#havent really had an analysis in a while so here is a post about a thing everyone already knows about

[pinkeoni]

Writing Byler into the Narrative: Chekhov's Lie

Am I making a post about a topic that has already been talked into the ground and needs no further explanation? Yes! Because it's my blog and I get to talk about whatever I want.

So when discussing whatever the biggest "byler proof" is, the easiest and best answer is simply "the narrative." But what exactly does that mean?

Well aside from the characterization and themes tending to point in that direction, there's also a major literary rule at play— Chekhov's Gun

So this is Anton Chekhov.

Famous Russian playwright. Prolific short story author. Very important to the dramatic and literary world.

Chekhov sees one of his colleagues plays and writes him a letter that says "Hey, if you're gonna go through the effort putting a gun on stage, just make sure it goes off, okay? Otherwise, don't put it there." or something to the effect of that.

"Chekhov’s gun is a dramatic principle that suggests that details within a story or play will contribute to the overall narrative. This encourages writers to not make false promises in their narrative by including extemporaneous details that will not ultimately pay off by the last act, chapter, or conclusion. Chekhov’s gun has become a highly influential theory of effective writing that mandates noticeable details are integrated into the plot trajectory, character development, and mood of the work."

Here's a simple example of Chekhov's gun used in the show:

Chekhov's Purple Palm Tree Delight

While burying Hero Agent Man in the desert, Argyle get's stressed out and Jonathan tells him in supposedly a throwaway line to smoke some Purple Palm Tree Delight to help him feel better.

And then later in the Piggyback when they need to distract the Argyle clone in the Surfer Boy Pizza, BAM. Jonathan pulls out a fresh Purple Palm Tree Delight.

What serves as a small detail in one episode, serves a larger purpose in a future episode. It's a very simple yet effective plant and payoff. The gun has been Chekhov'd.

What happens if the gun does not Chekhov?

For this I'll use an example from a different show, here's a scene from Euphoria season 2. (spoilers, btw)

At the start of the scene, the character Nate loads a gun from inside of his car as he is going to confront his dad. We have seen this gun before. Oh my god, is Nate going to kill is dad? The audience may wonder.

Nate then puts the loaded gun into his right pocket as he enters the building where his dad is staying.

Later in the scene, we see Nate reach into his right pocket and pull out the gun he just loaded.

We then see Nate put the gun away into his left pocket, reach back into his right pocket, and pull out— a flash drive?

Granted this flash drive does have pre-established importance, but why the fuck did Nate have that gun with him, if he wasn't going to use it? The most basic rule of a Chekhov's Gun?

I know that it was likely there just to build suspense for the audience, but considering that Nate's gun has already been established (and used) earlier in the season, the show didn't need to build-up the importance of the gun earlier in the scene if it wasn't going to payoff. If we saw Nate putting his hand into his pocket in a threatening way, there might be enough there for the audience to suspect he has his gun in there before doing the twist with the flash drive. It would have given the same effect of suspension and subversion of expectations without it feeling like a shitty non-payoff.

I can only speak for myself, but when this happened I was just baffled and annoyed. What was the point of all that? When a Chekhov's Gun doesn't go off, it feels super unsatisfying.

Another good example of a gun that never Chekhov'd is the Jules-cheating storyline that became inconsequential, was not the reason Jules and Rue even broke up, was seemingly forgotten and forgiven by the end, and did nothing but give fans a reason to hate Jules.

And Now: The Van Scene

We've all seen it and we all know it. Will gives Mike the painting we saw earlier in the season, the one that's supposed to be for someone that he likes, which was a Chekhov's Gun in itself. We saw the painting earlier in the season and now it's being revealed. The gun is Chekhoving.

Really the painting itself has already payed off, but what this scene does is establish a new Chekhov's Gun that has yet to go off, and that's the lie that Will told Mike— that the painting was from El, not him.

Even if this wasn't the "friends don't lie" show, I mean, a lie in a tv show that goes undiscovered and has no major consequences? I mean come on. It's almost too obvious.

Did this gun already Chekhov?

Technically there is still somewhat of a payoff to this lie being told, even if the reveal that it was a lie hasn't happened yet. We see the consequences of Will's lie in this scene here:

Ah yes, the monologue. You know the one, where Will is over Mike's shoulder the whole time, the one spawned by Will remarking "your the heart" which is a reference to the van scene we all just witnessed in which Will pours his heart out to Mike under the guise of it actually being El's feelings? Yeah that monologue.

Contrary to popular belief I am of the opinion that Mike's monologue is NOT the reason El lost to Vecna, however Mike finally confessing immediately followed by El losing does not make it look any better for them. I don't think that the lie had world ending consequences, but it definitely had emotional ones.

The reveal of the lie can lead to one of two things happening (not all once)

Mike finds out that Will lied to him about El commissioning the painting. Mike and El stay together despite it all, Will accepts that Mike doesn't love him back.

Mike finds out that Will lied about El commissioning the painting. El and Mike do not stay together because the feelings of love are not genuine. Mike and Will, despite Will's expectations, end up together since that what Mike's feelings of love are in response too.

The biggest difference between the first scenario and the second scenario is that the first one is already happening right now.

Mike and El are still together by the end of the season, and Will already thinks that he doesn't have a chance with Mike.

Why cock the gun if setting it off is just going to keep things the way they were?

Of course this Chekhov's gun isn't the only "proof" working in byler's favor, and I wouldn't have suggested the second scenario if the show didn't also give Mike an arc where he couldn't say I love you to his girlfriend, make him act weird around Will, actively push themes of non-conformity, among other things.

Combined with everything else, I do still consider Chekhov's Gun to be the biggest proof of byler. Not following through with one of the most popular rules of dramatic writing just to hold together a weak relationship? OK

tl;dr: Byler canon because a Russian playwright said so

[sillyyuserr]

Terukane analysis <33

one of my favorties because it really shows how much they care and more about THEM less about how teru looks at akane or things like that

like i said in my last last LAST post, i wanted to write an analysis on what happened between terukane just before the severance so here i am. Writing this at 8:15pm on a sunday.

after getting back to the ”human realm”, akane realizes aoi isnt there with him, turns around in confusion, and sees teru with a saddened look on his face

Teru looks saddened while explaining what happened to aoi and how she couldnt return

Akane asks if teru knew the whole time, teru confesses to having had known that she wouldnt come back but didnt say anything, leading to akane being very clearly distressed and upset

Akane grabs teru by the shirt/jacket or wtv hes wearing and punches him and shoves him against a wall

Akane’s done with attacking teru, and turns around to try to go back and get her, falls to the ground in pain, his untreated wounds getting worse by the minute, gets back up to get her, teru forces him down, akane’s lying on the ground, disappointed and sad

Yadayadayada idrc what happens after this thats not what we’re focusing on, now that im done with the ridiculously long recap lets break it down further

As seen here, teru is both feeling and looking, extremely guilty. He’s guilty ab not telling akane, but knowing he kind of had to keep it a secret

Something you need to know ab terukane to really understand it, is their relationship is heavily built around their trust in one another so when teru hid how aoi couldnt come back from akane, he was hurt and confused as if he had never seen it coming, like it wasnt even a what if. He knows teru tries to be “perfect” to everyone else, but had never even CONSIDERED that he might lie to HIM. 

The reason this hit like a fucking global pandemic is because akane trusted teru so much he didn’t even think ab the “what ifs” and even if he did, him lying wouldnt even be on there

and since he was really hurt, he lashed out and punched him. Teru knew he was hurt/betrayed and let him punch him, feeling guilty at himself for keeping this from him. Gosh they really do care about one another

As seen here, akane tries to get aoi, but in his damaged state, he literally cannot. Teru knows this, and hurts inside seeing him like this, him having to literally shove him to the ground to stop him.

Akane seems to be at like rock bottom rn. Just lost his childhood bsf and this dude he swears he hates just lied to him ab something this srs. my mans really going through it

Forgot to add but teru looks especially heartbroken here looking at akane, it literally hurts him to do this to akane, but he knew he wouldnt leave aoi there so he did what was best for him, and brought him back. Also not to mention he literally travelled through the most notorious school mystery’s boundary (also the god of fucking death like wdym) just to save akane like what the fuck

teru’s so obvious istg if AidaIro doesnt make terukane canon thats one thing, but if they dont confirm or at least prove in some way teru has a crush on akane, my entire life is a fucking lie

pls give me ideas or stuff ab terukane that you’ve noticed and i havent im running out of analysis ideas 😭😭🙏

[17magpiesinatrenchcoat]

ALL THE SLAY THE PRINCESS ANALYSIS-ISH POSTS IVE FOUND ON HERE SO FAR

As someone who can never really grasp meanings in media beyond surface level, analyses like these are always lovely to read. Here are all the ones I’ve gathered during my short time in the fanbase so far, this is mainly for myself, but maybe it would be useful to someone else!! Also. If anyone knows of any more, please please send them to me!! I will add more as I go too.

