#hes genuinely one of my favourite characters from any media ever

[always-amity]

Shitty 15 minute doodle done on the bus today because O Superman by Laurie Anderson came on my play list and I was like "This is so Furious Core"

Also debut of my Young Furious design I guess.

[potatoofdefiance]

My two cents and a rant on the allegations and Good Omens

(I will probably regret this later)

This has been eating at me for a while now, ever since the news broke that Neil Gaiman was a sex pest (see infamous TERF-adjacent podcast by Tortoise media) and I have been consciously and unconsciously ruminating over it for weeks now, so here goes.

I think the news of Neil Gaiman hit me harder than I was expecting, and certainly harder than I would have liked.

I didn’t (and certainly do not now) consider myself a “true fan”. I was never a hard-core fan, one that goes to signings or book fairs or cons to meet my favourite author. Partly because I never latched that much on any of the authors of the books or movies I loved, and partly (maybe for the best now that I think about it) because I never had the money, or wasn’t located in a geographically favored area. Meaning I never lived anywhere near wherever events with Neil Gaiman were happening.

So, with all this in mind, how is it that the news managed to hit me so hard?

I thought (read: ruminated) about it, and I think it is because of Good Omens. And the latest times. In my life, and I think a good chunk of other people’s lives too, these last few years have been a roller-coaster. You choose which particular scenario the roller-coaster is set into; mine is on fire, running through a sea of shit and we are being slapped by gooey flaming eels hard in the face.

Maybe someone might enjoy this. That someone isn’t me.

But the point is: I have been struggling. With my life, with a mental health condition, with the world and my place in it.

Enter Good Omens. In an effort to actively expose myself to “nice” stuff, stuff that would, if not make me feel better, at least make me laugh, I started tapping more into the fandom.

I’m not a fandom person. Again, never latched onto anything that had a fandom big enough (where are the Ann Halam fans? No one is making cosplays of Sloe from Siberia, are they?).

But with Good Omens, it seemed perfect for me. I wasn’t invested so much, it didn’t make me feel like I was “lacking” something in order to be part of it. I just felt like I didn’t care enough to really be vulnerable to it, I felt like it could have been a nice innocuous hobby.

But that’s the point. Thinking it was innocuous made me let down my guard enough to actually fall in love with the fandom. Fall in love with those two weirdos of characters (which by the way, I’ll say this now: I think Aziraphale and Crowley as portrayed in the series are more a product of fans and Tennant and Sheen than they are a product of Gaiman and Pratchett. And this is not a bad thing per se, I think, but let’s give credit where credit is due).

And let me be clear: I gained so so much from joining the fandom. It has positively affected so many seemingly unrelated parts of my life, and I’m so grateful to so many kind strangers on the internet who have shared such wholesome art with me, and have gifted me so much, that even putting it into words is simply not enough to explain all of it.

And one of the results of this “wave of wholesomeness” is I also started following Gaiman more closely.

Like so many, I loved Coraline. Gaiman seemed a genuinely nice person. An old guy who had wisdom to share, and who seemed to be fascinatingly non-stereotypical? If that makes sense. What I mean is that he was everything my father warned me against. A goth, weird, a writer therefore an artist (and in my family we know artists are fools who end up on the street jobless and homeless). And yet, to me now he seemed such a normal guy. Yes maybe someone who enjoyed that fashion style, but otherwise very far away from the usual excess of a rockstar. Of course I was too young when he was at the peak of his rockstar years. English is not my first language, and when he was 40 I was in elementary school and just learning about him, and you know, they do not write about his fans passing out at signings or his groupies on the back cover of children’s books.

What I mean is that I didn’t have access to all the media and information about him.

So I start seemingly connecting to this writer, whose works I have enjoyed for the most part, and who seems such a nice guy in how he interacts with his fans and people in general. Such an inoffensive, kind person. And kind seemingly to everyone.

I started liking him. To the point where I remember telling my partner: you know, Neil Gaiman is someone I’d take a coffee with (which in Italian culture is one of the greatest honors one can give you. Having a coffee while sitting at a café and chat for hours is what good friends do).

So, in my mind he had a special place now. He was someone I started to admire and look up to.

And this is, I think, where it hurts. It hurts because even if I wasn’t personally victimized, I never met him, he never acted creepy with me, he doesn’t even know me, it still felt like I, as part of the fandom, had been used for his clout. And also, it hurts to feel like someone you trusted because of how they presented themselves has lied to you.

And on top of that: it is so fucking disrespectful. The fact he thought he could get away with it. With hurting so many people (one is one too many by the way), and causing so much pain, while also enjoying crowds of adoring fans, both online and in person.

I find it personally difficult to reconcile my love of the GO fandom with all of this right now. And I think it’s for a number of reasons.

Firstly because the silence of institutions and people around these facts has opened some old wounds and made me angry again towards a system that I perceive as hostile towards me and people like me who might be vulnerable.

What I mean is: I know that Gaiman is a powerful person, and a lot of people need to bring money home and are tied to contracts and what not (yeah I’m looking at our favorite two male presenting british actors here) and I understand it. I do. And this is exactly why this stuff makes me angry again. Angry at the whole shitty system we live in, where if you happen to be in some kind of power imbalance you might end up having to eat shit and shut up while witnessing violence against you or others and not being able to utter a word about it. This sucks. It makes me angry. It makes me angry that Michael Sheen, someone I like to believe would be among the first to shout “I BELIEVE THE VICTIMS” if he was talking to friends at a bar, likely has to shut up and play nicely because Darth Amazon has some fucking clause written in Braille somewhere that says he has to sacrifice his firstborn if he ever dares to suggest he doesn’t like anyone related to the franchise.

It makes me soooo angry that we stay in the dark, and we only know from those people who are brave, and powerful enough to speak up about something that (allegedly) has been known for fucking years in the writing community. That this person was a creep. That he was treating people, mainly women and non-binary folks, if not bad, at least poorly.

And you know, this makes me even more angry because I have been in such shitty situations too! I was a victim of a system where exploitation and borderline abuse were normalized in a work setting.

And it wakes something deep in me to read that “it was an open secret bla bla bla” and again: I understand why people set up whisper networks instead of taking these giants down. I understand it. It still makes me angry because I simply do not want to live in such systems. Systems where I’m either the sacrificial lamb or I’m the one tying it on the table, or handing the axe over to the butcher, or a witness who has no power to stop the suffering.

I don’t want to live in such a system. But I have to. In my real life. I have to put up with so much shit sometimes, shit that makes me feel like I cannot stand up for my values because hey, I need to pay the bills too. And Good Omens was one of those few things where I could escape a bit into an alternative reality, where everything could be a bit better.

And I’m sure the fandom is still like this for most of the fans. I have witnessed first-hand how supportive and cheerful this fandom can be.

For me though, it still makes me think of all this...tsunami of shit.

I want to be able to enjoy the silly fanart, the memes, the wait for season 3 again. But I can’t. I can’t because my brain does not work like that. Good Omens still means Neil Gaiman too much to me. And I cannot go around talking cheerfully about Good Omens while feeling like I’m feeding into the clout of someone who used their power to coerce vulnerable people. Because (and I might be wrong) it feels like the message I’m sending is: my comfort show/book is more important than your pain or your life. And I can’t. This is not the truth.

I feel for the victims. Probably I feel even more than it would be healthy for me, or normal. But I don’t know, I feel like I connect to them. Maybe because I’ve been a victim of abuse perpetrated in clear power-imbalanced relationships, or because I felt like nobody cared about me and my wellbeing for so long, that eventually I stopped caring too.

And it is bad. It’s dehumanizing to a point where you really start believing you don’t matter. Your wellbeing doesn’t matter. There are more important things.

Ok so, I don’t want the victims, the survivors, to feel like this. They matter. They matter to me because if there’s one thing that is going to re-ignate the sacred fire of defiance in me is being able to stop this self-feeding cycle of self-loathing and misery. You matter. We matter. Vulnerable people who have been hurt matter to me. If there is one thing we can do to resist these systems of oppression and these people who abuse their power, that thing is believing that the people they hurt matter. If not more, at least as much as them.

And the way I show myself and others that the victims and their lives matter to me is by distancing myself from Neil Gaiman and his works, at least for now.

I feel bad for people who might have found themselves unwillingly tied to all of this. I feel bad for Sheen and Tennant, for all the wonderful artists and craft-people who have put so much of their work and love in Good Omens and I don’t want to let them down.

My two cents are that season 3 will not be canceled if they see there’s enough traction, and definitely won’t be canceled unless fans start a crusade against it, which won’t happen most likely.

The fandom loves Tennant and Sheen too much, and these are too much nice people to really hold a grudge against them, so I don’t think it will be canceled.

I’m afraid we (I say “we” meaning everyone who loves Good Omens) will be “held hostage” by Gaiman in the sense that he knows season 3 is not going to happen without him, so it’s either “we” or the majority of “we” behave, or it’s not going to happen. Which again, I don’t think he would lose the opportunity to make some money, and he also has contract duties to fulfill, but it still is worth it for him to try to leverage his power.

I wanted to end this rant on a positive note, somehow. But I don't know exactly what to say. Recently one of the things that has brought me laughs and joy has been the Channel 4 series “We are Lady Parts”.

In one of the episodes they quote a very beautiful poem, which came back to mind when I was listening to Claire (the latest woman who has come forward with allegations) on the “Am I Broken” podcast.

The poem is Speak by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, I will paste the version from the show, because I think it’s very powerful and beautiful.

Speak, for your two lips are free Speak, for your tongue is still your own This straight body still is yours. Speak, your life is still your own.

See how in the blacksmith’s forge flames leap high and steel glows red, padlocks opening wide their jaws. Every chain’s embrace outspread.

Time enough is this brief hour Until body and tongue lie dead. Speak, for truth is living yet. Speak, whatever must be said.

[thissying]

Thanks for uploading ep 1 of the doco – while it’s clearly a highly managed piece of media, it remains a rich text for Max scholars. Entirely aside from padel shirtlessness.

I think my favourite parts were:

Max just being a huge racing nerd, which we already knew but I always enjoy.

Competence kink, especially that final GT3 testing session.

Going from me not knowing anything about his GT3 racing team to ‘oh of course it’s his ride-or-die childhood friend who he’s mentoring, because Max attaches early and hard or not at all’.

Max’s sincere enjoyment of/commitment to The Process which helps him offset being a nightmare of competitiveness. (Something I particularly admire and respect in Alex Albon as well.)

It may have been the editing but I got a kick out of that video call after Suzuka. ‘Congratulations on winning the championship—’ ‘Yeah thanks, now here are many questions about your GT3 race weekend…’

Max looking relaxed in the talking heads even though he was doing them solo, without someone else onscreen to bounce off. Basically the opposite of his DTS talking heads.

