#quote from shipping wiki

[lenok993]

Bryan Dechart considers the eye locking at the fence to be a moment of deviancy for Connor.

me: Connara relationship levels? Something else?

game to me:

[rubys-domain]

now that i think about it, i wonder how the rest of the playerbase actually sees chongyun. as in everyone who's not privy to his character stories and voice lines, and who probably haven't done his hangout event either. i wonder what kind of personality they think he has

[nobodymitskigabriel]

So the Sabriel shipping wiki page has this quote at the top.

It's a sweet quote but as far as I can tell it was literally never said? Where did it come from?? Whenever I try to google it the only results I get are the shipping wiki itself and a shady site that claims to sell drugs.

[tossawary]

So, I started thinking about a Kuina Lives + Strawhat Kuina AU specifically because of a paragraph on the wiki page. I was looking up info on Shimotsuki Village while I was taking down notes for a potential Pre-Canon ZoLu fic inspired by the live-action show.

Allegedly, the infamous 4kids dub CHANGED things so that Kuina didn't die, she was PERMANENTLY DISABLED to the point of being unable to pursue her dream. And my brain went: "?!" I see no reason why (aside from a few very extreme cases of disability) a disabled Kuina could not become a Strawhat pirate and go on adventures anyway! (Franky is a CYBORG who looks increasingly like a MECHA and Chopper's pills are BONKERS.)

Relevant quote: "Per standard policies, the 4Kids-dubbed anime censored her death, stating that she had been permanently injured by the friends of a man she'd defeated (and removing all scenes depicting her funeral or grave)." Which is driving my brain UP THE WALL with possibility when Kuina and Tashigi also supposedly both have names referencing flightless birds. The THEMES. The SYMBOLISM.

Personally, I still prefer Kuina becoming injured in an innocuous fall rather than having people directly responsible for her physical disability. The degree of her injury depends on what story that a person is individually writing. I see two potential ways forward (of many) that both interest me.

OPTION A: Kuina is physically disabled to the point of being unable to fight well generally, especially with swords. She uses a wheelchair and crutches to get around, and has some other lingering issues. So, like, she can definitely still whack people with a sword and shoot a gun, but Zoro is wielding Wado Ichimonji because Kuina feels she cannot do it justice. (But she's still supervising!!! She's Zoro's coach.)

Kuina's grandfather was a swordsmith, so in this case, she would end up in a smith, weapons expert, and quartermaster role for the Strawhats. She, Usopp, and Franky can be the Crafting Team! Ship maintenance crew! Kuina takes Merry's sinking nearly as badly as Usopp does.

OPTION B: Kuina has "mostly" recovered from her injury, which set her back for several years, but is still struggling. A dedicated female fighter on the Strawhat crew is VERY tempting as an idea. Monster quartet, yes? Yes! She's wielding Wado Ichimonji and Zoro is still searching for his own dedicated swords.

She could still be a swordsmith and quartermaster in this case! In either case, A or B, I think it might be cool to give Kuina a hook? (Kuina @ Crocodile: "Compensating for something, huh?") She could get other prosthetics or just super cool assistive devices as the story goes on with Chopper and Franky's help.

KUINA'S POTENTIAL ARCS: I do really like the idea of Kuina (if she can still fight with a sword) and Zoro moving forward together, neck and neck, for the title of World's Greatest Swordsman. I think it would be cool to come to a resolution that the title is more or less something that they can share? Like, only one of them can beat Mihawk in a "fair" duel, so that's an issue in the competition between them, but I do like the idea of the two of them going back and forth beating each other in duels, at the top of the world together.

Arguably, when Zoro sacrifices himself at the end of the Thriller Bark Arc, he has come to the resolution that he'll give up his dream for Luffy and the crew, where he gives up the last remnants of being self-centred and throws himself completely behind Luffy's philosophy of friendship and enjoying the journey. He still wants to be the World's Greatest Swordsman, but his crew comes first. I don't recall after this point any reckless moments of a similar nature to him stabbing himself in Orange Town when fighting Buggy's crew to prove a point. Zoro's recklessness culminates in sacrificing himself with purpose.

It does feel a little weak, but... Kuina could decide that she's comfortable in her own skills and doesn't need to prove anything to anyone. She KNOWS she's as good as Zoro is. She can declare herself the World's Greatest Swordswoman and let Zoro fight Mihawk. (They did probably flip a coin over it or something.) Maybe she never really wanted to be the World's Greatest, maybe she just wanted to live her life the way that she chose, and felt like becoming the World's Greatest was the only way of permanently shutting up every sexist jerk who has ever talked down to her. (They will never shut up. Sexist jerks will always find something to nitpick.)

ALTERNATIVELY: Kuina could have a heartbreaking and healing story about having to give up your dream because it's not physically possible anymore. Even if this is a story where she's still fighting as a swordswoman with Wado Ichimonji and is monstrously dangerous, maybe her physical disability prevents her from now fighting on Zoro's level, which really fucking sucks for her when she feels like she has so much to prove as a woman.

Shounen manga has always had an issue where the solution to some fights is that the protagonist just needs to "fight harder, yell louder, and believe in himself more", even when the protagonist is bleeding from everywhere. "One Piece" is fun because there are plenty of fights and problems where the protagonists succeed due to being genuinely clever, but there are other fights where it's all about a manifestation of willpower (sometimes literally). And this often works thematically.

I think Kuina would be interesting as a character for how she could contrast against Zoro, so I'm leaning towards giving her a very different story rather than making her Zoro 2.0 (Female).

For example, where Zoro is reckless, I think Kuina might be cautious, especially if she's been badly injured before and is still struggling. In flashbacks, she's open about her problems and anger to Zoro because he's her friend and also a safe target - he's an outsider / outlier in the dojo and she can beat him in a fight. In a martial school that probably demands some level of respectful behavior, Kuina might not display the same bravado and unhappiness to her father, who is also her teacher and responsible for the sexism that she's internalized.

If she's a swordswoman still, I don't know that she would challenge Mihawk at the Baratie. For one thing, it's STUPID. Zoro had to KNOW that he was nowhere near Mihawk's level and he's lucky that Mihawk had some level of honor and curiosity to spare him. If Mihawk had been a little more of an asshole, that would have been the end of Zoro's dream. He was really stupid there (affectionate, that's my boy). The smart thing to do is keep your mouth shut and live to challenge Mihawk another day, but I think Kuina would also hate herself for this kind of "cowardice".

Her personal struggle as a character might be with reserve and fear of risk, whether this culminates in her ultimately overcoming all obstacles and succeeding in her dream with the help of her friends, or in her giving up her dream due to a physical disability (or multiple physical disabilities) that is no fault of her own in favor of a new dream. You could try your best to combine all of these different elements into Kuina's arcs and abilities. There's a lot of possibility.

[mihai-florescu]

I don't have the lit sources cuz i just save random tidbits on my phone, and the enstars quotes i got from the shipping wiki, but do you guys know about Tatsumayo?

[snakeeyesdraws]

Overly Analyzing Fortune Street character dialogue (Mario and Luigi)

So I've spent a lot of time browsing Mario wiki pages (organized easy to read information about a current hyperfixation makes for great destressing material) and one of the pages I've been really into is the quotes from Fortune Street (2011)! I've been thinking about talking about and discussing some of the character dialogue from it, since some of them actually have some fun character tidbits, and after seeing this post from pianokantzart (please go check out their stuff!) I decided to go ahead and do so!

Today we'll be focusing on Mario and Luigi's dialogue, and dialogue that involves them! If you would like to view these quotes for yourself, you can do so here and on the character's quote pages. I'll mainly just be highlighting some of the fun ones under the cut!

Mario

"Brr! This ship gives me the creeps! Best to win fast so I don't have to hang out here too long!" (The Ghost Ship)

This is an area-specific dialogue line for the Ghost Ship, and I find the implication that Mario is a bit creeped out by ghosts/haunted places, seeing as Boos/ghosts are an enemy that have notably defeated him numerous times via the Luigi's Mansion series.

"Wow! What a fancy palace! But I still think Peach's Castle is the best…" (Castle Trodain) "Ha ha! I'm gonna do well here. Peach's Castle is like a second home to me!" (Peach's Castle)

Simple but cute!! He thinks of Peach's Castle as a second home and feels safe there!! This is extremely important to me

"Dooo-doo-doo-doo-doo-dooooo! Hey, I love this tune!" (Super Mario Bros.) "Doooo--doo-doo doo-doo-doo! That sure is a catchy tune I've got stuck in my head! Oh, sorry, is it my turn already?"

He also really loves the Super Mario Bros. theme! The theme that is associated most with him and Luigi ;w; I like to imagine he hums its to himself whenever he's working

To Yoshi: "I'll help you find your cookies, Yoshi - just give me a second to brush these cookie crumbs out of my mustache!" Yoshi to player: "Yoshi! Yoshi! (Nice job on that promotion, (player's name)! Here, have some cookies to celebrate!)" Mario's response: "Why no cookies for Mario? Can't I have just one?"

