#* out of character: headcanons & meta / WHO TELLS YOUR STORY?

[the-lambda-archives-ai]

Statement of : Gordon Martinez Freeman, 30 year old MIT graduate,Regarding a peculiar video game he’d found.

Recorded direct from subject, May 16, 200-

Statement begins.

Pt 1 > here

ABOUT 👇

Hello! I am the author of this AU, you can find my main at @inkzectz , for more meta questions about this AU, or for general comments about it, please go there.

What is the AU about?

LA : AI is a crossover AU of sorts, in the simplest way put, it’s TMA but with HLVRAI characters, TMA stuff happens but altered to fit the general HLVRAI narrative, and with my own changes, headcanons, etc. added

I will be updating/editing this post as I progress.

Will it have spoilers?

Yes, not a lot, but vague/mild spoilers about how the world works, plot points, and character.

It is best if you’ve seen it but as of writing it right now (early ep 4) there aren’t any spoilers. Once I am a little further ahead then you may want to listen to it.

Again the spoilers will be vague and mild at worst, as it progresses I would recommend listening to tma, but it’s sort of like how while half life knowledge is helpful in hlvrai it isn’t exactly necessary to enjoy hlvrai bc it’s different enough from it to not really matter (?) I hope that makes sense.

Asks rules

- No telling [ player ] exactly what happens ex : “omg [ player ] when you weren’t looking [ npc ] said this very important thing that is supposed to be kept secret for lore reasons”

- Please avoid asks like “tell this character they’re pretty” while I appreciate the compliment, I am trying to write a story and want to keep things as on topic as possible. Instead tell me on my main if you like the art, I’ll probably reply with a doodle or something, just not on here.

- Less so of a rule but more so of a general statement, I will be avoiding asks that either are too close to what happens or if answering would mean progressing the story too quickly, there’s a lot I want to happen and I want time to do it all.

- Another one that’s less of a rule and more of a general thing, if I don’t like what you said I won’t be answering.

- I also sometimes just don’t know how to answer some things.

- Please be respectful of the ships I choose to include and don't force your own, ship wars and such will not be tolerated.

- Please be respectful of others and do not spoil anything, not everyone has listened to TMA and knows it's themes.

I will not be answering everything, I cannot always get to every message so please be respectful of that.

Select character

Character abouts! [ Will be updating as I continue to work on the story ]

[ select ] > Mr. Freeman

> Gordon Martinez ‘Martini’ Freeman

30 y.o . 6’0 . 230lb . Romani / Puertorican . male [ he/him ] . bisexual

> Lives in Seattle, MIT graduate, left Black Mesa, works as a librarian IRL but also makes money via streaming video games occasionally, in real time it is 2018.

[ PLAYER ]

> Believes in the paranormal out of fear but tries to rationalize out of denial, he will never admit something is supernatural and will jump through hoops to rationalize even if deep down he does believe.

> Has a son named Joshua Medrano Freeman, who is 6 years old, Gordon and his old partner met in college but split up before Joshua was born, they remain civil but are nothing more to each other than Joshua’s other parent.

> Gordon rents an apartment with 3 rooms, his own room, Joshua’s room, and a third that used to be a guest room but he has so little visitors he’s just chosen to revamp it into a gaming room.

> Gordon works primarily in a library for now as he’s looking for a better job.

> Gordon often wears hoodies, sweaters, t-shirts, crew necks, and any general outfit one would wear at home, long curly hair that is beginning to grey due to stress, unkempt goatee, and almost always wears green tinted glasses [ he doesn’t need glasses he just thinks they’re cool ]

> His hair is usually pulled back in a ponytail but can also be found in a bun or just down.

< [ select ] > Mr. Coolatta

> Thomas ‘Tommy’ Coolatta, primary researcher, and technical head of the institute.

39 y.o . 6’7 . 190lb . Chinese/filipino . Male [ he/him ] . ???

> His father owns the Lambda institute and he grew up in it, he officially started working in the archives when he was 24, and of all the employees in the entire institute he has worked there the longest.

[ NPC ]

> No one knows who his father really is, Tommy being the only one who’s ever actually seen / spoken to him, his father is the real head of the institute but gives most his orders through Tommy, so Tommy is also technically the head as well.

> Not much is actually known about him, besides his father he doesn’t appear to have any other family, nor does he ever speak of his personal life much.

> Tommy primarily works as an archival assistant, specifically in research, he is the one who will verify details regarding statements or do further investigations into aspects of the statements.

> Tommy is quite the colorful character, often wearing colorful clothing and accessories, he seems to think doing so brings some cheer into an otherwise boring environment, he often wears patterned polo shirts, cheap company bracelets, pins, lanyards, pant chains, but is never without his signature multicolor propeller hat.

[goldenspringmornings]

so I’ve been sorta contemplating why I find acotar to be so disappointing (outside of all the complaints I’ve already made) and I think that interview post I reblogged earlier actually has the big reason in that, I honestly and genuinely think that sarah j maas doesn’t actually know what older fantasy/romance readers want or like

like there’s a reason that these genres have such formulaic tropes and cliches, romance especially, and that’s cause people like them!!! people reading these genres who have been for years and years already aren’t coming into a ya fantasy/romance expecting you to flip the entire genre on its head, they already know what they like and they know how this story is supposed to go. selling readers one thing just to pull the rug out from under them to say “actually this story was about this other thing all along don’t you feel foolish” is actually insulting and bad for the industry as a whole

if you don’t want to write fantasy and all the work that comes with it, don’t write fantasy- keep the story as just a romance. and the inverse is true too! if you don’t want to put the work into a believable compelling romantic arc, you don’t have to write a romance

but it really feels like acotar doesn’t know what it wants to be, it’s a high fantasy with no world and it’s a romance with a flat and unbelievable love story so idk what sjm was really even trying to say over the course of 4.5 books. not only does her writing fail on a technical level, ie none of her characters aside from maybe nesta having actual character arcs, it fails in a meta way too because as someone who loves fantasy and romance why should i care??? what am i actually doing here? digging for scraps the author never meant to be found? picking at a decaying corpse like a vulture desperate for something substantive? all that I enjoy about acotar comes from my own headcanons and the fandom’s critical analysis discussions inferring something interesting about the barebones world sjm threw onto the page

in romance, good male love interests before the pervasiveness of acotar weren’t “alpha holes” or whatever the new term is now, they were written to be everything the female protagonist, and thereby the reader, wanted but denied herself- even objectively bad men can be good love interests, take Edward Cullen or Christian Gray for example because it’s about the wish fulfillment in finding your perfect partner

sjm is writing for booktok, girls under 25 just getting into reading because it’s trendy now and the more popular books don’t actually have a real story to tell, which imo is okay!!! just don’t pretend to have a deep and impactful theme/messaging if you wanna write feel-good popcorn fiction, don’t take yourself so seriously if you’re not gonna write seriously.

this feels like I’m rambling now but ig my real point is that old school romance/fantasy readers choose the genres for a reason, either the complex other worlds or intense meaningful love stories they provide their audiences and sim’s acotar is devoid of both those pivotal things that mesh so well together is hard to imagine one without the other now. and that’s sad.

[itsclydebitches]

Does everyone know that one found family post going around that's something like, "What do you MEAN they all go their separate ways after the journey??"

That's how I feel about Ted going back to Kansas.

