#fma has A LOT else to be clear

[undertalethingems]

HOLY CRAP TORIEL IS BUFF AS SHI-

[Slightly changed quote from Jaiden Animations]

(heh, not familiar with that reference but uh)

what can i say, i owe everything to fullmetal alchemist

if that series has nothing else, it has powerful ladies, and i've always appreciated that about it

so of course i'm going to continue in its tradition :>

[needle-noggins]

Time for Vol. 5: Meryl's very bad no good horrible day

Even though she saved the day by shooting Legato, breaking the craziest stand-off while also scared shitless. I love my wife. She can hold so much complexity in her. Now let's get into it:

First, a moment from Vash:

Our boy is in utter agony here, and the thought of Meryl is what keeps him going. Obviously she's in danger and needs rescuing, but come on. He's enduring this pain for her. He can't quit, for her. Yeah, this is par for the course for our anime jesus figure, but come on. Let me have this.

Quick moment of Meryl seeing Vash's feathers for the first time and she's terrified. It's interesting how Wolfwood and Meryl are both so deeply terrified of Vash, but Wolfwood saw a lot more up front at Jeunora Rock and from a distance. Meryl, on the other hand, is trapped. I also think Wolfwood processes it completely differently because he also sees himself as a monster, so to him it's recognition of the self through the other (deragatory). For Meryl, it's just all traumatic. She's just a 23 year old woman and she didn't ask for this.

I think these panels above explain my question from earlier - Meryl is definitely seeing Vash's flashbacks to July here. She sees the black hole gate, the destruction, and the angel arm; I'm not sure if she knows about the part with Knives, but based on some really helpful people on my earlier post today, I think she reveals that she saw that too (oof). I'm not sure what she's seeing in the bottom panel of page 95, though. If someone could explain, I would be super appreciative.

Like I said, she's just a normal person. What was it that someone said to Vash earlier, that he's endured more pain than any person possibly could live with? And now Meryl feels some of that - a lot of it, perhaps, considering that July was so traumatic to Vash that he lost his memory of it. Someone else pointed it out wonderfully that while Fifth Moon was Knives controlling Vash, July was 100% Vash aiming to kill Knives and everyone else was an unlucky casualty of Vash's fear and anger. Meryl sees what Vash is capable of - and that he has killed scores of people - not just second-hand through circumstance, but in actuality.

ANGEL MODE GO CRAZY GO STUPID! GORE GORE GORE!

I mean, Vash doesn't have great control of his power anyway, between hardly ever using it and feeling intense emotion that affects it. Thank god he doesn't use the angel arm here, but holy shit? Meryl just saw what that thing is capable of, and Wolfwood saw it in real time, and he's yelling at Meryl to escape but she's trapped underneath him. After she was also trapped in an elevator, and the elevator fell, and holy shit if i were her I would need extensive therapy to go into an elevator ever again, never mind all of Vash. And then as Vash's angel arm powers down it morphs again into this ungodly homunculus of body parts like it's fucking Envy from Fullmetal Alchemist (*Trigun predates FMA, to be clear) and he is apologizing profusely, knowing how terrifying it is and he has no control over what's happening with his body.

Huh. Between that and how Knives keeps assaulting him, that's a pretty painful running theme.

Thankfully, as Elendira takes the spotlight (my other wife) (she can do no wrong, I love her dearly), I think it gives Vash some time to cool down long enough to go back to "normal". And then he holds a dying Hoppered's hand, showing compassion to a man who tried to kill him but then re-experienced the horrors of July with him, showing that Vash still cares that despite how terrifying and destructive he can be when he loses it. And Meryl watches on.

[courtmartialme]

Okay okay I am FASCINATED by your Roy hating?? I have not seen that in this fandom and I am desperate to know w h y (in the most positive way possible). Pls convert me to being a Roy hater

this is so funny HELP yeah sure

i honestly don't really hate roy or else he wouldn't be half my otp. but i only like the version of him in my head so i don't want other people to talk to me about him lol therefore it's easier to say i hate him

when i first got into fma in 2018 i actually liked both roy and riza the same amount, you could even argue i liked roy more considering i drew him more(hes easy to draw) LOL but with time in fandom i gradually grew a distaste for him because of how a lot of his fans treat riza for his sake

riza is so interesting and full of personality, and it's clear arakawa has a lot of love for her considering riza has a whole backstory as a side character while the vast majority of others do not(she has said in an interview riza is her favorite character after resembool trio). but i too often saw her being reduced to only "girl who is there to point a gun to roy when he's being silly xD girlboss babysitter xD" or she's just there to comfort roy in his manpain as if she didn't go through the exact same shit as him and Even More, but her feelings tend to go ignored ... i think a lot of royai shippers would benefit from selfshipping instead if you're just gonna use riza to explore roy as a partner LOL

realizing that made me a lil sad, but to each their own ig having bad taste isn't crime yet. so i started to focus my own work on riza since i didn't see that often. what really made my roy allergy skyrocket was trying to make things focused on riza and get people coming at me like "wow i like this thing you made about riza but what if it was about roy :)" ??!!???!!?? why are you buying clothes at the soup store!!!!!! roy is already infinitely more popular and has so many fans who make stuff focused on him and yet you come to the riza guy wanting to make the riza works about roy!!??!! it really annoys me and i still get comments like that sometimes despite being irritatingly loud about disliking roy focus to try to avoid that and it doesnt even work!!!!!! so its why i feel bitter towards roy fans

seeing riza being used as acessory to prop roy and her own feelings sidelined for the sake of focusing on roys so often by people who claim to like her too made me incredibly tired of content focused on him and of his fans lol so it's my life goal to make him the accessory for riza instead, he doesn't exist to me when he's not standing next to his wife

[blorbologist]

👀👀👀

THREE? Cracks knuckles, right then:

I'm doing a rewatch of Campaign 2 and the Essek withdrawal is bad. So my brain is poking at... what if Essek and a PC swapped places? Essek gets found out (or fucks up in an experiment and loses much of his skill) and is forced to flee and ends up sniffing out Something that could clear his name/be useful and so goes to see this circus show that goes wrong and gets roped into the Nein. Maybe in place of Fjord, who they encounter as a charming first mate to Avantika and can be swayed into changing sides. Or Caleb, a rogue agent Trent is still trying to track down and too wary to have partnered up with Nott in that cell. Perhaps Beauregard, disillusioned with the Soul thanks to Zeenoth and trying to tear it apart from within. The only set thing is a) Essek starting with the Nein from an early level, b) someone else getting to be the 'potentially evil ally who gets forcibly befriended and thus c) Jester has to stay with the Nein and still be a crux in Essek and this late addition party member turning a new leaf. No clue if this has been done already bc I hardly read any C2 fics but!

@rightpastnowhere and I have talked a bit about the idea of a Fullmetal Alchemist AU! Most of Vox Machina would be the equivalent of Team Mustang and other adults the boys meet along the journey - as for them? Well... I was thinking it'd be Beau and Caleb, with Beau being stuck in the suit of armor. Twisting things around to fit their campaign specialties is tricky but fun: flame alchemist being the new kid/Caleb. Vex, in the role of Roy being some specialized and lethal ranged alchemy, Percy her right-hand (I am a huge huge huge Royai shipper don't act surprised). Winry's role could go to Jester (though I loathe Widojest so she'd likely end up with Beau or Fjord). Essek gets to be host to Greed, which is fitting <333 The unfortunate role of Hughes would likely go to Vax (best way to make team Vox Machina go fucking ballistic, and.... yknow, twisted nod to canon). The Homunculi would likely amalgamate the roles of a few villains to fit the heroes they're in conflict with best - though Lust would take on a lot of Delilah's vibes and nasty behavior for sure. It's such a mess but very fun to think about! TBH a lot of what I like about FMA would likely get absorbed into the Age of Arcanum AU, though, so - just fun enrichment.

