#i'll definitely have to make a reference to this story in the rewrite

[tossawary]

As I post about rereading SVSSS for lore and characterization, and about sometimes ignoring canonical details for the sake of whatever story I want to tell / explore in fanfiction for fun, I want to make it clear that I don't make these changes because I think it makes a "better story" or that I can write a "better story". I don't even like using the term "fix-it" for my canon divergence AUs that avert some in-universe tragedy, even if it is the "correct" fandom term in some cases, because I don't think that SVSSS is a story that needs to be "fixed".

(Honestly, a lot of my minor alterations to canon's details are because I can't remember what exactly canon is and can't always be bothered to hunt for one sentence (which I may or may not remember existing at all) across multiple volumes, especially when I don't always think strict faithfulness to canon is that crucial to the main concept of what I'm doing. I wrote PINTWILF and several other fics before the official English translations were fully released, when checking minor details was an even greater pain in the ass. Sometimes, I'm cooking without the recipe in front of me because I just want to eat.)

Like, I have criticisms of SVSSS, definitely. When I first started writing SVSSS fic, I was more frank about this (fond but less fond of the characters and world than I am now), and I've talked about things I wished the story expanded on more. I think it has flaws. I know those flaws are a dealbreaker for many people. But it's not my story. I can't tell MXTX's story better, because I believe that every author's story belongs to them and only they know what they're trying to achieve, even when I may personally think that the story might have been stronger if it had done something differently or I'm ignoring some minor detail specifically because I don't really like it.

It's awkward, sometimes, occasionally being told by someone that they enjoyed my fic more than the original story. It's very flattering (I can't pretend I don't have an ego) and I don't think anyone means any harm by this, people enjoy stories or don't for many different reasons (enjoyment is not necessarily an indication of quality and I think engaging with fandom can often be more fun than just reading a story on its own by yourself), but it is a little awkward, especially when SVSSS is not an English / western story. I have an advantage appealing to western readers. Reading a translation of the original story, I know there are details of SVSSS going over my heard, references I'm missing, nuances I don't recognize, even as I endeavor to keep learning. I personally enjoy some of my fics more than SVSSS itself because I associate them with good experiences and a lot of them appeal to me personally in some way or another (all of my favorite tropes! we all have favorite tropes!), but they are built on the back of someone else's original work on the other side of the world, and I want to be respectful of that.

I don't want to compete or fix. I'm not trying to compete or fix, I think I would fuck it up if anyone seriously set that task on me, and I don't think that's a good way to view anything. I want to explore and appreciate. I'll type up a lengthy post at some point as to why I'm generally not interested in concrit on my fics (honestly, mostly it's because I'm not interested in being told that a reader hates the present tense and wishes I would rewrite the entire story, which has happened to me before), but I hope that doesn't come off as disinterest in the original story or its cultural context, or as me thinking even a little bit that any of my stories are flawless and/or better than the original.

I want to make a "why would you put two bad bitches (compliment) against each other like this?" joke here, but I also want to be clear: I think MXTX is by far the badder bitch (compliment) in this situation.

(Turning off reblogs, btw, because this post skews more on the personal side.)

[toptophat]

Top Hat's thoughts on the FNAF movie (Spoilers)

I thoroughly enjoyed it! Smiled throughout the whole thing

As a FNAF fan, seeing some key moments from the games as well as acknowledging the fandom (e.g Game theory's MatPat and The Living Tombstone's iconic song at the credits) made my jaw drop

FNAF veterans such as Dawko enjoyed it so that made me optimistic

The animatronics were replicated perfectly and the entire set for the restaurant is just too beautiful

Scenes such as the break-in, while not exactly scary, were still intense enough to keep me invested

Unpopular opinion - I kinda liked the pillow fort scene, it was cheesy but it could be seen as the animatronics trying to gain Abby's trust to lure her to be stuffed into a suit. Also I'm jealous, i wanna make a pillow fort with them 😭

And here's where I'll address (some of) the main critiques people gave to the movie (references: anything in the media that would link to this in a way)

"The movie wasn't scary at all, it should've been gory"

Yeah, I agree, even though I got shocked a couple of times (like the balloon boy gag) it wasn't really terrifying

But honestly, after watching countless "playthroughs" as a kid, you start to realise... The games were never that scary in the first place

To be honest, the only thing scary about it was actually some areas in the fandom (you know who you are..)

I'm aware that FNAF was never for kids, no matter how many elsagate vids were made on it. So it would make sense for it to have blood and gore. It definitely would've made scenes like the spring lock scene more traumatising to look back at

You know what else was expected to be more adult oriented? Cuphead's Netflix adaptation. While I understand that both of these beloved franchises could've been adapted to be more adult, it can also be noted that the Cuphead show is actually accepted by the fandom as while it did have a rocky start with S1, it showed that the writers were testing the waters to try something new, and by S2, they had a better idea of what they wanted, and a lot of people fell in love with it. While it would've definitely been cool to see more gore, it wouldn't improve the movie automatically

"The movie doesn't follow the original lore"

While, yes, it would've been cool to see all theories confirmed by Scott himself during the film, it's also good to remember this: they're called "adaptations" for a reason

Many popular franchises, when adapted to the big/small screen can experience changes in the known story and lore as a way to bring this fresh new start and perspective, they never aim to continue or tell the story again when it wasn't necessary in the first place (*cough cough* Lion King 2019). Last time I checked: Luigi wasn't the one who gets kidnapped by Bowser (SMB23), Cuphead never lost the right to his soul due to a carnival game (TCS), The Echidnas never had beef with freaking owls over the master emerald (The Sonic movies)

Let's be honest here, Scott may have made FNAF, but all the popular fan theories wrote the story, so everything is kinda messy. Maybe this was Scott's chance to rewrite everything, to start over and stray away from the messy lore that others made, MatPat seemed to be cool with it, he was even in the damn movie!

While, there have been times when repeating the same story makes it stale and repetitive (Disney), Changing important elements of the story (Also Disney) can make it unfaithful and pointless, so I understand that.

The changes that were made in this movie were interesting, making Vanessa, Afton's daughter could add more impact on the whole Vanny thing as she's been around this horrible man her whole life. Not making Mike, Abby and Garrett, Afton's children doesn't really deepen the personal connection and conflict between Mike and Afton so it'll be interesting to see how that one goes especially with Circus Baby now that Abby has no real connection to Afton other than that one encounter

Also I heard from one review that the movies take more inspiration from the books, but I don't have enough knowledge on the books to elaborate on that argument

Unless there's some weird twist, which is highly unlikely, I'd love to see how they develop these newly established dynamics if there are sequels being planned (pls make more, I need to see how this goes)

Besides, like I said, often, the first movies, seasons etc are there to experiment, it has the potential to improve in each new installment. For example, JJBA, it took until around parts 3-4 for Araki to have a better idea of what he wanted it to be.

