#it would be better if it was just the power fantasy imo except that

[fleetwood-cheese]

Phantom Thief Outfit Breakdown

Okay so exactly one (1) person asked me abt my opinions on the phantom thief's metaverse costumes (thank you @waywardsalt) bc I mentioned them in the tags of a poll so now you are all locked into my insane rant abt this topic. Originally this was a power point i made to vent but i realized its too long to post in its entirety (its more than 20 slides long) so you get this monstrosity of a post. I'm going to split this into multiple posts discussing each thief's designs bc there's a lot and it'd be too long; will link each post at top.

Ann - Makoto - Sumire - Futaba - Yusuke - Akechi 2

DISCLAIMER: I am not a designer, have relatively poor fashion sense, and these are largely just my opinions on the matter, obviously people are going to disagree. I'd love to discuss this and get feedback on it but if you're an asshole im not going to entertain you.

Starting with the worst (imo), let's begin with Akechi's black mask costume.

This is, from a purely design and visual standpoint, the worst to me because it simply has too much going on, and all of it gets lost in its attempts to be cool or intimidating. This attempt at being menacing, presumably, is lost in translation and mostly just makes it look uncomfortable, edgy, and sort of goofy.

It seems to be pulling on ideas of knight armor, birds of prey, straight jackets, and the general idea of being trapped or isolated, but very few of these things actually come across in the final design. (It also might have some bondage/bdsm inspiration, but I'm not sure how intentional that is.)

Firstly, the bodysuit isn't well executed here, and is complicated by the fact that it appears to also be booty shorts with matching leggings?? but they're all the same thickness?? This is confusing and goofy, and would look much better split into an actual top/pants combo. Additionally, the stripes add further confusion and lack the appeal of Loki's stripes, who I presume they're trying to tie-in/invoke with them; their diagonal direction certainly doesn't help. To fix this, I would keep the stripes on the top, but have them run up and down, and simplify the pants to solid black with blue piping along the sides. I think this separate top with the straight stripes would also do a better job of communicating a straight jacket than the current costume does.

Another major gripe I have with this outfit is the hems, but especially the pant hems. They're what I can only describe as boot cut and its awful; I grew up with the 2000s boot-cut obsession, and they don't look good on anyone except horsegirls who wear actual cowboy boots underneath them. I understand the frayed pant and sleeve hems are supposed to look unkempt and villainous, but it mostly just looks like he's walked on them. To solve this, I would effectively cover them up by adding armor; extend the boots and claws and give him actual grieves and arm guards to make him look more dangerous, sharp, and combat oriented, and invoke the knight aesthetic to clash with the detective prince persona and its white, ornamental style.

Adding additional armor also helps solve the problem of him looking so top heavy. This costume's huge neck guard and mask are super bulky and make you feel like he's about to break his neck; by adding weight to the legs, its no long all concentrated at his head. If you compare it to actual helmets, I think its roughly based off of the frogmouth helmet, which has one, continuous neck piece like the black masks. I would adapt it to look more like a closed helmet or a armet, which have a similar shape but much clearer plating and hinges and thus appear less stiff and might have better mobility.

My last major gripe is the cape, because it is SUCH a wasted opportunity. The torn fabric, while matching his frayed hems, is so boring; a cape made out of feathers would convey the crow idea so much better, and give him a sort of dark knight fantasy vibe that would look wonderful imo. You could even show the iridescence of the feathers, which would tie well into the black-grey-blue palette excellently. Im thinking something like the cape below, or possibly like the crowfeather set from bloodborne if you want some extra drama.

As for the belt, I'm fairly neutral on them; I could take or leave them really. You could remove them if you wanted to simplify the design, or keep them if you wanted an edgier look or to incorporate more bdsm elements, but in that case I would change them to look more like actual bondage belts and not, you know, normal pants belts.

Overall, when ranking these outfits for my powerpoint, I gave this one dead last placement and a solid 2/10 personal ranking.

[houndsofbalthazar]

Been playing some Pathfinder: Kingmaker and it's got me thinking about how much I dislike the weapon proficiency system in D&D and its variations, adaptations, and derivatives. I'm not familiar with every single version of course so this is only speaking to broad trends, and only in the ones I've played!

For all intents and purposes, not having proficiency in a weapon means you can't use it. Different implementations manage it differently, video games tend to straight up not let you equip a weapon you're not proficient in, while sometimes it's just a penalty (or lack of a bonus). In 3.5e iirc, it was -4 to hit with a weapon you're not proficient in. That's a reduction of 20 percentage points to hit rate! IMO unless the DM or game leans very hard into this, it's essentially the same as saying you can't wield them. (Leaning into it would be for example playing a game in which you face a lot of monsters with invulnerability/ damage reduction with specific weaknesses to different materials and damage types and are specifically very limited in weapons of those various damage types, then you start to get the choice of a weapon that will be more effective, but you are worse at using, and even then it's tricky to pull off without it becoming a maths puzzle)

Most versions of this system let you gain proficiency in a weapon or weapon group, but you usually spend a feat to do so. Feats are huge, big rewards for levelling up and you don't get many. The bump in mechanical power from "upgrading" a category is usually negligible, and sometimes literally nonexistent. For example, one thing that set me off thinking about this again is that in pf: kingmaker I found a magical sling staff. That's a cool weapon I thought! But it requires exotic proficiency, you have to spend a whole feat just to use it. Or I could keep using a light crossbow which is almost identical (the only difference is slightly different crit stats, one crits more often, the other does more damage on a crit). So I could have enjoyed finding a cool unusual weapon for my character to use and further flesh out the fantasy of having a unique character, or I could -- and did -- just sell it immediately because I'm not spending a whole feat on it, and I'd need to level up multiple times to even get a feat to spend, and then if another cool weapon came up that would just be a waste. It might as well have just been a pile of gold.

You can, I think, get some mileage from finding a cool piece of equipment that you can't use yet. The trouble is in video games the gear treadmill is often such that by the time you can use it you've found something better anyway. There's more potential on the tabletop, but again I think you need to lean into it and it does have to be an especially cool piece of equipment.

Aesthetically, I also really dislike it. Because the mechanical differences between weapons are so small it often feels like I'm being pushed towards someone else's idea of the character I should play. I made a post a while back comparing Morrowind & Oblivion's approaches to armoured spellcasting (in the latter wearing any armour will always decrease your spell power - the game's telling you that you can wear armour but real wizards don't). If Martial & Exotic weapons were so much stronger than the lower tiers I'd understand it, it'd be a game balance reason. But the categories aren't really consistent enough about it. It's not going to be gamebreaking if I want my wizard to use a trident instead of a spear (literally identical stats!) But the aesthetic is prevented by the rules. I think when part of the appeal of the game is to play the fantasy of your character as a unique cool hero.

As an aside, a similar reason is why I will probably never play a Rogue in D&D 5e. The aesthetic I want to play is your traditional thug, you know, the burly bash your kneecaps in kind of thug. Rogue would be the perfect class to represent that, except sneak attack can only be done with finesse weapons which are all knives and swords. No clubs, maces, or other thwacky objects allowed because someone had a specific idea of what a rogue should be and limited it without any real mechanical reason for it.

Ok rant over. Maybe I'll reblog this one with thoughts on how I'd handle it some time because I do like the idea of weapon types all being slightly different, and it does make sense to me that a fighter would be able to use more weapons than a sorcerer (most of the time).

[dandelionsandderivatives]

Oooh, tell me about Mer Lin and/or The Magician’s Guinea Pig! (your choice)

Someone else asked for The Magician's Guinea Pig, so you get to hear about both!

Mer Lin is the working title for a Tam Lin/Merlin (BBC) crossover. Merlin was a huge guilty pleasure for me and my siblings back when it had just been released, and it's a very weird show because it combines some genuinely cool ideas with some genuinely baffling creative choices (my poor Morgana and her arc). As far as I can tell, the vast majority of fic authors also feel a great love for the characters and a great frustration for the writing, and so there are a ton of very interesting AUs and fix-its and such.

Anyway, about two years ago I was listening to every interpretation of Tam Lin I could get my hands on, and somehow I came up with the idea of doing Tam Lin but in the Merlin universe – and the pun, of course, made the whole project worthwhile. (Sometimes I'm not sure if it's kind of me to subject my readers to my sense of humor, but it's not like they're compelled to keep reading if they don't like it.)

This is, like a lot of Merlin fics, set in an alternate universe where Everything Turned Out Okay, and Merlin and Morgana ended up together. Except everything's not okay; Arthur is on the throne, but everything is slightly off in Camelot. Gwen sews on the same project every day but never seems to finish it; Arthur's knights joust and play chess and never do anything else. And only Morgana seems to remember that they used to have a court sorceror, and that she was married to him. So yes, this is essentially Tam Lin + a sort of time loop (which, now I think about it, is very similar to the one from the first season of Once Upon a Time). The backstory was supposed to be a slow reveal wherein we find out that Camelot has been at war with a magical army for some time. Merlin managed to avert at least some of the danger, but as a consequence he's now magically enslaved to the queen of said army, and he's also lost his memory. Given that he's possibly the most powerful sorceror ever, this is bad news for the world at large. Morgana's the protagonist and is trying to rescue Merlin so that they can break the time loop – which will, of course, happen through faithfulness, as in Tam Lin proper.

