#this is what happens when they create writing so fine even villains feel like people and not like caricatures

[katyspersonal]

Can't wait to find at least one Soulsborne character I personally could genuinely hate tbh. Every time I think I hate them, I end up warming up to them anyways in some hard to explain way? Like I found things to like in Logarius and Aldrich, ffs!

I haven't checked out all Elden Ring characters yet, sure, but I hope this game won't fail me in my search for the most despicable fucker I can finally hate without any ifs or but alsos xD

[primofate]

Genshin Angst Headcanons - Why the two of you broke up

Note: Had an unexpected free day! I haven't written in a while, please excuse the mistakes, if any.

Disclaimer at the end of the post

Warning: Some are pretty predictable. Each of them have their own issues, lore wise, so some are lore heavy. You might not agree with some of them, but its how I see it, so to each their own. Let me know what you think! Some are quite angsty. Some scenes it's you breaking up with him and some are vice versa. Didn't feel like writing Razor, Venti and Xingqiu.

Characters: Aether, Albedo, Alhaitham, Ayato, Baizhu, Bennett, Chongyun, Cyno, Dainsleif, Diluc, Gorou, Heizou, Itto, Kaeya, Kaveh, Kazuha, Lyney, Neuvillette, Scaramouche, Tartaglia, Thoma, Tighnari, Xiao, Zhongli, gn!reader

Personal Favourites in this work: Lyney, Itto, Kazuha

Aether

Sister issues. Enough said.

He realized he didn't have enough time to spare romancing with someone.

Somewhere along the way he felt guilt that he was enjoying his time with you while his sister went through some sort of villain origin story that seemingly turned her bad.

Top off all the adventuring, searching, solving problems for other people that he did...Where did that leave you, exactly?

"...I'm sorry, Y/N... I just... I don't think this is the right time for me to be together with you,"

Albedo

Contrary to popular belief it wouldn't be his lack of time or extreme focus on his alchemical experiments that would break the two of you up. He knows how to manage his time.

It was the RESULTS of experiments and his research that would put him away from you.

The possibility that HE or his world, was way too dangerous for you.

How many "Albedos" did Rhinedottir really create? Was there more than three? Perhaps four, five? And what happens when you come face to face with another Albedo?

"I'm afraid...There are far too many dangers surrounding myself... There are answers that I can't find...and perhaps that's the reason why my answer is to part ways with you,"

Alhaitham

Too much of a nonchalant attitude.

He expressed some kind of interest in you...but it's like... once in a blue moon. 95% of the time you're not sure if he's really into you. It almost seems like he's more into that book he reads all the time.

Simply just not good at expressing himself. Like, at all. Hides behind a "whatever works" and "I don't care about what other people think of me" attitude, unfortunately that seems to include you.

Is so straightforward that sometimes it hurts, but he's really just telling the truth through logical analysis.

will act like the breakup didn't hurt nor affect him at all. In turn it hurts you instead.

"I see. So you've had enough of me... And you only spoke up now? Pointing it out earlier could've diverted us from this path...If that's how you feel already I suggest that we stop seeing each other,"

"That's it? You're not even going to try and work it out with me?"

"What's there to work out? You've made yourself clear. You're not satisfied with the way I treat you, and I'm afraid I'm not going to change the way I act just for your pleasure... It'd be more meaningful for you to find someone who fits your criterias,"

Ayato

entering a relationship with a noble was not as easy as one thought.

It's not just about being together forever and feeling lucky because Ayato is rich and your whole life is set, it's also the not fitting in, the etiquette, the whispers from townfolk that you were too ordinary for him, the work that you needed to do if you were to become his wife.

All that was not really a big problem for you, but Ayato seemed not to know of your struggles, he was extremely busy, and when he wasn't, he seemed to think that everything was well and fine, since you were getting all your basic needs met and even more.

"...So I'm sorry, Ayato. This is just... All too much for me. I'm sorry,"

"...I understand. Forgive me, it seems that I've overlooked a lot of things...Perhaps it is as you say, that it'd be better for us to grow apart rather than grow together,"

Baizhu

because he is a ticking time bomb, no matter which way he looked it's not going to end well for both of you.

He either dies early or lives forever. In both scenarios he anticipates that the two of you are just going to be in a world of hurt.

Besides, he didn't mean to get so attached to someone in the first place, he knew his quest for immortality was long and arduous. You didn't deserve to walk that difficult road too.

While breaking up, will conceal the fact that he's only thinking of you and will possibly hurt you in the process.

"I'm sorry, but it's for the best. I ask that you continue going forward without me, there's no space for you in my... ideal future,"

Bennett

We all know it...it's his bad luck. However, it wasn't YOU who had a problem with it, it was HIM.

You understood that his bad luck was just some extended part of him, plus it's not like it was always bad, there were a lot of good times too. Plenty!

But the guilt ate him up whenever the two of you were stuck in a seemingly impossible scenario and predicament, brought on by his luck. He just had enough of it one day.

"I...I can't keep doing this to you every day! It's not fair..."

will be on the brink of tears before he even starts.

"Maybe it's better if you find someone else to adventure with, Y/N, sorry...!"

runs away before you can even get a word in.

Chongyun

Thinks he's not good enough in every aspect. It's really, seriously not about you. He thinks he's lacking in everything. Strength, maturity, experience, confidence.

So badly wants to stay with you but feels like he's not good enough and thinks that you're better off with someone else.

"D-Don't misunderstand... It's not because I don't like you anymore... I just...Please find someone else!"

Cyno

his bad jokes and TCG addiction. just kidding, you're not that shallow.

A lot of people are intimidated by him being the General Mahamatra because he gives importance to justice. While you, who had seen a bit more of him than other people had, it seemed more of an obsession to uphold the Akademiya's law and integrity.

This was not a big problem to you, you liked how he was serious at work.

Until one day when you were accused of plagiarising one of your papers and Cyno was the one sent to give you a first offense warning. The Akademiya knew of your relationship, that's probably why they sent him, to make it harder on the two of you.

Cyno didn't listen to your explanations on how it was an honest mistake, he still gave you the warning that you "deserved"

From then on it had just been different between the two of you, so it was really a mutual breakup. Or so you thought.

"...After that, I just realized that maybe this isn't the right time for us... We're both working for the Akademiya, we both take our jobs seriously...Unfortunately that seems to just be getting in the way of us...I think it's best if we stop seeing each other,"

"...I see." he pauses for a minute, as if tossing your words in his mind. "I...agree. Parting ways would certainly make work easier for both of us...it's the professional thing to do,"

Dainsleif

Has not moved on from his past.

Sure, everyone has their own baggage to carry, their own history to live through...but Dainsleif has heavier things than that. He seemed to wake up every day thinking of Khaenri'ah and the days long past. Was it regret? Nostalgia? Loneliness? You didn't know. You just knew that he wasn't really completely THERE with you in the present. Part of him still lived in the past.

When you explained that you felt like the two of you were not moving forward together and that it seemed like he wanted to go back to the past instead, he got offended.

"...My past is something that I carry forever, you'd claimed that you understood that," he starts.

"I do! But carrying it with you and letting it drag you backwards are two different things!"

He falters for a moment, only to leave you with his last words before turning away from you forever: "You will never understand, the weight that I carry,"

Diluc

is too guarded. You'd been friends for a long, long, long, long time before he decided he could let you in enough and be more intimate with you.

Even then everything was going at a snail's pace, though you were extremely patient with him.

The biggest problem with Diluc was that the two of you would progress one day, take a step forward, and then the next day it was like the two of you took two steps back.

Example: The two of you went out for a simple stargazing excursion late one night, it was nice and he had been incredibly affectionate. The next day he had trouble even meeting your gaze, and disappeared to do his work. It was also a little awkward during dinnertime. This scenario had happened more than once.

Hint: the closer he got to you the more afraid he became, thinking that he would one day lose you too.

"I...I can't. I love you but I...I've waited far too long. I'm sorry. I'm tired of this endless chase for you!"

He couldn't even say a thing. He'd wanted to ask you to stay, to wait for him a little longer, but he already knew how incredibly selfish that would have been. Instead, he grimaced, and looked away from your gaze, trying to find something worthwhile to say. There was only silence for a few moments.

"Goodbye Diluc," that's when you turned away.

Gorou

worships Kokomi too much and your insecurities just kept circling around in your head.

You know its his job. You know he isn't like that but the problem was YOU and not him.

Simply said you let your insecurity eat up the relationship between the two of you.

You couldn't bring yourself to say that you were jealous of the way he admired Kokomi so you broke up with him with another reason in tow.

Unfortunately, you're not a very good liar face to face so you did a butthole move and actually broke up with him through a letter. You just couldn't face him and tell him why.

All you mentioned in the letter was that you needed time to think and be away from him, and told him not to worry because it was your problem, not his.

Poor Gorou reread that letter over and over, trying to understand what went wrong.

Heizou

is just a natural flirt. You're not sure if he's doing it on purpose or not and you're not sure if he's even aware he's like that.

Anyway you'd seen him getting overly friendly (just another word for flirting) with a few other people a couple of times. You didn't let it get to you the first, fourth or even eighth time but you realized that he KNOWS that you're watching him do that.

So you confront him about it, but he claims that it's just his way of gathering information from others. People like to hear good things and some people are more susceptible to flirtatious comments so he resorts to that for his investigation sometimes.

You didn't really completely buy it and even if you did, it's not like this was healthy for your relationship. You just couldn't make yourself comfortable with it.