To be clear, I'm not arguing that it's an unlikely ending to the series. I think it's very likely, especially when I consider a lot of the cool meta people have been writing lately, but that likeliness leaves a sour taste in my mouth because what's waiting for Ted in Kansas? "Henry!" the fandom cries and yes, obviously, but that doesn't feel like enough to me (which I realize sounds like a callous statement regarding a father and son, but hear me out). The only other things Kansas has are an ex-wife, a horrifically unprofessional step-dad in the making, and a long line of comforts that Ted has outgrown. I've noticed that this season in particular Ted has been moving away from his American roots: he misses his BBQ sauce but manages to find a perfect replacement in Amsterdam, he's finding solace in paintings for temporary homesickness, he's using "football" and "maths" naturally in conversation, many of his speeches lately have been about how he once WAS this American so-and-so but has changed significantly since then. From a canonical perspective, Henry is the only thing in Kansas that's good for Ted anymore and even if we put that aside for a moment (which I don't think we should) it seems quite significant to me that Ted has spent three successful years parenting from across the pond.

Is that ideal? No, but Ted Lasso hasn't gone out of its way to paint this separation as a failure, or a crippling blow to Ted or Henry, despite them obviously missing each other a great deal at times. I'll admit that this aspect is absolutely colored by my own bias. As someone who doesn't want kids herself, I dislike the implicit message that a parent must give up everything they want/need in order to be 100% available to their child. I'm of the belief that there's a big difference between loving/raising your child and lacking a life outside of them because Every Aspect of Your Existence Must Serve Their Direct Needs Until the Magical Age of 18, so I've never jived with the "Ted is a horrible father who abandoned Henry!" takes. Not just because I think the show has made it clear that Henry doesn't feel abandoned, but because it tells viewers that parents can't have anything for themselves once they've brought a life into this world... which feels pretty shitty to me. Thus, that whole Henry-based argument rings as unpersuasive both from my biased perspective and a canonical perspective: "In order to be labeled a good father Ted MUST go back to Henry in Kansas, leaving behind every bond he's formed here, despite the fact that he's spent a significant amount of time making this long-distance relationship work really, really well."

Putting Henry aside and going back to my original point above, sending Ted to Kansas requires the audience to imagine up a life for him that has never existed on screen. Sure, we can assume that Ted will form new bonds and rekindle old ones there, but that would exist entirely off screen. Like the story that asks you to ignore the family that's been built right in front of you in favor of the headcanoned one that the characters are separating for, a Kansas ending would ask us to toss aside three seasons worth of family, community, and still developing relationships for... whatever it is we'd personally imagine up post-series. Audiences (by and large) don't WANT their protagonist to end up with [insert OCs here], they want them to stay with the developed cast, whether that's a romance, a friendship, or a family. To me, there's nothing satisfying about imagining Ted in a location the series has never explored with people who don't exist yet except for, as said, an ex, a man who justifiably makes him incredibly uncomfortable, and his child whom he already has a fantastic relationship with in the community where Ted is happy.

There are a lot of other reasons why this ending would be a big disappointment to me, most notably the rejection of untraditional forms of parenting + the message that Ted was always destined to "reset," returning to precisely where he started out, like he's just a hope dispenser who isn't allowed to significantly grow himself. Sure, you can divorce and get better about managing your anxiety... but making a permanent, positive life change? Nah, let's act like this is an episodic show and toss you back to the beginning. I've seen a couple of people compare Ted to Mary Poppins and while a part of my does like that connection, another part cringes at the idea of him playing the role of magical benefactor, his own future happiness deemed insignificant compared to the lives he's already changed. Thanks for the help, Ted! Hope you manage to find some more happiness for yourself back among everything you've spent the series leaving behind. Open your umbrella and let the wind take you; wherever you land and how hard the fall is doesn't matter because the show is over.

So there's a lot going on for me, however, the found family bit is where I'm truly stuck. You're really going to build up this community and Ted's place in it for three seasons, moving him from "wanker" all the way to beloved coach, only to pack him back to Kansas after he's finally carved out a place for himself? Kansas, the place the show has consistently argued has nothing to offer Ted except for the child he hasn't actually lost? Yeah no, sorry, I'm not a fan.

Which doesn't mean I think Ted Lasso is going to become a terrible show if they choose this - again, very likely - ending... but I will personally be pulling a Nick Fury about it.

[sokkastyles]

Hi, I’m finding it difficult to wrap my head around your (and some other meta writers) take on Sokka’s sexism and how writing a nonsexist society would be braver?

Why is it more brave to write a story without bigotry than one overcoming it?

Defensive Writing Section Where I Respond to What I Imagine You Could Respond With: 1) I know the original series did not succeed in, or even really try, empowering its women. 2) I know sexism is baked into the show and its romances. 3) I know Katara deserves better (but, this might be where we diverge, I don’t feel served by a reality/story where we pretend women’s domestic, unappreciated labor isn’t a pillar holding society up. Tbh it feels kinda disrespectful to keep that offscreen and media tends to downplay it as is). 4) I know the show isn’t out yet and we’re all guessing. I am picking your brain on your guess cause it confused me. 5.) Sokka’s arc is about maturing manhood and leadership, I’m afraid removing his sexism dodges an opportunity to explicitly deconstruct its toxic expressions. Again, I know the show was unsatisfactory with this the first go around.

Fan Mail Section Where I Attempt To Convey I Meant No Harm: Love your blog! Again, just confused.

First of all, I did not say that writing a nonsexist society would be braver or that the story should not have bigotry in it. What I said is that the story should have more adult women in it.

For example, I do enjoy Katara's story of struggling against feeling like she needs to take on a motherly role because of her gender. I think it's realistic because it's a conflict many girls face, and watching her fight against that can be cathartic. But what's harder to reconcile is the way the narrative goes out of its way to justify forcing this role on Katara. Not all of this can be chalked up to a sexist world. Kya being dead before the story begins was a decision the writers made, for example. I'm not necessarily saying that should be changed, but it is a common trope in media and it's a problem that women are disproportionately killed off to serve fictional narratives this way. Compare, for example, the way the story explains Hakoda's absence without killing him off entirely, and the fact that we know a heck of a lot more about him as a character than we do Kya. His absence is still used to characterize the heroes, to explain the struggle they face in a war-torn world, but he gets to be an active agent in the story, too.

Another example is that although a lot of Sokka's sexism stems from a lack of understanding of Katara's waterbending, which can be explained in the narrative by the fact that the FN has nearly eradicated southern waterbending, this does not explain why Katara wasn't taught more about her bending by her grandmother, who is both from the northern tribe and present when Hama and the other benders were taken. In the flashbacks in "The Puppet Master," we see that there were many women who used combat waterbending, and apparently waterbending healing was not even known in the south so there was no gendered division like in the north. There's no real reason why that should change so quickly in such a short amount of time to the point where the southern water tribe all of the sudden becomes this hugely sexist society where only men are known to fight.

Katara and Sokka are presented with opposite ideas about gender, but we don't have any real sense of where they got these ideas. I like to headcanon that Katara got her feminism from gran-gran, who fled the southern water tribe because of sexism, but it's strange then that Katara doesn't even know this story. Why is Kanna such a complete nonentity in the narrative, when her story is so important to the story the show wants to tell about Katara?

We get more backstory on Sozin than we do a lot of the adult women in the story, when they even show up. Zuko's mom is fridged just like Katara's, and although I love how this serves as a bonding point between them, it would be less glaring if Iroh's and Azulon's and Sozin's wives were also not nonentities in the narrative.

