#but that's really the only commentary i can give to this situation lmao

[eloise-t-g]

i think for me, the watcher situation comes down to this:

it's absolutely respectable that the watcher team wants to grow and produce better quality content. it's respectable that they don't want to stagnate and end up pushing the same content out over and over again. that's not satisfying for them creatively, i get that.

however, if higher quality, more heavily produced content is not what your fans are asking for, then you can't ask them to fund it.

this all-or-nothing method they've gone for is frankly bizarre. it feels like they leap-frogged all other alternatives to improving their finances and ended up here, alienating and frustrating the majority of their fanbase (the fanbase they thanked for getting them to where they are).

i think this could have gone a lot better if they:

Hadn't hyped up this video for a week.

Hadn't announced the worth it successor just beforehand.

Hadn't put out a wishy-washy, "boo hoo we're so sad about this", over-produced video.

Hadn't made it $6/month (more in a lot of countries given exchange rates).

Had considered that this means fans in specific countries literally cannot pay for the subscription due to geo/region-locking.

my ideas for improving their funds, aka things they could have tried before blowing their brand up: create their own website with two options - a free version with ads and a paid version without ads, OR make better use of their patreon/make their website extra content, not all their content, for example:

Put the ghost file debriefs on there.

Put shows like survival mode on there (or even shift that show from pre-recorded video to live-stream - live stream access to patrons and VOD access to everyone, maybe).

Put episode commentaries there.

Do reaction videos to their old buzzfeed content, talk about memories and BTS, and put that there.

Put one/two episodes of each show, per season on there (and ONLY there).

Put the episodes up there a few days early.

Make specific, website only content (that's not your main and most popular series aka ghost files and puppet history).

Record the live, in-person shows and put those VODs up there.

EDIT (thought of something else lmao): put extended or even uncut versions of ghost files on there. Paranormal Detour on Detune's twitch channel has shown that people will willingly sit through 6+ hours of a ghost investigation.

EDIT: idk, do livestreams once a week where you watch scary movies with fans on discord or twitch.

(side note: the fact that they're not taking down their patreon and instead shifting all of their podcast content on there, something the patreons who have been loyally giving them money for years didn't ask for, is ridiculous and greedy. add to this the fact that they don't even get a free sub to the new website, instead get 40% off - a measly 10% more than anyone else who subs before the official launch).

the thing for me is that they're claiming they want to make "television" and "television-grade content". that's completely fine. what's not completely fine is acting like your four episodes a month is equal to netflix's entire catalogue.

this really felt like it should have been something they told us they were progressing towards, not something they revealed to be on the imminent horizon. idk, it just feels out of nowhere. no, they don't owe us all of the info about their company. but something had to be better than this.

final thought - it's okay and valid to be upset at the team for this. for a lot of people, it's a complete betrayal (especially the comment that $6 a month is something "anyone and everyone can afford", i mean yikes). i do think some people's anger got the best of them, and some of the comments i've seen across youtube, twitter, and tumblr are plain bullying, racism, and harassment. until we have the whole story, we can't decide that one founder (aka steven in a lot of people's minds) is solely responsible. i know a lot of these awful things are only coming from a small minority of the fandom, but they still get seen.

at the end of the day, all three of them got up in front of a camera and made this video, together. that can only lead us to the conclusion that they made this decision together. acting like these men in their 30s couldn't stand up against it if they truly wanted to, is so strange and parasocial lmao.

tl;dr there were much better ways of going about this announcement, if it even needed to be made at all. however, that doesn't excuse the hateful shit being spewed at the team. for now, all we know is the three founders decided they were done with youtube, and done with their loyal youtube audience.

(i have so many more thoughts on this but i need to stop lmao. however i do wonder how different things could have been if 1. they had hired someone with actual business experience as their CEO from the jump, and 2. this video was more of a "hey we're broke! this is a last-ditch effort to save our company!". guess those questions will remain ... well ... you know ...).

[splendidbadger]

I read the tags on the ROTTMNT villains reblog, do you have more any scenarios and ideas for the villians? ANYTHING will do, they’re so fun and intriguing but the fandom overlooks them constantly.

Oh, I'm so glad you asked!!! I love the villains sooo much that I'm making an Ask blog revolving around them opening a bar lmao. I'm happy to see others who are invested.

Headcanons

Repo Mantis

I feel he was the first to be mutated with normal he acts like he gives no shit he's a mutant and we see him deal with humans. In my AU it's due to the fact he was mutated years before ROTTMNTs start. I mean he is not weirded out by the boys, he clearly knows Yokai exists. I have it set so he started doing work in the Hidden City and Draxum saw a nice unmutated human to experiment on and bam mantis man.

Repos trans too, idk man he's my favorite outside of Todd and you know? He's like me frfr. Repo def doesn't strike me as a top surgery guy, but also I feel his mutation helped his dysphoria a LOT because like I mean I've felt that.

Man is also very obsessed with his hair, and uses a lot of products. Doesn't care he's greying but he DOES care how healthy it is.

Repo can and will do drag. (Warren helps with his makeup and wig due to his claws getting in the way)

Hypno

Here's a lil angst one.

Hypno doesn't realize he fused with Doug. I can't remember the episode name, but it's the one in the botanical gardens where we get the flower mutant. We see that humans can literally be fused with plant life and possibly animal life. Also since we know Hypno wants to bring Doug back to life, hes passed away. Given that Doug was Hypnos hippo, and was most likely with him when he was bit, he doesn't realize he's been fused with his buddy.

He just knows his buddy is gone and he'll never see him again. That or he fully knows but is in denial. Warren buys him merch based on Doug as a way to make him feel better, since he's not the greatest at comforting people.

and some non angst headcanons

Hypno doesn't really have a label. He knows he's queer but doesn't care to label himself. He likes who he likes, and that's all that matters.

Hypno does drag a lot!!!! He LOVES doing drag! It's fun for him, and how he expresses himself!

A lil senario thing

Imagine that Repo was actually a fan of Warren Stone as an anchorman, imagine he enjoyed his jokes and commentary. Repos devastated he went missing, and genuinely invested in keeping up with anyone trying to find him. When he discovers his favorite anchors alive and not dead he's thrilled.

Due to the fact we know everyone Warren knew pre-mutation abandoned him he doesn't trust Repo, not at first. After all Hypnos is the only one who takes him seriously or seems to give a shit about him especially after he bungled everything with April. (He feels guilty about that gauntlet situation I will die on this hill.) So naturally he doesn't believe Repo at first. Repos pretty hurt, but man he gets it. These changes are big but he promises he's a fan and even knows other fans too.

Repo ends up taking Warren and Hypno to meet the others, sure they met when Draxum "hired" them but it was just a job and they didn't really to much time to talk after they got into action. I like to think Warrens was genuinely touched to see he has a fan base. I'm fully convinced post Warren and Hypno Sitting in a Tree Todd got Warrent a job as a Hidden City news anchor. Sure it's not what he had, but it IS something, and these yokai? They love him even if he's a worm-

[devilsrecreation]

How the Outlanders deal with kids

Hyenas:

Jasiri’s clan are naturally great with Wema and Tunu. They have to be, the pair would be orphans otherwise (their mother died as they were being born)

When Janja’s clan joined them, they were admittedly a little iffy with them. Almost all of them had no idea what to do with these tiny balls of fur.

The cubs were naturally scared of Chungu and Cheezi at first, but they were quick to warm up to the big dopes. Their dumb, clumsy tails made them laugh :)

Now that everyone’s friends now, Janja treats Tunu and Wema as his cubs and you are not allowed to touch them

Jackals:

Canonically great parents, obviously but they are annoyingly overbearing.

Reirei and Goigoi are naturals with not just their kids, but anyone else’s kids too. They’re pros

Crocodiles:

Babysitter crocodiles is something I never really thought about before but now I love it

You’d think they’d be a danger to kids, but they’re surprisingly pretty good with them

They’re not the best influences, but they try lmao

Tamka and Nduli are the best playmates next to Chungu and Cheezi. Tamka sees it as rehearsing for his (nonexistent) acting career and the kids love it

You can thank Nduli for convincing Kiburi and the rest of the float to babysit. It makes him think of those simpler times when he was little

Neema doesn’t do much, but he’ll tag along if the kids need an extra player or something. Turns out he’s got some serious baobab ball skills (don’t ask how they got the fruit in the first place). The kids may not know what the hell he’s saying, but they appreciate him

Storytime with Kiburi is a thing. It’s exactly what it sounds like. It’s Kiburi telling stories to the kids. Some are real, some are made up, but all of them have Tamka and Nduli’s unnecessary commentary that both ruins storytime and makes it better. Yeah, Kiburi warms up to them faster than he likes to admit

Vultures (mostly Mzingo):

Like the jackals, they’re experts in babysitting. They’ve pretty much helped raise Janja and his friends, nothing the kids do now is new to them

The kids just so happen to put themselves in danger, leading Mzingo to try to save them, causing him to get hurt

Mzingo’s pretty strict about rules and the kids find him boring

Kenge:

He SAYS he doesn’t like kids, but put him in a situation with them and he’ll protect them with his life. It takes time though

I have this idea where Kenge sort of acts like a babysitter and teaches the young ones (and the skinks) how to fight. In doing so, he gets to bond with some of them. It’s strangely wholesome

The kids never call him ‘little’. Not even expressions like “a little help here?”. They know better and Kenge appreciates that

He surprisingly doesn’t yell at them. He’ll still have that tough and rude tone to him, but he saves the yelling for the adults

The kids can get him to open up better than anyone else can. Mainly cuz they won’t stop asking “why” all the time

Sumu:

He actually doesn’t like kids. They’re either scared of him or they try to pick him up and he hates being handled

Weirdly enough, none of the kids in the Outlands are scared of him. He tried making a scary face at Wema and she just smiled. He has no idea what to make of this cub

He’s threatened to sting the kids before and gets confused why everyone else gives him weird looks

The skinks:

Most of the skinks including Shupavu can tolerate kids at best. Njano’s the only one that actually likes them

They’re the worst influences. They’ll dare one of the kids to do something stupid, leading the more responsible adults to get them

Njano acts like a cool uncle. You can fight me on that

[bonefall]

Your talk about Briarlight's mobility device is super cool, so i wanted to ask for your opinion, if a cat was missing a single back leg (amputated at the heel), would a mobility device be helpful? I'm assuming no, i've seen cats with only two legs hopping around, which leads to question #2.

