#which is fundamentally against canon code

[novelconcepts]

One of the most fundamentally interesting things to me about YJ and writing fic, specifically, is how the blame changes hands depending on the story. On whose perspective you're writing from. On whose story it is at a given moment. The very thing I dislike about viewers missing the point becomes so fascinating to me from within the narrative. Who are these characters when seen through the eyes of their peers?

Who does Jackie become? If you're Shauna, she's the love of your life, and your greatest rival, and the other half of your soul, and the person you blame for your dead dreams. If you're Van, she's the respected captain who earns none of your respect in the woods, the one who left you to die without blinking, the easiest target for teenage malice. If you're Natalie, she's competition for affection, the blabbermouth who can't leave well enough alone, the hands putting themselves to no good use. If you're Jackie? You're just a girl. You're so tired. You're so scared. You're losing face a little more every day, and you're made of despair, and you can't even trust your best friend. It's not your fault. It's not your fault. It's not your fault.

Who does Lottie become? If you're Natalie, she's your direct foil, the splinter under the edge of your thumbnail, the smart mouth to match your own, the confusing amalgamation of normal friend and mad ritual. If you're Misty, she's the first shred of obvious power in months, a leader who might need to be nudged back into line, a fascinating exercise in hitching your wagon to the right star early on. If you're Taissa, she's flat-nuts and endlessly frustrating, she's got your girlfriend's full attention, she's incredibly dangerous. If you're Lottie? You're just a girl. You're so tired. You're so scared. You've built a pedestal you can't keep your balance on, and you're not sure if you're right or going crazy, and you didn't want this. It's not your fault. It's not your fault. It's not your fault.

From outside the narrative, there is no bad guy. There is no blame. It is no one's fault. It is Man v. Nature, they are doing the best they can with an impossible situation. They're all trying to contribute what they can to the story, for better or worse.

From inside the narrative, you are a teenager trapped in a society constructed entirely of bare-bones-survival with the wildest assortment of girls. From inside the narrative, to stay human, you have to love and fight, respect and judge. Every story changes the game. Every story shifts the blame. A hero in one has the bloodiest hands in the next. And that, to me, is such a thrilling sandbox to play in.

[hauntingrabbits]

Happy Batman day! Went back and finished the last batch of the MLP AU I had sketched way back in May.

Part 1, Part 2

More info under the cut!

Enigma/The Riddler (Edward Nygma)

Intelligence and puzzle-solving are deeply valued among sphinxes, and those who fall short of their standards are often ridiculed and cast out. Among some (prejudiced) Sphinxes, other sapient, non-Sphinx species such as ponies are looked down-upon or seen as fundamentally inferior for not putting as much stock in puzzles and the like as sphinxes do.

Enigma, though considered a prodigy for his remarkable intelligence and skill with puzzles even among his fellow Sphinxes, was ostracized when a pony unfamiliar with Sphinx culture (a younger Sundown traveling Equestria for his training), humiliated Enigma by unraveling a puzzle of his that was meant to be judged as his final submission in a prestigious event, permanently staining his reputation and wounding his massive ego.

After years of quiet ridicule from his peers and his own growing obsession over the event, Enigma eventually snapped and fled to Gotham for revenge. His contempt has since spread far beyond that of the original pony he wished to prove his superiority over, and he now makes all of Gotham the target of his obsessive schemes, constantly trying to prove his superiority and feed his ego by putting ponies through his elaborate puzzles and riddle-based traps. He sees Batpony’s skill and determination in foiling him as both an inherent challenge to and a slight against his own abilities, reminding him far too much of that original pony from so long ago. 

Other notes:

-Apparently sphinxes in MLP have pony heads instead of human heads which makes sense I guess but it threw me through such a loop man.

-Whilst traversing the wiki I ended up with the same problem I had with chimeras in the first post where only one ever shows up in the series and there's no other info on them. So I made stuff up again.

- I imagine Sphinxes live a very long time, so the event Enigma was embarrassed at would probably take a long time to roll around again and he'd be forced to stew with his anger and wounded ego for far too long. I'm not sure what the puzzle was exactly or how Sundown dismantled it, but I imagine he did something extremely simple that a Sphinx would never have thought of (a la that software engineering joke), making it feel far more unfair and humiliating than if he'd solved in the intended way.

-His naturally crooked tail settles into the shape of a question mark, and the pattern on his arm is meant to look like a stylized question mark wrapping around his forearm (the "dot" is the white of his paw).

2. Miss Friday (Miss Tuesday)

Enigma’s teenaged assistant, Miss Friday seems to be the only pony the sphinx enjoys (or perhaps simply tolerates) the company of. Beyond her having met Enigma in Tartarus during their simultaneous imprisonments, the exact origins of her relationship to and exceptional status with her boss are a bit of a riddle in of themselves. Regardless, the two seem to have something of a mutual understanding, and Miss Friday’s mental prowess and dubious moral code are more than a match for Enigma’s own.

Other Notes:

-Yes this is a "The horse's name was Friday" joke. I'm sorry it was just too good to pass up.

-Miss Tuesday already sounded like a MLP name, but the horse named Friday thing was just too perfect for somebody who works under a guy who's whole thing is riddles. Also I relistened to the BTAA episode where she's introduced while coloring her and I noticed they reference His Girl Friday several times, so fun coincidence?

-The candy-striped leg patterns are based on her canon costume's striped pants & are meant to mirror the Riddler's wrapped leg pattern. The dark patterns on her face are supposed to be reminiscent of eye bags.

3. Mania (Bat-Mite)

Bat-Pony’s self-proclaimed biggest fan, Mania is a Draconequus embodying the spirit of obsession. Normally he watches the hero from his own dimension, but at times he tries to insert himself into the narrative or help Sundown fight, both to varying degrees of success. Though he genuinely adores Bat-Pony, Mania is usually more of a hindrance than a help, and can even be directly antagonistic at times when his obsession goes too far. 

Other notes:

-Similar issue to Chimeras and Sphinxes, only two Draconequuses (Draconequui?) show up in the series, one being Discord (embodying chaos), the other being a comics-only villain known as Cosmos (embodying malice), but honestly what little we're given worked super well for the character anyway. Discord seems to come from his own unique plane of existence/dimension and Cosmos has similarly strange origins; both have penchants for causing mischief with incredible reality-warping powers; and both embody non-physical concepts. Bat-Mite being a reality warping 5th dimensional creature obsessed with Batman was surprisingly easy to adapt.

-He has the head of a pony, a ferret-like body, two front rat paws, mite antennae, an insectoid wing, a bat wing, a pigeon foot, a chevrotain (mouse deer) foot, and a monkey tail. I tried to have him mostly made up of animals that were very small, seen as mischievous, and/or seen as pests.

4. Poison Ivy (Pamela Isley)

Said to be more plant than pony, Poison Ivy is the self-proclaimed princess of the Green. Though once a regular Earth pony, she began to spiral after receiving her cutie mark and fully coming into her powerful natural attunement to plant life. Fleeing into the nearby forests on the outskirts of Gotham, she wasn’t seen again until many years later when Gotham’s city refurbishment and expansion efforts began to encroach on the forests borders, where she reemerged with strange new powerful magic and retaliated violently.

Though she isn’t recognized politically or physically as an alicorn, plants grow from the flesh of her body in the pattern of a horn and wings characteristic of those born into or bestowed with royalty, and the strange natural magic that accompanies them seems to almost rival that of a true alicorn’s.

Other notes:

-I dont really have anything to add to this one I just thought a false alicorn would be a cool concept.

-the whole alicorn royalty thing is very strange to think about isnt it? I feel like the ruling class having such insane amounts of physical and magical power probably has much more pressing ramifications than ever was, would, or should be addressed in a kids show but they are fun to think about.

-Her actual name is Poison Ivy, yes. It sounded like a pony name. I don't know what that says about her parents.

-The leaf wings are folded down in the graphic but I think they are flighted, or at the very least useful for gliding and expressing emotions.

