#so... not that she really fucking ever helps even in prime condition; but I'm about to get even less help

[medicinemane]

Well, I'm getting to do therapy, ultra mega super fucking extreme edition for my mom today

She's having a fucking breakdown cause GOP cost cutting means medicaid is being a bitch and being like if you're on medicare you no longer qualify for medicaid unless you can work and then and only then will we let you do a buy in

It's bullshit, it sucks, it's a stupid and broken system and someone being on disability should count as any work, but she's having one of the most extreme fucking breakdowns of all time over it

Like we're talking going on about how it's all her fault that the cats died who were living in the trailer cause of how toxic she let that place become, or that she's an utterly selfish person... and I'm sat here having to find ways to spin shit because she puts me in a position where in order to get her functional... what? I say "yeah, pretty much"?

Then she's like "I apologize for anything I've ever done to you", not accepted and never will be. You're doing shit to me right this fucking second with this

There's no atonement and that's kind of tough shit, and maybe if you wanted atonement don't make me parent you right now

I'm having to talk her down from being suicidal, cause I'm fucking Machiavellian with shit and I need that disability check to keep coming in

She's crying and just having the biggest breakdown she's probably had since one of my worst memories which I'm actively working to suppress cause I can't deal with it right now. She's fucking going over the various ghost shit and apologizing for it, and it's like I don't fucking care, stop fucking trying to pure and make yourself the horror that made everything awful... you're pretending to take responsibility, but what you're really doing is demanding I absolve you of everything

You know, the shit she's saying and the shit I was saying yesterday aren't that different. We both think we're hugely worthless pieces of shit who are totally unlovable (and my grandma is probably to blame for both mindsets)

Difference is that for as much as I downplayed it and said it didn't even count as cleaning, I was fucking moving like 10 boxes around to try and get things in a state where I can figure out how to clean shit, where as she's a totally nonfunctional mess

Like as much as everyone seems to want to bitch about when I'm... literally just trying to share how not ok I'm doing as best I fucking can, even when I'm at my lowest I'm still trying to work on shit

...also, one thing that's different between her and me is I've never been emotionally incestuous with my kid to the point where the very concept of family makes them sick, made them be my parent, and am now forcing them to be my therapist despite the fact the emotionally engaging with them is one of the single most destructive things I can do

I don't know... I'm real shit today, I'm gonna have to be in the car for like 4 but really more like 6 hours with her cause of the way she drives, cause I've got to go see family today and it's gotta be today cause that's when my uncle's around

I'm basically... fucking animating myself, like I'm in that state where you're not letting yourself fall apart cause you gotta hold it together cause you don't have a choice (oh, and I haven't fucking slept cause right when I was gonna go to bed I got summoned to come play therapist)

I'm shit right now, and I was already in a bad way... and in fact I'm doing so badly that I can't even maintain my normal fucking facades and politeness... nope, turns out that's not true and in fact my facades run deeper than I do and I 100% am still not gonna say certain things

But yeah, it's a shit day, one of the worst in a while cause it's probably the worst my mom's been in like... two decades... so that's fucking great huh?

Bonus, this bullshit with medicaid has cut her therapy sessions

If anyone gets to be pissed at them it's me, and I fucking am pissed, they can go fuck themselves, and everyone who votes to cute medicaid can know that I personally dislike them immensely

Unlike my mom though I'm not a literal fucking 12 year old (not even kidding, her problem is she's emotionally still like 12 or 14, she's literally fucking stunted there). Unlike her... I fucking function even when I'm doing bad

But serious, I was awful yesterday, just absolutely one of my low points. Only reason maybe I seem better today is basically the emotional equivalent of adrenaline

I'd be falling apart right now except for the part where I never actually fall apart or have breakdowns

[a-joke-about-bats]

Thoughts on other Joker ships like:

riddlejokes lex jokes

I guess following the naming scheme joker x scarecrow would be Scarejokes lol

I love this ask! In my opinion Joker loves Batman the most and that's his #1, but he definitely fucks around with other people.

Riddlejokes: 90/10

I don't ship these 2 in a romantic way, but I KNOW THEY ARE BEST FRIENDS. DC TOLD ME SO THEMSELVES. The way they HATE eachother but also Joker has shown mutual respect towards Riddler like when he asked him for help in Dotf. Riddlejokes is prime best friend material among the rogues gallery!!!!! I'm a huge huge huge fan. I think Jokers best friend order goes: Harley, Catwoman, Riddler.

Lexjokes: 100/10

I KNOW THESE 2 FUCK. there is no way they don't. Lex falls right into Joker's type of the billionaire with an attitude. Also they both love someone else so the conditions of their relationship is very explicit between them. Fuck buddies and the best of the A-list villains. Lex finds Joker an absolute nuisance but that never stops Joker does it? They are coworkers and are heavy players in the legion of doom and I think they are around eachother often. Love Lexjokes 💖

Catjokes: 9/10

Again, not romantically but THESE 2. THESE 2 AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP!!!!! OH MY GOD it's so good. My favorite Joker relationship outside of Batjokes. The one thing I hate about it tho is how.... kinda homophobic it feels if u look at it logically. Like Joker is just a tool for a writer to be like "look at Joker be the homophobic nightmare trope! He's trying to breakup the main heteroship!" BUT WHEN U IGNORE THAT BECAUSE FRANKLY THATS DCs M.O. THEY ARE SO HOMOPHOBIC SOMETIMES 🙄🙄 Joker and Selina have such an interesting relationship. They understand eachother because they both love the same man,only opposite sides of him. and it's so interesting how Joker is jealous of Selina and Selina is jealous of Joker, but they get together to hang out often. It's like.... frenemies but in a way that's deeper than riddlejokes? It's hard for me to articulate why I love these 2 as a catty friendship but they hit different.

