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pluckyredhead · 4 months

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I am still reading my way through the Fourth World! Last time I talked about all the stuff published in the 70s; now let's talk about the 80s.

Kirby:

New Gods #12: In 1984, DC reprinted Kirby's original New Gods run and threw in an extra issue (not to be confused with Gerry Conway's New Gods #12) so that Kirby could finish the story. This was partially DC being nice and trying to give an aging Kirby money, and partially not because they refused to let him produce the ending he wanted, which was Orion and Darkseid both dying. After a couple scrapped versions, we got this, in which Orion goes down in a hail of laser fire. It's a real bummer, but at least he's extremely homoerotic with his best buddy Lightray first? (Oh, they're getting a whole separate post, just you wait.)

The Hunger Dogs: This "graphic novel" (it's only 64 pages but back then that counted) came out a year later and was the "conclusion" to the Fourth World saga. Once again DC and Kirby butted heads because Kirby really wanted to kill everyone and DC was like "But our IP!!!" In the final version, only supporting characters Himon and Esak die, which is sad but not going to do any damage to DC's bottom line.

It turns out Orion is not dead despite being riddled with holes (there's an intriguing suggestion that he has some kind of healing ability because he possesses the Life Equation, which like everything else in this book is presented with zero context or explanation), which is great because it gives him an opportunity to be homoerotic with Lightray again, although he has also been given an Obligatory Heterosexual Love Interest, Himon's daughter Bekka.

Anyway this book is baffling. Highfather blows up New Genesis (everyone survives) to taunt Darkseid, who is overthrown by the downtrodden masses of Apokalips. There's some shouting about the dangers of technology and maybe some anti-Cold War rhetoric about stockpiling weapons, but it's all so hysterically overblown - Kirby at his most grandiose - that it's nearly impossible to parse beyond "war bad." I do appreciate that Orion is able to break free of his rage and death wish and just...leave Darkseid behind, but the fact that he's emotionally mature enough to do that now comes pretty much out of nowhere. The art is extremely powerful, at least.

My final thought is that Kirby clearly gleefully ignored everything Englehart, Conway, et al. did and I love that for him.

Super Powers: Darkseid fights the Justice League. This was a comic created to sell a toy line and you can really, really tell.

Post-Kirby:

Legends: I've read this before, but it's great. If you like pre-Flashpoint DC, you should definitely read this, which introduces Amanda Waller and the Suicide Squad, sets up the JLI, and brings Wonder Woman into the post-Crisis DCU. Neither Orion nor Scott are present but this (along with the Happyland issue of the original Forever People) really makes the case for why Glorious Godfrey is one of Kirby's best and scariest Fourth World creations. And I will never complain about John Byrne art.

Forever People (1988): Blecch. It's definitely arrogant to read something and think "I know for certain that Jack Kirby, a man I never met who died when I was a child, would have hated this" but like. I'm right. And it's obvious from the very first page.

Basically, at the end of Kirby's series, the FP were marooned on a random, idyllic planet somewhere with no hope of getting home, so they embraced it as their new, hopeful future. This catches up with them years later, with Serifan (the sweet young kid) drooling and raving alone in the woods, Vykin (the only Black character) dead (he gets better), and the rest of them...living in yuppie paradise? Apparently the planet they ended up on was populated (missing the point) with "primitive" people (racist) so they decided to use Mother Box to forcibly "evolve" the people (SO RACIST) and were able to create...modern-day America? Literally why would they even do that, they're from New Genesis. Mark is mayor and married with kids, and Big Bear and Beautiful Dreamer are married to each other with a baby on the way.

Anyway a nebulous villain/evil force called "the Dark" undoes everything which brings Vykin back to life but takes away Mark's wife and kids (she's alive but still "primitive" and the kids were never born) and Bear and Dreamer's unborn child, which means the only female protagonist spends the whole rest of the miniseries clutching her stomach and going "my baby!" I absolutely don't mean to make light of pregnancy loss but this doesn't feel like a story about a three-dimensional woman experiencing pregnancy loss. It feels like a story that reduces a woman to a) whether or not she's having a baby, which is the only thing she cares about and b) the central point on a vague love triangle with Mark and Bear. SIGH.

Meanwhile they all go to Earth for...some reason...and then Mark gets possessed by the Dark and is evil for a while but then they manage to summon Infinity Man and Mark isn't evil anymore. And it's bafflingly revealed that they're all from Earth in the first place from random different historical time periods and Highfather kidnapped them as babies. Okay???

The Forever People are perhaps Kirby's purest and most optimistic characters, and this cynical take on them actively angered me even though I don't actually care about them at all. I've also basically never cared for J. M. DeMatteis's writing outside of JLI, and I don't like Paris Cullins's art, so this book just had absolutely nothing going for it for me.

Cosmic Odyssey: I do not trust Jim Starlin with the New Gods since I know he's going to kill them all off in 2007. This is...fine, I guess? Starlin really does not like Orion, who he has slaughter a bunch of innocent, brainwashed Thanagarians, and also be deeply bigoted against Forager. Everything else is...fine? It's basically all action. The only character who has an emotional arc is John Stewart because this is the story where he fails to save Xanshi because he's being an overconfident moron, but the moral at the end of the comic is like "Get over it already" so...that happens. It's fine.

But man, that Mike Mignola artwork is worth the price of admission alone. That guy's great at drawing.

Mister Miracle Special: The plot of this is that Barda doesn't want Scott to be an escape artist anymore because it's too dangerous, even though a) she's a warrior of Apokalips and b) he's an active Justice League member and she seems fine with that. So okay.

Mister Miracle (1989): Okay, so the basic premise here - Scott and Barda try to adjust to normal life in the suburbs - is good. And it's a spiritual spinoff of JLI, which is of course one of my favorite books of all time. But this book is like...imagine someone screaming "Iiiiiiit's WACKY!" over your shoulder constantly while you're reading. That's what reading Mister Miracle (1989) is like. Highfather wears a tuxedo! Funky Flashman shows up a lot! Scott fights a giant alien noodle! Some of it is actually funny, but most of it is trying so hard to be funny that it's just exhausting.

There are some interesting character moments in there. Scott, Barda, and Orion all get to call Highfather out. Orion mentions wishing he was closer to Scott. There are hints at Scott's depression and suicidal tendencies, which I find really fascinating. But all of it is always immediately overshadowed by ZANINESS.

Anyway, I think we as DC fans deserve a do-over with a new Scott and Barda book about their lovingly domestic (kinky) life together on Earth that is funny but not desperately mugging for laughs in every panel. And I think it should be set in Vegas where Scott has a residency. Call me, DC!

New Gods (1989): This book was mostly written by Mark Evanier (a couple issues were by Starlin), who was one of Kirby's assistants back when he was originally creating the Fourth World, so you might think it would feel the closest to a continuation of Kirby's vision. Instead, I am making it Exhibit A in my argument for why a character should never be assigned to a writer who obviously fucking hates their guts.

I mean, I don't know that Evanier hates Orion. But boy does he write him like he does. Starlin's Orion (who again, we get a couple issues of here) is a monster, but Evanier's Orion is just an incompetent idiot, forever slamming himself against the brick wall of his inevitably becoming his father. Almost every single issue has at least one character, often multiple characters, bemoaning Orion's absolutely unproductive violence and inability to learn or comprehend basic concepts that should not be at all new to him after living most of his life on New Genesis (i.e. justice, mercy, compassion). Even fucking Kalibak is like "Wow, you're a useless idiot." Kalibak! The king of useless idiots!

The comic is so into hating on Orion that it hates on him when he's not actually doing anything bad; at one point he walks into a nuclear reaction that's melting down in a desperate attempt to stop it before it kills everyone, and Big Bear is like "Wow, he's just like his father." REALLY, BIG BEAR? Show me the comic where Darkseid risks his life to save thousands of strangers. I'll wait.

This series also features:

a hawkish, bloodthirsty New Genesis military leader who keeps trying to overthrow Highfather, which both seems to undercut the whole point of New Genesis as well as Orion's uniqueness as The Angry Guy;

an Earth woman with the worst gaydar in the universe repeatedly failing to fuck an increasingly uncomfortable Lightray;

but then Lightray falls in love with a dead woman he never met?;

also Orion gets a crush on a bug lady and learns to stop being racist against bugs (she's not impressed and good for her)

and Lightray and Orion parade around Earth in the WORST fashions of the late 80s/early 90s, which is about all this book has going for it.

Anyway it was bad and I'm glad I'm done with it. Next up: the 90s!

#fourth world #orion #lightray #mister miracle #scott free #barda free #meta

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tigirl-and-co · 1 year

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what was that abt Astro boy siblings au? 👀

The Astro Boy All Siblings AU, ready for action!!! also known as

I'm putting it under a readmore, bc it's gonna get long winded!!!

Most important stuff: it's something of a mix of all three major adaptations + Pluto, most emphasis on '63 and '80 though. And really, Pluto's very gently adapted, I really just want Gesicht and his wife in there. Pluto as a character is closer to his animated counterparts, especially the '80 version, where he's not so much 'aggressive' as he is just doing what he thinks he's supposed to be doing.

I should clarify- dub 1963, sub 2003 + 1980. Because that's what I watched.

This AU exists because I L O V E writing character interactions and developing characters with little to no screen time. So I've saved a bunch of characters who were supposed to die, and now they live with each other yaaaaay and also a bunch of one off characters who had good story potential haha

There are some characters whose names I sort of waffle on between the dub and Japanese versions, mainly Minute/Bill and Zero/Denkou.

Both 1980 and 2003 Atlas are here. I figured they were different enough for it. In this case, Daichi has a different name in his alt mode, I just haven't thought of it yet.

idk if Chi-Tan is gonna be here. I'll get back to you on that.

GRAPHIC 1: THE TIMELINE

This is a rough timeline and subject to change.

Marble is on this timeline, but she's not a 'sibling' so to speak, but she and Lucky Louie are kind of Astro's first friends. So Marble is Astro's sort of bestie in this and he takes a trip out to go visit her every so often. Louie, despite being in jail, is kind of an uncle figure to Astro. Astro can ask Louie for advice or opinions without being judged or worrying that it'll get back to anybody else.

The meeting with Atlas is very similar to how it goes in the anime, except I think I'm still going with 'sold his ass to the circus' backstory, so it's more likely he was on a cruise with Ochan, or maybe his parents. Maybe both?

Cobalt has always had middle sibling energy to me, so I switched him and Uran around. I'm working with something a bit closer to the manga backstory, but with the anime personality.

Uran is somewhere between her 1963 and 2003 self. She's more self-sufficient, can drive and did the whole fighting ring shebang (in fact I'm thinking of KEEPING her doing it part-time, for reasons I'll elaborate on later.) But like her 2003 self, she's still emotionally very young, and craves the approval of her older siblings, even if she thinks they're goody two-shoes.

Pook's dad goes to jail, and Ochan agrees to take him in until he's released. He's still very rowdy and kind of a prankster, but he's less actively malicious since his dad instructed him to be nice, and he'll be back.

Pluto! The events play out closer to '80 + '03, but Gesicht still gets to do his whole detective schtick and have ~trauma.~ I'm debating about Epsilon, bc him having the orphans would imply the war was a thing, and that's just not something I'm suited to tackle. On the other hand, Astro being the cool older cousin to a house full of orphans brings me great joy

ANYWAY Pluto is damaged and out of commission, but technically reparable. Ochan brings him to the ministry of science, and works on him in his spare time.

The events of Atlas' episode play out pretty much the same, except that Ochan and Ban have been tracking him down- after all, a robot that can stand toe-to-toe with Astro is a big deal! The whole operation is busted directly after Atlas discovers Livian's parts. Atlas agrees to go with them, but only after Ochan promises he can repair Livian with no problems.

Daichi/Atlas 2003 happens, but instead of building him to test Astro, Tenma does it to *spite* Astro. I'm keeping Tenma out of this au for the most part. I just want him where it would make for good angst.

Livian moves in with Ochan! She helps both as an assistant during research, and as a helping hand with Pook. Ochan is an older man with a busy schedule, and looking after a rambunctious child is not something he can do single-handedly. Livian also wants Atlas to grow as a person without using her as a crutch, and now that he has a family willing to help him she thinks he finally can.

Pluto's full body is restored and he is brought back online! His size means he's kind of relegated to the bigger rooms of the Ministry, outdoor activities, and Ochan's backyard, but he tries to make do. He and Astro get on well, but he's actually much closer with Uran! He and Livian also begin to become good friends, and have late-night chats about philosophy and junk.

Later on, Pluto finally asks to have a humanoid body. He wants to participate in society. He does have a few demands, though! He wants to be tall still, and he wants horns similar to what he has now. Ochan agrees, but says it will be difficult and take a while.

