#because I don't know if I'm throwing unwanted characters at them

[amischiefofmuses]

I'm finding my biggest issue with running a multimuse is that I'm not sure which muse people want to interact with. I'm considering doing forever starter calls but considering how many muses I have, that'd really clutter the dash. I would make an interest tracker or smth of the sort but I've never done that before and I fear that most people wouldn't fill it out because it's a bit of a hassle tbh. Anyone have any ideas on how to remedy this?? Any are accepted tbh.

[whumpandothercomfort]

There's a flavor of whump I'm always craving that I don't see very often, I think because the possibilities are so context-specific. You can do some things in some universes that you can't in others! You can do certain things with non-human characters that you can't with others!

But hear me out:

Whumper making physiological changes to Whumpee's body.

Could be through programming for robot characters, dedicated brainwashing for humans, magic for fantasy settings, weird biology for aliens...

A few examples off the top of my head:

Alien species that instinctively responds to neck squeezing by going limp like a scruffed kitten, because this helped them survive encounters with predators. Delicious all on its own -- now throw in a quick surgery to permanently clamp the nerve responsible. Whumpee wakes up in a permanent state of relaxed submission and can't even show how terrified they are.

Obedience programming/training that's wired directly into a character's brain. When the system detects unwanted thoughts, it applies pain. Even after rescue, Whumpee can't think of themselves as an autonomous being because their mind is desperately protecting itself.

Characters with magic having their magic corrupted or bound so it either hurts them to use, or it can only be used to serve Whumper's purposes. Bonus points if Whumper has full control over their magic AND the use of it hurts them.

Characters given a brain implant or parasite that stimulates the reward center of the brain, which would be great, except they can't turn it off. They're kept in a constant state of bleary euphoria... with just enough sense of self left to know they want it to stop.

Characters being spelled or programmed so they physically cannot function independently. Characters who very literally NEED to be given permission to do things like relax or take a walk or even use the bathroom. Not being given this permission leaves them in a state of locked stasis -- fully aware of the time passing. Bonus: Caretaker can't reverse it, so they just HAVE to navigate All Of This.

Alien species that will a develop chronic physical illness if deprived of touch for too long. Said illness can only be treated through regular physical touch. Defiant Whumpees will often be locked in solitary confinement and fed through a slot in the bars until symptoms start to manifest. Sometimes they'll be left even longer, to make sure they end up a severe case. And now, oopsie, the only way to ease this horrible pain is by letting your captors put their hands on you!

Just. Physiological whump. The horror of someone else controlling your body or your mind. Betrayal of body. Etc. Do you understand.

[bluespiritshonour]

Oh my God!

I just caught up with World's Finest: Teen Titans and I absolutely have to write this out:

First of all, I love this cover:

The thing that caught my eye: “you're grounded.”

Not the dramatic “you're fired” as if the motherfucker didn't raise that damn kid in his own damn house for YEARS.

(I know. I know. Bar on the ground, but what would you?)

Also, the anger palpable on Bruce's face and Dick's absolute disregard for it. I'm laughing here y'all. This is what teenagers act like. This is what fights between parents and children look like.

Also. Dick Grayson, I've been missing. You're back from war!

I love how curt he is. The “Get lost” hits in all the right places. We love a strongly-principled character that stands for what he believes in. With all the lukewarm Dick Grayson writing floating around I felt like walking into a coffee shop while it's snowing outside.

More of this writing, please.

I'd been waiting for this moment all through this series.

This conversation.

I compare things all the time. It might not be the right thing in every field but I think it serves well when it comes to comic books. We all have personal “canon criteria”—for example, mine are “Darwyn Cooke wrote this Bruce so I'm taking it as valid characterisation ” or “Every version of Bruce played by Kevin Conroy is valid”. (Minus Bruce Timm bullshit!)

Which was what cinched my hatred for Bruce after reading a Robin short story that Cooke wrote and alluded to Robin: Year One in it. I mean, I might not fuck with Dixon, but am I going to call even Cooke's Bruce OOC? No. It means Bruce is a jerk. Full stop.

Waid is one of the writers I respect (excluding Kingdom Come. I hate it and I can't put my finger on the why. But I just do: I hate it. I hate it for Clark. I hate it for Diana. And I'm a professional Bruce-hater so let's not even go there. I hate it for Dick too.)

And Dick and Bruce's relationship has a lot of baggage from the fact that a) Bruce is himself traumatised and fails to meet Dick's emotional needs b) he wasn't ready to be a father when he adopted Dick c) Dick simply suffers from being the eldest—the test child.

And very rarely have I seen writers manage to walk on the thin line of complicated-but-dedicated-and-strong.

Young Justice cartoon did it. Dick and Bruce's relationship is going strong. But they fight and have different values. And Dick can see all that is wrong with Bruce's approach to vigilantism in particular and life in general.

Grimm (Legends of the Dark Knight #149-154) did it right. Where Bruce hurt Dick deeply and made him feel unwanted all the while overthinking about Dick's well-being. Way to go, buddy! You can see the repercussions it has for Dick while simultaneously stare at this man who's tying himself into knots trying to think how best to parent.

I think that's what most Bruce and Dick comics miss: the excessive worrying. They don't show the worry, make them fight for drama, never address it apart from throwing out a “it's because Bruce's worried” (bitch, where?) and have Dick running back to Gotham at the first chance. It sounds an awful lot like “your parents hurt you 'cause they love you” bullshit.

I think World's Finest manages it well because foremost, Bruce says, in words, that he's worried about Dick's well-being. He's taciturn, he's putting constant pressure on Dick all in the hopes of making him quit Titans. All this makes him a jerk. But I don't hate him for it.

It's between Dick's “you don't trust me” and Bruce's “no, I don't trust them.”

Most teenagers clash with their parents. It's normal. That's what Waid has shown here and I love it. It feels very—normal?

Especially when the Bats aren't normal! Bruce sure as fuck ain't a normal parent. But there was something very bitter-sweet coming-of-age in this conversation.

Bruce does all those things that are bad for Dick and his growing independence. You're not supposed to handle teenagers like that.

He's worried and taking desperate measures. “If I punish him, then maybe he'll obey me and quit Titans and then he'll he safe”—lots of parents who don't know how to deal with teenagers do it.

But the sequence of it: Bruce is worried → Bruce wants Dick to quit Titans → for Dick it means proving himself to be better, to not get hurt (as if he can control that beyond a certain point) → Bruce being alarmed at Dick's insistence to stay with the Titans and taking desperate measures like benching him.

At least it makes sense.

Compare it to Dixon's Nightwing origin story, which honestly, personally I think was lazy writing. Drama for drama's sake. “You’re fired because you're spending too much time with the Titans.” The same writer also had Bruce say that he did it because he wanted Dick to strike out on his own. Blah, blah, blah.

And no matter whatever happens he'd never ever say it to Dick's face that he's worried about him because—well, reasons.

Robin: Year One logic:

I'm worried about Dick's health so I fire him. He runs off and can get hurt? He joins a school for assasins? None of my business. He can get hurt on his own, I don't care as long as it is not on my conscience. Peace.

—Bruce “professional narcissist” Wayne.

So, yes. When faced with this book(WF: TT), I'd call Dixon's writing lazy.

I'm also comparing this to several other instances when Bruce verbally says (never to Dick, mind you) that he loves that Dick's a better person and better vigilante than him. But in the same book he'd yell at Dick for exactly the same thing. (I consider that lazy writing, since BTAS made sure to show a shot of Bruce smiling whenever Dick was happy/not like him).

I like this thing here where he says it to Dick's face. He's still grounding him for “discipline's sake” or whatever—very, very IC for Bruce.

But he also lets Dick know that he appreciates his values, that are different—better—than Bruce's own.

I can stomach that.

Honestly Bruce's writing in this book felt like BtAS writing (pre-Bruce Timm fuckery). That's a compliment.

P.S. Waid's a good story-teller overall. His Superman: Birthright was one of the first Superman comics I read and I fell in love with Clark right away.

Peace ✌️😂

[epickiya722]

Okay, I ranted about it in my tags of another post, but I'll say it here. And I know some of you ain't gonna like it.

The amount of hate Mei Mei gets is an example of how people can't actually handle complex and/or evil female characters.

Now before anyone says anything, I'm not saying you should like Mei Mei or you shouldn't hate her. Just really think about what I'm about to say next.

Do you hate Mei Mei because of her character (how she treats people, her personality, etc,)? Or do you hate her because she's a woman?

If it's the former, think about this and see if your answer changes.

Think about all the male characters you like that are complex and/or evil and why you like them. Did your answer change? In fact, do you like a male character worse than Mei Mei?

Now, here's the thing.

It's really odd to me that people will be like "we need more complex female characters" and yet when we get those female characters, the fandom acts like they shouldn't exist.

"Oh, she's a bitch."

"She should die."

"She deserves all the pain and suffering."

And yet, male characters who are just as bad or worse easily can get people glazing the hell out of them and dropping panties. Where is that same hating ass energy? Don't you want the male character to die, too?

That's an issue. Do you see the issue?

