#[ a criticism i can never take seriously tbh ]

[ada-tan]

Dynamics Between the Nations of Elyos

Was gonna make this a thread on Twitter, but uh. It would have ended up WAY too long. So... here we go! The dynamics between the nations of Elyos, and my personal understanding of them from story/support dialogue, flavor text, and exploration lines scattered throughout the game.

Long post incoming!

Firene and Solm

Everything is prefaced with the non-aggression treaty between Firene, Brodia, and Solm. Firene and Solm have always had generally good relations, as stated by Alfred early in the game. The border between them seems easy to travel through, with Solm's Azure Coast being a popular tourist spot for Firenese visitors. (Alfred's comment on the Azure Coast map.)

Which is beneficial for Solm, as through tourism and trade, they can benefit from Firene's wealth and abundance of resources—particularly foodstuffs (crops, dairy, etc), teas, medicines, and dyes.

However, this relationship isn't quite so mutual, as Firene's bounty makes the country incredibly self-sufficient; in Fogado's support with Celine, he paints them in a somewhat isolated light, business-wise. Since they don't require resources from other countries, they don't do much in the way of importing, which is likely a detriment to Solm's economy.

As a desert nation with rather inhospitable conditions, it's perfectly sensible that Solm's prosperity and wealth is dependent on trade with other countries, hence their trade-based economy, and commitment to neutrality—it wouldn't be good for business to make enemies, and it falls in line with the Solmic ideology of living free, by your own rules, and being yourself.

Brodia and Firene

Brodia and Firene's relationship comes off as a bit more... tenuous. There is a connection there, as the Firene royals have visited with the Brodians in the past. But Alfred and Diamant's estrangement implies that, before the war, there had never been many chances for the two nations to form a proper friendship.

They have an alliance, but not one without tension. Alfred states early on that it "took some doing" for his mother to hash out a peace treaty with Morion, as he—and Brodians, as said by Diamant in his Alfred support—is known to be incredibly ambitious. Brodia has a reputation for warmongering and claiming surrounding territories, one of the primary motivators for their ongoing war with Elusia.

This violent reputation has existed long enough that it's even recorded in history books (Diamant & Framme support).

As such, they're likely seen by Firene and Solm as a potentially dangerous, unpredictable threat. Solm doesn't have as much to worry about as Firene would, due to its distance from Brodia, and lack of valuable resources. (Still, Solm is wary enough to actively spy on them.)

But Firene is the most abundant land in Elyos, and a veritable breadbasket. Similarly to Solm, Brodia is situated in very inhospitable lands. And even though that land hones the self-sufficiency and strength of its people (Amber/Merrin support), poverty and starvation is a prevalent issue amongst the common populace.

If Brodia ever turned its aggressions away from Elusia, then Firene could be the next prime target. The non-aggression pact, of course, prevents that. For now.

Even Diamant cites this as a possibility in his supports with Alfred, one he worries for and genuinely thinks is possible, due to the ambitions and needs of his people.

What's likely deterred Brodia all this time is Firene's connection to Lythos. As the nation most devout to the Divine Dragon, Firene and Lythos have an incredibly strong alliance and friendship. So no matter how tempting their territory might be, it wouldn't be the smartest idea to launch an invasion on a country that has the backing of the all-powerful Divine Dragon.

Brodia and Elusia

Brodia and Elusia's relationship is the one that probably gets the most focus in the plot, and will be the one people are most aware of without having to dig into supplementary dialogue and information. Still, that makes it no less interesting—even though Brodia is painted as an ally, and Elusia the enemy, I genuinely think their conflict is far less black and white than that.

Let's be clear. Brodia's primary reason for invading Elusia IS to claim the nation's territory as their own. They are the aggressors of the war between them, and it is unequivocally wrong. Not exactly the actions of a heroic nation, and definitely in line with the classic Red Empire archetype of Fire Emblem.

But there's also another reason, a motivator that definitely varies in sincerity—the Elusians' worship of the Fell Dragon, and Brodia taking it upon themselves to keep that worship in check, while Firene, Solm, and Lythos are far more tolerant of the Elusians fostering their beliefs (whether they agree with them or not; Alfred himself admits that it's "concerning").

For many ambitious Brodians (particularly the nobility, who are often painted as a problem in Diamant's supports), I feel as though the Fell worship offers a convenient excuse for them to continue and push for the war efforts, lining their own pockets in the process.

But also for many, I think the fear of Elusia, their worship, the Fell Dragon and what both are capable of is very much real amongst the Brodian populace. Of course, that fear is shared in Elusia, with one example being that children are taught to watch out for Brodian armor (Ivy/Alcryst support).

As for Elusia, one would think that people who worshipped an evil dragon were inclined to villainy and violence. And with Elusia's incredibly insular culture, it's easy for those sorts of rumors and perceptions to spread.

In some cases, it's true. There are sects of the Fell Dragon faith that are extremely violent, in the brainwashing and abuse of their followers, their glorification of pain, and tendency toward blood sacrifices. You see it in how its warped the perspective of people like Griss and Marni, in the comments of the characters in locations like Destinea Cathedral and Elusia Castle (centers of deep Fell worship), where they often note the unsettling sight and smell of blood.

But in many cases, it's not. There are certainly those who worship the Fell Dragon and are more adjusted in their lives, merely viewing it as an alternative faith to others they either don't believe in, or have been disillusioned by. And there are Elusians who don't worship anything at all. Alfred himself points out that not all Fell worshippers should be lumped under the same brush.

It's implied that Brodia's continued aggressions pushed Hyacinth into unsealing Sombron (and influences from Gradlon and Zephia as well), which leads to his return and a war that engulfs the entirety of Elyos, using the Elusian army as the main force.

Both countries have done deplorable things, but neither are fully evil—there's a level of humanity to each, exhibited in the characters that hail from each nation, that certainly paint the situation as more nuanced than it appears on paper.

But relations are certainly hostile between both.

Elusia and Solm (& Firene)

If Elusia had a positive relation to any other nation before the war, then it would seem to be Solm. And even then, it's more of a neutral, transactional relationship, seemingly based on trade.

At Givre Port, Bunet will mention that he often sought out food sent from Givre to Solm (likely to his hometown, a port city), establishing a relationship of trade between the two countries. But unlike with Firene, it seems to be mutual. Where Firene doesn't have to import because of its bounty and self-sufficiency (Fogado/Celine support), Elusia—being a cold, harsh land—very likely has to. And that, of course, benefits Solm.

Past that? They don't appear to have much of a relationship. The royal families don't seem friendly, and Solm is actively spying on Elusia (as they are with the other countries), so clearly there isn't much in the way of trust, despite the appearance of neutrality.

For Firene and Elusia, Alfred says so himself: there's very little that Firene knows about Elusia due to their distance from each other, and the latter's insular culture. What knowledge they do have seems to be from hearsay, mostly regarding some of its more notable features: the cold climate, and leaning towards Fell worship.

Neither Firene or Solm has stepped in to interfere with (or stop) the war between Brodia and Elusia, and with the recently established non-aggression pact, that possibility becomes even slimmer. I wouldn't be surprised if Elusia feels something of a distrust for the two because of it—it's certainly given them no qualms in invading both nations for their rings.

Solm and Brodia

Similarly to Elusia and Firene, both Solm and Brodia are extremely far from each other, so there's very little connection. They are members of the same non-aggression alliance, and the Brodian royals have visited the country in the past... but despite their similarly inhospitable lands, the two nations share very little common ground when it comes to ideology and values. (Saphir's comment in Tullah Desert)

I can only assume that, at the very least, both countries do trade with each other. After all, Solm is known for its spices, and it's a staple of Brodian culture to put spices in tea...

Plus, Solm's love of meat roasts? And Brodia having a deluxe brand of beef as a popular export? Where do you think THAT'S going.

But anyway, it isn't until the Fell Dragon war that more of a relationship is established, through the developing friendships of Diamant/Timerra and Alcryst/Fogado.

Lythos and Everyone

Last, but certainly not least, the Holy Land of Lythos! It is the center of Divine Dragon worship on the continent, where the ruler of Elyos resides, and a neutral force amongst the nations.

With Firene, Lythos has a very close relationship—it is the nation most devout to the Divine Dragon, with Lumera and Queen Eve having shared a friendship. This was likely the case for Firene's king as well, and the royals who came before them. Firene's throne room is specially built to accommodate Lumera's dragon form during visits.

Brodia and Solm, while respectful of the Divine Dragon, even having churches of their own, seem more neutral. Solm is stated to be a very secular culture, not deeply religious, but still fostering love and respect for Lumera as a ruler and dragon.

And Brodia respects the Divine Dragon as well, often accepting Lumera's invitations to visit the sleeping Alear at the Somniel. Diamant even states that it was through Lumera's help that Brodia was able to be established (Diamant/Framme support), so clearly they hold a certain level of respect for her and her faith, even if they aren't extremely devout followers.

With Elusia, there seems to be an indifference to the Divine Dragon at the very least, or outright rejection at most. So much that Ivy's worship of the Divine is something she sees as rebellion, and feels she has to keep secret. Some who live there are disillusioned with the Divine Dragon (Mauvier/Ivy supports), and others simply grew up with the Fell faith.

Like with other nations, Lumera is said to have invited Elusia to Lythos in order to visit with Alear (Ivy's wake up lines), but those requests were declined every time.

Though... Lumera, a living 'god', doing nothing to prevent Brodia's attacks likely did her little favors in that regard.

This is all my personal perception, of course, formed from different lines and bits of flavor text in the game. I personally think there's a lot to digest in Engage, while still giving us room to interpret and extrapolate, as long as you care enough to look.

[askew-d]

WANGXIAN FICS MASTERLIST

• tonight i can write the saddest lines, by sarahyyy — post-canon amnesiac lan wangji getting to know wei wuxian again. amazing! i love this author, sincerely.

• deconstruct, by flowercity (faorie) — a soulmate au in which what you write in your skin appears in the other person’s. i’ll admit that soulmate aus aren’t my cup of tea, however i quite liked this one!

