#it's a redemption arc that doesn't make me feel bad!! it doesn't give me an inexplicable sinking feeling!!

[shadeswift99]

"Redemption arcs are an overdone and badly executed trope" factoid is actually just statistical error. Redemption Arcs Mythicalsausage, who spent episodes after his Xornoth possession systematically apologizing to the people he hurt and working to regain their trust while also giving them ample space to forgive him or not forgive him in their own time, as well as setting up an accountability network to keep himself from falling into evil again, is an outlier adn SHOULD be counted because oh my god it is so refreshing to see someone actually make their redemption a real arc instead of just a tacked-on excuse and a guilt trip -

[joyfuldreamlandcheesecake]

Rottmnt Headcanons!! (2)

Leo listens to girl in red because April once forced him to and he fell in love with all the songs. When hanging out, they put girl in red in the background.

Raph has a lot of plushies from his childhood. He doesn't play with them anymore, but they're still they're and he would never give them up (haha just like me fr!!)

There was this one time where the turtles wanted pizza and instead of just ordering like any normal person they crashed a stranger's kitchen and stole every pizza related thing. It's still an unsolved crime.

Donnie always had problem with touching, but it got a lot worse after the movie. Now he doesn't let anyone hug him, slap him or anything. Especially on his shell. He feels bad for flinching when people try to hug him. The others tell him that they don't mind and they get it. He's really grateful for that.

When they were younger, Splinter got these really depressing episodes where he couldn't even get out of bed. Raph was the one to take care of them when this happened. The worst ones could last weeks.

Splinter didn't want to get attached to the turtles, so he tried to be as distant as possible whole still being a good caretaker. Also, he gave them as much freedom as possible because of how he didn't have any growing up, but since he never wanted to be with his grandfather he didn't think they would want to be with him. Which is why he was so surprised when four little children came into his room crying because he wouldn't play with them.

After explaining the whole future thing to Casey, she ran into the Lair, deciding to test her son. He passed immediately.

The twins have their own version of the Lair Games which they play everyday to decide who's the oldest. It can change from rock papper scissors to a fight to the death (Raph always stops them before they actually do anything).

The boys chose their own names. Splinter was reading them a book, and Donnie mentioned the fact that they don't have actual names, just weird color nicknames. So, Splinter tells them to find a name they like and make it their own. They decided to go by the names they have now because they wanted to match.

They all love Brooklyn 99 because I love Brooklyn 99.

Everytime they talk about “the family”, they include April, because she's their sister.

There was this one time where April didn't have anyone to go to the school dance with so Leo joined the school a few months before and went with her using Sunita's cloaking brooch (he had to fight Donnie because he also wanted to go to school).

Mikey tried to give Big Mama a redemption arc like he did with Draxum, but he didn't manage to fully do it so they now visit eachother once a week while still fighting whenever they're on duty.

The Krang is basically the only thing Leo won't joke about. They found out when Donnie said that “the last fun thing I did was two months ago and it was becoming a fucking Krang spaceship” and Leo stared at him for the next ten minutes.

Whenever Mikey or Leo go quiet, Raph is alone and Donnie is handling dangerous weapons without adult supervision it's because something is going down.

April is the only one who has a normal sleep schedule because her mom won't let her stay awake too late.

Mayhem thinks the family is stupid, but he loves them anyway. Sometimes.

Raph screamed when Jake Peralta and Amy Santiago kissed and everyone else worried.

Leo and Raph are basically the scene where Jake says “if I run at Terry he'll most likely catch me in his arms”. Raph would catch anyone else, but it's only Leo the one who throws himself at him.

April goes to the Lair almost everyday and complains about school with any of the boys. They always listen to her rants.

Leo figured out that he had adhd when April told him that she thought he had it. He never got the chance to get an actual diagnosis so he felt like he wasn't even if the sings were all there and he could see them.

Sunita found everyone a therapist at the Hidden City. Her name's Charlie and they all like her.

Donnie likes to threaten people he doesn't like. He also threatens Leo, but he doesn't actually mean them.

Because of being in contact with eachother when they were mutated, the turtles have traits of the other's species. That's why Donnie can go into his shell, why he has purple marks, why Raph's isn't as spiny as he should be, why their colors are different from the original species, etc.

Red eared sliders comunicate with vibrations, so Leo does this really low vibration thing when he feels happy, pleased or just when he's in a good mood that April calls purring no matter how much he complains about it.

[bi-demon-ium]

SEASON TWO POSITIVITY POST!

listen there's so much negativity going around and like. i actually really liked this season!! so!!!

the "okay, but" section

okay, so curtain's redemption arc was extremely rushed. BUT

a) i love where it's left us. curtain working on their team--and indeed him actually saying the words "i'm joining the society"--is going to be wonderful to see, and we'll be getting more of one of my favorite dynamics in the show, namely, the twins. and hopefully curtain being funny with more of the other characters.

b) although i suppose this is all assuming we get a season three at all (which i still have fingers crossed for) i would hope that as rushed as it feels now, we would have more time to breathe with it in s3--reckon with a post-redemption curtain and what his relationship with the others looks like, particularly the ones he's hurt the most, and also, number two & rhonda, now that they've "stepped into a leadership role". like that all sounds really interesting and engaging!!! rich content i want to know more!!!!

c) it was also just like. the SCENES!!! god it was heart-wrenching. again, where we ended up: what curtain said out loud, multiple hugs (!!!!) + curtain's hilarious then mildly heartbreaking interactions with jeffers&co + jackson&jillson,,,,, plus just his entertaining reactions/expressions to everything like them all aggressively reciting poetry at constance and its just lik [LIVE CURTAIN REACTION] lkgjfghfgh and then mr benedict's super passionate cross-language performance and curtains just like [visibly despairing] like you have no room to talk mr. stole the solo at the orphanage then aggressively recited shakespeare.

and like i think his dynamic with mr. benedict was especially good. even his reaction i was totally fine with (the panicking and lowkey breakdown--it was a little cheesy and even a bit unnerving seeing him finally lose it but i was like oughhhh) it's more the "aight. im good now ig" right after and just giving up. (it does make me wonder if it's actually another evil plot of some sort--which would be heart-wrenching, particularly if s3 is full of them bonding and then curtain realizing he doesn't want to betray him anymore but then whatever his plans were are revealed at a key moment.... i don't think is going to happen but fun speculation!) but like BEFORE that. oughhhhh that whole scene..... and the fact he was FAKING it.... and curtains justl ike [NOT CRYING SHUT UP] well. that was. a very devious plan. i have to respect it.

okay, so this whole "eurus benedict"/secret sister thing is fucking weird and terrible. BUT

okay first of all you can't deny that this is extremely funny

it is extremely funny and i desperately want to see where they're going with this

is she just going to be book curtain with tits.

(this would perhaps be a chance to explore some of the themes/ideas from the books now that we have an evil/bad sibling neither of them knew as a child?)