Conclusion

That's about all I really have to say. I understand that many had high expectations going in and, who wouldn't? It shows we value ourselves and that we want to experience things that are worth our time. People are not obligated to love everything and don't have to agree with everything I said. I personally found the movie to be enjoyable and worth my time, and, while i know it lacked in some aspects, who knows?, as it progresses, opinions could change and if we get more of the revamped FNAF, then, we could see if it changed for the better or for the worse. And while first impressions do matter, it won't always be the same impression moving forward (for people who liked and didn't like the movie)

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk!

[genericpuff]

in reference to the have you read LO poll by god have I tried but god. God...

A vicious cycle. I go okay I really do need to plow through more of it if I'm gonna hang around the ULO reddit, and then I step on the comically placed rake. I can't do a complete skip thing bc I'll be too disorientated on where I'm at in the plot but my brain only tolerates it up until she declares she's missing her dick appointment and like, girl. Please. You committed mass murder (if not genocide) and this is a slap on the wrist considering, let alone that your moms got the worse end of the deal.

Why it's that specific moment idk but the bottom just drops out for me and it's soooo fucking stupid because like, she couldn't have just... bitched about being stuck with hard labor? That's the bitchy shit I'd sort of expect from a privileged nepo baby and even barring the twue wuv story going on it's her actual biggest issue going on right then. What she's presently living out. But yeah no, horny, we gotta establish that she's horny. Okay.

Sorry about the borderline vent over it there's just enough really interesting thoughts mixed up in the pile of flaming garbage to make one go rabid if they stew on it, and you clearly get that given the rewrite. Have a good day.

omg i've had that exact sort of thing happen with me before too tho, not in quite the exact same sense of like, "wanting to take part in a community but struggling to get through the source material it's based on", but there are like, so many webtoons and manga and stories I've tried to read - after being urged to by pals and people who read them - that I've dropped after multiple attempts of trying to read them. And they're not necessarily dumpster fires like LO (though some of them definitely aren't great) it's more like I'm sitting there wondering "when's this gonna get good? when's this gonna be worth all the hype?" Tower of God is the biggest one that comes to mind, I have tried to read that webtoon on SEVERAL occasions and I just can't justify trudging through all those early episodes for it to maybe "get good". And that's not even me saying it's bad, it's just not interesting to me in the slightest. No hate to anyone who likes ToG, I think I've also sorta drifted away from shonen over the years so that's definitely not helping, but I just can't be bothered to try and read that webtoon anymore, I've given it so many attempts and I'm doing lmao Kudos to the creator though because it's a LOT of work to make a webtoon of that length and they should be proud of that.

Back on the topic of LO though, yeah, I was following the comic when that episode was still brand new and it really made us all go 🤨 because of how out-of-pocket it was. And then like an episode (or two?) later she bullied a former classmate of hers from 10 years ago at his job. That was the precedent for Persephone's character that was set for the third season of LO and it's just gotten worse as it's gone on.

Either way, if I'm being honest, you're really not missing much by skipping over the majority of S3 (like, if you made it to the dick appointment episode before giving up then you're already pretty close to the current point in the story). Like I'm not gonna lie, you could easily skip up to the midseason cutoff point because everything leading up to that is just a bunch of nothing. Hades and Persephone get married and it's the most underwhelming scene ever despite it being the moment people had been waiting years for, also they 'adopt' Dionysus but he's barely in the comic except for when Rachel remembers he's a character so you could also get by on minimal details. Oh yeah, and it turns out Demeter had a kid during the 10 year time skip who we see in like two episodes and then proceeds to get fridged forever.

So yeah, as much as I'd recommend people read LO as a sort of "entry ticket" into the crit community surrounding it, S3 is a lot of nothing and you would frankly not miss out on a thing if you skimmed it or skipped the middle portion of it entirely lmao

[valle-de-sombra-de-muerte]

Homestuck Reread: Act 2, Part 2/3 (p. 440-614)

Read the previous post here.

We pick up this second third of Act 2 by reading another section of Rose's GameFAQs walkthrough.

Credit where it's due, I like this section title.

Rose wants to know more about this hypothetical Pornsprite. This girl is freaky. Too bad Ao3 didn't go into open beta until a few months after Homestuck began, she would've been all about it.

Interesting how she only cites part of her guide as "logorrheic sludge." Honey, that's the entire guide. Brevity is not your strong suit.

Rose and Jade's first pesterlog. I'll use this as the jumping off point to talk about Jade since she has only appeared sporadically at this point and none of her logs were worth talking about.

Actually, she did have one log in Act 1 where she asks John about his present. The one interesting thing is that she apparently didn't know what Sburb was when John mentioned it.

So John, Rose, and Dave all knew about Sburb and none of them thought to tell Jade about it? Huh... guess that tells us a lot about the dynamics of their friend group.

Anyway, I realize this might be a "hot take" given her inexplicable popularity in the fandom, but I don't like Jade. And unlike with John, there never was a point where I did. I am of the mind that Homestuck would've been much stronger and have a tighter pace if she was cut from the cast of kids (or at least, this version of her. The story could also work if she had some heavy rewrites) and it was limited to John, Rose, and Dave. Rose and Dave alone make for an engaging pair, and I suppose John acts as a sort of "anchor" to ground their increasingly esoteric insincerity and bullshit. If he was fleshed out more, it definitely would've worked.

But Jade doesn't help with this dynamic at all. Like John, Jade is also much more grounded and sincere, but her personality is also coupled with an overwhelming optimism where she believes everything will be okay if left up to chance. If John is true neutral, Jade is 100% positive. He barely reacts to the otherworldly things happening to him, but she actively seems to enjoy them (the meteor crashing near her house is something she wants to explore regardless of the risk, and John struggling in Sburb is "exciting").

She doesn't serve as a convincing counterbalance to Rose and Dave and comes across as more of an extraneous extension of John's lack of danger sense than anything else. Do we really need two happy-go-lucky kids with slight variations on the same niche? The very fact that the story is able to progress without her involvement thus far shows just how little she matters.

These first two acts shroud her in so much mystery, and we barely know anything about her even through these sparse pesterlogs. (As we later see, this amounts to nothing, so all this intrigue is unfounded and only leads to an unsatisfying payoff). At this point in the story, we only know that she lives with her grandfather and someone named Bec (which Dave refers to as a "devilbeast"), she has a "goofy modus" which frustrates even Dave (who, mind you, mocked John for using a simple modus earlier), she lives in a far-off part of the world, and that she has some degree of inexplicable precognition.

