#op mentioned that this is a good idea for a children's book

[cto10121]

Twilight Clown Takes—Part 6

In which Instagram vies with YouTube on which platform has the most clownery. Featuring even more Bella hate dumb, the ~~~Mormon influences in Twilight, and a lot of hate for Jacob/Renesmee, including a fundamental misunderstanding of imprinting. We feast tonight, on nom nom

Bella Hate Dumb

Tell me you don’t know Twilight is a romance without telling me you don’t know Twilight is a romance.

Of course Bella’s life is going to revolve around her romance with Edward because Twilight is a romance! Her ambitions (which aren’t really many—just the vaguest idea of being a teacher or a librarian) aren’t important—hell, you could say the same thing about Edward! His entire existence constantly revolves around Bella and he constantly ditches his own family for her—even going off to commit suicide because of her.

And yet Edward, for all of his many whinging antis, is never accused of being a weak character. Creep or abusive, yes, but not weak. Wonder why? (The answer is misogyny).

In every one of the examples Clown OP mentioned, the humans either have 1) supernatural or learned martial skills or 2) the monsters they are fighting against have weaknesses that humans can easily exploit.

In the Twilight universe, vampires are literally the humans’ predators with no exploitable weaknesses. Vampires are not harmed by garlic, stakes, crucifixes, or the sun, nor do they have need to stick to hunting at night. No human can outrun or hold their own against a vampire. A young and healthy Carlisle couldn’t even handle a weakened vampire. The only creatures that can hold their own against vampires are werewolves, either the Children of the Night or the Quileute shapeshifters.

Bella is neither of them, and until very recently only learned vampires are real. Very few humans know for sure of their existance. So no, you can’t use the “it’s not an excuse!!1!!1” excuse to justify your misogyny, Clown OP. You can bitch about how the vampires are overpowered all you like (I’ll even agree!), but Bella is not weak for not being able to fight against them. She literally cannot.

Bella literally relates her life to classic literature in every book (Pride and Prejudice, Romeo and Juliet, Wuthering Heights, and Merchant of Venice), bitched about the thin selection of books at the Forks library, and nearly got raped looking for a good bookstore in Port Angeles (#relatable). She is a book girl, all right, and last time I checked, that is a hobby.

Also, Meyer hates Leah so much that she made her leave Sam behind and be free to become Jacob’s second-in-command and made Jacob learn to trust and respect her.

Because Bella’s insecurity is totally not a thing she overcomes and conquers by the end of the series and it’s not framed critically by the narrative. Because Twilight doesn’t totally show Bella’s parentification and how her parents just made her their parent. All these things just do not exist because to Clown OP only the first book and the dumb film series exist.

I literally read Life and Death not too long ago and there was essentially NO difference between Beau and Bella save in very minor details and (actually realistic) 2000s socialization. Beau’s “protectiveness” is largely emotional and ineffectual—it never actually serves a role in the story and Edythe dismisses it out of hand. He is not an active protagonist at all, or at least about as active as Bella is; he is still victimized in the latter half of the book and he even has to undergo a full vampire transformation.

Mormonism!!1!!1

Oh, God, where do I start?

“Humans who became divine—” And who lust for human blood to sustain them. There is already a creature who must drink blood to survive, so use it. Hell, Meyer didn’t even make up the whole “vampires are so beautiful/seductive/seemingly angelic” trope; that is your most basic vampire lore since Dracula.

“Bella’s aversion to drinking, smoking, coffee/tea—” Because a 17-year-old in the 2000s would totally smoke. Bella doesn’t go to parties, as she is de facto the parent of her family, so no, she wouldn’t drink and as the daughter of a police chief she would not have been raised to drink. As for coffee and tea, these are simply not mentioned—a far cry from being an aversion. Hell, no drink other than water and maybe milk is mentioned in the series. Does Bella even mention liquids???? She only seems to describe meals. As it is, Bella does ingest caffeine—she drinks Coke. Also, kind reminder that Bella has no religion.

“Rosalie/Leah feel incomplete not having babies—” Rosalie is a ‘30s girl who wanted to be a trad wife, which includes having children. Leah is worried that not having her period would make her unable to have children—not that she necessarily desires them, but it is weird and disconcerting not to have that option anymore. Moreover, Leah was getting ready to marry Sam, so she may have expected a life together with children. But it makes sense for their characters to be alike in this way, since they are mirror characters.

Meanwhile trad wife Esme is perfectly fine with adopting and caring for others and Alice doesn’t even mention that side of humanity at all. The Denali coven includes a trio of single sisters who loved having sex with human men so much that they decided to go vegetarian—they obviously are not obsessed with babies.

Jacob/Renesmee Hate Dumb

Apart from definitively resolving the love triangle, (thank God) Jacob’s imprinting on Renesmee stopped the Quileutes from attacking the Cullens after Bella gets bitten and changed—they have a law that prohibits harming a fellow werewolf’s imprintee. Moreover, it provides a much more firm alliance between the Cullens and Quileutes, thus resolving their rivalry/hate. But Clown OP doesn’t care about actual plot and theme resolutions, just the “ick” factor of the imprinting.

Meyer technically could have made the Cullens be forced to move after Bella’s becoming a vampire and have Renesmee and Jacob meet later. But I have a feeling that she didn’t expect to write more Twilight so she set up Jacob/Renesmee right away to dispel the love triangle once and for all. Given that Meyer got the idea of imprinting from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, that may have been her rationale.

That said, Jacob imprinting on Renesmee was a key plot point in Forever Dawn, the original sequel to Twilight, which did not have the love triangle—Jacob was just a platonic friend to Bella. Again, for plot and thematic resolutions, and perhaps for future set-ups.

Friendly reminder that movie canon is not canon and will never be because, ha, fuck the movies.

But! This does give me a chance to talk about imprinting in the books vs. the movies. Not only does Jacob never say anything of this sort to Edward in the books, but he doesn’t even have a reaction when he learns Renesmee will be fully grown in seven years. Edward confirms he doesn’t care and his feelings towards Renesmee are strictly platonic.

I read the official Twilight guide’s entry on imprinting—written very neutrally and very careful not to say anything about romance—and it basically confirms this:

If the human is young, the werewolf becomes the perfect platonic playmate and protector. As the human ages and changes, the werewolf instinctively switches roles to fulfill the human’s needs.

This implies that if the human doesn’t want to make the wolf a romantic partner, then the romance will simply not happen.

So what this shows me is that imprinting is not inherently a romantic phenomenon. The fact that Sam/Emily, Jared/Kim found each other in early adulthood and developed a romantic bond was because of the needs of Emily and Kim than Sam and Jared’s. Soulmates, after all, can be platonic.

So if Jacob/Renesmee ever become a thing, it would be because Renesmee herself would want it. Jacob would be incapable even to wish for anything more. In that sense, imprinting is the exact opposite of grooming: It is literally giving all the power to the imprintee.

The movies, quite frankly, fuck all this up. From portraying Jacob’s imprinting as a vision of Renesmee growing up (🤮 and not in the books) to his “joke” to Edward (stupid and 🤮 and not in the books) to Alice suddenly being able to have a vision Jacob and Renesmee together on the beach (in the books she cannot see werewolves or hybrids; this canon was broken by the movies for the fight scene with Meyer’s permission). So no, that is not how imprinting works.

[mommyclaws]

i have genuinely never heard of a bluestar-hate video, what video is that??? o_o like. i am certain i won’t agree with whatever takes they have, but now i’m curious

You don't??? The damage it did to the warrior cats fandom for years after is still so vivid to me, holy shitt....

Before I start, I am not trying to start drama. I'm actually a fan of the op. This isnt a cancel or callout post. The video is probably 6+ years old now. No clue if it or the related videos are still up, but I'm not gonna go fishing for them and if someone else finds them, I'd appreciate if you DO NOT link it on this post! Just to avoid any drama yknow yknow

So to sum it up the video was basically saying that Bluestar is a bad person for what she did to Brightheart/Lostface and went on to nickpick things about her, like interpreting her personality as entitled and I vaguely remember some implication that she was judging ThistleClaw unfairly. Which is... fine on it's own. You don't have to like the character or the things she did, but they also had a similar video "defending" Thistleclaw. Obviously not in a condoning his actions kind of way, but it was something along the lines of "You guys are hating him for the wrong reasons. You should hate him for being violent and a gr*0mer. But he was actually nice to Snowfur and loved her so stop making art/content where he's mean to Snowfur!"

And it probably didn't sit well with alot of people because... what difference does it make?

And god I could rant, I could rant, I could RANT about why showing Thistleclaw in any positive light when it is common knowledge that a majority of this fandom are in middle school was not a good idea. And besides that, he canonly calls Snowfur and their son weak after she died. Thistleclaw isn't and was never supposed to be a sympathetic character.

I genuinely dont care if you like him or headcanon him, blah blah whatever. I'm not here to police people over fake cats. Idc. but any Thistleclaw defense is completely uncalled for and has no purpose when his fucking character is a canon ped0 and gr*0mer who might put the age group this book is made for at risk. The things he does in Spottedleaf's Heart are bad, and the book just never acknowledged that the gr*0ming and age gap were the issue, rather just the fact that he was training in the Dark Forest. I think this could be very easily misinterpreted by children because it doesn't show the true weight of how bad Spottedpaw's situation is.

But anyways, after those videos, the backlash against Bluestar was intense and there was definitely a bigger Thistleclaw fan crowd for awhile. I mean this spread like wildfire. Any video, art posted, or mention of Bluestar would always have a ton of people making unnecessary side comments like "I hate her but-" "I don't like her but-" etc. I would even see people link the video if you mentioned liking her😭?? Which is just 1. rude to say on someone else work and 2. Blantantly parroting for the video just because the op was popular.

I don't blame this video specifically, and I know the fandom is mostly kids- even more so back then- but I do think it had a bit of a part to play in how the warriors fandom has long since blurred the line between "This character is bad" and "This character did a bad thing."

Yes, Bluestar did bad things, but the narrative VERY MUCH portrayed those things as bad. The reader knows what she did was bad. The characters know what she did was bad. That was the entire point. Completely opposite of characters like Bramblestar, who do bad things but are defended by the narrative and it's way more appropriate to bring negative attention.

Imo Bluestar was one of the best written and tragic characters in the series and before that video alot of people agreed, but for years after it she was reduced to "She did bad thing so I can't like her anymore". The whole Bluestar stuff has blown off since and I'm glad, but it's so frustrating how many characters get this treatment as well lately instead of being seen as narrative tools.

You can comment and reblog stuff but if anyone starts dropping names, URLs, or video links I'm turning reblogs off okay?

[acacia-may]

How about 💙💗💖 for the Quagmire triplets?

Oh my goodness! Thank you so much for this wholesome ask, Anon-friend! 🥺💖 I'm not sure I have the words to describe how much I absolutely love the Quagmire Triplets. They were my favorite ASOUE characters when I was kid and remain favorites of mine to this day, and I would absolutely love to write some headcanons about them for you. I hope you'll like them! 💕

Questions from this "Bye Bye Writer's Block" Ask Game

(Warnings: vague ASOUE spoilers and non-descriptive mentions of fears, trauma, and nightmares)

Quagmire Triplets Family Headcanons

💙-- Hurt/Comfort

For the first couple of weeks after being reunited, Quigley, Duncan, and Isadora could only fall asleep if their sleeping bags were side by side. They never really discussed it, but they knew the reason was that they each feared that they would wake up and be separated again. They kept a dim light on as well because Duncan and Isadora had developed an intense fear of the dark due to their experiences being trapped in dark, crammed spaces and Quigley desperately needed that reassurance of seeing that his brother and sister were still there with him when he awoke from his nightmares. On particularly rough nights, they would all stay up into the early hours of the morning taking turns distracting each other by talking about mundane things like books they had read, recipes they liked, or even little facts about their hobbies they remembered. Occassionally they even reminisced about happier times and memories until they all finally felt safe and calm enough to fall asleep. On better nights, all it really took was Duncan patting his sister on the shoulder or Isadora ruffling her brother's hair or Quigley wrapping him arm around his siblings to let them know everything was okay now and they could all drift off to sleep.

💗-- Family

When the Quagmire triplets were very young, they each had matching raincoats and rainboots only in different colors. On rainy days, their mother and father would dress them up in their raincoats and rainboots and take them outside to jump in all the puddles together. Quigley was always concerned about making bigger and bigger splashes, so one day he had the bright idea that if the siblings all held hands and jumped in the puddle together they would make "the biggest splash ever." When they tried out Quigley's idea, however, Isadora ended up tripping and pulling her brothers down into the puddle with her on accident. Their father got a picture of the triplets sitting in the puddle and laughing together, and it used to be framed on one of the side tables in their living room.

Bonus: On one such rainy day in the faraway future, Quigley helps his son put on his tiny raincoat and rainboots and takes him outside to jump in all the puddles with his Uncle Duncan and Aunt Isadora excitedly joining in the fun.

💖-- Alternate Universe (AU)

In a Present Day/Modern AU (Where Everyone Lives)...

The Quagmire triplets and their parents live next door to the Baudelaire family, and the children are all best friends with one another and attend the same school. The kids hid a mailbox in between some of the hedges dividing part of their backyards and will often use it to write secret messages to each other. Mr. Quagmire and Bertrand Baudelaire (with the help of the children, especially Violet) also built a big treehouse that connects their backyards, and the kids play there together for hours and hours.

When they get a little older, Duncan and Quigley use a corner of a treehouse to film videos which are mildly successful online. Duncan mainly posts videos ranking various newspapers on different topics such as factual accuracy, op ed quality, choice in fonts ect. whereas Quigley compares different maps of the same area (i.e. a historical map versus a modern map or a topographical map versus a population map). A secret from even her brothers, Isadora has a bit of online fame herself as she publishes her poetry on the internet under a pseudonym.

[runawaymun]

Yeah as a member of the lgbtq+ community, i think the smut and marriage question is complicated to say the least.

On one hand, I find anyone who is willing to write smut about their community but not willing to be married in it to be full of internalized homophobia. As you mentioned, a lot of self loathing. I struggle with some internalized homophobia because of society and society’s perceptions and expectations of queer people and of the lack of healthy love and representation of us so I definitely get it.

But on the other hand, (imo) while there’s something to be said in cultures and communities who cannot be open with their sexuality or face death, shunning, violence, etc., OP sounds more like they’re just trying to adhere to their faith. Which is understandable to a certain degree, especially when it’s a big part of their lives, but in the end, Christianity is a choice, any religion is a choice and sexuality and gender identity is not. You can choose not to be Christian if you feel that your holy book doesn’t believe in your safety and existence (it doesn’t obv because the current bible is just mistranslation after mistranslation for the original language so it’s not as accurate as people would think). And to think that your religion is the only way and the only religion is religious supremacy and is a very common belief in Christian communities (and others, as well. It’s especially common with Abrahamic faiths).

Even if it’s someone who is queer, the vibe is very similar to those very commonplace straight women in fandom who watch yaoi or men who watch lesbian porn but won’t let us marry or adopt children because we’re “deviants destroying the fabric of society”. I’m not trying to be mean (and I genuinely hope this doesn’t come across that way) but that’s how it feels to other queer people, especially if they’re not Christian.

