#i added so many fandom references in here lol…

[nmakii]

SWAY WITH ME…

— a date with alastor didn’t go as he had planned… but, it wasn’t that bad after all…

hi!!! i saw this idea from @callmechito and, i didnt make the idea exactly the way specified. but, i really wanted to try :)!! it is late at night though, so i did not make it as long as i wanted it to be (sorry if it’s rushed!!)

acid rain. perhaps it would’ve been wiser to check the 666 news weather report before scheduling your date…

you stood by the window of your hotel room, wearing what you’d call your sunday’s bests. thousands of sinners’ skins burning on impact from the acidic rain pouring outside.

knock!

“s/o, are you decent? may i come in?” a static voice came from the other side of the door. “uuh, yeah! come in” you called back to him as he gently opened the door.

and on the other side of the door, you saw a different side of alastor that had never been seen before; a smitten yet small smile drawn on his face, wearing a red coat, as per usual (though this time, his coat is not tattered), and his big doe eyes shyly looking at the outfit you’d chosen for your proposed date.

alastor let out a quiet sigh, an overwhelming feeling filling his chest, making it hard to breath. “my dear! well, aren’t you stunning? i might just drop dead right now, haha!” alastor laughed, a laugh track joining along. “haha… it’s a shame that we have to cancel our date…” you smiled bittersweetly, quite honestly looking forward to the date. it must have been a millennia since your last date, not to mention how it is with alastor, hell’s most eligible bachelors if i do say so myself…

“well, who said we had to cancel our date?” he tilted his head. “i’d think the rain outside would speak for itself…” you muttered out. “we could just have our date here at the hotel! we could simply move the date to my hotel room, would you like that?” his fingers tapped against his staff.

“su-“”brilliant! let’s make haste now!” he smiled gleefully, taking his hand in yours and shadow teleporting you to his hotel room— the warm red tones of the hotel harshly contrasting with the cool blue and green tones of the forest on the other side.

alastor took your fingers in his hand and gently guided you to a table with two seats. he pulled one out and helped you into the chair. “just sit tight now, darling. i’ll have niffty whip something up for us.” he smiled before leaving the room.

minutes later, alastor came back— two delectable dishes in hand. he placed one in front of you before sitting down himself and digging in.

the two of you had spent your dinner getting to know each other better (more like just him getting to know you better…), talking about whatever came to mind.

not for one second had you ever doubted alastor tonight. everything coming from his beautifully thin lips had sounded as genuine as ever.

after dinner had ended, you wiped your mouth with the napkin on your lap. “alastor, i had a really good time…” you grinned awkwardly, blood rushing to your face. “i think i must go now, i have a busy day tomorrow…” you frowned slightly before standing up to leave.

“nonsense! come, dance with me for a while, would you?” he teasingly pleaded, placing a hand on your shoulder. you hesitated for a while, considering the consequences of staying up an extra few minutes. “ahh… i guess it couldn’t hurt..” you smiled as alastor walked to his vinyl record played, placing the needle onto the grooves of the CD.

as alastor placed a hand on your shoulder and hip, sway by michael bublé began playing. you copied his actions, placing your own hands on his hip and shoulder as the two of you began dancing to the soft music, alastor’s soft voice singing along to the tune.

you soaked in the soft sight of the scary radio demon, as docile as a doe. you rested the side of your head against alastor’s chest, feeling every vibration as he sang. alastor sighed softly, all of this simply being too much for him to act calmly.

all of these emotions were too much, alastor needed a way to release them… he took his hand off of your shoulder before gently gripping your chin. he leaned down a bit before kissing you.

his lips smiled into the kiss, the hand on your hip snaking up to cup your cheek.

the kiss lasted quite long before he finally pulled away, a proud yet mischievous grin decorating his handsome face.

alastor leaned down, his mouth hovering over your ear. “would you like to know something, gorgeous?” he whispered, the hand on your chin resting once more on your shoulder. “i’d say i’m the luckiest man in hell right now, on a date with a treasure like you. i might just die, again!” he laughed. though, despite his joke— when he had said that, the radio filter on his voice was gone, letting you hear his true voice.

you looked up to meet his careful gaze as you grinned lovingly “i had a marvelous time with you… you make me happy that… im in hell.” you laughed.

as the song stopped, alastor paused, thinking to himself quietly. he dropped your hand before cupping your back. “you said you must leave, didn’t you? i wouldn’t want to be the reason you’re groggy in the morning!” he smiled, walking you over to your hotel room, just a few ways down.

“i did have an amazing night with you, my dear. i hope we could do this again, perhaps again during an acid rain shower?” he teased while laughing. a calm composure remaining on his face.

and despite that poker face, he was in the best terms; burning on the inside out. his longing for you filling all of his senses. he must stay gentlemanly though… so, for now, he’ll cherish the beautiful date he had with you tonight.

[i-heart-hxh]

Hello! I hope AX is fun!

I have a question along the lines of some that you probably have already gotten before. If so, sorry. Mine is basically: do you think people who say there's queer/gay subtext in Gon and Killua's relationship are reading too much into it, or are otherwise biased to an extent that it's effecting objectivity?

The reason I ask is: usually people who say these sorts of things are the borderline homophobic sort that insist kids their age can't be gay or make fun of people who like to engage with anime fandoms, but I have come across someone (in private, friend of a friend, lol) with a couple of arguments which I think leave out all that, and I thought it would be valuable to ask, both just to have a discussion and because I don't quite trust my own skills.

One point was that the famous shinjuu line isn't as romantically charged as the English speaking fandom makes it out to be, and that the word contemporarily refers to multi-death tragedy or dedication resulting in death generally, especially in the context with which Killua said it (being that he was about to follow Gon into a fight with Pitou which he knew they'd lose without any prior mutual agreement). The argument was that a romantic reading of the line comes from bias and unfamiliarity, and as a result isn't as paid attention to in Japanese HxH communities as it is in English ones.

The other was that a lot of the moments showcasing the intensity of Gon and Killua's feelings (such as the dodgeball or "you are light" scenes) are very typical/standard of shounen anime, which often have central themes of friendship that are frequently "overestimated" by fandom to be intentional romantic undertones, and that these two characters are not unique in that respect. They said determining romance-establishing purposes to scenes like the ones Killua shares with Palm is projection that interferes with analysis for all the reasons mentioned above. Part of the argument was that a romantic interpretation ignores a subversion of 'the power of friendship' shounen trope, as Gon and Killua have a comparatively tragic "end" (in quotations because obviously the story isn't done), where Gon pushed Killua away, Killua could not stand up for himself, and Gon ended up defeating a powerful enemy without him; adding romance to it obscures and misses the point of this subversion. They also said it was very unlikely for Togashi, should he want to explore queer themes like this, to be so subtle about it, and to not ascribe intent to the author.

The way I see it is that reading romance between Killua and Gon is just one of many interpretations someone may get from a culmination of moments from the text, and that a lot of meta analysis will inevitably be biased by someone's own experiences. For example, a lot of people can relate to the experience of having a baby gay crush, and so see themselves in Killua and read the character with that background in mind. I think the arguments I see here (on tumblr, but also your blog) are well-substantiated and well-explained, which I think are all that's needed for a "valid" interpretation.

Anyway. I apologize for the long ask. Thank you for reading all that!

Hi! AX was fun, thank you!! I caught a cold so I've been slow to recover this week, but I'm starting to feel better.

So, I've answered similar questions with a lot of different reasons why I think the subtext is intentional, and I think it's worth reading that first because it helps when thinking about Togashi's mindset and interests in his works. While of course I can't put words in Togashi's mouth, there is validity in examining things he has actually said and included in prior works and deducing some of his tendencies and patterns based off of that. I do not think it's a stretch or leap at all to read queer themes into the work of someone who has stated an interest in creating queer works, expressed that he enjoys and is influenced by queer works, is married to someone who created a work known for its queer themes, and has previously included queer themes in his works as well. And I mean, KilluGon isn't even the only queer inclusion in HxH by far either.

The thing is, I can understand where this person is coming from...up to a point. If you take any one or even a small handful of these points in isolation, sure, it's not difficult to say that perhaps the romantic reading of those moments is incidental and not intended to be taken that seriously.

I think the real problem with this attitude is that when you start adding up the number of times something with a romantic implication is included between Gon and Killua and look at the picture as a whole, it does reach a point where it gets increasingly ridiculous to claim it isn't intentional or has no real weight. Why would someone like Togashi, who has such an eye for detail in his stories, bother including these implications over and over and over again if he didn't want it to be read this way? Especially when he is someone who has expressed interest in writing queer stories? I struggle to look at the full picture and accept that there isn't a strong degree of intention to the decisions he makes.

I've seen tons of other anime, including lots of shounen, and while I understand that person's perspective with the fever-pitch friendships that the fandom then takes and interprets as more (something I believe Jump intentionally fosters as a marketing tool), personally I do see HxH as being several notches above other shounen series with regards to both how much subtext exists and also how seriously the bond between the characters is portrayed. To me, it does feel distinct from even many other series where male characters are commonly shipped for these reasons, and I'm actually rather skeptical with regards to the majority of these ships being considered canon or even close to it even when there is some basis the fandom is going off of. But I do think HxH leans into this aspect even more than most other shounen do, both in the series itself and in related offshots like the musicals and marketing and even how both versions of the anime were approached.

Also, I will say that I follow the Japanese side of the fandom pretty closely and read tweets frequently, and I do see people bring up the shinjuu line with regards to Killua's feelings and especially what it says about the gravity of how he feels towards Gon. I would actually agree there is less emphasis on it in the Japanese side of the fandom because the word (including the subtext) is already familiar to Japanese audiences and so they just see it upfront and then either take it that way or not, while it has to be explained to a non-Japanese audience due to the lack of cultural familiarity and also the inadequacy of the English translations to capture the meaning.

Regardless of the fact that it technically can be taken either way, I do strongly feel like the word was used by Togashi with intention and knowledge of how it's normally used in a literary sense. I believe Togashi made a choice to use that word on purpose and let his audience take it as they will. It's also worth noting that Gon and Killua directly parallel another lovers' suicide--that of Meruem and Komugi, who do use romantic language towards one another. Komugi says "I may not be much, but please, let me accompany you," which is an old fashioned way for Japanese women to accept a marriage proposal. This echos Killua's "Gon, you are light. Sometimes you shine so brightly, I must look away. But even so, is it still okay if I stay at your side?”

