#literally half the dynamics have changed and so have personalities for most of the characters in pi

[noahtally-famous]

can't believe this hasn't been said before but unhinged!scarlett and unhinged!dave would be an iconic duo. shame pi didn't get a second season bc these two in an alliance would basically succeed in destroying the island, they'd wipe everyone out

the fact that they're both versions of the nerd character so they're already smart in their own ways, the fact that they have absolutely zero fucks to give anymore, their individual darker sides have come out (whether it was hidden consciously (scarlett) or unconsciously (dave)), and they've each attempted to kill/seriously injure one or more contestant(s) (and mess up the island in the process) just to reach their end goal. imagine if these two found a common goal somehow, literally nothing could get in their paths (except possibly each other)

[fuckyeahisawthat]

There are so many places in the Villeneuve Dune adaptations where he just...takes all the narrative pieces that Frank Herbert laid out and subtly rearranges them into something that tells the story better--that creates dramatic tension where you need it, communicates the themes and message of the book more clearly, or corrects something in the text that contradicts or undermines what Herbert said he was trying to say.

The fedaykin are probably my favorite example of this. I just re-read a little part of the book and got smacked in the face with how different they are.

(under the cut for book spoilers and length)

The fedaykin in the book are Paul's personal followers, sort of his personal guard. They show up after his legend has already started growing (the word doesn't appear in the book until chapter 40) and they are people who have specifically dedicated themselves to fighting for him, and right from the moment they're introduced there is a kind of implied fanaticism to their militancy that's a bit uncomfortable to read. They're the most ardent believers in Paul's messianic status and willing to die for him. (They are also, as far as you can tell from the text, all men.)

In the book, as far as I can remember (I could be forgetting some small detail but I don't think so) there is no mention of armed resistance to colonialism on Arrakis before Paul shows up. As far as we know, he created it. ETA: Okay I actually went back and checked on this and while we hear about the Fremen being "a thorn in the side" of the Harkonnens and we know that they are good fighters, we don't see anything other than possibly one bit of industrial sabotage. The book is very clear that the organized military force we see in the second half was armed and trained by Paul. This is exacerbated by the two-year time jump in the book, which means we never see how Paul goes from being a newly deposed ex-colonial overlord running for his life to someone who has his own private militia of people ready to give their lives for him.

The movie completely flips all these dynamics on their head in ways that add up to a radical change in meaning.

The fedaykin in the movie are an already-existing guerrilla resistance movement on Arrakis that formed long before Paul showed up. Literally the first thing we learn about the Fremen, less that two minutes into the first movie, is that they are fighting back against the colonization and exploitation of their home and have been for decades.

The movie fedaykin also start out being the most skeptical of the prophecy about Paul, which is a great choice from both a political and a character standpoint. Of course they're skeptical. If you're part of a small guerrilla force repeatedly going up against a much bigger and stronger imperial army...you have to believe in your own agency. You have to believe that it is possible to win, and that this tiny little chip in the armor of a giant terrifying military machine that you are making right now will make a difference in the end. These are the people who are directly on the front lines of resisting oppression. They are doing it with their own sweat, blood and ingenuity, and they are not about to wait around for some messiah who may never come.

From a character standpoint, this is really the best possible environment you could put Paul Atreides in if you want to keep him humble. He doesn't get any automatic respect handed to him due to title or birthright or religious belief. He has to prove himself--not as any kind of savior but as a good fighter and a reliable member of a collective political project. And he does. This is an environment that really draws out his best qualities. He's a skilled fighter; he's brave (sometimes recklessly so); he's intensely loyal to and protective of people he cares about. He is not too proud to learn from others and work hard in an egalitarian environment where he gets no special treatment or extra glory. The longer he spends with the fedaykin the more his allegiance shifts from Atreides to Fremen, and the more skeptical he himself becomes about the prophecy. This sets up the conflict with Jessica, which comes to a head before she leaves for the south. And his political sincerity--that he genuinely comes to believe that these people deserve liberation from all colonial forces and his only role should be to help where he can--is what makes the tragedy work. Because in the end we know he will betray all these values and become the exact thing he said he didn't want to be.

There's another layer of meaning to all this that I don't know if the filmmakers were even aware of. ETA: rescinding my doubt cause based on some of Villeneuve's other projects I'm pretty sure he could work it out. Given the time period (1960s) and Herbert's propensity for using Arabic or Arabic-inspired words for aspects of Fremen culture, it seems very likely that the made-up word fedaykin was taken from fedayeen, a real Arabic word that was frequently used untranslated in American news media at the time, usually to refer to Palestinian armed resistance groups.

Fedayeen is usually translated into English as fighter, guerrilla, militant or something similar. The translation of fedaykin that Herbert provides in Dune is "death commando"...which is a whole bucket of yikes in my opinion, but it's not entirely absurd if we're assuming that this fake word and the real word fedayeen function in the same way. A more literal translation of fedayeen is "self-sacrificer," as in willing, intentional self-sacrifice for a political cause, up to and including sacrificing your life.

If you apply this logic to Dune, it means that Villeneuve has actually shifted the meaning of this word in-universe, from fighters who are willing to sacrifice themselves for Paul to fighters who are willing to sacrifice themselves for their people. And the fedaykin are no longer a group created for Paul but a group that Paul counts himself as part of, one member among equals. Which is just WILDLY different from what's in the book. And so much better in my opinion.

[theatricalmage]

The brainrot took over and so here's a vat7k hadestown au!! Don't know if I'll develop it fully but I liked designing it at least!

More info under the cut:

- Varian, the Coronan royal alchemist, tasks himself with deciphering an incantation capable of bringing the world back into tune. Times are tough, and the royal family + Quirin are doing their best to cope with the meagre crop yields and desolate weather (Corona not really being the sunshine kingdom - hasn't been for a while). He wants to help and do good and I think he'd be a good Orpheus.

- Hugo, having moved about from place to place, still has his interest in alchemy and does what he can to get by. He plans on temporarily staying in Corona before looting, but he encounters a certain like-minded scientist at the Snuggly Duckling. I think him being selfish works especially well in Eurydice's role, having a more pessimistic view of the world. It also works with how he gets drawn to Donella's offer of working for her later on, leading him to his death.

- Ulla as Persephone! I was initially stuck on whether to have Rapunzel (and either Eugene/Cass) as her (and Hades) but I was drawn to the connection that Hugo has to Donella and the Donella/Ulla relationship in vat7k just works too well. In this case, Ulla won't be Varian's mother. She's still gonna be somewhat of an inspiration to him though, being the previous Coronan royal alchemist and for her intelligence. For half the year, she'll return to Corona with food, drinks, and alchemical compounds/inventions, bringing Spring and Summer to the world, if only for a bit.

- Donella would be such an interesting Hades, losing sight of her love for Ulla, heart filled with fear and hurt, leading to bitterness and cruelty. Ingvarr being Hadestown and how by being the esteemed Ingvarrian engineer, she'd be in charge of major technological advances across the kingdoms and so would wield a significant amount of power (like how Hades is literally the ruler of the underworld). Ingvarr essentially being a near death sentence for its workers while also displaying its technological prowess, all still shrouded in mystery and corruption - a place so otherworldly compared to the rest of the kingdoms.

I didn't want to modify the outfits too much nor the personalities,, if anything I imagine the general plot beats being the same as the original musical/story but with slight differences that'd you get inherently as a result of these characters. I wouldn't want it to be the case where it's just the show but the names are changed. I'd want this to still make reasonable sense in this AU, with the actions being understandable for this particular cast of characters.

For Hermes, I ended up picking Xavier, as he's most knowledgeable of old legends and stories, which would work in reference to the Hades and Persephone myth (and so Donella and Ulla)! He'd act as a mentor figure for V, someone who can guide him in uncovering the forgotten incantation. Quirin would still be the good supportive dad he is (even if he doesn't fully understand his son's project).

Last but not least, the fates!! often lurking in the background, I'm still a bit stuck on who it could be? I'm tempted to have it be Raps, Cass, and Nuru as they've had celestial connections at some point (and ya know how stars can represent fate), but I also love the freckled siblings dynamic so much. Also Team Radical... Maybe Raps and Cass can be their normal selves but their Sundrop/Moonstone counterparts are the manifested physical forms of the fates? They wouldn't be visible to the characters though, just voices in the wind.

Anyways yeah!! Those are my thoughts. Do let me know if you've got any cool ideas or questions. I'm really combining my interests at full force and there's nothing anyone, not even myself, can do about it quite frankly. 😮‍💨

[cynthiav06]

Respectfully, did Percy Jackson even have any character development throughout the original series?

He doesn't have any flaws. He chose to take the prophecy from Nico, but he was always going to be the prophecy child.

He's good at the start and good at the end with no development unless you count being traumatised and depressed from a war as development, which it's not.

Not trying to be rude, sorry if I seem rude.

Worry not. It's a perfectly reasonable question and should usually be applied to most character studies. Also, buckle up. This is going to be long. Very long. It took me a while to get the time to post this and even more time to actually get my thoughts together. Like a lot of time. (To anyone who doesn't want to read the horrid mess of a post this is there's a partition at the end, after which all the most important points are summarized. ) Just skip to that, but hopefully, someone reads this whole thing because it took me eons to write.

