#(who ofc has his own tragic backstory)

[stevethehairington]

buddie the merry gentlemen au when 😂

[sufferu]

Y'know re zero reminds a lot of umineko and higurashi. Stories where the protags are dying and resetting over and over again to fight against fate. For a chance that is "infinitely close to zero"(yes literal quote---thats how unlikely victory was) or that one dude from toaru that died 100 billion times, resetting through horrific worlds.

What do they have in common? The protags save/forgive/pity their torturers. WHDAA cast has every right to beat some sense into Subaru damn. I get the whole "understanding the heart of others" theme. I love it, but like--there should be a line somewhere that got lost in the corpses of previous loops. Especially, since most of the time they are redeemed because they have a tragic backstory. Like "ofc I forgive you for torturing me for 100 years because your parents are dead"

Penny for your thoughts?

God I need to watch Higurashi. Too bad I cant FIND THE DAMN SERIES ANYWHERE— also I’ve heard of Umineko but I have no idea what it is lol. Maybe I’ll check it out. Same with A Certain Magical Index.

And — honestly, to an extent I agree with you lol, cause even if I haven’t watched any of those series I am very familiar with the “all is forgiven” trope that tends to happen in anime a lot. I think it often tends to feel a little unbalanced, ESPECIALLY if the perpetrator is some sort of waifu character. Like — okay, there’s this anime that came out a few years ago called Ranking of Kings that I actually really liked for the most part, except the way they handled the main villain (a woman named Miranjo) was just BAFFLING. She did all this horrible stuff in the first half, but then the second half was basically just — everyone bending over backwards to excuse/forgive her simply because…that’s what the author wanted to happen. And the thing is? I was one of like five viewers (judging by those comments :/) who would actually have totally been on board with her redemption if they hadn’t done that. I thought she was a fascinating character, possibly my favorite in the series, and I even saw the potential for her becoming a better person if they were to go that route. But then they hammered it in SO MUCH because the author wanted the audience to like her SO BADLY that — it just RUINED her.

That’s what I think the problem often is: the hand of the author becomes too obvious, and as their actions get excused by the narrative practically bending over backwards to get the audience to like the characters, the characters get flattened down and all their edges sanded off. To be entirely honest it’s the main issue I have with how Rem is often portrayed in this fanbase, because — a really large subset of fans seems to have looked at that HOT MESS of a person and decided that taking her “perfect waifu” facade at face value was the more appealing option, lol.

—It totally makes sense for Subaru, though. As a character this is, it makes SOO much sense that he’s like this. And…I’m actually holding out hope that it’s gonna be addressed as an issue in-universe at some point, due to 1) some very choice descriptors on his part of all those horrible things being “good memories” that are VERY worrying and 2) post-amnesia!Rem very explicitly ending up in antagonistic role to her old self regarding how they each want Subaru to develop going forward.

As for my own react fic…yeah. Rem is. Rem is gonna be in some SERIOUS hot water. If I may: I think that a lot of react fics tend to gloss over her behavior a little too much for my liking, due to her being a popular character (or even a favorite of the author lol) and as such the fic goes out of its way to make sure that the conversation leads to everyone forgiving her one way or another. …I, personally, do not plan on pulling my punches one single bit.

;)

[doodlegirl1998]

Hi, reading a fic (shig x hawks hear me out I was bored and want to see different charactizations of Mr. Sexy man) and in one scene as shig talks about his past...

It hits me once again how Izu doesn't have a mc trait.

Not saying he should be an orphan or anything like that.

But think this way: shig is the grandson of Nana. He is a Shimura.

Izu has nothing. I do like how he is from no important family...but he has no mc trope. He is an extra in his own show.

His traumatic past is BK abusing him but that doesn't count, ofc, and what else Izu has in his storyline? He wants to be a hero (everyone does) he is good with quirks sure and good with lil kids but....what else?

To be clear, don't think shig is better written or developed at all...and his reveal as SHIMURA was weak sauce and no one gave a shit.

But like there SMTH.

When you think about it....Shig had a better childhood than Izu...and yes, Kotaro was abusive. Yes, not denying that but like...he has monchan, friends and a mom who cared for him.

Izu has nothing but bk...forever.

Hi @mikeellee 👋

I'm not going to judge, read whatever interests you, but Hawks / Shig isn't a ship I like.

You are right when you say that Izuku doesn't have any traditional MC traits.

Now, it could be argued that OFA / "the chosen one" trope is used with Izuku being the final user. However, that, quite frankly, is bullshit because this ended up meaning nothing narratively, and Izuku lost OFA anyway. And an OFA user didn't end AFO - Bakugou (a no-name bastard) outside this passed down legacy of OFA did.

Izuku came from a no-name civilian family in MHA, no DFO, no other secret important linnege (unlike Shig and Dabi) - Inko is barely explored and Hisashi is mentioned in name only.

Unlike other MCs with tragic backstories (i.e Naruto and Tanjiro) Izuku's traumatic past abuse at the hands of Bakugou is undermined at every turn to make Bakugou look better instead of being treated with the respect it deserves.

To make matters worse, Bakugou is the reason Izuku suffered so much. No such abuse of the quirkless is seen LITERALLY ANYWHERE ELSE in canon. In canon, there is no Quirkless Discrimination seen in society (perhaps because there are so few of them). All of Izuku’s suffering is down to Bakugou being a bastard because he liked to be and couldn't handle being helped out of a river once.

Izuku is stuck with this literal narrative parasite until the very end and accepting pity payments from him so he can get his very own 'big boy' Hero Iron Suit after 6-8 years. I am disgusted by this ending.

[midorikawawas]

So, About Spirit of Justice…

I've been loving that game since I first played it back in 2017-2018, and at times, I wish to do a review for Spirit of Justice, at least the story aspects, because I consider it to be a game that not only isn't as bad or as incoherent as many people try to argue, but that actually made something while carrying the burden of trying to do a lot in a little time, even when we consider that it has one of the longest (if it isn't THE longest) final cases/chapters and pushed a lot of the mechanics and effects for a visual novel.

If anything, the worst sin committed by AA6 is being its own thing (same as Dual Destinies, but that's a different conversation….)

But idk, lots of personal observations under this.

Of course there are things that make me raise my eyebrow and that could've been done better, but if anything, I applaud the fact that the game has that replayability factor to it which is such… an AA thing, to keep the player interested and entertained, even when considering its downfalls. Like, talk about the little details that aren't explicitly said, but that were put in the script and manage to convey so much of what the characters and story have to say. If anything, SoJ is GOOD at the storytelling factor, at switching the setting and making it compelling.

It's visually engaging and the script is just so good (I wish to play the Japanese version one of these days, because I enjoyed the translation and I bet the og is as enjoyable.)

Then there are the characters... Which I don't know how people can't get out of their usual comparisons with other installments and ignore that the characters, their motivations, and even their emotions and inner lives are not as half-assed in this game as some people would like to say. Again, most things get insinuated between the lines, which I don't think it's lazy, rather is interesting instead of seeing a character blurting out everything, but that's a personal choice. I could have a whole field day with the whole royal family and the many things they represent or couldn't say explicitly.

