#but there's so much potential I love when people put the effort into character building and making their growth realistic

[queerstudiesnatural]

i find it so interesting to look at sam and dean's respective views of society and people vs monsters, especially in early seasons, and then how that shifts and evolves throughout the show. like when we first meet them dean is very anti establishment whereas sam is literally studying law at an ivy league college. dean is very vocally anti police, and you're like wow for someone who was raised by an authoritarian father and is trying his hardest to please him this guy sure hates authority. he is aware of and cares about issues like racism and classism. but then when it comes to anyone non human he pretty much has no grey area, he sees them all as monsters to be put down. they are Things and they all killed his mum. whereas sam is pretty neutral about people, he doesn't even seem to be aware of systemic inequalities, he has a more individualistic approach to society. but this means he also sees monsters as individuals, just as capable of being good or redeemed.

This has everything to do with the way they grew up and the challenges they faced that affected them the most. dean's biggest challenge was putting food on the table. dean grew up poor and hungry. he was arrested for stealing, he had to use his body to get by, and he had to starve to try and feed sammy. and sam also grew up poor, but he was somewhat shielded from the reality of it. he wasn't the one who had to get food and pay for the extra week in a motel john left them in. his issues were much more personal. because sam knew he was a freak by all standards, he felt impure, and he knew in his heart that the monsters they hunted weren't too different from him. so his hope was in believing that anyone could be saved. anyone could choose to be good. where dean saw a system, with people in power and people who suffered because of them, sam saw grey individuals, and he was drawn in particular to the ones that had something "wrong" with them (max, madison, the kid from bugs, etc)

dean grew up so isolated that he couldn't be individualistic. he could only look at people from afar and that's why he sees the systems. and the violence he faced wasn't targeted at him personally, it was targeted at people like him. poor people, drifters, queer (or queer-looking) people. sam grew up trying to make connections. he made friends, he wanted an education. he tried so hard to belong.

and it's interesting to me that dean ended up being the one who formed the most personal bonds with people who were different, or ostracised, or monsters. see crowley, benny, charlie, claire.

sam tried to build communities (see his s14 arc) but every time he tried to get close to someone it ended in disaster so he ended up keeping his distance. and building a system. throughout the show he takes on leadership roles, and as time progresses he keeps his relationships more and more goal-oriented. whereas dean ends up forming personal bonds with a lot of people, and focusing less on helping oppressed people in general, and more on saving the individuals he cares about. i'm not saying they switched roles, they both kept their original views of the world, but they shifted towards a more confused and confusing moral compass that pointed somewhere in the middle and made it harder for them to understand each other. and ain't that just what growing up is like. dean cared about the whole world as a teen and young adult, but then that became too much to bear, and he had to focus his energy on his circle of loved ones. still caring about the world, but he had individual connections now and had to prioritise them. and sam still saw the potential for redemption and goodness in everyone, but he grew weary of people too, afraid of them or afraid of losing them, and he built walls. tried to help by giving himself missions rather than getting personally and emotionally involved.

psychologically speaking this show is so rich, the characters don't feel one dimensional (despite some of the writers' best efforts), and following their journey for 15 years means we saw them change and evolve, they don't remain the same people they were in season 1, but they keep some of that, and they just grow organically. sometimes i just love spn

[nogoodsheepstealing-greatgrandma]

Team Green: Sorry your faves are boring 😊🤷‍♂️ Sure you're supposed to root for the Blacks but the Greens are just more fun. Jace is boring I'm here for my angsty disaster mess 💚

You realise that's bad writing, right? This is a family civil war drama. One side of that family civil war shouldn't be populated with blank slates. If no effort is made into making Rhaenyra and Daemon's children as fleshed out as Alicent's children then that is bad writing.

Some people find the Lannisters more fun than the Starks, but the Starks are still fleshed out characters (and considering in the books Jace is 14/15, Luke is 13, Joffrey, Baela & Rhaena are 12, Aegon the younger is 9 and Viserys is 7 - these kids ages almost map straight onto the Starklings so they were so meant to be our Targlings). It didn't have to be a zero sum "you can only have ONE side that's interesting". The show is poorer for it. Game of Thrones was a disaster in many ways, but at least the different sides of the conflict had equal screen time and attention.

How hard would it have been to flesh out Jace, or at least give him a half-decent haircut? He could have been a mirror to Jon Snow (they technically have the same initials). One is a bastard who does not know he's a targaryen prince, the other is a targaryen prince who discovers he is a bastard. In a world that hates bastards, that insists they are 'wanton and treacherous by nature', there was plenty of potential to explore some complicated emotions, to give weight to how he feels about being a bastard. The whispers that would have followed him, the scrutiny he would have felt, the internalised guilt and shame, his protectiveness over his little brothers and wish to spare them the truth. Maybe after Alicent confronted Aegon over the pig there could have been a shift where Aegon turns his bullying away from Aemond and towards Jace (more in keeping with book canon). Maybe Jace could feel anxious about lessons with Criston Cole due to his open hatred of him. Maybe he could be equal parts devoted to and resentful of his mother over his parentage, maybe he could be driven to perfectionism to prove himself worthy.

The show made Jace more violent in the fight with Aemond than in the book, by changing who started the fight (from Aemond to Rhaena and co.), by narrowing the age gap to make Jace more of a match for Aemond, and by having him draw a knife instead of a wooden toy sword. But they didn't earn that moment. How much more satisfying would it have been if both Aemond and Jace were given equal emotional weight in the build-up to the fight? If the hurt and anxiety at discovering he was a bastard had been building and building until it burst out. The entire reason the show changed the age dynamic between Rhaenyra and Alicent to make them peers and best friends was supposedly to make their conflict more dramatic - why would you then drop that approach with their kids? How does it make the civil war story better if one half of the next generation of characters aren't really characters?

They didn't even have to put much effort into Baela, as GRRM already had her brimming with personality on the page, but they just... ignored that and made her a non-entity. Oh she gets one punch in, and there's a blink and you'll miss it background shot of her trying to hit Aegon (at this point I don't think the actors were even directed to do that I think they just took it upon themselves). Meanwhile Baela in the books is wild and fearless and deliberately provocative and quick to anger and fiercely defensive of her loved ones and wrestles squires in the training yard and has a pet monkey and sneaks out in search of adventure and brings home 'unsuitable' friends. Including a legless beggar, a blacksmith's apprentice whose muscles she admired, a street conjurer, twin prostitutes and an entire troupe of mummers. And she alarms everyone due to being 'overly fond of boys' and gets epic lines like this when it is suggested she marry Lord Rowan:

“I’ve bedded two of his sons. The eldest and thirdborn, I think it was. Not both at once, that would have been improper.”

She could have been an absolutely chaotic presence onscreen. Rhaena meanwhile is a little more like Sansa to Baela's Arya, but would have needed more work to flesh her out onscreen. Her insecurities and wish for a dragon seemed promising at first, but they were dropped as soon as Aemond lost his eye. Because that was ultimately the narrative purpose she served - to provide a new reason for the fight to start that wasn't Aemond hitting and pushing a toddler into a pile of dragon poo. She helps Aemond's image by being the one to start the fight instead of him, and from then on she becomes a voiceless non-entity. We watch Aemond fly away victoriously on Vhagar, we don't see Rhaena tearfully watching the last link to her mother vanish over the horizon.