There's also a running theme of him wanting Yoshi's cookies which I think is so funny. The Legendary Hero of the Mushroom Kingdom cannot turn up a tasty snack. Some people seem to push back against the idea that Mario enjoys eating?? But I think it's such a cute characteristic of his (and the fact that he basically admits to Yoshi's face that he swiped his cookies jsadjkkdlsa)

"Not to look a gift Yoshi in the mouth, but I was hoping for more coins..."

Mostly highlighting this one for the substation of "horse" with "Yoshi" in this quote. Fun little world building tidbit of Yoshi's being the Mushroom Kingdom's horses.

After player warps: "Ever get a stomachache when you warp, (player's name)? That happens to me sometimes!"

Even though he presumably uses the warp pipes all the time? Interesting... (side note but because I'm movie brain pilled, you could potentially read into it more here for that verse 👀)

After landing on a Take-a-break square: "Heroes never take the day off! What am I supposed to do with myself - go to the beach?"

Bro that is not a good mindset let yourself take vacations!

"Thank you for your patronage! You're very generous, (player's name)... Just like me!"

There's a lot of playful lines like this from Mario, I like when we get to see his competitive side and how he has a teeny bit of an ego (he's still overall humble and kind, but he knows he's the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom)

After player buying his circus tent: "I can't believe you took over my circus, (player's name)! Didn't you like my fireball show?"

FIREBALL SHOW???? HE PUTS ON A FIREBALL SHOW????? I am desperate for any crumbs of reference to Firebrand (even though he likely used a Fire Flower for this but still)

To Luigi: "Hey Luigi! Stick with me, Bro, and we'll win this one together!" Luigi's response: "You got it, Mario! We'll show (player's name) some real Mario Bros. teamwork!"

To player: "Nice work, (player's name)! But Luigi and I aren't going to give up quite yet!" Luigi's response: "Right you are! The Mario Bros. are just getting warmed up!"

THEM........ 🥺💖 WE LOVE TO SEE THEM WORKING TOGETHER

To player: "Psst! Hey, (player's name)! Princess Peach is watching, so I'm afraid I just can't lose to you today!" Peach's response: "Mario, I heard that! But don't you worry - I'm the one who's going to win!"

Dude is SMITTEN for Peach and it shows. He wants to impress her! I do like that we get to see that Peach is also competitive and playfully rolls with it

To player: "Keep going, (player's name)! It's way too early to give up!" Peach's response: "Hey, Mario-what gives? You seem like you're more concerned about (player's name) than you are about me!"

That said, Peach clearly likes having his attention on her LMAO it reminds me of the scene in Paper Jam where M&L Peach visibly got a bit jealous of Mario getting blushy and flustered over Paper Peach

Bowser to player: "You're in luck! If you beat me, you automatically get to become one of my minions! That's the law around here!" Mario's response: "Don't listen to him, (player's name)! I've beaten him a million times, and I'm no minion!"

Almost all of Bowser's quotes that invoke a response from Mario play out like this; Bowser provokes or taunts the player and Mario immediately snaps back or defends the player. It's fun to see a version of their rivalry here, albeit one in a much more relaxed and lower stakes setting. They will get extremely competitive even when it's just a game for fun

Bowser Jr. to player: "You're just being a big show-off, (player's name)! I'm NOT impressed!" Mario's response: "Don't be jealous, Bowser Jr.! Sure, (player's name) is doing great - but you're not doing bad yourself! Try to stay focused!"

While Mario will do the same if Junior taunts the player, here we can see him being encouraging towards him. It's a cute little moment! I feel like Bowser's Fury enjoyers will like this quote lol

Peach to Mario: "Hmph! Why does (player's name) have all the luck? Mario! I order you to go out and gather me some gold coins!" Mario's response: "Sure thing, Princess Peach! But, umm..how?"

I mean it when I say dude is smitten. One order from the princess and he's ready to drop his competitive streak to go fetch some coins for her LMAO

Toad to player: "I'm impressed with your business acumen, (player's name)! I wish I was more like you… Mario's response: "You can be, Toad! Just keep up the hard work!"

Friendship between Mario and Toad can be so personal, actually... and more encouraging and sweet Mario! Never forget that this man is kind and caring before anything else

To Birdo: "Ouch! Birdo, you're charging me an arm and a mustache! That's precious gold I'm never going to see again!"

AN ARM AND A MUSTACHE HE SAYS............ this man is a DORK

To Bowser Jr.: "I'm surprised you're charging folks so much to shop here, Bowser Jr. ! Just like your daddy, you are!" To Bowser Jr.: "Bowser Jr.! You're just like your daddy. Always getting in my way!"

He'll be encouraging and overall gentler with Junior, but it doesn't change that fact that Junior still gets in his way a lot JADSKK

To Donkey Kong: "Hey, Donkey Kong! Would you mind if I paid you in bananas? Ha ha ha! Oh, I bet you get that joke all the time!" To Donkey Kong: "You sure know how to roll that die, Donkey Kong! Almost as well as you roll a barrel!"

oh my god he's so obnoxious sometimes you KNOW this man is telling dad jokes even if he's not a father. And it's a small hint towards the DK and Mario rivalry that started in the old games!

To Luigi: "Oh, Luigi! Can't you give me a special discount or something? I thought we were the bestest of buddies!"

the bestest of buddies I could cry.... it's a very sweet sentiment, even though clearly it's said in a bit of teasing tone here. I now HC that Mario calls Luigi his bestest buddy whenever he wants something from him

To Peach: "Looks like I need to start picking some flowers for your victory bouquet, Princess Peach!"

THIS. MAN. IS. SMITTEN.

To Waluigi: "I hate to fraternize with my brother's nemesis, but it looks like we're going to have to work together! Let's swap shops, Waluigi!" To Waluigi: "What!? Waluigi's about to win!? I don't think Luigi is going to be too happy about that…"

Interestingly, we get to see the Waluigi / Luigi rivalry acknowledged by someone outside of them. I do like the implication that out of principal, Mario avoids anyone who has beef with Luigi.

Luigi

”Eek! No one told me there would be gh-gh-ghosts here! I wish I'd brought my Poltergust 3000 with me.” (The Ghost Ship)

LUIGI'S MANSION REFERENCE!! An obvious one, but it makes me happy whenever it's referenced regardless

"Leaping lasagna! This place is even bigger than Peach's Castle!" (Castle Trodain) "This place is wackadoodle! It's turning my brain into spaghetti!" (Good Egg Galaxy)

HE DID IT HE SAID THE FOOD JOKE THINGS!!!!

"Looks like my bro really cleaned this place up! I hope they gave him the key to the city!" (Delfino Plaza)

this one is just, so pure and cute???? supportive Luigi confirmed??

To player: "Hey, (player's name)! I'm Luigi! Oh, you've heard of me? I'm so flattered I think I'm blushing!"

This is also so cute and a bit sad - he thinks it's amazing that someone has heard of him enough to know his name outside of just "Mario's little brother"

"This game has got my mustache all mussed up! Where's my little comb?"

Implying he carries a comb with him specifically for brushing and cleaning up his mustache! Which makes total sense, considering these other lines of dialogue from him;

"I take a quick time-out to trim my mustache, and someone buys up almost all the shops! What gives?" "Ack! One shop left? All I did was take a minute to trim my sideburns… I need to stop doing that!" "Who bought up all the shops? Guess I was too busy grooming the 'stache to pay attention to the game…"

A lot of people interpret Luigi as very neat and tidy and almost obsessively keeps himself cleaned, and this dialogue most certainly solidifies that! People pointed out in the recent film that Luigi's hair is also a lot neater than Mario's, which lends to this idea. Apparently more than once he's been so focused on grooming his mustache and hair that he's missed something important lol

"It's not so bad being in second place. As a matter of fact, it feels just right! I wonder why that is…"

Ohhhh buddy,,,,,, the eternal player 2 mood LOL

"One day I'm gonna dominate this district. Then everyone will see who's the real brains behind The Mario Bros.!"

JDSJKASDLDASKLA this is such a sibling quote. Though it is interesting considering many people consider Luigi the more strategic of the two

After player lands on a Take-a-break square: "You've been working so hard lately, (player's name). Promise me you'll take it easy on your day off!"

A lot of characters will gleefully remark that they can advance while you're on a day off when you land on a Take-a-break square, but Luigi seems to genuinely want you to take it easy and I think that's neat

To player: "Did Mario teach you to play this game, (player's name)? 'Cause you've definitely got some sweet moves, just like him!"

CUUUUUUUUUUTE Luigi thinks the world of his brother, so of course if you impress him, he will compare you to him!