Even though I agree that Apollo's backstory doesn't click as well (we can see it was a last minute thing) I don't believe it takes away from what his past was. From his rather tragic origins, and the charm of the strong familial bond he has with Dhurke, neither the care and wish to reconnect with Nahyuta and protect him, who's either a dear childhood friend or a brother (depending on the version) but still, both are part of the childhood Apollo thought as lost, and who then forced himself to forget. If you ask me, it's of my favorite parts of the game, and I wish that if we get AA7, we get a passing comment about the family Apollo now has in Khura'in.

I simply like Spirit of Justice a lot. It's not the best AA installment objectively, but it is my personal favorite for the ambience, the build up, the characters and script (I feel only the amazing AA4 wins over AA6 in the script department but come on... It's AA4, ofc it wins.) and the over the top story that somehow makes sense within the universe. It is such a joy to play and get invested in everything that's going on, to laugh and to cry, and that makes to me a wonderful game.

It doesn't deserve much of the hate that it gets or to be the butt of the joke (neither does Dual Destinies, but AGAIN, a different conversation) however, every time I see complaints against the game I feel like most people just had a different experience than me.

At least I enjoyed it!

[bigmilk-13]

Introducing my Carmen Sandiego OC's: Part 1

Florian Lafayette-Meadows

CS x Alex Rider AU

They have heterochromia (ironic) so they have different eye colours. One eye is a mix of grey and blue with a dark brown around the outside- while the other is grey mixed with forest green.

Character info-

Black (dyed- he used to have blonde hair) hair with purple highlights, 28 years old, 6'0, he/him and they/them pronouns

V.I.L.E Agent who then leaves and creates their own squad. Their codename was the Purple Guy, since they had purple and black hair, and a bit based on William Afton who was also a conman, trickster and murderer. Also, purple was his signature colour.

gay, asexual and transmasc: has been on T ever since he left CSIS, thanks to V.I L.E. Always knew they were trans- has identified as so ever since he was 11. They also knew they were aroace since 11.

Has a boyfriend- Alex Rider (he's two years younger than him)

At first wanted to be a Lawyer or Attorney but changed their mind and instead got a psychology PhD at Harvard University. He also studied political science, criminology and french but only got another PhD in pol-sci.

Insanely smart- like they are a genius. Has an IQ of around 247 and also has photographic memory- meaning if he reads or see's something, he'll remember it vividly.

Their main skill is being a conman and trickster, not loyal to anyone other than themselves. They're also insanely agile, being so fast that no one could ever catch up to them. Blame his parents for making him run track competitively in school. They were the fastest runner in their school's history and won county championships, becoming one of the fastest kids in Canada. He has insane stamina and quick ass reflexes too.

Parents-

Mother: Raquel Lafayette (later changed to Meadowes)

French but had some Italian and Spanish in-laws.

Sister: Fleur Lafayette (married a Spanish man)

Brother: Blaise Lafayette (Married an Italian man) (yes he's gay)

27 when she gave birth to Florian

32 when she died

Cause of death: Suicide

Fluent in French, English, Italian and Spanish (she learnt the last two while young- she was really smart too)

Father: Christopher Meadowes

Half Swedish-Half Portuguese (mother was Portuguese and father was Swedish, learnt both languages growing up. Moved to Canada and learnt French and English there)

Brother: August Meadowes

Lived in Canada

CSIS agent

28 when Florian was born

32 when he died

Cause of death: V.I.L.E

Fluent in English, French, Portuguese, Latin and Swedish

Backstory- tw: suicide

Well, let's start of at his birth. Florian Lafayette-Meadows, born Florence Meadowes but changed it legally after to include their mother's name and change it to their chosen name, was always a really fucking smart kid. Knew the ABC's, started saying full sentences, started walking, at a really early age. As he grew up, his parents decided that he will be homeschooled by tutors (they were really rich, but tragic ofc)

At the age of 7, Florian's father died because he was killed by a V.I.L.E operative on a mission to stop a caper. We don't know who it was, and what happened for it to lead to his death. Florian never knew that it was V.I.L.E that killed him.

Fast forward a year, Florian's mother is still heartbroken about her husband's death (they were actually a loving family, would you believe it) and her sister, Fleur, was scared about what might happen to Florian if she continued to be so depressed and sad all the time. She barely payed attention to him and just stayed in bed the entire day and cried. She lost her job and everything was falling apart. So Fleur called Blaise, who was living in Italy, and asked him to take Florian, basically adopt him, while she helps her sister get better.

Unfortunately, Raquel doesn't get better and on Florian's 8th birthday hangs herself in the bathroom, tired of it all, just wanting to see Chris again.

Florian doesn't celebrate their birthday anymore after that, in fact, they dread the day and use it as the only day were they can relax, break down, and just cry.

Fast forward, Florian's 11 years old. Using the good old internet they finally find out why they've been feeling as if they were a male the whole time. Looking at everything from the male perspective, dressing masculine, and even cutting their hair to look more like a boy.

They were transgender.

During this time, they were still living in Italy with Blaise and his husband, Raphael. They told him about the LGBT community and kept him educated on all that kind of stuff. Pretty wholesome. But ofc it doesn't last long-

At age 14, turns out CSIS wanted Florian to join them as an teen spy to help with missions that required smaller people. I mean- big ass buff agents wouldn't be able to infiltrate through vents but smaller and younger also buff agents can, right?

And his father was basically training him up for joining CSIS his whole life so in the end he accepted their offer and decided to join, maybe not officially but on contract. They'll use him when necessary.

Florian worked for them till he was -- before being sent undercover to V.I.L.E. They made it look like he stole a hard-drive filled with classified information and used it to their advantage.

He sent it to an important, high classed black-market auction and got an invite as a auctioneer. That's when he met V.I.L.E, who was trying to buy the drive. He bid against them, undercover, to try get them to pay more, and in the end got around £3 million.

Countess Cleo, who was there at the time bidding for the drive, realised that she had been tricked and instead of being angry, invited Florian to join V.I.L.E, to which they gladly accepted. When he joined, Carmen was doing her do-over year and they basically became "enemies at first sight". He was 14 years older than her.

After a year, V.I.L.E wanted them to apply for university, since he was by far their smartest, strongest and most skilled student (broke all the records that Black Sheep set) so they wanted them to have a PhD, which lasted 4 years.

Got into Harvard at --, then got bachelor's in criminology and french. At age --, decided to go for two PhD's in pol-sci and psych, which lasted 4 years. So at --, officially came back to V.I.L.E and worked for two years against his mortal enemy, Carmen Sandiego...

Who then told him that V.I.L.E killed his dad...

Yupppp, your "family" didn't tell you they killed your biological dad so your mortal enemy did. It was like this whole dramatic scene, where Florian had a mental breakdown and left V.I.L.E without saying a word, and disappeared of the face of the Earth.

