#i DID spend hours on it tho!!!

[when-wax-wings-melt]

Roisin’s Reading Rumble: ROUND THREE @camelspit​ @arson-anarchy-death​

SO sorry for the big paragraphs my adhd brain can’t read them either. I also barely proofread and wrote this thing in two sittings. So. My bad if it sucks and also my bad if u can’t tell bc you can’t read it. I bolded to help but if it makes it worse. oops.

Final wordcount: 1612

Preview: Misattributing Dex’s drive to make a name for himself and prove people wrong to pure selflessness takes away these parts of his character that show the elves still have the “human” need to be wanted. It’s thematically important for the characterization of elves as “more” or “greater” than humans, but it’s also essential to Dex as an individual.

Without further ado:

DEXTER ALVIN DIZZNEE

From Dex’s introduction, where we learn he’s a prankster and the child of a bad match, to his most recent scene learning about Rex’s talentless status, he has been shown to have the flaws and complexities that fandoms love to skip over. The most populated form of content for Dex remains the “cinnamon roll” or “the boy who deserves a cover and more page time” rather than focusing on when he does appear—and most appearances add more evidence against the former portrayal. He lives as a living manifestation of the inequality and prejudice the Lost Cities hold beneath their polished veneer—the rest of the main cast serve to highlight this in different ways, but Dex was the first to rip the blindfold from Sophie’s awed eyes. Traits such as social awareness, intense jealousy, desperate ambition, and sullen anger make up Dex’s character right alongside all the sweet selflessness the fandom prefers, and erasing them is a huge discredit to his complex and hard-earned development as the series progresses.

The KOTLC wiki in particular tends to place Dex on a pedestal that little canon evidence backs. Even the description of his character, which supposedly is unbiased and moderated, reads “Dex Dizznee (Dex Diz-nee) is a deuteragonist in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series and a amazing, strong and intelligent friend to Sophie and the team always doing his best to help out.” While none of this description is inaccurate—Dex is, after all, very intelligent and strong in resolve and courage, consistently working behind the scenes to help his friends—it leaves out several key aspects of his character. Portraying Dex as simply a great helper and a wonderful friend erases his narrative importance and drops him into the role of one of the gnomes at Alluveterre—no less important to the battle, but far less important to the plot and themes of the work as a whole. Another description from the wiki reads: “He is considered a kind, intelligent ‘cinnamon roll’ by the fandom and is always trying to prove himself when it is unnecessary by pushing himself to create gadgets using his talent because of his selfless nature.” Once again, the description moves from complimentary to completely erasing key motivations and desires that highlight the importance of his character in the narrative as a whole. The fandom considering him a cinnamon roll motivated entirely by his selfless nature wipes away the combination of pride, ambition, and need for attention and acclaim that drives Dex to accept tasks and jobs from the Council he hates, form vendettas against the Vackers, and constantly succumb to an often selfish competitive streak.

Dex becomes Sophie’s friend because he’s a loner like she is, and to showcase the darker elements of the Lost Cities such as matchmaking and multiple birth prejudice. In his very first appearance in the series, Stina and Vika Heks accuse him of using a balding serum on Stina, claiming that “‘‘[they] won’t need to [prove anything]. They’d expect nothing less from a bad match!’” (KOTLC). Sophie goes from new caretakers on a fantastical animal sanctuary, new magic school, and crystal palaces straight to some of the worst the Lost Cities has to offer— and Dex carries this responsibility with him for the next few books. As Sophie makes friends with the Vackers and Keefe, the elves with seemingly perfect lives, Dex remains there as a glaring reminder of the ugliness of her new world. By erasing that, a fundamental part of his character that influences every single relationship he has is destroyed. Dex finds it hard to befriend Fitz, Biana, and Keefe not because he’s socially awkward (as other parts of the fandom suggest) but because they represent the success he craves, which his family has been systematically denied.

Another essential Dex Dizznee trademark that fanon interpretations constantly forget is his selfishness, his ambition, and his consequential jealousy. Fanon portrayals of Dex as selfless and endlessly kind erase his true need to be the best at everything, even though he doesn’t seem to have the natural talent that Fitz and Keefe have. In Everblaze, he drops his morals and overlooks his hatred of the Council in order to work for them making ability restrictors, a job that places him in a place of honor and prestige. The idea of being recognized for his natural talent blinds him to the true target of the restrictor: Sophie. “‘They wouldn’t be controlling everyone,’ Dex argued. ‘Just the people who need it.’ / ‘And who decides that?’ Fitz asked. / ‘The Council, obviously. What?’ Dex asked when Fitz cringed. ‘I thought your family was like, the Council’s number one fan club.’ (Everblaze). The Council’s praise for his abilities inflates both his ego and his inherent need for recognition or success. The concept that his motivation for endless creation and gadgets comes from his selflessness or self sacrifice isn’t true because his motivation is to gain acclaim, fame, and apologies for thinking less of him. He wants fame and acclaim that his family has been denied. He wants to prove the Hekses and everyone like them wrong.