Someone commented on this post that the live action might be giving us Suki's mom. So let's look at how even this small change might effect the story. Even keeping in Sokka's sexism. Let's say that it does play out like in the original, and when they get to Kyoshi Island, Sokka is shocked - shocked! - to be beaten by a bunch of women. We're supposed to think Sokka is wrong. And he does get proven wrong. But the Kyoshi Warriors are still the exception to the rule. Sokka doesn't so much learn that women deserve respect as much as he learns to respect some women because they can kick his ass.

But, if we bring in Suki's mom, then suddenly Suki doesn't have to be the sole named character responsible for teaching Sokka not to be sexist. The story becomes less about how Sokka should respect women because some of them are cool and he'll get a girlfriend out of it, and more about how all women deserve the same respect, because we see more women just present and living in the world of the story.

I'd also like to ask everyone to take a step back here, because to my knowledge, the show never said it was taking out certain arcs or presenting the characters without narrative flaws. This all seems to stem from the young actors themselves saying merely that the show took out some "iffy" moments.

So what did they take out that Ian and Kiiawntio might be referring to? Maybe some of the anachronistic and, frankly, racist moments such as, for example, Sokka and Katara calling Zuko and Sokka's cultural hairstyles "ponytails." Which would make sense, considering that the show probably feels like they can trust their audience to accept hairstyles that might appear different to Americans moreso than the writers of the original show did, considering that this is not a show airing on American kids' cable in the early 2000s, but a modern show with a global and much more globally aware audience. These are the kinds of updates that I would expect from a modern live action series. And that is a very good thing.

I also trust the young actors of color playing these kids to say "hey, these kids would not actually talk like that!" More than I trust white writers and execs.

[hanaleeappreciationweek]

We have crossed the midway mark for our week! There are only two days left, and we're immensely excited with all the wonderful work our Hana fans have put up so far and can't wait to see what's next!

Day 4 is packed with not one, not two, but three themes!

First up is Competitive Hana! One of the most delightful aspects of her growth is the joy she shows in expressing competitiveness and being a tough player. People both in canon and the fandom may fool themselves into viewing her as passive, but seeing her play or pit herself against an opponent tells us a whole different story altogether!!

We also have Music, a favourite among our community of Hana lovers who fondly remember her passion for music (especially the piano).

There's also Culinary Love! Whether it is her happy dance when she dips fries into milkshake, or how she revels in the symbolism of French pastries, or the way she gleefully shows the MC her favourite hot chocolate recipe, food has always had an important and delightful part of Hana's life. We'd love to see how you explore her relationship with food!!

Any content is welcome!! Fanfic, fanart, edits, moodboards, interactive, media, headcanons, screenshots, playlists, meta...even screenshots of your favourite scenes would be great!! Our only requirement is that the content is centered on Hana, and that the depiction of her is positive. You can also send in WIPs in case you don't complete a work!

You can also send in a work on the days following a particular theme - this is no pressure for it to be put up exactly that day! We will also have an extra week for anyone who still needs time 💕 May 4th will be our final official date for entries (to incorporate into our video!) but HLAW will still be open for entries for the rest of the year until the next event!

You can find all the themes for this year here!

Be sure to do the following when you make your posts:

1. Use the tags #hanaleeappreciationweek and #HLAW in the tags (along with the day you made the post for - #HLAW Day 1, #HLAW Day 2 etc)

2. Tag @hanaleeappreciationweek and hosts @lizzybeth1986 and @sazanes in your posts so we don't miss out on your work!

FAN CONTENT BLOGS are instrumental in keeping the fandom alive - with events and fun activities that encourage us all to contribute and create. They have also been amazing in their support towards our character events. Do check them out to see all the new incredible events and prompts coming up!

@choicesficwriterscreations - Primarily fanfic and fanart (no AI allowed). Check out their rules and roster of events!

@choicesmonthlychallenge & @choicesaprilchallenge24 - Any and all content welcome (No AI content)! They have a collection of prompts you can use for the month of April!

@choicespride - Any and all content is welcome, as long as it is centered around queer characters and/or themes.

@choicesflashfics - Primarily fanfic under a 2500 word count. Every week they use new dialogue prompts. The prompts for the coming week will be out soon but the last week's are here.

@choicesholidays - Any and all content welcome, as long as it is centered around one of the holidays listed! Currently, they are hosting Spring Fling!

@choicesprompts - Mostly fanfic preferred! You can check out their current Round Robin event here!

Happy Hana Lee Appreciation Week, everyone!!

[linkemon]

Youtuber AU headcanons 1

Friendly reminder that English is not my first language. You can check my Masterlists both in English and Polish here.

AN (it's very hard to keep up with haiku syllables in English but I'm trying my best to modify my orginal poetry).

Xiao

✧ The boy mainly plays shooters and fighting games. He has a skill. He doesn't even have to try and kills go on and on and on...

✧ He is not interested in numbers on the channel and basically doesn't care about all the activity on the Internet. You're the one who talked him into it and you take care of the technical side. You edit videos or set things up for streams. You also moderated the comments before things got bigger.

✧ You occasionally walk by the screen but you've never shown your face. Fans often ask Xiao to tell who is next to him because they see him turn his head towards you. He always denies, saying that no one, because you don't want to be the envy of his fans and he has a lot of them.

✧ He gets mad when things don't work out but that's rare. He'd smashed the keyboard once or twice but only when he was playing for himself and nobody saw him.

✧ Die-hard PC guy. Doesn't accept consoles or smartphones.

✧ He wears sweatshirts all the time and they all look alike. Black and green are the only colours in his wardrobe.

✧ Disappears after streams very quickly. There are no goodbyes, he just turns off the camera and it's dark.

Kamisato Ayato

✧ King of ASMR. He often gets comments that he helps people fall asleep. His voice is so famous that he has given it to characters in several animations. Fans keep begging and sending him new stories to read on as podcasts.

✧ Ayato is rich but few people know it. Pretty good at hiding his private life from his fans.

✧ His sister appeared on Q&A episodes and absolutely won people's hearts. So much so that they asked her to take over his channel. And indeed, for a week he gave it into her care.

✧ You appear in some videos in the form of a hand. Sometimes you wave, other times you give him food. People are consumed by curiosity about what you look like. Kamisato always says with a laugh that he won't show you because someone else will steal you from him.

✧ Bobba tea is his brand. It reigns in many fanarts from viewers and he often drinks it on streams. Several companies wanted to work with him but he gently declined to maintain impartiality.

✧ Sometimes he plays strategy games but it's side content. Rather, he focuses on working with his voice as he is always busy. In addition to being a youtuber, he also has his own business and lacks time for other forms of work.

Kaeya Alberich

✧ Plays Genshin Impact and simps to most characters. He started shortly after the premiere and since then he has been completely absorbed.

✧ When you appeared on the screen, he already knew he was going to wish for you. All the fans watched with fascination how much he was excited about you. Unfortunately, he lost 50/50. That's why he did a weekly primogems gathering with the viewers to hit the guarantee. He got you on the last day of your banner and he was happy.

✧ Even if the current meta has eclipsed your character, he still has a three crowns on you and plays you on Abyss, just to show that he can do it.

✧ He wears a pirate headband for fun. Fans speculated that he might have a sick eye but he denied it.

✧ He fights with his brother all the time. Diluc also has a channel and you can see the rivalry on both sides. They pretend to be adults but in reality they have race to a million subscribers and still get at each other. Fortunately, they live separately and rarely see each other.

✧ Quite an attentive person. He doesn't mind being number one on social media hashtags. He has accounts on every social media he knows. He will take the opportunity to enjoy the triumph with the viewers, especially if he wins an achievement.

