#but they can't separate actor and character and are so whatever about him

[potterandpromises]

I want to talk about the evolution of Theo's appearance.

I mean, look at that glow up! That doesn't even look like the same actor, let alone character.

In season 1 he looks a lot like his teenage self: kind of greasy.

Mabel, Tim, and Oscar looked younger in their flashbacks. And to me at least, Theo really didn't. Out of all of them, he's been given the least opportunity to change, to grow up.

Then in season 2 (really just 2x07; in 2x04 when he's talking to his father he looks like his season 1 self) he looks more mature and put together. He's less awkward, more free.

In season 3, the trend continues and it's no longer subtle. He looks quite different, older for sure. He's more relaxed. We see him engage with his friend and his interests, have more fun.

He looks a lot like his dad, while Teddy is just a painting in the back of Uma's closet nowhere to be seen.

I'm obsessed with how the farther removed Theo is from Teddy the more grown up and well he looks, and I'm obsessed with how he looks so much more like his dad in a season where we don't even hear about them interacting.

(I'm also curious if, upon interacting more with his dad, Theo will look more disheveled, to show backsliding.)

I'm obsessed with how he suddenly looks a lot more like Will.

To be clear I don't think whatever symbolism is there in the glasses + beard addition (on some level we can't help but become our parents no matter how hard we try?) is necessarily intentional— I'd have to see season 4 before forming an opinion for sure, but I do think it's more likely that it's just a normal look for James Caverly and the time skip between seasons meant that it wouldn't be weird for Theo to look pretty different. Plus, they've now set him up as a potential love interest for Mabel, so he should probably look as attractive as possible.

But still, in a show that has an ongoing theme of family, it's all very interesting. I think season 4 will have a siblings theme of sorts (posts about why). I'm hopeful that Teddy will return and we'll finally see Theo and Will interact. (Note: as far as I know, Nathen Lane's absence and Ryan Broussard's low screen time were more so due to scheduling conflicts then creative decisions.) I'm also hopeful that we'll see a little more of Will's feelings about Oliver's heart attack and the circumstances leading up to it— because once again, Oliver prioritized the theater over his family, which is, ya'know, the root of all their issues.

And speaking of conflict, we've seen a plotline about how DNA doesn't matter (Oliver and Will,) and one about connecting with biological family after a long and painful separation (Loretta and Dickie.) I wonder if season 4 will have something of a push-pull between the two. Considering the actors' chemistry, it's hard not to imagine Theo and Will connecting if given the chance. (And I do think they'll get a chance at some point, or they wouldn't let the actors talk about it in the aftershows.) Given Teddy Dimas, it's hard not to imagine them having complicated feelings about that. Rounding back to the potential symbolism of Theo's new look re: (fear of; you can't help) becoming like one's father, Will experienced that in season 2 with his son's play. It's also been a theme/fear in Charles' life, so very much in these writers' wheelhouse.

There's no ending to this post, it's just a part of Theo's character arc I really enjoy, and I'm excited to see it continue.

[peninkwrites]

Thinking about Wilbur haunting the narrative. His absence felt so. abstract. Which is ironic considering his ghost was there as a constant reminder, but Wilbur not being there wasn't felt like a missing loved one, not to me, at least it wasn't talked about as such, but just. the hole he left (literal, figurative, whatever) and the people who loved him and their desperate attempts to fill it. They didn't talk about Wilbur very much, did they? Not in the grand scheme of things. Wilbur's loudest existence was in "If I can't be the next schlatt, you can't be the next wilbur." Ghostbur existed to be made separate from Wilbur. And talking about the Other doesn't mean talking about the Original.

in exile, Tommy had ghostbur, and it is through the contrast of what we as an audience think Wilbur would have done that we actually see him. Tommy doesn't talk about him. Tubbo doesn't talk about him (save telling ghostbur they didn't need to give Wilbur a grave because ghostbur is there) or there's fundy shouting his grief at GHOSTBUR. Talking about how GHOSTBUR is acting now, not what Wilbur left him with. Everything Wilbur left them with remains constantly at the fringes of the narrative, it is haunting them, but in such strange, intangible ways. I don't think another medium could have shown this type of grief, because cc!Wilbur was still there, behind Ghostbur. So in a medium where character and actor blur and blend, the only part being grieved was the character. Wilbur as a piece of the narrative is what was lost. Later, as Tommy, Tubbo, and co. grew as writers that grief became more tangible and human, but at first the only part of c!Wilbur that died was his place as an active piece of the narrative, and his lack of place ended up impacting the world as loudly just by being a black hole rather than a star.

[majaloveschris]

I’m not saying that CE as an actor can’t be critiqued or that you can’t be disappointed in his role choices or dislike a movie he is in but I don’t understand why so many people in the fandom (or people who claim to be fans) constantly say he’s bad at what he does or hasn’t got the talent.

He clearly does. Of course he’s a handsome white man which definitely would have helped him, but the guy can act.

He has had some rocky patches but none of us can claim to know how/why he chooses certain films. When he experiments he is always great and I think it’s overlooked a lot of the time but Captain America is actually a very hard character to get right. He also spent a lot of his career being type cast.

I’m not saying we have to pour one out for the man but can we just stop ragging on every single thing about him at the moment.

(I’m not accusing you of doing this I just think it is wide spread across the fandom and when we aren’t ragging on him for the relationship situation we are ragging his career. Can we not just have some fun and literally talk about ANYTHING ELSE…at least half of the time? You’re a safe space that’s why I came to you)

I definitely understand what you say. I don't agree with this whole situation, whether it's PR or real, but I also don't agree when people, for example, body shame him or make disgusting comments about his appearance. I'd say the same goes for his work. I really try to separate him as an actor from him as a person. It's still hard for me to do because I've loved his characters because of him, and while I don't agree with whatever this is, a lot of his projects are my favorites, and I love watching them after a long day. But at the same time, I don't want to support someone who married someone like Alba, but I've been excited for PH, for example, so yeah, it's a hard thing to decide, and I think a lot of people feel the same way.

I'm obviously against everything Alba and her friends stand for, but it's hard for me to “let him go” and to imagine he is like them.

I agree that he is a great actor, and I think he has rage. He played very different characters very well, and I agree that playing Captain America is not that easy, and he did an amazing job.

He had a few not-that-great projects, for example, "Playing It Cool," but all in all, I think he had really great ones.

The problem is that most people are really disappointed in him, and not a lot of people want to talk about his projects or how excited they are about his newer ones. When I tried to talk about something else, people accused me of being racist and antisemitic just because I said something good about him.

And to be honest, most people aren't even excited after everything. They don't want to see his movies; they don't care about him. There are a lot of people who are only here to see how this whole thing ends, and that's it. He's lost a lot of fans, and I don't think it's because he is married or not, or who knows, but because of Alba and his friends.