I can see why you think that way, and it is contributed more so by Rick's absolute incapability of not recycling the dead horse that is the original pjo dynamics. He has inhibited character growth from almost every single character where all their epiphanies and character change in the end amounts to nothing, and they regress back to how they used to be, and any and all deviations their personality had are either dismissed or suppressed.

Percy is the victim of the latter. In the first book, he was a child, not particularly concerned with saving the world or being a halfblood. His life had been worse enough, and the halfblood situation had made it abysmal. Percy was living goal by goal. He wanted to get through the field trip, then through the semester, then through the Gabe interactions all so he could finally see his Mom, the one good thing about his life. Then that upends completely, and his only reprieve, the trip to Montauk, his safe place becomes the start of a series of grand tragedies in his life.

Sure, he stayed at the Camp, not willingly but for safety. He had nowhere to go, his life had been turned upside down, his mother was dead, and he wanted to go home, to have his mother back. He couldn't have cared less about the Gods and the world ending, but as soon as Chiron mentions Underworld, Percy is back on solid ground. He has a goal again. Get Sally back. He does everything to reach that goal. He fights monsters, prays to a godly father he refused to acknowledge beforehand, manipulate the press and the Gabe situation, bargain with immortal deities and such, and negotiate his way out of most of those bargains. All the while keeping in mind that he has a traitor to deal with, but Percy is the definition of "deal with one thing at a time. If it's not an immediate concern, it can wait." He does all that and is rewarded for it by being able to live, getting his mother back, and a taste of the life he has doomed himself to, and he almost seems to accept it. He even wonders if Camp Half Blood could be his home.

We see Percy do this throughout all the books. He is constantly changing his intentions, his goals, and his opinions on everything. He is also caught in his internal conflict of being with or against the Gods. The thing is, Percy has very little time for reflection as he is jumping from one existential threat to another, and yet he still manages to grow in the small ways. You need to see it individually book wise rather than over the whole series as Rick messes up terribly with character arcs and developments of literally every other character.

He begins by not caring about Poseidon's existence or his proximity, but in the end, he, too, is beholden to the intrinsic need of having a father. He, too, wants Poseidon to care for him like a father and is therefore hurt by being called a mistake. He knows Poseidon claimed him as a weapon against Zeus so he could rectify someone else's mistakes and restore Poseidon's reputation; who if not Percy would understand this manipulation the best? But the best lies are the ones you want to believe in, and so Percy keeps his silence because, of course, he wants to believe his father genuinely cares for him and loves him. Who doesn't?

He didn't want to be the hero, but by the end of the first book, when he is called one, he doesn't dislike the feeling. He accepts if only a little that this is to be his life now, and as the series progresses, he adds to the pros and cons.

In the Sea of Monsters he is very happy that Gabe is gone and it's just him and his mother again but by the end of it he has gained a new family member in Tyson and is very happy of the fact. He even manages to get over his initial hostility of Clarisse somewhat when he understands her situation.

Titan's Curse is all about Percy learning about the number of forces at play in the world of demigods. He tries to get along with the Hunters and Thalia; it doesn't work. He ends up almost losing Annabeth, someone who he considers a close friend by now. And so we see Percy spiral a little, show more of his anger issues as he interacts with Thalia or even Young Nico just after Annabeth falls from the cliff. Angry and impatient, he goes on his own quest.

I know most readers remember it as Percy, Annabeth, and Grover or the main cast always working together, but it's almost never like that. Somewhere along the way, Percy always ends up doing his own thing, which works because he best works on improvisations. It's Percy's plans that always end up working the most more so than Annabeth's. Just putting it out there.

Then it's just Percy having the worst month of his life. Annabeth is in mortal danger. No one seems to be hearing his opinions between Thalia and the Hunters. Then Bianca dies and Percy because he is Percy is completely and utterly guilty over it.

Note that Percy says he will do his best to keep Biancs safe and not outright promise to keep Bianca safe. But his non-existent self-esteem and other factors withstanding he blamed himself for it completely. Then Zoe dies, and Percy has lost yet another person he thought he needed to keep safe.

Percy is angry at the gods, but he is not surprised by their actions. But he is Percy, and he is determined to change the ways of Olympus, so he pressures the Council and his father to keep the Ophiptaurus, the very creature that threatens to topple their rule. It's his small was of rebelling, and Percy is always rebelling against the gods in his own way, almost never playing into their hands because as much as he despises Luke, he agrees with Luke too and unless he finds a better way to deal with the situation than what Luke is employing he too would have to one day follow in Luke's footsteps.

Now Percy, who trusts Chiron, even thinks of him as a secondary father figure realizes that Chiron for all his compassion for mortals and demigods will always in the end do the bidding of the Gods'. So he makes the snap decision to hide Nico's parentage from Chiron and from everyone else because Percy realizes no matter how much he loves or cares for certain people in his life, they are beholden to answer to a higher power he cannot gainsay, so he will have to take some secrets to the grave. He learns that in the end, some things he needs to shoulder himself.

And of course, the guilt of Bianca's death is no lesser, so he does the only thing he thinks can give him some relief from it. He takes the prophecy for himself, saving Nico and hoping it's enough to alleviate himself of this bile inducing sensation in his gut called guilt that is swallowing him whole.

Now, the Battle of Labyrinth is the most crucial. This is the book with maximum stress on Percy from all ends. From Sally dating Paul and Percy having to prove he is worth Paul's confidence in him in Goode, from Annabeth who is quite literally snippy and passive aggressive through the whole book either due to Rachel or due to her own prophecy even though Rachel and Percy are the two people who got them all out. Then there's the Nico situation. He knows Nico is spiraling, which is making Percy spiral and further strengthening his own guilt. And on top of all this, the Luke situation. Percy is literally caught between an enclosed space, with all four sides closing in on him rapidly while he is fending off mortal danger.

All this repressed tension is fully let loose when he explodes Mt. Helen's. And this is the tipping point. Percy wants to take the choice of Calypso's Island if only briefly and not because he loves her or anything of the sort but because it's his one escape. From everything from his own doomed prophecy. Yet again, Percy is trapped by his own fatal flaw. Personal Loyalty. So he chooses to carry out his responsibility because he has given himself no other choice.

If that wasn't enough of self-realization, he is faced with the horrifying realization of the devastation his power has wrought. His loss of control has single handedly released the greatest threat to Olympus. Hephaestus tells Percy he doesn't know the limits of his own, and by the gods, does that terrify Percy. Up until now, Percy knew his powers were dangerous, but now he knows that he is also dangerous; that he is the real danger. And it's not a reality he wants to ever confront, so he coils his power and holds it tight in a leash. (It's why Percy's burts of power always begin with an unraveling sensation in his gut or something breaking inside himself)

He is somewhat soothed by Poseidon's reassurance because not only does Poseidon not blame him, he also solidifies Percy's faith that he is doing the right thing. And if Poseidon sprinkles in the fact that Percy is the favorite child then who is he to deny himself the comfort of such sweet lies because, of course, Percy thinks it's a lie and of course Percy basks in it. He knows better than to trust gods, he knows better than to trust even his own allies because at the times like this, they will do and say anything to appease him, after all the fate of Olympus depends on him, does it not? And neither the Gods nor the demigods will risk a falling out with him at times like this.

He asks his father if he can help but is denied because he is needed here. Then he does his job as told, and Charlie dies. It's on him. He is struck with twice as much guilt. Over Beckendorf, and then over the state of Atlantis. He asks again if he can help his father and is denied again yet scorned by his father's family, for he can't even help them with the mess he started (or so he believes).

This is why Percy goes with Nico's plan of using the Styx. Because he assumes Nico of all people who already hated him has no reason to curry for his favor. But he makes a mistake. After all, Nico needs his father's favor, and Hades needs Percy gone. Percy can't really blame the kid, but he does anyway because why not? He is angry, he is furious, and everything is slipping from his fingers. He is going to die. Everyone is going to die, and it's all on him. It's all his fault, AGAIN. So he rages at Nico because for at least one single moment, he wishes this were someone else's burden, especially Nico's, but Percy's taken it for himself, and it's too late to back out now.

So he fights and manipulates and negotiates. Titans, River gods, his own demigods. Because don't forget Percy knows there's a mole and that's also his problem. Everything is his problem. All that work and so many dead. Silena, Michael, Ethan, and many more on both sides, and he is trying everything he can to make it better to fix things because, again, he thinks it's his fault. Imagine doing all that, and Rachel tells him he is not the hero, and Percy bristles because no, he doesn't want to be a hero, but of course, it offends him. Because, if he's not the hero, then it's not his burden, and then what the hell is he doing all this for if, in the end, he is not the hero that can save Olympus? Does that mean he read the prophecy wrong, and now he is going to get everyone killed because he wrongly assumed he isn't the hero. He is angry and impulsive, and he snaps at even Hermes. Because now HE is spiraling.

And somehow, it's all over with Luke killing himself, and it dawns on Percy, the truth. So despite all the hate because why wouldn't there be hate, Luke has singlehandedly tried to kill Percy more than Percy can count, and he calls Luke the Hero. Makes the choice because he believes in Annabeth's faith and Hermes's faith in Luke. It pays off and that's all that matters.