Daichi episode 2! I'm not entirely certain how I wanna play this, but blah blah stuff happens, and Daichi's dad makes a promise to try harder to be a good parent. Daichi moves back into the mansion. Things aren't perfect, but they're actively trying, so it's better than it was before.

Pluto's body is finished! I have some design ideas for him, but nothing I'm ready to talk about yet. He's tall as hell, and keeps his horns curled to the side a ram. I'm going for kind of a teen vibe. He's still got a lot to learn, and I wanted to reflect that in his design. He finds he actually enjoys being helpful, but he is also not afraid to throw punches when need be. It's really just that his standards for 'need be' have been raised. He and Daichi get along okay.

I'm going with the 1963 design for Denkou here. I know everybody likes the 2003 one but I'm not a huge fan. I'm also going to call him Zero just for ease of writing, but tag him as Denkou so he doesn't get mixed up with the other Zero I blog about haha.

His backstory plays out kinda like a mix between all three versions, with him willing and ready to sacrifice himself like in '63, but he lives like in '03. Daichi actually helps out, using himself as an example of how even if you do the wrong the thing, you don't have to be bad forever. Zero moves in with Daichi (after Daichi can convince his dad- it's not hard to convince a wealthy man to take in a very expensive, one-of-a-kind robot, it turns out), and they become very close, with Zero looking up to Daichi, and Daichi realizing that means he really needs to shape up.

I rewatched the ending of Mighty Minute/Humanoid Bill, but I need to take time to watch the whole thing again. I'm going with 'they create a suit with a suitable filtration system, which allows Minute to roam free.' He still needs a lot of rest, but it's better than nothing. He and Pook become GREAT friends. Inseparable. If you make a lot of noise while Minute is resting, Pook will absolutely tell you to shut up.

Eventually Pook and Minute move in with Higeoyaji. He's good with kids, Ochan just really doesn't have the energy to care for them, and they actually can help him out in detective cases! He doesn't bring them to anything he thinks might be dangerous, of course, but Minute's predictive abilities and Pook's strength and transformations are very helpful.

How does he pay for them, despite being a schoolteacher/detective and broke as balls? Why, a stipend from the ministry, of course! Both Pook and Minute are outstanding scientific achievements! It certainly doesn't have anything to do with Ochan being biased, why would you think that?

Last Day on Earth plays out, Bem survives and stays with Astro for a while, but 5 super kids is just kind of a lot. Astro and Ochan reach out to Gesicht, and ask if he and his wife are interested in trying to raise a child again. They've had time to process their grief, and are more than happy to welcome him into their home! Bem is a recurring character from this point, but mostly through video calls.

Then Future shows up! Yaaaaaay Future! He survives his ordeal but is badly damaged. Ochan rebuilds him to the best of his ability, but certain parts were so advanced that it's out of his wheelhouse. He still has predictive abilities, but they're nerfed somewhat. Instead of a picture perfect vision of what will happen, he moreso sees a few different possibilities of what COULD come to pass.

Eventually, Daichi and Zero move in with him. Daichi is still on decent terms with his father, but he feels the need to get out from under his thumb, and Zero goes where Daichi goes.

So, in essence

OTHER IMPORTANT BITS:

I was raised to see my cousins like siblings. Our parents would just kind of shuffle kids around between houses + my grandma's house as need be. That affects how I see characters interacting. So while I see Pook as more of a little cousin to astro, that really more means 'little sibling you only see sometimes'

Zero helps Ban on his detective cases! Zero genuinely REALLY likes using his powers to help people. He'll help put criminals away, sure, but he much prefers doing stuff like tracking down lost pets or items and returning them to their owners. He gets the warm fuzzies.

Idk if you remember those robots with like. sensitive stomachs? Who were escapees from a country or something. The kid's name was Piko. They eventually do actually move in as neighbors.

^these guys.

Atlas is still gruff, but he secretly very much enjoys being praised. He'll work a lot harder for people who are kind to him, but he does NOT express affection verbally, and only very rarely physically. He starts out very cold and aloof, but over time he gets ~*character development*~ and becomes incredibly protective of his siblings. He's also willing to throw down for ANYBODY he sees being taken advantage of. Astro prays he never learns about bosses being mean to their employees.

He's also somewhat misanthropic. Not to the degree he gets in canon, but his first life experiences were of him being abused and taken advantage of. If you can prove you actually care about robots, he'll drop from 'watching you like a hawk' to 'just kind of guarded' and after a LONG while he might consider you a friend. He's now at the point where he's just as protective of Marble as he is any of his siblings, especially once he learns about what went down with her and Astro.

Because of his distrust toward humans, the blue knight actually targets HIM and not astro. This will (hopefully) be a fic in its own right, so I won't get too into it here. Blue Knight is also NOT happy that Uran fights of her own free will

Pluto is completely genderblind. Like fully and completely. But bc he takes looking out for others VERY seriously now, a lot of the women who work at the ministry talk to him about their frustrations, and know he's the person to call out to when they feel unsafe. Icon.

Atlas can not be left alone with Tenma, Hamegg, or Skunk. He would turn their insides into outsides for what they did to Astro and Zero, respectively. Honestly they're lucky he has better things to do than track them all down.

Two other characters that show up from time to time after their introduction is Abra and Cadabra, the magician robots!

astro has free tickets for life.

Astro's school friends are still all here. They're kind of protective not only of Astro, but also Atlas, once they learned what he went through. Atlas and Shibugaki are especially vitriolic buddies. Atlas isn't so stupid that he can't see how similar they are, and also one time shibugaki bit some random guy spewing anti robot shit, and that impressed the hell out of Atlas.

because I'm mental I AM shoehorning black jack and pinoko into this au as reoccurring characters. Dr. Honma was an old friend of Ochan, and thus he and BJ are on good terms. Pinoko is basically a cousin from the other side of the family, since she's in a weird limbo area between biological human and artificial creation.

I think Future just ends up going by a super normal regular guy name, like Dennis or Adam. He, Daichi, and Zero move in together, for reasons that make sense in my brain I promise

I'm also bringing in a lot of one-off characters I like to be background roles, but this whole thing has taken so long to post and I'm tired. I'm NOT bringing back the scary buff horse man, you'll be glad to know.

so uh. Yeah. All Siblings AU. I'm sure there's guys I'm forgetting, and would likely want to add, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. And also once I read the manga

If you read this whole thing mwah mwah mwah thank you for being so gracious about my blatant insanity.

#titi talks #tezuka talk #all siblings au #astro boy #tezuka star system #atlas #denkou #minute #future #pluto #my writing #cobalt #uran

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yusuke-of-valla · 4 months

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Idk man I don't think a lot of the Pokémon complaints that annoy me bother me because they're disingenuous but they seem... really superficial and like they haven't given much thought to it.

Like you can SAY you want something outside of a fire/water/grass trio but there are only so many sets of three types that all hit each other for super effective damage, resist each other, AND resist themselves. And when you have that set up it allows you to really easily explain the concept of super effective moves to children playing the game for the first time, who the game DOES have to cater to.

You can say you want a mean rival but how does that relate to the story? What narrative role do they serve? How do they not get outclassed but other antagonists? If Barry were meaner would that stand out in a game where Cyrus is planning to kill everyone and Satan snipes a man from the shadow realm? Is giving them a Pokémon that's hard as your first battle of the game really more important than having them be balanced later?

An official Nuzlocke mode or a roguelike mode doesn't work because the theme of Pokémon is forming a bond with your specific team and working together to overcome challenges, and if you have to get rid of them every time you die that goes against the story they're trying to tell.

It's not that there's NOTHING that can be improved in Pokémon (I actually think Pokémon could be super benefitted by fleshing out the main characters more and giving them more personal investment in the plot, and lowkey I would like the lore to be better fleshed out and actually in the damn game), but I think like you have to be acting in good faith and that means acknowledging the series story, themes, and what it's trying to do. If your solution for fixing an rpg is to have it not be an rpg anymore, you don't actually want it to be better, you want it to be a different game.

Like the Pokémon series should spread out! I would like more spin offs while giving the main series time to cook. But that's different from what I want from the core series game?

And I also think focusing solely on the wild area and scarvi's open world when talking about Pokémon changing and not the way Scarlet and Violet finally gave us three rival characters with compelling personal arcs that are all actually weighted equally and then come together in a dramatic final boss fight that's actually super emotionally relevant and fits with the themes we've been building for the last ten hours? Or how Legends Arceus does a really good job using Jubilife village as a hub world and then rips it away from you? Why is the only way the series can change by being more like breath of the wild?

Anyway, yeah that's where I'm at. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion obviously and I'm not saying the Pokemon series is above reproach or it's fine that Scarlet and Violet didn't wait another year to be released or any of that. I just feel like, idk man some people wanna be playing a different game and blame Pokemon for it and they're very loud about it and I would just like Pokestar Studios back but with the graphics from Sword and Shield

#fandom salt #I hope I expressed this well #I also think raids could be balanced better but when they ARE balanced it's so satisfying putting together the right Pokemon to solo them #Primarina was great there were so many good builds and clever ways around it #oh also I would like the damn lore to be explained #and I want them to commit to the parents that are shitty

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mylittleredgirl · 6 months

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dear hurtcomfortex author

thank you so much for writing for me! i hope you have fun. i'm very easy to please as a reader and love to be surprised! (i love treats, too!)

there were so many more wonderful tags to choose from (and i completed my sign-up 30 seconds before the bell), so in addition to my sign-up tags, feel free to write to any of my general likes below for any requested ship, or other similar tropes as long as they avoid my DNWs.

❤️‍🩹 hurt/comfort likes: aftermath stories | characters who don't expect comfort learning how to accept it | comforting characters heal themselves through the act of helping | comforting each other while hiding/waiting/in fear | cumulative damage (emotional or physical) | hurt character struggles to maintain their dignity… and ultimately regains it | “i should have been there/been able to stop it” | “i'll stay with you” | kindness tailored to the way a character can accept it | made to watch (or can’t stop imagining) | one hurt physically/one hurt emotionally | platonic physical comfort | shared vulnerability | sexual healing | “the last straw” is something small.

⛔️ DNWs: alternate-setting AUs (law office, coffee-shop, etc; small & large canon divergences are welcome though!) | bashing of other characters or past canon relationships | cannibalism | crossovers (except between series in the same universe, like star trek) | hurt no comfort | non-canon nicknames | non-con between requested characters (dubcon ok) | non-sexual bodily fluids in sex scenes | permanent character death | permanent loss of autonomy | spelling out accents (for human characters) | unplanned pregnancy | zombies or blood-sucking vampires (other canon-typical aliens and cryptids are welcome!).

⚠️ opt-ins for common DNWs: i’m fine with sexual violence being part of the story or backstory (including in childhood), as long as it’s not graphic, not committed by major/recurring canon characters, and doesn’t cause irreparable damage (e.g. not "will always feel pain or fear with sex," has to quit their job, etc). i like second-person POV a lot, as long as the “you” is a canon character. i dnw major character death, but death/grief for other people or animals is fine. i’m also OK with body image issues, canon-typical sexism, infidelity, medical/surgical things, mental illness, miscarriage, and torture.

🌃 Stargate Atlantis 🌃 john sheppard/elizabeth weir (hurt either one or both)

(hurting both wasn't technically an option, but i would welcome it!)

these two are made for hurt/comfort. they're both strong and have been through so many wringers. they're terrible at admitting vulnerability, taking care of themselves, and accepting help from others. i would love to see them support each other (well or clumsily) through canon suffering, brand-new suffering of your choosing, or just a hard day at the office. some interesting tag options for them are the "character planned to die but didn't" option (perhaps elizabeth more than john -- i think he's aware in canon of his protagonist invulnerability), "bad guys made them do it" for a darker dubcon take for them to work through together, and "rehumanization" has canon and metaphorical potential for either one of them. please feel especially free to bring your own ideas for these two -- i have rarely met a sheppard/weir idea i didn't love!

