#anyways self inserts are fun and everyone should have one

[spidey-555]

Things I hope the devs of CotL don't do, but a part of me feels like they'll do anyways (or might already be doing):

Revive Ratau if we chose to sacrifice him. Like I said on a previous post, it would invalidate the weight of our decision, and would open the floodgates of "can we undo other heinous actions we do?" If yes, then why should we care about the events of the game if they can all just be undone?

Make the bishops so unlikable and unsympathetic to the point where the audience ceases to care about them. I know they already aren't the most likable characters due to their abrasive personalities (excluding Shamura), but people still find them tragic, so taking away that would just be the nail in the coffin. Unfortunately, this one already seems to be happening, if the description for the graphic novel is anything to go by.

Make Narinder seem like the good guy or otherwise have the story take a side in the whole "sealing of the one who waits" debacle. This kind of ties in when the previous bullet point (especially with the "already happening in the graphic novel" thing), but if they did this, it would feel like they're just pandering to the Narilamb fans by having the story bend over backwards for it.

Have the Lamb be this flawless, unstoppable, and perfect being who everyone (except bad people) loves and will never lose ever. This one is kind of self explanatory. If the devs decide to go this route, then I feel many people would cease caring about the conflicts if this game. After all, if the Lamb can't lose ever, then what's the point of caring about any the conflicts in this game of the Lamb? I will admit that this one is more of a "me" thing than anything else

Cure the bishops of their disabilities. Heal the injuries, sure, but not the disabilities, please. In my opinion, it would be very ableist to do this, as it would imply that the only way for the bishops to be truly happy is them being cured of their disabilities.

Have there be a "canon" interpretation of the Lamb. At the end of the day, the Lamb is a player-insert character, and the fun about those characters is that they can essentially be anyone and can have many interpretations. Making a "canon" Lamb would take away the fun of those characters. This ties into the other Lamb related bullet point somewhat.

Have the Fox and Midas become followers once we beat them. This is assuming we fight them at all, of course. This one is also very opinionated. I feel like getting them as a follower would be bad because it would A) imply they have a chance at redemption and personally I like the fact that we have at least 2 villains we can just hate (here's hoping to more!) B) let us treat them however we want, which means they could not get the punishment they deserve. And before someone says that you can do the same with the bishops (the whole "not getting the punishment they deserve" thing), they already suffered in purgatory, which counts as punishment imo.

Rely too much on toilet and "naked people are funny" humor. This one is another opinionated one. Personally, I'd prefer if we got more character-based humor (hell, maybe some surreal humor as well) than humor that only a child would laugh at. I do want to post this one on the suggestions channel, but I'm afraid of the backlash.

I'll probably add more onto this when it comes to mind

[lyneira]

♡ your one and oni big himbo boyfriend ♡

-> headcanons of itto as your boyfriend!

arataki itto x fem!reader

You're a real trooper if you end up dating Itto because he's gonna become your big baby once you two are together. The ironic thing about this is that he'll often call you, "baby". But clearly, between the two of you, you know who the real baby is.

He's gonna be really handsy on you, not necessarily in a sexual way all the time. Whether it's having his hand on top of your head, around your waist, on your thigh, or especially having his hand in yours, he always wants to feel the warmth of your skin on his. It reassures him that you're there with him, for him, and that someone loves him. While he might boast that "everyone loves him" or that "if they don't love him already, they should", but with you, it's different. It's meaningful and most of all, true. And he knows that just as he's always gonna be there for you, so will you always be there for him.

He will also love using your chest as a pillow, no matter what size it is. The warmth and softness of it and hearing the sound of your heartbeat soothes him. Therefore, he'd love being the little spoon when cuddling despite how humongous he is. Just hold him tight and run your fingers through his silver hair as he nuzzles his face into your chest, and he will be the happiest oni in all of Teyvat. I told you he'd be a big baby.

On the other hand, he's gonna be all melodramatic whenever you get upset or angry with him (over something minor). He'll whine and cry to the other Arataki gang members like,

"AKIRA, WHAT DID I DO WHERE DID I GO WRONG?!?! WHY DOES Y/N HATE ME?!?!"

"Well, Boss...you did break her [favorite item] trying to catch that onikabuto..."

"IT HAD TO BE DONE, AKIRA!! SEE?! I STILL WON THE MATCH WITH THAT SPECIAL ONIKABUTO AND EVEN OFFERED TO SHARE MY REWARDS (aka snacks and candy) WITH HER. I DON'T KNOW WHY SHE'S STILL MAD"

"..."

"...I'd recommend saying sorry and getting her a new one...good luck, Boss"

Itto does try to make it up to you. He'll search all over the place to find an item that could replace the one he broke. He won't stop searching because he believes that you'll never forgive him if he doesn't find it. After enough searching and when you finally do forgive him, he'll pounce on you, suffocating you with the biggest hug while crying, "Y/N I'M SORRY!! I LOVE YOU"

Other than that, Itto will be your BIGGEST hype man, even if it's in the most annoying way. Any insecurities or low self-esteem that you have will have to perish when he's around. He's always boosting himself up, so why wouldn't he also boost up his woman? He's going to try to show you off to everyone. Like, he'd go out waving a picture of you to those on the street, saying "Have you seen this girl?" and whether they say yes or no, he'll then say, "Well now you have and your eyes have been blessed. Be grateful!"

Or even when you're fighting against some enemies and Itto is just cheering you on from the sidelines, he'll look to the other Arataki gang members and be like "LOOK AT HER!! LOOK AT MY BEAUTIFUL GIRLFRIEND!! ISN'T SHE SO BADASS?!" Poor Akira, Genta, and Mamoru have to endure this, "Yes, we know boss..."

You'll have to tell him to calm down, for their sake and your own because sometimes Itto will be putting too much of your business out there. When talking to strangers and you're right next to him, he'll suddenly go, "Anyway, did you know my girlfriend can [insert special activity] and do [insert other activity]? Isn't she amazing?! That's why she's mine, because amazing and amazing go well together", he'll grin.

a/n: tbh itto is so fun to write about! I absolutely love himbos, LOL. Anyway, I'll be writing some nsfw hcs of him as your boyfriend soon!

© 2023 lyneira. PLEASE DO NOT COPY, PLAGIARIZE, OR REPOST MY WRITING ONTO OTHER PLATFORMS

[rancidrubysoho]

i think the fact that June Egbert as a character is like. in some ways a deconstruction of the "self-insert protagonist" as a trope (i.e. "the protagonist of your story has very few unique individual traits beneath the surface, in theory so the audience can relate to them no matter what, but now they as a person are hollow and apathetic because they aren't much of anything at all") makes the fact that to this day a sizable chunk of the fandom still treats her as just a blank canvas to project onto both really funny and really irritating.

and i don't mean projection in a fun headcanon-y way, that doesn't matter at all. i think the Crockerberts are Polish/Irish-American because i'm Polish/Irish-American and they remind me a lot of myself and my family. that's normal. that's fine. everyone does that to every character and it's cool and good.

i mean like. you guys do realize June has a character arc and traits of her own, right? you do realize that you can read the comic and see the things she does and how she reacts to the world around her and extrapolate an actually complex and interesting character from that, right??? you don't have to just make up a new character and call her June, you do know that, right???????

she doesn't spend the entire comic just doing what she's told by Rose, Terezi, and Vriska for no reason! that's thematic! it's showing that she exercises no agency over her own life and will just go with whatever she's told!!! that's a character trait!!! she barely reacts to the deaths of all of her fucking friends and treats the entire scenario where everyone she's ever known and loved is dead like it's just a mild annoyance! because she's aloof and apathetic!! that's a character trait!!! that's a way that she actually is in the fucking comic!!!!