I like many things about this idea – for one, I think that fantasy novels based on Tam Lin are almost always great. But I'm actually not sure how well it interacts with the source material. The fun of fanfic, imo, comes from making the source material work with different storylines, characters, themes, etc., and I'm not sure that the canon material adds much to this plotline. It might be better with original characters, but then it might feel uncomfortably similar to Fire and Hemlock.

I do still think the idea has its interesting points – I think the situation is the sort of thing that would have made a good episode of the show, and it fits pretty well into the formula, which goes something like this:

Magical crisis envelopes Camelot

Our protagonists (usually Merlin) have to scramble to figure out how to stop magical crisis

Arthur is oblivious

The crisis is averted by throwing more magic at it

End with Merlin, somehow, having to do some unpleasant menial labour

You'll notice I've innovated by cutting out Step 5 and having Morgana do the investigating in Step 2.

All joking aside, though, I think the real heart of this fic would be the tension and romance between Merlin and Morgana, and the idea that, as in canon, they're the only two together against the world that doesn't acknowledge or understand them. (I think this is maybe where the idea came from originally.) I think one of the issues I'm having with writing it is that a good amount of their tension in canon comes from the fact that their arcs are inverses of each other, and in this AU they would obviously have a different relationship. I'm pretty good at writing yearning, but I don't know if I can write it convincingly enough to make this story feel worthwhile. Maybe it would help if I flipped the roles? But then I think that part of the fun of this is having Merlin, who's generally rescuing everyone else in canon, be the rescue-ee. (It's a fairly popular plot in fanfics, so I'm not the only one who likes it.)

Anyway, this is one story idea that has a very cool vibe in my head, but I'm not sure it's enough to build a story on. I do like the fact that I haven't seen quite this plot in Merlin fic before, and I think it would be possible to set up some cool echoes of canon (in that Morgana would essentially be doing the same thing Merlin did in the earlier seasons). But I think it needs more justification to be set in this universe.

I still think the name "Mer Lin" is hilarious, though.

[ethanhuntfemmefatale]

One of my favorite bits about mi1 is that the initial team is half women, something that never occurs ever again. but I also think it’s sweet and I like that ethan has a girl squad especially because the later movies love to make up a woman with the exact same problem that Ethan has in that movie. It’s great!

somehow i never actually answered this but it's an excellent point and im thinking about it. yes I also love the MI1 team dearly and I'm grateful to mcq for steering us back in that direction (it seems) finally for dr2. and MI1 generally has some really fun women, max is so much of what makes MI1 great, so is Claire IMO. I have a complicated relationship with the way MI1 condemns Claire morally, which is a topic for another post, and weakens the MI1 themes to me as well as my overall feeling about how MI1 treats its women.

one thing MI does really well as a rule is giving ethan thematic parallels with the women he's paired with, making them a narrative foil instead of (or as well as) a love interest. Claire/Ethan parallels are essential to MI1 working as well as it does. Nyah/Ethan parallels are what save MI2 in my estimation. Julia/Ethan parallels are the weakest, and tbh i blame JJ Abrams for that, it's more of a situation where Julia is a conduit for Ethan's arc which...it makes sense given how much shit he's projecting on her but I would like it if she had a "reality" that resisted the "fantasy" and made her more of a thematic partner to Ethan. Maybe she's using Ethan as an escape too, maybe she needs Ethan to fill some thematically relevant emotional wound, anything that would center her mental state more in the movie, JJ. anyway moving on--jane/Ethan! Jane is not a love interest at all but she's a massively interesting narrative foil! Ilsa/Ethan is fascinating, Ilsa's arc has so many echoes of MI2, MI3 era Ethan. Ilsa incorporates Ethan's showmanship, his physicality, his earnestness, while still having her own "code." She's a killer, she's a fighter, and she is way less passive than Ethan in reaction to getting hurt. fucking Alanna/Ethan is a whole can of worms that i think about no joke every single fucking day recently but in a phrase alanna embodies Ethan's corruption in MI1 that ethan has been running from and hiding from everyone for a very long time now. And she's a strong parallel with MI1 Ethan and i would argue Max and Claire, the corrupt power-hungry women. Grace/Ethan, Grace embodies the criminal past Ethan is finally ready to accept as part of him, and her arc of being able to make the radical choice to protect others is the culmination of the entire franchise. Anyway to get into the weeds a bit i have an issue with MI and it's that the women are young. Angela Bassett is a nice exception in Fallout but her role is minor and administrative. I just wish Ethan had a powerful narrative foil that was his age. He's survived so much, he's one of the only people who's lived as long as he has in this business, and I think it would be really cool for him to be interacting with another player in the field, where you feel their age and the weight and power of it, and have that character be a woman. Idk this is why in my unrealistic fantasies claire survived mi1 to replace kittridge's role in DR1, obviously that's not in the control of mcq or anyone but it would just be so cool. Anyway that's my only beef with MI's treatment of its female characters, which is generally so much better than I normally see. I get so irritated when movies try to make me invested in a relationship based on attraction rather than a thematic connection between the characters, and part of that is that I've been spoiled by MI, where female characters play such meaty roles and have their own arcs alongside and in parallel/conflict with ethan.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

Hey CJ 👋 I hope you’re doing well in life.

I’m on the same page as you, when it comes to taking a step back from TWDG & the fandom. And, coming back to the games after sometime & seeing it in a different light. Some things that didn’t click with you back then, makes a bit more sense now.

Also, I’m curious.. what are thoughts on true colors? Steph & Ryan? 👀

Hello, my friend! 👋 Been a while! But yeah, I'm doing fine; a lot of the usual work with writing fic and blog posts in between.

Yeah it's funny to step away from a fandom you're so engrossed in for so long, like twdg was such a huge part of my life back in 2018-2020 with me running this blog, writing fic, and streaming. Now I'm just in a completely different headspace in general, and looking at the games now, they're still amazing but my reasonings are different. Also I talk about the comics a lot, which isn't something I would've guessed I'd be doing. If you go back to when they were announced, I made posts being like "yeeeeeah I dunno if I'm gonna read them :/" jokes on me. I read them multiple times, I need to make that useful haha.

As for LiS True Colors, I actually super loved it?? way more than I ever did the first LiS game?? though I think I might've loved it for the wrong reasons. I don't know, I haven't actually looked into what LiS fans thought of it compared to the other games, but for me it was a "perfect time, perfect place" game in the moment. To me the whole thing was nearly a perfect escapism game; the music is an A+, the entire town is gorgeous and covered in flowers and woods, Alex gets to live in a nice apartment for free [the true fantasy], there's a whole LARP campaign to play through, a flower festival where I've never been so conflicted on who to give a rose to, and overall just the coziest vibes. I swear, I spent most of the game just wandering around the town looking at all the flowers, it was great.

Like if Gabe didn't die and True Colors was just about Alex moving to this fantasy-like small town and working through her issues with the help of her powers, I would've been 100% on board. I didn't mind the mystery, though I totally guessed Jed would be the twist villain given the first episode immediately presents him as a hero who saved a bunch of people in the mines, I was like "Oh did he now... mmhmmm mmhmmm and he's Ryan's dad, oohhh he's gonna be this game's Jefferson-" except he was done better than Jefferson imo. He didn't turn into a cartoon character and his motivations behind the cover up were interesting. He didn't do it for the aesthetic like Jefferson did. And in the end I got everyone to side with me, except Charlotte because I told her to take the money so she wanted to speak out but couldn't, which was honestly fine with me like take their money, send Ethan to college, we'll stab Typhon just fine without your vocal support.

I liked most of the characters, except for Diane and Mac, though I reluctantly disliked Mac less by the end... Diane can suck an egg, though. I don't think I've ever wanted to throw a character out a window more than when Alex came back all bloodied with a bullet wound on her head as she exposed the truth and when she asks why no one's saying anything, Diane just goes, "We don't want to embarrass you" kjlkajdslkjalkjdl LADY DON'T PISS ME OFF

As for Ryan and Steph, I liked them both, trying to choose between them was absurdly difficult. It was like True Colors saw how easily I picked between Louis and Violet and took it as a challenge to create Ryan and Steph specifically to stump me. I mean, soft boy who loves nature, goes out of his way to be kind and helpful to those around him, has a slow build up to being emotionally available with someone he trusts, and has some daddy issues? A girl with pretty brown eyes who loves DnD and LARP, has a passion for music and will deflect with humor, who knows who she is and is eager to help those around her, and who isn't just another rehash of Chloe? They knew what they were doing; they dressed Steph up in as a witch after having Ryan act like a goof acting like enemy creatures, they were made for me.

