#//his biggest flaw is that he is super risk taking

[mvrtaiswriting]

The man. x Roronoa Zoro ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :

I  love him. that’s it. this is relatively short but it’s cute and i definitely think it’s worth it!

warnings: mention of zoro scars but it's super fluff

feel free to reblog, like, and leave a comment. i would very much appreciate it. if you enjoy my works, click here to read more or buy me a coffee.

A part of Zoro hated the scar on his eye, the way it cut right through his face. To an extent, it made him proud; he looked scarier and more intimidating than ever. He guessed his enemies took him more seriously, since his body showed scars that should have killed him - instead, he survived, and got stronger. On the other hand, however, he thought his scar took his charm away - and although it wasn’t a problem at first, now it mattered. Losing his eyesight didn’t worry him, but the subtle fear of you not liking him anymore crippled in his heart every now and then. 

Staring at himself in the mirror, Zoro observed his reflection. Running an hand on his cheeks, he felt his newly regrown beard tickling the palm of his rough hand. He appreciated his strong features, the way his hair was starting to become greyer on his temple. How could this be the face of the man you fell in love with? You were so beautiful, you felt almost unreachable at first. So when you confessed your feelings to him, he was truly surprised. He was aware of his flaws, physical and non - he would come across as a brute sometimes, he thought himself as someone who was only capable of pushing people away by simply existing. And when that didn’t happen with you, he didn’t know how to process it; maybe his brain wasn’t wired for this type of things. He had to gradually learn what it meant to be loved and understand that feeling butterflies in his stomach was a good sign, not something to worry about. 

With you, for the first time, Zoro learnt what fear was. He never truly cared about all the risk a battle could comprise, he would simply jump in - he had faith in his crew mates and knew they’d be just fine. And he trusted you, too - but for some reason, it was different with you. He wanted to protect you, using his own body as a shield, ready to fight and take whatever damage. He hated to see you fight, there was no reason for you to be so exposed to danger.

Memories of the first time you got seriously injured in a battle were still vivid in Zoro’s mind; he remembered the way Chopper cried while trying to rescue you, the sleepless nights Zoro spent next to your bed hoping you would open your eyes. Losing you was his biggest nightmare, the simple thought of it hunted him continuously - and there were so many ways in which that could have happened. You were his most precious treasure, his one piece. For all he knew, this could have been the biggest treasure to ever exist - love. You. What could have been more valuable than this? 

Zoro was called back to reality when your arms wrapped around his torso, your face now resting against his muscular back. 

“Appreciating art?” you smirked, leaving a kiss on his shoulder. He only sniffed in response, letting his hand reach yours, intertwining his fingers with yours. He looked at you from the reflection in the mirror, a small smirk appearing on his face. 

“Art?” he repeated sarcastically, lifting one of your hands to his lips and leaving a soft kiss on your knuckles. You nodded in response, moving in front of him. Easily lifting you up, Zoro made you sit on the border of the sink, your figure now blocking him from seeing his reflection on the mirror. 

“That’s a better view.” he weakly smiled, leaving a kiss on your forehead. 

“What’s wrong?” you asked, placing your head on his naked chest, running your fingers along the scar on his torso. 

Surprised by your touch, Zoro’s muscles stiffened for a second. It didn't bother him when you touched his scars, but the sweet coincidence made his heart skip a beat for a second. Moments before he was focusing on the way his scars ruined his image, worrying whether you found him attractive regardless of them, fearing his appearance could make you slip between his fingers. And now you were there, delicately touching his scars with love - as if they were a masterpiece that needed to be handled with care.

“It’s nothing.” Zoro leaned towards you, brushing his nose against yours. “Really.” he added, looking at you with his only good eye. It always felt like Zoro could see right through you, staring at the deepest meanders of your soul. 

“Is it something we can fix spending the rest of the day under the covers?” you asked again, finally kissing him. You felt Zoro’s smile through the kiss, already lifting you up and making his way to your room. 

“Oh, definitely..” he whispered in between kisses. 

“The man you are, Roronoa Zoro..” you smirked, closing the door behind your back, shutting the rest of the world outside. 

[celestemagnoliathewriter]

What do you think was the immediate aftermath to the “Prank”? I actually do think Sirius was remorseful for what he did at the time(I think his attitude in PoA could be explained by how he was in Azkaban all those years, had to survive on very little, and was just not in a good place to process his past properly at the time. And he does acknowledge that he acted poorly during SWM, so I feel like with time he would realize that he could’ve handled those situations better- even if Snape could be a dick lol. At a certain point someone has to take the high road XD), but I think it still would have taken a while for Remus to forgive him or for the group to go back to the way it was. But if I’m being honest, I feel like the group never really went back to the way it was when we consider how both Remus and Sirius thought the other was a spy :/. I also think that James would have been put in a hard spot, because he’s incredibly loyal to his friends, and Sirius is(let’s face it lol) his favorite, but this “prank” could have gone very wrong in so many different ways and I feel that James may have been able to recognize more than Sirius at first.

(I also don’t understand why JKR would place SWM after “The Prank” because why on earth would James and Sirius continue to antagonize Snape to that extent when he now knows one of their best friend’s deepest and darkest secret(and there couldn’t have been anything magical keeping Snape from saying anything, seeing as he gives away the secret in Book 3)? But I digress lol(although I will say that one minor change I make for myself is imagining the Prank as happening after SWM since that makes more sense to me)

I have so many thoughts on “The Prank” mainly because while I love Sirius(and I do think his good qualities outweigh his bad ones), this situation showcases one of his biggest flaws(he can be reckless to the point where other people can/are at the risk of getting seriously hurt or worse) and I just find it really interesting to explore that and how it would have affected the Marauders and their dynamic at the time

Oooh boy do I have THOUGHTS about the Prank and SWM. I'm actually very okay with SWM happening after the Prank. It shows that James and Sirius took a LONG time to grow and were still dicks late into their fifth year. But let's get to the fun!

Immediate aftermath of the Prank:

I wholeheartedly agree that the group was never the same after the Prank. I think the Marauders were always on thin ice or precarious ground, and it was only because of James that they were all together. Sirius and James were like magnets for each other. James picked up the underdog, Remus, and Remus brought in the super underdog, Peter. That's not to say that Sirius didn't care for Remus and Peter, but everything in canon suggests that Sirius was a Prongs fangirl, not a Moony or Wormtail fangirl.

But let's get to the Prank. Snape thought something was up with Lupin. I believe Sirius thought one of two things: 1) fuck around and find out, and 2) he's not actually stupid enough to go whomping willow/werewolf hunting. There is definitely some blame on Severus for following through, but it's more on Sirius for underestimating Severus and potentially ruining Remus's life. Because it was James who pulled Severus back, Sirius probably felt more remorse than had it been someone else.

I believe that after the Prank, Remus's trust in Sirius was irrevocably changed. I think that Remus implicitly trusted Sirius before, but after the Prank, the nature of the friendship changed. I imagine that Remus didn't change much outwardly. He's a coward at heart and didn't want to rock the boat. But the thing is, Sirius isn't stupid. He almost certainly noticed a change in Remus's behavior. Remus probably went more passive-aggressive, and that laid the foundation for Sirius believing Remus to be the spy later, because of his behavior change. For Remus, it's the same thing, because of Sirius's capacity to use him for a cruel prank.

I do think that they were friends and remained friendly. James was the foundation for their friendship, and as long as James was alive and friendly with both, they would remain friends. However, with more people dying, Remus off with werewolves and Sirius doing who-knows-what, it would make sense for Sirius to think that Remus was a spy and vice versa. When Halloween '81 happened and the Potters were killed, Remus was probably shocked but not surprised. Sirius was capable of darkness.

And THIS is why I'm very okay with the Prank happening before SWM. Imagine Remus thinking the same thing during SWM - 'guys, please stop antagonizing him' - and James and Sirius continue antagonizing Severus for fun, because they're bored. This is abundant proof that Sirius still had a lot of growing up to do, as did James. Imagine Remus after the Potters die, thinking how Sirius could do this?, but then being reminded of SWM, where Sirius continued to play with his food, so to speak. Imagine Remus thinking it impossible for Sirius to turn his back on his friends, but after Peter is 'killed', and Remus was almost exposed in the Prank, that means the only person left for Sirius to betray was James. With that track record, Remus could've very well thought Sirius was the traitor.

I love Sirius as well. My man, like Remus, has layers. Their friendship in later years - post-Azkaban - was cobbled together by shared memories of James and years of trauma/betrayal by one another and Peter. At this point I imagine a friendship of convenience - they're friends because few people understand the trauma they went through, but they're never going to be BFFs the way that James and Sirius were. If Sirius is fire, James is the sunshine that fuels him, while Remus is a moldy wet log of a human being.

As always @puppyduckster you've given me tremendous food for thought and provided excellent insight on the characters we so love.

[atragicallycrispydude]

After having a few days to play around with Slayer, I want to share my opinion on him and his strength as a character.

In short, while I think he's absolutely a premium character near the top of the roster, I don't think I would really call him an all-around strongest due to how matchup dependent he feels.

In long: his damage is fucking ridiculous. Genuinely fucking ridiculous. You can get 300+ damage meterlessly at ROUND START with a Pilebunker loop. It does require a bit of luck (you need a counterhit H normal) but the fact that he can even do that AND ALSO GET POSITIVE BONUS is insane. His absolute biggest problem though is his movement, to an annoying degree, and it's where a lot of the matchup stuff comes in. I played against an Axl who beat the absolute shit out of me, and the whole time he seemed to have a very easy time just moving backwards and poking me out. Axl is definitely very good at that, but JESUS.

Slayer's movement is just so, so fucking bad. All of his options to get in are incredibly committal, and are all flawed in some way:

-Mashing Dash: Slow. You can't block during the dash. You can't special cancel the dash (as far as I know).

-Walking: go make a coffee while you wander over to your enemy lmao

-IAD/Jumping and Airdashing: Prepare to taste a delicious 6P

-Mappa Hunch: Pretty long startup and whiff recovery, and if your opponent blocks it you're probably giving up your turn. Vulnerable to being stuffed by disjoints, or even just trading disadvantageously.

-Dandy Step: Same problems as Mappa but with the added bonus of not going as far!

-RC Super Mappa Hunch: Costs 100 tension.

-RC 6K > j.s: Might actually be pretty useful? I haven't tried it before but you go flying full screen so...

These movement issues are the crux of what I feel makes him not an overall strong character, just because he gets zoned so so hard. Don't get me wrong, he is very good, but he has a lot of glaring weaknesses that are very prevalent in certain matchups. Hand of Doom is also garbaaaaage even just backdashing on wakeup in this game feels bad but the followup is iekrnfkdowbekfnf.

All of this, though, means they did a pretty excellent job of translating him from XRD, where I'd say a lot of the same things about him! His strengths are very matchup dependent! I also want to be clear that him having these weaknesses is important. If he could just run you down and melt 3/4 of your healthbar away, he would absolutely be the most overtuned character in the game. Insert Sol Badguy joke here.

There are some things I'd nerf, though:

-Lower the height of It's Late. Fucking look at this shit man his fist isn't even ever up there

-Make the Dandy follow-ups and Mappas an extra frame minus. (Dandies -3, Mappas -2 and -3 respectively.) They're supposed to make Slayer give up his turn on block, but often you can sneak in a 2K or 2P to keep the pressure going. I don't think that should be gone, but I think it should be higher risk. This might be very harsh but idfk man

-Master's Hammer not +26 on block. That's fucking ridiculous for a point blank move come on

-Make his damage modifier x1. This is probably too harsh, but I don't really feel that he should take less damage as a brawler type character. Yes I get he has poor defensive options but still

All of these might be nerfing him too hard, but at the very least I want It's Late shortened pls it's fucking dumb.

As for buffs, I don't think he needs very many, but:

-Increase the distance of his normal dash, or make it faster. This might make him too fast but fuck me his dash feels awful at longer than roundstart ranges.

-Keep the opponent closer on a K Mappa knockdown. This would have the added benefit of making the 5K link not feel so weird and strange.

As for SILLY FUN STUPID buffs I think he should have:

-Super Mappa Hunch is now 15+0 instead of 14+1, so at close range you can't block after the super freeze. I don't know if it hits full screen in 1 frame, but I want my XRD Dead On Time shenanigans back dammit.

-Last horizon now deals 300 damage. This is a cleaner number than 290.

-Last Horizon will now go full screen. It doesn't go any faster he just goes all the way full screen.

-Hand of Doom is actually invincible and gives you c.s links on counter-hit (make it like -8 instead of -7 to compensate)

-Pilebunker disregards the normal chip damage rules and can kill at any amount of health

-Counterhit Pilebunker gives the silly tumble for a full combo that it used to

All in all, I think Slayer is comfortably lower/middle-top tier. Am I downplaying because I love him and also am not good? Maybe. I've always hung out around floor 10 pretty comfortably before he came out, but I reached the Celestial Challenge for the first time EVER using him, so make of that what you will. I'd be interested to hear how you all feel about him.

The most important thing, though? He's really fun. I do just really like Strive and how it feels, but I find him very fun to play and play against. (The play against might change, I wanna learn Testament so we'll see how I feel later lmao)

Edit: After trying to learn Testament and going to open park and playing about 25 matches against a Slayer, some of my opinions have shifted:

-Obliterate Master's Hammer. Destroy it. Explode. +26 is stupid. At the VERY LEAST make it lower to the ground to you can actually c.s it or something

-Mappa is a ridiculously good way to get in lmaoooooooooo im just fucking dumbbbbbbb make that shit -2 and -3 NOW

-He doesn't need any buffs

I need someone better than me to weigh in on the matchup thing, cause it felt kinda even? I just don't know how to play Testament.

[elijah-terry]

For that OC ask game how about 3 for Kieran and Yuuha and 9 for Stewie :]

oh man 3 is such a good one for kieran and yuuha, thank u prince !!!!

so okay. UM this got kind of long so i put it under a readmore <3 can you tell i'm back on adhd meds <3

questions are from this post!