(I understand why Max’s horrible dad™️ has such a big presence but for the sake of my blood pressure, on rewatch maybe I’ll use a post-it note to block him from my sight. 🙃 )

I don't see enough people talk about things this way any more in fandom on tumblr, including myself btw, except in tags but even then not so much, so I enjoyed getting this ♥

Yeah, same wrt how huge of a racing nerd he is. The fact that Thierry had to explain to him several procedures of the GT3 car first because it was new to him and then he did some laps and knew exactly what needed to be changed to improve the car. With giving credit to Thierry and the "engineers are stubborn, that's just how they are" comment 😂 And yesss, that final testing session where the head of track engineering is so impressed that he expects to be talking about it during nights at the bar in years to come. I was like: that's our boy, yeah 😊

I wouldn't be surprised if that was how that Suzuka phone call really went! He's so serious about his commitment and guidance to other drivers and it was one of my favourite things we got to see in this episode. Him being direct about things that aren't good without being rough or cruel, making me think that is part his character and part his own experiences (the good and bad ones). He seems good at constructive criticism; "here's what you're doing wrong or what you need to improve and here's what you can do about that." Lovelovelove.

Also, him being more nervous when watching family and friends race than when he has to do it himself because of the control. Which is such a common thing for people to feel (not just in racing) but I love knowing this about him.

I agree about the talking heads parts. Genuinely relaxed! The bit where they cut to his laughter about Thierry's remote control car 🥰

Other favourite bit: the "so much grip" comment about his shoes, in unison like it's an old familial in-joke.

The G-Star RAW interview is a good one! I feel like it should be like a first go-to for (new) Max fans who want to know a little bit more about him, even though it's a bit older already. I never saw any flirting in this though, but I'd put that down more to Edwin Evers than Max!

ETA: also. the maxplaining to Thierry after padel!!!

[a-moth-called-mof]

Me rambling about the fandom atmosphere during November 16th:

With November 16th hitting the corner, I thought now would be a good time to finally post this post that's been in my drafts forever

I genuinely am of the personal belief that November 16th is one of those things where you had to have been there to fully appreciate and experience it at least in my opinion. I feel like the tense atmosphere leading up to the actual event is something that is not widely talked about in the fandom. A brief reminder for the fans that are new here or that missed the stream where the November 16th War was announced: during stream C! Dream revealed that there was a traitor hiding amongst Pogtopia and said it was someone that you wouldn't expect. This one line lead to multiple fan theories going around the fandom ranging from plausible to very far fetched. The fandom turned into one big game of Among Us and EVERYONE was a suspect.

Here's an old post of my mine that I think does a good job showing the mentality of most fans going into November 16th:

There were so many theories and speculations leading up to it and you genuinely had to be there to see everyone's different theories about who the traitor would be and the couple aus I saw come out of it. It made it so that when the event did happen, no one in the fandom knew who trust and NEITHER DID THE CHARACTERS. It was amazing watching characters debate whether or not to trust eachother live. It made it feel like any discoveries or possible leads that were made were realised by the character and the fandom at the same time, especially love that one scene where C! Tubbo and C! Quackity decide they sort of trust eachother and talk about who they don't trust. I distinctly remembering switching between povs and watching the dashboard lose their shit and how current character mains would be like "OH [CHARACTER] IS ACTING SO SUSPICIOUS :0" or just liveblog whatever characters were doing and it was a really fun way of keeping up with most of the characters even if I couldn't physically watch all their povs at once

This is less about the atmosphere but more something I feel like people don't talk about enough: Phil wasn't on the Dream SMP before November 16th and we had no concrete indication he would be there. There were a lot of fan theories and headcanons about him joining and I remember seeing all the art of him joining on November 16th and at the time thinking "Oh that's really cool but I doubt they'll actually do it" SO I CAN'T DESCRIBE THE SHEER EMOTIONS I FELT WHEN HE JOINED?

I honestly still don't think I'll ever forget watching C! Wilbur press the button and watching everything go to shit at once after such a tense buildup. Whenever I tell my irl friends I once stayed up till 5am on a school night to watch a live minecraft roleplay event, most of them joke or express (VERY UNDERSTANDABLE) concern but I honestly don't regret a thing. I'd do it 30 times over just to experience that again and watch my dashboard go apeshit. November 16th will always be one of my favourite events in any media ever.

[aethercurrent]

If you've been around, I just finished Time Travel AU. If you're from AO3, you know what this post is and you can skip further down to read more. If you don't know what Time Travel AU is, it's a long FFXIV fanfic I've been working on for the better part of six years. Five and a half of which it's been online to read.

This post is to document some of the early plotting that I never talked about written down into a coherent-ish(?) post. Mostly to get it out of my system and to hopefully stave off the absolute breakdown I'll have once that "it's finished after six years" thing settles in.

Let's start this off with something funnier, because this a looooooooong post: the name.

(That isn't a word, for the record. I just mashed two nouns together to be funny.)

And then, finally, being a class clown at heart, I follow that up with:

It wasn't too long, and that joke that took me half a minute to come up with stuck around. It still makes me chuckle.

But, I suppose now we go back to a couple months before that conversation took place.

~

The first idea for the AU started rotating in my head a few days after finishing Shadowbringers. I’m kind of a sucker for time travel of any sort (a good chunk of my favourite media of all time includes it somehow!), and another thing I enjoy is enemies to “unfortunately, we’re on the same side for a while”.

So, as one does after a game thoroughly rearranges their brain, I started throwing darts at random points and saw what started sticking.

The first major things decided for the fic at that early conception stage were the following points:

the time travellers are WOL, Exarch, Ryne, Elidibus

the Final Days were caused by the star itself

Hythlodaeus (shade or real deal) is involved (maybe as 14th?)

Hydaelyn and Zodiark are non-violently undone by the end

it ends with a city by the Crystal Tower on the Source

I started drafting a few ideas for it over a couple weeks while waiting for 5.1.

Initially I genuinely wasn’t sure if the WOL in the story was going to be Meteor or my own WOL (every iteration of her has been in this fic, but when it started she was actually still a male Seeker… he’s the jumpy conjurer tagging along in the Praetorium; and the Dunesfolk, Highlander, and the Hrothgar are all obvious or hidden in the background, too). It took me a while before I settled on Meteor, mostly because I don’t want to ship her with NPCs, really. Also, Catboy Lahen was extremely jumpy and wouldn’t have been able to keep him being a time traveller and an Ascian secret for long. I needed someone made of sterner stuff, sorry Catboy Lahen.

The party was a proper light party at that stage, too, even before I settled on Meteor (Meteor / Ryne as tank, Exarch as healer, Ryne / Lahen and Elidibus as DPS)… and then dropped that once I started getting into the more detailed part of plotting.

By the time 5.1 rolled around I begrudgingly accepted that the WOL was going to be the 14th member of the Convocation, but I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t like that. I still don’t like it, actually. I would’ve liked the WOL being a genuine random soul choosing the road and becoming modern day Azem just as Venat and her successor were before them, instead of having it just be Venat’s successor 2 electric boogaloo.

I also finally accepted the clown’s nose and admitted that my favourite Ascian was Lahabrea because he was a good villain back when I started in the last couple days of 2014. I was disappointed that after how much Emet-Selch and Elidibus got and were getting throughout the end of Stormblood and Shadowbringers, Lahabrea still hadn’t gotten much of anything else. Yes. The first time I met one of my now better friends, she joined call for Endwalker fanfest and the first thing she ever heard from me was me straight up bursting into tears over FFIV references and Pandaemonium.

A few more plot points were also starting to come together:

I wanted Emet-Selch and Lahabrea as POV characters

Hythlodaeus definitely was going to be one as well

he was going to have sat by and watched all of history

he was going to be tempered by Hydaelyn and Zodiark

Unukalhai, if not a POV character, was going to be somewhat important

the party was going to try saving some NPCs who died (success rate varying)

Meteor’s characterisation started to crystallise a bit more

because of that, they were going to try and substantially alter the Steppe section

Lahabrea would be explosive early on, leading to him being taken out of 2.55

Minfilia vanished before she could catch on to Ascian shenanigans

Ysayle would catch on to that, though

It’s glossed over in the finished fic because it’s mostly irrelevant, but as I worked on on the plot draft more and more, I noticed that the party accidentally fit into the elemental chart rather neatly:

Lahabrea as lightning; most volatile and destructive party member

Emet-Selch as fire; also fairly temperamental and not easy to work with

Elidibus as wind; easier to handle but still fairly dangerous

Meteor as earth; unmoving object that can bury a lot of things if they want to

Exarch as water; that one was mostly a “river of time” joke, I won’t lie

Ryne as ice; it’s the closest to light and once she’s determined she’s unyielding

Hythlodaeus as light; absolute stasis due to his circumstances

Unukalhai as darkness; always on the move and always thinking

A lot of the character dynamic comes from that! Emet-Selch and Lahabrea don’t get along, Elidibus manages to get along with both of them. Ryne as the most interesting mortal out of the bunch as far as Emet-Selch is concerned stems from a fire and ice joke that ran away with me; him and the Exarch butting heads is a water and fire joke. The reason why Ryne was the one to surprise Elidibus comes from the fact that she’s a solid ice wall to his wind, and so on and so forth.

That’s also why Unukalhai remains closer to the Ascians to some degree, while Hythlodaeus has absolutely no qualms whatsoever interacting with mortals as long as his restrictions are adhered to even if he doesn’t like them in the end.

It became extremely less relevant as time went on, but a lot of the early fic can be traced to that elemental balance.

Along with the elemental balance of the team, I started working on the magic system for the Ancients. I was extremely stuck on the sidequests in Amaurot and how two of them dealt with the WOL not being able to use creation magicks. I thought it was interesting that it seemed as if the one making clothes didn’t use a concept crystal, while in one you were handed one to summon those funny slimes.

The final point was that you had to catch a cubus for one while you didn’t for the other.

So, eventually I came to the magic system in the fic. Three classes of magicks (body, soul, environment), and differing levels of innate ability and trained skill. Ironically, the three antagonist Unsundered all fit into three out of four extremes of that latter scale…

Then there was the question of what was considered “dark arts” before the Sundering. It wasn’t necessary, none of the main characters would be students of the dark arts, but it was a fun thought experiment. Eventually I came up with the idea to animate something inanimate with malicious intent. Living weapons, defensive automatons, sentient traps, and so on and so forth.

I started applying that to all of the relevant Ancients, and it was a lot more fun than I want to admit here.

Essentially what the concept crystals thing came down to in the end was a certain level of intricate casting and preservation. Lahabrea can create a flock of his birds effortlessly because he knows the concept inside out with all its details and intricacies, while someone trying to summon it themselves would have to use a crystal to get the details right. That’s also why most of the time the Ascians don’t seem to be using concept crystals—they aren’t creating much, and when they are it’s things they already know how to make.

