#there are so many posts abt ppl talking abt the characters and their motivations and what they say

[waywardsalt]

man i understand jack shit about whatever subtext or depth or whatever there was to wind waker

[thatdeadaquarius]

That language SAGAU but the Reader can only communicate writing on paper.

Either the Reader is mute and they (characters) don't know/understand sign language or they somehow lost their voices on their transmigration to Teyvat and can only write now. But the characters are left trying to decipher what the Reader wrote.

Examples:

Kaeya: "I may say, that was very unexpected your grace. One such as yourself should be more aware of who you are."

Reader: "wat, y u sayin dat?"

×

Gorou: "Oh, your grace! Careful now. I am most certain that you stepped on something unsightly right now. Let me clean your feet, your grace."

Reader: "r u srs rn? Fml"

Ooooo, this is nice, this is niiccceeee /ref

this would be the energy⬇️

Man I love this show, I gotta finish it (it’s Komi Can’t Communicate for those who want to see it) where she basically is too shy/introverted to speak (non-verbal neurospicy it seems like to me actually lol) and really wants to make friends and do normal things despite not speaking, her main way of communicating is writing (and her first guy friend who can just read her facial/body language really well lmao)!!

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Sun: Gender Neutral Reader (they/them)

Planet: Headcanons-ish?

Stars: dashes/mention of most characters

Comets & Meteors: Content Warnings: Reader/”you” are mute/lost their voice, & Trigger Warnings: None Known.

☆

This kinda falls into that post I made abt texting lingo, abt us being nigh incomprehensible when using texting lang. (its basically a code lol)

but i think it’s always neat to see nonverbal rep so here we are (also i think imma go ahead and say it is both selectively mute but also enforced by video game laws!)

u know a good explanation would be for this is actually abt how we technically are only allowed to freely communicate when we’re in chats,

so I could see that still being the only way we can commnicate in Teyvat (look am i little excited abt taking “video game world” a little too literally in every genshin AU ever- maybe.)

tbh i could see so many allogenes having to either learn to make room for you in convos and u also having to get wayyy more expressive in body language/facial expressions

tbh i think itd be pretty easy to get ur meaning, like in a battle or smth fast-paced where u couldnt write, like how Tinker Bell can?

if u dont know what i mean just search “tinkerbell scenes peter pan” on youtube and u can see ppl just having a full conversation with no words with her, which i think would deffo happen with ppl like Kaeya, Lisa, Lumine, Venti, Heizou, Ayato, Yae Miko, Thoma, Beidou and Itto surprisingly i could see it (ppl in the distance just think theyre all talking to themselves sometimes when ur not as visible hehe)

OMG they get u nice gifts for writing all the time, like the newest compact pens from Fontaine, the finest small, medium, and large notebooks from Inazuma,

like a little compact pocketbook so u can easily fit it in pockets!

u know Im absolutely sure you could literally start the texting appreviation trend in Tevyat like this-

like just so it’s easier to communicate with you, a lot of people are willing to adapt/take on abbreviations like “ttyl, gtg, wth, lol, lmao” even stuff like “etc”

lol u start a whole trend in the writing letters business, hehe silly medieval Teyvat is silly and medieval

yknow I think the quieter vision users would definitely find you to be peaceful to be around and easy to understand just with writing (also deffo most likely to adore the soft moments together of just ur pen scribbling and the sounds of nature or a cafe or something around them),

tbh i also think these ppl would be motivated to talk to you alone, or get you away to just talk the two of you for all the reasons above, like Xiao, Aether, Kazuha, Ayaka, Chongyun, Zhongli, Diluc, Sayu, Ei, Sucrose, Eula, Ganyu, Ningguang, Tighnari, Alhaitham omg he might literally be able to take his headphones off around u bc youd be in such quiet spaces all the time, and bc u dont talk he doesn’t have to worry abt u getting loud either lmao

…and then ofc, there’s the bitches that try and guess what ur writing ahead of timeeee 😭

bein all like, “Uh… you.. would like.. to go to… a restaurant… to get some- OH OH I got this one this time! Some pita pockets! …Oh. A drink. Right. Sorry, again.”

definitely Itto, Cyno, Heizou, Xingqiu, Fischl, Amber, Collei, Dehya, Wanderer, Childe, Venti, Keqing (she just used to being fast ok), Kaveh lmao

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I hope my reply was a little fun!! THANK U FOR SENDING THIS I LOVE THIS SM!! Man it’s so hard to make you feel my appreciation for this idea thru the damn screen

like how do i send a virtual hug

ANYWAY, if you or anybody else had an idea for celebrating 1000 followers lmk bc i am STRUGGLING with this same issue for that,

like how to make u guys feel my love 😩 ❤️‍🔥

☆

Safe travels ignihideous,

💀♒

♡the beloveds♡

@karmawonderss / @0rah-s / @randomnatics / @glxssynarvi / @nexylaza / @genshin-impacts-me / @wholesomey-artist / @thedevioussmirk / @the-dumber-scaramouche / @chocogi

[greasegotahold]

This post started out with a point then turned into rambling abt the stage show lol

So like. at least in my irl circle and from what I heard yesterday, a lot of ppl prefer the musical to the movie. Acknowledging the bias of theatre ppl toward theatre, that's not the reason I heard most; what I heard most is that the musical stays closer to the book than the movie. Granted idk how many if any of these ppl have seen the complete novel extended cut of the movie, but even so this argument sits wonky with me

Bc the musical takes quite a few departures from the book, some p dramatic. Darry is not the gang's leader, Dally is. Randy is an ensemble part with one line; Cherry gets his ending "even if you win, nothing will change" moment. Sandy is already gone. Evie and Sylvia are gone. Steve is not a big part of Soda's life. Two Bit isn't acknowledged as an alcoholic. Johnny was only jumped a week ago, and it's not a secret who did it. Bob is the one who jumps Pony at the start and even comes up with an excuse for it. Dally doesn't give Johnny his heater, Dally commits a far more direct suicide, no sickness or court proceedings, so on and so forth.

Now I understand why we made just about all of these changes: the show is just about 2 hours as is, not counting intermission; streamlining needed to happen, for time and for clarity of storyline. I even prefer a lot of the changes (Cherry is just. Such a livelier character lmao. She's given stuff to DO. I love her in the book and movie but the stuff they added in the musical I simply love.) I bring this up just bc it. Is honestly just as different as the movie if not more so in how it departs from the source material.

Which means when ppl are saying it's closer to the book, they mean in feel.

And in many avenues; talking about the the extreme accessibility of the book as an adult with other adults, attempting to articulate my issues with the film adaptation, and then later attempting to defend the movie on those same shortcomings, I think I know why.

It's the ever-present narration. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Ponyboy tells his story, he doesn't show. And that makes the book an extremely straightforward read, and absolutely how he can tell us so much shit that happened in so little time, but it also makes it hard to capture in a standard movie adaptation, especially when the movie also needs to trim down and streamline characters and plot points.

But what does Pony do throughout the musical? He narrates. Yes the story plays out real time, but it's still interspersed with these slowdowns where he talks to the audience, where he's narrating.

And I think that's what's really clicking so well with the musical, despite all the changes to characters and their dynamics and plot beats.

And for certain things, the impact is still there, they just changed it around. Johnny was jumped last week instead of months ago and we don't get the excerpt abt how he wound up buying his first blade, and how he would kill the next soc who tried to jump him, and Dally no longer gives him his gun, but he does give him the 6 inch switchblade when Johnny is genuinely worried his dad will kill his mom, and then shows him how to stab to kill. The circumstances are different, but we still get Dally giving Johnny a lethal weapon. The motivation changes for why Johnny carries his blade, from self defense to an explicit want to protect others, but this makes it a more direct setup for when he kills Bob to save Pony.

And a lot of the straight up original additions to the plot feel seamless. The added backstory for Cherry's parents, her dad's alcoholism and her mom's kind of just. Surrender to hopelessness and despair. Not only explains why she's so touchy about Bob drinking, but it makes the change from going along with him to stop a fight into her refusing to back down after breaking up feel justified. To be clear, I don't fault book and movie cherry for doing what she does in that scene, she's trying to keep everyone else safe, I just think that the change was set up and well executed in the musical.

