#or at least not in control of gg

[rroaddkill]

Me n a friend were talkint about the twins and we made a theory (?) What if glenda wanted revenge? U know, since they never got control in seed. What if they planned this their entire human lives up until they n glen went back into the doll?? It makes sense honestly, considering again they never got control in seed it was mostly glen who was taking charge of the doll.

Me

Theo

I wonder how gg is doing tho. Like. Canonically

I imagine it's probably like someone with d.i.d living, maybe they fight over who gets control OR glen is completely dead and dormant.

I like the thought of glen fighting just trying to get an ounce of control from this shitty life their sibling decided to give them

Would they win though

Probably not. But they can try

If glen is really dead in there then what was the point of glenda doing this to their brother??

Spiteful maybe

But why would glenda do something so spiteful to someone they care for?

Psychopaths do random malicious shit like that bcos they're bored soooo maybe that has something to do with it

I wonder what it looks like in the gg dolls head. Like does jt look like nicas n chuckys? Do the twins like roam around in the room or do they just stay in one place?? I hsve so many questions and ik they will never get answered

I think if glen is still alive then yea they have a headspace

Maybe shes doing this cuz glen was in control most of the time in seed??

A REVENGE ARC?? A 18 YEAR PLANNED REVENGE ARC?? 😭😭

YES. if glenda is that petty she would so do that lets be honest

Its not Glen's fault tho. In seed they had a feeling someting was wrong but never could pin point what. They had no idea glenda was in there really

Does that mean their entire human childhood..up to them going back into their doll, did glenda just fake loving glen??

If so. Then wow..that is dedication right there

It's possible

Cuz think about it, if they rly loved glen they would've pulled him back or tripped him or something when he was gonna take that bullet for tiffany Like. They ran a lil bit of a distance so..there was time to do that.

EXACTLYYYY. Do u think glenda remembers more then shes letting on??

Yeah

Rly small forgettable moment but tiffany did mention (when talking to meg) that Glenda was trying to get airplane tickets to London when she was 7-8 , did she rly wanna go that bad damn 😭

Apparently so. And she got her wish.

And shes living her best life now in london. As a doll. While their sibling is just..gone.

She's really smart though to wait a whole 18 years to kill her brother off just to pull the biggest uno reverse card of their lives

@stinkysstuff hi pookie

[felixcatton]

it's 1:30 am and i'm thinking about how logan and rory both grow up feeling like their lives aren't really theirs. how logan uses risk and impulse as a way to feel some semblance of control over his life in response to his father's control. how in contrast, rory spends her life with a tight grip on just about everything, clings to safety and a clear path forward, because she worries that her success is the thing holding her and her mom's life together.

[grmpgm]

ok executive dysfunction is kind of ruining my life actually

[bigwishes]

Hey dude ! So i've been having this problem recently while playing CoD online recently. This guy in my group keeps belching into his mic constantly and it's really distracting. I don't even know what's gotten to him, he used to talk normally but now he sounds like a total jock bro. And it's starting to affect our team's performances.

The worst part is that i'm starting to feel like i can .... smell his bo ... like, through my mic. I just wish i wasn't bothered by his belches and his stink, you know ?

Sorry to hear that bro, It can suck when people can be annoying when trying to relax gaming online, but I'll be nice and give you exactly what you want, you won't be bothered by his stink and belching anymore... You finish up a match with your least favourite person to run into online, you say "GG" into the mic and pull up the menu to quit before the ending screen has even finished. You already know what's coming seeing the gamer tags in your lobby, as you scroll down to 'quit game' a loud sound breaks out over lobby call, "BUUUUUURRRRRRRRPP- ugh, gg bro"

You grimace at the noise and press exit before he can fire off again, this dude had been bugging you for days, leaving his mic open you could hear every time he took a sip of his shake or a bite of his food between respawns, but the worst was his constant belching in between call outs or even small talk, but burping wasn't really a reportable offence and he when he actually gave call outs it was good information so you just had to put up with it instead of muting him, still you hoped every game you loaded into you'd be hoping you wouldn't see his gamer tag on your team.

You pressed play again and sat there staring at the que timer waiting. Whilst you sat there you felt a little uncomfortable the room suddenly felt hotter and you began to sweat from under your jumper. A few minutes went by before you decided it was unbearable and you took off your jumper and smelt the strong whiff of musk and saw a small sweat mark start to appear on your t-shirt under your armpit. You hadn't realised you'd been so sweaty and you got up to go change your shirt when you suddenly got into a game, there was not time to change now and you'd have to wait till after the match.

Loading in you let out a sigh of relief seeing the infamous belcher wasn't on your team and so you gladly jumped in call to talk to your team. The game was rough, not for how hard it was to beat the enemy team but you felt strange and uncomfortable the whole time. Your shirt was feeling tighter than usual and you could feel the fabric cling to the sweat on your back. You felt the heat building up in your sweat pants as the fluffy wool chaffed against you thighs which felt like they were now stretching out your pants. At one point you even ripped off your socks hoping that'd start to cool you down, which it didn't. The match ended and you left the game. Taking the back on your hand and wiping it across your forehead you felt the sweat brush off, letting out a deep breath placing your controller on the coffee table in front of you, you saw the sweaty handprints left behind which you only ever saw one the hottest days of summer.

Letting out a deep sigh you stood up and tried to take your shirt off feeling it stick to your skin and the potent smell of musk flowing out from your pits as your arms were above your head. You dropped your shirt on the floor and looked down seeing your chest had pushed out into strong defined pecs and somehow you got abs within the last 20 minutes.

"Ho-holy shit" you laughed as you rubbed your new wash board abs

You scrambled to pull down your grey sweat pants and you weren't disappointed, strong muscled thighs you fell back down to your seat letting out a chuckle as you started feeling up your massive thighs. Thousands of thoughts were flowing through your head, what was happening? HOW did this happen? thinking back on your day trying to remember anything that would have you suddenly turn into a hot fitness model,

but one thought was stronger than the others, you didn't even have to lift up you arm to smell the stench coming from your pits, you smelt like you haven't showered in 2 days and had run a marathon. You leant forward to cancel the que when suddenly the words GAME FOUND appeared at the top of the screen. You thought it'd probably be best to dodge the game and take a shower.....but then again it was your day off and nobody could smell you so it could probably wait until after the game.

You played another round, trying not to focus on the smell of bo in the air around you and eventually you forgot about it all together, you were so focused on the game you didn't even notice yourself constantly shifting in your seat as you tried to make yourself comfortable, reaching back and pulling at your underwear waist band every couple of minutes, not even noticing it was drenched in sweat.

The game ended and you stood up, feeling as your sweaty ass peeled itself off the couch like some kind of wet Velcro, you felt heavy, like your body had put on more size and your stomach grumbled as you felt like you could eat a whole pizza to yourself.