• resonant frequencies, by chinxe — the infamous fake relationship story. with wangxian, this works so well! just amazing.

• between the lines, by fading_fast — modern setting au with wangxian meeting through a game. love these strange meetings and this one’s damn enjoyable.

• something real, by latios — wangxian wrong number au involving bunny pictures. i need more wrong number aus for them!! gimme!!

• all your life you’ll dream of this, by attila — cinderella au but with wei wuxian as prince charming. a fantastic story, i was so engaged in this it’s a wonder.

• ⭐️🎖️ one good thing, by yuu_chi — wei wuxian’s a ghost haunting his childhood house until lan wangji appears. seriously, everything about this plot charmed me. i’m enchanted.

• of rabbits and men, by shoutowo — wei wuxian turning into a rabbit and making his way into lan wangji’s heart for the second time. anything more wangxian than this?

• ⭐️ rumor has it, by ulan — post-canon cql in which wei wuxian comes back to “haunt” his rumored cultivation partner. the softness in this killed me.

• ⭐️🎖️ a little happiness, by suspicious_popsicle — lan wangji gets cursed and is transformed into his child version. so lovely to see!! i’m surprised i can read this for free.

• critical path analysis, by chinxe — brooklyn 99 au with wangxian in that episode where they make a bet and wei wuxian takes wangji on a terrible date that’s not terrible at all!

• ⭐️ some of you, by tangerine chair — social media au where lan wangji’s an actor and posts a suspicious tweet about his love life. incredible story, really.

• ⭐️ this should definitely happen, by yeolinski — wei wuxian waking up high in anesthesia and hitting on the hot guy who’s there with him. this is so goddamn funny, i swear i can’t.

• linger in the sun, by etymologyplayground — wangxian are cursed to not hear or see one another. i loved this a lot, it’s terrific.

• another way, by anonymous — wei wuxian sneaks outside to buy emperor smile’s again, and once again encounters lan wangji. i’m frustrated this doesn’t have as many kudos as it deserves, tbh.

• life, drama and action, by akai_hana — one more social media au with wangxian as a famous couple. awesome story.

• inebriation and affections, by chewing — wei wuxian gets drunk and shows his clingy attitude. it’s great to see him like that for the first time, thank you author 🙏🏼

• ⭐️ the inquiries of the heart, by ziane — very much alike “another way”, but this one has a sequel. it’s a whole show alright. a hella nice canon-divergence.

• 我在, by tangerinechair — wei wuxian comforting lan wangji in the xuanwu cave. something i deeply needed to read.

• facilitated diffusion, by chinxe — lan wangji can’t stop ordering stuff just to see the cute delivery worker. at this point i’m bookmarking every work by this author, ngl.

• ⭐️ you, asleep and dreaming, by etymologyplayground — post-canon cql that’ll haunt your mind but that you need to check out if you haven’t already.

• a wild heart to tame mine, by theroyalsavage — superheroes au in a soft perspective and amazing plot, liked every bit.

• ⭐️ a song you’ve never heard, by arahir — wei wuxian’s fatally injured and lan wangji… well, you can imagine. it’s heartbreaking and heartwarming all in between.

• ⭐️ to wing your soul with jasmines, by enemyofrome — while reaching gusu, wei wuxian starts sending flowers to lan wangji. cql post-canon. i could die basking on this adorable story.

• dear hanguang-jun, by cavaleira — people start sending letters asking for relationship advice from lan wangji and he gives it to them. whoa, the entertainment!

• ⭐️🎖️ two guys r in love thats literally it, victortor — wei wuxian traveling back to his old self and meeting lan wangji again. it’s a shame we didn’t hear more from this author in this fandom for a long time. where are you?? come back to give us more of this gay lil beasts. i absolutely love this and the title makes it more interesting. iconic.

• concessions to love, by besanii — arranged marriage wangxian. it’s well-noted and well-written. it rocks!

• “congratulations, get rich”, by attila — it’s chinese new year and wei wuxian wants to do things differently. incredibly done.

• atlas, by etymologyplayground — if you want a crossover between hob and mdzs, here it is. and it’s amazing!

• soft-hearted, by sarahyyy — canon-divergence where wei wuxian ends up in the lan sect. it’s so soft, just as the name tells us!

• seldom all they seem, by fahye — here we go with one more arranged marriage au. this one’s rated e, surely a ride! worth every bit.

• and in the spring i shed my skin, by wvlfqveen — shapeshifter lan wangji in a modern with magic au where they’re professors. do i need to say more? all too good, all too good

• love & longing, rabbit edition, by jaws_3 — lan wangji gets turned into a rabbit and looks for wei wuxian for help. do you sense a pattern? yes, maybe i love the idea of lan wangji as a bunny. in fact, i recommend every story by this author and many others but i’ll just be adding by absolute favorites. and this one’s fabulous.

• 在此恭迎夷陵老祖; to yiling laozu, the great and venerable, by yiqie — we had people writing letters to hanguang-jun asking for advice and now it’s people writing letters to the yiling patriarch! also gorgeous.

• 1 unread message, by bittersweetirony — office au where wei wuxian keeps receiving emails from an admirer. short and very sweet!

• ⭐️ the stars in the hazy heaven tremble above you, by cicer — wherein wei wuxian’s ciderella and wangji’s prince charming. i could read this over and over and never get tired. in fact, i did.

• ⭐️🎖️ only the deepest love, by occultings (microcomets) — pride and prejudice fusion. everything’s a bliss, magically and wonderfully so. i fell in love with this masterpiece. in fact, read everything by this author!! highly recommend. especially three days gone, if you go searching rabbits and a life in your shape!

• beneath six layers of silk, by darkredloveknot (enheduane) — lan wangji’s cursed to speak every thought of his out loud. come on, who never wanted to check what this guy’s thinking? perfect!

• ⭐️ let me come home, by cafecliche — seven nights with wangxian being sappy. i could dream about this piece of art. really.

• ⭐️🎖️ i hope that you will come and meet me, by feyburner — another post-canon cql where wangxian slowly get together. i find this particularly devastating and so beautiful.

• the ocean between us, by catbrainedschemes — this is for those who watched the legend of the blue sea, yes, the k-drama! because this is a fusion of it, where wei wuxian is a mermaid.

• call me, beep me, by myung — a whole social media au in another level! they are all actors and i love this idea so much. myung-laoshi big brained, tis glorious story right here made a lot happier.

• and his wanting grows teeth, by yukla — cultivator lan wangji finding wei wuxian in a village, an au in canon setting as the tag says. it's devasting how good this is, really.

• 🎖️ how to fall in love with a catfish: a guide by wei wuxian (disaster rat), by bwyn, yuisaki — wei wuxian finds a catfish trying to be the famous lan wangji. turns out, of course, that it's not a catfish. can we talk about this story more? the sheer hurt/comfort of it, and how it's the perfect rom-com slash drama depiction? i want this as a real show! new york, i love you, by yuisaki also gorgeous!

• listen to the voice inside your head, by pupeez4eva— wei wuxian wakes up to his future-self voice inside his head. it's telling him suspicious things. the amount of giggles i let it slip. in fact, i recommend every work by this author because they always makes me laugh!

• 🎖️ the breaking of your soul (upon my lips), by sunsandships — canon-divergence where wei wuxian discovers that lan wangji's the one who kissed him without his consent. that changes everything. just... magnificent fix-up story, as i said so in my bookmark.

• love on 35mm, by fakeplasticlily — film student lan wangji and wei wuxian as the brother of lan wangji's best friend. my heart was aching during this.

• neatly arranged, by thunderwear — wei wuxian and lan wangji are betrothed, against their own wills. do we have enough wangxian arranged marriage content? no, we do not.

• ⭐️🎖️paint smears on sunny days, by snowshadowao3 — lan wangji's son, lan yuan, has a favorite teacher, and that's wei-laoshi, art professional and also an expert at getting into lan wangji's heart. i will dive DEEP into teacher wei wuxian concept. this one's so wholesome, i could Die.

• 🎖️the absolutely true story of the yiling patriarch: a manifesto in many parts, by aubreyli — the juniors decide to make up wei wuxian's reputation by creating a book of his stories with hanguang-jun. it goes well. one time or another. haha, i love the juniors, they are so creative when making wangxian get together.

• ⭐️🎖️ pigtail pulling, by protos_metazu_isson — lan wangji decides to face wei wuxian's pigtail pulling face to face. that goes better than the expected and worse that what he further imagined. it's surely one of stories i keep on rereading from time to time, especially because it's not big and it's so CUTE!! help.

• ⭐️🎖️ your hand in mine, by cerbykerby — wangxian cursed to hold each other's hand. i could scream while i'm are. come on, this is one of the best stories here, it's short and so sweet, so fitting for them too. perfect, perfect.

• ⭐️ as you like it, by cosmicmilktea — wei wuxian starts to discover what's lan wangji likes. it's what he should know as his husband, after all. IT'S WHAT WE NEED AND DESERVE.

• after the final rose, by azulewaxwing — the bachelor au, because who doesn't want a lan wangji for themselves? turns out, the cameraman attracts his attention more than any contestant could. absolute fire.

• your heartbeat, across the grass, by fakeplasticlily — former classmates with now wei wuxian babysitting and lan wangji as a famous football player. aaah, just imagining lan wangji playing football, as a brazilian, it gives me chills.

• grow, by cafecliche — age degression wei wuxian troubling cloud recesses and the juniors. i love this idea! love a tiny wei wuxian. he deserves good things.

• obedient and bellicose, by thunderwear — an ella the enchanted au where, as per say, lan wangji has to follow every rule. oh, what an incredible fusion. it fits so well, even.

• ⭐️ at least in this lifetime, by etymologyplayground — aaaah i'm sighing over this again. this story's pure sweetness. diabetes. fluff. outstanding. basically, it's just wangxian getting married.

• ⭐️🎖️ i'm the one for your fire, by occultings (microcomets) — a cherry magic au, where wei wuxian can reads mind and discovers lan wangji from the office is actually into him. and maybe he's also into lan wangji. but like, in a no homo kinda way. of course! (denial's a river on africa, dear.)