That One Fic that i won't name (because it feels weird and mean-spirited to directly shit on fanworks in a way that the like. author could see and read. if i wouldn't say it to their face i won't say it behind their back) has absolutely ruined how people view June. you're throwing out an incredibly well-developed and interesting character arc just to replace her with an OC, and nine times out of ten that OC is just another character anyway!!!!!! you're just replacing June with someone that's standing right next to her in the scene!!!!!!!!

i think June mimicking the people around her, trying to act in a way they expect from her, is an incredibly important character trait that reflects so much about who she is and what she represents in Homestuck. that does not mean you should just turn her into Vriska 2. there's enough Vriska 2's. we're at like Vriska 10: Vriska Takes Manhattan or something at this point.

[corviiids]

THANKS @kimdokjafan you are so kind and generous. ok im cashing in the first of three blank checks to talk about faith trust and pixie dust (most recent chatfic) because the last two directors commentaries were too serious so let's do a silly one.

some p5r spoilers, and this is mostly about sumire, and it's long again. do i need to keep disclaiming that these are long? you should know me by now.

i had this written for a while before i started formatting it because i wasn't really sure if i should post it? i feel like silly chatfic is something people go to for predominantly lighthearted nonsense so i was like, maybe there's too much plot and dramatic misunderstanding and i should just keep this one for myself. but then i was like well nothing matters and maybe someone will have fun with it. it's kind of terrible how much fully or mostly completed fic there is my docs that just doesn't see the light of day lol. write for yourself etc but i like sharing! too bad it comes with the mortifying ordeal etc. anyway that was a tangent

potato counter is a neopets game. there's no deep lore i just like neopets. i guess in this universe ryuji doesn't play neopets? or maybe he's just never played potato counter specifically. i also have a different fic where ryuji DOES play neopets. it's about neopets and ryuji and goro talking on neopets.

i think this might literally be the first time ive written sumi in a fic because i haven't actually written that much fic for royal, like, now that im looking, literally almost none? and none that had a group dynamic. so it was kind of fun to find her voice for the first time in a silly groupchat like this. i was worried people would find her exclamation marks annoying but i personally thought it was endearing so i added it in there.

every time i do a gag where a character corrects their own typo i have to code more stupid little bubbles to make it happen but i think it's worth it. all the effort that goes into making tgis look as much like a real chat as possible

this obviously doesnt take place in the canon p5/r universe, but im imagining sort of a postcanon sumi personality where she's more comfortable being herself and isn't borrowing kasumi's brand of confidence, but she's visibly a really anxious person without that kasumi veneer. i also think in this universe sumire is a fairly recent addition to the friend group, and while everyone likes her a lot and she really likes them, i kind of wanted to emphasise that feeling of being in a friend group where everyone's established and you're sort of a plus-one? you don't really fit yet. part of that is her being new, part of it is her anxiety, part of it is just the kind of person sumi is where she's so polite and self-conscious she ends up taking herself out of things with her own good intentions. stuff like her interrupting the flow of an existing conversation by greeting everyone instead of jumping straight in because she doesn't feel comfortable inserting herself, which means everyone else stops to greet her even though that doesn't normally happen in a friend group, or making a point of thanking everyone for being invited to events while the others take it as a given.

idk i love that she feels a bit out of place with the phantom thieves in p5r. and part of that is a natural consequence of being a new addition in royal who can't be naturally integrated with an existing dynamic but i honestly feel like the writing team realised that and acknowledged it, and really leaned into it, and that made it work incredibly well for me. like, it's part of her character that she's sort of an outsider. it's not like p4g's incredibly clumsy integration of marie and subsequent attempt to shove her down everyone's throat as the canon love interest in p4ga (knife). sumi has that outsider vibe on purpose and it makes me really like her dynamic with the thieves as an individual

goro also feels slightly out of place in these chats, but his conversational style blends more naturally with the other thieves at this point and he even uses their codenames sometimes. i keep saying my chatfic series isn't a real Series because the lore keeps changing, but if we accept that they're all kind of following a General Continuity, assume this takes place some time after the last fic in which ren added goro to the groupchat and they made an effort to integrate him into their friend group. he's kind of there now and has settled into being the weird boyfriend. that's his role.

every time goro says something like "ren and i" assume it's the text equivalent of him talking to the group with his arm around ren's waist.

ok i got really fond of this silly running joke where sumi brings up the weather when she's feeling uncomfortable. she's so polite. i like this thread because setting it up meant i got to tie it off like this:

this just made me happy lol i liked writing this. i tried to use it to demonstrate that despite goro's abrasiveness he obviously knows sumire pretty well, he's attuned to her quirks and knows how to tell when she's having a bad time with her anxiety, so he uses her little weather habit to ground her.

i honestly dont think goro and sumire could be considered close in p5r and as much as i like the "royal trio" in canon they're not really... like... friends? with each other? they're both attached to ren, so it' more a V shape than anything else. but that said, i really LIKE goro and sumi's canon dynamic. he takes a really grouchy but politely attentive supervisory role to her during their few forays into the palace as a trio where he doesn't really know her well but clearly identifies her as a harmless little tryhard who needs some guidance and steps into that role grudgingly, and she immediately looks up to him despite being very wrong footed by his ruthlessness, which i find incredibly charming. i think given time they could be good friends, they just didn't get much chance to know each other very well in canon. so i tried to kinda do that here.

once goro stops being evil and joins the group they all kind of tiredly accept that his role is to occasionally push a cup off a bench while smirking and refuse to clean it up. emotionally, i mean.

wait i need to backtrack chronologically to talk about akeshu.

in this scene they're in the same room lol talking and snickering while typing. im trying to get at that vibe of the annoying couple who is flirting with each other, via you. you know? like ostensibly they're talking to you (sumire) but everything they say to you is part of their stupid game. sumi is incidental to goro and ren teasing each other about flirting with someone else, goro is reporting everything ren says because his boyfriend is so eye-rollingly foolish in a cute way. they're very tickled by how amusing and charming they are. gross. disgusting. sumire im so sorry for putting you through this

anyway here are too many of my favourite jokes from the fic

[lilith-little-world]

Okay, just a little idea cause I'm bored and I got the urge to do something and was scrolling through my feed here.

I want to do a comic of Wukong x Oc or maybe a Wukong x Oc x Macaque.

(who's secretly a half-self-insert, but I'm cringing from embarrassment just thinking about it. But like my account is already of me obsessing over a fictional character, I think I already went past NOT being cringe and should be 100% embarrassed.)

