#‘he’s insecure�� is very fanon. like I think he has hang ups over that obviously as one does when one is excluded from their peers for being

[apotelesmaa]

I don’t think ppl give enough credit to rui for his dedication to fucking with people (outside of tsukasa of course) like. Knowing & acknowledging that nene wants nothing to do with him and Tsukasa on her first day of second year and deliberately following tsukasa to loudly ask if she’s getting along with people (just to be a jackass)? Implying his gift to akito will explode even though it won’t bc he wants to bug akito? Like I think rui at his core is full of love and a desire to make ppl smile but I also think he’s 200% committed to the bit first and foremost. If something will be funny he’s going to do it regardless of the consequences. Guy filled with zero social anxiety & a never ending desire to embarrass his friends.

[sonatanotwo]

*BLUE SCREEN OF DEAAAATH*

An error has occurred. Please stand by while Virgil-mun reboots.

EVERYTHING CHANGED WHEN THE 00:32 ATTACKED.

........WELL SHIT.

I mean. I think the more I let this soak in... I’m kinda okay with it??? In a I LOVED MY HEADCANONS SO MUCH BUT. Like. I could go either way in TOS. But it DID kinda feel like things were pointed differently in TAG??? X__x

But.

WHELP.

GUESS I GOT SOME HEADCANONS TO UH... TWEAK. 

So many headcanons...  and fic plans…  and so much artwork...

Rest in pieces. 

｡･ﾟﾟ･(>д<)･ﾟﾟ･｡

lol I just. Oh man.

No single episode has ever thrown our world quite so upside down, much less ONE WORD. XD

BUT LIKE. I’ve been thinking as it’s been soaking in... standing back with a bit more objectivity...

I think the writing was KINDA on the wall? ^.^a

The way Scott and Virgil interact certainly pointed this way? Like. Bro pointed out Slingshot. John came down... and Scott and Virgil are both reassuring him. He’s very insecure there and Scott and Virgil very much take the role of two big bros. And there really is... just a vibe between them when they tease and jib each other and talk on missions. It’s hard to quite explain but. Yeah. And then just... Recharge. Recharge. All of it. I’m sure there’s other things, I’m just pulling these off top of my head. lol but yeah. We really can't say signs haven't been there, ya know? XD

And another thing that is easy to forget... many of the TAG! creative team were fans of the original. I think a lot of many casual fans (in that they didn’t have all the annuals and what not XD) I think did generally assume Virgil was second. Heck, if I’d only rewatched TOS and then TAG! without falling into wikis and fan fic, I’d probably have assumed Virgil was second too. lol :) And also... like.. 40? ish? years publications and stuff did put Virg 2nd. A lot of fans would have seen that long before Carlton and Bentley’s book changed everything in 2000 on. So. The possibility was always very strongly there this is how they’d go.

BUT. On the other hand, to be fair, there have certainly been mixed signals. The way Virgil and Gordon interact very much does feel like it was Virgil->Gordon. And in Breakdown a lot of the way Virgil and John bounced off each other did have a vibe to it...  especially asking about ‘the big book of rescues’. Virgil being more experienced, you’d think he’d know before John. And just. In animation TALL to SMALL tends to reflect ages. XDDD Animation likes to be really that ridiculously obvious, because they think the visual cues are things kids need. lol

So it was entirely fair we went down this path. It was a nice path and things fit together well. I adored my headcanons. ;A;  ...But. Perhaps we overlooked the more obvious a bit?? =Oa lol XD

This is going to take awhile to process and rework headcanons, gosh. XD Like. Trying to parse and it’s just...my brain... so bluescreened. XD Where to START. lolol I’ve been rping Virg over 2 years now? XD lol I mean, I could totally choose to ignore this, but... I always try to adhere to canon. I've always known there could be a risk John or Virgil would one day say something like this. XD I DID know. SO... I can’t really say I’m actually surprised.

LIKE, JUST, WOW, DID NOT EXPECT THAT TODAY. LOOOL

AT LEAST, I THINK this should lock everyone in order wise? Cause oh gosh, rewatching one of the interviews with David and Rasmus, David specifically says “both Alan and Gordon--even though they’re the youngest and sort of the jokers of the pack” and then Ras does vague mention ‘the two oldest’ (which I realize I do recall sorta wondering...Oldest? Scott and WHO?) then moment later does speak about Scott (having the weight of the world) and… Virgil being normally relaxed (and David speaks up all, but he’s the emotional caretaker.) ..Scott and Virgil. Oh gosh, it seems so obvious now. HAHA OOPS. XD 

ANYHOO. RIGHT. SO.

How about the other 21:28 of the episode.... XDDD (I really thought this entire post would be just entirely OMG, GRANDMA AND VIRG SO ADORBS. LOLOLOLOL)

BUT YEAH. SO. ....STILL, OMG, GRANDMA AND VIRG SO ADORBS!!!1!!! Gosh, Virgil loves his Grandma, especially to take her shopping, I guess. XDDD He’s so patient with her. XD

DICE. lolol They didn’t seem very Virg to me, but then Bro found info that apparently pilots would hang dice for good luck? especially showing the number 7? One point I think 5 and 2 are upwards. And like when Grandma baps them, they show 4 2 and 1 XDDD I GUESS HE NEEDED LUCK FOR GRANDMA SHOPPING. XDDDD Must not be too attached to em’ since gave em’ away though.

