#*neither of them compares to the first so in the end they're both shitty and the first remains the best💅✨*

[cutielatias]

finally we/I played true colors (i was owning this for a time, because we played this in August,and now it's already December😅💦) the text is some reactions and thoughts that I/we had while playing the game

"jeez,comparing alex to sean,sean actually sounds like a genuine nice person (she is a jerk😒) now i know why i liked/like sean (i will no longer complain about him,ha-ha😂,no, just kiddin,i will)"

"for someone with the power of "empathy"alex sounds more like a manipulator than an actual empathy person,she uses other's emotions to get what she wants/make they say what she wants,that feels wrong"

"what this game/franchise have against reserved people?!💢alex is so jerk with that diane,and i hate it!she so jerk with her💢(the woman is just keeping/doing her job😒)"

"i thought that alex was starting to become more likeable on ep3, but then i read her diary(diane's part)and the laptop part (at the ending)no,no, she still jerk😑"

"the cop looks like cody from "it takes two" haha😂,(diane is may😂😂😂)"

"i didn't understand nothing of alex past life/the old phone messages😕 (and by the way whata heck was that with that isaac guy!!?that was weird, was very obvious that the guy want something more with her, it's not possible that she couldn't read the guy's mind and sense that he wanted to hook up with her(I doubt that she can't sense lust💢)i mean, i think she kinda wanted too😒,but,idk why but the impression that i have of this situation is that alex and the guy were hooking up and in the middle of that, alex reads/feels the guy emotions during the s*x, and the thoughts were kinda wild (but in a red flag way)and that made her kinda uncomfortable,and she gets weird with the guy,and then she blocks him,ugh~😑,fuckin weird situation"

"almost faint when i saw that mexican letter (and not in a good way)i was worried that would be something do to with sean and daniel💦 and thank god that was not💨"

"the ending super coherent with us😂, were the olds that stayed on our side, me and ana have something that we always have more affinity with older people(and vice versa)"

"it even gives me a little feeling to look to this menu image, I remember the day that we finished the game, it was even a little melancholy to look/get out of the menu, I like the menu song, the music is nice✨(i like the instrumental/menu version more but the voice version is ok too) , and by the way no one gonna talk about the fact that the group that plays the song has a Portuguese name "novo amor"maybe cuz is nothin important😂😂😅 its just a name😅💦,but i find funny cuz this game seens to have a "big" brazillian fanbase so i thought someone would say something, but no, no one says nothin(i don't know if is the brazillian portuguese now thinking can be the portugal one) just an useless funny fact😅😂(at first a thought that "novo amor" was the song's name, but the songs name is haven, "novo amor" is the singer)"

"I didn't find true colors a copy of the others "life is stranges" like people were saying at the time(of course, that some of concepts are very similar from the preview ones😅,i do noticed that, but they did in a different way), for me it's kinda different from the others, it's not like the first or the second and neither to before the storm (which I thought was more likely because both were by decknine)"

"i thought that after i liked the second one if i played another game of the franchise, i would like it too(cuz i'll be honest i never really liked this franchise, i find the concept interesting, but i didn't like the characters very much) but after that I liked the second one, I thought that maybe I would't roll my eyes with the franchise anymore, but no, I roll my eyes with true colors as the same way as I roll with the others, it's reallys only the second one that I put up with/the one that has the spark, it's as if the feeling that I feel with this franchise always still the same, it's only the second one that I like/liked,like imagine that you are someone who doesn't like coffee, but one day you drink a certain coffee and you like it , and with that you think, now that I liked this coffee, maybe I don't have problem with coffee anymore, but no, you drink the other coffees and you still don't like it, it's just that one coffee that you like/liked(crazy example but its the only one that could think about it😅😅😅)"

[factsilike]

Really tired of constantly seeing posts declaring that everyone in MXTX novels is complicated and 'morally grey' and that's what makes her works wonderfully written, and that everyone else who doesn't see that is stupid, or is 'demonising' characters and bashing them for rightfully criticising their shitty, very much unjustified actions.

And ironically it seems so simplistic to just declare that, because yes her stories are wonderfully written and complex, but not for that reason. You're clearly not reading her works and only spouting what you think her stories say. There are many morally grey characters in morally complex stories out there, but MDZS IS NOT ONE OF THEM.

NONE OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS (i.e protagonists and their male leads except for LBH maybe) ARE MORALLY GREY OR MORALLY COMPLEX.

THEY ARE ALL MORALLY RIGHTEOUS.

Just take a closer look at their actions compared to the actions of literally everyone else around them, it's not that hard to see.

Not to mention that MXTX herself literally says that WWX and LWJ are both morally ideal and that ahe hopes her readers can be like them, but people seem to have no respect for the word of authors in the name of their self projection onto the characters being contradicted nowadays 😒

(also saw someone dismissively say that HC may think that the world revolves around XL or whatever, but others don't and they're right??