I want to draw more and need to practice drawing backgrounds and things that I'm not obsessing over. Should I do a little comic of "The Isekai' Oracle"? Or do I make a whole new story? I already have one huge story "The Isekai'd Oracle" that I'm heavily focusing on right now. Then there's the small and just-for-fun "I Saw You Once In A Dream" that I do so I can post regularly here and not let it be dead. It's already a lot of stories and to add another is too much in my opinion but I don't mind making another story since this will be just for fun too. I like making stories after all. I just want to see everyone's opinion on this.

Also when I went over my notes for the story, and planning soon-to-be chapters for TIO (The Isekai'd Oracle.) I realize I accidentally created some tension between Macaque and the reader. But the tension and relationship is so good and I thought of changing it to a Sun Wukong x Reader x Macaque. I even made a cute name for them the Seer Duo, or what the reader will call them, the Seeing Buddies in the story. Then Macaque will always have to clarify that he doesn't see the future and acts annoyed, but in reality, he likes the name and uses it as a form of encouragement and affection towards the Reader, only to make the hatred between Wukong and Macaque worse cause they both blame each other downfall of the Oracle and seeing history repeats itself with the reader, and he's probably the only one who knows the whole truth about the Oracle and the reader-

...

Sorry, I had to rant about it cause this knowledge was killing me. I was trying and hoping to play them off as being friends but the angst of everything got me in a chokehold. You guys were waiting for the Reader to meet Wukong but a storm is brewing when Macaque shows up. Anyway, here is the poll...

I promise I am fine and this is not eating me up from the inside out.

[cyberscratch]

'evil'/anti artstyle meme! inspired by excessive-moisture's post doing this same thing!!! i showed it to my friends and asked them to give out my own art traits and basically a list of things i should not do.

the result is this art style! soft colors, less purples, very round and soft, thin lines + no line weight, no trademark things like how i draw fur and mouths PLUS slightly different desighs to fit the style more! (for example spamton being drawn more like his shop sprite)

i drew several characters i'm known to draw a lot / mean a lot to me just to see them how different they are from when i draw them normally! HURTS to not have an oversaturated drawing, uegugh.... but coloring was the most fun part! i love working with colors! the worst part was the lineart because i got SO BORED. fun challenge anyway!

little explanations on each character under the cut since this is a multifandom + ocs post and i wanna short talk about my silly guys ever (my, what the kids call these days, blorbos,)

since this has multiple characters not everyone may be familiar with, here's a tiny bit of info on everyone

frostbite = my fursona! they're a bat / dragon mix. they're holding a mango! nothing much to say since they're just my sona. me, y'know?

spamton = you know him! it's spamton from deltarune chapter 2 !! he's a shopkeeper and a secret boss in the game where he appears in his 'NEO' form. he's based on scam e-mails and ads!

my freak of a son = toontown corporate clash oc - he's a goopy low baller that i call my son. or rather, toontown version of frostbite and i call him their son. regular frostbite as shown in this image and frostbite are separate. he was made using one of high roller's attacks.

scratch = my deltarune sona and self insert! they're the fourth member of sweet cap'n cakes. they're a dj! they're inspired by cat headphones, soundboards and karaoke machines! they're who this blog is named after :P

high roller = from toontown corporate clash! he is a cog 'manager' who only appears during a yearly event 'april toons'. she is a show host and a fusion of two characters ('dave brubot' and 'buck ruffler'). it's show is also the boss fight you fight when they're around!

cathal = full name cathal ray toby bravecog aka the multislacker, also from toontown corporate clash. he is a manager you can fight in-game after completing a set of 'kudos' tasks. they are the VP's son and are based on crt tvs! they're known for being 'lazy'.

blank = (full name blank b. addison) a deltarune oc for my big deltarune au named datapack au. he is an addison who got corrupted by a swatchling mask - which is a new concept introduced in my au. he used to sell movie related trinkets and was a stand-up comedian.

[cactusringed]

An essay justifying drawing characters fat should not have to exist, you're totally right and I think everyone should do whatever they want forever BUT I would love to hear your fat joel thoughts anyway they sound like they would be fun to read.

Even in this day and age of representation in media, fat characters are shockingly under represented. If I asked anyone right now to name fat characters who are 1. Important to a story's plot, 2. NEVER mocked in ANY WAY (whether overt or subtly) for their weight and 3. Whose storyline has nothing to do with their weight.... Well, let's just say that list would be depressingly short.

Whilst it isn't really our job to further representation with fucking Minecraft characters, I think it's always valuable to take that into account, take into account how much it could mean to other people, and how much one can learn.

Joel is a desirable man. One that is considered attractive and charming by several other characters (Lizzie, Jimmy, fucking Iskall now). He's also strong, skilled in combat, and absolutely fucking terrifying. He's capable. He has so many positive character traits so rare in fat characters. When was the last time you saw a fat character that would have people quake in their boots not because they wielded political or financial power (because the fat and rich aristocrat or mob boss is one of the only times we see fat people in power in media and it's never good, using their far as a representation of greed). It would just be such a refreshing portrayal? To have a fat person shown to be skilled, desirable, beautiful, strong? With a complex personality and psyche that does not revolve around their fatness?

But also to bring it to Joel very particularly, I say it all the time but like. His skin is based off Shrek. It USED to be shrek. And shrek is not just an empowerment to those who are seen as different, as not conventionally attractive - it's also very very importantly a fat empowerment. Shrek is fat. Fiona, as an ogre, is... Slightly thicker than as a human (insert grimace about the different expectations of beauty that even make their way into a movie made to combat that). And they're both recognized as valuable not just 'in spite' of that, but BECAUSE of that. Fiona's best, true self is as an ogre that I think was meant to be seen as fat. Shrek himself is definitely shown to be his best self as a fat ogre. Joel himself also fits the values of shrek so well - he's so damn honest and outwards to the point of rude bluntness, he lets his 'ugly side' shine. We all love to incorporate little Easter eggs and fanon headcanon into designs and so many people like to give Joel little shrek antennas to wink at his origins but imo it's kind of weak and has become a pet peeve of mine, which is funny considering the very first time I drew Joel he was also skinny w those antennas, but I think it's because I didn't really 'get' him. If you want to reference his origins as shrek you have to go further than that. You have to make him someone who is attractive, but not in a conventional sense, and who is not just okay with that but embraces it wholly. Or at least idk give him a bigger nose or just anything other than those little antennas. Like. You know. Giving him a body type similar to the character his skin is based off of. Gasps all around

But even without bringing the shrek origin up, like I said - Joel just really hits me as a character who could be empowering for us fatties and, further, I just think it fits his vibes so much more. He's such a force or nature, so utterly and wholly himself, so imposing and strong that to make his design fat, to me, enhances his traits so much more. Like it's just good character design. To me small, skinny Joel really does not encompass his personality and vibes as well. To each their own of course. But I wish more people took that into consideration. Took what fatness can give to your character design. Does that make any sense

[utterentropy]

Have you ever wanted to join a Discord server where the entire premise is just that you pretend you're a chronically online adolescent version of your favourite characters?

A server where there is no you, no anyone, no actual people talking about real sad people things in our sad people world, but rather just fictional characters during the prime angst age just chatting and posting about their lives in their respective worlds?