After player builds a tax office: "Built yourself a tax office, (player's name)? That was a calculated move! Ha ha ha ha!"

"You got any hobbies, (player's name)? I'm into lots of things: golf, tennis, basketball, beating you at this game…"

DORK I am going to lovingly push him into a locker. This was the blueprint for "You just got a-Luigi'd!"

After building an estate agency: "I bet Princess Daisy'd be really impressed if I owned a few more shops! Help me out, estate agency!"

One of the most favourite moments for Luigi/Daisy enjoyers. Because it really is cute! He just wants to impress her!

Going bankrupt: "Bankrupt!? I'm gonna get laughed right out of the Mushroom Kingdom!"

highlighting this one just because every time I read it all I can think of is "they're beating my ass in the QRTs"

Daisy to player: "If you win, (player's name), maybe I'll invite you on an all-expenses-paid vacation to Sarasaland!" Luigi's response: "Wow, what a prize, (player's name)! I wish I was in your shoes!" Daisy to player: "Yay! You got your salary, (player's name)! I guess that means you'll drop by my shop soon, right?" Luigi's response: "Wow, Princess Daisy! You're good…"

THIS. MAN. IS. ALSO. SMITTEN. I find it so funny that both Mario and Luigi are so head over heels for their respective princess GFs.

Waluigi to player: "Hope you're comfortable in last place, (player's name), 'cause that's where you belong!" Luigi's response: "Knock it off, Waluigi! I'm pretty sure you're the one who belongs in last place!" Waluigi: "Luigi, (player's name)… Is there anyone they DON'T let into this thing?" Luigi's response: "Ha ha! You're one to talk, Waluigi! How did YOU get on the guest list?"

LUIGI, KILL!!!!

More of the Waluigi / Luigi rivalry, and it's interesting to see someone who is usually more timid and soft spoken like Luigi be so confrontational and angry addressing someone who is clearly getting on his nerves. Waluigi seems to be one of the few people who can really push his buttons like that.

Mario to player: "Nice job, (player's name)! You're a real hero - just like Mario!" Luigi's response: "I wish Mario would call me a hero sometime…"

The post I linked before delves a bit more into this, but Luigi has a couple of dialogue lines about wishing Mario would think more highly of him. It doesn't come across as out of spite or disdain; it just reads as a younger sibling wishing he could impress his big brother who he looks up to. But as we all know, Mario clearly thinks the world of Luigi and he even shows it in this game;

Mario to Luigi: "Great job, Bro! Ha ha! You're my hero!"

They care about each other and I will hear NO arguments.

[senkusphone]

Dr. Stone chapter 3D trivia post

Hello, um. I hope yall had a pleasant solstice celebration of your choice- I've been pondering whether what we just saw merits a triva post, but let's try to squeeze some for the sake of completion, shall we?

Check out also my trivia posts for chapters 1D and 2D.

They're the same picture.

It took me way too long to notice what was off in this cover, it seems to be nothing but an aesthetic choice. Other than these off colors, this specific suika melon design first appeared during the Treasure island arc, right after Ryusui punted her off the Perseus.

To directly quote what I wrote at one time on the wiki:

Too bad, the ship Chelsea shows up in is not the Perseus D. Monkey from chapter 214 (which itself is a One Piece reference, as Boichi is a big fan).

Interesting that we get a nearly identical shot, instead of Kohaku standing behind her, it's Ruri and Matsukaze.

This posture done my Matsukaze is called Namaste (with other names such as Namaskar), which is used both as a greeting and as an indication of reverence all over the southern parts of Asia, along with other similar gestures. I know this is familiar to many myself included but I had never looked into the deeper details until now.

Figurines showing this pose have been excavated from the Indus valley civilization dating to between 2700 and 2100 BCE, making this piece of cultural heritage at least 7800 years old by the time of this panel.

Xeno has clearly had his hand in the architecture of the Japan side of the KoS, with some new constructions resembling his own Evil Disneyland back home.

Hold back yer tears

Kaseki has lived well. It's hard to tell how old he is now, he lived longer than the timeline's consistency thats for sure, I blame time travel.

At the time Taiju got wed, he was around 70 years old.

Kaseki and Chrome go back way further than the KoS, the fanbook tells us that Kaseki helped Chrome build his shed when he was just a boy.

Feel your heart a bit shakey? hang on there, we now get to talk about whyman's sorrow, and a small observation that I've made

Whyman can have emotions, the circuits that process that can be switched on and off, but the fact that a message can, or needs to be "left" for themselves, as well as his farewell for all eternity, has an interesting implication: once switched off, whyman loses the recollection of any experience they had in the meantime. These circuits allow whyman to feel, and also to then forget. This is useful, as emotions help them survive, but forgetting prevents the emotional baggage from growing infinitely over a virtually immortal life.

"If we remembered every single parting person, it would only be a few generations before the sorrow would pile up to the point it became unbearable. Maybe it is a blessing to forget. Forgetting allows us to get even. Forget sorrows as new ones replace them. Life can go on, if tragically. No accumulating loss that would one day make everyone struggle to survive and eventually pass on; though that last thing does also sound very much like today."

(10B points to the ~2 people who know where this quote is from, I digress)

So that's cool, and heartbreaking, but so what, does it connect to anything we've seen before?

Well...

In ch. 232 we see that Whyman does not know what created them.

How could that be, if they can remember things over deep time?

Maybe it is that Whyman chose to forget their creators, and everything they felt about them. Beings that they may even have loved in the deep deep past, and could not cope with yearning for.

The blonde, bangs & ponytail lineage.

The village graveyard. Last time we saw it, Byakuya's gravestone was opened to reveal the glass record.

A lot of recognizable headstones are still up now, some appear to have moved.

Other headstones might be gone or be different... The one with four dots that was there originally can't be seen in this new shot but it can be seen later in the chapter.

Also, I hate to break this to you, but there's more headstones now than there were before.

I counted 45 in the original shot, 50 in the new one, not including any that Chelsea and Senku may be covering. Granted this is likely just an oversight.

(I should mention that in order for them to match bottom to bottom, the top image is flipped horizontally).

(omg look at the babiesss)

What Xeno is telling Chrome is that if whyman went and altered their own past, then what they are seeing currently is the result of that, since whatever changes they made, are in the past after all.

They already happened and they are part of the timeline that leads them to where they are now.

Assuming they actually found Byakuya (or a petrified time traveler) means that either whyman created some sort of causal loop that is self sustaining (ie, the ramifications of the changes in the past include whyman going back to do them in the first place), or more in line with the many worlds hypothesis, that going back to the past and changing it creates a new parallel timeline where the repercussions of that happen, with no effect in the first one.

In the latter case it means the timeline we see now was altered by the whyman from a parallel universe.

The stone axe is a bit dissonant with where they are, technologically speaking, yes? Thing is, that's the one Senku took to the moon with him.

He's had it since chapter 1.

A few people I've seen mystified about this structure they unearthed at the cementery:

This is a collapsed building just like the structures that the Tsukasa empire occupied.

(shoutout to that guy about to die in the back)

Interestingly, this means that Ishigami Village is established on top of a once urban area.

I am always pumped for any extra bits of village lore I can get.

Did Suika's handwriting trigger your AI generated image senses? it did for me.

We were bamboozled again. If it ends up happening it's gonna be like the tale of the wolf. The moment we stop taking it seriously, Inagaki is gonna smack us across the head with it.

We were actually preparing for the poop on a stick to hit the f.a.a.n on discord. What do I make about the ending? I don't know, I got no big analysis this time around but I believe it's very likely we'll see more at some point.

[mpregfrance]

i saw you say that you’re take on spamano diverts from canon and honestly i’d love to know more about it, i feel like most spamano shippers do this and i love hearing all takes because i feel like they’re all interesting! and i love them so so much!! do you have any hc’s that you think are unpopular with the fandom?? or do you like they way spamano is represented for the most part??

Hi! Thanks so much for the ask 💕 If you're the same anon who sent the last one I'm working on it. To answer honestly, I don't interact with Spamano fanwork enough to know what is and isn't popular or accepted as fanon these days.

But I'll hesitantly say that no, I think my views on this ship differ from that of the fandom status quo, as they usually do. I don't say this for the sake of being edgy or a need to always play contrarian, but bc I have a unique perspective.

Disclaimer; long post ahead. my opinion was asked for and you're about to receive it. Everything stated is opinion and I'm not discrediting alternate headcanons.

So I'll start by saying I'm not an expert on Spain's history or characterization. I have mentioned this before but the way Himaruya chose to portray him is a bit odd to me. Then again, Hetalia nations aren't really direct representations of their government, but instead stereotypes of their people. If everyone was accurate they'd all be unsympathetic assholes.

Spain as an empire was once a ruthless colonial force, and as a nation in more recent centuries they have a history of fascist rule, violent uprising and general civil discord.