Having done both routes, I do prefer Steph. I adore her and Alex together, but Alex and Ryan are super cute, too.

It's not a perfect game and there are issues in the writing but honestly, I don't care. I had a good time. I was engaged. I looked at every single flower and kissed a pretty girl so good that the world exploded. What a great game.

[llycaons]

ep11 (part 1): the tension in this family dinner is insane

I had to cut this in half because I posted too many images but this episode is just chock full of juicy shit. I really feel like this episode is where the series hits its stride and becomes super compelling. ep1 was a bit of a mess, but really interesting. eps 2-10 are okay, pretty good if you like the characters but the plot is hard to stay invested in. but here's where it gets good

it's nice that jc cares about MY dying. also I like his outfit

nmj's robes too. really cool design that matches his personality and surroundings perfectly

sometimes the translations inadvertently (I assume) result in lines that sound very childlike in english. not in a bad way. more like in an endearing and slightly corny way. 'safe and sound' is very sweet

wwx clearly having a good relationship with the merchants, and knowing them all personally, and being greeted by them, it all hurts so much. LP wasn't just a place and it wasn't just his siblings, it was a whole community and a home he was deeply intertwined with. he lost so much...

also jc not speaking with the merchant at all and then physically grabbing wwx's arm and dragging him to the estate is rly telling of how uncomfortable he is...the boy does not endear himself to the people

FEMALE DISCIPLES OOH

YOU ARE HURTING ME

LP is so gorgeous it's unreal

THIS LINE. FUCKERS

LP is a fantastically beautiful place, full of life and love and safety and comfort. maybe unrealistically so. but in stalks madame yu to balance this out, with her cruelty and abuse casting a long shadow over wwx and his siblings' lives. almost an inversion of the wen situation...the wens are almost cartoonishly evil in every way, but after they're vanquished another sect rolls in to take over power in the vaccum they left, and this sect commits the same atrocities with a better public face. behind the fantasy of the villain, there are others, more grounded in reality. this provides a refreshing balance to the character dynamics imo, allowing for both the fun of melodrama and the complexity and nuances of more realistic challanges the characters face

as much flack as jfm gets, his first order of business is to make sure the kids are okay and then that they get something to eat. idk how people genuinely think he's a worse parent than the woman who shows up, makes everyone around his miserable with her cutting remarks, elitism, self-esteem issues she makes her kids' problem, bullying, and genuine verbal abuse towards the children under her care, and then storms off. anyway

god he really doesn't want to see her. and everyone's like 'please yes let's fucking eat without her'

THE BITCH IS HERE. I love her entrance so much. seeing her through slatted wood, then seeing zidian, then watching her come into focus with her BODYGUARDS in attendance

she really is so hot I can't believe she didn't make it into the evilmilf tournament she would have slayed

insane how she turns every single thing anyone says into an attack on her, or something to find fault with. nobody can win in this exchange except her. it's over the top, and miserable to watch, but it tells us so much about her in ways I find very compelling. and the concerns she brings up are significant, but she's not interested in actually planning a solution, just in belittling her kids and complaining and attacking her family. idk why people think she's smart or well-versed in politics or would be a good leader when she's so terrible at communicating, self-absorbed to the point of violence, and uninterested in problem-solving. like yeah this is misogyny at work, but I find her much more compelling if she's a fucking mess of a person and I think her self-esteem issues are really significant and add a lot to her character

the work she gets done in this one scene is wild - she lays out another dimension of the tension between wwx and jc, she demonstrates exactly her issue with wwx, she serves as a template for the audience to connect with later jc, and she also informs the audience of the view many cultivators take of wwx, and how that strains his relationship with other cultivators

the way I can HEAR adult jc saying this. the cutting sarcasm, the contempt, the inability to argue against it because what is he going to say? jc later echoes her in sneeringly calling wwx a good person for trying to be a hero

after she leaves jc looks like he's just woken up from a nightmare...

this is like my favorite expression of lwj's I love it. the contempt. the stoicism. the refusal to be baited or angered. very lwj core

I was so emotional watching this scene I LOVE LAN QIREN!!! I LOVE HIM!!! his care for his nephews is obviously due to the fact that he wants the lan clan to survive, but of course it's also a personal concern. he loves wangji! he's their little boy! and he doesn't just care about the heirs, he stands out there refusing to find shelter until more of the disciples can come in and be saved

this line 🥺

it is so fucked up to see the lans all being murdered. it's a school! it's like a temple! it's a place of learning and contemplation! they're not even taught to fight people, their swords are for cultivation. and wen xu just barges in and attacks lrq! he's an old man you fuck! he's like an old professor! stop trying to hurt him!

also so so sad to see this violence in the halls where wwx laughed and joked with jc, and the little dorms where the kids were staying, where wwx made jyl smile with his paperman. ough

I'm always startled by the raw emotion on lwj's face here. I thought it was because I was getting better at reading him, but no I think he's just very expressive here in ways he isn't almost anywhere else. anyway this expression makes me go 🥺

I can't upload any more pics even tho I love this scene, and it's late and I have to go to bed, so I'm ending at the halfway point here and will come to it tomorrow

[reginarubie]

Hi Regina. I don't know if my comment went to you. Sometimes I get answers that they didn't get. So I'll send it again. I'm really curious about your recomment. I'm sorry if I bothered you.

WOW just WOW. Thank you for writing this masterpiece. As always.

The ballad in the tavern was vary interesting. Except it was hard to guess who was behind this. Maybe Black? Or just Daemon? I personally think that ballad was created through Mysaria under Daemon's orders.

It was so adorable that Aemond stood up to protect Sansa's honor. I grinned so much that my cheekbones are hurting now lol

And one of the things that always captivates me in this story is the relationship between Damon and Sansa. I was enthusiastic about Daemon approaching Sansa, but I didn't expect his interest in her to develop to that extent.

Was Daemon's fantasy with Rhaenyra fulfilled or broken after he married her? So he keeps looking for whores even though he's married to Rhaenyra, and now he's obsessed with Sansa?

I was surprised when Christon said that Daemon now prefers whores with red hair. Is he fascinated by Sansa's beauty and wit? Now I wonder what Daemon would do if he had a chance to capture Sansa or somehow have her now that his desire for her has been publicly revealed.

+ I honestly can't see Rhaenyra okay with her husband lusting after Sansa. I remember her displeasure had already been revealed before. And does Rhaenyra already know the content of that ballad? How would she react if she found out later?

Ciao nonny,

Sorry for the delay, I’ve been spending more time with my fam and my man and thus I’ve not paid that much attention to my askbox.

Tbh, nonny, who has created it? Mysaria is the most educated guess, kudos to you, she’s the link Daemon has with the small folk and, we know that Daemon for how brazen he is, knows that the love of the people is crucial when facing such a thing.

The difference between him and Sansa? Possibly the way they were raised. Ned raised his kids by showing them him sitting with his small folk and listening to their difficulties in hope to better their lives, instead the Targaryens believed — even the most “evolved” of them — that they were a different breed, better in any way and thus that those beneath them are to be content with being shown the least modicum of interest, they are useful to venerate them, but they do the least they could do for it because they should be venerated for the simple reason that they exist which goes against every Stark’ moral.

His fantasy with Rhaenyra is broken until he is in power. He had power over child-Rhaenyra, a power he lacks toward his wife (look at the chokehold scene). I don’t doubt there are feelings there, but Daemon’ first love is himself, first and foremost, and the people around him are reflection of it.

His fantasy with Rhaenyra was not broken because it was never whole. Daemon wanted to something, Rhaenyra was the mean for that something (the Iron throne, being loved) it’s a bit narcissistic by my humble opinion.

He’s obsessed with Sansa because Sansa has the backbone he likes with the femininity of youth and elegance that Rhaenyra has lost during the years — she was the Realm’s Delight, until she became a nasty entitled woman — Sansa instead whilst being older than his typical is still younger than Rhaenyra, feminine and not as brass. All things Daemon likes, but most of all, to him she’s intriguing, a mystery. That’s what intrigues him and makes him obsessed imo.

Rhaenyra was never okay with any of his escapades, look at Nettles. She’ll never be okay with it, at least on that degree Rhaenyra knows she deserves — like any other person — a faithful partner at her side.

As always thank you for dropping by! Sorry for the delay, know this, I read the ask as soon as you sent it (despite being unable to answer) and it makes me feel — like all of you taking time to write to me — very happy a writer indeed! So thank you!

As always sending all my love (and hope you like the new chapter) ~G.