⛑ M*A*S*H ⛑ margaret houlihan & colonel potter (hurt either or both); trapper/hawkeye/margaret (hurt margaret)

i'm now up to season five in m*a*s*h and am so so so obsessed, and especially chewing the drywall about margaret. there's so much wrong with her. there's so much wrong with everyone. truly a show for the ages. there's lots of hurt/comfort potential built into the day-to-day premise -- the long brutal days in a long brutal war, the conditions, the stress, how no one ever has everything they need -- as well as the option for exciting war zone drama. anything from slice-of-life hurt/comfort to dramatic action/adventure would be loved!! i would prefer fic that only includes canon from seasons 1-6, since i probably won't have seen all of the later seasons before reveal time, but that’s not a dnw.

margaret & colonel potter: i loveeee the developing surrogate father/daughter relationship here. it offers so much potential for her to heal and grow, and he has such a soft spot for her in return. i would love to stick them in a little peril to see them get closer -- we know they go together into the villages to do medicine sometimes (and he already got shot once), so perhaps something exciting happens on one of those trips? if you'd rather stay low-key in camp, some emotional support that lets her feel seen or lets him get something back for all the one-way support he offers the others would be lovely.

trapper/hawkeye/margaret: there's so much charged (and horny) energy between them, i can't resist. the times they brought her into their circle (even if reluctantly) were so funny and sweet. i’m happy with any level of ship, pre-ship, or “&” friendship here. i have great love for the ongoing frank/margaret disaster as well, so feel free to include him/that relationship in the story or not however you wish (though if you're using him to hurt her, please keep it within the general canon range of damage -- he should definitely not be the perpetrator in the almost-raped tag scenario up there).

regarding the tags for this show: i genuinely dropped the ball here by not including any tags where trapper & hawkeye caused the hurt they're now trying to resolve, because that would be very in character! if you would like to go that route and make them atone for some of their little crimes, i would love it. even if they’re all friends or lovers now, old habits die hard…

🛸 The X-Files 🛸 john doggett/monica reyes (monica or both hurt); john doggett/monica reyes/dana scully (hurt any one of them)

at this point i was panicking about finishing my sign-up, so please feel free to add extra tags! the x-files excels at generating horrifying ways men and creatures can cause harm, and anything within the scope of what happens to agents in a monster of the week ep in canon is fair game (except dnw zombies or vampires). i love the season nine agents and the variable dynamics of longing and need and trust and friendship between all three of them, and the x-files is at its best when the agents are going all out to protect each other!

the tag i have up there is "both captured," but having just one of them captured and the other(s) panicking/coming to their rescue would also be great, or tending the wounds afterwards. some soft comfort after any canon episode or an original case-gone-wrong would also hit the spot. monica is usually the one offering emotional support, so it would be nice to see that go the other way sometimes!

a prompt i always hope someone will fill is “three agents spend the night snowed in with ghosts,” with the author’s choice whether to interpret it as paranormal ghosts or the angsty figurative ghosts they’re all carrying around.

🛰 Babylon 5 🛰 michael garibaldi/susan ivanova/talia winters (all hurt or hurt talia); lyta alexander & talia winters (hurt talia)

i really, really want talia to survive. i think susan and michael would be the most motivated to rescue her, and lyta would be the most capable of cleaning up the damage.

i love telepathy in babylon 5. psi corps is so deeply fascinating and fucked up. lyta and talia get so used and abused from so many directions, and the more power they gain, the less freedom and agency they have. the two of them have the same backstory of briefly interning with the psi corps, and i have always wondered if they knew each other pre-canon, and how that might have impacted lyta after unmasking talia's alter ego.

DNW exception for this fandom: while i usually DNW unplanned pregnancy, psi corps tortures its people in all kinds of ways, including reproductive control. i'm fine going dark for psi corps stories (non-con, torture, etc is all built into canon!) as long as our characters come out alive and there's some comfort, love, support, and a hopeful ending.

that's it!! thank you again! i hope something here was inspiring or at least not too boring. i will be delighted and so grateful for whatever i receive. enjoy!

#dear author #fic exchange

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jjraderftw · 2 years

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Barefoot Gen

Let me just say that despite it being violently graphic and downright depressing at times, I thoroughly enjoyed my watching of Barefoot Gen. I think the movie depicts a lot of tough themes which I’ll discuss in a second but it does so in a way that is very passive (as much as you can be with a WWII setting at least). I actually liked the use of vivid imagery because it shows the true colors and horrors of war and the open minded thoughts of people within Japan too: some for the war and other against it. This really showed me that there are always going to be different trains of thought regardless of where you are and that the costs of fighting are sometimes felt more by the civilians than anyone else. That being said, this movie obviously centered around WWII. The story was told from the perspective of Gen who, despite the absolute tragedies that he encountered, remained somewhat optimistic through the viewing making the scenes and events more emotionally tolerable. The movie was a platform to convey the absolute horrors of war. It uses animation to convey how the impacts of greed and pride found in war can lead to the annihilation of thousands of innocent lives. It also comments on the monumental damage humans are capable of, specifically nuclear warfare and the reasons why it’s banned.

Let’s begin by talking about the horror of war. It’s often in classroom settings and movies that we are informed about warfare and the “necessary evil” it’s often connotated with. These accounts are usually told from a very top down perspective or from the views of the soldier in war. Though many depictions show tragedy in the form of lost soldiers and battered corpses from gunfire, it’s not too often that we see the effect on the everyday lives of civilians. This movie showed how prolonged war efforts can deprive hard working citizens as far removed from the conflict as possible of basic needs such as food and water. Gen’s family believed the war in of itself was bad and wished it would end because they could barely make ends meet. Furthermore, the mental state of everyone is lowered. By being at war, the civilians are not only physically worse off, but mentally worn out. There is this looming threat of sudden death at any point which causes mental hysteria. Furthermore, the lack of knowledge on when this war will end leaves many unsettled. And this is all without considering the actual bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

When the bomb dropped, it displayed to the audience the absolute destruction of war. All of the people of Hiroshima, despite having little to nothing to do with the war, vanquished in the blink of an eye. Imagine this: Your country goes to war over something you don’t agree with and you happen to live in that country because you have your entire life. Suddenly, as you’re playing with your child, all your family gets killed as a message by the opposing side. You just lost everything you cared for over something you didn’t care for and did not agree with. It’s an unfair cost. This is very much what occured in WWII. Though these people were innocent, they were put through literal hell. They were burnt alive, melted, blown apart, and poisoned for the rationale of “sending a message.” The bomb made these already suffering people lose more than their food. It made human lives that have equal value to the bombers suffer, all to strike back at the ones involved in the war (who were not even part of the bombing). Gen’s family’s death and the corpses seen through the movie remind us of the destructive potential of humans and why that type of warfare (even in international conflicts where countries are at each other's throats) have been outlawed. No one should suffer in that manner, especially innocent lives.

Another topic covered by the movie is human pride and greed. I’m not going to touch upon who was “right and wrong” in the case of WWII because in war such concepts are often not black and white, however, at this point in the war it was pretty evident that the United States was very mad and serious about their lethality after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Threats were made to the Japanese government warning of impending doom given they did not surrender. Calling their bluff, they refused to give up and Hiroshima was bombed as a result. Even after this massive explosion, Japan refused to surrender (btw 100,000+ lives were killed instantly). Another threat was made and since Japan did not adhere to the warning, another atomic bomb was dropped in Nagasaki. The refusal to give up and the disregard for human lives shows the pride involved in war. The people in charge played and gambled with the lives of innocent individuals who had nothing to do with the war. They were more focused on “winning the war” and being a global power than protecting the people it claimed to have been protecting. The war leaders in charge used the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as pawns. Even after those thousands of lives were lost, they refused to surrender despite being at the mercy of another bomb. But since those in power were directly attacked, they didn’t give up. Furthermore, those in Japan who didn’t agree with the war were labeled as criminals and traitors despite them feeling the effects of warfare firsthand. This shows the one sided mentality of “you’re either with us or against us” even for situations that are sinking ships or horribly unethical. I think it’s important to understand the value of a human life and to know when enough is enough, a concept often forgotten in war.

Overall the movie was very good and talked about its theme well. The part where Gen and his mother dug up their family’s skulls was heartbreaking and really put in perspective the agony people went through. It’s an eye opening film I would definitely recommend given you aren’t easily disturbed.

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crayonon · 2 months

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Flarecare Story

Your Final Resting Place

Even though Uni's eyes aren't completely gone in this au, things still don't go well for her.

TWs: suicidal ideation + following through, graphic descriptions of self-mutilation, vomiting, suicidal thoughts, permanent disfigurement

[I don't write this often but this has a HEAVY warning for all of it.]

As Uni lay in her bed, she thinks back to how she even got to this horrid place. As much as she hated recalling it, the reason for coming here had been a suicide attempt. She still remembers the night she went. She was in her room. Desperately scratching at her wrists until she could hook onto her artery and finally end the constant torment, the name-calling, the thoughts of being othered. She had to be held back by her dad in order to get her to stop trying to continue. Her wounds didn't heal instantly this time. After all, she herself was part unicorn, and only unicorns can do damage this bad to themselves. She still remembers the feeling of endless spurts of blood gushing from her gaping wounds, her body trying to keep itself alive and not die of blood loss. She didn't reach a main vein but she still destroyed many in the process. The feeling of how the very air of her room made her open gashes sting. The feeling of how lightheaded and clammy she felt when she finally passed out from pain.

When she woke up, she was in a hospital bed, with none of her family in sight. At first, she didn't recall what even landed her in the hospital, but the memories came flooding back as soon as she saw the new stitches in her wrist. As much as she cursed herself out for being so emotionally weak to even attempt to end her own life (and not even do it right), she quickly calmed herself down. This was just for the injuries. The blood loss has been taken care of because her own biology prevented her from dying. This would all be over when she healed. As soon as she healed, she would be back with her family.

That was 3 years ago.

It was 6 in the morning, almost 30 minutes before the hospital came to life. She couldn't sleep the entire night. Her mind kept her up, but not with the usual thoughts that eventually made her fall asleep, like listing all of the facts that she knew about her favorite video game series to herself. This time, it was a single thought that got louder and louder the more she focused on it.

This is it.

This is where you're going to die.

She wanted to pick any thought, but it was the only thing she could think of.

This is where you're going to die.

No.

"... No."

If you're going to die here, at least let it be by your own hands. You had no control over any factor of your life. You didn't choose to be the daughter of a unicorn. You didn't choose to feel like a stranger in your own body. You didn't even get to choose which hospital you would be sent to. If the only thing you can control in your life is your own death, then so be it.

At least let it be your choice whether you die now or later.

Uni sat up from her bed, almost robotically, like she had a purpose to fulfill. There was no one else in her room.

She gets up and gets in front of the bed, kneeling down in front of it, a similar position to the night she was admitted. The large window in front of her cast moonlight on her form, almost a like spotlight, as she planned her own escape.

Now how to do it.

Uni thought emotionlessly. She wanted to try her wrists again, but her 1st attempt made her nerve endings more sensitive there now. It might hurt even more, and she might not even stay conscious long enough to finish. There were no sharp objects anywhere in her room. There were no ideas left that would fit her current situation.

That is until she realized.

Her eyes.

She could rip them out. The eyes are a direct line to the brain. If she manages to make it past the eyeballs themselves, she could jam a claw into whatever spot and it would end whatever pain she would otherwise be feeling, physical or otherwise.

It was perfect.

Seemingly out of desperation, she holds up her paw to look at it, shaking and trembling uncontrollably. She then lifts her other.

After a few seconds of realizing that she's going to do this to herself, fresh tears start spilling freely from her eyes, and she leans down and starts to sob.

Apprehension. It's okay, you felt like this the first time, too. The pain will be momentary if you're quick about it.

After a few more seconds of crying, she sniffles and takes a deep breath. She lifts her hands again, the shaky moonlit silhouettes wobbled with the tears still clouding her vision.

She wipes her eyes and forces herself to keep them open. She stuffs the bottom of her gown in her mouth to muffle herself.

This will be the only thing you'll get to control in your life.

She takes in a sharp breath before plunging her fingers into her eyes, claws first.

She lets out a muffled cry as the nails finally hit her eyes. During her first attempt, she was at least able to will herself to let her pained noises out as wheezes or harsh breathing. Here, her cries didn't stop. They didn't lower in volume. Someone will definitely hear her.

You can't quit now. You have to keep going.

She flexes her fingers and has to keep herself from falling over as her arms get shakier and less precise. Every slight shake moved her arms and she could feel her stomach churn every time her eye movements fought against her hands, causing them to slide against her eye sockets, completely soaked with tears. Her eyes stung as they were exposed to the sterile hospital air, something that should never be touching them at all.

You have to keep going.

The pain was getting unbearable. She felt on the verge of vomiting on herself. The gown dropped from her mouth, causing drool to spill from the lack of care to swallow it. She could feel something warm trickle down her arm, and she was unsure if it was blood, tears, or aqueous humor. Her thoughts were absolutely feral and pain-induced, her drooling mouth now taking on a snarling shape as she tried desperately to fight through the pain that stood like a barrier between this place and escape. The eyeball was barely out due to a natural suction that was keeping it in the eye socket, a little too well. Her muscles were too shaky to keep going and were only making it more difficult. The moist surface of her eyes was making this more difficult.

You have to keep-

Uni unlatches her hands from her eyeballs, clutching at her head as they slide back into their natural position, her stomach lurching at the feeling. Uni pants and breathes heavily, her gaze fixed on her gown, noticing the spots of red and clear liquids that now covered it. The moon's spotlight bounced off them and made them appear to glow, so she could see every single error she made.

