#like i said i'll get more into the specifics of each in separate posts but i needed to establish the connection

[kaizenproductions]

Natsu does NOT have any previous experience with romantic love

This is the (better) Tumblr version of my post from Twitter. Given the format of this website, I'll add some details to what's already written.

Before starting with this, I want to clarify that the motivation to write this post has little to do with nalu itself (it will be mentioned to highlight a point though). Having previous romantic partners DOESN'T really make any ship invalid. You'll find the actual reason behind this essay under the cut below.

This is about how Natsu, as a character, is never presented or seen by others as someone who has experience with love and such idea is never hinted or implied anywhere in the canon material. This lack of experience explains why Lucy thinks he has no interest in it.

As we will see later, Lucy isn't the only one who thinks like this... Let's get started.

Year 2024. Why writing all this? Some weeks ago I was involved in a discussion about whether Natsu was being OOC during a filler (non canon) scene of the anime where he snaps at Lucy in a way he never does with any of his friends in canon material. The discussion led to this...

I didn't want to assume that this person was taking Lisanna as some kind of first love. At the end it turned out that was exactly what was happening. The proof? The most platonic reunion ever... with Happy reacting the same way as Natsu and comedy being included. It is important to highlight that Mashima never makes two people between whom there have been romantic feelings reunite like this, with comedy references in between that downplays the seriousness of the moment to some extent. While this post is about Natsu and his feelings, I could also mention Lisanna's reaction to this, something that proves that there wasn't even a one sided love: after noticing this Natsu is the same one from her real dimension, she doesn't start crying because of him but because of her siblings.

Let's ignore the part where this dude started calling me and some other users "retards" because that speaks volumes for itself about his lack of real arguments. After all, he has been fighting for at least 4 years with teens over power scaling, a topic he may seem to be knowledgeable about but actually isn't so much, plus he has been banned from at least one Discord server because of his r4pe threats. It seems this individual was so obsessed with that specific thing that he said Zeref did it to Mavis and that's how August was made... That also speaks volumes about his media literacy and the fact that even if it's true that he did read the manga so many times as he claimed during this discussion, he has serious problems with reading as a normal person. When it comes to the topic of this post, the problem is that he has some influence within the fandom, at least on Twitter, so whatever he says is something that many of his followers will start repeating.

What does Mashima do when Lisanna finally comes back to her original home and she gets a proper reunion with everyone?

After the initial shock from seeing Edo Lisanna in Earthland and the big reveal, this is how Natsu reacts.

This isn't a reunion that suggests that Lisanna is special compared to everyone else in the guild, and particulary to those who grew around Natsu. Also, we can't say Mashima just doesn't know how to write such scene properly... because he's written it at least once (in Rave).

The emotion you can feel in this scene, the way ONLY both lovers are on the spotlight and the rest of their friends are in the background until the end... Well, the difference is so obvious that it's ridiculous to say more. Given how well Mashima handles the emotional dimension of his characters in his mangas, the possibility that he didn't know how to depict two lovers who got separated from each for some time due to circumstances beyond their control is off the table.

Also, notice how the end of the Edolas arc depicts this.

The difference with her reunion with Natsu and the others is so obvious that there's no need to say more.

We can also discard Lisanna as a former love interest because there's no akwardness between them once she's back to the guild. They can be seen playing together and briefly interacting from time to time, so it's not like they're avoiding each other.

Is it implied somewhere that they had something beyond friendship? Not in any kind of canon material. Every time Lisanna is mentioned in regards to Natsu she's presented as a close childhood friend. We have, for example, her profile from one of the first chapters where she's back home and the information of the official magazine that was released 10 years ago.

But what if they simply stopped loving each other due to being separated, as a fellow nalu shipper told me on Discord? Making characters fall out of love is something that Mashima also references (see Macao pic a bit below). It also goes against what we saw regarding Erza and Jellal, who still had romantic feelings for each other despite their antagonistic positions for many years, or against the whole Zeref and Mavis thing. In other Mashima mangas we have more couples like this. Elsie and Justice still loved each other despite being sworn enemies, and Let still loved Julia (and vice versa) when he discovered she was alive, a kinda similar scenario to Natsu and Lisanna if they had been lovers. Given that Natsu and Lisanna weren't even enemies to each other at any point and they were only separated for two years, we can't say they had something canonically and they simply got over it with no actual reference to it.

There was a very good moment to reference past feelings in 100YQ: when Touka includes Lisanna in the group of women "around Natsu".

Instead of offering us a comment like "it's not like that anymore", Lisanna just says something that implies they're not that close. After all, Natsu is hanging out with his team most of the time since it was established.

What's the reason this fandom has been so many years discussing about this friendship? Because the first anime adaptation goes beyond that friendship and the manga omake where both of them take care of Happy's egg, something Lisanna decides to help with because she loves animals and she felt Natsu wouldn't do it properly. The first season includes several fillers that pave the way for a love triangle, presenting Lisanna as a girl who is VERY interested in marrying Natsu when they're adults. In addition, Happy is presented as their son, something that totally goes against the source material. Even if Natsu is the one who saw Happy be born and was living with him since then, Happy is never considered as his son and is always called a nakama/companion/friend.

This long thread has everything that A-1 and Satelight added in regards to Natsu and Lisanna. As we can see in the info provided in one of the first tweets, Mashima let them "edit" the story the way they wanted to and it's mentioned explicitely by both him and Ishihara (the director) that Ishihara is responsible for those additions, not Mashima. We also can't say the additions were something Mashima asked for because he couldn't include everything he wanted in his manga for some reason. This is supported by the fact that Lisanna is never presented in the manga as any kind of romantic interest after she comes back.

There's also this tweet from 2012 where Mashima replied to someone asking him whether he was involved in the story of the anime. His answer is no.

It's also important to say that these fillers aren't canon: they're not referenced in the source material (the starry key arc was, even if Mashima wasn't involved in the writing), they're not referenced in the anime itself after Lisanna comes back and they have no impact in the events of the story during and after Edolas.

Currently, thanks to Mashima's Twitter Spaces, we know two things: he revived Lisanna because some people in the anime staff liked her (Ishihara is one of them for sure), which explains why she's not very relevant and is always tied to her siblings, and he once considered to include a love triangle between Natsu, Lucy and Lisanna after Edolas, but he liked Natsu and Lucy's dynamic by then enough to not introduce such storyline. He also said Lisanna was "だめ" in regards to that triangle that never came to be, implying that she would have been the one that doesn't get the boy in that scenario.

So is Lisanna our supposed former love interest? As far as the canon material goes, no. Was she close to Natsu? Yes. Is she dear to him? Yes, just like everyone in his family, the guild, is (I can't believe I'm writing this in fking 2024). Now, what if there was someone else? The assumption that characters may have dated another (unnamed) character offscreen isn't totally crazy. After all we saw how Juvia dated Bora, even if it was a narrative tool to show that not even dates would make Juvia stop being depressed. However, we can't say there was someone else as more than a headcanon unless it's implied or mentioned somewhere explicitely. We know Macao was married but got divorced thanks to the official magazine, for example.

When it comes to Natsu, nothing is ever mentioned.

100YQ, the official FT sequel, has several pannels that go against the whole idea of Natsu being experienced with romantic love. As I mentioned at the beginning, even others from the guild, and especifically Macao in this pannel, who knows Natsu since he was a kid, have a hard time believing he's interested in love.

This part of the story includes a very interesting pannel that also debunks the whole idea that Natsu felt more than frienship for Lisanna before she was transported to Edolas.

Why would Lisanna's brother react like this over such comment if Natsu and his sister had romantic feelings in the past? Easy: because those feelings never existed.

Even Lisanna is a bit surprised when Touka expresses her interest in him.

Previous romantic experience would also mean that Natsu's relationship with Lucy would be more advanced than it is as of now, not to mention this recent scene.

Natsu is still quite dense with romance, even when it doesn't involve him, and while he talks about his and Lucy's kids they still have a long way to go due to his total inexperience in this area as of now. Someone with past love experiences wouldn't be like this. I could say more about this but this isn't the post for it so...

Conclussion: the first season of the anime did a lot of damage that resulted in many years of discussions, fights, misogyny towards both Lucy and Lisanna. There was no childhood or teen love, no jealousy from Lisanna when she saw how close Natsu and Lucy were as a team and nothing suggests that Lisanna was more than a friend in canon material. Claiming the opposite at this point of the story is useless.

[lulucutie2nitexd]

Hi, I came across your account when it, for some reason, popped up on my dashboard and I noticed that you write angst but there's no Gorou posts.

So, I give you a Gorou angst piece. When Kokomi's parents come to his parents with a marriage contract in hand, Gorou is torn between bowing to his parents' wishes to marry Kokomi or remain faithful to you. He eventually gives into the pressure and breaks off his relationship with you to marry Kokomi. On the day before his wedding, you leave Inazuma for Sumeru, where you take up the post as the Matra's medical examiner; a position Cyno has specifically reserved for you.

I'm so sorry I had many casualties being hospitalized again but I'm discharged now and I can hopefully work on some more requests. I am once again sincerely apologizing.

Fading affections

₊✩‧₊˚౨ৎ˚₊✩‧₊

Gorou x reader

(some x Cyno, can be platonic or Romantic you choose)

Angst w comfort!

Warnings: cheating, detailed mentions of war, eloping?? Abandonment of children aka Gorou being a horrible father

Context: Kokomi's parents offer Gorou a contract, little did you know Gorou and Kokomi had an affair this whole time since the start of the war leaving the other side of your bed cold even more often.

★

!Not proof read!

Reposts and likes appreciated

Reqs open but very slow atm

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝

Did it really matter? Did your whole relationship even matter? Three years of trust, love, communication, saftey was all pouring down the drain the moment the general told you that he wanted to separate ways. But You knew everything. You knew that since this horrible war started that he didn't love just You anymore. You did not know who his mistress was, or what you and your family would do. How would the child that You protected with your life. Said child watching their world shatter around them as they listened to their fathers voice.

"Listen, I'll keep this short. We must part ways, I wish to be with Her Excellency, Kokomi. Her parents came to me with their blessings and a mirrage contract."

"Or was it just your affair? Did you ever really want to be with me? Gorou we have a family why do you do this now." You lashed out at him angrily as he looked away, submissive expression on his face. His beautiful bright teal eyes looking anywhere else with visible pain. He didn't love only you, but deep down you both knew you still loved each other. He just didn't want you anymore. All he muttered is small apologies with the heaviest guilt and pressure ever seen on him.

"Get out of my sight please." Is all you can say, signing off the divorce papers and pushing them onto him before walking to your now dull and empty what was once shared room. The room you had so many memories in, joy, sadness, anger, pleasure. And you all overcame them with him. But he was no longer there to share with any longer. No warmth was left in your home with just you and your child. Your family was not whole, would not be whole like it was.