This is less an AU and more a thought, but: Vex would make for such a sexy Spider-woman. And a Doc Oc Percy... idk if there's anything there and I know Shit about Spider-lore but cmon. Consider with me. heeheehoo

[meanlesbean]

Chapter commentary

are people interested in seeing my chapter commentary for Cadence of a Legacy? idk. I'm posting it anyway. voila.

Chapter 1 notes are longer than the others because I included more detail about the planning of the fic. Anyway, here there be: musings on family and brotherhood and how it shows up in linked universe fanworks, Hyrule as an arsonist, Wild's economy, and more info about card games than anyone else probably cares about. minor totk spoilers about one sidequest but nothing plot related (if you need, skip the bullet that starts "pre-totk release".) Here we go:

Chapter 1 - The Woods Between

I am not joking about having a phone note that says “making peace with your inner child when your inner child has physically manifested and wants to cause problems on purpose”. I would include a screenshot of said note, but then you would all see how long I have been toying with this idea and that’s too embarrassing

IMO, there is an astounding lack of fic focusing on the relationship between Time and Twilight even though they are the only ones who interact in game canon. And I’ve read every good Time-centric fic probably a dozen times. So unfortunately that meant I had to go write my own. Unfortunately the plot that I came up with doesn’t work with Time (or Mask) as the POV character, so it evolved into a Twilight-centric fic as well. 

The bones of this chapter were mostly written in a notebook last year at my terrible job when I had a desk in the corner and nothing to do 85% of the time. Large parts of the set up of the chapter remain the same from this draft, with even a select few of the lines staying the same word for word. But the handwritten version, which covered all of Chapter 1 and parts of Chapter 2, was only about 7 pages front and back (rip to the 11k monster it became)

Literally I never would have posted this fic if I hadn’t read the the FMA fic series demon alchemist and realized that the reason I hated my draft so much was because the narrative voice was too impersonal

So I started working on this fic again last fall with a lot more attention paid to establishing a clear voice, and I finally started making solid progress, to the point where I made it a goal to share it on AO3, which I have not done in a long long time

Hyrule’s missing fingers are a reference to the demon alchemist series btw. I do imagine he lost them from an enemy’s throwing ax or mace. Twilight complaining about the number of enemies with throwing weapons is also me complaining about how hard Zelda II is. fucking Dairas. 

Other fic inspiration includes: Call Them Brothers, for getting me thinking about situations in which Warriors doesn’t know that Time is the kid he fought with in the war, and more generally, Sinnatious’ LU and LOZ fics for inspiration on Time’s voice. 

I cannot tell you how much time I spent rewriting and reworking the first half of the chapter. Honestly writing that first part was just like. Agonizing. Nothing was working for so long. Every time I tried fixing a problem, I created two more. I was very close to cutting out the scene of Twilight scouting and the camp shenanigans and skipping to Twilight meeting Mask, but then it felt like everything went way too quick. I was very relieved when people liked the wrestling scenes because that whole section had me tearing my hair out. The things that kept me going were spite and also how desperate I’ve been to get back into writing. Literally that one defunctland tweet. 

In contrast, the second half of the chapter (everything from the Epona grooming scene on) came so easy. All of the latter stuff was written and edited within like 2 weeks. My favorite scene from this chapter actually ended up being that part with Twilight and Time taking care of Epona. 

More specific notes:

My take on Twilight’s aversion/distrust of magic is that he has a really strong sense for it, but he doesn’t have much of a knowledge base of how magic works. So this results in Twilight frequently getting a lot of information that he can’t make sense of, and it really fucking freaks him out. 

I know fandom likes to characterize Wild as the group arsonist, but I think Hyrule would be just as big if not a bigger arsonist, which was why I had him be the one to suggest using fire. If you want to uncover all the hidden items/heart pieces in the OG Zelda without a guide or walkthrough, you have to burn so many trees. Like, if you are ever stuck in that game and don’t know where to go next, 70% of the time your solution is either bombs or fire. 

I played ten thousand rounds of “should their titles (ie. rancher, captain, etc) be lowercase or capitalized?” while writing this. I know people usually have them call each other their fandom names, but tbh that always throws me off just a little, even though I 100% get why people do it because good lord it would be easier.

I feel like a lot of LU works (speaking generally about the fandom output as a whole, not about any particular fic) leans heavily into the emotional support and comradery aspect of the chain as family, and does not include nearly enough of like. annoying each other on purpose and play violence and rubbing each others’ faces in the dirt. which is a big reason for why I kept the wrestling scene.

Maybe it’s because me and my family members were little demons but like. I have brothers and mostly boy cousins, and a solid 60% of our time as kids/teens was spent playing some variation of King of the Rock. I appreciate the found family softness, and there will definitely be a lot of that in this fic, but my experience with siblinghood includes a lot of chasing each other around with wiffle ball bats and trying to strangle each other. The Links are brothers! and sometimes that means that you will try to ruin your brother’s whole day just because you are mildly bored. 

Warriors and the teens are playing Rummy. I imagine that the group plays a lot of card games, and since I grew up playing tons of cards, I have put way too much thought into all of this. Other popular games among the group (depending on how many people they have) probably include Texas (Ordon?) hold em, whist, knockout, BS, gin rummy, and hearts. Hearts can get contentious with them though because you can engage in coordinated sabotage. Four and Legend are not allowed to be partners in Whist because they’re the only ones who can count all the cards in play. There is a near-unanimous group ban on Spoons because it got too violent.  

Legend having heterochromia is inspired by an Oracles manga panel redraw someone posted on here years ago that I cannot for the life of me find again

I have this headcanon that Wild, in comparison to the rest of the gang, is absurdly rich but does not really realize it because he just does not have a ton of shit to actually spend money on. This is based on the ridiculous amount of rupees/gems I have on my 100% botw file and also my own musings on the state of Hyrule’s economy post-calamity. Mostly I think that post-calamity Hyrule does not have super discrete classes like most other Hyrules do, and that a luxury economy does not really exist. 

Pre-totk release I actually thought: okay, Wild has a lot of money, but his luxury purchases are limited to like fancy armor, which is directly related to doing his job as the hero. It’s not like most other eras where you can go build wealth by buying up a ton of land. And then totk came around and let you go buy a sizable swatch of land. I still think my original idea mostly holds true, if only because the monster-free areas of Hyrule where someone could safely make a land claim still seem to be pretty limited (even the totk house has monster camps right across the road from it). 

Mask is not dressed in the green tunic for two main reasons, one of which I’ll keep to myself because it felt way too spoilery when I wrote it down. Most importantly, it shows that time has passed since Majora’s Mask. In fact, in chapter 3 we'll learn that it's been just about a year since then. The Kokiri tunic is no more because he grew out of it :( 

I didn’t find this reference until after publishing, but I imagine he’s dressed more or less like this. Except he has his green cap and a leather belt, baldric, and boots.

[medea10]

My Review of Requiem of the Rose King

How did I get into this anime? Let’s just see what my thoughts were the second I saw the promo poster.

“This looks like something that should have been made 15 years ago and something Studio Gonzo should have put a pin in. Are there going to be a bunch of Texans doing English accents? This looks to be promising to the female yaoi demographic. How is there not an ALI PROJECT song prepared for this? Wait, can we still get an ALI PROJECT song for this anime? Why isn’t there an ALI PROJECT song for this anime?!”

This story is loosely based on Shakespeare's plays. England has been in a hot-bed of royal fights over which house is fitting of being crowned King of England, the house of York or the house of Lancaster. At the beginning of our story, it’s decided that Henry VI is the rightful king. But let’s see if a certain Richard has a say in the matter.

Richard is the third son to the Duke of York (and his name’s sake). Richard was loved by his father but despised by his mother. Take your pick, it could be because Richard is neither man nor woman, Richard was born under a bad omen, or the fact that Richard looks absolutely nothing like his parents or his brothers. Despite the harsh shitty upbringing, he’s still devoted to his father and wants to help his father pursue the crown.