She loses her balance, wincing hard as she falls to the hard, linoleum floor. She clutches the side of her head that hit the floor, starting to cry more fresh tears. Her body was shaking so hard. She could hardly think. She felt so cold. Her head felt so warm. Her throat burned as pure bile rushed out of it and onto the tile closest to her. She coughed. She starts crying harder. It hurts. It hurts too much. She starts to feel... tired. She just needs to sleep. Just sleep and this'll all be gone in the morning. This is just a bad dream. The pain will be more manageable in the morning.

The only thing she could feel before she passed out was the feeling of warm liquid trickling from her eyelids and turning her vision red.

Thi s is wh er e y o u'r goi g t o d

Doom sighs as he clocks into his shift at the hospital. 6:30 A.M. was at the crack of dawn for him. He was never a morning person, but the Doc would quite literally wring out his neck if he was any later. His sister, Mood, is right behind him.

As he goes to check on Uni, as is expected of a patient's nurse first thing in the morning, he notices how quiet her room is. That was rare, especially for Uni of all people.

"PURPLE ONE, IF YOU'RE STILL ASLEEP I WILL NOT HESITATE TO BRING A BUCKET OF WATER HERE AND WAKE YOU UP MYSELF."

No answer. Not even a tired groan. This was getting strange.

Doom unlocks her room door and steps inside.

"PUR-"

He sees it. The pool of blood blooming from her head, a pool that's only starting to get bigger. The pool of vomit in front of her. Her gown spotted with blood. Her seemingly lifeless body. His heart seems to stop and before he knows it, he's already crouching over her body, checking for any vital sign, any breath, any sign that she's still alive. He rushes to the closet and grabs a stethoscope. He flips her and she limply complies. He places it on her chest. A heart murmur. Shallow breathing. He carries Uni down the hall to an operating room and pages Dr. Funfetti, hoping to Tears that somehow they're awake by now.

"PAGING DR. FUNFETTI WE HAVE A DAMAGED PATIENT FROM AN ATTEMPT AT THEIR OWN HANDS, PAGING DR. FUNFETTI"

Uni wakes up. She's in her room. In her hospital bed. Still in the hospital. She had a small headache when she opened her eyes, but nothing seemed too different. Well, one thing was different. When she opened her eyes, she realized that her vision was still somewhat blurry. Okay.

She rubs her eyes of all signs of sleep. It's still blurry.

Okay.

She feels her way to the closet to get a clean rag (what she thinks is a rag, anyway) and washes her face thoroughly in her bathroom. She dries off.

Still blurry.

Now she starts to panic.

How long would she be like this? What if she'll never see again? Why would she even attempt something like that in the first place? Will she even get help in this lifetime?

Her racing thoughts stop as she sees the blurry shape and colors of a bracelet on her wrist. A new bracelet. With new colors.

It looked... bright yellow. With a red sticker on it?

#flarecare #flarecare au #personal #alt uni #flarecare story

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kirstythejetblackgoldfish · 4 months

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Reading about the Rebecca Joynes case and how she groomed two boys, becoming pregnant by one of them and emotionally abusing him, has been shocking

I've been reading forums about it and seen people talking about the questionable behaviour and clothing choices of teachers when they were at school, and it reminded me of two teachers from when I was at secondary school (2005-2010). Both of them were young female teachers, both pretty, both blonde with tanned complexions

The first one was very young and was a former pupil at the school. She worked with the 'special needs' kids such as myself. You could often see her G-strings and oh my, did the bitchy 'normal' girls gossip about that. Yes, some of them bullied me, but anyway. These girls were wearing similar at around 14, but there's a BIG difference between a teenage girl trying to be grown-up and a teacher in a professional environment. One of those girls even read Katie Price books instead of doing her maths work. I'd be there, sitting behind her, trying to work, and this girl would be reading this ghostwritten book with a topless photo of Katie Price

These girls would gossip about this teacher and talking about how she shouldn't be allowed to wear that sort of underwear at school. There was also a rumour that she'd slept with a male graphic design teacher who looked more like a rugby player on a school trip to Spain, but I'm very doubtful of that story because I can't really see why they would've been together on that trip. In one maths lesson, tattoos came into conversation, and this teacher was talking about how she had a dolphin tattoo and when one of the kids asked to see it, she said 'No, it's on my bum'

This teacher also once shouted at me big time because of my coursework and I cried for two hours. She would sit in food tech with us and on one occasion, we had a substitute teacher for 10 weeks, who had actually worked in the food industry. She was teaching us about supply and what happens if a supply chain is damaged, like if a factory burns down. After her lesson, this support teacher with the G-strings said to me and the three boys who sat at the same table as me:

'Do you know what's scary? I don't know if any of you were listening to any of that'

We all laughed about it later and her use of the word 'scary'. That's not scary!

Two of those boys were my friends and the other boy was more a friend of the other boys, who made fun of me a bit but seemed to like me as well, because we both hated the girl who bullied me. Anyway, Miss G-string would often find reasons to tell off one of the boys and get him into trouble. One time he muttered something to himself, she thought he'd told him to shut up, shouted at him and sent him out of the room. After the incident where I cried for two hours, my mum phoned his mum

Yet she also taught me about the joys of fish finger sandwiches and putting sausages in pasta bake

The other teacher was one who a lot of boys fancied. She was a history and RE teacher and a lot of boys talked about her large breasts, which were always covered by a shirt and a tank top. She was from one of the next towns over

One day, one girl, who bullied me but pretended to be my friend, came up to me and was shocked because she'd heard a boy say 'Imagine if Miss ____ tripped and her boobs popped out?' I think she wanted me to be shocked and disgusted by such a comment, but I didn't really think anything of it being 13/14 at the time

She was a good teacher

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septembersghost · 2 years

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is Bates Motel scary? I'm a horror wimp but have been curious about it

i wouldn't say it's scary in a jump scare horror sense per se, most of the fear is very psychological, but i'd want to give you a dozen different trigger warnings if you're sensitive because it is very dark and deals with heavy themes. saying that sounds like a negative - it's not, i love the show, and like i said to the other anon, S4 is a beautifully done (elegiac, i recently used that word to describe something else, but it's apt here) season of television, though by nature as a prequel/reimagining a heartbreaking tragedy, and the entire show builds upon that and examines difficult topics. putting them under the cut, also light spoilers due to the subject matter.

huge trigger warnings for sexual assault, not only because there's a brutal instance of it in the pilot (you see it coming, that doesn't lessen how terrible it is), but it's not forgotten or avoidable, norma's life has been shaped by this. she's a sexual assault and abuse survivor through childhood, through marriage. her dynamic with norman is molded by this too, both due to her trauma influencing her as a mother and her closeness with him being predicated on this idea that he's the one man she can depend on and trust while he's simultaneously her baby that she wants to shield and protect. he witnesses her being physically and emotionally abused by his father (the most upsetting instance of this comes up in 4x06), which is the origin of his disassociative disorder. it goes without saying their dynamic is complicated and upsetting, her attachment to him and his fixation on her is not normal. their relationship is also tender and empathetic. they love one another in profound and terrible ways, theirs is the central unconventional dynamic of the show.

the sexual abuse norma has survived is probably the part i'd urge the most caution about, it's a topic i actually often avoid myself, but in this context it becomes a necessary part of understanding her. idk if you've ever watched dexter, but in S5 of that show, the arc deals with that theme (in a different way than here, but still, it's difficult), and the character affected by it is also one of my favorites, it's always been a rare example of a show where i felt the theme was handled very carefully and humanely rather than exploitatively. i feel the same way about norma (maybe excluding the pilot scene - which drives everything else that happens, so i can't say it's unnecessary to the plot, but it feels every bit as cruel as it is). and she is a survivor, she is not defined by her experiences, but they also linger with her continually. inc*st/csa is part of her backstory, and affects the present story in relation to another main character (i can't say more without totally spoiling a plot). a subtle undercurrent of her arc is also the casual cruelty men inflict and the damage of misogyny on so many women (some of which she's understandably internalized). she also weaponizes her sexuality and the thrall men feel towards her at times, which is not an uncommon response to the things she's been through, even though she doesn't like/blames herself for that.

there's a very sad accidental animal (dog) death in S1, which also ends up providing necessary story. norman gets into taxidermy, which we see instances of, but he never hurts animals himself, and he tends to the ones he preserves with a great amount of reverence and care. there's some body horror given what happens to norma and her ending up in the basement.

S1 is kind of a mess with a couple of subplots, but it improves immensely as it goes. (and i think the subplots end up serving the characters well in the end.)

obviously, given the source inspiration, there are murders, committed for various motives by various characters, so tw for violence/blood, brutal at times. matricide (it's not graphic at all, though). there's also some involvement in the drug trade.

norman's deteriorating mental health is a constant part of the narrative and it deals quite bluntly with how broken mental health care is and how difficult it is to get proper treatment (and how terrifying and dehumanizing that process can feel). it is deeply sad as we watch him get worse. so tw for depictions of mental illness, medical neglect (imo), depression, hallucinations, and suicidality.

hopefully that covers everything! i don't want this list to sound too awful, writing it out probably makes it sound worse than it is as an organic part of the story. it's worth watching, but you should always take care of yourself first!

#anonymous #letterbox #bates motel

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erigold13261 · 3 years

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How does the Dikirbiru ship even work? Not trying to send hate or anything, just curious cause the pairing itself seems so random to me...

Honestly yea, I can see why you think that lol! Especially with how I have my headcannons, Purl-hew and DK West should probably not have actually initially gotten together. It's mainly a lot of how my headcannons work is why this ship actually ended up happening (and honestly became my favorite ship) Anyway!

Short answer: I liked their aesthetic of pretty over the top, loud bear and cool, collected, soft-spoken twink and just put them together! It's basically just a crackship that I really liked and decided to force to work lol! :3 [Also, it basically boils down to, West is the only person that took time to make Purl feel human/real, and Purl is the only person who actually took time to know more about West than what West shows to the public]

Long answer under the cut! (Slight warning that I do MENTION some stuff about sex, but absolutely NOTHING graphic or detailed. Also a few mentions of PTSD, childhood abuse, and drug/alcohol use. Everything below is basically just pure headcannons and story that I never got around to writing properly. Also also! It's pretty long! Like REALLY long!)

I absolutely have this headcannon that Purl hated West at first but grew to like him over time and the two helped each other work through their own issues.

Before B2J were even on NSR's radar, West was on the main stage challenging NSRtists to rap battles. He would challenge anyone, anywhere. One day 1010 had an interview or a meet and greet, and something happened that started to trigger Neon J's PTSD. Before he fully fell victim to an attack (episode? I don't know the right terminology, sorry), he was able to go to a mostly secluded area in an alleyway to try and ground himself.

This is where West saw the 1010 manager and, without realizing what was happening, immediately started to get close and in Neon's space trying to challenge him and 1010 to a rap battle. This sudden verbal attack pushed Neon over his limit and he ended up having a PTSD panic attack thing. 1010 were immediately notified and came to help their manager/dad. Purl and Zimelu were the ones to get West away from Neon, Eloni and Haym were trying to ground him and stop his panicking, and Rin tried its best to do damage control with the media.

A few hours after this whole debacle, while Neon was resting in the mansion, Purl hate-tweeted about West and what happened, letting their anger write the message more than their logic, so it ended up being an attack tweet. They almost immediately deleted the tweet afterwards, but with how popular 1010 is, a LOT of people still saw it, and some screenshotted it. This lead a huge part of their fanbase, and other NSRtist fans, to go after West and burn his car. That was the last interaction the two had until after the Rock Revolution.

After the Revolution, Purl had some MAJOR problems with B2J. Purl already has a very difficult time expressing and feeling healthy/positive emotions to a full degree so all they really could do was feel scared and helpless and think about how they watched their family be broken and about the pain of Mayday's guitar crashing over them whenever they saw B2J. They especially hated Zuke because he specifically wanted to destroy the flying factory, he made Eloni cry, and Purl's afraid he might try to emotionally hurt Rin when the two started dating.

Some time after at least becoming kinda neutral with B2J (mostly Mayday, not really Zuke), Eve hosted an art event that all the NSRtists were to attend. She invited B2J and Zuke actually asked her if he could bring West because the two had been talking and West was going to apologize to Eve along with get an apology from Tatiana or something like that.

Once West got there, before the opening of the gallery, West saw 1010 and accused them of the car burning incident. I don't know how, but somehow 1010 were able to hide that incident from Neon J, but now that it was out there was a pretty bad argument. By the end of it everyone but Purl apologized to West. Purl was sticking to their own beliefs and refused to apologize when they weren't sorry. Neon was still upset but they had to put it aside and pretend nothing was wrong because the gallery was about to open.

