#because there's good characterizations here

[fablefrogg]

Character Study & Rewrite: Colin Bridgerton vs. Lord Debling

First of all, I want to say that I really enjoyed Bridgerton season 3, part I. However, that is mainly because I enjoyed the side plots more than the main plot. A main reason why I didn't enjoy the main plot as much is because I believe that Colin Bridgerton's character arc could have been dealt with better, especially since Penelope Featherington is a more established character than him in the previous seasons. This third season is the first season where we really get to see into Colin's mind and how he views the world and himself.

I know that Colin's character arc surrounds his struggles with finding his authentic identity and the costs of fitting in with the ton at the expense of sacrificing his own values when it comes to relationships. On the other hand, Lord Debling is a great foil to Colin because we see that Debling is content with who he is, despite how his "peculiarities" aren't accepted by the ton and how that extends to how the ton talk about him. Unfortunately, I don't think that the writers took advantage of their relationship dynamic other than to simply show that they both want Penelope's hand-in-marriage.

I believe that adding in scenes where we get to see Colin Bridgerton and Lord Debling interact with each other one-on-one or how they witness the other person interact with the ton would've have made the main plot much better. This would allow the audience to have a more transparent understanding of Colin's character arc and of his inner thoughts while also making Debling a formidable love rival for Penelope.

I know that this season has limited screentime and that the season is split in half with two different release dates so here is how I would have personally added into the existing scenes or rewrite the existing scenes in Bridgerton season 3, part 1.

Warning: There will be spoilers so if you haven't watched these episodes yet, don't read any further. I also haven't read any of the Bridgerton series and I didn't look so my personal characterization may be off from Book Colin.

Colin Bridgerton's Travels

Other than knowing that he slept around, we haven't gotten enough information about Colin's travels and what he ACTUALLY did in the 17 cities that he traveled. I know he talks about the contessa but even his "friend" group doesn't know the details so I think it would be great to have a flashback of what he actually did with her. Either the contessa he talks about was just a made-up story to fit in with the guys or he was a virgin when he slept with her and he doesn't want to share those details because that experience was very intimate for him in exploring how sex works.

I think that scene of Penelope reading Colin's notebook was excellent. However, instead of her reading his passage about sleeping around, I'd rather that she read a different passage that details his struggles of fitting in with the ton and how he thought that traveling to new places where he thought he could belong would help but it turns out that he couldn't fit in with these new people either.

Until he started learning the lessons of "charm" and other social behaviors that men around him typically adopt because it was better than being alone. I'd think the best origin story of where he starts to learn that charm can be taught would be in France, considering that that country is the one he tends to talk about most and because flirting is pretty common in France (though I admittedly don't have much knowledge on French culture).

That would explain why Colin's lessons for Penelope aren't on how to fit in; rather that she just needs to relax enough in order to stop fixating on what other people think of her and to be her authentic self. It tells us that Colin doesn't want Penelope to go through the same process he did because that require her to not be true to who she is, so he alters the lessons he's been taught (which is actually really good. Even though I know he's a writer, I can also totally see him as a teacher, teaching others about the lessons he's learned from life) These lessons also benefit Colin because it gives him a sense of purpose, something that he's been struggling to find his entire life.

After Penelope finishes reading it, have Colin flashback to his past travels so that the audience can see his interactions in person and how he slowly alters his behavior as he travels to each city. This serves to give Penelope and the audience further insight into his motivations and mindset.

I know that his travels were written in the story to develop Colin and show the audience how much he's grown from the past seasons. But in truth, Colin doesn’t need to have grown from his travels. This is a personal judgement, but it gives me the impression that in order to be in a relationship, one must be "developed" enough but that doesn’t need to be the case. Colin and Penelope can grow together, and I think that's beautiful.

Brothel Scenes

As much as I didn't like the brothel scenes, I know that they exist to showcase Colin "maturing" (and perhaps a bit for fanservice). Instead of omitting them altogether, here is how I would have rewritten the scenes. Have Colin feel pressured by his "friend" group to participate in a group orgy at the brothel. That way, we see the clear contrast of his friends having a good time compared to Colin, while also participating, is clearly shown to be uncomfortable or less active about it than his friends. Maybe he tells them that he'd rather have privacy, but his friends make fun of him for acting like a prude or somewhere along those lines where his romantic nature is made fun of or is seen as childish.