DING DONG

You walked over to your door and opened it to see a pizza delivery guy standing there, you couldn't remember ordering one?

"whoa" the delivery man said as he turned his head to the side holding his nose "here you go dude"

The pizza box was shoved into your hands,

"errr, lemme grab my wallet I guess" you calmly said, forgetting you were standing there in your underwear

"Don't worry about it dude, its all pre paid" the delivery man practically shouted it at you as he backed away

You wondered what his problem was but thought it best not to look a gift horse in the mouth. You shut the door and made your way back to your seat, opening up the box and grabbing a slice and stuffing it in your mouth. Sitting back down you felt the cold as the wet patch on your seat collide with you, you felt it squelch down as the stuffing in the seat was so drenched with sweat.

Game found appeared on the top of the screen and you looked at the pizza slice in your hand. You shoved the whole slice in your mouth and desperately looked around for something to wipe the grease off on, the only thing you could think of was your underwear which barely worked but you thought it did so you picked up your controller covering it with a layer of sweat and grease.

"hey, who's chewing?" someone said over mic

You didn't even realise you had joined the chat, loudly chewing on your food into the open mic.

You played through the game almost an autopilot, just enjoying the sounds of shooting guns, although you'd wish people would stop bitching about whoever was chewing on open mic, they should just mute whoever it is and move on...

Afterwards you walked over to your bench, you felt so stuffed after eating a whole family size pizza in 10 minutes but at the same time you could go for a drink, as you stood up you felt so heavy and puffy, like you were swollen. You walked over to your kitchen ignoring the sound of your large sweating feet slapping against your floor. You turned on your tap and turned your head sideways gulping down mouthfuls of water. The water spilled out and ran down the side of your mouth as you gulped and swallowed, gasping for air in-between mouthfuls, as you stood up right again mid mouthful having had your fill and the water spilled out of your slack jaw and ran down your chest. You gut groaned and you leant forward on your counter top rubbing your abs,

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRPPPPPPPPP

You gasped for air after letting out the loudest belch of your life, the water on your lips and chin still dripping off your face forming little droplets on your counter top,

uuUURP

you let out another smaller belch as you reached around to scratch your sweaty ass. You began making your way back over to your game wanting to play another round, each step was strange, like you were getting heavier and heavier, heaving your floor creak. Your chest and jaw were itchy and as you scratched you felt stubble poking out of your skin and felt as sweat and grease got trapped under your nails.

Reaching your chair you grabbed onto the back of it, needing to catch your breath almost exhausted from the 20 steps you had taken. You spun your gaming chair around and threw your entire weight into it, a large strenuous noise rang out from every joint, screw and bolt, like the chair almost crumbled under you. Jiggling in your place you felt sweat be pushed out of the seat like squeezing a wet sponge as your ass made its way into the massive groove you had created.

Picking up your controller you felt the greasy surface connect with your hand. Your chest began to itch again and you took the edge of the controller and rubbed it against you chest hair.

You hadn't noticed but as you walked over to your seat you had gotten bigger, and hairier, the stench coming off your skin was now not just drifting through the air but it was clinging to you, getting stuck in your new hairy body quickly making you smell worse.

game found appeared on the screen and you quickly lost interest in how hair you had become.

"hey what's going on team" a dude called out

you opened your mouth to respond but instead

BUUURRRRRRRRRPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

You let out a loud monstrous belch, you felt it vibrate in your chest and thighs, you felt it as your shoulder blades creeped up above the top of your gaming chair and as your thighs were pushed together as they got thicker but had nowhere to go but inwards forcing you to close your man spread. The chair under you groaned and you couldn't help but groan along with it as you felt so heavy and big, like you were being weighed down by a car.

"bro could you not burp in mic?" someone complained

"sorre-UUUUUUUUUUUURRRPPPPPP" You just couldn't help it, you couldn't even get through your words without letting yourself burp like a pig.

two of your team mates instantly left the voice call and the two that remained began to complain about how rude it was to do that over open mic. You weren't really paying attention to them though as you laughed thinking to yourself they were probably two dudes who were a quarter of your size.

Days went by and you didn't notice how bad thing were, you floor covered in pizza boxes, a large mark on your coffee table had formed like someone had forgotten to put something under a drink but it was from you putting up your large feet. Energy cans were on the ground around your chair from just being tossed down to the floor when you were done. Your controller itself started to come undone at the joins from being gripped by your enormous ape like hands,

but you didn't notice any of it because you didn't give a fuck, the only things you cared about now was being big, playing CoD.

You'd become a mindless muscle slob who was, belching and sweating like a pig.

I'm sure you won't care next time a guy burps on mic, in fact it might even be a turn on for you now. Better focus up muscle pig you just got another game.

[cerastes]

can i get other examples of gamepress being wrong about arknights? i've been using them as my main source since i started and now i'm worried i'm missing out on some operators i haven't bothered to upgrade 🙃

We could be here literally all day because it's not like they have one or two outliers, Gamepress is just mainly edited by people that live in an echo chamber and that have authority in their own circle so it's just off-the-hip, all too often wrong biased takes based on their own really reductive metrics. Chiefly, Gamepress ranks characters 1) as if they were the sole unit in the battlefield almost exclusively, and 2) using the single most broken units currently live as the barrier of entry. The unit you are looking up can't clear a chunk of map in one tap? Worthless and sub-optimal, according to Gamepress. Their only metric is Mlynar, Ch'ung the Hung, Surtr, that kind of Press To Win philosophy, and if a unit can't do that, Then It's Bad And Not Worth It.

Now, you may be thinking, "goodness me, Dreamer, you are being awfully harsh to call them complete dogshit at every angle of the game in this manner!", well, see, it's not just their Operator "reviews", they have articles sometimes. And they are god awful dogshit as well, such as "What Happened To Blaze?"

You can't see the comments anymore, but the author was getting reamed. I have one screenie at least:

Comments were mainly of this nature. Because, well, the article is straight up awful, especially since it reduces Blaze to "laneholder" and compares her to "competition" like Thorns, Mudrock, and Mountain, who, yes, they all can hold a lane, but Blaze has her own space of "infinite duration, high statline, healable 3-block with 2 tile range" that has historically allowed for Funny Tricks like clearing enemies through "walls" on tiles that could shred Thorns even with a healer, or, you know, in conjunction with any of Mudrock or Mountain, given you have 12 whole slots for you team. Again, Gamepress editors rate characters as if they were your main in a fighting game and not one of 12+1 characters you can throw in at any time. They also tend to shit on non-specialist characters (generalists; more versatile units that can do a bunch of things without really breaking the game in any regard), which is very interesting because those usually will make up a strong backbone of any competent Integrated Strategies team, so the specialists in role can do their thing while the other needs of the map are being met.