5. Saltbrine (Oswald Cobblepot)

Short, stout, and flightless, Saltbrine’s moniker of “The Penguin” has its origins in the taunts of his peers from his youth. Though the title has persisted into the current day, it’s often spoken with far more fear and trepidation throughout the alleys and backstreets of Gotham than ridicule. Saltbrine owns two of Gothams most well-known businesses, one being the luxurious, high-class Iceberg Lounge…and the other being the organized crime syndicate the former acts as a front for.

Other notes:

-Again don't have much to add to this one. One of my favorite designs though, I love the giant beak face.

-The bird half is actually based on a puffin, because a penguin felt too on the nose for Oswald and too strange for a hippogriff (I couldn't get the wings or face to look right at all either). I feel like the title being an insult works a little better if he's not literally half-penguin.

-he's the same color my club penguin avatar used to be (RIP)

[cindersnows]

the problem with mitsi (or as i like to call it. mitsogyny)

(context: this was written under a youtube video, which i'm sure most of us have at least seen pop up in our recommendeds, in response to many people taking criticism against the new episode. it has been edited a little to be more cohesive as a somewhat-essay)

ok, i wanted to write out a rant/essay/ramble/whatever sort of summarising the criticism against mitsi's plotline because a lot of the people here seem to be misunderstanding the fundamental issue that people have with it, including some of those people themselves.

first off, an analysis that i think tell both sides of the argument very well which i feel should be read before reading the essay: Mitsi: What Makes A Fridged Character (and why y'all are wrong about it) | an AvA essay by InksandPensblog. i will note: i don't care to discuss whether mitsi was fridged or not and that won't be of much importance in this post. the above link gives some insight into some of the fandom's criticism of mitsi and how she was "fridged", defining common tropes for examples. that's what's relevant to this post.

the main issue with mitsi, in my opinion, is less with the fact that mitsi's a girl and moreso the fact that she's one of the only female-coded character in the series, and that her character's main purpose was to further victim's own development. the other arguably female-coded character in the series is pink, who (like navy) only really exists to explain purple's motivations. i don't have much of an issue with that since they're not meant to be important or sympathised with at all. that's not their job in the story.

with mitsi, i've seen people point out that she has more character to her than just victim's love interest and supporter: she invents rocketcorp, she's smart, she's kind, innocent and helpful. narratively speaking, she shows other creations' relationships with their animators, parallels her innocence with victim's trauma, and introduces victim to the outernet (as most fans call the stick realm).

but most of this things imo are either stretches or invalid arguments. she's not really a 2/3-dimensional character in any way; her main character traits boil down to the fact that she likes to be in service of others with no nuance behind why she likes helping people. she hypes up victim for the villagers, she starts a company with him to share his talents with the world, and she helps him overcome his trauma from alan's torture. all of her main plot beats center around victim: and while technically the sticks are genderless and free to be interpreted however the viewer wants, alan and most of his team see all the main characters as male, and that subconciously affects how they're written. mitsi, the first major female-coded character, spends most of her storyline in service of victim, a character not written as female.

there's also the issue of her being victim's canonical love interest. i feel like this statement from alan is important to keep in mind (don't mind the sound effects and edits, this is the only isolated clip i can find at the moment). in particular:

"i just assume that [the ava/m characters] are just a bunch of bros]. i haven't thought of adding any female stick figures but i think it'd be good. i don't want to introduce any romance though, i don't want that to be a theme."

he seems to have changed his mind on that last part, which is fine, but the notable part for me is that he seems to associate female characters with romance from the getgo. before anyone misinterprets this, i'm not trying to call alan sexist or anything. but there's a common issue with women in stories being reduced to just a romantic partner for the male lead, and mitsi falls under this, with her entire character existing to serve victim. (not to mention people will make things about romance whether you like it or not. that's just basic fandom. search up grapeduo or chodark.) even her death is to put victim on the path of vengeance--- it doesn't need to happen to show the extent of tco and tdl's destruction, because that's already made pretty clear in ava s2 the flashback and the earlier scenes showing various characters escaping burning buildings. when you write a female-coded character whose only purpose is to serve a male character, you're contributing to sexist narratives.

a counter i see many people point out with the idea that she has no character is that she does have character traits, it's just that they're generic ones like "kind" and "innocent". the issue is that she has no flaws to counterpoint this; it's not that she didn't have enough screentime. in ava4 for example, we see tsc's flaws pretty clearly; they can be very mean when they want to, they're petty (albeit for a fair reason), they're a little impulsive. this is shown in 11 minutes (from the moment they come alive to the end of the video).

with mitsi meanwhile… she doesn't seem to have any flaws? she helps victim whenever she can. she's nice to all the villagers. her customers all like her and she's a great leader at rocket corp (to note, specifically as part of a pair with victim. they're a power couple, she's barely given credit for her work alone). she has 13 minutes of screentime, or 10 if you count from her waking up in the outernet. there's plenty of opportunities to show her having flaws; maybe she acts a little selfish during tdl and tco's attack, only wanting to help herself and agent smith, or maybe she overworks herself, or feels awkward at having too much attention (and that could also be why she redirects so much attention to victim, she's shy). you could argue that the episode needs to develop victim and agent smith too, but ava4 shows that's easy to do too: just a few seconds dedicated to showing rgyb fighting over who leaves first shows that they can be selfish and childish. it's very easy to insert a moment like that for mitsi.

it's a little disappointing when the first major female-coded character in ava is completely flawless, with no personality outside of being nice and helpful for others.

also, slightly unrelated, check out this quote from mitsi's plushie website: "her white featureless face seems to ooze mystery and feminine power all at the same time." her main character trait, as a woman, is being feminine. it's irritating as someone who's been raised a woman to see her reduced to just her gender. she feels more plastic than a person, like the concept of what a woman should be (perfect, kind, useful) and not an actual character/person.

i would expect more from the writing in the series seeing as it's not just an independent passion project anymore, and has multiple writers that all could've worked to flesh out mitsi, or at least get a sensitivity reader of sorts to point these issues out. it's extremely disappointing and i can understand why people were upset.

tldr: the problem isn't just that mitsi's a girl, or that she's nice or dating victim, it's that she's written in a misogynistic way.

[emeraldhypothesis]

For the ask game I'm gonna ask for the coolest motherfucker this side of the Yugioh galaxy, my one and only wife; Kogami Ryoken aka Revolver.

Your wife? OUR WIFE, COMRADE.

Why I like them/why I don’t

Ryoken might, putting aside biases, be the perfect evolution of the Kaiba rival archetype. He is a remarkably well-written character who has one of the strongest performances in the show both in the sense of his duels, his writing and his VO. Even when he works with Yusaku and the gang, he's always doing so to push his own agenda forward and remains an unpredictable rogue element. He's one of my favorite characters across the entire franchise, to be blunt and to keep myself from pivoting into just how much I love him.

What I like about their appearance

His piercing blue eyes, the pink V-neck, that thing he does where he puts his hand on his waist and walks like a runway model, you know what I mean.

Also that second design, chef's kiss, no notes, he's so pretty. He even makes those green highlights work for him.

Do I prefer their dub names or original names?

I have never called him Roken once, and the only times I have said Varis willingly is after playing Duel Links and having it stuck in my head for a few hours after a lot of Dragon Link grinding. Performance wise I do have to give it to the sub, Daniel J Edwards does fine, but the layers that Shunsuke Takeuchi brings cannot be understated enough.

OTP

You know it's Datastorm. They functionally complete each other in a way that's near impossible to describe. You cannot have this show without them, they are the fundamental pillars on which this series rests. They are a deeply fascinating pairing who bounce off each other so well, they are perfect foils which even represents in their decks and playstyles. They should logically hate each other and yet they keep crawling back to the other for one more hit of that good shit. They would move the heavens for each other and violate almost any moral code if the other asked.

NOTP

Any of the Hanoi leaders, mostly because I think they all only deserve the romantic comfort of a sock. Also not too fond of him and Soulburner due to personal preference.

OT3

The weird post-canon situationship of Datastorm/Aiball happening at the same time is so funny to me where Ryoken has to play nice with Ai, who is revelling in that Ryoken can't touch him because they both like Yusaku too much to make a fuss.