I also think Gon and Killua's friendship can be and is still a subversion of shounen friendship tropes while at the same time being romantically coded. In fact, that it is so close to romantic is a bit of a subversion itself. I don't think the coding gets in the way of the shounen friendship subversion or takes away from it--both can exist at the same time. I still say that the way the Palm subplot is constructed doesn't fully make sense if you remove the intention of the exact nature of Killua's feelings being explored. Otherwise why bother to have so much emphasis on romance as a theme? Why not construct things differently? Why not have Gon make a platonic friend for Killua to get jealous over instead? Why essentially give Killua a romantic "rival"? Why have Killua "stalk" them on their date and point out that's what he's doing? Why have him freaking out at the thought of Gon going on dates and then saying he wants to be with Gon forever literally the next panel? Why make his jealousy come off as romantic in nature because of the way the whole situation is set up? These decisions matter! Togashi could have approached this entire subplot from any angle, and yet he chose to keep repeatedly referencing romantic love when the focus is on Killua's feelings for Gon.

Obviously as someone who ships Gon and Killua, I do have a certain degree of bias, though I like to think I am able to step away from that and look at the series more objectively as well. I do have moments where I go, "I am I being a little delusional here? Do I need to re-assess?" and think over all of what we've been provided again and...honestly I just come to the same conclusion every time no matter what angle I try to look at it from. I do believe that Togashi writes the KilluGon dynamic in such a way that people who would rather ignore the romantic subtext can do so. It's a perfectly beautiful and complex friendship regardless of whether you acknowledge the romantic subtext or not. I think Togashi enjoys playing with the ambiguity of it. But just because it's ambiguous doesn't mean the romantic subtext doesn't exist or have meaning/intent behind it, and to me, adding up all the different choices made in the series, it does reach a tipping point wherein I seriously believe Togashi includes it with full intention and knowledge of what he's doing. And for what it's worth, I don't think it's actually that subtle. A lot of people notice it and wonder about it and connect with it, even including some people who don't actually want to see it (think about all the dudebros who post online going, "Is it just me or does Killua seem kinda gay???").

I hope this response is helpful to you! I wish I could provide more concrete examples in this post, but I feel like it's getting awfully long as it is. I do sincerely believe that the romantic interpretation is a valid and meaningful one that has legitimate merit when looking at the series. If others would rather ignore that aspect, they're allowed to feel that way, and of course no one is obligated to ship Gon and Killua in a romantic way no matter how much subtext exists. But I don't think that perspective erases the existence of the romantic implications, which are fairly heavy in my opinion when you add them all together.

[shaylogic]

what songs on jayden's playlist do you think are about charles' relationship with crystal?

@queen-of-hobgobblers Here's a post I made on the 4 back-to-back relevant to the sad snog scene: "Pushin", "Lift Me Up", "WAIT FOR U", and "Before You Go"

~~~~

Also his sis later added "She's So Lovely" which I feel like is about Charles getting a crush on Crystal at first sight in both comics and the show.

Here's Jayden's whole playlist for reference

I haven't listened to as many of the later songs added by Claudette as I have the one's that Jayden specifically added but some others from that playlist I've added to my Cryland Playlist:

"Inkpot Gods" feels like the first verse is about Charles' arc "I will be the man my father was" and the second verse is about Crystal's eventual probably season 2 arc (based off comics) "And what you hear is not silence, it's just the [soul tree!] trees waiting to hear what next you'll hum. . .I'm more than what my mom told me to be" and about supporting each other "if you ever touch or harm him", "Please let her live just one more day Cause she is so much more than all her scars" ==> Him telling her in ep 6 "You're still pretty damn special"

Charles trying to help Crystal "I know she's giving up. and I don't know what to do, how to help her, how to bring her home" him literally during his lighthouse breakdown "I CAN'T HELP CRYSTAL STOP HURTING"

"If I don't make it back from where I've gone just know I've loved you all along" Crystal planning to leave, or the separation of afterlives someday

~~~~

There are a few songs on the playlist that could be about Edwin AND/OR about Crystal, like the Hozier songs about burying and being together (Edwin & Charles being dead together / Crystal burying David and being ready for Charles)

"Fair" by Amazing Devils could go to Edwin or Crystal as well

(I'm a multi-shipper so I consider both)

~~~~

"Fade Into You" is a great romantic, consensual possession song imo

~~~~

There's probably more, because I haven't listened to all of them yet, but those are the main ones that come to mind for me.

BONUS: Since the official backround music soundtrack of the show just came out, I'd like to point out that "I Messed Up" is during the alley conversation scene between Crystal & Jenny, then Crystal and Charles, then the scene where he shares his parents in the mirror with her and encourages her to open up to them:

"Mirror Maze" includes multiple scenes, but the Title must refer to the conflict in the forest in ep 6 that Crystal & Charles have with David

~~~~

Thank you so much for the ask! I had fun answering as the fandom's resident Crystal-Supporting, Cryland fan lol

[esper-lit]

Listing them out Rq for the iceberg, cause I’ve played Dislyte on and off since it came out so there’s gaps in my memory: beta Gaius, “special loli” Chang Pu’s age, Legge, Celebrity events.

(Btw I love the iceberg it’s so funny seeing community events all piled together)

Hiya, thanks for the ask! Here's an elaboration of those specific entries:

Beta Gaius

Gaius is a well-known character in the game right now - one that was introduced in version 3.1.1 with the static shock Event.

But! His name was known way before that. Gaius has made an appearance in promotional material before the event was released - before the game itself was actually launched, even! His strange absence after the game's official release was a point of many discussions and a lot of confusion within the fandom, many wondering if he was outright scrapped or just being withheld for an unknown reason.

(the above is a clip from an October 2, 2021 live-stream - about half a year before Dislyte had it's global launch)

As you can see, his early design was a bit different from his final look too - being a lot more yellow than pink.

"special loli"

This is a reference to a very... peculiar ad.

Dislyte is known for having weird advertisements (which I was told is a result of Lilith outsourcing most of their marketing), but this one garnered particular notoriety.

Chang Pu’s age

When the game launched, Chang Pu was officially 15 years old. Later on, however, her age has been changed to 18.

(I could not find screenshots of her in-game bio that showed Chang Pu being 15, but the wiki's change history can attest to this actually happening)

Many speculated this was a result of players being gross towards a minor character, and thus a reason for why we hadn't gotten any non-adult espers since.

Legge (Heimdall)

Datamined information shows that Heimdall's esper was originally conceived as a male character named Legge:

(his name and this image are the only things I have been able to find regarding him)

As you probably already know, Legge has since been scrapped and replaced with Ashley. Not much is known about him I'm afraid.

Celebrity Profile Events

These events have been used to introduce new characters during the game's beta and are the very first Event Tales (at least as far as I know) ever released.

There have been two of them: one for Clara and one for Sienna.

Post-launch, these have been replaced with the story events we have now - beginning with Ollie and The Lone Star event.

Whitewashing and Blackface

(I'm including it here so I don't have to make a separate answer lol, for the sake of being tidy and all that)

There have been minor controversies within Dislyte due to how it has treated it's dark-skinned characters.

One such instance was when the Amunet - Bloody Hunt trailer was released, featuring imagery that many considered racist:

(on the left - the original trailer; right - re-uploaded version)

The other instance included characters having their skin tone made lighter than originally depicted. The most famous example being Ahmed:

I distinctly recall an advertisement doing the same to Asenath, but I cannot find it anymore, so you'll just have to take my word for it

2024/03/25

this has been answered in a previous ask and I kinda don't really wanna repeat all of that, so I recommend checking out an earlier post of mine if you're still curious!

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about this game some more <333 And yeah! Icebergs are a really fun way to present a bunch of scattered information in an engaging manner, and it's always fun to see how deep your knowledge of a topic goes :3

[wifegideonnav]

I'm new to Tumblr. How do Tumblr users usually engage with each other?

well first of all welcome haha. the main ways to engage with people are:

liking and reblogging. platforms like instagram and tiktok run on likes and an algorithm, but on tumblr, people almost exclusively use their dashboard and turn off suggested content, so they’re only seeing what people actually reblog onto their dash. that’s why people on this site are so adamant about reblogs, because likes basically do nothing. i saw someone say once that anything you would like on a different social media, you should reblog on here, and i totally agree. and don’t worry about how old a post is, or about reblogging something you’ve previously reblogged. there are posts from 2014 that i regularly see on my dash a decade later, so literally don’t feel awkward, it’s 100% normal to engage with old posts.

tags. there are three main ways tags are used: labeling original content so people find it in searches, internal organization systems when reblogging or posting (for instance, many people have a tag for their original posts, and will tag reblogs by fandom or character or whatever - important note that reblogs do not show up in search results), and to make sotto voce comments on a post. it’s normal for people to make jokes, add their own commentary, ramble about something semi relevant, or say something to op in the tags on posts they reblog.

reblog additions. every time you reblog, you have the chance to add something to the post, which unlike tags will be retained when someone reblogs from you. a good rule of thumb is to comment instead of tagging when it’s something you actually want other people to engage with, as opposed to tags where you’re just kind of expressing yourself lol. don’t be surprised however if you see people’s tags getting screenshotted and added to a reblog. if this happens because the screenshotter likes what the tag writer said, it’s jokingly referred to as “passing peer review.” (and of course people screenshot tags to criticize or mock them as well.) essentially, tags are like being at a big group dinner and saying something to the person next to you as an aside, and then sometimes that person goes “hey everyone listen to this”

post comments. there’s also an option on every post (unless op has turned it off) for people to comment on the post itself, not on a specific reblog. mostly this is useful for talking to people on personal posts or posts with reblogs turned off. on a bigger post, just reblog it and put your thoughts in an addition or tag.

asks. seems like you figured this one out! lmao. asks are used for a wide variety of things, but essentially it can either be a prompt for someone to make a post or a way of having an interaction/conversation with someone without dming them.

dms. these work like dms everywhere else, except the functionality is limited and it kinda sucks.

games. there are also many varieties of games that people play with each other, ranging from ask games (things like “rec me some music” or a post with prompts and people send you some from that list), tag games (typically there are questions you answer then you tag other people to fill them out for themselves) handwriting tags, follow chains, giveaways, name/url playlists, and more. with the addition of polls, brackets have gotten popular too (eg the tumblr sexyman bracket). there also used to be a lot of in-character ask blogs, where a user would set up a blog and roleplay as a specific character that people could send questions to (there still are some but way fewer and way less popular than there used to be)

to be honest i feel like i have to put “discourse” and “drama” on this list too. people on this site loveeee having the most insane arguments of all time and then everyone else memes the hell out of it. google “sonic for real justice” for an example lmao. (of course there’s also very unfunny political and fandom discourse that goes on as well. i would advise you to avoid discourse blogs as a general rule regardless of whether you agree with their position or not)

tagging people. you can also @ people in posts you think they’d like or if you feel like they have relevant input. typically this is something you would do either to people you’ve spoken to before, or a big blog with an established persona and rapport with their followers (eg if you follow a blog about snakes and you see a random post with snake info that seems wrong but you’re not sure, so you tag them to ask for their expertise).

and this isn’t a specific “mode” of communication but it’s also a thing to “interpret” (for lack of a better word) other people’s posts. for instance, people drawing a photo from the original post (i cant find it but there was a post going around recently where op posted an aesthetic photo of an egg cooking and then several people painted it), or people trying/recreating something a post was about (example). it was also a thing for a minute there where people would rewrite funny exchanges as shakespearean dialogue

those are all the ways i can think of, although im sure i’ve missed some (if other people think of any pls add on!). good luck, and i hope you’re able to meet some cool people!

[prettyoddfever]

Tumblr glitched while I was trying to answer this, but thankfully I took a screenshot of everything before refreshing because I legit cannot find that draft or question anywhere now, sorry. So here we go again...

I'll link to the post here. (btw any annoyance that might seep into my tone in my recent answers is NOT directed at the actual people asking... y'all are lovely). So that post is done in a very similar tone to the Ryden primers that the pre-split fandom posted, but I'm getting the sense that this is very very different... like that person seems to actually believe the content that they're posting is straight up facts (and even if they don't, the fact that you're referring to it as "infamous" probably implies that other people are at least treating it as real facts, so I'm still going to address it like the tone is serious). Here's an explanation of how the majority of the fandom used to view Ryden.

A lot of their pictures no longer show up, so I'm going to leave a wayback screen recording here for reference:

I'll just comment as I go through it if I have something to add:

I suppose that the tone of someone's comments is open to interpretation, so idc as much about whether those are misread or not.

That supposed AIM convo was shared as a myspace bulletin by Brent's brother Blake during the summer 2006 season when he was trying to stir up shit and was busy posting other inaccurate info too. I'm just saying to take it with a grain of salt. 

Ryan’s lj post on 9/27/05 was about the release of AFYCSO that day. He talked a lot in interviews that season about how it was weird for him to see so many fans singing his lyrics back to him.

uhh most of the pictures that this person lists "from this era" of 2004/2005 are actually from 2006. so they definitely know what they're talking about here lol.

they list one of Ryan's livejournal posts and then say "I'm not sure of the exact date, but I know it was some time in 06." It was from June 24, 2006. 

lol Audrey.

re: the Myrtle Beach theory

why is the part where Ryan called Brendon a golden god in late 2006 any different than when Brendon said this about Spencer that same season?

re: the 2006 mic-sharing & stage gay

fans would positively scream when Ryan & Brendon approached each other, especially in the last half of 2006. this moment in Munich in October 2006 seemed no different... the guys absolutely knew what they were doing.

the VMA performance just seemed like Ryan was still using Brendon as a safe space to look at so he wouldn't stare at his feet or guitar, but that is still very much something you could turn into a Ryden thing so carry on haha.

about the Rolling Stone interview

I'm laughing at the "squint a little harder" comment about finding Ryden content in 2008. That is so accurate. 

re: Dylan's myspace (yes, Keltie ran a myspace for Hobo that anyone could grab pics from).

Ryan absolutely sounds like he's saying dude... also that would be normal.

the picture of the bracelet is normal

I'm just going to link to this post since it addresses many similar inaccurate points about early 2009.

I was about to side eye them so hard for posting the Lana Jade letter as real, but at least they added that she made multiple posts explaining that it wasn't her. And yes, obviously Brendon's best friend was Shane (not Ryan).

omg Ryan's tattoos are not about Brendon. Those are Tom Waits lyrics. Ryan was good friends with Thomas Dutton. About a year before getting the tattoos, Ryan was hanging out with him on tour in the UK and later told Kerrang that “a friend of mine in Forgive Durden turned me on to Tom Waits when we were in the UK… I’ve been listening to him ever since. His voice is so rough and dark. I’d never really heard anything like that.”

the sharing beds idea was misunderstood in the Billboard interview... all 4 guys slept on bunkbeds in the same room when they were recording AFYCSO. That's what Brendon's referring to.

re: the Bishop Gorman tshirt… Ryan was hardly that size in high school. But Brent went to Bishop Gorman too (and so did Paulina, who was also friends with Brendon). Brendon did borrow some of Brent’s stuff in 2004/2005 (like money for food while they were first touring). Just saying… it's def interesting, but it’s not an automatic Ryden connection.

I didn't read Spencer's tone in that out.com interview the same way... there's some relevant bits in this post.

about the red shirt

here's my general tag for Ryden stuff

[accio-victuuri]

yuguyao content is truly the gift that keeps on giving. this fandom is keeping us busy with updates from both sides, but that doesn’t mean we will forget the sweets!

this is part four. enjoy ^^

An incident that got lots of attention with cpfs, because XZ mentioned CQL in the interview. and that was because it was asked how may times he had filmed in hengdian and so he mentioned all the projects. which included cql. I must admit that it was nice hearing it from him again. 💕 not exactly proof of whatever cause we know he loves cql and wwx. It would be out of character if he leaves it out.

but of course some entertainment accounts will twist this cause apparently, we’re not the only ones “not over” CQL and their association. It’s all BS. We all know WYB’s change in Weibo has nothing to do with “contempt” for CQL.

Let me just enjoy the parallels i see popping out and the continued Shiying x LWJ examples 😌

My absolute favorite tho and what people have been interpreting is this “mindset” that he has which is similar to WYB. You may think that this applies to both life in general or romance. The answer he gave to the question in the tencent video ruxi interview in particular. How it compares to his 2019 answer about a similar question. He is still the same stubborn XZ!

