#how ANYONE can read their stories and be like 'yeah theyre not important' or 'theyre gonna have a tragic ending'

[sunny12th]

just thinking about cripples, bastards, and broken things. these kids that, by all rights and logic, should've died long ago. bran crawling to his destiny with the weight of House Stark on his shoulders. dany dragging herself through the red waste, holding doreah and loving her til she's gone, and carrying a dynasty with her. jon climbing the wall and climbing his way up the ranks of the nights watch, climbing his way into friendships and family and not letting himself look back at the ones he left behind until he has to because it's arya.

bran looking back because looking forward is terrifying, so he looks for his family in anyway he can (through trees and dreams and wolves). he cries out for them, others answer. bran moving forward by any means necessary, 'our road is north,' because what else is there to do as a prince without a kingdom, a boy without a home. dany, 'if I look back I am lost', looking back at the trail of cripples, bastards, and broken things that have left everything they know to follow her, looking back at herself and hating what she sees, looking back and seeing herself in rhaegar's armor. dany looking forward and seeing chains and collars and saying 'I can do something about this, I will do something about this.'

jon 'kill the boy, let the man be born,' he kills the boy and is killed at 16. and dany never getting to be a girl, never had a choice between girlhood and whatever was needed/desired by others. she is sold at 13, mother at 14, widowed at 14, the last the last of her house at 14, conquerer at 15. bran falls, breaks, and flies at 7.

[ohnoitstbskyen]

hey skyen, you mentioned about kuina that she seemed transmasc to you and in my experience i think more people see zoro as a transmasc person, the reason being is his want/need to break gender stereotypes rather than enforce them. through kuina, his story to become the greatest swordman is inherently about breaking gender roles. and personally i think a lot of transmascs see this as their relationship to cis women. (especially in how kuina pushes zoro into the "weak" category with him and parrots sexism without knowing how it affects him) i also think his story is WAY more satisfying from a gender perspective if you see him as transmasc, regardless of if its intended or not. (the truth is that theyre BOTH transmasc, actually, why not?) (idk if you read fanfiction, probably not, but the fanfiction Burning Man on ao3 really goes in depth with transmasc zoro. its also the best fanfiction ive personally read for op)

Yeah, I can absolutely see that.

On related lines, I've also seen an interpretation of the story that Kuina and Zoro are the same person, and that Zoro's flashback depicts a metaphorical series of events rather than literal, where he battles with his assigned identity over and over as a child and can never "beat" her, never overcome or break out from under her.

But when he realizes that his assigned identity is miserable and in pain, and that all that even she wants is to be a boy, he has to go through the trauma of seeing her die, and go out into the world as truly himself. Through that lens his quest to become the greatest swordsman in the world is, in part, a quest to spite every motherfucker on Earth who told his past self that he would never be able to transcend his assigned gender.

So long as you assume that Kuina's father is playing along with it to the point of setting up a grave for his dead daughter who never was, it does explain why he would let Zoro take away the Wado Ichimonji, an incredibly important and valuable family heirloom, and treat Zoro so much like a direct son.

The Three Sword Style already represents Zoro carrying Kuina's spirit and memory with him always - his two-sword style in the hands, her one sword style in his mouth - and in this reading the style would be carrying the memory and pain of his childhood with him, and letting it empower him to become greater than anyone without his experiences could ever be.

It's one of the nice things about One Piece, I think, that it is open to these kinds of interpretations. Luffy being aro/ace is basically canon, which I appreciate a lot, and nobody can tell me Nami and Vivi didn't have a mutual crush going during Alabasta, and there is no understanding of Ace I will accept where he wasn't the most bi/pan wandering disaster the Grand Line had ever seen since Roger.

I do hope the actual explicit text of the manga will catch up to that someday... I was really happy to finally see some actual transmasc rep with Yamato, and a bit more playfulness with gender in general in characters like Izou and Kikunojo in the Wano Country arc, and honestly canonically transmasc Zoro or Crocodile would be enriching to both of those characters, I think.

[chaifootsteps]

i struggle between the idea of "verosika, vortex, fizz, asmodeus, and other characters act ooc towards stolas when the story needs it for the sake of making him look better",

and,

"these characters do not know the horror stolas is capable of, are not aware that stolas called blitz, knowing he was bleeding and running for his life, just to make the arrangement he explicitly set up as "favors for favors", and they probably will never know, or any of the other geninuely terrible things he did," and both feel true, even if theyre technically contradicting each other. it feels weird to say characters can act out of character without certain information to alter how they act, but.. i mean, sometimes its just comical.

is there not something inherently fucked up about knowing asmodeus, king of consent, is chill with stolas, because oz doesnt know that stolass spent an entire season pushing boundaries, belittling blitz in a fetishistic way, and coerced him into fucking monthly for something he needed no matter what for his business?

these characters dont have to know exactly what happened, but what i do know is that their attitude would more then likely change if they learned the truth. i wish stolas's line of, "why would i allow everyone to see how much i like you?" actually meant something, because who knows that stolas likes blitz besides the people in ozzie, ozzie himself, fizz, stella, octavia, and.. that's it. verosika doesnt even know, she just assumes stolas hates blitz too. it doesnt really feel like it matters that they know, because despite them seemingly being important characters within hell, they barely have an effect on it. but it doesnt matter anyway- because mammons special episode just confirmed out right that no one there actually gives a shit about class difference! so whatre we even doing here when the shows premise was built on the basis of how supposedly taboo is it for a goetia and imp to fuck?!

if these characters knew about their deal, then yeah, the show would be holding him accountable. because the world would be naturally reacting to his actions, since rape is.. looked down upon in lust, but ok in pride i guess because of velvettes lust potion? idk :/ like let's just say for the sake of this example that only shitty people that happen to be imps, and sinners, are okay with that stuff. most imps and hellhounds seem like well rounded, average people, just with a little extra sprinkling of edgy.

i just cant help but to think; what if the story actually took advantage of hells disgust for relationships with upper and lower class demons? instead of just dropping it so ozzie and fizz could have their public "i love you so much and i dont care what anyone else thinks of it!" moment?

what if blitz got caught with the book instead of being given the crystal, and started a whole political scandal throughout hell when he gets arrested, (a good way to re-implement that stupid ass concept of prisons in hell,) but threw stolas under the bus with him by confessing (in an uncomfortable graphic detail, because i think blitz is one of those people who would make everyone feel uncomfortable when things suck for him,) that he was sleeping with stolas for the book? so that way he'd be in deep shit too.

i dont think its unrealistic either- news reporters swarmed stolas with a crowd when he got his shit rocked by striker, so hes definitely important, even if we dont know what that ugly ass dry walmart rotisserie chicken even does for his job.

i'd love to see a montage of characters like stella, verosika, fizz and oz, even fucking wally wackford; reading the news paper that morning, or watching news on the TV, only to see: "BREAKING NEWS! GOETIA PRINCE STOLAS CAUGHT HAVING SEX WITH AN IMP AND ILLEGALLY HANDING OUT TRANSPORTATION TO THE HUMAN REALM!"

if that happened, then i'd be fine with stolas being a petty bitch. because he'd have practically nothing at that point, besides his daughter and his big rich house, if they dont take it from him in this scenario bojack horseman style.

its weird, gross, and unsatisfying that they set up these big stakes with big potential consequences, but the only actual consequence is stolas getting his feelings hurt, so he can feel justified into "succumbing" into thinking what blitz had was a romance, or even a relationship at all.

