#and yes i'm aware that it might create issues with characters

[wlwmedarda]

I'm honestly just looking to rant and this might be long depending on how fast I get irritated the more I type so if this isn't coherent or well written I apologize in advance. Since it looks like Ambessa will take on a more antagonistic role in arcane season two, I would like to unpack the fandom's antiblackness that you guys are either blind to or aware and too pussy to call it out as my gut is telling me it's gonna increase and if no one is gonna start the difficult conversation then I sure as hell will.

Sevika:

Mel:

Starting off strong with the definition of "you guys want complex female characters but can't even handle her". Mel Medarda is in quite the predicament seeing how she's morally grey, a black woman, AND "gets in the way" of a mlm ship so she was kinda screwed from the start. A cunning politician disowned for her pacifism who acts as a sort of bridge to Noxus' slow introduction, and is THE ONLY CHARACTER IN THE SEASON 1 MAIN CAST SPECIFICALLY CREATED FOR THE SHOW. She's treated like satan incarnate or a Jezebel (highly suggest looking into that if you don't know what that is), GOOD character analysis is rare, and when she is talked about positively, it's so often chalked up to appearances that I'd rather yall not talk about her at all. Oh you love Mel? Then can we talk about her relationship with her mother? Unpack her dynamic with Jayce? Maybe more fanworks centered around her? I've seen yall's fake asses dropping the shittiest fucking takes about her only to turn around and gush over how pretty she is, and yall think you're slick about it and you're not. I would say I prefer the ones who are loud and proud about their hatred but that'd be a lie, they're two cheeks on the same ass; annoying and couldn't give a decent break down of her character if a gun was pointed at they head even she's perfect to dissect. I could talk about her more but we'd be here all day and so many black women even from outside the fanbase have already talked about yall so there's no need for me to add on 🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️.

Quick question, have you guys ever tried to talk about her in a non sexual way? Yes, Sevika is undeniably sexy and you could argue that true stans of hers talk about her outside of horny time, but a good half of the fandom is a different story. In a similar case to Mel's, deep dives into her character are rare to find which is crazy when she acts as Zaun's own "kingmaker". She's loyal to her city and the cause, never to a specific person and will not hesitate to betray you. She could be your right hand man one day, and the next she might find a better kingpin to follow and stab you in the back like it all meant nothing. "Were you tempted?" "Not for a worm like him". Simple and subtle and probably my favorite Sevika scene; she comes to realize Silco is no longer the best leader for Zaun, but he's as good as it gets for now and so she sticks by him. I remember a YouTube comment breaking down how she's essentially the quintessential Zaun: a brute warrior molded by her environment, who defied Vander's peaceful ways and embraced Silco's cruelty. Her mindset and goal is interesting and you'd think it'd result in some fascinating meta or exploration of her upbringing when we got a hint that she potentially has some daddy issues right? Obviously, but what do we get instead? White sapphics treating her like nothing more than a sexual object. How delightful!

Ekko:

This might partially be Riot's fault because — and I hate to sound like a league lore nerd — Ekko is quite underdeveloped compared to the richer origins of his former pre arcane self, but I'm gonna hold off on that till the season finale to see how they handle him. Anyways, at this point the fandom clearly sees him as Jinx's trophy husband. When you talk about him, she is brought into the convo 90% of the time. That's exactly why I prefer black timebomb shippers over the nonblack ones because I trust they actually love Ekko as a character on his own. Even though I have my complaints regarding how's been written so far, I still know he's too good to be reduced to Jinx's loverboy. He fights and cares for his city, the only character that you can confidently say is pure of heart, and is the revolutionary leader Zaun really needs. He's just as smart as Jinx too, he is literally going to create TIME TRAVEL. Why does no one wanna talk about that? Can we be excited for his character development and arc not just for the timebomb scenes you'll get out of it?

Ambessa:

Can't even deny this woman is awful but her presence on screen enthralled me after a couple of rewatches and I also love bad mothers in media so I've settled on a love/hate relationship. Yes, she's definitely gonna have some influence on Caitlyn, which makes sense since she has now lost her mother; she's vulnerable and as we have seen, naive. She's practically free real estate for Ambessa. My recent worry though has been how the fandom seems to be willing to put all of Caitlyn's actions on her as if Cait isn't a grown ass woman who can make her own decisions. Of course being grown doesn't mean you're immune to manipulation, but I've seen some Silco and Jinx comparisons and it is NOT the same. Mind you we haven't even seen the first three episodes; we don't know how far Ambessa's manipulation is going to go and we can't really tell what the dynamic is gonna be like based off of clips and trailers that are likely shown out of context on purpose to throw people off. I'll never defend her actions, hell I'll join in on the lashings, but my black ass is also not gonna sit here and let yall talk about her weirdly or pin all of this on her.

Some might say I'm overthinking this, but I've been here since November 2021 and have sat back and observed for 2 years. You don't have to write deep, philosophical conversations 24/7, I'm sure it's not all in bad faith and I won't act like I don't thirst over Sevika or marvel at Mel's beauty. I'm not saying you have to like these characters and that you're racist if you don't. My frustration comes from the lack of nuanced conversations and hypocritical opinions surrounding black characters in this show. When you try to say something about this, you're hit with excuses; it reminds me of how man obsessed fujoshis act when they're questioned for not giving two fucks about female characters. They're either reduced to one character trait, only admired for their looks, or only discussed when it's about the white character they're connected to. Do NOT under ANY circumstance be black and morally ambiguous, you WILL be held to higher moral standards than everyone's wittle blorbos who can do wrong and are defended from all sides when you dare to take the rose colored stan glasses off and criticize them. What's really ridiculous is you hear the "complex characters" bullshit every two to three business days and some of you have the nerve to boast about this series being diverse while simultaneously ignoring the complexities in the characters of color. This is the main reason I took a step back and with season two around the corner I thought "Hey, maybe it'll be better this time!" and it was a mistake. Good to know yall still have an underlying racism problem you don't wanna address but with some extra classism thrown in. "What will we do once Arcane ends?" hopefully get a job, touch some grass, and reflect. Lord knows yall need it. The faster yall sizzle out the better. I'm done that's all I have to say lol goodnight 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽.

[serenpedac]

The trope tier list thing made me realise that I like soulmates AUs far more than the actual soulmates trope. Which sounds a bit contradictory, but it's because those AUs usually explore the implications of being soulmates, while--if it's not really the focus of a work--it often feels like it's just there to make the love "more special✨"

[3hks]

Key Components in Creating THAT Character

If you read a lot or enjoy television and interact with the fandoms, you quickly realize that there are certain characters that have fans COMPLETELY wrapped around their finger! And furthermore, they usually end up pretty iconic even though they aren't the main character! (People like Gojo Satoru, Levi Ackerman, Killua Zoldyck--I watch too much anime but hopefully you get the point) So how do they become so popular? Do YOU want to create a character along those lines?

Perfect! Because this guide will have literally everything you need! (Keep in mind that some things will get very specific and there's no need to follow absolutely everything!)

1. Confidence

It doesn't matter if the confidence is a facade or if your character is genuinely confident--readers LOVE a confident character! This is because confidence can establish reliability, easily capturing the audience.

2. Status

Following confidence, it's important that your character has status. I'm not necessarily talking about royalty and whatnot, but if you look at my first three examples (assuming that you know who they are), they all carry a title and are known.

Gojo Satoru: The Strongest Sorcerer

Levi Ackerman: Humanity's Strongest Soldier

Killua Zoldyck: He's a Zoldyck

Again, this creates a sense of reliability and that awareness that your character is someone important.

3. Reputation

Alright, so this character now has confidence and status, so therefore, they also need some kind of a reputation! Consider some of the following questions: Does the public have an opinion on them? If so, what is the general viewpoint? What about the people close your character? Are their opinions accurate to your character's actual personality?