"Ebenholz is nothing special." "Goldenglow is nothing special." These are takes they genuinely held until, you know, it turned out that Eben and GG are the most relevant Casters, up there with Eyja. To be fair, it wasn't just them being wrong on Eben, but how do you look at the global blasting of GG with her numbers and don't immediately realize that's an ICBM button? All it takes is having the game installed.

The biased nature of Gamepress is also blatant:

Imagine rating April as "Really Good" while relegating Dorothy as only "Really Fun". Even before her Module3, Dorothy was absolutely devastating, bringing huge damage multipliers, crowd control, one of the single best class autoattacks in the whole game at 6* stat weight, and a Talent that gives her even more Attack for basically using her as intended. I'm not saying April isn't good, mind you, I'm just trying to highlight how biased the hands behind Gamepress are: They can't figure out Trapmasters? Then surely they are merely "really fun". Can't drop and forget them like April or Surtr, after all.

About the only thing Gamepress is good for is objective, in-game info: Dates, mat requirements, what skills do, that kind of stuff. It's got a good interface and is a good place to just quickly look up what you need to know that can otherwise be found in the game. The moment their personal opinions come into play, though? The most absolute dogshit takes. Unless you are a "unga bunga drop Surtr and Mlynar and win instan-- WAIT WHY IS INTEGRATED STRATEGIES AND RISK 23+ KICKING MY DAY 1 PLAYER ASS...!?" kinda player, then you don't really want to follow Gamepress advice.

Because they simply do not give good advice as a whole.

[floweryrkive]

with you ? always.

a huh yunjin drabble !

genre : fluff, a tad bit of angst.

pairing : idol!yunjin x non!idol! bodyguard!gn!reader, established (secret from everyone) relationship.

warnings : none that I can think of but lmk if I missed anything !

author's note : ah this was going thru my brain so bad that I ended up making another whole blog to upload gg fanfics 😭 the lack of yunjin fics at times is so sad :") anyways enjoy and lmk what you think !

word count : 2.2k

The arena was filled with loud cheering, bright lights and very, very many people yet the one who you wanted to see seemed to not be visible at all.

It was the end of another successful concert, the girls' final greetings having been done and the arena going dark to let them come backstage.

You'd been at the back as well, staring in awe at the way they performed more specifically at the way she did. You don't think you once even looked at anyone else, though you knew and appreciated how hard they all worked but she was, well for you at least, different.

You were head over heels in love with the woman, you'd literally go and pluck the stars from the night sky or go in the deepest of oceans to find the shiniest pearl if she even simply asked you for it.

Huh Yunjin.

And by some miracle you think, she loves you too. Not that you weren't someone who didn't deserve her. You had your own accomplishments which ultimately led you to working as her personal bodyguard.

Though you were pretty sure if someone told you ,a few months ago, that you'd be in a relationship with said woman, you'd probably have punched them for making such an awful joke.

You didn't get on the right foot. Her being stubborn and not wanting a bodyguard to follow her around even if she wants to go to a simple trip to the store while you were just trying to do your job.

She acted like a menace that time but that's a another story for another time.

For now, you just wanted to check up on her. And as though the universe favoured you for the first time in a while, but you do think it did favour you when you somehow ended up with her, you spot her making her way after all the other girls walked in.

Her hair was slightly tousled, sweat covering her forehead and her face all red from performing but you still find her the most beautiful woman you'd ever laid your eyes on.

She seemed to look around for someone, and a small grin made its way on your face, realising she might be looking for you.

Her stylists and the crew were already helping the girls out by giving them water bottles and towels, she seemed to promptly ignore them as she still searched around.

You shook your head when she declined a water bottle and moved your hand to grab one from the person passing them around.

Once you looked up, before you could even call her, she spotted you and maybe it was the lights in the room but her eyes seemed to brighten up even more than they usually were.

You gulped as you realised just how much you loved to see her look at you like that, thinking about what you'd do if it ever disappeared.

She sprinted across the room and stood in front of you. You had to tilt your head slightly down as she was shorter than you. You bit your lower lip to prevent a grin from forming on your face as you saw the same excitement glow on her face each time she seemed around you.

"Hi." She breathed out as a smile formed on her face and you couldn't control your own chuckle as you shook your head.

"Hello." You said with your hands behind your back still holding the water bottle. You looked around briefly, noticing how the busy crew was tending to other matters, leaving Yunjin to her since she didn't seem like she needed anything at the moment.

Well not anything they would be able to provide because what she really wanted was who stood in front of her.

"So what did you think of the performance?!" Her cheery voice brought your attention back to her as she put her hands to her side, clenching her fists as though she was nervous and excited. But also to control herself from throwing herself at you like she sometimes would.

Being the observer you were, you knew she was out of breath seeing her chest rise and fall in quick breaths so you put your hand in front, prompting her to take the water bottle.

"Drink some water first bab— Miss." You coughed out before the nickname slipped, her eyes blinking when she recalled where she was.

"R-right! Water! Yes, uhm thank you." She grabbed the bottle, trying to open it but her hands were sweaty and the condensation on the bottle seemed to have made it slippery too.

"Here." You grabbed her hand and took the bottle back, opening the cap, and handing it back to her.

"Thank you!" She smiled at you as she gulped down a sip, almost moaning in relief as the coolness calmed her throat and mind.

Checking your surroundings, you made sure no one was paying attention before you, leaned in closer to her, just a little forward to not seem suspicious but also only say something she could hear.

"Anything for you, baby." You whispered sweetly as though it was the most normal thing, and it was but not at that time.

You stood straight in time to see her choke, and your eyes widened reaching for her water bottle as you briefly went beside her to pat her on the back.

"Wh-what did you—" Once her coughing stopped, she looked at you while glaring but you could see her cheeks turn pink.

"What? I said nothing." You shrugged innocently, as you put your hands to your side now standing beside her.

"You-!"

"Unnie?" Eunchae came up in front of you, calling Yunjin who was flustered and glaring at you.

"We're going back to the hotel and probably planning to eat out, joining?" She eyes you two, in suspicion but you just looked blankly, looking away from them.

Yunjing thought about it for a second though, because what she really wanted was to spend her time with you now. She was exhausted and didn't feel like going out, just wanted you to hold her until her world was just the scent of your cologne and warm arms around her.

Sighing, she just nodded, trying not to look too disappointed by how her plans seemed to go differently.

"Yeah, yeah, fine." Her tone sounded off but Eunchae figured it was likely exhaustion.

"Alright we'll be in the van!" She happily smiled at you both to which you returned a small grin and Yunjin waved her hand.

"Come on, let's go, they're waiting." You told her as you looked towards the exit door.

"But I wanted to just…nevermind yes let's go!" She shook her head, not finishing her train of thoughts as she moved forward, you trailing behind her in slight confusion as to what her sentence was going to be.

And with that you followed her out to where the van was and greeted the others as you pulled open the door for her.