It's mind-bogglingly frustrating. None of these characters have any idea how terribly Stolas treats Blitzo, and that's exactly the way Viv intends to keep it.

Hell, Blitzo was there for all of it and she very pointedly never allows him to bring it up.

[juni-ravenhall]

we played the quest now and mostly its just like. all these recent quests are at the quality as if a child wrote them but that feels like an insult to child authors. imagine if any other game at this price point (!) put out main story updates at this quality and this playtime per month(s).....

more specific commentary under here

the dark riders still dont feel like actual villains or threats to me at all, due to the rushed and stupid way they were introduced after their design updates, combined with how bad the writing is. i feel like im just chewing on a tasteless gum when i play this. but thats an insult to gum. its very nothing. its neither dramatic nor funny nor meaningful in any way.

the writing and timing is so bad that nothing holds any real dramatic weight. i didnt feel anything about maya getting zapped - i assume shes fine tho??? - obviously yes its harmful to choose to hurt the lesbians rather than literally anyone else and its worth criticising bc ppl need to stop making oppressed characters suffer more than the not-oppressed, but also just the whole thing is handled so badly that i can barely even care bc its so fucking stupid that nothing holds any weight. at this point anything any of the charas says and does just feels completely empty.

like you could just have mr sands collapse to the ground from a heart attack in the middle of the dialogue and sabine say "lol loser" and it wouldnt even feel especially out of place in the current quality of writing and storytelling.

it was fun to see darko and sands again just because we have more relation to darko as a villain than any of the dark riders. the same way i am way more interested in ms drake or mr anwir (rip i guess) than i am in the dark riders bc they were sooo badly included in the story and then suddenly now theyre everywhere and talk all the time as if we know them and as if theyve been a consistent villain. i am way more interested in any other npc than in the dark riders, i have more emotional connection to ed field than i have to katja. bc they were not written into the story properly. this is a continuous frustration i have reading any main story updates.

anyway the erissa race was just.... fine. this is supposed to be a kind of mini boss moment in other games. however, due to my horse not being fed (a system that sse designed) i rode quite slow which in itself takes away drama, but also, the race just felt really.... nothing, again. its not bad... its just nothing. the floating objects in the forest were cool, and the yarn stuff is cute (tho i dont feel anything about this design bc again she and her design is just thrown at me with no buildup - like - a character having a theme that you build up a connection to, is not happening here), but it doesnt feel like an important race or like a mini boss, its just.... ok i went here and now i went there. why tho. how did this matter.

it wasnt a difficult enough race in any way that it felt like challenging gameplay (mini boss fight) and ive said before, yes sure there are 8yo players who never played a game before and need it to be relatively easy - but this can be achieved in other ways than forcing *all* players to play a really dumb easy race, and its also not consistent throughout the game - sometimes a race is randomly kinda hard, other times its something you could do blindfolded, but without any consistent relation to where when and why the race takes place.

normally in games, battles/races/whatever would get more and more challenging as the story goes on, as levels go up, as new mechanics get introduced, as player skill and experience grows.

but yeah i just really hate the story quests at this point. theyre empty. theyre badly written. they are forgettable and dont hold the dramatic weight theyre supposed to. they feel random and disconnected from the rest of the game we played until a couple years ago. the characters and stuff are just handled so badly. the story and lore is confusing and hard to understand. its a mess.

all of this would be fine if sso was a game you play for free. it would be fine if it was a game that cost 10 dollars. it would be fine if it had microtransactions that were like, 1-3 dollars here and there, not 30 dollars here and there to afford two items or one horse or whatever.

i wouldnt judge it so harshly for this bad quality in the story quests (the writing, the storytelling and lore, the characters, the gameplay, the animations, the models and designs, the feeling of making progress as a player....) if the game was overall as cheap as its quests are.

[theprinceandthewitch]

FTF is so fucking mindboggling to me because who thought it was a good idea to have Willow, Amity, Boscha and Kikimora eat up Luz's screentime? Especially Kikimora because why would you bring in another antagonist when you already have two of them [Philip and The Collector] running around?

If we operate under the assumption no one up top was responsible for some of these awful writing decisions... there was not a single person in that writing room who had enough common sense to say:

"Yeah look, I know it sucks Willow and Amity can't get any development before the show ends. And I know we have fans who want to see the side characters one last time. But we literally dont have the time to do it. We cant take time away from Luz's character arc. We still need to show Caleb and Evelyn so the parallels between them and Luz/Hunter make sense. We also need to show Caleb and Evelyn to contextualize Philip's actions. Luz, Hunter and Philip take top priority in this season because we dont have the time for anyone else. It's awful, but that's just the way it is. It's not a big deal anyway because we can include these minor characters in the timeskip at the end."

And why is Willow having this development with Hunter and not Amity? Dont get me wrong, giving Amity and Willow alot of screentime is still bad because they shouldn't take time away from Luz. But having this development with Amity is more logical than having it with Hunter because Amity was one of Willows bullies. She contributed to Willow's insecurities of being "half a witch". AND THEN instead of it being focused on Willows insecurities its also about HUNTER and how he couldn't tell Willow and Gus they were important to him? WHAT.

Hunter did not need to have this kind of development either by the way. Like the kid died and came back to life AND lost his companion in the previous episode... but of course he doesn't feel a certain type of way about what happened in TTT - his REAL issue is that he couldn't tell Gus and Willow they were important to him... WHAT. Also, you honestly expect me to believe Luz wouldn't try talking to Hunter after she literally saw him die and come back to life before her eyes? Or that Hunter wouldnt be concerned about Luz not coming out of the portal even though TTT established a deep bond between Luz and Hunter?

What was the purpose of going to The Owl House if nothing of value was there? Going to TOH would make sense if the memory tweezers were hidden away somewhere in the house, but theyre not. Everyone is just fucking around in the house and wasting time for no reason. You could have just had the tweezers be at the house and everyone have their important talks before they teleport inside the skull. All that school meandering bullshit could have been completely cut.

Speaking of cutting out stuff why wasn't Odalia cut from this episode? She does nothing and serves no purpose to the story. They make you think she might do something conniving in WAD but she actually does nothing. Just cut her completely. This episode is full of characters who's only purpose is to leech from Luz's LIMITED screentime.

Seriously FTF and WAD read like bad fix-it fanfics. Like someone read some garbage takes from twitter and tumblr and decided to "fix" TOH with the last two episodes.