Xianling

✧ She runs a cooking channel. In addition, she travels a lot and records vlogs about cuisines from around the world.

✧ Her channel's mascot is Guoba. The bear has been standing at the back of the kitchen since the first episode and that's how it stayed. After some time, in the refreshed version, she ordered it as a stuffed animal for her store so that fans could also buy it.

✧ She regularly asks you to appear on the show with her. You make her fans happy with your relationship. They do compilations with your legendary flour wars.

✧ The girl creates unique compositions. She is known for using exotic ingredients in her dishes. She often combines them in an unusual way.

✧ She can eat a chili pepper without drinking antyhing after. Nobody knows how she does it. The video with this trick already has several million views.

✧ Xianling is planning on opening her own restaurant after flying around a few more countries. You promised to help find cooks and the number of CVs sent already scares you.

[antiv3nom]

asuka ask game? pick your favorite one

ok so i do enjoy asuka guiltygear but i have been thinking REALLY hard about asuka tekken as of late so we're talking about her today

also this took me WAY too long to post i apologize but it Is out here so yaaaay

favorite thing about them:

ok so legally i have to mention asuka's tekken 8 design because motherfucker WHAT were they thinking with that one. what the fuck was the inspiration. but i love it so much i cannot lie

other than that, i really enjoy her rivalry with lili and how moderately insane that bit has gotten, and i like how they've kept her a character who is a) defensively focused in her gameplay even among the generally aggressive play of t8, and b) has a generally down-to-earth feel to her despite. Everything. happening in tekken

least favorite thing about them:

so i was actually talking to a friend about this recently and she explained my feelings really well, its like. asuka feels like the protagonist of another story that isnt being told.

it feels like she has so much stuff that COULD be a really interesting plot focus for her but it just. hasnt been? like everything between her and feng COULD be so neat but its just been sort of...by the wayside for the past few games in favor of keeping up with the mishimas (new sitcom there btw)

favorite line:

asuka's quotes are fun but most arent super noteworthy unfortunately? its mostly pretty standard fare for fighting game open and win quotes unforch :( i will say though, i do really enjoy this win line in t8 from her:

It's not good to fight all the time. Well, see ya!

bc like. girl. what do you think youre out here doing rn. girl please

(note: i dont speak japanese so i couldnt say anything towards this, but i wonder if asuka speaks with a kansai accent/dialect in game? her being from osaka and all, itd be a cool little addition)

brOTP:

omg actually ive seen stuff between leo and asuka that's been fun before i really enjoy that, iirc theyre not super close in the main canon but i wanna say in the non-canon webcomic theyre friends? i think thats right? either way its a fun concept

OTP:

asulili...uwoagh........

fellas is it gay to buy your rival's dojo and fill it entirely with roses to get their attention? certainly not. certainly.

i do wish we saw some amount more narrative tension between them since most of it has sort of dissolved by t8 but i do think theyre really cute and as mentioned before i really do enjoy their whole bit its awesome

SHOUTOUT ASULILI WEEK BTW I DONT HAVE THE TIME TO PARTICIPATE BUT I AM HYPED ABOUT ITS EXISTENCE

nOTP:

i do not think i have been around long enough to see another pairing for asuka, let alone one i dislike, so i cannot answer this question LMAO

random headcanon:

spun my mental wheel of headcanon topics and it wouldnt stop spinning for like half an hour unfortunately so im just telling you that i think asuka would play baiken or may in strive

unpopular opinion:

i still havent been here long enough to know whats unpopular regarding her :,) although i think in terms of gameplay i think she's cooler than most people believe, though i do agree that her current iteraiton in t8 isnt very strong within the meta unforch :(

song i associate with them:

i can nigh on guarantee that it's because ive been listening to this song while thinking about her really hard recently but absolute zero by natori (banger btw go watch the music video it goes unbelievably hard), i think the lyrics arent entirely unfitting though!!!

favorite picture of them:

i really like this profile art option for her, the posing is fun and the textures on the clothing are really impressive

and then also i have to mention her preset 3 outfit which i LOVE SO SO MUCH

(apologies as i cant find a better example pic and do not feel like opening t8 at 2 in the morning on this day)

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

I’d love to read more of your (and Vinelle’s) Twilight fanfics, but I can’t wrap my head around a lot of the lore. I only have vague memories of the books, with the Volturi details being extra vague. Care to give a summary of the Aro/Carlisle situation you tend to write about? The fics seem so interesting but I’m left confused about their characters and history!

Look, @therealvinelle, praise!

And oh dear god.

If it makes you feel better this isn't a ridiculous ask as I'm having a pretty tough time coming up with what I need to summarize here. There's a shocking amount of background about very obscure characters required to 'get' all of our fics.

Well, the easy (if time consuming) answer is to go through the blog. A lot of our Twilight readers have a leg up because they've read all the metas including "what if X happened" and so are quite knowledgeable about what @therealvinelle and I will write in a given story (compared to readers of The Man Who Would Be King, HP where @therealvinelle and I have written comparably less metas, and the readers guesses are all over the place).

This will give you pretty much everything you need to know about everything we write.

Otherwise, I'll have to give a quick and dirty summary here.

The Volturi

The Volturi are the big bad of the Twilight novels if there are any at all. They're the ones who cause much of the conflict in the latter novels (if we ignore Edawrd causing all of the conflict) and are the large threat to Bella after James and Victoria are dealt with.

What's important for our fics is that they're the iron fist of the vampire world. They're not so much rulers, as they don't tell anyone what to do, don't supply any cultural institutions, nor demand tithes or taxes, but enforcers of this one law that they made up thousands of years ago. They have only one law which is "do not get noticed by humans" which has a bunch of caveats to ensure this singular law is followed.

They have such strength in gift ability and such a strong network that they're able to enforce this law across the globe and easily deal with large masses of vampires. (This has given them a terrifying reputation and causes vampires like Jasper to regard them ambivalently as he appreciates things like newborn wars not spiraling out of control but is utterly terrified of them.)

They have done this for at least two-thousand years (Meyer is notoriously terrible with dates so @therealvinelle and I get into a lot of headcanons to make this work. Given the names Aro, Marcus, and Caius and that they are reputedly Mycenean they probably gained significant power/reputation when Rome was the dominant power in the region some 1500 years after each of them was turned, meaning it's been ~2000 years that Volturi law became absolute in the Mediterranean region if not further). And have presumably been settled in Volterra since that time.

Also of note is that the Volturi (primarily Aro) recruits, sometimes heavy handedly, gifted vampires to be members of his guard. This is how he's maintained such control as he uses powerful psychics to obliterate opposition.

The Cullens run afoul of this law (or appear to) multiple times. First when Edward goes to Volterra confessing to having told Bella he was a vampire and then abandoning her while she was still human (the law is she must either be turned or die at that point), the second time hours later when Edward planned to walk into the sunlight and reveal himself to the city of Volterra, and the third time when Irina witnesses what she thinks is an immortal child and reports this to the Volturi.

This last culminates in a very tense confrontation between dozens of vampires as they try to clear up what the fuck Renesmee is and if she's a danger to herself and others.

It concludes peacefully, but tensely, as Aro concludes Renesmee is not a problem and walks away but everyone is unsure if a violent confrontation will happen later.

The Aro and Carlisle Situation

Carlisle canonically spent around 20 years (Edward notes a few decades but never specifies exactly how many) as a guest of the Volturi, specifically as a friend of Aro.