Actually, I dug out the notes on the innate/trained scale. There’s a lot of things that are irrelevant for the fic on that, but let me write down the most relevant ones:

Emet-Selch: soul; high innate/low trained

Lahabrea: body; high innate/high trained

Elidibus: environment; low innate/high trained

Hythlodaeus: soul; high innate/not trained

Alexis (Meteor’s ancient): environment/dark arts; low innate/medium trained

Igeyorhm: body; medium innate/high trained

Minfilia: body; low innate/low trained

Venat: environment; medium innate/high trained

Rafael (previous Elidibus): soul; low innate/high trained

There was also the question of what to do with Ancients in general. True, we had the shades in Amaurot as a general idea, but just like with Azem above, I wasn’t a fan of the featureless or just “human” thing. I still am not, for the record. I think it’s goofy to have everyone be proto-Hyurs and then post-Sundering we suddenly have Hydaelyn give some people a goddess-assigned fursona. And that’s coming from someone who previously played a Hyur, for the record!

But just like how magic focused on the elements specifically instead of the broader strokes, I decided that in ancient times there would be one term for the different tribes. I tried to handwave the shades away with making the region around Amaurot the ancestral home of proto-Hyurs… and then only had one of them in the party. Oops!

Overall, my thought process was to address the weird lore bit that apparently interracial relationships are frowned upon in Eorzea. I mostly wanted to… not… have that apply for ancient times because it’s fucking weird. Not gonna call it anything other than that.

From there, it was as simple as… naming everything and everyone, giving them a place they come from, and… oh god I wrote so much stuff that never came up just so it stayed internally consistent y’all, I almost don’t want to talk about it.

The main notes on that are in Astral Scions, Umbral Sinners I, but to recap:

Hyurs were Amaurotines

Elezen were Atlanteans

Miqo’te were Children of Sirius

Lalafell were Saronian Marchers (Saro)

Roegadyn were the Galg

Viera were Lunarians

Hrothgar were the Watchers

Au Ra were white-scaled Steelhearts and black-scaled Flareseekers; formerly the Volcana

Specifically the Au Ra have a lot of background history that gets mentioned due to Lahabrea being a Flareseeker. Long story. Too long for this already long post.

Speaking of Lahabrea, though; there was rhyme and reason behind why the Ascians were what they were.

Lahabrea (Flareseeker+Amaurotine) is a renowned scholar who also is something of a social outcast both in Amaurot due to his Flareseeker heritage and in Bodhum due to his Amaurotine heritage, which leads to him being quite hard to deal with thanks to bad experiences way in the past

Elidibus (Child of Sirius+Saronian Marcher) is both very quiet and observant and still relies on company if not community and is rather lost without the support of those he deems his family

Emet-Selch (Amaurotine) is the one who misses home the fiercest out of all of them because that’s where his family and he always belonged, that’s where everyone he ever loved was

Hythlodaeus (Atlantean+Amaurotine-Lunarian) feels all over the place and cuts out his paternal home under the waves and his maternal home high above ground to find his own home

Venat (Amaurotine+Lunarian) grew up on her father’s stories about how the star looks from the Floating City of Babil and wanted the more grounded people of her home to see that as well

Another fun thing about ancient times was the fact that I could do whatever I want. It’s not that glaringly obvious with their names, but when it comes to their cities and settlements in general, I got to go a bit wild with it.

And with “wild” I mean I had some fun picking settlement names across the Final Fantasy series. I hope people who know the series a bit outside of XIV itself had some fun with the interludes; I know I had a lot of fun with it. I think if I had to pick a favourite it’d be the Floating City of Babil, the underground city Insomnia, and Archades on the mountains by the sea.

Again, I think having everything, apparently, be Ancient Greek Mythology is… stifling. I admit that even in my more canon-compliant other works I struggle with it. There’s a lot of myths to draw inspiration from; I for one would’ve loved Hermes to deal with a mfing Wolpertinger. Creature of all time.

But… at that point I was writing two different drafts. One where Unukalhai joined shortly before Hythlodaeus as POV character (which also was a joke about the darkness-aligned character joining before the light-aligned one because darkness is active), and one where he remained a non-POV but important character. Kind of similar to what Minfilia became after she was saved! It was the same for both of them up until he joined the party for good.

If I had gone with 7 POV characters instead of my full party set-up, there was a bit of an act dedicated to unravelling his feelings on this nonsense. Specifically a non-POV Unukalhai wouldn’t have spent as much time with everyone else and would have gone down a different mental rabbit hole of eventually struggling with not being able to get his revenge on Igeyorhm while also starting to feel like a replacement heist from an alternate timeline self is extremely creepy considering how the “heroes” of the Void all changed until they were effectively replaced by alternate versions of themselves. He’d have tagged along for Meteor’s Regula mission and would have gotten to hear their version of the replacement heist after they escape from Garlemald together. (Meteor taking over this timeline’s version of themself grew much less important overall as the drafting continued, so it never really came up again beyond Titan where the alternate self died during Living Dead).

After that Unukalhai would have mellowed out a bit until he would join the Ascians and Cylva on the First to deal with the Flood of Light. That would’ve been the last of him until the part where Meteor and G’raha come to the Empty.

Overall, a non-POV Unukalhai would have been less gloomy but also would have been a completely different beast. He remains fairly introspective and reclusive across both drafts, but the reclusion gets the better of him as non-POV character.

The setting itself was also becoming rather rigid—part of having so many things set in stone while adding more and more. It would be extraordinarily hard to integrate whatever canon proceeded with. I couldn’t add or remove characters because that led to a ripple effect throughout the whole plot, and the ending was admittedly the first thing I decided on after I got the idea for the premise. It was the only thing I couldn’t negotiate myself out of.

I can work with that! I’ve worked with that before!

But unlike previous longfics, something about TTAU felt daunting in ways I couldn’t articulate at any point. Still can’t. I guess I just really wanted it to be everything I’d want to read at any given time, and I really am my own harshest critic. Great going, Ms aethercurrent née vanitaslaughing, now you’ve made yourself anxious about disappointing the target audience (yourself).

I also struggled with not only making it fun for me but also for readers; I wouldn’t have posted it if I didn’t want to share it with people. I hope I did a good job in the end, but really I can only speak for myself here. If you read it, even partially, I hope you at least had some measure of fun before you dropped that absolute behemoth of a fic, and if you finished it entirely there are no words in either language I speak to convey how happy I am that my silly big baby entertained you to stick through with it until the end.

I eventually reached a point where more and more details were starting to form that were needed to keep things straight while probably never coming up.

Every member of the Convocation before the Sundering has a name and was assigned a race. Most of them are mentioned in an Interlude, but in most cases there’s some sort of underlying joke to them. Similarly all of them received titles similar to Speaker, Emissary, Architect, Seer; I attempted to keep it somewhat balanced and/or in line with a fantasy government. Messenger Mitron and Listener Loghrif sound a bit redundant with the Emissary Elidibus around, but those two specifically mostly stick to Amaurot and the more immediate surrounding settlements—specifically calling back to that one city mentioned in the sidequests in Amaurot where you deal with the debating shades. Something akin to a national relations minister, an international relations minister, and one specifically for the neighbouring countries.

At around that time the Twelve were also decided to be actual genuine deities of the star. A bit of inspiration comes from Sailor Moon (nothing concretely 100% similar, but the Twelve are effectively the star’s Sailor Scouts who also have the ability to become a new small system if they decide to leave), but I mostly just wanted them to be, y’know. Gods. Coming back to the issue I have with canon going “everything’s Amaurot”, I can’t say I love how the Twelve are in canon but I do adore them as characters. It made me choosing Menphina as the one to speak with the group all the more sweeter since I think out of all of them she’s my favourite design-wise.

There was also the thing with the Seer position that needed to be tackled at this point. I’m morbidly fascinated by characters who know the story they’re in but can’t do much to influence it because they can only tell what path they’re on depending on the ending.

I think the biggest struggle especially towards the end was the fact that I often drafted at least two possible POVs for a chapter. I often went in expecting to write one POV, got stuck irreversibly on it somehow, steamrolled the whole thing, and wrote out the other draft. I’ve cannibalised previous drafts into complete rewrites of the same POV a lot more than you’d think I have. And I only save a copy of a chapter that reached a certain word threshold or if there’s something integral written to a degree I like.

One of the worst offenders of the bunch was Chapter 78… which became Chapter 79 when I posted it. Yeah. It got so bad and frustrating that I had to make dealing with Hythlodaeus future me’s problem. Thankfully it didn’t cut too much into the pacing thanks to Act XI being extremely slow due to how introspective it was.

In the earlier days one of the other struggles was formatting. Something about my documents went haywire when pasted, leading to endless strings of completely superfluous <spans> that added strange spacing issues between all that mess. It was something that my older works struggled with too, which became a non-issue over the years (thankfully. I shudder thinking about possibly having to deal with that issue while already spending 48 hours formatting Eden Rewrite correctly).

The documents just eventually started to bug out because they were so damned long. I never expected them to be in one, but I have five documents holding all of this fic. It’s rather funny to see four chilling and the fifth on top with a 00 as its first characters in the document title so I see it first.

It's... really bittersweet to remove that 00 and seeing them all together now.

That's... about it for the fic as it was posted there. Whether you read the fic or just read this post, once again: thank you.

Thank you for sticking with me for six years, or for reading about the earliest of these six years!

~

For those who remember at a certain point I was considering overhauling the fic and implementing canon from Endwalker at that time, there's a bit more post to go specifically relating to that idea!

You’d think I’d struggle with keeping the canon characters and the fanfiction versions apart as someone who prefers staying canon compliant, but over the years those guys became their own beasts. Ophion could never have been Themis, but why would I want them to be the same? I needed Ophion for this fic to work, after all.

A lot, and I mean a metric shitton of stuff, breaks and changes there. It’s been a fun thought experiment at the very least. I’ll be the first one to admit that I don’t like the Warrior of Light being a reincarnation of Azem’s sundered soul; I just like them being a nobody with no preconceived notion that they’re bound to adventure no matter what because that’s what their soul always did… but Hythlodaeus likewise can’t replace them in that case.

The solution to that first massive hurdle? I suck up the Azem thing, and instead of an Unsundered Hythlodaeus, the one that joins the party is the Shade. His plot stays surprisingly intact through all of that, but instead of dealing with forced indecisiveness it becomes more of a plot about identity and what to do when you’re a creation on the path to freeing the real deal you were based on.

Out of all of them, Lahabrea changes surprisingly little—I wrote him like a stern father to Igeyorhm in this, and you can mostly mix and match a lot of that onto Erichthonios. Instead of dealing with her ascensions and the fact that she needed to be taken out, Lahabrea gets to see his son reincarnate and die over and over again.

