#i am significantly less interested in this canon than i was in the one where i thought being silly tricksters would be the norm

[ladyluscinia]

I don't disagree that fandom ran further with the concept of fuckeries, but I would say that 1x04 is an important spiritual successor to the concept that felt like it was going to be significant. The first demonstration we got of how good Ed and Stede could be together was the lighthouse escape, which I would definitely count as a fuckery. It's a clever, creative victory that doesn't require violence, and it seemed to sate Ed's s1 stated appetite for drama/excitement/fun without triggering him.

Continuing from here... I mean I personally agree with you, but that's also mainly what I was talking about with fandom giving the idea more importance and interest than canon did.

I think a lot of people - myself included - drew that connection from 1x04's proto-fuckery to getting a name for it (and its potential role as a raid alternative) in 1x06 to Stede becoming a true student in 1x10. More detailed examples went for looping in 1x02 and/or 1x05 to show Stede leaning toward trickery over force.

The point isn't that the fandom (basically all of us, not a few outliers) was wrong to run with this - I think it was brilliant, actually, and a big part of why I even cared about writing meta about the pirate society of a romcom - but that the canon of S2 didn't pick the idea back up at all in a way that indicates it was never going anywhere. The pattern we spotted in S1 was apparently not the interesting comedic alternate to action/adventure swashbuckling, but something (significantly more boring tbh) that served to buoy our underdog Stede along without dying until he was far enough in his pirate journey to swing a sword successfully.

Is the lighthouse escape the first demonstration in a larger pattern of how Ed and Stede will work together in the future? Where their mutual tendencies toward creative solutions and dissatisfaction with abusive and violent pirate culture can find a new, more fun way of life?

Or is it a, yes, clever and creative escape they come up with together, but one that only has those specific traits because they are in an impossible situation where they can't fight their way out - narratively because the ship is stranded and crewed by useless pirates, and meta-narratively because they need Stede to contribute as an equal instead of just getting rescued (that was for last episode) and he can't do that in a fight yet?

We thought that the lighthouse plan was supposed to connect to 1x06 and 1x10, but I think it might have only been meant to serve as a fix to Ed's fog and full moon plan (i.e. making an impossible escape).

They just looked similar because all the various wins and conflicts of S1 were shaped around Stede's character journey, but the part of that journey where he can't jump into the fray and kill the mooks too as a real pirate ended with 1x10. Which is why they don't come up with a brilliant way to slip out of the Republic without a fight in 2x08. Stede doesn't need the genre crutch anymore. He is a swashbuckling hero now, and he and Ed can kill people side by side.

You know, once the trauma-based reasons they might not do so are healed by "something something... love maybe?"

[zahri-melitor]

hi hello if it's not too much trouble, what comics would you recommend for someone trying to study the batfamily characters and dynamics for a project? I don't know which writers to avoid or which runs are considered bad characterization. I know this varies with opinion but you seem super familiar with the differences between fanon and canon stuff. don't worry about keeping the list short or anything, I don't have a problem with reading a lot

Honestly, this is a ‘how long is a piece of string’ question, but I can give you some pointers.

Which 'family' characters are you looking at, and which dynamics do you want? Because the thing is, this varies significantly over time. What I can do for you is roughly discuss a bunch of different eras, and what's good content to look at in each of them.

A shortcut - you're often well served by looking at a Gotham-wide Event during the period you're interested in. Sure, people often have some objections to some of the characterisation, but if you're looking at how characters interact, they're the best place to see lots of variations.

In addition 'bad characterisation' is largely in the eye of the beholder. There's actually less agreement on what is and isn't 'bad characterisation' than you might think - it depends on who you're talking to and what stories they like. Characterisation with comics characters is best thought of as a sliding spectrum - there's a range that most people will accept, and when characters go outside it people start getting unhappy. I'll try to note major shifts or universe resets or retcons along the way though.

Pre-Crisis:

Look there is very little in pre-crisis you need to look at for this. Sometimes people will pull stuff forward for Dick and Jason as Robin or Barbara as Batgirl, but largely things stand without this.

Post-Crisis:

I'm happy to walk you through post-crisis up to 2011. I'm still getting a handle on 2011 to present myself.

The Early Days: Bruce as Batman, Dick as Robin, Barbara as Batgirl

In the beginning, there was Batman. One day he went to Haly's Circus where he saw two acrobats falling and their devastated son...you know how this one goes.

Pretty much everything set in this period is flashback stories, so they frequently retread the same ground over and over. Want to see the Graysons fall? You're in luck! Choose one of the more than a dozen versions! (I'm not going to list them all even though I like many)

Quality stories looking at this period include:-

Batman Year One (1986) - Batman #404-407. I am recommending this, yes, even though it's Frank Miller, because it gets referenced a lot. It's a decent retelling and the best work Miller's ever done for the Bat books by a long shot. Bruce's origin story.

Robin: Year One (2000) - Chuck Dixon and Scott Beatty. This is probably my preferred version of early Bruce and Dick stories, and it's conveniently got a sequel in...

Batgirl: Year One (2003) - Chuck Dixon and Scott Beatty. Barbara's origin as Batgirl and the only one worth reading. These two update the Dick and Barbara as Robin and Batgirl dynamics into post-Crisis.

Batman Chronicles: The Gauntlet (1997) - Bruce Canwell. This is a single issue about the 'final exam' test Dick took to become Robin. I really enjoy it.

Robin & Batman (2021) - Jeff Lemire. A very recent update of early Dick as Robin. If you want something recent and quick, this is the pick. The characterisation is good but I have a bunch of quibbles with the details.

World's Finest: Batman/Superman (2022) - Mark Waid & Dan Mora. Here's a current ongoing for you! A rarity in that is set reasonably late Dick's time as Robin, and it also doesn't repeat identical beats to those above. Lots of Bruce and Dick, strong Silver Age vibes in relationships, and a lot of fun. A great intro to the wider DC simultaneously too.

Robin II: Bruce as Batman, Dick as Nightwing, Jason as Robin, Barbara as...around

Honestly this is a period I'm weaker on. Jason's post-crisis run as Robin is pretty compact: Batman #401-428 and 'Tec #568-582. Jim Starlin's the writer who wanted to kill Jason off.

Batman #408-411 (1987) - Max Collins. The original post-Crisis 'Dick Becomes Nightwing' and 'Jason becomes Robin' story.

The Diplomat's Son - Batman #424 (1988) - Jim Starlin. This is the issue everyone talks about, where Felipe Garzonas dies. You should read it just to understand the debate, if nothing else.

A Death in the Family - Batman #426-428 (1988) - Jim Starlin. Jason's death.You should read this if you want to understand the dynamics surrounding these events and what actually happened.

The New Teen Titans - look I can't get my head around the numbering of NTT, but if you want to go into this there are eleventy million guides. NTT is very popular. This is Dick as Nightwing during this period, Marv Wolfman and George Perez working together, and considered by people who like Nightwing during this period as the definitive version. Jason appears in a few issues.

Nightwing Year One (2005) - Nightwing #101-106, Chuck Dixon. Now this is going to be extremely controversial, but I do actually recommend people read Nightwing Year One. It's a retcon, but it's an important retcon because it lays out the dynamics of Jason's time as Robin as comics writers have changed them to be following his death. If you want to see how comics writes Jason as the 'angry' and 'risky' Robin following his death, this is the most compact way to see how the narrative changed.

Batgirl Special #1 (1988) - Barbara Randall. Barbara's last appearance as Batgirl. Randall is Barbara's best contemporary Batgirl writer, and this is a loving sendoff for a character who was about to get shredded.

The Killing Joke (1988) - Alan Moore. You should probably read it. Barbara is shot in the spine. However if you want to skip it that's completely fine as the relevant beats have been retold almost as many times as the Graysons have fallen.

Gotham Knights #43-45 (2003) - Scott Beatty. This is probably the best telling of the fallout of Jason's death on the family, particularly Barbara's reaction. If you want Batfam dynamics this is what you should look at.

New Beginnings: Bruce as Batman, Dick as Nightwing, Tim as Robin, Barbara as Oracle, Helena as Huntress, Steph as Spoiler

This is an interesting period in that it's the first threads of what we now call the Batfamily, but they're only just starting to come together as Tim picks each one up. (No, seriously. This era is 'Tim meets people and works with them')

Also as will be the case for a while from here on, at least 50% of all content is written by Chuck Dixon. Now Dixon has his downsides - he's notoriously a conservative homophobe and his views can be seen in the text quite frequently, but he is really good at writing relationships between characters, and he loves a crossover. If you love the modern Batfam, you do have to acknowledge Dixon for his work.

A Lonely Place of Dying (1989) Batman #440-442, New Titans #60-61 - Marv Wolfman & George Perez. Tim's origin story. Very clear on the outset dynamics between Bruce and Dick.

Identity Crisis (1990) Batman #455-457 - Alan Grant. Tim's first night out as Robin in his own costume, plus early dynamics between Bruce & Tim. A tear jerker.

To the Father I Never Knew (1992) Batman #480 - Alan Grant. If you want to actually understand the foundation of Jack and Tim's relationship and how he contrasts it with his relationship with Bruce - look no further.

Robin III (1992) - Chuck Dixon. A very early Tim team-up with Huntress. This is a good place to start for how her relationship with the other Bats evolves in Gotham.

'Tec #647-649 (1992) - Chuck Dixon. Steph's original time out as Spoiler. Again foundational dynamics.

Oracle Year One (1996) Batman Chronicles #5, John Ostrander and Kim Yale. The story of how Barbara became Oracle. Stunning. Essential.

Knightfall: Bruce as Batman, JPV as Azrael and Batman, Dick as Nightwing and Batman, Tim as Robin, everyone else keeping out the way

Knightfall is huge and messy and all over the place but there is magic in here. You just have to dig. Parts I particularly like for family dynamics:-

Batman: Sword of Azrael (1992) - Dennis O'Neil. This is an excellent intro to John-Paul Valley, and get comfortable, because this is what Denny's going to write for the next 10 years.

Batman #488 (1993) - Doug Moench. JPV starts working at Wayne Corp. Tim is assigned to teach him the ropes as a crimefighter in Gotham.

Batman #500 (1993) - Doug Moench. JPV becomes Batman. Dick turns up to complain to Tim about Bruce being insufferable. It's all here.

Bloodbath #1 (1993) - Dan Raspler. This is a terrible comic BUT it also contains some gold dynamics between JPV, Dick and Tim.

Knightsend (1994) - team written. Bruce, Dick and Tim work together to help Bruce rehab from his injury and take down JPV. Legends of the Dark Knight #63 in particular is stunning.

