#feel free to ask me to elaborate on any

[nico-robin-official]

Man. I hate when you like dislike a thing, but the most outspoken critics of it are weird chuds who dislike it for awful reasons. Like nonono I swear it's not about the fact that there's a gay person in it. It's about the awful pacing and uncompelling writing.

[ratcandy]

Big Huge Irritated Rant About The Latest COTL Update's Story Choices and the Implications

So the lore drop in the new Cult of the Lamb update, Unholy Alliance, pisses me off. The writer's confirmation of what that lore drop means pisses me off more.

Why? Because it's unnecessary recontextualization that was made pretty obviously in favor in one character in particular, and somehow in that process makes that very same character way less interesting. I think it's incredibly detrimental to the story and I will Explain Why in a second.

But before I do, I just want to put this out there: Prior to this update, my opinions on the Bishops and Narinder and that entire plotline were pretty neutral. I'm an NPC enjoyer, I spend my time thinking about that moth with two lines of dialogue. I did not previously have strong opinions on Narinder or Shamura outside of mild dislike for fandom treatment. So I'm not coming from a place of bias here (or at the very least I'm not trying to be). I genuinely, wholeheartedly, 100% believe this writing decision was unnecessary and the Wrong one to make, and I think it severely undercuts the original plotline because this was a retcon and one that sucks pretty bad.

Ok we're on the same page here? Ok awesome. Long rant ahead, and obvs spoilers for the Unholy Alliance update

So first, what the hell am I talking about? What part of the update do I not like? Let's clarify that first.

It's Shamura's dialogue. Like, all of it. For ease of understanding, here is all the dialogue I will be talking about:

"Ah... we gathered here, the four of us, a council of war and I the general. I have not forgot. I did not tell them that chains to bind a God must be forged of Godly matters. What matter of Gods? What matters of Gods? I have not forgot. The betrayal of kin, the breaking of spirits, blood spilled, his and ours. ...the sacrifice of what we had sacrificed so much for... ...shaped into shackles for our own brother. And our wounds always to weep. Such sharp claws..."

--

"He sought to break nature's own laws. Death was his, yet he placed his sacred duty in peril. His experiments... Experiments I encouraged. I am not... blameless. My soul, stained... yet I do not... Ah, The story. Yes the story... He wanted to open the doors between Life and Death, to... to allow their return. Those mere... mortals. Even though he knew their sacrifices, their faith, their fears sustain us. Death must be the end. Otherwise, what use would they have for Gods? They began to flock to him. What he promised, we could not match. He swelled with devotion... while we waned. Would he have let us perish? I could not take... the risk... the hunger... You are lucky there are none left to force such a choice on you. Hail, Lamb. Last God... lonely God... Ah... I feel... unburdened..."

And for fun, before anyone tells me I'm misinterpreting any of this or that it's left up to interpretation or is intentionally vague, Word of God (the writer of CoTL):

And it's this being Word of God that's spurred me into making this post to begin with. Because prior to this, I just seethed about this dialogue's implications in my server and hoped I was wrong. But now it's been confirmed what this means, and I'm . Disgruntled, to say the least!

And since I've started writing this post, there's been another addition made to further clarify parts of this. But I'm going to go over that addition more towards the end, because it also irritates me for separate reasons.

So, let's get this straight.

Prior to this update, the specifics of what happens between Narinder and the Bishops were pretty vague. We were told Narinder was "gluttonous in his ambition," per Shamura's previous dialogue, and that they "introduced him to ideas of change" but "Death cannot flow backward." Heket somewhat elaborates on this by saying he preached "heresy" and "noxious ideals" that would not be tolerated. Heket also notably refers to Narinder as a flat-out "monster." Narinder attacked his siblings and left them each with a big, symbolic wound. Then he was chained by the four of them, with Shamura the one to lead it (in their own words).

There's a lot of talk of betrayal, but before this update, it was unclear if the betrayal was meant to just be Narinder's experimenting with death (which even then was pretty heavily suggested to be resurrections) or the wounds inflicted upon his siblings. There's also a lot of talk of sacrifice, i.e. from Leshy if you kill Heket before him: "After everything we did. After everything we sacrificed. He will not be satiated."

Regardless, the picture this painted was of Narinder being this ambitious, evil, violent God that even his fellow Gods (Kallamar) feared and felt needed controlling. The idea that the wounds could have been in the nail in the coffin to this entire ordeal made sense; as they were obviously planned by Narinder to some extent (otherwise why be so intentional about who got what wound?) and a fair reaction to Being Mutilated would of course be to chain him.

Then of course there's the idea that the wounds were given while he was being chained and in self-defense, which only seems possible if you think Narinder could take on all four of his siblings at once like that and only manage to lose his claws in the ordeal (which was only revealed in this update to be something he's implied to have lost thru the relic). I thought this at first too, but realized it seems pretty impractical for that to have been the case if the wounds were also purposeful in who got what. I mean, sure, they could all be coincidentally symbolically appropriate for each Bishop, but I have doouuubts?

but now we're here, with this update, and all has been revealed.

And what's been revealed exactly?

Narinder's thing he was doing was indeed resurrections (we knew that)

Shamura encouraged him to do it (we also already knew this)

It seems like he did literally nothing else outside of that

His siblings got pissy about this because it made their domains purposeless and got all their followers to flock to him

"Would he let us perish? I could not take the risk" - Implies they literally did not even ask him

Shamura knew that in order to forge chains that could keep Narinder down, it would require a sacrifice of their bonds AND their flesh

They DID NOT tell the other Bishops this

Their wounds were requirements to chain him. They had to get the wounds they bear now in order to chain him. ONLY Shamura knew this. That means they allowed their siblings (and themself) to get attacked knowing full well what would happen. They may have even encouraged it, perhaps provoked Narinder into it, seeing as they knew the wounds were necessary to have him chained. (Or they just knew he would retaliate. Which, like. Yeah. They're condemning him after he went down a path they encouraged and, as far as we can tell, nothing else.)

And for... what?

In this version of the story, Narinder was experimenting with resurrections, and Shamura told him to keep doing that. Then he was successful, mortals turned to him, and his siblings (including Shamura, the one who told him to do it) got mad. That's it. That's their reasoning for chaining him. There's nothing else given. "Would they perish?" We have no idea. Is that how it works? Seems like Shamura doesn't know either. Or at the very least doesn't know if Narinder intended for that at all. Gives the vibe that literally no effort was made to talk to him and figure this out. They don't even really go down the "it puts nature out of balance!" path, which would at least have some merit, maybe. It's literally just "we are no longer sustained. What's the point of Gods in this world?" <- idk babe you had all the other ones slaughtered. So you tell me

And then Shamura just took it into their own hands, leading their siblings to their shared wounds (WITHOUT consulting them) and their inevitable destruction because of........... reasons, I guess. (I mean, if you think about it really hard, they probably also already knew what would happen following all this. With the lamb genocide and Narinder's resurfacing and etc. And they had their siblings wounded anyway. For no god damn reason)

And now why does this make me mad?

Because, honestly, in and of itself, there's not anything necessarily wrong with this added context. It's not contradicting anything in the main game. Shamura knowing what was needed makes sense, after all.

But it's... unnecessary. It screws up the motives and makes them more shallow, less nuanced, more... petty. Making gods petty is cool and all, I love doing that honestly, but in this case it just feels like a waste of potential.

But beyond all that. But most importantly.

This entire recontextualization of events REEKS of being made specifically to absolve Narinder.

I mean, come on. He's made out to be the victim, here. Shamura knew what he would do, knew what he would become, and knew exactly what would happen to their siblings if they sought to chain him (without doing so much as talking to him beforehand), and yet they encouraged it.

All blame is being shifted on Shamura. All Narinder did specifically against his siblings was inflict the wounds, which at this point seems to be hinted as self defense or a retaliation against threat or insult (assuming he was provoked into attacking, somehow). Because the wounds were part of the process.

And almost equally irritating, this seeks to arbitrarily absolve Leshy, Kallamar, and Heket as well, as they had no idea what the plan was and were just strung along. Which is just kinda worse, right? As far as they are aware, Narinder did just randomly attack them for no reason, and this wasn't foreseen, and surely couldn't have been stopped. All because Shamura didn't tell them any of it.