Also sidenote but in Justice For Tulsa...I have so many feelings after getting to see it. The cop shining his flashlight down on Two Bit as he gets jumped, but then he just keeps on walking bc why would he care abt a greaser...Bev buying right into the boys' escalation against the greasers vs Cherry's outright rebuke and then Marcia is over here looking genuinely Physically nauseous over having to choose a side. And of course the moment where the cop beats Dally after handcuffing him, that speaks for itself.

(Sidenote, unrelated to anything, I just wanna say when I listened to the soundtrack for the first time, years since I had read the book or watched the movie, somehow I just knew when the soc boys started singing their threatening section, that they were jumping two bit. I guess I just had a faint buried memory that Two Bit was the revenge-jumping victim lol)

[utilitycaster]

Whoaaaa holy shit something just snapped into place reading you mention the concept of creating a shape of negative space bc i've been thinking so long abt the "unspoken things/quiet part" of characters. I've often had this feeling that fandom will go a million and nine yards to red string board an ocean of depth for their favorite blorbo over.... what comes down to what's technically extrapolating based off of xyz canon, but said canon will be like "this character fidgets once, half his dialogue is quoting an in-universe play he tries to recreate (by ruining ppl's lives), and he doesn't understand why someone wouldn't want to be called a monster, therefore he is AUTISTIC and that drives his logic," or "this character has xyz vague background and is TRAUMATIZED because of WAR" inventing an entire character and it's like. Oh boy. This might be a matter of not being invested enough in these characters to TRY and delve so "deep" but I keep thinking that none of this is actually. written or feels purposeful in the context of How Storytelling Works/the Narrative to MAKE me invest or think that it's worth doing so. I always wonder how many people are trying so hard to project a better story onto something without understanding that the story actually needs to BE THERE and ADDRESSED, even subtly, and token moments aren't enough. But then that gets me thinking about how Thereness needs to exist for something to be subtle but written as opposed to Conspiracy off loose projection.

I was kinda thinking abt Laudna and how to use her as an example, because she's one of those characters for whom like, yeah I as a person totally understand the cycle of being upbeat and normal and everything and then having a random spiral of Bad Upstairs before being normal again, but narratively how do you portray that and why does everyone do it so much better than her. With equal screentime, everyone feels like they have so much more meat to their motivations and psychology despite some being significantly less fraught backstory wise. What's happening here because things just feel like they come out of nowhere with her with "oh so that matters all of a sudden?"

Hi anon,

Yes to all of this! With regards to your first paragraph - I feel that a lot too. It's a tricky situation because I think it's completely valid to project things onto characters and imagine them to have specific qualities that either you have or simply that you wish to see in fiction. It only becomes difficult in a fandom sphere when people insist that this is a fully evidence-based endeavor and not a personal interpretation (especially because a lot of that evidence is, as you say, either very much open to interpretation, or else totally spurious. The number of times I've had to shoo people off my posts for talking extensively about how an immensely self-absorbed character who never thinks about others unless forced to clearly has ADHD...but I digress). And as for the conspiracy element, especially when works aren't as good - absolutely. If you haven't read this, which I reblogged a few weeks ago (has Good Omens 2 spoilers) I highly recommend you do because what you're saying resonates a lot with OP's post, both in terms of our need as fans to project or find similarities with characters, and the fact that when people are disappointed by a work sometimes they try to create a better one, but instead of just writing fanfiction and calling it fanfiction they go full conspiracy theorist and assume there's some secret twist, and fall so hard into that all-crumbs-no-schnitzel (to borrow a metaphor from that post) fanon echo chamber they forget it is, in fact, only fanon.

Which brings us to Laudna. Before I go deeper I want to cover three things. First: for me at least, this criticism comes because I know Marisha is capable of doing this negative space work. It didn't come up much with Keyleth since we kind of knew her whole deal very early (which, to be clear, is valid; not every character needs this), but it's present with both Beau (her relationship to her father is masterfully done; the hallmark of good negative space work is that when the reveal comes you say oh of course) and to a lesser extent Patia, who, like all the Calamity characters, conveys a story much greater than the one that unfolds over a single night. Second: I think part of why a number of us in the fandom are so frustrated is that we have been doing that work of generously interpreting Laudna since the beginning, but nothing ever sticks, so it's becoming less and less worth the effort.

I'd have to go back through my archives pretty extensively, but early on, the going expectation for Laudna was that she would explore the idea of being one of the bystanders in a larger story as someone killed simply because of a passing resemblance to someone the Briarwoods wished to send a message to; that we'd get insight into Whitestone during the occupation from someone who wasn't freed by Vox Machina but rather killed, indirectly, because of them. However, not only have we not gotten that, but she also was chosen for being special: Delilah chose her as a vessel because of her inherent sorcery. So then it was perhaps about that tension between finding power in her sorcery vs. warlock levels - Pâté seemed like a clear setup for Pact of the Chain, after all - but then Marisha admitted she had no intention of taking that third warlock level, and always just planned to play Laudna as exclusively leveling in sorcerer, until FCG attacked. And meanwhile, there's no exploration of those sorcery powers, either.

Speaking only for myself, I've been interrogating "hey, why is her backstory that she was chased out of everywhere but for the most part everyone is mostly fine with her?" and "in 30 years she did nothing about Delilah? Really?" for quite some time. There's a number of questions that are not just unanswered, but lack the hints that this negative space work would provide. And to be clear there are ways to explain those things! This meta does a good job of talking through why she may have been chased out, and I've floated, in the past, that even Delilah's unwelcome presence was better than the absolute silence of being truly alone. But the work to support these fandom theories, again, is not really being done at the table, and moreover, even if it starts being done...it's episode 70. It should have come up in some capacity.

Marisha said (to be clear, somewhat jokingly) in the 2022 ComicCon panel that "Yeah. I don't want to think anymore. I'm tired," re: Laudna but the thing is...honestly, in my opinion? A character with Laudna's premise requires far more work than Beau or Keyleth to do well. Not only is she tied into one of the most famous events and entwined with one of the most famous villains of Campaign 1, but she's got 50 years of backstory! Beau and Keyleth are in their early 20s! (I could make a whole other post about this but character intelligence does not equal how hard they are to play; Imogen is an immensely tough concept that Laura's doing a good job with and she's lower INT than Laudna. I'd rather play a wizard than a character like Grog any day of the week because I genuinely believe that the acting burden for making a character like Grog sympathetic and believable without going into cheap mockery and parody is immense).

Going back to that statement, it really does feel as though every 4-Sided Dive episode or panel, when Marisha talks about Laudna, it's always just that she was envisioned as being over her trauma, and the premise was always just "make that creepy girl from her nightmare". And even then: it's fine if she'd done that - simply made a creepy character who was here to be creepy and cheerfully macabre - but through gameplay it's become clear that Laudna is not over that trauma (her arrested development being one of many options), and has acquired new traumas to boot, and for that matter never was really over it given that she displays intensely but they come up so inconsistently that there's never any follow-through. I agree with you completely that the idea of her often seeming fine and happy and then having spirals is believable and true to life, but one does need to actually follow through on the spirals - I think a lot of us finally threw up our hands when Laudna's believable, well-played, and justifiable anger and resentment after being thrown across the world away from half the party, essentially pushed into a fight that isn't her own, being betrayed by Bor'Dor, and feeling Delilah's return melted away without resolution. If you want to make a character who's over their trauma and go-with-the-flow, I feel as though step 1 is to not have an eternal reminder of one's trauma permanently stuck in one's head. "Warlock who dislikes their patron" is actually a premise that requires quite a lot of thinking and effort, and we are consistently not seeing it.

I think what's most telling is that the defense of Laudna for the weird freakout this past episode is both vehement, and in conflict with itself. Is Marisha just making a joke (that didn't really land with anyone at the table nor much of the fandom, and was taken at least semi-seriously by both)? Or is it actually great and good that Laudna is incredibly traumatized and clingy and we should all hope she becomes even more clingy and codependent? When even the people who are shielding Laudna from even a whisper of criticism can't agree what Marisha's doing, it's pretty dire, especially when that criticism is "this character feels directionless and incoherent."

