radiolovedance

[snow-licity]

Diaz brought up an excellent question that I've always asked myself about Oliver and Felicity (and many other couples):

What would hurt more: Felicity dying in front of Oliver or Oliver dying in front of Felicity?

Personally there are times when it goes both ways, like moments where I go "it would TOTALLY hurt Oliver more if Felicity was killed in front of Oliver" and vice versa.

Anyway, discuss if you want🤪

[dangan-meme-palace]

I realy like your analysis on the kaito-maki-shuichi relationship. So i was wondering who in your opinion has the best relationship dynamic within the cast?

Aaaa thanks! I'm more or less pleased with how it came out :D probably could be shorter though haha

-tech

As for the best dynamic... hmm.

Judging based on what I mentioned in the previous post about strengths being highlighted and weaknesses being dealt with in one way or another and believable emotional bonds that help each other, I'd have to say...

Kokichi and Gonta

For sure, it's gotta be them.

Narratively:

They are canonly a dynamic duo, working together and using their different strengths to help one another in areas the other is lacking in. It feels like they can both truly shine when they cooperate, and that's exactly how it should be.

It's very nice to see them work together because they both bring something different to the table that truly helps the other, and not always in ways you would expect at first glance. The brain and brawn thing is expected, but the extent to which they compliment each other is unparalleled by any other dynamic in the game.

Kokichi -> Gonta

Admittedly, Kokichi does less for Gonta narratively than Gonta does for Kokichi, but to be fair I would expect someone like Kokichi to be the one others help shine, not the other way around. Kokichi, as the Ultimate Leader, is more like the protagonist while Gonta is the supporting character.

For the most part though, Kokichi's narrative role relating to Gonta is to show us that Gonta isn't the happy-go-lucky himbo the rest of the cast thinks he is, allowing us to see that Gonta has depth, specifically that Gonta's morals are definitely different than what one would normally expect from someone with his personality.

The rest is something that relates more to their emotional bond, but for now I'll just say that Kokichi allows us to see Gonta's insecurities, flaws, and dedication to his friends (both the cast and Kokichi) and this improves Gonta's character immensely.

Gonta -> Kokichi

Gonta, as a character, shows us just how human Kokichi can be, especially during chapter 4 but also in little moments throughout the game as well. Whether it be lashing out at the others, being soft (like, so, so soft) with Gonta, his cooperation skills, or the depths of his sadness and loyalty, Gonta drags these reactions out of Kokichi one by one like it's his job, which it is! Narratively, Gonta's job is to allow us to see glimpses of what goes on in Kokichi's heart, something incredibly rare and precious to me.

Gonta also really allows Kokichi's ability to strategize and lead people to shine. Like, really shine. Chapter 4 was the best showcase of Kokichi's talent of leading people, but that's because he had Gonta following him. Any captain needs a crew and any Ultimate Leader needs helpful and supportive followers that believe in him. This goes alongside Kokichi's major weakness throughout the game.

Kokichi's biggest weakness is that he's placed himself into an antagonistic position. Seems smart, until you realize that hes the Ultimate Leader and he just alienated himself from literally everyone, losing any potential bonds/followers he could have made. He shot himself in the foot by forsaking some leadership options when he's the Ultimate Leader. It's the thing he's best at, but he put limits on himself anyway to protect everyone from Monokuma's attempts to break them apart.

He can still get the group to do what he wants, but it takes a considerable amount of effort on his behalf in order to do so. Gonta makes up for that by being the follower that Kokichi desperately needs. Gonta believes in Kokichi enough to go along with both of his plans, to the extent that he still goes along with them even they involve kidnapping and killing the other characters.

There's also the fact that Gonta's dedication to the others might've helped Kokichi decide to keep helping everyone, but I'll get more into that in a bit.

Emotionally:

This dynamic also makes a lot of sense from an emotional perspective. You can actually see why these two outcast characters would want to come together and hang out with each other, and why they view the other so positively: they are each other's ideals.