I understand why people are disappointed or why people don't want to support him anymore, but sometimes I feel like people are too cruel to him. Call me anything you want; maybe it's just my stupidity or the faith that I still have in him, but I can't and won't ever say bad things about his hair, teeth, or body, or call him talentless. I know I said he doesn't look that healthy and seems like things have taken a toll on his mental health, but it was just me expressing my concerns.

[chalkrevelations]

Ughhhhh, I'm feeling absurdly melancholy about OF and BostonNick this afternoon, when I only came into this show for a good time. I watched QaF and The L Word, I know the melodrama and how things can turn on a dime, I wasn't really expecting anything less, it's just ...

Boston and Nick were the relationship I was most interested to see in this show, and with one episode left, and the specter of Boeing looming over that, I'm just left with this impending sense of wasted potential. These two characters have had the outline of an amazing arc, where they worked their way through a lot of shit - their own and other people's - to reach the point where they may actually be the least toxic couple right now, but it's been a bare-bones presentation. I feel like the audience has been left to do the work of sussing out a lot of subtextual stuff about the characters and their relationship, left to extrapolate a lot of what's been going on - which, fine, that kind of thing is my jam, and if it was a shorter season, like Moonlight Chicken length, and we were doing this with all the characters, ok. But this is in contrast to the sometimes excruciating detail we've gotten on other characters and relationships as they've run around in circles, sometimes enacting the same drama repeatedly.

I mean, is this a metatexual thing? A storytelling device? Am I supposed to be as tired of Top and Mew going back and forth as I am? Am I supposed to be dreading the amount of screentime it looks like Sand and Ray are going to suck up in the last episode having manufactured drama over Boeing when what they really need to be focused on dealing with is whether Sand's lifestyle is at all conducive to Ray's recovery and sobriety - because it's not just the plum wine business?

Am I supposed to feel like Boston and Nick seem to have been pushed to the outskirts, turned into an afterthought? Don't get me wrong - Mark and Neo continue to eat their scenes alive when they're actually allowed on screen, but like I've said before, it's a good thing they're as talented as they are, because in lesser hands, Boston and Nick would have absolutely been drowned out at this point. They're lucky to get six minutes of screentime, tops, each episode.

I realize I'm at a disadvantage here, because I went into this without investment in the two branded pairs, who are almost certain to not only get screentime but to end up together because, well, branding - even though I can't see what it would hurt to one time have at least an open ending. I honestly don't care, at this point, what happens with Top and Mew, that's how done I am with their interminable push-and-pull. The smartest thing Top ever said was "Maybe we need to stop doing this," before he let Mew pull him in again. But whatever. I do think that a more honest, organic ending for Sand and Ray needs to deal with the fact that Sand's lifestyle - both now and the one he projects for himself in the future - is going to be really difficult for Ray, and that maybe the most caring thing Sand could do for Ray, at least right now, is let him go so that Ray can be in a healthier environment, at least during active rehab, and Ray needs to come to terms with that decision.

Meanwhile, I'm looking at my unbranded pair of actors, who've been given limited screentime for the audience to actually invest in them, who are difficult characters anyway - particularly Boston - who likely are the show's only chance at a pair not ending up together and are therefore almost by default the pair most likely to end up separately as a sacrifice on the altar of "realism," and who now have Boeing hanging over them in literally the last two minutes of the game. And I'm bracing myself. Boeing, diaboli ex machina, either literally out of nowhere, or as a complete surprise because we haven't been given any sense - throughout 11 episodes of Top's childhood fire trauma and Mew's moms' cafe and Sand's numerous side hustles and Ray's taste in music - that there's any preexisting connection between Boston and Boeing, unlike with Top or Sand and their triangle drama that's been repeatedly mentioned. And maybe that's more storytelling device, Boston the enigma, Boston who we don't have access to metatextually the same way the people around him don't have access to him within the narrative, but as a viewer, it reaches a point where that's just frustrating and unfulfilling. And I'm only fan-wanking that it's an effect they're actually trying to achieve in the first place, giving them a benefit of the doubt, when it's maybe just as likely that they just haven't bothered to spend the time that they have with other characters.

So here we are, bottom of the ninth, and here comes Boeing, and I'm bracing myself.

And maybe feeling a little bit of anticipatory grief for what could have been.

[peachym00]

I can’t believe y’all will excuse build’s racist, homophobic and sexist comments he’s made which he admitted to and still support him how many times is he gonna keep apologizing and all his fans are gonna fall for it every time

I'm not going to keep repeating myself, so this is the last I'll say on the matter. This is my opinion, so do with it what you will.

Firstly, I'm not sure why you think I excuse his behaviour in any way. I'm assuming you're saying this to me because you read my post about him, which confuses me because I clearly say I don't justify anything he's done. The things he said are fucked up, and I do not agree with them.

However, the leaked texts are presumably old and unless it comes out that he still displays these views now or continues to in the future, then yes I support him in moving on and doing what's best for him. I also feel the need to point out that with these leaked texts come mistranslations and little to no context. And as someone who is a native English speaker and does not speak or understand Thai, I cannot take these at face value. Especially when the woman behind leaking them has a clear insidious agenda of not seeking justice, but tearing this man down and destroying him until he is nothing.

I'm going to add a few more things here to get my point of view across for anyone else that comes across my account.

I think what people are forgetting is the simple act of being human. And humans are multifaceted and highly complex. Labelling everything as simply as he said this bad thing therefore he should be cancelled and I am better than him because I would never do that is incredibly short sighted.

It is in our human nature to make mistakes, errors and bad judgements but it is up to us as individuals to decide if we should allow someone the grace of being forgiven.

You are completely justified in feeling whatever you like about Build and the situation at hand, but cancel culture does not work. I am not here to punish him and neither are you. I believe he is trying to become a better person. You don't have to agree with me but that is my belief, and if you can't handle that then block me instead of sending me or anyone else anonymous asks.

I fundamentally disagree with the witch-hunt that people are subjecting him to. If you think he is a bad person and you do not support him, then simply leave him alone, block him on all social media, and refuse to contribute towards any kind of monetary support that involves him. Sending him or anyone hatred, vitriol, and death threats make you a bully. And then, if you're acting that way because you think Build is a horrible person, does that not make you just as bad as him?

It has completely astounded me how much nastiness I've seen in this fandom. We all need to remember to be kind. You should be kind to those around you, and you should be kind to yourself. And the moment you find yourself being anything less than because of a man you do not know and who does not know you, you should take a step back and think about what you are doing.

Please don't send me any more anon asks about Build. Vegas and Pete are the characters that I have brainrot over, and they are who I will mainly be focusing on. I am able to separate the character from the actor, but I understand that that is difficult, and I don't blame you if you want to block me for that reason alone or disengage with the fandom altogether.

[serial-serializednovelreader]

okay for the character ask game I couldn’t decide on characters or numbers, so I just threw some random characters and numbers together, and you can decide which apply the most to what character. Whatever you like!