3. What is your oc's fatal flaw? Are they aware of this flaw?

So, first, Kieran. For full context, Kieran is originally my partner's oc, but now we both have custody of him <3 And when I mentioned this question to him he immediately said, "Oh, god, just one?" But anyway my answer for this is that Kieran's fatal flaw is love. (not romantic, he is arospec) .He would do anything for the people he cares about, at the risk of literally killing himself. He sees himself as worthless and irredeemable, and values the people he loves more than anything and definitely more than himself. If what that person wants hurts Kieran, he'll do it anyway. He'll do it to the ends of the earth. Part of this is because Kieran is a coward, and he considers that to be his fatal flaw. And to be honest the two are undeniably and inextricably connected. He doesn't want to let himself love. He feels it so much and buries it deep because he doesn't think he deserves it and he's too scared. His brother hates him and Kieran accepts that because he hates himself. He's just a big scared vulnerable feelings guy. :( but. tldr his ass is NOT aware of that flaw, he thinks it's that he's a coward. This love pertains specifically to like... platonic and familial love. His brother, the girl he considers his sister, Stewie, etc. When Kieran actually experiences romantic love he's kind of. chill with it. though that probably has to do with who the guy is tbh ( real quick i have to say now that i am talking about this story with people ((which is super exciting and fun for me!!!)) i need to say. kieran and stewie are not love interests. and in selkies it explicitly states that stewie reminds kieran of his brother evelyn for this reason specifically bc i can see it now. i can see if this ever somehow got published the biggest ship in the place would be kieran and stewie. crying emoji but im on my laptop)

3 for Yuuha:

His biggest flaw is definitely his pride. Yuuha is trans and at his old ballet studio, his instructor didn't acknowledge him as trans, and kept giving him parts that are generally for girls y'know. Often leads bc the instructor was obsessed with Yuuha (is the bad guy of that arc, has a palace, etc) and Yuuha kept taking them every time because he would rather be seen as a girl and be in the spotlight than be on the sidelines. And people used to talk shit about him because of it because he would complain about not being seen as a guy and then take like. idk clara from the nutcracker and people just saw him as a hypocrite. His pride is also what kept him from approaching Hifumi for years after they grew apart. Her success from afar made him feel bad after he quit dance and became a nobody, and he didn't know what she was going through and just assumed that she was too good for him. And he started to kind of believe it. His pride is also what almost gets him killed in the Metaverse, because he gets cocky and runs ahead without the PT. (in black mask au it's his pride that also gets him found out.) But he's extremely aware of this flaw, he just can't overcome it alone. He struggles with it constantly, and it's his Confidant route with Joker that helps him come to terms with it.

9. Do you have a specific lyric or quote you associate with your oc? For Stewie

I had to go through the songs on his playlist real quick but. look. there's a lot of things i associate with stewie but he is, before he is anything else, kindness and love and acceptance. and this is gonna sound so small and stupid and simple but "Everyone you know will lie / those you trust will make you cry / all hellos end with good bye / so who's afraid to love? Not I." it's just. the quintessential feeling at the heart of his character. he's not afraid to love. why yes he is kieran's foil how did you know? sidfjdsf i wrote so much stuff for kieran and yuuha and like. nothing for stewie but like. stewie is full of love. that's his whole him. full of love. like he's still a complex character with other emotions but the things that remind me the most of stewie are his determination to love people who are equally as determined to not be loved. to help people who insist (lying) that they don't want to be helped. to accept those who feel they'll never be accepted.

thank u for reading this long thing sfsdf thank u SO much for asking !!!! aaa!!!!!!!

[memwazz]

SEVEN - Aloïs Marshall

- ROLE

Aloïs is the head of the 7th Division and a superhero himself. He's the secret identity of The Clockworker, as well as Ezra Marshall's twin brother.

As a leader, he plans the missions and gives most of the orders. He's responsible of the team cohesion and leads the group reunions.

- APPEARANCE

Species : surhuman

Age : 37

Height : 180 cm

COSTUME

Aloïs (right) in The Clockworker's costume with Ezra (left) as Queen Elizabeth.

Civilian Aloïs VS Superhero Aloïs

- ILLUSTRATIONS, COMICS, SHITPOST

- Illustrations :

Finish Line - Pockets - Bell Tower - Marshall Cats - Teenagers - Bodies - Sequin Dress - Clock Child - Friends - Pardon -

- Comics :

Broken - I'm Gay - Fine, Thanks ! -

- Shitpost :

Disney Princess Meme - Trauma Dump - Each Other's... - Bigots - Spoon - Mistake - Spectrum - Attractive -

- ABILITIES

Aloïs' super power makes him able to create portals to teleport on short distances. He can either move his whole body, specific parts of it, small objects or other people.

The maximal distance one of his portals reached was 1km, but it caused his body some damage.

Aside from his surhuman ability, Aloïs is a good fighter with a complete military training. He's however psychologically unable to use a gun because of a traumatic event.

- PERSONALITY

Aloïs usually appears at first as arrogant, authoritative and disagreeable. Being on the autism spectrum, he struggles with the social norm and emotions : he doesn't always understand how he feels and doesn't know how to express it properly. Most of the time, he will be quite unexpressive and distant.

As he can't understand how people work or think, he is terrible at showing empathy and support, even to his loved ones. The only thing he's worse at than feelings are jokes : Al doesn't have any sense of humor and doesn't even understand how it works, especially if it's second degree.

He's an organized person who always think calmly before acting, making him an efficient leader and fighter. Aloïs always makes sure to stay in control of the situation, else he quickly gets stressed. He hates being contradicted or "disobeyed" and will try to convince people to go his way even if it implies conflict or emotional harm. One of biggest flaw is telling everything going through his mind, hurting people and not understanding why it'd have been better to lie.

Just like during missions, Aloïs loves order in his personal life. He suffers from serious OCDs and is an hygiene freak. His house is always clean and every room is well organized. He likes to align and sort everything; changing his habits upsets him badly.

Because of his control obsession and his responsibilities as a leader, Aloïs is under constant pressure. He has untreated anxiety and always feel guilty when things go out of hand, thinking it's his fault if a mission fails or if anyone gets hurt.

Even if it doesn't show, Al cares about his teammates and relatives a lot. He never hesitates to put his life at risk to help or take care of them, and sometimes shows through acts the benevolence he doesn't manage to express with words.

His major qualities are his honesty, loyalty and integrity. Aloïs is unusually obsessed with law and morals : he tries to play by the rules even when his actions as a superhero are illegal, and would never hurt anyone willingly, even an enemy or a criminal. He thinks everybody deserves a second chance and that this world can be saved.

Aloïs is also known for his strong special interest on clocks. He's obsessed with and has an infinite knowledge on clocks and watchmaking, either in theory or practice. He himself crafts his own clocks (especially when he feels stressed and needs to lock himself in his room) and is quite skilled at it. His creations decorate the Division's headquarters and his bedroom; he's nonetheless very exigent and perfectionist and often thinks what he crafts is trash.

- BACKSTORY

Aloïs is the son of two NASA engineers and grew up with his twin brother Ezra. His father died from a heart attack when they were about 7 : his mother was pregnant and struggled to raise the kids, so she asked for her brother's help.

The uncle accepted to take care of the twins just to live rent free at Lola's house, but he actually hated and mistreated them when his sister was not around. Aloïs was oftenly insulted for being "stupid and weird" and sometimes physically brutalized when he talked back or made mistakes.

The abuse caused Aloïs a lot of stress and fear. The trauma added up to his autism and Aloïs quickly became socially inept. Primary and middle-school were a difficult period because the other kids bullied him and he was struggling to make friends. Fortunately, his relationship with his brother was fusional already and they were always together, supporting each other through the abuse.

Aged 12, Aloïs was locked in the school's restrooms by his bullies who urinated on him, stole his clothes and left him in poor condition in the toilet cabin. When Ezra finally found him out, they came home and their uncle was furious to see Aloïs was filthy; he broke him a rib trying to wash him with a pressure blaster.

Aloïs was left with severe physical and emotional traumas; after this event Lola noticed her brother was an abuser and he was sent to jail. His departured apeased the Marshalls' life a bit but Aloïs started showing signs of school refusal and couldn't study anymore. Because he was mad at his mother for not noticing what his uncle did, he decided to distance himself. He joined a military camp for teenagers so he would make sure to have a professional future despite his academic failure. At first, Aloïs was also bullied at the camp but he finally met his lifelong best friend Arthur who made his life better :

MILITARY FLASHBACK (12-17)

Aloïs had to leave the camp aged 17 to stay with his brother after their mother killed herself. The twins were emancipated when they turned 18 and started living on their own in the bell tower which became the Division's headquarters later. Aloïs attended school again in order to become a lawyer. Two years later, he joined Ezra and Leanor in the 7th Division and became The Clockworker.

During a mission 10 years before the story, the heroes had to dismantle a branch of the mafia and met a teenager named Roxanne whose power was exploited to kill people. She was forced to fight them and inflicted Aloïs a chemical burn which scarred his face for life. After the team won the fight, Aloïs and Ezra decided to take the girl home and to raise her like a sister. She was very aggressive at first but finally softened thanks to their love and care. Their relationship is now strong and loving.

Aloïs officially became the head of the 7th Division instead of his brother when they were 29. After a mission turned into a tragedy because Ezra lead it while high on Xanax, he left his duties and Aloïs had to replace him. He's still the leader at the beginning of the story.

- PRIVATE LIFE

In his civil life, Aloïs works as a lawyer. He lives in the 7th Division's "headquarters", an old abandoned tower bell which used to be a military hide out.

Aside for watchmaking, his hobby is playing piano and he has a cat named Apo(llo 13).

Nicknames :

The Clockworker

Al

RELATIONSHIPS

EZRA

Ezra is Aloïs' twin and they are rarely seen without each other. They're extremely fusional and still live together even as adults.

Aloïs sometimes is a "big brother" to Ezra, taking care of and protecting him during his depressive episodes. This responsibility fits his control obsession; unfortunately, he can accidentally hurt him acting too stern or controlling.

Ezra himself caused his twin traumas with his depression and multiple suicide attempts. Aloïs can't live a day or night without thinking of how he could find his brother dead in the morning.

If Ez looks more fragile and dependent, Aloïs actually relies on his brother a lot. He's the only person who can calm his autistic meltdowns/shutdowns and reduce his anxiety. They sometimes sleep in each other's bed when they feel stressed, overwhelmed or have nightmares.

Despite their personalities being polar opposites, the Marshall twins share a lot of common interests such as superheroes stuff (including comics as well as real life missions), fighting or chess.

They couldn't stand being separated and need each other a lot. However, they don't show much signs of affection : Aloïs likes hugs but Ezra is contact phobic and both have difficulties telling each other "I love you".

In the Division, Elizabeth is The Clockworker's right hand and she advises him a lot when it comes to important decisions.

ARTHUR

Arthur is Aloïs' best friend he met in a military camp aged 13 (see : BACKSTORY - MILITARY FLASHBACK).

Just like Ezra, he's able to calm his anxiety a bit with his benevolence and tranquility. They see each other almost everyday; if they're not in a mission together, they'll be seen having coffee. Arthur and Aloïs could spend hours together not doing anything, just enjoying each other's company. Arthur's the only person Aloïs can talk with for hours without feeling awkward or socially overwhelmed. They both have a total trust in each other and a stable relationship.

ROXANNE

Aloïs sees Roxanne as his little sister. They met when the twins rescued her from the mafia during a mission. At the beginning, Roxanne was under Jon's orders and fought them, leaving Aloïs with the face burn he still has the scar from.

When they brought her home, Roxanne was at first very aggressive and tried to murder them several times. Love and care finally softened her and her relationship with the Marshalls is now quite fusional.

Despite his distant temper, he never hesitates showing Roxanne affection, often through physical contact such as hugs, headpats or forehead kisses. When Roxanne's having a panick attack or starts hurting herself, Aloïs is the only person who can comfort her. He usually plays piano to calm her then takes her in his arms until she's better.

They sometimes argue because Roxanne is stubborn and keeps putting her life at risk : Aloïs has to prevent her from engaging into suicide missions. Roxanne easily cries when he accidentally hurts her and Aloïs usually feels bad and apologizes shortly after.

Roxanne is one of the rare people who is always able to know how Aloïs feels even when he doesn't show emotions.

CAT

Cat has been Aloïs' love interest for 12 years. She's officially her girlfriend but their relationship is more complex than just "dating". They argue quite often due to Aloïs' lack of empathy and his inability to express feelings, but also because Cat is naturally invasive and doesn't know how to deal with neurodivergent people nor respect Aloïs' limits.

Aloïs doesn't properly understand how Cat works eventhough they've known each other for a long time; he's not used to interact with people outside the Division, especially people without traumas or disorders.

Aloïs often hurts her psychologically by accident and can't help reproducing the toxic reflexes he was taught with Cat. His control obsession and his brutal directness are a major problem in their relationship. They never work and broke up an incalculable number of times but always come back to each other because they're deeply in love. Both Cat and him suffer from the situation and wish they could and make efforts to fix things.

Because he's socially maladapted, Aloïs doesn't understand when Cat is flirting with or complimenting him, so he doesn't really knows if she still loves him or not.

Cat doesn't know about Aloïs' secret identity.

MYKO

Just like for Cat, Aloïs' relationship with Myko is a disaster. They're in permanent conflict because their respective personalities and neurodivergences don't match. They're not close at all in their private life and a huge part of their conversations revolve around work, are arguments, or both.

Aloïs thinks they're immature and careless; his control obsession also fears Myko's unpredictability. Since Myko is a free spirit who doesn't care much about rules, they often disobey Aloïs or just forget what the plan was, which leads at best to Aloïs getting angry, at worse to failed missions or injuries.

Therefore Aloïs considers Myko to be a threat for the team and suspends them whenever they break the rule, which makes Myko resentful and provocative towards their leader. These provocations annoy Aloïs and are responsible for a vicious circle.

Myko's hyperactivity, noisiness and extrovert personality also tire Aloïs' and trigger his hypersensitivity.

However, he never considered firing them from the team because Myko can be effective and Aloïs still likes them.

