#going emo over fictional characters again

[darabeatha]

SERVAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!!!!!!!!

[errihaienx]

HQ CAPTAINS : best things in your relationship ♡

(pre-timeskip , aged up characters)

quick disclaimer: these scenarios don't affect the original plot of the series. any information or events that contradict the original plot are purely fictional. (i do not own any of the characters) Please read the a/n at the end! <3<3

ꜰᴇᴀᴛᴜʀɪɴɢ: ʙᴏᴋᴜᴛᴏ, ᴜꜱʜɪᴊɪᴍᴀ, ᴋᴜʀᴏᴏ, ᴏɪᴋᴀᴡᴀ, ᴋɪᴛᴀ, ᴅᴀɪᴄʜɪ, & ᴛᴇʀᴜꜱʜɪᴍᴀ (ɪɴ ᴏʀᴅᴇʀ)

ꜱɪᴛᴜᴀᴛɪᴏɴ: ᴛʜɪꜱ ɪꜱ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ʙᴇꜱᴛ ᴛʀᴀɪᴛꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ʙᴇʜᴀᴠɪᴏʀ ɪɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʀᴇʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴꜱʜɪᴘ

He is very honest and open, he'll say everything when you ask him.

Satisfies your needs when it comes to affection, LOTS of cuddles and forehead kisses.

No Emo-mode Bokuto when it comes to serious discussions. He doesn't talk back to you and tries his best to understand you. He's a bit jealous though..

Respects your parents and grandparents so much! He often ask you to visit them.

"Babyyy can we meet Obachan? I loved the soup she made, oh my gosh let's get married now Y/n!!"

A relationship with patience and privacy

He's very patient, he's not the controlling type. He wants to make sure that he's not suffocating you.

He's also understanding, you often meet up with your friends and you end up going home late he understands it and fetches you to make sure you're safe.

Very consistent, when he was still courting you he gives you flowers and even now as couples he's still doing it!

"I kept on receiving flowers I don't know who gave them..... I just want you to know.."

"I sent them.."

A relationship built with trust, attachment, and intimacy

He's very touchy and wants you to himself 24/7

Very Faithful. he may look like some womanizer shit, but he's not, he's into you, only you.

He will always ask for your opinion about everything he does, and will make it as his guide. He trust you about everything

"Love I don't know if I'll still pursue volleyball, but I love the game itself.."

" You don't want to be a professional athlete?"

"I'm confused, I don't know. But I also feel like i don't want to abandon it.."

"You don't need to play the sport itself, you can work from behind the scenes."

"Damn, such a wifey material.."

A very open relationship, there are  circumstances that you will complain about his actions or doings and he will openly listen.

If he's really at fault he will adjust, if you don't want him to do this or that he will not do it.

Tries his best to understand you in everything.

Very appreciative, you know that volleyball is his passion and you give him time and space. He appreciates it a lot.

"I'm sorry I couldn't put all my attention to you, but please don't leave me.."

"Career over love, choose your passion and I'll choose mine."

"Baby are you breaking up with me again?!"

"You are my passion"

A very perceptive man

Misunderstandings don't stand a chance on breaking your relationship, even if you accidentally said something that is very different from what are you pointing out he will immediately figure out what you really mean

He's also polite, caring, and loyal.

He often help you with your studies, affirms you and is very respectful of you

"Please don't hesitate to ask for my assistance about everything, i don't want to see you struggling"

"I just don't want to bother you, you're already stacked up. i just want you to enjoy your extra time and be happy"

"I am the happiest when you rely on me."

TO MAKE IT SHORT,, HE'S PERFECT

Responsible and you actually sees him as the literal 'Husband Material' yes, more than just a bf material. Seriously, having him was the real deal!

Respects your boundaries

He's very attentive when it comes to you. He knows it when you're not feeling well, annoyed, happy, everything!

He often helps you with your studies

"Love, were you the one who prepared my presentation?"

"That was me. I wasn't sure if you were gonna be okay with me helping you, but... I wanted to help you anyway."

Study dates!

Very touchy even in public, and he can't hold himself back. he loves the feeling of being close to you

When arguing he's probably a bit headstrong but he doesn't talk back, he may be defensive at times but he makes it up to you. Whenever you two argue, he's all frowny not because he's annoyed that you're nagging him but because he's annoyed that he was being a 'burden' to you.

YOU. ARE. THE. PRIORITY.

He's famous at school and has his group of friends that he always hangs up with, he's such a party boy too. but when it comes to you, there's no hesitation. he'll decline any meeting with the boys and will probably say: "Bro I need to see my gf so bad, gotta go. I hope ya find your love life."

Bro is smitten

Hiiii! my lineup for what i'll post was piling up, and I plan to post drafts first(this was a draft a week ago!) before my requests. I'll be working on 4 requests! please once again, bare with me. i'll start writing the request in few days, and post it immediately after finishing them. for the anons who requested, i hope you'll wait until then. thank you very much! I finished writing the 'stuff' that i've been writing for a long time, and i'll post it soon! thank you so much for the support<3<3 i hope you all the best health!

[broadwaybalogna]

I, a Zutara shipper, would have way more fun self inserting on Mai

So why don’t I?

A short essay on self inserting, what it means, my experience, and why it shouldn’t be a problem.

So the ‘problem’ of me self inserting recently arose again with discourse surrounding a post of mine. I’ll spare you the details, but someone, in an attempt to make me look like a bad person (I assume) said that I was a “self insert”. At first, I was confused because I don’t understand why something like that would be used as an insult. Then I remembered the horrible stigmatization that self inserting has had on the atla fandom.

So I’d like to bring light to what it truly means to self insert.

For this short essay, I’ll be using the term “self insertion” as defined by Wikipedia:

“Self-insertion is a literary device in which the author writes themselves into the story under the guise of, or from the perspective of, a fictional character. The character, overtly or otherwise, behaves like, has the personality of, and may even be described as physically resembling the author of the work.”

First, I would like to go over why I would personally prefer self inserting on Mai, since it’s technically the clickbait for this post.

I had a very large emo/goth phase a few years back. I loved wearing black, chokers, being depressed, etc. while I don’t necessarily identify with that version of myself anymore, I still hold high praise to any and all people who are emo/grunge/goth/fall under that kind of category. Now, I’m not saying that Mai is emo, she’s actually the exact opposite as she doesn’t display much of any emotion, but she is a badass female character who has space buns, a fiery personality, and really cool weapons. I actually like the idea of her a bit more than Katara, and it would certainly be easy to self insert onto her since her character was never really fleshed out.

(Look at her… she’s so cool. I can’t decide if I wanna be her or be with her…) this would probably also be a great time to say that I don’t feel here nor there about Mai in fandom spaces. There are many anti Mai people out there, but I honestly don’t care much for her at this point other than what I’ve already established.

I can relate to a good portion of her problems (being the face of her family, holding their reputation, not having many friends etc.) so self inserting on to her would honestly be no problem for me. So why don’t I do it?

Because my characterization as a shipper doesn’t revolve around myself. If it did, I’d totally okay into that sarcastic brooding gf because I think it’s kinda badass.

I ship Zutara not because I personally wanna be with Zuko, but because I want Katara to be with Zuko. Does that mean that I don’t self insert onto Katara? Hell to the no.

Self inserting helps me understand a character to the best of my ability. In order to figure out how a character might act, react, or approach a situation, I have to put myself into their shoes, that’s just how I work. I don’t think this is a mindset that is personal to just me either, there are plenty of other people who self insert onto Katara and Zuko in order to best convey the realism of their stories.

Now, I’ve self inserted onto BOTH Katara and Zuko, (which probably won’t stop the haters any more than before since I am attracted to both men and women) and in each of those times, I am sure to always stay true to the original characters. I am always considering how the characters were brought up, what they have experienced that has shaped their personality and how they have behaved before.