However, Richard’s father fell to defeat at the hands of the house of Lancaster. But Richard is determined to keep the dream alive by having his elder brothers Edward and George hold the crown once it was won by any means necessary. He’s not afraid of getting his hands dirty or setting up anyone that gets in his way. But aside from that, there is a bit of a love story that revolves around Richard and Henry VI.

Neither of them knows of each other’s family name (at the beginning), but things get tumultuous when everything is out in the open.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: Before I go into who is in this anime, I must always praise this one voice actor. Mitsuki Saiga! If you need someone who can play literally every gender in the known world and even a few undiscovered ones and Megumi Ogata is in the can, Mitsuki Saiga can get the job done! Okay now that I got that out of my system, FUNimation nabbed this one at the last minute and saw it quite fitting to give this an English dub. Oh fuck! The Texas brigade dubbing something clearly British! It’s Black Butler all over again where J. Michael Tatum is the clear winner and everything else is on levels between ‘okay’ and ‘cringe’. I don’t know. I’m not brave enough to hear the English version. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Richard is played by Mitsuki Saiga (known for Drew on Pokemon AG, Maria on FMA, Yelena on Attack on Titan, Henry on Black Clover, Kurako on Princess Jellyfish, Wolfram on Kyou Kara Maou, and Rossiu on Gurren Lagann)

*Henry is played by Hikaru Midorikawa (known for Zel on Slayers, Zora on Black Clover, Tamahome on Fushigi Yugi, Li on Code Geass, Yoshino on Clannad, Best Jeanist on My Hero Academia, and 16 on DBZ)

ENGLISH CAST: *Richard is played by Ciaran Strange

*Henry is played by Landon Mcdonald (known for Enmu on Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, Shun on Rent-A-Girlfriend, and Shiba on Tokyo Revengers)

SHIPPING: Characters screwing each other in more ways than once. There’s a lot of betrayal, usurping, and manipulating people’s emotions just to get their way.

Yeah, that’s Shakespeare!

Anyone named Henry loved Richard. Anyone who looked like Henry VI loved Richard. Anyone whose sperm has come from a Henry and has a penis loved Richard. Is that gay enough for you now, fangirls? Okay, how about any women? Yes, there was Ann, Richard’s childhood friend. Ann loves Richard too, but she’s being lead astray because of her father and her betrothed.

Oh sure, Ann does return to Richard. But that’s only after she becomes a pregnant widow. But this is such a staged marriage. They haven’t slept with each other! Well Ann doesn’t know about Richard’s peculiar body, so we can’t blame him there. Richard still yearns for Henry even though he’s long gone. Even after that, Richard finds himself spending nights with Buckingham. Richard almost ended up in certain trouble after many nights of fucking. But the point is, there’s a lot to unpack here. At least Richard isn’t the only person with a messed-up love life in the family. His eldest brother Edward really is no better.

Let’s just say that when it comes to Edward, he has shitty taste in women. He was betrothed to another woman at the start of his kingdom when he met Elizabeth and got married to her. And don’t get me started on that bitch either. She married into the royal family with the mission of destroying it because they killed her first husband. She didn’t love Edward. She just wanted to have babies with him and have them take over and do her bidding when they’re older. Even when married with kids, Edward had a bit of a hedonistic lifestyle. I honestly think he fucked around too much and caught something.

Do I have a ship that I support? I know fans of the franchise have chosen what side they want to be on when it comes to Richard. Team Henry, Team Henry, Team Henry, or Team Catesby. I’m just going along for the ride and seeing what happens next. Go team!

HALFWAY MARK: The York’s getting the crown for England wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Warwick (a long-time ally) turned out to be a double-crosser early on. He betrayed King Edward and offered his daughter Ann to Edward of Lancaster. But to cover his bases, he offered his other daughter to King Edward’s brother George. It all comes crashing down as Warwick is taken out on the battlefield by Buckingham (posed as Richard). The Lancaster family is captured. Edward is murdered in front of his mother by Richard. Edward is fine by this as he does have a thing for Richard. Like I said, any sperm that came from Henry has a thing for Richard.

But the biggest hit for Richard came in the form of learning that Henry was indeed THAT Henry, the previous king and (to Richard) the reason why his father perished. Though we all know that it was Henry’s wife Margaret that killed Richard’s father. Henry winds up with a bout of amnesia and is unable to remember Richard or the time they spent together. Richard’s mother goes and makes things worse by poisoning Henry with words disparaging her son. You’ll find this happens a lot throughout the rest of the series. Hearing Henry repeat his mother’s words made Richard snap and kill Henry. Of course, Richard had orders by his older brother to kill Henry, but I think Richard was acting on impulse. After that, he hooks up with Ann (after he kills her husband, father-in-law, and father).

We then get into a time-leap. King Edward is a skirt-chaser. George is drunk. And Richard is married to Ann and taking care of her and the baby she had with her previous husband. But everyone seems to believe the lie that the kid is Richard’s. Even though Ann’s child looks like her previous husband and IS his. I will not say the names of the kids these people had because everyone’s name is the fucking same. Geez England, add some different names please. Not everybody has to be named Richard, Edward, Henry, and Elizabeth.

ENDING: Richard is now King of England. Now it wasn’t an easy path to get to the throne and he was behind several people in line. First, both of Richard’s brothers died almost at the same time. George was murdered and King Edward croaked from an unspecified illness. Next in line would be King Edward’s eldest son (who is still a child). Richard and Buckingham had to take care of King Edward’s crazy widow in the meantime. She had her eyes on the throne and a slow-moving coup in the works with her supporters. Richard was able to do away with Elizabeth and her children. A few episodes later, two of her children were poisoned and I’m sure Richard will get blamed for that. And then a certain thorn in Richard’s side continues to stir up trouble and that is his mother. She tries to get the public enraged by telling them Richard is a demon. But a stunt by Buckingham and Richard fooled the public and they are all in agreement that he must become king.

But Richard’s problems are only beginning. There’s still that slow-moving coup I was talking about in the works to oust him. Henry might still be alive. Richard’s body is still a cluster-fuck! No, seriously it is! He has breasts, a penis, and now I think he has a uterus. At least it feels like it when he got a check-up and we’re aware of how many nights he’s together with Buckingham. This however wasn’t the only time Buckingham fucked Richard as he kinda betrayed the crown and was beheaded as a result. Now Richard is going through some severe Henry-withdrawal. Oh yeah, Buckingham’s real name was Henry. Imagine that! Another character named Henry that has an unhealthy lust for Richard. Just because Buckingham is dead doesn’t mean the trouble is over. An uprising is coming from this weird guy that we see smiling and plotting, Lord Richmond. He thinks he deserves the crown and wants the death of Richard. In fact, he’s the guy that gave the poison candies to Edward’s sons.

Richard’s wife Ann was worried as her health was declining due to tuberculosis and wants her son to have nothing to do with the crown. So Ann dies and they fake her son’s death and have him go in hiding with a fake name. And then Richard’s crazy mother (who I’m surprised is still alive given the average life span of this family) comes out to call him a demon once more and rooting for Richmond to defeat her son. To top it off, I’m pretty sure he caught tuberculosis from his now deceased wife.

So now it’s a showdown between Richard III and Lord Richmond. Who will come out vict…I don’t even need to finish that question because everyone and their mother knows who wins. Richmond takes out Richard. But we end with Richard’s only loyal ally Catesby coming to rescue him. But we’re pretty sure Richard is done for. Whether it was the battle or the tuberculosis, he’s done for.

Shakespeare works are not for everyone. Even the more amusing ones like A Midsummer Night’s Dream are not for everyone. It’s an odd taste. And it’s not going to help when the mangaka comes out to say that the manga has so much more that the anime has neglected to show and a lot more sex scenes. In my case, it does entice me to read the manga. I’ve seen so many thoughts on the internet surrounding this one particular anime. Most of them hate it and others see it as an underrated classic. I just thought it was okay.