2019: "For what he thinks is right, and for the people he loves, he can work hard regardless of everything" "This is also the person I want to be."

2021: (Knowing the established destiny, will I still choose the same)" I'd love to say I will. " " But it's going to be hard work, but I'm still doing it."

So the connection people are getting at is, in the story of YGY, he knows that Zhu Yan will be the one that kills him but he still goes and falls for her. That’s just the kind of person that he is irl too isn’t it? Not saying that WYB is his Zhu Yan but the same theme as loving someone ( everyone says ) you shouldn’t. If you believe in SZD, you have to admit that ZZ can have anyone he wants. He can choose the easy route and just let go of WYB but he didn’t. They are both committed to each other and continue to stay in love despite all the noise. Same goes with WYB, how he said, “ love is like this. you can’t help it” . It’s like they don’t care what people say their “fate” will be, loving each other is a conscious choice.

They are both logical people when it comes to life and their career but when it comes to love — they really follow their heart.

The same persistence even when things get tough is a trait they both have. This is why they still continue to be relevant years after CQL.

I found this comment on one of the posts and I wanna scream cause it’s true. I’m sure that if asked, ZZ will say yes. Didn’t he say that if can re-shoot CQL, he will do all the scenes again? 😌

I’m also cackling at this part cause he now knows what it feels like to play that cold character like LWJ.

One of my feelings at the time was that you must not play him as a face, because the truth is that I really don’t want to play this kind of cold character. Most of them don’t have too many expressions. What is conveyed in front of the camera will make the audience feel like a person with facial paralysis. The audience won't believe it.

Which is the exact same fear WYB had to the point that he panics in some scenes cause what can he do when he can’t show much expressions. I’m here clowning about them talking about ZZ should play Shiying, probably WYB giving him tips. Do you think ZZ rewatched CQL and watched his Lan Zhan? LOL. I imagine WYB will get jealous 😂😂😂😂

Shi ying’s animal form also has a mole under it’s lip and yes it has always been ZZ’s “thing” even before WYB met him. However i think that WYB was the one who really put emphasis on it and add the heart with a mole onto that. Especially the “.” that XZ even started adding to his art signature.

for reference: part 1 / part 2 / part 3 / part 3.5

END.

[cannibal-stag]

about this blog (and me) :3

my name is fable (or fae for short), and this is my hannibal sideblog that i finally made after months of telling myself i didn't need another sideblog

LITERALLY NONE OF MY POSTS ARE THAT SERIOUS IM JUST HERE TO CHILL

my hannibal fic masterpost

on this blog:

• no bigotry obvs

• i make original posts, including text posts, art, and links to my fics. please do not repost my art :)

• there will also be many reblogs

• i don’t post/reblog super explicit nsfw stuff, but there are nsfw posts/themes/jokes on this blog, and they will not be tagged

• blood and gore will not be tagged

• my tags are generally for organization's sake. my main tags will include:

for my original posts #fable's stuff

for text-reliant posts #txt

for image-reliant posts #img

for my art #fable draws

for general art #art

for my writing/fanfic #fable writes

for general writing/fanfic #fanfic

for hannigram specific #hannigram

for later reference/to read #bookmark

should any significant ones be added, i’ll list them here.

• this user is LGBTQ+, pro-Palestinian (and anti-Zionist), pro-BLM, etc.

• i’m half mexican and also (mostly) fluent in spanish

• i'm very friendly! but i tend to get nervous talking via DMs so they'll usually be closed unless i follow you. ask box will sometimes be open, sometimes be closed.

• posts will revolve around characters, very rarely the actors. this is not an actor fan blog bc i tend to get uncomfortable idolizing real people and I don’t like being too emotionally invested in celebrities. if you do talk about/post about the actors, you’re still more than welcome! it’s just not my thing so i won’t post about them much

• this blog is for fun, and my philosophy with fandom is ALWAYS “this is all fake, and i'm here to have fun". that's not to say i don't love a good discussion/ analysis, and disagreements in fan spaces are normal and okay:)

• i love/like most of the characters in the show so if you see me making a post shitting on them/making fun of smth they did there is a 99.999% chance it’s a joke lol

• unless it’s mason verger. if i make a post shitting on him i mean it :3

my Ao3 is SokkaWithHisHairDown

my main blog is @gay-fae

[fly-sky-high-arts]

Any tips on how to emulate isat's art style?

Hi!

I am but a humble mimic, I sense there are folks who can tell you more accurate details BUT I also love explaining steps I make while making my own art so I'll tell you how I improvised~!

Firstly, I found the wiki (no, not the Fandom one) for all the references. I tried to study how the characters work and I used a lot of just color picking to get the grayscale hues accurate

The lineart is obviously much thinner than what I went for and it seems to use a crispier brush for it to resemble pixel-esque kind of vibe but I wouldn't know which brush it is, I assume it's a custom/adjusted brush!

What I used was "Real G-Pen™" in Clip Studio Paint!

What's fun about this brush (and superior to G-pen brush) is the fun little texture it has that also resembles some of the crispiness but I think the ISAT one has a much finer texture, to give it the aforementioned pixel like vibe.

The thick line I used was just my preference but if you use Real G-Pen with smaller scale and basically only mild pen pressure, you get similar results to the OG style:

(some of the Sif's images has their lineart thicker in some places to give just a smidge of lineweight feel, enough to work with the depth but I demonstrated here how it looks with basically no pressure applied, it has a bit of that crisp and you can probably get a better one if your canvas was bigger than mine here (just under 1200px lol))

I then color picked from the original images to get the flat colors in!

What I did for shadows is just use the layer set on multiply above all the flat color layers, color pick from the white base gray (that Sif mostly has haha!) and use the that shadow for just about anything. I think I also played around with Overlay in the bigfrin image? you can play with layer settings too and see how it works! You will notice that depending on the mood of the scene in the game and the emotions of the characters take priority over how all of this works.

This isn't 100% as it is in the official artwork but I rolled with it most of the time!

You can throw some adjustments and extras here and there if you want it to resemble the dynamic party portraits even more (the extra line strokes, adding a bit of weight to the line, the white line strokes on clothes and hair...)

You essentially end up with something like this!

For the white outline, you can either copy the base color layer (if it covers the whole form) or the lineart layer but move it under the base color and use the border option:

Regular portraits don't seem to have that outline but I like it a lot personally, it makes the image pop XD

That's basically it! I love how simple and effective it is!

How you stylize the character and how you draw them is all up to you!

Many credits to insertdisc5 since I basically just tried to mimic their style with some liberty sdhjdfg

[maibluemen]

ok while i'm working on which meta stuff i want to have on this blog, i do want to make a somewhat? detailed post on some name headcanons i have. so. some countries whose names i either tweak or change from the ones suggested by himaruya (arguably, there are no canon names. alfred is really the only one you could argue for lol)

🇷🇺 - ivan ivanovich morozov

hima doesn't give patronymics to the countries that would use them. ivanovich comes from ivan being very young and asked what his full name is, and the only male name he could think of was his own lol so he just stuck with it. and yes both sisters have teased him for this. morozov is derived from the russian word for "frost," which i find fitting; i wanted to find a non-jewish surname for him because i don't headcanon him as jewish and. of all the non-jewish countries to have a jewish surname.....well. no judgement on people who use braginsky and i doubt himaruya meant any harm or anything but yeah that's why i use a different surname for him lol

🇱🇹 - tolvydas jonas laurinaitis

shoutout to @hinotorihime who i believe was one of the first, if not the first person in the fandom to suggest tolys being a more accurate translation of トーリス (since japanese doesn’t distinguish between R/L sounds like indo-european languages do, and english doesn’t distinguish between I/Y the way lithuanian does, and tolys being an EXCEEDINGLY uncommon name, i don’t think “toris” is an unreasonable translation to have made after the game of language telephone from lithuanian->japanese-> english lol. トーリス would be directly transliterated like “to risu” for those unfamiliar with katakana. it’s worth noting that pixiv translates his character tag as “tolys”). uhh the source he gave me is a website that no longer exists and wasn't archived unfortunately, but "tolvydas" means something like "far seer" and tolys is a shortened form of it jonas is the name he added when he was finally baptized, and it's in reference to john the baptist anyway, here is an old post where she explains some name meanings!

🇪🇪 - eduard tamm

look i know eduard isn't really used in estonia but the guy simply gives off eduard vibes to me, sorry tamm, aside from being the most common surname, means "oak"

🇱🇻 - raivis bērziņš

bērziņš is, again, the most common surname and means "birch"

ed and raivis having the most common surnames in their countries i swear isn't me being lazy, i like the idea of all 3 baltics having tree names (laurinaitis referring to "laurel")

🇵🇱 - feliks mieczysław kazimierz łukasiewicz

who let the poles be catholic so. feliks has only been a name used in poland since around the 1800s? iirc, it was specifically brought over because of a fascination with french names but i might be wrong lol (and ultimately the origins of the name are latin, so variants of it are pretty old anyway). anyway. i've decided that his first name used to be mieczysław and he changed it around the time of the napoleonic wars to feliks, but kept the old name. kazimierz was chosen at his baptism and refers to st casimir, one of the many patron saints of poland (there's literally a wikipedia article dedicated to them all lol)

🐥 - gilbert maria beilschmidt

mary was just a hugely important aspect of gil's history as a knight (and the specific orders he represented also). he hasn't been catholic in centuries but he keeps maria in his legal name because that's his mom, guys

N. 🇮🇹 - felice luca veneziano

veneziano and romano being surnames (meaning "venetian" and "roman" respectively) i decided to just...assign the italy bros their uh. titles? as surnames. apparently siblings having separate surnames isn't unheard of for the nations lol, anyway. i thought it would be more fitting as i also headcanon that there's at least 20 italies (corresponding with each modern-day region though the actual history gets a bit messier, like my tuscany oc is more properly my florence oc.....that's another post, tho) and vene and romano represent. well. veneto (but originally venice) and lazio (but originally the city of rome...though i have yet to decide when he started representing rome because he's not an Ancient....anyway.....) felice being the italian variant of "felix" luca is a baptismal name referring to st luke, who is a patron of (amongst other things) artists

S. 🇮🇹 - lovino francesco romano

heh so lovino is in the category of not really a real name but i like it and have never really felt drawn to another name instead francesco refers to st francis of assisi who is hugely popular. well, in general. and is a patron of italy. i need to workshop some more headcanons about romano and religion because of....reasons lol, but this is definitely a name he took on relatively recently.

[sampersandman]

This is just to get it off my chest, and it isn't meant as an "You're stupid and I hate you" because I know you uh... probably have way too many of those already.

I'm just trying to state this for my sake, and maybe I hope that you consider this for a moment, but you don't have to, of course. Go forth and live you life however you wish. I'm probably gonna block you after sending this because I think it's just for the best.

I think you're wrong about Metalocalypse. Like on a lot sometimes, in regards to certain characters. Mainly Pickles, his family, and sometimes Abigail (this is mostly in reference to your opinions on what she represents/how she was handled). Which sucks because I really do think you provide a lot of resources for the fandom (+I really do enjoy your art)

In general you seem to just kinda not like it when people have headcannons (no this isn't about Pickles being trans/cis.) I think you can come off as super pompous and closed off in your own little world, kinda in a bad way. You seem to believe you're the "only one who actually appreciates the show for what it is" , which isn't true by a long shot dude. The other members in the fadom may prioritize things I assume you find to be small scale, but they still matter to them. A whole lot. I just think you need to try and consider the fact that sometimes people just wanna draw and talk silly stuff about a silly show! MTL is stupid and absurd, this is said with love, of course!

Long story short, I think you need to maybe take a little step back and be a little more considerate of the fact that what people are posting online is usually for fun! Maybe if you wanna get down and hash the shit with someone about the show, it's themes and whatever, join a discord server if you haven't already! I'm in one and they talk pretty much every day about the things that seem to appeal to you!

I wish you no harm or ill will, I just think that the way you're going about this could be making this the frustrating experience it is for you. Have a good day! ♡♡♡

? dunno what triggered this, I haven’t been posting much. Certainly not enough to be alarming lol