[saturniade]

was brushing my teeth yesterday and thinking about dnd orcs / fantasy racisms.. wrote a lot and im not sorray!!

it’s wild and interesting to me that between the two races introduced in dnd as playable (in 5e books beyond player’s handbook), kenkus are the ones described (in Volo at least iirc) as literally cursed to not have any creativity and to be able to only copy (parrot!) whatever is around them -- which i think is flavored as Kenkus Are Great At Making Copies but should also imo mean that Kenkus Believe Whatever Everyone Else Says and Are Extremely Prone To Being Lied To And Biased bc NO CRITICAL THINKING -- while the orcs are like. made by gods to be violent or whatever? and they just choose to embrace the killing and hate and slaughtering apparently EVEN THO they can think and learn and change their ways? and some of them are literally explicitly exceptions to the violent brutal stereotype!!!

and yet ORCS are THE titular enemy of dnd. even tho they are a much more uh conscious/mindful/potentially civilised race than for example the kenkus. and i feel bad for them lol cause the orcs keep being traditional Disposable Evilguys in dnd beginning from ye olde adnd times (when honestly enemies were made in a simpleminded ways of random mishmash of folklore, media and whatever sounds cool) which were in turn inspired by lotr’s “orcs are like evil magic slop things or whatever dont think about it”. and now 5e is trying to be more inclusive and mindful about Killing A People Cause They Were Born GREEN!!! and tries to stray away from fantasy racism and “evil races” introduced to its core world like 50 years ago. but still it is IN THERE...

i mean for example it’s weird to me bc i recently played a published dnd 5e module where you fight orcs a lot of time. and in another published module which takes place in another world we play with a half-orc who experiences 0 discrimination :| and uuugh these for the lack of a better term double standards against A PEOPLE? is horrible the more i think about it lol.

i think that dnd (if not The Official Setting than the DMs in their own worlds) should either make orcs, like, either explicitly non-civilised/non-selfaware/non-conscious monsters with the intelligence of an ape at most. or do the opposite & get rid of ALL fantasy racial prejudices concerning the orc race... idk man... the kenkus have it fucking easy! i mean those guys are more than anyone sound like they can be like divinely/naturally “programmed” for evil cause they don’t have critical thinking as i mentioned. and i haven’t encountered any texts that talk about orcs being literally unable to change their ways because of divine/magical reasons or whatnot. theyre just evil just because!!

and i havent even started with the DROW and DEEP GNOMES and ALL THAT STUFF? and other "bad races” that exist solely to allow the players to be a little casually fantasy racist OR carry out a power fantasy of killing a person with higher cognitive functions and be praised or at least not thrown in jail for it. (and i mean, this scenario!!?? some people who play dnd really just want to have a smarter non-animal/elemental/monster/undead/etc enemy who makes the players come up with an actual Plan Of Attack or solve Puzzles or otherwise give the players the ability to demonstrate their tactical abilities / intelligence! and i think thats a fine power fantasy to have! i just hate that sometimes in these cases instead of coming up with wholeass villians with motivations DMs just go Uhhhhh Ok Why Should I Invent A Politically Correct Bike. Go Fight People That Are Of An Evil Race Sounds Good!!!)

and that’s what i thought and that’s where i would put my conclusions if i had anything smart or specific to say. but i think in the end the fantasy racism is something that started a long time ago and stuck around so much that it got very ingrained in dnd, or even the expectations that people have from dnd, that it’s hard to either tweak the “evil race” concept in a way which is not very dubious at best, OR turn the concept of orcs/drows/etc around that they are no longer evil at all. what do you think ?????? leave a comment down below!!!! LOL!

[gloriousmonsters]

sorrowland is kind of a funny book bc on one hand it’s very obviously a power fantasy about mutating into a cool monster and killing bad guys but the author is like. self aware about it just enough that we keep on hitting the pause button to be like ‘hey guys so... i know we just popped a woman’s head off like a cork and defended against a hail of bullets with cool bone wings so we can then absolutely slaughter some soldiers..... but Violence Is Bad. Addiction To Power Is Bad. I mean yes we’re still killing these people and not trying to like communicate with them at all but it’s ok we put a little sign up saying Don’t Do This Cool Thing, It’s Not That Fulfilling Actually, so it’s fine right? right. ok back to the protagonist murdering the shit out of people with magic fungi powers’

[eightyonekilograms]

In what is I think a fairly common experience, I've been watching less and less anime as I get older as I get more sick of Anime Bullshit. A lot of times you see people claim that the Anime Bullshit is because it's "too sexualized", but that's not right. The issue with anime is that its sexuality is so adolescent. Teenagers are terrified of sex even as they're vaguely aware it's a thing they want, and so they deal with this by falling back on a "safe" set of pre-fabricated tropes that let you experience sex at a remove, in one of those gloved boxes. That set of tropes is the Anime Bullshit.

This wouldn't even be so bad if this problem was just confined to the shows aimed at teenagers - I don't begrudge teenagers for being afraid of sex, it's a developmental milestone everyone has to go through. The problem is that for the last decade+ the inmates have been running the asylum: increasingly the entire industry is not just for but also by adult otaku who are stuck in arrested development, and their stunted sexuality is ruining my shows.

So yeah, we need more mature sexuality in anime. Sometimes this would manifest as less sexual content: one of the manifestations of adolescent sexuality is sticking fanservice where it patently doesn't belong, and for sure there are tons of anime that would be vastly improved if the fanservice was cut out altogether. But plenty of times it would be just the opposite! Shield Hero is IMO a great example of a show that would've been better if it was way more sexual.

If you're not familiar with it, the premise is: angry misogynist blackpilled dude (Naofumi) gets isekai'd to fantasy world, except instead of being the hero beloved by all, everyone there hates his guts and wants to kill him. For plot contrivance reasons he has no offensive capabilities, and so has to buy a slave girl (Raphtalia) to do his fighting for him. Said slave girl ends up falling in love with him, he refuses to reciprocate because, yo, that's weird.

This should've been kinky as fuck! The entire show should've been filled-to-the-brim with sexual tension and self-loathing. Naofumi should've been angry that the world programmed him to have to decline to bang this girl. Raphtalia should've gone through torturous cycles of self-doubt after having it explained that she's only in love with Naofumi because of the hella weird power dynamic, and not knowing whether she should believe that or not. At one point they should've hooked up, and then afterwards he throws up with guilt from it, which makes her feel terrible because she wants another round. But, no, because this is written by and for adolescents, the show immediately reverted to Generic Harem Garbage with utterly standard fanservice tropes and nothing else. What a waste.

(And then there's a third category: shows with should've had less and more sexual content at the same time. Dragon Maid is exactly this: less fanservice with Kanna/Saikawa, more angsty sexual tension between Kobayashi and Tohru please. That scene with the love potion was the ultimate example of anime's terror of sex pissing me off: you wrote yourself an utterly perfect setup and then chickened out with a dumb gag right when it could've paid off in a half-dozen totally different ways. Infuriating!)

[kiseiakhun]

Ask Meme: GARTH

GARTH

First impression - I encountered him first in the rb Titans book so I thought he was the muscle of the team 💀 Like he was one of those STRONG BURLY MEN ready to FIGHT EVERYTHING. But I also fell in love with his design and paid a disproportionate amount of attention to him; he was the most visually interesting character in the book for me.

Impression now - I want Garth to [censored] me and [censored] and then [censored] and

All joking aside, Garth is such an interesting character to me. He has such an air of mystery about him probably because he never appears in any books and there's just. So much potential in his character? Like, if you go down a list and tick off his traits... he's one of the more tragic characters in the dcu and he has such a complicated relationship with his mentor. He's strong enough to stand next to the likes of Superman and Wonder Woman. It's been stated on-page that Garth is one of the most competent magic users in the DCU. He should be a powerhouse. He should be in every major event, standing next to the headliners, and it's so tragic that he suffered from the Aquafam irreverency syndrome that struck everyone close to Arthur. Garth feels like a character in limbo; Arthur himself is just stepping back into the spotlight, and now that we have Jackson he can't really fill the role of Aqualad. It's clear that the writers don't really know what to do with him and that's so sad :/

I looove him. I love the concept of his character. When he's written right (re: the way I prefer), he works as such a great counter-balance to the more hotheaded personalities he's usually stuck with. He gives breathing space on a team full of aggressively emotional people. He's like a rock to rest on among a stormy sea. There's so much to explore when it comes to just him, too - I mean, Garth is the LOST PRINCE of an UNDERWATER KINGDOM born with STRONG INNATE MAGIC POWERS who was ABANDONED BY HIS PARENTS FROM BIRTH in order to SAVE HIM. He has purple eyes!! He has cool tattoos! HE HAS SEXY EYE SCARS. He's the subject of an ancient prophecy! His relationship with Arthur jumps all over the place from love to hate to love to hate. He has SO MANY PARENTAL ISSUES you can fill up a whole book with them. He has SO MANY ISSUES. Garth is literally an anime pretty boy. I can't believe more people don't love him, except I can believe it because he rarely ever shows up ;_; Wasted potential, thy name is Garth

Favorite moment

Remember when he had to rehydrate himself every two hours? That sure was a choice.

In all seriousness though, probably the time he led the mission to save Lilith (Omen). Let him be smart and competent... let his friends see and acknowledge it...