[misqnon]

yeah i definitely liked sanuso more than i liked sanji. before... before i came to like sanji. i don't think i was rly an Actual Fan though. seeing fan content of sanji (shipping content included) is part of what made me grow to like him. so ur right that a ship i like with characters i dont like would make me grow to like the characters!!

tashigi and reiju is so insanely good.. theyre perfect for each other...

LMAO ISNT THAT PRICE A BIT STEEP?? nami moment

robin definitely would notice but it would have so much more impact to have luffy intervene imo?? he is probably the most important person to both of them (arguably true for all the crew) and also he just . idk hes emotionally intelligent. hes perceptive. people dont give him enough credit. luffy is not stupid!!!!

"he and robin can be similar and enies lobby is what made everyone love her more…" YEAH EXACTLY!!! there doesnt need to be a whole arc but just show us that he isnt JUST the cool guy. i need him to cry .... i need emotional vulnerability.. please oda ..... on my knees begging for this. PLEASE Oda...

"already there babes 🫡 just doing my part" thank u

"DID. DID THEY ACTUALLY CALL HIM TRACE HEATFIST IN THE 4KIDS DUB…ARE U SERIOUS RN…IVE NEVER HEARD THAT BEFORE PLEASE SAY SIKE." YES THEY ACTUALLY DID. its a stupid change but HIS VOICE IS SO COOL... theres a scene where he and luffy meet on alabasta n luffy is like: hey, trace?! and trace is like "yours truly 😎😏🔥 hey luffy, whats up? 🔥🔥💪✨" and i fucking Fell In Love on first listen. i have the biggest . fattest crush on 4kids ace. why is he so suave. why is he so cool. pathetically showing my love for the worst dub's version of the best character

i was so relieved that luffy sounded different that i can forgive anything else. i don't care if the acting is worse...

AT A CHRISTIAN GALLERY???? ur so brave

"i will share embarrassing stories like my life depends on it"

(hoping i havent used this image before)

THE SPOTLIGHT ON SANJI.... THAT IS SO FUNNY...

"BUT IM TOO BUSY READING ONE PIECE" good point... reading both would be hard.. /gen

"lion…and wings…so u want to be a griffin 👁️" i did not realize this. but yes i GUESS I DO?? i like manticores and unicorns the most out of any fantasy creature but i could never be a manticore bc it means i keep my face.. and unicorn.... doesnt have cool paws... oh and i love dragons... i WOULD be a dragon but i would like to be like. fluffy.. i want to be fluffy..

"DIDN THE BEAT OUT ZORO IN THE POPULARITY POLLS ONE TIME" YEAH HE DID... i dont know maybe i just missed it?? there were a lot of ppl there... and my memory is kinda hazy.. i will be on the lookout for law next time i go to a con

"WRONG bangs my sanji gavel." I FORGOT U WERW THE SANJI MAGISTRATE..... please forgive me....

that is so cool 🥹

"also sanji’s love for mice/rats makes me fucking insane bc its the cutest thing on earth." I KNOW RIGJT... like hes a cook.. he should hate them... but he doesnt!!! hes super fond of them!!! because he had mice friends at the lowest point in his life!!!! GOD.. i also used to love mice so . thank u sanji. representing rodent lovers. im having too many moments lately where i relate to sanji.... former sanji hater becomes sanji

"SANJI LOVES MICE MORE THAN WOMEN CONFIRMED-" GENUINELY!!!

"they’re all expecting sanji to freak and kill them and then they walk in and he’s made them tiny stir fry and is calling them cutesy names." STOP THATS SUCH CUTE IMAGERY 😭😭😭 sanji would never hit a woman mouse.

"also all the fan content ive seen where ratatouille is his favorite movie. ANYONE CAN COOK!!!!! 😭" IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE

"we turn a sad into a frrAAANKKYYYYYYYY" HSJDHS

"ROBIN WHYYY WAS THAT THE FIRST THING YOU THOUGHT OFFFF SHE IS INSANE. SHE’S SO WEIRD." IN HER DEFENSE, THEY WERE RIGHT THERE. HOW COULD SHE NOT... HOW COULD SHE NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT ....

"should i send some on discord as well. is that how i break the ice. images of sanji with his ass up in the air (my collection)" YES..... YES DO IT.... in return i will sned... uhmm... law!??

ok but sanji in glasses. even at the peak of my sanji hatred i begrudgingly admit that he was very attractive in those glasses...

LOOK AT HIM SOB... whole cake island was kinda his enies lobby emotional depth moment???

heres this loser

EAT

i have this sanji saved bc he looks so pathetic and sad

omg nooo how did choso get in here ...... noooo ...... that was a big accident.... completely an accident.... not on purpose at alll........

usopp out here converting more ppl to sanji likers than i am…smh. i do love the way sanji backs him up so often in canon tho, its very sweet

KNJKCDNA WAIT THE $5,000 A MONTH THING? I MEAN YES. BUT DO YOU KNOW THE YE OLDE TUMBLR JOKE IM REFERENCING? DO U REMEMBER COMMUNISMKILLS…THAT AWFUL TUMBLR USER THAT THEN WAS LIKE “i’ll shut up if u pay me $5000 a month” actually deranged and iconic. here’s a post about it

the entire crew IS important to both of them but arguably he is the only person on the crew they would listen to in a situation like that is luffy yea. he’s the mutual friend that they both love deeply and loves both of them deeply even tho they hate (“hate”) each other. AND he’s emotionally intelligent and wise!! yea!!

joining u in the begging for sad zoro. campaigning for abusing zoro in the next chapters. ready to make this meme real

NOT TRACE HEATFIST…his voice did seem cool tho ur right. i like to imagine he speaks with the emojis like you typed them. (“how are you saying that out loud-”) is the crush only on 4kids ace specifically..sorry sorry TRACE. IS IT ONLY FOR TRACE

I WANT TO STEAL ALL THESE REACTION IMAGES HAHAHA

WAIT IS IT A SPOTLIGHT. I THOUGHT THEY HAD TRAPPED HIM UNDER A CUP LIKE A BUG KJAFHBdiwjnwd

dragons. [breathes in] dude i love dragons so fucking much. i watched that documentary animal planet or discovery made where they said dragons lived in the prehistoric time with t rex and shit and BELIEVED IT FOR SO LONG. also obsessively played httyd games on the internet and other Dragon Themed Things. and i had legend of spyro: a new beginning for the gamecube and it was like my first ever video game i owned myself that wasnt a hand me down and i beat it literally 9+ times…after 9 i stopped keeping track..i loved spyro and CYNDER so much. CYNDER WAS SO COOL. THAT WHOLE GAME WAS SO COOL. just last year i started playing flight rising (but i fell off lmao)

“former sanji hater becomes sanji” KJSDBDNKJSN YEAH relating to sanji is half of why i love him. and the amount i relate to him is. way far more than i thought i would ever relate to. the pervert stereotype anime character of any given show. so mad…but also i love him a lot 😭 has become a bit of a comfort character for me UNFORTUNATELY…but i relate to his passion and his low self esteem and his self sacrificial nature and his (percieved) gender issues and even his stupid easy-to-fall-in-love shtick. god. anyways

MICE > WOMEN ‼️‼️‼️CONFIRMED

I WANT TO PUT THE SANJI FEEDING MICE AND THE CREW IS CONFUSED SCENE IN A FIC SO BAD BUT I HAVE WRITERS BLOCK ATM 😭

“sanji would never hit a woman mouse.” sanji vs. minnie mouse his hardest battle yet

ROBIN….ROBIN 😭 I WILL CONDONE ALL HER ACTIONS BC I LOVE HER BUT SHES SO STRANGE 😭

SANJI ASS IN THE AIR COMING UR WAY

dude. thank you for saying that bc. when sanji had those fucking glasses on as mr. prince in alabasta. i was simping just a little bit. and mad about it.