The character in question got injured and their leg needed to be removed, a Cinderpaw situation of sorts. The clan begins pushing the use of the mobility device on them, parallel to irl people pushing the use of prosthetics to make amputees look 'normal'. Paired with a severe case of gifted kid syndrome, where their missing leg made training difficult and they begin to burn out because they're suddenly struggling, they get shoved/shove themself into the cleric role. They're miserable about this; They loved being a warrior, but simple training they used to breeze right past suddenly became difficult, so they've resigned themself to picking leaves and chewing herbs.

I'm mostly worried that it will be read the wrong way. The character COULD complete their training, they arent lesser than anyone else, but the gifted kid syndrome hit at the same time, along with a mild dose of peer pressure and internal ableism. It IS a case of 'disabled characters go in the square hole medicine cat den!', and thats the whole point because I wanted to explore the ableism in that situation. They just think that if they can't get something right in the first few tries, they cant get it right ever, so they resigned themself to the metaphorical square hole.

I'm just worried though that by trying to comment on it by adding it to the story that im instead encouraging it. Any advice is 100% appreciated, it's just a thin line and im super worried about walking it. Anyways sorry for invading your ask box i just really wanted to ask for second opinions and i have absolutely no one else to turn to.

A mobility device would not be useful, nope! I'm planning a "mobility device that is just for everyone else's comfort" with Thunder Storm too, though that arc is ending with Thunder pulling it off (and then finding out that Tall Shadow exiled Bumble and flipping his fuzzy little lid)

I think what you need most is clarity of your message, and confidence. You know WHAT you want to say about this-- so start thinking about how to show it. How do you impart this to your audience?

The cat in question doesn't need to realize it. They can have friends, mentors, family, other people who come to the right conclusion. Set up their Gifted Kid problems early, and SHOW that they give up and do as they're told when they struggle with something.

You seem to be doing well by establishing that Examplepaw doesn't like the cleric den, and so this was NOT the right choice for them. In my opinion, that's something that muddies Jayfeather's arc in-canon. He's forced into it but ends up just... fine with it and good at it. The fact Jay was pushed there against his will doesn't actually result in negative consequences.

And people argue, "ah, well, authorial statements say ACTUALLY he ALWAYS would have liked it but he felt like he was fitting a stereotype by going in there so actually it's good that they did an abelism because he wouldn't know what's best for him" and like... they don't see the problem in that lmao. Don't Be Like Them People.

But anyway, that's enough advice rambling on my part. @The Audience, if you guys have advice for this anon, feel free to RB it with commentary or reply to it, especially if you have experience with burnout and physical disability

[maah-long]

I read TSaTS, and loved every second of it

I disappeared from social media to do that, and seeing things now, apparently people are hating on the book??? I honestly have no idea why, and honestly, it makes me sad. I wrote those notes as I read it, and never felt the book was weak or messy, and I'll stand on that boat, 100%. I LOVE this book with my entire existence now, and what people are thinking about it won't affect that, I truly hope.

And I've been binge reading all of Riordanverse in the last month, so everything is fresh on my mind.

Anyways, I'll just leave the notes I did here while I read it. Of course, SPOILERS! I read it without getting even one spoiler, and that made the experience unique and much more enjoyable than others I had in the past.

• I LOVED the silly star war discussion in the beginning, even not quite understanding it xD It was so cute and genuine, maybe with some probably thinking it’s cringy!

• WILL TALKING ABOUT HIS PAST 🫶🫶🫶🫶 I really wanted to see more of him and his story, so they just there, chilling and talking about things, forgetting, even if for only a few seconds, how their situation is so cruel… It made me really happy! Hope they’ll be back soon to just relax and be cute… (haha...)

• I hope the tiny snippets about the water Nymph will have its own scene!!! I was dying to know how their love story start, so it needs its own full chapter!!! (now finishing it, that didn't happen, but the scenes got longer!!! So, victory!!!)

• Now the first POV switch (ch 10) …. Sus. Is pretty weird that the what they see does not seem reliable, and right after it each one of them shares a vision were they’re suffering, but the other one is being kinda “selfish”, and not like themselves. I totally think what they’re “living” is not true, but I don’t know when they stopped seeing things right, or what happened to them. Where? Weird. I do know Will wouldn’t just give up, “I can’t be here”, or Nico going “Coward!”. The POVs don’t match, and I’m CONFUSED.

• Of course it’s a demon! And I do think it hilarious how they’re discussing gender norms while the demon is trying to strangle Nico…,,, normal day, I guess? And Will immediately saying sorry to them like, LMAO

• Man, playing Hades and seeing Nyx like this on the Riordanverse is PAINFUL. She’s so gorgeous (STUNNING), calm and mother-like there. And she always has this kinda insane-y vibe here.

• Ah, “‘I’ll always be here”. There it is, they’re getting separated.

• AGAIN? “if Nyx wants your darkness so bad, you can just leave some of it with her! That wouldn’t be so bad.’”. IDK man, I’m thinking this will be more true than they think, I just feel it 😭😭 And more literal than that, too. (here I was thinking about Nico leaving his powers there. I was pretty wrong on that xD)

• I think that addressing Will’s irk towards the underworld is pretty important. I really like how both of them are on different, but pretty understandable sides. After everything we know about the UW, it’s hard to be open and accepting to it. Nico is super related to it, and he knows his father’s palace, so he has a completely different view of it. Will is all about life and light, so it should be even less appealing to him. Man, he NEEDS sun to live, it's literally part of his being. It’s easy to understand his side. But there are good people and beings living there too. It’s almost another universe. It’s Nico home, past, family and history. It probably hurts a lot to see his boyfriend being so contrary to it, basically negating a part of him, and kinda making his thoughts of Will “ignoring the “””bad and scary””” “ parts of him to be able to accept Nico hold place. It’s sad, hope this will get a good development and closure. Too bad I’m pretty sure it won’t be soon….

• Okay! The farm commentary! That made me sad. I think here Nico was a tiny bit too much. I felt the “People farm here?” from Will was genuine confusion. I would picture on my mind automatically growing crops underground. Hey, I killed (and it still saddens me) succulents by keeping them inside my no-that-sunlit bedroom. How would people grow things successfully on the underworld? That totally very much probably is not included in common sense! Will most certainly was not trying to stab Nico or the UW life, just would like some explanations.

•The Mythomagic story in Nico’s past 😭😭😭 The feels, I swear. It was pretty relatable, poor boy. And that was on the last century, too, and I can't imagine how hard it would be to deal with being queer at that age.

•But hey, is Will talking about Hermes’ card there? Does he play Mythomagic?? Do they together?? That would be cute as hell, I hope they do.

•The canoe scenes make me so happy! I loved SO MUCH how they put them in between some painful scenes. It made it easier to breathe and take on the hard parts. One of the things I wanted the most was the backstory of their relationship, and being given ALL the details like that was definitely not what I expected. They’ve been amazing, super super cute.

• And hey, Paolo is queer?? He’s one of my fave background characters, and I really liked that 🫶🫶 Nice rep for us Brazilians, I really appreciate that, lol Really missed seeing more of him! Seeing a mention on this book was unexpected, but nice! Hope he’s getting better at communicating with everyone, hahah

• I LOVE MENOETES! The way this book is showing the nice parts of the underworld too, on contrary of house of hades that was pure hOrOR and pAIN. It was not what I was expecting, and I totally appreciate it, it’s cute. And wait does he grow the nectar and ambrosia? That’s genuinely impressive. He's a pretty cool guy.

• BUT HEY, GERYON? Sorry friend, I’m judgin here. Do hope you’re right saying he’s a changed man……,,,

• Now Persephone’s Garden…. One more time, they’re showing the nice parts of the underworld, and that’s super interesting.

• And the Persephone’s scene? I LOVED it, I think it was so necessary. My image of her was kinda bad ngl, remembering about her older appearances. She seemed a little crazy. But at that scene, the way she spoke with fondness and clarity… It was exactly what Will needed to hear, and it makes me happy to see that she’s much more accepting of Nico. Good times.

