#because it was designed to infuriate me specifically

[pangolinheart]

Shipping game: Ysayle

YSAYLE! I adore her! She's such a nuanced and well-written character who goes through so much growth over the course of HW. (I always feel a little bad because, at least personally, her death felt like it got kind of overshadowed by Haurchefant's happening right before it.)

As much as I love Ysayle, though, it's a little bit difficult picturing her and Z'rhiki as a couple. I remember getting the impression in the first real scene between the WoL and Lady Iceheart of two people who wanted to understand each other but lacked the fundamental tools and context to do so. I think that vibe would be pervasive in their relationship. I could see them having some sweet moments, but even disregarding Ysayle's canon death, I don't know that a relationship between them would stand the test of time.

In her first encounters with Iceheart, Rhiki really did want to come to understand Ysayle, but without knowing much of anything about the Dragonsong War she couldn't make sense of Ysayle goals, let alone come to a mutual understanding. Her stated desire for peace seemed to be contradicted by her actions. She doesn't really get the chance to learn more about Ysayle until their impromptu field-trip to Hraesvelgr's lair, so that's most likely where their relationship started, or at least where the groundwork for it was laid. I can imagine Rhiki volunteering to help set up camp and prepare dinner with Ysayle while Alphinaud and Estinien were off doing... whatever it is they do (Rhiki doesn't understand their relationship at all), and slowly starting to talk. About trivial things, at first, but eventually about more personal things. They do have some things in common. They're both idealists who want to resolve conflicts without violence, but often have to resort to it anyway. They both feel a little isolated and misunderstood. They were both just normal kids who were gifted the Echo by Hydaelyn and now feel bound to a higher purpose, but have some regrets about the collateral damage they've caused along the way. I think these are things they could bond over.

They do have some fundamental differences, though, which could lead to arguments and frustration. Ysayle seems to be a firm believer in "the ends justify the means." She doesn't necessarily like condemning Ishgardians to death, but even though it weighs on her she views these casualties as necessary sacrifices in the name of peace. Rhiki is less of a big-picture person, and doesn't have the stomach for that sort of thing. She prefers to do good on a small, personal scale. She's realized even at this point in her life how easy it is for people who want to change the world to lose themselves in the pursuit of that goal. She prefers to do the little goods that are right in front of her and hope that they build up to something greater. To Ysayle I'm sure this seems short-sighted and complacent.

The shattering of Ysayle's worldview would put significant strain on their relationship. Rhiki's immediate instinct would be to comfort Ysayle and give her a shoulder to lean on. But it does seem like Ysayle needs space and time to process, and it would be hard for Rhiki to provide that. She would be so reluctant to leave Ysayle defeated and unmoored on the floor of Hraesvelgr's abode that Estinien and Alphinaud would practically have to drag her away to rush back to Ishgard. Rhiki knows that she has to go, that time is of the essence and the fates of countless people hang in the balance, but leaving Ysayle would still be one of the hardest things she had ever had to do up to that point.

The other obstacle in their way is how driven Ysayle is. She's devoted to ending the Dragonsong War and then to atoning for her sins (Esteem voice: 'Ware the penitent, for theirs is a compulsion all-consuming.) It's a bit hard to envision her setting aside a portion of her time and heart for Rhiki. Even if she did, Rhiki would know that she would always come second to Ysayle's dreams. She doesn't resent her for this, though. She admires Ysayle's tireless dedication and would never want to become an obstacle in the pursuit of her ideals. (Though, the fact that Ysayle's search for atonement seems to take on self-destructive tones would stress Rhiki way the hell out.) Anyway, it's not like Rhiki can just kick back and quit her job to support Ysayle either. In a world where Ysayle doesn't die in the skies over Azys Lla, this is what would probably lead to the breakdown of their relationship. I imagine this being and amicable breakup, with both acknowledging that they still cared deeply for each other but understanding that neither of them can set aside their self-appointed duties to love the other the way they deserve. 

In the world of canon, where Ysayle did die buying time for the Scions as they raced to catch up to Thordan, well, that would be rough on Rhiki. It would definitely feed into her complex about other people giving up their lives for her (stop it!!!). Though Rhiki would know it's irrational, she would still feel horribly responsible for what happened to Ysayle; Maybe if she hadn't reached out to her, if they hadn't formed such a strong connection to each other, Ysayle wouldn't have felt compelled to throw her life away to aid them. (Obviously that's not the case, but she would have no way of knowing that.) Ysayle's death would be crushing, and it would take a long time for her to recover and come to terms with it (that was also gonna happen anyways so....)

Since that's kind of a downer, I'll leave you with a cute mental image: Rhiki and Ysayle together at a campsite on a warm, sunny day in the Dravanian Forelands, Ysayle with her head in Rhiki's lap and Rhiki absentmindedly playing with her hair as the they both look up at the sky and watch the dragons swoop and dive above Anyx Trine.

(Send me a character and I'll tell you what a ship with them and Rhiki would look like; good, bad, or otherwise)

[moeblob]

What Deacon thinks: what did that mean? did he want me to wear a collar too? why else would he mention my neck? i mean, if he /asked/ me i would wear one but he didn't so would wearing one be weird?

What Ymber meant: It's nice to be near someone who isn't tethered to this world to serve it with a physical reminder for all to see.

[timegears-moved]

i gotta rant about how much i hate the mega z-ring sidequest from a game design standpoint hold on

[snakesandstone]

Being into mystery dungeon eos is so embarrassing I'll be like "yeah this game is great its so much fun the characters are really compelling and the emotional parts are really well-written I love it ^_^" and then you'll see me actually playing it and I'm either mindlessly spamming a through ten pages of unnecessary exposition or screaming swear words you have never even heard before at my screen because I just lost half an hour of progress to the stupidest bullshit imaginable

[creatingblackcharacters]

“Romance Will Not Solve Racism”- Interracial/Biracial/Blended Black and White Relationships and Families

I broke this lesson on white/Black interracial relationships and identity off from my multicultural lesson because this is one that demands its own talk. People think that the existence of interracial relationships, biracial children, and blended families means that we are “moving forward as a society”. While admittedly it’s no longer illegal- and the fight that went into it for the right was very important- it doesn’t mean that the world is “getting past racism”. Far from it, if I’m being very direct.

Tokenism

“It’s a given that they’re not racist, they’re in a relationship with a Black person.”

Some of the most antiblack racist people I’ve ever had the displeasure of witnessing are the ones that think they ‘could never be racist’ because they draw “Black” characters, reblog “Black” posts, or “enjoy” Black characters. What I need you all to understand, going into your creation, is the proximity to Blackness does not mean antiracism. In reality, they are usually just tokenizing Black characters and people.

Tokenism: “the practice of making only a perfunctory or symbolic effort to do a particular thing, especially by recruiting a small number of people from underrepresented groups in order to give the appearance of sexual or racial equality and equity within a specific societal system (workforce, school, university, movie, tv-show etc.)”

In other words, the token Black friend/partner/child/favorite character is the person that white people will point to, to suggest that they are not racist because there is someone Black that they can stand to be around. They value them as pawns, not as people.

This can and often does apply in these scenarios. A white partner that might be nice to their Black partner may switch up one day if said Black partner doesn’t act the way they want (‘you’re not like other Black people’), revealing a side they hadn’t before. Many white spouses have rejected their spouses’ Black biracial children or treated them less in comparison to their own white children. It has been noted that white foster families will adopt Black children for the money (because they’re ‘cheaper’) or performance value, since people don’t adopt Black children as much (one family even murdered all of them in a murder-suicide).

