#idk if thats even the correct term

[devotioncrater]

hate being lucid & then realizing when i wasnt lucid god

[catboyfurina]

One of the really irritating things about that 'oh QPR is just friendship, clearly you've never had friends, lmao loser' discourse is that (and there are many irritating things this is just one of them) even in QPRs that ARE just friendships with a new fancy label.... like...? There are many kinds of friendship that people just have because it's easier than not. And there are friendships that you think are going to be incredibly lasting, but then they date someone new and suddenly you're no longer a priority. The QPR label lets people attach an intentionality and priority to their friendship that really is not guaranteed..... like also not every QPR is this way etc etc but even when it is Just Friendship T M its still like entirely reasonable to want to use that label to signify that it isn't casual

[niishi]

sowee guys I'm going to continue to be anti social for a while. low pressure interactions are fine. engaging w my posts... or I'll engage with yours etc. but I physically and mentally cannot keep responding to messages. im totally tapped out. I keep trying to force myself out of my funk and it keeps making it worse and I'm useless to myself and others when I'm like this.

[the-s1lly-corner]

UH

I'm not sure if you've done this before but

TADC cast with reader that makes plushiea of them?? I think that'd be comforting

bonus points if reader hugs it to sleep

anyways thank you for the content ily<33(platonic)

Gangle, Jax, and Ragatha x reader who makes plushies that look like them!

let it be known that the wheel kept landing on gangle, even after i had already written her name for this post so i think thats a sign that i should write gangle more hope you enjoy this anon!! im probably going to answer this request and maybe one more; idk we'll see how my brain is feeling after this

RAGATHA:

I think she would think its cute!! Probably offers to make little outfits for mini her... oooo or maybe she makes a plush version of you so you guys can match. bonus because you made yours for comfort.. it kind of turns into "we have minis of each other so we dont get lonely".. at least thats what it sounds like to me! very sweet very nice, when you guys dont have the plushies you position them together and have them sit with one another... i think she would pick the plushie up if it were to fall from where ever you had it propped; as opposed to jax beating it up.. i dont think she would think its weird or raise any questions after initialing finding out about the doll! very open minded and she thinks its sweet that you find that much comfort in her

JAX:

"why cuddle something fabric when you can have the real thing!", will say this regardless of if you guys are already a couple or not... need to bring back my flirty/little shit jax hcs... whether thats an actual invitation to come and cuddle him is up to you, though! probably lightly makes fun of it, perhaps even playfully calling it creepy... if he notices any hurt feelings hes probably going to slow down on that.. definitely the type to punch someones plushies while the owner is out of the room... you just walk in on him wailing on his mini self/j

if you guys are dating he probably feels slightly threatened if you show more affection to the doll than to him... his ego. wobbly

GANGLE:

ooo gangle plushie would be... an interesting plushie... i think she would be impressed that you made it work more than her being weirded out that you made her in the first place... though i dont think "weirded out" is the correct term. do i think she would be a little confused and perhaps even a little put off? yes. but i think like ragatha, she would calm down and accept it if you explained why the plushie exists, you know? I think after that she would be fine with it for the most part..! sometimes turns the plushie to face away from her if shes alone in the room with it, though... not to be mean of course..!

probably helps you maintain it so it doesnt fall apart, me thinks

[ellie-probably]

little note for one of my friends

one of my friends was questioning as aro-spec so i thought i would maybe give a few terms here

greyromantic/grayromantic - experiencing romantic attraction at a lesser frequency or intensity as the societal "normal" person. this happens to be me!!! it also doesnt exclude different attraction types

lithromantic - you like people... but you have absolutely no care for actually acting on those feelings or knowing someone likes you back.

frayromantic - you like people until you have a strong emotional bond with them, after which the attraction fades away.

quoioromantic - do i like this person?? is it a different type of attraction?? is romantic attraction even relevant to me????? who the fuck knows, cause thats what this term is all about!!!!! (op realizing this term may fit them somewhat)

aegoromantic - "romance seems cool i guess, i dont think it's for me tho haha, like its cool fantasizing about romance and thingies but like idk i would rather not do that irl" - someone, somewhere, explaining aegoromantic

i mentioned different attraction types in quoiromantic earlier, so heres a list of different attraction and relationship types

sexual attraction - needs no introduction, you just horny, moving on

sensual attraction - like physical but non-sexual desires, like hugs, hand holding, etc

alterous - my favorite!!! this type is basically indistinguishable between romantic and platonic attraction, im pretty sure i feel this a lot, either that or its queerplatonic. see op cant even distinguish them and they are the chronically online autistic who researches queer wiki pages in their free time lol

queerplatonic!!!!!! - my actual favorite move over alterous, this is basically the ultimate platonic relationship, most would probably see it as romantic relationship cause it sees a level of devotion and commitment not often seen in platonic relationships. if i may blatantly steal from the lgbtqia+ fandom, "deep mutual trust, emotional closeness, and loyalty" normally seen in romantic relationships are a defining factor of queerplatonic relationships. if you want a good example of one ive seen people say that frances and aled from radio silence (alice oseman, 2016) are a queerplatonic relationship, and one that i am VERY jealous of but ive already talked about that here.

remember, nobody expects you to figure this out immediately. i doubt even alloromantics get crushes every week to develop their understanding of their attraction (but im aro-spec so who knows), so i doubt you're gonna find a billion crushes to dissect your attraction with, it's probably gonna take a while, but hey, if we... (*remembers that making jokes about humanity killing themselves and their homeworld bring the mood down*) ...have a community, why not ask around?

if anybody has stuff to correct me on, or stuff that you want me to talk about too, please just reach out!!

and to that friend i wrote this for, a lot of this you've probably seen already, but i hope i could help a bit :3 - aidan/ellie

&

[conanssummerchild]

do i think the community characters are ableist:

this is based off of things in-show and just my personal opinions feel free to disagree tho

pierce: do i even have to say it. yes.

