#he's a hater ok he wouldn't love many things

[pocketramblr]

Rip Vasher you would have loved uhhhhhhh the moment the Master Sword gets eaten up and corroded I guess I dunno

[shadowqueenjude]

SJM characters whose hate makes no sense

Lorcan Salvaterre: aight ik he's a cold-ass warrior but that Maeve thing is not as big a deal as it's made out to be ok. Y'all forget that Aelin was stupid hiding her plans from experienced war generals and that Lorcan never pretended to be loyal to Aelin. And he never intended for Aelin to go through that torture. Plus Maeve would've found them anyway! A little slower, yeah, but still. Nesta Archeron: ok, come on man. She said some mean words, get over it already pls. there are so many characters who did way worse and get no hate for it. Eris Vanserra: ok he called mor a slut. so what? he's playing a role, plus that bitch be spreading heinous lies about him. and he has shown more respect for mor by bailing her out of their marriage and saving her from her father keir, than the entire inner circle who subjected her to her abuser without even telling her. he's not sexist, he's a mama's boy! besides rhysand objectified feyre's breasts in front of a high lord so. Chaol Westfall: Aight bruh tf did he do? It's one thing knowing someone is an assassin and another thing seeing someone actually murder people. He had nothing to do with Nehemia's death, so don't even with that. Celaena was the one who tried to kill him after claiming to love him. What did you expect Chaol to be all sunshine and rainbows with her? Pls be fr. Besides he's Fleetfoot's number one protector so. Additionally, if you haven't read Tower of Dawn, you have zero content. Friendly reminder if you hate Chaol, Dorian AND Aelin don't like you. Nor do Yrene or Nesryn. Gwyneth Berdara: It's mainly Elriels who keep making up evil Gwyn theories and...stop. Just stop. I don't even gaf if you ship them, but don't drag Gwyn into this, ok? She's so precious and she's a r*pe SURVIVOR. LEAVE. HER. ALONE. And if you say she's lying about that and it's part of her evil plan, I will become the monster under your bed. Lucien Vanserra: If you call Lucien a pushover or an abuser, I will actually become violent. Stop blaming male abuse victims. Just stop it. It's ridiculous. Lucien did fight for her and got abused. Go back and read. He's a r*pe survivor too, because he took on the duties his High Lord wouldn't for the sake of his court. Also, if you're dragging him through the dirt because you're an Elriel shipper, the door is that way --> Bombastic side eye to haters of these characters. ESPECIALLY my favorite sassy redheads (Gwyn and Lucien). Maybe y'all are just salty all these characters have last names while half of your favs still don't.

[inkblackorchid]

What the hell happened with Crow: an autopsy (Part 2)

Hope you didn't think I'd forgotten about this post yet. Lads, ladies, and other lovely people, here we go. I have more yelling about bird boy to do.

But first, a few disclaimers. For people who may have missed part one, yes, as the title implies, this post is part two of an attempt to analyse Crow's character throughout 5Ds' whole run. You can find part one here. Now, both for people who may not have the time/energy to read my first, huge post about this right now, let me explain what I'm about here before we start again: My analysis is not meant to deter people who like Crow from liking him. It's also not meant to convince Crow haters otherwise, even if I admittedly personally like Crow. All of this stuff is just my personal attempt at dissecting how his character was handled in the show and why that might have been. And because this is part two, and I covered the Fortune Cup and Dark Signers arc in the first post, I'll start with the pre-WRGP arc, then dig into the backstory Crow was given directly before the WRGP begins properly. Also, mind the length of this post. I'm physically incapable of writing short things.

I also feel the need to reiterate another thing before I really get into the meat of things again: If you were hoping to see any old rumours about 5Ds confirmed, this is the wrong post. In fact, thanks to the very thorough work of someone over on Reddit (another shoutout to @mbg159 here, who's the author of those posts), I know for a fact that literally all the big rumours surrounding Crow are one big pile of logistically impossible horseshit, and I think after so, so many years of people citing this nonsense, the fandom as a whole finally deserves to let these go:

No, Crow was not meant to be a dark signer, least of all the final boss of season one, and Blackwings were not the reason he got more screentime later.

No, Aki being sidelined was not the result of her irl voice actress' pregnancy.

Yes, I know these two posts are both a long read each, but I cannot begin to tell you how tired I am of these rumours. So even if you don't have time to read the stuff above, please take away this: The big 5Ds production conspiracy theories are. all. bullshit. Because, to put it in as simple terms as possible, none of them work out logistically. The events people have pretended affected the show's production in a major way all don't line up with the actual production timeline. So just can the rumours already. Please let them die. And no pitting Aki and Crow against each other on his post or because of this post, yes? I beg you, I am so tired. Ok? Ok.

All right, now we can get to the good part. In my previous post, I left off at the end of the DS arc. So, in what position is Crow at the end of the DS arc? He helped save the world by defeating Goodwin and got his very own signer mark after Rudger/Roman Goodwin's death.

And now, where is Crow at the start of the pre-WRGP arc?

(Bam. Delivery bird boy be upon ye.)

This time, Crow wastes absolutely no time coming back on screen. We see him again within the first episode of the second half of the show, and wouldn't you know it! He moved in with Yusei and Jack and the three of them have a funny, brotherly, bickering dynamic between them. Also, as a fun little add-on that is very much in line with his deeply Satellite, down to earth characterisation from the first half, Crow now works as a delivery driver to earn money for the household. That's all very nice and good.

But what is his role in the plot from here on out? Well.

First, a small note about the pre-WRGP arc. Though this arc is fun to watch because it gives us a lot of silly character interactions the show no longer found the time for once the WRGP started, the pre-WRGP arc really can't be said to bother with actual plot much. It's the known filler arc of 5Ds, and as such, Crow is not the only character who gets pretty much nothing plot-related to do during this arc. Thus, I'll only give a quick run-down of what he does get up to, just in case any of these tidbits end up showcasing a relevant aspect of Crow's character I might come back to later.

Furthermore, another thing that's pretty much obvious to everyone who's ever watched the show in its entirety but still bears mentioning: Crow gets a lot more screentime from this point on out. Technically. Why do I say "technically"? I'll get back to that further below. For now, just keep it in mind.

So, how does Bird Boy spend his time during the arc where the plot's on the back burner? To be honest, on the sidelines, mostly. Don't get me wrong, Crow's there. Most of the time. But he gets pretty much only two episodes where he's the focus, and both of those aren't exactly known for being 5Ds' most memorable episodes (even though I still like them both tbh, but I digress): For one, in episode 68, he gets to convince Bashford to move in with Martha so the depressed old man isn't spending his entire retirement living in a scrapyard.

(This episode's comedic moments are actually fairly solid. But those are just my two cents.)

And for two, in episode 85, Crow gets to bond with the boys' somewhat cranky landlady, Zora, by duelling some sense into her son, Lyndon. (Which also introduces us to a duelling tactic only Crow uses that we will later see again: Losing on purpose.)

(And here we can see Crow showing off his skills at dealing with petulant children.)

Now, do these two episodes where he gets to be relevant actually do anything for Crow? As a character? Debatable. If nothing else, they strongly reaffirm the values Crow represents which we were introduced to in the first half of the show, though. They reintroduce us to his stubbornness, to his (in comparison to Jack and Yusei) more playful nature, to his very Yusei-ish dedication to doing the right thing, to his penchant for spite, and to his strong sense of family and community and his belief that these two things shouldn't be abandoned unless you have a damned good reason for it.

You may notice that there's a sizeable gap between these two episodes. That's because those episodes are where we get the only smidgens of plot in this arc. Among them, highlights like Sherry's introduction, the first reveal of accel synchro, Aki's turbo duelling license exam, three separate story beats hinting at the machinations of the emperors of Iliaster (Luciano's little stunt with Rua and Ruka, Placido getting started on building a killer robot army, and the Jack double being unleashed onto NDC), and Bruno's introduction. So, here's the thing: Crow is technically present during most of those episodes, too, but he doesn't actually get to meaningfully interact with the plot-relevant elements. (Which is not to say he doesn't have nice moments here and there. He does get to bounce off the other characters, and, just as one example, helps Yusei and Jack upgrade Aki's duel runner, as well as help Yusei build Rua's duel board. Crucially, he doesn't get to do anything that later becomes plot-relevant, though.) Moreover, not one, but two characters who end up becoming major players in the series' finale are introduced here, which is relevant insofar as that Bruno and Sherry both end up needing a good amount of development before they can impactfully take their later roles. Now, I say this with nothing but genuine appreciation for both these characters, because I do like them, but I feel the need to point out what this means not just for Crow, but for pretty much everyone who isn't Jack or Yusei: Every minute of screentime that was dedicated to Bruno and/or Sherry was one minute less the writers could spend on the rest of the cast. This is not to say that time shouldn't have been spent on them, they needed it, especially because they were introduced so late, but it's something I do want people to keep in mind when talking about who got how much screentime and whether or not that time was well spent. (I also have a larger gripe with the definition of "screentime" in general, but more on that later.)

So when does Crow get to be relevant to the plot again, now that he's even a signer and all? Well, not until episode 94, when the WRGP arc has already started. (Note that I'm using the 5Ds episode list on wikipedia as a general guide for which arc and which season starts where. You can find it here.)

*Deep breath*

So. Episode 94.

(Pictured: One very scruffy dragon. Bird? Dragon-bird. Bird-dragon. You figure this shit out.)

That episode. The episode where Crow, who was awarded with the status of a signer during the finale of the DS arc, finally gets a dragon to match his mark. And the episode where we finally, finally, get some actual backstory for Crow that goes beyond his involvement with the Enforcers and childhood with Jack and Yusei. A backstory that's only Crow's own. Except. How do I put this politely...

This shit doesn't make a lick of sense. Neither the events in the duel between Crow and Bolger in the present resulting in Black-Winged Dragon's appearance, nor the Pearson backstory.

