#(ha! also not really *shrugs*)

[gemsalive]

re: that HEFTY siffrin sweep on id5’s isat favourite blorbos poll — this might sound silly but i do actually think it’s kinda fascinating that isat, as a game so inseparably steeped in (for lack of a better way to describe it) queer fandom culture, managed to so completely sidestep the common Fandom Phenomenon that i suspect was behind the poll in the first place by creating a main character that is also overwhelmingly the fan favourite character for once.

obviously there are any number of factors we could point at to explain the extent to which siffrin nomiddlenames nolastnames manages to grab people and absolutely not let go, but personally i think one of the most interesting ones to consider is the one specific to the medium — that is, how siffrin subverts the “silent blank slate video game protagonist” archetype in such a way that happens to be primo brainrot breeding grounds.

like, when a video game dev makes a silent protagonist it’s usually a bid to maximize immersion by closing the aesthetic distance between player and character as much as possible, right? which is especially true of rpg video games — players find connection in the generic, as that is what gives you the freedom of motion to insert yourself into the story in whatever unique shape suits you best. you are your character and your character is you.

(as ever, post ran long. yall know the drill. tossin in a quick header pic before thoughts on blank slates & blorboification continue under the cut)

and then you’ve got siffrin, who is expressly pointed out to be the taciturn type; who when initially giving the player exposition about their journey so far doesn’t seem to hint at a life or history or even really any motivations outside the journey; whose every thought and action is narrated in second person so as to keep tracing and re-tracing the connection between him and you.

even their design — all darkless and shapeless, bundled up in that big cloak, as if an invitation for you to fill it in with whatever lets you relate to them most! at this point they are their own character for sure, but they also have enough very clear parallels going on with the silent protagonist archetype to feel more than accidental.

of course, as you keep playing you start to recognize that his blankness is much, much more than just a grab at immersion; his apparent lack of backstory, itself a fundamental piece of backstory. this is where he flips dramatically in the player’s perception from “generic vessel for story delivery” to “thoroughly multidimensional character trapped within endless torment nexus custom-built to target and exacerbate all his very specific worst traits rooted in very specific traumas”.

yknow, the good stuff !

but by then you have also been playing enough to be feeling the effects of the thing isat’s design does best of all. i’m talkin bout that ludonarrative lockstep baby. every piece of isat’s gameplay is designed to make you feel what siffrin is feeling — you understand by now that he is not a stand-in for you, but all the same you share in his frustration, his grief, his rare moments of joy and the subsequent heart-in-your-shoes devastation when that joy is inevitably poisoned — and through it all, the desperate grasping for anything new — all as if they were every bit your own.

so in this way the connection is maintained, even if you were someone for whom siffrin’s particular traits & struggles might not otherwise cause you relate to them at all if you had encountered them elsewhere, in a setting where you weren’t actively controlling them as a player. siffrin still gets to carry all the “just like me fr” impact of the blank slate protagonist in the tropes he embodies and in the game mechanics’ design, while totally free to evolve completely into his own character and keep you relating to closely them all the same. now toss back in the fact that said traits & struggles very much ARE of a flavour that a great many people Would Tend To Relate To and just like that you’ve got a perfect storm cookin.

too individual and compellingly written to be an empty vessel for plot delivery. too closely connected with the player’s emotional state to be a story observed impassively from the outside. he has 92 mental illnesses and for the low low price of free u can give him yours to carry too. nobody is doin it like him. congratulations on your well-deserved nose sniffrin nomiddlenames nolastnames <3

[puppyeared]

Odd couple <3

[litt1e-prince]

"Who's your friend, MK?"

INSPIRED BY THE FIC: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46162438/chapters/116212117

Which, if you 'haven't read yet- why not?? go read it now!! It's literally so good, its so good- had me crying- LIKE. I WANNA FIGHT WUKONG FROM THIS FIC SOOOO BAD but at the same time,,, i wanna hug him and bring him nice things and make sure he's safe and happy! The author writes so amazingly and aaaah! the pain!!!!