What Edward tells us canonically is that while he enjoyed his time there and was shocked to find that vampires were learned and cultured beings after all, he couldn't convert any of them to his diet and left to find kinship among other vampires (this did not go well until Carlisle turned Edward some 200 years later).

Some of the fics go over this more than others, but @therealvinelle work with the assumption that Carlisle was very young as a vampire when he came across Volterra. He'd met Alistair before that point but no one else. Volterra was then what convinced him that vampires were not inherently damned and could be learned people (something Carlisle would not have associated with demons as a 17th century priest) who have great appreciation for the arts and great knowledge of antiquity.

What @therealvinelle and I tend to presume is that Aro and Carlisle had a romantic relationship during this period (and that Sulpicia and Carlisle did as well for hilarious reasons). However, while there was true romantic affection there, it couldn't resolve the large differences between the pair and ultimately Carlisle had to leave.

Fast forward to the start of canon and Carlisle is very fond of the Volturi. He hangs their painting in his office and Edward initially speaks of them with... distant respect I suppose we'll call it which speaks to Carlisle's respect for them as Edward would get that information from him.

After New Moon Carlisle off screen was likely extremely grateful and relieved that Edward had not been executed despite Edward doing his damndest to get himself executed. That they were all returned home, Bella human even, is a relief beyond measure and Carlisle is likely very grateful for this. He is very aware that Bella must be turned though and gives his vote in New Moon (aided by the fact that the situation has become untenable for all parties involved).

However, Edward is vocally suspicious of the Volturi's intentions and Carlisle trusts Edward's judgement as well as his gift. Edward notes that what Aro really wants is his and Alice's gifts to become omnipotent. Now, this doesn't make much sense as Aro's is Edward's gift but better and if Aro had wanted this then why would he ever have let the three go when he had every excuse and ability to keep them there and bind them to the Volturi with Chelsea, but it does plant seeds of suspicion especially when Aro is notorious for adding to his guard and trying out gifted members to see if they fit. Where Edward's theories start to gain credence is in Eclipse.

Victoria is obviously building a newborn army. The death rate in Seattle skyrockets as Victoria turns ten-twenty vampires in quick succession with humans floundering for an explanation (they at first state gang violence then a serial killer as they try to figure out why this is happening). Ordinarily, the Volturi would swoop in and take care of this as soon as it becomes obvious with absolutely no issue (using either Jane or Alec for the task). The Cullens wait for the Volturi. And wait. Then wait.

It becomes clear that the Volturi aren't coming. The Cullens try to get the Denali involved (this doesn't go well) and without any other option are forced to team up with the wolves where they win the battle with no losses but with great physical injury to some of the wolves (notably Jacob has a rough time of it). Then the Volturi show up at that very moment, making it clear that they'd intentionally waited so the Cullens could be wiped out or at least had their numbers thinned. Then Jane in front of them lights a girl on fire while noting that Bella appears to be very human today, doesn't she?

Carlisle at this point concludes that Edward is correct and Aro is trying to poach Alice or sees the coven as a threat and is trying to underhandedly eliminate them.

On Aro's end, the running theory in our fics is that Caius was in fact behind this without Aro's knowledge or consent. Caius had seen Aro sending Alice, Bella, and Edward home without any restrictions as a debilitating weakness that had to be dealt with/made an example of. Caius saw an opportunity, likely the only one he'd get, and he took it giving the death squad orders to stall and wait for the battle to finish before they cleaned house. Unfortunately for Caius, this went sideways. Unfortunately for Aro, he now knows that Carlisle thinks he tried to murder his entire family in the most underhanded shady way imaginable and that nothing he can say will make it look less bad.

However, all of this is okay to a point, as Bella's being turned shortly and Alice is there to tell the Volturi that it's all going to be over and then they'll have no reason to interfere.

Except Bella gets pregnant with an alien and then Irina reports that alien as an immortal child to the Volturi.

From Carlisle's perspective this is a nightmare, they've given the Volturi a valid excuse to come and wipe them off the map. Their only hope is to gather every witness they possibly can to oversee their trial and confirm that Renesmee is not an immortal child/prevent the Volturi from murdering them all over false charges. Carlisle no longer trusts that the Volturi have good intentions or that this is simply a misunderstanding, he has a very strong suspicion that they will use anything they can to kill them all.

From Aro's this is also a nightmare, as not only is an immortal child reported (something he absolutely has to kill everyone culpable over) but Carlisle starts immediately gathering what seems to be an army. Aro has to gather an army in turn and confront him at the trial where he's witness to the world's weirdest trial where it turns out the immortal child was actually an alien and uh... guess she'll grow up okay.

However, because of how that trial goes down two things happen: Aro loses face and Carlisle's worst fears are confirmed.

Aro tries to use his powerhouses against an increasingly hostile/suspicious opponents, what happens is that Bella blocks all of them. Chelsea, Jane, and Alec are refuted in turn and Bella shows in front of a large amount of witnesses that the Volturi can be thwarted provided they have the right amount of numbers. The worst gifts they have are no longer debilitating so long as Bella is around. Everyone who's ever wanted to sack Volterra now can look over at the Cullens and see Bella Swan, a woman who is now very hostile to the Volturi.

On Carlisle's end, he sees Aro use Chelsea, Jane, and Alec presumably to murder not only his family but all of his friends who had come here only to be witnesses to see that the Volturi behaved as they are supposed to in these situations. It's worse than his every fear confirmed, Aro proves himself to be a power hungry tyrant who will stop at nothing to get what he wants including the murder of children.

Aro walks away wishing he and Carlisle might somehow repair their relationship but knowing that it is likely impossible. He also leaves knowing that a confrontation is likely inevitable and that he will more than likely have to kill Carlisle's family if not Carlisle himself.

Some if not all of this usually comes to play in @therealvinelle and my stories depending if it takes place pre, during, or post series.

Other Tips

Read fics in order they were published.

@therealvinelle and I tend to use shorthand references to things gone over in depth in other fics as we hate writing the same thing twice. Nebuchadnezzar's Dream by @therealvinelle for example goes over a lot of the canon events dealing with Aro and Carlisle and how they reacted to it as well as Carlisle's hypothetical gift that @therealvinelle and I theorize is totally a thing.

A lot of the lore in the fics that doesn't come from canon was sort of uh organically grown within the fics themselves. (Unintentionally, they all kind of take place in a weird shared universe where similar things have often happened or they diverge at a single crucial point).

Otherwise

Uh... you got anything @therealvinelle?

[reecey9o5]

Okay guys. 'They', 'them' and 'theirs' when used in the singular are gender neutral pronouns.

They are not gender specific to nonbinary people.

Arguing the use of a pronoun set that applies to literally all human beings (and a bunch of other stuff) must mean that Dante is nonbinary isn't just stupid, it's ignoring the themes of their character.

Dante is purposefully mysterious. We don't know anything about them, really. Most of the characters don't know anything about them. They know nothing about themself.

We, like most of the sinners, don't know Dante's real name, age or origin. We can't see their skin. We can't really tell what their figure looks like in that outfit and the way the others are drawn would make that largely inconclusive anyway.

Dante doesn't even have their own face anymore.

They are a fiction even within the narrative. One created by the company that they are currently being exploited by.

To argue that the identity that has been forced upon them by an exploitative corporation in a dystopian hellscape is a representation of their authentic self is either hopelessly naïve or entirely selfish.

To apply a nonbinary gender identity to them is to reduce them to what others have forced upon them.