If it’s anything to do with what’s in my recent recollection atm, my explanation is that I just talk at people. I would think that if you’re posting in the main tags (and if what you’re saying is about how something is misinterpreted/unexplored by fans) then you would enjoy that sort of engagement. Especially if it’s not even combative and only really adding to the topic you had enough interest to post about in the first place

Though, now, when you talk to somebody on here or on Twitter about opinions on a show, there’s a knee-jerk reaction (some) people will have to any disagreement, oftentimes. One where they suddenly switch from talking about the show, to talking about themselves, and recontextualize the entire conversation to having been about them personally, making any observation that they disagree with out to be an attack. To me that’s very bizarre. It’s like an immediate emotional escalation just to hurt your own feelings lol. It’s also counterintuitive for another reason beyond just being messy, since I believe we should want to see things from other people’s perspective and understand them better, that that’s what we should be using media for, instead of wanting to experience something immediately relatable and applicable to ourselves exclusively. With this approach, I feel like I can relate and sympathize with a person who isn’t like me in almost every way.

for me, it’s fun to reverse engineer your way into understanding how different people operate. The logic informing their worldview and behavior. You would hope to encourage more people to be like that, so that instead of putting walls up and shutting down anything that makes you feel invalidated, you could invite a sort of mindset where you actually stand a chance at being truly understood, and feel less afraid of understanding others.

P.s. it’s fine to disagree with me or anyone else for that matter, and still use anything I post as a resource. cuz it’s not my stuff lolz

[artastic-friend]

Info Post!

Current account status: trying my best to post again!

Hi, my name is March, I'm a 21 yr old masc-presenting, non-binary artist and biology/ecology major. I like to draw.. mostly fandom stuff and OCs.. but also I love spiders and studying them! Many other animals too haha! Looking forward to potentially becoming an arachnologist in the future, or an entomologist or even herpetologist… idk- just someone who studies silly lil guys, yanno? Oh.. I'm also A massive simp for the Giant Robot DJ from FNAF SB...

My pronouns are they/them and it/its but I am also ok with he/him

Welcome! I post my art, and bug/spider photos here!

MUSIC MAN ART BOARD INFO POST + LINK (feel free to message me about it if you wanna join)

FNAF Art Board (Public, Free to join)

Here are some of my most-used tags:

My Art - any of my art or doodles!

DJ Music Man - self explanatory 💀 about 85% of what I post…

OC - any posts that focus on some original characters of mine ^^ (or others')

My Spider Pics - If you want to see pictures and videos of my irl spiders, or any that I find. You can see them here!

and here is my linktree including the link to my Etsy if you would like to find me on other platforms and/or support me!

My iNaturalist account is “marchh”

My ask box is always open! Feel free to send me an ask anytime, and/or a doodle request! No promises that I will draw the thing you ask though. And sometimes I might just take a while to respond!

@artastic-foe is my reblog/spam account! I like to reblog a lot of stuff but also don't want to spam my followers with it, so most of the stuff I reblog will be over there haha! Though recently I’ve been trying my best to reblog on my main more! Especially stuff from mutuals ^^

Here is my persona. This is how I draw myself. To clarify, I do see this character as an extension of myself, and they are very personal to me. Though I know ofc they are not literally me. I like to creature-ify them at times and sometimes will even make alturnate versions of them for fun.. but in the end I still see them as a representation of me. They share my name and are designed after me (but with added features) after all!✨

I'm honestly not too sure of what my sona is meant to be- but I see them as like... A satyr?? but if the goat aspect of said satyr was actually a deer mixed with a unicorn?? Hence the long tail and single "antler"..

Idk lol. Just.. I guess be careful with how you treat this character, because whatever you do with them I will interpret that as something you are doing to me 💀

Anyway!!! I'll also clarify that I don't mind people drawing this character! If you do, I will actually be eternally grateful! Just don't draw them doing anything weird or sexual💀

speaking of which..

Boundaries:

I am a sex-repulsed Asexual! So please do not comment or send me anything implying sex or sensual activities.. It makes me very uncomfortable. If it's low-key and just light joking then that's fine, just nothing explicit please. (For clarity, bodies are not sexual on their own. Nudity does not bother me. It is the sexual implications and behaviors and acts that bother me personally TvT)

Do not steal and re-upload any of my art! Even if they are just little doodles. If you would like to for any reason, DM me about the specifics, but If I do not respond, that is not permission to do so anyway!

Please do not refer to me with feminine terms. If it’s an honest mistake, you’re ok, but if you are doing it on purpose, I will either not acknowledge you, or if you continue to do so I will block you.

Just… don't be weird lol- Be kind and respectful of people!

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hi Steph, how do I get people to care about my fic? I know it isn’t about hits and kudos but I can’t help but feel demotivated to write more and see it as a reflection on me that I don’t get that many. I have even stopped writing for a few years and every time I have an idea I think it isn’t worth it to write it. I feel embarrassed to tag people in my fic posts also

Hey Nonny *HUGS*

I get this question often, and it hurts my heart that my lovelies think that they aren't worth peoples' time!

Honestly Nonny, there's no "magic formula", and it is part luck, part self promotion and part tagging a lot of people. Never feel embarrassed about that at all! There are plenty of people who are always on the lookout for new stories, so they love being tagged! And adding your fic to other people's lists! I mean, I don't know about other people, but my blog encourages interactivity and I WANT people to self-promo on a list if they see it relates to their fic. I go back and add notes to the main post so they're seen! Send me you new fic as an ask, and I'll promote it. Seriously, Nonny, it is mostly about self promo.

When I first started in this fandom, my meta took traction because I added it on reblogs of post. That's really it. My blog evolved to a fic rec blog because there was a gap at the time, and people kept suggesting fics, or asking what I personally read, and then word of mouth spread to my blog being one of the main places to go for Johnlock fic recs because my approach to recs was unique at the time (I used to ONLY rec fics I personally read). And yeah, I feel a bit braggadocios when I refer to myself as a top fic rec blog, but my understanding comes from other people, that's all. It's my brand at this point, honestly, LOL.

So yeah, Self Promo, Nonny <3

Here's some past asks similar to yours that may also help:

Do You have advice for people just starting out writing fanfics?

I’m writing a long fic but I’m worried no one will read it. Am I writing the characters wrong?

Some Tips on How to proceed with fic writing

I’m New to Fandom and No One Comments on my Works (Tip List)

Should I Continue Writing or Delete my Stories?

I Want To Write a Story… What If Someone Already Wrote it?

English Isn’t My Native Language; Would Anyone Read My Fics

My Writing Advice for Focusing on the Work (Goals)

Failure Nonny; I’m not feeling better about my writing

How can I stop feeling like a failure as both an artist and a writer

I’m mediocre and worried that other people will think I am a mediocre writer

Any Advice for fic writers who post their work and immediately begin to equate their self worth to the response?

How do fic authors deal with negative comments?

I deleted my fic because people were trolling. Should have I left it up? (A talk about haters)

Any advice for new authors? (With a big bunch of advice from author JBaillier)

I’m new at writing but not good at criticism. What should I do?

How Do I get People to Comment on my Fics?

Am I the only Writer who is concerned when commenters stop commenting?

REPLY: As a commenter who used to do this

And when you finish your story (or start the WIP), Nonny, PLEASE let me know! I would love to promote it my usual way (6 times minimum on viewership posts) and help you get some eyes on your writing :) EVEN if it's not Johnlock! I have a lot of multishippers who follow me here, and they're always looking for new stuff! <3

[randomnameless]

Localization discourse has started to rear its head again because of some Funimation localizer defending a line from Dragon Maid but it really got me thinking, I feel like so many people are so quick on demonizing anyone who doesn't like localization changes as pro-GG when it's much more simpler. People don't hate localization changes because of the message itself but rather because it's not what the character is saying 9/10 and it comes off as calculated and cynical. I feel like it's kind of a direct consequence of transformative fandom, with the whole "I'm going to write the story the way I want it to be and fill up the spaces" but instead of a fanfic it's with the original source material.

Pro GG?

What is GG? AI?

I remember this argument of the "it's not what the character is saying" and people being pissed because they couldn't get the "right" script - and tbh, after reading some arguments here and there, localisation always comes with necessary changes/adaptation to the text, let it be grammatically or to convey ideas from a language to another, so if you want a 100% faithful script then... better start to learn the language lol

With Funimation though...

The Shinchan earlier post was telling enough of my opinion about drastic changes that aren't used to transcribe a meaning or convey an idea to a foreign audience, it's just... erasing the source material and swapping your own ideas on them.

Like, uhhh

Funimation acquired the Shin-chan US license in 2005. Funimation's dub takes many liberties with the source material and was heavily Americanized. Many sexual references, dark humor, and references to then-current popular American culture were added, including many jokes about subjects such as Jews, terrorism, and Viagra. Characters were given significantly different personalities and new, previously non-existent backstories. For instance, Shin is refused an allowance, on he basis that he could use it to buy drugs (crystal meth), his schoolmate Kazama ('Georgie Herbert Walker Prescott III' in this dub) was an absurdly hawkish ultra-conservative Republican, the unseen father of Nene (known in the dub as "Penny") was suggested to be physically abusive towards both his wife and daughter, Principal Enchou was rewritten as a half Romani, half Peruvian man with a complicated, checkered backstory that includes a stint as an accident-prone magician, The kids' teacher: Yoshinaga-sensei (known in the dub as "Miss Polly"), was rewritten as a kinky and often domineering nymphomaniac,

The earlier Vitello and Phuuz dub also edited some jokes and/or what was considered indecent exposure like shin's buttocks and tried to "occidentalise" a few references, but it wasn't like straight up changing what a character is or their personality!

No doubts funimation was "authorised" by whoever had the rights of the franchise to lolcalise and edit it as they did but it just comes out as a "why did they rewrite that stuff like they did", to make more money, to make another "mature cartoon" like Family Guy expy, idk.

And to be honest... I don't really care, because I grew up with the Vitello Dub and read some manga chapters of Shin-chan, so I know what the manga/anime (sure, the dog wasn't named lucky but shiro!) is supposed to say and/or be about.

I don't agree when you say those "lololcalisations" are a consequence of the transformative fandom in general, transformative works have existed since... forever lol (some dude wrote in the early middle ages (grégoire de Tours?) how Franks are descendans of Achilles or something to explain how kickass his king and his people are like, at this point, he's writing a self-insert OC story, right?)

But in modern times, there used to be a clear (?) divide between what was transformative work and what was canon - 50 Shades of Grey sort of started as a Twilight fanfic, but it became its own thing and no calls it a Twilight adaptation or "Twilight" anymore.

The Aeneid? Despite what devoted fans wants the world to believe, is "just" a fanfiction, aka someone writing about the characters he """loves""" no matter how OOC they are. It's a Fodlan fanfic and treated as such. Or should lol.

Still, if in a fanfic, Flayn can apologise for being born as a lizard because having lizard blood means she's automatically evil and oppresses humanity due to the fact she exists, it's only a fanfic. It's not something I like, OOC as fuck, but okay, moving on. Rhea eating ketchup is my own hc, also OOC since we don't see her eating any in the games, same thing - but fanfics are OOC by essence because they're a transformative work !

As I said, okay, moving on.

But when what is supposed to be as close as "canon", albeit translated, dips in the same "OOC" territory?

Sure, Eng!Raphael will say "I" instead of "ore" to refer to himself - and yet, imo, if professional localisers (at least the people picked by the company to bring games to an international audience!) have some sort of leeway with canon, their work is inherently transformative - since they're localising -they are still bound by some rules, unlike a fanfic author, because the aim of their work is not the same.

When you write a fanfic, you write it for yourself, to tell the story you want.

Of course it depends, like the funi shin chan dub showed, but usually, I think, when you are a professional localising something (a manga, anime, book, tv series, myth, story, anything!) you are supposed to only bring "necessary" changes to the source material to bring this source material to the "targeted audience".

And it's kind of hard to determine at what point is a "change" necessary or not - back in the 2000, "Jonouchi" had to be changed in "Joey" because, supposedly, non japanese children wouldn't be able to understand/connect/watch/idk a show with a foreign name (even here in France, we got "Petit Coeur" aka Small/Little Heart for... Piccolo in the early 90s!) - but now in the 2020s Midorima isn't dubbed "Mike".