This way, it would be a full circle when Colin tells them off at the end of part I, stating in these exact words, "It is tiring, is it not? The necessity imposed on us to remain cavalier about the one thing in life that holds genuine meaning." I absolutely love this moment when Colin dares to speak up because this is the first time we see him be so honest in front of them and it's amazing to see.

Colin vs. Debling

I would absolutely love Debling to witness Colin's flirting scenes in episode 1 because I think that he would cringe (like the rest of us) because let's face it, the lines are so cheesy that it would be comedic gold to see Debling have the same reaction as the audience.

Before Colin realizes his feelings for Penelope, I'd want Debling to interact with Colin’s “friend group” and have them talk about their respective travels to show the vast difference between his and Colin's interactions with the ton as well as the contrast between their characters. I think it would give us a lot of insight into both Colin and Debling as people, seeing Colin observe Debling and admiring (and envy) his quiet confidence to be himself.

Meanwhile, have Debling encourage Colin to stray away from the herd. We've seen how observant Debling himself is when he notes to Penelope about his intuition that Penelope can make someone wither if she wants to. And he is spot-on. I could see him totally knowing that Colin is trying to fit in, but he doesn't make fun of him; rather giving him advice on how to not care for what others think. That way, Colin's lessons to Penelope and Debling's advice to Colin end up backfiring on both of them which would honestly be funny to see.

In their interactions, have Debling share to Colin his need for a practical match because he plans to go on a 3-year long travel. At the end of part I, when Colin tells Penelope that Debling may not be the best match for Penelope because of his need for a practical match, it showcases how observant and thoughtful Colin is rather than simply acting out of jealousy.

Have Debling ask Colin about Penelope to get to know her more so that we can see Colin talk about his past with Penelope. This would be a good place to provide flashbacks of past interactions with Penelope. Show us flashbacks where Colin took notice of Penelope or admired her when past!Colin was too oblivious to notice it as anything more than friendship but looking back it now, present!Colin views those moments differently in light of his growing romantic feelings for Penelope.

The Balloon Scene

I would have Debling (instead of Colin) be the one to lead the charge in saving the hot air balloon and shouting commands to get the others, Colin included, to join in, capturing Penelope’s attention and awe (and the other ladies of the ton).

When Colin sees how everyone flocks to Debling for his heroic rescue, I want to see him insecure afterwards about how he wished he could’ve led the charge for once instead of always being in the shadows and following another person's lead.

Most importantly, he sees how the ton can quickly change the target of their affections from Colin at the beginning of the season to Debling, the one that people didn't talk much fondly of, provides Colin with more motivation to not follow with society but to follow his own heart.

Conclusion

To summarize, I want Colin to not just be jealous of Debling being the object of Penelope's attention but to also envy Debling himself because he wants to be like him because I think that would give Colin and Debling more complexity to their characters. With more insight into Colin's character and his embracing his true self in part I, it's going to hurt even more when he discovers who Penelope truly is and how her actions impacted his family.

Anyway, I'm super excited to see part 2 of Bridgerton season 3, especially after seeing their trailer, and I am waiting ever expectantly for it. Thanks for reading my long, semi-organized ramble; I had fun writing it, and I hope you had as much fun reading it!

[princess-of-the-corner]

Ya know how I said Gabriel descends further into villain from Origins to Miracle Queen?

Ironically Marinette seems to go through a similar thing, or reveal more facets to her character that are less paragon but its very much by accident.

I like Marinette, but the fact this stuff never seems to get acknowledge or addressed both ends up hurting the story & in the fandom it makes it hard to discuss without being perceived as a salter or apologist, ETC.

Like, bear with me.

Season 1 Mari is basically fine, she's good, heroic, any flaws she has are fairly minor but some could be taken as 'hints' for later while still not being an issue.

Like her meticulous Adrien schedule could literally just be info she picked up associating with him that she wrote down. A little odd but not like, terrible, terrible.

