choccieorange

[sick-sad-little-world]

Lollapalooza, No Longer So Ambivalent About Bigness

New York Times, 07/12/1996

(via @bearcub81212)

[spectrum-core]

STEPHCLAIR IS BAD AND YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD

Alternative title: a very angry (and tired) Full Stop fan's thesis.

ok, so me being the stephan/sinclair comparison's strongest hater is a bit i really like to lean into, but for the sake of keeping things semi-serious i will try to keep the actual essay content as free of me ranting my frustrations as humanly possible (which i mean commitement to the bit aside this will be hard bc it is frustrating to see people calling them both the same character, at best it shows a very surface level understanding of either character and at worst it shows just reducing them to cookie cutter meme fandom archetypes neither character actually fits into, so bear with me if i slip up and make unserious comments from time to time)

so before i start the actual essay let me say this: this essay doesnt even scratch the surface of how much i hate this comparison you guys cant even possibly fucking imagine ive been obssessed and i mean OBSSESSED with the full stop office since 2021 and im glad i wasnt in the limbus prerelease fanbase because if i had to see people comparing my beautiful boy and beloved best friend to a guy we had no info about other than "hes based of the guy from demian" i would have turned into the joker this is not even about saving my own mental health this is about sparing the entire pjm fandom of the monster i would have turned into

spoilers for ruina and limbus, universe terminology heavy and surface level references and interpretations of demian by herman hesse because imma keep it real with you guys the first and only time i read that book i was still in high school and i barely remember shit.

Table of contents:

Stephan - a summary

Sinclair - a summary 2.1. Emil Sinclair in Demian (1919) 2.2. Emil Sinclair in Limbus Company (2023)

Addressing common arguments

1.- Stephan - a summary

And of course I will start with Stephan, because I love him very much, just like Liwei he's one of my favorite pjm characters (yeah i like him more than your favorite popular character don't ask) so it's not surprising that i have A Lot to say about him, right?

And of course, I do.

As I said in the serrated duo post, a core part of my perception of the Full Stop office depends on the fact that they are poor. Mentions of money are common all across many factions in the game, yes, but the Full Stops are extremely constant about money, how taking a wrong turn means losing more than they can afford, how they can't afford to drop their weapons because they were too expensive, how even getting the permissions to be able to buy and wield these weapons was ridiculously expensive and so on. Of course, Stephan is the one talking about this the most (something I will elaborate on later), but Liwei and Tamaki also make a few ocassional mentions to it in their dialogue and keypages and considering this is a shared business it just makes sense that this is something that affects all of them.

These are just some few of the callbacks to money that Stephan alone does in his dialogue, without focusing in keypage text or what Liwei and Tamaki have to say about it.

And idk man, at least to me the difference between social classes is an important aspect for their characterization, specially because of how constant the concern with money is for Stephan. From this point alone comparing them feels like erasing a core aspect of Stephan's characterization, a lot about Stephan (and the Full Stop office as a whole, let's be real here) starts making more sense once you read the office as lower-middle class (and I'm saying lower middle class because they can afford some place to live and their weapons, but to me these guys are the types who precisely because of their need to keep bullets at all times can't pay for water or electricity all the time and sometimes they simply can't afford food or if they do they can spend a week straight eating nothing but unsalted pasta).

Now, going back to Stephan being the most outward about his complaints with money, he is in general the most outward about all problems the office is facing, to the point in which he doesn't mind inconveniencing everyone else with his rants, being one of the few guests who interrupt Angela's introductory speech and getting into Tamaki's nerves (something he's well aware he's doing, as these two know each other) at least two times through the course of their pre-battle cutscene, even Roland comments after the reception on how he wishes he would always have been as open about his problems as Stephan was.

However, it's worth nothing that he doesn't spend the entire cutscene crying about his miseries, and he only starts losing hope at three key moments: when they can't kill Eileen inmediately (making them waste more bullets than needed), when Argalia shows up (forcing them to retreat and making them fail their mission, meaning they won't get paid for this after they already lost a ton of money, as well as turning the situation into something much more dangerous than what they had signed up for) and once they enter the Library (an Urban Plague grade threat they have little to no information about, when him and Tamaki are almost out of bullets so Liwei is essentially the only fixer with some chance of putting up a fight and, you know, making it out alive).

Now, while it's true that Stephan is someone who dislikes danger, he isn't someone who isn't used to seeing gruesome events, his instinctive reaction to seeing a guy getting his head put into a meat grinder was cracking jokes and calling the concept of thought gears "a load of horseshit", which is something that falls in line with him being a somewhat experienced Fixer (sure, grade 5 isn't amazing but we can assume it's still either in the higher side of average or barely above average, and for someone specialized in firearms, which are far from the best weapon in the city, getting that high means he must have some experience and skill, right? more so considering he's been at this for 5 years at most) who has seen a fair share of horrid shit and can be unfazed by (most of) it as long as his own safety isn't on the line.

Another point is... he dislikes danger and is always wary about money and expenses, to the point in which he enjoys checking his bank account (or at least he believes so, if we go for the theory of the artbook profiles being more a mix of what the characters perceive themseves as/would describe themselves as to others, which is a theory i go by, I see him as someone who's convinced he does that for fun instead as out of desperation), but this seems to be more a generalized feeling of impending doom at everything rather than something that can be traced back to a particular traumatic event (anything can be dangerous, anything can cost him money), dude's from the backstreets after all, he's seen shit and he's used to assuming the worst. How I see Stephan, he's a guy who already expects bad things to happen but once things go wrong he starts freaking out about how this time They're Screwed For Real, but he never really tricks himself into believing "maybe things will turn out just fine this time?" or who thinks "well, we've done this before, surely we can handle it again."

This is not very related to Stephan as a character in terms of personality but I think it's still an important point to make as it is particularly related to body mods, his physical condition and his body shape.

So we can easily say that Stephan is a strong dude, at least if compared to real world standards without the fancy and insane body mods we see people in the city have access to. He carries that huge rifle around with his bare hands, something that Tamaki doesn't do and that not even Stephan himself in earlier iterations of his dessign did, and his main talent (which based of my theories is something that can be assumed as "something he's proud enough of to consider it the thing he does best") is physical labor.

Pictured, Tamaki's talksprite, carrying a rifle almost as long as she is tall with a strap supporting the weight on her shoulders, like a normal person.

Also pictured, an earlier iteration of Stephan's dessign, carrying the same rifle his current version does, but also holding it with the help of a similar strap supporting the weight on his shoulders.

And finally, Stephan's current dessign, holding that shit with his bare fucking hands in an exhibition of his brute animal strength, what the fuck is wrong with this man (affectionate)

And Stephan's artbook profile, the important part here is his speciality being physical labor, not only he's strong but he aknowledges this.

However, I made a point about the Full Stop office being poor, right? Even Roland says that "giving a whole office augmentation procedures is cheaper than keeping a decent supply of bullets in stock" (not the exact phrasing).

At least personally, I see this as Roland essentially saying "it would be cheaper (and more efficient) to get body mods for everyone in the office and buy another (cheaper) type of weaponry instead", but as things stand, the Full Stops can afford to either buy more ammunition and maintain their weapons, OR to get body mods, and since their whole deal is firearms... well, they can't really Stop investing in them, meaning they have no body mods At All and they got their grades purely out of their own physical strength.

Similarly, Stephan makes a similar point about how body augmentations are required for people to be able to run while carrying their weapons around (specifically talking about the rifles he and Tamaki use).

And... you know, the whole point is that they couldn't run carrying their weapons because they were too heavy, Argalia mocked them for that, Liwei urged them to drop their weapons, something they refused to do because of the prices.

Lastly on this point, while it's true that Ruina talksprites have a very bad case of Long Anime Legs (to the point in which how Roland's legs take about 2/3 of his height is a common joke), if we focus only on his head and torso, Stephan looks pretty Wide, and not only because he's wearing thick, fluffy and multilayered clothing, as other characters wearing similar clothing styles still look thinner than him.

This is all to say: I don't think this guy is a twink, or thin at all. He's a prime example of the strongman build to me and this is yet another hill I'm willing to die on watch project moon turn him into a beanpole once he inevitably shows up in limbus and me turning into the first real world distortion as a consequence.

Finally, Stephan is very notoriously the most informal member of the office, not only being the only one who doesn't wear any sort of formal clothing fully prioritizing comfort and practicality over looks but also completely disregarding formalities with his attitude at work (again, he interrupts Angela's introductory monologue, and again, his first two lines when being introduced are him cracking jokes), being the only member of the office to swear on screen and using several informal expressions and metaphors through both the reception dialogue and his keypage story.

And for good measure, he's a compilation of Stephan being the creature he is.

The literal introduction of the characters, also known as the moment in which Stephan became one of my favorite characters because he's Just Like Me Fr

Very normal behavior for someone who hates blood and violence and isn't used to seeing it. This man is more than capable (and willing, assuming money is involved) to murder kill.

Which, I mean, this attitude is very different from what we see from Sinclair.

2.- Sinclair, a summary

In retrospect I probably should have made this one first because I'm gonna be honest with you, Sinclair is one of the sinners I care about the least (I still like him and think he's pretty cool mind you I just don't vibe too much with most of the tropes making up the character) so what I have to say about him is less me grasping for straws and subtext because I don't care enough about him to be bothered with a super serious and in depth analysis like I did with Stephan and more things we can explicitly see about him in game and things that happen in the novel Demian.

And if I can have a small parenthesis here, people saying that one of my favorite pjm guys Ever is in any way similar to a guy who despite being pretty cool is just Not the type of character I fully vibe with... really, it gets annoying fast. Anyway back to the serious analysis now.

2.1- Emil Sinclair in Demian (1919)

To be able to understand Sinclair as he is depicted in Limbus Company, it is important to first be familiar with the source material of the original iteration of the character, that's it we're doing your high school homework by compiling several literary analysis of a symbolic psychological early 20th century autobiographical novel i hope you guys signed up for this (and if you didn't, though luck! i will do this anyway, I love literary analysis).

In the novel, young Emil finds himself torn between the worlds of light (which can be equated to the Garden of Eden, but it's more tangible meaning for our protagonist is his childhood home and family, a serene and well structure/organized space where he can be innocent, untainted by the evils of the outside world) and darkness (basically all the scary shit that goes on outside, where people do evil things for the sake of it), he finds himself tempted by the violence of the outside world, particularly through the actions of his classmate Franz Kromer, which eventually leads him to consider that due to being exposed to this tainted world of evil he no longer can return to the world of good and innocence.

Here, the character of Demian acts as a guide, someone who helps Sinclair to trascend this binary perception of good vs evil and to see himself as someone worthy of happiness because him witnessing the world of evil didn't taint him as a person but rather merely showed him another face of the world, Demian here mentions the Mark of Cain as a symbol of mental strenght and freedom, considering that bearers of this mark are capable of making their own choices and should be able to go beyond their assigned roles, being able to embody aspects of both worlds. This is to say that Demian's view is less focused on good vs evil, instead taking a more order vs chaos approach (without giving an explicit moral character to either).

In the book, the symbol of a bird breaking out of the egg is frequently used to represent Emil's personal growth, the egg represents safety and innocence, but a bird must eventually leave the egg or it will die, and getting out of the egg is a process than can be seen as violent, as a bird must fight to get out of the egg, and getting out of the egg represents birth but also an irreversible change, it can be seen as breaking out of the world of light and getting permanently in the world of darkness since a broken shell can't be fixed, but it can also mean achieving the enlightment and personal balance to not feel permanently bound to a condition, place or state of being and therefore growing as a person by learning to see himself as a whole human instead of supressing his "evil side" by only forcing the "good side" to surface.

Max Demian is here to show this second meaning of growth/self improvement (while also explaining that Sinclair is permamently growing and must always keep this balance between all the parts conforming the whole being that is himself rather that trying to make parts of himself antagonize each other). This idea of personal growth being one of the core themes of the book.

2.2- Emil Sinclair in Limbus Company (2023)

With Sinclair's source media analyzed (at a very surface level, mind you), we now can start talking about the depiction of Sinclair in Limbus Company, how it parallels the book, why the book symbolism is important for this instance of Sinclair and so on.

When we are first introduced to Sinclair in the game he's clearly nervous, he doesn't know what he's supposed to do as he hasn't worked for a similar company before and he isn't used to the gruesome sight of the bus eating people, this does fit inmediately in the motif of a naive person with limited experience about the world (well, to be fair to him most people won't be seeing man-eating buses at a regular basis, but the average backstreets dweller would be familiar with equally violent situations).