[witchhazelevesque]

Wait… I get that Venus’s warning to Reyna about how “no demigod shall heal your heart” hit her hard because it meant she and Jason wouldn’t be together, but it also didn’t completely rule out A LOT of her people because like… so many of them weren’t demigods, they were legacies.

And okay, yeah, maybe that could be explained but, no not really because in BoO, when Reyna tells Piper about it, Piper says: “There is someone out there for you, maybe it’s not a demigod. Maybe it’s a mortal or… or I don’t know. But when it’s meant to happen, it will.” (492)

Like… the narrative literally forgets that legacies as a concept existed??

And no, it’s not that Piper isn’t aware of that or was distracted by Leo’s death because: “Piper kept busy helping Reyna and Annabeth coordinate between the Greeks and Romans. To Piper's surprise, the other two girls valued her skills as a go-between to smooth over any conflicts.” (489)

Now, Piper gets the short end of the stick when it comes to being written with nuance (hello one off lines about her best friendship with Hazel with talking, crying and sword fighting in HoH), but we’re meant to assume that she’s doing more than is actually written, and she’d have to be aware of these dynamics between demigods and legacies, that SHOULD have been a significant element here since all of Camp Half-Blood are demigods while a large, if unknown, portion of Camp Jupiter are legacies.

But no, the conflicts are like: “Piper did manage to return some Roman helmets that mysteriously made their way into the camp store. She also kept a fight from breaking out between the children of Mars and the children of Ares over the best way to kill a hydra.” (489)

Like.

The narrative itself goes out of its way to make a one to one comparison between the camps in terms of how directly descended from the gods the camper are. With the same god’s two aspects and everything! Ignoring the other descendants of Mars!

But actually!! No, in the same book they do bring up legacies! Nico asks Reyna: “So… is your whole family descended from Bellona? I thought you and Hylla were her daughters, not legacies.” (284)

So why? Is it so inconsistent? (This is a rhetorical question, I know why but feel free to add more)

And all he had to do was change the word ‘demigod’ to ‘hero’. At least for Reyna’s situation.

TLDR: Legacies? Wasted potential. Reyna? Victim of inconsistent writing, vol 132.

[seth-burroughs]

Hear me out

[impossibleprincess35]

I am literally covered in doll hair.

But I also feel like Thanos. I want Satine Barbies, and since they won't give me Satine Barbies, I'm like:

[moeblob]

So, lore?

Lo'en is a half elf and across the world there are designated elven kingdoms. One of them! Where she was born and her mother (elf) still lives, is frigid and in the north. Humans still have an odd tradition for Santa and so she hides her slightly pointed ears so that she doesn't have to sit through ANOTHER "Saint Nick" story that the northern elf king refuses to be offended by. His name is Niklava and he rather LIKES the association of how giving the cold can be! Lo'en could easily live without hearing another comment about ol' Saint Nick and his elves though.

Hold, while technically human/mortal, is cursed to live life over and over. And he has plant/green powers. He gets a lot of the "oh you'll grow up to be fine one of these days!" "you're still a sprout in this life time" "you still have time to bloom then!" and he also hates it.

Because Hold has to continue living even after he dies (though his body regresses to a child like age as he "recovers from death") he's absolutely enamored with Lo'en who just continues to exist. Her life span is way longer than a humans, longer than his /should/ be. And he admires her a lot and is really grateful to have her around for so many of his lives lived. Lo'en is relieved to have someone she gets along with who won't die and leave her forever. He dies, sure, but he gets better.

Lo'en meets Hold first while during one of his sister's dead phases so that's why the two are much closer than Lo'en is to Hold's sister. The two girls do help keep Hold safe when he's dead but they aren't super best friends or anything.

[xoxo-ren-xoxo]

i feel like im always 100x happier when i straight up just block people who get negative about silly things i like. that being said im prepared to block a LOT of people after this wild life session 😭i dont care if u think it was bad/too brutal/not entertaining im killing u w my mind because i think it was lovely

[luke-shywalker]

I just rewatched the bit from TLJ where Ben and Rey have their first accidental Zoom call and Rey sees him and immediately starts making threats on his life and bro is just looking around like “Can you see my surroundings? I can’t see yours. Do you have a background turned on?”