Finally finally it is all over. the Gods owe him, and finally, he has an answer on the path he wants to take to change the gods. He denies immortality because he is Percy Jackson, he is Sally Jackson's son and he knows better than to let others dictate the flow of his life, because he has better plans than wasting away inside for eternity, dancing on someone else's tune. He fights for the demigods, the non-Olympian gods and their children who Olympus has failed to do justice to, for Nico, and in some way for himself.

Then it's not over at all because Rachel has taken Blackjack and Percy knows the truth of the Oracle and he loves Rachel far too much to let her even try. But it works and she is okay; he can't be with her but she is alive and she is okay and Percy is extremely grateful for that.

But then there's a new prophecy, and even though he tries to find some peace with Annabeth, he knows it's not over. It's never over for him. But he can forget about it until he can no longer afford to ignore it.

___________________________________________

Of course, Percy repressed his trauma. The last time he let it out, he released the literal bane of the gods out. Do you think Percy could live with something like that happening again? What choice does he have? There's no one who can understand him. NO ONE. Not even Annabeth.

You can see him accept his role as a leader and grow more into it. In son of Sobek or even in Son of Neptune. He is more serious and more authoritative because he has so many people depending on him, so many expectations hanging on him. We can also see Percy's anger issues get out of hand. He is spiraling, the readers know he is spiraling, and Percy knows, but he can't do ANYTHING. HE IS LITETALLY DYING OR BEING ATTACKED, HE CAN'T, HE JUST CAN'T.

BUT WE KNOW IT'S THERE BECAUSE WE CAN SEE HOW MUCH PERCY HAS GROWN INTO SUICIDAL TENDENCIES. AND HE CAN'T ACT ON THEM MOST OF THE TIME BECAUSE OTHER PEOPLE ARE DEPENDENT ON HIM AND HIS FATAL FLAW WON'T ALLOW HIM TO PUT HIMSELF OUT OF HIS MISERY.

BUT WHEN HE HAS DONE EVERYTHING HE POSSIBLY COULD, AFTER HOUSE OF HADES, HE LETS POLYBOTES'S POISON CHOKE HIM, ALMOST KILLING HIM IF JASON HADN'T INTERVENED. THANK GOD FOR JASON GRACE.

Percy was this sassy, heavily independent, "I do my own thing" kid and now he is someone with more responsibilities than anyone with most of his free will stripped and most of his hopes ruined or deemed impossible. IT'S TRAGIC AND IT'S EXCRUCIATING AND HE CAN'T DO ANYTHING BECAUSE HE THINKS IT'S MAKING OTHERS HAPPY. IT'S SUCH A HORRIBLE SITUATION. IMAGINE BOOK 1 PERCY? HE WOULD HAVE LET IT BLOW UP IN EVERYONE ELSE'S FACE BEFORE HE EVER LET HIMSELF BE SO BROKEN.

I have seen so many people say how Percy is the standard hero who is always good and never makes bad choices, and I wonder which books they read. Percy always makes the supposed "right" choices at the cost of himself. His fatal flaw enabling his moral compass and the sheer guilt of the lives lost. He can't escape. He hates the gods, he hates the quests but he loves his family and friends so dearly, there's nothing he wouldn't do for them which means Percy is suffocating, drowning, choking in his own misery, his repressed trauma,his self loathing and being crushed to death by the weight of lives, responsibilities and expectations only he can hope to fulfil.

And one day Percy won't be able to take it. His lapses of control will increase in magnitudes so great, his inner rage will level the world. Destroyer, like Athena predicted, Destroyer like Kronos wanted and Destroyer like his name means.

Not every hero needs a villain arc. Percy is inspiring because after all this shit and all these horrors. He is still good, but WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE TOLL OF IT. PERCY IS STILL GOOD BUT AT WHAT COST? LOOK WHAT IT'S DONE TO HIM.

Rick has such a great potential for an arc like that but he is going to fuck it up, I know he is but I hope readers realize where it's all leading to and how much Percy has changed and how much he has sacrificed. Also, @hermesmyplatonicbeloved , @ogjacksonsimp , @cynicalclairvoyantcadaver , @helenofsparta2, @fourcornersofcreation thoughts? Did I stray too far from the canon, or am I getting it right at least a little? Because this post took days, I have no idea what it has devolved into.

[aiakosm]

Drifting Stars AU: Mabel gets sucked into the portal before Stanford could come out and the portal shuts down, leaving her in that dimension with Ford while Stan and Dipper have to find a way to turn that portal back on.

(New one that I just saw) Reverse Drifting Stars AU: Ford comes back but the portal doesn’t turn off and it’s Stan and Dipper that get sucked in instead (although from the comment I read, it was just Dipper that gets sucked in which is also heartbreaking).

Other Gravity Falls AU’s if you’re confused>

Reverse Falls AU: their personalities are reversed and instead of the happy silly Pines family that you know and love, they’re the manipulative arrogant Gleeful family that everyone hates. The Pines (read: The Gleefuls) are cold-hearted and (in most cases) has the Reversed-version of Bill wrapped around their finger. Reversed-Bill Cipher (named Will Cipher) is a whiny, sensitive, baby-like version of the dream demon.

Fight Falls AU: Everything is almost the same, except for the fact that Mabel and Dipper can fight well. They got into a lot of trouble at their school and was sent to Gravity Falls so that more trouble wouldn’t happen. Dipper and Mabel are great fighters and have a much more sensitive temper but Dipper is still a nerd and Mabel still has a fun imagination (Just more secretly) Bill Cipher (Named Kill Cipher) loves violence—which isn’t out of character—and is mostly there to not only torment the town but also encourage the twin’s violent nature.

Monster Falls AU: Everyone’s a creature! You can switch up what creatures these characters are but most of the fandom has agreed that Dipper is a deer centaur , Mabel is either a mermaid or a unicorn, Stanley is a gargoyle, Ford is a Greek-style Sphinx, Wendy is a werefox or a moth-person, Soos is a clay golem, Gideon is usually a vampire, Pacifica is either a gorgon or a unicorn, Robbie is a zombie, etc. Bill Cipher is a humanoid hunter with a triangle-shaped head.

Reunion Falls AU: this is Mabel and Dipper but they’re separated at birth. Dipper usually lives in the mystery shack and it’s Mabel that visits years later for the summer.

Relativity Falls AU: Everyone’s age and role is switched. Stanford and Stanley are now the young pine twins going to visit their great uncle Dipper and great aunt Mabel (or just Great Aunt Mabel if you decide to have Dipper lost in the portal) for the summer. (Personal favorite simply because I like the older Mabel and younger Stanley dynamic).

Nightmare Falls AU: In this one, Dipper and Mabel are raised by Bill Cipher in a dimension called the nightmare dimension, and are demons. Dipper is depicted as popular but mean, only cares about helping his twin and causing chaos. Mabel is depicted as shy, creative, and secretly more powerful than she lets on (although they are both supposed to be equally powerful but whatever). Bill Cipher, their adoptive parent, encourages their violent and chaotic tendencies. Not many people touch up on this AU. But many should.

Transcendence AU: This one is really popular. If you’ve been in the fandom for longer than a year, you might’ve heard of it. The story often changes but apparently in the original version, Bill dies due to the Transcendence. Before he passes, he leaves a small part of himself in Dipper who turns into a demon. Or half-demon. I think this is where the whole ‘Alcor the dreambender’ thing began (Even though Dipper’s Demon name would just be Ursa Major and he’d be a star demon).

Demonic Twins AU: This time, the twins switch with Bill Cipher. So now Bill Cipher is Bill Pines (maybe Will is there too) and Gideon summons two demons, Mabel and Dipper, who are evil but aren’t as chaotic as the original Bill.

Crystal Falls AU: literally just the Steven Universe mixed with Gravity Falls. They all have different gems and such. I can’t exactly explain it, considering the fact that I’ve never read this AU nor have I watched Steven Universe, but it’s as it sounds.

ANYWAYS THATS ALL FOR NOW, YOU CAN USE THIS POST IF YOU WANT TO TRY AND REMEMBER. LET ME KNOW IF I MISSED ANY AND ILL MAKE EDITS!

[ripplestitchskein]

I find the general idea of Stolitz being “toxic” to be fucking hilarious. It’s thrown around so easily like it should be accepted that they fit this definition and….they really, really don’t lol. Like they have a pretty chill and common miscommunication and personal issues interfering with wants and desires conflict. Like I cannot stress how fucking chill it is. They don’t actively hurt one another intentionally, neither are trying to murder the other directly or indirectly, they are not on opposing sides of a larger external conflict save for inherent world class dynamics, they don’t manipulate each other or work against each other, etc. They say hurtful things and argue and are oblivious to the other’s issues but like, in a fairly normal neurodivergence and historical trauma driven way.