Meanwhile, the whole time, they ‘seemed so nice!’ Racism can come from ‘nice’ people. So moving forward this is something we need to keep in mind. If anything, you need to be even more aware of this when writing, as these characters supposedly have a close relationship.

“What are you mixed with?”- Colorism

It’s also not coincidence that many of the acceptable, “beautiful” Black biracial people are the Zendayas of the world. Light skin, looser textured hair. These are the Black biracial people that are brought to the forefront, but they are not representative of every Black biracial person!

Now, this is one of my biggest pet peeves, both in character design and in life, so say it with me:

BEING BIRACIAL DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY MEAN LIGHT SKINNED, AND BEING LIGHT SKINNED DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY MEAN BIRACIAL!

I want to bite everyone that thinks this lmao. People will see lighter-skinned Black people and ask “what are you mixed with?” It infuriates me, the idea that we are somehow more beautiful for that proximity to whiteness. The idea that being Black alone is not enough to be beautiful, there must be something else in you that makes it that way.

(I’ve also known some unattractive light skinned and mixed people so… It’s just not true.)

This belief easily permeates society, and that includes artists and writers who want a specific look for their characters. Every mixed child is NOT going to be light skinned!!! LET IT GO!!! “I want my character to have long, thinner textured hair, but I want her to have a natural ‘tan’ (their brown skin) so by being mixed, I can have that! How beautiful!” No. It’s very racist. If your goal is to obtain Eurocentric beauty standards for your character, but to ‘claim diversity and benefits’ in their Blackness, that is very much racist. Y’all gotta catch yourselves on that one!

"Passing"

I want to reiterate a point, that you’ve likely walked past many a Black biracial person and just assumed they were Black. Blackness is not just a skin color, but a measure of social standing as well. We have been socialized to think of Blackness as less than, so once someone has been perceived as Black, someone’s perspective will be affected by antiblackness, regardless of their complete background.

But, when it comes to being biracial with whiteness, there’s also the concept of “passing”, where you might have assumed they were white!

Now, this is a controversial, and U.S. American-centric, view that I’m about to express. People will disagree with me, and that’s fine. Colorism does offer privilege to light skin. But I am of the opinion that if you have to ‘pass’ as white, you are not White. White people don’t have to pass. They just are. No matter what other marginality they are, that whiteness is the one thing they can lean on. If you can have that whiteness and the privilege that comes with it revoked by sheer awareness of the Blackness in your genetics, you are not White, because white people can never have that happen to them. So you might be able to get away with whiteness, as long as no one knows!

It’s why things like the One Drop Rule, the Paper Bag and Pencil Test, and terms like quadroons, octoroons, creoles, mulattos and such exist.

Strong dependence on the Mammy stereotype in this movie aside, one of the main plot lines of Imitation of Life is a Black woman, Annie, and her mixed daughter Sarah Jane. Sarah Jane is beautiful, but most importantly she can pass as white (the actress is Jewish). But Sarah Jane struggles with the reality that her society treats her better when she’s ‘white’ but will immediately and violently turn their back on her when she’s revealed to be half-Black. She hides and rejects her Blackness to protect herself from the pain, but rejecting her Blackness means rejecting her beloved mother, and everything she’d done for her. Annie dies of illness and heartbreak, having accepted that this is the choice she’s made.

(also, Trouble of the World by Mahalia Jackson is one of my favorites)

Fetishization vs Reality of Black biracial children

Again: people like to place a lot on the existence of Black biracial babies. They think the existence of a Black biracial child means that race simply isn’t a factor. They’ll seek the ‘beauty’ of mixed children, plus the performance points of ‘non-racism’ because they exist. Imagine your own parent- whom you’re supposed to love and trust- treating you as violently as the world outside; treating you like those puppies people get at Christmas where it was fun as a concept but ready to toss by Easter because they’re no longer titillating. Black biracial children are not toys, and they are not symbols: they are human beings!

If you plan on writing a white parent to a Black child (biracial or not) that is a GOOD parent, then they need to be aware of their child’s specific needs! There are still things that will apply to your Black child character that are different from a white one that your white parent character needs to know. Otherwise, your Black and Black biracial viewers will notice that this kid would not realistically be safe, healthy, or happy.

This includes learning to do their hair, or where to take them to get it done; recognizing when some conversations just aren’t ones they can have on their own, when they are treating their Black child like their life experience and day to day needs are that of a white child’s. I recognize that every story isn’t going to center racism, but if your story does want to acknowledge it, this also includes learning how to catch when their child is being discriminated against by their own white family members (just because THEY as a parent are okay, doesn’t mean their families are), in school or in other social spaces. That child might be in danger, but if their white parent does not recognize that, they will not protect them!

Antiblack racism from white parents has been spoken about often amongst Black children. Children of color in general adopted by white parents can speak on it. The rapper Logic has rapped often about his white mother calling him slurs. You can tell when a Black biracial child’s hair is not being done properly because their white parent does not care to learn, and is trying to physically force whiteness upon them via assimilation. It can actually be incredibly damaging for a Black biracial child to have a white parent that does not know how to take care of a child that will face the world far differently than them.

This can include feeling excluded from certain parts of your identity, just because you aren’t “enough”. One example multiculturally is the pressure to assimilate. For example, some Latino families not teaching their children Spanish, or Kenyan families not teaching their culture, to assimilate in (white) American culture.

Very often, white people no longer in a relationship with their Black partner will isolate their Black biracial child from their Black family, thus cutting off access to half of their heritage. Thus, many Black biracial kids find themselves confused about that line. Ideally, their parents will be healthy enough to have those conversations and strengthen their self-identity, regardless of their relationship with one another.

So when you’re writing your character, they should not be telling them that ‘we don’t see race’, or any other things that imply that the Blackness within them is somehow shameful or doesn’t need to be acknowledged.

How to actually treat a Black partner

Any Black person (with any self-respect, let me clarify) will not want to be with someone that’s racist. This doesn’t mean that their white partner will be perfect immediately, but they should still come in with some decency.

I personally do not find it romantic teaching someone how to treat me like a human being. I’m passionate about these topics and education on them, but there’s still a distance between you and I, reader. You are a person I don’t know, that could either learn from what I teach (which is good!) or decide to… Well, stay racist, and be treated as such 🤣 But I would never give my heart to someone that I’m unsure of. It’s far safer to be with someone that has already done much of the work on their own, or at least has put the effort in and will continue to do so.

Black viewers do not want to spend time watching a white person realizing they’re a human. Partners are supposed to be a space of respite and security. How can you be safe and comfortable if someone’s always throwing microaggressions at you (unintentional or not), refusing to or incapable of understanding your perspective when it counts, only understands your experience on a surface level, or is determined to ‘make it not matter’… and then call it love?

Like if a white character is giggly because ‘omg they’re listening to “Black” music they’ve never heard before’ or ‘eating “Black” food’ because of their Black partner, that’s… god I’d close the book immediately. We’re not a different species. That’s not romantic, it’s just weird. You can have a new experience without treating it like your white character is going to the zoo and reading the exhibits.

Your white characters should be learning and applying constantly- consent to touch hair and body, learning what not to say or when it’s not their space to speak on a topic, learning about how the world treats their partner so that they can understand. This includes their own friends and family- why would a Black partner want to be with someone that doesn’t defend them from racist family members?