Jade's cutesy cagey attitude about her precognitive abilities is fucking annoying, and it is perhaps the worst thing about reading her logs. "oh gee i know all this stuff but its a secret and you gotta find out on your own tee hee! :)" This truly is typical hackshit writing when handling characters with prophetic knowledge. You can't make them too useful, or else there won't be suspense or conflict. Instead they have to act as a ineffectual plot device to softly guide the characters along. Except she doesn't do any guiding. She just unhelpfully alludes to things that the others don't know yet and leaves it at that.

In fact, Jade as a whole is less of a character and more of a plot device, by which I mean she doesn't have any sort of character to speak of. Her overbearing cheerfulness is not endearing to read, neither is her dropping hints that she knows more about what she lets on. She doesn't have any entertaining chemistry with the others either. Her interactions with John are like watching two morons acting excited with each other while the world is literally ending around them. Dave intentionally strips himself of his personality because he has a crush on her and wants to impress her by being "nice," but she doesn't seem to reciprocate his feelings at all. Also, come on, dude, Rose is right there.

Rose is the only one who shows any scrutiny about Jade's "quirky" clairvoyance. But even so, she only expresses this through occasional, bemused remarks. Jade dodges the question whenever Rose asks how she knows about things she realistically shouldn't, and Rose doesn't ever press further.

So Rose had prior knowledge about a game that will bring her cat to life. We later find out that this opportunity to revive Jaspers was her her motivation for playing Sburb. Doesn't seem worth ending the world for, but whatever. I daresay this casts Jade in a bit of a villainous role for planting the idea in Rose's head in the first place.

Actually, if Jade ended up being a twist villain, that would've been interesting and provide, you know, intrigue! Or if nothing else, it would've at least added something of substance to her character, something she desperately needs. Even ignoring that angle, you'd think the other kids might be more than a little resentful toward Jade since she knew the world was going to end, yet never told any of them about it.

But no, Hussie can't implement anything that would've been conducive to good storytelling. Especially if it leads to, gasp, conflict!

Okay, enough of Jade, let's get moving.

I want to bring attention to this passage and compare it to the earlier "symphony impossible to play" one with Rose. First of all, it's worth noting the rain/drought contrast between their respective settings. Unlike the more elegant and cerebral prose in Rose's section, this one reads more like a stream of consciousness from Dave's perspective. Loose and casual, even ending with a Snoop Dogg-esque rhyme at the end before transitioning to an actual Snoop Dogg verse.

Yeah, for those who haven't caught on, John Keats didn't actually say that. Very easy to miss, I'm sure. For those counting, this is also misattributed quote gag #5. I am positively rolling with laughter.

I find it noteworthy the room where Bro has his whole setup is stated to be the living room, not a bedroom. I'm quite certain that the Striders live in a one-bedroom apartment where Dave gets the room and Bro has all his shit in the living room and kitchen.

Dave's relationship with Bro is an inverse of John and Rose's relationships with their guardians. Whereas Dad and Mom decorate their homes with shit they think their kids will like in order to seek their approval, Bro isn't doing any of this for Dave's sake. He fills his home with his puppets and weapons because he's the one into that shit (ironically or otherwise, it doesn't matter). Dave in turn adopts Bro's mannerisms because he craves his approval.

The amount of mental hoops he needs to make in order to justify his brother's fixation on sex and puppets is concerning. Is Bro even being "ironic" or is that just an excuse he tells Dave so he doesn't have to explain this stuff any further? I think the love of Lil Cal, his childhood possession and best friend, led to a love of puppets being a core part of his personality. Everything else that extends from that is up to interpretation.

Like Dave, Bro is also a hipster doofus who does things seen as patently "uncool" in a bold display of being unique. The logic is such: a disregard for what society deems "cool" is what leads to it becoming "cool" ironically. At a glance, Bro's interests include typically "cool" things like ninja weapons, video games, and rapping. Bro plays with expectations by using these interests, which he may very well only enjoy ironically, in conjunction with puppets, which he loves genuinely but passes them off as ironic since most people deem them creepy and uncool. Applying a sexual element to the puppets makes an interest in them even creepier, so Bro does so if only to make his love for them appear even more ironic.

Convoluted and confusing? Yeah, that's Bro Strider, baby.

I don't know how necessary it was to show just how Dave gave Lil Cal a fist bump, but I do like this panel. One of the few reminders we get that these characters are, in fact, small children.

Bro's 6-character password is "puppet" right? It has to be. (Correction: a helpful anon has informed me that the password is actually "lilcal"). Also, just like his home, his desktop organization is also a mess. There's no method to this man's madness.

For all the negligence and questionable parenting methods Bro is guilty of, he still cares for Dave in some capacity. He stays up to date on his webcomic and blogs, and even hangs up one of Dave's SBaHJ drawings on the fridge. I wonder if Bro, on some level, likes the idea of raising a kid that he can raise to be just like him, but is just a woefully inept guardian that he doesn't know the first thing about parenting.

Remember, these are the kinds of websites Rose says she likes.

Just gonna say perhaps it's not ideal that Dave is being exposed to this kind of thing at such a young age. As much as he idolizes Bro and wants to emulate him, he can't get over the fact that all this sex stuff disturbs him. Yet he doesn't even view it as sexual, only as a form of irony, one he can't comprehend until he can somehow overcome his aversion toward it. It's kinda sad, really.

Unsettled, Dave's first recourse is to talk to John to try and calm down. John leaves him hanging. Such a good friend, am I right? He then goes to Rose, where they have the earlier conversation where she says she likes Bro's websites, but this time we get added context.

Dave of course is attempting to act casual about the whole thing, only slightly alluding to his deeper distress, and Rose is just like "That shit rules. I like it." This whole exchange is both tragic and darkly comedic.

Rose really does come across as a little pervert sometimes. She casually drops sexually charged phrases in conversation ("sun's lurid glare"), her username is a lewd double entendre (tentacle the... I'll let you finish that phrase), and she does show a marked interest in sexual topics (Bro's websites, the Pornsprite... honestly I'm surprised she doesn't suggest that to Dave at any point).

Both she and Dave play with innuendo and act as though they're mature and know all about sex. However, Dave's attitude toward sex is more a response to his exposure to it at a young age, whereas Rose is more casual about it and sees her flippant attitude toward it as a mark of maturity. She must love treating sex as this trivial little thing that might make others uncomfortable, but not her because she's soooo grown up.

Also, if Rose truly did give a shit about psychoanalysis, she probably would've picked up on Dave's cries for help in his messages. She really isn't as perceptive as she lets on.

Thank you, Rose, for saying what I was thinking.