SCOTT is the one who is especially all about his hair. HAHAHAHA XDDD (Also Grandma called him SCOTTY :D)

Virgil just. GOSH. So worried about her. Like. I said it about that clip. No he’s SO not talking to Grandma to take care of TB2, it’s to TB2 to take care of his Grandma. He’s really not so worried about TB2, it’s entirely Grandma he’s worried about in this episode. Totes. :|b

GRANDMA FLEW AROUND THE WORLD. She was like. FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS. A;sdjoasia Met her husband and had a son. (...one son? ...oops. WELL. So much for that bit of sorta TOS semi-Canon XD That’s the extra materials for ya. lol Although... Designated Drive Parker said your father and his brothers? Though coulda been a throw-away for the joke? Hum. XD ) They liked exploring too?! (I guess that’d explain the compass…)  This doesn’t entirely nix out the Kansas setting I think, but gosh. HRM.

Grandma... has a name.

Grandma has a name, guys. (...WELL, yes, obviously she did, but wow didn’t expect to actually get TOLD it.)

And it's not Ruth. (...WELL, obviously it was never gonna be cause that was %100 fanfiction created fanon, but.)

I just. a;sidj a;sidja ;aosjida

WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT THIS EPISODE EITHER. WELL THEN.

Sally Tracy :D

Gosh what else. Lololol Grandma’s shopping list is a hoot. Even Virgil looks so like oh god this list what, when he’s reading it at the end. I also sense many creative team injokes on it. XD Oh guess know it is a snooker table now. (...why… do they need new cues? XDa Maybe a show injoke? Maybe those tiny ones break a lot? HRM XD) Lemon squeezer loooool.

I like even though cooking did come up, it was like… not oh god cooking jokes.

I just. GOSH.

There is so much to think about. I’m still kinda stuck on 00:32  muchless the rest. XD

ANYHOO.  I think I’m going to make another post to ramble in about headcanons. Got so much to now try and sort out in my brain. Cause as much as it doesn’t change everything it does still change things.

[kennothythebard]

Things I’ve learned about writing DEH characters

THIS IS NOT A GUIDE BY ANY MEANS THIS IS JUST SOME OBSERVATIONS AND THINGS I DO.

So while researching for and writing “A Worthy Explanation” (pls read i crave validation) I’ve noticed a lot of little things that I don’t always see mentioned in writing guides for these characters so I thought I’d point some of these out. Idk how love this is going to be so I’ll prolly put a cut here.

General

I like to create kind of a “loneliness chart” and graph the kids on it (looks kinda like those political alignment things). On one axis theres introverted vs. extroverted, and on the other theres like polite vs. rude I guess? But in summary: Evan is introverted polite, Jared is extroverted rude, Alana is extroverted polite, Connor is introverted rude, and Zoe... is just kinda generally lonely. Where she falls really depends on what’s going on with her (but she typically is a less extreme introverted rude than Connor).

Obviously each character has their own faults, but I often see these faults viewed quite selectively, see “cinnamon roll evan” and “fucking larry” for two very different examples of this phenomenon. Evan is not perfect and always trying to be nice, and Larry is not a super abusive parent who deserves no happiness in this life. They’re both complex and it’s hard to let go of our misconceptions to write truer to the characters (e.g. I really, Really don’t like Larry. I see him as a lousy father who just kind of chose to be “the strict one” but does nothing but criticize and dole out punishment, ignoring his kids any other time), but that’s an important part of deh, is that people aren’t always what we perceive them to be.

Evan

Evan is often viewed as like a cinnamon roll, but in act 2 especially Evan gets mean. Like, he’s dismissive and rude and angry and just a jerk. Evan can be just as bad if not worse than some of the “angrier” characters

Ppl often talk about his lying as his biggest character flaw, but I’d argue that most of the lying we see in the show just stems from the one lie which he was kinda forced to make bc he was in a bad place (i mean, thats pretty much the entire point of awe).

The character flaw that I don’t see discussed enough is that he’s ashamed of his mental illness. He’d rather pretend it’s not there, even when it impacts every part of his life. He doesn’t do the letters the way his therapist assigned them, he’s apprehensive towards medication and stops taking it, and basically feeds into his self-destructive tendencies, arguing his mother sees his as “broke” or something to be fixed.

Jared

I love writing Jared

There’s already a lot about what a complex character he is and stage directions, but one thing that most people notice is his actions frequently contradict his words. Take the sincerely me reprise at the start of act 2. Why would he try to insert himself into the narrative at this point? What good would that do at this point? When evan dismisses him he gets annoyed and defensive. He says that he can’t do anything until Monday because he’s hanging with his camp friends (whom he claims are his “real friends,” a term he will later ascribe to himself regarding Evan in Good For You), and when Evan dismisses him again he tries to offer to help with the kickstarter, but is quickly shot down once more by Evan. Despite what seems to be a natural ending place in the conversation, he insists on continuing to talk with Evan, and when Evan cuts him off again he becomes rude and slightly threatening. This happens over the course of maybe three minutes and it’s one of the most insightful scenes to jared’s character

When writing a canon-compliant Jared, his actions and thoughts should conflict with his words. He cares about Evan but he’d never say that out loud (in more canon-compliant fics), and it hurts when he’s pushed away, which he responds to with anger.