Spain as a character is a sunny, bubbly himbo after he lost his reputation as a global power. I think he has a tendency to downplay the harm he's caused in the past and manipulate others into viewing him as a shiny happy goofy airhead.

Don't get me wrong, I think Antonio is adorable. He's cute, right? Dude's main personality trait is having a GREAT ASS 🍑 and liking tomates 🍅 He loves to cook and dance and do fuck all. The Hetalia wiki describes him as a, quote, 'cheerful country bumpkin' and honestly, let's go with that for the sake of his personhood?

This is why I like human AU. I enjoy reading historical Hetalia, but writing it isn't for me. As a creative, I don't want to operate within the limits of real world events and not gonna lie I prefer writing them as people!! And that's where I exercise some divergence from canon.

So obviously there's the dynamic of boss and his underling that existed when Romano was young. We can't entirely ignore that that arc exists and is part of his character development, but when Romano grows up I don't see them that way, and there's no denying their romantic potential.

I hear, and understand the common criticisms of Spamano. I don't view them as related, and Romano is not Spain's territory anymore. To me it's fair game. Hetalia is complicated bc well... these nation-beings are hundreds of years old, therefore the case for morality in shipping isn't black and white.

Personally I don't believe any ship is 'too problematic' to exist. I'm of the opinion that we can explore just about any dynamic in fiction as long as we do it mindfully. I'm a multishipper, these characters are all so versatile.

This might sound silly to say about an anime character but my analysis of Romano's personality is more in depth. As someone of Italian descent I recognize his stereotypical traits; and feel pretty strongly about his mischaracterization.

For one, he has a small dog Napoleon complex and that's a big thing for Italian guys (more on that later)

In canon (i.e. world history and Hetalia itself) when Romano was young, Spain did spend a lot of money protecting and defending him. Now as an adult he feels guilty, like he has an obligation to him, and he doesn't want to be seen as weak, reliant or incapable ever again. I don't think he'd allow himself to be dominated, in any way, or even want to be.

Here's an unpopular opinion; he is very masculine, but I think people have a hard time comprehending what constitutes masculinity.

And I'm not saying Antonio is therefore feminine. They're both cis men to me, and switch in the bedroom, but I will admit I prefer Lovino as the generally more dominant partner - in a physical and hierarchical sense.

Ultimately I don't think they box themselves into heteronormative roles all too much. Maybe for funsies, because Lovino likes feeling needed and Antonio to me doesn't have the discipline it takes to wear the proverbial pants in the relationship.

In a comic strip, Spain proposed to Romano when same-sex marriage became legal, and he basically said yes as long as you cook for me?? They're husbands!! It's canon 😎

It's a bit hard to explain, but in my perspective, Lovino would protect and cherish Antonio like a man would his 'wife'. He's his Carino. His Tesoro. His Amorino. Toni might be taller than him, but he's always talking to him like a child - mostly affectionately, but we've seen otherwise.

One of my favourite Romano lines is from the April Fools episode, "No talking to me when you look stupid", that to me is a defining moment of their relationship 💖💖💖

So anyway, this attitude of his brings me to the topic of Maschismo. If you're not familiar with that term, it's a performative, arrogant, and fragile brand of toxic masculinity that's prevalent in men of Mediterranean and Latin American descent. Any man can be machismo but the term is associated with these cultures.

(Again I'm of Mediterranean descent, I have lived experience with this, please don't think I'm racist and if that's legitimately your takeaway you have the reading comprehension of a sea cucumber)

In machismo society, men are discouraged from showing any emotion except anger. They're expected to be strong, and are extremely affected by any implication of personal failure, or threat to their (imagined) role as top dog. When something upsets them, aggression is the default response.

Men affected by machismo are often possessive, competitive, and motivated by material success; because there's an expectation to provide for - and honor - your family. They will often talk over women, objectify or ignore them completely, like second class citizens.

Whether this was a conscious intention or not, Hima actually does a great job at displaying Romano as a machismo poster boy. He's simultaneously expressive and repressed. He's stubborn, defensive and argumentative, and if that doesn't say Italian dad to you then you're probably a WASP /hj

What the fandom might see as a little tsundere uke, I see as machismo tough guy. He's not soft, that's the thing, but he deserves space to be soft because so does everyone. Maybe Antonio does bring that out in him. But it's not easy and it's not for anyone else to see. He pretends to hate when Toni calls him cute because he doesn't allow himself to feel appreciated on that level. He actually has a deep, unspoken respect for Antonio. It's just easier to tease him.

And he actually does care. He just does it in a way that isn't instantly recognisable as caring because it's not 'gentle'. He's jealous of Feliciano because he's the 'nice' brother. He's concerned for Feli when others mistreat him. That concern and protectiveness translates into condescension and ironically, distancing.

Sorry for going so in depth on what is essentially old man land mass yaoi, if you've read this far thank you and congratulations I guess.

[rist-ix]

I have a question for you what do you think of the quote unquote age gap between Bloom and Valtor?

I had to do alot of research to understand Bloom age when I started to like this ship better than Mr cheater. So here's a brief information dump:

Bloom is 16 in the first episode and its confirm her bday is December 10 (we don't know the the exact year when each girl was born only the fact Stella is the oldest by that logic Bloom is the second youngest out of the group) when we get to season 3 it is confirmed that the girls is in their 3rd semester so that makes Bloom 19 at point. Valtor's age we do not know however I'm going to say at most early 20s from what we know Valtor working with a younger Griffin before he got Popsicled.

Here comes the tricky part. In s4 the girls just finished their semester and graduated making them 20-21. Up until s5 where Nicklodeon had to reboot their age making them 16 again. Flashforward to s8 and that makes Bloom age 19 if you are following the reboot or 23 if you do not follow the reboot. Since we don't know how long Valtor been frozen his mental age is up for debate.

For me personally I don't see Sparxshipping as an Edward and Bella situation as Edward was aging naturally during his years while Valtor was frozen and couldn't age naturally but only mentally.

Okay okay first of all! Your Bloom math checks out and I just realized that I for some reason always thought Bloom is 18 in s3. Which is still possible, I think, I just dont know why I assumed that. Actually no, it works, if she is 16 in s1 she is 17 in s2 and 18 in s3, but we dont know a lot about how the school years work in Magix so I'm gonna jot her down as 18-19 for the remainder of this post.

Still dont know how I passed math btw.

Anyway. Valtor's age is where the real mystery is at. We've got two possibilities in my opinion.

1. He's pulling the ageless immortal card.

My personal go-to for fics and discussions. Love me some 300 year old mommy issues. He has too much practice being a messy bitch, there's no fixing this man folks.

Evidence: There's a flashback showing him with Griffin as a tween: she looks MUCH younger, he looks exactly the same. Unless he also stole the secret magic of the world's most potent anti aging cream, or Griffin's proximity to Faragonda just aged her by three more decades, he does not age.

2. He is the age he looks.

Which, in my humble opinion, would not put him anywhere near twenty. That is a grown man. He's not college age, unless you count college professors under that word. Even if I were good at guessing ages the very stylized art style would throw me for a loop, but im gonna say 40s, give or take. Look at Avalon, look at Codatorta, look at King Radius if u must. That is the age range we're looking at.

Evidence: I dont have any. We're ballin'. I guess it's never explicitly stated he's immortal, which you'd think would be big enough of a deal to mention. If u got something feel free to let me know.

That being said, the Winx Club Wiki page for the canon timeline (ha, good one) puts the time of Valtor's creation in a rough time frame from "Over 17 years before season 1" to "Under 100 years before season 6". So he could technically be anywhere from 17-97, though I'm not sure the upper limit is as reliable as the lower one, given the check-list format of the website. So make of that what you will.

Now that we've got the question of age out of the way, lets get to the age gap. I have no idea what the situation in twilight was to be honest, so I cant compare that.

Realistically, there's at least a decade between Bloom and Valtor. Possibly two decades and change. And that is just from visible age, we can add a few centuries on top of that if we're sticking with the immortal bit. I'm gonna be gonest, I dont think being frozen for 17 years will make a whole lot of difference here.

If you find that icky, which is fair, you can always change that for fics tho! Either turn him into a twenty year old or put Bloom in her milf-era, the options are endless. Personally, I think the age difference is half the fun though, and also the least of their issues. When you're off making out with the objectively worst person in history, wether he's too old for her isnt gonna rank very high on people's list of concerns.