• ⭐️ look not with the eyes, by spodumene — a case fic post-canon cql where everyone who knows lan wangji starts to devote themselves to him and it doesn't work on wei wuxian. why would that be? i wonder.

• ⭐️🎖️ sweet chaos, by eachandeverydimension — it took me a long time to finish this because everything was so good i wanted to feel it forever. wangxian arranged marriage where they're fourteen and lan wangji goes spend the time with him at yunmeng.

• ⭐️🎖️ your words upon my lips, by uchiuchi — during a nighthun, wangxian get cursed, what one says comes on the other's lips. this killed me, it's so freaking funny and overall over the top.

• ⭐️🎖️ linger by the door (i've always been yours), by piecrust — epistolary wangxian! post-canon cql! introspection! slow burn! everything i could ever want in just one fic. and the letters are unbearably beautiful.

• my heart skips a beat (so my gut can feel the punch), by piecrust — wangxian taking the long way back home. i always wonder how these pretty stories come into an author's mind.

• we sit in the sunset glow, by moonsteps — tangled au where wei wuxian's flynn rider and wangji's rapunzel. thank you, dear author, indeed wangxian came straight out of a fairy tale movie and we deserve more fics like this!

•⭐️not in so many words, by jaws_3 — getting hananaki through a curse after he flirts with the wrong florist, wei wuxian starts dealing with the consequences of his actions. a masterpiece. and so, so lovely, gimme more. this author also has many darling works.

• ⭐️tickling sleeping dragons, by fallingfeathers — a hogwarts au with wei wuxian as a troublemaker gryffindor and lan wangji as a rigorous ravenclaw! perfect, isn't it? the development's awesome as well.

• blooming into the color of love, series by leffy — actors wei wuxian and lan wangji, who are judged to be rivals, have to work together for a tv show. and they have sex scenes at that. so enjoyable!

• love potion no. 9, by ria_green — one more hogwarts au where amortentia's involved, so you can imagine what happens. short and soft.

• the rivers start to sing, by fruitys — another tangled au but this time with wei wuxian as rapunzel and lan wangji as flynn rider. it's a marvel that we have two tangled aus in here! phenomenal. mountains, we met by this author (every work of theirs, actually) are also worth every bit!

•⭐️blue-ribbon bunny, by cicer — shapeshifter lan wangji is forced into a shift after getting tired at work and wei wuxian finds him. bunji won my heart, i want to pet him! wei wuxian, you lucky fool.

•⭐️no more looking, i've found home, by annadream — more epistolary wangxian! more post-canon cql! getting together! once again, with terrific letters. i'm astonished with these author's mind.

•⭐️🎖️teen project to change the world, by animeloverhomura — mdzs characters watching mdzs donghua!!! please, this is my utmost FAVORITE! ever! i'm also translating this into portuguese, for those who wanna check in the start note (i'm slowly updating it, im sorry). but aaah, how sensational this work is!!

• an impromptu visit to the city, by bosbie — lan wangji time travels into a modern time and wei wuxian finds him there! oh, this is precious, they are the best.

• heartkeeper, by postingpebbles — bunny lan wangji again, but this ain't modern times, and it's also fascinating. the arts in these made me so warm inside, too.

• ⭐️🎖️the one-body problem, by metisket — during a ritual, lan jingyi's possessed and wei wuxian's on his body with him. waahhh, i couldn't help but chuckle during every part of this, it's well-written and freaking nice to see them bonding. jingyi and wei wuxian being buddies owns my life.

• ⭐️🎖️no certainty of doors between us, by betts — this is the story that HAUNTS me. i read this every once in a while because it's goddamn FANTASTIC. just roommates wangxian with wangji complaining about wei wuxian but being head over heels in love with the man. chaotic, amusing and flawless!!!

• ⭐️🎖️covered in bees, by scarlettstorm— apiary au with wei wuxian freaking out over bees at his doorstep, but then lan wangji comes to aid. and of course, chemistry sparks. and there are bees everywhere. and my heart's melted.

•🎖️lavender blue, by ana_cp — wei wuxian's a florist for a wedding and lan wangji's a cook, they meet and don't stop meeting afterwards. everything about this work is excellent!

•⭐️ wrong turn, right place, by diamondbruise — more time-travel au! this time, it's wei wuxian who goes to cloud recesses coming from his modern time. one of my favorite quotes from all the fics i've read it's in here. such an exquisite work.

• hello, it. have you tried turning it off and on again?, by overmountainandmeadow — here we have modern setting, office wangxian, it superior lan wangji, juniors as interns and other great plots. stunning work!

• diamonds are wei wuxian's worst enemy, by thefaceofno — lan wangji says he wants to marry, and wei wuxian thinks it's with another person. of course it isn't. so he helps plan his own wedding. coming from our best fool, that's expected, really. splendid!

• secretary lan, series by silverclaw — exactly what it says, lan wangji as his husband's secretary and everybody thinks wei wuxian's cheating on their spouse with... well, his spouse. it's absurdly good.

• our hands clasped so tight, by chapter_61 — wangxian get stuck in a library and conversations ensue. i like the idea of fics with a lot of dialogue, and this one didn't fail to surprise and light me up! lovely!

• ⭐️connected: unknown number, by phoenixking25 — wrong number aus always have my heart, and wow, how good this one is. truly excellent, with the perfect lenght. the ones i read are always so short, but this is longer! a win for the wrong number lovers.

• cut through the clouds, break the ceiling, by tardigradeschool — modern setting with our adorable boys including a drunk confession. i'm not lying when i say this is so delightful, i want to print it out and keep it.

• who could stay? you could stay, by martyrsdaughter — neighbours au, where wei wuxian's a bit intruding. maybe too much. but lan wangji likes him anywhere. what is there not to like? haha, a whole awesome read.

• ⭐️ be gay, do crime, by merelydovely — lan wangji thinks wei wuxian, the guy who invaded his home one afternoon and petted his bunnies, is a bad guy. he's not. hilarious and brilliant!

• ⭐️don't threaten me with a good time, by livinginaworldofnoise — ridiculously funny! basically, a great british bake off au with wei wuxian being a lil demon. i want this to be printed and delivered during my funeral, thank you very much.

• ⭐️as the clouds part and clear, we finally meet again, by 12262325 — lan wangji, as a kid, encounters wei wuxian, who's older than him. they keep on encountering each other, and lan wangji keeps on falling in love with his senior. aah, i'm in love with this work! i can't stop rereading!

• as if you were a mythical thing, by daltoneering — a vague steampunk au as the author suggest, and it absolutely rocks! i wish this had even more hits, as it deserves.

you can check my wangxian bookmarks on ao3 for more recs! i’d just like to note again that this is, of course, based on my own opinion. regardless if these stories are famous or not, i wanted to make this list for my enjoyment and for those who want more wangxian content, either they’re old here or if they’re just entering the fandom :)

as always, i’m accepting other recs if you have those. check my pinned tweet for more of my stuff and thank yoou!

[illubean]

Can I request kurapika, leoreo, illumi and chrollo with an s/o who is constantly changing their appearance? Like always dyeing their hair, trying new makeup, trying new clothing looks etc. Thnx!!

HXH with a S/o Who Changes Styles

Characters: Kurapika Kurta, Leorio Paladaknight, Illumi Zoldyck, Chrollo Lucilfer Type: Fluff, Headcanons, Gn!reader

this request is so me

Warnings: none

Kurapika Kurta

there are definitely some styles he'd prefer you not to wear but he'd never actually tell you that

if changing up your appearance makes you happy who is he to tell you not to

on days you wear revealing outfits it makes him nervous

you're too hot to handle

he likes the fact that you're so comfortable with making these bold changes

it's probably one of the things he admires about you the most

it's definitely not easy to recognize you considering how often your appearance changes so he makes it his mission to memorize your face like the back of his hand

if he can't recognize you by your hair and style then the world be damned he doesn't recognize you by your face

he occasionally likes to gift you things he thinks you'd like but unlike the others he probably doesn't have any requests on how you dress

Leorio Paladaknight

you know in cartoons when the guys eyes pop out and their tongue rolls out of their moth and across the floor

yeah that's him seeing you in literally anything

"Your outfit today is so hot!" "...I'm wearing pajamas"

he's quick to shower you with compliments at all times

his favorite part of this whole thing is probably how often you change up your hair

he likes seeing the different colors/styles and how they compliment your face

he also really likes the makeup but more specifically...the lipstick

PLEASE KISS HIM WHEN TRYING DIFFERENT LIPSTICK SHADES HE WILL BE PUTTY IN YOUR HANDS

he's just an idiot in love and he practically worships the ground you walk on...<3

Illumi Zoldyck

he actually cannot wrap his head around all the shit you put your hair through

like seriously, a new hair color every month? that's obscene!

he take's pride in how long and healthy his hair is so knowing you damage yours so willingly gets him like ???

Illumi is a bit of a fashionista himself; especially since his wealth allows it

that being said he's going to give you fashion advice even if you don't ask for it (well...more like criticism)

his favorite thing to see you in are outfits he picks for you tbh

or something that matches one of his

seeing you wear something because of him fuels that possessive fire in him

Chrollo Lucilfer

he likes watching you dress up

he see's the versatility in your wardrobe and aesthetic as a form of art

when he's out in public he's not above stealing a clothing item, jewelry or some makeup that he thinks you'd enjoy

he likes to give you style or hair color suggestions

he's a sucker for body mod baddies so if you get/stretch your piercings

MEEEEEEEOOOOOOOWWWWWWW

he is on his knees maamsir

out of all the looks you've tried, trad and romantic goth would be his favorite styles to see on you

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

Would I be the asshole if I told my friend to clean his fucking house via text? 😷

Hi. I (29, she) play ttrpgs with a few different groups of friends every weekend.

A particular group is DM'd by an old friend (36, he) of mine, named A, and we tend to meet twice a month at his apartment, which he shares with another one of the group's players (also male, same age), "B". I am not privy to the nature of their arrangement, although I suspect A covers most of their expenses from the way he talks.