SQ, Jeffers, Garrison, Nicholas, Kate, and Rhonda

1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 15, 16, 18, 20

What do you like or dislike about this character?

SQ - in the show, I like his introspection and that they fleshed him out to not just be Curtain's adopted son who loves art and is under his control (in both a good and bad way). My only issue is that he's not in season 2, we were robbed!! As for the books, I like that what starts out as comic relief ends up being a horrifying realization that this poor teenager is brainswept so much that he can't remember what he's saying. What I dislike is that we never get to see him grow beyond that. Yes, we see him choose kindness (which is great btw) over Curtain, but I wish we had actually gotten to see him in Riddle of Ages besides a quick mention.

Jeffers - I love that he gets to be goofy. Sure the Ten Men in the books were scary, but they let him just be whacky! And why not? I love characters that get to goof around and be silly, especially if they're not supposed to. Plus, you can tell the actor playing him is having a blast and that's how you know a character is well-done. I just wish he had been in season 1, but I'm glad you put him in S.O.S. so I can enjoy him there, Bods!

Garrison - I like that this character exists, first of all. I know book Curtain is the type to want to keep the science secrets to himself, but show Curtain needs a science person to delegate Whisperer stuff to. After all, when would he have time to do this?

(did I want an excuse to put this GIF in again? Yes, yes I did. It was too funny to resist.)

But seriously, I also love that while she does bend to Curtain, she does try to stand up to him in her own way. There's a complicated dynamic there (made more complicated by reading @nobodysdaydreams S.O.S. AU fanfic, which you should read if you haven't yet because OH BOY does it change things about Garrison for you) and it's so interesting to analyze. Also, she's just a little bit quirky and I love her for that.

Nicholas - in the show, I love that they gave him issues!!!! They made him anxious and the way Tony Hale makes his posture more stooped is *chef's kiss* lovely. His "excuse me - *cut to loud screaming montage*" is TOO RELATABLE. I think they were so right for that. Also, making him more directly responsible for Curtain's downfall was a great choice (though I don't actually blame him because he was a literal child it wasn't his fault; if anything, I blame the adoptive parents for separating twins and just not coming back for the other that's so messed up??? Who does that?????). The only thing I dislike was that they basically cut down his narcoleptic attacks to nearly nothing by the second season, almost like they didn't exist. Like, y'all, come on, don't do that!

As for the books, I love his wisdom, compassion and how he always makes time for the children. He always seems to know what they're thinking and is able to encourage them in their darkest hour. Although, I have a love/hate relationship with how they cured his narcolepsy in TPD because on one hand, I hate the "curing disability narrative", but on the other he actively hated it and wanted it gone (plus he had to suppress his emotions so much because of it) that I can't really blame him for wanting it gone...hard to know how to feel on that one!

Kate - KATE MY BELOVED!!! Again, I love everything about her. For show Kate, I love how fast-paced she is. It always makes me laugh when she says something like, "Tower. Scale it. Now!!!" It's so funny to me. Emmy did an amazing job bringing that aspect to life. Show Kate is also rougher around the edges -- I don't hate it because it's more realistic...it's just sad. :(

As for book Kate, I like that she brute forces her way to solutions. Oh she doesn't understand this maze? Guess she's running through the vents. I always admired her agility (and wished I could be that cool!!). I also like that she had to grapple with the dark urge of violence because it makes sense, she's the muscle of the team, why shouldn't she end the bad guys once and for all? A dark theme, sure, but I'm glad TLS didn't hold back on it.

Rhonda - Show Rhonda is so cool because she's so good at mediating within the group and I love that she also tries to fight in her own way against Curtain outside of their work with the society. We love to see some small acts of activism!!! No notes, amazing character.

For book Rhonda, I love how caring she is. She just always finds a way to show the group in big and small ways that she cares about them. I feel like if anyone is neurotypical in that group, it's her, and for once I mean that in a good way (let's be real, someone probably needs to be to remember things and help with social cues) /j. I wish we got to see more of her!

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

Nicholas - in the books, that he learned ASL for Violet in his prequel book! I took 3 ASL classes and while it shouldn't be a big deal for a hearing person to learn sign language for a Deaf person, many times they won't. I love that he automatically accommodated her needs, rather than trying to make her accommodate him. As for the show, the screaming scene comes to mind, but I like that he reads aloud to his friends, I think it's sweet :)

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

Garrison - Giants by Imagine Dragons

Soooo again I had to manually pick this song since I don't really think of MBS characters + music together (which is weird of my brain to do, but whatever!). The reason I picked this song is because it's about addiction and someone reflecting on what they've become because of it. I think it especially applies to your S.O.S headcanon of Garrison and how she is in season 2. Wish I had a happier answer. :(

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

Jeffers - that y'all gaslit me into thinking his name was Jeepers (s/o to @mvshortcut for reassuring me I was right) and that we have Secure the Perimeter Saturday. I think it's beautiful. 😍 ❤️

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

Rhonda - I haven't seen anything I truly despise, but it definitely irks me when she gets forgotten (or whitewashed, I was worried the show was going to do that). She's such an interesting character and deserves to be included as much as possible!!!!!! Again, it's nothing I've actually seen, but if I had to pick.

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

Rhonda - yes, I think so! She'd get the worst end of the bargain dealing with my eccentricities, but I honestly think we could make it work. I'd do my best to try to make things easier for her living with me lol.

13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

Kate - 🪣 ...sorry, I had to!

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

Kate x Reynie - Sorry not sorry, I've always been a Kaynie girlie!!!! I enjoy that TMBS didn't dive into romance at all because it's good to get a break from that. Unfortunately, I'm a hopeless romantic and, at least in the books, I saw potential for something to grow when they got older (like when Reynie gets electrocuted by Curtain in TPD and Kate holds his hand while crying...that scene BROKE ME 😭 😭 😭 ).

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

Garrison x Curtain - idk if anyone actually ships this (I haven't seen it, I'm just adding it to the mix for consideration), but the thought of this makes me want to barf. Just....nah.

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

Nicholas - I've always admired his relationship with Milligan. If you're able to gain the loyalty and friendship of someone who's lost all of their memories, you're doing something right. :) I know Nicholas is always going to feel responsible for Curtain's misdeeds, and by extension, Milligan's memory loss (in both the books and show since Curtain is his brother and Nicholas is too much of an empath to not feel some kind of guilt), but I truly admire how he treats Milligan as someone to be taken seriously and who he wants to help.

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

Jeffers - I don't know if this crossover is allowed, but can you imagine if Moocho Brazos and Jeffers became friends outside of Curtain's influence? I don't know, I just feel like they would be besties and potentially great together in a fight. Moocho would totally break out some cool helicopter fighting moves and Jeffers would do...something?

I hope you enjoy these answers. This was super fun, Bods!!