Still using Mei Mei as an example.

I doubt, I do, that Gege intends for people to like Mei Mei. Quite the opposite. The way her scenes are written and drawn makes me feel like the mangaka wants us to feel intimidated by her in a bad way. We're supposed to feel uncomfortable by her relationship with Ui Ui. We should feel some hate towards her.

However, not because she's a woman. It's because of her character. She's not written to be a good person.

This is going to sound awkward, but if you hate Mei Mei because she makes you uncomfortable gender be damned, then you're hating her right.

You hate her now just as you would if she was a man.

I'll use Sukuna for example for comparison. He does has his fans (as does Mei Mei), but he does have his haters.

However, it's not because he's a man. People don't hate him because he's a man.

It's because he's downright damn evil. He murders, he tortures, he uses and abuses, he doesn't care who you are he'll cut you down. The only person we know Sukuna actually never wants to kill and never shown any sort of annoyance to is Uraume. People say Gege is glazing Sukuna and are mad because it seems he keeps winning, but has no one stop to think THAT'S THE POINT?!

You're supposed to be frustrated that Sukuna is still around. Gege keeps throwing Sukuna in our faces to make the audience mad. Not to troll. It's how stories work. You should feel different emotions. Especially with bad people like Sukuna.

If Gege wanted us to sympathize with Sukuna, Sukuna would have been gotten his sad backstory. But no, when there was a chance for that (fight with Hajime), we get a line of Sukuna saying he was unwanted or whatever and him just brushing it off. That right there is a sign of an explicitly evil, unsympathetic villain. (We might get a sad backstory later, who knows, but I kinda doubt it.)

Now apply all that I just said about Sukuna to Mei Mei and rethink over this.

Do you hate Mei Mei because she's a woman or because she's a bad person?

To end, can you actually handle complex female characters? Can you hate a female character who is evil or ambiguously evil and/or complex because that's how the author may intended (or she just isn't your kind of character) and not because she's female?

[eggwhisper]

Lanolin The Sheep

Well since the new issue dropped I decided "hey why not throw gasoline onto an open flame?" so this is my totally unwanted take on Lanolin, her characterization, and how I think issue 63 and beyond could've been fixed by swapping two characters roles around so uh-- Yeah! (Also light spoilers for the newest issue/issue 69 but only the Lanolin portion/the stuff you've probably already seen/read.) tbh, this is kind of a fix-it/wishful thinking/thoughts I hope the writers have in mind in the future for issues going forward as steering Lanolin back to being a "likeable (but bossy)" character is going to be difficult. And is also so I can get my own thoughts out of my head.

Anyway here goes (sorry if I don't articulate my points succinctly in advance btw) I think Whisper shouldn't have been the one to see "Duo" kick Silver but Tangle. Like swap Tangle and Whisper in the story kind of- (trust me I'm going somewhere with this) and here's my reasoning.

Tangle doesn't wear a mask that records what she sees unlike Whisper. So if it was Tangle who saw Silver get kicked she wouldn't be able to jump right to "It's Mimic" or at least she wouldn't have any reason to believe it was Mimic (even at the "eyes changing color" topic. Albeit this should be used to make her suspicious which leads to them spying on Duo.)

Now I think it should've been Tangle and Silver spying on Duo rather then Whisper and Silver for two reasons: First- Tangle's been shown to be actually really bad at stealth. (Ms. Sneak Sneak song, anyone?) So it makes sense that Lanolin would know they were spying on the cat the whole day. Secondly- It doesn't make Whisper look like she's bad at stealth when she's the literal SNIPER. (Like seriously- half the job of sniping is hiding! It doesn't make that much sense that she'd be bad at it and I wholly blame Silver for getting them caught.)

Of course they get caught (Tangle and Silver) by Lanolin and now it's here I'd like to veer a bit more into her characterization and how she handles her interactions with the cast (Specifically Tangle). Which is with a level of reserve/mild dislike in the form of Tangle. Let's not kid ourselves here Tangle and Lanolin don't get along as much as we (and Tangle herself) would like too. Tangle's bouncy and energetic, Lanolin's a no-nonsense spoilsport so it would make sense if she doesn't believe Tangle or heck even dismisses her in regards to Duo after the incident earlier with Silver. (As this would be an actual "he said, she said" situation unlike in canon where the mask that records is right there- seriously if it doesn't come up in canon or is otherwise properly addressed in the story I'm gonna be really disappointed.)

Anyway Lanolin doesn't like Tangle, that's the baseline we're going with here. (Or at the most generous reading Lanolin finds Tangle to be "taxing".) Point is the two aren't nearly as good of friends and Lanolin's dedication the job would be more substantial here as nobody by this point has any reason to suspect Duo is Mimic.

So cue the argument, Whisper shows up/comes to defend Tangle when Lanolin inevitably tries to lecture/chastise her and Silver claiming the lemur would have no reason to be suspicious without good cause. The argument continues and BOOM! Tangle drops the tidbit that Silver said that Duo's eyes changed color and now Whisper's suspicious. Leading Whisper to try and shove past Lanolin, now also a bit more paranoid. Cue the whole "act like soldiers not children" line with Lanolin grabbing Whisper first and the scuffle ensues with Duo rushing off and Silver "hurting" him when nobody's focused on them.

Now why do I feel like it should be set-up like this instead of how it was in canon? Well obviously because in canon Whisper should've also been punished like Silver. Possibly just as severely but isn't because again- plot. (Like c'mon, Whisper technically assaults a commanding officer, she should have gotten in some trouble regardless of context.) But with how this is set-up now Lanolin instigated the fight by grabbing Whisper so punishing the wolf for the fight is out of the question and Tangle would like in canon- rush to Whisper's side once she was downed, not fighting at all meaning beyond stalking their new recruit Tangle didn't do anything worthy of getting "kicked out" for.

Meaning Silver getting kicked out still happens (hey, got to find some way to make it end the same way it did, right?) But now Tangle and Lanolin have more reason to be antagonistic towards one another. Leading to the most recent issue where Tangle and Lanolin are dealing with Sonic and co. after the boards went haywire. (Like I said super minor 69 spoiler.)

Ergo I think Lanolin's character arc should've be more focused on her actually viewing her friends as well- friends. And I feel like exploring the relationship she has with Tangle is probably the best way to go about it because of how they've interacted so far. (Or use the lemur who more then likely would forgive her in ten seconds to get the sheep a bit more on the others wavelength.)

That's just my thoughts on the whole debacle concerning Lanolin and I really do hope the writers figure out a way to make Lanolin enjoyable to read again cause right now she just comes off a little mean-spirited with little reasoning for her actions beyond "strung-up military type" (Which is a great trope btw and it can be written extremely well). I guess I really just hope they nail down the blocks making up her character in a satisfying way.

Anyway this all just sorta popped into my head after reading issue 69 and glancing in Twitter's general direction for five seconds I just hope this riders arc ends up being really good because Eggman's drip is (As Starline would put it) Immaculate.

[justine1268]

Genuine Question About Broppy getting Children In The Future... (long rant incoming)

Am I the only one who really wouldn't like an accidental/"surprise"/ unexpected/unwanted/unplanned/unintended Broppy child in future canon and who isn't really all that overjoyed about the idea of them having one in the future in general? I want to know.

I kind of feel like the only one because I haven't seen anyone else be so genuinely confused as to why the first situation is such a widespread and beloved thing in the fandom. If you do, please feel free to let me know what you find so appealing about it, because I'm not so sure I understand in all honesty and I want to get it.

I want to say that I really don't mean to come across as rude or hateful towards anyone who created Broppy children that would fit into the current canon who were unplanned! I just want to give my own perspective on it and why I personally feel iffy about that scenario.

A lot of my opinion here is also related to my personal attachment towards the ship itself. It's the first one I've had and for more than 7 years at the time of writing this, they've consistently been part of my life during this time. It's the ship I've been invested in the most.

The reason why I'm worried about this is because in Shrek, an other DreamWorks franchise, him and his wife had unexpected children. If they decide to make an other story like this:

Branch and Poppy is one of their few romantic relationships from ongoing franchises and a very popular one at the moment, so it could be with them.

There's a multitude of reasons why I rather have them want and desire a child before it happens and also to have it be almost a last part of the franchise addition. Like, one of the last things we get out of their relationship.

If it happens accidentally, depending on the context, it could likely be because they weren't careful. I feel like this is especially out of Branch's character. We know one of his major traits is making things the safest possible, he's hectic whenever something could be trouble. I think he probably would put action to avoid getting an unwanted egg as much as he could. We know Poppy can be kind of reckless, but she listens to Branch now and I don't think she is enough to not do any prevention and roll with it. She loves to throw herself head first into danger, but when she truly thinks she'll be okay. If she knows her own safety or well-being are really at risk, she takes it more seriously.

Obviously, putting characters through tough situations is the whole point of a storyline, but when it comes to them getting a child, it is something that (I'm assuming because we don't really know much about that yet) they CAN or at least should be able to control so...I think they should.