Anyway, the place is a real mess. A has always been disorganized, and I've been told he has ADHD and autism. But I've never seen an apartment as disgusting as theirs: the floors are sticky, there's trash covering every inch of the floor, something is definitely growing inside their fridge, and stepping foot inside their bathroom is akin to stepping into an alternate dimension. And that's only what I feel like describing right now, things are really really bad in there. I've left the place feeling seriously physically sick more than once.

Whenever we get together to play, we are tacitly expected to clean up the table (which is ALWAYS covered in disgusting shit), wash a few glasses so we can drink (looking into their sink is a nightmare), and even wash whatever we need to use in order to make snacks or dinner. Another one of the players (she/they, younger than me) just does all of this as soon as she gets there, but I honestly find this super annoying. I do NOT live there, this is not my trash and muck, I will not touch it.

At this point, I feel like I have to intervene, if not for their health at least for mine (and A's dog, poor thing). It's just a really awkward thing to say! I know he takes criticisms very personally, and I kinda don't want to humiliate him in front of our friends (he rarely goes outside, at least with me, and there's always someone else there. No chance to do this privately). Also, this may very well be way out of place for me. So I've been thinking of texting him this request in as friendly a manner as I can muster. WIBTA? (Any advice is welcome tbh)

What are these acronyms?

[allwormdiet]

Extermination 8.1

Jesus Christ. Okay. Let's get this going.

Y'know, I wonder if Taylor might be cynical about human nature or something, weird

Hey Dragon, very cool to meet you in the chrome.

Aww, she's starstruck

Hey Weld, cool to meet you, wish it was under less dire circumstances

See, the nice thing about the Empire showing up to an Endbringer fight is that the Endbringer can then massacre a bunch of fucking Nazis. Totally victimless deaths, and no hand-wringing about whether it's right or wrong to take them down.

If I was giving performance notes to Leviathan for this showing I would have to criticize that he didn't kill more of them, frankly

Hey kids, sorry some of you are about to get slaughtered in a fight you're way underqualified for

Hey Panacea, I'll see you later when you decide to exacerbate Skitter's paranoia in revenge for the bank job and make this arc go from bad to worse for her

So I know Legend is publicly gay from fandom osmosis, but what I don't know in this moment is whether Wildbow had decided on that beforehand and Taylor is currently ogling a gay dude, or if he decided on it after writing this. I guess it doesn't strictly matter, but it leaves me curious how much of this was laid out in advance, especially with some other writing decisions that are gonna come up this arc

So Myrddin straight up has a wizard gimmick and that's kind of wild, but not nearly as wild as the fact that a Protectorate cape apparently flew off the handle sufficiently far enough to yell a racial slur multiple times in public. Like holy shit that is some radioactive PR.

Also, while you do not in fact have to hand it to the Empire Eighty-Eight, it is very funny of Kaiser to taunt Bastion like this

So that's the Triumvirate rounded out, and... how to put this. There's something that's almost sweet about Taylor's thoughts diverting to think about the "who would win" discussions about heroes. Like, I dunno, it's a cute insight into the world. Maybe she used to have those conversations with Emma back when they were younger.

Y'know, I'm constantly wary of government-employed superheroes as a concept, but frankly i think a corporate superhero team is even more hair-raising. The Christian superheroes could break in either direction, either they're genuinely good people who take their faith seriously or they're just self-righteous pukes. Knowing the general tone of this story, I'd be surprised if it was the first one.

Hey Parian, hey Flechette, looking forward to your later contributions

What the hell is Bambina's deal, even. Does she have some kinda thing going on like Babydoll from BTAS, or what. I don't know if I've heard the name come up before.

Grue, Regent, c'mon now

Also yeah Taylor, I think you sufficiently scared the absolute bejeezus out of Sundancer when you made this story really earn a content warning for eye horror.

Okay so I did not realize that Narwhal was gonna have a goddamn exhibitionist thing going on here, what the hell. Can you just get away with whatever as long as you're not showing your nipples or genitals? Did it truly never come up that she could maybe wear pants to cover up a little bit?

So I knew previously that Legend is a notoriously poor public speaker, but the fact that he just straight up says "best case scenario twenty-five percent of you are dead before sunset" is ridiculous. Kristen Applebees could give a more inspiring speech than this.

Everyone in that room must be questioning their life choices tbh

Current Thoughts

I know they all volunteered, and I know that there's a protectiveness that comes with fighting for your hometown, but Jesus Christ there should be an age limit for fighting Endbringers. Signing up the teenagers to fight Nazis is already a bit rough, but the kaiju who is going to kill a bunch of them feels like someone should have pulled them back. It might technically have been the wrong decision given how critical kids like Flechette and Skitter end up being, but at least then I'd feel less judgmental of the people running this show.

Anyhow. God Taylor just keeps ending up being lonely, huh? Can't escape it, poor girl.

[autistichalsin]

In light of all the bitching about the upcoming patch, I was so happy to hear you’re also not… mad at Larian, I guess? I was wondering if I’m missing something, because for all its bugs, the game is fine the way it is, to me. More than fine, it’s a great game, the first that really means something to me since Dishonored. Idk, I’m literally over here just vibing, glad I’m not alone in that 😌

I noticed there's been a trend in recent years, I think started by those media that truly DID become horribly disappointing as it went on (last season of GOT, for example), and people started just... like

There is a phase most media get where they are the Best Ever, they Can Do No Wrong. And then one day that phase ends, and suddenly, that media Can Do No Right. Everything is a mistake, everything is wrong, everything is an attempt to cater to one group of fans (who are, of course, the wrong group to cater to) and/or an attempt to spite one group of fans. I think that in this day and age, people sometimes don't understand the difference between consuming media critically, I.E., using critical thinking to understand the themes, plot, and characters, and consuming media critically, I.E. criticizing everything the creators say and do.

So instead of looking for simple explanations, I.E., "different trainings and specialties mean that the division of labor at Larian has a team that works on new animations, but that team is not the same team responsible for bug fixes, so getting new animations from the former isn't why the latter hasn't repaired Polearm Master or Shield Bash or Raphael and Mol's scene yet" they instead assume "Larian only cares about Astarion and Halsin* and are catering to their fans again at the expense of literally everything else"

*The idea that Halsin fans are receiving any kind of special treatment is laughable, but that is very much the accusation being made- i want to see their reaction when they open up patch 6 and see that their fave has new kiss animations too tbh. As for the new scenes datamined for Halsin, those are all in response to complaints made by people who HATE Halsin, not complaints by his fans. A platonic confession scene? A version of the post-breaking the curse scene that doesn't involve flirting? The only two that were made for Halsin fans were fixing his post-Drow dialogue and the ability to go with him at the end, and the latter hasn't been fully implemented yet (you can get a flag saying you chose him, but you don't get to tell him and have him respond yet). But I have seriously digressed.

IDK, it just seems like we're in the phase of fandoms where, since the initial joy of discovering what the game has to offer has worn off, people are getting their dopamine from getting angry instead, and that means making a game of who can have the best hot takes, who or what is the most problematic and deserving of shunning, what have the creators done to fuck over us poor fans, etc.

There are many legitimate criticisms to be made against Larian, I want to be clear here- their treatment of Wyll's character has been horrific, and the interactions between Durge and Astarion should have been given for ALL characters. It is appalling that they have let Minthara's romance be bugged to the point that some people can only trigger it by modding the game because the flags are bugged and that they have allowed Halsin's voice lines to be bugged SINCE LAUNCH causing many to think they don't exist. All of these things deserve to be criticized. But ascribing malice to things like having separate work teams on the game, or the pile-on people started over that "we fixed it so a glitch can't cause Gale to leave your party" patch... Yeah.

It's never a good sign when a fandom starts to collectively chase the high that comes from being The Angriest. It doesn't seem to be as prevalent on here as on Twitter, thankfully (ironically, speaking as someone who was on this site since before Superwholock, the most toxic parts of Tumblr moved to Twitter after the porn ban, and now it's mostly rational people on here) but we are rapidly sliding towards the "do you people even like this game or do you like the version of it you created in your head?" phase of fandom that everyone dreads.

[biblically-accurate-pirates]

tips for writing law as a surgeon in a modern AU

the US medical system, and especially medical training, is a mess of incomprehensible rules and timelines. surgery training ESPECIALLY. and accurate information can be weirdly hard to find! so without further ado, here's a list of random factoids that i thought would be vaguely useful to have in one place

Some basic terms: 

Attending: boss doctor, fully trained and certified. Often intimidating. 

Resident: worker doctor, still finishing training. They usually do the majority of the actual work in surgeries, especially as they advance. 

Intern: first-year resident. Their schedule is slightly different because every intern in every specialty has to meet a few requirements. They’re also limited in what medications they prescribe until they take a big test (usually at the end of the year).  

Junior resident: first 2 years of training. They do more of the paperwork (writing notes, calling other doctors, admitting patients) and floor work (changing wound dressings, seeing new patients, checking on old patients if there’s an issue)

Senior resident: 3+ years of training. They check on the juniors to make sure they’re doing everything right, and generally do more operating and interacting with the attendings. 

Chief resident: resident on their last year of training/just out of training. In many specialties there’s only one, but usually, every 5th year surgical resident is a chief. Treated as attendings in many cases, they also build the schedule for the other residents. 

Fellow: fully certified doctors doing additional training in a sub-specialty. Common surgical fellowships are trauma/critical care surgery, colorectal surgery, surgical oncology, and cardiothoracic surgery. 

Service: a team of doctors from one specialty who admit, operate on, and follow up with patients for one specific problem. 

On service/off service: “on service” residents are working on the team within their own specialty (a surgical resident who’s working on the general surgery team this month). Off-service residents are on a team outside of their primary specialty (an anesthesiology resident on the general surgery team). Anesthesiology, urology, plastic surgery, transitional year, and sometimes family medicine residents have to rotate through surgical teams. These residents pretty much never operate and only handle paperwork and floor work.  

Please, for the love of god, forget everything you saw on Grey’s Anatomy

I’m begging you. It’s so inaccurate.