They do begin with a mutually agreed upon transactional sexual dynamic, which is often the crux of these “Stolitz is soooo toxic” arguments to the point the really intense anti’s cry SA. A transactional sexual dynamic Blitz was so okay with when it is no longer agreeable to the other party, and they communicate that and change the parameters in a way that gives him full autonomy, he spends half an episode trying to return to that dynamic. Much trauma. Very coerced. 🙄

There is a power imbalance but it only exists in the sense that one person is societally more powerful by nature of his birth and ignorant to it by nature of his upbringing. Stolas does not force Blitz into said transactional sex dynamic by exerting his power or influence so it’s largely irrelevant save for how it impacts Blitz’s personal self worth issues and it is never from a place of malicious intent. Which is what matters in media? Character intent and decisions are literally the crux of the narrative?? Stolas figures out it’s a problem for the type of relationship he really wants to have and corrects it and even goes above and beyond to ensure that Blitz will suffer no fall out from his choice if he decides to not pursue their romantic relationship further. Like, toxic WHOMST? Just, don’t talk to me about toxic until they get hot and bothered about how well the other tried to actively murder them. We have had zero poisonings or major betrayals in this ship and ya’ll throwing around toxic like words have no meaning.

“But he called Blitz his impish little plaything! He thinks of Blitz as a toy! As a sub-species!” Or maybe, just maaaaybe the sexually inexperienced character who is making shit up as he goes along based on his canonically identified incorrect perceptions of what the other wants/likes as well as ignorance of his own power and position thought he was just being sexy and cute? Just maybe? Like can we apply a smidgeon of deductive reasoning based on the sum rather than the parts? As a treat.

It just speaks to what I have observed as probable immaturity/lack of life experience driving a lot of the criticism or straight up vitriol regarding the show’s major conflicts. A very black and white application of moral purity that deems anything not rainbows and sunshine as toxic and where the ultimate goal is some nebulous and frankly hella ableist concept of “healthy”.

A similar thing plays out with regards to Octavia and the classification of Stolas as a “bad parent” because he is pursuing a relationship and has issues of his own to deal with on top of parenting. Heaven forbid a closeted gay man raised in isolation going through some late in life awakenings is not perfectly navigating an ill defined relationship and a divorce and raising a child on top of his myriad of mental health issues. What gets me the most is she’s not even a young child, she’s 17 possibly even 18 at this point in the timeline but the way people act he abandoned an infant at a flophouse to get his rocks off with someone who fears he will smite them down with his incredible Goetian might and if they refuse they’ll be living out of a gutter eating dirt because they wouldn’t perform sexually for him. Instead of the in-universe reality where the most egregious thing Stolas has done is fail to consider his daughters perspective and how this impacts her, made some inappropriate sexual comments really early on in front of her when he was still excited, and forgot, during a major life upheaval, a promise to watch a meteor shower he made to her like a decade ago. He didn’t even forget the promise itself, he just forgot what day it was. Like I forget shit I promised my kids last week much less when they were like 5.

Like there is such a huge disconnect between actual toxic behavior portrayals in media with regards to relationships and parenting, or hell toxic relationships and parents in real life, and what is going on in Helluva Boss. This is ignoring the fact that the actual universe of the show, which is what should be the metric when examining character dynamics not reality, has established real toxicity in both relationships and behavior, and has shown us time and time again how that toxicity contrasts with our characters and their relationships, be it Stolitz or Fizzmodeous or Moxxie/Millie or the parenting dynamics of Blitz & Loona and Stolas & Octavia. We have examples of toxic relationships, and we have examples of toxic parents in this world and we’ve been shown that the relationships of the main characters is in opposition to them.

But even if you were to take the, imo incorrect, position of applying real world considerations to fictional worlds it still doesn’t track as toxic.

Do you realize how many sexual transactions and power imbalances occur in relationships everyday as just a matter of course?

Like “I’ll wear that outfit you like if you do this for me?” Normal, Transactional. Accepted straight couple in a sitcom premise. I would wager “I’ll preform this sex act if you do X” is said in one way or another without anyone batting an eye a hundred times a day. And that’s ignoring the implication that transactional sex is inherently problematic. It isn’t, it’s the coercive aspect that is an issue and even then we get real handwavey about it in reality when the situation isn’t explicitly coercive.

“I’m a police officer/government agent/politician/media influencer/sole household income earner that has the ability to fuck up your entire life/reputation/financial stability just by nature of my job and how well we are getting along” is perfectly fine and normal. No one would suggest that a police office or government agent can only be involved with someone of equal systemic or social power in reality. Do my partner and I have a toxic power imbalance because I am the sole working person in our household and they are a stay at home parent and I hold all the financial power? No, that’s fucking silly.

Not to be all “sweet summer children I grew up in the trenches of toxic” about it but it’s the most baffling part of this fandom that a pretty low key conflict and relationship dynamic, where neither party is actively trying to hurt the other and has approached the entire thing from a place of earnest confusion and ignorance and is working through it in a pretty normal way is classified as “toxic”. Get back to me when they are poisoning each other, have killed several of each other’s loved ones and there is necromancy involved.

[meanbossart]

Triple question here (started as one, then I got to thinking).

We've all seen Bhaalist Drow (that man can get it), but what would an Absolutist Drow look like? How'd he turn out if he controls the Elder Brain?

Alternatively, what would the dynamic between Bhaalist Drow and Ascended Astarion be like? Or AA and non-Bhaalist drow?

This is kind of a cop-out, but the supposed aftermath of the "control the brain" endings are really boring to me 😭 don't get me wrong, the actual cinematics and lines since patch 7 are AWESOME, but I can't think of any interesting followups after you become the literal absolute leader of the whole Sword Coast, y'know? Maybe that's a failure on my part.

Which is why in DU drow's evil ending I canonize that he can't fully control the brain with the stones - but he can keep it UNDER control and therefore uses it as a bargaining chip to further his own political games on the long-run and govern with fear.

Regardless of alignment, post-amnesia DU drow is always strongly opposed to the concept of the Absolute and relying on a more powerful force to achieve his goals (besides his own father). He used to be on-board with it pre-game, but that changes after everything that happens during the campaign and ESPECIALLY once he finds out how Orin used it to take him down.

So, basically, it's hard for me to come up with an answer to your first question because that would have to be a very different character. There isn't really a version of himself where he becomes that specific brand of evil without Bhaal's influence - even without Shadowheart or Jaheira to lead him down a slightly better path, a redemptive DU drow is more likely to become a full on murderer and cannibal rather than want to strip the earth of the ability to fight back - that's half the fun of it, after all.

As for Ascended Astarion, that's another branching path in this story that I'm still planning on exploring 😇 similarly to how we occasionally dip into the Bhaalist timeline for the drow.

An universe where both AA and Bhaalist DU drow exist would be tricky, since AA gives a tav the ultimatum of either being turned into his spawn or ending the relationship. I realize I could retcon this, but I don't want to - it feels core to that version of his character to want to have control over his partner IMMEDIATELY, and take the rejection as a betrayal. "Normal" DU Drow would never accept to be turned into a vampire spawn - Bhaalist DU drow would take the offer alone as an insult, not to mention do everything in his power to keep Astarion from ascending in the first place.

So, a romantic relationship between Bhaalist DU drow and Ascended Astarion simply wouldn't survive. In fact, I think they would very shortly after kill each other because of the ever-competing size of their egos.

Things wouldn't work too differently between normal DU drow and Ascended Astarion, save for the fact that DU would leave him alive and (hopefully) vice-versa. The person he fell in love with isn't there anymore and now encompasses everything he finds most irritating and off-putting - the exuberance, the pompousness, the thinly veiled desperation - he would lose his patience with AA right off the bat and from that point on they could hardly be in the same room together. Fortunately, Shadowheart and Jaheira would be around to keep DU drow from going off the deep-end after that.

There is one timeline where Ascended Astarion could really thrive, though:

I haven't gone much into the third possible outcome for a Dark Urge yet, but it is one where A.Astarion proposition would seem a lot harder to turn down - if not be the only choice he has left.

[anghraine]

I was talking to my students and then some family members about how the death of Elizabeth I and succession of James was necessarily an occasion of upheaval, even when it wasn't necessarily violent or flirting with treason or whatever. For one, the death of a monarch that will lead to a new dynasty (even a related one!) is not quite the same as a familiar figure inheriting the country's rule from their parent or grandparent. It's usually a bigger change, with dynamics of loyalties and affiliations shifting around—that's part of the reason Elizabeth delayed acknowledging James as her heir.

Typically, you'd see courtiers etc deserting a dying monarch in order to signal their loyalty to the new monarch, even if the old one wasn't actually dead yet. Elizabeth's reluctance to share royal power was fundamental to her reign and her public image, so it's not at all surprising that she would be loath to encourage that kind of desertion in any particular direction.

Of course, another thing that complicates the Elizabeth -> James succession is that she had reigned for a long time (44 years iirc). By the time she was dying, a good number of English people had few personal memories of life under any other monarch, and those who did would remember the abrupt and unstable reigns of her predecessors, Edward and Mary. So James's accession came with uncertainty about what exactly it would entail, and a lot of late Elizabethan/early Jacobean drama in English is very concerned with questions of what obligations the governed owe to their monarchs (obedience? loyalty? are those always the same thing?), but also what obligations monarchs themselves have to their people.

This seemed especially pertinent to Lear, in which multiple characters defy capricious orders from a monarch or other authority out of loyalty: Kent challenges Lear and is banished, so skulks around in disguise to continue serving him, Edgar also skulks around in disguise after Gloucester renounces him and ends up offering what comfort he can to his father, and Cordelia returns to Britain with the French army in her ultimately futile attempt to help Lear. Meanwhile, Lear loses everything, is driven to take shelter in a peasant hovel, and starts to contemplate how his own failures as a king resulted in, well, peasant hovels.