Shamura is being made into the big bad. Shamura is at fault for everything, for all of it. Narinder is a victim of Shamura encouraging him down a path they later condemn him for, their siblings are victims of Shamura and Narinder both (the latter of which could have been resolved at any point prior), and now any possible intrigue about Narinder being this big bad guy who tore apart his siblings due to his own ambition getting the best of him is ERASED.

It's GONE. All in favor of making him more sympathetic.

And sure, about a million different excuses could be made for Shamura, or could be used to headcanon whatever you want about exactly what happened. But with what we're given right now, just from the source, no attempt as made to stop Narinder before it got to this point. It is literally suggested they didn't even talk to him.

"Maybe they were too scared" - For the other three, maybe. Shamura is the eldest and clearly the most respected one, by Narinder as well (he holds some amount of respect for them even STILL. After EVERYTHING). They at any point could have stopped this.

"Narinder could still have been a bad guy outside of the attacks" - Sure, but we're given little to nothing on that front. In the old dialogue, literally all that's mentioned is the resurrection stuff and the wounds. Shamura is the one who said his ambition made a glutton of him, by the way. And hell, this isn't even touching the very real possibility that all of the Bishops (Narinder included!) are unreliable as hell.

"But Kallamar feared him even before his chaining, that suggests he was still a bad guy beforehand" - Sure, it could! But that's about all we get! And hell, in this new update, Kallamar's fears are fucked with, too. He states:

"Once, long ago, Followers would worship at my altar just to glimpse the beauty of my temple… of course, it could not last forever. Perhaps my siblings did not understand this, but I have always known. It did not make me less afraid. Cowardly Kallamar, ha…"

Here, it seems Kallamar's fears have been changed to be more about the decline of his temple and the loss of his followers, which was happening because of Narinder. He refers to Narinder's plans as "foolish" as opposed to... idk, horrifying, or threatening, or whatever. He also fully takes on the 'cowardly' title, giving the impression that his fears were somehow unfounded, which wouldn't make a lick of sense if Narinder indeed sucked ass outside of the wounds.

Not to mention he "didn't want to hear it" when Shamura "revealed the plan," but we know because of Shamura that they didn't mention anything about the wounds, so Kallamar didn't want to hear that they... had to chain Narinder? That's literally all he could've been told about the plan. Why wouldn't he want to chain Narinder if he was scared of him up until that point?? Doesn't make any sense!!! EDIT AFTER I POSTED: On reconsideration this might just be referring the lamb genocide plan, but that's hardly better, because now this update absolves Narinder, Leshy, AND Kallamar by making them blameless in everything (both Leshy and Kallamar expressed not fully understanding the plan for the slaughter or, in this case, not wanting part in it). What's up with THAT. Why is Shamura getting the blame for LITERALLY EVERYTHING.

Anyway, my point is

This was a story decision made to make Narinder sympathetic. It's so blatant. And it's so, so irritating. It gets rid of so many potential cool flaws of Narinder and replaces it with "Actually, Shamura was the bad guy the whole time! Huzzah!"

And honestly, had the entire game come out like this to begin with, released at the start how it is right now, I don't think I'd care this much. But being added now, as an afterthought, after the fandom and devs alike have grown to favor Narinder above all others, it just...

It reeks of favoritism. It smells of revising the story to make Narinder more likeable. It's just erasure.

And for what. Like, I don't want to be That Guy, but I cannot help but notice that one of two nonbinary characters (outside of the Lamb/Goat themselves) is being this heavily demonized in favor of absolving a Man of his crimes. What's, uh. What's up with that.

Oh, and that addition by the writer I mentioned was made while I was writing this.

This was made after Jojo was questioned whether this was a retcon as to who caused the wounds, as this whole thing could also certainly be read as Shamura being the one to directly wound their siblings (which I didn't think was the case, but still).

"I don't know if they thought it would be so severe" - How do I put this in a nice way. This feels like a weaseling out answer. This feels like giving Shamura an out only after being questioned on this writing choice. How could they possibly not know how severe it would be. This spider is Knowledge. This spider has Foresight of some kind. And how do you not know what they thought. You are the Writer. If you want to clarify something like this you gotta say it with your full chest.

Not to mention a good portion of the fandom probably won't even see these tweets, so this context is all missing from the story presented in the game. This is Tacked On Context on top of already Tacked On Context. It's unnecessary retconning all the way down.

Anyway. I realize the fandom at large will not care about this, because (and I mean this in the nicest way I can manage) the Narinder favoritism in this fandom is already impenetrable, but for me personally? This retconning that was so clearly done out of that favoritism?

It ruined Narinder's character for me. More than the fandom possibly could have. I mean, if it's fanon, it can be ignored. But this was canonized. Because Narinder is the dev team's favorite guy.

And I can't stand it.

[eshithepetty]

LISTEN. I KNOWWW that the polls haven't even started, but I'm impatient, ok, I'm just putting this out there now cause I can't take it..... anyways - I've seen people do powerpoints as a way to campaign for their blorbos in the various polls that have been going on, so!! I thought I'd do one of my own for the @autismswagsummit ^^ as I simply can't pass on any chance to be brainrotted over this series, it seems...

ID under cut, as it's very long!

[ID: a powerpoint presentation campaigning for Mob from Mob Psycho 100. It's formatted in dark purples and pinks.

The first slide is the titlecard, differing from the main slides by having a pink holographic aura, like the ones from the show, as the background. The text says:

"#MOBSWEEP 2023

Aka why you should vote for Mob in the upcoming autistic swag summit. Please

(JK follow your own heart ^^ but for your consideration:)"

The second slide is titled: "Who is Mob, aka Kageyama Shigeo?" and below the text lists:

"Source: Mob Psycho 100, which is also where Reigen comes from;

The protagonist! Only with background character syndrome (which is why he’s named ‘Mob’ – it’s kinda like naming your protag ‘John Doe’ lol);

A 14 year old with the psychic strength to destroy the world. Which he’s not very happy about actually;

Cause really, he’s just a nice, gentle boy who simply wants to improve and impress his crush by getting swole :) Oh, and he also experiences the horrors. Btw."

On the right of this text, there are two images: One is a zoomed in screenshot of Mob, his face blank and confused, and the other is an official art of the show, depicting Mob in the center, aura glowing, with many of the show's other characters around him, with the show's title at the bottom of the image.

The third slide's title is "Ok but tell me more about the autism", and below, the text says:

"Gladly ^^

Ok, first off – symptoms:

Bad at reading social cues, detecting sarcasm, lies, etc.;

Struggles with recognizing/expressing emotions. Has what could be called psychic meltdowns;

Very honest and blunt, sometimes appearing ‘ruthless’ as a result;

Explicitly low empathy, in that he can’t feel what others are feeling;

Actually very compassionate, and follows a really strict moral code;"

There are no images in this or the next slide.

The fourth slide is a continuation of the previous, with the text being:

"Abnormal reaction to sensations, but instead of overreacting, he underreacts, rarely responding to physical touch and disturbing imagery. Has shown to be at times sensitive to loud sounds, however;

Prefers following a routine. One of his biggest conflicts with Reigen literally arise from the man often calling him out of the blue and making him suddenly adapt, which Mob finds really annoying/upsetting;

Struggles in school. Explicitly bad at math, japanese and PE (really passionate about the latter tho), which could be for a variety of reasons, autism related conditions (like dyscalculia/dyslexia/dyspraxia) being one of them;

Has felt like an outcast for most of his life. Even if he grew up in a pretty loving environment, he recognizes that he is different to others, and people sometimes treat him as such (in a /neg way);

His main arc is about overcoming trauma and… just masking (and how to stop doing it), pretty much, lol."

The fifth slide, in contrast, is mostly just images, placed upon a white background. The title for this one is "Alternatively, just look at him:"

The images, from top to down, and then left to right, are:

Three cropped subtitles out of screenshots of the show, which say:

"I'm sure I just got the wrong idea again. How embarrassing."

"He's detached from urban legends, fads, and other hot topics among people."

"You just can't lie, can you?"

The fourth is a cropped screenshot of Mob's explosion meter. Both in Japanese and English. Specifically, it says: "Progress towards Mob's explosion: 92%". Additionally, there is an annotation above this image, saying: "Literally has a meltdown meter ksfdks"

In-between these and the next column of images, there is also a transparent image of Mob, him standing stiffly, faced towards the camera, his standard, blank expression with a small smile on his face.