I don't want them having a toddler to get in the way of their relationship. I want lots more of just them two. A toddler, unless they don't show up for much, would take up a lot of moments that would otherwise be only with them. I want to get a lot more moments of solely them and focusing on their relationship with each other before a baby comes in!

Their characters, if, let's say, an infant or egg is with them during most events of a movie, I believe would be reduced to having to meet their needs. They're now tied down to needing to care for them and they lose that freedom they currently have. They'll have to be like "Ah, no, can't do that, got a baby." I don't want that.

I find it still way too early in canon for them to have children and that they should really be able to enjoy their time together and with their loved ones for now. Considering all Branch has gone through and the years he spent alone, being at such a low point, I don't want him to have the added responsibility, stress and worries of a parent so soon. I want him to be able to just have good times and hang out with his friends, girlfriend and family.

Both him and Poppy are so busy already, not to mention Branch is a person who really needs alone time. Give him a baby and that's going to be a whole lot harder.

It doesn't even seem to me like it's something they want in the future for now. Branch wants to marry Poppy, we already know that, but neither of them have ever mentioned wanting to have kids someday. Poppy already works with little trolls and loves it, but she has never said she wants one herself someday. Branch doesn't seem like it's crossing his mind. All he wants is to be Poppy's significant other.

I don't want a "surprise" Broppy kid and not know what went wrong or why it was so. If it's like Shrek, they'll leave that part ambiguous and I am not going to be happy about that. If they're going down that road, I at least want to know if they were intending on being careful at all. (Obviously brought up in a way that's appropriate for PG content).

Kids being raised by parents who didn't want them to arrive isn't ideal to me. Yes, parents can have regrets on deciding to have children in a way down the line and it doesn't mean they'll do a bad job, I agree the ship would make awesome parents, but it can be a lot more difficult thanks to that.

Look. I love the idea of them having little ones someday, I really do! I just wish it to happen way later on in the timeline than now, and most of all, I seriously want them to intend and want to have a baby before they do (we'll likely know if it's accidental, since, like I said, they did that in Shrek).

Scenarios I'd appreciate in canon:

1- They get married or just engaged in whichever next installment we'll get or stay only a couple and have a child or children that they planned on having years later.

2- They adopt a child/children which they either stumble upon or meet at an orphanage. They still look like their own, their colors being a sort of mix between Branch and Poppy's possible colors and being pop trolls (honestly, my favorite idea for a Broppy child).

3- It arrives at least a couple years after their romantic relationship has started (either still a committed couple, engaged or married), it wasn't intended or expected at all, from an unknowingly failed appropriate prevention method. They would be suggested the opportunity to abort, but they choose to keep their egg/eggs that resulted and raise them.

Scenarios I don't want:

1- It's a Shrek The Third 2.0 where it's left very ambiguous what happened with any time jump or none.

2- Unwanted egg from not trying to prevent it, no time jump at all. They have to raise their child/children as the early official couple they are now.

3- A baby/babies they didn't want and weren't careful for with a truly effective method, years or not after they're made official.

4- The child wasn't really wanted from both sides. Either one of them wasn't actually happy about the idea.

If we mostly get content of them out of the newborn stage (between about 5-18 years old), we get to know them once they already have built a personality. The child also has some amount of autonomy so the parents won't have to impose as much and we can still get only them both interacting pretty often. Kind of like in How To Train Your Dragon where Nuffink and Zephyr were already kids when we met them.

I think that's the idea I'd enjoy the most. Branch and Poppy wouldn't be tied down as much(also yes I'd want to see them getting older. Something so bittersweet in seeing a long time ship of mine age together...chef's kiss with that.) I'd get attached to the child a lot more easily as a character and I'd just love to see how the couple handles their youth.

Like I said: I do see lots of positives. I love the idea of them getting a child to build sweet, deep bonds with. The idea of caring, super invested dad Branch makes me melt. Him getting through that has something that can beautiful and powerful considering his story. It adds another person for him to love. A lot of wholesomeness and emotions to be explored! It can bring more to his relationship with Poppy as well! A supportive dynamic that's always ready to advise each other and to work through when it gets harder...yeah. It's simply great! It's a good foundation for a child to grow up on.

I just have some preferences for how it happens. Thank you for reading my long opinion piece!

[crispy0nion]

takes a deep breath. ik it hasn't even been a day but we need to talk about the umbrella academy season 4. obviously spoilers ahead. and a long, long fucking post full of complaints.

this season got me shinji chairing so hard. what the fuck. six episodes that last barely an hour each and all for THAT ending? don't get me wrong, the ending itself is... not the worst possible outcome, ig, but like. plot holes so big i can fit five's ego in there and still have spare space.

yeah, let's start from there. what the fuck was that? a half-assed five/lila romance was the last thing we needed. call me a hater, tell me i don't know how to appreciate complex stories, idc. that sucked ass. not only is it creepy in so many ways, but it also brought absolutely NOTHING to the story. "oh but if that didn't happen then five wouldn't have accidentally wandered into the station's coffee shop and met himself" I DON'T GIVE A SHIT!!!! IT COULD'VE HAPPENED IN SO MANY DIFFERENT WAYS!!!!!! AND FIVE KNOWS BETTER THAN TO THROW HANDS WITH HIS BROTHER OVER A GIRL WHILE THE REST OF THEIR SIBLINGS ARE FIGHTING THE DAMN BLOB OF DEATH!!!

moving on ig. i don't like how allison's past actions seemed to be simply forgotten. i know they acknowledge it a couple times and that it's been six years, but lord almighty she assaulted luther, got him killed, and betrayed her entire family for a father that never cared about any of them. i don't think i could forgive that so easily (i'm looking at you klaus).

about the plot holes. first off, i would've appreciated even just a slight explanation of what the fuck reginald and abigail are? are they aliens? are they robots? are they alien robots? also, side note, what the fuck did reginald even do to grace atp? did he create a robot in the image of a human lady or did he turn the human lady into a robot???? and back to abigail for a moment: ?????????? and also the obsidian hotel????? AMERICA EXPLAIN. EXPLAIN

more plot holes: the solution to the cleanse problem. five said that the only way to fix the timelines is to let the cleanse happen, aka absorb them, so that the marigold inside them is destroyed since that's what split the timelines, no? and they made a big deal out of lila leaving because they needed all of the marigold holders to partake in this. except that YOU EIGHT IDIOTS ARE NOT ALL THE OCTOBER 1ST KIDS IN THE WORLD. THERE'S MORE, THAT WAS LIKE 43 WOMEN WHO GAVE BIRTH YOU DUMB FUCKING CUNTS. WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER 35 KIDS. uhm. sorry about that. moving on.

did not like how jennifer's character was treated at all. no time to develop, no time to get us to know her. straight to the blob of death without even explaining what was going on. how did the durango end up in her body? who even created that anyways? how did she end up in a damn fucking giant squid? why was she talking about the cleanse? what the fuck? listen im sure the comics explain this and ik this show is supposed to be a bit... confusing and nonsensical, but this is info you can't just leave out. feels like lazy writing.

and how the fuck did the cleanse cult even know that this nonesense that a kid coming out of a squid was blabbering about was connected to them having dreams of other timelines? how the fuck did jean and gene know? what?

yk what, im also gonna throw in some more personal points of view in here. i did not understand a single thing about the timeline/universe/whatever they ended up in at the end of s3. is it a new universe? if so, why is everything the same and WHY is the timeline still fucked? and where's the academy in this timeline? does it not exist? why? why and how is abigail still alive? was she even dead in s1, on the moon? or was that a cryo capsule? if so, why keep her there?

and there's more folks! why did the timeline train not stop at lila and five's stop? that was random and never explained, and feels like lazy writing, again. or like an excuse to get a specific two people to mingle just to create an unnecessary and unwanted love triangle? perchance?

lastly, how can claire and lila and diego's children still exist if their parents were erased from existence? and since they still exist but their parents never did, how does it work? do lila's parents just look after these random kids? without reason? wouldn't not having existing parents at all create legal problems?

overall, i have a lot of issues with this season. it feels extremely rushed, and honestly quite boring in comparison to the other three. and the lack of explanations makes it so hard to enjoy because i'm busy being confused. im not so mad about the ending, i kinda saw it coming (my choice was between they all die or they get stuck in a loop), and I don't think it's necessarily a bad ending for a story like this one. i am a bit sad, yes, and i will miss these characters and regret the fact that they didn't get the lives they deserved, but i think it's an ok ending. not the best, but ok. but the rest of the season? ass. yet another show absolutely ruined by netflix's inability to see past money and actually produce a good ending instead of rushing things. peace ✌️

[ticklishraspberries]