I don’t think these all count as analyses, but they all made me go “oooh :0” so yeah

https://www.tumblr.com/momentomori24/735278091386126336/i-just-had-an-epiphany-about-the-cold-that-i-never

https://www.tumblr.com/lipstickchainsaw/735000176332259328/the-pristine-blade

https://www.tumblr.com/electronicdelusionstarlight/735270452740734976/id-like-to-point-out-that-in-the-wild-if-you

https://www.tumblr.com/dapperrokyuu/735178155760992257/alright-now-that-ive-seen-the-end-slay-the

https://www.tumblr.com/momentomori24/735068416032047104/something-i-really-love-about-the-smitten-is-how

https://www.tumblr.com/geebeeskoos/735078530884534272/the-nightmare-the-moment-of-clarity-might-be-the

https://www.tumblr.com/electronicdelusionstarlight/734951196420358144/id-like-to-point-out-that-while-the-tower-and-the

https://www.tumblr.com/bpdwwx/734705488874422272/insane-over-slay-the-princess-imagine-death

https://www.tumblr.com/satellite-slickers/734633384872132608/slay-the-princess-is-really-cool-because-learning

https://www.tumblr.com/satellite-slickers/734573430353117184/i-just-realized-that-even-though-our-protagonist

https://www.tumblr.com/satellite-slickers/734558408577073153/i-like-how-the-twist-in-slay-the-princess-isnt

https://www.tumblr.com/golvio/734492024048369664/it-was-a-bit-of-whiplash-going-from-the-damsel-to

https://www.tumblr.com/three-lesbians-of-the-apocalypse/734467272705490944/theres-something-so-chilling-about-asking-the

https://www.tumblr.com/in-fair-verona-we-set-our-scene/734463751524319232/the-more-i-think-about-it-the-more-not-exactly

https://www.tumblr.com/honeyfizzly/734464645923045376/i-think-the-horror-of-deconstructed-damsel-comes

https://www.tumblr.com/colorful-noircuts/733183847545683968/rambling-about-something-i-realised-in-slay-the hello my lovely mutual!!

https://www.tumblr.com/k20spock/734344272686481408/i-feel-like-i-havent-seen-as-much-discussion-of

https://www.tumblr.com/nerdlordofnerds/734384189011607552/man-dont-you-hate-it-when-you-try-to-rid-the-world

https://www.tumblr.com/lipstickchainsaw/735338029994115072/oh-for-the-stp-questions-what-do-you-think-of

https://www.tumblr.com/honeyfizzly/735336172257198080/i-really-adore-the-witch-wild-route-because

https://www.tumblr.com/supervillainies/735028943239921664/ive-mentioned-it-before-but-voice-of-the-cold

https://www.tumblr.com/lots-of-little-pink-clouds/734249738756620288/follow-up-thought-tsm-says-when-you-meet-he-gave

https://www.tumblr.com/angelofthemornings/734527183265185792/one-thing-i-like-about-slay-the-princess-is-that?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/metanarrates/734373760026705920/if-you-choose-to-chain-yourself-next-to-the?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/satellite-slickers/734216961853095936/durring-slay-the-princess-our-leads-have-the-only?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/golvio/734035911415857152/tried-the-damsel-route-today-this-shot-and-the?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/electronicdelusionstarlight/733870455536173056/say-what-you-want-about-the-smitten-but-the-man?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/electronicdelusionstarlight/733801315338190848/the-way-the-skeptic-implicitly-trusts-the?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/electronicdelusionstarlight/733269659334426624/the-way-the-shifting-mound-ends-every-ending-by

https://www.tumblr.com/electronicdelusionstarlight/733333027972907008/the-way-the-princess-has-no-name-but-at-the-same

https://www.tumblr.com/justsalpals/733475592170848256/the-spectre-really-had-no-idea-what-she-was-doing

https://www.tumblr.com/electronicdelusionstarlight/733630301609295872/the-way-you-can-only-kill-the-princess-with-the

https://www.tumblr.com/lipstickchainsaw/735453678374469632/also-what-do-you-think-of-the-adversary-i-like

https://www.tumblr.com/lipstickchainsaw/735448991864635392/oh-oh-another-question-what-do-you-think-is-up

https://www.tumblr.com/lipstickchainsaw/735538031989293056/oh-what-do-you-think-of-the-spectre-and-prisoner

https://www.tumblr.com/lipstickchainsaw/735509320346812416/what-do-you-think-of-nightmare-and-spectre

https://www.tumblr.com/minotaur-asterion/735506279592787968/might-be-a-weird-question-but-what-do-you-think this one isn’t an analysis at all but I thought it was funny

https://www.tumblr.com/birdmitosis/735586819735961601/this-honestly-really-fascinates-me-because-it

https://www.tumblr.com/lipstickchainsaw/735614693262196736/ohhhh-and-what-about-the-narrator

https://www.tumblr.com/elieclowngamer/735849806204960768/okay-but-like-spoilers-for-slay-the-princess

https://www.tumblr.com/lipstickchainsaw/735902648917721088/what-do-you-think-about-the-beast-in-stp

https://www.tumblr.com/lipstickchainsaw/736242037895168000/what-do-you-think-about-the-fury-and-the

https://www.tumblr.com/k20spock/736789844699807744/birds-and-trees-in-slay-the-princess

https://www.tumblr.com/lipstickchainsaw/735509712935829504/what-do-you-think-of-nightmare-and-spectre

https://www.tumblr.com/lipstickchainsaw/736243685245730816/what-do-you-think-about-the-fury-and-the

https://www.tumblr.com/fierce-little-miana/736431035990016000/strange-beginnings-ending

https://www.tumblr.com/chi-the-idiot/736610535159873536/ok-but-we-need-to-adress-how-slay-the-princess

[thelosers-club]

thoughts on the bill and mike bicycle scene?

OKOKOK lets go, this is a scene i havent always focused on when thinking about mike or bill so this was fun !!

Some things I just generally remember liking or finding interesting was when Mike and Bill were wondering if the club would all return that night, and how Mike had been considering that some of them might silently leave or even die- that part he didn’t voice specifically but that’s just what I had interpreted from the trailing off.

When I was thinking about this I feel if I were Mike I would just continue, because with everything I’d read up to that point it really does seem like there is a higher being and I think at this point Mike very much knows (to some extent) about the turtle, and it’s clear the higher being is on our side and whatever happens is meant to happen. Everything that happened- like Stan dying- was meant to happen, even if we don’t fully know why. And that may also just be because I know the story ends well enough for the losers, but yknow. While I was rereading, a part I noticed a lot was where Bill accidentally sprayed a deck of cards all over the floor and two ace of spades were the only ones facing up on the ground. Which is impossible because it was a brand new deck, which I’ll comment on in a second. In a deck of cards, the ace is the highest card- most powerful, it beats everything, even the king. and i think that this happening was to symbolize how they beat IT once, and they are going to do it again. Also, an ace in Tarot means victory that was achieved through hard work and luck, and along the lines of the last thing I said, I think that could also symbolize that they are going to win, specially through those two things as well. And I think the fact there were two, and the fact that Mike pointed out it was impossible, might also have been to point out that their chances to win were also practically impossible, and they still did!

Later, Mike and Bill are eating, and Bill asks what the phrase he had gotten stuck in his head since he’d seen Silver in the window of the secondhand rose/secondhand clothes. The phrase, if you don’t remember, was “He thrusts his fists against the posts, and still insists he sees the ghosts.” Mike allows Bill to know, and tells him the origin of the phrase, and how Bill’s Mom had taught him it to beat his stutter- and that Bill was always mumbling it to himself, so it seemed he was very determined to please his mother. And in the end, Bill had never been able to do it, but Bill knew he said it, he just could not remember when.

personally to me, Bill not being able to remember just kind of nails in this one theory I have where the Losers really had to revert to their childhood mind a lot in order to defeat Pennywise. Bill could not remember when because he had to do it again at somepoint, and he does. Like when he had yelled it as a kid to ward of Pennywise as Georgie and to ward off his own fear, he yelled it at Pennywise while in the void so he could get that sense of power he’d had back then back, to help get him back in that mindset he’d had when he’d come so close to killing It the last time.

If you guys want to hear me ramble about the mindset theory more please tell me i could go on for days about it :)

all of that was more of a serious analysis, so here’s just what I like and think of the scene in a more light sense.

I do think that this scene was a good kind of connection wink* moment between these two. Like, bonding time between too close buddies.

I’ll add anything more I think of in the comments, but right now thats all I got

(thank you for asking as well!! i like to think about IT and this was a new scene I hadn’t thought about a lot so it was nice to reread and figure out)

*the scene is named Mike Hanlon Makes a Connection, im making a pun here. laugh

[awsugar]

ok first of all I love you. second of all, what solo lyrics are you thinking about? cuz I know you’ve got those locked and loaded

hi ily2!! ok well we really havent the time to cover all the bases of frank solo lyrics but the most insane insane INSANE ones to me are from millions which i have made a full analysis of once. it literally makes me so crazy that i have to limit how often i listen to it lest i experience hysteria. you can read it here.

but also since then i once had some like 4am realizations about some of the lyrics that i hadn't included in the post which includes

'they'll believe in anything, you make up villains' them being the fans, and 'you make up villains' referring perhaps to ft willz villainizing gerard.

'lets use our magic powers with the children' in which the children also refers to the fans and the magic powers being. like. their impact on us. and how the band and doing it for the fans was a priority over their own internal bullshit that was threatening to tear it all down.

i anticipate one of my regularly schedule millions breakdowns happening soon because tbh its been a while.....

[natsmagi]

I love ur art!!!! really its so gorgeous and the style brings me sm joy, its so soft and cute!! and ofc fem ntsmg is THE GOAT!!!!!!