Your white character may not always get it right, and that’s fine*. But one thing I’ve discussed in a prior ask is that the bar for knowing if your relationship with a white person is a safe one (at least, at that moment) is if you can correct them. If you can tell your white person that they have done something wrong, something racist, or that there’s something they should know to continue this relationship, and they react well? Okay. That’s an opportunity for writing character AND relationship growth!

*There’s levels to this; obviously there’s some things you can’t (or shouldn’t) come back from

Depicting this may be hard for someone that… that hasn’t had that conversation. I have been able to write that sort of scene. But if you’ve never had that conversation, you won’t know how it goes. I have to be honest with you… This is where it would be good to have Black friends that feel comfortable enough to have these conversations with you. I mean, you shouldn’t go make friends just because you want to use them for creation. That would be disrespectful. But if this is something that you want to write, I would highly suggest that you grow familiar with microaggressions and acts of antiblack racism, so that you can understand WHY they are a problem. Can’t really apologize and “not do something again” if you don’t know what that something is.

Fetishization of Black Partners

The Jezebel and the BBC stereotypes come into play often via the idea that a Black partner is something wildly exotic and can be used for sexual experimentation. ‘Wanting to know about big Black dick’ or ‘if all Black girls squirt’ is objectifying. You can write us in your sex scenes- many of us do enjoy sex and can even be kinky! But watch that you’re being respectful, from your descriptions to your dialogue. We’re not raging sex beasts and sex toys for your fantasies. We deserve care and our needs met as well.

There’s also this thing where white girls will date a Black man to ‘spite daddy', and when they’re done rebelling, that Black man is left in the dust, maybe even accused as an aggressor to excuse her ‘leaving’ her own (he manipulated her, tempted her away from the right path). We may side eye you if you have a white character ‘fake dating’ a Black person or ‘friends with benefits’- not because these tropes are racist, but often can be written that way if you’re not paying attention.

One controversial example is that of Rege Jean-Page’s character in Bridgerton. There’s a scene where his love interest essentially forces him to come inside her during sex. Now, there are people do enjoy consensual-noncon. The issue is that 1) some Black viewers who watched felt disturbed at the imagery of a Black man being forced to breed, especially given that historical context, and that it wasn’t treated as seriously, and 2) this scene if he had been the one forcing her would never have been received as well, especially with a Black male lead- it would not have been received as ‘spicy CNC’.

Interracial relationships- specifically with a white woman and a Black man- may also be looked upon with worry by Black family members. There is a history of Black men (and their surrounding Black community) being lynched for ‘defiling white women’. It’s not unusual for us to worry that we will not be safe in a white partner’s homes or lives, and will be asked to leave our information, who we’re with, and what part of town we’re in or going to. Get Out was a fantastic example of this; of how the only reason Chris escaped was because a friend of his knew where he was and came to get him. Otherwise, he would have been body snatched. So your ‘fake dating’ interracial AU might seem silly and fun to you, but a Black reader might look at it and go ‘wow, I would never put myself in this situation or deal with this sort of treatment without extra planning’.

As a side: the gigantic Black/Brown man in chains and a tiny white man holding those chains as symbolism for BDSM or 'possession'… Yeah that’s usually just racist beast and slavery imagery recycled. Please. I beg. I’ve almost never seen the opposite in fan art, and we all know why. There’s got to be something else we can use.

Black Parent, White Child

This is one that I almost never see talked about! Partially because our society deems any child of a Black person also Black, but there are blended families where there will be an existing child- and that child might be white! But we don’t see white kids adopted by Black families as much as we do the reverse, and there’s a reason for that!

There’s a difference in the dynamic! White parents with Black children are often seen as ‘saving’ them. I was once friends with a nice, older white (also racist, as it turned out) neighbor of mine, and people would often look at me like I was some poor, piteous negro child when we went to the store. But if my 50+ year old father were to walk around with a preteen white girl, people would react far more defensively.

Think about this: toddlers have tantrums, right? The world is ending in a heartbeat, that’s just where they are mentally. You’re ready to leave the store, they aren’t: boom. Tantrum.

A white toddler falling out into a tantrum and getting hauled off by a Black parent could very well get that parent arrested or killed if someone, misunderstanding due to their pre-existing biases, calls the cops for ‘kidnapping’. And that white toddler might not know that, but that’s the amount of power that they hold over that Black stepparent as a BABY.

There was a Black Twitter thread that discussed what Black people would do if a crying white child came up to them and looked lost, and part of the discussion was that people were genuinely afraid to be seen with this child, because someone might assume that THEY made the kid cry, and it would get them hurt. Has nothing to do with not liking white kids, but the fact that we live in a world with a literal hair trigger on us- the last thing we need is to be seen as a threat to a white child.

Viewers will be affected by this bias as well. White parental characters to Black child characters will be given more grace and understanding versus the opposite.

A good example (of parental figures/mentors) is from Across the Spiderverse, with Peter and Miles vs Jessica and Gwen. Both mentors were a part of the Spider Society, both were in the wrong about how they treated Miles (damn near the whole Society did, which is another message on how we treat Black and Brown kids there!), and with how they treated their respective mentees. But Peter is treated with far more grace, despite his actions symbolizing that disappointment that Black kids often experience from white adult mentors that we’re supposed to trust, than Jessica Drew, who treated Gwen like the business mentor she was. Jessica was not motherly (remember that Mammy stereotype?) to Gwen because it wasn’t her job to be. But people were furious at her not ‘treating Gwen better’, for ‘putting her own child in danger’ and ‘not considering how Miguel would react’. But they were not as angry at, or offered more potential forgiveness, to Peter, who failed at the very same things with Miles.

Writing a Black Parent

Okay, so yes, there is ‘Black parenting’. To be honest, you’re not going to be able (and shouldn’t attempt) to write that, because it is a very specific experience that you’ll only know if you were brought up in it. Bringing up Jessica Drew again, another perspective to consider is that people thought she was a ‘bad mentor’, but as far as how my Black childhood went, she was quite gentle and firm.

Black parents are still humans, and parenting is still parenting. Be normal about it. All you need to do is keep in mind that we’re offering all of these characters and their relationship dynamics the understanding and writing they deserve.

If you’re writing a healthy relationship, there needs to be a sense of trust and respect between everyone involved, and that can reveal itself even in small interactions. If you’re writing a complex or negative parental relationship, that’s fine, but you’ll have to avoid certain overarching stereotypes of Black parenting styles (The ‘ghetto welfare queen with six kids’, the ‘absent thuggish father’, the ‘overaggressive woman that beats her kids’, the ‘Strong Black Mother who don’t need no man’). Make sure they’re a complex or bad parent because they suck, not because they’re what you think of when you think of Black parents.

Conclusion

There’s no free passes from antiblack racism just because you’re close to Black people; there’s no ‘invite to the cookout’ just because you don’t say slurs. This applies to your writing as well. It is not a given that your white character is in the clear just because they have a Black partner, children, or friends. If anything, they’ll need to be putting in extra work to maintain that intimacy. These are different forms of love, but all love takes effort, and it certainly won’t hold if they’re not being considerate of their loved one’s identity. By incorporating this level of thought into your writing- however subtly- it will show your Black viewers that you as the writer are aware, that you actually thought about us in these more intimate settings. Because as you and your white characters need to know, it’s the thought that counts, but the action that delivers!