And I know it’s complicated and I know it’s hard. Society as a whole doesn’t love us and support us. But we should also do our best to support ourselves, too, I think whether that means finding a more liberal or welcoming church or delving into the first translations of your holy book or something else. Just know there’s options and that you can love yourself and enjoy a life with a person you love, OP.

oh hey it's good to have you in my inbox!! <3

I agree with you so I'm not gonna add anything except to gently say that for queer Christians, for us, especially those who were raised in the church like nonnie and I...there isn't a sense of our sexuality or our faith being more integral to our sense of self then the other. That's what makes this so hard. So yes, Christianity is a choice and being Queer isn't. But oftentimes our faith is where our families are, our entire support system, our communities, our personal histories, and our values of right and wrong. And when you grow up being taught that homosexuality is a sin full-stop, and then you get a bit older and you have to deconstruct that...well then you have to deconstruct your entire life. Possibly your childhood. Your entire paradigm, possibly. And that's really fucking scary. If this thing that I was taught is wrong, what else is wrong, is anything I believe real? I guess that's why I'm being so cautious about this whole thing. Especially because I have no idea about nonnie's age or home situation.

I do think everyone should experience an honest existential crisis at least once in their life (preferably way more than that). It's really healthy. And I absolutely encourage nonnie to please -- don't be afraid to go down that route. Like my bud here said, there are options and you can love yourself and have a life with a person you love.

[helliontherapscallion]

Headcanons for SBI Sibling!Parrot Hybrid!Reader

(A/N): ope, went a little overboard with this one (also it’s not proofread, so sorry about any mistakes)

You have wings on your back (the feather pattern depends on what parrot floats your boat)

If you’re a Scarlet Macaw, Blue-and-Yellow Macaw, or Chestnut-Fronted Macaw, then you have black lines on your cheeks and heavy black lines around your eyes (think Hawks from bnha but less pointy)

If you are a Hyacinth Macaw, you have yellow markings around your eyes and mouth

If you’re a cockatiel, you have a killer mohawk/hair that is always very pointy and orange circles on your cheeks (how cute!)

I have a feeling that your hair is incredibly soft

Very sensitive wings

I feel like your teeth would be sharp and your nails would normally be fast-growing, long, and sharp

You tilt your head like impossibly far when you’re confused or trying to hear something better

Like your ear would almost be touching your shoulder

The head movements are very jerky and kinda just happen on their own when you hear something so you would have a lot of neck pain : (

You’re allergic to chocolate : (

I feel like people would underestimate you greatly and think you’re nothing except the ditzy comedic relief

Parrots are actually very intelligent

It bums you out to hear people say things like that behind your back when they think you can’t hear, but you try to not let them get to you

You give the best cuddles and are very affectionate with the people you’re close to (you’re also very cautious of strangers)

You’re also very in tune with the emotions of the people around you

You see someone sad? Head nuzzles and wing hugs

You see someone angry? You deescalate the situation the best you can and make sure they’re ok afterwards

You can dilate and contract your pupils rapidly at will

You may or may not stare at people doing it until they notice you staring or until they get creeped out

You fuck hard with any type of seed, nut, or fruit

When you get excited, it’s literally so cute??

Like you do everything parrots do

Little happy pitter patters with your feet, flutter your wings, your pupils contract and dilate rapidly, you make a ton of mob sounds

You’re easily excitable, hyper, and happy most of the time

It makes everyone happy to see you so excited so they would often go out of their way to get you things that make you happy

“Hey (y/n) I have some extra melon seeds if you want em!”

*Pupils contract and dilate rapidly*

You are loud

Like very loud

And very talkative

Like everyone knows where you are at all times

If you’re quiet and they know you’re around, either something is very wrong or they’re about to get pranked

God forbid you start to scream, your scream is loud enough to deafen someone for a brief amount of time and would leave everyone’s ears ringing for days on end

The mere mention of yours and Tommy's names together in one sentence is enough to give Philza a headache (someone give this poor man a couple of advils and a long vacation)

You two are literal demons when you’re together

Very chaotic relationship

You both like to fuck with people by sneaking up behind them

You would make mob sounds and Tommy would jump them before you two made a break for it

You and Tommy almost got killed by Techno a few times, but in your opinion the look on his face was 100% worth it every time

I feel like you would cart him up and down from the towers he builds

He could relate to being stereotyped as the stupid loud one, so he recognizes right away when you’re sad about it and will try to cheer you up

His main go to is the jukebox

Oh my god if he plays his jukebox around you, you go full send with your dancing

*AGGRESSIVE HEADBANGING*

He would laugh at your awful dancing, but he would join you eventually

Cat and Mellohi go hard

Speaking of music, Wilbur uses you as a walking soundboard

He needs a sound sample? You better prepare for spending most of your day recreating the sound

He needs back up vocals? You spend most of your day listening to his voice and other singers so you could replicate it

You don’t want to disappoint him so you try extra hard to appease his picky music composition

You kinda stress yourself out over it sometimes

When he notices (which he will, he’s very perceptive), he immediately calls it a day and has some sibling bonding time

You both bond over liking to eat strange things

Amazon macaws like to lick clay deposits on riverbanks so you like to have some on you at all times to lick when you get stressed

Wilbur carries some in a bag in his pocket and you carry a bag of sand 

Whenever one of you notices the other has a rough day, you give each other your respective stuff

You have to be sneaky with it though, Philza always takes away nonedible stuff from his children if he sees them trying to eat it (he has good intentions tho)

It always looks like a drug deal 

With Techno, I feel like he would find you incredibly annoying at first with how loud you are

He would actually start to hate you when you started to sneak up behind him 

It got to the point to whenever he would hear your voice he would get irrationally mad and have to leave the house for a few hours

He, like everyone outside your family, would think you were useless and incredibly stupid

That was until he passed Tommy’s room one day and overheard you crying and telling Tommy about your insecurities

He would spend the next few days ignoring you bc he felt bad

He would spend those days contemplating on why he treated you like he did

Coming to the realization that you were likely trying to get closer to him and you were just being yourself, making him feel like the biggest piece of shit

He totally had no idea how to confront you about this, so naturally he went to Philza (that man was literally so happy that his children were gonna start to get along)

He would spend the day gathering golden melons because he found out that you’d never tried golden melons before from Philza

When he approached you one day with an apology and some golden melons, you were suspicious at first

He hated you, so why would he get you these things if he didn’t need anything from you?

Quickly finding that his apology is genuine and he felt incredibly bad for treating you like that over the years

You picked up on his guilt pretty quickly and made quick work to reassure him

He would take you on short trips and would soon find that you’re very useful in detecting mobs and deterring creepers with cat noises

He would never admit it, but he loves it when you would scare Tommy or Wilbur, thinking it’s hilarious 

You also found out that carrying a seven and a half foot tall piglin hybrid was incredibly difficult to do, especially when flying

You two managed to get only about ten feet above the ground before your wings gave out under the strain and you fell on him

“(Y/n) has earned the achievement ‘When Pigs Fly’” flashed on everyone’s comm tablets that day

That wasn’t fun trying to explain to Philza

Philza would be ecstatic to have someone to fly with that he didn’t have to carry

He would take you on flights when you had too much energy 

Sometimes racing each other and competing to do tricks midair (which sometimes you both rope your brothers into judging)

Late night flights when you need to get your mind off from something

Watching the sunrise together in silence for once

Bonding over being able to see ultraviolet light when everyone else couldn’t

You always give him the shiny things you come across and he gives you your favorite snacks

He always fusses over your wings, sometimes preening them for you

Helping each other through molts

Matches your excitement sometimes when you’re really happy

You feel bad whenever you hear stories of how difficult you were as a baby

He’s quick to reassure you that raising you was worth it and you turned out to be a great person

But he wouldn’t be lying when he said you were a difficult infant

Your terrible twos stage? His literal hell

Philza swears he can still hear ringing from whenever you would throw tantrums as a toddler, even years after you left your toddler age

He also still has some scars from when you went through your biting phase (teething was awful for you, his poor baby)

But he’s happy he was the one that raised you, he genuinely enjoys your presence

If you’re in a really affectionate mood he is more than willing to let you cuddle up to him while he reads a book or something

WING HUGS WING HUGS WING HUGS WIN-

When he’s had a long day and is stressed out, you immediately pick up on that and do everything in your power to make sure your brothers are quiet and behaved, try to find out what made him so stressed, and sometimes go out of your way to take care of it for him

You try to be the one taking care of him for once as much because he’s taken care of you so well throughout the years

He can tell if you’re overwhelmed or upset just with one glance at your ruffled feathers and your rapidly dilating and contracting pupils

Immediately pulling you out of the situation and letting you talk it out

Whenever he finds you sad about your insecurities, he points out every part of your personality that he loves

That’s before he hunts down the person that made you feel like this (he really lives up to his title of ‘The Angel of Death’)

Overall, you wouldn’t trade your family for the world

[leehonun]

Review Dangerous Fellows !!

MC

I like MC who is a character also has time passes.

Something that I noticed a lot is that MC is like an opposite of Lawrance. In other words, she also has a too demanding life since she pushed herself a lot to study even if she did not want to and did very strenuous activities. The difference is that in the words of MC is that despite getting tired she does it for her mother so that she is proud but Lawrence, his parents forced and manipulated him to deprive him of things that he really liked so that he could have a successful life .

Apparently MC did a lot of extra-curricular activities such as playing soccer or how it is revealed here she also practiced Taekwondo although she only managed to reach a red belt (which is a good position). This is not a surprise since both in chats and in some other moment of the game the characters emphasize that MC is fast running although not as fast as Zion, Ethan or Eugene, at least in " Memory 2 of Lawrence" it is mentioned that she is faster than Lawrence because when Lawrence runs he is unable to reach her !!

She has also been shown to be able to defend herself as in the dangerous ones (the scenes where you need to buy the suits) where she knows how to use anything as weapon around or in the true ending when she goes into OP mode to protect Judy and shows that she has the strength to fight against the zombies.In fact, this is also demonstrated at the beginning when they mention that they see her as fragile and she herself says that she has been able to survive alone.

Another thing is that she has very varied tastes such as that she likes romantic movies, she loves to have tea, to go out with her friends like Judy, she likes to read fantasy books, she loves to make lists of things to do, organize her ideas by writing, sing, adores dogs and children, it is also said that she is fearful so it is common that she is easily shocked although she tends to arm herself with courage when it comes to protecting someone as in the true ending, it is also mentioned that to relieve her stress MC needs Judy to reassure her as MC can easily panic so it is common for her to mention that when someone shows her security she calms down.

It is also shown that she is exaggeratedly overprotective with those she wants and does not want. This is shown even when she goes for Scarlett when she sees her leave , although MC dislikes her but prefers a thousand times to protect her than to let her go. MC in the chat with Harry mentions that she does not tolerate many things (like the attitude of Jay and Scarlett) but if she is good people, it is because the situation requires it. Other traits of her personality is that MC is very joking since at least she always makes comments that end up trolling others, she is understanding when understanding situations such as understanding that Scarlett hates her and considered to be very respectful to everyone.

[makeste]

an index of Horikoshi Kouhei interviews

these are organized by date, oldest to newest, and I’m including a brief bullet-point summary of each to make it easier to look up specific interviews by content.

also, please note that although I haven’t spoiler tagged this post, the interviews from roughly 2019 onwards include some spoilers, so please watch out for those if you’re anime-only or otherwise not caught up with the manga. that said, the other interviews I think are all good.

putting this below a cut to keep things tidy.

interview with Horikoshi Kouhei and Kishimoto Masashi, May 2015

(note: this is not the actual interview word-for-word, but includes the highlights)

Horikoshi talks about being a fan of Naruto when he was growing up

Horikoshi says he was inspired by the way Kishimoto shows emotion through drawing hands, and that he loves drawing hands thanks to Naruto

Horikoshi mentions that Gaara is his favorite character and that he really liked the Chuunin Exam arc

Kishimoto praises BnHA and says he knew it would be a hit when he read the second chapter

they talk a bit about the worldbuilding and the process of creating a story where 80% of the population has superpowers

they discuss Naruto and Sasuke’s rivalry and Horikoshi mentions that he found it “frustrating” and that he really liked the Valley of the End and thought it would be the end of the series. he says it was very emotional

they talk a little about the stress of writing manga and about the toll it takes on mental health

pre-anime interview, April 2016

talks about his reaction when he found out BnHA was getting an anime

talks about how the series originally came about

says that BnHA is the story of Izuku and All Might and that their story is the “vertical axis” which runs through the main story

says there is also a “horizontal axis”, which is the side characters and quirks and all of the other elements that he considers to be the “fun part” of the story which mellows out the darker aspects of the vertical axis

mentions that he really likes drawing and writing Bakugou

mentions Deku vs Kacchan 1 as one of the early highlights in the series for him

talks about Ochako being someone who has a more cheerful relationship with Deku, which balances out some of the heavier aspects of Deku and Katsuki’s relationship (again, horizontal vs vertical axis)

mentions that if he could pick any quirk he’d pick a “no need for sleep” quirk

talks about reading Dragon Ball as a child

mentions that he really likes American comic book heroes, especially Spider-Man

mentions Goku and Spider-Man as the two that come to mind when he thinks about heroes and what it means to be a hero (specifically, that Goku is the “win” aspect and that he brings reassurance to everyone, while Spider-Man is the “save” aspect who helps other people)

talks about hearing Deku and Bakugou’s voices in the anime for the first time, as well as Ochako, Iida, and All Might’s voices

another pre-anime interview with konomanga.jp, April 2016

(note: this interview is in Japanese, but Google translate does a servicable job with it)

talks more about Spider-Man, including his favorite costumes and comic artists

gives some American comic book recs

mentions that he likes Godzilla and Gamera and always goes to see those movies

talks about his Star Wars influences

talks about his favorite manga as a child -- Dragon Ball, One Piece, and Naruto

talks about becoming a manga artist, and about some of his influences

says that he likes drawing monsters, creatures, and villains, and says that he really liked drawing the panel where Tomura made his first appearance at USJ

talks a little about composition and frame movement in his work, and about the challenges of drawing a weekly manga

mentions that he knows what the story ending will be, but hasn’t yet figured out how to connect the dots to that point

interview with Horikoshi Kouhei and Umakoshi Yoshihiko in BnHA: Ultra Archive, May 2016

(note: Umakoshi is the anime character designer for BnHA. also, this interview was part of the Ultra Archive character book, so you’ll have to scroll a bit through its other contents in order to get to the interview.)

they talk about the process of creating the BnHA anime and sketching out all of the character designs. Horikoshi says the anime character model sheets look just like how he draws them

they talk about Horikoshi’s obsession with drawing hands lol. Horikoshi mentions that the way Mike Mignola (the creator of Hellboy) draws hands was a big influence

they talk a lot about art and drawing in general

Horikoshi talks about Ochako’s character design a bit

they talk about the differences between drawing manga and doing animation

Umakoshi talks about his first impressions of BnHA

Horikoshi mentions that he still has a lot of ideas for characters and quirks that he hasn’t been able to implement yet

they talk about the different character designs and which ones they find easy, difficult, and fun to draw

they talk for a fair amount of time about Iida’s character design

Umakoshi talks a bit about other anime he’s worked on

they talk about the character of All Might, and Horikoshi ominously says that All Might’s future will be “a fairly sad affair”

interview with Natalie Comics, June 2018

talks about the 4th anniversary of BnHA, and the release of BnHA: Two Heroes

talks about the Basement internship arc and mentions that it was challenging for him to write

talks about the question “what is a hero?” and how he defines heroes

mentions Mina, Sero, and Shouji as characters he would like to/plans to feature in the future, and mentions that he already has a story planned featuring Shouji

talks about the popularity of the series

talks a little about Koike-san, his first editor

talks about Two Heroes and its development and story

talks about club activities at U.A., and which clubs Deku and Katsuki would be in

talks about his mom and about some of his childhood experiences which inspired scenes in the manga

talks about why he became a mangaka

talks about what percentage of the series is completed, mentions the original planned length was about 30 volumes but that it has obviously surpassed that

mentions that he has an idea of how the last arc will be planned out

interview with Horikoshi and Eiichiro Oda, August 2018

Horikoshi talks about being a fan of One Piece and mentions he even sent artwork to Oda which was included in one of Oda’s galleries

they talk more about OP and about favorite arcs and how it’s influenced Horikoshi’s work