Where there is virtually no limit on what character you can play, so long as the media isn't like saying something bad is okay or one extremely niche fandom or one almost as niche character, where you can just act like you've always been that character (or well, as many as you'd like) in a Discord server, conversing about their life in a dystopia, or a world of anthropomorphic animals, or a magical school, or the apocalypse, or the empyrean ranges of a world of Gods, or a medieval wasteland, or something that makes absolutely no sense to have Discord and be obsessively on the internet but you don't care and we don't care and you make it work anyway?

Where all sensitive real life subjects are not to be discussed, and all server members remain mysterious and pretty much all of what you know of them is their silly little blorbos…

Oh yeah, also like everyone in the server so far are MASSIVE Rain World fans so Rain World characters are hugely encouraged.

But I should probably say what's not allowed first.

-Racism, sexism, transphobia, xenophobia, homophobia, religiophobia, ableism, sanism, all of this regardless of your reasoning.

-Com-shipping, people just generally aren't comfortable with it and I request you leave us be.

-TERFs, "MAP"/"NOMAP"s, Xenosatanism, right-wing

-Real life-venting (projecting through your character is allowed!) and discussion of serious real world topics (politics, mental illness, discourse, real world events, etc.)

-Cringe culture, we're all just havin' fun and there's no need to get onto us for being strange

What is allowed:

-Angst, fluff, comfort RPs, in-character arguments, and just casual, Discord-style chatting

-Sensitive topics for roleplay purposes (we'll tell you what needs to be spoiled) in a non-romanticised manner

-Any and all characters with very few exceptions (this means generally controversial fandoms, such as Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss, Dream SMP, Countryhumans, Eddsworld etc. are allowed, so if you're uncomfy interacting with those people I advise you steer clear)

-Those who identify as/with a fictional character roleplaying as the character they identify as (I find it might be very therapeutic for you)

-Self-inserts

-Self-shipping

-AUs of canon characters (I love AUs sm pls pls pls pls pls)

-Canon-divergence

-Characters that are absolutely horrible people (which the exception of sexually violent characters)

-Characters that don't really make sense to be on Discord but they are anyway, regardless on if there's a good reason or not

-Beginners of character-making/roleplaying

-Neurodivergent, queer, trans, alterhuman, etc. folks

Just remember, this is NOT a place to chit-chat and get to know people. This is a place to pretend you're a character on Discord and be very firm on that being who you are. It is EXTREMELY encouraged to only use the OOC channels if you wanna ask a question or for permission, or to DM someone in-character.

If you do decide to come, we'll be happy to have you!

We intend to have a very casual atmosphere so if like…… you argue a lot, or are a very blunt/mean/serious person then pls don't stop by

Please reblog this and spread this as much as you can!!! I wanna have a good time and have an escape for people through this little server :)

https://discord.gg/EeDEk3sz

[fruitytrollroll]

Hi I love your writing and LOVE the recent scarab/orbo fic you posted. I know with "shadow of the luminary" you said that it was cool for people to write sequels for it... I was just curious if that applied to "darkness drives the beetle to the bulb" too? But if so... would writing about the intern that appears in the middle of the fic (and then pairing them with Scarab) be okay? If not, that's totally okay (it is your work after all)!!! Thank you for writing such great fics and posting them!

thank you so much for this lovely message! you're too kind!! 🥰

and thank you for asking!! :D please, feel free! the blanket permission i gave for sequels extends to all my fic, really, but most emphatically to my completed fionna & cake works, including:

come out of your shell (prismo/scarab)

in the shadow of the luminary (nightmo/scarab)

the past is perpetual youth to the heart (wizmo/scarab, midquel to luminary)

when darkness drives the beetle to the bulb (orbo/scarab, sequel to luminary)

in fact, a wonderful sequel to "darkness drives the beetle to the bulb" was just published tonight: Growing Pains and Coffee Stains by mouseyblue! i got a sneak peak before it was published and CAN CONFIRM, it's VERY good!!! <33333333

anyway! as it happens, i spared the details on the intern in "bulb" SPECIFICALLY so people could imagine their OCs or self-inserts there, if they wanted. :3c so i'm delighted to hear that possibility piqued your interest! bonus points for understanding the "assignment", hehehe <3 if you check the "inspired by" box and add a link to my fic, I'll approve the association so they can link to each other <3

honestly, I'm really enjoying doing fic this way lately? that is, not making formal sequels with the AO3 series function, but using the "inspired by" function for my own fic too, so that both my fic and others' can share equal "legitimacy" as follow-up reading experiences from the fic they were inspired by! none of us owns these properties anyway, so why not have fun with it??? i love to construct a beautiful sandbox for everyone to play in together <3

i should get an email notification immediately if a fic is posted that's "inspired" by one of mine (unless it's posted to an anonymous AO3 account, for whatever reason...), but please feel free to let me know you've posted it here, or on any of my other socials, too!

thank you again for your lovely message, and happy writing!

[mooshorange]

It's time for the post long awaited by nobody, my little look into what Hyde actually is. This post ties rather nicely into my other one on Jekyll's reliability as a narrator in the book's final chapter so if that takes your fancy then you should be able to read it here (if I've inserted that link correctly). This post will be entirely comprehensible without looking at that at all, but it might be of some interest if you want to hear more about my thoughts on that.

Anyway, the question of what Hyde is sounds pretty simple at first, but a lot of people would give very different answers if asked. It's something that can really get quite complex in the way that a lot of seemingly simple things in the book can due to how much is left unsaid. If the story was entirely from Jekyll's point of view, it would be a lot clearer, but I honestly think the speculation and interpretations are part of the fun.

A very common interpretation of Hyde is that he is simply pure evil. I say 'a', but even this has its layers and will differ depending on who you ask. Hyde could be all the evil parts of Jekyll or he could be all the evil things in the world or something inbetween these two. He could even be some other form of evil. This is what Jekyll says he is so this one works more on the basis that he is relatively reliable in his statement of the case. This one usually works on the idea that they have become separate personalities, though interestingly, interpreting Jekyll as the pure good counterpart of this is less common. When Hyde is pure evil, Jekyll is frequently still morally grey and relatively unchanged. I just think that's kind of fascinating.

This next one is less common, but it links well to the pure evil interpretation so I'm putting it second. This one is Hyde as the parts of himself that Jekyll dislikes. I am, personally, a pretty big fan of this one. I just enjoy it. You may think it is the exact same as Hyde just being evil as those are the parts Jekyll dislikes about himself, but I view it as different. Evil is a very vague concept which will differ depending on who you ask. Morality is a complex subject with no clearly defined correct answers. This allows for those grey areas a little more. Hyde can include the parts of himself which Jekyll views as evil or simply dislikes for other reasons, but which may not all be considered bad by everyone. It means that Jekyll's statement is what he believes to be true, but may not actually represent the truth, which I find rather interesting. The complexity and the self-loathing of this one just really appeal to me.