Rose gets a kick out of Dave's webcomic and laughs when John makes references to it. Also, she doesn't tell John about what Dave told her earlier about the puppets when he mentions it. How nice of her. John is a fucking jackass though. Seriously, fuck him.

I'm putting a pin in this for later. Rose being able to "see only [...] what John can see, or has seen already" will be important to note later on.

Another tragicomic exchange where Rose continues to make light of Dave's distress. I wonder if she is incapable of seeing Dave as being sincere in this moment and thinks he's overreacting as a part of their usual back-and-forth.

Here it is. My favorite Homestuck page.

Dave wants to please Bro and goes along with his shtick no matter how far he pushes the envelope. This only encourages Bro to go further and further in his methods of fucking with Dave. Is his end goal to push Dave to a breaking point, or does he truly hope something with click that will make Dave truly understand him? Either way, it's fucked up.

I didn't want to get into Bro Discourse during this reread. I know there are opposing camps who either think he's a monstrous child abuser, or a silly guy who did no wrong. Personally, I think that while he doesn't read as outright malicious, it's safe to say this dude is a menace and has no business raising a kid.

It's really skeevy of Bro to incorporate his underage brother in his fetish videos, which will doubtless be uploaded to his site for others to view. This is probably the one of the more damning things he's guilty of.

Bro has reduced the kitchen as a storage space for his weapons. It's a wonder how he's able to take care of himself, let alone a child.

It's stated that Bro doesn't have anywhere else to store his stuff, which further reinforces my theory that Dave has the only bedroom in the apartment.

Yes. Thank you. One can only watch characters launch objects at high speeds for so long.

Dave's sylladex shenanigans are a little more tolerable than John's. Assigning different names to objects in order to make them fit in the modus is more fun than watching things eject once the deck is full.

This metaphor caught me off guard. It's so abrupt and out of pocket, I love it.

Shit's about to go down. Let's see how things resolve when I finish Act 2 next week.

Read the next post here.

[your--isgayrights]

Outside of Lee Seolhwa and Lee Sookyung, do you have plans for any other character outside of Kim Dokja’s primary companions (like Gong Pildu or Han Doonghoon) for your soulmate fanfiction? Constellations like Persephone or Uriel or Sun Wukong probably wouldn’t make sense to exist in real life but maybe characters such as Han Myungoh/Han Dareum or Jang Hayoung could fit? If I recall correctly, Jang Hayoung in particular is the one responsible for the title of the fanfiction, right? I feel like she alongside the Unidentifiable Wall and the Fourth Wall would be so thematically appropriate but I couldn’t imagine how you would do it if at all. I also want to say that I’m impressed how you managed to seamlessly incorporate so many references to the original ORV into your work. It must have required you to reread and recheck the wiki.

Yess, I'm glad you asked this anon bc literally I just threw in a little reference to Han Doonghoon and Lee Sungkook in the 4.4 update and got worried people would think they had to remember the characters well to understand the surrounding plot point better than Kim Dokja does. But I think I should trust the reader a bit more lol.

Unfortunately my inclusion of Aileen and Jang Hayoung isn't going to be as big as the other kdjco members, but they're sort of already set up in the fic and have a role in chap 5. I think JHY doesn't appear directly bc to me the relationship between her and KDJ is harder to make 'real,' though I have some ideas depending on how much I decide to include in chap 5. In my plans 5 will have a gaming tourney featured, so other big 'wos players' may be referenced further there as well.

Of course like you mention the fic title and many of the chapter titles are coming directly from the mouth of Jang Hayoung, so in that way she is constantly being referenced, haha.

Han Myungoh and his daughter are referenced earlier in Chapter 4. It's sort of a drive by.

I do make use of the wiki (bless the editorsn🙏), though mostly just to check dates, numbers, and spellings of names. I like to think of myself as someone with a pretty decent memory tho, so a lot of the more specific story references are definitely just me pulling in stuff I remember from my novel read throughs. Like I might have to look at the wiki to remember Han Dareum's name, but I'll never forget Han Myungoh's entire Male Pregnancy that he had like that was a crazy random W to me on my first ORV read through I was like hello??? Also that being around when JHY was being confirmed trans haha. I think I was only out for like a year or so before reading orv so the little gender fucky moments really stuck out to me.

Sometimes rereading my old work I also remember things I forgot happened in ORV. I think part of the reason I'm struggling so much with chap 4 and onward is that now that the wall fic characters have sort of developed to where they are some of the scenes I had in mind are less 1 to 1 with the OG. For instance, I'm trying to rewrite a scene I have of YJH and KDJ having a rooftop chat that like parallels the one back before the seoul's strongest incarnation arc in the novel, but it's a bit difficult. At first I wanted to include a lot more of KDJ interacting with the rest of YJH's team, but the rooftop Scene makes more sense to put a cap on the themes explored in chap 4. But when I first wrote this scene it was less specifically addressing that theme, because it was in the outline of like right after I wrote chapter 1, so it was kind of just the OG ORV scene with the flavoring of my AU on top. A lot of the little things they do and say in the OG novel would have to be quite finagled to fit anymore, so reworking it is the big task rn.

Anyway I'm really appreciative of people like you who take note of these small details <3. it's kind of helping me remember and appreciate a lot of the parts of me that were behind a lot of Wall fic originally if that makes sense? I am like reintroducing myself to him and giving him a hug instead of running away cringing just because it's me lol.

[seahere]

Just watched Haunted Mansion (2023) and yeah, they did good. In my opinion, at least. (SPOILERS as I ramble my thoughts. Obviously.)

Enough park canon material included to make me very happy! And best of all! We still don't know the origin of the Mansion! Ahhh! Perfect!

They have the WDW Mansion belong to Hattie (movie verse's Alistair Crump), but our classic mansion, while owned by Gracey who made a big mess with the help of Leota, still has an undefined origin.

There was an emphasis on the Captain. I do like that. He's a major hitchhiking ghost and one of the friendlier ones right away (technically). He's still left ambiguous, though. His haunts make him the Mariner, but he's anyone from Captain Gore, to Culpepper Clyne, to unnamed and forgotten captain.

I am actually a big fan of Gracey and I love his inclusion. He's the owner, or was the most notable one, at least. Not the originator of the place, but he was handed the role of "fucked up stupendously" and I love that for him. I'm speaking lightly but genuinely, this movie does show us grief in a lot of its forms and I can honestly say that I laughed and cried my way through the movie. They did very well.