In fact, I would like to think of this anime as a picture book. Maybe it was just bad timing with me and most people who watched this anime at the exact same time as Demon Slayer’s recent season. Because going from that to Requiem can give you whiplash. But the way the animation was, it almost felt like a picture book. That’s the nicest way I can put it for an anime that doesn’t show much in terms of a battle when every other episode has Richard in a battle.

If you are a Shakespeare enthusiast, I would say give it a chance. This wasn’t my cup of tea, but I’m glad I was able to give it a chance. I’ll still stay on the record that Romeo x Juliet was the best anime adaptation of a Shakespeare play.

If you would like to watch Requiem of the Rose King, FUNimation and Crunchyroll have every episode (including the recap) available for streaming.

[eyes-of-mischief]

weekly fic recs | 32

fandoms: bnha, dc, fma, mdzs, svsss

dc

Like a Hinge, Like a Wing by Ultrageekatlarge

(mature)

The problem is that Tim’s spent the past month or so slowly getting murdered.

(AKA, An AU where Jason never went to Ethiopia, and Tim takes a different road home to the Waynes.)

Anchor by Sohotthateveryonedied

Tim can’t remember the last time his brain was this quiet. Usually, the only times his mind is this clear are when he’s about to pass out from blood loss or drown in the Gotham Sound. Both of those sound appealing, but Tim is too tired to get up and do it. If he had more energy, he might.

fma

Basement Full of these by asdfghjkl_pudding

Edward should have known trying to resurrect his mother wouldn't turn out right, but there is no way this could be possibly equivalent exchange.

we haunt ourselves by sekalaista

"There's something funny about that kid," Maes says. "I just can't put my finger on it."

fma x bnha

the tin can man by Marcellebelle

(graphic depictions of violence)

Ed loves his little brother. Their dad isn't exactly great at the whole parenting thing, but that just means Ed has to pick up the slack. Which is fine. They have each other, and it's not as though he's going to let anything happen to Al; and Ed knows that one day, Al will become an amazing hero.

Or:

There isn't a world in which Ed doesn't sacrifice everything to save his brother.

mdzs

My Boy Builds Coffins by enbysaurus_rex

Lan Zhan, Lan Xichen, Lan Qiren, and their mother flee to Yiling when the boys are children. Lan Zhan discovers a penchant for coffin making.

Themes and Variations in F# Major by defractum (nyargles)

(explicit)

The thing with musical prodigies is that they're soloists, and soloists play alone. He doesn't want to play alone anymore.

-

"A summer guest lecture series? Oh, very nice. I wish I could sit in on that."

"Do you also play the piano?"

"Not even a little bit," says Wei Ying cheerfully. "But I'm sure you'd have a lot of thoughts on musicality that would be relevant regardless."

"Oh," says Lan Zhan. He seems to be searching for something else to say. "I believe it is oversubscribed," he says finally.

"As it should be," says Wei Ying, and does not tell him that he has all of Lan Zhan's albums downloaded onto his phone, listened to over and over when he's on a train, a plane, waiting for a taxi, has followed his career since he overheard half a Mendelssohn when they were fifteen.

blow me to bermuda by victortor

Lan Wangji was born at the beginning of the world. Wei Wuxian was born at the end.

That was simply how it was.

svsss

voluntary victim (tie the noose) by technorat

(explicit)

Looking back at everything, Shen Qingqiu comes to a conclusion: everything that went wrong in his first life happened because of him.

Or, the Peak Lords search for Shen Qingqiu. Too bad he doesn't want to be found.

[soul-dwelling]

Do you think Oda has started to put in even more fanservice moments than before? Seems half of the recent chapters were just unecesarry ass-shots

I hadn’t noticed all of that–not exactly, anyway. 

Maybe it's because there are the other instances before this point that stood out much more.

I mean, I saw the immediate reaction online to the first reveal of Vegapunk (rather, part of him: Lilith)–and that went about what you would expect in just about any fandom’s gross sector (e.g. “horny on main”). That’s not Oda’s fault that certain fans will fixate on certain things–but he and all of us knew the fans would fixate on that. And it’s not Lilith’s fault–but, again, we know what Oda was doing, so this seems like more “pretty woman to look at” fodder. I’m not going to rail against “eye candy”; I will rail when it gets tiresome to keep up the same narrative/visual tricks to keep readers, when the eye candy detail potentially overwhelms any deeper characterization or plot or character variety, and when it is not varying your character designs. 

And while I appreciate that Lilith’s character design didn’t stick as closely to some of Oda’s typical designs for women, it was still close enough to his usual style, and it gets tiresome. It’s not as if he doesn’t have other body shapes and body types for women–but this doesn’t seem like enough, especially when deciding on a bodysuit for Vegapunk to make it clear how curvy she is. 

I’m not ignoring that even my favorites have this flaw: see Fullmetal Alchemist creator Hiromu Arakawa saying she doesn’t want skinny characters because they’ll look underfed, whereas she wants muscular characters–”men should be buffed and women should be vavoom.” I hope most of Arakawa’s remark is a gag reaction, given that Ed is definitely someone with a height and body type that is distinct and does show a believable sense of self for not having an ideal body and, you know, believable within what the Gate did to Ed and Al. 

But it still seems so limited to not want “too skinny” characters (despite, you know, really thin characters being in the manga–hi, Al in the gate). And maybe I’m overreacting to this: Rose is not Hawkeye is not Winry is not Izumi is not Ross, just as Armstrong is not Mustang is not Ed is not Fuery–so, I really don’t get saying the equivalent of “no skinny character, buff men, vavoom women,” when, no, the manga shows skinny characters, non-buff men, and not-conventionally-vavoom women. 

(Now, whether the “good guys” are all good looking in FMA while the “bad guys” are all ugly is up for debate–but I think the manga also avoids that: Marcoh has done awful things and gets scarred by Scar, but Scar has his scar yet is conventionally attractive, and Lust is firmly an antagonist and, you know, introduced to Mustang in Brotherhood with a freaking Gainax effect.) 

But to go back to your original question: I had not noticed the ass shots. So I re-read some recent chapters of One Piece. 

I mean, I kind of see what you mean with maybe two panels of Robin, Nami, and Jewelry. (Hell, got Jewelry taking off her clothes to dry them out–one of those, “Yeah, I get that she had to do that–but I also know _why else_ you’re including that scene, Oda, and I don’t think you’re doing that to most of the men.”) 

But, again, a lot of what I noticed was Lilith…and take that as you will, whether that’s on me for noticing her, or Oda trying to draw attention there. This isn’t as bad as it could be, but, yeah, it is a lot of “here are her hips.” Same with Robin, too. I’m not trying to shame anyone, and definitely not shame Lilith, Robin, or anyone else. But this is a moment of some gaze that stands out, and it stands out differently than I think most people would react to other characters’ bodily exaggerations (I don’t think most people look at Lilith’s hips as they do at Usopp’s nose, Sanji’s eyebrow, or Frankie’s…everything). 

[wingsyliveblogs]

Eda's framed warning notice implies that she regularly checks out books from the library regardless of her card being revoked under various disguises because she keeps mishandling the manuscripts, and the librarians need to keep her image handy in case any newcomer is Eda in a thin disguise.

1. Yeah, I figured that much - it just amused me that the librarians went so far as to frame the photo. I'd think that just having her picture on hand would be enough. Of course, it wouldn't surprise me if Eda has stolen the photo in the past, so they put it in a frame to make it more difficult for her to get away with it.

Either way, it really goes to show how much of a name Eda has made for herself in causing trouble everywhere she goes.

2. Oooh, that's a very neat bit of information! Funnily enough, I was discussing Episode 4 with my siblings after finishing it, and one of them was wondering why Luz can draw circles so cleanly, since it's pretty hard to do. My actual response was to bring up FMA as another example of a series in which characters are required to draw perfect circles as an inherent part of the magic system and can generally pull it off without any problems... so it's quite the coincidence that these two facts turned out to be explicitly related! Thanks for letting me know!