One very, very common view of Hyde which I see quite often on here is that he's just Jekyll in a different body. This one sees Hyde as a mask more than a separate identity and means that Jekyll's explanation is largely false. Anonymity can make people do weird things, a fact internet users can understand well. Perhaps that's why I see it so often online. I also think a lot of fans of this one dislike Jekyll, which is understandable. I have more complex feelings about this one. Sometimes I like it, and other times I don't. It's rather hard to explain so I just won't, for the time being. This post is going to end up long enough as it is.

So, onto my next interpretation. I've seen a few people talk about Hyde as Jekyll, but affected by the drug in the way that people act different when taking real-world drugs. This one is very similar to the last in that everything Hyde does comes from Jekyll but isn't necessarily something he would do if he could fully control himself. Things like him losing his self-control, being overly aggressive, and gaining an increased dependence on the drug frequently come into this. This means that Hyde is technically Jekyll in a different body, but he isn't fully controlled by Jekyll-Jekyll, if that makes any sense at all. Different people will mix and match parts of this in different ways. I like elements of this one. I'm not overly big on drug analogies and things. It's just not for me. However, I do quite like the idea of Hyde being Jekyll with no impulse control. Everything coming from him, but only some of it being things he actually wants.

Since this post is getting quite long now, I'll make this my fifth and final example. This is a combination of a few of the things above, but I want to give it its own paragraph simply because I really quite like it. This is the idea that Hyde begins as just Jekyll allowing himself to indulge in the things he doesn't think he is allowed to like and slowly splits off and becomes his own person. In this interpretation, Hyde grows beyond what Jekyll wanted him to be and becomes evil rather than just cruel and shameful. I just really like this. The idea of Hyde starting out as some small indulgence from Jekyll then going out of control. The idea of Jekyll no longer wanting these things, but being unable to stop Hyde from going too far. That just gets me. This one can work with Jekyll being honest in his statement, but also leaves room for him to be lying in sections as well. It's the one I kind of went with in my head when reading the book (before I had been a Hyde=Jekyll kind of person, but reading it for myself changed my mind a little).

There are many, many more ways to think about what Hyde may or may not be. I could also go into much more depth on each of the ones I listed here. Perhaps I'll dedicate a post solely to one of them in future if the mood strikes me. There's no way for us to really know what Stevenson wanted us to think of Hyde as. Even if you assume Jekyll is a reliable narrator and take everything he says as truth, it still leaves room to interpret that in different ways. I don't think it really matters though. As I've said before in other posts, the way the reader can view the text to reflect their own ideas and experiences is what makes it so appealing, even after all these years. If you have any particular thoughts on Hyde's nature, please feel free to share them in the comments, tags, reblogs, or whatever. I'd love to hear them. I always like to see how different people can take the same words in such different directions.

[cilil]

Since everyone are asking about ships, do you have: popular ship that you are not into, but can see the idea; popular ship you are not into and can't understand why; and a ship popularity of which surprises you (in either positive or negative sense).

Genuinely curious, not trying to start any drama, but naturally feel free to delete if you don't feel like answering. Nice day to you!

Hey anon! Lovely day to you too and thanks for the ask!

(I'm going to preface this by saying these type of asks can be a bit tough to answer for me, since I'm just pretty chill with ships and sometimes can't even tell how popular a thing is while drifting around in my comfortable little bubble, and my answers might not be super juicy, but I wanted to try giving some anyway ^^)

Popular ship that you are not into, but can see the idea

I brainstormed a bit which popular ships came to mind and also went on AO3 to filter for the most written Silm ships. I actually love all the ones that came up (especially Angbang haha), so I suppose I have nothing in that regard.

If I wanted to give a funny answer, I'd say Beren/Lúthien (the author's canonical self-insert would count as fairly popular, yeah?) because yes, I get the idea and there's a lot of romantic stuff going on, but I will never understand giving up fucking hot angels in Valinor for the sake of a human man who came crawling out of the bushes one day (listen, you guys do you, and creeping on people in forests seems to be some sort of Ainurin/Valinorean dating tradition, but I would be calling the police, ok? Don't creep on me in my forest please unless your name is Eönwë). Lúthien, girl, I love you, but this choice is personally offensive to me and my efforts to get my hands on hot angels. Maybe I'm also just too arospec for this, happy pride month.

(I should perhaps add that such opinions are always subject to change, all it takes is one person giving me one idea that gets me thinking and the entire thing could look different tomorrow. These are snapshots of a moment in time, if you will.)

((Also in case it needs to be said, please nobody take my funny answers too seriously.))

Popular ship you are not into and can't understand why

Hmmm, to properly answer that I would probably have to get into my NOTPs and that's a topic I don't want to discuss on this blog.

Please don't feel bad for asking, I appreciate it, but that's just one thing I decided for myself because, while I think nobody should put too much emphasis on my - a random person on the internet that I believe nobody here has met! - opinion, some people do and/or get upset that not everyone likes their ship. And I get it, I don't like people talking crap about my favorite characters and ships to my face either. So yeah, I just don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable :)

Ship popularity of which surprises you (in either positive or negative sense)

Heh. This will be a fun one, but bear with me for a second, alright?😅

I'm going to say Russingon. Now, now, put down the pitchforks. When I read the Silmarillion, I was very new to fandom and shipping in general and was also reading mostly just for an overview of everything and to learn more about Melkor and Mairon, so I didn't think too much of the Russingon interactions. Hopping onto AO3 immediately after, I quickly learned about them being shipped, went "oh yeah, I totally see this" and have been a supporter ever since.

The reason why its popularity surprises me is quite simply that I come from a fandom where people were incredibly weird and hostile regarding any sort of incest, including all variations of pseudo-incest ("sibling-coded", found family, etc.). I essentially went from a fandom that bullied me out of shipping two characters who were neither biologically related nor had grown up together nor even knew each other prior to their meeting as adults simply because they apparently had sibling vibes to a fandom whose top ship are half-cousins.

In case I haven't made it sufficiently clear: It was a very positive surprise. I frankly think very little of fandoms who clutch their pearls over pixels on a screen kissing and police what people can and can't ship, and I feel just so much more comfortable in a fandom where people are more chill and used to it. Thank you, Russingon!

[sniigura-archive]

I’m pointing at that anon and laugh lmao

Seriously, I knew that the hazbin fandom has some weirdo chronically on twitter dickheads with no media literacy but that shit is on another level.

People should have fun and the least you can do is respect them and leave them alone if they don’t hurt anybody.

Everyone on that shit ass dc server deserves a punch in the face by me 💕 Nobody disrespects my bby 💕

people are so serious these days like i write self insert porn and i can tell you who’s enjoying their life more between me and the anti anon 😭😭

idc about the server anymore, i lurked a bit and it’s mostly like teens and only one person who said that in there and it’s not like i take stuff like that laying down 😭 don’t join the server to cause drama or anything go in there to enjoy ur time genuinely. the good thing is i got confirmation for the age of someone who interacted with me a lot and it’s a minor </3 (and my number one hater/j) so i blocked since this is porn i post and i rather have not children interact with that for my own comfort sake

anyways thank you to everyone coming to my defence those were very stressful 20 minutes of my life i can’t deny that. if this blog ever disappears you will still find me on ao3

[hazysurrealist]

💋,❤️‍🩹 And ☔️ for whatever F/o you think would fit better!!