The next column of images goes like this:

A screenshot from the show, done in paint on glass, of various kids towering over Mob, who's standing in the middle of the image, small. Their expressions wary, from sneering, to frowning, to looking disgusted. The subtitles at the bottom say, with one part blocked out due to spoilers: "[spoilers] didn't treat me any differently even though I could use psychic powers."

Next two are cropped dialogues as well. They say:

"This version of him was created from being suppressed and locked away."

"Social skills like that are beyond you."

And on the right of the slide is one vertical image, showing one of Mob's books, with the subtitles translating the Japanese title of the book as "The Proper Way of Reading the Room". Next to this one, there is also an annotation, saying: "He has a book on learning social cues :’)" That's all for this slide.

The sixth slide is titled "Is he good rep though?" Text below is:

"Well, to answer the first thing relevant to this question… no, he’s not actually confirmed canon autistic. But c’mon.. it’s so obvious. This kid is not fucking allistic like c’monnnn

Of course, what people consider good and bad rep is gonna vary from person to person. But to explain why a lot of people see him as very positive rep:

"1) He’s the main character, so he gets the most spotlight, and the narrative is formed around his pov, in that we only see things that are relevant to Mob, and visually things are often represented in the way Mob sees them as well (take the body improvement club or Tsubomi, for example), which puts all viewers soundly in his shoes and makes him easy to relate to and sympathize with, and makes it clear how important his emotions and view of things really are;"

On the right of this are 3 images against a white background. The first one is a screenshot of the Body Improvement Club - 5 very buff and large dudes - standing against an explosively red and yellow background, with all of them enthusiastically flexing. The caption below that is "The body improvement club! ...they're supposed to be middle schoolers lol".

The next two, below the first one, are two screenshots of Tsubomi. The one on the left has her smiling, her eyes wide and bright, the background being pastel pinks and yellows. The one on the right, however, has her frowning, the background turned black, her eyes dark and disinterested. The caption below says: "Tsubomi :) And how her design subtly changes alongside Mob’s view of her".

The seventh slide is a continuation of the previous, with the text being:

"2) He’s a very well rounded character, with well thought out strengths, flaws, motives, and his overall story is very cohesive and satisfying; 3) His autistic traits are portrayed neutrally – in both where they help, and where they can cause conflict. It balances between him learning what things he would benefit to address and deal with, and what things he shouldn’t be trying to change at all, and as the whole message of the show emphasizes – he is no more or less special than anyone, no more or less of a person – he is simply human, and his autistic traits are just part of what makes him himself."

This one has images next to it as well. The first one is a screenshot of Reigen looking towards the camera (at an off-screen Mob), hand to his chin, eyebrow raised and smiling, some food crumbs still stuck to his face, as he says: "Today you happened to save some people that only you could have saved." Next to it is the annotation: "Reigen reassuring Mob about how his inability to read the room and feel empathy actually can be a huge benefit sometimes :)"

The next image below is a zoom in of Mob's face, his eyes shadowed by his hair, the scene's lighting dark, as he says: "I'm not being mocked, nor am I easily taken advantage of." The annotation next to this one says "Mob learning to recognize his emotions and assert himself better as the story goes on!"

And the last two images is a screenshotted dialogue, saying "You don't think changing yourself for someone you love is natural?" "I don't. At least, not when we're talking about [spoilers]" (The last bit is blocked out again).

The eight slide is also a continuation. The text says:

"4) He is loved. Loved by his friends, his family, his allies… even most villains come to take a liking to him. In fact, he’s something I haven’t seen many autistic characters be – he’s admired! So many characters, and even viewers of the show I’ve found, really admire him and want to be more like him. And not because he’s a perfect person, or super smart or anything, but because he sincerely tries his best. And I just really appreciate that, personally,, 5) And more than just loved, he is accepted – the whole main arc and the resolution of his story centers around that, around how important it is to feel accepted by the people around you, in all your entirety, no matter how strange or destructive you may feel yourself to be. And how you need to come to accept yourself in the same way as well. I just think that’s a really sweet in a story centering around a neurodivergent person :’)"

And the images next to it are as follows:

A screenshot of dialogue from the show, saying: "At first glance, Mob may seem unreliable, but his strength is undeniable." The annotation clarifies with: "The ‘strength’ in question, in this case, being Mob’s ability to reach out to people ^^";

A screenshot of Teru placed against a blindingly white background, him grinning widely, looking down, eyes shining, as he says: "I knew it, you really are amazing!". Next to him, there is a small caption of "Lol gayass /pos";

And a screenshot of Mob, in the bottom center of the image, small, as he is surrounded by various characters. Most of them are smiling encouragingly, with the ones closest to him, like Reigen, Ritsu, Dimple, Teru and Tsubomi, being bigger and placed in the front. A small caption at the top says: "He has so many friends and allies ueueeueueue.."

The ninth slide is titled "Additionally:" and the text lists:

"Psychic powers as a metaphor for being nd/othered, if that suits your fancy;

His design is iconic and versatile;

The boy has. Issues;;

There are many other characters in mp100 who can be read as autistic. Not a single neurotypical in this show /hj

Mob has more than just autism swag. I’ve seen people with bipolar disorder, ADHD, anxiety and those who are plural (etc.) also relate to him :)

He is simply the Boy ever"

Next to the last line is a small, low quality image of Mob smiling from the manga. The rest of the images, on the right, are:

The meme "I can be your angle....or yuour devil", with images of Mob instead - on the left, him smiling brightly and blushing, placed upon a colorful magenta background, and on the right, a panel from the manga: Mob in one of his explosion states, surrounded by fire, face shadowed, hair pushed back by his powers and waving in the air, and his eyes, wide and eerie, being the only features on his face that are visible.

On the right of these images, there is a smaller one, of Mob in another one of his explosion states (the one from episode 3, season 1 of the anime). He is facing to the side, aura surrounding him, hair pushed back by his powers and his eyes a glower. His pupils are red.

Below these, there are three images of, in order, Serizawa, Tome and Ritsu. Serizawa is sweating, nervous, Tome is sweating even more and yelling into a phone, and Ritsu is simply glaring towards the camera. The annotation pointing to them says: "A few of the other autistic blorbos in question :] (as I personally see them at least)".

And the last is a panel from the manga, of Mob sobbing, tears and drool dripping messily down his face, his hair waving in the air. His expression is somewhat blank despite the clear distress, and the text boxes next to him read: "His tears won't stop. It's an emotion he has never experienced before."

And the tenth, final slide, is formatted the same as the titlecard with the pink aura background, and says:

"Thank you if you got this far <3

Have good days everyones, and remember, the true win for autism is the fun we had along the way :]

Buh bye!! ^_^"

Around this text, there are various images of Mob. Counter clockwise, starting at the left corner:

A low quality screenshot of Mob flying in the air;

Mob, in his puppy hoodie, sweating in distress as he points at a vase;

Mob caught mid smear frame, his leg kicked high in the air as he jumps, his school bag swinging to the side, his expression comically flustered.

A panel from the manga. Mob's eyes are shadowed, chopsticks held to his face, as he stares to the side and says "Tch... Shut up and eat.";

A Mob in an alleyway from the anime, smiling, pointing and looking up and to the left (the center of the slide);

A photo of a Mob plushie tucked into bed;

A low quality screenshot of Mob, standing against a wire fence, facing forwards, his eyes appearing a bit angry due to his hair cowering them.

End ID.]

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

Priest getou and nun reader or villager reader....(anything other than the word both isnt acceptable...😡😡😡 /j) -🪄

🪄 ANON I SEE YOU AND YOU RAISE A VALID POINT but please consider…… priest!geto and non-believer!reader.

like… imagine. you just happen to waltz into a church one day. you don’t believe in god, you aren’t interested in praying, but you’re exploring a new town and the church is pretty and you figure it could be a nice way to burn time.

you enter the building to find that a sermon is taking place. a priest is speaking to the few rows of people listening; it’s a fairly small church, but paintings and sculptures and beautiful cathedral glass give it a sense of mystique that you’re drawn to. so you take a seat and halfheartedly listen, not praying like the rest, not singing along to the hymns… you stick out like a sore thumb, but hey, it’s not as if anyone is paying attention.

except someone is, and it happens to be the priest that was holding the sermon just a second ago. the same one you spent most of your time oogling once the paintings started to bore you, because he’s so pretty for a priest. beautiful long black hair, amber eyes, sharp facial features, pretty hands — and the smoothest, silkiest voice you’ve heard in your life. like a sun-soaked bundle of lillies.