So yeah, I enjoyed seeing the way they played out the cycle of grief, his desperation inviting the madness of a dark player. Hattie's origins are good by me. I only cared that he was NOT tied to Constance. The two can be diabolical ghosts but I didn't want him to be one of her victims. Big bad murderer in his own right is good with me. Love that journey for him. I do wish the cgi had been a little more...greenish and glowy. And I wish he'd been a little more playfully devious. But I was good with it. No surprise villain or unexpected twist—just ghosts we know, weaved into a tale, and real humans that worked.

I also loved the art style during Bruce's expositional talk about Alistair Crump. Like, damn, I want more of that. Deeply love it.

From cheesy to heartfelt to genuinely nice, this was a great ride. I laughed, I cried, I loved the story. I love that it was about the people. It was about genuinely difficult emotions that none of us can outrun. I love that there's a Mansion full of Happy Haunts in the end.

It didn't feel like they were rewriting or forcing a new canon. Hell, they had Bruce reference the endless crazy theories about the place. The ghost appearances came straight from existing, physical characters (love the Mummy of course). Stories like the dueling brothers and Constance already existed, and played right into the Tragic Souls after Gracey and Leota had already poisoned the Mansion through his grief.

Hatbox Ghost was the only one given an expanded backstory because the story needed an antagonist. I was good with that. Honestly the Crump Manor bit surprised and delighted me. But I also don't care if people view this as only one of many possible theories. I, personally, quite like it. I could probably ramble on this point further but I'll end it here.

Good movie. Well suited to the material. Playful, spooky, intense. I will definitely be watching it again.

[dootznbootz]

Heyyyyyyyy dootz (I’m sorry it won’t happen again but that’s what my internal monologue refers to you as and it makes me laugh every time)

Got any fun house of Atreus headcanons?

It's okay! I don't mind being called Dootz :D It's fun! *headbonks back*

I actually don't know much about them other than basics. :'( As I've been an idiot that basically went "Okay, stop reading 6 different translations of the Odyssey and more Euripedes, and get your FIC DONE. STOP READING OTHER SHIT AND GETTING DISTRACTED!" (which has actually kind of worked 👀 I've actually been writing!!!)

But I have a LOT on Menelaus, Anaxibia, and Agamemnon's time at Tyndarius' >:D

I have Helen and Menelaus closer in age, (actually have Menelaus a little bit younger than Helen) and similar to your ideas, he's an incredibly quiet and shy kid after what they went through and just his personality as a whole. I love the thought of them all being childhood friends in a way as it's fun (basing it a bit on all time I spent on the family farm playing with my cousins and other friends. Doing wild shit in the woods and pastures. :P We'll nowadays be giggling and the adults are horrified by the dangerous shit we were doing.) Also it's funny having Odysseus being the ONLY one who didn't grow up with them so he's left out when they all start chatting about silly things they did as kids (kind of delve into it HERE but the ages are probably a bit changed :D )

Agamemnon, being the oldest and protective of his siblings, is...having a rough go of it there. Especially at first. A lot has happened. He's really trying to "save face". Probably will "rewrite" what I have planned for him and Clytemnestra as having her being OLDER than the triplets and not the same age as Helen changes a LOT of things I had figured out but I like that more as that makes it so that Iphiginea actually WORKS. As before I just kind of planned on just letting there be a plothole.

Helen and Menelaus, I have lots of ideas on!! >:D Helen and Menelaus are the definition of "Me and the girl I pulled by being autistic." If you've seen the Pixar Movie "Up" with young Ellie and Carl, THAT WAS THEM as kids. He kind of quietly follows her and helps her while she's just dragging him into dumb things. Helen was kind of a bossy girl growing up

Penelope joins in as well (and is behind some of their dumb ideas), as she's the youngest of her siblings and her cousin's place is where there are more kids to play with. Penelope and Helen are both "Go-getters" so they bicker a bit but also are really close. Anaxibia is older than all of them (other than Agamemnon) It's like Zuko with Toph, Aang, and Katara. Getting along with them but also a "I sometimes keep forgetting that you're a bunch of kids."

They're all reckless in their own way and all have their stupid stories they did as kids. (Menelaus and Penelope are close as well. Why Odysseus eventually asks for Menelaus' help being HIS wingman as well.) I wanna keep some things hidden for spoilers in my fics (How Menelaus and Helen get together and Theseus' kidnapping for example) and with how I have to plan around Agamemnon and Clytemnestra's rewrite. BUT I'll be sure to let you know when I have that all figured out!!! >:D

[hergrandplan]

Hey Nina 💜,

1,4,5, 14 and 17 for the writers ask thingie

Gladly!!

The last sentence you wrote

Simon wishes he could do more for W., help him somehow. Refer him to another publisher, one who would see what he sees. But Simon doesn’t have those kind of connections.

Okay technically these are three sentences but otherwise it wouldn't make sense i hope you don't mind lol

4. A story idea you haven't written yet

Oh, I have many (too many, some would say) but I once had an idea where Party Prince Wille gets into big big trouble one night. He gets way too drunk at a club, and even gets photographed leaving with someone. The next morning, his mother shows him images of him leaving with none other than Simon Eriksson, Sweden's Sweetheart, hand fully on his ass in a definitely-not-friendly way. His mother is done with him ruining the image of the monarchy with all his fooling around. In order to straighten out his image, Wille and Simon have to pretend they're actually dating...

I'm not explaining this well but it's fun and messy I promise

5. First sentence of the fifth paragraph of an unpublished WIP

"Plus, what right did they have to be there?"

14. Where do you get your inspiration?

I want to give the poetic answer and say shit like. All around me, the world, people on the train, but that's bullshit.

I get my inspiration from songs, a good 99% of the time (I stan very lyrical artists and that makes it so so easy)

17. Talk about your writing and editing process

Ooooh okay. Love this question!

Once I have an idea, like when that first flash hits me, I start writing immediately. Doesn't matter where I am; at home or at work or, once, literally walking the streets of New York. Cause once I have that idea, I usually at least have one or two fully fleshed out scenes in my head that I have to get out before I lose them.

After that, I usually let the stories marinate and sit and focus on other projects that are in a further stage of development. It's rare that I immediately write a whole story; editorial au really is the exception to anything really.

After that, I just pick up the story whenever I feel like it, but the beginning of writing is very much snippets in my notes, little random thoughts that hit me throughout the day.

When I sit down to write, depending on how fueled I am, I either write like 5k words in one go or 5. I try not to be too hard to myself during the writing stage; it doens't need to be good then (it really doesn't need to be good ever, but hey) it just needs to be Something. Words on a page. Any thoughts I have about the scene. Any time I get stuck, I write in a bracket what I want to do and move on. If I think about what I'm stuck on for too long I get stuck in writing and lose all motivation. It happens once or twice that I also don't have any ideas on what's supposed to happen after the scene I'm stuck on, but yeah, usually brackets.