Oda compliments Horikoshi’s art and they talk about cover artwork and coloring (Horikoshi mentions he uses Photoshop)

Horikoshi talks a bit about BnHA Two Heroes

Horikoshi again mentions that he originally thought BnHA would be about 30 volumes (Oda says he should shoot for 50 but Horikoshi laughs and says he’s not sure he can do ten years)

they talk about how fucking long OP is and how manga stories tend to expand once the story starts taking off

Interview with Anime News Network at SDCC, August 2018

talks about his love of American comics, especially Spider-Man, and says that American comics are a lot more mainstream in Japan nowadays thanks to all the superhero movies

talks about how he got started as a manga creator

talks about being inspired by Dragon Ball, and that All Might in particular was inspired by Goku

talks a bit about the process of creating characters

talks about Bakugou’s popularity and that it took him by surprise at first

mentions that he doesn’t have the stamina for BnHA to be a long series like One Piece

interview with Cinema Today Japan, December 2019

(update: here is the link to @hanashimas​‘ translation which is more accurate)

talks about Deku and Bakugou’s characters and their attributes

mentions that at the start of the story Bakugou thinks Deku is above him, so he tries to act intimidating and superior to overtake him

(ETA: apparently this is a mistranslation; he actually says that he intended for Bakugou to be a character who was “above” Deku so to speak, who Deku would eventually surpass. he then goes on to talk about his realization that Bakugou could actually have a much more interesting character arc, which of course we have since seen play out.)

mentions that he planned to have Bakugou and Deku improve on two separate vectors as they entered U.A.

mentions Deku vs Kacchan 1 as a turning point where he had some realizations about Bakugou’s character that humanized him for him

mentions that he always knew Bakugou wouldn’t turn evil and “would never lose to the darkness”

says the scene where Katsuki takes Kirishima’s hand at Kamino was bittersweet because it showed Bakugou’s growth, but also showed the ongoing gulf between him and Deku because Deku knew that Katsuki wouldn’t take his hand

mentions that Bakugou still needs to apologize to Deku

says that Kirishima, Kaminari, and Mina are among the easiest characters for him to draw because they take the initiative and get the other characters excited and help pull the story forward

mentions that he always hears Nobu’s voice in his head now when writing Bakugou

talks about the characters being high school kids still, and that when he expanded on their families he was conscious of that -- “I wanted to show that these protagonists are still children after all”

interview in Volume R (booklet that was released along with Heroes Rising), December 2019

talks again about his manga influences and what inspired him to become a mangaka

talks about the experience of getting his first manga published

talks about what inspired him to write BnHA

has an interesting quote where he talks about the vaguely desperate feeling of “trying one last time”, which was weighing on his mind when he created BnHA, and which also played into Deku’s motivations in the first chapter

mentions All Might as being a character that he’s attached to

talks about his reactions to the anime, the overseas popularity, and the first movie

talks about his heavy involvement in the production of Heroes Rising

talks about designing and creating the bad guys for Heroes Rising

talks about the creation and character design of Hawks and mentions that the original character design was going to have a bird head lol

mentions that Hawks will have a relatively big influence on the story in the future

talks about how the ending of Heroes Rising was his original planned ending for the series

talks about Bakugou’s character development which leads up to that moment

talks about the conclusion of the series, and that all of the characters will come together in the end

interview with all of the past editors of the BnHA manga, March 2021

(note: this is another interview that’s not translated word for word, but summarized. also this interview was with just the editors, not Horikoshi himself.)

they talk about the early reception to the manga, and Horikoshi’s reactions

they talk about the individual moments early on when they realized that the series would be “amazing”

Yoritomi mentions that Horikoshi came up with the designs for most of the Billboard Top 10 pro heroes at the last minute lol

including Hawks (all Horikoshi had decided on prior was that he was going to be “cool” and would be a spy)

everyone praises Horikoshi’s character designs in general

they talk about the start of the anime and that whole process

they mention that Horikoshi cried watching both of the movies

they talk about the overseas popularity of the series

each editor lists their favorite episode of the anime

they talk about Horikoshi sacrificing his original manga ending to be used in Heroes Rising

they talk about that one ending theme song in season 4 that showed the pro heroes’ childhoods, and that Horikoshi had the anime team change Hawks’s to match the backstory he had planned

they talk about the upcoming season 5 and send final messages to the fans

interview in the MHA Drawing Smash Exhibition Pamphlet, April 2021

Horikoshi talks about the art in the exhibition and about the process of creating the artwork

he mentions that the piece with Deku rescuing a falling Ochako took the longest to draw

he says the drawing of All Might was the most fun to draw for him

that’s pretty much it, this one is very short lol

interview in Jump GIGA Spring 2021, April 2021

talks about which characters will play an important role in the final act. specifically mentions Hawks, Ochako, Shouji, Shinsou, Monoma, and Sero

“many characters’ actions will converge into a single one, so maybe the best way to say it would be ‘keep an eye on all of them!’“

says that for Hawks’s flashbacks and the Todoroki family’s past, he was influenced by Sion Sono’s works

mentions that the drawing of Deku and Ochako from the MHA Drawing Smash exhibit isn’t directly related to the main story, but that while drawing it he kept in mind how their relationship would develop if he explored it deeper

says he had the final act (or at least the chapter 306 reveal part of it) vaguely planned for a long time, but started to think about the specifics in volume 21 during the Endeavor vs High-End fight

says he’s already decided on the ending, and that “the path to it has been longer than I initially expected, but the main elements that I’ve decided before starting the series are still the same”

Q&A trivia from Vol. W World Heroes’ Mission, August 2021

(and alternate translation by aitaikimochi)

talks about All Might not having many friends among the pro heroes (but says he’s become “slightly attached” to Aizawa since he started teaching at U.A.)

describes what Bakugou, Tsuyu, and Mineta’s rooms look like

talks about Jirou and Momo’s relationship and the kind of things they like to talk about when they hang out together

says that Shouji’s face will eventually be revealed, and that he is “not sure” about Hagakure’s :’)

talks about the types of YouTube videos Shouto watches (pretty insightful answer which is equal parts sweet and sad)

says that Midnight’s classes were the most popular among the students

says U.A.’s robots once rebelled against their creators (lol wtf)

says his three favorite movies are Akira, The Ring, and Spider-Man: Far From Home. he says Akira in particular is his bible

and that’s it for now, but I will update this post with future interviews as they are posted, and if anyone has links to an interview I’ve missed please let me know.

[remnantoforario]

Remnant’s Top Ten Anime of 2020

2020 Was certainly a ride wasn’t it? To those that managed to make to make it through in one piece, or any piece, good job. Hopefully 2021 is better to us all. 

Despite the world mostly being on fire, I’d hazard to say that a lot of good shows came out in 2020 (despite a number of them being delayed to either later in the year or this year altogether). I meant to release this list much earlier, but I kept changing it around. 

Anyway, here are the ones I thought were the best. 

Honorable Mentions:

Dorohedoro

Synopsis: The plot centers on a man named Caiman and his search for his real identity after a transformation by a sorcerer left him with a reptile's head and no memory of his former life. 

Along with his friend Nikaido, he violently assaults sorcerers in the Hole, with the aim of taking their heads into his mouth, where a strange face will appear and confirm whether the sorcerer he has bitten onto was the one responsible for his transformation or not.

As the residents of the Hole, the En family and the Cross-Eyes gang, along with many others, collide with one another, the mystery of Caiman's identity begins to unravel, reigniting ancient grudges and threatening to forever change both the Hole and the sorcerers' world.

Thoughts: This is the only Netflix anime I watched this year (I missed out on Great Pretender before the year ended), and I can honestly say I had fun with this one. It’s animation was good, the story was engaging enough, and the characters were all unique (Noi best girl). The one problem I would say with the show is that it can come off as unfocused at times, meandering from one plaot point to another with no real connective tissue. 

Still a fun series though. 

ID: Invaded

Synopsis: The anime follows the investigations of Narihisago, a renowned detective now in prison, who is tasked with diving into the id wells of various serial killers. 

Two years prior to the current events, Narihisago's daughter Muku was brutally murdered by a serial killer, leading Narihisago's wife to commit suicide. These deaths prompted him to hunt down and murder the killer, earning him his prison sentence. He is still depressed and haunted by his wife and daughter's deaths, but also uses this as motivation to take his work seriously and help stop serial killers. 

Thoughts: One of a handful of original series that came out this year. This show gave me heavy Inception/Minority Report vibes from both its premise and presentation. It wobbles under the weight of its own concepts towards the end, but it still a fun ride nonetheless. 

Gleipnir 

Synopsis: The story centers on Shuichi Kagaya, a high school student with an unusual secret. He has the ability to transform into a monster resembling a giant dog mascot costume with a zipper down his back and a large cartoonish smile. After rescuing a strange girl, Claire Aoki, from a warehouse fire, they join each other to search for Claire's older sister, who is assumed to be responsible for the death of their parents.

Thoughts: When the initial rollout for this show began I admit I wasn’t really a fan. I thought it was just going to be a hyper violent, fanservice show. Now in some ways it is that, but if you really look Gleipnir tells a very interesting tale of identity and what it truly means to have a wish granted. The music was pretty good as well, and that’s really something from me as a person who doesn’t pay attention to soundtracks. 

Hope this show gets a season 2, but if not I’ll more than likely start the manga. 

Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina

Synopsis:  Fascinated by the stories of Niké, a witch who traveled around the world, Elaina aspires to take the same course. Her determination of studying books and magic leads to her becoming the youngest apprentice witch to pass the sorcery exam. 

However, when Elaina attempts to receive training in order to become a full-fledged witch, she is rejected due to her extraordinary talents until she finds Fran, the "Stardust Witch," whom accepts her. After earning her title, the "Ashen Witch," Elaina begins her exploration around the world, visiting and facing all kinds of people and places.

Thoughts: As a fan of the Light Novels, I was pretty excited when it was announced it was getting an anime. For the most part it didn’t disappoint. Though it skipped most of the stories in the novels, the show still told a few good stories that made for some amazingly animated tv. 

Talentless Nana

Synposis: In the near future, mysterious monsters known as the "Enemies of Humanity" begin to appear, and with it so do children with supernatural powers called the "Talented". To prepare them for the upcoming battle against these Enemies, all the Talented are sent to a school located on a deserted island, where they have all their daily needs provided for until they graduate and communication with the outside world is forbidden. 

One day, a new student named Nana Hiiragi arrives at the school. Her friendly and cheerful personality lets her quickly make friends with the class. However, with Nana comes a whole litany of mysterious occurrences on the island. 

Thoughts: I can’t say too much about Nana without spoiling it’s first episode twist, but I will say that its a pretty interesting show with a fairly compelling game of cat and mouse being played. 

Now on the the actual list:

10. The Misfit of Demon King Academy 

Synopsis: After 2,000 years of countless wars and strife, the demon king Anos Voldigoad made a deal with the human hero, Kanon, to sacrifice his own life to ensure peace could flourish. Reincarnating 2,000 years later, Anos finds that royal demons now harshly rule over lower class hybrid demons in a society that values Anos's pureblood descendants over the demons who interbred with other species, such as humans and spirits. 

Finding that magic as a whole has begun to decline and his descendants weaker as a result of the peace he created, Anos, now technically a hybrid himself, decides to reclaim his former title of Demon King, but first, he must graduate from the Demon King Academy where he is labeled a total misfit.

Thoughts: Originally I was going to put Nana in this spot, but its lack of a real ending pushed it out of the list. If only slightly. Misft at Demon Academy is just a fun ride from start to finish. There’s always something about shows with ridiculous OP protagonists (Overlord, One Punch Man, etc.) that gets the blood pumping. 

It’s like junk food. Great for the right moment, but not needed all the time. 

9. Ikebukuro West Gate Park

Synopsis:  A charismatic troubleshooter tries to keep the peace between warring factions while protecting his loved ones in Ikebukuro West Gate Park.

Thoughts: I honestly had no idea what to make of this show when I first saw the synopsis, but I gave it a try on a whim. I’m glad I did because this was easily the dark horse of the Fall season. I really liked the mostly self contained story format the series had, and there were a few very good episodes here. Check it out. 

8.  My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!

Synopsis: Catarina Claes, the young daughter of a noble family, one day bumps her head and regains memories of her past life as an otaku. It is then that she realizes she has been reborn into the world of the otome game Fortune Lover, reincarnated as the game's villainess who, regardless of what route the player took in the original game, is doomed to be either killed or exiled. 

In order to avoid these routes that lead to doom, Catarina begins taking countermeasures to try and avoid things going the same way as the game. This, however, ends up having unexpected consequences on her relations with the other characters of the game's world.

Thoughts: Normally I’m not a fan of Reverse/Otome harem series, but somehow Bakarina managed to pull me in, to a good result. This show was easily one of the best comedies I watched this year with a good cast and a likable protagonist. 

7.  Deca-Dence 

Synopsis: In the fortress city of Deca-dence, the lowly Tanker girl, Natsume, dreams of becoming a Gear warrior following her father's death during a Gadoll attack. She is assigned to a maintenance team led by Kaburagi whom she discovers is more than he appears. Kaburagi has a secret role in eliminating "bugs", humans who threaten Solid Quake's operations. 

When Kaburagi discovers that Natsume is listed as dead in the company database, he decides to keep her under observation and offers to train her to fight.

Thoughts: Giant monsters and giant robots. What more do you need? Watch it. 

6. A Certain Scientific Railgun T

Synposis: The Daihasei Festival has begun, and that of course means that Tokiwadai Middle School—a prestigious all-girls' middle school—is competing too. Despite the participation of the "Ace of Tokiwadai," Mikoto Misaka, the other students who are participating are still putting their utmost effort into winning, no matter how impossible the feat may seem against her might. However, not all is fun and games. Due to the the festival, Academy City opens to the outside world, and various factions have begun plotting ways to infiltrate the city. Misaka appears to be on their radar, and as the festival proceeds, people lurking from the shadows begin to emerge...

Thoughts: Not really much to say here. It’s the third season of Railgun, but good thing here is that each season of Railgun is better than the last. Truly the best of the To Aru universe. 

5. BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense.

Synposis: Urged on by her friend, Kaede Honjō begins playing the VRMMORPG NewWorld Online under the name Maple. Not wanting to get hurt, Maple opts to be a shield user with maxed out defense stats, and continues putting every status point she earns in the game into increasing only her defense level. 

As a result, she is left with slow foot speed and no magic, but her high defense allows her to endure most hits without taking any damage. This, along with her basic-level creative thinking, allows for her to make unexpected accomplishments in the game, its quests and events. By doing this, she ends up earning all kinds of equally unexpected skills and becomes one of the strongest players in the game. Thoughts: Bofuri is another OP power fantasy like Demon King Academy, but with the twist of being fused with CGDCT. The cast is extremely likable (especially Maple) and when Silver Link wants to they can make the battles REALLY dynamic. A nice comfortable watch, which was sorely needed in 2020. 

4. Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle

Synposis: The story follows Princess Syalis, a young princess who was kidnapped by the demon king, and her quest to sleep well while imprisoned.

Thoughts: A simple premise for a not so simple story. Sleepy Princess for me was easily the best comedy of the year, with plenty of heart and action thrown in as well. I was wary of the series at first, thinking that the premise wouldnt be entertaining for more than a few episodes, but boy was I wrong. Each episode was funnier than the last and Doga Kobo pulled out all the stops to make it look as gorgeous as possible.  

3. Jujutsu Kaisen

Synopsis: Idly indulging in baseless paranormal activities with the Occult Club, high schooler Yuuji Itadori spends his days at either the clubroom or the hospital, where he visits his bedridden grandfather. However, this leisurely lifestyle soon takes a turn for the strange when he unknowingly encounters a cursed item. Triggering a chain of supernatural occurrences, Yuuji finds himself suddenly thrust into the world of Curses—dreadful beings formed from human malice and negativity—after swallowing the said item, revealed to be a finger belonging to the demon Sukuna Ryoumen, the "King of Curses." Yuuji experiences first-hand the threat these Curses pose to society as he discovers his own newfound powers. Introduced to the Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu Technical High School, he begins to walk down a path from which he cannot return—the path of a Jujutsu sorcerer.

Thoughts: Originally I wasn’t going to put this on the list, because the season doesnt conclude this year, but I decided to make an exception since the show started so strong. Many people were hyping this up as the next big shonen, and they were right. Mappa really went balls to the wall with this show and I’m pretty hype for what happens this cour. 

2. Akudama Drive

Synopsis: The bustling metropolis of Kansai, where cybernetic screens litter the neon landscape, may seem like a technological utopia at first glance. But in the dark alleys around the brightly-lit buildings, an unforgiving criminal underbelly still exists in the form of fugitives known as "Akudama." No stranger to these individuals, Kansai police begin the countdown to the public execution of an infamous Akudama "Cutthroat," guilty of killing 999 people. However, a mysterious message is sent to several elite Akudama, enlisting them to free Cutthroat for a substantial amount of money. An invisible hand seeks to gather these dangerous personas in one place, ensuring that the execution is well underway to becoming a full-blown bloodbath.  

Thoughts: Want to know what it would be like if Quentin Tarantino made an anime? Well here you go. An adrenaline filled rollercoaster ride from start to finish with a crazy cast of characters and even crazier visuals. There’s even a bit of social commentary in there if you squint. 

1. Oregairu Climax

Synopsis: Resolved to become a more independent person, Yukino Yukinoshita decides to smoothen things out with her parents, and the first step toward achieving that goal is to prove herself. As graduation draws closer for the third-year students, Iroha Isshiki—the president of the student council—requests a graduation prom in collaboration with the Volunteer Service Club. Yukino accepts this request of her own volition, hoping to use it as a chance to demonstrate her self-reliance, but what lies ahead of her may prove to be a hard hurdle to cross.

At the same time, a chance for the Volunteer Service Club members to better understand each other presents itself. And thus, Hachiman Hikigaya's hectic and bittersweet high school life begins to draw to a close.

Thoughts: The gif says it all really. I could just leave that there and end this list on a somewhat high note, but I’ll explain it. 

Now objectively, there were better shows than this one (off the top of my head JJK comes to mind) but when you combine all three seasons there is no contest in my mind that Oregairu had one of the most perfect endings to a series I have ever seen. 

It was an ending 7 years in the making. The first season in 2013 was good, the second season two years later was even better, but Climax was Oregairu at is absolute best and that goes beyond the story and characters. A lot of praise also has to go to Studio feel., who took over animation duties from Brain’s Base in season 2. While BB’s animation was much more accurate to the LN, feel’s more realistic designs fit the more mature direction the story was starting to go, giving the anime some of its best moments. 

Watching Hachiman, Yukino, and Yui grow and change from naive teenagers to somewhat understood young adults was amazing and sometimes heartbreaking to watch. Hachiman’s search to find something “genuine”, Yukino’s desire to be independent, and Yui struggling with her feelings of love and friendship all clash and compliment in very interesting ways that makes these three characters even more relatable than they were before. 

Lots of long running series don’t stick to landing, but in my eyes Oregairu stuck it perfectly. That’s why its my favorite anime of 2020.

Here’s to 2021. 

[antiloreolympus]

10 Anti LO Asks

1. Why is no one talking about one of the most stupid things we've seen in this webtoon thus far? I'm talking about the fact that H&P deadass pull a "I nominate Hades as an attorney to defend me in this case uwu" and the mf accepts (clearly the had it planned) although he is part of the jury.

Now, I don't have fast pass but I really hope this whole thing is forbidded by Zeus in the next episodes. It makes no fucking sense! Hades is not a lawyer, and as a god is not associated with law/justice (him being a king doesn't excuse this, he is there to "judge" not to defend the accused).

This really proves that absolutely nothing works against Persephone ever. She is able to get away with murder and have zero consequences for her actions, all while the smurf plays daddy with her, spoils her and defends her in court WHICH SHOULD NOT BE EVEN POSSIBLE LMAO.

From OP: It’s allowed because ‘loophole’.

2. I would like to add to what that person said about the characters looking too stiff. Literally that panel towards the end of ep. 179 where P said "I nominate Hades" is the best example of this. Wtf is wrong with her hand? It looks like a wooden doll with her arm extended like that. The only explanation I have for this (aside from the fact that the art style sucks big time) is that she's trying to imitate the art style on the ancient Greek amphoras (amphorae?), but even the scenes depicted on them had signs of natural movement, with the bodies looking much less stiff of course.

3. Anyone else wanna mention the backgrounds are also just not there at this point? Like she was already bad with this in the beginning but at least there was some sketch up lines to give the impression they were in a real space, but now it’s literally just blank voids of color and that’s it, and often not good use of color either (why is the above land pink while the underworld is blue? It makes it hard too tell what’s going on). There aren’t even establishing shots to at least give the readers an idea where they are and then becoming abstract about it, it’s all abstract and flat, which doesn’t help when the characters also are so lacking in character design and aren’t really doing anything pose or action wise. The world around them don’t even seem like actual places, it just seems like a set, and a very cheap one at that. It just ends up looking so boring in all fronts.

4. I don't know why it's only happening now but Persephone's eyebrows have started to piss me off lately. Why are they pure black? And when did they become so thick? It doesn't fit in with the rest of her fair and hairless appearance, it just looks like her brow artist did a piss poor job on them.

5. it honestly makes me sad looking at the first few lo episodes. were they perfect? god no, but at least the art was unique and had some actual thought put in it, but by around episode 25 or so you begin to notice the style is becoming less and less, until you have what it is now which is completely different, and not for the better. i know styles change and all, but this is a case where it got so much worse, losing its unique factor to look so generic and lacking instead. it make me sad.

6. Ive noticed LO fans dont seem to enjoy any other greek myth works, only LO. for example there's a huge overlap in PJO fans liking Hades Games and BoZ, and Hadestown fans towards TSOA, and so on and so on, meanwhile LO overwhelmingly don't even read other HxP stuff like Punderworld and openly hate stuff like PJO. They tend to only consume LO while claiming to be "big myth fans". It reminds me of Potterheads who claim to be big book nerds when they've really only read the series and nothing else.

7. its truly a testament to how bad the writing is from RS in that she honestly thought it was a dramatic twist apollo and artemis of all people were children to zeus, despite looking exactly like him and not like their mother. also, tbh, the fact hera humiliated leto and treats the twins like garbage, it is any wonder theyre being depicted so negatively in LO? theyre only used to prop up hades and p's "friendships" to eros and daphne. artemis is even the "bad" maiden. it's all so stupid.

8. the thing to me is no retelling of myths will be perfect, how could they be? but LO takes the cake at claiming its so researched and is the actual truth and is 99%+ correct (both from rachel's words as well as by her fans) with both refusing to even admit to any mistakes and refusing any critique, especially from greeks themselves, that's where the issue is to me. you cannot claim to be so well researched only to be upset when people notice the many obvious inaccuracies. that's not how it works.

9. there's a part of me that wonders why LO has never featured any MLM romances like poseidon, zeus, or apollo's many male lovers, but then i remembered she doesn't care about poseidon and both zeus & apollo are both evil to her, her made up WLW romances are terrible, and all relationships that cant be used to prop up hades and persephone are made cruel and abusive, so maybe that's a blessing in disguise that she's so bad at even remembering LGBTQ+ relationships, much less depicting them.

-----FP Spoiler/Mention-----

10. The whole trial thing just puts into perspective how much plot points go off the rails. I was actually looking forward to finally hearing from Demeter that Persephone IS a fertility goddess and them having a argument before the trial, but then it just left on a Clift hanger. And then oh wow Hades is being her lawyer, which??, pretty sure that’s not how that works but okay whatever he’s going against his brothers. But he doesn’t even make an opening statement because the other side does instead. And then Hermes shows up and his backstory starts and everything gets so muddled. I’m not an expert on court cases but seeing the witness be called up right after and the other side just make a bunch of shi up instead of stating a pathos but accurate opening statement hurts my brain. Not to mention the jury and people just speaking out at random? Like can Rachel just write something serious for once? Or at least somewhat accurate? Legally blonde had a better comedy court case scene than whatever this is.

[tossawary]

Do you have any favorite characters from mdzs?

Oh, I’m fond of pretty much all of them as characters, in much the same way as I’m fond of all the SVSSS characters. MXTX is pretty good at creating fun character concepts that are great to play with (though some characters could have had more to do, etc., especially the women). Lots of conflict and strife and fatal flaws all around! It’s great. 

I’m particularly fond of Wen Ning, Jiang Yanli, and Lan Sizhui, especially in terms of fic potential. I feel like the resident cinnamon rolls don’t get enough to do in fic and don’t get enough fic as the main character because they’re so unassuming and accommodating compared to the hot, flaming messes around them. They deserve a few adventures and breakdowns! 

I’m also fond of potential for Mo Xuanyu, who’s even more of an open book. I’ve been thinking fairly relentlessly these past few weeks about that Age Reversal AU I mentioned ages back, reversing the sibling order of that generation, so that MXY is the eldest of all of Jin Guangshan’s children and Jin Zixuan is the youngest by far. I really want to write that one shot. 

I want Meng Yao to show up to meet his father on the day that Jin Guangshan’s legitimate heir is finally born (bad timing, bro) only to meet his messy goth older half-brother who lives in the Jin basement doing blood magic shit. 

I put the end under a readmore because I’m not fond of people going, “Ooooh, someone should write that fic!” about ideas I’ve explicitly said I want to write.

 Like, I’m good if people want to take their own shot at a premise, or if people are like, “I would read a hundred versions of this premise. Please bring on the cakes.” I’m just unreasonably ticked off by people going, “SOMEONE WRITE THIS!!!” as though I, the OP, a) don’t exist, b) can’t see that, and c) didn’t explicitly state I’m already trying to do exactly that. 

[curligurl0896]

So getting to read @thejakeformerlyknownasprince 's FMA AU reminded me of my own ideas for a FMA/Animorphs fic. A crossover, in this case, a Megamorphs of sorts (complete with rotating narration) because I really want an excuse to have the Animorphs interact with the characters of the FMA universe. I don't have enough ideas worked out to confidently write a whole fanfic yet, so I think I'll just share some of my ideas so that at least they don't stay inside my head forever like the vast majority of ideas that I either never finish enough to post it or just never get around to at all, especially when my brain is always generating new plot bunnies instead of focusing on developing the ones I already have, it's so distracting lol

(Also maybe y'all could give some suggestions if you wanna, I'd definitely appreciate it lol)

Anyway, here it is:

First off, the answer as to how exactly the Animorphs end up in the FMA universe: I was kicking around a few ideas for this, and was originally thinking something along the lines of like, a freak accident that somehow results in them ending up in front of the Gate of Truth, but I think a better idea would be for an alchemist (or perhaps even several alchemists) to end up in the Aniverse, get Yeerkified, and the Yeerk (or Yeerks, as it may be), intrigued by the memories and knowledge of an alternate Earth where you can manipulate matter and shape it according to your will with nothing more than a well drawn chalk circle (or even less than that if you've been through the Gate, as the Yeerk(s) will eventually discover), lured in by the idea of a legendary object that supposedly can be used to circumvent a pesky little law known as Equivalent Exchange, decides to pull something of a "Tom's Yeerk and his Yeerk buddies a la book 52" deciding to start their own colony in the FMAverse where they won't have to answer to the Council of Thirteen or the Visserarchy (well, at least the ones higher ranked than the Yeerk in charge, who, I imagine, would have to be a Sub-Visser at the very least to have the power to arrange all this) in addition to being able to use alchemy, which, much like the morphing power, can be used for a massive variety of things, ranging from merely convenient to pretty damn useful in a pinch to OP as fuck to even just downright terrifying.

It takes a lot of time and meticulous planning, of course, as they have to find a way to transport the Yeerks, their ship, and all the other stuff they'll need to thrive over there through the Gate and into the FMAverse-- all while in a universe where alchemy flat out doesn't work. The Yeerks have to figure out how to get around that issue, and it takes at least a year of research and using their new hosts' alchemical knowledge to work out a solution, but they work it out, and soon enough they get everything set up and ready to go. At some point, the Chee find out about this secret unknown project going on, inform the Animorphs about it, and Jake decides that they should at least check it out on the off chance that it's something big.

That's where the story officially starts: with our team of traumatized teenage shapeshifters at the location where this thing is being set up (haven't figured out the where yet). They've spent the past several days spying on these Yeerks, but still aren't sure what exactly is going on-- they keep talking about opening a gate-- and aren't sure if it's worth it. Marco's convinced the whole thing is ridiculous, especially after overhearing a human Controller mention something about a "Philosopher's Stone" ("What is this, Harry Potter? Are they gonna wave wooden sticks around and yell in Latin?") . Rachel is bored at this point, and just wants to kick ass and call it a day-- they were probably up to no good anyway. Cassie isn't particularly keen on the asskicking part, but she's been having a bad feeling about all this that she can't shake, and Tobias agrees that something fishy is going on and says they should wait a few days-- after all, from what they've gleaned, whatever plans these Yeerks had would be set in motion very soon. Ax, being Ax, declares as usual that he'll just go along with whatever Prince Jake orders, though when Jake presses him about his opinion, he just says he isn't sure what to make of it. In the end, they keep it up for a couple more days, and sure enough, the time comes for the Yeerks to "open the gate", whatever that means.

After all the time they'd spent spying on the Yeerks, it is conveniently now, when the Yeerks are about to do their thing, that they're discovered. It quickly turns into a fight, and the Animorphs attempt to bail as they're soon overwhelmed-- and then the Gate is opened.

None of them had any idea what to expect next. They certainly weren't expecting the blue lightning that erupted around them in a massive circle, seeming to originate from the curving lines that had been so painstakingly carved into the floor. They aren't expecting the atmosphere to turn dark and purple and creepy, or for a giant grey eye to suddenly appear beneath them, or for wavy black tentacle arms to come out of that eye. And they definitely were NOT expecting to abruptly find themselves in the white void of Zerospace.

Only they aren't in Z-space, exactly. Surrounded by it, sure, but somehow they stand there, as if on solid ground, surrounded by the eerie blankness that had once nearly suffocated them to death.