Replaced. You and your child. Gorou used to visit, he was a good dad.. for a short while. Not long after their wedding kokomi fell pregnant. Your kid was already traumatized of the divorce. And now your kid refuses to even go near it's father. What a shame. And yet Gorou can't even see what's wrong. When he's friendly with You, when he tries to bond with his kid. It's so obvious, how much Gorou favors his and kokomi's kid. Good riddance.

It was that moment he realized that you're gone only did he regret everything. Even after watching countless of his friends fall, watching the explosions, the blood, his team mates getting stabbed, the screams, the weapons, the innocent civilians dying at his hands for the war. The people around him begging and fighting for their life and families. Every drink he took, every new wound he endured and yet this wound was permanent. Maybe he didn't love just you, but he loved you. He knew he loved you.

His life dull, his heart begging for you to come back. He tried so hard to find you and yet he couldn't. The last he heard was from one of the Kaedehara clan who said that he has traveled with You and Your child to sumeru. His heart shattered at the words. His last hope of ever speaking to you again falling into a void. He visibly regretted everything. Not wanting to take care of his new family. Violently disgusted in every passionate heated moment with her.

But it truly did not matter any longer. Now that you and your kid where elsewhere, you both would be okay. Your new life travelling as the care taker of the Matra, you eventually became close with him. Your child and Cynos mutual adoration for eachother being so sweet that even you can't help but smile. Them treating each other like family. Not in the way Gorou 'cared' but in their own special way.

You didn't need Gorou, no matter what as long as you had your kid and Cyno you'd be okay. All three of You knew that without anything being said, the care us truly mutual. You can only thank Cyno for ever offering the job to you as his medical examiner. Because of him your kid and you will always be happy and strong now, no matter what all three of you would have eachother and every night, sleeping with that comfort was easy.

"Hey do you want to hear another joke?"

"NO."

Ta-da! .𖥔 ݁ ˖ִ ࣪⚝₊ ⊹˚

[everlastlady]

i see a good Striker x reader writer, and my immediate reflex is to request :³

let's say, Y/n is an assassin who happens to be an old friend of Blitø's, but their friendship is in the same condition as Blitzø's with Fizz.

it's pretty messed up, because they had a massive fight before going their separate ways with huge grudges towards one another.

so, when Y/n bumps into I.M.P. (let's say they both had missions in Hell, Striker and Y/n split up, and Blitzø and Y/n accidentally see each other), things get out of hand and Y/n participates in 3vs1 fight, obviously loosing because, well, Blitzø is as strong as Striker, and M&M are just as equally skilled.

Striker, who came back, is quick to join the fight, but seeing how wounded Y/n is, decides to take reins into his hands, and leave. Unfortunately, Y/n gets shot in the hip, and to avoid any more wounds, they get an upper hand on Millie and threaten to kill her.

On that note, each party goes their separate ways, and Striker takes Y/n to the hideout to patch them up, where he confesses his feelings

Sorry if it's too specific or long, but when the imagination hits, it hits HARD!

Thanks and have a nice time of day!!!

Nah, don't apologize I appreciate detailed request because sometimes I get writer's block 💔 and I'm glad you requested, I had fun with this request and I hope you enjoy it. And I agree when the imagination hits it hits hard so I hope some parts hit ya in the gut.

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☕Author's Note: Hello! My little imps, demonic sinners, & powerful overlords. Welcome back to another story and request. I hope that you enjoy this story this is the final request that I have finished writing so yipee! I can't write other things which I'll post here soon. If you enjoyed this story please comment, like, or reblog!

☕Word Count: 2323

☕Fandom: Helluva Boss

☕Story Contains Violence

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Striker X Assassin Reader: The Confession.

The assassin sat on the bed. He ran his fingers through his white hair and sighed, he was sharpening his knife. He pulled out his phone and unlocked it. He went through his gallery, his yellow eyes landed on the picture of you and him. The cowboy Imp was in love with you, but he didn’t want to scare you. He was too scared, scared to be rejected and ruin the friendship you both had. He was glad to be working with you. To have another assassin by his side. He admired how strong you were and how smart you were. You always came up with brilliant plans. You may not be a highly skilled fighter but you knew how to work a weapon. “ Hey, Strik we got a job. “ He turned around to see you walking up wearing your assassin outfit that you always looked so beautiful in. “ What’s the job darlin’ ? “ Striker put away his phone and stood up. You told him the job was to kill some rich asshole who wanted to buy some stolen property. Striker smirked. “ Sounds like an easy job, show me the picture of this bastard, that we are going to put a bullet in or do you have a plan? “ Striker said. You pulled out your phone and showed him a picture of the target which was some wealthy-looking shark man in a dark blue tux and glowing white eyes. “ I was thinking we could poison his wine. He owns a wine company. Tonight he’ll be testing the new product, so I suggest we poison him and he’ll die in front of everyone. “ You said smirking. Oh, how Striker loved that smirk of yours and he also agreed with the plan and nodded. “ Sounds good, darlin’ we’ll just do that. I’ll take care of anyone who gets in our way. “ Striker placed his hand on your shoulder and you smiled placing your hand on his shoulder. “ And I’ll be protecting you. “ You smiled and walked off. Striker smiled and walk off to go get ready; he loved how you always had his back. Sometimes it worried him though because you have gotten messed up protecting him from small to big people. And you had the scars to prove it but Striker knew you were a strong person and nothing could keep you down.

It’s one of the reasons he loved you. Striker got everything he needed ready and whistled to call his horse Bombproof. You walked up fixing your gear. “ Hey, there cutie. “ You said petting Bombproof on the nose. Striker loved how you treated Bombproof, you even went as far as to call Bombproof your son and spoiled the horse. Striker got on the horse and pulled you on. He smacked Bombproof with his tail and you two rode off. You had your arms wrapped around Striker, knowing how fast the cowboy loved to go. You gave Striker the direction and told him more about the plan along the way. You told Striker that you would be posing as an escort and he hated the idea but he knew this was part of your plan. “ Alright, but just holler for me. If that bastard acts funny with you. “ Striker said patting your head. You smiled and walked off, Striker would be the one adding the poison to the wine. You slipped into a different outfit and walked inside. You stared at your target Dovin who grinned when seeing you. “ I guess my men bought me the prettiest little thing. “ Dovin lifted your chin with his finger, and you smirked at him. “ Please to meet you and be by your side tonight. “ You said chuckling. “ Maybe even my bed~, “ Devon said with a wink. You felt sick to your stomach hearing that but you forced a smile. You spent the rest of the day with Devon as he showed you around his home. He took you to the garden and walked about riches, and he talked about the property he was buying. “ Maybe, I could buy you a nice home. You may be an escort but maybe you could be something more~ “ He said leaning down to kiss you. But he was interrupted when one of the servants whispered in his ear.

“ Ugh! They're already here. Fine, I’ll speak with them, get that out of the way and get them out of my home before the party. “ Devon sighed but looked at you with a smile. “ Feel free to explore, my little treat, I have some business to take care of but I’ll be back for you. “ He smacked your ass making you jump. It took you all the strength not to snap at him or pull out your knife. You could have sworn your heard home hissing and rattling. But the noise was gone and Devon walked off. You tried to call Striker but he didn’t pick up so you sent him a text. You decided to walk around the home more and saw some items. “ Maybe after we kill the bastard, Striker and I can pawn some of these items. Could help upgrade the hideout and I could spoil Bombproof. “ You said chuckling. You kept walking around and saw a large white door. You pushed open the door and walked up seeing an interesting book. “ Grimoire? “ You brushed your fingers against the book. “ (Y/N)? “ A voice said making you freeze. You turned and your stomach dropped. “ Blitzo. “ You stared at the Imp, the Imp you were friends with. “ Blitzo… “You said in a cold tone while glaring at him. “ What are you doing here? “ You asked crossing your arms. “ I’m here for that. “ He said shaking his head and sighing while pointing at the book. “ Why are you here? “ He asked sounding a bit hesitant. “ I’m here on a job. “ You simply said. You stared at the book. “ Why are you here for the book? “ You asked picking it up. “ I don’t think that’s none of your concern after what you did. “ He said trying to grab the book from you but you stepped away quickly. “ After what I did!? What about what you did to me and Fizz! Huh! But I guess Blitzo always has to be right, poor Blitzo is the victim. “ You said. Blitz snatched the book from you quickly. “ The name is Blitz the O is silent now. “ He said glaring. “ Changing your name doesn’t fix things and it won’t change the fact what you did to me and Fizz. “ You said digging your nails into the palm of your hand.

“ Let me guess, you're going to be some overrated sell-out like him! “ Blitz said and placed the book in his jacket. “ You have no room to judge Fizz. “ You said glaring. “ And you don’t have no room to judge me, both of you abandon me! “ Blitz said, looking like he wanted to cry. You already had tears brimming in your eyes but instead of using your words. You pushed Blitz, you weren't strong enough to push him back but this surprised Blitz so he pushed you back making you fall to the floor. You glared and kicked Blitz in the leg. The Imp yelps and you stood up punching him in the face. Blitz glared and tears brimmed in his eyes and the two of you started fighting. Not even hearing the loud gunshot that went off. The two of you threw things at each other and kept throwing punches. The large door swung open as you and Bliz stared at each other. “ Sir! “ Moxxie said. “ Blitz, Striker is here! “ But both of them stopped and stared at Blitz and you. “ Striker… “ You said softly. Blitz stared at you. “ You know that ass hat cowboy. “ Blitz said. “ Don’t call him that, he’s a better friend than you ever were. “ You said tackling Blitz, the two of you going back to fighting. Millie and Moxxie tried to get you off of their boss. But you turned around delivering a punch in Moxxie’s face making the Imp fall to the floor. “ Mox! “ Millie yelled and then glared at you while you smirked. She used all her strength to knock you back and you caught yourself on the desk.

You watched the black-haired Imp go check on what you assumed was her partner. “ Looks like those two have a better love life than you Blitzo. “ You said putting some emphasis on the O. Blitzo glared and ran at you. You got out of the way and did your best to fight Blitz but he was just as good and strong as Striker. You didn’t expect the other two Imps to jump in and things got messy for you. “ (Y/N)! “ You saw Striker run in and saw how beat up you look. He hissed and let out a rattling sound. And joined the fight. “ The little vermin and Blitzy want to pick a fight huh? “ Striker did his best to take on the three. You saw that Striker had knocked down Blitzo and Moxxie trapping them underneath the bookcase. Blitz’s gun slid across the room next to Millie who couldn’t get up because Striker knock her to the wall. Striker pulled his own gun and smirked. “ All of you are going to die today, and I won’t have to worry about any of yall getting in my way. “ He said. But you noticed Millie had Blitz’s gun and was about to shoot Striker. You grunted in pain and got up and running. “ Striker! “ You yelled. And when Striker turned around, he heard a loud bang and a thump. He sat that you fell to the floor wincing in pain. He leaned down and turned you carefully to see you were shot in the hip. “ (Y/N)! “ Striker’s heart was racing. He looked at Millie and glared. He walked up and Millie tried to shoot him but the gun was jammed. Striker grabbed her by and throat. “ I will fucking kill you! “ Striker said applying pressure to Millie’s throat. Ready to snap her neck in half. “ Striker, please let her go, and let’s just go. “ You said huffing in pain. Striker looked at you with a sorrowful look and let go of Millie. He carefully picked you up and ran out of the room. Striker and you had vanished from the mansion before the security could get you both. Back at the hideout, Striker was patching you up and you sighed. “ We didn’t get to kill the fucking target. “ You said gruntin' in pain a bit. “ I did… “ Striker said. “ But he was supposed to die at the party and we didn’t get to the party because of… because of what happened. “ You said as Striker finished patching you up and stared at you.