(even if 2013 saw a localised Fates edit "Suzukaze" to "Kaze" for reasons as foggy as Fodlan's 10k years of lore)

And we of course have the notion of "targeted audience" - here in France, in the 90s, basically any "animated cartoon" was supposed to be targeted for children, like 3 to 10 years old. Which is the reason why we got lunar dubs for Hokuto no Ken and City Hunter (no "brothels", but instead, "vegetarian restaurants"!).

Yugioh was dubbed for a younger audience than, I guess, what was the targeted audience for the manga (even the original anime, regardless of the dub or not, feels like it was made for younger "children" than the ones who would read the manga!).

And this is where I wanted to come with the modern "transform the source material!" lolcalisations - are they "heavily" edited because they target a specific audience?

Like... the funimation Shinchan dub was obviously not aimed at children the manga, or even the original anime, hell even the Vitello dub, were targeting.

It's almost as if we're not talking about "bringing this definite thing to random people", but "finding/tweaking random things to definite people".

Take Fodlan's lolcalisation, especially Treehouse/Pat's.

NoA was the only regional branch to have, on the official website, something like "the Church controls Fodlan".

Through the 4 (already 4!) years of coverage, some people are still finding dub exclusive lines that portray the CoS as "BaD" or in a more negative light than the original text. Pat completely missed (or was it on purpose?) Rhea's character, so Leigh had to dub Rhage, when Supreme Leader was scrubbed off her most, uh, dubious personality traits (tfw no information campaign anymore :( or calling Rhea a Nabatean as an insult :()

Why? Why those changes? Is it because Pat/Treehouse didn't want to bring the game to the US, but wanted to bring this game to the "Dany revolution yas slay kween" crowd + the "organised religion especially catholicism BaD" crowd? Or because they thought bringing "a game" to this crowd would bring more money than to bring "Fire Emblem Three Houses" to the general US crowd? So they "reworked" FE16 to have messages that would attract this certain crowd ?

(and apparently it worked, iirc the US sales made up for 50% of FE16's sales, so it was very popular (and profitable!!))

The Pat/Treehouse changes weren't "necessary" to understand the source material, or try to find similar references (a trip to a hot spring in Shinchan was replaced with a trip to Paris, because children who might not be familiar with japan might not know what is a hot spring, or what a "trip to the hot spring" is supposed to be), so why were they made?

Is it like the Funimation dub? To reach specific people, even if the meaning and essence of the original material is lost?

In a nutshell, I don't think localisation companies (Treehouse or Funi) work in a vaccum, if they can lolcalise so much, it obviously means they got the authorisation of whoever has the rights to the original source material (maybe even the creator themselves!) to "edit" the content...

But that's what I came to regret the time where localisation, even if they had westernised names and more westernised refs, wasn't that "free", as in, Funi and Pat/Treehouse write their fanfic of Shinchan/FE16 ? Sure, why not, I mean, everyone can write a fanfic. Can I get a peak at the original source - edited as necessary because i'm not reading in the original language and I might not catch all references - please? No, because the only thing available is either something I cannot understand, or a fanfiction that takes liberties, as fanfic do, with canon.

Take Shinchan.

OG : Shin is a preschooler who has a dog named Shiro - meaning white - because his dog is white.

Vitello dub : Shin is a preschooler who has a dog named Lucky.

Funi dub : Shin wants an allowance but his parents are afraid he will buy meth and he has a dog named Lucky.

Remove the "old school" Vitello dub, and either Shin is a preschooler who named his dog "white" because the dog is white, or Shin is... a young child who receives money but lives in an area where he could buy drugs.

I can't understand the OG material, and I know the Funi one is a fanfiction, so what should I do? Treat this fanfic as canon, or, learn the language/try to understand the material by myself using dubious tools like translating apps? Or am I cursed to forever miss on Shinchan, even in the 2000s, aka an era where people can translate and localise movies from one language to another, but apparently for this one manga/anime, it's not possible unless it's lolcalised? Snowhite was turned into "Blanche-Neige" but the story is mostly the same than the one told in the US, but for Shinchan, I can only get the "Family Guy" version that isn't told in Japan?

I remember there was a controversy about localisation (when the thing that sparked that controversy wasn't even localisation related!) where some people, annoyed with the "liberties" they have with their dub version, became intense and rude and want to see localisers as "mere" translators...

And it escalated to have some localisers basically saying a game they localised is "their take" on a story - which is true, because each translation/localisation works with the bias of the translator/localiser, even if they try to be as neutral as possible, they can't completely remove themselves from their work -

Still, in FE16, Pat'n'Treehouse removed the "Supreme Leader uses propaganda" mention. Why? Is it their bias talking, they don't want her to "look bad"? But the script, the game wants the player to know she uses "information campaigns". Pat's "take" is she doesn't use it, but as a player, can't I be offered the choice to make my own take after seeing the script that mentions it, or not? Is Pat the one who directed the script, and wrote it as the "main thread" that links everything in the game (regardless of Fodlan's consistency lol), or was it Kusakihara/someone else?

If pat arbitrarly "removes" this part of the script, but I see it because I play in Japanese/Chinese/Korean/heck maybe other languages whose dub wasn't overseen by Pat, can it be said I played the same game as the players who played with the Pat dub/script?

Pat's CF!Felix calls Dimitri a monster, OG CF!Felix calls him a man -> thankfully we can count on fans to find stuff like this out but, again, why this bias against Dimitri in CF - that comes here from the lolcalisation, and not from the original text?

Why is it there? What if someone wants to play, and hopefully, understand, not Pat's "take" on their relationship in CF, but the writers/developer's? Is that someone fucked, or kindly asked to learn japanese (aka to do Pat'n'Treehouse's job?).

I don't really have The Perfect Solution (tm) anon to the general localisation discourse, at one point I was on the "just translate" fence, but when you understand a pun or a reference, and how it connects to something else, the game/book/anime/movie you're watching takes another level and it's much more enjoyable!

And yet, growing up with 4Kids and seeing shit like Treehouse butchering stuff, or hearing about Funimation Shinchan is... disheartening.

The only thing I can say is I'll always be rooting for dual audio, let it be for preferences but also to get at least what is easily understandable to everyone (I mean intonations, shocks, laughs, etc etc) and a glimpse at what the game/moving/anime is supposed to be enjoyed, especially with story heavy scripts like the FE series - while reading subs, because even the script is translated/localised, at least with the audio, it's easier to spot "lolcalisations".

And let's not forget the most important lol

The Fandom itself!

Let it be for FE, Tales or anything else, what I find fascinating (on Tumblr but even on redshit and SF once upon a time!) is how fans will be able to compare scripts, people familiar/fluent/who know a language will be able to spot the changes, and inform anyone who wants to be informed in the community that, say, Xander and Marx are pretty different characters, just like Jp!Effie and "I love to eat"!Effie.

Of course sometimes there will be misinformation (remember the Dimitri is rude because he uses the omae pronoun?), but I still find fascinating how, faced with ridiculous lolcalisations, fandom itself - aka part of the people who were supposed to be the targets of said lolcalisation - tries to "correct" and remove the unecessary edits. There are still people who dgaf about what was lolcalised from what wasn't, but even if it's just a consequence of the lolcalisation growing more and more unrestrained/unchained to the source material - it makes fandom engagment all the more precious and fascinating.

Like, you have real people basically combing the script and/or providing a translation - for free! - to help other fans, when some lolcalisers are paid to... edit and "lolcalise" the script some fans want to see.

And so, we're back to square 1 : who is the targeted audience of Funi's Shinchan or FE Treehouse?

The players/watchers?

FE Fates was, I suppose, ultimately lolcalised for a """western"" audience", aka an US one because no one gives a fuck about the rest of the world - and yet, assuming a majority of fans are from the US, said lolcalisation was mocked/ridiculed and ultimateld decried by part of that audience from who the game was lolcalised.

Some people (I've seen a redshit post about it today!) claim the lolcalised changed aren't made for the audience, but, much like a fanfiction, those changed weren't made to be more palatable to an audience, but were made for themselves - aka to push some agenda (see redshit's theory about funi pushing a "woke" agenda in their dubs and subs when it doesn't exist in the og scripts).

And to be fair, with FE16's US exclusive "Church BaD and controls the world!!!" + "Dimtri is not a man but a monster!", idk what Treehouse was trying to do, push their "organised religions BaD" agenda and "Supreme Leader is right so let's make her opponents BaD to highlight how right she is" bias? - but I can't help but wonder if it was indeed the case, and given how Pat sucked as a voice director, if the localised!version wasn't just some sort of trolley Treehouse used to convey their ideas, regardless of what the game wanted to say.

I mean, it's still fascinating, to this day, nearly 5 years after the release of the game, that we still find "Treehouse exclusive" lines, or how FEH who's still running, also has "Treehouse exclusive" lines for Fodlan characters that absolutely don't match the non global, aka, jp lines, let them be written or spoken - putting on the tinfoil hat, I wonder if Treehouse or whoever oversees the localisation isn't deadly afraid that if they don't pay extreme attention and/or rewrite anything related to Fodlan, global!players will realise that they were fed "Pat's Fire Emblem Treehouse", instead of FE16, thus takes extra care to comb and/or rewritte every line/dialogue that could make a global player think twice and note that this thing they're reading/hearing of in FEH (or even Engage!! See Dimitri's lolcalised line about people of different races living together!) is completely different from "Pat's Fire Emblem Treehouse".

Tl;Dr because I ranted and disgressed and idk where am I anymore with this post lol :

I think there's a difference between fandom's transformative works - done for fun, as a hobby! - and some lolcaliser's transformative works - they're paid for that and aren't supposed to bring a fanfiction to the audience, at least not as localisers ; so I wouldn't blame "fandom" for the fuckery that happened (Funi's shinchan is more than 17 years old!) and is sadly still happening.

On the contrary, given how fandom (at least some part of it) actively refuses to accept the lolcalised "fanfiction" - to the point of doing translation work! - I think fandom is the reason why this discourse is happening.

[melisusthewee]

WIP Wednesday!!!

Pretend there’s a cool graphic here.  Perhaps I’ll have time to make one some day soon.  Or if anyone wants to whip one up for me, I’ll draw your blorbo as an exchange of goods and services.

Anyways!  On to the sharing!  I was really pleasantly surprised with last week and how many people shared with each other what neat things they were working on and kept the chain going.  So I’m doing it again!  Remember, there’s no pressure, but show me what you’re working on!  What neat things do you have cooking in either the Dragon Age or otherwise fandoms?

I myself don’t have a whole lot this week.  I’ve been suffering from an overwhelming number of ideas and brain bugs and can’t really sit down to complete any of them.  Instead I’m bouncing from idea to idea like a ping pong ball.  I did a little more work on my Inquisitor’s character sheet this week, focusing on his post-Trespasser design as head of Divine Victoria’s honour guard.

(Art and discussion of concept ideas, as well as tag list are below the cut.)

For context, this was the original “design” which was done last year and mostly on a dare after making the joke that the Divine’s bodyguards in Trespasser were just wearing recoloured versions of Sebastian’s outfit and “lol wouldn’t Quinn look dumb in that.”  I added a few elements of Divine Victoria’s armour - mainly with the red fur mantle but it’s pretty basic.

This was my first pass at the redesign for Quinn’s new reference sheet done a couple months ago.  I kept the shoulders the same, but tried to lean into Divine Victoria’s armour more.  Unfortunately, I don’t think it suits a male figure or it just didn’t really translate well for me.  The addition of texture/embossing on parts of the armour also made it feel a bit too busy for me more than looking decorative or elegant.  It also didn’t look like it allowed for much movement in the torso and while I make the dark joke that Quinn is so drunk and depressed at this point in his life that it’d make sense to strap him into armour that forces him to stay upright, compared to the other outfits I’ve redesigned this just... didn’t feel it.

