#tl;dr it's actually literally a love confession

[codenamesazanka]

last words

Spinner's name means "someone/something who spins". In the original Japanese, his name is just the romanization of the English word 'spinner' - 「スピナー」 (supinaa).

When characters in the manga define it, they often use 「紡ぐ者」 (tsumugumono) lit. 'a person who spins'. 「紡」 is the key character here, meaning spin, in the way one spins yarn, or spins a story.

Spinner deliberately choose this name because he wanted to 'spin' Stain's dream into reality.

Later, when he abandons following Stain to follow Shigaraki, All For One takes notes of his meaning of his name, to tell him that he'll be helping Shigaraki to 'spin' his goal [into reality]. (Viz translates this as "support Shigaraki Tomura in his crusade and do justice to your name... as one who spins this tale.")

This is appropriate, because during and since the MVA arc, Spinner has been doing everything he can to support Shigaraki's dream of destruction - to achieve their goal of 'that beautiful horizon'. Throughout the third act, Spinner's still trying to spin that dream into being.

And it is their goal - it was Shigaraki who first talked about the 'horizon' in his speech to Ujiko, the speech that affected Spinner so much he started down the path of devotion to Shigaraki; so that Spinner would be the only one out of everyone in the League to see Shigaraki's horizon in Deika (the prettiest thing he has ever seen). Somehow, Shigaraki figures this out, so that much later, when Shigaraki is preparing to decay Mt. Fuji, he dedicates this destruction to Spinner - to "build the horizon... that Spinner's been looking forward to."

But-- Shigaraki fails. Deku stops him, and Shigaraki seemingly dies. He dies without having built that horizon, without having destroying anything.

In Shigaraki's final moments, Deku tells him, "I wanted to stop you. I wanted you to stop yourself. To keep that grief and misery from spreading any further."

In Japanese, when Deku talks about this 'cycle of sadness', he says he wants it to 'stop spinning' - 「紡がれない」 (tsumugarenai). His line uses the same character meaning 'spin' as the one I talked about above - 「紡」

lit. 'so the sadness won't spin'

Shigaraki listens to Deku's words, and after a moment, says to him:

"If Spinner is alive... tell him Shigaraki Tomura fought to destroy to the bitter end."

I thought before and still think it's Shigaraki leaving some words of comfort for Spinner. He failed to destroy everything, failed to succeed in reaching his goal (which is Spinner's goal, because it's Shigaraki's goal, because it's the goal Shigaraki made for the League); but he did try his hardest. He died trying to achieve their horizon, because until the very end, he was keeping their promise as best as he could.

Maybe, it's also: don't worry about the failure; all the way until the end of his life, Shigaraki Tomura got to chase after his dream, their dream.

Maybe even, when taking all of the context from above and putting it into these last words of Shigaraki's: but it's stopped. Thus, Spinner doesn't have to spin for him anymore. The sadness has stopped spinning. Maybe: If Spinner stops on his own, Heroes won't have to stop him. If he's still alive, he can stay alive.

And see, the Shigaraki that says these words is the 'same' Shigaraki as the one in Spinner's memories of the two of them talking about games together. You can tell by the visuals:

In the panel right before Shigaraki tells Deku to deliver a message, the lock of hair on Shigaraki's face falls below his nose; and the locks of hair that frames his face falls below his chin.

But in the panel where he gives those very last words, he's wearing a black shirt. His lock of hair on his face does not reach past his nose. The locks of hair framing his face ends at the level of his mouth.

So this is the Shigaraki from Spinner's memories of them being just two gamers. This is the moment they weren't Villains or boss and subordinate; they were just two guys, close in age, (getting along better than Spinner thought, bonding over games and stuff), being friends.

Shigaraki is giving his last words as Spinner's friend; and they are to tell him, i kept our promise. i chased our dream.

[idkirdkok]

I don't know why some people blame stolas for how things went...He literally just confessed that he has feelings for blitz and, from his pov, not only got rejected and got the impression that it's always been only a sex thing (he saw blitz write it off as a sexual roleplay and even jokingly said "i love you sooo much" man,,,that must've hurt), he also GOT YELLED AT and INSULTED, in the same fashion his toxic, abusive ex used to constantly do and it was the first time he actually heard how blitz thinks of him.

WE as the audience know it's blitz' defense mechanism because he went through a lot of shit, that he actually wanted to Talk about it (and he did talk (or tried to, at least). He asked for a minute ro think/process and actually said how he feels, that's a great improvement. He also immediately tried to apologize once he realized stolas didn't yell back at him and that his words actually hurt stolas. I'm not blaming him at all. He has his own shitload of reasons and trauma for why he reacted the way he did), but stolas didn't know all that. His pov is dry ass responses to his texts, and blitz not showing up to neither save him nor visit him in the hospital. He saw blitz treat his confession as a joke, and then yell at him for "dropping this feelings bullshit" on him (again, WE know it's because Blitz thinks so low of himself that he convinced himself it must be a joke, and that someone like stolas couldn't possibly genuinely like someone like him). Then basically got told he's a terrible person. It's all too much to deal with.

I think had Blitz been more gentle in saying all those instead of kicking the door and yelling, it probably wouldn't have gone as bad as it did. Stolas literally FLINCHED when blitz yelled and called him a bitch. So yeah, they needed to have a longer, two sided convo, he should've heard blitz out, should have given the poor guy some time to process everything before making a decision. BUT!! he can't be blamed for not doing that, it was a hard fucking moment for him.

I also think the reason he immediately teleported Blitz away instead of waiting to hear his apology was not solely because it was the first time he realized how Blitz views him, but also because Blitz unknowingly confirmed what Stolas was worried about. "If he's only here as a prisoner, then what kind of monster does that make me?" And then Blitz went and called him a rich, pompous asshole who thinks he's more important than others.

Man...I can't wait to see what happens in apology tour

Tl;dr: neither of them are fully right or fully wrong. They both reacted based on their own circumstances, trauma and assumptions

[lucabyte]

obligatory ramble about postcanon loop ask

also your art is amazing

Hiiiiiiiii :D thank you :)!!

and thank you for the excuse to post the. just absolute wall of text that i truncated down to form the tags of that post. (i did,,, hit the tag limit. i forgot tumblr had one of those...) so let me just paste that and tidy it up a bit...

I am putting this under a readmore because it's a bit long. but:

This is like. The General Context for all* of my postcanon doodles? (Except AUs obviously) Like this is the base idea I've been drawing them all in. So, feel free to backread with this in mind. I've basically had this 'postcanon' timeline set in my brain since finishing the game...

My general thoughts are that I like the idea of Loop (even if through dubiously ethical means) being able to slowly reintegrate with the party as a whole new person, because they are, in fact, their own person.

It's a muddle of thematic threads im pulling on and "wouldn't it be fucked up if", but. (at its core, it's powered by the fact that like, while narratively isat's theme of 'the only person who can truly take the first step to help you is yourself'. (wrt: loop helping the party help siffrin in act 5) which i LOVE AND IS GREAT NARRATIVELY…. would be super fucked up irl to learn that your friend 'learned as a lesson' while you stood by kinda uselessly. I know i'd be upset about it. but thats mostly background here. doesn't really come up. at least not until loop has to explain who they are and the party realises they had to fall back on literally themselves again for help, but i digress,)

The real core concept is: Occam's razor. It is like, inherently, a buckwild thing to accuse a person of being somehow a clone or copy of your friend. Even if they start vaguely alluding to a backstory it's far more likely they were some other person before all that. (I still think Odile has that theory in the back pocket but she's rational enough to know it's a really long shot without a solid explanation. and i think Loop deep down knows this, and would, if cornered into confessing, turn the situation around to go J'ACCUSE and make HER explain it instead. Ever longer dodging being direct with their emotions...)