Jarley: 0/10

Hell no. I hate them together romantically it's AWFUL and so bad. I don't like how Harley thinks of Joker as a victim. And how Joker treats Harley is self explanatory as to why I loathe it. I do love Joker and Harley as gay besties tho in a similar vain to Lego Batman! Also, I think it's a super complicated ship because I think Joker used Harley, but later on I think his feelings became more serious and he kinda loved her because he talks all this talk about killing her but when push comes to shove he never does and he also KNOWS that she knows him better than anyone- even Batman. It's so wierd. I am not trying to romanticize it at all and I despise the ship, but Harley's influence on his life should not be ignored or chalked down.

Punchjokes: -100000000/10

Fuck. No.

Scarecrow + Joker: 5/10

I don't see it, but I gave it a 5 cus it's not crack and there's basis for the ship. BUT scarecrow's a little bitch who I don't think Joker respects. I can't get behind this ship because Scarecrow is a sniveling rat that pisses me off. I will say tho their teamup during knightfall was funny.

Twoface + Joker: ?/10

I want to like this ship but I read a fic where the Twoface and Joker banged and it was so alarming ive been scared of this ship ever since. This ship is the monster that lives under the bed. I'm scared.... very scared of this pairing. ALSO for concrete evidence Joker said he doesn't respect twoface in dotf so I don't think the vibes match.

Penguin + Joker: 3/10

Okay so this one is wierd cus I'm pretty sure they hate eachother now but their rivalry is also kinda funny? And before the current interpretation of their dynamic, in the '66 version and around that time I think Joker and penguin got along really well. ALSO THE WAY PENGUIN LENDS JOKER ROOMS IN HIS LOUNGE DESPITE THE WIERD FUCKING SHIT HES CAUGHT JOKER DOING SKSBSKJSKSJJSJSOSKE.

Anyway, that's the end! I was pretty thorough! Hope u enjoy my opinions 💖

[larrythefloridaman]

Y'all like your deities with or without the shell?

Under the readmore is aaaaaaaaall color god observations and musings based on them, because I am studying to become the world's Premiere Chromatheologian and RGB Understander so under the cut is pretty much Oops! All Spoilers! up to the most recent episode of season 3.

Apparently Universal Color God Attributes:

Damage to their domain hurts them, but fixing the issue, or lashing out by using their powers destructively, can help them to repair the damage.

If they sustain enough damage, it can temporarily paralyze them and send them into a strengthened but 'exposed' state (chartreuse's spirit activation in the last fight of 19) and further damage after that will activate a failsafe, which is unique by domain but seemingly designed to give them the chance to balance things, but can get… very out of hand or backfire depending on circumstances. (see: cobalt’s failsafe sending mark's universe into a never-ending apocalyptic war because word of the cure for death became too widespread for the killing urge failsafe to affectively balance anything because every side could simply revive their fallen.)

Chartreuse's failsafe is something of a stopped time bubble quarantine where processes that require the passing of time cannot complete, allowing her the time to wear down the offending party to beat them to death or plan around finishing them.

Cobalt's is inciting war, the casualties serving to balance the scale. I'm not sure we know Crimson's yet- he's never taken enough direct damage without doing damage to compensate in order to trigger it, although i dont remember season one well enough to recall if any of the universe stuff in it tracks with the pattern bc season one is a bit fucky

Connected in a fashion that allows them to simply Sense the overall status of the others to some extent, although they don't know Why theyre in the state theyre in without asking (chartreuse [and by extension, folk, presumably on her information] confronting crimson via crimsonaut for pretending to be dead, Cobalt confronting both his siblings about how they are handling their duties improperly but not knowing about Folk. He knew about the constants deaths because hes a death god, duh, but he didnt use their names like crimson did, possibly implying they're erased upon death so thoroughly that only crimson and the constants can really recall a shattered constants' existence, not even the other guardians.)