𝄞 choosing Hazamada and Yukako for this one! it's a fun coincidence since I've been thinking in writing a piece of fanfiction of Hazamada and my self-insert based on Rotten Girl, Grotesque Romance... that's a fun coincidence... (・。・;)

first of all, some warnings: yandere; stalking; violence...

💋 Would your F/O hurt other people for you? If so, is it just to get rid of people they believe are competition or trying to take you away from them? Or do they only hurt people who’ve hurt you?

𝄞 Yes, Hazamada would. It doesn't really matter for him if the victim has ever hurt Yukari; or if perhaps they could even be close to her: Hazamada would kill them anyway. In his eyes, the other students – maybe even the school employees too – are nothing but competition to him. This counts for both guys and girls: any man could fall in love with Yukari and try flirt with her, and Hazamada CAN'T let this happen, these guys may touch her, kiss her even. And only him is allowed to act like this with her. Moreover, due to her shyness yet mature personality, along with the fact she's a senior, Yukari is fairly popular with girls from other classes. Hazamada would have to take care of this matter, too. His dear maiden won't be with anyone but himself.

𝄞 Yukako would, in fact, hurt someone for her sweet Yukari. But unlike Hazamada, Yukako wants to protect her senpai from people – especially men – who could hurt her, maybe something even worse. She needs to keep her beautiful, shy future wife safe. It's not "jealousy" or even "obsession" as other people would think of her – it's just a sense of protectiveness and devotion, the sense of true love and affection. So... yes, Yukako wouldn't mind strangling a classmate to death if they are a threat for Yukari.

❤️‍🩹 - Are they delusional? Do they genuinely believe you’re in love with them no matter how many times you’ve told them different? Or are they completely aware of your feelings and their actions?

Hazamada is, Yukako isn't.

𝄞 Actually, Hazamada is delusional about Yukari NOT LOVING HIM BACK, and that he needs to make her love him (when she does love him back). I don't know how to word this lolz. As for Yukako, she's not delusional. She is aware of Yukari's feelings, she's aware they're just friends in her senpai's eyes. And even like this, she will protect her from the world that could hurt her.

☔️ - Is it easy to show them what they’re doing is wrong? Would they break down, apologize and beg to you? Or do not realize what they’re doing is bad? Do they realize it’s bad and just don’t care?

𝄞 It is so easy, but none of them will hear. I have a feeling Hazamada would just get angry at Yukari, calling her an 'ugly bitch' and saying she's just like all girls in that school, only for him to apologize some time later, saying he didn't mean it and won't do again. Honestly? Hazamada may even try to be a better person for her. But that doesn't mean he will stop stalking her (or as he likes to call: love her).

𝄞 Yukako wouldn't accept it. In her eyes, she is protecting her senpai, protecting from anyone who could hurt her – in other words, everyone. No one knows what actually happens inside someone's mind. What if someone thinks on hurting Yukari? She HAS to protect her. So why should Yukari tell her what she's doing is something wrong? Yukako is just making sure her senpai is safe.

[transboysokka]

chris watches twilight for the first time

omg this blueish filter is wild is this like a Pacific Northwest thing

that girl is not tan enough to be from arizona

also I’m getting big gay energy from her so idk how this movie is gonna be like. plausible.

if the dad wasn’t a cop I’d definitely smash

do u guys remember though when they used to cast ACTUAL teenagers for teen roles? refreshing

wow this guy in the cowboy hat has MAJOR swag

oh nooo Taylor Lautner I grew up with him and he sucked (real)

idk why ppl always shat on kstew being like inexpressive in this??? seems fine??

all these vampire siblings date each other?? lolololol

so far this seems like a fun little teen drama idk. it’s so blue though

Edwards stare is so intense I KNOW rpat had a great time with this lolol

Lolllll imagine seeing someone try to switch classes to avoid u but u don’t even know them??

the daughter-distant father awkwardness is v nice, v realistic

ugh this dad is so hot

Does Edward have RED eyes girl that sounds like a red flag get away

Ok this soundtrack sucks

Wait so his eyes change? Why?

wow he stopped a bread van for her w his muscles how romanticccc

also how small is this school like how does everyone know her?

vampire doctor creeps me out

lol his name is carlisle what a square

taking bets at how soon he tells her he’s a vampire it’s probably pretty soon I’m gonna say like around the one hour mark

girl is she having sex dreams about him

God Edward really is so creepy eh

Lautner’s Michigan accent is sooo bad in this omggg I can’t

are these new vampires?? the whole eating people thing really disrupts the tone of the story

So gay of bella not to care about the dress shopping. And also just skipping prom lol

Edward just following her everywhere RUN GIRL

“I should make sure Bella gets something to eat” most awkward and obvious way to ask for a date

So she’s def a vegetarian and he def doesn’t eat people food

We’re like 40 minutes in and he’s already telling her lol

Anyway why can’t he read her mind is this like a soulmate thing

This is soooo fanfictiony lmao

So she finds out he can read minds and just lets it go lol

Edward is such a dumbass though she figured him out so easy lolllll

And now she’s having vampire sex dreams lmaoooo this movie is great

Oh here it comes the “I know what you are” “say it” lol I only know this scene bc it’s from a meme or something

lmao this speed animation

is he about to sparkle

BAHAHAHAHAHA THIS IS SO UNSERIOUS

god they’re both crazy girl why are you so into him and Edward why are you so obsessed w her

ok yeah some of these lines suck

First of all these kids are missing class and for what

Second of all I cannot IMAGINE being a teenage straight girl seeing this for the first time when it comes out and basing my ENTIRE personality on this shitty ass self-insert fanfic ass plot

Girl how the hell can you be in love with him already

That’s so high school, they’re only walking together and people somehow know they’re together?

oh wow so the doctor turns these kids to stop them from dying that’s neat

I used to live only off tofu and I was very satisfied thank u very much

Wow he’s special about reading minds that’s convenient

He’s such a kid w her that’s not what I was expecting but I like it

They’re making Italian food for her bc her name is Bella lmfao

WOW anger issues much

He doesn’t sleep, he doesn’t stop going to school, he doesn’t eat, terrible existence

Was that the author in the diner

HOLY FUCK HE SNEAKS INTO HER HOUSE AND WATCHES HER SLEEP RED ALERT

DONT KISS THE GUY WHO WANTS TO EAT YOU NOOOOO

there are so many problems here lol

Dad just messing w his gun at the kitchen table, so cop coded

So American coded actually lol

Wait Edward is gonna meet him w the gun there lmao

Vampire baseball lolllll

This is just one big incest nerd family

They could have tried a little harder w the cgi for such a big budget?? This looks like the CW. Feels like it too actually

FRENCH bad guy vampires??

These stakes seem suddenly way too high??

Don’t break the hot dads heart nooooo

This really does feel like the CW though

Yeah no Rosalie is right why does that family care about Bella so much like she’s a high school girlfriend not a wife lmao

I think I’m dumb but I don’t entirely understand what’s happening here like did Bella go back to Arizona?? Why did she have to go so far to get away from this guy

FUCK is he gonna run all the way to Arizona now lol

I just don’t know how things got so suddenly so dramatic like can’t this James guy just let it go why is he going to so much effort this just all seems so silly

Wow Black Swan

yeah again idk why everyone was hating on kstew’s performance in this, it’s good

How did Edward get there so fast is there like some portal between Arizona and Washington isn’t that like a 1-2 day drive?