And the party are nice! And if someone has changed and wants to keep stuff secret it's kind of not their business? (Though it's hard not to speculate… see: the main joke of the doodles) And they seem important to Siffrin so they just try to accept them abrasive quirks and all. And eventually the question of their prior identity just fades away since, well, they're Loop. Their friend Loop.

but yeah. personal headcanon is that a few months/weeks after picking up and getting aquainted with Nille** (since that was presumably the IMMEDIATE TASK postgame), Loop reappears (either after a literal period of nonexistance, or just spending a few months wandering the french countryside alone being attacked by wild dogs). Since Siffrin has had a while to be therapised by the party they're doing mostly okay, but Loop showing up and still being agitated/aggressive pulls them both into a bit of a backslide behaviourally and puts the party on the back foot again.

Hooowever, I do think that due to no longer being literally stewing in the worst pressure cooker of all time together, the two do mostly actually sort themselves out with productive conversation. (Via a cycle of: genuinely distressing argument -> weeeird lovebombing -> ok we're good -> repeat, that gets less intense over time)

Thus, allowing the party to just. Integrate loop as a new person. They and Siffrin shuffle into different ecological niches (Loop taking over stuff Siffrin is now too squeamish for, etc (see: hunting, mostly)), and while it's not exactly what Loop wanted they generally get that beggars can't be choosers and it's a pretty good deal. And the rest of the party does straight up just like them as a friend, especially when Loop quits trying to actively antagonise them after a few weeks of being around them, since they just can't keep up being mean to people they like forever.

As for how I think the truth eventually drags itself out. This is where I invoke The Isabeau Torment Nexus™. So its gonna get shippy here for a bit hold on.

Which is, I think giving them time before Loop reappears long enough that Siffrin and Iseabeau actually manage to become established, Isabeau has to be the one to nudge the pair of them and go. "Hey. You know we're in Vaugarde right. I'm okay with polyamory if we all communicate." Before Loop and Siffrin actually even acknowledge that whatever the fuck they have going on kinda looks a lot like a relationship of some kind. (or have already been agonising about that via fighting and arguing, depending) (Obviously this comes after Isa "Emotionally intelligent enough to keep a lid on the jealousy" Beau has managed to use that big brain of his to Not just go Scream somewhere on the daily because oh godddd they keep talking like theyre suicide-baiting each other jesus chriiist. is it overstepping his boundaries to bring that up?? god)

This, taking a bunch of the tension out of Loop and Isabeau's relationship (Since I imagine Loop is a. being weird for the obvious reasons and b. feeling kinda guilty about 'getting in the way of' Siffrin and Iseabeau), allows them to actually get close in a normal friend way. (I think an interesting turning point could be Isabeau actually taking Loop's side in an argument vs Siffrin, which would absolutely break Loop's brain. Especially if it's an argument that matters. Like what do you mean he isn't just going to play favourites. What?)

Then Isabeau, just actually open minded and charmed by Loop (and maybe even somewhat at Siffrin's suggestion?) tries to close the final open side on the polyamory triangle here and that's the final straw for Loop on "This lie by omission is too unethical to keep up, this is just actually sick and wrong. I can't do this while he doesn't know who I am." Though. Obviously it probably goes. Very poorly with emotions high like that. And the added element of several months of deceit. Getting dark here for a second but that dagger is going MISSING and so are THEY for a hot minute.

Then yaaay everything works out in the end 👍 yippieee!! all it took was maybe a lot of harrowed recontextualisation of all the weird shit your new friend said and did when it turns out they're your old friend. It's fine.

But yeah. this is basically the context all of my postcanon doodles have existed within? And those exist to give other people something to chew on. So this does too.

I suppose TL;DR: Imagine if sloopis almost fucking happens before isabeau knows who loop is. can you fucking imagine. can you imagine having to navigate that. nightmare.

*Yes this includes the implied cannibalism comic. Uhh. Comes part and parcel with headcanoning that Loop went way off the deep end similar to A5 Sif But Maybe Worse before giving in. Add weepy half-asleep confessions to murder wherever you see fit in your mind palace. 👍👍👍

**Re: Nille footnote. I don't have anywhere to put this besides here! I have some thoughts on Loop and Nille having an odd dynamic. I don't imagine Nille to be super gung-ho on trusting a bunch of adults (even if they are majority around her age) given their implied backstory. It's probably a big shock to the system, especially since Bambouche is a good couple hundred Kilometers up north from Dormont and these guys don't seem to have trains. She would've been unfrozen and without Bonnie for some time....

Which is to say: I think she's suspicious of them. I think she may be looking for excuses to distance herself, keep Bonnie safe. SO.... A new guy showing up? And antagonising the party? What do they know that I don't...? I should find out.

And since... Loop didn't ever know Nille, they have no ammunition or real reason to be cruel. Plus, if they're trying to stay on Bonnie's good side (SINCE... if Bonnie thought Loop was cringe they may as well kill themselves. In their mind.) they SUPER have no reason to antagonise Nille.

Mostly, they might be able to open up to each other easier than they can the rest of the party?

I feel like this resolves with Loop feeling compelled to apologise for what they and Siffrin let happen to Bonnie, though... Hmm... Depends on how you interpret Nille that they'd be glad nobody else had been told about that yet, or furious it had been secret this long. I lean toward the former.

[sa1-13]

So, the voices of brainrot won so I had to put this into words cause I have been thinking about this idea for about… two hours now and I HAVE to put it out there.

The character I was thinking about was a Sonadow fan kid Void made by the wonderful @emthimofnight . Go check out all of her work, it’s absolutely divine! Her stuff is what ultimately inspired me to start drafting my own Sonadow fan kid.

Anyways, I, the romance writer that I am, was trying to think of how the actual hell a romance Void would even come about. A TL;DR summary on Void as a character: Void is narcissistic, greedy, selfish, born and raised villain with a god-complex so massive it makes Mystic Messenger’s Rika’s complex look angelic by comparison. A romance between him and… well- literally anyone- would never work. Despite his good looks, no romance would get past the other person’s attempts to initiate as, in Emthimofnight’s own words on Void on a post about their character’s reactions to being confessed to, “He just assumes it is natural for someone to be attracted to him… …whether he actually reciprocates is entirely determined by what he could get out of the person confessing.”

However, in my continuous back and forth with myself, I kept coming back to the second and third words used to describe him, greedy and selfish. The reason being was that I technically already knew how to make a character like that enthralled into a romance thanks to a manga called, “Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-Kun!”.

To keep myself from completely spoiling one of my, at the time of writing this post, two favourite archs in the whole manga, I’ll just describe the way the mangaka makes the greedy and selfish character fall in love with the object of their affection: B gives A a smack to the face with reality that their is someone above them, A’s sudden confusion and yet fascination with this new complete stranger who just broke into their head, the fascination leading to A trying to get B, only for B to be constantly putting themselves just out of reach A’s grasp, driving A to only want B more, finally, both dumbasses are into this so it keeps going.

The second step onwards aren’t exactly hard to to imagine happening, as they are just natural consequences of both characters’s writing, leading both characters to make to follow step after step. It was just that first step that was putting me in a bind. What in the hell would you have to do to make Void even consider you to be better than him? So, I kept trying to go back to what gave him the god complex in the first place. It was his ability to fight, right?

That’s when it hit me: someone just has to beat him in a fight.

Before you say that’s impossible, firstly, nothing is truly impossible in writing, secondly, if we’re talking about fighting, if someone is just as gifted as him that has done more training than him, bitch is getting his ass handed to him. People with god-complexes often either stop, or never started with gifted people, improving themselves in the area that gave them the god-complex in the first place. It’s why villains with them are defeated more often than ones without them.