I also talk to myself in the comments. If I'm hit with an idea about something I wrote earlier, the most I'll do is put a comment there about that idea, and go back to where I left off.

Sometimes I'll ask friends on opinions; discuss scenes or whether something a character does is actually in character. Talking really helps in working through hurdles, more so than I initially thought it would.

Often times when writing I think of my writing as too flat, but that's okay, because: editing is where I shine.

Now, given my profession this shouldn't have surprised me but I mean it that my best work is done in editing. That's where I get the sentences to flow, the pacing to work. I'll rewrite whole sections, and maybe it can seem like a waste of time, but those rewritings wouldn't be as good if there wasn't something that came before them. I take my time editing, making sure everything works, and then I send it off to my beta reader who reads it, works out those final kinks with me and then it's off to ao3!

(this all means it does take me ages to publish a story so thank you to everyone who's so patient with me lol)

Send me fic writer asks!

[the-badger-mole]

✨ or 💘

I got greedy and couldn't decide on just one.

✨What's a fic you've posted you wish you could breathe life into again and have people talking about it? (or simply a fic you wish got more credit)

I kid! I kid! (mostly). I mean, I do want all of my fics to be loved by the masses, but I would love to see my series Out of Yesterday's Ashes get more love. I'm really proud of that series, and I think it's some of my best writing. I also would love to see Face in the Crowd get more attention. Every so often, I try to write things that I don't see a ton of in the Zutara fandom- this one in particular is my second attempt at a mystery story (first being The Harbinger Bloom). I know that popularity can't be the main goal of fic writing because what gets popular is so unpredictable, no matter how well or poorly written a story is, but I had hoped that by writing genres that don't get written often would bump me up. Don't ask me why, it made sense at the time. Still, I like how these stories turned out.

💘Is there any posted fic you want to rework/re-edit/re-write?

LOL! There are bits and pieces of most of my stories I re-read and wish I had done a bit differently, but I won't. Otherwise I'd never finish a story. One that I really would like to redo is Looking For You. I...can explain. I am proud of this story's premise. I like how it turned out for the most part, but I was a very young writer. I tried too hard to be funny. I included references that I wouldn't have added now. I made Usagi a skater! I don't know what I was drinking to make me do that! I'm going to be cross posting this fic on Ao3 soon, and I don't know if I want to rewrite it or post it as is and include a HUGE disclaimer in the notes. Maybe I'll get around to doing both? I don't know. I don't want to shame baby Badger, but...I'll say this, Looking For You is definitely my most fanfic-y fanfic.

Send me asks all weekend!

[fox-guardian]

So 1) info dump me on the stoker swap au plz. Share the shenanigans. The drama. The Memes. And 2) Is the time travel au done for? I started following you for your art for that ages ago, and I honestly wouldn't blame you for not doing it if you didn't want to, but I've kinda been holding out hope to maybe see an update on that? Please? 3) Your Version of Danny my beloved

I'm gonna answer these in reverse

3) thankies he means so much to me <3 I'm rotating him in my brain regularly <3

2) I don't wanna say it's "done for" but it is definitely on the backburner. I had wanted to rewrite it since the show ended to rework a few things. Ultimately it'd be the same story, but in more of a "somewhere else is the past" type of thing. I may not finish writing the fic, especially since I write So Much but not very often so it makes it hard to want to rewrite a fic that already has 30k words and not much has happened yet plot-wise, but I may still make art/comics for it. Or even post what I currently have anyway if anyone would want that. But idk if it'd be worth it rn since there's so little plot. We shall see.

I do still think about it often, though.

1) YEEHEEHEE

In my brain I'm already on s3 and trying to figure out how all that would work out since Sasha being alive (because danny saves her with the power of the buddy system) changes things if you can imagine. Like a butterfly effect, so many things are now changed. But I still want Jon to run from the cops so leitner needs to die, but that'll be hard to initiate if Jon isn't running from not!sasha.

God I can't wait to get to the archive era. I'm still writing research, but hopefully I'll be done establishing everything I need to in a couple chapters and I'll be able to timeskip to Jon's promotion. I'll probably have to cut a few things out of the main fic but know that I WILL make stuff for them anyway, like a spin-off fic with missing scenes and whatnot or comics. I just REALLY want Jon and Danny to infiltrate a drag show for followup reasons with Danny as a drag queen and Jon as his little buddy/assistant/whatever, but I don't think that'll fit into the main fic aksjsksjd If I wrote every little field work adventure I want them to go on I'd never finish it.

I also can't wait for Tim to meet everybody. He's gonna become besties with Sasha so fast. He is GOING to adopt Jon. He's going to be Normal about Martin most likely. And he is GOING to punch Elias in the face AT LEAST once.

And wtgfs.... ough. I can't wait for Danny to meet Melanie because I already had him make a GHUK reference and I just. I can't wait to write that. He's gonna be normal I think. And Georgie and the admiral.... oguohugoh

Also I love Danny. I do. But I can't wait to cause him pain <3 he's gonna get so very wormed and also kidnapped <3

[auroraknux]

I made a post sometime ago talking about how I want to reboot Shadow Boom (my old Sonic Boom AU where Sonic and Shadow switch roles). Like I said, I want to start over from scratch, and do everything differently this time.

These are a few of the ideas I had in mind:

I wanted to start out with a Rise of Lyric rewrite, instead of trying to add it in retroactively like I was going to originally (which was causing some continuity issues).

Shadow's backstory would get a complete overhaul. Originally it was similar to the main series, but with everything turned on its head. However, in the reboot, I wanted to give him a backstory that connects him with the Ancients--specifically Lyric. I wanted to make Shadow's conflict with him personal. The story wouldn't just be about Shadow learning to accept friendship and be a teammate, it would also be about him confronting his trauma. (I have some ideas for him and Lyric's connection, but I haven't quite settled on the details yet.)

Shadow's character arc would be different too. In the OG AU, he was already on board with the whole friendship thing. In this version, Shadow would initially only get along with Tails. He would keep insisting that he is Tails' "mentor", being in denial about the sibling relationship they have. He would push away the others at first, but wouldn't be able to stop himself from bonding with them. The rest of the series would have Shadow slowly getting more comfortable with being in a friend group, and learning to loosen up a little.

The preboot already had Tails being more aggressive and violent, due to Shadow's influence. This time, I specifically want to channel some of Nine's energy into him, lol.

I'd probably handle characterization/character progression differently in general (and maybe change some other backstories).

The only ships I plan on keeping are Sonic x Knuckles, and probably Sticks x Amy. (Tails x Zooey would still be happening in the background, I'm sure.)