With this said, despite Sinclair's obviously nervous behavior... he isn't really a pessimist like Stephan was, in fact, almost every chapter (counting cantos, intervallos and the short mini chapters such as the Dante's notes update episode) have at least one key moment with him trying to rationalize horrible stuff as something much less violent, or simply going "but I thought this thing didn't work like this..." when confronted with the more horrible realities in the city. He thought the G corp veterans were really going to let them pass without a fight, he thought the people being controlled by headhens were just actors wearing mascot costumes, he thought mermaids were the beautiful half-woman half-fish creatures he heard about in fairy tales, and there's more examples but I don't really feel like looking for The Entire Fucking Plot Because This Guy Is An Actual Protagonist Instead Of A Background Guy Like Stephan Was to make my point clearer than it already is. And it's only when he realizes that the real world doesn't fit his expectations that he panics.

Well, there is one exception to this pattern: his own canto. Here, he panics inmediately as soon as K corp's nest is mentioned and spends the first half of the chapter pleading to turn back while saying that they are going to get killed. So what is different here with the rest of the plot?

Obviously, the fact that is related to his very own very personal very specific trauma. That is to say, unlike Stephan who is wary of anything that can put him on danger or cost him more money than it should, Sinclair has a very specific traumatic event that makes him act Like That (sure, he gets scared and nervous outside that, but these are more normal "I'm unfamiliar with this and I don't fully know how to react, this is normal behavior in a human being" reactions than outright "I am Actually Terrified due to being reminded of an actual traumatic event, this reaction is a textbook definition of post-traumatic stress disorder").

HOWEVER, Sinclair being someone who's deeply traumatized and kind of a scaredy cat when it comes to violence and unfamiliar situations... it doesn't mean that he's incompetent or a bad fighter. Almost all of his identities are terrifyingly good fighters (at least in their lore), Los Mariachis fear jefe Sinclair, Cinq director Sinclair is someone most association members are terrified to duel even during training, Blade Lineage Sinclair is considered a talented killer (it's also worth noting that save maybe for the mariachi one, in none of these mirror worlds Sinclair is precisely happy of being recognized as "the guy who's very scary when he fights people", unlike Stephan who I don't think he particularly likes killing but has a more "as long as I get paid..." mentality about it), the only "not very good at this" Sinclair id I can think of is the molar boatworks id where he's more a mechanic than a fighter so he fears he's lagging behind in that aspect. Hell, even the Canon Timeline so to speak (which is to say: his base identity) has him carrying that huge halberd, going on a frenzy attacking some already mutilated inquisitor's corpse, piercing through Guido's armor and dealing a fatal blow that finally killed him for real. To compare, Stephan is good at physical work, but we don't know about his close combat capacities other than the fact that he dislikes it, for Sinclair however we know he's terrifyingly good at physical combat.

Now, I've seen a lot of people call Sinclair a twink and while it's one of these words that nobody agrees on what it means, let's give it the benefit of doubt and say "alright, for the duration of this analysis let's settle on a twink being a young looking (regardless of actual age), thin man with almost no facial/body hair".

Since Sinclair is a rich guy (not just Any Rich Guy though, we're talking of someone whose family had ties to a Wing, probably not some elite guy like Daniel or Hong Lu, but not a self perceived "mediocre" nest dweller like Samjo either), and pressumably not very experienced in combat in most mirror worlds (we know he has no prior experience in the base one where he joined Limbus, at least), let's say that he has enough body mods for him to be much stronger than he looks like despite being thin, he does look thin and young and much to my dissapointment he also has no facial hair, so yeah, under this very broad definition of the term he is a twink.

However if you start adding personality archetypes to the definition he stops being one almost inmediately, as we've been shown time after time that his "submissive" attitude is mostly a result of him not knowing too well how to impose himself and just going along with what the rest say or do, but he's starting to grow tired of that ever since Hell's Chicken (even if he clearly still isn't great at that), as it should be more than obvious for anyone who even just googled "demian herman hesse literary analysis", Sinclair is undergoing a lot of changes even now, and the game is doing a good job at portraying that.

Honestly I also think he'd be hotter with a sleeper build but really, I don't care enough about him to argue about that.

And for the last point, precisely due to his upbringing as a rich guy AND his traumatic experience with Kromer, Sinclair is not only a very polite and mild mannered guy (again, unlike resident creature Stephan), but also he tries to take as little space as possible, both literally and metaphorically, as Dante notices near the end of canto 3 when they finally comment on how Sinclair never talks about his own problems until it's too late because he doesn't want to bother the others as they probably have it worse (again, unlike Stephan "i don't mind loweing team morale and making everyone in the room uncomfortable as long as i get to vent" Full Stop office).

3.- Adressing common arguments

Alright, now that I talked about each character, let's see some of the most common arguments I've seen people use to compare them.

"They look the same!" No, they don't. The only thing they have in common is being blonde but even their hairstyles are different with Sinclair having a simple bowl-ish cut with slightly wavy hair and Stephan having curlier hair (not to mention the whole point I made about body types because I'm the sort of lunatic who cares about that stuff). I won't even bother with this argument.

"They have the same personalities!" Again, they don't. Stephan is very cynical with a lot of his attitude being clearly derivated from him coming from a poor background and having stayed there his whole life, he also doesn't care about his cynism getting in the way and bothering everyone else. On the other hand, Sinclair is someone who could almost be described as naive due to having lived a sheltered childhood and only having his experiences with Kromer and his time at Limbus as moments of realizing that the rest of the world is Not Like His Childhood House, still believing that the world is a binary of good vs evil and expecting things to turn out fine or be much better than they actually are, just to be hit with the reality of the city Not being a nice place where people are nice and polite and not trying to kill him, this is not to say he doesn't have his own issues but even Dante notices during his Canto that Sinclair makes a point to avoid bothering everyone else with his personal problems, keeping them to himself even if that makes things worse on the long run.

"Both are opposed and harmed by a lunatic!" This is an argument I've seen a lot and is incredibly filmsy at best, half of the city's population are lunatics and the other half are people who got opposed by them some way or another. Will you say that Ishmael and the rest of the Pequod crew can be compared to the Full Stop office (or really, even mention the other Full Stop fixers instead of just focusing on Stephan because he happens to be blonde and can be compared to Sinclair) because of their situations with Ahab? Or the W Corp crew who got their train targetted by Jae-heon and Elena (or, you know, the train passengers who were turned into Love townspeople or puppets)? What about the Vermillion Cross who got killed by the Reverb Ensemble? Or the Cane office fixers? or the Zwei association section 6 who got beaten to death by Gyeong-mi just because he felt like doing so? Or the Liu association section 1 who had to deal with Argalia taking Philip away? Or the Kurokumo clan members when they were attacked by Tanya? You aren't comparing them to either Stephan or Sinclair, right? Not to mention that in her weird and fucked up perception of things, Kromer was less opposed to Sinclair as she was trying to lead him to join her and her cause, even the last things she says before getting killed are her calling him to follow her.

"Both are compared to birds!" Oh, right, because I forgot that a very directed symbolic comparison to a baby bird breaking out of it's shell as a symbol of rebirth, learning about the nuances of the world and self improvement/liberation that is consistently used in the source material Sinclair comes from is exactly the same as one (1) throwaway line the big bad guy uses to mock not only Stephan but the whole Full Stop gang, right. And if you want to say "but Tamaki compares him to a bird once too", yeah she calls him a parrot because he keeps repeating the same complaints over and over, it's still not the same as a consistent metaphor.

"Both are sad blonde twinks! They're essentially the same guy." Sad? Yeah, everyone in the city is sad but their ways to be sad are polar opposites, and neither of them is the pure cinnamon roll uwu crybaby archetype people tend to lump both into, Stephan was merely having a bad day and people decided to make that his whole personality (when honestly we get more insight on his actual personality before Argalia shows up, when he's making sarcastic remarks and getting impatient because they weren't starting killing people fast enough) but he's still perfectly capable (and willing) to murder people, and Sinclair is just... someone who lacks experience about the real world and how it works and has a tendency to get nervous because of this, but he can adapt quickly to situations once he understands them. Blonde? Yeah, but I guess if that's a point to draw a comparison then we should also compare them to Don Quixote, the Tiphereths, Lenny, Yun, Lulu, Olga, every single npc, librarian, and agent who comes with blonde hair from the generator... Twinks? Stephan absolutely isn't one, Sinclair depends on how you define twink as nobody seems to get to an agreement with that, if you define it as merely "young looking thin man with almost no visible body hair" then yeah he is one, but if you go for any more specific definition than that he stops fitting into the definition almost instantly.

In conclusion: if I see anyone else comparing them I'll start blocking people liberally bc I'm sick of seeing that shit (I do that already tbh but just so you know), now scram

[bigblueoctoling]

I think one of the most baffling thoughts I've seen circling around the Splatoon fandom- not the most wrong, but the opinion that's the hardest to understand- is the idea that Splatoon as a franchise is going to- or even should- end after Splatoon 3.

I know the source of this idea, it's the line from the splatoon 3 trailer in the direct that said it's the end of the squidbeak saga.

But on every single level, the idea of splatoon as a franchise ending after Splatoon 3 just feels crazy. Like I gotta walk through every level of this hypothetical to fully explain how crazy this seems to me.

Narratively: It makes no sense for Splatoon to end at this point because it's really, really, really not like we've explored everything there is to explore in the splatoon franchise. Even putting aside the potential of new story paths to explore... We still know so so so little about daily Octarian living, and nothing about Splatoon 3 is any sort of conclusion to the story of Octarians. If you think Octavio helping to save the world from utter annihilation is a redemption for being a totalitarian dictator you are wrong. Deep Cut got damn near zero focus in this game. Everything we know about them is extremely surface level- the only deeper thing we know about them, their charitable nature and looting, has literally only ever been spoken about once.

Being able to explore everyday life in inkopolis or splatsville would also be illuminating? Like we know literally nothing about the governing bodies of inkopolis or splatsville despite having gone about saving these places several times. How do non-inkfish play turf wars? What's it like for someone who physically can't play turf wars since it seems to be such a pivotal cornerstone of the economy?

The story of salmonids still feels incomplete. Like yeah we're fighting the triumverate, but Splatoon 3 seems pretty clear set on showing us that invasively hunting down these sapient creatures is morally wrong (in case that was somehow something you needed explained), but Grizz Co's functional status quo is completely uneffected by the events of Splatoon 3.

There are more indulgent concepts worth exploring but just speaking about the surface level narrative elements that any player can recognize as important, these are still easy directions to go in.

Developmentally: It's quite clear Splatoon as a game still has a LOT of room to expand. Even just in the core gameplay, Splatoon 3 has sort of left a lot of stones unturned, to put it politely. ...But, with Side Order, the splatoon devs have explicitly stated in interviews that they are interested in exploring more alternative styles of engaging with Splatoon, and frankly, I feel like that's the single most important thing for Splatoon. Even putting aside how much I like the world of splatoon narratively, Splatoon's base gameplay has SO much room for experimentation and growth, and Side Order displayed that potential in full force. No shooter really matches Splatoon's elegant diversity, and that's not even getting into the potential of spin-offs in different genres entirely.

Business-wise:

Nintendo has absolutely zero reason to stop making Splatoon games. It has an extremely devoted fanbase who relishes in any merch they can get, and they've even held real-world concerts which as far as I can tell are very successful, at least successful enough that they've done it several times.

It's a franchise which not only has zero mechanical conflict with any other Nintendo game, but it's also their only venture into what is currently an EXTREMELY popular genre- it's obvious business sense to make a game that's a shooter, so why would they put an end to their existing shooter franchise that has already proven to be popular?

Politically: Frankly, I think the fact that Splatoon, a game which openly outright has LGBT themes, among other things, is a popular and significant franchise, is a pretty huge deal. Like the two most popular characters in the franchise are a gay interracial couple, and they're presented in such a genuinely well-spirited way- it genuinely means a lot to me, and frankly I think it would be a tragedy if the series just decided to end now after their relationship was canonized (more than it already was in splatoon 2).

In conclusion- I'd love to hear any actual reasoning as to why splatoon would, or should, end? Like it feels on par with thinking that Zelda as a franchise is gonna end now that TotK is out.

A friend of mine argued that splatoon as a series would be better off ending because of how toxic the fandom is, but, to be blunt, I think the fandom is only going to get better as the people currently making the fandom a horrid and toxic place grow up and grow out of their bigotry.

The tide of progress stops for nobody.

[angelcat123]

One thing I noticed while I'm actively in both the Mandela catalogue fandom, and the Bendy fandom, is how they treat their villains. Or popular antagonists if you want to call it that.

I'll talk about each of the character's descriptions from my viewing, and how the fandom has treated them.

First off, we'll start with the titular villain in the Bendy series, The ink demon.