Prodigal (1994) - team written. Dick as Batman and Tim as his Robin. The final issue, Robin #13, has Bruce and Dick's reconciliation over both the fight when Dick became Nightwing AND their fight after Jason died. Essential.

Welcome to the Family: Bruce as Batman, Dick as Nightwing, Tim as Robin, JPV as Azrael, Barbara as Oracle, Helena as Huntress, Steph as Spoiler

I will fight to convince you that this is the first true 'Batfam'. Everything prior to this is Bruce and his Robin, with occasional associates. This is where it goes from the Dynamic Duo to a network who intersect constantly.

Writers: It's a lot of Doug Moench and Chuck Dixon still.

Nightwing: Alfred's Return and Batman #521 (1995) - Alan Grant & Doug Moench. Alfred quit during Knightfall due to what Bruce was doing to himself. This is how Dick got him to come home, and the reunion.

Contagion (1996) - team written. The Event where Gotham gets the Clench (aka Ebola). Massive teamup storyline featuring Bruce, Dick, Tim, JPV, Helena, Selina, and Barbara.

Legacy (1997) - team written. Oh no, it's the Clench Round Two. Here we go again. Basically the same team, but JPV doesn't get invited after he proved he'd forgotten was a fax machine was last event, and Helena gets a more significant role.

Robin important family issues during this period: #17 (with Helena), #29-30 (with Barbara), #34 (with Helena), #35 (with Steph), #45 (with Jack Drake), #47 (with Dick)

Nightwing important family issues during this period: #6 (with Tim), #7 (with Babs), #13-14 (with Bruce), #16 (with Babs)

Birds of Prey important family issues during this period: Birds of Prey Manhunt, as it sets the tone for Barbara and Helena's relationship for a WHILE.

No Man's Land: Bruce as Batman, Dick as Nightwing, Tim as Robin, JPV as Azrael, Helena as Huntress and the Bat, Barbara as Oracle, Steph as Spoiler, Cass as Batgirl

The earthquake where everything goes wrong. The most notable addition to the writing pool is Greg Rucka. Honestly this is a 'so many parts of this are worthwhile, read it all' sort of period, but to help navigate there's a handful of really important points:-

Nightwing #20 (1998) - Chuck Dixon. The Dick, Babs and Tim reunion issue during Cataclysm. The world's fallen apart but they're back together.

Nightwing #25 (1998) - Chuck Dixon. Dick takes Tim trainsurfing

Brotherhood of the Fist (1998) - Chuck Dixon. This is a teamup with Connor Hawke involving Bruce, Dick and Tim. I love the dynamics here.

Huntress/Spoiler Special - Blunt Trauma (1998) - Chuck Dixon. The one Helena and Steph team up during Cataclysm. Get a dynamic you won't see anywhere else.

'Tec #725 (1998) - Chuck Dixon. Dick tells Bruce that he's going to become a cop.

'Tec #727 (1998) - Chuck Dixon. Another Dick, Babs and Tim teamup to take on Firefly.

Mark of Cain (1999) - Kelley Puckett. Cass's intro story.

Birds of Prey #8 (1999) - Chuck Dixon. Dick and Babs visit Haly's Circus

Robin #67 (1999) - Chuck Dixon. Tim and Dick break into No Man's Land.

Legends of the Dark Knight #120 (1999) - Greg Rucka. Team reunion in NML at the Clocktower.

Nightwing #38-39 (1999) - Chuck Dixon - Babs looks after an injured Dick in the Clocktower.

Legends of the Dark Knight #125 (1999) - Greg Rucka. Bruce and Jim finally discuss their issues. Barbara and Tim wait upstairs.

Endgame (1999) - various. Whole team works to track down Joker and some kidnapped babies on Christmas Eve.

A New City, A New Team: Bruce as Batman, Dick as Nightwing, Tim as Robin, JPV as Azrael, Barbara as Oracle, Helena as Huntress, Cass as Batgirl, Steph as Spoiler

This is the final Chuck Dixon era, the Rucka & Brubaker run on Batman and 'Tec, Devin Grayson on Gotham Knights, and probably my favourite era of comics ever. It's hit after hit after hit. Pick up any comic here. You won't be disappointed.

Major highlights not to miss:

Gotham Knights #1-12 (2000) - Devin Grayson. GK is my favourite Bat anthology book ever, but this run includes Transference. The overarching plot is Bruce analysing his team in a series of case notes. Unmissable.

Hunt for Oracle (2000) - Chuck Dixon. The US government tries to track Oracle down. Babs, Dick and Dinah make sure they fail.

Officer Down (2001) - various. Jim Gordon is shot. This is the consequences as people search for his attacker.

Joker Last Laugh (2001) - various. Joker thinks he is about to die and breaks out of the Slab. Chaos ensues. This is the one where everyone thinks Croc kills Tim, and reacts accordingly.

Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive (2002) - various. Bruce has been pushing everyone away for a while, so when he's accused of murder, they must ask the question, did he do it? Everyone tries to solve the mystery of who killed Vesper Fairchild, and Bruce goes through one of his 'am I Bruce or am I Batman' periods.

Batgirl #18 & #20 (2001) - Kelley Puckett. Cass' first team ups with Tim and Steph respectively.

Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood (2000) - Greg Rucka. THE definitive Batfam Huntress book.

Hush It Looks Like War: Bruce as Batman, Dick as Nightwing, Tim as Robin, Barbara as Oracle, Helena as Huntress, Cass as Batgirl, Steph as Spoiler and Robin

Among the drama of Murderer/Fugitive, almost every single book gets a new writer. Jon Lewis takes Robin followed by Bill Willingham, Devin Grayson takes Nightwing, Birds of Prey gets fills until Gail Simone picks it up, Dylan Horrocks takes over Batgirl, Jeph Loeb writes Hush on Batman, Scott Beatty takes Gotham Knights. Personally I endorse basically all these runs but Grayson on Nightwing is controversial.

Hush (2003) Batman #608-619 - Jeph Loeb. Famous for a reason, this is a Bruce story that touches on his relationships with almost EVERY major character in his life (Cass and Steph miss out).

Gotham Knights - Scott Beatty. I don't know what to pick here but #47-49 is a team story of Bruce, Dick, Tim and Cass following Bane to a Kobra stronghold which shows off the developed family-like relationship between the 4 at this point.

Robin - Jon Lewis. Your highlights here are Tim and Steph on a date together (#111), and the 16th Birthday Story (#116-120) because it's essential to understanding where Tim and Bruce are at.

Robin - Bill Willingham. Jack finds out Tim is Robin. Tim quits. Steph becomes Robin. It's an essential arc.

Nightwing - Grayson. This is widely disliked but #81 is a great Dick, Bruce and Cass issue.

Birds of Prey - Simone. Helena joins Barbara on the Birds of Prey. They very, very slowly work through their issues with each other.

Batgirl - Horrocks. #38, Steph and Cass play tag. #45, Cass tries on Barbara's old costume. #50, Bruce drugs himself and Cass with Soul and they fight. #54, Barbara and Cass argue over her reading ability.

And then lurking in the background...War Games hits and tears the Batfam apart, with a doubletap from Identity Crisis.

Leaving Gotham: Bruce as Batman, Dick out of costume, Tim as Robin, Cass as Batgirl, Barbara as Oracle, Helena as Huntress annnnd Jason as Red Hood

Steph is dead. Barbara and Helena leave Gotham for Metropolis. Tim and Cass move to Bludhaven. Dick runs off to join the mob. And in Gotham, Red Hood appears.

Writers: Well we've added Judd Winick on Batman, and now have Andersen Gabrynch on Batgirl. Gotham Knights is now mostly A.J. Lieberman and no longer a good Batfam book (it's now a Hush book). 'Tec honestly isn't worth it during this period. Willingham on Robin has a handful of decent issues to start out then increasingly gets weirdly conservative with some very odd plotlines.

Fresh Blood (2005) Robin #132-133, Batgirl #58-59 - Willingham & Gabrynch. This is a Tim and Cass team up as they move to Bludhaven and mourn together.

Under the Red Hood (2005) - Batman #635-650. You know what this is. It's the Jason returns story.

Nightwing - Grayson. #100 - a strong reflection on Dick's past plus the most heartbreaking part of the Dick/Babs breakup as Dick just runs from all his problems. #110. Tim and Dick meet in Bludhaven and fail to tell each other all the bad things happening in their lives. #112. Dick and Helena run into each other both undercover in the mob. #117. Dick finally talks to Bruce about Blockbuster, and proposes to Babs.

Robin - Willingham. #134 is the pick of the bunch - Bruce offers to adopt Tim and Tim reflects on his time as Robin, though it's a solid little story out to #138 as the truth about Uncle Eddie comes out.

Birds of Prey - Simone. #76, the Babs side of the breakup. #83-84, Helena with the mob and encountering Dick. #90, Helena gives Bruce the new compiled mob data handbook and Bruce compliments her.

Batgirl - Gabrynch. This is a strong well loved run for the build up to Cass' final fight with Shiva, but for Batfam you can't go past #67, when Cass reunites with Babs. Also Cass hallucinates Steph twice in this run (#61 & #72).

Then Infinite Crisis arrives and we all move a year into the future.

One Year Later: Bruce is Batman, Dick is Nightwing, Tim is Robin, Jason is Red Hood, Damian arrives, Cass eventually returns to Batgirl

At this point Barbara and Helena are largely doing their own thing with the Birds of Prey and won't return to the Batfam until Reborn.

New writers all around! Adam Beechen and Fabian Nicieza on Robin, Marv Wolfman and Peter Tomasi on Nightwing, Adam Beechen on Batgirl, Grant Morrison on Batman and Paul Dini on Detective Comics.

Face the Face (2006) Batman #651-654, 'Tec #817-820 - James Robinson. The Bruce and Tim story that set up Tim's adoption.

Batman and Son (2006) Batman #655-658 - Grant Morrison. Damian's introduction to the family.

Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul (2008) - various. Ra's tries to kidnap Damian to steal his body. Bruce, Dick and Tim go to rescue him. Dick and Tim's subplot involves the highest point of their brotherhood as Dick talks Tim out of trying resurrect his lost dead.

Robin - Beechen. #156, the suicide prevention issue, for Tim and Dick. #163, Tim and Bruce on their first Father's Day. #165, Tim and Bruce working on a car together.

Robin - Nicieza. Steph's return as Spoiler. #177, where Jason thinks he can recruit Tim (and fails miserably).

Nightwing - Wolfman. You know what? #117-122, the 'Jason dresses as Nightwing and harasses Dick and turns into a tentacle monster' saga. Does everyone like to say it's out of character? Yes. Is it Jason being just as annoying as he will proceed to be all the way to 2011? Also yes. That's Jason's post-Crisis character.

