i also do like the mental image of noah spilling whatever drink he has down duncans shirt to force him away in a manner that doesnt make noah reveal any (perceived sense of) vulnerability via stepping back himself.

not much else on that -- just that post-challenge i also like the idea of noah being physically close to owen after. idk to what ends,, owen just wants to Comfort (< see also, noah can have a little breakdown in the showers or smth. a tiny one. its been far too long having to keep this all up and being close and not even properly involved in some of the drama of the show is making him crack whether he shows it or not)

^ and (im ngl i do imagine gwen being eliminated here? again, semantics r lost on me in favor of the Numbers) now,, sweden comes: duncan definitely believes anything with noah is nuked, so sucks up to owen and alejandro both in similar ways. basically like how canon went, etc etc noah is back to fading into the background.

however post-sweden offers up duncan&noah interactions. say duncan has had time to cool off and now wants to know why noah didnt say anything; noah deflects, bc of course he does, but does talk duncan into a kindof realization of just how much the show itself impacted his relationship with courtney -- not at the moment, but later it would serve to duncan to characterize noah a little better (and by a little i mean a lot); being, he's keenly aware of the cameras and the audience.

niagra brawls,, everything most goes, save the pairing are changed a bit: heather and alejandro, owen and blaineley, duncan and sierra, and courtney and noah. < courtney and noah win immunity (note: courtney definitely carries him across). post-challenge, noah point-blank tells courtney that hes sorry and that he shouldve come to her immediately.

^ courtney,, appreciates the genuine apology. she asks him why he didnt -- noah is, for once, honest, saying it was mostly a selfish reason and he didnt want the fallout. (smth smth he can truly hold sympathy abt the situation, knowing just how badly the presence of cameras can Fuck Things Up)

now. i swear ill circle around to sierra eventually but i need to talk about blaineley really quickly. so dramaturgy right?? noah is In The Business. i had it in the very original post of this (rb, covering cast dynamics) that noah did not like blainely. i renege. bffs. absolute shit-talkers together.

^ the point of that is that noah talks her out of the alliance with chef. im not actually sure what that does bc i still intend for blaineley to be eliminated post-china (aswell as courtney probably idk?? could be switched with duncan) but maybe she also has smth to say about how detached noah acts?? (see also the little scene concept thing of chris pointing out just how unnerving it was seeing noah act so lifeless)

also: noah wins. the china challenge. master of keeping a Flat Face. (note: he definitely does vomit immediately after. sick for Hours)

the semantics kinda fizzle out from here, but in essence noah floats his way to the final three à la cody style (does not want to be there also) and on the way kinda bonds with sierra? < that brings up another little correction ill rb onto another post at some point; sierra, while initially holding the intrigue as opposed to dislike of noahs detachedness, does in fact grow to find it unnerving. seeing him through a screen? really fun! being around him? ...not so much.

^ sierra, through noahs Magical Advice Powers That He Has In This Pan-Out For Some Reason, does earn herself advice from him about her obsessiveness or whatever. havent thought about it too much and actually propped sierra up as me having way more to say about her than i actually do,, but they do bond. they get a little bonding.

also: plane explosion. theres a little scene here that lives in my head wherein heather, frazzled from the explosion and having voted against alejandro, kinda blows up at noah? lashing out at him etc etc,, noah, par for the course, doesnt react -- mostly. he does just get up and leave, and both heather and alejandro get to hear one tiny little intake of breath that sounds vaguely like he might be crying. but he is Gone. (he breaks down around the interns instead, and fully resolves to himself that this is the final three and he was definitely making third place)

anyway beyond that i think it would be funny if the tiebreaker was actually heather and alejandro and noah some how finagles his way out of being tied up to be the first person to hit the water. thus taking himself out of the game and promising a 'dramatic finale between rivals' like hes very aware chris was gunning for.

^ this is,, tbh idk how 'canon' any of this will be?? if ill keep this as a loose outline and just change noahs character and dynamics,, idk idk. its getting late i cant really think and my god this is so so so much longer than i intended.