Considering the prominent role of bastards during the dance (especially the dragonseeds), the uninterest in exploring bastardy in Jace makes little sense. Considering the centrality of gender to the story (and considering a certain event involving key players during the dance), the lack of effort into Baela and Rhaena makes zero sense (the show doesn't even bring up their right to Driftmark in an episode dedicated to discussing the rightful heir to Driftmark).

Considering especially that in fantasy black women are so often consigned to minor Missandei roles, the fact that we were robbed of Baela and Rhaena as main characters particularly stings. Baela in particular was an easy fan favourite in the book, and its a role that black women and girls so rarely get to play. If you had told me before the show that Helaena would be a fan favourite over Baela, I wouldn't have believed it. And don't get me wrong, I like that they fleshed out Helaena in the show, like Rhaena she didn't have much of a presence in the book. But it is so typical that the relative non-entity that they kept white gets to be fleshed out, while the more fleshed out character that they made black becomes a non-entity. And Helaena is skinny now, of course (all love to Phia Saban, but I am mourning plump Helaena).

And don't get me started on Kylo Raemond.

[diagonal-queen]

Hello! So, how do you think Chuuya, Fyodor, Nikolai, and Dazai(You can add some more characters if you want!)would react if their S/O was a compulsive liar? Not exactly a bad person, but they lie almost every chance they get. Please and thank you <3

i always get the best and most interesting reqs!! now i can't say i'm an expert with this subject, but here's how i think it'd go:

When their S/O is a compulsive liar

♡ pairing: Chuuya Nakahara, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Mykola Hohol, Dazai Osamu, Ranpo Edogawa, Yosano Akiko x gn!Reader

♡ synopsis: How do these characters react when their S/O is a compulsive liar?

♡ cw: Reader is a compulsive liar (you probably already figured, but I figure it's best to put the warning just in case), they are aware of this and they feel bad about it, Fyodor (and Mykola lowkey) is toxic as hell, like he's real bad (manipulative and abusive), misunderstanding and or ignorance towards the concept of compulsive lying

note: I did a bit of extra studying before writing this just to make sure I wasn't misinformed at all. I'm fully aware that compulsive lying is not a choice and can be very harmful to both the liar and person(s) being lied to. I know that compulsive lying does not indicate that someone is inherently a bad person. I'm not aiming to demean or glorify it! I'm very sorry if I get any details wrong or handle this topic incorrectly (please let me know if I have), apologies for errors, and I hope you enjoy x

Chuuya:

Chuuya is a really genuine and honest person. As such your behaviour takes some getting used to

However he does acknowledge that you don't actually want to lie to him and that it's something you don't know how to control, and he does his best to support you with it

He tries to get Mori's help for you so that the two of you can work towards dampening any potential issues that can arise from your behaviour (it probably doesn't work because Mori, but Chuuya's doing his best)

There are times when he does get a little frustrated with your lies and when you deny him calling you out but he's working on it

Chuuya constantly reminds you that there's no need for you to lie about yourself for him to love you and that you have value regardless of how you see yourself

Knows that it's not a personal thing, but lowkey has a hard time admitting that at first because he doesn't really get it initially

Wouldn't tell other people you're a compulsive liar but he would defend you if you get in trouble for lying to somebody

I'll be honest this would really put a strain on your guys' relationship, but if you're willing to put effort into it then you could definitely make it work

Fyodor:

Fyodor can see through basically all of your lies, and because he's messed up he really might see it as kind of a game.

He understands that you don't control it but he kinda feels like each time you tell him a lie (insignificant or harmless as it may be) you're challenging him in a way.

He gets some sick entertainment out of exposing your lies and watching you double down on them

Always asks you if you're lying to him whether or not he knows you are. In his head he wants to reinforce that lying is a sin and he does that by making you feel bad about them

To be totally honest the fact that you lie to him about things doesn't actually bother him much, he's just mean and sees it as a good way to control you

He might be less of a sadist if you initially admit to him that you're a compulsive liar instead of him finding out on his own because then he knows how it is from the get go

Will utilise your compulsive lying somehow for the DOA's benefit (and also tell the other members about it :/)

Fyodor knows full well that it's most likely an indicator of trauma or a symptom for something worse, but there's no better way than to build someone into your perfect S/O like breaking them down first!

Mykola:

He knows and he honestly doesn't really care.

Mykola is just not really that concerned about it. He knows that you do love him, and to him that's all that matters

Though he knows he won't receive always honest answers he still likes asking you questions (about your day or yourself or whatever) and is just happy to hear you talk whether or not it's true

Unfortunately though he doesn't really believe anything you say unless you can provide some kind of proof

Even though he does sometimes like to poke fun at you (things like catching you in your lies so you don't have a choice but to admit the truth), he really hates when other people do the same and will actively defend you

He likes to 'study' you in a sense, and hypothesise reasons as to why you're a compulsive liar. Sometimes he can cross the line when asking you about it

Kind of an enabler, not gonna lie. He wants you to tell him the truth, but he doesn't really care what you say to other people

In fact, he might actually play along with your lies in public to maintain your image (and for amusement probably)

Dazai:

So Dazai already knew this before you got together. He can tell when you're lying, believable as you may seem to other people

He himself doesn't lie but is also very good at evading questions and secret keeping, which are habits he picked up from his time as a mafioso. He understands you in that way and feels for you because you're generally pretty misunderstood by others too

As such he's rather defensive of you. He would hate for someone to make you feel bad about your behaviour because he knows you feel bad enough about it as it is

He takes notice of certain things that you have a tendency to lie about so that he can learn more about you and help you heal

Dazai generally tries to talk about things with you and communicate with you in a way that doesn't really invite any opportunities to lie, if that makes sense

If you lie to him, he doesn't really bring it up unless he's worried that it could cause trouble for you in the future

If you lie to other Agency members about something he might approach them later and explain that it was a lie and also explain why you said it

He might to help by bringing up contradictions in your lies and asking you to explain them (not as a 'gotcha' but more as a way to understand what you're trying to do)

Ranpo:

Back when you and Ranpo first met, he used to be a little bit insensitive about it (unintentionally!)

But after learning more about compulsive lying he kind of started to feel bad for you in a way? So he started going a lot easier on you

He always, always knows when you're lying because he's able to discern the truth with no effort. So, whether or not you lie to him it doesn't make much difference. He knows it's not intended to be malicious or personal

Ranpo can get frustrated with it though, because he's lazy and can't be bothered to figure you out sometimes

When in public he does most of the talking for you because if you do lie to someone and you're found out he doesn't want you getting in trouble (this is especially the case during investigations and stuff)

He actually kind of helps you in a way to lie less because you know that he knows the truth regardless so there's not much point in lying? Of course it's still a habit but you do find yourself lying less

Eventually he does enlist Yosano's help to try and see if there's anything she can actually do to help you too

Even if it turns out that she can't or something like that, he'd still be there to help you and he'd still love you

Yosano:

She's determined to help you with this condition, but she understands that it's not something you can control

Yosano is honestly probably the best one out of everyone here who you could talk to about it because she'd actually put a ton of effort into helping you stop lying (besides Chuuya lol)

She herself can usually tell when you're lying but unlike Ranpo she can't tell what exactly the lie is, if that makes sense?

