#it does still suffer from the same problem I had with the base game

[gonkaccino]

thank you croteam for making sure 1k is canonically a puzzle freak who is obsessed with melville. he really is just like me

[miquellah]

⚜️The @Miquellah Miquella Manifesto⚜️

The big, long, TL;DR compilation about MY personal takes on Miquella of Elden Ring, as someone who's had him rotating in my head since pre-SOTE and has worked so hard to comprehend him since.

Usual disclaimer: this is purely a writeup of MY personal take, not necessarily views I'm saying you HAVE to adopt. For the most part all my takes are based on actual, in-lore truth ("Miquella had good intentions and wanted to save people") as well as stuff that is not stated, but still fits in cohesively to his narrative ("he does not actually experience romantic/sexual attraction at all, and is just acting on compulsory standards he THINKS he needs to adhere to")

Additionally, I will probably be periodically updating this to add in sections or info I'd forgotten, along with anything new. There is a Lot to say. And of course, CW for discussion of incest in the Radahn and also Mohg sections.

⚜️ Motives

Here we start. Nooo, he did not want power for power's sake. If anything, power, and the ascension needed to attain it, was just a means he was conditioned into believing he NEEDED in order to save others. Unfortunately Miquella himself is also unable to solve anything at the root cause, and can only apply “bandaid” solutions— such as Leda’s paranoia being only pacified, as well as Hornsent’s vengeful grudge. It is likely he did wish to charm everyone under his rule in much the same manner, but this would not have actually solved any problems, only ignored them entirely.

It has apparently been found that Miquella's wish to bury "the original sin" was actually localized from something more akin to that of "karma" in JP; this is likely in some thematic reference to the Golden Order's Law of Causality, which states that "all things are linked in a chain of relation"-- cause and effect. Strife is caused by previous wrongdoings, the cycle of violence. If one could annul causality itself (by refusing individuals the ability to seek revenge or cause strife), one could theoretically end suffering itself.

⚜️ Morality

Miquella is SO "Good"-aligned, truly, that it circles right all the way around to being harmful. His faults are actually in that he still continues to utilize the same system as that his mother did, with its own rotten foundations— no one, single person should have omnipotence over others, no matter how Good their intentions. He is also, ultimately, not able to see others as anything other than “people to be saved”, while also mentally trapping himself into the role of “someone who has to act as savior”. Miquella has the inability to see others as those who are fully capable of their own fates, and he is also unable to respect himself this same way (see in contrast to Ranni).

Miquella's place in the narrative is to make us question ourselves and our own good intentions, to serve as a cautionary tale in that good intentions alone do not inherently make us incapable of harm. Also, perhaps to pose the philosophical question of "if free will causes suffering, IS it truly bad to remove it?" (Which the game then answers itself, even still).

Related Posts: Here, Here

⚜️ Charm

Summary Pending

Related Posts: Here, Here

⚜️ Malenia

Miquella and Malenia are symbiotic; she fulfills what he cannot (strength, physical combat prowess), and he fulfills what she cannot (charisma, social and political navigation). I would even dare to say that her sake and need for salvation is the very origin, and core, of his motives for all his big plans. Miquella did not abandon her, or at least, had absolutely no intention of doing so. That's us who kept him from returning lol.

Some people seem to think she may have had doubts in him? But I think she was absolutely on board, and that she was the last person who he would EVER need to charm. She has every reason to want to see his plan go through, because almost everything he does is FOR her, this included. Also I like when we allow women agency in their decisions!

Related Posts: Here

⚜️ Mohg

God don't even get me started on trying to figure out the exact timeline here. Personally, I don't feel Miquella left/allowed himself to be kidnapped willingly, nor did he manipulate these events. I'm willing to believe that he and Mohg perhaps worked together at some capacity, at some point in time-- I do believe he truly cared about Mohg, and pitied him. While everyone else sees the use of Mohg's corpse to house Radahn's soul, and thinks it was a move made from apathy or spite, I think Miquella personally felt it was a means of honoring him. Mohg had such adoration for him, and so dearly wished to be his consort; by that means, even after the Tarnished has killed him, this can still be accomplished.

Miquella had no feelings for him, but Mohg absolutely was in love with him. Difficult to say just how much of this was the charm? But even post-SOTE I still think that Mohg having incestuous adoration still fits for his character, as someone so pitifully depraved of love all his life, and finding a potential salvation in Miquella.

Miquella's charm didn't make Mohg do all that blood cult shit either by the way. That was all him babeyyy. We can't keep forgetting The Formless Mother herself, or refuse to let Mohg have any faults or agency at all.....

Related Posts: Here

⚜️ Radahn

Originally I had been on-board with "Radahn was unwilling and puppeteered the whole time", but I've since seen some compelling talk hinting otherwise. I'm on board with the latter, now, as I do think Radahn WOULD have been all for Miquella's plan from the start, and I also want the guy to have some amount of agency at all lmao. But I think the narrative also does intentionally obfuscate this on purpose.

But, Radahn WAS kind, and that IS what Miquella sought for someone as a lord. I think Radahn's whole motivation in seeking to emulate Godfrey is that he wanted to be a HERO, and to SAVE people from suffering, much in the way it was deemed Godfrey liberated the people and served as lord. Of course, Godfrey himself was no admirable man when it actually comes down to his sins, and we are meant to see the parallels in Radahn and Miquella almost completely copying Godfrey and Marika in path.

Personally, I also don't see their dynamic as romantic, but purely political, and/or both of them believing they NEEDED to be married in order to solve all of their problems-- because that is what ascension in and of itself requires.

Related Posts: Here, Here

⚜️ Trina

Don't even get me started on trying to comprehend the nature of Rebises in Elden Ring lore. But, importantly, Trina is the key to understanding Miquella's fate, and that he's both sympathetic as well as dooming himself by choosing to ascend. Additionally, I feel he also knew that by dooming himself, he would've been dooming Trina... so of course, as someone he loved, he would've tried to keep her as far away from sharing his fate as possible.

Her penchant for the element of Sleep is also notable in that it parallels his methods for quelling harm. Sleep is a means of staving off suffering, but again, only as a "bandaid" of sorts, and not actually solving any root cause. Trina herself even mirrors Miquella's inability to change, or to create meaningful change.

⚜️ Godwyn

I'll get around to this eventually. Plenty of others have talked around this/the Eclipse tho

⚜️ Miscellaneous

Personally I headcanon his sexuality as aroace, but comphet. Miquella does not actually experience romantic or sexual attraction, but his surroundings and politics place such an emphasis on things such as marriage, that he believes he must conform to this as well.

Apparently the actual scale of his child form is still more or less the height of the Tarnished’s model… which makes sense, actually, with the Great Rune growth aspects. Therefore even childform!Miquella is probably around 5’7.

I prefer transmasc Miquella because like [motions to all of my being transmasc], BUT am equally 100% on board with all the clear transfem readings in the narrative. I think you've really gotta give him some sort of gender, some sort of way.

.⚜️.

[unknown-cold]

The artist: ( @itshuansart )on Instagram and Twitter/X

I love this so much!! Best art that expresses Caitlyn's sadness and suffering, I really wish I had seen something like this on the show.

I can say that Caitlyn's character is one of the most misunderstood characters ever, that these people see Caitlyn as just an enforcer from Piltover made them not understand her, or rather they don't want to understand her character.

