#voodooistcorp

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1, 5, 6, 8, 12, 20, 23, 26, 27 sorry for the long list I just need to hear this SALT

Anything goes, but I think I’m going to stick with The Untamed, Word of Honor, Final Fantasy (specifically FFXIV), and Persona for these since since they’re the fandoms I’m most actively seeking out content for.

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1: What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?

Obligatory disclaimer that if you (general you) like any of these, that’s totally fine; I’ve limited myself to ones that just make me go “Huh?” instead of ones I actively dislike. (I’m also going to censor ship names—even the ones I like—so I don’t clog up ship tags.)

For The Untamed: Pretty much any post-canon Jiang Cheng ship that isn’t Cheng//qing in a Wen Qing lives AU. (Though I’m intrigued by Cheng//ning or Jiang Cheng throupling it up with Wang//xian, depending on the circumstances.) I feel like there’s a general fandom desire to see Jiang Cheng in a relationship, but there just aren’t that many characters still alive and single by the end of the series, and I personally don’t see them as having the kind of automatic chemistry with JC that most of the fandom clearly sees.

Also most F/F Mianmian ships, because for some reason fandom has made Mianmian the patron saint of girl-kissing even though she doesn’t interact with most of the ladies she gets shipped with. (All while completely sleeping on other F/F ships like Madam Yu/Madam Jin, I might add.)

Word of Honor: …So I actually do get it, but I am mildly puzzled at just how popular Ye//xie has become. Like, it’s currently tied with one of the canon couples on AO3, and the only ships that outnumber it are THE main couple and RPF of the main couple’s actors. Not bad for a ship that has one canon interaction and seems to be mostly built on the idea of cucking Zhao Jing for great justice. XD (Though I might have to be the change I want to see in the world and create content for a Scorpion Sect/Bureau of the Unfaithful polycule.)

Final Fantasy: I’m not going to touch any of the single-player games with a thirty-nine and a half foot pole, as some of those ship wars have been raging so long they’re old enough to drink; I will instead kick the hornet’s nest that is FFXIV and say I do not understand the appeal of the cherry catboy. XD Specifically people trying to push him as the canon love interest for the WoL (player character).

Persona: Pretty much any Sumire ship besides her with Joker because P5R doesn’t do the best job of integrating her into the Phantom Thieves, but Sumi//taba in particular because it actually crops up as a side pairing in a lot of fics despite them barely interacting.

5: Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?

Not ruined, per se, but…

The Untamed: So I do like Wang//xian, but I don’t follow many Wang//xian-focused blogs due to how many of them uphold the main pairing as the true arbiters of moral virtue and spend a good chunk of their time hating on my favorite characters.

Also most Wen Qing ships, because there’s a tendency among fans who ship her with characters besides Jiang Cheng to warp him into a pushy incel. And Cheng//su because the idea of it was cute at first, but I quickly discovered that some fans (especially the ones who added Nie Huaisang to the mix) were Jin Guangyao haters whose main draw to the pairing was seeing Jin Guangyao get cheated on.

Final Fantasy: I have become so thoroughly sick of every couple involved in FFVII’s Love Triangle Debate that even seeing one of them in passing causes me to roll my eyes. XD Also I still ship WoL/Emet-Selch to a certain extent, but I’ve been side-eyeing other shippers over their behavior post-EW. It’s like getting the slightest hint of official approval got to their heads, and they started pearl-clutching over other WoL/villain ships even though they were on the receiving end of that behavior not too long ago.

Persona: In a similar vein, Ake//shu; I still ship it, but I’m very picky about both characterization as well as the writer’s opinions on other morally ambiguous sadboys, as there was a wave of hypocritical moralizing from some Ake//shu shippers after P5R’s vindication. (Like, “If you own a Darth Vader Funko Pop, you should be put before a firing squad!” while happily stanning the pancake boy and saying he should have a little more murder, as a treat.) In particular, I truly loathe the widely-accepted fanon that turns one of my favorite new characters into a mustache-twirling cardboard cutout of a villain who only exists in their fics to create scenarios that one half of Ake//shu must rescue the other from.

6: Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?

Not that I can think of, no.

8: Have you received anon hate? What about?