The ink demon is Bendy's main villain in the games and in the books. He is a failed experiment and the only attempt at making the cartoon "Bendy" come to life. He lacks a soul and is the Lord of the ink realm that takes place in both "Bendy and the ink machine" and "Bendy and the Dark Revival."

He is in control of the entire realm where he stalks the halls, kills anyone who is unfortunate to come across him, and is hinted that he manipulates the people of the ink world in order to get what he wants.

However he does have a bit of a backstory of being considered a soulless failed experiment, being locked in the infirmary room according to Dreams come to life, and being tortured by the keepers. To the average person that would have some very traumatic effects from the experience, however we don't see that with the ink demon, with his lines having nothing to do with his backstory, other than "they promise us peace but they bring in more pain" which would go in with everyone in the cycle, not just The Ink Demon.

But with the fanbase.....

It's all either defending the ink demon all because he has a tragic backstory, completely dismissing all of the hurt he has done to other characters

(ex: this video which only talks about the tragic backstory and none of the horrible characteristics that the ink demon portrays in the same book she's referring to)

It's either that, or just plain simping.

You need no explanation, just look at the images. They're completely unapologetic.

Now let's go with the other character that is also the main antagonist in a different series, but also has some similar characteristics, Alternate Gabriel.

Alternate Gabriel is the main antagonist of the Analog horror series, "The Mandela Catalogue." He is Satan himself disguised as Archangel Gabriel to prevent the birth of Jesus Christ, and overthrow heaven. He created these shapeshifting demonic creatures called alternates, who use psychological warfare to have humans kill themselves.

His personality shows how sadistic he is with his voice back in volume 4 of the Mandela catalogue, shown being sadistic and even practically insane. He enjoys what he does and is very condescending to anyone he fools.

However with the fanbase...

Thankfully I couldn't find anything involving trying to defend his actions due to us not knowing about his past (thank God) but-

It's all unhinged fangirl simping.

No defending, no feeling sorry for him, just pure, chaotic, simping.

Honestly I don't know whether I should be relieved, or disappointed.

[9w1ft]

Hi 9w1ft,

I've been on and off tumblr for years, and have been very interested in Gaylor since about 2019. I feel as though I've read every deep dive and post on the topic...and yet...if a friend asks me "why cant Taylor Swift come out? its not a big deal in this day and age, there are plenty of celebrities who are out", I always kind of freeze and seem to forget everything I've learned. Its because she's worried about the politics of it? She's built a brand on having male love interests? Can you TLDR for me on why she has to have beards, has to put clues in her music/outfits/tours instead of coming out?

in the past, i think your answer is that it’s because she risks alienating her fanbase as a growing artist because of her chosen genre and ambitions. refer them to what happened with country artist chely wright when she came out. also taylor is an anxious person who grew up in the 2000’s which was an entirely different time than now.

as for contemporary taylor swift ™️? well, i think kaylor makes an awful lot more sense than gaylor does but, it’s not something you can really elevator pitch to people is it 🙈

maybe you can just tell them, it probably means that she is in a situation where coming out doesn’t just involve her—maybe she has a muse or a family to protect and probably is taking her time in order to get it all right, for everyone’s safety. this of course might change based on where we get to but, i think it explains taylor’s actions from november 2016 (the trump election) to 2021 (biden’s inauguration) in particular.

i suppose an alternate explanation for someone who knows nothing about kaylor is, scooter earns a percentage off of her work because of the deals he made. if taylor comes out, a great deal of interest is put on her discography by the public and scooter would inevitably profit from her coming out. taylor said in a subsequent interview that she would greatly inconvenience herself to prove a point. she hates scooter and obviously hates the idea of him monetizing her journey so, she will likely come out once she has rerecorded or sorted all her masters. you might note that even the media expected her to come out in 2019, all the way up til her masters were purchased. as for why she hates scooter… well…

[redwinterroses]

Look.

Don't take this as a call to go spam the support requests on AO3 but... mcyt fans, we have a very loud voice. Especially you DSMP folks. We had more people watching MCC than the friggin Olympics and if Dream tweets something a million people lemming right after him, for better or for worse.

We have a voice. Use it.

If you have an AO3 account, PLEASE go to to the "Technical Issues and Feedback" page and submit a POLITE request for changes to the various mcyt tags. Look, there's an easy link so you don't even have to go searching for it.

Ask them to remove the RPF tag, or at least give us a separation between RPF and character-based fiction. Ask them to please give us tags for different fandoms. This is a good post about some of the issues.

BE LOUD. Don't think this will change on its own or "oh, someone else will do it, my voice doesn't make a difference." If everyone acts like that, no one says anything. We are many, and if they hear the same thing enough, they'll understand that there's a real issue but if no one ever says anything directly to them, how in the world are they supposed to know we've got a problem? Ranting on tumblr does nothing to fix the problem.

BE POLITE. Please, I beg you. You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. "We would love to see these changes, we're one of your bigger fanbases and we understand that there's a lot of work that goes into this, but this is very important to us" will get us way further than "hey you stupid idiots" type messages. Write like your grandmother is going to read it. Activate those professionalism powers.

Them removing our works from the Last Life (Web Series) tag means they are at least tangentially aware of what's going on -- and there's no way they're not seeing how EVERY SINGLE FIC includes tags about "not rpf" and "ao3 please let us tag things correctly." (Keep doing that too, btw. I think it helps illustrate the solidarity of the fandom in this.)

Archive of Our Own is a fantastic site run by amazing people on a mostly (entirely?) volunteer basis. There's no ads, there's no censorship, the site itself is actually attractive and relatively easy to navigate (especially when compared to the only other real alternatives, FanFiction.net and Wattpad, *shudders*) and honestly the tags that we DO have work pretty well. It's genuinely impressive on some level that no matter how I tag a specific character, it's going to connect up to all the other ways people tag that character.

Let's not get negative about AO3. But let's use the power I KNOW we have (*sideways glance at every MCC twitter vote and the glow squid*) to maybe change something that is a genuine problem in our fanwork community.

[catgirlxox]

The Truth About The Omniverse & The “Real” Ben 10,000 Future | by Catgirl

Ben (as Gutrot): “Animo coming back from the future again? Now, does that mean everything was different until he came back, or there was a world where he didn’t come back that doesn’t exist anymore, or what? See cause it doesn’t make any sense.”  Rook: “Time travel, Ben. It never does.”  ("Animo Crackers" - Ben 10: Omniverse)

I don’t know why this dialogue was chosen to be included INSTEAD of explaining the situation, so allow me to make sense of it for you. 

Because I’m starting to get the impression that some people missed the point, despite all the producers' statements and canon evidence spelling it out.

And, I suspect that’s mostly thanks to this kid…

...due to his various incorrect statements, and actively doing the opposite of what Paradox has been doing the entire series. 

His first mistake was his attempt to force the Prime Timeline into a certain direction, despite his own reality already existing in its place within the multiverse. 

Here’s the deal: his reality already exists. And therefore, can’t be “erased” by the existence of any other reality. If THAT was the case, it would have happened already, and there would never have been a multiverse. 

Spanner just going back in time is not enough to confirm that he is from the “real future,” since literally anyone could also go back to this exact point if they were to do the exact same thing. 

Future Gwendolyn, Ultimate Ben, and Future Animo - all from separate alternate futures - travelled back in time, and neither of which came from the so-called “real future.”  

Paradox being the one to give Spanner his equipment proves absolutely nothing. Especially not that he would suddenly go against all logic and reason to do the same thing as a misguided kid who clearly doen’t understand the way the Omniverse works. 

Wouldn’t it make sense to provide a means of defence for a kid in a multi dimensional warzone? 

On the other hand, despite the fact that it would be nonsensical to try to fix a ”perfect” relationship, does giving him that power and equipment to force something to happen, and go against the rules by which Paradox operates, seem reasonable?

I mean, *insert every time Paradox has ever stopped anyone from revealing the future here* 

Despite the main cast’s initial panic, nothing Spanner said held any power over anyone. The only thing he revealed was what happened in the alternate future that he, himself, had come from. That doesn’t dictate anyone’s actions moving forward. 

Entertaining him for a second, if what he said was true - the belief that, despite existing within an Omniverse, the present will only lead to his future - he really shouldn't worry about ceasing to exist. By his logic, no other reality would have ever existed at all. 

In fact, his own actions prove that he was wrong. 

There would be no need to panic if they really had no choice. If they didn’t have free will, no force or effort on his part should have been necessary. 

Paradox only intervenes when the entirety of existence is at stake. (Such as it was in “And Then There Were None” / ”And Then There Was Ben.”) Otherwise, he reveals next to nothing because the future isn’t set in stone.

Unlike Spanner, Paradox has never attempted to force anyone to do anything. That's why he wants to “prevent the future from changing" - he wants to avoid having an influence over their actions and therefore not allowing them to act upon their free will. Events only happen as people make their own choices, out of free will, which then is the reason for the existence of so many "branches." 

This is also a common remark amongst the fanbase. It’s not inherently wrong. However, what people fail to see is the reason for that.

The issue is that this alludes to the idea of there being just one possible future. When, the only reason there are different outcomes is because people have the ability to choose their next course of action. People have control over their own actions so naturally every different choice will lead to a different outcome.

And, which is why everything Spanner did and said was…completely incorrect. It wouldn’t matter what he did. He can not erase the fact that free will exists.

In this situation, Paradox didn’t intervene because it doesn’t really make a difference what happens as long as it isn’t detrimental to all of reality. One alternate universe is ultimately inconsequential in the grand scheme of the entire Omniverse. 

The reason “Ben’s future changes every time he meets his (alleged) future self” is because, as has been established, reality “branches off,” creating new outcomes that stem from the Prime Timeline. Meaning, he has the free will to choose his next course of action in any particular situation.

Azmuth: “Yes. You told me of his grand destiny that he was the legendary being who will someday.” Paradox: “Shhh! No spoilers. For that glorious future to occur, we must first survive the current crisis.” Azmuth: “It's too much! The child cannot win this time.” Paradox: “And I say he can. Won't it be fun to find out who's right?” (“The Forge of Creation” - Ben 10: Ultimate Alien) 

As shown in "Fight at The Museum", revealing the events of any future just causes unnecessary panic due to a perceived loss of free will and choice. 

Which, is NOT how it works. The future of any given reality should depend on the present, and not the other way around. 

Paradox - the one who understands all of this - is extremely cryptic. And, evidently, for a reason: to not reveal anything and to not influence anyone. He avoids forcing reality into any direction. His only interest is protecting all of existence.

Haven't you ever noticed how he never specifies exactly what anyone is “supposed to do?” And, just says things like, "he (Ben) will do what needs to be done?” Or refuses to get too involved in the battle? 

(Needless to say, completely unlike Spanner.)

So, there isn’t something specific that absolutely needs to happen, “or else.” Something much worse - like deadly intergalactic wars - have already taken place within the Omniverse and it didn’t affect the entirety of existence.

So, a certain relationship not happening, in one universe? Out of literally infinite? Yeah, tragic.

Things can play out differently in different realities because that���s how the multiverse works. 

The relationship between the main timeline and every alternate reality can be described like this:  

Paradox: “But before I can answer any questions, you're going to need to brush up on quantum mechanics and string theory. There are many dimensions, many Universes, many Earths, and thus many Ben Tennysons across those dimensions, dimensions which are not always in sync in time. Think of time and space as this tree. Down here is when you were 10 years old. Right here is now. Up here is when you'll be 30 years old. The trunk is the main timeline. These branches represent alternate timelines, where reality literally branches off and becomes a different timeline, each containing its own Ben Tennyson.”  (“And Then There Were None” - Ben 10: Omniverse) 

By that logic, what is referred to as the “trunk” can’t lead to just one “branch,” outcome or in only one direction. To insist to opposite wouldn't make sense because...if you've ever seen a tree before, that's not how it works.  

If we’re going to argue that fate doesn’t exist, then there can’t be an already established end for the prime timeline. If there was, it wouldn’t have been “branching off” to begin with. But, as has been established by the sheer existence of every known alternate reality...that’s impossible. 

These realities are not mutually exclusive. Meaning, the existence of one doesn’t write off the existence of another. Both Ultimate Ben and this version of Future Animo could predict what was going to happen because their realities were branches off of the prime timeline, which both exist independently. 

Paradox: “Cross-time is made up of parallel versions of the history we know. There are hundreds of them. A world where Gwen found the Omnitrix. A world where albedo turned to alien x and was trapped motionless for nearly a year. A world where you didn't have to destroy the Omnitrix to defeat Vilgax. Et cetera. Ad infinitum. These worlds are all every bit as real as our own, but they cannot not be allowed to leak into  ours.” (“Ben 10,000 Returns” - Ultimate Alien)  

Paradox wouldn’t force the future into any direction to not interfere with free will. And he wouldn’t just give out equipment for that specific purpose, either, because then it would lead to the exact problem there was with Spanner. 