Neon offered a lot of compensation to West, and had 1010 deliver a big public apology for their actions. Purl worded their apology in a way that it wasn't actually an apology. Like they were sorry for their actions leading to destruction of property or something like that. To the average listener it was an apology, but to drama channels and trained argumentative people, they could tell Purl was not actually sorry.

After this incident, West started hanging out a bit more with B2J, which meant 1010 had more and more interactions with West. Except Purl. Once they found out West was there, they usually cancelled and didn't go, or would leave if they found out when they got there. This behaviour started to really drive a rift between Purl and the rest of 1010.

Purl, being mostly isolated from their family now, would leave the mansion to go off and have their own fun. Mostly handing out in dive bars and shady areas where rock music was playing. They actually loved the genre, even rap and metal music, but absolutely hated themselves for liking it because they were basically raised to hate that kind of music. That's why Purl would leave the house to get this kind of music, it was a kind of guilty pleasure.

Not only did they indulge in "forbidden" music, but also in other people as well. Purl would actually take a lot of people to a motel that kept their privacy really well and sleep with people (1010's can be completely disinfected both inside and out, so after a night with a random person Purl would completely disinfect themselves before sleeping with another person to make sure they didn't give any kind of STI to anyone. The only exception to this was when they are actively with two or more people and the group consents to everyone having fun. Then Purl will sleep with more than one person in a night).

It was at one of these clubs where Purl was looking for someone to spend the night with while listening to some rap/rock music, that they got attacked by some rock fans who were still upset about the revolution failing. Purl won't fight back unless their family is in danger or told to by Neon, plus their flight or fight response is to actually freeze, so Purl got their face broken along with a lot of dents before West, who was supposed to perform that night, came out of nowhere with his friends and helped Purl out of basically being destroyed by rock fans. This was the first of many interactions that started to make Purl look at West in a different light.

After this incident, Purl would actually hang out with 1010, B2J and West at times. It was more of a tolerance than actually hanging out though and a lot of moments were awkward because of Purl bringing up the rock revolution or how Mayday smashed their head in. They didn't mean to make things awkward, but Purl definitely made it seem like they were trying to guilt trip B2J, and West to an extent, for a lot of their problems.

West would actually ignore a lot of these awkward moments and still try to actively engage with Purl when they would all hang out. He was basically over the whole car incident with Purl and just wanted to be friends with them because, as bad as it might sound, Purl reminded West a lot of Eve, especially with Purl's art views and emotional problems. Without even realizing it, West was basically trying to replace Eve in his head with Purl.

And in the end it actually worked. Purl and West ended up meeting one night at a bar and drunkenly spent the night together. Purl threatened West to never speak of this, or else it would never happen again, and West definitely wanted to spend another night with Purl so he didn't say anything to anyone else. The main difference with Purl and Eve, and why Purl actually spent the night with West, is that Purl at the time didn't have any kind of self respect.

Not saying people who have a lot of sex don't have self respect, but in this case, Purl didn't have any. They were sleeping with people to literally feel like an object. 1010's were built to be looked at, admired, and basically to be eye candy. Purl felt the best when they were treated like an object, with barely any respect (except when it came to boundaries, if you crossed a boundary with Purl then they stopped everything and would basically leave after calling out the person's bullshit). This is why they started to gravitate to West. The way he would speak about people, especially women, made Purl want him to speak to them like that. It was a very unhealthy mindset, but it's what really started to drive Purl to West unknowingly. Purl would call West out whenever he talked this way to random women and men he found attractive, but would secretly wish to be spoken to like that.

After quite a few nightly interactions over the course of a couple months, the two started to grow close. Not in the sense they were a couple or anything, they were just "not so friends"-with-benefits that started to slowly become friends. West ended up learning more about Purl and their inability to properly communicate emotions, and so he decided to work with Purl to help them communicate better in their own way. West is by no means the best when it comes to communication in the sense that anything outside of rapping makes his words a complete mess, but he found a way that he and Purl could communicate. One of the main things is West asking intent behind Purl's words and encouraging Purl to speak freely since Purl's major reason for being quiet is from anxieties of saying the wrong thing (which partly stems from the car burning incident where their words were used as a trigger for an attack).

None of 1010 or B2J really knew about what was going on between West and Purl because Purl felt like shit for starting to get close to someone they said they heavily disliked (Purl has only ever said they hated one person, so "heavily dislike" is close to a normal person saying they hate someone I guess). Purl didn't want the teasing or jabs from their family, or possibly to look like a weak minded person because they couldn't even stick to their emotions. This causes Purl to hate themselves more and more, slowly descending into more isolation where the only person they would really spend time with was West in secret.

Without realizing it, West became one of Purl's only outlets for all the troubled emotions building inside them. They didn't want to go to their family for fear of ridicule, or talk to any of the NSRtists because it wasn't professional, and they didn't have any outside friends like the rest of their family they felt comfortable talking with. The closest one would have been Celine, but Purl had no idea if she would have told Zimelu or not.

Purl ended up trauma-dumping a lot of their issues onto West, who happily listened to Purl because he loved hearing their voice and wanted to help Purl relieve stress. West had no idea he was Purl's only outlet and literally just thought the two were becoming good friends helping each other out.

West would talk about his childhood with so much joy, making Purl feel worse. One night, when Purl was actually meeting West's mom, and West was talking about some good childhood memories, Purl let slip how their "mom" (Neon's ex-wife) would abuse them as a doll/child. Purl talked about how she would lock Zimelu in a small box or toss Haym on the top shelf knowing full well he was afraid of heights. Or how she would yell and scream at Rin and Eloni for being too loud when playing with her biological daughter. The worst for Purl was actually being physically and emotionally abused by their mother for trying to protect their siblings, or trying to tell Neon what was happening whenever he was home from the Navy. It was a really hard thing to talk about, but West tried his best to make Purl understand it wasn't their fault and they couldn't have stopped her since they were just a child.

There were plenty of other sessions like that where Purl just let out a whole bunch of trauma just for West to comfort and reassure Purl. Instead of feeling like an object, Purl was actually starting to feel real and alive. But not really. Purl has a major problem with being an A.I. and struggles with their reality. West tries to help but it doesn't usually work, it only causes more anxiety and self-loathing. It actually go to a point that West offered for Purl to try weed and mushroom since alcohol works for them.

Unfortunately, Purl took way too much at first and had a completely bad trip making their anxiety, self-loathing, and depression a LOT worse. Purl used their internal communication system to send really weird messages to the family such as "I don't want to die," "I'm so sorry I am terrible," "Please don't be disappointed in me," and "I just want to make you all proud." This made Neon absolutely panic about his kid and he immediately drove to West's friend's house that Purl was at and got them to take home. Absolutely intoxicate, Purl was hugging and crying and apologizing to Neon, this being the most expressive Purl has ever been. Neon was absolutely seething with rage about all of this but stayed calm and collected as he helped Purl back home, though he did quietly, politely, and with as much control as he could, ask West to stop by the mansion the next day for a discussion.

1010 and Neon was obviously worried about Purl and the next day after sobering up, Purl and West were confronted by Neon. Their “friendship” was exposed to the extent that now the family knows Purl and West are hanging out and doing substances, but not the rest of how close the two have gotten. Neon scolded them and told them if they ever want to do something like that, it better be in the mansion so he can help either of them or their friends in case something happened. This was an obvious surprise to everyone, but Neon would rather them do whatever dangerous stuff under his roof so he would have more time to help any of them out in the event something tragic happens. He knows what it’s like to do a lot of substances, he just wants to make sure people are as safe as possible when doing them.

By this point in their relationship, Purl and West have been through a lot. They both want to actually move on to the next step and become and official couple, but don’t know how to approach the other. Purl still thinks at times that West only tolerates them and might be using them just for the perks of being with a celebrity. West feels like if he asks Purl to be more, then he might scare them away because Purl ALWAYS says that they are just friends-with-benefits and nothing more.

Purl actually, starts to retreat from the relationship once they realize they want to be more with West. Like, Purl is pushing West out of their life and started self-isolating themselves in their room. They felt that they would never be good enough for West since they are a machine that struggles with emotions and self worth. Purl would rather end their friendship now with West, than to “lead him on” and break his heart later on down the line. They would never intentionally do that, but they feel like at some point they will hurt West so badly down the line that they don’t even want to take the chance of that happening. Though West is persistent and keeps trying to hang out with Purl more and more as they try to slowly cut off the relationship. It got to the point that Purl was in so much pain of being in love with West that during one of their hangouts with 1010, 1010′s SOs, Eve, and B2J, Purl literally yelled at West to leave them alone and never talk to them again before storming off back home.

West is very distraught by this but everyone else is angry at him because they thought he pulled another “Eve” situation where he did something to make Purl hate him. Eve, Mayday, Haym, and Zimelu were immediately ready to fight West, while Eloni tried her best to go comfort Purl. Rin and Zuke were trying to figure out what happened, but West had no idea why Purl did this. No one truly believed him, but Rin was actually leaning a bit more towards West’s side because it knows how unpredictable Purl can be. Zuke, who Purl still disliked a bit but he still tries to be friendly with, actually was entirely on Purl’s side. He knows how West can be and honestly felt that West must have done something awful to Purl.

The whole friend group was just a huge mess with most people being on Purl’s side without even know what either side was about. Lots of people basically gave West the cold shoulder or made him feel like shit because he didn’t know what he did and Purl was too busy isolating themselves to actually explain what happened (which they probably wouldn’t explain anyway). It ended up being about a week or two of all of this happening, with Purl only coming out of their room for 1010 work related stuff and refusing to talk to anyone about what happened before going back to their room. West just kept trying to call or text Purl to understand what happened. Purl blocked his number and all social media accounts, and the rest of 1010 except Rin were basically telling West to fuck off. Neon J, after finding out that West might have hurt Purl, threatened West’s life to stay away from Purl or else.

The only reason any of this got solved was because one day Zuke came over to spend time with Rin, but Rin had to leave for a rescheduled interview. It was just Zuke and Purl in the mansion, but Purl thought they were alone so they came out of their room to go get a drink or something. Zuke ended up seeing Purl and asking if they were okay, apologizing for whatever West did, and letting them know that whatever his brother did it was most likely not Purl’s fault because he knows how West is. Purl, confused and still fairly upset with themselves, finally realized how they made the whole thing look like West did something horrible.

They felt a huge amount of guilt wash over them and could not believe how stupid they acted. Purl sat down with Zuke and explained how they wanted to end their relationship before they hurt West more in the future. Purl actually started crying in front of Zuke which was something he never saw Purl do before (he’s seen every other 1010 cry up to that point, but never Purl). Together they talked things out and Zuke actually helped Purl realize that their plan was absolutely horrible and that they owed West and explanation.

After the talk, Purl left the mansion and drove out to West’s home outside of Vinyl City. It was almost midnight but both West and Purl were night owls. Once Purl got there, they let themselves in with a spare key West gave them. West was out so Purl waited in his living room until he came home but ended up falling asleep. Once West came home, he saw the sleeping bot and just tucked them in to be more comfortable and sat in his armchair to relax while he waited for Purl to wake up.

Once Purl did wake up, the two had a long, tearful conversation about everything that happened. Purl let everything out and felt like they were still going to lose West because they were being an awful person and made everyone hate him. West was so nice and kind about the whole situation. Usually he is one to hold grudges, both him and Purl could hold a grudge for years, but he loved Purl so much and had honestly thought he did something bad to Purl without realizing it, that finding out Purl did all of this because they cared too much about him was enough for West to immediately forgive them.

This is when they decided to officially become partners. The two ended up explaining everything that happened with Zuke’s help to their whole friend group. It wasn’t until much later that they ended up coming out officially to the public, and even then it only came out because of stupid paparazzi being nosy and annoying.

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andy-the-8th · 3 years

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incoming: long post about my fanfic writing, behind the scenes

i'm working on Creatures that Defy Logic again folks, the Be More Chill phase is ending

Sidenote, I think I've worked out an interesting difference in writing between the fandoms, in terms of tone and worldview. Like on the one hand, obviously I am keeping tone canon-compliant in both - there's sort of a sweet retro optimism and wonder in The Thirteenth Year, whereas Be More Chill is snarky, jaded, much more sarcastic humor, so obviously is a little bit easier to just fire off quickly...