Just imagining Void deeper and deeper into all consuming, rather obsessive, love that slowly drives to actually start getting stronger and stronger, while literally everyone watches in object horror, and as those who try to control him try to force him to stop, the end up giving up their hand, making Void doing the most selfish and greedy thing he could have ever done in that situation, leaving. That kind of stuff is what I live for.

Anyway’s, thank you for coming to my TED Talk, Imma go pass out now.

[foulfirerebel]

Tai Yang Xiao Long

is not a shit parent.

A shit parent doesn't love or take care of their kids. A shit parent fobs them off onto someone else. A shit parent runs from their family just as their daughter is born. A shit parent abuses, gaslights, and torments their kid.

Just because Tai isn't the best at helping Yang or Ruby with trauma, which doesn't exactly come in a parenting class or anything, and because of the problems in the past doesn't mean he's not there right now.

And I'm tired of people saying that he's a bad parent, when RWBY has PLENTY of examples of bad parents.

Raven walked out on their family. Marcus Black was practically Cassandra Caining Mercury. Jacques is...Jacques, needs no explanation. Lady Tremaine/Cinder's wicked adoptive mom literally electroshocked Cinder. The Vanille's were, by and large, only interested in Trivia/Neo as more of a status symbol then a kid IIRC or at least didn't treat her too well either.

Tai and Willow may have the problem of 'neglected their kids in a critical juncture of their lives', but I've seen too much Tai hate to let that go. Nobody appears to be jumping on Willow for getting drunk at every opportunity, nor Qrow's on and off visits or drinking problems likewise despite that coming in bad ways.

Nobody appears to actually think of Raven coming in only when Yang was close to death as a black mark on her record as a parent.

Did Tai screw up when Yang and Ruby were young? Sure. Is he still there and still trying? YES. And I, for one, massively prefer Tai over Raven as far as parenting Yang and Ruby goes. He was a much better parent to Yang then Raven was, and yet some fans treat Raven with kid gloves and reserve the sledgehammer for Tai?!

~

Okay, maybe I should confess that the reason I feel so strongly about this is that I relate to that. Not the whole 'emotionally distant parent' thing, but the 'raised by a single parent when the other one left' thing. Yes, Tai messed up in the past and that messed up Yang quite a bit. It's not as much as Raven leaving did, but it does deserve criticism. Not an explosion, however, we got that with the Raven confrontation(s) in V5.

Again. I prefer a parent who tries at the very least, and this includes Willow too, to a parent who walks away or actively abuses their kid.

For Grade A parenting (genuine) in RWBY though? The Belladonnas, Pietro, and Ren's folks come to mind. Heck, Saphron and Terra and possibly Jaune's parents too if we ever get to see them?

TL;DR: No, I don't think Tai is a shit father or the "third worst parent" as a mutual described him. There are far worse in RWBY than Tai, and that's the truth. I'm not saying he did nothing wrong ever, I'm saying people are being way too harsh on him.

[ourdreamsareneon]

okay *cracks knuckles* I did a post about gale, time for his better half - astarion

Some of you don't have media literacy and it shows.

I dont know where to start so I'm gonna go hard before getting soft (insert sex joke.) Act 1 astarion is an asshole. He's manipulative and toxic and uses his power as a ~230 year old vampiric high elf to manipulate you into (among other things) having sex with him. I understand falling for him at that point, that's not your fault it's just the game gaming and the writers are really good at how they write his manipulation. However, it does strike me as strange that some of y'all get to the scene where he confesses to using and manipulating you and you....don't care? 'He's just damaged! its not his fault!' babygirl, someone can have a good reason for hurting you, but that doesn't take away the pain. I'm not saying that you shouldn't still love him, but it's strange how many of you disregard that scene. I know for me at least I was saddened by it and definitely was a little wary about him afterwards until beating Cazador and unlocking the nice happy healthy Astarion relationship.

Now here's where we get soft to prove that I actually like Astarion. The reason that confession stings for me is because I have many a memory of being SA'd then being told "I'm not even into you, you were just there." Ever since I stopped being a girl and became a woman, something that happened all too early in my life, I have been used and abused. And hey, sorry for making my Tav the exact same way but I like processing my trauma through D&D. I relate a lot to Astarion. Hurt people hurt people and I know that better than anyone. I also know better than anyone that picking yourself up and healing from that hurt sucks ass. Which brings me to two points. Um apologies for getting hard on you again.... insert another sex joke here.

1) Astarion isn't ace. I've seen this briefly and while I appreciate the need for queer rep, and love headcanons, I do think this discounts the struggle a lot of SA survivors go through. Okay, back to my life so we can compare. When I was chin deep in my abusive relationships and just general shitty time of my life, I was fucking and sucking literally so much it hurt. However as soon as I got out of that situation, I basically became celibate for 2 years. I didn't know how to have sex in a way that was healthy, or that wouldn't make me feel awful about myself. It was only this year that I was able to finally have sex in a way that made me happy. I think you'd be blind not to see Astarion in the same way. He's just a hurt man that is trying to rediscover and heal himself. Which is why he doesn't care about Tav and Halsin, and why you can have sex on his grave. He is very sexually open he just needs some time.

2) Ascended Astarion isn't sexy and I don't think some of you are ready for that conversation. Look I don't have time to go through this because I have a meeting in 30 minutes because I'm an adult with bad time management. But I just. Come here. Come real close. Abusive relationships aren't hot and sexy. We all love a little bit of kink but if you don't see Ascended Astarion as clearly the bad choice, I'm very confused. He's so sweet and loving and kind and HEALED if you don't let him ascend, I can't imagine not wanting that. And like I said, kink is fine! And ascending him because you're doing an evil run or whatever is also fine! Just please, I need teenagers to stop romanticising abuse because the media you consume does rub off on you.

TL;DR I love Astarion with all my heart, but by the writers own admission he was created as a Try Not To Overly Sexualise an Abuse Survivor Challenge and y'all are failing left and right!

[dangermousie]

Would you consider giving Are You The One/ Hidden Charm a chance? It has The Double vibes and not at all sweet ones, although there are funny and touching moments. The angst and male lead shooting/stabbing are delicious. The female lead has amnesia during the first part of the drama but she's not a dummy. And the male lead is digging his own grave with his lies and manipulations while falling deeply in love with her. I really do think it could be right up your alley.

Hi!!!

Thank you for the rec!

I actually did check it out - I watched the first six eps back when it started airing. Alas, it was not the one for me and its charm remained hidden (sorry, I honestly couldn't resist!)

6 eps is probably a good representative chunk; it's not impossible that a drama that didn't work for me for the first 15% will end up working afterwards, but it's pretty unlikely.

I agree that on paper, the premise sounds very much my thing but for whatever reason, the execution just didn't click. It felt really fluffy and bland and I had no emotional investment or interest in the characters or their relationship. Some of it is the actors - ZWY was wonderful in Lost You Forever, but he came across as muted here (and confession time - I was so annoyed by LYF2 and his character encapsulated why - that even though it wasn't his fault I probably should have a little break before I should watch him in another drama because I just get annoyed all over again) and Wang Churan is an actress who has never evoked anything but irritation in me for whatever reason except for small role in Joy of Life 2.

But honestly, it's just the vibe. As I am sure you can tell, I am an emotional vampire who lives for intensity in my dramas (it doesn't have to be high angst melo; a slice of life drama like Will Love in Spring will do just as well provided I am emotionally drawn in.) And this drama just did not grab me emotionally at all. They were competent, nice-ish people who I felt no dislike of but also no involvement with. My feeling was - they get a happy ending? Nice. A terrible ending? Also nice.