The truth is their reputation doesn't have to reliably reflect them. What the readers see in your character versus the others in the story can be vastly different. So, with these types of characters, it's important to establish a perspective of them that's separate from the audience's!

Now, what does this even do? A reputation builds onto status because it shows that, again, this character is someone who genuinely matters not just to the story itself, but to the actual verse. It also offers a lot of indirect characterization because it demonstrates how they are seen!

I would consider the first three to be the surface level traits, which is not a bad thing at all! However, with these next few points, we're going to dig deeper!

4. Empathy/Sympathy

Yes, yes, I'm well aware that empathy and sympathy are completely separate concepts, but either one will work for what I'm about to talk about next!

Vulnerabilities and flaws are critical to any realistic and quality character.

However, it's important to keep in mind that for THIS type of character, specifically, is meant to be established as someone with status and thus, won't easily show their weaknesses.

When boiled down, treat your readers like all another character.

Don't shove your character's fragilities into your audience's face because that can ruin everything you built up in steps one through three. Instead, leave their weaknesses (not necessarily flaws, they can be revealed however you like) slightly vaguer than you might normally. Let it be up for interpretation!

A simple way to achieve this is to dive into their past and let their old selves speak for themselves!

5. Situation

Great, so now you have the flaws and rough imperfections of your character down! What do you do with them?

Put your character in a situation with something on the line that exposes their vulnerabilities and forces them to confront their issues. Allow your readers to see their flaws physically in action because that's one of the best ways to fully elaborate on their character.

Additionally, if you're looking to flesh them out or generate more emotion, this will achieve that! With these characters, they NEED their time in your story.

6. Development

Just like all characters, the fundamentals still apply, and this character is no exception to development! If you're not too sure about what changes to make, start with step 5 and continue from there! There is no need to make a drastic difference, a simple realization or small alteration will do!

CONCLUSION

Alright, let's wrap this up! Steps 1-3 are the basis to creating your character's personality! It gives the impression that they are important and have a reputation. Steps 4-6 are mainly for development and to create a more dimensional character; but the main takeaway is that any weaknesses should not be downright stated but instead hinted at!

Happy September and happy writing~

3hks <3

[bbgliker-teehee]

I've see a lot of Charlie redesigns/rewrites to help make her character make sense and I thought, Hey! Why not throw my hat in the ring!

One of her biggest issues is that despite being the literal princess of hell, she's laughably spineless and no one respect her. While I think her being rewritten to be a sinner could work, I do like the idea that she's still connected to Lucifer

So here's my idea.

Charlie is a living doll created by Lucifer because he wanted to try his hand at creation. Charlie is aware she's a doll but she also views Lucifer as her dad and Lilith as her mom because they helped raise/taught her things.

So while Charlie believes she's part of the family, everyone else just sees a her as an experiment or a toy for the Royal Family to play with

And yeah, people might not go out of their way to actively harm one of Lucifer's things, but they sure as hell aren't going to give it respect

But Charlie doesn't really care because she has a head full of dreams and wants to show her parents that she was made to do something great.

And I'm realizing now that I've basically made a version of Pinocchio whoops

YES I LOVE THIS!!!

[scaly-freaks]

What do you think aegons fav thing abt amara is and vice versa?

This randomly made me think of how in the future modern fic I'm planning (well not planning, it doesn't have a plot, just vibes), he calls her macushla which stems from mo chuisle which means my heartbeat in Irish. It's sort of like when he said she was made of his rib in TGOWARL:

“It is the closest thing to my heart. When breastplates fail, the ribs are the only thing left. My final protection.” He runs the tip of his nose down the straight line of hers. Her breathing is ragged. “The Dothraki say blood of my blood. That is what you are to me. You are more my blood than my family has ever been.”

In an almost boring answer, that would suggest everything about her is his favourite...he could see her habits or her manner of speech on someone else, but it isn't the same. There's a specific code, a potion recipe mixed up with glitter and sparkles that created her and he's so in love with it, he'd know if even a small detail was out of place. And I do mean Amara and Aegon in any verse for this ask, not just specific to the medieval one.

But some of his extra sweet little favourite things about her are probably the way she belly laughs and sticks her tongue out like a little gremlin (which he also does btw, so it's like calls to like in that sense). He also likes how her eyes are huge but when she's laughing so hard, they turn into crescents because she almost closes them for some reason.

He also likes the way she smells and - this is specific to him and is kinda weird - especially when she hasn't showered for a bit and is kinda sweaty.

Also he'd never admit it but he loves that she doesn't just let him behave as he is, and forces him to be better. He's used to his family being all that's just Aegon being Aegon and rolling their eyes and looking past it, but that kind of hurts him because it's one way to make him feel unimportant. Amara smacking him around the head when he's being a complete twat is proof to him that she loves him and is invested in him (I will not make the troubling connection to his mommy issues at this time, since we know Alicent slapping him around is also a feature of his character...)

As for Amara...I have this headcanon that when people ask her what she sees in him, she very quickly clocks that whatever she says is going to be faced with scepticism. So she just shrugs and smiles and doesn't elaborate because that's less hurtful than listing all the things genuinely and having them still side eye her.

But in parallel to him, her favourite thing about him is his laugh. Absolutely loves that she can hear it through walls sometimes, and even in her head when he's nowhere around. That's how whipped she is, and sometimes it can be annoying because she'll be in a serious situation and all she has to do is picture Aegon giggling and her expression starts to twist.

She's always a little freaked out by how heavy and all-consuming his affections are, but she does still like it (sometimes she feels guilty for doubting it just because she knows he has emotional issues that aren't always rational, hence his love might not be the 'healthy' kind). She also likes his crow's feet, and the sweet little smiley lines around his mouth (everybody say thank you TGC). And she loves how his voice gets all quiet and serious when he's concentrating, and how seriously he'll take something if he decides he wants to. He pays a lot of attention to her even when it seems like he isn't, and his general knowledge of her is enough to startle Amara sometimes (you will never catch her running out of her favourite perfume because it gets topped up whenever it gets close to the bottom - just like he never lets their daughter's glitter shampoo run out)

Yes, I'm aware I listed more than one thing for each...they're my babies, I start yapping (!)

[toujokaname]

Card shuffle / Episode 2

Author: Akira

Characters: Rinne, Tatsumi, Aira, Mayoi

"Why'd you change so much, Rinne-senpai?"

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[ Read on my site for a better viewing experience using Ois~su ♪ ]

Season: Winter

Location: Training Room

Rinne: Anyway, yeah.

For that reason, we've been dragged into this fateful (?) showdown (pfft) between ALKALOID and Crazy:B! Talk about being saddled with a stupid plan!

Honestly, it's a royal pain in the ass to deal with, since it was clearly cooked up by some moron who doesn't know jack about us.

You guys aside, we Crazy:B are still at a disadvantage in ES 'cause of what we did in the summer. We reap what we sow, but still?

Apparently, ES wants to make this Matrix thing into a big event that'll mark the end of their first year of existence—

And we gotta do our best to hype it up, right?

If we disobey, well, you guys may be fine, but we might actually get the boot this time.

Can't say I'm thrilled about caving in to threats, but... Really, what has ES ever done for us?

Did they actually think we'd be all like "oh, yay, we're so pumped to work for ES!" with stars in our eyes? That nonsense's fine in dreams, but they need a reality check already, hm?

Tatsumi: ...You've been harsher than usual for a while now. Rinne-san, do you have any particular thoughts on this plan?

Though it's admittedly a flawed project, I'd consider it an honor to be entrusted with a major event.

Will this, too, be made fun of as a model answer from a goody-two-shoes?

Rinne: Ahh... Well, no need to worry 'bout that.