So, I don’t want to hear about how this is the “real future,” or his “fate,” or “destiny”...or whatever. 

("The End of an Era" - Ben 10: Omniverse)

Because, within the Omniverse, where there are infinite possibilities, and where new ones are constantly being created as soon as anything does or doesn't happen, the Prime Timeline can't be confined to just one.

The Ben 10 universe is an Omniverse. And the Omniverse is infinite. 

In Conclusion, as Professor Paradox said, “There are so many ways to tell a story, but that's what makes them so interesting; you could never predict how they are going to turn out." (“And Then There Were None” - Ben 10: Omniverse) 

Even the most recent official content ("Alien X-Tinction" - Ben 10, 2016) - which, ironically enough, had a plotline literally surrounding the Omniverse - supports my argument. Because, establishing the Omniverse, and ending on that note, effectively gives everyone what they want out of the Ben 10 series. Since, existing within an Omniverse means everything can happen, simultaneously. 

The only “fate” you have is the one you create for yourself, and the only “destiny” you’re confined to is the one you choose to follow. 

RESEARCH + REFERENCES: 

◾ Q&A With Matt Wayne - Page 58 (archive.is) 

◾ Category:Crew Statements | Ben 10 Wiki | Fandom

◾ Ben 10,000 | Ben 10 Wiki | Fandom

◾ Category:Timelines | Ben 10 Wiki | Fandom

CATGIRL’S OTHER POSTS ON THE TOPIC:

◾ On the future of the Ben 10 continuity

◾ On the alleged inevitability of Benkai

◾ On time travellers hiding their identity

◾ On Alien X-Tinction & its conclusion

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

What are your thoughts on Near and Mello (Death Note)? You don’t seem to like them as characters

I was about to say that I don’t necessarily dislike them, but, honestly, I do. I really really do.

And hey, look at that, I get to offend an entirely new fandom. 

To be honest though I’m not even sure where to begin.

I suppose I’ll start with the concept of the orphan heirs to the title of L.

Wammy’s Dog Fighting Arena for Boys

Death Note is a fantastic and brilliant anime, however, every once in a while more general anime tropes sneak through and cause it to fall flat on its face. We have L, who for reasons is a sugar addicted man child (well, I actually have thoughts on L, who I quite like, but my theory is that he is the way he is because he’s a jackass who fully intends to be that off putting).

The Wammy orphan bit is the worst of this. We have an orphanage of... children competing for the title of L, an anonymous detective that Watari made up. These children are all super serial geniuses who are even weirder and less socially adjusted than L. Just, kill me.

Even the premise for why they exist is bad. The authors’ in the Death Note guide admit that, when they realized they were going to kill off L, they realized they had a major problem. They didn’t want a repeat arc with another L as a nemesis, SO THEY BROUGHT US TWO Ls, THAT’S COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!

Why I call it anime derp is that the whole ridiculous Wammy’s concept is never addressed. Wammy’s existence, the little we do know of L’s backstory, makes Watari the level of skeevy reserved for manipulative Dumbledore.

The man uses these children and pits them against each other in a high stakes intellectual environment where they stake their entire worth on their still developing intelligence.

In canon, we see what this has done to Mello, L, Matt, and Near. All of them are completely messed up human beings and they either die or never get better. L is an utter jackass who cares very little about justice. Mello becomes an actual gangster and uses the Death Note to make hits on rival gang members (not to mention Sayu, but we’ll get into that). Matt also becomes a gang member and kidnaps multiple women. Near cannot function, at all, in society and when we catch up to him ten years later in that hilariterrible one-shot he’s gotten even worse.

If we’re taking LABB as canon then you have Beyond Birthday who becomes a serial murderer and lights himself on fire in a desperate, insane, attempt to show up L. We have reference to A who killed himself under the pressure of trying to become L. 

We can presume there’s been other orphaned children, who had nowhere else to go and no one to protect them, that Wammy just destroyed so that he could have Batman.

Death Note, however, never touches this with a ten foot pole.

Instead these are our weird and quirky band of heroes who are so weird because... it’s anime and we like weird! Weird means you’re a super genius! Yay genius orphanage!

So, right at the very idea of Wammy’s existing, they already have to win me back. Mello and Near do not win me back.

Mello is a Thug

We’re supposed to feel very bad for Mello, he’s always been second to Near and this messes him up, and he leaves to try and find his own path. I’d say god bless him, you go Mello, except his own path turns out to become a gangster.

Mello’s not a remotely good guy.

Just because he’s pitted himself against Light, and tells us he’s sticking it to Kira and Near at the same time, does not make him remotely good. And that’s what irks me about him, Mello is a great skeezy character, but the story actively wants me to think he’s the hero.

It’s sort of like trying to convince me that Kylo-Ren is secretly a great guy. It’s really hard to sell me on that when we watch Mello in real time and, more, why are we even bothering? Let Mello be the scumbag he is.

First, Mello steals a weapon of mass destruction and immediately begins using it. It’s not about solving the Kira case for him, or at least, it’s certainly not about stopping Kira. It’s about showing up Near, L, and all those who never believed in him. 

That Mello, first, not only steals the notebook from the government, but then gets it into the hands of gangsters, AND THEN USES IT TO ASSASSINATE HIS RIVALS. Well, suffice to say, you do you Mello.

More, this is a guy who tortures, murders, and probably rapes multiple people to get this to happen. Mello’s attempts to retrieve the notebook start with the kidnapping of Japan’s head of the police force. He then kidnaps Light Yagami’s younger sister and... Something very bad happens to Sayu.

We never get confirmed what happen, we don’t see much of her in captivity or much after, however immediately after the events we see her in a wheelchair. At the end of the series, Sayu is catatonic and barely able to express emotion.

It’s highly implied she was raped.

With the kidnapping of Takada, regardless of what you think of her... Nothing good was going to come of that. Mello resorts to the tactics of terrorists just so he can prove he’s a big man.

Further, Mello’s brilliance is never really that brilliant. Yes, he gets the notebook (though notably does not hold it long and loses his name in the process). However, his big win at the end is supposed to be him having realized Mikami would mess up were he to kidnap Takada. He had no guarantee of this, frankly, I think he was just kidnapping Takada in an act of desperation. Because that’s what Mello does when he runs out of ideas: he kidnaps people close to Light Yagami and sees what happens.

This gets both him and Matt brutally killed.

Near’s a Moron

Near is so weird and so maladjusted, my god, and he’s such a pretentious ass. He’s just... knock off L in every way. Which, granted, is kind of what he’s supposed to be. Except that the story never capitalizes on this. 

We see hints of it, Near trying desperately to live up to L’s name and mantle, but it never really delves into it.

More, what we do see of Near’s plans...

I really want to go into the one-shot epilogue, because that said so much about Near, but I’ll resist.

Instead I’ll note that L was 13 days from proving Light’s guilt. It takes Near and Mello combined five years, and Mikami’s dumb ass, to get to the same place. And even then, they nearly all died if Matsuda had been a worse shot.

Near has no idea that he’s nowhere near as brilliant as L. Instead, he gives us the world’s most hamfisted, frustrating, lecture at the end of the series where he tells us that Light was so stupid and that together he and Mello triumphed over evil.

Good for you, Near, I’m so happy for you.

I Just Don’t See the Point of Them

The second half of Death Note, in general, is a slough. It’s not just me saying this, you ask the majority of the fanbase, and they’ll admit it all goes downhill with L’s death.

I think the authors desperately wanted to avoid writing the dystopian politics of what would happen if Light won unopposed. They wanted a detective thriller, the trouble was, that story ended with L’s death.

So they try to feed us the same, but worse, story twice, and it just doesn’t work.

Personally, what I’d rather have seen is Matsuda and company slowly but surely realizing Light is Kira and Matsuda, in the end, having no choice but to assassinate him as they just cannot get any proof. It’s a very different story, but it would have been such a good story of betrayal that, again we sort of got hints of, but never really confronted.

Alternatively, keep Naomi Misora alive, and have her be the spearhead of brilliance we need. As it was, I am eternally sad/amused that she was killed off because she was too damn smart for the series (the authors admit she figured everything out too fast and as a result had to be eliminated).

Just, please, not genius orphan children. 

[sanstropfremir]

I’d love your thoughts on BTS and their current image and music if you have them and aren’t afraid of the mindless internet hoards.

Personally, I liked a lot of their older stuff, but haven’t liked anything since I think the Fake Love promotions 3+ years ago. They’d started losing their personality and soul before that album cycle, but it feels like the sanitization of their image and artistry really kicked into hyperdrive after that. Now most of what they do seems like a sterile money grab driven by the Hybe hive mind which is a shame.

ok alrighty (cracks knuckles) let's get into it.

now that i've fully given myself a headache watching the majority of the bts videography, here are three points i'm going to cover:

performative character and the lack thereof

interesting aesthetics and the lack thereof, and

the inevitable cracking of perfection

ready, set, let's begin.

1.

idol music is very clearly definited by spectacle based aesthetics. and it's had that structure for its entire existence. so i gotta hand it to hybe for this one, because they managed to revolutionize being utterly fucking average. the triumph of bts is that they're just some guys and they look like just some guys. hybe found a niche in the system and then gamed that system to the tune of one of the largest musical acts in the world. they're not marketing bts as a romantic parasocial relationship, they're marketing them as your friends. and that is just as insidious to lonely kids as a run of the mill romantic fantasy. but that's not what i'm here to talk about today.

there's a pattern i find very interesting with bts mvs and that is that i don't remember anything about them. specifically, i don't remember the stuff that's happening IN the video; not the styling, not the setpieces, if i didn't know the members i doubt i would remember them either. what i DO remember, is how expensive the production is, and specific shots. i couldn't tell you what a single member was wearing, but i sure as hell remember that first upward angle shot of jungkook and the rusted park ride in spring day. or every single time they do that birdseye shot of jin in like every video. honestly as far as i'm aware jin has only ever worn a loose fitting beige longsleeve shirt.

it took bts a long time to establish any kind of consistent visual character. and the character they did establish.... i don't know if you can call a family-friendly-style clean aesthetic 'character'. they debuted as a hip hop group to little (comparative) success, and then made a switch to doing an early version of where they're currently at right now. if you've seen any of the mvs, you know that this is a pretty significant visual change. i don't think it is inherently a bad change, since the visual branding for hiphop based groups always tips over into iffy terrritory, but it is dramatic enough and early enough that it doesn't strike me as a natural evolution. concept switch ups are common, but they usually work because the members have established a bit of character for themselves, used their performance abilities and presence to fit into a niche in the group. the idol mould is perfect for showcasing the performers; that's its function. the groups that are the most fun to watch are the ones with stage presence, the ones who know how to perform, who can act all the parts they need to play. and bts? 4/7 actual performers on a good day. in my personal opinion it's 2/7.

i'm gonna expand on what i said about jimin here (this is technically the first part of this series), because it does apply to the rest of the group on the whole:

and i think here is where we see the main crux of the difference between taemin and jimin as performers: taemin has both an artistic and an idol persona. we know and understand him to do solo work that has a separate artistic meaning to just him being an idol. even though this performance was pre-move, i would still say this applies, because he's hot off press your number, where he's acting in a story based mv. jimin on the other hand just has his idol persona. he's not known for creating the same kind of storytelling that taemin is.

bts has been very insistent on the image of the group as a single unit. despite having the size of fanbase and the revenue that would make any official solo debut a massive success, none of them have done any substantial solo work. this isn't artistically a problem, and i think it's very admirable of them to be so dedicated to the image and the legacy of the group, when that can be an uncommon trait in the industry. i do however, think it starts to become an issue when we want to discuss what the artistic visions and images of groups are. shinee taemin and solo taemin have two distinct artistic representations, and taemin himself will attest to that. it's the same with all the shinee members that have solo careers, and the same with other groups. jackson, bambam, yugyeom, and jaebeom's solo work is all very different from got7. yixing's solo work is very different from exo's. even the subunits within exo all have their own character (cbx and sc). kpop groups all ostensibly are trained under the same system, so why the disparity with bts? mostly, it's their brand of "authenticity." it's impossible to perform authentically, by the nature of performance as a medium it is unnatural, and tragically, not everyone is naturally interesting, or suited to performing: that's why the performing arts even exist in the first place. it required painstaking training to be good at performing; it is a complex set of skills and those skills are not learnt by "being authentic." being an idol is not just the singing, dancing, rapping; that's only half the work. you need to be able to act to be a compelling performer. pulling your true self and emotions out on stage every night is a fast track to burnout and psychological issues, there's plenty of evidence. the only member of bts of whom i can say for some certainty has a persona and a stage presence is jhope/hoseok, a) because he's kept up a very specific brand in the solo work that he has done, and b) he has actual dance training, not just kpop dance training. the rest of them may have the kpop dance and the kpop vocal training, but what they do not have is the ability to market themselves as compelling performers on stage. taehyung is the only other member i would hesitantly give a semblance of persona and ability to, but i think he stumbled onto that mostly by accident. and if all the pieces don't each have a distinctive colour, how can the whole machine be visually interesting?