DOES SHE HAVE SQ. DLFKGJ HI IM YOUR AUNT :)

so like. this one also, as ridiculous as it is, has a lot of plot potential. the twins bonding, how each of them might relate to this sister differently (maybe it will ironically be nicholas not trusting her and curtain relating to her, after so long of nicholas reaching out to a long lost sibling), what she thinks of them, and particularly curtain's ex(?) supervillainy considering she's apparently going down that route...

does she also have narcolepsy? plot twist, book curtain thing again, she has sunglasses and a wheelchair and anger issues. and just for flavor maybe curly hair.

is she the older sister? younger? triplet? so many questions

this could really go off the rails and even if it ends up being bad i think it will be an extremely entertaining trainwreck

okay, so there were some other problems (like sq just being fuckign missing dfkjhghfgh) BUT

sq being missing i'm mostly blaming on the change in filming location. while i'm not pleased with that, i will say

a) i'm so sorry to be heartless but it IS ONCE AGAIN KIND OF VERY FUNNY

HES JUST ON A WALK<3

LIKE OKAY

b) while i wish they'd worked around the actor's absence better than that one line, it didn't ruin my enjoyment of the season. the plot was still coherent. i missed him, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

same with the shorter episode times. i don't think this is something that they could help, and that makes me feel a little better about it, weirdly.

adaptation blues

i am gently holding you by the shoulders. listen to me. listen, beloved. you need to understand that this is now sort of its own thing now. if s3 comes it will probably be nothing like book 3 and that's okay. the characters are different, the changes they've already made have butterfly effect/branched off and now we're looking at a whole new picture and that's good. it's okay. deep breaths with me

honestly with the changes this season, i loved it! i'm into it!

really it's less a direct adaptation of book 2 and more like. its own thing (AGAIN. ITS OWN THING. THATS OKAY) with some easter eggs and nods to the books, particularly in the first few episodes. probably because again, changes made in s1 (which i ADORED) meant a lot of book 2 would no longer work

but i really liked the plot that was here!!! curtain's cult + the "Happiness" is absolutely terrifying, engaging the whole way through, and very good material for fic. i like miss perumal's continued presence as a character who actually does things, i like number two's weird/mildly rushed background story, everything with mr. benedict's story both about being whammied and his struggle to gain perspective when faced with his brother. i can see why some people aren't fans of kate and milligan's new story but personally i like it and think it fits them well. and constance!!!! martina!!! dr garrisons full mcfuckingbreakdown!!!! captain noland--and CANNONBALL MY BELOVED. he was so funny and i love him so much

like for me, if i want to read the book, i'll read the book. i love the roots this show has in the books, but i also love the characters that have grown from them, and want to see them grow more rather than be forced into a shape that's more like the originals.

all positivity, baby!

okay first of all this season was funny as hell. there were countless moments that were just so fucking good and hysterical. flower delivery. jackson and jillson tackling a bitch. constance's malicious therapy. dr garrison's doll. everything about jeepers. the gambling. the taxi driver. very exclusive list of traitors. miss perumal's grand theft motorcycle. what does the blueberry represent?! etc. the humor was spot on it was all HILARIOUS

the dialogue was generally the same perfect flavor of offbeat charm

the characters and relationships continue to be vibrant, engaging, and just generally soooo good. the side characters continue to be hilarious but also important to the plot (dr garrison, martina, jackson and jillson, jeepers, etc) while the main characters all have things to do (reynie and his struggles with both feeling needy and morality, sticky and boatwright academy, constance and her past, kate and her dad, mr benedict and his brother, miss perumal and both reynie and milligan, rhonda and the mission and general + number two, number two and her family + relationship with mr benedict, etc) and their interactions are always fun to watch

plus, again, some great developments, particularly with the kids and with the twins

i just had fun????? i mean i was super anxious but i'm like that any time i watch a show with suspense

but it was like it was fun! it was fun!

but it was also emotional in the right places!!!

and the ending!!!! not the very ending but just before that, with reynie getting his letters, and everyone vibing!!! my heart is full!!!!!!

i feel like i have more to say but i just can't put it to words like idk bro! i just liked it! it was rushed but it was good overall! there are very few things i straight up don't like! it's fun! i want to write ten thousand million words of fanfiction!

please!!! add on things you liked about this season/the show in general!!! positivity time, babey!

[writingquestionsanswered]

Hello~ your advices are very helpful!! May I ask for some advice on how to make the villains in my story likeable? I want to write a scene where the villains d*es while helping the protagonist and I want people to feel bad for the villains

Making a Villain Likeable/Creating Sympathy

Creating sympathy for a villain, and making them likeable, can be a tricky thing to do because you have to strike a balance between them being bad and having redeemable qualities.

To do this well, there are a few things you'll want to do, and then I'll link to a guide that will help further.

1 - Give them an sympathetic motivation/goal. Villains are easier to forgive if we can at least understand/appreciate the thing they want and why they want it. For example, if someone does bad things to protect their innocent child who's in danger, that's easier to understand than someone who does bad things simply because they're greedy or mean. Even if the reader doesn't agree with the villains reasoning or tactics, they can at least appreciate that the root of their cause is understandable.

2 - Give them scruples and qualms. It's easier to like and forgive a villain if they have scruples (lines they refuse to cross) and qualms (doubts and concerns about whether or not something they're doing is right). Otherwise they're cold-hearted and merciless, and those are difficult villains to like/redeem.

3 - Remind the reader of their humanity. When villains do bad things it tends to dehumanize them in the eyes of the reader, so it helps to remind the reader of the things that make this character human. Show their soft side--like with the villain who is protecting their child, show them interacting with the child and being sweet/loving toward them. Give them an appreciation of fine art and a talent for painting. Have them show kindness and caring toward their henchmen and their families. Anything like that can help.

Have a look at these posts for more help:

Guide: Attaching Reader to Morally Gray Protagonist Guide: Writing a Redemption Arc Antagonist with a Righteous Cause

Have fun with your story!

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[comicaurora]

If someone were to write a story specially made for you, what would be the top 5 tropes or elements you'd like to see the most?

Oo, that's a toughie. In my experience most people don't really know what they want, because we crave novelty and get bored with the things we already know we like, but that's all we know to ask for. But overall I think it'd need to be:

Episodic - monster-of-the-week, lots of fun self-contained adventures. It can have an overarching plot peppered in, but the world needs to feel bigger than just that one story. Diverse locations, fun secondary and tertiary characters forming a flexible supporting cast, recurring side characters cameoing in. This kind of format will let us tell almost any story we want, and that flexibility is very valuable.

Ensemble cast - crew of protagonists with fun chemistry. Individual episodes putting focus on specific individual protagonists or subsets of the main group. Nobody is relegated to Just Comic Relief, everyone's emotional arcs matter - even the funny guys. Specific focus is put on highlighting that the characters care about one another and will support and save each other in times of need or stress.

A Nice Good Villain - the kind of fun bad guy who's got good, casual rapport with the protagonists. Sure, they're evil, but they're not a jerk. They have rules, limits - maybe villainy is just their job, or they only really have a vendetta against one of the protagonists and they're totally chill with the rest of them. They get chances to show off their Heart Of Gold when contrasted with other bad guys. Perfect candidate for a mid-stage redemption arc or a "gets adopted by the good guys" arc after they inevitably get betrayed by their boss.

A Real Shitty Villain - Just a real actual terrible person. The kind of villain who doesn't deserve a villain song because they're too evil and that would make them too fun. This is the bad guy we use for all the truly heinous evil plans. Sometimes it bugs me when villains flip-flop between being Kinda Just Nuisances The Heroes Get Along With and Truly Unspeakable Evil, so we're going to subdivide - this guy gets all the Unspeakable Evil, the other guy gets the Just A Nuisance. Give this guy a personal nemesis dynamic with one or more protagonists to get all that good emotional drama and stakes.

Fluctuating Tone - The real benefit of an episodic narrative is that some episodes can be light-hearted and sweet and some of them can be the most nightmarish thing you've ever seen. Let's play that to the hilt! We get the chill birthday episode and the fun Prom's Tomorrow Oh No episode and the wacky rashomon homage episode and then we get the "Real Shitty Villain psychologically tortures our hero for 90% of the runtime" episodes for spice. We can't appreciate the fun times if the show is all fun times, and we can't appreciate the true depths of horror if the show is all grimdark horror.