There is literally only one other circumstance under which a drama where the narrative and the leads don't grab me can become an obsession - and that's if cinematography is gorgeous enough. The Double for example was a beautiful fever dream visually so even when I lost a lot of interest in the narrative in the second half, I loved watching it. I will watch any Guo Jingming production, however nonsensical and full of actors I don't care for, because I find the visuals that jawdropping. But while Hidden Charm is not a badly filmed or ugly drama, it's workmanlike - the cinematography and visuals in general do not stand out to me.

This is a very long screed so apologies. tl;dr summary: I tried it and it's not in the least a bad drama but it's not to my taste because it feels fluffy and not emotionally involving to my tastes.

But if you are watching it, hope you are enjoying it!!! Everyone has different tastes so my rant above is a purely personal explanation as to why it didn't work for me, not a comment on the drama quality.

As to my cdrama slate - I am pretty stoked for Love in Nirvana which supposedly drops in September after Hidden Charm ends so hopefully I will have better luck in the fall :) And Chang Le Qu on the 26th though it's mango so good luck to me with subs!

[sicklyseraphnsuch]

cw: simon and betty and their professional relationship

People jump to be either offended or defensive when talking about this so Im putting that cw there. Practice self defence. if you dont wanna read this and you click through, yeah thats not my problem.

So this is about Simon and Betty, and regarding the vague setting around their professional relationship, namely that Simon is shown giving a guest lecture and Betty is part of the class that he is lecturing to

But the setting doesn't pin down the specifics - like is he a visiting researcher, how long is he affiliated with the school, etc. That said, given this:

I've been tooting some thoughts around and here's what I find funny

How unappealing this relationship could be to general fans of the Teacher-Student fantasy.

My psuedo-analysis from being a fandom oldie is that usually this fantasy caters to the idea of having the teacher, usually the man, devote himself to caring for and promoting the student, usually the woman. And like fantasies don't need to make sense? But I'm thinking that in a society where women are always the nurturers, portraying a relationship where the man is dedicated to nurturing the growth of the woman - well that's novel. It focuses on the woman's character arc - she's the main character! - and all the ways the man supports her into becoming an accomplished, successful professional in whatever field they're in.

Do you see where I'm going here?

Simon and Betty fulfill none of that.

Straight off the bat, Betty introduces herself by teaching Simon something. She was never positioning herself as someone who wanted to learn from Simon, and often assists him. And right there? Already breaking the Teacher-Student fantasy mold.

Like the usual template for this fantasy would actually emphasize the power imbalance between the teacher and the student. The teacher knows everything. The teacher has the most responsibility and the most authority. If the student steps out of line, the teacher is supposed to provide discipline.

If it's not one of the saucier takes of the fantasy which revels in the taboo, the teacher-student romantic plotline usually center around overcoming that power imbalance. (exceptions of course exist)

And I think about how... if Simon was just less of a pushover, Simon and Betty would have followed the usual template for a teacher-student fantasy. And they would have been actually better off that way?

Let's go back to the part where I mentioned that a teacher-student dynamic would have emphasized the power imbalance, specifically if the student acts out, the teacher provides disciplinary measures. You know what Simon does? Not that!

Oh he started to. If he had exercised his authority better, he would have continued his lecture to Betty about leaving love letters to university staff out in the open for literally anybody to see. She left it in a book in the library!!! What if Simon didn't see it first?

And you know, the whole enforcing boundaries thing. He was radio silent for two (?) weeks after their trip, and he was willing to keep things professional. Betty leaves him one love letter and he goes running. Which in hindsight, that's actually uncharacteristic for staid, fastidious Petrikov. He makes the decision to confess the moment she confesses first. Like! Boundaries, gone. Wrist, snatched. Relationship, doomed.

Which is primarily the point in the whole Betty and Simon relationship. Simon treated her as an equal when he should have been aware that their relationship was never equal to begin with - not with the way Betty kept putting him on a pedestal. It's a matter of perspective and professionalism, yada yada blah blah.

TL;DR: Simon did not get the memo that he was in a teacher-student romance plotline. Hell, even if it was the saucier taboo take, that would still mean he was aware of the imbalance between him and Betty.

He was living a college AU, where they had a meet cute as collegues. She was in a celebrity AU, where she's a stan that managed to score a trip with her idol. They were never on the same page.

[spirkme915]

I made the decision to be extra-judicious on deciding what constituted a spoiler for the new season of Strange New Worlds and I'm sticking with that.

But I have thoughts and I’ve spent way too much time thinking about them for a season and a half and I can’t hold them in anymore. So here you go.

Definite spoilers for episode 5 and everything before it under the cut. TL;DR at the very bottom of this way too long post.

Episode 5 was an absolute banger of an episode in terms of Hollywood entertainment value. But, and this is a big BUT, what the actual hell are the writers doing?

The Christine/Spock/T’Pring love triangle is tarnishing the gift that was given to Trek fans when Strange New Worlds was announced and it's becoming way too obvious not to comment on.

It’s maddening that they’ve decided to take a thirty second scene of a one-sided crush from the original series (Chapel confessing her love for Spock in The Naked Time) and turned it into a two-sided love affair that's part of a love triangle. It is, quite literally, derailing what is otherwise an incredible show.

I hear you asking… Seriously? Aren’t you being extreme? How could a consensual affair do that? Or.... You're a Spirk blog. Aren't you biased? Oh boy, I wish it were that simple. This is coming from a literal lifelong Trek fan who had Trouble with Tribbles memorized before I had an inkling what romance even was, and who - fortunately - was taught by my Trekkie father what made good writing.

The love triangle is not good Trek or good writing.

For reasons that likely have to do with Spock being arguably the most well known character in Star Trek canon (pop culture wise), the writers have chosen to focus on him. And what kind of storyline can they give us since Spock goes through a massive, decades long character arc in the original series and movies? (Spoiler alert, I answer that at the end and it's not a love triangle.)

For reasons that likely have to do with Peck’s appearance and natural charisma, they’ve decided to give Spock love interests - not just one but two.

Let’s ignore that Spock doesn’t show interest in either Christine or T’Pring in the original series. Really, that’s the least of the problems and easily explained away.

Where the problems arise are two fold - Spock’s emotional journey and the minimization of two strong female characters to love interests.

Spock’s emotional journey - As great as parts of this episode were (looking at you, Amanda), what it achieved was Spock coming to terms with his human side in a way that the Spock we know from the original series hasn’t accepted. It takes original series Spock until The Motion Picture (perhaps not until after The Voyage Home), to be comfortable in being both human and Vulcan. So the ground Spock gained in this episode? Strange New Worlds, if it continues as part of the prime timeline, can only result in character regression for Spock. As a fan of Spock in all iterations, that regression will be a heartbreaking and horrible way to end a hopeful show.

Christine and T’Pring as love interests - Dear god, can these women exist without being defined by a man please? It’s 2023. This shouldn’t be something female characters have to ask for. Sure, there was more about Christine in this episode, but her arc still revolved around Spock. And not only that, but we got the Korby name drop in this episode (her future fiancé). I'd love to think that this isn't headed in a direction where Christine will hook up with Spock then he’ll pull away and she jumps ship to Korby only to be defined again by a man. But for fuck's sake, this last season and a half hasn't given me much hope. Jess Bush is amazing as Christine. Is it too much to let Christine be her own woman? And T’Pring? I adore T'Pring way more in Strange New Worlds than I expected to. So, please, help a Vulcan woman out. T’Pring is already relegated to nothing in the narrative after Amok Time.  If there’s going to be an insistence on bringing her into the story can she please not be defined by Spock then Stonn? I'm BEGGING the Strange New Worlds writers - let these characters and actors shine as fully realized women.