AND ALSO UM??? WHAT THE FUCK WAS THIS?? STOP BEING PRETTY???

this outfit was gay as hell by the way. like how am i supposed to believe that is a fuly straight man-

“whole cake island was kinda his enies lobby emotional depth moment???” it 1000% was down to him leaving the crew and needing to be rescued and learn to love himself and live for himself. robin and sanji are my two favorite strawhats and GOD THE SIMILARITIES ARE BRUISING. have u seen that post where its drawings of each of the strawhat “rescue teams” of arlong park, enies lobby, and whole cake?

law 1: edgy. flipping u off. deranged. a bit evil looking. kinda hot

law 2: naptime. flourishing. in his lane. never done wrong in his life. thats just a guy

“EAT” KJDBVSDAJBCJDA

NOOO THAT SANJI IMAGE GENUINELY MAKES ME SO SAD BUT HE ALSO LOOKS SO SO PATHETIC 😭 SOPPING WET CAT OF A MAN

HI CHOSO. IDK U BUT I LIKE UR HAIR. HI

here are a couple more one piece memes i have collected. i will be sending u a discord message...soon

[edalynn]

Even if the huntlow shippers are right and every frame where they stand next to each other and every bit of crew art was part of some complex metanarrative hinting at how theyre totally in love and how the crew was being suppressed by disney from overtly developing a m/f couple for some reason. That. Still isnt a good way to write a ship? You straight up cannot build up a good romance only from longing glances or whatever if we never actually see them talking to each other. Especially since hunter and willow are both main characters.

Like even if you take the things theyve said AT each other after the flyer derby episode (which was the last time they actually had a conversation btw) and twist it into flirting i still have to ask...why would they flirt with each other? We havent seen them talk about anything important AT ALL since the first time they met so what kind of bond are they supposed to have with each other? Beyond just friends/teammates? Hell we never even see them just be friends onscreen without their other friends there except for i guess the haircut scene. Even as friends willow and hunter are not each others most important friendships. Id even argue theyre both closer to literally every other member of the hexsquad than each other.

Ppl freak out over flirty scenes or longing glances from other ships because theres actual substance behind the ships. The funny flirting and the frames where they maybe stand next to each other are supposed to enhance an already existing relationship. Where the characters actually talk to each other about important stuff and find comfort in each others company or whatever. If its meant to be a background easter egg or the characters arent important to the story or its just for audience speculation its fine if it doesnt have that. But huntlow shippers think these two major characters will actually start dating and have their romance be an important part of the story. And idk how to tell them that building a relationship out of longing glances with nothing to hold it together is uhhhhhhh bad! It would not be well written! Yes a ship doesnt HAVE to be complicated and yes huntlow doesnt HAVE to be exactly like lumity or raeda but if theres no equivalent scenes for me to get emotionally invested in their potetial romance then like. What are we even doing here! Just because you CAN write a totally shallow ship where they never talk but sometimes look at each other doesnt mean that kind of writing wouldnt suck shit!

Exactly. Even if this was something Dana intended and planned out from the start for these two characters (which if she had, why hasn't their relationship developed more than speaking once or twice on screen for more than a few words?), it's not good writing. It's not a well-written relationship. Just because it's a boy and a girl doesn't mean it's automatically a fulfilling and intriguing relationship, or important to the plot. We genuinely, really haven't seen them have a full, important, or one on one conversation since ASIAS so it fucking baffles me how people are so convinced they're in love and "already canon". Because, yeah, longing glances (from only one party in the ship at that) don't mean fuck all. They can easily be read as embarrassment or admiration or nervousness rather than a crush or inherently romantic. Like. Do they think Willow showing any type of interest in something Hunter is clearly passionate about romance? Because if so she must also be in love with Gus, Luz, Amity, and Vee. And vice versa, anyone that shows interest in Hunter's interest must also be in love with him. Which obviously is ridiculous and doesn't track.

They rarely interact in the latest episode, too. Willow has more development with Amity and Vee than with Hunter, and like you said, is clearly depicted as being much closer friends with Gus, Amity, and Vee with Hunter kind of being slightly outcasted in the friend group (not maliciously or anything, obviously, but it's pretty clear). We obviously have the haircut scene and implications that they've all hung out together in the time that they've been in the human realm, but they're only shown one one one ONCE in the montage of all things. And that scene is entirely happenstance, not a planned or intentional hangout. Willow walks in on him cutting his hair and helps him, they weren't intending to spend time one on one- Willow was just being a good friend and stepping in because she happened to be there. Both Hunter and Willow are closer to every other person in their friend group than each other.

They barely have any interaction, there's hardly any actual canon content for their "relationship", and we only have two episodes left as both characters actively grow closer to their other friends. There's nothing there to get invested in, like you said, other than fan content where the characters' personalities are totally changed. Sorry hunt/lows but your ship is sinking and you're all ankle deep in the water singing and shouting about how canon your ship is as they actively do not even speak to each other.

[ocdhuacheng]

thoughts on 3 body so far (episode 5), as someone whos read the books and not yet watched the drama

to get the obvious out of the way its very unnecessary to set it in england :/ but we all know that so.

i love wenjie i think zine tseng is perfect for her i really love wenjies scenes (for the most part. whhyyyy did they make her get with evans. like i groaned so hard. and they completely skipped over her actual husband and how she well. murdered him.) but yeah in general i think her parts are done really well. few complaints there. also she is gorgeous. Rosalind chao is great as well but I think the writing for old!wenjie is not as good as for young! Wenjie. That’s not ms Rosalind’s fault tho obviously I think she did really well with what she got.

besides wenjie i really like jin cheng as well. i get shes filling part of wang miao's role from the books and she is partially based off of cheng xin from book three and i think jess hong is a really good choice for her. even just appearance-wise she is perfect for what i imagined cheng xin to look like. and her attachment to the follower character in the game is a great set up for how her story might go if she follows cheng xin's footsteps.

i think auggie should be older. it seems like they want to make everyone all like a group of school friends so thats why they made her younger but i dont really think that it works.