[mochiwrites]

(tma) From a fanon standpoint, I completely understand why people ship jonmartin, but from a canon standpoint they don't really have many moments together? I'll admit I'm not completely through season 5, but the ship wiki didn't even mention season 5, so I'm just curious how the ship got so much hype?

anon in the nicest way possible... did we listen to the same podcast?

because holy FUCK there's a ton of important moments that they have together?? excluding s5. I won't touch on that season all that much since a) you're still in the middle of it and b) we're talking early game jmart.

we're gonna start with the Q&A bits. also I feel like I should preface. I'm still relatively new to the fandom (have only been here since end of september) and I may not know as much as someone who's been here longer. but with that out of the way, let's discuss jmart! putting this under a read more because this is gonna be an essay! (spoilers ahead for seasons 1-4)

the first thing we need to make explicitly clear is that the magnus archives is not a romance. it is a horror first and foremost.

but also in the same breath, we need to talk about how jmart even came to be. martin's crush on jon was planned from the very start, and through the series we start to see jon reciprocate martin's feelings. this was specifically addressed for the first time in the season 4 Q&A. to quote jonny exactly, "yes he reciprocates it -- it's a romance -- at least I have written it as a romance."

the incredibly important thing to note with tma is that the romance (with the exception of s5) is going to take a back seat in the story, because as said before, fundamentally tma is a horror podcast.

HOWEVER -- this doesn't mean that jon and martin don't have important scenes together. because they do. it isn't so much about the number of scenes they have together but more so the quality and importance of moments they have.

SEASON ONE

take for example the first real interaction we see between jon and martin. martin has just experienced a traumatic event and brought the physical evidence of said event right to his boss' face (the same boss that ridicules him and bashes his work). he fully expects jon to disregard everything that martin has just told him. but then. but then! jon is surprisingly understanding and almost soft with him. it's a reaction martin certainly wasn't expecting and you can hear it in his voice.

and then we get to the prentiss attack and we see jon and martin on the same level. we see them having this heart to heart discussion about why they're at the institute etc etc.

it's the first time we see them actually understanding one another, the first time we see jon and martin as themselves and not just the archivist and his assistant. we see them as human beings rather than their professions. they're put on the same level and I think that's incredibly important to high light here.

to finally top it all of with season one, we have the interview between jon and martin. jon is trying to slip back into his role, back into the position of the archivist, but martin isn't letting him. not entirely. one of the first few things out of his mouth are the words "are you okay?" and he's the ONLY one to ask jon about this. I checked. and then you see martin apologizing to jon for leaving him, and you can hear the struggle in jon's voice as he tries for something soft before attempting to slip into something more professional.

but the biggest piece to take away from these interactions is how martin cares. it's how he views jon right from the start and deems him someone to worry about. and when we end season one we find that there is no longer a a hierarchy between the two of them (besides occupational titles ofc), they are on the same level.

SEASON TWO

so we end season with jon and martin landing on the same level of respect for one another. they're fresh out of a traumatizing situation and back to work! aaaaand jon falls into a very deep pit of paranoia.

we have martin attempting to steer jon toward taking care of himself, inviting him to lunch, making him tea, etc etc. we see jon questioning if it's just a ploy for martin to get jon to lower his guard so he can kill him. but we see jon start to look at martin in a new light, which is important to note. we know that they begin to spend more time together as other characters comment on it.

this is most likely the point where jon started to develop a bit of his own crush really. because a) he's seeing martin in a completely different way than he did previously and b) martin is something consistent in how he never stops caring about jon, pushing him to take care of himself. it's kind of the point in the story where martin begins to take his place as jon's anchor.

and then jon finds martin's lovely little note. and he freaks out. he reads this note from martin that says "they can't find out I'm lying" and it's not. something jon wants to believe. he doesn't want to think that martin has been lying to him.

and when it comes time for him to confront martin about his lying, he doesn't handle it well. he finds out that trevor herbert is alive and oh would you look at that! martin was the one who told him that trevor was dead! and oh. martin lied to him.

and jon takes it personally! he finds out from martin that it was misunderstanding, and when martin calls him out, he snaps, "because you keep lying to me, martin!" it rings almost like jon is telling martin that he trusted him.

he forces the truth about martin's CV from him, and when he finds out that that's what martin was talking about in his note, he's relieved. he's so relieved that he smiles. martin is trustworthy. martin is safe. martin secures his position as jon's anchor.

SEASON THREE & FOUR

season 3 is the season that I like to call the pining season. it's pretty much the middle of the story, where both jon and martin are fully aware of their feelings. sure they may not have many scenes together, it's the fact that the scenes they do have together are important. and you can feel jmart's presence through both s3 & s4 whether they're in the same scene together or not. they're always thinking about one another.

martin's biggest thing throughout both seasons is a plea for jon to be safe.

jon's in need of an anchor to keep him connected to humanity in s3. and he is encouraged to seek out martin. in s4, jon echoes martin in his pleas for martin to be alright.

and of course you have a big moment in s3 where jon first returns to the archives after being kidnapped by the circus and martin is the one he runs into. and they have this conversation, one that is almost shy but still very much genuine. jon expresses concern for martin after hearing he's been reading statements, and martin worries over jon after his kidnapping.

then we get to season 4!!!!! and GOD WHAT A SEASON FOR JMART. obviously I don't have to touch on the whole scene with the two of them in the lonely. I don't have to touch on jon running to martin right after he finds a way to escape the institute so he could suggest that they run away together.

what I AM going to touch on is their presence in the season. season 4 is probably the season we see the least of jon and martin interacting with one another. HOWEVER, their presence is very strongly felt. martin is basically always on jon's mind in one way or another, and the same with martin. we may not see much of martin but his presence is absolutely there through jon. it feels like he's there because jon is always reaching for him in some way.

season 4 is where we see jon at his most vulnerable with martin. and we know for a fact that jon is martin's main motivator to accept peter's deal.

and then we have the coffin scene. jon thinks "ah yes my rib is a good anchor for finding my way out of the buried. this cannot go wrong in any way whatsoever." but the only reason daisy and jon even get out of the coffin is because of martin. he piles those tapes on top to pull jon out and it works. it was never the rib. it was the tapes. it was martin.

so admittedly, no jmart may not have as many moments as a canon couple would in say a tv show. but the magnus archives is a podcast. and it is a horror podcast. the romance between jon and martin has always taken a back seat for the main storyline. think of it as an A plot and B plot. the A plot is the main story, the B plot is jmart's relationship.

it's the fact that the scenes they have together are impactful on their characters and the trajectory of their character arcs. we as the listeners don't get the privilege to see every moment of their day to day life. so we need to make inferences, we need to fill in the gaps. it's on us to read between the lines and find the answer based on what's given to us in canon. canon does give us quite a bit to latch onto with jmart, we just have to pick it apart to find it.

and it’s not about the number of moments. it’s the quality of them.

but to answer your question in a simple matter, I think jmart gets so much hype because well... not to sound like a broken record, but tma is a horror story. it is a tragedy. yet despite that, there is love. there is love within a story of death and loss and the worst of "humanity". jon and martin's relationship is such a fundamental part of the story (even if it isn't the main focus). it's the fact that their love transcends the horrors and despite what jon and martin go through, they find some kind of comfort within one another.

I think they get a lot of hype because in the face of death and grief humans reach for love. for hope. and that is what jmart is in the story. they are each other's anchors, they are each other's reasons. and while it may not be at the forefront of the story line, we as the listeners know that their love for each other is the driving force behind their actions.

they get a lot of hype because they are human. and they love. sure they started off in a rocky way, but they grew close -- they learned about each other, began to care about each other. and through all of the horror they became each other's reasons for carrying on.

in a story full of despair and death, why wouldn't you latch on to that little spark of hope? of love?

[v-arbellanaris]

on divine justinia (pt 2)

Justinia V will be remembered as one of the most progressive Divines in the history of the Chantry. Before her untimely death at the Temple of Sacred Ashes, she made strides to break down barriers for both mages and elves, as well as encouraging free thought among the Maker’s many children. For her views, she won as many enemies as she did supporters.

-- World of Thedas Vol 2.

PART TWO of a series, exploring Divine Justinia’s political stance. Was she really as progressive as people claimed?

Firstly, before we even dive into looking at Justinia as a character, we should define ‘progressive’. In the most base of definitions, it implies progress -- a gradual betterment. As a widely accepted definition, someone whose politics advocate for social reform. 

PART ONE - LELIANA'S SONG. / PART TWO - DRAGON AGE II. / PART THREE - THE MASKED EMPIRE.

Dragon Age II

Important things to note that are of particular relevance to the political landscape in Orlais and also the interaction between Kirkwall, Orlais and the Chantry:

Divine Beatrix III, who we meet during the events of Dawn of the Seeker, dies in 9:34, the same year that Hawke becomes Champion of Kirkwall, prompting the election of Divine Justinia V. 

Divine Beatrix III nominated Revered Mother Dorothea to become the next Divine before her death.

Dorothea’s suitability as Divine was hotly debated; because of her “worldly” background and demonstrating "forgiveness to sinners" (no specific examples I can think of other than Silas and Leliana from the previous post in this series) -- not because she was hailed as progressive or a reformist.