It's just that, back when I was an idol under my own name, there was a lot going on.

Aira: ...?

Rinne: Anyway, seems like ES is dead set on having ALKALOID and Crazy:B duke it out no matter what.

Tatsumi: Yes... It appears they want to create that kind of wrestling match atmosphere.

Aira: In reality, we're not even on bad terms... I mean, we had some issues in the summer, but honestly, we barely cross paths at work.

Mayoi: Our target audiences are completely different... The so-called issues in the summer largely revolved around aiding Hiiro-san's efforts to stop Rinne-san from going on a rampage.

From a personal standpoint, we harbor no ill will towards Crazy:B.

Aira: Though we're at least aware of each other, since we debuted at the same time.

If anything, Crazy:B's constant blunders make us look better in comparison, so it's kinda handy.

Rinne: Mhm, mhm. But see, that's a problem for ES! They really want us to be archenemies!

And that's when the focus turned to me and Otouto-kun. We're blood-related brothers, each leading Crazy:B and ALKALOID.

"The Amagi brothers have always had a bad relationship, and they formed their units just to spite each other—"

Something like that. Seems they wanna make a scandalous scenario that the public's gonna eat right up.

Aira: Even though you and Hiro-kun actually seem rather close... I mean, for some reason, he weirdly looks up to such a scumbag of an older brother.

Rinne: Oi, oi, don't call me a scumbag. If I'm not the "foul-mouthed character" type, fans might get disappointed.

Aira: Every once in a while, you put on airs of a snobby senior idol...

Anyway, I think I get the gist of it?

ES wants to create a scenario where Hiro-kun and Rinne-senpai are at odds 'cause it fits their script.

Rinne: Right, right. That's why I became ALKALOID's leader this time as part of that scenario.

We'll swap units temporarily to prove ourselves and brag about beating our sibling.

So, for example, what happens if I make ALKALOID more successful than it was when Otouto-kun was leading?

It'd prove I'm better than Otouto-kun, yeah?

That's the kinda thing the fictional Rinne Amagi-kun would say.

ES always wants to play the poor victims being pushed around by that kinda selfish idol, huh? Gyahahahaha! ☆

Even if this plan backfires, ES can still escape responsibility. Maaan, I've gotta hand it to ES, still as shitty as ever ♪

Aira: Such a foul mouth... Yet you're the one telling off others... Isn't that why you're hated and forced into these harassment projects?

Rinne: I keep harping on the same thing over and over, but I'm totally fine being "that kinda character."

Aira: When you first debuted, you were more of a pure, orthodox idol... Why'd you change so much, Rinne-senpai?

Rinne: ......

[ ☆ ]

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[puck-luck]

I’m not hating on YOU. Just on how slow and rude the characters are being made out to be. Honey should stop being so rude to Trevor, give him some credit for putting up with her attitude. Bea is genuinely for the streets. Again not hating on YOU because I like your writing style plus reading your other works i really like. I get I don’t have to read it if I don’t like it but I’ve waited and gave it time for stuff to start picking up.

I appreciate that you're not hating on me because you enjoy my writing style. That's always nice to hear. I'm glad you've read my stuff and even tried to stick it out for STG.

I want to reply to your concerns, so I typed up a couple of bullet points in my notes app. In a very in-character moment for me, it became lengthy. I'm hiding it under this Read More so that no one has to see it if they don't want to. Tbh, that includes you— and I don't mean that in a mean way, even if it might come off like that. It's hard to convey feeling through words on a page, which brings me to my first point:

1. A lot of Honey's attitude is written as means for banter, since Trevor knows that she doesn't mean it in such a negative way— he's aware that she's deflecting. Maybe I need to make that clearer and now I know, which means I can try and work on that! Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

2. Honey has trauma, which I've started to explain in the story. It's going to be fleshed out more and she WILL work through it, but the girl has some pretty complex PTSD when it comes to relationships. That's the reason why she's so hot and cold with Trevor. She knows what she's feeling, but she's not ready to accept it yet.

3. In Chapter 5, the most recent chapter, Honey admits to Trevor that she's the difficult one. She's well aware that she's having trouble with this new relationship and that manifests in her attitude towards Trevor. He says he doesn't mind (basically) and she just hums BECAUSE it bothers her that she's being hard to deal with, and yet she can't stop herself. Again— it's her complex PTSD.

HERE is a screenshot of my Google doc so you can read the scene itself:

4. Fair. Bea is for the streets. Yet, at the same time, I don't see the real issue behind this: everyone involved is a consenting adult that is fully aware of the situation. Everyone knows that Bea is hooking up with the guys in the house. If the guys didn't want to hook up with her, they wouldn't— like how Luke turns her down in this most recent chapter. She's also a girl in her 20s... I know a lot of girls in college that made goals to sleep with entire exec boards of frats or collect each frat president or, in an extreme case, a girl that wanted to hook up with every brother in our pledge class, the pledge class above us, and the pledge class below us. If the girl wants to be a slut, then she can be a slut. & that's how I'm writing her. More power to her. Things might even change for Bea over time, like how real relationships go...

5. As for the slowness: I know that my chapters have gotten super long. I keep getting carried away and writing more than I mean to. It's because I like this project and the characters I've created. BUT, each section is a day. Each chapter is a week. Honey and Trevor have known each other for just over a month and I PERSONALLY am not the kind to hook up with a guy I've just met. Yes, at times it seems long and I know that it drags at times because I can feel it dragging while I write— but I am trying to make this as realistic and detailed as possible. Between the whipped cream scene and the blowjob scene, 10 days passed. That's SUCH a short amount of time, especially since the pair didn't see each other as much that week. Honey works, Trevor trains, and a lot of that is off screen because I think it's boring to write when this is a ROMANCE.

6. If I had an editor, they could probably help me cut this shit down and make it drag less. I DON'T have an editor though and this is a very detailed rough draft of a story that would probably change a LOT before publishing IF I WERE TO GET IT PUBLISHED.

7. I apologize that you have waited and hoped for quicker advancement in Honey and Trevor's story. To me, it's not a fast story. It's going to pick up... on my outline I have Trevor and Honey hooking up 3 times next week. You're welcome to hang in there for that if you want to. It's up to you.

And finally... I apologize that my explanation was so long. And probably slow. I just want to be thorough with your concerns. If you choose not to read anymore of STG, then good for you. I'll still be churning out oneshots when I can and I hope you like those more.

I really do appreciate the feedback. I hope this response didn't seem rude because I'm not trying to be. It's also 2:30am for me so I really should go to bed before I ACTUALLY get my feelings hurt or start lashing out... which I've been known to do when tired. So. Goodnight Anon. Thanks for not hating on ME and I hope my explanations were good enough for you.

[cobaltperun]

How do you start out your stories? Or find a plot?

Hmm. Well, a few things usually need to happen. An absolute must is the character not only getting me to love them, but sparking something special in me. Let's take Scream for example, I love Sam, but there wasn't that spark, so, while she was available for request I never felt the desire to write a long story for her. Then there usually has to exist a plot reason like: this character deserved better in some way.

There are exceptions to this. Vada and Lorraine didn't really have that spark for me, and I'm fully aware that Jenna is a huge reason why I'll do stories for the two of them. I still like them as characters but I can't deny the effect she has on my feelings toward the characters. Guess that's the effect of familiarity, I've gotten emotionally attached to Tara especially, and Wednesday to an extent, and well, they are all played by Jenna. You get the point.