3. Yeah... it's pretty telling that Amity compares Luz coming to the library to the idea of Amity herself going to cause trouble at the Owl House, which is where Luz lives.

I appreciate how nuanced the dynamic between Luz and Amity is. It's not just a simple case of "bully character is Mean so main character stands up against her and gives her a taste of her own medicine which is fine because she Deserves It" - the show makes it clear that Amity has her own perspective on things that happen that doesn't necessarily line up with Luz's, and that she can be hurt and that it matters how she feels, too. In Episode 3 and Episode 5, while Luz was acting in defense of her friends, Amity was genuinely hurt by what happened in both episodes, though I don't think Luz really understood that until the latter episode.

In Episode 7, Luz was trying to befriend Amity rather than get back at her, but she still overstepped her boundaries and inadvertently got involved in something she shouldn't (Amity's feud with her siblings). Amity saying that Luz was a bully was a bit funny considering her own previous actions, but she still had a point, even if she was missing some key details about what was actually going on. Just because Luz is our protagonist, and we know what she's thinking and why she does certain things, doesn't mean that she can't make mistakes or hurt other people. Meaning well doesn't prevent you from doing wrong, and anyone can be a bully to someone else if they aren't careful. Including Amity, including Luz.

And to be honest, "Amity has a point" could be said about most episodes she's been in - Luz was helping Willow cheat in Episode 3, Luz was going along with Eda's cheating while being fully aware of what was happening. And of course, as you've pointed out, in Episode 7 Luz did invade her privacy, and was also partly responsible for the whole mess with Otabin. Amity may be rude, but she's very much right that Luz has a habit of making problems for her.

It's mostly unintentional, and a lot of it is just Luz having a hard time saying no to someone she trusts or someone she thinks is cool, but all Amity can see is the end result, and that's Luz doing something to get her in trouble again. But because Luz means well, and because she doesn't want to hurt anyone, she's able to make things right in the end. I think (or at least I hope) that Amity's starting to understand Luz's intentions a bit better as well.

4. Yeah, that makes sense!

5. This is actually how I read that scene! Amity herself didn't really gain any benefits from volunteering to go next there; the teacher himself said "you know I like to save the best for last", so she would've known that she would get the perfect chance to show off if she waited. And given that she's a star student, extra homework wouldn't faze her at all, so it seems unlikely that she would volunteer just to avoid it (though I suspect that this is the answer she might give if anyone questioned her about her actions).

The most logical reason she would have to volunteer herself in place of any other student is that she wanted to prevent her classmates from having to deal with the extra homework. Not to mention, whoever was chosen to go next would inevitably have to deal with resentment from the rest of the class (all two of them) for getting extra homework put on them. If the teacher did choose Amity to go next, she'd miss out on a chance to make fun of one of her classmates for messing up, and she wouldn't gain much for it. It seems more likely that she was trying to help out the others rather than herself in this situation. But of course, since Amity is Amity and was acting very smug about the whole thing, it's pretty easy to miss.

6. Oh.

...yeah

[misttiddies]

Breaking down the Boruto manga art style

When I first saw the Boruto manga style I thought it was ugly to the point of being unreadable. I have since come around to kind of liking it, but I think it’s interesting enough to kind of dissect, especially at this point in Boruto where the man is drawing key frames for the anime, whose style is morphing more and more to look like his with the introduction of more characters who were originally drawn in Ikemoto’s style (as opposed to a lot of the original gen characters and Boruto-age kids, who were designed by Kishimoto first.)

I want to make it clear that, other than point 5, none of these are supposed to be criticisms. This is ‘what makes this style different from all the other ones out there’ not ‘why it sucks’. Whether this style looks good or bad is in the eye of the beholder as my first statement proves. i am the beholder and i have thought it is both good and bad

1. There is a lot of definition in the eyes, and people generally have more eyelid than usual in anime. In a lot of anime, either the eyes are big enough or the irises are small enough that there’s white space between the iris and the lids on all sides. The characters who don’t have this usually don’t for a reason, like Kakashi, who’s meant to look bored and closed-off. Ikemoto really seems to favor a half-lidded look, as almost all of Kara, except Daemon most of the time, have half-closed-looking lids unless something extreme is going on. 

This is in the middle of him lunging at Sarada and his eyes are still drooping down.

(Having said that, half-lidded characters are almost always adults, to the point where it looks jarring on a lot of the kids who aren’t Kawaki. Think abt how Boruto is usually only half-lidded when Momoshiki is taking over.) And in addition to just having a lot more lid, they’re very defined. Everyone has a waterline if they’re drawn decently big on the page. There are often multiple lines indicating lid creases, and multiple lines in eyebrows.

^ this one is very zoomed in, the width of a whole page, and this one v is like a fifth of the page big

which makes eyebrow less characters like Jigen look even more uhh?? strange? It’s an inordinate amount of detail even for people who don’t have dojutsu. There’s not a whole lot of variety in shape either. There’s a lot of variety in pupils and irises, but the shape is generally the same within categories (men, women, children.)

2. Almost everyone has defined noses and lips too. Kind of an addendum to point 1, but I wanted eyes to be their own point because they get so much focus. I think that the rest of the face being as detailed as the eyes is a good thing, it’s more balanced, but I feel the need to remark on it because it’s another thing that’s different from a typical anime style.

This panel shows how the eye and lip detail is balanced by detail in the rest of the body. There’s a lot of thought put into how the clothing droops, to the point where it’s obvious that the shirt and the jacket are different fabrics. Fascinating. That is to say, the way Ikemoto draws faces goes well with the clothing he puts the characters in. In fact, take this Mitsuki too. 

Mitsuki doesn’t have nearly as much going on in his face: his eyebrows are very small, he doesn’t have a lot of eyelid definition, and his clothes are drawn much simpler. It’s all balance. (and admittedly this is a smaller picture of Mitsuki but I had a hard time finding a bigger one. He’s not a super featured character like he is in the show.) It should be noted that most of the time the only characters who consistently have upper lips, to my memory, are Delta, Eida and Yodo. Everyone else kind of only has them when they’re being zoomed in on, but most of the time most people have a bottom lip line.

3. The facial hair/shaved hair hatching. I feel like facial hair is hard to come by in general in anime/manga, but it tends to be either one colored shape, like Asuma and Shikamaru’s beards or Armstrong’s mustache in FMA, or scruff indicated by vertical lines, like Aizawa from MHA. Ikemoto puts a lot of hatching in his facial hair, and there are a Lot of characters who have light-colored beards and mustaches, and the one guy who had lambchops?? shojoji? it is such a bizarre choice. Looking back at pics of him all of his hair is very puzzling.

But all that extra hatching, at least to me, makes these guys look so filthy. You could not convince me that Amado or Shojoji have taken a shower in months. It’s a little less grimy-feeling with Boro and KK, for some reason, but maybe that’s just me. Kawaki doesn’t look unwashed so much as he looks like a raccoon crawling out of a dumpster, with the threads coming off his jacket. He’s very punk and I love it for him.

Point 3.5 there’re a lot of extra lines in people’s hair in general. I’m putting this in at the last second so I’m just going to let you notice it as you go through the post instead of providing specific examples because it’s there for everyone with light hair longer than Hinata’s.

4. There’s not a lot of mid-tone shading in this manga. If there’s any shading it’s done with hatching, which isn’t bad, but somehow a lot of manga feels really stark.

I’m having a hard time finding an example of something this pervasive, it’s just everything.

5. And then there’s the way that almost all of the female characters, at least at some point, look like preschoolers, with big chubby cheeks and gangly stick legs, especially when contrasted with the overly-mature clothes the children wear. Sarada and Sumire look like little children trying on their big sisters’ clothes. Hinata yo-yos between looking like someone in her mid-twenties and looking like a strange baby-faced teenager. 

adult!

14 year old??