Later, when he becomes one of the youngest Regents on Team Valiant, Dex accuses Stina of wanting to be a part of the team only for a title, and she throws the same accusation back. “Dex didn’t deny it. And the intensity in his eyes made Sophie realize how much this opportunity had to mean to him.” (Legacy). What Stina and Dex have in common in this moment is the need to prove that their talentless fathers, bad-match parents (since Vika and Timkin should have been a Bad Match) don’t define them, and more importantly were judged incorrectly and with prejudice. Dex’s understanding of inequality ties into his motivations for wanting success—both a positive, when he wants to prove his parents’ marriage didn’t harm anything, and a negative, when he overlooks that same inequality in order to prove the haters wrong.

This ambition moves into jealousy when someone achieves something he failed at— for example, when he meets Tinker for the first time. Tinker is an adult and far more experienced at the type of invention he wants to succeed in, but after so long of being told he’s a true prodigy of technopathy and being useful to Sophie and the team, it hits a sore spot. “‘Is this a better solution than what you were planning?’ Tinker asked Dex, with no bravado in her tone. Only curiosity. / But Dex still wouldn’t look at her as he nodded. And his sigh was somewhere between a grumble and a harrumph. / ‘You have a competitive streak, don’t you?’ Tinker noted. / Sophie and Mr. Forkle both said ‘yes’ while Dex said ‘no.’ / ‘I’m not being competitive,’ he argued. ‘I’m allowed to be annoyed that I got replaced’ (Flashback). Effortless success rubs him the wrong way because he has had to work so hard to overcome stigma, discrimination, and his own doubt to succeed, while people like Tinker appear to have to have the same natural talent that bothered him about the Vackers. Misattributing his drive to make a name for himself and prove people wrong to pure selflessness takes away these parts of his character that show the elves still have the “human” need to be wanted. It’s thematically important for the characterization of elves as “more” or “greater” than humans, but it’s also essential to Dex as an individual. Why does he want this? Because he wants to help Sophie, or because he wants to prove to the world and himself that he can have this?

While all these flaws (jealousy, selfishness, sullen competetiveness) make Dex who he is, they don’t make him a mean person, and certainly not a bad character. He was the first friend Sophie ever had (Fitz truly does not count) and also the one to help her acclimate. He grew from his jealousy, selflessly staying behind the scenes to develop new gadgets to help his friends in their battles. He took steps back and learned how to place blame: not on Keefe for sensing Rex would be talentless, but on society for the way his brother would be treated. But viewing these positive things as the whole of his personality and ignoring any flaws he might have is a huge disservice—these flaws are what makes him interesting, a developed character. There is no such thing as a “sweet cinnamon roll” character in KOTLC, because making a character only good and never flawed is objectively bad writing, and makes for uninteresting dynamics.

Readers wouldn’t be interested in Dex if he never lashed out, never reacted negatively to Sophie, never had his own wants and desires that didn’t always correspond to what the narrative needs. He’s self punishing constantly over his mistakes, not forgiving himself for Fitz’s stabbing in Neverseen or for the ability restrictor. He’s jealous over Fitz, Biana, Keefe, Stina, Tinker, and Sophie’s success and power. He wants to succeed and is (or used to be) willing to place that need above the needs of his family and friends. And he also learns that Fitz and Biana are not their legacy. He cries over his brother’s future, and assures Keefe he would never blame him. He works with Stina and explores new methods of technopathy with Tinker and encourages Sophie to step into an official leadership role. Erasing any of these traits or experiences steals part of who he is and where he fits into, an unfair and inaccurate reading of the series as a whole.

In conclusion: The Dex wiki page is an atrocity, and someone who isn’t me (because I don’t have the energy 💖) needs to fix it.

Bonus:

[id: a post by A Fandom User on 7/2/2021 reading “Whoa. Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. I come on to check my cinnamon rolls age, and I see this TREASON. Who - who called him a pussy? How is he always constipated? Someone, someone who truly DEEPLY loves this cinnamon rolls need to revise this. I would, except 1) I don't know how and 2) I wouldn't do it properly. Please fix this. Please. ~Humble Follower of The Cinnamon Roll King“.

 A reply by SaladmanOfSokeefe5 on 8/8/2021 reads “I have fixed this mistake -Humble Follower of The Cinnamon Roll King“ /end id]

[buttercupshands]

So.

Act 5, huh?

Oh, and that.