*You just chalked it up to the two of you being incompatible.

"I'm just not comfortable with that...I don't think I have to say sorry for how I feel but...I'm sorry anyway because I know you're just doing your job... It's probably best if we part ways here..."

"Is there any way to change your mind?" he genuinely asks.

You only give a lopsided smile. "You're a detective, I think you already know the answer to that,"

Yet he didn't stop you from walking away.

Itto

Kept breaking promises because he was too airheaded or too occupied doing something "stupid" with the kids or with his gang.

Pretty soon it just felt like you were an afterthought while everyone else in his life took precedent.

Got a ramen date? Oops, sorry! Got caught up looking for a strong onikabuto in the forest!

Needed his help to move some things? Gah, he was vandalising the bulletin boards, so he's running a bit late!

What's more you didn't actually mind that carefree, airheaded side of him...but it really got to you when he couldn't even seem to make you a priority. Not once.

He only realized that when he came running, late again, and stood face to face with a crying you.

"Hey sorry Y/N, I was just--...Why are you crying?!" is completely dumbfounded and clueless, mostly because when he came late, you had always shrugged it off with a smile on your face, or so he thought. This time you had a completely different reaction.

"I hate you...*hic* I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!"

Shocked beyond belief. It wasn't like you to just blow up like that, but he couldn't do anything except watch you turn and run away from him after that exclamation.

Kaeya

Sometimes you're not sure if he takes you seriously.

Recently, he's not where he says he is, you don't know why he doesn't just tell you where he is.

He said he'd be working late, but then you find out he's at Angel's Share.

He said he'll be at Angel's Share, but then you catch word from Jean that he's out on a late mission.

He said he's escorting a caravan to Mondstadt but he's actually on assignment in Liyue.

It came to the point where you altogether just stopped looking for him cause half of the time you couldn't find him. It's like he's avoiding you or something, which, actually, seems just about right since he's been so busy with "work"

It reached a breaking point when, for a week, you were unable to bring him the lunch you prepared...because he was not where he said he was going to be. It was starting to get annoying.

"I don't understand why you're lying to me! Why do you have to tell me you'll be at Angel's Share this afternoon when you're not? Do you realize you make me walk all the way there only to come all the way back with nothing achieved?"

"I'm sorry snowflake, that wasn't my intention," though he still chuckles despite knowing full well that you were about to turn away.

"You know what, let me know when you're ready to stop making jokes. Until then, don't bother contacting me,"

He just didn't expect you to actually walk away from him.

Kaveh

Entertains everyone and anyone. Naturally kind at heart, will stop for anyone in trouble...even that flirtatious man/woman who is clearly just pining for his attention.

No he doesn't quite realize this.

The same person had asked for his help at least 4 times now and all 4 times he had been happy to offer a helping hand.

The last straw was when he was invited into the stranger's house, they had apparently needed someone to help them move and re-arrange furniture and he did, working till almost dinner time.

You'd caught him right by the person's door, because Kaveh was actually honest and told you he'd be helping them today, but the person was clearly eyeing Kaveh rather flirtatiously.

"Come again next time," you heard the person say rather happily. Kaveh only replies with "If I have nothing else to do, I suppose,"

"Kaveh, they're coming onto you and you keep letting it happen!"

"I'm not certain what you're talking about...They just needed some help around their house, nothing suspicious happened at all. Even if there was, I won't let anything happen between me and a stranger!"

"Then STOP helping them!"

"There isn't anything wrong with lending a hand...It was a quick move of things, that's all,"

"How would YOU feel if I just went into someone's house and kept helping them "move" things?"

"...I would think that's nice of you,"

You actually threw your hands up. "Oh, forget it! You know what, for someone who LOVES helping others, you're not doing such a great job of helping ME," then walked away and never came back. "Good riddance,"

Kazuha

He's a wandering samurai. You knew what you were getting into but you didn't expect dating him to be so hard.

He was gone for weeks on end, and you were not getting on that boat with him. In essence the two of you were just not ready to follow each other to the end's of the Earth, and that was fair. The two of you were young.

Kazuha kind of saw it coming, whenever he visited you, you seemed less spirited and he had an inkling as to why. The time apart was just too much for you.

It was a rather clean break actually. A real mutual breakup that the two of you agreed on.

"...You could say it's just not the right time for us," you even managed to laugh under your breath and he did the same, though it was barely audible.

"...Mm. There are matters that you need to attend to here...and there are things that I need to do out there," he slowly stood up from his sitting position next to you and still gazed at you rather lovingly. "...Perhaps, in another world, you and I are bound together,"

You gazed back forlornly, "...Just not in this one, it looks like,"

Lyney

because he will always choose his siblings over you. Always.

Though that's not a bad thing because you also think that family is important...somewhere along the way you realized that family is the ONLY thing he had and saw.

Example: Lynette and you had gotten ill at the same time one winter morning. Perhaps it was the cold that was passing around Fontaine. Lyney had been so worried about Lynette, that he seemed to have forgotten about you for the next few days. In fact, Lyney didn't even realize that you caught the cold too. You had only heard from Freminet, who you happened to cross paths with, that Lynette was also ill.

You thought that incident was the end of it, but really it seemed that whenever Lyney wanted to hang out with you, Lynette had to be there too. You tried to understand...after all there's still that mystery of disappearing women in Fontaine.

The breakup was induced when Lyney completely forgot about your birthday, because Freminet's was around the same time as yours. You helped Lyney prepare everything for Freminet, and said nothing about your own.

You realized that there was nothing wrong with choosing family over everything else...but the problem here was that Lyney didn't even have space for you in the first place.

So you left without saying anything. You figured he'd get over it quick. You had even gone so far as to move away from the main city of Fontaine and out into another island, because what would you say if he found you? That you were jealous of his siblings? You weren't going to ruin a family like that and it wasn't right to make him choose...so you just left without a word.

Neuvillette

Had a whole brainrot for this man:

Part 1

Part 2

Scaramouche

surprisingly it's not his anger issues.

It's the way he wouldn't acknowledge your relationship. You wonder how you even got into one with him.

There's no public show of affection, but even behind closed doors it rarely happened.

You knew that he was going to be like that, and so you didn't mind it all that much.

It was getting a bit much though when, out in public, he would walk further in front of you and refused to walk next to you. When he pretended like he didn't even know you. When he didn't stop to help you even when another man had shown interest in you, bordering on uncomfortable.

The more time passed the more you simply felt unloved...but for some reason you still blamed yourself.

"...I...don't know. Maybe you find me undesirable, or just...unappealing. Maybe you're embarrassed of me or...or..." maybe you just didn't care in the first place, you thought to yourself.

There was a long silence. Of you turning your gaze away, of him still piercing into yours. And then...

"Tsk...don't waste my time...Leave if you want to leave, door's open,"

Tartaglia

This one is simple. It's his obsession for fighting plus his complete disregard for himself. It's a constant heart attack for you. At some point the anxiety is just too much for you to handle.

Imagine living every day just wondering if he's safe at the same time knowing that he just loves to look for trouble.

The foul legacy that you know of, he uses it with disregard as well, despite knowing that it wasn't good for him.

And there are even days where you know he was heavily wounded but didn't go to you, in an attempt to shield you from worry.

It's a constant battle trying to stay sane and unworried, until one day it all just becomes too much.

"...Nothing I say will change anything, Tartaglia. This is who you are...This is who you need to be..." you whisper while bandaging his knuckles. He lets out a short hum.

It was silent all up until you finished with his hand, you squeeze it gently. "...I love you but...I can't keep doing this to myself, I'm tired...more so than I have ever been before,"

He lets your hand slip away from his knuckles, and that was the last he saw of you.

Thoma

This one is also simple. He was always taking care of others and running errands for others that he sometimes just couldn't catch a break.

Just a classic case of not enough time for you since he had a job to do for the Kamisato Clan.

He knows it, and feels awful about it. So he's the one who makes the move.

"It hurts that I can't give you what you deserve, Y/N. This isn't it... You deserve more than this but I can't give you that and I'm sorry. Please look for the love that you deserve,"

Tighnari

Remembers everything. Can be critical of things you've done, specially if he thinks there's a better way to do it.

Simply said you just feel stupid in front of him sometimes.

He doesn't mean to, but he sometimes forgets to appreciate or give praise to the things that you do well and even if he does, it tends to be short lived compared to his constructive criticisms.

Pretty soon you felt like he only looks at the bad things you do, and never the good. Though he was really only trying to teach and guide you as an equal.

He in fact feels that you are one of the few people who can keep up educational conversations with him.

The problem is he kind of forgets that you're his lover, and that you would enjoy his praise and affection from time to time.

"Do you... Do you ever have anything nice to say other than 'good work' or 'great observation'?" the words were out of your mouth before you could hold yourself back. Sometimes it was tiring to feel like you weren't good enough.

There's a flash of surprise that crosses Tighnari's expression for a split second, before he recovers. "...Had I not been praising your work enough lately? My apologies... It has a lot of merits, I just thought that you wanted my opinion on how to make it better,"

You opened your mouth to say something, but closed it again right after to ponder on his words. Somehow even that had managed to make you feel embarrassed. It was here you knew that the problem also lied within yourself.

"...Sorry, Tighnari...I think I'll need some time alone,"

He obliges quickly and asks. "That's reasonable. When would you like me to come back?"

"...Let me rephrase that... I need some time away. From us."