Her sabotaging Bubbler's music is certain an irresponsible use of her powers but its far from the most irresponsible a hero is with a Miraculous & she is fourteen and people/protaganists can be flawed.

& her tear down of Lila, but she seemed to realize she went too far & tried to apologize. & after a point Lila staying out of school because of it starts to feel less like a Marinette issue & more a Lila (Or Gabriel) issue.

Season 2

We start to see some other potential issues emerging here, but they can still be rationalized away.

Chat being left to fend for himself is her having faith in her partner & she is going to get help.

Adrien being kept in the dark is more Fu's deal than Mari's & she is the one who presses him to bring Chat in.

Her decision to make Chloe QB again does paint a target on her back & could be tied to Adrien or rank pragmatism, but she does seem to make a genuine effort to sympathize, so at worse the target is an accident.

Less justifiable but still explain-able is encouraging Chloe's mean-ness so she can bond with her mother being a poorly thought out attempt to getting them to bond & assuming it will make them better.

The lack of follow through when the opposite happens does feel like its an issue but one can see why a kid mightn't make the connection.

Using Chloe on Heroes' Day is again, explain-able, IE it does paint a target on her back but shit was indeed dire.

The real red flag so to speak is her reaction to Kagami.

IE characterizing her as an evil witch& only stamping down on her interpretation to benefit Adrien, not because she realized that was wrong.

IE, Kagami's done 0 to warrant such a negative view of her & there isn't really a positive way to spin this one as just good intentions gone awry, someone else's fault or an accident.

Season 3

This is when it all comes home to roost so to speak.

With Kagami this comes in deliberate attempts to sabotage or even embrass and sabotage her. This continues even after Marinette realizes Kagami is actually a nice if lonely girl and befriends her.

But it gets worse because even if Kagami's ID wasn't known to the public (Though it makes sense that it is) the dialogue still acknowledges Hawk Moth knows!

She is painting a target on her friends back wile sabotaging her date!

There isn't really a good way to explain this one, which might be why I know some fics basically seem to outright pretend it didn't happen.

Meanwhile with Chloe the lack of follow through issue becomes text.

IE, she paints a target on Chloe's back by using her twice in short succession, then ghosts her even though its clear Chloe's trying to communicate with her.

Even if attacks weren't happening near her home this would be bad.

But when finally pushed into acting on this reality, the second its convenient to use Chloe in combat again she does so. Making it loud and clear to Hawk Moth that if the situation is dire, he knows where to get the Bee Miraculous & its wielder.

This is a big issue because unlike "Making Chloe a better person" which in universe is not Marinette's job. As the person who gives out Miraculous, as the leader she has in fact made herself responsible for what happens to Chloe in regards to Miraculous business.

She can't abdicate on that one except maybe to Fu who also damn well should have known better.

Which leaves the story with Marinette willingly putting two people into danger and using them opportunistically either out of rank pragmatism or for outright selfish reasons. Then just like, not acknowledging the risks or consequences, with one of these people even being her friend.

It makes her come off as ether a lot more cold, or a lot more out of touch with the consequences of her actions than almost anyone else.

Neither of which get acknowledged in the narrative so as before, it becomes hard to even talk about without being seen as smearing the character or being unfair. Or like you just need to ignore these traits even if the story no longer works because of it and Marinette ironically becomes a less interesting character.

Cos like, a Marinette who can become extremely, even ruthlessly pragmatic the moment she needs too. Or one who is genuinely that taken away with her crush that its effecting her morality to the point where she can become harmful. Those are interesting ideas to explore!

They don't make her like, more evil than Hawk Moth or whatever, & if handled well could prove really interesting. Especially as they could parallel Gabriel's behaviors in regards to Adrien and others. Thus letting him be a sort of "Oh shit, is this who I could grow into in twenty years if I had money/power & zero people to check me?" villain.

But instead even noting it seems discouraged in most of the popular sphere's, or worse and well, we know the show doesn't take issue with it.

See it's.

I do love this about her and find it fascinating! As a character in a piece of fiction, I mean. I don't /want/ her to make these decisions, but /on paper/ I'm eating popcorn as I watch it unfold.

A lot of this does stem from Marinette's black and white mentality and overall being naive. Everything is all or nothing with her.