[science-lings]

okay this has been going through my mind for days and I have to get my thoughts out before I explode

Disclaimer, this is not talking about a specific artist/person and would never condone or participate in anon hate or online bullying for any reason but especially this one. 

I get why people are mad about Link being portrayed as this buff, hypermasculine, tall guy. I am too (again don’t fucking attack people over it though) and it seems like such an infuriating way to change the character just to fit into some ideal of hypermasculine attractiveness or to make a ship fall into a more hetero lense by making him a decent foot taller than whatever girl he’s being paired with. 

The world of video games and action movies and every form of media ever is extremely saturated with male characters that are swole and manly and whatever other descriptors people are trying to push onto Link that don’t fit into his actual character. There are so many characters out there that already fit this male standard and having a clearly androgynous elf guy was like a breath of fresh air. 

Link was literally designed to be a character whose lines on gender were blurred, ‘a girl with a masculine touch or a guy with a feminine touch’ so that anyone could project themselves onto him. His physical design in botw/totk was specifically made to be feminine enough to wear a certain outfit to pass as a woman (which includes a nearly mandatory cutscene where he puts on the clothes and blushes after being called pretty, like you have to be blind to think that its an experience that he doesn’t like at all) and in totk there are a bunch of outfits made for Link that are blatantly gnc, ones that are practically dresses, include nail polish and lipstick, you can even dye his hair bright and vivid colors and that’s half way to giving him new pronouns. The whole reason Linkle isn’t included in more mainline loz games was because her existence would force Link into a gender dichotomy, if there's a clearly female version of the main hero, that means the main hero has to be a man, and they would rather abandon a potential reoccurring character than make Link conform to a gender binary. 

So pardon me when it feels disingenuous and even malicious for him to be morphed into these clear masculine ideals, where he towers over any female romantic partner (even when in canon he is regularly depicted as noticeably shorter than her) or even in m/m fanworks he’s really beefed up, perhaps to make the scene feel more gay or something. 

Perhaps it’s because his more twink-y/ femboy body type is so heavily sexualized (though obviously when people are sculping abs on him it’s totally not because they’re horny about it) and that’s an issue in itself that bothers me. But it’s just so tiring to see one of the very few popular main characters who is short and feminine and androgynous be molded into just another bland muscle-headed action hero over and over and over again. 

I’m not mad at the creators for portraying him differently than how I like him portrayed, I’m mad because we really do get so few characters like him in good popular media, and to be honest, I really like him the way that he is. I love that he’s tiny and has long hair and has the option to dress any way the player likes. It seems a little distasteful to make him taller than a female love interest just because that’s how straight couples have to be, there’s just never been a real straight couple where the guy is shorter than the girl, that’s just Impossible! (/s) 

[ominus-potato]

I'm sorry if I sound a bit ignorant/oblivious/rude but what caused the Mr. Puzzles X Mario ship? I see it everywhere and the art is adorable but I don't know what started it? Was it a specific scene? Some dialogue I missed? Or is it a crack ship?

(once again I'm sorry if any of this sounds rude whatsoever, I'm bad at wording things)

Not rude at all dude! Thanks for asking!

For me (and for most people in assuming) ig Marware started as a crackship since it’s really funny to imagine the big bad Mr Puzzles ended up swooning for the dumbass Italian that is Mario.

It’s also playing on the dynamic of smart logical character x the biggest idiot you can imagine. They are complete polar opposites in terms of design, personality, body type, height, brains, EVERYTHING!! They are complete opposites of one another. So ofc they gotta be shipper. Also, it’s great potential for funny moments and I just love making funny comics!

In terms of actual scenes, there is this scene from “no tv makes Mario go coo coo crazy” where he gives CPR to Mr Puzzles and clings to his face, calling him “Mi Amour” which translates to “My Love”. Mario even is willing to kill his own brother so that Mr Puzzles comes back to life. Ofc, Mario was being dramatic and didn’t actually KNOW it was a live person he was saying that to but it’s worth noting.

In terms of actual shipping material, I like to imagine that whilst Mario spend hours and hours watching TV (Mr Puzzles) alone, Puzzles eventually grew to appreciate his time with the Italian. He was the only person who truly loved all of his shows no matter how stupid they were. Mario is too dumb to form an opinion on a TV show so to him, all of Puzzlevision was worth 5 stars. In fanon, I think that would have meant a lot to Mr Puzzles and he would have then developed feelings for Mario that way.

Of course, he would get infuriated by Mario at times, especially when he was messing with his ratings. But despite constantly screwing up his 5 stars, Mr Puzzles kept putting Mario as a lead role in every single one of his productions. I dunno about you but Mr Puzzles to me seems smart enough to know that if a character is screwing up his ratings, he shouldn’t recast him. Yet he did. Every single time.

Let’s not forget that Mario absolutely loves TV. He doesn’t care about how evil the TV is. When he was chasing down Mr Puzzles, it was purely because he wanted to watch more TV. He wasn’t trying to save his friends in the beginning because he didn’t even realise they were in danger. And once everyone was safe, the very first thing Mario did was go and watch TV.

Since Mario can be such a nuisance, I love to imagine their interactions just being Mario bothering Mr Puzzles and him being unable to say no to him because deep down he knows he loves him. It’s playing into Mr Puzzles being such a pathetic villain that even the dumbest meme we of the crew can handle him easily.

He’s just an evil genius who loves his dumbass Mario 🥰

Anyway yeah! That’s more or less everything. It’s mostly a crackship but to me, I genuinely love it and it may possibly be my favourite SMG4 ship. Thank you for reading!! Take these Marware screenshots on your way out.

[in-any-universe-ever]

Hey Anon - that particular prompt isn't my jam, but it still inspired me to write something, so here's a similar situation for you (translations at the end):

Luke and Rhaena sat across from him. Aemond had picked this spot on purpose so he could avoid looking directly at anyone, but once the bastards entered with their betrothed, Luke moved a chair to the end of the table so they could sit next to each other. Aemond was forced to watch as Luke held out the seat for Rhaena and tucked her in to ensure her comfort.

There was nothing more infuriating than Lucerys Velaryon. Everything about his existence was designed to test Aemond's patience. He and the other Velaryon boys were living insults to the crown, treason in Targaryen colors. Even more, he was the one who'd torn out Aemond's eye and left behind a hideous scar and a lingering tightness that ached when he smiled. He hadn't had reason to smile in years, all because of this boy.

They had not been sitting for long, tension mounting between two sides of a family that loathed each other, when the servants brought out the main dish, a small roasted boar, and set it right in front of Aemond. He looked at it, at the representation of the torment he'd faced his entire life, and beyond it was the smirking, snickering face of his nephew.

His heart lurched in his chest as he thought about the day Luke led a pig from the dragon pit, laughing along with his brother Jace and Aemond's brother Aegon, who'd likely orchestrated the event. Now Luke was grinning, his face lit up with his repressed joy, his green eyes shining upon Aemond's pain. Luke had been at the Red Keep for little more than a day, and so far Aemond had seen that smirk four times.

First, when Luke and Jace entered the training yard and looked around with nostalgia. It had been years since they'd been at their former home, and in a break between spars with Criston Cole, Aemond watched as Luke took in the surroundings of his former training grounds. Back then, Criston would frequently pair Aemond with Luke and Aegon with Jace. While they were not evenly matched due to age, Criston knew Aegon would play dirty if faced with his brother and Jace would go easy upon Luke. Aemond was now the best sword in the yard, and he had longed for a chance to face Luke again, so see how his skills had developed. Even if he had improved, or even if he had excelled, Aemond could bring him to his knees with ease.