“ I killed him while he was having a meeting with the little vermin. I didn’t know he was with them until they saw me. “ He said looking at you. “ Why would you kill the target when I had a plan? “ You said glaring. “ Because I love you, (Y/N), I love you alright. Seeing him flirt with you made me boil up and then when he smacked your ass. That was my breaking point so I put a bullet in his mouth and head. “ He looked away. “ I understand if you don’t fee- “ Striker cut off by you kissing him. He tensed up a bit but relaxed and kissed you back. He saw the tears in your eyes and wiped them away. As the two of you sat there hugging each other. Glad that you protected each other. After Striker told the client that the job was done. You sat Striker down and told him about your history with Blitz and how the fight happened. “ Selfish bastard. “ Striker mumbled. “ You rest up darlin’ and I’ll go get us some food. “ Striker kissed you and got up leaving the hideout. You lay there in the bed. You thought about the fight you had with Blitz but soon your mind wander to the first fight you had with him, the good memories, and more good memories. You began to weep in bed while hugging your pillow. Striker came back with your favorite food and took you both home. He helped you wash up and you sat in bed eating the food and cuddled up with Striker. The pain and sadness started to drift away. You may have lost your friend, but you had Striker a boyfriend a friend. You smiled letting both of your guys' tails wrap together, it was time to let go of the past with Blitz because you wanted your future to start with Striker.

Bonus:

Moxxie, Millie, and Blitz had to take care of the people in the mansion so they wouldn’t be blamed for the murder. “ Blitz who was that person you were scrapping with before me and Mox walked in? “ Millie asked. But Blitz didn’t say anything, he just kept driving and dropped off Moxxie and Millie at their home and quickly drove off. Blitz went back to his home and opened the door. He saw the note Loona left that she was out shopping with Stolas’s daughter. Blitz sighed and sat down. He shook his head, no he wasn’t going to look through his phone and get hurt like last time. But before he knew it, he was laying on the couch swiping through pictures and videos. Of you, him, and Fizz. He didn’t notice the tears sliding down his face. He missed these memories and he missed you. He stared at the last photo, the last one he took of you was when both of you were attending a party, that night he was going to ask you out but couldn’t because of you did and said. He turned off his phone and hugged the pillow while crying. “ I’m sorry (Y/N)... “ He said while he hugged the pillow and cried.

[saltydkdan]

Salty, may I ask which you recommend more: the one piece manga or anime. I wanna get into it but I also want a recommendation on which one may be better to start with depending on the pros and cons. Anyways I apologies if this is a dumb thing to ask.

Sure! One Piece is a really interesting beast when it comes to the difference between it's anime and manga, and at the end of the day it depends on your preferences- However yes, there are Pros and Cons to each! For this ask, I'll be trying my best to stick to the Official options available to you.

Also, this post specifically will be about how to best GET INTO the series, not necessarily a critique on the content of it! (I'll gladly do a separate write up on that eventually if anyone is interested in my thoughts on the Pros and Cons of the series itself)

Anyway, here are my personal thoughts:

MANGA

(This is my preferred way to experience the story)

PROS

-I'm not a manga purist by any means HOWEVER, the One Piece Manga is really good

-The pacing is really great (especially initially). In the first half, arcs are very quick and snappy! And even as they got progressively longer in length I didn't mind because by that point the story already gripped me.

-The art is wonderful in both black and white, and the official colored scans (which you can find online)

-This isn't really a "pro" per say, but it's something I enjoy doing. When I read, I like to put on some of the soundtrack from the anime. I usually find stuff like "Tense One Piece Music" or "Emotional One Piece Music" and listen to it as I read. It really enhances the experience for me personally. I also like to look up clips of arcs from the anime that I'm reading or already finished to see what they look like, and also see them in a fun new way. I feel like this sort of mixed approach is optimal for me.

CONS

-You have to read 😔

-There are many ways to read One Piece and in many different languages. There's black and white and colored manga- however just be careful. The best one TRANSLATION wise is the official release, and while you may find other options, some older "unofficial" translations are VERY outdated (I once saw one where Zoro casually dropped slurs)

-That also being said: Even though the official translation is the best, it is stuck in black and white. Many official colored scans were never officially licensed in English, and because of that aren't as accessible.

-Collecting it physically is fun, but can get VERY pricey. Like... hoo boy. Thankfully they sell compendiums that collect a metric shit ton of chapters, however the paper/print quality is noticeably cheaper. So if you want to collect them, the smaller volume releases are the way to go. That being said, I would just suggest using the Shonen Jump App by Viz Media. It's the best official way to support the series officially, as well as the cheapest for the average consumer! $3 a month for the entire library as well as other series + getting new chapters updated every week is great. I'm not sponsored or anything either, I just really like the model. So if you find yourself really enjoying the series, THEN you can go about collecting it physically if you want!

ANIME

PROS

-It's animated (obviously)

-You have a choice of either the Japanese Sub or English Dub. This also boils down to preference but from my experience they're both great options!!

-I'll get into it in the "Cons" section, but the One Piece anime is VERY long, like... kind of in a not so good way at certain points. However, I've heard that even though some parts are a bit too long, it's one of those things that if you really get into it, you'll love the fact that it feels like a never ending adventure! Not my experience, but it's what others have told me!

-This is gonna sound crazy, but Filler Arcs. A lot of people don't like these, and I get why, but they are very easily skippable if you want to look up a guide, and some of them can actually be really short and fun (as well as add a bit of extra flavor to the story). One of the best examples is an arc called "G-8". Even Manga readers recommend it, so you know it's good and gives each of the characters some fun moments!

CONS

-You may be aware already, but the One Piece anime has a very bad reputation of having HORRIBLE pacing. Now, to be fair, many people say that the pacing only gets truly horrible AFTER a very specific arc about halfway through the series (which is where a lot of anime watchers jump ship to the manga)

However, I'll be honest... I wasn't a super huge fan of the pacing from the beginning. To clarify, I STARTED with the anime. I don't have a super great attention span, so having to wait around 38 or so episodes for "Arlong Park", the arc that people suggest you get to before deciding whether to keep going or quit, was very difficult for me at first. I got through it, and I'm glad I did, but as soon as I did, I decided to switch over to the manga and had a much easier time.

-I find the show's music very repetitive at times. That's not to say the music is necessarily bad, I love the One Piece OST! It's just... over the years they have barely updated the soundtrack. Every arc you might here one or two new tracks, however a lot of the time you'll hear the same tracks replayed in the same sort of situations. ("OVERTAKEN" is an AMAZING track, but if I hear it one more time I'm gonna snap)

-This is a bit of a nitpick but I need to say it. One Piece's sound effects, while iconic, are also extremely outdated. When you start the series and hear the older-styled Toei Animation sound design, it is super charming because it fits with the older visuals. However in more modern One Piece, which visually looks incredible, THEY STILL USE THE OLD SOUND EFFECTS AND THEY JUST DON'T FIT.

TOEI, UPDATE YOUR SOUND LIBRARY!!!

ANYWAY...

Anyway, I hope my funny little list here helps!! Sorry it's so long, went a bit off the handle. But I think this is a fine enough starter guide and may help you get started!

[turrondeluxe]

Hey ik on that "equally distribute the horrors" post, a lot of people were talking about Mikey needing horrors (tbh he deserves some, they all need equal rights to the horrors.), but I've never seen anyone even talk about the horrors for Raph? Maybe that's just me and my web experience tho. (If you have any examples of Raph dealing with the horrors pls list them, my cousin ((who also says Mikey needs more horrors, at least)) and I are desperate)

ah that's probably because i specified mikey in the tags because im a mikey enjoyer who is followed principally by more mikey enjoyers teeheee

but huh

i guess i understand what you mean

in terms of Raph Horrors™ we have

mmmm i unfortunately won't include every single horror from every single tmnt iteration out there. there's too many for me to remember all the specific raph horrors from each of them rn so i'll just list some random ones off the top of my head 😺

Feel free to add more to the raph horrors list! lol

Mirage

- Raphael gets progressively demutated and basically reverts to a normal turtle for a while

(the panels of when this was happening were actually very emotive and made me cry) he does say this when he's back to normal which i find very funny tho

90's movies

- Raph gets beaten the fuck up and then gets thrown trough a skylight. He's then placed in a bath tub while he heals (Leo is the one who never leaves his side on this iteration)

2003

- Nearly injures Mikey greatly with a metal tube because of anger (He feels really bad about this and i def think this moment never truly left his brain ever)

- Getting kidnapped by footbots, getting interrogated by Hun

- All the fights with shredder or karai/all the injuries gotten in all the fights with shredder or karai

- Same As It Never Was Raph

- Watching his injured older brother get thrown to a window and watch said older brother heal from his wounds

- Seeing himself as the shredder/ thinking himself as the shredder

- Got his home raided countless times

- Getting separated from his younger brothers + dad in one of said times and waiting alone in the surface without knowing if his family even made it out alive

- Witnessed dad get disintegrated

- Brainwashed (actually getting infected with a digital virus but eh). Him and his brothers are foot ninjas for an unspecified amount of time (maybe days). During this, shredder sends the brothers to the most mortal/difficult missions in hopes that they die under his command.

- Getting thrown into the future (Raph is the one brother who hates this event the most lmao)

2007

- Witnesses older brother get kidnapped and blames himself for it

2011 IDW

- Raph gets separated from his family before mutating. Spends years homeless and by himself before his brothers find him again (this forever makes raph feel that even if he's with his family. he somehow doesn't belong)

- Right after getting mutated he spent some time being cared by Buck (blind homeless guy that is the first person ever/parent figure that's nice to Raph). Watches Buck get beaten to death. (Possibly. Buck did survive but i can't remember if he did die because of his injuries. still. traumatizing to raph that was still fairly new to the world)

- Forced to be family warrior/protector (he doesn't want this, he just wants to be a farmer man 😔👊)

- Witnessed shredder stab Casey (Raph's bestie/first ever friend that he relates to)

- Had to fight against brainwashed brother (Foot Leo)

- Witnessed Donnie's corpse (would def fuck u up if you feel like the protection of your family is your responsibility)

- Gets kidnapped and experimented with/tortured

- Dad dies, rip 🕊️

2012

- Losing Spike (he literally stayed 15 years underground with only his family for company. spike meant so much to him)

- Watching mikey get hurt because of his bad leadership literally made him freeze up and not know what to do at all

- The whole scene of splinter letting his brothers insult him. what the hell 💀

- Fighting his (brainwashed/hypnotized?) dad

- Cockroach mutant

- THE FUCKED UP SQUIRRELS

- Watching his older brother get thrown trough a window (the sequel). And watching said older brother be extremely injured.