Idea for a story - ONE DAY I'm going to write that Roygarth fantasy epic where they have to journey through Treacherous Lands to save someone (Wally). Currently I have just vibes. But once I find a plot it's over for you hoes.

Unpopular opinion - Imagine if Garth was popular enough for people to have opinions. Umm. I like his rebirth look better 😔 that's the version I was introduced to and unfortunately I imprinted.

Favorite relationship - I looove his relationship with the Titans, to the surprise of absolutely no one. I do wish his and Wally's friendship would get explored more - he and Roy have this vitriolic thing going on, and he occasionally pops up in Nightwing books to give Dick supportive words of advice, and he and Donna have similarish personalities (at least outwardly, Donna seems a lot less chill on the inside than the image she tries to project) so they have this tendency to just snark about the others from the side and it's great lmao. In comparison, his and Wally's relationship seems less prominent which is a shame imo. They're friends too!

Favorite headcanon - After Koryak died Garth plundered his clothes and stole his fashion sense. I realized a couple days ago that Rebirth Garth resembles Koryak far more than he does pre-Flashpoint Garth and I'm still recovering from it.

Also he's so chill because he smokes a metric fuckton of weed. (Garth ran out of weed at the start of rebirth and that's why he was Like That)

[ask meme]

[arcane-ish]

Thinking smutty Mel x Silco dynamics

@magalimoons said: That makes sense re Silco’s dodgy imaginings but I think it could be done in a hot way, like it’d be dome rough power play but not necessarily demeaning. Yes re Mel and potentially going into dark shit w/women lovers.

I guess my way of thinking was that when Silco talks about his motivations in Act 1 and him and Vander go back and forth about respect, I always got the impression that deep down he wants to humiliate the topsiders. So I tend to picture that he would fantasize about humiliating scenarios if it was about top siders (ie make her crawl, make her beg, smudge her makeup, pull and mess up her hair, make her cry, make her choke on it, enjoy my power over them when I always felt powerless vis a vis the topsiders, make her fear me). 

Which you know, can work for some people, but I tend to enjoy fantasies more when I can at least imagine the other person would be into it if they knew about it, and here I just can’t with Mel. 

(I think I’ve said before, I find it very telling that imo it doesn’t come across that Mel enjoys the power difference between her and Jayce. Like I do feel like maybe she enjoys that she is more experienced than him and she enjoys teaching him (in regards to politics), but she generally does everything to raise him to her level (ie making his house a major house). Rather than getting a kick out of being with somebody who is clearly below her in rank. So I just think powerplay/aggressive roleplay power play wouldn’t be her thing, particularly with male partners.)

I thought about the Silco fantasizing about Mel concept some more, I guess if he knew her better and respected her, I guess I could imagine a scenario where he imagines her as the dominant or seductive one and I guess that could work better (for some reason my mind suggests him doing foot worship on her and fantasizing about her giving him a foot job [because that would preserve the distance between them/would be her keeping him at foot’s length, would perserve the dynamic that he can’t fully have and touch her, or maybe him fantasizing about her riding him and teasing him with her hair]). 

Re: Mel and Woman: I kind of imagine that any relationship with a woman where there is any sort of age difference would get very emotionally messy for Mel very quickly (like whether you think Mel x Caitlyn* or Mel x Grayson or of course any OC), regardless of whether she was the younger or the older one in the relationship. And I tend to see Mel as a smart cookie who would hence avoid relationships like that because she is aware of her own weaknesses and want to steer clear of them or only deal with them in a very “calculated risk” kind of way. (huh I guess I kind of headcanon at her having that point of view somewhat in common with her mother who sent Mel away because Mel could be her weakness, at the same time I think we clearly see her experimenting with some weakness/letting herself be softer with Jayce, but again, I feel in a very soft calculated risk kind of way) (I guess that could be a fun dynamic for a Mel x female character story, for her to be all “I normally don’t do that, but with you I just can’t stay away, for you I’m making the exception”)

Sidenote: If there was a flirtation/tension between Mel and Silco, I tend to head canon Mel as somebody who is quite loyal in relationships and who wouldn’t just cheat on Jayce, somebody who would end the relationship before starting new and who wouldn’t end the relationship easily (because investment). (which brings an interesting plot bunny of like a scene where things end between Jayce and Mel in a bitter way somehow and Silco comments on it, like I can picture him definitelly as the guy who goes “What a fool Talis was, had no idea what he had, bad things should happen to him” and Mel would appreciate it/it would at least make her smile in that situation (because she is vulnerable to Jayce))

Circling back on Mel and woman, actually when I think about it, that is like one of the few ways I can picture a (dark/dead dove do not eat) Mel x Silco to come about. Like let’s say he is in a situation where he regularly hangs out at the council and one day he comes across Mel’s mom and a lightbulb goes off and it’s very “now I finally get Mel’s personality”. Like now he understands her inner insecurites and can imagine a way he would pressure her into bed (by poking at her insecurities and taunting her about he rmother). (and because she is a topsider I could picture him have no moral qualms about it, because top siders deserve anything bad happening to them)  

I think that’s kind of one of the differences between them, where imo Mel’s way of manipulating people to me feels a bit more celebral and fair, manipulating people’s wants. While Silco’s style of manipulation to me seems more about understanding people’s weaknesses and poking at them (Marcus springs to mind). Like even when he is positively inspiring he tries to get people to recall past indignities to rally them to him. 

Sidenote again: I’m genuinely curious what would the dynamic have been if through some timeline differences if Mel had ever come across a young, pre-injury Silco. Again, looking at Jayce and looking at young!Silco, I’m still pretty sure that spindly Silco wouldn’t have been her type, but I could picture her being kind to him and having pity on him. And I could picture as less jaded, more idealistic young Silco crushing on her like crazy (and her being very “letting him down gently/I’m flattered but you are not my type”). 

Sidenote of Sidenote: Now Mel and young Vander ... now that I could picture be a temptation for her, to hit that at least for a one night stand. 

(maybe that would be a fun setting for a fic, where like Mel is trying to find out more about her enemies and consults a Noxian or Shuriman mage to let her peer into the past or even walk around in the past for a short time and attend like a planning meeting of young Silco and young Vander)

[though I guess it’s not completely impossible that young!Mel might have attended a revolutionary meeting undercover out of curiosity pre Vander&Silco fallout? Like if you buy into the whole concept that the fallout happened around the time Vander took in Vi and Powder that would then be only a couple of years before Act 1, so that could have been Mel around age 20]

* sidenote of sidenote: I could picture super delish dynamics in a Mel x Caitlyn fic. Like maybe some amount of sneaking around/forbidden love/forbidden fruit because Mel works with Cait’s mom and doesn’t necessarily want Cait’s mom to know. Or Mel trying to give Cait advice how to handle her mother in a more diplomatic manner. (firmly thinking pre Act 2 here, so no Cait having met Vi yet and no Mel dating Jayce)

[morlock-holmes]

re: romances in rpgs should all be player-sexual, i think i mostly agree with you, but there are times when sexuality is, like, part of the character’s whole… thing?

like, there’s dorian pavus in dragon age: inquisition whose whole tragic backstory is the homophobia of his family and home culture, and gil brodie in mass effect: andromeda whose storyline is about how his homosexuality prevents him from procreating in a typical way, which, since he’s part of a settlement effort unable to receive reinforcements from home, is quite a pickle.

being able to romance them as a female character would just… be pointless (there are still mods that allow you to do that, and… i mean, sure, but why?) and mandating player-sexual romances mean these characters would never have existed, which would be quite a shame imo. idk, what’s your take on it?

There's an argument to be made there, certainly, and I haven't really caught up with all the major RPGs yet, but generally I find that they're written in a way where the PC is a black hole, bending all the rest of the characterization around them; people will tend to open up about personal problems or give them a great deal of trust at the drop of a hat just to keep the game moving and create a kind of power fantasy.

The story in these games generally treats the PC as a golden child who is one of the most important and trusted people to everyone around them and I think there's a bit of dissonance when sexual orientation is the only thing getting in the way.

If you have a story where the PC has a more naturalistic relationship with other characters I think it would work better.

If you go back to older RPGs especially, like from the 80s and 90s, one issue with building your character is that you don't know how the game works yet.

Like, in the original Fallout, there's a trait you can choose at character creation called "Night Person" which gives you reduced perception and charisma during the day in exchange for increased perception and charisma at night.

Unfortunately, all the NPCs, you know... Sleep at night.

If you took that trait in a tabletop RPG (And Fallout was originally based on the tabletop rpg GURPS) your GM would contrive to create situations where prowling around at night was beneficial to you. Unfortunately, in a computer game, the amount of game you can do at night is a fixed amount which, as a player, you don't know ahead of time.

It sticks in my head because I took that trait the first time I played and I remember the annoyance of slowly realizing that, like, 70% of the game takes place during the day.

One big issue is that for verisimilitude reasons, you usually can't change your character's gender once the game starts, so if, two hours in, you realize that the character you're most interested in isn't into people of the gender you chose, you're kind of out of luck; you can either start the game over or just accept it and try the other way on your next playthrough.