elroy: nah elroy is chill as fuck i literally love him

abed: no, i feel like he would ask a lot of rlly blunt questions tho and some ppl might feel offended

britta: i love britta but she would push someone elses wheelchair in public and be like "look! im helping a DIFFERENTLY ABLED PERSON"

annie: i feel like she would be accidentally ableist (as opposed to pierce) but apologise profusely when someone tells her shes being ableist

shirley: uhh idk actually i dont think she would actually say anything ableist and she would say "ooh thats not nice :(" if someone else did but then she would pity disabled ppl

chang: bro idfk correct me if im wrong but i think chang is the only one in the show whos actually literally never said anything ableist, like hes so unhinged atp that he doesnt even know or care

duncan: um, no? idk, the only thing we really know about duncan is hes british and hot for britta (same) but i dont recall him ever being ableist (again, correct me if im wrong) so im gonna give him the benefit of the doubt

troy: season one troy? probably, he probably said some shit and made fun of some autistic kids lets be real, but my son has had so much character developement and he would never now, like abed tho i feel like he might ask a lot of questions that could maybe be a bit invasive

jeff: jeff is so interesting bcs i dont actually think hes like naturally ableist, he thinks hes better than disabled ppl but not bcs theyre disabled just bcs he thinks hes better than everyone. however he is aware of ppls disabilities and if they piss him off he will probably use them against them which is not cool, thumbs down

the dean: oof im not sure abt this one i feel like he would try to be inclusive but not really get there and end up using offensive terms and stuff without meaning to and he would be supportive on paper but ehen someone disabled actually was. dis abled. he would be like "omg disabled ppl 😨😨" (IM NOT OVER HIM CALLING ABED PSYCHO OK STFU)

frankie: hmmm heres the thing about frankie she says abed 'doesnt know any better' and she calls her sister mentally retarded but she helped abed rlly well in the flashbacks episode instead of. yk. slapping him in the face and saying "you try to get him to do anything normal without abusing him" (FUCK YOU JEFF) so im not sure, but i would go with no probably

idk if i missed anyone but i would love to hear anyone eles thoughts on this

oh my fucking god i forgot about buzz hickey, yes he hates autistic ppl real, his existence is a hate crime

[maddies-chronicles]

(4 year shifter here hi)

I decided I'm shifting. Like I'm ready to dive back in because 4 years??? nothing should take you 4 years to do and thats utter bs and i will NOT stand that. im gonna shift!!! because 4 years of my life is not gonna be wasted fantasizing a world instead of improving my own. i could've mastered a skill in 4 years. out of pure SPITE I WILL BE SHIFTING AND ILL MAKE IT A CONSISTENT THING TO VISIT MY DRS!!!!

Only problem is. I HAVE SO MUCH ANXIETYYYYY around shifting. I mostly blame tiktok for this but i have such imposrer syndrome (i just learned that term maybe im usijg it wrong). i feel like nothing im doing is correct and my brain tells me with assurance im not gonna shift because of it.

i know if I just believed id be with my husband rn. but i dont know how and 4 years of conditioning myself to believe i wont im scared i cant undo it and my thoughts on life is *if you dont believe you can do it you won't do it*

l asked my tarot deck for advice on what to do and got:

situation: The devil, Page of swords

what to do: The Emperor

i have no clue what's this is meant to mean 😚

hm. okay so i'm not super well-versed in tarot but i'll consult my books for u

the devil (assuming upright): describes obsession and limitations. given the context, i'm going to assume these limitations are more percieved than actual physical limitations. this pretty much checks out with what you told me here. i'm getting that there is a lot of overthinking and maybe method hopping or trying to make something work that just doesn't align with what you need.

page of swords (assuming upright): tells me that you are very methodical and thorough with your attempts. this is great for most aspects of life, but in my own personal opinion, shifting is about letting go of the details and focusing on the big picture.

the emperor (assuming upright): this was most interesting to me! it appears that you crave structure, and so a method with more structure may still be what works best for you. however, it also appears as though you need to focus on practicality over smaller details. you might benefit from taking a more commonly-known rigid method and changing certain things like the breathing pattern or steps that just don't allow you to relax.

ANYWAY that aside, you can totally shift even if you have doubts!! some people shift the day after they give up (baffling to me??? like omg universe i'm totally giving up... 👀) and i think something that helps a lot of people to know is like... anyone can shift. literally anyone. also i never do the methods right and i've shifted before so like... idk hopefully that helps you feel better about doing things wrong 😭

[bumofthewild]

what are your thoughts on the stormblood characters. did you like fordola at all

i wanted to organise my thoughts (oxymoron) on the sb chars actually so this is a good opportunity to start. none of my thoughts are positive though bc i think sb's writing is really bad so when i probably start to sound aggro during this while remembering this expansion i'm sorry.... i try not to be mean when criticising things but i have very little respect for stormblood. also this is about to be extremely long like im not kidding but i figure ppl expect that by now? i hope

i can't really talk abt the stormblood chars without mentioning how much this expansion worships whiteness. and thats even after playing heavensward????? with all of the stuffy white (though beloved) elves who love their white elf history??? fantasy rpgs in general ig. and from square enix. idk why i was so shocked by sb... its a fantasy rpg from square enix....that was truly my bad...................

but fordola isn't who bothers me the most anymore at least. while i was playing sb she used to be the worst sb character to me bc i just thought she was silly and hard to take seriously. initially i was just uninterested in her personality solely being a traitorous attack dog for the empire. that's not to say i don't think sellouts are interesting--i actually think characters like that are very interesting, hence why yotsuyu is one of the more interesting chars (but not by much). it's more that i dont think a single stormblood character was doing anything interesting enough for me to really appreciate, or if they were, it went nowhere or was so poorly developed that any new thing i learned about a character felt random. i feel like anything that could have been interesting in sb was squandered constantly. a lot of them had the potential to be interesting, but were instead so bizarrely flat and almost kind of cliche that i genuinely struggle to put it into words how sb managed to achieve this. possibly bc the story was so preoccupied with repeatedly driving home the same uncomplicated ideas about war and oppression (this would require a separate post) that any sort of actual personality was more or less lost? maybe because it didn't really have a foundation it was working from to keep itself focused? i feel like a lot of time would pass with the characters making the same realisations over and over again (we have to defeat zenos...!) and then when it came time for actual developments it had to rush, thus the feeling of being random. of course, unless, the character was from othard, which the game obviously gave more of a fuck about developing as a location.