Because it's getting really suspicious, I feel like Caitlyn's hate is more than just a character who did bad things. There are characters who did worse things. Let's take Silco, one of the characters who did the worst things in the entire show, from trying to kill an entire family for control, to flooding his entire population with shimmer and turning some of them into monsters and making children work in dangerous factories, all of this and he didn't get half the hate that Caitlyn did. Silco is a true dictator who didn't care about anyone but himself and his interests and his intentions were always evil. Unlike Caitlyn, she tried in the end to fix her mistakes and admitted her mistakes too. And to everyone says she is evil or dictatorial because she used gas, is it a bad thing yes, but Caitlyn had no evil intentions in using gas, she used Gray to facilitate the capture of Silco's gangs and allies who were basically harming the people of Zaun even the kids as we saw in ep 2 in S2 when Chross's Goons was following Isha, and of course capturing Jinx as well, she did that because it was a less harmful solution than sending armies of enforcers and Noxus men to Zaun, and we saw because she stopped using Gray after she end her mission and failed to capture Jinx. If Caitlyn was really evil and dictatorial as some people claim, she would have used Gray again to exterminate the people of Zaun, but she didn't do that because that's not her personality that we knew in season 1, and most of the problems that happened were because of Ambessa, and her manipulation and constant incitement for Caitlyn to capture Jinx.

So yeah hating on Caitlyn is so hypocritical and completely unnecessary, seriously I can't believe there are still people who message me and reblog my blogs and not just me but other people saying that Caitlyn is an evil cop and you should stop talking about her and liking her, or you'll be just like her. Are these people crazy or stupid or what exactly!? What does my liking a fictional character have to do with you thinking that I'll be like her in real life!? These people really need to grow up and leave people alone, like if you don't like something and you see someone else like it there's no need to give them your opinion because they won't care and we who like the same thing won't care either so why bother us with your opinion, and then it's selfish of you to want other people to be like you and agree with you (especially when your style of criticism is rude and terrible)

So I always say the show is not black and white, and there isn't only one side good and another side bad. Arcane proves every day that this show is not for everyone and if you want to enjoy it you have to open your mind well and be open-minded, and most importantly put politics and real-life issues aside, and enjoy this fantasy world with flawed characters and good writing. (This show is not designed to solve political issues. At the end of the day it is a show based on a video game)

[that-girl-glader]

You know what my favourite part about the maze runner is. How each individual is portrayed so realistically in how they act and turned out based on their circumstances. As well as how they deal with shit and morals. The Maze Runner series does a beautiful job of showcasing the cruelty that comes from the desperation of humans. We see that the most in Ava Paige and Teresa as well. How even when it seems a little wrong it also feels like the only option available. And you want to save the world, even if it means psychological torment on kids/close friends. Immune kids. The only chance they had for human survival. I love how it really is VERY realistic.

What I'm saying is, if we, in the real world where to be in that exact situation. Well, we'd be absolutely fucked. We would have people, adults who will do the same. If overpopulation were more of a problem, of course we'd try to eradicate the issue through drastic measures. So yes, we might even invent a disease. Of course it wouldn't be the same, but it would still suck. My favourite part about dystopias are how true they are. They are created to make us WAKE THE FUCK UP. And see what we are actually like. What we are capable of doing, if we don't change, or what we can become.

The maze runner, the hunger games, daybreak. This is us. The big difference between them and fantasies like lord of the rings or science fiction like star wars is that this are possible. Key word: POSSIBLE. This things can happen, dystopias just make them more drastic and exaggerated to make it clear. So that we understand. That's why it's such a needed genre. And it's another way to use our minds and voice to spread truth. And a life lesson.

We see cruelty and we see love in TMR. We see desperation and organization. Determination, love, suffering, safety, hope, and relationships. I think that's beautiful. And I love how James Dashner shows us the reality of the dangers of sun rays on earth with a busted ozone and the dangers of human made measures through desperations. And how humans feel the need to fix their fuck ups. Trying so hard to undo their mess by forming a group to try and save everyone. And in the end it failed. Showing us, the worlds unfair. Sometimes you can't save everyone or fully fix and undo your mistakes. But you can learn from them, adapt, and make it somehow better. Like how Ava Paige set them free to the safe haven. Finally.

@dr9carys Lol, thanks for awakening my inner thoughts of the maze runner with out convo. I HAD TO WRITE MY THOUGHTS😭 (Did not know I had a whole essay in me.)

[ryuki-draws]

How does having only half a brain left affect your survival odds in a Gundam? Time to find out!

N°3 was not meant to ever set foot in Asticassia but I decided she needed to join Geroge and Erik's emo band. I'm sure nothing bad will ever happen to her. (And I just wanted to draw her in a dress. As a treat.)

Rambling under the cut!

Marleen (name assigned by the researchers) has suffered severe epilepsy her whole life and anatomical hemispherectomy - surgery which removes parts of the brain that cause the seizures - was the last resort in effort to make the constant attacks stop. Unfortunately, the surgery was done at Claire's Peil under their enhanced person research program. So the now vacant space in her cranium was fitted with GUND implants and she was basically rolled off the operating table directly into a pilot seat of the company's prototype GUND format MS.

Luckily for her, having half a brain already running on the same format, the implants were able to process the information influx faster to a certain degree, thus making it possible to reach higher permet scores without getting what's left of her organic brain fried immediately. It is, however, not a solution to the overall problem - while the extra implants provide some added resistance, the data storm would still eventually kill her, even though it may take longer than previous subjects were able to withstand (RIP N°1 and 2). Plus, with her condition, permet score 3 and higher come with a risk of seizures unexpectedly returning while piloting, which opens a whole new can of problems.

When the duelling game started, she wasn't deemed suitable for a body double candidate and this ordeal was assigned to N°4 instead. She was, however, dispatched to school alongside him as a second year piloting student with a cover story of being a "test pilot" for Peil Technologies with clearance to participate in duels in non-GUND MS, unless instructed otherwise.

Additional assorted stuff (mostly EPs lore because I'm Unwell™)

the whole AU shenanigans primarly take place one year prior to the events of WfM, hence students with "K" designation in their ID number being second year, as opposed to third in the series

the duelling game started with the year of Miorine's admission to Asticassia, and with it the need for an EP body double to participate in the duels instead of Elan (who's a terrible pilot and would not be caught dead in a Gundam himself). There were three prior EPs at the research facility but N°4 was the first one who on top of everything has become a body double

when EPs outlive their usefulness to the company, they're sent back to the research facility, where they're further used as test subjects, as they may "still have research data worth obtaining in them." Deemed as truly expendable, they're first in line for anything too dangerous or unethical, but are not outright executed (no, I'm not over ep. 6, thanks for asking)

as mentioned in my previous posts, inspiration for Marleen's creation was Siri Keeton from the novel Blindsight by Peter Watts - who also had half of his brain removed due to seizures and replaced with implants - thus, the shared last name (the book is great, go read it. it's a sci-fi thriller and it has vampires in space! there's also a fan-made short film (4 minutes) based on the book worth giving a watch. this post is now Blindsight propaganda)

[max1461]

But why wouldn’t you want to remove everyone’s physical preferences anyways? Peoples shallow sexual preferences and fetishes in general cause a ton of horrifying social problems.

I would very much rather not!

So, first off, I suppose the social problems caused by people's "shallow sexual preferences" are looks-based discrimination, right? Good looking people get treated better. But if you removed everyone's physical preferences so that they now only had personality-based preferences, you'd presumably still get discrimination against personality types people find sexually unappealing, in the same manner. And...

Ok, whether that would actually amount to less discrimination or not is a statistics question, right? Like "appealingness of looks" and "appealingness of personality" are distributed across the population according to, well, some distribution, and sometimes they cancel out (a person with an unappealing personality gets stellar looks, or vice-versa) and sometimes they compound. And so the question is something like: is the mean of the combined distribution higher or lower than the mean of just the "appealingness of personality" distribution? Meaning: would people at large get treated better, on average, if others only considered their personality? And the answer is, I don't know! And neither do you. And it goes without saying that "appealingness of personality" does not neatly correspond to "virtuousness of personality" or anything like that.

Would the world be better if, on a further hypothetical, sexual attraction was entirely determined by virtue? Possibly, possibly not (for funky game theoretic reasons), but possibly.