2.

bts may never have been able to establish an aesthetic brand, but what they did establish is an intellectual one. if you talk to a fan, the schtick they give is that "it's about the lyrics." as noble as having an intellectual or cerebral message is, what does that look like? how do you portray intellectual on stage, on film? what about intellectual is interesting to watch? cerebral, by it's literal nature as a descriptor, is very difficult to communicate in visual language because it is internal. to successfully communicate cerebrality and intellect in a short form medium like music videos requires a deft hand with metaphor that can elude even an experienced designer. and honestly? i don't know whether to applaud hybe's visual team for being the most successful subtle contemporary designers i've every seen, or to decry them as worst kpop designers i've ever seen. maybe both. regardless, i don't think they're able to cross the gap.

there are exactly four mvs where i actually remember the content of the mv and not the frame it sits in, and those are dna, idol, the singularity comeback trailer with taehyung, and war of hormone. and of an eight year career......that's not very many. these four mvs have at least an inkling of interesting spectacle and character, but even then, it's still a stretch. there is absolutely nothing to write home about in the styling for dna, other than it's well colour matched. I don't even know if I should include singularity because it involves none of the other members. idol is probably their most interesting mv because it actually has alternative styling and varies (at least a little bit) from the standard hybe boom crane shot-that-shows-off-how-we-can-afford-big-studio-spaces-and-locations. the company and the group would be loathe to admit it, but war of hormone is a well designed and interesting mv for the time it was made, with a well crafted gimmick and some actual showing of character from the members. it was the start of a potential that they squashed quite quickly because it wasn't picking up in the hiphop-group-saturated market of 2014. but the rest of their mvs? remarkably uninspired styling. like it's truly impressive how boring the styling is. and like i've said, that is the triumph in their aesthetics: they all look like normal dudes (if you had professional skin + makeup techs looking after them for the last 8 years).

all of this is a carefully crafted image that's tailored to hooking an audience, especially an international one. the mvs are boring in the relative scale of kpop, but they're just different enough from a western pop mv to catch attention. and once you do sink a hook, there's a direct clickfunnel of content that bills itself on these men being "authentic" and "self-producing," which is a huge draw to international fans, because people are racist and believe that the kpop industry is a factory that produces idols like clones, where none of them know how to do anything other than sing and dance and all the music is just handed to them by companies. and they have SO much content that there's no way a new fan can get to it all in a timely manner, so they'll never have to engage with any other kpop artists' work if they don't actively seek it out. but that's another essay for another time.

3.

that brings us to current day, in which at least the last five bts releases have been in the same aesthetic vein of positive, sanitized, and pristine. i said it in one of my txt responses and i will say it again here: money scrubs the humanity from the aesthetic of living. minimalism is for rich white people. hybe and bts may have pivoted their style and brand directly into the lane of mass appeal, but when you pair that with the amount of money funding them, there's a cognitive dissonance between the message and the aesthetics in which it's portrayed. some people do like the clean cut looks, and i won't say that they don't work, but as you've likely gleaned from this response, it isn't my style and if you've been around and reading my writing for longer you'll know that my tastes runs much closer to the messy and the weird, so very little about any of bts' visuals have appeal to me. i do find the contradiction of applying the appeal of radical relatability with the aesthetics of expansive (and expensive) minimalism interesting; it's an extremely fine line that hybe is walking and eventually they are going to tip over, the porcelain mask will not hold forever. maintaining the all ages aesthetic is going to be difficult now that all of them are grown ass men. with other groups of this member age and generation there's very obviously been a shift to a more adult tone, and not necessarily explicitly. got7, mx, nu'est, btob, shinee, 2pm, and groups that have older members like a.c.e and sf9 have all made slow shifts in tone that are undeniably aimed at a maturing audience: they know their core fanbases are aging with them and they (the fans) are not as interested in the 'boy' in boy group. and most of them have telltale visual styles, enough so that i can distinguish a specific group's mv. the last year and change of mx mvs have a very distinctive character; got7 too, since easily as far back as if you do. i can always tell an a.c.e mv by its impeccable fashion and formic styling, and although shinee has always had a more experimental aesthetic edge, their sound and voices are unmistakable.

honestly, i can't predict what bts is going to do in the future, but i personally don't believe they can keep up their clean aesthetic indefinitely without some fallout. part of the fun of following bands is watching them grow musically, and the last couple of years of bts haven't felt like growth. there are fans that have already started realizing it, and there's likely to be more soon.

---

the third part is here, which is a short followup about some of bts' industry influence.

[nlxmoon]

( KIM TAEHYUNG, CIS MAN, 25, HE/HIM ) welcome to sunny los angeles, ALEXANDER “ALEX” PARK! we heard you’re quite ENERGETIC, but at the same time, you can be a little CHILDISH. i hope it doesn’t impact your job as a MUSICIAN too much. either way, kick your feet up! we’ll see you around town― especially at BOCA TACOS. 

hello!! i’m c and i’m so excited to bring u all my chaotic pop punk kid... pls give this a like if you’d like to plot, or don’t hesitate to hmu first on discord for such! ♡  

trigger warnings found: mention of pregnancy and miscarriage

PINTEREST || PLAYLIST || ABOUT SO IT GOES! || DISCOGRAPHY

BASICS

FULL NAME: Alexander Jacob Park

NICKNAMES: Alex, AJ

BIRTHDATE: July 28th, 1997

AGE: 25

ZODIAC SIGN: Leo

BIRTHPLACE: San Francisco, California

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: bisexual biromantic

GENDER & PRONOUNS: cis man, he/him

OCCUPATION: musician (frontman of So It Goes!)

MBTI: ESFP, the entertainer

ALIGNMENT: chaotic good

+POSITIVE TRAITS: confident, energetic, kind hearted, caring, charming

-NEGATIVE TRAITS: impulsive, reckless, childish, emotional, stubborn

BIO

Alex was born in San Francisco, California as the middle child of the Park-Kwon household. Two high school sweethearts that did nothing but provide the best they could for their kids: Alex lived a quiet, peaceful childhood, surrounded by love and support.

However... he also grew up becoming the “black sheep” of the family. His parents were respected doctors, and his siblings were book smart: Alex on the other hand... he was always getting in trouble, especially when his teenage years began. He was often found in detention, skipping classes, barely passing them. It’s safe to say that during this time, his relationship with his parents wasn’t as sweet as before.

While his siblings prepared to one day go to med school too... Alex had a very different passion: music. From a young age, he developed a love and interest for it. Asking for a guitar for Christmas when he just was 12 years old: after stumbling upon a Blink 182 video playing on tv, the moment his life changed forever when he found the solace he needed in pop punk music.

At 15 he started a pop punk band with his two childhood best friends that they called “So It Goes!”, his parents weren’t necessarily against his musical dreams: but they did have a hard time understanding them. Especially when no one in the family happened to be music inclined before. For as long as Alex can remember, he has always naturally stood from any crowd.. always the odd one out, but not necessarily in a bad way.  

Still: his parents were supportive, deep inside hoping Alex would eventually get his shit together and pursue a career in the medical field too (spoiler: that never happened lmao).

So It Goes! began to gain local popularity, eventually expanding to an online following too. Till being discovered and signed by a label during their senior year of high school, prompting for them to move to L.A after graduation to pursue their dreams and start working on their debut album: Gloom Boy Season, that was released in September 2016.  

Since debuting, So It Goes! become a favorite in the alternative/pop punk scene: having released 4 albums and 1 EP by now, and having toured around the world (also, a couple of Warped Tours on their bag). They aren’t My Chemical Romance or Green Day type of fame (yet)... but they have a core fanbase, and anyone who enjoys pop punk probably has heard their name before as one of the late 2010s bands to keep an eye on.

Oh yeah... I’m basing So It Goes! on one of my favorite bands aka Waterparks: in case you didn’t know who they were before, this is my time to shamelessly promo them and tell you to check out this banger for Alex’s band vibes.

ALSO CHECK OUT THIS POST FOR ALEX’S BAND (SO IT GOES!) ENTIRE DISCOGRAPHY!

If you were wondering about where his relationship with his parents stands now.. they’re okay now after he proved them that he Made It with his band and apparently “got his shit together” by it... they still don’t quite get him, but they love and support him which is what matters 😞  💓.

(tw pregnancy and miscarriage mention) Beginning 2018, Alex got into his purest and greatest relationship to date ( @scftglows​ ). Near their first anniversary, they found out she was expecting. They decided to keep the news to themselves and those closest to them until her belly was “noticeable enough” to tell the world: but unfortunately, Josie had a miscarriage during the first trimester. They tried to make the relationship work afterwards, but the pain was too much in the end, so they decided to call it quits instead in the summer of 2019: never revealing to the public the real reason behind the breakup.

Of course this caused Alex to spiral: first falling into a deep depression, then indulging in reckless behavior to try and numb the pain. Encouraged by his band mates to deal with it all in a “more healthy way”: he finally felt brave enough to go back into the studio and their saddest album to date (“Crying Over It All”) was released in late 2020. 

Putting himself back into the spotlight and touring again was pretty scary at first: but being near the fans again and feeling/seeing all their support ultimately ended up being pretty healing, motivating him to quickly go back into the studio and releasing an album early this year (“Lowkey As Hell”), with another tour coming during the spring and summer.

The past couple of years have been A Lot, so after So It Goes!’ summer tour ended: Alex finally decided he needed a little rest (something he didn’t really have ever since his band debuted in 2016), which is what he’s been doing ever since he got back home two months ago: just enjoying and cherishing all this free time to take care of himself.

Though this moment of peace has been lowkey (highkey) disrupted now, after his label/management recently forced him to get into a PR relationship with band rival @nadinexluna​ in order to promote an upcoming summer festival the two will be headlining. (hoping you all brought your popcorn bc this will be Messy™) 

Three years later and thanks to all the love and support from his family, friends and fans (and tons of therapy): Alex is doing way better now. The whole thing it’s still a really painful topic he never talks about, but he finally managed to go back to being his old, goofy self again ♡ (a little bit more mature tho). 

PERSONALITY/HEADCANONS

Just your average Leo man��� who loves the attention. On a good day he’s too hyper for his own good: pretty impulsive so his energy is A Lot to deal with lmaoo (chaos for days). He can also come off as childish a lot of the times over the same thing, but he’s really kind hearted and would do anything for those he cares for... golden retriever energy. On a bad day: he just retreats from the world and doesn’t leave his apartment, since he tends to be pretty emotional and sometimes that gets the best of him.

Big comic book nerd! Marvel fanboy (his fave superhero of all time is Spiderman): has a huge funko pop collection, and he also loves to come up with his own characters and stories (another safe haven of his). He’s been able to use these skills for designing merch or the artwork for all of his band’s albums. One of his love languages is to gift lil comic books where his loved ones are the protagonists of the story.  

Has a six year old female cat named Sally (yes, after that one Blink 182 song) that he adopted after he moved to L.A.

Loved Sk8r Boi by Avril Lavigne (forever his #1 love) as a kid so much that he became The Sk8r Boi... though it’s been a while since he properly skated, but he’s getting back to it so catch him wounded often lmao.

All he ever wants in life is to be like Tom DeLonge someday /: (without quitting his own band... u get it). Gerard Way is also one of his heroes bc well... music and comics, duh.

Landed a Travis Barker feature for his latest album and will never get over it

A lil bit of a himbo ngl

A hopeless romantic, falls in love too easily and has a new crush every week, which has caused problems throughout his life especially when it’s a “no strings attached” relationship, since he always catches feelings in the end and when they are not reciprocated that’s when he gets hurt /:

Loves to dye his hair and used to change it for every era his band had, the timeline was this: blue, blonde, black, red... but now that he got back home and he’s taking a break, he went back to natural (dark brown). 

idk what else to add... but pls give us all the plots (some quick ideas: fans of his band, one night stands/former flings, a fwb -can go terribly wrong since he always catches feelings-, crushes -can be one sided from either side-, exes on bad terms bc he hurt them without rlly meaning to but it’s angsty and it all went terribly wrong and it’s been a while but it still hurts, an ex who hurt him and all the angsty songs are for them, fellow music/art friends, a muse, the possibilities are endless!!). if u made it to the end i thank u and salute u with a forehead kiss ♡  

[calciumcryptid]

{ BNHA STREAMER AU }

Hagakure Tooru & Ojiro Mashirao

Quick Note: This is set in an alternate universe with no quirks.