Anyway, I'm rambling. I need the spark and plot reason, and then I need the actual story plot, and it usually starts from one big point from which I start building things up. Take Lost as an example. It started as: I want Reader to protect Tara. And then that led to MMA, and that led to: R must be female, can't be gender neutral, can't be male, that would break the story. Then it led to R must be a bit older to have a career. That career must be a part of the reason for why they aren't together, so R must have a bigger reason than just the career to keep fighting even though Tara is against it. Zack gets created to provide that reason. Zack existing means R can't be from Woodsboro, since Tara would know about him. And so on. Then I start thinking about the plot, usually about what needs to happen and what the Reader character can do and how much do I want to break away from the main plot. So it's a bunch of 'yes to this, no to that' kind of deal. Lost as an example again. R can't be with Tara in the opening scene, the result of that is a story that completely deviates from Scream. Amber would get her ass kicked, Tara would know who tried to attack her, Amber probably lies to get Tara to go to Sam, a whole bunch of things happen and yeah, movie plot is completely broken. (This might be a Lost AU, or maybe a whole new Tara x Reader story, would any of you perhaps be interested?)

And that's how I have the basic plot in my head. Then I just figure out the details. What kind of person is Reader, how do the characters interact, so on. And then, with plot pretty much outlined from start to finish, or at least a good portion of the story, I sit down and write. Probably why I write as fast as I do when I have the time.

The issue with some characters is that I just struggle to get to an actual plot for them. Hence why, while I planned on doing Vada and Lorraine stories a long time ago, I just couldn't think of a plot worthy of being written, it just felt generic. Even now I don't think their stories will be longer than 5-6 chapters. And both plots are kind of a product of talking with ortegalvr, Vada from a request, Lorraine from me saying I can't figure out a plot and then saying what am I supposed to do (insert plot here) and it somehow actually made sense. So, yeah, sometimes plot just catches me by surprise. 😅😅

Thanks for the question, I enjoyed writing this, and I hope the answer was good enough. If anyone would like me to elaborate further on anything from this, don't be shy 😁😁

[ssolessurvivor]

I think you should answer all the questions in the munday meme :)

@ttheagcd got to my completionism

Do you enjoy your interactions with the rp community? Generally speaking, yes, sometimes no, but being more selective and curating of my own space makes it something I love (on most days)

Have you made any friends since creating your blog? Yes! You included, I have made a few friends along the way (and hope to make more when life fucking slows down).

Have you ever done something embarrassing or made any mistakes that you can’t forget about? Hmmm, not a lot I don't think? Here or there stupid grammar mistakes or punctuation issues haunt me though after even reading a reply three or four times before posting it lol.

Are there any ships for your muse that you enjoy, or ships that you would like to see happen? I mean I love all his ships, I think having more angsty ships or ships with more 'evil' characters could be super fun.

What is something or someone you have always wanted to write with? i.e. a particular plot, a character, etc. Some more obscure characters, such as Maleficent (which I do have someone I'm starting to plot with when life doesn't get in the way lol), any studio ghibli muses could be super wholesome and fun. That's about it because some characters I'm learning are cursed that I shall never write with after bad experiences.

What are your biggest pet peeves when it comes to tumblr? The DMs are so broken for me personally for like two months they suck!! Some of the stigma behind 'oh I can't approach this person cause graphics and intimidation' can get a little exhausting but I know it can't be helped. Just the little things.

Is there anything you dislike about your muse? I don't think so? Maybe his aggression or that he suppresses some things until he explodes which clearly isn't healthy. (ooc is lack of content but hopefully more comes soon even though the creators for him are literally gone)

Do you have any insecurities about writing and/or interacting with other people? Sometimes I do get a little worried that my writing isn't good enough, like if I'm having an off day and things just don't flow quite right but I still post it anyways. Or if I feel like I don't send enough/too many memes, things like that.

What is your favourite thing about your muse? What he means to me, he's an incredibly personal creation of mine and I know this might be more abstract than the question calls for. But he is loved on many different levels for me and the fact I can try to bring awareness to not only veterans sacrifices and suffering, but also chronic pain and other little things, I'm glad to try and do that through a fleshed out character who I love.

Is there anyone who inspires you or that you look up to? I have some people here who inspire me, you being one of them and a couple other folks. Some writers inspire me and always have to write, like Adrienne Young, Brandon Mull, Grady Hendrix. I love their writing and their stories and it pushes me to try and improve my writing at any turn I can.

What time of day are you more inclined to write? During the week typically evening time is when I can sit down and get written out drafts typed and queued, but sometimes in the afternoon is when I find I get inspired, handwrite a few replies, and then type them up later. Usually on weekends it can vary from morning to afternoon, evenings are generally for other things.

What are some similarities between you and your muse? His love of handmade things. The fact Tegan quilts, I quilt myself and am amassing a collection of them. Melanie knits and crochets, which I also do, and that's where Logan gets his nice wooly socks from, scarves, and some homemade decor (specifically for fall). Otherwise I guess our other similarity is living with and learning to deal with chronic pain.

What are some differences between you and your muse? I am not a soldier or military member in any way, but a few of my family members are. So I learn from them how to portray him (learn meaning observing cause no way am I asking) and other shows how to portray his issues correctly and without diminishing it's importance or overembellishing it.

Do you have any pets? I do! An elderly, very round, cat we inherited from my husband's mom and recently passed father in law. Her name is kitty cause...she never really had a name. She currently has a bed on my desk so she's sitting right next to my laptop now purring away and I love her even when she gets grumpy and annoying lol.

Are there any pets you wish you could have? I would like to have a dog again given my last one passed away about two years ago now, I'm contemplating getting a memorial tattoo for her soon, but she will always be my first baby.

What are some of your favourite hobbies? Aside from the obvious that I talk about here all the time, I really do love reading though I'm currently in a bit of a slump because said hobbies take up the remainder of my down time right now. Otherwise I do like gaming, rebuilding my animal crossing island and trying to get it to five stars and dream addressed is my current goal after having the game since launch and never getting an island complete lol.

What is your current big obsession? Crocheting the cutest little ghostie plushies, I'm making three for my coworkers, one for mom, and I made the first one for me just to make sure I understood the pattern correctly. I'm also making Mickey pumpkin plushies too, one for me, one for mom, and two for my coworkers and I need to get the big puffy bows sewn together soon. I'm done with two so far.

Have you ever met an rp partner in real life? Would you like to? I have no met an rp partner in reality but I would love to! Would ideally be someone I consider a friend and am very close with, though.

Are you open for sharing social media with your rp partners? i.e. Skype, Discord, Messenger, etc? Yes I am!

Are you currently single or in a relationship? I am married.

[just-here-for-the-art-shit]

I know this isn't something I'd usually post, but I would really appreciate reblogs because I think people should read this.

Ok - so - I like to listen to very old radio shows, especially mysteries and thrillers. Some are very good, and some are hilariously bad.

There is this one that I listened to the other day that was such a perfect prediction of the future it scared me.

And so, Spoiler warnings if you want to listen to it for yourself.

And it's important to note: This is a story from 1942

It is Episode 20, "Beware of Tomorrow." The basic gist is it follows a scientist, the scientist's compatriot, and the main character, another scientist invited to the mansion/laboratory. The head scientist has created a giant, 300 pound robot, named Alber capable of "solving problems," but also, "obeying commands" as well as things like walking, talking, situational awareness, etc. It can "think" and solve problems you ask, but it still follows the orders of what programmed it to begin with.

Sounding a bit familiar yet?

Well, the very night the MC arrives, Alber kills the scientist and flees into the woods. The lab assistant says that it is too dark and dangerous to chase a robot through the forest with just the two of them. He explains for a while now that the doctor was planning to create an even better version of Alber, and that would eventually render Alber obsolete, and because "Alber can think on his own," he suggests that's why Alber killed the doctor.

They plan to contact the police in the morning, and will be able to take Alber out of commission because Alber needs to come back and charge his battery by the end of the night.