So getting back to negative space: It's my hunch that there just...wasn't a lot of clarity to Laudna's motivations, and the questions in her backstory weren't answered. She's creepy and she's kooky, Sun Tree corpse, Delilah in her head, met Imogen two years ago, was friends with a little girl at some point (which we only know from 4-Sided Dive, which is, to be clear, bad that it's never come up in-game). We don't know how she feels about her sorcery powers other than a vague enjoyment of their creepiness...but she also sees them as a way out from Delilah...but she also barely engages with Delilah and hasn't done anything to get rid of her. We have no sense of how she got to "the worst thing that's happened to me already happened" because while it's completely fair to play her as feeling that way 30 years later, I highly doubt she felt that way as she cut herself down from the Sun Tree. So as a result, it's hard to pick a direction because that foundation is lacking.

The thing about that negative space is that to do it well, you really need to know what you're trying to convey. Which is also why, as you say, characters with much simpler backstories are fine; Fearne was basically hanging out at her grandmother's place until EXU and her parents left when she was very young; she is curious about her parents and loves her grandmother and is a chaotic fey entity who was sent into the Material Plane with the Weave Lens, and mostly she just wants to explore and have fun and hang out with her friends. Ashley just needs to...play Fearne like that, which she does with aplomb. The complex setup for Laudna demands a huge number of answers in the backstory, and my guess is that Marisha does not have them. I think the problem isn't with the acting (in fact, I'm fairly confident it isn't, because, again, I know from past characters Marisha can do this); it's that Laudna's concept prioritized the aesthetic, mechanics, and facts of the backstory, and didn't adequately fill in her beliefs and motivations, so she's just flailing. I also suspect from the most recent 4-Sided Dive and the most recent SDCC panel that Marisha is specifically looking for interparty conflict, and to be clear that's valid...but again, to do that believably and well, Laudna's philosophy and motivations and characterization need to be much more clearly established than they are.

[unluckyoscthoughts]

The tacophy deep dive post

Hello, my name's Ozzy, better known as Vandal or TUV. If u know me from this acc you know my biggest ship and main fixation when it comes to the ii fandom is a crackship involving Taco and Trophy. In the past uh 3 or so years that I've been in the fandom I've gotten got knows how many questions and remarks abt how it makes no sense or that they didn't even know it was a thing. And out of sheer boredom, I decided I'm gonna make a deep dive post abt the ship.

the post will be in the following order

1: characters themselves

2: why i think they could be buddies

3: their flaws, the ppl they hurt and why that plays into one another

4: just general silly shit i wanna add cuz its relevant

Who are these weird little dudes??

Ur not living under a rock you KNOW who Taco and Trophy are, but here i wanna talk a bit about their personalities.

As we all know, taco is very very fucking smart, she was able to hide her actual personality for an entire season of show. While her motive for her behavior isn't known as of writing this post, we know there's definitely some amount of reason behind it.

She's not above playing dirty or flat out killing people to get what she wants, casualties are just a part of it, they're technically immortal so long Mephone is around anyway. Her morals seem beyond fucked, caring about people supposedly but not being against using them for whatever personal goal she may have.

Despite this, if we know one thing about her its that being reminded of her mistakes and what she has done can very quickly set her off or make her upset.

But the basics, in summary, are that she has little regard for others and how what she does affects them until its too late. She's arrogant, yet smart and tactful which makes her such a threat.

And then there's trophy, who in contrast is a lot stupider in terms of his behavior and motives. Again, we don't know his reasoning behind doing what he does, other than just wanting to be better than others.

He's to put it bluntly, a fucking asshole, just for the sake of why not. Making people do things for him purely because he himself does not want to do it, manipulative in his own way. While actual attempted murder isn't something he would do, he clearly isn't above breaking a few laws if u so much as piss him off like with knife and his doll.

Outside of that/after he was eliminated he seems to have calmed down a bit, he likes photography and probably learned to find something else to do other than antagonize people for funsies.

He of course is arrogant as well, but his lack of motivation to do things himself doesn't make him that big of a threat, especially if the thing he's using against you is just normal to others.

why could they be friends? [How they meet hc I guess]

So why do I think they could get along ? Ngl I'm gonna have to put a bit of headcanons in here but it makes sense I promise.

We all know Trophy likes photography right? Well what place on the ii map :tm: would have great photo potential? The forest.

I imagine that one day, Trophy goes to the forest to take photos and whatnot [a little bit before the episode where lb and tt go back in time I'd say.] As he walks around taking photos of things, he manages to bump into taco after she [embarrassingly] falls out of a tree [mirroring her falling when hit with the gemory] and falls in a bush in-front of him. He'd be a bit shocked, cuz what the fuck just happened and wouldn't really respond until she asks if he's just going to keep standing there as she's trying to get unstuck. When he snaps out of it he picks her up to get her out and places her down. Taco, having watched the show closely, knows who he is and initially wanted to use him alongside Microphone until remembering he was eliminated and therefore would be a little bit useless. He meanwhile starts asking who she is, irritating her a lot as she did NOT get shamed on show for people to not know who she is.

The two don't actually bond in this first interaction, that comes a few days or so later when Trophy, again, finds her in the forest. This time he basically just asks her if she can find cool places he can take photos of, which does annoy her a bit but if it means he'll go away sure. This repeats a few times until she, reluctantly, gets attached.

Other stuff ig is i think they could bond over their past mistakes, a bit far fetched but hey, a boy can dream.

Their sins and whatnot

Lets talk abt their sins and what they could bond over in that regard

Taco: killed a few people, manipulation, trying to steal money, probably kidnapping with mepad

Trophy: bullying, blackmail, manipulation

I also think its interesting to note that the people they hurt have a bond with one another. Knife and pickle are buddies, Knife and Mic are buddies and we know Mic cut the bs and pointed out her behavior towards Pickle, its likely those 2 are going to become friends as well. their victims realistically can bond over these experiences.

The people they hurt and the influence they have could play into their conversations. While Trophy has done way less, he still hurt people. Them being able to bond over the past, the things they did and how to handle that guilt would be sweet.

filler i mean other stuff

Here goes other random shit i think would be funny or just mostly hcs/vague stuff that has no real evidence

Justin has confirmed Taco can fit in his head[like the cup part], largely why i tend to draw her just...in there.

i think they bond over a shared hatred of Knife

Trophy likes tea, she likes tea, let them drink tea together

i hc both were extremely ''trapped'' during their childhoods. Taco was babied to hell and back while Trophy was expected to be perfect, causing their respective ways of lashing out. A lack of freedom in both.

This is more an observation but Taco is so fucking short lmfao she can just be grabbed

based on drawings two friends made, i think they'd commit crimes together.

i think Trophy would sneak Taco into the hotel at one point AFTER ii ends to ensure she doesn't have to stay outside all the time.

And thats all for now, folks. So what was i really trying to do with this? well mostly just...rant, i miss being able to talk abt ii2. I might edit this post a bit later, to add more stuff, fix wording, answer questions etc. Tacophy means a lot to me as a ship, even if the only footing it stands on is built out of popsicle sticks and tape. Rarepairs are fun, i've had the occasional person yell at me for shipping this but honestly, its never stopped me. I love seeing people kind of warm up to the idea, even if just showing interest in the dynamic.