They both suffer from this conflictual relationship because they still see each other as team mates and friends. Aloïs always fixes Myko's mistakes, is upset when he accidentally offends them and would sacrifice his life for them without blinking.

Myko would do the same for him but neither of them manages to express it.

A big part of the conflict comes from an absence of communication.

GRACE

Aloïs cares about and values Grace a lot. Their relationship is mostly positive : he's the person who saved her from a suicide attempt 5 years before the story, therefore he oftenly checks if she's okay.

Grace's empathy and kindness make them quite the opposite emotionally but they still have agreeable conversations. Grace has perfectly understood Aloïs is not a talkative person and struggles with social interactions : she doesn't force him to communicate and Aloïs is grateful for it. He sometimes even comes to her when he's lost and needs to have his own feelings explained.

He likes her serene and peaceful personality.

Aloïs also is appreciative of the support she gives everyone in the team, his depressed and suicidal brother especially.

Nonetheless he is, like many other people, sometimes afraid of Grace's powers. He considers telepathy as a violation of his intimity and doesn't manage to trust Grace enough to make sure she won't read his mind without his consent.

ERWAN

Aloïs' relationship to Erwan is quite tense at the beginning. Since Erwan is mistaken for a criminal, Aloïs can't trust him and gets stressed when Erwan is forced to live with him at the headquarters. The presence of a new, unknown person home also triggers him. His hostility is such that he causes Erwan a panick attack after treating him with emotional brutality.

Moreover, what Erwan thinks and says about superheroes upsets Aloïs and triggers his lack of self-confidence, causing him to doubt and stress even more. Their animosity is reciprocate during the first arc but their relationship evolves later.

As Erwan finds faith in humanity and heroism again, Aloïs starts seeing him as a trustworthy, respectful and respectable person. Erwan's bravery and the altruism he will finally develop are something Aloïs appreciates.

On the other hand, Aloïs is the one to restore Erwan's hope with the strength of his convictions and his heroic actions. He will even grant him a place in the team in the end.

They don't consider as friends but both have respect for each other.

LOUISON

Since Louison is not a part of the Division, they don't interact a lot but their rare interactions are positive. Contrary to Erwan, Louison is someone who helps Aloïs with his low self-esteem. Being a huge fan of the 7th Division, Louison shows Aloïs his efforts are not vain and that people still believe in kindness and humanity.

Louison also is close to Roxanne and makes her happy, which is enough for Aloïs to appreciate her.

As a freelance superheroine, she sometimes helps the 7th Division and Aloïs helps her with her homeworks because they both studied law.

[eagledreaming]

Difficult person test

You are an easy person to get along with (27.86%).

Tagged by: No one, I stole it Tagging: @huntersfire​ and Anyone else can steal it.

[sunwoo-hoo]

↣ the boyz reaction to s/o feeling stressed

↳ a/n: hello my lovelies! we are back with another tbz reaction! side note, with every reaction i get it’s going to be canon with my ‘as your boyfriend series’ so keep that in mind when requesting. this is for the lovely anon who requested this. i hope you enjoy it. ☻ 18+ due to language

↳ genre: fluff? slight angst? i don’t even know someone tell me

↳ requested? yes

↳ send me your requests here!

↳ word count: 3.4k

↳ the boyz x fem reader

「 Lee Sangyeon  」

you normally weren’t one to get stressed out often but when your job decided to give you a promotion you weren’t expecting the extra workload it would bring

you got assigned to one of the major projects your company was working on and slowly but surely you felt your energy draining with each day passing by

even though sangyeon was extremely busy as well he was worried about you  

after coming home from a long day of practice sangyeon noticed when you weren’t in the front foyer to give him his welcome home kiss like you usually did

as he walked to your bedroom he saw you sitting by the desk typing away at your computer

as he made his way towards you he squatted down slightly to give you a warm cheek kiss

“hey baby, how about you take a break huh? you’ve been working so hard, let me cook something for you” he insisted

“hmm? oh.. okay, i’m sorry sangyeon, work has been driving me up the wall lately i didn’t mean to shut you out” you mumbled

he gave you a small smile as he stroked your cheek before replying “don’t worry about it baby i just don’t want you to overwork yourself” he said

during your break sangyeon is cooking you dinner, listening to all your troubles and even trying his best to help you with your project. by the end of the night expect a lot of cuddles and kisses.

「 Jacob Bae  」

stress was something you’ve always experienced, especially being a university student finishing your final year

jacob was super supportive of your dreams always helping you study in any way he can

sometimes even distracting you to get your mind off it so that you wouldn’t burn out

but as final exams were just around the corner you were so stressed to the point that you cried and threw your book across the table in frustration

jacob turned his head and quickly took notice since he was only a couple of feet away reading a book which he swiftly set down and rushed to your side

“oh babe, don’t cry please, i promise it’s going to be okay” he whispered as he wiped your tears away  

you completely broke down sobbing uncontrollably onto jacob’s sleeve as he held you close giving you hushed praise

“how about we go and rest for a little? a nap would be good for you” he softly asked as you simply nodded

jacob helped you up as you made your way to your bedroom where he made it relaxing as possible turning on the air humidifier and lighting a lavender candle. he also made sure that the curtains were closed so that the room was dark enough to fall asleep to

soon enough your drifting into a calming sleep in jacob’s arms.

「 Kim Younghoon  」

it had been 3 months since you’ve started dating kim younghoon, your relationship was everything you could’ve dreamed of. it was absolutely perfect with no flaws what so ever.  

with all that in mind you started to wonder why you both hadn’t exchange i love you’s. you knew younghoon felt strongly for you, always making sure you were taken care of, constantly hugging and kissing you.

the whole situation started to stress you out and make you second guess everything

you loved younghoon but you had to admit you were a bit apprehensive on saying it first, since you didn’t know what younghoon’s response would be.

he could’ve said it back, or worse, not say anything at all.

one evening when younghoon was sleeping over your place you decided then and there that you were going to muster up your courage and finally say the three words you’ve been stressing over.

as you both were watching t.v his arms draped over your shoulders you looked up over at younghoon who was fixated on the drama that was playing. you cleared your throat

“younghoon.. i have to tell you something… something i’ve been wanting to tell you for awhile now” you announced hesitantly

as he looked over at you he adjusted his body to fully look at you face on

“really? i actually have something to say as well” he replied

your ears perked as you continued “how about we say it at the same?”

he nodded smiling before counting down “3…2…1..”

“i love you” you said “i’m in love with you” he whispered

you breathed the biggest sigh of relief before sliding in his lap giving him the softest kiss as you felt younghoon’s arms around your waist

「 Lee Hyunjae 」

your relationship with hyunjae was many things, exciting, passionate, intense. never in a million years would you think it would be stressful, or let me rephrase: you never thought it would be this stressful  

you received a text message from hyunjae one afternoon saying that he needed to talk to you and that it was important

at that moment your mind was going through so many options on what it could be, your thoughts becoming worse and worse.

oh god is this it? he wants to beak up with me

did he cheat on me? i’ll fucking kill him if he did

oh my god what if he’s not in love with me anymore?

as your mind was going a mile a minute you finally broke out of your daze when your friend who you were out to lunch with told you that it probably wasn’t all that bad and that you should trust hyunjae.

when the evening finally  rolled around you went to visit hyunjae just right when he got home from practice.

“hey baby” he smiled giving you a peck on the lips, giving him a small you replied “hey” back as you two sat on the sofa

“so what’s going on?” you asked as you were rubbing your palms against your knees trying to get rid of the sweat

hyunjae instantly noticed your anxious aura and grabbed your hands holding them tightly giving them a kiss

“well, we’ve been dating for almost a year now and i think it’s time.. for you to meet my parents” he said proudly

you blinked a couple of times as your brain still hadn’t registered the information he just said

“i want them to meet the girl i’m madly in love with” he continued

when you finally heard his words your first instinct was to hit hyunjae’s arm

“ah! hey! what was that for?” he shouted rubbing his arm

“jesus christ hyunjae i thought you were breaking up with me!” you shouted back

he laughed grabbing your waist pulling you close on his lap putting his head in the crook of your neck “i could never” he whispered giving your neck a light kiss

「 Lee Juyeon 」

to say that you were having a bad week was the understatement of the year.

it all started when you caught the flu, you felt horrible. it was constant sneezing, throwing up, runny nose, all of it.

you started to feel stressed when juyeon risked his safety getting sick to take care of you. you especially didn’t want him getting sick when the boyz comeback was nearly a month away.

you told him that you could take care of yourself, but juyeon didn’t take no for an answer.

you had to admit even though you were sick you couldn’t deny that you loved having juyeon with you 24/7 he was being the perfect boyfriend getting you tea, wet cloths for your forehead, and making sure you took your medicine every night.

“open your mouth, good girl” he praised putting the spoonful of medicine in your mouth

“you know if i wasn’t sick you would be saying those exact words another way” you teased coughing slightly

juyeon smirked and kissed your forehead in response

slowly but surely after a week you were starting to feel better but then your sickness hit juyeon as predicted delaying the comeback for nearly two weeks.

「 Kevin Moon 」

it was a hard month for kevin, the boyz comeback had just started and he was stressing over all the performances and interviews wanting to make sure that each one was up to his standards

it was so bad that all his stress levels were slowing creeping up on you making you become stressed yourself

it was starting to effect your relationship and you knew you had to do something quick before you and kevin would get into a fight you were not mentally prepared for

the comeback was closing in on it’s last week and you had decided to make one evening extremely special pampering kevin.

you decided to make his favorite meal, wearing your sexy yet tasteful red dress, with your black lacy bra and matching panties for later activities.

as kevin walked into your apartment he noticed you immediately smiling at your attire

“hey babe, what’s all this?” he asked pointing to all the candles and dim lighting

“what do you mean? can’t i do something special for the man i love?” you replied innocently walking up to him giving him a soft kiss on the lips

as kevin deepened the kiss your back found it’s way to the cold wall behind you as kevin started to trail kisses along the side of your jaw making his way down to your neck

you were excited it wasn’t often that kevin was a dom but you had pressing matters to attend to first

“k-kevin wait… i want to talk first” you whimpered as he finally reached your sweet spot

kevin stopped immediately to your words and gave you a quick peck on lips before nodding

you grabbed his hand and made your way to the dining table where the food was most likely cold by now and sat down on the chair

“kev, i just wanted to talk about how you’ve been so stressed with this comeback and everything it’s.. it’s starting to effect our relationship” you mumbled

he sighed and agreed “i know it has, and i’m so sorry for that babe” he said grabbing your hand as he continued “i’ll promise to be better about it, you know that i don’t want to ruin what we have. i love you”

you smiled feeling 100 times better about the situation giving kevin a kiss on the cheek  

you lightly laughed as you pulled apart “the dinner is totally cold now by the way”

“let’s just order a pizza, it probably wasn’t that good anyway” he teased before you shoved him playfully in response

「 Choi Chanhee 」

what was suppose to be a relaxing day off spending it with your boyfriend choi chanhee it drastically changed into a nightmare

you both decided to spend the day shopping for some new clothes together

at first you thought it was a cute idea, thinking you would get matching couple outfits so that you can coordinate for the upcoming summer season

but it quickly turned into a stressful day when chanhee wanted you to try on every shirt, every dress, and pants, you were starting to regret this little outing until you finally snapped at him

“love, you would look so cute in this why don’t you-”

“no!” you yelled quickly covering your mouth at your sudden outburst in public

chanhee gave you a puzzled look not expecting your sudden change in mood

you quickly apologized not wanting to start a fight in public, pulling him to the side of the store where it was secluded from prying eyes

“chanhee… i’m sorry it’s just i’m tired i thought this would be fun but it’s stressing me out, it’s all too much” you sighed looking down at your shoes

chanhee pushed a strand of your hair behind your ear and lifted your head up with his index finger

“oh love, don’t apologize i should be the one apologizing i’m sorry for being excited, i just wanted to have a fun day with you, let’s go home okay?” he reassured kissing your temple

「 Ji Changmin/Q 」

you had it all planned out, you were going to introduce your friends to your wonderful boyfriend ji changmin

you ultimately thought that they should finally meet him after dating for nearly 4 months

at first you had no idea why you decided to wait this long, considering you already met all the members and were close to each of them

you were extremely nervous and stressed for their first interaction you just wanted everything to be perfect with smooth sailing

changmin was going to meet two of your closest friends who were also a couple themselves

it was a chilly fall day when you all decided to meet up at a nearby cafe changmin’s hand in yours trying to warm it up blowing on it while pressing kisses

“don’t worry babe, it’s all going to work out fine” he smiled easing your nervousness

when you finally made it to the cafe your friends were already waiting and quickly made introductions  

they easily took noticed when changmin ordered your drink he knew you loved and paid for everything with his card as your friends gave you hushed whispers

“wow, he’s such a gentlemen” she gushed “yeah, and he even knew your order by heart” he replied giving you a thumbs up

you smiled when changmin returned with both of your orders giving you a cheek kiss when he sat down

to your surprise the conversation between the four of you went smoothly changmin easily wooing them with his charms and cheerful aura

your friends especially had a million questions when it came to his idol life out of general curiosity

changmin didn’t mind at all answering every single one with ease even laughing at the humorous ones

your heart melted at the interaction when you realized in the end you had nothing to worry about

「 Juhaknyeon 」

you knew juhaknyeon always loved your home cooking as he was always excited whenever he came home from practice knowing he would have a hot meal ready for him

but this time was different, you weren’t just cooking for him but cooking for his parents who so happen to be visiting you two

you met juhaknyeon’s parents before who were very down to earth and humble people always making you feel welcomed

but you had to admit you were a bit stressed trying to live up to the expectations

it was less than a couple of hours away before they would be arriving and you were running around the supermarket with juhaknyeon on your tail

“babe, slow down your gonna run out of energy” he grunted breathing heavily

“juhak you don’t understand your parents opinion mean the world to me, i want them to love my cooking” you said looking down at your hands trying to decide between the beef or pork belly

juhaknyeon gave you a side hug pulling you close “they are going to love whatever you make, because i love it too” he promised kissing the top of your head

when you finally made it back to the dorms and cooked up a storm that would’ve fed all 11 members juhakyeon’s parents finally made an appearance

after the quick greetings and the light scolding from juhak’s mother telling him to keep his room neater she finally took in your food spread