Xiao

Unfortunately there's a lot of things wrong here... his lack of affection. His aloof personality. His dedication to his yaksha duties. Despite that he does actually try to be gentlemanly or respectful of you.

The worst of it is that he didn't know how to be in a relationship, in other words he just wasn't ready for one, or perhaps he would never be ready for one.

He didn't understand that humans craved companionship and sometimes touch. He didn't understand that meant having to favour you over others, sometimes even putting you first over his yaksha duties.

Worst of it all was when he shut himself off from you, sometimes for days on end, when his karmic debt was too high. He only really did it to protect you, but never realized how isolated that made you feel.

When you confronted him about it, he felt attacked. Hiding away was the only way he knew how to cope...why couldn't you understand that?

"Let me help you, Xiao,"

"I don't need your help!" his tone would make you wince and just like that he disappears into a billow of smoke.

You never returned to Wangshu Inn after that. If he couldn't let you in, there was no use trying to knock on his heart. Xiao being Xiao, never sought you ought again either.

Zhongli

He had experienced so many things and you had listened to many a tales from him.

This is what caused you to realize that you hadn't even experienced life at all, and yet here you were willing to tie yourself down to him.

It just didn't feel like it added up. Here he was with all this knowledge of the world and here you were who had never even stepped outside of Liyue. By no means were you stupid, but you felt that you could be better not only for him, but for yourself if you learned more.

There was just such a huge gap in life experiences, and though you never expected to get to his level (he was a God who had lived for a long time, you would never catch up to him) you at least wanted to see what was out there with your own eyes instead of through his stories.

He understood that wholeheartedly, and had no qualms in letting you go.

"You will always have a place with me, Y/N. No amount of lifetimes will change that,"

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Disclaimer: Relationships will always have some sort of problem along the way, maybe big, maybe small but I just want to reiterate that breaking up is not always the solution. Communicating is very important. So to those of you who like taking fanfiction too seriously, let it be known that this is just a work of fiction. I don't actually suggest breaking up with someone as soon as there is the slight indication of a problem (Just saw someone commenting on a similar themed post for Haikyuu that this wouldn't happen in the real world if both parties were mature... I mean, sure, but, idk, you must be fun in parties... it's called fiction for a reason...)

[codenamesazanka]

opinion on how deku is being thrown into shigaraki’s memories ?

I've said it before, but to sum it up: Lazy writing. Instead of making Deku work or even talk to discover what happened, it's being handed to him.

Also backing what @itsnothingofinterest said in this post:

I worry this could go beyond just “viewing” memories. It’s also possible Deku could start influencing Shigaraki’s recollection of events to make him more agreeable (for example, I saw someone suggest this could end with Deku saving Tenko from under the bridge instead of AFO) and I wouldn’t be a fan of that. Didn’t like when 2 out of 3 of our last League conflicts relied on mentally impairing them & I wouldn’t like it any more if it was how Deku resolved the conflict here.

But fine, whatever. He'll see the memories. He'll learn Shigaraki's damage. It's what he wanted; it's what he needs.

Thanks for the ask!

I call this lazy writing because

What we should’ve had was Deku and the UA students having to work and investigate and just talk and truly come to understand the Villains and why they are the way they are, the root causes and the bad days where they received no helped and all the tiny things that built up and led to the breaking point.

For Deku specifically, we spent all of Edgy Deku arc literally doing fuck all about ‘learn what makes Shigaraki tick deep down’ (Chapter 308), which is such a waste of an opportunity to explore—anything at all. Being cold and hungry and tired and alone, being feared and rumored to be a monster - would that make Deku reflect on a villain’s circumstances? lmao. Did he confront All Might and Gran Torino about the Shimura family, which might offer a clue? lmao. Did he request to talk to Mr. Compress, League Member and Shigaraki's Ally? lmao. The story skips over anything that might mean real effort to learn about Shigaraki, or would cause reflection.

What are we left with for Deku to discover why Shigaraki seems to be in pain? Forcing a Memory Transfer. Practically the only option left.

I know people will argue that that’s just how OFA/AFO works, it has always been hinted at, it's a good thing that Deku will finally understand what Shigaraki has been through. But it feels so unearned. He wants to save Shigaraki, he wants to learn about Shigaraki -> he doesn't do any work that contributes to this, instead he happens upon it via surprise psychic link.

If I was being generous, I might allow that he’s being rewarded on having faith in Shigaraki’s inner goodness… but that also isn't working because his faith has never been seriously challenged, unless you count Nana and Gran Torino giving their one (1) doomerism line and Shigaraki provoking him. There was Bakugou's 'death' that ShigAFO caused... but Mirio was able to immediately calm Deku down and then Bakugou came back alive before Deku began trying to pry open the lid so. net zero loss/gain there.

(I also feel like, if the memories should be handed to him like this, it should've been done earlier, and turned into an extra burden of a different sort? Deku's got all these memories, this sympathy—but everyone around him tells him, so what? Shigaraki has suffered, but so have other people. He has suffered, but now he creates suffering. His memories are irrelevant to the fact that he needs to be defeated; his memories will be useful in rebuilding society after the war, but Shigaraki himself is beyond saving. And Deku should've had to reckon with that.)

And if it's not lazy writing—

Shigaraki said those words about "the destruction of everything stemming from that house" in Chapter 379. It is now 416. The Shigaraki-Deku fight doesn't start properly until 410, fine—but through the past six chapters, Deku literally had to be psychically-physically in front of the damn house in order to reflect on Shigaraki's words.

This is because Deku refuses to talk and have a proper conversation with Shigaraki. Ever since the end of Jaku, Deku gets one glimpse of the Crying Child and knows Something Is Wrong, but because Shigaraki declines to just explain the rest of it to him, Deku doesn't ask.

(If you look at his previous 'saves', we can see no wonder - Deku gets the tragic backstories told to him. Todoroki straight up just reveals his family’s dark secret. Mandalay was able to explain what Kouta’s issue was, literally telling Deku ‘he’s not being raised normally, he’s an orphan with dead hero parents’. The full extent of Eri’s abuse is revealed via official Hero investigation and deductions about Overhaul’s operations - which I like best because it flowed more naturally, with the horror element dawning on the characters. Deku learns not from Hawks about the crimes of the HPSC, it's only because Nagant herself exposed it to him. The Aoyama reveal is largely by Hagakure/accident/carelessness on his parents’ part.

I think Gentle is the only guy he sympathize with without knowing the full extent of his backstory?)

Does Deku, now unable to "ignore what he saw," ask Shigaraki "Hey, what do you mean by 'that house'?" Does he actually ask out loud, "Shigaraki! Why can't you let go of that lonely past?" Does he ever go, "Hey, I saw you and you were so sad. Why? And what happened to that dog?"

No. Deku makes statements about saving Shigaraki, about wanting to save that Crying Child, about how Shigaraki is a person, but all those are cool one-liners, and they feel barely even directed at Shigaraki himself.

Remember how in Chapter 360, Mirio asks ShigAFO why he destroys, and he gets an answer? Remember how Mirio engaged with ShigAFO, and that led to Tenko surfacing to angrily retort he does have friends? Asking questions has proven to have an effect!

And you can't say "Shigaraki is refusing to open up," when Shigaraki has been so chatty. You also can't just dismiss this by theoretically saying "Shigaraki would never open up, it's pointless to try, it's a guaranteed failure," when Deku literally hasn't tried, cross it off the list before moving on. Deku is just not engaging with the guy in front of him, but rather just looking for the Crying Child, and at best that's him being the world's most incurious guy, and at worst being a condescending ass.

[eashgirl]

What are some things you hate about fandoms? Just wondering

There is quite a lot of things actually, I know some may disagree with me on these, which is perfectly fine to each their own.

1- I don't like how when some of the widely accepted fanon headcanons are treated as truth by everyone even though there is no basis for it in canon, I'm totally one for headcanons, I love seeing ideas,and creating them myself but I don't like how when one headcanon is so beloved by everyone that it's treated as canon and anybody else who has different opinions are shut down for not accepting that. Again I'm not objected to people having their own interpretations, but sometimes it really does get to a point when I try to point out it's not canon several people would attempt to correct me and say it was.

2- this part mainly concerns shipping, another thing I don't like about certain fandoms is they can't seem to accept that people will like different things as them, just because a certain ship is canon will not automatically make people like that ship more or stop them from shipping those said charecters with another person. Canon is canon I understand that, it's important to respect the creator's work and what has been established but at the same time the amount of times I've seen people deliberately writing hate comments under a post of a ship they don't like, and even create anti- blogs for the ship is insane.

Is it that hard to respect someone's opinion? Even I have certain ships I don't like and am even grossed out by(we are not talking about child/adult ships those are a whole another thing entirely),but the amount of dedication haters have to constantly put down others just to feel superior everytime I see something like that all I think about is how immature that is.

One time when I was thirteen I legit had one of my followers stalk me on instagram and screenshot a photo of a ship account I follow, that person hates that particular ship yet constantly checks accounts posting that particular ship just to write hate comments,they were blabbing about "ship loyalty and all that" I remember feeling so aggravated when they told me that, I instantly blocked them. It's that sort of childishness I'm talking about.

I'm open to discussing about opinions as long as it's a civil conversation, sometimes people just like different things, is it too much to expect some decency and respect?

3- Another thing that annoys me from time to time is the villainization of a particular charecter, evidence from the media does show that, that person has their flaws, major flaws and people act like that person is a devil's incarnate and anyone who has the audacity to feel a shred of sympathy for them is automatically labelled a horrible person.