But I can’t just rely on that to help me tell a story. I have to feel the characters. I have to know what they’re feeling and how it affects them.

This may seem weird, but when writing, I’ll often close my eyes and imagine myself in a scenario much like what the people I’m writing about are experiencing.

This is how I became well known for some of my writing.

I’ve written monologues for characters to say that reflect my own experiences to help give myself and others peace of mind.

I’ve written relationships based on flaws I’ve had with people in my life.

And I’ve written hate. Because I feel hate, and I know that Katara and Zuko do too.

Self inserting shouldn’t be viewed as something that’s horrible for authors to do, it should be embraced. There shouldn’t be a world where people can’t share their experiences through people they relate to.

If you can’t see yourself agreeing with me, I’m sorry, but I don’t think we’ll ever see eye to eye. This is something that I am passionate about, and I will not be thrown off my stance because of a small insult.

In conclusion, I could very easily self insert onto Mai, you could even say it would be lemon squeezy, but self insertion isn’t the only thing that drives me to ship characters, and it never will be. I am a complex person with complex emotions that have led me to look at Katara and Zuko and envy their relationship. Yeah, I want it, and there shouldn’t be anything wrong with that.

[yeehaw-fuckers]

man… i hate how people hate on vinny everyman cause he was complicit to habit’s various vile deeds through the show and decided to continue the investigation!

🎉SO I WROTE A WHOLE RANT/ESSAY DEFENDING HIM 🎉

IMPORTANT NOTE- words or paragraphs in red are important/key parts and bold or caps is just for emphasis also if my spelling is shit its because im excited lol

btw please don’t take this too seriously, these characters are fictional, and this whole thing is just an analysis on morally grey characters and the hate they get

comments are very appreciated and ill always try to comment back to yall

❗️❗️SPOILERS❗️❗️

(DONT READ UNLESS YOU FINISHED THE EVERYMAN HYBRID SERIES OR YOU DONT MIND SPOILERS)

first of all, are yall forgeting that they (the characters) are literally in a loop where they repeat the same roles over and over again! LIKE THEIR DECISIONS ARE MADE FOR THEM NOT BY THEM so keep that in mind

vinny has been a victim (like every other character) in all iterations/universes, throughout each-one he’s never learned how to defend himself or say no to peer pressure!

habit has made VARIOUS EXAMPLES (via murder and torture) of people who either didn’t listen to him or that he straight up didn’t like!

as the show goes on you see how habit now becomes dependent on vinny and how vinny becomes dependent on habit (cause all of vinny’s friends are dead and slender man is still out there)

it becomes a bully v.s victim situation where the victim has to stay with their bully to be safe, a situation that many people blatantly ignore for the sake of habit’s charisma and character,

he became adaptable to the situation, becoming complicit towards habit’s violent tendencies and even insulting or pushing habit cause he knows that habit cant get rid of him if they want to defeat slenderman!

for my other point, aka continuing the investigation,

DUDE! who tf wouldn’t follow the investigation on slenderman or habit, THEY ARE KILLING PEOPLE AND THE POLICE CANT DO SHIT ABOUT IT! and yes I acknowledge that vinny did remove incriminating evidence of himself that would make him look bad, WHICH IS A SHITTY THING TO DO btw

but other characters have also made shit decisions or mistakes in the series, ITS LITERALLY A REALISTIC THING TO DO!!

for example jeff gets stephanie sent to a fucking MENTAL INSTITUTION because he SUSPECTED that she was working with slenderman

(she wasnt, shes a victim of slenderman and also emo as fuck)

do i think it was a good idea to pressure others into the investigation, no! thats a terrible idea and he should have done it by himself or atleast warned gang about his knowledge of information!

do i think it was a good idea to summon habit, HELL NO, but if we are going to be honest habit is apart of this never ending loop too!

BUT in the end hes not necessarily a villain, hes a morally grey person like the rest of characters, except for habit and slenderman they are straight up evil,

it’s realistic storytelling!!! and some people throw it out the window so they can place blame on a character that they dislike cause people cant handle morally grey people without forcing them into a hero or villain arcs!!

-from your fella named, yeehaw-fuckers

[milgram-tournament]

MILGRAM Best Song Tournament, Round 1, Match 4 HALF vs. MAGIC

Propaganda for both options under the cut!

Propaganda for HALF:

kazui may just be an old gay man but HE CAN SING.

its. literally stunning.

like aside from his character and everything else, half is just really really beautifully written

THE INSTRUMENTALS.

HIS V O I C E??? its so pretty

heartbreaking lyrics. i dont love kazui as a character but i have bawled to half

GAY RIGHTS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love amane but she will undoubtedly win when her purge march poll rolls around, so lets let the old man have a win shall we?

---

half propaganda let's goooo sorry i'm sobern't in true kazui style so this probably won't make a bit of sense

theatre kid man. i love him, incredible mv.

this song is pure ASMR to me

visually aligned with Cat and it's so lovely to see that continuity

the GRAINY MOVIE DOTS THING ON THE MV <3

kazui is so dramatic. i love him i love him

dapper gentleman. such clothes

the key change is so well done

AND THE . THE PART WITH THE. THE ENDING SORT OF LYRICS OVERLAID WITH SPEAKING. and then his quieter singing and, and, and o h my god. im sorry. im not very coherent abt this rn

every part of the song is amazing but once it gets to the key change and after it keeps stepping up the amount of being perfect

kazui is in it

um

kazui is in it

go my psionic warriors vote for everyone's favourite failhusband

no children were tortured in the making of this MV (cough looking at You magic)

---

Allow me to present my Half propaganda!

- The slower tempo adds a very relaxing feeling to the song. Kinda ironic, but I like it! It sort of reminds of old indie songs from 2012 (especially with what I think is whistling added in the instrumental in-between chorus and verses.)

- Kazui’s voice. Enough said.

- It’s very easy to listen to, and I find it’s one of the only songs from Milgram that I like to listen to out of context (besides After Pain, Backdraft, and Purge March, oddly enough.)

- The MV is rife with imagery, and is used to beautiful effect. It really makes you feel for Kazui and his situation.

- The scene with him and Hinako before the key change… that makes me so emo.

- The overlapping part at the end… the lyrics combined with the dialogue in the background makes me really sad in a way I can’t explain.

Propaganda for MAGIC:

MAGIC MY BELOVED MAGIC!!! Its one of the best MVs in the entire series, even including T2. Magic is visually stunning and has some fantastic art direction but also is very clever in how it conveys its themes and ideas. Magic doesn't really hide anything from you, not really. It's all symbolic but it Tells You Things. It shows you the abuse, it shows you the cat. There's a fun little relationship going on here where, In Magic. Amane's pain and suffering isn't taken seriously by the people around her and the Audience we are discouraged to take it at face value due to the fictionalized nature of Magic. It's so cool. I'm so fond of the song as well, it's one of the best in the series purely cause of the Layers in it. The implications of this Inability to be good is seeped into Magic. Amane knows this isn't reality, Magic knows it's a show, she watches it at the end. And it's so Sad to me that even in her fictionalized happy world she Cannot be a good girl. It's a standard completely out of reach for her and that idea is just conveyed so well visually.

Im not even talking about the goddamn cat yet- the cat symbolism goes Deep. That cat is HER it has the same wounds Amane has in Purge March. I- I cant talk about the intertextuality of Purge March and Magic here this is Magic propaganda only- I- there's so much good stuff to Magic. I Re watched it over and over again. It has some the Best Writing and Visual Communication in Milgram and I will Die on this Hill.