[observers-journal]

Im sorry if im making a big out of this but I just saw a person saying they are digusted that fans are still defending this man and how they are also disgusted that people people are still making nashuri art and fanworks 😑

Are you for real? Did you just see the the headlines were Elena make some SA allegations against Tenoch and then sided with Elena and once the headlines didn't keep up with the situation you just dropped it there? This is why I hate it when headlines just see a big scandal to make a few money off of it then proceed not to tell the whole truth or keep up with it.

But that's just my opinion for me personally I can why many people separate the actor from the character and others can't but at time they shouldn't bash on those who are comfortable on wanting to write and talk about more on the character. At the same time however unless there are those who are willing to take their there time to keep up with this situation they will tell you that Tenoch is innocent and will provide you the wrongs of Elena and what she has been trying to do over the course of last year and this year, but if we correct them chances are they will be "no your wrong! You aren't believing in the victims! You are defending him because he hot and your favorite actor!"

I'm really getting sick at tired of these people 😒

I feel you nonnie. I don't know if you had a chance, but @cutelatinagirl 's current pinned post speaks about exactly the same topic.

Humanity used to have books, then radio, then television. Then came the internet. And now we all don't get the same news. We have echo chambers. We are fed what we like. And what most idiots like to see, is the same goddamned shit every single day. They are so blind they can't come out of the internet bubble of theirs to see the reality.

Again, being able to separate the actor from the character is a sign of maturity, which most people don't have.

What infuriates me the most is how quickly people are ready to move on to the next topic of interest. They'll just do whatever suits their agenda. They don't have the guts to stand behind someone innocent and support them. So they'll stop posting fics/delete them at the drop of a hat. They'll stop posting videos.

And now if somebody is posting Nashuri stuff, they have a problem. Somehow they don't see a problem with celebrities who have pleaded guilty to actually doing stuff.

Again, attention on this is dying out and I hope it really does. But I also hope Tenoch takes legal action. Until then, I'm gonna grab my popcorn and enjoy El Elegido on Netflix on August 16th!

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

we discussed why Ridley Scott's film is unlikely to be the way we would like it to be

so I have a question: what films/series about Napoleon more or less correctly represent real history? or just good in your opinion

oh man, I'm a bit of a picky person when it comes to Napoleonic films/series, but not in a logically consistent manner so people get a little confused sometimes. Which is fair.

I'll give you two rec's:

My favourite Napoleon movie is Monsieur N. I think what makes it work is that it's a historical AU, basically, and fills all my favourite tropes. Premise is that Napoleon, through a weird magic (?) thing, switches fates with his valet/spy Cipriani and manages to escape St. Helena.

As one can guess, it's only loosely, loosely based in history. The ages of some people are altered (Betsy Balcombe is aged up significantly so she can be an appropriate love interest for Napoleon; Barry O'Meara is in his late thirties/early forties for no apparent reason etc.). I feel like Albine got shafted in being cast as a bit of the Conniving Courtesan. Montholon is positioned as a poisoner, even though by the time the film was made that theory/story had been pretty heavily debunked. They omit Napoleon's crap treatment of Fanny Bertrand after she rebuffed his advances. Napoleon's still played too seriously - but that's a fault in literally almost every production ever.

That said, I love Bertrand in this. Gourgaud makes a rogue appearance and is suitably chaotic. I like Sir Hudson Lowe as well - I feel that Richard Grant was cast perfectly. The visuals are beautiful. It's just gorgeously filmed (I love the first confrontation/meet scene between Napoleon and Lowe - the playing with light, the choice of clothes, the switching through languages etc. it's masterful).

The historical inaccuracy aside, I actually liked the relationship between Napoleon and Betsy. I'm just like "clearly it's another Betsy Balcombe. Funny that two people have the same name on this small island!"

(Obviously, in reality, she was a literal child when she knew Napoleon. He was an uncle/older brother figure to her and she was clearly a surrogate daughter/niece to him. They pranked each other and teamed up to prank Lowe on the regular alongside playing silly games and mucking about.)

I love that it's a multi-lingual production so you have English, French and Corsican being spoken, as appropriate for the characters/people. The sound track is fitting. It's appropriately atmospheric.

So yeah, I am very fond of the film. But it's just a fun, stupid romp.

You can't go in expecting a Real Historical And/Or Accurate Account of Napoleon on St. Helena. Thankfully, the film never positions itself as such a thing. It's very clearly a What If + Fanfiction. I recommend going in and treating it like a slightly more serious Knight's Tale in its approach to history (vibes & essence over facts). If you do that, you'll have a blast. If you go in looking for Historical Napoleon or whatever, you'll hate it.

I also may or may not have a Thing for Philippe Torreton (who plays Napoleon). So. That might also inform my affection for this dumb film.

-----

I remember enjoying the 2002 French miniseries Napoleon (with Christian Clavier and Isabella Rossellini). As with all series and films, it has its issues (there are definite inaccuracies), but I liked it overall. I feel they hit the emotional beats between Napoleon and Josephine really well.

(While she's not older than him in it, at least the actors the same age and she's not like 16 years younger than Napoleon /eye roll.)

The scene when she reams him out during their divorce is powerful (she does this great thing about how he always wanted to make it clear that he's separate from the ancien regime and Not Like Those People but what is he doing now? He's marrying one of Marie Antoinette's relatives. And like, she is calling him out for his political inconsistency, and making the point that it's a bad decision in terms of Optics, but it's also so clearly much more than that. It's well done). Napoleon's reaction when he learns that she's died is heart breaking and well rendered/believable.

There is also humour and convivial moments that are often lacking in historical biopics with him, which I appreciate (love the "you need to take the Austrian uniform off the scarecrow or we'll have an International Incident on our hands" scene).

There's a rogue Coulaincourt who makes an appearance! Nice to see him. Same with Lannes - glad he makes an appearance. Though there's no Duroc or Junot, unfortunately. (Granted, I understand the need to keep the cast to a reasonable amount of people.)

So yeah, it's an entertaining series. It's a bit of a "classic" in the sense that I feel like anyone who has gone through a Napoleon Phase watches it.

----

Truly, the best representation of Napoleon is in Bill and Ted's Most Excellent Adventure. You're welcome.

----

I hope this helps!

[yelenaa-romanova]

So apparently there's been some Jason Spisak drama about him dating a 22-years-old Jinx cosplayer and being weird towards other young fans before. As usual, I missed all of it. Just tried to do some research and none of it has been satisfying. The twitter posts labeled as "evidence" and "proof" that Jason's a "groomer" and whatnot prove nothing to me. Yeah, maybe it's weird he's been so close with young fans, I see how that can be misleading very easily. But I guess none of us here actually know Jason irl and I'm so sick and tired of this cancel culture and allegations against actors and other celebs that so often turn out to be false. I witnessed the exact same thing in the The 100 fandom a while ago. Jason himself said there are lies being spread about him. I don't want to apologize his maybe problematic actions in the past, but I'm also not gonna blindly believe whatever I read online. I'm sick of the drama and I'm very sad and sorry that I let it get to me and partly ruin the way I see Jason and also Silco. I know he is not his character, but Jason loves this character so much and has always happily interacted with the fandom, the two are tied together. I can't fully separate them. I've gone off topic and I doubt anyone has read this, but yeah, that's my opinion on everything. I don't know Jason Spisak and I'm not gonna simply believe some secondhand twitter posts (especially because twitter is so toxic in general). His partner may be half his age, which is weird, but it's also none of our business. Plus they're both adults and so are most of us here so let's behave accordingly.