This is a fancy ass ballet studio btw

Yeah this fight scene sucks

So Mufasa coded “Remember who you are”

What is happening to Bella now she doesn’t turn until the last book right? (I’ve never read it idk)

Why did that guy have venom?????

Wow finally creepy Edward gets what he wanted and can drink her up…… he ain’t gonna stop

Oh I get it he stops w the power of love. Okay. Whatever.

This SONG sucks

“You lost a lot of blood” yeah THANKS Edward

Oh god the old ass cellphones. Throwback.

Not sure why she’d need oxygen w the injuries she had tbh am I missing something or is it for drama

“You’re in here bc of me” damn straight

Go to Jacksonville Bella (I know she won’t)

Don’t be a baby about it Bella????

Oh fuck is she going to prom? THATS not gonna create School Drama at all…

“Alice lent me the dress” yeah you’re too gay to own any

I know it’s bc of my issues w lautner as a person but I hate Jacob and I ALSO hate that lautner claims to have “distant” indigenous heritage bc that is another thing that he didn’t have when we were kids so why is he playing this guy

“Should we dance?” “You’re serious?” Bro you came to prom together wtf did u think u we’re gonna do

All the music in this movie sucks ass

I don’t usually advocate for this with vampire stuff but I’d have less of a problem with the creepiness of this relationship if he DID turn her

If MY bf was a vampire I wouldn’t want to be human either wtf

Okay yeah I mean that movie was whatever. Glad I understand the pop culture references now I guess

Oh no oh wait oh god I gotta watch the rest of these movies now don’t I…. Please tell me they get better

[bleachbleachbleach]

10/9 - 10/22/2023

✅ Renji chapter - DONE* ✅ Chapters 1-6 reread/revise - DONE

Highlights

Some of this actually reads very well--at the sentential level, sometimes even the chapter level. I was pleasantly surprised by Rukia's, Hinamori's, and Akon's chapters.

There are portions of this fic that are kind of histrionic about use of tense (looking at you, Hinamori. Girl.), but on read-through now I think it works and I kind of like it.

Reading back it was fun to see what kinds of personal hangups were informing everyone's interactions and who was projecting what on whom. The order in which information appears (or is revised) based on whose POV chapter it was was cool, too!

I know there are critiques of the impact of film on writing, and I am sometimes self-conscious about how thoroughly my writing has been informed by writing for one singular TV fandom. That being said, having spent almost 15 years in a TV fandom, I always feel very validated when I can fix something by thinking about it in terms of TV constraints--like, oh, we can't do that scene because we don't have the time/budget to prep that scene again or put those actors on the call sheet. I may not be subject to those constraints but sometimes I'm like, "OH that makes this easier and less insane. Problem solved!"

Lowlights

Oh god, the Renji chapter is R O U G H. ngl feeling pretty betrayed, Abarai. So is the end of Matsumoto's chapter, which I knew going in, and which I then tried to revise last night, during which time I was apparently not mentally right, and now it s VERY weird and much worse!!

Aside from that, I'm... not convinced this story works, at the macro level. I don't know if there is a way to make it work better, outside of simply writing a different story. I don't feel like taking it down to studs is the move, and I think I should probably just keep going with it as-is and suffer the potential consequence of being disappointed. And then write a different story. SUCKS THO BECAUSE I'VE BEEN WORKING ON THIS ONE FOR YEARS.

Maybe this is a mid-light, rather than a lowlight: I feel willing to be convinced, or at least willing to take a chance on, the idea that part of my "eh I don't know if that works" is just me assuming this story is meant to be something that it is not, in fact, meant to be. Correspondingly, I think some of the things where I'm like "that's Not Right, that's not how that's supposed to work" may just be my writing style. For better? For worse? Jury's out, but it might just be me. It might be the work, and not what needs to be fixed.

Chapter 7 Rukia will close out Part 1. There's effectively two scenes left to do--maybe three if I decide to be weird about it--one of which I think about all the time and one of which is all vibes and "lmao fuck if I know" right now, so we'll see how those go.

One thing I'm feeling preemptively daunted by is how much less I already have written of Part 2 versus Part 3, but seeing as I'm probably not going to be done with Rukia 7 by next update anyway, what does it matter! It doesn't! Not yet!

ETA: Actually, one more thing. In my working document I've inserted anchors so I can flip between scenes more easily. These are NOT official scene breaks nor will these scene titles feature in the final product, but they feel like amusingly bad DVD chapter titles (remember DVDs? Chapter menus? DVD makers for some reason feeling that these chapters needed to be titled?):

[canmom]

litrpg, once more

i started reading Worth the Candle because @facille posted some excerpts that sounded fun. as explictly self-insert litrpg isekai goes, it's several cuts above most I've seen honestly. the hook of 'a grieving DM with a taste for the grimdark who goes on digressions about game design and its metaphysical implications' is maybe a little too familiar a glove to inhabit, gender notwithstanding. (even though i definitely roll my eyes when the hottest women ever in the protagonist's mind breasts boobily into the story in an early chapter, i have a suspicion the author is going somewhere with it.) also the thing is longer than the phone book so it's not bad illness reading.

anyway that got me to think like. on the surface 'litrpg' is a pretty straightforwardly defined term: a story about a world while roleplaying game rules operate. since there are a lot of different ways one can design a roleplaying game (on the computer and on tabletop), this should be pretty wide open.

but in practice there seem to be some pretty rigidly defined genre conventions. which i will itemise, thus:

'level up by doing' skill system:

Nearly every litRPG story I've ever encountered uses a near identical approach to game mechanics. A character is definied by a list of skills, from dozens (D&D sort of scale) to hundreds (GURPS sort of scale), and all of them have individual experience tracks. The rest of the game structure - character levels etc. - is less well defined, but this seems to be a constant.

It's a natural fit for the genre, since nearly all of these stories begin with the protagonist experimenting with an unknown system, figuring out how to works, then exploiting it. But where did it come from?

In recent Western CRPGs, the main game series that comes to mind that fits this model is the Elder Scrolls series. When Oblivion hooked the spawn tables to the character's level, this actually became a severe drawback, since the player could level themselves up using non-combat skills only to find themselves hunted by high-level bandits in endgame gear. It also leads to some odd quirks of player behaviour, like bunny-hopping to raise your Athletics skill.

Over in the MMO zone, Runescape also follows this model, with independent levels in 28 skills. In Runescape, this heavily orients the game around grinding, with the interesting gameplay apparently found in finding ways to most efficiently play around the server's tickrate.

Let's look further back. Ultima mostly did not use this system (charmingly, in some games you had to ask Lord British to level you up), but introduced something like it in Ultima VIII.

I think the real source though is probably Wizardry series, which had the 'learn by doing' mechanic right from the start in 1981. Wizardry was wildly popular in Japan, spawning its own offshoot series unrelated to what Sirtech was doing. And apparently all of them had this mechanic. For my part I remember standing in Wizardry 8, repeatedly casting the 'open lock' spell on a maximally difficult lock to safely grind my caster's magic stat.