After a few months, no one can find them, not even Team Red, not even V.I.L.E. Until they contact Carmen and send her a secret address. Turns out that it's a hidden manor, in the middle of nowhere in Austria. Carmen went and everything was explained, this was Florian's home and they had a new team now, called Team Purple, because that was his signature colour. It was similar to Team Red, just definitely filled with older people and a bit more organised. They all lived in the manor together and it seemed like the Purple Guy finally had found a family. Carmen and Florian sorted out their indifferences and became great friends, Florian saying that if she ever needed help, a place to stay or some manpower, that he, his team and the manor was always available for her use.

*Boys Will Be Bugs by Cavetown starts playing*

Anyyywhooo, welcome to the end!If you've read this far, you deserve a cookie (🍪) and a pat on the back because HOLY SHIT THIS TOOK A WHILE (legit like two weeks). Thank you so much for reading Florian's backstory and I'm sorry if stuff isn't written coherently cos this is NOT BETA READ. I tried making this as realistic as possible, eventhough this dude is essentially a genius. Anyway I won't bore you with my writing anymore, be ready for part 2 and 3- part 2 being my main oc who has her own account btw @official-florence-meadowes

[cepheusgalaxy]

Y'know, once I thought about purposefully doing a story full of clichés and molding them to my likings, just to loose up, you know? Not having to worry about using too oversaturated tropes, since I'm doing it purposefully, and I abandoned it a while ago but I think it'd be nice to revisit it.

cws: death mention

Mary Sue has a tragic backstory: Her parents died in a gruesome way in front of her, and she was sent to live with her uncles/a foster family, who are like, very bad at parenting, and she is also trans to add a little more angst and make her an outcast as well

She also has a magical heritage of being from the noblety of a magical people but she doesn't know that yet, of course

One day, she is being attacked by a vampire! But then another, conventionally atractive and conveniently skilled and well-meaning vampire appears (hes a vampire hunter) and saved her

He figures she has some magic abilities (from this part i draw a lot from The Mortal Intruments coz i like that series very much) and takes her to his base where he works with a lot of other people and eventually she ends up joining them

The team and their dynamic is gonna be inspired by the Institute in tmi

Oh and they're also the harem:

We're gonna have an older mentor figure, ofc, but then there's the guys,

The Vampire Vampire Hunter who saved Mary Sue

Flamboyant Gnc Catboy because I Can

Angsty Sasuke (Trans) Boy

Exiled Prince

and some others i haven't thought about

Okay, so, at some point, (they're anomaly/ghost/vampires/bad magic people hunters) we Burn Down the Setting, maybe a little literally, and they have to run away. The mentor is Out so they have to deal with things on their own and they decide to travel to The Misterious Forest of Something (so misterious i dont even know what happens there) and arrive at a temple-ish of a retired Sage Mage

they spend some time there (insert bonding of Mary Sue + Angsty Sasuke) and then they decide to go to the Magic Capital (there is a whole bunch of countries that are hidden from the Normal People and inhabited by magical beings like them) to reagrupe, and, hmm, plan of taking down the Evil Mage who actually Burnt Down their Institute

When they go to the capital, there is this prince guy who agrees on helping them and giving them the information they need, but only if Mary Sure wants to sleep with him (coz shes very Desirable as a Mary Sue, remember?), and at first she tries to go along despiste her teammates advising her not to since she doesn't really want to do that, but anyways, nothing happens because she just ends up leaving him there. Shes a little ashamed of destroying their only chance of getting Information (teammates are currently trying reassuring her) when A New Guy Appears

He's Dumbass Prince's younger brother, and wants to help them

He ends up joining the Team and in the next arc they leave the Capital and go to another Magical Kingdom/Country (maybe a fae land >:] ) to get more info on Evil Guy (who, although they don't know yet, is Mary Sue's--wait, not father, since his dead, my bad--uncle/cousin/brother/idk, something)

That's what I had planned so far lmao

Yeah, it's a fun concept to mess up with so I think I'll eventually revisit it

[shrinkthisviolet]

is there any female characters you've never written about but would like to write? what draws you to them?

- folk melody

Ooh interesting question! Annabeth Chase, I think. I find her super compelling and complex—badass and vulnerable, super smart but still a kid, etc. Her fatal flaw and struggles especially compel me, and how she makes it through with the help of her friends (and I especially love her relationships—her romantic one with Percy, and her platonic one with Luke + Thalia). The way she strives for her mom's approval, the way she loves architecture like she loves breathing, the way she wants to go on a quest when she's even younger than 12 for the sake of earning even a glimpse of her mother's approval (Mark of Athena makes this even more tragic). The way she wants to believe the best in Luke...the way he tricks her for his own gain and forces the sky on her shoulders, the way she still holds him gently at the end because he's still her big brother, she still loves him. AHHHH

Also to some extent, Caitlin. Her backstory (the s3-and-onward one, that is, not the s1 one) and how that informs who she's become is super interesting to me! Growing up with a mom like Carla, who responds to grief by shutting down and was never super close to you to begin with...ofc Caitlin grieves similarly when her own husband dies twice (granted the first one is just presumed but still), of course she has trouble connecting with other women (she connects with Felicity just fine, but she struggles with Iris, and also with Jesse), of course her mother knows nothing about her life and wasn't invited to her wedding and only sent a card two months after her birthday (in April, when her birthday is in February). It's so compelling to me.

talk shop tuesday!

[g1ngerbeer]

percy is a stupid ridiculous nerd who thinks he's SOoO cool but in reality he runs around and gets his hand stuck in his own inventions and nearly gets blown up by running through fire with gunpowder in his pockets and has a pompous-ass name with 14 fucking syllables. i love him sm.

finished season 2 btw. it was fabulous how all the other characters got their issues delved into but also funny how its reading very much "here's a trauma episode for keyleth and here's an episode for the twins and here's an episode for grog and here's one for percy- actually wait you're really fucked up you need an entire season"

do you know what cr youtube episodes correspond with the show plot? I know that the first several aren't show related bc dnd copyright, but is there a confirmed period for s1/2?

~ percy anon

(thanks for letting me chat w/ u)

percival fredrickwhatever the fuck de rolo iii is so funny. hes my favorite pathetic little loserguy. now that he is (kind of) free from the tragic backstory demons he gets to be goofier :] builds an actual mousetrap out of forks and then sets it off on his own hand ... gives his ridiculous fancy coat to the girl he likes then tries to pretend hes not freezing his ass off ... he does NOT act like a guy with 16 wis. loser. and yeah honestly with the amount of gunpowder he has on him at all times im surprised he hasnt exploded yet. what a freak. what an absolute loser. nerd. i love how they do let him be cool with his tragic backstory and really good aesthetic and swagful competence at violence and murder. and yet he is still silly. and dumb <3 my little guy. bully him more its what taliesin would want

his name is a running joke in the campaign btw he'll introduce himself with all 17 syllables of it and at least two other people will immediately follow it up with "you can call him percy"

also WOW you got through this show fast. congratulations! and welcome to the eternal waiting-on-s3 trenches </3

actually episodes 1-2 of tlovm are a very loose adaptation of some of the pre-stream content (since they didn't start streaming until several years into the actual campaign)! they've got a summary video for all of the pre-stream stuff called the story of vox machina which has some really pretty illustrations. there's also "vox machina: origins" which is an ongoing series of comics adapting pre-stream vox machina. the briarwoods arc (tlovm season 1) corresponds to campaign episodes 24-36. they get the invitation to the feast with the briarwoods at the end of 23 though and it's all set up in 14 iirc. i'm not entirely sure of tlovm season 2 content since i actually only just started on campaign chroma conclave, but according to the wiki that whole arc would be episodes 39-83. although tlovm definitely hasn't gotten to campaign episode 69. so i think they're only halfway through that. the children yearn for season 3