[ilikekidsshows]

"A deuteragonist has no narrative purpose outside of their relationship with the protagonist.

They may have a rich backstory, a compelling motivation for being involved in this specific plotline and an arc that is interesting in its own right but ultimately it doesn’t matter because this person exists solely so they can react to whatever happens in the life of whoever it is we’re really interested in."

Saw this on a website when I googled about "What is a deuteragonist" and among the answer and paragraph, I think this one fit Adrien the most.

Source : https://filmlifestyle.com/what-is-a-deuteragonist/#:~:text=A%20deuteragonist's%20role%20is%20to,are%20not%20exactly%20the%20same.

Sorry about not liking your sources, Research Anon, but this article is bad. Like, I know the term "deuteragonist" isn't very firmly defined in any official resource (it literally just means "second actor"), but this article can't even build up a case for its own definition of the term. It argues that deuteragonists are both unimportant and second main characters and all the examples it uses to showcase how we aren't "interested" in deuteragonists that I can recognize are arguably even more popular than the main character in many circles. Many people consider Han Solo and Obi Wan Kenobi more interesting than Luke amd Anakin and I know a huuuuuuge chunk of the Lord of the Rings fandom is far more invested in Aragorn over Frodo and do consider him a protagonist on an equal level.

Arguably all characters in any story are only viewed through the protagonist lense, because it's their story, so defining deuteragonists with this as their big attribute shows a lack of understanding of how storytelling works. Supporting characters only exist to flesh out the main character(s) more and are only important to the story through their relationship to the main character. What sets the deuteragonist apart from being a supporting character is that they do more, otherwise they wouldn't have their own term; they are meant to be as integral to the plot as the protagonist. In fact, some deuteragonists never interact with their story's protagonist, if a story is following two or more different story paths; one of those might be the main one, but that doesn't mean the others exist there just to reflect on the main one, even if those branching stories eventually combine, like the first Death Gate Cycle book does.

"Helping the protagonist" is also a very undefined character trait in the article. Cheering the hero on is helping but that doesn't mean the cheering classmates in a sports anime are deuteragonists. Again, if everyone helping is a deuteragonist, we wouldn't need a separate word for it. What the article fails to take into account is the multiple meanings of the word "actor". Actor means someone playing a part, true, but it also means someone taking action. A Deuteragonist needs to have agency in a story, they need to be able to influence what happens or they're not acting in a storytelling sense. This is another way to tell a deuteragonist apart from a mere supporting character.

The way I've always understood the term, deuteragonist can also be called "a secondary main character" for a reason; in many cases this character is meant to be second only to the main character (or the antagonist) in terms of story presence and impact. If someone outclasses your deuteragonist in these respects, then they're not a deuteragonist, they're a supporting character. From season four onward, both Alya and Félix outclass Adrien in story impact and importance, hence, he's being shafted out of his role as the deuteragonist.

If you're using this article to show a possible explanation for why the crew behind Miraculous can treat Adrien as the deuteragonist in promotions but write him as only a supporting character in the show, you might be correct. This narrow and lessened view of any character outside of the protagonist seems to be the exact attitude behind the show.

[ace-and-the-rpg-horrors]

i'm not sure if you've read tsukasa's most recent event too, but just in case, they had met a shy but talented actor named Bakuno Reki there. He had invited WxS to apply to be extras in the movie he was going to star in, which the troupe was accepted for. The original plan was to show up to set, learn more about movie production, be background characters for like two scenes, and then peace out. This is not what happened.

The director ended up inviting WxS to join the team part time as stagehands, assisting with props, set-up, and minor tasks. They decided to accept in order to learn even more about a new style of acting and production.

It was pretty hard work, tbh. The director was quite strict with expectations and it's just hard in general, but they all found the work to be rewarding. Tsukasa and Nene enjoyed learning more about the differences in acting through film (non-chronological, which requires different approaches to displaying growth and emotional connection), and Emu learned a lot about scheduling and administration! Rui wants to learn more about directing, but it's a bit hard to do from the sidelines.

A little ways into the project, the director realizes Rui's passion for directing and drive to absorb every piece of information like a sponge. He decides to accept Rui as a directing assistant for the rest of the project. It's even harder work, but Rui accepts without a second thought.

Nothing really major happens until the day they film the climax. The story they are filming is an adaptation of a novel about a boy, depressed and unsatisfied with daily life, who wants to disappear into the sea, suddenly having his life flipped upside down by a mysterious girl claiming to be his long-lost sister. Slowly, through the light of her joy, he learns to love life, piece by piece. The climax scene occurs at an airport, after the sister leaves with no warning. The boy follows her there and asks why, why would she go, why abandon him after everything? (She has a terminal illness and thought leaving like this would be the most painless way to separate. She hadn't meant to get so attached to him when she first contacted.) It's a pretty emotionally heavy scene- one they can't get right. They tried all sorts of re-directions, edits, angles, but nothing managed to capture the true expression they were going for. The shoot was called of and postponed for the next day.

Rui took it upon himself to try and figure out exactly what's wrong with the scene. He pretty much shut himself in a room with the director to pour over the script (and also skipped a meal, for the second mentioned time this event.) They could not figure it out.

Suddenly, the door opens, and a strange, kinda shady former "friend" of the director walks in. He pretty much compliments the work in a very backhanded, passive aggressive way and acts all chummy towards the director, who is not having it at all. The strange man says something about. something weird. I don't actually remember. but it leaves a sort of impression on the both of them. (Later, the director mentions the fact the strange man is an old college "friend" and current stage director.)

The next day, Rin pops by to check in on the troupe, only to immediately notice Rui Did Not Sleep. He spent the entire night rewatching the current footage, past recordings of Reki's old performances, anything that could possibly help. He didn't get anywhere still.

Emu, Tsukasa, and Nene run up to Rui and hand him a bento box (though it's left unsaid, it's because they know he isn't taking care of himself and want to help him, in whatever way they can.) Emu starts talking about how fun it is they have so many different options for bento, so that everyone can grab the things they like! And, wouldn't it be so cool if they could find a way to personalize each bento to each person!!

Then Rui got it. That's why the scene was off. Though the script works well in the book, it's not suited for a performance. It's not suited for Reki. He runs off to go tell the director his revelation (never having actually accepted the bento offered to him).