If you have a really compelling story reason then that might be a sacrifice worth making, it's just, in Mass Effect so far I don't really think it does anything except keep 2006 homophobes from getting too nervous.

Kaiden, the romance option for femshep, is so, so, so boring. He is the unflavored rice cake of love interests. I don't really know if it's the writing or the acting but there is just, like, 0% chemistry between him and Shepard.

Looking at wikis apparently you can romance him and Liara, and then suggest a poly thing only for him to turn it down, and my curiosity about how exactly they're going to have him go, "A threesome with you and your hot blue friend? No thank you ma'am I'm a good Christian boy" is literally the only interesting thing about him as a romance option.

Like, at least as a love interest Ashley has some energy, you know?

I hope Mass Effect 2 at least manages to give the ladies somebody interesting.

[sugar-petals]

Bts voice analysis anon here! I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to respond ❤ it made complete sense why yoongi is the deepest I kinda feel bad for him everytime he wants to sounds cheerful or speak in a way so people can hear him he strains his voice

lot to talk about, i’d like to expand on this. especially what his voice being the deepest means for bts’ songs. plus, where his undiscovered vocal talents are, and in what manner his voice will not strain.

that he’s very introverted contributes to what you say, but yoongi is certainly the odd one out voice-wise, such low baritones hardly sound upbeat. similar to how taehyung being the odd one out in the vocal line whose head voices are literal superpowers. i really respect him for singing with jin and jimin who can climb one octave higher than him, up to C#5! and with jk who has the best technique and breaks into the 6th octave if he goes on like that.

it’s very much like yoongi who probably has to mix their tracks back and forth to fit his parts with hobi (who is a tenor as a rapper! — very uncommon) and namjoon who raps in several modes. very low, very high, very impactfully. he’s the most full-bodied baritone in the group even if he’s only the third-deepest. the tone is just so rich. both hoseok and RM are extreme vocal chameleons on top of that. in speaking and in their music you can hear the difference to yoongi all the time. they don’t suddenly drop in pitch and they’re vocal acrobats.

hobi in particular, this guy can do anything. the sheer agility my god, he connects his registers. he can go up and down, impersonate and do a million effects, adlibs, you know the drill. it’s him who actually owns the “cheerful/loud and clear” brand you mention. which is good if not fantastic for yoongi’s production endeavours, the group mood, and how bts cannot be ignored — but tough for yoongi’s voice and comparison thinking, and when he tries to make a point in interviews. maybe it’s not bad that bts have to slow down sometimes to let yoongi speak, but his tone is drowned out (not intentionally of course) in other occasions and he wakes up hoarse often as we saw. which might sound hot, but it’s not good for him as you say.

to be clear. i wouldn’t chalk down his more monotonous and silent tone as a weakness, it’s just outside of bts’ other vocal variety. he makes up for it with speed and good lungs anyway. we just have to listen more closely to him in talks/episodes/conferences but i think he shouldn’t worry about it either or try to sound more enthusiastic, the fans love his soothing speech for its pure sake. he does change it regardless to be more poignant and blend in. it has pros and cons but it wears him out.

yoongi’s voice is under that strain not just in conversation but also in the studio if he wants to bring connection to the rap line parts instead of having 3 songs in 1. which usually ends up happening anyway. that’s also why the cyphers (!) switch genres mid-song so often: their voices are all strong in different registers! yoongi the lowest, joon midrange, and hoseok up high. 

that’s why cypher pt2 is a HUGE stunt and production masterpiece: hoseok’s part is tuned differently, then other instrumentals start with namjoon. and you can literally hear, okay alright a deep voice is coming! from there it just gets deeper and deeper until yoongi is just rapping over a bass guitar (every baritone’s best friend lmao!). god, please give yoongi a big bassline for his every part. “ugh” is the exact opposite: yoongi has to start too high and namjoon also has problems with the key, only hoseok can fully take off after 1:50 with perfect vocal stability. guess which song is autotuned: it’s not cypher pt2! a 3 in 1 song fuels the rapline in a way where they are most comfortable. it’s crazy how far apart they are among each other vocally and it has to be considered.

it’s a dilemma but also why bts’ rap line can tackle any song with at least one member suiting it. they complement each other, every register (except the rare whistle register, aka what mariah/ariana do) is covered. i think that contributed to bts’ fame, it’s so important. however usually, the song caters to hoseok since tenors are preferred in kpop music, or it caters to RM as he’s the central songwriting entity even if mind you, he always thinks about all the members and works closely with yoongi.

but even with joon’s support, it doesn’t work if yoongi is caught in his wish to be a tenor. we’ve seen how much the guy talks about wanting his range to become wider and how he even tried singing quite high for his standards on d-2. he goes as far as collabing only with sopranos to help him achieve that pitch. yoongi is invested to pretty much change his entire vocal type 🙁because the environment simps for high notes so bad (which is fair, falsetto is related to releasing certain happy hormones and highlights parts in songs, but still).

... he actually can’t, unless he wants to damage his throat. that’s the last thing we want. a listener can get the serotonin from a very deep voice equally if they got good taste.

thing is. you cannot morph yourself into a different vocal type and shift your range to the opposite of your comfort zone unless you’re whitney houston. even one in a million tenors like baekhyun can’t make themselves a baritone. his lowest notes are less clear no matter how hard he practices, even if his chest voice is almost operatic and his technique excels. meanwhile, chanyeol (who’s a lyric baritone and exo’s deepest voice) effortlessly hits them without (!!) that kind of decade-long training. have baekhyun or jimin been called bad singers for not being able to cover the other end of the spectrum? nope. so: why would yoongi be a bad vocalist who needs autotune. with lessons, oh man, he could do a lot and many things he dreams of. he has a very unique timbre and enough musical knowledge to do so.

so, we see the magic of your natural supported range. it’s simply given to you. imagine that: if you know you’re not a tenor, you could sort of outsing jungkook — obviously not by technique, but projection— as long as the song is tailored to you and the notes are low enough. yep, jk’s lower register is not extremely forward. each note is perfectly sung because he’s jk, but his power vocals are settled much higher. joon/tae/yoongi would sound much fuller with huge oomph in those lines. that’s where yoongi would be much more clear-sounding to us. a lot of baritone rappers in kpop would be damn good singers. 

that’s why it’s good how a lot of rappers produce solos on their own so they can try it out. 

you just have to respect that your range usually (not always) goes in one direction. once yoongi rightfully decides to abandon his high note fantasy and goes lower just for fun, we are not safe anymore lmao! exception for range: female singers have an advantage there. trained mezzo-sopranos have great access to the head voice and lower registers since they’re in the perfect middle of the scale. but the guys, forget it, even the baritenors. yoongi’s fullest voice will always be coming from a chesty depth and we love him for it. guy just needs to realize.

that’s why his real challenge is rather somehow tweaking the rap parts so his voice finds good resonance like in “혼술” or even “ddaeng”. where his voice is strong, relaxed, and full and flowing. ddaeng — “boy with luv”, too— is ironically in a very high pitch and again caters to hobi’s tone the most, but: yoongi just scales down to his own octave and it still fits, so — great key choice and musicality! and adaptation. it’s not easy to do. you can tell he plays piano.

he either becomes less easy on the ear or has to autotune himself entirely if he works against his voice. or: goes on a track way outside his supported range (dynamite, WOW). it’s a shame. “daechwita” and “agust d” are such a case: both go into the head voice where your resonance should show the most aka the chorus. there are aggressive belts/snarls/shouts that make more sense for higher, trained voices. yoongi is most famous for raps that are literally designed to fuck up his vocal cords 😷that he’s so skilled as a rapper prevents him from that to a degree, but it’s still not healthy. he adapts a lot to bts’ overall delivery but he doesn’t have to, in fact: he could go in the other direction and it would work even better.

the reason for the title track issue: they are the most energetic. in k-pop, energetic means amping up the pitch. and that’s probably a logical choice and a natural human association. if you make a baritone kpop track with a lot of energy, it probably becomes pretty creepy, uneasy, film noir. but i think that’s exactly yoongi’s thing: to unsettle and critique and rage. i think it could work out. lil nas x is a baritone pulling it off. he achieves energetic title tracks, he honors his vocal type well imo. his live singing is cool af, i need this so hard in the rap landscape. so, it’s not impossible to do.

the trick is probably setting everything to minor key. surprise... yoongi’s challenging title tracks are all in major key. boy with luv: minor key, interesting. the former are extremely difficult for him to do so hats off. “shadow” is more suitable for his baritone as is “burn it”. it needs a very heavy, dark track. which is why it’s good that yoongi has that kind of public image. a baritone’s best genre is not super light and whimsical. that’s why all of our baritone faves are not main vocalists but main rappers. kai, taehyung, jaehyun: low voices in vocal lines are soldiers.