Kokichi -> Gonta

When Gonta needed a friend and someone to take him seriously/not dismiss him, Kokichi was there to hang out with him, seriously listen to him, and explain things to him that he didn't get the first time. Where the other kids were scared of him due to his size and talent, Kokichi had the confidence to ignore Gonta's natural intimidation and the kindness to hang out with Gonta, despite being so scared of bugs he literally foams at the mouth when they touch him.

Kokichi still regarded Gonta as a friend after that incident though, when most people (justifiably) would've held a grudge and cut him off. Gonta has some very obvious rage issues and reacts pretty impulsively to the things that upset him, but Kokichi is very patient with others, and almost forgiving to a fault at times, so he's willing to stick with Gonta and try and work through their problems instead of abandoning him. This would no doubt be something that Gonta desperately wanted from a friend, seeing as he's very self conscious about appearing as scary.

He loyally sticks by Gonta and readily offers advice, support, explanations, patience, etc... I mean the list goes on. I really do think that his relationship with Gonta is a showcase of how Kokichi would act around someone he really likes, like I'm talking about this being the basis for how I think Kokichi would act around DICE levels of emotional intimacy. I think this is Kokichi at his best, friendship wise. Especially because even during events that take place outside of the main story we never see Kokichi act this way around anyone else, even with the people I would also consider to be his friends (mainly Miu, but also sorta with Kiibo as well.)

They didn't know each other for long, but if you really look at it, it's plain to see that Kokichi really valued Gonta as a friend. I mean, I dont think someone who yells about wanting to live during his FTEs with Kaede would willingly offer to give his life for (no discernable goal) for just anyone y'know? Plus, throughout the game, he uses some of his friendliest and softest sprites during his conversations with Gonta. Even visually you can see their bond.

It's a very subtle relationship when compared to some of the more overt pairs throughout the game (aside from some key moments in chapter 4) but it's there, and honestly I can think of very few characters that share this close of a bond in the whole series game.

They actually kinda seem similar to Aoi and Sakura in a way, but somehow they compliment each other more... damn.

Gonta -> Kokichi

Likewise, Gonta also became Kokichi's friend and didn't seem to mind the lying at all, something that means a lot to Kokichi based on his Harmonious Heart Events, because it means that Gonta doesn't want to be friends with someone different, he wants Kokichi, lies and all. This is Kokichi's #1 wish.

I think that meant more to Kokichi than anything else, because this is his way of life. He leads with lies, he plays with lies, and he protects himself with lies too. He wants to keep lying and Gonta not being bothered by that is literally the exact thing that Kokichi yearns for in the best ending for his HHE.

Gonta also caught on to the times that Kokichi was extending olive branches and accepted him. It's subtle, but Kokichi did try and befriend people as long as he could do it without having to change himself and Gonta was one of the people that responded to that positively. Gonta readily befriended Kokichi, probably understanding first-hand what it's like to be an outcast because of misunderstandings and personality traits.

This is why Gonta's death (especially since Kokichi felt like he was fully responsible for it, despite what Gonta said) was so traumatic for Kokichi and why he reacts so negatively to it, he lost someone he never thought he would ever meet in the first place. More than a few of his dialogue lines have him imply that he's used to being hated for how he chooses to live his life and that he expects this kind of treatment from people, so finally finding someone who won't hate him for that and then losing that friend so quickly with his own plan had to have hurt immensely.

Going off that, Gonta is the one to convince Kokichi to remain friends with everyone and try his best for them despite how they treat him, and he also desperately begs for the others to do the same thing for Kokichi. He knew he was leaving Kokichi alone, and he wanted to try and protect him.

While the other members of the cast don't seem to remember this or care much about it after the whole "I'm the mastermind" bit, we do see Kokichi trying to protect the group after chapter 4 by trying getting rid of the motive to leave (therefore "ending" the killing game by making sure no one plays it) and by trying to remove Kaito, who has shown himself to be a harmful influence.