“wow! it all looks amazing [name] i’m sure it taste wonderful too” she smiled warmly pinching your cheek lightly

when you all finally sat down to eat you anxiously waited for juhakyeon’s parents comments

after a couple of bites juhak’s mother proudly exclaimed “it’s delicious [name] really! everything taste amazing, i’m so happy our son found someone who can feed him like this” she praised

you bowed your head thanking her for her positive comments as haknyeon grabbed your hand under the table squeezing it giving you a wink

「 Kim Sunwoo 」

you loved your mother dearly, but she was starting to text and call you nearly everyday about when you and sunwoo were finally going to get married

even though you loved sunwoo and were dating for a year and half you told her that it wasn’t a good time yet. sunwoo had major responsibilities when it came to his idol life

not to mention that you and sunwoo were still very young and just wanted to enjoy being together before you had to tackle even more responsibilities like marriage

you were laying in bed when you got off the phone with your mother after another hour long call

you sighed staring at ceiling fan feeling pressured and stressed when sunwoo walked in the bedroom

“hey babe, have you seen my adidas hoodie?” he wondered as he saw you looking emotionless at the ceiling

he hovered over you waving his hands across your face trying to get your attention

“hm? oh sorry it’s behind the door in the bathroom” you mumbled

sunwoo swiftly climbed on top of you resting his chin on your chest “what’s wrong babe? who was on the phone?” he asked

you hesistantly replied “it’s just my mother, she keeps wondering when.. well.. she keeps asking when we’re getting married” you laughed lightly

sunwoo smirked “oh really? close your eyes” he instructed

confused you did as you were told as you felt sunwoo get off you hearing the sound of the dresser opening

“okay now open” he said as you saw sunwoo with your own two eyes on his knee with a black velvet box in his hands

“sunwoo oh my god, don’t do this to me i-i’m” you stammered as you felt your hands begin to shake

he smiled and open the box where you saw a gorgeous sterling silver infinity ring with a small diamond in the middle

“[name] this isn’t an engagement ring, it’s a promise. a promise to always love you and cherish you, and to always respect you. i am going to marry you one day, when we’re both ready. i’ve never loved anyone as much as i love you” he vowed putting the ring on your finger

you then felt the tears flow grabbing his face with both your hands giving him a longing kiss falling back on the bed with him on top of you

as sunwoo began to take off his shirt that’s when you saw his necklace with the same infinity symbol as your ring

you smiled as you grabbed his necklace pulling him back down for another kiss

「 Eric Sohn 」

it was official you wanted to kill eric, he knew you were afraid of heights. yet he manage to persuade you on getting on an airplane to go to okinawa for a weekend getaway trip

you loved that he put so much thought into your weekend, making sure to pick the nicest hotel with a view by lots of restaurants and attractions

but you were beyond stressed, the only time you’ve been on an airplane is when you were little and moved to seoul from america, you barely remember the experience sleeping the entire trip

your body was shaking as you walked up the ramp finally boarding the airplane going to your seats

eric put away your luggage above the overhead bin and took the window seat hoping you would feel more comfortable being in the middle

as you took your seats your heart started to beat extremely fast and you started to breath heavily

eric took your hands in his “babe i promise it’s going to be okay flying is one of the safest ways to travel” he promised rubbing the side of your arm trying to calm you down

you nodded “no yeah your right i need to face my fears sometime” you bravely said

when the flight finally took off your nerves managed to subdued until you hit mild turbulence which freaked you out all over again

eric quickly grabbed his sleeping mask putting it over your eyes and large headphones with loud music trying to mask your senses which worked wonders as you lay your head on his shoulder

he held your hand tightly when you finally landed getting off the 2 hour flight

as you made your way to the hotel you were in awe of okinawa absorbing all the buildings and the mass of people walking by

you looked at eric “thank you eric this is amazing, i don’t think there’s anyone else i would trust to help me face my fears” you said bashfully

he leaned over and kissed your jaw “anytime babe” he murmured

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* © sunwoo-hoo 2 0 2 1  ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

[filmsmakkari]

Hi I just read your Shawn hunter x astrology girl reader fic and I loved it!! There aren't enough fics for him tbh

I've done some pretty extensive googling and can't find a Canon birthday for Shawn, so what do you think his big three are? I would love your opinion on this

first of all- there really are not and the lack of shawn fics literally breaks my wee heart

but secondly- shawn patrick hunter was born on march 22 at 1:02am and he's an aries sun, taurus moon, sagittarius rising

so aries suns are super charismatic, adventurous, and passionate. shawn obviously has a TON of natural charisma, he's super adventurous and is always taking risks (going up to feeny's cabin in the mountains, breaking rules in class, etc.)

on the flip side of aries, they can be aggressive, reckless, and short-tempered, which we see a bunch of times with shawn getting in fights, and acting before thinking (like when he blew up the mailbox or when he stole turner's bike).

taurus moon's EXUDE sensuality and are usually very attractive to everyone around them (which is a trait shawn obviously possesses because he literally runs his hands through his hair and all of a sudden girls start flocking around him- plus he's definitely a taurus venus too so that venusian energy is STRONG); in relationships, taurus moon's love is deep and unwavering, which we don't see from shawn in the beginning, but as his relationship with angela progresses, even after they break up, his love for her is still strong and never falters for even a moment.

one of the biggest flaws of taurus placements is that they don't like change, something we see in shawn with his reluctance to move as his living space is constantly changing in the show.

finally, sag risings are confident, optimistic, and outspoken. shawn, not matter what turmoil he's going through in his personal life, is generally very upbeat and bright, and he definitely does not fear speaking his mind or standing up for his opinions and ideas.

sag risings seem to constantly be on the search for something that's eternally out of their grasp, many deal with this for their entire lives. shawn is someone who constantly feels lost and as if he's just blowing through life trying to find his purpose, which gives major lost puppy sagittarius rising energy.

so in conclusion, here is a very long explanation of a 90s sitcom character that no one wanted. i hope this brought you a crumb of amusement.

ps

his big six all together are definitely...

aries sun

taurus moon

sagittarius rising

aquarius mars

taurus venus

pisces mercury

[nevermindirah]

Things I love about James Tiberius Copley

*Tiberius isn't his canon middle name. Nile calls him that in I See Your Eyes Seek a Distant Shore, where Nile & Copley friendship was the sneak-attack best part of writing that fic. (Background detail I decided just now: Nile used to watch a lot of Star Trek reruns with her grandparents.)

Ok. James Copley. The antagonist with a heart of... actually a significant amount of gold alloyed with the bullshit.

His wife died two years ago and he sounds wrecked describing her late-stage symptoms. He starts with "she couldn't TALK." He cared about what that woman had to say. He quit his high-status high-salary job because of her illness — the movie doesn't specify whether it was to care for her, to spend more time with her, or just because of his grief, but the way Chiwetel portrays him, I think he was part of her care team.

I know a lot of people with professional experience at least somewhat like Copley's and that shit is beyond toxic, interpersonally and structurally. You never know whether someone who's pleasant and engaging like Copley is at that table in Marrakech will turn out to be an unrepentant power-hungry monster who's charming only as far as it'll get them something they want. We've seen plenty of those stories and many of them are interesting but I love that Copley's story isn't that. He has genuinely good intentions: the end of disease. He just doesn't fucking think about the downsides of his chosen strategy.

It completely tracks with my experience of folks who've spent years in "for the greater good" jobs related to the US government that he would do something this terrible, with such obviously predictable negative consequences, having made no contingencies whatsoever to prevent or even limit those obviously predictable negative consequences, while genuinely believing himself to be doing the right thing for the right reasons. Not seeing the trees for the forest thinking is one of the most frustrating and heartbreaking things about my industry, and seeing that play out here in the form of Copley failing to give adequately clear instructions to the kill floor mercenaries and then failing to anticipate Merrick's extremely strong economic motivation to lock away the Guard for a long-ass time, and then seeing fandom explode with very reasonable "wow Copley and Booker are complete idiots" — like, yeah, that's exactly why a lot of government programs don't work anywhere near as well as they should. Can't see the trees for the forest thinking. It's not just white supremacy and capitalism that means we can't have nice things (though that's A LOT of why), it's also that running massively complex projects requires attention to the micro as well as the macro that plenty of smart and ambitious and at-least-somewhat-well-meaning people like James Copley just completely fail at. They believe their own bullshit and believe their golden ambitions will be enough. The text doesn't super encourage this analysis, but it's there, and it's a hell of a thing to be present even under the surface in a summer blockbuster.

Copley's biggest flaw is assuming everyone shares his moral worldview. He seems unperturbed by the presumably local South Sudanese people who are paid to be slaughtered by the Guard in the opening setup, just how the CIA trained him to be callous to "necessary" loss of life. He insists to Andy and then to Nile that immortality is a gift to the world, and it seems it hadn't occurred to him until Nile says so that it wasn't his gift to give. When Andy isn't healing from Booker's gunshot, Copley is immediately concerned for her welfare (ironic as hell considering he arranged these circumstances) and he's disturbed that Merick isn't, despite Copley's own lack of concern for all the dead mercenaries this plan of his has racked up so far. He's shocked and outraged when he finds out Merrick intends to hold the Guard captive indefinitely when it's just the most obvious fucking thing for a CEO to "protect intel" from competitors. Anticipating where other people he's working with might have values and goals other than his own is not a skill Copley has, because it doesn't occur to him that moral perspectives other than his own even exist.

What interesting flaws to give an antagonist turned support character, especially one who could be a secondary protagonist and even a foil to Nile in the sequel.

My favorite moments of this flawed, squishy mortal person so lovingly portrayed by Chiwetel Ejiofor in The Old Guard (2020) dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood:

The aforementioned "She couldn't talk, at the end, my wife. She couldn't breathe." Copley SWEETHEART

The way his fascination with Andy and the Guard borders on child-like wonder. He's not childISH in any way of course, what I mean here is that there's a purity in his reverence for what Andy, Joe, Nicky, and Booker have done with their immortality. His worldview sees some people as more worthy than others of making decisions that will affect millions, and that's fucked up, and it's definitely informing how he treats Andy. But still, the sheer awe in his voice when he talks about the impact Andy has had on the world.

The way Copley's all ready to risk his life and throw down to rescue the Guard, but he immediately gives it up when Nile reminds him that of the two of them she's the only one who would make it out alive. For a dude who was in the damn CIA for however long, he sure does take a young woman's expertise at face value, no ego posturing whatsoever, and I LOVE THAT FOR HIM.

The way Copley says "Good luck, Ms. Freeman" gives me fucking chills. The RESPECT in his tone. He clocks about as fast as Andy does that Nile is her successor.

[hollyoakhill]

do you have any tips on how to write a good oc? I just read your Intruder fic (it was absolutely amazing!!!!! thank u for blessing us all with that masterpiece) and one thing that really stood out to me was how 3-dimensional and well developed the characters were- their different personalities, the way they interacted with eachother, their behavior in relaxed vs stressful situations, all felt so real and genuine. I know it might be a complicated question, but how do you make your ocs feel real?

Aaa thank you, that is such high praise!

I'm not an expert, but I can go into a little detail of how I approach the creation of my characters. At the risk of this becoming lengthy, I'll put it all under the cut. None of these things will be one way of creating a character, so feel free to pick and choose these tips as you see fit!

1. Tropes are your friend!

It might be disheartening to realize that your character may fall into certain archetypes - the Mentor, the Cheerful Protagonist, the Angry Rival, the Silent Hunter, etc, but this is far from a bad thing. By being aware of what sort of archetype your character falls into, you can use it as a starting point to create some truly fun and memorable characters.

2. Consider what your character does

Do they have a job or some kind of duty? What kind of person do they need to be in order to do their job? Are they unemployed, and if they are, how do they choose to spend their time?

I like to think about this a lot because it helps inform a lot of their other interactions. A character who is used to being in action might get antsy in longer periods of quiet, or maybe they might relax entirely.

3. Your OC's Neighbor

Creating a character all by themselves can be rough. Sometimes all they need is a friend. I can confidently tell you that pretty much all of my characters exist because I started with one Main OC who just needed a friend (or enemy). Sometimes, creating one character means you have to create a whole family of them. This is where tropes will be super helpful again because it will save you the time and energy to work on the characters that matter to your narrative.

And hey, sometimes by creating a Neighbor to your Main OC, you open the door to create some of the most fun and memorable characters in your narrative. (Kitfox would not exist without Sunshine, and Frostbite would not exist without Kitfox.)

4. Play dollhouse with them

Just plop 'em in a scene! Any scene will do. Have one character ask a question and force your fresh baby OC to answer it. What do they say? Do they say nothing at all? Force them into a house with an exit guarded by fifty dogs and a shark. Now, toss a meteor in there. How do they respond to this new threat? Do they run for cover or do they perhaps have a loved one to rescue?

Honestly, anything goes. This is by far the most effective way to foster and nurture a new OC's personality. I've written countless scenes of a character in scenes that will never be 'canon' because it's all just a playground for them to grow.

I really can't overstate how useful this method is to me. To get you started out, here are some fun questions I like to start a scene with:

- "How the hell did you get in here?!"

- "Are you... bleeding, sir?"

- "I thought she was with you?"

- "Why would you let him into the restricted zone?"

- "When will the reinforcements arrive?"

- "Did you eat the last donut?"

5. Find your character's voice

This might be the trickiest thing when making a new character. It's something that might emerge as your write them more and get a feel for their personality. It kind of goes back into the point of playing dollhouse with your OC's a bit, to experiment and have some fun with the different ways your character sounds. Do they have a distinct accent, do they speak with clipped tones, are they quite short and stoic or are they loud and brash? How you write their dialogue will affect your character's personality a lot. Perhaps they don't speak at all? How do they communicate with others? This leads into my next point:

6. Find your character's mannerisms

Body language is probably one of the biggest factors in characterization. It's not just what a character says, but it's what they do as they say it. Do they gesticulate wildly, or are they sheepishly fiddling with the hem of their shirt?