like i think fordola's really serious and unwavering personality, the fact that she would do literally ANYTHING to accomplish whatever it is she wanted, could be interesting. if there wasn't so little else going on with her. and also that unlike her fellow ala mhigans she's white. i can't stress how ridiculous it was to watch her or lyse be presented as so important/be the more relevant ala mhigans and everyone else is brown and they're just white. but it wasn't only that she was white. there was just nothing else really going on with her whenever you saw her that provided any kind of intrigue or texture to her scenes. nothing about her character ever changed. until they reveal her motivations for joining the imperials (????)

ok anyone can correct me if i'm wrong, but her goal is to free the ala mhigans from the imperials.....?????? like i'm 100% sure that's what she said. but how does upwards mobility in an imperial nation that relishes in using the word "savage" to describe your people seem even remotely like how that's going to happen? i actually could not fathom for a long while that was what she had said. like i fail to find another way to describe this aside from idiotic, and i often try not to consider things in those terms, but i really don't know how else to describe this. like. this is what i mean when i say the backstory for the characters feels so poorly constructed it genuinely feels random. nothing about her behaviour to me suggested she gave a fuck about ala mhigo. it didn't turn out to be some grand farce when she had her skulls or whoever stomping on the brown guy who they collect dues from in the middle of the road the first time she was introduced. so i just have no idea why that's what her goals are or how i'm meant to believe that's what she wants. i have no idea why she would care about ala mhigo except that her father does or something? but that explained so little to me bc it was lazily done and she definitely does not demonstrate any resolve re that memory except for the one time you see it so okay

similarly, nothing suggests to me that she's deluded enough to believe this path she's on will lead to freedom, either. she didn't seem unaware of the cruelty of the imperials. she's actually meant to seem very capable and smart considering she's established her own unit amongst the other garleans and ends up getting the apparently desirable prize of being zenos' little pogchamp but then what???? why does she think that zenos will give her what she wants?? i literally do not understand what her angle is supposed to beeeee

so i considered the angle that what she said is actually not what we're meant to believe and we're actually meant to extract from the story that she's on a revenge quest for her father against the ala mhigans, and the best way to enact that would be to join the side that's oppressing them. except how she's expressed her motives and how the game makes it clear shes carrying on her father's beliefs for a better ala mhigo doesn't really imply that this is out of revenge either? also she'd be doing the exact same thing yotsuyu is doing, which could be possible bc this expansion can't write. but i just don't think that's it. i think if she truly believes that's what will help ala mhigo like her father did i don't care about it being wrong or right and whether she learns that won't work... but then it just seems so silly.......like girl there is literally no way..................... i am stumped trying to think of what this was supposed to mean or what insights her character could possibly be providing aside from the extremely banal "everyone deserves forgiveness" argument stories about colonialism are OBSESSED with trying to make. hmm i wonder why that is, square enix japan? why cant you properly research colonialism? why is media so obsessed with sympathising with colonisers and pretending its even remotely original to keep saying "if we kill this imperialist...we're just as bad as the people who have been systematically oppressing us for decades...." well...!!

im ngl i actually forgot about fordola until u brought her up bc post-sb really seemed to be gearing her up for the aforementioned redemption arc. but then i forgot how much ala mhigo gets pushed aside to put the spotlight back on doma. bc after she helps you fight sri lakshmi (another character who they just had to make white btw despite the vira/qalyana being brown bedlah babe snake women. they worship a white god. whatever i hate my life) she just vanishes. i thought that was maybe the most interesting thing they did with her character even despite my hatred for lazy redemption arcs for colonialists and cheap backstories about dead parents, bc i liked that she wasn't forgiven and that she herself didn't seem to know what was in store for her own life anymore, but stubbornly chose to help everyone fight and was still really driven despite all her L's. and then you just never see her again. as far as i can tell anyways, and i do not want to know actually bc im still in shadowbringers.

in a parallel world where stormblood is well-written i see myself liking fordola a lot. but this is not that world and i can't keep spending my time imagining a world where sb could be good. like... she just lacked a foundation that really made any of her actions make sense to me. was i meant to feel bad her dad got stoned for selling out to garlemald? i'm not being sarcastic i genuinely dont know if thats what the game wanted. i assume it is bc this entire expansion reeks of endless humanisation for white characters, but ive said the writing is so bad as to leave me genuinely confused abt its purpose many times already.

anyways the absolute worst waste of a char to me is zenos. i haven't had such a hard time taking a character seriously in a long time, and asahi gets introduced shortly after so competition was definitely fierce. i think part of it was that he was one of the few chars id seen fanart of b4 i got to him in the game which gave me the impression he was going to be insightful or something, so maybe i had given myself expectations. but ultimately i was left with maybe the most simplistic main villain this game has produced thus far. which is a shame, bc like fordola there's aspects of his char that i found really interesting, only for them to be routinely squandered with each new cutscene. initially i thought his disinterested, calmer demeanour was interesting in comparison to the other imperial chars, like gaius, who had a lot of thoughts about/passion for what he was doing. i like characters who feel a sort of existential boredom...like a real dead inside char who discovers a sort of esoteric way to live or regains meaning thru someone else--i love that trope! wanting to forever be locked in a cycle of violence with wol. sure. why not! i like that sort of thing! i was even willing to ignore the blonde hair and blue eyes (i wasn't) like i've done this before as someone who used to devote a lot of time to dimitri fe3h. this is not new to me.