---

now a note on yoongi’s best method of singing since it reflects his voice type and brings out the fullness of it. as in, how does it crack and strain less? guess why “사람” is yoongi’s favorite d-2 song to sing. it’s ALL his comfortable range and the singing — very beautifully done —  is in mixed register (= head + chest)! which imo might be his secret weapon. it allows him to do what he longs to do successfuly without going extremely high. bingo.

because: even with baritones, the golden middle is still important. they’re not as deep as a bass, after all. that’s why their voices are so honey-laced in the mixed range and it sounds amazing. heaven, their timbre sounds so seductive. so, it’s wonderful when they find their middle and dare to sing. 

i wish yoongi gets/makes more tracks aimed at just that. in “outro tear” he has to go both too low and too high so it takes a lot of production effort to patch it together. the rapline is doing god’s work to make all their voices sound cohesive without being trained singers. it’s always a trade-off and risk, an immense balance act. “paldogangsan” is hard on yoongi’s voice but works as a whole plus it caters to namjoon to carry the song’s message. the cyphers are chopped up and not chart-friendly but each member is in their comfort zone. 

PS: i said bts’ rap line covers all registers except one. i think that jin is the one to complete bts’ entire spectrum coming from the vocal line. i’m no whistle note expert but dionysus went pretty high up there, i think he might be able to do it. it’s very impressive, even jungkook and jimin probably don’t have access to that register. so, another point for bts being a very ‘complete’ group.

[honeybomb4thebear]

Nsfw alphabet for Nekomaru?? 🥺👉👈

I LOVE HIM SO MUCH YES MY HIMBO. WOULDN’T WANNA BANG HIM BUT I LOVE HIM

Other anon who asked for the smexy himbo, here it is!!!

NEKOMARU NIDAI N//S*FW ALPHABET

A=Aftercare - What they do/act like after sex. ⦁ So soft uwu! He'll be so caring and handle you so well, you'll melt. Nekomaru is a caring person already, and it only increases after sex. Let yourself get spoiled by the himbo....

B=Bondage - Are they into BDSM, and how far they’ll go if they have a green light. ⦁ hMMm i get experimentalist vibes from him. Don't get your hopes up though, he isn't into it much.

C=Cum - pretty self explanatory. ⦁ ...Good luck because he cums a lot, like, a lot ❤ but he takes his time too, so... It's sweet yet salty at the same time, idk how

D=Dom - Are they dominant, submissive, a switch? ⦁ Without a doubt, dominant! He is one of the most dom characters in the franchise imo aksjdakdjahdkj he is so mature and understanding........

E=Edgeplay - Similar to ‘Kinks’ except it’s a lot riskier than usual kinks (knifeplay, breathplay, etc.). ⦁ Why do I feel like slight breathplay..? AKJSAKJAHSKJAH he isn't really keen on hurting you so slight choking is the best he can do

F=Fantasy - A fantasy of theirs (ex: a teacher/student fantasy). ⦁ Mutual masturbation. I feel like he'd love to watch you touch yourself while your half- lidded eyes are looking at him. What a sexy thing to get himself off to! He likes it when you guys do it while you are sitting on his lap too. To tease you, he will grind his dick against your sex. Sheesh, now that's just unfair... Dw though you two end up having sex after that

G=Got Caught - How they react when they get caught having sex. ⦁ I... Feel like he would not notice because he is too focused on you. OR, if he did notice it he'd let out a laughter while still telling the other person to get out.

H=Hot Spots - A place that drives them crazy when stimulated (EX: neck). ⦁ Nekomaru doesn't have a hot spot, even tho he knows all of your hot spots like the back of his hand. But it does turn him on when you touch and compliment his abs, though.

I=Intimacy - How romantic they are, or can be, before, during, or after sex. ⦁ He is blunt during sex, but that doesn't mean he isn't romantic. Like he would make jokes even without intending to make them, which causes you to giggle a bit. It's alright though he likes it when you laugh so he will talk about how cute you look when you laugh- it's kind of a pleasant rollercoaster, really.

J=Journey - Their ideal way of leading up to sex. ⦁ Cuddling, while watching TV was supposed to be all innocent yet you know that Nekomaru likes it a lot when it's not. It always leads to sex, without fail.

K=Kinks - I’ll list a few of their kinks, be they the normalized ones or kinkier kinks. ⦁ Slight scent kink. He doesn't mind sweat, like, at all. Y'know what I mean? ⦁ Also, mirror sex?? Is so hot??? For him??? Like wow. He likes showing you how beautiful you look while pounding into you. The full view drives him crazy, his thrusts get even more intense. ⦁ And finally, biting kink. He likes marking you, especially with his teeth.

L=Location -  Where they like to have sex at, do they like risky locations, etc. ⦁ Aside from bed, maybe some of the gym equipments? He likes combining sex and working out, so it'd very hot for him if he could take you from behind as you try to do some sort of a back work out. Is it too weird? Sorry lol

M=Masturbation - How they are when they get themselves off, what they get themselves off to. ⦁ His sex drive isn't that high so he does it when he gets random erections, I think. Like I said, he'd love to get himself off to your naked body, like right in front of him but if not he has to use his imagination...

N=NO - A few things that they will absolutely, under no circumstances, ever do. ⦁ Knifeplay. If something has to make you bleed, it will be his teeth so... Yeah.

O=On’s - Their top turn on’s that they have (things that’ll get them super horny super quickly). ⦁ Seeing you all turned on turns on him too. He just loves seeing you hot and bothered, he thinks you look so adorable and hot at the same time.

P=Position -  Their favourite position to have sex in. ⦁ That position where it's missionary but you put your legs on his shoulders, or he pushes them all the way back to your shoulders. Anything that combines exercising with sex, basically. ⦁ I just feel like he'd be willing to do Kama Sutra positions.

Q=Quickie - Do they like it, do they prefer quickies over actual sex, etc. ⦁ Not a big fan of them honestly. He likes to take his sweet time with you, enjoy you fully and just have fun with you. So yeah, he prefers actual sex for sure.

R=Rough - How rough they are, or get, when in bed. ⦁ He gets too caught up in the moment... So you will have trouble walking. But don't worry, he can do "it" to you anytime so that you become more energetic!!

S=Stamina - How long they can go before they tap out. ⦁ Y'all... He is keeping you up all night KJSHKJAHSDKHAKDJAH He works out a lot, he has a healthy diet and is a healthy boy with a strong body overall, you do the math.

T=Toys - Do they use toys, do they own them, what kind, etc. ⦁ Why can I imagine him demanding you to work out with a vibrator up your ass/coochie? I just... Can. So yeah, he owns vibrators. He says it he uses them on you for "exercising purposes" but you know that that's not it, at all.

U=Unfair - How much they tease you, how they tease you, etc. ⦁ He doesn't like seeing you in pain, but what he does like is seeing you all turned on.  This man knows everything about you. What turns you on, what turns you off, what pushes you over the edge... In other words, he has complete power over you. So yes, he WILL tease you, the exact way that will keep you up on your toes, the way that you will end up throwing your pride aside and beg for his sweet touch.

V=Volume - How loud they get when having sex, things they might say, etc. ⦁ He is quite loud actually, because he enjoys it fully. He is blunt during sex, I mean as always, but that just makes his compliments more geniune. Like you better believe him when he compliments your ass, belly and thighs.

W=Wild Card - a random letter for the character of your choice. ⦁ Nekomaru is the one most comfortable with his body, so I think he'd have absolutely no problem trying the costumes you bought for him. He is already super manly, so why would he be insecure? Buy him an erotic bunny costume he will laugh at first but will wear it nonetheless. It looks good on him too and he knows it---

X=X-Ray - How they look with their clothes off. ⦁ BURJ KHALIFAAAAAAAAAAAA. Seriously, be careful when you give him head, or you might just choke. It's 29 cm at length, 24 at girth. ⦁ Needless to say, he is muscular af. Himbo king of the Danganronpa, sorry Kaito

Y=Yearning - How often they need to have sex. ⦁ I doubt Nekomaru that is a horny boy, but I feel like he'd keep up with you. Like I said, you being horny turns him on as well so if you think about it, he does too. If you don't, he probably won't either.

Z=ZZZ - How quickly they fall asleep after having sex. ⦁ He is NOT sleeping 'til you, his little spoon, are sleeping peacefully between his muscular arms. Peacefully, so don't worry about getting crushed between them, you'll be more than okay.

[exciting]

As requested, books / series I read in 2020 in the order I read them, with a few brief thoughts. (This took me a hot second because there are a few and also I moved cities) Should I keep a consistent goodreads? Yes I should but I didn’t think of that at the time, so bone apple teeth & sorry if I offend you abt your faves x

P.S. I can’t figure out how to do a read more on mobile so long post ahead!

