#/ NOT TO THE EXTENT OF BEING LIKE THAT SO... I REJECT IT FROM MY CANON

[cherry-treelane]

everytime i feel bad and stressed about my life i remember that i might be in a troubling situation and having a bad time but im not season 4 fiona gallagher in the clink after leaving crack on the counter which my 3 year old baby brother happened to ingest resulting in a fatal near-death experience thats wracked me with never-ending guilt and forever altered my life

[croquettish]

That scene had my mouth hanging open! Like Jesus Christ Henry, that was BLATANT. The whole way that scene is structured says a lot- and its before any of the romance dialogue options pop up. So I think this is when Henry realizes that he doesn't care, that much, I think, about repressing his feelings- like he kind of gives up on being anxious and hiding and wondering if Hans will reciprocate- he thinks, "he won't." And from that gives himself the freedom to express his tender emotions without it being a confession that expects an answer. Thus his shock when he DOES get kissed later on.

I haven't been able to quite pinpoint the instant Hans hits the floor though.

You're SO RIGHT omg... Henry spends all game throwing little hints at Hans (and the player tbh) and Hans keeps giving him so so little because he's terrified of a) admitting anything either to himself or b) not having his feelings reciprocated. I do think Henry didn't expect it at all when Hans kissed him, but he's also been trying to RESIST for so long and so hard, in part because of what he knows of that moment carries so much weight between them.

In fact, I keep thinking about this post about how Henry feels like he's the axle around which the world turns:

Which, yes, is very funny if we think of it in the context of this being a video game and him being its protagonist, but it really made me realize how deeply meaningful it is that Hans kisses Henry first.

He tries all game to show Hans that he cares and never expects anything to come of it precisely because he's always the one who has to do everything, always the one who has to initiate everything, and if he doesn't, nothing ever changes. The world only changes if he changes it.

But here Hans makes the decision. He doesn't wait for Henry to make the first move, he kisses him. And it startles Henry so badly, shakes the very foundation of everything he knows and has come to experience in his video game life, that he rejects that advance, that unfamiliarity at first. Before realizing that no, this is also his choice. Hans has shown him what he wants, that he wants a change, in the most direct way possible, and unless he turns around and actively chooses the same in return he'll never have the thing he desperately wants but has been so terrified of wanting.

That kills me a bit. That just once he didn't have to be the one to do it. And it scared him, but he found his footing again, and this really is just the ship of all time????

AS FOR HANS!!! 👀

Not to be insane here but please picture me coming into this classroom glasses askew, learning materials overflowing in my hands, hands covered in chalkdust-- I HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT THIS FOR SO LONG AND I HAVE SO MANY RECEIPTS

I will preface this by saying that in no way do I think my meta on this is canon or correct in any way, it's just how I personally think it happened. I also know I already touched on this a tiny bit in my claustrophobia meta, but definitely not to this extent. So THANK YOU @ anon for giving me an excuse to do a deep dive!!!!

The first indication we get that there's more to Henry and Hans' relationship aside from the entirety of Next to Godliness and how Hans tells Henry he could kiss him after he rescues him in The Prey is in the DLC, The Amorous Adventures of Bold Sir Hans Capon, where Hans tells Henry that he'll have to look elsewhere for the love of his life (while staring right at him) and follows this up by insisting that at least he's capable of appreciating his romantic poetry!

Given the right dialogue options Henry has the chance to start flirting with Hans from like within the first thirty minutes of gameplay:

Henry... why did you say that... you had no reason to say that...

And then two seconds later you're given the option of explaining the nature of Henry's relationship with Theresa. If you don't go with the option of "nothing happened between me and Theresa," Tankard inevitably pushes for more and saucier details, and Henry has the chance to either shut down the conversation right there or... elaborate:

Sending some mixed signals there to your man, Henry...

Hans immediately jumps in to stop Henry:

Regardless of what Henry says, whether he denies anything ever happening with Theresa or he goes into explicit detail, he then proceeds to let out the deepest fucking sigh. In fact, there is a video up about precisely this sigh that I thought was intended to be a hilarious commentary, but after looking at the comments I'm not so sure anymore. Either way you spin it, however, both those offended and those gleefully rubbing their little paws together seem to equally view this as the first hint we get that there might be more to Hans' feelings than meets the eye.

It's also possible for this thought to spark in Hans' mind if you take the Miller Route to get to the wedding that the thought at the very least came up for him here. He quickly bats it away and of course Henry can go the Blacksmith route, but the potential for this thought to arise here exists.

So then, if not at the wedding (where he arguably exhibited quite a few jealous tendencies), then when?

Let's look at their romantic interactions, but backwards.

We know by the time of their romance scene, he knows. He knows all too well how he feels. He just has to work up the courage to do something about it.

Sidenote, it kills me a bit that this is the expression on his face after he realizes that Henry put his hand on his. Like he's trying to tell himself in that moment that if this is all he can ever have, maybe that's enough. Just knowing that the potential was there...

We also know that he knows by the time we run into him in the underground passageway during The Italian Job:

Something he only feels comfortable saying after Henry clarifies that this is about more than just obligation to him:

The "Maybe more than you know..." carries so much fucking weight there. It may as well have been an implicit confession. It's not surprising that Henry felt the need to be this upfront about how he feels, especially given how their interaction up on the ramparts moments earlier went.

(Add to that the fact that Henry almost died just then and it's not particularly surprising that he upped the ante by the time they're in the underground passageway.)

Henry tells him that he thinks they've been spending too little time together lately (of all the times to bring that up, Henry...) and Hans is like no no it's fine don't worry WE'LL BE BACK TO NORMAL BEFORE LONG, this whole gay thing between us might just be a fever dream for all we know!!

He throws it out there like it's meant to be bait for Henry. A test for him to either pass or fail. And honestly? It is. Henry is handed a little note with radio buttons that just reads "Are you 100% heterosexual? Do you really love women? Like really really really love women?" and here are the possible responses:

One of them fails. If Henry says he can't wait to go wenching again, all of Hans' fears are abated. But he's also crushed at the same time.

What a relief! Now I don't have to worry about these gay feelings anymore! ... oh. Now I won't have to worry about these gay feelings anymore.

But Henry answers correctly.

This conversation. I think I could write a whole paper on this interaction alone, I swear to god. Those are some PREGNANT FUCKING PAUSES between what they're saying here. It's like Henry is trying so fucking hard to say the quiet part out loud. Let's translate!

Henry: I like you. I like you a whole fucking lot. Haven't really been worried about wenches all that much.

Hans: Yeah. Obviously. Of course we like each other. And I'm sure we mean that in the same way... which is... actually I don't know which way we mean that...

Henry: Yeah I don't think you understood what I was saying at all. How obvious do I need to be exactly...

Hans: There's no way he likes me like that, right? Am I reading into things?

Hans panics! And promptly taps out. Like yelling out a safe word, he pulls out his safety harness heterosexuality and slams it down on the table.

I'm sharing the full screenshot here just to remind us of the 💪💪💪 he pulls. Holy shit he's trying SO HARD to blow off that entire interaction. Like setting up a safety he can gesture at just in case all of this is actually in his head. All of their romantic interactions make so much sense if you consider that both of them (but especially Hans) always have a church official standing right next to them, watching everything they do and scrutinizing everything they say.

It's entirely possible that things would be a bit different if Hans hadn't been engaged against his will. He just goes from cage to cage to cage in this game (once again thinking about my claustrophobia meta, don't mind me, there's a post about Hans and freedom/agency coming as well). As free as he felt after being rescued from Maleshov, he's immediately imprisoned again via the engagement. Hans almost always has shackles of a kind on him, and those shackles dictate his behavior in certain ways like they do here.

But we can conclude from this that he knows how he feels, even if he doesn't yet know how Henry feels.

The same circumstance applies when Henry has the opportunity to flatter him in Italian! (Incidentally this moment also shows up in tomorrow's fic update.) Does he know what he's saying? Is Henry just practicing his Italian? Did he also say this to the women? It's not inherently romantic if it's said to his bro just... casually.

And Hans knows Italian!!! Hans knew what Henry said, so the fact that he feels the need to clarify does suggest that he's aware of his feelings by the time they hole up in Ruthard Palace as well.

This is further corroborated by their conversation where Henry insists that he'd gladly trade places with Hans instead of going after the papal legate as he worries about leaving Rosa and Katherine with Brabant. And Hans responds by saying this:

Remember how I said that Hans tests Henry? Both of these interactions fit perfectly within that schema. Henry responds by asking, completely baffled, what he's on about:

And Hans is like oh don't worry about it bro my question meant NOTHING AT ALL.

Things are a bit murkier before this point, but not by much.

Their time at the Devil's Den and shortly after is marked by a pronounced jealousy over Sam's relationship with Henry. One could argue that he's unaware of his own feelings in all of this, not entirely sure why he feels so strangely jealous, but that's harder to argue in light of their little hunt out where they have the conversation about Hans' penchant for Karolinas.

This of course goes back further, to when we're told that Hans is dealing with his increasing claustrophobia by riding out to Bohunowitz and getting ridden there in turn:

Why does he lie? Why does he make this up?

We see something similar when he tells Henry about the bow he stole for him:

It seems to me fairly obvious that he's trying damn fucking hard to push Henry away here all while keeping him close. Urging him, effectively, to be as heterosexual as possible and to view Hans as entirely heterosexual in turn.