Second, at court. Aemond had no involvement with the succession of Driftmark yet he attended all the same, eager to witness an argument and hoping for a fight. His hopes were far exceeded when Vaemond Velaryon lost his head by Daemon's sword. It was gruesome and awful, but it was the highlight of the day. It was also during that session that the betrothal of Rhaena to Luke and Baela to Jace occurred. It made sense, as they were now step-siblings and it would ensure untainted Velaryon blood would sit at Driftmark, but it made Aemond's heart harden and his mouth tighten in a way that tugged at his scar. When it was announced Luke looked to Rhaena and smiled, and Aemond hated every second of it.

Third that afternoon in the library. It was Aemond's custom to study in the library in the afternoons, and so he sat with a chronicle of Driftmark. His knowledge on the realm's history was unmatched, yet he retained little of the history of Driftmark, specifically. He was deep into the tome when he heard steps approach. No one bothered him there apart from messengers delivering official business, and so he looked up, annoyed, and found an apprehensive Luke at the end of the table.

"What do you want?" Aemond had asked in High Valyrian.

"Can I have that when you're done?"

Luke's grammar and pronunciation was perfect. Effortless.

"Shouldn't you know this already, Lord of the Tides?"

Then Luke smirked but Aemond's lips pursed together in a scowl. He had yet to see it this close, but there Luke stood, less than a meter away, and Aemond could truly see how it changed his features. Luke's face was his mother's, and although his eyes were an unusual color, they were shaped just like Rhaenyra's. His hair betrayed him as a bastard, but Aemond knew the Targaryen blond would have detracted from his features. His cheeks still held the weight of youth, but he'd grown into a handsome young man, and Aemond could not deny it. The smirk, however, crossed the line from handsome to frustrating, and it made part of Aemond's body react in a way they had never before.

He could not stand to look at Luke for another moment, so Aemond shut the book and handed it over, Luke's soft fingers touching his in the exchange. He stormed away, flexing his hand as if he'd been burned.

And now the fourth smirk, and Aemond could not control his reaction any longer. There was no escaping this meal, this table, this look. Something was going to happen this evening, and he could not be held accountable for his actions.

Aemond had been punched in the face by a kitten. Luke's face had been slammed into a table. When all were dismissed, Aemond found the boy in the hallway, heading toward his rooms. He was alone, and this was not over.

"Āeksio hen Elēdrar."

Luke stopped, clenched his fists, but didn't turn. Aemond continued to approach and stopped behind him, close enough to catch the scent of him, something pleasant undercut by too much wine.

Aemond leaned in, close to the thick mop of dark hair that covered Luke's left ear. "I thought you liked it," Aemond whispered, ensuring to keep his voice low and soft. He was not concerned about being overheard, as no one spoke the ancient language apart from those related to them, and the rest of the family had already dispersed. He wanted to see Luke squirm, and he was successful. Luke shivered and turned. Aemond's eye flickered up to his forehead, where he had an angry red welt but no other sign of injury. Aemond stood straight; he was the one smirking now, regardless of the ache is caused to his ruined cheek. The ache was worth it to see the surprise on Luke's face. "You do, don't you? Or should I call you my Lord Strong instead?"

"What is your problem, Aemond?" Luke asked. In his anger he began rolling his Rs, and Aemond briefly longed to hear him read aloud, or speak at length, just to hear the vibration upon Luke's tongue.

"Nothing at all."

"And so you can have nothing more to say to me. Good night, uncle, and geros āzālās."

Aemond's smile fell at once. "Geros āzālās?"

The smirk returned on Luke's face for the fifth time, which ignited a fire inside of Aemond. "Good night," Luke repeated in the common tongue before he turned to leave.

Aemond grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "No," Aemond snapped. He abandoned High Valyrian in the event that Luke said another word he did not know. "No, we will not end our night like this. You infuriate me, nephew."

"Then leave and be done with me."

"I cannot. Why are you like this?"

"I am not like anything. I am not doing anything to you. I am simply here because I was forced to be. If I had my way I would stay upon Dragonstone until my mother takes the throne and dismisses each of you permanently. I would not longer have to spend my life afraid of you."

"You've been afraid of me?" Aemond asked with a laugh. "I am the one missing an eye."

"And yet I am the one who suffers. Let me go, Aemond. I want to be out of your life and out of your mind. Every time I see you I'm lost in memory of what we were and the thought of who we could be, yet you look at me like this."

"How?"

Luke stopped struggling, defeated. The smirk was long gone and Aemond missed it. He actually missed it, because the boiling in his blood was a welcome feeling. Aemond relished in this new emotion, and the longer he held Luke in his hand, the closer he was to identifying it.

"Like you wish to devour me. Enchant me. Consume me. How can I not be afraid of what I'll do in return?"

Aemond refused to loosen his grip and instead took Luke's other arm as well. His grip was tight but Luke was pliable. Aemond could mold him into any form and Luke would allow it. His breath sped up to chase his pounding heart, and Luke had yet to look away.

"What would you do in return?"

Luke's eyes were filling with tears and Aemond had but one to flicker between them, to see each swell of liquid as it glazed over. The light in the hallway was dim at this time of night, but even so, Aemond could see the flickering flames in Luke's wide pupils.

He gave Luke a shake.

"Tell me," Aemond demanded.

Luke's head had tilted back to keep contact, and when the first tear fell, it slid from the outside corner, over Luke's temple, and into his wild hair.

"I would let you," Luke whispered.

There it was. The emotion Aemond had been chasing all day.

Desire.

"Qȳbor. Kostilus."

In an instant Aemond had kissed him. Had dropped Luke's arms in favor of his waist. Had pulled him close so they pressed against each other.

Luke let him, and kissed him in return.

Āeksio hen Elēdrar = Lord of the Tides Geros āzālās = I made this up. Literally "the way of the forsaken" but really means "good riddance." Qȳbor. Kostilus. = Uncle. Please.

[aihoshiino]

chapter 157 thoughts

Chapters Since The 143 Kiss Happened And Went Entirely Unacknowledged And Unaddressed Count: 14… IN THIS CHAPTER OF ALL CHAPTERS…????

Aqua Hoshigan Status: White

Congrats to 157 for taking 144's crown as the Oshi no Ko chapter that has vexed and confused me the most. Taken entirely in isolation, it's a sweet, lowkey, calm before the storm moment… but it's entirely because it stands in such stark isolation from the events surrounding it that it feels so baffling. It's like an amped up version of the issues with 156 - when viewed in isolation, you can't strictly say there's anything wrong with it, but as a part of the sequential storytelling of Oshi no Ko it just feels off. I'm reminded of the weird, off-kilter pacing of the Movie Arc, where story beats fell at weird places as if the story was falling out of tempo with itself. Because of that, this chapter review is probably going to be a bit disjointed but tbh besties i am fighting for my life on this one

I will say at the top of things though that it's darkly funny to me that we're fastforwarding through so much of the B-Komachi tour lol. Offscreen no Ko strikes again!

Honestly, this chapter in general kind of defies any attempt at a beat by beat analysis though that does seem to largely be by design. As the chapter title suggests, this is simply some pagetime spent on letting us stew in what a calm, ordinary day looks like for the twins and for what it is, it's sweet and chill. Taken on its own there isn't really a ton to pick apart, other than just pointing at what moments I found cute which was like 90% of them. I want a 5 chapter mini arc of AQRB goofing around at the grocery store and squabbling over the cooking together.