… also, his cassock is just a little too tight of a fit to tear your eyes away from.

you stick around a little longer once most people have left, just scrolling on your phone and basking in the quiet, and that’s when he approaches you. he jokingly tells you that it’s always obvious when a non-believer enters a place of worship, but he’s not mad; only amused. you end up chatting a bit about your beliefs, he’s a lot more chill than you expected, and…. well. he’s just really, really charming.

so maybe you end up coming back the week after. maybe his smile is a bit like a spider’s web. maybe it becomes a kind of routine to speak to him after his sermons; you still don’t sing along to the hymns or spend any time on prayers, and he still finds it funny. maybe once in a while you end up liking a paragraph from the scripture he’s reciting, and he’s always more than happy to discuss it with you. but mostly you’re there for him. for your chats, for standing outside and badgering him about how contradictory the old testament is while he smokes and listens with an amused grin.

rain hits the ground with a steady rhythm, earthy tobacco floods your veins, spiders by the ceiling weave a web of dew, and his presence is a little more intoxicating than you think is appropriate.

suguru just… isn’t a very orthodox priest. he only believes about a tenth of what the bible says, he has his own view of god, his own thoughts on worship. he smokes. he may or may not occasionally manipulate church-goers into donating money so he can invest in another overpriced painting. you once ask him if there are any bodies in the basement you should know about, and he answers that any self-respecting priest wouldn’t conduct their blood rituals in the basement of their own church. he knows how to pick locks. he tells you once, very quietly, that he doesn’t believe man was created in god’s image. there’s a look in his eyes that you don’t comment on.

he’s funny. charming. pleasantly suspicious. your conversations are enjoyable for the both of you, and eventually the edges of his cedar eyes begin to crinkle the slightest bit whenever you walk into his field of vision. sometimes he eyes your lips for a little too long, and a honeyed irony seeps into his grin when you call him out on it. he asks you if you’re tempting him on purpose, and you shrug. whatever exists between you remains unspoken.

one day, he tells you that he believes it was god who sent you to him. you furrow your brows and protest with a mutter reminding him of your beliefs, how you believe in free will, how you waltzed into his church out of your own volition. no one else’s.

he only smiles, and flicks the butt of his cigarette. you think he remains unconvinced.

[kaymarie-bell]

I can’t wait to find out if any of these are right

I might write summaries as I go like I did for the Ignihyde Chapter, it was fun

[necrotic-nephilim]

Give me your most controversial dc opinions!!!

HA YES GLADLY I WOULD LOVE TO (added a read more because i had a lot of words oopsie)

The Titans Tower Incident was in character for Jason Todd. at worst, it's a *bit* over-dramatic and a little cringey, but if you consider his actions, his motivations, and what he *actually* does, i honestly don't think it's OOC for him. he's just kind of a dramatic asshole in that era and i stand by that comic. the issue isn't the comic itself, it's how people interpret it.

i think the DC fandom, specifically the Batfamily fandom, really likes to claim to be progressive for brownie points, but then will have the one token woman that everyone decides is acceptable to hate. like, it's one thing if you dislike Carrie Kelley, i get it. Frank Miller isn't a great writer of women and she can be a lack of a character in the original Dark Knight Returns. but if you go out of your way making constant edits and posts shitting on her, it's *weird*. especially when most of the people shitting on her haven't even consumed her source, and their reasons for disliking her can apply to any other Robin, especially Tim. but as long as you put say, Steph or Cass on a pedestal, you can talk on and on about how you want to kill Carrie for the crime of existing. it feels like acceptable misogyny. i also think this extends to writers. if you put say, Gail Simone on a pedestal, you're free to blame everything under the sun on Devin Grayson. (to be clear i think you can and should hate Devin Grayson for a lot of things, but most rumors about her are untrue and if you look at every badly written comic and go "sounds like something Devin Grayson would write" that's really weird bc everything she's done, men like Chuck Dixon, Tom King, Tom Taylor, Marv Wolfman, etc have done in tenfold.) like, misogyny = bad unless it's That One Woman We've All Agreed To Hate. it's weird and i keep noticing it. and no one seems to unpack it. (i mostly see this on TikTok, not Tumblr tbf)

i don't care if you ship BruDick or not, but it's not weird for canon content to imply or state Dick had a crush on Bruce when he was first taken in. even in canon where Dick sees Bruce as a "father figure" in the most generous sense, that bond took years to build and when Dick was freshly orphaned, he *had* the memory of loving parents and didn't want Bruce to fill that role. you don't have to ship BruDick, you don't even have to like batcest, but if you're vitriolic toward just the idea that "hey maybe a young kid on the cusp of puberty might have some weird feelings to work out about the canonically very attractive mysterious playboy who took him in before seeing him as family because that bond took years to build" is nasty and terrible and wrong to you, you don't like the Batfamily, you just like the nuclear "neat" version of it in your head

the Batfamily characters are *all* too hypercompetent. like all of them are just *too* good at what they do that in order to write them in interesting arcs together, you have to willingly make some of them OOC in order to not immediately have the Problem wrapped up. i get it, Bruce is the greatest detective, Tim is wicked smart, Jason's a heavy hitting brawler, but we've reached a point where all of these characters have so many buffs they're not *fun* anymore. especially not in a group setting where you need to justify them needing each other's help. and even worse-so when they interact outside of the Gotham, you end up making every non-Batfam character seem useless just to make the Batfamily look cool. it's exhausting. i want to see these characters lose fights, look stupid, and not be the best for once. they're all getting so good they're just kind of. boring. which is the worst sin for a character, IMO.

i think we should go like. a good year of all Justice League-related teams not having a single Bat on the roster. just as a cleanse so *someone else* can shine. i get why non-Batfam DC fans are sick of the Batfamily bc jesus. it's oversaturation of the market.

power scaling "who would win" fights are fucking boring and i don't care. that's the least interesting thing about the fandom. you're missing the point of all of these characters if you only care about who could win a brawl. also it's just a stupid debate because the answer will *always* be: whoever the author of the comic wants to win.

the Batfamily is too damn big. i love every single one of them do not get me wrong. i'd die for the little niche characters who are likely never going to be relevant again like Julia Pennyworth or Kate Spencer. but it's too fucking big at this point. it's insisted to us that these characters are family but like. half of them have barely existed on the same page together more than once. it's ridiculous and it cannot sustain itself. none of these characters are allowed proper shine because they'll just get dropped for the next new shiny character. i think Maps Mizoguchi is a cool lil lady, but i know in my soul in like. three years she will fade into comics limbo and we'll have a new shiny character to fawn over. it's a brutal cycle bc DC doesn't know how to give any of these characters follow through, just wants to wave around cool new concepts.

both Under The Red Hood and Death In The Family are mediocre adaptations and strip the most important emotional elements of Jason's story from the plot. you can't properly adapt Jason's death if you leave his mother out of it. like they're phenomenal movies as their own pieces of media, but they lack the necessary emotional weight for Jason.

on the note of adaptations: the Young Justice cartoon is i think the best case study of "how do you react to a piece of media that's amazing on it's own, but is a fucking horrible adaptation?" because like, i can't discredit it. it's a good show. but it's a bad adaptation and i think people using it as an entry point for DC can make their views of certain characters and teams *very* warped. the Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey movie falls into a similar vein for me. if that movie was it's own thing with original characters, it'd likely be a top five movie for me. but because it's *such a fucking bad adaptation* i can't help but hate it for brutalizing the characters and the general concept of the BoP. it should've been a Gotham Sirens movie, and Young Justice should've been a Teen Titans show. and sure, adaptations don't owe us accuracy, but they have negative effects on the comics when they gain popularity. so i struggle to like Young Justice bc of how badly it's affected certain characters.

also on the note of adaptations: the best adaptation of how comic media operates is the Sandman tv show. adapting comics to tv shows or movies is difficult bc comic arcs don't operate the way show/movie arcs do, but the Sandman show proves it's absolutely doable to adapt the storytelling style while still making the typical adjustments you need for an adaptation.