Sometimes this comes across in her thinking of people as good or bad. While she tries, it's hard for her to think of Chloé as 'good' and it's hard for her to understand that even if Chloé wants to change, it takes a lot of time and isn't just flipping a switch.

And while there's past precedent with Chloé, this shows up again with Lila. She never entertains the idea that Lila may just be lying for attention because she's bad at making friends. Lila is lying and lying is bad so clearly she's a manipulative bitch that deserves to be publicly humiliated! Like with Chloé, she may back down for a moment when called out like what Adrien did, but it doesn't last long.

Kagami is the eventual progression into twisting things. She's not overly friendly and sweet and social, but she /is/ in competition with Marinette for Adrien's affections. So she twists the idea that Kagami must be an awful person, despite doing literally nothing, and deserves what Mari does to her. And while she does befriend Kagami and feels some guilt, I think a combination of 'this is for True Love™' and not wanting to admit that she was a jerk and wrong makes her keep sabotaging her.

And it's a similar thing with her actions as Ladybug.

At first it's things that make sense: trusting Chat to do what he can on his own with little information, just like they've been doing for all of Season 1.

Then she gets Fu telling her that things are too risky for anyone else to know. So she doesn't tell Chat things. Because Fu is an Adult™ and their guide in all this, so ofc he's right even if Marinette thinks otherwise at first. And this is hammered in with Chat Blanc and Ephemeral. If Chat knows more, things get fucked.

And then we get Marinette justifying keeping secrets for the Greater Good™. Whether it just be not telling Chat anything, or lying to all of Paris to make sure Adrien never finds out his father is a complete fucking asshole. Secrets are good. She's doing the right thing by keeping them so that it doesn't hurt anyone. If he knew things would go to hell.

In theory I find all this fascinating! But while there's been a hiccup here or there, usually caused by Adrichat going 'girl what the FUCK?!', on the whole the narrative chooses to see this as the good and right thing rather than a flaw that Marinette needs to overcome.

[too-much-tma-stuff]

Hi,

I am adoring your Hyena Danny AU. I really appreciate the little domestic fluff bits you put into the writing. It makes Jason and Danny's relationship seem so much more realistic. They get to banter but also work through Jason's trauma. It's a good balance.

I also really appreciate some of the characterization of Batman/Bruce in this AU. I am very used to seeing the Brucie Wayne persona or Bruce as a serial adopter characterization within DCxDP.

No hate for those characterizations; it's just refreshing to see a different portrayal. Obviously, every story and author has their own perspective, and I do think it's fun in some works, but its good to see Batman negatively too. I like how you have stuck to the darker side of his character and explored that through Jason.

Thank you so much for your kind words! I've been absolutely blown away by the response I've received to this fic so far. Not just the quantity of responses but the quality. I have never received so many thoughtful and articulate comments on AO3 in particular. I'm so flattered that so many people are reading and enjoying my work, it makes writing it all the more rewarding! If a bit nerve-wracking because I don't want to let anyone down.

And ya, I love good dad Bruce and I have used that version of him before in other fics, but he's not really coming off that great here lol

[internetgiraffekid1673]

Did you know you can move onto other brainrots and STILL be stuck brainrotting on the old thing too? My brain is a decaying piece of wood that has become an essential breeding ground for several species of rot. One of them is still the BatFam variety, so onto the next member!

Initial traces of Carrie Kelley, my child! Be honest, how many of you who have seen the Nightwing and Red Hood posts thought that I was doing Tim next? Well HA! Joke’s on you, I make the rules here! I have a very specific order in my head, and I will stick to that order!

Carrie is technically an elseworld’s Robin from The Dark Knight Returns, but Robin is my favorite superhero, and anyone who has been Robin will get my attention (yes Robin. Not Batman or Nightwing or any of the individual characters who have been Robins. Robin as a hero, regardless of who it is, is my favorite). At this point, she’s actually graduated to Catgirl and then her own iteration of Batwoman, but in my head, she’s the same age as Damian or younger, so she gets to stay Robin in my art for a bit.