BUT I JUST WANNA ALSO SHOW APPRECIATION FOR HOW U ANSWER ASKS AND STUFF AND IDK JUST UR WHOLE PERSONALITY IN GENERAL?? I love reading ur text posts especially when u kinda analyze the characters and stuff like its so fun to read and tbh, both natsume and tsumugi are characters that I feel are often mischaracterized in the fandom, and like idk I feel like u get them so perfectly and its sooo !??!?! Awesome getting to read ur awesome takes when new events come out and stuff like YOURE SO RIGHT ABT EVERYTHING, i be reading ur posts and going "you!!! YOU FUCKING GET IT!!!!!!!!!!" *happy stimming*

if you honestly did like a proper character analysis for them one day just now i would be so here for it and read it over and over again probably. Im currently hyperfixating RLY HARD on ntsmg so sometimes i just go through ur entire text post/ask tag and read everything over and over again 😭😭😭 I JUST LOVE THIS BLOG IN GENERAL KEEP DOING WHAT YOURE DOING, YOURE ABSOLUTELY AWESOME AND VERY MUCH BASED USER NATSMAGI!!!!♥️♥️♥️♥️

OIUGOHGOOHH OH MY GODDDDD ANONNNNNNNN THIS IS SO SWEET I HARDLY EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAYYYYYYY 😭😭😭😭 THANK YOU SO MUCH U HAVE NO IDEA HOW HAPPY THIS MAKES ME 🥺🥺💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

im a very chatty person so im very glad u like hearing what i have to say 🥺!!! and im glad u like my personality too since i feel i can come off as harsh or arrogant sometimes AKJHFSKJH THOUGH TBF I DO TRY MY BEST TO BE KIND......

ID LOOOVE TO ANALYZE NTMG MORE !!! main reason i dont do it as often or hold myself back a bit is because admittedly its been a While since i read alot of the stories, a majority of which i have only read once, and when i make actually Proper analyzes i like to have reread the material and see if i maybe misinterpreted something on my first read or am misremembering, bc when given new info other interactions can be read differently and all that. and i also wanna actually do them justice and not accidentally spread misinfo AJHSFKJH AND I UNFORTUNATELY HAVENT HAD THE TIME NOR ENERGY TO DO THIS </3 but even without remembering every single piece of dialogue verbatim i like to think my grasp on them is still somewhat decent, and im very glad u like my interpretations 🥺❤️

it always makes me so incredibly happy when people view the characters similarly to me aswell bc like u mentioned they Are kinda prone to getting mischaracterized in some ways...... i think it mainly comes from both natsume and tsumugi having MANY factors to their characters though, and the mischaracterization comes from only highlighting one aspect of them and failing to think about how their different attributes overlap (although this can probably be said for the entire cast tbh). like an easy example that im sure everyone gets by now is natsumes little tsundereisms. if you only focus on him being rude to tsumugi it can look like hes just some edgy guy with anger management issues, but when you take into account other factors such as him having a rather spoiled upbringing both by his parents and nii-sans, and his distaste towards feeling "weak" (also caused by his upbringing, since he was frail as a child and raised as a girl) you start to see that oh. alot of that is just him being defensive and emotionally immature. since he had such a comfortable upbringing those hints of discomfort and vulnerability are threatening to him as someone who always had everything handed to him. and when you dont know how to deal with situations like that ASWELL as being afraid of being seen as "weak" youre Gonna start resorting to harsher words and sometimes even get physical because you have no clue how else to handle this. its also why the natsumes character consists of him being pretty obsessed with "growing up" and "not being a kid anymore," because he knows how immature he could be SKHDGJH he doesnt have bad intentions he just. doesnt know how to be vulnerable with people

[lakesbian]

wrt what you said about worm opinions not being a fight; sometimes it reads like you and bloggers you're talking to have different aims in the fandom. people aren't always interested in being corrected (and feel extra defensive when it's in a reblog by someone with a large following like you have) and posts made about someone else without directly referring to them can occasionally come across as passive aggressive in a small fandom. directly stating if and when you don't want people to feel bad or offering to leave the topic be can help mitigate that if it comes up. you should blog how you want but it seems worthwhile to point out in case you find it helpful. you post a lot about reddit so if you were part of that big migration i wanted to note it since it can be easily confusing. feel free to disregard this if it's too much meddling

okay this is a lot of sentences about something that Isn't worm analysis so i'll be nice to everyone scrolling and put it under a cut

HASFDAKSFDSLS i don't post a lot about reddit no. i post a lot about alec, the only times i mention r/parahumans are when i'm 1. making everyone who doesnt have the stomach for one million posts about e88 in a row look at the rare good art that got posted there or 2. showing everyone a funny post title. i also feel like you might be misremembering that a Big reddit migration ever happened because while i havent been here long enough to remember everything i feel like the environment would b a lot more insufferable if it had? anyway

re "posts made about someone else without directly referring to them can occasionally come across as passive aggressive in a small fandom" - posts i make inspired by disagreeing w/ someones opinion with a direct tag to the person i saw have that opinion could be taken as aggressive/uncomfortable, because people leaving a random comment of a pretty generic opinion somewhere do not generally want to be dragged onto a stage for an impromptu debate! it's far more reasonable to just post my thoughts on a paraphrased version of the generic opinion without specifically shouting out whoever i most recently saw it from. (if i wanted to address precise phrasing or details of a point vs just bouncing off it, that's when i directly respond to the original text.) given that you also literally just said "people aren't always interested in being corrected (and feel extra defensive when it's in a reblog by someone with a large following like you have)," i feel like you should be able to understand this pov--it's extremely contradictory to imply that i often shouldn't directly correct people, but also that i should always explicitly shout out the person responsible for an opinion i disagree with

as for "people aren't always interested in being corrected (and feel extra defensive when it's in a reblog by someone with a large following like you have)," i have a couple notes:

i've been told i have a large following a few times but tbh i still genuinely do not see it--it was really only some of my first wormposts that got a notable amount of notes, at this point i feel like i've lost enough followers from having largely very specific posts (alec <3) & from being opinionated about hot-button topics that i do not think i count as a Large Blog. per se. i'd actually posit that No blog on wormblr is large enough to invoke the risks of disagreeing w someone publicly as a large blogger (i.e. unintentionally siccing harassment on someone), but maybe there's something i'm missing there

literally all of the people i've publicly corrected about amy were well-known fandom mainstays at the least and considered actively foundational (especially on the much much larger reddits and discords) at most, while also being extremely well-known on tumblr. i frankly find it hard to imagine any of them feeling threatened by the wormblr alec guy disagreeing with them when their opinions on her are those that have been shared by vast portions of the fandom for far longer than i've been in it. in fact, i would guess that any defensiveness there is actually far more liable to be a result of being extremely unused to having viewpoints they see as ubiquitous challenged

in both of the most recent cases that i'm sure inspired this ask, the people i was reblogging from made maintagged posts directly quoting things i've said without explicitly stating they were from me (<- "this can occasionally come across as passive aggressive in a small fandom") to express their disagreement w/ those opinions--if they didn't want me to try offering corrections, and fairly politely phrased ones at that, they could've just not made a post starting a dialogue about the topics, yeah?

[imsorryithurts]

im torn between writing essays on what the symbolism on disco elysium means to me and writing fics in which i shake the shit out of those middle aged men in a jar until they threw up. i can not choose both im swamped with work and other junk 😭

anyway, glad to see another DE whump enjoyers, if you had any fic recs please please please tell me (esp if its kim centric, i really like the caretaking reversal trope)

I FEEL YOU. DE is such a deep and beautiful game but also. I want Kim's picture framed on my wall like that one person in the news.

I remember thinking "I'm not going to fandom-fy this. I will enjoy this like a normal adult person". Which is pretty good, but then you have the writers posting stuff like "yeah, I think Jean and Harry fucked", and fan artists posting the characters as c.alico critters, and fanfiction writers writing literal novels as fan sequels, how can I resist??

But then someone comes and does a deep analysis of themes, characters and motifs and I'm like "damn. should I be poor meow meowing these men?"

Anyway, I guess the conclusion I came to was:

DE is such an amazing game and it leaves space for both brain rot and intellectual reading. It's not often I get this involved with media that tackles complex and real issues and criticisms, with characters that are not really great people but they are so incredibly charismatic you forget, and at the same time makes silly jokes, has an idle animation of them cracking each other's backs and makes you want to pet these greasy/balding middle aged men. So I'm managing to balance both Fandom Brain and Enjoyer of the Actual Game and it's Brilliance Brain so far. I guess what I'm trying to say is that most fandoms I'm in I don't take the media so seriously, but I absolutely would submerge myself in a pool of DE source material and be serious about it.

I don't know. I'm not rusty with words. All I know is DE good, and I want to see them hurt.

I'll rec some fics under the cut so this doesn't get too long!

So, you might have already filtered AO3 by "whump" and "hurt/comfort" and found these. But here are some I really enjoyed and have saved:

Tenth of a Second by SupposedtobeWriting

AU where Kim gets shot after the tribunal and Harry is the one that takes care of him. One of the first fics I came across when I first searched the fandom tag. One of my favorites, I remember having to pace myself while reading it to make it last longer!

Small Light in a Dark City by SupposedToBeWriting

Kim has a nightmare after the case. More psychological whump.

An Impression of Smoke by nicpic

I'm just going to copy the tags: kim is sick, jean is soft, That's it, that's the fic

Also really like this one :) The Day After comes before in the series, and it's also fun, just short and lighter on the whump.

nicpic also has Blood on Snow, it's a bit more heavy on the hurt, and Jean is the hurt one. Plus, they seem to have some really cool fics I havent gotten around to reading yet.

In sync by DistressPlop

Tribunal aftermath, Harry whump, with some Kim psychological whump. I remember reading this, but I must have read it in bed before sleeping because I don't remember much about it lol. Guess I'll get to enjoy it fresh one more time.

sans sommeil by narramin

Kim, who was undercover until then, shows up hurt at Jean's door. Now that I think about it, this one might have been one of the first fics I read. I was finishing up this list and my brain went "wait what about that undercover Kim one?" and I had to search for it, because I read it before making my ao3 account. I don't remember much about it, except that I really liked the whump in it.

Ace's (All-Time) Low by new_career_in_business

Kim shows up hurt at Harry's door. TW for homophobia

I believe Ace's (All-Time) Low was the last one I read before deciding to not pick up new ones because I really need to focus on studying for the admittance test of the master's program I want to get in. So now I only have a bunch marked for later, both whump and non-whump. Maybe I'll do an updated list in the future, I'd like to have a neat little list so I can revisit them easily :).