Honestly? I could even keep the dual Elidibus approach. Instead of Ophion (the previous one’s student) and Rafael (the Zodiark sacrifice), it would be Elidibus (the Heart of Zodiark) and Themis (the rest of the Heart still remaining with Zodiark). There would be a lot of overlap with the Shade here but in the end the Shade and Hythlodaeus would exist independently from one another while the Heart of Zodiark reunites and becomes Themis again.

I think the parts where I would have to genuinely start rewriting it entirely is where to integrate canon Venat over TTAU Venat and the Endsinger. TTAU Venat is a lot more mellow than canon Venat—a shitty mother but an excellent politician versus canon’s all-loving hero with an understanding of but no love lost for politics. The Meteia as a villain are a lot less vague and distant than the Star Itself. Instead of a journey to the innermost reaches it’s to the edge of the universe. Doable, yes, but marginally harder to do. Honestly, thinking about it as I’m writing this, I think I would have to do an arc where at least Meteor if not all Sundered go to Elpis in the past to learn something while the Unsundered+Shade remain in the present to deal with the Final Days…?

Actually, let’s tackle the characters one by one in a canon-adjusted remake.

This would be assuming that there is inter-shard travel so the starting group would still be Meteor, Ryne, and G’raha. The one major major change would be that instead of Elidibus the “Ancient” to go with them would be the Shade.

Meteor would change the least. They don’t care about being Alexis, they don’t care about being Azem either. They’re one of a handful children of a farmer family in La Noscea, not some sort of government freak from ancient times long before they were ever born. They didn’t start travelling because their soul told them to after they got the Echo, they started travelling because they damn well wanted to after seeing the Calamity, get outta here with that “Azem” nonsense.

In an Elpis episode they would do the opening section for the most part. Not much else to say here.

G’raha would be a lot more cheerful once the initial horror stage of travelling through time to prevent the end of the world again faded. He’d still have his struggles with the idea of possibly letting down the future Ironworks and being arguably the least experienced in the adventuring department.

In an Elpis episode, G’raha would likely be the one to deal with Venat overall. She’d be the perfect foil to him; an experienced traveller to his inexperienced adventurer. They’re both old but he’s barely a blip on her lifespan. They’re both incredibly determined to find the reason for why this is happening.

Ryne would feel a bit more resentment towards Ascians in general at that point. Other than that, her struggle was always being the odd one out amongst the Sundered, about being face to face with the woman she was named after and seeing why that woman was so beloved. About finding her own niche and staying there, no matter the people she loses.

I think out of all of the Sundered in a possible back-in-time-again Elpis episode, she would be the one to sympathise the most with Hermes despite also possibly interacting with him the least; she would likely lead the charge right before Ktisis Hyperboreia and her plot in Elpis would mostly be about travelling treacherous foreign terrain just the way Thancred taught her.

Unukalhai’s a bit of an odd case. After all there’s still two drafts, one where he joins the party as main POV character, and one where he becomes something along the lines of TTAU Minfilia. In a rework of that, I’d have to apply a lot of the Void lore since revealed to him, which makes him go from an odd case to an even odder case. He’d… either possibly involuntarily make Azdaja’s predicament worse, or free her before Endwalker happens but she loses her memories and becomes his cool new partner in crime until a completely flabbergasted Vrtra has to drop the facade immediately because no one told him a thrice-damned Warrior of Light had his sister tagging along what the fuck.

The hypothetical Elpis Episode would have a POV Unukalhai likely be the one to help Meteion get a gift for Hermes. His already intense internal hatred coming to the surface to turn a flower from bright white to darkest shadow, mirroring what happened with Hermes and the flowers in the past? Yeah. That’s the good shit.

In a non-POV case he’d stick with the Scions to help deal with the Final Days and his section of the story most likely would have gone to Ryne.

Ophion would likely still be a soul in Zodiark. Other than that, he’s not relevant.

Themis or the Heart of Zodiark… wouldn’t necessarily be the first one to join them. Actually, I think he’d be the last one. Immovable object without memories meets unstoppable force that draws in his allies. Overall he would be a lot colder on account of having no memories, and be rather fiercely protective of the other Unsundered for reasons he cannot recall. He’d make for an excellent diplomat, but it would likewise lead straight into his greatest vice: vague, foggy memories of something other other that might float up to the surface on occasion. Claudien would be an extremely weak spot for him, except unlike Lahabrea in the same position, Themis cannot tell how or why he’s reacting like that.

While the Sundered are off for their Episode Elpis, Themis would likely scour through the Crystal Tower to find a way to interact with the him from the timeline the others came from.

Emet-Selch would be the first legitimate Ascian to “join” their cause.

Mostly out of morbid curiosity, partially because he wants to figure out how in the name of all good graces a recreation of Hythlodaeus with sentience so advanced it can be deadpan sarcastic and have an identity crisis is with there, and it’s driving him just a bit insane. He’d actually be a lot more antagonistic as a result, and he’d be the one mostly bemoaning the Sundered and how Meteor is a disgrace to Azem early on until they have enough of his nonsense and beat him up. That would serve the purpose of actually confirming that they have the strength to kill an alternate timeline version of Emet-Selch and he mellows out a bit. Not much. Just a bit.

Overall he’d be a lot more prickly—which makes for an interesting switch when during the Final Days on the Source he very swiftly drops the antagonism. It’s a bit of a “been there, done that” attitude but since the star itself is in danger he has surprisingly few qualms about saving a few Sundered while he’s at it.

Lahabrea wouldn’t change much like I said, though there would be a lot more ruthlessness behind anything and everything he does. He’s willing to walk over corpses no matter what instead of calming down a little on that once he’s been thoroughly humbled (and untempered).

He’d also be a bit more strangely sentimental internally around Minfilia specifically; he already compares her to Igeyorhm a few times in TTAU proper but in a canon-compliant rewrite the comparison point would be Erichthonios. No matter how ruthless he is, at the end of Pandæmonium he and Erichthonios started the long journey of making up, and Minfilia reminds him of Erichthonios’s best qualities in a quite haunting way. They’re both tenacious and care about everything and everyone from the bystander to the one causing the mess… except Minfilia is a bit more spicy and willing to speak her mind. He wouldn’t be as fond of her by the end, but he’d still accept her terms and teach her.

Lahabrea during the Final Days would likely be recruited by Urianger and the Loporrits as additional quality control.

I’ve gone over the Hyth Shade, but the endgame there would be essentially affirming that he is as much a person as the Sundered are. Sure, he may have been someone else’s creation but that doesn’t make him any less a person on this star, not to mention he was one of the time travellers.

The real Hythlodaeus also would’ve been rather delighted to have an identical twin, and one who’s fighting against the Final Days no less.

Can’t go into too much detail otherwise, since this canon compliant version never quite left the drafting phases for obvious reasons. He’s the one character who more reacted to the plot than being the one to move it along, and without the plot there isn’t much to say.

He’d have stayed behind to deal with the Final Days, and he’d likely have been one of the first to go to Garlemald when news of the skies changing there broke.

The one major departure from canon would be that Zodiark and Hydaelyn aren’t fully slain—Zodiark specifically it put under a complete stasis spell in the middle of unravelling, but that breaks the protective shroud He has over Etheirys and the Final Days start happening again. Hydaelyn created meticulous seals and mechanisms to ensure that despite being bound the protective shroud remains, but under full stasis and while the whole thing is falling apart…

(Hyth Shade was the one to suggest it to the Watcher, Elidibus, and Emet-Selch as an absolute last resort. None of them really wanted Zodiark to suffer; the main goal still remains to bring back those Ancients should it prove possible).

All issues with how wonky and not finished that is aside, I’d also get a lot of extremely fun things to explore. Jullus already is one of my favourite characters introduced in Endwalker, but having him tell his story to Emet-Selch would be super interesting. There’s knowing what you’re doing, and there’s coming face to face with it, and that would genuinely be super cool to do.

Then there’d be the whole Heart of Sabik business—I’d unironically love for that whole mess to unfold with the real Lahabrea and Elidibus there while there’s memory-creations Erichthonios and Themis there as well. That would be absolutely chaotic on top of Athena also being there. Atrocious vibes, ten out of ten.

Likewise, Ryne and Vrtra would also be an interesting pair of characters to interact; they’re both the youngest siblings (of a sort in Ryne’s case), they’re both intensely protective of the people they care about, and they couldn’t bring themselves to hurt those they love even if it were absolutely necessary until someone else confirmed that this was the only way. There’s also that loss of family (Azdaja missing, Ratatoskr/Bahamut/Nidhogg dead; the whole abandoned timeline) that would have them interact in a neat way too, they’re quite similar to each other.

Unukalhai and Zero. She’s effectively everything he was said to be and they both failed. There’d be an interesting dynamic between them because of that—even if getting Zero in on the plot would be rather hard. Unukalhai would definitely try and sympathise with Zenos’s voidsent and maybe try to get them to abandon their master, and through that realise that she might not be there entirely willingly.

But overall, the hardest character to implement would be the Meteia. There’s eight main characters and there’s eight different opinions on this mess, ranging from intensely sympathetic and willing to rebuild burnt bridges (Ryne, Meteor, Hyth Shade, Elidibus if he regains his memories before Ultima Thule), apathetic despite how high the stakes are (Unukalhai, Elidibus if he doesn’t regain his memories), different levels of less sympathetic (Lahabrea, Emet-Selch), and the option where G’raha has such intense issues with being not overly sympathetic and having no sympathy at all that his understanding of the situation is wildly out of control until the very end.

Having worked with them as both individuals and as a hivemind in a couple writing exercises, I honestly would have had a Meteion for every main character, and give all eight of them a proper story on top of what’s already going on there. Narrative foils that lead both parties to Ultima Thule.

Putting that one lightly: that would’ve been a goddamn motherfucking nightmare to write. Fun, but a nightmare.

And that's a lot coming out of Ms Almost Half a Million Words Across Six Years.

[fictoculus]

౨ৎ a peek into their camera roll...

send a request!┊masterlist┊taglist applications

FEAT... itto

A/N... i'm planning to do this with more characters in the future, so lmk who's camera roll you'd like to see next!

✧ first and foremost, it wouldn't be itto's camera roll if it didn't have beetles! (he loves you more than beetles though, not to worry) there are beetles fighting, beetles on rocks, beetles on trees, beetles sleeping, beetles eating, even a beetle on his head, oh and a beetle on ushi. speaking of ushi, there are quite a few photos of him too, most of which when he's asleep or cheering itto on in his... courageous beetle battles.

✧ now that's over and done with, it's time to get to the more interesting photos, don't let him hear you say that though, you'll never hear the end of it.

✧ he has countless photos of you, probably hundreds, maybe even thousands, it's impossible to tell. initially, he had a folder named "my numero two-no", which he soon gave up on after returning home from your second date with 87 photos of you (and some of him too, his is numeru uno after all). let me share with you some of his favourites...