• But Anphistemis? That was one hard scene. They getting separated and all, but the worst part was the chaos when they reunited, and how the poor guy was used. I totally see why Will did that, hell, I’d do the same or worse, when it comes to surviving. I just hope that that was not the last time we see Amphitemis.

• COCOA PUFFS!! I love them too!! I kinda thought they were cute since they first appeared, and that made me feel weird. Good to see that they really are nice and petable!!

• The last fight made me so anxious. I'm just happy it's over. I really wanted for Nyx to chill and find some other purpose at the end, but I don't think that would be believable. Kinda sad. And I always liked those children of hern on their other book appearances too!!! Especially Nemesis.

• Bob, oh Bob. He's precious. I truly like this crew SO MUCH. Him, Small Bob, Nico, Will and and the Puffs. They just finally relaxing, free. Oh, that was so rewarding. Good for them!

• I CRIED with Nico's dream. All of his family... That was so warm. Nico deserved that, I really loved it. And good to know Amphis was not forgotten!!

• Nico hugging Chiron!!!! Mr D. being actually super nice!!!! Aw really, I loved this entire ending too. Everyone happy, talking, healing. Endings make me worried, sometimes my judgment of the work changes completely if the ending is bad. This one? No. It was a super nice wrapping.

• PIPEEERRRR!!!! Nico and Piper friends ? I'm super behind that, I love them a lot. I missed Piper! And her talk was so genuine. Full of worries that are pretty relatable too. Very sweet, wish the best to her too. I thought it was me expecting too much to see Piper, but I'm glad to be proved wrong.

• I'm sad Bob already left... I hope it'll still be possible for them to meet sometimes, Bob deserves the best in this new chapter of his life!! While writing this I noticed I didn't mention anything about the trogs. I guess my main impressions about them happened already on Apollo Trials, hahah. But I like them a lot too!!! I was very happy to see they're happy building their little world and society, and making even tastier dishes. Hiss-Majesty is amazing too, and I loved their closure working at the farm xD

• Plus Nico and Will at the ending. Very heart warming moment. Their relationship is super healthy, and I do NOT believe in anyone who says the contrary. Both of them clearly saw where they failed, communicated about that, and deeply, honestly, said that they would seek to do their best. Isn't this the most important thing of it all? They're super happy together, love each others' presence, and looking at their future together fills them with hope. Man, they just left TARTARUS. And now they're stronger, filled with joy about what is to come.

And that's it. Been reading through some other people's thoughts, and well. Sometimes I even wonder if we read the same book. Like people saying the writing is the worst thing they ever read. I literally spent the last 3 days finishing the 3 last ToA books and this one. My friends, it was NOT that different. In particular, comparing to HoO, of course, because of the third person narration.

The only thing different for me was the direct approach about feelings, and about being queer too (probably thanks to Mark Oshiro), and I definitely enjoyed those. Probably because of seeing myself in them too.

I think people are being way too judgemental of Will. You can for sure say he was too impulsive when he was so determined and stubborn about going to a place that would be literally poison to him. But people complaining he was already drained before getting to Tartatus, as going though everything he did was easy? That place was his antithesis. I was actually shocked he didn't crumble at the first step into the Underworld. But he went through it, with Nico always on his mind. I don't know, I can't understand the hate. And of course they would not be bubbly and fun, they were going though HELL. Did anyone really expected them to be on their best there?

And I think both of them are very misunderstood characters. I was in the fandom for like, almost no time, thus, idk much about the fanon interpretation of them. But after everything I read about Nico and Will on the books, nothing felt out of place here, no. And it reminded a lot of ToA too.

All in all, awesome book, was even more awesome than what I was expecting, and I was totally not disappointed. I will hold this book dear, close to my heart, and I wish people were more accepting of it. There's even an anti tag for it? I made the mistake of scrolling through it (I'm the type of person that gets sentimental when people attack something I love), and yes, people definitely have different experiences while going through works.

[meruz]

hey what’re your thoughts on bnha rn. you’re like one of the only dudes i trust with opinions on this manga/anime lmao

LOL idk why im one of the only guys u trust for manga/anime opinions BUT SURE do you mean like... what do I think of the current plot? or mha in general? (I will answer both. i love to talk) current plot: (SPOILERS) It's clearly the final arc and its clearly taking longer than Horikoshi intended lol. Overall it's decent shounen fare? Nothing mindblowing but it's well drawn and weekly developments r fun so im not complaining. I'm not the type to get rly invested in villains so AFO/shigaraki even Dabi are only interesting to me thematically and as characters I don't rly care but the visuals are cool enough. I love the pure white negative space hair and Horikoshi clearly loves AKIRA LOL. I will say I LOVE the ongoing Boku No Open Heart Surgery saga that's going on with Bakugo though. I love that they have to save him in some ridiculous weird power-based way lol, normal first aid would be booooring!! + I think its smart for the manga to keep him teetering on the edge of death and flashing his lifeless body every 5 pgs (lol) because it means even if the final fight drags a lil I'll keep tuning in.

in general: There's a lot of shounen manga out there but there's only one shounen manga that caters specifically to people who love the school aspect of x-men comics so I think I'm pre-disposed to love mha based on that alone. Beyond that, I love how idiosyncratic and energetic horikoshi's art style is.. I feel like the two things u can tell right off the bat abt his drawings is that he draws rly fast and that he rly loves his characters lol. Evident in the sketches he puts on twitter and the bonus content in all the tankobon volumes (it's also great for ""content""" he's a good content creator), he's always coming up with situations and outfits and concepts on the fly for those kids like they truly live in his brain. Also the more I read the more I realize I actually quite enjoy Horikoshi's writing too? I think he really clearly grew up with and adores paying homage to corny shounen superhero stuff but he's also very genre savvy and (I think) purposefully avoids a lot of common criticisms and pitfalls. Like the power scaling is pretty tame, the adults never truly give up responsibility of the kids & continue to own up to mistakes/endangerment (but never so much as to prevent the kids from doing cool action stuff!! duh), the cast is relatively well balanced despite being so big etc etc... It's not perfect, there's pretty significant failing on gender parity, and some of the pacing is way better in archival format > week-to-week but it's pretty good overall. Also its funny?? I feel like in the midst of 9486135613 action battle series + generic anime comedy we forget to address when something actually has good jokes and i think mha does. The aoyama cheese stuff made me laugh, the kids protesting biased commentary was funny as hell, and honestly i think mirio distracting afo with his ass?? funnier than naruto's final yaoi no jutsu imo. Sorry if you wanted me to dish out criticism I know its kind of popular to hate on mha rn because it's pretty generic low-brow shounen. And also adults who obsess over yaoi-ifying these kids are like the butt of the joke on the internet rn. But I don't rly run in fandom circles, it's just a solid manga to me with fun characters. Actually 90% of the reason I started reading mha again was because I listened to the mangasplaining ep abt it recently and they made me remember how much there was to like! Good to listen to if you want a more fandom-free objective take on the manga. Also Horikoshi credits all of his assistants in a bonus page in every volume! just a cool thing to note! kinda rare for a mangaka and kind of important for a series that requires as much assistant work as a wsj shounen. I feel like the amount of assistants that have gone on to lead mha spin off manga projects is kind of testament to how good his relationship w them is.

Ok thank you for reading my long thoughts. as a reward heres some drawings of deku and bakugo as splatoon characters that ive been sitting on for a while and have yet to finish LOL

[robotlesbianjavert]

top 5 spineraki moments ?

was going to joke "wow only top five???" and then realised oh. how am i going to manage a top five. when there's so much and it's all so good.

anyways. all of these are based on personal appeal and interpretation. but also my personal appeal and interpretation rules above all ✌🏻✌🏻✌🏻

5. Chapter 373: FRIENDS :)

Yeah duh, did you see how crazy we went when this entire chapter dropped? The only reason it isn't higher is because I'm holding on for my most grand theory to pan out (or for like. anything lmao).

Especially special chapter to me because the two things in the ShigAFO fight that have triggered Tenko/Tomura were a) questioning whether he has friends and b) his anger and hurt seeing the heroes give everything they can to save Bakugou when no one has ever extended that kind of effort to him. And then Horikoshi followed that up with a chapter specifically titled "Friends" wherein someone who has consistently demonstrated that he cares about Shigaraki gives everything he has, how little it may be, in a desperate plea to save him. Might mean nothing :)

4. The Last Time Shigaraki Was Allowed To Talk to Anyone From the League LMAO

Literally the last time Shigaraki had any direct interaction with anyone in the League (besides being on panel with them for 240 and ShigAFO trying to warn Dabi not to charge into the final battle like an asshole) was with Spinner and Twice in Chapter 231. Which is crazy and drives me to a frothing fury on a regular basis. But it's also a moment I care about a lot because a) Twice :)

And b) there's this little discussion between Shigaraki and Spinner that's not really shippy, but still demonstrates this brief moment of - fairness, partnership? Where Shigaraki asks for Spinner's opinion, and Spinner gives an honest evaluation of the situation. A cynical read might say that Shigaraki is figuring out if Spinner is going to ditch at this point, but Shigaraki tends towards being straightforward and frank. So it's nice to read it as Shigaraki genuinely wanting Spinner's input on their situation. Plus the fact that Spinner has stuck with Shigaraki throughout all the chaos as they fight their way through Deika is so sweet - remember how many people thought that Spinner would ditch the League when MVA was ongoing? Remember how people STILL wondered when Spinner was going to ditch?