- Leo 3 month coma

- GETTING TURNED INTO A PLANT?

- Brainwashed via worm that ate all the way through his skull and into his brain

- Dad dies, rip 🕊️ the sequel (this happens quite a bit in the series) and hil being in the front row of how splinter gets mortally wounded and then thrown off the roof

- Fighting his family while brainwashed

- kidnapped and being put into an oven to die (and would have died if leo didn't go ham and destroyed his enclosure)

- Witnessed someone kill himself while he was actively trying to prevent it

- Witnessing the death of both two little brothers

- Witnessing older brother nearly die. Again (Again. this happens quite a bit in the series)

- the whole mutant bomb apocalypse holy shit

theres def more that im forgetting mb

Bayverse

- Home gets raided, the sequel

- All brothers get kidnapped except for him

- BROKEN SHELL BECAUSE OF SHREDDER AND HE JUST KEEPS GOING???? please..............take one second to rest THATS YOUR SPINE

Rise

- Eldest sister syndrome

- The fucking bunny plushie that I've forgotten the name of (his siblings were so mean for no reason at all that ep 😭)

- Rise shredder

- Having to forcefully remove his family from deathly situation even if it meant leaving a beloved family member behind (he prob blames himself about karai ....augh)

- Kidnapped/taken hostage (?)

- Kraang Brainwashed

- Having to fight younger brother while brainwashed

- Apocalyptic Kraang Future

The last ronin

- Died for literally no reason at all . fly high king 🕊️

Mutant mayhem

- Getting kidnapped (quite violently too)

- Milking Machine

- Getting shell cracked from being squished too hard

[aspecpplarebeautiful]

Hi there! How are you doing? I have some questions, well, a rant *plus* some questions.

I feel... safer with allo allies than I do with aro/ace communities (online). Does that make me aphobic/bad? I don't go by labels because for me, they're not necessary. If I *were* to label myself based purely on definitions, I would be aroace, specifically, demiromantic asexual. I used to go by this a while back.

I don't fit the stereotype of being aroace at all. I'll talk about the aromantic side. Unlike most arospecs i've seen online, I LOVE Valentine's day! I LOVE shipping! I LOVE consuming romance fiction. I LOVE romance et cetera et cetera and yet I don't experience it like allos do. I need a strong bond with someone in order to fall in love and it takes me really, really, long to do so. But once it happens, my love is not 'weak'. It makes me pass really well as allo because of this, but it makes a lot of people in the aro community mad because I'm 'stealing' a label to 'feel special'. I was always told I was not aroace, that I couldn't be aroace by definition. That I was alloromantic asexual pretending to be on the arospec. That I was too scared to be 'basic'.

On that topic, and I think this is unintentional, but... why is nobody batting an eye when an aro or an ace person shames an allo or calls them weird or basic? Because they're doing exactly what allo aphobes are doing to them. I had this conversation with a friend and he said, 'that doesn't happen, allo people don't get shamed especially by aspec people', yet, I keep seeing things like 'I fucking hate allos so much' and 'To all my aces, we're not like allos, we're better' or something along those lines.

Whenever I enter an aspec online space, I'm made to feel like an intruder because, as I said, my experiences are very similar to the allo experience EXCEPT for the fact that I don't feel romantic attraction unless a strong bond has been formed. I'm not saying the aroace community is bad in any way, don't get my wrong, I'm saying that there is a massive gatekeeping problem going around and so much bubbling hatred and separation, and I don't understand any of it. In a prefect world, I'd happily identify as aroace, but I feel ashamed to do so now.

The gatekeeping... the infighting, I don't want to hate the online community of which I'm supposed to belong but this... this isn't right. The allo allies don't do things like this. They don't make me feel insecure about myself. And yes, while I don't experience romance like an allo would, I feel safe around them. I need to ask, have you seen this too? Have you experienced this? Is this truly all in my head? What do you think?

I apologize for the vent or if I seem aphobic, I just really need answers and I'm tired of the constant hatred... How are you? Did you drink enough water? Did you sleep well today? Did you eat? Again, I'm so sorry if I made you uncomfortable with this!

Vents are totally welcome, Anon. Don't worry.

I'm really sorry you ran into gatekeeping, Anon. I feel like that's something that's really been on the rise especially over the last couple of years. It's a real issue and it causes a lot of harm. This should go without saying, but demiromantic people are aro, and have just as much right to be here as anyone else on the aro spectrum.

I do think at least part of the problem is social media in general and how things are set up these days. We don't have community spaces as much anymore, in particular we've lost moderated spaces where gatekeepers can be properly dealt with. And there's very little curation or organization. Things are chaotic and fragmented, and one person's experience and what kind of posts they say see may vary wildly from someone else's. There's also a competing needs issue, where one aro may need to vent about romance, another may need their romantic side validated and there's no way to organize so each can find the space they each need.

If finding aro spaces/blogs that are more accepting is important to you, Anon (and it's OK both if it is or isn't), my big advice would be seek out demiromantic blogs and posters specifically. There's some very good ones around and they'll be posting about aro things that are relevant to you, and even more importantly won't be gatekeeping demi identities.

For more aro-general blogs, there are ones out there that are also inclusive and anti-gatekeeping, but it may take a bit of work to find them. Be very liberal with your unfollow and block buttons. If someone is gatekeeping block on sight, but also if they're not posting the type of aro content that you need or want to see, you're allowed to organize things so you don't see their posts. Sometimes unfollowing is enough, but blocking also doesn't necessarily mean the other person has done anything wrong, it's just a tool to make sure you're not seeing a blog you don't want to see.

For the shaming allos question, I do think it's a complex topic. For me it depends on context. I definitely do not believe in any kind of ace/aro superiority, being ace and/or aro, or being allo are both neutral. Nobody's smarter or more moral or more pure or anything like that. But sometimes people say things as a vent in the moment and are reacting to a difficult situation they've been in. So for example someone may say 'allos suck' but it comes from a place where they've been very badly treated by allos for being ace or aro but they're referring more to the societal systems that are in place that privilege allo people and make life more difficult for ace/aro people, they don't actually believe being allo makes someone a bad person. (It can be hard to tell what's going on just from a post, again it's OK to unfollow and block, especially if it's just not what you personally need to see in the moment).

Personally I don't come across a lot of this type of stuff, but this is what I mean about things being fragmented, the blogs I follow just aren't posting about the infighting or gatekeeping and I don't happen to see it in the tags when I go in there. But I do hear about it second hand, and it seems like it's a problem on other social media sites I'm not on as well.

I'm sorry you've had a hard time, Anon. But I am glad you've found people you can be comfortable with and be yourself around. That's really important too. And thanks for the reminder that I really should drink more water today.

Hopefully at least some of this is helpful, but if you have more questions or want to discuss anything in more detail, feel free to send in another ask.

All the best!

[aitadjcrazytimes]

ok so brief summary bc i need to go to work, i'll still be making a Last Post tm later today but just to summarize

c and his sister are indeed talking again, he is back to walking her down the aisle on friday and things are chill there

she told him that t and i are dating now, she did not tell him abt the blog

c texts me saying we needed to talk

i get home, he tells me he knows about t and i dating, we start arguing about how it isn't fair for him to have a problem with my dating t when he MARRIED him w/o checking in with me first (am i actually angry about this? no. but like its the principle of the thing man)

t comes home and hears us yelling, starts to intervene, realizes there isn't a point to it, starts to make mac and cheese, but eventually we get too loud so he tells us both to shut the fuck up and sort it out from separate rooms

the Emotional Vulnerability conversation happens, during which i receive a bowl of mac and cheese reward for being quiet and also so so adult and brave about it

emotional vulnerability conversation on C's end basically consists of: dude, what the fuck, like, i know im a mess, but i thought you were better than that. like. T and I have been trying to kill each other since we were kids but idk. for some reason i thought you were above that, and i mean minus the getting married thing--which i will concede was shitty--i have been trying to be less of an asshole lately (which I, TK, have actually noticed, but i thought it was a result of lack of proximity to T and not an intentional effort) and it feels shitty that i have fucked up the only not toxic relationship i have ever been in by being a dick again

conversation on my end: dude, i know you're a dick, i like you being a dick, i want you to be a dick bc you wouldn't be you otherwise. the getting married thing was shitty but only on principle bc im not actually mad about it. i dont want you to be less of an asshole, i just want you to be an asshole around me specifically. t also. we're assholes together. i would like to be assholes with both of you indefinitely. im not better than that or you bitch

then i told him about the tumblr blog and he was v upset at first but was eventually able to see the humor in it. i showed him a couple posts and he thinks it's funny that ESH is sitting solidly at 69%. he will not be posting on here or on the AITA blog because he thinks that would be annoying (i agree).

i did also bring up the poly thing again and he said he thinks it's more fun to say we're monogamous and just be cheating on each other all the time--which just seems like poly with a cheating kink to me, but whatever man, you do you.

[the---hermit]

Thesis writing tips from someone who is currently writing their thesis

As I was working on the first chapter of my thesis I realized there's some things to keep in mind in order to make things easier. I am far from having the whole thesis writing experience, but I felt like doing this post now that this first experience is fresh in my mind. There will be other thesis-related posts, for now if you want to check out my thesis work experiece you can read my daily entries on here. The posts in which I have included these entries are all tagged as #thesis diary if you are interested.

When reading articles and sources use different colours to highlight important informations. If you find parts of the text you know you will want to quote in your thesis use a specific colour and tab them. The more precise and accurate you are the easier it will be during the writing process.

Also annotating ideas and thoughts on the margins will help during the writing process, because you will be able to link your own ideas to specific sources that helped you to get there.

Have a separate file with all the footnotes you'll have to include. If you have everything written down, and just have to add the specific pages last minute you will save a lot of time. This way you'll also make sure to have all the footnotes written in the same style (this is a lifesaver, believe me).

In the same way have a separate file with the bibliography you'll have to include at the very end of your thesis. Writing it piece by piece as you add sources to your work will make sure you don't forget any source, and it will make the task less overwhelming.

If when reading articles and sources you write down notes, for the love of god write near each piece of information the exact page you found it on. If you don't you will waste so much time to find it when you'll need it. You can keep your notes in the format you like best, but having the number of pages near everything will save you so much time and work.

The more organized you are when collecting your sources the less time you'll waste when writing. So keep your notes clean, write down even those informations that seem useless at first, make sure to know exactly where you found each article, and so on, you'll thank your past self later.

I found having a notebook fully dedicated to my thesis very useful, to navigate in it quickcly I used big clear headers, tab notes, and an index. This will all become very helpful once you have gathered a lot of informations. The research process is messy, try do everything in your power to make it as organized and as clear as you can. (I am going to create a post dedicated to my thesis notebook, so keep an eye out for that if you are interested).