Now I'm not suggesting at any means that trauma justifies your actions, no one has the right to harm anyone under that excuse,you can acknowledge the fact they are a horrible person and still feel bad for them because they are caught in a never ending cycle of abuse and are unable to escape it, this leads to them committing even worse actions.

Something else that ties into this is liking villains in general, it's important to understand that liking a certain charecter does not mean justifying their wrongdoings, you can like a charecter but still agree that yes this is a horrible person. This might seem like common sense but I have seen people trying to outright justify murder, SA, terrorism just because they happen to like that charecter. On the other hand there are certain villains who are objectively just as bad and are baby-fied because they happen to be more likable, when that person is just as bad.

Of course some topics may just feel too personal for people who have experienced it first hand I can understand that really I do, someone who went through a toxic relationship would probably not enjoy a relationship dynamic between two charecters that can be considered to very unhealthy for eachother. And some people may not prefer an otherwise sweet relationship if it's not enjoyable, we use media for entertainment and as humans we all have different preferences so it's important to understand and respect that

At the end of the day I'm not trying to villify anyone, I'm really not

Thanks for the ask anon! Hopefully this doesn't lead to me getting attacked again 😅

[welostutopia]

so here’s the thing. rebooting the original 1980s teen wolf film as a series worked because they weren’t trying to be the the 1980s film. the film was a silly comedy, the series was darker (both thematically and aesthetically and seriously the lighting needed serious work but i digress) and the only real connections was a teen called scott turning into a werewolf and his friend stiles, everything else about the show established it as an thing in its own right, unconnected to the film.

this teen wolf the movie as a follow up to the series didn’t work and that’s for a number of reasons.

1. it relies way to heavily on nostalgia, the amount of throw backs and hints to the series would have worked, been endearing even, if we weren’t in the age of streaming when people could go back and rewatch the series whenever the want, and if there had been a longer gap between the series and the film. season 6 ended in 2017, my first year of university, it is now 2023, i graduated in 2020. september 2017-january 2023 isn’t even 6 years, the show is still fresh for so many people, and so many people are still discovering the series that it makes the nostalgia grabs feel cheap

2. the nogitsune is an iconic teen wolf villain, season 3 is many peoples favourite season for a reason, and while a large part of that is because of dylan and his impeccable acting as void stiles, another huge part of that is the nogitsune itself, this film does not do the nogitsune justice in the slightest. it’s another nostalgia grab, the writers basically went ‘remember your favourite season and favourite villain? well we bought the villain back’ and it sucks. flip side of that, the heavy reliability on nostalgia requires fans to remember every single detail of the series to piece things together, i spent part of the film confused until i remembered something from the series and then everything made sense.

3. none of the characters seemed to mature, every single character was making mistakes they made as teenagers, and should have learnt from, while they are now in their 30s, it felt like character development wasn’t even something the writers considered and i was so annoyed

4. fan favourites were missing. sure we’ve known for a while that dylan, arden, daniel and cody weren’t returning, but stiles is the reason that so many people got into teen wolf, isaac was a fan favourite and his exit from the show, and everyone seemingly forgetting about him, was something that the fandom never excepted. kira had the fandom divided on opinions, but that was down to the writers, kira deserved a better ending, and arden deserved better than how she was treated (100% support her decision not to come back). theo again had people divided, but by the end a lot of people had warmed to him, i think having him back would have helped at least a little bit, his snark and overall attitude contrasted perfectly with the righteousness of so many of the characters

5. the writing sucked, i’m sorry but so many of the lines felt like they were written by middle ages writers for a gen z teen show and y’all know exactly what i mean by that. teen show dialogue is so uncomfortable for people in their teens and just out of their teens to hear because it’s so unrepresentative and this had the same feel. the plot also felt simultaneously rushed and also drawn out, which is a talent in its own right, but not a good one.

6. eli. listen, eli as a character is fine but his existence creates a multitude of plot holes. he’s been alive the same amount of time that allison has been dead, who is his mother? who was derek romantically involved with in season 2/3, they discuss eli as a young child, toddler age really, but it was never seen in the show, when exactly did derek find out about his son, when did this happen?

7. stydia. 6 seasons it took for them to develop stydia. 6b was weird enough with lydia being more excited over seeing jackson than her own boyfriend and then the film we find out they broke up over a potential premonition. i get that dylan not coming back probably changed things, but to have a 6 season long slow burn to end like that, it’s disappointing and honestly lazy writing.

8. bringing characters back from the dead, at this point it’s boring. teen wolf had already done that in the series, if you’re a fan of supernatural you saw it happen basically every season. bringing dead characters back to life no longer has the affect it once had on audiences

9. derek’s death. listen, the idea of derek dying isn’t a bad plot device, and at this point not enough main or key characters have died when you think about how high stakes the plot was, however the way it was done annoyed me. having him die the same way his family did, and having is son watch it happen, it was unnecessary trauma porn.

10. off the back of point 9, the allusion to sterek with the jeep analogy. i’m a sterek shipper, always been a fan of that pairing (also a stydia shipper so frankly either way the plot went i would have been happy but no one ends happily here so fuck your jeff) it’s become a thing with long running shows that have a popular queer ship among fans to allude to a one sided love in the finale/film special and then kill the character with the one sided love. this sucks on multiple levels. it’s the worst kind of fan service, if you’re going to give me queer characters then give them to me openly, i don’t want allusions or subtext, it also plays off as writers and producers realising they weren’t inclusive enough and trying to remedy it in the worst possible way.

11. allison. listen, we love allison, she’s great. she didn’t need to be resurrected but we move on. my biggest issue is, she died when she was 17, she was then resurrected 15 years later, surely that suggests that she is still 17 while everyone around her has aged by 15 years, to then bring back scallison made me slightly uncomfortable (might just be me though)

12. harris. not only do they bring someone back from the dead. but it’s a basically forgettable character, he was only around for a few episodes and it’s frustrating that there’s zero explanation as to how he’s alive, nor is there any reason for his knowledge of the nogitsune, let alone his desire to release him despite some flimsy revenge plot

13. hikari. i get that with bringing back the nogitsune they felt that they needed a kitsune and with arden (rightfully) not coming back they needed a new kitsune, but they ruined her character basically immediately. there wasn’t time in a film to introduce or get to know her, she was a plot device necessary only for the fact they were bringing the nogitsune back, and keeping scott alive.

14. continuity? season 6 ended with the pack basically running for their lives as the existence of supernatural creatures became widely known and helping other supernatural creatures find safety. the film didn’t address that, the film made out that the existence of supernatural creatures was once again not widely known. what happened in that time? the continuity issues led to so many plot holes it’ll take multiple rewatches for me to find them all and i am not putting myself through that again.

basically this film was unnecessary, it was a badly executed cash grab banking on nostalgia to bring people back. i’m a firm believer that when it’s time you should let things go, teen wolf should have ended with 6a, 6b was the worst instalment in the series and then less than 6 years later they followed with an even worse film. it honestly felt like fanfiction and not in a good way, but what’s worse is it worked, teen wolf fans (including myself) tuned in, sure mine was from morbid curiosity but i am now still a viewer, sure reviews are bad and fans are annoyed, but they’re getting views and in the entertainment industry that’s all that matters.

anyway, can streaming services and hollywood stop remaking/rebooting/making follow ups and sequels stop. so few are done well, and frankly it’s unnecessary.

[more-than-tender-curiosity]

this became v long and rambly sorry!

music was decent but unremarkable overall like none of it was particularly memorable. they made the orchestra pit the pool which was kind of cool and the valley of ashes set was nice. other sets were meh imo. the performers were the only reason the entire show wasn't completely flat. esp eva noblezada and the nick i saw (i saw the u/s). they just did not give jeremy jordan much to do except be in love w daisy in their scenes together so his presence just felt kind of awkward on stage. samantha pauly was decent as jordan but the amount of time spent on nick and jordan (mostly them being v In Love and getting engaged) seems to have ended up leaving nick and gatsby on the cutting room floor. like nick and gatsby talk once when gatsby tells him about daisy and asks him to set up a meeting, they interact a bit when gatsby is panicking right before seeing daisy, and then they talk right before gatsby dies. 2/3 are completely about daisy and literally nothing else which is esp irritating given how uninteresting nick and jordan are in their scenes. even the numbers that were meant to be classic splashy broadway dance numbers were really boring (and i say this as someone w a deep fondness for splashy broadway dance numbers) and didn't feel particularly rooted in the time period, which is a missed opportunity imo. i didn't really like much of the choreography either as someone who has no real knowledge about dancing lol -  it just wasn't fun to watch. they tried to use wolfsheim as narrator-adjacent in the 2nd act opening which was incredibly boring. they also try and create tension by having wolfsheim threaten gatsby bc he's hasn't been doing his job or w/e and it does not work at all. myrtle and george's separate numbers in the 2nd act were better than most of the rest of the show. esp myrtle's bc she has a come-to-jesus moment about tom right before getting killed which has more impact than the entire rest of the show. they move the beautiful little fool convo (as a song) to the end which was baffling to me bc nick is like "you're just hiding away w your money when gatsby got killed bc he took the blame for you murdering someone" and then daisy sings about hoping her daughter's a beautiful little fool like ?????? girl wtf are you talking about. it just felt so out of place. found the writing for daisy v frustrating bc they did the thing where they try to make a character more likable by dulling or removing their flaws and end up just removing anything that makes them interesting. tom was so flat. even the way any scene w him was directed was flat, esp when he hits myrtle. no impact at all you barely even notice it happen. i was bored throughout most of the show. i get what you said about it being beautiful but empty but even the parts that could get by on that had no entertainment value.