Also not exactly cheating, I just want to call back to this moment from 224 where Spinner is the one who first clicks into Shigaraki's plan. Because of their gamer bond :) Between these two moments, I think we see that potential for synchronicity between them, as well as those early examples of Spinner's faith in Shigaraki's ability to lead the League.

3. Spinner Trying to Comfort/Check In on Shigaraki Post-SnS

I don't really have a big in depth reason for this besides the fact that it fills me with so much potent emotion. However while getting a screenshot I realised AFO was monologuing about his philosophy on friendship throughout. I am incorporating this into my most grand theory.

2. I'd Never Seen Anything Prettier...

Legitimately an insane moment that Bones WILL regret fucking cutting. But so insane, one day you're yelling at your terrorist boss about the gang's aimlessness, desperate to know where we're going, and 19 chapters later you get your answer. The warped, crumbling horizon of Chapter 239 is one of the It moments for Spinaraki, just a gorgeous scene with gorgeous commentary from Spinner. This moment was crucial to informing a lot of my early interpretations, of Spinner potentially having to decide between that promise of the horizon and the destruction of a society that has hurt all of them, or Shigaraki's health and safety, in case Shigaraki's actions turn self-destructive.

EXCEPT.

What I actually love more and think really enriches that climax is what we see from Spinner before all this.

As Machia rampages through Deika, demonstrating greater ferocity than when he was fighting the League, Spinner screams out for Shigaraki while being knocked down while fighting - and when Trumpet (beloved) decides to back out of the fight in order to get to Redestro, Spinner latches right onto the van and holds on for dear life into A Lot Of Destruction zone.

When the horror of the MVA adaptation was dawning on all of us, I had a bitch fit explaining the importance of Spinner's perspective and role as narrator, pointing out how it is that Spinner's changing feelings about Shigaraki as a leader and a person are the wraparound for Shigaraki's development this arc. I also referenced @stillness-in-green who pointed out how this arc was about how Shigaraki coming into his own as a leader and the Symbol of Fear looked to other people - Machi and Redestro are also there, awed by Shigaraki and pledging themselves to them.

Where Spinner differs is that this moment isn't the light switch for him on his Shigaraki opinions - it's a culmination of the past months. Shigaraki in the crater as Spinner waxes poetic is beautiful, but it wouldn't hit the way it does if Spinner wasn't already ride or die (literally). He care about Shigaraki before this, before he latched onto the van, before he ranted at Trumpet, before he saw Shigaraki barf after disintegrating a bunch of people - it was before the MLA ever got into contact with them that he was musing on Shigaraki's boyish smile while combatting Machia. It's good.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS BECAUSE I AM A RELENTLESS CHEAT

I already talked about brief moment when Shigaraki manages to order Machia and Spinner smiles.

Doki-doki

The VENERABLE Chapter 295 Hand Crowning Scene (plus Compress leaving Shigaraki to Spinner, and Spinner's realization that something is wrong with Shigaraki in the following chapters). It's beautiful and haunting and tender and sooooo ripe for angst. Only in the honourables though despite being a big deal because the AFO takeover means I've had to wait even longer for Shigaraki to interact with the League again :/

Not strictly Spinaraki but the energy of it. The flashback of AFO caressing Spinner's cheek when giving him more quirks. My dears has your father-in-law ever tried his shot on ya. Also as @codenamesazanka once noted it's SO different from AFO's normal quirk giving/taking like. Cmon.

Last honourable but certainly not least:

hehehehehehehehehehhehehehheheehhehehehehehehehehh

And now the moment you've all been waiting for. My Number One Spinaraki Moment (for now).

THEE Declaration Bonus Dynamic with Toga

It was obvious before this moment that Spinner had changed his tune on Shigaraki and was willing to keep following him, and this scene in Chapter 233 was the Official Declaration As Such. One might not know that, based on how he would still keep getting comments wondering when he'd ditch the League that have only recently waned.

But what always sticks out to me is the reference to Toga - I've got nothing I love, like Toga does. Nothing I really wanna do.

In Chapter 223, Spinner asks his Machia-battling buddy, Toga, why she's still with the League despite loving Stain and there being so little of his influence left in the League. Her answer is just: love. Being a part of the League allows her to pursue her vision of love without judgement (and there's a lot to say about the harm of Toga's love, both externally and internally, how it's impacted by her abusive family life and ostracization by society, but it's still love that's real for her and means everything to her, and that harm could have been mitigated if someone bothered to understand her and accept her).

(As a side note UGH there's so much you can do with Toga & Spinner. I've had a WIP for like two years now centering on them and it's driving me crazy.)

Spinaraki would never go like, makeout point-canon. It'll be a hell of a baller move on Horikoshi's part! Imagine how funny it would be! But the Shonen Jump ain't gonna go there. But in the hypothetical situation that it DID and we got a lot of people going, "Where the hell did this come from, I thought they were just friends why is it gay now", then this moment while fighting Trumpet would be what I point to.

Spinner says here that there's nothing that he loves like Toga, nothing that he really wants to do. But by 373, there is something he wants to do - he wants to follow Shigaraki, he wants to reach Shigaraki's side, he wants to see Shigaraki stand tall. It may not seem like much to someone else, but for Spinner who spent his life until now feeling empty and purposeless, it's everything. So now, who's to say he doesn't have something that he loves?

[optiwashere]

So, it's time to meet Karlach, vamp-man, and see a few interesting scenes in the Asheera replay...

Upon first meeting the vampire-that-definitely-doesn't-look-like-a-fucking-vampire, Asheera is pretty much completely ready to boot him for attacking her. However, she remembers her oaths. It's her duty to take in those that need protection, and for her to prefer peace above all else whenever possible. That includes those that attack her if there's a good reason they did so, and especially if they've also got a worm stuck in their gourd.

Then, the party almost immediately meets the one and only.

The bone man. This face about sums up Asheera's reaction to him. She thinks it's a bit bizarre that what looks like a mummy followed them to camp. Surely he's not hiding something else up his weird, dusty sleeves.

Oh, and of course how could I forget! The party takes Wyll to go find this devil he's supposed to hunt. That goes about as expected. Wyll is easily persuaded (and like all of those dialogues have +5 or +10 approval, so he really doesn't want to kill her even though his situation demands it). I think to Asheera this shows that Wyll is exactly who he says he is: she values the high road, she's a paladin of Redemption after all. But this solidifies her trust in him as a real hero.

And when the party goes to deal with the fake paladins asking for Karlach's head... well, they get the jump on the paladin and absolutely, utterly annihilate him.

Not before Karlach gets this banger out though!

Asheera had a little nighttime visitor after this... and let's just say that it actually had the opposite effect to what the little pale boy thought it would. He lucked out when he got roped into a paladin's crew. It's weirdly a part where Asheera can understand him more now.

Now he's someone that needs her. That's a lot easier for her to understand, and especially when it's a monster that needs her help. He very clearly has a lot of weird bullshit simmering under the surface, but she can't quite articulate what it is yet.

Also, Karlach gets another banger line in this scene. This is probably the moment when Asheera starts to really like Karlach. In another world, Karlach...

But seriously, this is the exact ideal Asheera tries to live up to with her oaths.

So around here is where my fic canon diverges from the game. In "It Is the Wound She Gave Me" the druid grove is raided kinda in the middle of the night while the party is sleeping at the grove. A lot of folks are taken, including Shadowheart and Asheera. So now's the part where my slight canon divergence is going to have some pointed commentary for each scene!

Because whew did I forget how easy it is to get Shadowheart's approval up lmao. I wasn't even picking options that I know give the highest approval! There's a couple in there that I know she disapproved of, it's just so easy to get her past that first threshold if you break her out of the pod in the nautiloid.

I could go on and on about how that shows how under all the indoctrination she's constantly searching for an excuse to break out, but that's so... thematic. How under the surface, she just wants to find something that has purpose. How she thinks that's the cult she's been indoctrinated into, but how maybe some of those tenets she's memorized and regurgitated to appease her Mother Superior were just that — regurgitations. False beliefs she tells herself she wants to have so that everything she's endured is for some purpose.

I digress.

Given the canon divergence here between the game and my fics, getting to this date feels so fast. It's just a night between the two of them here, drinking and chatting, but I forgot how rapid-fire the romances could be lol. No wonder I elongated the fic timelines.

I think Asheera is grateful here to see what she hopes is the real Shadowheart. Not the one that's hiding behind a dozen masks, which is funny given that Shadowheart has yet to admit a certain divine proclivity at this point. Even so, it's nice. it's a crack in that shell that Asheera's beginning to see makes up almost everything about Shadowheart. Asheera might be a bit of an idealist at times and that can blind her to all sorts of cues she should have picked up on (for instance, turning her back on vampire boy when they first met) but she can read Shadowheart's reticence for what it is. It's a mixture of fear, uncertainty, and a tinge of embarrassment (you can even tadpole her to see that last one, but Asheera doesn't use the tadpoles after the first time it feels like "something was taken from her" earlier that day).