Well, morning comes, and the assistant guy is way, way too calm about this. He's just making breakfast, while the scientist's body is still just ... there. The MC returns to the lab, and just as suspect, Alber has returned and is in a sleep mode, charging. He takes this chance to look into what is going on and finds that the robot did not "think" about killing the doctor, rather, it was programmed to. You probably know where this is going by now but the lab assistant is revealed to be the one who did it, because he wanted to create stronger, more weaponized robots (at this point in time, America is still involved in WW2), but the doctor wanted robotics to aid people, not harm. Then the assistant had Alber kill the MC because MC refused to work on more "weapons," was going to tell the police, etc, end of story.

Once again, emphasizing - 1942.

They already knew the bullshit that was going to take place, hence "Beware of Tomorrow."

Now I'm telling this story because I'd like to talk about this in the modern day. There's tons of content, movies, books, theories, tons and tons of things that talk about the fears, issues, etc, of androids becoming sentient, conscious, and emotional beings. And just what they might be capable of. But what we see less of is what the REAL worry is, and what this story was trying to convey.

Truly, I do believe that technology, robotics, mechanics, were developed with good intentions by their originators. I think it is a good and wonderful thing - in the right hands.

But then ... It lands in the wrong hands. And that's when technology becomes dangerous.

We should not be worried about the progression of science and technology in itself, but the people behind it. Those that seek to control humanity by different methods, and you can name countless entities of such. That is what "Beware of Tomorrow" was saying.

A few things, one - the application of human emotions to Alber. The doctor's assistant was easily able to create a believable story that Alber must've killed the doctor out of jealousy and fear. So MC said, "Yeah, that makes sense." Because Alber can think, right? Yes, he can - but he does not think with emotion. We as humans are emotional creatures, and so we apply emotions often to even the most inanimate of objects. So it was quite easy to fool the MC with this explanation. Alber is a robot, but they, the characters, apply humanity to something that is not human. The doctor even gave Alber pronouns, he/him.

Often, we've come to fear technology out of this belief that they are human, and think as humans do. We fear that they will think for themselves. But truly, their "minds" are what they have been programmed to be, and the data they collect. They can obtain the logic of millions of people via the Internet, but remember, those are still our brains, not things it came up with on its own.

Two, as mentioned in the story, Alber's creator had good intentions. It was those (the assistant) that saw the potential for other things. We should be less worried about technology gaining sentience, and be focused on who is running the show, because they are the real problem, and they WANT you to disassociate the robot from the creator. For instance, say you're faced with a killing machine, like the hounds from Fahrenheit 451. It's dangerous. It needs to be stopped. Destroying it will solve the problem at the moment, but it is the people who are the problem, and nothing will stop until they are.

Three, the MC dies for refusing to collaborate with the assistant. This is a theme we see almost everywhere in situations where people are trying to make a change. For instance, ACAB. The police are a system, and those individual officers who want to "change" the system, to uphold what SHOULD be the purpose of serve and protect, well, what happens to them? They get fired, hazed, chastised, etc. Three things can happen from here - they can't beat the system so they join it. Or, they quit being a cop and move on to something else where they can actually do good. And third ... they die. Those who actually went out of their way to protect people end up dead.

While the story was about a robot, its real focus was society and its systems. Of the people in charge and the real problems we face. Robots wear the face of their owners. The good are shoved aside in the pursuit of progress. Safety isn't the number one priority. Money, greed, power all become the focus, and that's why we suffer. Which, I'm sure you already know. This isn't anything new - and that's what a story written in 1942 proves. And stories before that - stories all the way back to before man could even write. So keep your eyes on the real enemy. Don't let their ploys blind you.

[sonicshipbattles]

Eggman Ship Tournament Nominations

He is the Eggman and he's looking for love! Not that our genius doctor needs anyone in his life, as certainly his glory is beyond compare! But now that he's embraced parenthood, it wouldn't hurt to have someone around the egg-bases to help out with a few lesser tasks. That's why, our esteemed doctor is leaving it to the minions of the eggnet to debate who'll be worthy of his love! ...Or that's the flavour text, anyway. Now, onward to the actual tournament:

Our second tournament will be to figure out which is the most popular ship on tumblr dot com that features Dr. Eggman himself. This tournament is open to any version of the character from any media, not just game Eggman, so if you have a burning AoStH Robotnik ship in your heart, submit that, too!

This tournament will be done based on your submissions (plus a few ships that I like and want to include, but I'm holding off mentioning them because I'm curious to see how many nominations they'll get on their own)

Some house rules for submissions and the tournament in general:

Most importantly: BE NICE. No bashing of any ship will be welcomed. Use your propaganda to uplift your own ship, not put down others

Any Eggman (or Robotnik) ships from any media is welcome - be it the games, comics, cartoons or anything else

Only ships including the character Dr. Eggman will be accepted (e.g. Eggman/Starline, Robotnik/Agent Stone, etc.). Ships for other characters in the series that do not involve Eggman (e.g. Tails/Kit, Knuckles/Rouge, Amy/Tekno, etc.) will get their own tournaments later on. Submissions that do not follow this rule will be ignored

Submit as many ships as you want, but don't spam submit a single ship

No Eggman x OC ships. All of your OCs are great and we wouldn't want anyone's feelings hurt by seeing them knocked out :( For the sake of this tournament, an OC is a fan-made character that has never been used nor was created to be used in licensed Sonic media (So yes, you can submit cancelled character ships if any of those apply to Eggman)

We do accept crossover ships, but only with media that Sonic has officially crossed over with. Meaning stuff like Eggman/Dr. Wily and Eggman/Bowser would count, but Eggman/Dionysus would not count (as much as that breaks my heart). And yes, since people asked last time: characters included in Smash Bros. are fair game for crossovers. I may make posts asking for feedback on crossovers with franchises I'm less familiar with

Polycules are welcome

If you have a specific version of the ship that you like, specify what it is and this will be counted as separate to the general ship, e.g. Eggman/world domination (general) and Robotnik/world domination (SatAM) would be included as separate ships

Also, we didn't have a rule about this last time and honestly no one submitted ships that fell into this category, so it wasn't a problem, but I'm aware that the blog has more followers this time around, so I want to add that I won't be adding ships involving Eggman being paired with characters he sees as his kids (Sage, Metal Sonic). For other things I'm concerned might make folks uncomfortable, I'll run polls to gauge feedback to see if they'll be included or not. Like I said, I don't think this'll be an issue, but mentioning it just in case ANYWAY, that's the long list of rules done, so here's the submission form:

Submissions will be open until Saturday 27th May or until I feel we have enough to run a tournament. I don't expect this one will be as big as the Sonic one, so I might cap it at 16 or 32 ships, if we reach that many

[choctalksalot]

@tipsygnostalgy HELLO HI UH THIS IS AN INCOMPLETE VERSION. i snipped out some bits because im throwing down anxiety in.the ring even posting this. im frankly a little embarrassed i can't give everything tonight even what i have down as okay to upload is not my top form at all, im just really really excitedaaaa i'll probably reblog the lovers post with a complete version eventually, but for now this is the best thanks i can offer for the nigh lethal dose of dopamine you've shot into my skull.

apologies in advance for my verbosity it's chronic

im posting dirk's half first because i definitely talked too much on jake's. it's almost double the length. i think it's partially because ive chewed through dirk so much i can make it through a considerable amount of his sections without dissolving completely. and i'm impatient!

note: my interactions with philosophy are limited to the two month bonanza i spent when i was 14 which i barely remember due to my general memory issues because my philosophy teacher was shit at his job and i took matters into my own hands, and uh. dirkjake! and one character from one other fandom. yeah. i am a nerd who loves breaking shit down, i love information, and i love philosophy nonetheless but i am So unqualified to be doing any of this

entry 1:

can i scream? i'm screaming. out loud. in real life. holy two fucks and a half. what do i even say it's So Good. dirk could excuse his inadequacy with the minute comfort that the brother he idolizes is functionally perfect in a way he could never conceivably live up to be. everything is shattered when he meets a version of him who is on the same footing. Yes. i literally have a post typed up about it.

im copypasting a small segment here but it's so close to exactly what you said im almost unnerved. mostly excited tho i am SHAKING

the most devastating thing to know is that dave is just a guy. dave strider, 16 year old. human and flawed and still enough in ways dirk never could be. what he did for his team his friends the things dirk couldn't, he is made to serve and no matter how hard dirk tries he cannot live up to be the same because this is not his role.

words? words. that's so much many words.

this is not his class. he is doomed to be selfish, his thread is already in the tapestry and he falls right into the path no matter how much he fights it. what can be counted as him indirectly the plot was created at the service/detriment to himself (hal) and what is himself directly aiding his party is in fact orchestrated by other more helpful, more selfless people and he hates it so much.