Happy reading, and feel free to rec back! Here's to more DE whump in our lives! *raises glass*

[voltrixz]

Then do Auditor

Ez

Show us your thoughts

Ty for this wonderful opportunity

However,Woopsies this one took a while, had to condense my thoughts here and there because I don’t wanna share everything just yet (I want to talk about them more later down the line)

First Impression: I seem to have a trend of not paying much attention to one character at first and then becoming obsessed with them the next time. Anyways I just thought of the Auditor as the silly flame guy. Who had a whole agency to kill one single guy (what a loser (affectionate) Idk i just thought they looked really cool (gender envy) (another factor of me realizing I wasnt cis)

Impression Now: MANY MANY THOUGHTS, several discord messages with my friends are just about me rambling about Auditor, hell I have like 2 or 3 docs with hc’s/analysis’ about Auditor. But basically, I like to think that they’re the youngest of the employers (yes they’re all siblings, i love the employer siblings hc so much) and i think that sorta facts in with how they’re like rlly stupid and just kinda incompetent (like have you seen how much he struggled to fight hank in his mag form?) plus its been mentioned that they’re the only one of the employers to actually interfere directly with Nevada, which kinda gives me that “younger sibling that wants to prove themselves to the others but ends up messing up horribly as they’re very impulsive and kinda foolish” Also think they’re like secretly very interested in nevada and the people there, sorry i just kinda think they fit the like ‘sheltered disney royalty’ trope. ALSO!!! I think they rely too much on just how much command and how they’re like a literal god, and they just rely on that sorta status when really it weren't for all that, she would be almost powerless i think, Which i think rlly factors into how we seem him struggle a lot in fights against hank and why like in project nexus they just make people take care of everything for her. Also ermm I think they’re also like rlly into flashy entrances like the whole pillar scene thing where it rises and theres like flames everywhere, what a showboat (affectionate). So in conclusion, secretly very curious and a bit foolish while also thinking they’re above everyone else and having a really really short temper. Also ermmm took the lil tidbit of Auditor liking sugary things as a secret soft side, which I will talk about later and also ermm also gets embarrassed easily. Sorry I'm all over the place woopsies.

Favorite moment: FAVORITE MOMENT IS DEFINITELY THE WHOLE LIKE UHHH AUDITOR RISING ON THAT PILLAR AND WAVING THEIR SWORD AS LIKE A BUNCH OF FLAMES CAME UP. THAT SCENE WAS SO SO SO GOOD!! ALSO WHEN THEY TURN INTO A LITTLE BLOB AND SLIDE AROUND!!!

Idea for a story: MANY IDEAS, like one that explores the sibling dynamics in the employer family + Maker (yes i think Maker is the “father” of the employers) (he just created them from thin air and went “My kids!!! I love em!!”) anyways a lot of stories for that, sorry I love family content. For other stories, I have a bunch of au ones like the one where Auditor and Phobos temporarily took care of the knight in my madcom x hk au. Also have a few ideas of how I think Auditor views humans/nevadas and all the things that confuse them. Also a few on his day to day and like her decreasing mental state (sorry they’re my fave character ever and that means they have to suffer through the horrors) oh and a lot, a lot, a lot of Auditor/Phobos ideas, love these 2 sm. Yet also ermm will put them through the horrors (I have several solo fics about Auditor dealing with Phobos death and post fall of Nexus time) but also just a lot of stories exploring their dynamic and how i think it would develop

Unpopular opinion: Ummmm not sure here honestly since I havent heard too many people talk about Auditor sadly but ermm I guess just like a lot of people kinda brush over Auditor a lot and ermmm it makes me so sad because they’re actually so so so interesting, idk it that counts as an unpopular opinion or whatever but like eh

Favorite relationship: If you’ve been on my blog for a while, I think we all know what I'm going to say. AUDITOR AND PHOBOS!!!!! Love love love these 2 so so so much. Guys I need more people to like this pairing so I can ramble about it more. LIKE GRGHAHH love these 2 evil bastards being in love. So many hc’s about them (I have dedicated doc for them) (and a bunch of short ideas) (might share some them here tbh…) But graghhh love thinking that Auditor decided to interfere with Nevada and ended up having to work with Phobos’ annoying ass only to slowly fall in love with him. Sorry, I just really like to think about how their relationship would develop. Phobos would go from teasing and joke flirting with Auditor for Auditor to turn it around on him, until the Auditor deemed it “far too unprofessional” and called a truce. (they still hated each other but they decided to might as well try to put up with each other for the sake of this “business” relationship (ended with them growing closer and learning more about the other) (which led them to find solace in each other’s company, and enjoy their little friendship until they realized wait a minute I'm like actually in love with you, how is this happening) LIKE GRGAHHH love these 2, their dynamic is so silly.

Favorite hc: All of mine (/hj) but tbh the good thing about having a favorite character that isn't talked about, is that you get to make all the hc’s yourself. And oh boy do I have a few (MANY) but we’re doing favorites so I’ll keep this as short as possible. Auditor has a more dragon like form, which he just has large wings, a tail and horns, which means he can fly around YIPEEE!!!Also its very easy to tell Auditor’s emotions just by looking at their flames, flames will like flicer much more slowly and droop a bit when stressed/tired, when they’re furious, their flames will rise and spark violently, when they see something they like (or someone (hi phobos), little heart shaped sparks will emit from their flames, etc etc. Also like I mentioned before, very curious about mortals in nevada, despite seeing them as below them, Auditor finds them very interesting especially Phobos (they’re gay) ALSO!!! An awful cook, they just summon food they like out of thin air and will set the kitchen on fire if they try to cook anything. Also of course the usual touch starved and attention craving hc, this guys craves some sort of affection. Also!!! Definitely gets teased about her crush on Phobos by their employer siblings. Oh and woops angst jumpscare but Auditor would pick up Phobos’ smoking habit (yes I hc that he smokes) after Phobos dies as a coping mechanism. Couldnt let you guys off that easily. (evil little grin)

[threewaysdivided]

Have you ever abandoned a fanfic? Just curious. I havent started one because i know that i WILL abandon it and feel shitty about it.

Hey nonnie,

Sounds like you’re in a bit of a bind right now 😔

To answer your question: no, there hasn’t been a point where I’ve personally discontinued a posted fic. 

I think I might be a little bit like you in that regard.  I’ve had quite a few potential story or scene ideas over the years, but either I didn’t feel like those stories headed towards a satisfying end-point or I just didn’t feel like committing to the work of fitting those scenes into something that would be interesting (or even understandable) for another person.   When I start a large creative project I like to have an idea of what the end-product will be, or at least some specific creative goals to aim for.  I need to feel as though I have a good chance of seeing a project through before I commit.

That being said (if it’s okay) I’d like to talk to the sentiment you expressed: that there’s something you’re not starting because in your mind giving up is inevitable and you’ll feel bad when (not if) that happens. 

To me, it kind of sounds like you’re already feeling shitty about it?  Like, you haven’t done anything yet but you’re already anticipating the worst possible outcome and emotionally punishing yourself for it. 

If that’s the case, then why not just try it anyway?  The time will pass regardless.  And what’s the worst that could happen?  You start writing a story, you post a few chapters, and then maybe you feel like the story isn’t going the way you wanted, or you get frustrated by a creative roadblock, or you find yourself losing interest, or maybe it’s just that other things come up that you’d rather spend your time on… and so your story becomes one of the literally thousands of discontinued fics that exist.  Maybe a few invested readers are disappointed for a while, maybe it slips quietly into being forgotten…  or maybe the part that you did post inspires someone else, or another fanwriter adopts and continues it, or you yourself find inspiration again and come back to it somewhere down the line.

It's worth pointing out that the vast majority of fanfics are either currently-unfinished works-in-progress or in some state of hiatus/ discontinuation/ being abandoned.  Many of the fics that inspired me are either discontinued, have sequels that were discontinued or were written by fan-authors who had previously discontinued other projects.  In fact, several of my favourite published original series are in some state of cancellation, indefinite hiatus or have endings/continuations that myself and others prefer to ignore, but that doesn’t make the revisit experience any less enjoyable.

a good plot was one which made good scenes. The ideal mystery was one you would read if the end was missing. - Raymond Chandler in the introduction to Trouble is My Business, 1950

Still, that doesn’t really change the fact that it can feel really shitty to pull the plug on a creative project.   Even if you never showed anyone, it’s okay to feel disappointed or frustrated at yourself for not reaching a personal goal.  That’s a perfectly normal reaction, so long as you don’t let it spiral into self-punishment or something self-destructive.  It can be easy to fall into a state of analysis paralysis or procrastination, where the fear of “failing” or choosing the “wrong option” means you just don’t start, or you keep stalling because you expect to feel guilty at the end for not finishing sooner (something which I’m definitely prone to doing).  There’s also the risk of falling off the other end into sunk-cost fallacy or trying to overcommit your time, leading to things like sleep-procrastination and burnout.

Some of that might come down to broader personal challenges like overcoming perfectionism, depression, self-criticism or negative self-talk, learning how to be more gentle and reasonable about personal goal-setting/ expectation-management, and finding ways to celebrate the progress/ achievements you did make, even if you didn’t achieve everything.  If these are things you struggle with, then it might help to talk to someone about it or even seek therapy if you’re able to (I am currently doing both of those things and it genuinely helps).

You might also like to check out my writer self-care and digital self-care tags, where I’ve been squirreling away helpful advice from other users.