While chatting, Asheera shares a detail of her life that Shadowheart can relate to extremely well.

I do wish the game would let you explore that half-orc, biracial experience a bit more. I'm a biracial person that feels completely alien to both sides of my family tree, so this line hit me out of nowhere the first time I played. I insist that Asheera is not a self-insert, but sometimes the details line up incredibly well like this lol.

After goading Shadowheart to share a little bit about herself, the night ends with both women looking up at the stars. Asheera turns to Shadowheart and notices she's waiting for something.

What's a paladin to do but take hold and charge headlong into the fray?

[social-muffin]

🔥New Khr OC Questions🔥

💞Anyone welcome to participate! 💞

People really enjoyed themselves with the last list of questions I made! So I made an even bigger one!! So much so, I don't really expect anyone to answer all these questions. Just pick and choose whatever you want to answer if it's too much lmao

‼️This is not just for OCs! If you feels you've modified one of the canon characters so much that they're a whole different person now, tell me about them as well please!‼️

I will also tag a bunch of people whomst OCs I really enjoyed and remembered from the last list of questions! There will be some repeat questions here, so you can elaborate if you wanna or just skip those lmao

Tags under the Cut cause I will also give a lil commentary on the OCs I know so far. :3

‼️Also these Questions are mostly spoiler free so don't worry! Only one question asks about something that's introduced after the Varia Arc I think. I put a 🌸 next to that one.‼️

@juudaimes-true-form Amara & Ricardo were both very fun and I like knowing about them! But l Alexandros is a very good vibe I wanna know the him uwu

@einsatzzz Kana, Kurumi & Yui are Hella intriguing! Do pls elaborate on all of them! Particularly Yui has spiked my interest! Did you finish that art of him you were working on?

@heryemily5927 Hanabi is adorable please tell me more if you feel up to it! :D

@kiralushia Nozomi & Cloud! I would like to see both of them for this! But I also wanna know more about Arashi because she gets mentioned often too :3

@acedragontrainer Ayane & Yuki may have been randomly created but they are so gawddang fun! Please give them backstories with the questions here. If you wanna of course ^^

@masterdisastre Xavier is babiest Boi, but what about Dani!? And also pls tell me of any other OC you wanna talk about!! I'll treasure each and every single one of them! :D

@cloudspark You reblogged the old Questions once wondering if you'll find the time and motivation to introduce your OC, so I will tag you here too since there are more questions here. :3

@ciaossn Amalia is best lady pls tell me more even if her true origin story has been tragically lost ;w; I wish to know her as much as possible!

The Basics:

What's their name? Their pronouns? Sexuality? Gender Identity? Their Age and Ethnicity?

What do they look like? Body type? Identifying characteristic? Art or picrew of your oc? (No AI art pls.)

Why did you create this character? Just for fun? Or is there a purpose behind them? Maybe a canon character you created them for? As a friend, love interest, sibling, child, parent, rival, nemesis?

What's the family situation of your OC? If they have family, how about a brief summary of the relationships of their family to the canon characters?

What are their other notable relationships to Canon characters? (Example: Hibari's little brother also happens to be Tsuna's childhood best friend and Gokudera's love interest) If there are none right now, are there any plans for relationships in the future?

Does your Oc have disabilities? Mental illnesses, neurodivergencies, missing limbs, chronic pains, physical limitations, some kind of food sensitivity? Anything that affects their day to day life goes!

Combat Questions:

What are your OC's flames, if they have any? And how do they use their flames? Do they ever use them outside combat?

How do they prefer to fight? Do they know how to fight in a way they dislike or hate? (Example: Hibari prefers hand-to-hand combat and dislikes firearms, but he knows how to shoot someone if he has no choice)

Do they have formal training? How many fighting styles do they know? What weapons can they wield?

What are their strengths? Their weaknesses?

🌸Do they have a flame weapon, or a box weapon/animal? How did they get these weapons? What level ring (best S>A>B>C>D>worst E) do they wield? Can they use their ring efficiently? If no, why not?🌸

Oh no! Your OC is unable to fight! (Too tired, injured, whatever) How do they deal with the enemy now? Do they flee, still try to fight, call for backup, or what do they do?

Philosophical Questions:

Answer this first before reading/thinking further! Would your OC change anything about themselves if they could?

What's their favourite colours? Their favourite season? Their favourite weather? Their favourite animal?

What are their hobbies? What are they passionate about? Is there a passion they had to give up? If so, why?

What kind of people do they dislike? Do they like who they themselves are?

What is their biggest secret? What's the biggest/worst lie they ever told? What lie do they frequently tell themselves?

What's their darkest desire? What's their biggest hope for the future? If they had the money, how would they want to change the world they live in?

If the world ended tomorrow, how would they spend their last day on earth? Who would they want to be with? Their worst fear stands between them and saving the world, would they be able to overcome that fear to save the world?

What would be their civilain dream job? If they had to kill someone innocent to save a friend, would they be able to do it? How long would their choice haunt them? Would they be able to face their friend if they decided to sacrifice them, but things ended up working out?

Your OCs biggest, wildest dreams all just came true! What do they do next? Who do they celebrate with? How do they celebrate? Loud exhilaration or quiet disbelief?

After these questions, I ask again, what would your OC change about themselves if they could? Did the answer change?

Khr Character Questions! [Or 'I am putting the OCs in ✨situations✨']

Vongola:

Sawada Tsunayoshi burst into flames, flew into the sky and took out a missile that was headed towards the area your Oc was in. How do they go about interacting with Tsuna after that?

Gokudera Hayato dragged your OC to an empty classroom to investigate ghosts, but it turns out it was just teenagers. Hayato seems genuinely disheartened, does your Oc want to comfort him?

Sasagawa Ryohei just pulled your Oc away from oncoming traffic! He proceeds to ask them to join the boxing club! How do they go about rejecting him, given that he just saved their life?

Bovino Lambo just send your Oc ten years into the future! What situation did your Oc end up in? What's their reaction to this future?

Yamamoto Takeshi is sitting by himself, holding a baseball and looking oddly melancholic. Your OC does not know what is going on, except that usually Takeshi is a cheerful guy. Do they approach him? What do they say?

Hibari Kyoya comes across your Oc with a bleeding wound at his side. He is most obviously unwell, but also pissed, how does your Oc approach this situation?

Chrome Dokuro knows what your Oc did and it feels like she is judging them for their dirty secrets. How does your Oc try to buy her silence?

Rokudo Mukuro wandered into the dream your Oc had last night! Does he leave with even more trauma, creepily amused, weirdly charmed or thoroughly bored?

Fuuta DeLa Stella fianlly ranked your Oc first in something! What category did he rank them first in? What is your OC's reaction?

I-pin just blew up and then landed gently in the arms of your Oc. How do they react to this literal pipe bomb baby?

Sasagawa Kyoko handed your Oc Valentine's friendship chocolates and thanked them for looking after her brother! This might be a misunderstanding, but these are also the only/first chocolates your Oc was given, so what do they tell her?

Miura Haru made your Oc their dream outfit! But something significant about it is wrong, how does your Oc give critique on that?

Kurokawa Hana just called your Oc a monkey to their face. How ready, if at all, are they to throw hands with this civilain middle/high-school girl?

Arcobaleno:

Fon wants to share spicy curry with your Oc, but the spoon is glowing red hot. Does your Oc risk it?

Reborn shot someone infront of your Oc. Tsuna won't believe them. What will they do now?

Verde wants to study your Oc so he asks if they'd volunteer for science. No money is involved but they do get to hang out with Verde, do they take the offer?

Lal Mirch has taken over the CEDEF and there is a party that your OC somehow ended up invited to! Do they bring Lal a gift? If so, what kinda gift?

Colonnello got drunk from sipping some wine, he is sad, melancholic and heavily armed. How does your Oc handle the situation?

Skull thinks you're really cute and creative! He wants to know how you came up with your Oc? And your favourite scene of your Oc!

Viper just gave your OC a slice of pizza. Will they eat it? Are they aware of the risks? Are there risks?

Varia:

Xanxus meets your Oc at a bar and tells them to get him a drink. What does your Oc do? If they make an order, what would they order for Xanxus?

Belphegor is staring at your OC from a distance and chuckling maniacally. What wardrobe malfunction did he notice on your OC?

Lussuria slings his feather scarf around your Oc and tells them they're a cutie. How does your Oc respond to the sudden flirting and closeness? Do they know Lussuria is powerful as well as queer?

Levi-a-Than just told your Oc that they'd be so pretty if they put a bit more effort into their look. How does your Oc react?

Superbi Squalo yells so loud it's almost bothering your Oc! How do they tell him to quiet down? How long do they last in the every-man-for-himself Varia-style brawl that comes next?

Mammon is wanting to extort your Oc for money. What blackmail material does Mammon have to do so? (What is an embarrassing thing your Oc did that Mammon could reasonably find out about?)

Fran is getting on your OC's nerves, constantly and seemingly very much on purpose. Everyone else is already using that boy as target practice, so does your Oc join in?

Others:

Dino Cavallone compares your OC to Tsuna. Is your Oc insulted by the comparison? What if it was accurate?

Dino's right hand man Romario invites your character out for a drink! What drink do they order to impress, intimidate, or endear themselves to the Cavallone Familia? Or do they reject the invite entirely?