I have feelings for you. They terrify me. Maybe if they're not an option they'll just go away on their own. Make me lose hope in this. Remind me of how straight you are. See how straight I am? I'm definitely not overcompensating. Please for the love of god just tell me you're so unbelievably into women I can't take it otherwise.

One could argue here that he's still unaware of his feelings, the fact that he's trying this hard to actively work against them suggests to me personally that he's trying his very hardest to repress knowledge that he actively knows and dreads. This inclination of his could be dangerous for both of them but especially for Henry and has to be quenched somehow—and ideally sooner rather than later.

But it's not enough. He's still left with the jealousy. He's told himself that he can't be jealous of women (not that Henry gives him any reason to), but that still leaves Sam open as fair game. How dare he not be trying to push Henry away? How dare he just get that closeness without having to go through everything he and Henry have gone through together? How dare he get Henry when Hans is actively denying himself? If Hans is on a diet, no one else should get to eat any food, etc etc. It's just logical! And so very fair of him to demand!

There's no time for him to express much of anything romantic after the massacre at Raborsch, and the last real romantic moment they had was, of course, during his rescue from Maleshov.

So what do we do with that?

If we look at their romance scene, Hans actually invokes a specific moment from earlier in the game, as if he suddenly sees that moment, what Henry said, in a new light. That now he's afforded the context of knowing he's in love with Henry.

I missed this the first time and only later went back and re-examined it (like only a completely sane person would do). I wasn't sure at first what Hans meant, and then realized it was this bit:

Because of how badly he wishes he could save Henry for once (even though that was literally one of the first things that happened in the game; you gotta be easier on yourself baby boy) and how much that means to him in a romantic context as well.

He didn't read this romantically at this point yet, but he does by the end. What happened in between those two events?

The engagement announcement.

This is the face of a man who is actively having a panic attack because he both realized what he wants (Henry) and that he can never have it (because he's been engaged against his will and lives in a society that would frown upon a relationship between two men):

When he stares out the window after I would bet good money on him wishing Henry was there in that moment.

We do see him being quite jealous when at the banquet at Trosky where Black Bartosch also is, and there's some hesitation in his reply (as though he's genuinely taken aback by what Henry tells him) after you choose the first romance option, but I'd argue that he doesn't have words to put to his feelings by this point yet. The feelings are there, but the understanding isn't. And while they're escaping Maleshov, things are so chaotic that when we choose the romance option, Hans' emotions are 100% on the terror of the secret passageway and not on his feels. So this moment seems to me the most logical by far.

Now, I know not everyone is going to agree with my take on this. That's fine!! Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on this. I just know that the second I saw this scene, I thought to myself, oh my god, he just realized he's in love with Henry. Now, of all times.

[hhhhunty]

Redwall Piece supernovas lineup! I am going to yap about them under the cut, but if you want to enjoy just these drawings that's fine! 😊

Okay okay! So, some of these we've seen before but honestly I didn't talk a lot about my assignments and I want to and you know what it's my blog and I should indulge myself! I'll go in order :)

Alright there's fox hawkins, who I've posted before! My reasoning for this one is pretty simple - foxes in redwall are tricky, yes, but they also tend to be seers and fortune tellers! I felt that suited Hawkins' vibe very well. Honestly his is a pretty simple assignment.

Next is Zoro and Luffy and I'm partial to them so here's a picture of just them. Zoro is a badger, and Luffy's a weasel.

Zoro's was the biggest no-brainer of all time. Even if you don't know Redwall I think badger suits him as an animal. In redwall they're generally immensely powerful, somewhat solitary, and most importantly some of 'em have got a very fun affliction called bloodwrath, where when they get very angry in the heat of battle their eyes turn blood red and their vision is overtaken by a red haze and they go totally berserk! Yay! I really like that for Zoro. There's the fun stress revolving around loss of control along with his intense need to protect his friends. Also, his stripe is green. Why? Maybe he rolled in grass. Maybe it's mold. Maybe he was born that way. Yes, Sanji makes fun of it.

Now, Luffy. Luffy's a weasel, and in Redwall the creatures have... archetypes, sort of. There are "Vermin" and there are "Woodlanders" and for the most part these roles are bad and good respectively, with very few grey characters, or characters who break this mold. Weasels are always, always, evil. Now I'm not an elementary schooler so I'm rejecting that, to an extent. Luffy's more textbook selfish, here, and probably a bit more of an asshole, too, but he hoards his friends just as obsessively as in canon! He's less sympathetic towards people he doesn't know, too. Also, I can just imagine him flopping down and twisting and running circles around all his friends and I think that's very cute.

Killer and Kid!!!

So, originally, I had intended to make them both rats. However it was brought to my attention Killer is based off a yokai called kamaitachi, which is a weasel with sickle claws. I liked that a lot, so I sort of channeled it here. His punishers don't spin, but still they're fun. I made him look much more like a stereotypical cartoon weasel than I have for any other mustelid I've drawn, because I really liked the vibe for him.

As for Kid, he just makes a fantastic Massive Rat. Rats, of course, are pretty much fully evil in Redwall, unless they're too stupid to be evil, which happened one time across 22 books. That's fine because Kid is pretty evil. Pirates in redwall are all vermin, so I felt making these pirates vermin wouldn't be so bad.

Drake and Law!

Honestly Drake was mostly just my gut instinct. He's a redhead. Squirrels are red. Squirrels also make pretty brave warriors it seems. They're also "good" creatures, which I think works well with Drake's whole SWORD deal. That blue looks very nice with his orange fur in my opinion. I adore how he turned out.

Law I've drawn before. He's just such a great ferret. Yes, ferrets are evil. But Law's a little evil too so that's fine. I actually gave him his hat this time, good for him!

Bonney and Bege!

Bonney is a hedgehog. Why? I liked it. I think Bonney being able to roll into a spiky ball is fantastic. Hedgehogs are "good" creatures, of course. Also I love her i love her so much. Her spikes are pinkish because well I wanted them to be. Whoever guessed Bonney and Kuma were the badger father and adoptive hedgehog daughter yeah you were right. I'm normal.

Bege's a shrew! Most shrews are "good," with a handful of exceptions. They usually run in groups of a bunch of shrews, generally on rivers. I also took some inspiration from that one shrew from zootopia because that felt somewhat similar.

Lastly, Apoo and Urouge!

Apoo I've drawn before, he's a goose! Some geese have funny poofy feathers on their head. He has that. The brown is not feathers, but rather something kind of like hair extensions, made from... I dunno. Something brown, obviously. Apoo honks at people and chases them and he's really annoying.

Urouge was.... hard. He's the only supernova without much screentime. I wanted him to be a bird but my options were limited... so I settled on a sparrow. Why? I dunno. They're pretty good warriors so he has that going for him. I think visually he turned out cute even if his species choice feels the weakest.

That's about all I have to say thank you. Any questions or comments or suggestions? Send me asks!!! I never shut up!!!!

[numy-numnum]

Some Beast x Ancient headcanons (CW potential dead dove/nsfw)

Been thinking about this for a while and noticed some people took interest in my personal ship headcanons so I thought I'd indulge, starting out w best x ancient (initially was just gonna be a Burnincheese post but decided to extent it to the other beasts for the funsies)

Oh btw No White Lily and Silent Salt, I like to infer my headcanons based off... yknow canon. So when they get added I will gladly update this post or make a new one featuring them.

Despite this some of these might be extremily canon non compliant, apologies LMAO

Some very important disclaimers first of all, title warning is important, there will be discussions of abuse, racey topics, complicated and messy relationships and other potentially touchy subjects, if this is difficult to read please step away from this post

I am a romance repulsed individual somewhere on the aromantic spectrum I believe (no labels), I have 0 interest in traditional sugary sweet romance (infact it revolts me) and that part of me hugely infers how I approach shipping characters, these are weird little writing experiments to me to see how bizarre and weird the human brain is and to explore those darker, uncomfortable avenues in a 100% safe enviroment. So again if you're expecting thing such as villain redemptions or totally healthy typical cute relationships ,again, probably best to leave lol

And lastly, apologies for typos, will fix as many as possible if I spot them lol

Without further ado, enjoy my ramblings about pastries who smooch each other

ShadowVanilla

Ah yes, t4t (twink4twink/j)

As I see it, ShadowVanilla is a mostly one sided thing. The mutual feelings are there but not in the way either of these two WANT them to be.

We've seen what SM has done to PV , but honestly my personal hot take is PV has some unhealthy beliefs himself.

PV is entirely too selfless for his own good, in the face of someone who has tried to break him down, tried changing him to fit this fucked up mold of what he should be in the eyes of SM, put him through metaphorical Hell for a cause that would bring the world to its downfall... And his response was a resonding "I understand you, we can still be friends." (poorly paraphrased)

As I see it, PV wants SM to reform, to join him, be a pair without others' lives being at stake, but SM fundamentally cannot change.

The two are in a constant dance of desiring each other, needing each other but constantly hurting each other whenever they get too close.

SM because he refuses to let go of his cause and to admit that his idealized version of PV just isn't him, a thing he cannot ever have.

And PV because his insistance on redeeming SM constantly gets him rejected and yelled at.

It's a viscious cycle of yearning, needing and destruction, neither of them are ever truly happy... yet those few moments where there is no fighting, there is no manipulation, there is no unrealistic expectations... It feels like bliss.

Each of them cling onto those moments for dear life and it's what partially keeps them afloat despite their relationship (the other reason being literally each other's halves) Because those few moments are the best thing, ever.