Now, I'm not saying this to step on anyone's toes. From a writing standpoint, I can even make a fairly reasonable guess as to why this episode/mini-arc is here, I think: As I mentioned in part one of this analysis, Crow was not only introduced very late, but also got very little backstory of his own, which set him apart from the other signers. Don't get me wrong, he did get some backstory—we know of his strong connection to Duel Monsters because he learned to read from cards, and we know of his involvement with the Enforcers/Team Satisfaction. Crucially, though, Crow doesn't really get a backstory segment that feels as unique to him as the others. Aki gets her tragic past with her parents and her powers, Jack gets his betrayal of Yusei, which also doubles as part of Yusei's backstory, who as the protagonist understandably gets the most backstory, and even the twins, though they are as always treated as one unit, get their very own segment about the time when Ruka was essentially in a coma. Meanwhile, Crow only has that one-off tear-jerker moment about learning to read from his cards and his being a part of the boys' duel gang, which, and I cannot stress this enough, is treated as more of a Yusei and Kalin/Kiryu backstory by canon than a Crow backstory. Thus, it makes perfect sense from a writing standpoint that the Pearson/Black-Winged Dragon mini-arc would be here. Crow, up until this point, has neither a backstory segment dedicated solely to him, nor a signer dragon to call his own. So, how do we solve this? Give him both in a strategic double-whammy! The math checks out. Unfortunately, the writing of said mini-arc... doesn't.

Now, look. The juicy question of whether Crow would have worked better as a non-signer or not, which I already discussed in part one aside, I personally don't hate what this backstory is trying to do. It's just that the whole Pearson-drama has some very notable, logical holes which I'll get into below. Furthermore, this is not the first time something related to Crow has some unfortunate, logical and/or chronological issues. I already brought up the infamous fridge and Rex Goodwin's rather confusing backstory in part one, both of which raise some serious questions. However, Pearson and everything surrounding him arguably blow that clean out of the water. Let's examine this more closely, shall we.

The long-overdue backstory we get for Crow begins with a mystery: Mikage and Trudge, for a reason that is never given to us, are investigating the death of Robert Pearson (whose death would have been several years ago at this point), whom Crow knew very well, and they're doing it because they found a hint that the person who killed Pearson used an illegal card, Crimson Mefist, to do it.

(Post redemption-arc Trudge actually doing his job instead of bullying random Satellite citizens. Who would have thunk.)

Thing is, here, we already encounter our first, minor problem: Pearson has never been mentioned up until this point, not even as an aside. And this issue is compounded by the fact that not only Crow seems to know him, but Trudge claims to as well, because "Satellite used to be his jurisdiction". So, a named character who's familiar to both one of our protagonists and a notable side character, and we've never seen hide nor hair of him. If we pull our heads out of the story for a second, the irl reason for how this came to be is probably pretty obvious: Pearson was never mentioned before because the writers had nowhere near as solid of a plan for Crow as they did for the other characters, which leads to him being introduced out of nowhere here because we need a backstory and a dragon for Crow and we need those now. Moving on.

The mention of Pearson having been not simply killed in a fire, like Crow previously assumed, but having been murdered through a special, illegal card immediately makes him suspicious. So, he goes to consult Bolger/Bolton, another never-before-seen character who gets introduced in service of this backstory, and who knew Pearson well. And while this guy certainly acts amiable towards Crow at first, implying that the two have a good rapport, at least, he quickly starts acting suspicious when Pearson's murder comes up. Moreover, we as the audience at this point already know Bolger's looking for Black-Winged Dragon so he can use the card essentially as collateral to save his company. And the name "Black-Winged Dragon" already leaves very little to the imagination as to whose deck this monster is supposed to fit into. But, in a small twist, we learn from Crow that this was apparently Pearson's card, and supposedly lost in the fire where said man died, to boot. Then Bolger challenges Crow to a duel, too, offering to tell the truth about Pearson's death if he loses, but demanding Black-Winged Dragon, which he believes Crow to be in possession of, if he wins. So far, so good. We've got a mystery here, and canon is not contradicting itself just yet. Until we get to the actual backstory, which shows us the time Crow spent with Pearson, that is. Before we get into that, I'd like to highlight one theme this mini-arc introduces that actually feels like it fits Crow: Legacy. Over the course of meeting Bolger again and being reminded of his time with Pearson, Crow starts thinking about whether he's taking over his former mentor's/father figure's legacy well enough.

(Crow having some Deep Thoughts TM, featuring one of Yusei's most relaxed, easygoing smiles in the entire show, probably.)

This theme, I would argue, is one of the major things this backstory introduces that really meshes well with the Crow we already had until this point. He's a community-focussed guy and absolutely a family person, if him taking care of Satellite orphans is anything to go by, so leaving behind a good legacy for the people after him (read: the kids he took care of) would absolutely be something he cares about. We see this element of legacy again in his cards during this episode, too, which canon implies he inherited from Pearson. (I'll get to THAT can of worms below.) And on paper, with the themes he's already got going, Crow being the only one to inherit his deck rather than build it all by himself would actually make sense!

However. This is where we have to get into the meat of the backstory. I'll start by listing the barebones information Crow's backstory with Pearson gives us, then going into why several aspects of it are either logistical or chronological nonsense.

So, as canon tells us, Crow met Pearson after Kiryu/Kalin was arrested, when the Enforcers/Team Satisfaction all went their separate ways. During this period, Crow had already set up shop near the original Daedalus Bridge and started out taking care of orphans, but it wasn't all smooth sailing. He was, by his own admission, "living aimlessly". Then, during a pinch, Pearson and Bolger show up, take care of some bad guys for Crow and the kids, and Crow sees a new role model in Pearson. Pearson, who rides the Blackbird, plays a Blackwing deck and owns Black-Winged Dragon. So, he joins up with Pearson, presumably learns how to work on duel runners from him, and also befriends Bolger. Then, one day, a fire breaks out at Pearson's workshop and the man in question dies, but leaves Crow his runner and his duel disk before he does so. End flashback. Because I want to tie this together nicely, we also learn later that Pearson technically left him Black-Winged Dragon, too, by sealing it in his runner. And, of course, that dragon later becomes Crow's very own signer dragon.

Several points to be dissected here. And funnily enough, Bolger's duel with Crow isn't relevant for any of them. Let's start with the big one: The timeline. I want you to remember that as far as canon is concerned, Crow is 17 during the DS arc. Moreover, it's canonically stated that Jack stole Yusei's first duel runner two years before the show's start, at which time Crow would have been 15. And their time together as the Enforcers must have been even before that, because Kiryu/Kalin was already in prison for a while at that point and Crow and Yusei don't reunite until the DS arc is basically in full swing. So, I'll make a vague estimate here and say that during the time of the Enforcers, Crow would have probably been 13-14. (Which is hilarious when you think about the fact that this gang of angry teenagers essentially took over the entire duelling underground of Satellite, but I digress.) Now we add the idea that Crow met Pearson after the Enforcers, but that he died before canon starts into the mix. That means Crow first ran into Pearson sometime around age 15, and that he then died presumably before Crow turned 17. So far, so good, that still slots into canon, even if it makes Crow pretty damn young for some things. He's even missing the personalised Blackbird duel disk he later wears during the Enforcer days, I went back to check. What he is not missing, however, are his Blackwings. And this is where canon may or may not have made an implication that, if intentional, breaks this timeline. See, during the scene where Pearson's workshop is burning down and he's already trapped under debris and has embraced death, he tosses Crow his duel disk and leaves him his runner.

(Two important screenshots, in sequence. One, Pearson with his duel disk still strapped to his arm. His deck is very obviously still in there. Two, Crow with that same duel disk, as made obvious by its distinct shape.)

What this implies is that Pearson also left Crow his deck. Which, yeah, fair enough, if I were dying in a fire I'd probably also think "fuck it, not like I'll need my cards in the afterlife". What this (and Crow's look the first time he sees Pearson's monsters) implies, though, is that Crow didn't start playing Blackwings until Pearson left him his deck. Which is factually untrue, because there is literal evidence in the show that Crow already had Blackwings during his time as part of the duel gang, before ever meeting Pearson. (The exact episode, if you want to check for yourself, is 33, where Crow summons both Bora the Spear and Blackwing Armor Master during a flashback.) However, I will concede that the show never actually states this is the case, it's just implied by what we see on screen, so perhaps the idea here was that Crow already played Blackwings before Pearson, but grew to love them even more through his mentor/father figure, and so later happily integrated the deck he inherited into his own. Crucially, canon never states this outright, either, though, so the option remains on the table. But, to give the benefit of the doubt here, the possibility that this could still slot in with canon and that it was just handled poorly is there. The same cannot be said for the Blackbird, however.

(Uh oh. So much for canon continuity.)

The above two screenshots directly contradict each other. First we have Yusei, upon reuniting with Crow in Satellite during the DS arc, casually remarking that Crow finished his duel runner. Which means that canon at this point suggests to the audience that one, Crow built this duel runner by himself, for himself, and two, that Yusei knew about it for a while already. Then there's the second screenshot, from the Pearson backstory episode, where Crow outright claims the Blackbird was left to him when Pearson died. I don't think I need to tell anyone that these two things can't be true at the same time. And again, I think this is where Crow fell victim to the writers not having a clear outline for him. At first, he was supposed to be this scrappy guy who also built a duel runner for himself, just like Yusei. But now, he's a signer, needs a backstory and a dragon, and because a theme of legacy is introduced alongside Pearson, the runner suddenly needs to be inherited, as well as (possibly) Crow's cards. Now, a crafty fanfic writer could probably reconcile the above contradiction somehow, and I know some stories that accomplished that. But the point isn't that we, as the audience/fandom could make this work, the point is that canon didn't make it work. What canon, sadly, also didn't get to work was Black-Winged Dragon.

(We meet again, bird-dragon.)

Here comes the next elephant in the room: Everyone and their mother who has watched 5Ds knows that Black-Winged Dragon was never implied to be a signer dragon up until the duel where Crow acquires it. In fact, an entirely different dragon is teased so heavily long before BWD ever shows up that it to this day is one of many people's major gripes with the show's writing.

(Why, hello, Life Stream Dragon! Fancy seeing you here.)