Hibari's right hand man Kusakabe Tetsuya thinks your Oc is too noisy and tells them to shut up if they don't want to get bitten to death. Does your Oc take that as a challenge? Hibari Kyoya does not seem to be nearby in the first place... (He is watching from a nearby roof)

Something got past the safety on your OC's garbage cans and made a massive mess! Ken stands as the main, but not the only suspect. Does your Oc make that accusation? Do they worry they would offend Ken for accusing him of that, just for having more animalistic behaviours?

Chikusa's yoyo just flipped off it's string and bonked your Oc on the head. He acts apologetic, but your Oc has a feeling he did that on purpose. How does your Oc proceed?

The Last Question!!

Please gimme links as to where people can find stories or art about your OCs!

Thank you for reading and answering if you do! :D

[jamesunderwater]

12 and 18 please!

You picked such great questions!! Thanks Kelsey 😊 and I do apologize for my lengthy answers!

12. Is there a trope you haven't written yet but really want to?

While I'm not a big fan of enemies to lovers, I really want to write something that's enemies to......enemies who have hate sex xD Given the fandoms I'm in I think I'd have to write an AU to make that happen... Lmao I was sitting here trying to think of plausible idea and THIS is what my brain comes up with: Ginny accidentally gets sent back in time to the Marauder's era, where somehow she joins the first order of the phoenix, and her presence changes events so that the McKinnons were never killed. so years later when the war is "over" and people have started living their lives again, Ginny Weasley is the star chaser for the underdogs of the league, the Holyhead Harpies, and Marlene McKinnon is the keeper for the undefeated Montrose Magpies. and they fucking HATE each other, because nothing is more important to either of them than quidditch -- not how fit they think the other woman is, not how often they're told how similar they are -- so when Ginny led the Harpies to a HUMONGOUS upset by beating the undefeated Magpies, scoring an embarrassing twenty goals on Marlene, and Marlene refused to shake hands at the end of the match, then went on to talk trash about Ginny in an interview, their feud was pretty much solidified. So when they're both a few drinks in at the league's annual holiday party and find themselves alone on a balcony in the chilly winter air, they're both ready for a fight. Because that's the only thing to do when you're alone with you're despised rival...right?

18. What is a line/scene you’re really proud of? Give us the DVD commentary for that scene.

Dude...you have no idea how much time I have spent trying to decide what to pick for this. I do apologize because I am going to pick a pretty intense scene, but, I have to say that I'm really proud of the scene in chapter 11 of Dead to Me when Lily has a flashback while in therapy. It's I think the third scene in the chapter, for reference. My long DVD commentary is below the cut! tw: parent death, childhood abuse

I was really proud of all the therapy scenes throughout that chapter, because to me you can clearly witness the progression of Lily's comfort as the sessions go on. In this scene, our second time witnessing one of their sessions, Andromeda directly asks Lily about her nightmares. Throughout the chapter, Lily disassociates during therapy by looking out the window at the pine trees in the distance. She does this here rather than answering Andromeda's questions, and passively lets her mind drift into the memory of first seeing her father on his deathbed.

This flashback is one of the many times I pepper in hints of Lily's neurodivergence -- as they enter the hospital she copes by keeping her eyes on the floor; first she sets a rule she can follow, but gets self-conscious; so she shifts to the less noticeable game of counting the patterns in the floor design, but is unsettled when it's inconsistent. She is overwhelmed by a pungent perfume in the elevator, and lets her mind wander to a daydream of it killing her, then coldly thinks that would be a good way to get her out of the situation. All of these details are based on experiences like my own, so they feel very real to me, and are meant to anchor us in the weight of this moment Lily's walking into.

There's a lot I could say about the moments by her dad's bedside. But the thing I hope sticks out to readers is the storm of dissonant feelings Lily experiences. That it isn't a simple feeling of relief that he's dying, or cold hatred of him that leaves no room for empathy. Any child of an abusive parent can tell you that it's fucking hard to hold onto the anger. The easier emotions are guilt, confusion, and the shameful yearning for the parent despite everything -- how much easier it is to hate yourself for these feelings than it is to hate the parent for causing them. And so you get the lines, "she wanted to gut herself for feeling any sort of sorry for him" and "she wanted to snap him beneath her fingers, wanted to hold him in her arms. The thought struck her that her father would never hold her again. Her body swam with grief and relief in equal measure."

That last one in particular kind of destroyed me when I saw what I'd written. I felt it in my body, that horrendous grief Lily felt in realizing that her father was not going to hold her again -- and I think immediately, a childlike fear overwhelming her, because wait, no, death can't take him yet, what if he might change? followed quickly by, again, that self-hatred for even remotely wishing that he'd hold her, and suddenly the awareness that, oh my god, soon I will never have to feel his touch again, never have to worry. But even then, there's a whisper of guilt -- how can she be glad he's dying, what kind of monster would she be if she looked at this suffering person and was glad? So it's even in recognizing that nuance of her experience that I am proud of myself.

Lastly, the end of the scene. We are brought full circle back to the topic of her nightmares, as Lily remembers what happened in her dreams later that night. I think this was the first time she realized that his death would do nothing to erase his presence. So when her mind returns to the therapy session and Andromeda's questions about her nightmares, Lily so deeply believes that there is no point in talking about them. If the source of your nightmares is your lived experience, what difference would it make to be rid of them, anyway? So she stays disassociated and we are left with the last line in the scene: 'Lily didn’t look away from the pine tree. “I don’t remember,” she told Andromeda.'

[versegm]

OH FUCK I meant to send you a Director's Commentary thing when you reblogged it BUT I FORGOT anyway how about the deets on "And the Audience Clapped"? (If you're still in the mood)

For you? Always <3

The actual fic has a trigger warning for uh. Everything? The base premise of the fic is "Guda has incredibly disturbing intrusive thoughts and does not react well to them" so even if I don't think I'll get into details in my play by play, tw for thoughts of sexual violence, onscreen self-harm and suicide attempts, and overall blorbo from my show spiralling bad.

My primarily goal when writing this was "I want to see how fucking worse I can make Guda." But I'm a weenie I actually like bad endings so my secondary goal was "but I want it to end well."

I have absolutely no idea if I succeeded. I feel like I chickened out too much tbh (<- squicked out by sexual violence) and as for the ending I'm often told that what I qualify as a "good/okay ending" is often "fucking horrifying" to other people. Still I like the final result so that's everyone else's problem. This was however a nightmare to tag which is why I just went the "choose not to use archive warnings/fuck around and find out" route, because if I tagged everything it would be WAY too long.

Anyways. "What if the player was an outer god." I post about it a lot in a comedic tone over here. I wrote it as self indulgent porn somewhere else. But I really wanted to take it in a more... realistic? Direction I guess? What if things weren't automatically fine and ok because the story demanded it. What if it was in fact an incredibly distressing situation to be in. I don't like writing monsters are villains (not my vibe) but that does not mean the monster loving you & having good intentions should always be an instant smooth sailing. Which really means that Guda will be stuck in intrusive thoughts central for nearly 6k.

Now for a more specific play by play of the fic:

The problem with writing the POV character being possessed is that it is incredibly hard to showcase when "this is something normal from the character" vs "this is someone else speaking through the character" (doubly so when the character themself does not realize the possession is happening) So I was at times less than subtle about it. In case it wasn't clear, this is the player being worried about Guda, and Guda misinterpreting the feeling because "this is someone else's thought" is not typically the first conclusion people would draw. Anytime in the fic where you see Guda having conflicting emotions, or being confused about their own feelings, that was a case of player feelings interfering with their owns.

Outer gods are basically eldritch gods in Fate lore. As such I don't think they really have like. A body the way humans consider it. That's why the fics have various instances of weird fascination towards flesh and how it functions. From the perspective of a god, it'd be like suddenly figuring out how an ancient watch works.

When you're being possessed by someone who is 1) incredibly not fucking normal about your bestie and 2) does not know the difference between intimacy love and violence. Bottom text.

Also a lot of people initially assumed that I picked Castoria in this specific scenario because I, too, am not normal about her. And I mean. That is partially true (tho not to that extent lmao) but also Castoria IS canonically one of the closest people to Guda (& the most likely to realize that something is wrong.) It's not just "I'm having horrible thoughts about some random aquaintances" it's "I love this person with all my heart and I want to give them the world, but I can't even give myself to them because my existence is poison." So double the agony.

This was inspired by one specific scene from Mairimashita!Iruma-Kun, available on mangadex and probably crunchyroll please for the love of god read that manga it fucks SO hard.

When you're an Outer God with only a very vague knowledge of humans and what they look like so instead of focusing on eye color or haircuts you're just fascinated by the fact that this lil one has thirty-two teeth. Bottom text.

This whole section is meant to be "all the times Guda died before the player rebooted the games," so I picked all the hardest boss fights I could think of. There's someone in the comments who asked me months ago if they should pick up a guide for the Cernunnos fight because I brought it up like five times in that paragraph alone. My guy if you are following my blog, yes, you should. You really fucking should.

Also I use second person a lot when writing Guda fic because it's easier (they/them can be confusing when you're writing multiple characters in one setting) but ofc for this fic this also gave me the opportunity to write some moments where the player is directly talking to Guda (or at Guda, rather.)