but the thing is the moment zenos started talking about the thrill of the hunt i felt something in me wither and die. that trope is not interesting! i will never find it interesting!!!!!!!! if you do i'm happy for you but not me. his nihilism could have been interesting if it wasn't manifesting itself thru the subjugation of the fantasy brown people this game invented just to subjugate like...can we be serious. even just the scale of that was so beyond moronic to me. i had such a hard time suspending my disbelief whenever he opened his mouth... that i was supposed to care about this prince who was deathly bored of it all but somehow still gave a fuck about maintaining the occupation and fetishising the struggle? it was so hard to reconcile any of what he said with his actual apparent years of behaviour. like okay, i already know whiteness is synonymous with violence and ppl are unwilling to take that seriously, but seeing that realised in the sheer scale of colonial violence zenos apparently engages in and then for him to turn around and be like grr i'm gripped by such potent ennui and this is really deep. what about this was supposed to be complex or interesting or well-thought out. i genuinely have no clue

what made it even funnier (worse) to me was that before i got to stormblood i was back at home watching my dad play two separate video games where the main villain was a white guy with the exact same motivations: everything else in life now bored them except for this very specific (and not socially constructed at all apparently!) thrill of hunting real people/framing life as some social darwinist thought experiment that definitely has to be true bc look at how many ppl ive killed and conquered? what's left for me in this life now that i'm at the very top of the very real and not invented and not racist social pyramid.........? but it's not just a me thing humans are just like violent and actually love killingand i am very smart <- like how is this not just a blatantly normalised concept in life in general. nothing about zenos having this outlook reads as crazy or interesting to me, it actually just feels monumentally simple. he was just reading from the coloniser textbook. my sis actually told me while we were talking about the game that there's a book called "the most dangerous game" where i'm assuming this trope as it exists in media probably stems from, if not just the like usual racism/unfortunate fascination with imperialism over and over and over and over again. i just...that his thoughts on the consequences of his actions, the sheer amount of conquest he's engaged in, are largely due to some fatalistic boredom that comes from just being way too strong and too powerful and elevated above the savages. like okay dude.

i think if they had just removed that shit (except idk if thats possible the colonialism is so entrenched in this expansion bc ff couldnt conceive a non-white race without oppressing them) then his character would have been a lot better......maybe..? idk all that shit he says to you before he goes shinryu mode about violence or his being self-serving wouldn't have been original but at least it'd have been a lot easier to believe as his ideology without this nonsensical pile of bodies behind it that i literally could not take seriously. his final monologue was hard to sit through bc it all felt so random. my sis also pointed out that he doesn't feel relevant to the story, especially ala mhigo's story, at all, and i genuinely agree. i feel like they must have had a lot of ideas for him separately and then shoved him into this expansion because they needed a strong villain or something to keep their already thin plot running. with other villains you can see where they get their ideas from or why they're doing what they do and how their actions might progress the story. gaius for eg is a char i find really interesting bc i thought his opinions on primals in arr which is about primals was really interesting, and his conceptions of an ideal empire as well. like he actually has a leg to stand on and compelling things to say. nidhogg is also a good enemy to me, and i dont care so much for thordan but i still think he had interestingly selfish motivations and contributed ideas to the story. maybe that's because hvw didn't wallow so much in a simplistic good vs. evil like stormblood did...like hvw isnt just war its revising centuries of propagandized history and learning to change your own beliefs and going thru a lot of interesting discomfort (to put it mildly). stormblood i thought tried to be complicated at times when for eg meffrid (one of the only chars i liked in sb btw) would occasionally argue with lyse on what's "right" for occupied ppl to be doing during their occupation, like how a lot of ala mhigans wanted to keep their head down. you can see where that idea gets used throughout sb like in namia, but it never actually gets complicated into something worth thinking about bc again the chars are constantly reachign the same realisations over and over by the end (we have to kill zenos...! ANDTHEN THEY DONT EVEN FUCKIGN KILLGHI). like the ideas don't go anywhere, which might be for the best bc in my perfect world this game would not be writing about any of this. and now meffrid is dead bc ff doesn't give af about the ala mhigans or developing their thoughts/beliefs beyond the occasional potentially interesting idea on the map dialogue. atp i just feel blessed zenos doesn't have a backstory so that his personality isn't the result of some lazily done traumatic event. well i say that but the game couldn't even keep him dead so fuck my life. who knows what's in store for me. plz dont tell me.

all the thoughts i have are negative i'm so sorry but the chars i actually liked like gosetsu just get ruined by the time post-sb gets its evil evil hands on them so this expansion is genuinely just dead to me. i used to like gosetsu a lot, and i thought the shame he carried with him for abandoning hien a long time ago was a fun addition to his character. one of my favourite tropes is when a character just wants to die...like they feel like they've emotionally exhausted themselves and don't know what to do with the end of their life. i find that kind of thing really poignant. and i'm pretty satisfied w how they wrapped up his arc, actually, with him deciding to go on a sort of pilgrimage. it was just how they got there i absolutely hated.

it just keeps going back to an inability to write. for eg, if what they wanted was to complicate gosetsu's character by demonstrating how someone extremely self-sacrificial and devoted to his country's cause could actually really want to indulge in something, they choose to do it by having him play an uncomfortable game of house with someone who's murdered an innumerable amount of their country's people. but its okay bc instead of giving that idea any meaningful thought, here's a throwaway line about how he had a granddaughter so it makes sense he's doing this, also we're going to age regress the coloniser so its okay she's basically a child now which isn't a total slap in the face for everyone involved including the player, and then we're going to play these scenes for laughs and everyone is totally fine with it and it's not lazy writing at all.