In the meantime, here are some practical ideas that might help your story to cross the finish-line:

#1: Keep the scope small You don’t have to jump into a big multi-chapter ensemble fic as your first project.  If you’re worried about sustaining creative energy (or even just having limited time) then maybe single-scene or one/two-shot stories would be a better place to start.  Pick a project which you feel confident that you can finish, and which lets you see and enjoy a tangible result quickly.  Consider using AO3’s series feature to assemble short stories into a bigger narrative that you can build piece-by-piece.  Set your bar low, start small and work your way up as you develop your creative workflow and stamina.

#2: Outlining might help you I don’t know where you fall on the planner-to-pantser scale of writing styles, but having a roadmap for where and how far the story is going can give you a goal to keep focussed on.  I’ve previously written a post series with some tips for outlining stories: [Part One] [Part Two].

#3. Know what you want from your story I talk about this in Part One of the Outlining Series, but understanding what motivates you to start or keep writing can help you to understand where the creative drive for a project comes from.  Maybe you’re writing purely for yourself, maybe it’s to share with a community, maybe it’s in response to another story or maybe it’s because you just want this to be a thing that exists. 

For example, my long-fic Deathly Weapons started because I couldn’t find a story like it in the archives, and now I keep writing it because I want to see whether I can pull those things off for an audience who don’t have my behind-the-scenes notes.  Meanwhile, there are a lot of other potential ideas that I haven’t written down because those are just for me – I get what I need from them just being in my head and I don’t feel a need to codify a “canon version” or do all the drudge-work of making those ideas accessible for someone else.

#4. Find a cheerleader Sometimes it’s good to have writing buddies who are also interested in your story and can help to sustain enthusiasm, inspiration and excitement for your project.  Whether that’s finding a beta-reader, joining/starting a discord server, reaching out to commenters on early chapters, roping in IRL fandom friends or finding community in other places.

#5. Your first attempt won’t be your best and that’s okay I do a lot of cooking and a common rule there is “the first pancake always comes out wonky”.  You need to get a feel for what you’re working with before things start to flow.  Similarly, the first draft almost always feels rough… because it’s purpose is to be a rough draft.  Don’t be dispirited if it’s not immediately perfect, or as good as what you pictured in your head.  Each time you iterate/edit you have a chance to identify something you’d like to do differently and experiment with moving it closer to the effect you want.

#6. Set milestones and consider an exit strategy If you feel like there is a possibility that you might (or might need to) pull the plug on a larger project before the end, then it might ease your mind to have a plan for how and where you would want to draw things to a close. 

This is something I have for Deathly Weapons. It’s a very long story that I planned at an age when I had more time and energy to spare, crossing two fandoms (of which one is getting pretty old and the other died of sudden-onset seasonal rot) and something I’ve been aware of for several years now is that one day I might need to call it quits, whether due to lack of time, inspiration-loss or for mental health reasons there have been times where this fic (and especially the attached fandom-rot) has been legitimately not good for my headspace.  I’d like to finish DW and I don’t like the idea of leaving either the characters or my readers without closure, but I also recognise that it simply might not be possible.  My compromise is that if that day comes I’m going to polish up all my story-notes and make them available so that the full narrative at least exists in some form.  In the short term I want to make it to the end of the Mission 2: Flashpoints-Equilibrium set.  Once I get there I’ll take stock and see if I feel like the Mission 3: Something Wicked set is still on the cards, and so on and so forth.

#7. Remember that fanfic is a hobby You can certainly learn valuable things and meet wonderful people through writing, but ultimately this is something you do for fun, because you find it inherently rewarding or compelling.  It’s a knitting club.  Sure it might feel a little bit worse to close down a project that other people are invested in but, just like with any other hobby, it’s perfectly fine to take a break or move on if it’s not something you enjoy anymore, if it’s effecting you in a way you don’t like, or if you don’t like the particular group of people you’re currently doing it with.  It’s your free-time to use, and it’s fine to weigh options and decide that it would be more fulfilling or better for your health to pursue something else.

Above all else, remember that it’s okay to “fail” 

I feel like this is something we don’t talk about enough as a collective (and it’s definitely something I wish I had been told more).  Sometimes you try things and it doesn’t work out.  Sometimes you screw up.  Sometimes you give up.  That’s alright.  It doesn’t change your worth as a person.  Put it down to experience: it still teaches you things.  And you can always try again.

Be kind to yourself, okay? 💚

[banterpodcast]

emo truthing the dream smp

'oh some of these songs aren't TECHNICALLY emo they're pop pun-" ok. dont care.

also yes i am aware some of these bands are shitty people please do not try and make this seem like im supporting these bands actions i am simply just a music nerd

if u think i am wrong about any of these lmk i love discussing this stuff

theres no fall out boy here bc i know i can write a whole other post about fall out boy

first of all the obvious - vegas lights and las nevadas. i dont think i need to go further into that.

royal - waterparks - george

- "im proof of consequences" sir literally is the embodiment of this line. slept through an election and well. we saw how that turned out

- 'im two faced from your double exposure' in reference to his relationship to both dream and dreamXD

- "i wish i was royal but im not" man got dethroned

- "im doing alright, but is alright enough?" idk man i just think this line kinda got that george energy

- "i fall in love with everything that wants nothing to do with me" is the main line where im like hm idk if this fits george but also does dreamXD really love george? or does he just see a humanity in george he cant find in himself?

- "i know that theres no dealing with the way im feeling, im so out of touch with everyone and everythings a blur to me" lol!

i think check yes juliet by we the kings can apply to multiple ships but im gonna apply it to awesamponk purely for the line 'they'll tear us apart' because thats incredibly funny to me.

theres a good reason these tables are numbered honey, you just havent thought of it yet - panic! - early lmanberg wilbur (tbh some of it can also definitely apply to pogtopia wilbur)

- 'from that moment you'll be out of place and underdressed' the no armour rule

- 'i'm wrecking this evening already and loving every minute of it, ruining this banquet for the mildly inspiring' CMON TELL ME THIS LINE ISNT EARLY LMANBERG WILBUR

do i even need to put analysis this shit is writing itself. wouldnt be surprised if wilbur listened to this at some point while writing the lmanberg arc

- "oh and the smokes in that cigarette box ... laced with nitroglycerine" is definitely more a pogtopia wilbur line but. wilbur is wilbur <3

king for a day - pierce the veil - exile arc tommy

im so passionate about this one.

the s/ic/de attempts in the nether and in logstedshire. tommy being a red coded character.

clearly about his relationship with dream. also the whole line about being a martyr and the idea that tommy still worshipped prime in exile ?????

he was put into exile to 'think about what he did' in reference to burning george's house down. he had to beg for dream not to burn his things.

haha anyone remember when he hallucinated tubbo coming to visit him?

ghost in the walls... haha.... ghostbur....

finally:

anyways king for a day is the tommy exile arc song.

other connections i have made but do not have the energy or passion to justify:

ignorance - paramore - quackity (actually i might make another post and talk about this bc god)

jack manifold and gives you hell by all american rejects

tubbo and the anthem by good charlotte

missing you by all time low i can see for both crimeboys and clingyduo

shut up and kiss me by marianas trench and early karlity (ie the one lil bit before karlnapity became a trio)

[chromes-corner]

rewriting financier is kinda hard. do you have any thoughts on her? i havent watched chapter 3 of the cookie odyssey so im not sure if she still has no impact on the story.

I have a few thoughts on her, but I haven’t had enough downtime to actually put all my thoughts into a coherent compilation/analysis, so have some loose passing thoughts that I’ve dreamt up throughout the past few days!!

minor chapter 3 spoilers under the cut

I’ve seen all of chapter 3 (impatient) and I can safely say that financier does not receive any actual role or development. Like, her backstory is expanded on just a TINY bit, but it only goes so far as to say that she was an orphan. That’s literally all we get. She was an orphan who grew up being taught about the Divine Light and that’s it. Good lord the writers had nothing for her.

The role she plays in chapter 3 is also very minor, but at least they actually have her something to do in this chapter. All she does is discover that it’s Mille-Feuille that’s indoctrinating the orphans into the white mask cult, and telling them that they must retrieve the five soul jams in order to appease the Godly (witches) (also that the cookies who ran from the “benevolent” witches are sinful and unappreciative of the life the witches gave them). All this goes down in a single scene where financier literally ACCIDENTALLY is there at just the right time to witness this. She didn’t have an investigation on it. She was just there, saw Mille go into the basement, and saw the child cult.

So, with the context outta the way, here are some ideas for rewriting financier.

Financier is shown to be devoted to the Divine Light (she was never introduced to the child cult, as I assume Mille started it after financier grew up and left the orphanage) and she mentions that the Divine Light chose her.

So what I’m thinking is that, after witnessing what Mille was doing with the orphans, perhaps her faith gets shaken a bit. Was the church of the Divine always just a cover up to this cult? Is the “Divine Light” schtick just a front so suspicion is avoided when having the orphans there??

And perhaps before all this goes down, maybe financier is already having doubts about her beliefs and who she is as a person. She was chosen by the Light for a reason, but why? Why would a chosen be assigned as a body guard to someone clearly capable of defending himself? Make it a little meta even. Maybe she herself feels like a background character in Clotteds story. Maybe she begins to feel useless as the others run off to complete their tasks, while she stands on the sidelines, awaiting orders that will never come because maybe she isn’t needed. Perhaps she’s feeling a bit of good ol imposter syndrome, which only gets worse as she returns to the republic and realizes that paladins don’t really do much.

And maybe after she meets Madeleine and discovers that he’s nothing more than a pretty face for photoshoots and tourism, maybe her faith cracks even more. He was chosen by the Light as well, yet he does nothing more than pose for the masses and flip his hair about. Is the Light just a fan of eye candy, or is the Light even a real thing? This is all not to mention the fact that pretty much all paladins from the academy don’t do any real work. It’s the guards and militia from the houses that are out in the field, policing and keeping the streets (of the upper city at least) safe.