Nightwing - Tomasi. Freefall, #140-146. This is just a beautiful encapsulation of Dick's many connections, of his teamwork with Bruce and Tim, and of what makes him tick.

Heart of Hush (2008) 'Tec #846-850 - Paul Dini. The premise is ridiculous, but it's about Bruce and Selina, and about Dick and Tim helping track down Hush.

Batgirl (2008) - Adam Beechen. Beechen after squiffing it with the Evil Cass saga, gets to undo the damage to Cass's character and return her to the family. I think it's a pretty successful job, despite Dick spending the entire book holding the idiot ball so someone can be unsupportive. Cass gets adopted. Tim and Barbara never lose their faith in her.

Battle for the Cowl: EVERYONE IS FREEFORM

Everyone will tell you this is all horribly out of character. They're wrong. Come for Fabian Nicieza doing hard work to actually set up characters in the places they need to be for Reborn.

Battle for the Cowl: the Network (2009) - Fabian Nicieza. Oracle and the Birds of Prey have returned to Gotham but for reasons they're not calling themselves the Birds of Prey, so it's the Network.

Oracle The Cure (2009) - Kevin VanHook. Early set up for Wendy Harris' future plot. Babs gets the mentoring itch again.

Azrael: Death's Dark Knight (2009) - Fabian Nicieza. A new Azrael for a splinter faction of the Order of St Dumas appears. Dick and Babs are immediately suspicious (and Dick has to be talked out of immediately kicking the Azrael's butt just on the SUSPICION it might be JPV).

Also the main event books happen and everyone yells at each other a lot about who should be Batman.

Batman Reborn: Bruce is missing, Dick is Batman, Tim is Red Robin, Damian is Robin, Jason is Red Hood, Barbara is Oracle, Steph is Batgirl, Cass is Black Bat

New titles! New writers! Things all over the place! People who like Jason are going to claim all of Jason's appearances are once again out of character, but Jason fans claim that about every time Jason breathes outside of UTRH, Lost Days and a small handful of very select stories after Flashpoint. I'm just saying, villain Jason is pretty consistently irritating between 2007 and 2011.

Red Robin #1-12 (2009) - Chris Yost. Not only Tim's new costume arc, but a great look at Tim's centrality as a character to the Batfam in the number of contacts he calls in at the end of the run.

Red Robin #17 & #25 (2010) - Fabian Nicieza. Tim and Cass working together as siblings and backing each other up.

Batman & Robin #20-22 (2011) - Peter Tomasi. I would strongly argue this is the best arc in B&R with the best characterisation.

Batman & Robin (2009) - Grant Morrison. Look, a lot of people like the foundation of Dick and Damian's relationship found here. Also Jason shows up to be a pain.

Streets of Gotham (2009) - Paul Dini. There's a bunch of good storylines in this anthology book, but #5-6 with Dick, Helena and Kirk Langstrom is one I particularly like.

Batman #703 (2010) - Fabian Nicieza. The best Dick, Damian and Tim team-up issue of Reborn.

Gates of Gotham (2011) - Scott Snyder. The masterpiece of Batfamily content. Dick, Tick, Damian and Cass all feature in this and all 6 possible relationships are shown in different parts.

Batgirl #3-5, #17 (2009) - Bryan Q. Miller. Damian and Steph team ups, plus a look into the tension in the Dick and Barbara relationship at the time.

Birds of Prey #10 (2011) - Gail Simone. Barbara discusses her new realignment of how she's working as Oracle and focusing on the Bats.

The Black Mirror (2010) 'Tec #871-881 - Scott Snyder. Some of the best writing of Dick as Batman during this period, and a look into his relationships with Jim Gordon, Barbara, and Tim particularly.

The Return Home (2010) - various. Bruce comes back to Gotham after his 'death' and checks in on everyone.

[jacksgreysays]

Omg thank you for the innsights!!! I also find Naruto hard to write and I personally find him very annoying lmao. Bleak!primadonna au is amazing because it builds on the last big conversation shikako and naruto have before he leaves, in the land of birds, where shikako tells him to find a better solution then years later in a similar situation (avenging a twin!!!) he can’t. We all know that if shikamaru is not okay, shikako is also not okay. And if shikamaru died shikako would burn the world for him. Also this is your ‘verse, but i headcannon that after the war the twins find a bit more balance in their relationship (not amazing but not a cold war either) and without shikamaru, even if she hasnt needed him to orient her in this world for a long time, post canon without him she just loses her need/will the be a ninja. Nothing matter anymore. She has been close to breaking for a long time already in canon and i just think she was closer to breaking as a person than everyone realized. Also i think tsunade would find it naruto is the one who mismanaged his ninja and deprived konoha of it’s seal master and jonin commander in the same move. Like i think she would totally ask him if losing shikako, purely as a resource (sensor, seal mistress, political, reputation, former anbu) is worth the slight to his morals? Like to tsunades reign she was probably one of her most valuable resources and the loss of such a resource is not to be taken lightly. But she 100% thinks shikako was rash and foolish, but thinks naruto should have had the foresight and known shikako better.

Also i headcanon that shikako resigned from anbu under kakashi, so she never swore absolute loyalty to naruto, which i think would be a very interesting dynamic, especially if he tries to use the tattoo function to (like the hyuga main line!!!!!!!!) to remind her of her vows and his orders and will and then she just turns around and reminds him she was never anbu under his command. (Like i don’t know if this is in character for naruto at this stage of his life, but naruto loves to remind people of their responsibilities and doing the right thing so???). Ahhh delicious delicious conflict!! (Hope i didn’t step on your toes or anything, i am like 99.9% sure i will never write anything in any form for this so it’s all up for editing/interpreting/ignoring) i love this verse and your writing thank you so much <3

Hi again, anon! Let's keep this bleak!primadonna AU brain rot party going! :D

Because, oh my god, I agree so much.

Naruto is hard to write! Or, well, he’s hard to write in such a way where his naivety/stubborness is charming/endearing instead of annoying/ridiculous :( I think SQ does thread that needle pretty well in DoS, but I think there’s also a reason why Sasuke has more “screen time” than Naruto even if you take into account the whole “Naruto is traveling with Jiraiya and Sasuke didn’t defect.” Even in the fandom, there’s more fanfic with Sasuke than Naruto because he’s just so difficult to write him well! He is a moral compass in a fandom that loves nuance, RIP.

I also think that the twins find a better balance in their relationship, especially because so much of Shikako’s secret keeping was because she wanted to keep Shikamaru safe from the incoming S-rank threats. Now that the war is over, no more S-rank threats (theoretically) and so significantly less secrets that need to be kept from Shikamaru. (She does still keep secrets, because I think that’s just how she functions, but a lot less than before.) But yes, definitely for her to be so blindsided by his assassination and then being denied her right to avenge him IS so final straw for her that she would just snap. Like I said before, it almost would have been understandable to her if their dad had been the one assassinated or, at least, Shikamaru would have been alive to slow down Shikako’s immediate, brutal revenge, but for her to lose Shikamaru after EVERYTHING they’ve been through? Like if it were the Akatsuki or something, then she’d almost understand it—or, at least, it would be justified for her to take out that level of S-rank threat. But some weird political bullshit trying to get Temari to go back to Sand, and then when Kankurou sends the councilors over as weregild, Naruto DENIES her that justified revenge? WHAT?! HOW DARE HE? It truly would be a betrayal to Shikako that Naruto would hold his own moral opinions above the Nara clan’s political/legal right to mete out whatever punishment they choose for the Sand councilors that killed their heir.

And yeah, Tsuande definitely thinks Naruto made the first mistake. Shikako reacted extremely to it, which was a mistake as well, but the FIRST mistake was definitely on Naruto for that reason.

I love the headcanon that Shikako resigned from ANBU under Kakashi—less because of the “oath to the Hokage” thing, but more because of a matter of timing? Because the reason why she even joined ANBU in the first place is because of her rapid promotions and also the fact that her (and Sasuke’s) reputation(s) were growing much faster than their skill. They needed to be able to gain experience without having a major target on their backs while also leveling up skill-wise enough to match their reputations. So by the time Naruto would have been Hokage, there’s no need for that subterfuge anymore. Shikako’s time better serves Konoha by being open about her movements/missions/abilities. I see it a lot in Kakashi-centric fic, but the idea that after the Uchiha Massacre in particular, they really flaunted Kakashi’s reputation around as a sort of “see we still have a Sharingan and it’s sooooo powerful, woooow” kind of thing to the point that they wouldn’t even let him do ANBU missions anymore because they needed him doing missions under the Sharingan no Kakashi PR as opposed to the (semi-)anonymous ANBU Hound.

Like. If Naruto is to a level of being Hokage, then Shikako (who in all practicality, is the better Hokage candidate) is similarly such an overt S-rank nin that being in ANBU would, if anything, hinder her abilities since she’d have to anonymize her skills.

I also don’t know if Naruto would try to use the tattoo function in that way—although, that would absolutely be such a… hm… not dark arc, per se, but a “you have crossed a line and we can never go back to what we were” sort of thing. Like in a desperation to just get her to listen he tries it and it doesn’t work but that fact that he even tried it. I don’t think it does torture/pain like the Caged Bird Seal, but it probably does a “pay attention to me” type of thing. Like if the Hokage needs to signal their ANBU guards without being too obvious about it kind of thing. So it’s more of a “hey, listen, I’m about to drop a secret mission on you” than a “you must submit to my will or else” but I think it is the chakra equivalent of grabbing someone’s arm when you’re in the middle of an argument which is sort of like escalating from words into potential violence. Especially if the argument started as Shikako to Naruto, former teammates and childhood friends, both feeling betrayed by each other and mourning Shikamaru but then Naruto trying to use the ANBU tattoo to make her listen to his side suddenly brings in his Hokage status and how legally he can do whatever he wants—it is a military dictatorship, after all, “peace” or no—but then it also highlights the whole issue of this bleak!primadonna AU which is that, legal or no, Shikako literally can do whatever she wants due to her power and ingenuity.

Oh, the Hokage says these people are going to jail instead of receiving the capital punishment? What, is he going to protect them personally 24 hours a day for the rest of their lives? And so what if he does? Shikako’s far sneakier than that. What obstacle has Shikako ever been up against that she couldn’t solve eventually? And it’s so easy for her to do harm, she often has to actively curb her more harmful ideas, it’s so much harder for Naruto to enforce his incorrect decision than it is for Shikako to enact hers. Which, again, the whole issue of this AU.