[meksters]

So...about the boys in Wednesday...Let's be honest they aren't that great. But i kinda think that's the point. Obviously, spoilers ahead.

Disclaimer: I was not in this fandom before yesterday so I love Enid but i don't ship her with Wednesday. Completely fair if you do but personally i don't dig that dynamic for a romantic pairing and i think Enid is too good for Wednesday 😭 I really thought we'd have more Bianca x Wednesday but alas

Now the "Love Triangle", was it is even one?

Let me start with Xavier. Besides the tortured artist boy being a least favorite trope of mine (ironic considering i am this trope) he just didn't have much depth. He doesn't get along with his dad, he's rich, popular, into Wednesday. What else? He's obsessed with Wednesday. Like i know he can't help seeing her in his dreams but the way he goes about his interest in her is icky and not in the fun way. Xavier is Bianca's ex bf (side note: can we get more Bianca love pls?) And broke up with her bc he felt she was hypnotizing him. Which is ironic considering he asks her to make him forget about Wed. Glad the show touched on how not cool that was.

Other than him just not really having much depth, he is also the "love interest" and i use the term loosely that Wednesday is the least interested in. She only ever entertains either boy when she has an ulterior motive (which y'know girl slay gas keep), but Xavier really never had a shot and I hope the end scene was more them becoming friends than anything bc imo they had negative chemistry. Wednesday doesn't care about Xavier's feelings. She doesn't care about his warnings. He is just of no importance to her until he seems like the killer. I really hope they give Xavier a glow up and keep them as just friends, we need more m&f friendships that don't turn romantic.

One to the other (more successful) love interest. Tyler.

Now i didn't put love interest in quotes this time bc he actually got a kiss. Lemme make this clear, Wednesday would have never gone along with Thing's shenanigans if she was interested in Tyler. She would have never gone on the date or kissed him if she didn't want to. Of the two dudes, Tyler is imo the only real love interest of s1. Xavier is just some guy who likes her. Tyler may or may not have been into Wednesday but she was into him. If you disagree with any of this that's fair but i think we watched different shows idk. Wednesday was definitely into Tyler in the end, but was he into her? Was any of it genuine or was it all an act? Idk for Wednesday Addams, i think a manipulative monster is probably her dream guy just saying

With that established, I need to admit that Tyler is my preferred love interest. Now lemme explain before you run away, Tyler is a manipulative POS but that's exactly why he's great for Wednesday. She's an Addams, they are a family full of manipulators, criminals, and altogether twisted people. Yet at the same time they're lovable and loyal to each other. Wednesday canonically tortures her brother, she's not called toxic for no reason, she's the most malicious Addams we know. Even Fester is mostly just a goof, a murderous goof but still. With the caveat of Tyler getting a redemption arc in next season, i can totally see the show overlooking his murders bc we still don't really know what being a Hyde entails and like i said, the Addams don't seem to care if you killed or kill people, just don't wear pastels. And honestly it's a bad look to just cast aside the traumatized, abused, and neglected kid as evil and leave it at that. With our protagonist being who she is, i hope the writers give Tyler some more screentime bc i can really see him being a great rival/frenemy to Wednesday and personally i think if she does get a romance, enemies to lovers is probably the best trope for her.

If you made it this far, damn sorry you did that to yourself. If you're a wenclair girlie, I'm rooting for you but it's just not my cup of tea tho I'd love to be proven wrong in subsequent seasons

[bythenineshards]

i think the reason which makes me angry about acotar & its fandom as a whole is the double standard that exists in the fanbase. rhysand sexually assaulted feyre? 'it's a dark romance so you should go read your vanilla stories & also he did it for her own good'. but when someone says 'well, if it's a dark romance, surely we can have a tamlin redemption arc 'cause he & rhys are the same 'cause he was also protecting feyre 'for her own good'', they'll come at you with pitchforks about how feyre needs someone who is 'feminist' to have a 'healthy relationship' with. like WHICH ONE IS IT??

i am in the hannibal, killing eve & interview with the vampire fandoms. i do like me some mutually toxic relationships that makes you look through characters psyches & pick apart motives & themes.

but acotar goes for this weird stance in its own morality that it doesn't make an ounce of sense. it would've made sense if feyre had left tamlin even if they had a healthy relationship to go join rhysand & then the story could've had a darker turn there. that could've been the basis of a dark romance. or feyre & tamlin's relationship being built on the same lines of toxicity & feyre betraying/hurting tamlin to join rhysand because she wants more power. & tamlin be an equal adversary for them (not antagonist). then the story be continued from there. give me moral ambiguity so that i don't know who to root for. these kinds of things happen in adult high fantasies all the time.

but sjm chooses to compare two equally bad (or 'morally gray', as the stans love to call it) characters and be like 'see, this one is better!!' but if someone points out that they're equally bad you have to watch them do all kinds of unnecessary mental gymnastics & say 'b-but it is a dark romance with dark themes & it's adult!! and rhysand is MORALLY GREY!!! if you can't handle it don't read it!' or the argument of 'it's fiction & they're fae!! you can't apply real world morals to it!!' like sure but where is the CONSISTENCY???

Hey Anon! I could've sworn I answered this. But apparently I didn't.

I can't stand the justifying of Rhys' deeds. Dark Romance books don't feel the need to do that. The guy doesn't need the justifications and hero framing. The books are thrown around as feminist or empowering. The point is that the relationship is a toxic dynamic. Maas has said in interviews that she writes healthy romances. She views this as a healthy relationship.

You know what's funny? The road to hell is paved with what? Good. Intentions. The best villains are people who meant well but had evil methods to achieve that goal. Rhys did x______ because it was for....? Doesn't matter, still did it. Thanos (in the movies) killed half the universe because it would create more resources for those left. Good intention. Horrible idea considering he had the power to create more resources.

You're right that there were so many other angles this could've gone to make it better. Personally I believe the best idea would've been to just have them grow apart. Cuz that happens and it wouldn't have taken Tamlin being abusive to do. Feyre could've fallen for Rhys knowing what he did was wrong. I'm sorry but there was no excuse or justification for working for Amarantha. Rhys should've been punished. However that would mean more work than comparing a retconned Tamlin to Rhys and made Feyre actually flawed.

Ugh... this series... so glad I'm not buying anymore of her books. You know, it's so weird how easily impressed I am with books that do the bare minimum effort to be decent after reading these.

[banavalope]

Not to be rude but it’s not really ridiculous for somebody to get prickly when you reblog an article that whines about people softblocking the author for being fine with somebody creating erotic pedophiliac content.

I want to tell you that I genuinely appreciate you being the first of, like, anybody to actually tell me what your interpretation of the article was. It gives me a jumping off point for something I've been thinking about all day, which if you're not in the mood for that feel free to tune out after the first paragraph responding directly to you. Otherwise, I'm just using this as an opportunity to open the floor for discussion.

That was not my takeaway from that article, nor has that been the takeaway I've seen other people have, including people I had to ask in my real life about it. I assumed I must have read it wrong by the strong reaction I got. So I would say that, from my perspective, it was in fact very ridiculous. I also respectfully disagree with your interpretation. To even call it whining I find is an incredibly poor read of it. Maybe there's some layer of discourse I'm not privy to, they left names out so I can't investigate these accused artists for myself.

But this perfectly segues us to what I really want to talk about. The entire article is from a japanese artist aimed at a japanese audience, explaining how the word "proship" is an american fandom centric term that has no specific meaning, and therefore cannot be taken at face value. I understand the people coming at me for reblogging it feel that we all unanimously agree proship specifically refers to being pro incest/pedophilia, but I regret to inform you it's not as unanimous as you think.