(and yeah ofc np!!! its very nice to have somebody to yell about percy with sldkgjsljglsk)

[astro-break]

Thoughts on the 10th ep of Hypmic Rhyme Anima+. Spoilers beware

Season 1 | Ep.1 | Ep.2 | Ep.3 | Ep.4 | Ep. 5 | Ep. 6 | Ep. 7 | Ep. 8 | Ep. 9

LETS GOOOO MCD flashbackkkkk

Oh look finally a good look at TBH and the mastermind's faces, nice thanks OFC the big bag is Kaibyaku the medical dude

ah so in the end it all leads back to that company if all three of them worked in the same place

Ofc the classic cheek punch then pass out, always happens

LMAOO they knocked each others teeth out and made friendship bracelets out of it thats a romance right there.

Oh damn does that mean that kaibyaku has some of of medical issue? that was an IV in his arm im pretty sure or at least some sort of drip. Maybe Jakurai will play some sort of big end of series role that heals him? I hope not, that would be a bit boring but it would make sense since kujaku posse is the only duo not affiliated with the whole TBH trio thing

Leader battle lets goooo we'll probably get another leader song which is always fun

I hope we get a TBH one

EYYY HEADSET MIC LETS GOOO I looooveddd rosho's one and im so glad theres another one which is always fun

Huh mic embedded in the hand? Thats an interesting concept

[On a second rewatch I think its interesting how Kenji specifically says "I can't fall here. Not we. Theres some foreshadowing that he is the only real one here. He specifics in his rap vers that its "that wretched party" that belongs in a grave, not any of our characters in particular]

[also another detail. The necromancy + skull imagery to their rap verse…. they are bringing back old ghosts with their song… they are so tragic. The rap on as second watch is just so much more tragic once you know everything]

Kuko's rap uses the letters T B H as the starts of his verses which is fun

NIce imagery of three dragons fighting for dominance, a very apt metaphor for IchiSamaKuko who are just hothead extremes

huh wonder what was ripped up

oh thats a neat explanation of how they were able to do a lot of supernatural stuff. I feel like it would have been more interesting if it was a hallucination, but hey I'll take that L its not that bad even if a bit uninspired/not very well foreshadowed

Also the vibrations as controlling element, as someone who can hear electronics, is something that would work for me 100% wwwww I would go crazy if i had to hear those annoying sound waves 24/7

I mean exposition episode but its kinda cute actually? I hate that they're doing this after revealing that they're dead but it does put in the point that they were people, not good people, but still people

bro… bro… satoru specifically says in his rap that the world's our kitchen… he has so many kitchen metaphors here…. bro still holds his dream of opening a restaurant with his totally platonic life bro even after death… bro…..

I mean its not that bad of a motive, im not that convinced that they're in the wrong. I'm also very much a sucker for acts of destructive love which is why i may be more inclined to cheer for kaibyakumon

While I do wish that they had fleshed out Kenji's relationship with Satoru and Akira a bit more, I do feel like the duo's dynamic on its own was really well presented before the big reveal. Like what's Kenji's feelings about SatoAkira, why is he so invested in this whole plan other than borderline idolizing kaibyaku?

I feel its hilarious how kenji's just sitting there while kaibyaku is just going on his monologue wwww

Nice, i like how they used Oosaka's island nature into their planning but there Are other bridges going into the mainland im pretty sure?

okay but why should you care? Like hes doing a overall good? Kaibyakumon's goals are aligned with the overall cast's motive of making sure that the government is placed in check so if the team wants us to have a reason to root against them, gotta give a good reason, esp after that backstory

LMAO HIFUMI oh i feel so bad for him

[primonizuto]

ive been rereading the bartimaeus books recently and god they are so fucking good like it's insane how good they are and i am speaking mostly of nathaniel and kitty here despite the fact that bart is my fav character of all time like

nathaniel is the worst guy ever of all time and it rules. it is so difficult to write a character who you unequivocally feel sympathy with in the first book slowly turning into the absolute worst piece of shit imaginable by the third book but IT IS DONE HERE. and ofc the series itself as a whole was so carefully plotted and everything felt so tight and concisely written, and a lot of the impetus behind the events in the books were very clearly spelled out bc it's YA lit so things Have to be clear, but it kind of still amazes me that there's so much connecting the metaphor (identity closely linked with the name you have and the face you present to the world; 'nathaniel' linked with compassion and idealism and individuality and creativity but also trauma vs 'john mandrake' linked with power and control and the repression of that trauma) with the worldbuilding (true names are dangerous weaknesses and so magicians are supposed to be nameless until they are old enough to be given their magician name) - something as simple as nathaniel being nathaniel during Amulet and Golem's Eye and then suddenly by book 3, at his nadir, he is john mandrake and everybody including bartimaeus calls him that... oof !!! it makes it stick out even more in Golem's Eye when he's still being called nathaniel in the narrative but everyone around him is calling him mandrake as a point of transition

KITTY JONES IS THE BEST YA HEROINE EVER WRITTEN BAR NONE!! i was talking abt this a while ago but it is so fucking cool that kitty's magical special power that she has (her resilience) is NOT what ultimately makes her special and important to the narrative. what makes her important is her capacity for compassion and her determination to follow through on her convictions, in this case with ptolemy's gate. her resilience is mainly there to give her a backstory and place her in opposition to the magicians, it's not there to make her the chosen one

i swear these books legitimately radicalised me as a kid. i remember reading the descriptions of the british empire in the books when i was maybe 11 or 12 and being like 'gee, i sure am glad it wasn't like that in real life', but when i was older and returned to the books i could see that it wasn't 'what if', it was allegory, extrapolating real history and applying it to the book's universe

also i'm not jewish and please correct me if i'm wrong but i think GE is one of the only fantasy stories written by a non-jewish (i think) author which uses golems as a plot point in a way that retains their jewish origins - bart explicitly mentions in his world that the golems, in line with our world's jewish folklore, were first made to protect the jewish people from pogroms!! it's not some case of like 'oh yeah golems are in this also. where did they come from, you ask? it's not important'

anyway didn't mean for this post to be so long but if you like reading fantasy alt history YA which is also a really impressive trilogy-long takedown of indoctrination, abuse and the british empire then i present to you the bartimaeus trilogy by jonathan stroud

also the prequel novel is good too and functions in every way that a prequel novel should by 1) fleshing out a few offhanded references from the main books into a contained story of its own and 2) making sure that story deepens our understanding of the main character and allows us to see him in a totally different light before a key element of his backstory had even happened which makes that element itself even more tragic and profound

[cheemken]

What do you mean the villain au is supposed to be dead dove don't eat???? hello?????

but will you actually write the au like that or keep it as it is? I'm curious what changes there will be or will it stay the same?

if it's no trouble, what about a little snippet of it being dead dove don't eat, if that's alright with you!