Abilities of the guardians can be replicated by mortals through three apparent methods- through machines (dimensional bus, the time machine, presumably J0hn's part in Sephiroth's resurrection,) simply through advanced enough individual skill (Home MD curing death, potentially Dantoinette's universe portal travel, maybe Genwun's sped up time bubble that evolved them into Genfour? although that could very well have just been an illusion and theyre just like, a fuckin theater kid that was doing pretend character development for the Bit or something given GenFive turned out to be a zoroark) or through stealing some of the power of the relevant god (Dr. Order stealing Chartreuse's power, Dani maybe having stolen some of Crimson's when she beat his ass. Dani's one woman universal travel is like, wicked ambiguous)

Cobalt:

Can seemingly perceive or act through any living material. (The Tree. Cobalt instructed Larry to slap his hand on that tree, that shit glowed and he had a new deal tattoo without Cobalt ever having been physically present)

Can influence the resurrected by giving them a killing urge. Represented by an aberrant brainwave and a ringing in the undead's heads. This doesnt appear to be direct control- as the Grunk could clearly restrain himself from killing people that genuinely didn't deserve it (like nightly and cha cha, who WERE grunk event targets but not fatally so. Nagito was a crimson thing so it really doesn't count here. God poor grunk his life really is just a constant plaything in the hands of the gods huh) and Sephiroth very much had personal motivation to want to kill Folk. failsafe activates this ability on the scale of war.

Deals. The extent of what Cobalt can do with these is unclear but Iggy's god powers were taken from him as his part in the deal so what he can take isn't limited to physical things or things obviously related to his domain.

Weaknesses:

Deals. While this ability is impressive his preference for making deals for those that offend against his domain is potentially very exploitable- Larry's knowledge of the cure for death is, if word of it were to ever get out beyond Larry, wildly dangerous for this dimension, so technically the safest thing for the iron-fisted cobalt to do would be to nip the problem in the bud and get rid of him. But, fascinatingly, that wasn't even put on the table, the first thing Cobalt does is threaten J0hn, prompting Larry to make a deal. While Cobalt enforces death, he also doesn't like unnecessary death, and Larry demonstrably knows how to keep a secret for the good of the world even at great cost to himself and Cobalt is aware of this- easily clarifying to Larry the aberrant thing endangering the universe wasn't his timeloop business. So while he's clearly not letting his resurrection fuckery go unpunished, he's being pretty merciful when he doesn't have to be and from a strictly, brutally pragmatic perspective probably shouldn't be.

His control over the undead manifests as a ringing and an aberrant brainwave trackable by J0hn's equipment, and could probably therefore be accounted for and circumvented? J0hn has, wisely, largely sworn off fucking with people's brains after the sephiroth fiasco went So Wrong, So Very Wrong, Oh God Oh Fuck Someone Cool Almost Died, but if he hadn't, and if J0hn let his dislike for authority and keeping Larry safe outweigh reason like he let safety, spite and comedic value outweigh good ethical sense when reprogramming sephiroth, in theory Mr. 'hacked a time machine for breakfast?' could. y'know. probably do it. what is a god's authority to an anarchist, what better to challenge life and death than the cold and eternal machine, you get the point its a fun scenario

Olive Garden Breadsticks and Small Cute Dogs, apparently

Chartreuse's:

Time Clones: taps into parallel timelines to retrieve alternate versions of herself to utilize.

Time Travel: what it says on the tin. Travel to the past creates painful splits in the prime timeline, but through careful action and traveling back into the past, these can be weaved into a time loop. A split from the timeline is a wound, and a successful timeloop is the surgical scar it can become with attentive care, to use a medical metaphor. Carefully closed and healing. Keeping Folk here is essentially akin to chartreuse pulling out her stitches on the initial incision.

Time Stopping: creates a space wherein things that take time to complete cannot complete, where things can move, but everything within is in a perfect unchanging stasis until the bubble drops. This is the form her failsafe takes.

Timeline Creation: can create timelines from scratch.

Can fuse alternate timeline versions of the same individual to allow them to coexist. (Ryan's confirmed in the discord that Dantoinette experienced both failures in 20, because Chartreuse fused the two instances of her to save the post-raid instance from fading. Could... theoretically do this to Folk and save herself the pain, but while Folk and Therapuppy are the same person, there's seven years and untold amounts of difference deriving from the time and circumstance between them and the inherent cognitive dissonances that would result from attempting that would be wicked fucked up to inflict, and that's assuming there isn't some reason that it wouldn't be possible anyway. while the two Danis had like. A day or so's difference between them, so she could be safely fused with the only dissonant thing being that she remembers both being too slow to prevent order's time escape and beginning to dissipate post-raid, AND losing that fight to her pre-raid. RIP Dani, that perfectionism must be kicking her ass)

Weaknesses:

Unwilling to use her powers destructively in her pursuit of domain repair and thereby much easier to damage to the point of paralyzing her, making her particularly vulnerable to Power Theft

Morally Optimistic. At one point in 19, she briefly justifies Crimson's shitty evil actions to herself after experiencing for herself how Wack the kerfuffleverse is firsthand, ("and all he did was kill a couple people!" Chartreuse. Honey.) and when she fights Crimsonaut she seems to actually believe for a second that he's actually worried about her when Crimson asks if she's okay after he beats her. Additionally, as D+, she concerns herself with trying to understand doctor order's motive, and after Larry defeats Order, he makes a point of confirming she feels no remorse before making his request for what Chartreuse does with her, and appeals to the idea of letting Order fulfill her desire to be a god in a way which isn't a problem for anyone and Chartreuse is more than happy to oblige under these conditions after what Larry's done for everybody. Then immediately threatens to evaporate him for playfully teasing her about having a crush on folk. Fucked up a little bit

Crimson's:

Universe Shifting: Travel between universes.