(these examples are not the most egregious, but those are in the very first chapter when sasuke had curly hair so I’ve decided they are no longer part of the art style and part of the growing pains.)

Yodo suffers the opposite; she looks like she has the face of an adult on a child’s body.

Her bellybutton also doesn’t seem to be in the right place in either of these.

Cho Cho isn’t that bad except that one splash page with Sarada, and Himawari is spared by being an actual little girl. As well, sometimes the 12-13 year olds and Kawaki have proportions that make them look very young, but that’s common for anime and manga styles so I’m not going to gripe about it. I’m not going to get into the clothes right now, that’s for the fashion rating post I have in the works. I’m just going to say that the way Sarada’s thighs are drawn sometimes is concerning. 

That is a grown woman’s leg. Why is it attached to a child?

this is nauseating. Ikemoto if you want to quit Boruto and draw pinup calendars I support you, but please make the figures adults. This is a 13 year old and you know it.

And something I had forgotten during drafting this post, this phenomenon is not girl exclusive!

why is boruto so cut here? i know that 13 year olds can be that muscular, because my former therapist had a 13 year old son who was a bodybuilder and for some reason she was okay with that, but is it still suspicious that, with all these other offenses, Ikemoto’s drawing Boruto with a defined hip line and abs? I think yes. From the neck up this is such a sweet picture of him too.

6. Time to wash your eyes out! The colored splash pages are almost all at maximum saturation. I don’t know why. Often people have different colored versions of the same clothes too, which I think is kind of fun. Very Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.

In looking for an example of this I notice it’s died down a little with the most recent chapters.

7. Also like JJBA, the characters on the splash pages, especially Delta, Code and Eida, are often posed like fashion models. I just think that’s neat, esp with the really distinctive fashion going on in this series.

8. Often in fight scenes the entire background turns to motion lines. I don’t actually know how common this is in manga. 

This is the seventh uninterrupted panel of motion line background. There’s one panel with mountain and tree background, then six more with just motion lines.

9. I can’t believe I almost forgot about this; there are lines on almost every page that are just the slightest bit wiggly. It has a pen-drawn feel, which in this world of digital drawing and stabilizer-smoothed lines creates a distinct look. Check out the lines on Code’s sleeve here, and the whole way his hand looks. It’s just a little fucked up!

You can also see it in his eyes (even professional mangaka struggle with the other eye.) Lines are also not the same width from one end to the other, especially thicker lines like glasses. As well, sometimes solid lines will not be filled in all the way.

I think that’s all the thoughts I have right now.

[firein-thesky]

Hi! (big fan of your fanfics!) About your post on full metal: i think is also brilliant in it's portrait of orphanhood. The way there is a clear line between the Elric brothers and everyone else is so so real. How eldest children being without their parents learn to care for everyone (like Ed) and carry everything themselves, and how not having your parents gets you in this weird space in which you are not an adult and yet you simply cannot be a child anymore.

I really think no other series has ever managed to grasp the concept of love and loss so thoroughly like FMA. From the Elric brothers and their mother, to the love between friends like Roy and Huges, or Greed and everyone, the romantic one between Huges and his wife, ROY AND RIZA, Izumi and Sig. Is just so complete and crafted with so much care. IUGH. Is hard to top really.

first of all, thank you!!! thank you for reading my fics!! secondly…fullmetal…….YES. absolutely a brilliant portrayal of orphan hood and taking on a lot as an eldest and also…idk i think there’s so much hope in fma? like al at the end says so many people took care of them and now it’s their turn to pay it back. so yes, they lost their parents, and they were alone, and ed shouldered a lot, but so many people stepped up and helped them and cared for these two orphans and loved them. IM EMOTIONAL AGAIN!!!

fma really said this is the truth in the human experience….it is loss and love in living. and that love is always a triumph. and really what you need is the ppl who love you. god you’re so right!!! there’s so many instances of it portrayed!!! scar and his brother!!! ling and lan fan!!!! like it’s really such a beautiful story.

[bees-not-boys]

Hey you, it’s me. We are on day 2! Back into the LIKES…

I actually lost our place and the page completely refreshed 🙃 but I trusted the process! Scrolled back down! Did a bit of drawing to pass the time! And here we are again.

Worth noting is the interesting fact that I cleared our enough likes yesterday to have us at 10001 ✨ new beginnings indeed. Love some good ol’ fashioned numerology. Like a lil god wink.

just a few posts in and I come across a post that I would have ‘liked’ in present day. Discussing working on ourselves, questioning our beliefs/conditioning. Recognizing that doing that work/questioning is hard but should not be seen as Too Hard! I’m questioning my belief that I Don’t Finish Things by going through this archive of likes. I am unplugging from anywhere I bought or sold that belief, right or wrong. I’m aligning myself with a Maria who sees things through. Work worth doing

"someone else’s hope is hanging on your follow thru" of that hits. What great timing for that message. The synchronicities man…. // "no tree, it is said, can grow to Heaven unless it’s roots reach down to Hell" from Jung. That feels like a similar message of inner work, community work and collective effort to grow

so many posts with architecture, free information, factoids, beautiful objects. Wow I learned so much thanks to this site and the internet

I saved a vides with a beautiful cover of “she keeps me warm" set to a music video of a queer relationship blossoming. And now, 10 years later, I have my own beautiful queer love who keeps me warm! There has to be some inner child healing happening there! (I’m not crying you’re crying)

starting to see a lot more fandom posts - Zelda and HP and FMA alike. All of that is still so close to my heart haha that did not change!

finding fun posts from 10 years ago to show my partner. What sweet bliss. (Makes me think of the post "baby girl, I know so much fandom history you wouldn’t give a shit about"

in and among the funnies is also great poignancy: seeing full images from artists and exhibitions that I have forgotten about, but small details that I sketched out or I tried to mimic at one time or another. Those details lived on with me even when the memories and first impressions did not

[ladyloveandjustice]

I’ve been following the (very good) reviews on the anime trashfire that is Platinum End on ANN which brings up the fact that the author (Death Note Guy) seems so unable to really conceive of a good reason someone might be against killing, because they so fundamentally disagree with a pacifist worldview, so they give the weakest sauce reasons that amount to “I don’t want to destroy my own happiness” and make it seem selfish.

It occurs to me the same thing happens with how a lot of writers struggle with Batman. They fundamentally disagree with his philosophy so they can’t actually make it coherent. I remember it was clear Chuck Dixon so obviously couldn’t conceive of someone not wanting to kill people he’d give explanations like “the cops would no longer tacitly sanction Batman’s actions if he killed people so it’s an entirely pragmatic decision”. Plus, then the writers warp the villains so badly and make them so invincible and make it clear there are no other options that it becomes such a fucking joke not to kill them,. And then Batman’s speeches about why he doesn’t kill become a mass of contradictions resting on a slippery slope fallacy or whatever. And then the movies (maybe not the newest one I haven’t seen it) abandon the idea, as they have with most live action superheroes.

It actually makes me, once again, in my FMA rewatch, admire how the series handled it with Ed and Al, because it never HAS them make big speeches justifying why they won’t kill people. It’s very obviously their deeply held principle, but the series doesn’t have them try to justify it. It just shows you the inherent value of human life over and over again, and the consequences of a cycle of violence. There’s a lot you can infer- they are children and shouldn’t HAVE to kill people, Ed and Al both had their lives fucking ruined when they were judged guilty and punished for a “sin”, how can they feel the right to judge others enough for sins to condemn them to death?, that they were taught a philosophy where every small life is part of the flow of the universe (Al praying over the rabbit they had to kill, seeing the fox feed her kids with their food and eventually sharing it...), they repeatedly see the good things that can come from giving people second chances or how killing leads to vengeance and even more violence, they’re aware they’re part of a corrupt military complex and don’t want to kill under that authority- it goes on, but the series doesn’t spell it out for you these are their reasons. It allows the philosophy to stand unexplained and respected on it’s own, but then demonstrates why it might be held with the plot- for instance, with how the world would have been fucked if Ed or Al or Winry had been like “I’ll kill Scar”, and how it would have continued the cycle, and so on. 