I also really like that Aqua is the one to suggest doing something nice for Miyako and that he joins Ruby in waiting up for her to get home and see it. It feels like a sweet and warm acknowledgement of the subtle shift in their relationship after 155, with the two of them properly stepping into their roles as parent and child.

As nice as this chapter is though, it does kind of feel like too little too late. One of the major complaints across the series (that I do largely agree with) is that Aqua and Ruby's day-to-day dynamic is for the most part underbaked and that the two of them don't really feel like people who grew up in the same household for 16+ years. I think a few more moments like this properly threaded through the manga would have helped but… well, considering OnK's pacing, do I really want to encourage much more downtime…

Moving on from the things I liked, as cute as this chapter was it's also just kind of weird that so much of it feels like the framing device is a recap episode lol. I guess it isn't the worst idea in the world to have one as we're heading into the final stretch of the story but… well, again, see my point above about weird pacing.

It's also just baffling as fuck to see Ruby frame these events in a way that distinctly did not happen lol. Like, sure, she was definitely having fun doing idol stuff for a lot of it but seeing her so warmly gas up stuff like Tokyo Blade when the anime airing right now is reminding us that Aqua was going through the SpongeBob horror hallway the entire time is so jarring - especially when Aqua (and thus, implicitly, the narrative) agrees with her. I mean, fuck, even putting Aqua aside it's WILD to see Ruby framing "Dig Deep" as having been fun for her when her major contribution to the show was manipulative drama stirring for the purposes of chasing clout that she herself said was having an impact on her mental health. I've criticized the story for the ways Ruby's black hoshigan arc amounted to nothing but there's a special kind of infuriating in seeing it specifically call back to that arc and still fail to actually acknowledge any wrongdoing on Ruby's part.

This is part of a much bigger trend in OnK right now of Ruby being super coddled by the narrative and coming off in some really unpleasant ways as a result. I didn't mention it last chapter but something that's been percolating in my brain since after I wrote my review is just how fucking bonkers Ruby's total non-respose to Mem's situation is. "Oh, you're getting stalked by the press? Sucks to be you, thank god I'm Miyako's special little favourite tho 🙏". Not only is this just kind of a shitty response to begin with but it feels insane coming from a person like Ruby who, you know, saw her mother's life blighted and then ended by this kind of treatment. No concern for Mem, tho!

Idk. I don't want to dislike Ruby but man. A lot of the ways Akasaka has been playing favourites with her lately has the effect of Ruby coming off, in universe, like a deeply self centered and callous person in ways I don't think narrative intends or even realizes and thus fails to interrogate in a satisfying way. But that's a rant for another day. And I'm pretty sure you guys already know what today's rant is gonna be. Which is to say, uh…

HEY. AKASAKA. ARE THEY GONNA TALK ABOUT… ANY OF WHAT HAPPENED IN THE MOVIE ARC?? ANYTHING AT ALL????

This is what I meant when I said this chapter utterly fucking bamboozled me. The way the story has contorted itself into knots to avoid letting Aqua and Ruby have a conversation even when they're literally in the same room is already insane, but giving us an entire chapter of them alone together with ample opportunity to have any sort of meaningful discussion as to the gigantic elephant in the room looming over their relationship and……. literally nothing happens???

This is made even more insanity inducing by the fact that this is, as stated above, more or less a recap chapter and not only does Ruby talk about the movie specifically but we even SEE a flashback to the HikAi kiss…. but not the one Ruby jumpscared him with at the end of 143!!!

What the fuck is even going on anymore? Was it retconned? Resolved offscreen?? Did we collectively hallucinate it??? Is Akasaka gaslighting us????

If nothing else, this chapter has proved to me once and for all that whatever goes on with Aqua and Ruby, that resolution is going to come entirely at the speed of plot, as and when Akasaka decides to do it and not when it would be natural and organic for development to occur. This is an issue that has plagued Aqua and Ruby's r/s from the start, where Akasaka simply refuses to let them communicate, seemingly for the purposes of drawing out the drama rather than because of any narrative justification. So I'm giving on predicting what direction their relationship is going in and what the outcome is going to be. The inner machinations of Aka Akasaka's mind are a mystery to me.

To pre-pick some nits before I leave off… I've seen some people calling this a 'Tanabata chapter' and insisting this is intentional/foreshadowing aquruby end/etc and uh… sorry to be that guy but no it's not lol. Even accounting for the differences in calendars that scatters Tanabata celebrations across July and August, August's Tanabata falls on the 10th this year - and even in the anime world, celebrations across Japan took place on the 'official' date of 7/7. And while there is a Tanabata festival being held in Sendai today… that's just in Sendai, which is all the way up in northern Japan, nowhere near Tokyo where the series is set (and which itself had its Tanabata celebrations on the weekends surrounding 7/7 as per usual.)

There's also just the fact that this chapter… has nothing to do with Tanabata? There's no imagery or iconography and it takes place in the middle of December lol. I simply don't think it was intentional at all on Akasaka's part. It's a cute coincidence, sure, but still just a coincidence.

break next week. i love biweekly manga, oshi no ko.

[allysdelta]

A while ago, while the Good Omens graphic novel was running its Kickstarter campaign, I saw the character designs for the Ineffable Duo and got inspired to create my own. Some of the details are still in flux, but I'm really quite pleased with how their basic looks have turned out and I'd like to draw them in comic form someday.

Notes on design and color choices under the readmore.

Though originally I'd intended for Aziraphale to be the shorter of the two, I like the implications that he still retains some vestiges of the angelic soldier he once was -- that hint in the way he carries himself that he could become very dangerous indeed if he has to. As a bonus, when Crowley became the smaller one, it emphasizes his personality, both as someone who must seek hiding places to avoid harm and as the guile hero who relies on his wits to survive and even thrive. So now we have a soft angel with a steel core and a pointy little garter snake of a demon.

They're not tied to any specific ethnicities, being celestial entities, but they both appear brown, partially because I like the nod to the Fertile Crescent housing the first known examples of human civilization, but largely because no one can stop me. Crowley ended up with a vaguely East Asian complexion and eyes, while Aziraphale has features that faintly echo the Middle East. Don't ask me about the halo of chestnut curls -- I don't know where that came from, but Aziraphale insisted.

Like his show counterpart's, Crowley's eyes get more snakelike when he's stressed, upset, angry, or exhausted. I gave him the presence of a sclera for the sake of facial expression, but because I didn't want to entirely lose the reptilian look, it now has a yellow tint. (I haven't designed his snake form yet, but it's based on a bush viper for their pretty scale textures and their cute little snub noses)

Aziraphale's eyes have a burst of sunlight yellow around the pupils, a feature I saw once on a real-life acquaintance and thought beautiful. The green-hazel irises are just 'cause I like them.

Surprising absolutely no one, Crowley's clothing scheme is blacks, grays, and reds, with flashes of silver. I haven't done any research on whether leather blazers were a thing in the late 80s, but it seemed very appropriate for him to wear, and it's a little nod to Neil Gaiman's liking for leather jackets as well.

Aziraphale wears heavenly colors (white, blue, gold) close to his chest, while the rest of his clothing grounds him with earth tones. He's just a little more up to date on fashion than the show's Aziraphale (whose clothes skew Victorian), but he still wears clothing that wouldn't look out of place in the 1950s.