Zoe

Zoe is one of the most difficult characters to write, imo.

She’s often portrayed in a slightly sweeter, saccharine way in fanon as just like a fun, silly girl who is just a tad sarcastic, but really you can tell that she’s Connor’s brother. She’s angry, blunt, unafraid of speaking her mind, etc. Yes, she is funny and kinda sarcastic, but her sarcasm isn’t always of the funny variety. She’s obviously angry at her parents, but this often comes across as a “doesn’t love them” variety of anger when her real feelings seem to be much more complex. 

Basically, I’m still learning a lot about writing her but I think just like the other kids she’s a little lonely, so Evan comes along and he’s there and that’s enough for her. She has such a wide range of emotions that I don’t feel are always accurately represented, even by me. (especially by me)

Alana

Hella, hella lonely. Covers it up by talking to people and doing extracurriculars. Sure, “college apps” is her excuse for why she does so much, but it’s not the real reason. If she keeps busy, she doesn’t have to be alone with her thoughts. But at the same time she has similar fears to Evan about people seeing the worst of her. “Close acquaintances” seems to be a statement about how little she makes friends, but I also see it as a defense mechanism. If she remains “close acquaintances” with people, she’ll never have to be their friend and they’ll never have to see the worst of her.

She’s cheerful and annoying, but in the way that pisses high schoolers off. Like, we all knew that one kid who was just way way too nice, and most of us were like “yeah ok they’re pretty cool i guess” but like some people just hated their positivity. It also doesn’t help that she tries to insert herself in situations she hasn’t been invited in, and does some questionable things to help her accomplish her goals. (Evan/Alana contrast: Evan does questionable things to accomplish internal goals, Alana does them to accomplish external goals)

Gets easily distracted. Forgets to sign Evan’s cast in scene 1. Her mind has a million different thoughts at any given moment. It wouldn’t be out of line to headcanon ADHD Alana (some of the things she does reminds me of the things I do when I forget my meds).

Connor

?????

We don’t see a lot to really get a huge insight into his personality. We know he was angry and had some serious mental illness.

We also know that he could recognize when he went too far and would go out of his way to make amends. (Why was he in the computer lab? Why did he sign Evan’s cast?) He may recognize a kindred spirit in Evan.

Clearly he doesnt hate his family (he goes to school despite not wanting to go, and seeing Zoe’s name is what sets him off showing possible concern), and it would not surprise me to learn that he thought his family would be better and happier without him. He clearly has intense emotions and reactions even to things that might seem minuscule or inconsequential. When writing him in canon, I think of a rubber band stretched too tight, and any characters action could loosen or tighten the pulling.

Heidi

Such an emotional character, I nearly break my own heart when I’m trying to writer her.

Theres two odd kind of paradoxes in a parent-child relationship like that between Heidi and Evan. For Heidi, the paradox is that the more she wants to do for Evan, the less she can actually be there for him. For Evan, he wants his mother to succeed and loves her so much that he might even encourage her to not worry about him or spend time with him, but then resents that she’s never there. Or at least when he meets a mother who can provide and be there.

Heidi pretty much worries herself sick over Evan. Evan comes before everything else in her life, and so it’s easy for her to feel like she failed him, which is a huge reason for her intense reaction in Good for you: evan has just confirmed her fears that she’s failed him.

Heidi tries so hard, but she isn’t perfect. She’s clearly very sensitive about money or about Evan’s father, and this sensitivity can easily change to anger or passive-aggressiveness. She has deep insecurities that we may never see or fully comprehend.

Cynthia

Mom. like shes completely a mom. like, “can i speak to your manager?” type mom.

Loves her kids and tries to be supportive but struggles communicating with two very headstrong, sarcastic kids

she probably wouldn’t say this, but takes connor’s death very personally. wonders why he would do this to her 

Is desperate for her children to listen and understand her. Which Evan is more than willing to do.

A little bit selfish? Like, thinks about what will make her better rather than accepting everybody grieves differently

Larry

Fucking larry. I don’t like him and he’s the hardest character for me to write.

Ok since I made such a big deal about it in the intro i’ll try to be nicer than id normally be

A masculine archetype. Sports dad, wants sports son, which Connor isn’t

He’s got some really ableist/misogynistic tendencies that causes the intense demonization of him in the fanon but I mean... he could be worse i guess? (that’s literally the best i can say about that so yeah i dont like him at all)

Really just oblivious. Completely ignored Connor’s need for help, does not know how to read a room, you could say he frequently has a foot in his mouth if it weren’t so intentional.

I mean...probably a good guy if you can get past all that stuff? just really, really self absorbed.

yikes that was long. Again, not really a guide, just some things I think about when writing these characters. if you read this far at all thank you for indulging me this much.