asahi too i thought was an example of just poor writing, bc why is a single almost zero-context scene of zenos saving him supposed to do anything to explain his behaviour. does that not just seem lazy? he doesn't like zenos for any other reason...? we don't see asahi's thoughts on zenos except for this one cut scene where the chars could be replaced with how meaningless it is and then from then on his suddenly passionate behaviour is just supposed to be engaging...? i personally thought he was a lot more interesting when he seemed to genuinely believe in the bullshit he was saying about the empire being gracious and forgiving and rubbing his hands obsequiously at wol and being overly flattering and just a sort of greasy spoiled bastard. but then of course this totally obvious reveal happens and he's just some "crazy" guy who just wants to be his coloniser's lapdog bc he's sooooooo strong. fascinating. post-sb felt like a bad tv drama. its like the ideas in somewhat isolation are alright but they just stopped caring

tbf to asahi i did like his moments with yotsuyu. if they weren't so steeped in like....the weirdest plot points ever (random-ass yandere behaviour and yotsuyu behaving like a child) i would have been a lot more invested in the punishment they enacted on their parents for grooming one to be an imperial officer and the other being sold off. yotsuyu's backstory is still kind of typical but i thought she was like. interesting enough. she was ok. i could believe in/enjoy their callousness a lot more readily than a certain other character ive already said too much about. i think their truly awful sibling relationship had potential. dare i repeat myself about what happens to potential in this expansion

i wish i had more to say about hien and yugiri and lyse but they kind of just...idk. they just feel kind of shallow......... i don't think they really get developed much, i mean i definitely have things to say but there's just nothing really there that inspires me to do so and this post is already way too long. maybe when i finally write like an essay on how mjuch i dont respect stormblood. i like yugiri though. her hometown is very cool but she just gets relegated to "dutiful ninja" that they use when something needs to be done that wol isnt going to do, and they don't go into much detail about what really pushed her to leave or how exactly she felt, they just kind of have her parents tell you thats what she did. i liked the part though where she was like WE NEED TO KILL ZENOS RN bc it suddenly seemed out of character almost but then well where did that go...ok. hien just feels genuinely evil to me like his vibes are so off and i could not tell you why but he's kind of just there to move the plot forward so i really don't have much to say about him. and talking about lyse would just make this post even longer and more hateful. i used to really like her too.

time for something positive...? i really liked the azim steppe when it wasn't being so randomly misogynistic. that was where i was most interested in what was going on bc it had less to do with the war, but then you bring the war to them so...*screaming*. like it's a shame to me that the xaela are still framed by a focus on war, but the dotharl's concept of rebirth and the other practices the different groups had were maybe the most interesting things to me in the entire expansion. also how gosetsu had that moment with one of the dotharl warriors who died without it being some weirdly ignorant clash of beliefs. i liked that part a lot. sadu and magnai and cirina arent developed enough for me to have much of worth to say about them rn bc like yugiri and hien they kind of just become channels for the story, but at least they have a lot of personality and there's a lot to work with. also its 2am. i'm hoping to have more ideas re the xaela when i get around to doing the sidequests in that area, which i think will help me round out their characters more. i called cirina having a thing for hien from like a mile away btw bc this game is so unserious. anyways i think there should be like a spin-off about sadu magnai and cirina and if it doesn't come to exist soon i will grow like ten extra hands and make it myself

[trainingdummyrabbit]

What do you think of aroace spectrum angela or like. any variant idk

REAL AND TRUE AND CORRECT. NOT TAKING ARGUMENTS AT THIS TIME <3

like. ok ive definitely spoken abt it offhand sometime before so im just going to use this opportunity to aimlessly ramble ok? ok. hyperfixation trap card.

like yeah theres the whole 'only having rep thats robots and aliens and etc' thing which is very much a fair and appropriate response, but also like. at a point you Do just kinda have to go 'Man Just Look At Her.'

i certainly couldnt say it as well as other folks, but... Man Just Look At Her. theres so many threads that are Literally Right There, its kinda hard Not to. id have to study again n cite my sources or whatever but also this is my house. ok.

like theres the obvious 'i see you as a friend' interaction with her and roland sometime mid-to-late ruina, which is. again. Its Right There. but its also the way she looks in lobcorp, and the instant she gets any agency she immediately veers in a completely different direction. (as a reclamation of self, as another small rebellion, as an exploration of how She would like to present herself and be seen)

its that interaction with xiao, her genuine confusion towards the concept of lovers, what they are, what makes it so different from any other sort of person. (as a jab towards her own isolation, the values she was made to uphold, her unfamiliarity towards cityfolk and the ways they carry themselves-- and that seeming contradiction of that affection vs. the way she was told cityfolk Work.)

angela, to me, feels like the type of character to simply Be. for lack of a better term. its a difficult concept to Describe in a way that makes sense, (despite me being, how do you say, In The Same Boat.) its something i could see her toss around out of curiosity, but honestly just... not really care for. she has things to do.

like... angela is just. a very cut and dry character, to put it in a way. she just kinda states things as they are, sometimes rather bluntly. its hard to elaborate because things simply Are. plain and simple, no need to fuss over it. and thats what this feels like itd be, yknow?

also iam just shrimply. forever an angela+roland qpr truther. tbh. like i dont know what the Hell those two have going on but you literally Cannot separate them. i hesitate to call it 'love,' because. well yes, but also no. but also kind of? but not quite. again, it just Is. they simply Are.

its one of those things that just feels Odd seeing her in any other context, in regards to romance or whatever. which is tied to a whole slew of other problems only tangentially related to the subject (shipping content bias, character simplification, and so on and so on,) but its just... man she would Not fucking say that. she would not Do that, she would not Act that way.

like i certainly believe it Is possible to have romantic interpretations with her, but its gonna be. Specific. with the way she carries herself, how she acts, and how she reacts to things. even with the romantic elements, itd still dip into aro experience territory, if you know what im saying. like whoever it is, this shit isnt going to fit into Roles and Archetypes, like how a lot of folks like to write ship content. for lack of a better descriptor, its gonna be Weird.

and thats honestly whats so frustrating about it! you Can have an interesting through-line and interpretation of that sort of thing, but a lot of the time whenever i (rarely) see it, its just... Typical Beauty Standards, Hot Secretary Lady, Scary Controlling Whatever the hell like... i hate t judge but cmon guys we can do so much better than that. ironically, wheres the Love? the respect for who she is, the curiosity on exploring that sort of thing with who she Is? guys come On...

which. grain of salt, because its not like i search out ship content, yknow. im not gonna speak like an authority for stumbling onto stuff sometimes. the fact that it isnt so popular and in-your-face is genuinely refreshing honestly, but. tangent.

anyway arospec angela agenda never sleeps and iam one of the strongest soldiers. the ace is Non Negotiable come back later with a warrant so i can Not Look At It. (<- this is a bit. (<- but im serious.)) thankyou. bows.