As someone who can turn their ticklishness on-and-off, I totally relate to/understand that recent headcanon post you made! This community is so enthusiastic about characters who are extremely ticklish, the kind that giggle and squirm at the smallest touch, and it sucks when you really aren't like that. If I don't feel 100% comfortable, my body just turns off being ticklish, and it sucks! Sorry to vent, but all of this to say, do you have any characters you headcanon to be like this? Thanks! :)

anon, i completely agree with you!! this happens to me all the time and it's so frustrating, i have gone like months without being ticklish and as someone whose relationship is so full of tickling, it was genuinely a hard time for me. i'm sorry this happens to you as well, but know you aren't alone!! here are some characters that i think probably have the ability to "turn-off" being ticklish, whether they would see it as a blessing or not (also, if i've ever headcanoned these characters as super ticklish, shhh that never happened, there are two wolves inside me)

tw: mentions of canon-typical trauma for the specific characters, not detailed or graphic though!!

aaron hotchner, derek morgan, and emily prentiss (criminal minds) - i think that just...being trained to endure the physical and mental toll of their job, specifically these 3 members of the b.a.u. have the ability to just...shut things out, physically. i think each of their unique traumas and backstories can support the idea and i could be more detailed about this in the future if anyone cares, lol.

ash lynx (banana fish) - it's very clear in canon that ash is very familiar with the concept of just...completely dissociating from your body as a coping mechanism, and i think tickling is something that blends with other unwanted touch. i think that if he is around someone he feels safe and comfortable with (cough eiji cough) he would be capable of letting his guard down, but it's mostly just instinct.

astarion (baldur's gate 3) - this man has learned to use his body as a weapon, and having physical weaknesses just doesn't mesh well with that. no one really ever...tried, not in hundreds of years, but when people touch him, it feels numb, detached, rehearsed. just like how he canonically doesn't know how to accept hugs, i think he would be so surprised if someone tried to tickle him, he'd just go rigid.

finnick odair, katniss everdeen, johanna mason, peeta mellark (the hunger games) - i think you could make this argument for any survivor of the games, because...they are all so traumatized, i can't imagine that they experience physical sensation the same was as other people, after all of the pain and discomfort they've been put through, the injuries they've sustained. realistically, i think all of them would either be completely not ticklish, or their instinct when tickled would be to freak out.

inej ghafa and kaz brekker (six of crows) - this one hurts to admit and i will never stop writing about them both being ticklish, but...let's be real here. both of them are so traumatized when it comes to the specific concept of physical touch, kaz literally has a phobia of skin-to-skin contanct, if you tried to tickle him, i think he would probably throw up and then murder you. inej shuts down at unwanted touch, she "disappears" as i believe she calls it in the books (aka dissociates) and i think that it would take a lot of trust and healing for either of them to even realize they were ticklish let alone allow it to happen.

levi ackerman (attack on titan) - this man has literally suffered so many injuries, i have to imagine his nervous system is just completely shot. i will still write about him being super ticklish, because it's my party and i'll do what i want to, but like...let's be real. i can't imagine him even reacting to a minor injury, like he's bleeding profusely and everyone is like "omg captain are you ok!?!?!" and he didn't even notice he was hurt and just starts stitching it up. like, he doesn't feel things. it would take a loooot to get him to relax enough to react to tickling, i think, lol. probably liquor.

[maespri]

joe, nao, and kugie were never supposed to be part of the death game

back on my your turn to die theorizing shit. this is. something i started thinking about after making my post on the percentage sheets, and my friend was talking about it with me and i decided i wanted to write it all out.

i don't engage much with the online community for this game, so this might be common sense or a popular theory and i'm just dumb, but it was fun to talk about and sort out specific reasoning anyway!

spoilers for the entire game ahead!

here's my reasoning.

joe, nao, and kugie were all collateral damage at the time of their kidnappings. what i mean by that is that if they weren't kidnapped, they would have been witnesses to the intended target being kidnapped, and that is not good at all for asunaro.

joe was in sara's house with her when she got kidnapped, but he wasn't supposed to be. so if they hadn't kidnapped him as well, he would have been collateral, anyway.

nao was in a car with mishima and was kidnapped at a security checkpoint; i think that's really the only thing we get told about that. but either way, if mishima was the initial target and nao was also in the car... they can't just. Leave her there.

kugie's is pretty simple; she was walking with kanna and therefore was kidnapped along with her.

they're among the first few characters to be killed because, being unintended targets and non-candidates, asunaro wants to get rid of them as fast as possible.

listen. you don't make an entire death game like this, study its potential players for years, create AI versions of them, put them through god-knows how many test runs, and then just... throw in random unwanted variables into the ACTUAL genuine for-real death game.

it completely eradicates some of the data they've been collecting for years for this death game.

therefore, they're among the first characters to be killed off. kugie is killed during the first trial, joe gets the sacrifice card during the first main game, and nao gets the sacrifice card during the second main game. gashu even goes as far as to kill himself just so nao doesn't have a chance at making it.

what i also want to note here is that it seems intentionally more difficult for these characters to live, because they're not supposed to be in here!!!

not everyone had the same first trial, but kanna and kugie had the same one as joe and sara & nao and mishima. joe and sara & nao and mishima have the advantage of being older and having a considerably clever person in their duos. they make it out because they remain fairly calm, they think their way through it bit by bit, and they overall are just. smart.

but when it comes to kanna and kugie... kanna is only 14, and clearly rather timid, uncertain of herself, and shy. and that's not to say she's stupid, because that isn't true at all- but i think she was definitely too overwhelmed to be able to win. and i think asunaro was aware of that.

if kugie told kanna to unlock herself first, kanna may have done that, but not been able to figure out how to help kugie. add to this the fact that kanna is in a very high-stress situation involving someone she loves very deeply (not to mention she tends to strongly react physically, such as when she passes out at the start of chapter 1, to stressful situations), and the fact that she's so young and hesitant and uncertain of herself, and kugie is practically dead before the first trial even begins.

my point here is that sure, joe and sara, nao and mishima, and kugie and kanna all had the same first trial, and theoretically, an equal chance at winning- but it really wasn't equal. there's a levelheaded one between joe and sara & nao and mishima, but between kanna and kugie, i really only see a scared teenager and a scared preteen.

so i definitely think the death game is rigged against the non-candidates with the sole intention of getting rid of them as soon as possible because they were never meant to be in the game in the first place. keeping them, these unknown variables, in there is making all of the data from the AI runs obsolete. asunaro, therefore, is doing everything they can to get rid of the unpredictable ones.

let's talk about the percentage sheets. i have a whole separate post on this, but to summarize my thoughts, i think the percentage sheets are meaningless. i don't think they hold any weight. i think they were put into the game specifically to mess with the players.

anyway, the only reason i bring it up here is because of something literally everyone knows, but i'll bring it up anyway because it's a point- joe, nao, and kugie don't have percentages. they were never meant to be part of the game.

and i know we are told "well yeah but joe was put in to be a handicap for sara because her percentage was too high!" which is actually exactly my next point.

joe was never meant to be a handicap for sara.

okay, walk with me here. i know i just went against canon. walk with me here.

sara is a very intense and driven person, shown through both her minisode and her personality throughout your turn to die. in her minisode, she's shown to get too intense to a point where joe has to stop her from playing because she's getting too into it. during her kendo flashback, she goes in too harshly until she hurts her partner.

but that's exactly my point here; she goes until she hurts her partner.

a card game at a fair is something very different from a death game or a kendo match.

all humans are capable of doing awful things to survive. in desperate situations, we tend to neglect nature and nurture, to go against everything we know and believe in, in favor of protecting ourselves. but inherently, humans are good.

most humans don't want to hurt other people. even when we're faced with the possibility of death, love can overpower self-preservation (think about shin begging everyone to vote for him just so kanna can survive; think of joe, who did everything he possibly could just to ensure sara would live; gin, entering the coffin at the banquet because he didn't want sara to have to worry about any of it).

and all of that emotion- it applies to sara, too. sara is clearly a kind person. she can come off as intense, or maybe struggle to express herself, but she holds so much love and empathy in her heart. what i'm really trying to get at here is that sara doesn't want to hurt anyone anymore than the next person. in fact, when joe was killed, sara begged miley to let her take his place.

i'm not denying that sara could do some terrible stuff to survive; they all could. they all do. but i don't think that self-preservation would have taken her as far as it did to victory, whether joe were there or not, because sara is still a level-headed person who can stop herself when she has to. she did stop herself at the kendo match when she realized she was hurting ryoko. and during both the fair and the kendo match, she felt immense guilt about her actions after the fact.

the point i'm trying to get at here is that i can believe sara had the highest percentage in certain AI runs. but i don't think joe's presence, or lack thereof, had as big of an effect to the point where she would have 'needed' a handicap like they say. i said this in my percentage post as well, but during the first chapter (and i could be wrong, but if i'm remembering correctly), i don't actually think there are even any in-your-face moments where sara gets too intense and joe has to pull her out of it. in her minisode, yes- but like i said, that's not part of the death game.

i know someone might argue that his death is what's really a handicap to sara- but by that point, it's already chapter 2, and sara already has yet to exhibit these ferocious, violent, tendencies like the game says she would. also, sara does already carry a lot of guilt outside of joe, in the form of kai and mishima. she feels bad for things that aren't even really her fault.

so, circling back to my whole point in this post: why is joe there? he's not inhibiting her in any way when he's alive... so, i don't think he was meant to be part of the death game. just collateral.