Scrubs is decent tbh  

Dating patients is a HUGE no-no, especially for surgeons. Surgeons and psychiatrists are the two specialties where it is a top-tier ethical violation to ever date anyone who has ever been your patient. With other specialties (especially in rural areas) it’s generally okay, though still a little frowned upon, to date someone who’s a former patient, but you also can’t ditch someone as a patient just to date them. 

Also: surgeons deal with poop so much more than you can imagine. Would you, a normal person, ever want to date someone who wakes you up at 5am to ask you very seriously if you’ve pooped yet, press super hard on your still healing incisions, and leave? No. You would not. 

Surgical training is long AF. in the US you need to get through a bachelor’s degree (3-5 years), a MD/DO degree (minimum 4 years, often longer), general surgery training (minimum 5 years, up to 7 pretty regularly if people do research), and maybe fellowship (about 2 years). That’s a minimum of 12 years of training, after graduating high school at 18 years old. If you’re writing law as an attending (boss doctor) he’d need to be at least 30 years old, and if you’re writing him as a specialist he’d need to be 32. 

Attending schedules vs resident schedules: 

Residents work around 80 hours a week, often more. They switch services every month, and work all over the hospital. The work year starts in July and ends in june. Residents get either new years or christmas off, never both. residents have to get an average of one day off every week, and having both weekend days off is called a “golden weekend”. Also, most surgeries are at seven AM, so residents get to the hospital around 4:30/5am to see patients, write notes, and get ready for the surgeries. 

Attendings have more control over their schedule. Surgeons still work over 40 hours a week, more if they’re on a busy inpatient service. Generally, when they’re not covering the inpatient service, they’ll have 3-4 days a week of operating, a day of clinic, and a day of administrative work or research if they’re doing other projects. Attendants also take calls, which is when they supervise residents and do emergency surgeries for 24 hours straight. If they’re lucky they don’t actually spend the full 24 hours awake and working, but they’re rarely lucky. On some services, (especially trauma) there is Q3 or Q4 call, which means the surgeons work 24+ hours every 3 or 4 days. It’s brutal. 

What certain specialties actually do:

This is very Law specific and one of my pet peeves. “Heart surgeons”, who are cardiothoracic surgeons, are kinda boring imho and don’t fit the law's vibe. (all cardiothoracic people will, of course, disagree with me). They do some very cool, very intense open-heart surgeries, but they also do pretty much everything inside the chest cavity. So that means things like repairing a hernia in someone’s esophagus, or messing with the diaphragm. But that’s all pretty controlled surgery and they’re very limited in what else they can do. 

Trauma surgeons, on the other hand, are “emergency room surgeons”. They’re the ones who handle all of the super serious surgical injuries that come into the emergency department. They’re the ones who will fix someone if they have a gunshot wound and are bleeding out, or stabilize someone who was hit by a truck and broke all of their bones, or will open up someone’s chest cavity and use their hands to physically squeeze a heart to make it start beating again. They’re wild. They’re also usually chronically sleep deprived and have a thick veneer of “i give no fucks”. Very law.

anyway WOW that got long but i hope this was helpful to someone!!!

[babybells123]

Oh. My. God! You’re always whining about people not liking jonsa! Like seriously who cares. Just be happy and ship your jonsa why do you care if others like it or not.

Hi anon.

Tbh, this fandom talks more about how much they hate Jonsa more than I talk about the unjustified hatred myself…. Often the arguments against it are very shallow and inherently vitriolic and it often plays into fandom psychology i.e following the grain, which is again - intriguing to note in comparison to other fan theories.

But in any case, there is something wonderful called the block button, and I really urge you to use it. It’s what I do when I’m made privy to an account / content I don’t like or agree with, I don’t waste my time reading through any of it . The posts which address the antis largely stem from anon messages that I receive (and delete), and other social media forums where I may come across hateful content. I don’t go actively searching for it because as I stated, they’re often extremely weak arguments that can be countered and don’t come from a place of critical thinking or nuance ; simply a matter of “nah that could never happen because I said so.”

And here’s the thing, Jonsa shippers don’t actually venture to pro other ships tumblr. We all have that content filtered/blocked most likely. But there is certainly a strange pattern when it comes to antis who usually ship other pairings loving to invade the Jonsa tag and send hate upon hate, reblog, write numerous essays as well.

There’s a lot more anti content towards Jonsa than there is for people calling out the antis. And it’s not just a matter of people “not liking it,” since that’s really not what it boils down to. It’s really not that tame nor simple. I don’t care if someone dislikes Jonsa, if it isn’t your cup of tea then I have no qualms. I take issue with people who are consistently bothered/offended by it’s mere existence and have participated in online bullying such as creating anti blogs and hate accounts, doxing people, forcing people to delete their art/edits, and sending death and rape threats over a *checks notes* ship. That’s very uncalled for and very unhinged.

Anyway, I find the way that this fandom collectively responds to Jonsa so mind boggling. I can only laugh at the blatant hypocrisy. See, you’re clearly unaware as to how deranged people get because you’re on the other side, so you think it’s just a matter of people disliking a ship. In my many years across multiple fandoms I’ve never seen such a level of vitriol! And that is saying something. But I’m confident in what I’ve analysed/written. I have faith in the metas and theories and at the end of the day, it’s really all just fiction.

And you know what anon, I reckon I’ll increase how much I post about Jonsa hate, just to piss you off ;). You’ll probably lurk on here, and you’re free to - but I really urge you to block if you’re so riled up and go back to your side of the fandom with like-minded people.

Have a blessed day !

[yerrrrrrrl]

I've seen bakugo being compared to sanemi surprisingly a lot. The reason why it's so surprising is because they're not similar ? The only way I see a similarity is their constant anger.

But their anger stems from different reasons which sets their characters completely apart !!

This is NOT a bakugo vs sanemi u reading the wrong thing if ur looking for that lmao I suck at analysing character fighting styles and how they could compare ( like wth is hax 😭) I DIGRESS

AND ALSO SPOILERS FOR BOTH MHA AND DEMON SLAYER (?)

sanemi's anger mainly from what we see is a portrayed as a hatred for demons which stemmed from his traumatic past (where he ended up killing his own mother due to her turning into a demon and killing the rest of their family.)

Seems straight forward but it's literally why everytime we see him it's like he has 10 sticks up his ass.

His whole career is based around killing demons so when he sees ppl with the same job slacking and not able to fend for themselves, he most likely thinks that no one is taking it seriously- as if they haven't had bad experiences; that they aren't fortunate to have had survived and are still able to get up protect others. His anger is almost encouraging if you think of it from this perspective.

You can see it as him basically forcing them to get better so they're not a burden to themselves and others in the battlefield (just in a really aggressive, violent, and not necessarily *right* way).

I'm convinced that some of his anger is also stemmed from fear. Obviously as a hashira he has the responsibility of protecting the lower ranks whilst fighting but maybe the training arc really puts into perspective just how many lives are actually at stake which makes him realise *how much* humanity is depending on him as a hashira. I feel like the fear is deeply rooted from his past of not being able to protect those he loves, his family, masachika, etc. So if he can't even look after his close ones, how's he supposed to protect a bunch of random ppl ? Ygwim ?

BAKUGO on the other hand -- >

This guy's anger stemmed from an inferiority complex that was so severe that he put on a facade to make himself seem so much bigger than he actually felt.

I think midoriya could always see this, which was why he never held him at Gun Point for an apology for the literal torment he put him through.

We can also see a small glimpse of his constant self-criticism during the fight against midoriya after all might's fight with afo, when he blames himself for all might's downfall.

This is key because it shows that he doesn't just direct his anger at others but clearly at himself, too. Using this, you could probably make the judgement that when he lashes out at his friends, he probably regrets it straight after. *especially* after his character development, where he acknowledges that he always felt inferior to midoriya and decided to bully him to make himself feel bigger.

Old habits die so hard, so he probably struggled to be less aggressive towards everyone around him.

The difference between sanemi and bakugo is that:

Sanemi is confident in himself but not so confident in others and their strength which is why he pushes them *so* hard. His training is definitely the most brutal out of all the hashiras'

You can argue its gyomei but his training hasn't given slayers black eyes and swollen knuckles. Tanjiro is exhibit A if you want an example. I DIGRESS (again)

Whilst bakugo is not confident in himself, which to, what I believe, is the reason for his aggressive attitude towards others.

BASICALLY the way I see it is that sanemis aggression isn't necessarily presented to show him putting other characters down unlike bakugo who's entrance was literally as a bully who told midoriya to kill himself setting in stone that his anger resulted in others feeling inferior to him.

I really like both characters - sanemi more tbh so if u think I missed anything out pls point it out 🤞

[douglysium]

Is FGO's Andromeda Black?

I already talked about this on Twitter So I figured I would mention this here and it was originally a sort of response to people criticizing for someone assuming Andromeda was some sort of gyaru.

I appreciate that people are aware of Andromeda’s Aethiopian / African origins in FGO but tbh I think there’s something to be said about how FGO design usually approaches drawing black people / features. Sure I think Andromeda is black but if you where to grab a random non-fate fan before putting FGO’s Andromeda, Amakusa, Emiya Alter, and Suzuka Gozen (Summer) in front of them with no context and asked them “Which of these characters is black?” or "Which of these character an African figure?" I hesitate to say that they would be able to tell you consistently.

I’m not saying no character can ever be racially ambiguous or everything can fit cleanly into little boxes at all times but as tempting as it is to say someone not realizing Andromeda is black is merely the ignorance of an audience member I can’t help but think that Fate also primes such expectations with how they often approach black characters in general. I think parts of the internet do bend over backward trying to deny a character being black when it makes sense but I also ask when is the last time Fate has idk drawn really curly hair or dreads? Like seriously think about it.

(Lenora maybe isn't the best example because I think she plays into some stereotypes but the point here is to look at the hair texture)

So, I think as good as the conversation about Africa in Greek mythology is to have and how easy it is to blame it on the audience (which is not completely unjustified) I think we also have to question how Fate itself primes the audience or may handle things in such a way as to increase the chance of miscommunication. And this is not to say that it’s always Fate’s fault or that black people can never have straight hair and / or lightskin black people or what have you, but i find Myself having to debate whether a character is black or not in fate way more often than I have to debate if a character is black in other media. I think the weaknesses that Fate has with these kinds of designs is something I don’t see with Magic the Gathering or Pokemon or even Digimon. Outside of specific characters I don’t see people arguing Marvin Jackson from Digital-Police is a gyaru or Lenora isn’t black.