YES IT'S EXACTLY THAT RIGHT THERE RIGHT RIGHT THERE dirk is so so So aware that he is selfish that he cannot help the people he cares about oh so deeply and the knowledge that dave on his own, after being hurt so much "more" than dirk direct abuse he was able to pull through, he was still enough. shit man !!!!!!!

funnily enough i think dirk might have been able to learned new skills to do with his classpect besides the passive narrative bend it has on everything he does to destroy. this is entirely theory but your classpect and your development with it helps you develop as a person. it's like a muscle if you think about it; the more you use it, the closer you get to its core, the more you learn to bend ithad he tried to use it (resisting the urge to say like dave did because that will stomp on the shattered pieces of my heart) i think he would have gotten a bit more control over his position in the narrative if it makes sense.

ironically, i think learning how to direct the destructice force his classpect gives him might have allowed him to get a hold on said narrative bending, and stop unintentionally wrecking shit. but doing Anything as a prince is the last thing dirk wants.

(god it's so tragic this theory is so tragic without it dirk was always doomed to the inevitable but with it he could have done better in his eyes nevermind that destruction of selves isn't always bad if you know how to direct it, see bgd @ aranea, but it literally requires him to take the path he's trying to hard to fight. you define how your classpect changes you. oh dirk.)

i think a lot about this if you can't tell

FUCK IM GETTING OFF TRACK. STOP OKAY CAN THE THEORIES FUCK.

[insert 2 paragraphs more of me screaming about the katana line hally lieu yeah]

entry 2:

HAL MY FAVOURITE KENTUCKY FRIED FUCKER HELLOOOO HELLO OOHOHOGO

god my old hyperfixation on deep learning models is coming back to bite me in the jungular. delightful slash gen

dirk does love his control mhmm mhmm god im gonna go dig up that picture my friend sent me once one sec

that's who he wants to be. so badly

he Hates not understanding shit prides himself on being the (im quite sure it's part of how he gauges his use. he has a very utilitarian view on it. being the one to pull the strings thus being useful by virtue of organizing their success. proceeds to eat gcatshit trying)

i think a part of why dirk insists so fucking much that hal is Not him and Not alive could be one of two 2 reasons, beyond the already tangled pumpkin patch of conflict.

1) not taking credit for hal's contributions. the fact that hal has served the team without dirk's direct orders + dirk's objective pride about being the puppetmaster, he wouldn't want this tied to him

i doubt this one honestly, it's incoherently explained on its own because it's really late but also it just there's a lot of holes in the logic here. the second one breaks my heart a little:

2) if he accepts hal to be sentient, he has to accept he has created a new conscious person. he cannot cling to any notion that he did help his friends, he created an intelligent AI and that tool he made in turn was used to aid and guide his friends. he is still in control here. he still helped, he built that bot and it helped.

right?

[cutoff point 2. im rushing. im so sorry ajsjaj]

entry 3:

killing me

"He likes emotion, he likes people, he just wants to be completely perfect when interacting with them so that he’ll never lose them." YES. YES. YES YES YES yes okay yes exactly Yes

this is one of the things i headbutt against in dirk fandom stuff a lot (even borzoi's take once i think correct me if im wrong) it's the fact that i think dirk likes people. he's been alone his whole life yet he delights in dialectics and dialogue, he's socially awkward and introverted but he's not socially averse. i am not gonna let myself run over the hills and far away with this tangent but i am hushdhsj AAAAA

what he doesn't like is feeling inadequate interacting with people. he doesn't like being inadequate in general he reflects on his flaws near constantly and the biting reminder of his alternate selves' sins in the back of his mind doesn't help, but with people he Cares About interacting with them he does not like not knowing what to do, he does not like being unable to navigate these situations. he likes being human and experiencing emotions and connection and he hates the fact that it requires error to the trials, he just wants to be entirely logical while still having a metaphorical right brain totally not a big thing to ask for ahshdhskjrh[explodes]

AHAAAAA SISYPHUS YYYES YES YRS EYSBEYDHHWHEHSHEHD FUCK YES oh man i am much more a theatrical literature person so this is ringing off bells in the wrong direction than intended but im reading reading reading chewing

"upon facing the question of the absurd in the fullest extent, one can either choose to kill themselves or make a ‘reply.’" hogh

two roads: become god, or kill yourself. jesus fuck that's a screwed up twitter thread if ive seen one. and of course he picks the secret third option: Both. absolute DiStri Moment™

fuckitweballkind that's joining my regular vocabulary holy shit your language is amazing

this feels like an extension of dirk's dilemma between subjective experience with objective control; coming to grapple with the unpredictability of his absurdist existence and his solution being to take control of the narrative entirely. i feel like there are a lot more dots i could connect here. i will sleep on this

[addition i feel is important even though it has minimal connection as of right Now:

roxykisser put out something about classpects and the ult self being the literal narrative very recently and how they tie into the narrative and it's That it's that. my take is partly influenced by past fandoms but it has always ruined me that in order to god tier, quite literally, you're killing the person you were before the embrace the narrative role. you the actor are giving up your freedom to the performance, and the closer you get to your classpect the more you embrace the narrative. in return, you gain more flexibility and control in said narrative, more ways to use your classpect. to become the ult self is to become the role. you kill the person, you become the role, but at the cost of your self, your mind may be driven by the consciousness of an amalgamation of every You, but your core is now your role.

im incorporating and altering this with my consumption]

really hope this is like at least mildly entertaining i have no idea what im doing but!!!! I Am So Abnormal About Everything i love this i love you i love love this so Much

[samglyph]

If you want a space to rant about ST season 4 and its horror flaws I would love to hear your thoughts---i just rewatched seasons 1 and 2 so I'm in the thinking about it mode

Ohhhh I’m vibrating with all I have to say but I’m going to stick to the horror flaw theme and leave out most of my other non horror related thoughts. Ok so starting off: I actually like most of the first three seasons of Stranger Things. I think season 3 is flawed in a lot of ways but there’s enough that I like there that it’s watchable for me. I know a lot of people feel differently so I’m just putting that out there first.

Season 4 starts strong. The first episode? Good! The dnd/basketball scene? Fantastic! The scene with Eddie and Chrissy? Adorable, great character building. I think one of the strengths of this show has always been the acting, especially from the younger actors, and I think that remains true. And in terms of horror, Chrissy’s death scene is super spooky.

Episode 2 is where it falls apart. The reason I said ‘horror rule number 1’ is because while it might not be a general hard and fast rule (there are plenty of things that don’t do it and are still good and scary), it’s generally accepted, especially in creature features (which ST TECHNICALLY IS) that you shouldn’t show off your creature right away. Jaws? You don’t see the shark until the climax. The Thing? You see people transform and mutate early enough, but you don’t see the full spider body horror monstrosity until well through the film. And Stranger Things season 1 does this perfectly; people are taken/killed left and right, but aside from a blurry photo we don’t see the demigorgon until the LAST EPISODE. Now, yes this is often done for budget reasons, but it’s a good technique! Not being able to see what you’re running from makes it scarier. Showing us Vecna in the second episode? His whole body? With his tentacles? It’s a cool shot sure, but it’s unnecessary and immediately makes him less scary. He’s just a weird dude! They’re trying to do like. Power scaling. But it doesn’t connect well to prior seasons and the world building is really finicky at best.