As someone who was around in 2015 when the words "proship" and "anti" started to enter the common fandom vernacular, the muddling of what proship actually meant can be pinpointed to bad actors in the MHA twitter fandom at the time, popularizing the use in order to attack people that shipped BakuDeku, or fans who wanted Endeavor to have a redemption arc. This is when the meaning of being "proship" or "anti" began to get extremely conflated.

I'll take a step back real quick to say that the words "pro shipper" and "anti shipper" have been used since the 90s to mean, quite simply, someone who wants to talk about shipping or someone who doesn't. There was no laundry list of ulterior meanings, it was a way to identify who in fandom had no interest in shipping. This is also coming from someone who's been around in these spaces long enough to know this as fact from experience.

Somewhere along the way it started meaning pedophilia/incest/abuse, I find that very suspicious the way it shifted meanings from something so literally innocent, to something so ambiguously ill intended, when you can just say "they fetishize incest" without having to bring shipping into it. You can just call someone a MAP, what does shipping have to do with it. More people should be questioning why that is.

Who benefits from ambiguous terms the most? What kind of people are looking for ways to get around calling themselves pedophiles? Why let them feel safe in fandom spaces by giving them ample opportunity to hide behind something that has nothing to do with them. Shipping isn't your problem dude, you like children, fucking go to therapy. (not a statement aimed at you, the anon)

People are taking issue with the article even wanting to have a nuanced discussion about the word proship, when they should actually be taking issue with the fact nobody knows who our enemies and allies are anymore because we keep inventing new ways to include our personal """squicks""" (for lack of a better word, not huge on the word squick tbh) into it. Just say what you hate, it's fine. I hate people who abuse children, I hate people who abuse adults, I hate terfs, I hate fascists, I hate incest, I don't like pregnancy, eye stuff is weird, death makes me really upset, I think I should be allowed to kiss Rom the Vacuous Spider. Really easy to just say that in no uncertain terms. Anybody of all languages can pick up what I'm putting down.

If someone from another country cannot understand the point you're trying to convey without you first giving them a fandom history lesson as to what it really really means for REAL to be called a proshipper, idk maybe just say you hate pedophiles instead, coward (not calling you, the anon, a coward. I have aimed this at God himself).

And keep in mind too, this is barely a fraction of a tangent to a larger discussion that could be had about this, philosophically. We haven't even touched on the effect media has in real life, the dissolution of fandom minors being able to have safe friendships with fandom mentors, or even how the recent infighting of fandom, and fandom """""Purity Politics""""""" of the last 5 years, can be traced back to decisions made by corporate web3.0 wanting to monetize its 3 biggest platforms SO BADLY that it refuses to create spaces for minors to escape adults. A minor cannot even play roblox without being under threat of a 30 year old content creator existing near them, and I think that's fucked up.

A real plethora of nuanced discussion here to be had.

[captain-azoren]

It occurs to me that if Avatar (and a lot of critically acclaimed media in general) didn't sympathize the bad guys, it would be derided as being overly simplistic with black and white morality lacking in nuance.

The issue is with how much the antagonists get sympathized in comparison to the protags/victims. I think perhaps the writers take for granted how much the audience will sympathize with the victims. It's expected, so the writers might feel the need to overcompensate by focusing on making the villains sympathetic whilst not feeling the need to do the same for their victims. Of course we'll feel sympathy for Katara losing her mom, right?

But at the end if it, it certainly feels like the disappearance of Ursa is more important than the death of Kya. And now we're in a situation where Katara mourning her mother is treated with about the same weight as Zuko losing his honor; a major character trait that isn't above being joked about, at least within the Fandom at large.

Same goes for Jet's village and Aang's people to a lesser extent. It's a problem because these are the consequences of imperialism and colonialism, things that have caused real damage in the real world. I don't think it's a stretch to say that the Fire Nation is probably the fandom's favorite nation, and honestly, I think maybe it shouldn't be, but the show itself makes it too appealing because it has the most complex characters and a very cool bending style.

Going to have to agree with others that Jet was a wasted character. I think his role in Season 2 was pretty much for plot convenience; they needed someone to help push the Gaang in the right direction. They mostly did a good job weaving him in, but his offscreen redemption is not so good and I think that's a consequence of him being needed for a purpose, as opposed to actually wanting to tell a story with him.

Jet ends up serving more towards advancing other characters' arcs and the main plot than being his own character, and it ties into what I mean about the story giving more focus to the villains than the victims.

When it comes to Aang and the genocide of the Nomads, I think his personality being carefree and hopeful kind of undermines it to a degree. I don't know if I would want him to angst about it to the sane degree that Zuko angsts, but it certainly worked for Zuko and I think Aang deserves it more. Honestly, a lot of characters deserved to feel angst more than Zuko did.

And then there's Hama. And I don't have much to say that hasn't been said. I'll just add that Hama being problematic is a consequence or creating moral grey areas. I don't think she is morally grey or complex herself though, but she really could have been if the show had done it a bit better.

One last thing; been progressing through the story of FFXIV and so far I think it's been doing a decent job of creating complex victims and perpetrators of imperialism. It doesn't downplay the trauma of the victims, the good or the vengeful ones.

[linkspooky]

Hi, I'm a huge fan of your analysis and writing in general! I'm curious as to what your update top 5 favorite characters of all time are.

1. TARA MARKOV / TERRA

The most that bitch of all time. Terra is that bitch. She does not want redemption. She does not want to make friends. She does not want to be saved. She refuses to be what anyone else wants her to be and she refuses to fit any easy narrative for her.

Terra was not my favorite in the cartoon, which is a testament to how good the New Teen Titans comic is that it made her shoot to the top of the list. Terra is the ultimate bad victimTM. She is just as ugly as the abuse that happened to her. It's almost painful to look at the full picture of her, because no matter what she does and how malicious and cruel she is, she still remains undeniably a victim who's not free in any sense of the word.

Terra is not really a person, she's just a ball of negative emotions. She's volatile and always reacting to the people around her. She's basically a minefield inviting you to step on her and blow your legs off. Terra doesn't really have a sense of self but she's not really in a situation where she could mature or develop in any healthy kind of way. She's a runaway and an unstable mercenary selling herself for money. Pretty much anyone would develop into a sociopath to survive in her kind of situation.

There's a panel in New Teen Titans where Terra is telling Starfire and Donna some version of her backstory that's a bit fudged to throw off suspicion from the fact she's spying on them, and Kory and Donna are both like "Well, everyone on the Titans has a traumatic backstory Terra you're not special." And that's what made Terra's character great to me. She's been through the kind of things the rest of the Titans has, and that doesn't magically make her a good person or a hero. She snaps because she's like sixteen and terrible things have happened to her so she becomes terrible. Terra reflects a terrible reality that happens to a lot more teenagers in America, but even teenagers who act like Terra are still deserving of salvation.

2. KUMAGAWA MISOGI

The most loser of all time. Kumagawa is amazing because he turns so many shonen tropes on his head. He doesn't want to get better. He doesn't want to get stronger. He's going to remain the same loser forever, and yet there's something admirable about his character.

The best fictional characters struggle. Kumagawa's life is nothing about struggle. He gives everything he has just treading water and he doesn't succeed. Not only does Kumagawa struggle he has empathy for everyone that's struggling. He's incredibly emotionally unstable but not because he's cold or cruel but because he has so much empathy for the people around him. He cant help but feel and empathize no matter who it is. I am a fan of bad victims and so is Kumagawa.

He builds his entire life philosophy around sympathizing with people who aren't pretty, or righteous, or strong, or brave. He sympathizes with the people who try their hardest and make no progress at all. Kumagawa's philosophy is empower in its own way. Even a person who's absolutely mediocre matters as long as they're trying. Even a miserable life is one you can still smile and struggle to be happy in.