"Where is the book?" he commanded, stepping briskly toward his men. His voice resounded in the massive chamber, the vibrations felt under the soles of their boots.

"Where is the book?" she smiled, gently brushing a blond lock from her face. She leaned against the counter with mild disinterest, but with shifty eyes that said that she was looking for something else.

A LOT of writing can be done outside of the quotation marks. Have fun with the things you add in there! Really, there's nobody stopping you.

Non-verbal characters are fun to write because it really makes you consider the way they move and behave around different people. Are they perhaps proficient in sign language or do they use different tools to communicate? Dialogue can sometimes be far more than just two characters speaking, and sometimes an interaction done without a single word uttered can be more powerful than a lengthy sonnet.

7. Pretend they're real

This might be a little silly, and this is definitely where you can choose to ignore it entirely. I like to keep things within the realm of naturalism. It means that these characters I create all have a hint of human, real-world flavor in them, no matter how whimsical or ridiculous they are.

What I mean in this case, are just simple, ordinary quirks that may or may not have any bearing on the narrative at all. Like, I'm talking just human, ordinary, flawed things, like bad habits, illnesses, mistakes, making stupid decisions... anything really. Sometimes this means having your superhero OC ordering pizza takeout because they're always too tired to do the dishes, your honorable paladin having a toy collection habit, or your witty, wisecracking Captain having depression (cough, cough, Kitfox). Does your character need to take meds? Do they have issues focusing on a subject for a long time? Do they have a gambling habit? These are all things that can affect how they interact with others, or how they behave themselves.

A lot of writing tips mention giving your characters a Flaw (hubris, arrogance, overprotectiveness, narcissism, etc.) It's a great writing principle, but it doesn't always work for me, because I feel like they can be too floaty when I still don't fully know how the OC works. That's why I like to work with this particular Human principle. Keep in mind, I'm not saying these things are Bad Things, but rather ordinary, human quirks that we have to deal with on a daily, and so does your OC.

///

Aaaaand I've been going on for a long time hahah. It seems I got a little carried away! Anyway, these are all things I like to think about when writing, and it's in no way peer-reviewed by other authors, so pick and choose these subjects as you see fit! Hope this helps and have fun OC-making!!

[aelaer]

Hi friend! You seem vast in your knowledge of Stephen and willing to share so please enlighten me as I don’t read the comics but I do watch the mcu movies, and do love Stephen.

I know he’s erratic and impulsive and reckless sometimes but didnt we already complete this arc in his first movie? Especially since we’ve watched him deal with the consequences of his actions for the entirety of the film and end of the movie Stephen was a different Stephen from the beginning of the movie.

IW Stephen seemed like a more mature version of the man we’ve met at the end of his first movie, a linear progression of the character, more responsible.

The spider man trailer is just a few minutes so I’ll further reserve judgment till I see the film, but he seems.. silly almost? I’m aware he has his funny moments but I’m just nervous they’re gonna make him the joke instead of having him make the jokes.

Do you notice anything weird about how the adults act in these newer marvel projects.? (I’m thinking of loki specifically) they all have a silly undertone to them? I cant put my finger on it but it’s definitely new and ..off

Is this a constant characterization for Stephen in the comics? Is this what he’s like all the time?

Regardless, thank you for your time if you see this xx

Oh yeah, Stephen's my favorite subject at the moment so I'm happy to give my thoughts!

Note that my answers apply to MCU!Stephen and what we've seen in the four films he's been in.

I know he’s erratic and impulsive and reckless sometimes but didnt we already complete this arc in his first movie? Especially since we’ve watched him deal with the consequences of his actions for the entirety of the film and end of the movie Stephen was a different Stephen from the beginning of the movie.

In my experience of just living, there are personality quirks that can be tempered out and made better, but not entirely eliminated, even if it's undesirable. In my opinion, Stephen's need to push himself and prove that he can Do A Thing is a trait that won't ever go away--especially as that trait has helped him more than hindered him. Examples would include the more mundane such as getting through a combined MD/PhD program and inventing surgical procedures at what is still a really young age for a neurosurgeon. We don't have a canonical age for Stephen, but Benedict was 40 when Doctor Strange was filmed and released; even if he's canonically in his mid-40s, that's still very young for him to be at his caliber after the necessary years of med school and residency in the United States. He's young and nowhere near the end of his career when he gets in the car crash. So with that information in mind, we know that he's very ambitious and throws himself into doing difficult work with gusto. That doesn't even go into everything he did as a sorcerer.

Why get into all of this? Because while we, the viewer who has seen the multiverse open at... some point (possibly, in a rewritten timeline, it's always been open now with what happened in Loki!), we have seen just how nuts it gets. We have seen the consequences. Stephen's smart, but I don't think it's a matter of strictly recklessness and more a combination of ignorance on this specific subject (erasing memories across the world or slightly rewriting time-- we don't know how he's doing it, but a memory spell makes more sense to me), hubris (of course), and the real desire to help Peter out. The latter two traits combined in intelligent people have proven bad in both fiction and reality.

The reason I don't think it's pure impulsiveness is because in the trailer, we see Stephen doing some meditation type thing in the underground area before the spell. He's also always doing research and as he tells Peter he'll help him, he clearly knows of a spell already and has some working knowledge of how it works. The conversation with Wong wouldn't have happened otherwise. But I personally get the vibe off him that he'd not do it without being very confident that he can do it -- and his history in the films has shown 0 failures in any of his spells once he's past novice-level, so in that aspect, his confidence makes sense. If he *should* do the spell due to the risks of failure, and lack of practicing precaution in the face of his confidence, is where his flaws lie, IMO. And in that sense people could say he was reckless for deciding to perform a complicated, dangerous spell, but that follows his M.O. completely -- he performed a very complicated, dangerous spell consistently with the Time Stone again and again, from how the sorcerers spoke about the Infinity Stone (and he casually just... throws himself into a time loop, then to look through time. He takes calculated risks, but they are very much risks).

One last thought on this statement - the biggest, biggest lesson that Stephen learned in his first film was that it was not about him. There was more to the world than his glory and his brilliance and even his happiness. He started doing things for the greater good rather than himself. And he started doing things for others -- fighting for the Sanctum in his own film, and protecting the Earth. Serving something greater than himself. But that doesn't make him suddenly humble, and it doesn't suddenly take away his strange (hah) sense of humor.

IW Stephen seemed like a more mature version of the man we’ve met at the end of his first movie, a linear progression of the character, more responsible.

He was more serious in that film. So was Tony. They still had some quips and arguments, but they were very serious. And it makes sense as to why -- it was the end of the world. So the mood of the setting would change anyone's demeanour. But he had very little chance to unwind in that film, considering that he was trying to protect one of six items that would destroy the universe, and also got freaking tortured in the middle of the film with little time to recover. But nearly every Avenger was super serious in that film, and for good reason.

It's a completely different setting from what is now Stephen's life which, from what little we've seen in the trailer, is weird enough that he got a magical snowstorm in the Sanctum. It's safe enough that Wong's off on vacation. It's been nearly a year since he returned from the dead. He's either figured out how to move on in the last year or, as some prefer, has gotten good enough to put on a facade and bury the trauma so far down that he's putting on a normal act - but that's up to debate until MoM. And we have no idea if old traumas are going to be brought up there or if it's just the new things.

I think the point is that it's possible to be both a responsible person and also to make colossal mistakes due to either emotional connections or hubris (or both - we don't know which way the film will go, if they'll explain it at all). They're not mutually exclusive. He can be protecting reality fantastically, while also believing that he's skilled enough to pull off the ability to pull off a dangerous spell which he did in his own film and in IW. He's guided the timeline down a specific path in IW/Endgame, after all - what's a little identity item compared to the fate of the universe, after all? Removing the Spider-Man/Peter association is, in comparison, child's play I imagine to a man like Stephen.

The spider man trailer is just a few minutes so I’ll further reserve judgment till I see the film, but he seems.. silly almost? I’m aware he has his funny moments but I’m just nervous they’re gonna make him the joke instead of having him make the jokes.

Do you notice anything weird about how the adults act in these newer marvel projects.? (I’m thinking of loki specifically) they all have a silly undertone to them? I cant put my finger on it but it’s definitely new and ..off

He was definitely silly in his own film. He was constantly trying to get Wong to laugh and there was a banter between Stephen and Christine after he gets stabbed. He's always been a bit awkward and a bit jokey--I think Thor showed that combination of humorous snark and good research rather well, though he was flippant in a way that didn't get to show his kinder side that is better established in his film. And now we get to see that sympathy in his agreement to help Peter (at least, in my opinion).

Because he was doing an amazing awesome spell not once, not twice, but *three* times in the trailer alone, I am not worried about Stephen just being a joke. He seems just as powerful as he was in IW and Endgame. The rest of the world is just getting reminded that he's definitely a bit of a socially awkward duck at times (or, if you prefer, Putting On a "I'm Fine" Front And It's Coming Across As Weird). So him being a big joke is not something I am personally worried about.

Situational humor has been a staple of Marvel films since Iron Man. I watched the films casually before 2016 when I fell head deep into Stephen Strange (or well, 2018/9 is more accurate as that's when I *really* went nuts), and my viewings before that time and after that time was a lot more analytical. And it's very easy to see where the silliness started, all the way back when Tony crashed into his own car and Dum-E sprayed him with a fire extinguisher. Thor was the butt of the joke in the "fish out of water" scene in a good, good chunk of the film. Even Captain America had some situational humor. And remember that Guardians of the Galaxy was back in 2014, which was halfway through the MCU's time thus far. The stars of these films are almost always the butt of some joke a couple times and do things that could be viewed as childish.

I don't know your age at all, but if you were born after 1990, what might be happening, rather, is that they are not getting sillier, but that you may be getting older. I was an adult (legally, at least) in 2008, but the way I view the adults of the films throughout the early 2010s as compared to now is night and day. It's just come with my own life experience, and wider understanding to media tropes. The jump is even more significant if you were younger in Iron Man/Avengers days and are an adult now. If you're an older adult than me, then I'd argue it's the matter of life experience adding to your overall knowledge of media plus, potentially, rose-tinted glasses giving you a better vision of the older movies while forgetting that the older movies had plenty of their own flaws (and silliness). Could be a lot of things- it's too individual to really say why your perspective has changed. But I don't think the MCU's largely changed their comedy formula since 2012/2013.

Is this a constant characterization for Stephen in the comics? Is this what he’s like all the time?

Oh the comics are a mess of characterizations. It's very difficult to find full consistency across writers, and some writers did him much better than others. At the moment, Jason Aaron's 2015 run is viewed as very good by a large amount of fans, while Waid's 2018 run is viewed with mixed reviews. It's largely a matter of preference as you'll see traits that are just so uncharacteristic in an arc and then it never happens again. He takes on secret identities, he kills billions to save trillions (along with the other Avengers!), he sells his soul, he's in a steady relationship for 30 years, then he's sleeping with a new woman every arc he co-stars in-- it's just so dependent on the writer over the decades. What Marvel thinks will sell. Right now Marvel thinks his death is gonna sell issues, so yeah :P You pick and choose with the comics and build a personality from there.

Thank you for the thoughtful ask. I hope this wasn't too much of a drag to read through; I get rambly on my favorite subjects. Or anything, really.

[mrslackles]

what do you think are gg's biggest flaws?

Ooh, Anon! It’s like you’re in my head. 

I’m busy making a video (that will probably never see the light of day) about this --  my distance from the show has really helped with some super objective clarity -- so I’ll use my notes from that to help me answer. 

I’ll preface this by saying what I was most shocked by after putting down all the points was that Rio isn’t even mentioned until really far down??

Anyway, let's get into it.

These are Good Girls' greatest flaws in my opinion (and relative to season 1 -- while I think it had its flaws too, the list is far smaller and I think that's a separate post)

1. It didn't stick to its guns

What set this show apart from others in the 'Everyday person does crime (poorly)' genre was its comedic lightness, strong friendship element, relatability and emphasis on girl power.

a) By season 2, the lightness was already slowly disappearing to make way for season 3's darkness. (Quite literally; this show said sunlight scenes for WHO.) It also stopped being as fun. Remember how it genuinely used to be fun? I mean let's not forget The Best Scene Ever where Ruby shoots Big Mike by accident and we all laughed our asses off. (Compare and contrast to a similar-in-tone-and-context scene -- or even the whole episode -- like Boomer popping up behind them as Rio's package in season 3.) I think season 3 had some great lines and laughs, but in general, the fun element was completely missing for me.

b) As was the friendship. We already know Annie and Ruby basically became Beth's backup dancers in season 2, but at least then they still seemed to have some type of agency. In season 3, they rarely question Beth's (truly questionable) decisions, don't talk to her about shit like why she's still with her horrible husband and have very few true friendship moments as they did in season 1.

c) Which made it less relatable, but what also contributed was the major plot holes (it's less easy to relate when you're constantly having to remind yourself to suspend your disbelief). And, to be honest, their stupid actions. Just the most common-sense things weren't followed, like not taking your children to a crack den or not putting a hit out on a gang leader. It's frustrating watching a TV show -- where characters are supposed to learn things, have arcs and improve over time -- and feeling like you have more logical sense than all the main characters in every scene. (WHO would think a hitman was going to use a sniper rifle on people in broad daylight on the side of the road???)

d) You don't have to look any further than the title or the stans who shout "THE SHOW IS ABOUT THE GIRLS" -- or, hell, the first 10 seconds of the show where Sara is literally talking about the glass ceiling -- to know that the main characters being women is very important to the show. If not formally feminist, it was at least supposed to be empowering or feel like "girl power" (a term I hate, but we won't get into that now).

And I think it did it pretty well in season 1 -- it actually played on my favourite theme of the show, which is the world's perception of these women being what ultimately allows them to get away with so much. (Rife with opportunities for commentary about white privilege, but also a genius way to upend patriarchal beliefs.) But more and more it seemed like the show was asking you to accept empowerment as simply "these things are being done by women, yay".

And, well.

2. Its marketing

I'll keep this one short because I think we all know how messed up this situation is. Basically they're selling a show (every week!) that they're not making while ignoring all feedback on every social media platform. Which brings us to...