And yet, Black-Winged Dragon is turned into a signer dragon before Life Stream Dragon, who was teased more than sixty (!!!) episodes before BWD was ever even mentioned. Why? Simple: Because Crow became a signer and Rua/Leo didn't, because the signers all need dragons (or else the "5Ds" part kind of doesn't work), and because Life Stream Dragon thematically doesn't fit Crow.

Now, I've seen people post theories to reconcile this weird hitch in canon, hell, I've even posted an idea for how it could be reconciled myself. But, again, that isn't the point here. The point is that as far as good old, barebones canon is concerned, it isn't reconciled. Canon at first states there are five signers, suggesting that there are also five dragons. But then, the fifth dragon never shows up, and one of the signers dies, to boot. Only for canon to then teach us, oh, no, look, the signer marks can wander from one person to the next. And to add insult to injury (at least where the show's writing and internal consistency is concerned), the signer mark that was "freed up" by Roman/Rudger's death doesn't wander to Rua/Leo, who any attentive watcher would have expected to become a signer because it was heavily teased during the DS arc, but to Crow. Frankly, I'm not surprised many people were angry about this, but in case my disclaimer didn't make it clear, I don't think it's productive to pin this on Crow by claiming his cards became super popular irl. There was definitely an out-of-left-field writing choice made here, but the only answers as to "why" were left in the 5Ds' writer's room, I believe. At a guess, if you want me to throw out a non-sugarcoated theory as to why, though? They probably thought Crow would be a more interesting character for their target audience. He's a scrappy guy who sticks it to authority, he's brave, he's funny, he plays a cool deck, and most of all, unlike Rua, he never embarrasses himself in a duel on screen. Why am I highlighting that last part? Because I feel like people sometimes forget that the target audience for this show, at the time of its creation, were about twelve year-old boys. And you can feel free to contradict me on this, but most twelve year-old boys I've known and know don't want to project themselves onto a chracter who loses and gets his butt kicked a lot, and who's a bit awkward and steps in it sometimes, which is much closer to how actual twelve year-olds are—but that's exactly why they prefer the cooler characters. And Crow is the cooler character, by average twelve year-old boy logic, regardless of what the grownups of this fandom think.

So Crow gets a dragon and the writing doesn't bother explaining the how or why of it, let alone tackles any of the implications made by Black-Winged Dragon's existence as a signer dragon. (Like what does this mean for the larger worldbuilding? Does the Crimson Dragon actually have more than five servants, but chooses to only ever bestow five marks at a time? Can any "dragon" the Crimson Dragon chooses be a signer dragon, and it just so happens that the constellation of signer dragons is nearly the same as the original one in present-time 5Ds canon? Did the Crimson Dragon specifically elevate BWD to a signer dragon because it felt like it? Was BWD always supposed to be a signer dragon? Was Pearson supposed to be a signer, but died too early before the dark signer prophecy was set into motion? Am I overthinking this? (Yes.)) He also obtains his dragon in what feels like the weirdest way possible to me, because it suddenly??? Just decides to appear in his runner????? Out of nowhere??????

(Why is that here. How did it get there. Why did Pearson even put it in there. And HOW. Is it just wedged between the machinery or what???? And how on earth did Yusei, Bruno, and/or Crow never find it before this point considering how often someone tinkered on the Blackbird on screen???)

(This scenario, of course, also raises the question how the other signers even got their dragons. But like many other, interesting questions, this episode chooses not to interact with that one whatsoever.)

In short, this backstory is a bit of a mess, to say the least. For as much good as it tries to do by contextualising Crow's character and giving him something that sets him apart from the rest of the protag group, it feels like a rough draft of an episode was given the green light to be produced without any editing, judging by the contradictions and weird implications. As such, it harms Crow's character as much as it builds it, as evidenced by how much fandom backlash he still receives years later for the things that were bungled in this backstory and also in different aspects of his character writing.

Now, you may notice this post has gotten stupidly long due to just how convoluted the specific hangups of Crow's backstory are. I originally meant to cover the WRGP and even the Ark Cradle arc for Crow in this post, too, but due to how much there was to say about canon's attempt to finally make Crow a "proper" signer, I've decided that trying to force another two whole arcs in here would be a disservice to the analysis and the character, and also make this agonisingly long, so I'll close this part out here and write a part three, perhaps even a part four depending on how much material the WRGP gives me to work with.

There's one more thing I need to get back to before I finish up this part, though: The "screentime" discussion. I mentioned far above that I take issue with how some people seem to be using the word screentime, and now I can explain why. First, I want you to take a look back at the episodes I covered here, those being 65-95, essentially. Now, as anyone who usually dislikes Crow will tell you, Crow is present in most, if not all of these episodes. He's on screen. He's getting screentime, and, according to many people, hogging it, even. Okay. Now, I want you to look back up at the analysis. How many episodes did I cover where Crow actually gets something to do? As in, where he's either the focus of the plot or gets to contribute to it in a significant way? There's the old man Bashford episode. There's the Poppo Time clock episode. There's his two backstory episodes. That's four. Four episodes. If you're generous, you might add in the episode where he gets to narrate Yusei's backstory alongside Jack and the two fake Jack episodes where he gets to have an emotional moment or two with his foster-brother. If you're less generous, you'll note that none of these episodes have Crow actually interacting with the main antagonists in a meaningful way or set up anything important that pays off later. (Hell, he doesn't even get any, and I really mean, any meaningful setup interactions with Sherry, who ends up being his final-boss-level opponent during the final episodes! Aki gets more meaningful interactions with Sherry than him, not that this ever gets a payoff.) And this is why I take an issue with people claiming Crow gets so much "screentime" post DS arc. Because to me, "screentime" should be time spent letting a character act meaningfully within the story, which most of the pre-WRGP episodes aren't for Crow. He's on screen, yes, but in many episodes, it wouldn't matter one whit whether you replaced him with a nameless side character, which isn't exactly a great look for a supposed third of a protagonist trifecta. Perhaps I'm being too strict with my definition of "screentime" here, fair enough! But the claim that Crow hogs screentime already rubs the wrong way during this comparably unimportant arc, so I can't leave it alone. It feels very decidedly malicious to claim a character who during some episodes seems to only be there to provide exposition or make whatever jokes Yusei and Jack's personalities aren't suited to is stealing screentime from other characters. As for the WRGP duels and whether he's "hogging" anyone's screentime there, I'll dig into that nonsense in the next part, please be patient with me.

...Phew. Okay.

Now, before I leave you to wonder whether I'm every finishing my Crow analysis in full again, I want to attempt to do the same thing I did in part one—propose some changes that could have been made to the writing for Crow's character in order to make things slot in better with the rest of canon. With a small disclaimer, of course: These are just my suggestions as to how Crow's character could have fit into canon more smoothly and been done less of a disservice by his own backstory.

So. First, a quick-fire thing about the pre-WRGP, to get that out of the way: Crow, alongside Aki, is the only signer who didn't get his own confrontation with either Iliaster or their minions. (Yusei had Ghost, Jack had fake Jack, Rua and Ruka had Luciano.) Instead of having him confront a cranky old man in a scrapyard or Zora's son, they could have easily given him a very short side-story where he gets to experience the threat of Iliaster up close and personal, too. Hell, they could have very nicely cut the recap episode where Crow and Jack lie in the mess of Jack's terribly built coffee table and philosophise about Yusei's backstory for this, too. (As funny as their interaction about the coffee table and Jack lying on the floor with a perfectly intact coffee cup are.)

(Pictured: Two idiots (affectionate) contemplating life among the scraps of a shitty, broken coffee table.)

Then, there's the Pearson backstory, of course. So, here's the thing, I think two very different kinds of "fixes" could have worked here. Crucially, they both depend on Crow's status as a signer. I argued in part one that Crow might have worked better as a character if he hadn't actually become a signer, so I'll give both versions here. Let's go.

Option A: We try not to touch canon too much and Crow stays a signer.

How to do this? Frankly, I think what Crow's mark and Black-Winged Dragon were majorly missing was setup. The mark is the smaller offence here, since, fair enough, the idea that signer marks can wander from person to person isn't too out there for 5Ds canon. However, the lack of a dragon despite the alleged 5Ds stands out, and Life Stream Dragon's wasted setup only makes it worse. Thus, making Black-Winged Dragon make sense would have required giving him the same amount of foreshadowing as Life Stream Dragon, at the very least. And you know who could have been great for that? Sweet, ever-forgotten-by-canon Ruka. She was already shown having flashback dreams to the signer dragons' first battle against the dark signers, so who's to say she couldn't have gotten dreams about a shadowy, new dragon she's never seen before? Perhaps even dreams where she's not sure if the dragon is good or bad at first! It could have provided intrigue, it could have made the audience curious. To strengthen that, canon could have also bothered taking the question "hey why are there only four dragons now" seriously. No character in canon ever questions why there are five marks, but only four dragons. Even Rua, who was previously hopeful that he might secretly be a signer, never brings it up. If canon had bothered to actually point this mystery out, they could have used it not only to foreshadow Black-Winged Dragon, but to aid Life Stream Dragon's setup, too. What the fuck am I talking about, I hear you ask. Hear me out: Life Stream Dragon is shown way, way later down the line, long after the audience probably already accepted that it was simply never going to show up, literally bursting out of Power Tool Dragon's armour. We are not provided with an explanation as to why. Imagine if they had sprinkled in another dream Ruka could have had about the ancient past here. Imagine if they had used the opportunity to show something like, oh, during the battle, Life Stream Dragon got injured so badly they had to protect its wounded body with a suit of armour, in the hopes that it would heal. And with one original signer dragon out of commission, the Crimson Dragon sadly had to choose a replacement in between, because the Earthbound Immortals were sure to return. Bam. Black-Winged Dragon. Two signer dragons, set up simultaneously, without forcing the canon lore to do somersaults. Furthermore, to actually explain why Pearson had the dragon but wasn't a signer, they could have easily sprinkled in a flashback between him and Crow. Maybe Pearson could have mentioned how the dragon always feels like it's never really his, as a joking aside. It would have been enough for me to suspend my disbelief, you know? And then the rest of canon could have played out exactly as we know it. Crow could have confronted Bolger, could have obtained Black-Winged Dragon because maybe the dragon finally decided he was worth throwing its weight behind. The mystery behind the missing fifth dragon could have been solved, and it would have made for satisfying payoff without kneecapping Life Stream Dragon's setup or conjuring an extra dragon out of thin air. And really, stuff like the runner thing could have so easily been solved by simply picking one version (did he build it himself or inherit it?) and sticking with it. All it took was a little more care.