"You can start breakdown now."

Finished the game couple of days ago and had some thoughts I needed to process a little. Like. Yes.

So anyway I actually didn't plan this and just wanted to redraw some sprites to just make sure I understand how to draw Siffrin correctly (still working on that!)

What did I learn from this? How fun it it to draw on a canvas that literally doesn't let you draw with colors without some layer cheating when necessary. Never tried it.

The beans. Sleeping beans.

Basically what happens when you want to sleep AND draw. Draw characters sleeping on your behalf.

Doesn't help, but at least it's cute.

I have no idea what was going on in my mind as I drew this. Feels like a fever dream of 'I want to sleep' at 4 am and 'Hm...' of thinking random things

Also that phone craft sign. Still too funny to imagine. I had to.

[umbrvx]

[ @orvwomenweek ] lsk + family, regrets || day 5

[myokk]

the black lake🫶

[solitary-bones]

so dndads live show St Paul! idk how much of this is a spoiler for anyone else going to shows so I'ma cut here!

we had!

- so many gay people in the audience that as I was walking in to the venue I said to my friend damn this is like a pride parade and a bunch of gay people in front of me were like TRUEE

- a live performance of both! dead and gone and rocks rock! it was so incredible. Beth and Will both POPPED OFFF!!!!!! they were so cool oh my god. and Freddie fucking shredded it on the electric guitar it was so sick.

- silly St Paul themed dad facts plus Ron just uhh thinking all manual labor is called a hand job.

- the people royally fucking up the dice roll (not my fault I was in the balcony I cannot be held responsible)

- the people absolutely manifesting the complete improv prompt as the live show topic. and all of the cast going into mourning over it (will fell to his knees on the stage so dramatically it was so funny)

- the cast deciding to do a DND game with their characters! Starring: Will Campos as Henry oak as Mr Chris (later Dr Chris), by the book health inspector! Matt Arnold as Darryl Wilson as Darryl, ex football quarterback now accomplished priest searching to remember all 10 commandments! Beth may as Ron stampler as Nor Relpmats, doctor (the best health inspector of them all)! and Freddie Wong as Glenn Close as Glenn The Closer, weed enjoyer moonlighting as a health inspector relying on his gut! Anthony Burch as Patrick as Patrick the shit (among other characters)!

- the audience not being able to stop being horny when giving suggestions for what their location, bad guy, and theme were gonna be (bdsm dungeon, just a guy from the audience named Patrick, and a 10 commandments dildo)

- an abundance of flashbacks and one single flashforward

- butt spanking competition to get past the second door (it is a bdsm castle ig)

-mr Chris tests to see if the floor has been cleaned recently and thinks it hasn't. Glenn the closers gut says it's fine but Mr Chris says if he tastes some of what's on the ground he'll be able to tell better. Glenn the Closer bites his fingers and Mr Chris is into it.

- Mr Chris finding a dead cockroach on the ground and revives it using CPR and mouth to mouth (Anthony is the cockroach and also when will tried to fake the mouth to mouth yelled DO IT PUSSY so yeah they actually kissed like twice at least) and revived it to ask about the cleanliness of the floor and found it not very.

- none other than paeden bennets on the second level, who Darryl proceeded to obliterate with a holy football. I'm not lying (not before asking how Patrick the DM knew about their friend Paeden who was long dead and us getting a lively npc on npc scene by Anthony of Patrick meeting Paeden and getting punched in the balls and saying "I'll never forget you")

- Test by the health inspectors to see if the blood of paeden would get cleaned up. all of the soots from spirited away came in with little mops to clean it and cleaned all the party. Glenn rolled to see if he's into it and got a 9 but the crowd gave inspiration and he got a 6, which is 69 so he was and wanted to stay there forever with the soots. Henry as Mr Chris used his persuasion to get Glenn the closer to leave the soots by saying that whatever they're doing he could do it better. because apparently they're ex lovers now. (Anthony yelled something about Will wanting to kiss another boy)

- Flashback reveals that they were highschool sweethearts but were going to health inspection schools on opposite sides of the US and were talking about how their relationship would progress from there when Mr Chris' secret lover barges in and informs them that they're pregnant and he's the father! Glenn the Closer gets upset and asks what happened and Mr Chris proceeds to another, extremely graphic, flashback where Ron the doctor commentates the uhhh conceiving of said child. and Glenn is understandably upset at the graphicness of this explanation about being cheated on. They end with bitter words, stating they're now nemesis in health inspection.