---

shoutout to magic for having pretty props AND being vague as fuck about the crime! diversity win!

seriously though amane looks SO cute in it! the mv has such a pretty and colorful style and even with that it's able to show the horrors of what amane went through.

adding onto my last point. that scene where the cat is hyperventilating and you see the camera shaking???? that scene where the mascots find amane helping the cat and they're all standing over her? CHILLS. im repeating myself but the fact that they were able to portray the awful things amane went through in a genuinely emotional way while still keeping the cute cartoon look is soo impressive

there are SO many layers to itill the entire cartoony style making it look like a tv show… utilizing the cartoony effects and bright colors to show amane downplaying her own pain… the transformation after she gets punished barely changing anything to show just how manipulated she was from the start… ueueueue

ALSO ALSO ALSO THE SCENE AT THE END WITH AMANE STARING AT THE SCENE? OHHH ITS SO GOOD it adds such a feeling of dread and reminds you on top of this whole thing that all of this is truly horrifying! something is going on here!

this song is so catchy it gets stuck in my head CONSTANTLY

"Dear wise one, Am I worthy? Is it ok to spoil myself?" AMANE... UEUEUUEUE

the little ding sound effects in the instrumental?????

amanes voice is ADORABLE

THE INSTRUMENTAL IN THAT PART WHERE SHES HELPING THE CAT HAS THAT GODLY TYPE SOUND YOUD TYPICALLY ASSOCIATE WITH CHURCHES AND STUFF AND I DONT KNOW HOW TO EXPLAIN IT PROPERLY BUT JUST RELISTEN TO IT AND YOU WILL KNOW WHAT I MEAN. ITS SUCH A NEAT DETAIL

i could go on about this mv for days but i am not a theorist unfortunately. just. magic sweep

[gaysforbyler]

I have no idea how to start this post, so I’m just going to do what I do best and ramble.

Firstly, the most important stuff. I want to say thank you to anyone who has ever read get him back, even if you hated it and immediately clicked off. I genuinely was not expecting anyone to actually read it, let alone engage with it at all. I love the little community that has built in my comment sections, you guys are seriously the sweetest people in the world. Receiving comments has been the highlight of my week these past six months (six months!). I just can’t believe that people were actually interested in my little story, especially since Will had a boyfriend, which the fandom (including me) tends to hate.

When I first came up with the idea, I was only about 25% sure I was actually going to do it. Part of the reason was because I had exactly four ideas for it: Will has a toxic boyfriend, he forces Will to drink, Will is emo, and Mike graffitis Will’s boyfriend’s car. The first eight chapters were literally improvised on the spot, idk how you guys put up with that.

The second reason was because I was never really a writer. I had tried writing in the past (when I was like 14 😐 and again a little over a year ago) but I was very bad. I really didn’t think I would be able to manage as big of a project as this, especially since my attention span is so tiny, but I decided to go ahead with it anyway.

Not to be Mike Wheeler, but that might have been the best thing I’ve ever done. It sounds stupid, because it’s literally just fan fiction, but I’ve had more fun doing this than I have in years. Get him back means the world to me, and I would love to keep posting an infinite number of chapters, but I’m burnt out and I kind of want it out of my face. If you didn’t see before, I might (probably) be doing some little stories to go along with it, because I can’t just leave this fic forever. The characters are my babies and I love them dearly.

Anyways, to wrap things up, thank you to everyone who supported me through this, I love you so much <333. Special shout out to my beta, you are seriously the only reason I was ever able to finish this. I have no idea how you read the messes that were chapters 1&2 and decided that was good enough to be locked in for life, but thank you so much!

I’m getting emotional now, I need to stop talking. I love the little guys I’ve been hyper fixating on since I as was 12, obviously shout out to them. My beautiful beautiful sons, love laugh love Byler.

[creepylittlelady]

My own two cents on the Fanon vs Canon argument [Mainly just me defending fanon]

Alright, so I have a history with the Creepypasta fandom. I was sadly too into MLP and Vocaloids to be all that into it in 2013-2015, but I did join in 2016 and spent majority of my childhood years in the Creepypasta fandom. Unfortunately after lockdown ended I decided to try a hand at forcing myself to grow up, which was a very miserable time littered with very very bad memories.

This year I've gone from daydreaming about the Creepypastas but refusing to interact with the fandom or any content to yk, interacting with all of you guys again. I really missed this fandom as these edgy fictional serial killers really defined who I am now.

However one thing that I can clearly remember very very well about the Creepypasta fandom is its knack for having a fuck ton of arguments with each other, specifically one; which one is better, Fanon or Canon?

Now, I remember when I was younger the Creepypasta fandom was more fanon-centric, the mansion, Slenderdad, Emo sadboy Jeff and Waffles Toby were staples. However nowadays I've seen a lot of influx of more 'canon' content; more disturbing headcanons, the characters not being that nice to each other, no slendermansion, just pure old canonicity.

I really enjoy that side of the fandom, I really really do. However I've actually seen a fair share of slander for the fanon side, about how they're mischaracterised a lot of characters over the years and ruined a lot of good Creepypastas with their incessant flanderising. However, I sort of disagree.

You see, whilst Creepypastas are also entertaining to toy around with in their more canon forms, what exactly is wrong with headcanoning the creepypastas in a more light-hearted way? Although we can all agree that none of these guys would EVER withstand being within a mile each other, and that Slenderman wouldn't ever be that nice (OH GOD I HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY ABOUT THIS TOPIC), that the Proxies don't exist in the first place, it's still fun. It's got a comfort and entertainment value that canon Creepypasta just doesn't have.

It's cool and interesting sure; but you have to admit it's just not as charming as the idea of all of these supernatural beings and Serial Killers all living in a home together ran by an exhausted faceless Eldritch. As someone who was a very lonely child and to this day lives with abusive parents, this concept means so much more to me than the idea of canon Creepypasta ever did.

Keep in mind, this fandom is OLD. Not ancient, like the Harry Potter fandom (shit is it still kicking?), but most of the fans do tend to be people who've grown up alongside these characters. Although I am still pretty young I've been a Creepypasta fan since I was a young child too, and lemme tell you that the found family aspect of things is just simply more nostalgic. And lemme tell you, no matter what other better concepts there are, NOTHING beats nostalgia.

As someone who prefers the fanon side a bit more than the canon side, it's just stupid fun and that's the charm of it.

Also, it's kind of odd to try and make Creepypasta more 'serious' considering that the whole point of the Creepypasta fans and the Creepypastas themselves is that they're just edgy OCs made by teenagers? I can get the more serious side such as Marble Hornets and most Slenderverse ARGs, but you have to admit, it's pretty damn odd to try and make Creepypasta this serious thing when I don't think it was ever really meant to be that way.

Also, the canon side does its own form of flanderising too. You really mean to tell me that Ticci Toby will abuse you? I get the fact that people are trying to bring awareness to the fact that these guys are Serial Killers and aren't your surrogate parents and siblings, but genuinely strange lengths SOME (KEYWORD) people will go to to prove that point is insane. Considering Toby's family history, do you believe that he will actually physically and verbally abuse you if you were in a relationship with him?

He's mentally unstable sure, but he's not an abuser because of that. I can understand that viewpoint for Laughing Jack and Jeff the Killer, but for most of the others I just don't see it. I can also see it for Slenderman but yk HE DOESN'T HAVE A CANON.

Also this post isn't just fully defending fanon; it's had it's nasty little mistakes (*cough cough* FANON MASKY *cough cough*), and I definitely won't defend that.

TL;DR/Conclusion: Fanon and Canon are both great, you don't need to attack each other over it, and especially no need to attack those who seek comfort in the fanon side. Creepypasta is a fandom of edginess and we should be celebrating that instead of trying to turn away from it and mold it into something it just ISNT.

Thanks for reading!

[captaincrumbz]

INTRODUCTION

HII!! Im always trying to make new friends, :3 especially those with the same interests as me so if you wanna be friends dont be scared to reach out!!