Favourite card they use

YOU KNOW IT'S BORRELOAD SAVAGE DRAGON. The herald of his great comeback, it has a kickass summon animation and involves Revo summoning a BOLT OF LIGHTNING to flex.

Bring it back Konami, it's fine, it never needed to be banned.

Favourite moment they were in

My joke answer is gonna be in the Season 1 finale when he catches feelings for Yusaku and decides the logical course of action was to RUN AWAY ON HIS FUCKING BOAT FOR THREE AND A HALF MONTHS.

My real answer is from his first duel when he summons Toplogic Bomber Dragon and Ai calls him a hypocrite for using a Cyberse monster, to which he looks Ai dead in the eye and replies, "It's fun to fight poison with poison." Absolutely banger line but also shows genuinely how willing Revolver is to do anything for The Mission, that he'll dabble with poison as long as it suits him to.

Honorable mention to his boomer traps (always love seeing people react to MIRROR FORCE for the first time) and his comeback in Season 2 where he kicks in the roof to remind you all who the real GOAT is.

Least favourite moment

His misplay against Soulburner in their final duel annoys me enough that I have to headcanon he threw the duel. Otherwise I always thought it a bit odd how egregiously he glazes Blood Shepherd after their duel, given I think Blood Shepherd is... lame.

That's really it, like I said he's overall a really consistently written character.

Would I fuck, marry or kill them

I would marry him for the money, but he and I would both know that he's thinking of Yusaku the whole time.

[dragonkeeper19600]

volo isn't a sociopath he's a victim of colonization 😭 yeah he did bad shit in his grief but like. Can we have some nuance here maaaaaybe

First of all, we don't actually know Volo's backstory. The game deliberately chooses not to reveal it, so we don't know if colonization plays any factor in his worldview. It's possible given what little we know about him—that he's apparently the last of the Celestica people and that there's some sort of trauma in his past—but it's by no means the only possible narrative. We have no idea what happened to the rest of the Celestica. For all we know, Volo himself could have wiped them out. Yeah, there's no evidence of that, but there's also no evidence that he's a victim of colonization. That's pure head canon at this point.

Second, there is plenty of evidence that trauma in someone's developmental years can potentially lead to sociopathy. There are other factors of course, such as genetics, but trauma is a recognized risk factor for sociopathy. With that in mind, Volo being a sociopath and having some sort of tragedy in his past are by no means incompatible character traits.

The same source I linked above lists personality traits that are often lacking in individuals with sociopathy, and Volo matches all of them:

Now, there are a few signs that Volo might not be a complete sociopath. Three of the Pokemon on his team evolve through high friendship despite him outright saying he only sees them as tools, and fans have already formed all kinds of speculations and theories on how that could be. After his defeat, he also comes clean about what he did to both Professor Laventon and Cogita, which is an unexpected thing for a sociopath to do.

However, he shows enough of the behaviors listed above, manipulation, lying, impulsive decision-making without any regard for others' wellbeing, for me to confidently say that he has a lot of sociopathic traits, even if there is something resembling a moral code inside him.

I am by no means trying to imply that sociopathic characters can't be tragic or deserving of empathy (even when they can't feel empathy themselves). In my, admittedly nonclinical view, sociopaths are handicapped in a very tragic way. They're fundamentally lonely individuals, since they can't really connect to anyone, and most real-life advice you'll find on how to interact with sociopaths is just to stay the hell away from them. Not only is this not helpful at all to either sociopaths or the people who love them, it's also rather dehumanizing and forces sociopaths to mask their symptoms, which only feeds into the paranoia-driven narrative that sociopaths are sneaky deceivers who hide their true natures from innocent people. But, like, when everything about how you think is so vilified and there's such a stigma against you that even the word "socipath" is treated like a foul accusation, what else are sociopaths supposed to do?

[iniziare]

ignoring aventurine's blatant gay coding is really something

Other things have had me a little salty this morning, so in case that influences my perception of how you intended this, my sincere apologies. Either way, forgive me for being serious for a moment, but I want to use this as a PSA to make a point going forward on this blog.

I have nothing against opposing views, and I have nothing against people disagreeing with me, but what I have something against on principle, are potentially snarky messages like this one that seem to have only one aim, which is to try and taint my character by making insinuations that are wholly unfounded (that you think me to be anti-LGBT?) and based on something that you genuinely cannot draw any such thing from. Now whether Aventurine is 'gay-coded' as you so put it, or a bisexual man (on which note: it's real saddening to see that in 2024, in-house fighting against bisexuality's mere existence still reigns supreme, good job, you're really making admirable strides) doesn't matter for what I'm going to touch on. Although out of respect for the character himself and the person who wrote him, I can't move on without noting that you may want to reread some character stories, some dialogues (particularly things said by the Harmony to him, for instance), to see whether that seals your faith in your claim, or diminishes it. Either way, I want to remind you: being bisexual doesn't reduce the significance of being drawn to the same sex.

Alright, continuing what I was saying: messages like these don't accomplish anything, outside of making you feel like you're on a pedestal; is it cold up there? I don't envy you. In all seriousness however, in all my years on any of my blogs, I have always aimed to be canon-strict with my portrayals, with which I set myself up for something that I deem imperative for myself in RP: to be criticized by the masses. I have always tried to engage with my follower base, I have always encouraged them to come to me if I'm wrong on something, I value people trying to poke holes in my logic. And if you succeed in proving that I overlooked something, I will happily admit it, and stand corrected. In that, I aim to say that I thoroughly enjoy debate and discussion (based in rationale, and not feelings), which I think are fundamental to our society even outside of Tumblr. If someone disagrees with me, my notes are open, if you want to question something that I think or have posted, my askbox (as you've learned and have made use of) is open. But all I ask is that you open a line of healthy debate with me, and not send something that is entirely baseless if you don't even substantiate your claim in your same message. But also, what I don't understand is that my post doesn't even directly diminish the popular Aventurine/Ratio ship in the fandom, it instead simply expresses frustration that not more people see the depth of the Aventurine/Topaz dynamic, and recognize it as a good ship as well, because there is a lot within the game that aims at a definite potential there. Granted, yes, that comes with having to acknowledge that Aventurine may just be a bisexual man who is also into women, but if that's something that doesn't sit quite right with you, then maybe the issue that you're pointing at me, should be returned to you, the one who initially pointed the accusatory finger here.

Again, if you want to have a conversation about this and tell me why you think that I'm wrong by substantiating your own claim, you're very welcome to, and I'd be happy to engage with you. But until then, this is all that I have for you. And before I might get a 'why do I need to substantiate my thing, Sae', it's nothing against you personally, and instead it's the simple 101 of debate. You disagree with a point that I make? Then it is up to you to tell me why you disagree, so that I can give you a fruitful counter that you can then do something with.

Regardless of the intention of your message, anon, I wish you a good day, and I hope that it's raining less over there, wherever you may be, than it is over here. I'm not motivated to go get my groceries!

[plutoniansweetheart]

disney princesses astro big 3 pt. 1

my cross to bear in this life: I am both a Disney Adult and an astrology-obsessed-white-woman. also, please ignore any sort of “canon” involving their actual birthdays, I did not look at any of that before writing this. enjoy!

Snow White

She is first introduced singing about wanting to find her true love, of course, and happens to meet him while she is singing about finding him… of course. So naturally, she doesn’t stop singing about him and wanting to marry him for the rest of the movie.

This is very hopeless romantic, lover girl, daydreamer of her, which left me no other choice than to declare her a Pisces Sun. Pairing water with water, she also has a Cancer Moon, as she cares for everyone around her with the same level of care as a mother. Cancer is in domicile in the Moon, which means that her emotional intelligence comes naturally. Cancer is also the Mother of the Zodiac, which points to her ability to emotionally care for others in a maternal way. She cares for the Seven Dwarfs by cooking, cleaning, and storytelling — all roles of a mother — and she does it with the same amount of grace that the Moon would demand.