Oh holy shit it’s worse than I thought. I knew they made nick straight, which yeah fine okay I can step outside my Stupid Gay Nick world long enough to accept that straight nick is the norm, whatever, so disappointing but whatever—

But he and jordan are like. Engaged?…really? Mr. I Wont Be Rumored Into Engagement? Getting engaged to a woman in the spotlight? Who he can’t even admit to loving fully? Are you goddamn motherfucking joking with me right now?

And like. I get that there’s no real villain in the great gatsby and that’s the point, it’s the system not the people whatever. But you mean to tell me they looked at tom, that fucking asshole, and then *didn’t use him to colorize the scenes?* You expect me to believe anyone else is ‘good’ in this when TOM BUCHANAN’S greatest sin is being boring? Where’s the fucking bottom line? Where’s the depth of character?

And then…nick and jay don’t even talk but three goddamn times?

Huh?

What?

I’m serious. Even canon nick fucking carraway admitted to hanging out with him often.

And also WOLFSHIEM AS THE NARRATOR??

Like. It’s very important that nick is the narrator. He fits such a very very specific niche of a character that he just cannot be replaced without damaging the integrity of the story as we know it, which is clearly cut and dry the story they aimed to tell. Do you think fitz’s choice in OPENING THE BOOK discussing not jay and daisy but NICK’S ‘GOOD’ CHARACTER was just an accident??? Hello??? Is anyone seeing this?

I can’t even. Like. Huh???

God it makes me SO mad they fumbled daisy too. In a modern gaze we have sooooo much more room to explore her character and they just fucking. They fumbled the goddamn bag. The failed her, and I’ve already talked about how unfair it was to cast Eva in a role defined by its whiteness. God. I just. Oh my god

[acoldsovereign]

I see Eren...

I have a question as a humble anon. Im curious but, how do you feel about him as a character? And how AOT ended? I feel like your answer will be fun to hear. :) I had mixed feelings but idk. Seeing him made go "oh no" because like, I forgot the existed, lol sorry but also because of all the infighting that happened in the fandom. So I was wondering if you had any thoughts?

*ignore my typos if there's any

SUBJECT MATTER: OOC talks / fandoms // sender: anonymous // status--always open!

{{ Oof. Okay, so--I think I'm not the best person to ask about this because when THAT happened in the fandom, I was highly confused as to why people hated it. I legit didn't understand. I had to go back and re-read the manga and I still didn't understand why people were pissed? But looking back on it, I can see it. Before I continue on that point, I'll answer you:

I adore Eren. He's my poor little meow meow. My smol angry husbando. He's a complex, traumatized, aggressive, violent fucker. I love him. Many of my current muses are on the spectrum of 'ready for violence for whatever reason'. I think it's okay to like him. Folks don't owe you a ten page essay rife with sources as to why they like or don't like a character. Moral judgements shouldn't be made about what piece of fiction someone engages with; you're not their parent and shaming isn't cool, whether you're fine with what they like or not. Very rarely will you change their mind, and instead of blocking them/moving on, you're just making yourself upset/creating an unsafe/unwelcomed environment from those who think and engage with the source material differently from you. Putting the rest under a read more because spoiler territory.

With that said, the ending was fine--I quite liked it! It's tragic and sad for sure, but I had no illusions about Attack on Titan ending horrifically. It's a dark fantasy story that began with what's left of humanity defending itself from flesh-eating monsters picking them off one by one. If . . . you thought a story like that would have a happy ending (or would have romance in it--a complaint I saw in many, many places), I have to ask why. Why is that where your mind is when there's death and destruction on every page? Then the plot twist--Titans are actually people, and they were created and planted in strategic places around the world because of [REDACTED FOR SPOILERS]. It's so fucked. You'd be lucky if your favorite character survived to the END. (Which, didn't happen for me. As I said, Eren gets love around here because I adore how layered he is. I did mourn another character who died earlier, though. And Eren's response to her fate broke my heart; yet another thing the fandom twisted around and made into something it's not). Point is--there is no real 'moral lesson' to AOT. It's a dark story made to entertain. The theme is "senseless violence begets senseless violence". It's funny because I was talking about this recently with the Eren I write with (@scarlxtleaves). Isayama himself in many interviews stated he just made it because he wanted to. Many times he was pressed for an answer and that's what he kept saying. There was one interview I remember where he did give a 'proper' answer (a generic answer about hope/optimism/determination, I think? Don't quote me on that), but it was because he was pressed for one--as if people couldn't just take him at his word. It's a bit sad, honestly. Not everything needs to be so deep--which brings me back to the fandom.

I think many people took the ending out of context, Eren out of context and used the manga as a way to attack Isayama. Many people were upset their ships didn't happen, some felt betrayed that Eren turned out be the ultimate villain/antagonist, some even went as far to send him hate mail, tell him his manga was horrible, that he should d*e, etc etc. Again, in hindsight, I understand all of this. I got whiplash too. 😂 I was like "for real??????? Y'all deadass rn???? Someone say SIKE" but nope, that's who he was--which encouraged me to reread and rewatch EVERYTHING. It all clicked and I went "how the hell did we not see this?!" 😭 So yeah, I get that Eren doing the Rumbling is extreme--but that's the point, he's BEEN that extreme since chapter and episode 1. We just didn't pay attention and thought he was bluffing. That's not the character's fault. And it doesn't mean he's written badly. He's not.

We just thought he wasn't gonna stand on business. Eren Yeager stood on that shit, 10 toes down. Genocide IS extreme (it always is, no doubt about it--and I'm not a fan of those who call Eren fans/appreciators genocide apologists because whoa??? Buddy, it's not that serious???? Again, we're not in school, we're not getting tested for morality or what have you, please take a chill pill. You're NOT getting a medal for being more moral or 'gooder' of a human than me because of . . . what character I like??????), but I get it. Don't blindly cheer him on but also: AOT Earth is NOT equivalent with our Earth. The cast is dealing with abnormal situations that we don't (people turning into giant weapons/human eating monsters, a government conspiracy to continue using SAID monsters, a even more secret plan by multiple world governments/nations to wipe out a defenseless island of people who have NO direct connection with the vile Empire that spawned them, etc etc). So if you're gonna put Eren on a crucifix, put the Marleyan government on that shit first. They LITERALLY are the reason why Eren's mom (and many innocent people) died/became mindless killers (the Titans), which made him want to kill them all in the first place. Put Grisha Yeager on that shit too, because he was a deadbeat ass father who ONLY had Eren just to pass on the Attack and Founding Titans BECAUSE SOMEONE TOLD HIM TO. He's the same thing as Gaara's father from Naruto. Same reasons why they had their youngest sons. EXACT SAME. Unlike Rasa, Grisha never apologized to Eren. Not once for bringing him into such a cruel world, not once for forcing the Titan serum on him, not EVEN for SHORTENING HIS LIFESPAN (Eren would die at 23 or until someone else killed/ate him for his Titan powers), none of it. Annie, Reiner, Berthold--they BROKE. The wall. And allowed the Smiling Titan in--the same one that ate Eren's. Mom. Like, c'mon now!

[gloomforrestrunes]

(This is so horribly worded, but I don't know how else to word this question.)

How do you write psychological manipulation/abuse so authentically? I've been in an abusive relationship before, and just reading snippets of Laxo/Nex's relationship in your posts is hitting very close to home for me. These are genuinely well thought out and written very respectfully to victims, and I applaud you for taking the time to accurately display how awful abuse can be and the effects it has on victims in your comic.

ah, thank you! i have very strong opinions on how abuse like this should be portrayed in media, which all comes down to centering the victim rather than the perpetrator or a "savior" character.

quick warning, im gonna go into some examples of poor depictions of abuse below, but no specific media is named and i dont go into too much detail

i am so, so tired and jaded from pieces of media who depict abusive relationships only to discard the victim in favor of focusing on either the abuser (attempting to go into the "sympathetic" villain route but is almost always done in a way thats tone-deaf at best or actively harmful and insulting to survivors at worst) or another character (usually the protagonist) who's only role is to "save" the victim from their abuser, depicting the victim as meek, submissive, naive, and unable to make decisions on their own. the victim's personal feelings are usually never explored, their trauma never properly addressed, and they are usually never defined outside of the abuse that was inflicted onto them, which is. bad!!! and gross!!! and extremely insulting!!

in runes, though, laxo is the protagonist. while yes, you will see him endure abuse from nex, you also see him outside of that context and outside of his trauma. he has a favorite color and weather and season and food, he's given an actual voice and personality. he is gentle, sure, but he isn't submissive. he's actually pretty playful and likes to tease a lot. he gets frustrated easily but is bad at showing it other than pouting. he snorts when he laughs. he loves to make things out of plants. he talks to flowers for comfort reasons. he loves so strongly and so much that it can overwhelm him.

his trauma effects him and inhibits him, but it doesnt define him.

while kane and nex are meant to be the antithesis of each other, kane isn't meant to be a "savior" who swoops laxo away from his abuser and everything is fine and perfect and laxo is suddenly completely healed. in reality, the most kane could, and does, do is gently guide laxo towards realizing that whats happening to him is wrong and not normal. but breaking a victim away from their abuser is never that easy. getting out of abusive relationships is never that easy.