Like if you look at Sid Story’s Mansa Musa design for example I don’t think there’s really anyway for someone to misinterpret that she’s not black without looking like they are purposefully trying to troll others for engagement.

(Shout outs to illust_ringo (https://twitter.com/illust_ringo))

Like yeah, there is a lot of racism in some parts of the Fate fandom but Fate itself did also make a bunch of Detroit jokes with Emiya alter and clearly realized they made some sort of mistake with design since they’ve been walking back on some subtle stuff so I can only give FGO itself so much grace in that context. I love Fate but I think if we want to have a productive conversation we need to acknowledge the racism within Fate itself and how that can attract certain people or set up certain expectations (even with the censorship of characters like Emiya Alter).

I guess what I’m also trying to say is for some people if you give an inch they’ll take a mile. If you give even a little bit of a possibility that a character isn’t black, even if they’re supposed to be, some people are going to take it and I think that there’s some stuff Fate could be doing more often (even if not all the time) to help prevent misconceptions from occurring and prevent me from pulling out an essay or history lesson on why a character is or should be black almost every-time they release and African servant.

While I ended up talking about some of the ways I think Fate could do better I don’t think it’s always 100% their fault. Like I said if you give an inch some people will take a mile (and some people don’t want to ever count Egypt as part of Africa for some reason) but I also think there’s stuff they could be doing to help curb this. I also don’t think it helps that Fate barely touches any black figures around / outside of Egypt but that’s for another time (where’s Yasuke?! Im on my hands and knees begging).

Anyway, those are my thoughts because quite frankly one could go on all day with almost infinite ifs, ands, or buts and numerous exceptions and when the responsibility is more on the designer or more on the audience or how there are always exceptions, considering racially ambiguous people and designs, etc but this is from Twitter and my brain hurts so I'll spare you an entire chapter book's worth of thoughts. I figured this was also fitting to go over during Black History Month.

Extra Thoughts

There are a couple of other points I would like to mention though. Some people have argued Andromeda is a win because they didn't depict her as white and I'm not sure I completely agree? Yes, it is a major win that they didn't do that thing where they only look at how white Europeans from the medieval century depicted her and used pale skin as a symbol of beauty but there are some fan translations of her profile and it says this " A tomboy princess who prides herself on her swimming ability. Ethiopia (Aethiopia) is said to mean "land of the sunburnt people"[1], however, it does not necessarily correspond to the nation of Ethiopia which exists today."

So yes, Aethiopia does not correspond perfectly to Ethopia but it still refers to parts of Africa and Africans. Quite frankly, this part of the profile reads like a summer servant and while it might be easy to say "Fate gave her dark skin so it's a win" I also worry that what happened is that they interpreted "land of the sunburnt people" as a tan and took the depictions of white Andromeda and interpreted it as a sort of tan. Which is a doubt I REALLY REALLY REALLY wish I didn't have and I can't stress this enough. I so desperately want to believe that they are saying Andromeda is at least black but like I said I think we have to be honest that Fate's depiction of black and African people adds a lot of room for doubt. I think her skin is naturally tan at least and while she does indeed have dark hair in some of her ascensions it ends up turning blonde. You could maybe argue this confirms that she actually isn't a gyaru since most stereotypical gyarus have blonde hair but even with that in mind I think the way Fate handles Andromeda and just black designs in general can often fall a bit flat or unclear and sometimes I think fans are doing a lot of heavy lifting with good faith readings (including me).

This is not me saying Andromeda is white this is me saying that Fate pretty consistently falls short with these designs which feeds into a room for doubt. Like I said, I just want Fate to be more willing to include some black features more often so I'm not constantly having to pull up a small dissertation on why a character is black. It would be nice if there were just a few more of their black characters that I could point to and have no doubts about and not need to debate anyone.

Also, Fate just has a SERIOUS whitewashing problem and a weird relationship with blonde hair quite frankly. It feels like sometimes it's an obsession. Like when they made it so blonde hair was a sign of divinity for most of the Babylonian gods. Something that has a lot of Eurocentric baggage with the history of associating often white / "aryan" traits with purity, beauty, goodness, divinity, etc.. Not to mention, that in my opinion, Fate seems like it is basically going out of its way to avoid black historical figures most of the time unless they have do Egypt. Yes, I know about Strange / Fake and Nzambi but they barely touched most of Africa and even outside of Egypt they haven't really even mentioned characters like Yasuke outside of some fan-submitted design in one of their gag mangas. Combine this with designs like Emiya Alter and the controversy around that and I can't help but be left wanting a bit more of a bare minimum somewhere even if there aren't a lot of black servants.

Greeks and Pigment

Since someone is inevitably going to bring this up. Yes the Greeks do technically depict Andromeda with light skin even way back when but I just happened to take an art history class so I know a bit about this.

Greeks did this weird thing where they sometimes depicted women with light skin and men with dark skin so if you really wanted to commit to that argument then someone like Perseus for example would have to be black or at least dark-skinned. To me it can hold about as much wait as arguing a man has blue skin and a girl has pink skin because people associate those colors with boys and girls.

For reference, here’s a pot depicting Perseus and Andromeda from 575-550 BCE on an amphora from Italy. If someone did want to argue Andromeda was white than they would need to argue Pereus is black or something which is to say Greek art and skin tones can be weird.

Andromeda wasn’t the only Greek mythological figure from Ethiopia (such as Memnon during the Trojan War) and the Greeks had settlements in African areas like Egypt and traded with Africans. Additionally, the myth of Helios explains why dark skin tones exist (so different skin tones are literally incorporated into their myths) so I think based on context even with art like this we can assume the Greek culture generally probably knew about black people. Also, Andromeda's profile clearly alludes to the idea that the designers and writers probably know Andromeda is from Africa too.

Ending

Idk, I try not to come off as a debbie downer or seem like the only enjoyment I get from Fate is when I bash it but I feel like some people are getting really caught up in praising the design or the individuals who are probably misreading Andromeda's race or ethnicity and not seeing the bigger picture itself. Something that limits the productivity of the conversation. I also think that where possible we should maybe push for more clearly black designs to prevent things like this from happening. I know that's usually not going to happen because FGO is a Japanese game for a mostly Japanese audience but you never know who's paying attention or who you might inspire. I also think that some of us maybe shouldn't be settling for scraps or half gestures as often.

Andromeda does do well with not just depicting her as Perseus white but at the same time I think everyone also just has REALLY low standards (including me) so even that little bit was a surprise. Which is depressing when you think about it. This isn't me saying you can't like Andromeda or that every character needs to have their race plastered on their forehead but it's very clear that Fate's design philosophy has some major pitfalls and weaknesses (especially with depicting black people) and I think it could be taking some simple steps to resolve them. It feels like every time FGO releases a black character the same cycle happens in the community and I'm not really sure it's going anywhere because people end up debating about what is basically a symptom showing up within the fanbase without addressing the actual source and elephant in the room itself, FGO and maybe even Fate in general.

There are also even people in Japan who at least kind of care enough to try to depict black people in a less ambiguous fashion that isn't racist or a stereotype (like Jinkei who has literally worked on FGO: https://x.com/jinkei_bunny/status/1759352092467364240?s=20).

BHM

Anyway, happy Black History Month. I urge you that while criticism is good and healthy positive reinforcement is also great and just as important. There's no point in ever only paying attention to the negative but never fostering the positive.

In the spirit of positivity and being the change you want to see in the world here are my Yasuke and Shaka Zulu fanservant designs

Demon Saber: Yasuke Full Profile- https://douglysium.tumblr.com/post/735141544541208576/mori-ranmaru-wikipedia

Grand Lancer Candidate: Shaka Zulu Full Profile- https://douglysium.tumblr.com/post/721643569180557312/douglysium-douglysium-douglysium-grand

Steel Berserker: John Henry Unfinished Profile- https://www.tumblr.com/douglysium/735103259781578752/steel-berserker-john-henry-wip?source=share

[grievedifferent]

the note to hannah initiating the prank ... what version am i relying on since i take so much context from the remake while relying on the original release (as well as the protoype)? read more for length: keep in mind, this is all game discussion and not really headcanon material.

i have to be clear about two things here: one, most of the discourse i'm referring to is either from reddit threads i've seen or what i initially encountered before the remake came out in the 2015-2017 circa of writing in the until dawn fandom (me as josh and matt, otter as ash and hannah, she wasn't writing chris then at the time on the dash). this is not at all coming for anyone here, if anything is just a post of me defending hannah because i think she's incredibly misunderstood, then just left to the wolves to be "the monster" ... when, in reality, her story is very tragic. she's not a monster. she's a victim. i just don't want it to be taken that this post is about anyone at all here because it's not, no current interpretations were even considered aside from my own and otter's when writing this, and this is more towards the non-rpc fandom side of until dawn and how i see their views of this cast versus the rpc comm (bc in rpc you tend to go into the details, looking for things that people typically are not). again, no shade to anyone, this is mostly a me coming to hannah's defense post if anything.

okay, okay, so what version then?

the original. here's why: it makes literally no sense for hannah to just take off her shirt with no initiation. she's very shy, very reserved, and even her crush on mike (while obvious) is meant to be "hidden in heart" (the way you see his photo hidden under the invite from him in her room, etc). without being told or suggested, i doubt she'd just "go in for the kill" in that way. meeting mike at all was a huge deal for her, she's clearly very anxious and excited about it. without it being fed to her, i don't think she'd have just done that on her own. kissing him? i can definitely see that.

the original note reads: "hannah, you look so damn hot in that shirt ... but i bet you're even hotter out of it. come to the guest room at 2:00am" signed mike xxx

while the new note says: "han, it's been so fun hanging out with you ... no on gets me like you do. come find me later. i'll be waiting" signed mike notably without the xxx.