She's very nice about it and never takes your behaviour personally. Yosano is very gentle when she encourages you to be honest with her, and doesn't force you to admit things if you feel you can't

That being said she doesn't enable your behaviour, and will sometimes end a conversation with you if she knows you'll keep lying after she brings it up

It's possible that as a doctor she may receive some raised eyebrows for deciding to date someone who is a compulsive liar, but she really doesn't care. Something like that isn't gonna deter Yosano from loving you

She may suggest couple's therapy in order to help the two of you communicate better (whether or not you decide to go is up to you)

Overall she's pretty good at handling your behaviour and not making you feel bad about yourself because of it :)

got the vibrant colour tachihara mayoi yesterday ˚‧º·( 。ᗒ ᴗ ◕✿) also...do we really expect many of these characters to correctly deal with behaviour as a result of psychological issues?

[abrisaber]

Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss Rant Again Again Again

It's about time I made another unnecessarily long post about HB!

It's been a few months since the release of Hazbin Hotel and I've watched it a couple of times alongside Helluva Boss. With the newest episode of HB right around the corner, I thought I'd make a post so I can rant about things that I like and dislike about both shows. This is technically a criticism and it will definitely be negative at some points, but let it be known that I love both Hazbin and Helluva and even though I have my preferences, I still appreciate and enjoy the effort and soul put into both shows regardless.

The World building.

World Building is my favorite thing about any creative media. All of my favorite shows put a lot of dedication into fleshing out the environments for which their characters live in. And, in my opinion, any fantasy media should put some emphasis on World Building for it to be worthwhile.

In the Helleverse or the Vivzieverse or whatever the fuck you call the two shows, the WB is kinda mixed. I will admit that my bais towards WB over something like character development and theme, which are both things that HB and HH emphasize, does cause my opinion of the two shows to skew, but there are flaws that exist within both shows that can't go ignored outside of my own personal bias.

Despite my own preferences, there are things that should be addressed in both shows in terms of the world building that isn't, and I don't think it ever will because of the fact that Hazbin and Helluva are character driven. But when you have Hazbin focusing on something that would drastically change the climate and culture of hell (the exterminations), it's only logical that those things would ripple into Helluva. For example; the potential conflict between Heaven and Helluva Boss.

Maybe this will happen in the future, but I doubt it since Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel seem to exist entirely separate from each other. If that is the case then IMP's existence should would directly conflict with Heaven's desire to protect humans.

If IMP is popular enough for demons in other rings to know about their existence, and for Sinners to be lining up down the block looking for a good deal, then why wouldn't Heaven know about it? And if they do know about it, why wouldn't they have done anything? If Heaven wants to keep demons at controllable and suppressed numbers, then how would some demons have access to the living world at all?

Stolas says in "Oops" That Asmodeus's demons (Succubi and Incubi I suppose) are able to access Earth freely and *legally.* Why would someone like Asmodeus, a person who exists one rank underneath Lucifer and is one of Hell's main sovereigns, be able to let his demons do anything on Earth? Succubi are literally bread to intice humans to sin. They have mating calls that make humans want to fuck them. Why would Heaven allow that, if they even know about that. Because if they do then the idea of Heaven wanting to suppress hell is complete bullshit, and if they don't then Heaven sucks at their job.

The Good and The Bad

Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel are both decent shows, but Hazbin Hotel severely outdoes Helluva in several areas. I don't want to be that guy and say "Hazbin is soo much better than Helluva" because I don't really think they're unequal in terms of quality overall, but there are things that can't be ignored about both shows.

For starters, Helluva Boss has no idea what kind of show it wants to be. It started out fairly comedic and lighthearted with some elements of drama, specifically with Blitzo and his relationships, and then it slowly tried to push more and more drama into it to please the overwhelming number of people who are obsessed with the relationships of these characters. The episodes got longer and suddenly we're giving characters arcs that have only had 2 major episodes total (Yes I'm talking about Fizzarolli).

I don't hate the drama in Helluva Boss. In fact I think Truth Seekers, Ozzie's, and Loo Loo Land are the best episodes in the show because they can balance the comedy and the drama well.

For example, I'll compare Loo Loo Land and the S2 Mid-Special.

In Loo Loo Land the relationship between Octavia and her parents is introduced. Even though this is only the second episode in the series and the first time we're seeing Octavia, the episode is capable of being comedic while also showcasing; A) How much of a failure Stolas is as a father despite his best efforts, B) How his blatant, obvious flirting with Blitzo despite being married to Octavia's mother bothers Octavia, and C) How my Stolas cares about his daughter and how the relationship between him and Stella has never been positive despite Octavia's perspective.

In comparison, Oops has Fizzarolli, a character who only had one major episode that was directly before this one. Even though it does the same "starting and finishing a conflict within one episode" thing that Loo Loo Land did, Loo Loo Land never tried to be a full on character arc. The Mid-Musical tries to have this big spectical moment where Fizzarolli is getting rid of his shitty boss and coming out as Asmodeus's partner, but we hardly know Fizzarolli and Asmodeus. We're seeing all these feelings of inadequacy and the need to feel good enough for Asmodeus but we barely even know Fizzarolli as a character. Outside of being the funny jester, the cute Imp boyfriend of the demon king Asmodeus, and one of Blitzo's childhood friends turned enemies, we don't know anything about him. We don't know his hobbies, what his life was like after the fire and before he met Asmodeus, we don't know anything.

The previous episode showed NO effort in showcasing that Fizzarolli feels "inadequate" and wants to prove himself to Asmodeus. Their relationship was seen as the most healthy in all of Hell. Yet come the VERY next episode, suddenly he feels like he's not good enough?

I like this episode and I like Fizzarolli, but in the previous episode he did not feel THIS important. Blitzo was really the one I found paying the most attention to because he's the main character and he's the one who's being accused of maliciously disfiguring Fizz out of jealousy. This episode revealed how he got his scars and what happened to his mother.

Why is Fizzarolli the one getting so much focus when he's a glorified tertiary antagonist?

Hazbin Hotel is capable of doing drama well because that's what it's trying to be. In the first episode they outline the conflict and showcase both sides of the series firsthand. Angel Dust is set up to be a tragic character within the context of the show. His abusive relationship with Valentino doesn't come out of nowhere because they show Valentino's toxic behavior towards Angel Dust as early as Episode 2.

Angel Dust is just one example. There are plenty of others.

It's not like Hazbin Hotel isn't guilty of doing the same thing either. Characters like Carmila Carmine get important emotional episodes despite no previous showcase of this character conflict existing.

In Conclusion,

I like Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss, but now that both shows are being developed at the same time, I hope that Vivziepop takes more into account since both shows exist in the same universe. There's more I want to say but this post is already ridiculously long. I want to know other people's thoughts as well. Please reply or reblog with anything else you'd like to add or like to counteract! I like to discuss things!

[bl-bracket]

WE'RE SO BACK BABES

YES! The Rumors are true! The much-longer-than-I-originally-anticipated-it-being-impromptu-hiatus on Build-a-BL is finally coming to a close!!!

I'm not in a major transition stage of life anymore, back on my full dose of adhd meds, and the minor health issues I had a few months ago have been treated! Which means my motivation has been steadily coming back and I've returned to my true love of spreadsheets and data analysis!!!