DC needs more Deaf representation. in most areas, DC either matches Marvel or outperforms Marvel with representation of marginalized identities, but it's fucking tragic we have no deal Deaf rep in DC whereas Marvel has quite a few to pick from. this one is personal bc i'm Deaf but it does fuck me up the only option we have is a side character from Tim Drake: Robin who doesn't appear anywhere else and isn't a great character overall. DC i'm in your walls.

on the note of representation, if i see one more person say Titans had "perfect casting" while in the same breath admitting Dick was whitewashed, you are weird and i dislike you. it's really fucking weird that whitewashing is permissable to this fandom if the actor cast/fancast is hot. Dick should've been a Roma actor. Damian should not be fancast as a white actor. it's the bare minimum.

i have so many more but i will end with this especially controversial one: Dan Mora's art is overhyped. that man has the worst same face syndrome i've ever seen and i will not lie half the time i can't tell which Robin he's drawing. his art is technically gorgeous and it's so pretty to look at, but begging for every comic series to be drawn by him is boring and terrible. the art style of a comic reflects it's genre. wanting all comic art to look like Dan Mora's art is sucking the style out of comics. i miss art styles like Todd Nauck's that clearly reflected the genre of the comic.

i lied i have one more i'm REALLY passionate about: Tim's vigilante name after Red Robin should not be bird-themed. naming him Sparrow or Cardinal is *just* as bad as naming him Red Robin longterm. they're *just* as derivative and they *sound* cool but don't hold any real unique identity for Tim outside of Robin. like it baffles me we all agree he needs to move on from Robin and then decided "let's name him Robin Lite". if he has a bird name, it should be Jackdaw so at the very least, he's not red anymore. and Jackdaw could be a fun callback to Drake, in that it uses part of Tim's real name (his middle name, Jackson) while standing out a bit. but if i really had creative control i'd give him a completely unique name. if it has to be Batfamily related, Gray Ghost. but in my head, his name should be Conspiracy. i could write a lengthy meta on why and tbh it is based in my love for the Question and wanting Tim to have a similar detective noir-esque gritty solo, but i genuinely don't think he should be Cardinal or Sparrow. those names only continue his identity issues of being trapped as either Robin or a Robin knockoff.

[fraudulent-cheese]

So i spent way, way too much time making a Total Drama Relationships Tier List! It includes nearly every major relationship, dynamic and ship that are both present in canon and that i've seen in the wild! If i missed a major ship/friendship/interaction pleaseeee tell me i probably forgot ^^

ANYWAYS here's the list i made!

[arcadiabaytornado]

Some Different Fandom Topics I Could Talk About Forever:

Life Is Strange

1: How Max wants to save Chloe over Arcadia Bay, and how the final choice isn't actually about what Max wants to do. It's about what she feels like she needs to do.

2: How Nathan was developing his own victim MO that was different from Jefferson's.

3: How the storm is coming in the alternative timeline, and how Rachel's parents look for her if she doesn't know Chloe.

4: How William's death is the first butterfly effect that really kicks off the plot of Life Is Strange, and how William's changed not just Chloe, but Max too.

5: How Rachel noticed Chloe before the events of Before The Storm, and how Chloe noticed Rachel.

The Walking Dead Game

1: How Sarah was both neurodivergent and a victim of her Father's overprotective nature, and how she could have had fantastic character growth if the writers weren't so weird about her character being "weak."

2: How David is not actually a (metaphorical) solider, he is a wanderer who can't find peace no matter where he goes.

3: How important it was to the narrative to have Clem lose her leg and have Louis/Violet lose their speech/sight. And how neat it is to see disabilities symbolized as a good thing that represents having a home and a good community.

4: How Lily was completely lost the second she killed Doug/Carly, and how that moment foraged who'd she become in Season 4.

5: How Jane and Kenny are both negative examples of how Clem could have ended up if her trauma consumed her. And how she almost turned into both of them in Season 3 when she lost AJ. (She had the rash explosive temper of Kenny, and the cold survivalist mindset of Jane.)

Telltale's Batman

1: How Bruce and Selina have a fundamental understanding of each other that they may never get with anyone else, yet that's exactly why their relationship never works out.

2: How John stains Bruce's shirt with blood when he hugs him the vigilante route, and how symbolic it is.

3: How John is turned into Joker by Batman in the vigilante route, and turned into Joker by Bruce in the villain route.

4: How if you tell John you weren't his friend then the tragedy of the game is that Bruce never cared, but if you tell John that you were his friend then the tragedy of the game is that Bruce did care.

5: How well Harley Quinn is written in the second game, and how much I loved this interpretation of her.

Arcane

1: How Vi chooses Caitlyn over Jinx at the tea party by trying not to make a choice, and how Jinx chooses Vi over Silco by actively shooting him. (The thing Vi refused to do to Caitlyn.)

2: How Jinx tied everyone down at the tea party so the literally couldn't leave her.

3: How Vi was going to turn herself over to enforcer's to protect her family, and how Vander changed the course of her character development by taking the blame instead.

4: How Silco likely wasn't trying to manipulate Jinx. The way he likely fully believed the things he was saying. The way he fucked Jinx up because, despite doing it unintentionally, he fed into all her worst thoughts about herself by projecting his trauma onto a child.

5: How the weapons each character fights with (Gauntlets for Vi, A hammer for Jayce, a gun for Caitlyn, guns and bombs for Jinx.) represents their personality.

BG3

1: How Astarion's disapproval for a lot of Tav's good actions comes from a place of "Well, a hero never helped me. Why do they get a knight in shining armor when I didn't?" Instead of a place of pure evil. (And how little your approval with him actually goes down when you do something good.)

2: How Lae'zel is actually incredibly kind and open-minded when you meet her, as she takes it on herself to get the party cleansed of the tadpoles even though normally the solution in Gith culture would be to "kill the istiks to stop them from becoming mind flayers."

3: How badly Wyll was robbed in terms of content and autonomy in his story.

4: How thematically fitting it is for a Tav to be a Seldarine Drow.

5: How much happier Shadowheart seems if you save her parents, even if it means her soul will be the victim of a tug of war between two God's in the afterlife.

Supernatural (Full disclosure, I've only watched to Season 7 Episode 10 so far.)

1: The way neither brother could have ever fully left the hunting life if the other one was in. They both had to be all the way out to have a chance of an "apple pie" life. (I'm a full believer that Stanford! Sam would have gotten drug back into the life eventually, even if John had never gone missing and fate hadn't intervened.)

2: How much wasted potential Bela and Agent Henriksen had.

3: How Sam was always going to forgive John, and Dean was always going to resent him. (Sam's heart is often torturously kind even when it bleeds him dry, and Dean always wanted to be so much more than the weapon John tried to forge.)

4: How Madison was the first love interest who truly had a chance of understanding Sam, and how Cas was the first love interest to fully understand Dean.

5: How Bobby didn't try to have Karen go with him to find the door to his worst memory, he had Rufus go with him instead.

[fishsfailureson]

ngl I'm getting tempted to actually go back and write that warriors fancomic rn.

[honeycollectswhump]

i need to know for scientific reasons

mireille is the whumper from my story The Ashtray

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

Do you have any headcanons regarding Sonic characters and their sexuality? Either from idw, archie or just Sonic in general

I do, actually! Since I have quite a lot I'll put a bunch of random ones under the cut

But if there are any sexuality headcanons I didn't include under the cut or you'd like me to elaborate on, feel free to send me another ask!😊❤️

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Sonic (Archie):

Oh boy. So, writing inconsistencies aside, from pretty early on I settled on Archie Sonic being on the AroAce spectrum. And originally, this was because of how his relationship with one Sally Acorn was handled. I've read my fair share of "will they won't they" romances in my lifetime, so I could understand having one or both of them being jealous when there's an implication that the other may like a different person romantically. I can also understand being afraid to confess or trying to make the other person jealous so they'll chase them without having to make a proper confession.

However, I soon became very frustrated at the writers' handling of this relationship I'd so loved when I was a kid. Why? The simple crux of the matter is that there is a point early on in Archie Sonic where both Sally and Sonic are aware that the other has feelings for them, but the story is still played like a "will they won't they". These two were often treated like they were in this weird spot between dating and childhood friends. So if Sally kissed someone else (like Geoffrey) it would make Sonic wildly jealous. With that, in moments like these, each of the other would react as if they'd been cheated on (although if memory serves me well, Sally's actually kissing other people or pretending to be into someone to make Sonic jealous wasn't treated as badly as Sonic looking in the direction of a love interest, but I digress). And as this relationship started stretching out to 50 and 100 and more issues, I started going from wondering if it would ever be resolved in the runtime (because their relationship drama always seemed to be milked for views, with Sally's character traits often changed on a whim so she would create this drama) to just wishing they'd have the two go for other people or something (and perhaps perserve any love I still had left for a nostalgic childhood ship).