Universe Correction: appears to replace an aberrant individual with the 'correct' version of themselves for that universe, presumably sending them back to their own. (Mario from super mario was universe corrected, but still seemingly exists in wario form as evidenced by smashup kerfuffle, and was simply temporarily replaced with his corrected universe counterpart. But like. The dimensional bus system is still active crimbo doing the Put That Thing Back Where It Came From Or So Help Me routine aint gonna work if they can come back with a shrug and bus fare. you're fighting the symptoms without treating the problem)

Universal Constants:

Three individuals per universe that serve as the pillars which stabilize said universe, created by absorbing red orbs Crimson creates. Becoming a constant grants power, but also makes the constant fragile, and death wipes them from the face of the multiverse, only crimson, those he's possessed and the other constants seemingly able to recall they ever existed, although some physical evidence is still left behind (Larry's record of Nagito's death, which is just as redacted as everything else relating to him but still is very much something Larry has. Kind of a Voidfish adventurezone type beat ironically enough? Taako really has seen all this shit before no wonder he peaced tf out)

To counterbalance the weaknesses the constants have, they have a sort of spidey-sense to alert them to danger, and an intrinsic bonded connection to their fellow constants, and additionally, Crimson apparently doesn't suffer any pain from the death of constants or the structural instability of a universe.

Possession: what it says on the tin! Seemingly can only be done with permission to living things- none of crimson's direct hosts seem to have entered that agreement unwillingly, Valentine lost a bet, Hamburger and Crimsonaut have been by all evidence intentional allies to Crimson- but electronics are fair game, as seen with The Guy's suit. Kinda curious how that rule applies to bitches that are half and half, like J0hn or the clonebot gang, as its unclear whether The Guy's suit was yoinkable without permission because it was mechanical or because its not sentient. could go either way but if it's the former that's potentially very frightening

Fusion: Two individuals from alternate universes can be fused into one shared body which can take on aspects of either depending on which is currently in control. (possibly allows someone who traveled into a given universe to become a fixed resident there without it being an issue for Crimson, whose job is to prevent interdimensional travel?) Monday Mark and possibly T.O.M. are our main examples.

Corruption:

Unpleasant As Hell and can even kill you instead of changing you if you cant handle it.

turns the corrupted individual into a twisted exaggeration of themself, allows them supernatural control over their shape, and makes them very difficult- if not impossible by traditional means- to kill, based on Garfield.

Subjects them to control by Crimson, but can be exorcised of this influence just like crimson's direct hosts can, although the supernatural changes to their physiology are seemingly permanent, judging from Shantae.

Notable Weaknesses:

Exorcism can be performed to free a possessed or corrupted individual of Crimson's influence. Its unclear how exorcism works/is learned in CPUK, but confirmed exorcists: dantoinette and yung papaya's snake dad, confirmed non-exorcists: folk

The universal constant orbs are physical objects so they are Very Stealable and they grant a power boost so theres literally an Incentive to beat his ass for anybody who wants to be strong and either doesnt know or doesn't care about the whole 'getting erased when you die' part

Crimson has lots of tools to create pawns, but all of them have drawbacks. Corruption could kill a potential pawn, possession generally seems to require permission, and he has no control over the constants' choices and actions

Manipulative bitch's highest stat is charisma and it shows. This motherfucker is selling snake oil. If he was mortal rather than a Whole Entire God he'd make an excellent ineffectual saturday morning cartoon supervillain and i think everyone, including him, would be happier for it, ngl

Something interesting ive realized that likely wasnt fully intentional, is that a lot of Dr. Order's creations, considering her motive, can kind of be sorted by a color god it appears to be a crude attempt at mimicking the abilities of. My Grunk is a poorly executed resurrection, the clonebot gang vs chartreuse's timeclones (this one deserves special mention because Chartreuse used this shitty attempted mimicry to her advantage with D+, very smart and ironic play, excellent job Treusy,) spirits are somewhat similar to universal constant orbs (orbs which can be absorbed to grant power, but which have physical repercussions- key differences being that spirits require activation and grow stronger while attuning to a user without being used, and having far less severe drawbacks, taking a heavy toll on the body, but only once they've worn off and without the risk of wiping yourself from the face of existence,) and she also augmented Perfect Spriteman and Larry, which kind of track as crude imitations of Crimson's corruption!

Garfield was an acerbic cat who loved food and hated mondays, now its an actively malicious ever-hungry amorphous entity whose only weakness is monday and whose only consistency in form is 'cat-like.'

Shantae was (to my extremely limited understanding of shantae,) a friendly heroic type who had to introduce herself often, and she became something akin to a biblically accurate angel that can *only* introduce herself.

The Grunks a tough but sweet and supportive single dad with stage presence and a tendency to fly off the handle when he or his family are slighted, and now he gets so hype in the audience when his son does well that he bursts into flames and ascends and we get random grunk events along with the associated murder charges when he gets mad and the target sucks enough that he doesn't hold himself back from killing them.