Option B: We assume Crow didn't actually become a signer, but try to keep his backstory intact.

Okay, this version works under the assumption that Crow, despite partaking in the final battle against Goodwin during the DS arc, didn't receive a signer mark. To make this work, I would, bluntly put, simply make it so that Black-Winged Dragon doesn't exist. Pearson can still play a powerful Blackwing monster during his flashback that Bolger wants to find and sell later, but it simply isn't that dragon. Really, Blackwings have enough to choose from there. If the backstory episodes had been placed a little later, say, during the pause in the middle of the WRGP, he could have even received something like Blackwing Full Armor Master here. (Yes, I know that card didn't exist at the time, but my point is that he could have simply received a powerup like Yusei and Jack did, instead of a completely new monster.) With this setup, they could have still added the intrigue of taking the question why there are only four signers now seriously. They could have still set up a mystery about why no one ever saw the fifth dragon outside of dreams. And it could have made Rua becoming a signer later, and in this version getting the tail mark instead of a completely new one, that much more satisfying. And Crow could have kept his "fuck destiny, I'm trying to save the world here"-attitude from the DS arc, providing a nice, amusing counterweight to our heroes chosen by an ancient Incan dragon deity. All it would have taken would have been not giving him a mark and switching out Black-Winged Dragon for something else.

So, take your pick, I guess. In the meantime, I'll try my best to work on part three faster than I did part two, lmao.

See you next time!

[xinnamonbun]

EPIC: The Musical x Inanimate Insanity

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Except there's one problem- I can't figure out who Odysseus is- So how this will work is that I'm putting what the role would be for Mephone4, Test Tube, and Nickel in that order. (Below it I will also explain why)

Odysseus: MePhone4/Test Tube/Nickel

IS the main character of Inanimate Insanity so makes sense to be the main one in this. Also a very morally complicated character, similar to Odysseus. Has many relations that make casting easier and is also intelligent like Odysseus. Tbh...I kinda want excuse to make a Nickel focused AU- ok but actually casting for him is decent and he's also morally...hmmmm. different-y.

Penelope: MePad/Fan/Baseball

MePad is like the only one that makes sense for Mephone4 (unless there's someone better y'all can think of, I'm happy to hear it!) Ship.

Telemachus: Bot (?)/Bot/???

I don't know what would make sense here??? But he has a close-ish relationship with Bot so eh- It's her and Fan's child. LITERALLY w h o?

Eurylochus: Toilet/Paintbrush/Balloon

It fits with the whole betraying thing and Toilet being the right hand man makes sense in this case. Main thing off is personality. Fits personality pretty well and makes sense for Test Tube. It's like how Balloon and Nickel becomes friends but backwards. (also just imagining in Puppeteer Balloon saying "those dumbasses got in there just because there was a woman-" as a demi flag just appears.)

Polites: ???/Lightbulb/Suitcase

Tbh, I don't know who this would be for Mephone4. She LITERALLY gets Test Tube to see things from a different perspective JUST like Polites. She just IS Polites (early season 2 at LEAST)

The Infant: Bow/Bow/???

Parallels Bow's death in season 1. The song mentions "you low-key remind me of my son" which makes a lot of sense for Bow and Bot. Slight problem with Nickel, he's less of a "how could I hurt you" and more of a "give me that baby and I'd yeet it off a tower" so idk

Athena: Cabby/Cabby/Tea Kettle

This is mainly for God Games honestly, as in defending MePhone4 against the unvitationals. Feels like Test Tube would just yell "YOU'RE ALONE" to her ass. Okay but actually their dynamic works pretty well here. Tea Kettle's got the sass for this role as well as well as the badassery for it.

Polyphemus: MePhoneX/MePhoneX/MePhoneX

He's just a good symbol of death. Plus I think the X makes sense to be one eye.

Aeolus: Clover/Clover/Clover

The goofiness just straight up works for her in this, I would also like to mention it works extra well for nickel but it definitely fits the other two.

Poseidon: Silver Spoon/Silver Spoon/Silver Spoon

This is mainly just because of who I'm planning to be Circe... Yeah maybe not the best but I don't have much else.

Circe: Candle/Candle/Candle

She is Circe.

Hermes: Springy/Springy or Goo/Springy or Goo

Springy is PERFECT for this being weirdly friendly because he wants something out of it but never clear exactly what it is, that laugh, just being goofy, trying to make some kind of weird deal with MePhone4, it WORKS. For the other two main reasons for pretty much the same the only reason who is a possibility is because of the GOOfiness and honestly I just want him to be in this-

Mom: ???/???/Tea Kettle (?)

I just don't for these two. For Nickel Tea Kettle is kinda motherly towards him, the only thing is I wouldn't know who to do for Athena-

Prophet: Blueberry/Blueberry/Blueberry

Depressing little bitch. (He right tho)

Sirens: BFDI contestants

EXTREMELY random but I would honestly just love to have this as a dumb reference and I'd love to just kill a bunch of your favs just because.

Scylla: Four/Four/Four

To keep this being the dumb little BFDI section and also because I just want some horrifying Four.

Zeus: Steve Cobs/Steve Cobs/Steve Cobs

Powerful evil yellow man.

Suitors: MePhone4 Haters/Test Tube Haters/Nickel Haters

The greatest evil.

Calypto: Simp

Just a simp.

Gods in God Games: Unvitationals

More specifically: Dr. Fizz as Apollo, Ballpoint Pen as Hephaestus, Walkie Talkie as Aphrodite, Springy as Ares (IF he is not Hermes; if he is it's swapped with Walkie Talkie and the Cameras are Aphrodite), Groscar as Hera, and as said before Steve Cobs as Zeus.

----------------------------------------------------------

originally I was going to draw designs for this and THEN post this, but when the wisdom saga came out I started rethinking who would be who, even rethinking what kind of style the designs would be clothing wise and if I would limit myself to things that would actually be worn in ancient times

This post probably isn't going to get much traction, but I NEEDED to rant about this it's been stuck in my head for months.

[greatestwizardofthisage]

assigning each of the bad kids a taylor swift era because i am feeling deprived of tswift content now that she's on break from the eras tour

Kristen: Fearless. I can't even explain why, but to me that album is just so sunny and in my mind it fits Kristen perfectly. I think maybe it's because Fearless was one of the first album I ever really loved, then when I was older the rerecording is what got me back into tswift and I can totally see Kristen going through a similar journey with it where maybe she loves it as a kid but then stops listening to it as she distances herself from her childhood/family, only to fall in love with it again later on. Also I feel like the country vibes fit her well. (She would also LOVE betty but she would pretend it's a lesbian anthem)

Gorgug: Ok this feels controversial but he's a Lover stan. I just fully belive that to his core Gorgug is a lover not a hater and he would un ironically love Lover. Like to me that album is all about having gone through some bad shit and choosing to only carry forward the best of it? And that fits with my perception of Gorgug. ALSO the end of afterglow 'I want to be defined by the things that I love, not the things that I hate, or the things that haunt me in the middle of the night' just feels very Gorgug coded to me dont ask me why. However if you've seen any of my other posts about music and the bad kids you know that I wholeheartedly believe Gorgug loves all music so I think he'd be hard pressed to choose a favourite album.

Riz: Midnights. And not just because this kid never sleeps. Bassically I really couldn't decide which album he would listen to because none of them really fit, but then I started thinking about specific lyrics and I think Midnights has the most that he could relate to. I mean 'no one wanted to play with me as a little kid so I've been scheming like a criminal ever since' is about him. You can't change my mind. I do think though that Riz is definitely more invested in all the easter eggs and firguring out which album is coming next over actually listening to her music. Like he would for sure be among the first to figure out all her clues.

Fabian: 1989 and Folklore. I fully to the bottom of my heart belive that until his sophmore year Fabian would exclusivly be listening to pop music, sea shanties, and weird elven music. So obviously he would love the greatest pop album ever made. He wouldn't listen to Folklore until post sophmore character development. Also he would For Sure learn the choreography for the dance in the background of Dress on the Rep tour and recreat it perfectly using his sheet.

Fig: Speak Now. I mean do I even need to explain this? It's the perfect album for Fig. It's the kind of thing she would have loved when she was in her Preppy Cheerleader phase, but it has just enough of that pop punk influence that I feel like she could still appreciate it when she's older. I feel like she would definitly take issue with some of the misogynistic lyrics used in some of the songs, and would be all for the lyric change in Better Than Revenge. Also as I've mentioned many times before, Fig would love Paramore, and would LOVE Castles Crumbling. Like you're going to sit here and tell me that lines like 'They used to cheer when they saw my face, Now I fear I have fallen from grace' + 'Their faith was strong, but I pushed it too far, I held that grudge 'til it tore me apart' + 'Ones I loved tried to help, so I ran them off, And here I sit alone, behind walls of regret' + 'People look at me like I'm a monster, Now they're screaming at the palace front gates, used to chant my name, Now they're screaming that they hate me, Never wanted you to hate me' weren't written by Figueroth Faeth? I also just think songs like Never Grow Up and Long Live would perfectly fit with her not so secret sentimental streak.

Adaine: Evermore and Folklore. I think theres just a sort of elegence to these albums that really reminds me of Adaine. I also think theres so much vulnerability in them and a lot of the songs touch on feelings of not being good enough for others (mirrorball, tolerate it, this is me trying, right where you left me) that I think she could relate to not from a romantic relationship standpoint but from all the expectations placed on her by her parents. I also think that although these are probably the most low key of tswifts albums, they have some good angry songs (no body no crime, illicit affairs, mad woman) that she would definitly love. But yeah this is mostly based on aesthetics. Evermore and Folklore were albums written with a quill and Adaine is the kind of girl to appreciate this.