Anyway, anon, I really appreciate your enthusiasm for this weird AU I made. It makes me so happy that other people are thinking about it as often as I do :D

[polyhexian]

Since you said that Jasper is more focused on straight up yoinking Hunter in the Bvb time line than in eventually since he worries that hunter is on borrowed time with the other Grimwalker around but like what was his plan once he got Hunter?

Like a whole new time line where during his first mission Jasper grabs Hunter and successfully makes his escape? Like does he just take the kid back to his cave? Does he at least try to explain first after getting away from Will and Darius about not being his enemy? And like this would probably destroy Darius too since he already lost Jasper and now this kid that he just realized he cared about during the fight to protect him is gone too. And all he’s left with is the This silent echo of his loved ones in the form of Will.

Though I think Will would like double down on his efforts if Hunter was taken. Like Hunter is not dead and Darius needs to get his shit together and help him find the marlet and the kid.

I think his main plan in that case is to yoink hunter, get him as far away as he possibly can, and then go back and do his goddamn best to kill Belos or die trying. The only way hunter will ever be safe is if Belos is dead, but he won't risk it while hunter is in his grasp. I think it's quite likely he would take the gamble of betting on Raine and calling in every favour he's ever earned. Explain the story as much as he can. Full truth. Now hide this kid no matter how much he tries to get back to Belos. Im going in for the kill so if you want to call in your folks now, you call them in now because I am going now with or without them. I am the one on borrowed time now. And I will not waste it. I think he does expect to die there.

Alternatively he might also pass off hunter to Raine- or maybe even Eda-- and then publicly reveal his identity. Point in being- the reason canon hunter managed to get away is that Belos became distracted by Luz and lost interest in him. He stopped reinforcing his brainwashing. He let Hunter slip away. I think jasper knows that Belos does this- his attention can be pulled away. If he makes a public stand, Belos is going to be significantly less interested in Hunter. Jasper will have his full attention until he's dead. And for as long as that time goes, hunter has essentially unpursued. Maybe enough time to convince him to stop trying to get back to Belos. Maybe enough time to smuggle him out of the boiling isles. But it's a better chance than leaving him there. It's the best chance he's got. And again- he would not expect to survive this plan.

[knghtlock]

but also to be. un-silly for a second. the whole "canons are better than ocs discourse" has always existed in some shape or form for the past... twelve years i've been on tumblr? and we do this every three months, where people reblog posts that are supportive of ocs after oc writers are like "hey this thing is happening again, people are being dicks to ocs AGAIN" only for the cycle to repeat again in the next three to four months with no real change.

also, everyone always talks about people outright stating they won't interact with ocs but nobody ever talks about the smaller things in people's rules ( that also affect disabled people and people who can't always be on tumblr ) like activity requirements, limit on ooc chatter, or ic thread requirements, which you can't get when people don't write with you and when people don't write with you, you gotta let people know you aren't dead via starter calls and what-not. and then it becomes a cyclical thing where eventually, oc writers have to post headcanon after headcanon for weeks on end, write drabbles and make aesthetics, and be that first person to reach out on ims, post starter call upon starter call only to , eh, maybe write a few times a week if you're popular and a few times a month if you aren't. and that's before you factor in if your oc is marginalized, by the way. it is not a secret that disabled , queer , poc or god forbid , fem or androgynous ocs get significantly less attention than male-presenting cishet ocs, and it has been this way for longer than anyone will admit, and especially if your muse is intersectionally marginalized. kinda like real life, which i kinda come on here to escape from, dunno about you.

i don't know, man. maybe we need to all remember that people have real lives and tumblr is a collaborative hobby. maybe we need to start reaching out to each other more. i'm not saying there is no hope, but i am saying that we do need to change , lest we be doing the same shit again every three months until the oc writers leave or tumblr implodes.

also, obligatory "if you hate ocs just because they don't have the economic capital to become one of your beloved canon characters, you suck." the difference between a canon and an oc is marginal at best and because of capitalism and popularity at worst. like there are ocs on this website that i am more interested in than some canon characters & i consider to be unofficial canon to me. there are some people who have taken a neglected canon character or a shittily-written canon and turned them into their own oc that i like INFINITELY more than the canon version! imagine not experiencing that kinda love and joy for a friend's creation. wack as hell.

as for... action steps ? i dunno man. follow an oc. like one of their starter calls. ask them about their character. if you don't get something about their backstory, just ask. start a thread with an oc and keep it going. write a starter call for an oc, or send THEM memes! if you're an oc writer, you can write with your FELLOW ocs ! do unto ocs what you would like done unto you.

[its-just-hyper]

Man, today I want to rant about cringe culture. Im not gonna cover the points about children and neurodivergent people, those have been covered a million times already.

First of all, I want to preface this by saying I have always, ALWAYS been a very “cringey” person. My dynamic in all my relationships for as long as I can remember has been that I’m the “comic relief somewhat pathetic one” and that is self inflicted. My own mother told me that I was so obsessed with undertale that she “didn’t like talking to [me] and regrets not getting [me] tested for autism.”

I’ve been in countless cringe fandoms, including but not limited to mlp, fanfic/fandom culture, mha, animation memes, Henry stickmin, minecraft, Pokémon, the furry fandom, cosplay, sanders sides, dream smp, batim, Aphmau, and MANY others. Undertale has always been the really big thing for me, but recently fnaf has been the thing for me. Because of cringe culture, I hate myself for enjoying things. In order to talk about my interests, self deprecating ironic humor was super common from me.

This humor evolved from irony, to self deprivation, to despising myself for enjoying things considered “cringe” (example is Undertale, but many other things, too), all the way to feeling so much shame for liking anything at all that I distance myself from everything.

Genuinely, I had a meltdown because I like hollow knight. That isn’t even a “cringe” comunity!! It’s one of the chillest out there!!! And because I “like it too much” I made myself feel like shit preemptively.

This next section is a specific example, and this is a really difficult thing for me to admit candidly because of what I’ve already said.

I am in the gacha fnaf community. It’s something I enjoy, and I enjoy it separately from how i enjoy fnaf. SEPARATE FANDOMS, PEOPLE!! (Same with undertale and undertale aus, one is significantly less socially acceptable, and people leave it out of discussions in the other context, but not the other way around.)

I stumbled across a video by a large mainstream gachatuber focusing on and making fun of “gacha fnaf cringe”. All the clips shown were people self-insert shipping themselves with various aftons or animatronics. The only clip that wasn’t that formula, was a strange video about Ennard abusing Michael Afton. They didn’t even appear to be shipped together, it was just Mike getting beat up. Idk man.

After each clip, the YouTuber would say a snarky quip and move on, but the big thing that got to me was that they had never played fnaf, and had avoided it to the point that, on their entire time on the internet, never saw the purple guy sprite.

When someone made William a brunet man with glasses, the joke was about how “I did some research, and apparently William is just a purple blob. That’s not very close to the canon design, huh?”. When William was purple, the joke was about how “the designs are all so inconsistent in the whole community.”

This person but absolutely zero effort into research. At first that baffled me, but then I realized that it’s always true.

Have you ever met someone anti furry who’s given an accurate definition of what a furry even is? Probably not. Has anyone ever added any genuine commentary to a single cringe compilation, other than “wow that’s cringe, kys”??? Probably fucking not.

There are issues within the fnaf gacha community that (if any effort was used) they could have talked about, and had an insightful video. For example, plagiarism is rampant, and shipping in a fandom related to fnaf is inherently…. a very tricky subject, if you will.

Were either of those discussed? Nope. Just comments on how weird it is that William’s been called daddy in the fnaf games before. “Maybe that’s where they got these gross aus from” ((the alias is literally referring to William’s young daughter’s dialogue))

After seeing that bafflingly ignorant video, I went to their channel to see what other stuff they make. Many of the videos were along the lines of “reacting to [thing that is cringe] except I ROAST them!”.

It is truly so, so disgusting that cringe culture isn’t dead. Genuinely. I genuinely think it is the laziest form of content. It’s mean, and pathetic and honestly, what’s the point of it?

It’s not funny, it’s not insightful, it’s not kind, it’s just mean and quick.

Who do you think you’re helping?

[definesanity]

Sorry for the delay in doing this, was busy trying to finish that email yesterday...still ain't done with it lol.

Hello, first I am sorry for the length of this, but these ideas have been rotting my brain for quite a while so I figured I would share them with you.

First is a Mohg reader, the reader bearing the dark gray or black skin of Mohg, along with many of his horns and his claws and wings.

The reader has taken an underground area and made it similar to Mohgwyn mausoleum, although the area is bathed in their own blood, a mutative ichor that is styled like galaxies and cosmos, that has warped and changed the environment around the looming ruins.

While I am not the biggest fan of Imposter aus, I read them when I feel the need for angst but have no interest in writing one myself, perhaps it could be a part of one where the Acolytes realize they have been mistaken when they see the Ichor bathed land and The Lord Of Blood offering their Ichor to those who remained loyal to them, anointing them as Knights of a New Dynasty.

Perhaps they could wish to use the Tsaritsa or even the Unknown God, who may be an extremist in terms of loyalty to the creator and simply allows her extremism and fanaticism to color how she handles the world she oversees, as their consort for a new dynasty of their own.

Imagine everyone's reaction to seeing Asmoday, a fan name for the Unknown God, calmly sitting down beside the Lord Of Blood as they anoint their new knights, smiling mockingly at the acolytes for their failure, their actions proving her words that mortals and immortals alike are worthless before divinity.

Outside of that, the Lord Of Blood Reader is decidedly a bit crueler than most others, but they are also a fair ruler, welcoming the suggestions and critiques of their servants and vassals.

There could also be something of a moment where a child works up the nerve to ask them to ad a sick pet or parent, everyone watches with horror as they wait for the reader to slay the child...only for them to nod at the child and accompany them. They also start training the hilibros and coaching them in who to fight and build up their own forces to make them their personal soldiers.

The Abyss finds it hilarious, and so does Asmoday, her finding that idea that 'near mindless brutes and relics of a failed kingdom' are held in a higher standing than supposedly ever devout acolytes to be endlessly amusing.

Another idea is a Miquella reader, who is teleported with the Haligtree and its inhabitants, along with the Albinaurics, to Teyvat. The acolytes try and siege the tree thinking it is keeping their creator prisoner, with the exception of the Tsaritsa who sends diplomats because she is an 'ask questions before you shoot' type of leader in my eyes.

The assault...yeah it goes to shit. Forces are slaughtered by Cleanrot Knights, Omens (I like to imagine an Au where Mohg made an alliance with Miquella and Malenia as opposed to being...well himself and wound up working to elevate Miquella to godhood to have his backing for a new dynasty that would aid in governing a world free of the Outer Gods.), Albinaurics, Revenants (May they all burn in hell), and a certain 'Blade' who basically beats the living shit out of everyone.