Her natural ability to get along with everyone and make sure that prejudice is nowhere to be found in her interactions with the animals of the forest, the seven dwarves, or even the evil witch, makes it obvious to me that she’s a Libra Rising. Libra represents the scales, and she treats everyone with kindness, equally. This also means she’s Venusian ruled: naturally beautiful with an intrinsic charm that others immediately fall for. I mean, she literally breaks into the dwarfs’ house to cook and clean, and they let her! Who else other than a Libra Rising would be as charming and lovely in order to get away with that, I ask you?

Pocahontas

Throughout the movie, she is always in the water. She even has a song called “Just Around the Riverbend” She begins it by singing, “What I love most about rivers is, you can’t step in the same river twice. The water’s always changing, always flowing.” Pocahontas’s own personality is similar to a river, in that she is constantly changing throughout the movie; a lot of her most fundamental beliefs are altered when John Smith arrives on the shore. Not only this, but she loves animals, and has two constant animal friends follow her on her adventures. Both this love for water and animals clues me in to her Cancer Sun. She also is the chief’s daughter and goes against her father’s wishes for her to marry Kocoum, and decides to marry the colonizer — this is hopeless romantic behavior which is very Cancer-coded.

Circling back to her innate connection to nature (emphasized even more by her conversations with a spirit that lives in a tree, Grandmother Willow) and her ability to express her thoughts and feelings so smoothly, makes me feel like her Moon placement must be benefic. The most benefic Moon placement you can have is when it’s exalted in Taurus — so she has a Taurus Moon. The earth sign Taurus, combined with a planet that rules the water sign Cancer, makes for the perfect balance of earth and water for Pocahontas. The reason she has a Virgo Rising is because she has a connection with her own mind that only someone ruled by Mercury could. Whether you think that Grandmother Willow is a real talking tree or rather a symbol for her own internal thoughts, she thinks things through by relying on that source for advice and meaningful conversation. Also, her cheekbones are super prominent — Virgo Risings tend to have sharp physical features. Another Virgo Rising with prominent cheekbones is Bella Hadid, if that gives you any sense of comparison.

Ariel

With that beautiful mane of bright red hair, I’m just going to call it as I see it: a Leo Sun. Not only is her hair big and glorious like a lion, but also, everyone revolves around her! Like the Sun, she is used to others feeding off her energy because it’s infectious and bright. She’s King Triton’s favorite daughter, she’s the youngest so she gets away with everything, Ursula wants her to be her key to Triton’s demise, and she gets a prince to fall in love with her in two days! She also loves going to the surface to be closer to the Sun and closer to the things she loves doing: learning about humans.

We had to have a water sign placement for a mermaid, which leads to the Scorpio Moon that she has. Thinking of Scorpio’s reputation for transformation: she literally transforms from a mermaid into a human. Thinking of Scorpio’s reputation for being mysterious and secretive: she has an entire grotto that only her and Flounder know about, with all her collected goods from combing through shipwrecks and accepting gifts from Scuttle the seagull. Thinking of Scorpio’s fixed sign energy and their stubbornness: she is bound and determined to fall in love with the prince as a human, even though it’s forbidden.

She’s a Sagittarius Rising because she’s so adventure-driven. Sagittarius is also known for being a teacher in a lot of ways because they’ve experienced so much and want to expand their knowledge to others. With all her knowledge about human artifacts and a continued insatiable desire to learn more about them, she herself is a teacher — acknowledging how much she knows while also knowing she can always learn more. Symbolized as The Archer, Sagittarius is an adventurous sign that goes wherever their arrow takes them, they cannot be restricted to a singular place. Similarly, Ariel values her freedom and autonomy to do what she wants more than anything, which is why — even after being scolded by her father countless times — she still goes up to the surface and combs abandoned shipwrecks.

full article written by me on hercampus !

[liobi]

I've been seeing a weirdly high level of Dungeon Meshi discourse that just. Completely misses the point lately and I'm honestly kinda frustrated about it. So.

First point of address. Laios isn't canonically autistic. He is written in a way that lends itself to the reading of him being neuro divergent, and I think if he was a real person he would be on the spectrum, but the world of Dunmeshi itself does not have the concept of autism (yet). If it did you can bet the human enthusiast Kabru would have immediately pegged Laios as such. As for Falin, she'd also likely be ND but closer to ADHD judging by the relatively small amount we get to actually see her existing as a character.

NOW THAT THAT'S OUT OF THE WAY. Toshiro isn't being ableist with his expectations of Laios picking up on social queues and being angry that he doesn't get it! Laios is legitimately rude to him! In terms of micro-aggressions, he does it constantly and unintentionally. He straight up calls Toshiro strange looking and fucks up his name! But the thing is, Toshiro's biggest flaw is that he applies his cultural norms to his interactions with everyone, regardless of culture. Chilchuck and Mick have a small talk about how Toshiro, with zero indication of feelings beforehand or any romantic involvement, just asks Falin to marry him and expects it to go well, all because she looked at a bug and he thought she was the most unique and different woman he had ever met (small aside, almost all the women he had met at this point are either family, his dad's mistress that is more of a mom to him than his own mom, his retainers, and his uhhh indentured servants/Literal Slaves)(Itsuzumi is a whole ass other conversation that I'm not even remotely qualified to talk about). He's a man of high social status that's never had to think about that fact before, never had to examine the power and privilege he has at his disposal. As a result, his expectations of people to learn his cultural norms, something he's been used to in his homeland, go unmet and are a source of friction.

Here's a real life example. In the US Midwest, if a person slaps their knees and/or stands up, sometimes saying some combination of "Welp/it's getting late..." They're politely telling their guests "get the fuck out of my house." It's impolite to ask people to leave, even politely. This is absolutely arcane and insane, why would anyone do this? Society!

Toshiro has grown up in a place where he's had to be hyper-aware of these things, where he can't verbally state what he literally wants or means. And he's conformed! He's decided to do what's expected of him. Laios, on the other hand, instead chafed against the expectations put on him as the child of the village elder and against the way people treated Falin for being different. He gave up his privilege (assured house, home, fiancee, position and responsibility within their town) in order to pursue a freedom beyond the society he saw as wrong. Laios is fundamentally uninterested in people (as opposed to monsters and demi-humans which is why he's uniquely suited to dealing with the multicultural aftermath of The Whole Thing), but he values his loved ones and personal code of honor enough to do what he needs to protect those things, even if it means going against society.

Anyways this is a long winded way of saying Toshiro and Laios are complex characters and narrative foils of each other in the early narrative and shouldn't be turned into one dimensional parodies of themselves for the purpose of Hot Takes. Thanks.

[paragonrobits]

i also have to admit i REALLY don't like the way a lot of online writing and creative thought has come to assume that 'villain = revolutionary' to such an extreme that a lot of corners assume that by DEFAULT a villain wants to change society or accomplish something good, to the point that if there is a story idea for a hero radicalizing or doing something to change society, its assumed that its the hero joining the villain side, and not just... the hero just doing those things to begin with, and the villain opposes it

i think its the idea of villain as more heroic by default that annoys me. This isn't an MCU inspired, as much as people want to act like the MCU set this off. It's been a trend for a while, and frankly you get a LOT of people suggesting that villains as fundamentally heroic but not bound by societal limits is the DEFAULT, and to arrive at that conclusion you kind of have to spend a LOT of time in the kind of echo chambers that conclude that Poison Ivy is an actual hero saving the world from corporate pollutants like a new captain planet character and not, you know. an eco fascist who regularly takes people's minds and bodily autonomy from them without consent. it's her iconic gimmick. Arguably given how much of her gimmick is also 'seduce people and brainwash them with a kiss and pheromones', sexual assault is her actual gimmick

but anyway the point of it is that that the idea of villain as inherently noble or motivated by moral causes and the hero as a bullying spoilsport is so ingrained, and I notice it also tends to be common among the moral puritans you're likely to see in fandom; the sort of people who generally tend to apply a morality that, again, assumes that a hero joining a villain team and killing lots of people for a moral cause is purely heroic

and not, you know. committing mass murder is generally not considered a moral thing to do. (And this is ironic because the vast majority of criticisms leveled at me by the past, by friends, is that I lean VERY hard into what is known as the Knight Templar archetype, or the principles zealot; the kind of characters who basically would rather let the world burn than compromise their morals, or consider their personal code/ethics more important than consequences on a grand scale. Suffice to say, a dark interpretation of my characters COULD have them actually becoming apocalypses destroying the world on purpose because, i dunno, they decided that humanity's capacity for evil is the same as the INEVITABILITY of evil, so they're going to murder the world and if anyone complains or cries, they will be surprised that they aren't automatically agreeing with them because it seems obvious.