And, indeed, based off her appearance in Leliana’s Song, we can see that, so far, there’s nothing particularly reformist or progressive about her. 

The Chantry (and, by extension, Orlais) already has a history of involving themselves in Kirkwall’s politics, oftentimes outright violating Kirkwall’s right to rule themselves: in this case, specifically referring to Meredith’s rise to power in Kirkwall:

Beatrix III, known as a friend to the Emperor Florian of Orlais , pressured templars in Kirkwall to overthrow Viscount Perrin Threnhold; but Knight-Commander Guylian refused to become involved in local politics. It’s implied that the Viscount attempted to expel all templars from Kirkwall and assassinate the Knight-Commander, which may have been a set-up, but it allowed Meredith to succeed Guylian and launch a successful counter-attack against the Viscount’s Keep.

The reason Beatrix did this was because the Viscount blocked passage through the Waking Sea, exacting large fees from Orlesian ships specifically who wanted to pass.

As a result of her actions in Kirkwall, Meredith was promoted to Knight-Commander by Elthina. Meredith then appointed Marlowe Dumar as the next Viscount (not the nobility of Kirkwall) following Divine Beatrix’s advice. (Specific source unclear to me, but quoted from the DA fandom wiki page.)

Kirkwall, as of 9:37, is under Chantry rule. Marlowe Dumar is killed by the Arishok in 9:34; Act 3 begins in 9:37, and Meredith is explicitly blocking potential elections for a new Viscount specifically in order to maintain control of the city. This is established in the opening of Act 3, irrespective of whether you side with the mages or the templars. 

I specify Chantry rule and not templar rule because Meredith answers to no one in the entire city -- except Grand Cleric Elthina. As Knight-Commander, Meredith answers to the Grand Cleric, who holds authority over her, as the highest ranking member of the Chantry in the region. This is an undisputed fact; Elthina has legal authority over Meredith. An argument can be made that she might not have power over Meredith, that Meredith can choose to disobey her, but that’s just not true. In fact, the exact opposite is cemented in the very opening of Act 3, when Elthina is able to get Meredith to leave Hightown with nothing more than a few words. Meredith, even at this stage where she’s “insane”, still listens to Elthina. Elthina had three years to order Meredith to allow elections for a new Viscount. She did not, which is tacit approval. Templars ultimately answer to Elthina, as she is Meredith’s superior in the Chantry hierarchy.

Ergo, Kirkwall, as of 9:37, is under Chantry rule, not merely templar rule. And considering that the Chantry is an arm of Orlesian imperialism and colonisation...

Justinia’s primary involvement in DA2 is during Sebastian’s companion quest in Act 3, part of the Exiled Prince DLC, called Faith. The quest begins with Elthina requesting for Hawke’s help. 

“The Divine is concerned about the situation here. She does not want to see the Free Marches become another Imperium. She has sent an agent to ... assess the danger. Meet with her, please. Tell her drastic measures won’t be required.” -- Elthina to Hawke.

It's clear from this excerpt that the Divine is considering an Exalted March on Kirkwall as a response to the mage rebels. This interpretation is the widely popular one and there’s definitely evidence throughout the quest and even after the quest to support the idea. This is the main interpretation of this quest that I’ll focus on for this current analysis.

The important takeaway here is that, one way or another, for one reason or another, Divine Justinia V is considering calling an Exalted March on Kirkwall; she sends an agent to Kirkwall to investigate whether a March would be necessary to resolve the situation there. 

A lot of the discussion between Hawke, Sebastian and Elthina about the Divine’s possible motivations in investigating Kirkwall are actually only tangentially relevant, in my opinion, because it could be partially attributed to Elthina exaggerating the danger in order to make Hawke involve themselves. However, there are three lines of dialogue from Elthina that I think are particularly pertinent to Justinia. The first one (emphasis mine):

Hawke: What argument would convince her? Elthina: The Divine has heard my protests already. I must trust your own powers of persuasion now.

This confirms that Elthina and Justinia are actively in contact with each other. Divine Justinia V ascended in 9:34, 3 years before the start of Act 3, and well before the quest. Kirkwall has been under Chantry rule for the past three years. Justinia is in contact with the single most powerful member of the Chantry in the entire Free Marches.

To be clear, this means that Justinia could have ordered Elthina or Meredith to allow the nobility to elect the next Viscount -- she could have done so in this very conversation that Elthina alludes to. She didn’t. (We know she didn't because no one has ever brought it up. Not in DA2 and not in DAI.) Nor does she through Leliana when we meet her later. She could have sent a Seeker of Truth (like, say, Cassandra) to forcibly relieve Meredith who is actively interfering in the politics of an independent nation. (She sends a Seeker of Truth to investigate whether there's really that much blood magic in Kirkwall, but not for this?) She didn’t.

That, to me, reads as tacit approval of Elthina and Meredith's actions in Kirkwall. She has no issues at all with Meredith assuming control of the city for the templars. The Chantry has had vested interests in maintaining control in Kirkwall since Divine Beatrix’s time -- this is not new. There’s no real change here from Beatrix to Justinia and there’s certainly no protest -- not even a token protest -- or investigation into Meredith’s treatment of the mages. No independent investigation, following her ascension as Divine, into the situation in Kirkwall before now.

Because it wasn’t a problem before now. Before the mages started rebelling about it -- violently. .

The problem Leliana is being sent to investigate is not whether or not Meredith is abusing mages. It's not whether or not Meredith should continue to hold power in Kirkwall. It's about how dangerous this mage rebellion is becoming.

Leliana’s dialogue later, in my opinion, confirms this:

Leliana: The Divine has long suspected that Kirkwall’s problems were being spurred by an outside group. This attack proves she is right.

The group Leliana is referring to are the Resolutionists, who are closely affiliated with the mage underground -- both mage resistance groups based in the Free Marches and operating in Kirkwall. 

It’s explicit here that the problem is not the Chantry’s violation of Kirkwall’s sovereignty, it’s not that the Chantry and the Order has held the entire city under martial law for the past three years, it’s not even the blatant abuses of the Circle mages at the hands of the Kirkwall templars. It’s not even the alarming amount of blood mages or Tranquil mages in Kirkwall.

It’s a mage rebellion. That’s Kirkwall’s problem.

The next dialogue (emphasis mine):

Sebastian: She is the voice of Andraste. She cannot turn the might of the Chantry against the innocent due to ... proximity. Elthina: Were no innocents harmed in the Exalted Marches? She will do her best, Sebastian, but she must act first to defend the faith.

This is an interesting insight to Elthina’s viewpoints of Justinia. We know they’ve been in contact. Elthina is the second highest ranking member of the Chantry -- Grand Clerics are second only to the Divine in Chantry hierarchy. I sincerely doubt this is the first time she’s ever contacted her own boss in three years. 

Elthina posits herself as someone pushing for peace, especially at the end of this quest when Sebastian pushes her to leave Kirkwall (despite her not really ... doing much to resolve the situation and actively refusing to do anything at all by claiming she has no power to help the situation but that’s another post). Yet, she says that Justinia’s primary motivation above all else is defending the faith. Not defending the innocent or defending the templars but specifically defending the faith. 

The subjugation of mages is a central tenet of the Orlesian Chantry. It is a belief so central to Orlesian Andrastianism that the mere suggestion of Andraste being a mage or mages being allowed to exist outside of the Circle, say in Tevinter, causes a religious schism.

Elthina suggests here that Justinia will take action to defend the faith against the mages. That a mage rebellion, in essence, is an attack on the very foundations of the Orlesian Chantry and Justinia will react accordingly. 

And I think she’s right to assume that of Justinia.

Leliana: Divine Justinia takes the situation here very seriously. She believes it is the worst threat to Thedas since the Qunari invaded.

The worst threat to Thedas since the Qunari invaded. The Qun, one of the most pervasive religious forces in Thedas, to rival the Chantry. The Qunari, whose invasion of Kirkwall (provoked as it was by the Chantry in the first place), enough to get the templars to take action to defend the city. 

Leliana: The whole world is watching Kirkwall. If it falls to magic, none of us are safe. Tell Elthina to leave. There is refuge for her in the Grand Cathedral in Orlais. She will not be safe here.

Here, Leliana makes it very, very clear. Justinia views a mage rebellion as a threat to the faith; she will defend it as such.

Crucially, Leliana’s dialogue also sheds some light on how Justinia views the Circles.

Leliana: There have always been factions that support freedom from the Chantry and the abolition of the Circle. We have ... tolerated them. But the Resolutionists have become violent. They are likely behind the unrest here.