ill go into more personal details as to why ive written runes the way i have under the cut. what ive written beneath here isnt an invitation to ask me for personal details unless i trust you.

runes, at its core, is a vent story. when it was previously named something else and the story and characters were completely different, i didnt take it too seriously. it was lighthearted and silly. but i was a really, really sad and traumatized child and didnt have the resources to do anything clinical about it.

eventually i created laxo as sort of a vent character, then he became, basically, a self-insert. i adored him so much to the point where he became the main character, and i rewrote the entire story to be about him. about me, in a way. the story slowly became darker as i daydreamed it in my head, projecting all of my awful feelings onto this character. then i created nex.

again, dont ask me for details. but nex is a mirror of my irl abusers, more so back then. an exaggerated frankenstein's monster of the people who hurt me in ways that im still in therapy for today. while he is a mirror of multiple people, his design (even his human design) and species even is taken from one person. my old childhood best friend's older brother was obsessed with wolves. so, nex is a wolf.

this is what i mean when i say that runes is a vent story. even though it has grown far past that point and these characters have blossomed into far more than what/who they were based on, there will always be that association. so i guess another answer to how i can write this stuff authentically is because ive lived it. even though what nex and laxo have is a bit different from the type of abuse i endured as a child, its also extremely similar.

this is a more personal reason as to why i may get snappy or otherwise upset when people say that they like nex (as a person, not as a character or a villain) or reduce him to a "yandere" (which has happened multiple times. ://) because he's not just a fictional character to me. he is a mirror of the real actual people that did awful, awful things to me. while there is a degree of separation now that the story and nex as a character has developed as i have (which is why im still open to talk about him as a character/analyze him/etc) there will always be that association.

even though runes is a vent story, however, that doesnt mean that it wont have a happy ending. im still here, arent i? and im healing, and im getting better, and im moving on. why shouldn't laxo, if we're essentially one and the same?

[alexcutecolly]

omg yes yes the teasing and rubbing at us would be so cute even if it was after the last fight! and more stories with him are always good! it makes me really happy to see someone else who sees him as more then just the villain cause he’s really lonely! I want to find him again too and you’re right if he has us deep in him he wont be alone anymore!

ps. I was looking at your first answer again and I lost to gi.ratina the first time i battled him so I guess i know where I’m going! ❤️

v.olo uwu

V.olo uwu anon! Hi again! 💕

It's super duper cute, yeah! 😭❤️ He'd poke and massage his belly with care still, regardless of context 🥺❤️

Warning: Major spoilers for P.okemon Legends: A.rceus below!

Though for our character such a change in story events would be actually quite frightening and stressful, since we'd be used to V.olo nomming us in a very endearing and protective way up until that moment, but now him devouring us after our defeat absolutely carries a more sinister and less willing meaning to it 🥺 I admit I wouldn't dislike it, but it'd definitely feel very different 😭

I imagine that he would eat us after the fight if we refuse to hand over the plates, or we turn down his offer to take A.rceus down together 🤔 and I mean, it's not like we could resist or something, being shrunken as we are in the scenario xD

I'll do my best to keep writing those wips tbh! I just tend to get stuck with making certain mechanics work in a believable way, like the whole shrinking-and-vore thing xD

Omg I know what you mean, it's always amazing to find other empathetic V.olo fans! Thankfully the majority of the people I know in the community feel the same way, and it's a relief ❤️

Personally I enjoy both sides of his personality tbh, but I despise those who ignore how he must have been feeling to come to the conclusion that the world he lives in is unsalvageable, and thus must be remade anew ;-; plus realizing that your own god decided you're not worthy enough of consideration must hurt a lot... ;-; ;-; ;-;

I think we might see him again in M.asters Ex since he's been teased a bit there, but I'm not downloading a gacha game to find out tbf x3 the V.olo community will definitely explode when it happens tho, so I'm just going to giggle, kick my legs in the air and see what it's all about ❤️ what do you think of all these teasers, dear anon?

And omg xD you might have lost on that first try, but you earned a swift trip to his tummy in exchange! He'd save you from world destruction, and in the meantime you fill his belly and keep him company! It's a fair deal to me xDD plus he could eat us again after resetting the world and creating another from scratch, depending on how we feel about the whole ordeal 🥺

Imo though V.olo wouldn't actually wish to erase from existence all those who live in H.isui (I'd be very fine with K.amado being gone tho. Asshole); I feel like he'd bring them back into the new world or something, only with their memories altered into believing he's their real god and not A.rceus or Almighty S.innoh 🤔 oh well, he wouldn't feel neither lonely nor alone anymore! x3

[lordsilverstein]

As a writer, I love having villain favorites. And when I say villain, I mean you want to kill that fucker, villain. People bitch and moan that you shouldn’t enjoy a mass murderer/war criminal/every other atrocity under the sun kind of character and try to judge you for it.

You know what I have to say to that?

WELL AS A WRITER THAT IS FAN FUCKING TASTIC. THEY SHOULD ELATE SUCH HATE IN YOU. I WANT THEM TO TWIST YOUR THOUGHTS LIKE A KNIFE IN THAT THICK BRAIN MATTER OF YOURS. AND THE BADDIES HAVE FANS? GEE GOLY I MUST HAVE CAPTIVATED SOME FOLKS.

If the villain was boring then, well, that would make the writer not very good at, you know, writing.

Even in modern media, be it silver screen or written text, someone wrote that character. It was them flexing their creative muscles and pouring their thought and time into it like any other baby we create for our own fics ect.

I love them because of how the writer presents them to me. I love the way it stretches my brain and makes me have to understand a different, and often completely outrageous thought pattern. Especially when paired against a very different character (friends to enemies anyone?). If they weren’t that level of terrible the story would probably suck balls. It’s even better when they make you drift into lalaland. You know, flex YOUR creative muscles? “What would happen if?” “Could someone change?” Or “They’re so terrible but I love THIS about them! It makes me get the feels!”

 It’s a total ego stroke when a character that you’ve written spurs creativity in another. To think that ANYONE would try to police someone’s private fantasy land where they are safe to ponder the different avenues of a fake multi-verse is beyond me. I thought we all agreed that ACAP? Those that gatekeep, you shame yourself.

For every person hating on a character, I say they are just taking the long way around to praise that very character. There is a fine line between love and hate. Passion is passion and they have stricken you with it.

As for me, I��m going to keep smothering my baddies in smooches and enjoying my friends to enemies fics.

[codeblogs]

Ramblings On Batman: Arkham Asylum

I think perhaps the most generic Batman story one could write has gone from "Batman punches a deranged mad man" to "Maybe Batman is just like these mad men". He's constantly contrasted with his antagonists, characters like the Riddler or the Joker will go "He's the real crazy one", as if it's a get out of jail free card to adding depth, that this one idea itself is enough to really drive home some point.

The Arkham series as a whole is ostensibly about this, it being named for the in universe asylum that Batman's villains typically end up in. People who were wronged by society at large or simply had that 'one bad day' so to speak, and found their new home among the criminally insane, and Arkham Asylum adds the additional detail that yes, they are *all* mad in here (looking at you, Warden Sharp).

It's an interesting enough albeit somewhat generic concept for the character, though I am viewing this title roughly fifteen years removed from its initial release. But, even before the release of this title we had obvious inspirations for a lot of its narrative conceit, namely the ever popular comic, "The Dark Knight Returns", which also highlights the mental wellbeing of the antagonists as well as Batman himself, culminating in a rather infamous moment where we have to dissect his personal delusions from the facts of what has happened. Also before this game was the Animated Series and its follow-up, Batman Beyond, the former featuring an episode offering a similar idea to TDKR in that Batman did not create his enemies, rather they created him. The latter offers a more direct idea that we would later see paralleled in the Arkham Trilogy's concluding title- that being in the Return of the Joker, which is primarily about a mentally disturbed Tim Drake.

This is all beside the point that lies at the heart of this, which is 'Was Arkham Asylum worth it, did it serve as an interesting Batman narrative', and begrudgingly I have to say yes. The overall mystery isn't that deep or hard to follow, the machinations of the Joker and incredibly silly despite how well thought out his plan is, the various antagonists do have to phone it in a bit because you can't just have Scarecrow steal the entire show (I do appreciate Ivy taking complete control in the final sections at least), but at the heart of all of it this game is more a celebratory title. It's like a Super Sentai anniversary special but for Batman. You get a ton of cute references, new renditions of classic characters, at least five of the big name antagonists here get to really shine, and it tries its best to make you feel like Batman.

In the spirit of an utterly generic review of the time, I will complement the freeflow combat system's ability to give the player a very brutal yet also very comic book and silly fighting style, one that echoes a lot of what Mortal Kombat 9 would do with its brutality in combat. When playing through the game's challenge scenarios, I really dug into the moveset given, finding a level of depth with a game that ostensibly has a fairly low skill floor (this is where I should mention that means it has a high skill ceiling).

That's it for gameplay though. Gameplay is fine, it's *fun*, but there's more important things to talk about here. What is the game trying to say beyond all the flair, the flashy combat, the massive cast, the good music and even better vocal performances, the really awkward cutscene direction, what is it trying to say?