When you add things to part of the text you had wrote already make sure right way that the footnotes are still accurate. The more you pay attention to it right away the less confusing it will be later. If for example in a footnote you referred to the previous, and add a new one in the middle, things could get confusing so try to keep an eye out for these things as you do them.

Having a rough plan of the structure of your thesis can be helpful to know how to refer to certain elements in the text. I'll use my own thesis as an example, I am writing about some witchcraft accusations. Knowing where in the text there is going to be the first proper exposition of the facts is helpful to know how much context I have to give when writing about people or facts in other parts of the thesis.

Do you have interesting and useful informations that don't fit perfectly with the main body of your text? Footnotes are your bestfriends, you can add insight, comments, further explanations, without breaking the flow of the text.

Make sure each chapter starts with an introduction of what you are about to discuss, and end it with a small summary of what you said. This will make your writing look much more intentional, and ties in everything nicely together. Once you are sure of the order of the chapters you should also tie the chapters together, by hinting to the next one in the conclusion of each one.

I feel like these are all the potentally useful thing I have realized during my work so far. There's surely much more to be said, and as I learn more, I will make sure to share the useful informations I get. As mentioned I am currently working on a thesis notebook post! Till then I hope this was somewhat useful, thank you for reading!

[fuh-saw-t]

-How to Write Character Dialogue-

Part 2: Characterisation Boogaloo

One again beginning with the mandatory 'This is just my process with my writing style. I don't work on what is correct - I work on what I find is best in my opinion. You can take this advice, adapt it to your own style, stories and characters, etc'.

This post concerns the specifics of dialogue. The more open-ended advice can be found here, under the Macro-View.

The 'Micro-View'

Once again, I made that term up.

Every story, character, scene and method of presenting events, thoughts, feelings and expressions will inevitably be unique. Here, I'll explore different approaches, methods and considerations that you can take to heart whilst writing the dialogue of your characters.

-

Amount

In the writing of dialogue, your first consideration should be 'does this character need to say anything here?'

Oftentimes, I see dialogue which, if removed, has no change on ambience, the scene, character development, characterisation or any relevant interactions. Does your character need to input their opinion here? Not thinking of the usual 'who asked?' sort of way, but does it change, show or do anything? Do they need to exclaim "Woah!" or can that instead be described, or omitted entirely?

Too much useless character dialogue can sort of 'clog up' your page, if you get what I mean. What I'm referring to, however, in no means include things that you believe adds something to your character, a character relation, or the ambience and feel of the scene. I made a note of this in the previous post, but I felt this deserved an elaboration/secondary mention.

-

Emotions and Intensity

Dialogue in intense and emotional moments, especially in a dramatic scene, I think can do wonders. It serves to engage your reader and direct the scene, instead of just having people kick each other or cry. As dialogue should be separated through paragraphs at each person talking, it makes the scene move quickly - the reader reads it quickly, too. Kind of meta, isn't it?

Make use of syntax. Short sentences, pauses, ellipsis (the dots and omission kind), false starts, etc. All of these can show emotion and make your dialogue feel natural, without having to state it outright. E.g.

"I don't think this is working," he said. "It's not that I'm… ungrateful, that's just— that's not what I mean. We need to try something else, something new."

Not the best example I could give, but this post isn't exactly a Times Best Seller (as if that means anything).

Someone who is nervous ‐ for any reason, if they're in front of their crush, are experiencing fear, etc - may use a lot of these pauses and false starts. But it's good to remember not to overdo them. Read your text out loud. Seriously, it helps. Overusing pauses and false starts can really dampen their effect.

Also, people never stutter as much as you think they do, unless they have a speech impediment (which is perfectly valid, if that's a part of your character). Stuttering is fine, but don't overdo it nor use it in situations where it doesn't call for it, unless it's a recognised trait in your character. Even then, going "N-N-N-N-No" never looks good. Like, it genuinely doesn't look good on the page nor screen. Yes I do judge that.

Italics can also be used as emphasis to convey intensity. So can dashes. Use exclamation points wisely, punctuation marks can be easily overused.

As another note, please use description and character actions alongside emotive or intense dialogue. Dialogue is never separate to your descriptions nor your story. Think carefully about how you can use expressions, actions and descriptions of tones to further the feeling you're intending to show in your dialogue, or to change the meaning of what a character is saying in context.

-

Informal Speech and Accents

Popular character distinctions can involve the written display of slang, informal speech and accents. Personally, I adore these traits, as they can add character and insinuate things that do not have to be explicitly said; the use of informalities can really distinguish your character and make them memorable and unique.

But, as with everything, things can go horribly wrong (in my opinion).

Rule one of dialogue: don't get caught up trying to make your dialogue grammatically correct. It's not going to sound natural. Slang and general, everyday informalities may not be in many dictionaries nor will it be accepted by autocorrect or grammarly, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be in your writing. Different characters' uses of colloquialisms (such as, 'Heyo!' 'How's it hangin?' 'Darn it.') can add a certain quirk to them, whether this means they use general popular slang or no slang at all. Don't ever think of removing colloquialisms from a characters' dialogue for the sake of having correct grammar. This also goes for traits of AAVE. Use it when you see fit, whether or not conventional grammar agrees with it. All variations of English are valid. Moreover, I adore it when fantasy or other-world stories make their own unique slang, informalities or alternative vocabulary. It can say so much about the world they live in, and what some groups' ideologies are.

However, make sure you don't overdo the use of slang or divergent grammar and syntax. It's good to make your characters talk differently and have styles of speech that are distinct from one another, but what's even more important is that your reader can understand what you're writing. If you're using so much that someone has to have Urban Dictionary open while they read your story, that's not a good sign. This also goes for accents; it's sometimes beneficial to diversify speech, but if the spelling differences and grammatical changes get so prominent a reader can't read it or has to re-read to understand, you have a bit of a problem to correct. If they can't understand the dialogue, they don't understand your story. I've had to put multiple written works (published books, even) down because the use of slang and how they write in accents was so proficient I couldn't figure out what characters were saying.

Overall, I'd say not to write out accents (changing spelling with how words would be said). It can really make the dialogue unreadable, and can often turn out sounding like an offensive caricature.

-

Education

A common character dialogue difference which I also love is the distinctions between those who are educated and those who are not. Of course, this is very diverse among characters and can go beyond that black-and-white summary. A character's status may be at play, their ego, or even how they are educated - a character who is educated by people who value different things or hate another group may speak differently to one who is educated in another way.

Common distinctions made to show educational or cultural differences between characters include contractions and vocabulary.

Contractions (such as 'don't' or 'I'll') are something I often see absent in characters of high status or education. This, though often functional, can be overdone. I'll touch more on my other approach to this later, but the complete absence of contractions can make someone sound like a robot. Urgent situations may make even the most high-status, educated character use ellipsis (in the omission way, as referenced in the last post), contractions and other forms of shortening.

Moreover, in relation to vocabulary, the character may not use long words at every interval. They may be more articulate and expressive in their word choices, but that doesn't equate to using lesser-known or complicated words. If you want to diversify your character's vocabulary, though, always take into account pragmatics and general use, and if it sounds natural in the context. Again repeating to read your dialogue out loud and get a proofreader. It can save your writing, seriously.

On a mirroring note, if you're dealing with highly uneducated characters, be careful with how you present them. Just because someone is uneducated, or doesn't have an expansive vocabulary or a solid grasp of grammar, doesn't mean they're any less intelligent or expressive. The character may articulate their feelings in a different way, but that is not a lesser way. Let the character be creative with their words and how they lay them out. Remember that a lack of education in a character does not, in any way, equal stupidity.

Related: Educated characters who overuse big words in weird contexts sound dumber than any uneducated character ever will. Facts, ykno.

-

Character Limitations

There are a lot of ways you can accidentally limit the range of your character's expression through the writing of their dialogue. Here's things to look out for. And yes, these are all things I've seen before.

To do with typography (fonts, font sizes, bold and italics), I heavily advise against giving a character a distinctive typographic style of speaking. For example, doing this:

"I AM HERE!"

"HELLO!"

"What's the matter?"

This, in a way, limits your character extensively. A character who is consistently written to speak in all-caps or bolded lettering will always sound like they're yelling, and will not have room to express themselves in a more sympathetic, emotive or calm way. This is unless you forfeit the style, which is a problem in itself. It creates inconsistency: a writer's biggest downfall, in some cases. In fact, this use at all is inconsistent, as not all characters will have their dialogue written with the same method of typography. Also, it just kind of looks ugly on the page and can cause accessibility problems with those who have dyslexia or sight issues.

In addition to this, there is what I mentioned before to do with the use of contractions. A character who always sounds articulate and in use of an extensive vocabulary doesn't always have to be this way. Of course, they shouldn't break character, but if they're in a heavily-emotive situation where they don't have time to properly think out what they're saying, they're not going to speak as if they're reciting the Bible. There's nothing wrong with posh, well-spoken characters. It's just a matter of knowing how to diversify their own speech and having the confidence to explore other sides to their character through their dialogue.

This also goes for other characterisation decisions. You have a quiet character who speaks little, in small utterances? I love those character types! But don't limit their expression and characterisation by seeing that as the only thing they can do. An excited, wonderous character who asks a lot of questions and uses exclamatives often can have their quiet moments. An angry, usually violent character can become soft-spoken.

In fact, I'd say these changes in dialogue can really uplevel stories and characters. When a character changes their usual dialogue quirks (when the plot/scene calls for it), it can mark an incredibly pivotal and key point in their development and personality.

E.g, a rich, high-status character having a meltdown, swearing and mixing up their words; a quiet character talking for a long time to console their best friend on something they relate to; the excited character finally losing their spark and becoming serious when upset; an angry, violent character becoming docile when interacting or confessing to their crush. Choices in dialogue styles for different characters, depending on scenes and situations, can change the game entirely.

-

Overall, my advice in creating realistic, engaging and in-character dialogue that shows your character's distinct personality and characteristics is to read the dialogue out loud, don't bother too much about grammar and more about readability and get a proofreader or friend that'll be honest in their opinions to look over your story.

Even more, I'd highly recommend experimenting. This goes for everything in writing, honestly. Practise writing dialogue by writing conversations between your different characters, even if said conversations won't appear in your story. Practice writing scenes. Experiment with your style and how different characters talk. Lay out your characters personalities and think about how you can implement details into their speech that subtly show who they are and what they think. Consider punctuation - it matters more than you'd expect it to.

Grow your style at your own pace. Listen to constructive feedback, and openly search for people to show their opinions and give advice on your work. Make sure you understand your characters, their values and their quirks.

And, most importantly, have fun!

[covenofthearticulate]

⏳ favorite canon era/time period + why

🎤 if you could ask anne rice any three questions about tvc, what would they be?

⏳ ok I went a little crazy trying to find an ask where I previously talked about this but my tagging system is a mess and tumblr's search function is garbage so ANYWAY it's fine I'll just go off the rails again because my absolute favorite time period is always post-qotd/pre-totbt! It's the late 80s! Everyone is dealing with the fallout from Akasha in totally different ways! Everyone is more connected AND more isolated than ever before!! There's a chilling coldness that sets in once the dust settles, and everyone begins to go their separate ways from the Night Island.