Hagakure Tooru and Ojiro Mashirao have been friends their entire lives, so it only made sense to them that they would move in together after they graduated from high school.

Ojiro started to work at the local gym, and eventually was promoted to a fitness coach. He is also a teacher at the gym's dojo as he ranks highly in many forms of martial arts. Hagakure works as a photographer, and has been hired for many different venues and occasions.

Hagakure always had an interest in gaming, and started to stream after Ojiro bought her a proper gaming keyboard. While she is the stereotypical girly, her streams are nothing but good vibes as she plays games like Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley. Hagakure is also a family friendly streamer so she got a lot of popularity that way.

Due to how Hagakure's camera faces, no one can ever see Ojiro when he walks into the door. Though you can definitely hear his voice as he asks Hagakure what she wants for dinner and if she wants the food brought to her.

Ojiro gained some popularity, and got a reputation for being a cryptid in his own right as all people got to see from him was an arm.

There are compilations of his appearances because people are curious about this mysterious guy who pops in every once and a while.

Hagakure surprised her fans one day with a Q&A, and Ojiro came in when people asked for him. He stayed for the rest of the time, and he kind of blew up a portion of the internet.

They convinced Hagakure to get him his own twitch account which ended up with a Breath of the Wild playthrough. Ojiro is also family friendly which gained him a huge fanbase.

Gaming communities in general look down upon family friendly content creators and even more so if they play friendly slow paced games such as Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley, so many weren't happy with Hagakure and Ojiro sort of blowing up overnight and being on their level.

They promptly changed their tune when at a convention in Tokyo when they ran into other Tokyo content creators such as Sero, Bondo, Shoda, Kaibara (one of the Common Sense Kings), and most importantly Iida.

Ojiro and Rin made a club together and got matching mugs that say 'I Signed the Lease, Not the Twitch Contract'.

Ojiro Username: KingOfThePride

Hagakure Username: PrismShard

[sapphicwhxre]

tiny pansy rant, cut short so it’s *hopefully* not too long:

i. wanted. to. see. her. change! and in my opinion the reason she never got the chance was because jkr used her character to make fun of people she disliked :/

pretty much all the other noteable slytherins had some sort of redemption arc,, and yeah they’re still mostly problematic people but they got chances: snape, draco, narcissa, regulus, slughorn, leta and technically andromeda? you get the point i just—

like miss ma’am decided to make pansy,, the like slytherin stereotype? and have her want to betray harry? she was seventeen ffs, not bellatrix lestrange. she was in the middle of a war? in my personal opinion i don’t think that she wanted to hand harry over out of cruelty like. it’s possible? but maybe she was just scared? also don’t we know that pansy was terrified at the thought of like. voldemort coming to hogwarts? again: everyone expects all of the children in harry potter to be these selfless brave individuals,, they’re kids :( yes ik it’s ya fantasy but cmon. they were supposed to be stressed about the N.E.W.T exams not the upheaval of their society?

and don’t get me wrong i know that she was. not a good person. she was a bitchy teenage bully who was taught hateful views. but i wanted to see her change even a little– even draco marries someone who presumably teaches him how to treat people equally? like. there was so much room for change: she was a prefect, she was capable of some kindness seeing as she liked draco, or alternatively, we could’ve seen her break away from draco and potentially stop hating harry/all his friends quite so much or develop her own opinions. or maybe her group of friends that she used for validation throughout her school years was uprooted during the war and she had to learn that independency? or her pointing out harry could’ve been turned into trying to be selfless, like she thought they’d be safe that way, or she returned later fighting with reinforcements to show she was on Hogwarts’ side. jkr is always like "well they technically came back to fight, if you squint » but that’s not enough. also? let’s say we did get a glimpse of her during the actual battle: there could’ve been anything, the smallest scene, that showed some sort of support or reconciliation or something between her and hermione, considering how hermione was often pansy’s target. everybody wants to see forgiveness between draco and harry because of minor events/details (i dislike drarry but that’s besides the point), but imagine what could’ve changed with some semblance of apology or assistance from pansy to hermione. there were so many chances for r*wling to give her a smallest redemption

but instead we got her characterized as evil and a stupid, cowardly traitor. she the only person we ever see her care for marries her friends younger sister. she’s the written depiction of jkr’s bitterness and her arc is jkr’s vengeance.

also, another reason that i’m so mad she got nothing is because of the whole slytherin=evil thing. she’s made into a stereotype of a “slytherin”— cruel, selfish, shallow, ugly, and asinine. (also i could rant about slytherin forever, but can we just mention that jkr consistently refers to slytherins as physically ugly and just how fucked up that is? i– wtf). but anyway: to give pansy a chance to change is to give the slytherin house a chance to change its reputation. trying to justify that the slytherin house got its redemption because of the actions of ppl like snape or regulus, etc isn’t possible. because all of those “slytherin heroes” were described again and again as being “different from all the other slytherins”. they set themselves apart by being decent. they weren’t normal slytherins, no, they were set apart, they were brave and smart and kind— not evil. there’s no redemption to be found there. i wish jkr would just fucking say that being sorted into slytherin was being made into a villain. she dodged around it with rhetorical questions and pointing out how not All of them are bad,, and then will go on to mock the other slytherins and talk about how the heroes were Not Like The Other Snakes... again: there’s no redemption of slytherin as a house, as a quality, as a concept there. it’s just the redemption of an individual.

in pansy, however, we could’ve found so much more. like i said, she’s The Average Slytherin: not a hero, not a villain like voldemort. she’s made out to be a depiction of the typical slytherin student, one without a “destiny”, so to speak. and so to give her the chance, to see her change, to have her redefine herself? that would be a starting point for restoring slytherin as a whole (obviously not the best way, and the real best thing to do would be not to make an entire house be the bad guys in the first place, but–) to have someone who’s the figurehead of slytherin (like actually a figurehead,, girl is a even a prefect) show remorse and growth gives the entire house the seed of redemption. it would mean that after over a thousand years there could be peace between the houses. obviously not the only factor in reconciliation but still so important.

and not to just continue to heap on my own issues with it, but look. i know that there are so many other ways to introduce “mundane” antagonists without making them a symbol of anything. pansy could’ve been a bitch without representing slytherin. also pansy doesn’t have to break character and become kind for amends to be made. they don’t even have to be fully made, just started. but jkr chose to:

a.) go with bullying as a minor antagonistic element

b.) create and develop a character around that theme

c.) make this character only based on her own negative personal experiences

d.) turn that character into a representation of a much larger group of people

e.) deny that character any final moment that could begin to make amends for her actions and instead, chooses to make her “defining” moment an act of evil and cowardice

f.) either neglects the character or chooses plot points that would humiliate the character in all the glimpses of the future we are shown (ex. how dracos marriage is)

g.) openly mocks and insults the character repeatedly and never directly comes out and proves she didn’t write slytherins as evil

h.) to the best of my knowledge, ignores that pansy personifing slytherin, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and then characterizing both as “bad” and not giving them a chance to grow, is a summary of her thoughts on slytherin ls and is a possible interpretation of the text (i mean her opinions are already TRASH)

i. ignores the consequences of this or the possible effect it has on her entire fanbase and doesn’t seek to remedy it

but yeah, jkr, it was such a good idea to base a character off of your loathesone memories, take your anger out on her, and that choose to have that character partially represent a large percentage of your fanbase. thank you sooooo much. i really appreciate it!

summary:

I. Pansy— deserved an opportunity to have some character development. everyone else’s mistakes get overlooked to some degree save hers. had so many places to draw inspiration/opportunity from. could’ve progressed other ideas in the book and the analysis of her house while still remaining a “dislikable” character

II. Writing— from a “technical?” aspect, Pansy is underdeveloped and stagnant, used for personal reasons instead of as a plot device. perpetuates the slytherin=bad idea via a sloppy and repetitive characterization and emblem. there are ways around this that weren’t used.

III. I have no qualifications to be saying any of this lmao. Am I reading to much into it, knowing that Rowling tends to be shitty with writing details? Am I being dramatic and repetitive? probably!

IV. Fuck JKR (for everything. she’s an awful person)

anyways this has been: my mini-rant on pansy and her analysis,,, and i am terribly sorry,, i offer my apologies in advance for randomly dumping this into your inbox. it’s long and opinionated and there’s no real reason behind it! i just thought of it and then thought about it some more and then. here we are

ilysm mwah <3 should’ve definitely done something more productive but shh😭 rat brain hours

this is everything, you're completely right. i don't have much to add but i agree all the way. and people give pansy so much shit for the harry thing but she seemed genuinely scared of voldemort coming back and i really think that she believed he would leave them alone if they gave him up. from her perspective, it's either her and the people she cares about get to live or this guy that she not only isn't close to but probably sees as the bad guy considering she dated/was best friends with draco and witnessed their rivalry from his side. did she make the best decisions? no, not at all but i see her reasons and i don't think it makes her this antichrist that jkr makes her out to be. she pulled the “he's just a boy” with draco and had people sympathise with him when he did so so much worse than pansy did so why doesn't that apply to her? she's a kid. they all are. i love harry, ron, and hermione SO MUCH but jkr really said fuck everyone who isn't them ─ especially any girl who isn't her precious hermione. she projected her own pettiness onto fictional characters who are CHILDREN and proceeded to get upset when people connected to and loved other people that she herself made. creating such an underdeveloped character and expecting people to hate her just because she imagined her as her bully is beyond immature and ridiculous. anyways. jkr take a fucking chill pill and leave my girl alone.

[telaraneas]

I’m sending you an analysis ask!! My ask is… Dave! What I always wonder about dave is how he became such a fan favorite among the young fanbase all those years ago. I feel like my original reading of Dave has been heavily influenced by the fandom activity surrounding him at the time (he was the 2012 hs fandom’s #1 sadboy). As a relative latecomer to the fandom, what were your reactions to Dave? And how do you feel today’s fans view him?

OH BOY DAVE!!!

yeah i remember he was a big fan favorite, because this was one of the things you knew if you just EXISTED in tumblr around 2012, even if you knew nothing about homestuck you jsut saw a billion fanarts of that one kid with the sunglasses. but really, "relatively latecomer" relative nothing, i am a brand new baby fan latest of latecomers and i will happily give you my Dave Experience

i can't speak for how other modern fans view him, but for me personally, honestly i have to say i think i really didn't Get Him until late act6; which isn't to say he wasn't an interesting character before then, but that almost everything interesting about him went over my head on the first read.

i think my issue was partly that i was taking his facade mostly at face value and that i didn't really get WHERE his angst was coming from in the ocassions it popped up. like.. it's not that i bought into the idea that he's this cool ironic guy who doesnt afraid of anything, but i guess mostly his typing style and sense of humor were a bit too true-to-life for what the kind of person who thinks "ironic enjoyment of shitty things, too cool to actually care about anything, troll the shit out of anyone who engages with you honestly" is peak comedy actually speaks like, which made him kind of an unpleasant presence to me at the beginning; knowing he was definitely using that irony to cover up something didn't really help, because that's just universally true of basically everyone who's Like That, and that doesnt make them any less insufferable

the thing about dave strider is that he actually keeps up the disaffected cool kid act for a looooong time, and with so much going on and so many characters and stories to think about, i never spared him as much thought as i could have... until act6 happened, and dave was revealed to be a massive dork, and that SERIOUSLY changed my understanding of him as a character. like it's really hilarious how much his early arc persona totally falls apart when you take away the comfort of text-based communication. the addition of body language and the loss of the fractions of a second to formulate answers REALLY change his dialogue and how he reads as a character in ways that are subtle but were kind of shocking to me when i was reading it

like, for example i never had the patience for his long random tangents in chatlogs because i got the feeling he was doing them because he was just that sure that whatever he was on was THAT witty and funny, or alternatively, NOT that witty or funny, which is why he went on those tangents to be ~ironic~ or whatever, and tbh i have adhd and not enough patience to sit and read his diatribes

eeexcept, late comic dave recontextualizes the HELL out of this by revealing that no, HE KINDA REALLY DOES JUST GO ON TANGENTS FOR NO REASON 100% GENUINELY AND ITS NOT A CALCULATED PSEUDO-IRONIC THING AT ALL which makes his lenghty rambling read VERY differently

that sort of stuff. like, i was fully prepared for the irony to be a cover for someone who does genuinely care about things- but i was NOT prepared for the CONCEPT OF IRONY ITSELF to be basically the only thing about his demeanor that wasn't mostly genuine, whether dave himself realized it or not. dave has been a riot on rereads, hes like a totally different character with hindsight