Anyway, so, the assumption of your ask might not even be right. But beyond that, I think it is desirable to have the capacity for aesthetic and sensual experience, right. Having physical preferences is a necessary consequence of having the capacity to find sexual and aesthetic pleasure in the human form, and the capacity to find sexual and aesthetic pleasure in the human form is wonderful and one among many parts of the human experience that makes the human experience worth experiencing. I would be extremely hesitant to take that away.

And, of course, if we're imagining a big button that deletes everyone's sexual preferences, that would necessarily involve nonconsensual alteration of other people's minds, which I find per se objectionable.

So there are a whole lot of reasons why I would not want to do this.

Consider also, anon, if you would be sympathetic to similar actions if they did not involve sex. People do rather heinous things in service of having access to food they like, right? Factory farming, exploitation in the global south, really horrible shit on a much vaster scale than the things people do in service of sexual gratification. Would you, in light of this, approve of removing from everyone their ability to enjoy the taste of food, so that they no longer desired meat or bananas or whatever other food source causes the suffering? Or would you rather see some other solution to the problems of factor farming, labor exploitation, and so on implemented instead?

[sturn3]

based on "cameras/good ones go interlude" by drake !

it's safe to say no one knew about you and chris.

not even that you guys were ever together. not even that you had to suffer watching him with a new girl. showing her off like he never did with you. making you wonder if you were the problem.

his friends knew about her. his family knew about her. hell, even his fans did.

which made you wonder if you truly ever meant anything to him. spending hours on the phone with your best friend analyzing every little thing and what you could've been.

unfortunately for you, you still had to see him. seeming as you were still very close to his brothers. nick even knew about your little situation and truly felt for you. it pained him to see how much you loved his idiot of a brother.

after months, when you finally decided to move on from him and go out with other men, the universe did not have your back. drunk chris calling you?? someone had to be kidding you.

"i miss you." ,"please come back to me. ", "baby, she look like a star but only on camera." ,"it look like we're in love, but only on camera."

"can you believe his audacity?" you said to your best friend as you replayed the voicemail to her ,licking the spoon of ice cream you were holding. "no honestly, who does he think he is" "no literally calling me baby too??? like bro where your girl at"

well your question was quickly answered the next time you hung out with nick "THANK GOD they broke up, she was unberableeeee y/n save us. all chris does nowadays is talk about how much he misses having you around." he said. "i do miss him nick but i can't bear to be that girl anymore, running after him like a lost puppy!"

when you'd come over, he'd race everyone on the way to open the door ,like a dog waiting for his owner. too bad for him, he only got the dryest "hi chris" in return!

it's safe to say chris was suffering without you. hating to see you so happy since you stopped talking to him. it was truly selfish of him but he couldn't help it. sabotaging your dates wasn't even an option for him anymore. he was royally screwed.

he'd have to fight hard to win you over again.

"so let me get this straight, you were with y/n?" matt said trying to wrap his head around it. chris nodded in confirmation. "and you were hiding it from all of us?" ,chris nodded again. "and now you broke up with elle cause you want her back? even though, you called the whole thing off in the first place to be with elle?" ,chris sighed and leaned his face in his hands "yeah." he said quitely. matt laughed at his younger brother and put a hand on his shoulder "good luck buddy" he said as he resumed playing his game.

next time chris saw you was at a friend's birthday party. walking down the stairs in your little black dress and kitten heels, looking as beautiful as ever and having everyone in the room take a second glance at you. you were truly glowing and making his heart ache from how beautiful you looked.

all he could do was look at you for the rest of the night and watch you turn down every boy that approached you. till you decided you had enough and went upstairs to hide. he found that as an opportunity and followed you up. he knocked on every door ,interrupting make outs and seeing stuff he tried to forget until he found you sitting on a well-made bed on your own.

"oh my god chris you scared the shit out of me" you said holding your chest. "sorry, i didn't mean to. i just wanted to talk to you if that's okay." he said as he tried to put on his cutest face that you could never resist. "sure." you finally replied as you sat up straighter to be the same height as him and look him in the eye.

"i just wanted to apologise for everything. i know, i was in the wrong. but i can't seriously live without you. you're like my best friend and my soulmate all in one. i was so stupid to let you go. i realized that so late, when you started going out with other men and when elle broke up with me cause i said your name in bed. my thoughts are utterly and completely consumed by you. i love you." he said in one breath and you were seriously smiling like an idiot by the time he was done. "what did you say chris?" you said as you smirked teasingly "i love-" you cut him off by leaning and pushing your lips onto his soft ones, you felt his hands slowly creep onto your waist, literally your weakness!!!! you pushed him off of you before it got too heated "i love you too dumbass"

this is for my chris girls !!!😝

[satsu004]

Games where your choices truly matter

I've loved decision-making games for as long as I can remember. Over the years, I couldn't help but notice that lots of these games lie to you, only giving you the illusion that you have a choice. So here's a list in no specific order of games I've enjoyed, including for each game how much your choices actually matter. #1 Detroit become human

Starting with my personal favorite, dbh is quite transparent with how many choices you can make. It does suffer from some writing problems, but it is easily overshadowed by how much content the game has. The choices you make have actual consequences and the different characters you play as influence the state of the world as much as each others fates. Some might complain that this game lacks gameplay, to which I'll reply that the decision making IS the gameplay. #2 Baldur's gate 3

Takes place in the world of dungeons and dragons, it gives you lots of freedom and makes you almost feel like you're playing an irl dnd game. You can play the game with irl friends and/or the companion npc's you can recruit throughout the game. These npc's each have a story of their own with their own choices to make and most of them are also romancable. I recommend this one for those that enjoy roleplay and want to go on a memorable adventure. It also has a turn-based combat system which is very well done and lots fun.

#3 The Stanley Parable

This is one of those games with a short game loop and lots of endings. It's pure comedy and doesn't take itself seriously at all. It's lot's of fun to try out every single choice, not for the endings themselves, but for the narrator's reactions during it. I recommend this one for the gremlins that enjoy chaos. #4 Until dawn

This one is great if you enjoy horror. The story itself is pretty linear and can't be influened much. Your choices matter not to the plot itself, but to the survival of the different characters. You will control different members of a friend group and the goal is to make them all survive through the night, each choice matters. The game will also adapt itself to the player as to make it scarier to you specifically.

#5 Mystic Messenger

This game is in my top 3 fav romance games. It's a free mobile game with a virtual currency that can realistically be farmed through different means, so it's very accessible and doesn't make you feel forced to use real money. You communicate with the different characters through a chatting app in 'real time', which makes it feel much more personal than other otome games. The dialogue options you choose will first define which romance route you've unlocked, and then will define which of the different possible endings you will get. #6 RPG Maker horror games

Mad father, the witch's house, Ib, Pocket mirror, Corpse Party,... I can go on like this for a while. There was a period during which games like these were quite popular, and lots of them are still great. Most of the choices in these games were pretty straightforward, choose wrong and you die, but they also had more subtle choices. Actions that may at first seem unimportant, actually influenced which ending you will get. Special mention to Little Goody Two Shoes which is heavily inspired from these and also happens in the same world as pocket mirror. #7 Slay the princess

Another one of these short loop kind of games, but this one has a much different tone and a bigger overarching story. It's a horror visual novel with an interesting story. It's mostly dialogue options but each one you choose has it's importance as it influences the personality of the protagonist and his perception of the world. I can't say much more without spoiling but it's definitely worth checking out.

#8 Papers, Please

It's pretty chill and straightforward. You're an immigration inspector hard at work to provide for your family. You will be faced with complex situations questioning your morals. Your choices will influence the state and safety of both your family and the country you live in. #9 Please, don't touch anything

This one is very silly but I felt it was worth mentioning. You're sitting in front of a table with hidden puzzles, each leads to a different ending. Some of them are pretty funny, that's it, that's the game.

#10 7 days to end with you

It's a bit of an acquired taste as it can be quite difficult. In this game you will have to figure out a fictional language with little to no handholding. Your ability to get the different endings will be dependent on your ability to figure out the language and communicate with this kind woman who houses you .