lemme elaborate....... i........ do not care about auggie at all lmfao. honestly i welcome more female characters but if she is to fill wang miao's place as the nanotech expert... wang miao.... who is a man in his fourties... why are they replacing him with a girl who barely looks out of grad school. and shes cso and developer of groundbreaking tech already? SHE SHOULD BE AT THE CLUB. not trying to be MARY SUE ALERT but its unrealistic, and it kind of ruins making him into a female character imo. she should be middle aged!! fucking cowards!! it seems like they just made wang miao into a woman just so they could have a pretty face to slap on as the main character (though she is SO not my type but whatever thats not important.) if they wanted to genderbend and actually be ~feminist~ or whatever, they would have cast a 40+ year old. again, i get they want it to be this friend group so maybe it would be strange that she would be older than the rest of them but also they could have just.. not done that. so anyway. yeah. she kind of annoys me. she is too young. too pretty but in like such a hollywood way that it turns me off. also shes boring. and annoying.

in general, other than wenjie and jin, im not particularly attached to any of the characters. not necessarily a bad thing bc the books themselves were much more plot driven over character driven, so yeah. kind of a neutral statement. i do like will (even though...... he should be chinese -_- though i guess i am grateful that they did seemingly make an effort to make the cast diverse, rather than just make them all white brits.) and i like uhhhh *checks notes* tatiana, mainly because i think shes extremely pretty lmao. i think the guy who plays old!evans is great, i do Not care for the guy who plays him when he is young. cringe. gigachad looking ass. wade is good too, when i saw his name show up i was like omg what are you doing here????? hes a bastard but hes fun. also like shi, i think the actor they chose is great and fits really well. i did prefer him in the books tho he was so much fun in the books. saul fits in well, if hes the luo ji character i can Definitely see him wasting government resources to do fuck all as a wallfacer lmao. godspeed king.

i think them making all these characters who are going to go on to be key players in the future all know eachother to begin with is funny. and not a great choice. unrealistic. in the books like most of these people had nothing to do with anyone else, either to begin with or at all. and now theyre all somehow friends? in the books the main characters were scattered all over the place (or.. well.. at least all over china) but now u gonna tell me 90% of the ppl doing important shit for the human species were all like buddies in college or smth instead of just some randos in the right place at the right time with the right (debatable) credentials? less believable to me. like for example the zhang beihai adjacent character being the cheng xin adjacent character's boyfriend before everything goes down. like girl did they even meet in the books? idr

sophon is gorgeous, so is her outfit, though i hope they keep the japanese aesthetic shes got going on from the books, i think it was a very telling and important, if not large part of the books for her to latch onto japanese culture specifically.

the sophons... in the book it was just miao who was given the universe blinking vision but now its basically everyone on the nightside of the planet? how did they do that with just 2 sophons. i mean. idk maybe. sure. they do travel close to the speed of light. i aint doing the calculations to know what is or is not plausible at those speeds. but damn these poor things are so overworked. they need to unionize. wish they kept the numbers on the photographs tho instead of just in their retinas. that could have been really cool.

the sequence of the sophons unfolding over earth was cool and all just kinda funny bc they had just established in a previous scene that they needed like a supercollider in orbit to unfold one and now they can just unfold willy nilly? ok.

uhhhhhhhhh. yeah thats all for now. i have more onions but im sleepy tired and thats all i can rememver i wanted to say. im enjoying it. just kind of bitter at them making it british but thats old news. i think if i were watching this blind without there being a book series to compare it to its very solid! some hollywood esque quippy humor and added annoying romance (particularly with wenjie) and stuff that im not thrilled with but over all its well done imo. definitely going to have to reread the books when im done and also watch the drama :)

[chloeangelic]

you’re on a website full off mentally ill people lol (and I really don’t mean that in a bad way, but tumblr especially has always been a place for people to be open about mental health and stuff)

People here are always gonna be too intense, too into stuff, too whatever. Some people aren’t able to slip back into a normal mindset after reading a fic and yeah, that’s on them. But as long as they don’t send any hate it’s their business.

You whole post about how Joel can be a mass murder and everyone still loves him but what happens in rendezvous makes him a “bad” person to everyone. Meh. It’s all just fanfiction, it’s really not that deep. Obviously when we’re reading most things from readers perspective it feels shitty and makes Joel look shitty. He’s not gonna be a mass murder in a no outbreak fic so the boundaries are going to be completely different. And personally I would consider what Joel did cheating, not on MC but on Katy, but you’re the author, you decide.

And yeah, people are gonna be mad about angst and especially angst/bad endings. (Again, as long as they don’t send mean/hate asks, I think it’s fine?) you gave enough warnings so its up to them to decide if they want to read it. But some people are never going to stop wanting happy endings and that’s okay too. Life is already shitty enough, why read fanfic about a shitty life lol. And for people reading Joel fanfic, obviously a shitty ending would be for him to be with someone else and not “you”

It would be a completely different story if the “you” is Katy, obviously. And then people would feel shitty at the thought of Joel with current rendezvous MC.

And yeah, you did warn enough. But some people just don’t read or care about warnings. (Like for example, some people on AO3 turn off seeing all the tags so they don’t get spoiled about what happens lol.) then it is of course their own fault. I obviously don’t know what kind of asks you got that were deleted but the ones you posted don’t really seem bad? Katy isn’t actually a real person (besides the person you got the name from) just like Joel isn’t actually a real person so who cares if someone insults them lol

You should probably turn off anon asks if the last chapter is going to piss off everyone. But I also think you knew what was gonna happen when you post a series like that lol

i mean you basically said it yourself - people are responsible for reading the tags and deciding if the content is okay for them. i havent deleted any anons - i might respond slowly, but i do reply to all anons unless theyre completely pointless or im saving them for something like a roundup post

and youre right, its not that deep, which is why i have no issue writing angsty series like rendezvous, cause its all just me playing with barbies on my keyboard at the end of the day. my post about him being a murderer was just my thoughts and observations on the matter as someone who has written about joel "cheating", going MIA, being forgiven etc.

i know people are gonna be pissed about the last part - people would be pissed no matter how it ends, cause there's essentially three camps of readers. i think its fun to see people being engaged and having strong feelings about it, that just means i wrote something engaging and that evokes emotion like i intended

i have no issue with people being "too invested" in this story, having strong feelings about it, but when people have genuine issues with me writing joel choosing someone else, that just the idea of me writing one story like that makes them personally feel like shit, i think like its important for me to say i think its a concerning way of interacting with fanfics. im not making anyones life worse by writing the things i write lmao

not entirely sure what kinda answer you wanted here haha but those are my thoughts on what you said!