Rui explains his thought process to the director, only to find he had already come to his own conclusion. He applauds Rui for making it this far, especially having only done film directing for a short while, but the change that is truly necessary is a step above what Rui suggested. Rather than change the dialogue, he wants to remove it all together. They shoot the change. It was perfect.

The event concludes with WxS watching the initial screening of the movie, really happy with the final product. The rest of the troupe is super impressed with how much Rui helped, even when he feels like he didn't contribute much at all. He wasn't able to fix the scene, after all.

After the screening and WxS's departure, the strange "friend" pops by the theater. He forces the director to show the movie, again simultaneously berating and praising it. He also asks about that "strange young kid you were working with. What's his name, Kamishiro?". He has a feeling their paths may cross again...

Overall, a pretty decent event! Not as earth-shattering as curtain call, but still carries a lot of meaning to Rui's character. It really highlighted his self-sacrificial nature and drive to learn, and how much WxS means to each other. It also sets up a potential new conflict with this mysterious shady guy. Excited to see more of him!

OH MY GOSH, THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!! ah this is. wow, yeah, very helpful actually!! i KNEW that guy had shit vibes...

i saw people talking about Rui's "self-sacrificing" nature but didn't know where it had come from until now!! and aww... Emu indirectly solving the problem? there's so much that can be said about how Emu and Rui are a fantastic duo who bring out the best in each other... rotating in my mind...

[skrunkly-baloongis]

OK. Theory time, bitches.

TW: manipulation, death, etc.

Honestly, this isn't a wholesome theory/headcannon for this series, but it is something really cool that I want to talk about. A lot of this will center around the motives and even what could have happened to Joseph.

There will be a TL:DR at the bottom so don't worry lol.

Also, fair warning: I am a horrible writer lmfao.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Although Joseph, outside of being mentioned through posts on Twitter by the creator of SDJ, is kind of an unknown character, I love the idea of him being behind a lot of what SDJ does.

He was the original actor for him, and it's safe to assume he died while filming for the show based on context clues from the Twitter. With that info, I think it's safe to assume Joseph took on the form of a vengeful spirit with his appearance before he died: as SDJ.

Now, you may be thinking: but if that's the case, wouldn't SDJ exhibit traits similar to Joseph's? And to that I say I don't know. We know barely anything about Joseph outside of his appearance, his death and what he did before dying. Outside of that there's not much to go off of. But taking into consideration how most would feel after a wrongful death, it's safe to assume he was pissed.

Pissed off to a point that maybe he had to be sealed away, hence the tape he was found in as SDJ. But who would seal him away to begin with? And another question, why? Why not make it so that he could pass on in peace? Could something have latched on to him before death, taking over? Was it even Joseph who took over SDJ upon his death? I'm unsure. (That last bit was just a mini theory I was toying with lol).

Regardless of the circumstance we can safely say that Jack and Joseph are one. However, they are still different, like water and oil, and I find that theory so interesting.

Joseph and Jack are both separate entities sharing a form.

Joseph, at least upon death, being possibly more nihilistic, possessive, obsessive and vengeful;

And Sunny Day Jack being the opposite: bubbly, happy, a bit anxious, optimistic and helpful.

I've made other theories before, and some of them brush up on how Joseph, under the guise of Sunny Day Jack, wants to snatch a body to feel real once more after suffering a wrongful death.

And he will do that by any means necessary, even if it involves emotional manipulation.

The main character, while not exactly weak is definetly not the most stable individual. They're going through shit, and that's just the break Joseph needs to worm his way into your mind and life.

SDJ, most likely genuinely likes the main character, and only works with Joseph because the end goal results in the main character never being able to leave his side. And by that, I mean Joesph takes over your body, and does whatever he wants as you, and SDJ lives on, rent free with Joseph in your subconscious, knowing you can't escape or leave. Which is honestly pretty wild.

Feel free to either add on or debate on this bc I feel like a madman writing this post lmfao.

TL:DR: I debate whether or not its SDJ behind the manipulative work or Joseph, and theorize that both SDJ and Jack work together in the same form to get to their goals, all of them involving you and never letting you go. :3

[froggyfriendart]

If you want could you possibly. Tell me about your ocs

:O Hey hey I just saw this!! Thank you for taking an interest in them :)

So, my Sky:Children of The Light OCs

These three are Mercymorn, Arcadias, and Ariadne. They're all three of them rogue actors in whatever world they find themselves in, you can't usually figure out what the hell they're doing or why they're actually there. Do not separate them.

Mercy is a fighter, and one filled with pride at that - they can and they will pick fights to prove a point and they get very petty when they don't win. They're 75% sick moves and 25% gremlin bastard. They'd be the type you see standing in the center of a coliseum or acting all heroic with their cape fluttering in the wind, but they're rather silly actually.

Arcadias is a musician, and a traveler. They play the lute. They're extremely curious at heart and though none of them can actually talk, they love asking questions through mimickry and wide gestures. Behaves like a bird. Actually really sweet, prone to playing pranks, sometimes acts rather childish. The cape they have shapeshifts into wings whenever, they think it looks cool. So do I.

Ariadne is a circus performer. They're the one taking the stage, they're the one spinning the stories and making shadow-puppets against the walls. They will strangle you if you talk slander about their performance. They're also really into fortune telling, but will lie (well, lie through gestures and implication) for shits and giggles.

Now, this is Eurwen, she's really cool, she's not with those three but she knows them and tolerates them. This artwork is actually a bit older than most of them but it's one of my favorites. Deadpan, ruthless, I literally made her so I could be gay over her muscles and overly serious butch charm. She's everything to me. Other than Arcadias she's the only character I've ever drawn more than once, because I was working on her character sheet which is as of yet incomplete (like. a lot of my art)

now THIS GUY. he's my specialest little guy, this guy. His name is Lucien Lyfrassir VI. He's in my brain at all times. Fucking shit up and spray painting the walls neon. He wears a cool jacket absolutely covered in neon graffiti-like designs, he wears a cool LED mask/helmet that hides his face, not pictured here. Does Testosterone injections (like. 60% of my characters are transgender. I do make the rules.), his supply is literally a replicator machine that's been replicating the same stuff from centuries ago because it's a pain to hope every new civilization produces it. He jumped into a black hole for fun. Explosions! Mad cackling! Cinematically standing on lamp posts, leaning against walls with dark and dramatic lighting. Fights with gauntlets he built himself. He is also immortal. Absolute vibing. He's just My Guy. AND he's hot. Him and Eurwen are, anachronistically, best friends. God. I fucking love him. His partner is unfortunately not pictured because I haven't drawn him yet. God i care about him.

This is Dreamer. Their flute is named Lullabye (sic), they were first designed to be a bard in DnD and then they sort of morphed into a different kind of character. They're the man in the moon.