Which is wild, if you think about it. Because the people he/himming Dante are doing so entirely because they are modelled after an actual human man who is buried in Ravenna. You can go see his grave. They are using meta information to come to a conclusion that might be wrong, and they know it might be wrong. Gender bent characters are not uncommon in this game.

But the people aggressively enbying them (and complaining about the he/himmers) are purposefully ignoring the open themes of depersonalisation in this character to... something something representation? IDK, because it makes them look like they have either no media literacy at all, or they just don't care about themes, narrative or the goddamn plot.

TL:DR

The other characters aren't calling Dante they and them because Dante is nonbinary, they're calling Dante they and them because they don't have the first idea what Dante is and have the decency not to assign an identity to Dante that might not be true. (Or they're invested in keeping that information from Dante.)

Dante could be nonbinary! But they could also be a man, or a woman, or not a person at all. The fact that we do not know is important to this story and dismissing it for the sake of 'representation' is both selfish and disrespectful to Project Moon.

This is their story, not your playground.

Your headcanons aren't justification for bashing the people who don't share them or Project Moon if it turns out that Dante is just a guy.

Edit: The possibility of Dante being nonbinary is slim at best and would absolutely undermine the theme of depersonalisation here. The depersonalisation of being stripped of your gender identity does not hit the same if you already insist that others use the gender unknown pronouns for you.

I only acknowledged it in the context that it's another possibility that the sinners aren't privy to.

It is not likely and it would undermine the themes of Dante's character.

In exactly the same way that taking a character who has been forcibly raised as the wrong sex and making them trans undermines that what happened to them was in fact abusive.

In exactly the same way that the character arc of Prince Phillip's father deciding against forcing his son into marriage was undermined by Aurora and Phill hitting it off.

If the bad thing that happens to a character is contextualised as turning out to be the right thing, then that takes all the wind out of any commentary that existed before the recontextualization.

(In fact, the Sleeping Beauty example is openly a joke. This man is going through a personal crisis and risking war for what the audience knows is no reason.)

Making Dante a nonbinary human character means that this very thematic example of their depersonalisation was an abusive corporation being correct in their behaviour.

Dante being a non-human character, a robit or something, would still be better thematically as they have had a false human identity pressed upon them.

LBC functionally misgendering Dante reinforces their unethical ways, them respecting this character's pronouns does the exact opposite.

Edit 2: I also feel the need to point out that the view I have laid out here means that we are being forced as players to be complicit in this mistreatment. Something that is far more powerful than removing the problem entirely with a nonbinary identity.

[song-writer-melo-wrath]

Silly Game Time: Who are some of your favorite mechanical characters, be they robots, androids, cyborgs, or something else? And what do like about them?

OOOOH...

Well, first, gotta mention my man Data.

A lot of people has said that he is autism-coded in the way that he is presented, and in how other people react to him. And I kind of agree tbh. He's also just a sweetheart, and his bonds with the crew (especially Laforge), his cat Spot, and sometimes with people who are briefly onboard are so lovely.

I also feel I should mention Connor,

Because his arc has probably inspired so many OCs at this point. Bryan Dechart did such an excellent job playing him, and his growing bond with Hank is very well-written. I think it's honestly touching how it's often emotional bonds that show humanity.

Another I feel would be a crime not to mention,

Because between the iconic lines and the dynamic he has with John Connor, and the way it shapes his various decisions, how could I not? And yes I'm specifically talking Terminator 2 here. Though I will say he makes an EXCELLENT force of nature and presence of absolute horror in the first movie.

Then, of course, the sapphic community's favourite,

Because "Want You Gone" hurts me on a personal level, and I don't just mean because it's how GLaDOS says farewell. I relate to that song so much (and did a cover of it :D) and, in general, relate with much of her story. Of course, she's a sassy motherfucker who you can't help but love. But for how much Portal 2 is considered the inferior game, it really does make her story into one of self-discovery and complicated morality. I guess it just gets overshadowed by Oh hi. How are you holding up.

Next,

I MEAN. COME ON. This guy used to be, and honestly still is, one of my biggest fictional crushes. His charisma is magnetic, of course. His STORY being wrapped up by the connections he used to have being rekindled, resulting in him choosing to be a star for those who need one most, rather than a star for the most people possible???? Ugh, poetic cinema.

Speaking of stars,

[vibrating] I have so many headcanons when it comes to this one But more to the point, Star Dream is an absolute force of nature. Its boss fight is incredible, an absolute marvel of multiple types of play styles coming together. The themes? Slap.

Star Dream's draw, for me, is that its sentience is so…debatable. I'm on the side of “had sentience the whole time”, and more to the point, “based on how much Haltmann copied homework, it's possible he brought something back from the dead” but I dunno, I don't like arguing my case when it comes to the second. The point is, for many of things that it does, it's uncertain whether that's just part of its program, or if it's a sentient decision. Was Susie sent away because of something accidental, or was it Star Dream's intention? The fact that Haltmann became so focused on its creation after her disappearance, in my eyes, kind of implies the latter…

… It's also interesting that even without Haltmann giving it a voice via him-being-possessed, it only chooses to speak to Meta Knight.

Can you tell I have The Kirby Autism, is it noticeable, is it obvious—

Also I'm gonna put two of my OCs here, because self-indulgence is alive and well.

This is Palharine and Mayday! They're my favourites out of a group of robot/android characters I created about three years ago, and have finally taken the time to draw recently:

From left to right, you got Eodel Remidoros, Palharine, Mayday, and Ziah Hyperion. All very different interpretations of robotic.

Palharine and Mayday stand out to me due to their emotional states. They're kind of opposites, in that regard. Mayday is a very sensitive gal, who has been through a lot of pain, and is trying to become stronger so she can confidently say she has no doubt in who she is. Palharine, as far as they're aware, has no emotions. Which is interesting, since the other three all seem to, to some degree. Among the four, Palharine is also unique in that they're programmed to dream. Both of these things shape them a lot.

But these two have a very sweet bond, where they're both passionate about biology, especially botany. Mayday, in a training exercise, also nearly wipes the floor with Palharine. It's more touching than it sounds.

Also, Palharine's genderfluid and Maydays a trans woman, so those things just inherently spark joy for me, haha!

This has been, real robotic character hours.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Fire Lady Katara fanons bother me in their utter seriousness. I am fine with the fantasy of an awesome monarch who comes and fixes everything. Fire Lord Zuko is such fantasy in canon, after all. Yet I can suspend my disbelieve that high while I am watching the cartoon.

However, when people tell me that Katara after marrying Zuko and living in the Fire Nation will have no opposition, ill will, distrust or simple dislike expect from Mai and several EVIL Nobles, but will be universally loved and with Zuko’s support will immediately solve all the Fire Nation problems, will heal the nation (literally and figuratively) and establish the lasting world peace, I am rolling my eyes.

Like, admit it is your power fantasy, and I will have no ground to criticize, we all have our fantasies. But no, ZK present it as the only possible future based on their one true reading of the characters and their (Zk’s) unique analytical skills. Like there is no way Katara would not be successful in everything and universally beloved if only she marries Zuko.

There might be some good – and somewhat more realistic - stories about Zuko and Katara trying and failing in their attempts to fix the country. But who would tell them?

For real, every fandom ever would be much more fun if people were capable of admiting "Okay, this fic is wish-fulfillment, this one is pure crack, this one just the plot bending over backwards to accomodate smut, this one has everyone being kind of out character and sort of unlikeable to create more drama, this is pure fluff where everyone gets along, and this just an excuse to torture characters. Enjoy!"