[gr1evance]

posting a big grievance infodump from late last night under a read more. about some semi obscure god lore that doesnt really make it toooo much into the story but still contributes to motivations and such. and i just generally like the way this ties itself together in how i wrote it so i wanna share it

making worlds for gods is kind of all theyre meant to do its actually part of the reason ronnies depression gets really bad bc like. every god is different but they will generally have at least soooome kind of longing or feeling of obligation to be doing that. and ronnies was really bad but it was like essentially punishable by death to not just like sit and do nothing basically so it contributed to his depression a lot. but once a god like makes a world has one or has multiple its like. a commitment for eternity or until that world is gone. anything bad happens to it it will make you tired or sick if you try to neglect it it will make you tired or sick. if you are not doing nothing except looking after it you are tired and/or sick. in atrophy theres a decent amount of shadow gods who have worlds and most of them just kind of do nothing but that but like. this isnt really an ironed out plot beat but theres supposed to be one that lobotomy sends after nix and co. whos apparently been trying to multitask and the second they have to get into a fight they like. straight up just keel over and die. and thats why ronnie comes back. again thats not ironed out and could change but its my current way of showing what gods having a world is kind of like in the story. so yeah theyre not just like guys who are strong they really do have godly obligations most of them just. dont. bc its a big commitment its like. having a baby if the baby was ever present and never stopped screaming the mortals that they make are also the mortals they can like. 100% do anything to bc mortals from other universes or anything like ppl rift nix talk to basically just cant hurt him and he has like. super strength compared to them. could pop them like a grape. but theyre not ones he made so he cant like. turn them into a cube or something which is mostly restrictions to keep them from being absolutely super all powerful in rp or anything both options are kind of meant to feel kind of suffocating bc gods arent really. mmmeeeaaaant to be people theyre meant to be machines that do their godly duty and nothing else. but theyre also people. and they have to deal with being people. and i feel like a lot of grievance is kind of just people having to deal with being. people the thing is even if asterisk wasnt there doing that most of them STILL wouldnt just bc. well theyre people and theres other people there and theyd rather be with the other people than. essentially working forever. the reason ronnie at the end of atrophy doesnt start doing actual god stuff is bc nix and vinny are there now and theyre more important to him than anything he feels obligated to do. i imagine especially for the rift gusbands getting out of the purpose and living in a real mortal world that has change and constant movement and countless people must be so freeing. because the purpose is kind of just a soulless husk of a place to live theres. nothing there. unless you make it. and these gods sit around and do nothing because they dont know any better but living in a mortal world they can learn to outgrow that. i just think its really beautiful to think about. being literally made to do something and not being allowed to and its crushing because you cant do the one thing tou were made for. but then youre free of those rules but instead of turning to that obligation you realize. you dont have to do what you were made for. you can just live. you can do anything and go anywhere and be anyone and be WITH anyone you want. you can just live i also think its very pretty in my head how certain things like this end up tying nix and starb together as characters when they can seem so distant from each other in concept. but theres little details where theyre the same. someday they can both learn that they dont have to be what they were "made" to be they dont have to only ever look after a world they dont have to be a murderer they dont have to be a weapon they dont have to work nonstop for the sake of other people. they can just be themselves. thats a sentiment they both learn in the end

[sketchguk]

Hi! soulmate anon hereee . Thank you for reading it! yesss mc does find out about it but only after the incident happeens !! she's upset he didnt trust her enough to tell, but its about more than just him so she understands ! Soonyoung leaves because they were attacks and threats against their whole group , and he's one of the aurors , people in this au are out of college. So it's imprtant for him to be there. Buuuuut the whole time he's angry and he just wants to go back and be with mc :(((((( he struggles between his loyalty for his pack and mc :(( That's actually a recurring theme ! his pack is modern and doesnt believe in hierarchies, but they do have inborn traits of like omega and alpha etc .... And that becomes a problem with mc later on because she's not a natural ... I forgot to tell you ... but THIS STORY IS POLY I think ????????? we actually get got that far in the discussion ! but my friend's plan was to do a fic like the hp ones on ao3! those HUGEge fics that have many tropes in them . So this was hogwarts universe , abo , AND abo is naturally soulmate so there was a soulmate element too . Mingyu would always feel like mc is his soulmate too but he doesnt tell her or anyone because mc is with soonyoung . But in his heart he knows she's HIS and something is wrong ..... Later he does fight soonyoung about everything every step !!! he'll say he doesnt care when he leaves mc alone, and that he would never be selfish like that, he would help out mc if he could ! and once when theyre fighting , mingyu would storm away and mc would be in shock ... soonyoung asks what happened and mc would say that she could hear his heartbeat ... thats shocking because vampires dont have heartbeats! only mates can hear it aaaah. we never decided if it was gonna end as a poly au. Soonyoung is a werewolf and sharing goes against everything he knowssss. we thought that mingyu could be for angst, but THEN i read a taekook fic where jungkook is werewolf and taehyung is a vampire !!! it was poly and taekook are not interested in poly but they give in for mc :((((( but then i didnt discuss it with anyone until now so the story hasnt gone forward !!! once again thank you so much for readingg!! If you want to ask anything plssss do but not also i understand weuiuteito it's kind of all over the place

ALSO I READ AND REREAD PREV ANON'S ASK SO MANY TIMES that i zoned out while eating, thinking about it ! LOL . soonyoung in his QUIDDITCH GEAR IN THE LIBRARY ????????? and making her recite from her STUDIES ?!???! and then you said his hand is wrapped around her throat too , I can't breathe omg OMGGG . would he be so sweet to her right after ???? I always think of gryfinddor soonyoung as someone that will do dom things like this in the moment and then get shy about it iewrueiwiuro

Oof yeah I can imagine how complicated it gets when Soonyoung has other another half of his identity that he has to hide 💔 He's also so important to the pack ! He can't just let his responsibilities go

Omg there are a lot of tropes that y'all came up with !! The story sounds soo exciting. We love a good slow burn multi chaptered fic <3 Especially when it's a poly one too LOL. Mingyu and Soonyoung are always at the scene of the crime too ahah. Reminds me of the time Mingyu said he thought Soonyoung hated him during pre-debut days lkadjklsa. He's definitely someone to fear especially when it comes to dance practice (although Seungcheol might disagree. If he was in this universe, he would definitely be an alpha LOLL - that reminds me, are there any other members in this fic??)

I liked what you said about mc hearing Mingyu's heartbeat :0 that must have come as a big shock to all of them !! And have you thought about what event occurred for all of them to start getting along and starting a poly relationship??? Or have you two not gotten to that point because you mentioned that you thinkkk it's a poly story aha

Ahh !! In my HP au, I always imagined that Soonyoung and mc are both switches, but it's so difficult when I love my male doms lol. I'm subby by nature, so it just happens that mc acts in the same way I do. I can't help it !!!! I'm projecting my fantasies

Soonyoung is typically very sweet and romantic in bed, but when mc misbehaves or riles him up, he has no choice but to flip his switch !!! After they have a rough session, Soonyoung would definitely get shy in retrospect. He checks up on her constantly and wonders if he really did that aha. It's the duality for me !