If u read this and thought it was neat, pls show it cuz i worked p hard on this. Have a good day :)

[kyriaejiraiblog]

so quick disclaimer this isnt jirai stuff but it is talking about sh and its somebting that kind of pissed me off but i don’t wanna put it in my main

so for context it was some skk video and the person said essentially “if you’re going to ship do it correctly, you’re mischaracterizing dazai“ (and mori but who tf cares)

so here’s my reply to the comment, and honestly the way they responded made me upset—because while they made a comment explaining their thoughts and i was fine agreeing to disagree, they felt they needed to add onto their own opinion? but honestly i feel like they are in a way mischaracterizing dazai more than in the original post (which i can grab the link for anyone who finds this and decides they want to see it to make their own opinion)

“i can guarantee he doesn’t even cut discreetly.” problem i have with this statement is we literally have no idea what the bandages are for, however we know that dazai had easy access to various blades, primarily scalpels because of mori. the way that particular mental illness affects your brain makes the prospect of drawing blood very appealing. considering he had bandages before the pm, and how this person even admits sh was possible before dazai joined, i find it highly likely that he would continue such an act. sh is by no means easy to escape, and dazai was not in a supportive environment in the pm.

second, his words to atsushi—those kinds of words sound like something born from experience. that is something dazai has, and still suffers from in a sense. it’s like oda said, dazai will always be living with darkness and has to learn how to manage that emptiness. and plus, from my own interpretation, dazai sees a version of himself within atsushi, and wants to prevent atsushi from becoming him.

one thing i do agree is he doesn’t care about mori’a approval, never will. but dazai lives in such a perpetual state of self-loathing that it’s weird to say that dazai wouldn’t even think about sh. while my initial reply was about punishment through this means, i just didn’t have enough to elaborate my actual thoughts on what dazai’s motivations would be for this kind of self mutilation.

there’s a point where sh stops being punishment, if it even was to begin with. dazai feels apathy toward much of the world around him, particularly during his time in the pm. apathy like this creates a void, an emptiness that never truly goes away. cutting gives a chance to feel something, anything. feeling nothing is more painful than a blade running down skin.

and now i’m going to start being extremely personal. i don’t like pain. dazai states he doesn’t like pain. i cut every single day. that last paragraph is essentially my own experience with self harm. in my case. it does start out as sparingly used punishment. then it becomes addicting, and the only thing to pull me out of the emptiness and complete apathetic state where i have nothing but my own thoughts. this kind of thought process isn’t uncommon among people who sh. it almost feels like cutting is just simply a thing that happens.

and then about dazai looking down on people who sh—fuck off with that. while sh and suicide aren’t always correlated, they’re often connected. at best, dazai is completely indifferent to people with scars. otherwise, he’s one of them. dazai’s entire personality seems i consistent in many ways, and while i do agree that he probably has major depression, i wouldn’t say it’s too far fetched to say he might have bpd or bipolar. in fact, id even argue that he has both depression and bpd according to many of the symptoms displayed in dazai’s character (which if that’s the case, gj asagiri bc bpd is so heavily associated with women that people forget men can have it too)

which rambling more abt the bpd thing ppl with bpd are often queens of “it’s a slippery slope” and it’s already shown that dazai does drink more than a bit. which is one thing people with bpd are prone to, they so easily can get addicted to these kinds of things and they just can’t help it. another reason i argue it’s likely dazai would sh.

once again, referring to the second screenshot, people who hate pain aren’t excluded from self harming. i am one of those people, myself. i wouldn’t doubt dazai would attempt to cut his arteries as a suicide attempt as well, something i somewhat tried, but i still argue that dazai has likely self harmed. anyway i hope this was fun to read im done rambling lmao

[skygirlstars]

Ask meme concept: Reverse Unpopular Opinion meme

Ppl send topics and instead of salt or hot takes, you MUST talk abt smth you like about it. Good excuse to gush abt smth you already love, OR think and find smth positive to say. 

Something about Andor?

oooo this one’s easy because I have almost exclusively good things to say about Andor. where do I even start???

the writing is FANTASTIC. it’s a fairly neat, self-contained plot that weaves the separate storylines together so well, manifesting in the last episode where everyone is on Ferrix. speaking of Ferrix, I love how real the location and its community feel because the writers put effort into making all the little connections between characters and establishing traditions and a clear culture. oh and all the parallels to real life events and cultures, particularly the ones Diego Luna has said were inspired by his own experiences.

I love the characters!!! which is definitely also a product of the writing because everyone feels so fleshed out, and it seems like even the random side characters have their own lives and motivations. Cassian is such an interesting protagonist and his development and character arc so far has been so well done. I love how complex his morality is and how we, the viewers, see him realize his responsibility to fight the Empire on behalf of everyone, not just himself. Mon’s storyline is also one of my favorites. I think she’s such an interesting character as well, especially in her relationships with others. messy father-son relationships in Star Wars are great and all, but a messy mother-daughter relationship? holyyy fuck. I’m so unwell about them. Nemik being the revolutionary idealist, Vel and Cinta trying to balance their duty to the Rebellion with their relationship, Syril being the most cringefail loser ever, whatever the hell is going on with Luthen, etc etc it’s all just so interesting. (and not to mention good lord this cast is FINE)

and so so so many other things, I could seriously talk about this show all day. B2EMO is one of my absolute favorite droids now!! he’s so precious. and a canon sapphic relationship?!?!! and don’t even get me started on the MUSIC. Nicholas Britell deserves all the praise omg

so there you go, that’s just a little bit of why I love Andor. I should really make my own posts about it more lol

[coredrill]

as foretold, bang brave bang bravern was crazy good this week

it's just. gosh. for as much as i talk abt bravern being unhinged the fact of the matter is that it is actually SO restrained. ESPECIALLY for something in a medium that is already a little self-indulgent and referential. like for all of bravern himself's clear love for mecha there have been so few explicit references to other shows? and then this ep had so fucking many - ttgl (which - fucking hilarious to use it against a character KONISHI is voicing and then have that DD be fucking useless except for wanting to see some cool fights LSKDJFH) and flcl and symmetrical docking and rider kick and jeeg and gundam and the fuckin uhhhhhhhh exkaiser i think but i dont remember for sure its the same one that showed up in the earlier fight w superbia too. like w the other mecha on the roof framing. and probably about thirty more that i'm for sure missing or not recognizing or forgetting ON TOP OF all the obari posing and punching which have been sneaking into the visuals before this - but it was all for the purpose of having us watch this hype battle and get all excited to make the ending hit THAT much harder. and holding off the first gattai until episode NINE???? the thing we're all expecting to happen at any fucking moment, because there was no way that the souls of isami and bravern could've combined and actually resonated for a true gattai until that point????? like it's ALL in service of the story rather than wow cool robot even tho it IS a pretty damn cool robot. this show makes me feel like i did my homework and i'm acing the test AND I HAVENT EVEN WATCHED THAT MUCH MECHA TBH. LMFAO. all the "who is this show even FOR (eyeroll emoji)" comments back in like ep2 get funnier every week bc bravern knows its audience like the back of its hand and it gets clearer and clearer every week that its execution is fucking razor sharp. this show is SO SUCKING GOOD and I LOVE IT. that was supposed to say fucking good but sucking works too

the fucking NOISE superbia makes when bravern is like "don't u want to fight me when i'm EVEN STRONGER" took me the FUCK out

[gets beer sponsorship] [makes Consumption Of Food And Drink a tether point to Humanity] [out-cooks the cooking show] i'm gonna buy more kona beer (<- fucking hates beer)

fish jumpscare !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i honestly don't think i've seen any anime with a fucking ED DROP before. lmfao

lewis smith. you want so badly to be the protagonist. to be the rival. to be the one who dies to motivate the hero. to be the MECHA ITSELF. and yet you are the love interest!!! you are GOING to be saved whether you want it or not!!! you ARE rain mikamura. you ARE the heroine. Let Isami Save You. you've got a family of people who fuck with time in different and fun ways to save each other and its his turn now whether you like it or not!!!!!!!!

he rly did put that mask back on right before he died…………..subtext, cowards, so on and so forth

thanks bravern for inventing gay ppl. was surprised to get a literal love confession AND an almost-kiss here but tbh at this point i think isami could use a good old-fashioned hug more than anything else. like one of those that cracks his spine. poor baby rice cracker is goin thru it LMAO. also i keep calling isami baby rice cracker and i cannot stop myself anymore………..baby rice cracker…………

me after saying every week that this show has done something to my brain "guys i think this show has done something to my brain"

wow this post is allover the place moreso than usual. like i said earlier this ep was so fucking DENSE and GOOD that i'm gonna need some time to process All That. gosh. [bravern voice] BRAAAAAAVEEEERN!!!!!!!!!!!