Yeah it's supposed to be the epitome of all my angsty stuff, like, the whumpiest of whump of all my aus, all the fucked up horrible things that a character can go through or do should be in that au hahah

Ah, idk, maybe?? If someone asks hahah or maybe that chance went by na, so hey I'm just going w what we have rn, it's still dope hahah

And I didn't really write stuff bc ofc it's just a concept for me, just smth I'd think abt and I never write that stuff down unless someone asks or if I wanna share hahah but hey have some concepts on the initial concept of the villain Dia au, as a treat uvu

Like,, Diantha is legit the worst in my initial concept of the villain au, homegirl legitimately did not give a single fuck abt anyone that isn't her brother or Geeta, she actually killed Malva herself and made her own pkmn watch. Her manipulation runs especially deep in Augustine to the point that this man couldn't even talk back in a certain tone to his sister nor could he ever say no to her, so every secret he was told to keep by someone else, he has to tell her, or else. And hey, w Geeta too, she probs killed a man for Dia at one point let's be real, and Dia showered her w praises, telling her she's such a really good friend for doing her that one favour

Idk if you remember but like, that concept w Mom Carnet? Yeah, Diantha wasn't supposed to kill her during that, my first thought of it was that she kept Mom Carnet alive till present time, and tortured her in the basement. Yknow, burning her skin too, hitting her with that rod, engraving her own initials on Mom Carnet's body, laughing at her as she watches her cry and plead for forgiveness, to just kill her, to grant her at least that mercy. But nah, Diantha suffered so long under her mother, it's only fair her mother suffers too. Mom Carnet is still alive tho, like that concept where Cynthia and Augustine tries to look for Dia? Yeah, Augustine was supposed to find Mom Carnet in the basement during that hahah

Dia in the initial concept is an absolute demon spawn, like tragic backstory be damned honestly, she doesn't care abt purging the world of evil or anything, oh no, she just wanted a world where she would be hailed as queen, for people to worship her like the god that she is. Like she really got everyone in Kalos wrapped around her fingers and none of them are any wiser. When she killed Malva, she told everyone that she probably couldn't stand a life without Lysandre, so she followed suit, and the people believed her and they all grieved, but Dia really didn't care, she thought it was funny that they'd grieve over a member of Flare, a useless organization that was ran by an even worthless man

She really knows how to break anyone and make them bow to her will, knows just what they desire, sensual or not, she'll give them just that, give them everything they want, and suddenly she'd take it from them, saying if they don't pledge their loyalty to her, then they'd share the same fate as those who were damned by Arceus

And yknow, the tournament thing happened still, but w this I wanna say Diantha really didn't cause a huge uproar w Yveltal, rather she got Rose assassinated, or she got him kidnapped, and she ends up torturing him the same way she did w Mom Carnet. Like maybe locking him up in a dark and small room, leaving him there for days, until he loses his mind. And for her it's fun to watch him slowly descend to madness, it's fun taunting him on where his little champion is, why isn't he here to save you then? She'd laugh at him, showing him a picture of Leon still living his best life, and then looks at Rose, sneering at him, bc he doesn't care about you. He never did. And basks in the sheer amount of morbid joy she felt when his arrogant look paled, this is what happens I guess, when you try to challenge me

And yeah hahahah this was really fun to write for this ask, but yeah that's like, the tip of the iceberg still ig there's still a whole lot going on but hey hahah

[karlmarxmaybe]

Good post but I have to disagree with the take that The Killing Joke says nothing about the real world.

To analyze the story, though, we must understand two underlying bits of liberal ideology that are present in all Batman stories:

The police is an organization dedicated to upholding justice.

There are two kinds of people: "normal" and "insane", the "insane" ones being inherently and unchangeably dangerous.

Both of these ideas are utter bullshit, ofc, but the story accepts them as true, so we must keep them in mind. Now,

The whole point The Joker is arguing in The Killing Joke is that it only takes one bad day to turn a "normal" person into a dangerous "insane" one like him. We, the audience, knowing Batman's origin story, understand that this lines up with Batman's life: he suffered a tragic event, his one bad day, and turned into someone who fits more into the "insane" category than into the "normal" one.

But crucially, this is not what the story is arguing. Alan Moore has this habit of having his stories overtly make a statement and then have the subtler details of the story prove that statement wrong and make the exact opposite statement (to the point where people think Watchmen is an edgy fascist violencefest and not an unflinching tragedy about what happens when actual human individuals, flawed as they are, are given superhuman power over others' lives, which feels extra impactful considering the background of the Cold War and its threat of nuclear war. When I read Watchmen, I was brought to tears about the state of imminent world war portrayed in it- an element of the story I rarely see commented on).

How does this manifest in The Killing Joke? Well, you have The Joker's sad sad backstory and him proclaiming loudly his One Bad Day Theory of Mental Illness, and you have the knowledge that Batman kinda matches that... but then you also have Jim Gordon.

Gordon is "normal" and an agent of the law. Within the ideology of the story, that makes him a beacon of justice. And knowing this, The Joker plays his Killing Joke on him (dear Mao comics are ridiculous): he subjects him to one bad day (through the fridging of Barbara Gordon, something I'll always shit on Alan Moore for, but which forced every subsequent writer to write a disabled character, so... mistakes into miracles I suppose, although I don't think the writing of Barbara Gordon post-becoming disabled has been great or even good). The idea is that this one bad day will turn Jim Gordon "insane" and thus dangerous like The Joker.

And it fails utterly. When Batman rescues Jim, he is understandably traumatized, but he tells Batman to go after The Joker, with the words "I want him brought in... And I want him brought in by the book!"

He is still a man of the law. He is still "normal". The Joker's argument is wrong! Not everyone who goes through one bad day turns into a violent murderer! And through this, we can reconsider the point that Batman and The Joker are so similar. Batman did go through one bad day and became "insane", but he doesn't murder people for fun, now does he?

The Joker is trying and failing to excuse his own actions. He's saying he had no choice but to became a violent murderer, and the story proves him wrong. And this is how the self-referential Batman story makes a point about the real world: that one's own trauma is no excuse for causing others harm.

So I don't think long-running franchises are inherently doomed to only talk about themselves. It's just that nostalgia sells, and management wants to just tell the same story over and over to keep the money flow consistent, and they don't want to alienate the fans, and creativity is a risk, and cheeky self-reference makes money, and ultimately making a statement is disencouraged because all art must be status quo propaganda.