Each Animorph is utterly alone, with nothing and no one else in sight. That is, until they hear a voice, one that sounds like several voices speaking in unison, and suddenly they see a figure-- or, more accurately, an outline of a figure, with only shadows to mark where the figure ended and the void began. The figure is shaped like a human in all but Ax and Tobias's case: the figure Ax sees is shaped like an Andalite, and Tobias's version takes the form of a bird.

Truth gives the whole "I am God, I am the world, and I am also you" speech, then informs them they can't pass through the Gate without payment. Suddenly, there's a huge gateway where previously there was nothing. Truth is unconcerned with the fact that these "A-ni-morphs" have zero clue what's going on-- it simply takes the required toll and sends them on their way.

Except the toll is literal body parts-- which, even then, isn't usually a big deal for an Animorph, but in this case it absolutely is a big deal, because, as they'll soon discover, there's no way they're going to just replace their lost limbs through morphing. It's expressly forbidden for one to simply have nice things in this universe; in other words, Truth isn't letting them off the hook that easily.

The discovery that they're not able to replace their lost body parts through morphing is especially horrifying to Ax, because, well, y'know... book 40. The one that every Ax fan, and really anyone who otherwise genuinely enjoys Ax's character, would like to pretend never fucking happened.

In fact, given Truth's precedent for irony when extracting payment from people who've opened/been through the Gate in the series, I have no doubt in my mind that Ax would end up suffering the exact same fate as Mertil. Andalites, after all, place high value on their tail blades, especially the warriors; it's their number one go-to weapon when shit hits the fan. Ax himself is such a warrior, in fact it's a huge part of who he is as a person. Needless to say I think yeeting Ax's tail blade would be the exact kind of twisted irony that Truth would employ.

He gets over himself eventually-- well, sort of. However, it takes him a long time to truly come to terms with it-- instead of accepting that the attitudes he'd been taught his whole life regarding those who aren't fully able-bodied are actually shit, I feel like he'd be more likely to double down on them, internalizing them, and actually go into full-on self loathing as a result.

He holds his metaphorical tongue, though, upon seeing that Tobias has suffered a payment that is arguably far more cruelly ironic-- given that Tobias is a bird, given that his initial attraction to the morph that eventually became his default body came from the sense of freedom and escapism only provided through flying, I think it's fairly obvious what Truth would take: his wings.

As for the others: Rachel has lost her arm (for basically the same reason Ed did), Cassie loses her hands (which she uses to, you know, help injured animals and stuff), and as for Jake... well, it was a bit of a struggle, the best I could come up with is the idea of him going blind much like Mustang did after being forced to open the Gate (though maybe not for the same reason, though... idk. If anyone has any better suggestions, please let me know lol, I couldn't think of any solid ideas for what body part would be ironic for Jake to lose). Marco is the only one who doesn't lose any outwardly visible body parts-- what he loses is his voice.

At some point, they are discovered, taken into custody by the Amestrian military, and eventually they end up in Colonel Mustang's office. Mustang listens to their story with a massive dose of skepticism. He isn't sure what to make of these bizarre barefoot children, nor their claims of fighting bodysnatching slugs from outer space by turning into animals, nor their wingless pet hawk, nor... well, he could only assume the other creature was some sort of chimera, although he had zero clue what animals could have possibly been used to make something with blue fur and extra eyes.

At this point, they're about to do a morphing demonstration to prove to the Colonel that they aren't completely batshit, when suddenly the door is slammed open, and a teenage boy with blond hair and sharp golden eyes comes sauntering in, accompanied by a hulking giant covered head to toe in a suit of armor.

The boy immediately starts shouting at Mustang, calling him a bastard and accusing him of wasting his time, to which Mustang responds by merely rolling his eyes and sighing, as if this sort of thing happens all the time (spoiler alert: it does). After a moment, the kid stops as he takes notice of the other kids standing in the room.

"So," he says, calmly, as if he wasn't yelling at his superior just a moment ago, "what's the deal with these fuckers?"

The casual use of the kind of language that would have surely landed them in hot water back home was quite shocking, but they don't comment on it. Instead, Rachel says, in a voice sweet as honey, "Oh, look, Marco. He's just as short as you are."

Before Marco could turn to glare daggers at her (come on, it wasn't like he could argue back in that moment), the boy goes absolutely ballistic, and the armored guy has to physically restrain him as he screams obscenities at Rachel ("The fuck did you just call me, you freakishly oversized bitch? I'll show you too-fucking-short-to-fucking-sit-at-the-fucking-table-without-a-fucking-booster-seat! Call me short one more fucking time, I fucking dare you to! You think I give a shit that you're a girl? I'll fuck that pretty face of yours right up, just you fucking wait--")

"Brother!" The armored guy cries. "Calm down!" Then, to the Animorphs: "I'm sorry about my brother's behavior. He's, um, a bit sensitive about his height."

"A bit sensitive" is the understatement of the century, but none of the Animorphs call him out on it. They're too dumbfounded by the sound of his voice, which sounds sweet, innocent, and, despite his size, sounds like it belonged to a boy no more than nine or ten years old.

And that's where I'm going to leave it for now, since I've spent way too long on this post already. I have a few other ideas, but mostly in bits and pieces, not really any more comprehensive plot points beyond this point. Please do let me know what you think!

[anamatics]

can you add anything about studying tiktok academically? That sounds v interesting. I just saw you post on a text post about it. apologies if you’ve mentioned it before; I just started following you.

the post in question 

To specifically address that post:

Firstly, I think we need to divorce ourselves from the idea that it is just “Zoomers” or “Children” on TikTok. I don’t have specific statistics on the demographics, but there there are certainly as many Millennial, Gen X and Boomer users of the platform as there are Gen Z and younger users. 

Secondly, let’s talk a little bit about the mirroring discourse between 2014 Tumblr and 2021 TikTok. The commentary on this particular post does a poor job at framing what the actual problem is on TikTok. So let’s start there. 

Tumblr was a website of networks. You follow people and you see what they share on their blogs on your dash and you can share your own content into that stream. It produces what are called information flows, where content flows across various nodes (blogs) through interconnected edges (the person to person connection made by act of you sharing something). Here’s a blog explaining how this works. Here’s a good book that discusses virality and  information flows. Tumblr is also a bit complicated, as people can add to posts. This is why there are like 5 versions of every great tumblr meme with different people riffing on the OP. As the post grew, as did the spread of the people who commented below it. But here’s the thing. You, as a user on Tumblr, a conscious choice whether or not to reblog a post and to your blog and therefore your followers. "Discourse"* on Tumblr was curated by social networks of individual users that individual users self-selected into by following various blogs.

TikTok, on the other hand, is curated by an algorithm. You, as a user of TikTok, can shape what you see on your For You Page (FYP). The whole purpose of the FYP is to show you what you want to see, to keep you on the platform. As per TikTok themselves, you are put into a specific space based on what you consciously or unconsciously directed TikTok to believe you fit into. This is done consciously by following people, liking/commenting on/sharing content. It’s done unconsciously too, by watching TikTok content. This is why sometimes you’ll see people complaining that all they’re getting is like, queer discourse. It’s because you watch it. Maybe multiple times to get everything that was said because the app has no built-in captioning feature.

What this means, in essence, is that unlike Tumblr, the user has no real and/or direct control over where, potentially, their content could flow to. In interview studies that I've done with TikTok users, I've found that many TikTok users are careful about the content they produce because they're afraid of it attracting "the wrong kind of attention" - this could be say, a BLM activist getting harassed by white supremacists, or a Native American creator getting harassed by WitchTok for discussing how using certain kinds of sage is appropriative**. The pile on can be aggressive, as that post says, but what that post is missing is that you, as user on TikTok have no control over where that information goes or flows to. This gets more complicated with stitching and dueting.

So, if Tumblr has a more linear flow of information from node to node, TikTok takes information apart, splices it together, and all of it is made more complicated by peoples' faces being attached to it. Then it essentially pingpongs around an essentially closed network determined by algorithmic identity derived from measurable types. This is the part that concerns me. That post is right, people's faces make it more complicated. It complicates privacy. It complicates repercussions for people because it doesn't allow people to learn and grow and change. With video evidence, however, these things get harder. Which the internet writ large needs to get fucking better about. 

However. I was on Tumblr in 2014. I essentially content moderated a fandom for three years as a side gig to my day job. The conversations that are being had on TikTok are the exact same ones that were being had on Tumblr half a decade ago because -- get this -- a whole new generation of young, emergent thinkers, are trying on theory. They're trying on identities, they're experimenting with who they are and they're trying to talk it out***.  It is as mean and as nasty and as unpleasant and we should sit with the fact that Tumblr was fucking toxic because we made it that way. The problem is that the kids have picked the world's shittiest platform to do it on. Like Twitter, TikTok is limited in what you can do/say. So nuance is lost. What this means is that pile-ons can spin out of control, because these are kids who've just discovered debate and theory and ugh, "discourse" and therefore wield it with gusto when they could be more humane, more gentle, and more understanding of the fact that no one's perfect. 

(*sidebar that I high-key hate how discourse has gained a negative connotation because of this hellsite.

**And it is appropriative so stop doing it if you are.

***Baby leftists plz stop being Tankies do you have any idea how many People Stalin/Lenin had killed.)

[sleepymccoy]

Aziraphale’s demon aspect

As voted by 246 people!

The winner is

Owl

with nearly 26% of the primary vote

many people added in their free form answers that they were imagining a barn owl specifically

Owl was the front runner the whole way through this survey, but most of the time by a very beatable margin. The 40 or so people who voted in the last night really tipped it over, it was a tight race! And the results are crazy split imo, a quarter of votes constitutes a win! I love the different opinions and ideas we all have so so much

Ram/sheep came in a hearty second with 16.5% of the vote

A very regal demon there.

After that it gets a little murky, so I’m going to share the second graph I made when is every animal that got more than 1% of the vote. So it’s the top six animals

Magpie and Lion holding strong! Then Moth and Goat looking very good

The second question let you vote for as many options as you thought were appropriate for Aziraphale! So, there were a lot more write-ins! It’s crazy!

I’m using google sheets so I can’t get it to show you every name, but the raw data will be in a read more so you can scroll through everyone’s beautiful imagination there

Again, Owl winds with a solid 20% of the vote. Ram/Sheep coming in with about 15%, followed by Moth, Magpie, Goat, Lion, then Tortoise.

Tortoise was 11th in the first round, tied with Snake (but pale), and managed to surprise me by coming through so strong in the second. Slow and steady, baby.

Nearly everyone who wrote in about Magpies told me that Magpies hoard stuff, so it’s nice to see the hive mind at work there!

Five people told me they were voting goat because of that one piece of art by @hollow-head​ that shows Aziraphale scaling a bookshelf like goats do cliffs. As an artist myself I found it legitimately moving that this one image had stayed with people so strongly. That’s just beautiful. Here’s an example of just one person’s comment

idk dude i just remember one person posted art of him scaling the bookstore shelves like those goats scale mountains and just eating his clothes while he reads it was so fuckin funny but anyway goat eyes are great or he could have lil stubby horns that r covered by his hair

One moth enthusiast took the time to give me a short essay on their choice of moth. I have included a portion of it, cos it was so great

So if I had to choose an insect, it would be a moth, preferably a Megalopygidae, also known as the Flannel Moth. They are fluffy, white-beige and look innocent and fluffy, but their larvae can cause painful inflammations. A poodle moth would also fit because it's almost pure white.

Here’s a flannel moth for everyone

and a poodle moth, which i honestly thought was a hoax but i looked into it just now and it seems legit? There’s not a tonne of proof, but the og pictures are from a scientists who stands by them, so like, wow

And then a DIFFERENT PERSON put this in;

the moth i had in mind is Acherontia atropos, in polish called Zmierzchnica trupia główka (meaning more or less "dusk death's head"). i have a whole symbolism planned out and stuff 

Fucking, moth fandom come through!!

I’m vaguely scared of moths, fun fact. I don’t like the thick thunking sound they make when they hit stuff.

Here is the second round but with all the animals that got four or less votes removed for ease of viewing

the one segment there at 12 o’clock that google hasn’t labeled for me is Swan at 0.9%

I cannot believe I didn’t put swan in as an option, that’s all write-ins

So, to summarise, I suggest you take a lot of this with a grain of salt. It is not meant as an instruction to fandom or to railroad creativity. I have a narrow corner of the Good Omens fandom that I interact with, and while this quiz was up for a week I’m not sure it reached a great variety of people. About 250 folks filled it out, which was tonnes more than I expected and I love each and every one of you for filling it out!! But I have noticed that Owl was first on my list and in the free form answers the example prompt I gave included, “such as a breed of owl that specifically speaks to you,“ so I think it’s possible I did that unknowing bias thing that practiced survey folk know now to do. So, grain of salt.

I also think that if animals like Swan and Cat were in the list of options they’d’ve gotten more votes because the people who voted for those were coming up with it fresh themselves. I suspect people would’ve voted for them, but it just didn’t occur to them in the moment. In much the same way it didn’t occur to me in the moment I was writing this survey.

So people know, I got the ten or so animals that I put in the survey from searching the demon!aziraphale tag on tumblr, so it was all stuff that other people had come up with. I was trying to avoid my own bias, but i think in hindsight i could’ve done better!

Having said all that, this was all so much fun and the results are clear!!! Love a good owl!aziraphale

Imma continue to draw my boy as a ram, though. Cos this was all just for a laugh <3

numbers and a few more things under the cut

So some of these have half a vote ascribed to them. That’s for people who in their freeform answer said things like this;

ngl, that one post about him being a swan still makes me laugh

Mourning Dove. Though that Scallop answer was fucking brilliant

And I kinda made a judgement call that that wasn’t a vote, but it was kind of a vote. So I gave them half a point.

There were a few situations where people would write in a specific species. If I got more than one vote for the root animal I just grouped them together, but if it stayed the only vote then it kept the species. Cat got the most specific species mentioned, and in the second vote Bat had a few species mentioned (albino bat being my fave), but I ended up grouping them all just under Cat and Bat to give them a better chance of getting on the graph. There were probably a few other examples but I can’t think of them. The one exception to this is the person who wrote-in Duolingo Owl specifically. For that one I figured Owl is already pretty solid, and that’s just fucking funny, man

I was also pretty generous about some stuff. So, this person didn’t vote for Moose but they clearly regretted it so I added a vote for Moose in the second one where you could vote for multiples. They kept their Ram and Goat votes, of course, but I added Moose for them

I get very bastard energy from my demon az headcanons. Like f-ing shit up for a laugh more than anything, but otherwise indifferent. That's kinda why I like the ram/sheep/goat thing so much because it reminds me of indifference and random chaos. Or a moose. Shit, I should have written in moose

So yeah, it’s hardly a double blind study that’d stand up to any real criticism, but it was fun and I think the essence of it is fun!! Scroll through and have a read. Imma pull a few more of my fave write-ins and put them down the bottom cos it’s great. Esp the ones that only got one vote, the reasonings were stellar on some of those

Here is the first vote results, where everyone could only vote for one animal each

Owl 63 Ram/Sheep 40 Magpie 28 Lion 26 Moth 21 Goat 17 Swan 4 Eagle 4 Dove 4 Cat 4 Tortoise 3 Snake 3 Scallop 2 Rat 2 Rabbit 2 Mongoose 2 Badger 2 Shima Enaga 1 Shark 1 Porcupine 1 Orangutan 1 Mouse 1 Long Furby 1 Hippopotomaus 1 Goose 1 Duck 1 Dragon 1 Cow 1 Cereberus 1 Boar 1 Bee 1 Bat 1 Alpaca 1

Second Vote results, where everyone could vote for as many as they wanted

Owl1 82 Ram/Sheep 136 Moth 108.5 Magpie 98 Goat 96 Lion 72 Tortoise 61 Snake 37 Eagle 33 Cat 9.5 Swan 7.5 Lizard 4 Rabbit 4 Badger 3 Mongoose 2 Dove 2 Mouse 2 Squirrel 2 Bear 2 Raccoon 2 Capybara 2 Dragon 2 Bat 1 Long Furby 1 Rat 1 Boar 1 Goose 1 Peacock 1 Pangolin 1 Lindworm 1 Moose 1 Chinchilla 1 Duolingo Owl 1 Cackatoo 1 Crow 1 Cow 1 Alpaca 1  Dodo 1 Shark 1 Big Dog 1 Snow Leopard 1 Scallop 0.5

All voting was optional. To help explain how scallop lost 1.5 votes from first to second, I believe the people who voted for it in the first question just skipped the second cos they’d said their bit.