I haven’t actually watched the sequels since the years they came out so. Sometimes I forget that canon Ben Solo is actually just as much of an idiot as I imagine him to be

[forsty]

Top Gun Maverick - Fallen Based on the painting 'The Fallen Angel' by Alexandre Cabanel

It's done.... my "fallen angel" Rooster redraw is finally done... also available on my INPRNT store

[worstloki]

something very horrifying about the concept of Thor but not Loki being told that Loki is Jotun when the brothers are old enough to understand the importance of the secret

[ragnarokhound]

For the au ask game!

OKAY I wanted specifically to get to the pokemon au from the ask you sent, it's been cooking a bit so it's time to see what comes out of the oven, so... @azol-otl ty for the ask!

Crossover au's are all about the fused worldbuilding for me and speculating on how characters from universe A would fit into universe B heehee hoohoo - and for Batfam especially it's fun to think about the equivalent of their roles as vigilantes! What kind of people have the same level of celebrity, the same sideways seeking of justice?

Naturally this leads you to the gym leaders because a) it's the most fun and b) they are like. Quasi-law enforcement/educators/professional athletes depending on how you try to translate the innate child's perspective on the pokemon universe into something that makes sense as an adult lol ilu pokemon. [insert 'compels me though' gif here]

SO with this in mind, here's 5 fun facts (that are mostly backstory lmao) from a jaytim pokemon au I would write

I'm deeply ill about pokemon so this one goes under the cut lol:

Jason Todd used to be the Champion. He won the role after Dick Grayson quit a year or two before (Dick had been getting older and chafing under the League rules - meaning he'd been chafing under how Bruce ran the League) and was a fierce competitor who didn't believe in going easy on anyone. His Houndoom was a force to be reckoned with, and despite running a mostly Dark-type team, his Honchkrow cleaned up anyone thinking their Fighting-types could sweep. He looked after the League and Gotham with a cocky, self-assured attitude and the win record to back it up. .

Jason disappeared suddenly at the age of 15. Many assumed him dead, after a Rocket (Or whatever Gotham themed gang name we want to go with lol could be Team Joker) bombing in the area he'd last been seen, but he's officially declared missing. Bruce Wayne took back the duties of interim Champion as he once did for Dick Grayson, but he's not quite the mentor he once was. It's obvious he's grieving, and that he doesn't want to mentor any more twelve year olds. Dick signed up to be a Gym Leader shortly after this, returning from his trip about a year early to help out in the chaos following Jason's disappearance. .

Enter Tim Drake. Tim's gym challenge wasn't all that interesting in the circuit at first; he had a rocky start and had to retake a few gym challenges. He wasn't exactly sweeping on his first try every time like Jason had done. He didn't have the meteoric rise that caught the Champion's attention early, didn't get one-on-one mentorship or face-to-face meetings, cautionary advice and congratulations all rolled into one from Bruce Wayne himself - but Tim had patience and grit, and he paid attention. He was gunning for the Championship, and it wasn't just so he could prove himself. Team Rocket/Joker was still out there, and Bruce needed all the help he could get. He was always better for Gotham when he had a Robin. .

Dick had been nicknamed Robin for his all-Flying-type team and especially his Natu-then-Xatu; Jason followed up with his Murkrow-then-Honchkrow; Tim's Rookidee was one among many (Robin-esque pokemon were popularized by Dick and the trend remains through Tim's day) so he wasn't considered a possible Robin successor until it was a Corvisquire and he was about to face Dick Grayson himself, a badge away from Victory Road. By then, Tim and his team were a well-oiled machine (he runs mostly Steel-types lol but also Normal-types for the unexpected adaptability and the 'underestimate my rattata i dare you it's in the top peRCENTAGE--' of it all. FEAR.), and his loss-record had all but frozen while his win-record ticked higher and higher. .