I go by MANYY names, heres some of them:

Arlene Felix, Raymesis, Ly, Flapjack, Harvie, Gumi, Harley, Morty

IM A MINOR. (14, almost 15)

Me real: 🇲🇽🇵🇭🇩🇪🇮🇪

Uh pronouns: He/She/Nor/Er, Also im okay with being referred as they/them but i dont reallyyy prefer it (Also i dont think anyone has referred to me as she/her ☹️)

Im bigender, Panromantic, Bisexual(?) Demiromantic, and Aroflux!!

Im a 8+ year Rayman fan, AND A SELFSHIPPER BTW (This goes for every version of Rayman.)

===================================

Im a fictionkin and otherkin! and I have a ridiculous amount of fictionkins BUT heres some of the only ones that matter:

Raymesis and Ly (From Rayman), Bullfrog (CLH), Flapjack (From the marvelous misadventures of flapjack), BENNY (TLM!!!!) Michael afton (fnaf), Shelly Marsh and Clyde Donovan (sp), Maya (cotc), 2d/Stuart Pot (gorillaz), Jevil (Deltarune), Spinel (Steven Universe), Crimson (Tdi), Jim (Jim's Computer), Venus and Frankie (Mh), Playtime (bbieal), Gf (FNF), Amy (Sonic Adventure Dreamcast version, ++ some others), and MANY other characters.

BTW ITS COMPLETELY OKAY IF YOU DONT LIKE ANY OF THESE CHARACTERS OR DONT BELIEVE IN FICTIONKINNING OR OTHERKINS, JUST BE RESPECTFUL PLEASE!!!

(Fictionkin is believing you were a fictional character in a past life or believe you will be them in your next, fictionhearted is like a connection along with relatablity i guess)

Also im a otherkin, Of a lot of things

Im also a IRL of a few characters

(Such as, Gumball Watterson, Felix the Cat, and Orel Puppington)

sometimes i get confused if a character is a irl or fictionkin of mine

Im currently looking for media and sourcemates

===================================

FANDOMS IM IN: Rayman, CLH, Deadpool and Wolverine, Athf, Smiling friends, Felix The Cat, Impractical Jokers, sonic, tawog, thats it right now i guess.

Current Hyperfixiations: Rayman, Deadpool, Smiling Friends, Felix the Cat, Sonic

(Also i was reallyy hyperfixiated on lost media)

I have a Rayman board on pinterest with over 1,020

Im a Punk, Goth (Deathrocker, A REAL ONE TOO.) Rudy, Psychobilly AND Juggalo.

I grew up with a lot Ska and punk music. Dni if you're a poser or you think punk, goth, ect, is the same as emo or smth😭😭, also shout out to my dad who is cool AS FUCK and has the best music taste ever.

Some bands I grew up with: The Toasters, THE ADICTS!!!!!, The Misfits, The Specials, The Selecter, The Reverend Horton Heat, The Slackers, Thee midniters, The Frightnrs

OTHER stuff i like (most which i grew up with)

Spongebob, RAYMAN (again, im 8+ year fan of it, used to hallucinate seeing him in class when i was in kindergarten) A BUNCH of gamecube and wii games, Monster high, spiderman, batman, teen titans, Happy Tree friends (Watched it when i was like a toddler), DHMIS, UNDERTALE, BALDI'S BASICS IN EDUCATION AND LEARNING), Hello neighbor, fnaf, batim, cuphead, Yokai Watch, Sonic, ed edd n eddy, tawog, uncle grandpa, Bob's Burgers, Beavis and Butthead, gravity falls, PLUS A LOTTT OF OTHER STUFF. (I still love all of these!!!)

I get REALLY excited wheb talking about my hyperfixationsb

Socials n stuff: Discord (ASK FIRST!!!!!), Tiktok, Pinterest, Spotify, Twitter (I forgot my user on there) (All the same users, except for tiktok which is captain_crumbz)

Also I have roblox and animal jam :P IM NOT REALLY ACTIVE ON ROBLOX A LOT THO

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BYI:

I have crude humor and i cuss a lot, if cussing makes you uncomfortable PLEASE tell me, ill stop when talking to you.

I(f you dont cuss while talking to me (or in general) i will most likely not cuss much around you)

Leave me alone about past drama.

=================================== DNI: Proshippers, P3dophiles, N3crophiles, Zoophiles, stuff like that.

MOTHER FUCKERS WHO SHIP RAYMAN X ANY OF THE NYMPHS THAT ARE LIKE "magic doesnt equal biology" STFUUU😭😭

Homophobes, transphobes, ect.

Ablelists, Racists (🤮),

People who make s/a jokes or say stuff like "Im gonna touch you." ect.... (Or just like, dont say that to me, That makes me uncomfortable.)

People In the tcc.

Those who are on my account just to stalk me (GO GET A LIFE JESUS CHRIST, IM NOT TALKING ABOUT YOU, GO AWAY!!!!! SHOO!!!!!!

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Also heres the best post I've ever made ever

AND HERES SOME OF MY AUS

ALSO TY IF YOU READ ALL OF THIS ITS A LOT😭, it also needs to be updated

[three-semicolons]

I wish this fandom cared more about Aang.

I love every single character in A:TLA. In fact, I don’t think I have a favorite or least favorite character because all are balanced so well. But there are floods of video essays about Toph, Katara, Sokka, and god forbid even mentioning one or the members of the Fire Nation royal family. If anything, Zuko’s character has begun to grate on me over the years because he’s just so… overdone. Like a rich 3-star Michelin meal eaten over and over and over again until your arteries turn to butter emulsions and you just want a salad.

The exception is Aang. Fanart of him is by far the least prominent — especially when excluding group shots and romantic scenes. Searching for video essays, it wasn’t just that there were few; there were none. The only content I could find exclusively about his arc was a critique of the finale.

And on that note, it’s exclusively Aang’s flaws that are fixated on while others go forgiven, and all of the most fascinating parts of his character are either cast aside or given to another person entirely. Aang is childish and hesitant and matured and humbled. He’s haunted by the weight of his title and the guilt surrounding the genocide of his people (which, hot take, is by far the most tragic backstory in my opinion, but at the levels of trauma these characters have experienced, comparison becomes pretty irrelevant), and yet throughout the series finds the strength to assume his role with the support of those he loves.

For a fandom that produces ten “gaang-reacts-to-the-pretty-obvious-origins-of-zukos-scar” fics every day and half a dozen other explorations of characters’ trauma a week, how come the burden of expectations on the boy whose culture was eradicated by his failures is left so unexplored? How come nobody cares?

Idk. I’m not upset that any other character is getting love. I love Zuko and Katara and Sokka and Toph and Azula and Ty Lee and every one else so, so much. But I love Aang too, and it upsets me that I’m seemingly so alone in this.

It occurs to me in retrospect that this may partially be due to shipping. Ive always disliked romance in fiction and Avatar’s is no exception. It makes a lot of the relationship content unrelatable, but that’s perhaps the greatest portion of ATLA fandom output. Seeing as Aang is a literal child and not much of a “stud” by most standards, I understand why the various edgy 2008 emo kids got all the hype. I get it. But it makes me sad regardless that such a shallow interpretation of media has been allowed to dominate so much.

I’ll probably make more posts like this but I’m done for now. I made this blog just to vent my frustrations in the ether. Man, I’m bummed.

[palebloodcvrse]

I cannot be normal about liking characters

Vergil I feel like is suspended in that permanent state of being at war with his need to connect with others (his family) and his need to isolate himself to prevent himself from being hurt again

And i feel that so deep in my soul that its not even fucking funny. Vergil is way more than just his trauma I know,(evidently, even the story presents that he had to overcome it to change and grow as a person) but those feelings are a part of him and a part of what made him human

And he despised that part of himself so much because he feared ever being hurt again and did inexcusable things (same as fuck)

Every day I think about him my heart fucking bleeds, and I find all those memes dissing him and calling him dense for it (bc he was) both extremely funny and true but also so tragically close to home that it feels like self deprication to laugh at.