I'll be making another post summarizing our BL that we have been making just to refresh everyone's memory, but we'll be starting where we left off: finding the other half of our side couple! So far, Milk Pansa is confirmed for the side couple.

Now, if you remember the structure of the polls before, we had roughly 90 actors in the competition to be part of the side couple. That's a lot of people to organize in polls with their photos and a list of the other BLs they've each been in, which is part of the reason why the hiatus happened because it became simply too much work for me to do at the time.

However!!! As I've returned to drafting up the polls, I got about halfway through when it sunk in that even though I'm almost done with this batch, I'm going to have to do it all again for the antagonist round. And I don't even know if putting all 90 actors in the running again is necessary if most people only want a certain type of relationship for Milk's character.

So, in order to make sure I'm not putting in too much effort for no reason and potentially lightening my workload, we'll have a little preliminary poll before going back to the regularly scheduled polls.

*female/female/female is also possible to have, but this is merely for me to see what gendered actors to put in the polls for her love interest. If you want an all female polycule for the side pairing, that'll be under female/female

[magic-and-moonlit-wings]

Matching 'Hazbin Hotel' characters to the Seven Deadly Sins

[Not the Seven Deadly Sin characters, but the concepts]

Wrath: Vaggie

Vaggie often lashes out at others; I think she's threatened violence against every character in the hotel other than Charlie and Lucifer at least once.

If there had been a few more episodes between her being revealed as a banished exorcist and the S1 finale, it would've been cool to see Vaggie struggling with her desire for revenge against Heaven for casting her out, versus Charlie's dream of reconciliation between Heaven and Hell.

(Which also would've made the lyrics of Out For Love make more sense. Vaggie already prioritizes Charlie above herself. Carmilla isn't telling her or the audience anything new! It would work better if Vaggie had a competing desire, something she wanted that was in conflict with her desire to please her girlfriend.)

Vaggie choosing to spare Lute's life at the end is either Vaggie trying to let go of her wrath, or, considering her words ("Live, knowing you only do because I let you,") is itself a demonstration of wrath.

Sloth: Husk

Husk seems resigned to his current lot in life. He's bitter about it, but feels there’s no point trying to better himself because he doesn't expect any efforts to that effect will go anywhere. He explicitly says he's not trying to get into Heaven.

Loser Baby has Husk singing about how his and Angel's afterlives are awful, and all they can do about it right now is accept that they are stuck in bad situations, shamelessly acknowledge their flaws, and enjoy the company.

Even his stated reasoning for assisting in the battle against the angels can be interpreted as slothful: "I ain't finding no new drinking buddies." ("I don't want to put in the work of building a new social circle if you all double-die.")

Based on his tones and expressions, he does care about the other hotel residents by that point, but he's not ready for the emotional labour of admitting it, instead presenting his motive as inertia.

Gluttony: Angel Dust

"But Angel is clearly Lust," I hear you say! No, no - Angel's internal struggles are defined by his addictions; that which he consumes.

Sex, yes, he has a lot of it - he does it for work, and on his own time both for fun and as a coping mechanism to deal with the lack of agency he has during his work.

He does drugs and drinks alcohol and, in the pilot, gets involved in turf wars. All of these are things he uses to intoxicate himself so he doesn't have to think about how bad his afterlife sucks.

Greed: Charlie

Yes, really - I didn't come up with this one, but there's this cute Owl House crossover fic which explains it in Chapter 16 and I was nodding along entranced at the reasoning:

She wanted a better life for demonkind, Sinner and Hellborn alike. She craved for the universe to bend to her whims and bring joy and happiness to Hell. She wanted a happy day in Hell, she wanted it so deeply and so completely that the Sin of Greed couldn't help but cheer her on. Hers was a cup that could never be filled, never be satisfied unless Paradise came for demonkind itself. She wanted, and wanted, and wanted some more, and her greed for a happy day in Hell was astonishing to witness.

Sidenote, go read "A Divine (Romantic) Comedy" by Dystopian_God if you'd like to read Lucifer from Hazbin Hotel and Camila Noceda from Owl House falling in love while trying to hide their respective paranormal secrets.

Envy: Alastor

This is my interpretation for why Alastor dislikes Lucifer so much, and why he made a name for himself taking down other Overlords when Hell is full of easier targets. (Not easy, perhaps, but easier.)

In short, Alastor cannot stand to be around people more powerful than he is. He has two main ways of dealing with this: kill them, or manipulate them so that he is the one wielding their power. (Ready For This, regarding Charlie: "She's filled with potential that I could guide.")

Alastor can't kill Lucifer, because Lucifer is some order of magnitude more powerful than any human sinner. The Hell's Greatest Dad musical duel was basically Alastor throwing a tantrum about Lucifer's presence having potential to interfere with Alastor's ability to manipulate Charlie, and Lucifer tantruming back about the idea Charlie might have found a new father-figure in his absence.

This may also tie into why Alastor let Husk live after winning their bet. Husk says, in Loser Baby, "I sold my soul to save my power - Now I'm on that demon's leash." This implies, whatever power Husk had as an Overlord is still there, but Husk can only use it at Alastor's direction - making Husk essentially an external backup power source for Alastor.

Lust: Niffty

The reasoning isn't that deep for this one. Niffty demonstrates both bloodlust and sexual lust. (And don't come at me protesting that she's a child. She is an adult woman who is very, very short. Demon forms are weird like that.)

Pride: Cherri Bomb

Yes, obviously Lucifer is the Actual Literal Embodiment Of Pride, but hear me out:

Cherri knows who she is and what she wants, and doesn't bother much with introspection, and shows no desire for self-improvement. (The night before the S1 finale battle, Charlie explicitly acknowledges that, even though Cherri is helping them, she isn't officially staying at the hotel yet.)

Unlike Husk, Cherri's lack of desire to change her afterlife appears to be because she's enjoying said afterlife, not because she feels any attempt to change will be ultimately futile.

[officalroyalsofpierreland]

Hi

I’ve been following your story for a while

And I think your recent post has been one of your best! The quality is so great!

And as a supporter I’ve been thinking this for a while, please don’t think I’m being rude- your story has so much potential I think it might be best for you to adapt to the “royal simblr trends” to level it up

So like skin details for your sims would make them look a lot better I think. Also putting more effort into decorating - I know not everyone is skilled at that (I’m definitely bad at it) but you can download good decorated rooms/lots for scenes and customise those

I’ve already noticed your story is not traditional (with themes like polyamory, your sims are also very tatted which is not normal in a traditional monarchy). I assume it’s just what you like which makes your story unique in that sense though some may not appreciate that.

I just (respectfully) feel like you can do so much more with your story if you took time to plan ahead, develop characters and storylines, instead of just making it up as you go. It helps to run things by people you trust and ask for brutal honesty

You don’t have to listen to what I’ve said but I hope you do and I look forward to seeing more of your story!

-from a secret loving fanboy!

Hello Secret Loving Fanboy,

First off, thanks for supporting my story! I really do appreciate that you read and that you feel comfortable enough to give me some critques. However I do want to address some of them.

What are a "royal simblr trends"? as far as I'm concerned, the only trend is to tell your story the way you want to tell it. And I plan on sticking to it.