again, going based off my post here, this is to soften things up, plain and simple. it's another detail they tweaked a bit to make it "seem less mean" but ultimately, the prank is mean. it was meant to humiliate hannah. i've seen arguments that hannah deserves the prank because she was "coming on to mike" or "making moves on him" but let's be real:

a) mike says flat out to emily that he is no one's man. his profile says he loves women and hates commitment. b) hannah is no threat to emily save for her status as an elite. hannah might be like one inch taller than emily ... but emily would eat hannah alive for breakfast. seriously. c) i don't think hannah was aggressively coming on to mike. she probably acted shy and reserved, wanted to be around him, and cared about his opinion.

again, her crush is like hidden in her room that you (as sam only) have to seek out (and then kind of criticize her for tbh, i get it's not open criticism but the reactions of like "oh, hannah" like it's cringe that she liked mike when that's a well-known group fact? also she didn't have time to clean up, sorry, and josh wanted those details to be seen, so. it's just kind of mean commentary imo. always has come off that way to me.).

another reason i think that hannah's crush was more "sussed out" by emily and jess (primarily jess, i would assume) is now because of this new context:

they were in her room, able to find the same clues sam can later on. it's not that far of a reach. hannah was never openly pursuing mike, she was crushing hard on him.

also interesting that they take hannah out of the shirt they had her in the original to make her get back into it to give it that same scene feel from the original, but make her act more sexually suggestive when the prompting originally came from her wearing that shirt thus suggesting she take it off via the note. kind of wild to me, idk.

and what drives me a little crazy?? jess also likes mike. like literally at the same time hannah does? and emily is actually her best friend, hannah is likely not that close to emily, so ... why is that okay? jess swooped in immediately after their breakup, which also could have been mike "swooping in" to her (but she didn't deny him, she accepted his advances were that the case). it's not even confirmed why mike and em split, just kind of implied heavily that mike likely broke it off with em (i assume bc of him liking jess, the contrast is that mike actually likes jess whereas emily does not actually like matt in that way), so jess might even be the reason. she could have also swooped in even before the breakup was official. we do not know for sure. we just know that this is okay for jess ... but not for hannah. because hannah should know better. make that make sense to me.

why is hannah held more culpable for her being victimized than the people that victimized her? and this is coming from me, someone who loves this whole cast, writes josh who terrorizes this cast, and also matt who filmed hannah (and i hold him responsible for that).

and as for jess? that would make sense for emily's standing with her. so, my question here ... why does hannah not get the same pass? i've also seen the argument that "well, the gang is young, they didn't mean it, mistakes of youth, valor of youth, etc etc", but this same argument is not given to hannah who is younger than them. she might be the "oldest twin", but she's one of the youngest people of the group, yet she gets held to a very concerning degree as she deserved to die basically. a lot of this discourse i've seen mostly in reddit and like the old rpc, so not here (to make that clear), but after years of seeing hannah's character basically be so forgotten, misunderstood, and even villainized? it's hard to swallow writing her big brother, being that she and beth are like josh's motivations for everything.

ending this post saying i unironically love this whole cast, i don't dislike emily or jessica or sam, i love them all. i actively play to keep them alive usually unless i'm doing bad runs or trophy runs on purpose to get more dialogue or context or story, but generally? i play the game as good as i can for all of them, try to keep them all alive, and my default post verse has them all live, so clearly i'm not here to take shots at the cast, but like, show the same love to hannah? the same devotion? and accept that this game is the folly of youth. they're literally all names stemmed from religious sources thus indicating they are god's children trapped on the mountain being punished for messing with forces beyond their control that them and everyone else along the way that's encountered this damn mountain has been warned about time and time again. listen to the mountain.

also, for just even more added context: hannah was always the victim. her character might have changed from being the "victim girlfriend of clayton (the josh figure) who had everyone wrapped around her finger, circa 2008-2010" to "the seemingly popular and at least confident twin of beth that gets pranked for liking mike, circa 2011-2013" to the hannah we get in the 2015/2024 release, but she was always the victim, be it to a supernatural entity or just a human killer. actually, they made her more sympathetic to really hit home hannah is the victim, beth is basically also the victim through association of doing the right thing and going after hannah. <- because about that? very cruel to just go back inside and let beth go find hannah in a clear snowstorm when it's dark and cold, and numbers are more useful to find someone in this situation, as well as safer. i do not care that "beth knows the mountain" (i assume sam's reasoning to telling them to go back inside), but i mean, give it to mike at least for suggesting they go after hannah and beth. it might have made hannah mad, but it might have also saved her life. he did the in the original, he did it in the remake, props to him. i get being young and irrational, but even mike thought that it was a good idea to go after them, and then we see him literally do this for jessica, meaning mike is always the guy you want going after you to save your life. he will act if allowed or if required.

also, just imagine the sheer terror of josh waking up to his sister's being missing, having to get the police, likely having gone out himself to look a bit and finding nothing, and also having to tell his parents? not fun.

and you know what? i'll end this post by saying one last thing: good for hannah to become basically the queen of the creatures. she might not have been popular in life, i guess arguably she was well-loved (if we take the prototype into consideration of beth being the perfect one and hannah being the everyone loved her one (ouch)), but she was literally the biggest and strongest creature on the mountain, and good for her.

QUICK EDIT: the tattoo. yes, she got a tattoo because of mike (for mike, however you want to word it), but she didn't get a tattoo because mike told her to. he never was like "get a tattoo and i'll like you more" to his credit, and also just to give hannah some more stability here. like, she got it because it was one of maybe three suggestions to "get noticed by the guy you like" by being more bold. she went with a tattoo, which is obviously for us to have josh recognize later as hannah because otherwise, how would we know the creature is hannah, right? we as players have much more context to this than josh, so he specifically needs that tattoo to recognize hannah. otherwise, he'd be dead every single time with no option to live lol. like, otherwise it seems like without that nudge, hannah wouldn't have gotten a tattoo at all, even spurring beth to try and get one to match her before their deaths. so, i think she took the tattoo as a way to "be reborn" with a more confident personality, she might have gotten it because of the magazine, but it definitely helped her confidence.

ANOTHER EDIT: based on this unused dialogue between chris and ash, it's not hard to see that everything i've talked about above, including mike being not committed to emily (which is what he himself says), and how hannah was likely led on by mike without the prank. i am going to reassert here that i do not think emily and hannah were "besties" by any means. why is it okay for jess to like emily's man but not hannah?

[ca-suffit]

I’m starting to become incredibly uncomfortable with all of the incest jokes going around. I’m well aware that it’s in the books so it’s to be expected in the show but the reactions are strange. “What are so and so gonna do when Lestat kisses his mom?” idk be disgusted?? which is to be expected?? like is everyone required to wear these complimentary, crack laced Anne Rice goggles for s3 or can we actually take shit seriously?

a lot of book fans apparently need to feel superior at all times, so there's a lot of dumb posts like that about all the topics from the books. there's no depth to them, it's just "can u handle this too, NERD LOSER!!!!!!" like we're all little kids daring each other to do stupid shit.

ppl's approaches to basically every theme from these books are gonna vary based on personal traumas / opinions. it's rly childish for ppl to treat it as some "get on board or get out" crap bcuz that's never gonna happen. but these are usually anne rice ppl, this is what the fandom has always done and why it's always been so fucking small (aside from her own bullshit).

tbh I've also noticed most ppl who say these things have a personal connection to the actual thing too. it's easier to say "I can handle this" and make it a meme of some kind than have to critically analyze it and realize maybe u have fucking trauma and aren't ok. u can't force anyone to realize that tho so unfortunately we have to suffer thru this from ppl who have found an echo chamber instead of self reflection.

[mulletmitsuya]

I hated the tr ending so badly. Not because it was rushed or anything. Wakui could have fleshed out the last timeline so thoroughly and logically and I would still hate it because the ending itself goes against what I felt the story stood for in the first place. He replaced all the characters for fakes, none of the characters we were intoduced to had happy endings because they either are totally different people or re lived their life to avoid healing. The ending basically proved izanas last words right "there's no saving me" yeah I guess not if the only way to help everyone is to make sure their lives never happened the way it did. Horrible I hate it so much. Also one ship I hate is rinzu or ranzu because they don't even interact once and it's so popular for no fucking reason other than "its hot" and tbh they would prolly hate eachother like petty bitches, they would NOT get along at any point. Also Koko and amane ship because if people actually read the manga with their eyes open it would not make sense. Anyways thanks for letting me be a hater in ur askbox, I love your blog btw

This is long, also tw for typical tokrev themes and sa

I think you're the first person who has the same opinion as me lmao😭. I also didn't believe it should have had an ending like that at all because of the themes that had been set up during the entire story. I understand people's perspectives of "It's Wakui's manga and it's his ending he can do what he wants" but media is supposed to be talked about, discussed and even criticized at times. That's like, the whole point of publishing stuff. As an enjoyer and supporter of Wakui's manga, I feel like I have the right to question some inconsistencies and contradictions (not directly attack him tho, that's never okay. like people who send death threats over ships and stuff that's messed up) that showed up in the ending. I also believe lots of people didn't really take it seriously as a manga idk. It had some very serious topics that people seem to forget about. For example: suicide, abuse, abandonment, child neglect, substance abuse, extreme violence, rape, prostitution etc, and I think people just kinda see it as a silly manga that has cool characters they like. And that's okay. It's okay to not take a piece of media seriously and enjoy it for the sake of enjoying it, not everything needs to be critically analyzed, but stop shitting on the people who take it seriously enough to question why the fuck it ended how it ended. Lots of the discourse took place between critical analysers who wanted an author to finish the manga by sticking to the themes and messages he has set up the entire time versus casual enjoyers who just wanted everyone to be happy for the sake of liking the characters. And I completely agree with the Izana thing!!!! You cannot claim to have saved someone by rewriting their entire life!!! Takemitchy was not supposed to be god!! Also, isn't the moral story of time travel that you should never ever do it? Because you win some, you lose a whole lot fucking more. I thought Draken dying was setting up that narrative. That saving Mikey, was gonna fuck up a whole lot. Isn't that why Chifuyu broke down?