I think I need to go to therapy instead of crying over fictional men

I hate to be more emo than V(ergil) is and ik this is corny but goddamnit I can see the pain in his fucking eyes

I do not idolize him. He is a reflection of me and it made me confront a part of myself that I wish I never had to achknowledge.

[wintergrew]

Actually i will say on KAYF...

The basic premise of KAYF was an idea I first got roughly ten years ago after watching various vampire media. (Let the Right One In, Shiki, etc.) Not the whole plot, but the basic premise of a (queer) couple broken up by one becoming a vampire while their town is being destroyed by...well, vampires. Originally with my friend's and my Star Wars ocs from the MMO swtor we were obsessed with and made a billion AUs for, but very quickly it became its own thing in my head with new OCs.

But at that point in my life i was not writing fiction. I was always too self conscious of my writing because someone flamed my cringeybwriting on Neopets when I was, like...8 or something. So I literally went a full ass decade without writing fiction (with the exception of a couple attempts i immediately abandoned because I hated them) until I decided to try again with South Park fanfiction because i don't even know. Which includes The Thief, which I was shocked people liked. It was a TERRIBLE point in my life, I should say, so having people enjoy what I wrote and saying nice things about it was quite literally one of the only good things I had.

But anyway I still had that vampire idea in the back of my head, but just as random scenes that played in my head of the two main charades + the person who ended up being Estella. (Though originally her and Scott's role was combined.) The plot wasn't really defined or anything, but the basic ending was in my head from the very very beginning.

Anyway...2020. i was supposed to see MCR. Then COVID postponed it. I was very sad about this. So I extra emo-ly listened to a shit ton of MCR. And listening to MCR, suddenly I was thinking about that vampire story and their music pretty much helped me put the plot into place. The terminal illness plotline. The vampire of the pairing being obsessed to save his love and the cruelty from the other vampires regarding that. And ofc the song Kill All Your Friends itself gave me the set up of an IT-like time skip where someone died and they all go back.

They were all still 100% OCs in my head at this point. I didn't really have much confidence anyone would like these idea but, I was actively writing South Park fanfiction people liked well enough. I'd only ever written fanfiction. So I was like "huh I guess I can make this idea Creek".

So I did. And then wrote three chapters and didn't update for a full year.

But then in 2021 it became my ADHD obsession. I stopped caring about The Thief Trilogy. All I could think of was KAYF and wrote the rest of it in three or so months... Over 100k words. Pretty sure the update schedule was longer than that, but I spaced out chapters by a week long after I was finished.

And people seemed to like it. It was too dark to be as popular as the Thief Trilogy, but I knew that. It was a much more personal story, though, especially with how emotional it was, so it meant SO MUCH to me that anyone liked it. Also because The Thief Trilogy feels basically just like a bloated fanfiction adaptation of the SOT game to me, while KAYF feels like mine, so the kind words for it meant even more in a way.

Until someone I thought was a friend trashed it relentlessly. Like, I'm fine with constructive criticism but they were just horrible. Spoiled the plot for people who wanted to read it directly after i asked them not to, went on condescending rants about how there was too much filler, how Tweek in it was an awful character who deserved to die, claimed characters were all too unsympathetic, joked about parts I meant in earnest, etc. And they got really mad at me that my feelings were hurt by this. It was a whole thing.

Anyway, I'm still to this day years later obsessed with this story year. I think about it every day, which is probably more unhealthy ADHD shit. And I always think about how to make it better. I hate how I wrote it so fast and didn't think about certain details or pacing or what have you. Like, once I finished writing it, I was sad because I wanted to keep writing it. I still do.

I hate that I disappoint people by not having it out there. I want it out there, just not the version I rushed in three months.

So, for now, the fic is hidden. Indefinitely.

Anyway if you read all this tl;dr rambling congratulations I guess.

[trashc-anon]

Disney PJO is mellow

post with spoilers, duh. srly I doubt I'm thinking anything new, but I need these thoughts out of my head!

i recently watched Season 1 out of curiosity (i know, so late) and wow! first impression is how they mellowed out almost everything. I'm re-reading book 1 to double check my impressions and coulnd't get past chapter 3 without writing this post, because the changes in tone are so drastic!

HUGE POST BELOW kinda rant-y

First things first: I adore they decided to cast age aproprite actors, make the insanity they go thorugh obviously insane! (im englishing well)

That said: Percy in the books is an angry lil shit! Boy was ready to throw down with anyone and everyone. Series!Percy barely has a funcionting personality. Not dishing on the actor! When the character is supposed to be angry and angst-y, I can see him doing his best <3 My critique is with the writing. It seems they decided to make Percy more approable and relatable as a "good kid" as opposed to a traumatized ADHD student with consistent behavioural issues. It happened in the movies too. Movie!Percy got to be snappy because the actors and audience were older, but not nearly the level of rage and disrespect a 16 year old could have.

Given how mild series!Percy home life is vs book!Percy I don't mind as much as the the series develops because it looks like character development after repeated murder attempts.

Which brings me to point 2 - the reason I can't get past chapter 3: SALLY FUCKING JACKSON! She's a saltless cracker, overgrown teenager still wheeping over her summer romance with "the guy"! I knew the fandom had glorified her, I've seen some posts "hey, did you actually read the book?" And I hadn't since middle school, so my memory was clouded, but fucks sake! I was drinking the emo Kool-Aid to forget that mess of a plot hole. Thank fuck they rebranded series!Sally. She actually has a personality and seems like to know what is what and try to prepare Percy as a demigod who will outgrow her protection.

The diner flashback scene in which she talks to Poseidon helps her "I knew all along" know it all attitude, which doesn't work in the books because as far as she explains it: she and Poseison did the do, she got pregant and they never saw each other again. No reason to be greek mythology geek, definitly not enough to know about camp and the lastest breaking news in the mythic world.

(Poseidon's involvement creates some morality questions for me, some "how are we going to handle some topics later on" issues when episode 3 comes up, but more on that later)

I blinked and missed the reveal that she married Gabe to protect Percy, and the cascading logic of how her different personalities affected that marriage is mindblowing.

It affects the type of Gabe she married, therefore, how much of his abuse was Sally's fault. Series!Sally has agency and talks back, the kind of woman I can see attracting a god. More importantly, if she's making the decision to deliberately put her beloved son in contact with a nasty person whose smell will deter monsters, she won't put up with a monster herself, rather a loser who might as well be stanky trash sitting in the corner for too long. B

ook!Sally just doesn't sell that kind of confidence and since the books are first person POV we have to postulate that over the years Sally fell victim to Gabe's abuse (resulting in her lack of outstanding personality) and justified staying in the relatioship as "protecting Percy", which makes her complicit. Which is not great mom. And I do remember later in the books its resolved off screen and she "marries a nice guy, florishes as a person and has his baby". Errrr.... It's fiction, and I don't care for the mother character abused for the sake of her child to be saved by another marriage and have another child.

3: don't have much to say about Groover, I love him every time. <3 Book!Grover whines more and is a bit of a coward, while series!Groover is more like the sweet resilient pacificist that chooses non-violance. (and a twelve year actor saying "I'm 24" to Ares was hilarious!)

4: WILL ANY INSTALMENT WILL EVER SOLVE THE MYSTERY OF CHIRON AT PERCY'S PRIVATE SCHOOL?

He is the one functioning "trust worthy" adult in the entire camp and he leaves for months at a time to teach at private schools? Leaving behind, I don't know, teenagers and a drunk god to look after the smaller ADHD kids with powers all year round? Does no one see a problem with this? *side eye*

As a plot device it only serves to give Percy A SUPER POWERFUL SWORD WITHOUT HIM EVER HAVING BEING TRAINED FOR IT, and to have Percy trust him before arriving at the crazy camp that regularly send children to their deaths.