...but I think that also comes from the era they take place in; and from a writing standpoint, I try to be careful to keep things centered, like emotionally and culturally, in the era where the story takes place; the way characters think and react to the world around them

Like my sequel for the The Thirteenth Year takes place in kind of a softer, fictional version of the 1990s/2000s where the kind of vague, hazy cultural optimism of 1999 never went away. There's no Bush era, there's no Iraq War, no 9/11. This isn't to say the 90s were perfect - far from it - but it's a fictional world I've made where things still feel kind of small, but also feel very full of possibility and excitement in a way that like, culturally, I just don't think would fly in a more modern day setting. It's a world where magic can happen - merpeople can be real, grassroots action can solve the climate crisis. So getting into that headspace, while it's somewhere I greatly enjoy exploring and writing with, kind of takes some doing to get in touch with.

Be More Chill is very much a high school story with a lot more unsettling but realistic "reality" to it; it takes place in the Trump era, there's malevolent brain computers, sex and drugs and the damaging dark sides of them are very real and very everywhere, people of all ages are jaded from the cultural turmoil of the last 20 years, a lot the world is malevolent and controlled by faceless, uncaring schools/corporations/AIs bent on world conquest through abusing mentally ill teenagers.

This is also, of course, that they're fundamentally different stories with fundamentally different audiences in mind. One is Disney for tweens, the other is modern, angsty Broadway.

And on some level, I think that's why BMC has come easier to churn out more quickly, especially the direction I'm taking with it. I'll straight up admit that the POV OCs I've introduced as kind of fun alternative perspectives on the main canon characters and storyline (the Seven Eleven worker dealing with post-high school confusion and online community college frustrations while working minimum wage; the graphic design major who did great in college but is now trapped back at home because the job market for creative work sucks and he's dealing with student debt and lots of confused regret; the 29-year old retail worker who picked a store to work at that's adjacent to her college dreams and it's close enough most days that she's happy enough but still feels out of step with her younger coworkers and sometimes that's rough to get through day to day) are all just versions of my own/my friends' experiences as 20-30 somethings nowadays. So they're kind of easy to write and flesh out like that, without having to really think or feel too hard to get inside that world.

Anyway, just as I always do on this blog, I'm musing about fanfic that I'm working on. Thank you for putting up with the diversions, I am still planning to mostly keep things on this blog to be about DCOM content but since this is my tumblr linked to my AO3 stuff I thought it would be worthwhile to talk a little bit about my thoughts and writing process

#my fanfic #the thirteenth year #be more chill

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barb-aricyawp · 4 years

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Show Me Your Teeth Pt. III

pt I, pt II, pt III

trigger warnings: blood, teeth, medical experimentation, graphic depictions of orthodontic surgery...but a nice ending.

There is a ripping sensation, deep within Bucky’s mandible. Constant, intimate, and painful. He has lived with this sensation for as long as his memory has been permitted to percolate.

But he didn’t know what was causing that sensation until now.

“As your real teeth grow in, they push out the screws in your jaw. These screws, like any other screw, really, they have grooves in them. Since your teeth are growing straight up, the screws don’t twist out, but--uh--they--uh--”

Rip? Bucky writes onto a sheet of paper.

“Right,” Steve says, pulling a face like he might vomit. “The screws are ripping out of your jaw.”

Bucky roves a palm over the hinge of his mandible, which has begun to swell with infection. He considers it for a long moment, then writes on the paper, Surgery, huh?

“Afraid so.” Steve looks like someone is trying to wrench out his teeth, not Bucky’s.

So Bucky puts on a good, brave face, and writes, “When?”

---

The teeth, when they were teeth and not a molten metal gag, had been useful. They were heavy on his gums, definitely, and the protruding incisors made it difficult to speak or eat. But on the field, there was no denying their utility.

Bucky has a memory, a clear crystalline memory, of a mission in Peru.

He remembers exactly how it felt to be trapped in an inescapable headlock. And he also remembers exactly how it felt when he turned his head and sunk his teeth into his holder’s elbow. He remembers attaching his teeth around a strip of muscle in the man’s forearm and ripping it off.

He remembers how satisfying it was to close his teeth around the man’s trachea. How good it felt to rip it clean out. How the blood in the man’s arm tasted the same as the blood in his throat.

After that, the Winter Soldier had difficulty determining when the mission was over. Typically, after a mission, they stripped him of his gear. The tactical suit and assault rifles and even, if he was particularly unruly, his arm.

But the teeth stayed in. And so the Winter Soldier remained vigilant.

---

Bucky feels particularly vigilant as they prep him for surgery.

They’ve explained several times how the procedure will go: they’ll anesthetize the area as much as they can, they’ll split open the iron jaw, then they’ll remove the screws holding the implants in place with a drill. Only then can they remove the iron jaw and wiring.

Now, as he sits in the chair, repeating this process to himself, it feels very much like preparing for a mission. Or, worse, like being debriefed from a mission--getting ready for a wipe.

Which, in turn, eradicates his emotionality.

All he can do is sit there in a disassociative haze, waiting for the pain to arrive.

“Hey buddy.” Steve lands next to him and takes his hand. He’s a hand-holder, this Steve. More so than he was when they were boys. He’s changed, this Steve.

Bucky appreciates it. He turns his hand over so their fingers can close around each other’s palms. Steve smiles like Bucky just gifted him the sun.

“You good?”

Bucky doesn’t have his other hand, so he just shrugs.

“Yeah, I feel that. But I’ll be here for all of it.” Steve eyes the orthodontist preparing the dental drill. Bucky can see the worry in his eyes. In both their eyes. “And if you want it to stop, all you have to do is squeeze twice.”

Steve squeezes Bucky’s hand twice, in rapid succession. Bucky mimics the gesture.

“Just like that. We got this.”

We got this. A modern phrase that’s just begun to work its way into Steve’s vocabulary via Sam Wilson. It suits Steve.

It doesn’t suit Bucky. At least not in this moment.

The anesthetic needle sinks into his gums deeply and repeatedly. On the third stab, the orthodontist accidentally grazes an implant screw. The vibration rattles all throughout Bucky’s sinuses and he goes totally rigid. Everyone in the room, including Steve, freezes.

Bucky nods slightly, indicating they should continue. But he feels himself slip from his body some.

Splitting the jaw is harder. The orthodontist uses a large tool that looks like a reciprocating saw, which beckons a flashback to the time the Americans tried to saw off his prosthetic. He manages to hold the intrusive memory in check, just barely containing it in the periphery of his mind, but the pain itself...the pain of the saw is another story.

The anesthetic dull the sharpest edges of agony, but that doesn’t mean Bucky can’t feel what’s happening to him. Just the sensation of metal pressure against the implants triggers a panic in Bucky so deep, so primal, that he can’t breathe. He can’t even struggle.

Steve doesn’t notice at first because Bucky doesn’t signal.

He is awash in a memory. In a scramble of memories. Falling. The way the screws felt when they were first drilled into his mouth. Falling. The careless wrap of wire around his jaws. Falling. Screws bolted into his shoulder socket to get the arm in. Falling. His arm, his arm, falling, where is his arm?

With a terrible crack, the orthodontist splits open the melted implants. Bucky opens his mouth for the first time in forty years. His first word is, “No.”

“Shut it down,” Steve commands.

The orthodontist takes a panicked step backwards, then freezes. Unable to make a decision in her terror.

Bucky shakes his head. “No,” he repeats. It’s difficult to speak. His jaw aches from being clenched closed for so long. “It’s--it’s okay. Keep--keep going. I want it out.”

Though Steve looks wary and the orthodontist looks mortified, they continue.

The drill fits up against the head of the first screw. Bucky can feel his heartbeat in that screw. He can feel his whole world condensed into that point of contact between drill and screw.

As agreed upon, the orthodontist doesn’t say when she will begin--it feels too much like being taunted to Bucky--and the drill starts up without warning.

It hurts. Even with the anesthetic, it hurts like a son of a bitch. The gum tissue has swelled into a tight vise around the screw, and when the screw turns, it brings flesh with it.

Bucky gasps, a ragged and wet sound in the back of his throat. But it’s over in a moment. The screw pops free.

The orthodontist holds it in her latexed palm. The screw is slicked with blood, rusted, and small. Incredibly small. Much smaller than it felt when it was inside Bucky. No longer than the length between tip of his finger and the last knuckle.

“Okay to keep going?” she asks.

“Can I--” Bucky’s throat burns something terrible. His words are mangled by the implants. “Can I hold it?”

“Of course,” she says, seeming a little soothed now that Bucky can talk. It’s hard to conceptualize someone as human when you can’t understand them. She tips the screw into his hand.

Bucky considers it. All that pain. From something so tiny.

The remaining screws come out without injury, and Bucky anchors himself by the piece of metal in his palm. By Steve’s solid presence next to him.

It’s only after she has removed both the implants and wiring that Bucky realizes how heavy all that hardware was inside his head. He works his jaw, feeling the lightness in his mandible and neck.

“It looks like your teeth are coming in nice and straight,” the orthodontist notes.

Bucky hadn’t even considered what it would be like to have his teeth, his very own teeth again. He prods a finger into his mouth and though his gums are bleeding and sore, the first touch of enamel against flesh feels incredible.

There was something secret and white and clean inside Bucky. Something deep inside him that couldn’t be altered, couldn’t be damaged, couldn’t be removed. As essential to him as bone.

Seeing his rapturous expression, Steve smiles at Bucky.

Bucky smiles back.

#torture tuesday #whump #whump bucky barnes #stucky #hydra trash party #medical tw #teeth tw #blood tw #violence tw #mental health tw #body modification tw #that's a wrap!#thanks for the prompt tooth anon #I hope you liked it!

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unforth · 3 years

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Hello unforth! Thank you for your wonderful blog, and the the untamed art blog!! I followed you years ago for destiel, and you were one of the people that got me into the untamed. I watched it last summer and have been binging various cdramas ever since!! I had a question for you about reading. After watching the untamed I read the novel, and didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I think you’re someone who prefers the show, but if not, sorry if I’m remembering wrong… hoping you understand. I want to try reading other novels but I found the romance in mdzs to be kinda off. I guess I’m wondering if you have a recommendation for the best novel you’ve read so far? It would be great if it’s one with fanfic but if not I’m still curious to try! I hope this didn’t come off as rude about the untamed, it’s just a personal preference. Thanks in advance, and thanks again for all your work in fandom!

Howdy! *waves*

You have not misremembered, I definitely prefer the Untamed to the novel of MDZS (and I'm with you, no shade on people with different preferences, of course!). I also didn't enjoy the novel of MDZS as much as I thought I would, though I think some of that was because I read the Exiled Rebels Scanalations translation which - again, no shade, translating that was a HUGE job and kudos to them - but I do here from native speakers that some questionable translation choices were made, which can detract from some people's enjoyment of the novel (and can enhance other people's, it just depends how those translation choices relate to each person's personal likes and dislikes).

Now, I can tell you what I've read and what I've thought of each one, happily - I don't know what turned you off about MDZS specifically, beyond an aspect of the relationship dynamic, so it'll be hard for me to say which of these might appeal to you more? But, here's a list of which danmei novels I've read, and my opinion. The list is shorter than you'd think - danmei novels are long and I read slow, lol.

Note that all of these end happy, for various definitions of "happy," and the main ship is canon in all of them. Also note that I tried to avoid spoilers, but sometimes it's hard to even talk about the ship dynamic without some mild spoilers.

These are (roughly) in the order I've read them; I just finished the last a few days ago. All art is by the official artists, but I'm not always sure what their names are, sorry - I've tried to figure them out for my art blogs but it's REALLY hard.

1. Mo Dao Zu Shi, by MXTX.

(since I'm writing this post for you, and you're already familiar with it, I'm not putting in TW and plot)

My take: I figure knowing my opinion of MDZS will help you assess all this? There are things I loved about MDZS, including the book, but MDZS is still obviously trying to figure out pacing. Whereas in SVSSS, the storyline doesn't always flow that smoothly and the ending is rushed, in MDZS in my opinion the biggest issue is that she clearly didn't plan some things ahead. For example, Miangmian and Wen Ning are both introduced within a few pages of when they'll be needed to Do Shit. It shows that she hadn't quite worked everything out as she was going, and every once in a while was like, "shit shit I need a character for this thing" and hastily added them. The plot itself is better paced, though, though I could have wished for a less talky denouement. When it was the only one I read, I also often thought, "this author doesn't understand consent," and, "this author has kinks I don't share." Now that I've read all three of her books, I completely retract the first one. MXTX absolutely understands consent, and was intentionally playing with it in MDZS. Not sure if the evidence of that got lost in translation, or what, but...yeah.

Relationship Dynamic: ...the second of those opinions, I still kinda feel. The consensual non-con is just not really my thing, like I'm okay with it in small doses? And I don't love some aspects of Lan Wangji's domineering attitudes and Wei Wuxian's act of bare tolerating it. And don't get me wrong, now that I'm more familiar with her work, I think it was an intentional writing choice and I also think they're both largely roleplaying it a lot of the time...but I still don't personally enjoy it much.