Nope, as I turned anon asks off back when I first made my blog all those years ago. XD

12: Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

Can’t think of any for The Untamed, Word of Honor, or Persona, but…

Final Fantasy: I’m going to be basic and say that ARR and SB both get way more hate than they deserve; ARR provides the setup for so much amazing payoff in ShB and EW that I’m flabbergasted at the people who still insist you should just skip it, and SB might split its attention too much, but it has a lot of standout moments. (Plus it properly introduces Zenos, and for that alone it deserves all the love.)

20: What is the purest ship in the fandom?

I don’t typically consider “pure” to be s as compliment, so I’ll interpret this one as which ship makes me go “D’aww!”

The Untamed: Honestly kind of hard to narrow down; I have a lot of ships, and most of them make me go “D’aww.” Jin Guangyao ships in particular often get that reaction out of me. (Which probably doesn’t fit the original “pure” definition, but meh.)

Word of Honor: Gu Xiang/Cao Weining. (What’s their ship name?) I’m rewatching WoH with my sister this time, and literally any time they interact we both go “D’aww!”

Final Fantasy: WoL/Haurchefant, I say through my tears. XD

Persona: From P3, I’d say FeMC with any of her love interests. (Except Ken.)

23: Unpopular character you love?

Oh, so very many. XD

The Untamed: Jiang Cheng, Jin Guangyao, and Su Minshan are the big ones; Su Minshan is probably the only one of those three who’s genuinely unpopular, as Jiang Cheng and Jin Guangyao do have their fair share of fans. (Their haters just tend to be uniquely unhinged; I almost added Xue Yang here, but at least his haters usually limit themselves to hating him for the crimes he actually committed in canon instead of making shit up.) Also Jiang Yanli doesn’t have tons of haters, but the ones she has can get weirdly intense about it?

Persona: Takuto Maruki did nothing wrong, actually. XD Yet another character who has done bad things, but the fandom seems determined to blame him for shit he didn’t do or ascribe motives to his actions that directly contradict canon.

26: Most shippable character?

The Untamed: Jin Guangyao, by a landslide. XD Most characters I can imagine one or two ships for, maybe three or four, but he gets a whole fucking armada.

Word of Honor: Maybe Liu Qianqiao? I think she’s the character who has the most “Ooh, maybe there could be something there?” moments with other characters. (Though it is a closer race than The Untamed, with Zhou Zishu and Xie’er not too far behind, if not tied.)

Persona: The protagonists. XD

27: Least shippable character?

Leaving aside characters obviously meant to be unlikeable, of course.

The Untamed: Nie Mingjue and Song Lan; I can’t quite put my finger on why, but I do find it kind of difficult to ship them outside of 3//zun and Song//xue//xiao, respectively. (And with the former, I can be very picky about 3/:zun characterization and dynamics, as I tend not to ship it in the sense of it being fully reciprocated on all three sides at the same time.) Jin Zixuan can also be kind of difficult to ship with people besides Jiang Yanli, but the reverse does not hold true for me.

Word of Honor: Zhang Chengling, mostly because there aren’t really any characters close to him in age besides his eventual, post-canon wife.

Persona: For P3, saying Ken is kind of like shooting fish in a barrel, so I’ll say Junpei because he’s in a relationship with Chidori but Atlus not being able to decide whether she’s canonically dead or alive kind of leaves him in limbo. (Though of the newer games, P3 seems to have the fewest bits of ship tease between the party members, with Yuka//mitsu being the one with the strongest backing.) For P4, probably Rise, because she’s pretty thoroughly focused on Yu, but if you decide not to romance her there isn’t really a default backup ship for her like Yuki//chie or Kan//nao. For P5, Sumire, as previously mentioned.

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OOPSIES WITH OAT MILK: Alternative Milks Gone So Fuckin' Poorly

@whittertwitter: Yellow

@voodooistcorp: Purple

@hoperiahdawn: Green Just for reference I typically use 2% cow juice so this is purely me just not having practice with the white liquids of the future.