At the same time, it doesn’t really have Ed or Al go out of their way to impose their values on anyone else- they’re obviously surrounded by people who have killed and continue to kill (even Al’s gf does, never forget when May casually wasted a couple dudes in the manga). But they don’t actively lecture people for having done it (Ed has traumatized reactions to people being killed in front of him, but jesus, of course he would). However, they won’t generally to be party to murder and try to find another way if possible- and the whole thing with Ed and Kimblee demonstrates that even when you’re careful trying to find another way (Ed tried to isolate Kimblee and keep him away from others he would hurt when he tried his just-capture-him gambit, but it still led to Ed nearly dying and Kimblee escaping, and he acknowledged these were the consequences of trying to be merciful and that if had a cost and he had to bear the responsibilities), it can blow up in your face. But...Ed sticking to his principles at cost to himself did impress Kimblee enough he was saved Ed down the line. That probably wasn’t worth the people Kimblee killed after escaping (or is it since Ed went on to save the country? This is what happens when you try to weigh human life- ultimately, you can’t do so reliably, and once you start treating it in terms of numbers, and it can be to say what could or should have happened)..,,, but he also might have escaped if the murder plan had gone down as expected, so there’s nuance  Al also has no comment when Lion Guy (sorry Im Ed) kills Kimblee. It’s not something he might have been able to do himself, but he recognizes it’s the only option they might have and doesn’t protest when it happens, even was the one who created the opportunity, etc.

Anyway, Fullmetal Alchemist understands nuance a lot more than people give it credit for imo, and it does a lot better job creating representing a coherent philosophy on why human life is valuable that other media of the same ilk, mostly because Arakawa seems to actually???? agree???? with the concept, it has a more nuanced plot than presenting endless trolley problems the characters have to nope out of, acknowledges realistic consequences and differing values, and most importantly the characters don’t need to give endless speeches about why they hold the principle, they can just hold it and their background and experiences can demonstrate why.

[theladysexpistol]

Can i get some La Squadra headcannons with a fem reader (it can be either platonic or romantic) who is like an anime mom ? You know... the hair, the kind smile, the delicious food, their motherly personality, the fact that they would probably die because of a horrible disease or death ?

I laughed way more than I should’ve when I read this. I’ve always said I’ve wanted an anime where the horrible death came at the end but that we got to see the parents date (before the father inevitably left/disappeared and she had to die for their kids)