3. SPIKE

The most character development of all time. Spike is such an interesting character because they could have just left him a villain because he was interesting enough as one. Instead, we got him dragged kicking and screaming through a redemption arc.

What makes Spike a good character is that he never gets away with anything. A lot of characters, especially main characters will have flaws that the plot either sands down or ignores to try to make them more appealing and likable. Spike starts out a monster, the other characters know that he's bad, and when he does something wrong he immediately gets his teeth kicked in as punishment. The other people don't forgive him, and there are always consequences.

What makes Spike a great character is that he learns from those consequences. Eventually he reaches a point where he can't continue on the way he has before, and he actually learns to be a better person because the only way to keep living is to keep changing.

4. BUFFY SUMMERS

The most main character of all time. Buffy Summers is what happens when a plot actually tries to challenge it's main character instead of making the world center around them. Buffy believes she's the protagonist of reality, and she's sort of right but that mindset makes her suffer.

Buffy is EXACTLY like all the other girls. She just wants to shop, and watch TV, and talk about boys, but she's randomly been given super powers that she doesn't want. The seven season journey from Buffy acting like a normal hyperactive teenager, to by season seven being a very emotionally remote and distant girl with sky high walls built around her is such fantastic character work.

BTVS is a rare show where the main character is one of the most interesting characters, because the whole show is about the complex way she processes her trauma in response to the nonstop series of disasters that is her life. Buffy has pretty serious flaws, and those flaws get worse because she always has to be a hero which causes her to have a major self-righteous streak. Buffy's such a great character that she makes all the characters around her more interesting because of how well connected with the story. Especially with the way she parallels her jungian shadow, Spike.

5. ENOSHIMA JUNKO

The most Junko of all time. Junko is a character that could get by on sheer force of personality alone. She is extremely entertaining, her dialogue is always an insane riot, she dominates any scene she's in and she's an insanely competent evil mastermind who gets credit alone for being one of the few characters who actually succeeds in her plan to destroy the world.

Junko always wins and that's the problem. Junko is the best-written example of a villain whose motivation is "I did this because I'm bored." Because for Junko, boredom is a soul-crushing apathy that derives her life from any kind of joy or feeling other than numbness. Junko was written to be a one-dimmensional villain with no trace of goodness inside of her. Kodaka could have gotten away with not making her any more of that because she's so effective as a villain.

However, she has more character depth beyond that. If you read her prequel story in "Danganronpa ZERO" you find Junko is the way she is, because it's impossible for her to live a normal life. She doesn't feel like a human being and she feels incapable of connecting with the world or the people around her so she tries to make herself a calamity, a force of nature, despair itself.

[ariesbilly]

Caleb can think what he wants about Billy but that opinion of Jason was so fucking crazy to read about. The character held up Lucas at gunpoint and yelled at him to put his hands up and also said to him that he "thought he was one of the good ones." I don't want to tell him what to think but the racism coding was clear to me with that character. Not to mention one of Jason's friends also pushed down a whole child, being Erica, and told her he was gonna break her arms/legs. Like? This is a good person to y'all? I get that he misses chrissy and its fine to feel sorry for him in that regard. But let's not be delusional. Jeez louise. Even if you hate Billy, Jason's not any better when you put him up to the same standards, just because he was nice to Lucas at first doesn't mean anything. He was only nice to him when he was working for him. & did everything to please him and be on the team and fit in. That was kind of the whole point of the narrative. Lucas realized he didn't wanna be like him because the quality of his character was ass. Anyways, sorry for going on a rant in your ask box. I'm just shocked at the amount of people defending Jason whether it's because they hate that people ship Eddie with chrissy because it gets in the way of their "steddie" ship (a whole other issue I won't get into here, tldr; fandom misogyny). Or it's because they somehow need to make Billy look worse. Like, you can hate them both if you want no one is stopping you. Just because Jason's dumber than Billy doesn't mean he's a good person. I don't need to feel sorry for him just because he's stupid enough to fall for satanic panic brainwash, he still chose to be awful to people and witch hunt. Also, had Billy lived, narratively, he had way more potential for a redemption arc than Jason EVER could. Even though he started out as a bad person. Sorry, just had to get that off my chest. Stranger things fans are nuts and can't seem to watch anything with media literacy or nuance.

Jason being the one people decided to have sympathy for is…. Suspicious. Smells a little bit of classism to me tbh on top of the complete dismissal of billys entire personality being a trauma response that antis never give a shit about

Everyone in these past few years wanted to act so woke and condemn the upper middle class white boys who are always doing shit, but the second they’re presented with a fictional character who is the physical embodiment of white male privilege it’s “well his girlfriend died :/ no I get it” why? Because he’s better at hiding how rank his personality is? Because he fooled y’all thinking he was some straight laced safe guy?

Liiiiike HELLO???

If you wanna call billy racist and condemn his behavior then fine. That’s your prerogative. But the fact that billy doesn’t get a pass but JASON does ??? That does not sit right on any level

[chaton-rabbit-noir]

This is a long post.

And I apologize for that.

After rewatching the episodes, Felix, Strike Back, and Emotion again.

Felix

Felix gaslighted Adrien's friends for no apparent reason just because he could. Felix nearly destroys Adrien's social life and friendships with his friends.

He taunted and belittled Adrien for being abused by his father, even though Felix himself had been abused.

Tried to SA Ladybug while disguised as Adrien. Ladybug rightfully punches him in the face. Felix 100% deserved that, by the way.

In the same episode: Felix willingly sides with Hawk Moth of his own volition in "Felix." In front of LB and CN, by the way. He wanted to exchange the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous in-exchange for the Peacock Miraculous.

Adrien doesn't know about the chaos and havoc his cousin caused. Also, Felix nearly destroyed his social life and friendships with his friends.

Strikeback

Felix, as Flairmidable, stole Ladybug's Yo-yo, which is connected to the miracle box itself, and gave it to his shitty uncle, whom he supposedly despises. Putting countless innocent civilians at risk, the People of Paris, and the entire world in danger. Felix is the primary cause of Maribug's trauma and the immense guilt we saw her go through at the end of Strike Back and for the first few episodes of s5.

I know I will get a Felix stan to tell me: Felix didn't have a choice, and Gabriel threatened to snap him "out of existence" because of Gabriel's death threat in "Gabriel Agreste."

It's up to debate if Gabriel meant his threat to Felix or not.

It's not unlikely to assume that Felix felt threatened when Gabriel said he'll destroy him with the snap of his fingers. Felix wanting the peacock could very well be for self-preservation.

It still doesn't justify him giving Gabriel all the other miraculous.

Felix never tried any other options.

Adrichat knows that Felix had betrayed them and had given Shadow Moth most of the miraculous.

Emotion

Felix returns as Argos, the new holder of the Peacock Miraculous 🦚.

Felix pretends to be Adrien again and messes with Marinette and Kagami's emotions. Felix further inflicts more trauma upon Marinette by pretending to be Adrien, her boyfriend. He got to enjoy a moment that Adrien himself never got the chance to enjoy.

Felix plays with Kagami's feelings to suit his own ends.

He uses Kagami's trauma and loneliness against her.

Is only interested in Kagami because she's a sentimonster like him and not for no other reason.

Commits genocide and Thanosing people out of existence while singing.

Pretension

Argos stalks and kidnaps Kagami.

Gaslights Kagami into a toxic relationship by using her trauma against her.

All the built-up for Felix to be a good villain. Nah. Let's throw that out the window instead.

About Felix's redemption

Yes, if you haven't already heard or saw. Felix somehow gets a redemption arc.

Despite being horrible.