[signoraviolettavalery]

What moment made you see Bojan ❤️ Kris ? You can list as many as you want (the evidence is in abundance, I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner) Also, them two together is honestly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen thank you very much I’m gonna go cry my eyes out in a corner bye

you know, the funny thing is, idk if there was 'evidence' so much as, there were fanfics on my dash (probably by @reserved-fruit ) and they made me start thinking about how they've been best friends for more than a decade and wouldn't it be poetic and beautiful if Kris had been secretly in love for years and pining but hiding it and then I was like "hmm interesting concept" and read more fics and *then* I went into the tag and saw all the posts and was like "you know what you have a point"

which is probably not the answer you were looking for

but if I had to point to memorable moments that like, "convinced" me even though kris is outwardly a hater most of the time, it's that pre-eurovision interview where Bojan confessed that he was scared he'd sing it badly and Kris knew exactly what to say to him: "well have you ever sung it badly before? no. so you won't at eurovision." He was the support Bojan needed when it was important.

and then I saw some of the concert videos from after the Thailand trip (was it in Croatia? Vienna? I can't keep track anymore) where they were Like That (you know what I mean) and my brain went "ok hmmmmm"

and then I saw a post that was like "Kris might be a hater but then he literally just casually drops bombs like, I learned to play guitar because of Bojan and I dropped my old band to join him because I saw what he could be" and just, like, Kris honey I see why you have to call him the douchebag from TikTok because if you didn't your mouth would accidentally let bombshells like this fall constantly

[summer-nights19]

So idk of this is uncomfortable but I was thinking what if leo was bullying male mc / s/o for having a crush on him idk but then find out his has a massive shlong haha you don't have to tho I just think about this a lot

Hi Anon ! You're good, I'm ok with writing smuttier things

I am normally a Leo hater but I tried lmao

cw: unhealthy relationship, Leo being a massive dick as usual

I hate you, but I love you

Leo x male MC

Ever since you'd started working with Vagastrom, Leo Kurosagi had been the bane of your existence. In more ways than one. Despite you trying your best to at least have a civil relationship with everyone, he made it impossible - he'd always go out of his way to tease and belittle you for every little thing. What made it even worse, however, was that he was stupidly hot, with his silky grey hair, piercings, smooth skin, and glowing, catlike eyes. Regardless of how mean he was to everyone around him, no matter how many times he made fun of how you dressed, implied you were stupid or called you useless or an NPC, a part of you couldn't help but feel attracted to him.

At first, you'd tried to dismiss it as only a skin deep crush - you were all alone in a new place, after all. However, frustratingly, it didn't go away with time - it only got stronger. His mind quick as as ever, Leo had realised that you blushed around him and avoided his gaze early on. He'd mocked you, but you'd always denied your feelings, fearing he'd make your life hell if he knew how you felt. What had really exposed your secret was the first time he used your power to enhance his stigma.

It had been a night like any other until you bumped into him on the couch if Vagastrom's communal area, trying to listen in on people who you supposed were outside.

"Hey, honor roll, come here," Leo whispered, beckoning you over. Confused, you'd made your way to the seat next to him on the couch, feeling your heart rate increase as you tried not to blush. Tonight, you wouldn't give that man an inch.

"Hey Leo, how can I help ?" You'd said, eager to improve your relationship with him.

"Time to see if these powers of yours are actually of any use,"

Leo smirked and took your hand in his own, causing you to gasp in shock. His gand was barely bigger than your own and very smooth. As his grip tightened, you felt your heart pounding in your chest and your face heat up. However, as soon as you saw the expression on his face when he turned around, you'd known the game was up.

"Ew MC. Why are you looking at me with that moronic look on your face ?" Leo's face was the picture of disgust as he dropped your hand like a hit potato.

"I-I don't know what you mean ..." you whispered, trying to avoid his judgemental gaze.

"You like me, don't you ? I always suspected as much. Not that I blame you, but I have standards. As if I'd ever lower them to go out with someone as plain and boring as you,". Leo's smirk turned mocking, as if the very idea of him liking someone like you was laughable. "Besides, I already have a boyfriend, and he's so much hotter than you,"

At this point, the pain clawing at your chest was starting to morph into rage. While you hadn't expected Leo to return your feelings necessarily, there was no need for him to be such a dick about it.

"Oh fuck off. Everyone knows influencer relationships are a bunch of promo bullshit anyway. I don't care who you choose to waste your time with, so don't come crying to me when this guy turns out to be as much of a dick as you,". With that, you got up from the couch and stormed out, almost bumping into Sho on the way out. Normally, you would have stopped to apologise, but right now, you just really needed to be alone. As soon as you got to your room, you slumped down on your bed and shut your eyes, hoping that the past 24 hours had just been a bad dream.

***

The next morning, you trudged out of bed with puffy eyes and still half asleep. As soon as you'd woken up, yesterday's events had hit you full force again, which had made it incredibly difficult to get up out of bed. Sighing, you decided you'd spend the day with Kaito and Luca after class to avoid the risk of running into Leo. Talk about trying to establish a "civil relationship".

You began getting dressed, deciding that moping about would solve nothing. However, just as you were taking off your underwear, someone came bursting into your room.

"Hey honor roll, apparently we're stuck doing some dumb mission but-" Leo froze when he saw you standing naked before him, his mouth half open and his eyes travelling down to your dick, all 8 inches of it.

After several comments from exes, you knew it was quite a lot longer than average, and, even if you weren't the kind of guy who was obnoxiously bragging about the length of his cock, you felt a mixture of pride and satisfaction as you watched Leo stare, his cheeks turning pink. It was the first time you'd seen him speechless.

"Like what you see ?" you said, smirking at him.

"Sh-shut up," Leo managed to stutter, still struggling to regain his composure.

"I'm sure your boyfriend wouldn't be too happy if he knew you were staring at another man's dick,"

"Yeah, well fuck that guy. It was simply a partnership to help us both gain more Tiktok followers, We "ended things" officially last night,". Leo explained, the hint of a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. "But now, I'm considering a new partnership ... I'll introduce you to Tiktok as my boyfriend starting tomorrow, and, off camera ..." He reached out and brushed a hand against your chest. "Let's just say you'll be my bitch. Sound good ?"

In response you pushed him onto your bed and pressed your lips against his own as he let his hands explore your body. It was safe to say neither one of you would be attending class that day.

Masterlist

[stevebabey]

You don't have to answer this I'm just gonna bitch in your inbox about the x reader post you made because I felt this in my bones.

Like you really can't go in the tag for quality stuff lately. Everything is about sex. I'm not a prude. I read occasionally stuff, but omg, not everything has to be like this. Sometimes stories begin hopeful, but they end the same way. I'm just sick of it because it's all there is. And because it's so oversaturated, "normal" fics don't stand a chance because people don't click on that anymore. So yeah, as a creator, if I wanna get attention for my work, of course, I will produce stuff that people will read.

Also what you said about minors, how are they supposed to interact with fics if everything is porn.

In general, people are sooo fixated on "spicy" content. On tiktok, all people read is smut, or they can't handle other stuff. Literally, smut destroyed their brains. How is it any different than guys having a porn addiction?

Also, the tumblr tagging and searching functions are shit. I wanna find new fics from like 2020 or 2021 (before s4 bc I miss those vibes). When you go to the popular tag thing, the earliest you get is 2022. Like tumblr needs to fix that, so content from years ago can still be found. People also need to start tagging accordingly. It's such a pain.

Again sorry for the rant.

HOHOHOHOHO NO APOLOGIES NEEDED NONNIE i love having a bitch and being on my hater shit and i think more people than you might think agree with all of this + its a whole buncha opinions under the cut u have been warned

to some degree to decrease in quality fics will be due to the lull between seasons which always happens- some of the fantastic writers move onto other obsessions for the mean time and truly, i can't fault them for that.

but yet somehow i know it's more than just that - a smut piece will get more attention and notes regardless of the quality of the fic. it's so tough to complain about cos like sigh its all free writing produced by someone so to moan and bitch about stuff getting more attention than others is like. not very nice and being hypercritical but also

not everyone wants to read smut!! and its fuckin everywhere!! wouldn't it be darling if there could simply be a tag that was smut free but noooooo every post gets tagged with as many fuckin things as possible for 'reach' which is the stupidest fucking thing i've ever heard before

and ur absolutely right, because of it fics with no smut get drowned before they get a chance to get noticed. and sorry to say it, but its very rarely that i've read a fluff piece and been like ah, that seemed like it was just thrown together like no its always crafted to some degree- but i cannot say the same for smut in the least. again, often u can mentally sub in different characters and the fic still works which to me = bad writing (if its a steve fic i shouldn't be able to slot in eddie and have it work? ok cos then its not a STEVE fic its just a porn fantasy which is like fine but GOD this is a whole nother can of worms but if u just write smut and then cycle thru joe keery characters its like half a step from writing rpf cos its obvious u just think he's a hot guy and not so much into his characters 😭 maybe im being autistic levels of protective over my lil guy but i also think im right lmao)

and ough trying to write for an audience is so hard, its a vicious cycle of: wants to produce content ppl will read and interact with -> doesn't enjoy writing it as much -> writing isn't as good as u know it could be -> if it flops for whatever reason u feel like asshole. anon babey please dear god write the ideas you want to <3 i can promise you they will be 100x better than trying to cater to an invisible audience ! ppl follow you for your writing !!! and feel free to tag me!!!! i always want to read good steve x reader fics!!! (i just can't be assed hunting them down half the time)

the minors thing is just. god its - i remember hearing the phrase 'virgins write the best smut' and it was when i was 14 and now im like god don't say that they write like porn cos they have fuck all idea what they're talking about. i read so much fanfic when i was 12 years old and what u said is so true, it just used to sneak up in stories and ruin things. its the internet tho so its impossible to truly moderate

omg ur tiktok comment so fucking true babe. when smut is prioritized over plot, u can tell and so many of the booktok rec's they have are just that. there are ways to write smut and have it still be a story. there's also ways to write pwp and still craft it and yet, u dont see that often. also what happened to being excited when two bitches hold HANDS??? AND KISS FOR THE FIRST TIME?? it's appalling the way they thirst for that content but write their captions like "and they have s3x!!! and f@&k in the bathroom hehehe" like what. its such sanitized and shit content honestly

god ur so right i hadn't even thought about hunting down old fics - and it would make such a difference if you could do that because otherwise SO much weighs on when u post it and if it shows in tags and yada yada

this is so much omg u don't have to read all that but genuinely the reason i started writing more steddie and less x reader is the difference in reception and general support. i dont feel like i'm competing against my mutuals, but more like we're here to just hoot and hollar at each other and unless u have a tight knit group of friends on here, u don't get that on x reader fics ://

[ouatsnark]

hi!! i have one more ask i promise! saw another post saying it doesn't make sense for emma to think getting pregnant again would be a second chance at motherhood esp being an orphan who got adopted and saw her birth parents have another child, but isn't her having another child supposed to be a parallel to snowing and henry was a grown man by the time she got pregnant and he was ok with it?? HELP

Wait. Does this have to do with Emma supposedly replacing Henry with Hope? I can't stand this "logic" because it implies that second born children are replacements and that parents only have the capacity to love one child at a time. A second child isn't a replacement but just simply expanding the family. And if anyone thinks that a second child is a replacement well then they need to change their thinking. Also this is usually said by people who take Hope and make her Hope Mills. So it's OK then but not if she's Hope Swan-Jones. And it usually has to do with Emma not following her adult son around. CaptainSwan haters are so tiresome.