But the larger problem is that this single decision for a love triangle has not only fated these three characters to regression and minimization - IT'S DIMMING THE POSSIBILITIES FOR EVERYONE.

When Strange New Worlds was announced, there were so many possibilities. A whole new part of canon to be explored and expanded. NEW CHARACTERS, NEW PLACES, NEW MORAL QUANDARIES, NEW EXPLORATIONS.

But we only get 10 episodes a season, right? Not the 26ish we got with the original series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. (Discovery, I'm looking at you and weeping too.)

So, why are the writers insisting on episodes focusing on an unnecessary love triangle when they could be doing this:

Uhura - Hello? SHE'S RIGHT THERE AND CELIA IS INCREDIBLE. The original series is notorious for brushing Uhura under the rug and other people can speak way more intelligently on Uhura meta than I can. But, I mean, she didn't even have a canon first name until 2009. So. Yeah. Good news, Strange New Worlds can change all of that. Build her history, show us her successes, her fears, her failings, glimpses into her past. Give her a chance to have a dalliance with the "alien of the week." Uhura is a beloved character for so so so many wonderful reasons. Give us the stories about her that deepen that love.

Erica - Oh, Erica. My beloved Erica. Paramount PR keeps saying that last week's episode was "Erica's Big Moment" and if it truly was her biggest moment of the season, then I weep for her and Melissa Navia. All we learned in that episode was that she's Erica Ortegas and she flies the ship (and, well, that Navia has a depth in her they haven't let her show with Erica so far). Erica does pilot and flies really goddamn well, but we already knew that. What about her time in the Klingon War? What about her family? Her friends off the ship? What was it that either made her determined to become the best pilot or that happened in her past that inspired her to become that pilot? How does she feel about being on the Enterprise? How does she feel about soup or carpet or art? There's nothing, literally NOTHING, in future canon about her and right now her Memory Alpha entries for her life before Strange New Worlds is seven sentences. SEVEN SENTENCES. All of this for a fan favorite character. *sigh*

Sam - The potential for this character is limitless and all we've really gotten is him touching something he shouldn't have, being xenophobic to Spock, and that he doesn't pick up his dirty dishes. Seriously? We know more about Jim Kirk in Strange New Worlds and he's not even on the Enterprise or in the same timeline! When we rewatch Operation Annihilate, give us a reason to mourn with Jim. Make that episode a billion times worse because Sam is a character that we know and care about outside of being Jim's brother.

Pike - Okay, so admittedly, Pike is probably the most fleshed out character besides Spock in canon and they're not shying away from the future he knows is coming. That's been handled really well. And they've also done a great job of showing how much Pike cares. But, what makes Pike one of the "great captains" and how has his past turned him into who he is today (the canon pieces with his father have so much possibility) and what is he doing behind the scenes to fight for his crew and his ship? I feel like we got more of the "great captain" in Discovery than we've gotten in Strange New Worlds. And, dear god again with the "romance," can his love interest get a canon first name please? Hard to buy he loves her when he calls her Captain Batel even in his personal log.

Una - She was pretty much a canonical blank slate going into Strange New Worlds and they've done some incredible episodes with her, but I'd love to see her actually be the XO? Making that a question because she absolutely is, but we have yet to really see that in practice. The relationship between Pike and Una deserves so so much more screen time. Let them be captain and first officer. Explore Pike mentoring her, and give way more of her mentoring crew. Let her be more than Illyrian. What are the unique challenges she faces as the highest ranked woman and non-Human on the ship? Is she a fighter or a negotiator or some secret third thing? Does she have an intricate knowledge of some space anomaly or ship function that no one else on board does? What are her future goals and plans? I'm rambling now, but the point is that she's a character who disappears from canon after Strange New Worlds and she's the goddamn FIRST OFFICER OF THE ENTERPRISE. Let her be that until she isn't anymore.

La’An and M'Benga - Honestly, I'm not going to put much here for La'An because out of all the "new" characters in Strange New Worlds, La'An has been fleshed out the most. And, out of all the "barely exists in canon" characters, M'Benga is the same. But I'm listing them because they make my point. La'An and M'Benga are good examples of what happens when the writers focus on characters who either don't exist in canon or barely exist there. We know pieces of their backstory and their motivations. We know what keeps them up at night. Both actors have given performances that tie the audience to their characters emotionally. And yet, there's seasons worth of more material for both of them.

So. To come back to my original point - why are the writers focusing on a love triangle that tramples on canon and minimizes female characters when they are wealthy af with primo characters?

I mean, there are so many other ways they could have gone with Christine (making her bisexuality more than a one-off line, having her struggle with what happened on the Farragut, exploring her role during the Klingon War, family, friends, facing moral quandaries in her research...), and Spock (his relationship with Sarek, Vulcan rituals and practices we've never seen ((double parentheses here to emphasize that to us, as viewers, Vulcan *is* a strange new world and there's still a hell of a lot of Vulcan stuff that's veiled in mystery)), and MICHAEL ((remember Michael, his sister, who got a one line mention in the first episode then nothing?? Yeah, that Michael)), Spock's grief over losing Hemmer and Michael so closely together, etc...). Poor T'Pring is pretty much relegated to love interest and plot device at this point unfortunately. Instead of the love triangle route, they could've cut the sex scenes and made her a cool, calculating advisor to Spock and the Angel/Sybok plotline could've still happened. But alas, was not meant to be.

I've written a lot of words and taken up way too much of my day with this, but I seriously couldn't hold it in any longer. Look, I love Strange New Worlds, but I also seriously grieve for the show that it could've been and I seriously hope it will become that show in future seasons.

Strange New Worlds is gorgeous, the sets and special effects are A+, the actors are all pretty too and know how to command a scene. There's a lot to work with. But let's not forget that the original series was put together with styrofoam, glitter, and a prayer and it birthed this 60 year franchise. What kept people coming back to Trek were the relationships and a found family working together to explore, not a forced love triangle.

TL;DR

The insistence on the Christine/Spock/T'Pring love triangle is dooming all of their characters to massive character regression and minimization *and* cheating us out of learning about and loving the characters who are practically unknown in canon.

[unhappy-last-resort]

thoughts on latest cn chapter? If you read the translations

Because it's WILD

Okay, so I do try to avoid a lot of stuff on the CN story, unfortunately, I have been made to see some of it anyway and I've been wanting to talk about the way EN players have been acting for a hot minute.

Spoilers ahead, if you don't wanna know, don't read. I'm also forgoing my usual hand written note for this because I have too much to say

Before I start, if I have gotten something about the game story wrong, please don't tell me or be kind enough to hide it under a keep reading divider, I really do not want to know more about the story than I already do. This is the second time I have been spoiled about something I really wanted to experience first hand, thank you.

First of all, I do not understand the freak out about the kiss. Lucia has always been romantically interested in the Commandant, her Affection story in Plume is basically her working up to asking you out on a date, it has been well known and established that this woman loves you, this isn't coming out of left field and the people who are complaining it's destroying her character are people who likely didn't pay attention to it in the first place.

Secondly, the way people are acting like two fem characters confessing suddenly makes all their headcanons invalid, or is going to stop the masc characters from having a chance...ridiculous. It's literally implied that Camu was going to kiss you, if not more, in his affection story and if he wasn't interrupted. He's also not the only masc character to be implied to have feelings towards the Commandant and they all still have those romantic tones in their past, current, and future events (and in some coating descriptions too).

Calm down please and go write/draw your Commandant having hot gay sex instead, what happens in the game has as much affect on your daydreams as you want it to.

Thirdly. The complaining about the writing suddenly being bad.