✧ a photo of him giving you a piggy back ride; his most prized possession. he misses you? he'll look at that photo. you're sad? well you're smiling now, because he's just sent you that photo. it's his home screen, his lock screen, his profile picture on almost every social media account he owns - the list goes on and on. shinobu is genuinely sick to death of that photo, and (mentally) retches every time she sees it.

✧ a photo he asked some passers-by to take of the two of you infront of the naganohara fireworks show, his right arm wrapped around your waist and pulling you close, his left hand holding up the peace sign. his smile is almost as bright as the fireworks themselves, lighting up your heart every time you look back on it. you're to the left of itto, also holding up the peace sign, but reaching up your other hand to hold his chin, squeezing his cheeks ever so slightly. he always says he looks silly, but you think he looks absolutely adorable and (of course) very, very handsome.

✧ last but not least, a series of photos showcasing the pair of you chasing each other around in an empty field. said photos were taken by genta (one of the arataki gang members), and not a single one of them is clear. scroll fast enough and it becomes a very blurry stop motion video of a beautiful couple chasing eachother lovingly through a romantic field of greenery... or atleast that's how genta put it. it was undeniably a complete mess, but the pair of you loved them nonetheless, and have laughed at them a hundred times over, itto's face mere moments before he loses his footing never failing to amuse you.

✧ anyone could tell from this man's camera roll alone that he absolutely adores you; the way his eyes shine whenever he scrolls onto a picture of you giving it away, whether you're beaming at the camera or pouting at itto, who was smirking back at you with a smug expression.

✧ there's a video that you don't even know about, but the oni finds himself watching over and over. it was taken, unsurprisingly, by the gang members from the perspective of a bush... can you see where this is going? once the camera is finally wiped clean and starts to focus, you come into frame, seemingly returning from a visit to the bathroom. it's crystal clear when and where this was recorded: yours and itto's first date. only after the 6 minute mark do things start to get interesting, the harsh muttering and whispered bickering silencing as itto leans over the table, inches away from your face but hesitating to get any closer... until you pull him in by the chin, pouring your entire heart out into this singular kiss. every time he watches it back, his heart skips a beat, remembering how you had been so gentle with him, yet showed him just how much you wanted him. it truly was a magical night.

thanks for reading ♡ want to read more? my requests are OPEN, so please feel free to let me know what you'd like me to write next!

© FICTOCULUS 2023; please do not steal, translate, or repost my works as your own

[fromtenthousandfeet]

The fact that people only talk about Euphoria and still with you for JK but for Jimin every army knows the roster of lie, serendipity, filter and promise. I genuinely do not care which member is the "most famous" because for example currently Sabrina Carpenter is more famous than Olivia Rodrigo but OR will surge up again with her next album release and in the end I enjoy listening to them both. This comparison stuff is idiotic. But I genuinely laugh when people say JK is better than Jimin - because by what measure? Jimin has better songs and has more iconic performances. I guess people could say JK has better vocals but I'm gonna be honest that's highly subjective. It's not like we're dealing with a Beyonce or an Adele here. JK's level of vocals can be found in any SM groups vocalist. I'd say Jimin has the edge with vocal colour and JK's vocals are getting more bland with every passing year (why's his voice on still with you better than anything on golden?) while Jimin's getting better and better with vocal control which was the only area JK had a clear edge over him. Man is coasting by because he's the company favourite and has 11 years of company narrative pitching him as the main character but somehow Jimin's still keeping up with half the tools and half the support.

I suppose JK has a bigger army of femcels who want to f*ck him as fans and loser kpopies are also by his side. Poor Jimin missing out on that demographic of fans - very sad. But JK better hide his girlfriend better in the future because his crazy brood of fans may lose it if he ever decides to get into a public relationship. Ask kth on how quickly your fans turn on you for the cardinal sin of not being single or screwing your bandmate.

Old asks! This one is from August 5th.

Hmm. What to say? I don't like Jungkook's voice. I just don't. I didn't like it in Dynamite, and I don't like it now. When listening to BTS songs I find myself waiting for Jungkook's parts to end. I'm not sure what it is about the quality of his voice that bugs me, but it started long before I lost all respect for him during chapter 2. It feels too forced, maybe? He tries to use power to make up for a lack of emotion? A little too nasal? (Pro tip - address your food sensitivities to clear up your allergic rhinitis). My dream is for someone who is good with Garage Band, or another music app, to put JK and Justin Bieber singing the same notes side by side. I think the difference in quality and tone would be interesting.

I've said this a million times already, but the US is NOT lacking in exceptional singers. This country isn't suffering from a Jungkook deficiency, or a K-pop deficiency for that matter. What made BTS stand out in the first place was their original music and the impressive choreography/performances. Jimin's lovely, clear singing voice (plus the growls) and insane dance skills have always been central to BTS' success. There is definitely a precedent and passion for performers like Jimin, though. We love a good song and dance man!

Based on the few photos I've seen from JK's exhibition in Seoul and the upcoming I am Still, it looks like HYBE is leaning hard into the sex symbol concept. Lots on naked chest and abs. Lots of tatted, pierced bad boy stares. And what else is there? There's no artistry to focus on, unless you're super into his dancing style. I hope that works out for Jungkook and HYBE. Like you said, there's a demographic within the fandom that's completely down with lusting after him. To each her own, I guess.

Jimin will shine no matter what. He has integrity, artistry, sex appeal, and sings with emotion. Don't sweat Jungkook. He'll have his fans, of course, but I don't think he'll ever have the loyal, committed following, let alone the media attention, Jimin naturally attracts. Look no further than the difference in their birthday celebrations in Korea. One is a national holiday, the other is definitely not.

P.S. OMG, I can't wait for Jungkook's girlfriend reveal. A good chunk of the fandom will need psychiatric help.

[saibugslegacy]

Percival Valley Ask Game

Because of my foolishness I am now committed to make these with all my MCs so here we go. Questions by @rypnami

1) if your mc was an animagus, what would their form be? if they are, what is their form?

I genuinely have no idea for Percival. Maybe a horse?

2) if they could choose what animagus form they would take, would it be the same? or would they want to have a different animal form?

Percival would choose to not be an animagus because he has enough to worry about and the process is a lot of work

3) does your mc have a favourite colour? why is it their favourite?

Purple! No reason, he just really likes it. Idris is definitely lucky it's purple though considering his hair is stuck that way

4) in a modern au, would your mc use social media? what would their preferred platform be? why is if their preferred one?

Probably Reddit and Twitter if I'm being honest with myself

5) did you consult wand lore when choosing their wand? if so, why did you pick what you did? if not, would you ever change wand details to match your mc?

I did! Percival has the most main character wand ever: elder wood and phoenix feather. Elder wood is ridiculously powerful and rare, and apparently the users are marked for a “special destiny”. Phoenix feather is mainly to allude to his patronus being a phoenix

6) what is your mc’s diet? are they vegan, vegetarian, do they eat whatever? Why?

He's a fairly picky eater because he has a lot of sensory issues around food but otherwise no special diet

7) what is your mc’s backstory as to why they didn’t join hogwarts until 5th year? or did you retcon that part of the story when creating them?

Percival (and Idris) didnt go to Hogwarts because their father kept sending the letters back with the reply saying his children would not be attending. Then he died and the twins were stuck in an orphanage. Professor Fig personally showed up to tell them about Hogwarts and magic and they decided to go 5th year

8) what house is your mc in? why are they in that house?

Percival is a Ravenclaw because he is a fucking nerd. Kidding, but it's not entirely wrong. He hates not knowing things, he loves answering unanswered questions, and his curiosity is a hust part of him. There are so many times he gets scared and wants to bail on everything, but he stays because he's so curious and refuses to leave the questions unanswered

9) were you inspired by characters from other media when making your mc? if so, which characters? and how did they influence your mc?

Not from media, but Percival was based on one of my old OCs named Julian Athantis

10) does your mc have any special abilities? (legilimens, parsletongue, metamorphagus, etc) how do they choose to use these powers? did you give them powers for fun, or does it relate to their backstory/plot?

Other than the sense that at first he has more Ancient Magic abilities no. Unless a dark curse counts

11) what is your mc’s blood status? how does it affect their time at hogwarts? how does it affect their home life?

They're both half-bloods but it doesn't affect them that much. The most it does is that they were raised muggles and have to try and uncover their father's legacy

12) did your mc open the repository? why or why not?

They did not because they knew they didn't want that much power

13) if your mc opened the repository, how did absorbing all that power affect them, if it did at all?

N/A

14) what does your mc think of the keepers? do they trust them? why or why not?

Percival fucking hates those people. They're hoarding and hiding and even erasing knowledge. But worst is that they are testing and forcing 15 year old children to do their dirty work. A N D they constantly talk down to and about Idris

15) how does your mc’s story continue after 5th year? how do they cope with everything that happened with ranrok, sebastian, etc?

Well I can't spoil that, but I can tell you Percival's curse has a large part to play

16) did your mc learn the unforgivables? why or why not?

No, but he would have had he been given the opportunity because he thinks the limitation of knowledge is absurd

17) did your mc turn in sebastian? why or why not?

He does not. For….reasons :)

18) what is your mc’s family like? do they have siblings? do they still have parents?

They had two parents who were amazing parents and a little sister Annabelle but all three were killed by Ranrok and their father did lie to them their whole lives

19) does your mc have a love interest? who is it? why did your mc fall for that character, if they do have a love interest?

Garreth Weasley! Percy falls for Garreth because he's so…laid back. He's a spot of sunshine and fun when Percival doesn't have it. And he just cares so much about Percival, even thought Percival isn't as fun or sweet as Garreth

20) does your mc have a favourite spell? if so, what is it and why do they like it the most?

If he had to pick one probably the disillusionment charm. He prefers charms over any other type of spell and he prefers being discreet so this spell helps him avoid unnecessary fights

21) if you could change anything that the mc does in the game, what would it be? why would you change it? how would you change it? (ie; a line they say, an event of a quest, things of that nature)

The storyling of the Sallow twins has such a huge impact on the game but nothing comes of it in the end. Whether its curing Anne, not being able to, or even something as simple as knowing how/where the twins end up would be better

22) does your mc have any pets? if so, why do they have the pets they have? and for fun, what are their pets’ names?

Prof. Weasley gets Percival a Eurasian eagle owl over the summer so he can keep in touch with his friends but that's it

23) when designing your mc, why did you choose the appearance you did? has it changed at all since you first made them? would you change anything now?

Honestly I had a pretty clear image of Idris in my mind and even made them first. I just used the same face and shape and such to make Percival then changed his hair, skintone, and scars. I wish I could find a style that was curlier because his hair isn't supposed to be that straight but that one was the closest I could find

24) where is your mc from? where is their family from?