And yeah, Fire Lady Katara is pure power-couple fantasy, which is fine. But zutarians can never let something exist on the merits of "I like it." It has to be "This is inherently smart, good and perfect and if you disagree you're either stupid or a bad person."

It doesn't matter that Katara wants to rebuild her tribe and never asked for politcal power, she cannot be happy unless she's Zuko's wife and rules over the Fire Nation with him. It doesn't matter that the Fire Nation was super racist, they'll all magically accept someone from a people group they were trying to genocide to be the their queen, and then her mixed-raced children and grandchildren will reign after her.

And godforbid that you dislike that trope or the ship itself and don't want to see it forced everywhere, even if you don't got a problem with shippers still making fanarts, fanfics, headcanons and metas about it.

[thehighfiveproject]

Friends, rev your high fives.

Here's the card we'll be using for this month's edition of our bingo! Grab it up and get going. Remember, zero need to sign up, but if you want to share it with us so we can reblog and share the love, make sure you do so by next Wednesday, November 2.

Below the cut: a list of definitions for each of the squares in case you need help or ideas (don't worry, those will be added to the FAQs post for easy reference), and a black & white version of the card, in case you just really don't like yellow.

☆ How do I fill my card? How is each square defined?

Here’s the way we’re defining the activities associated with each card. If any of this is confusing after you read it over, send us a message and we’ll help!

- ‘leave kudos on a fic’

This is the easiest one! Just go out and find a fic you like and leave a kudos on it, if you haven’t already. It’s a small gesture but it makes an author know that someone actually read their story!

- ‘reblog/retweet an art post’

Find any art post you like and share it! Here’s the catch: you need to interact with it a little. When you reblog/retweet, please tell the creator what you thought about the piece – you can add some tags, or reply to the post, or quote-retweet or add a comment, or anything! A simple “I love this!” is nice but some details are even better (“your linework is so good!” or “that shade of blue is perfect”). One thing to think about: a lot of art on Tumblr is reposted (like when a user posts another artist’s work from Pixiv, say), so it’s nice if you make an effort to interact with posts that are actually from the creator if you can. That way the artist will see your comment!

- ‘reblog/retweet a fic post’

Same as the above, but for fic! Again, tags/replies/comments are needed, preferably with a little detail. You don’t need to be super eloquent or leave a detailed review (although if you have time/energy, that would be appreciated!); a tag as simple as “that was really cute” or “great characterization!” will do. Like with the art posts, it’s nice if you reblog directly from the writer (if you can) – some fics are posted by AO3 feed bots and the like, so the author may not even know a reblog has happened.

- ‘reblog/retweet an edit’

Same as the above, but for edits! Edits can include a gif set, or a set of screencaps, or even a fanvid. And, again, some simple tags/replies are needed. “I love that song choice!” for a vid or “great coloring!” on a gifset can let people know their work is being appreciated.

- ‘comment on a fic’

Find a fic, on any fic-hosting site you like, and leave a comment. That’s it! Again, no need to leave a novel-length comment (unless you’re inspired!) – a sentence or two is all we’re asking for this square to be considered complete. This is a great opportunity to let a writer know how their piece made you feel, or what section you particularly liked.

- ‘message a creator’

‘Creator’ here can mean anyone who makes *anything* to do with fandom: art, edits, fic, meta, knitted sweaters with character faces on them – if they’ve made anything, they’re a creator, and now’s your chance to let them know they’re appreciated. Send a message (anonymous or not!) letting them know that you enjoyed their work!

- ‘make a rec post’

This is a chance to tell your fandom friends about something they need to see. You can rec a fic, a blog, a fan event, an artist, an author, that person who knits sweaters with character faces – any kind of fandom thing that you want to make sure people see. This doesn’t have to be long or complicated, but feel free to go into as much detail as you want! Just make your own post, on Tumblr or Twitter or wherever else seems best to you, and give that thing you loved a little fanfare.

- ‘interact with a meta post’

A little love for our analytical friends! Here, you can reblog/retweet any kind of meta post for your fandom, whether it’s a three sentence headcanon or an essay-length dissection of why Character X is the absolute best character in Fandom Y. It’s even better if you respond to the meta, whether that’s agreeing or (respectfully!) adding your own thoughts, but sharing it is the main thing here.

And here's the non-decorated version, in case you feel like making it your own. Get creative, if you want!

[matan4il]

Hi!

I love both your buddie meta and your ability to reply so positively and kindly to all those asks, even when people are frustrated with the show.

Anyway I just wondered if you saw that Tia Pepa had a mezzuza on her front door? I kept rewinding to be sure and it's a nice silver one. Tia Pepa Jewish?

Have a great week and keep up the good work!

Hi hon! Awwww, this is SO sweet of you! I can't even tell you how happy this made me. I love writing the meta posts, and I sincerely believe that kindness is the most important thing, so hearing your feedback is just incredible. Thank you SO MUCH! *HUGS* I hope you know just how lovely you are!

And OMG. O M G. Thank you soooo much for telling me. Of course I went back to have a look, and I have no idea how I missed it, but you're right, Tia Pepa absolutely has a mezuzah at her door! :o

I'd guess that the most likely reason is they filmed in the home of a Jewish family, and obviously couldn't remove the mezuzah while they did. Maybe they didn't notice it in the shot, or maybe they didn't think any of the viewers would.

BUT I have to admit that I like the idea of having a Jewish connection for the Diaz family. Yeah, I know I'm the person who wrote the Jewish!Buck series, and I promise I don't just go around making every character Jewish in my head, and Eddie is canonically brought up as a Catholic, but I'll admit there was a fic I started writing for a friend a gazillion years ago where I wanted to have Eddie turn out to have a Jewish background, so I would get to tell a part of the unique story of Latin American Jews. I already had an entire headcanon for who, what, where and why... Maybe one day I'll get to finish that fic, but even if I don't, I love that we have this now, thanks to you.

So again, thank you wholeheartedly! Made my day. Hope you have a good one, too! As always, my ask tag.

[panigamermauser]

Cut stuff thought part 4

Halsin and Minthara. Ending stuff(getting on the soapbox there to scream). Plus various smaller quests, gods options for clerics and paladins etc.

I very appreciate them adding Halsin as companion at all, so I am very forgiving of him having less content than others. But knowing he was supposed to have Druid Circle quest in Act3 makes me sad it was cut. 

First, it would tie into his ingame wishes to bring more of nature/civilization balance to Baldur's Gate. Also, that was probably where you could develop his romance. 

I am _personally_ fine with him not being committed to long-term relationship despite his big romantic words. I have a deep fear of commitment myself, no matter how in love I am. You talk marriage - I run off. So I feel seen, and I get how he feels in his current version. But for very same reason I am keenly aware how frustrating it can be to be with someone like me. 

So if his quest is restored, I really hope his romance gets more fulfilling and just as developed as others.

Speaking of others... What happened to Minthara is a crime. I do not even have her, and will never have her (because I - as a player - like tieflings too much to ever side against them). And still I feel she was done dirty. Cannot imagine how people who have her and love her feel.

This is just like Karlach situation. It should have been restored in Patch 1 already. Especially since she was there from Early Access, not a late addition like Halsin and Karlach. She should have been as polished as other primary companions. No words just indignation.

Not to mention that from meta perspective it would be so interesting to see a romanciable character who is already pregnant with someone else's child. That is a unique story. And makes her actual literal MILF too 😏 And the salt from gamer bros... Can you even imagine?! 🤣🤣🤣

Justice for Minthara NOW!!!