I think Gonta's words really got through to Kokichi, and while it did unfortunately lead to Kokichi dying for everyone's sake, Kokichi might not have tried to save everyone if it hadn't been for Gonta's last wishes. Why would Kokichi want to help people that actively hate him and bully him if not for the pleading of his greatest friend in the game telling him to keep protecting them.

In a sense, Kokichi during chapter 5 fulfills Gonta's original wish to be useful and protect everyone even at the cost of himself, with Kokichi doing exactly that.

Interested?

If you asked me for moments that I feel showcase their bond nicely so you can get a feel of it for yourself, I'd point you towards the dialogue they share during the 4th trial investigation and their meeting before the Insect Meet and Greet was very nice (you'll have to read between the lines for the former though!) If you want to see what I'm talking about, I would definitely recommend rewatching those. The moments prior to Gonta's execution are also always a good look at how much they meant to each other.

If you're really interested, I'd also recommend watching through their bonus content (LHEs, FTEs, HHEs, etc) and thinking about how their desires are reflected in each other, it's interesting to think about at the very least.

TL;DR?

Overall, they have an amazing, yet unsung, dynamic between the two of them and I would like to see more people recognize it. It's very brief and doesn't have a lot of story time, but it feels more meaningful than any of the "main" dynamics in the game with 10x the screentime. It has substance to it. It's satisfying and gratifying to watch.

It also makes fucking sense, unlike a particular dynamic that takes up a majority of the fucking story for nOTHING–

[isitandwonder]

Hi. Did you, at some point, believe in Charmie and A&T relationship? Because you have written so superb fics bout them (dont mentioning looot of sex between them in those fics 😊 ). And now it looks like you are quite disgusted by charmie fandom and also by Armie too.. So when did you change your mind (if there of course was any changing of mind)?

Hi nonnie!

I think I talked about this before but anyway...

Yes, at some point at the end of 2017/beginning of 2018 when the promo was in full swing, I did believe there was/had been something happening between these two.

What started to change my mind though was in February 2018 when they returned to Crema and Liz was there and said they made Ford there (I remember we discussed her being at almost every awards red carpet and promo event before, as some kind of no homo device)... I was so confused. This couldn’t be right! T & A had been hanging out all by themselves during the filming, they’d been the only two English speaking people in town (lol, sorry, but Crema is not a small Sicilian village in the 1950s, I’ve been there), they’d bonded deeply... they told us all about  that!

I’m still grateful to the person pointing out that Liz and Harper had been there most of the filming... then gradually more and more ‘came to light’: that Will had been there before filming, that Tim had hung out with some locals (even a kind of gf was mentioned), stuff like that. That started to burst my bubble.

I confess, I had a shit day accepting that it had all been a fantasy because at that point they seemed so cute and right together. They sold that pretty well and I’m not mad at them - it was me who got in too deep, they just promoted their film. And wasn’t it easy to see all these bluring lines and believe in them?

Anyway, once you see the ‘cracks’ you start to question and see more. Things like Armie cancelling the Asia promo tour; saying he ‘sucked dick on film’, reducing cmbyn to THAT.

So I accepted it had been just a fantasy, but still shipped them as in ‘I like to imagine them together though I know it’s not real’. That’s were most of my fics come from, because these stories are pure fiction; I made it all up.

I think then came TIFF and those IG stories - they were clearly taking the piss at shippers, but in a kind way, saying ‘we know what’s going on and don’t mind’. What secret couple posts such stories, I ask you? So I felt validated in my shipping because they were okay with it.

When did I fall out of love with Armie though? I think it started right after the Oscars with above mentioned incidents. He was never my type anyway, I’m all here for the twinks :). He really only does things for me in the contrast he provides to Tim. 