[randomthefox]

Lanolin was literally a random citizen who started volunteering to help with charity. Why she's suddenly being portrayed as an authority figure who owns everything makes no sense.

Based on what the authors have said, what I assume happened is they had an idea for a New Character but didn't want to go through the process of designing a new character and having it be approved by SEGA and revised and work shopped and possibly vetoed by editorial, so rather than just.... Rewriting their stupid fucking story, they decided to simply use a character design for a background NPC who had already featured in the comic previously to skip the process because "hey, she'd already been approved!"

So the Character of Lanolin as written and the character of Lanolin The Sheep who appeared as a background NPC in the comic are actually two different characters. They wrote a New Character and then just skinned this background NPC alive and dressed them up in that characters fleece. If my understanding is correct. The characterization they wrote for Lanolin is not a natural bespoke characterization that they crafted for this sheep NPC who had appeared in the comic before. They had an idea for a new Sally Acorn character, and the Lanolin design was just a shortcut for them to force the new character down mid.

So with that in mind, let's pretend that it's not Lanolin the Sheep stupid waifu bait background NPC girl in this storyline. Let's pretend it's a brand newly introduced character who had never appeared before. Abercrombie the Finch, perhaps.

Let's pretend that Sonic ran into the room at Jewels beckoning and was introduced to a brand new face, Abercrombie the Finch, hi Abercrombie how are you nice to meet you call me Abe for short okay cool

So if we pretend this is a brand new OC that we've never met or seen before, does that fix the character?

I would argue that no, no it does not. If you cut Lanolin out of the panels and replace her with Abercrombie the Finch, all the same problems would still exist with him as they do with her. He'd still be some Nobody New Guy showing up and bossing around characters who we've been following in the comic AND VIDEO GAMES for years. His position as the person who suggested the idea of a volunteer squad still would not imbue him with any real authority over any of the people he's ordering around and lecturing. He would still be a clinically insane fucking retard for saying that Sonic needs to be arrested for his hijinks as the phantom rider when there's bigger fish to fry.

Okay so let's change up his backstory then. If he's Abercrombie the Finch and not Lanolin the Sheep then he can have any backstory we want. So let's say Abercrombie was a veteran of the Forces war, fought on the front lines of Operation Big Wave, he risked life and limb to keep the men he was fighting alongside safe. He's a decorated vet with a gruff exterior and a heart of gold who is a bit of a by the book drill Sargent type that doesn't suffer fools or tolerate shenanigans. Does that make a difference?

No, because it would still be SONIC THE FUCKING HEDGEHOG SEVERAL DOZEN TIMES SAVIOR OF THE PLANET WHO HAS FOUGHT AND DEFEATED GODS AND MEN, TANGLE THE LEMUR WHO SACRIFICED HERSELF TO SAVE OTHERS DURING THE ZOMBOT APOCALYPSE AND ASSISTED IN SAVING DOZENS FROM A FOREST FIRE, AND WHISPER THE GOD DAMN WOLF THE ANGEL OF THE RESISTANCE WHO HAD BEEN FIGHTING FOR MONTHS AS PART OF A MERCENARY UNIT AND ALSO DIRECTLY PARTICIPATED IN THE ZOMBOT APOCALYPSE!

The presumptive authoritarian entitlement would STILL be completely unacceptable. My reaction would STILL be "who the fuck is THIS dickhead?" And he would still be an absolutely atrociously written god awful character. The fact that they're ruining Adam Bryce Thomas's waifu and dressing up this awful new character with her skin doesn't make it any better.

Also just gonna say it: the optics of this scene would be vastly different if Lanolin was a man instead of a woman. Nobody would be defending this shit if it was Abercrombie the Finch doing it instead.

If it would be Not Okay if a man did it, then it's Not Okay that Lanolin did it. Acknowledge your biases.

[mousyjay]

Cupid Parasite Sweet and Spicy Darling Review

This is the first time I’m playing a game as soon as it comes out! I’m super excited since I just finished the original game this week. I love fandiscs since I love fluff. This does have a new character though, so I’m curious to see what that’s like, but definitely more excited for the main guys.

Merenice

I decided to start with the new guy to get him out of the way. I typically don’t like new routes in these fandiscs, but I’m willing to give it a shot. From what I’ve read he can see people’s future, which is very cool. But kind of like Edward from Twilight, MC is the only person whose future he can’t see, which grabs his attention. I’m hoping this route will be fun.

Honestly I wanted to like this route, and I tried to have an open mind, but I couldn’t get into it. I just don’t like it when they introduce new characters you can romance that weren’t in the original game, and it just felt so rushed and out of place. HOWEVER, this gave us the closest we’ll ever get to an Owen route, and I’m through the roof with joy. The Owen Ending was so good, I love Owen 😭, it’s a crime they didn’t give him a full route in the original game or this one.

Gill

I decided to play the original guys in case order, so that means we start with Gill. Which works for me because I actually liked Gill in the original game (although I now know that not everyone shares my sentiment). Right away, I already noticed the music in this route is much better than the first one I did, which is kind of a relief. When I was playing Merenice’s route I thought the music was way worse than the first game, which made me depressed, but I’m starting to think maybe it was just a his route thing.

I love Gill. No surprise, I really enjoyed his route in this game too. I love how crazy he is, like the things he builds is so nerdy, and sweet, and insane, it’s just so great. I also got some good laughs from his route. Being in an Agape-Agape relationship irl, I really loved when they talked about how self-sacrificing love isn’t the same as straining/suffering for your love, rather it’s being willing to give up certain things mutually and it’s satisfying to love each other like that.

I did play all three endings since I wasn’t sure what to expect. But Sweet and Spicy = Best Ending, Sweet = Normal Ending, and Spicy = Bad Ending, based on what I saw. So I probably won’t do anymore Spicy Endings, as I tend to not like bad endings, but Gill’s Spicy End was very similar to the vibes from that popular Jumin Bad Ending and DLC.

I also really loved his short stories! I love getting to see the male lead’s perspective and thoughts in otome games and books. So it was super fun to get into Gill’s head again and see more of his past.

Shelby

Next up is Case 2, Mr. Shelby Snail himself. Unfortunately he was my least favorite in the original game, so I can’t say I’m super excited. But honestly, I still think his will be cute since at least they are already married. I just need him to not act like a wimp like last game lol.

Okay, this was actually surprisingly fun. As someone who Shelby is my least favorite love interest, I still had such a blast playing his route. It had so many funny scenes, and was just overall so fun to play. I love how real yet hilarious many of the situations in this route were. Like they had a fight, they had doubts, they had *cough* problems in the bedroom *cough*, and it was so funny and entertaining to play. I am a little bummed we didn’t get a SS Cupid joke, since new Cupid’s initials are also SS, but overall super fun to play. I’m pleasantly surprised!

Raul

Next up is Raul! I’m excited since I liked his original route a lot, and he’s about tied with Gill as far as me loving the character. I’m excited to see what we have in his route, I’m sure it’ll be extra fun since we have the whole him being a celebrity trope, plus he knows she’s Cupid. So I’m sure this will be super fun!

Oh my gosh I love Raul so much 😭💕. Raul and MC are just so cute together, and I love their dynamic so much. This route was just so fun. It had so many moments that had me laughing so hard, and others that had me tearing up because it was so sweet. Raul is so wholesome and sweet, which is so counter to the trope he plays. But I love him and his himbo golden retriever energy. I also think the plot for this one was so ridiculous and fun to play. Plus I love his reaction to meeting her dad. Everything was just so sweet.

Ryuki

Let’s go! It’s my favorite from the first game, I love Ryuki and his route so much 🥹💕. I’m so excited to get to play his route in the Fandisc! I hope we get to see him get all flustered again, but I also would love to see him be a little jealous again😅. He’s so cute, and I’m sure I’m going to love this route!