I wanted to show that while the player was at their most Not Normal about Castoria, they do love everyone in Chaldea, which is why Guda is being more affectionate than usual here.

I'm just really proud of "You imagine lapping at her open wounds, lapping at her wet cunt." Intimacy and violence but also holes and fluids you know how it is.

My bitch Guda who wouldn't wish to bother others & show any weakness if they had a gun to their head.

Christ I can't summarize MHXX's lore concisely, but she is repeatedly compared to a character from a sitcom, hence why her first comparison is to tv shows.

This is meant to be a call-back to that bit earlier where they wonder how hard they'd have to bite to make Castoria bleed.

To lb6 players out there: I was thinking of Gareth writing this line.

I don't remember if I told you, but Castoria has Fairy Eyes, ie is capable of perceiving lies (tho the exact mechanics are unclear.) That's why Guda is being extra stubborn. They can't deny that they're fine because she'll know it's false, so they're trying to dodge the entire conversation.

My bitch Guda who is taking the entire situation soooo well (casually deshumanize themself & considers being dead in the same sentence)

[Castoria voice] why don't you get into bdsm and then maybe you'll feel better.

Anyways, that was blorbo from my game having the worst life of their life! I think I could have done worse, and will endeavor to do so soon. Still damn proud of it tho!

[fakeosirian]

☕️ sinner arc?

O H B O Y

full disclosure i still have not done my note-taking s3 rewatch so i'm liable to misremember (or just not remember) things but i thiiiink i'm confident enough in this opinion to post. it's not supposed to be "discoursey" tho i'm focusing on my crits of this arc more than the compliments because that's what i've done more thinking about. thank you for enabling this and also i'm sorry because you've unleashed the beast <3

thesis statement: the sinner arc, as it is, is both totally natural and consistent with the narrative up to that point and also a HUGE break from the rest of the show tone-wise, craft-wise, and tbh emotionally to the point that i think that it was kiiiiiiiind of a mistake. or at least it's hindered by being the final arc of the show (not counting TOR). some of my sour grapes are just personal bias against certain kinds of "whittling down the cast" plots, but after thinking it over for a While, tbh it bothers me moreso because the things i would change are very simple and would make a world of difference craft-wise without really changing any of the major plot beats or undermining the good parts. (and thus it's disappointing to me that that's not what we got when i feel like the creative team already avoided those exact issues in earlier parts of the show...)

so ok. getting this out of the way: i may come off harsh on this arc because i find it very stressful to watch for personal reasons LMAO so i'll hand this to it: it's very good at getting the desired emotions out of me (extreme discomfort/despair), so if that's the only metric you're using to judge quality, there you go: it's good.

unfortunately it also makes me sad about the state of the characters in a way that...you could interpret as success? but this is the bit that, even accounting for my bias, i think is Not Good. let me explain:

s1 and s2 do an excellent job of manipulating implied perspective of scenes to put characters you're primed to dislike in slow-burn situations that at first exacerbate their flaws and then give them a shot at, not necessarily "redemption," but...imperfect mutual understanding. examples: victor perceived as literally murderous is revealed to be a victim (and later perpetrator) of a generational cycle of abuse; joy, as a victim of that cycle of abuse, lashes out and victimizes others; patricia, eddie, and jerome have more moments from their povs, so it's not quite as dramatic, but they experience a similar character arc as well.

on the flip side, you also get characters whose povs you get as your "main lens" (that can trick you into thinking youre viewing an objective pov) that have biases that become apparent as they interact with those "villainized" characters and react in ways inconsistent with the tone of the scene (thinking of nina and mara here primarily, but fabian also is a good example of this). that's how you get nina flipping out at the friends that SHE CURSED to the point that finally, FINALLY, she acknowledges that she's gone too far. (i should do a writeup on the curse arc and her behavior leading up to it because i think it's a fascinating commentary on the nature of being an "audience insert" that sort of gained sentience over time lol.) mara is self-explanatory here because she cannot help herself from cooking up the WORST possible response to a mundane relationship problem, and yet the tone of the scenes from her pov ends up being extremely sympathetic to her feelings (the way it's shot, edited, the music cues, etc.) in a way that fosters a really neat type of dissonance between text and subtext that doesn't signpost/announce itself until it's already Very There.

when these two different methods for handling character clash, as an audience, you're simultaneously told how to feel (those tonal cues i was talking about) but also left enough clues to change your mind (which i think the generally pro-joy tone of the discourse on this website is proof that people will do and is an intended potential experience of the show tbh). the moral/emotional result of that is a really neat commentary on subjectivity, how complicated reconciliation is, and how the only people too far gone to improve themselves are those who simply don't want to. the scene at the end of s2 with nina giving victor the tear makes me so emotional because it's an olive branch, an acknowledgment of the complicated nature of the situation and that victor has been a horrible person and made horrible choices in the past, but he does not have to keep doing that, and he does make the right choice when push comes to shove. same thing with joy in the senet arc (and i love that fabian is simultaneously the pov character and honestly the antagonist because of his inability to manage his emotions until the end), and honestly, same thing with patricia in early s1 re: her paranoia surrounding nina.

so what does this have to do with the sinners? well, they pretty much fly in the face of that entire writing philosophy on a fundamental, functional level, by design. considering "that philosophy" is just...earnest emotionally satisfying character writing in a story primarily driven by its characters and how they interact with one another over time...that's not great!

the leadup to a sinner capture is great. the afterwards is my issue. you take these characters who are in a narrative about not letting your flaws define you forever and you erase and overwrite their personality to be their singular greatest flaw, and then you reverse that and snatch away their memories to add insult to injury. that's not character regression (which is a completely legit avenue and is why the sinner captures are great in theory) -- it's anti-development, anti-human. it's certainly made worse by the fact that it's the show's final arc and thus the ex-sinners don't get a chance to process their experience on screen (needing that closure for myself is why i'm writing flat on your face lol), but even if it was addressed in the show in the best manner possible, it'd still feel cheap to me because it's agency-stripping and deeply cynical by design.

the thing is, this is deeply fixable. there's no singular way, but one i'm particularly interested in experimenting with is having the "sinner" be a sort of alter-ego that takes over in certain circumstances, subverting the conscious mind and leaving behind memory gaps and inconsistencies that lead the sinners to doubt themselves just as much as the other characters. it'd heighten the themes of misplaced trust that s3 is doing a lot of work with, and it would give the sinners a chance to still be their characters, have agency, continue to develop, and idk imagining a scenario where patricia or fabian is desperately begging someone to NOT trust them sounds fucking delicious to me. also other thing: it'd also fix something that's not really a "mistake" but just makes me sad, which is the fact that once a sinner is taken...that's pretty much it for their character as you know them for the rest of the show. like yeah, they're still there, but man, when the show was airing and fabian got taken, i straight up felt like he died, lol.

there's another issue that that proposed solution would sort of solve? but tbh is just another consequence of this type of plotline, which is: zero-sum game character development, or characters getting their quality/development sacrificed for the development of other characters. i do not like that patricia, easily one of the most complex and interesting characters on the show who goes back and forth between evolving and devolving as a person regularly in a way that feels sympathetic and consistent with her previous behavior and environment, has that progress torched and flattened for the sake of eddie's development. it's not necessarily poorly conceived or structured or illegitimate, but it's hella depressing for me to watch, personally. if it felt like she had more agency as a sinner (ie. the way sinners function being changed fundamentally), i wouldn't mind as much/it wouldn't feel like as much of a zero-sum sacrifice, but as it stands, her sinner capture and subsequent existence is completely centered on making eddie maximum miserable enough to move the plot forward. that's where i feel like i need to rewatch because that's certainly an uncharitable read, so that take is accompanied with a metric ton of salt!

that brings me to my other semi-gripe (less significant than the above but worth talking about): who specifically gets taken.

victor getting taken at all, but especially first, kinda rubs me the wrong way because following s2 where he was getting taken for a ride just as much as the kids were (if not more), its sad to see him flattened back into the caricature he was through the kids' pov in early-mid s1, except this time he's actually just like that. i do feel like taking victor is natural, though, so i'm not totally against him being a sinner/he's a character that i think can survive being made this sort of pseudo-"irredeemable" without being retroactively ruined because he's always been a tragic character. sweet, though should not have been taken, full stop, and i legit hate that as a writing choice.

when it comes to the kids, i understand the thinking behind taking old guard sibuna and it does appeal to me to have old vs new happening within the greater landscape of s3 and the show as a whole, but i think it's missing the trees for the forest a bit. it's too focused on the subtextual positioning rather than the material reality of what patricia, fabian, and alfie are feeling and doing as individuals -- not so much re: patricia and fabian (they were cruising for a bruising), but alfie. like idk alfie isn't always a saint but mara was right there. (jerome was right there. joy was right there. i dont necessarily think either of them would have made good sinners -- frankly they might have made me angrier actually and mara is PERFECT PERFECT IDEAL -- but they make more sense than alfie to me.)