I did two traces here because, unlike other Batfam characters, Carrie is in so few comics that I can’t just FIND a perfect, full body action pose from an angle that I like. The first trace is by far the most popular and easy to find picture of her, but it has her hair blowing around in the wind. This is a Problem, you see, because Carrie’s hair is a special challenge for me. In The Dark Knight Returns, she has this very distinctive hair shape that I do not like looking at OR drawing. So I knew the pose I used for my reference was going to need to be a pose where I could update her hairstyle. But, I also needed a full body, and that first photo is iconic, so two for the price of one again.

Stylization time! Carrie was honestly really easy to stylize, her hair is just a bit of a nightmare for me. I finally got a handle on it after the complete project, but it took a WHILE! Anyway, I more or less just lifted her updated hairstyle from her Batwoman costume and some cosplayers. And no, I’m not giving her pants. Damian and Tim are edgy Robins, they can have pants. Dick, Jason, and Carrie are not edgy Robins, so they get short shorts. I did give up on coloring her sleeves green. Too much of one color for me to effectively handle when her gloves overlap her sleeves. Also, I need to draw more characters with capes. They’re so fun to draw!

Characterization pose! In the comics, Carrie wears her goggles as a civilian too. I interpret this as her needing glasses, so I gave her regular glasses instead because wearing the same distinctive goggles you wear as a superhero is maybe not the best way to keep your identity secret. Comics Carrie has like one friend that you don’t see after she puts on the costume, and her parents don’t remember they have a kid, so it’s not like she has a whole lot of people to be hiding her identity from, but it’s the thought that counts. Schoolmates and random civilians and nosy reporters and all that.

I put her in a Girl Scout uniform for her civvy outfit because I think that it’s important to her character. The whole reason Batman took her on was because she was 1) crazy/traumatized/determined enough to buy herself a Robin costume, fight petty crime on her own, and follow him into dangerous situations and 2) used her Girl Scout first aid training to save batman’s life and splint his arm after he got his sh*t rocked in an ill-advised fight. I figured a salute, even if it’s a bit of a sassy one, was a good pose for her not just because of this, but also because The Dark Knight Returns is a very depressing comic, and so Batman calls her “good soldier.”

If you saw the first two posts, you may notice that I did not trace the hero text for this one, and that I used the same font for both names. This is because 1) I didn’t feel like the regular Robin font with the spiky R fits Carrie’s vibe, but she doesn’t have any comics covers of her own I can steal from and 2) I feel like Carrie’s personality is the same as Robin and Carrie. Unlike with almost everyone else, there’s no posturing, no distinction, no divide there. So the same font works for both personas.

Nightwing Edition

Red Hood Edition

[flower-boi16]

I commented on stolitz critical video by explaining why it didn't works because how shallow Stella was and that she was written that way to make Stolas looked good which ended up with a bunch of shippers told me why did it matter since Stella was an asshole and abusive relasionship could be as simple as that. Hell fucking no, my aunt's husband often beat the shit out of her yet he appeared like a decent man in front of everyone. I never knew this until they divorced and it was being revealed later. My cousin turned out to be extremely violence and short tempered especially with his sibling. Fuck people who think domestic abuse is as simple as saturday morning cartoon villains.

I think the people screaming at you missed the point of why Stella being made abusive was a bad writting decison.

Stella was only made abusive as a way to artificially make Stolas look more sympathetic, as a way to absolve him of all his flaws displayed in season 1 and make him into an "uwu soft boy". That's something Helluva Boss fans always miss; people are not upset at Stella being abusive because it "breaks their headcanons" or some shit. People dislike the writting decision because it removes all potiential to make Stella interesting and turns her into a one-dimensional bitch, and also ruined Stoals as a character by removing everything that made him interesting in season 1.

Viv didn't really want to tell an story about a victim breaking from his abuser. Viv made Stella abusive so she could make Stolas more sympathetic, as a way to fit this new direction for Stolas as a character in season 2. Stella would have been a better written abuser if she actually displayed real tacticts that real life abusers use, she would have been a far more interesting abuser if she was written that way, but no, Stella isn't given any depth as a character, she only exists now to make Stolas sympathetic. That's it.