Need, intimacy, love, lust. It all blends together to make a concoction of pure bliss that motivates them to keep going, that perhaps the next time it'll work, and it will be what finally tips them into finding a mutual understanding.

There is no such thing for them, that is. Because they are blind to the thing that keeps them in this vicious cycle, and thus they'll never realize what they do to each other isn't truly love.

But they don't mind, they'll do it all over again if it means they get to try at least... And perhaps it's also because the two have started to enjoy their little dubious, exhausting routine but simply refuse to acknowledge it.

MysticCacao

Sorry to the avid shippers of these two but in my head, 100% one sided.

At the cost of doing Dark Cacao a disservice, he is 110% hellbent on "fixing" that woman... Only for her to walk him around like a dog (metaphorically... mostly).

He tries his best to get to her but it all fails. Sometimes MF is willing to entertain his charade mostly for her (internal) amusement and to study that man like a zoologist studies an animal in the wild.

She's scary, scarier than anything he's ever seen and he LOVES IT. DC doesn't say it out loud but it's definetely why he keeps trying to hit that.

I also like to think that perhaps, in a twisted sense,he thinks she could fix parts of him too, namely how much of a failure of a father he is. Despite her personality, MF is an extremely good caretaker and very loving to Cloud Haetae (although she doesn't show it) and I like to think that DC sees that and in a sense sees an alternative version of himself in MF... One where he and his son didn't have a fallout.

MF is aware of this and much like with everything else she is apathetic to it, if anything she likes leading him on so Peach Blossom can oggle the old man and make moves on him (she's a great wingman)

EternalBerry

TOXIC YURIIII 🎇🎇🎇

EternalBerry is a fun one for me bc HB kinda just... Takes what's thrown her way and shrugs it off, to the absolute dismay of ES

HB is willing to keep a queerplatonic relationship with ES but obviously, ES wants more which leads to awkward arguments and breakdowns.

HB comforts ES through those but in the end nothing gets ever truly resolved and HB doesn't feel like she's equiped to handle something like this.

Outside of her obsessiveness, posessiveness and codependance ES is also quite volatile towards anyone around HB. Not in the Yandere way but she's definetely the type of woman to go "who's this "dad" character in your contacts?" She'll go as far as to mimic aspects of people HB favors in an attempt to get to stay with her, a flip flopping that confuses our local herbo and solidifies her stance that she really just... can't handle all of ES.

ES will go on tirades about how monstrous HB is for leaving her, gaslighting her, yelling at her, minimizing her actions once things blow over, victimize herself when HB bites back, partialy because she wants HB to stay with her forever in eternal happiness but also because she enjoys the moments where she gets to feel small and vulnerable (in the freaky way).

HB tries her hardest to be patient with ES but at times it gets difficult, even with their agreed queerplatonic relationship, she's understanding and caring and will try to protect ES from other evils but unlike PV who feels he can truly change their respective beast, HB just does it because she feels like it's the right decent thing to do. She has no drive to try and change ES's mind and that's because to her their different views clash to the point of her being unable to hold a much more serious relationship.

HB likes to fool around with other friends and even invites ES as well (under the condition she behaves) but ES tends to usually be wholy uninterested in seeing other individuals with HB, the few times she does agree she tends to put up these demands and boundaries where HB focuses on her primarily.

This point is here bc I'm a big fan of HollybberxTarte TatinxPitaya DragonxRoyal Margarine LOL.

BurningCheese

My personal favorite and the one I have the most to ramble about I think

I love love love love love LOVEEE relationships where people hate each other so much they end up desiring each other carnally.

"I hate you. your deft handling of your unfortunate circumstances, your uniqueness, your ability to surpass me — all these irritate me. you're the one person I refuse to lose to" is the EMBODIMENT of how I see their dynamic.

The two are a... Special bunch.

Like HB and ES they have struck a mutual understanding but theirs has 0 good terms attached. "I'll destroy everything you love" "And I'll always bee there to stop you." basically

She wants to kick his ass, he wants to kick her ass and get his ass kicked and that's what they agree to... Usually.

In a twisted sense of irony the two eventually develop a sort of fucked up admiration for one another. BS sees how radiant and confident GC is post her awakening and it infuriates him, it angers him how much he's spurred on by her and how unaffected she is by him. he doesn't understand why it happens, is it her beauty? Her strength? He has no damn clue what about this woman allures him. He knows he loves how she's the only one that can crumble him.

His thoughts are a mess of wanting to put her in her place, crumble her like many others she has taken down and wantig to embrace her, to worship her body like the goddess she is, to taste her to feel her... To sink his teeth into her flesh and taste her blood on his lips, for her to take control and treat him like a weakling, for her to press her heel down on his neck until it gives in and damn it if the feeling isn't mutual between the two.

Out of all of them they're the most secretive about their relationship, mostly because of the nature of it but also because they feel like no one must know of what they get up to. It's the only part of their agreement they swear by mutually.

When they get time for themselves outside of their "sparring" sessions they don't enjoy the typical dates or plain vanilla power inbalance sex, they make shit weird.

Obsessed with constantly testing each other's nerves and reminding each other of just how capable they are of killing each other. GC specially loves to toy with BS and his feelings, she knows he's utterly smitten with her and that he's willing to degrade himself for her sake because he loooves it, he craves it like a famished man craves a fine meal.

And he loves the times where he's given some control and can show off how vicious he can truly be.

Their age gap is definetely part of it also, BS loves the idea of putting this young naive fool in her place and GS loves making this grumpy old man be reduced to a whimpering begging mess.

Despite the many markers of a generic power inbalance dynamic they stray as far away from it as possible though, it just isn't exciting for one of them to always be in control of the other, there's no fun in comformity it gets boring when all there is to their fun times is "small young woman get topped by big evil old man" they need their own spice.

As such they take many risks, and are often extremely reckless, often having to hide bite marks, bruises etc from their subordinates to prevent them from finding out, and if you're wondering yes they've had close calls before, many of them in fact but they're too stubborn to learn, if anything the risk makes it all the more fun for them to be like this.

They're tied to the hip yet they downright refuse to take things further with their relationship, their sparing sessions and sex is all there is to it.

HOWEVERRR, BS does secretly want GC to finish him off once and for all, end their charade at the hands of the only woman in the world strong enough to crumble him. GC is extremely against this but it hasn't stopped BS from attempting this multiple times.

if either of them get close to fataly injuring each other they'll take each other to safety and tend to their wounds immediatly. GC because she can't find it in herself to kill him and BS because he wants the only person who can crumble him to stay alive so he can be entertained for all eternity until the right time comes and he gets to crumble once and for all. It's yet another cycle these cookie weirdos get themselves into and there's not much one can do about it.

At least these two enjoy themselves... in more ways than one.

WOAAAAAAAAAAHH

ok that's it, it's currently past 3 am as I write this, enjoy my insane, honestly horny ramblings+edits and errr idk yell at me in the comments for being dumb or something idk lol

[jyndor2]

the thing I cannot get over is that I don't actually agree that tony gilroy resents rogue one or doesn't get the film's point or whatever. I disagree with his take on cassian 100000% and some other things - BUTTTTTT s1 is so good to me in spite of my issues with cassian's retconned backstory because we see cassian having the foundations of a great spy - and who he will become in rogue one - just through his behavior, like on aldhani. we see that the show understands the core theme of the film, which is that normal people will do ugly things for the cause in the hopes that that brighter future, that sunrise, will be there for someone someday.

we see that tony and the other writers understand this because it is IN THE SCRIPT lol. yes, I always picked up on a bit of force-ishness, of there being a bit of cassian being maybe not guided by the force but a pull, a gentle pull in the direction of home (the rebellion, jyn erso, rogue one, etc). but it was subtle and very much up to the interpretation of the audience.

s2 literally makes cassian be DRAGGED kicking and screaming towards the cause when he SHOULD ALREADY BE THERE but also like... okay so we all get burnt out and cassian IS burnt out by rogue one, but like... you have to DO something enough to be burnt out and he did fuck all. like I don't even think I'd mind him wanting to leave briefly after witnessing a genocide but like super briefly and it has to be HIS choice to stay in it, not because his girlfriend is scared he will not do his ~destiny or whatever because shes pregnant - AS IF SHE WOULD EVEN CONSIDER KEEPING THE BABY IN A WAR ZONE OMG but even that, i wouldn't hate it so much if it was clear that bix was leaving for HERSELF and not to force cassian to do something he should not need to be forced into doing!

the problem with this show is that it took its time setting up a story that was UNNECESSARY TO TELL like it would have been just as good if cassian's original backstory had been kept. you can even do some of these same beats, but you keep the earnestness. you do that, you show us a kleya-like cassian from fest or fuck it kenari if you must, with draven or hell even luthen whatever, and you SHOW US HOW HE HAS BEEN IN THE FIGHT SINCE HE WAS SIX

and then you can take the time to do missions and center cassian which uh... that should have always been the plan, and yes give him kay! that was the original pitch and it may not have been as ~prestige but prestige is only worth it if it serves the story! that's why I feel like s1, which imo did to some extent honor rogue one SORT OF, didn't piss me off so much even though I do not like the new backstory.

because the show in s1 was still mostly centered on cassian even if its not nearly as much as it should have been. almost everything that the characters around him did impacted HIM and his arc. s2 he's basically just there lol, so it's already on my nerves, and then it goes full tilt destiny without any sort of choice, which cassian resents except honey its not draven and the rebellion you're mad at, it's the writers. lol like the entire show bix and cassian are fighting what the writers are doing and cassian ESPECIALLY is fighting it. it just feels very offputting and uncomfortable and it was genuinely not enjoyable to watch most of cassian's scenes in this season. not because diego did a bad job but because it just didn't work with the pre-existing canon.

you can do a metaphorical take on cassian literally being a child soldier. but you can't have him REJECTING THE CAUSE FOR HIS OWN SELF INTERESTS WHEN HES ABOUT TO BITCH AT JYN FOR THAT SAME THING IN A YEAR OR TWO

its inconsistent, its contradictory and it aggravates me that no one sees it except for a small minority.

at the same time, the novelty WILL wear off because it really just creates more questions than answers.