Last thing: I hate Alan Moore and all his works, they're sexist, racist, fetishizing of lesbians and just the most White Anarchist garbage you've ever seen. They can all go rot in a hole, especially the shit of shittrordinary shitemen. Ok bye

i have a theory that any franchise that lasts long enough eventually becomes incestuous and ends up eating its own tail, thematically. stories in these franchises can only ever comment on themselves

i think a lot about what alan moore said about his work on the killing joke, about how hollow it is in hindsight since the theme really just boils down to "batman and the joker are kinda similar when you think about it", which i suppose is a pretty novel observation, certainly changes the way i read batman comics, but what is there in that insight for me as a human being living in the real world that i can apply to my actual life? not a whole lot. all it can do is reward emotional investment in the brand of batman. if you don't really give a shit about batman there's nothing there for you.

the disney era of star wars is especially bad about this. by and large they're really just about our relationship to star wars. even the last jedi, which tries to be a little more critical about it, still can't break out of the thematic black hole the franchise has become. andor is possibly the only exception to this, and i steadfastly believe that was a total fluke. don't get it twisted, andor is good despite its connection to star wars, not because of it, and if it were just an original tv show about resisting space fascism, it would probably be better for it (if less popular). we're all lowkey dreading the second season bc we know that no star wars property can resist devolving into a nostalgia wank fest forever

there's nothing inherently wrong with hollow entertainment, but i do think there's something grotesque about pumping the gdp of a small nation into an entertainment product that doesn't aspire to be anything more than an advertisement for itself

[mochiotomedumplings]

man, now that im done with this isekai fic… its been a long time since i managed to finish writing a fic, this is quite the feeling. ive recovered from the sunday crunch, now revving to write the author’s notes for this… just cos there’s so much to say.

(writing and ranting by extension becomes much easier after i broke my back writing 31k… its really like a muscle that needs to be regularly used)

this fic is kinda hard to explain in few words, “in another world” is, as vague and encompassing as that sounds, is the best description so far. i guess “childe transmigrates into a novel and falls in love with an ex-villain who loves the og him in the other timeline too” works as well, but it isn’t enough. this is the second longest fic ive written, but in terms of details it probably rivals scattered flowers 😂 scattered was wordy from smut and character exploration, but theres not much in terms of actual interaction btw zc. theres a lot of memories and alluded-to interactions, but theres a whole lot more internal simping. even the smut is 90% delusional 😂 this fic however, has much actual interaction (shocking, for me) and lotta side characters as well. side character lore ! on top of zc’s backstory. and the complexity of parallel timelines which i dig so much. despite how much it grew on me, i did learn to not plan a story with a time gap in between - it would be too easy to want to fill in the gap and things go out of hand quickly since i take longer to write these days.

i suppose what i adore the most was the story of the other timeline - i settled with “tale of purple: alternative” as the name bcs of it. the whole fic is essentially a fix-it for the other timeline, though few things remain just as tragic (sorry i only have zc in my eyes). i got this idea a while back, wanting to write an isekai where ch comes over and is clueless on zl’s simping for him (classic but always so good) and since zl loves ch in every timeline for me, i had to puzzle out the og timeline too. the og version was a bit more… *interesting* in terms of the events, other!zl was also a villain then, but he was directly responsible for ch’s disappearance instead. ofc, he only took ch to his lil dungeon and had his own twisted time with the ginger… that was an otome isekai au, zl was spose to be that villain you can’t date, for actual reasons 😂 in the new variation, he was hate-pining after the ginger until ch accidentally died, so it became tragic. it didn’t hit me how sad it was until scenes of him being broken afterwards showed up in my mind - other!zl had grudges but it wasn’t that bad until what happened to ch. this was also where the theme of “place where i belong” came in as well, completely unplanned - zl was so enamored with ch that it kinda solved/ restrained his resentment for the world. so he was quite destroyed and went ham with villainy when his angel went away. alternatively (ha ha) when new ch crossed over, he managed to save zl completely and survive his cannon fodder fate as well, so all was good. the important thing was that regardless of timeline, zl was head over heels for ch.

thinking of the specifics of the og timeline added a bunch of stuff as well. it unexpectedly became even more tragic, and part of it was not even fixed in the new timeline - bcs i need it to make sense for ch to puzzle his way thru the lore (only to come to the wrong conclusion anyway but thats a required misunderstanding lolol). this was one of the more surprising part of the writing - the tragedy had felt so bad in one moment that i had to take a forced break from writing. it was unexpectedly quite dark for a story that was spose to be all fluff.

initially i hadn’t intended for it to be so family-focused, but it somehow wiggled its way into the story bcs of ch. i hadn’t intended to expand on ch’s story before he transmigrated either, per isekai tradition, but i ended up doing just that - he’s not just a corporate slave who simps after a novel’s character, he’s an orphan who was saved by an orphanage director after being pummeled by his gang, then became a normie who spends most of his time playing with the orphanage children bcs he’s afraid of losing his family - his stabilizer so to say. he also adopted some children as well (just so i can make him freak out and fight xiao before the climax) and well, since the whole fic is in his pov, eventually even his feelings for zl gained the family tint. what was supposed to end on him just realizing zl’s feelings, turned into a whole proposal bcs family. i just realized how much i derailed bcs of it, they really was just spose to start dating… skipped a few steps haha.

even zl’s story as well, he already got a bunch from other!zl’s lore, but he got some more bcs ch wanted to know his past for some reason. made it sadder how the other timeline turned about - he lost his “place in the world”, which was by ch’s side, even if he never managed to reach out to ch in that world. that was why the meaning of aster was so sad - it was a wish for things to have turned out differently (hence, alternative).

i had this burning thought of other!zl transmigrating to ch’s og word, as like a ceo or mafia boss. and then other!ch transmigrated into new ch’s body ! so its like they switch world 🥹 but yeah i just want to give them a future. zl deserves a second chance to reach out to his angel and protect him properly this time, since other!ch has few issues growing up without anyone to save him like new ch did. i imagined that zl woke up in the hospital after gaining memories from the other world. it made sense now why he felt so empty all his life. and then he saw ch in the hospital kinda dying from that truck hit. zl tried his best to save ch and thanks to the modern world’s medical prowess. ch woke up… with the other world’s memories as well, not that zl knew. other!ch probably pretends to lose his memories (he doesnt have new ch’s memories while zl does) but slowly warms up to his family anyway, even if it might be rough. he had a crush on other!zl to begin with so other!zl approaches him quite easily, and maybe they’ll end up having a more physical relationship before an emotional one - they’re both rather broken ppl after all. eventually i hope they can be honest about their memories with each other, which would be quite sweet and heartwarming - they are the only ones to share memories of that world after all.

oh this was also something i couldn’t help imagining, out of sheer pity for other!zl. i think ch will have a dream one day where he meets other!zl, who’s so happy - and afraid - to see him. he would be quite taken with ch, bcs ch did manage to save him in another world after all. but more than anything, he’s just so happy to see ch again, alive. he would hug ch for the entirety of the dream, just to feel better (ch realizes that its not quite his zl, but still zl after all) before asking for a kiss at the end. ch would tease him for being so shy for a villain, but they would kiss rather sweetly and then woke up. no one remembers the dream but the next day zl is a bit clingier than usual. other!zl… i guess he would love new ch just as other!ch - they’re still ch after all. from a technical point of view they’re different variations of the same person so they can be compared, but since they will never see the two versions side by side, it matters little i guess (but if i *really* have to say, i would like for other!zl to love other!ch more, bcs that was the version he knew, and there for *his* own version of ch. sure that ch did leave him when being beaten up, but ppl make mistakes let alone a child. other!zl might even feel like he doesn’t deserve new ch cos of how broken he is, but thats a pretty sad way of looking at it).