I know it’s season four and they’re trying to explain stuff because we’re coming to the end of the show and they want to wrap up the mystery, but here’s a thought: sometimes things…. Should stay mysteries. The upside down, as a concept, is very cool and scary, and in trying to explain it they just opened more cans of worms and it’s still a mystery but now it’s almost more fantasy/eldritch sci fi then the grounded sci fi that it was and so some of the believability falls away. Also adding magic glowing dust is a retcon and ridiculous we know that’s not how the lights work. And I LIKE alien eldritch horror ok you know that but that’s not what stranger things IS it shouldn’t BE HERE. Also making your villain just the “weird spooky probably neurodivergent child” trope? Don’t like it, I think they could have had Henry find a small portal to the (already existing I don’t think El should’ve made it) upside down and that corrupted him and mind controlled him and given him some base power (kinda like Will in season 2) would’ve worked just as well, but that’s just an idea.

Another issue with the horror: it’s rushed! Why is Max’s Possession scene in episode 4! It shouldn’t be there! It’s a great scene, but it’s WAY to great and climactic to be happening BEFORE THE MIDPOINT OF THE SEASON? There’s another climax with max but it almost feels less important despite the fact that she basically dies. AND WITH BARELY ANY OF THE CAST THERE? That’s a separate issue but really quick: horror partially comes from the awareness of the characters, and then the audience being aware of the characters awareness. Either the character is aware of the horror which can create stress, (ie. Watching Will in season 1 as he tries to avoid the monster in episode 1) or the character is unaware (shouting ‘he’s right behind you! In scream) which can also create stress. But in the latter section, the film/tv show/whatever has to emphasize that lack of awareness. Meaning if for instance, one of your best friends is about to die, and you’re a MAIN CHARACTER and you have NO IDEA, it might behoove the writers to nod to that somehow to twist the knife a bit. Like El is so important in the second Max climax but isn’t even remotely important in the first scene. Cmon. But that’s just my opinion and a little off topic anyway also the Russia stuff slows down the plot and I don’t care about it and they used a nazi prison and then tried to monetize it as a hotel experience Ls all the way down.

Tldr a lot of the horror was ruined because things were rushed/shown to early and overcomplicated. Something needed to be cut so that other things could flourish.

This is no where close to all my thoughts on season 4, trust me I’ve got a whole like. PowerPoint/video essay locked in here and also I have a head cold right now so apologies if this isn’t coherent. Or if I’m wrong I’m not watching the season again to check.

[bluegekk0]

So how exactly did Zote get into this AU? I feel like I see him in quite a bit of the artwork. I feel like none of the pale family wouldn't want to be around him, so is he just there and they can't get rid of him or is he like the one family member they all like to bully?

Well, if there's anything that brings together the family, it's trauma and emotional damage. And yes, Zote is extremely unpleasant, but I do believe there are things in his past that made him push everyone away and act like a jerk. And deep down, he's just as hurt as everyone else in the AU.

This might be a long one cause I also want to get into how each family member sees him, as I rarely get the chance to talk about Zote.

I guess I'll start with his past. I'm aware that he's 100% meant to be a joke character in the game, that much is clear from his portrayal, dialogue and his role in the game. But I think if you read into some of his precepts, they paint a pretty interesting picture. And yes, I'm also aware that he lies about himself all the time, but some of those are way too specific in my opinion. I'll start in the order of the precepts since that's how I wrote them down.

"Laughter spreads like a disease, and soon everyone is laughing at you." - sounds to me like he has some experience with being bullied. Looking at his fighting skills, or lack thereof, I don't think it's that unreasonable to think he would be a laughing stock for his peers.

"The past is painful, and thinking about your past can only bring you misery." - this one is a lot more vague, but it's clear that he doesn't have fond memories of his past.

"You can rely on nobody, and nobody will always be loyal." - if this is his mindset, it would explain why he's so unpleasant to everyone. He doesn't trust them, perhaps out of fear that they'll bully and make fun of him?

"Mothers Will Always Betray You" and "Fathers believe that because they created us we must serve them and never exceed their capabilities." - these two are, in my view, the heart of the problem. The way I interpret it, he was seen as a disappointment by his father, who wanted to control his life, and his mother did nothing to defend him. If you feel like not even your own parents value you, it's only reasonable that you'd grow bitter towards everyone. And in his case, he also deluded himself into thinking that he's better than what he's perceived as. Not the most healthy coping habit, for sure.

"Do not linger in the nest. There is nothing for you there." - and it's not surprising that you'd get the hell out of your home as soon as you could.

"If someone asks forgiveness of you, for instance a brother of yours, always deny it." - yeah, makes sense that he wouldn't want to forgive them. The brother here is most likely just an example, but maybe there's more to it than that?

I may be looking too hard into a meme character, but I really like the idea of him being an outcast that decided to cope with his trauma by being incredibly unpleasant and pushing everyone away. And it only makes sense that he'd find family in another group of outcasts that all cope with their own issues.

Now, I also want to mention that I don't see him as an old man like a lot of people call him. To me, he's probably in his species' equivalent of 20s. So still quite young, and thus with a lot of potential to heal and become a better person, which is an arc he goes through in the au. Albeit slowly, i mean, it's Zote after all.

---

As for how the rest of the family sees him:

Holly is their closest friend, so i'll start with them. Before Vyrm moved to Dirtmouth, they didn't have any familiar face that would talk to them. They desperately wanted someone to acknowledge their presence, and being talked to was, to them, exactly what they needed. Hornet was still very distant, she didn't really speak a lot, and in general it felt like she ignored them. Grimm, while much more open to conversations, was busy - at that point, he and the Troupe were still slowly preparing to go elsewhere to finish the interrupted ritual. So Holly had to find what they were looking for elsewhere - and it just so happens that a very talkative bug was right there, in the town. Of course, he was only talking about himself and lying through his teeth, but Holly didn't mind that. plus, they related to his wish to love up to his father's expectations. And over time, the pair became good friends, to the point that even Zote began to act a bit less unpleasant towards them. He wasn't used to having friends, so it was definitely a struggle for him.

Hornet hated him at first. He was irritating, simply put. She responded to him with mean things, which would often end in arguments between the two. But as time passed, and Zote became a honorary part of the family, her attitude changed a little - makes sense, she does soften a bit over the course of the AU. Their current dynamic is a bit sibling like. Well, the kind where one bullies the other, but is equally as defensive if anyone else tries to do the same. They still bicker all the time, it's inevitable as their personalities clash with each other, but there is a degree of understanding between them. Hornet can see through his lies easily, and relates to his wish to push everyone away as a response to trauma.

Vyrm, similarly, can also relate to some parts of Zote's past, mainly the desire to live up to his parents' expectations and to prove himself. But at the same time, he does find Zote's rambling to be a bit much. He tolerates his presence and even acts friendly towards him, and he definitely sees him as a member of the family, but they're not very close. Zote is a bit afraid of him since he was the one who first found him in Greenpath, and he can't get rid of the mental image of Vyrm covered in blood, ripping an animal to shreds. Especially since he's right about the size of what Vyrm usually hunts.