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas - This is one of the most vivid published fantasy books I have ever read... I read it twice in rapid succession. The fandom POPS off. I must say I have issues with certain aspects e.g. fae lore completely ignored à la Twilight, all love interests 500+ years old and technically a different species, etc (I’m not going to deconstruct the entire series here but just know that I could... Nesta deserves better)

Cruel Prince by Holly Black - This fucking slaps, HB clearly has done her research, the lore is near immaculate, and it explores the Fae in such a unique way, tying it to the modern world subtly and seamlessly. My only qualm was that the books felt quite short; truly wish there had been more content.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas (6/7) - So basically I read this in one single, hyperfixated fit which meant I literally locked myself in my room for three days straight and read all six books back to back in a row from morning to the wee hours. Which is not to say it was spectacular; although it was a VERY rich world, sometimes it was too much... this felt like 6 stories in one. Ik she was young when she wrote this but it is my humble opinion that SJM needs a better editor & I personally think Rowan is a grade A asshole / straight up abusive (& personally think the ACOTAR Tamlin plot was born from that?). It’s good but not as good as ACOTAR. Skip-read the last book. 

Grishaverse (Shadow and Bone) by Leigh Bardugo (3) - This is essential to read before SOC but was very much simply a YA fantasy book, although the world was cool and the way the love plot played out was, imo, a subtle middle finger to the fantasy trope. Felt very much aimed at younger readers though? Really liked the sandwhich structure of the Proluge and Epilogue, especially in #2

Six of Crows series by Leigh Bardugo (2) - INCREDIBLE continuation of Grishaverse, better than the original series by a mile. It has the range, the diversity, the representation (the male lead is a disabled asexual and still the most cunning of the entire cast of characters), the plot is phenomenal, and it manages such a well rounded plot in only two books which means nothing is stretched out or squeezed in more than need be. Deserves all the praise it gets.

King of Scars series by Leigh Bardugo (0.5/1) - Personally I don’t consider this book canon, and while it’s nice to see the rest of Nina’s journey & the world again & everyone else, I don't like it. I will, however, be reading book 2 when it comes out, so shame on me, I suppose.

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (1/1) - this was incredibly cool although it went off in a completely different direction than I thought it would based off the first few chapters? One of my favourite YA-author-debuts-New-Adult novels in 2020 though!

Crescent City by Sarah J Maas (1/1) - This was supposed to be SJM/s New Adult debut, although personally I would put her other series in New Adult, and I can’t say a remarkable amount was different with this except they said “fuck” and “ass” a lot. WHY is the romantic interest 500 years old AGAIN. I just... don’t... I just don’t think it was necessary... the world was cool though, and the last half of the book was riveting, but the beginning was quite slow and I thought the sword thing was predictable. I am interested to see where this goes though.

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab (3) - This world is so fucking cool... four Londons aka parallel universes & the one in ‘our’ world is set in industrial era London. Magic, girls dressing up as boys, thieves, pirates, royalty... it all just slaps. Schwab is an incredible writer & I was completely immersed.

Midnight Sun by SMeyer - I didn’t think anything could possibly detract even further from the Twilight story but I was sorely mistaken... seeing the stalking from Edward’s POV - and it was worse than depicted in Twilight, for the record - completely obliterated any sort of romance the first half of the original book may have portrayed. I still hold the opinion that the entire series would have been better if some kind of vampire lore had been abided by, if only to see all of the villains thwarted by someone dropping a bag of rice on the ground, forcing them to have to count them all.

An ember in the Ash by Sabaa Tahir  (3/4) - This was just a very stereotypical ya fantasy series, emphasis on the YOUNG... it wasn’t anything to write home about but I remember quite enjoying it at the time. 

The Power by Naomi Alderman - This book is FUCKING incredible and EXCEPTIONALLY thought provoking... essentially women alone develop a power of electric shock etc. and then take over the world from men, and it explores feminism and the balance between equality & tipping the scales in the other direction. Written by a friend of M.Atwood in a similar tone to handmaids tale, I would say? Content warning; there are some exceptionally graphic scenes in the latter half of the novel. 

Hamlet by Wllm Shksp - I can’t believe it took me this long to finally read it but Ophelia is my favourite name in the entire world & we love to see a woman go batshit (although she didn’t deserve that). 

Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas - this was unsettling in the best sense of the word... it was a little slow & honestly more of a concept than a big reveal, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it after I finished it? A Secret History vibes but make it blurry like the memory of all those dystopian novels you read when you were young?

The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue by V.E. Schwab - This is without a doubt my book of the year, and probably the best book I read in 2020? I stayed up all night on a friend’s couch reading it, got a book hangover and reread the ending, and then thrust it upon my mother who doesn’t usually read but read this, and loved it just as much. HIGHLY recommend and you HAVE to read it, it’s beautiful and endearing and just plain wonderful.

Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat (3/3) - I went into this knowing it was going to be terrible, because I had received a blow by blow telling me as much; although I must say that it did learn a remarkable amount of new words, the books did get better as the series went on, and it did have a rather charming ending? BIG content warning for almost everything.

Sapiens by Yuval Harari - mind-expanding & must recommend for everyone, there is everything in this and I daresay everyone should posses this kind of knowledge? I listened to it as an audiobook (which I recommend because it’s rather hearty) but will be buying this in hardcopy & rereading it with annotations. 

Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller - Without a doubt, one of the most beautiful novels I have ever read, and certainly the most beautiful portrayal of the story of Achilles and the battle of Troy I have ever seen. Patroclus deserved the justice that was given to him in this book; indeed, all of the characters were written with justice and grace. Highly recommend.

Trials of Apollo by Rick Riordan (3/5) - Apollo is my favourite Greek God, and the sexiest greek god, and Rick Riordan’s writing slaps, as always. It did pain me to see Apollo, the sexy immortal, have to be forced back into a 16 year old’s body but everything else? Whimsical & wonderful, as expected. 

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong - a retelling of Romeo and Juliette, except it’s set in Shanghai in the 1920′s, and the protagonists already have a history. Very well done, characters are incredibly diverse in race, sexual orientation, gender, and ability / disability (and honestly, representation has never appeared so effortless and elegant). Also it includes a monster and possible magic. Incredibly underrated and highly recommend.

The Once and Future Witches by Alix. E Harrow - this was such a unique concept, and truly captivating, the story was charming, and felt like the kind of beautiful fairytale you would read as children but with more grit? ABSOLUTELY recommend this one

The Pisces by Melissa Broder - I hated this so much, not my vibe at all. Mermaid smut x therapy but make it cynical and judgemental (I know there was a moral in there but that’s not my point) also the dog dies.

Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith (1/2) - really interesting & unique concept (all unwritten novels / ideas reside in a special library that is part of Hell and then sometimes the books can come to life) however, my first thought upon reading this was “this reads as if it’s stemmed from one of those writing prompt tumblr posts” bc of the tone and whatever and as it turns out I was somewhat correct, it did stem from a short story (not bad just obvious). It did kind of settle down as it went on but I found reading it kind of a drag, and I don’t think I will read the second one.

Abandon by Meg Cabot - 1. Meg Cabot’s writing always fucking slaps 2. Hades and Persephone but make it modern & very 2000′s & somehow kind of unique 3. I literally loved this, sue me

Medusa Girls (Sweet Venom) by Tera Childs - Like Percy Jackson except they are descendants of Medusa so they are Gorgons and have fangs & venom (hence the title). Gave me very 2000′s vibes? Quite cool but tbh I found the books quite short (like two hours each, if that)? Do NOT read the GoodReads description of the book before you read it, you will spoil it for yourself.

Bring me their Hearts by Sara Wolf - In my opinion, this is one of the most underrated YA series I read in 2020. The heroine is endearing, self aware, witty, and loves to look pretty even while kicking ass which in my opinion is an incredibly underrated trait. Also, immortality without being hundreds of years old? VERY sexy. HIGHLY recommend. 

A Deal with the Elf King by Elise Kova - High commendation to be given for the fact that it is a standalone and yet manages to fit in the plot of what would usually be a full fantasy trilogy without cutting corners or being a million miles long? Also sweet storyline & beautiful ending? If you liked ACOTAR you should read this as a “what would have / could have been had SJM had a different editor” (No shade I promise).

The Iron Fae by Julie Kagawa (4/4 + novellas) - Incredibly detailed faerie set around the modern world & our current use of technology & iron in it. Very neat adventure-style series, by the time I read the last novella I was well and truly done with the world (aka provided enough content to be fulfilling). Was definitely aimed at a younger audience though, NO smut / smut was brushed over.

The Modern Faerie Tales by Holly Black (3/3 SS) - This is technically the prequel to Cruel prince, set in the modern world, but with the fae world inside it as it traditional? All I have to say is that it is excellent & I highly recommend it.

Bridgerton series (The Duke and I) by Julia Quinn (9/9) - I read this after watching the Netflix show twice through and I am obsessed, although the books were not quite as elegant as the show, and some parts that made me cringe either by their portrayal (it is very firmly set in the 19th century and thus some things are not handled with tact or grace), the characters were exceptionally loveable and I am so excited to see where the show takes them! Lovely language & an abundance of words I had never seen before (always a plus).