Here is my more recent pass at the redesign!  Again, the shoulders are largely untouched.  I like the idea of the armour completely covering what remains of his left arm, plus it has the added practicality of likely having a strap at the bottom that wraps around the bottom of his sleeve securing it into place.  The bracer on his right arm has also largely been left alone - it’s a hold over from some of his Inquisitor gear in one of my designs and I like carrying bits over... like a wardrobe evolution.  It also shows that Quinn has personal attachment to articles of clothing and accessories.  The fur mantle of the Divine is still there... never gonna get rid of it, but it’s sort of combined/blended with the in-game body guard appearance.  The chest has also been flattened and simplified, going back to resembling the body guard/Sebastian chest piece but a little larger and more protective.  Plus the hint of plate layering too.  The scaled coat is still there as the under layer, but it’s less prominent or visible.  There is a vest between the armour and the scale coat to give the breast plate a little more friction to stay in place.  It will likely be red with gold accents.  All the embossing on the armour has been removed.  I am unlikely to bring it back.

The waist design was also re-worked, taking inspiration from one of my favourite artists’ character design work in Fire Emblem.  The Roman-esque belted skirt is more of a half-skirt, with a fabric skirt draped over part of the belt.  I’ve blocked out a section where I am going to experiment with embroidery patterns similar to what I’ve done on previous outfits to give this more of a my-idea-of-the-Trevelyans feel.  I haven’t done a colour test yet.  But I do think I like this better overall.

Close up of his face, if you like.  He’s so sad.  He’s so tired.  He needs a beard shave and a haircut.

Tagging with absolutely no pressure: @rosella-writes​ @roguelioness​ @potatowitch​ @cleverblackcat​ @noire-pandora​ @darethshirl​ @kittynomsdeplume​ @little-lightning-lavellan​ @little--abyss​ @plisuu​ @blarrghe​ @inquisitoracorn​ @morganlefaye79​ @knuttydraws​ @knightdawn​ @n7viper​ @sulky-valkyrie​ @drag-on-age​ @oxygenforthewicked​ @bluewren​ @nirikeehan​ @effelants​ @greypetrel​ @scribbledquillz​ @transprincecaspian​ @transfenris-truther​ @jellydishes​ @absyntthe​ @idolsgf​ @terencessong​ @internetdoashouting​

As always, if you would like to be added or removed, please let me know.  Don’t feel shy or bad about it!  You can even DM me privately and know one else has to know!

[thesherrinfordfacility]

Wow, I just fell down the rabbit hole of your master meta list a few days ago and am thoroughly enjoying every minute of the ride. Your analyses are discerning, clear, compassionate and fascinating. I have a thought to add to a question you posed and a question I would love to get your insight on.

First though I want to preface both notes by saying how much I appreciate your thoughtful and articulate analysis of Crowley’s character, as well as Aziraphale’s, but particularly the flaws in both, and particularly the flaws in Crowley’s, which covers areas of his character that are so often overlooked (antichrist kill foist off is offender #1). I love both of these characters, and the fandom, and I have also noticed a tendency in fanfic as well as some portion of the fandom to cast Crowley as the romantic hero, utterly devoted to A, completely besotted, wrapped around A’s finger, demon with a heart of pure gold - when from all we’ve been shown in canon he’s much more complex (they both are) and much more self serving, as well as much more manipulative - though who knows how consciously this manipulation is done, based on where he (and A) came from, which is what I get into more in this note.

(There’s also this distilling I see happening to One hero (C) and One damsel/object for him to rescue and pine over (A) rather than seeing them both as equal hero/ines and culprits both and I could definitely write a whole essay about why we as a culture are primed to look for, see and then die on the hill of these roles, but I am going to try and stay on point here.)

Point #1: in relation to a question posed in this post: https://www.tumblr.com/thesherrinfordfacility/725485403433484288/lwa-lol-no-that-wasnt-me-i-wasnt-surprised

In regards to - why does Crowley hide the full play by play of the execution from A?

My thought is that it could be due to his trauma.

In s1 he references falling due to “only” asking questions. He’s shown directly asking god a question once with visible fear and the fate of the entire planet at stake at motivator for why he would risk this again. He yells at A about god acting in mysterious ways and “not talking to anyone about it” which feels like an important comment for him to make - the not talking about things to anyone. There’s already enough here to conclude that he has trauma is based around information, questions, secrecy and transparency. On a conscious and/or subconscious level he’s learned truth/openness/questions/transparency = Not Safe. This is confirmed with what we see of AWCW in s2 when it’s confirmed that he was asking questions and wanting full transparency (and in s2 we see him completely floored by Job just being able to ask god questions). Thus we get the post-fall Crowley who puts on a very carefully constructed mask of an appearance, literally masking the arguably most expressive part of his face, and who has a habit of chronically not telling the whole story or sometimes any part of the story whatsoever. While I agree with your many insightful analyses about this coming from his desire to be the hero for Aziraphale (limiting/controlling A’s agency) and for his own hero narrative, I think that’s one part of it and that there are other times (like the question in this post) when he hides things for no clear reason, and I think it’s both from the initial trauma as well as his added trauma from being an agent of hell who had to really double down on “transparency is not safe” to survive in hell for millennia.

For example, in s1e1 on the bench at the zoo C casually mentions the hell hound as though A should already know about this, then seems sort of surprised that A doesn’t know this and then rolls right into dismissing its importance. This always felt like a trauma response to me, having personally witnessed a lot of examples of disassociation from trauma in my line of work, specifically trauma related to sharing information/asking questions. My take was that he doesn’t remember not telling A, but doesn’t want to admit that, so he acts like it doesn’t matter. And now that we officially have the implication from s2 that there’s a memory wipe to deal with on top of his (probable) disassociation, which makes me wonder how much Crowley honestly knows that he’s telling and how much he’s honestly intending to conceal. I agree that he hides that he’s living in the Bentley to preserve his image to Aziraphale and that that’s a deliberate choice, but I wonder overall if he’s even able to keep track of what he’s saying and not saying.

This is actually giving me a new thought as of now about the final 15 - when he’s confronted by Maggie and Nina and he says “oh yeah we talk all the time, been talking for /millions/ of years.” The millions could just be an exaggeration, just like I think him saying that “they’ve spent their existence pretending that they’re not” is a dramatic exaggeration, but maybe he has no idea how long they’ve actually known each other? And a vague sense of what they’ve even talked about? I’ve worked with people who have trauma and disassociation from families that kept secrets and refused to answer questions and sometimes they remember what really happened, sometimes they remember the family lie, and sometimes they’ve deleted the incident entirely-sometimes all this from one person during different conversations. Anyway, this could add another layer of context to why, instead of breakfast at the ritz, he’s suddenly determined to have the conversation he’s not entirely sure how much of that they’ve previously had or haven’t had and isn’t sure how to say it and is not catching on to everything A is trying to express (and as to what tf that is boy have I had questions, and your posts have offered a lot of insight that hadn’t occurred to me - a dm for another time.)

But to go back to the question of why not tell A everything that went down in the execution - you’d think he’d be happy to rely the entire incident to prove both A wrong in choosing heaven sort of in s1 (part of my question in the next message) and/or prove his point about heaven being as wrong as hell. Instead we are never shown him sharing the details and it seems implied that he hasn’t. Based on his trauma—maybe it’s because he’s so used to keeping secrets at this point, maybe it’s because it’s useful to have information only he knows that might benefit him at some point in the future, and/or maybe he’s having a trauma response to the entire incident and is completely disassociating, either from his own fall or because of his feelings for A or both. When he confronts Jim/briel about it he only does so after we see him pour out the last of a bottle of wine he drank alone and it’s definitely not a well thought out confrontation. It feels emotional and spur of the moment, and at least one bottle of wine is involved, which tracks with the state people sometimes need to be in to confront a traumatic memory. And going back to how he’s had to learn to keep secrets and possibly disassociates - does he even know he hasn’t given A the whole play by play? He tells him Gabriel wanted to throw him in hellfire - maybe he honestly thinks he’s told A the whole story and that’s part of his fury and rejection of A wanting to help Jim. He’s such an unreliable narrator, and there’s both the memory wipe and disassociation at play - we just don’t know.

Anyway, thank you for reading this far if you have! Part 2 to follow with my question and I promise it will be much shorter! 🙏

oh my goodness, hi @on-till-morning!!!✨

what a lovely couple of messages to wake up to, that's so kind of you to say and im so happy that you like my ramblings!!! thank you ever so much!!! I hope you don't mind, but I've condensed both of your really thought-provoking asks into one, just so hopefully my answer flows a bit better?

screenshot of second ask, and answer, under the cut!!!

lets get cracking!!!✨ i really like your analysis on crowley's learned behaviour that transparency is not a concept with which he feels comfortable, and this is represented in not only how he physically presents himself, but also in his actions and behaviours - that secrecy, and keeping to the dark, is safer and offers more protection. it's well argued and supported, and I do agree that there must be a factor of this at play in his characterisation.

i think the thing that i take issue with in parsing out crowley's trauma (because he evidently has it - and your ask summarises elements of this beautifully) is that many associate his trauma to the fall. but honestly? that reason has never sat entirely comfortably with me. my first draft of this response had about nine vaguely-argued reasons for this, but i've narrowed it down to two specific points:

* * * * *

his body language, delivery, and general behaviour both on the wall of eden, and in mesopotamia, do not match with what i would recognise as a trauma response to the fall - in fact, his characterisation is much closer to that of AWCW's rather than the crowley we later see. we could read this as dissociation, but i personally don't think it's this at all. his behaviour changes after the flood, and going into ACtO, which indicates to me that his bitterness and resentment doesn't stem from the fall itself, but from the fact that - in his eyes - god has not learnt anything from the fall. now, we as the audience can have our speculation on who caused the fall, was it meant to happen, what is god's true will, etc. but from crowley's perspective, he is witnessing continuous events where god and heaven are causing unnecessary suffering, disguised as tests and trials, right up until 2019 - "you said you were going to be testing them, but you shouldn't test them to destruction..." - where the apocalypse is just a line too far.

we then also have the mirrored conversation between ACTO and the bandstand scene in s1:

c: "what do you know about what i want" // c: "i won't be forgiven, not ever."

a: "i know you."

c: "you do not know me." // c: "that's part of a demon's job description. 'unforgivable', that's what i am."

a: "...i know the angel you were-" // a: "you were an angel once."

c: "the angel you knew is not me." // c: "that was a long time ago."

2. cont'd: crowley's last lines for me here are rather opposite in sentiment. in the first, he's bitter and dismissive, categorically distancing himself as the person he is in ACtO from the angel to whom aziraphale is referring; that they are two separate entities and never the twain shall meet. in the bandstand scene, he acknowledges his former angelic self, and by doing so appears to have somewhat reconciled that this former person is in fact part of him. that suggests to me, in part, some form of healing; that doesn't mean that he isn't still confused or angry about the fall and some trauma may be underlying, but it strikes me that this is a part of his history that doesn't have the same sting as it once did.

(still cont'd): it is however his assertion that he is unforgivable that is the most interesting to me in this scene, because to me his conclusion for this fact confers to me two possible eventualities that we have not seen in the narrative:

a) he may have at some point asked god for forgiveness, not gotten an answer, and has accepted that (which corresponds neatly to his aversion to "i forgive you", and "[god] not talking to any of us"), or

b) that this is a rhetoric that has been drummed into him from hell (which i'm less inclined to support as fully; the first option is supported narratively, and this option would suggest that crowley listens to hell in any capacity - but that being said, this could be contributory to his carriage and personality shift between mesopotamia and uz).

(to be honest, both of these could be true, and feed into each cyclically - hell tells him he's unforgivable, god doesn't disagree, on and on it goes.)

* * * * *

now, both of the above could be turned entirely on its head by taking into account the memory-wipe theory. i do think memory manipulation is going to play some part in s3, and explaining some parts of the issues with crowley and his recount of the fall, but i'm reluctant to fully chalk everything up to the fact that it was because crowley can't remember it - i think this potentially erases too much accountability on his part for his own actions. this is similar to how I feel about his actions being excused by trauma; whilst i certainly believe that some of his decisions and actions are, like you said, potentially borne out of trauma, and that makes elements of his actions understandable and empathetic, it does not give him license to shirk accountability for them, nor make them justifiable.