I don't exactly consider Felix's redemption arc an actual redemption.

Where was the exact moment he questioned his terrible actions?

When did he show remorse?

When did he decide to change and work on becoming a better person? 

Where was any of that?

He had sexually harassed Ladybug and never said anything about how he shouldn't have done that or apologized.

He never thought about how giving Gabriel 16 miraculous in exchange for 1. Without a doubt, Felix literally aided and abetted a terrorist. He had teamed up with the big bad more than with the show's heroes, and he hasn't questioned his morality.

Felix did nothing to deserve forgiveness from Ladybug.

Hell, he didn't even ask for forgiveness. Where is the redemption?

The likely excuse for Felix's redemption is "Oh, he actually has a different goal because he really cares about sentibeings and wants to free them all! What an amazing guy!"… So? Just because he had two angsty scenes with sentimonsters being treated badly suddenly makes him good?

[one-small-marshtato]

I was sleep deprived earlier and was trying to tire myself out and decided to write a few things I would add to Miraculous if I ever rewrote the show... enjoy 3 am me's thoughts

-Make lila a canon psychopath

-Give Adrien the power to purify akumas

-Reason why he doesn't use his "purification" more is because his way of purification is a smaller more concentrated cataclysm that destroys the butterfly

-he feels like he's killing the butterflies when he uses it

-don't show it until the whole "useless cn" arc tho

-Tie daoism into the lore of the miraculous

-kwamis don't fall inlove because love is too small to express the feelings they have for their partner

-Marinette not knowing mandarin and hating her chinese culture because of racial bullying

-Felix and Adrien arent sentimonsters their mothers are

-Felix wants the peacock because he wants to find a way to make his mother free from her amok

-explore mari's ptsd from chat blanc more

-Chloe gets redemption, but much later in the series

-the thing that sparks Chloe's redemption is sabrina/Zoe getting hurt by chloe's actions

-CHLOE IS A CLOSETED LESBIAN

-Lila is actually a good manipulator lol

-Chloe and Zoe are twins, reason why chloe hates zoe is because their mom chose zoe in the dicorce

-Zoe having trauma from being verbally abused by Audrey, her character is meant to show kids that abuse is more than just hitting

-Chloe being a double agent once she gets her redemption

-Mari becomes an apprentice to Gabriel

-Tomoe is a piece of shit and explore that

-Luka is shown as "wise" because of the fact that he had to grow up quicker because he was the man of the house er... boat

-Adrichat being good at flirting unconsciously but when he thinks about flirting he becomes a dude with no game

-Adrien is a himbo.... wait thats canon

-Kim is trans wich is the reason as to why he wants to win bets so much and prove how "strong and masculine" he is.

-they are 16 because 14 is waaay too young to be experiencing the trauma imma put them through🤪

-Adrien being passive aggressive towards his dad

-Nathalie actually helps Gabriel not because she loves him, no its because she loves emelie

-Gorilla also has daddy issues and the first time we hear him talk, its to comfort adrien about his father ignoring him

-Kagami fell inlove with Adrien because she and him were two people who were exactly alike (atleast in her eyes) and he was guy! Her mother would certainly approve of him

-Reason why Adrigami broke up is because Adrien felt like Kagami wouldn't like his Chat Noir side and would push it away just like his dad so he became more distant towards her

-Also because they were so alike that they both like the same gender too

-Luka fell inlove with Marinette because she helped him pursue his dream of being a musician

-Lukanette broke up because of secrets and not having much in common

-(see what i did there? Adrigami had too much in common and Lukanette had too little in common)

-The miraculous that are connected to the chinese zodiac, their holders will show traits of their respective animal

-Upgrade Pigella'power

-power balance the whole show

-make it clear as to why LB and CN are the most powerful

-Make them the dynamic duo after season 1

-UPGRADE THEIR CLOTHES AND COSTUME PLEASEE

-Adrien is a good liar, he just doesn't like lying because he feels like he would be too much like his father

-both mari and adrien have a ruthless side, marinette who represents yin shows it more regularly

-Sassy ladynoir banter, but its them vs someone else

-Quips

-Marinette showing that no matter how large your accomplishments are, they dont stop anxiety. Since anxiety is a condition where you think irrational thoughts

-Marinette and Adrien master the powers Creation and Destruction when they learn to grasp the concept. And learn the good and the bad and how to control both

-Plagg is head over heals with Tikki but he's a tsundere

-Gabriel dies a horrible death by being tortured by the celestial guardians

-Adrien ends up happy

-Wearing the Earings or the ring is mentally exhausting for someone who wasn't chosen by tikki or plagg

[laceratedlamiaceae]

Vulnerability in OFMD

I've been thinking a lot about vulnerability in Our Flag Means Death. The TL;DR is "choosing to be vulnerable is good, usually," which isn't really groundbreaking but the way it's done is interesting. I'm intentionally going to conflate physical and emotional vulnerability, because I think the show does it too. A lot of this has been said before, but I wanted to put it all in one place. Looooong post below:

Stede was taught from a young age that vulnerability was bad, by his bullies and his father, so he learned not to show it. As an adult, his tentative attempts to express himself are shut down (see all the flashbacks in episode four), and when Mary tries reaching out to him ("I know you're unhappy; I'm unhappy too"), he's had the fear of vulnerability so ingrained in him that he can't allow himself to be honest with her.

In the first three episodes, he's frequently made vulnerable (getting captured, running into Izzy, getting stabbed by the Spanish), but it's always forced upon him, not something he chooses. He meets Ed at his most vulnerable, having been stabbed and nearly hanged, and Ed saves him--I wouldn't be surprised if that was one of the first times someone saw him vulnerable and didn't use it to hurt him.

Despite that, he still can't be vulnerable with Ed (or anyone else). He tries, briefly, in episode four (when Ed asks him if he ever feels like he's treading water), but then Ed interrupts him and he gives up. Most obviously, he spends hours with a sword literally inside of him pretending that he's fine. In the end, he doesn't tell Ed how he feels about leaving his family, or that he doesn't (entirely) want to run away together. I imagine a big part of his arc in season two is going to be overcoming that.

Ed hasn't been vulnerable in a long time; he craves it, but can't have it because everyone sees him as Blackbeard (except Izzy, who hates vulnerability). We don't see much of what his life is like before he meets Stede, but he complains to Izzy that he doesn't have to risk his life in raids anymore; I think that speaks to a desire for vulnerability, in some way.

When he meets Stede, he finally has someone he can be vulnerable with. From the very beginning, Ed puts himself out there--he tells Stede all about his boredom and frustration pretty much as soon as they meet. I won't list it all out here, but he literally lets Stede stab him; it's hard to get more vulnerable than that, and he does later in that episode when he tells Stede about killing his father.

In episode ten, after having a taste of what vulnerability can get him and then losing it, he tries desperately to get it back and he does that by dialing the vulnerability up to eleven. It kind of works, even if the crew is visibly uncomfortable at first, until Izzy shows him the downside of vulnerability: it makes it easy for people to hurt you. I was pretty confused by his total 180 at first, but it makes a lot of sense when you consider that he's probably never been hit where it hurts like that, at least not for a long time, and he has no idea how to handle it.

Izzy can't handle vulnerability at all. Like Stede, he never chooses to be vulnerable and every time he is put in a vulnerable position he reacts with fear, either freezing (Stede holding him at knifepoint, Lucius asking if he's ever been sketched) or fawning (Ed choking him and making him eat his own toe, the crew nearly throwing him overboard). When Ed tries to be vulnerable with him (and Ed is the only person who ever does), he shuts it down; he brushes off Ed's boredom in episode four and he rails against everything Ed's doing in episode ten. His aversion to vulnerability constantly makes him miserable but he's too afraid/un-self-aware to do anything about it. (just like me!)