i should stress this isn't canon but that's the point i'm trying to make: basically i'm saying that I'm criticizing the kind of people who honestly thought the villains in BNHA/MHA were supposed to be right or that they, for the most part, had any real basis, spinner being the only real exception as far as i can tell

its just a very, VERY weird trend in the creative writing/fandom side of things to automatically assume the villain is secretly the True Hero, or even treat their willingness to do horrific things as a sign of purer morality, or even regard shows of mercy or a reluctant to commit mass murder as a sign of moral weakness. i've seen those sort of people say things like "yeah, so what? if you're in a revolution, murder all the children of the people you're rising up against so they won't feel revenge towards you, problem solved, its not like its a big deal" and this kind of mentality lends itself towards a very amoral goal-focused outlook that regards human life as meaningless in the service of a goal which is a really weird thing to see from people that claim to want to change the world for the better

[zepumpkineater]

Thinking about how Jeb and Sanford & Deimos could/would be friends, if given the chance.

Canon wise, they've actually only met a grand total of once during the events of M:PN, or at least talked to each other anyway. Sanford and Deimos have never really gotten an opportunity to know Christoff and vice versa.

During Shakedown, the only level in the game where only Jeb and Deimos are playable characters, it happens to be that both of them have the "hacker" trait, meaning that during the segment where Deimos hacks the terminal to activate the robot, there's actually a bit of flavor text that sort of sparked this whole train of thought.

If you attempt to hack the terminal as Jeb, the game will give you a little text blurb that says "Let the boy show you his idea, sheesh!" Which of course, could be interpreted in a few ways. Personally, I always saw it as Jeb's way of trying to see what Deimos was capable of. I can imagine him peering over Deimos' shoulder as he types away lines of code into the terminal, the code being sloppy and unrefined, but functional nonetheless.

Generally speaking I always got the sense that Jeb developed a sort of respect for S&D, one he doesn't have for their compatriots in the slightest. Him choosing to say "Very wise, my friend." to Sanford gave me the sense that he sees him in a much higher light in spite of the people he chooses to associate himself with.

I definitely think S&D would find Jeb to just be a downright weird individual, and a little crazy with his constant talk about being Nevada's savior. All they see is an old man way past his prime, kept alive by a magical artifact. The years have worn away at his body and his psyche, but it hasn't made him any less powerful, if anything his resolve has only strengthened with time.

I can imagine Deimos playing practical jokes with Jeb, or intentionally saying something stupid in order to annoy him. Normally, it would, if it were anybody else. For some reason I think Jeb would find Deimos...Somewhat endearing, he would see a lot of potential to what would be relative to him a young man. It annoys him in the same way your little brother annoys you. You say you hate it, but you'll miss it when it's gone.

Sanford I think would be a bit of a foil to Jeb's high thinking, Jeb is always constantly thinking about the bigger picture, what's next for Nevada, what he needs to do in order to save it. Sanford, to a degree, understands why that's important, but he generally thinks on a much smaller scale. He cares more about the people immediately around him and what he can do to protect them. Jeb has a hard time thinking of people on an individual level, seeing them all as pieces in a much larger game. Sanford is one of these pieces, and he knows more than anyone that the only way to stay alive and sane is to stick together.

That's not to say Sanford and Jeb wouldn't like each other, but I do think they would get into sort of philosophical arguments with each other. They both agree with each other on several fundamentals, but they have such a different perspective of it that they can't help but clash. Jeb always thinks about what's in the future, and Sanford lives in the moment, taking everything one day at a time.

Unfortunately I don't see Christoff's tendency to manipulate people fading when it comes to Sanford and Deimos, if anything he would try to coerce them to his side, the only side he thinks is correct. He would try to get them to abandon Doc and S.Q. and let him be their leader, as he would be the only one who can truly "save" Nevada, but as always this is just a delusion he's conned himself into believing.

Luckily Sanford and Deimos would become masters at brushing his ramblings off, much to his annoyance, but I don't think it would be enough to pit them against each other.

It's just an interesting dynamic, one I hope to see explored further in the series at some point, whether it be via game or animation, or something else entirely.

[quintessentialgaymutant]

Iceman Queer History and Analysis Part 1- The 80s

Iceman aka Bobby Drake from Marvel’s pioneer X-Men series is a canon gay character with a rich history of queerness that illuminates the long impact queer fans have had in fandom spaces and as people within the medium itself, that have always been here. We all know about some important tentpole moments in queer comics history such as Northstar’s landmark coming out, or Mystique and Destiny’s coded romantic relationship in the impactful Claremont era of X-Books. 

I wanted to take some time to really go over Bobby’s history with queer themes, how they came to be, how writers began queer coding him intentionally and how that consistency led to him eventually being canonized as a gay character in 2015. 

Bobby is a unique part of queer comics history because he is the only legacy character to be so fundamentally influenced by queer fan readings and intentional subtext which paved the way for his eventual canonicity. This began as early as the early-mid 80s.

Many queer coded characters throughout comics history are coded in the way of relationships (Kitty/Rachel, Mystique/Destiny, Storm/Yukio, Tim Drake/Conner Kent, etc), but Bobby is the only one whose core character conflict was heavily influenced by queer themes around identity. I am going to be taking some time to go over the evolution of those themes, to showcase that we have always been here and that Bobby’s dynamic with queerness is uniquely shaped by queer fans and creators who engaged with them. 

I also wanted to archive a lot of the research and analysis around his queer coding, so it could be more accessible to queer fans, as much of the creator comments and fan analysis are located in long podcasts or forgotten forum posts. Although this series of essays around his various eras of queer coding and fan readings serve as a strong counterargument to many of the typical, often homophobic remarks against the character being gay, the purpose of this is to illuminate history, analyze text and enthusiastically engage with queer fans.

To that end, the starting point is his first mini series, written by J.M DeMatteis. This was released in 1984, and was coming out nearly concurrently to The New Defenders, written by Peter B Gillis. The latter series will be highlighted in my next entry, but the two releasing around the same time is relevant as the two series resonated with queer fans, which impacted Bobby’s reception at the time. 

Queerness was not allowed in mainstream comics (or any mainstream medium, really) during the 80s. We were invisible and the most we could rely on in mainstream cape comics was subtext (Northstar, Mystique), or fan readings/theories on characters who may or may not be gay. This was during the early oughts of the AIDs epidemic and gays were reviled and disdained in the public eye. Nevertheless, queer people existed and they saw themselves where they could. 

The core narrative theme in DeMatteis’ take on Iceman was on family. He reintroduced readers to Bobby’s parents: Madelyne and William Drake, and they were not terribly happy with Bobby’s choices in life. Bobby’s father in particular represents a masculine figure who vocally disapproved of Bobby’s life choices, and his mother meekly agreed, and often guilted Bobby to listen to his father, “or else.” This sets a precedent in which not only is William a strong, masculine father figure in Bobby’s life, but he also instills anxiety in Bobby’s mother, which puts Bobby, their son, squarely in the middle of their dysfunctional dynamic.

Keenan and Lil Miss Hot Mess (2020) present the idea of gender scripts; which are expectations around normalcy that men and women are divided into, and going outside of them is not deemed as desirable or acceptable. They are fundamentally rigid, and are products of a heterosexist culture; aka a culture where heterosexuality is the idealized default and boys and girls must live up to this idealized default. This is achieved by presenting and performing as typically masculine (for boys) or feminine (for girls), having desires be fixed on the opposite gender, and eventually starting a family with them.