Do you think the CN players would also not be complaining about it? I've been in a few gacha communities and this attitude of acting like the CN playerbase is too stupid to know what a good game looks like is racist.

Yes, they're from a different culture from you, but we're here to play a video game. Do you think they don't like the game for the same reasons you do? Do you think they can't tell when something is poorly made, or poorly written in a game that has been flourishing for months?

If the story was genuinely badly written, I think we would see a lot more of the CN playerbase complaining, but what I've seen instead are people being moved by it.

Aside from that, stories in live service games don't usually become "suddenly" bad, there are generally signs beforehand and you'll notice it starts to taper off before it hits rock bottom. If it was bad, then there should have been some complaints about it dating several months prior to now.

Lastly, and most importantly. We don't have the full story yet. I just heard the rest of the story, or at least the second half, just became available for CN players. Why are we spending so much time crying about a story that isn't finished and that we can't even read for ourselves yet? We're only getting little snippets of the story and we're already making judgements while not having context and you would be surprised how much having the context and being able to follow the events of a story by yourself instead of hearing about it from someone else changes how you view it.

I highly doubt that they're going to leave so many drastic changes, or deaths, of characters and not explore them. I doubt they're actually throwing these characters away, let's wait and see where this goes because they're clearly gearing up for something big.

Tl;dr relax, go enjoy the stuff that's on global instead of freaking out about stuff that's ten months away, if the story or game actually does go downhill, you won't be the only player in the world who will be upset and Kuro is known for taking feedback, we can deal with it when it comes up.

[stranger-in-glasses]

TL;DR: Communication is actually the least of Crowley and Aziraphale’s problems. And working on communication alone would not have changed the outcome of Crowley’s confession.

I am saddened (but not really surprised) that so many people see communication as a “magic pill” that will solve all the problems in the world. The fan reaction to the Good Omens’ second season is a perfect example of that.

Yes, Aziraphale and Crowley do have a communication problem. But they also have genuine differences in their experiences and behavioural patterns, and they both have their own deep traumas. They cannot just “communicate their way out of” them.

And they do communicate. Crowley did tell Aziraphale what Heaven tried to do (when Crowley says “This is Archangel Gabriel, who tried to cast you into hellfire” in the first episode, Aziraphale is not surprised; they had this discussion before). Granted, he might have spared Aziraphale the more horrible details because he cares about his feelings, but the truth is: even if he did tell him about everything in detail, it would not have changed anything. Aziraphale would either not have believed him (“Would I lie to you?” — “Obviously, you’re a demon”) or he might have found countless excuses for Heaven to do what they did (“I’m a fallen angel! I lied to thwart the will of God!”). Aziraphale may not look like one might imagine a typical cult victim, but there are enough parallels between his behaviour and how people involved in cults behave (black and white thinking, ignoring the unethical behaviour of cult leaders, the idea that “we (members of the cult) are holy, everybody else is fallen”… the list can go on and on). Have you tried to talk to somebody who is in a cult about the horrible things that their cult leaders do? Even if you tell them that their cult violates children, it will have no effect. They will either think that you are lying (and they might stop talking to you completely after that) or they will find some excuses or some “greater meaning” in this (remember how Aziraphale reacted to the Flood?). Because that’s how being in a cult works. It’s a psychological defence mechanism. Aziraphale’s mind cannot handle the cognitive dissonance between “we are the good guys” and “Heaven does terrible things”, so it just shuts down the very possibility. Crowley DOES communicate, time and time again, he just cannot get through. And it’s not Aziraphale’s fault, either. He has been manipulated, gaslit and guilt-tripped for so long that his mind had to develop defence mechanisms to survive. It’s not that he doesn’t want to listen to Crowley, he just cannot hear the truth at the moment. And this is something that cannot be solved with communication. Many loved ones of people who are in a cult make the mistake of thinking that “If I just tell them how horrible these people are, they will see the truth” and only end up alienating the person, which leaves the person even more lonely and vulnerable to the cult’s manipulation, and their loved ones burn out trying to get the person out of the cult. It is a difficult task even for professionals. It is NOT a “communication problem”, you cannot simply talk the person out of it (well, maybe in early stages, but not after 6000+ years of being in a cult). I am not an expert, so I am not entirely certain about it, but I assume that what could help the rehabilitation is putting as much distance between the person and the cult as possible, integrating them into the life outside of the cult by participating in its activities (both of which Crowley has been trying to do with Aziraphale), and giving the person a community outside of the cult to give them a sense of belonging. But I assume it only works if the person has already left the cult. And since Heaven can literally be omnipresent, the danger of relapse is always there. I guess what can get Aziraphale out at this point is witnessing the atrocities firsthand, from the inside. And no, simply hearing Crowley talk about them will not help. Crowley can give Aziraphale a three-month-long PowerPoint presentation about everything that Heaven did, and it will not get through. They have vastly different experiences with Heaven. Aziraphale needs to see things with his own eyes to really understand. The fact is that all of us process what we are being told through the prism of our own experiences. And this difference in experiences is not something one can just “communicate away”. Sometimes to understand each other’s points and change perspectives, people need to acquire different experiences than they had before. In the most practical, hands-on way. Just talking about it will not help.

Crowley also has his own problem, a very strong “flight” part of the “fight-or-flight” response. Of course, he tried to “fight”, long ago, when he fought in the “glorious revolution”. And he was hurt, badly, as a result (going to Hell, where “his lot does not send rude notes” but rips out tongues and throws people into pits on daily basis). Understandably, nowadays when he feels a threat, he immediately switches into the “flight” mode (he is fixated on the idea of running away to Alpha Centauri). Which also probably means that he will always keep running and will never feel entirely safe or at home anywhere, until he learns, again, other ways to react. At the moment he is unable to admit that he cares about Earth enough to stick around. He probably tells himself that he only stayed because of Aziraphale. Now he has a chance to go anywhere he pleases. So he might find himself going to Alpha Centauri (or another place in the universe far from Earth) and finding out that he misses Earth. Or he might find out that, even without Aziraphale, he is not ready to leave the Earth. But he needs to discover that for himself, in practice. This is not something that Aziraphale can “communicate” him into understanding. Some things one needs to find out in reality, by trying things and seeing the outcomes. Also, Crowley has been very fixated on Aziraphale: rescuing him, being there for him even when Aziraphale seemingly rejected him (“We are not friends! We are an angel and a demon! I don’t even like you”, “There is no our side, not anymore”), risking his own complete destruction for Aziraphale’s safety. Crowley needs to learn how to exist on his own and find something else that matters to him. Otherwise their relationship is unbalanced. Aziraphale can do anything to Crowley and Crowley will just take it and come back no matter what. Of course, Aziraphale would never hurt Crowley on purpose, but he can, and has, hurt him unintentionally plenty of times, without even realising it. They both have to change their behaviour in this respect. Crowley needs to learn to establish his personal boundaries with Aziraphale, and the angel needs to learn to respect them. Meanwhile, Crowley needs to learn how to let go of control when it comes to Aziraphale’s safety and trust that the angel is able to handle things on his own, without Crowley rescuing him. And Aziraphale needs to learn to trust himself and his own capabilities as well. And all of this, again, cannot be solved with communication alone. Sure, communication would help in this instance. But it would only be the first step: for them to talk and figure out what they need to change. However, it is only around 10% if solution. After that comes the actual work of both of them changing their behavioural patterns, their long-term habits and automatic responses. And that work is long and tedious, full of missteps, relapses, trial and error, where many things need to be figured out in practice, by actually doing them and not simply talking about them.