[himbos-hotline]

Hey,take a break if you need, creating can be hard, I damn well know. Hope you feel great!! Also, for the fic writer ask game, number 7 and 8? <3

7.) Have you ever written anything based on personal experience?

A lot of how I write Kenny especially when it comes to kenny being a DiD system comes a lot from my experience with my own dissositve identity disorder and how our kenny alter interacts with existing and just the other things. Also a lot of hangmans self-confidence sel-esteem issues comes from the more deeper anxious parts of how I feel and how I react in panic attacks/afterwards. So yeah, I like to put little bits of either myself or ourselves in the writings we do. I think thats why ive trans-ed so many wrestlers because as a transmasculine person I feel like its important to show that kinda stuff in a way that doesnt demonise or find it weird. and showing trans people being loved is something thats so intricate and beautiful..yeah

8.) Which fic or hc do you feel most proud of?

Theres a few fics that im so unbelieabley proud of that I can just go back and re-read and wont feel like im like, needing to re-edit or rewrite it.

We'll Bury These Old Ghosts Here - A look at Jay and adam coles weird relationship the fact that theyre so desperately so intensely in love that they know every inch of one another but theyve been away so far. A fic from the prompt: “You literally don’t have to do anything to catch my attention because my eyes have never really been on anyone else other than you.”

its got subtle hints to trans femme adam cole like her nails being painted in a clear nail polish and looking at what she would look like with pretty girl filters on but its mostly a little story of two soulmates finding each other again.

BTE buddies - Again more Jay things. its just how much he loves his brothers and how much the bucks love them. A look at the young bucks being autistic little gremlins, Nick clearly being jays favourite and also nicky just being a sleepy lil guy with caffinee

Getting you off is my new favourite hobby- my first time writing smut and it somehow is the most fluffiest thing i have written to date..yeah...jay and hangman my beloved

[tealisa]

I really wish marvel never made the Captain America villains nazis bc they handle the subject to terribly outside of the Winter Soldier arc doing an Operation Paperclip analogy about how the Western powers rehabilitated the nazis after the war. That was the only time the cap villains felt well used, but in the past decade marvel's big cap runs are just turning giving Steve Rogers or Bucky Barnes character-assassinating villain heel turns with the Nazi Cap and outer circle nonsense, and I cannot overstate how awful the writing is

and there's no way it all gets retconned like every other time they did this bc they've destroyed too many characters to force this "Cold War" plot (with countless jingoistic pro-USA historical references) but even when it gets wiped away, I'm still pissed that they think it's good storytelling.

And its ridiculous bc the only logical conclusion for the Winter Soldier arc was everyone's (esp the ones personally impacted: Bucky & Steve) questioning their loyalty to a government that hired nazis who politically and literally puppeted them as weapons, but no, marvel's office always wants more Cap'n 'Murrica so they stay loyal supercops until its time to do another "must protect the new Captain America from the old one who's my oldest and best friend and now suddenly a fascist" storyline again

it's like marvel thought the reason why people likes the Winter Soldier arc was bc of the Bucky Steve fight, so they never bother depicting them as how close and inseparable platonic soulmates that they are introduced as an instead come up w convoluted reasons to make them fight again, which means one of them siding w the nazi villains for shock value...

idk how anyone can like reading this, just flipping between destroying a character's entire ethos and udnermine the role they originally played in the foundation for CA-canon: they're supposed to be the 2 WW2 vets who fought the Nazis originally in the USA's last good military act, it's supposed to be impactful when they both come back to the 21st c. and find their own government hired the nazis they fought, but instead marvel editorial makes them nazis for shits and giggles and bash their characters to a pulp //

I know the nature of (American) comics demands more Cap bs, but Bucky and Steve's stories should've progressed long ago to them abandoning their American-ness and being disillusioned by their country, at the very least for the harm they themselves suffered personally. If marvel office needs more Cap shit, they already have a new one who's a modern USian military man and much more believable to continue doing that, by instead of letting the old Caps be free from the stars n stripes and let them develop outside of that pro-USA nonsense for once, instead they make them nazis/fascists in the most "yeah, this is all definitely getting retconned and wiped from everyone's memories immediately" storylines ever

I mean yeah agreed. The nazi villains are important to Captain America history given his creators and date of publication, but yeah like most things nowadays marvel has ran the good stuff and the punk parts of this franchise to the ground and filled it with neoliberal bullshit. It's like i said in the first ask you sent (idk if youre the same anon, but im assuming so). In the end all i wish is for marvel and disney to go bankrupt paying the creators what theyre owed, and for all of marvel's IP to go into the public domain

[souljournaler]

Ive managed to gather an interesting group of ppl to witness via the twitter equivalent of this blog

Sorry I'll have to put a readmore later bc I'm on mobile and havent figured that out yet

Anyway

It's mostly like, three or four (maybe five??) people that I'd love to be friends with but am intimidated by how cool they are so I'm just ok to witness and Like their tweets when i Can Relate(TM)

Usually on twitter i dont feel like anything i have to say is important or meaningful enough to add, so i simply Dont. I usually rt things or Like them if i vibe-- i dont feel particularly compelled to rephrase things in my own way if someone else already did it well enough. Sometimes i post OC too but it's often venting or journaling.

Some of the ppl i follow on the twitter equivalent of this blog are just,,, people who i admire about some things but would never expect to be friends with. Like, sometimes, they say some rly profound shit that is really cool. Sometimes they say some shit that makes me wonder (& assume a little bit) if theyre white & from california or portland or phoenix or smth. Like... sometimes it's rly "never have i ever read something so brazenly White Cis Dude Who Values Anything That Happens In Silicon Valley" but with a Buddhist twist, and I'm like "wow.......... live ur dharma my guy" and i Must Step Away. Nuance in all relationships ig.

Like... have you ever met someone who is Post-Cringe about liking something? Like, they know it's silly and temporary, but theyre having fun, so they love it anyway and have some absolute dogshit takes while theyre at it. Yeah. Thats these guys. In a way that prevents me from ever pursuing a friendship of any depth, but also still keeps me reading their tweets just in case they say something cool.

I'm hoping to build a much different community online going forward. Like, yes the whole wide internet is out here, and anyone really can find this blog if they know where to look, but i want to treat my blog and the twitter equivalent of this blog more like a little corner, where just we see the stories that unfold. It'll just be us for now, and i like it that way.

So yeah

It's nice to meet you. Let's get to know each other.

- Sol

[sandradoodles]

Hi! i just started reading your confessions comic and i am OBSESSED!! and i didnt want to spam you by rbing all of your posts so i am going to write my Thoughts here :3

First of all i just wanted to say how much youve improved over the course of making this comic!! the lineart is so much Smoother and neater, the shading is so PRETTY, i love how youve done the backgrounds, whether you actually draw them or put flowers or something else behind the characters, and the layout looks so much more proffesional and puts the focus on the right things!! ALSO your anatomy has improved sm and i love all the wild expressions!!