Idk about you guys, but dark impulses being a curse disappointed me quite a bit. I thought it was supposed to be a symbol of Mikey being deeply mentaly ill. And that he had to deal with it head on and not run away all the time (this was Takemichi's entire storyline basically and the the main theme of TR). I just feel like it sucked because the message of the ending, whether Wakui intended it or not, was that you can't be fixed without magical time traveling. Although the story had some fictional aspects, it was realistic at least. I thought they'd deal with everything that wasn't time travel realistically.

Any ship with Sanzu and the Haitani's is hilarious to me and although I don't ship any of them seriously, the fanarts fun to look at some time (and you're right I think they look good together cause they're hot😭). You are completely correct about them not liking each other tho. It's actually canon. Idk if you remember during the three deities fight when Ran hit Haruchiyo with his baton? Nothing but pure malice between their eyes😭. The Koko and Akane ship actually triggers me because one thing about me? I'm not comfortable with large age gaps. Akane was 5 years older than Koko💀. And I didn't know people took what she said to him seriously. I thought she was just trying to not hurt his feelings? Koko and Inupi were around 7/8 when the fire happened. Meaning Akane was like 12/13. Uhhh Idk bout y'all but I don't think a 13 yo would be attracted to someone that young. And waiting for them to be of age is...😶. Be fr.

[thedreadvampy]

I'm going insane my notes are full of people responding to the communes post going like "this is why we need a state to prevent abuse"

HOW'S THAT STATE-PREVENTING-ABUSE THING GOING? PRETTY GREAT I DON'T THINK.

seriously this is what gets my fucking back up about people in opposition to anti-statism or anti-carceralism they're always like 'oh can you propose a way to 100% prevent abuse or violence' and it's like. Insert I, Robot gif here. Can you?

like I'm not complaining about the lack of attention to safeguarding and justice in anarchist communities because anarchism is particularly bad at it! I'm complaining about it because tackling the issue requires acknowledging that it does exist in every community we try to build and that we have to speak up and deal with it proactively.

abuse happens in anarchist spaces, in socialist spaces, in marxist-leninist-maoist spaces, in capitalist spaces, in religious fundamentalist spaces, in feudalism, in whatever fucking system of authorities you wanna name. the question is how we deal with it and anarchism is deeply imperfect in that but so is every other system I've seen and anarchism is pointing at the better goal, I think - a method of community accountability which focuses on harm reduction, desystematising, and healing rather than on punishment, revenge or cycles of violence.

we're not there yet and we will probably never build a 100% foolproof system where abuse and interpersonal harm never occur. but frankly neither will any other system, human interactions are complicated and messy and sometimes there will be shitshows - our priorities are to reduce the number, severity, fallout and normalisation of those shitshows and figure out ways to prevent, react and support healing.

like here's one key fucking thing ok. I have found the way that anarchist groups I've been in have handled abuse allegations really traumatic and overwhelming and triggering. but that's largely been because I have some faith in the approach and it hurts a lot more to fuck up when you have hope.

but you are fooling your damn selves if you think going through the police or the state is less traumatic and overwhelming tbh. reporting and going through the court system is notoriously retraumatising and miserable for survivors, even when it's done with empathy and support. it also Does Not Work. punitive justice actively intensifies cycles of abuse and trauma.

obviously like. the main problem in these notes is that inexplicably people reblogging my post seem to believe the core thesis of anarchism is sunshine, rainbows and the milk of human kindness not like. hard graft to build tailored systems to meet community need. and you are wrong about that. anarchism has never been about 'building a community of morally pure sweethearts who wouldn't hurt a fly' it's about taking responsibility yourself, as an individual, for the wellbeing of your community, and working together collectively to identify what needs to change and what systems would create that change.

but the secondary problem is a lack of fucking imagination. people act as if an idea for change not being utterly bulletproof is a reason to throw the whole concept away, as if existing systems are less imperfect. babies, bathwater, my guys.

If I say 'this part of how we're organising is likely to present the risk of abuse' that doesn't mean 'we should stop our whole approach to organising' it means 'we should take stock of why that risk is there and figure out how to adapt to manage it.' Criticising your ideas and approaches is a vital part of building a better version of them and it's really frustrating to have any critical appraisal met with a barrage of SEE THIS IS WHY WE SHOULD FULLY ABANDON THIS IDEA FOREVER

like fuck man how are you planning to build a better system if you can't iterate ideas, criticise, finetune, adapt, reiterate, problematise and adjust, and talk about what the fail points might be? how are you planning to build a better world if you reject any attempt to suggest a replacement for the Totally Fucked Hellworld system unless it has already ironed out every flaw before being tried?

the reason I am talking about the cracks in a lot of anarchist ideas where abuse comes in is because I want anarchist ideas to work. I think they're good ideas. (not communes I don't think communes are good ideas I have been clear on this). I want a better, happier, less harm-filled, less abusive, more just world and I think the anarchist vision has the most elements to get us there so I want those elements to work, which means I want to identify what comes packaged in with those ideas that might be counterproductive. so we can do better. so that we can use the good ideas and dump out the elements that are likely to cause harm. you know. like how thinking works.

[pommunist]

honestly i believe the best thing qstudios could do right now in order to mayyybe get a little relief from the oh so horrible onslaught of criticism towards them for their shit labour practices, is to actually close the server (for real this time) until they truely fix their many many many issues.

first of all, it would save them money on those terribly expensive translation costs that stopped them from paying their employees, and secondly it would make it less obvious how fucking empty the server is now and has been for nearly a month. i can think of mayyybe 5 ccs who have logged into the server more than a small handful of times after the server was reopened from their 3 days of "fixing" things, the server is so empty and its honestly a little depressing to try and watch streams from the ccs who are trying their absolute best to not let the server die (surprisingly, quackity isnt one of them)

ofcourse nothing against the ccs who are trying to still stream on the server, but even they are getting on the server less and less. i think theres maybe a month at maximum left in them unless things are actually truly fixed, and even then qsmp will never go back to how it was before (because they wouldnt be allowed to mistreat their workers anymore).

YES.

Closing the server would allow them to save money on translations, and to focus their human resources and time on fixing the situation. It also would makes them look like they take the situation seriously and prioritise solving problems over creating content. Also would make the eventual reopening and return of ccs/admins a big hyped and positive event.

Leaving the server open just makes you look bad because instead of ccs not joining because it’s close, they don’t join because they choose not to. Those who still join are joining to an almost empty server and aren’t having the best time because there isn’t much to do or anyone to talk with. Plus it makes people bitter because they’re trying to fill that emptiness by having npcs around after Q said in his stream that there would be no npcs while things are getting worked on.

Don’t get me wrong there may be reasons for them leaving it open like allowing the Minecraft focused ccs to create content, not wanting to close it right after adding new ccs and communities so they don’t drop the qsmp altogether, or even some technical stuff idk how running a mc server works tbh. But yeah it’s just giving ghost town vibes like that’s just sad, man.

And yes, there is no point hating or judging the people who still log on because the CCs aren’t the ones responsible of this whole mess. They’re not the ones who mistreated the admins or allowed it to happen, so we should focus on the real culprits and the problems they caused. You’re allowed to have your personal opinion on this, I have my own, but let’s be respectful 🫶

[lisasmind]

Johoo, saw your post and just had to follow you you seem awsome

Question: do you have any criticism to race to the edge, if so what? I find it very fascinating to see different people’s opinions on the series

heyyy thanks for the follow! i’m glad you like my acc!

before i say anything, PLEASE DON’T TAKE MY OPINIONS SERIOUSLY! i’m coming to y’all mostly in a joking tone like it’s all chill. i like the show and enjoy watching it but yeah without further ado!

rtte. when i was younger i had a love-hate relationship with it. there were many things i didn’t like but i kept watching cause we still had a long wait for thw and i NEEDED httyd content. of course there were things that i liked but yeah.

rewatching it now, i realized i might’ve been over exaggerating! to be fair, i’ve always been a dramatic person so there’s no surprise in that.

there are still things i’m iffy about.

- first off, hiccup and toothless’ relationship. to me, toothless seemed more like a pet than a best pal to hiccup. like toothless was usually in the background for the majority of his screen time. they did have their moments like in dire straits, enemy of my enemy (i think … but i can’t recall well), and triple cross, but that’s pretty much it.

- heather’s whole storyline. it was good in the beginning but wow they just really let go of her character. like she had SOOO much potential and she was well liked within the fandom. i would suggest watching this video on youtube:

it pretty much wraps up all my thoughts on her.

- DAGUR! SHOULDVE! STAYED! DEAD!

and if they weren’t planning on killing him off THEY SHOULDNT HAVE MADE HIS “DEATH” SCENE SO TRAGICALLY BEAUTIFUL CAUSE NOW WHAT EVEN IS THE POINT

- hiccup was not supposed to see the ice spikes! again, 18 year old hiccup was NOT. SUPPOSED. TO SEE. THE ICE SPIKES! why? because 20 year old hiccup has NEVER SEEN THEM BEFORE!

- heathlegs. i’m sorry but i know a lesbian when i see one.

- this one i won’t get too worked up on cause i know the writers have said a few times hiccstrid was not going to be the main focus of the show (and tbh, as a hiccstrid shipper … thank god), but i wish their development from the friends to crush to lovers stage was more noticeable. to me it kinda just felt like BOOM! hiccstrid together!

at least the kisses were good. no no. the kisses were EXCELLENT! PURE CINEMA!

- listen i know they were in a time crunch when netflix just threw two more seasons at them, but johann? really?

- ASTRID NOT GETTING HICCUP A FAWKING MAP IN SANDBUSTED!

and that’s all i can think of for now, but all in all i love this show. i literally used to sit and wait for the seasons to come out at 3 AM MY TIME!! like this was my teenhood! i went to school sleep deprived for this shit so don’t you think for a second that i’m coming from a place of hate or ungratefulness.

i do have positive things about rtte but i’ll save that for a different post (also i plan to rewatch each episode one by one and make a tumblr post of my thoughts cause why not).

anyways thanks for asking this!