In terms of skin details, nope. I mean some people like them, some people don't and I'm kinda in the camp that isn't a big fan of them so thanks but no thanks.

About my story being not traditional, YUP. Its not traditional. I believe in my story replicating the world I want to see which includes people loving who they want (by the way, my polyamory throuple was heavily researched based off experience from a friend and fellow simblr so if you don't like it, you can kick rocks). and..yeah my sims are tatted, guess what lots of people like tattoos, they look cool.

The effort in decorating, look...I'm trying to improve my building and decorating skills but sometimes, I can't be bothered. My story is my hobby and I may not be as decorated as some simblrs but I don't think it distracts from my story.

okay and to your last point:

You talking about planning my story, developing my characters and storylines and running things by people is a step too far. Again, this is my hobby so I do it in my free time. I plan some stuff because I have collab partners who like to plan, and I don't plan other things because I have collab partners who are flexible. I personally don't plan as much as possible because you know what, it ruins the fun for me.

Again, this story is my hobby. It's been my hobby since 2020 and I've made amazing friends over the years I've been on simblr but I can stop and start when i want because it's a hobby and I think real fans would understand that. Just sayin.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

I mean Personally I’m still glad they they Still made Sasha Waybright a character from Amphibia least get a better character journey than Catra even if we didn’t see most of her arc in Season 3. Which will personally always bug me since she’s my personal favorite character in the show since I usually love developing Villains/antagonists.

In your opinion why do you believe writers seem to have Such a hard time creating full level redemption arcs for these types of characters? I mean there’s GREAT potential in them if writers could just take the time and nuance in them after enjoying their time as the Villain.

yeah, sasha was really an intriguing character. i love how smart she was and how she handled things in a difficult situation. unfortunately, the writing of amphibia was a bit lackluster. they introduced deep elements and interesting lore into it, but never followed up. i feel like the writers really did not know how to balance a good plot and comedic elements. we never learn about why sasha was the way she was. it's implied that her parents are divorced and that could be part of the reason, but we really don't get enough exposition because the writers wanted to focus on wacky shenanigans instead.

as for your question, i think there are two reasons. one is that writers are aware that the audience loves a good villain. people are slowly drifting towards liking complex and terrifying villains. and for a villain to be terrifying, they have to do the most heinous shit imaginable. which is fine, i really don't think there's a limit to who can be redeemed. it's just that the writers either spend too much time developing a villain as an evil threat that they don't have enough time to give said villain a good redemption. or they're just plain bad at writing a good redemption.

another reason, and this pertains to spop especially, is that when writing an enemies to lovers arc, the writers wants to focus on the "enemies" part of it as much as possible. because that's where all the thrill comes from. the audience wants to see two people try to kill each other while being in compromising positions. they want to see tension, angst, drama. in theory, i don't think this is inherently a bad thing. with c//a however, since adora is not being as sadistic as catra is, it feels painfully one-sided. yeah, catra is a villain so obviously she's gonna be heartless, yada yada. but the whole "i always loved you" just adds another layer of toxicity. it implies that catra was torturing adora while she loved her or some might even say, because she loved her. yikes.

so yeah, it all comes down to bad writing. there are certain things to keep in mind when writing a good redemption but these writers just want to speedrun through the whole process so that their blorbo gets a happy ending. very few writers put in effort to build up a good redemption arc rather than slap it on whichever villain they like best.

[swordnbored]

Currently Running: Historia by Mana Project Studio

Historia is a D&D 5E hack about telling stories in a dark fantasy renaissance setting with Anthropomorphic animal characters.

Typically, I don't run D&D and I definitely don't run D&D overhauls that I didn't design myself. However, Historia caught my attention for a couple reasons. First, I love fantasy RPGs that borrow heavily from history for their settings. Second, Historia changes how hit points and dying works to make the game more lethal. Lethal and dangerous combat is a must when I run a campaign. And third and finally, the art is absolutely gorgeous.

See what I mean?

When I saw Historia at Gen Con I was interested, but to be honest I dismissed it because it was just another D&D hack. However the more I thought about it the more it seemed to fit with my group, or rather lack thereof.

You see, a couple weeks prior to Gen Con my TTRPG group fell apart for social reasons and I was on the hunt for new people to run games for. The primary issue for me was that for a lot of people D&D is the default RPG and convincing them to try something new, and then teaching them something new, can be pretty difficult. Especially teaching a new game over discord. Historia shares all of its combat mechanics with D&D, so it hasn't been nearly as intimidating for new players to adopt. I knew the renaissance setting was something I could sink my teeth into and write an excellent campaign for. Also my fiancé is a furry, so I knew he would be excited to build a character.

At this point I've successfully gathered a group to play, and we've had our session zero. My players are all very enthusiastic and have all built their characters. We haven't played our first session yet but here are some of my thoughts so far.

First off, I'm not using the official Historia setting. That's not my style. I am however picking and choosing elements from it. I think the factions are compelling and useful, and can be easily slotted in to a homebrew world.

In traditional Dungeons and Dragons, hit points are a measure of how much physical harm you can take before you are downed. Historia treats hit points quite a bit differently. In Historia Hit Points should be considered a measure of how ‘rattled’ a character is. Because of this, the GM might dish out damage as a result of particularly stressful situations, experiencing horror, or generally doing difficult things as well as in combat. When a characters hit points reach zero they suffer a level of exhaustion. Every time you are hit afterwards you also receive a level exhaustion. In Historia reaching tier six exhaustion is what kills you, rather than running out of hit points. I've also incorporated exploding dice to enhance the randomness of the violence. Historia also has a chart of permanent injuries PCs can accrue. I personally really like this approach, it enhances the value of hit points as a resource and I think it will heighten the tension of the game. Permanent injuries also make sure that players will always second guess any potential combat encounter, heightening the value of role play focused solutions.

As we went through and made characters I noticed some issues. Historia was developed by the Italian company Mana Project Studio, and its clear that on translating to English there was some issues. Several abilities and mechanics were very confusing to parse out. There were also some pretty significant typos. It is especially disappointing because the game book as a whole has a very high production value! Its well organized and down right gorgeous! But the poor proof reading can make character creation a bit of a slog.

All told though we figured it out. Made calls on some confusing rules and moved on. Session 1 is coming up this week and I don't think I've been more excited for a campaign in years! I certainly haven't put this much effort into a campaign in years. I am excited for session one, and it sounds like my players are very excited as well!

[koreposion]

Thoughts on canon and fanon Blue?

Okay let me start off with this

AUUUYGHHHHHHRRRFHHHHHHHAHHHHHHHHHHH RAHHHHHHHHH

Now my actual thoughts are....I don't really care, they both have their strengths and weaknesses but both of them are used to tear the other down. Not only that but purity culture is pathetic so when "Blueberry" is made to be Aroace because "He's such a cute and sweet childlike bean!"

It's grosser than the fact that you think of him as "childlike" like adults don't love puzzles, colors, and keep stuffed animals. Not only are you making it out to seem like it's bad to enjoy "childish" things as an adult but that wanting joy means that you haven't grown up which is :[

I feel like Blueberry is a wonderful way to explore different aspects of adulthood and how it affects people differently. Childlike wonderment and joy shouldn't be limited to just your childhood, and some children are just forced to grow up fast but then that leaves them wanting the things they should have had during their childhood years. However this part of storytelling for Blueberry isn't EVER SEEN BECAUSE FOR SOME REASON PEOPLE ARE FIGHTING OVER ECHO CHAMBER THOUGHTS????