3. The marriage of Death

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times -- Beth's character development starts with getting rid of Dean. Her growth is stunted by him on multiple fronts and it's frustrating to viewers since she's constantly put forth as the main character. Not to mention how the audience, separately from Beth, was originally conditioned to see Dean as the scum of the earth (think of scenes like him crashing his car because he was perving on a woman jogging) so keeping them together is really... a choice. To actively root for this marriage (which seems like what the show wants, at least for the protracted moment) means either thinking Dean is a great person (which, as I said, we've only seen the opposite of) or believing he's all Beth deserves. Which leads me to...

4. Beth's (socio)path(y)

Is sociopath a 'good' word? Probably not. Have I seen dozens upon dozens of posts talking about whether Beth is one? Yes. And I see it from a huge variety of people -- from viewers who just binged the show last weekend to those who've been watching for years, the question keeps coming up. And I entirely blame the writing of the show that, by the way, I don't believe is deliberately creating Beth to get this reaction. I think she's written (and, to an extent, acted) in a way that is much too aloof and I'm not convinced it's meant to come off as cold and unfeeling as it does. Everything else leads me to believe that the audience is supposed to root for Beth, but it's just so difficult.

Beth does a lot of messed up shit that requires dialogue to sympathise with her and the inner workings of her mind, but in the later seasons Beth rarely gets to express herself verbally. And every time she does get to speak about her emotions, the dialogue is a pick-your-own-adventure between "She's in so much denial", "This person feels no emotions" and "I'll go find an analysis/fic later to explain this" (scenes like "Nothing" or "I was just bored"). Compare and contrast with some of the great scenes in season 1 where she emotes, like her paralysing shock after they first rob the store or admitting she enjoys crime, or (one of my favourites!) the one in the park where she's mimicking the other mothers beside her.

5. Brio

I said in the beginning that I was shocked Rio doesn't get mentioned until this point and that's because I've always felt like he was an integral part of the show. When people say the show is about the girls, they're truncating -- the show is about the girls getting into crime. That crime is represented by Rio over and over again -- they never bring in another criminal at his level (which is another one of its flaws, but that's also a different post); Rio is it.

And though I stand by Rio's importance, the truth is that Brio isn't as essential to the show, by which I mean that if all of the above were done well, it wouldn't be as sorely missed. In lieu of riveting plot, a fun friendship, character development and empowerment, most viewers have glommed onto Brio like a lifeboat (or ship, heh).

Unfortunately it's also what the show has most stubbornly refused to develop significantly.

It's honestly a toss-up for why I feel Brio is a flaw: is the flaw that they got together? That they never got together well enough? That the writing keeps bringing in these 'chemistry-filled' scenes that are ultimately filled with air?

I don't know. Maybe all of them; maybe just one, depending on the day.

6. Its criticism falls flat without intersectionality

This is a big one because Good Girls is *trying* to do something very clever. As mentioned previously, my favourite theme of the show is how the women's apparent innocence/vulnerability in the eyes of society is their biggest strength. The show plays with this and other interesting themes with varying levels of success, but ultimately they all fall a little flat when they don't feel intersectional.

When Ruby gets sidelined. When Turner, who sees and all but calls out by name Beth's privilege, is portrayed as the villain. When Rio is told he's gonna "pop a cap" in his young child's "ass". When the racist grandma becomes a sympathetic character whom we must later grieve. (And she really didn't have to be racist, now that I think about it? It was just that one line for laughs and that was it.) When, despite the real-world implications, Dean can loudly announce in a store that he's buying a gun to kill someone with and the show just glides past it. When Ruby has to grovel for forgiveness from Beth for trying to protect her husband and family from the system, with no acknowledgement from Beth about how their realities are different. When Rhea gets booted off the show as soon as she's done serving Beth's plot. When Rio gets treated like a prostitute for absolutely no reason. (Oh, and is accused of raping Beth and is literally spoken of as an animal and starts only existing in zero dim lighting as a one-dimensional stereotype... the list goes on.)

7. PR/The actors

I'll risk my life here to sprinkle this in because I do think it's a massive problem. The Manny/Christina of it all is just the tip of the iceberg (although wtf Good Girls? There's nothing you could do to get these two into an interview together??). The main actors do the bare minimum to promote the show and it's weird. I also think it's the height of unprofessionalism to keep characters on the show against the wishes of the majority of the audience just because you enjoy their actors (Boomer confirmed; Dean highly suspected). While, on the flip side of the coin, limiting a character's screentime because you aren't best buddies with them. Having less and less Rio when he's such a fan favourite is dumb; as is not including him in any series marketing material. It feels personal and that isn't how a TV show should be run.

8. The entire hair and wardrobe department needs a stern talking-to

[m34gs]

For the ask game: Fire Force.

Thanks for the ask, friend! From this post. Super excited to answer. I love Fire Force! Putting it all under the cut because spoilers.

The character I least understand

Hmmm, honestly for this one, I'd have to say Captain Leonard Burns of Company 1. For most of the show I didn't get him; like I couldn't get a grasp on his motives, if he was on Company 8's side or not...he was just confusing to me. And even with knowing more of his backstory, I still find him a bit confusing. I will hope that if the series gets another season, which I hope it will, I will be able to better understand him. If not, I may just have to read all the manga. LOL.

Interactions I enjoyed the most

Any interaction between Shinra and a figure of authority/older person where they are essentially taking him under their wing. Shinra is a Precious Boy and I love seeing him get the love and affection he deserves. I also love when people remind him he doesn't have to go it alone. The scene where he told Company 8 about Sho and how he was part of the White Clad? And they were so supportive and ready to help him? Top Fucking Tier.

I also love the interaction between Benimaru and Tamaki when she asks him to train her and help her improve. He is most definitely an Uncle. And she is now one of his favourite nieces. Love that so much!

The character who scares me the most

Inca. No contest. She can see the path to ignite flames. She is terrifying. And you can't reason with her. She will chase after what she wants. She literally couldn't give two shits about the fight between the White Clad and Company 8. All she wants is a thrill and adrenaline rush. She doesn't care about anyone else (evident from how she sets her previous companion on fire without a second thought about it). She terrifies me because there is no way to persuade her not to kill you, it all comes down to what she wants. You have no control at all when she's in the room, she's one of the biggest loose canon threats I have seen written to be honest.

The character who is mostly like me

Ah, this was a hard one. I really don't know? Probably someone like...Vulcan because he is very older-sibling-ish? *shrugs* lol, tbh I'm never too sure how to answer questions like this.

Hottest looks character

No one can judge me.

My answer is a tie; Maki (of course) and Licht (you know why). And that's all I have to say on the matter.

One thing I dislike about my fave character

Ok, so my absolute fave is Shinra. I very much adore him. One thing that does irritate me from time to time, not always, but sometimes; how he can be very...dense and loud sometimes. Especially when he fights with Arthur. I'm not saying that he shouldn't ever behave that way...just that sometimes when it happens enough it can be a little annoying. And that's the most I can think of right now...probably because I don't really hate character flaws in most characters because I see them as potential for Character Development, and we know how much I love that.

One thing i like about my hated character

I may find Inca scary, but the one I hate the most right now is actually Giovanni. Have not forgiven him for what he did to Vulcan and Lisa and their little Found Family. One thing I like about him isn't even canon to be honest...it's our nickname for him. Beak-boy. Or, Beaky, for short. LOL.

A quote or scene that haunts me

I think when Licht is with Shinra during his face-off with Sho, toward the end of their first venture underground. I can't forget it, really, because I think that's when Licht really turned from 'scientist determined to find the Truth' to 'oh shit I found this family and now they might die' and I don't know if he's fully realized that yet, but you could almost see it in his face. At first, he's ecstatic that he gets to see the Adolla Burst up close and witness it, but then as he starts to realize that Shinra is literally risking death each time he goes faster than the speed of light, he starts getting concerned, worried even. He can't do anything, all he can do is watch. I think that scene is really intense to begin with, but to see Licht struggling with his own helplessness on the sidelines and realizing that he did form some sort of attachment even when he never meant to really lives in my brain rent-free. I think that's when it hit home for him the most; that this was a dangerous quest and there would be no one leaving unscathed.

A death that left me indifferent

Rekka. I couldn't be sad over his death if I tried. Not after what he did to Tamaki. But at the same time...I couldn't be happy over it? I don't know. His ending was just kind of...*shrugs*. All I could think while he was monologuing was 'can he just shut up already'.

A character I wish died but didn’t

Honestly? Haumei. She's annoying to me and I don't wanna see more of her at this time. Maybe that will change, idk. Except I know she can't die yet because she is very much tied to the Evangelist. I don't hate her as much as I hate Giovanni, but with Beaky we at least can use him as comic relief.

My ship that never sailed

All of them. None of my ships are canon (yet. To my knowledge). But my top one is Joker/Licht. :D

Thanks for the ask, I hope you enjoyed these answers!

[seqka711]

Ranking the six main boy/girl ships in Yu-Gi-Oh from best to worst!

Not all main girl ships are created equally, I'm afraid. Let's take a look at each ship and see what's up! (Except Sevens because as I mentioned in a previous post, I am way too far behind to comment on anything in that show.)

First up is Anzu and Yugi! And YES I do ship them! However, I don't ship Atem and Anzu. Anzu was friends with Yugi, and started to see him in a different light when Atem started showing up. However, those changing feelings also started to influence her feelings about Yugi as well. We saw that in Duelist Kingdom. Then in season 2 when she realizes they're two separate people, she gets really confused! Anzu doesn't know how to feel anymore! Then Atem and Yugi are both playing wingman for each other, so that's not helping matters. I don't really ship Atem and Anzu because Atem just doesn't seem super interested in their date. I know he had other things on his mind, but if they wanted me to ship it, now was the time to show off some chemistry and they didn't.

We saw in GX that Yugi grows up to look just like Atem and he also grows more confident over the course of the series. After the end of Duel Monsters, I think they're both too hurt by Atem's passing to be digging on each other. But, distance makes the heart grow fonder, and I feel like she's gonna come back from the states and have some heart-pounding feelings when she sees him again. And Yugi's feelings didn't change, they were just put on the back burner. So hopefully when they meet back up, sparks are gonna fly! At least, I hope so. <3

~

Next up is Asuka and Judai! When I watched their first duel, I was 100% on board with this ship. They were cute, they had great banter, it was a fair fight. I loved it! But over the course of the series, I started losing interest in their relationship, fast. By the end of season 2 I was pretty convinced they had abandoned Asuka x Judai for Asuka x Manjoume, and honestly, I was 100% on board with that, I love a good romcom couple and those two have dysfunctional romcom energy. Plus they had evil power couple vibes when they were running the Society of Light together, so I thought for sure they were gonna have Manjoume and Asuka be better friends post possession.

Then season 3 came a long and I was like "woah, they DID do that on purpose! I was right!" when we saw the Judai x Johan x Yubel love triangle they spent the entire season on. Asuka and Manjoume were of course relegated to background characters, as was everyone who wasn't a transfer student. And then the series ended with a pretty definitive Judai x Yubel ending and I was like "cool I like it".

But then season 4 made me question everything by making it clear that Asuka was still crushing on Judai?!?! Uhhh.... what? You haven't mentioned this crush in OVER TWO YEARS ASUKA. You've both changed so much! I thought the whole point was "she had a fleeting crush on him in year 1, but people change and so do our feelings"! I thought they had her fall out of love with him on purpose!! You're telling me the writers just wanted us to ASSUME she was still in love with him this whole time?!

I honestly love the whole "had a crush on him, now that I know him better, he's an amazing friend but I don't like him that way anymore" dynamic and they RUINED IT so bad. And for what? To say "well they fought the whole time, but now look! They can tag duel together!" Well, jokes on them, because a few episodes later Judai and Johan will show off some of the tightest teamwork in the show and I'll have to throw Asuka x Judai in the trash. </3`

~

Yusei x Aki!!!!!! AHHHHHH I LOVE THEM. Their first duel is very romantic in my opinion. Yusei lives to help people, and it's actually a flaw of his that he'll help people no matter the cost. Usually that's sort of a "who cares" flaw in a protagonist, but for Yusei, it adds a lot of depth to his character. The reason he helps people even at the cost of himself is because he feels enormously guilty due to his parents' involvement in Zero Reverse, and he feels like he owes the world (but especially Satellite) everything. Yusei tried to go to jail in Kiryu's stead, but failed, and I think that only compounded his guilt even more.

Then, when Yusei sees the chance to help Aki, he does it. He's scared of her, but he rallies his courage to face her so that he can help her. And it's only natural that Aki would fall hopelessly in love with him after he continually put himself at risk over and over again JUST to help her. I love the episode where she rescues him from being kidnapped and then accompanies him on a riding duel. I think it hits me harder because it reminds me of how much I want to drive a motorcycle but can't because of reasons I won't go into. But part of her desire to learn to riding duel is because she wants to feel the same things Yusei feels. And that's so cute!

Unfortunately, I do have a certain headcanon that gets in the way of my shipping desires. I won't get into the whole headcanon, but I think Yusei might have ended up time travelling back in time to fix Zero Reverse and prevent Zone's future. And Aki wouldn't have come with him because we see her in the flashforward. Yusei is still giving her strength though. And I like to think that maybe a much older Yusei was able to help a much younger Aki control her powers and not enter a cult in the new timeline. And if my headcanon isn't true, then GET MARRIED AND HAVE BABIES GUYS. <3

~

On the one hand, I love Kotori x Yuma. They’re so adorable! Not only is Kotori surprisingly self-aware of her crush (usually the YGO girls love to deny it) but Yuma clearly treats her differently from the rest of his friends, even though he doesn’t know why (yet). Kotori’s confession at the end of the show is SO CUTE AND ADORABLE and Yuma accepts and I love it!

But… I can’t love it as much as I WANT to love it. Kotori’s character, especially in Zexal II is kind of boring. I liked her a lot in Zexal I actually. I thought it was fine to have a character not duel as long as she was doing something else. In season 1 she occasionally gets shit done. Or she’s there for comic relief like when she’s riding the duel coaster. Or arguing with Orbital 7. It wasn’t much, but it was something. In season 2, she’s a total non-entity. I thought the duel where she gets possessed was very funny, but I almost wish that her getting possessed by a Barian was played for drama rather than laughs.