Anyway, now I'm thinking about what a wild figure Elros must have been as, specifically, a monarch to the Númenóreans. He lived for five hundred years. Even his own children (also half-Elves! sort of!) and other descendants who benefited from his lifespan didn't live as long, and most Númenóreans during his earlier reign wouldn't have come near to it. Undoubtedly there were Elves who had known Elros in the First Age who were baffled at him choosing mortality and DEATH, and meanwhile on Númenor, there are all these people living out their extended lifespans under the reign of a half-Elf king who was ruling their people at their birth and would still be ruling after they died of old age. We know Elros retained his half-Elvish characteristics as well, so they've got this visibly Elvish, barely-aging, eternal king who looks like Lúthien as part of the fabric of life for centuries.

Yes, he's literally the first king—but for a lot of earlier Númenóreans, he's also the only king they will ever know. It takes him an incredibly long time to weary of the world as other mortals do. By the time Elros finally gets weary of Arda, and willingly lays down his life and passes to the unknown fate of mortals, Tar-Amandil is stepping into some very big shoes.

[bassiascoparia]

My thoughts on Frazel and why the hell is Hazel 14 in HOO?

You know, I've found the fact that Rick Riordan chose to make his main black character, who is also a girl, the youngest demigod of the Seven an odd choice.

Of course, Rick done effed up with Hazel's representation, and this is my critique on her age and why she didn't need to be thirteen.

Hazel Levesque is actually fourteen years old in Son of Neptune. But many readers think that she's thirteen years old because she states that she was thirteen when she died and she never acknowledged that she was fourteen years old.

But if we fit the pieces together-Hazel was thirteen and a half when she died. She came to Camp Jupiter a month before Jason was taken, which meant that by the time Son of Neptune happened, 8 months had passed, making her fourteen years and two months old.

But as I said before, we never get explicit confirmation from Hazel or any other character that she is fourteen, leading most of the readers to think that she is thirteen years old. We must fit the pieces together ourselves.

If Rick himself didn't bother to outright say that Hazel was fourteen, then he must have written the Frazel dynamic to make a 13 year old BLACK girl date a 16 year old boy. Because why wouldn't Rick have Hazel state that she was 14 years old? Why would he just have her state that she was thirteen when she died, but not make her state that she had since turned fourteen? Nothing about her fourteenth birthday?

If he intended to make Hazel fourteen and have us know, then he would have stated that she was fourteen, but he never does, which means that he was actually writing Frazel to be a 13-16 year old dating. Wow. Just.........wow.

In fact, I personally believe that Rick was writing Hazel and Frank to be 13-16 BECAUSE HE LITERALLY HAS HAZEL SAY THAT FRANK IS 3 YEARS OLDER THAN HER. HE NEVER ARGUES AGAINST THIS EITHER.

HAZEL BEING 14 WAS 99.99 PERCENT ACCIDENTAL ON HIS PART.

If there is actually a sentence saying that Hazel is fourteen years old, please tell me and I'll change this post. But I need explicit confirmation.

(And do not get started on that Hazel is confused crap. Rick was confused-Hazel is a fictional character who has no autonomy. If Rick had truly intended her to be fourteen, he would have made her say it at some point in the series.)

All right, I'm going to tell you my thoughts about Frazel. I'm going to summarise my opinions and then elaborate beneath.

1) The Frazel age gap is controversial. Hazel is 13 and a half while Frank is newly 15. It's one and a half year (correct me if I'm wrong, please). While some accept this, to others, it's not a good age gap and the maturity levels are different

2)They feel forced and rushed. We know that they knew each other for 8-9 months, but we don't see this, so it's rushed and forced to us. They skip the pure platonic friendship and jump straight to the romance-the Frazel moments in SON were heavily streaked with romance, not just platonic feelings

3) BEHAVIOURALLY SPEAKING, however they're the best couple in the PJO universe. Better than Percabeth, Caleo, Jiper and Solangelo

4) Frazel could have been one of the top ships of PJO if Rick had made Hazel older and if he had given us more memories and reminiscences of their time at Camp Jupiter

I don't understand why Hazel had to die at thirteen years old. Why not make her die at fourteen or fifteen? It would change nothing except making Frazel acceptable regarding the age gap.

See, Frazel's age gap is controversial. I mean, if Hazel was thirteen and Frank sixteen, it would've been taboo entirely, but since she's fourteen and he's sixteen with a 1 year and few month age gap, some people like it and others don't.

And when scrolling through the Anti Frazel tag, I see that most of the posts have the age gap as their main argument, which further cements the fact that Frazel's age gap is really what makes most people dislike it in the first place.

Technically, if Hazel turned 14 in December and Frank was still 15 but turned 16 in June, this makes their age gap one and a half years, which is very weird to some people but acceptable to others.

Hazel and Frank met at 13 and a half and 15 years old respectively and started to gain feelings for each other, which is very, very odd to some people but ok for others.

But if Hazel had died at 14 and been brought back, then she would have turned 15 in December and would be biologically half a year younger than Frank, which would push it from controversial to acceptable by all.

And in case you're thinking about the Great Prophecy in the OG PJO series, Hazel died before it came out, and she could have died at 14 and it still wouldn't have come out. Hell, she could die at 16 and it wouldn't have come out. It came out after WWII ended which is in 1945, and Hazel would turn 16 in 1944 because she was born in 1928.

2) They're way too rushed.

Ok, we get one book with them, and that too, they've already jumped to the romance. They were friends, but now they both romantically like each other but don't know that the other person likes them.

There's no platonic friendship here, only crushes. And a ship needs to have platonic friendship and development to be a proper ship that's accepted by the fandom, otherwise many readers will think that it's boring.

As I said above, my only bones to pick with Frazel is that I think that the age gap is weird and that they were too rushed. In the end, that's all.

3) BEHAVIOURALLY SPEAKING they are the best couple in the PJOverse hands down. No other ship compares.

All right so Percabeth is toxic. Search it up. Annabeth's behaviour towards Percy is toxic. Search it up. I do not need to tell you, it's too long for this post.

Caleo? I don't need to tell you how Calypso yells at, belittles and hits Leo, thus chipping away at his already crumbling self-esteem.

Jiper? Piper literally claims Jason as hers in front of the entire Aphrodite cabin WHO WILL MOST CERTAINLY TELL PEOPLE ABOUT THIS without Jason's knowledge or consent. And she's jealous when he brings up another girl, even his sister. And while she may not be physically abusive, she's still manipulative, and that's very bad.

Solangelo? Will Solace victim-blames Nico and literally tells him that he knows what's best for his health even though Nico can and has taken care of himself. There's also jealousy written terribly that's supposed to be a cute moment that never gets resolved.

Frazel, though.........they're behaviourally amazing for each other. No physical, verbal or mental abuse. No dismissing the other's intelligence. They're sweet to each other and aren't possessive of each other.

Of course, Frank gets suspicious when Hedge makes that comment about Hazel and Leo, but the way it was worded was bound to make Frank misunderstand. Also, Frank and Leo make it up and Frank does not use Leo on Hazel like Annabeth uses Rachel and the others on Percy.

Frank understands where they went wrong and accepts it. The others don't.

Of course, they're also a biracial couple where both of them are POC, so this is also a huge win. Best couple in PJOverse is also biracial POC couple. YEEEEEESSSSSSSS (Even if Rick fucked up while representing their ethnicities)

PS: I'm not anti Frazel

[holleringfromyourrooftops]

I'm filled with pure delusion (and HilsonVicodin) when I'm writing the things Im gonna write. I'm on the first few episodes of s8 and I have some takes on the s7 ending and this is my most delusion-filled one. Anyway to those who haven't reached there yet:

WARNING SPOILERS BELOW!!

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Are the writers REALLY telling me that Wilson didn't pick up House's call (in ep22 S7 "After Hours")??? The one he made while he was in the bathroom bleeding to death; scared and alone, where he needed help removing the tumors in his leg-YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT WILSON DIDN'T PICK THAT CALL UP?????

No no 'cause you're REALLY telling me that James "I-donated-half-my-liver-to-a-patient-who-doesn't-even-know-my-name-properly " Wilson, James "I-get-overly-attached-to-my-patients" Wilson and James "I-help-people-too-much-to-the-point-where-its-unhealthy" Wilson didn't pick up the call???

Wilson is the type of person that cares too much, and is known to put other people's--even strangers'--needs over his own. Sure, perhaps he was too tired then and just wanted to sleep, but you're telling me he didn't even TRY to return the call? To force himself awake and anxiously yet wearily return the call he missed?

Sure, maybe he saw the caller ID and thought this was another of House's antics but when has Wilson EVER rejected any of House's shenanigans? He's always enabled them, directly or indirectly--hell, even when he tries to not enable House, he ends up enabling him. Literally a few episodes ago, Wilson saw House jump off a balcony into a swimming pool and practically witnessed House hurting from his breakup with Cuddy--the multiple prostitutes, the alcoholism, everything. You're telling me he didn't pick up a call from a relapsed addict? From his own best friend, who literally got told that he won't ever change to his face?