Not only that but the MOMENT someone EVER headcannons something and it becomes popular it becomes "fanon" which??? SO YOU WANT PEOPLE TO WRITE THE CHARACTERS BASED ON HEADCANNONS MADE FUCKIN FOREVER AGO???

Like okay, example the food thing where each Sans was given a favorite condiment, and the swap versions were different dishes. This was okay but like...what do you mean Blueberry's defining traits are that he loves tacos and wants what's best for everyone....like are you sure you don't want anything else? Please. Please oh my God please.

It's like when people make Papyrus' traits "love spaghetti and the guard" and NOTHING ELSE. Even though he loves collecting action figures, studying puzzles, making costumes, building, and he is a very caring person but is only ever used as a plot point in fics??? Like when something needs to go wrong he's there, or when something needs to go right he's there. It's not written in naturally and thus has also affected the way people write Blueberry.

When something needs to go right or wrong Blueberry is there but oh no! He's too sweet and kind to want anything EVER and only wants what's best for you but it's never in a cool manipulative way? Fics that make him a bit of an ass are a breath of fresh air.

I think people forget that he's Sans too a lot. And I think he should be more quick witted and smart mouthed. He should keep his love of puns and ketchup, he should also keep his smarts. Like puzzle wise he's actually really good and puts a lot of effort into it but he's not really good at the science aspect of smart. It's like people forget that you can still keep these traits and "swap" him.

I have SO MUCH MORE to say but the basic fundamentals are this.

People need to stop holding onto the past version of Blueberry but also not tear down the past version as much as they do. You can give him different traits and he'd still be "Sans", making him less of a "Papyrus" would be helpful. Have fun with new ideas and possibly explore the idea of having different types of childhood and how that affects a person as an adult. Liking childish things doesn't mean someone is an innocent person, but that they find comfort in those things and nothing more. Growing up happens, and it's apart of life and it's hard to come to terms with sometimes.

To have him stay a flat character with no possiblity of change is a waste of potential and people have the right to do more. Overall, do what you think is most fun when it comes to story telling but don't forget that he's a character who needs devolvement just like any other "Sans"

Man I had so much to say I'm sorry

[ehlnofay]

16, 17, 18 for Arabella!

16: Can your OC swim? Do they like or dislike it? she can, but not enormously well. you don't get many pools in graht-oaks, and growing up she didn't often have cause to go down to the forest floor. As long as she's able to touch the bottom or reasonably close to dry land, though, she finds splashing around in water a lot of fun; it would be better if skyrim lakes weren't so bloody cold

17: Does your OC have a living family? What is/was their relationship like? arabella had a lot of family, blood related and not, when she was growing up; she had a number of siblings, and her parents seemed to be related or close to half the people in falinesti. all their relationships were pretty typical - fraught, at times, arabella wasn't much easier to manage as a kid than she is as an adult, but there was still a lot of affection there - but then their house and several other spots her parents frequented to burned down and she hasn't gone home since. your guess as to whether any of them are still alive is as good as hers

18: Does your OC have a companion, romantic or otherwise? How did they meet? after everything, she's pretty close to brynjolf and karliah (they sold their souls together, and that's a bonding activity if anything is) and she's working on building relationships with the rest of the guild, too. in some older stuff I allude to her having a romantic relationship with sapphire... I'd like to try to flesh that out a bit more because I love sapphire as a character and wish she was written at least a bit less horrendously and I think there's a lot of potential there (seeing as they've both been through shit and put a lot of effort into how they're seen as a result... woman who presents herself as prickly and threatening so no-one tries to mess with her vs woman who presents herself as charming and capricious so people don't see her coming. now kiss)

[elendsessor]

tbh i don’t know when or if i’ll get back to playing desu2–strategy games are particularly draining for me when i feel as if they’re pushing too long without justification and that’s a problem i’m facing with 2.

i do want to inevitably talk about a couple more things desu2 put out there i appreciate it for over other megatens since there’s so much potential here. it’s by no means a bad game!!! it’s just too much. it’s heavily flawed. and though i see why people love it, those flaws still need to be acknowledged.

yes the gameplay improvements are amazing. yes i do think more time and effort was put into 2 than the first game presentation-wise, some of the battle improvements are much better, there are concepts no megaten would ever dare to even try and tackle at least in the pre-established format mainline is famous for, and though the writing is generally messy and contradictory, it’s genuinely entertaining at points… until day 8. we do not need a day 8 unless it’s post-game content like what overclocked did.

the problem stems the most from an identity crisis affecting the way it plays. of course it mainly struggles from its nge inspiration, but the biggest part of the identity crisis is one based in a criticism no megaten fan likes. hate to do it but imma do it—devil survivor 2 is one of atlus’s first attempts at persona-ifying the rest of the franchise. it’s a problem i want to touch on in the future so imma keep this brief.

desu2 clearly wants to be modern persona the most, judging by the fate system and how it does the cast, however a strategy game can’t pull this off without jumping major hoops. fire emblem does the social aspect better because the process is streamlined and the characters you’re made to care about usually tend to be written well unless your name is fates. (anything that has the word “fate” in the title should be enough of a red flag for either garbage fandom or garbage product just saying lol.) however, with what success persona got beginning with 3, the dev team was tasked with replicating parts of modernsona to help it be some way to capture mainstream audiences. after all, most people’s introductions to megaten will be persona, and as we all know with how journalists were with smt 5 and likely applies to the rest of the franchise due to how different it is, anything megaten that isn’t persona has no heart. with shit like the fate system being forced in, the pacing further deteriorates.

both desu1 and 2 are easy for the most part but require an ungodly amount of grinding just to build your team because money is scarce and everything is overpriced, be it in the auction or the compendium. you need demons with a certain skill and resistances? get grinding. and with what little ways to actually play around with the fusing without grinding because of the stupid add ons and expensive fusion chains and how exp you can get for demons gets significantly harder to obtain, you’re already at a strategic disadvantage. you can’t fuse mitamas without unlocking it after fucking beating the game, and even if you can, fusing elements and mitamas has a fee. this already takes up most of the experience, as this forces most battles to be either free or dlc battles for the sake of resources which ends in being over leveled, and since the ai for enemies and bosses aren’t the best, you’re already at far too great an advantage, so the mandatory combat goes by fast. then the socializing comes in. desu1 is definitely better since it cuts out the bullshit and makes so most of what you’re hearing contributes to the plot, worldbuilding, or actual development for the characters. in 2, the fate ranks affect nothing save for unlocks and maybe the occasional story relevance. you can’t skip this, as most of the options are either free battles, waste 30 in game minutes viewing an event that doesn’t affect any other function, talk with teammates that you swore you’ve seen their archetype done better before, be given info about said character that may or may not actually mean shit based on when you talk to them, have a chance to up their fate rank, and that’s it. not like you have the threat of being unable to. you can prevent anyone in death videos from dying, and there’s no consequences for choosing a route since you can re-recruit everyone except a certain alignment rep if you oppose them, not counting daichi. all that changes is the ending and if an alignment rep dies again not counting daichi. this is all the game is, rinse and repeat.

i’ve never had something simultaneously be worse and better all due to anime tropes and inspiration. it fucking hurts me. 2’s a good game, just way too big and way too focused on capitalizing on persona, neither of which i can fault the team behind it for since it was clearly an issue of ideas and expectations being thrown onto them. maybe one day i’ll power through the final day, but right now, it completely lost me.

if you want to make your game’s main campaign long, justify why it’s that way. if it’s long because of padding without a way to grip the player, your product serves as a way to waste time and money that could’ve been spent on something else.