re: fabian, his capture is easily the best scene of all the captures, despite the fact that it makes me physically ill (honestly because it makes me physically ill lol), and that's because it's founded in previous behavior (senet arc is basically the blueprint for the sinner arc in many, many ways) and exceptionally tragic to see as a result because you like him, but he's been off the rails lately. the thing is, i love him being messy, but i hate the permanence of the consequences, like all you need to do is have one (frankly deeply semantic) slipup of character, and boom, you're evil forever unless your bestie can clean up your mess. it's good writing, but the message it sends is nasty, which like i feel like i've probably said a million times in this post, is sort of the whole deal with the sinners.

tl;dr: the sinner arc is powerful emotionally, and i enjoy picking apart the effects it would have on the characters in fanfic (so i'm not full on pro-revisionism lol), but it's just too cynical for me to vibe with and enjoy watching. i love the rest of the show for how earnest and unwavering it is in its belief in people, so seeing it take that turn for the intensely cynical gut punch right at the end -- even if everything works out in the end -- will always be somewhat off-putting to me. i feel like there's more i want to say to further explain that, but i've already spun my wheels enough here, so i'll save it for a follow-up once i've finally cracked and done that deep-dive rewatch, lol.

tysm for asking!! <3

[caffeine-clouds]

Man, I feel like YouTube is becoming so tiring. I feel like just like with Twitter - you can end up so easily spiralling down a rabbit hole of negatvity filled content. It's not even entertaining, like what worth is watching this stuff ACTUALLY bringing to me? "[insert youtuber] Did A HORRIBLE thing" (ok? have i even watched that person before? do i need to watch an hour long essay on this? no, not really.) "Karen Moments Caught On Camera Compilation" (i deal with them at work enough, thanks) "[this person] Made A TERRIBE Product" (good thing i had no plans of buying it then) "This BAD thing happened" "It Only Gets WORSE" (i could get the same dosage of negatvity from watching the news) "[insert streamer] REACTS to [blank]" (is the commentary they add interesting? or even funny? no? okay.) "COMPETING For $100,000!" (hey, maybe all these content creators shouldn't be glorifying money to their child audiences) "Giving Away £10,000 to the HOMELESS! (heartfelt)" (oh, hi mr beast clone #235 - that was sweet of you. if only it wasn't obvious you're just doing it for clout. if only you could treat people and their situations with the proper respect they deserve and spread actual, valuable arareness. wait, why are you handing them a large stack of cash? don't you think that puts their safety severely at risk-? no? okay then..." "[insert piece of media] Is The Worst Thing Ever, And Here's Why" (ok? do i really need to watch 3 hours of you justifying your personal opinion? was it worth spending all that time making a video about a media you hate?) "A Day In Our Lives As A Rich, White Family!" (hey, can you stop exploiting your children for five fucking minutes?) "Why This Person Is WRONG About [blank]" (this is the worst, childish debating ive ever seen in my life) "5 Signs You May Have [blank]!" (damn, you really watered down neurodivergence to make it sound relatable to everyone, huh?) "5 Signs This Person With A Disorder Is Abusing You!" (oooooh, so you're ableist. got it.) anyways, why am i talking about this? it's because i believe that curating your internet experience is an important part of self care. Sometimes, the advice of "touch grass" is legitimately so valuable lmao. Cut down your consumption of negative media, and find the stuff that makes you laugh, entertains, educates, or interests you - everything else can go fuck itself, resist the urge to mindlessly consume. Sometimes, just shut off the YouTube app, ya know?

[ierotits]

care to tell us how divergent ruined apocalypse fiction? i’m genuinely curious :autismstare:

sorry it took so long to answer!!! theres much better posts about this out there, but ill try give a summary lmao. it didnt necessarily ruin apocolypse fiction, but it definitely pushed teen dystopia a step back!

basically with the popularity of the hunger games at the end of the 2000s start of the 2010s, there was a huge boom in dystopian series aimed at teenagers and young adults. the maze runner, the 5th wave, matched, uglies, i am number four, etc etc etc. the hunger games wasnt necessarily the first, or even what started the boom, but it was certainly the most well known, and the best of them. some of these series were actually interesting, and explored elements of modern society the way dystopia is meant to, it should always be a reflection of issues that effect the contemporary audience, and make the think about the ways in which they interract with their own world. some of these series sort of missed this element, but created interesting enough worlds and futures that they could almost be forgiven

divergent was ABSOLUTELY an attempt to profit off the popularity of the genre of the time, and while it didnt fail to gain a profit, it did, as far as i can tell, begin the end of the boom. the concept was so simple, seemed barely thought out, and as i really cant see how it reflected anything about society. other series would take the concept of splitting society into groups, and have it actually do something. for example, the series that split people based on their looks was at least a commentary on the commodification of beauty. the hunger games had factions acting as a form of racial and class based segregation. divergent split them based on......what. "this group are brave. this group are smart. this group smoke weed." it didnt tell shit about society, the categories were so arbitrary that there was really no point to it. the books were just generally badly written too, and the plot absolutely fell apart by the end of the series. i remember there being some bullshit love triangle thing too which seemed to have no point other than drama

unfortunately at that point, teenagers would eat up anything dystopian (me included) and the series did well. so, after the success of the hunger games movies, they were adapted into their own film series. it was an absolute fuckin flop, if i remember right the 2nd one did so badly that they never even released the last movie. most people then went back and looked at the books and seemed to realise just how shit and rushed they were. teen dystopias started becoming less and less successful, i moved on to fantasy, the hunger games movies all released and did well (even if i have many complaints about them) and that series cemented itself as a success, but i cant think of any other film adaptations that really succeeded, many had a first film that failed and they never finished the series. and with that, came the end of an era

i genuinely think dystopia and some of these series are a really great first introduction for teenagers to get into the idea of having fiction telling them about the world around them and how it functions. ill still recommend the hunger games for most young teens trying to find a first young adult series. id love to see the genre make a comeback, but only in a genuine way where authors are trying to say something about society, rather than the divergent situation of just trying to profit off what is popular

[whatsk-poppinhomies]

Hiii i am the anon who wrote the feedback to the minsung fic. Thanks for the quick reply.

I understand all these points amd readers inexperienced role and minho only allowing it for so long cause he loves her etc buuuut thats just details in a scenario i, as a person, personally do not like.

A poly relationship (in my personal opinion) only works as a concept for me as a thrupple.

Like only if all three Parties are equally in love with each other. Two friends, guys, people (no matter if they deep down harbor feelings for each other aswell or not) or whatever literally sharing a partner without being in s relationship with each other aswell, always has the bitter aftertaste of objectifying in most cases.

'We share her'

'She is mine and yours'

Even if its treated with more Respect than they show in this fic, a person being with two seperate people in two completely seperate relationships, just... is a concept that gives me goosebumps.

I just think if i read poly fics as a thrupple, there are still many options for angst (omg hit me up if you ever wanna do that, my ideas are endless haha)

Again. It has nothing to do with your writing or story telling. I loved the writing snd i know relationships like that exists, this one is just not for me personally.

Hope i made sense haha

Have a nice day

Ps: still looking forward to a part 2 if you make one cause all your stories are so captivating

Of course of course, it was my day off, I try to respond as fast as I can to asks, especially feedback asks. <3

I completely understand, and the concept as a whole was very new to me in writing and in general. I personally couldn't be in a situation like that at all, especially the way that I wrote it in the fic. I'm too awkward for that, and I'd feel like it's inherently cheating, even if boyfriend #1 is taking me to see boyfriend #2.

I will definitely hit you up for more... healthy???angst ideas LMAO for poly asks.

It made sense though, and I really really appreciate any kind of feedback and commentary about my fics. If enough people want a part 2, I'll definitely write it. The problem with writing part twos for fics like this though is like... Do I make reader say no to both of them? And if not... Who do the readers actually want to end up with? It's hard, like... Some people might want to choose Jisung and others might want Minho and I want to give everyone what they want.

[lovelygirlinbleu]

Thoughts & comments on HIMYF 2×12 happy bc I watched it for the third time🫣; live commentary

accidently deleted everything I wrote 😭

I love Sophies mom idk I need her to appear more often

Valentina is hilarious and this Swish Situation is keeps me entertained

I LOVE all the film references

Sid and Taylor 🫠 there's chemistry ...

is it bad that I love Hannah and Taylor

the gang is so unhinged and awful I deeply love them idc anymore if they don't get consequences I'm rooting for their wrongs!

Charlie might be the only innocent one

amazing grace I'm crying

Sophie's so silly I love her

how does Rachel only have like two lines I hate it here give my sister something to work with

the HSM reference lmao

the dad test one of my faves next to the welcome protocol🫶🏿

FEMINIST 😭

them being obsessed with Sophies dad? Same tbh

Charlie and Ellen are just amazing what can I say

I need Sid to be single because I would love to experience Sid dating around

I wanted them to make out one day it's bad for me

but I really don't see a future for Sid and Hannah and they should've never gotten married in the first place idk...

maybe I'll post my observation from season 1

this Taylor thing will still cause trouble

Sid always knows what to tell Sophie when she's in a crisis :(

loved and hated the cliffhanger

excited for the next episode and I'll finally get more of SidSophie 🥹

loved the episode it was a great premiere for the second part

I hope they continued with that energy and let go of the fillers

It's EP 1+5+7+(8)+9+12 in my faves list now

fave characters are Sid, Hannah & Sophie

and I lowkey ship everyone with each other so idc