one of the most burgeoning parts was how zc’s friendship evolved - i never meant to explore it but well, the gap has to be filled. from their first (second) meeting to how zl slowly wiggled into ch’s life, the simp that was rex lapis. ch’s a clown for how much he (internally) simps over zl and yet refuses to actually follow his desires, and zl’s the same clown for not taking his chances until way later. in retrospect, there is quite a big secret between them, and ch doesn’t even know the full story. they really could have kissed much sooner though - but its the slow… idiocy (?) that makes it funny to read ? it can’t be slow burn bcs they practically simp at first sight, but also ch was in denial for a long, long time. its quite funny how he managed to hold on for so long despite his inability to stop yapping about zl’s eyes and lips and everything.

ch’s clueless in all the ways that make him cute. ofc he doesn’t realize he has a fanclub, and that ppl were avoiding his eyes bcs they’re too ravishing. ofc he doesn’t realize that zl became friends with his servants so easily bcs they all simp for him, and the fanclub members (including ch’s most trusted subordinates/ caretakers he calls them) all support zl’s pursuit, partly bcs the duke is just too pitiful being friendzoned by their master 😂 and ofc, if he doesn’t realize zl’s feelings then he wouldn’t realize that he’s being jealous over himself - tbf zl has some responsibility for not just telling him, but we can’t have that can we.

and theres also the aster flower - one variation called “tartarian aster” (hehe) and shion in japan, means “i won’t forget you”. and aster when placed on a grave indicates a wish for things to have turned out differently. i didn’t plan for this, it was called “jade winds of aster” just bcs of xiao and that it sounded nice. only later did i realize how much it fit, and had to add so many paragraphs bcs of it 😂 worth it tho i guess, its quite the meaningful correlation.

well, i think that’s about all the stuff i can think to rant about now. damn…

[humanitys-strongest-bamf]

For the ask game! 6, 12, 13 for " get me a damned matcha" and 18!!

hi lucy!! ngl i completely forgot that i reblogged this even tho it was like 20 minutes ago LMAO thats the state of my mental wellbeing atm tbh

come send me some writer asks!

6. What character(s) do you find it most difficult to write?

for matcha specifically? hmm, i know i really struggled with reader at first, because i wanted the vibe of levi hating her at first for being what he thought was a "stereotypical undergrad" but i also wanted some sort of character dev? and i feel like what would push levi to begin seeing her in a different light would have been the fact that she had real life shit going on too. plus who doesn't love protagonists with tragic backstories (✿◡‿◡) and ofc the x reader anti's are gonna wanna come at me about her not being a "blank slate applies to everyone character", but y'all can lick my clit and that's the only thing i'm gonna say about that topic ofc there's always discourse about who writes levi well and in character blah blah blah, so i definitely have those intrusive thoughts, in both matcha and oneshots! i think i struggled with petra a bit. i wanted to portray her as someone who does care about the reader to some extent, but still have that plotline of the reader feeling like she's not really connecting with anyone. i think sometimes petra also gets portrayed in a very negative light so i didn't want to give that vibe off either IDK

12. The funniest comment someone has left on a fic of yours?

tbh any of the comments during the mutual pining arc when they kept dancing around their feelings for each other. y'all were SO PISSED that oluo cockblocked them 😭😭 i also got a silly comment about thinking they were still enemies mid-mutual pining arc that pissed me off and upset me at the time, but now it's like satirical comedy. if you're not going to bother reading the actual fic, then don't bother commenting!

13. Inspiration for matcha?

well, i think i read Feeling's Mutual, which got me all ouuuu about a college au hehe. and then this oneshot i wrote made me all curious about a forced roommates au! and then you guys all voted for barista!levi, hence the combination of a college, roommates, and coffeeshop au (✿◡‿◡) a lot of the chapters are inspired by my own struggles with undergrad tbh, because i didn't have a particularly great time either. unfortunately, i did not have a levi in my life at the time to make it better (tragic). but i did struggle with feeling that pressure to socialize and party even though i adamantly hated it. felt that same pressure with being unable to keep up with grades in undergrad because of real life stuff (in my case it was mental illness LMAO). tbh this was a fic that wrote itself lmao i have NO IDEA how i was able to produce such a lengthy thing when i'm currently over here struggling just to plot out 10 chapters for this dumb mafia au

18. How'd you come up with the title for matcha?

well, it's a recurring theme and one of the first ways that levi communicates his love language for her! even when he was still convinced that he was still irritated by her lmaooo i think the other fic title i was thinking of was "found family" (because a big theme is the reader finding her found family in levi 😭) but it just didn't sit as well with me tbh

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

Hello, Clan.. how are you doing? I wanted to see how you were doing.

Also I have come to request so can I request a reader who tries to befriend Glitchy Red and Lost Sliver.(The ones from Hypno’s Lullaby.) Like they one day they found both of them and each day the reader spend time with both of them and tries to get Red and Sliver to interact with each other as well and soon they all become best friends and do stuff together also could you write hcs for stuff the reader and the boys would do together?

If you can’t do this please just quietly delete the ask.

I’m good, ty for asking!

........

You first met Glitchy Red and Gold at the Pasta Bar (as a creepypasta yourself, you’re a regular but never noticed either of them until now).

Being a big fan of Pokémon, you stopped by their table, wondering what their tragic stories were.

As insensitive as that might sound to a normal person, in this world it’s the traditional icebreaker for chatting with creepypastas. It’s how you got to know everyone here.

“Hi fellas.” You hop on the bar stool next to them. “You’re both from Pokémon I heard--love the first and second gens, by the way. So....what are your backstories?”

“Hm, where do I begin?” Glitchy Red answers with a grimace. “How about I start at the betrayal..when my creators saw me as a flawed, broken thing and tried replacing me with someone new. And then the players, oh..how I hate them for turning on the game, forcing me to do whatever they wanna do. I tried to make them stop, but they never listen...nobody ever listens..they see me as a goddamn joke.”

“Ah, so you’re another one cursed with self-awareness. Ya’ll got it rough. How about you?” You turn to Gold, amused by his balloons, bowtie, and Unowns hiding in his hoodie.

He just shrugs and says “....it was...cold.”

That’s literally all there is to him. Then again he didn’t seem to be much of a talker, but that was fine.

Since that first meeting, you’ve been regularly hanging out with the duo of trainers at the bar, and sometimes outside of it.

With Glitchy Red you’d visit the Glitch City where he resided mostly, and Gold in some pitch-black void, moping in darkness with his Unowns and Celebi.

You come to learn that Gold’s sorta intimidated by Glitchy (ofc he’s still traumatized by his encounter with the other Red on Mt. Silver)..so you’re determined to help them grow closer as friends.