So I’m gonna make this romantic and I’m saying someone is gonna realize she’s an anime mom in the pre-mom phase

~~~

Risotto

- Risotto is absolutely the kind of guy who’s heart would be stolen by a gentle, kind woman who would be an anime mom with the side ponytail

- It’s a tragic love story. “He’s a dangerous man, you shouldnt love him!” “I love him anyway! Maybe I can change him!”

- She succeeds and Risotto really does consider stepping down from Passione. Settling down with a family even though he has killed so many people and feels as though he doesn’t deserve it... I’m getting big FMA Elric brother vibes heres

- Unlike Van Hohenheim (???) though, when the anime mom dies Risotto goes on a righteous fury slaughter to kill whoever’s fault it is.

Chances of being the father of an anime protagonist: moderate, i can’t see him wanting to have children but she might convince him

Formaggio

- Formaggio has read his manga he knows an anime mom when he sees one

- Unfortunately for him he kinda falls in love with her. I mean, she’s so gosh darn nice how could you blame him. It’s literally the story of a tough guy softening up for the gentle, sweet woman who comes into his life

- Does everything he can for her. He probably tries to install a good sense of self-preservation in her now. He will try to stop fate from taking her but only fools think they can truly stop the death of an anime mom with a side ponytail

- Chances of being the father of an anime protagonist: pretty high because hes stupid enough to have kids with the woman even with his foresight

Illuso

- Illuso is an asshole and as much as i love him it fills me with rage to think of him getting a lady as nice and loving as an anime mom

- He’s probably mean to her but in that slightly-nicer-than-everyone-else-gets way

- He makes a lot of comments about the style she wears her hair and mimics it sometimes by pulling his ponytails to the side

- Chances of being the father of an anime protagonist: Pretty high because hes both 1) ignorant to the fate of the woman and 2) tell me illuso isnt a horny bastard

Prosciutto

- Okay 100% I believe Prosciutto wants a housewife. He wants to be THAT gangster

- So anime mom is lowkey his type

- He’s the tough love sort, doesn’t say it a lot but his actions are very clear. He and Pesci both adore this woman and will do anything for her

- Pesci is the one who realizes she’s an anime mom and worriedly tells Prosciutto but by then it’s too late there’s nothing he can do

- Chances of being the father of an anime protagonist: High, he’s way far into his happy gangster family life when he realizes it. she almost certainly dies because of something gang related which makes his anime protagonist child hate him for being in the mafia

Melone

- Also could see anime mom being a type Melone’s into, but i also cant imagine there’s not many people out there who arent Melone’s type

- He also notices she is an anime mom like Formaggio, but is less freaked out by it. instead he’s quite interested and wants to see the theory through

- Of course he does love her and doesn’t want her to die so he’ll do what he can but he’s quite aware that the universe may just... not make that possible

- Chances of being the father of an anime protagonist: Very high, he wants to see the theory through so he isn’t afraid of having children with her. Also get a breeding sort of thing from him with his stand so I think Melone just wants kids period

Ghiaccio

- A gentle, sweet woman is exactly the kind of person Ghiaccio needs. and lots of patience

- He falls head over heels in love with this woman, and will do anything for her. unfortunately the poor guy has no idea of the anime mom curse

- so when she dies a horrible death he probably does not take it well

- Chances of being the father of an anime protagonist: Low, I don’t see Ghiaccio as ever wanting children and he’d be kind of a bad dad, i think

[crystalelemental]

Octopath Traveler update, all Chapter 2 stories are complete.

This started with Tressa, who is my known favorite at this point.  She had a pretty basic, but really fun one, running a corrupt capitalist out of town by beating the shit out of his armed guard.  Then we get invited to the great gathering of merchants, so that’s her end goal.  Honestly, it feels very much like an Atelier game, if you ask me. 

Cyrus’ story was in the same spot, so he went next.  Honestly, his got pretty interesting.  The book he’s searching for is apparently about necromancy.  Someone’s attempting to apply what’s in it, and has created crystals from the blood of townsfolk.  It’s some FMA Philosopher’s Stone shit.  I liked the overall drama here, but I do take some issue with his friend implying that his problem is not being aware enough of the ladies in his life.  To which I mean, insisting that the story of how he was kicked out of the academy based on falsified scandal was because he was somehow not being attentive to Therese or the princess’ feelings is really, really dumb.  That happened because Therese is awful, not because of anything Cyrus did, regardless of whether he’s pretty and the ladies love him.

Then I couldn’t find the path to Saintsbridge, so we went to the north, and did Primrose’s story.  Honestly, I’m annoyed again.  Of course her former attendant is also a prostitute.  Of course her entire route is going to be about this.  Like, everyone in Primrose’s story is either a prostitute, or someone abusing sex workers.  And it’s like...everyone in this field is here against their will.  Even if it’s “for survival,” consent under duress isn’t true consent.  So it makes everything about this super uncomfortable, and the little dialogue she has with Alfyn where he admits to thinking about the brothel and being surrounded by pretty girls and ale is like...dude.  You have someone in the party who can tell you all about the ins and outs of how terrible this particular place is.  Get it together.  Outside of this though, I kinda do like Primrose.  Vengeance quest, and the end goal is just the revenge.  Think later, stab now.  10/10, just wish it wasn’t tied to like...everything about the prostitution.

So then we did Alfyn’s story, and I go back and forth on him again.  Like, the thing in Primrose’s story bugged the hell out of me, but his own story?  He’s still a cool guy.  He helps a poor family keep their child alive, and reveals the corruption of the other apothecary in town.  Like, he’s legitimately great in these moments, and it’s super heartfelt, and I do like him.  Maybe I’m just overly hung up on one particular conversation.

Then I finally figured out how to get to Ophelia’s quest.  It’s fine.  She just lights a flame and then has to go do the other two, because everyone gets four chapters, so anyone with a generalized goal has three points.  In this town, though, the main focus is actually on some kids.  One lost his mom and is super mad about it, taking it out on everyone, the usual trauma stuff.  And the friend he took it out on runs into the forest and almost gets eaten by a big wolf thing, and you have to protect the kids, who are super impressed that “Miss Ophelia beat the snot out of it!”  Which, to be clear, she did.  By this point, I have made Ophelia effectively perfect, hitting almost 800 magical attack, thanks in large part to the funds Tressa keeps bringing to the party.  We’re optimized as hell from a combat perspective.  So this was, in fact, Ophelia beating the shit out of it.

Then we did Therion’s quest.  It’s fine?  It wasn’t as good as the setup made it seem.  The stones are disconnected, rather than all in one place, so that’s fine.  He has to steal it from some researcher, who’s taken an obsessive interest in it.  Honestly, it’s not doing a whole ton, but I do really like Cordelia and her battle butler a lot, if nothing else.

Then we did H’aanit’s story, and once again I’m reminded of how much I can’t stand the dialect of her people, why did they write it like this?  Anyway, it’s fine, but god I hate Provoke battles.  Linde is so inconsistent, and frankly, kinda shit.  Her damage doesn’t seem impacted by anything except level, and it makes these fights really frustrating.  Especially this tree enemy, which can poison, and will keep re-applying Poison, so if you didn’t get the Poison Immunity bracelet then I hope you enjoy painfully tedious bullshit.  On the plus side, we found Z’aanta.  On the downside, he’s turned to stone.  So I’m guessing this beast is a basilisk?  Fun.  Our quest now is to meet with a seer, who can tell us something important about the whole thing.  We’ll see how that goes.

Finally, we completed Olberic’s quest.  His was solid, all things considered.  I really liked Cecily, she’s adorable.  And I liked how this whole arc was about him coming into contact with people who knew what they were fighting for, and not having his own reason.  The ending’s solid too.  It recontextualizes Erhardt’s motivation, and what Olberic is fighting for, and honestly I’m invested.

So far so good!  Ophelia and Tressa are level 41, so I think the plan is to do some of the side caves and try to get everyone else to at least 30, then proceed to Chapter 3.  Yes, some of them will be well under-leveled, but I’m relatively confident that we can beat all of it with Ophelia and Tressa, considering we went through a level 45 area with minimal difficulty.  I was...trying to see about those other shrines.  See, I saw that icon ages ago when I peeked into one of the high level areas, and realized oh damn, there’s more than 8 classes.  There’s probably 12, because of the 12 gods.  So I wanted to go unlock them if I could...only to find out that those last four classes are apparently locked behind dungeons of like level 50 difficulty.  So nevermind, guess we’re not doing that.  Maybe another time.

[tired-fandom-ndn]

tw: racism

Hi there!! I hope you don’t mind my asking, but I had a question regarding the concept of “fantastic racism”, and I came to you because I really value your opinion and admire how unapologetic you are about calling fandom/white fans on their racist bullshit.

I’m a nonwhite fic writer, and one of the fandoms I write for has nonhuman characters that face discrimination based on their species. When including this discrimination in my fics, I use the tag “fantastic racism” rather than “racism” because to me, tagging it as “racism” feels like trivializing racism in the real world. My thought process is basically: while the discrimination these characters face may be intended as an analogy or what have you to racism in real life, it ultimately just… doesn’t compare. At the end of the day, what these fictional characters go through is nothing compared to what living, breathing, nonwhite people go through every day.

HOWEVER, your recent post about the whitewashing of nonhuman, fictional characters is absolutely a problem, and I’m not sure how (or if) my reasoning for using the “fantastic racism” tag over the “racism” tag can be reconciled with the fact that nonhuman characters can and are whitewashed, and “they aren’t human” isn’t a fucking excuse for white fans to be racist.

Basically, I just don’t want to make other nonwhite fans feel unwelcome/unsafe by tagging a concept generally intended to be a “reflection” of real-life racism that perhaps ought to be tagged as racism, plain and simple. I’m sorry this is so long, and I hope I’ve made myself clear. Please feel free to ask if you need any clarification; I’d be happy to try and elaborate further. And thank you for taking the time to read this, I truly do appreciate it.

Sorry if this is rambly or doesn't make a whole lot of sense, I'm running on coffee, 3 hours of sleep, and absolutely nothing else.

So I just want to start out by saying that I personally LOVE the fantastic racism tag on ao3 and frequently use it (though I wish that it was used more reliably). I'm not a huge fan of the term itself, just because of the cultural meaning behind the word "fantastic", but I think it's incredibly useful to separate the fictional discrimination of non-human entities from the lived experiences of real people.

(Slightly off-topic ramble here: I know that a lot of people HATE fantasy racism in media and I totally understand why. A lot of the time, it's poorly done and often perpetuates racism in itself, using real marginalized groups and dehumanizing them for a weak metaphor, especially when the non-human characters still look white. It's also often used as a stand-in for real diversity; ie, using elves instead of indigenous people or aliens instead of Black people, leaving even the racism in media very white.

I think, though, that when done correctly, it can be a really interesting concept to explore. I personally like to experiment with fantastic racism as a way to explore the things that affect me and my community while still being disconnected from it. Unfortunately, most media does not put in the effort to approach these sorts of topics thoughtfully and respectfully.)

In terms of the difference between racism and fantastic racism and when to use which tag, I think it would depend on the context? Like the racism in Dragon Age towards elves would be fantastic racism because even if the elves themselves are based on indigenous and Jewish groups, they're still being discriminated against based on something that does not exist in the real world. On the flipside, I would say that racism towards Ishvalan people in Fullmetal Alchemist works should be tagged as general racism because even if the Ishvalan people don't exist in the real world, they are human beings who are discriminated against in the FMA universe because of race, ethnicity, and religion, which are all direct reflections of real racism.

In regards to my post about the whitewashing of non-human characters, I was talking about the ways that fandoms deny the influence of non-white groups in character design. With Cookie Run specifically, even while the cookies themselves aren't human, it's very obvious that a lot of them are intended to be non-white, with visibly brown skin and curly hair and the like. Same with the Gems in Steven Universe and a ton of other non-human characters throughout media. But because they're "just cookies/aliens/whatever", people feel justified in lightening their skin tones, changing their hair textures, giving them European facial features, etc.

(There's also non-visible ways of coding non-human characters as specific races and ethnicities. A lot of gijinka of animal characters is still whitewashing, like making human-versions of The Lion King or Ōkami characters white. Even if they're animals in the source material, canon context would indicate that they're specific ethnicities/nationalities.)

I would say the same thing about people changing aspects of DA's Dalish elves to be more European or just generally more palatable to white fans. Even if the elves themselves aren't human and aren't even all characters of color (in the sense that they don't all have brown skin and non-European features), they're still directly based off real non-white groups and taking that away is in fact whitewashing. But on that same note, the canon experiences of Dalish elves are not comparable to the real suffering of indigenous and Jewish peoples. Even if the canon is based on our communities, they're still fictional characters and the discrimination is still based in fictional concepts and so it's still very distinct from our experiences as real people.

I can only speak for myself, but I say continue using the fantastic racism tag for those sorts of works. A lot of people search through both that tag and the general racism tag for specific things; I personally use the fantastic racism tag to stay disconnected, while using the racism tag to find shared experiences and solidarity through fiction.

Sorry again if this is difficult to understand and feel free to send me asks if you need clarification (this, as always, goes out to anyone reading this, not just anon). I hope it was able to help though!