[mk-wizard]

Transformer Female Characters

In honor of @emperor-kumquat post which I do agree with to an extent, I wanted to point out all the underloved female characters who are written right, feel real and are likable.

Quickshadow from Rescue Bots who might I add is also one of the few bots stationed in Europe. She's cool, classy and capable. Plus, it would be awesome to see a TF series that takes place in London. And I want HER to be the leader of it.

Whirl from Rescue Bots Academy. She's quirky, cheerful and eager to work. I also found her depiction very much like a lot of little girls I have met. Also, she's was treated like a kid which I appreciate. Can we also talk about how canonically, it is hinted that she is the daughter of Whirl from IDW and may come from a single parent home? Also, it seems to be shown in a good light which I like.

Twitch from Earthspark who is my opinion, the most natural and positive depiction of a tomboy character. She also genuinely reminds you of a kid. Also, she is made of so much love. She likes people and is protective of her family. Also, she takes being a big sister to heart rather than being a big bully about it.

Airrazor from Beast Wars. I loved her a lot and I liked that she contrasted to Blackarachnia. I also got the impression from her at times that she was an adult tomboy, but she wasn't bitter or manhating. She was one of the guys and had her teammates backs. However, I will die on the hill that they did her dirty.

Red Alert from Animated. I'm usually not into gender swapping, but in this case, I really like it. In this version, Red Alert is calm, capable and turned her disability (her missing arm) into a superpower. Plus, her design is beautiful without objectifying her and it is still functional.

Spitfire from Earthspark. While I am not big on her looking just like Twitch with different colours, I do like her personality as a villainess. Unlike most stereotypical remade villains, she is NOT a femme fatale nor is she sexualized. She too is a tomboy, a total firecracker and gets what she wants by any means necessary. She is also quite crafty when she wants to be. I really wish they developed her more.

Sari Sumdac from Animated. She was one of the few things I liked about Animated. I also appreciated that she was not Mary Sue-ish despite what many believe. She made mistakes all the time, had moments of selfishness and was called out for it, and even when she got upgrade after discovering that she was half-Transformer, it wasn't perfect. She got ahead herself and needed help regaining control. However, she grew as a person and as a character from needing protection to being a protector. I even liked the twist that she turned out to be half-Transformer. It made sense.

Strika from Animated and Beast Machines. She's an underrated female characters in Transformers period because she's as ground breaking as they come and she can actually break the ground. She's not a princess. She's a powerhouse and is damn proud of it. Plus, in Animated, she is canonically married to Lugnut and their marriage is quite happy. And good for her!

Charlie Watson from Bumblebee. I didn't say all of them were Transformers. Charlie is a hotshot and a very capable mechanic with nuances in every colour. Initially, she comes across as a cold loner, but she is actually quite misunderstood for real and turns to fixing an old car as a healthy outlet. It's clear she really loved her late dad and misses him. She needed someone to talk to and got that in Bumblebee as the big brother she wished she had. Also, when she rejected her friend's romantic advances, she did so gently and sensitively. And he seemed to appreciate that. She's not a hardass for the sake of it. She's complex like the inner workings of the old car she succeeds in fixing.

Alexis from Armada. Hear me out with this one. Alexis IS a strong female character because of how she is not your typical strong female character. Yes, she is girly and kind of has a romantic side, but it doesn't get on your nerves. She is caring, patient and very mature. She also sees good in people and has a way of bringing it out in people, and I don't see how that is a bad thing. After all, it is a skill that Doctor Who has and it was thanks to her that Starscream's soul was saved. She is genuinely compassionate and doesn't discriminate. And I have to say that her being able to make people better by just being genuinely kind and by being able to have a civil conversation with them IS amazing. She has the makings to be a good congresswoman or psychologist who saves lives. She is proof that femininity IS a superpower and not just for seduction.

And last but not least, Mikaela Banes from Transformers the 2007 movie. Unlike a lot of the other ladies, she is sexy and it is played up a lot, but it is also a deception. Mikaela is not a damsel in distress. If anything, she is a warrior. She came from a hard life and a broken home to begin with yet had a moral side. There was also the fact that she tore apart Ravage with a chainsaw and helped Bumblebee fight in the city by towing him around. I always found this character misjudged, misunderstood and mistreated by everyone including the people on the movie. I am well aware of the drama behind the scenes, but I can separate the character from the actor. Also, did you know that there was a spinoff comic featured Mikaela where Sam died and she went on to partner up with Bumblebee and joined the army? I will die on the hill that Mikaela should have been the MC not Sam.

If there are any ladies I missed here, feel free to add them.

PS: I don't hate Strongarm and I think she has potential. I just don't like how RID wrote her and to be fair, I don't like how it wrote a lot of characters.

[genericpuff]

Are there any things you like about LO? Or is it all shit to you. Personally, I think it could be a great storyline with the right execution, but a lot of the stuff and plot is unnecessary (I.e. Hades being thousands of years older than Kore and making characters fall in love with people they are racist/classist towards 😨😨)

Oh there are LOADS of things that I liked and still enjoy about LO despite all the shit I've thrown at it. I love love LOVE a lot of the older art-

Like, damn, that shit is so charming! I swear I had that Tower 4 panel as my phone background for like, 2 years LOL

Rachel had a really strong understanding of shape language, composition, color theory, and expressive linework in a way that was really appealing and unique at the time, but along the way it was just lost, undoubtedly due to her taking more of a backseat in the character art process and leaving it to her assistants.

That said, there's a lot of... not so charming, too.

I think, on the one hand, there's a lot to appreciate in the old art that shouldn't be rejected as we criticize this series. At the end of the day, as much as we riff on it, many of us did love this series at one point in time, so we shouldn't cringe at what it used to make us feel or pretend like we were ever above it when we were very much lost in it for ages before it went down the tubes.

But there is a lot to be said about the effects of rose-colored glasses, and how LO was never perfect. The reality is that much of Rachel's work is exemplified by the odd beautiful thing that sticks in our memories, but when we actually go back to relive those memories, we find they're all strung together by some not so beautiful stuff that makes us go 'wait what???'

Case in point, with LO we remember beautiful compositions like this:

But then within those same episodes we get:

And it's like oh. Yikes.

Aside from the art, there was also the SA plot as well as the Act of Wrath. The SA plot felt really special to me at the time because I was someone who was once in Persephone's shoes, being pressured into sex that I wasn't ready for but wasn't capable of saying no to. I can appreciate what Rachel was trying to do with that plot, but over time it became clear that she wasn't committed to seeing that plotline through and so I kind of just dropped my expectations for it entirely.

That said, it wasn't the SA plotline that set me off. I had good faith in that one still that it would be addressed eventually. It was the Act of Wrath plotline that did me in. The premise of it was totally my cup of tea in the way of "quirky character has a dark evil backstory!" which is shit that I absolutely LOVE, but then when the "twist" happened that Eris was the one to give her wrath, that was literally when I had my almost "canon event" moment of realizing "wait... I don't think Rachel knows what she's doing." And then it was just all downhill from there. The S2 finale sealed my fate LOL

All that said, as much as my brain is often defaulting to "ew! gross! bad!!!" in all honesty I do still appreciate what LO meant to be back when I still enjoyed it. It meant enough to me that I just couldn't let it the fuck go when it started to go downhill, so much so that I started making my own version of it! And that's something that sets it apart so much more from other comics I really don't like anymore (or comics I never liked to begin with) like Down to Earth, The Kiss Bet, Let's Play, etc. where I really can't even be bothered to think about them let alone talk about them to the extent I do about LO. I may be full of beans when it comes to LO, but I'd still rather be talking about it and all its failings and what it used to mean to me than about any of those other works. I loved it enough to still want it in my life and that's what Rekindled has accomplished for me.

[iamthedamndonutdrawcat]

MUCKLA! ive been meaning to ask for ur harry thoughts and hcs... give me pls

harry potter!!

i think jkr was especially bad at incorporating hobbys and interests into her characters, leaving the reader feeling a bit distanced even to the main character. harry is a 90s kid!!!!!!

• harry was heavily bullied throught primary school, that much is canon. i think he was a very interested student, wanting to take in all the information that he was hindered from viewing at home. his neglect makes him eager to educate himself. but the bullying discourages him from showing said interest and he's a very quiet student; a problem that extents into his time at Hogwarts and makes him not reach his full potential even there.

• his fav subject in primary school was physical education. even though the bullying extents into this class (being picked last etc.), this is his place to shine! he's an athletic person who loves to connect with others through team sports. exercise is his emotional outlet, as we see in canon. it's only natural for him to join the quidditch team at hogwarts

• nerdy harry! at some point he's given one of dudley's ripped up comic books and he gets suuuuper into superhero comics and the lore (his fav is batman) and he gets super mad when sees how little dudley actually cares abt the story and goes all 'why do you even read this if you don't gaf what happens in this specific volume with this specific antihero and this specific storyline??!!!'