So if I understand this correctly (translating stupid is often tricky) Emma getting pregnant again means she is abandoning Henry the way she was adopted and abandoned? How so? I mean her adoptive family sent her back as a child and never communicated with her again. Emma is not doing this with Henry. For one, he's an adult. And two, she quite literally goes to see him. Emma Swan did not abandon her adult son. She did not cut off communication with him. She still very much loves him. Emma and Killian understand the horrors of abandonment so there is no way they'd repeat that with Hope or Henry. All you would need to do is look at Emma's goodbye to ADULT Henry and see that no one could replace him in her heart. It's quite clear in their interactions in Season 7 that Hope is just a precious addition to Emma, Killian and Henry's family.

Another thing is Emma and Killian are true love! Why wouldn't they want to make their family even bigger? It makes perfect sense to me that Emma would want a child with her true love, Killian Jones. And Killian, I am sure, would love the chance to raise his own child. Just look at the way he was with Henry and how he wanted young Baelfire to see him as a father figure (you know, before the rejection).

And before anyone cries "but Regina didn't abandon Henry! Emma did to go have Hope!" Once again, Henry is an adult and having one "mother" following him around into his adulthood was more than enough (too much if you ask me). Emma loved Henry enough to let him go and find his own story without interfering.

And YES. Emma wanting a second chance to raise a baby is definitely a throwback to Snow wanting the same in Season 3. They both missed out on their first born's first everythings. Both women are also doing it at a time when their first born is grown and has a life of their own to lead. Snowing and CaptainSwan have so many parallels and having one girl and one boy and their girls being products of true love is another!

I think people who use this "logic" to hate on Emma or CaptainSwan either are grasping at reasons or honestly do not think a person has the capacity to love more than one person at a time. And that just isn't true. Unless your favorite is Regina Mills then I could see how you'd see things that way but luckily we aren't talking about her....

Anyway I love your asks! Feel free to keep sending them. This one made me think for a second because I had to translate their stupid speak. LOL.

[moreofthatdrowse]

JO Survey: What's a favorite JO moment of yours? Could be very small or something big

There were too many good answers in the questions with open answers in my Joker Out Survey, so below the cut are the answers to Question no. 14: What's a favorite JO moment of yours? Could be very small or something big

When bojan exists but also when they sung the boys are back from HSM in an interview in all the languages

Nace & Bojan completing my heart hands thing at a concert :) (& Nace showing the heart on his bass in my direction )

sparklative, the turtle interview, every interaction between jan and nace (it's hard to pick a favourite)

It's so hard to choose! Aside from repeating what I said before, I'll say I love them doing stuff with pride flags during concerts, and them hanging out together during Novi Val. Also them just wearing each others clothes. And the whole thing with Because of You during Eurovision. And Bojan singing Cha Cha Cha. And Tavastia. And Kris during the Katrina video whirling around his jacket. Ok I can't choose and I can go on forever.

When Nace started talking about his turtles

kris being a hater 🫶

how dare you make me pick one smh i guess the performance of novi val in Glasgow with the pride flag i dotn get emotional about artists raising pride flags in general even tho im queer but that specific moment in a CHURCH with THAT song made me sob

I can't choose so I've got 3: 1. WHY THIS HAS BEEN SO HAS BIVEN SPARKLY?! SPARKLING?! SPARKLATIVE?!?!?! 2. the interview where they talk about Nace's turtles ("shiiiit, they don't like to be pet!") 3. every time Bojan and Kris banter with each other 😭 and I saw this irl too when I was at their concert in London and Kris wouldn't stop playing his guitar whilst Bojan was trying to tune his

I've really enjoyed watching the behind the scenes video series' from Eurovision and the tour.

It's a tie between (i) pretty much any interview they've ever done and (ii) the Cvetličarna concert (didn't attend but have watched the footage)

Them comforting Käärijä together after his loss

Bojan's thighs lol

I really like drunk Kris at Barcelona preparty screaming "OH, SSF!" and dancing like the tall tree he is 🤣❤️‍🔥

Their joy in eurovision

"Sparklative"

The moment that Jan signed my jacket

Jan and Nace interacting on stage

Idk i love all the behind the scenes videos?

Them all singing together (see carpe diem series ep 7 amsterdam :D)

The backstage series

The Electric Ballroom gig in London & their reaction when Slovenia entered the grand final at ESC

Jan and Nace playing kazoos in the UK tour ep 2

You expect me to chose?? /j

Every Novi val performance.

anything Jan and Nace get up to tbh

Every moment in that "joker out being bros for 5 min straight" video or wtv or was called. Need friendships like that fr

don't know if it's my favorite moment per se but i do love how they all immeadiately fell in love with jere (käärijä), especially bojan ofc <3

Why has been so sparkling? ✨

Bojan draped in a pride flag in an old church while singing novi val. Top 3 moments to cry about at 3am tbh

The performance of Novi Val in Križanke. Also, this is not a JO moment as such, but a clip where Bojan imitates a german kid telling his mom he wants to jump on the trampoline(?) I'm sorry, but man's funny as fuck, I think about that clip often.

I haven't seen them live yet, so all the best moments are yet to come :)

All of them cuddles

I don’t knoww Maček in a box

kris tilting his head back, eurovision in my city, SEEING THEIR TOUR BUS IN LIVERPOOL WJEN ME AND MY FRIEND WERE OUT IN THE CITY CENTER THE DAY AFTER WE SAW THEM @ MANCHESTER

I don't know yet - there's so many moments! So many smiles and like laying their heads on each others shoulders during concerts and looking out for each other. <3

I liked how promptly they got rid of gregor on a serious level and also on a happy level when they qualified to the Eurovision final

cvetličarna

Bojan and Kaarija’s bromance

I don't know to many options

Love how often TURTOL is brought up. Nace would be proud <3

QUESTIONS 1-11 I QUESTION 12 I QUESTION 13 I QUESTION 14

[cannedheet]

yyyyYIPPEEEEEEE!!; ANTONIO HEADCANONS BITCH!!! I LOVE THIS MOTHERFUCKER!!!!! NEW AND IMPROVED WITH SO MANY WORDS

also i am very sorry for the wait. my apologies yall

(below cut)

- Tony had a habit of biting his nails for a while. He mostly did this when frustrated or nervous, so it wasn't often, but still.

- he won't wear sunglasses even if the sun is blasting straight into his eyes, it's a ego thing 😔

- I already mentioned he knows how to use a crossbow and is very good at doing so, but our boy can use a regular bow too!

- his momma is a barber!! That means he gets free haircuts :-)

- he generally doesn't like walking/running in snow. Dude just doesn't like snow in general

- most of his family is in Texas, more specifically the costal parts of Texas! he doesn't know how he ended up in the shitfuckplace he's in now, though

- he was in the orchestra of his middle school for a bit, cello playing dumbass. He can still remember the notes to certain songs because there was like, nothing else to do but practice his instrument

- speaking of driving, when stopped at a red light, he drums his fingers against the wheel.

- The part of the town he lived in as a kid got power outages in the spring frequently, so he can make do with the dark.

- Hydrated Homie!!! Water Warlord, even. (my point is this bitch drinks water like he should be doing btw. if you even care)

- poor little meow meow but. but like a little to the left. i can't believe im using the term 'poor little meow meow' unironically

- roach hater and for a good reason

- I wouldn't say he's Tejano (a Texan person with Mexican decent), but that's kinda what he is in my mind. my fucked up little brain

- Tony had a hamster once, and only once. its name was Pequeño and it died of a fucking heart attack (tony was like ten when this happened so. pretty traumatic. it's buried in a cookie tin in his mom's backyard)

- after that he refused to get a pet for like, five years.

- oh right tony also saw a small dog get devoured by a coyote so. yeah thats uh

- tony listens to billy idol!!

ok goobers. more on the way soon goobers

[simcardiac-arrested]

can i ask some stuff aboutyour ocs you mightve already said/shown at some point on the askblog . thank you in advance either wayyy

how does NS even "know" to blame NWB for his suffering? how well does he remember the conflux fuckening?

it seems like FTA has seen NS at their happiest post-trauma, which is. sad. why does he hate them?

does Wayback intentionally self-isolate from the rest of his group, cuz it seems like at very least WT would try and humor him, and CD wouldn't care about his productivity.