But then I learned more and more about him. His weird family. The way he was okay with how Liz pimped out their kids on her IG (because, come on, if a father doesn’t want that he can make it stop. Now it looks like he used Liz to sell the image of the perfect American family). His fights and ramblings on social media.

I still truly think there was a window for him that he could have used to stear his life and career in a different direction. I still believe cmbyn was a huge formative experience for him. For a while, something changed. Maybe it was all PR bla bla, but maybe not. He dared to accept a stage role after it. He made STBY, which I haven’t seen but people say he was very good in. But then he fell back into old patterns.

I became indifferent to Armie. But then he went to Saudi Arabia. And that was it. I can’t support someone who does what he did. Oliver would at least be whipped there, if not executed; Armie is a gay icon after portraying that beloved character. That’s a responsibility. All he had to do was not go to SA. I don’t expect big political statements - but why did he go there for a government event? Sorry, that was the final nail to the coffin.

But, you know, I still could ignore him. I followed Tim who is goofy and kind and weirdly smart and a great actor. I confess, I speculated about his sexuality (always traveling with male friends, no gf, taking his mum or sister to awards) - but then the Lily thing started - and I was happy for him. Someone his age, who knows about life in the limelight, with whom he could share his life.

And that’s when shit hit the fan. You know, I don’t know either Armie or Tim and what they do has no real influence on my life. But I knew a lot of people on here. I’d been with cmabn since 2017; I’ve written some well liked stories. But suddenly many people I used to have fun with, I thought were my friends, for which I wrote stories - they totally freaked out and behaved abysmal. They sent hate to Tim, to fellow fans. They bullied people really badly on here. Many deleted stories or blogs. And the worst was - these mutuals of mine thought that funny. They were proud of their shitty behavior. They started to scream at anyone doubting Tim was gay and in love with Armie. I got death threats for pointing out that maybe T&A played their friendship up a bit during cmbyn promo.

And almsot no one stopped these people destroying what had been a fun small fandom. Almost no one said to these people ‘Calm down, stop it’. Instead, these people, who used to be my mutuals, congratulated themselves on how efficiently they harrassed Tim on IG and fellow fans on here. I remember a person who told me to my face they loved me first ridiculing Tim and in the end sending vile hate to me.

That’s why I can’t support Charmie any longer. Because of these scumbags of fans. Hating on Tim is one thing, he has people working for him, sadly, these things happen to anyone in the industry. But hating on fellow fans just because some don’t follow a certain narrative BNFs made up? That, to me, is unforgivable.

Therefore, I now delight in how their King Armie is exposed as just another straight white man, cheating on his wife (and maybe doing worse). He debased himself going to SA, and I really don’t know how people who profess to love cmbyn and it’s message can still support him after that. Then he showed his privileged white ass during quarantine. And now those Biden tweets.

Seriously?

I know many on here just ignore these things. I can’t do that. I can’t forget what he did. I can’t support someone like that, who has no principles, either privately or politically (and maybe even sexually assaulted a woman).

And what really did it for me is that Armie can do all these despicable things and people still love and defend him him (a grown man and father of 33) - while Tim just has some gfs, or buys bagels, or carries his guitar - and people ridicule and hate and cancel him for it.

He did nothing wrong despite not living up to the narrative some very rude people who don’t know him wrote for him! But suddenly he’s the whipping boy for them. Because he’s into girls (like Armie, btw).

I just can’t with that. I can’t with the hate spread on here. I can’t with the motives showing behind this narrative, the sexism, the homophobia, the misogyny, the racism... I have to laugh when I read the eulogies some write here about the deep, true, pure, everlasting love between A&T that will win in the end (sorry, I’m not 13 anymore, and neither are the people who write this); I also can’t with the ideas of fucking someone so hard for real they can’t walk anymore (fic is different from reality, you know). It is either pathetic, embarrassing, or truly disturbing.