In terms of how many people engaged with the questions, Q1 had 245 answers and one skip. Q2 had 241 answers and 5 skips, and Q3 where I just let people talk at me if they wanted to had 84 answers and 162 skips.

So please enjoy my selection of free form answers. They all made me smile but putting all 84 in seems excessive to me, so I’ve chosen the ones that are either full blown mini essays or that make me laugh. It’s still a lot, this project brought me so much joy

-

Shima enaga - It's the hair man

Cow (aka golden calf)

Scallop. He is a snack.

Swan. Elegant but very capable of fscking you up. Mates for life.

basically anything that is both gentle in nature and fiercely loyal, territorial and protective (but prone to anxiety). Also hedonistic esp. with food. For all of these reasons, I think a dog would be the best choice.

Dragon with his hoard of books

it’s about the teeth. just too sharp and too many to be human. (comment from op here, this person voted for shark, just for context)

Turkish Angora cat. Magnificently fluffy, incredibly intelligent, love heights and will jump off crazy high things and land on your head, gloriously dignified until they see a string and run into a wall, love one or maybe two persons to distraction and want everyone else to fuck off, will drape themselves over their person’s shoulders and go to sleep, range from “will jump in the sea to hunt fish and has a murder pit full of seagulls they’ve massacred” to “will fall over at the sight of a baby bird”, very particular about food and will yell at you if you get it wrong. Also the breed that some asshole took three cats from and bred parent to child to make Persians. The cautionary tale has been acknowledged and we love our crazy smart, single braincelled children.

I usually imagine him as an owl because they are nocturnal (and we know that Aziraphale can easily stay awake the whole night reading). Also the image of an owl puffed up is kind of ridiculous and reminds me of him, of how an annoyed Aziraphale would look. However the options above have made me think that a lion would suit him very well, too. A lion or just a very BIG cat. I mean, he makes pleading eyes to get what he wants, likes to be confortable, is a bit of a bastard and often puts himself in awkward situations from which he needs to be rescued. He just... acts very cat-like in my opinion. Also owls and cats are both predators, but are usually imagined (or, at least cats are) as cute little creatures, just like Aziraphale is an Angel of the Lord (a Warrior, actually) but looks all soft and cute and huggable. I dunno. Maybe I just want to pet an Aziracat.

I love all the other people's thoughts about demon!Aziraphale, but what about the honey badger? I try to explain why I have it in mind for demon!azi: its name (I think it's funny, expecially in English because 'honey' can make you imagine it's something sweet (it is for me), while the 'bad' in badger can be an alarm bell (like 'be careful! It is not like it seems!')); its face (ok, who can say its face isn't cute? I think, and hope, nobody can, and like the name, it is a misunderstanding: as always, be careful, it's not like it seems!, I think demons can say something about demon!azi as like "you don't seem like a 'good' demon, you can't be, your face (animal and human) is too f-ing disgusting sweet to be a demon!", I think maybe even angel!crowley, at the beginning, can think something like this ("how in the world somebody so cute like you can be a demon?"), then he discovered how demon!azi can be a very talented demon sometimes, but in Crowley's mind azi is still his little cutie angry furry); its furry's colour (black=demon, white/grey/silver/idkitsname= color of demon!azi's wings, because even if he fell, I can't say no to his white wings 😭); it is a snake's predator (and in my mind angel!crowley is still a snake); its solitary life (demon!aziraphale is alone and he doesn't mind it, unless it's angel!crowley we're talking about, then our cute demon minds it); its behaviour (demon!azi, even if he's cute, can be a really very talented demon: honey badger is fearless and dangerous, it can fight bigger animals if there aren't other chances and it can't escape); its skin is very tough (except for a soft/safe spot, behind its neck if I remember well, that only angel!Crowley knows and sometimes he uses it to calm demon!azi down or make azi do some good deeds); its diet (it has a sweet-thooth, for honey in primis, but it can eat everything it wants... Doesn't it resemble demon!azi?); it's smart (search for Stoffle on your browser if you don't know)... Ok,I think I finish, sorry for the novel 😅

I tend to think of animals that meet three criteria: (1) they exemplify “faults” in his character exaggerated to “sins”—gluttony, greed/hoarding, sloth, (2) they are species that favor fawning or flight as a defense mechanism but can also be bold on occasion, and (3) blend very well or have a keen affinity with human society, specifically thriving in urban (i.e., city) environments. This is mostly because I can’t see “Aziraphale” in a reverse AU that doesn’t preserve some of his core traits as an angel (a little hedonistic, hoarding, anxious, etc.). So I like city-dwelling bastard animals with bonus points for relation to scripture, like a rock dove or a fox or an owl.

Owls aren't  smart, and the pedant in me says not an owl. But, thinking on it, demon aspect, owls are perceived as smart, but designed as deadly silent predators, patient and solitary. So actually demon Aziraphale could take on more owlish aspects. I just like cockatoo better, since they are smart, and showy. Or a crow, although that does amusing things with Crowleys name.

god imagining him as a chimera is !!! (comment from op, there was this odd flurry of mythical animals being voted for one night. i think the survey hit a corner of fandom that leans that way. there was also dragon, another chimera, a griffon, and a lindworm all at the same rough time)

Magpies are great because they’re cute and fluff themselves up (go look at Sophie the magpie) and like hoarding their favorite things but also I’ve watched one just straight up kill another bird before because corvids are sneaky little bastards with no lack of a mean streak if they’re crossed

It’s the duolingo owl, I’m so sorry op but it just is. I genuinely don’t mean to clown on your post, but this take was delivered to me in a sleep induced haze and I believe it’s the god given truth. Demon Aziraphale WOULD try to make you learn a dead language and he’d go about it in a vaguely threatening way (comment from op, you’re so fucking right dude. also, shit like this is made for clowning, i’m with you 100%)

When choosing a demon aspect for a Aziraphale, I usually tried to keep in mind the artistic tradition of which animals are linked with demons. The Good Omens team seems to have drawn inspiration from that source because all the animals we do see are either reptilian or insectoid. Those species were often shown inhabiting hellish landscapes in Renaissance and Baroque paintings. However, Aziraphale never struck me as cold or slimy or hard like an exoskeleton. So if I had to choose an insect, it would be a moth, preferably a Megalopygidae, also known as the Flannel Moth. They are fluffy, white-beige and look innocent and fluffy, but their larvae can cause painful inflammations. A poodle moth would also fit because it's almost pure white.

Ok so the only reason I pick magpie is because those bastards are smart as hell but also know how and when to inconvenience the shit out of you, and if you gain their trust then they're absolute darlings but if they decide "nah, dont like ya" then you're basically done and you'll wake up every morning with shit on your car window. I also chose sheep/ram cuz I mean... idk it suits him. I don't remember my other choice but I'm sure I had a good reason.

I feel like a barn owl would suit him well but I'm not really sure why, I also think that a moth would suit him really well because of the whole "moth to a flame" thing and as a demon he would have gotten burned because of that attitude.

I write a reverse AU fic called Lambs to the Slaughter where Aziraphale's demonic aspect is an albino sheep! I imagine him as a mix between a wild Argali ram and the first woolly domestics. I chose an Argali because they're the largest species of wild sheep, but I wanted him to have traits of a domestic breed because he obtains his animal aspect from a sheep in Abel's flock which would be several generations down from the original wild species in Eden. I really think a sheep suits Aziraphale! They're an incredibly common animal and have been since they were first domesticated. Likewise, since the start of human history, Aziraphale has been living side-by-side with humans, providing for them, and protecting them. Due to how common they are, sheep are often unnoticed, which Aziraphale leans into. Crowley wants to stand out. He has a dedicated aesthetic and an obsession with human invention, where Aziraphale leans more towards simpler, known things and creature comforts. He fades into the background, and that suits him fine. He doesn't have to be outstanding to Heaven or to humans or even to Crowley -- it's enough to do his part, to trust in a bigger plan. People associate sheep (especially lambs) with innocence or ignorance which foils nicely to Crowley as the serpent tempting with knowledge, as well as with Aziraphale's own sharp mind and ongoing embers of faith in a system that is failing him, Crowley, and all of humanity. Sheep are, like Aziraphale, soft, cute, and hiding a hard-headed stubbornness and a surprising strength that makes them absolutely fearsome. Aziraphale is very much the sort to put his head down and push relentlessly forward regardless of the pressure and strain. Rams in particular have thick skulls to withstand the brutal force of headbutting one another in displays of dominance. While Aziraphale is clever, he's not above rolling up his sleeves and getting the job done, as messy and unpleasant as it might be (see: pulling a gun on the Antichrist). Also sheep are associated with Pan, a god associated with food, music, theatre, and the criticism thereof, which hit many of Aziraphale's personal interests and hobbies! I like the idea that in a reverse AU, the demon formerly named Aziraphale might be the original basis for Pan!

I wrote in Orangutan for the first question because if I remember correctly they are some of the most violent apes. Although I'd accept bonobo for him too. They fuck alll the time.

mothman aziraphale,,,,, thats it

Snowy owl, speremint's tortoise, and I just adore the goat.

moth - dusty and eats books

Long Furby the way Loni-Capri draws it.

I keep thinking about that Black Philip quote "doest thou wish to live deliciously" because... it fits so much with the general epicurean/hedonism vibe the Fandom has for him ... but in a demonic way and also I think a lot abt that art piece (already referenced many times probably but what the hell) of him climbing his own bookshelves, it's just so good!!

Albino Lion/white lion (matches his hair).  I feel like maybe I should explain why I think Lion would fit him best, lol. Lions actually are rather sedate, inactive for 20 hours of the day (see: Aziraphale reading and unmoving- yes I pulled wiki for this to make sure I didn't spout anything terribly wrong, shhh)  but also there's nomad lions. Lions that range widely and move around sporadically either alone or in pairs (*looks at Crowley after apoconope*) (pairs are more frequent among males who have been excluded from their birth pride)  but also I think of lions as protectors, defenders, and what is Aziraphale if not that? If not an angel who fiercely protects humans, crowley, earth? (When he finally overcomes heaven and it's abuse) lions don't hunt unless they're hungry, don't attack unless they're defending. They've been known to sit directly next to jeeps full of people and just watch them, not attacking or being aggresive.

I saw art once (I have no idea who the artist is) of Demon!Aziraphale climbing his bookcases like a goat and absentmindedly chewing on his sweater while he reads. I felt like the goat aspect suited him perfectly.

Honestly I wrote Az with a rat aspect because, well, it fits who I see demon Az as. He's not super powerful but he is very consequential, like rats carrying plague fleas (this also describes how I see Az tempting). He tries to blend into a crowd, which is arguably one way rats survive, and can get himself into places/situations that should be impossible or super difficult. Like snakes, rats have been unfairly maligned by our culture for a long time, even though they are very social with their colonies, smart, affectionate, and generally good beans. Finally, male pet rats are known far and wide as the lazier of the sexes while the girls are super curious and adventurous.

Somehow his tartan pattern becomes either his colour scheme or his coat/feather pattern.

Eurasian eagle owl. A big, unapologetic grump of an owl that is soft as soft can be underneath. Possessor of the glare to end all glares to be used in such dire situations as being interrupted when reading or being told one has "had enough cake".

[5lazarus]

Jane Austen Book Club

Dukat reads Pride and Prejudice to help him understand human relations (and fuck the Sisko). He thinks he’s being Darcy but really, he’s just Mr. Collins…and evil. Garak lends him a copy of Jane Austen and a horrific cravat, and really, it's all downhill from there. The sorta-Regency AU that no one wanted but that @the-venereal-bede asked for, so here we go!

For your formatting sanity, read on Archive of Our Own here!

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Commander Sisko is in need of a good fuck. Skrain Dukat believes he is just the man for the job. Absolutely everyone else disagrees.

“You see, my dear Julian,” Garak says, eyes widening over his Tarkalean tea, “a certain someone sent him a copy of that lovely novel you lent me, and he does believe it is meant as a model of, ah—“

“Human mating practices,” Julian says, horrified.

Garak closes his eyes, inclines his head, and smiles. “Yes. Now, how he arrived at that misconception is neither here nor there.”

“You told him,” Julian says.

Garak widens his eyes and inclines his head. “Now, your Jane Austen writes a society that is…familiar to certain Cardassian cultural practices.”

“The bickering as a lead up to sex, yes,” Julian says. Garak pauses. Julian says, “What? I read about it.”

Garak does not even attempt to suppress a smirk. “What book?” he asks, faux-suspicious.

Julian colors, and continues, “So, a certain someone, who is certainly not a spy masquerading as a tailor, slipped Jane Austen’s seminal text Pride & Prejudice into Gul Dukat’s PADD when he showed up at the station after we accidentally set off the emergency self-destruct system. As an insider look into human mating culture. And now he’s convinced this is going to get Commander Sisko to fuck him.”

Garak says, “Yes, isn’t it delightful?”

Julian picks up his tea and smiles over the rim. “Oh yes,” he says. “Commander Sisko is going to kill us both!”

At Quark’s, during lunch, Major Kira comes to their table. She interrupts a truly riveting debate about the old Earth movie Lawrence of Arabia and the sublimation of trauma into BDSM, where Garak is cool and amused the entire time, and Julian more and more gesticulating.

“It’s not just sex, Garak,” Julian is saying hotly.

Kira steps back, but Garak, smirking to himself, says loudly, “Oh Major, do you need something? You’re just in time to settle a question.”

Kira says uncertainly, “I’m not sure I’m the best one to ask.”

“Nonsense!” Julian says. “Who else would we go to?” He puts down his fork. Garak leans forward and grins at Julian.

Kira says, “Dax? Quark? Even Sisko—actually, scratch that.” She puts her hands on her hips, trying to convey authority. It works on Julian. Garak merely widens his eyes at her. “So, I got the most interesting call in Ops today.” Julian glances up at Garak, and Kira folds her arms. “I get the sense you know what I’m talking about.”

Garak says, “I haven’t the slightest idea, Major. Please,” he gestures at a seat. “Enlighten us.” Julian picks up his fork again and smiles at him. He’s amused. So is Kira, despite herself. She pulls up a chair and sits on it backwards.

She leans forward and whispers, “Gul Dukat was wearing—Dax called it a cravat?”

Julian snorts into his tea.

“Ah,” Kira says. “I get the sense you know what I’m talking about. He called Dax, asking if she could—grant him an introduction? To Sisko?” She is baffled by the words she’s saying. “He says he needs a chaperone. Now, that’s never stopped him from diplomatic negotiations before—“

Garak says knowingly, “Oh, Major, he should never have been left without a chaperone to begin with. His father—“

Kira says, “I don’t want to know. I don’t want to know! What you did to his father. I don’t need to know. Anyway. I just had a sense. Do you two have anything to do with that?”