(AND THEN THAT PONY HAS THE AUDACITY TO PIKACHU FACE WHEN PERCY IS REAVALED POSEIDON'S KID WHEN ITS IMPLIED THE ONLY REASON HE WAS AT THAT SCHOOL, AWAY FROM HIS OTHER HUNDRED UNDER AGE CHARGES, WAS TO PROTECT PERCY THE BIG THREE KID NO ONE KNEW WAS A BIG THREE KID)

*inhale**exhale* I'm cool I'm cool

I will probably have more thoughts as I reread the book. I think I will write my impressions of series!Annabeth before she turns up in the next chapter so I have a more controled before and after impressions.

so far, overall, I was bored up until episode 3 with Medusa, and boy! that's when you can tell Uncle Rick is involved in the production process. After the first book series being critized for lacking diversity, he did his homework on many polarizing subjects which I appreciate being talked about in middle grade books/ series. And I think that will bite him in the ass when it polarizes the fandom in coming seasons and Disney cuts him out.

See ya!

[kentuckycaverats]

being emo about what a difference del's made in my life, word vomit below the cut so i don't clog the dash.

i've talked about this a wee bit on here, but after my first couple of years getting into ttrpgs i realized that i kept accidentally putting pieces of my soul into my pcs and having surprise Realizations over the course of the game(s), so i decided to start doing it on purpose

i built del very intentionally to have like, all of my childhood-adolescent trauma. the details are all greatly exaggerated but are rooted in the same feelings: not being allowed to have boundaries, not being allowed to make my own choices, being denied autonomy, being openly gay and trans in a conservative christian town, intimate partner abuse, suicidality. the fujinamis are (very loosely) based on my own parents and the tsugas are the parents i wish i'd had. sabina is not-so-loosely based on my abusive ex

but del is unlike me in every other way. she can stand up for herself, she can set and enforce boundaries, she's strong-willed and physically capable, afraid of nothing, and genuinely can't be fucked to care what anyone thinks of her. traits that i don't have but desperately wish that i did. i figured that if i could develop and play a character who emulates those things, then hey, look, those exist in me too, because del can't exist without me. my therapist has been a huge proponent of this and has helped me to utilize del as a therapeutic tool, and boyyyy has it worked. with the combination of EMDR + delphine, i've made crazy progress just in this last year

last night my partner and i were talking to his best friend and ended up on the topic of first relationships, and she wanted to know about my abusive ex. and like. she's haunted me for over a decade. it used to be that i couldn't think or talk about what she did to me without violently dissociating and triggering nightmares about her. but it doesn't hurt me to talk about anymore? she sucks ass and she's the worst person i ever met in my life, but i'm not afraid of her anymore. and i credit like 50% of that to therapy/EMDR and the other half to del game

because del has gotten to face and defeat sabina twice: first in backstory, in which del diablerized her and ended up with sabina's consciousness kicking around in her head, then again with tara and the coterie by her side as she killed her for good. when we were going into that session my therapist had a hunch that being rid of sabina in-game would help me get past the last big block from my own abuser, and she was right. i didn't notice it right away, but even when she does show up in my dreams (and she did last night, like she usually does when i talk about her) they aren't nightmares anymore. she's there and i'm annoyed mostly, but not afraid. i can tell her no and tell her to fuck off and instead of the big looming figure she used to be in my brain she's just a pathetic asshole who can't reach me anymore

my therapist says all the time that the brain processes fiction and reality the same way, emotionally-speaking, and we joke about ttrpg as group therapy but it really has been. and so much of that credit goes to our st who's (1) brilliant (2) so cognizant of telling trauma stories in a safe and respectful way and (3) has a window into my soul i guess?? he knows i'm plural but the del/aelsidhe arc was a complete surprise to me, and oddly enough comes like, scary close to paralleling the relationship between myself (del as proxy) and the host before me (aelsidhe as proxy) who i was supposed to protect from our ex. i couldn't have come up with a more fitting arc for del if i'd tried

anyway. tl;dr - healing is stored in the fighty little cockroach lesbian and she will always be so so special to me

[iantimony]

tuez

yayyy

listening: release radar: i get it now (sammy rae) (wauuughhhh. emo. i miss my partner) come over (cat's pajamas) stuck (scene queen) nerima (raspberry pie) never me (penelope) beirut (rob blivion) rule #34 (fish in a birdcage) bourgeoisieses (conan grey) milk town/mr carter (nep) doppelganger - lullaby (ethan bortnick) my baby loves to dance (kenya grace) horror night (starcourt) (@delta-orionis, you will like this one)

some from last week that i forgor to note down: tiny human (elohim), some type of skin (aurora), chukotka (otyken), training season (dua lipa, chloe caillet mix), georgian spirit (equbeats), online (twrp), someone else (kenya grace)

aaaand formentera/formentera ii again.

podcasts: wtyp on the francis scott key bridge collapse, and jim gordon must die podcast of all time

reading: i started reading 'bunny' by mona awad because it came up as a recommendation in libby when i was returning mdzs. i am going to be valiant and give it one more chapter but i do not like it. it feels like its trying very hard to emulate a certain type of vibe that i already don't find super appealing in fiction so the trying-vibe of it makes it even more uninteresting to me. the premise is a girl at a mfa program in nebulous New England Private Liberal Arts School(tm) which like, fine, dark academia or whatever; there are four (five?? i literally cannot remember which, lol) other girls in her cohort who are a weird clique and call each other 'bunny' and are rich and sheltered but harboring a Dark Secret Club. sure. the first few chapters ooze 'not like other girls'-ism, the 'bunny' characters themselves feel flat and like caricatures in an unappealing way, main character's other friend ava also is a caricature in a boring way, just very uninspiring. like i said i will give it another chapter or two but if it continues to bore me i will return it.

i finished the scum villain extras! very charming.

watching: keeping up to date with dunmeshi, yay, and also been continuing to watch endeavor with a friend. it's good! i love a mystery show! it is impossible to watch without subtitles though because they are So British. relatedly i am going to terf island for two weeks in june (london and then edinburgh) so if you know any recs for food, places, etc i am all ears!

playing: this weekend was going to be 3 dnd games in a row ... then monday was postponed to next monday ... but my sunday group, which is normally every other week, has decided to play next sunday as well bc we skipped a few weeks ... so Next weekend is the 3 day dnd combo lmfao. i don't mind too bad.

making: pottery!!! some bisque came out and i am soooo chuffed (<- endeaver tv show britishism rubbing off on me) this will be its own post with more images because i want to @ the inspiring artist, jbbartram-illu on tumblr (shop); i am obsessed with the cave painting mugs from a few months ago that immediately sold out so i was like fuck it i wanna make my own. and i am obsessed with my lil fat horses. i put amaco ancient jasper on the inside and just a matte clear on the outside. hopefully it is matte enough. i also put little hands on the handles and now i want to make some more cave painting mugs that are just the hands, i could cut out some templates to sponge underglaze around maybe...

my beautiful cracked-the-code bowls and two maybe teacups, post-trimming:

and also trying a new glaze technique: bisqued underglaze and then liquid latex over top! that way you can slather a background on and just peel it off after without painting around the details. im ngl peeling off the latex was soooo satisfying. background is laguna celadon froth.

i've also glazed my citrus juicer, just a plain warm yellow color, looking forward to that :3

glaze: mother's day gift (planter, it's. fine. idk. she'll like it i hope), and also some fixed stuff! didn't bother taking pics, the black eye bowl from feb 6 tuesdaypost is now food safe on the inside because i sanded down the kiln medium bit that got stuck in there and re-glazed it. i also tried to fix the bowl from march 12 tuesdaypost by just lightly sanding the inside and slapping some laguna celadon froth over it...it looks exactly the same now, just with some sort of float-like blue splotches lol. no pictures of it but eh. might give it away, we'll see.

eating: Spicy Clam Pasta With Bacon, Peas and Basil Recipe (NYT): tasty. idk about 'spicy' but definitely yummy.

misc: definitely in a weird spot brain-wise...the anxiety and tummyache link/feedback loop is very real for me now, so i am going back on an extremely low dose of ssri about it, and even though i have been on this med before in much larger amount i am still experiencing aaa about it. i keep going between "going back on this is a good idea" and "or i could just keep taking ~10mg of cbd every other day bc that felt like it was doing something, even if it was just placebo i had a noticeable difference in mood" so like. bluh. idk. i wish i could just Know what the best course of action is instead of having to fuck around and find out. such is life. i am literally taking the world's babiest dose rn (breaking the starter pill in half) so it will be fine. as long as i dont get bad side effects im willing to do a few weeks on it and see what happens.