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voodooistcorp markiplier plays a game based on the song based on the episode of jontron about titenic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnX0MfIiOkk

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Alright, I've gotta ask. What's my pokemon?

you are follower #326you are a Grumpig

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Red: @whittertwitter

Green: @voodooistcorp

Purple: my spouse

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Red: @whittertwitter

Green: @voodooistcorp

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5 Comfort Anime

Tagged by @candidcallalily; I’m making this a mix of one’s I’ve actually been into for years, ones I’m not as keen on but have fond memories of because of watching them with my sisters, actual feel-good anime, and ones that I think are just hilarious. Guess which is which!

Sailor Moon

Princess Tutu

Fruits Basket

Ouran High School Host Club

Devilman OVA English Dub

Tagging @voodooistcorp!

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Also, I’ve made a lot more progress in KHIII since the last time I posted about it.

I’ve knocked out Kingdom of Corona, Monstropolis, Arendelle, and The Caribbean. Thoughts under the cut!

Kingdom of Corona was also nice, though because it and Arendelle follow their movies so closely, they ran into the problem that a lot of KH games have where they skip around the plot and some things don’t make sense if you haven’t seen the movie. (Thankfully, I’m a Disney nerd, but it’s still jarring.) Marluxia was an excellent fit for Kingdom of Corona given his treatment of Namine in CoM, and I like him replacing the Stabbington Brothers, though Mother Gothel should’ve knocked HIM out with the tree branch instead of his Reapers, lol.

Monstropolis also had an original (?) story, which was nice! (It might be partially based on some comics, but I’m not sure.) More good level design here. Vanitas was the perfect Nort for this world; voodooistcorp and I howled with laughter when Sulley yeeted him through the doors at the end.

Arendelle was...better than I thought it was going to be, but I still had some problems. “Let It Go” being slipped in there made me roll my eyes, since the only other time they’ve done musical numbers was the rhythm games in KHII Atlantica, and it’s blatantly obvious they did it because of how popular it is. Marshmallow was a weird choice for world-specific party member; I’m sure most people would’ve rather had Elsa or something. Larxene would’ve been a better choice for this world if Strelitzia had been her sister instead of Marluxia’s...and if she’d interacted with anyone besides Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Namely HANS, who didn’t even get any lines before being turned into a Heartless? What the fuck, game?

But all that pales in comparison to The Caribbean, the first world in this game I genuinely disliked. Just so we’re clear: I know it looks better than it did in KHII. I know the swimming mechanics are the best they’ve ever been. I still couldn’t stand it, ESPECIALLY the naval battles; I had to hand the controller off to Jesse at one point because there was one ship battle on the open sea that I just kept dying to. Also, I’m glad that Beckett showed up, but then they had him do nothing? Couldn’t Luxord or Vexen have at least turned him into a Heartless, since that what we do to Disney villains in this game? And on top of all that, we knew this world was going to be a wild goose chase over the Dead Man’s Chest from the beginning, so it felt utterly pointless!

Also: I’m still incredibly salty over there not being a Princess and the Frog world; I would’ve gladly taken it over Olympus or The Caribbean. Fortunately, Big Hero 6 looks like it’ll perk me up right quick.

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Finished Toy Box last night; I’ll probably hold off on Corona until tomorrow night so I can get the collectibles I’ve missed.

Still loving it so far! Toy Box really illustrates that they’ve found a happy medium between KH’s “Where do I go next?” and KHII’s hallway simulator when it comes to level design. The Toy Story characters also translate well to KH; I suspect that’s part of the reason why all the worlds except Olympus are from Disney/Pixar’s 3D animated films. It was mildly jarring that there were pretty much no actual licensed products...except Dissidia NT, what the fuck? voodooistcorp and I had a field day with Verum Rex and nearly died laughing at Woody telling Young Xehanort that clearly no one’s ever loved him.

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Purple: @voodooistcorp

Red: @whittertwitter

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Re-imagining Persona 3 Portable’s Social Links: Part 1

I’ve been playing FeMC’s route in Persona 3 Portable, and I’m really like the changes made to the gameplay so far. The changes made to the story are also nice, but I feel they didn’t go far enough, specifically with the Social Links, though I realize it was probably a matter of disc space. (Under a cut for length; I discussed most of this with voodooistcorp last night, because re-imagining things is fun!)