Perfect Spriteman and Larry fit the trend of exaggeration of already present traits- Spriteman fucking loves sprite and became something that only thinks about sprite, and Larry the Florida Man, characterized from minute one by unpredictability and who spent his first matches in the series pre-shapeshifter transformation staying alive keeping stocks for Shockingly Long even despite getting seventh, became literally physically random as well as developing the ability to regenerate, albeit with the ability to feel pain normally very much intact, unlike Garfield just... Soaking up damage like its nothing in his pursuit of Jon. The fact that Arbuckle legit defeated Garfield, even temporarily, is terrifyingly impressive honestly that dude is fucking built different for being so chronically bland

i dont think they're actually corrupted in any meaningful way we have to worry about, to be fully clear, Spriteman was cured with fucking antacids, i simply think they could be a fucked up attempt at making something that kind of seems like it from a functional standpoint, from the wannabe god doctor that brought us green clones whose only fundamental association with time was accelerated aging and who thought an actively rotting corpse thats just reanimated enough that it can throw hands was as good as curing death

[ellaintrigue]

Yesterday I came across some old pictures of my ex doing things around the yard. This was long before he deteriorated mentally and the light left his eyes.

His mugshots are pasty and sickly looking. And I know that psychiatric meds are not cure-alls, but when he was on them, HE WAS FINE. He was happy, no longer paranoid, and focused on his goals. But he stopped taking them, saying he didn't need them, and got worse and worse until he reached that point of no return.

I could complain about my ex all day but that's not why I'm writing this. The problem is that this is an ongoing theme I keep encountering. My dad was visiting and said this woman he knows called off her engagement because her long-term partner became depressive and couldn't get out of bed or function. I had another ex like that back in 2011. He would just lay still, not talking, and only cry during severe depressive episodes.

Last week I was talking to a dating site random who said his ex-girlfriend really fucked up his life. I asked what happened and he said he was depressed and not "opening up about it" so she left him after 5 years. He felt abandoned. But I saw another side. Maybe she was a bad girlfriend... or maybe she just got fed up and had to save herself.

Watching someone you love deteriorate and not help themselves is fucking AGONIZING. They can't see past their own shit but at the same time they won't do anything to help themselves! I know there are women the same way but I keep seeing a lot of male ego in all of this, where they view seeing a therapist as "weak" and not manly.

But you can go to a regular GP and get basic anti-depressants and whatnot. Then people will say, oh, but the cost... Most of the men I've dealt with, with these severe issues, had free insurance. My ex got all his healthcare for free because he had Medicaid.

Overall, with the mentally ill, there is a theme of "I don't need a doctor and I don't need meds" while they literally just sit there and rot. Denial comes with the territory here, and I have no idea why. There is no quality of life in being depressed, manic, or having panic attacks all the time. Again, medicine isn't a cure-all but I've seen it work and I damn sure know it would fix A LOT of problems in these people.

As I talked more with the guy whose girlfriend of 5 years left him, I found out he never went to doctors, EVER. "I haven't seen a doctor since I was 13!" he said proudly. Dude was 30. So I asked him, what about being screened for your sexual health? "I've been with a lot of women admittedly, but I know I don't have anything. That's why I like oral sex, I can smell their pussies first and see if they're clean or not."

Yoooooo! That level of ignorance is fucking astounding. There are VD-free women who have PH imbalances and got funky cooches and then there are women who are sparkling clean but have had or have transmittable conditions. You can't fucking tell and you sure as shit can't tell if YOU have anything without testing because most men are asymptomatic (can't even test for HPV unless they got warts).

That guy was a prime example of someone who doesn't take care of himself AT ALL and that is what I want to avoid like the plague. Being around depressive people takes a huge toll on my mental health and drags me down. I need optimal mental health because I don't have much health left at all and I protect myself from any bad energy.

You can wash your fucking hair and put on deodorant all you want but if you neglect your mental and physical health you're about as good as a shiny car with the entire fucking frame rusted out underneath and no engine.

[revasnaslan]

A few for the characters ask

These ones are obvious but : Adora, Hordak, Entrapta! 💜

And since I've seen you reblog some Skyrim stuff : Ulfric Stormcloak, Ralof and Hadvar! 😁💙

HORDAK

First impression: he's exactly my type

Impression now:  HE'S EVEN MORE MY TYPE THAN I INITIALLY THOUGHT

Favorite moment: I have so many I think it'd be impossible to list them all.

Idea for a story: [gestures wildly to where one fell verse] wof my beloved

Unpopular opinion: i'm not gonna get into it. I'm not really in the spop fandom anymore (just my own personal wof fandom) but I don't agree with like half the fanon there so make of that what you will I guess

Favorite relationship: him and entrapta, platonic or romantic doesn't matter

Favorite headcanon: purely self indulgent because Me Too Bud but his condition is something akin to an auto-immune disorder. his specifically targets his muscles which leads to his myriad of health issues as a side effect because organs like the heart are muscles.