• skater kid harry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! especially in summer 1995 when he's free to roam the streets and just spends all day outside. he takes on little odd jobs and earns a but of pocket money (or just exchanges some wizard money into muggle money at gringotts) and buys himself a skateboard! because the other skater kids are also the socially odd ones out they take him in and spend all day at the park. harry who has summer friendships with other weird kids!!

• give that man a hash brownie. harry would have sm fun getting high, change my mine. but he wouldn't like smoking bc it's 'bad for his performance'

• harry is insecure i fear :/ he's small, he doesn't like his hair (canon!) and tries to keep it in line without success, is probably highly annoyed at the scar across his face. i think his insecurities mostly stem from the way he was treated by the dursleys. he is somwhat aware of this. at some point, when he's around them he even tries to piss them off by f.e. making his hair even messier or putting on the most horrible clothes they gave him. but when he really wants to impress people he likes, he grows ashamed of these features.

• please put him in trauma therapy and anger management 🙏🙏 harry the type of kid who glares at u angrily from across the room and punches his pillow.

• harry is always a bit emotionally reserved and tries to not let people see the extents of his feelings until he explodes and becomes extremely and brutally cunty and mean. he's also super stubborn afterwards and loathes apologising. harry would love ghosting and blocking people

• harry is a bit aromantic/demisexual. he feels attraction (to both genders!!) and doesn't give a shit, has tiny crushes but barely acts on them. it always feels a bit superficial. he views romantic love as overrated and cares much much much more for his platonic relationships. he marries a woman who he has a very strong friendship to at first and i think that's always the emphasis of his romantic relationships. when he does have crushes that have something to do with a more superficial physical attraction, he isn't that bummed when he's rejected. + even in these people he always sees their cherishable traits first (f.e. cho is a headstrong and confident athlete). i think this may also be why he isn't that stressed about his bisexuality. yes, he likes men and boys! but its more like 'oh wow i genuinely respect this person so much for their traits, i'd love to get to know them. but if they were to propose a deeper connection, i wouldn't say no...' sexual and romantic involvement isn't his top priority!!!!!!

• harry with a saviour complex and the need to fix things and take on responsibility; so much that he became part of the institution that persecuted him and went down the fucking anarchist->cop pipeline 💔

[orxinus]

Okay, so, um, the song "Dead Girl Walking (Reprise)" feels a lot like how I think your AU is going to end story wise, and I wanted to go into depth about why. Slight Spoiler Warning for "Heathers the Musical," I guess. I won't talk about its plot, but this song specifically is one of the final ones from it and because of that it touches on some parts of the story, so a few details may be revealed. That aside, I'm going to begin my analysis:

"I wanted someone strong who could protect me."

Megalomaniac Ford's like a god to Simple Bill; one who watches over him and advises him. He's a much more powerful being who can come to Bill's aid, may he ever need it. A potential protector. He's also a muse to the Euclidean triangle: Guiding him, inspiring him, and — in a way — taking care of him by sharing his 'wisdom'.

"I let his anger fester and infect me."

This is going to be where I'll first enter my theory zone. Considering that MM!Ford has, more or less, the same type of childhood as Canon Ford, he most likely also wanted to prove his greatness to the world. Show them all the wonderful things he is capable of doing, how he's going to be the one to change their lives, and how they're going to regret all of the cruel things they said to him growing up once they see him blossom into what he was always meant to be: A renowned genius. He was outcasted by society for being different — for being better, and able to realize and see things others could not ever possibly comprehend.

Upon becoming familiar with Simple Bill, he probably recognizes just how similar their upbringings were. How they were both social rejects born with physical 'defects,' enlightened on a level far above their peers', and capable of making a difference if they seized the opportunity properly. Like Canon Ford did with Dipper for the mentorship (don't read this as me hating on him, please), Megalomaniac Ford most likely ends up projecting on Bill due to these similarities. Why should Bill have to suffocate in mediocrity when he's capable of achieving greatness? Why should he allow himself to be held back by such flat minds, dumbing down the beauty of the stars in his paintings? He should prove them wrong, make a difference!

...And maybe even show Euclydia the stars for real....

His anger and indignation would infect the painter's mind, slowly consuming him within.

"His solution is a lie, no one here deserves to die — except for me and the monster I created!"

So, it was implied in one of your earlier comics that MM!Ford plans on getting Bill to show Euclydia the stars — and more — by saying, "We'll show them," when Bill mentioned that his parents wouldn't understand anything his muse talks about, since they don't even understand the stars. To 'solve' Bill's problem of not being understood by a dimension living in ignorance of things bigger than them, he could show them the stars. It would be the perfect start to liberating their minds! If not for one small thing: Introducing the stars to Euclydia massacred the dimension and it's people, as revealed in TBOB. So, the supposed 'solution' would end up killing them. But, Ford would most likely argue that it would be worth it to enlighten them with the knowledge and bestow intelligence greater than they've known on them. In doing so, he would become a monster. All for his dear painter.

"Heads up, J.D., I'm a dead girl walkin'."

Since this AU is a role reversal, some events are parallel to the original show; meaning that there's a good chance that Simple Bill would confront Ford on his true intentions. And, once he does, he's as good as dead. Canon Ford at least was in a dimension Canon Bill couldn't each, so he couldn't harm the ex-devotee with the full extent of his power. MM!Ford, however, can come and go to Simple Bill as he pleases, so there's no safety net for the Euclidean triangle once he leaves his museum's side. He may as well be a dead triangle walking.

"And there's your final bell (Ah). It's one more dance and then farewell (Ah)."

Again, I feel like Euclydia is going to be endangered and at risk of being destroyed some point towards the end.

"I wish your mom had been a little stronger. I wish your dad were good, I wish grown-ups understood, I wish we met before they convinced you life is war."

This is probably the most self-explanatory, but I'll still delve into it anyways. Caryn — and this isn't me calling her a terrible a mom — didn't stand up for how her boys were treated in any way as far as we could tell on screen. Filbrick was, evidently, a terrible and abusive father. Pressuring Ford to be perfect and only valuing him for his intellectual worth, while tossing Stan aside as a scapegoat. Ford, as stated earlier, was turned into an outsider by society and wasn't fully understood by them. Through experiencing a life as tragic and difficult as this, Ford developed a certain mentality. He decided to live by "survive of the fittest," but in the mental sense. Bill probably wishes that he could've turned back time and stopped him from embracing this way of life.

Anyway, this was my analysis essay. Thank you for allowing me to ramble. I live your AU and hope that you have a good day!

FUCK YESS ive compared simplemaniac with veronica and JD a lot already and i love this one hehe theyre sooo fucked up i love this

[glueandmorphemes]

recently, a pro-snape anti-james potter post showed up on my feed, and so obviously i began questioning all my opinions and went down a mini-rabbit hole. which is why i have decided that in order for me to be productive at all throughout the week, i need to form a comprehensive opinion on their characters in canon and put my mind to rest about the both of them bc ive read very contrasting and harsh opinions and neither felt fully right and so im investigating

personality

james potter:

cons: in his childhood/earlier hogwarts years, he was arrogant, a bully (to snape especially, who was a much weaker party and easier to pick on as he was poor and unpopular. he hexed him without reason and harassed him in public for enjoyment/bc he was bored), an attention-seeker, bias towards slytherin (seen in first meeting with snape), risk-taker, possessive towards lily and continually ignored her rejections. he grew out of majority of these traits towards the end of his schooling (presumably) but continued to bully snape

pros: he was extremely loyal to his friends and supportive of his friends to a fault (taking in sirius, becoming an animagi for remus, supporting remus), joined the order to contribute to the fight against voldemort, was against blood-supremacist ideals, saved snape despite despising him

severus snape:

cons: bullied a child because of the actions of his father and based on unfounded assumptions, bias against gryfindors, extremely unkind to his students to the extent of being harsh and cruel (neville, hermoine), joined the death eaters of his own volition, practiced dark magic, was not above taking violent action against those he dislikes (dropping a branch on petunia in his childhood), agreed with blood-supremacist ideologies like the inferiority of muggle-borns personally (before hogwarts, in hogwarts as he conversed with lily), switched sides only because lily (someone he loves) could die not because of the negative impact of his side, continued to protect harry out of guilt only, was completely fine with an innocent man and child dying if he could protect the woman he loved

pros: took action once he recognised the way his actions could endanger lily, did not continually harrass lily after she asked him to leave her alone, continued to try his hardest to protect harry at the expense of his life(despite the intentions behind this, it is still a good/semi-good act)

Important points to consider:

james:

positives: grew up in a rich, comfortable household with loving parents. was adored by all in hogwarts, students and teachers alike. he had friends he could trust. was sorted into a house of "good" and so did not face prejudice. he had all the resources he needed and was rich enough that he did not need support. had close relationships to poweful people like dumbledore and the order, making supporting the right side so much easier

negatives: because he was doted on by his parents throughout his childhood, grew up to have a very high view of himself. this also meant that he did not often recieve criticisms about his behaviour even when he needed it because of how loved he was, which led to the promotion of further bad behaviour. It seems that once he received repeated criticisms from one he respected, he tried to change his behaviour.

snape:

grew up in a poor, abusive household (his father was said to be abusive and his mother was unattentive). did not have much stability as conflict was always present, did not have comfort or much love. he was raised on blood-supremacist ideals despite being a half-blood himself

in school, he was sorted into the house of the "bad" wizards which meant he immediately faced prejudice. he was bullied by people who were above him in the social hierarchy (the marauders), alienating him from a large part of the student population since his bullies were admired. his only allies were slytherins who had the same blood-supremacist ideals, which was probably a large factor in pushing him towards the path of a death eater (social pressure, convenience, protection, chance for revenge against those who wronged him who were coincedentally on the opposite side).