Also i LOVE the teal colouring with pink accents, its such a pretty combo and its kinda like your trademark now!!

And obviously the whole story is so GOOD. i love how you cranked up the Idiot Meter to 1000000 bc YEAH theyre IDIOTS!! I loved the whole Clownbug part with ladybug discovering chats in love with marinette and being ANGRY abt it, its one of my favourite flavours of love square, and pt 6 of the comic was also SO entertaining!! miscommunication my beloved <3

I also love the first panel of pt nine, its just so pretty!! and ofc the shenanigans with the design contest, it feels v realistic and you absolutely NAILED mari's character!!

And the bee miraculous akuma is GORGEOUS!! it looks v menacing but also rlly cool and i would KILL to see the full design

i also love the way you showed marinettes progress with the jacket!! the montage of them bonding and working on the jacket is so cool <3 (and the shoulder gag is rlly funny lksdjhghjkgfdkjh)

FINALLY the jacket itself is just. BEAUTIFUL. the design on the back is absolutely stunning, and i love how you incorporated the miracle box and roses (did mari draw inspiration from chat? 👀👀) and the pink inside is so cute!! and the paw mark w marinette's signature!! (also i see you have a weakness for bomber jackets and you are RIGHT they ARE the pinnacle of fashion)

and buttercup reveal my beloved!! the blush!! the awkwardness!! the wild expressions and gestures!! i LOVE IT!!

also, i love all the small details!! like how you shaded marinettes palms as hearts, its so cute! <3

Anyways im just REALLY exited to see where youre going with this comic!! <3

omg omg omg okay I woke up to this, immediately read it FIVE TIMES IN A ROW, and have spent all day trying to figure out how to reply to so many lovely compliments 😭😭😭

THANK YOU SO MUCH OBVIOUSLY it means the world that you read every part and then took the time to type this up! This comic is such a labor of love for me and I'm always trying to work in a lot of fun and cute little details/moments so when people notice and point out those things it makes my heart SWELL WITH JOY. (If you like the hearts on her palms, part ten has some hidden hearts as well heehee)

When I started this my only goals were to scratch my lovesquare itch and get comfortable drawing again after being out of the habit for years. I had, idk maybe ten followers and did not expect anyone to read it or that I would actually manage to draw more than five parts or so AND NOW HERE WE ARE lol. I am so happy that you can see an improvement in the art, not just in how the characters are drawn but stuff like backgrounds and the visual storytelling as well. I hope to get better and better with each part!

Reading your comments about the characterization makes me wanna screech with happiness because I LOVE. THESE. IDIOTS. SO MUCH it is ridiculous!! RIDICULOUS! And as much as I adore leaning into them being incredibly stupid, it is important to me to show how much tenderness lies at the heart of their interactions. They are so, so stupid because they’re so, so sweet. Confessions is very much “journey over destination” because I just want to indulge in as much insanity, humor, awkwardness, confusion, affection, devotion, and partnership I can manage to tease out of their relationship in one story.

The color palette btw was a complete and total happy accident! Sometimes a thing works because you put lots of thought and effort into it, and sometimes a thing works because you fell on it. The color palette is an example of the latter but THE JACKET is an example of the former, haha. The amount of time it took to develop not just the meaning of it but literally the physical design (gotta look like something Marinette might actually make, gotta be something that I can draw a bunch of times, gotta be something that [spoilers redacted], gotta be something that fits over Chat’s shoulders, gotta be something that actually looks good, omg.) I have a whole post about it already but still more to say because I always have more to say! this is so much rambling I’m sorry

One of the big challenges I’ve had in trying to make a comic is figuring out how to balance what to say, what to show, and what to imply. The jacket is first and foremost exactly how Marinette presents it, a means to hopefully reach Adrien and deliver the card from his classmates. The specifics behind the design are more implied. Marinette pours a week of blood sweat and tears into creating this jacket, and as far as Chat Noir sees, she is single-mindedly focused on that task. But we all know she’s ALSO carrying the responsibilities and concerns of being Ladybug. Losing the Miraculous is obviously like... the biggest thing, a terrible and invisible weight that she carries alone!

Except not, because Chat Noir is there. He’s there for Ladybug, he’s there for Marinette, he’s a constant presence in her life and his support allows her to move beyond the shame and horror of losing the Miraculous. Marinette embroiders the symbols of the stolen Miraculous centered around the ladybug and surrounded by irises (sorry they aren’t roses!), and it looks like a topical show of support for her local superheroes; Ladybug embroiders the symbols of the stolen Miraculous centered on the ladybug and surrounded by irises and it’s a promise to her city that she’s going to get them back. (That she stitches the symbol of the cat in the left-hand side of the lining so that it zips over the wearer’s heart might mean something too but that was... more subconscious.)

ANYWAYYYYYYYYYYY I hope that my long-winded rambling comes across appropriately as a sign of JUST HOW THRILLED I am to have received this beautiful thoughtful ask. Hopefully the behind the scenes talk was fun to read haha. I am so honored and I hope you continue to enjoy the story!!

[sizhui]

i dont read ritmao stories can you tell me more about how theyre toxic. for the tea?

HI! Sorry for answering this so late, I don't consider myself some great Ritmao expert even though I've read their two most important stories, but I'll try to summarize their relationship the best I can!

For Ritsu, his yearning for Mao is the same as his yearning for a normal life "in the light." Mao appears to be the epitome of a normal boy - relatively popular, extroverted, hard-working, casual with people (Ritsu calls him a jack of all trades and master of none, interestingly.) Ritsu both wants him, and wants to be able to live his life.

Some obvious problems - Ritsu has never told Mao of his disability, and thus Mao believes that Ritsu is a lazy guy mooching off of him. At the same time, Mao is a guy with a drastically low self-esteem, who constantly self-deprecatingly misinterprets signs of Ritsu's affection

Now, their relationship was more or less functional throughout childhood, and seems to have grown tense after Mao met Trickstar in the end of his first year of high school. There are two issues: the first is that Mao found something new that's important to him, while Ritsu still hadn't gotten close with Knights at the time and kept clinging to Mao, subsequently growing more and more jealous and wishing to monopolize his life. The other issue is that Mao just genuinely... doesn't reciprocate Ritsu's romantic feelings. There is a short allegorical scene in Band Ensemble about this: Mao and Ritsu drink the same juice they've always drank, and Mao comments that as he grew up, the "taste of the juice became too sweet for him", so he doesn't like drinking it anymore.

But now for the intricacies - despite bitching about how much trouble taking care of Ritsu is, Mao needs it to affirm his identity as a "helper" and "caretaker". And it's not that he needs Ritsu specifically - in fact, anyone weak would've sufficed, and he goes as far as subtly sabotaging Ritsu when he actually does get more independent so he could keep having someone to take care of. Ritsu is very much aware of this, and it's not like he's a faultless angel - he, in return, enjoys Mao's low self confidence, stating that "only he could love such a sorry sight."

So, yeah.