The night went smoothly after that, having been told you could go on your own after you dropped off the girls at the restaurant, being reassured you weren't needed because it was just below the hotel and there were the other bodyguards there too.

But it took everything in you to not go and hug her when you were saying your farewell for the day, the disappointment and sadness that glimmered before appearing again.

Why was it so hard to just spend time with you?

She was quick to cover it, her smile, the one that was definitely not genuine, on her face as she waved her goodbye to you. She didn't even mouth anything to you, like she usually would when you'd leave and you knew there was something up.

Being the best partner you thrived to be, you got back to the hotel, to your room, changed into comfy grey sweatpants and a sweatshirt while putting on another layer of a black jacket, put on your cap and went about.

It was difficult though. To find a flower shop open at this hour but lucky for you, there was one downtown that sat in a quiet corner. You made your way there and scanned the variety of flowers, the middle aged woman greeting you while you politely greeted her.

Finally settling for a combo of red and white tulips, you got a bouquet made and quickly made your way back to the hotel so as to not seem like some sort of creep. You'd hidden the flowers in a paper bag that the lady gave you and it was better to hide them that way.

Going back to your room, you made sure you looked decent enough, threw the paper bag on your bedside table and got out of your room.

Lucky for you, both yours and her room were near each other. The privilege of a personal bodyguard you suppose. She messaged you a few minutes ago that they were back and she was headed towards her room.

Her last message to you read,

'goodnight :( miss u <3'

It was only two minutes ago, so you doubt she'd be asleep as you stood in front of her door.

You looked down to prevent your face from being visible, scanning the hallway to make sure no else was there before you knocked on the door.

You could hear some shuffling and then it was quiet for a moment before you saw the doorknob turn.

Yunjin was very confused when she saw someone hiding behind a bouquet of flowers, her brain being a little slow in processing due to her exhaustion but also distraction.

You moved the flowers beside your face, her coming into view now before you grinned at her,

"Hi." She had to blink once, she blinked twice and her mouth fell agape.

"Firstly, these are for you. I don't think I told you about your performance, like you were incredible as always and I just felt like bringing you these to show you since I'm not really good with words and—oomph!" You yelped when she leaped forward and into your somewhat open arms. You quickly put one hand around her waist to stabilise her and yourself while holding the bouquet in the other.

Her head buried itself in the crook of your shoulders as her arms wrapped around your neck. She felt a low vibration from your chest indicating you laughing,

"Seems like my surprise is appreciated."

"Come on love, let's head inside yeah?" She just mumbled in agreement as you slowly walked inside. She moved backwards as you guided her by her waist, careful to not bump into the door.

Placing the bouquet near a table by the entrance, you kicked the door closed as you wrapped your moved your hand to close the lock.

Finally you wrapped your arm fully around her as you continued to stay standing, just in each other's embrace. "Honey, is everything fine? Tell me, is there something bothering you?"

"Just…just you. Missed you. Wanted you." She whispered to you so softly, it made you feel the kind of warmth you do when the sun touches your skin on a cold day. It wasn't too far off anyways considering she was your sun, the brightest star in the sky.

"Well you have me now, want to get more comfy love?" Your hand automatically reached for her head and gently caressed her soft hair. She hummed in both agreement and relief as her previous thoughts of not being able to see you went away.

All she knew in that moment was the smell of your homely cologne, the familiar musky sandalwood and the way you engulfed her form in your arms.

She didn't even realise you were both lying down on the bed until she looked up to see you staring back at her. "Good?" Your voice was low making it sound slightly deeper than usual. Just the tone she secretly loved.

There you both laid, your arms around her body and hers around your shoulders, legs somewhat tangled as she looked up at you and gently grinned.

She nodded as you moved your hand up to her cheek, thumb caressing it as you leaned down.

You kissed her forehead as she shut her eyes, you then moved to her right eye, softly pressing your lips and the same to the other. You pecked her nose before finally settling on a longer peck on the lips.

When you pulled back, she made a noise of protest, which had you giggling at her, "What?" You teasingly asked, "More." and before you could tease her more she moved her hand and grabbed you by your jacket collar, promptly pressing your lips against her soft ones.

It was slow and nothing more, allowing you to taste the strawberry lip gloss she'd put on, the one she knew was your favourite, just happy to be with each other after rarely being able to see each other. You smiled into the kiss as she pushed herself more into you.

With the need of oxygen, you both pulled away from each other, her eyes hazy while yours were similar, her cheeks being pinker than usual and you certainly felt your own burning up.

"Feeling better?" She bit her lip before leaning in to brush her nose against yours before whispering three words that made you grin in delight,

"With you? Always."

all written works as well as images and edits (unless credited) belong to pri. do not plagiarise, repost, re-edit or claim as yours. pics mostly found on pinterest.

feedback is always appreciated 💌

floweryrkive © 2023

[rainbowsky]

DD's Official Fan Club has made a (rare) statement on the upset over the Magnolia Awards.

Good works rely on the joint achievements of all members of the crew. As actors, they also devote their full energy to each work. I hope that fans can pay more attention to each work and the characters themselves, feel the charm and positive meaning of each character, and support each work with more warm love. As a young actor, Wang Yibo has always focused on performing and accumulating works, using his influence to drive more people to actively spread positive energy. A good star-chasing atmosphere requires everyone’s joint efforts. Let’s look forward to more outstanding works in the future.

This is very aligned with how I view DD as an actor and as a person. He is not an awards-chaser. He's a very humble, hardworking person who is gracious and always happy to show respect for others. I don't believe that he would be happy to see his fans behaving the way they are, in his name.

Some fans have been taking the studio's silence on the nominations (the drama was nominated for 5 awards) as evidence of their 'guilt' over how all this went down. I disagree.

As fans of Chinese stars we should be well aware of the climate GG and DD work within, and of the Clear and Bright internet campaign put forth by the government. This campaign holds stars responsible for fan behavior, and metes out penalties for disruption or disorder caused by fans.

It is my view that those involved with the drama are probably trying to avoid adding fuel to the fire right now. It is in no one's interest - least of all DD's - for this outrage to burn out of control.

I hope things settle down soon, and that DD doesn't face consequences for what's happening. Whether we agree with Clear and Bright or not, we should be conscious of protecting DD.

[xamiipholia]

okay y'all seemed to like the last one so here's a few more Horizon 3 thoughts:

Aloy won’t die. It would completely upend the series’ themes and just be really nihilistic.

Since Nemesis is a gestalt entity I think it’s a safe bet that we’ll see Sam Witwer, Carrie-Anne Moss, etc again. I’m curious how they’re going to do it because at least structurally, it’s basically a reaper. Maybe it’ll use different Avatars when communicating like the Leviathan in ME3. 

It's gonna take some work to make a flashback/dream/vision not contrived but I would love to see Varl and Rost again. I think we deserve that.

Minerva is gonna have its work cut out for it blocking access to both the dormant Faro Swarm and the ZD terraforming system. 