They flee with their tails between their legs, now significantly less in number, unaware of the shitshow that is about to be unleashed as Malenia decides to go on a very enthusiastic walk across Teyvat...just like she did through the Lands Between.

My last one, for now, came to me while I was thinking of just how big a threat the Eremites could be if they were all rallied under one leader, taught how to rebuild and use Deshret's tech, and trained in proper warfare.

So my dumbass decided to go with an AU where Lumine wakes up a bit earlier than in canon, and in the Deserts of Sumeru as opposed to off Mondstadts shores. This Lumine was once one of her people best warriors, if not their best, though given the deeds her and hers were made to perform...the title is bittersweet to her.

She winds up finding a ruin of Deshrets and become intrigued by the tech that, while primitive by her own kinds standards, is still impressive enough to warrant her spending some time studying it.

A younger Babel and her followers find her repairing many of the constructs of Deshret and using them to repair the building, with Babel asking her how she understands the technology enough to do that.

One thing leads to another and Lumine makes a deal with Babel; you help me and I'll help you. If Babel will help her to gain a powerbase and a safe haven in Teyvat, then she will help her and hers with unlocking the secrets of the Scarlet King and unifying their people.

However, one thing leads to another and Lumine soon becomes much more than an IT and HR consultant as she begins to not only aid in training the Eremits, but she even begins to teach them how to build permanent settlements of their own in addition to how to farm in the arid landscape.

Soon she is labelled by some as 'The Second Coming of The Scarlet King' and by others as 'The Star Given Queen', as she begins to work with Babel to make the Eremites into something truly dangerous out of respect for them and a desire to have some allies in her corner.

Eventually, she even winds up courting Babel and becoming something of a formal leader to the people as she rallies them to her banner, beginning to forge a kingdom of Eremite warriors, armed with Deshret's tech and her peoples training in addition to their own, within the wastes.

Eventually she leaves the land to begin searching for clues to her brother and just what happened all those years ago, leaving Babel in charge with the promise of regular check ins, teleport waypoints get abused by her so much, but not before the Akademiya provoke her into a battle.

It does not end well...for the Akademiya that is.

So what do you think? Again sorry for the length of this message, I am apparently incapable of short and sweet messages lol.

Nah, it's alright xd

Well, as I was saying:

Mohg!Reader probably knew that their downfall may have ties to the fact that they never listened to others, and merely went by the words of the Formless Mother. As such, as you said, they will keep an ear open to advice this time around as they build their Dynasty once more.

Those even cursed shall be accepted; the Formless Mother has no hold over them anymore. Yet that does not mean that their strength has faded. No, in fact, the Lord of Blood is stronger than ever. Strong enough now, to not only see the coming of their Dynasty, but to bring it forth as well.

The Dynasty of Mohgwyn.

Next, Miquella!Reader. I feel that, alongside The Tsaritsa, Nahida would also bring forth a diplomatic approach via dreams. Miquella!Reader, as even St. Trina, is well tuned with dreams, and so the two confer and agree to meet in person.

As for Malenia, Blade of Miquella; I hope Miquella!Reader can convince her not to go on her very enthusiastic walk through Teyvat. They strive for the living, and them being dead won't help xd

With you saying about Lumine, I don't think I can add anything since, well, I think it's good as is :D

But, I do hope Lumine can also find help in other people; perhaps Faruzan, well knowing of ancient machinery, and Layla, to help her knowledge of the many stars and Constellations of Teyvat. Even to people like Cyno, who she would help track down criminals, to gifting Tighnari the more rarer materials in the desert and helping Collei with her studying.

The Grand Sage does not like her? Well, tough luck. She isn't going just yet :3

Still, thanks for the post (and me eating my own words with Lumine's segment xd). You truly have quite the food for thought, my friend! :D

[transingthoseformers]

Definitely feel free to add whatever you think fits to mltfp :3 you definitely remember more about it than I do!

I love Griffin Bumblebee and ex-Wonderbolt Starscream.

Thank you! I remember a nice amount of the series (or well at least the mane six and most of the side characters) and i have more:

May I suggest changeling!Soundwave? They have an interesting design, both their initial appearance and their shared-love appearance, and I feel like it's just alien enough for him.

Ratchet is a unicorn with the autobot medic symbol as his cutiemark because yes, of course. Has known Oppy for Primus knows how long, okay now I'm just staring at the map

Appleloosa is right there meaning i just gotta add Cliffjumper in here, say he's from there, and he's an earth pony. He lives this time, and if he was actually in FiM he'd be mildly related to Applejack because the Apple family is/was massive as hell.

Ykw? Arcee is a pegasus but like Fluttershy she doesn't fly very much. Because i feel like her color palette would look good as a pegasus.

I agree with the one ponysona post i reblogged, Knockout is a unicorn and Breakdown is an earth pony: Clydesdale addition. It's too sweet of an opportunity to miss. They met in Las Pegasus after both of them accidentally (well as accidentally as you can get considering gambling) losing all of their bots.

Remember Fluttershy: batpony addition? She looked so damn cool in that episode, i think there was a callback to it in the halloween episode where Luna came back for the first time after being Nightmare Moon. Why do i bring this up? That's 100% how Dreadwing and Skyquake are designed.

Ratchet complains about Ponyville constantly but he loves the place just the same.

Wait there's possibility here for hippogryff! Soundwave here too, that's also an option.

The Decepticorns are based somewhere in Everfree Forest because of course it's Everfree Forest there's so many fucked up things in that forest. They deal with timber wolves constantly and it's kinda hilarious. Somehow they like Starscream but he hates this, he doesn't want to be the wolf puppy whisperer.

Arachnid our dear friend is also a changeling but her favorite disguise is well bugs. She's exactly got beef with Soundwave.

An evil part of me suggests that Optimus Prime still gets a battle mask here that he wears very often because he's got scars, but these scars were from a silly in hindsight accident. This is exactly inspired by the time I slangshot my way into the ER.

There are exactly moments in the history books about Primus and Unicron that are framed as serious but in actuality are based on funny sibling shenanigans before Unicron was corrupted. Nobody but the brothers know the truth about this.

Unicron's interactions with Megatron are more frequent than canon tfp and they are... distressing to say the least. He keeps his heralds on a much tighter leash.

Starscream ambushes Arcee and Cliffjumper from above quite an amount with varying results.

... I'm tempted to add the tfp kids and base their ponysona dynamics off of the Cutiemark Crusaders. Miko is just too much like Scootaloo for me to pass up that opportunity.

Ultra Magnus = royal guard kinda yeah yeah yeah but he has significantly less success in wrangling the autobots than he does in tfp canon.

... UM still loses a hoof.

i am exactly looking at Predaking and i am exactly looking at FiM Spike and I propose a scenario. Shockwave: unicorn addition found a young lone dragon years ago and took him in to study Predaking as his own. Because this means Preds would be older than FiM Spike, this means by the time he meets Megatron and joins the Decepticorns he is quite an amount larger and has his wings.

I'm torn between suggesting MLTFP Shockwave's backstory is akin to Sunset Shimmer's, Trixie's, Starlight Glimmer's, or something else entirely. All i do have is that he's an evil unicorn with a dragon and an eyepatch.

Breakdown also has an eyepatch but unlike in tfp canon it isn't explained.

wAIT WHAT IF SHOCKWAVE HAS A BROKEN HORN LIKE WHATSHERNAME? what is her name? She's got a namey-name, an edgy one, she's from the movie which i loved dearly, uhhh google time. Tempest Shadow, that's who she is. Loved her.

Starscream's cutiemark is a star.

Shockwave's magic is based on well shockwaves, though since his horn is broke it is less predictable than one would expect. I want to say that his horn was broken a little later in life than Tempest's, meaning he had already gotten familiar and skilled with his magic before.

Starscream's red sticky uppy part in tfp canon becomes a red hairlick that moves (especially when he's pissed or excited)

The Knockout, Optimus, and Breakdown scene happens kinda because I'm sorry but I think Knockout deserves to flirt with Optimus still.

Knockout has electric based magic.

... i almost want to say skyquake and dreadwing still end up dying but it's not "on screen" this time.

When Bumblebee flies he's got smaller fluttery wings so he flies more like a changeling, a bee, or that one buff white pegasus we see a few times

It's still Predaking who causes the loss of UM's hoof.

I almost want to say Bumblebee can talk in this and it's like a running commentary like in TFA, but often times he chirps/whirrs like he does in tfp canon. It's adorable.

primus is mltfp bumblebee cute

I am so tempted to draw these guys but perfectionist mode will kick in and it will take too long

Tumblr please do not eat this post × 100

I'm debating if alicorn Optimus has a normal main and tail like Twilight has for a while or a flowy sparkly main and tail like Celestia, Luna, or finale!Twilight.

Soundwave still does not speak.

Laserbeak is a phoenix that Soundwave raised from an egg, but may i suggest she is a blue fire phoenix or a black fire phoenix?

I just remembered how the finale made AppleDash canon. Like. Yes. That happened.

Honestly Arachnid would probably fit Queen Chrysalis's role fairly well

In hindsight Orion Pax > Optimus Prime and Twilight Sparkle have more similarities than you'd expect personality wise.

Corrupted!Megatron has to look so fucking cool. Everyone has to look so fucking cool.

If someone calls Predaking Shockwave's pet dragon he will respond with violence

Instead of the Nemesis being a warship like it is in canon it's this badass underground base or a castle. Evil castles are always amazing.

Bulkhead is an earth pony with an anomalous past involving Breakdown, their fights are still On Sight. His cutiemark is a wrecking ball.

Maybe? Smokescreen shows up eventually and I'm torm between him being an earth pony, a pegasus, or something else entirely. His colors would look way so cool in the FiM style, whether it's his s2 or s3 paintjob.

Wheeljack would make an amazing unicorn and he still gets his explosions in his magic. i keep going on and on about the paintjobs but seriously i love how they'd translate. He deserves his magic to be green.

This got long I'll make a part two if need be

[katatonicimpression]

Monet/pietro

eh I was gonna cop out of answering this and then i just kind of kept going

right, so

He's her best official love interest since ev.

Overall I am positive but again i just kind of kept going...

Duggan's writing of it was straightforwardly bad sorry

Orlando so far has been better, even if it's just little moments (thus marking the third? Fourth? Fifth? time that he's taken over a storyline from gerry and done it better lol)

A fair amount of the fandom stuff on it has pissed me off*

I really don't see them lasting as a long term relationship for two reasons:

Pietro doesn't work in x-men books in the long term, and likewise I would be so mad if she got dragged away to be in his stuff/avengers stuff. It's very ororo/t'challa in that way. Some characters have arenas they need to operate in, and putting them together hurts their writing.