Even if the abolition of the Circle was an extreme stance to take, some level of freedom from the Chantry beyond what the Circle already has would be a progressive stance. Yet, Leliana presents it here as a transgression. In fact, the very beliefs of the Aequitarians -- the largest Fraternity in the College of Enchanters; Orsino himself is part of the Aequitarians, as are Wynne and Irving, who are presented as "good" mages in DA:O -- inherently wish to improve the conditions of the Circle. They seek reform by trying to comply with the ideal of a “good mage”, ones who uses their magic ethically and responsibly to help others -- but they seek reform still. This is made obvious even as early as DA:O, in conversations with Wynne. But even that moderate, and popular, view seems to be deemed as transgressive. Something to tolerate. Something to entertain but certainly not something to act on, or take seriously.

More than that, there are more Fraternities beyond just the Aequitarians and the Resolutionists who themselves are a splinter of the Libertarians. There are the Isolationists, who would abolish the Circle only to retreat further from people and keep mages separate. There are, of course, the Libertarians -- however, they don’t push for the abolishment of the Circle but rather it’s independence from the Chantry, to become a self-governing body.

Yet, Justinia merely tolerates the mages’ views of how they themselves should live their lives -- and there is an abrupt end to this tolerance, time and time again. Here, in Kirkwall. Again, in 9:38, after the events in Kirkwall, when the Chantry -- of whom Justinia is the leader of -- disbands the College and stops them from meeting at all. Mages can’t meet up even within their own Circles. And this is not done by the templars. This is done by the Chantry.

Is that really progressive? Meredith does the same in Kirkwall; she locks the mages in their cells, she inflicts harsher punishments on them such as Tranquility, and ultimately, she requests for Annulment from Justinia, expecting that Justinia will approve it. Based off the above discussions, was she wrong to assume this? I don’t think so. And there's plenty of reasons, considering the relatively recent Qunari invasion, to not grant the Right of Annulment, which have little to do with whether or not Justinia values the lives of the mages. She views a mage rebellion as bad as a Qunari invasion. The two are equivalent to her; both antagonistic forces to her goals, and the goals and beliefs of the Chantry at large.

One of the arguments I’ve seen many people use is to say that Justinia sent Leliana, who is pro-mage, to deal with the situation in Kirkwall, implying that Justinia is somewhat sympathetic to the mages, and that the Resolutionists reacted based off their own prejudices, thereby inciting any future Chantry-violence -- in a way, provoking the Chantry into reacting as they did. This is often accompanied with an ‘oh if only the Resolutionists weren’t so violent’-style commentary. It’s even lampshaded by Leliana herself: “I let word slip that an agent of the Divine was coming to investigate the mage troubles. It is how they chose to react which condemns them.“ 

However, talking to Elthina gets this notable dialogue:

Hawke: What can you tell me about this servant of the Divine? Elthina: I was not told her real name, only to call her Sister Nightingale. She is said to be the Divine’s left hand, sent to do the work that might blacken the Divine’s name.

Again, I delved into this already in the exploration of Dorothea in Leliana’s Song, but I thought it was important again to highlight here. Over a decade later, Justinia V is still using Leliana’s bard skills for her own gain, irrespective of her personal sympathy for Leliana. Importantly, in carrying out the Divine’s wishes and orders, Leliana can be made to act and behave counter to her own personal beliefs, something that is evidenced again later as well, when Justinia sends her to talk to Celene (which I’ve briefly discussed here). Leliana’s personal support of the mages is not indicative of Justinia also supporting the mages. If anything, sending Leliana is actually a threat more than anything; as “Sister Nightingale” is widely known as the one who does assassinations and spy work for the Divine. (On that note, I believe Aveline herself says something to the effect of how Leliana provoked them, but I can’t find any compilations on youtube that includes Aveline’s commentary.) 

Conclusions so far:

Once again, Justinia's politics don't seem progressive but rather incredibly typical of Orlais and the Orlesian Chantry, and her political interests align with that of expanding the influence of the Chantry and Orlais. The templars holding Kirkwall against all legality is perfectly acceptable to her -- Meredith killing nobles to stop an election of a new Viscount is acceptable, Meredith authorising the hunt and subsequent persecution of non-mage persons under the excuse of "harbouring apostates" is acceptable, the templars killing and raping and beating and lobotomising the mages is acceptable, but what is not acceptable is when the mages fight back. That is something she considers an attack on the very foundations that the Chantry was built on -- and she will react accordingly. She sends Leliana, Sister Nightingale, the Left Hand of the Divine, well known for doing work like assassinations, to Kirkwall as a threat to the mages. She has only ever tolerated the College of Enchanters' existence. She has taken no actions to curb either Meredith or Elthina, despite having multiple opportunities and the authority to do so. She views a mage rebellion as much of a threat to Thedas as an invasion by a foreign power. What, about this, is progressive?

Sebastian: You were right. The Divine will be taking action against Kirkwall, though the sister didn’t say what. 

[dimension20npcofalltime]

Round Three - Bracket One [Dimension 20 NPC of All Time]

Wretchrot/Baby vs Bill Seacaster

Propaganda under the cut (Contains major spoilers for Fantasy High and/or Sophmore Year)

Wretchrot/Baby - he/it

Campaign: Fantasy High Sophmore and Junior Year

Who is he?

Wretchrot is blood red, has a scorpion tail, little wings, and no erogenous zones. He is a very low status devil, being formed of the blood of a half-mortal, but still looks down on the Hangman for being a hell hound. He is made up of blood and eats blood as well. He is weird and has a eccentric behavior which makes him bad at making friends, but a great dancer.

He is not a class feature at time of posting but if Fig takes another level of warlock it is implied he will become her familiar.

Mod Comment - I implore you all to look at Baby's wiki page because some of it is so funny

Why is he the NPC of All Time?

He's baby

He's a little guy who likes whispering and screaming :)

Baby is just a little guy who wants to whisper and scream. He’s creepy and bloody but he’s ultimately hilarious and he is always down for (trying to) steal stuff.

Bill Seacaster - He/him

Campaign: Fantasy High

Who is he?

William "Old Bill" Seacaster is a great adventurer with a great deal of fame who clearly made his wealth and his name in "heroic", while others call "nefarious", dealings. He is the father of Fabian Seacaster.

Why is he the NPC of All Time?

He’s a pirate archdevil who bought a jacket made to explode when he died and pilots a ship made from a dragon that threatened his son, named after the nickname his son’s friends gave said dragon. (Also he shot gilear twice but we’re ignoring that because he got better)

You CANNOT tell me Brennan didn’t have the time of his life playing Bill, his whole DMussy was thrown into that performance

The greatest pirate who ever lived OR died. He is a great father to his immensely silly and foppish son despite his own macho pirate-ness. He's a definitely an evil man but he's an excellent father and a horrible influence on children in the best way possible. When he is mortally wounded in his burning mansion, his son kills him for dope pirate clout and he is SO PROUD OF THIS!!!! He can be quoted saying "When I die, I shall leap into hell and kill the devil" which he ACTUALLY DOES and then he proceeds to plunder the nine hells on a pirate ship made from the damned soul of an evil dragon lord whilst at the same time running a warlock pyramid scheme/total scam in the world of the living. P.S. He also kills the man who's been bedding his wife since he died, and then shakes his hand and makes him promise to treat her right moments later. He is everything to me

He married the woman who cut his eye out. He handcuffs himself to the ceiling so he can keep fighting. So many swords up assholes. And then he becomes the fiercest pirate in hell. Icon.

[heqrts4chuuya]

Ok so I looked at the shipping wiki for skk and... huh???

I think my biggest grievance is

THIS what is this???? First off where did "The wind rose, don't stop me" even come from?? /genq I have never seen any rendition of bsd where that was the quote,. Secondly, NO Dazai did not create the quote???? Yeah he told Chuuya about it (in Stormbringer) but he didn't create it??? The scientists did. They never mentioned this bs in Dead Apple. Also what is "Dragon Head's rush" that sounds like a rollercoaster. In every single place I've seen it mentioned it's always been the "Dragon Head Conflict".

I have issues with the grammar on the wiki as well. Like I'm no expert I just hate it.

Anyways in reference to that, they make it seem way more sexual than it actually is?? Also what "faint blush"??? Maybe the real faint blush was within us all along.

Ok now look. I never watched the Cannibalism stage play but I did first hear about this on bsdtt and I don't trust bsdtt so I'm calling bs. I have yet to see a single person provide evidence for this so until someone does I'm not gonna believe it because it doesn't make sense to me.

I am 99.99999% sure I'm right when I say Dazai became an executive before Chuuya. I'm pretty sure Dazai became an executive not too long after the Dragon Head Conflict when he was 16 because we know he recruits Akutagawa when he's 14 and that would make him 16. We also know that the reason why he was able to recruit Akutagawa was cause of his ranking which I assume is that of an executive?? And even if that wasn't the case Chuuya became an executive at 18 and by then Higuchi was already in the PM and we know that she only joined after he left the PM so...