2. Scum Villain Self-Saving System, by MXTX.

Genre: modern transmigration into a fantasy xianxia world.

Where to find it: English translation by BC Novels | donghua season 1

Trigger warnings for: graphic descriptions of suffering, non-con of the "fuck or die" variety, and body horror...I can't think of anything else rn?)

Plot: SVSSS is MXTX's first novel, and is a satire of classic stag harem novels. Shen Yuan, the protagonist and half the main ship, is reading a serialized web novel by "Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky" about a demon named Luo Binghe who has a harem of over 3,000 women and has done all kinds of ghastly awful things. He hates this novel but has read all, like, 3 million words of it or something, and trolls every chapter...until one gets him so angry that he dies...and then he wakes up in the book right around when the book starts, in the body of one of the early antagonists, a cultivator named Shen Qingqiu who abuses a young, innocent Luo Binghe physically and emotionally and, ultimately, is horribly tortured to death. Shen Yuan, in Shen Qingqiu's body, thus sets out to not be horribly tortured to death by Luo Binghe. Hijinks ensue.

My Take: In terms of my opinion of it...SVSSS secured for me that MXTX is a much more brilliant author than I thought when I'd only read MDZS. She understands tropes and subverts them brilliantly throughout the story, and from a writing standpoint, I was impressed with her. However, from a plot standpoint...she's got all the ideas but hasn't, imo, yet figured out how exactly to bring them all together. The pacing is off at times, and the ending felt abrupt to me. It's also the only danmei I've read where I ship a side ship more than the primary one (which is, of course, Shen Yuan (as Shen Qingqiu)/Luo Binghe. (also, oops...I read SVSSS after TGCF and just put them in the wrong order, oh well, not gonna change it now.)

Relationship Dynamic: In terms of relationship weirdness...it's hard to sort in that regard, because, like, it's supposed to be weird? I think it's a really interest book but I'm not sure I'd recommend it in your situation. Bingqiu's main dynamic is...uh...tolerance and obsession? They're kinda hard to describe. Shen Yuan often seems like he's just kinda putting up with Luo Binghe, whereas Luo Binghe is...god. So hard to describe, lmao. He's a big clumsy ox in a museum full of porcelain dishes and he really, really loves his Shizun. (also note that Shen Qingqiu is Luo Binghe's teacher. They don't get together until after they're not master/student, but if that's not your thing, another reason to avoid.)

3. Tian Guan Ci Fu, by MXTX.

(art is by Starember)

Genre: historical China (loosely), xianxia (note that I'm still figuring out exactly how stuff gets classified so sorry if I get one wrong, but I think I kinda get it???)

Where to Access It: English Translation by the astonishing yummysuika | manhua (this is an official translation by Bilibili! It's a few chapters behind the actual release, but still...) | donghua season 1 is on Netflix | a live action adaptation is juuuuust getting started on script reading and filing

Trigger warnings for: MCD, temporary MCD, body horror, graphic violence, epic levels of mind fuckery, uh...genocide?...again, racism/colorism, probably other stuff, sorry, I can't take as long as I'd like to for this post so I'm not being as thorough as I oughta be.

Plot: TGCF is about Xie Lian, an 800 year old man, and it commences at the moment when, unexpectedly, he ascends to godhood...for the third time. Unfortunately, when he ascends, he accidentally does some damage in Heaven, and he has to repay that, so he gets sent back to earth to deal with a ghost who's been causing some problems. Hijinks ensue...and then fucktons of angst ensue...then more hijinks...then more angst...and basically it broke my heart like four times and I am grateful for it every day? The main ship is Xie Lian and a ghost named Hua Cheng, but it's hard to even talk about without some spoilers because of some identity shenanigans. (they're VERY mildly identity shenanigans, but still).

My Take: So, you asked what my favorite of the danmei novels I've read is? It's TGCF. TGCF is one of my favorite novels ever, and it has a growing fandom, a donghua that's on Netflix, and a live action that's just starting to film. TGCF is the culmination of the skills MXTX developed through her first two works, imo. She clearly plotted it out all from the start, and while Book 1 especially often seems kind of random - lots of elements are introduced and then kinda...apparently...forgotten? And never explained? But she actually DOES bring it ALL together and it's flat-out masterful. I'm a big fan, obviously.

Relationship Dynamic: it again depends on your preferences and what you didn't like about MDZS, and there's no way to talk about it without spoilers, so consider yourselves warned. Xie Lian ascended to godhood first at the age of 17, and right around then he also saved the life of a 10 year old boy...and that boy is Hua Cheng. Hua Cheng is a follower of Xie Lian's, in that Xie Lian is literally a god, and Hua Cheng is literally one of his followers. However, they're separated for almost 800 years, so the age difference is largely irrelevant, and while some people complain about Hua Cheng's behavior being stalkery and obsessive, I honestly think they're dead wrong. It's more like when you read a celebrity/fan AU, and it starts weird, and then they really genuinely fall in love. Like, the fan may have been in love the whole time, and how they felt about the celebrity before they really met might feel slightly ooky, but it's how they act AFTER they meet their idol that matters more, and...yeah, Hua Cheng is great, they're both great, antis fight me. Xie Lian is easily one of my favorite characters EVER, he is all my favorite tropes in one horribly, wonderfully fucked up martyristic idealistic sweet kind laid back package. I would kill for him, lmao. In terms of their relationship dynamic...they love and respect each other? There's really nothing that weird about it other than the aspects of the "fan" Hua Cheng that get revealed over time - and he's always terrified that when Xie Lian realizes what a fanboy he was, Xie Lian will be upset or disgusted, but of course Xie Lian never is. They adore each other. It's glorious. Highly recommend. :D There's also no explicit content in TGCF (unlike MXTX's other two books).

4. The Husky and His White Cat Shizun (aka 2ha) by Meatbun Doesn't Eat Meat.

Genre: original world, xianxia, time travel, dimension hopping, it's so many things, 2ha is so hard to describe lmao

Where to Access it: English Translation by the amazing yummysuika (things are complicated, though, and it's not finished) | a manhua is in the works and should be out this year | a live action called "Hao Yixing" or "Immortality" is already filmed and could theoretically air literally any time cause it's completely ready, but when will it actually come? Who knows!

Trigger warnings: all of them. Literally. MCD, temporary MCD, murder, suicide, suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, rape/non-con, abuse, manipulation, gas lighting, torture, graphic violence, body horror, literal graphic onscreen horrible blood murder of a small child (I had to skip that chapter), teacher/student relationship sort of but not exactly, probably other stuff, this book is dark as fuck, and a lot of these tags apply to behavior of one half of the main ship toward the other, but...it's complicated, and there are reasons things happen, and those reasons aren't "well they're just a bad person."

Plot: This is another one that's hard to describe because there's sooooo much mind fuckery going on, but I'll try. 2ha is about Mo Ran, who rises to be the Emperor of the World, Taxian Jun, but slaughtering all who oppose him...and who is so miserable that he commits suicide, only to wake up in his 16 year old body. This is pretty much perfect from Mo Ran's point of view, because he's gone back so far that the love of his life, his fellow disciple Shi Mei, is still alive. He has a chance to fix everything that went wrong, starting with preventing his awful evil Shizun, Chu Wanning, from letting Shi Mei die.

Spoilers: the main ship in this book is Mo Ran/Chu Wanning.

Hijinks do NOT ensue. There are no hijinks in 2ha. It is all pain all the time (but I swear it ends happy).

My Take: ...well, from a structural standpoint there are some pacing issues. The book is incredibly long (over 300 chapters, over 1 million words) and there are definitely some chunks that could just be excised and it'd still be fine. However, other than that, it's pretty amazing and absolutely masterful how it's plotted. As a reader you'll spend 100+ chapters thinking you know what's going on, and who the good guys are, and who the bad guys are, and how they relate to each other...and then Meatbun starts in on revealing what's ACTUALLY going on and she then spends 200 chapters repeatedly punching you in the face! Like, I went in knowing a LOT of spoilers, because the tags were so dark that I felt that for my mental health it was important I have a general idea what was going on, and I STILL ended up sobbing my eyes out (and I am NOT an easy crier and don't usually cry at books) over something I knew was coming.

Relationship Dynamic: That's about the only thing that the title accurately conveys about this book. "The Husky and His White Cat Shizun," sounds so soft and fluffy, right? That's how they get you, ha. But, Mo Ran is absolutely a big dumb husky who wants to do the right thing (well, sometimes he does) but just completely fails depressingly often. When he sees someone he likes come in the front door he WILL jump all over them and bark in their face as his way of trying to communicate affection. And Chu Wanning is equally absolutely a cat. He is emotionally constipated, poor at expressing himself, uptight, touch starved, desperate for affection, and so lonely my chest hurts when I think about him. And for how they relate to each other...well, picture that big dog greeting a loved one at the door...except that loved one is the most hide-bound proud white cat you can imagine.

That's their dynamic.

(However, also...there are multiple timelines at play, and Taxian Jun does some truly awful things to "his" Chu Wanning in the original timeline, and many of these things are graphically described, and while it's ultimately all explained, it still all HAPPENS, so if you're going to have trouble reading fucktons of abuse between the main ship, I would not recommend this book)

5. Thousand Autumns (Qianqiu) by Meng Xi Shi.

Genre: historical China (like, references actual people, as far as I can tell), xianxia

Where to Access it: ...reading Thousand Autumns is HARD, it's split over like four websites/translators. This Carrd can kinda help? I can get you the rest if you want | donghua season 1 | I heard there's a live action in the works? But I don't know more than that.

Trigger warnings: graphic violence, mentions/threats of sexual violence (but it's all stopped before things really go wrong), starvation, description of child death (from starvation), near-death, emotional/mental abuse, major semi-permanent character injury, god, minor character death, they're major characters depending on your pov, I can't actually think of others, after writing about 2ha it feels positively fluffy). Note that there's not really any explicit content, just implications of smut, and not til basically the very end and extras.

Plot: Yan Wushi, sect leader of a demonic sect, has just come out of an extended seclusion to improve his cultivation when he and one of his disciples come across a man who is wounded to the point of near death. This turns out to be Shen Qiao, the sect leader of Mount Xuandu. When Shen Qiao awakens from his wounds, he's lost his memory, AND he's blind, and Yan Wushi decides it would be great fun and an excellent use of his time to fuck with Shen Qiao by trying to turn him evil - because Yan Wushi is certain that ALL people are inherently evil, and shattering Shen Qiao's veneer of righteousness will just help prove that.

Spoilers: it's not a veneer.

Not spoilers: Not many hijinks ensue, but there are a few hijinks, and even when it's not hijinxed, it's still not that painful...usually.

My Take: despite that synopsis, a lot of the plot of Thousand Autumns is actually political, and I like political plots, so I liked that aspect of it. However, it has some serious pacing issues imo, and it's also hard to read in English atm because it's not fully translated; it's close, now, much closer than when I read it a few months ago, so it'll be easier to read soon. Or maybe I shouldn't say it's pacing problems, but rather, it's more of a sequence of multiple major plots, strung together, with the growing relationship between Yan Wushi and Shen Qiao playing out in the background. I think if I'd known there was no "one big plot" that would have actually helped me, because it kept feeling like, "Oh, THIS is the main thing," but it never was. Things would feel climactic...except then there'd be more. So it's probably better to actually think of it as more...episodic? And the episodes/stories build, and interrelate, and do have a culmination, but not all of them directly tie in, and not all the threads end up coming together/getting resolved.

Relationship Dynamic: early on, Yan Wushi is definitely abusive and manipulative, intentionally so, and I would argue that, imo, Shen Qiao falls for it. However, mid-way through, there's some big reveals, and after that when they're reunited Shen Qiao no longer takes any shit and Yan Wushi continues to act like he doesn't care even when he clearly does. They're not a typical ship in ANY WAY, and I'd say their relationship is more founded on mutual respect than on love. Indeed, in the author's notes at one point MXS actually says they doesn't see them as the kind of couple to ever exchange love declarations, and I thought that was really interesting and it really helped me to understand how they worked together because I'll own I struggled with at times. Yan Wushi is self-interested, often cruel, and ethically and morally dubious. Shen Qiao, on the other hand, could probably ascend to Daoist godhood, he's so pure. Yet...they DO work. I'd say "opposites attract" but that's ALSO not their main trope, not exactly. They're a VERY hard ship to explain, and I know some people who've read the whole book and still don't really...get them...and I've had to really think about them to wrap my head around them...but the more I've thought about them, the more I like them.

6. Those Years in Quest of Honor Mine by Man Man He Qi Duo.

Genre: historical fiction set in either actual China or make-believe China, I'm not sure if this is directly incorporated any real people

Where to Access It: English Translation by Perpetual Daydreams | manhua (untranslated, I'm not sure if there's anyone translating it into English) | I think there's a live action in the works? Not sure beyond that though.