That scene was so out-of-character for me I was shocked. Like yes maybe it was to drive in the House-Cuddy dynamic but Wilson not even returning the call is just so wild especially since he knows things are always complicated with House, and a call from him in the middle of the night can range from 'I-made-a-new-type-of-food' to 'I'm-in-jail-bail-me-out' or any other extremes. I feel like Wilson would at least call back despite how tired he is, mostly because he's this anxious, fucked up, overly caring, selfless bundle of mess and because HIS BEST FRIEND IS CALLING HIM IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.

I don't know why this is pissing me off but like I love the show, I love my doomed old men yaoi, I love my malewife-girlboss duo, and I would like for them to flow in harmony (PS: this doesn't mean I think Cuddy shouldn't have answered the call, Im just saying that Wilson should've too instead of JUST her)

[charmwasjess]

for our good friend dooku, 16, 21&22, and 6 if you have more to say about it. 🙏🙇‍♂️

OH YOU JUST COME INTO MY ASK BOX AND MAKE MY DAY?!! :D Beloved anon, these are SUCH fun questions and I absolutely had a blast answering them. Thank you so much! Stop by anytime and I’ll make you a cup of coffee! (I have tea too, but my taste in tea is real gross.)

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

Ohh, this is a hard one! 

The thing is, while I have my favorites, I find Dooku soo very shippable with a vast number of characters - not because he has any healthy understanding of his own sexual and emotional needs anymore than he has a healthy relationship with food - but because especially in his Sith era, he’s a black hole of need and loneliness. Sex is like the one way Sith are allowed to access the intimacy that fifty years of Jedi communal life has trained him to want and need. 

The ship for him that I absolutely love-hate in that vein is Sidious/Dooku. I doubt it went much further than a few absolutely debased encounters because let’s be honest, Sidious can do much better and isn’t in the habit of letting his dog eat from his plate, but whoof, what a fun, fucked up ship with nasty power dynamics. “Oh nooo, oh no, awful….where’s the link?” energy.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

I love giving Dooku big, often violent, over the top moments where his natural appetite for chaos comes out. 

Dooku gives you these amazing options as a fanfic writer. He’s so high drama. A huge part of his reserve and composure is that there’s an absolute volcano of feeling bubbling under the crust.

The things he says are absurd and beautiful, poetic and horrific, hilarious and awkward. You can push the character further than you expect, and he’ll go with you in surprising places in a piece of writing if you let him show off. This is a character who loves attention and has the natural talent and chaos to back up his own bullshit. If you can get his sound and feel right, there’s almost nothing you can’t do with him - because a core part of Dooku is the unreliable narrator: even he doesn’t always know what he’s about to do. 

I think the hardest part is his “voice” because Christopher Lee had such a distinctive cadence - it’s not just a British accent, it’s early 20th century British, who grew up bilingual and went on to speak like literally 7 different languages fluently, with a supremely deep voice, who wanted to sing opera but only got half-trained before WWII ruined that dream for him. It’s a very unique sound.

I like “my” Dooku voice in my fics and I’m proud of it; I work really hard on it and it’s why I use him as a POV character most often. But I still look at my own fics and have those record needle scratch moments where I know a line of his needs to get reworked. It’s a constant process.

The Christopher Lee accent also could not be MORE different than my own rural American one. There’s a hilarious-awful story in Lee’s autobiography, Lord of Misrule, about him getting stopped by a patrol of Americans in WWII who absolutely do not believe he’s English and they start trying to speak German to him. He goes, “you don’t have to speak German, you know, I’m fairly capable of understanding English, since that’s what I am.” 

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to this character? Something you don't like?

I love it when fics do a realistic job of letting Dooku be the walking contradiction he is. Two of my favorite Dooku fics right now are Pray My Mind Be Good to Me and Galaxies Far Far Away May Be Closer Than They Appear - both feature Dooku written in this way. He has done or is going to do horrific shit - shit that cannot be changed and has real consequences. In both fics, he’s also portrayed vividly, a "real person," full of genuine emotion, vulnerability, and deep investment in the other characters. Love is a part of his betrayal and betrayal is a part of his love. These two things exist in the character simultaneously in queasy, gorgeous combination. 

As far as what I don’t like, I don’t know, I think Dooku is a tremendously intimidating character to write and I’m impressed by anyone who takes a crack at writing him! I’d encourage anyone to give it a shot. 

I have one really small weird pet peeve, and that’s giving him too much stuffy, uptight rich guy cliche. Dude was a mud-grubbing mission Jedi for 50 years, himself raised by a swamp troll, who went on to train two of the most chaotic Jedi. He’s eaten more bugs than Anakin, and I'll die on that hill.

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

I went pretty broad on my other answer, so I’ll tell you two lil' things!

I’m tall (ironically I’m about Sifo-Dyas’s canon height, a character whose legit tallness is often overlooked cause he’s standing next to Dooku–) and I pull a ton of my own experiences into how I write the way he moves or his little gestures, especially how small he can fold up when he’s feeling vulnerable. There’s a unique tall person awkwardness that comes from experiencing the adolescent growth spurt right at the time when it’s the most emotionally unbearable to be physically conspicuous. 

I didn’t realize I shared his exercise-away-the-strong-emotion thing until I was chatting with @bolithesenate about some fic or something, and said something offhand like “too upset about Sifo-Dyas, gotta go for a run” and she was like “uh, Jess? are you QUOTING your own Dooku characterization here?” :O Don't call me out like that, bro!! Do not perceive me!

[absandersons]

so you think the show is better in every way than the game?

What a fantastic question, thank you!!

Absolutely not, I think they're two completely different entities.

...this got very long lol, also game and show spoilers below:

I actually wrote a big long salty post about how hard people are on the show (especially fans of the games) and I really think if people let the idea of a 1:1 adaptation go, they would have a much better time.

Truly, I can't compare the games and the show. Ellie and Joel are so different, it's like comparing apples to oranges.

It makes sense for show Ellie to say "I'm gonna be a dad!" when she finds out Dina's pregnant. It's the kind of person she is, and goes back to the fact that she is, intentionally or not, keeping how deeply vengeful she is about Joel's death from Dina. Even though her grief isn't as outwardly present to Dina and Jesse and Tommy, she's a darker version of game Ellie, more manipulative. (Please don't misunderstand that as a criticism of show Ellie or Bella's portrayal of her, I adore her).

For game Ellie, she isn't bothering to hide anything. Dina knows, at least to an extent, how fucked she is from Joel's death, how different she is. That grief is raw, an exposed nerve that no one, least of all Ellie can get away from. So her anger towards Dina, the "well you're a burden now, aren't you?", that's what makes the most sense for Ellie in the game.

It's the same with Joel too, show Joel is much softer than game Joel. Pedro does an amazing job showing his desire to not just be a smuggler, to really be human, to show that, even though he's lost everything and become a survivor, he's not immune to the one thing he's tried to harden his heart around: being a dad. Show Joel and game Joel are literally opposites in many ways, just like show Ellie and game Ellie, and I love all four of them with my whole heart.

Even with Abby, I never had a problem with her not being as jacked as she was in the game. First of all, there's only so much that Kaitlyn can actually physically do (she can't grow like a foot and a half lmao), and second...Abby had to be different physically from Ellie to make the gameplay dynamic. That's not a problem in the show.

I also think the whole argument that "it's a huge part of her character that she trained to kill Joel specifically and without that she wouldn't be able to kill him." Like...no. No, her physicality had nothing to do with her ability to kill the man who murdered her father. In fact, Joel's death in the show was more brutal, because she mostly beat him to death with her own two hands.

Would I want the changes they made in the show to be in the game? Never, the games are truly, genuinely perfect in my opinion. But the changes that they did decide to make fit in better thematically, and serve the drama of a television show in a way that keeping everything the same as the games wouldn't have.

It wouldn't make sense to have Ellie go all the way to Salt Lake and have her conveniently find a tape recorder from Mel that just happened to give the exposition that she needed in order to confront Joel. It's out of the realm of realistic possibility. It works in the games, and I love that scene, but for the show, especially since they're about to take probably another 2 year break in between seasons, they were right to have all the flashbacks put together, to give the audience that "closure" like Craig, Neil, and Halley discussed on yesterdays podcast.

So, a tl;dr to your question: I consider the games and the show to be completely separate things, and I ultimately trust Neil, Halley, and Craig to make changes that they believe need to be made for this specific medium. Both are a triumph to me in completely different ways, so I love them differently!

[funtomconfectionery]

Not to rant about stupid discourse shit but MAN i really hate the climate of the Kuro fandom and I have been thinking about it lately

I made a post a while ago about how it can be difficult to navigate this fandom without coming across proship content, and even if you block and filter liberally, it seems to leak through because the fandom is so saturated with it. Of course, someone else posted this on their account, going on about how i'm "entitled" and a "new fan." I get it because that's how it's been since the series started, and I think SebaCiel was a very popular and accessible ship at the time, so I could see how older fans especially would be deep into that rabbit hole. I've been in the fandom for literally half my life, so I am aware of what it looked like 7/8 years ago versus now. But over time, Yana's depictions of her characters have changed, and so has the fandom.