ENTRAPTA

First impression: I'll admit I didn't really think much of her until S2 and my first rewatch right before S3 came out, mostly because I wasn't super into the show as my Now Fandom then as I was when S3 happened

Impression now:  love her with my entire heart

Favorite moment: her entire imperfections are beautiful speech is still one of the show highlights imo

Idea for a story: I haven't thought about anything spop related besides wof in such a long time, but I still long for a fic where she rescues hordak that DOESN'T involve prime lusting over her instead of deciding she's on his hitlist... but alas I don't do canon compliant in this fandom anymore

Unpopular opinion: see hordak's answer... people in the spop fandom still follow me and I'm really not interested in getting into debates about the merits of xyz for this show anymore, so I'm gonna not

Favorite relationship: her and hordak, romantic or platonic

Favorite headcanon:

ADORA

First impression: same as entrapta, I didn't really have an opinion on her until I really got into the fandom c. S3

Impression now:  she's one of the best characters in the entire show

Favorite moment: "You made your choice, NOW LIVE WITH IT"

Idea for a story: I still have that one story idea where she and catra are together post show, and catra slips back into her old habits because I don't believe for a second she's changed as a person, and adora is trying to rationalize this behavior because Well She's Changed but slowly realizes she's in an abusive relationship and it's actually hordak who helps her realize this. I'm never gonna write it ever because I don't want to be yelled at for what would be an extensively tagged fic, but it's an idea

Unpopular opinion: I don't have an opinion that's unpopular, I agree with most opinions that cross my dash about her.

Favorite relationship: romantic, her and scorpia, platonic her and the best friend squad

Favorite headcanon: the first one that comes to mind is the idea she has adhd

ULFRIC

First impression: I actually didn't realize the dude I was sitting next to was ulfric the first time I played................ probably because it took me forever to figure out how to turn on subtitles so i wasn't playing attention to ralof my first playthrough, so you can imagine my confusion when I got to windhelm and was like Who's This Fuck

Impression now: well i just found out in my most recent playthrough that the thalmor consider him an asset (an uncooperative one admittedly) and they were trying to save him at helgen to prolong the civil war... which just makes me want to shake him because idk how this dude can be in his fifties, know how the thalmor operate, not want to associate with them to the point elenwen is like Do Not Approach in his goddamn file, and not realize that he's playing right into their hands with his civil war. use your head ulfric.

Favorite moment: idk if it's a "favorite" moment necessarily, but from a writing standpoint, his duel with the high king being what really tore skyrim apart in the first place is so interesting to me from my perspective as a history major... because the civil war had been building since the markarth incident, mostly just skirmishes from my understanding, but like... historically that's how it always happens. it's relatively minor incidents until something Big like that happens, and then suddenly everybody is involved. I dig at skyrim a lot for its subpar writing but that is one thing I actually kind of like, even if nobody fanon or canon seem to actually be able to agree if it was honorable or not (for the record I am in the not camp because he used the Voice to win when torygg couldn't) but eh that's history for you.

Idea for a story: this is probably gonna get long winded, but the current wip that's holding my attention actually features him heavily because the main character is my nord dovahkiin... who is his bastard son who was conceived around the time of the markarth incident. ulfric and harald have a... tense relationship to put it mildly because ulfric never intended to have a kid that way in the first place, and he's been concerned with the growing tensions between the stormcloaks and empire/thalmor for pretty much harald's entire life. the only reason harald even ended up with him is because the thalmor found out about harald and approached harald's mother and his mother thought he'd be safer with ulfric than with her. i have never really considered ulfric to be the fatherly type, so their relationship is incredibly strained because ulfric is ridiculously pragmatic and has expectations which only get that much worse when harald is revealed to be dragonborn (which does not help when harald starts wondering if he even wants to be the chosen one in the first place).

Unpopular opinion: it's not that I don't think the man couldn't have potentially been like... a loving husband and father or whatever, I just think he's way too pragmatic and focused on what he perceives to be his duty and responsibility (i.e., freeing skyrim) to actually focus on that kind of stuff yknow? he could also stand to look inward and fix the shit going on in his own goddamn hold before he tries to be high king

Favorite relationship: canon-wise I don't really have one, although I do like his strained relationships with the greybeards, I think it's super interesting. I can't remember if arngeir comments on his use of the Voice for violence but I haven't gotten to the peace talk quest in my latest playthrough yet so I might have to see if there's anything to be said there.

Favorite headcanon: he probably falls asleep at his desk a lot because he's a workaholic who doesn't know what a bed is

RALOF

First impression: oh I didn't have an opinion on him first playthrough, he was just some guy like every other character who had been thrown at me so far

Impression now: one of the only reasons I would probably do the stormcloak questline again, which considering how much I hate the civil war questline, is very high praise

Favorite moment: not to meme but Hey You, You're Awake

Idea for a story: he features heavily in the fic I mentioned above since he and harald knew each other growing up (ralof's father was a stormcloak officer so he came to windhelm often with him as a child) and he's really harald's only actual friend who doesn't expect shit of him... also they're romantic interests because I say so 😌😌

Unpopular opinion: this is more to do with critiquing the stormcloaks as a whole, but I really hate how he's the only one who's not Like That 🙃🙃 I know why that is too and it's because if he was spouting tons of dogma at the beheadening nobody who played as anything other than a nord would've even thought of joining up with them. he's still pretty zealous but he's not talking shit about dark elves right out of the gate and is super encouraging no matter your background.