[jackienautism]

HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO TEACH YOU THIS LESSON OLD MAN.GIF.... ALL THE UD CHARS SUCK!!!!! NOT JUST ONE OR TWO... THEY ALL DO!!!!! haha hey that rhymed. anyway. not a single person can take ALL of the blame especially not for another character's behaviour and ESPECIALLY not for the prank (even if potentially peer pressured they are still very much complicit etc). "criticising" (in quotes bc its usually just. hate) a single character exclusively is not??? a good way to tackle the characters when they all have at least one thing to be critical about. so yeah total agreement abt that post, blaming only emily for matt's behaviour is absolutely wild especially for prologue stuff

EXACTLY EXACTLY!!! and i appreciate the spongebob reference WEHEE BUT YEAH . THEYRE ALL ASSHOLES..... and even characters like sam and matt, theyre still involved w/ said assholes, meaning theyre not entirely innocent yk. youre def more so able to argue abt sam (since i personally believe she wasnt a part of the group to begin with, just more w/ beth and hannah) but even then..... we barely know anything abt hannah and beth, even they could be dicks whoknows, since they were still involved w/ mike ash emily etc etc. THEYRE ALL MFS!!!!!!!THATS MY POINT. even the more "innocent" characters such as matt sam beth + hannah

and RIGHT? putting all the blame onto one character is just ????? it doesnt make sense to me. even for the prank, it wasnt all just jess' fault, mike was JUSt as involved. even em too. and everyone else as well? they all were complicit and THERE where the prank happened. yes peer pressure is def a reason to make you think twice abt someone's motivations / involvementin the prank, but regardless!!! they still were all involved in hurting hannah!!!!!!

but youre absolutely right! singling out and "criticizing" one character (when EVERYONE is just as guilty) just shows to me how hypocritical you are LOL

AND YEAH RIGHT? YOU CAN TBLAME EMILY FOR MATT'S BEHAVIOR.... ESP IN THE PROLOGUE,.... BC AT THAT POINT, THEY WERENT EVEN DATING??????? and after thjat! matt's behavior in the actual game isnt even >>>??????????? BAD? SO IDK WTF THEY WERE TALKING ABT LOL it just seemed like a poor excuse to accuse and singl eout emily... aka already THE most hated until dawn character..... ugh

and like. not to point fingers at things that may not be100% true but . ofc its the one woman of color LOL and an ASIAN girl at that. aka . ppl who have been characterized as unempathetic and mean and cold since the beginning of time .

singling out a character just shows that you dont understand 1. that character youre singling out or 2. ANY OF THE OTHER CHARACTERS IN TEH GAME

but anyway. sometimes a fandom is you and the like 4 people youre okay with and thats okay❤️

[t4tpumpkinduo]

i would love if you expanded on your vent post sometime because i don't quite understand what you're saying when equating experiencing racism with black and white discourse surrounding c!wilbur either being completely bad and completely good and how people react to that. but it genuinely seems like an important topic to speak on if you ever feel like fully doing so

OK first of all :] ilike how this ask is phrased thank you for bein so niceys abt it. i will do my best to convey this as well as i can imstill pretty frazzled but ido wanna talk about it 👍

specifically i am talking abt the ppl who absolve him of everything or declaw him constantly. like again i do think cwil is a good dude he Is one of my faves. he is just kinda tunnel vision and selfish and in that persuit has done a lotta not great stuff tht gets deliberately ignored or pushed aside, but also the ppl v obsessed w making him some evil malicious one note abuser are like. weird ableist assholes lmao it can be two (✌️) bad things. but im not talking abt Them rn my point is uhm. ok so

i think the way cwilbur uhh ccwilbur that whole bursona thing is has a coat of Whiteness that intersects with things yk? have you heard the term white fave. it's stuff like that. and it especially shines when you compare it to like..how many swaths of ppl treat cquackity in Relation to him, or how many sootbur or oc type body hcs will turn one half of a ship into like..a emotionless brown man accessory to whoever they decided is the dainty pale one. or how ccwil gets truthed so much as "blahblahblah" instead of supporting openly queer or neurodivergent or female creators because it needs to be in a digestible palatable way it needs to be in the vehicle of a guy they are already willing to consume. does that make sense

like look at this ->

in this example uhh,,,ok to use tntduo specifically, yes cquackity Is violent and promiscuous he Is mean and snippy and scowls that's all true and canonical. but you just have to be a little aware of how you interact with things and how it comes across, especially if it's used as a vehicle for a white character. like...if you flanderize quackity and change his motives so he's just an accessory who's whole world revolves around wilbur, if he's turned into an abuser that the ever gentle wonderful poor wifey wilbur is so gracious to continue tolerating, if he's turned into like a sexual object for wilbur to be bossed around by at the cost of like. things tht are literally canonically triggering and awful fr cq. yyr like. racist llmao. and these things are Common as hell they are very common i block and block tags and i still cant get away from it.

white characters and ccs being treated with a different brush that poc characters and ccs is just v v v common and awful and well it sucks out here 👍 i do feel like the way he is talked abt can be loaded with it

[askaniritual]

So Aradia's whole deal is that she had actually been killed by Vriska as a result of the larping her Vriska, terezi, and tavros were a part of. This in turn caused terezi to notify doc scratch of Vriska's theft of one of his items and he blew it up, which caused vriska to retaliate against terezi by blinding her. As a result of her being dead and having time powers she's kind of the one that sets a lot of things in motion for the troll players behind the scenes. Shes also one of the two trolls to godtier and actually holds off jack before reuniting with the living players. She's also one of the few characters that survives the universal John retcon. Post resurrection she really has a fixation on death still but mainly through this lens that death is necessary and a healthy endpoint to all things especially things that overstay their existence like Lord English. Overall she's not the deepest of characters but she's kinda really inspiring to me because she spent so much of her life already dead and subject to the whims of fate that when she's alive again she's taking full advantage of it and living with zeal. Also Megalovania which is more commonly thought of as sans undertale's theme was her theme first! So yeah she's a relatively minor character but I just think she's awesome. My fave convos with her are ones where she talks to an alt Dave about death and her explaining to John she just wants to see how the universe will fall apart upon Lord English's arrival. I also wish she interacted with rose and jade more because I think her and rose would bond on their sort of macabre views on things and jades arrested development and separation from people in her session reminds of some if things aradia went through as well. Especially since both were robots for a bit. Overall I just think she's a really cool character!

im ngl i regularly completely forget abt sgrub and that the trolls played their own game prior to getting involved w the humans' game and that they actually have like a fair amount of pre-canon history.

based on this and what i read of her on the wiki, it seems like aradia is very much a Creepy Dead Girl tm but it seems like she gets kinda silly with it which i absolutely love for her. love to watch a character who's just in it for the universe-ending lols because it's always an interesting challenge to give a character that nihilistic compelling relationships and motivations. also looooooove a character who used to be an organic creature and is now fully inorganic i think there are many interesting things to be said about that continuum (as you have probably seen from my trigun posting). its giving me Marsha Johansson "No-Girl" vibes if ykwim

i am awed and inspired by your willingness to go to bat for aradia tysm for sharing your shrimp vision with me! i always love to hear abt what specifically interests ppl about the characters they choose to fixate on in any given piece of media

[glaivenoct]

1, 5, 19 for ao3 wrapped

ao3 wrapped [writer's edition]

Thank you for sending some <3 <3

1.) How many words have you written this year?

There's no way this is going to be accurate but 39,779+

I'm going based off of the words counts from the 5 fics I posted to ao3 this year. However, there are things I've written that are still sitting in my docs. Not to mention that I have this insane habit of sometimes rewriting things anywhere from 3 to 2o348940293 times over when my brain gets stuck and a fic isn't working out the way I want it to. There's some things sitting in WIPs that are already on rewrite number 3 and I'm this closer to rewriting it AGAIN ;A;

So it's hard to say, but there's a base to go off of at least ;u;

5.) What work of yours got more feedback than you expected?

I'm still to this day blown away by the response I received on Even Angels Deserve Guardians ;u; It was the most encouraging and motivating response I've ever experienced, especially since it was my debut fic in both Tristamp & Vashwood fandoms!! So many people said welcome and apparently really enjoyed my characterization of both Vash & WW? Which was probably my biggest concern when writing it. I wanted to do right by them so bad and I was worried since I was used to writing The Same rarepair for the last several years in a row ;A;

I'm so grateful for every kudos, bookmark and lovely comment ppl left on it QuQ

19.) What’s one pairing you want to explore next year?

Heh I still haven't tried my hand at Pelnoct or Pelnyxnoct oops ;u; I think it's safe to say Vashwood is a high priority on the list next year since I've only managed to do one fic for them so far. There's still plenty of exploring to do with them ofc.

But ok. Listen. I honestly don't think I will ever actually be brave enough to try my hand at one of my newer fav pairings, but just hear me for a sec pls -

Nanago

I don't talk abt jjk stuffs with anyone but the voices in my head. So I'm taking my chance to spew this out into the void, apologies in advance. AHEM!! I don't know if I have the capability to write either of these characters or the universe of jjk itself well or believably - but goddamn do I enjoy thinking about the potential of these two.