i do think asunaro took advantage of the fact that he was, though. i think they literally just wanted to mess with sara.

i think she was told about how she got her percentage because asunaro A) enjoys fucking with people, but also B) because sara is kind of the main character, not just to us, the audience, but even to the people within the game. she has a connection to the death game without even knowing it initially, through kai and her father. of course they're going to want to mess with her especially.

anyway, that's my point with that.

i have one more point to delve into, and it involves mishima and nao.

the game says joe was meant to be a handicap for sara to ensure she didn't get too powerful. but then... why does mishima have nao?

i think you could definitely consider nao a handicap to mishima, because he's going to shift his focus from protecting just himself to also protecting his former student, even if it may not show. and even vice-versa; nao puts a lot into protecting mishima, even if it puts herself in danger, i.e. keeping his head for so long.

but it's quite obvious that neither of them needed a handicap. their percentages are already considerably low on the percentage sheet. so then... why? unless they literally had no choice but to put nao in there as well because she was collateral.

i also kind of feel this way about kugie and kanna; clearly, neither of them would have needed a handicap, yet they get put in the game with one, anyway.

anyway, that's it. that's my thoughts. this post is a mess. but thank you for reading anyway lmfao

[vashtijoy]

10/11: Akechi sees Okumura's death tape

So on the evening of 10/11, after Okumura has very publicly died, Akechi meets up with Sae for the last time while she's watching the Okumura tape. His response is what I'm going to categorise as "interesting as fuck":

he's abruptly shocked at the start of the scene, throwing him off-balance;

he's sickened by what he sees and sounds breathless, unwell and off-balance for the rest of the scene;

we get extensive use of the "sad sprite", which is often performative, but can also—as with the "unwanted child" inner monologue—be very genuine.

Now, since it's Akechi, we have to ask how much of this is staged. I think not very much. He doesn't really seem like he wants people to think he quails at scary videos on the Internet, yanno? I think this sequence is meant to show us something about how he reacts to the reality of what he does—as opposed to the unreal, sanitised experience he has in the Metaverse.

Here's the scene. Audio references are to the Japanese audio.

Akechi: It's been a while. Akechi: What are you watching? Akechi: *gasp* That's—

He throws his hand over his eyes and flinches away. The Japanese subs have a description for the sound he makes: "coughs as if gagging"—he looks, and sounds, very much as if he's about to be sick.

He lowers his hand so he can see what's going on (or look at Sae?), leaving his mouth covered....

Sae: This is just a hypothesis... Sae: But perhaps Okumura was bitten by his lapdog. Akechi: Are you implying that the Phantom Thieves triggered a sudden mental shutdown on Okumura?

At this point, he still sounds pretty unwell, to be honest. And he uses the sad sprite for most of the rest of what is, honestly, a fairly normal conversation for them.

Sae: There might have been a falling out of sorts, so the Phantom Thieves abandoned a useless employer. Sae: ...And to cover their tracks, they dealt with Okumura. Akechi: I hate to bring this up, but I'm actually here about that.

Still using the sad sprite at this point, still sounding off-balance and unwell as fuck. But here's his ordinary chin-stroking deep-in-thought emote—very different to the hand-over-his-mouth-about-to-throw-up emote from further up.

Sae: Did you find any evidence? Akechi: No. Actually, there's a chance that the party behind these aren't the Phantom Thieves, but someone else.

Aha. Now, even though he still sounds uncertain and unwell, we switch to the angry sprite; he knows who's behind what he just saw. Anger doesn't quite make sense for him in-character IMO (especially if you assume his revulsion was feigned), and if he was thinking of himself, we might still get the sad sprite. I think the "someone else" here he's thinking of is Shido. Even though this whole thing is a ploy to frame the PTs, Akechi's mind still goes there.

Sae: How do you mean? You were suspecting the Phantom Thieves as well. Akechi: It is still hypothetical at this point... but I don't want to rule it out.

Sad sprite reports back for action. This is actually a really interesting dual use of it. I'm interpreting it to lead on from Akechi's shock at seeing Okumura die, but you could (especially on a first playthrough) think he's sad because he's wronged the Phantom Thieves and effectively framed them for murder. Which pays off when he joins the team for Sae's Palace in a couple of weeks.

Sae: We're searching the Okumura residence tomorrow. Same with Shujin and its principal. Sae: We will find evidence on this... no matter what it takes.

Now the conversation switches track. Sae thinks Akechi stole data from her laptop, and she's about to confront him about it.

Sae: ...By the way, I wanted to ask you something. Akechi: Yes?

The subject changes, and Akechi is immediately on safer ground. That's the only time his plain straight-faced sprite appears all scene, when usually it's close to the only sprite he uses—as he tells us, people say he's "poker-faced or always smiling". He pulls his mask tighter because Sae is obviously about to chew him out for something.

Sae: ...You haven't looked at my laptop or taken files from it without my permission, have you? Akechi: That's quite out of the blue. Sae: There were traces that someone transferred data from it. Sae: It was only a small error pop―up... Sae: But I noticed it immediately after I had that argument with you last month. Akechi: And that's why you suspect me? Oh please, give me a break.

Lmao, that facepalm. He's still rocking the sad sprite, too. I've always thought that "give me a break" (勘弁してくださいよ kanben shite kudasai yo, "please forgive me"—often a polite request, but sometimes a much snarkier "let it go" as we see here) was a bit out of voice for Akechi, a bit not how he behaves with Sae—after this scene, of course, she'll later tell us that she didn't see him again until the interrogation room. That his attitude changed suddenly; that "Akechi-kun said the Phantom Thieves weren't the true culprits and left me".

And now he's about to go off on her. He talks about how he's a detective, dammit, and he values information, and would never steal data from her laptop! She should be ashamed of herself! How unjust of her to accuse him in this way! if it makes you feel better, kid

Sae: Are you saying you didn't? Akechi: As a detective myself, I honor the value of information—as well as the effort invested in it.

pls

Akechi: I take pride in what I do.

p l s.

Akechi: I thought you of all people would understand such values, Sae―san.

What a manipulative little shit, eh?

Sae: ...I apologize. Sae: But then... who stole my data?

But I can't help but wonder if anything lies beneath the surface of this angry little speech. Whether it ties into the "I am a detective, goddamn you" business—the fact that that identity and those abilities are important to him at some level, though he doesn't truly get to use them and, rather, disgraces them.

Also, he rushes through telling her off—probably because he wants to get out of there? Compare their conversation on 9/13, where Akechi also shows a lot of emotion (that is almost certainly fake), and tells Sae off, but where he's fully in control—his voice is level, we see a lot more use of the neutral sprite, and he's leading Sae along, as is their usual dynamic, rather than being led by her.

Their last three conversations (10/11, 9/13 and 8/22), actually, all end with some kind of show of emotion on Akechi's part:

On 8/22 he has the whole "if only I'd realised sooner that someone powerful was behind the PTs!", which is framing them for Okumura—that speech is very performative, breathlessly stagey, and I don't believe a single word of it.

On 9/13 he goes after Sae for threatening Sojiro's parental authority, which is interesting, since this is after he's met Futaba on 8/28. He only gets really stagey-sounding at the end—"It's a shame, since we both want to capture the culprit behind the psychotic breakdowns".

But this meeting, 10/11, is different. Akechi is unbalanced right at the start, by something he didn't expect to see and can't handle. He's full of emotion that he can't properly conceal. And instead of asking the questions as he did before, Sae is questioning him—and he doesn't like it at all.

Anyway, yes. October is when reality starts to bite.

[highfantasy-soul]

NATLA Episode 5 - Spirited Away (2/3)

[Masterlist of my NATLA thoughts]

An explanation of what I'm doing here and my history with ATLA.

Of course, full spoilers ahead.

<previous/next>

Combining Zuko chasing Aang in part 2 of the winter solstice with Bato of the Water Tribe and The Blue Spirit was a good move: in only 8 episodes, too many near-misses for him catching Aang could get redundant, so getting June to track him to Roku's temple was a great merging of those lines. While I miss Zuko holding onto Katara's necklace, since Katara didn’t make it to the Avatar temple, it's an ok change for me. It's a convenient way to merge in The Blue Spirit and have Katara and Sokka MIA without them just randomly being sick - they're actually trapped in the spirit world, so their plot is still relevant rather than the 'we're doing nothing but dying of thirst' plot they got in The Blue Spirit episode. Honestly think the way the live-action puts Sokka and Katara on their own journeys during big plot arcs that focus on Aang was really really good. First with the Omashu (animated) episode where they got stuff to do in Into the Dark (live-action) and now here with the Blue Spirit storyline.

I could watch Zuko being horrendously awkward trying to get info in the covert and not screaming orders way for like, 6 episodes. That whole tavern scene was just so freaking hilarious with all the mentions of the side quests from pirates to canyon guides to stopping the volcano! It really felt pulled right from the animated show - paying homage but seeding the themes from those episodes into other part of this live-action story!! Love June's introduction - and I'm so happy they got rid of the weird Iroh and her stuff and just had her compliment him to throw the pair off balance.