My problem lies in the way these shippers will vehemently argue that their points are ENTIRELY the truth. It's always about how SebaCiel is canon, how the author ships it, etc.. From what I understand/remember (and correct me if I'm wrong) Yana has made some very questionable non-Kuro-related content in the past, and most certainly puts fan service in Kuro (which seems to have died out as time goes on). That said, I really believe that it does just depend on how the content is interpreted – which, when taken at face value, can very easily be interpreted in a platonic light – and nobody should be so passionately angry with an anti for simply expressing discomfort with proship content/topics, especially a kid. That's just plain weird

I obviously don't agree with harrassing proshippers about stuff like this, but I don't think that questioning the morality or ethics of certain ships should ever be something that people take so personally. Pedophilia is weird, fiction or not, so of course dynamics like these really should be examined. If someone questioning your ship makes you feel this defensive and hostile, it's worth looking inward. Just because it's "how the fandom has always been" doesn't mean it's not worth looking at critically.

Ok rant concluded sorry it has been on my mind

[kero-cure]

1 Year anniversary of Boonboomger episode 1 premiere, The series that I never had any single thought that I gonna love them that much when I saw them at first

This time of last year, My life was pretty good. I enjoy my multifandom fangirl life as always, Taking with local friends, Discussing with western friends on discord, Playing some games, Building gunpla, It was a normal life but good. For tokusatsu that I love (and usually have a main focus on Kamen Rider) for more than 10 years now, I was on the hype train of Kamen Rider Blade 20th anniversary event. It was so happy that my favorite series had a spotlight again and still love by the communities. But in fact, I was pretty much on a faraway position from toku fandom since a long while now. I knew that Kingohger was a peak (I have some goods too) And Gotchard came to the half of series. But that time I was too faraway to ride on the hype train. Maybe because toku fandom wasn't my main focus fandom like I used to be. I was just enjoy some information about them when it come to my timeline and go to check if something fun happen.

When I heard a news about Boonboomger at first. I laughed a little from how funny the name is and made fun a little. Like Boom Shakalaka or Boom-Boom Shake (I'm in D4DJ fandom too). After I made a joke, I went back to my main focus fandom again because I thought "Well, Nothing gonna change. Know some news and look at them from far place like always. And my focus in toku fandom are usually Kamen Rider anyway" And when they appeared officially, People laughed at them because how funny the tire heads are. I was surprised too. Yeah... It was crazy design. But I always think that design isn't the most important thing. The story are. So I was waiting for the next information. Then February 18th, The cast revealed. I giggled again, For the third time. Because how the character name are too literally car-related names. Tire, Chassis, Mirror, Lock, Work site. But yeah... Still a normal thing in anime or media that sometimes the character names will bring from something that match the theme of story. So I was like... Okay lol. But the casts visual are so good. I admit.

Finally, First episode premiere. I looked at them from faraway position as usual. I knew that people still so impressed of how Kingohger was that much epic. So I assumed that Boonboomger that go back to simple way might not able to catch their attention that much at first... Or maybe not? How Sentai decided to go back to simple way after all of the craziness for many years might be a good thing, Let us rest for something more simple like a good old days. And after I checked a feedbacks, I was surprised and happy that how the audience like them after many laughs on them. Well, Simpleness aren't bad thing at all. But I will end up just checking on them from faraway again, right? Well, On the same day production blog was update too. As I checked a feedback from audience on Twitter, One tweet that captured one part of that blog caught my attention and it tickled my curiosity. That sentenced said that the blue "loves" (大好き) the red. Since I'm also long time fujoshi for many years that have lots of ships in toku fandom too, I was wonder a lot. Why they put that word so blatantly? Normally about shipping in toku, Just put something like have a strong bond, Strong interesting on other, Or trust that person a lot, is enough to gain an attention from fujoshis. But "Love" Huh??? This caught me off guard. I was like "Well, I'll keep check on them because I'm so curious right now"

So, I went back to main fandom like I always do. But keep checking on Twitter and Facebook every week after the on-aired. I found that they really keep caught me off guard. Outside of how normal but fun to watch story. The dynamics of the characters that interesting. And as my curiousness was on that certain blue boy, It kept escalated lmao. The "Unfair", "Trust your judgement", "Don't leave me behind" all of them came after the word "love" on production blog. They caught my attention and won't let me go because my fujoshi sense was tingling so bad. And his character settings have lots of my favorite tropes too. That time I still thought that "My interesting on them might be not that hard". But then, My local friend that I knew for many years but didn't talk to each other that much for years started addict to Boonboomger. She drew lots of BBG fanart. And of course since she's fujoshi like me, She drew fanarts and spicy fanarts of red and blue too. And those fanart kept come into my timeline. Lots of male friends joking about them too. Everything was too perfect for me to... Maybe comeback to toku fandom again? One day on May, That local friend decided to make a first Tiremeter doujishi. And when I saw that announcement, Even though that time my interesting still wasn't on the super high level, But I was like "I have to get one!" So I DMs to her since many years. We reconnected from the love for them. And then after that for a bit while the plushies was on sale and I decided to bought it. That time I was like "Well, Point of no return for me. Maybe I love them now."

I went to Japan for Kamen Rider Blade 20th anniversary event on August, But I enjoyed Boonboomger stuffs too like watched the on-air real time, Went to eat at Sentai Restaurant and buy some merches. After that I checked on the latest episode every week and enjoy the overall aspect of the series. The lovable characters, The simple but fun story. And they lit my fire to back to toku fandom for real since that time current main fandoms was on stable (and had too little things to enjoy) status. So yes, Toku fandom became the main fandom again since many years. And after that Gavv was able to caught my attention from the design and how cute Gocizos are too so, Fever time! I connected to lots of friends who have the same interest. Even in JP communities too. Since that local friend help me (or drag me) to this rabbit hole, I have to help her access to JP communities to buying doujinshi too. And with our power, It was successful (But our wallet are completely defeated)

The fire that Boonboomger lit inside me wasn't only the feeling of excitement since long time, But my development and improvement too. I already got lots of confident boost about my drawing from previous fandom. When I saw my friend made a second doujinshi, I said to her that I wanna join drawing the extra pages too. That was a first time in my life that I could break the limit of my drawing and the old thought of "My work will never be able to sell" and I was so proud when I saw my arts as a form of doujinshi in my hand even though it was just an extra pages. After that my will to improve my art skill became stronger and I keep on going until now. I even think about what if I revive my fiction writing skill that I left it dead for 8 years too? Well... Maybe. And another one is... Yep, Me came back to Tumblr because I wanna yap about my bois! This maybe a little improvement of my English skills.

I, Who usually mainly attract to Kamen Rider and enjoying Super Sentai from a bit far away compared to Rider (I grew up watching early Heisei Rider before knowing Sentai for a pretty long while so), Finally found Sentai series that I really love, Found actual oshi that I stan a lot, Found OTP that made me excited and brainrot so damn bad since Build. (As I said before that I'd never into toku ships that hard since the best match bois) Found the 3rd IRL person that I stan a lot since last time that was 10 years ago. And I feel really thankful to meet them and everyone that came to my life because of them.

I'm a person who have to take lots of time to like something a lot. But if I really into that thing I'll keep into it and never change. Since my fever time on Boonboomger still strong so maybe I need lots of time to find another series that made me crazy like this again. I don't know if Gozyuger gonna be another wave of my craziness again or not since I need a time to know them a little. But I think I'll enjoy a new series from a little faraway position like always. And I'll never forget how Boonboomger changed some parts of my life. Because a fire of passion inside me already lit.

I'm really glad to meet you guys, Tire person.

[badgalsasuke]

What do you think of this take? https://www.tumblr.com/ultfreakme/776156606853513216/i-am-just-120-episodes-into-naruto-but-ive-been?source=share

I know you hate those who spewed that "Sns is accidentally made gay" agenda but I think I also don't like that this person reduces sns connection as just "performing masculinity for each other" cause like.. what exactly do you mean here? Because they brutally fight each other untill it turns ugly and bloody I guess they deem it as "performing masculinity"? Not even acknowledging how they fight as equally powerful ninjas and the manga repeatedly said that their fights are a way to reach each other's hearts?

Naruto and sasuke's connection has always been about their shared loneliness, one wants so sever it and the other wants to chase and preserve this bond. It's not just about some bootleg clapped rivalry that has no basis and substance other than just wanting to fight each other. Man I hate when fans of other mlm shonen ships get into sns and don't try to understand the specialty and uniqueness of sns and instead just apply the typical half assed argument of how "shonen is inherently homoerotic" and call it a day.

Notice how that post also correlates misogyny in the writing of female characters as some kind of argument on whether or not sns are written intentionally as gay when that one thing has nothing to do with the other. Even if the female characters are given all the best writing in the world, the dynamic written for sns still remains separate? Idk but I just don't like it when so-called sns fans are given chance to analyze things about this ship, their only take away is just "it's just because the het ships are written terribly because the female characters are treated poorly so bla bla bla" like you're supposed to be talking about sns the ship not about the female characters no? You do know they are in separate forms of writing and one can exists without the other, right?

Hi!

I finally got time to answer your ask, so here we go.

I had already interacted w/ the person whose post you've linked and they have not finished the series and it shows. As they say in their own post, they're only 120 episodes in.