WAIT IS CD IN THAT ONE ARTIST COMIC WITH NS PRE-VIRUS CD? REAL? actually do their groupmates feel like.. upset about the change in *her*? ok sorry i know this is so many asks are not the best way to do this but i am runnin g away

hi ! totally fine. probably have revealed some of this stuff already but i have the memory of a dust particle so idgaf we Will talk about this once more

1. i think sep remembers that it was wayback’s ‘fault’ because well, that’s Licherally how it all started. like the reason they went through all of this at all was cuz they had to take wayback’s workload as well. i think waves would often talk about how sep needs to be Better than that useless green bitch. but mainly i think that everytime sep would be forced to overwork themself they would also see wayback just doing nothing and having fun and whatever and they’d be Reminded. re: how well does sep remember the conflux fuckening … i will be honest it’s tricky to explain and i feel like anytime i do it 1. completely changes 2. doesn’t make 100% total sense. but also i think that’s ok ^_^ i don’t need it to make total sense i just need u guys to get the gist of it. because like … well memory problems and/or loss in Human brains already kind of works weirdly. and with sep he is both biological and mechanical and literally One Big Superbrain; so basically i’ve always imagined that while his memories and files can just be erased with no consequences like how it would usually happen to a normal computer, i think the biological part of him would always Know to some degree and be aware. i think the best way i’ve ever explained it is that it’s like walking into a mall in the middle of a weekend and seeing it empty. it just feels off, like something is missing, like there should be People there, because it’s 2pm on sunday and everyone fucking loves malls. but there’s no one. you can Tell something is wrong and something is missing but you can never fully Understand, just follow your deja vu and gut feelings. i hope that mostly makes sense!!

2. first of all, fates is just a really reserved and negative person and a Professional Hater, so she can find reasons to hate almost anyone for almost anything. it comes naturally to her. the surface reasons for hating sep would be that he is generally annoying and can be condescending even while helping fates. she just doesn’t really like him as a person, she thinks he Sucks. but the deeper reasons … well. let’s just say maybe fates and wayback have more parallels than u might think (said by a guy who barely draws attention to these parallels (I’M SORRY WE JUST HAVENT GOTTEN TO THAT PART YET !!! UEAHGHH) (completely unrelated. Hi skiddles hi steven)))

3. nope, wayback only self-isolates when he’s Going Thru Shit, which i understand is like 100% of the time but you know what i mean — the thing with his local group is that he’s an Enigma to them. they do not understand him and like a good half of them think he’s just annoying (ris, fta, sep(???)). also to be fair wayback is just not super interested in all the iterator business so he barely checks the local group (even if he dislikes being lonely). and while wt does try to humor him most of the time they are also Quite Old and do not really get what the fuck he is on about 80% of the time. also they honestly just have bigger things to worry about. now with cd it’s a different deal because she and wayback would make amazing buddies, it’s just that she’s actually a really big fan of his weirdass music and therefore is way too shy to ever actually talk to him. also she thinks if she does become friends with him then the whole group will hate her because they all seem to dislike wayback to some degree. she whines to weaving about this often and they just go No one would dislike u man … but she doesn’t believe them. she’s quite peculiar if i do say so

4. yesss cd used to be sep’s artist buddy! and uhmm. to be honest i don’t think most of the group knew cd that well before (ris and soar are not huge fans of interacting and son isn’t either) and/or just don’t really gaf about what happened (fta and ris once more). so yeah don’t even worry about it. i mean i’m sure Someone is upset about it . don’t know really. Who said that. must’ve been the wind

[olivieraa]

saw Deadpool 3 today!

god, I remember...

ok so I dont have a connection to superhero movies. superhero anything really. I can list it quite easily

I used to watch the 90s spiderman, xmen and batman as a kid. spiderman was my fave. get in from school, throw on spiderman. then the tobey maguire spideys came out and he was my first ever big crush. then the xmen movies came out and I saw all 3.

so that was before the MCU did its thing, and superheroes took over. I saw the first iron man and that's it all the way up until the first avengers. never saw the captain americas, never saw the thors, never saw the follow up iron mans. and pretty much any of them that have come after it UNTIL... Deadpool 1

and I was a Deadpool hater. I still am. I believe that characters are different per medium, and I do not like comic!Deadpool and I made that clear on tumblr back in the day before the movie came out. so I went to see the movie to see if it was gonna be... well, as misogynistic as comic!Deadpool was

and it wasn't.

I wasn't that big of a fan of the first movie. there's a scene that misogynistic fanboys take out of context all the fucking time. but I consider Deadpool 2 to be one of the best movies ever made. and... very feminist, honestly.

Deadpool 3 I was nervous about. would it be like 1 or 2.......

it was like 2!

I think... I think Ryan just knows. like, the women in his life are very important to him. he could have gone the gross cater to fanboys route with DP but he didn't. so I appreciate that he can be liked by everyone, not just those creeps.

and its saddened me that feminists have hated on Ryan saying its bc of him his wife doesn't have a career anymore and he's thriving. all the man does is praise her, say he's unworthy of her, give her all the credit for any writing she's done esp ON Deadpool. like, I don't care for straight couples, esp Hollywood couples. but I actually like these two. so yeah, I had a good time, I like Ryan and I'd give the movie an 8/10. The second to me was a 10/10

also just speaking of straight couples and women who should be breaking up with or divorcing their men, like ok, I get if you watch one "type" of video, the algorithm is like "here's 50 more", so bc I've seen one or two "useless boyfriend" videos, instagram keeps showing me more and more, but like................ how fucking many are there.

like I know its practically an epidemic of women dealing with their scrubby boyfriends instead of being single, but its goddamn everywhere

And then you have ugly fuckers who want a gf for the sake of having a gf, but will always try, on the sly, to cheat and get with someone hotter

Then there's the constant posts about "why men cheat" and the comment section is full of shit like "why have one meal for the rest of your life" or "bc she stopped trying to look good for me"

And then videos from strippers who say that men who try to cheat on their wives with them is not a here and there thing, its an every day thing, and their wives and gfs think they're the most loyal men out there absolutely INCAPABLE of cheating and yet, here they are!1!

And I dont even need videos to confirm this. My stripper friend says married men propose to her all the time

I know this went from Deadpool to being angry at the straight again, but I just thought I'd keep it to one post, since people have hated on Ryan but they're like the only straight couple I have faith in (aside from my straight friends, I love my straight friends, I wouldnt attend the weddings otherwise lmao)

Like I just... like, women... If you look at your man and dont think he's the one, if you look at your man and think there's a possibility he may cheat on you, if you look at your man and think that you wouldn't put your life on the line for him bc he's not your soulmate

Then leave

Be single or wait, patiently, until you find the one. The women posting these videos constantly make me so sad bc I know they're not leaving these useless ass men! That pregnant woman is just like :( when her bf is looking at other women, but she's like 'oh well! At least I'm the one that has him! ;)'

[alrightsnaps]

The beef you have with Anthony on twitter is very pathetic and also the fact that you PRETEND Violet has haters when all that happened is that maybe a couple of kanthony shippers have said she was a bit too harsh with him cause god forbids audience members feel more connected with the protagonist and not his mom. Also the fact you want Kate to share screentime with Mary and Edwina again when she was treated like crap by them is not it for someone who claims to love Kate. But I guess it's not surprising when you're buddy buddy with that selcouth account who not so secretly hates Kanthony and Kate and has polite convo with the bloggers who call Kate a homewrecking whore. You know your friend writes fic in which Anthony is beaten up and Kate continues to be miserable post wedding for the sake of poor innocent Edwina?And thinks Anthony should give a fuck about Edwina doesn't let him call her by her first name? Tell your friend he eyefucked Kate at the altar in front of her, let me assure you edwina lovers he doesn't give a fuck about her brattiness the majesty. Leave Kate and Kanthony out of your mouth.

aww how sweet of you that you think y'all are the first people to dickride for anthony at the expense of female characters! i can assure you that i've been beefing with his stans since before kate's casting announcement. kathonies are not the first to drag violet to defend him, or even the first stans to demonise their male fave's mother while excusing his own behaviour. sienna/anthony shippers did the exact same thing long ago painting violet as the evil hag who wouldn't let poor little anthony run off into the sunset with sienna in s1.

also why the fuck wouldn't i want kate to fix her relationships with edwina and mary? i've criticised edwina repeatedly for never apologising to kate since day 1. that's something we never saw in s2 so yeah, i definitely want to see that and i consider necessary for them to rebuild their relationship on better terms after the wedding fiasco.

what i consider hypocritical as fuck is being totally ok with kate forgiving anthony when he hardly did enough to deserve her forgiveness after all the pain he put her through, but drawing the line at her stepmother and sister.

anthony literally ruined kate in 2x04 and not only didn't assume his responsibilities as he forced simon to do with daphne in s1, but had the nerve to propose to her sister the very next morning. so yeah, if i can support kate being with anthony in the s2 finale when he was calling her "the thorn easily removed" from his and edwina's lives just two episodes back, because that makes her happy, i can sure as hell root for her making up with the women that have been her entire world for the past 26 years as well.

as far as i'm concerned neither anthony nor edwina did right by kate in s2. edwina because she blamed her for anthony's actions and was ungrateful, when all kate had done was sacrifice after sacrifice for her to be happy. and anthony because he never showed kate the respect he demanded men to show to his sisters and chose to go after her baby sister only to publicly humiliate both sharma girls in front of anyone when they were at the altar.

i'm old enought to be able to form my own opinion about characters instead of joining fandom groupthink or liking/disliking them based on how their fanbase behaves. if that was my criterion i don't think there's a single ship i'd support in the bridgerton fandom, considering that i disagree with most kathony and benophie stans on twitter for always coddling anthony and benedict and excusing their misogyny.

and frankly, i'm extremely uncomfortable with the way you and many kathony stans talk about edwina. y'all are literally victim blaming an 18yo child for falling for a grownass man who went after her and ruined her in the eyes of society. you constanly infantilise anthony when he has more privilege than 99% of men in england, while spending your time talking shit about a teenage girl.

that's not holding edwina responsible for her behaviour towards kate, it's misogyny, plain and simple. she has every right to treat anthony like filth for the rest of her life after what he did to her and be protective of kate, like kate was of edwina when anthony was courting her, after his abhorrent treatment of both sisters.

a 30yo man not giving a fuck about a teenager he strung along and ruined isn't the gotcha that you think it is. except you clearly have such a sexist worldview that you consider him to be the "prize" edwina lost and kate won, rather than a man who hurt them both deeply and took advantage of his privilege over them.

if i should keep kate out of my mouth for wanting to see her have a healthy and wholesome relationship with her family, so should you people for being ok with anthony doing the bare minimum to win her after the hell he put her through.