So after the adventure, she goes to the church for guidance from the mysterious Divine Light. She doesn’t understand her purpose or how she could be considered chosen for such low-level deeds (that being existing as a mere poster child for the republic). Who is she if not a hero like she always wanted to be? Was all of her training for naught? Did she take the wrong path?

And then the whole cult discovery thing happens and whoopsie daisy financier suddenly doubts everything and has solid proof that her “chosen” business might be a sham

I talk in this post about how throughout odyssey, everyone defies expectations in one way or another. Maybe financier defies expectations through her own doubt and her struggle with her self. Paladins are expected to be noble and true and entirely self-assured, as they are told that they are he frontlines and defenders of good, but what happens when one goes down a rabbit hole of self-doubt? What happens when one doesn’t just want a title, but an actual purpose too??

Perhaps in your rewrite, too, she rebels more against the paladin code and goes off to discover her own truth, perhaps aided by madeleine or clotted. Paladins are meant to follow orders and sit and roll over when asked. Maybe she defies expectations by not waiting for orders and instead forging ahead and making her own rules.

So where will this take her in her future? Will she relinquish her religion and forge her own path? Will she succumb to the doubt and disappear, now that her whole sense of self has been lost? Or will she rise up beyond her title, perhaps setting out on a journey for good, or by setting her sword aside and instead picking up a pen and entering the world of politics to make the world a better place?? And, following this, must she go against her good friend and former charge, clotted cream?

Anyways, I hope these thoughts helped ya with brainstorming a bit!! If I think of anything else, I’ll rb this post with new thoughts! Hopefully I’ll be able to sit down one day and actually write up a bit more of a concrete analysis on financier in canon as she stands :)

[shoezuki]

Hiii hi could u explain in Words why pdp is bad please?? I know hes bad but my friend watches him (he doesnt have any socials or rlly look at news so he doesnt get at of the stuff) and I dont know how to explain to him that pdp is a whole dick agh

OK sorry i dont have much like. Energy to dig myself atm BUT. i have looked thru for articles n other such things detailing pdp's history with antisemitism, racism, nazi symbols and imagery, alt-right rhetoric, etc.

AND heres a tumblr post saying such things w more links on it as well

I had my Own words on it but tumblr deleted like half of it. But while i wait for my muffins to cool heres My Words too thats kinda a summary

TW for antisemitism, nazi imagery and rhetoric, racism, mass shootings, far-right dogwhistles and rhetoric, etc.

Pdp has Always been so ingrained w all this shit for as long as I can remember, especially antisemitism. His own videos have contained nazi jokes, hitler comparisons (i believr to himself at times), him performing nazi salutes. One of the most memorable instances imo is in i think 2017 or so, he paid two indian dudes on fiverr to dance around with a sign saying 'kill all jews', reacted to it and posted it in a video. The people's fiverr account got suspended i believe, and they said they didnt understand the meaning of the words as they didnt understand english well at the time.

As for far-right rhetoric and dogwhistles, hes kinda been 'accepted' by far-right communities, to the point the 'subscribe to pewdiepie' meme was almost like a dogwhistle. It was literally said by a man before he shot up two mosques. Although thats OTHER people, considering his use of nazi symbols n such. Its not without reason imo. Like he had a shirt with a swastika on it that he showed up to a filming event for i think that 'scare pewdiepie' thing years ago, altho he denied that but theres photos of him w friends wearing matching swastika shirts (havent been able to find them but i recall him saying it was a 'dark joke'). Within 2018 or 19 he reccomended a youtube channel to his fans saying he enjoyed the anime analysis video. But the account was literally interladden with right-wing dogwhistles, the concept of 'redpilling' the viewers. It took media like steven universe and inputted right wing ideology into it under the guise of 'analysis', used racist imagery such as editing black people into caricatures on thumbnails, and used homophobic slurs n slurs of all kinds really. After he reccomended the channel it got like 36k subs or more

Also was his instance of calling someone the n word in a video game. Also he compared the gorrilla harambe to the african american actress leslie jones, by i believe using her image in replacement of a gorillas.

Biggest aspect is like. His addresses of this n 'apologies' had been shit. It was always a lot of 'its absurdist humour'. The kind of says sorry once then goes on bout how media overinflated it, how it wasnt that serious, how sure he was Sorry or whatever about his jokes. At some point i think he spoke of the fiverr incident as him trying to 'show' how people will do absurd and ridiculous things and how 'funny' it was. But that falls entirely flat in my mind considering they didnt understand the words, how he edited and posted a video of himself paying for the words 'kill all jews'. Thats not 'wow look how people do ridiculous things!' Yknow?

So like. Theres all that. A lot of what i mention here is within all those links, plus more. Altho one thing i wanna say

I often feel like a hypocrite, because ofc i believe people can change, and past actions arent entirely indicative of people Now. But with pewdiepie n the things hes done, its so extreme, with so much piled together over time, to the original 'jokes' and his shit 'apologies', that i cant imagine hes changed much. And even if so, this shit is so intense and genuinely messed up that it will follow him everywhere, and i can never support someone like this. This is an exception, an example of 'it doesnt matter how long ago it was' becausr pdp didnt just tweet jokes that may have been read in poor tastes, or aged bad, or were deleted but dug up. These are so bad and genuinely disgusting in comparison

[bimbosupreme]

mephistopheles love post

the equivalent of a mental breakdown tangent is all going under a read more

yes believe it or not that freaky ass literally not even human clown in fgo gets love, and love from who? me and like 3 other people

first off

ok and with that out of the way,

i’m not even familiar with their lore. Reason why i stopped caring about the lore behind faust and mephistopheles is that an interlude happens that shows that mephistopheles is just some homunculi made by some mage nobody named faust. and even then the interlude doesn’t talk about the lore behind the novel, its just you helping mephy kill faust

that being said though i would hope the developers expand on their origins more and potentially even release a “true” mephistopheles (a girl can dream)

So, they’re not even the real deal demon known as Mephistopheles in the first place, and i can hear u going “well that’s lame” and like, no, we just need to redirect our feelings from appreciating a demon to appreciating a homunculi who has a weird characterization in the fate universe

Design tangent:

Fgo was actually my first gacha, and so when I came across this servant I kinda instantly fell in love with their design, I love the colors used in their final ascension and overall appearance. The hat that has horns but they're not quite horns, theyre these weird colorful pointy twisty things, the large garish butterfly ornament on their chest (which isnt ugly at all and somehow works so well with their everything on them) is cool, the tights are so cool to look at, i mean look -- a checkered pattern with golden lining on the shorts portion, the tits out look like yes we get it youre insane, the gloves??? purple and also cool, plus theyve got this gradient thing going on? and the fingers have this line going through them, thats so cool. actually the only other servant that comes close to this in terms of “out there” colorful designs is probably final ascension kama and qsh ( i love them both). Also, mephy has this scissor weapon?? thats so cool lol i dont see any other servant wielding giant scissors (for the love of god give mephy an animation update i need to see them use the scissors while doing flips) and they also have this bomb obsession going on? cant relate, but the bombs designs are so so cool i mean its a fucking centipede -- no idea if centipedes are a thing in the original faust but thats something Ill have to look up at some point. ALSO mephy is wearing heels oh my god anytime people wear heels is an automatic win. No clue whats going on with the hair but its kinda cute (dont question me on that) and it has curls and the hair colors are cool i mean its like a lavender thing with darker purple highlights? i love colorful things and i love people with wacky personalities so. Oh my god their tail how could i forget that its so cute and dumb i almost forgot it was there, like what is that even a whip? i dont.. but its got these little purple tips to them that are kinda cute/cool but more cool because tails are fucking up there alongside heels in terms of cool stuff on characters. and of course their fluffly cape -- again no idea what the designers were going for i mean look its a mess of a design i have no fucking idea what any of it means and i hope they explain it someday because that hair and the butterfly and the tail and the hat and the fluffy garb and a bomb obsession?? and this got the go ahead - yeah lets add that to the game like what

ALSO LETS TALK ABOUT THEIR EYES

appreciate these with me for a second

god.

oh and the blue lipstick and face paint god thats a cool design ugh

they can be normal too or at least as normal as possible i mean they even trimmed their eyebrow here lol but you can see the not so well hidden insanity/goofiness peaking through with the inside of the suit at the bottom being highlighter purple and a green shirt with gold accents underneath the black coat at the front <3, fuckin hate that hairstyle tho bro we gotta get that middle part hairstyle outta hereeeee--

TAKE A DETOUR AND LOOK AT THIS LINK THOUGH THIS IS THE MOST NORMAL AND BEST IVE SEEN THEM IN FANART. THE POTENTIAL IS THERE. WE CAN HAVE NICE THINGS AND THEY LOOK GREAT ITS POSSIBLE. I HAVE TEARS STREAMING DOWN MY FACE FROM THAT DRAWING.

anyways this is me going off all about why i like their design! but we haven’t even touched the nitty gritty of it all. their personality! what personality you may ask? havent they always been some weirdo laughing a lot and saying dumb shit all the time? well yes and no

Characterization:

True to their dumb little clown design mephy also acts like one.