I think what could have been cool is either a) after she can hear Astral, her and Astral team up for a duel or b) when watching Yuma she started to memorize his strategies. Or both. Or neither, just get this girl something to do BESIDES watch Yuma! In the end, my love for how adorable these two are is always somewhat soured by Kotori’s squandered potential. <3

~

Speaking of squandered potential, Yuzu and Yuya are next on the list. I love these two A TON! I’ll be perfectly honest and admit my biases here, I am NOT the biggest fan of Arc-V. The show had a lot of problems, and I’m harsher on it than most.

But one thing I really did like about the beginning of the show was Yuzu! She was independent, driven and her dueling was getting better as the show progressed. Just like Kotori, she became a non-entity in the latter seasons. However, I ship Yuya x Yuzu more than I ship Yuma x Kotori because Yuya was always keeping Yuzu in mind during the latter seasons. So it still felt like the ship was in focus, whereas with Kotori x Yuma, the ship kind of disappeared since more important things were going on. For Yuya, nothing was more important than getting Yuzu back, so really I had no choice BUT to ship it. How could I not? It was so sweet! She was his whole world! I wish we got more scenes with the two of them together though. Them never tag dueling is a crime against humanity. Also its total BS that only Yuya and Yuzu got to come back, but whatever, I guess. I was happy that the two of them reunited and even HAPPIER that the show was finally over. <3

~

Last and basically least, Yusaku x Aoi. Or Playmaker x Blue Maiden. I’ll be honest, I don’t ship this at all. The show doesn’t go through any effort to get us invested in their so-called “relationship” and if I had watched this show on its own, unaware of the series’ tropes, I wouldn’t have assumed they were a “ship” at all. With Judai x Asuka, I actually liked the fake out (at least until S4 when I wondered whether or not the fake out was actually on purpose or if the writers are just morons) but with Yusaku x Aoi I get frustrated because it wouldn’t have been that hard to GIVE them some chemistry. They’re both interesting characters, and I think Aoi and Yusaku could have had an interesting dynamic if Aoi had learned Playmaker’s identity a lot sooner.

What I think the show should have done was have Aoi discover Playmaker and Soulburner’s identity at the same time they discovered each other. Then have Aqua come into the fold a lot earlier. Trios are popular in fiction for a reason, and I think Yusaku, Takeru and Aoi would have been an excellent trio. Specifically, with both Yusaku and Aoi being so reserved, their relationship would be very understated. But that’s not a bad thing. It just means that the writers would have to put more focus on the little things. Like, maybe after a while of being friends, Yusaku sits next to her in class. That would be a small thing for other people, but for those two, that’s huge! I could also see there being a fun episode where Ai tries to trick them into going on a date but fails spectacularly. The two of them end up spending time together to foil the plan. That could be really cute! LITERALLY ANYTHING is better than NOTHING.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t ship this because the writers thought they could get me to ship it just by having boy meets girl and then having them shake hands over a hundred episodes later. And no. I refuse. I need a LITTLE more than that, please and thank you. </3

~

That was a very long post! All in all, 4/6 ain’t bad at all! Or maybe it’s more like a 3.5 since I only gave Kotori and Yuma a small heart? It doesn’t really matter, I’m a multishipper. At my heart and soul, I’ll ship anything. Like I said I don’t ship Judai and Asuka, but I totally have shippy fanart of them on my phone, lol. It’s more like… which of these ships would I defend in court and which ships do I only like because I’m trash that’ll ship anything?

Oh, I guess I did title this as a ranking... Well, I'm sure you can figure out my most and least favourites by how much I used caps lock, so it should be fine.

Give me ANY Yu-Gi-Oh ship (straight, gay or in between) and I’ll dissect it like I did these six.

[transsexualhamlet]

asmr i psychoanalyze hide for fun

a lot of these are just stupid headcanons but a lot are also how i feel that’s just the way he is so

I know no one will read this it’s so very long but hello he’s my comfort character

(the words are under the cut bc THERE ARE SO MANY WORDS)

thoughts: It’s funny because most of the characters that I really love are just fucking idiots. So stupid. No thoughts head empty. And like at first glance you’d think the same with Hide, he’s got the look of a real dumbass, but he’s actually a really smart person? He just kind of, hides it. He did say he was like allergic to books once (it’s the adhd, king) but that doesn’t change the fact that he emotionally is actually a very intelligent person. It’s something he’s humble about because I don’t believe he really identifies with the intellectual crowd or sees himself as particularly above average, he just finds it easy to understand things. And he doesn’t ever use it for his own advantage even when it would be totally fine to do so, he pretty much always uses it to help other people and I think he believes if he used his strengths to help himself it would be, like, selfish. Which is a problem of his.

gemder n brand of gay: A lot of people in yonder Fandom like to see kaneki as bi and hide as gay but nah fam you’re off. Honestly I do not care about his Date With Rize in the slightest, that man is a homosexual. Hide is the bi one. (it’s not like this is a requirement or anything lmao i am just Saying also i’m bi and i’m projecting) I can also say with confidence that date with Rize was the only date Kaneki’s ever been on and he was definitely lying to himself. (i just, don’t know how you could look at Haise specifically and for one second think he has ever seen a boob) Hide’s the one who’s probably dated people before and he actually knows what’s attractive, he probably just doesn’t discuss that a lot with Kaneki since the bitch is Closeted and hide knows this. It’s funny because Hide canonically has two dads. Like I think that kind of explains him tbh. Bitch has good parents??? He’s the only one but we love him for it. U know Kaneki spent more of his life at Hide’s house than his own.

And as to gender, like obviously hide’s a guy, but i think he’s one of the few cisgenders who could like... tell you why. He’s well versed in those kinds of issues and has just thought about it a lot I guess? He’s comfortable in his skin and with a conventionally masculine appearance but he could tell you what Boy TM means other than yo macho man dude bro guy

personality type- ENFP-T: I took the fucking test for him and it was like... so easy. Took me ten minutes. 

basically what this means is it just calls him out as a fucken loud ass sunshine boy who has very many emotion and cares way too much about his friend

love how this part of the description describes kaneki and hide perfectly

biggest strength: he’s so good at helping people?? Like I can honestly say if some random person started rambling about their relationship issues to him I’d give him 10 minutes before he had a perfect solution, he had the person crying and being comforted in just the right way. He’s the perfect medium of confident and caring and he’s not just a fucking ray of sunshine on accident, he’s like, mob psycho 100 style actively working to be nice and compassionate. He’s very aware of how his actions affect people and he always knows just the right thing to say, what to do, when to just let things go or when to say them. And Hide will forgive, literally anything, even if someone does something really shitty to him he’ll realize it’s the product of like, unresolved mental issues or something and seek to fix it instead of cutting the person off. It’s... really good for everyone around him. But well,,, not great for him, see below.

biggest weakness: bitch does nOT leave room for himself. Although he is generally a confident person and isn’t very insecure, he knows he’s giving too much of himself and simply ‘pretend i do not see it but in reality i do’. He’s never put himself first and feels more worthy when he makes someone else happy, and it’s really not that visible but it can take a pretty big toll on him. He’ll feel anger and frustration for his problems but eventually he will end up blaming himself for anything that goes wrong and will just resolve to Try Harder. (which, mood) He does problem solve well and he tries to come up with the best solutions to issues but the fact is he just does not prioritize his own happiness within those solutions. He gives too much and it’s fucking killing him.

what he likes most about himself: Although he does have issues obviously, I don’t see Hide as someone who has particularly low esteem of himself. I think he pretty much thinks he has himself figured out and therefore other people’s problems come first. He generally does, think fondly of himself, because most of the time he can fix people’s problems so he’s yknow, a good person. I think he likes his ability to enjoy life and live in the moment, and he likes his connections and friendships with other people. He values emotional connection and he likes that he can easily create and enjoy good vibes. He loves being the one who everyone just... goes to for a good time.

favorite things: I think I heard somewhere that he enjoys dumb american bands without really understanding what they’re saying which seems very on brand for him, but I’m gonna perscribe him some other stuff too. Obviously he likes bright colors and comic books, and places where he can have fun with other people. He generally likes college, even though it’s like, school, and unlike kaneki he actually had a good childhood and he enjoys the places he spent time and formed good memories, he has Nostalgia TM (see unbelievable by owl city hmmm he vibes to that he was born in 1996 or something right i can’t google things) he also just really likes to just, fix other people’s problems but we’ve covered that. 

what he’s doing right and what he’s doing wrong:��Hide is doing his best. He’s no less flawed than any of the other characters in tokyo ghoul, it’s just that his strategies tend to involve 100% less murder. Ok no, let me rephrase that, Hide is flawed, but i meant like emotionally, he’s not a war criminal like everyone else. He may seem at first glance like, just, perfect? Sorry for being a simp lmao but I feel like from the outside he’s just got it all together right? He knows what he’s doing and he’s super nice and helpful and smart and humble and just doesn’t have any visible flaws? He... tends to hide any evidence that he would ever be struggling. And that’s not very sexy of him. He feels it would be a burden on others to show pain or ever say he can’t take something on (if someone asked him to do something he’d do it even if he was already mentally at capacity etc) and that’s something he needs to work on. The good thing is that if they got to a point where after Kaneki’s Character Development they got to just... like, be happy and not be separated and everything Kaneki would be good for him because he compliments that. Hide helps him because he needs a lot of like, mental counseling lmao but now that Kaneki’s gone through a lot of that his eyes have been opened more to the fact that Hide hides his problems from Kaneki so if they could just bE HAPPY this is an issue that could be resolved

insecurities: I think Hide kind of believes he’s not allowed to be sad. Cause it’s like, not his job. He’s the source of happiness for everyone else, supposed to have everything together so he can fix everyone else’s problems. he’s not allowed to be in pain or feel bad for himself even though he knows “Boys Can Cry” it’s like, yes boys can cry, not me tho haha lmao it’s not about his masculinity it’s just he’s like “yeah but kaneki’s had it worse” so like if he finds himself in a bad place, he feels inadequate and like... fundametally broken. and it’s. Like. I felt that but also like king that’s not how it works

goal in life: I think he wouldn’t really be able to answer that question. What the truth would be is that he probably wants to do something grand and important that helps a lot of people and kind of changes the world. But he might not really think of it that way, since he’s usually focused more on smaller more isolated issues and he has no idea what he wants to do as a career. He admires activists and people who put themselves at risk but it probably makes him feel inferior that someone else is Doing Something About This Big Problem and he’s just sitting there riding around on his bisexual bike and being in college. (I’d like to say he’s probably changed majors at least a few times,,, that man was like “oh yeah lmao i’m gonna be a comic book artist” but someone said something about how he’s a good therapist and he’s like “brb kinshift i am now a psychology major” lmao.) (hello i am projecting but i’m right) He sees a tumblr post about some issue somewhere and he hyperfixates on it for days until he sees another post about something worse it’s an issue. But I think what he ended up doing was what he wanted to, even if he never recieved any recognition for it the internal sense that he was doing something Right TM in the eyes of history would probably make him cry

how he was raised: I can’t really say much to this because there’s barely any canon on this and the canon that does exist I have completely ignored other than the fact that he has two dads. Bro tbh? He didn’t need any tragic emo backstory I think he had a great childhood. Honestly he’s probably a rich kid. Not super rich but he’s not struggling man. Not gonna lie to you I think the only reason he went to Kamii was because he wanted to be at the same college as Kaneki who probably got a scholarship. Hide, didn’t. (it’s not like he’s not intelligent but I don’t really think that his grades are his biggest priority, the only time he ever pays attention in class is to give kaneki the answers when he’s gone) 

What irks me about the random lore drop in the last chapter about him having a CCG dad that died or whatever- it kind of ruins the whole point for me. Personally I choose to believe he had nothing whatsoever to do with ghouls or the ccg before all that happened to Kaneki. He probably had correct opinions on them, but only like, in theory, it’s like straight people that are like “yeah ofc gay ppl valid” but they’ve never really had any personal experience with any. So when he gets involved in that- the fact is that the only reason he was... was bc of kaneki. It was never more complicated than that to me. YKNOW, SOME PEOPLE ARE JUST, NICE, OK? 

And I think for me that the fact that he could actively choose to be nice and be aware of all these problems when he’s practically got every advantage in life is a lot more important. He didn’t have to be poor or have a dead parent or have a shitty childhood for him to be really genuinely good. I don’t think he’s ever been bullied or anything, but he can still be aware that it sucks to be bullied. I think he was just... raised right. I think his dads are probably pretty fucking baller for him to be such a bro. They taught him the right shit.

General philosophy: Hide is one of the only people in the series for whom the dynamics of right and wrong are not hard to understand. He’s never been required to pick up a weapon or actually truly fight in the CCG, he’s never been really mean to anyone. Of course I can say he’s probably decked a few ppl that made fun of Kaneki in middle school, but haven’t we all. The thing is that though he’s never suffered at the hands of others, everything that’s hurt him he’s gone in fully consenting to it- he can still understand and forgive what everyone else has done. Like bro he’s the literal only one around who’s not like a literal war criminal, but he’s not going to think he’s better because of it, because he understands that if he had been in their circumstances he couldn’t say how he would have turned out. 