Bobby has internalized these scripts and his tension with them is what resonated with queer fans at the time, and it is here, alongside The New Defenders, where Bobby’s queer reading by queer fans truly began. 

He was supposed to be an accountant. He was supposed to marry a normal girl, and live in a normal neighbourhood, with his gender appropriate white collar job. Instead, he is a mutant freak, running around in a speedo and boots. He dresses up funny, has weird friends. And is otherwise a disappointment. An anomaly. He knows this and it eats away at his inner self.

Once Bobby does rebel against his father, he is met with deep rejection, aggression and is emotionally manipulated. The implicit message is that his family will abandon him if he does not conform to their ideas of normal. If he fails in following their prescribed script. 

There is another character in this series named Marge. She is the perfect ideal for Bobby, a pretty, feminine, normal girl who lives next door. She follows the script to a tee. Bobby immediately fawns all over her and projects his idealized version of normalcy onto her. 

What he doesn’t know…in classic comic book fashion…Marge is actually a deity, the daughter of the god of Oblivion; the omnipotent being who resides in a limbo-like realm, between life and death. She reads Bobby’s mind and presents him with everything he has supposedly wanted. A normal house. A normal family. A normal girlfriend. But it feels wrong.

He knows it’s a lie and the cost to maintain the illusion is too great. He rejects it and has to fight the deity Oblivion itself to be free from Marge’s realm. She wanted to stay in this realm with Bobby to be away from her own constraints and is angered at his refusal to be “normal” with her.

He succeeds and the message of the story at the end is that Bobby’s parents may be more than meets the eye and maybe he shouldn’t judge them too harshly. This is far from the last time we see the Drakes, and we will learn that they do not really change their ways in the long run, and Bobby’s core conflict in this book only develops deeper into his psyche. 

But there we have it, Bobby’s first mini series, a book about normalcy and the constraining expectations around it; especially in ways that run parallel to heteronormative gender scripts that all of us have found ourselves at the centre of.

This resonated with queer fans, and was part of the popular fan theory amongst our community back then, that Bobby might also be repressing a lot, and part of his need to please his parents may manifest in the internalized ideals of normalcy that follow gender scripts to a tee. The conflict of his character is that this isn’t who he is, and in combination with codedness being our only visibility, and his character conflict in The New Defenders, it is no surprise that queer fans in the 80s saw a piece of themselves in Bobby. 

This era is what I call the queer fan reading era of the 80s. J.M DeMatteis has confirmed recently that he did not actually intend to write Bobby as closeted in this series, but that the reading makes sense with his writing (Graymalkin Lane, 2022). That is not the relevant point for the purpose of this analysis though, it is the fact that this is where the queer readings began, and fed into the actual, intentional queer subtext that fundamentally influenced the character in the 90s onwards. Look forward to my analysis on those eras as well, but they would not exist without this series connecting with queer fans all the way back in the 80s.

References

DeMatteis, J.M. Iceman, 1984

Graymalkin Lane. (2022). The New Defenders interview with J.M. DeMatteis! With Sara Century and Connor Goldsmith! Retrieved from: https://redcircle.com/shows/graymalkin-lane-the-podcast/ep/4156916e-0e89-43c1-98d6-cd21a1cea6fd

Keenan, H. Lil M. Hot Mess. (2020). "Drag Pedagogy: The Playful Practice of Queer Imagination in Early Childhood." Curriculum Inquiry, vol. 50, no. 5, pp. 440-461.

[ricardian-werewolf]

A long post about Rthstewart

Something @rovinglemon and I were talking about while facetiming and watching Prince Caspian - her on the TV and I on my ipad in my little dormroom - was how @rthstewart's Narnia series is what we believe as canon.

I've always felt a sense of detachment from Narnia, like I, as an autistic woman do not belong in that world. How easily my fate could become that of Susan's if my belief in Aslan so much as wavers an inch from the imaginary line Narnians must tread. I'm an atheist partly because of my own experiences and disbelief in the non-tangible. However, I do believe in ghosts and the paranormal because of fiction and my work on The Great War.

But reading @rthstewart's Stone Gryphon series and her side novels set during the golden age of Narnia made me feel like I could have a place within that world. @rovinglemon agrees, and we've discussed at length also how Rth's works take the existing canon and with the sheer mind-boggling level of detailed research she's done, makes Narnia something wholly alive. The world is not static because it is so completely tangible that I return to it time and time again. It's become how I relax after working on essays for my midterms and studying. Every time, without fail, I pick up the page or chapter that I'm on, and I am lost to the world around me. Her writing is so incredibly well written that it is often hours before I can be torn away from her stories. It is in her writing of Morgan especially that I find myself at home as an autistic person. Her mannerisms are similar to mine and Rth's evident care and research in writing Morgan's character as an autistic person shines through so well that I have yet, and doubt that I will find any fault in her portrayal, which is something so many altistic writers struggle with, especially headliners such as Mark Haddon either flat-out ignore, or attempt to rationalize their grevious misdeeds behind the NYT's Bestseller list.

Rth's writing of the Four also must be commended. RL mentioned on our call about how Peter's intelligence as shown through Rth's writing is a different kind to Edmund's or Susan's. Sword (in the Rat and Crow code), is less about the boy-against-boy blindsided idiocy that Prince Caspian sets front and center stage, and instead makes the Four - Sword, Rat, Crow, and Heart, into people fundamentally struggling to survive in a world that will never understand them. Their maturity in the bodies of children sets them apart, and it shows in the best of ways, whether they reign as Kings and Queens, or exist in what I call their "English Exile," that they are flawed people who question Aslan's greater plan, but are fundamentally trying to make the world both a better place and answer to the creed as Friends of Narnia.

So to @rthstewart, I raise my glass to you, and look forward to whatever next you plan to be writing.

[soullessjack]

im roughly 65% sure ive made this post before but it rlly does confuse me how almost nobody in the fandom acknowledges Jack’s anger issues or “insane moments” or honestly any of his flaws in general, esp in comparison to the rest of team free will 2.0 and it’s like … what show did you watch. What show did you watch where the guy that attempted to strangle someone in a fit of rage, deliberately tortured a man as brutally as possible before killing him and ate raw human hearts that he himself ripped out of peoples’ chests is somehow always being depicted as the sweet innocent flower child of the group.

and like while this itself isn’t directly an ableism thing, i think it speaks a lot for how any character with autistic traits or coding is perceived as inherently innocent or childlike and infantilized/woobified as such. and look, i get that jack is canonically written to come off as very cute and adorable and sweet on purpose, but literally nobody can see past it on a surface level and recognize that Hey, Maybe The Guy Who Can Throw People Against Walls And Fly Into A Murderous Rage When They’re Too Upset Has A Reason For Being Super Nice All The Time.

idk . I mean this is like one in a million other things about jack that get watered down by the fandom because he fundamentally does not exist to half of y’all as a full character with autonomy outside of being a domestic destiel centerpiece — which itself also confuses me as someone who’s been deeply fixated on him pretty much since his storyline began in s12. And while I didn’t have a tumblr back then in 2017, I did see the posts made about him & I remember even then thinking “yeah I get it he’s cute he’s baby but can we like actually talk about him,” because almost nobody was and it drove me crazy, and to see that that hasn’t changed in the past six years (mind you, I was 13 when he appeared and im 19 now) just. Drives me even more crazy, but also exhausts me at the same time.

it’s like. idk, it’s like y’all are incapable of consuming his character unless he’s been made palatable to you , which for some reason seems to exclusively mean making him a baby or removing his actual personality to the point that even when he isn’t being de-aged, he’s still treated and depicted as a Large Child (which, by the way, is a directly ableist notion many autistics actually face irl!). And of course I can’t force anyone to stop liking baby-jack or stop making content around that because that’s just not how anything works, but at the very least i can ask you all to think a little more critically about why that specific content appeals to you and the harmful implications it carries, and if you’re unwilling to stop making/engaging with that content (which frankly I assume is the case for everyone, but again I can’t stop you) then the very least you can do is listen when someone says “hey this is actually kind of harmful.” thanks

[fyodcrs]

hi! fellow fyozai enjoyer, I saw your post about fyozai and how you disliked the finale, and I have thoughts about how I actually loved the finale for fyozai (I mean this /lh, it’s fully my opinion)

the basis of it is what Dazai tells Fyodor, and a theory I saw around chapter 101-ish of the manga.