Ryuki is so cute, I can’t 😭💕. As I suspected I loved this route, Ryuki was just as cute as usual, and him and MC have such a cute and authentic “young love” vibe. It’s just so cute and sweet, it was so fun to play! Also when he dyed his hair back to its natural color, that really got to me, I can’t explain why but it got to me. He’s so amazing! Don’t even get me started on his bonus episodes 😭 ahhh I love him so much!!!

Allan

Unfortunately, I’m not super excited for this route. Given I didn’t like Allan that much in the original, I have a feeling I probably won’t love this route. However, I did enjoy Shelby’s in this game, so maybe if this route is funny I can at least enjoy that. I’d also enjoy if they gave MC a bigger change in appearance given she’s a demon now, because the original kinda felt like a cop-out, but I guess we’ll see.

So, I don’t like being a hater, especially since I know Allan is popular, so I’ll try to keep it short. I did not like this route at all. It was not enjoyable for me, I couldn’t get into it and it felt like it was dragging on forever. I just didn’t have any fun, the time skip makes it so we can’t see any of the characters we know in the game which is a bummer, and honestly them living forever just triggered my existential dread of dying. I’m glad she finally looked like a demon at some point, but honestly I just couldn’t get into it. If you like angsty stuff and love Allan you’d probably like it, but I just don’t. The Orpheus and Eurydice parallel also made me upset as someone who loves that myth, because Orpheus turns around BECAUSE his love is so strong, so I didn’t like the implication that somehow Allan’s love is so strong he wouldn’t turn around. Like that’s not the flex the writers think it is, I also didn’t like that Satan plot. They also did my boy Robin dirty in this route. I don’t know, maybe I’m alone here, but this just wasn’t it for me.

Peter

Last route! Let’s go! I’m excited for Peter’s route, he was my second favorite in the original game and so I think I’ll probably enjoy this route. I think it’ll be fun to get to see more of them being Jupiter and Juno, plus Peter is such a cutie I’m sure it’ll be good.

This was a good route! I didn’t love some of the later plot, but I love Peter and so it was enjoyable. He’s so sweet and I love his relationship with MC, it’s such a unique dynamic. I thought it was really enjoyable and fits well as a last route to play for the game.

Overall

I think I really enjoyed this fandisc for the most part. I liked pretty much all the routes, with two making me genuinely laugh a ton. A lot of the CGs were really good too, and it’s fun to see a more domestic life for the couples. However I didn’t like the music as much as the first game, it wasn’t bad, but the first game had such iconic songs that really captured each character and moment. I don’t feel like the music this game felt as special, and there was this sound and song that played that would get on my nerves so bad. But even with the music, I still think the game was super fun. I also loved Robin and his character a bunch. For some reason he reminded me of Yamato from My Forged Wedding, which is my first otome husband, so that made me like Robin even more. Honestly kind of wish we got a Robin or Owen route instead of Merenice. I think if you liked the first game and its humor you’ll probably love this game.

It was really fun getting to play a game when it released, and I’m glad I could post this but too long after. As of now I only played the Sweet and Spicy endings, if I go back and play the other endings later I’ll post an update! Next review will probably be a while until I post it since I’m going to be pretty busy soon.

But I’d love to hear your thoughts on this game if you’ve played it yet.

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PROPAGANDA

KOTORI MIZUKI/TORI MEADOWS (YU-GI-OH! ZEXAL)

1.) first: ygo zexal is directed (and partially written) by known misogynist shin yoshida who is on record as saying that he would Never write female characters if he wasn’t being forced to by higher-ups. kotori’s voice actor signed a legal contract forcing him to include her character in Every Single Episode. she gets no duels that aren’t tag duels (2v2 duels), one of those is interrupted in the middle and all others she both loses, aren’t even shown in full, and all happen in the same episode. she is literally contractually required to be a major character and the dude in charge still point blank refuses to do anything with her despite the fact that she’s supposed to be the female lead of the series. please take pity on her for being handed to one of the worst people in the world and how despite the active attempts by other people to make her relevant in the story she was still denied that

2.) She only dueled once in the whole show and it was when she was brainwashed. Her main role is to only cheer the male protag on and say his name during his duels I guess.

IRIS SAGAN (AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES) (CW: Inappropriate Age Gaps)

1.) Listen I'm sure other ladies have it worse but Iris… and as an extension several other girls in AITSF… she deserves so much better. First of all she's a DANCER and she's wearing HEELS AND A TINY SKIRT character designer can you please go easy on her. She's suffering. Give her shorts at least. Second of all she's 18 and she has not one but TWO adult men who want to date her and constantly make comments about it!!!

This is… emblematic of a writing problem, because they KEEP MAKING MEN WHO WANT TO DATE 18 YEAR OLDS. This is partially a character trait thing for the two men, sure, but like. The game also makes jokes about her forcing the main character Date (who is 30) on dates even though she's later revealed to (unknowingly to either of them) be his relative slash daughter figure, kind of sort of. It's complicated. And like, part of the game is recovering his lost memories from amnesia and he gets these rapid heartbeats whenever he remembers, and because his past is tied to Iris I've had to reassure people playing the game the first time that his heart is NOT rapidly beating around her because he's attracted to her. I shouldn't HAVE to do that because the game should be NORMAL about her, but. no. The writing of the game is very clear that men in their mid-20s and later are attracted to this girl, so how should we expect Date be different? Astounding how shitty the writing is regarding that, especially because one of those men (Moma) isn't even creepy until the epilogue AND THEN IN THE SEQUEL HIS ENTIRE PERSONALITY IS THAT HE WANTS TO MARRY HER. SHE'S HALF HIS AGE.

As for her writing itself… She does get a lot of focus overall in the first game (she has an entire route of the game focused on her! Yippee!) but a lot of it is based on said forcing Date to date her, and she dies at the end of her route. I actually like her route but it IS the least conclusive of the route in the first game. In the SEQUEL though oh my god. I'm still bitter that they HEAVILY advertised her as being in the game and then she was BARELY IN IT she was just there to a) have her shitty father be relevant for 0.5 seconds and b) have men creep on her. Okay maybe that's an exaggeration but ONE OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS IS SOMEONE SHE SEES AS A SISTER. TWO OF THE OTHER MAJOR CHARACTERS ARE HER BEST FRIENDS. WHERE DID SHE GO. They barely show her with her friends too like her friends are hanging out ALSO with shitty adult men with romantic interest in them (see. writing problem.) BUT LIKE I'M SO PISSED OFF FOR IRIS ESPECIALLY BECAUSE I LOVE HER. The first game literally has her have delusions about a secret society Naix hunting her down. The second game has The Real Naix be a major organization and antagonistic force. It just feels wrong to not have her… be important… at all… when she's the only reason Naix was mentioned in the first game at all…….

But like. Mostly the issue is that JESUS CHRIST THESE ADULT MEN NEED TO LEAVE HER ALONE AND THE WRITERS WON'T LET HER TELL THEM OFF OR EVEN REALIZE THEY'RE INTERESTED IN HER HALF THE TIME. IRIS PLEASE GET BETTER PEOPLE TO HANG OUT AROUND, LIKE YOUR FRIENDS WHO YOU'RE ONLY SEEN ONSCREEN WITH FOR 5 MINUTES.

2.) (AITSF Spoilers) The male characters often make unnecessary and uncomfortable sexual remarks towards Iris, especially with her status as an 18-year-old internet idol. These men include her close friend (24), an ally yakuza boss (48), and the protagonist (42), who is later revealed to have been her surrogate father figure.

There are also smaller but baffling choices around her writing, such as her framing tagging along with the protagonist as a date, and her route centering conspiracy theories in contrast to the relatively grounded and emotional stories of the other characters. (The latter part is contextualized in-game but is still a jarring tonal shift for the first-time player).