Secondly, maybe this is entirely a me thing but I just don't see them as being super in love or really having anything to talk to each other about. There's being different in a fun, opposites attract, way and then there's being different in a "I can't imagine these people chatting" kind of way. But again, that might just be the fact I don't actively ship it.

They have a potentially really interesting power dynamic. Like, he's older (not inappropriately so, but still significantly) and has way more experience with relationships specifically. But of course, she's rich. She's absurdly wealth and very posh, whereas he's from an improverished and incredibly marginalised background. They're staying in flats and hotel rooms that she's paying for. But of course she is marginalised on several axes as well, despite her obvious privilige. There's some interesting room for push and pull there. I've not seen anyone explore it.

*So, fandom-wise the first thing to say is connected to both duggan and point 8. I feel very uncomfortable with anything that portrays M as sexually aggressive and/or hypersexualises her in general. The former is all over uncanny avengers, and the latter is a substantial part of x-factor and uncanny xmen 2016. There's a fine line here, there's nuance. Monet is a sexy character, but she's sexy in a gorgeous supermodel kind of way - sometimes the portrayal veers very clearly into caricature, or is starkly different from how the white women are portrayed in the same series.

While I haven't seen a huge amount of this with the pietro thing, what I have seen is a lot of what duggan wrote - this really forceful, aggressive sexuality, lots of domtop characterisation and the like. And, sorry, no. Just because there are moments of very bad writing that have portrayed her like that in canon does not mean that it's actually in character. You would have thought that pietro fans would be more understanding of this, given how much bullshit writing he's gotten over the years.

Second thing, I keep seeing these people say "look at her taste in men" and pointing at sabretooth and guido and can you please shut the fuck up. Guido constantly berated her then beat her to death. She never liked him and what the fuck is wrong with you. And the sabretooth thing is out of character and part of another racist trend in her writing where she is portrayed as less vulnerable and specifcally less sexually vulnerable than her white peers. They wouldn't have written that storyline with husk. Hell, they wouldn't have even given it to jean.

There is no reason to think that M is resilient and wordly when it comes to sex and relationships, in fact she has very limited experience and it's almost all awful.

Which leads to the third point, I saw somebody (and I'm really not trying to call them out but urgh) argue that people bringing up the age gap between her and pietro are just coddling her because she's "autistic-coded" and are motivated by racial bias against pietro and that it's no big deal actually.

So, right... Easy one first: I think that the ship is good and fun and also think the age gap is important and should be remembered. I don't think it's no big deal, it is a big deal but not in a way that counts against it. It's a big deal in the sense that it makes it interesting.

Next, idk maybe there are people who are overly protective of Monet because she's autistic, but the majority of the fandom doesn't even know that about her. In fact, the majority of fandom treatment of monet is a) racist and b) whatever the opposite of coddling is. Careless?

When people are really protective of Monet it is almost always in defense of the long history of racist treatment by canon writers and, yes, the fandom. Again, this is something you would have thought a pietro fan would empathise with.

People are protective of Monet because she is a Black muslim woman in a world where both canon and fanon mistreat her for it.

And again, as i've said like a million times, I like the pairing. I think it's fine. If people would stop saying dumb things then I wouldn't have anything negative to say. It's just.. you know...

[gregorygerwitz]

Here I am, back again asking for another meta! Tell me about mouse's exit in 4×05, I am absolutely interested!

no gifs because it took me too long to eat dinner and now I don't have time to screen record and play with photoshop before bed but I'll get the canon dialogue so we can all be sad anyway

Thank you for asking about this, honestly, I think about it more often than is healthy and quite frankly I need to get it out somewhere that's not just Kit's text messages. She gets so much of my nonsense, bless her for putting up with it.

All of it is going under a read more because these topics get really heavy, especially when I really dig into it the way I'm planning on doing.

Warnings for: drug use/addiction, PTSD, survivor's guilt, depression, anxiety, death, attempted suicide, suicidal thoughts, suicidal ideation

The very short version is this: Mouse gets a call from an old army superior with an offer to basically get his old job back (potentially a promotion from his old spot? canon tells us nothing) as a communications specialist with a new unit. He decides to take it, after getting his felony record cleared by Trudy, and quits his job with the CPD to reenlist.

Which like... I have complaints about, on the surface. We watched him go from a drug addict who relied on crime (and informing the police about crime) to survive, who was not taking care of himself and definitely dealing with PTSD and survivor's guilt and depression and anxiety (and undiagnosed autism but that's significantly less relevant here) in season one, to two years clean, holding a steady job, and looking physically healthier toward the end of season three. He was even more obviously confident in his abilities and was engaging socially with more people than just Jay, which is great for him. Go baby go.

To basically give up that progress, reject it in favor of going back to the exact same situation that made him into the addict we saw early on, feels like really lazy writing, at best. If that's on purpose? It borders on cruelty. something something the implication of him inevitably going back to that version of himself if he makes it back to Chicago alive at all because "once an addict always an addict" or whatever bullshit makes me so angry actually

And those are only my surface complaints. We haven't even gotten to my backstory deep dive, and all of the issues I have with the canon dialogue where he explains part of his reasoning behind the decision. Because the implications there are... not great. But we can start there and build to the rest of it.

Jay calls him out on exactly all of the above, when Mouse first brings up the idea of reenlisting in 4x02:

"You're serious-? Are you serious right now? [...] Do you forget what it did to you? Depression? Can't sleep at night? You want that? You want to be- you want to be calling me at three in the morning? You can't sleep, you're popping pills? "

I know I read into things a lot, especially with Mouse, but I'm not doing that here. Jay says it outright. Point blank to his face. This is what the war made him, last time, and he can't seriously be considering risking that again, right? this scene did give me Moustead canonically calling each other in the middle of the night though so it's not all bad that's my favorite crumb

And then 4x05 is after Mouse asks Voight to help with his record, and he's told no, but Jay is still actively trying to stop the reenlistment from happening. He himself goes to Voight about it in the first scene of the episode, desperately trying to keep his best friend safe - from the dangers that come from a war zone, from the risk of going back to all of that, from himself:

"Hey, Sarge... I heard Mouse came looking to get a felony dropped so he could reenlist. [...] I think he's carrying around a lot of guilt that we made it home safe and friends of ours didn't."

It's this attempt to get Voight to hold onto that decision, that no that means Mouse is essentially stuck with the CPD and can't leave the country and risk his life in the army again. Jay is absolutely in the wrong for meddling the way he did, going behind Mouse's back like that, but like... he's right. Everything he says is absolutely correct. Survivor's guilt can manifest in some destructive ways, and the urge to throw oneself back into the danger that nearly killed them the first time is one of those ways.

I think the fact that the case in 4x05 that the team is working on deals with a lot of overdose victims fed my angst loving heart just a little too well. But it, combined with my headcanon that Mouse tried to kill himself with an overdose in 2011 (this is a very specific headcanon, with a whole essay's worth of reasoning/explanation, but I mention it in a few fics, for some reason there's no post just about that headcanon? I'll fix that one day), and everything that led to it, definitely feeds into how absolutely gutted I feel any time I watch another scene in that episode, this one a conversation between Jay and Mouse:

M: You know, maybe Voight's right. Maybe I just need to clear out of here. J: What are you gonna do with your felony record? You gonna go back to boosting stereos? M: That guy on the board - that could have been me when I came back here - high, doing something stupid and dangerous. J: Greg, that is not you. That's not you now. M: I am telling you, Jay, if I lose my job because of a bender or whatever... I'm looking at Tyler, and that could've been me. It still could be me.

Between that subtle emphasis on telling you and the heavy implication that he could still be killed by (or lose his job because of) those old habits, with my headcanon that, at one point, they did almost kill him... it's very easy for me, personally, to read into that as Mouse trying to tell Jay, while not letting on to the rest of the team and making them worry, too, that he's feeling that way again. That he's suicidal again, that the level of stress he's feeling while working in Intelligence is driving him back to that point. This could very feasibly be part of the reason that Jay changes his mind on fighting him so hard on all of it between this conversation and their next scene together. However...

Even without the context of my headcanon, the conversation outright says that Mouse is actively thinking about how he might die. He's going to a place where he could potentially die every single day, and he's not concerned about it, not only that, but he seems to be welcoming it. If not suicidal, he's being reckless and careless with his life, telling Jay he's being pushed to the brink, actively concerned that he's taking just as much of a risk even if he stays in Chicago...

Mouse's exit actively undid all of the progress we got to see on screen, putting him right back where he started if not worse off - if he even lived long enough to make it home at all. And it makes me absolutely furious every time I think about it. It turned his arc of recovery into a net negative outcome, and in the best case scenario pushed him back into a potential cycle of trauma and addiction. And even a rushed exit doesn't have to be that cynical.

He could have easily had a more positive exit - maybe going back to school to finish his degree, if he's really set against the police academy. But this exit, and all of the awful, devastating implications that come with it, were a deliberate choice that shouldn't have been made.

TLDR;; Mouse's mental health was an absolute mess, to put it lightly, and I'm constantly confused about why his exit was allowed to play out like this, and how he could reasonably pass any psychological evaluation that would let him reenlist in the first place. yes I know the government and the armed forces specifically are awful about mental health and actively tell people not to report how they're feeling let me apply some logic to my anger please it keeps me sane

[corpocyborg]

Questions for Writers

Tagged by @merge-conflict! (Thank you!)

Last book I read: Nonfiction - "The Unfolding of Language" by Guy Deutscher, Fiction - "Children of the Mind" by Orson Scott Card

Greatest literary inspirations: Valerie Locke (my V, from "Secure Your Soul" and "Beyond the Event Horizon") is largely inspired by two characters - Peter Wiggin from the Ender's Game Series by Orson Scott Card and Coriolanus Snow from The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes by Suzanne Collins. In fact, her last name comes from Peter Wiggin's propaganda-spreading alter ego, Locke. One thing I really loved in TBOSAS is the disconnect because Coryo's internal dialogue and his external behavior. He is charismatic on the outside, but judgemental and selfish on the inside. So I definitely draw inspiration from the way Collins wrote that contrast when I write my V. Peter Wiggin is similar, although it isn't written in the same way because he doesn't narrate and the main narrators (Ender and Valentine) can see through his facade. But still he manages to take over the world with just the power of controlling the narrative.

Things in my current fandoms I want to read but I don't want to write: I don't think I have this problem because I always want to write all my ideas. If anything, I need to work on less projects all at the same time 'cause I don't make enough progress on any one individual project.