Junpei, Ken, and Koromaru replacing Kenji, Chihiro, and Yuko makes sense. They’re all party members who didn’t have Social Links in the base game or FES, and the people they’re replacing share their Arcana. However, Akihiko (Emperor) and Shinjiro (Hierophant) replace Mamoru (Star) and Nozomi (Moon). Mamoru certainly wouldn’t make sense in the FeMC route, but they could’ve put a female sports rival for her in his place just like they swapped out Kazushi for Rio, and Nozomi also wouldn’t make sense in the FeMC route because the MC reminds him of his dead brother, but I personally would’ve replaced him with Ryoji (Fortune) instead. (To be honest, I would’ve replaced Nozomi with Ryoji on the MC route, too.) 

I have to wonder why Hidetoshi (Emperor) and Bunkichi and Mitsuko (Hierophant) were considered irreplaceable? In Bunkichi and Mitsuko’s case, the MC reminds them of their dead son, so why would they bond so quickly with the FeMC? Besides them being nice people, I mean. As for Hidetoshi, I feel like Saori should’ve been our Student Council Social Link instead. We know the vice president is female and gets accused of smoking, similar to Saori, and student council is considered a committee, so why have the FeMC join two committees?

Okay, so now we’ve got Akihiko as Emperor (FeMC), Shinjiro as Hierophant (FeMC), and Ryoji as Moon (MC/FeMC), with a possible female sports rival as Star and Saori as vice president of the student council; I’d also replace Mitsuru with Saori on the FeMC route and Kenji with Junpei on the MC route. From what I’ve heard, Mitsuru’s Social Link isn’t that different between the two routes compared to Fuuka’s and Yukari’s, and I think it’d be nice for both the MC and FeMC to be able to Social Link with all the SEES members in their year.

Let’s turn our attention to the other shared Social Links, shall we? Not counting the ones that level up with the plot, we’ve got Maiko (Hanged Man), Bebe (Temperance), Tanaka (Devil), Mutatsu (Tower), Akinari (Sun), and Aigis (Aeon). Maiko really isn’t necessary, and since we’ve got Hermit and Fortune freed up, we could easily do Social Links for all the Strega members: Jin (Hermit), Takaya (Fortune), and Chidori (Hanged Man). Chidori’s would play out similar to her relationship with Junpei, and having her as a Social Link to insure she still gets saved would free up Junpei to be romanced instead of Ken. Jin and Takaya could also be saved if you’ve maxed them out before a certain point, though I’m not sure when that should be. (You meet them as enemies for the first time during the August Full Moon Operation, but that seems kinda early. Maybe before Takaya kills Shinjiro/puts him in a coma?)

Tanaka can gtfo; I’d much rather have Elizabeth as Devil for the MC and Theodore for the FeMC. Mutatsu’s another character who projects someone onto the MC, namely his estranged son, so he can be replaced. Now, who do we know who’s important to the plot, but doesn’t have a Social Link? Oh yeah, Ikutsuki! I think Tower fits him really well; I can’t see him being saved, but I could definitely see them giving you something like the Accomplice Ending in Persona 4 Golden if you max him out before his betrayal and choose to side with him. For Aigis I’d kinda prefer to make her Chariot and move Kazushi/Rio down to Star, cutting out Mamoru/female sports rival.

Lastly, Bebe and Akinari...I’d kinda like to replace them, if for no other reason than to have as many unique Social Links for the the FeMC as possible, but I don’t know who I’d replace them with. There’s no other major character I can think of who hasn’t been given a Social Link with this re-imagining, and the only thing the FeMC needs is a culture club link. Bebe could probably stay, just changing how the FeMC meets him since he goes to your school anyway, and it’s just chance you run into him in Bunkichi and Mitsuko’s shop; Akinari would require more reworking to make him fit.

In conclusion, the Social Links would now look like this:

And that seems like a good place to stop; I’ll cover how I’d go about handling the Strega and Ikutsuki Social Links (as well as romances) in Part 2.

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Green: @whittertwitter Blue: @voodooistcorp

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Blue: @voodooistcorp Purple: my spouse Green: @whittertwitter

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Blue: @voodooistcorp Green: @whittertwitter

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@voodooistcorp: LEAFS @whittertwitter: Leaf! :D