Some servants bond 1 lines are like “fuck off” and some actually talk to you, nah this bastard mephistopheles’ just laughing. and for the second bond line it seems to imply theyre fuckin with you more (showing up and dissapearing and saying ‘afterimage’) so thats nice that theyre actually making some effort to mess with you in a way? some servants take a long time to actually interact with you so this shows theyre not afraid of interacting with you and thats just at bond 2. and of course the third bond line implies they were probably trying to betray you, its stated in more than 1 place that mephistopheles (actually isnt this a caster class thing?) will betray you or attempt to do so. So the third bond line seems to imply that their attempts have been stopped by you and that’s what they say after some failed attempts. So after stopping this freak from doing some shit their next bond line is actually doing a confession! a jester being honest who couldve seen that one coming but theyre 100% not lying, they really arent a demon but a homunculi made by faust

speaking of faust we’re going to backtrack a little into their interlude that i brought up at the start of this post, its one of those dream interludes and it starts with mephy asking you to help him plant bombs for their eventual reuinion/showdown with faust -- in the meantime faust keeps sending golems in an attempt to kill both you and mephy

When you track faust down, it’s shown that faust was your typical mage, inhumane and uncaring. It’s also pointed out that this faust killed innocents, but this typical mage behavior is boring to mephy, and they say that boring typical behavior is why they wanted to kill them

 so i really cant blame mephistopheles for being the way they are, being raised by this type of guy, even if mephy was always messed up and wacky from the beginning its no reason for faust to attempt to kill him.

Mephistopheles also shows up in salem, cu alter’s interlude, and of course the knk crossover event, and some other things im most likely forgetting but those 3 are ones that i find notable

anytime they show up theyre actually helpful, in salem mephy points out that the nature of the being responsible for the salem epic of remnant is something alien rather than a typical foreign god, mephy also tells you that time is also being sped up and in their weird way they try to cheer you up by spouting some nonsense at the beginning (guda needed some kind of distraction from the grim events that had just transpired at that point in the story), i cant quite remember what mephy did in the knk event but they were a part of your group and were helpful the whole time, actually @/zeravmeta does an amazing analysis of their role in the knk event as well as some extra character analysis here

mephistopheles is kinda cryptic in a weird way though,

like overall i mean theyre a jester homunculi in appearance so yeah its to be expected but come on i love morally gray characters, despite their supposed betrayal hints scattered around here and there

they have this one line that always gets to me

and this line is said with a completely serious face too

the rare serious mephistopheles face! its kinda grim to see that line, no laughs, no nothing, their voice is kinda serious and monotone too. of course this could be just to get you to lower your guard but its still kinda out there that they have this rarely used portrait and that line, so i like to take it as being said to you when youre by yourself and with sincerity

and at least sei (with her wacky outfit and all lol) seems to get along with mephy and thinks theyre nice woohoo

so at the end of the day you have this guy that laughs a lot and gives mixed signals

and they fuck with you

and will most likely try to kill you more than once but hey thats just another tuesday at chaldea

Before I finish last thing I want to point out is this snippet from the fgo source material book which provides more information on servants, and this specific translated bit under mephistopheles

at the core of it all this homunculi....can be your friend! you just need to not go into despair i guess

of course this entire post is an overanalysis into an underwritten character, quarantine + all online college classes have done this to me, i have a douman icon what did you expect

OH...BEFORE I REALLY SIGN OFF AND FINISH THE POST HEY CLOWN LOVERS CHECK OUT THESE FANARTS AND FANARTISTS...

THE FIRST ONE IS HASENDOW YES THE DOUMAN DESIGNER... <3

i cant believe they drew mephy

twice !

and for those of you on twitter check out @cuz_pb and @L0VEYAMA003

[smolsix]

The LTNM 2 analysis that specifically does its best to debunk the loop theory

I’ll preface by saying i still havent seen the mobile game so RIP me. [i can’t download it and never have the attention span to watch a video of it]

Oh and I haven’t seen the new comics either I wanna buy em and read em in person first WEYHO

Little Nightmares 2 is NOT a loop or time loop. 

We’re shown Mono at the start of the game appearing from a TV, implying based on his later ability to teleport between them that he teleported there somehow. Where he got this ability is never implied, but I believe that because he is a resident of the pale city or near it that TVs have a certain affect on him. Note how Six is largely unaffected by the TVs throughout the whole game and makes an effort to pull Mono out of them. The Viewers are continually captivated by them and the TVs have some sort of affect over them. 

Likely the Radio Tower’s signal warps people into being affected by the TVs, and Mono living in proximity was also affected by it.

Six also has her hunger again, although it’s only seen at the end of the game. I believe Six was already a resident of The Maw. In the room you find her in the radio tower you’ll notice on the wall a painting of a girl in a yellow dress with the face scratched out, which is also located on The Maw in the lady’s quarters. I also do NOT think the Thin Man created this room for her to calm her down, but rather this room was created by Six’s mind. If Mono is to be believe to be the Thin Man caught in a loop, he would have NO idea about this painting. And if he did, why would he put it there for her? I bring up her hunger as a possible correlation to Mono’s abilities, and that her hunger is a product of The Maw and likely its food has this affect on people, same way the Radio Tower has its affect on the residents.

So Six already having ties to the maw could imply ltnm2 is either a sequel or prequel, but w the presence of dark six from the tv appearing in this game w such a loud presence im highly leaning on prequel. but i know that some creators said a while back it’s a sequel??? idk

For a time loop to take place the radio tower or thin man need some control over time, which is not shown in the slightest. How could he possibly turn back all the events, and for what purpose? To prevent himself becoming the Thin Man?

I’ve seen a lot of people mention that the Thin Man specifically goes for Six in the first encounter w him, but I honestly think it’s just that he sees Six first. The pulse that goes through the room when he enters causes her to fall out from under the table, and if you specifically do not hide under the bed he will capture Mono first, completely contradicting this idea.

So why did Mono become the Thin Man? I believe that the radio tower simply replaced the Thin Man after he was destroyed. It needs to keep status quo and as a result, found and locked away a suitable replacement. I know people think he was trapped in there for a long time based on the sequence where we see him slowly turning into the Thin Man, but consider how long Six was also in there and how fast she turned into a creature as well. She was in there maybe a few hours, it’s likely that the sequence was a creative choice to get you confused and invested in what’s happening to him before giving the final reveal, not as a means to show a long time has passed.

Obviously because of this, it’s likely that this ending is also alluding to Six’s fate at the end of the first game. After she kills the lady and consumes her, she gains her ability to suck the life out of people at a glance. It’s entirely possible she will replace The Lady as a result, should The Maw function the same way.

Also, Six is NOT a monster, she is NOT “evil” and whatever else you want to call her. She is a child who is only 9 and she is a product of her environment. In this world the slightest mix up means death, and she has grown up in this world. When you first meet her she’s very apprehensive in helping Mono until she needs help, too. In the playground she hardly plays, opting for standing around areas [like standing up against the goal post instead of playing w a ball or anything] or vaguely doing things. This can imply that despite the fact she is a child, she hasn’t been able to have a childhood. She still enjoys childish things like toys [implied by her room], and has a sense of curiosity [how often she plays w the x-ray whenever you’re around it and her animation showing her looking at the toy she’s holding or at herself], but hasn’t been able to actually indulge in child things most of her life.

Her letting go of Mono was a case where either:

A) she wasn’t sure they’d both make it out in time and decided to save herself

B) she knew she was getting hungry and would kill Mono when they left together

I’ll honestly take either of these, they both make sense. 

I also want to touch on the idea that the hanging man is either mono as the thin man, or original thin man, and here’s my ideas as to why it’s neither:

For it to be the original thin man, we need to assume he wasn’t destroyed by Mono. If he wasn’t, then why did Mono replace him. If he was, he couldn’t have gotten to the maw to hang himself, and why would he leave a note.

For it to be Mono as thin man he needs to have somehow gotten to The Maw before Six, and then killed himself there in that specific area. I want to mention that the Thin Man’s appearance outside of TVs is distorted and not at all solid in the same way as normal people. For mono to get to the maw he either had to have taken the normie way there on ship, or teleport through the TV. But based on what we saw, his teleport ability can only be done through TVs already turned on by the outside, and they must be near each other [he never goes great distances]. It also makes sense that he could possibly not even affect TVs too far from the radio tower where the thin man stays, and where the frequency reaches. Basically I’m saying you’d be hard pressed to make it all the way to the maw in the middle of the ocean [or where ever it is haha]. 

The only TV we see within the maw itself is in the library and must be turned on. so we can’t really guage TV population within the maw. and should the TVs affect people as they do in the pale city, i highly doubt they’d be left on carelessly should they warp the guests. 

oh yeah and

the chair sizes are completely different, since i’ve noticed people saying they’re the same chair.

ANYWAYS all else i wanted to touch on was that it’s very very likely the bosses in the maw are actually puppets! in the hospital you will see their faces pinned to the wall, fitting for the mannequin area! not sure why the mannequin’s are affected by light but the puppets on the maw are not, who knows.

that’s all i got, i’ll post any changes i have to my ideas after the comics/vln

EDIT: I just remembered that we DO see the thin man in a TV at the end of the DLC for ltnm1, but it’s unclear if this takes place in the maw or the pale city. 

This means that either he does have more power and is capable of jumping farther and that point is moot [but then that means he didn’t get here till after the events of the maw so, it still doesn’t line up w hanging man], OORR it was just in the pale city and was a simple teaser.

[grishaversecommunityyy]

The Grishaverse Ship Survey Results

So! After all of that, we finally have the results! What is the general opinion on the ships in the Grishaverse? Well, that’s for you to read below! It’s actually pretty interesting and, while some parts make sense, there were definitely some parts which... surprised me... Anyway, onto the results!

Everything in this post can be split into:

The Grisha Trilogy

Six Of Crows Duology

The Nikolai Series

Shadow and Bone: TV Series

Most Enjoyed Ships

Least Enjoyed Ships

Crack Ships and Shipping Discourse

Notes from the Survey 

(note from mod emily: i tried to bold all of fritz’ comments, but i might have missed a few! be aware there are two of us analysing here :))

The Grisha Trilogy

The first book series we asked about was, of course, the first chronologically: the Grisha Trilogy. The most popular ship, with 83% voters for this series selecting this, was Genya/David (Fritz was glad to hear that; Yes I am). This is likely due to the lack of alternate romantic interests in the series, which seems to be a major issue for Alina’s ships. It also seems to be one genuinely enjoyed by most fans, in contrast to Darkling/Alina and Mal/Alina (each around 30%) and Nikolai/Alina (just under 20%), for which I have definitely seen plenty of debate. The second and third most popular ships for this series were Tamar/Nadia (55%) and Nikolai/Zoya (47%). Interestingly, Genya/Alina (43%) and Zoya/Alina (30%) ranked surprisingly high, especially considering how few of my friends and associates I hear talking about them. Good for them!