[cryptidclaw]

I find it hilarious that you had the chance to make mapleshade a complex character but instead you her more “redeemable” which she isn’t redeemable you just made her morally correct. Like no one is going to say she’s was in the wrong for killing the people that caused the death of her and her literally KITS!

Like stop pretending that’s she’s redeemable. She’s not. Anyone with an amount of empathy is not going to think she’s a evil witch. like what’s there to redeem? No like seriously?

And all the other female characters in this au are either little goody two-shoes or a Side bitch to the male characters. (Leopard and Ivy)

That’s all.

Uh ? huh????

Idk if i even want to dignify this with a response bec this is stupid but ig I will???

First off, why are u getting so heated over fantasy cats? if you dont like my au, just block me I dont give a shit.

Second, this is my au and I do what I want.

Third, since when have the female characters in this au been "goody two shoes" or "side bitches" ???? like what the fuck are you on about??? Leopard is her own person who makes her own decisions, Ivy doesn't hang out with any guys?? except for Hawkfrost Ig?? but like thats her evil dad and that also happens in canon???

Squirrelflight and Leafpool are both in-depth characters that Im obsessed with??? uhhh idk who else you could be talking about????

If anything I am actively trying to make the female characters more complex than in canon. so ... i dont understand what you are saying.

Onto talking about ur Maple claims. I dont fully understand what you are getting at? Are you saying that she was already redeemable (because she absolutely wasn't) or are you saying that she cant be redeemable (bec that's fair)?

I do somewhat regret using the term "redeemable" for RoC Maple, bec Im more so trying to give her a gray character characterization. She is in many ways still a horrible person. she is still a serial killer and enjoys haunting and tormenting people, even if those cats "deserve" it doesnt meant that its okay to do that. She is filled with hate, and anger and she is never able to free herself from that. So, ya she's not a goody two shoes she kills and tortures people.

HOWEVER, her backstory and motivation gives her the potential to be far more "good side" leaning. I feel like it really works for the themes of RoC for her to be on the side of the main characters rather than the villains. Her being a vengeful spirit that guides those she relates to and sees her kits in makes since, and really works for the au, especially since I am exploring how the Stars aren't all perfect and good, and the Dark Forest isnt pure evil.

Also I would like to point out that a LOT of people think that Mapleshade is an "evil witch" and despise her so ... ya.

[finneysbaseball]

Could you do headcanons for the black phone boys x reader who has narcolepsy? (Seperate)

(And if you don’t know narcolepsy is please search it up I’m bad at explaining-)

i looked it up and i think its basically falling asleep randomly? idk that much about it so feel free to correct me!!!

also pls dont be mad if i haven't done your requests, they will get done i just go by which ones I'm most motived to do!!!

finney blake

im gonna gonna assume you already told him about it

and in the videos ive watched you usually start to like look sleepy and stuff (if that makes sense?)

lets say your at a restaurant when this is happening

when your about to fall asleep (i think? idk the term for it I'm so sorry)

he catches your head and rests you on his shoulder waiting for you to wake up<33

this boy is so sweet oml

hes just so patient with you

robin arellano

hes so nice about it:((

if you took medication for it(idk if thats for everyone thats what i read)

he'd carry some in a little pill case (finney would 2)

and when your about to fall asleep (again idk what the term is)

he'll make you lay down, if you can he'll make you lay on his shoulder

and he'd kiss your forehead waiting for you to wake back up

if any one said anything about it, he'd beat their ass as soon as you woke up😊

vance hopper

even though he beat someone up over a pinball game, he'd be so sweet about it

he wouldn't really understand it, but he'd be patient with you.

he'd also wreck someone's shit if they gave you stuff about it

see isn't he just the nicest

he'd make u sleep on his chest/ neck until you woke up

if anyone stared he'd burn holes into them

bruce yamada

i think all of them would carry your medication around (if you take it)

but bruce would be most prepared

catching your face when you fall

having a med kit in his backpack incase you accidentally hurt yourself, although its never used cus hes there for you<33

if you're walking and you feel drowsy he'll carry you bridal style

billy showalter

his dog would kind of be your support animal

he'd be so patient with you

hes so sweet omg

if he couldn't be in the same room as you, his dog would be

he trained his dog for you🫶

he'd also carry meds for you (if u take any)

i feel like this boy would be mean asf (to ppl who deserve it

like he'd be sweet and nice

but if someone said something hurtful to you?

theyre gonna learn alot of new words<3

thats all cus i need to finish my homework 😊

[trash-can-sam]

Can I just say I adore Qi’s relationship with Mint. I feel like its such a good way showing the other side of Qi before they get close enough to see it, and idk I dont think people talk about it enough.

I find it interesting partially because it reveals a lot about Qi’s tendency to be sentimental and hold onto the past (despite the fact he would never admit it.) I find this an interesting aspect of him I dont see brought up enough. He keeps memories of his family and espeically his grandfather very close, I feel like he’s one of the characters with the most photos of family in his room actually (idk correct me if im wrong on that im not sure) and holds on to even small ideas he had as a child (gunghamm mobile suit, katana thing, etc.) 

Now, this could be for several reasons. I feel like a lot of it is rooted in wanting to prove himself to people, wanting to make his dreams reality for himself, absolutely, but also wanting other people to see that he was right to believe in himself and his intellect. He mentions people thinking he was crazy for going to Sandrock, and he doesnt really hide that he wants to be known for his acomplishments. Qi cant stand being wrong and even if it seems impossible to make his childhood dreams a reality he’s going to try his damnedest, so part of the reason he holds onto his childhood dreams is out of spite.