And I really, really hate these people breaking the fourth wall. You NEVER tweet to the actors about your conspiracy theories! You never harrass them on SM! You never insult their friends, business partners, SOs. And you don’t, never, ever bully some small local businesses during an economic crisis because they dared to burst your bubble.

If you support Charmie - you support this behavior. I don’t. And as being quiet has only led to the assholes taking over - I now try a different strategy. If people don’t like it they can unfollow.

Sorry, these last few days have shown just how unhinged some Charmies are. I know some had planned actions against Tim at The King red carpet in London (and thankfully didn’t realize them). I really don’t put it past some of them to now truly become violent against Tim at some event, in the name of the greater good of Charmie. They are completely bonkers.

I’ve seen threats against me and others in different forums as well. People want to make us pay for what we did (like, what did we do?). People call for their followers to take action against us. I have no idea what they will or can do, as I’ve lost so much within this fandom already (fics, followers, friends) but as they are truly mental I expect the worst. It’s not that I’m afraid but it’s still a weird feeling to see people talk about you like this... because you don’t like an actor. Or don’t think he’s gay...

Yeah, so, that was surely more than you bargained for.

[plinys]

As a fanfic writer, do you think its better to include characters you strongly dislike/hate but keep them in the background/never make them a focus or ignore them entirely and therefore denying their importance to your favorites? (I totally encourage you asking your fanfic writer friends this)

the thing is i am a bad person to ask because there’s no characters that i really hate or strongly dislike

any characters i dislike it is the most mild of sense, and its usually because i dislike how the writers are handling them or the relationship they are in or the way their fandom acts or just because theyre evil af

but the thing is, even the most evil character i usually end up liking not as like an ultimate fave (except aida right now) but as like “this is a good well written villain and i can see his motivation and thats dope”

regardless even if i hated a character you shouldnt remove them completely from their lives (even if it is an au) because that in its way changes the character

let me give you some examples:

say for instance i personally am not an oliver queen fan, but if im going to set something in canon he has to be there. in my current ripsara fic i showed him and sara in their canon relationship during that time period even if i strongly disagree with it because it is part of their backstories and what makes them them (shitty life choices are still life choices) now - mind you im never going to write a fic where oliver queen is the main character, but if i got something set in arrow verse especially in star city he’s going to show up

probably the closest character i have to strongly dislike is mon el, but the thing is i dont dislike him really all the much. i just dislike him in every scene he has with kara and how those shippers have gotten. so i remove him from that. i can write a sanvers or a supercorp or a kara/james or winn/james or any other ship i have fic, and keep mon el in the background as the bartender at the alien bar. and maybe in the course of the fic he doesnt even show up? maybe he does to hand them a drink and a witty one liner? but the character exists and while i may not like him, why waste having a character that perfectly fits in any au or canon into the bartender role?

now, i dont like this character but many people have strong opinions about grant ward and like? to each their own you do you. but one of the things i could never stand in the skimmons fandom was how bad people hated this character and when they put him in fics made him the worst evil thing ever, which is not 100% accurate to his character, but this is on the aos writers more than anything for fucking that all up. and the thing is, in an au, you have 100% control over things. this character doesnt need to be a focus, but he also doesnt need to be pure evil. do what i mentioned to mon el before? we’re strapped for characters as it is, so shove him in the background and a quick name drop. (of course, if you’re writing a fic now in like season 4 where the characters been dead for a season and we have hella new characters and its not as big of a deal, but man season 1 days this was real intense and annoying because we had 6 characters total on this show)

basically imho why waste a character especially on shows with limited casts and especially if that character you like is a main in that series like

if you hate zoom, totally easy not to include him in any flash au no big deal. he’s a villain, who died, and not a significant part of the main characters life/story line beyond this arc

on the other hand if you hate iris west, do not ignore her entirely, because regardless of your dislike of her, she’s still a fundamental part of barry’s backstory (just made eddie alive again and them happy in the background if it gets in the way of your ship, easy fix)

so really the tl;dr is just like ? dont be petty and hate characters ?