Dazai tells Fyodor: “you don’t trust anything you can’t manipulate”

and the theory I saw had it’s basis centered around the fact that Chuuya was a wildcard for both Dazai and Fyodor. now, chapter 101, the fandom’s assumptions were a) Chuuya is actually a vampire, and b) Dazai just tried to kill Chuuya via drowning

the theory basically said, SKK have a strong bond right? an extremely popular theory around that time was that Dazai was trying to drag Chuuya out of the vampirism via his speech, possibly coded, and the water and drowning. so the theory said that what if Dazai was trying to use their bond, and Chuuya’s own willpower, to drag Chuuya out of vampirism and have him be an element of surprise against Fyodor - e.g. Chuuya is pulled out, recognizes Dazai’s plan, and plays along to eventually betray Fyodor, being the closest to him physically, and because Fyodor is already convinced of his control of Chuuya.

essentially, Dazai relies on his bond with Chuuya, his ally and human nature, while Fyodor is so focused on control that he is caught off guard because of Chuuya’s willpower

which is what happens in canon, sort of - Dazai relies on his allies and human nature, while Fyodor is so certain of his plan (he says it himself- his plan is perfect) that he doesn’t question Chuuya’s vampirism. he is so convinced that the vampirism is absolute that why would he need to check?

and then Dazai wins. and he tells Fyodor, “you don’t trust anything you can’t manipulate”

Dazai doesn’t either, or he didn’t, and here’s where I love the ending so much and what it means for fyozai - neither of them trust what they can’t manipulate. but Dazai did, has been doing since he joined the Agency, and that’s how he won - he grew out of this belief that Fyodor still currently has, also aligning with their fundamental differences in one belief, the value of human life + experiences

anyway. that’s my opinion on why I actually love the ending sm and don’t understand why so many people hate it. “how did Fyodor not notice Chuuya put on a Halloween costume” that’s the POINT - it highlights fyozai’s fundamental difference in belief, Dazai’s growth, how Dazai has pushed past that blockage that Fyodor still has and which is why he lost, ALSO highlighting how they are the same person expressed differently in one root belief. which makes them even CRUNCHIER in my opinion

ty for reading, you’re so correct that not enough people enjoy fyozai 😔✌️(and if any of this came off harsh please know I don’t mean it to be 😭)

Hi, fellow fyozai enjoyer! Thank you for sharing your perspective on the finale! I love hearing other people's opinions, so I appreciate you throwing your two cents in. And no worries, none of that came off harsh. 😆 I'm about to rant here, so I hope I don't come off as harsh!

I think you're spot on in what Asagiri/the anime writers were going for. However, there are several fundamental problems I have with it, from a character perspective and from a storytelling perspective. My issues with the finale really don't have anything to do with fyozai; my issues are with the writing, especially the writing of Fyodor's character. Because the thing is, it makes sense in theory, but it doesn't work the way they did it.

In theory, it makes perfect sense that Dazai "won" because he trusts his allies and Fyodor does not. It's even set up in these scenes:

In the first, Dazai and Fyodor are (quite hilariously) telling each other how they manipulate others. Dazai acts the fool, pretends to be lazy and unengaged so his "workers" have to step up and do something themselves. That's how he plays puppet master behind the scenes. Fyodor takes control of his pawns by leaving them no choice. That's how he plays puppet master behind the scenes. Dazai's method requires a lot less control and a lot more trust.

In the second, Dazai is saying that the world is chaotic and all of their "ingenious plans" don't amount to much (except when it's Dazai's "ingenious plan" to dress Chuuya up in a Halloween costume!), challenging Fyodor's idea that he can impose his own order on the world (which is exactly what Fyodor is trying to do, though he can't see that - he isn't doing God's will, he's only doing his own; the order he is trying to impose upon the world by using the Book is not God's, it is his own).

Personally, I think "Dazai wins because he has friends, Fyodor loses because he doesn't" is kind of a boring way to go with both Fyodor's character and with the conflict between him and Dazai. Considering this is BSD, where everyone and their boss gets a redemption arc of some sort, and considering this a character based (however loosely) off of Fyodor Dostoevsky, a man who wrote numerous novels exploring deeply complex philosophical and religious ideas about human nature and redemption, I had hoped that Fyodor's character would have a redemption arc of his own. I really hoped that he wouldn't end up being the one character in this series treated like a stereotypical villain. Alas, here we are...

But whatever, they set this up, and again, theoretically, it makes sense. It works for their characters, and I don't mind the idea that Fyodor loses to Dazai because of Dazai's trust in others - in theory. You are certainly right that it makes fyozai all the crunchier!

But it just doesn't work the way they did it. It doesn't work because Fyodor does not actually have any direct control over the vampires.

Unless I missed something about there being a line on the Page that says "the vampires shall obey Fukuchi Ouchi, Bram Stoker, and Fyodor Dostoevsky, and no one else", Fyodor does not control the vampires. Fukuchi does, because Fukuchi has control of Bram. Or Fukuchi is supposed to, because Fukuchi is supposed to have control of Bram. The only reason the vampires would obey Fyodor at all is because, presumably (though I don't think this is ever stated), Fukuchi ordered them to through Bram and Bram's Ability.

This means that in order for Fyodor to use any of the vampires, including Chuuya, as his pawns, he would need to have complete trust in Fukuchi. He would need to trust that Fukuchi hasn't fucked anything up, has not lost control of Bram, and that whatever Dazai was plotting with his buddies outside the prison has not caught up to Fukuchi and exposed him or taken him down. And Fyodor knows that Dazai is plotting, he knows that Dazai is in contact with the outside. He knows Ranpo is out there, and that Dazai is relying in particular on Ranpo.

And he was able to predict Ranpo's moves at least up to trying to intercept the One Order. So he also knew that Fukuchi had been/would be discovered and that the ADA were actively trying to thwart him. But he carried on his plan to use Chuuya, because he still trusted that Fukuchi had control of Bram.

In other words, he was trusting Fukuchi in exactly the same way Dazai was trusting Ranpo and the others.

It doesn't matter if Fyodor and Fukuchi are "friends," or if they're real "allies" - the point is that Fyodor did not actually have any direct control over the vampires, or over Fukuchi. Fukuchi even says in the anime that he "sent him (Fyodor) to prison" to ensure that Fyodor could not interfere with his actual plan - which was, of course, not Fyodor's actual plan. But Fyodor trusted that things were still going according to his plan, even though he couldn't actually manipulate things directly from where he was. Exactly like Dazai.

I get the whole "Fyodor thinks his plan is perfect" thing, but in this plan, Fukuchi had all of the power over the vampires, not Fyodor. Sure, you can argue Fyodor thought he had Fukuchi under his thumb (which, by the way, I find very hard to believe, because from what Fukuchi tell Fukuzawa, Fyodor knew what Fukuchi really wanted, and made a deal with him to achieve that; therefore, he knew Fukuchi had his own motives), but that doesn't matter - what matters is that he placed control of the pawns he intended to use in the hands of someone else.

That ruins Dazai's whole "you don't trust anything you can't manipulate" - because he wasn't manipulating the vampires, and he couldn't manipulate Fukuchi from prison.

And he purposefully put himself in prison as part of his "perfect plan," so he intentionally put himself in a position where he could not directly manipulate his most important pawn: Fukuchi.

So the whole "Fyodor loses because he doesn't trust others" is bunk precisely because they used the vampires as the key to Fyodor's downfall. Fyodor literally cannot use the vampires as part of his plans without trusting an ally - Fukuchi. The idea behind Fyodor's downfall is fine. The execution is what doesn't make any goddamn sense.