I probably make Aziraphale a little too handsome compared to his descriptions in the book, but I like how it makes him all the more infuriating when he's being condescending. Like, you bastard, how dare you look that hot while you're lecturing me. Poor Crowley.

[welcometololaland]

it's sunday where i am, so i am going to start this <3 also, i am aware this is seven lines not sentences but oh well.

“I think, in this very specific instance, you might be right,” Henry concedes quietly. “This is rather ghastly.” “In this specific instance?” Alex scoffs. “I’m right, like, ninety-nine percent of the time. Also, this room gives me anxiety.” “There is a lot going on.” “And they have so much money!” Alex adds. “Did no one bother hiring a decent interior designer?” Henry doesn’t look at him, but Alex notices his lips twitch into a wry smile as he tips his head back to gaze up at the ceiling. Unfortunately, this exposes the entire column of his neck and Alex has some thoughts about that. “I didn’t know you were such an expert on interiors.” “You don’t need to know much about design to know that this is bad,” Alex snipes, not bothering to keep his voice down. “You just need eyes.” “And here I was thinking that art is subjective,” Henry replies, which is infuriating because he’s right, but Alex doesn’t love that outcome.

Open tag for y'all and some targeted attacks below (which is basically a thank you to everyone who tagged me in wip weds and seven sentence sunday last week as an apology that i did not adequately keep up + some other fire snippets i saw. i'll do better next week!)

@hippolotamus @affectionatelyrs @inexplicablymine @firenati0n @suseagull04 @three-drink-amy @lemonlyman-dotcom @orchidscript @redshirt2 @alrightbuckaroo @heartstringsduet @im-overstimulated-and-im-sad @strandnreyes @sznofthesticks @kiwiana-writes @indestructibleheart @goodways @carlos-tk @rmd-writes @sherryvalli @lightningboltreader @freneticfloetry @carlos-in-glasses @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut @carlos-tk @birdclowns @theghostofashton @kiwichaeng @reyesstrand @cha-melodius @happiness-of-the-pursuit @wandering-night19 @sanjuwrites @chicgeekgirl89 @liminalmemories21 @bonheur-cafe

[aintgonnatakethis]

Writing Share Tag!

Thank you for the tags! I remember when I had enough free time to answer each tag game separately. Working life is not for me. 😔 As you can see though, I do keep them all and I appreciate being included in the writeblr community! ❤️️ I'm also reading all of them of course, but recently my spoon situation has been disastrous. I want to pick up providing feedback again; maybe this will hold me accountable!

@aziz-reads (x) (x) @gioiaalbanoart (x) (x) @frostedlemonwriter (x)

@willtheweaver (x) (x) @wyked-ao3 (x) @lychhiker-writes (x) @fortunatetragedy (x)

This snippet is from Flu O'Clock, a story in the on your hands and your knees, do you feel in charge? series. Classic sick!fic with my end goal being platonic OT3. Want to see how that's going?

Telford could appreciate the directness, and he wasn't about to do harm to himself just because he didn't like the taste of something. That was more Rush's speed, though he wisely didn't verbalise that thought, accepting the canteen and knocking back the stuff as quickly as he could without risking hurling it up again. "Good boy," Rush said, still in an aggressively casual tone of voice. Everett coughed. Rush did that thing where outwardly he completely ignored the sound, but Telford could see that all of the man's senses were trained with extreme interest on Everett, keenly awaiting any trace of pull on the line. Of course he got exactly what he wanted, because Everett just wasn't able to help himself, in far too many areas of his life. "You said you had work to do?" he asked Rush, proving the one thing he didn't possess was any degree of subtlety. "I think I'll work in here today," Rush said, the way he'd stated it as a fact without even an attempt at the faux politeness of asking if that would be alright designed to press Everett's buttons, specifically his agreeable-unless-you-don't-acknowledge-my-authority one. "Do you really think that's necessary?" Everett responded, overly mild. "He needs his rest." Rush placed the back of his hand on Telford's forehead. Telford heard Everett stand up. That's right, he thought with no small amount of amusement, fight like dogs over me. He relaxed beneath Rush's cool skin, allowing his eyes to drift closed. "I won't be a bother," Rush offered, in a tone far too soft to be used in company, in Telford's opinion. "I just think--" Everett started, only to be immediately interrupted. "I don't care what you think." "Rush." "What?" "You're going to calm down," Everett ordered, doing a terrible job of remaining calm himself. "I'm not the one yelling," Rush retorted, blunt but with a level enough voice that Telford knew Everett would find infuriating. "Maybe you'd like to practice using your inside voice." "Listen!" Everett hissed, clearly restraining himself from moving any closer. "You can't--" "I can do whatever I damn well please." The bed shifted as Rush stood. "You're not going to fucking touch me." Invoking Telford's unspoken protection was an odd play, but one of the best things about Rush was that he never did what was expected of him, always keeping those around him on their toes. Everett let out a warning rumble and Telford cracked his eyes open to see the two men standing nose to nose, staring each other down with no attempt from either party to conceal their aggression. "You know," Telford remarked pointedly. "If you two want to fuck you can have the bed." The twin scandalised expressions he received in response were well worth the headache the argument had set raging inside his skull, a bull deciding his brain would make a nice china shop to run riot in.

Tagging: @moltenwrites @the-golden-comet @finickyfelix @lancedoncrimsonwings @bagheerita + OPEN

[gothamcitycentral]

It infuriates me that every design in The Batman 2004 is an absolute banger EXCEPT specifically Bane because they just made him red hulk

LIKE- his base design rocks they didn’t they keep this energy. And I’m sure they knew his design sucked he literally never had a speaking role after his debut episode

[creatingblackcharacters]

here's my character!!!

this is Frye Onaga from Splatoon 3! she's part of the fictional idol group Deep Cut who report the news and battle stages for Splatsville, and make absolutely banger music!

i wasn't in the fandom then, but ever since i first saw her design in 2022 i fell in love. it has so many clever elements that compliment her strong and energetic personality! her musical performance in Deep Cut composes of Indian instruments and singing (they speak a gibberish, Japanese-adjacent language in the game, but she noticeably has an accent compared to other characters) while the other members, Shiver Hohojiro and Big Man use Japanese and Brazilian instruments in their respective performances.

Frye represents Indian culture in the series, but even if it's not explicitly said i'm fairly certain she's part black because she's been represented with black hairstyles before (bantu knots + braids)!

she's one of my favourite characters of all time! but unfortunately she's been given a lot of crap over her design ever since she was first introduced :( people have been warming up to her, but she's often been cast aside by the fans (for not looking conventionally pretty ig 🙄), especially in favour of Shiver. i know she has a big forehead and all, but her design wouldn't be the same without it and she rocks the look either way! i definitely think irl racism has influenced what people think of her, they just keep placing the blame on her forehead as an excuse to make of the rest of her design. infuriates me fr

anyway Frye is my favourite character! she's the cutest little goober and her design is one of the best in the Splatoon series! i would move mountains for okay byeee

Oooh a Black Desi character?? I love that!! And her color palette is so pretty. How is her forehead an issue, none of these characters are "pretty" in a regular humanoid way lol 🙄 it's always some bs lol. Braids aren't specifically Black (before I get someone jumping on me) but it could be cool for her to be multiethnic! You keep moving mountains for her!

[sunthyme]

Happy Black History Month!! It's time. For probably my favourite set of designs! However, please please please read about Hestia in specific, I want to make sure I handled her correctly and if not, please let me know and I'll remove her! Tyty so much for liking these, I'm so happy to continue.