Viv wasn't concerned with making Stella an interesting and three dimensional abuser. That was not the goal when writting her character. The goal was to make Stolas more sympathetic.

And THAT'S the actual issue here, and I'm sick of the HB fandom pretending that people dislike Stella's characterization in season 2 for headcanon reasons when there's more to it than just that.

Then again Viv's fans don't know why people critisize these shows so why am I surprised.

[crguang]

Hi, I've been reading your fanfics lately and I've become obsessed with your writing! I'm not good at English so I keep to myself.

I wanted to share my feelings, because I think you should know what a great job you do! Not only did you make me have a different perspective on Kafka, you also made me see character development more clearly! (I also write a lot, and it's one of my difficulties.)

It's incredible how his stories gave me an addictive feeling, something I haven't seen in any other Kafka fanfic! Please keep it up!

In fact, I have ideas in my head about how Kafka would react to R's death? Or what exactly would make her cry? I wonder, and I think your point of view would be quite accurate.

first of all, don’t worry about your english!! it’s great, and it’s not my first language either so i understand the struggle. thank you for your kind words i cant believe my writing has inspired/helped you in any way, im especially happy it changed your mind about Kafka hehe. trust meee i understand how tough characterization is, i focus way too much on the details and it can get pretty frustrating. i take it seriously too, so when something doesn’t go my way or i can’t portray a scene the way i see it in my mind, i lose it a little bit.

ouhhh, kafka and death is a pretty intimate affair in my opinion. she deals with it all the time but we don’t know if she’s experienced it— she sees suffering as something euphoric, fascinating. we know she doesn’t care for her victims because of it, that and the fact that she’s following what she truly believes is destiny. if it was their destiny to die by her hand, why would she mourn? i think it would take a lot to make her cry, she’s very resilient and can withstand a lot + she doesn’t feel fear and there are lots of complex emotions born from it (anxiety, dread, panic) so in my opinion she’s not very attuned to these as well. i’ll expand on the “not feeling fear” thing because its absolutely insane; its a primal instinct that makes us do or not do so many things. it’s connected to so many other emotions— we feel sad because we fear losing people, we feel helpless because we fear not being good enough, etc. kafka wouldn’t be able to understand all of that in a visceral way. we know she worries to an extent (for the trailblazer, for blade) and that also stems from fear but so far, it’s been somewhat superficial. she checks up on them like once and that’s that. here again, following and believing in a scripted future makes it so that she doesnt have much to worry about. it makes me believe that she would often realize things after they’ve happened, like “oh, i don’t like this…”

losing someone she genuinely cares about might paralyze her, at least at first. death doesn’t obsess her because fear is self-preservation and she cant feel that. she is logical though, and knows not to put herself/others in certain dangerous situations. she doesn’t fear her s/o dying, she just knows she doesn’t want it to happen. what she can feel though is sadness, and that only happens during/after the fact. grief is soo complex, that’s why i think it would paralyze her afterwards— she’d feel this immense loss that she hasn’t prepared for, and kafka is rarely caught by surprise. she wouldn’t know what to do and her logic won’t save her; so many things don’t matter when you’re dealing with emotions that feel all-consuming, she knows death is inevitable, so what? she knows this was always a possibility, so what? that doesn’t tell her how to deal with it. she’d go through the motions as usual because life didn’t stop for her but she’d have this constant tightness in her chest like fingers curled around her heart. the tears would find her on a tuesday morning as she’s cleaning her gun or putting on her boots. to me, her feelings have a little lag; she doesn’t feel apprehension much so they would have to hit her afterwards. in my most recent fic im writing about her being a player for laughs but i still make her fall for the reader at the same time they fall for her, she just realizes it way later. this is long as hell im so sorry but to sum up i do think she would cry a lot because she almost never does and her body would need the relief.

im yapping im sorry😭 your question was super interesting and it really got me thinking but let me stop lmfao. i hope i kinda answered it along the way😭

[navree]

the weird thing about the sarah hess interview (there are a lot of weird things about that interview but if i talked about all of them this would be the length of a phd dissertation) is that, like, if you want us to give some sympathy to aegon and acknowledge the complexities behind him not wanting to rule but wanting it and his relationship with alicent and his siblings and rhaenyra and all that without the audience getting hung up on him being a rapist, don’t write him being a rapist? you are a writer on the show sarah, you’re the one who decides and this was an easily solvable problem

[ofswordsandpens]

I'm sincerely very happy for anyone who is enjoying the show but every time I see takes that the show has improved the book characterizations or that the book characters are underdeveloped in comparison to the show...