Because, in my head, there is just something to be said about a character that is literally physically untouchable unless he actively turns off his power because he has deemed a certain space, object, or person Safe Enough to make physical contact with him. There is something to be said about a character with this renowned title of being "The Strongest", and the loneliness that might come with that underneath this "idiotic", "flippant", and "egotistical" personality. ALL OF THIS combined with this character losing their "one and only" technically two times, and between both instances, calling love "the most twisted curse of all"

Like I love Gojo for the chaotic fucker he is, but I like to believe there are things there under the surface, beyond those general wants and goals he talks about in the series. And it gives me brainworms - especially in relation to Nanami.

Nanami, my beloved. Calm and pragmatic Nanami who sees himself as someone with "no concept of a reason worth living or something worth doing". Sigh. THERE IS ALSO SOMETHING TO BE SAID abt a character who, at the hands of the jujutsu world, also loses their only friend and experiences much suffering. A character who only chooses to return to this world bc, even if it brings him pain and suffering, at least he's helping people. An incredibly selfless character that values the lives of his comrades, ESPECIALLY the youngsters. Goddd does he want to protect the youngsters and let them be youngsters. He might be hella opposite of Gojo personality wise but

A.) That's part of what makes them fun hehe >:3 B.) It's fun to draw the parallels and contrasts, and despite their differences in how they approach things, I think they share similar wants and goals - particularly in reference to the youngsters and seeing a change in the world.

WITH ALL THAT SAID - I want these two to find something in each other amidst all that ish. and like, make out about it. Idk if exploring them is something I'll pull off in actual writing next year, but at the very least I will be in a corner somewhere exploring them in my head.

And thus concludes Brina's sudden Nanago ramble ty and m'sorry I just enjoy them!!!

[sunshinesteviee]

What are the reasons you stopped writing Tom????

Oh man. I mean first, I want to clarify, I am not done writing Tom (& his characters) forever, I just haven’t been feeling it lately.

And I mean, that’s the main reason. Just haven’t had much inspiration. I know Tom has been super busy w different shoots & hasn’t been on ig or anything, so there just hasn’t been much content. And quite honestly… the hair he had to have for TCR was NOT giving lmao. Too greasy. Didn’t like it. Was not feelin it. I still love Tom, obviously, there just hasn’t been a lot to give me the inspiration to write, like there has been in the past!

Before NWH came out, I wasn’t using tumblr a lot just bc of… life & feeling unmotivated to write then, too.

Another major reason I wasn’t really writing, besides motivation/inspiration, is something I’ve seen a LOT of my friends on here talk abt. Lack of interaction. It often felt like I’d put a lot of time and effort into writing something, and then just… not get very many reblogs or feedback. The fandom feels kinda dead, and like there aren’t many ppl WANTING to read that stuff. Idk!!! This is just all from my POV and maybe I’m way off with that, but it’s just part of the reason I haven’t been writing. Like, just for example, I posted a Steve Harrington fic like a week ago that already has 1k notes. I can’t tell you the last time I posted a tom fic or blurb that got good traction.

I think another reason is that I’m also feeling a little more comfortable writing characters instead of real people, ya know? Again, I’m not saying I’m not going to write for Tom anymore, but I do like writing for a fictional character that already has a world and lots of details I can work with.

This is probably not very clear and really just me rambling, but I hope that makes sense. I’m sure there are more reasons that I’m not thinking of rn, but these are the main ones. And honestly, it’s like 80% just the fact that I haven’t been feeling into that lately.

And again!!! If anything changes in regards to me writing for Tom or taking him off of my list of ppl I’ll write for completely, I’ll let y’all know!

[greensaplinggrace]

honestly THANK YOU for saying all that abt baghra bc i thought i was going crazy from not liking her??? bc i haven't read the books and only summaries of them on wiki and like. i dunno why ppl like her actually even in the show bc this guy, her son, is like "i wanna make the world better for us grisha" and she's just like "no." even tho he sees that she's MAKING HERSELF SICK from suppressing her powers! she's literally like in bed coughing in the flashback yet seem much healthier at the little palace. also like after everything, after her disapproval, after the fold, after centuries of waiting for the sun summoner.. he never abandons her. he makes sure she's cares for. he doesn't harm her. and i have to wonder if baghra has ever thanks him for that, for just not leaving her alone. like i dunno how im suppose ro believe aleks is a heartless villain when he still cares for his abusive mom like this. like has baghra even told her she loved him (honestly she reminds me of a classic emotionally unavailable asian parent but maybe that's just me). also im wondering if baghra ever told aleks that he had an aunt.. bc like.. now that u bring up her isolating him it's like hmmmm...

not at me being like alina... why do u trust the bitter old woman who literally beats u with a stick and verbally abuses u every chance she gets.. just bc she showed a bad painting... like.. pls use two braincells to see that who u figured out as his mother... is also using his protection..

like baghra could've upped and left with alina. but no. she stayed bc she knew she was safe under aleks's protection.

alsoim just impressed that after his first friend tried to drown him and harvest his bones... he didn't go into hiding???? he still wanted to make a safe heaven for grisha!!! HE STILL WANTED TO PROTECT GRISHA EVEN AFTER HIS GRISHA FRIEND TRIED TO KILL HIM FOR HIS FUCKEN BONES. like... this is the guy im suppose to believe is the villain???

honestly i feel like part of the reason why LB's plotlines seem so bad and disconnected (and sometimes outright racist but that's another rant) and why darkles is disproportionately more violent and villainous in the later books is bc she didn't expect the darkling to be so popular and wanted to stick with her guns of making him the villain. but also wanted the money from aleks's popularity. but like you can't have ur cake and eat it too.

Well thank you for sending this ask! It's very sweet and very passionate. I'm glad you liked my post! I didn't put as much thought into it as some of my others lol. I kind of just talked. But it was nice to be able to finally talk about some of the problems I have with both her character and the fandom/author's perception of her.

HERE is the post this is referring to, in case anyone's wondering.

👀👀 You've hit the nail on the head for so many things, here!

Baghra is extremely emotionally unavailable, basically to the point of neglect. She's also verbally and physically abusive, traits which I doubt were only reserved for her students and not her son. Baghra claims she would do anything to protect him, but I've known a lot of parents who have that mindset and yet still harm their children because they think it's "good for them".

Aleksander stays at Baghra's side for years, and even when they're opposing each other she's never too far away from him. Idk if you've read the books but he does eventually hurt her. And as much as I don't like Baghra, I think his actions were horrid. But I'm also honestly kind of surprised it took him so long lmao.

Yeah I mean, in terms of isolation, let's not forget that she never wanted to introduce him to his father, either. Baghra's sense of eternity clouds a lot of her judgments on relationships, which means she views most people as dust and therefore teaches her son to as well. The problem with that is that he's a growing child, and he needs those social and emotional attachments for healthy development.

I would bet quite a bit of money that Baghra has either never told him she loves him or she has told him so few times it's practically forgettable.

And everything becomes more complicated because so many of Baghra's actions are understandable because of her life and her history, but the impacts they have on the people around her, especially Aleksander, are permanently damaging. And the fact that that's never gone over in critical depth in the books or how it's glossed over in fandom is just very disconcerting. Like, acknowledging Baghra's failings doesn't mean we're excusing Aleksander's actions, it just means we're holding Baghra liable for her own. Which the fandom should be doing, considering she's the epitome of an abusive parental figure.

And Alina trusting Baghra over Aleksander is even more confusing! Especially in the show!! This is the woman who beat her and abused her and tortured her friends when they tiny little children (and who probably still does so now that they're adults). This is the woman who mocks you and harasses you and insults you on a regular basis. Why does Baghra revealing she's Aleksander's mother make Alina change her mind?! Like fuck, I'd just feel bad for Aleksander. No wonder he kept it a secret, I would too! And that painting is enough evidence?! Really?! A random painting shown to you by this abusive mentor that's been making your life hell. That's what you're going to betray your new lover over?