There's a lot more but I haven't got any art for them yet and anyway, you're welcome to ask me about them at any time :) I really appreciate you taking the time to let me talk about these guys. I love talking about these guys. I can do it forever.

[dragbunart]

Some REALLY messy Concepts for some stuff I plan for Super Sonic Sound (Maybe I'll save up money to hire some voice actors and a few animators to do a few animations for it)

Super Sonic Sound is a silly little AU that's been rattling around my head for the better part of 2 months (or more)

I've mentioned each character has their own stuff their going through and how i want to pull from many sources of canon, the main ones being the game, Underground, and IDW comics (But as you'll see with Tania I will pull from all avenues as I see fit)

Sonic, Tania, Manic, and Sonia are separated at birth (for their safety) and don't meet up till the 'Classic' Era. So about 9, 10, or 11.

Sonic lives with his Uncle Chuck, who runs a Chilli dog truck that they travel from town to town. Never really staying in one place for multiple reasons.

Manic was SUPPOSED to live with a well-off family, but it was picked up by a thief who discovers he's not a package of valuables later but keeps him anyways because they like kids. This is how Manic ends up with Rouge as an Older sister.

Sonia is left at Acorn Castle and is Raised as Sally's childhood friend and Lady-in-Waiting. Honestly, they're raised more like sisters than Anything and Sonia's the only one who has an inkling she may be royal herself, with her photographic memory, and King Acorn mentioning Mobotropilis, glancing at her then deflecting. She also heard stories about how the Queen ran away with any heir to the thrown. Plus the adults are insistent she sit in on any of Sally's classes that have to do with ruling. (because as far as they know, Sonia's the only survivor of that royal family)

Tania is left at Vanilla and Cream's house (obviously before Cream is born). Taken in immediately as Vanilla's First daughter. Vanilla's family had relocated to the Acorn Kingdom from Mobotropilis (I may change its name in Super Sonic Sound) after the attack (as I Imagine Aleen didn't IMMDIOTLY separate her kids, she needed to make sure all the homes she planned on sending them to, were safe). Tania never really asks about her birth family because she's given so much love by Vanilla and later Cream.

This all comes to a head in the 'Classic' Era.

The Acorn Royal family is holding a huge festival/ball thing where any of the citizens can enter the Palace.

Tania obviously attends with Vanilla and Cream.

Sonia LIVES in the Palace so... Duh

Manic and Rouge decide its the perfect night for a heist on the palace.

While Sonic and his Uncle Chuck return to the town because it will be GREAT for business.

During the festivities, Sonic's running around delivering orders, when he runs (literally) into Tania, who claims to have seen two shady-looking individuals leave the main party. It's enough cause for concern that they talk to a Gaurd (a certain De'coolete or however you spell that name), Who dismisses them quickly, but Sonia overheard them. She tells Sally and Nichole she'll return shortly and escorts SOnic and Tania through the palace to where they keep the Kingdom's family jewels on display for plot reasons.

Manic hears them coming and rushes Rouge out, planning on taking the blame if he can't get out fast enough.

Obviously he can't so Rouge has to watch through the window as her adoptive brother is accused of trying to steal.

They don't get much time to argue about it because there's a large explosion from the ballroom.

Robots are attempting to capture everyone in sight, going for adults first. Sonic's quick to kick into action and start's smashing bots, while Tania begins to evacuate people out of the palace. Sonia orders Antoine to get Sally out of there while she creates a distraction, and he complies. Manic's a thief, not heartless, so he begins to aid the other's efforts where he can, taking out a bot or two here, and getting nearby civilians out.

Eggman (or whatever evil, but probably the Doc himself) shows up... Well he has a proxy of some sort he can be visible on and see through. because He recognizes Sonic's attack patterns as the thing thats been randomly smashing his bases and bots.

When he see's the four hedgehogs he's livid.

Straight up calling them 'Aleena's brats' and ordering their execution then and there to stop some prophecy. The attacks on the now disperse guests stop and the bots begin to focus on the hedgehogs. Sonic kind panics and grabs the other three, seeing the attacks focused on them.

He rushes them into Chuck's truck, and begins to speed off, shortly after realizing his Uncle has probably been captured (as he wouldn't have left the stove on or keys on the ground). He wants to go back to save him but right now it's live or death.

Tania navigates them to Vanilla's house, where the rabbit had already started packing, having been told by her husband if this were to happen to run into the forest.

Tania asks who 'Aleena' was and Vanilla is silent, but Sonia's not. Informing them of Mobotropilis and the unknown fate that befell the royal family.

Vanilla opens up. Her husband had belonged to the royal guard and shortly after the Queen's children were born there was a prophecy that a great tyrant would appear but those to which the throne truly belongs would stop it, freeing everyone caught in his grasp. She also admits while her husband never confirmed it before his death, she always had a feeling Tania wasn't just some orphaned girl left on her doorstep.

Vanilla also reveals that their instrument charms were some ancient royal relic, and she didn't know the specifics.

Sonia reveals she had been having suspicions for years, but this confirmed it, and seeing as Robotnik referred to ALL of them as Aleena's brats, the four were probably siblings.

Manic is quiet but asks if there's anything more to that prophecy. But Vanilla says she doesn't know.

Cream asks what are they gonna do next? Are they going to come with her and her mother into the forest or... Sonic admits he's going to take down Eggman no matter what, and the others are welcome to join him. Manic and Sonia say they need time to think, while Tania immediately joins.

She doesn't want Cream to have to run forever, so the sooner Eggman is handled the sooner her sister can have a stable home life.

Sonia meets Sally outside the palace where Sally reveals the castle has been taken over, so she's evacuating her people into the forest. Sonia explains the situation on her end and Nichole encourages Sonia to go, she's obviously needed with her siblings. Sonia gives her tearful goodbyes and promises to be in touch as much as possible.

Meanwhile Manic met up with Rouge, who had been trailing him. It's... a Hard chat about doing the right thing. Rouge understands Manic could get all the answers he's wanted about who his family is and was, but she could lose her brother, her partner in crime in the process. Manic jokes how the rewards for taking down someone like Robotnik could be nice, and he'll make sure Rouge has a fancy, high-paying title if it turns out he is some fancy prince.

Rouge doesn't want him to go, afraid he'll like his biological family better but lets him go regardless. He needed her to.

She decides to become a treasure hunter in the meantime, get their funds up just in case things went south.

Tania promises to come check on Cream and Vanilla when she can To write them.

The four load into the Chilidog truck and leave the city.

Sonic lets them know he's been fighting Eggman for a bit, and the truck has been a great cover, but he'll need to teach them the family business.

Within the first few towns, they find a rhyme. Tania's a great waitress, zooming around on her skates. Sonic is their speedy delivery man. Sonia is a great Cashier, friendly and cheerful. And Manik is killer in the kitchen.

Eventually Manic realizes the truck has a few hidden functions, discovering that it can convert from a kitchen to a living quarters, to a stage.