I wouldn’t be surprised if Nemesis has some sort of corruption function that becomes the equivalent of the corruption in HZD. It would be a really fun tech showcase if GG uses Zenith nanotech for machine corruption and leans into mechanical body horror.

If we’re going to Ban-Ur I really really hope they do the work to make the Banuk less problematic and more fleshed out as a culture. A quasi-Spartan society absolutely would not survive in an extreme environment, *especially* without megafauna to hunt. The Banuk characters are lovely and well-written; they deserve a society as well thought out as the Utaru or Carja. I’m honestly fine if there’s retcons or revamps to the cultural lore because the whole “outsider barges in and becomes chief” is rooted in racist, colonial tropes and we just don’t really need that imo.

The most recent footage of Death Stranding 2 (also running on Decima) has me SO excited for the visuals. GG’s gonna knock it out. The facial rendering and animation that Kojima Productions are doing looks industry-peak and I’m sure GG’s gonna match that. Aloy’s Gay Panic™️ scene on the beach in HBS is already top-tier nonverbal storytelling through animation. Digital Foundry actually just posted a really cool tech breakdown of the current Decima engine. I’m especially excited about the environmental stuff. The ocean simulations in HFW are already incredible and I hope they increase verticality in the world. I can’t wait to see the Sacred Lands in current gen graphics. 

I really love Kotallo���s DIY arm and it’s so so important to his development but Beta and Gaia now have access to Zenith nanotech, maybe give your buddy a sick upgrade hmm?

Speaking of, I can’t wait to see Beta come into her own. She’s one of the best parts of HFW and Aloy’s character absolutely shines in a sibling dynamic. 

I wouldn’t get your hopes up for a romance mechanic. Everyone’s feelings on that aside, it would be really odd from a game development perspective to just overhaul part of how the narrative develops Aloy’s character in the last act of the story. Yeah, there are flashpoints but I would argue that the presence of choice in Horizon is smoke and mirrors- cosmetic at best. Kentucky Route Zero (which you should play) does something similar where the player is given a certain amount of control over the substance of individual conversations and scenarios and it does absolutely nothing to alter the plot, by design. I think it’s the same here - this isn’t really a choice-based RPG, the flashpoints don’t really affect anything plot-wise or for Aloy’s character development. Olin is still out of the story, Nil lives, Regalla still dies one way or another. Aloy’s character development is pretty firmly on rails (think Jin Sakai, not Shepard - you get to guide some momentary character reactions but that’s it). I don’t think HBS is a testing ground either - If they were gonna introduce a romance mechanic I think they’d just do it, and not spend two years making a direct continuation of HFW’s main quest and establishing a specific romance hard-baked into the plot, complete with multiple leitmotifs for the character relationship (which is something they haven’t done before afaik) just to introduce a side quest mechanic coming in 5 years. I genuinely can’t think of any game or dev that has beta tested a major alteration to upcoming game mechanics that way - it doesn’t really make any sense in terms of developer resources, and these games are extremely time-consuming to make. I know this is a thing a bunch of people want and I can totally empathize with that! I just think it’s probably not on the table. 

I would bet money the series will bookend itself and the epilogue will involve a) the naming of Zo and Varl’s kid and b) Lis’ pendant. 

Mostly I'm just looking forward to being surprised. One of my favorite things that Horizon does is use carefully established elements in the world to pull the plot in unexpected directions and keeping the world grounded while they lean into speculative science fiction. I can't wait to see what Guerrilla is cooking up

[ddarker-dreams]

Is there any way we can overpower Chrollo physically? It sucks that he’s more cunning than us, but stronger too😭??

that's the thing about yandere hxh characters, you're kinda just screwed. literally and metaphorically. in certain power systems — take stands from jjba, for example — the super cool ability is a separate entity. the stand user themselves are vulnerable to anything a normal human being would be. this gives some leeway, a little silver lining to cling to. in hxh though, it's gg. these people are craaaazy when considered strong in universe. immunity to poison, capable of stopping a fatal attack with muscles alone (miss machi < 3), being able to almost instantly scale a four story building, en, zetsu... it's rough. that doesn't even take into account the wild possibility of hatsu that chrollo has at his disposal. in terms of physical strength, i think back to the zoldyck gate test as a sort of touchstone.

at the end of the chimera ant arc, killua can open the door that weighs 64 tons (aka 128,000 pounds), and his body stat is listed at 4/5.

here are chrollo's stats:

so................ that means chrollo could, at the bare minimum, lift 128,000 pounds... 😭 that's forty times as heavy as a car. the man is strong. you just gotta cut your losses and wave the white flag at that point. no wonder you can't win against him in an arm wrestling match, even when you cheat and use both hands.

it really is wild whenever he's casual about this level of strength. you'll be pulling over because of a flat tire, and while you're taunting him about not having a car jack, he just . picks up the car with one hand as if it's an everyday occurrence before you can even finish your sentence. like whaaaat the fuck. he could at least throw a grunt in there to pretend it's a bit straining. after everything's fixed and he goes to put his hand on your thigh you can't help but stare, for a reason aside from disgust this time. what is this hand capable of. it dawns on you that breaking bones must be to him what snapping a toothpick is for you. when he goes to give the flesh a playful squeeze you ask him to please be careful, much to his confusion. when he realizes the reason you're being so tentative, he 'reassures' you by promising he can control himself around you just fine.

... despite this, you calm down when it comes to insulting him for at least two days. maybe three.

[amazingmsme]

Do you have head canons for how the different gods laugh?

(Besides Hermes lmao, his bird laugh is as iconic as it is well known💀)

Love your blog!

ABSOLUTELY! Decided to throw in everyone from god games as well as Hades, so this got a lil longer than expected lol. I always love doing these, & the gods are such fun characters that I’m dying to see more of! & of course I bully my faves

& Hermes is so iconic, I love his shrill cackle, that man loves a good laugh & never really holds back!