The thing is is that the longer their relationship and "will they won't they" stretches on, the more it just seems like there are no excuses for them not to have started dating officially yet. And honestly? It really isn't even fully Sally's fault that it takes so long for them to get together initially. Why? Well, early on pretty explicitly, Sally makes it clear that she's afraid to push her relationship with Sonic because then *Sonic* gets afraid and sort of runs instinctually away from being tied down. Interesting, right?

Sonic the Hedgehog flirted with Sally Acorn, sure. He even had grudges with characters like Antoine or Geoffrey because they expressed similar feelings for Sally, and acted jealous when anyone threatened to take Sally away from him. In issue 50 of Archie Sonic, Sonic had an all out brawl to the death with the original Robotnik in that comic over him orchestrating Sally's death.

And yet, it doesn't matter what happens. Once Sally's no longer looking at some other guy, he doesn't kiss her or try to get her to date him. He lets things go back to normal on purpose. He succeeds at making her only look at him because he apparently doesn't want others to take her, but then doesn't confess. He saves Sally from a kiss after thinking she died, being sentenced to banishment after being framed for her death, and after fighting their mutual enemy to the death over it, and all he can do when Sally wakes up is play it all off like he doesn't actually like her like that. The romance tropes are shoved in front of his eyes (fairy-tale romance tropes even)!

But the moment he's sure Sally isn't looking at anyone else or that he has her, he immediately makes sure things go back to how they usually are. For the longest time it seems like no big life fearing event or act of jealousy is enough for Sonic to solidify that relationship. And because he has so so so many moments and chances to, moments that other characters in a story snatch up in a heartbeat (especially when they know the feelings are mutual), it's hard not to feel that this is purposeful or means something.

So while reading I proposed the headcanon or possible reading that Sonic is on the AroAce spectrum. More specifically, that he's solidly aroace/grayaroace and is suffering from comphet, or that he's litho. I personally surmise that he cares about Sally Acorn a lot (that was never out of the question), but as they are childhood friends about the same age that can work well together, everyone and themselves assumed that the two of them would naturally end up together. I think the real reason Sonic would get so jealous when Sally kissed someone else early on was because he had it in his head that that was supposed to be them, and was afraid that if anyone else dated Sally then he and Sally wouldn't be able to have as strong/close of a relationship as they do. I think he ran away when Sally would try to confess and make things go back to normal when Sally was okay and only looking at him because he didn't actually want to be in a romantic relationship with her. Essentially, he wanted the security that she'd be around and they'd still be close without actually dating. At the end of the day, even if they both knew their feelings were mutual, Sonic avoided confirming their relationship status for the longest time because he didn't actually want to date her (and I'll be clear right now, the event that finally gets Sonic to date Sally in Archie canon was not only less life endangering than when he thought she was dead, it was very clearly a forced moment where Sonic finally had to make a choice for the sake of the audience. And despite not really indulging in Mina's advances, it says so much that the writers were seriously going to make Sonic choose and then date whichever girl the fans liked more).

And beyond how Sonic himself spent so much time avoiding confession and actually dating Sally, there's also this. He never really presents real romantic affection towards any other female character (in fact, it's largely implied in scenes like Mina kissing him that he didn't feel the same because he was pursuing Sally). He expresses not wanting to marry Sally because he doesn't want to be tied down and stuck as king of the country instead of adventuring. In fact, he has a nasty breakup with Sally after they finally get together because she tries to force him to stop being a freedom fighter and settle down in the castle with her. Once, Tails even asks Sonic why he's not dating any girls, and Sonic expresses to Tails that he can date pretty much any girl he wants out there, but that "girls are too much trouble" and that he'd rather be free and be himself than be tied down (also implying to Tails that he doesn’t really want to be with anyone). When Robotnik is dead and the rebuilding of Mobotropolis begins, Sonic opts in on taking Tails on a worldwide adventure with him to find Ixis Naugus (a journey that told me personally that Archie Sonic was at his happiest when being able to freely explore the world at his own discretion with his little buddy at his side). While this is a small thing also, in the issue centered around he and Sally having a date, they are both late to it (in a way that almost makes you wonder whether it was really an accident).

So, to end this bit. While I think it's clear Archie Sonic cared about Sally a lot and did like having kids, the handling of his relationship with Sally most of the time makes a lot more sense to me if I recontextualize it as Sonic having a strong platonic bond with Sally and dealing both with his comphet/internalized homophobia telling him that they naturally have to get together and that he has romantic feelings and the truth of him not actually wanting to date anyone (or girls at least). That's really why I feel like Archie Sonic could be litho or generally on the aroace spectrum, especially since his stronger more passionate bonds are often with rivals/enemies like Knuckles and Scourge, and how the damsel in distress tropes or the "you and me together forever makes me happy" thing was applied to his relationship and journies with Tails.

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Sonic (IDW):

My actual general headcanon for Sonic’s sexuality is AroAspec but also gay, just because he often shies away from certain advances that certain girls make that he doesn’t mind when guys do it. However, Sonic also to me seems to just have a thing for people who try to kill him. So even though I align him as AroAspec and gay leaning, I do concede that the rival/enemy effect (aka, Sonic just really having a thing with people who have all out brawls with him or genuinely try to kill him) transcends gender. I suppose I could headcanon IDW Sonic as bi but eh. Even though there are female characters I ship idw Sonic with, those relationships are just special to me and don't neatly fit into the romantic category.

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Tails (Archie):

Okay, so in general I headcanon most versions of Tails as bi. I'll get that out of the way first. To me that is a bi fox.

However, Archie is one of the few Sonic properties where I headcanon Tails as gay specifically. Why? I'll tell you

So early on in the beginning of Archie Sonic, the most Tails expresses any strong feelings is when he upholds Sonic as his hero (the same way Amy does when she is introduced). For a little while he's not shown to be interested in any real romance or in any girls romantically. However, there hits a point where it often seems like the writers will go "Ah shit uh. This fox likes girls okay! We promise!", present it in the most forced manner, and then not actually put any real substance into Tails' alleged feelings for said girl. The biggest moment of this though (as all the moments before are really tiny) is when Tails meets the robot copy of Fiona Fox.

Personally, the origins of the Fiona Fox thing always seemed forced to me. From a Doylist perspective, it felt like the writers started the Fiona Fox thing to prove that Tails was a "normal" growing boy who obviously would like girls, naturally. In this case, quite possibly because the fans just wanted Tails to have a girlfriend since Sonic was paired with Sally and Bunnie with Antoine. From a Watsonian perspective, especially with the emphasis on Tails wanting to be treated like a grown up and insisting he's mature, well... Let's just say that what better to prove that you're just as mature as everyone else than by having a fairy-tale romance with a girl fox about your age who is aesthetically pleasing?

No but honestly. Since Tails was a younger character who hadn't expressed any real romantic interest before this (with him putting the most passion into his admiration for Sonic), the Fiona Fox thing felt extremely forced. It was hard to believe that someone who'd never really expressed interest in girls or dating before would suddenly fall madly in love. Plus, after the reveal of his love story being fake and made up, the dramatics kind of shift between Tails going off about his lost innocence and how he can't bear to fight Fiona and loves her so much, to him being...unconcerned with his "broken heart" and more concerned with seeming mature and how he wants to be treated with respect by the freedom fighters. It was hard for me personally to take those stories seriously and seriously believe that Tails was into girls in Archie.

And for Archie Tails, the Fiona thing as far as I remember was the only thing he had going for him romantically. Like Sonic, he put all of his fixation onto the one girl he's narratively supposed to like romantically and didn't show an interest in romance with girls otherwise. In fact, Tails' romance prospects after this don't really come up again until the real Fiona joins the freedom fighters. And while the intent of this is to show "oh, Tails still has feeling even though what he had was fake", here's my reading of Archie Tails (re:the Fiona thing).