It's about this time that they try experimenting with their relics. Manic absentmindedly using them to air drum when a set of drums magically appears in front of him. Tania and Sonic both have picks, Sonic just tended to use his on an actual guitar. But After seeing what happened with Manic Tania tries to air bass. Sure enough a bass appears.

Sonia doesn't understand her's as much, since it's not like a pick, or drumsticks, hers just seems to be a keyboard pattern. Sonic asks if she knows Paino and Sonia's insulted he asks and shows him by showing him the position of her fingers for a song.

And like magic a keytaur appears. They realize that it's actually very easy to vibe together like this. Music becomes their bonding activity. Though they don't form a band JUST yet.

And that's all I got for these concepts. I'll probably go over more some other time. But this would be how the story starts. probably over the course of a few episodes if I were to animate it

[melancholy-marionette]

(I apologize for the errors, I use Google Translator to write this post) Hello, not so long ago I found out about your game "Darling Duality" and, having passed it the other day, fell in love with it! You draw amazing, and I almost really fell in love with Castor (you picked up an amazing voice for him, it's nice to listen to him). The way the atmosphere is conveyed deserves separate words. First, the calmness of the day / evening for the passage of the game, then a sweet and slightly anxious feeling during the first sleep with Castor, then embarrassment and panic fright in the cube with a slight madness (when we cut our palm) and at the very end a light comedy made me not get bored and experience emotions throughout the passage of the demo game! You write amazing music that conveys the atmosphere well! Please forgive me if my message seems strange or stupid to you, but in addition to thanking you for playing, I would like to ask a couple of questions (of course, if you don't mind):

Is it possible to ask questions about the character? I would like to learn as much as possible about Castor/Castoria, but if you can't, then I'll understand everything.

How is the development of the game progressing and when, perhaps, will we be able to see the sequel? (please forgive me if my question sounded rude. In no way am I going to be rude to you, rush you or put pressure on you)

Thank you so much for the wonderful game, and I wish you success in everything!

Hey hey! Thanks so much for all your kind words :3 I'm really glad you've enjoyed what there is of DD so far! I just wanted to let you know that I do plan to answer your questions and write you a proper reply, I just don't have time to do it at the moment because I'm really busy trying to get my project for this year's Yandere Jam done in time (the jam ends this coming Tuesday x3) I just didn't want you to think I was ignoring you or anything, so thought I'd let you know that I will answer when I can, it just might be a little while :3 Hope you have a good weekend! EDIT (to add my full answer :3)

Okay, so, hopefully I'm doing this right and you'll be able to see what I'm typing cos I don't really know how Tumblr works all that well x3

Firstly, I should probably say that, while I wish with all my heart that I could draw, I sadly cannot draw to save my life T_T haha. The art in all my games is either the result of me teaming up with amazing artists who can draw beautifully, or, me taking to GIMP and spending hours editing assets that I own to at least try and make them look somewhat unique to my projects rather than using them as they come :3

Darling Duality is the result of the second option, haha. I think it took me around 3 days to edit Castor/ia's sprites because I heavily edited colours, but I also added additional facial expressions that didn't come with the asset pack by layering parts of the face individualy, haha.

I'm glad you ended up liking Castor though ^-^ And I agree, his voice actor is incredible and the character wouldn't be the same without him!

I can also only take credit for certain music tracks within the game x3 The soundtrack is currently only partially original, and the rest of the tracks are ones I chose from various asset packs that felt like they fit well. I really enjoy making music though, so I've been trying to include more and more original tracks in my more recent projects :3

Your message doesn't seem strange or stupid at all though! I think it's extremely sweet :3 And it means a lot to me that you liked the game enough to even want to write something about it ^-^

I don't mind answering questions at all, so you're welcome to ask whatever you like :3 There might be some things that I can't say if they might contain spoilers for the story that is still to come, but I'll do my best to answer what I can.

To answer your second question, in all honesty, development is going very slowly >.< I got quite demotivated to work on the project when I found out that I might not be able to get the same voice actors back to keep playing the characters. So I ended up putting the project on hold and just working on game jams for quite a while.

The voice acting situation is still up in the air, but I am at least slowly working on the project again :3 I have a lot of writing finished that currently isn't coded into the game yet. In the next update, I'm hoping to continue a little more of Castor/ia's story, along with adding a new character to the mix as well whose route you will be able to begin.

It's a very long-term project though because I hope to add quite a few different characters over time. Because of that, my plan was to update sort of episodically, so that it doesn't take forever to release new content. Because the fully completed game will likely take me years to make >.<

As for the next update though, I can't really put a proper time on when I might be able to get it released, but I'm really hoping that it will at least be sometime later this year :3 It's just hard to say because you never know what is going to go wrong and get in the ay, haha.

Thank YOU for taking the time to check the game out and leave such kind words <3

[ddejavvu]

Hi! I'm very new to your blog and I love your writing a lot, I've been through almost all of your masterlists in the fandoms we share, except for the Spencer one. I'd like to read through that one as well, because I really like your characterization of him in the two things I have read, and I enjoyed his character back when I watched the show, but then I found out about the actor's problematic actions and I stopped watching a few years ago and I just keep getting reminded while I read. I also thought about finishing the show after I found out it had ended, but I really have trouble separating the actor from the character. Any tips?

I'm sorry if this is a weird ask to get and I don't mean to burden you with my moral dilemma, you just seem really nice and I think that your Spencer seems like all the best of the character condensed and I'm annoyed at myself that I can't even enjoy fanmade content anymore.

hi there! i appreciate how well thought out and thorough this message was, and i wish i could offer you a better response 😅 my secret is that

1.) i don't know what he did

2.) i don't attach nearly as much happiness/joy to the actors as i do to their characters

i don't really keep up with actors like i obsess over their characters, real people are never as interesting to me! i have a few celebrities/actors that i do follow on social media or binge the entirety of their filmography but matthew isn't one of them so i don't really know what he's up to or what he's done in the past. it's easy for me to love spencer because i don't know/care about (in the least insulting way possible) matthew at all 😅 it's like that way with a lot of actors for me, i like their character and i definitely assign them the credit for portraying them in a way that's loveable enough for me to latch onto them but i have little to no interest in real people and their lives because it's never as interesting or exciting to me as a character! like i mentioned before i do keep up with a few of my absolute faves but mgg isn't one of them so i think it's kind of easy for me not to be affected by whatever he's done in the past when i care only about spencer 🛐

if you'd like general tips on separating actor from character i'd just say turn to more fanmade content? because then you don't even have to credit the actor for the scenes written; of course spencer fanworks are modeled with mgg in mind but it's not like you're watching a line delivery that he personally thought out or you're appreciating an episode that he directed, you're reading a fanfiction or looking at fanart that someone made with spencer in mind. i do genuinely hope that helps, and i'm sorry again that i couldn't be very useful in this discussion!