[jemmahazelnut]

Juvia for the character bingo?

I adore Juvia, I’m the only one who can speak about her and I know her better than anyone, even Mashima himself.

No, ok, of course I'm kidding, but premise: if you are a Juvia-and-Gruvia stan, this post is not for you, because I don't care about the version of a perfect and adorable Juvia who deserves the world because she's pretty and never done nothing wrong in life etc. Likewise, if you're a Juvia-and-Gruvia hater, this is no place for you, because I literally don't care if you think she's a horrible canon person who deserves to die and disappear off the face of the earth.

If you are Juvia stan and Gruvia hater (I know you exist somewhere), this is the place for you (or if you are indifferent to Gruvia, or if you like it but you are not avid shippers proclaiming Juvia as the ideal girl. Actually, idfc what you think about the ship, I just know that shippers and antis generally think in compartments and don't want to question anything, so if you belong to one or the other category, go on and see other posts).

So, now let's make two things clear before starting the discussion.

Juvia is not a lovely girl, nor is she a good person. Juvia is a fucking messed up person who has good intentions, but having not lived in a good place most of her life she has unhealthy relationships with many people, highly questionable behavior, and a very bad relationship with herself. She is also a strong and cruel woman who can kill, she will and she has already done. And despite all that, she deserves the love, but more importantly, she deserves a fucking painstakingly detailed development arc (and no, if you tell me there's no forgiveness for her, Ill get pissed, everyone have had a development arc, Jellal, Laxus, Gajeel, Cobra, Sting, etc. but Juvia doesn't deserve it? Don't even talk to me).

I won't explain all my ideas about her in this post, otherwise it would get very long because trust me, I have an Odyssey in mind, but basically:

Juvia is a girl in love with the idea of love. She has lived her whole life alone and desperately wants to make friends and find her life partner, so as soon as she meets someone who is even a little bit nice to her, she becomes morbidly attached, as indeed she did with Gray. But she doesn't just do it with him, she also does it with her friends, so Lucy, Cana, Erza, and other people in the guild. As soon as someone extends a finger of hers, she takes the whole arm and craves that affection that she always sees in others. At the same time, she's not good at showing affection in the normal way, so she does weird things, and usually she's overly pushy and willing to literally go out of her way to get anyone to accept her. She sacrificed herself for Cana, so yeah, she would literally do anything, and she doesn't understand the limits of people, so as long as someone gives her something, she takes, takes and takes. She is also very insecure of herself, so it doesn't take much, a miserable 'no' and she risks going back to being the lonely rain woman and that she annoys everyone with the weather she brings with her. When this happens, she leaves the guild because she is afraid to annoy her guildmates and return alone (Lucy and Natsu always join her and stand by her in those moments).

She has a complex relationship with Gajeel, but he's also probably the only real friend she has, at least in the beginning, because she doesn't feel this need to continually affirm her affection for him. She's not even afraid of him leaving, because Gajeel has already seen the worst of her in Phantom Lord, and he's stayed, and she knows that he will stay by her side because he's one of the few people who understands her. (Then Cana will also become friends with her in a similar way).

She is an unnervingly strong sorceress, let's not forget that she was an S-class level in Phantom Lord. She was cruel too, she killed people with the Water Lock, and she wouldn't hesitate to do it if she saw something that reminded her of her childhood.

Speaking of her childhood, she was awful. From an early age she was considered a cursed child because she brought rain everywhere, for this reason her parents put her in an orphanage. She had no idea, and after spending her early years in an orphanage with everyone staying away from her and bad-mouthing her, she went looking for her parents. She hoped to reunite with them but when she found them, they did not recognize her, and badly kicked her out of the house saying never to be seen again. She moved to a village and tried to live alone, but still everyone annoyed her and told her to leave. One day someone annoyed her so much that she seriously injured him by trapping him in a water bubble and suffocating him. Since then, she has escaped from there.

She tried to remove the magic herself, with dangerous methods that put her life at risk, but it was unsuccessful (I have a whole arc in mind on this omg). She even pushed herself too hard with her magic that she nearly died. Probably in a very dark period of her life she also thought about ending it. This until she entered Phantom Lord. There, for the first time, she found a place that accepted her, and she immediately understood that the stronger she was, the more she was accepted. That's why she trained hard and became ambitious, she wanted to surpass all wizards, she thought that as she got stronger, she would have more friends. And more or less, that's how Phantom Lord worked. She was also able to use her power to its fullest, because nobody cared to use good methods, she could kill and she did it without hesitation, especially when she saw cruel people who reminded her of her parents or the people who they bullied. She felt somehow at home.

She then entered Fairy Tail, and for the first time she saw the sun thanks to Gray, which is why she thought that Gray was her life partner and so she became attached to him.

From here my version completely changes from the canon, or rather, initially it's similar with her becoming obsessed with Gray (but not only with him, also with Lucy and Cana and the other guildmates), then as she goes on making mistakes, understands how to actually build a true and healthy friendship. She learns to love herself and to understand what she really wants other than 'not to be alone', and discovers that she is actually very ambitious, she wants to be strong, she likes to be strong, not just because she likes admiration, but precisely because she likes to be able to protect her loved ones. She's always fucking creepy when someone touches her loved ones, like, you know the scene on Tenrou where she's fucking creepy when Meredy talks about killing Gray? Well, yes, Juvia is like that, only not just with Gray, but with everyone in the guild, touch someone dear to her and she will kill you, absolutely and without remorse.

She also remains a romantic, a person who adores small gestures of affection, a clumsy, she loves children but never knows how to behave with them, she is a very manual girl, she knows how to paint, but above all she knows sewing clothes or building accessories, girls always come to her and she is always happy to give them gifts. She is also a mega emotional and sensitive girl, when she feels an emotion, she feels it to the nth degree. When she's happy she gets loud, and infects everyone with her happiness showing it to the world, when she's sad no one can cheer her up, when she's angry you better run.

She understands that her relationship with Gray is complicated and one-sided, and she tries to act better and walk away from him when he tells her he's not comfortable with her. When she does that, Juvia discovers that in reality she is happy even without him. Like, she's a friend of Gray, a close friend, but she understands that her love was in her head. Then they cultivate a beautiful friendship, which if you want can also become true love (or not, you decide, but there must be that passage of self-understanding first. Actually, I'm a bit indifferent to the ship but whatever).

And then I'll stop here, even if I have things to say about the relationships she could have with other people, primarily with the Thunder Legion (in my opinion she gets along very well with all of them and also with Laxus), with Gajeel (their friendship is complex and that's okay), with Lucy (they are bestie fight me), with Erza (Juvia admires her), with Lisanna (Juvia listens to what the Edo version of Juvia was like and thinks about herself), with Cana (a bestie much more sincere than Lucy, she doesn't mince words when she has to make it clear when Juvia acts like a bitch), with Mira (these two girls are actually more similar than it seems), and that's it, now I stop.

It would have been faster to write a fanfiction.

(However I don't think this version is very far from the canon.)

[livvyofthelake]

new lost character ranking <3

jack... he's just my special guy... what can i say! i love him! he's just good and complicated and a hater but kind... remember do no harm. i'll be a jack girl forever and ever i fear!

shannon :( my girl... my lovely girl... you do nottt understand i LOVED shannon she's exactly the kind of bitch i always go crazy for in tv shows she was such a cunt but like with hidden depths. oh my god she never got to see mean girls. shannon you would have loved regina george you would have loved mean girls you would have loved grey's anatomy you would have loved taylor swift you would have loved friday night lights you would have loved six the musical and seeing it on broadway when you would have lived in new york... you would have loved sharpay high school musical... and her fabulous adventure...

kate, a classic, she will literally ALWAYS be near the top we love kate and we love straight people we love her tank tops and bootcut jeans and low ponytails <3

sayid my bestieeee... let's not get into these last few episodes with sayid 😐. but he's the bestie!

eko. what if there was a guy who was strong and brave and stoic and so so so kind and caring... he brought all the dead bodies from the crash out of the water so they could bury them... he carried sawyer all the way back to jack to save his life knowing sawyer would never do the same for him... when ana lucia was like if it were you he wouldn't save you! and eko was like i'm not doing it for him... that tiktok comment about how snails can't feel pain and the reply was like what about my pain... he couldn't leave sawyer to die not because he cared about sawyer but because he just cares period... wowie... i like this guy a lot if you couldn't tell

hurley, some may say this is too high a spot for hurley of all people. well EYE really like hurley and i really liked his episode this season and i think he's nice and funny and brings good vibes... as rose said, he's the only person on this island that everybody loves....

sun <3 they have not been giving her much this season fr!!!! but i love her anyway <3

bernard and rose getting ranked together because they're sooooooo everything <3 true love wins!!! they found each other...

claire my girl who does not do very much but she's literally my friend belle! and she's the only character who can have scenes with locke where he's tolerable...

ana lucia. i kinda love it when women like. really suck. you might think YOU'RE a supporter of women who suck but many of you couldn't even handle zelena mills. i'm in the big leagues of loving women who are just the fucking worst. so i suppose it was only natural that i'd end up an ana lucia apologist in the end <3

michael. he's been serving kinda nonstop lately. they were like yeah hey we need a guy just some guy. and what if we got that guy who played mercutio in baz luhrman's romeo + juliet... ok!

libby. kinda a lesbian queen idk. just saying things. i was picking up vibes... she hasn't been given much to do but i've liked her a lot

jin. i actually like jin a lot now i feel like the original plan in the beginning was to portray him as less likable and forgiving because it looked like sun and michael was almost gonna be a thing but they clearly backtracked that like halfway through season 1 and it's much better this way i think

sawyer. he's never climbing this list very far i fear... as much as it slays when he's just absolutely miserable and pathetic and he has an infected bullet wound and he's had the worst several days of his life and nearly died. and as much as we love the horrible man polycule. he's still sawyer... i mean. he's sawyer.

locke. an enemy of jack's is literally an enemy of mine... he hasn't actually done anything in a few episodes but i'm just always kinda mad at him

charlie. he has simply been pissing me the fuck off lately. idk