So I guess I should address some of the issues people had with June's characterization: I don't think her telling Iroh he was cute (like with Suki and Sokka) was her suddenly simping for an older man and genuinely pursuing him. That is not how people flirt. Take Sokka and Suki - is that how they flirted? Sokka and Yue? Katara and Jet? Aang and Katara in the animated show? Mai and Zuko in the animated show? You know who did flirt like that in the animated show? Tylee with Sokka when they were fighting - only ever when they were fighting. Was that her actually wanting to have a relationship with Sokka - throw out all her own wants to just get with a man? No. It was a way to gain the upper hand in a fight and throw your opponent off balance. With Tylee, she's already a bubbly, cheerful, open person, so we can read that flirtation as flippant and thrown out there because she's confident and not concerned with putting a filter on. With June, she's also confident, but she also is a beautiful young woman bounty hunter who is in a (assumedly) predominantly male field and has to deal with a great deal of strong and dangerous men.

Being incredibly forward with an individual who wouldn't expect to be flirted with is a power move. It's a way for her to assert dominance immediately in the situation - to take the lead and knock them off balance before one of the two men makes an unwanted pass at her. I didn't read her flirtation with Iroh as genuine, or at least, not as her just getting all hot and bothered and rolling over for the pair based purely on the fact that she was attracted to Iroh. She probably is great at reading people and saw that Iroh was marginally decent, so would agree to work with them, but she still wanted the upper hand and control in the situation - she wanted to clearly define her role as someone who was choosing to let them employ her not as a servant to do their bidding. She placed herself firmly above them - there would be no subservience from her. This is also not making June a bad character - it's making her a strong character (strong as in she believes what she believes and is unapologetic about it) it's not 'flipping misogyny into misandry' or whatever, it's showing June has agency. Like with Suki, the live-action gave June an actual character instead of her just being a cardboard cut-out of a Dragon Lady.

Having the lesson being learned in the town be that Zuko needs to stop thinking so rigidly - be prepared to take the unexpected route - was a great story beat to introduce with June. Instead of the plot being straight forward of Zuko sees June = Zuko gets her to track the Avatar and switching it to Zuko being annoyed and insulted that she's a bounty hunter (just as he was insulted that fire nation operatives would fight behind masks and doesn't think his father would approve) and then having to be convinced by Iroh to learn new ways of doing things was a great character building addition.

It's funny to me when people complain 'Zuko didn't say honor ONCE!' when every single action Zuko did - every opinion he voiced - SCREAMED about his honor. What was that again about the live-action telling not showing, not trusting the audience to understand character motivations, and being flat in its characterizations? This very internal integrity - honor - that he has is what's leading him to uphold Fire Nation values and rules so strictly, but it's also the very core honor of his being that will help him turn against his father in the end. It's consistent characterization that's just so wonderful to play with - their core remains the same, but how they interpret it once they have more info changes. And I'm not just saying that because those are my favorite characters to play in DnD! This is a totally objective and unbiased analysis! I swear!

I really loved all the additions with Azula in this season. It really rounds out her character and we see WHY she's as driven as she is in season 2. Seeing her need for perfection, her needing to go above and beyond to do better, and the hint of her blue flame was great. Just like the animated series explores at the end of season 3, no one starts out a 'monster' - they're taught to be that way. I never liked the reduction a lot of the fandom did with Azula and Zuko where Zuko was the one 'born good' and 'like his good mother' while Azula was just 'born bad' because she was the one 'like her father'. People aren't so simple as just being 'born bad'. In the animated series, Azula gets 'humanized' at the very end of the series, but I think showing her striving for the approval of her father - that vulnerability - makes seeing where it takes her in her brutality that much more horrific. We see that she doesn't HAVE to be this way (same with Zuko), but she was pushed to it due to her upbringing - the same as with Ozai and Iroh before Iroh had his loss and change of heart.

I saw some complaints that the spirit world was too bright and cheery here - and uh, I don’t see it? It's super grayed out, misty, creepy af, and ominous. The ONLY time it's colorful and cheery is in Gyatzo's little hut which… yeah, he created that little bubble of happiness - the rest is very in line with its depiction in the animated series.  Obviously sans the giant wolf, but basically it's the same vibe - creepy, ominous, and a perturbed spirit warning them away.

In the animated series, Sokka wants to go out and physically fight Hei Bai and Katara has 100% faith that Aang will figure it out. When Aang is thrown back by the spirit, Sokka runs out to help him fight - something that he mirrors in the live-action as it goes after Katara and he draws its attention over to him. Due to them weaving several of Aang's plotlines together in this episode(s), Hei Bai doesn't get as much time to be the main antagonist which I think is a shame, but with them giving more development to Katara and Sokka during this episode, I think it's ok. If I had to choose between more angry spirit destroying a village and seeing the root of Katara and Sokka's character trauma, I'll choose the character trauma every time. I always did think it was a shame that Sokka spent a bunch of time in the spirit realm and we never got to see/hear anything at all about it - there's a lot to delve into there that the animated show just skipped over.

Love love love Yue in the spirit world as a three-tailed fox! And how she explains Hei Bai's pain - foreshadowing the pain of the ocean spirit after it loses the moon spirit - her small bit of dialogue really sets up a lot with Sokka's growth, the state of the world, and the pain of the spirits (and humans reacting when they go through painful things). So cool that the showrunners used this foray into the spirit world and the fog to do a rendition of The Swamp from season 2 - even down to Sokka seeing Yue! Yeah, it happens differently, but the swamp showed each of our protagonists things in their past - and Aang one of his future (though in this episode it GAVE Aang his future). Very well done, in my opinion.

[orangechickenpillow]

Hello, fellow enjoyer of BG3/Prospect/Arcane/The Ghoul Boys/TAD/WWDITS/probably other things I've yet to discover because you clearly have stellar taste in media! ✨

I wanted to throw an idea at you that has been rotting my brain: TAD songs for BG3 characters.

"Inkpot Gods" simply IS Wyll and Karlach. "The Old Witch Sleep and The Good Man Grace" might seem the obvious choice for Astarion but I would like to make an argument that "Farewell Wanderlust" is even better. "The Horror and The Wild" is Karlach's all on her own. "Elsa's Song" is giving Gale for some reason? Unsure why.

Anyway, sorry for the random long-ish ask. But what do you think? :D

Ahhhh thank you so much. I've seen you in my notifs and am happy to report that we're officially best friends now <3

Thank you so much for throwing this idea at me holy shit???? I went back and listened to all three TAD albums specifically to answer this, so.... yeah, we're definitely best friends.

I'm loving what you've got so far -- Inkpot Gods works so perfectly for the Avernus duo, and honestly could be the theme song for bg3 in general. Jesus christ, what a song, am I right. Farewell wanderlust is sooooo Astarion I'm going to lose my mind about it I mean be totally normal. Also I feel like it fits Lae'zel really well too. I actually found that a lot of songs I liked for Astarion worked for Lae just as well. Interesting. Anyway, during my trillionth re-listen to the TAD albums here are the notes I took on my phone lmao:

Love Run for Wyll. The wholesome, strong, hopefulness this song radiates fits him so well. It's also really fucking romantic, and so is he.

I also think that Two Minutes is fitting for him. That whole vibe of an abandoned child, of someone who is so tired and beaten down by life but still manages to keep going despite it all. I really adore Wyll, and the more romantic TAD songs fit him perfectly.

I love Wild Blue Yonder for Karlach. It's silly but heartfelt, and so full of yearning. It has a light approach to life while still acknowledging how hard things can be, and that's just so Karlach. Also, "We don't know what's out there -- could be ghosts or monsters, or a robot vampire, I don't know" sounds like something she would say lol

You're so right about The Horror and the Wild. That's just. Karlach and Gortash. "Give me back my heart you wingless thing" are you fucking kidding me right now, I'm going to pull a Karlach and explode.

Also I think The Horror and the Wild fits Astarion equally well. I'll always yammer on about how Astarion and Karlach are two sides of the same coin, and this song is a great representation of that. "You passed your fingers through my hair and called me child -- witness me, old man, I am the wild" -- Astarion and Cazador. Please send help, I am ill over this and will not be recovering.

"Think of all the horrors that I promised you I'd bring" Karlach. Astarion. Shadowheart. Lae'zel. Literally help me.

Blossoms for Gale. It's a very intense song, but it's also weary. It's strong but desperate, yet determined. I also think it fits him as the one who would be leading the group if Tav wasn't around. It's a somber and dramatic song, but it's ultimately fueled by tender love. Sound like anyone else we know?

Similarly to you pairing him with Elsa's Song (which I love btw), I think The Rockrose and the Thistle is VERY Gale (and, dare I say, bloodweave? The singer begging to die and the other person "sewing" them back together??? Hello?????) Just like the more romantic songs fit Wyll, the quieter, more subdued songs fit Gale. I think those songs really capture desperation in its most potent form, and Gale is kind of like the human version of that (sorry Gale)

Okay, New York Torch Song could be any of the ladies. Literally any of them. It's perfect. This one also makes me think of Karlach and Wyll.