Julian sets his fork back down and puts his napkin on his plate. “We don’t mean any harm,” he says. “Just—streamlining communication. Did Dax agree?”

Kira says, “Yeah, that’s the part I don’t get. She said yes! I’ve never seen her agree to anything that fast—willingly spending time with Gul Dukat!”

Garak inquires innocently, “Did he happen to mention a book, Major?”

“Something about a Darcy?”

Julian puts his head in his hands. Garak’s eyes widen. “Oh, then—there’s nothing to worry about. He’s just indulged in an Earth book of manners I sent him. Nothing to worry about,” he repeats. Slowly, he smiles. “But do give Lieutenant Dax my thanks.”

Dax says, “I think the funniest thing about this is that he thinks he’s Mr. Darcy, when he’s clearly a Mr. Collins.”

Kira says, “I still don’t get—why do you need to drop off a card and get it signed to talk to someone you want to fuck?”

Dax rolls her eyes. “It’s not quite that, Kira,” she says. “It’s more that you’re open to—talking.” She rolls her hands out as they exit the turbolift and enter Ops.

“Right.” Kira waggles her eyebrows. “Talking.” They separate to their stations, hiding their smiles, and shift to their Starfleet selves. Dax pulls up the latest readings on geothermic activity from the closest M-class planets in the Gamma Quadrant; the Jem’Hadar are not near, but close enough that their sensors register their presence. Kira frowns over the latest dispatch from the provisional government. Everything is new, nothing is particularly going well, but they have a rhythm, and that means they can get through the day. Routine is good: Kira is still unsettled by her real-life nightmare with the Cardassians, and Dax still catches herself whistling Joran’s melodies.

Then Sisko comes out of his office, bearing raktajino and whistling to himself. Dax involuntarily starts: Joran? Kira looks up sharply, but Sisko is calm and that calms her. Dax goes back to work.

Sisko walks over to Kira and says, “I just had the most informative call with Kai Winn and Vedek Bareil.”

Kira straights up. “Oh?” she says warily.

Sisko takes a sip from his Klingon coffee, preparing to launch into the story, but an ensign says, “What the fuck? Sorry, sir. We have an incoming call from…Gul Dukat.”

Dax giggles. Sisko looks askance and says, “Again?”

Dax says innocently, “Oh, I wonder what he could want.”

Kira coughs a laugh into her hands. Sisko rolls his eyes at her.

“Let’s see what he’s wearing this time,” he sighs. He looks at Dax. “I don’t know who gave him a book of manners from eighteenth century England, of all places. It’s infuriating. On screen, ensign.” He braces himself, and Dax and Kira do too.

Gul Dukat takes up the whole screen, not because he is a particularly big man or charismatic. It is because he programmed it to fixate on his face. He sits there primly, neck covered by a huge, puffy piece of cloth. It is lurid, bright orange, and its pattern seethes.

That is one horrific necktie, the entirety of Ops thinks in unison. Not even Quark would touch that; this makes the Ferengi’s ugly-chic look positively haut-couture.

Sisko clears his throat. “What do you want, Dukat?” he says.

Dukat smiles winsomely. It is the same smile he wore when he told a Bajoran worker he was stealing her wife and sending her children to the mines. Kira’s face fixes into a snarl. Sisko glances back at her, to check if she needs anything, but she makes a subtle gesture with her hand.

“Well?” Sisko says. “I do have a station to run.”

Gul Dukat drawls, “Certainly you have time for a chat between partners—“

“Partners?” Sisko stares askance. “You got trapped in Ops during a self-destruct program you made, and you think you can—is there anything you need, Dukat?” He restrains his anger. Behind him, Kira is now less disgusted and more horrified. She tries to catch Dax’s eye: is this really happening?

Dax grins.

“No, I just wanted to offer my assistance,” Dukat says. “To remind you that I am still here, assiduously waiting, to swoop in whenever I hear the call. As I did during the auto-destruct sequence just one week ago, if you remember.”

“Swoops like a vulture,” Kira mutters behind Sisko. “Like carrion.”

Dax says, “Well, with that necktie, he’s certainly hard to forget.”

Dukat preens. “Do you like? I was advised by—I wish our people to become better friends, Commander Sisko. Truly, I do. And I think the best way for us to proceed is for you to remember that I am always here. Waiting. For when you will need me, because you will need me.”

“Chief O’Brien has this station well in hand,” Sisko says repressively, “and Bajor takes care of the rest. Is there anything else you need?” Gul Dukat opens his mouth, but Sisko gestures at the ensign. “Close the channel. Sisko out.” He turns to Dax. “What the fuck was that about?”

Dax shrugs. “I don’t know,” she says.

Sisko says, “I know you do, Old Man. What’s he playing at?”

Dax begins walking towards the turbolift. “Dunno! But I just remembered—I need to drop these PADDs off with Julian.” She grins at him. “What? You didn’t like the cravat?” Sisko sighs.

“Cheer up, Benjamin,” she says as the doors begin to close. “At least he’s using his words.”

Sisko winces. Turning around, he barks at the frozen Ops personnel. “What? Don’t you have work to do? Get to work!”

“Bet you he was jerking off under the table,” Dax says. “Acquire.”

Quark makes a face. “Evade. Well, he fucks himself every time he talks.” Busily he looks at his cards. Any hand can be a winning hand, if you play your cards right. He spins the tongo wheel. Dax smiles.

“What’s your bet, Quark?” she asks, stretching her legs like a lazy cat underneath the table. Quark rolls his eyes at her. “Do you think Benjamin will bite?”

“Not in the way Dukat wants,” Quark says. He looks at her suddenly, then glances back down at his cards. She is trying to distract him with gossip and he will not let it work, however entertaining Starfleet drama is. She’s bluffing. He says, “Unless?” Unfortunately Dax shakes her head. Damn, Quark thinks. That could have been profitable. Strange, but profitable.

Dax, thinking about it, says, mirth in her voice, “Well, that’d be a new record in interstellar relations. The Emissary of the Prophets and Starfleet commander accepts the courtship of one Gul Dukat—“

“Courtship?” Quark looks up sharply. “You didn’t tell me he was courting him.” This will definitely be profitable!

Dax is nonplussed. “Well, I mean, it’s not really a courtship when one party is utterly repulsed by the other and totally ignorant of his affections.”

“Jadzia,” Quark puts down his cards. “You’re breaking my heart. Don’t you know there’s money to be made, when love is in the air?” He mines sniffing the intoxicating aroma of phemerones, alien and Ferengi alike. He bares his sharp little teeth in a winsome grin. “I can help with this, you know. Help everyone. We can’t have our commander distracted in times such as these, you know. I can arrange a little meeting, semipublic, you understand—“

Dax says, “I don’t, but…retreat.” A bit embarrassed now, she spins the tongo wheel. She loves to gossip and she loves controlling the funnel of information through Quark. Perhaps this was a misstep.

Quark’s eyes light up. “Gul Dukat would pay good money on a spread of the commander’s favorite, under a candlelit dinner. In a semi-retreated place so, you know, fondling can happen if it happens—“

“You don’t think Benjamin’s going to fondle anything, do you?” Dax is amused. “Play your hand, Quark. And on your head if this backfires!”

Quark makes a face and says, “Confront.” He grins up at Dax. “Rule of Acquisition Twenty-Two: a wise man can hear profit in the wind.”

Dax cocks an eyebrow. “Rule of Acquisition One Hundred And Ninety,” she retorts. “Hear all, trust nothing. Tongo!”

“I don’t know why we have to have this here, Quark,” Sisko says. “We have a board room in Ops.”

“Don’t you hew-mons know anything about preventing a war?” Quark scowls. “Wine and dine, commander! Wine and dine!”

Sisko rolls his eyes. Dukat has demanded a meeting to discuss Jem’Hadar build-up on the Gamma side of the wormhole; Starfleet Command indicated their desire that he speak to it, citing his strange ability to keep Dukat talking. There’s nothing strange about it. The man’s an egotist. Normally Sisko would convene the meeting in his office, and have Kira or Dax around to keep him from getting too weird, but both of them have pleaded busy. Captain Bodahn is in town; Vedek Bareil has a rare break from monastic duties. Thus Sisko is left alone, with Quark, in a private nook at the upper level of the bar, where few can see them but, of course, the bartender himself. Nothing goes unseen at Quark’s.

Odo has arranged Bajoran security throughout the place, enough to make it clear they aren’t happy Dukat is here. Sisko catches the gaze of one particularly stoic woman. Stony, she does not even nod back. They’re good, Odo’s hand-picked forces. While they’re loyal to Odo first and Starfleet maybe seventh, Sisko likes having them around. It makes Dukat very, very uncomfortable.

Quark says, right in his ear, “What do you think of crayfish?” Sisko starts violently and pushes him away.

“Crawfish?” Sisko stares at him. “What?”

“I asked your dad,” Quark says.

“What?” That’s insane. “How did you—nevermind, Quark.” Joseph can handle anyone, and the idea of his wily old dad running circles around Quark is oddly comforting. Then he hears the murmurs, Bajorans looking askance, and knows Dukat is coming.

Quark says, “Damn. Must’ve stopped by at Garak’s, then.” Sisko’s mouth drops. Dukat is wearing skintight pants, illuminating every unfortunate bulge and ridge in his knobby legs. He wears that horrific cravat, stroking it as he weaves like a snake through the shocked crowd. The necktie is orange. The waistcoat is an electric blue of the likes never seen amongst the terracottas popular on Deep Space Nine. The jacket, though, is out of this world—slashed to give him the appearance of a tiny waist and shoulders so ridiculously wide he looks like a capital-T.

Quark says, “Hm. Cardassian fashions must’ve changed since the Occupation. Well! Don’t you feel underdressed.”

Sisko says, “He looks like a sea slug.”

“Where I’m from, that’s a complement!” Quark grins. “A bottle of kanar and whiskey for yourself, coming right up.”

“No—“ Sisko does not want to give Dukat any excuse to be more verbose than usual, but it is too late. Quark disappears, and Dukat approaches.

“Ah, Commander,” Gul Dukat preens. “How good of you to consent to dinner with me.”

Sisko says, “I follow my orders. Where’s Quark?”

Dukat says, “Surely we’re beyond the point of needing chaperones.” He sits down at the table, which is uncomfortably small. Sisko pulls his own chair back and settles down, four inches away. Dukat scooches in. A muscle twitches in Sisko’s jaw, but otherwise, he does not move.

Quark comes by holding candlesticks. Sisko, perturbed, says, “Is this really necessary? It’s just business.”

Quark says, “Sh. Now, gentleman!” He claps his hand. “For our first course, I’ll be serving you a Ferengi special—desiccated laka leaves with freshly-filleted tube grubs, in a fermented garlic wine sauce. I know how you liked my tube grubs, Dukat.”

Dukat smiles winsomely. It makes him look even more like an inbred greyhound than usual. Sisko is beginning to think he might want that whiskey after all.

Quark continues, “And then, for our main course—a simple crawfish boil, as you hew-mons say, with candied makati berries to keep it to our Cardassian tastes.” Quark winks, very obviously, to Dukat. Dukat’s smile grows wider.

Sisko, a bit disturbed, says, “Uh—why don’t we just leave it at the tube grubs, Quark.” It is not question. It is an order. “I have pressing business to attend to, and cannot stay for a whole three-course meal.” Pressing business like making sure Jake and Nog have done their homework and going over security reports with Odo, which he had planned to do tomorrow morning, but the less time spent with Dukat, the better.

Dukat says, “I agree. We want to get to the point of this meeting, don’t we?” He begins loosening his cravat.

Quark holds his clasped hands to his chest gleefully. “I quite agree!” He leans forward and lights the candles quickly. “I’ll just leave you two gentlemen to it.” He scampers away, leaving Sisko with a horrible feeling. This is going to be weird. With Dukat, it’s always weird.

As soon as Quark leaves, Dukat leans forward and attempts to pull his hand forward, upsetting the candle.

“Woah, man,” Sisko says, grabbing it as it spills wax onto Dukat’s hand. Dukat hisses, releasing him grip.

“Benjamin, if I may call you Benjamin,” Dukat begins.

“Commander is fine,” Sisko says. “Dukat, what—“

“In our long acquaintance, you have found me a constant and unfailing presence,” he says, stroking his horrific necktie. “Indeed, my interventions have been necessary, saving the life of you, your son, and this whole station on multiple occasion. Your barbs have been sharp, your repartee cunning, but as for me, I have shown mastery in every situation that you have needed me. Clearly it is time for us to admit all along that this dance is reaching its final, fated steps. The Emissary of the Prophets needs the Prefect of Major, and together—“

Sisko says, “Since when have you saved my life? You were an active inconvenience when the station was under lockdown, you have consistently attempted to take the station by force—“

Dukat smiles again. “Again, we dance, and the music plays on.” He waves a hand idly through the air. “O-Oh, Quaaark!” he trills. Quark comes running over. “Where are our drinks? Where is the music? Why isn’t there dancing?”

Sisko stares at Quark. “Because I said so,” Sisko says.

Quark points at Sisko. “Because he said so. Drinks coming right up!” He scurries away and comes back with a single bottle of kanar and two traditional hourglass glasses. He pours them both a glass, maintaining eye contact with Sisko the entire time.

Dukat says, “A toast.”

Sisko says, “Our sensors have not picked up any new activity from the Jem’Hadar. Do you have something to report, or are you just wasting my time?”

Dukat laughs lightly. “Oh, commander, save some of that for later.” A bit more threatening this time, he says, “A toast—to our partnership.”

Sisko says, “I don’t drink kanar. And I don’t drink with you, Dukat. Now, will you tell me what you’re blathering about or will you f—“

“Gentlemen!” Quark says, bearing tube grubs. “I hope I’m interrupting.”

Sisko says, “Don’t you mean…not interrupting, Quark?”

A beat passes. Quark inclines his head. “Sure.” He places a plate of freshly-filleted tube grubs before both of them, and then proffers what Sisko assumes is a pepper grinder. “Paprika?” Dukat, pained, nods. Vigorously Quark massages the grinder. It is a little obscene. He grunts as he begins to twist. Slowly, achingly, the flakes begin to drop.

Sisko says, “Please stop.”

Quark says, “Just setting the mood.” Sisko makes a face. “You want, too?” He makes for Sisko, who puts his hands up.

“I don’t like tube grubs,” he says sourly, eying Dukat. “I think our business is done here.”

“No!” Quark pounces. “You haven’t even gotten to your second course!”

Sisko turns to him. “Who’s paying you?” he demands. “What’s going on?” Quietly the Bajoran security officers in their wall-colored clothes each take a step forward, to make themselves known.

Dukat growls, “Quark, you’re ruining the moment.” He smiles unpleasantly. “Benjamin, please.” He takes his arm, but Sisko slaps his hand away.

“What’s gotten into you?” Sisko says. “What’s with the—necktie?”

Dukat preens. “What, this old thing? A mutual friend told me it was just the thing to attract the notice I desire. He gave me a book, you see, and really I must admit after reading it you humans are somewhat less unenlightened than I first imagined. More civilized than the Bajorans, at least.”

Sisko closes his eyes. “What book is that?” he says. “The Prince? Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? Vanity Fair?”

Dukat says, “Better. And it would make me the happiest of men, beyond the proudest of men, the most prejudiced of men—“

“That,” Sisko interrupts, voice rising, “is not a good thing.”