Grimm sees Zote as entertaining. He doesn't exactly bully him, that's not his style and he does feel pity towards him, but he enjoys hearing him make stuff up about various things. His tales from his travels are particularly amusing to Grimm, as they're almost always completely made up. Grimm likes to "fact-check" him, which usually ends in Zote struggling to keep his narrative and giving up. But since he's part of the family, it means Grimm is still protective of him. Even if Zote himself finds him unsettling and is afraid of being left alone with him hahaha

I love the idea of Zote finally accepting that there might still be family he could belong to, he spent all those years thinking he's better than that, but deep down he really needed to be a part of one. It just so happens that he got "adopted" by a bunch of traumatized freaks, but maybe that's exactly the kind of family he needed

[sunrayse]

Can one seriously be a true Tolkien fan AND a lover of the Halbrand/Galadriel dynamics in TROP?

I have been a hardcore fan of Tolkien's work for 20 years and especially enjoyed the feast of mythology that is the Silmarillion. So I'm fully aware that TROP took (too) many liberties from the lore and disregarded its time/space framework, almost as if it were a different story than that Tolkien wrote. And I don't want to delve into the polemics of what could have been done differently with the Appendixes material they owned the rights to.

What really interests me here is that much of the dynamics between Galadriel and Halbrand/Sauron, though not being in the canon/lore, stems from issues that were present there, except they lacked any romantic undertones. Galadriel has actually been fighting Sauron in her mind for centuries, and this must have started somewhere.

TROP gave its own interpretation of one of these possible starts, and as far as these two characters are concerned, it doesn't bother me. One can love the lore and at the same time enjoy an interesting, new take to two powerful characters, that creates something new with them. Is it a fanfic-like move? Yes. Is it disrespectful towards Tolkien? Arguable.

The question would then be, to what extent is fan-fiction disrespectful? Are some works to be shielded by it, up in their ivory tower to prevent "tainting"? I mean, has anyone ever created a fanfiction on the Divine Comedy? (I t'd be soooo fun if they had!). Where are we to draw the line between literature and creativity?

In the end, a work of art such as LOTR will not be tainted by any faulty rendition. If one truly loves it for what it is, and especially strip it of any religious/ideologocal layer that was quite far from Tolkien's intentions, a series such as TROP changes nothing. One will always have to go back to the book, and the book alone (possibly in the indescribably beautiful English of the original), to find the real LOTR, as all adaptations (and even translations) involve some degree of distancing from the source material.

Back to the two of them, then.

I personally think the screenplayers knew very well what they were doing in colouring the interactions between Halbrand and Galadriel with not-so-subtle romantic shades. The fact that the actors label it as an interpretation from the audience, I can understand, but if so many people caught these undertones, it's no longer an interpretation, it's simply the audience's ability to catch on the non-verbal cues, one that we almost all possess. The light, the music, the proximal distance, the cut of scenes, and, even the way the actors delivered some lines at the physical level are all cues. They cannot possibly have been ALL dropped there by chance.

So, the romantic possibility of the connection is there to be, if not seen, at least perceived in a tangible way, although never confirmed. This was, cynically speaking, a bold but intelligent move. Proof is the 130 and counting fanfics that sprouted in less than two weeks from the last episode's airing (some of them remarkably well-written).

The heroine/villain and (unacknowledged)lovers-to-enemies tropes are too powerful not to be used by a show which hundreds of millions of dollars have been poured in. In doing so, they opened up new and interesting territories to explore, that make it more entertaining for a consistent faction of fandom.

I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed the opening of a space in which two such characters might be bound to experience something akin to love that has no time enough to bloom, but that will potentially loom in the back of their minds for millennia, charging their conflict with a rich array of complex emotions, a connection beyond time and space.

Even knowing full well how doomed such a romance is, its ability to inspire amazing levels of creativity is undeniable, and as such, it can be welcomed without subtracting anything to a more traditional enjoyment of the Tolkienian lore in all its fantastic richness.

The LOTR's author loved stories, after all.

[primnroses]

The poll is void and it makes no sense because people aren't following the rules they just want sakura out of it and tell us we're cheating when everybody is cheating equally.

The poll is only being followed suit in Japan. Look at the Top 10 results:

Check the list yourself at the bottom of the page in the official poll website.

And now look at the third databook's poll collecting all the previous manga votes in one single result:

This is the real page of the poll to demonstrate I'm not making this up:

The Top 6 is very similar except that instead of Kakashi, the top character is now Itachi; Iruka has left the Top 10 and he's currently 17th, also he switched with Minato; and Sasuke is below Sakura right now.

Also, Kakashi is still the most voted character in Japan just as usual.

I find it normal that neither Rock Lee, Neji Hyūga and Iruka Umino are in the Top 10 anymore because they have gradually lost popularity from being dead or absent in the current line, but they're all in the Top 20 and overall popular.

Other than that, the pattern is the same. Japan has demonstrated to be the only country that is voting for their favorite characters and not for a character to win a spin-off.

Also, I've repeated this so many times but I'll do it again: A spin-off from Kishimoto is only to motivate fans to participate in the poll. It's a reward for the fans of the most voted character, just like the 20 illustrations will be a reward for the 20 most voted characters.

About the alleged cheating, I think everybody is using bots and they're using them for nothing. The official site posted the rules when the poll started.

*Votes are limited to one per person per day. Using multiple devices to vote more than once is prohibited.

*Any votes that are a result of fraudulent practices or that are deemed erroneous will become void.

*The user will be responsible for any data fees incurred.

And THEN after the first Midterm, they posted this again to clear any doubts:

The original tweet.

The Japanese profile also tweeted the same thing.

The original tweet.

So YES they are fully aware of the bots and fraudulent votes, that's why they created a system to fight them.

I may also add that the poll is tracking your IP and your cookies at all times. It tracks the IP of the device you use to vote and the IP of your internet connection which you can't hide.

They're aware of everything. A while ago some users, including me, couldn't share their votes on Twitter and the official page tweeted about it telling us to deactivate ad-blockers and that they'd fix the issue. This is the tweet.

Believe me, a bunch of anime fans won't troll a system with professionals checking every single vote.

Why is Sakura more popular than Sasuke? In Japan she's one place higher and tat surprised me. I might be wrong, but on Twitter, I always find that Sakura merch is always sold out the first so it might have something to do with that. In the West, they're not voting enough or they're switching their votes to other characters.

Sakura's fandom has many collaborations with artists and kpop fans, on top of being one of the most organized and devoted anime fandoms. We're voting every day and encouraging the fandom to vote every day if they forget. Sakura Haruno has always been popular.

The anime community will always fight Sakura Haruno like she's some kind of obscure and malign force that needs to be eradicated for the sake of mankind, or that she doesn't have any fans that could rise her position in the poll. It won't matter how many times the official page has to say that they filter all the bots, the anime community is illiterate and will continue saying we're cheating because they're trying to convince themselves and trying desperately to prove their own point.

If the west wants to stop voting for their real favorite character to vote for those character that will inevitably ensure Sakura Haruno doesn't peak, be my guest. That's the real cheating for me.

Just as always it's Anime Community vs Sakura Haruno.

I'm happy with Minato winning although he has never been a fan favorite in Japan (and I'm not sure how popular he was in the West before), it's the result of people thinking there will be a backstory for him despite never been said.

I'm happy with Kakashi because he is, and will always be, a fan favorite. He's been popular since day 1 and even if he got a complete story of his life and 2 novels, the poll says "vote for your favorite" and Kakashi is a favorite. Same with Itachi or Naruto.

People don't want to vote for Naruto because "you know the story is called Naruto right we're tired of him" and that's not the point AGAIN vote for the one you like the most. I find all that a bigger cheating problem because it's straight up ignoring the point of the poll and I'm sure they won't do it anymore. Vote for your favorite character ALWAYS.

To sum up: Bots are void. Every fandom is cheating and for nothing because those practices are nullified. Support your favorite character.