- Nor asks Mr Chris how long it's been since he saw his son Patrick. (not since birth lmao)

- they go up to the final level, find Patrick using the commandment dildo, on the 8th one I think, and upon seeing his absent father run in and ask "are ya winning, son!?"gets extremely turned off. he understandably asks what he's doing there after being absent his whole life. Mr Chris explains that he's finally ready to be back in his life, with his husband Glenn the closer, and his newfound belief in Christianity from Darryl the priest who's really good at football.

- Flashforward to Mr Chris and Glenn the Closer living together and apparently "they're bougie enough to have their own priest" so Darryl lives with them too. Nor comes to visit and we see the commandment dildo hanging above the mantle.

and that's that on that.

[sashasylvaart]

Fairy Lights

Reblogs super appreciated!

[cerise-grenadine]

older Snape fans, what are your oldest works like?

i’m curious 🤭

found the old display book where i stored my second (and longest)(and unfinished) fanfic and i’ll have you know the highlight was Severus stabbing a dragon in the throat with a poisoned dagger to save Hogwarts, in front of everyone 🙌🏻

he was able to jump on the dragon because he had ✨angel wings✨ black covered in ebony feathers, of course 🖤

and every chapter had deep poetic introductory quotes bc i was a dramatic teenager.

[artbyfuji]

flashbangs you with this 💥

[cathalbravecog]

another hi rollar but ms paint color palette

its these colors btw

[batfossil-fr]

I’ve been really thinking of reopening my art shop soon… I’ve been taking some practice doodles (hence all the posting lately) while I shake off my rust and I’m finding things I enjoy working on again. I miss trying my hand at more dragons/OCs and colors. my shop’s so broken rn lmao but that’s a problem for a later date it’s just nice getting back into art

[sideblogdotjpeg]

hey guys does anybody know whats the date today

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

pros of doing Physical Labor: i feel like a real person! i accomplished something!! it was rewarding work!

cons: Ow Ow Owie Ow Ouch Ow Ow Ow

[caitlynmeow]

Modern AU

Cassandra has a death wish with the drinks she makes. Bela is surprised her sister didn’t get a heart attack. But that is only Bela, what does she know when it comes to the things that her sister does. As long as she’s handling this madness just fine, Bela shouldn’t have any reason to complain.

But the eldest daughter feels obligated to mention what is mixed with the vodka. Because different people like different things right? Some prefer cranberry, others prefer cherry soda, and then there is Cassandra’s mix which is vodka and red bull. Of course, it isn’t for show, Cassandra does drink that monstrosity and thinks most people are okay with this thing.

It isn’t only vodka. On occasion, Bela saw her sister mix espresso with red bull when she needs the extra burst of energy after staying up very late. How her sister didn’t drop dead after drinking that is still something Bela wonders about to this day.

Cassandra never listens though. She thinks it’s okay and as long as her body isn’t rejecting this then why should she stop?

On a morning while the girls were staying over at their aunt Donna’s house, Cassandra did toss espresso in a glass full of the energy drink. It was then that the three sisters saw their very kind and very soft-spoken aunt snap.

Donna is very against energy drinks. To the Italian woman, if you need energy you get it from caffeine that’s either in tea or coffee, and that’s about it. Energy drinks are a huge no in her book and she often speaks about it. To see her niece nonchalantly mix two things that have no business mixing together, the woman was sent over the edge.

Donna might have over-dramatized it. She didn’t have to go as far as to mention how she would tell Alcina that she stood by while her daughter killed herself. Because the woman is convinced that the second Cassandra drinks the beverage, her soul will depart from her body.

Daniela, trying to help her aunt calm down, mentioned that she should relax because “Cass does this a lot you really don’t—“ But she was interrupted because what do you mean she does this frequently?

Donna wonders how Alcina allows this. To which the daughters gulped because their mother doesn’t really know and they figured that what Alcina didn’t know wasn’t going to hurt her. But of course, Cassandra is cocky and thought her aunt wouldn’t even know what red bull is which is apparently not true at all.

[theygender]

I've got too many games I want to play and not enough free time 😭 I still need to finish my BG3 playthrough but since Endless Ocean: Luminous came out I've been playing a lot of that instead. Also just got back into Wizard101 last night. Started playing House Flipper again last weekend. Still need to finish BOTW so I can start a TOTK playthrough and finish Pokemon Shield so I can start on Pokemon Violet. I've been fighting off the urge to start up a new Skyrim playthrough for weeks. My brother just told me that Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is getting ported to the Switch. And now I'm suddenly feeling inspired to replay DAI... And throughout all of this I'm also playing the hell out of DragonVale on my phone. Someone just pay me to play video games all day please

[pasiphile]

OMG THE BAYBEE IS 1+ YEAR OLD NOW? CRAWLING??? WALKSIES????

WALKSIES!!

[towl]

MIKAGE REO Blue Lock ⚽︎ EP10:"Just the Way It Is"