We also kinda got a canon laugh from Calypso when she giggles right after saying goddesses can’t die. I think she has a very light & airy laugh, almost like the twinkling of a bell. Very cute & feminine

Likewise, we heard a bit of what Aeolus sounds like, but that’s more of a snide, condescending laugh that she likes to use when toying with someone. Her more genuine laugh is higher pitched & more of a giggle

For everyone else, I’m going off of pure vibes

I think Athena tries not to laugh because she has a badass image to maintain, & tbh most of the other gods aren’t that funny, or at least they don’t appeal to her sense of humor. She likes more clever & dry witty comedy, which is probably why Ody’s jokes work well on her. He likes to use a lot of fun word play & his timing & physical comedy is just perfect, & catches her off guard enough to draw out a real laugh. She laughs with her full chest, it’s loud & is honestly such a bright, happy sound, probably because it’s so rare to hear. Much to her chagrin, she snorts when she laughs hard enough. When she’s trying to mask her laugh it gets quicker & higher pitched, & she usually tries to muffle it behind her hand

Apollo’s laugh is pretty similar to Hermes, but it’s a bit deeper & not as erratic & sounds like he has more control over his voice. Idk it probably sounds so pretty & smooth, almost like his laugh alone is a song & more than a few gods accuse him of faking it because it just sounds a lil too “perfect.” If you really get him going tho it does tend to take on a more unhinged & frantic pitch, & it gets real hard to tell the difference between the 2

I just know Hephaestus has a really deep & rich laugh, but he doesn’t laugh often. He’s pretty serious & he doesn’t always get every joke tossed his way, but when he does, it’s this really deep, amused chuckle that slowly gets louder the longer he laughs

Aphrodite has the prettiest laugh, it’s not as high pitched as you’d expect from her & almost has a purr to it, but that could just be her infectious, bubbly giggles

So uh, I love Ares way more than I was expecting to from his part in gg & I’m gonna simp for a sec cause I can. But Ares actually loves to have a good time & let loose! His version of that may look a lil more bloody, but he still enjoys a good time! He can still laugh & tell jokes! So I think he wouldn’t bother holding back & just belts out this deep belly laugh that can make you jump if you’re not expecting it. Funnily enough, I think he also would snort a lot when laughing, so maybe it’s a war god thing lmaoooo. He’s also prone to laugh when he’s sparring or in the middle of a fight, & that’s more of a different sound. He gets this crazed look in his eye & his laugh raises an octave & gets a lil faster until it’s this really menacing, crazed cackling that is just as scary as it is endearing

Hera doesn’t laugh as much as she used to, but when she does, it’s this sly sounding, amused chuckle. Even when she’s being sincere, it lowkey sounds like she’s making fun of you. If something actually gets her going, she’ll throw her head back & her laugh actually sounds authentic, but it still has a more smooth, controlled tone much like Apollo

Now for the big 3

Hades doesn’t laugh much, obvi, but when he does, it’s this really low rumbling from deep within his chest, & you don’t really think he’s laughing until you see his shoulders shaking & notice the smile beneath his beard. But it something’s legit funny, he’ll let out this hearty laugh & lean back & will either hug his stomach or slap a knee

Oh Poseidon, you’re gonna fucking hate me for this. But he usually has this calm, really snide snicker/chuckle he does when he’s mocking someone which is like all the time. It’s such a smug sound you just want to slap the shit outta him because it’s so obvious he’s laughing at YOU! But his real laugh has a rich tenor to it, & is way louder than he’d like. & if something really gets him laughing, it starts to get higher pitched before it starts to morph into more of a bubbly, gurgling sound until it sounds like he’s laughing underwater

It’s no surprise that the thunder bringer himself has a downright booming laugh that can shake the heavens themselves if he really lets himself go, but much like his bitch of a brother, he only really does that if he’s laughing at someone. Otherwise, it’s still really deep & loud, it just doesn’t have as much bass to it. If you listen for it, you can hear claps of thunder when he lets out unbridled belly laughs, & when he’s just chuckling you can hear a buzzing static sound like lightning

[vixxdaemon]

Would you like to share your thoughts with the public about O’saAbella? Like anything, whether that would be the reason why you started shipping them, au's, scenarios that are running in your head 24/7 ect.

I was hoping for this day to come…

Alright so, it all started when I saw this happen in the confessional cutscene, when you tell O’saa you have a crush on someone from the train. First person he mentions is Abella :

Like, this is undoubtedly meant to be Abella, no doubt. So certainely he must at least perceive her as attractive for him to think of her literally above anyone else. (He does mention Karin instead of you play as Abella but like. Most likely cause it’s just that, you already are Abella so he would not ask you if you are into Abella lol.)

THEN FUNNILY ENOUGH the way I started to ship O’saa and Abella together was by wondering if they were any fics with…Ah, Abella tending to O’saa, if you catch my drift. Take care of him. In bed. Dominating him, gonna say things as they are. (There weren’t any at the time.)

So it lead me to think of them more and actually realize that their dynamic would be entertaining to see and how they would actually make a cute couple. I started to look for more things between them in game, and besides the Party Talks that are pretty fucking funny, I had figured out something.

In the Tunnel 1, exactly where you can recruit O’saa, the only way to get him in your party is having him ask you if you know anything of the tunnels you are in, you HAVE to reply to him in the affirmative.

(Source is on wiki gg, but feel free to go check that out of yourself, you will see that he won’t suggest to join you if you tell him you don’t understand what is happening in the tunnels.)

So, guess who amongst literally everyone in the Contestants that is well versed in machines and more importantly, tunnels ?

That’s right, Abella. The Mechanic.

What I am suggesting right here is that it’s highly likely that «canonically» (as in the intended storyline that happens during Termina), Abella is the person finding O’saa and helping him out. Not only because she knows how the tunnels works, but also she is most definitely one of the few characters that would be willing to take in a wounded person with her and help them get back to their feet in the cast.

Now there isn’t even this evidence we have in canon, but there is also the fact that their personalities are opposites, and even more than that, some of their themes too, all the while having actually quite important points in common. Let me explain.

Abella has grown up a caregiver, having helped her parents take care of her younger siblings since she is a child. She has an actually quite peppy personality beyond that frown on her portrait, she enjoys romance books and literature. She expresses sadness or disgust at death, if not straight up distress when she sees people actively suffering (the people hanging at the ceiling yelling at the shopping district of Prehevil). Abella suffers for others, as she Moonscorches literally while she is trying to find pieces for the train, doing a thing she always did : helping other people.

O’saa has grown up most of his life away from his family, and since really young has adopted a «fend for yourself and only yourself» kind of mentality. He does not care for the homeless, if not immediately mocking them, he is completely unphased at violence and the suffering of others, he even threatens to hurt YOU if you come too close to him for his liking. O’saa suffers for himself, as we can see his Moonscorch reveals his struggle with wishing for his autonomy and escaping the control of higher powers.

That being said, the points in common they have is that they are both very very dependant and self reliant, both very much the kind of character to take matters into their own hands and get their own hands dirty to get what they want. And if they want something, they WILL get it by all means necessary (see Abella’s Ending B of her learning astrophysics and building a whole ass spaceship to get in contact with the Moon, while O’saa’s Ending B is him BECOMING the higher power, aka a cult leader, to not be controlled anymore and instead BE the one in control, which in my opinion is tragic in its own right but I won’t elaborate on O’saa on his own here.)

All that being said, as a couple I would imagine that most of it would happen outside of Prehevil, in a canon divergent ending of Termina.

Abella, knowing O’saa is erudite about magic and the surnatural, would ask to stay in contact with him because she feels the need to know more about what happened during the festival. O’saa would accept, happy to have an occasion to have his ego being stroked while he teaches someone else about what he knows.