If he's getting a "redemption arc" (imo he isn't bad enough for that term to apply, but that's the one people are using), I think it has to start with him confronting that fear. If he doesn't, I think he could be a good foil for Stede, illustrating what happens when you don't allow yourself to be vulnerable. As tragic as it would be, I think Izzy refusing to open up to vulnerability even when he's given the opportunity and ultimately dying/ending up sad and alone because of it would be a really poignant way to end his story, albeit kind of a downer and very cliché.

Lucius is the most willing to be vulnerable, and the most able to pull it off; Jim tries to kill him and they kiss him an episode later, and he literally tells Ed "You can stab me in the face now" and it works out for him. He serves as a model of the show's idea of what vulnerability should look like.

It's more interesting to look at the time Lucius isn't vulnerable: episode five, when Izzy is trying to blackmail him. Izzy saw he was vulnerable and wanted to take advantage of that, and he didn't let that happen. I think the point of that was to show that vulnerability isn't universally good; some people (Izzy) will use it to hurt you.

Overall, every time a character chooses to be vulnerable with another, their relationship improves. The obvious exception to that is Ed in episode ten, and I think the point of that is to hammer home that vulnerability doesn't always work; it isn't a coincidence that Izzy is involved both times this idea is brought up. Being forced into vulnerability is always portrayed as negative, which seems obvious but is worth noting. (as a sidenote, this is why I can't get into fics where Izzy is dragged kicking and screaming into being part of the crew; if he doesn't choose it himself it just feels wrong).

There's a lot more I could say about this--I didn't even touch on Jim and Oluwande, and I might in a later post--but this is already over 1,000 words and I think I have enough here to back up the idea that vulnerability is a big theme of the show. Specifically, the show is (in part) about how important it is to be vulnerable, which I think is a big part of the reason it's resonated with me and so many other people.

[please-someone-give-me-love]

What makes "Son of batman" so good?

I wanted to talk about this comic because it's probably one of my favorite comic in general.

Son of batman explores directly the trauma of Damian Wayne and the consequences of his past anctions and regrets.

One of my favorite thing in this comic is that Damian can actually shows his emotions.

And it's not only sadness or anger what he shows but his innocence and genuine spirit that he always had but not a lot of writters know.

I think it's important because we could see a new and more complex version of Damian, giving him a personality and showing a more childish side of him.

His friendship with Maya.

To everyone who know Damian's character, you would know how hard is for him to make new friends, so they being friends and seeking redemption and forgivness is a strong point of their friendship.

Maya could see on Damian what other people couldn't, she went from resent him to understand his situation and support him, loving him as a little brother and also, as a friend.

I have to say something, I am happy that they didn't make her a love interest, Damian was still a really traumatize child there, it wouldn't be good to him having a romantic relationship.

Damain finds forgivness on her, he finds redemption to his life and finds a person who understand him.

Their personalities also helps, they have a good chemistry together and their duo was dynamic and also complex.

Exploration of Traumas.

We could see a new perspective of his life, the things he went throught and how much that affected him in a mentally way.

Even that it wasn't Damian's fault, they didn't make Damian justify his actions but assuming the guilt and the consequences with that, bringing him a new level of development.

Also, it's heartbreaking to see panels like these:

Damian's animals and how much Damian love them.

Especially Goliath, that it explores a deepest bond with him.

And don't forget:

"They are family. Brothers"

Talia's redemption arc as a character.

Good to see an appropiate way of her character, Grant Morrinsonn always make her look so inhuman that it hurts and even that she still kinda abusive, we could have more empathy for her and even like her in some point.

But remember, forgivness doesn't mean forget.

"Why did you kill me mother?"

"R is for Redemption."

A new meaning to Robin, because Robin represents hope, but because of this, redemption means hope to Damian.

In conclusion...

"Son of Batman" is an incredible comic that represent all of what it is Damian as a character, his complexity, development and traumas that came with him.

Talked about forgiveness and redemption as a main topic but it develops multiple characters and gave them their own story and personality, also it's not afraid to talk about their emotions and their past.

We learn how to forgive other people, but in particular, we learn how to forgive ourselves.

We grow up with Damian, we saw him struggle with his past, dealing with his own indecision and suffering from all of the PTSD that he had, we explore his relationships, with his mom, dad, Maya, teachers and even his pets. We learn about him and watched him trying to become a better person.

So at the end we feel relief and happy for him and his beautiful develop throught the story.

Ps. I didn't mention the art style, but it was beautiful and consistent for the whole arc (and I mean the first 6 issues) and even that, the art style was beautiful.

So thank you for reading my ted talk and I hope my english wasn't so bad here, I still want to talk more but I can't do it with the limitation of the images.

Whatever ¡Thank you for read!

[your-local-heartbroken-lesbian]

My ratings on how emotional some of my favorite EAH duos would make me if they played marbles (the thing from Squid Game!!!) (also I just kind of want to give everyone my take on how I think it would all happen and who would die)

Before I go any further, mb for just dipping on y'all. I just left the EAH fandom and then got back into it. And I actually HAVE started writing All I Want again (weird that it was so sudden but whatever)

This is from the least emotional (still cry-worthy fs tho) to the most emotional (literally screaming and sobbing). 1 and 2 are actually tied because I couldn't decide which was worse. I struggled rlly bad on some of these so just because I put one higher doesn't mean I wouldn't fucking lose my mind for the lower one

8. Daring/Rosabella

Y'all. I'm sorry. I do love them. Don't get me wrong. They're just at the bottom. They were actually the only duo that I was even close to being sure about. I genuinely like them and if they had to play, I would be shedding tears. I feel like a lot of people would instantly go for Rosabella because of her like savior type of attitude sometimes, but I'm gonna be fr with y'all. I think Daring would actually lose. I think he would find a way around letting her lose. I know he's made out to be selfish sm, but then in the last season he kind of has that redemption arc and I actually start to like him. I think that Rosabella would try to fool him into winning, but he would possibly see through her playing with him and end up ultimately losing. It would definitely be emotional, but I feel like he would take it bravely. That might not be quite the right word, but I can't think of another good one rn so whatever.

Survivor: Rosabella

7. Darling/Daring

I KNOW. COME AT ME. This one would definitely be rough. The first thing I thought of when I saw this was that Daring would try to be the brother in the situation. He would try to protect, but I think he would fail. Darling can do anything she puts her mind to, and if she really wanted herself to lose, she would make it happen. That's just the tea y'all. I feel like there would be a moment where it looks like Daring's going to lose, and then Darling swoops in and takes that spot right out from under him. I think he would be really hurt, and I think he would feel a lot of guilt afterwards because he let that happen to his sister. There's a possibility that it could be him instead of her, which would take the path of him acting like the brother and taking the fall for her, but I just feel like she would end up losing.

Survivor: Daring

6. Cupid/Blondie

People don't talk about this ship enough, so I'm going to. Anyway, I love them. I think they're adorable and would've made a great couple. Thinking about them playing the marble game makes me want to kms bc I think it would constantly be them going back and forth and trying to get the other to take their marbles. I think Blondie would eventually convince Cupid that she needs to lose and not Cupid, and despite Cupid trying to beg her not to, Blondie lets Cupid take her marbles and she loses. It would honestly be hard to watch even though I have it at six. I would for sure cry a lot, and it would be really heartfelt. They're both just so soft when you take away their sassy and sarcastic moments. One of my favorite underrated ships.