It also doesn't work for me because this is Fyodor we're talking about here. Are you seriously telling me I should buy that Fyodor was fooled by contacts and fake fangs? Like for real? If it were anyone else, sure. But Fyodor? I wouldn't buy Dazai or Ranpo falling for that, either. I don't care how much Fyodor believes in his own perfect plan. He still should be able to tell the difference between someone who has been turned into a vampire and someone who has not. Especially since Dazai says he and Chuuya have pulled this kind of thing before. I'm expected to believe it never occurred to Fyodor they'd do something like that? Why, because he's not a soukoku shipper?

I wish we had gotten Dazai bringing Chuuya back to his senses through their bond, because that would make a whole hell of a lot more sense than this being an elaborate act - and it would actually give credence to the idea that Fyodor's desire for complete control is his undoing.

And while we're talking about the narrative problems, let's talk about that hand injury that's so important to all of this. I already talked about this in another post, but Fyodor deciding to let the vampires pilot the helicopter because his hand injury made it impossible for him to do so doesn't make sense to me, either, because the hand is clearly shown to still be mobile:

I know there's a big difference between piloting a helicopter and pressing a button or letting someone else hold your hand, but the hand is obviously not useless. Why would Fyodor be willing to put himself at the mercy of his pawns if he can still use his hand, wounded or not? Again, when he's not actually the one controlling them?

Obviously, this isn't going to be a plot point in the manga because Fyodor has no hand injury in the manga, but this was another thing that bothered the hell out of me. They really just had Fyodor act stupid all of a sudden so he could get himself killed.

Again I hope I'm not sounding too harsh! I'm not trying to attack you at all!! But do you see why I have such a problem with the finale? I get what it was trying to do, but the way it was done just doesn't make any sense, imho. Now, if they had done something with Sigma and Fyodor, like I thought was going to be the case...

I do really appreciate your opinion on the finale, and I don't want to suggest you're wrong or anything. I'm just saying that to me, there are massive issues with it. I just think it's really bad writing.

More than that, it felt so cheap to kill Fyodor off that way. It didn't feel like a big deal, it just felt rushed and - well, cheap. Fukuchi's death has the same problem, but at least with Fukuchi they took the time to flesh out his character, give us answers to the remaining questions about his past and his motives, and give him an emotional send-off. They just blew Fyodor up and went, "Well on to the next!"

But!! With time to reflect, I think the people saying that Fyodor isn't really dead at all are probably right. There are just too many unanswered questions; it doesn't make narrative sense to actually kill him off at this point.

And we don't know how the manga is going to go yet. If the manga does follow the anime, I think it's a pretty good bet that when Sigma wakes up, the secrets he learned about Fyodor will be revealed, and then - well, I guess we'll see.

In the meantime, though, I'm going to continue to (mostly) pretend the finale didn't happen sdfghjghj

Again, thank you for sharing! 💕💖 I think you made some good points, but I hope I was able to explain why I disliked the finale so much :/

*hugs* ଘ(੭ˊᵕˋ)੭* ੈ✩‧˚ ♡♡

[symbieote]

my tepid take on Jason wanting Bruce to kill the Joker

I'm of the camp that feels like while Jason is justified in wanting Bruce to kill the Joker, Bruce is justified in not killing the Joker. They're both justified in feeling how they FEEL, but Jason's not justified in demanding that Bruce actually do it.

BUT at the same time, it's perfectly reasonable and justified for a murdered child to WANT his father to revenge him. I need you to prove that you were hurt. I need to know that you mourned me. I need to know that you were as irrevocably devastated and transformed by my death as I was. I need to know that I was special to you. I need to know that I meant more to you than your life's work. Jason's feelings are valid. You just can't frame B as the bad guy for not giving Jason what he wants. Like, there's probably something not entirely ethical or justified about issuing an ultimatum that declares that unless someone becomes a murderer and goes against the moral code and The Mission that they have dedicated their lives to upholding in memory of their murdered parents, they don't really love you and is a shitty dad. If you don't kill my killer you didn't really love me, because murder is bad only when it's me and it's good when it's in my name. I want my death to be the thing that breaks you and turns you into the thing you hate the most in the world. I want my death to turn you into the thing we have spent our lives fighting. I want my death to turn you away from justice and towards revenge.

There's a moving moral conflict that intensifies the pathos of Jason's death and resurrection in this conflict, but the way that fandom has demonised Bruce and, to a lesser extent, Jason, because of it makes me feel just. So tired. Bruce can kill the Joker a million times in fanfiction and other universes, it's not something he can do in the main canon! On a narrative level, it kneecaps the most fundamental aspect of his character, which is that the defining tragedy of his life made him justice rather than revenge. That's what makes him Batman. If Bruce kills the Joker for Jason, his entire character collapses. The concept of Batman collapses. His memory and love of his parents collapses into meaningless nothingness too. Jason wants revenge. Bruce must uphold justice. Jason is still stuck in that warehouse, battered by a crowbar. Bruce is still stuck in that alley, soaked in his parents' blood. Jason wants revenge, because he died senselessly. Bruce needs justice, because he watched his parents die senselessly. Bruce needs justice, because he had to hold the dead body of his child in his arms. Jason's death had to mean something. Jason's death couldn't be allowed to turn Bruce into the thing that he hated. He loved Jason so much that he couldn't allow Jason's death and memory to be tainted by murder, by the Joker.

*screams into my pillow* I just have so many freaking feelings about this conflict and the way it makes Jason's death so much more exquisitely painful for them both but also i freaking hate how fandom and fanfic handles this conflict most of the time. I hate it SOOOOOOOOOOO much!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH.

Ahem. Sorry. I'm so normal about this.

[rlainarin]

/BURSTS THROUGH YOUR WALL LIKE THE KOOL AID MAN/ SIR I GOT QUESTIONS 1, 3, 13 for Angharad and Zevvo my beloveds

9 and 18 for Dianthe and Fenris please and thank! Also biting you

AUGH am bitten

ANGHARAD AND ZEVVO

Who first brought up the option of marriage? Was it an easy topic?

ok ok brought up is a funny one here because they do a really good job getting engaged without actually explicitly saying it. Zev does his whole earring song and dance, Angharad counters with a gift of a bracer which is very dwarf-engagement-coded

and so the first person who actually brings up that they're getting married is Oghren. taking the shit out of the whole idea of marriage and oh oopsydoodle guess we need to actually communicate now. damn it and Leli just let us out of the "TALK ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS" cupboard

Show us their engagement and/or wedding rings!

AUGH ok so. I had a ring that I was going to use with my cosplay for The Earring but it broke. just snapped in two. thankfully the boyf does jewelry so it can and will be fixed but at this exact moment it's not in a photographable state. ANYWAY it's a wreath of embossed gold roses.

the engagement bracer is made by Wade and it's embossed dragon leather with embroidery patterns copying the Dalish Gloves. and it has a hidden knife pocket of COURSE.

Show us their outfits!

ok ok I may come in later and add drawings but I wanna make sure I don't forget this ask and leave it languishing

so they get married with about twelve hours of notice right after the Battle of Denerim at the big party, which makes the outfits kind of thrown together. Leli does her best with giving the grooms flower crowns but fundamentally I think both of them have borrowed a nice coat off a short, butch human noblewoman and otherwise they're just wearing what's clear and intact.

And there's finally a proper occasion for Zevran to wear his nice Antivan leather boots. :)

DIANTHE AND FENRIS

Show us a mood/stimboard of their wedding’s general aesthetic.

Oh I've got better than a moodboard, I've got a whole video clip of their wedding aesthetic!

Did anyone oppose the marriage? Did they speak then, or did they just forever hold their peace?

Running w/ main canon where Dianthe is an Amell (Not That Onetm)and not a Hawke, yeah her family was pretty against it! She was supposed to marry wealthy, someone who would support the family and protect her as an apostate.

But when they flee Kirkwall, Fenris leaves a note that they should take over the old mansion by way of a dowry, and that goes a long way towards smoothing it over.