They are scottish on their father's side and South African on their mother's

25) what is your mc’s favourite season? why is it their favourite?

Summer, he loves being able to sit outside and read without it being too cold or rainy

26) how about your mc’s favourite holiday? what makes it special to them?

He doesn't particularly care for holidays anymore but he used to love his and Idris’ birthday

27) if your mc wasn’t in their current house, where would they have been sorted? why do you think they’d be there?

Gryffindor. Percival wants absolutely nothing to do with Ancient Magic and goblins and poachers. In fact he's terrified of all of the above. But every time he squares his shoulders and does it anyway. That screams bravery to me.

28) does your mc have a favourite childhood toy? if so, what was it? do they still have it with them?

He has a bracelet that a little baby Idris made him that he doesnt wear anymore because hes so scared to lose it

29) what kind of music would your mc like? is there a reason?

Im sorry but Percival would adore Taylor Swift. He likes lyrics and hed like fun pop songs so Taylor is the best bet

30) last but not least, just tell us something you love about your mc!

I loooove that his hair is purple. Something about having a character in the 1800s with colored hair makes me excited

[literalite]

I remember you saying you liked young justice so I wanted to know who's your favourite character or the one you think is most like you? I've been attached by the hip to this show since I was 13 so I'm a little... not normal about it lol.

also opinions on s3?

YES oh my god it was like formative media for me genuinely and i still love yj dearly i was rewatching it like last month actually along with yaboyroshi's reactions to it 😅 we are both a little not normal about this show dw 🤝🏼 im putting the rest of this under a cut because i start Yapping

my fave characters were dick, artemis, jaime, bart, and zatanna! dick i was Obsessed with from the moment i laid eyes on him in hindsight for gender reasons, probably but artemis always meant a huge deal to me as a kid because she was like the only vietnamese character (and with a skintone like mine!) that i'd ever seen on a screen. i loved everything about jaime's character and personality and arc and i had a really soft spot for bart because characters who are very outwardly upbeat and fun but are going through a lot of shit and hiding it are my favourites ever usually 😅. i also liked rlly them as a duo. zatanna's sort of cool-girl sass was always really fun to see and i think especially in s4 where her sort of less-rigid morality had more room to shine, really made me appreciate her character more. OH also when they introduced cassandra wu-san/orphan in s3 i like literally cheered out loud 😭 shes one of my fave characters from dc comics in general, so i was already biased towards her and i really liked her depiction and the room they made for her arc

i'm actually not sure which character is the most like me... i think because i watched it so young a lot of the characters kind of made their way into my personality in one way or another. i think irl im most like dick but it could be wishful thinking 😅 i'm not as cool as he is for sure

season three.... i'm kind of on the fence about it? i will say though i think it was a little rough with the dialogue especially, and i definitely didn't bond as well with the outsiders as i did with the original team and then the s2 cast. violet was the most likeable of the group by far but i think i was really put off by the fact that they kept killing them 💀 like i get that you guys can do this now with the higher rating but there are better ways to show off your newfound creative freedom than repeatedly brutally killing them. it was offset with the majority of the other characters suffering from basically no visible injuries too- if they'd been hit with bruises or scrapes or broken bones or ANYTHING and reduced the harm dealt to vi then i would've been less urgh by it.

i also wish they'd introduced victor a bit earlier into the season instead of spending sooo much time with brion because cyborg's story felt a little tacked on at the end, and um i was annoyed by brion from the jump 😭😭 tried so hard to sympathise with him because to be fair he went through a Lot but he just kept being such an aggressive ass to like everyone. which i guess was the point.. didn't make it any more fun to watch though.

i do like that they kept with the huge mass of entangled threads of the plot that were to me the hallmarks of the earlier seasons, picking apart scenes to try and work out how things interconnect was always my favourite part. i think the cast of the show at this point for what they were trying to do and focus on may have exceeded the show's bounds though- it was still a compelling narrative but i imagine for a casual watcher who isnt as meticulously invested in who is who and can recognise adaptations of arcs from the comics it can get very confusing or frustrating. its hard because i Love the og cast too but i think with s3 they couldn't decide on letting them go or letting their new characters shine and it ended up muddying the waters a bit, with the outsiders suffering the most from it due to no nostalgia or prior narrative heft to keep them from looking secondary to the original members of the team.

with s4 they chose to throw their lot behind the old team, which i appreciated and it neatened the rough edges of the show more, but i do still miss the s2 cast quite badly so i actually kind of wish they'd kept expanding the cast but just narrowed focus onto the new characters for every season. the title of the show is young justice, so i personally would've liked to keep seeing a focus on the newer and rising heroes of each successive generation as opposed to returning again and again to the originals

sorry that this is such a wall of text 😅 but i think this is one of the shows that i could genuinely just like sit and talk about for ages and ages... even the characters i dont like at all have a fair amount of gravity and heft to them that i love. wally is still alive btw i will never stop believing 😤 get that man out of the speed force!

[rubywolf0201]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, games, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks...

Oh for sure. I’ll tell you my list of favourite characters from the media that I consume:

1.) Matakara Asamine (BUCCHIGIRI?!)- It is no secret that ever since this anime aired, he has become one of my top fav anime character. Character-wise, I love how he is the sunshine puppy childhood friend character but with some depth like dealing with inner demons regarding his lonely past and insecurities and it kind of goes to show that Mata is not your typical cheerful sunny character as he underwent a corruption arc back in Episode 9.

2.) Diamant (Fire Emblem Engage)- I’m pretty sure if you guys have scoured through my art blogs on my second art account and Twitter, you would realize I tend to draw fanart of him all the time. But as for why I like him. I like how he genuinely tried to reach out people outside of his kingdom that doesn’t need to involve war and bloodshed. He only gets angry/resort to violence if his loved ones or people closest to him are targeted (like the Morion incident) and that he also has major insecurities involving his duties as the Crown Prince. Oh and he also has a funny side to him like laughing at the most corniest joke that his retainer Amber has done. Oh and his relationship with Alcryst and Citrinne are the best too.

3.) Princess Peach (Super Mario Bros)- Gonna throw in some women in my list because it ain’t fair if I talk about hot dudes all the time but really I’ve been playing Peach’s second solo game since yesterday and I’m instantly in love with it. Now as for her character, she is a darling. She can be baking a cake one day, doing her royal duties another day or just go out and have fun with Mario and friends. But really, Peach is Nintendo’s most iconic female character of all time due to how she showcases that being girly and being badass aren’t mutually exclusive and that they can go hand to hand (Amy Rose is of similar vein too as well) and that whilst a pacifist, she won’t hesitate to get her hands dirty.

4.) Tooru Kirishima (The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting)- If anyone from 2022 has remembered how much I talk about this man, then yeah. Anyways, I just love how despite being an extremely violent yakuza enforcer, he’s actually a kind, quiet and socially awkward man but can be a bit of a tease towards his closest friends and family (have you seen the man interacting with the mum’s in Yaeka’s school?). His relationship with Yaeka started out awkward at first but over time, you see them geniunely bonding with one another. But that being said, it’s not best if you get to his super scary side if you piss him off more than once. Also, I have a weakness for scary men (sometimes women) with a heart of gold to them. He’s my silly little meow meow

5.) Takina Inoue (Lycoris Recoil)- I got into the anime pretty late last year despite being released alongside The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting in the Summer 2022 anime lineup but yeah I love Takina. She originally started out as a cold and ruthless girl who follows orders to a tee without being aware of the dangers she posed but after meeting Chisato, her worldview changed for the better in that she became a much kinder person than the cold hearted assassin she was before. She can be slightly awkward with her interactions, a bit straight faced with embarrassing things but that doesn’t hide the fact that she can and WILL kill for her loved ones if they’re in any danger (she’s basically a female Kirishima lol). Oh and I love her voice actresses performance so that’s why she is my fav. (Tho if you ask me who I like more, it’s Xanthe)

6.) Penny (Pokèmon Scarlet and Violet)- Penny is one of the Pokèrivals I just vibe and relate with because like her, I’m a huge nerd when it comes to anime that I like and we are also introverts too. She is blunt and rude yes but she’s a child who is capable of growing, as shown in the DLC epilogue where she began to take notice of how Arlan pointed out that her dad cares for her and that unlike him, she at least have families who love and care for her. (Oh and she has a party full of Eeveelutions, what’s not to love?) Oh and I recommend checking out her storyline because it’s amazing.

7.) Kiyoshi Teppei (Kuroko’s Basketball)- Like with Kirishima, I was also constantly crazy about this lil guy back in 2021-2022. Now I know he was introduced pretty late in Season 1 out of nowhere with no buildup, but he quickly became one of my favs because of how he is a teddy bear personified, can be a little dumb and unaware of the things he do but all he wanted to do is just have fun. Oh and he can display a selfish side if his friends are in any danger (Kirisaki game arc). His chemistry with literally anyone in the Seirin team is just too good but I like the ones with Hyuuga cuz you can te the VA’s are clearly having fun with voicing them.

8.) Souma Shiki (Play it Cool Guys)- Out of all the five main guys, I identify with Souma the most and the reason why is that like him, I’m trying to find things that I enjoy the most but sometimes feel insecure about it as well. The way he just laughs is just too plain adorable and his chemistry with the main cast, especially the ones with Shun is mostly enjoyable. Definetely one of my favs.

9.) Mitsumi Iwakura (Skip and Loafer)- Something that me like Mistumi is that out of all the female main characters that I have seen so far is just how confident, ambitious and reassured she is. Sure, Mitsu makes some mistakes here and there but it’s justified in that she’s moving to an environment that she’s completely unfamiliar with but still she tries her best with the things said environment provides her. Oh and any scene with her is just so enjoyable because of how endearingly innocent and awkward she is and that she is also trying her best in what she’s doing.

10.) Jing Yuan (Honkai Star Rail)- Listen I know that prior to being “fixed” in later updates, many ppl aren’t too keen in using him due to how his gameplay style wasn’t really the best and how other Lightining damage dealers like Kafka and Serval beats him. But I hardly saw anyone talked about his character so here I am. I think what made me fascinated about Jing Yuan’s character is that even if he appears to be slovenly and sleepy looking all the time, he is pretty shrewd and calculating when the situation calls for it. He is also a pretty nice guy and that despite having deep issues with his former comrades in the Cloud Quintet, he tries his best to stay strong as possible to the point of being self-sacrificial. That and he is one of my “Not Gay BUT-” type of characters.

[randomnameless]

To continue the woobified view of the Elites and my comparison of them to the Black Eagles :

Same for me regarding the BE, especially because they also literally fought Edelgard's troops in WC when you choose their house, and even if you don't, they definitely still would know that Edelgard dus nasty shits in WC.