[magnorious]

Percy Jackson and Why the Best Villains are Right (update)

I feel like this post needs an update after the first two long-awaited episodes aired so here goes. This is long and I am not sorry one bit, but I made it its own post anyway because it's so long).

This is the original, read at your leisure.

First, let me set the stage: Last Olympian came out when I was in 6th grade. I had the first four books in paperback and couldn’t wait for book 5 to make a perfectly matching set, I needed to read it the day it debuted. I, like many fans heard they were making a movie adaptation of TLT and we all collectively lost our minds. Finally! We would see our heroes on the big screen, and it was the guy who directed Sorcerer’s Stone. This dude knew how to make successful franchise-starting movies.

We. Were. Hyped.

Then… the rumors started. The actors weren’t the right age. Annabeth wouldn’t be blonde. Grover was this… unrecognizable slick, smooth-talking lady killer. Camp Half-Blood didn’t look like we pictured. Chiron looked okay? The special effects looked decent?

I didn’t get to see the movie when it came out. In fact, I remember being on a road trip and seeing it for $16 on demand at our hotel and my grandparents just couldn’t reconcile with that kind of price. I was crushed.

Turns out, they were unknowingly sparing me from disappointment. Everyone knows the two movie adaptations were awful. If you never read the books, they were tolerable, I suppose. If you never read them, you didn’t have the emotional investment we did, and you didn’t see why all the little details mattered so much. You didn’t care if it didn’t follow the book exactly because it was kind of funny and a little bit ridiculous but not *awful*.

Those movies are up there with the M. Knight Last Airbender as some of the worst kids’ fiction adaptations in history. Then the years pass. Harry Potter releases Deathly Hallows Pt. 2, the end of an era while the fandom money machine keeps on churning. Percy and co get new books, and some tangential spin-offs, the foundations of a much larger world of multi-pantheon fantasy, but after the failure of Sea of Monsters, an adaptation of Titan’s Curse would never be made.

We’d never see emo, angsty Nico and Bianca, never see the development of Percabeth, never meet Thalia or Fred or Artemis. The fandom was in limbo, forever tethered to just being a series of books that would never compete with the Boy Who Lived.

Then, years pass, and we hear rumblings of a new adaption. This time, Disney is handling it. This time, Rick is neck deep in development making damn sure they stay faithful. This time, it’ll be good.

But, if you’re like me, and so many other people unenthused by Disney’s releases over the last decade or so, you were more than a little afraid that Percy would be twice-doomed by another awful adaptation. You heard the rumors again about tiny minutiae that didn’t exactly match the book but still dared to hold out hope that they learned from their mistakes. They’d succeed where so many stories in recent years fell flat.

Then, finally, we get trailers, and we get episodes.

Just so everyone is aware of just how much pressure is riding on this show to succeed. It’s not just an adaptation probably ten years late for those of us who grew up with the books and Percy. It’s a redemption.

So, I’m not Uncle Rick, and if he signed off on the tiny detail changes, then so be it, but I want to explain to all those who rolled their eyes the last time at why we were so pissed Annabeth wasn’t blonde the first go around: It represents that if the director didn’t give a shit about making sure the simplest of details were correct, he wouldn’t care about the big details like themes and the characters’ personalities and the actual messages of the story (which, surprise surprise, he didn’t). One wig would have been a sign of good faith with zero excuse to fall short.

We’ll ignore Annabeth this time around because she has an equally valid reason for not being blonde this time (for anyone who doesn’t know, Annabeth was meant to break the “dumb blonde” stereotype. Having her played by a minority speaks to the same spirit. The books were also written a long ass time ago in terms of the evolution of pop culture and I appreciate that Rick is evolving with the times where it fits, as his books have increased in diversity across the board beyond three white, straight, cis protagonists).

I’ll ignore Percy not having a NY accent (not that it’s crucial or anything, but he’s got the sass and sarcasm of the born and bread New Yorker that he is and it would have been a nice touch). I’ll ignore Percy and Grover playing Mythomagic – even though that’s Nico’s game and matters because Nico was such a dorky little nerd before everything went to hell and Percy just. Wasn’t. He specifically liked skate parks and trying to be at least a little cool. I do like that the game was even there in the first place for all of us who recognized it on the spot. I also liked the nod to the Minotaur’s tighty-whities in the textbook (though strange).

Details do matter. Percy’s got black hair and sea green eyes for a reason. All the children of the Greek Big Three have the black hair, and only them. Apollo and Athena kids are blonde for a reason. Characters tell Percy over and over again how much he looks like his dad and it matters. If Potterheads get to complain about Harry and Lily’s eyes, so do we. But maybe the actor didn’t want to dye his hair or wear a wig. At the end of the day it doesn’t break the immersion and ruin the story.

All I’m trying to convey is that usually, the curtains aren’t just blue for kicks. Characters are designed with intent. Color choices matter. The Sith aren’t running around with blue lightsabers just ‘cause they ran out of red LEDs on set. And if this tiny detail was waved away, what else will be?

But hey, that was just my first impression. I saw this kid pop up on screen and my immediate thought was: That’s not Percy (though it is Percy’s eyes).

So, did the rest of the premier change my mind? Does the show still capture the spirit of the books, even it if can’t quite capture an exact reflection?

I made a list while I was watching of all the other minutiae that I noticed, for better or for worse and here’s the positives:

Chiron’s actor hits that “best teacher I ever had” vibes perfectly.

Baby Percy is fricken adorable.

12-year-old Percy’s thick-ass eyebrows just work for some reason?

Grover’s actor is good, no notes, fits him well.

They still hit a lot of the beats (Nancy, Yancy, Mrs. Dobbs, the cabin, the wreck, the matador fight, Sally vanishing, the minotaur horn, the Hermes Cabin, dinner at the pavilion, the bathroom scene, capture the flag, claiming) in order.

How often they dress him in shades of blue and/or green before the orange camp shirt.

Annabeth’s signature line.

Dionysus is on point, what a dick.

Percy’s sass and disrespect for authority!

CHB is solid, no notes.

The wood nymph makeup on whoever that lady was is fantastic.

The cloven council is four books early. Points for continuity?

The nightmares are different than the books but fit the same vibe.

Percy sucking ass at every skill was perfectly executed (but it would have been nice if they showed him excelling at canoeing because it was funny).

The physical acting, the fight choreography, was excellently executed.

But, for all the inexplicable changes, there were many that were a disservice.

As much as events being out of order and lines and explanations being spoken by the wrong characters at the wrong moments pains me (Sally never got the chance to tell Percy anything, her grave mistake was not saying anything sooner, trying to keep him close to her as long as she possibly could and that’s things went so wrong at the start of the book, they also didn’t fight), I get how adaptations work. Sometimes page-to-screen just can’t be done.

That said: Grover didn’t sell Percy out to Yancy, but he did try to gaslight him. Gabe was way meaner and fuglier in the book and first adaptation and wouldn’t dare let Sally talk back to him, or say “please”. Sally also didn’t look quite as world-weary as I’d hoped, for being trapped in an abusive relationship and a minimum wage job. As Percy’s first taste of combat, they really speedran the Mrs. Dobbs fight. He didn’t have Riptide during the Minotaur fight; he beat that bastard with his bare hands. Chiron worked up to his centaur reveal after all the exposition dropped. Not a single character has a NY accent and that Di Angelo name drop is… cheap and nonsensical. It’s only there because of how insanely popular Nico became (for better or for worse).