Things in my current fandoms I want to write but I think nobody would be interested in them but me: To be honest, I think all of my premises would have an audience. Hopefully that doesn't sound arrogant, but mostly I just mean that all the fandoms I want to write for (Cyberpunk 2077, Mass Effect, Star Wars: The Old Republic) have active fanbases in terms of fanfic readers and I think my premises are all ones that at least some people would find interesting.

You can recognize my writing by: Villain and/or ruthless hero protagonists, lots of em-dashes, characters whose internal state doesn't match their external behavior, outgoing protagonists who are talkative and excitable, characters having lengthy internal monologues in the middle of a conversation, beginning dialogue with words like "Hmm...", "Well...", "I mean...", etc. and then interrupting with a dialogue tag and moving on to the rest of the line (i.e., "Well," she said, "I don't see how that will help us.")

My most controversial take (current fandom): I like to write for Corpo V and Renegade Shepard. I think Corpo V is fairly popular, but even so, I think a lot of people don't consider Devil Ending their canon because it's so depressing. My version of Devil Ending is even more depressing than canon. I'm almost certain Paragon Shepard and Paragade Shepard are significantly more popular than Renegade Shepard, especially my version, who makes pretty much every worst possible decision (doesn't cure the genophage and kills Wrex and Mordin and doesn't let the geth live, etc.).

Top three favorite tropes: Both corruption arcs and redemption arcs. The Mastermind as a character archetype. AUs in general.

What’s your current writing mood (10 – super motivated and churning out words like crazy, 0 – in a complete rut): Honestly, it's hard to say because it changes a lot in a fairly short time-frame. I do most of my writing in huge bursts where I am highly productive for hours at a time, and then I don't write again for weeks.

Share a random frustration: Like I said earlier, it's hard for me to avoid taking on too many projects at once. I think I also have a tendency to start sharing a little too early and then wanting to go back and edit after the fact. I get overly excited, I guess.

And, finally, I tag @ghostoffuturespast, @fereldanwench, and @another-corpo-rat.

[jakowskis]

Day 15 - Are there any ships you dislike?

alrighty so. there are only rlly four i ‘dislike’, and the first three… it’s more complicated than anything, it’s not entirely utter pure-n-simple disdain. it’s less about the ships themselves (in two of the cases, anyway) and more about how they seem to be perceived by the fandom + how much they dominate everything. other ships exist, guys! the other characters exist! anyway ill try not to be mean but i am gonna be petty, lol

so for starters, yeah, jack x ianto. i have a very specific view of it, that i do enjoy, but the fandom seems to be doing something else entirely and i've developed some resentment despite myself. especially bc it’s overrated as fuck. don’t get me wrong, it’s iconic, as far as being culturally significant gay rep, but if im honest idk how well they hold up in 2024? i thought their relationship in s1 and s2 of the show was lackluster at best. poorly written bread crumbs. and yeah i know it was big for 2006 but im just personally kind of offended that they could show them sucking face but not show the intricacies of why the hell ianto would fall for a guy who shot his girlfriend down?? like, their relationship is inherently dark and angsty to me and im interested in exploring that, bc the show certainly doesn’t (initially) bother to, and a lot of the fan content i see is either fluffy (??????????), or angsty in a Tragique way, or is just kind of… fetishy and whumpy? people slot them into a Specific Kind of Dynamic and it grosses me tf out. so the fandom culture rubs me wrong, and then it’s just… such a bummer to like owen and tosh and gwen in a fandom that only seems to prioritize this one ship. there are 22k fics in the torchwood ao3 tag, and 13k of them are janto. now, all that being said… they do intrigue me and endear me, just a bit. but it took the audios to make me give a fuck about them, which is sad. 

on that same note - i have the same relationship with tosh x owen, but i'm significantly less fond of it, cuz it just plain rubs me wrong. i like them in theory, so i spent months trying to figure out how to make them work and what other people are seeing that they think is so endearing and cute - i just can't find it. owen's treatment of tosh is just about the only thing i can't stand about him. he treats everyone poorly, but most of the rest of the cast defends themself (or even hit back, like ianto and gwen, and thats why i ship them with him! it’s spicy! i love balanced unhealthy dynamics in fiction hfdsjkf i can’t lie) - but tosh just lets him, creating an unhealthy power imbalance where she’s just getting hurt over and over again, and it makes me wanna fucking punch him cuz she does Not deserve that. i want him far away from her lmao. except under certain circumstances, cuz i have written fic about them, and i’ve read like three rlly good ones (and the main link between them is tosh stands up for herself and puts him in his place! i HATE how he walks all over her in canon ughhhhhhhhh). additionally, i do admittedly enjoy the angst of their canon arc. i just think fandom throwing them together and making it cutesy is lazy, uncreative, and an injustice to both characters. i think the SHOW throwing them together was an injustice to both characters, especially tosh’s. they're tragic and compelling, ill give them that, but theyre not sweet, and i don't think they'd be good for each other. 

(also worth noting on a show where everyone has tension w each other, imo barrowman & gareth and naoko & burn pull it off the least convincingly and have little to no chemistry. like every other duo just kind of sparks in some way or another, and neither of those duos do. which SUCKS bc they’re the canon ones. but it’s also heavily poor writing like they were doing the best w what they had. grr. like i still dont know what the fuck ianto likes about jack or what tosh likes about owen 😭 that’s ridiculous!)

the other ship i’m petty about is jack x john hart. i just think it’s far too popular for what it is. idek why that is, do we have a substantial amount of buffy fans in the fandom? don’t get me wrong, i liked john in the show + i liked their relationship as well, but i'll always be annoyed when a minor character gets more attention than the fascinating main ones. 

and lastly i hate john x ianto, because i respect ianto, lmao. i can’t lie, if he was my fav i’d probs ship it HJFKDSHFK i love putting my favs in awful situations. but as is it just grosses me out. get him outta there!! 

tldr: i don’t interact w the john hart side of the fandom, and if a fic is tagged 'jack/ianto tosh/owen gwen/rhys' i probably won’t read it 😷

[drakkensystem]

Ok there's something I need to get off my chest.

Caveat that I assume the assholes I'm about to complain about are just a vocal minority, but when that vocal minority reduces my enjoyment of some kind of media and worsens my mental health so they can feel smug, I think I'm justified in complaining about it.

So I saw a Tumblr post recently where someone (derisively) told someone else to "just pick up a comic" if they wanted to know more about DC canon and while there was a brilliant reply mentioning how convoluted DC canon is, I want to highlight my perspective.

Hi, I have aphantasia and a visual processing disorder (also ADHD and autism). This means that my visual perception of my surroundings is absolute dog shit, even when I am actively trying. I went to the same restaurant one to two times a week for years before noticing that one of their major pieces of decor even existed. I have a hoodie that, if I didn't know better, I would think my sibling was gaslighting me about it being green and not blue (yes, I have taken colorblindness tests, both online and officially in an appointment- no, I'm not colorblind). I always watch shows with captions bc my special interest in language means my eyes will automatically track the words, making it more likely that I'll actually see what's happening on the screen. Even so, I often pause and rewind (when I can) so that I can actually see what happened. For a few months, I had migraines so bad that I spent the majority of my time awake blindfolded, but I found that I used my vision so little when navigating around my own house, it wasn't very much more difficult while blindfolded- basically only things that moved gave me trouble.

One of the other consequences is that I find reading comics very difficult. I often compare me reading comics to someone with dyslexia reading regular books: yes, I can do it, but it takes me so much more effort that it's hard for me to enjoy it. (I just happened to be lucky enough that no one pins my academic success on my ability to read comics, unlike dyslexics and traditional books).

There are exactly four comics which I have managed to finish a major chunk of, all of them were franchises I was already hyperfixated on before reading, and the one that isn't also a long term special interest happened in a time in my life that I was incredibly lonely and bored. They were all also manga- aka, significantly easier for me to read bc they are in black and white (and thus there is less visual detail to take in).

So when I say that reading comics is hard for me, I mean it is hard.

And to hear comics fans say things like "just pick up a comic, bruh" (a vocal minority, but they do exist)- it disheartens me so much. I would love to experience those stories for myself. But when I have to re-read each page 3-5 times in order to actually process anything beyond the words on the page, it's too exhausting (note: manga normally only takes me 1-3 re-reads per page).

It is so extremely frustrating for people to act like reading comics is so easy when it's something that I legitimately struggle with. Reading a traditional book? I can read a 650 page novel in less than 3 days. But comic books? I struggled to get through the first 20 pages of a compendium a friend let me borrow once before giving up and returning it.

So next time you feel like deriding someone for engaging more with an adaptation than the original, remember that there is no kind of media that is universally equally accessible. They might just find it significantly easier (and therefore more enjoyable) to engage with the adaptation.

[katiebug586]

Sit Down, Shut Up X Digimon AU

I'M BACK WITH ANOTHER DIGIMON AU!

Honestly, the 'I am going to create an crossover that is so doesn't make sense' image sums this up nicely regarding niche special interests and hyperfixations.

Either way, for those of you who aren't aware, Sit Down, Shut Up is a 2009 animated sitcom created by Mitchell Hurwitz, the creator of Arrested Development. While it is generally thought of being either a 'you love it or you hate it' show, it has a special place in my heart and despite its raunchy/lewd humor, I find it strangely comforting to watch.

And because I've been getting back into both Digimon and Sit Down, Shut Up as of late, it is only natural that my brain has the 'genius' idea of combining the two. It started with the innocuous question of 'What would the cast be if they were Digimon?' which is something I've asked for multiple other fandoms as well, such as Pepper Ann, Braceface, and Fillmore! to name a few.

I don't have much of a plot super specific to the show in a Digimon setting, but I do have an overall plot which I tend to use in most of my Digimon x (show) AUs involving the 'Digital World' being a near copy of the human/real world, with monsters having jobs, children, school, that sort of thing. All without knowing they're living in a simulation. The characters eventually find out they DO live in a simulation by another race foreign to them (humans), and find themselves having to go to the 'real world', where they find themselves facing a brand new threat, the Seven Great Demon Lords; seven powerful creatures, each representing some type of vice, who were created by the humans to purge the simulation and start over.

But some of them have their own interests in mind…

That's the usual scenario I use when 'brainstorming' (haha daydreaming) but with Sit Down, Shut Up I could go for less of the adult 'raunchy humor' everywhere, and instead incorporate more of an intense/edgy feel more geared towards adults with some added adult humor, rather than the moreso 'for kids' I would do for say, a Fillmore! or Pepper Ann Digimon AU.