I might give the reboot a different name, to avoid confusion with the preboot. A name I've been considering is Shadow Synergy (as a reference to the game that became Rise of Lyric). That might be a little difficult to pronounce though lol. Maybe I'll just stick with the old name.

There would definitely be more changes, but that's what I can think of off the top of my head. I'm open to answering questions!

[sanityshorror]

Ik ur primarily working on Hellcrew rn but is there ever a possibility that we may see a splatterpunk version of Adam The Depraved in the future?

Funnily enough, Adam was meant to be an extreme horror character originally. However, an ex friend of mine (I won't name them but some will know, I do request you don't mention their name though) pressured me into making him a creepypasta, and then drew fanart of him completely by their own accord without being asked, posted it and then Adam was kinda stuck as a creepypasta. Despite me never intending him to ever be.

I very much regret putting Adam out when I did and even more so as a creepypasta. Though... What you all know as "Adam" is FAR from what the character is actually like because again, I had to water him down. Depraved isn't a strong enough word for him. I pulled "the depraved' kinda out my ass, since he needed a pasta name. His name is Adam Vahlryse and I'll only ever be referring to him as such in the future.

If people are interested, I definitely will rewrite Criminals Unmasked (the splatterpunk book I wrote a decade ago but never posted) as my writing has improved vastly from the time I wrote it 10 years ago. And definitely will publish it. In it's fully uncensored glory but ooooohhh boyyyy, I already know the usual suspects are going to have an absolute melt down over a very specific aspect of the story and said aspect is not at all subtle. Obviously the aspect is portrayed as terrible and not glorified in the slightest. However said topic is one that people just never fail to lose their shit about even when it's portrayed as a very bad thing.

I won't say what the topic is but I'll give a few hints and you can guess from there: it's not something thats heavily focused on with Hellcrew. And it does not involve anything having to do with minors.

[ambrossart]

Turning dwm in an original novel is an amazing idea😲 do you have to rewrite the story to take out all the ST references? Changing all the names/location etc?

I think it'll be great!! Looking forward to it

Thank you! I think so, too. 😊

I'll definitely be removing all the Stranger Things and D&D references (which is kind of a blessing in disguise because I know nothing about D&D anyway), but that's been much easier than I thought it would be because DWM is already so far removed from the show. Many of the characters are original and don't need to be changed at all. And most of the ST characters that appear are relatively minor characters who didn't get a ton of screen time and character development on the show, so I don't have to change too much about them, either.

The biggest change I need to make is reinventing "Eddie," and I've already done that. It was the first thing I did because I knew I couldn't move forward if that character couldn't stand on his own... while still embodying that loveable Munson spirit, just channeled in a different way.

I'm currently creating all the character profiles, but it's coming along really well! DWM was kind of like the rough draft, and now I get to go back and fix a lot of the mistakes I made. I think it'll be a fun project.

[thechaseofspades]

22, 49, & 75 [My Head is an Animal]

22: Are there certain types of writing you won't do? (style, pov, genre, tropes, etc)

You'll definitely never see anything sexually explicit or anything like that. I avoid swearing or really anything you wouldn't find in the source material. It's not that I'm against that kind of stuff, but just that A) I like to think of my writing as a somewhat realistic extension of the show itself, and B) I feel like I can tell meaningful stories without that. Not knocking anybody else for doing it, just that I won't be. That's just not how I roll.

49: Do you ever get rude reviews and how do you deal with them?

Fortunately I've never gotten any hate or anything close to it which is cool. I think if I did I would simply be sad at first but also remember how everyone else has been so nice for as long as I've been kicking around here. Hopefully that would make me feel better, because it usually does. The support I get far outweighs any hate I would hypothetically receive, both literally in magnitude and metaphorically in my heart.

75: What scene in [My Head is an Animal] took the longest to write? What was difficult about it?

I'll tell you what, "My Head is an Animal" was actually a really smooth process writing-wise. I'd wanted to write an aroace Violet story (codenamed: "Violet Sabrewing Solo Project", which was meant to be about Violet treating herself like a research project), but once I decided that OMAM would be the vehicle, it all just kinda came to me. I cranked it out in like 12 days -- for reference, I've been working on the sequel for a couple months now with multiple rewrites. And I think the reason it came so naturally was because I was writing from the heart. "My Head" Violet is the closest thing to a self-insert you'll probably ever see from me, because a lot of her struggles and insecurities were inspired by things I've said and felt in my own experiences. I knew exactly what I wanted to write and how I wanted to write it pretty much the whole way.

From an execution standpoint, I will say that the music integration was somewhat difficult. It was a balance that didn't always work out. Sometimes I would write until I ran out of words and pick up the lyrics where it leaves off. Other times, I wanted specific parts of the songs to be highlighted, which meant I would have to shrink well-written paragraphs to fit into a tighter window, or otherwise ramble to fill in the gap until the next clip. I don't think it had too much of an impact on the story or pacing or flow or anything like that, but in the process it definitely shaped my style.

Thanks for the ask!

[sharonisthebettercarter]

The Adoring Fan. But Butchlander.

fuck. okay. hwy. fuck. no wait i--.

FUCK.

goddammit... why would you do this to me?

FIIIIINNNNNNEEEEEE.

for those that don't get the reference. you don't want it. don't click that video.

jesus fuckin' christ. okay. fuck. FUCK ME--.

OKAY.

but butchlander?

... you know that actually plays out pretty simply if you follow some of the theories on this yellow haired fucker. but i suppose it's not much different from billy being the stalker he is to begin with, lmao

obviously, there's only one guy obsessed enough to be the 'adoring fan' and one guy famous enough to be our 'grand champion' or whatever the fuck from starfield i guess.

one lovely little dark theory is that this motherfucker is secretly an assassin that sticks close by at every chance he gets so he can figure out your character's weakness and take them out, and lemme tell ya, for butchlander? OOOOOOOHHHH--. checks the fuck out.

provided he can keep himself together enough for it, william butcher could absolutely do his gosh darn best to be the dick ridiest most annoying piece of shit stalker fan just to get close to homelander and find out his weakness... it may require some kind of mental breakdown prior to that state and possible disguise?? whether the story is a full on rewrite from day one or a post canon divergence, i suppose decides that sortaish?

but i could definitely picture billy movin' in close, not leaving the poor boi the fuck alone, and driving him absolutely bananas and nuts while he tries to figure out a weakness

romance along the way~<3

the other way goes full stalkerazzi in ways that just... really put the love in loveknife material and the obsess in billy's obsession. and that's certainly an idea that has intrigued me for a hwile i must say~<3

the idea that billy goes so fucking far with his whole shtick that it genuinely freaks out and even concerns and slightly arouses homelander just does somethin' to me~<3

leik. this guy *has* to have dealt with stalkers before. there's just no way he hasn't. but billy? BILLY is on a whole. nother. level. whether it's a revenge boner or other.