The friends trying to harvest his bones thing is a good point, too. I think Aleksander, especially show Aleksander, is incredibly idealistic. I think he cares too much for others - those he's deemed worth his care (a sentiment given to him by Baghra). Despite everything she's tried to teach him about hiding and abandoning others and never caring and never doing anything to help or reach out or connect with people, Aleksander still continues to do so. It's likely because he never got it from Baghra growing up, and so is desperate for those emotional needs to be fulfilled elsewhere.

His turning point, when Baghra tells him it was understandable that those kids tried to kill him because the world is such a hard place for them - that's crucial. And the reason it's possible as a motivating factor is because of that idealism and that desire to help and that desire to be everything his mother isn't. Baghra tells him this trauma he just experienced was because of the oppression of his people, and instead of following her lead and accepting that, going into hiding and abandoning everybody to their misery, he goes I can do something about that. I can make it so this never happens again. Which is usually how trauma like that combines with one's core personality traits at a young age, especially when there's none of the essential support systems in place to aid in recovery (ie, the role Baghra should have been filling but wasn't, because she decided to exacerbate the problem instead).

And yeah, one of my biggest problems with the ham-fisted "beating you over the head with a sledgehammer of evil deeds" look-how-bad-this-character-is! portrayal of the Darkling in the later books comes from the impression I get that Bardugo doesn't trust her readers. She's so desperate to have us hate this character and think him an irredeemable villain, not trusting any of her readers to engage critically with a morally gray character, that it feels quite a bit like condescending fucking bullshit. Which ew, I know how to engage with literature, thanks.

She really does seem to look down on a large part of her fandom, and imo, the infantilization of the female characters in her books seems to carry over to her impression of most of her female readers as well. Which is why the Darkling's character arc gets fucking destroyed. But he's still a good cash grab, of course, so she'll shake his dead corpse in front of the fandom for money every time she wants something from it.

Also! Another reason I think her plotlines feel disconnected (I'm sorry Bardugo I respect you as a person, but shit-) is because the writing in SaB is just bad. I mean, nevermind the absolutely nauseating implications of the way she portrays the Grisha as a persecuted group who's situation is never actually fully addressed as it should be, considering Grisha rights is what her main villain is fighting for (imo for a series called the Grishaverse, LB seems to be pretty anti Grisha), but her characters and story alone are just wrong for each other. They don't fit together.

And the ending is one of the main pieces of evidence in that regard! You can’t say the ending where Alina isn’t Grisha anymore is her “going back to where she started” when she’s always been Grisha. She just didn’t know she was Grisha because she denied that part of herself that she was born with.

Alina is reluctant to move forward or change, she struggles with adapting, and she’s very set on the things she’s grown attached to throughout her life. She also has some latent prejudices against the Grisha, and so denies the possibility of being Grisha for those reasons as well.

Alina’s lack of powers in the beginning of her life because she willfully doesn’t learn about them to avoid change versus her lack of powers at the end of the book when she’s accepted them and then they’re stripped away from her by outer forces are two entirely separate circumstances. You can’t make a parallel about lost powers and lack of Grisha status bringing her back to the start when she was always Grisha and she always had powers and she simply refused to come to terms with it because of personal reasons.

The first situation is an internal conflict that indicates a story about growth and a journey of self acceptance. Denying herself the opportunity to learn about her heritage and to find acceptance with a group of people like her because she’s tied to the past and because of the way she was raised is the setup for a narrative that tackles unlearning prejudice and learning how to connect with a part of her identity that was denied her and learning how to grow independent and self assured. It’s the setup for a different story entirely. The second situation is an external conflict that centers around the ‘corrupting influence of power’... for some reason.

In a world where Grisha do not have social, political, or economic power and they are hunted, centering your heroine’s journey of self acceptance and growth around an external conflict about... the corrupting influence of power (in a group of people that don’t actually have any power?!) just doesn’t work. It is literally impossible to connect the two stories Bardugo is trying to push in Shadow and Bone without seriously damaging the main character’s developmental arc.

The only way a narrative like this would work, claiming that she has gone back to where she started, is either a) if the Grisha weren’t actually a persecuted group and instead were apart of the upper class, or b) if the one bad connection between the two instances is acknowledged - that Alina denied a part of herself crucial to self acceptance and growing up, and that losing her powers at the end has also denied her. It is a tragedy, not a happy ending.

Alina suffered because she didn’t use her powers. She grew sick. It was bad for her. This was not a resistance to 'the corruption of power and the burden of greed', it was her suffering because she couldn’t fully accept herself.

Framing the ending as a return to the beginning can’t be done if you don’t address how bad the beginning was for your main character. You brought her back to a bad point in her life. You regressed her. This should be a low point in her arc. It should be a problem that’s solved so she can finish developing organically or it should be something that is acknowledged as a tragedy in it’s own right, for the future the world (the writing) denied her.

This is a ramble and it makes no sense and I’m really sorry, but my point is that Bardugo put the wrong characters in the wrong story. The character arc required for organic development doesn’t match the story and intended message at all. The narrative doesn’t fit the cast. She's got two clashing stories attempting to work in tandem and she ends up with both conflicting messages that fans still can’t comprehend in her writing and an ending that doesn’t suit her main character to such an impossible degree that it’s almost laughable.

So yeah, there's a few reasons why I think the story and the plot feels so bad and disconnected. I hope you don't mind me making this answer so long! 😅 I was not expecting to write this much.

[constellaj]

16

Please talk more about your reboot!

16: If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?

okay so how i would re-do CANON is completely different from how i would talk abt a reboot so im gonna touch on a couple things in both contexts! the reason for the difference is canon rewrites imply i can go back in time and introduce dp fresh and new, before anyone knows what it is; but for a reboot, id be working with an audience that has a better understanding of the source material, so i dont need to spend as much time explaining, but i also need to keep everything recognizable

Valerie

REWRITE: i would def make it more danny's fault that her dad lost his job, like danny was intentionally being reckless and shattered some security stuff, and he has a whole mini lesson about learning to not just run in guns blazing. i would probably remove the dating stuff with her and danny (and tuckers crush) too, I think them wanting to be good friends is good enough for freshman year

REBOOT: the fandom already knows valerie exists, so i would actually skip the whole shades-of-gray introductory episode and have her be present as the huntress from day 1-- probably even before danny got his powers. cujo is also HER dog, and her backstory-- we'd find out in like, season 1, that a natural ghost portal (maybe one wulf opened) ripped open on her dog and killed him, and since then shes had a vendetta against ghosts cause of how reckless they are and their disregard for life-- of course, cujo isnt actually dead. cujo is a halfa. a puby halfa. anyway instead of a hoverboard she actually rides cujo around cause he can fly and its big and epic. valerie has BEEN amity parks ghost-eradicating superhero for at least a year (tho shes been in the shadows abt it) and her hatred towards danny actually just becomes really petty, like them flying next to each other chasing skulker just going "I got this. no I got this. no I got this" and they just get in each others' way and its a mutual grudge.

BOTH: i am NOT keeping in vlad giving her the suit to watch danny under any circumstances. it was only utilized half assedly in canon (when vlad couldve just had an invisible duplicate watching him instead) anyway, and I dont have any reason to keep it in a reboot either. instead i want her tech to be a combination of half-stolen and half-gerryrigged stuff and she slowly slowly learns how to build her own.

I also dont want anyone knowing her secret identity, except maybe her dad, and sam or tucker. i think it works better if danny isnt privy to this magic info

Freakshow

REWRITE: i would honestly just remove him. the episodes hes in arent particularly interesting, theyre just generic "we need a plot about x" filler and he's not compelling enough a character (at least in writing) to carry a better plot that another antagonist couldnt. i'm serious

REBOOT: unfortunately in a reboot he's gonna have to pop up somewhere or else ppl will be like "where IS HE" so I'm going to stick with running some kind of ghost circus, maybe a few occult things, but cut out a lot of the spooky magical knowledge and mcguffin stuff. maybe i could make him like, someone from vlad/jack/maddies college who always felt pushed around by them and so he has a vendetta? and theyd be the only reason he even learned abt ghosts in the first place. idk in either way I want to force him into being irredeemable but also include LYDIA (the tattoo girl ghost) way more-- I want to give her an arc that ends in her tossing freakshow aside and running off to be a ghost vigilante.