Dukat ignores him. “The most sensible of men, the most full of sense of men, of all persuasions to finally enjoin you, Benjamin, finally to end this charade.” He grabs Sisko’s hand. “Benjamin! You are not a Darcy!”

“The fuck are you saying,” Sisko says.

Dukat stops. “Surely you know—“

Sisko says with finality, “No. I don’t.”

Dukat says, “But—“

“No,” Sisko says.

“You said—the necktie—he said—“

“Don’t finish that sentence,” Sisko says. “Eat your tube grubs.”

Gul Dukat tightens his cravat, and in silence they finish their meal. Catching Sisko in the replimat the next day, lunching with Julian as always, Garak asks Sisko what he thought of Dukat’s new passion for Jane Austen. Sisko shoots him a look so deadly he stops, eyes wide, and suddenly understands Dukat’s unrelenting lust.

“Well,” Garak says, shaking himself as Sisko stalks away. He pulls at his collar and them remembers himself. “That was…something, wasn’t it? Seeing our commander in a fury, in one look.” He leans forward, over the table. “You know, I don’t think Sisko like Jane Austen. Not nearly as much as Gul Dukat.”

Julian smiles wryly. He says, “Well, yes. Don’t you remember the situation with the ghost? He much prefers Wuthering Heights.” He looks at Garak, suddenly worried. “You’re not going to tell Dukat, are you?”

Garak smiles to himself. “I believe my one attempt at teaching him to be a man of culture is enough, my dear Julian.”

Julian frowns. “Shame. I thought we could have a book club.” He grins at the look on Garak’s face. “Get the boys all together. Act scenes out in the holosuites. Could be fun.”

Garak says, “No. Not with Gul Dukat. That cravat was enough.”

[csykora]

I sorry I have more questions know because that sounds like a really interesting background. How did you manage to jump from history major to nursing?

Questions are always cool. I’m afraid it’s not a very good story, but here’s trying:

(Warning for mentions of death)

I was born in a village of about thirty people, which used to be a quarry town called Sodom. The only business was the co-op which the quarry workers had founded. (There used to be one other: the bar, which was in the basement of the church. We’re efficient people.) Everybody sugared and most people raised cows, except for us. We kept sheep. For the first part of my childhood the cabin was lit with oil lamps, until my dad burnt it down.

Loving history was natural. I think partly it was home—wherever you go you can stumble into the cuts of empty quarries, the stones taken away for pasture walls that now hold trees, come out of those new trees to find a massive fat signpost maple that used to mark the old Montréal road. And partly I wasn’t a good reader, so I missed most children’s books and wound up reading a lot of secondhand books—discarded university collections of Arthuriana and fairytales, a translation of the Song of Roland, Tolkien and Lewis, lots of technical books on construction and crafts, that sort of thing.

I think I was raised to look for where people were. It’s a good idea to find your way in the woods. And I also knew I was outclassed in school trying to understand modern shit my classmates knew about: thinking about the ways people lived in the past seemed easier, at the time. Thinking about the things they felt is also easy for a weird kid. The books I had made the difference: Lewis knew his medievalism, and those texts didn’t gloss over the wildly different ways people used to see themselves and each other. The gender roles we know in America now are not the same as any other time. In some time and place, every sort of person has lived, and they’ve felt all kinds of things. It has nothing directly to do with my life, but at some point someone who looked like me could wear big gowns and be seen as feminine and precious without question, and knowing that is pretty cool. The story of Lancelot and Gawain has nothing directly to do with my life, but you can hear it and know that people in the past have felt grief and absolutely pathetic queer longing, and that’s pretty cool.

I was also raised by my dad, who had been a teacher and a public defender and several other things but was mostly a socialist. He retired after being given a terminal diagnosis when I was four, and pursued his passion of being a weird old woodsman. (Unrelatedly my pseudo-Uncle Dave who lived across the way was an Oxford Classics professor turned logger.) So I had no idea how careers were supposed to work. I found a college program with lots of scholarship at fifteen, so I just took a bunch of history courses, because that was all I knew about, and one EMT-B training course, because it was a great excuse not to sleep.

When my dad came out of remission, I realized that I was going to need to be his primary caregiver. The emergency training had made me realize how much of medicine amounts to doing stuff with your hands, and I can sure do that, but I had never been trained in the kind of wound care I was helping him with, so I quit my college and applied to nursing school.

In the end, we didn’t have that kind of time, and my dad died my first week of nursing school when I was eighteen. I finished the year because I was there, and then the program because I’d finished the year. If you all ever take any advice from me: try to pay attention when you’re going in a direction just because that’s the way you were going. My dad would say that when you’re lost you should start searching in spirals.

I started going into the school rink just to listen to the white noise of the machinery and keep not sleeping, which is how I completely accidentally watched a hockey game for the first time in years. I wound up watching the NHL and the thing you really need to know about me is that I watched every game of the 2015-16 Columbus Blue Jackets.

Then I started this blog, graduated, worked, realized I could go back to school while working, and now my hobby is writing historical Romance.

I hope this has answered your questions, unless you have questions about Arthuriana or the Chronicles of Narnia or the Romance novels I want to write about the plot to turn the crown prince of France gay or ‘80s hockey. For some reason no one asks me about Romance or the Chronicles of Narnia on this, my hockey blog

[holycow99]

石田お寿司 12/9/21 stream translation Part 13

This is not the full translation of the stream. I only translated the parts I could understand & interpret or parts I found interesting/important. I’m still a beginner in Japanese, so the translations may not be accurate. If you want to repost, please repost at your own risk.

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(t/n: ** means translation may not be accurate.)

C: Is Tonari no Young Jump an app?

I: It’s a website. It’s like Jump Plus. It’s not well-known. Choujin X is being serialised there. It’s in Tonari Young Jump. I wanna change the name… Why is it Tonari (neighbour)? Even though I’m doing this with so much pride for Tonari no Young Jump. Even though I’m prepared to work for Tonari Young Jump for the rest of my life. It’s just a neighbour?! It’s not even Young Jump. Young Jump is like a younger version of Jump. It’s still a Jump. It’s Jump’s neighbour. Is Tonari no Young Jump the neighbour of the neighbour of Jump, then? So, I wanna change the name into something cooler! Something like Crazy Jump. Hahaha! Doesn’t that sound marvellous? Crazy Jump. Miracle Crazy Jump.

C: CraJump.

I: Isn’t CraJump sounds nice? Hahaha!

C: In the end, it’s still Jump’s neighbour.

I: That’s true. If we remove Jump, it’ll only be crazy. Tonari no Crazy. That sounds a bit lame. Crazy Jump is better. Haha. Seriously, doesn’t it sounds good? I like that name. Crazy Jump. Hahaha! I wanna serialise my work in Crazy Jump! It’ll only have stories that are banned. It’s for the crazy people who have nowhere else to publish their works. Haha. There is such magazine. Do you know Garo magazine? But Garo isn’t one maybe. We do have Garo magazine, where the writers are kinda like nonconformists. This one’s gonna be like a revival of Garo. Crazy Jump! Where lunatics, and not mangaka, gather. The concept is ‘Welcome to the end of the world’. It’s not ‘Friendship, Effort, Victory’, but ‘Slaughter, Irrationality, Futility’. That’s the motto for Crazy Jump. I wanna think about this thoroughly. It’ll be about fear instead of dream. Slaughter will be the theme.

C: I really wanna read it.

I: I know right! Not a manga like this, instead, you wanna read that kind of magazine. “Welcome to the end of the world. This is the place for people who have given up on all kinds of entertainment.” This isn’t an entertainment anymore. It’s a harassment. Creative Harassment: Crazy Jump.

C: Are you gonna publish Choujin X there?

I: I wanna do it in Crazy Jump not Tonari no Young Jump. I wanna go against OPM. Which one is stronger? Tonari Jump’s OPM vs Crazy Jump’s Choujin X. Crazy Jump is definitely stronger. But Choujin X probably doesn’t fit the criterion for crazy Jump. It’s hard to publish it there. I want the Great Master, Egawa Tatsuya sensei to publish his work in Crazy Jump. I want One sensei in Crazy Jump too. OPM will stay in Tonari Jump, but I want One sensei to publish another work in Crazy Jump. I’ll be the chief editor. I’ll look for people and I have them publish their works there. As long as you’re crazy, you’re in. I’ll hire any nutcases who’re good at drawing.

(Egawa Tatsuya is a mangaka & film director. His known for his work ‘Golden Boy’.)

I: You guys are mistaken. I’m gonna do it for real. I’m seriously doing it. The characteristics that Crazy Jump’s looking for in a writer is firstly, someone who definitely won’t follow the deadlines, but upload a bunch in the spur of the moment. I want the magazine to be random. No one knows what stories are gonna be in the issue. There might be times where there are no stories at all. I want to make it a thrilling magazine. The drawings for the all the stories will be done outside the frame. Hahaha. I wanna create it!

C: Have Togashi sensei publish his work there.

I: That’s absolutely. Togashi sensei has high common sense, so I wanna take that away from him. Crazy Jump is only for lunatics. It’s for people with no common sense and those who doesn’t even realise they don’t have one. Do you understand what I’m saying?

C: The editors must be crazy too?

I: Hmm…It feels like the stupid vibe will be overused. Still, let’s make the figurehead editor wears only brief. Make Mr. Matsuo wears brief.

C: Even the readers are crazy.

I: Probably, only good-for-nothing people will read the magazine, so no. The writers probably hate their own readers. They’d say something like “I don’t wanna draw for this kind of people!”, “I only have cuckoos as my readers!”, etc. “A chain of hatred, welcome to Crazy Jump. That’s why fighting will never stop”. This is the concept.

C: This magazine will make somebody’s happy.

I: Hmm…Maybe it’s better to just gather people who’re good at drawing. Then, I’ll give them welfare payment since the magazine won’t sell. I’ll take care of them. They’re free to draw as they like and money will be given too as long as they make Crazy Jump crazy.

*Nobody’s gonna vote for the survey.

I: You have to vote for 3 series, right? What survey should I do? Pick 3 series that you wanna cancel and they’re gonna be cancelled for real.

C: Yomu Dokuyaku. (t/n: Op was referring to a book called Yomu Mayaku which literally translates as Read Drug. There’s no eng title for the book so I kept it in Japanese.)

I: Hahaha. Not Mayaku, but Dokuyaku (poison). That’s a good one. Yomu Dokuyaku. A poisonous disease. That’s Crazy Jump. I really wanna make Crazy Jump. I wanna read it. I’m gonna drag writers to the darkness. They’d be like “I wanna quit.”, “I started drawing because I wanna write manga like One piece!”, “I liked watching anime at first, I wanted to create a manga that’d become an anime one day. I thought I was able to achieve that.” This is how Crazy Jump’s gonna be. Let’s make a Crazy channel. We’ll broadcast the anime version there.

*Someone commented that Crazy Jump is the going to the opposite side of the classic approach in magazine.

I: It’s not even the opposite. It’s going nowhere. It’s not heading or moving towards anywhere. It’s not heading forward or backward. It sees and hears nothing. I want this kind of magazine to exist…The stories must be crazy. If they’re too crazy, the stories will be discontinued.  

C: Animal Rap can easily be serialised there.

I: Why? Animal Rap isn’t crazy at all. It’s totally NHK vibe. It’s even watchable for kids. Animal Rap has wholesome contents, you know? Everyone can watch it.

C: If I won a prize, I’ll report to you. (t/n: OP possibly referring to them winning manga award as they’re aiming to submit their work to Young Jump.)

I: You mean Crazy Jump’s Award? Crazy Jump has no award.

I: Now for the scouting part, I’d scout them like this, “Do you know about Crazy Jump? How about it? Do you have the courage to be crazy?”, “Would you like to serialised your work in Crazy Jump?”. All of these would be conversed through private message. It’d be a secret deal.

I: It’s time for me to scout people now. I wanna do that kind of business too, scouting business. I’ll gather any reckless youngsters, middle-aged men, and old men as well to work in Crazy Jump.

I: I wanna scout housewives too. I’ll make them write crazy mangas. Isn’t that a totally good idea? A housewife writing a crazy manga. In between taking care of children and doing chores, they write such manga. It’ll be a profound work. We need to unseal the hidden craziness lies within housewives.

I: Don’t you feel intrigued by it? You’d be shocked if people who are close to you or someone who you sympathises with create something crazy. The smiling old man that you often see is actually writing such insane manga. What’d your reaction be? You might think he’s lunatic.

I: Crazy Jump will even scout the readers since there’s always be a shortage in human resources.

C: Will I get scouted if I sent an eccentric letter to Crazy Jump’s editor?

I: No, you can’t. Insane people don’t realise that they’re insane. Those who can judge that they’re crazy can be external employees. It’s time for geniuses to step aside. This magazine will only be for madmen. Every writer is a lunatic.

*He’s taking about what if it’s Criminal Jump instead of Crazy Jump?

I: Aren’t you interested to know what kind of stories the magazine would have if all the writers were criminals. They might write heartwarming or fantasy genres. If they did that, you’d have some sort of love-hate relationship with the authors.

I: If Criminal Jump was issued, people would start commit crimes just to have their work serialised in the magazine. That’d be another problem. Suddenly, people would start killing others because they wanted to be like the authors in Criminal Jump. This is definitely a bad idea. Crime is a big no-no. Crazy Jump is the coolest, after all.

C: The heroine definitely dies in Crazy Jump.

I: I wonder… She’ll die when it’s time. Let’s make clams as heroines. Ms. Clam. There’s no explanation for that. This way, the heroines won’t die. (t/n: He really did say clam as in the food clam.)

I: But to create a true mad story, it has to be natural. The story for every heroine will be about reincarnation every time. Ultimately, the stories will be about reincarnation. The story will start off normally, but it’ll end with the protagonist getting reincarnated.

*He continued expanding the reincarnation ideas.

I: If every ending will have a reincarnation setting, then it’s gonna be a common concept and not abnormal anymore. Everyone will expect the same ending. But I wanna try writing that kind of story as a mangaka. I wanna try write it once. On the other hand, when there’s no reincarnation happened in the stories, people would start wondering.

*Ishida mentioned TG.

I: I realised TG was a bit crazy when I reread it. I conceitedly told few people that they had few loose screws in the head. Seemed like I was the same too.  It was fun reading it after a long time. It kinda had a crazy vibe.

C: How about making the stories use coined/new words, but they never explain what the words mean till the end?

I: Hmm… That’s considered as crazy in a way. Final fantasy 13 did that kind of stuffs, with the term ‘falcie’ and all. It was quite a rumour. I didn’t play it though.

C: The Falcie’s Lacie purge Cocoon. (referring to FF13.)

I: You’d maybe understand what they mean if you played the game. Rather than crazy, the game was just being not user friendly. It’d be better if they slowly explained what the words meant throughout the game.

I: Everyone must be tired already. Should we stop talking about Crazy Jump now?

C: Has your work progressed?

I: I don’t know. Is it?

*Reading comments.

C: Aren’t you gonna sleep?

I: I woke up at wrong hours. So, I’m still not sleepy.

I: Should we end the stream? I’m already satisfied. Let’s end it.

C: In the end, what are we gonna do for 30,000 subscribers’ commemoration?

I: The most likely one would be a ‘Thank you’ video. I’ll just scream “Thank you!’.

C: Are you satisfied now?

I: Yeah.

I: It’s been a long time since I streamed, so I got carried away. Okay then. Thank you. Who just joined in, please watch it in the archive. I’m gonna upload Animal Rap. Thank you.

Part 1