I honestly couldn't really tell you, and that's my biggest issue with the Arkham series as a whole. It often feels like it's holding back, much like how the combat system only has depth if you seek it out due to that low skill floor, the narrative feels very shallow unless you dig into a lot of it on your own. While comics can be known for being very wordy (almost overly wordy), the Arkham games have a brevity that feels wrong in a way, and this peaks in the game I am not talking about here, Arkham City. In Asylum, this is far less of an issue due to how pedestrian the whole affair is, how simplistic Joker's end goal is and how single minded every character happens to be, it's like the whole world is revolving around Batman and Joker with little bits of depth regarding the depraved treatment of the mentally unwell hidden in optional audio logs (and those same audio logs show how scary the mentally unwell are, and then you go to fight a ton of crazy guys who only scream and lunge at you).

I put that last part in brackets, but it's very significant here. This game wants to show off how Amadeus Arkham and Quincy Sharp are just as unwell as those they look down on, but then you have an entire enemy class that's just "Those crazies huh". It feels tone deaf, and I understand this is part of the game design, you need a new common enemy in the overworld so the player isn't getting bored running around the island, but they also had to write that. They had to direct the big cutscene where Batman enters intensive care and gets a bunch of guys screaming at him and they all look like insensitive caricatures of what an insane person would be. But, this is gothic, this is comic book, which is sad that I'm making that concession but I guess it has to be said.

This all isn't really important though. I know I just spent most of my time talking about the game's treatment of those with mental illness, but most of this doesn't matter. The game isn't really about this, and while there are bite sized pieces of interest sprinkled in, it's more about having fun in the Batman universe, and I can be forgiving. It achieves that goal despite some narrative incongruities in the subtext.

I suppose the bottom line is that this isn't a game concerned with what it is or isn't saying, as what it's trying to be is far louder than anything I just spoke about. It is a game about being Batman, and I hate people that say that about any video game based on an established IP, "This is a game about being X", but it's true. This is all about being Batman- you investigate crime scenes, you take down the notable cast members of his rogue's gallery, you pull off insane combat feats, and at the end you stop Joker's evil plan to destroy Gotham. I suppose that's fine.

[tricoloredillusion]

𝘒𝘕𝘖𝘞𝘐𝘕𝘎  𝘠𝘖𝘜𝘙  𝘗𝘈𝘙𝘛𝘕𝘌𝘙  𝘞𝘌𝘓𝘓  𝘊𝘈𝘕  𝘗𝘖𝘛𝘌𝘕𝘛𝘐𝘈𝘓𝘓𝘠  𝘔𝘈𝘒𝘌  𝘞𝘙𝘐𝘛𝘐𝘕𝘎  𝘛𝘖𝘎𝘌𝘛𝘏𝘌𝘙  𝘈  𝘓𝘖𝘛  𝘌𝘈𝘚𝘐𝘌𝘙.

NAME :　Neo

PRONOUNS :　She / They

PREFERENCE  OF  COMMUNICATION :　DMs I guess, although if we do bigger plotting and stuff, I prefer Discord because DMs tend to feel too small! (Not like I'm super active currently)

NAME  OF  MUSE(S) :　Neopolitan! Born Trivia Vanille, but that's her dead name, she's just Neopolitan now.

EXPERIENCE  /  HOW  LONG  (  MONTHS  /  YEARS? ) :　I've been RPing for a long time now, since I was a kid! Started with silly RPs with friends in which we made OCs for franchises we liked, one-liners, over MSN Messenger, or, I remember Deviantart and a Spanish social site called Tuenti, in which I also remember RPing for a while.

But when it comes to the more developed and more proper writing for roleplaying, it was around here in Tumblr in 2014. So I guess when it comes to a more developed RPing, it's been almost 10 years now, but I've been RPing for longer in general :P

English isn't my mother language either, so RPing helped me to improve.

BEST  EXPERIENCE :　Honestly? I've had many good experiences, but usually it's the journey of having the chance of developing your character further from canon events thanks to interactions. The journey of also meeting people along the way- of creating stories together that last for long! That's what I love.

RP  PET  PEEVES  /  DEALBREAKERS :　One-liners. Nowadays I really lose my motivation completely if I'm replying to one-liners or crack. Like I don't know! I just have difficulty to continue whenever that happens.

Also, god-modding. I'm including when a character seems to know about mine without them meeting or having a real reason to know them.

MUSE  PREFERENCES  FLUFF,   ANGST  OR  SMUT :　AAAAANGST, I like angst, specially if it can be mixed up with fluff. There must be a balance, like, I love to make my muse suffer, but the pain and suffering must amount to some relief in the long run. I'm fine with smut but it isn't a priority, like, I'm fine writing it with people that I've been RPing for longer with and that I can trust, because it can bore me to write if it lacks some feeling between the muses (positive or negative feelings, mind you-).

PLOTS  OR  MEMES :　Plots. It doesn't have to be something super deep, but I like to plot a bit to know where to start. Memes are fine at times to make me improvise, but even my improvisations tend to make me think of plotting that would make sense in situation.

LONG  OR  SHORT  REPLIES :　Long threads preferred, but sometimes a person doesn't have to totally match the length of my replies. However, the shortest I'm alright with is like, 1 or 2 paragraphs. Otherwise I have a hard time having motivation to continue.

BEST TIME TO WRITE :　With my current schedules, I have no IDEA...unpredictable, for real.

ARE  YOU  LIKE  YOUR  MUSE(S) :　It's probs worrying to identify with a villain of all things, but it's usually people like me, with trauma and being neurodivergent, that tend to identify most with certain muses like Neo. So, yeah! I could say I can see a bunch of similarities between Neo and I. It's why I have so much muse for her in the first place, but I promise it has nothing to do with being a murderer lol.

Tagged by: @ferinehuntress (thank you!)

Tagging: @ Anyone who didn't do this yet!

[honeymochibubbletea]

Good night my dearies! (By the time i am writing this, it is night in my country)

How are y’all? Good? I hope so! :D

So, you all may remember my Oc that i showed on my latest posts: Oliver!

Today, i, Honey Mochi Bubble Tea, am here to ramble a little bit about my sweet Oc Oliver! (I swear, i am so proud of creating this cute boy, i mean, not here to brag or anything but my baby is literally a cutie :3)

So, let’s goooo:

Let’s start with the basics:

Oliver is an Telltown Oc.

Even though i call him “baby” or “sweet boy”, he’s actually 22 years old, believe or not lol. (This only happens because i always manage to make characters look younger than they actually are haha)

My Oc pronouns are They/them//he/him.

He’s gender-fluid.

His sexuality is pansexual.

They are autistic. (I’ll explain better on the comment section if anyone has more questions about it: like how is their autism, how they handle or feel about it, how is their stimming and other things related to their autism!) (ps: and yes, their autism is a reflection of my own autistic spectrum)

Their height is 4’7 feet tall.

They are Brazilian! (Brazilian pride here! ;D)

His comfort zone: his own home or any library; his comfort food: burritos or sushi; his comfort objects: music boxes, big plushies, his amulet and his books; his comfort characters: any big and muscular guys or tall ladies, really lol; his comfort drink: boba tea and his comfort dessert: mochis.

He’s very, very weak and slow. If hypothetically he was in a combat, he would either die very easily or he would get out of the danger by persuasion or luck.

Thankfully, he’s an inventor and created a machine that can always respawn him if he’s in a situation that he knows he’s going to die: as long as he has his soul, he’s going to be fine.

WARNING: this bit has mentions of panic attacks; suicidal thoughts; self harming and hyperventilation! He has serious anxiety and stress issues. (And you may wonder: does he treats his anxiety? The answer is yes, but it’s honestly so bad that sometimes even the strongest medications doesn’t work, and when it doesn’t work, it leads to him having a lot of panic attacks; suicidal thoughts; self harming and even hyperventilating to the point he feels like he can’t breathe…)

Their phobias are: Eisoptrophobia; Agoraphobia/Enochlophobia; Social phobia and Aichmophobia (when used on them, not when they need to use it).

Their main goal: becoming Dr. Phantasmo’s apprentice and a better villain!

Now here are some fun facts about Oliver:

Oliver is very afraid of Charlie, why you ask? Well: they presume that since Charlie is a hero and has Phantasmo as her arch nemesis and Oliver is a big fan of Phantasmo… automatically, in their head, Charlie immediately sees them as also a menace… (even if Oliver is menacing as a baby lamb hahaha)

Oliver likes Dr. Phantasmo very much. Like, to them, the guy’s an idol and one day, one day: Oliver is going to happily work for him.

Yes: Oliver isn’t as innocent as he seems, he creates clones out of other people’s parts of their bodies (nails; teeth; hair locks; dead skin and blood) and experiment on said clones… god knows what twisted things he does to these clones…

Now you may be thinking: “is Oliver a good or bad person?” And well…. I promise to expand more on their morals; ethics; philosophies; character and reasons to be the way they are. But have this as for now: imagine that he has intrusive thoughts: the problem itself isn’t having intrusive thoughts, because it is proven that everyone had or has intrusive thoughts, the real problem is when you put in action whatever intrusive thoughts you’re having: killing someone, for example.

Since Oliver isn’t the strongest or the fastest person, he has other methods to compensate for the lack of those things: if he has to defend himself or… ahem, “take someone down”, he usually carries with him (on his backpack, of course) a pistol and some sleeping drugs… (also a dagger and a taser)

Thanks to his cuteness; charm and politeness, he can almost make anyone trust him rather quickly.