Because it's eight champion-level (unless stated) adult Digimon who work in a digi-school and can barely tolerate one another, with some tolerated less than others. Then, everything they've known to be true is revealed to be a lie and they're forced to team up with those same people and kinda try to maybe understand them?

Now, I could see petty drama and 'canon-typical behavior/adult humor' at first being the norm, (kind of like how the sitcom only got thirteen episodes, which is usually when a Digimon season is still lighthearted. Unless you're Ghost Games that is. RIP Bokomon) but then getting Knight Of Cerberus'd and becoming significantly darker. Kind of like what Bojack pulled off, with the perfect mix of adult humor and a meaningful message.

You're probably wondering by now, what did my brain answer when asked that fateful question? Well, here's the Digimon I decided would fit and their lines! Rookie/Child forms are just here for reference, all are at Champion/Adult level unless otherwise stated.

Larry: Lopmon - Turuiemon - Antylamon (Deva) - Cherubmon (Virtue) (Can also become Vice if shit hits the fan)

Miracle: Terriermon - Gargomon - Rapidmon - MegaGargomon (May change Rapidmon and MegaGargomon if I find suitable mons)

Ennis: Elecmon (Violet) - Leomon - GrapLeomon - BanchoLeomon (Ennis is normally a GrapLeomon because I thought it would be fitting to have him at such a high level due to how 'great' he thinks he is and how he'd be himbo material if he wasn't so… Ennis)

Stuart: Guilmon - Growlmon - WarGrowlmon - Gallantmon/Megidramon (I thought Guilmon's/Growlmon's naivety was a nice fit for Stuart, along with the fact that they can and will fuck you up, e.g. Megidramon as an alternate digivolution)

Helen: Tsukaimon - Saberdramon - LadyDevimon - Star Beelmon

Andrew: Kotemon - Dinohyumon - Kyukimon - SlashAngemon

Willard: Piximon. Nobody knows much of his past, and frankly, they don't really care.

Sue: Haven't actually decided yet LMFAO.

[evilkitten3]

hi gang! i know it's been,,,,, literally years since i started working on my fairy tail rewrite but i do want to assure anyone still interested that it is still something i'm working on. however, perhaps unsurprisingly, a lot has changed since i first started the project, so i wanted to give some updates on things people have expressed interest in in the past:

-i toyed with the idea of aro/ace erza for a while and while i do genuinely love the concept, i ultimately decided that it wouldn't really fit into what i want to do with her character. so tragically i can't fulfill this initial idea. i'm a little disappointed myself tbh but i actually really like what i came up with for her part of the story, so... hope this wasn't what anyone was looking forward to the most.

-when i first mentioned rewriting ft, i said there'd be no fanservice. however, having thought about it for some time, fairy tail is a series where somewhat dirty jokes have been since the start, and i don't think it's entirely fair to get rid of it altogether just bc the last couple of arcs forgot to do anything else. i will however promise that no one is going to be less important than their own boobs.

-the relationship between gajeel and team shadowgear will absolutely still be important, but i don't intend to put gajeel or levy in a relationship with anyone, including each other. this isn't really about whether i like the ships involved or not; it's just that i actually ended up putting a bit more of a spotlight on this little faction than i'd intended to (tbh i'd been pretty sure gajeel and levy would have somewhat more minor roles, but fortunately it looks like they'll stay major supporting characters)

-lucy and her family are going to be marginally more complicated than what we got in canon, and while i don't plan to give away too much too soon, there might be some hints towards what's really going on there significantly before i actually unveil my masterpiece (i am ngl so so SO happy with my version of the heartfilia family. i feel like it's both somewhat original and also fits within the world of fairy tail. idk if anyone else is going to be enjoying keeping up with the heartfilias as much as me but i sure hope so. whoa boy)

-natsu spends a lot more time looking for igneel. not like 100% absolutely dedicated nothing else matters or anything (bc that's just not natsu), but it is his main motivation throughout a good chunk of the story, so i'm hoping to bring that into play a bit more.

-i've been pretty clear on this part since the beginning, but ultear and siegrain are going to play a much bigger role in the early parts of the story. this is both bc i adore their dynamic and bc crime sorcière is unfortunately not going to happen. just getting that part out of the way now. as much as i adore them, it just doesn't work here. i don't intend for them to usurp the story or anything, but they definitely have a much bigger and more direct impact on the plot. also like reasons for doing things and better publicity than most of the rest of the council.

-i simply am not going to have the time to give natsu's parents the screentime they deserve, but i promise to give them as much as i possibly can. unfortunately, they really don't matter all that much in term's of natsu or zeref's parts in the story, but there are a couple of other characters with fairly strong ties to them, so it's not like i'm going to ignore them entirely

-cubellios is and will forever remain a snake. hiss hiss

-none of the other manga side stories (including 100 year quest) are going to be taken into account whatsoever. i simply do not care <3

-zeref and mavis's relationship is deeply, DEEPLY important to the plot, but it absolutely isn't romantic at all, so sorry if you were hoping it would be. also i tried my best to make mavis significantly more interesting (plus yuriy, warrod, and precht. especially precht)

-none of the big 4 ships will happen. this isn't due to me not liking them for the most part (i mean, i don't but tbh that really isn't relevant here; i have no problem with writing for ships i don't ship myself if it works with the story), it's either bc it doesn't fit into these versions of the characters or it just didn't end up happening. i know this is gonna put some people off, but i hope you'll give it a try anyway once it's done; i ended up trying out a few things i'd never thought about before and really enjoying them, so hopefully i won't be alone in that.

-the celestial spirits are currently one of my bigger roadblocks writing-wise bc while they're also very important to the story, they rarely get enough screentime to showcase anything other than their powers and One Quirky Trait. and there are so dang many of them; it's kinda hard to balance. however, i know what i want to do with them in the long run, so it's more a matter of getting them there and not having them effectively turn into lucy's somewhat talkative pokémon. also, the spirits aren't property– they've made a contract with their wielder, and this is very very relevant. they are also not human. you may want to keep those two things in mind.

-if a character dies and you see their body and their body is definitely 100% checked-their-pulse-and-tried-cpr dead, that character is dead. it's a fantasy story, so i'm not going to pretend there's no possible way to un-die, but i will say this: consider whether or not dying a likely-traumatic death and then coming back is a good thing.

-there will be ocs. this is basically unavoidable due to what few changes i've made, but i'm hoping they'll at least be enjoyable ocs. most of them shouldn't be relevant for a while anyway

-there are, and i cannot stress this enough, characters that may for some reason have something to gain from lying to the heroes. or to other villains. or to themselves. characters lie, or twist the truth, or are wrong, or a bajillion other things.

-whoever you're expecting the final badguy to be, you're wrong

-lastly, and this is easily the most important, i have completely changed irene's character design to one of mashima's concept art versions of her. if you've never seen it, here's the piece of that sketch collection i'm talking about:

^that's my irene. love me some unhinged old ladymom

[battle-of-alberta]

Battle of Alberta 2022 Survey Results

It’s time my friends! If you would like to see previous surveys, here is 2021 and 2020 for your reference.

We had a total of 16 respondents to the survey. The average BoAB reader is female, age 19-24, and Canadian. At least half of respondents this year identified as Albertan, which is a bigger proportion than previously. Most of you live in Canada, and of those in Alberta most live in Edmonton followed by Calgary or Lethbridge.

Read on for graphs and some notes about what’s new!

Demographics

A larger proportion this year are female while fewer are male, and more of you seem to be questioning. Whether you’re new readers or are old readers figuring some stuff out, we’re happy to have you!

Less of you are 14-24 year olds, but more of you are identifying as 25-30+. (I know I made a couple people feel old with that last category and I apologize, I can add a bit more nuance next year if you like). Again, either some new folks or some of you are just aging, no problem!

Most of you are from Canada, which is not unusual. We have more folks from outside of North America than previously, however.

A larger proportion of you consider yourselves Albertan. This year, we have fewer people who visit and more people who have never been.

More of you once again live in Edmonton - even with more responses, the proportions of this graph stayed about the same as last year.

This was a new question for 2022. This is basically what I expected, some of you are definitely more well-travelled than I am in the province! I also felt I should have specified that this question can be answered by all respondents, whether you live in Alberta or elsewhere.

Blog

Those of you who followed via IAMP or because of me stayed about the same. This year we had less people looking for Hetalia OCs and more looking up stuff about places in Alberta, which is definitely a significant shift. Feeling the pressure for sure now :)

Art maintains its position in number one; interestingly “culture” shot up there (is that something we have?) while meta fell, and the rest sort of jostled around a little. I might owe some of that to the phrasing of “connection to Hetalia”, seeing as I’ve done little to anchor this comic in the Hetalia canon and therefore there’s a drop in people who were looking for that content above. At least, that’s my supposition.

When I made this question I realized I had done very little other than asks, which isn’t a bad thing. I’m glad you liked ‘em!

Historical events muscled its way to the top this year, and in tandem with the next question I’ve definitely been thinking about how to deal with that. More on that later, but I also find it interesting that Asks fell significantly here.

I really tried to narrow this down to three things I was considering on working on or wrapping up so as not to scatter my focus too much, but of course a couple of you did steer your answers differently. The historical focus is definitely the winner here though.

I meant to just do simple timelines, but the more I think of it the more I feel I need to tell some sort of cliff’s notes “story” of Alberta in order to situate the characters and to accommodate readers who aren’t familiar with either the broad strokes of Alberta or Canadian history in general. It’s difficult to undertake such a task, but I promise I have been :) While the characters featured here span only a couple hundred years at most, there are broader scopes I need to consider in order to fully explain the contexts in which they came to be and to relate to one another.

Characters

So here’s where things get interesting...

All of you love Calvin. It’s clearly not just because of hometown pride. Is it because I torture him? Is it because he has a sort of stupidity naivety that makes you want to take care of him? Is it because he’s a scorpio and could snap any minute? Why??????

Secondly: a significant proportion of you have decided Jasper is your favourite of all the characters before I’ve even published any design. Wow. Mac has also dropped off the list entirely.

Okay, Jasper is no surprise here. I also think it is HILARIOUS that not only did your favourite character score low, he even scored below That Guy On the Fridge. Very interesting.

And oddly enough, I guess you guys must have felt sorry for Ed not being your favourite so he finally won the battle this year by a significant proportion instead of a deadlock. Bravo! We also had respondents refuse to choose and who summoned the rats back from last year. Special thanks to everyone for restraining themselves from naming any ucp politicians this go.

Special thanks also to those of you who left a kind comment at the end or who helped me update some of my playlists! <3 Thanks again to everyone who filled out the survey, I’ve really enjoyed collecting your responses and I hope to hear from you again next year!