Survivor: Cupid

5. Holly/Poppy

Just want to say how much I love these two. I love their personalities and just everything about them. I do feel like both would try to save the other. Again, it would be a back and forth battle between who's going to lose. I think that Poppy would end up being the one to lose. Holly would just give up because she sees that she's getting nowhere with Poppy. It would be extremely bittersweet and she would be nonstop crying. She would try to reason with her, but it wouldn't work. Poppy would be determined to let Holly live, so she would let herself lose.

Survivor: Holly

A/N: Here's the good shit y'all. Everyone is going to fucking HATE me. I'm so sorry in advance. My imagination really said fuck you once I got to like 3.

4. Apple/Raven

...

So. I feel like it would be giving Dragon Games LMFAO. No bc like it would be super angsty and sad. They would be fighting for each other to survive until the very end. There would be a lot of tears and a lot of just meltdowns over it. Despite the whole thing about how Raven is portrayed as the more selfless one in the friendship, I'm just gonna say it rn. Apple stopped being selfish (... only partially because she DID get herself killed to save Raven which only hurt her more but it's fine)

APPLE LOST.

She definitely lost. Raven didn't see it coming, and it just happened. Apple accepted it and that was it. Raven definitely walked away from this with guilt for the rest of her life. She would never be the same. I think she would always feel like a part of her was missing.

Survivor: Raven

3. Darling/Apple

I'll just start by saying that Apple dies. I'll explain why. LET ME EXPLAIN. PLEASE.

My take on this is, of course, that Darling loves Apple more than she will ever realize (literally no fucking shit). Everyone is made to believe that Darling is going to be the one who loses. Even Apple believes this. It makes sense that Darling would be the one to die. She's the knight in the relationship. Literally. Anyway, it just makes sense. How she is would just make complete sense. You're made to think that in the end, it's going to be Darling. It almost is. Apple really has her mind set on it being herself, but she just has a feeling that it'll be Darling. She thinks that Darling is going to find a way to lose her marbles. Then they start to get close to the end, and it clicks in Apple's mind that she can't let Darling die. She refuses to let her go. So she does what any good girlfriend would do.

Apple lets Darling get all of her marbles before Darling even realizes what Apple was doing. The minute that Darling has Apple's last marble, she just stares at her. I think she would silent cry and Apple would try to be optimistic. It would be so fucking emotional. I don't know how well I would handle it.

Survivor: Darling

2. Maddie/Raven

Banging my head against a wall because the way I would cry. I feel like everyone knows who would die. Let's just be fr. It's Maddie. Y'all can come at me, but it's Maddie. I know she's like goofy and crazy most of the time, but when it comes down to it, she absolutely loves her friends to the ends of the universe. She would do anything for them. I love her relationship with Raven, and I feel like going into it, Raven would already know that Maddie was going to lose. She would try to deny it, but she would already know. It would be gut feeling that she couldn't shake. She would try to draw the game out so that she had more time with Maddie, but it wouldn't matter because Maddie was going to die sooner or later. I think Maddie would be cracking jokes and trying to make Raven smile until she was finally killed. She would definitely know as well from the beginning that she would be the one. It wouldn't be that Raven didn't want to do it, because she really did, it would just be that Maddie felt like it should be her. Maddie wanted to let Raven live even if meant that she couldn't. This would make me bawl fr.

Survivor: Raven

2. Kitty/Lizzie

I actually just put this one on the list of ships to do, so here we go. This would be super fucking angsty. Both of them love each other a lot and don't want to watch the other one die. They know that one of them will have to die, but they want it to be themselves. It would be horrible to watch because I feel like, and don't get mad because I actually struggled to think about who would die, it would be Lizzie who lost. I can see it being Kitty. I definitely can, BUT, there's just something that makes me believe that it would truly be Lizzie in the end. I think both of them would hold it together for the most part until the end. Kitty would finally win and completely lose her shit. Lizzie would accept her fate but continuously apologize to Kitty for letting this happen. I think Kitty would tell her "it's okay" and just try to make her feel not guilty. Kitty wouldn't come out of this okay at all. I feel like she would actually go insane after watching the love of her life die.

Survivor: Kitty

A/N: GOD I FUCKING HATE MYSELF FOR DOING THESE LAST TWO. I love y'all but here comes, in my opinion, the ones that would make me want to break shit and kms. They're the full-on mental breakdown ones.

Ashlynn/Briar

I'll start this one by apologizing because I'm going to be dead serious right now. I would literally have a meltdown over this. I wouldn't be able to handle it. Their friendship is wholesome and they love each other so much that it hurts. And for the love of FUCKING GOD I AM SO SORRY BUT ASHLYNN LOSES.

I'm leaving that there.

This one is bad. It's definitely a lot of crying and "I love you's" because who doesn't lose playing a game where one of you has to die and the other has to live with that guilt for the rest of their (very possibly short) life. Briar definitely goes into the game convinced that she's going to do it. She prepares herself the entire time. She loses her mojo a few times because she feels bad that Ashlynn is crying so much and is just an emotional mess. It just reminds her of how Ashlynn would be if Briar actually lost. This one would be hard to watch. I think there would just be constant crying on both sides if I'm being completely honest. I think that everyone would seriously think it's Briar, and then you realize that it's going to be Ashlynn. There would be that moment of "wait, what the fuck did she just do?" It would be gut-churning honestly. Ashlynn was honestly always too nice, and this would be the moment when she needed to not be. Briar would tell her she needed to just let her lose so Ashlynn could walk away from this, but Ashlynn wouldn't want that. I think the second that Briar realized that it wasn't going to be her that lost, she would try to push herself harder to get rid of her marbles. In the end, it would be Ashlynn that got killed. Briar would take it really hard and she would struggle afterwards with the death of her best friend.

Survivor: Briar

A/N: ON GOD THE ONE I'VE BEEN WAITING TO TELL EVERYONE BECAUSE I WANT TO CRY RN THINKING ABT IT

Briar/Faybelle

Shaking. Crying. Screaming. Throwing up. Sobbing.

This would be really bad.

Absolutely fucking horrible to watch.

Writing the part of how this happens, I'm still unsure as to who I'm going to go with on losing, so we'll see as I keep going.

God, this is fucking hard. I can imagine it and I don't want to. It would be super angsty. Like screaming and fighting. A lot of crying. I know Faybelle normally hides all of her emotions on the show and whatever, but this would be that time that she just lets go. Going into the game, they both wanted themselves to die. It's hard to think about because on one hand, you have Briar who is the more soft one in the relationship and wants to let Faybelle survive because she loves her, but then you have Faybelle who feels guilty about how she's treated Briar in the past and she doesn't believe at all that she can continue her life without Briar. It's mostly the latter, but those are just two major points. I think that the idea of the other dying would be the fuel for wanting to lose their own marbles. They would be going back and forth the whole time. I just feel like the angst would be what hurts everyone. It would be so much screaming and crying of how they can't live without the other. We would also see a side of Faybelle that's never even been grazed, and I think that would hurt even more because the fact that Faybelle would let herself act so desperate and be so vulnerable would be an eye-opener. It would be like "oh shit, Faybelle actually fucking loves Briar and literally is about to let herself die just so she can survive." And then you have everything from Briar's pov which is "I can't live without Faybelle so I'm going to lose and she'll learn to live without me. She'll be okay." Both would have similar outlooks on it, but in the end, I genuinely believe that both would die.

Briar would let herself lose first and Faybelle would just fucking lose her mind completely. I think Faybelle would literally be on her knees and begging them to just kill her. If they didn't, she would find a way to do it herself because she can't live without Briar.

Very sob-worthy if you ask me.

Anyway, they both die. End of story. Not really but I don't want to actually write something abt this bc I would cry before I even got one paragraph in

Survivor: Neither bc I'm a bitch