In other words, the idea that “Crowley’s confession would have a different outcome if they just talked to each other” is very naive. Yes, there was miscommunication, but they did talk, a lot. And they could have talked and listened even more. But none of that would have changed the ending. Crowley and Aziraphale have very different experiences with Heaven, and they both have their own traumatic responses. None of that can be solved through communication alone. Real, actual actions and experiences, on the other hand, may change things for them. Communication is important, yes, but it is not a “magic pill” (take it from someone who has been to couple’s therapy). It will not solve real differences, it can only highlight them, make them visible. And then one actually needs to work on them, in practice. Problems don’t automatically solve themselves “if you just talk about them”. Communication is necessary but not sufficient.

That being said, I believe that both characters right now are exactly where they need to be to work on their problems. Aziraphale has a chance to see how Heaven really is with his own eyes, and Crowley has a chance to stop running away on his own and find something (like Earth and humanity) to stick around and care for aside from Aziraphale. Without this, they would probably never stand a chance of building a future together.

[velnica]

So I made this poll after seeing a few people's HC about his age and I thought I'd make my own! Mostly so I can keep my timeline straight but also I don't think I've done this before. Buckle up this is going to get LONG. The bulk of it is under the cut.

TL;DR in my HC, Sanson is 20 going on 21 because he shouldn't be at Carteneau. If he was he would have been more jaded and not as green as he carried himself in the questlines.

Owing to the time bubble (5 years) and my personal timeline (6.5 years) between the Calamity and the start of Heavensward, this would put him at 14 (time bubble: 16) when the call for Carteneau came. Sanson, being the stickler for righteousness that he is, would absolutely have volunteered for it if he could. If he was only 14 he would have been far too young for conscription. I believe this war was the turning point that either made him join the Lancer's Guild after the Calamity, or to focus himself on joining the Adders ranks if he was already there (as opposed to the Wood Wailers).

Why is him not being at Carteneau important? Simple: Sanson's story is one of ushering Gridania to a new future; from reviving the bards, uncovering a century old conspiracy (and holding the military to their words for it), to representing a more cooperative Gridania at Ghimlyt and Garlemald (with Guydelot explicitly saying he'd love to learn Garlean songs, even). If Sanson was at Carteneau, he would have been a changed man with much more cynicism in his blood than the one that we saw. Being young, he could very well be cannon fodders who were drafted just to pad Alliance numbers. He could have even, well, died.

No, to me it's important that both Sanson and Guydelot can look to the future with boundless optimism, instead of one that was born from personal brush with bloodshed a long time ago. There is also a line in the game where Sanson confessed he'd never seen a battle as bloody as Ghimlyt. If he was at Carteneau, I don't think anything would beat a literal meteor/dragon dropping from the sky in terms of sheer scale of violence.

But how could an inexperienced 20 year old be a Captain already? Consider this: in the wake of the Calamity, the Adders ranks (and all the other GCs) would have been thinned by a lot. There might have even been a vacuum in the military and so they all took keen interests in filling these decimated roles up as quick as possible. They were looking outward and inward as Vorsaile himself was a decorated mercenary before he was offered the Commander role. Sanson, with his workaholic tendency, was probably seen as a loyal and diligent soldier.

He probably also took to leadership training very quickly, with very good results (I HC that he is actually a stellar leader, just that he was in denial of this). This made him a very good candidate to be promoted to the Captain role. And this is also IMO why he was so invested in the Ballad of Oblivion. He would have seen his promotion as a great opportunity to prove himself worthy of the role, and being so young, this was probably his first official assignment, all the more reason to throw one's all into it.

But of course he learns very quickly that he's got a lot to learn still. I think the fact that the Adders were so ready to discard him in Stormblood probably shook him to the core—this is why I thought that the military was promoting a lot of people in fairly short time: the new generation were still just numbers to the brass, they were untested beyond Ixal skirmishes; not until Ala Mhigo and Ghimlyt. For Sanson this marks another turning point, that he was staying in the Adders not only as a career but to steer the future of Gridania somewhere better. This is why I go hard on the Grand Serpent Marshal timeline: with Sanson's righteousness, dedication and loyalty, if there is ever a need to fill that role in the future, you have the literal perfect person to fill it.

There is a secondary reason why I thought Sanson was only 20 and it has to do with Guydelot. They're both foils of each other: the (slightly) older person with no ambition, and the younger one with ALL the ambitions. They're meant to contrast each other with how stiff Sanson was, and how lackadaisical Guydelot was.

Sanson probably wished to NOT be like Guydelot when he hits that age, and Guydelot probably thought Sanson was on his way to waste his prime being a stuck up prat for the military. If Sanson was older, he might have been more set in his ways, and might have been less inclined to meet Guydelot halfway. And Guydelot might have thought Sanson be a lost cause because look at him; Guydelot was not in the business of changing anyone who were past his own station in life.

This is very apparent to me in the cutscene in SB where Guydelot praised Sanson for standing his ground. To me that is played almost in a 'senpai proud of his kouhai' kinda way lol. Look at Sanson! He's all grown up! Maybe he could be as good as Guydelot at this sticking to his own conviction thing.

Anyway this is getting *extremely* long, but this is how I see Sanson: a very green young man with ambition in his heart and stars in his eyes, and this could only work if he was not at Carteneau before we met him.

Disclaimer that I am NOT trying to disprove anyone else's HC; in fact I have talked at length to some people about this and still firm in my choice of making him 20yo. Remember that this is all personal preferences! I do confess initially I had him at 24-25 before Alpal and dianna convinced me that he's too innocent to have been a Carteneau survivor.

[batimcthulhu]

[VOICE OF SHAZZ]

The S3-S4 INTERLUDE IS COMPLETE! we have finished uploading all the interlude RP chapters and are hoping to begin Season 4 soon... 👀 We try to keep the rp chapters optional reading, so the most important stuff WILL be mentioned in the session summaries when we can, but if you enjoy that sort of thing and want to binge them all, they start here on Chapter 38! There's a bit of plot, a lot of character development, and some are just fun.

If you just want to know what happens in each chapter, there are TL;DR recaps for each chapter HERE (mobile-friendly) and HERE (desktop only) that boil each chapter down to about a paragraph, so you can get the good content in a smaller form!

And if you just want a brief overview of What Developments There Were as the boys wrapped things up for a few months, here's an overview under the cut:

[[INTERLUDE]] (July - October 1934): There's a lot of loose ends to wrap up after the cartoon's successful premier, and a lot of harrowing experiences to recover from, but fortunately, the rest of the year remains calm enough to do so. Joey secretly meets with Mr. Y and establishes a superficially friendly understanding that they will stay out of each other's hair. Susie gets caught up to speed on all the others' supernatural adventures so far. Peter moves back to NYC to try a relationship with Jack again, and Jack and Sammy and Joey have to Actually Talk About Their Relationship with great emotional difficulty, as Sammy and Joey both struggle with the idea that a real relationship is something they're allowed to have. Joey confesses to Jack that he'd like to settle down with them… which might mean closing the studio. The Prophet reaches out to his lord for direction and gets a vision about "finding that which the Phantom seeks" when the time is right -- but apparently, so does Joey, when he meets with the Masked Messenger to bargain, offering to create something sufficiently entertaining for the elder god if he will leave the rest of them in peace. Henry realises that a version of him from one of the loops in Haiti showed up when he used the scythe spell, so he and Sammy both have "other selves" to figure out. Henry's worried this more violent person might hurt people, but Linda is sure that person is Henry, too, and the Other Henry insists he is here to protect those they care about. Sammy, meanwhile, learns to communicate directly with the Prophet and "switch" without ink… he decides against merging, wanting to keep the Prophet's company, even though accepting the Prophet's cosmic memories leaves him permanently disoriented. Susie and Joey enjoy finding a relationship where neither of them have to be in love to have fun. And with Joey and Jack's blessing and encouragement, Sammy admits his feelings to Susie -- he'd love something more with her, if she's okay with his complicated situation -- and she's all for it. Jack's cat, Beans, has kittens. Literally everyone except Sammy adopts one. And the following year also passes in relative peace…

[belphegor1982]

Feeling a little bit down today because while Percahlia and Vaxleth are celebrating because the S3 trailer fed them very well, Pikelan got nothing 😭

I’m holding out hope that they’re just saving some good stuff for when the show actually drops (Like they did with Season 2) but it’s kinda rough out here, especially when a majority of the mutuals are celebrating their ships and it’s just crickets for Pikelan.