It's like this razor-thin balance of finding hope in the dawning of a new era, and being absolutely petrified realizing that the abyss of infinite time is once again open, and everyone is free to do anything they want.

For Louis and Lestat I just find this period especially captivating because like, we go from having this tender moment at the end of qotd where Louis is so terrified that Lestat is going to leave him, but then when we pick up the next book five years later, they're living separately and just kind of drifting on their own. I think that gap between the books is so interesting and has so much potential for delicious angst LMAO like they're trying so hard to find a way to be together, but they just can't seem to figure it out (and this goes beyond loustat!! I just read your NYE devil's minion fic and it ripped my heart out a little bit LOL I swear I'll write up a proper comment on ao3 but the way daniel feels them drifting is so beautifully written and it just fills the whole piece with a beautiful tragedy).

🎤 asdgfchsvdkchjg I was hoping I wouldn't get this one LMAO I'm not necessarily one of those fans who pours over all of Anne's q&a's. Not that I'm not interested, I just feel like I'm more excited with what's on the page, and also the way people squabble about speculative things she has said in interviews and stuff just makes me uncomfy, so I don't engage in that level of fandom a whole lot. Also I don't think any of my questions would be that smart and have probably been asked of her before but ANYWAY here's my attempt lol!!

please tell me more about Mojo LMAO please I need to know his favorite chew toys, his favorite position to fall asleep on Lestat, did he ever tear up the courtyard garden, did they make any other dog friends???

Are you satisfied with Lestat's overall arc, from the very beginning of iwtv through to the last book? When you sit down to write him, how often do you have a general arc set, and how often does he surprise you when you're in the middle of writing? Is there anything you would change about his specific narrative, looking back?

What do you see as each character's biggest hope/goal and biggest challenge, post-blood communion?

[iri-desky]

A Real Life Example of "Two Painfully Shippable Characters"

From the makers of Soukoku, Klance, WebLena, HuaLian, and XiaoVen... /j

I give you the amazingly complicated relationship I have with my best friend (?), who for the purpose of this post and her own privacy we will call "Vulpe" (Fox in Italian) because she loves foxes and they're basically her symbolic animal. (She goes by any pronouns, like me. But I'll be using she for the both of us in this post)

Okay, so, anyway, me and Vulpe have known each other for three years. Since then, we've been with each other through thick and thin...that being said, in every way that matters, she and I are pretty different, and yet amazingly similar. We're both witty and sarcastic, but her way is more of a "bully in the back alley" way, and I'm a "scientist who's so done" (Dammit Jim! /ref) kind of way. We're both amazingly creative, but in different ways that I absolutely cannot explain. She's brusque and bold while I'm sympathetic and amazingly stubborn. To be frank; we're two halves of a whole. Or, we've become that.

Anyhow, our actual relationship is amazingly confusing. We have this "Hate-Love" relationship that can fluctuate between two extremes. The only extreme is NEVER goes to is violence, because we don't really, actually hate each other. Yet to an outside observer, it can be perceived in dozens of different ways, from "They absolutely loathe each other's guts" to "They're completely in love" depending on the day and the interaction. Again, from the makers of skk and klance... /lhj Nonetheless in truth we adore each other and pretty much are the biggest things standing between each other and death. Vulpe gets jealous of me sometimes while I occasionally want to punch her, but at the end of the day we won't do anything to each other.

Her symbolic color is red (with a touch of yellow) whereas mine is blue (with a touch of purple).

She's tall and I'm short. We have the relationship where we banter constantly and would likely marry each other solely for tax benefits and not love.

She wears band shirts end eyeliner, her wardrobe primarily consisting of monochrome hues with red or yellow, and, honestly, is emo, (don't tell her I said that /vlh) whereas I wear poppy and colorful, as well as preppy outfits, albeit consisting of pop culture references across the board. (To which she endearingly calls me "nerd")

Our brains work separately in such a way in that we likely would break each other's mind attempting to understanding the precise inner workings. The being said we either work together in such a way that we become the best team, or we completely shut down each other's brain cells. Just down for the count.

Among the most fascinating parts, however, is that we are uncannily similar to HuaLian, specifically. Much akin to Hua Cheng, she... has eyeliner, has horrible handwriting (Don't worry, I can say that), possesses foxes as a symbolic animal, is highly nonchalant, neutral in nature in a variety of actions, and is typically highly confident... in most aspects. As for me, further akin to Xie Lian, I'm obsessed with the arts, wear my hair in a similar pullback, possesses a strong association with "paradise" and rabbits, possesses great emotional confusion often, and willing to see in the best in others.

... and thus, here we are, planning to do a wattpad-esque relationship scheme should her mother not allow me to come with her to Japan.

Hope y'all enjoyed this account of real life "painfully shippable characters", even though if the both of us saw a fandom was shipping us we probably would either both laugh our asses off and/or kick the Fandom's ass.

End scene.

[kaibutsushidousha]

You said once that Heian is a story rich with Tale of Genji intertextuality as it is Tsukihime intertextuality. From someone who hasn't read it, what other instances of this in action can you expand upon?

I might been missing a few pieces since it's been a couple years since I read Heian and a few years more for The Tale of Genji, but these are the parallels that stood out to me.

1/

I guess I should start by explaining what I meant in my previous post. So, The Tale of Genji is a heavy long-runner series covering from the circumstances behind Hikaru Genji's birth to the major events of his son's life after his death. And the major early chapters of Hikaru's life are about him courting many different women in an attempt to ultimately choose his wife.

You probably know that Hikaru Genji is a controversial figure. This is true in the story, to the people of the time, and even more so to the people of our time. And the main source of Genji's discourse is his arguably main wife, Murasaki no Ue. What's important to understand about Hikaru is that despite his divisiveness, Murasaki Shikibu's narrative voice always described him as the perfect man. That character is her ideal no matter how much the characters and readers disagree. And the first chapter, the one before Hikaru's birth, establishes that he is the perfect man because his mother Kiritsubo no Koi was the perfect woman. Lady Kiritsubo dies between the first two chapters and that's when Hikaru's quest for a wife begins.

One of the relatively early wife-candidates-of-the-week is Fujitsubo. Her gimmick is straight-up samefaceing. Fujitsubo is the perfect woman because she's somehow a palette-swapped second coming of Kiritsubo. Hikaru obviously wants her but his father obviously also wants her because she's Lady Kiritsubo 2, and it's the dad who gets her because he's the emperor while Hikaru is an illegitimate prince not in line for the throne. With their social status preventing a real relationship, the 18-year-old Hikaru Genji started his relationship with Fujitsubo's 10-year-old niece Murasaki, in whom he saw the budding image of a future new Fujitsubo (Kiritsubo 3?).

Tsuna's backstory in FGO Heian is pretty much all built on references to this character trio. Tsuna came across a woman described word-for-word as "beautiful enough to be taken as the Emperor's wife" and instantly fell in love with her but couldn't actualize this love due to social class differences. Later Tsuna meets Ibaraki, recognizes the woman's face on the younger girl, and is nice to her because he likes seeing "that face" happy. Tsuna's and Ibaraki's relationship can be interpreted as a non-romantic version of The Tale of Genji's main couple, but I can't shake off the grooming undertones that come from its inspiration, and even if I could, the idea of Ibaraki being used as a proxy for her mother is still creepy regardless.

2/

One important thing about The Tale of Genji is that it's the oldest novel we know of, so its earliest chapters were instrumental in popularizing novels as a format. For context, The Tale of Genji had a periodic release format, with each chapter being published as its own separate scrolls, so later chapters were published after the public had read the previous ones and their social impact was already tangible to the author.

One of the most memorable sections of The Tale of Genji (meaning more memorable to me specifically than generally notorious) comes in one of the middle chapters, I'll guess around chapter 25. In this scene, Hikaru Genji catches his wife Murasaki reading a novel. Hikaru parrots the time's popular opinion Genji-spawned novel trend: that prose is literature for dumb people and that only poetry has real value. Murasaki, as the character with the author's name would, verbally tears him apart with a big speech explaining what prose can do that poetry can't and how this new form of literature has just as much potential and value as the poetry classics.

In one of the first chapters when Kintoki's party is crashing at Murasaki's house, there's a similar conversation, where Kintoki tells Murasaki (author) about the things that a writer can do that a warrior like him can't, raising many similar points to Murasaki (character).

3/

Nagiko got a short section giving out her Tale of Genji opinions. It's mostly a repeat of her comments at her debut event's epilogue, but it is there. The whole motivation for her boss fight is that she loves the books' cheery and vibrant depictions of romance despite Hikaru being an unbearable character (based and correct).

Could be related to Hikaru Genji having too many love interests, in contrast to Sei Shounagon's very "one and only" views of romance.

4/

Speaking of a character's whole motivation in the plot, let's talk about Murasaki's. She's a funny character that gets a lot funnier with full context. The Heian Singularity/Lostbelt is set in a time when Murasaki Shikibu had already published many chapters of The Tale of Genji and caused a major cultural phenomenon. The whole capital was crazy to know what would happen next and this pressure gave her immense writer's block. So she fought in the Holy Grail War, risking her life for a chance to wish for the perfect conclusion to Hikaru Genji's story. She lost but Babbage gave her new motivation to write with her own hands the perfect conclusion that her perfect man deserves.

So? What's the conclusion Murasaki writes for Hikaru without any magical interference? You see, The Tale of Genji in its final form is comprised of 55 scrolls, each released separately as one chapter. The 42nd of these scrolls is Hikaru's death chapter. After 41 chapters deriving world-changing popularity, how did the genius Murasaki Shikibu close his story? With boldness and commitment to the bit. See, to Murasaki's authorial voice, Hikaru Genji is too hot and perfect. So hot and perfect that his death is too monumental of a tragedy to be possibly put into words. Thus, Murasaki published an entirely blank scroll and in the next one, Hikaru Genji was inexplicably dead.

Hikaru's death is my favorite thing about the Tale of Genji, not only for getting rid of the worst boy but mainly for the narrative power move that is still as insane writing for today's standards as it was back when it was published in the first novel ever. But this moment of genius is also a perfect thing to turn into a writer's block joke. Easily one of my best contenders for Sakurai's funniest joke.

[chevelleneech]

"Because from the outside it seems like such a serious commitment when you think about how serious the military is."

Apart from jkkrs this is thef first time I'm seeing someone actually acknowledge the importance of the companion system and jm and jk using that for their military service. you might be jkk biased idk anything about you so...at the end it might be coming from a jkk bias at the end but i love that.

Don't get me wrong but when jkk's enlistmemt news hit the tl i saw only the same 3 big army accts talk about how big that is all others were busy making their typical tweets plus "how dare you separate vmin", "how dare you separate taekook", "return hobi his jm back" like okay i get the sentiment but where is anyone acknowledging the fact that jkk will be together? nowhere. saw few About jikook having jin to guide them but there was nothing specific for jkk ever acknowledged. but given the fandom's record it's nothing surprising how they hardly would acknowledge jikook's moments like that.