but in essence, as it currently stands, i agree that crowley has issues with transparency and openness; i'm just not convinced this is wholly to do with the fall, but instead that he takes issue with fact that god/heaven has not learnt from the fall. saying it again - this for me is apparent in the "you said you would be testing them, but you shouldn't test them to destruction..." line; he's, as you said, concerned for the fate of the world, especially if you consider that like the fall, like the flood, and like job, it's all set up as a test. in his mind - why hasn't god learnt from the last time they tried to test something to destruction? why would god encourage this on the innocent, those that are still learning - those that are just asking questions? i think crowley has largely accepted what happened to him, but cannot understand why it seems to him that only he is the one to see that it shouldn't be repeated.*

this is what i think 'his side' in job is largely borne from, and is the beginning of his propensity towards embodying a hero-narrative. to be completely reductive about it, i think sometimes crowley does see himself as the saviour of the story (certainly supported by some of his lines in s2), and aziraphale to be either - as you put it - the damsel/object character in the piece, and/or the sidekick. when aziraphale speaks up and offers himself as an equal party, this rocks that dynamic - so like the bench scene where crowley mentions the hellhound, and aziraphale challenges him, this could in part be dissociation (far be it for me to argue with a - i'm surmising - MH professional, of course!), but i personally read this as superiority. crowley didn't think it was important information because he was sure his plan would work (and that the dog would be sent away unnamed), and therefore it never came up because he deemed it irrelevant. it's only when aziraphale entertains the possibility that the hellhound could derail the scheme that the narrative track changes, to which aziraphale offers up a solution (to stop the dog).

when it comes to lying about living in the bentley, i do like your point that crowley may not be able to actually keep track of what he's revealing and what he's concealing, but this again comes back to my personal aversion to this being a side-effect of the memory wipe theory or indeed a result of dissociation through trauma. i personally think crowley is just a very good, and prolific, liar. he asks aziraphale in s1 if "[he] would lie to [him]", as if he doesn't, but we know that he does. we literally see him lie (largely by omission, granted) to aziraphale throughout s1 and s2, and he certainly has a proclivity for lying to everyone else (i realise that hell are portrayed as being a little bit dim, but i don't think that's wholly true - i think crowley shrewdly capitalises on their little understanding of earth and its goings-on). i think this goes some way to arguing that him getting caught up in figurative knots is not due to misremembering what he reveals/conceals, but instead that he perhaps tells so many half-truths that he can't keep them straight anymore.

i completely agree with your reading of crowley's lines about knowing aziraphale for "millions of years" etc. there is no timescale before The Beginning that can be quantified, and so 'millions of years' does probably hit the mark as close to the truth as we or he can describe to humans (how do you tell humans with a lifespan of c. 85 years that you have known another being beyond infinity, beyond time?). but 'been talking to [aziraphale]' for that time? same as you, it strikes me as an exaggeration based off of the narrative we have so far - we only have the one pre-fall scene, and if consider how they react to each other on the wall of eden, and the times they meet thereafter... that doesn't quite ring true in the way that i think crowley thinks he means. they were acquaintances, at best, for a good proportion of their association.

the same goes for "spent our entire existence pretending that we aren't [a group of the two of us]"- this reads to me as a complete romanticisation of their dealings with each other, especially in the earlier days of their history where the narrative only supports that they came together at certain points, and even out of those points only a couple showed them working in tandem with each other. even the arrangement is indicated to be borne out of self-serving interest; of course, crowley might have internally meant it as a way of getting to spend more time with aziraphale, or that during the course of the arrangement it came to mean that, but we have no narrative confirmation of either. so, I essentially refer back to my point about lying: it seems to me that crowley is able to lie to others well, but potentially to no one better than himself. i personally don't think it's anything to do with his memory, even if only for the view that i think it would remove too much accountable characterisation from him. i'd rather he be fundamentally flawed in true character than an external force dictate his character for him - same as aziraphale and the coffee theory, in essence.

when we come to the hellfire execution, i do think in part it's because crowley's scared as a result of what happened, and what it directly means for aziraphale's safety - a trauma response, like you said. but i don't think that's the whole reason. i do still think, as i said in the LWA response you linked, that it's in part because he wants to shelter aziraphale from knowing how much of an outsider he is to heaven, something that he knows is important to aziraphale, even if it would be in crowley's interests to tell aziraphale exactly this - in this respect, this is truly a grey-area decision in which crowley responds arguably selflessly. but i do also think it's potentially crowley misappropriating aziraphale's trust in him. that crowley sees himself as aziraphale's saviour, and responsible for his safety, to the point of removing any agency from aziraphale to be a key player in his own safeguarding, and crowley tends to him like he's made of glass, pushing away unseen forces that he thinks would make him smash. we see that aziraphale is able to protect himself, he's more than capable of it (and we know that crowley on some level knows this too), but he chooses to interpret crowley's... mothering? as something that makes crowley happy, essentially encouraging it, even when he recognises that it's dismissive of his own capability. what this says about aziraphale's view of himself is another post, however.

but this take on crowley believing himself to be responsible for aziraphale's safety feels especially pertinent when you look at ep4; aziraphale's life (such as it is) is in crowley's hands, and aziraphale is trusting him to miss. there's arguably no actual teamwork here, and to be honest there isn't even really a stake; aziraphale is handing over everything to crowley (he doesn't actively do anything himself to work with crowley to ensure he isn't shot) and they could easily have walked off stage when realising their miracles don't work. but, at aziraphale's insistence, crowley plays along and is put in a position of needing to succeed. this situation is entirely a reflection on aziraphale - he should have called it off, and had many opportunities to do so up until the actual rifle fire - but crowley potentially takes this to mean that aziraphale can't be trusted with his own safety (and this is arguably a belief that i think crowley's held since at least 1793, but probably before). its immediately countered later in the dressing room, however, where aziraphale is the one to save crowley in an instance where there actually are high-risk stakes, but crowley doesn't even acknowledge this in the bookshop afterwards. i think his mind is made up by that point: his role in aziraphale's existence is predominantly to shelter and protect him, especially from himself, and *harks back to where i think crowley's trauma stems from; that he's the only one to see when something is wrong, so he considers it entirely up to him to play saviour - the hero - because no one else can be trusted to see it or do it.

going into your second ask; why aziraphale chooses not to tell crowley about the antichrist. i think it's something that was in another LWA ask(?) but my thoughts are this; crowley has just proposed that aziraphale kill the antichrist. now, we don't have a confirmed reason as to why crowley tries to get aziraphale to do this; it could be that he just really doesn't want to kill children (which, post-job, fair enough), it might be because killing the antichrist himself would send alarm bells to hell that one of their own is working to thwart armageddon by killing their master's child (whereas aziraphale could get away with it), or because he's testing aziraphale to see how far he is willing to go along with crowley on this scheme. it could be all three, plus others, but nothing is confirmed, and the way that crowley broaches this topic is immoral. it comes back to the old standby of a lack of meaningful communication between the two of them; had crowley explained any of these reasons, and asked aziraphale to kill the antichrist, aziraphale may still have refused, but it would have gone some way to giving justification for the ask in the first place, and kept them working as a team. the only reason we get is at the bandstand, "i'm not personally up for killing kids" which, in my eyes, does nothing to help crowley's case here.

but in any case, aziraphale is visibly uncomfortable with it. LWA pointed out in their ask yesterday that aziraphale's responses for not killing a child are arguably just as indicative of a lack in morality as crowley tempting him to it in the first place, and this is true - but his actions after finding out where adam was speaks volumes. it's my personal thought that he is safeguarding adam in the only hands that he knows, at this point, will not harm him: his own. if he tells crowley, he suspects crowley will pressure him into killing adam (which, actually, is the case in ep6 - "until he grows up?! shoot him, aziraphale! - and aziraphale is only stopped by madame tracy). aziraphale has the pretty clear affirmation that heaven/the archangels are not on the side of humanity. so, his last resort is god herself, whom he tries to reach but gets blocked by the metatron who reiterates the party line. aziraphale reassesses, immediately calls crowley to bring him up to speed, and formulate a plan to get to tadfield before everyone else does.

the thing is, the hero narrative for me (once again, something that an ask from my best buddy LWA helped me begin to parse out) swaps immediately on that bench scene. aziraphale takes control, comes up with the solutions to the problems that are being thrown in their path; as you said - stopping the hellhound, returning to tadfield for further reconnaissance, and engaging the WA. these instances, to me, literally show that whilst they're working together, they're not fully working as a team; crowley rather spectacularly messed up on multiple counts, and aziraphale had to claw back some semblance of a cohesive plan to bring everything back to rights. i therefore don't think he's entirely unjustified for the "you" language in the car, given that it was crowley that lost the boy/knows his birthday. if anything, crowley desperately switching to "we" doesn't suggest teamwork to me, but suggests avoidance of any blame that, tbh, sits far more on his shoulders than on aziraphale's, it's the unreliable narrator thing again; same as when he says, "so the humans beat me to it, that's not my fault", he's not accepting any responsibility or accountability for events derailing where he's had an active part in, whether the mistake was innocent or not.

as for aziraphale changing the subject when crowley asks what they do with the child once they find him, bear in mind that crowley nearly runs over a pedestrian, which is the ultimate subject-change here! but then yes, aziraphale does change the subject - because if he can't come up with an answer, is crowley about to suggest they kill the kid again? specifically, that aziraphale kill the child? it's still a boundary that aziraphale is unwilling to cross, but he doesn't have a better idea to counter it (thinking about it, this gives me the same feeling as the resurrectionist episode; when morag dies, crowley practically goads aziraphale for his lack of action. it's not unwarranted, but it is arguably unkind).

when aziraphale picks up the book from the car when they get back to soho, i too think (given god's narration over his particular interest in books of prophecy) aziraphale simply gets distracted. which is a particularly bonehead move given the circumstances, admittedly, because there's nothing at that point to indicate that answers to the antichrist problem would definitely be in the book... it's practically incidental that he comes across the 666 prophecy (i won't be getting into the weeds of parsing out divine intervention, not here!). but his first reaction is to go to archangels with the information, because his naive faith that heaven would want the same for the world as he does (ie. for it to survive, protect the innocent) does logically trump the benefits of telling crowley at this point, now that things have gone to shit.

when that doesn't work, he lies to crowley at the bandstand, but to safeguard the child's safety by doing so. this is, to my mind, the most ethical thing aziraphale can do at this point (and is another instance of where aziraphale, despite crowley being the one to preach the concept to him, is able to more successfully navigate the grey than crowley is). aziraphale is practically left in a position where he does have to operate on his own and by his own terms, because the alternative is not an option. it all roots back to where crowley, imo, should have never entertained tempting aziraphale to kill a child - especially one that by the point of the bandstand aziraphale knows would have been a complete innocent - without either giving full context as to why he was asking, or indeed should have entertained different options to resolve the issue, rather than double down on it at the bandstand.

this is probably the most rambling of my ask responses to date, @on-till-morning, so congratulations!!!✨ i think my bottom line is that i'm entirely empathetic to any trauma crowley (or indeed aziraphale) has, and how it affects their actions in the narrative, but ultimately i do not see it as an excuse; these are beings that are capable of acting and behaving morally and ethically, and it seems that they both fall short of that time and time again - especially the instances where they fail each other. lots of lessons to be learnt in s3!!!

please feel free to come back at any time; these length and complexity of asks make my brain hurt, but my heart sing!!!✨