Shit finally goes down about three years after Tim has become Champion and all but bullied Bruce into mentoring him (he basically said 'if you don't watch me, i'll go find Team Rocket/Joker on my own' and triggers all of Bruce's child endangerment traumas simultaneously) and the mysterious Rocket/Joker leader Red Hood shows up, bringing the gang out of the shadows in pursuit of a hidden agenda. Identity shenanigans and "wait is that a Houndoom? But he's only been using Ghost-types, it CAN'T be..." and heel-face turns abound. .

(BONUS FACT: Something something, Jason went into deep cover with Looker or whoever he is, that Interpol guy from X & Y (WAIT. LOOKER MIGHT ACTUALLY BE TALIA AL GHUL IN THIS AU HOHOHO), infiltrating the Rocket/Joker gang and going public as Red Hood is the first step in the last phase of the sting. Cue a million tense Jaytim interactions in which Tim is legitimately trying to take Red Hood down and Jason desperately tries to shake him so that he doesn't do anything that forces Jason to blow his cover. There is at least one 'tugged into a tight space to hide them both from the actual bad guys, "wait, did you just HELP me...?" "Think whatever you want, babybird"' interaction because I am a slut for the first sprinkles of a redemption arc that is rife with UST fufufu)

[theshadowrealmitself]

Someone jokingly throwing Phantom’s hat into the ring during the next election and now he’s seriously competing against Vlad Masters to be Amity’s mayor

[ftl-faster-than-life]

Calling Eobard petty and hateful is just an incredible disservice to his complexity as a character. Sorry y'all don't like the idea of a villain whose vulnerabilities are all emotional.

[thevioletthread]

i guess this is a wip thingie? thank you so much to @faiirygrahamdevanily for tagging me!! ^-^💖

ok so i'm working on like 3 feligami things rn, here's some tiny bits from them: 🌸 💫

 He looks down, and is surprised to find his nails cutting into the palm of his hand.  Slowly, consciously, he unclenches his fingers.  It’s disappointing how much effort it takes to do so.  “Felix.” Kagami says.  The moon highlights the curve of her cheek, making a crescent there.  She holds out her hand, dark eyes pleading.  He shuts his eyes.  He takes her hand, and sits back down beside her.  “Fucking god.” he says into her shoulder, arms wrapping around her torso, fingers clutching into his ring.  She lets out a breathy laugh, and he pulls away.  He sighs, annoyed with himself. 

“You don’t have nightmares.” he says tiredly.  Kagami smiles ruefully.  “No.” she admits. Her fingers brush his shirt, grazing his shoulder.

the second thing, featuring alya and nino:

It’s strange. But Alya doesn’t consider herself to be all that judgy of a person, so she’s trying not to- you know, cast judgement.  And it’s not really a judgment even, per say.  More like…an observation.  It’s just that, Kagami is smiling. (and not just a smile, a real, true smile, one that reaches all the way up to her eyes.)  And it’s strange.  Alya decides that that is a little sad, when she thinks it.   But it’s true.  Because Kagami doesn’t (didn’t) smile.  Sometimes she would turn her mouth upwards in something that was surely supposed to be a smile, but Alya never really got the impression that anything like that counted for much in the way of actual happiness.  She’s smiling now though, up at a boy that looks, for all intents and purposes, exactly like Adrien.  Even though Alya knows all too well that he isn’t Adrien, that he isn’t even like Adrien. 

Beside her, Nino nudges her shoulder and takes a sip from his cup all at the same time.  “Look at them.”  He says in a low voice, nodding over at the couple away from the group, standing just out of the glow of the fairy lights that rim the party.

and this teeny bit taken completely out of context lol:

 He exhales, trying to keep his frustration from showing.  “All right.  Come on.” he says, standing and offering her his hand.  “Where- are we going?” she asks, dark eyes widening.  Her hand is so small and slender, it’s tiny in his.  He tries not to think about it, though.  He smiles darkly. 

“Have you ever been kidnapped?” 

 

thank you so much for tagging me!!! 💖

[recareels]

sobbing over the thought of mr reca calling you ‘my little starlet’ >.<

but he says it like my leetle starrrlet! ｡ﾟ(｡ﾉωヽ｡)ﾟ｡