The pair would travel the world to learn new things, spend a lot of time together, and Abella would even teach O’saa a thing or two about mechanics as a trade off for him teaching her about the occult.

Eventually both would have feelings about eachother…On Abella’s side it feels natural for it to happen, as they do spend a lot of time with eachother and enjoy eachother’s companies and hobbies. On O’saa’s side though…needless to say he is having an existential crisis because he did not even know having simple, romantic feelings for someone was even possible for him. I think sexual feelings he views as not shameful, because it’s what his body would need and not his feelings, but there he is having a proof that he’s not as dead inside as he tried to be for years.

Abella is aware of this, as O’saa grows visibly more hesitant and dare I even say coy with showing affection to her that goes a bit too uncomfortably close to the line between simple friendship and romantic attentions. She decides to let him figure it out by himself, but that does not mean she doesn’t enjoy seeing him very subtly avoid her gaze when their eyes meet.

I also have. A whole thing with me and associating them with Gro-Goroth and Sylvian imagery. This bit is not a theory or trying to prove anything being canon, but it’s more about symbolism and narratives that I like to associate with them cause I do like some religious imagery. I can most definitely get into detail about it, but the post is already too long as it is by itself LOL

Hopefully this will feed your curiosity.

[chloefraazers]

ok breaking my silence on burning shores because there is something that still does not sit right with me months and months later to the point where i think about it almost daily, and that is the existence of the quen devotee outposts.

gg has maintained that aloy is a character driven by empathy, so i have a lot of trouble with the fact that she is just… okay with going into these camps and killing quen cultists that she knows have undergone msp.

and sure, not all have - we know kina didn’t, and probably zeth and the other cultist we get the zenith gauntlet upgrade from. but we know at least some of the quen in the camps did from scrolls we find. if you read them, the quen are clearly suffering. they’re angry to the point of losing control and they don’t know why. they blame aloy for everything. even with londra dead, they are still under his influence. they don’t understand their own thoughts and feelings.

and it just doesn’t sit right with me that aloy, who risked it all to stop a tenakth civil war to save the tribe, did not once stop and wonder if those quen could be saved.

ideally, what i would have liked would have been for gg to introduce a new weapon or combat style for aloy to incapacitate the quen in the camps through stealth. look, it’s a video game, i get that some players are in it just to kick ass - so maybe if she’s discovered, she has no choice but to fight, idk. but if she could stealthily knock them out, the other quen in fleet’s end could retrieve them, bring them home, and help them heal.

and that is something that could be so thematically relevant to aloy too - that she can also heal after all of her horrors and trauma, surrounded by love and her chosen family. she doesn’t have to pay for it all with death.

[aotopmha]

The difference between FFXIV's social media community and the in-game community becomes wilder by the day to me.

I did another round of roulettes today and it's a load of 'my bad' and 'gg' and 'let's go again' and 'it's okay'.

I haven't even gotten parties that play badly, either. And if I do, I think we've always been able to talk stuff out and had people who were willing to learn.

Even in Party Finder, about a month into having stepped into EX content, I still think the worst I've gotten is some sarcastic remark about being a WoW player, implication being, that the party was bad in terms of skill (and a lot of fake farm parties, which has actually very little to do how good or bad the people are personally towards you, it's just not being good enough to be in a farm party, the solution to which I think is to join maybe a couple more in-progress parties that are close to clearing.)

Outside of a few instances, none of the criticism I've gotten just hasn't had anything to do with me personally, just my skill at the game, and even then has been either neutral, kind of awkward or very kind.

Maybe I'm good at disarming it (because I generally assume good faith interaction and implications because communication by text doesn't always convey tone properly), whatever it is, I've had an unusually positive experience in terms of the in-game community.

Meanwhile on social media:

Pictures of Wuk Lamat being hung on a noose, her voice actress constantly being misgendered and given death threats, down to even YoshiP speaking up about it.

I guess it isn't as fake of an outrage if *even the director of the game* speaks out about it.

And I see people downplay the in-game positivity/decency as "only being there because of very strict moderation".

And at this point, I say, maybe fucking yes. Maybe that's the point. Maybe a decently moderated community that excludes and moderates the poison is indeed the solution.

Every single non-moderated space on the internet will become disgusting. This isn't some "conditon" that only applies to FF14 and "holds back" the "actually horrible" community. That's just humanity without any laws that need to be followed.

Since I see all of those screenshots on social media, the moderation is clearly imperfect and it sure is on the forums, but maybe, just maybe we need decent, paid human mods.

Maybe the forums, at least could be curated better because that's what SE can control.

Said social media outside of the forums is all run by disgusting human beings that SE or the FF14 team can't control, though.

So it kind of, really frustratingly, does fall towards the creators and voices in the space, but they're often super "centrist", not moderating their comment sections because "they can't control it" and want "nothing to do with politics". But that in turn allows all of the bad apples to fester and be loud.

Larger ones, I get. Of course you can't. But maybe, just maybe, if you truly, deeply care for this community to be good, go through your comment sections even just once in a while and pick out repeat offenders or the most deeply disgusting ones?

That's all there can be done because social media is ran by these indifferent, disgusting people.

Even I have gotten nasty ones, which I deleted, though, nothing on the level of some of those FF14 posts on Twitter.

The internet fully, truly sucks now.

But I can't deny all of the goodness that is still hidden behind the gunk, which is what keeps me on this ruined technological marvel.

I, as an extremely small creator will at least try to keep the fire going in any small way I can (and am equally awaiting Twitter's collapse).

[mishoarts]

more questions cuz you said it was okay and i want to interact with someone else instead of my own brain (its getting dark inside here)

who do you think will "turn into a phantom" first? Ashlyn said they are already starting to make phantom noises, so in your heard, who will lose control first? (i know they already did it in that arcade, but they were still conscious about everything)

i think it might be Aiden (obvious reasons) but i would love (cry) if it was Ben cuz even though he has angry issues no one is expecting to be him i guess

I always thought that if Aiden and Tyler died again together it's definitely Aiden to be a phantom first (we surely agree), 

it's not about 'who died first' (deaths play a role but aren't the only thing) there's the "negative" feelings, from this side Tyler's probably has the least amount of negative feelings amongst the team ( if anyone said he has his anger issues, no he doesn't and that's 85% reflection of his personality and worries), Logan had a big rush of negative feelings, Taylor had her's yet seemed more furious and "phantom"like. Then we have Aiden who might be FILLED with negative feelings, and we can't straight tell since he covers everything with silly words and a smile, he has alot of love to give and ready to kill real people for  those whom he loves with no hesitation ⚠️slight spoiler ⚠️ [and literally almost did.]

I think it'd be be Ben because if he gets real angry every emotion he has been feeling will explode at once making it the biggest rush of -feelings of them all, and it'll be more terrible if he dies.