3.) Iris, like almost all returning characters from AITSF, is a victim of the sequel - The Nirvana Initiative - being afraid of spoiling the first game and letting the characters keep their development from the first game and grow past that. It just so happens that the hit Iris' character takes makes elements of misogyny from the first game all the worse. So, Iris in the first game at first glance can be dismissed as a dumb internet idol. This is particularly reinforced by her belief in outlandish conspiracy theories. However, the game gives her depth by revealing that she has a brain tumor (which has caused delusions) and knows that her time is limited as well as delving into her backstory and the impact it has had on her. She gets the tumor healed at the end of the first game, there's a 6-year time skip in the second, and she… acts the complete same and has basically the same beliefs. And she has so few scenes that she really is reduced to a shallow, vapid character. I'm not even sure she had a chance to react to her father figure 'dying.' The first game had an issue with male characters being creepily into Iris the idol. Ota, who is 24, endears himself to the 18-year-old Iris by making sock puppet social media accounts that insult her only for him to swoop in with his main account and defend her. The main character does not think that it is important to tell her about this breach in trust. Moma, who is 48 years old, is also a big fan of hers. While it's mostly (mostly) an endearing character trait in the first game, in Nirvana Initiative, Moma has mainly been reduced to his interest in Iris (who he refers to once as his "future wife"). His only plot significant contribution is made by using a voice changer to sound like her. The implications of his original plan for that voice changer skeeves me out. The other characters, by the way, are pretty ambivalent about this.

[lesbiansanemi]

🌤️ with the wire au for the ask game!

The wire AU is soooo interesting for this because for large chunks of it, there is actually barely any dialogue! And then even when there is dialogue, it's usually someone talking at Kyojuro, rather than actual conversations. On account of, well, the obvious of Kyojuro's jaw being wired shut lol, that being said, I picked one of my favorite passages of dialogue between Shinobu and Mitsuri about the situation

Also just some context for the AU cuz I actually don't believe I've specified a whole lot about it, but it's one of my few fics where demon blood doesn't work the same. For this interpretation of it, it is insanely more potent. Literally any amount, no matter how small, can trigger a demonic transformation. Because of this, slayers getting turned is a much larger problem, just due to all the blood flying through the air during battle around open wounds. Because of this, slayers almost always at least work in duos, so if someone turns, somewhere is there to put them down immediately. Some slayers even carry wisteria poison on them to take in a worst case scenario.

Due to the blood being even more dangerous, Tamayo began working with the Corps much sooner. She's been allied with them for decades working on a cure. But only the Ubuyashikis and Hashira know about her, anyone lower ranking doesn't because 1. she's a demon and 2. hope for a cure feels dangerous for slayers to know about at large

So, official premise is, Kyojuro is working a mission with Mitsuri, but he's still getting used to fighting after all the injuries Akaza caused him, when he gets contaminated and turned. Mitsuri refuses to kill him because she knows good demons can exist due to Tamayo and Nezuko, and because she reasons if they can keep Kyojuro under control, he could last until the cure is ready. Unfortunately, he does not have the ironclad control Nezuko does, and any bamboo muzzles they tried were... useless, to say the least.

But with Upper Moon Six's blood, Tamayo reasons she's getting close to a cure, and will need a test subject to try them on other than just Nezuko, and it's not like anyone wants to kill Kyojuro. So.... they decide to wire his jaw shut and keep him isolated in a wisteria house, hoping he can stay sane long enough for Tamayo to test a cure on him.

Nobody is happy with the decision, but still, nobody truly wants to kill him. And so long as he is physically incapable of hurting someone, it seems a bit easier for Kyojuro to keep himself under control. But.... based on the other snippets I've posted of this AU, I'm sure it's obvious that things do go everyone's way once Akaza finds out what happened and gets involved

So! Now that all that rambling is out of the way, here's the actual snippet lmao

Mitsuri had no idea how long it had truly taken, but it felt like hours when Shinobu finally came out into the hall. Though the lower half of her face was still covered by the mask, from the slight narrowing of her eyes, Mitsuri could tell she was grimacing.   “You’re done, right…?” Mitsuri dared to ask. Surely she had to be done. It had taken so terribly long. She’d expected a half hour at most. But perhaps that had been wishful thinking, a childish desire for Kyojuro to have to suffer less.  “I’m done,” Shinobu confirmed, her voice utterly lacking its usual cheerfulness. Even the placating edge had fallen away. It was flat, devoid of any emotion whatsoever. “But this isn’t a permanent solution, Mitsuri. This isn’t going to last forever, and it’s… cruel to expect it to. The kinder thing would have been to put him down.”  “We’re not doing that,” Mitsuri cried. “There must be a way! Tamayo-sama and her cure—”  “I have worked with Tamayo for a long while now, and she has worked with the Corps even longer. I think she will manage a cure one day, but not soon, even with the Kizuki's blood. Think of how long he has to be in pain, has to suffer, before that cure might get made. What if it’s another lifetime?” Shinobu asked.  Mitsuri stared at Shinobu, unable and unwilling to fight the tears building in her eyes. Because she didn’t have answers for that. She just knew she couldn’t give up on her friend so easily… What if Tamayo managed to create a cure tomorrow? A week from now? A month? Then how cruel would it feel if they had killed Kyojuro without even attempting to hold out for one?  Shinobu sighed, and held a hand out as if she wanted to comfort Mitsuri, but remembered the blood-soaked gloves she wore and let her arm fall back to her side. “I’m just warning that it’s unsustainable. He already could barely hold it together, and now he’s lost a lot of blood, and is going to be constantly healing around the wires. It’s only going to degrade any sanity left further.”  “He asked us to do this,” Mitsuri said. “He asked us to help him.”  “You know as well as I what he actually meant,” Shinobu said. “We might have explained what we were going to do, and he might have agreed, but don’t pretend something like this was what he had in mind when he begged for help.”  Mitsuri squirmed beneath her friend’s piercing stare. Of course she knew… She knew damn well what Kyojuro had meant when she had to hold him down with every ounce of strength in her body.  That didn’t mean she could just accept it though.  Finally, Shinobu broke the stare with a shake of her head and disappointed click of her tongue. “We’ll keep him here as long as we can, and of course Tamayo knows the situation. She’s going to do her best. But when we reach a point where he’s so desperate he starts attempting to rip the wires out, I suggest we put him out of his misery. Because at that point, those wires truly will be the only thing keeping him from devouring someone.”  “Okay,” Mitsuri whispered.  “I’m going to go stand outside so the sunlight gets rid of the blood,” Shinobu said. “Go see him, if you’d like.”  Honestly? Mitsuri wasn’t sure if she had it in her. But how cowardly was it to sentence her friend to this and then be unable to look at what was actually done to him?  So she nodded, and stepped towards Shinobu’s makeshift surgery room. 

[melonthesprigatito]

Is anyone else still mad at the Pokémon Square townsfolk?

That whole "Pikachu is actually a human and the Ninetales legend says that when the human wakes up as a Pokémon, the world's balance will be upset and the apocalypse will happen. So we should """"get rid of""" Pikachu and the world will be saved, right?" thing.

Like, they take what Gengar, leader of Team Meanies, (and THE ACTUAL HUMAN TURNED POKÉMON FROM THE ACTUAL LEGEND) says at face value and immediately decide that murdering Pikachu is the only way to solve their problems.

They turn on the poor little Sugar the Pikachu and Sprinkles the Eevee who have been peacefully going about their lives doing their rescue work and have been nothing but friendly and conversing with everyone.

Rescue Team Sweetheart becomes public enemy number one and the townsfolk and every Rescue Team in existence chase two innocent Pokémon to the literal end of the continent, and Sugar and Sprinkles suffer from exhaustion, constant threat of attack, possible starvation, possible hypothermia, SPRINKLES DOES CATCH A COLD AT SOME POINT ("Eww, my nose is running!") for a period that is implied to last weeks or months. They also nearly get killed by TWO Legendary Birds!

AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON TEAM A.C.T. Alakazam, the Gold Rank explorer with the IQ of 5000 gives into peer pressure and decides to join the lynch mob. Alakazam who is already aware of the Ninetales legend. How come Mr Big Shot Smart Explorer didn't try to diffuse the situation and find another solution?