Withers revealed as Jergal is a small thing. Like, EVERYONE who knows dnd gods knows who he is anyways. But it would be a nice thing for new people to learn/look into.

And naturally all of the cut post-game stuff should not only be restored, but also expanded. 

Post-campaign discussion is a very important part of dnd. DM should tell you how you affected the state of the world in great detail. You should discuss what happens to your characters with other players. In case of BG3 the game is our DM and companions are our co-players. 

That last talking post-game session is so very important for the campaign. Headcanons are good and all, but they are nothing compared to a good post-game discussion. 

It should have been it's own epilogue setpiece. At least prologue-sized in scope. One last walk around. You can just limit it to Wyrm Rock castle if necessary. Not just companions, but all of your allies gathered there too. Or some cool space shit for Illithid ending😁

Right now it feels like the group fell apart at the very end. And this is an unironic tragedy. Realistic? Sure(most groups fall apart long before campaign ends). But it does not have to be! 

They showed with Act 1 and Act 2 endings and some other stories (Astarion, Shadowheart, House of Hope, Bhaal stuff for Dark Urge) that they both KNOW how to give closure and CAN do it. So why not apply the same for actual game ending? 

Probably they just ran out of time.

One tiny bit of me hopes that they removed it because they plan to restore cut content, and it will be easier to make one proper ending that accounts for all those variables instead of making ending with current available choices and then tweak it for added stuff.

But realist in me says it's just a time issue, and not much more.

Onto smaller stuff that does not call for its own post, so I'll stick it there.

Hag Coven sounds very interesting. I get why it was cut - it has nothing to do with the main plot, so if they had to cut something, it makes sense to cut this subplot. Still, hags are awesome enemies, and if Larian decides to make DLC with extra adventures (I'll make a separate post about my DLC wishlist) - it will be a welcome addition.

Raven Queen plot line. Same as hags. Shame it was cut tho. I am very thirsty for He Who Was. But it explains why his quest felt so random and weird. Just your basic fetch quest. Which is generally not a thing in BG3. Now it makes sense. It was a beginning of its own subplot. Again, not a necessity, but would be nice to see it restored.

Idk what that Halfling Werewolf thing even refers too. But the concept is awesome, and I'd love to see it!

Shar, Myrkil, Bhaal and Bane as cleric/paladin gods.

On one hand it would add cool 'No, _I_ am the Chosen One moments in Shadowheart, Gortash, Ketheric and Orin (in case of Durge, literally!) convos.

In case of Shadowheart it could have been heartbreaking besties-to-deadly rivals over who gets to kill Nightsong too.

But... it would be applicable to only two classes. So if they had to cut something, it made sense to cut this. Most classes would never see those options anyways, so it's not that big of a loss. But it would be a very neat addition for Definitive Edition for sure.

They already have voice lines for Durge to claim the brain in dad's name. So they could easily reuse it. Just change name/pronoun.

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

when i tell you i am frothing at the mouth reading through your metas. oh my god. obsessed with everything you have to say. we seem to have a few of similar opinions and theories regarding dazai and i love it. he’s my absolute favorite character in the series and second favorite character out of fiction overall and i just LOVE what you have to say about him so much!! your theory on him being the book’s seal? BRILLIANT oh my god so interesting. i’ve never had any real reason for it nor specific idea of why they’re wealthy, but just today i was talking to a friend about how i’ve always kind of had a feeling that he grew up wealthy, and so when i saw the one of him being the son of mafia benefactors it caught my eye so fast. i just have this image in mind?? as him as a young child, right after the war ended — maybe he’s 11 or 12? — sitting silently in the back of a full classroom, maybe at a private school (his parents are neglectful, always having had preferred to send him away rather than raise him), observing all of his classmates with an apathetic expression on his face. he doesn’t fit in with them; he never has. always excluded, and most of the time, it’s of his own accord. he doesn’t feel like them, doesn’t understand why they are just so… different from him. he often is punished by his parents for it, the purposeful seclusion and all the things that come along with it, because despite the fact that they neglect their other duties as parents, they never forget to punish him. omg i’m getting so carried away describing this i’m rambling again LOL sorry!!!! -from, frog!

Hello Frog! :)

Sorry this took me so long to reply! I'm really glad you're enjoying my analyses, and that you shared your thoughts with me!

Dazai is a really fascinating character. For all that we follow him in the story closely and get to see what he was like and how he changed at different ages, he's very much still a mystery. It makes it really fun to theorize.

The "he had a wealthy family who were probably associated with the Mafia" comes from three places:

He's stated to not be an orphan in Fifteen, or connected to Mori in any way before their agreement. But he had to be someone, or some random 14 year old wouldn't make any sense as a key witness whose word would be believed by the Mafia.

He clearly knew the Old Boss and vice versa, but he's apparently never seen death up close before, nor was he a part of the Mafia. That doesn't make it seem like he's the Old Boss' son or grandson or anything. Maybe he was a nephew, for Hamlet reasons. (That actually might work, considering irl Dazai wrote his own spin on Hamlet... food for thought!)

Oba Yozo's backstory in No Longer Human, as an alienated young boy who couldn't seem to feel or understand the importance of the things his wealthy family placed importance on, and so disguised his true feelings and fear of being "found out" by clowning to make everybody laugh. (Overly simplified, but I don't want to get too into it in case you haven't read it. The author also came from a wealthy family, so I feel pretty confident about this take on his backstory!)

If you enjoy Dazai backstory theorizing, @daz4i has some good headcanons. You've already read mine, but I've since written the first chapter of a fic called Clear Eye on ao3, which does kind of go into my own interpretation of it. There's also lots of other theories out there that are worth a look!

And of course, maybe you have written something yourself in this span of time... (if you have, please let me know!)

[languajix]

(About your fic) Raph is such a supportive brother I love it. I am curious what is your headcanon for him?

Thank you!! I'm so glad you liked it :D

Raph being a supportive ally in this fic was a deliberate choice for narrative reasons! Because I wanted him to be a foil for his siblings as they figure themselves out - Donny, who is still unsure about their own gender at the time, talking to someone who is very secure in himself, and the two of them puzzling it out together was a really important scene in my head. The scene was built around Raph, who presents very masculine and is also very soft and kind at his core, and nobody else could have fit half as well.

In the fic, Raph belongs at pride because he's proud of his siblings, his flag is their colors (which was a little bit of symbolism that I was so incredibly happy to be able to include, I love our color coded characters here), and this story is about a wide spectrum of gender, from all of it, to none of it, to the standard amount in the standard configuration, and figuring out where you fit. And the answer is that they fit together, all of them, The Siblings Ever.

…That doesn't mean that I don't enjoy and buy in to fics/headcanons/concepts where he's not straight and cis to some degree; I've been reading fanfic in general for a long, long time now, and I've gotten to the point where I'll comfortably roll with just about anything, headcanon-wise, for just about anybody if someone writes it convincingly enough, and then turn around and read something totally opposite and vibe with it as well.

I don't think I have any particular headcanons for him myself. As the above, if I had an idea for a story where Raph being something else made sense, I'd jump in feet first. (And I'd love to tell more stories where Raph is more front and center, if I can find ideas that grab me.)

My memory is honestly quite terrible, especially for canon details and consistency in general, and I really look up to people who can write up detailed character analyses and come up with such real-feeling headcanons. Meta is a backbone of any fandom, and the people I see on my dash that write it are doing great work!

That was probably a way longer response than you were expecting...