That’s why I think it’s so important that he never really had a bad childhood- he’s not better than them for turning out without any blood on his hands, because he was never required to. And he knows that and he goes through every day with all these people who have and is conscious of it. He can’t ever say he’s incapable of hurting other people, because he would have said that about Kaneki before all of it happened. So he’s quite politically correct compared to Kaneki and the others but he doesn’t see things that way.

relationship bullshit: i mean bro i know this is a serious post about like psychological and emotional things but i felt the need to discuss whY does everyone write hide as a bottom I mean like sure he’d bottom if his partner was a top but this is simply not the case with kaneki look at him. Hide. Service top. I rest my case. The man’s the biggest switch ever but when he’s a top he’s a nice top. I think Kaneki needs that to be perfectly honest. He really likes to take care of people. Also kind of off topic but his love language is quality time he just wants to play video games wit da homies and he might fall in love a bit

I find it genuinely funny how much i cannot get away from the tentacle porn on the god forsaken archive of our own just looking at the tags i already know it’s so out of character haitoheoihesdsdsa and don’t get me started on the vore

how kaneki sees him vs how he actually is: One of the biggest problems in kaneki and hide’s relationship is how in the beginning, Kaneki didn’t really understand at all that Hide could be hiding anything from him. Kaneki’s not good at picking up clues like that in general, but the fact that he was hiding so much himself didn’t help at all. Hide gives off the vibe of someone who has no inhibitions and shows every side of himself without hesitation, and Kaneki really does idolize that. He didn’t realize that Hide could possibly be suffering or imperfect compared to his vision. He sees Hide as practically an angel, and that’s exactly how Hide wants Kaneki to see him, because he doesn’t want to burden Kaneki with his own problems since he believes they’re not as important and they would make Kaneki sad. Kaneki knew Hide wasn’t as oblivious as he seemed, but he didn’t really understand what that meant until too late. The good thing about Kaneki’s character development though is that it then helps Kaneki understand that Hide was suffering because of him and he didn’t want Hide to hide it anymore (lmao). If they’d only executed that point well that could have been really good but well that’s what fanfic is for

how he sees kaneki vs how kaneki actually is: This one’s a lot more difficult, because well. Hide’s very good at knowing exactly how people are in their hearts, compared to Kaneki. But there are definitely some things that he’s not super up on. He wasn’t around for a lot of Kaneki’s development, so most of the time I think he still believes Kaneki doesn’t want to see his pain, which is, simply incorrect, Kaneki would obviously not be happy to hear it but it would tear him up inside to realize he’s been oblivious to it the whole time. He’s grown a lot more mature since he spent most of his time with Hide, and I really think Hide could benefit from being able to open up to Kaneki the way he is now. And well. I think his biggest misconception has to be that Kaneki enjoyed women lmao

the most him thing i’ve ever done: listening to a happy upbeat song and visibly bopping while also uncontrollably sobbing

miscellaneous headcanons: 

-he’s a morning person lmao. Motherfucker gets up at 6 AM and Kaneki is like PL EA SE NO

-what he finds attractive is like. twinks and girls with hair in colors that don’t exist and ppl who don’t know what gender is

-He likes Imagine Dragons lmao you can see by the next point

-his coping mechanisms are mostly music and other people tbh he’s like “oh i am having emotions? disgusting” *goes to a party*

-he plays dnd and he mains a warlock i don’t make the rules

-he doesn’t look like someone who would do that shit but he probably knows how to use tarot cards

-idk how but that motherfucker is so neurodivergent i can smell the hyperempathy on him look at that man he has so much adhd

-he’s fully aware that his fashion sense is terrible and continues to wear more and more ridiculous clothes to piss kaneki off

-this man has tungle dot fuck. Look at him. His url is probably something along the lines of my ao3 username lmao

-he can see the forbidden shrimp colors smh

-this bitch likes mob psycho 100 and the promised neverland, kaneki keeps telling him to watch death note and he’s just like n   o hhsdfhhfdshdfshdfs he probably kins tpn emma

-he doesn’t know how to drive lmao he bikes everywhere and he lives in tokyo

-i am once again thinking about how he was in a play with kaneki and kaneki was the main character and he was the spicy side character that’s not a headcanon just. that

songs that are, him: 

-Stand By You (Rachel Platten)

-Luck (American Authors)

-Love (Imagine Dragons)

-If I Lose Myself (One Republic)

-Stardust (New Politics)

-Secrets (also one republic)

-Flaws (Bastille)

-100 Bad Days (AJR)

-I Lived (another one republic lmao)

-Battle Scars (Paradise Fears)

-Rise Up (Imagine Dragons)

yeah he definitely listens to this shit lmao

[ryuichirou]

Can you make your top 10 aot characters that have a good development? Like Eren and Reiner are considered to be the best characters as 'characters' themselves

Anon… dear Anon, you’ve been waiting for like a month I think, I’m so sorry. I took this ask waaay too seriously lol, but yeah, I can’t postpone it for any longer…

I know you asked for top 10, and this is a numbered list, but I wouldn’t call it a proper ranking, so the place doesn’t really matter all that much. Otherwise this list would’ve taken even longer, I’m very serious about lists, it seems lol

Before I start I want to mention (just in case): I feel like “character development” isn’t always about becoming better at something. Sometimes you can become “worse”; sometimes you can get “better” and then fall back to your old ways. It’s just how the character changes, and the trajectory of that change can be very different for different characters.

1. Eren. I can talk about Eren for hours and hours, and I have talked about him a lot, so I’ll try to be quick this time.

Eren’s journey is very interesting and enjoyable to read. He’s such an unusual main character. So aggressive at first, unlikable to some (not to us lol we adored him since day one), loud and stubborn. But it’s super cool to watch this hurricane of a person, especially as he gets calmer, starts controlling his emotions little by little, learns more stuff and understands the situation around him better.

I think I’ll talk about how perspective and knowing a bigger picture change the way character acts a lot in this post, but Eren is an ultimate example of this. He got every single thing: past, present, future, drilled in his head at one fucking moment. He didn’t get a bigger picture, he got the biggest 5d picture with special effects. And he had no one to share that with: he had to deal with it himself, knowing that he himself is the reason for everything that’s happening. It makes my head hurt to even think about that lol It’s cool and unnerving to watch Eren, who’s used to be such a fireball of a character, to just get… quiet and apathetic. We don’t know what he’s thinking about, we don’t know what’s going on anymore, even though his emotions were always the most obvious thing about him. It’s almost scary.

And the interesting thing about it is that nothing really changed about his feelings, at least I think so. Ultimately, the only thing he wanted is for his friends to be happy and live long lives, and who knows, maybe he saw that the “freedom” he was initially seeking for himself doesn’t really exist. This is up to debate and definitely not for this post though lol

2. Reiner. Ohh Reiner. He was one of the characters who wasn’t all that interesting to me personally at first, but as he got more and more complex and emotional, I fell in love with him more and more. This isn’t a numbered list, but he is definitely one of the best written characters. And what’s cool about him is that we see the reason for him being the way he is throughout the story: why he wanted to become a hero, why his mental state got so bad, why he was conflicted, why he got so depressed and why he was able to take responsibility for his actions. I love it when the story breaks its characters, and Reiner is certainly one of the most broken ones. His lower point (when he almost killed himself + cried and asked Eren to kill him) was very beautiful and painful to read, because we know why he feels that way and we know how smug and brave he was at the very beginning of the show/manga. And we know that it was all a lie, which makes everything even tastier.

And as much as I love broken characters, I’m kind of glad Reiner found strength to continue fighting and to take responsibility for his actions (to some degree, at least). Not only he saw a bigger picture, he actually learned how to live with it. I’m so happy they discussed the Marco incident with Jean, and that after Annie told that it was her who took his gear, Reiner stood up and said that Annie was following his orders. He also apologized to Annie for everything he did to her and Bert.

Basically, Reiner went from wanting to be a hero to acting like a hero, then to being an actual hero to Marley and feeling like shit anyways, then to just being a human being, something like that. And that scene with his mom hugging him and being happy for him being alive is actually a very sweet and satisfying moment. Especially considering how much Reiner wanted to die lol

3. Zeke. I’ve talked about it in one of the replies about ch137, but I love how Zeke went from “I shouldn’t have been born” to “maybe small moments of happiness make everything worth it” at the very end of his life (what a cruel irony to realise that just before you die). Not only the character develops and changes, our view of him changes as well: I think Zeke was universally hated when he first appeared, but then he became more fun (dude’s too charismatic), and then he became sympathetic and vulnerable. All of this was always inside Zeke, but it was hidden since Zeke is a lying snake. See, Zeke is smart, but he’s super sure that his views are the only valid ones and that his idea of freeing Eldians is the only solution. His views are surprisingly black and white: I suffered, Eren suffered and our dad is bad. And no one challenged his beliefs until they walk through Grisha’s memories with Eren in ch120-121, and then he realized that Eren didn’t suffer at all and their dad is actually just a person who really regretted being a horrible father to his first son. I love that he got some closure with Grisha because he held that grudge for his entire life.

4. Grisha. He has a rollercoaster ride of a development lol: at first he was an innocent boy, then he became an angry boy, and then he kind of calmed his anger down for some time? But after learning what actually happened to Faye, his emotional wounds got open and all that rage blinded him again. And then, after being outed by Zeke, he lost everything, but had a harsh realization that by being driven by his anger only, he completely forgot not to be a shitty dad. He basically had a second chance in life, with a much better perspective about what’s going on, but now he has his younger son’s ghost haunting him and telling him to do thing he never thought he’d do. At different points of the story Grisha feels both like a mastermind behind things and like a pawn who doesn’t have a choice even if he just wants to live a peaceful and happy life with his wife and kids. The irony of him killing a bunch innocent kids when this whole story started because he got his little sister killed? Delicious. Oh, and I really love the fact that he realised that he screwed up as dad and apologized to Zeke. He loved his kids a lot: Zeke, Eren and Mikasa too (he called her his daughter after all).

5. Erwin. Way more interesting than people give him credit for. He’s mostly adored for being a badass, but he also has his own flaws that he had to deal with. He’s like a moth that’s drawn to the light, but right after burning himself and dying he kind of did “the right thing” that he had to do as a commander. Now, for me it isn’t really about Erwin ending up doing “the right thing” to be honest: we would probably adored him is he ditched everyone and ran to the basement because his selfish desires ended up being more important to him. But that scene where he confessed to Levi that he really wanted to find that basement and just told him everything about his capricious and selfish childish desires, talked about how he lied to everyone including Levi basically just to prove his dad’s point… it was beautiful, because it was basically “I have to do it, haven’t I? But I really don’t want to”. His character development is interesting in a sense that at first he was getting gradually more and more psychotic about his dream, doing crazy things even when he knows it might not be the best choice possible (like him risking his life instead of staying behind), but at the very end he stopped to think and… well we know the rest lol

6.  Armin. I remember people saying that Armin is just a narrator-like character who is here to explain thing (I probably thought so too at first), but this is so unfair. It’s easy to make someone like Armin into this trope, and to leave him being a very one-dimensional dreamer who’s smart but naive. And Armin is so much more than that. Throughout the story he has a lot of “I should have been the one who died” moments, and I love that this is such a prominent issue for him, but he still got over it somehow. Armin was kind of lost at the beginning, but found his role. And wow, he had to go through it again after he was chosen instead of Erwin, because the burden on his shoulders just got 100 kg heavier lol He also got less naïve and more cunning with time and got much better at emotional manipulation, I think. While preferring a dialogue over violence, Armin still isn’t pure, and he acknowledges that constantly, especially after his first kill, and things got even worse since that point, which definitely changed him. But his violence-loathing (kind of…) core is still there.

Armin ended up playing a much bigger role in the story than I thought he would be, I really love it. He has his moments of weakness, but he still pushes forward and takes responsibility and does his best. Oh and let’s pretend that the Annie thing never happened, it doesn’t contribute anything to his character anyway.

7.  Jean. I think Jean is the first character who starts showing character growth, and I believe his development is the reason he was Isayama’s favourite for some time. Tbh, I don’t find Jean annoying even at the very beginning: yeah he’s selfish, but he’s self-aware about it, he’s a realist. And he’s still a realist, but his conscience wouldn’t let him just have an easy life while everyone else’s suffering. I always feel like Jean is a spoiled mamaboy, so it’s great to see him showing that he can put others before himself. He also had an inner conflict similar to Armin’s: is it right to kill innocent people if you have to? Is it ok to kill not-so-innocent people because they’re against you? I really like this theme in SnK just in general.

8.  Gabi. It’s no secret that I adore Gabi lol, and I think her character development is great. She was in her element when we first met her: she was confident, she was doing her best and succeeding, she knew the world around her so well, and then Eren took everything from her. People like to hate Gabi for killing Sasha and for being aggressive on Paradis, but I think it’s great that she didn’t have an overnight change of heart. It’s great that Isayama showed us her shock and her raw emotions, it’s more than natural for a child with her upbringing, even if it’s messed up. But I love it when stories take characters that are great at what they do, and they take them out of their element, to show them at their worst: lost, angry, broken and confused. I love that she understood everything herself and not because Falco told her “hey they’re people too” that one time. She had to go through this hell to figure everything out, and I think it’s great.

9.  Historia. Historia was one of the least interesting characters for me (and for a lot of people, Yams included) at the beginning, and tbh I think it’s brilliant: we never saw anything in her; she was just a waifu material who’s nice to others. It felt fake and boring, well, because it was indeed fake and boring, and to this day I cannot believe that that was the entire point. I love how Ymir made Historia realise that she needs to think for herself, but what’s interesting about all that is that after Ymir left, she almost came back to her old habits. Which is also a development, and a very interesting one. The end of S2 was a high point for her (when she told Ymir that she isn’t scared of anything when they’re together), and then there was a very low point (when Ymir left), and then a high point again (when she remembered Ymir and Frieda and decided to act upon her own desires). She’s one of my faves now because of all that… It’s sad she didn’t have a bigger role post-timeskip, but I still appreciate her story for what it is.

10.  Oh god this is so hard to pick one and this post is already so long… can I just give you a bunch of quick honorable mentions?

Annie (who was a loner that couldn’t really trust anyone but ended up showing her vulnerable and emotional side), Hange (started out enthusiastic and eager to learn more only to meet more pain and disappointment, crumbling under the pressure, but ultimately remembering her amusement with titans), Levi (granted it’s very subtle, but him going through Kenny’s death, Erwin’s death and his promise to him, realization that he’s been killing people all this time and other stuff fascinating and huge leaving a mark on him), Ymir (who got hurt and decided not to trust anyone anymore and to act selfishly, but ended up sacrificing herself anyway lol)…. God, these short description sucks, they can’t describe them properly. Also there are so much of them that I think have good development, and I’m 100% missing someone… but I think I’m done for now. Katsu I’m sorry for making you read all this.

That you for this ask, Anon <3 and sorry again for being so late