Favorite relationship: canon-wise I wish they had explored the fact he and hadvar seem to know each other and go way back. honestly I think it was a missed opportunity to not make them brothers, because that would play into the thesis that the civil war is tearing families apart and make it an actual thing??? because every single family is split evenly across the line, they're all either stormcloaks or empire and that really doesn't suit the story they're going for imo

Favorite headcanon: he's actually pretty young, probably isn't over 30, so he doesn't remember a world without the ban on talos worship.

HADVAR

First impression: he was just another character who was thrown at me with a name and I had already forgotten who Ulfric was so this should be fun

Impression now:  I don't really have one because I've never actually done an Empire playthrough since I've only done the civil war questline all the way through like... once cause I hate it so much. He doesn't seem like a bad dude though.

Favorite moment: I do like how he seems genuinely sad he can't save you from the chopping block... I can only imagine how often that must happen to him :/

Idea for a story: see above with my ralof entry... I could probably make a genuinely compelling story about them being brothers who were torn apart by the civil war because one of them believed Empire Is Stability and the other bought into the stormcloak dogma.

Unpopular opinion: I don't really have opinions on the guy, but I guess I wish that he was written to argue more with the Imperial captain at the beginning against beheading you?? I think it would have made me more compelled to follow him, considering I never have since from a role-playing perspective, why would you follow a soldier of the army who just tried to chop your head off??

Favorite relationship: don't have one but again i do find his implied relationship with ralof to have some intrigue to it that they never expanded upon

Favorite headcanon: don't have one cause I haven't really thought about him too much.

[oathkeptroxas]

I loved your story on dean & laurel but I'm curious what's your take on those who say that Laurel is a gender-swapped version of Dean? If you agree I would love to get your take on the similarities between Laurel and Dean it's the only similarity I can think of is they are the oldest sibling.

Thanks so much for reading it!! :)

I don’t necessarily agree with referring to Laurel as ‘gender-swapped’ Dean because a) I don’t like that term and it’s implications that there are only 2, binary genders, and b) I feel it discredits Laurel’s individual development and dismisses her as ‘oh a female equivalent of something that’s already been done’.

However, there are a TON of parallels between these two that I believe would make them able to understand each other so well! There’s a difference between a similarity/parallel/comparison and ‘they are the same’.

Though Laurel and Dean are of course both older siblings, that’s not a similarity, that’s a narrative fact, a way in which they are the same. It’s the dynamics with their siblings and their individual personalities in how they deal with them that matter.

Dean would do anything for Sam. He’s sacrificed his life for Sam multiple times, Dean is willing to die for Sam at any given moment, no questions asked. When Sam died Dean did what he had to in order to get him back, consequences be damned. He gave up his childhood so that he could dedicate himself to preserving what was left of Sam’s. Keeping Sam safe is his priority.

Keeping Sara safe growing up was Laurel’s priority. Sara was free-spirited, a rule breaker. Laurel did things by the book, was studying to be a lawyer. Sara was prone to getting herself into trouble, Laurel got her out of it. When Sara died Laurel did whatever she could to bring her back, consequences be damned, no questions asked. 

Both Sam and Sara took their older siblings for granted.

Now, in Sam’s case it’s more than forgivable. Dean felt betrayed/deserted by Sam when he left for college, Dean just wanted his family to stay together and hated being alone. However, it’s necessary and healthy to put yourself first sometimes. Sam removed himself from a toxic environment and took the chance to better his life. Yes, it hurt Dean. But it was necessary for Sam’s well-being, even if Dean didn’t understand. Sam may have been far too young when all this started to realize how much Dean gave up for him, and even as the series goes on Sam learns new things about their childhood that allow him to appreciate Dean a little better. Sam’s ‘betrayal’ of Dean is justified and forgivable and not really a betrayal at all (though it felt like one to Dean).

Sara resented Laurel. When Sara told Oliver about how Laurel shut down that party Sara went to and then Sara got grounded and then Oliver and Laurel were dating and Sara said that Laurel only did that to be spiteful and steal Sara’s chance with him. That’s so fucking immature and short sighted?? And totally out of character for Laurel. Now, if you remove Oliver from the equation, Laurel’s actions would have been the same? Her underage sister was lying to her parents, going to a party with older boys where unknown substances were being passed around. Of course Laurel got it shut down? She was being responsible. The fact that Sara made that about a boy because she was jealous is absurd. Laurel had Sara’s best interests at heart and Sara dismissed her as being spiteful. She thought ‘Laurel doesn’t want me to have fun or be happy’, Laurel thought ‘My little sister is putting herself in dangerous situations with people taking advantage of her’.

Laurel and Oliver and Tommy were friends their whole lives. They grew up together. Laurel and Oliver were essentially childhood sweethearts. I’m an older sibling. I know younger siblings follow you around like imprinted ducklings and think that hanging out with the ‘big kids’ makes them cool. Younger siblings having puppy love crushes on their older siblings’ friends is common af. Thea had one on Tommy. So, any ‘feelings’ that Laurel may or may not have known Sara had for Oliver, she could have easily written off as just that? There was no malicious intent on Laurel’s end. Yet, Sara betrayed her by sleeping with her boyfriend to prove a point? And then when Sara returned she started sleeping with Oliver again before she had worked to build the bridges between her family, and then invited Oliver to a family dinner at Laurel’s home when she knew Laurel was going through a hard time? 