Idk how it looks from outside cause I'm quite a jkkr (not the one who belives they're dating cause i personally don't think so but yeah they're my bias) so for me it indeed seems important for them. if we look at all these yrs of jm providing comfort to jungkook, how jungkook would chose jm as the hyung that gives him comfort the most, and how jm would always say that he feels protected and comfortable around jungkook their decision makes sense. tbh the news was a shock to me cause i like other jkkrs always thought jm would enlist months before jk's MS so it was shocking. But if you know the history then it shouldn't surprise you.

Jkkrs say not even military can keep them apart and if you think then they haven't been apart from eachother for longer since the time the first met. not saying haven't been apart enjoying their time with other ppl cause they did but they somehow always want to be present in eachother's business lol. Even when they left the dorm jkk were one the members who left it last when some members left it early. This was the time where they definitely could have taken break from being around same ppl all the time yet they said nope.

They're also the only idols that come up when you search for "idols that have used Buddy program" so it is interesting. Other members do casually shows up here n there post things yet we Hardly hear from them both. willingly choosing to go to frontline because you're using buddy prgrm is also something. I'd rather let my fate decide where i land my training in sk than willingly go to the dangerous part of borders. but if i had the chance to do my MS with the person who is my emotional support and is my comfort I'll take it in a sec.

I don't think we'll ever get the proper in depth answer to the question, maybe they'll say that since they're the ones with tattoes they decided to go together. i mean even if tattoed there's many options open for them, far well than the frontline and as you said saying (them telling us) they needed most emotional support wont look good on them so i know they won't be too deep with their answer. They're too private like that.

Thanks for your beautiful posts.

Hello!

Just to put it out there, I am army, so I’m pretty deep in the trenches of Jikook. I don’t know if I think they’re dating with 100% certainty, but I am someone who doesn’t understand why people think it’s impossible. They grew up together, work together, and clearly really enjoy each other's company seemingly more than they do their other members. That obviously doesn’t equal romance, but acting like assuming they’re together is gross or ridiculous, it’s stupid. People date their friends and coworkers every single day. Celebrities more than anyone else, so why would presumed queer people be any different?

As for the rest, I’m glad you liked what I said! You also seem to be the only person who really got what I was trying to say. It’s clear JM and JK care deeply for each other and find comfort in one another, so them choosing the buddy system makes sense on the surface, but it doesn’t really explain anything. Which they aren’t obligated to do, but them making such a choice is a big deal when they had other options. So why make such a serious choice? What was the catalyst, when their friendships with other members are equally as important to them? What was it about their bond that caused them to decide, “We can’t do this alone like the rest of them. We have to do this together.”

Was it just them being close friends? Was it mental health related? Was it romance related? Was it work related? We’ll never know. We just know they’ve always been there for each other, and enlistment didn’t change that, no matter the missing (for us) context.

[impatient14]

Anthony J. Crowley as Lucifer: A Meta of Facts, Fiction, and Everything in Between

The theory that Crowley is Lucifer is hotly defended and contested, with naysayers typically casting the archangel Raphael as Crowley's identity in heaven (@vroomvroomwee's Crowley is Lucifer is particularly good-read the replies and reblogs too!) However, despite Raphael's notably absence in Heaven and the matchmaking plot of S2 (Raphael is traditionally associated with love and marriage), I think there is far more evidence that suggests he was Lucifer, instead. Yes, I know Crowley refers to Lucifer as someone other than himself in S1, but I'll get to that and everything else below the cut.

Full disclosure, I stumbled into this analysis from a different angle. Originally, I was just posting a quick little thought I had about Crowley's role on Earth. TLDR version, Crowley could have been acting not only as an agent of Hell on Earth to tempt humans but specifically ordered to tempt Aziraphale to Fall, an order he almost immediately succeeds in doing but chooses not to report. Since S2 made it clear that Crowley did not reserve his mercy for Aziraphale alone (i.e., his sense of fairness is intrinsic and not a characteristic obtained through his love for Aziraphale), it would be reasonable to think Crowley maneuvered himself into being assigned Hell's agent on Earth specifically to protect Aziraphale from Hell. This would not only mean Crowley remembered him from the beginning, it would mean he had the kind of power to assign himself that role. (It would also mean Crowley has been lying to both Hell and Aziraphale this whole time- a detail that would support Agnes Nutter's prophecy that "He is not who he says he is.")

This idea, that Crowley not only refused to send Aziraphale to Hell but actively protected him from it, screams rebellion--a characteristic Lucifer is most known for. Sure, you could argue all the angels who fell were rebellious (note here that Raphael never fell), but Crowley is the only demon in Hell who continued to rebel after he fell, making his association with the characteristic as notable as Lucifer's. This will be important in a moment.

Let's start with some history/translation issues.

The difference between Lucifer, Satan, and the Devil.

The conflation of these three names is a Christian phenomenon thought to have occurred in the process of organizing a conglomeration of "lost gospels" from numerous Christian sects, each one with their own translations and traditions. In the original Hebrew, "Satan" is actually ha-satan ("the satan"), defined as a role rather than a name (specifically the role of testing one's faith). At some point in the translation process, "the" is dropped and the tempter is simply, "Satan." Satan, before being completely subsumed by Lucifer, was considered Lucifer's vessel on earth-a separate entity.

Now, "Lucifer" is Latin for Venus' morning appearance. The word was taken from the Greek words Φωσφόρος (Phosphorus), "light-bringer", and Ἑωσφόρος (Eosphorus ), "dawn-bringer." So how did Lucifer become synonymous with a fallen angel? Folklore and metaphor. I could go really deep here, but instead I'll just say the Sumerian myth about the goddess Inanna's ability to descend into other realms including the underworld and then rise again to heaven. This myth is based in the synodic cycle of the planet--you guessed it--Venus (more specifically Venus in retrograde). Jump to the Book of Isaiah when the king of Babylon is condemned, Isaiah refers to the king as "Lucifer:"

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! {14:13} For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: {14:14} I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. {14:15} Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. {14:16}

Thus, the "morning star" falling from heaven is a motif born out of a long list of myths and translations that get thrown in a pot together, stirred up, and then served according to disparate cultures and traditions. Some of those traditions combined "the satan" and "Lucifer" into Satan/Lucifer, some others kept "Satan" and "Lucifer" as two separate beings, with Lucifer ruling over Satan who acts as an agent of temptation on earth. (Sound familiar? Hold that thought!)

In contrast to "Satan" and "Lucifer," "The Devil" can be deterritorialized more simply. The title comes from a series of translations of Greek's  διάβολος (diábolos), or "slanderer." Thus, how the Devil became synonymous with all things Satan, Lucifer, and Hell can be inferred via its etymology.

So, if in some traditions Satan's role is to tempt people's faith, that would mean Crowley is Satan, right? Under my thinking, yes and no.

In the Bible, "tempting" Eve simply meant asking why she hadn't eaten from the Tree of Knowledge and then telling her the truth about what would happen if did (i.e., she would not die as God claimed but would instead be granted the wisdom to know the difference between good and evil). This is important if you recall that "the satan" may act as an agent of hell, but it isn't inherently good or evil, it's there by God's design to test people. So in this way, sure. Crowley plays the role of "the satan." But in the Good Omen's universe, Satan is given definition as the King of Hell (aka Benedict Cumberbatch and a team of CGI wizards), while Lucifer is only mentioned once (I'm getting there, promise!). Given all the amalgamations we've just gone over, it isn't outside the realm of possibility that Gaimon and Pratchett switched their roles. If anything, it makes far more sense that "Lucifer" would become "Crowley" over "Satan." Lucifer was an angel not a deity, so he would become a demon, while the Satan of Good Omens is set up as a direct opponent to God.

But why does Crowley have to have been Lucifer? Couldn't he have been another fallen angel?

Sure. But it isn't a coincidence that Lucifer and Raphael aren't mentioned by name (except once, I know!). Crowley's physical characteristics are more inline with Lucifer's than Raphael's (according to literary tradition, i.e., Paradise Lost and Dante's Inferno); he was the first one to say "let there be light;" rebellion is intrinsic to him (continuously rebelling against hell); he's androgynous (Lucifer as the masculine fallen angel and the feminine Venus); and he has many faces (which he shows off more in S1). Plus, Lucifer is said to have committed the sin of Pride, something Crowley demonstrated a lot of after he cranked the cosmos.

Also, S2 has made perfectly clear that Crowley is insanely powerful for a demon. (I'm convinced the huge power surge they investigate is not the miracle that hides Gabriel but is in fact the burst of energy Crowley produces when he's angry. It occurs at roughly the same time and in the same place. Narratively, it'd be just as easy to have the blackout occur another way, so Crowley's power surge must have another purpose.) In the book, the Narrator of Good Omens (God) says, "Crowley has something no other demons have, especially not Hastur--an imagination." Crowley is repeatedly singled out as being different than the other demons. He is able to read the report that is locked to everyone but the highest of authorities in Heaven.

So, now let's talk about that quote from S1: "I never asked to be a demon. I was just minding my own business one day and then... oh, lookie here, it's Lucifer and the guys!"

It's reasonable to assume Crowley is referring to himself saying "lookie here" after he was the subject of the first part of that sentence. But in actuality, the suggestion that Crowley was "minding his own business" would contradict him then going up to a group of people and initiating a conversation. Therefore, the ellipses (as they are designed to do) represent an absent thought. In this situation, the transition of the subject. In this moment, Crowley is recalling the moments before he fell, when he was minding his own business (while in the company of others) when someone singled out him the other rebels/questioners.

Taken another way, it's also entirely possible that Crowley is referring to himself in the third person as an outside viewer of the situation because, in point of fact, even if Crowley was Lucifer, Lucifer no longer exists according to Neil:

What does all this mean?

It means that even if Crowley was Lucifer, Lucifer doesn't exist because Good Omens takes place after the Fall. Now, this may put a little hiccup in the idea that Crowley can read the top secret files because he was an archangel, but I think it can be explained away via the ineffable plan. It is obvious that God still loves Crowley and shows him preferential treatment. It isn't outside the realm of possibility that she allowed him to keep certain parts of Lucifer as he Fell--especially if he was going to play the role as tempter on Earth. Clearly Crowley retained some of his angelic "goodness," which includes a unique moral code on Earth. Otherwise he'd be just like all the other demons. Crowley has to have enough good in him to appreciate humans, to be able to differentiate who should be tempted and how. He has to understand them in order to tempt them. This, I would argue, is the perfect punishment for an angel that questioned God's creation of man (but we know now he was just questioning the subsequent destruction of the universe he created). For daring to challenge her plan, God sends Lucifer (aka Crowley) to Earth to live among the humans he didn't value in Heaven. But, as we've seen, Crowley can still go up to heaven even when he's not in Aziraphale's body. Just like "morning star" Venus, Crowley can rise to the heavens, idle at the horizon, or fall into darkness. Even as "Crowley," Lucifer is still God's favorite.