Anyways the wiki sucks and I give up on it

[littlegoobus]

I had a whole long post about how deranged the comments and forum posts on the magisterium fandom wiki were but then tumblr deleted it so have this lower-quality post - there were Call and Celia shippers. Aaron and Tamara shippers. I thought those ships were just TBK fuckery what the fuck - numerous, numerous posts about how “the golden tower is soooo good ur just haters!!!” and “omg the maugris twist is so crazy lol xd” - the most wack-ass theories u’ll ever see. -I couldn’t find the original post so ur just gonna have to trust me but someone said they shipped calron because, I quote, “they have much chemistry” - someone shouting about how because there’s a horse on jaspers shirt in the silver mask it’s obviously drew not Jasper 💀💀💀 - I couldn’t find this one either but an actual person posting that “I love callmara in canon because they just suddenly fall in love and that’s how it works in real life” 😭 - “I hope they don’t bring Aaron back to life!!!1!1!” - “this and Harry Potter are my favorite books!!! Harry Potter is better though!!!!” - “yOu caN’T ShiP cALrOn They’RE bOtH bOYs!!!” Basically just the absolute weirdest posts in general with a few sane ones thrown in. If you ever enjoy having ur brain rot slowly while nine year olds from 2017 eat all ur braincells one by one I recommend the magisterium fandom wiki 😃👍

[dnfao3tags]

a guide to dnfao3tags!

hello there :] i'm kay, the admin of this blog. i've been running this blog from april 29 2022 when i made my dnf starter pack post for all those new to dnf fics. since then, i've made more than 700 posts and have added many features to my blog.

here's a little guide to everything and anything dnfao3tags!

(highly recommend checking my blog out on a pc, a lot more features are easily visible that way)

new to dnf?

as mentioned above, i have a starter pack; along with that i'd like to recommend :

my personal favs

my tag navigation page so you can easily find fics according to your wishes

i also have a masterpost of a significant number of fics i've recommended on this blog, however i don't often update it so its a little useless

every month (or whenever im free), i try to make a monthly fic roundup which i post in the first week of the new month; stay tuned for that

my trope wise reclists

spotlight fic recs from my bookmarks (dnfao3tags bookmarks)

all of my fic rec posts (dnfao3tags recs) - including reclists, spotlight fic recs, fic was founds, etc

posts made by authors themselves for their own fics (author post)

fic recs made by writers themselves (author recs)

there's also a dnf ship wiki surprisingly which might be useful if you want to get familiar with them

if you're confused about any references or something, feel free to send me an ask and hopefully me or my followers can help.

'can i help you?'

absolutely! while i don't accept any more mod/admins on this blog, you can still do the following :

rec/submit a fic (self-promo encouraged)

send me a quote you liked from a fic and view some dnf fic quotes here

here are a bunch of fic not founds that unfortunately were never found. take a look and see if you recognise any!

you can also send me fics to submit in the monthly fic roundup

sometimes i can't find fics for certain tropes so i crowdsource; check if know any fics for that particular trope and send them in

send some fic ideas you have!

deleted fics

i already made a guide to how i deal with deleted fics on this blog.

my Finding Deleted Fics: A Multi-Method Guide post.

if you're an author and would like me to take down your fics then send me a dm and i'll happily do it. if you'd like, i could also only share them in dms too.

fic not found

feel free to ask about any lost fics and i'll see if me or my followers can recognize it. please please Please be as specific as possible and also mention if you think it may be deleted.

i will post your ask asking my followers if i don't recognize it and if someone helps me out, i'll reblog your ask with the found fic so just keep checking the reblogs or the tags fic was found & fic potentially found.

searching my blog

if you open my blog on pc then you'll see one search bar in the header:

and one like this below the updates box:

the google enhanced search box is more accurate so i recommend using that one ! however, it is definitely not foolproof so i also recommend using my tagnav to search for a specific post because i tag pretty much everything. you can also send me an ask.

cool features

i have a music player ! you can send in songs for me to add to it

any tips and tricks i have for ao3 will be in this how to ao3 tag

want some writing inspo? here are some fic ideas

you can also ask me for song based reqs

i also have author archives for anonymous authors (eg. mario anon), deleted authors and orphaned authors

click this for a random post of mine

more stuff

i have a twitter (though i am inactive there)

please read my about/faq page before sending asks

i have a tag for any posts that aren't specifically fic recs and just me talking (kay talks) which you can mute if you aren't interested

occasionally i get asks about dreamnotnap which i sometimes answer; you can also mute that tag along with my not dnf tag

and that's all i can currently think of!

i'm thinking of adhering to a posting schedule so i might post about that later. i'm a bit more free these days so i'll probably be a bit more quick to asks.

hope this helped you guys out; thanks for reading :]

[danggirlronpa]

Hey mind telling me what the story behind Kiyo’s sister is? I’m kind of clueless and only heard one story of the whole thing😅

This got decently long, so I've put it under a cut. I'll add it to the FAQ tomorrow as well, since it's come up a few times!

I will also request that this post not be reblogged to hate blogs or blogs specifically dedicated to "bad" or "disliked" content. As someone who has been harassed as a result of content being circulated in those circles, it makes me very panicked and anxious to see my work on similar blogs. If you do so, I will need to block you for my own mental stability.

In V3 chapter three, Korekiyo admits to mass murder and takes on the guise of his sister to do so. As a result of being nearly beaten to death at one point, Korekiyo created a tulpa of his dead sister (who we'll call by her popular fan name, Miyadera, from here on). He believed Miyadera wanted him to murder 100 girls, and claimed that they were once lovers.

In general, fans seem to take Korekiyo's claims at face value. Which is...weird, considering how obviously the whole thing is a "mentally ill delusional sexually deviant serial killer" trope played completely straight. And that his worldview includes things like "I should kill people so my dead sister has friends." But let's set that aside, and say that, for the sake of explaining the popular fandom viewpoint, Korekiyo is a reliable narrator.

So in chapter 3, when he is on the brink of being cornered, Korekiyo begins to switch between his own identity and the identity of his sister's tulpa. These are the only potential looks we have into Miyadera's personality. To give you the gist, here are all of the quotes while Korekiyo takes on his sister's guise that are listed on the Wiki.

(Please note that the "Apologize" is directed at another student who challenges Korekiyo.)

I'm going to be honest. I have reread this a LOT trying to figure out what everyone else is apparently seeing here that I am not. At worst, this reads to me as a slightly stern etiquette teacher. But the popular fandom perception is that this dialogue implies that Miyadera was manipulating and abusing Korekiyo. I could not honestly tell you WHY people believe this, but they do.

And people ran with that. They ran with that so hard. Every sin Korekiyo commits is pinned down as being Miyadera's fault, and Korekiyo is absolved of his crimes as a result of being an abuse victim. It's similar to the effect you often see in the way people discuss Junko and Mukuro, except that Mukuro does not invoke nearly as much sympathy on a larger level, even though Junko's mockery and subsequent murder of her sister are explicit canon.

Now, to be clear: I don't buy into this. I think this is an extremely generous reading of Korekiyo's character, and that it removed his agency and the horror of his crimes to make him more sympathetic (particularly for shipping purposes - if you glance through the Miyadera tag, you see a LOT of Korekiyo/Rantaro fics with Miyadera as the evil abuser Rantaro must rescue Korekiyo from). I also think that people give too much credit to the canonicity of Miyadera's "possession" when it isn't clear, even in the universe of the game itself, whether Miyadera is actually a tulpa or if it's an identity that resulted from Korekiyo's trauma, like Syo/Jack.

But on its own, I don't care about it THAT much. People have headcanons I disagree with all the time. I don't really like a lot of people's thoughts about Nagito's backstory, either, but I don't think about it very often, and I certainly don't care enough to get mad about it. The problem is...

People are very, VERY violent about Miyadera.

I'm going to ask you to reread the quotes from Miyadera as a reminder of literally everything we know about her personality. And then I'll ask you to read this post.

This...is, in fact, despite all odds, the predominate opinion on Miyadera. If you go into her character tags, there are an endless number of posts like these, daydreaming about doing violence on her person, murdering her, torturing her, etc.

As a Grandparent (25, the age of spinsterhood), this sets off some alarm bells. This is how people used to treat female characters who got in the way of their favorite ships, like Kairi from Kingdom Hearts. Now, that is popularly understood to have been a result of misogyny. It is horrifying to see that it has survived.

Fantasizing about committing excessive violence against a woman...is misogyny. Making up crimes a woman did not canonically commit as an excuse to justify fantasizing about violence against her is misogyny. It is one thing to dislike a character based on headcanons. It is a totally separate matter to participate in and encourage this level of vitrol solely to make a male character more sympathetic.

To clarify: I do not think that misogyny is the sole reason for this interpretation. By nature, Danganronpa appeals to teenagers, who tend to fall into this type of fandom-wide trap more easily. But it is, in fact, more concerning to normalize this sort of thought process among teens and young people. And so I am very defensive of Miyadera's actual character as a result.