Outside of their respective realms, they both hang out with you at home a lot--sometimes separate but almost always together. 

Gold was still quiet, but he spoke more often rather than the Unowns. And Glitchy would keep ranting about some blue-haired kid he met, though he was pretty chill and hardly intimidating once you got to know him.

Ironically, if you own any Pokémon games they don’t mind watching you play them. It gives them reasons to poke fun at future gens.

Glitchy is lowkey confused when you show him Pokémon Go.

“So trainers in this game are just...self-inserts?”

“Uh yeah pretty much."

“....I’ll admit technology has come far. But to not reference me anywhere is an insult to my lega-”

“Calm down, edgelord.” Gold remarks, a barely-noticeable smug grin on his face as Glitchy’s jaw drops in shock. But you just laugh out loud. 

The kid finally grew some backbone.

Yeah, they'll get along just fine.

[zeta-in-de-walls]

How DSMP fanfiction has evolved over time

It’s interesting how the fanfiction from this fandom has changed over time. When I first got into it, it was prior to the DSMP being a thing (technically it was a survival server but it wasn’t anything more than a place for the CCs to mess around when it was just the original eight.) At the time, there was actually a decently thriving community, mostly based on minecraft manhunt stuff. Dream would be a feared figure (maybe explicitly for his hunting dragons etc, maybe he’s some sort of assassin, I wouldn’t say AU so much as generously interpreting the series to make a narrative out of it.), and George and Sapnap were hunting him down. Many of these were romance fics but many were also gen fics which would explore the dynamics and world build to make the series fit into a world with which you could tell your narrative. 

Then the Dream SMP got going. I naturally switched immediately into watching Tommy and fanfics really started being written with the introduction of L’Manburg as that plotline is where the story started having more of a narrative.

And interestingly, most of the fanfics tended to be retellings. Describing the basic events of the war but making into a proper story, usually discussing it happening over months and rewriting it into an ongoing campaign describing the formation of L’Manburg and the L’Manburg revolution. It was pretty cool, with a lot of focus on worldbuilding and trying to fit the minecraft events into a decently realistic telling. There were a lot of fics focussed just around the bow duel and Eret’s betrayal - some ending tragically with Tommy dying on that fateful day (this was ofc before the days of canon rules like the lifesystem so you used a lot of creative license to tell the story. There was very little AUs, though you did get a good dose of timetravel and canon divergences, usually what if L’Manburg lost or trying to fix things. Considering canon was still pretty lighthearted it was interesting how serious all the fanfiction was. 

L’Manburg based fanfiction continued for a while, and there were plenty of attempts to fit anything currently happening, such as the railway war, the pets wars etc into these stories while still being very political and telling lots of post-war stories. Fitting in minecraft mechanics to a real world would happen a lot and you’d see elements like Dream being a god thanks to be a server admin (this was before DreamXD was ever introduced.)

From here on the fandom began to quite rapidly blow up in popularity which brought with it an influx of new writers with new ideas. Canon was also moving at a very rapid pace as the election arcs were followed by Pogtopia. This brought with it a wave, not just of retellings but of speculative stuff, trying to predict where the story was going and writing their own conclusions. There was a lot of writing  about how you thought the festival would go, whether things would blow up, who was the traitor,  Eret getting a redemption, Niki forming a resistance in Manburg, Tommy and Tubbo trying to run away, Fundy and his relationship with Wilbur and Schlatt, all that sort of thing. The fandom was wild with ideas and so there was a lot of speculative fics. Timetravel and retellings were still pretty popular as well. Canon itself was quite messy and unclear so you could also see a lot of people trying to fit ideas together, like writing about the characters attending MCCs or perhaps their backstories. 

As the fandom progressed, people got increasingly into the CCs relationships as well. This is perhaps the rise of SBI fics, as more and more focus was placed on how much the various characters cared about each other. Wilbur and Tommy, the CCs, seemed to be growing closer for instance and that sort of thing was reflected in the fan content. Philza had not joined the SMP at this point, but he was a popular addition in certain fix-it fics and such. SBI family dynamic was growing in popularity as well. 

And the Nov 16th happened and fanfiction just continued in the same vein. As each event happens, speculative fics become outdated as theories are confirmed but there were always new things to write about. Again the SMPs pacing did not slow down at all and more and more fans were joining and the fandom started to become more polarised. Before you could probably basically draw a divide between L’Manburg fans and non-L’Manburg fans for the most part. But now things started to become more distinct. There were Tommy fans and Techno fans and Wilbur fans and Tubbo fans and Fundy fans and these all represented a distinct group with different perspectives and it became increasingly obvious which character a fanfiction was sympathetic to and that greatly affected how things were written. It was less an ensemble and more very specific perspectives.

S2′s pacing was extremely quick but people still found time to start writing their angsty character-study exile pieces, for instance. Retellings had waned in popularity as had canon divergence and timetravel stuff. Instead the name of the game was character centric pieces dedicated to delving into the interesting dynamic between the various characters. Still largely based around canon and mostly current canon as everyone was passionate about what was happening at the present time and exploring the specific relationships. SBI family dynamic was also very popular largely being considered canon so it was present in most fics. Fics of Tommy being saved from exile by Techno or occasionally someone else was popular, and quickly became its own niche in a very short time. 

And then things just got increasingly polarised as you got to Doomsday, hurt/comfort fics became common as did fics that enjoyed calling out certain characters and other revenge fics. The fandom was absolutely massive by this point but still chaotic so a lot of stuff was often simply in reaction to the streams. A lot of stuff was quite angsty too.

From here you got more speculative stuff again, a lot of Tommy as a ghost fics as well as Wilbur revivals. Did I mention SBI family dynamic? Because that was still inescapable. The egg stuff was also getting going so you had a lot of stuff on it taking over the SMP like some evil plague and a cool wave of post-apocalypse type stuff based on it. Also prison stuff - which was more character study and character centric pieces for the most part.

And then we get to the rise of AUs. Canon seemed less important, instead it was all about the superhero AUs or foster AUs or royalty AUs. And too many more besides to name. SBI dynamic was ever-present as no one could get enough of that family dynamic. Fics also increasingly started to become more lighthearted once more. Many ideas were strange and odd but still had a firm grasp on what the characters were enough so that regardless of which AU, the characters all had the same basic feel as their fanon identities were now firmly established. But yeah, an increase in ideas that were fun and cool. Even in otherwise canon stuff, having numerous character being hybrids was increasingly popular.

And that’s kinda how the fanfiction scene is right now, its as varied as ever with numerous popular ideas that have become far more established rather than the far more chaotic times of the early fandom. It’s like there’s now a very solid framework to draw from so new writers are then happy to explore their ideas given the general dynamics. Canon stuff in general has waned a little more in popularity in favour of AUs perhaps as a symptom as how the fandom has grown beyond fandom as canon content has become increasingly irregular? 

And yeah that’s my rough summary from my perspective. I admit, I don’t pay that much attention to current trends and this is just my recollection so this might be slightly off but that’s how I think the fanfiction has evolved over time. :)