For episode 2: Percy’s conversation with Chiron and Mr. D was completely different, mostly because all his lines were given to Sally and Grover and it suffered some pacing issues because of it. Exposition and when they decided to do it felt like purposefully stepping on all the cracks in the sidewalk. It was written in the book that way, in that order, because it worked.

Where tf was Annabeth? She didn’t make a real appearance until ¾ of the way through the premier. All but her signature line was stolen by other characters and, because of this, she has almost zero rapport with Percy at the start of their quest. All her attitude is there, with none of what makes her sympathetic, and it’s very telling, not showing. Luke and Clarisse exist. I only know it’s Luke because of his scar and his unnamed friend that skulks around with him is… somebody. One of the Stolls, maybe? We were 0 for 3 on characters having the correct hair color. Grover’s tangent to the Council was a mess and we have the PJO equivalent of midichlorians with “kleos” as if Percy needed another motivation to succeed in tangible hero points and, finally, there was no hellhound fight (for rating issues, I assume?). Not sure yet if they’ll keep the hippie in the attic and the entire concept of prophecies that are so critical to the plot and themes (see my first post).

Overall, it’s a shame that the performances feel so stiff and robotic. I get that they’re all kids and this is probably all their first acting roles but if the fight choreographer trained them so well, the acting coaches could have stepped up their game. So many lines are delivered without emotion, or too much emotion (like Clarisse screaming bloody murder at her broken Maimer), which causes some very important scenes to feel bland.

When Percy has the chance to choose his companions, the choices TV Grover and Annabeth have made make them incredibly unappealing candidates. Annabeth has been nothing but rude, vague, and unkind, and was absent for her most important lines. Grover sold him out to the headmaster, gaslit him, revealed how much he’d lied about the world of the gods, agreed to keep lying to him about what he now knows about Sally, and Percy still hasn’t forgiven him.

So, is this a worthy adaptation?

Honestly… I wish it would have been animated, like Arcane or Dragon Prince. Animators would have saved the inexperienced actors from such stiff visual performances. They wouldn’t have had to deal with creating lifelike CGI and could have made some events much more kinetic without the laws of reality getting in the way as this is a story about mythology come to life. It’s a shame, too, that animation is still bound to the shackles of seeming inferior to live action when people absolutely adore Spiderverse and Arcane, and both would have been worse off in the constraints of reality.

The whole thing feels like it tried its best to follow the roadmap of the book, but lost the soul of the book. Changes to the source material are okay if they improve the story, but a lot of the reordering of events and exposition just makes it clunky.

It’s not bad. Gods know it’s already better than the movies in spirit. Maybe it didn’t have the budget or the time or the resources, or Covid caused problems, but this is Disney Money. There are ten whole books in this series and a fandom rabid for a good adaptation. There is zero excuse not to invest the proper time, money, and effort into hitting it out of the park when you can commit to ten entire seasons of a show in the era of eight-to-ten episode stints.

Maybe I’m being too hard on it, you decide. I’m tired of giving the Mouse the benefit of the doubt when they have All the Money at their disposal to hire the best people possible for the job and to get it right this time.

[saveourskinship]

Thankathankathank youuuuu @akorah for the tag 🥰

Three Ships:

Dramione. Because kissing someone furiously while grumpily saying "You. It's you. It's always you but... Why does it have to be you" is my jam, bread, butter, marmalade and vegemite [marmite if you're heathen ie smutty]

Zutara. Because they make each other better. They move each other forward. Because fire. Because water. Because lightning. Because ice. Because scars. Because healing. Because because because.

Skam and Beadie. This is cheating because they are original characters I am writing. They are not even a couple but God help me am I the hell leaving space to write my own fanfiction about them. Maybe an HEA where they don't all die at the end. *shrugs*

First Ship:

In anything: Barbie and Action Man. Before I was even in school my sister and I would steal our brother's Action Man as Barbie's partner. Ken's job was Beach. Our Barbie needed a man with a plan.

In media: Sora/Kairi from Kingdom Hearts. I used to devour fanfic about them. Shout out to the one which sticks in my brain and introduced me to My Chemical Romance when Kairi got married to Squall because of something to do with Mickey being an little shitprick which I think was because of some soul signature nonsense? I can't remember and anyway Demolition Lovers was their wedding song and the bane of my mother's existence - Save's Emo Phase was born.

Last Song:

Girls Like You - The Naked and Famous (shit, this is actually a lie, but it's the last 'proper' song I listened to since I don't count the demo I'm making for my friend's satire girlpunk band she decided to create last night as a real song yet. It just has boop-boop-boops. Night Lunch can pull off songs with only doof-doofs and boom-booms. I cannot. So the demo won't be real until Sasha does the drums at least.)

Last Movie:

What A Girl Wants. Look. It's Amanda Bynes. I love Amanda Bynes. It is also Colin Firth and blue blood upper crust English vibes (done poorly, sure, but still). The last chapter of rose-petal compliments is needing all the help I can get it right now.

Currently Reading:

Harrow the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir

Lesbian necromancers in space. Need there be another reason?

Currently Watching:

Jujitsu Kaisen Season Two (Gojo, my love. I salivate, I wither, I breathe so much ecstasy I lack oxygen and die.)

Taskmaster NZ (rewatch. Like, no shade to my country or anything [said under the world's largest umbrella] but fuck we're shit.)

Last Thing I Wrote:

Like, as in finished? Because otherwise it would be this, right?

I wrote delivery instructions for a food order earlier today. Can't have done it very well because the driver still got confused and had to call me.

In terms of Things with Titles that are Complete™️, then an original folktale called.... fuck, what did I call it? I can't remember. It's about an unnamed protagonist and a boatman though. Still waiting on my rejection emails from the magazines I've submitted it to 😂

Currently Writing:

Let's skip over the arseholiness of me saying that I'm currently writing this again, shall we? (Let's not turtles-all-the-way-down my mentioning it either.)

Okay. Here we go:-

rose-petal compliments: dramione. Quiet luxury, Hermione is wealthy. Set in the Muggle world.

sacreligious inferences of a midnight paradise: dramione. Trope soup. Marriage law/fake dating/date or die. (Plus a bunch more tropes because why not?)

The Absolute and Total Defeat of One Draco Malfoy. Multi-ship. Crack. Crack from crest to cunt.

What's Owed When. Dramione. Unexpected Pregnancy. France. Delectomancy. Draco pines so hard he's basically a forest.

foil&fall. Tansy (Teddy Lupin/Pansy Parkinson). Fluff. Epistolary.

Untitled warfic. Dramione. My attempt at All Plot, No Vibes. Yes, you read that right. I'm trying to write something with NO VIBES ALL PLOT. (Draw a pentagram and sage for me, I bloody need it.)

The Environmental Suicide Club. Original YA speculative fiction. This is the one Skam and Beadie are from. Grief. Environmentalism. Nihilism. Set one generation in the future. Everyone dies at the end. A Fun, Very Good Time! Completely unmarketable! Wheeee!

Untitled socmed. Theomione. Writing this one with @they-call-me-megs A bunch of fun and one we return to when we're struggling for inspiration elsewhere.

Aster, the Star-Sailor. Original children's series. Sci-fi, pirate adventure. Came from writing the Tansy and I fell in love with it. Thanks, Pansy.

Fate and Free Will series. Urban fantasy six-book series. Currently undertaking a massive rework of the structure.

wander/wonder. A Luna Lovegood POV story Christmas visual novel. Story is written and am hoping I can finish the video in time for December.

There are a few more but these are the ones I work on a least a little bit every week.

Tagging @they-call-me-megs @thusatlas @paandreablack