+ Ben dying is the worst option, (not for us but for them), the only thing has been holding him from really hurting people was his kind heart (+Aiden), now imagine someone his size and strength with the powers and kill instinct of a phantom (straight up gg 💀)

Things we know would speed up the "mutation":

negative emotions 

Death

Rifts(?)

Things that are effected by the mutation :

physical look 

Body strength 

Sounds

The way of thinking ( tHe VoICeSs)

I think it's either Ben or Aiden, they got the biggest chance.

(but if you want something very unexpected it might be Logan but I highly doubt it  ☠︎) 

_________

I like your questions cuz it force me to write my thoughts in a very tidy way 🗿👍

-I said alot that I've gone far from the main question sorry but I had to -

+ I got you, GO FIGHT THE DARKNESS 🔦🔦

тнαηкѕ ƒσя тнє αѕк! ♥♥

[solradguy]

asking this off anon since it’s p obvious who’s asking, but what are your thoughts on asuka? obvs you think he got off light with sol but do you overall think he was mishandled in the story/dislike him as a character?

As a villain he's awesome.

When they established the core of his character/backstory in Overture, they had him almost like a sympathetic villain. If you read between the lines, there were events where the only choice Asuka could have made were ones that were going to paint him as a raw bastard to the rest of society, with the biggest one being the Black Sunrise when he overrode Justice to blow up Japan to keep the Universal Will from manifesting (and making humanity go extinct, probably).

His options were either to override Aria's control over her own body or to try to convince her to do it herself, which she may not have been able to do in time because trying to convince someone to wipe out 99% of a country of people is a hard thing to do lol It sucks for the characters, but as far as writing goes it's awesome. It's a complex choice, and complex choices tell a lot about a character.

He did something similar with Frederick when he put the Flame of Corruption in him. Asuka knew that he was going to lose control over the Gear cell research (implied at the end-ish of Begin) and needed something on the outside to deal with it once that research inside got out of hand (which it did—Crusades). He also needed to somehow keep the FoC away from the Scales of Juno because of the risk of an Absolute World (mass extinction event). Asuka very probably could have convinced Frederick to accept being infected with the FoC but he didn't even try, he just did it.

Asuka had hundreds of chances across the timeline of Guilty Gear to try to explain things to Sol and he never does until the very end of Strive. Of course, Sol probably wouldn't have listened to him anyway because, as far as he knew, Asuka killed/did something awful to his fiancée, betrayed him, and turned him into a supernova barely caged inside a human form. But he could have at least tried. Asuka is complex as hell, and it's fascinating how GG has managed to pull that off.

Until roughly Xrd. And it got worse in Strive.

I don't know what the decision there was. It's like the foundation for an Asuka redemption arc was being put down before they just went and dropped the whole house on it anyway. They needed him to still be a bit of a villain, but they wanted to start wrapping up the Sol/Asuka threads at the same time and it just isn't doing it, imo. Like I said in my reply on that other post, the FoC stuff between Sol and Asuka has been brewing since Missing Link, 25 years ago, and they "resolved" it in a less than 10 minute scene that was in the middle of another scene where the Earth was about to be blown up by God!I-No at the climax of the entire Strive story itself.

Sol's in-game lines about wanting to beat up Asuka and beating him up in honor of Aria confirm that Sol's still mad at him, but... man.... I want to believe they're going to loop back around and expand on all that a bit more later because right now it's a massively disappointing end to Sol's biggest story arc and to Asuka's character as a whole.

Asuka knows he fucked up, Sol knows it, the rest of the world still knows it too. They can't just be like "and then Asuka went to the moon and everyone forgave him because he helped a bit with some stuff." Fingers crossed Sol's planning something with that rocket in his backyard at Iseo. Even if it's just to go up to the moon and monologue at Asuka.

[odysseys-blood]

theres a lot of back and forth about paimon especially so i just wanna put in my two cents about it bc speculation on paimon and gender can be tricky and theres a lot to take into consideration. this isnt an end all be all post and not the best written but im just speaking from my place as someone who is trans (though i myself am tme) and works with gender themes in my own characters so this is gonna be kinda long

So! Paimon

a lot of the issue from the back and forth stems from how paimon is written by default. When you meet paimon, he's designated as just a pretty boy that likes to crossdress and they emphasize heavily that paimon is a man every time they talk about his femininity and how he presents himself.

Now crossdressing itself is not at all transphobic, hell drag is a big thing and its not uncommon for queens do figure out that they're transfem when they get into it. In fact a lot of queer people do push to erase gender boundaries within clothes because in the end....clothing is just cloth wear what you want be who you want to be, whether it be a woman wearing masc clothing, a man wearing femme clothes, or anyone just wearing something neutral feeling.

Where it becomes a problem is the push to enforce paimon's masculinity at every turn. While its good that paimon isn't a character that's put in to be played for laughs (as feminine men and trans women often are in media), it comes off odd in a way for paimon to have a feminine voice, dress femininely, love feminine things...and then at every point have it enforced heavily that paimon is a man. THAT is where a lot of the issue stems from at when you see it happening as someone who has seen transmisogyny (if this is your first time seeing the word, its transphobia that arises specifically for a trans woman being a woman. ergo the word being a mix of transphobia and misogyny) in practice it looks worrying. When you're someone who knows how to spot this kind of thing it can feel like paimon's gender nonconformity is being demonized (while they also highlight it. its an odd mix).

This isn't to say that it is a concious thing that's being pushed either i'm not saying the writers are personally transmisogynists at all, HOWEVER since transphobia and transmisogyny is rampant in society to the point where it subconsciously controls biases, thats how it can come off transmisogynistic. Think of it as similar to racism: even if you think you yourself are not racist theres still likely biases you have picked up or have been taught just because theyre so pervasive in society. This doesnt mean its your fault it just means its something that you have to unlearn conciously and put in the work to do so.

This is also not just a problem with whb because again like i said, its systemic. Think about other characters in media who are written this way, such as Bridget from Guilty Gear, or Vivian from Paper Mario. While these two are different in that their status as trans women have been solidified, the treatment they've gotten is largely the same. Especially bridget considering how she for the longest was the poster child for the "femboy" archetype and how femininity is enforced yet also discouraged in these characters until she was finally labeled transgender in gg strive.

All this to say...its messy and theres a lot of points to consider so there really isnt a reason to go at each others throats. Using paimon's canon pronouns and gender isn't exactly a problem and neither is choosing to instead see paimon as a transgender woman and using she/her pronouns. But at the very least it doesn't hurt to educate yourself also and understand why paimon's writing can come off transmisogynistic and transphobic. WHB is not a game thats heralding itself on being progressive (even if there are aspects to it that might seem so) so there's not much to expect from it in that regard but still we can be mindful and discussion isnt bad.

(also a footnote i dont think ive seen any transfem or tma players of whb in the tag....ever but if anyone is and wants to add on or thinks ive overstepped let me know)