Honourable mentions:

Alina/Sun (no doubt inspired by that crack fic I wrote a while back) (Still havent read that out of fear)

Alina alone (a common concept among those surveyed, though most mentioned it later)

Zoya/Genya or Alina/Zoya/Genya

Six Of Crows Duology

This series was a little less divided, I would say. Predictably, Kaz/Inej came out on top with a whopping 96% of voters (:relieved:), with Wylan/Jesper next (90%) and Nina/Matthias just after (83%). None of the others really came close, despite Nina/Inej gathering 35% of the votes and Colm/Aditi at 25% (yeah, I’m not sure why that was so popular on AO3 either, but nobody really has objections so I assume that’s why it amassed so many votes). As Six of Crows is decidedly less divisive about ships and doesn’t have such controversial ships (more on that later), it seems the fandom agrees with canon pairings and the votes are... pretty unanimous.

Honourable Mentions:

Jesper/Wylan/Kuwei

Polycrows (platonic or romantic)

Kaz/Inej/Nina

Whoever didn’t read the instruction about this being for only the book series and put Jesper/Milo. I will never escape. 

The Nikolai Series

This one is a little harder for me because I actually haven’t read this... so over to Fritz for analysis! But first, the stats. At 85%, the most popular ship is Genya/David, followed by Zoya/Nikolai at 77%. Tamar/Nadia and Nina/Hanne draw at 61.5% and Nina/Matthias has 56% voters onboard. There’s no real honourable mentions for this one, sadly. Hello Fritz here! Read the books and very glad to see Genya/David as the top ship as it damn well should. Although still a bit surprising since its more of a side-arc of the two and only ties in with the importance of the story at a specific chapter that I feel like I don’t need to elaborate about, if you read Rule of Wolves. (I believe the popularity of the ship also sky-rocketed due to ROW) Following of course Zoya/Nikolai, the high ranking makes sense, it is the main ship and lets be honest they deserve it <3

I think the only really surprising thing about this is the high votes for Nina/Matthias since [SPOILERS CROOKED KINGDOM] he’s dead so I feel like people should move on from that. Nina/“Hanne” having not as high a ranking as I would’ve thought, but with Matthias still being in the frame I guess we shouldn’t be surprised either.

Shadow and Bone: TV Series

This one is really interesting, with the exclusive show watchers now taking part! We have 89% voting for Kaz/Inej, 76% for David/Genya, 71% for Matthias/Nina, 67% for Ivan/Fedyor (that’s a thing???-->Yeah they had a few somewhat sweet interactions in the background-->nvm i watched it you’re right fritz) and 62% for Mal/Alina. What’s really surprising is how high Malina is compared to Darklina, with Darkling/Alina at 36%. Who knows, maybe Fritz’ analysis can shed some light on this?

Yes yes Fritz to the rescue: First of all we have to see their interactions a little different from what we already knew of them by the end of episode 8. I still think it is a surprising number, since the Darkling in the show isn’t as nasty as he was in the books BUT over all his actions are now seen on TV. We all thought the deer antlers were a necklace amirite? Well no apparently not, the darkling used the worst kind of small science to fit Alinas collarbone to the bone and out comes a gruesome sight: a reason why many people might have started thinking: Wow what a disgusting person he is. And on the Malina “ship”: Mal finally has personality!! jkjk :eyes: Mals and Alinas friendship has been portrayed way better in the show and I believe that the people noticed more chemistry between them especially by the end of season 1. So I’m still a little surprised Darklina has such a low ranking (what with him being all sweet and cuddly in the middle of the show) but it makes sense and the Malina ship as well. Their vibes are just *chefs kiss* and thats coming from someone who didnt even like any of these “ships” <3

Loving the quotation marks for the word ‘ships’, Fritz. Over to the honourable mentions!

Honourable Mentions:

Jesper and Milo (isn’t milo a goat? guys, why?)

Nadia/Marie (huh that didn’t appear anywhere else)

One person had several - Kaz/Inej/Jesper, Dubrov/Mikhael, Dubrov/Mikhael/Mal - and yeah, you can really see the show differences in these mentions right? (whose dubrov...and whose mikhael...)

16% actually voted for Inej/Alina which is wild to me because of book context (they did have chemistry in the show tho :cowboi_smirk:)

Another person with several! We have Nina/Inej, Genya/Alina, Zoya/Alina, Zoya/Genya/Alina. Very sapphic. Good for you.

Kaz/Jesper and Nina/Inej all in one

That’s a lot of honour and mentions but it’s so interesting to me and I think you should see too

Most Enjoyed Ships

The most enjoyed ship was Kaz/Inej. This had unparalleled support, being at 35%. Jesper/Wylan, which was next on the list (23.5%) and Nina/Matthias (18%) were also pretty popular. Most of the others were quite low, though interestingly Mal/Alina only had 1 vote (plus one for the show version). Overall, the SoC ships were a lot more popular in this section, which makes sense - this part is really about your favourite ship, and those were more unanimous in the last sections.

Least Enjoyed Ships

Most people said Darkling/Alina, which got 47% of the NOTP votes. A lot more people disliked Darkling/Alina than liked Kaz/Inej. Make of that what you will, but I take it as a somewhat general agreement among many of you guys. Mal/Alina was also strongly disliked at 22%, but around a half or more of these were clarified to be about the book version of the ship specifically. They really must’ve upgraded in the show! Jesper/Kuwei and any other Darkling ships were also voted by a few, but all of these pale in comparison to the anti-Darklina votes. Shoutout to the person who said Apparat/Anyone. I agree, though it’s not something I thought of before seeing this response. Also one person said they didn’t like the poly ships, which I hope meant just the ones mentioned earlier and not all poly relationships in general... Another shoutout to whoever said Kaz/Heleen, because why did I have to read that. A fun question, all in all!

Crack Ships and Shipping Discourse

I love talking about crack ships, so let’s start with that! This time, I really don’t want to have to count and list because... well, let me show you:

I think that sums up the sheer variety, to be honest. Then again, it would be rude not to mention that the most popular were Jesper/Milo, Darkling/Nikolai and Alina/Sun. (If you’re still confused about that last one, I take full responsibility.)

YES KAZ/KRUGE I SUPPORT!!!

Honourable mention to this:

which was a lot to take in, and:

Now for the discourse. Yep, the part you probably came for. 

Actually... maybe you didn’t? Looking at all of these responses, I see a lot of people genuinely don’t care about ship wars and so on, and often enjoyed the books regardless of the romances involved. Quite a few disapproved of the ongoing (though small) wars between Darklina and Malina, and others had a similar line of thinking, saying we should maybe stop focusing so much on it. You guys are right. I know this is a ship survey, and the conclusions should not include that shipping isn’t as important as we make it (Yes it should), but... that’s where it’s at.

And then again, a lot of you guys expressed disapproval for Darkling/Alina, discussing how it is often one-sided and manipulative and overall unhealthy, so I could be completely off with that last one. Some people mentioned that they ship this but as a slightly different version that the one given to us, recognising the flaws of the canon ship.

Someone said they headcanon Tolya as aroace (OMG YES!!). We need more aroace characters, so thank you for that headcanon :) We also have a few gay ships mentioned here, and one person telling us they love Malina. Yes, you’re right - it’s pretty unpopular, it turns out. Someone else said Alina should’ve been single, and I agree, actually!

One person rickrolled me here. Thankfully, Youtube’s ads saved me. *wipes forehead*

I leave you all with this, in the end:

Notes from the Survey

Statistics Stuff:

The top ships were taken from AO3, so some ships may be more focused on in other books and may not provide accurate statistics for an earlier series.

The main circles this was sent around may have had bias as most people are from the same discord server, which has debated these topics in the past. Hence certain ships may have lower-than-average results. In future, this could be improved upon by sending this to other servers and areas of the fandom.

Personal bias may be present in the analysis, though I have tried to minimise this in the more formal sections.

Observations and Notes from Me:

You guys really don’t like Darklina. Or you love it. Usually one or the other. Wow.

Be glad I didn’t talk about any of the cursed ships in this. The things I have seen... (:cowboi_eyes:)

I thought more people would rickroll me, ngl.

What Surprised You Guys:

Kaz/Inej/Jesper

A few of you guys saw some of those cursed ships, and that surprised you. Well, me too!

Nikolai ships being in the TV Show section at all, what with his character not being in the show (yeah what was up with that huh tztz)

Inej/Alina

The existence of The Severed Moon

Darkling/Nikolai(/Alina)

How fun the quiz was :D

Things You Sent Me:

Bee Movie copypasta

“Nobody expects The Spanish Inquisition!”, except via an AO3 link

A fun fact about enzymes! I liked this one

Fic recs for Feriku and Sarai (esp for Wylan/Jesper shippers)

Another rickroll

Nice compliments :) aww you guys

I asked everyone for some kind of placeholder name and never used it. Sorry! But hey, anonymity, right?

Closing Statements

If you got this far (I feel like ive been sitting here for hours), thanks for reading! This was fun to do and I hope you enjoyed all of this too! The survey is still open for anyone who hasn’t done it but wants to. If I get a huge amount of new responses, I might update this post! But for now, adios!

-mod emily (and mod fritz)