BOTH: dear god the infinity gauntlet is stupid that needs to GO AWAY. especially for the reboot cause it would exist in a post-mcu world and way too many people would complain about it

Vlad

REWRITE: amp him up to a far more sinister and villainous character. the crushing on maddie isnt enough, I want to show him on-screen performing experiments on ghosts and himself, dismissing everyone else cause he thinks hes smarter than them. i want him to be actively sabotaging the fentons at every turn. i would also clarify that he doesnt actually want danny as a son, but as a trophy-- a line where danny says something along the lines of "you don't want a son. you want a slave". i want to make him a character who wants to destroy the entire planet and put it in the ghost zone so he can be the true ghost king and i want to make this all evident from day one. if i'm writing a series villain you can bet i'm going to write a GOOD one. less petty drama here and more actual stakes.

REBOOT: it seems silly but sense with reboot we have the benefit of hindsight and recognizing that vlad wasn't a big series villain, theres no way i'd actually go back and write him to be such. for starters, of course, theres the fact that anything he does would really be an exaggerated part of the original, and it would bore an audience to see the same story again-- theres also the fact that it doesnt seem right to take a character who was treated as a joke half the time and suddenly make them big and important. no, instead for my reboot i want to lean into the petty gay uncle vibe. he had a crush on jack and now just casually insults him. he moves mansions every now and again by just haunting the family who lives in the one he wants, and taking over-- i mean, who is gonna believe that an actual ghost haunted you. he dislikes danny not because he has some concept of 'evil' and 'good' but bc danny is just too damn active. of course he actually does care about danny and his safety deep down, it's just on the surface they have very conflicting motivations-- not to mention that danny has been raised on legends from his parents of the villainous Wisconsin Ghost, who has to be stopped at all costs.

BOTH: i want jack and maddie to KNOW he's a half ghost and to actively be hunting him down for it, maybe bc they think hes possessed, or been a ghost tricking them this whole time, or the victim of a tragic lab accident who needs to be put to rest, etc. whatever the case it will give vlad actual tangible reason to despise them and genuinely suspect they dont have dannys best interests at heart. i think it would be neat if vlad was cynical and every time danny hit him with the "I'll expose us both. at least theyll still love ME" vlad could be like in the back of his head "oh god theyre going to kill this child"

Dani

REWRITE: cut her out. we don't need her character at all. maybe replace her with a more ominous shadow duplicate / clone that actually looks like danny himself and doesnt really have a name? you could probably combine her and dark dans characters for their arcs

REBOOT: instead of a clone from vlad, she's a guys in white creation using some of dannys dna after he was captured (and vlad broke him out bc he was like "ugh i guess i have to save this child")

BOTH: vlad actually cares abt her (duh), shes nonbinary (double duh), she gets the funny dissolve into goo powers

i had more i thought i was gonna write but this post is already very long and also im running out of coherency for this LUL

[gayspock]

i’ve been meaning to watch succession but all i’ve seen of it is the yaoi twink shipping part of the show…. is the show it’s self actailly good/enjoyable what is you humble pitch dear eggs…

omggg hi sam!! :3

I DID- ohhh let me get it omg... i tried to describe it best for an anon at some point here: https://gayspock.tumblr.com/post/674871571387760640/hi-king-what-is-succession-about-i-kinda-wanna if tht helps.

but also as for more of my little opinion<3 well. putting it shortly: i think its SO good, personally, BUT i know its deffo not for everyone.

ik when i myself first watched it, it was a little hard to engage at the very beginning; as GOOD as i found the premise, i felt myself glazing over a bit during a lot of the "business talk" (help<3 sorry ik thats not the most elegant way of putting that). because it was like- there was potential of a really intriguing story, involving a power struggle with the family of the worst ppl imaginable BUT its also, like, you know... over a, megacorporation. and as good of a setting as that is in some respects (like at a baseline level: all of these characters are fundamentally horrible people, and its a world so insanely removed with greg as the only grounding person in this little bastard world) so much of this conflict is therefore set in boardrooms, and its done through talking - and specifically talking business - and theres definitely a point where i did really start to appreciate it actually. but nonetheless i know at FIRST its hard to sink your teeth into it - and for many it just does not appeal to them to do that, which yeah!! thats fair and makes sense.

but also for me personally... whilst tht was big at first, it sort of became a footnote for me. and i think that this video (it's spoiler free, if you want to check it out) says it best in the beginning. i think, for me, the show really GOT GOOD once i started to intimately understand the characters.

and its like- gosh at the risk of sounding sooo pretentious, its like... there is a genuine complexity to the main cast of them that im obsessed with. theyre all SUCH horrible fucking people, and you dont fucking empathise with any of them (or at least, i know i dont). but, it manages to walk that fine line where they are all still so... real, and as extreme as they all are, theyre not caricatures at all. nor are they unfeeling monsters that operate purely on cutthroatedness- quite the contrary, its their own desires or insecurity so plainly motivate a lot of their action.

and like what i was saying before: i, at first, did not care so much for the business-focussed parts of the show... but over time i grew a little obsessed. i am like a kid fascinated with BUGS. bc so much of that culture REALLY IS riddled with contradiction- likeee okayyy besties, its all about the bottom line, about efficiency, about the literal numerical values and what yields the most profit and yet THROUGHOUT so many decisions are based on fucking pissing contests and big dick competitions, shows of strength and weakness and the absolutely loopy minutiae of conversation, and its all so inherently fleighty and fucking going off the rails just bc of one fucking thing thats enough to piss away EVERYTHING, this pervasive desperation to be the richest when you arent, LIKE GIRLS..............

and this family really is a microcosm of that bullshit and so even in that regard, they are inherently flawed and often are motivated by their own feelings and such and theres just this. extremely realistic, believable absolute selfishness to all of them- that i find refreshing (and initially i was abt to rant abt that, abt how rn theres such a weirdass culture with morally bankrupt characters who cant just be morally fucking bankrupt and how feelings and suffering doesnt a good person make, but omg. i got on too many tangetnsafiadpjdsg) which is kinda HILARIOUS to say but its true.

and its so funny. bc literally none of that is reallll, just like business.... NONE OF IT IS REAL GIRLIES... theres all this fucking drama between them all, every single conversation seems to be some insane power play with hidden meaning behind it and its like LITERALLY YOURE CULTIVATING THIS FUCKING ENVIRONMENT FOR YOURSELVES THESE PROBLEMS WOULD BE SO EASY TO FIX IF YOU HAD THE CAPABILITY OF JUST STEPPING OUTSIDE OF YOUR OWN LITTLE BUBBLES OF INSANITY BUT NAURRRR

which i think- literally, i think AGAIN is why this might just not fucking appeal to some ppl. bc its like youre actively just watching these bitches rip each other apart under the thin veneer of frustrating whatever the fuck. and i mean- god theres so many other points where its, like. I KNOW IM PERSONALLY OBSESSED, but i also get why others dont like it. something else i havent mentioned, for example, which i think is another point of contention is the humour?! LIKE- is sth i see a lotof ppl not gel with. and like literally in some ways i get it, i get why it might not be funny for you, which nod nods understandable.......... but also uh ehrm (at the RISK of sounding a bit assholeish, which i dont intend to be...) in some ways im like oh bestie (sighs softly) bc i know there are. a few people tht just kinda. dont actually GET it in a bit of a silly goose way (which oh jeez tht makes me sound like such a cunt </3) bc ??? i see some people jokingly say "Wow. Succession is a Comedy. /end joke" when it like- no but it... it is!? it is ultimately described as a "comedy drama". HELP. its just not, like, funny punchline quips but is very much this fucking. horrible and uncomfortable fucking irony a lot of the time

AND LIKE... im going to stop myself... bc like- I LITERALLY THINK. WHATS BEST IS GIVE IT A SHOT. SIT WITH IT PAST JUST A LITTLE PAST THE POINT U THINK YOU'D STOP. and if it still just doesnt work for you- as i know MANY ppl, it doesnt for- then just let it be and allow it to go down the stream. makes sense bc i KNOW its like- even, hell... even if its NOT just a case of it appealing to you, i know its also sth you gotta be in the mood for . BUT theres definitely an opportunity ro succumb to a madness if youre primed just right and ready for it SO LITERALLY. (NODS AT YOU) SO LITERALLYLITERALLY HELP. DOES THIS HELP?!