I also feel like theres a component of not wanting to have wasted potential. He talks a bit about how he thinks his parents are wasting their lives and potential by being perfectly content with being simple fishermen who dont desire measurable improvement (money, fish caught, that type of thing). So I feel like he has definetly internalized that dissapointment in his parents by doing the opposite and desiring measurable improvement above all else, because otherwise how can he be sure what he’s doing is worth much?

A lot of this is in contrast to Mint, who doesnt hold onto his past that much. He barely talks about it at all, largely because well, there isnt a lot there. Mint doesnt care that much about proving himself to others, he doesnt care about proving himself to himself. He’s willing to largely take life how its given to him. DONT GET ME WRONG, hes not necessarily a slacker by any means, nor is he unmotivated, But I feel like by Qi’s means he definetly would be.

Mint does what he needs to, he does it well, and he takes a nap. Qi does what he isn’t required to do, does it well, and then does more shit he isnt required (and often he should not) do. In a lot of ways, Mint does what he does directly to help others where Qi does what he does for himself, and if others get helped so be it. You see this in the type of jobs they choose too, with Mint being an engineer who goes around the free cities and helps with town improvement and Qi being a solitary researcher who went to a town on the verge of collapse, not necessarily to help the people there, but to find an old world spaceship, for himself and for recognition for his work.

I also find it interested in how theyre united in their isolation from others. Neither Mint nor Qi really have that many friends. All Mint really has is Gale, whos more of an uncle than a friend really, and all Qi has is well... no one that he acknowleges as a friend ( I feel like hes on a lot friendlier terms with a lot of the town than he would mention BUT THATS FOR ANOTHER TIME ). They both clearly struggle with making friends, Mint because hes on the move, and Qi because its not a goal. For both of them, making meaningful connections with people aren’t really a priority. The priority is always their work, both of them wanting to be recognized more for their work than for themselves as people. 

IDK I just think its very interesting. I could probably write more TBH but this is kind of insane. I just like thinking about them rly theyre the bestest of pals.  

[the-owl-house-takes]

“How is Belos a colonizer??” Bro needs a basic history 💀 How do you think Belos got to Connecticut in the first place? Also he genuinely colonized the Boiling Isles with how he took over don’t overlook that.

He can hate multiple things?? LMFAO the puritans hated tons of minorities witches included, even if we take the puritan shit out Belos is still bigoted I don’t understand why people are trying to defend him? 💀 He’s literally Belos

“He was not racist where the hell did that come from” bro do you hear what you’re saying - think about what time period he came from.

“There’s quite literally no homophobia or transphobia in toh” that’s only limited to the Boiling Isles 💀 and Belos definitely not from there

“I think it came from Luz being a POC” “it’s not a race thing” “idk where that idea that witches are a race came from but it’s definitely odd” literally just look at where Belos came from. All bigotry ties together mind you. For example you can’t advocating for women’s rights while being transphobic (TERFS) cause then you’re putting not only trans people down - but yourself and other minorities as well. It all connects. Also nobody is saying witches are a race 💀I don’t understand how Belos fans in all the time brainrot ting over Belos don’t realize what time period he came from and how’d it effect him?? (I am a Belos fan myself)

“It’s a fictional character guys!”

Yeah and people love thinking realistically abt him lmao. The fictional character arguments are always so lazy + ignore the real-world messages - yes he’s a fictional character. People like him because he’s so realistic. There are real, yes real people out there, who if they had the chance - would do the exact same things he did just to get rid of a minority. Thats not an exaggeration that’s simple how deep bigotry can run and I love how Belos’ can be portrayed in multiple ways.

Also saying that Belos only hates magic purely because Caleb got ‘corrupted’ by a witch is not correct at all. That bigotry was there longgg long ago 💀 if anything that only amplified it. Belos doesn’t have a justifiable reason to hate witches/magic (Caleb falling in love with a witch is not justified hatred.) he simply does it because he holds those bias & allegories for 400+ years. Note this can extend to how differing witches are to humans in Belos’ eyes. How LGBTQ+ is acceptable for witches while in humans it’s sinful, unnatural, etc. How witches don’t have racism (I swear to god if one more person tells me that there’s no people of color on the Boiling Isles, HAVE YOU SEEN GUS?? 💀) whereas Belos came from an era where racism (to put in its simplest terms) was very much thriving!

The Boiling Isles represents literally everything a bigot like Belos would be against, witches included. Witches can be gay, witches can be people of color, etc. “Belos hates witches only” doesn’t really work for him and what his character is written for. He’s an allegory of bigotry and with the way he acts & speaks you can definitely see it. Fiction affects reality and reality affects fiction.

“He wanted control over the magic and to limit it to what he wanted.” That’s true! I’m unsure where you were going with this? He actually didn’t want this, he only used the coven system as a way to kill everybody easily in one take. He simply needed to gain control over magic first - that was never apart of his original plan. He was out here to kill because the boiling isles represents everything he is against.

“But Caleb came from the same time period and he’s not bad!”

I love comparing Caleb & Belos together sm. Further cementing into the ground that Belos being a bigot is all his doing is because Caleb unlearned the bigotry. Caleb was also a colonizer, he was also a witch hunter! He also likely held those other harmful beliefs for most of his life! But Caleb changed, whereas Belos clung to those beliefs. That’s why I love these two they’re a great example of why bigotry is taught and can be unlearned! Acknowledging this can add to their stories more, give them more depth, add more realism to an already scary villain! The reason Belos is so scary as a villain is because of how real he is - there genuinely are people out there who’d do the same as him if given the chance.

As a POC who studies a lot about how bigotry develops - I love studying Belos, he’s very well written in this regard imo! I feel like people who don’t want to acknowledge the rest of Belos’ bigotry miss the point of his entire character arc 😭 he’s somebody who fell into the deep extremes of bias & hate - let him be hateful.

I hope this helped the original person to have a better understanding of this topic? They seemed ill informed/uneducated so I hope my rant helped 😭(not saying that as an insult btw)

-

[1nvad3rz1m]

The funny thing is that I expected zagr to be most popular ship in the fandom, when I joined, because "my enemy's sister", "my brother's enemy" and I thought zadr was gonna be some underground crackship or something. I mean I wasn't exactly wrong with zagr, because from what I've seen it was the most popular for a while in the past, but zadr ended up overtaking later? Correct me if I'm wrong.