on the topic of Dave Angst in specific, i have to admit- the whole thing is actually VERY subdued before late act6 unless you're actually looking for it and paying attention to dave as a character; and while i imagine this was a given for many readers at the time, who already liked him as a character and were reading and thinking about each update as it came out, to me as someone blitzing through the comic at a stage where things were starting to get complex, i COMPLETELY missed major moments that inform his problems, philosophy, worldview, fears, and general arc

because of this, a lot of the major moments where dave is actually OBVIOUSLY distressed or upset, left me mostly asking "hold on, what??? where did this come from, what is this about?????". to be fair, even back then i was pretty sure that there WAS something there that must have been set up earlier and i just missed it, but it was still kind of a confusing read. some specific examples: dave getting upset at terezi after the coinflip godtier timeline splitting debacle, his whole disjointed speech about the reluctant hero thing in the first meenah walkaround, his entire conversation with grimbark jade where he just states he's not time traveling again. those moments totally blindsided me on my first read

another moment that completely blindsided me, but which i actually Got on the first read regardless, was the long-awaited striderchat. i did not AT ALL expect the direction that went, but it did a fantastic job at recontextualizing what i had initially just accepted without question as a comically exaggerated videogamey home situation (not that much of a stretch when the final member of the party was raised by a dog in the middle of nowhere), into a traumatic enviroment that informs a lot of WHY dave is the way he is and why he used to think and approach the world the way that he did

other than that, theres a lot of Dave Angst i am still only just untangling on the reread because his anxieties sometimes stem from really esoteric ideas that i couldn't wrap my head around when i was busy trying to keep track of the billion plot threads of act5 which i was reading as fast as possible lol. but like, just earlier today i had the realization that dave's fear of death manifests MUCH more strongly in fear over being responsible over alt versions of him dying, than it does when his actual life is being directly threathened. dave would be susceptible to dumb thought experiments along the line of pascal's mugging, is what i'm saying, much more so than he would be to getting actually mugged.

tldr dave is an interesting character and i like him very much now, but boy did i not Get Him until recently

[radramblog]

On the origins of Shiny Pokémon

Shiny Pokémon are a quirk of the franchise that has blossomed into a huge part of the Pokémon fandom, to the point where content creators (streamers, mostly) have built careers on spending hours and hours hunting for them.

Considering the humble origins of the concept, it’s kind of a surprise how we got here, frankly.

Shiny Pokémon were introduced in the series' second generation, in Gold and Silver. These were the first games in the series to be in colour, basic as the palettes were, and the developers thought that having variations in a species’ colour, kind of like albinism, would be an interesting idea to use this new technology. At least, I assume that’s what happened, I obviously wasn’t there. There wasn’t originally an official term for Shinies, though “Alternate colour” or “rare” were in some of the earlier games- the first official use of “Shiny” was in a promotional TCG card in 2009. Interestingly, Gold and Silver (but not Crystal) were actually playable on an original Game Boy, albeit in greyscale, which is why the twinkle animation and sound effect that gives the phenomenon its name were added in the first place.

The addition of the Red Gyarados plotline was kind of a genius way of introducing the concept to the player and fanbase. After all, the phenomena are typically extremely rare at 1/8192 per Pokémon encounter, and I believe only one very missable NPC alludes to them in the entire game. It’s quite possible that without all the fuss about the Red Gyarados and the Lake of Rage plot in general, Shinies would have been the subject of the same schoolyard rumours that surrounded the early generations, like “Pikablu” (Marill leaking before its official introduction) or the Pokegods.

I know I didn’t know what a Shiny was when I first encountered one. Sure didn’t catch it either, though I know I was trying to. It was a Ponyta, in Fire Red, and it was on the path up to Mt. Ember who’s name I’ve forgotten. I definitely spent a long time running around after accidentally KO’ing it in order to find this “Blue flame Ponyta” again, to no luck.

The introduction of shinies in Gen II led to some interesting quirks in their original iteration, considering the jank of early gen Pokémon. Shininess, like many other things that generation, were determined by IVs, a calculation that would later be replaced by an individualized “personality value” for each Pokémon. A Gen II (or Gen I, if trading is used) Pokémon will be Shiny if its IVs are all 10 except for Attack (2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14, or 15) and HP (which is calculated from the remainder), which ironically means the aesthetic bonus that’s not supposed to have an in-game function actually is a result of largely above-average stats. This calculation comes with a few other quirks resulting from other things attached to IV calculations- they can only have a Hidden Power of Grass or Dragon with 49 or 69 power, any species that has a 7:1 male:female ratio such as the starters or Eevee cannot produce a female shiny (Gender is determined by Attack IV, and those species only are female with a 0 or 1 Attack), and, perhaps ironically, only the I and V Unown variants can be Shiny.

That’s a lot of bullshit trivia, isn’t it!

Both in and out of the actual games, it would be a while before Shinies were properly recognized and further integrated into the canon of Pokémon. A few TCG cards featured them, along with a rule in which you could only have one in your deck- I’m not sure how powerful they actually were, but the rarity was at least accurately represented. A handful of trainers in Firered/Leafgreen’s Trainer Tower have them by default, the first (and, I think, only? (nope just checked there’s one guy in Gen VII)) NPC trainers guaranteed to have a Shiny in the games. As well, the Celebi event in Heartgold/Soulsilver would feature a Shiny Pichu, the first guaranteed Shiny since the original Gold/Silver (it also has the Red Gyarados, being a remake), and that generation would feature the series’s first method of increasing the encounter rate with the Poké Radar (as well as the Masuda breeding method), but beyond this, the odds were still and always 1/8192.

It wasn’t until Generation V and Black and White that more effort was taken in the games to acknowledge Shiny Pokémon. This was the first time that the term was actually used inside the game, for one, and Shiny Hunters were given their first real tool in the Shiny Charm- a passive item available by completing the entire Pokédex that effectively triples the encounter rate and stacks with the aforementioned Masuda method (which was also slightly buffed).

This came at a cost, however- the Shiny Lock mechanic. This is an inbuilt feature in the encounter code that prevents certain species of Pokémon from ever generating as Shiny- in this game, that applies to Reshiram and Zekrom, the games’ cover legendaries, as well as the Mythical event Pokémon Victini and anything obtained through the Dream World feature. Shiny sprites for these species still existed in the game, effectively as failsafes, but nothing you could do in the game short of cheating/hacking would let you actually access them. This Lock feature would continue for every main series game that followed, though it would almost exclusively apply to Legendary Pokémon, and would often be taken off of them the generation later- and while I understand the inconsistency between a Pokémon's appearance in story cutscenes and actual battle would be awkward, it is still frustrating that such cool designs like Shiny Victini are completely unavailable.

It wasn’t all bad, though, since through some of these mechanics and the growing popularity of the franchise, more players were exposed to the idea of Shiny Pokémon. Black 2 and White 2 also had the games’ second and third Guaranteed Shinies in the form of a gift Gible or Dratini (depending on version) available through a postgame challenge and a Haxorus catchable in an area unlocked by completing the regional Pokédex. This was also when they were more exposed in other media- more TCG cards, their appearance in one of the movies (and the associated in-game events), etcetera.

Were it not for Generation V’s changes and additions, it’s very likely that Shiny Pokémon would be substantially more obscure than the popular huntable prize they are now. For better or for worse, I suppose. Probably better, ultimately, because they are pretty much just a fun thing to have around? I’m not sure how I feel about people spending hours upon hours for a slightly differently coloured mon (though I have done it a couple times), but it’s just a nice thing that exists for people. A little mystery to a series that’s so utterly picked apart, as it were.

[strangertheory]

We can't know what we don't know.

The value of skepticism in fandom discourse

I worry that the Stranger Things fandom often allows the development of fan-canons and false absolutes in between seasons that might be destructive to certain fans' long-term enjoyment and appreciation of the series.

We can't know what we don't know.

And if we forget this and begin to construct expectations for what might happen next in the story that are too deeply rooted in our hearts: we are setting ourselves up for disappointment and this is not the fault of the Duffer Brothers or the writing team. This is our fault as individuals and as a community.

Stranger Things has three completed seasons, a fourth season currently in production, and an intended fifth and final season.

We are only a little beyond the halfway point in this larger story.

The halfway point.

A lot can happen in the span of two final seasons.

The writing team probably intends to maintain thematic and narrative intentions across all five seasons. The Duffer Brothers have spoken of having an ending in mind for the story for a long time. (”We’ve known the ending for a while.” - Matt Duffer) But we, the fans, cannot truly know what those plans are until the credits roll on the final episode of the final season.

And yet there is a stubborn certainty that many fans engage in between seasons and that I worry has been growing and spreading worse than usual during season 4′s production delays.

In spite of having only just surpassed the middle point of a story arc that’s being told over the span of five seasons, many fans declare that they "definitely know" that certain relationships between characters won't change. That certain characters will "definitely" survive. That certain rumored future story arcs (based on audition tapes, fan speculation, interviews with the cast) will "definitely happen." That certain characters are "definitely straight" or that certain characters are “definitely gay.”

I believe that there is value in seeking to understand and predict events in a story. Appreciating the way that skilled storytellers use foreshadowing, symbolism, narrative parallels, metaphor, lighting and camera angles, music, and other creative tools when putting together a show like Stranger Things is thrilling. I love debating the relevance of certain details to an author’s larger intentions and long-term vision for their story and characters. I believe that skilled writers should plant clues throughout the earlier moments in a narrative so that plot twists are surprising and yet also also have us slapping our knees declaring “Oh, look! All the signs were there from the beginning! Well played.” Some writers start off without a particular end-goal in mind and allow the characters to lead them there as they develop, however we know that this is not entirely the case for the Duffer Brothers and that they have an ending in mind that they have been building towards.

Authors can also make poor writing decisions that contradict the internal logic and implications of their own universe. Writers and creative teams are not infallible. Productions have constraints and behind-the-scenes pressures, challenges, and limitations that might sometimes result in a less cohesive narrative. I don't believe that's the case with Stranger Things but this can and does happen.

But I always keep in mind that this story is not mine. I am fully capable of being incorrect in my analysis and predictions regarding what might happen next.

My theories and predictions (that Mike has romantic feelings for Will, and that Stranger Things is perhaps intended to be about a dissociated system and internal worlds etc.) are not shared by the majority of the fan community. 

I question the logic of my thoughts constantly because I am prompted to do so any time I share my unusual theories and ideas with other fans. Because my ideas are strange and less popular I am well aware of my need to provide evidence and logic when offering them to other fans for consideration.

If your ideas regarding what is happening in Stranger Things are shared by the majority of fans: how often do you question your expectations?

Do you think that you question them often enough? Are you allowing yourself to become complacent and to assume that because a large majority of your fandom community agrees with your interpretation of certain plot-points and characters that you absolutely must be correct in your understanding of Stranger Things?

I have seen how emotionally attached many fans are to their own preferred understanding of the story. Many fans greet alternative understandings that conflict with their own ideas with a lot of hostility and protest.

I want to warn all fans against closing their imaginations off to the story taking a different route than what they’ve carved into their hearts.

Fans that like less popular ships or that indulge in the discussion of fringe hypotheticals and unique theories are second-guessing and questioning themselves every day and I think for that reason we are better prepared for disappointment than fans that have allowed themselves to believe in characters, ships, and plot-points being “definite” or “canon” or “endgame” simply because the majority of other fans share (and reinforce) those same assumptions.

I worry when I see large fan-made accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr that post a constant stream of content that reinforces very specific fan-canons that are not yet absolute and yet are still favored and embraced as inevitabilities.

Do fans truly believe that nothing might surprise them in the last half of the story? Do fans believe that we know everything about these characters, their relationships with one another, and this sci fi universe by this point in the show? Does this attitude seem reasonable?

The constant consumption of our favorite fan-cams, fanart, and fan-canons creates echo chambers reinforcing our current assumptions about characters, character relationships, and presumed future plotlines. Just because a fan-run Stranger Things account with over a million followers posts about a specific ship constantly and this is what you are seeing on your phone every morning it doesn’t mean that this account knows what is going to happen in the story any more than you do. We need to be wary of allowing ourselves to lose our objectivity and our awareness that this story is in the hands of the Duffer Brothers and the Stranger Things writing team and that nothing that fans expect (or, god forbid, rudely demand) is guaranteed. The twisted idea that creators are in any way obligated to pander to their current fanbase is absurd to me when you consider that this is their creation, and additionally when you consider that the series will exist for future fans long after the majority of current fans abandon it. 

I want the entire Stranger Things fandom to enjoy the journey, to enjoy uncertainty, and to look forward to finding out what happens next. I don’t want fans setting themselves up for disappointment by stubbornly insisting that their interpretation of what is happening in the story is absolutely correct when the story is not over yet.