[however, he did have access to large amounts of information in the hogwarts library and since he was said to have been smart and educated, he must have come across evidence going against this. this still doesn't mean that he wouldve as if he did, he would’ve had no allies and protection in a tense political climate. It makes sense that he sided with the dark lord since the only available side was voldemorts]

if he was aware of the faults of such ideals, he did not admit them even when lily pointed them out, which shows how much he agreed with them since he always tried to agree with her to gain her approval

I think we can safely say that both character's are complex and the product of their upbringing and environment. james obviously had the advantage with his privelage and had a very large negative impact on snape’s life. it is still very very very wrong that he decided to bully and harrass snape along with many other students. he was said to have "grown out of it" but there is no mention of him every apologising or taking responsibility of his mistakes, which must be remembered. snape had a horrible childhood and grew up in a hostile and alienated environment, which is why i completely understand his hate towards the marauders. however, something which cannot be excused is his treatment of his students. he was bullied and so to turn around and do that to someone else is so incredibly hypocritical and again, cannot be forgotten.

I think at this point I can say that in canon, both characters have issues and both have positives and I don’t think I can lean in one direction for either (which was maybe the point of this analysis but it’s fine)

again, this is about the canon characters, not those from fanon who's interpretation and expansion is up to the reader. but i get conflicted when i find differing opinions to mine so i needed to do this :) if you hold differing interpretations of what happened in the books, I would love to hear it!

NOTE: It must be said that I remember 50% of this from the books and refreshed my memory after reading key scenes again and the help of harry potter wiki, so if i missed out on anything at all pls lmk i need so badly to collect all this info

[bdsmrist]

gonna get a bit personal here, but as an actor it hurts me to see how ppl misinterpret a character as layered and nuanced as kim

now u might be wondering: girl wtf does being an actor have to do w lieutenant kitsuragi. well, i believe it to be the case that actors are storytellers. its our job to write in our characters studies what isnt in the script, to fill in the gaps, and portray that to the best of our abilities.

while in school, my professor’s always emphasized that as an actor, 100% of the time its more interesting when your characters motivations are rooted in love, rather than resentment. and i feel like too often i see ppl understand kim’s motivations be fueled by a desire to reject, protect himself, and detach himself from a world he resents.

now; thats not to say that isn’t entirely true. after all it is what the canon tells us explicitly: that he gave up on moralism, religion, etc, because he again and again was disappointed by the reality of elysium. therefore, that must mean that from there on out kim was a lost soul, that when coming to contact with harry’s spark, it lit his ambitions once more

and yes, to an extent, thats true, but its not the whole truth. to imply otherwise is very derivative. one of the things that makes kim such a compelling character is how he never stopped loving the world around him, *before* meeting harry. and even tho he limits how much he allows himself to indulge in it, it still bleeds through the cracks. hence, when he meets harry, he pours his devotion into the case, and in turn, into harry, without even knowing the guy

would a detached character have the patience and compassion he has for harry on day one? absolutely not. the man is borderline coddling to harry despite it all. and you can hear it in the performance!

jullian champenois’ voice is characterized by its mellow, soothing quality. hes gentle about it! and the actor made that choice for a reason! kim is a gentle person! he stands his ground, he sets boundaries, keeps u in course, and is nothing of a pushover. but regardless, his temperament is calm and reassuring. thats his function as a literary device! to contrast harry’s self-hatred and self-loathing with compassion and understanding!

think about it: would a character thats insistent on being a cold wall, sit on the swing-sets with harry for the pure purpose of just being there so harry doesnt have to confront that alone? if kim only wanted to keep people at an arms length, would he insist you two to be the ones to break the news to working class woman about her husband when ur at her doorstep? he said it himself; the precinct couldve handled it fine.

if kims actions were rooted in resentment towards an unfair world, would he be an instrument of justice for the rcm in the first place? kim, who verbatim despises the cops who become cops so they can use policing as an ego outlet?

kim kitsuragi cares. he cares very deeply, and i believe that the walls around him are a result of kim attempting to keep himself *in*, rather than keep others *out*. kim keeps HIMSELF on a short leash, because he knows that otherwise he’d go all in, just like harry.

harry and kim are at the opposite ends of the same spectrum of people that are too passionate for a world that does not reward such earnestness. therefore, harry copes with addiction, and kim copes with restrictions. regardless. its all comes back to love.

[moldysamxmoldymario]

You know, I’ve been wondering.

What exactly is the minimum amount of the visitor you need to see to be changed?

We know that looking at a depiction of the visitor is essentially the same as seeing it itself but a simple filter was able to save Jasper from basically any mutations and I’m just curious.

We know that:

Looking at the visitor:

Just changes you based on your current mindset, personal experience, and proximity / personal relationship to items.

Seeing a depiction of the visitor:

About the same as looking at it with the possibility that you end up ultimately smaller then you would otherwise but Sam’s transformation could just be a unique case especially with the context each of them happen in.

I also wanted to add that technology capable of analyzing images seem to freak out and and reject it but otherwise still works meaning that the visitor probably doesn’t change it. (Side note my head canon for why the social media images don’t work is that the filters on the platform are able to “see” the images and as a result scrambles them.)

Looking at the visitor through a filter :

Does seem to lessen the effects of the visitor, wether or not it can negate it’s effect entirely is hard to tell, you can look at currents and blinds just fine but it is implied that the filter that jasper used didn’t completely stop him from changing but only reduce it to a unnoticeable extent.

This brings up the stabbing your self and growing eyes death, maybe the curtains and blinds DON’T stop the visitor from changing you but only makes it unnoticeable to you or others and when Sam stabbed him self it simply revealed the change he already had, and from there worsened with his mental state.

Light that hit the visitor hitting you:

This is obviously just your skin’s natural ability to detect light, it does raise the question of whether any recording equipment can be effective, (with the photo and tape recording not being affected as a result of info being burned onto them) or if you need to be made out of live material to be changed, (The latter explanation would explain how tech can observe the visitor without changing.) but this leaves the obvious question of how some people fuse with or become items / infrastructure.

Seeing the visitor from a large distance:

This to me is the most interesting change in how people mutate, this is because we do know of many examples of people that are at least implied to have seen the visitor when it was still far away, (ex Fredric, Sybil, and Edwin) and the resulting changes to how they mutate is the same.

They ALL take longer to mutate, what there mutations are aren’t any less extreme than any other, (infact most of theirs seem worse) but how long they are fine for is at least a few days before there mutations finish, those who are changed like this even have the same mental state they have before they see the visitor, just more extreme in their ideas or mental problems.

Conclusion:

It seems to me that ANY part of the visitor being seen can change you and simply anything that is ultimately meant to BE the visitor counts only being less effective at lower visibility scales (ex: technically seeing a mid development photo or skimming a transcript of it DOSE still change you but in the way looking at the visitor from a distance dose and the timeframe that look outside takes place on just isn’t enough for it to become noticeable) but if the person views the visitor in a obfuscate manner dose lessen the effects of the visitor to a unnoticeable or even nonexistent extent.

This was fun to write (aside from spelling that alone made this take multiple days to write)I’ve never made something like this before so if it has holes I wouldn’t be shocked, but all in all I this definitely helped organize my thoughts on the visitor and even some of the cursed so I don’t regret it.

[sarkofagos]

dankovsky for the character ask... or clara if you already got him

whooo my two favs smilesss very widely :))))

How I feel about this character:

the character of all time really. i get him i really do. he does suck on occasion but he does it in a manner so unique and captivating that it's nothing short of hilarious. and he genuinely suffers so so much by the end of his story, he loses absolutely everything and for no actual reason at all, to the point that it's impossible for me to harbor any negative feelings towards him like he Atoned for Allat. and ☝️ he does have many many positive traits and endearing moments it's not like he sucks ALL of the time. i think i like how he comes across in the changeling route the most, i remember thinking he was like your cool gay uncle who lets you underage drink the first time i was playing through.

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

now Listen. i Am a burakhovsky 🔥truther🔥 and contrary to popular belief i Can hop on the Danieva hype train HOWEVER ☝️ after meticulous research and contemplation (<- thinking about it on the trolley) i have decided that dankovsky is a celibate homosexual to me first and foremost. or just generally asexual and aromantic but i am loving the celibate homosexual thing lately. rarely if ever gotten laid rarely if ever gone on a date rarely if ever been in a relationship. whether he's too repressed to act on any feelings or keeps getting rejected by guy after guy or is simply too caught up #onthegrind for any romantic escapades it's up to you 🫵 huge if true nonetheless.