Now, Dean and Laurel also had similar dynamics with their fathers. John neglected/abused Dean, he took him for granted and made Dean shoulder the weight of his responsibilities. John even acknowledged ‘you shouldn’t have had to do that, it should have been me saying that to you’. Due to the circumstances, Dean was conditioned to believe that Sam’s well-being was his responsibility, and anything that happened to Sam was immediately his fault.

Laurel’s father emotionally abused her and her mother neglected her because they couldn’t handle the fact that Sara was gone. So, Laurel, not being given the chance to grieve her sister and boyfriend (who died whilst fucking behind her back) then got deserted by one parent and mistreated by another. Laurel became Quentin’s carer through his alcoholism and shouldered his responsibilities, despite her own trauma. Quentin even said ‘she was my rock’ because he used Laurel as a emotional crutch and leaned on her constantly whilst offering her constant criticism for her choices. He blamed Oliver for what happened to his family, and in a way blamed Laurel by association, because if it wasn’t for her relationship with him, Oliver wouldn’t have been in the Lance’s lives.

Alcoholism is another comparison. Alcohol is a huge coping mechanism for Dean. We see him wake from nightmares and immediately reach for a bottle, regardless of what time of day it is. Dean is drinking beer or whiskey in almost every episode. It helps him deal with his trauma. It’s not healthy but he’s dependent on it. Despite this dependency though, Dean is a high-functioning alcoholic, in the sense that his addiction does not hinder his ability to live his life and do what he needs to.

Laurel’s alcoholism hit her harder. She was never a big drinker, she didn’t even drink socially very often and not excessively. She went from 0-100. And with an alcoholic father (addictive personalities and substance dependencies can be hereditary) it was almost inevitable that she would become dependent, and that it would become a vice. She couldn’t control it, whereas Dean was able to control his to the point where, though he drank a lot, he did so to cope. Laurel started drowning her sorrows only for it to overrun her entire life, she lost control. Dean’s experiences with the mark of Cain and the first blade are a prime example of an addiction gone wild. Both Dean and Laurel have addictive personalities. This is also shown in their steadfast determination in doing whatever they can to reach an end they’ve set themselves.

Dean saw Charlie as an adoptive sister, they had a lot in common, he loved spending time with her and Dean is a big believer in finding and building a family. Laurel was exactly the same with Thea. Laurel was there for Thea more than Oliver was.

Dean uses meaningless sex as a coping mechanism for his trauma, his lifestyle doesn’t afford him the opportunity to commit. Yet, despite this, Dean has never forgotten the name of any of his one night stands. Dean wanted to build a relationship with Cassie Robinson, she was the first person he came clean about his life to. It was Cassie who turned him down, she knew they would grow to resent each other if they pursued something long distance and didn’t want that for them or herself. Dean was so enamored by Lisa Braeden after their weekend long fling literally years prior, that when he was given a year to live and found himself in her hometown one day, he tracked her down. He thought he was on borrowed time and didn’t want the opportunity to see her again to pass him by. When he found out she had a kid, he was shocked but not in any way upset that child could be his, was even disappointed when Ben wasn’t. He left them without attempting to pursue anything because at the time he believed he was going to die and didn’t want to allow Lisa and her son to become attached to him because he wouldn’t be around much longer. Dean had recurring dreams about a life with Lisa where he adopted Ben.

Laurel (as far as we know in canon) has only ever dated two men: Oliver and Tommy. Two boys that she grew up with and knew her whole life and trusted implicitly. We don’t know how exactly Tommy and Laurel first hooked up, but we know that during the time Oliver was gone it was strictly casual. It was more than likely a coping mechanism, they trusted each other, they comforted each other over the fact that they’d both lost Oliver and one thing led to another. She took comfort from someone who knew what she was going through instead of finding meaningless sex elsewhere. We see in flashbacks how Laurel had planned her and Oliver’s lives together and imagined getting married, how she told Oliver she wanted to move in together. Both Laurel and Dean are ‘all or nothing’ types. They are able, and often want to, commit. They love with every part of themselves, but sometimes other things just get in the way.

Which leads me to my next comparison, perhaps the most important one: Dean and Laurel are both loyal to a fault. They have forgiven people who never deserved it countless times. They’ve always put the well-being of others before themselves. They’ve been walked over and disregarded by people they loved yet they can’t help but still love them. Their sense of loyalty and family is unfaltering, even at the detriment of themselves. And despite this, they fight to keep the people they have and they don’t think they are deserving of the love they receive. Dean once said “sooner or later everybody’s gonna leave me.” Laurel once said “What is so wrong with me that everybody leaves?” They both fear abandonment because the people they devoted themselves to never showed that loyalty in return. 

These two would honestly be perfect for each other because their beliefs are cemented in the same ideals. I think they’d have an incredible dynamic and they’d understand each other so well. I’m sure there are things that I’m forgetting but this got long as hell and this is just the big ones that jump out at me. I’m sure @laurelwinchester would know more about this :)