I was also suprised by the ship discourse, because Zim wouldn't have a healthy relationship with anybody as he is now, he needs a LOT of therapy/development, to get even remotely close, which people can write for any ship, so I didn't get why some shippers acted like they were allowed to give Zim development/be out of character/just ignore huge parts of his character to make the ship work (like his hatred for humanity, and every other species that isn't Irken, like it doesn't matter how old you think he is, he still views them as below him, or how he is infamous within his own kind for a good reason and he treats them disposable if that's what benefits him at the moment), but saying people with their notps can't do that. Like I expected that while the community having different ship-preferences, but they stick together, because they all go against the canon of the least romancy show in existense, but I guess nope. I have seen somebody defending this by saying that: "Well my ships are not as bad as the other ships." From whose perspective? Because everybody has a different idea about that. Even if they are right, that's what it sounds like to me:

Mom: "I can't believe you got a D!"

Kid: "But mooooooom, other people got an F!"

Like I can't take this argument seriously, and I'm not sorry about it.

zagr is/was really popular but tbh i think zadrs always been top dog in terms of like...long term dedication i tried looking at google analytics but since the terms are so vague im not sure hoooow reliable they are

blue is zadr red is zagr dating back to 2004. i guess youre not wrong though but idk if zadr really took over so much as zagr ended up dying out. this is also only 2004 and on though so make of that what you will. something to note about zagr is that im willing to wage a guess that it was everyones first introduction to invader zim (a lot of old zagr art is based on old emo/goth/scene aesthetics of the time) leading to it being searched more but thats just a theory. zadr outranks zagr by about 10k deviations on deviantart but that could still be credited to zagr just...dying out over time. idk!

as for the zim thing i think its less so zim being unhealthy and moreso the age debacle when jhonen decided to come and gunk up long cemented fandom interpretation for...some reason. though i do think thats a part of it because when silly discourse was happening people tried to alternatively ship dib with other like-aged humans (torque, dipper, etc etc) and it was very sanitized...undiblike. it was somewhat related to the overall fucked-up-ness of zadr but mostly the age lol.

there was a definite air of hypocrisy about what was acceptable and what wasnt because during this like..drama people tried to promote membrane and zim instead all the while membrane fully believed zim was one of dibs school aged friends so IDK it was a weird time to be here!!

[nightmare-catguy]

Sorry memory of listening to tori amos’ Blood Roses, which is fucking great. My roomate goes “Did she say queer???” with clear distaste and disgust. I think about it all the time. I dunno approaching art that dark and personal, with political correctness makes me want to explode. If thats even the right term to use here, idk it just felt like a weird sanitized look on something so raw. Its not about you dude.

[zai-doodles]

lucy magic hc thing

@selfdestructivecat asked for this :p

again i play so hard and fast with canon but for this one if i like, genuinly got something wrong then plz correct me theres a HIGH chance im getting her power set wrong but the point of this is more me taking like, the base bone of the concept and running with it lol

Just a quick like, how i think lucys magic should work bc im so annoyed shes technically the female lead and literally summons other things to fight FOR her So in my version (the better one) early lucy ONLY has star dresses She can basically give herself the attributes of each spirit, like the star dresses but she also gets a sort of themed weapon, like she gets tarus’ axe, cancers sissors etc. It isnt until lokes arc that shes able to physically summon her spirits Like i feel like summoning a whole spirit takes A LOT of magic so most of the time its more like a warlock patron situation where they lend her spells and if shit get real bad she can spend a high level spell to summon them to fight for her Like idk yea im using dnd terms with this but shhh it makes more sense to me It also makes things like her summoning all her spirits at once a HUGE deal, plus i think its the first time we physically see some of the spirits and also gives a bigger mystery to who they are and how celestial magic works Like i always found it weird how celestial wizards?? Exist?? but each only have 1 key so like?? Theres really only 2 celestial wizards at a time?? Like max there can be 12 but in the show we literally only have lucy and yukino and then like, angel, karen and lucys mom and idk thats kinda dumb Like if its that scarse that theres only 4 active celestial wizards in the WHOLE SHOW  idk thats weird and should be treated as a bigger deal So in my mind, each spirit can gift wizards a key, some of them stick to the lower level spirit key collecting, kinda like in the show, and MAYBE have 1 or 2 zodiac keys Zodiacs r notorious for being v fickle with who they enter contracts with and for the most part even if someone is a celestial wizard they can go their whole lives without ever summoning a zodiac spirit bc its just SO POWERFUL So lucy has low key imposter syndrome be she technically inherited her keys from her mom so she never had to prove herself worthy, which in my mind is y she tries so hard to get stronger and prove her place in fairy tail So based on all this i also think lucy just has a shit ton of magical potential due to growing up with the spirits and having such a strong bond with them and thats what allows her to summon all of them and the zodiac king to plead lokes case Idk i also dont love how the spirts serve lucy as like, a master servant thing So having the spirits be more like patrons feels better to me idk It also makes lucy like, an extremely powerful wizard bc she literally has so many zodiac keys but at first i think she give v jack of all trade master of none energy Her main one i feel would be aquarius bc its a less precise magic form of literally just throwing waves at her opponents BUT it takes a lot of magic bc aquarius is such a high level spirit who refuses to go easy on lucy just bc of her connection to her mom Lucy still has her whip bc idk i think its neat Throughout the series she learns oto be much more flexible and think more outside the box when it comes to her magic and she also grows more reckless, kinda a side effect from being around natsu so much and by the time she gets to the GMG she can probably summon her spirits no problem tho 2 at once is still hard like in the show Oo also also early lucy has problems accepting help from others BECAUSE she feels like shes constantly having to prove shes worthy of just,, existing, so she puts off summoning her spirits at all because of that too I think she works on that a LOT after phantom lord and lokes arc