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

I'm throwing Artemy in here as well their bromance in the Haruspex Route is actually soooo major to me, their broship, even. And Clara as well re: your cool gay uncle who lets you underage drink. Their mutual sarcastic quipping in the Changeling Route? HUGE. The three healers in general are suchhh a compelling dynamic to me, they have always been the relationship(s) I'm more interested in exploring in each reiteration of the story, the way they can go from professing friendship and helping each other to arguing about everything ever to trying to kill each other is crazy they're crazy #goodforthem

My unpopular opinion about this character:

he is such a divisive character and the object of discourse so often that i really don't think i can come up with anything that hasn't already been said at one point or another... wait actually ☝️ i feel this is true for all three protagonists to an extent but i don't think everything he says is meant to be taken seriously? as in, i think he's joking with a lot of the stuff he says and being dry and sarcastic is his sense of humor (maybe no one other than himself finds it funny but it is humor nonetheless). i think people take literally everything he says at face value in order to carve out a portrait of his ever elusive personality and i guess also due to the fact that he does not lie but let the man crack a joke every once in a while.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

actually datamining the quarantine files reveals that in P3 dankovsky will be able to enjoy a warm shower and a delicious cigarette and a full meal and a quiet and restful evening which is exactly what i was hoping would happen. you heard it here first folks.

[madame-mortician]

So I finished Silent Hill 2’s remake and saw a theory going around which I agree with and want to talk about.

Spoilers obviously.

So before I say the actual theory itself I have to talk about another “theory.” I put it in quotes because it’s so heavily implied that it’s basically canon. The theory is that Silent Hill 2’s story is a loop, and this is not the first time James has gone through Silent Hill. The idea is that any time James dies or gets one of the bad endings (In Water, Maria and technically Dog) he always ends up back at the start, because he didn’t learn from his mistake and move on. Silent Hill is refusing to give up and forcing him to face the truth, and anytime James chooses the easy way out or refuses to move on entirely the town forces him back. The main evidence of this theory is:

The corpses around the town are all James. Likely from previous loops where he died to random enemies.

Maria getting the same illness as Mary and James saying she better do something about it. This implies she’ll get sick like Mary, and James will kill her again, learning nothing from what just happened.

Most of the writing found on the wall seems to be written by James. Either subconsciously put there by the town or literally left there by a previous James who caught on to the fact he was stuck in a loop.

After completing Silent Hill 2 at least once, and replaying to get the Rebirth ending, the second James sees Maria dressed like Mary he instantly calls her out, even to her surprise. He already knows it’s Maria because that’s what happened last time.

So that was a popular theory of the original game. Now here in the remake it still works. It works even better in fact, for you see that’s where the new theory comes in. The new theory is that the remake is one of the many loops from the original game. It’s very likely this loop is one of the later ones and let me explain some of my evidence:

Maria is dressed completely differently. Her new outfit is sort of the perfect mix of Maria’s old clothes and Mary’s dress. It seems to imply that after being rejected by James before in some of the loops, she’s slowly becoming more and more like Mary to better appeal to him. She even shows off her old outfit, and though James wouldn’t remember it, Maria would and is sort of mocking him by asking if he would’ve preferred she wore it.

Maria’s personality is also different. She’s less rude and sexual here. Yes she is still sexual and pretty manipulative but not to the extent of the original. Why that’s interesting is because she’s actually portrayed much more sympathetically, with even James taking pity on her, even knowing she’s not real. Like what I said about her outfit, it’s almost like she’s softened her personality to be more appealing than she was previously.

I think Pyramid Head is also a big one. In the original game he was way more monstrous and would instantly go for you. Here he seems bored more often than not. The best example is the closet scene. In the original he was assaulting a mannequin before going to James in the closet who shoots him. It clearly doesn’t do much, but Pyramid Head still flails around like he’s hurt. In the remake he isn’t assaulting a mannequin, the monster is already dead and Pyramid Head chucks it, seeming bored waiting for James. When James gets in the closet, he still approaches him and just stares straight at James. When James shoots him, he doesn’t react instantly, he continues staring at him. Only after a few awkward moments does he actually begin to flail around and then leave. How I interpret this is that since Pyramid Head remembers the loops but James doesn’t, Pyramid Head already knows he’s in the closet and goes up to him, and when James shoots him (despite knowing it wouldn’t do anything) Pyramid Head stares at him like “we’re really doing this?” before awkwardly flailing around. He’s not hurt, he’s basically acting. Whenever he appears he will still hunt James, but he really seems bored, which he likely would be since this would be one of the later loops.

There’s also references to the older game, specifically meaning this would be a loop canon to the original. The first one is that one of the corpses has a copy of the original SH2 map on him. This not only confirms that the corpse is James, but also that it’s one of the original James’. Another Easter egg I can think of, is the rooftop scene. In the original game, Pyramid Head pushed James through a fence and he fell off the roof, despite landing indoors? Here in the remake, Pyramid Head shoves him through the floor instead (which also adds to my point earlier about the newer Pyramid Head seeming more impatient than originally.) Why this is interesting is because you can still find the area of the fence James was originally pushed through, and it’s broken. This implies James was still pushed through it, yet we clearly see he wasn’t, he was shoved through the floor. This means that James was still pushed through the fence in previous loops, just like in the original game.

Eddie mentions killing James before, and him returning. To be fair here, he probably means the James corpses everywhere and isn’t referring to the original boss fight but it still implies a loop.

During the endings, whenever James speaks with Maria he is more sympathetic and understanding of her. He’s quicker to realise it’s not Mary, and he tries his nicest to reason with Maria unlike in the original where he kinda just said she wasn’t Mary and was mad she tricked him. The way I view this is that after being through so many loops, he’s gotten close to Maria even though she isn’t Mary. He still wouldn’t give up Mary for her, but he understands Maria more and doesn’t want to hurt her. He tries to talk it through, and Maria even considers it briefly but she literally can’t let him go. It goes against her entire purpose and thus she always transforms into a monster.

Another one is a line change I noticed. In the original game after Angela asks if James is keeping the knife for himself James says “I’d never kill myself.” In the remake he doesn’t say anything. This implies that he would and this is likely because James subconsciously knows he would, because he did in the previous loops (In Water.)

Another small detail I noticed is the broken puzzles you can find. Now there’s a lot of broken shit in Silent Hill, but nothing important is ever broken. The entire point of the puzzles is for James to solve them to progress. The town, nor any of its monsters would ever purposefully break a puzzle, and even if they did it would be in a way where James could easily fix it. If the town ever broke a puzzle, and made it impossible for James to progress then there’s no point, so they wouldn’t do that, it defeats the purpose. So who is breaking all these puzzles? I doubt Eddie or Angela would be destroying random puzzles, and Laura likely doesn’t even see any puzzles. So who is it then? Well, I believe these are puzzles broken by previous James’. The puzzles that are destroyed don’t have a purpose anymore, and since they’re broken we can’t really have James solve them to progress, so they’ve been replaced by new ones in the current loop. Perhaps a previous James got mad at one of the puzzles being too hard and broke it. This likely would’ve meant he was softlocked and wasn’t able to progress and either was killed or just eventually died because he couldn’t continue. Whilst now the puzzles are replaced, you can still find the old ones. They aren’t puzzles from the original game, but this still implies a loop.

*UPDATE: A mystery was solved in SH2’s remake that confirms James has been in a loop for 20 years. This confirms the loop theory, and since 20+ years ago was when the original game came out, it also seems to imply that the second theory about the loop being canon to the original game is true too.

[rosescarletful]

A Post Shift Kiss

For my requests, @iron-rose-art requested plus size yn and dca being infatuated with yn's softness! I went with general daycare worker yn/canon dca. This was such a cute request and fun to write!

Requests info: Link

Word count: 1,485

Enjoy!

Between your security rounds, wrangling children, and working on the horrible amount of paperwork, there’s not much time to spend with your animatronic boyfriends. Small kisses and short conversations are about the extent of it, and it’s driving you nuts. Is it such a crime to have a full conversation with the robots you love?

Apparently. You barely get a sentence out in between parent pickups before Sun is being called away again to deal with an irate parent. You wave him away and blow a kiss, sighing to yourself in exhaustion. Well, there is always the pound of paperwork you have to get through, dumped onto you. Technically someone else could do it, but the work they leave is shoddy and disorganized. They pay you extra to deal with it, so deal with it is what you do. 

“Excuse me?” You pause your work and look up to a timid parent, pushing up his glasses and shifting foot to foot. “Hi, sorry to bother you. But I can’t seem to find my child?” This has happened so many times you no longer feel the swoop of fear in your stomach, and instead look over to see where Sun is towering over a cowering parent. He looks busy, meaning this is now your problem. 

“Sure, I can help. Can I see your id?” He hands your driver's license with an incredibly long last name, meaning your search for children narrows down from the thirty you have to a single child. You stand and lean over the security desk to see if you can spot them yourself, but no luck. That's alright, they’re probably hiding in one of the play structures. 

“I’ll check for you. Give me a second.” You push your papers aside and walk around the desk, working your way around the screaming and running children. How does Sun do it? You are perfectly happy to leave him and Moon in charge of wrangling the kids, while you handle the logistics of keeping the joint running. 

As you thought, the child can be found curled up in the slide and giggling away. You pat the end of the slide and try to be patient, holding out one of Sun’s candies as a lure. It works like a charm - the kid's eyes light up and he practically rips the candy from your hand. You spare the dad an apologetic glance - the kid is going to be bouncing off the walls for at least a few more hours. You head back to your desk, settling back into your seat. 

“Thanks. I didn’t want to…well, I know the kids like him, but the attendant is a little creepy. Glad there’s at least some humans on staff.” Your customer service smile turns strained, lacing your fingers together on the desk. Yes yes, freaky robot, he’s also the guy who keeps your snot nosed brat from hitting other kids. You could stand to be a little more courteous even if he wasn’t sentient, you want to say. 