So to go back up to where we started, it's possible that Hell ordered Crowley to tempt Aziraphale into falling, but God allowed Crowley to retain a sense of justice, and, perhaps more notability, his ability to love. I think Beelzebub and Gabriel's coupling is a sign that Heaven and Hell's hold on angels and demons weakens when they are confronted with human experiences, which would explain Crowley's very loose allegiance and Aziraphale's increasing discontent with Heaven. The difference between them is that Crowley--on some level--remembers what it's like to be an authority but not THE authority in Heaven, and he knows how fruitless Aziraphale's mission is. As the serpent, he has all this knowledge but Aziraphale is still very naïve, still devoted to the idea of "good" vs. "evil." He needs to see for himself that this dichotomy doesn't exist, even with him in charge. Once he's able to see this and understand what it means for his identity, I think we'll see the most elaborate "I Was Wrong" dance in history.

(Note: I didn't proofread this before posting, because I don't wanna. Now I'm going to devote a stupid amount of time trying to see if I can figure out what the damn J stands for.)

[panda-puma]

Coming from an exclusively manga reader, what is it about the One Piece anime that makes it such a bad adaptation?

Hello! ^^ Sorry for taking a while to answer.

I explained some of it in this other ask: here to the post

But there's a lot more changes in the Anime that really matter in how a character is portrayed. I'll explain the 3 i can think of right now without thinking too much (and without any particular order). I'd love to get into more detail for each one, but tumblr posts have limits on images, so i'd have to do a post for each one ^^u

(Also, again: you can like the Anime. As I said before, I've watched the entire Anime 3 times this last year. But you can enjoy something and still know it's flawed. Very flawed, even.)

(SPOILERS AHEAD for Sabaody, Post-Alabasta and Separation Arc).

Let's start with Sabaody, when Kuma is poofing everyone. Specifically Franky-Nami-Chopper-Robin's poof. (Chapter 513 in the Manga, Episode 405 in the Anime) In the Manga (6 pages):

All the action is very fast. Franky tries to attack Kuma and gets poofed right away, without even noticing that Luffy punched Kuma and got rejected. Nami is terrified of what's happening and asks Luffy for help before being poofed. Robin is mostly worried about Luffy and his mental state, trying to maintain him out of harm, and she runs when she has to, because she is used to running and surviving. Luffy is running and punching non stop, getting up instantly when he falls down, not losing a single second to try to save everyone... Until there's no one else to save.

Now let's look at the Anime: First, Franky gets to attack Kuma fully before Luffy even gets close to them. Luffy attacks twice and gets rejected. Franky worries about Luffy, distracting himself from Kuma and that's why he gets poofed.

Then we get Nami, with a bit of slow motion to intensify the feeling.

But then Luffy stops fighting to catch his breath, looking at the floor.

We get a flashback of Nami asking for help, something that happened right before the intermission. But this is not the way to repeat this information. Don't make Luffy stop to catch his breath. It is the opposite of his whole personality.

He then reacts to the flashback and starts running towards Kuma to punch him, but Kuma teleports and Luffy falls. Again: long recovery time for Luffy because he fell to the floor. Chopper gets poofed and then Luffy just... stops. He looks while Kuma gets closer and closer to Robin, and begs. After that he starts running towards Robin to help. I get that they want to get more screen time, but why changing his personality? Why would Luffy beg an enemy to stop when he can still do something about it?

And then we get the same scene as with Nami: Robin is helplessly waiting for Kuma to poof her. Not running away, just frozen in fear. Why?

They literally treated Nami and Robin as if they were the same person. They changed Robin's personality just for drama.

Is it intense? Yes. But you can not do that sacrificing characters personalities and traits. That is not a good adaptation.

--- Going way back to Post Alabasta: Chopper and trusting Robin.

In the Manga (Chapter 218), from the moment Luffy says Robin is a good person, he believes it and proceeds to trust Robin.

The only one not convinced is Zoro (who doesn't fully trust her until Water 7), because he is very protective of the crew.

And then we directly start the Jaya Arc.

In the Anime (episode 130-131), in Episode 130 they kind of made a good adaptation of Chapter 218. But then in Episode 131 (which is filler, but of course not everyone knows it), mixed with all the nonsense they did, they also made Chopper not trust Robin, not caring for Luffy's words.

This just goes against everything Chopper and Luffy's relationship is. It's just annoying.

Also we don't start Jaya Arc until episode 144. 13 Episodes of fillers, of nothing relevant, but as I said... anime watcher don't normally know what is filler and what isn't. And these episodes show changes in the characters personalities and One Piece story that are terrible.

---

Jumping to Post-War Arc and Cover Stories (Straw Hat's Separation Serial)

And lastly (because I can't put more images in this post xD) I'll be centering specifically on Sanji's Separation Arc part, even tho all of them are very changed.

In the Manga, (Chapter 523 and Covers of Chapter 543 and 544) we see Sanji running away, insisting that he doesn't have a maiden's heart like them, then being captured and dressed against his will.

Why did he let them dress him? Because he didn't fight back when they captured him. He just can't attack them, as they have maiden's hearts, which means they are women.

And then, when he receives notice of what happened to Luffy, he takes off everything they put on him and begs Ivankov for more information and/or a ship (Chapter 593). When he receives the secret message from Luffy (3D2Y) (Chapter 594-595) he changes his objective: stealing the 99 Vital Recipes of the 99 New Kama Karate Masters that are in the Island.

Emphasis on STEALING. Why? Because Sanji won't attack them or harm them, as they have hearts of maidens. He would never attack a woman, no matter how unattractive or ugly she is for him.

He is never shown attacking them in the manga.

What does the Anime do with all of this? (Episodes: 419, 454, 510-514)

These episodes are a train wreck.

We start with Sanji following and flirting with a random woman. Then he notices "it's not a lady" and starts trying to escape.

We also have a random new character called Caroline, who is the substitute Queen of Kamabakka. Sanji challenges her to a duel so she gives him a boat to leave.

To fight, Sanji gets dressed in the "traditional battle outfit" of the island, and he even tho he fights to kill at first, he is too worried of not having his panties seen to fight properly.

And in the end he "loses sight of who he really is" and ends up dressing like the girls voluntarily.

Then Ivankov comes back with news (in his woman form) and Sanji tries to fight his attraction to her "knowing what she really is" and that he likes real women. Again... the anime decides to make Sanji very transphobic. I'm not saying he doesn't have faults, but not to this degree of making no sense as a character.

Anyway, when he changes his objective from escaping the island to learning the 99 recipes, he... fights for them. He also fights with all his might.

This is not the first time Sanji's character is completely destroyed in the Anime. It also won't be the last one.

--

And this is just another tiny list of the things the Anime changes that make the characters literally other people to me.

Sadly i can't fit more things in this post, like the Long Ring Long Island Arc, where Luffy accepts Foxy's Davy Back Fight twice because "it was fun". Or Zoro being bullied by a random lady in Water 7 to be a baby sitter...

It may not be important to someone else, but for me this type of things are crucial to the characters ^^U and if you change all the "little things", you lose what really makes them who they are

Thank you for reading so much and I hope it made sense! :Du (sorry for the broken english, not my native language)

[can-they-assemble-ikea-furniture]

General Info + Submission Guidelines

This is an almost exclusively submission based blog, so feel free to submit your characters. Just send an ask in. I'll put polls into the queue in the order they are received, and they'll run for a week once up. Make sure to include the fandom they are from. You may submit propaganda, and it will be included in the poll under a readmore. Celebrities may be submitted.

Answer polls assuming they have access to ikea furniture to attempt assembling

3 polls are posted per day

Polls in queue(Updated Jun 23): 9 (+279 inbox*)

*the number for the inbox is the number of asks remaining, and may be more or less than the number of characters

Tags

Polls will be tagged with the fandom and character name. I usually use the names as submitted, and possibly popular relevant tumblr tags. If it is a real person, it will be tagged with their name, #real life, and sometimes their profession(s) (actor, musician, wrestler, etc)

If the image used was submitted with the ask, it will be tagged #image from submitter

Polls are tagged with the date submitted, formatted as the 3-letter English abbreviation of the month and the day (e.g. #Apr 29). Keep in mind this may be a day off due to timezone differences

Non-polls are rare, but will be tagged #not a poll (excluding the original version of this post)

Polls about blog policy(e.g. the "should I include pictures?" poll) will be tagged #blog policy poll

Frequently Asked* Questions

*or occasionally asked/mentioned in tags. or perhaps I'm just giving you the information and no one has ever once asked this

[Character] has a lot of different portrayals/renditions. Which one does the poll refer to?

Unless the post specifies one in particular, I don't have any more clue than you do. If the submission specifies, I put it in the post. The rendition a picture is from is not intended to indicate a specific source.

What level of specificity is allowed?

You may be as specific or unspecific as you like with your character submission. Both "Link from The Legend of Zelda series" and "Castiel from Supernatural, specifically in S05E08 'Changing Channels'" would be allowed. That being said, I reserve the right to not publish excessive variations of the same character (e.g. if you submit Castiel separately for every episode of supernatural, I will not be posting all of those).

What do you mean by "assemble it well"?

You may interpret this however you like, but I would define it as getting furniture assembled such that it stays together, and deviations from the instructions are either intended or insignificant. I would not count mental distress as not going well (for the purpose of answering this question), with the exception of cases where the mental distress leads to it being disassembled, unfinished, or otherwise destroyed.

Will my username be publicized?

For submissions, no. For other asks, probably. Anon is on if you wish to use it.

What is the ideal format for submissions?

Submit through asks. The exact formatting doesn't matter much, but the format of "[character] from [media]" including proper capitalization (e.g. Link from Legend of Zelda), with additional content on other lines is slightly easier to copy-paste.

Should I submit multiple characters as separate asks?

Up to 3 characters in one ask is fine. More than that, please split the asks. If you want to submit each as a separate ask, that's equally fine. If submitting multiple characters from the same media, it's fine to either list them and say "all from [media]" or list them all as "[character] from [media]".

How are the pictures used obtained?

Generally from fan wikis, or wikipedia. If a picture is submitted with the ask, I will use that.

Why is this picture of the wrong character/why was an inapplicable tag used?

Due this being a submission-based blog, I am not personally familiar with all characters on here. If something is improperly tagged, the image is of the wrong character, etc, notify me if you want me to fix it.

What's the policy on re-polls?

This is one of the questions no one has ever once asked! As such, I do not have a policy on re-polls for polls that don't have a significant error. If a poll has a significant error(something that disrupts its ability to be answered, such as polls that only run for a day rather than a week, or don't have the answers set up correctly), notify me and I'll put out a corrected version as soon as I can.

Is there a way to jump ahead of the poll queue?

Be me. Or submit a character I decide I really want that answered about. This hasn't happened yet, but I reserve the right to post polls out of order, although if I do they'll be in addition to the regularly scheduled polls. If it is a user submission, I'll only post it out of order within 4 days of the original submission, so you don't have to worry about whether or not it will be posted at a random time for months.