The idea that media literacy is dead is quite fitting, because the idea that even rotten persons have loved ones/that having loved ones doesn't mean you're not rotten is a known thing, yet the Eagles and elites get a pass solely because "they genuinely believe in the cause" and "they love and care for each other"

Probably Fraldarius was as devoted to Nemesis as Ingrid to Dimitri, Lamine very well may have been as sassy as Dorothea, perhaps Goneril was as brave and endearing as Caspar, or Maurice was as loyal to his clan's interests as Petra to Brigid's happiness (through a strong bond to the Empire) but like the BE, they are butchers, who relished in the destruction of everything those against them hold dear, lap dogs and rabid curs of someone they definitely know have crushed innocents and scorn the very idea of peace except under their domination.

The only meaningful difference between Edelgard-following BE and the elites is that we can know more about the BE and we are forced to dislike cutting them down even as they refuse to let northern Fódlan alone.

Honestly I need a fanfiction where the BE are called out for that bullshit.

Yep!

That's the tone deaf feeling I got from Nopes, the Deers are hunting someone bcs their leader wants her dead for no reason, but Raph only comments on how hungry he is.

Uh, sure Raph, you're not the most thoughtful character in there, but come on? Some commentary or exposition on what you're doing? Hello KT? Can we have characters be challenged or even react to the events of screen instead of wondering what's for dinner/teatime?

No??

I wouldn't say it's an issue of media litteracy being dead, but more something in the lines of people being more and more "all or nothing" nowadays, without any nuance and conflating liking a character with the idea/image that might project on you : if I like ASOIAF's Cersei, I don't think everything she does is "justified", but modern fandom, I feel like some people would categorize you as a "good" or "bad" person based on the characters you like, and it's just... not what fandom is or was supposed to be imo, I'm here to nerd and gush about favourite characters, not write litteral essays about the Geneva Convention.

Corollary is what, imo, made the Fodlan fandom hell : some people really take "criticism" against a character personally - sure the way FE16 was written invites projection, but at the end of the day, making a Berning Fire Joke is, just, making a joke about a bunch of pixels, nothing more.

Back to the BEs, they can have a sense of camaraderie and genuinely support each other... as they tear apart "people because Supreme Leader told me to" and fight side by side with Bob the Carpented who was turned into Waldi the demonic beast.

Ferdie can skewer Flayn on her father's lance because she is "a creature that has plagued humanity for ages" even if they reached a C support before shit hit the fan - and still protect Mercedes and Bernie from their abusing Fathers. Does that make him a great guy? A nuanced guy?

I think the trope is called "even evil people have loved ones" or something like that?

I don't think so, but he is no random one note villain sycophant either - now, what is the more annoying with the Fodlan games is how this dichotomy is never called upon : everything is just a giant blob or Hresvelg Grey ("morally grey" but only applied to Supreme Leader) where no one really is angry at her, and all the "sacrifices" she's making are off-screen while the characters on-screen always moan about her "ReFoRmS" and "IdEaLs" without talking about the cost bar some milquetoast "but war bad". And no one, in the game, will ever throw this hypocrisy to their face - Gallant Ferdinand will dream about the Opera as he wipes off the blood of a young woman who just wanted to return to the only home she had.

Yay.

FWIW, some mutuals and I have nothing but pure lols about Doro's line in the non-CF routes being "we killed Ferdie professor :'(" because, hey, why should I care more about Ferdie than about random loldier 55 ? Rhea? Felix? Claude? Ignatz?

Maybe the Elites were really friends and became """"nice""" persons with time, to their families and loved ones ?

Does this magically erase what they did before? Will that "good" they did erase all the "wrongs" they have previously done? Will theyr forever escape the consequences of their actions?

In a game that depicts Flamey as a terrorist for 11 chapters only to drop that plot point by the window to moan, again, about her "IdEaLs", "consequences" are maybe something you can eat as a snack, or throw in a trashcan.

So following the rules of this verse, given how Supreme Leader never receives flak for her Flamey stunts, why should the Elites receive any for what they did? Look, Maurice calls Daphnel his friend, surely he is not that bad of a man? Well yeah, he might have seduced women and planted a lot of wild oats here'n'there, but he cares about his friends!

Jeritza likes ice creams and cats! Surely it's more important to paint him as a cat lover than to deal with all the consequences of his stunt as the Death Knight, kidnapping and implied rekting young woman while he was in GM, under Flamey's orders, right?

Calling it now, after eviscerating Seteth's older brother, Goneril might have melted in front of one of Rhea's kittens, and adopted the cat asap. Surely that makes Goneril a "good" character right? And forget the entire "genocided a bunch of hippies living isolated in their village" stuff?

I don't have fanfics recs where the BEs are called hypocrites, but I confess I don't read a lot of fanfics in the FE16 fandom because of all of the aforementioned issues.

[menequillo]

In honour of Henry Kissinger dying I wanted to share my favourite fictional villains all of which are a lot less bad than Henry.

#10 Arthur Edwards from Hitman World of assassination.

He's cold calculated and a very strong presence in the trilogy.

#9 Firelord Ozai From Avatar The Last Airbender

Hate this guy so much I'm so glad he's gone. Child abusing monster.

#8 Piter de Vries from Dune.

He's a pain obsessed incredibly rapey guy and I can't stand him.

#7 Nox from Wakfu

This guy has one of the coolest character designs ever made. I also love his voice and he gave kid me a lot of nightmares.

#6 Anton Chigurh From no country for old men

This guy scares the fuck out of me.

#5 Micah bell From red dead redemption 2

I hate hate hate him so so much! I was genuinely so glad when he died. He is really well written tho

#4 Yoshikage Kira From JoJo's bizarre adventure part 4 Diamond is unbreakable.

His presence in the show is so minimal yet he makes such a strong impression in the short time he's shown and is just really memorable. Best Jojo villain from the best part.

#3 Michael Corleone from the godfather franchise.

Al Pacino perfectly portrays this embodiment of evil who destroys the life's of everyone around him. Pure evil

#2 Dutch Van Der linde from red dead redemption 2

Basically the same as Micha but just way way worse.

#1 Goes to Vladimir Harkonnen from Dune

Excellent villain who's very presence disgusts me. His obesity representing his greed is an excellent detail. Just an all around evil character who left the strongest impression of any villain on me.

I guess that's that. I'm sure this list will change as I consume more media but for now this is pretty accurate

[dextixer]

What Vtuber Ruby and Miles cameos say, matter (kinda).

So, a day or so ago we have had people discuss about Rubys Vtubing appearances and the things she has said on video. People have had mixed opinions on what was said, some people think its not a problem, others think its a problem, some others dont care. So, i wanted to chime in on this entire discussion and why in my opinion this, and the cameos that Miles makes matter and are not "irrelevant".

Disclaimer

Before i start, i will note. I dont really think that these things are HUGE problems and "OH NO, THIS RUINS THE SHOW" or any other nonsense. Some people have seen these things way too negatively. But i also think that people who say that it doesnt matter at all are taking 2 way too extreme positions.

Lore Swiss Cheese

One of the main problems of RWBY has, for a long time, been the very vague concepts of what is canon and the in-show lore. From the very start of the show, it had commentary tracks, the creators talking about the show etc. Despite not being in the show itself, we have had many tidbits of information (such as Rubys favourite food) and the like given to us in outside of canon content. And it has not just been some minor things either. Ironwoods semblance basically does not exist in the show, and yet it seems to exist in lore, and it was shared with us from outside the show.

And later on, after V3, RWBY has received a lot of different media that expands on its lore and are considered canonical, despite sometimes never appearing on the show, or even creating very weird situations where something is conspicuous by absence in the show itself. For example, we have a very often discussed topics of V7-8 of the defense of Mantle/Atlas. One of the discussion points have always been how weirdly weak the defenses of the kingdom are. While one could chalk that up to people having an "inflated" view of Atlas military, but we have been canonically told and shown a lot of Atlas tech that is conspicuous by absence in the show.

Automated turrets, different versions of Atlesian Knights etc, which were said to be canonical in Amity:Arena. Or for example stealth tech. Yea, Atlas has stealth tech, like, genuine stealth. Its in one of the books. And yet nowhere in the show.

We have two canonical games, Grimm Eclipse and Arrowfell, with characters and concepts in them that have never been seen in the show. Has anyone ever seen team BRIR in the show? Heard of them? Maybe the tech from Arrowfell would kinda be useful, even if outdated against the Grimm invasion? What about the outlying Atlesian villages? Are they just dead at this point? Where the heck is Thornmane? He gets captured and hes nowhere in jail even as a cameo? And why does noone talk about Grimm Eclipse? Tech enchanced Grimm seem like a bit of a topic that kinda should be discussed sometime, no!?

We also have the comic books with various questionable canonical decisions including Raven turning into a bird to fuck with child Ruby. Blakes involvement with Adam which is somewhat weird because the comic books try to humanize Adam while the show demonizes him.

And let us not forget the whole "Canon Adjacent" nonsense where RT cant even come out and say that its obviously non-canon stories like Ice Queendom and even crossovers with DC are not canon. They cant even come out and say that!

Oh, and of course, i just remembered, the Grimm DnD campaign which is also apparently canon!

The reason i am listing all of these summarized versions of the multiple lore issues that the show has is that the lore of RWBY, is swiss cheese. It has lore that is given partially in so many different places, including in out of universe that its almost impposible to follow it properly, and if you do try, you are only going to get more confused because the main show feels like completely separate from it all, despite being in the same lore.

Vtubing and Cameos matter

And this brings me to of course the very simple claim, that due to the fact that the lore is already swiss cheese, these statements made in Vtubing and Cameos actually matter. Because even if they are not stated to be directly canonical, the lore is already so incredibly fucked and unclear (To the point that some people cant even decide if DC RWBY comics are even canon or not!) that adding these examples to the mix? Its just bad practice. Because at the end of the day, Vtubing Ruby, IS Ruby. She is played as in-universe Ruby, by the same Voice Actress, hosted by the SAME company.

And it matters especially because these things DO affect the FNDM. People who say that these things should be easily ignored are missing one key aspect. A lot of the FNDM are affected by these. BB being a key example. No, im not going to argue that the FNDM forced RT to make it canon. What i WILL argue is that the toxicity of BB community and its rabidness was intentionally cultivated AND enabled by RT. Does it matter that the BB song is not canon? No, it did not. Its not canon in the show and yet it made pro-BB and anti-BB crowds hysterical. Same for the song that was made for Blacksun. These songs directly contributed to the shipping wars. The various moments of people like Barbara also indulging the shippers just further fueled that entire movement.

Hell, the same can be said for Qrow x Winter shippers. While it was never a big thing one of the main "fuels" it had for a long time was because Vic and the VA for Winter interacted in a single panel. Or lets remember the whole "Vibrator function" which is OBVIOUSLY not canon, yet has become a part of often referenced and established fanon.