I adore That Unwanted Animal for Astarion. The helplessness paired with the subtle sense of revenge and violence. The sexual tones throughout. The lack of romance.

I like The Old Witch Sleep and the Good Man Grace for Astarion, and I also really like it for Lae'zel. Her whole being raised by a cult thing really aligns with the vibe of the song -- being told that you're one thing and having to fight to be anything else, the desperation of feeling like you have no purpose. Fighting it all and coming out on top anyway. The steady increase in the intensity of the song representing getting your power back. It's so herrrrrr

King fits her well too. This song is so badass. I think it represents the soldier archetype well. It's cool, she's cool, it's perfect.

Pray makes me think of Shadowheart. Obviously the religious tone of the song fits her well, but also its pure spite. It's really giving "abandoned daughter" vibes, which is perfect for her. Also, "honey I'm no man, I'm what's left when children go to war" are you fucking kidding me.

Anywayyyyy, this was long, yikes. I have a lot of Thoughts as you can see. Thank you SO much for letting me yap about two of the things I love very much and might be obsessed with, who knows. I'll end by officially asking for your hand in marriage <3

[toffee4you]

A “Peaceful” Mountain Hike

Content: Prefect!reader, GN!reader, reader is distrustful of Jade, platonic, tricked into eating the ‘shrooms (someone please arrest Jade), crackfic, ft. Ace/Deuce/Grim at the end

Jade dialogue: cyan

Prefect dialogue: default color

I don't know how to write in-character dialogue, so enjoy ♡♡

Today was a weekend, a quiet one.. and not exactly an ideal one. You had to catch up on your alchemy homework since Grim ended up spilling your potion over during a fight with Ace. It was tedious work, but a rare moment of peace and quiet since no one else was in the cultivating area of the botanical garden. You hummed to yourself as you picked ingredients for the potion, albeit, having a hard time finding the majority of them. In the midst of your searching, you heard a familiar voice from behind.

“Ah, Prefect... Perfect timing!”

You turned around to see Jade smiling his usual slippery smile, still dusting off a bit of dirt from his lab coat. You didn't like his tone, not one bit.

“Jade Leech? What is it now...”

You sighed, deciding to humor him just this once rather than ignoring him. The moment his smile curled wider upon receiving your attention, you began to regret that decision.

“Oh my, why the distasteful tone? I was simply in the midst of tending to my mushrooms when I spotted you. My heart simply ached upon seeing you waste away your weekend on that project you failed...”

Already, you knew he had another angle here. How did he know you failed your project anyways? You weren't even in the same class!

Rolling your eyes, you turned around to leave, not wanting any part in an event that may end with you working for a whole week at Monstro Lounge. That was, until he started following behind you with his hands folded in front of him. You knew that shady pose anywhere.

“Say, Prefect... I am aware that you may have some misunderstandings about us, but I would not mind helping you with this task of yours for a simple, personal, price. That is--”

You raised an eyebrow and turned abruptly on your heels, nearly getting ready to throw hands with him. He could tell, and thus backed up a few steps while flashing a wide-eyed look of fabricated shock.

“...Now whatever is that reaction for? I simply ask of you to join me during my hiking trip!”

“...A hiking trip?”

So, after some hard consideration, you found yourself trailing behind Jade on a grassy mountain. He helped you finish your project beforehand, which you appreciated, but that also meant no going back. It wasn't as if you needed to anyways, at least not initially. He seemed like an unexpectedly fun person to be around outside of Octavinelle; enthusiastically teaching you about the mountain's flora and fauna, fetching safe, wild-grown fruits for you to try... Maybe, you thought, he was actually a genuinely nice person to be around as long as you're off campus. There was still doubt in your mind, but you decide to place at least a bit of trust in him.

Nearly the whole trip was surprisingly safe. Sure, you were exhausted, but at least you were alive and in one piece—plus, you didn't get forced into any unwanted work. At this point, you were quite relaxed between having your stomach full of the delicious, grilled river trout that Jade caught for lunch and the overall healing experience. Your hands were placed lazily behind your head as you walked at your own pace, with Jade slowing his down to match you.

“You know, Jade? You're actually a pretty cool guy! In fact, I wouldn't mind hanging out more often.”

Jade turned his head with his usual smile, which now seemed more friendly to you than before.

“Is that so? I am glad to hear that, Prefect. I'm even so glad that I'd like to end our trip on a special note...”

This brought back a creeping feeling on you again, but once again, you forced yourself to trust him a little more. Maybe he really was misunderstood because of his associations. Thinking about it now, he was the sanest one in his group, right...?

...

Every positive thought went down the drain when you saw him pull out a handful of mushrooms. You staggered back with your hands up, shaking your head nervously.

“Jade...? What is that? What are you trying to do with those? You just want to plant them together... Right...?”

Without a word, he stepped forward, still grinning at you...and it seemed like a shady grin once more.

You were about to turn your back to him and run, but he swiftly caught you and popped a mushroom down your mouth. Good thing it was a small one, or else you would have choked on it.

“Hmm... I heard this mushroom has quite a few special properties to it despite being edible. Could you tell me what you're feeling right now, Prefect?... Prefect? Oh my, it seems to have...”

And the next thing you saw was the heads of your two friends and a pair of familiar ears. It seems you were back in Ramshackle again, with Ace and Deuce bickering while Grim noticed you waking up.

You rubbed your aching head, letting out a huff of exhaustion. Cold sweats, body aches, fatigue... yeah, those effects were “special” alright. Your friends went silent after seeing you in such a condition, slowly turning to look at you. They wanted an explanation, and you'd definitely owe it to them later.

“...Ace, Deuce, Grim... If Jade EVER asks you to hike with him, don't. go.”

[tavore]

Tom Glynn-Carney, who plays Rhaenyra's step-brother and rival to the crown of Westeros, confirms things will be quite "strenuous."

"I'm looking forward to having Aegon have a lot more meat to get his teeth stuck into and to cause more havoc, really, and to throw a spanner in the works, which he does so well," he told the gathered audience.

Glynn-Carney also said he hopes audiences aren't too quick to judge Aegon as a character, though he admits it's already not looking good for him.

"He was always gonna be a tricky one because, on paper, he can very easily come across as an out-and-out villain, and someone who's dark and cold. I think he is all those things, but I think there's way more layers to him, as well," he said of his character. "He's not an out-and-out psychopath. There are complexities and intricacies within him that make him an absolute gift to play. He keeps me guessing, so hopefully that translates to keep everyone else on their toes."

"No one should really be able to make up their mind about him straight away," he added, "and hopefully they'll give him a little bit of a chance. But we'll see. It's not looking good!"

*

[...] "I'd love to hear more about his journey through it all because I know that playing Joffrey is no easy feat," the actor told EW in advance of the panel. "The backlash that came with it and the — I don't know if you could call it negative or unwanted or alternative attention he was given for his betrayal — I just think it's important for people to remember to differentiate between actor and character."

For what it's worth, Gleeson would later tell an audience on stage at the Con that he hasn't had any negative experiences with fans. But Glynn-Carney's point holds true: As Aegon in House of the Dragon — the player who raped a serving girl off camera, fathered numerous bastards, and stole his half-sister's throne — the star has been getting a lot of comparisons to Joffrey.

"There's been a couple of comments thrown about on social media, but I don't pay attention to them," Glynn-Carney said. "It's a compliment to me, if anything, that I'm doing my job, and it's having the impact that is required."

Besides, Glynn-Carney's performance is different from that of the mad kid king of Game of Thrones. Whereas you quickly get a sense of what Joffrey will do — given that choice, he'll always reach for the crossbow to impale a beloved character to a wall — Glynn-Carney is working to make Aegon unpredictable.

"In one of the first meetings I had with Miguel and Ryan," he said of season 1 showrunners Miguel Sapochnik and Ryan Condal, "we spoke about Aegon and his unpredictability. I was saying that I really wanted to have him teeing on the edge the entire time. The coin could flip onto any side, and we should never know which way it's gonna go. People will make their own decisions, but I just want to keep that kind of center of gravity."

But Glynn-Carney does find some commonalities between Joffrey and Aegon. "They're unlikable," he said. "They're tortured and have deep, deep issues, which is a lot of fun to play as an actor, but I also see [Aegon] as being incredibly complex. He's not an out-and-out psychopath. I'm not saying Joffrey is, but I see a multilayered character that just has endless potential of pits of vulnerability and empathy and things that we don't see that I think it's important to have at least a flavor of, because it brings the humanity to him, and that's what pulls people in two separate directions."

During his own panel at the convention last Friday, Glynn-Carney revealed that season 2 will start filming in March 2023 and that he's already preparing for the job. "I didn't really get a great run at things [in season 1]," he tells EW. "It felt very quick. I was in a few scenes. Season 2 will be a lot more meaty, so I'm looking forward to the challenge."

Glynn-Carney added that he's personally looking forward to exploring "the constant battle" within Aegon "between vulnerability and his darkness."