“Sure, always happy to help. You have a nice day now.” You wave them off, resuming the endless invoices and new program paperwork you have to file. You ask yourself every single day why a facility that prides itself on the most updated tech insists on having everything in paper when an online form would take seconds to make. Even your google forms idea was soundly rejected, and they’re free! 

Many more parents and children later, you are almost done with the paperwork when the last child is signed out for the day. The door shuts soundly, an annoyed Sun clomping his way over to your desk to throw himself dramatically over it.

“I'm dying sunshine. My processor is frying.” His rays make a funny tunk tunk as he spins them against the desk, tips brushing against it. “It’s been a whole eight hours and two minutes since I’ve gotten a kiss. I’m actively shutting down.” You snort, but your eye contact doesn’t break from your paperwork. Once you stop, you won’t be finishing this. 

“My poor baby,” you coo, typing rapidly. You are so close to being done, then you can smooch him all you want. “Can you survive a little longer while I finish this?” Your foot bounces against the floor, betraying your own want. They both love to enfold you into their arms and keep you there for as long as possible, something you crave right this second. These have a due date though, and keeping your job means keeping your boyfriends

Sun sighs so loudly in his voice box rattles, but stands up and starts cleaning. He turns every so often to give you big sad puppy dog eyes, but you resolutely ignore him. He combats this by sighing very loudly every five minutes, staring dejectedly at whatever he’s cleaning. You press your lips together as the smile threatens to take over your face. He’s the cutest guy. 

“It’s now been eight hours twenty minutes. My partner does not care that I’m dying. Yes Moon, I did try sighing loudly. They’re so cruel.” You are literally so close to being done. Just a few more!

“Done!” You shout into the daycare. The sheets of paper Sun was holding go flying into the daycare as he jumps in surprise, turning his torso to face you. You shut off your computer and make a beeline over, almost slamming into him in your haste. You are lifted clean off your feet to be spun around, long arms wrapped around you in a bear hug.

“Come here, you goof.” You get a grip on his face plate and press your lips to his unmoving mouth, a hand cupping the back of your head as you’re pressed close. He may not be able to kiss back the way humans do, but the tightness he holds you with and the happy buzzing in his chassis is the same thing. 

You are walked back and set down onto the desk, their favorite place to kiss you senseless. They don’t have to stoop down so low, and there’s easy access to grab your thighs, apparently. Case in point, both hands reach down and give them a nice squeeze.

“So soft!” Sun praises, working his way up while he kisses you. You giggle, moving to kiss all over his face plate. One on the swirl above his eyes, another on the cheek, another on either side of his grin. He moves up and squeezes your waist in return, moving around and up your back to feel your skin. 

“Sun! I'm not a stress toy!” You protest all the time, but it really does nothing to deter them. He squeezes you around your waist, grabbing all of your plush skin in the way that makes you tingly all over. 

“If you weren’t, then you wouldn’t be so nice to hold.” His grin is far too cheeky, despite the static face plate. You smack him lightly on the shoulder, face flushed. Where did a daycare attendant learn to be smooth? He spins his rays at your flushed face, a gentle breeze blowing your hair off your shoulder.

He takes this queue to resume kissing you, wrapping his long arms around your back to trace his fingers up your spine. Your breathy moans makes their voice box static, and in short order, the lights shut off. 

You can feel the second they switch control of the body. Sun’s slow exploratory hands turn into passionate touches, wrapping around your thigh and pulling it to hook it around his waist. The other squeezes you all over, just touching wherever he pleases. 

“More to grab means more places to touch.” That’s the only warning you get before you are pushed, now lying flat against the desk. 

“Moon! Not here,” you hiss. So what if he can erase the security tapes, you’re going to make a mess all over the desk! 

“Just a little bit.” He pushes his face plate into your shoulder, forcing you to turn your head to the side. He may not be able to bite and mark your neck like you want, but he can press close to you. This position gives him better access to love on and squeeze your body.

“Like this the most.” He chuckles in that silly way he does and squeezes a love handle, making you giggle and kick your feet. There’s something about how much they marvel at your body that makes you giddy. “And this,” he squeezes your cheeks, your lips forming a fish’s mouth. You furrow your brows and knock your foot against him in retaliation. 

“Having fun?” He answers you in the way hands hook under your arms to lift you into his arms. It seems the party will have to be moved. They’d never pass up an opportunity to take you to their room. 

“Always,” He hums, summoning the cord. 

Fin.

[mdhwrites]

I'd like your thoughts on the segment of TOH fandom that attributes Luz' behavior to her having been bullied and ostracized in Gravesfield. Canonically there is nothing showing Luz being bullied or says that she was bullied in Gravesfield. Quite the contrary. Yesterday's Lie had Vee, who had been living as Luz for months, living a good life where she had made friends at camp and at school. She resented Luz' return and castigated her for not appreciating how good a life she had. The episode Thanks to Them had the guidance counselor ask Camila if she had been bullied in school to which Camila answered that she had. He then asked if she wanted Luz to struggle as she had. That question strongly suggests that Luz was not yet having any social difficulties beyond those of her own making and that sending her to camp would keep that from happening. When we see Luz back in Gravesfield HS she was having no difficulties dealing with other students and that some of her contacts with them were friendly and admiring.

So what are your thoughts on this insistence of certain fans that Luz had suffered this bullying and ostracization when the show itself not only doesn't support it but contradicts it?

Because it's necessary for Luz's character to function.

That's really all it comes down to. Luz is kind of monstrous if she has never actually known strife. She wants to be seen as the victim after all. She wants to be justified in abandoning her mom for her fantasies. For rejecting the consequences of assaulting people. Heck, that's still true in S3 where she needs to be able to claim that the human world would be some torturous hell hole for her so that her self martyring actually comes across correctly instead of someone going, "Oh, that sounds like a lot of work and might actually be dangerous so I'm just gonna stay home with my loving mom instead."

If her home life was good, was kind, was what we wish our home lives with a parent who will enable us to do whatever we want short of breaking the law... What the fuck is she doing? The audience insert, who goes entirely unquestioned in the show besides "Hey, you kind of messed up, go apologize," (which she doesn't do well all the time) is suddenly this whiny brat who wants to be enabled by literally every person in existence because she needs to be the most special person there. It's the antithesis of what people want "I just want to be understood!" to be about. She wants to be understood so you go "Oh, I get it, you keep being you," and never hold her accountable. Otherwise, she might not lie all the time because she might be willing to actually face the consequences of her actions.

It is a shift in Luz's character irreversible in its damage. You just cannot like the show in the same way when you have to admit that Luz is a self entitled little shit. And mind you, her normal archtype is of that sort. Danny Phantom and Randy Cunningham and even to some extent Kim Possible are all flawed teenage characters who are clearly growing. Who need to be better people so while they're protagonists, you're supposed to learn as much alongside them as from their example, if not more. You are meant to take from Luz by example though. She is meant to be the audience surrogate after all. And, you know, if she's unjustified in her actions... What does that say about you all of a sudden who connected so deeply with her?

That's all of why this can't vanish. I actually want to add onto your proofs though because people will go "What about her panicking during Knock Knock Knocking?" Yes, that is the ONE time we are ever given the idea for her being mocked for something and even that one... Well, she's worried about going too over the top. How much do we want to bet Luz came to school in her suit to ask the person she liked out like she was in some sort of soap opera? That's gonna get you reasonably laughed without a VERY specific sort of partner like Amity.

HOWEVER... That's the one time, a season and a half into the show, her actions imply someone who has been bullied. Otherwise, she is very confrontational, she does nothing to hide herself, she gives almost no shits about what anyone thinks about her besides "Fuck you, I am totally the greatest" everytime Eda doubts her. The closest before then is her worrying about Amity seeing her as lame but Amity is the only one she cares about for that. Even then, she never seems bothered by the fact that Amity is a bully. She is willing to stand up to her regardless. This is further reinforced by what she does with Boscha where she either just brushes her off during Once Upon a Swap or is entirely confident in confronting her in Winging it Like Witches. NONE of that is the behavior of someone who has been bullied, harassed and hurt by constant bullying. Add all the elements where she clearly could have found people like her but chose instead to chase more popular clubs like cheerleading and acting and it paints a REALLY bad picture of Luz.

It paints her as Liz Lemon from 30 Rock, or Goob from Meet the Robinsons. Both people who claimed the world hated them when the reality was that they were awful to reality, one being a bully and the other ignoring all signs of kindness and acceptance that was attempted to be given to him. This is far worse when you remember that Luz never appreciated her mom properly, like Goob, and also is genuinely an asshole to both King and Hooty for their interests, like Liz Lemon.

Luz is a bad person. But for the show to function, you cannot believe that. Once you do, it will only to start to collapse faster and faster as the contradictions pile on top of themselves.

So why not just twist the truth instead into the pleasant lie Luz is actually the archtype of the bullied nerd that the first episode tried to imply she was but then failed to ever deliver on? It's easier that way, even if it's dishonest. Luz wouldn't judge you for it, not so long as you didn't try to lie to her. Because all that matters in the end to Luz is Luz.

======+++++======

If the idea of a fact that's not well supported by the show being critical to a character functioning sounds familiar, it's because it's the same reason why people need Odalia to be pure evil. Both Amity and Luz need to use having been hurt by others to justify their own behaviors, even when their behaviors don't correlate in ways that actually support those excuses.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.