I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be such a downer about it. I am really excited about this season but it’s just hard to celebrate and I hope me just barging in and “complaining” doesn’t sound too childish

Hey, it's okay! Sometimes we just need to vent. Barge away, I wasn't kidding when I said my door was open 💜 (that's one door that isn't a mortal enemy, lol)

I understand the frustration! But keep in mind that it's just a 1:46-long video, and I'm actually grateful that we (as Critters, broadly speaking) got so little. It's not a trailer that shows so much you feel you've already seen 85% of the thing, and thank goodness! Plus, I was a total wide-eyed show-only newbie then, so I'm not including myself in it, but do you remember how episodes 1-3 had Pikelan fans feeling like :-/ and maybe short-changed a little? And then we got the road trip in 2.07 and episode 2.09 was all about the big and smalls! (literally, the other four only returned in 2.10!) And 2.12 and the kiss!! (and the almost accidental love confession :D Oh, Scanlan. I love this dumbass so much.)

Tl;dr you're not childish, you're not a downer, and it's okay to be disappointed. I hoped for more too, and I'm not telling you to manage your expectations; just that we got not even a slice but a taste of pizza that has delicious smoked scamorza, sweet mozzarella, and peppered pecorino, and we know there's creamy gorgonzola on it too, we just haven't got to that part yet 💜 (can you tell it's almost dinner time and I'm hungry? :P)

Lil' thing under the cut for some wild Pike (and Scanlan) theorising, because TLOVM spoilers - let's get excited and enthusiastic about our gnomes!

So Pike looked exhausted in the Hells, right? Poor darling 😬 I'm really excited that she's going with them (maybe to reclaim Percy's soul after Glintshore?).

Also, I really wonder if the flashback we had of her with dark hair in season 2 was an Easter egg or foreshadowing for S3. You know how 2.09 has flashbacks to Grog's youth and what led to Wilhand (and Pike 💜) adopting him? I'm thinking they might (might!) do something like this for Scanlan's death - bookending his resurrection with flashbacks of Pike's. But I'm not sure, because when Kash brought Vex back to life Pike pointed out she'd never tried a revival rite and Kash said it was super rare. What do you think?

One thing's for sure, though, I am NOT READY for the way this season is going to kick me in the heart through my teeth ^^

[coconox]

Why you love Mammon? Of course i'm not judging your favorite or something don't get me wrong here haha:D

I live love laugh Mammon too! And i want to know other Mammon lovers, what is the thing that makes them love him😋

i have quite a few reasons on why i love him so big ramble incoming LMAOHSHFJS

i think one of the biggest reasons is just vibes alone lol. my type in general is usually big brute exterior, soft and silly interior like with nocti from pgr and aki from neural cloud

theres also a common pattern of having the most dorito bod + tiny grabbable waists ive ever seen but thats a whole other topic 💀

+ most of the time theyre all shirtless? 🤨 i keep unintentionally choosing the ones that are/go shirtless more frequently than other chars so thats another weird call out to myself hsjfjskf

legit when i first saw mammon my brain was automatically like "i NEED him." it was literally the same as how mammon fell in love w mc, love at first sight LOL

anyw looks aside i very much love his approach of "i'll be yours and so maybe one day youll choose me." its a nice change of pace from the usual "youre mine and i will do as much as possible to prove youre mine." he ald knows everyones gonna try to claim you, so he found a workaround that stood out from the rest (actual big brain move imo). idk i like the more passive approach of him just letting you go at your own pace and he'll be there whenever

most of his card stories (havent fully read his attacker card tho cause im stuck on needing his sig 😭😭) normally have him submit to you and let you do whatever you like, even reassuring you that no matter how rough (or gentle) you wanna be w him, he'll always enjoy it (cause he gets to spend time w you hHHSHFJSKFK 😭😭🥹🥹🥹) and being rough wont hurt him in the slightest. idk i like being in control in most ✨️spicy✨️ situations and for mammon to be like "do as you please" just makes me very happy :3

hes also just very romantic and sweet and gentle and tHE LOVE CONFESSION IS SMTH I WILL NEVER GET OVER ��😭😭🥹🥹🥹 you can tell he just loves you sm and as much as he wants to be like "youre mine >:3c" he normally doesnt do that and just lets you be free to do whatever

in one of the chats when you ask if its alright if you see other devils, hes very much ok w it as long as hes your #1 like HSJFJSKDK ?????? OFC YOURE MY #1 MAMMON LITERALLY NO ONE COULD REPLACE YOU 😭😭

also love how he carries mc a lot of the time in card stories, i just imagine he carries them like this

i also like how his greed is portrayed differently from the usual. like his greed focuses more on keeping/maintaining what he ald owns rather than trying to be on the hunt to collect everything (tbf he ald believes everything is his so theres most likely no need to really collect anything in his eyes).

other side note i just love his sticker he sends when he txts ITS SO CUTE HE LOOKS SO HAPPY 😭😭

tl;dr i like how hes very sweet and romantic and gentle despite how absolutely MASSIVE he is ;w;

i could go on and on w more examples but id just be stating the same points over and over again hdhfkskf

[twinclownsoflotuspiers]

Tell me smth about

Chengxian Tokyo Ghoul verse (MDZS) (I know nothing about Tokyo Ghoul tho so indulge me lol)

&

Ace Danmei Day JC pov (MDZS)

:D

gLADLY!

I could go on a spiel about Tokyo Ghoul considering I was obsessed with it once upon a time but I'll just summarize it by saying it's like this fantastical setting where ghouls (creatures that eat human meat, look very human & can pass off almost flawlessly as human apart from their diet) and humans exist & naturally there is like "war for survival" going on cz both hunt each other. ChengXian AU is set in a concept of ghoul hunter JC & an SS rated ghoul WWX wherein JC is actually tasked to hunt WWX (oh lemme add ghouls usually disguise themselves with masks and codenames so JC doesn't actually know WWX is an SS rated ghoul) & WWX who is "hiding" right in the midst of human civilisation is actually dating JC so he can keep an eye on the Doves (that's what the ghoul hunters are called). Anyway, you can guess it's basically JC trying to hunt down this 'monster' while said monster is literally currently hoodwinking him by being an important part of his life. Eventually they do seriously fall in love, make important discoveries and have a (somewhat) happy ending coz Mido is not THAT cruel. :D [btw TG also has a pretty good commentary on "who is right or wrong" so I think the premise would fit chengxian really well]

For Ace Danmei Day JC pov

It's based on my first ace week fic "Simple Complexities" except from JC's pov and after they decide to ya know confess their weird, slightly confusing but firm feelings re each other that happened in the end of said fic. Mostly, it will be about JC being the one in the same self discovery journey as WWX but especially under some slightly uncomfy societal situations. What is their relationship really? How do you explain queerplatonism to Allos? how do you convince your parents that no, you're not gonna get married coz you're perfectly happy with your not-boyfriend.

TL;DR, JC struggling with labels.

They make it intact by the end! Coz no unhappiness for chengxian in this particular verse!