"I think one breeds the other," he said. "I think it's his vulnerability that breeds the darkness. It's the way he copes, it's his security, it's his safety blanket, it's an addictive coping mechanism for him to shut things out and to be cold. I wanna push that further, and I want to see where we can take him."

Tom Glynn-Carney eager for Aegon to 'cause more havoc' in House of the Dragon season 2 House of the Dragon star wants Aegon to be unpredictable: 'Season 2 will be a lot more meaty'

[eemamminy-art]

desire, failure, guilt, hate, and heartbreak for whichever oc you like~

I'm going to answer these with a few different OCs, since different OCs come to mind with the prompts! It'll be long so let me put a read more cut! Also please proceed with caution as this dives into some very dark and heavy topics (thought not in great detail).

oc asks: not-so-nice edition

desire: What's one thing your OC wants more than anything in the world? Are they open with that desire? Why or why not? What would they do to fulfill it?

This question makes me realize that a lot of my characters don't really have big lofty dreams, at least not in the present. I think some of them have backstories with big dreams, but otherwise they're just getting by.

Mal, my stardew valley OC, might be the best suited for this question. He really craves love, community, and family. He was an unwanted child, so his mother made damn sure he knew it, being very cold and then having bursts of anger and verbal abuse. He was close with his grandparents but only could ever see them sparingly, but he built up this fantasy in his head of living with them on their farm and being a happy little family. He does inherit their farm when they die and drops out of university and basically throws away all he's been working toward up until that point in order to move there, but he quickly finds that the quaint little community he remembered as a child isn't quite what it seems. So even in attaining what he thought he wanted, it still takes a lot of work after that to build up a home and community that makes him feel loved and like he finally belongs somewhere.

failure: What's your OC's greatest failure? Have they been able to move past it? Does anyone else know about it? & guilt: What is your OC guilty about? How do they handle their guilt? Do they try to avoid guilt, or do they accept it?

Putting these together because they tie together really well for Cam, my fallout OC. When he was a teenager, he went on his first job with an older girl he considered a friend, a mentor, and a bit of a crush, Nerissa. She worked for a caravan as a guard, and Cam had been practicing his sharpshooting for a while and was going to ride along.

There was a raider ambush and it was a total slaughter. He choked in the moment and just froze, then hid, and continued to freeze. He watched people die gruesomely, and as something truly horrible was about to happen to Nerissa he ran. He ran so far he didn't settle down anywhere until he had reached the other end of the country several years later.

It messed him up pretty deeply. He fell deep into alcohol, took to cannibalism to survive and found he kind of liked it, which added another layer of guilt to his already guilty conscience. It gave him a complex about women, the thought of ever being with a woman after letting Nerissa be tortured and presumably killed made him feel like he never had the right to ever love any woman. Just haunted by his actions that day, forever.

It's something he does eventually work through, but not until over a decade has passed, and along the way he was as self destructive as possible. He's bi so he would only ever sleep with men during that time and would let them be just horrible to him, he never allowed himself to get close to anyone, he numbed the pain with liquor but often found his guilty conscience kept him awake at night. He'd throw himself headlong into danger because he felt he had nothing to lose, but always, always that survival instinct would kick in and he'd use whatever dirty tricks he had to in order to make it out alive.

Boy has had it rough lol I think even when he starts working through all of that trauma finally, it takes a very very long time for him to start to forgive himself and be kind to himself.

hate: What does your OC hate? Why? How do they act towards the object of their hatred?

Unsurprisingly, my wol Leigh hates the Garlean empire. He was born in Ala Mhigo and was forced to seek refuge in Ul'dah at a very young age like so many others. His parents were of Ala Mhigan and Doman descent so he had double the baggage when it came to hating the Garleans too. He was robbed of not only his home, but his family, and the chance to ever see his parents' homelands for the better part of his lifetime.

It becomes a little tricky for him, since his story is a little bit canon divergent and there are some Eorzean nations that ally themselves with Garlemald, and he has no choice but to work with them at various points. He has to watch his tongue, which is one of Leigh's worst skills lol he always speaks before he thinks, and has struggled to keep himself from getting into a political incident by speaking his mind about the empire.

heartbreak: Have they ever had a relationship that ended badly? Experienced some other kind of heartbreak? What happened?

I think all of the three I wanted to write about here have faced heartbreak of some kind or another.

Cam: I already mentioned above about Nerissa, but he went through some further heartbreak later on too. He got into a several months-long situationship with a guy who had a jet problem, and although it wasn't great it was the only companionship he'd ever really had. So when that person ultimately suffered an overdose eventually, it honestly devastated him. In his grief he cannibalized a good bit of him, in some bid to keep a part of him with him. :')

Leigh: He tried a little bit of dating in his youth but nothing ever really panned out. He and his best friend tried kissing one another but there was no spark, so they managed to keep things amicable after that little bit of experimentation together. He did end up getting into a relationship with the son of a wealthy businessman in Ul'dah, but the class divide and Leigh being an Ala Mhigan unbalanced the relationship dramatically. To keep up appearances, his "boyfriend" would ridicule him in public, treat him like the scum of the earth, but then lavish him with gifts and praise in private. It really messed with his self esteem and sense of worth, and gave him a disdain toward the rich.

Mal: I think this is not nearly so extreme as the other two, but Mal's heartbreak centered around his sexuality. He's interested in men but he's asexual, so in high school he had gotten into two relationships which both ended up with the other boys mocking him and rejecting him for it. It gave him a bit of a complex, and now he's somewhat self conscious about his body, since those boys referred to it as being "broken" for not reacting in the way theirs did when it came to intimacy.

[juuheizou]

yo we know that juuzou doesn't really talk about his feelings but do you think w a significant other like mutsuki he would perhaps be more open?🤔 do you imagine they having late night deep conversations and moments of emotional vulnerability? if so, how does that go? like with all development he's got, how does juuzou talk about his feelings/vent and is open to emotional comfort? how do these moments happen?tysmm in advanceee💘

I don't think it will ever be his first instinct-- he just reads to me as someone who tends to try and pick apart his problems and figure out what to do about them on his own, on the occasion that he realizes he has a problem, and more than being particularly reserved, he just doesn't think to share and involve other people unless there is something practical he knows he needs from them. But I can see that being a skill he gets better at, specifically with Mutsuki as his partner in practicing it more.

Mutsuki, as we know with other characters, can not just read people who do everything in their power not to be read, but has the kindness and the empathy-used-for-good to engage with them in a way that can literally calm the savage beast. Suzuya might be another hard read, though in a different way than Urie, but especially once they grow close, Mutsuki can tell when he's upset behind the nonchalant smile and when a simple 'do you want to talk about it?' can dramatically alter the course of how Suzuya was going to handle whatever is bothering him. And it's not like he actively avoids sharing with people he trusts, so a lot of the time all Suzuya needs to open up in that way is for someone to put the thought in his head.

When Suzuya does talk about his feelings, he is a fun mixture of open and direct while also experiencing legit alexithymia and just not having the same emotional reaction to some things that his peers do. He might struggle to label his feelings as happy, sad, angry, and sometimes all he knows is what he wants to do about them. So I can see Mutsuki gently insinuating the idea into his head that maybe they should talk about something, then Suzuya just drops a bomb like 'this other senior investigator I'm stuck sharing this case with has been barring all my ideas. Sometimes things were easier when other people were just something to stab hundred times and watch them die,” or “I put down this cat I had for three years, and Shinohara probably isn't gonna make it just like my cat, so maybe I would like curling up and dying too,” as casual as someone says they've been feeling a little down lately.

Mutsuki is just as kind and (even if he doesn't really understand, he will fake it until he does) understanding as ever and will follow whatever lead Suzuya gives him deeper and deeper. Sometimes Suzuya's way of articulating his feelings can be hard to hear, but he still musters up a calm 'that must be so sad to go through all at the same time. For what it's worth, I would really miss you if you curled up and died.' And they just keep going back and forth talking until Suzuya feels better or gets worked up enough to beat up one of his pillows or throw a stuffed animal or something cathartic he needed to do to start feeling better. His arms are open when Suzuya gets all his thoughts out and needs a hug.

Suzuya is a smart cookie in his own way and can usually figure out solutions to things he can in fact solve (and work himself up into meltdown-level frustration trying to solve things he can't) on his own or with just an opportunity to talk himself through his thoughts with someone who will listen, but if he is really stuck enough to seek out an answer, which is REALLY stuck because underneath his outer appearance of indifference he is REALLY stubborn about things that actually matter to him, sometimes what he needs is a more Mutsuki-like idea for what to do. He always has a solution, sometimes unsolicited and unwanted, when Mutsuki has something to cry on his shoulder about, and in turn Mutsukki does his best to offer suggestions.

The first time he comes to Mutsuki on his own just to talk, Mutsuki definitely noticed it more than Suzuya did and really took it to heart that talking to him is on Suzuya's list of ways he can fix his problems. And, at that point in their relationship, that he actually has things of value to help Suzuya with, rather than Suzuya always coming to his rescue for nothing in return. I can see them occasionally having deep talks late at night or at the dinner table. Not super often, but I can see it happening when a situation at work or in life demands it.