Now for...

🪼Octavinelle🪼

First up is

💰Azul Ashengrotto💰

(he/him) Transmasc - Gay Asexual

I really love how he came out omg.

- Firstly, he's Hispanic. Duh. His name is literally Azul, I don't make the rules. I'm thinking Hondurian or Guatemalan and I'd love to hear what you think too.

- Made him plus-sized because GOD we need more body diversity and I think that he would have eventually come to terms that weight is simply a number and that number alone doesn't mean you're healthy or unhealthy, y'know? He exercises and whatnot and is very good at taking care of his body.

- Autistic, his special interest is THE GRIND(tm). His capitalistic ass could rant about business building forever.

- I gave him fins as ears cause I gave all the mer fins for funsies. More for aesthetic than anything else and I figure it's a general trait of most mer (I'll talk about the exceptions later lol)

- I loved how pretty his eyelashes were so I added some teardrops to the ends for some flavour. He still wears glasses, again too lazy lol.

Onto the twins!

🍄Jade Leech🍄

(he/him) - Bi-curious Asexual

- I brought back the og concept earrings and piercings cause I thought they looked neat. I also gave them both earrings for simplicity's sake and because I headcanon that Azul gave them each a pair for their birthday.

- Longer hair because Imma be so fr, if the twins share similar expressions, I can't tell them apart lmaooo 😭😭😭. Also, felt it suited his personality more.

- Had a punk phase and while he outgrew it, he kept the piercings anyways.

- He and Floyd have matching tattoos on their biceps, Floyd's being a shrimp with sunglasses and Jade's being his favourite type of mushroom (hen/chicken of the woods).

- Also, autistic. Who's surprised at this point? Not me. This little guy and his mushrooms. 'Little guy' being like 6'5' lol.

🐋Floyd Leech🐋

(he/she/it) Unlabelled Gender - Pansexual

- He's not actually a fan of piercings but got them because Jade wanted to match.

- She has larger teeth that actually interfere with its speech and got bullied for that when he was younger, meaning all three of the Octotrio were friends kinda by default as the 'weird' kids.

- I think he has bipolar disorder and is ADHD, both are rather obvious from his character in-game.

Onto my ocs,

🎲Hestia Benoit🎲

Third Year - (she/her) Transfem - Sapphic

Okay, first is the topic of the og character. So she draws reference to the Boogeyman from Nightmare Before Christmas which was a very controversial character because Tim Burton sucks. Hate him. I wanted to hopefully reclaim the character, though it isn't necessarily my place and if anyone has a problem with that, absolutely let me know and I will remove her. The original character took heavy inspiration from black culture, specifically New Orleans and I wanted to properly represent that with Hestia. I hope I did her justice and please please please let me know if she is offence in any way. 🩷🩷🩷

- She's the older sister of the triplets and a really good one, caring a ton about them. Her favourite thing to do is spoil her younger siblings.

- She also has crazy good luck and wins any bets she makes. If you play any game of luck with her, she'll win. She's a part of the Boardgame Club and infuriates Azul whenever they play something luck-based.

💍Konane Alohi💍

(they/he/she) Genderfluid - Panromantic Demisexual

- Konane is twisted from Tamatoa from Moana! They're indigenous Hawaiian and I will be researching more into the culture as I render them out more fully.

- I gave them the bioluminiscens that Tamatoa has though I think it would only be visible in low lighting, such as in the Octavinelle dorm.

- LOVES shiny thing, obvi. Vil keeps trying to convince her to join Pomefiore but he's like, "I get paid here and can afford more stuff so pass."

- Gets along great with Cater, they constantly do collabs on their social media.

Onto...

⚓️Josephina Killian⚓️

First Year - (she/they) Demi-girl - Bi-asexual

- Twisted from, you guessed it, Captain Hook!

- I kept as much as I could from the og design and that includes the eyebags, this girlie doesn't sleep. She's only conscious from the 30mg of caffeine she drinks in the morning.

- She and Samantha met at orientation and have been inseparable since, with Sammy always following her around.

And speaking of Samantha,

🦭Samantha Chief🦭

First Year - (she/her) Transfem - Pan-asexual

- Twisted from Smee! I gave her albinism so her hair is also white naturally.

- Because of her albinism, she avoids outdoor activities for the most part. She is part of the Swimming Club (which idk if that even exists but it does now lmao).

- SHE'S A SELKIE OMG. Sorry, same up with that on the spot lol but now she is. Very shy around people because it's her first time on land so the other mer of the dorm kinda look out for her.

That's all for now, I hope you enjoyed and I'll see y'all in part four!! 🩷🩷🩷

[mewmewpercy]

I hold no bias towards any of these games so don't accuse me of any shit.

Wuthering Waves fans are some of the most annoying motherfuckers I've seen in a while and that's coming from a genshin and star rail player. The way some of these people are constantly putting down other games is so infuriating.

The entire 1.0 of Wuthering Waves was issue after issue that people keep brushing off and it's so annoying. You complain that the spec requirements are insane for a game that's supposed to be able to run mobile? Well they tell you anyways so why are you upset. You complain about the lack of variety in character design? It's an apocalypse so of course they can't have more colour than black and white. Make any legitimate criticism about the quality? Guys it's still new be nice.

There is a consistent pattern of fuck ups especially in the English dub. The first 6 acts had some of the worst voice direction ever and you can TELL. Too much emotion(Scar), not enough emotion(YangYang), very obvious session splits(the way they pronounce YuanYuan in Yinlin's quest). And the script is so BAD. The constant infodumps of lore when the first thing you learn as a writer is show don't tell drove me crazy as a writer. And that doesn't even mention the kept in flub read in act 7 from Jiyan's va? It's like everyone who should be helping these voice actors are neglecting their duties hard.

The specs thing is specifically infuriating to me because that doesn't even mention storage. At the time of wuwa releasing I only had star rail and that was around 2.1 or 2.2. Why in the hell was the 1.0 of a game bigger than a year old game without me even having any extra storage on it from playing?

The character design part is especially heinous and here's why featuring direct quotes from my friend who is in fact an artist.

I'll let those speak for themselves.

Okay now story because I'm a writer and this is painful. This game has a really bad habit of telling instead of showing. The first thing you learn when writing is to show not tell. Having these super long lore dump scenes all the time in your story is bad writing. If you have to monologue your world lore you need to revise. The biggest part of storytelling is making something your audience can pick up and understand without having to say to their face what happened and why. Not only do these hinder your pacing but they also can make your audience feel like you think they can't pick up on context clues and subtext. For a game that's supposed to be teen and up the sure seem to believe the audience is full of incompetent children. It feels like they're trying to appeal to the portion of players who skip the story which is so not the move. I kid you not in act 7 I swear I heard the same lore dump from three different people almost back to back to back.

Now my last point is what's been recently annoying me the most because of mobile game awards nominations. The amount of people saying genshin and star rail are garbage and don't deserve to win are so infuriating. Like legitimately. You don't have to put down other games to put up the one you like. Also wuwa isn't even a very mobile accessible game.(Neither is genshin). The specs and storage requirements are insane for a month old game that's not good for something nominated for a mobile game category.

Anways criticism is important. The devs listen. You don't have to settle for mediocrity just because "it's new". Complain. It makes everyone's playing time better. It doesn't mean you hate the game it means you have an opinion.