Just like with Archie Sonic, I don't actually believe Archie Tails wants to be with girls romantically. I think the robot Fiona thing was (at best) infactuation, and more than likely him playing into the romance angle because of "he was a boy she was a girl can I make it anymore obvious" and wanting to prove that he's as mature as the other freedom fighters and deserves respect reasons. It's also common for gays suffering under comphet to find this one person you can fixate on. Essentially, this person who would make sense to be attracted to, who is objectively attractive, and who you can put on a pedestal and endlessly pursue because they will never date you. Essentially proving you're "normal" by pursing someone who will most likely never like you back, specifically because deep down if they never like you back you never have to get in a relationship with someone. I think that when Fiona returned (organic this time) as this beautiful older girl who other people he knew would objectively describe as "sexy", she was someone he could easily put back up on that pedestal and pursue even while she clearly wasn't interested in him. And with that in mind, even though Sonic's dating of Fiona put a strain on his and Tails' relationship, it always seemed to be that this was not because "Sonic stole his girl". Rather, Tails was more distraught over Sonic breaking "the bro code" and getting together with someone Sonic knew he had a thing for (or allegedly did). Essentially he was more concerned with Sonic breaking his trust or not considering his feelings than he was over someone else getting to have Fiona romantically.

And again, outside of the Fiona thing, pre and post sgw Tails is rarely implied to genuinely have romantic interest in girls. He gets married to Mina in 25 yrs later and has kids with her, but we never get to see the leadup to this, he is never implied to have feelings for Mina in the Prime universe, and when he actually appears in 25 years later to speak it's more of a given that he's married to Mina than he's actually shown having some profound romance with her.

You get me?

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The Tails Variants from Sonic Prime:

They're another exception to my usual "Tails is bi headcanon", largely because I see them on the aroace spectrum and as gay😂

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Amy Rose:

I have sort of conflicting headcanons with her. I both see her as a lesbian who put Sonic on a pedestal as a boy she could chase around and pursue romantically (even though Sonic clearly didn't reciprocate) while having the security that Sonic won't actually agree, and I headcanon her as someone on the AroAce spectrum who is more in love with the concept of love than someone who actually experiences romantic love herself. This is a largely universal headcanon I have for her, and while I can lean more one way or the other depending on the Sonic property, I usually enjoy both of these headcanons.

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Knuckles (Archie):

Every iteration of Knuckles is gay to me. I'll just put that out there. And in Archie Sonic specifically I headcanon him as gay and ace (or on the ace spectrum). This is largely because, well.

To even date a woman, the universe (and Mr. Penders) had to forcibly deliver him one in the form of a soulmate. His early writing of his relationship with his love interest, Julie-Su is often so inconsistent as well that you know he considers her a friend at some point, but his alleged "romantic feelings" feel like they're inherent (like he has to have them because they're Echidna soulmates) and that the interpretation of them being romantic is being pushed onto him. Mr. Penders played the "a boy pulls a girl's pigtails and calls her annoying cause he secretly likes her" card with this relationship, but Knuckles quite literally confides in his father that he doesn’t get why she annoys him and that he gets along so much better with his guy friends. Knuckles even suggests that girls should stick with girls and boys should stick with boys before his father, Locke, gives him a talk that kind of amounts to "sure you could be with guys but of course you as a normal boy would eventually want *more*". And this is also after Knuckles confesses that he doesn’t look at other girls (unsurprising, given that he doesn’t pursue any other girls romantically).

This is all to say that while not only was his romance arc forced and it's often hard to believe he has romantic feelings for her, it's hard not to read how he acts generally and his conversation with his father as him being an allegory for a closeted queer boy who doesn't know that boys can kiss boys. And really, even while Mr. Flynn actually presented Julie-Su and Knuckles' relationship in a way that makes more sense where you can tell they care about each other quite a lot, even Flynn Era just before the sgw feels easier to read Knuckles and Julie-Su as platonic soulmates who've formed a strong partnership.

Also this *is* the Echidna that joked in front of a bully of a gorilla (Monk) that he (Monk) probably loves seeing him in the "groveling position"

But I digress.

Post sgw as well, Knuckles also seems to reject the idea that he's dating or even leading on either Rouge or Relic.

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Rotor the Walrus:

Gay Ace.

Cobar the Echidna, Tommy Turtle, the events in 25 yrs later or him being roommates with Tommy

His lack of romantic interest most of the time

Honestly even his origin story post sgw read to be a bit like an allegory for being disowned for being queer

Must I say any more?

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Bunnie Rabbot:

Bi

I don't have much to say about this other than that she clearly has feelings for Antoine and I always felt she got on with Sally well

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Nicole:

Lesbian

The most she ever really shows interest in guys is when she body swaps with Sally and it's implied she felt feelings for Sonic through this. However, she decides to create a body so she can hang out with Sally (and watches the stars with her). She doesn't present romantic feelings for any guys after that either. Even with Shard, I always got the feeling that they became friends because of their similar situation and their status as ais who obtained free will and "humanity" so to speak, but that Shard had a onesided thing for her while she just considered him a good friend.

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Tangle the Lemur:

Lesbian

I think what solidified this for me is the difference in how she acts when she meets Sonic for the first time vs how unwell she is about Blaze in that same issue when she first meets Blaze. That and both her initial interest in Whisper and how her relationship with Jewel kind of read like a "best friends who are exes" deal when Jewel first became a character.

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Rouge:

AroAcespec

While I do ship her with certain girl characters, she always struck me as the person who likes dressing "sexily" without actually being someone who experiences sexual attraction. Likewise, so much of her flirting reads to me as something she does in service of doing her job or getting things she wants. Especially in IDW, it's more than implied (practically shown) that Rouge is more in love with gems and the master emerald than any one person she flirts with. Honestly, she's the type to end up in situationships

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Lanolin the Sheep:

Jury is out. I have no headcanons right now. So far she just seems entirely uninterested in romance or sex and is more married to her job

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Silver:

Bi

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Blaze:

Also bi

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Sally Acorn:

Pre sgw? Bi

Post sgw? Lesbian

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Elias Acorn:

I take no criticism on this one. Gay.

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Geoffrey St. John:

Bi

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Surge the Tenrec:

Surge to me is gay but like. She's gay in that way that anyone attracted to her is gay, and anyone she's attracted to regardless of gender is always in a gay way. Likes a girl? Gay. Likes a guy? Gay. Likes someone of any gender? Gay

Kinda like with Sonic though I also often read her as on the AroAce spectrum, especially since she seems to have no personal interest in romance. Like at best the most passionate she is is the hate she harbors for Sonic, and whatever she has going on with Kit. So like. AroAspec and gay. That's my final answer

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Kitsunami the Fennec:

Bi

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Vector the Crocodile (Archie):

In all other Sonic media I see him as bi, however

Gay. He tries and fails to prove to Espio that he actually likes women and can get a woman after Espio says he's all bark and no bite. Like sure he takes the service worker lady with him to the event he and the Chaotix were invited to, but he never actually stays with her. He's also one of the two 25 yrs later characters who has a kid but is not married and has no mention of the other biological parent (the other is Lien-da). Literally his son has more charisma and success with picking up girls than him, and Vector doesn't even really seem to like girls (although honestly I'll admit Penders gave *him* more chemistry with Julie-Su than he gave her and Knuckles)

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Lien-Da:

AroAce and also more lesbian leaning

Romance and sex is far from anything she worries about or dabbles in, and at best she uses flirting the way Rouge does (empty flirting to get her way or to mess with people). The only reason I said lesbian leaning is because she seems the type to me to end up in situationships/atypical enemy relationships with women

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Shadow:

I'm always oscillating between gay and just grayaro/gray ace. Depends on my mood

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Robotnik:

Frankly it depends on the adaptation.

Movie!Robotnik I feel is more demi or gray aroace

Sonic X Robotnik is bi to me

Prime universe's Archie Robotnik (this goes for the original and his replacement) is gay while also being on the aroace spectrum to me

But yeah in general Robotnik is on the aroace spectrum and whether I read him as bi or gay depends on the adaptation

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Metal Sonic:

Gay

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Chaos Sonic:

Also gay!

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Shard:

Sorry, but Shard to me likes women the same way Archie Sonic does to me. This is to say, he forms a strong relationship with *one* female character and confuses what they have for romance because comphet. So on the aro/ace spectrum and seems to get into situationships with guys fairly often

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Mina the Mongoose:

Bi!

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King Max Acorn:

Hoho definitely bi

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Locke the Echidna:

I want to say gay but he's like a heavily closeted queer at baseline. His relationship with sexuality is complicated, and while he has been with women before (sexually and romantically), he seems to relate a little to well to Knuckles' plight of not being interested in most girls and thinking guys should just stick with guys. Plus there's that scene where Scourge and Rouge are both surprised that Rouge's flirting and sex appeal isn't really doing anything for Locke.