[lenaellsi]

it's honestly a bit odd to me that so many people have jumped on the 'aziraphale will be pulling all the strings and playing politics in heaven' train. like I think it's true that the metatron is underestimating aziraphale's intelligence and ability to disrupt the second coming even while separated from crowley, but I also think the idea that aziraphale is going up to heaven with a clear idea of how he's just been lied to, an understanding of how much danger he's in, and a plan to stop it is a huge reach.

frankly, aziraphale is very vulnerable to manipulation. I'm thinking now of neil’s post with the diary entry from before the edinburgh minisode where he was duped by two humans, the whole thing with the nazis in 1941, and his sponsorship of shadwell's various obviously fake agents (sergeant milkbottle, etc.). he's not nearly as savvy as fanon tends to portray him. he takes people at face value, especially people he thinks of as Good. (that's not a dunk, btw--I find these things endearing, and a sign of aziraphale's innate wish to see the best in people. I just think that sometimes the BAMF protective aziraphale of fanon overshadows the slightly more naive aziraphale of canon. and honestly, I also think TV aziraphale is just a bit softer than book aziraphale, though he is capable of stepping up when it counts.)

and he's a bad liar! I know it's a meme in the fandom that aziraphale lies all the time, but he doesn't like it, and he's bad at it. he gets nervous and comes up with terrible excuses and the only reason he ever gets away with it is because the people he's lying to are idiots (gabriel), have their own agendas (god, the other archangels), or trust him to be honest (crowley).

aziraphale's real strength is his ability to take sudden, completely unexpected action. that's one of the things that crowley admires most about him. "he's unpredictable," is what he says to nina, and it's true! aziraphale's greatest moments of rebellion have always come from spur of the moment decisions, not intricate plans. (if anything, crowley is the planner--the arrangement and the thwarting of the apocalypse, their two longest cons, were both his idea.)

aziraphale gives the sword away because when he is forced to make a decision under pressure, he tends to land on the side of rebellious kindness. shielding crowley from the rain in eden, lying to gabriel to protect job's family, defying the quartermaster and returning to earth via possession during the apocalypse, blowing up his halo--he does these things because he's following that same impulse. when aziraphale has time to over think, he frets and fusses and is paralyzed by indecision. (or worse, he falls back on what heaven has taught him.)

TL;DR: I don't think aziraphale has any sort of grand plan other than a generalized "make things better," and I certainly don't think he is planning to betray heaven. he might try to come up with a plan once he figures out how bad things are going to get, but my bet is that what will actually disrupt the second coming is an absolutely bonkers off the wall decision that no one, crowley included, could ever predict. and I think it’ll happen, as it usually does with aziraphale, just after he accepts a difficult truth that fundamentally shifts his worldview—in this case, his final rejection of the idea of “good” and “bad” people, and of the entire morality system of heaven and hell.

[writeouswriter]

Reading a fic that's so well written I wish I could close my eyes and just let the descriptions and atmosphere wash over me, but the dilemma with closing my eyes is, well, I then would not be able to continue reading this fic, now would I.

[rist-ix]

https://www.tumblr.com/rist-ix/749015401700229120 not you reblogging this when you ship bloom with the man who murdered her family 😭

Bloom's into ppl who slay! Hope this helps :3

[qcomicsy]

Lately I've only been wishing to grab a comic about my favorite character and just have a genuinely good time reading it.

[arabian-batboy]

I’m once again asking DC to give Damian simple normal Robin adventures about him defeating bad guys and rescuing innocent people with occasional team-ups with his family or other kid heroes before feeding all his pets and going to bed early to not miss school (where he actually has a normal civilian life that we can witness for once)

Literally no one asked for these weird magic-related stories about him going to hell and becoming satan or going to a death tournament that results in him being involved in an assassin war or freeing an evil demon that semi-possess him to become his servant that goes around to do evil horrible stuff to real superheroes that always end up focusing on Bruce as the main-character instead of Damian.