[solarstellarstar]

Et tu, mea vita? | diabolik lovers oc fanfiction

Summary: Solar is not immune in her senior’s conquest to trample through all those who foil his glamour. Her rose-coloured lenses of him shatter.

Characters: Kou Mukami, Solar Fumika (OC)

Warnings: Psychological bullying, gaslighting, public humiliation, absolutely no shipping Solar and Kou, oneshot (potential sequel?), very melodramatic, Solar is eighteen years old here, no beta we die like Cordelia Sakamaki, unreliable narrator? (I genuinely am not sure if this counts, I am so sorry for any confusion) Words: 1,309

Love washes over Solar’s complexion as she continues to pat her own face with a compact cushion fastened to her fingers. After ensuring her eyes shimmer with enthusiasm for the fourth time, she struts into the sparkle-adorned building. It had only been eleven hours, fifteen minutes and twenty-one seconds since Solar’s official debut concert, but the taste of success seemed to already be muscle memory for the girl.

As the noirette had finally graduated from a mere idol trainee, the unwritten rule of celeb life could finally be applied. Setsuna had finally been invited to party with the stars of the industry. She could use this chance to further her appeal among her stellar colleagues. But Solar wasn’t stupid. For a freshly “rookie” idol, she already knew to keep herself from stumbling out of line. The ‘people’ present will be actors, directors, models and idols. Successful people that have never been anchored to the abyss of the charts.

But the fresh idol knew that everything will go just fine. How? She isn’t alone, of course! The star of the show (also officially known as Solar’s mind) is here. ‘Senpai’ at work, ‘Kou-kun’ at school but ‘dearest’ in Solar’s eyes (no one knew that but her, duh). He’d consistently been reliable throughout her journey to her debut. What she didn’t know, he taught. He mentored. He… fostered. Accept gifts. Sell dreams at every window of opportunity. Don’t be caught in public with a figure of the opposite sex. Book private rooms at restaurants. Don’t agree to interviews for tabloids. Despite wanting to no longer be coddled under his wing, she always found herself walking back to him whenever the situation called for it. And Kou was happy to deliver.

Was it free? Of course not. With her flaring admiration, Solar didn’t mind at all. She -equally- felt it was fair that Kou be rewarded for all his hard work. She was happy to be unofficially labelled as “his reliable, hard-working pet”, all that effort did pay off in the end. It had only been a few hours and those mediocre, underground wannabes wouldn’t even be able to kill to get a place here- if they wanted to.

And that’s not to say that it was a wonderful stroke of luck that Setsuna had made it. The journey was far from a smooth marble path. Twenty minutes after her debut concert had concluded, peculiar… inconveniences attempted to pester her when she went to go rest backstage. Trinkets located in her purse began to just not show up. Whenever the girl tried to put on a cute cardigan, strange prickly sensations would poke into her back.

It must be that addictive feeling and high of success. Anticipation overshadowed those short-term memories of where she left her belongings and the eagerness to experience all of it again must have made the hairs on the back of her neck stiffen up. Oh, how it hurts to be victorious.

Directors downing drinks on the right, actors passing kisses on the left. Kou wasn’t kidding when he said that these parties’ atmospheres were heavy.

Him. Him. Him. Him him him him…!

He was all she could think about. Solar didn’t dress up in his favourite colour for nothing, after all. She doesn’t intend to cling to his sleeve and be his arm accessory for the whole evening, but using every opportunity to bond with him would be delightful. They had so much in common now! He would still be the respectful mentor to her… but she was no longer a little amateur, trainee A.

After exchanging sugary salutations with the others, the golden shine of his hair reflected into her deep lavender pools. Over at the food table. With a friendly smirk and a high flick of the wrist, he ushers his kouhai to come over to him from afar.

And that enchants Solar like a spell. She contentedly trudges over to him in her two-inch kitten heels. “Kou-kun!!”

“Hey~ look at you! So brave of you to show up here on your first day.” His charms made the air around him more pleasant to take in, god. The blond’s familiar but warm smile is enough to make her go weak in the knees. Kou’s cerulean eyes flickered up and down her appearance. That only put Solar more on the spot as she feverishly averts her gaze.

“It’s mostly thanks to you.”

He tilts his head in amusement at that statement. Curious, he observed, “Feeling extra unsparing with your compliments tonight, are we?”

Too suffocated in the engulfing feeling of flattery, she opens her mouth but her response is delayed too late to the point that multiple of the other attendants already surround Kou. Setsuna watches as they casually interact with him as if Kou had gone out to drink with all of them for years. Her lips curve with contentment, radiant at the fact that Kou’s presence is being appreciated. Not wanting to disturb anything, she directs her attention to a few snacks on the table.

Pudding sits a bit further behind the fruit punch bowl. Her lilac eyes glisten at the sight of it. She reaches over for it and closes her eyes in satisfaction once it reaches her mouth.

“Aha- hey, this is my colleague-” Her temporary ecstasy of sweets is interrupted (very much not to her dismay) by a gentle hold on the shoulder. She is gently pulled to her senior’s side, being shown off to his friends as if she were a trophy.

And to be fair, Solar was quite the achievement for any mentor.

Obviously, she can’t shy away from socialisation at a party so she darlingly beams at the bystanders. A minor ‘squeak’ sound escapes her lips when Kou soothingly pats the top of her hair. It was… kind of patronising? But the idol told herself she didn’t mind. “Solar.” He slightly leans down and fully faces her. Right, she’s only wearing her kitten heels which made her at least ten centimetres shorter than him. “Can you get me a drink, please?~”

Goddamn, that sickenly sugar-rotting tone worked wonders on the girl. With an obedient nod, the noirette turned back to the food stand to reach and fetch a cup for the boy. Kou glimpses over to his companions as if to say, “Look what I’m about to do.”

By the time Solar reached over for a cup, the second she blinked she was arched over the table. Her head immersed in a citrus lake. The flavours flowing into her mildly gaped expression. Before she could even begin to process what Kou had done to her, Solar is yanked up from the bowl by the back of her head.

The muffled waves of voices are soon cleared into a plethora of “oooh”, “aaaah”s, giggles and chuckles. Main instigator? Mister Senior himself.

The woman glances at all the faces laughing with her. She hadn’t even noticed that she was awkwardly going along with all their chuckles and laughs. The woman glances over to the boy holding her by the hair. The grip was firm, but it didn’t hurt. So it couldn’t have been malicious.

“Hehe~ Just a joke, Setsuna-chan.”

He didn’t mean it. It was just a joke. It was just for fun. Why couldn’t she take a joke? It was a joke.

She was a joke.

One last strained smile and Solar then pushes through the crowd, simultaneously taking out her phone. No one would notice she left. They’re all too busy laughing, anyway.