If the Stranger Things fan community can allow itself to be open to being wrong I think we will all enjoy the story a lot more and continue enjoying the story no matter what. The creators behind Stranger Things are very talented and I believe they are telling a very well-crafted story. I only hope that the fandom will appreciate it and that we haven’t stubbornly built walls around our own desires that will prevent us from enjoying an excellent story if it contradicts our expectations in the next few seasons.

I know that if I look forward to the thrill of discovering something new about my favorite characters in future seasons that I will rarely be disappointed.

I hope we all continue opening new curiosity doors and try to avoid setting our hearts on specific expectations.

[mythgirlimagines]

Here’s a brand new talentswapped Myth, just for this Tuesday! Get ready to dive into to a world of fantastical beings, for you are about to meet Myth, the Former Ultimate Novelist!

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BACKSTORY AND TALENT

With a rich inner world and a love for all things creative, Myth has been destined towards the arts, ever since she could hold a pencil. Despite her rather isolated childhood, Myth had a great starting support system in the form of her parents, elder sisters, and childhood friend Wyre. While Myth had a great variety of genres in her vast collection of works and future works, her main genre is a toss-up between romance and fantasy, with both of them being really passionate interests for her. Some of her most famous works include “Whispers of the Rain”, a mystery book series centering around a ragtag team of investigators snooping around for clues centering around supernatural happenings at the summer camp they attend, and “H34RT63AT”, a speculative sci-fi fiction work on a robot society that is capable of romantic feelings and copulation. Besides being famous for her literary works, Myth is also famous for her hospitality towards her fans, despite her eccentric attitude.

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RELATIONSHIPS

Wyre Anon, Former Ultimate Idol

As well as being Myth’s childhood friend and the only one of the Anons to know about Myth’s mysterious “base personality“ (aka. the personality Myth had before she started her illustrious career), Wyre is also the leading lady of the rock-idol group, “Saurus”. The members of Saurus, but Wyre in particular, are famous for their boyish charm and wild vocal performances, which matches with their punk aesthetic and appearances. Whenever either Myth or Wyre need privacy and time away from their massive fanbases, they regularly visit each other’s houses and relax with a good book to some good ambience music. 

Outfit: A sleeveless black leather jacket over a ragged white shirt with her group‘s logo on the front, black pants with a red stripe on either side, black buckled boots.

Anon Scar, Ultimate Baseball Player

Despite her eccentric fashion and speech patterns and continual talks of an “eye of power”, Scar is famous amongst baseball fans for her strong throws and accurate bat swings. Off of the diamond and on the sidelines, Scar is commonly regarded amongst her team mates as being the “team mom”, always prepared with cold compresses and water bottles to her sore and dehydrated teammates. Despite her own eccentricities, even she is weirded out by the eccentric personalities of Myth, even if Scar considers Myth’s books amazing. Scar reminds Myth of her Fantasy persona, and wishes to combat with Scar, sword-to-bat.

Outfit: A purple and black baseball cap, a matching eyepatch on her left eye that she claims hides the “eye of power”, a white baseball uniform with a big purple “6” on the front and back, black shoes, scarf from original design.

Fusion Anon, Ultimate Fanfiction Author

Underneath the internet pseudonym of “FatherFigureFusion”, Fusion garnered fame for his well-written online stories that are beloved by mutual fans of his favorite works, whether they’d be cartoons, video games, or books. Upon finding out that one his favorite novelists is present at the Kibo-Con, this gentle giant just couldn’t hold still and wishing to bombard Myth with questions. Luckily, Myth has endless patience for her fanbase, and happily obliges to answer her underclassman’s questions. They love talking to one another about the trials and tribulations of the writing process, and regularly exchange their beta works together. 

Outfit: Same outfit from his original design, but with fandom pins all over his hoodie and backpack.

Fusion Anon II, Ultimate Detective

Being one of the most competent homicide detectives in her hometown, despite her age, Fusion II has a great eye for investigation and an analytical mindset, just like her crime-solving parents. As hard as she tries to play up the “rebellious problem child and hardened grizzled detective” image, upon finding out that her favourite mystery novelist is attending the convention that she’s attended, her inner nerd and mystery geek just springs out, much to the detective’s embarrassment. Every time Myth talks to Fusion II about on-the-job incidents, Myth gets brand-new ideas for her future mystery novels, much to the excitement of II.

Outfit: Same outfit from the original but with a white trench coat and matching fedora, as opposed to a gakuran.

Just Anon, Ultimate Swimmer

Famous amongst the athletic community for his speedy movement through the pool, Janon seems to be the complete opposite when on the land: sluggish and lethargic. If it were up to Janon, he would gladly spend the rest of his life under the sea, without any annoying paparazzi and teachers to bother him. Because of the differing domains of their talents, Janon and Myth don’t interact much with each other, but Myth could sympathise with Janon’s struggles with an adoring fanbase. What Myth doesn’t know, is that Janon is a fan of one of Myth’s fantasy books, more specifically “Attack on Aquarius”, a story on the misunderstood mersharks.

Outfit: A blue and white shark hoodie (gawr gura) with nothing but pink and blue swim trunks underneath and matching flip flops on his feet.

Sparkle Anon, Former Ultimate Martial Artist

Sparkle is commonly known in tournaments by the self-made epithet, “THE COMBATIVE QUEEN”. Despite her eccentric attitude, her sparkly fashion and her genuine belief in magical girls and childhood desire to become one, Sparkle’s prowess in martial arts is nothing to be laughed at, for she dominated tournament after tournament with her combat skills. Just like with Scar, Sparkle reminds Myth of her fantasy author personality, who Sparkle happens to be a mutual fan of. Because of the martial artist’s emotional and over-exaggerated personality, both Horror and Romance Myth‘s interactions with Sparkle lead to inevitable comic gold.

Outfit: Hair cut into a bob, a sequinned leotard with a pink to blue gradient and magical girl frills, bandages tied around her arms and legs, contacts.

Egg Anon, Former Ultimate Programmer, and Wet Sock Anon, Former Ultimate Clairvoyant

Egg and Wet Sock are as different as night and day, with Egg being energetic and all about tech, and Wet Sock being more sullen, aggressive and all about the supernatural. Despite the two differing domains of the twins‘ talents, there is one particular thing that they both have in common: their shared penchant for inserting unnecessary and cursed comments into every conversation they enter. While they love to playfully tease Myth with her cursed comments, when Myth switches to Horror Myth, they quickly submit to the true Queen of Cursed. The Queen of Cursed and her twin minions set out to spread the cursed, much to the dismay of the other Anons.

Egg’s Outfit: A green and blue tracksuit with pixelated earrings and white sneakers, glasses from original design.

Wet Sock’s Outfit: A black and white tracksuit and an ominous black cloak that goes over their head.

Curious Anon, Jr. Ultimate Lucky Student

With a passive and go-with-the-flow personality and a love for whatever is popular these days, Curious is as normal as one could get these days. In fact, winning the Hope’s Peak Middle School lottery was the most monumental event of Curious‘s entire life. Curious seems to be a people-pleaser, for they regularly flatter others and go along with what others say, which has a tendency to breed trouble. Because of Eldritch, Curious seems to be convinced that all of Myth‘s personalities are four separate people, and Myth has since given up trying to convince them, and now plays along with the separate people schtick.

Outfit: Same outfit from the original but with messier hair, patchy overalls and a clover design on their tie. 

Anon Nerd, Former Ultimate Affluent Progeny

As the most prolific child in an already prolific family, Nerd is the vicious and ambitious head of the DEXTER conglomerate, only the prime company when it comes to technology. Nerd always has at least one piece of his company’s technology on his person, just so he can blast away annoying peasant that get in his way, with Myth (Romance Myth in particular, with her alluring figure and maternal energy) being the number one target for his ire, much to the anger of her over-protective childhood friend. Myth isn’t stupid, and knows that Nerd just needs a little redemption arc to help him loosen up and realise his true feelings for her.

Outfit: Same outfit from the original. 

Eldritch Anon, Ultimate Biker Gang Leader

Mysterious sightings of a large group of helmeted people were spotted all throughout several towns in the area, and eventually they were traced back to the “Apocalypse NO” gang, a band of secret apocalypse preppers, who wish to topple the “oppressive“ government they claim to be living under. Eldritch is currently trying to indoctrinate the other Kibo-Con members into his biker gang, but only succeeded in indoctrinating Curious. Myth may not understand a good majority of Eldritch’s anti-government rambles, but she thinks that his biker gang would make for a good sci-fi plot. If only she can convince him that her alternate personalities are all the same people.

Outfit: A black motorcycle helmet that covers his face, an entirely black jumpsuit, spiky black boots, and a red scarf.

Dream Anon, Ultimate Soldier

Seeing Dream in person and hearing about her talent would leave one feeling shocked and confused. When you look at this bouncy, cheery, and childish little lass, you would never guess that she is a master at piloting tanks and aiming fire at foreign combat enemies. Now that she is off of the battlefield and into a school environment, she’s trying her best to adapt from the life of warfare that she was forced into at a young age. Myth may be no expert on warfare, but she did her research and even she knows that being exposed to such violence at that age can’t be good for a young girl’s mind, no matter how many times Dream denies it.

Outfit: A barrette that resembles a sniper’s scope, a dark brown sleeveless parka over a camo hoodie, blue jorts, and black army boots.

Iris Anon, Jr. Ultimate Fashionista

Iris has had a passion for fashion ever since she was little, and with that passion, came a passionate following of like-minded people. With a belief that there is no such thing as a “fashion curse”, Iris carries herself with confidence and optimism that can be seen, even in pictures. When Myth first met Iris, the first thing the fashion icon did was compliment Myth’s patchy hand-me-down jacket, and how it went well with her otherwise high-class appearance, and that compliment makes Myth smile, just by thinking about it. Iris also appreciates how, just by a little change to her hair and jacket style, Myth can almost become a different person.

Outfit: A white beret on her head, a white jacket with a pink trim over a pink t-shirt and matching shorts, white boots, glasses and barrettes from original design. 

Purple Anon, Ultimate Gambler

Despite looking and acting shy and innocent, in a good majority of situations, Purple is a mastermind, when it comes to the underground hive of gambling. With a hard-to-read expression and vocabulary, Purple is an enigma, even amongst her fellow gamblers. Fortunately, because of her talent, Myth can understand exactly what the verbose gambler is trying to say to her. According to the gambler, Purple came from a formally-wealthy family that lost all of its riches, and Purple resorted to gambling in order to win her family’s riches back. Needless to say, Myth both feels sorry for Purple and inspired to write a brand-new story.

Outfit: A black scarf with a card suit motive that makes her expressions harder to read, a black vest over a red tie and purple dress shirt, a black skirt, leggings and shoes from original design.

This series centers around an “eccentric” novelist, as she gains inspiration from the colorful individuals around her, and weirding the colorful individuals out with her odd personalities.

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APPEARANCE

Myth normally keeps her purple-dyed hair that reaches to her mid-back down, only to tie it up in different styles, depending on which “personality” takes over. As for clothing, Myth wears a brown and patchy jacket that belonged to her father, and has writing supplies stashed in her massive pockets, over a black vest with blue outlines, which in turn, is over a white dress shirt and a pink necktie. Myth wears a skirt that’s the same color as her vest, baggy gyaru-style socks and black loafers. 

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PERSONALITY

The odd part about Myth’s personality and appearance is that it shifts, depending on what the genre of her latest work is, which, according to Myth, is meant to be “getting into the genre” and a sort of immersion/method acting. 

Her personalities and genres go as followed:

Romantic!Myth: Wears her hair in a side plait, switches to contact lenses and ties her jacket around her waist. Carries herself with an almost maternal air. Very teasy and flirtatious, and loves to toy with others, gives off serious “Ara, ara!” vibes. A massive sucker for suckers.

Fantasy!Myth: Wears her hair in a ponytail and wears her jacket like a cape. The “Chuuni” of the personalities, acting like a ruler of a fantasy land and refers to others by similar fantasy-esque terms.

Horror!Myth: Puts her hair into pigtails, lets some of her bangs down and slouches down. The most cursed and pessimistic of the personalities, interested in the supernatural and prone to adding horrific and cursed comments to any conversation, much to the dismay of the Brain Cells.

Mystery!Myth: Pops the collar of her jacket, so it resembles a trench coat, puts her hair into a bun and wears a white fedora, so she basically resembles Carmen Sandiego. Very calm, pensive and analytical, and all about the academia aesthetic, acting like a hardcore and grizzled detective. Also a massive sucker for suckers.

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I have a feeling that you would enjoy this talentswap, considering this is one of your dream careers! Let me know what you think of this swap!

-Fusion Anon