Trigger Warnings: suicide attempts, suicidal ideation, drug addiction, drug abuse, chronic illness (different character than the drugs), manipulation, abusive, awful parents and parental figures (not all, but definitely some), some homophobia (but way less than there could have been), probably other stuff

Plot: After 7 years away, Zhong Wan returns to the capital of the Empire with the three children of his benefactor, the seven-years-dead Prince Ning. Prince Ning was executed for treason against the previous Emperor, and Zhong Wan has done all he can to protect and raise the three kids, but he's got a lot of worries about returning to the capital and what could happen to his charges if they get pulled into the politics surrounded the Emperor. But, even worse, he's got even more worries about being reunited with Yu She, nephew of the Emperor, with whom he has more than a little history...and about whom he has been lying for the past 7 years, claiming that he is Yu She's lover, in a bid to help use Yu She's reputation to protect Prince Ning's children.

Hijinks ensue.

And so does a political nightmare.

My Take: TYQHM was a hard book to get into because there are just so many characters and it's all about politics - this is NOT a xianxia or wuxia novel, and these characters are NOT cultivators. There's basically nothing supernatural in the whole book; instead, it's about Zhong Wan and Yu She figuring out their own histories, and accepting each other, while trying to survive in a political world that increasingly wants both of them dead. However, I adore political plots, and when all was said and done I really enjoyed it, and I'm trying tooth and nail to claw other people into the fandom with me, so far with basically no success. It only has like 15 works in English on AO3. And so not only does it not fit that requirement of yours...

Relationship Dynamic: ...I think you would also probably not like the relationship dynamic? Zhong Wan is a bit like Wei Wuxian-as-Mo Xuanyu, except more...genuinely? Like, it's his actual personality, not an act, in quite the same way. I don't mean the "flamboyantly gay" part...usually...he definitely has his moments...but he's just...like, he's been through so much that he'll basically say anything, and drag himself entirely through the mud, to distract people who might hurt the three kids (they're like 16, 13, 13, now I think? It was never THAT clear to me, tbh...certainly, all are at least 10...) and, later, Yu She. He has zero face, and doesn't mind having negative face when he feels the situation demands it...and Yu She, on the other hand, has MAJOR depression issues, is sure he deserves nothing, and mostly wants to destroy everyone around him and then kill himself, at least until Zhong Wan starts giving him a reason to live again. But, more than that...Zhong Wan is like the fucking epitome of a bratty subby bottom. He wants to get fucked SO bad. And Yu She is an incredibly reluctant dom, hilariously so at times, uncomfortably/manipulative so at others. When all was said and done, I was pretty fond of them both, but there were definitely moments that made me grimace, and given what you say of how you felt about MDZS, I think this one is less likely to be to your taste?

Bonus 7: Guardian by Priest. I never finished the novel version of Guardian because the translation had some issues that caused me not to enjoy it, so I won't get into it too much, but again, Guardian is a very different book than any of the others, because it's modern fantasy(ish, like, it's still deeply embedded in Daoist-related tropes but it's more "magic spells" and less "cultivation." Like, in terms of what it's like, it felt more like Japanese modern Onmyoji style stories, to me, than it felt like the ancient Chinese wuxia/xianxia cultivation stories.). I'm not gonna get into lots of details, because I read part of the book more than a year ago, and have seen the show (which is VERY different) like three times, so I can hardly even remember what they're like in the novel. There was definitely some weirdness, though? If you're potentially interested, I'd suggest starting with the drama instead. The plot for that is...

Plot: Zhao Yunlan heads a Special Investigation Unit in the human world tasked with maintaining a treaty between humans and the dixigren ("undergrounders") who are (in the show) aliens (in the book...it's the world of the dead). While doing this job, he keeps running into this professor, Shen Wei, who definitely knows more than he oughta.

Hijinks ensue.

And then it murders you with feels.

The live action streams from YouTube - here.

(Warning: uh, I don't want to give spoilers, but my "guaranteed happy ending" does NOT apply to the Guardian TV show...but it does apply to the book, as I understand it.)

Anyway, this was a terrible use of my time but it was definitely more fun than what I should be doing, and it's probably way more information than you wanted or needed, but since I wasn't sure what exactly you had in mind, I figured...might as well be thorough?

(Today's hyper-focus fail: this post, ha...)

#unforth rambles #i'm not gonna tag the fandoms because i give my own opinions #some of which aren't all THAT positive #i think it's best if I don't just dump that into the main tags

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skybird13 · 5 years

Text

*sigh* Okay...

I’ve been debating on whether or not to make this post. Not because it doesn’t need to be made, but because I’m not sure I’m emotionally up for it. But at the end of the day, staying quiet is exactly what got us into this mess, and curling into a sad little ball isn’t going to change what happened, and this particular shit needs to be called out and acknowledged.

I was asked to address something posted by Eddy Rivas, one of the writers of RWBY, on Reddit yesterday. It was a shortlived post because apparently he or someone who read it realized what a monumentally bad idea it was, but sadly for him, my fellow cockroach gays are pissed as hell and we have screenshot capabilities. I don’t care that he removed/edited the post. This was still his instinctive response to the absolute pain caused by him and the rest of CRWBY as a result of volume 7 episode 12:

I am so damn tired and so hurt. But I am going to do my best to address this in a civil and reasonable way.

The Problem With Judgment Calls

First of all, to an extent, I understand the predicament Eddy describes. I really do. I get that being on the creative end of a popular web series is very different from being on the fandom end, and conventional wisdom dictates that creators should do their best to make sure the two don’t mix past a certain point. That necessary separation probably does make these kinds of judgment calls difficult.

The problem is that several members of CRWBY (including writers, animators both former and current, social media managers, and the marketing team specifically) violated that boundary more than once long before episode 12 aired. There were so many things that factored into Fair Game gaining traction as quickly as it did, and many of those things came from the deliberate way that many members of CRWBY interacted with the fandom outside of the show itself. From the official RWBY Twitter account to the suggestive tweets made by a former animator, to the Twitter and Tumblr posts made by a current animator, this ship was heavily and unambiguously encouraged and leaned on multiple times over the course of this volume.

Sure, you can make the claim that you can’t control the animators (especially if they no longer work for you), or that the creators and the marketing team are two separate entities and that the actions of one do not necessarily reflect the intentions of the other (both things also stated by Eddy Rivas in a series of Tweets). And perhaps some of that is accurate. It points towards a fundamental lack of oversight and cohesiveness in the organization that is Rooster Teeth, and that should absolutely be addressed moving forward, but quite frankly, in this case, it doesn’t even matter.

The fact of the matter, Mr. Rivas, is that the boundary was violated. Multiple times. On your end. These types of judgment calls are not a one size fits all, and the moment active members of CRWBY took action to encourage something you knew was going to cause pain, it should have been addressed. I’m not putting that on you personally, because as a writer I realize you probably don’t have that type of authority, but someone there should have put a stop to it. There is the matter of the personal responsibility shirked by the two animators who contributed to this mess, and frankly, they should have known better, but this does not excuse CRWBY’s collective silence.

The fact of the matter is that due to the actions taken by CRWBY both in and outside of the show (including the things you could and could not control) you absolutely reached a point where that boundary should have been purposefully crossed in order to mitigate damage. It doesn’t matter what got you or us there. It doesn’t matter whether or not it was intentionally done (it was, let’s not kid ourselves). Things built up, hopes were raised as a direct result of your actions, and you all reached a point where you were morally obligated to say something. Do I suggest a single individual should have taken this on? No. I understand the legal ramifications of that. But CRWBY as a whole and RT as the production studio absolutely should have stepped forward. Would that have fully removed the pain and the disappointment? No. But you wouldn’t be facing the backlash you are right now if you had.

The Problem with One-Size-Fits-All

Closely related to the previous point is the fact that you, Mr. Rivas, seem to be under the impression that a single judgment call policy should and can apply to all situations equally. That’s not the case. We’re not talking about other ships here, hypothetical, canonical, realistic, unrealistic, or otherwise. We’re talking about this ship.

The Fair Game ship was the first and only indication we had in seven volumes of RWBY that a prominent mlm relationship might be coming in to play. You have no other relationships of this nature in the show. You don’t even have other male characters who might be able to qualify as gay or bisexual who play major roles. Add on to that the fact that you planned to have one of these characters die in the most brutal and graphic death scene we have gotten to date in RWBY, and no. I’m sorry. That flimsy defense doesn’t stand. This ship was unique, it appealed to a very underserved segment of your fandom, and it should have been treated with the levity it deserved.

You make the argument that saying something about this ship but not others wasn’t plausible. The issue with that, sir, is one of trust. Up to this point, I and a lot of people I know trusted you, which means you can get away with building up relationships without ever coming out to confirm or deny them offscreen. As long as you understand the narrative promises you’re making as a storyteller to your audience, and understand the importance of fulfilling them through narrative payoff at some point in the story, we’re usually pretty willing to follow you and watch it unfold. This is how writing works. You have to be aware of the promises you’re making and you have to be able to follow through on them in satisfying ways. This goes double if you plan to fulfill them in unexpected ways (note the word fulfilled still applies). If you don’t do that, trust is broken and you have a problem.

Fair Game is unique in that you knew from the beginning that trust was going to not only be violated but brutally so. CRWBY made promises with Clover and Qrow that they never intended to keep, and that is one of the core issues here. If you want to cling to the excuse that it was all unintentional (again, one I do not buy), that only means you absolutely should have said something to that effect long before we ever got to this point. It would have given nothing about the plot away to let us know that wasn’t the intended direction and it would have calmed down the excitement that built up so quickly around the ship. It certainly would have prevented a lot of people from being emotionally and psychologically damaged as a result of having that trust destroyed.

Not saying something about relationships that may or may not happen is VERY different from not saying something about a ship that you know is not going to happen because you plan to brutalize and murder one of the characters on screen in spite of the narrative promises made. Particularly when the ship in question would have offered rep to people who thus far in the show ( when we’re over halfway through the series) still have none.

No rep to be found here...

I’m not sure I should even have to address this but apparently, it needs to be said. It will be short because it’s a pretty damn simple answer.

You want to know “how well [saying no rep to be found here would] have gone over?” A hell of a lot better than the queerbaiting fest you have victimized us all to for the last three months. Would you still have had disappointed fans on your hands? Absolutely. But the psychological and emotional damage you all caused in episode 12 could have been so easily avoided, and that should have taken precedence over whatever tension you wanted to maintain between these characters in the show.

This should not have been a difficult decision, and quite frankly, the fact that you don’t understand this is a little alarming.

We Are Not a Shopping Montage

Alright. Here is where my civility is going to deteriorate noticeably, so fair warning.

You had the audacity to compare the emotional trauma of hundreds of LGBTQ fans to the disappointment of not getting a fucking shopping montage??? You even acknowledge that on an emotional level these two things are nowhere near being the same thing, and you still tried to justify your actions and the actions of CRWBY with it? That emotional fallout is the thing that matters here.

But there’s even more to it than that.

The hopes for a shopping montage came from a single Tweet from the official RWBY Twitter (if I remember right) about a montage scene being in volume 7. That was it. That was all fans had to go off of. This absolutely was a case of imaginations running wild and people hoping for a scene that, quite frankly, in light of the show’s trajectory since volume 3, wasn’t a reasonable expectation to begin with. CRWBY was in no way complicit in or responsible for this expectation that I know of, and even if you were.... It. Was. A. Shopping. Montage.

And you dare to compare that with the intentional queer coding of Qrow and Clover’s relationship in the writing, the animation choices, the character design for Clover, and the behavior of CRWBY on social media, only for Clover to die horrifically and for Qrow to be absolutely destroyed emotionally and mentally on-screen??? You dare to relate the disappointment of people who didn’t get a pointless shopping scene with the trauma of watching a loved character’s murder and another loved character’s emotional/mental destruction??? Really? That seemed like an appropriate thing to say?

I don’t even know what else to say to this except absolute world-shattering shame on you, sir. How dare you?

And then to top all of this off, instead of apologizing, instead of showing some contrition, you tried to delete this post and pretend you never said it. Did you hope we wouldn’t notice? That we wouldn’t react if you tried to take it down? Were you even the one who realized what you said or did you need it pointed out to you?

You should not be a writer, sir. You sure as hell should not be a creator of content that engages with people on an emotional level because you clearly have no respect for it and no understanding of the responsibility you bear because of it.

What is wrong with you?

Tagging @fairgame-is-endgame who asked me to say something on this absolute bullshit.

#fair game #crwby #wtf crwby #rwby #rwby7 #rwby7 spoilers #rwby spoilers #qrow branwen #clover ebi #eddy rivas

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