extra fucking points if billy is indestructible/essential/immune to fall damage/has insane plot armor and evades every attempt homelander makes to either abandon or kill him. and billy always ALWAYS comes back to be the most annoying turd

i will never not suggest giving butcher a swampy little man cunt. so even more extra fuckin' points if he's just a total whore for homie<3

he's homie's biggest fan, he'll follow that boi until he loves him--WHAT??

imagine if they were soulmates and that was the cause~<3 really imagine it<3<3<3 although i'll save that deep dive for another time ;)))))))))))))))))))

and then there's the reactions from homelander. ;)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

i imagine this could do some serious deep diving for AU's sake if it actually does go into elder scrolls or starfield lore which... i mean i wouldn't argue with some fantasy au's being thrown into the butchlander collection~<3 there's also always the classic bard following the hero option but billy would just be the WORST bard in all existence.

oh, who knows~<3 maybe he'd surprise everyone<3<3<3

OOH!

shittiest hero homelander and shittiest bard billy<3<3<3

ugh, there's def a lot to be explored with the fantasy genre<3 but i think i'll end it off with the brain wormy of old world hero billy (fable games) and new world hero homelander~<3 (canon) maybe clashin' it up in a slightly different way~<3]

that's def a dive saved for another time<3<3<3

also, someone needs to make homie a fuckin' dragon. he'd be perfect for it~<3

[7ban-sama]

you and your wife make the best posts about jshk, truly im invested in both of your thoughts and analyses as much as i am in the manga itself. you both add a lot to my enjoyment of the story and characters for me.

in one of the asks you recently answered, you referred to amane as having a special interest (which i agree is an apt description). so im wondering, do you think of amane as autistic? or do you feel like something else fits him better? or even just that theres simply no box he could fit in, clinically...

Aw, thank you so kindly for liking me & my wifey's posts, and I'm happy to hear we're enhancing your experience with the series in any way. We always hope that we can at least make someone pause and think about something they hadn't before (after all, I love posts that make me do that!) so... just lovely to hear~

As for your question: the answer is indeed that I do not think I could easily fit Amane in a specific box! I wouldn't use any one label on anything... I sometimes use terminology to convey a concept — like special interests! — but it's really just about communicating something quickly/efficiently enough. It's handy to be able to describe, like, the scene at the rooftop with Tsukasa and Nene as Amane entering a "triggered" state, so you can understand how I interpret that individual interaction... but I wouldn't go on to say I think Amane has PTSD, like, clinically (even if? he has been through traumatic events..) ; I separate these things.

Though, I definitely see Amane as an ill individual... which is actually why I place so much emphasis on living Amane NOT being a perfectly "normal" boy, as the idealized vision on PP is often seen as. You'll hear me rattling off about him definitely not being a Normie for a reason. He's NOT-!! & I'll die on this hill, ooh...

But like... to get to my main point... my reason for structuring my HCs this way, is that the story is so fantastical at times, it almost feels... distracting-? ...?? To get too clinical with our terminology? Like, of course the behavior comes off as pathological, as Amane is running around being so destructive and self-hating and whatnot... mmh but. Hm. Still... It just feels like there's a point where we need to walk it all back and remember Amane, the Character, is like, the ghost of a crazy perverted murderer — he's the fantasy of these traits & behaviors. It's not meant to be representation ww... so, we need not get too caught up in the details...

You know like, we could ask ourselves what is "wrong" with Itachi in Naruto, like, clinically. Or Naraku in Inuyasha. And so on and so forth. And I mean, you could conclude many things, but, like, I feel like... for ME, the human language starts to feel so feeble when trying to apply medical terms on these circumstances... What can be said for the human psyche once it experiences other-worldly levels of suffering and personal strife? When the manifestations of your feelings enters the point of, oh I dunno, rewriting the universe ala Homura Akemi...

It's poignant of course, and I think we might as well express things this fantastically as opposed to not... but it's these very feelings that make me want to forgo diagnosis. We're already IN the metaphor, extending beyond the constraints of reality...

(*rolls wrist* and you know, the fact is that medical terms are necessary to define ill individuals because we're humans in society and need help/treatment to function, to communicate... When I think about the reason why we have these systems, I get fatigued... It's really about knowing what medication is going to help you get through the day better... what part of the brain to try and stimulate...)

... the OTHER layer to this all, is that. JSHK is um, well it's a shota-bait manga, and Amane is out here holding his knife and tongue-lolling with swirly eyes... Just another layer of why I can't see him as actually having PTSD (would YOU end up like that after murdering your brother?) The "intent" is that, "it's hot when a guy is Crazy and murderer and going to disregard your autonomy." ... "Wouldn't it be soo hot if a guy..." and so on.

Obviously, of all people, me and Avvy respect all the beautiful thematic elements of JSHK — we adore it! we see it as a respectable piece of art! — but ah, we also just understand the genre, the "point"... You know, Aida-sensei is going to be excited to draw a boy in thigh-highs at the end of the day ww... & bless her heart, that's what art should be about, I think. It's actually pretty relieving for me, that the manga isn't trying to sell me any specific narrative with Amane, he's just, Amane! A confluence of his many traits, whether they be charming or frustrating or unsettling or deeply relatable... This is very liberating... it feels like, you could see anything you'd like within these traits, in that case.

No shame on anyone who feels the need to categorize this stuff btw, I get it; it's just a matter of how I want to personally engage with things. I'm always prioritizing what would be the most fun for me, and I wouldn't get anything out of adhering to like a DSM every time I get into a new character that appears ill to me. I really just go off of Vibes.

Though I do have biases towards what I see the boys leaning towards, natch. As I mentioned before I perceive like individual symptoms/behaviors so, I can see, relate to, and compare events in the manga as like, being overstimulated, being triggered, having a psychotic break etc... and I like to explore things in my personal work with this in mind. Oh but the disclaimer is honestly I have, like, a fetish, for mental illness, and enjoy fetishizing me & my wife's symptoms LOL soo... there's that... My motivation comes from a similar place as Aida-sensei drawing Amane in thigh highs, or, holding a knife, I suppose. "Because I Want To See It, Because It Would Be Hot." Perhaps why I have to be so glib about it. It's not very academic, at the end of the day. I'm also trying to get people on my level of casually calling characters psycho btw. It's fun, consider it.

Also fwiw, because Hanako-kun of Magic is a very simple AU & Amane in it IS just a non-magical high school student, I think of that one as the closest to simply "autistic." Lol.