Everyone trusts Alakazam enough that him being an eyewitness to Ninetales confirming that Sugar ain't evil in her past life and telling everyone she has nothing to do with the disasters is enough to clear her name. He could have said "Hey, how about we DON'T kill the supposed human who's causing the disasters? She has no motive, she lost her memories, we have no guarantee she's even the same human from the Ninetales legend that's causing the natural disasters, we should look into this and come up with a better solution."

But NOOOOO, Alakazam's all like "We came to a consensus, we must get rid of you." Charizard taunts Sprinkles before their battle on Mt Freeze like "I don't know how to show mercy" and all three of them would have killed Sugar and Sprinkles if Ninetales intervene.

Gengar receives no punishment for starting an international manhunt. All the townsfolk except for Caterpie, Metapod, Diglett, Jumpluff, Pelipper and Kangaskhan basically say "Sorry for suspecting you, I was 100% sure you were guilty, I had no faith in you at all."

Fucking Shiftry over there is like "I joined the chase with a heavy heart but only stopped going after them once they ran into Doomed Desolation Mt Blaze (actual way Mt Blaze is described in game) because I'm a Grass Type and fire doesn't agree with me." BITCH, I RISKED MY LIFE TO SAVE YOU FROM ZAPDOS. Why would you go along with the "Let's Kill Sugar" plan???

The townsfolk go back to acting like everything is normal and the rest of the rescue teams gather in the Square when Team A.C.T goes missing and I'm supposed to be courteous to the people who subjected me and Sprinkles to months of horrors based on the words of one individual who's famously untrustworthy.

I know it's a video game, but holy shit. If I were actually Sugar, I would never trust any of these people again. I would have left Alakazam's ass to melt in the Magma Cavern.

Behold the Beast of The Apocalypse and her sympathisers

[11queensupreme11]

Just wanted to ask (not sure if this got sent properly) but how could a loser!girlflop!MC NOT set back feminism?

Especially in the premise of your fic, where, if the tags are anything to go by, the female girlflop mc will lose everything she holds dear including her mental stability and bodily autonomy to five or more overpowered MEN (granted they are gods, but still men.)

The main difference between her and OG!Percy, who got both the love of his life Annabeth and a pretty set future at New Rome College? Their gender.

Just to explain, I for one fully, or at least mostly understood what I was getting into when I began reading Arsenic Blues. I saw the Dead Dove tag, and know how to differentiate reality from fiction.

However, there’s a possibility that some loud mouthed single braincelled men out there (or women with internalized misogyny) that considers a fem!Percy with practically the same strength, abilities, and personality, too pretentious or something, began reading your fic after seeing the tags to get off on fem!Percy being non con fucked out of her mind, traumatized, and knocked down a peg or billion, reduced to a mere common victim of the gods, because they don’t like the concept of a strong fem!Percy. Cuz surely a loser coded girl saving Olympus is just a fluke and she needs to be put in her place by capable men😒

(This possibility is of course not your problem nor responsibility of course, but it still does not negate the fact that it sets back feminism, as some may use it as “proof” that women are inferior idiots that can’t be trusted with power.

“Look at OG!Male!Percy! He saved Olympus and the world twice with little to no major losses, got the girl, and has a bright future! Look at fem!Percy. This idiot managed to destroy her world in her stupid attempt to do what only a male version of her could! I knew that first time was a fluke!)

An example of this would be Zenitsu from Demon Slayer, ( a loser coded cringey but cute badass, first character that came to mind), who has a pretty large fan base despite his loser personality. Make Zenitsu a girl, and all of a sudden everyone is bashing her for being the weak link, dead weight, pick me bitch.

Or using TBOSAS, some people truly blame Lucy Gray for leaving a clearly psychotic person and says that the Hunger Games were her fault for leaving. It’s her fault that Snow turned evil, blaming the woman for the man’s actions.

(you sent this twice, but the only difference is the last paragraph, so im just gonna answer to this one instead of repeating both, hope you don't mind!)

i truly don't believe my fanfic is gonna set feminism back because, as you said, it's not my responsibility if some incel or girl with internalized misogyny sees it and uses it as a "gotcha" that "hahaha girls are weak cuz look what happened to fem!percy".

no normal person is gonna read my fic (or any book like this in general tbh) and suddenly think "omg.... girls are inferior to men! this book told me so and i'm gonna take it as fact!". if someone does think that, then they already had issues to begin with way before they started reading. my fic did not give them those issues.

normal ppl don't let themselves get influenced by a book in such a way because they've already gotten a solidified sense of right or wrong and they should already know "yeah the stuff happening to this MC is bad and not at all their fault. anyway! time to enjoy more of their suffering 🤪".

UNLESS ofc, they don't have a fully solidified sense of right or wrong, meaning they're just way too young to be reading my fic (or books like it). even then, not really my fault because i already gave out the warnings and even ao3 gives an additional "are you sure you wanna read this?" page. people can't control who reads the fics/books, they can just give out warnings

also, about the og male!percy vs my fem!percy thing, i can easily just write fanfic about og!percy going through the same thing. then what are they gonna say? in fact, there already ARE some juicy dark fics about poor og percy, savior of olympus, being reduced to just another victim of the gods (there's actually a lot more dark fics of og!percy going through traumatizing shit then there are fem!percy ones hehe 😍)

[mask131]

One of the things that D&D has to be praised AND blamed for is how it managed to unite together polar-opposite fantasy works.

I was planning on updating my old fantasy read list for "old school D&D" and so as I dug into the fantasy books the game took inspiration from (or in the case of the first edition, ripped off from Xp), I came to this realization.

It has already been established that one of the main reasons behind D&D's great success and lasting appeal is that it managed to bring together and unite elements taken from ALL the great, classical, foundational fantasy works of the time into one same universe that was the ultimate synthesis of what fantasy was at the time. You've got Tolkien and Leiber and Conan and Jack Vance and the Cthulhu mythos all together in one game...

... But not many people point out that this same thing is also what made the original brand of D&D fantasy age badly, what caused many of the first-generation D&D-inspired fantasy works to be plain bad , and what changed massively people's view of fantasy for the bad. Because, what EXACTLY did D&D do? It took polar opposite fantasy works, and blended them into one same thing. It took away all the nuances to have one monochrome set. It focused on uniting together the elements, the characters, the places and the archetypes, but at the cost of losing the themes, the motifs, the tone, the uniqueness of it all.

Mind you, again it was and still is one of D&D's strength. It built itself into an open-game allowing for all and any sort of stories and adventures - and many of today's web-series based on D&D show the game's current ability to do ANYTHING by having so many different tones and settings and inspirations... BUT it does not change the fact that, as a result, it erased massively the diversity of what fantasy used to be, to replace it with this artificial idea of "generic fantasy" that then became a reality.

For example, let us consider how D&D united together the pole of the two "classics" of first-generation fantasy, Conan the Barbarian and The Lord of the Rings, with the two most famous "anti-Tolkien" and "anti-Conan" fantasy works: Earthsea, and The Elric Saga. The character of Elric was designed to be the very opposite of what Conan was, and by extension the world of Elric was also designed to oppose all the settings Tolkien or Howard could have written. Earthsea was also designed to oppose and contradict Tolkien's work in every way in terms of setting, tone, inspiration, aesthetic, scope... As I said before, the world of Earthsea already offered in the 60s and 70s what so many modern fantasy novels of the 2000s and 2010s are claiming to be "the first ones to do", like... having a POC main character, having a female main character that isn't sexualized in a fantasy story, having a fantasy story not inspired by Europe, having a fantasy story that is not solved and is not about warriors, war or weapons, using fantasy to deal with internal problems and psychological topics... It was all there before, and yet everybody forgot it until quite recently, and why? I am very tempted to say that D&D and the format of fantasy is spread in American culture from the 80s onward had a part to play.