Like if I had to label him I'd go closeted gay, but I feel like if he ever became comfortable enough to label himself as "not straight" he'd be more comfortable with the term queer or simply "not straight" as a catchall so he can avoid using a usual label

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Mighty:

Gay!! This goes no matter the adaptation

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Ray:

I have no headcanons other than that he does like boys

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Lara-Le:

Bi!

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Julie-Su:

Bi, but I also like to think of her as Demi too

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Lara-Su:

I take no criticism. Bi

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Nic the Weasel:

Gay, man. She and Fiona just had something

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Nack the Weasel:

Gay but also married to his job

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Bean the Duck:

Bi/Pan

The duck is queer

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Bark the Polar Bear:

Bi

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Vanilla the Rabbit:

Bi

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Charmy the Bee (Archie):

In general I don't have a headcanon for him, just because of how he's depicted in idw and the games these days.

But pre sgw Charmy (back when he was depicted as 16) is either gay or bi depending on how I feel. Not super solid on it, I just know he likes boys.

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Fiona the Fox:

I don't take criticism on this one either. Demi Lesbian

I have not once felt that she was genuinely really into a guy romantically. I think she just has a thing for danger and is a sadist in general, and I think she uses both Sonic and Scourge to get her fix for it. But frankly just like Scourge she tends to get bored in the opposite sex, and despite any declaration is liable to split the moment she's in danger. If she has anything for him, it reads as pretty shallow.

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Scourge the Hedgehog:

Gay but like extremely comphet about it. Like he seems to be more fixated on the idea of being desired by women and the idea of desiring women than he actually desires them. There's an issue where he grows bored with all the girls in Anti-Mobius (even Anti-Sally) and decides to find Sonic instead to start a fight so he can be no longer bored. The cover of that issue shows all of those hearts with his name + a girl's name written in the middle, AND a heart where he's written his name + Sonic in the middle. Despite having Fiona at his side, he proclaims he actually wants Prime!Sonic to rule beside him with the two of them as Kings. Like he seems to like the attention and seems to understand what an objectively attractive women looks like, but he's always growing bored with them and partnering up with them only to not really have much substance in a relationship with him. And while I will put the disclaimer that Mr. Flynn did not create Scourge's original character, nor does anything he says push or deny ships for legal reasons, he did once say in a bumblekast episode that in a hypothetical "Scourge Team Racing", Scourge would choose Miles and O'knux as his teammates because he "dislikes them the least".

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Antoine D'coolette:

Bi!

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Antoine's Father:

Bi

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Snively:

Absolutely Bi

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Clutch the Opposom:

Haha

Gay

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Jewel the Beetle:

Lesbian

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Whisper the Wolf:

Not completely sure yet. I think I kind of settle on Arospec but likes girls

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Sonic (Sonic Prime):

I see him on the aromantic spectrum but also like. Gay

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Sonic (StC)

Just straight up gay. At worst he's gay but comphet about it in a similar way to Scourge

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Tikal:

Generally she's a lesbian to me

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Relic:

Bi but also married to her work

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Adam the Ai:

Demi/grayaroace

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Espio:

In general he is always gay to me

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Chuck Thorndyke:

Bi

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Anti-Tails/Miles:

Haha. Gay

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Thanks for the ask, anon! I enjoyed answering this one😊

Like I said, this is by no means a comprehensive list, but I did put down some characters from different Sonic media off the top of my head.

[cadavpurr]

I AM ASKING ABT FELILEAF !!! in regards to the mfm shipping chart :) im so curious to hear your thoughts abt a one-sided crush between felileaf!

sorry for taking so long to reply to this, the first time i typed all of this out, tumblr decided it would be hilarious to crash as soon as i hit the post button. so that was fun! but anyways…

the reason why i like felileaf actually ties in to my own theory about mollys future mishaps, so im gonna explain that theory first.

i think that when leaf came back after being warped to the end of time, she didn’t come back to the same timeline that she left. Instead, she created an entirely different alternate timeline. im the original timeline, she just disappeared after the explosion, and is probably presumed to be dead. i think this is what felicity was talking about in this panel.

the felicity that we see in chapters 28 and 44 is the original felicity that we first see in chapter 10. but the felicity we see in chapter 12 is the alternate timeline felicity.

ok now we can talk about why i like felileaf. let’s look at this from the original felicitys perspective:

you are dedicated to working in a field that no one else is interested in. it’s your dream to watch this field advance and grow, and it matters more than anything else in your life. it’s incredible! it has the power to open up so many amazing possibilities for the future of society! … but no one takes it seriously yet. until you meet leaf.

leaf is the only other person that felicity met that ever believed in time travel. not even her best friend since high school believed in time travel as much as leaf did. leaf was basically the first person in felicitys life to fully and wholeheartedly support her dream of making time travel a reality. i think that’s all felicity wanted in her life. she just wanted someone to care. and leaf did!

i think felicity is the one crushing on leaf if it’s not obvious. she thinks she’s amazing and is permanently grateful for her help in making time travel to earth a reality. at least that was the plan. after the explosion at the time travel facility leaf is gone forever, and now the only person who ever cared about her is pretty much dead! so now she just kind of lives with that guilt. it’s fucked up but it’s very fun to think about.

they’re kind of sober to death by car seat headrest

[totally-italy]

so apothi folks are hardline aro and/or ace? cool, thank you for the explanation!

It's not so much that they are hardline about it; some arospec people are romance favourable or romance neutral, whereas some or romance-repulsed. The fact that they experience little to no romantic attraction is what makes them arospec, but the term apothiromantic would specify that their stance towards romance is that they are repulsed by it. Similarly, there are some people who are asexual who, whilst experiencing little to no sexual attraction, might be neutral about sex or might enjoy it, whereas there are others who are sex-repulsed.

[benny-the-spaceman]

knowing what i know now about injection molding, i have a lotta respect for whoever lego's mold techs and machine operators are because the tolerances of these bricks must be crazy. ik for most pieces they can just avoid a parting line altogether by putting it at the edge of the brick but you cant do that for a lot of them and a majority of the time the parting line is virtually invisible. most of the time you can still feel and identify the parting line pretty easily but with lego there's so much less flash than usual and i have a lot of respect for that. also theyre usually pretty good about finding inconspicuous spots for the gates (or at least ones that dont downgrade the appearance of the part) while not having any short shots or burns, which for some of these gate locations is really impressive to me

[lovvecherrymotion]

whos the first to confess 😍⁉️

for jance, bokris, bojure, krisjan, and bonace 🤞

jance - i keep going back and forth because i can't decide lol. i feel like nace is the obvious answer but... nace is the one who jokes around the most and keeps teasing jan and the fans and i could see jan just... being honest about it, because he needs to know if it's real or not (and nace feels bad because he didn't know he caused jan so much distress - he was joking because everything felt too real and this was safer than believing the feelings were mutual)

bokris - KRIS. idc if this is unpopular but kris did it first. they both repressed their feelings for YEARS but eventually kris was the one to say something (it was after thailand. pretending he didn't miss bojan more than anyone else got too complicated for him. kris didn't want that anymore - he wanted bojan to know he missed him and that he was mad at him for not being with them, as irrational as it was. it was inevitable for them, really)

bojure - BOJAN. their wedding photos were just a silly joke, obviously, except bojan felt himself blush while they were taking the photos and. oh. the realization he liked jure hit him like a truck. it took him a while to gather the courage to talk to jure and he was fully ready to be rejected but when he did jure only smiled and pulled him for a kiss because, god, how could you be so stupid, bojiči. how could you not see how i look at you?

krisjan - kris, again. i don't even think jan realizes at first - and kris is sure it's not mutual whatsoever. but jan is also his best friend. if he can't talk about it with his best friend, who can he talk about it with? he's... unsure about it, but he knows jan will probably be okay with it no matter what. and jan is surprised at the fact that kris feels that way (and probably even surprised at the fact that he feels butterflies when kris tells him about his feelings) but it also makes perfect sense to fall for one of his closest friends. it feels right

bonace - bojan. and nace can't even believe it at first because what do you mean you're into me and not kris or jere???? and bojan just rolls his eyes at him because "nace, you're the nicest, kindest, (and hottest) man i've ever met. how could i not fall for you?" and then bojan talks about all the times nace did something nice for him and all the times they've gone fishing together and all the times nace has held his hand during a panic attack and helped him calm down... and nace has had a crush on bojan for ages (even before he joined joker out) so he can hardly believe it's mutual and that bojan said something about it