[mikkokomori]

is omari basil still a delinquent

(and side note here id LOVE to hear you ramble all about your Omari au)

Ahem,,,, if it is alright with you then,,,,,, I will talk about my OMARI Basil then,,,,

To answer your question, he was planned to be the delinquent of the group (as per typical swap aus), though over time, I really began to sit down and think about it the more swap aus began to pop up around the fandom. I didn't really like the idea of being a carbon copy of various other omari aus in specific, so during the time I have been absent on here I began to slowly revamp the AU over time. I had to start over with what I originally had in the first place since a lot of the au things in my take on it also had contributions by followers as well!

For Basil, his first concept was initially a delinquent take... but the thing that caused a problem with that was the fact that I had planned for him to also play a sort of "detective" role in this universe, as I had written a short snippet on Basil having caught on to something suspicious going on between the older siblings and Sunny's sudden disappearance.......

Frankly, as much as a delinquent Basil is my darling concept of all concepts, I had to, unfortunately, push it to the side and alter his role in this AU to fit with the revamped look I was going for him... therefore fully integrating him into his "detective" role. In a way though, looking through Mari's perspective, he's sort of a clashing force with her and is equivalent to an antagonist in her own story (but! Keep in mind, Mari in this AU isn't the Mari who you should be sympathizing for.... an unreliable narrator who happens to be a wolf in sheeps clothing....).

As for the emotions, while a lot of people tend to view the emotions being assigned to the characters as their possible role in RW (the happy-go-lucky, the perfect student, the delinquent), for mine I ended up making it were each friend had 2 main emotions.... Basils would be anger and sorrow (Aubrey and Kel tend to have anger as their second emotion, though that is still up for debate! I still have a few things to work out :3). So, in a way you could say that in Headspace they were only ever seen as a one-dimensional character by Mari/Hikkiko, while in the real world, they had a even bigger "mess" of emotions that they all dealt with. In turn, Basil's concept strayed further away from the path of delinquent and more into a path which.... ehehe..... obsession as a concept is such a fun thing to play around with, don't you think?

Just as much as he plays the "investigator", he also is meant to be a parallel of what Mari/Hikkiko is. Obsession has always been a part of his character, and in doing so, you could say I played around with it until I found quite a nice concept with this. Mari/Hikkiko both have a need to keep Sunny around as the perfect brother and therefore paint his Headspace counterpart to their own liking.... while Basil in turn has, on some level, a need to imitate Sunny as closely as he can. Both are a form of obsessions I have given them, and in a way, the only reason Basils is a more "lighter" version of this is because Aubrey, Kel, Hero (sort of), Polly, his grandmother, and Faraway Town as a whole have been there to guide him on a better path. Though his obsession to keep Sunny's memory alive by becoming like him is still there, it's not to say that he doesn't have people to talk some sense into him-- meanwhile Mari does not have that type of support.

Obsession stems from love, at least, in their case. And in the end, it really depends on whether or not they have people who are willing to reel them back into a state of sanity. Basil was, at least in terms of my omari lore, viewed as a delinquent at one point, though he never acted out aggressively towards others unless provoked enough and only ever kept to himself.... eventually the town residents accepted the fact that this was just his way of grieving and treated him with patience and respect, especially with the fact he took it upon himself to go around town and helping around with the little things, though especially with gardening and photography.

it's not to say though, that he doesn't have some... worrying habits. That as in, most of his plants being replaced with tulips and most of the heads of certain plants being chopped off with garden shears, left to rot. While Basil mimics his best friends habits, he isn't exactly the best at fully hiding his feelings and emotions as Sunny was able to. No amount of masquerading will change the fact that once he's laid his sights on you, it'll only be a matter time before he seeks for your head on a silver platter.

[hanzajesthanza]

the scene i find most relatable in all of the witcher saga is ciri in the korath desert, and idk what that says about me, but… probably nothing good 😅🙃

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

How dya make such good aus?! Like, seriously. How do you do it, make an au?/genq

uh, well you see, im Very Unwell-