Because D&D took these elements from Earthsea... and placed them in a world inspired by the Lord of the Rings, and that smashed Conan with Fafhrd, and as a result it got dissolved into these other works, and Earthsea was often see as "Oh yes, just another sword and sorcery story, isn't it?".

Of course I am not claiming this is what actually happened, nor that Earthsea was the only work to suffer from it... But it cannot be denied that the massive spread, success and fame of D&D in America (and in Europe afterward) led to a certain idea, conception and vision of fantasy to be massively shared, copied and treated as the "real, typical, true fantasy"... When in fact it was a mash-in and blending of very varied and nuanced works offering a vast and complex extant of fantasy... A reduction and synthesis that gave a false idea of what fantasy was and ended up burying many strange, bizarre, alternate, groundbreaking or before-their-time fantasy works.

Of course, I am also NOT saying D&D is the only one to blame for that... The success of The Lord of the Ring movies in the early 2000s also had a part to play in this ; and then it was the success of Warcraft, etc etc... But I can't help to compare a bit what D&D did to the idea of fantasy, to what Coca-Cola did to the image of Santa Claus. Santa Claus/fantasy did exist long before Coca-Cola/D&D got hold of it... And afterward Santa Claus/fantasy regrew in its own thing... But in between Coca-Cola/D&D managed to reinvent fantasy/Santa Claus into a massively shared concept and widely accepted idea that became part of culture and marked deeply the history of fantasy/Santa Claus...

[typewriter83]

Hey there! Miss Undercover back again xx

I totally agree with you seeing Tommy/Ellie as a strictly platonic/familial dynamic haha. My favourite fics of them are the ones where they roast eachother humourously but love each other fiercely and bond by ganging up on Joel together 🤣 They're so silly and sweet and gosh darn adorable.

I'd say your tendency to write Ellie into uncomfortable situations is because it is such a significant part of her character. By no means does it shape her identity as a whole, but it contributes to it heavily in some aspects and carries a lot of important weight. To me, Ellie was a really crucial example of teen girl trauma at the hands of a creepy man and how this problem can persist even in— ESPECIALLY in the context of a video game where the world is apocalyptic and based on survival. Ironically, this whole aspect of being in critical danger and at risk of not surviving is really emphasised when David and Ellie are in a literal BURNING BUILDING, yet David's main concern seems to be tackling Ellie and assaulting her. Additionally, it makes sense that she came across a horrible grown man interested in pursuing her in an environment where men like him are rampant and reckless and there's no legal system or particular awareness of morality to hold them to account.

The fact that you include Ellie's trauma in your AUs, as well as many other writers, is wonderful considering the fact that it amplifies this whole idea of the same issue being heavily prevalent and thus interwoven into several different universes— because this offensive dynamic is, as a matter of fact, found throughout different time periods and countries. It spans over centuries and over the globe— sisters, united in suffering. It's disturbing how far the extent of this problem goes, and it's intriguing seeing the awareness and discussion that was sparked when TLOU was first released. I've seen many men say that they could hardly tell David's true intentions (and that it took them until the burning building scene to realise), and in contrast many women say that they knew from the beginning of David and Ellie's interaction. I myself had bright red alarm bells ringing in my head at the sight of David and the way he communicated himself to Ellie.

There's a huge disparity in the culture of paranoia that us ladies were conditioned to adopt due to the victimhood we've been subjugated to and have continuously seen from a young age, and the awareness of this prevalent issue that men slowly learn to develop. I think I was always aware to some degree of the dangers presented to me as a girl, and it was heartbreakingly interesting seeing Ellie's underlying understanding of the strife of her situation clash with her desperation to save Joel. She was wary of David, and aware, I'm sure, of the troubles posed by men like him, yet she was forced into a situation where she had to put her desire for avoidance aside and put survival first.

Ellie inspired many too. Her recovery arc, and the fact that she took that pain and turned it into strength and motivation was admirable. Here was a young girl who bore the pain of being preyed on like a cross on her little shoulders, and while she showed signs of trauma in the aftermath it didn't ensconce her identity and turn her into the emblem of a victim. Instead, we got to see her character remained fleshed out and complex, see her passion to save the world and ambition to make a change. Many media creators try to present female victimhood as this one-track journey where being the damsel-in-distress takes up our personality and zaps us of all individuality, but the video game creators thankfully took a different route. They gave Ellie this refreshing autonomy by having her 1) take charge and off David herself and 2) be able deal with her troubled emotions in the aftermath but still remain focused on her goal. It was great having her be a personality of her own rather than just a salvation to Joel's suffering / vulnerable figure that fuels his saviour complex. Instead of using an overdone trope, TLOU made it their own by putting a slight spin on it and allowing both Joel and Ellie to be their own unique individuals. Ellie isn't some helpless being that critically needs Joel to survive— that much was made clear, her independence and headstrong initiative shines through consistently. It's just great and handy to have him anyway and they're attached on a great level.

While Ellie having to off David was devastating, the act of being able to output this rage and fear herself instead of having it done for her was cathartic to see. Many girls like her want to channel that inner rage into destroying their abusers once and for all but don't get the chance to, and it's great how TLOU went about executing this sort of scenario in a realistic yet satisfying way where our dear Ellie gets at least some form of closure.

I agree, it's always great talking to you 😊💝 I do love these chats of ours

Miss Undercover - are you a writer? I’m 100% not asking you to tell me who you are, but do you write? Because this analysis is next level. Chef’s kiss

Uncle Tommy and Ellie are simply adorable - I have a wonderful uncle that married my aunt when I was a toddler and he’s one of my favorite people on the freaking planet. So, that relationship with Tommy and Ellie is special. I really want to lean into it with LtW2, try to heal the damage while she and Tommy (as well as Tommy and Joel) come to understandings.

Ellie’s trauma - I think it’s a critical, and horrifying, part of her character no matter how she’s written. Whether looking back on the canon event, twisting it in a parallel universe, or creating something more modern, I think it shapes Ellie into the adult she will become.

Even though it’s not discussed in canon, I think Ellie had seen violence like that in Boston as well - she knew when she met David that he was not like Joel. Now, I know in the game they leaned into her trusting him, but she was so much more hesitant with David than she was when she met Joel - which of course they switched up in the show, so it’s all about context. Regardless, David’s character was hell bent on making Ellie his. It’s disturbing to write any scene where David hurts Ellie - but when he makes it clear that his intention is to have her, it leaves me shaken.

In all honesty, writing the Donuts & Coffee version was more disturbing for me to write than the burning church in LtW. Maybe it was because Ellie was older and completely thrown off guard, or it was just crafting a brand new concept, I’m not sure. The burning church was like recreating the restaurant - just a little tidbit on that.

It’s also disturbing to see conversations on social media about the comparisons/similarities between David and Joel - that just blows my mind. I watched episode 8 before I watched the game and I felt a tingle run down my spine the first time she locked eyes on David. It’s the eyes for sure. And I think it’s an interesting commentary on society when men (not all men, and there are some women) can see similarities between Joel and David. Joel didn’t want to take care of Ellie, he didn’t want to be responsible for her, but he never gives off the impression of wanting to harm her. Seeing as he’s basically Tess’s guard dog, I think it leads (should lead anyway) the player/viewer to believe Joel wouldn’t hurt a woman, unless it was in self defense. We don’t get to see what Joel was like before Boston, but we have to believe this was true between Austin and Boston.

Your last two paragraphs about Ellie’s recovery need no reply - I really just want everyone to go back and read your analysis of Ellie’s character - because I think it sums her up in a much more poignant way than anything I could approach.

I sincerely enjoy discussing TLOU with you, Miss Undercover - if you ever decide to create a side blog (please let it be Miss Undercover somehow), please hit up my DMs so we can chat more! But until then, I look forward to our next topic of discussion! Honestly I would love to discuss canon more, Ellie and or Joel in any capacity - I know this took awhile for me to address but I feel like I’m getting back on track, finally!

🫶🏻