RWBY does not have a stable FNDM, i know, im a part of it. It does not matter if something is or is not canonical when not only are the lines of canon/noncanon blurred to barely existing, but the FNDM can often take things very far to fuel their expectations, wishes, and behaviour.

Especially when it can fuel what i will refer to as simply exploitative behaviour.

Cameos. Cameos, in my opinion are a fine way for VA's to make money. Such as many other things like, for example, music producers reviewing songs, voice coaches evaluating singing etc. Such content has cropped up maybe 4-5 years ago now and imo, is a fine thing.

But like any thing, imo, there are good and bad ways to do this kind of content. When for 40 bucks, one can ask one of the main WRITERS of the show questions about the shows world and opinions about things like ships. That is, imo, a bit far. Not only does that give an incentive for people to pay money for extra snippets of lore, but also, a way for people to validate their beliefs of ships and other such things. Because that is what his Cameo is all about. Its not VA work, its his words, in relation to his work as a writer for the show. And considering the earliest cameos and Ironwood discussions, that in my opnion is NOT a good thing.

The BB Onlyfans thing is ALSO an example of that, that i think was bad. Once again, disclaimer. I think that OF is fine, you want to do it? Go ahead, i paid for Markipliers photos, i aint ashamed, hes hot. I think it becomes at least slightly concerning however, when the VA's of a controversial ship decide to do an underwear photoshoot together with the same theme as their character in-show relationship.

Because...

Parasociality

A parasocial relationship is feeling a connection with a persona/thing that does not know of your existance or only humours you. Celebrities, sports teams etc.

RT has, for a long time cultivated a STRONG parasocial relationship with the FNDM. There is a reason why they pretend to be down to earth, why they pretend that they are not a corporation and why even to this day, some RT fans STILL believe that RT is some kind of "indie company". There is nothing inherently wrong with having it. Its kind of even unavoidable.

But what RT does is Cynically abuse that relationship. Just like any other corporation. Overworking animators for example? Part of that has been parasociality, people willing to work for their "loved" company etc.

Things like Miles Cameo, the BB photoshoot? The Vtuber Ruby? They are meant to encourage parasociality. To make it seem like the people, the watchers are "closer" to people performing or related to the show. Its all a cynical ploy to get people to pay money, to watch RWBY etc.

There is a reason why even after the RT expose not too long ago, people just went ahead and forgot about it. There is a reason why RWBYTubers that have previously condemned RT for their BS are now shouting at people to support RWBY, supressing those who criticized V9 and are encouraging people to buy merch.

Its all parasocial BS. BS that leads to extreme behaviours.

Such as, but not limited to - Biphobia, Homophobia, calling people facists for liking characters, calling people abuse apologist, groomers, Stalking. Just to name a few.

Also... On an ending note

Its just shit Vtubing

Consider this an unrelated tangent. I watch Vtubers relatively often, usually clips but sometimes i catch streams. Vtuber lore is usually irrelevant even in corporate settings. What people come to watch are the streamers themselves who usually partially play a character but mostly just act like themselves. Not really being lore accurate is not really of importance.

The thing is, those Vtubers usually dont have really established settings and they stream Multiple hours a day, so it all makes sense.

Why in the fuck is the Vtuber Ruby Rose, not acting like Remnant Ruby Rose!? Im not expecting deep lore drops here. But for crying out loud, why make statements that Rabbits or magic dont exist? Ruby Rose being visiting Earth is an AMAZING roleplaying set-up!

There is no dust, no aura, no Grimm! So many differences between the worlds that Ruby Rose can notice and act out! "Oh anime? We have our own version of that! One of the most watched shows is Sailor Sun! (Because the moon is broken)".

Its just a concept that can pay-off so much! Its an isekai in Vtubing form! As far as im aware Vtuber Ruby Rose doesnt even stream daily so its even easier to stay in character! So why in the bloody hell are we getting Dora of Explorer levels of childishness?

Anyway... Here are my thoughts. Peace out.

[necromanceyourgays]

please please give your opinions on each serial killer in the show.

thank you tumblr user fuzzy2846 i will indeed give you my opinions!!!

(mega spoilers under the cut, read at your risk)

Howard Epps:

Okay I have fixed feelings about him. He was the first serial killer, so obviously that makes him cooler, but he was just so. cliche. also mega Red Dragon vibes from him, especially his backstory. Also he hurt Zack so 0/10, wasn’t hit enough to excuse his actions

Gormogon:

Low-key my second favourite serial killer in the show, I’m a whore for religious serial killers in media. ofc, he hurt Zack, making him an instant -100/10, but I genuinely think he was a really good character on the show. I feel like he could’ve worked better as the last ever serial killer ifykim?? Like, Gormogons whole arc felt more like an ending than a beginning. Also gotta love the cannibals on this show. it’s a great gimmick

The Gravedigger:

Fun fact: this was actually the first ever serial killer arc I ever saw on Bones!! I watched them out of order and don’t actually have the full story still, but honestly I liked the arc. The fact she hurt Lance and killed a kid makes her an instant -1000/10, but she really knew how to properly have a gimmick. I liked her arc as a serial killer better than any on the show, it was one of the only times the plot felt coherent lol.

Broadsky:

Not much to say, he was hella short lived. Light Yagami kinnie. Moving on!

The Ghost Killer:

Okay, I’m biased here, because I read a fanfic about her once and now I hate her. BUT, even without the ao3 fics traumatising me, I hated her character with a burning passion. It led into Sweets death which could be blamed on Pelant but he’s my meow meow so let’s not which of course is unforgivable so she’s my least favourite personality wise, and her gimmick of finger nails was just,,, to bland. Original, but bland. We need CANNIBALISM. we need ANARCHY. not fingernails!!

Last but DEFINITELY not least,

Christopher Pelant:

okay really I swear it won’t just be me simping. I have opinions on his character!!!! That aren’t horny!! I actually didn’t enjoy his arc as much as you’d assume I did, it felt rushed and was kinda boring. I talk more about it here, but I genuinely think his episodes were shit. He was a good character, whether you like him like I do or not, and deserved to be fleshed out more than he was (which basically wasn’t at all). I will forever say he should’ve been the last serial killer, and his arc should’ve gone on for much much longer. At least a whole nother season. I hated the way they made him be in love with Brennan (because if they couldn’t have made him gay like god INTENDED THEY SHOULDNT HAVE MADE HIM FALL IN LOVE AT ALL) and it literally lasted like two episodes before he died. nothing about his arcs ever made sense. he got like two minutes of screen time but was literally the most important villain in the ENTIRE SERIES. I’m forever salty about his ending, and will not shut up about it until Hart Hanson himself apologizes to my FACE.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

[johannestevans]

have a lot of feelings about Louis Litt in suits and the way he's treated as a jewish man and how he's like… he is absolutely a dick and he's got a lot of complex and obsessive power things going on

but the specific ways he's emasculated are very much linked to his jewishness

like the way that it's treated as laughable that he should be married or that he should be sexually active, including the way that people react with revulsion at the idea of him dating or having sex, and i remember comments about how hairy he is later on as well

suits is a bit frustrating in that like. i was saying while i was watching it to the polycule that suits is the same sort of trashiness and soapy writing as grey's anatomy, but it's like. For Dudes

and that means that there's no real bisexuality present

and the thing is i do think it would be interesting to read louis as genuinely bisexual because of how that too would be and is linked to the ways in which he's already emasculated, but as it stands, jokes about louis being bisexual or gay are also about his jewish masculinity

and the fact that the facets of that masculinity aren't matched to the goyische expectations thereof, and louis' CONSTANT and continuous feelings of being disrespected, devalued, and generally laughed at - whilst also being hypercompetent and outclassing everyone - is. real.

i love him so much and he genuinely is one of my favourite characters that's ever been on television, i think, he's so layered and he's so tremendously awful, he's a bully, a liar, a manipulator

but he's in the same family as like. martin crieff and arnold rimmer to me

he's like that with everyone because he struggles to trust anybody, and he struggles to trust anybody because he's gone through life feeling like everyone's laughing behind his back and trying to fuck him over - AND HE'S CORRECT TO THINK THAT

but unlike arnold rimmer (whose disrespect is linked to his terrible (nay incestuosus) abuse by his mother and abuse from the rest of his family, not to mention his own latent sexual issues) or martin crieff (whose problems come from his working class background and classism)

louis litt's issues DON'T come from particular abuse by his family or loved ones, and what's infuriating to him is that he is of an economic class cohort with many of those around him - whilst harvey specter, for example? ISN'T

esp bc i don't think harvey's ever like. portrayed as or defined as jewish - i know specter is a surname among ashkenazim, but whether he's jewish or a goy i don't think he's read as Obviously Jewish in the way that Louis is

there's a sense in him of like. what makes me wrong? what am i doing incorrectly? why do people automatically view me as so slimy or untrustworthy, even when i'm trying to be genuine? esp given that he's put alongside daniel hardman who's introduced as jewish from the get go

idk suits is weird because it's a show set in new york, and i actually really like how it presents and explores jewish masculinities in the show because i don't actually see many shows that delve into it with so much, you know, depth? even in other new york jewish guys

like it has jewish creators and you can TELL, there's so few shows that really play with and portray these themes - so many shows have like. 1 or 2 jewish bit characters as a joke or a vague "WOW, CAN YOU BELIEVE THEY EXIST?" about like, frum jews

whereas like. i can't think of any piece of media other than Deep Cover (1992) which i'm of course ALWAYS obsessing over and talking about when it comes to like. exploring different racialised masculinities in late 20th century us america

[lara60]

words can't describe how hyped i am for the s2 finale. this week's episode was so good spoilers (comic spoilers too!!) under the cut

Angstrom's call at the end was so sudden and it really worked to make the shock Mark was going through all the worse. He just almost died fighting another Viltrumite, then he goes through a breakup and now out of nowhere, his mother and his brother's lives are in danger. He literally can't catch a break (and it's just going to get worse boy, I'm sorry)

Anissa's scenes were all cool as shit, and I'm sure show-only watchers are gonna love her. I felt uneasy the whole time cause of obvious reasons (I never talked about it before I think, but what she does to Mark later in the story is one of the few moments in any fictional media that genuinely affected me to the point that I feel nothing but contempt for her. I'm usually the biggest villain enjoyer in my friend group, but definitely not in her case 💀)

But holy fuck the hype when she mentioned Conquest. I'm so excited to see him in s3, my favourite evil grandpa ever.

And Allen letting himself get caught by the Viltrumites is the start of one of my favourite character dynamics in the entirety of Invincible. I can't wait for him and Nolan to be besties 🥺🥺🥺

I am so happy with this show so far. It really feels like they're doing justice to the comic and improving on a lot of things from it. I'm so glad my brother introduced me to Invincible cause I live and breathe this stuff 💖🥺🥺