Oliver usually doesn’t like confrontation or conflicts, but if an idiot walks over him or someone that can’t defend themselves… ohoho, let’s just say that Oliver will plan a “special party” six feet under the ground for them :)

Oliver’s plans after he met Phantasmo became basically this: befriend Phantasmo (or something close to that); show him anime and mangás; ask him on a date (if they ever build courage for that) and hope he doesn’t kill them. :D

Oliver doesn’t have parents. The “closer” he has is a mysterious entity that names themselves as “Élos”. Oliver never saw them before, he only knows about its existence through the letters they send him. Élos apparently is probably who created Oliver, i will also explain that relationship better on my next post~ ;)

Oliver knows Emilly too well, almost so well that it even looks like they’re siblings. But here’s the catch: they never met each other before. Ever. Thing is, no one ever saw these two together at the same place. Oliver claims that the two live together and when questioned about this peculiarity, he lies that she’s busy in a different place whenever he’s home… (Emilly is another Oc of mine that i’ll talk about later on my next, next post! :D)

[theophagie]

I wanna do what I do best (go on and on about things). And about this

I feel like it's especially disingenuous to say that not having a superpower is a disability when there are actually disabled characters in the manga (literally in order of appearance: All Might, AFO, Twice, Compress, Overhaul, Mirko, Endeavor, definitely Dabi after the latest arc). The Midoriya we're met with at the beginning of the manga is a stand-in for the average reader, a character that's easy for a real person to identify with in a world of superhumans. And he doesn't "get magically cured of his disability", he is an everyman that is given the chance to elevate himself even higher than those same superhumans

Fanworks are one thing, and people can do whatever they want in them. Wanting to create AUs where certain elements are approached or handled differently than they are in canon is perfectly fine. Entertaining different interpretations is perfectly fine. But it's disingenuous to state that bnha is ableist because it opted out of having a disabled main character when quirkless-ness isn't even meant to represent disability

People who say this always act as if the difference between being quirkless and having a quirk should have been a 1:1 depiction of the difference between being disabled and not being disabled irl. But not only are quirkless people not disabled, people with a quirk cannot be uniquely equaled to abled people either. Quirks can be anything, and having one doesn't assure that you won't be discriminated against, that people will see you "neutrally", or that you will be well-integrated into sociey, if at all. It's less straightforward than that. It's the point of almost all the villains. Look at Toga's life. Look at Spinner's and at that of the other heteromorphs (and if we really want to talk about insensitivity on Horikoshi's part, this is the subplot that we have to look at). Look a the whole paranormal liberation front, at Destro's ideology. On the heroes' side even, look at Shinsou's life, or at Monoma's

In an extra in I believe volume 1, Horikoshi talks about how even though civilians aren't allowed to use their quirks in public, people with "innocuous" quirks like Inko won't suffer any consequences if they do. Is it discrimination? Sure it is. Can it remind you of something that happens in the real world? Of course it can. Both not having a quirk and having certain quirks can have consequences that may be reminiscent of rl-conditions. It's natural, we're all human. We draw on what we know, we repackage elements that we may be familiar with in different forms, we write and read about things that we can understand, that we can relate to, that we can sympathise with, and so on. And fantasy allows you to do just that to different degrees of ambiguity. "The underdog" too is a popular character archetype for a reason

It's still intellectually dishonest to insist that just because you read a fantasy issue in a certain way, that issue can or ought to be 100% overlapped with a real one, and to insult the author for not having treated it as such

[quidfree]

Alright so you have made it clear you don't like the way the todoroki family drama was handled in canon I have to admit as someone who love your writing I am curious to have you would have handled it?

hello anon. i would say mostly my issue w canon isn’t so much the drama but the framing of it, and mostly just how much of a ‘sympathetic’ protagonist enji is rapidly framed as? even if im being very generous to him when you set up canon elements like his being a eugenics freak + outright neglecting several of his kids for not being good enough heirs + intensely overpressuring his other very young kids in an obviously abusive way to shape them into his ideal + creating an aura of total emotional repression and aggressive dominance in his household etc, all in the pursuit of his career ambitions, i simply do not understand how you can then lean So Heavily into how enji feels bad about it now actually (solidly twenty odd years into it, considering natsuo’s age) so his kids should forgive him or else they’re evil. he literally has a change of heart decades down the line prompted by things that happen in his JOB (and not, say, the original touya fiasco or rei having a mental breakdown and assaulting their son) and from thereon-out canon keeps framing forgiveness as the moral and correct option (mostly via the women, because of course) + the family reunion and repair as the ideal out.

tldr i find the concepts fine but the story poor in its handling. hell i dont care if enji has a redemption arc bc bnha loves toying with what makes a hero and a villain but i do not think simply bc he makes an effort he is owed anything from the people who have suffered at his hands for years & i find it super fucking annoying that canon is pushing so heavily via extremely contrived circumstances for shouto and his siblings to forgive him or else be like touya and thus Bad. and from a more big picture angle i find it very irritating that so much of the story gets given to enji instead of shouto, who feels very sidelined in what is supposedly his own family drama in contrast to enji and touya. sure that makes sense w the story but for bnha as a story shouto is meant to be an MC not two of his relatives. etc

[synergysilhouette]

Naruto (Comic AU)

My DBZ/DBS comic AU got a couple of likes, so I wanted to see what you guys thought of a Naruto AU where it's an American comic that began in 1974, created by Masashi Kishimoto. Unlike DB, which I couldn't figure out if I wanted it to be set in America or westernized Japan (to coincide with it's 1950s creation), I imagine "Naruto" taking place in a fictional country colonized by Japan and then westernized (but the Japanese culture is much more apparent from the get-go):

1970s--Even though people say the Prologue-Land of Waves Arc is iconic, I feel like it was super underrated. I heard Haku was originally planned to be a beautiful boy, but the androgyny hit the censors and they made him a young woman (though this was retconned later). Honestly this period was really good for getting the franchise on it's feet. It's generally believed that it's darker subject matter allowed it to sell only because it was the Bronze Age of comic books, and had it occured earlier, it may not have happened.

1980s--I swear, this is where everyone remembers "Naruto" beginning. The series received critical acclaim for expanding the cast of characters and the mythology of the series, especially in the Chunin Exam arc and Naruto using the alter ego "Kurama." Though according to my research, the Konoha Crush arc received a LOT of pushback due to the death of the Third Hokage, and there was this really weird thing in the Search for Tsunade where Tsunade was receiving sexist feedback from fans as well as frequent fetishization. I think they were trying to imply she was bi and in a relationship with Shizune, but again, time period prevented full exploration of that--though they were perfectly fine with the villain being androgynous…Then there was an implication Kabuto had feelings for Orochimaru. There was a LOT of baiting going on.

1990s--This era wasn't bad by any means, but it was mainly focused on ninja missions, and while it may have felt slower-paced than the larger arcs, it allowed for more development on Team 7 and their contemporaries; my own favorite part was the transition of making Sakura less rude to Naruto (and I will admit the writing for a romance between her and Lee was interesting) and having a more mature bond with Sasuke, who often put his positive feelings on the back burner for his revenge against Itachi. This made the final major arc of the decade--and the century--the Sasuke Recovery Mission, all the more emotional and powerful. Though I call BS that Sakura and Naruto weren't strong enough to defeat Sasuke together (but I'm not going to Comic-Con saying that). Honestly Sakura was a trouper; she battled Sasuke, got defeated, joined Naruto's retrieval squad, and went full ham on Sasuke. The sound 4 are SO underrated, though!

2000s--The turn of the century brought about big changes to the series, similar to the Ultimate Marvel universe and DC's New 52 relaunch--only "Naruto" didn't end up being maligned. Certain relationships were jostled around slightly and the characters were aged up to young adults in order to appeal to a larger crowd, as well as more suggestive situations. Though the boost in sales was unprecedented; the Kazekage Rescue Mission attracted a lot of attention due to the involvement of Gaara and the Akatsuki, though some people attribute this to the Kakashi Gaiden miniseries getting significant attention. I remember Sai and Yamato's introduction was a RADICAL change that was intended to be permanent because writer Hayden Watson found Kakashi boring and didn't see Sasuke as redeemable, but fan backlash and demand for Kakashi's return eventually made this change temporary. She also tried to put Sakura and Naruto together, but this was eventually unravelled as well, as later authors were big Hinata fans. The subsequent arcs seemed to only cause sales to increase, though the death of Jiraya gained a LOT of ire. Honestly I was also hooked when Sasuke formed Hebe, though I wasn't a fan of how this period was super fanservice-y with Sasuke and Hinata in particular.

2010s-This era was WILD. No one could really top "Naruto" in this period's prime. Itachi's past was hard to swallow for some fans, though some sympathy for Sasuke was showered down for it's political undertones, and the Pain arc was SO satisfactory for Hinata's confession to Naruto; if I recall correctly, it inspired fans to make a petition for the publisher to make an AU where she was a part of Team 7. I heard rumors that this comic was actually gonna be made, but I have yet to see it (and if it existed, I kinda wanted Sasuke and Hinata to be together, but that's ANOTHER story). There were rumors she was going to die, but I'm grateful she didn't. I remember the Fourth Shinobi World War arc was selling like CRAZY. The titles that focused on this went hard, and it had me on the edge of my seat. I won't lie, though; the last two arcs were pretty confusing to me, concerning Kaguya and Madara and Obito. Honestly I'm just glad they gave Sakura a bigger role; even though she didn't have the lineage Naruto and Sasuke had, she wasn't discounted like I expected her to be.