The post reads like 1. they're young 2. their understanding of both the women's writing and homoromantic and homoerotic writing is that of a young person who thinks one cancels out the other one. This post does a great job explaining why it's not necessarily this way [LINK]

Also I think they're watching the anime instead of reading the manga? which is going to give you a very different perspective on things, we all know how studio pierrot changes stuff even in canon episodes.

So that said, I think we've gotta give this person grace. They're getting started with both the series and the ship and I feel it's like a rite of passage to feel "Naruto and Sasuke aren't gay, the female characters are badly written and that's why Kishimoto accidentally wrote them that way".

So keeping this in mind, now that I'll respond to parts of the post linked.

The Shinobi world values power, only men and boys are allowed to be powerful because "girls are weak and don't have the same amount of drive to push themselves as the booooooysss doooo".

Well, this isn't exactly accurate. Girls are allowed to be powerful and have the same amount of drive as boys do, but like they said prior to this, because Naruto is a manga for boys it will focus on its male characters more. Never in the manga it is stated that girls are not allowed to be powerful, like at all. Tsunade, Konan, Mei Terumi, Temari, Ino and so on have shown they can be as powerful and competent as their male counterparts with the exception of Naruto, Sasuke, Madara and Hashirama (because they are the most powerful to ever lived and have the chakra of literal gods). This is more Kishimoto focusing on the plot of the main characters that happen to be male because again this is a shonen manga, rather than a misogynistic belief he has that girls can't be powerful.

Naruto wants to get stronger not to impress Sakura. No, no, she's obviously secondary, her affection is the prize. Naruto ACTUALLY wants to get stronger to beat Sasuke. Not just beat him, to get him to acknowledge his masculinity. This isn't a gay thing, this is just how guys interact irl. They put on a whole performance where they act like they feel nothing around their guy friends when you know you saw that dude acting very different with the girls and the gays and the theys.

I suppose this was the part that bothered you the most, and I can see why. I don't entirely get the "she's secondary, her affection is the prize" I guess they're referencing the whole thing about Naruto's promise to Sakura? Like they think Naruto is doing all that because he promised Sakura to bring back Sasuke to the village because Naruto "loves" Sakura? I guess they haven't reached Sakura's fake confession in the series yet, idk.

The part about Naruto only wanting to get stronger so Sasuke awknowledges his "masculinity" is very reductive of Kishimoto's writing and of Naruto's devotion for Sasuke. Trying to paint it as just bros trying to impress other bros and I really disliked how they say "dudes act very different w/ the girls and the gays and the theys", idk but to me it feels like they're ignoring Naruto and especially Sasuke's queer-coded writing, not in their bond, but in themselves as characters, as if they were straight-presenting or something when they're not.

It's not only his masculinity what Naruto wants awknowledged, its his existence and above everything his own pain, Kishimoto already explained it during the Kizuna interview best

Sasuke and Naruto awknowledge each other and craved this awknowledgement because they wanted someone who noticed and understood the pain and trauma they've been through. That's why Naruto explicitly states Sasuke saved him by awknowledging him. To say what Naruto wants is "hey bro, look how strong I am!" it's a superficial reading of the text.

Also, I don't think this person has read Kishimoto's interviews. I noticed with "I've heard Kishimoto wrote this story to center around the ways in which these two support one another [...]" like yeah, you've heard somewhere from someone who knows if it was the complete statement. To be honest if you don't read his interviews you're gonna believe everything is accidental because once you start reading the complete full interviews you realize everything is intentional because Kishimoto is telling he did everything intentionally.

Intentional or not, the extent of it can vary however much but this is how you do it. It doesn't matter if you didn't know the recipe to making cake crepe and accidentally made pancakes. You've got a fucking pancake. Naruto and Sasuke's relationship accidentally stumbled right into a romantic dynamic from the get-go.

Ah yeah, the good ol' skepticism all new sns shippers have when they start the series, it's so gay even fujos can't believe it and try to rationalize it (because deep down people believe no one respects queer stories enough to want to write them intentionally).

Kishimoto accidentally stumbled right into a romantic dynamic from the get-go. Because there's no way he spent 15 years of his life intentionally writing a romantic dynamic in his own manga that he created lol neither Kishimoto nor his first editor Yahagi nor his second editor Otsuki nor any of the assistants working with Kishimoto were able to notice they were accidentally stumbling right into a romantic dynamic lmao

I get why people can be skeptical but at some point they need to get a grip and realize professionals know what they're doing.

Idc about author intentionality and what the man and his editors have said (death of the author yada yada). The text of Naruto is just, this.

This is just dumb. Also the only part that bothered me in the whole text. It's straight up anti-intellectualism. I don't know if you've read it but I've written about this sentiment so prevalent in the Naruto fandom and how it's what's holding them back from truly grasping the full depth of the writing [LINK]

Other people have written great posts on why you shouldn't disregard author intentionality when reading a text (because it's dumb!), especifically Kishimoto's intentionality, here, here and here,

[jackboxconfess]

Hi there, people who like to ship quiz killer with literally anyone without any common sence, because he is "canonically pansexual/romantic" or whatever. Im here to explain why i hate [REDACTED] (as a person, his character development is mid even bad if you please) and every ship with him.

TRIGGER WARNING!!1!

If you are reading it and REALLY into that kind of stuff and can get very defensive from some anon post on Tumblr in a CONFESSION blog, ignore it for your own sake. Im here to confess, rant, and let it all out. I warned ya.

also sorray for my bad english, its not my native language, deal with it, DUH.

Now lets begin.

Reason number one : an enormous canon facts dilemma

If there is some information about characters, and it mentioned anywhere, but not in a game — i have all my rights to ingnore all "silly random canon facts" from Facebook blogs, streams on youtube, etc. People may don't even have a clue about existence of that stream. That's BAD character development, and y'all ready to talk about it. I had headcanon that quiz killer is aroace evil spirit of darknes with developed psychopathy, who uses corpses as vessels for like 3 years and i won't change my mind.

P.S. Also i hate the way Jackbox devs do character writing if it even was planned. Some of them are just a designs without any personality, especially new ones. All that facts about god-blessed hosts with any backstory that hidden in voicelines are literally random. You can play YDKJ Full Stream and never get "Escape the Simulation" episode because IT IS RANDOM. All fanbase need "lore-accurate archive™" with all voicelines, subtitles and sources. But im getting off-topic and may post about it later.

Reason number two : daddy issues

"Im so sorry he had such a bad childhood i wanna beat up his dad >:((" ... U know what? F*-

That fact and other disgusting things happened with character can be a background for a childhood trauma, i cant disagree with that. But the way people in fandom treating that same fact as excuse to say "aww he is killing ppl because of it, so let's ignore the fact he is doing REAL CRIMES and sugarcoat it by comparing it with Pyro's POV from TF2 because he is so silly little meow meow". Nah-uh. Its a reason for a trauma development, but not a reason to justify all his actions.

I wonder how would you guys react if murdering and kidnapping would be simply replaced by sexual harassment or even more gross.

And there may be same people are judging other characters because of gags about violence, but simp over a serial killer. We all know that famous question section where Cookie cut a head of his assistant in half, but most of people believe it was a real thing, despite lack of demonstration. It all could be just part of scenario with audio, played by a soundpad. In Trivia Murder Party we always saw...how do i say ehh...killing process, i dunno. Think about it.

Reason number three : ship dynamics

That thing always contain "kidnapper/victim" + Stockholm syndrome in 90% of cases. If you unironically ship that sheet of peace with any host, who was kidnapped in TMP 1/2 or any dolls, using all that "he quit killing people for his beloved because of love at first sight"/"i can fix him"/"from victim to happy marriage" tropes or any lovey dovey mushy UWU tropes, thinking its cute, healthy and want same kind of bf - congratulations, you are crime/abuse-romanticizing freako who need to touch some grass 🎉🎉🎉

Shipping characters that never met is weird. I mean it has a ponetial, but not if people use tropes i already wrote about earlier.

Still, in TMP2 there is lots of details that showing IS LITERALLY WANTED. Would any person date a serial killer and put their life in danger by harboring a criminal, who can get rid of you easily because you automatically becoming a witness? Im afraid not.

Same thing to selfshippers. No, you wont fix a mentally ill person you never met in IRL with one hug or kiss. If you need to talk about problems - discuss it with people you can trust or a specialist.

PRO/COM/DARKSHIP sucks, guys.

okay! this is alot. the sheer length of this thing. there's somethings that i think need to be said:

some may find the "aroace serial killing psychopath" to be stereotypical or disrespectful, but i'm not aroace so do not take my word for it. it's just from what i've heard

please do not imply selfshippers are mentally ill, need help, or that they're not allowed to selfship with redacted; that is disrespectful. redacted is not real so of course they never met him "IRL." his crimes are not real and your interpretation of him isn't everyone else's interpretation. redacted is noted to have a girlfriend (in tmp1) and is shown loving his mom, so redacted CAN care for things. also please consider the fact a selfshipper may selfship as a coping mechanism. just be a little considerate please.

(on a much smaller note: cookie DOES murder his interns, as confirmed by an AMA (ik you think secondary evidence from anywhere but the games is dumb, but it's canon and you can't really judge otherwise))

i don't normally comment on confessions and i don't like to do it, but if a group of people is being disrespected in someway i WILL point it out.