What about other JRPGs? I'll admit, most of my experience is with Final Fantasy, which to my knowledge never used this model. Nor did Dragon Quest, the other of the big two. However, more niche JRPGs with an old-school flavour like Etrian Odyssey have it. It's also a staple of social sim games like Princess Maker.

Then we get to the first JP LitRPG 'trapped in a game world' story that I know about, .hack//sign (2006) - although whether that 'counts' is arguable since as far as i know it's more about psychological drama and I'm not sure how much the story centres on game mechanics. Of course, the one that really exploded the genre was the adaptation of Sword Art Online, so maybe everyone's just imitating that.

Anyway that's a bit of a long digression, but it's one of the biggest curiosities I have about the history of this genre, because it's so specific.

the 'game system' is constructed by an 'administrator' or 'god' figure with sinister motives

This one just makes sense, right? A game system is a pretty unnatural way for a fantasy world to work, and 'someone made it that way' is the obvious answer why. For this reason - and perhaps the recurring JRPG story device - it's likely the protagonist will see the hand of this administrator, or even communicate with them, and perhaps aim to kill or usurp them. This may overlap with antitheistic themes.

manichaean setting, edgy protagonist

The stereotype is 'hero' and 'demon lord'. This one's not exactly a universal, but very common. The protagonist is likely to find themselves forced into assuming one of these roles in some grand recurrent struggle, typically the villainous one. Since time travel is a frequent device, they may even see signs of their own works without recognising them.

The marked preference for 'villain' protagonists, beyond being way more chuuni and thus naturally better, was probably popularised by Overlord (2010-), a web novel turned light novel series which received a popular anime adaptation by Madhouse.

Villains are exciting, usually a lot more proactive, and a natural fit for a genre whose central story is usually a rise to enormous power.

Even a non-villainous MC, such as Sung Jinwoo of Solo Leveling, is likely to have 'dark' themed powers - stealth, assasination, commanding monsters. But hey like chuuni stuff is cool.

a UI which the character interacts with; the 'assess' skill

This one's kind of a necessary bit of nuts and bolts, but worth its own heading. If your world runs on a game engine, and you're writing in the first person, you need some means to communicate information about it to both player and reader.

More specifically, a very common device sees the protagonist select a 'useless' skill that gives them information on skills and monsters at the beginning.

the MC has special knowledge

One of the usual 'hooks' of a litRPG/isekai story is that the main character has some angle on the world that other people don't have, which gives them an edge they can spend the story exploiting. This could be genre knowledge like experience as a gamer or reader of isekai web novels (for your basic power fantasy), or it might be very specific knowledge, e.g. they've read or written the story they're now inhabiting as fiction (e.g. Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint), or we're on an advanced iteration of a time loop (e.g. The Executioner and Her Way of Life). The latter's a device also used in other subgenres, famously PMMM.

We can compare this to real games. In tabletop RPGs, this sort of attitude is for many groups considered not in the spirit of the game - you should be trying to portray a grounded character and avoid invoking 'out of setting' knowledge, which may be called 'metagaming'. For a single-player CRPG, depending on the era, the game may be designed to be completed first time without foreknowledge, or after many runs. For MMOs, player expectations have shifted such that in many games it's considered rude to go into a fight without looking up mechanics, but also no player has 'secret' knowledge of the game that others do not.

the MC has special abilities or items that other characters do not

Naively, I thought that LitRPG would be about a character learning to cleverly exploit a common 'game system' equally accessible to all 'players'. In practice I've yet to encounter a story that actually does this.

For some stories (Solo Levelling for example) the protagonist alone has the ability to level up and exponentially accumulate power. In others, like So I'm A Spider, So What? (KumoDesu), everyone uses the same system but the protagonist is granted special unique skills by the mysterious admin figure that give her a leg up.

Even a story like Bofuri, which an iseaki-loving friend showed me a few episodes of, where the premise written in the title is that the protagonist is exploiting a game inbalance... gives her a special unique shield in short order. (I didn't like Bofuri very much.)

Once again, compare to real games. In an MMO, you would never put a significant advantage that only one player can ever use, outside of perhaps the admin console that you give to your GMs. Everyone has the exact same progression system, it's gated by time and content or perhaps real world money, but in theory with enough skill and hours anyone can get anything.

On the other hand, in TTRPGs, it's a lot more common for a GM to give their party a 'unique' magic item or ability that other characters in the story do not have, since they're the only humans involved. In a single-player CRPG the same is true, with the caveat that every player of the game will find the exact same narratively 'unique' item. However, in both cases, the game will then be designed around the players having that ability: you want the player to be challenged, while still getting to flaunt their cool thing. Still, this device is less odd on a story patterned on this type of game than one where the world is literally in an MMO.

It's fairly easy to see why this device exists. When you play an MMO, you really get to see just how many people are 'just like you'. How your FC discord and your player house are interchangeable with a thousand others constituted by the same social forces. Paradoxically, MMO stories are usually about the player being the most important character in the world, while playing an MMO is to be essentially nobody. Your great hero is only the great hero in their shard of the timeline, and if you want to roleplay, you'd better come up with something completely different.

So, this device says, here's a way to imagine your character being special, and surprising everyone. A natural enough fantasy.

the game is completely unbalanced

'Game balance' is basically not a consideration. Play the game right and you become a god. There may be classes, but they'll be shed on your road to omnipotence.

But for some reason, the players of the game or inhabitants of a setting rarely seem to discover the game's dominant strategies. Maybe they can't since they don't have the protagonist's secret advantage. There is rarely a 'meta', let alone the relentless drive towards absolute efficiency that characters a mature MMO.

player characters look like their players

This is an oddity of MMO-styled stories. I have almost never met someone who tries to make their player character look like themselves, and yet the opposite seems to be true in MMO-styled stories. I guess it makes it convenient to know who's who.

could we break it?

Faced with a set of rules like this, my natural inclination at least is to say OK - how far can you push this without just writing entirely outside of the subgenre?

The thing that gets me about LitRPG stories is that they really don't work much like RPGs beyond tangentially, especially not MMORPGs; they work like LitRPG stories, an odd blend of CRPG and naturalistic setting. Or a TTRPG where people talk in character about classes and levels.

We had better go right for the root. Most of the devices flow from the core plot being 'character overcomes challenges and gets stronger, until they're the top dog'. That's the power fantasy: effort gets rewarded.

I think it would be interesting to take a broader viewpoint. You know those stories about a big historical event, like a war or something, where the narrative constantly hops between characters to give you a multi-level view? I think it would be fun to take that kind of approach, and apply it to trying to imagine a setting where everyone ruthlessly exploits the RPG mechanics as far as possible, creating some sort of miserable dystopia where children are expected to kill each other for xp or something and if you're not grinding constantly for levels or building to the meta you're viewed with contempt, and then... well perhaps someone finds a glitch and all sorts of chaos breaks out. Maybe I should write this thing. Bet it's already been done.

Anyway I don't really know this genre too much so tell me if I've missed something haha