Hhromi csn yu pelase pcik me up?? please??

Nevermind. The world doesn’t wait for people like her. The woman’s nosy and over-protective friend would just be more of a burden than an escape. Time doesn’t slow down. Not even a little bit.

Solar holds the ‘backspace’ button on her unsent message as her chest suffocatingly tenses up.

[correct-vampire-opinions]

You have piqued my interest in VTM. Will you tell me more?

Oh god ok. Okay so this is going to be a long one.

The short answer is that Vampire: The Masquerade is one of three mainline White Wolf games centered around being, if you haven't guessed, a vampire. One of thirteen Bloodlines descended from Cain (yes, that one) who has to grapple with societal bullshit, existential bullshit, and also everyone trying to either take advantage of you or murder you. And also the apocalypse.

This game came out in the 90s, and attracts a certain crowd to it because it pretty unflinchingly grapples with (or. Does its best to grapple with. White Wolf is not good at writing to put it mildly and with many TTRPG settings you have to kind of pick and choose what lore you're keeping) some pretty dark topics and is unafraid of player characters who are at best morally grey and at worst unapologetic baby-eaters and subtextual serial rapists.

Culturally, regardless of the V5 timeline, Vampire and all World of Darkness settings are trapped in the 90s, and specifically trapped in the goth/punk subcultures' ideas of certain things. As written by a bunch of white guys. So this is also important to keep in mind when discussing it. I understand that I am not doing a very good job of explaining why I love VTM, but stick with me on this ok.

The core conceit of Vampire is that the power of an individual Kindred is dependent on how far removed they are from Caine. To be Third Generation--you are the direct childe of one of Caine's childer--makes you an Antedeluvian, the founder of a bloodline and indescribably powerful. The threat of you stirring from torpor could topple societies, and is directly considered to be The Fucking Apocalypse Itself as you drown the world in a tidal wave of blood.

For perspective: the "expected" VTM character tends to hover somewhere around Generation 10-12, though it can go up or down depending on the game and whether people are roleplaying wish fulfillment. A Generation 12 vampire is separated from a Generation 10 vampire by anywhere from several decades to a couple hundred years. A Generation 12 vampire is separated from a Generation 3 vampire by millennia.

This means that you are not shit. You are at the bottom of the food chain, a chihuahua in a dog-eat-dog world where everyone you meet is as desperate to survive as you are and the only difference is how long they've had to scheme and backstab their way into a better position than you. You are separated from human society in a fundamental way that means that even your best efforts at blending in are a tenuous proposition, vampire society is incredibly volatile, and there are so MANY things that would be happy to kill your ass.

In addition, you are no longer the only person living in your head. The transformation into a vampire gives you a Beast, essentially a worse version of yourself that wants to eat as much as it wants and fuck forever. It will be very persuasive. If you listen to it you will become an unthinking monster. Clinging to your humanity is painful, but it is what keeps you yourself.

Ultimately, what compels me about the game are the huge variety in character builds (wanna be the archetypical Dracula? A Count Orlock? Lestat? Fuck it, Blade?) you can do, and some honestly really interesting lore to play with provided you go into it with a hazmat suit. I think that a system that plays so deeply with layered allegories for abuse and alienation, as well as a potentially really interesting exploration of what humanity looks like and the paradigm shift you can experience when you no longer necessarily WANT to be a good person, in a world determined to break you, make for really engaging character studies.

Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines is, if you're willing to tolerate 2003 RPG-tier jank, perhaps the best game that explores this setting if you're interested, but it very much wears its cringe on its sleeve. There's also the books of course! With similar caveats!

God, I'm bad at this.

[vanillapie-80]

Two things for TOA; who's your favorite character and why, and what part of the franchise do you think had the most wasted potential?

Now I'm sure, if you know me, that it's pretty damn obvious that Jim is my favorite character, so I'm just going to be brief about this. One of the main appeal to me is the monster trope that is associated with him, because that's how I got into toa in the first place. I think it's one of the things that really makes him stand out to other protags that are similar to him. It's also really fun to explore cause it's a trope that's really underrated and one that I don't see much in media sooo-

For other characters it's Douxie, his design is solid and I love the the journey he goes through in wizards. I believe Claire too, cause I draw her a lot. Idk I just really like the a good chunk of the main characters in these shows. It's a chaotic friendship and I love that.

The second question- ooooo boy. I think, although it being the most obvious answer, it's rott that has the most wasted potential. For wizards, I would say that I'm fairly satisfied with Wizards (with my only real issues being the twist with Jim and that the didn't really include elements involving 3 Below all that much, I'll touch more on this later) but with rott, it had a lot of potential with the premise it had.

Deities wishing to reset the world because they've grown tired of humanity creating an imbalance and forcing magical creatures out of their land and persecuting them over the years, that's such an interesting premise that can easily be equated to real world issues. But no, it's just a typical adventure story with a black and white heroes vs villains with no nuance whatsoever (And since the story can easily be equated to real world issues, it makes the implications kind of messy ngl). Also we just don't get that much interactions between different characters, most of that time it has to something in relation to Jim which is fucking boring story wise.

Literally I can't think of a single moment where one of the other main characters have a moment that relates to an arc of their own. Which really cause there are some characters that are soo due for a character arc of their own.

Another is just the refusal to use any of the worldbuilding from the different installments. I'm going to start with 3Below. There's been this issue where the writers don't put in enough effort to include and tie in 3Below's characters and worldbuilding to the overarching stories. I see people say how 3Below doesn't fit or belong in the series as a fault of the show itself which I don't agree with. I think it's more of the fault of the writers because they have every opportunity to include 3Below to the story if they really wanted, especially in rott. (I would also like to mention that in an article, Diego Luna said there was going to be an arc for Krel in wizards, but it was cut).

For wizards it was more like rott didn't build upon what it brought to the table, especially when it comes to information regarding to the Arcane Order. Like who are they? What are they? How the fuck did the Genesis Seal came to be? Are they demigods or wizards? Did Nari create the Kronosphere or Heart of Avalon? What the fuck were Bellroc and Skrael doing during the centuries after the Battle of Killahead? There so much but no new information is given to the world.

WHEW, THAT WAS A LOT. I'm going to leave it that that but yeah, there's a lot of wasted potential towards rott SDKJASALK-

[chaoticgeminate]

Kelly! 15, 29, 46 for your fanfic asks!

Oh my DOG I love that GIF LJ 💕💕 thank you for the questions I love them.

15. What's your favorite time to write?

Either really early in the morning or really late at night, I can focus better when things are still of that makes sense. No kids playing outside, no crazy work day traffic sounds, no people making a lot of noise (even though I always have my headphones on with music anyway)

29. What's something about your writing that you're proud of?

Self praise? 😑 How dare. I think the best answer I can give here is world building, I'm still trying to teach myself to break put of narrative story telling and I produce concepts via dialogue or even through passive story telling like journals the character reads, but I put a lot of time and effort into making a world and trying to prevent potholes.

46. If you could only write one type of AU for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I mean is it not obvious? High fantasy always. The amount of play with high fantasy concepts is so massive, it's a sprawling tundra of potential. Crafting new cities and realms, choosing the best alternative races for favorite characters, all of it has SO much potential to create some fun chaos.