First of all, did you even read the novel? HC made his judgement based on how others treated him versus how XL did when he was a CHILD. And how XL continues to treat others to this day. He is well within his rights to think the world of XL, especially since XL suffered more than every other person and still doesn't succumb to evil, despite having every right to do so, miles more than others. He all but regards XL as his moral compass, because he's proof that truly good people do exist in this world, and not ONE other person in the novel is shown to be as good as him.)

One of the reasons why I really don't like the Xianle Trio is this; neither FX nor MQ seem to regard XL as his own person with his own agency, who is capable of making his own decisions initially as HC does, and only near the end of the novel do they let up a bit when their asses had to be saved by XL multiple times. (especially considering what fools they made of themselves in that spiderweb cave lmao)

Both of them try to enforce XL ALL THE TIME ("Your Highness don't do this or don't do that or don't say this or don't go there or don't talk to him"), as if XL has not survived perfectly well on his own without them FOR 800 YEARS.

The difference between them and HC is clearly spelled out when FC asks HC about why he is not stopping XL, and HC replies that while he may not agree with some of XL's decisions, he would never force him to do what he thinks is correct, something both MQ and FX are CONSTANTLY shown to try to do.

Like please. Xianle Trio who? More like suffering XL and his pair of nuisances who think themselves to be his babysitters. And most of the time he's the one babysitting them.

Another thing that irks me is that their frequent arguments are often played off for laughs, but XL is truly a saint, because if my friends were constantly bickering over petty things all throughout our dangerous journey and giving me nothing but headaches, especially in survival situations, I'd given them the boot a long time ago.

[chromotps]

YOU MENTIONED ACELU MODERN/GANG AU. but what about — I know it’s cursed but please listen — supernatural AU? I don’t mean like the entire thing (monster hunting maybe, but not the entire angel/demons plot) but just consider the vibes of the first two seasons?? The “road-trip” thing. Struggling to get by (I’m such a huge sucker for “Ace struggling to make ends meet but he always makes sure Luffy gets food and clothes even if it means he’s not eating as much himself”-dynamic in modern AUs. God). Sleeping in shitty motels + having to share the bed more often than not. Taking care of each other’s wounds in dimly-lit, dirty bathrooms. The general, ever-present worry of how things are going to be in the future or the terrifying scenario when one of them doesn’t make it (except Ace just worries about Luffy, bc of course he doesn’t consider a future where he lives and Luffy doesn’t. Neither of them can think about it too long either way bc it makes their brains shut down). They’re blood-brothers, they think of each other like that, they call each other that except. Taking physical comfort from each other is also a thing, because that’s what they’ve been doing all their lives, because there’s always been just them, and it’s all they ever had. They kiss and sleep together, bare skin pressed against bare skin because it’s always been like this, and it doesn’t feel the same with anyone else (mostly on Ace’s side, because he did try — with barmaids, waitresses, men in shady bars, because he felt responsible for Luffy’s upbringing and well-being and it felt like an older sibling thing to set and maintain appropriate boundaries. But nothing ever compared to Luffy, even in the slightest). Both of them having to play so many social roles they kind of start blending into one another (because again, there was never really anyone around long enough to fill them in for them) - bc yeah they’re siblings, but. They’re also friends except it goes way beyond that. Ace, as the older one, has been Luffy’s caretaker too, he had to think and plan ahead for them both. But there were times when Ace was hurt they the caretaking role became reversed and Luffy had to take on all the responsibilities, until Ace recovered. Obviously none of it is how a healthy sibling relationship should look like, but god, I’m just soooo weak for the developing co-dependency, especially in scenarios where clearly unhealthy/potentially harmful behavior becomes a source of physical/emotional comfort (and tbh I’m pretty sure it also translates well into in-canon Ace/Lu because they didn’t really have anyone else either, for a couple of years in their lives. And Luffy needs social interaction like he needs food and sleep).

Oh man, anon, I was shipping and reading smut for Wincest like WILD back in the day, so. This AU is perfect. I'm eating up all the details of it just being the two of them, and a car, and a map. On a good day they'll get to jam out to music for a few hours on the road before pulling into a diner, and Ace splurges on treating him and Luffy to a meal of steak, burgers, shakes and pie.

But on a bad day. They get out of a rough fight, Ace with a nasty gash down his chest but they can't get help between all their papers being forged and being wanted for a crime they were framed for anyway. So for once Luffy drives them back to the motel, and sets Ace up in the tiny bathroom tub to clean out the wound and patch it up. The whole time they're just quietly saying stuff to each other like "thank you. you didn't have to take that hit for me. it saved my life" and "you're the only reason i do any of this. nothing else matters." "you matter. it's always been just you and me, right? what would I do without you?" and then... idk MaybeTheyHave"Thank God You're Alive"Sex or something who can say?? you know???

but omg yeah I LIVE for some codependency in my ships. I do have this weird thing where whenever I write headcanons it's like I'm in denial. like, I can't totally commit to calling it unhealthy even though it totally is, bc.... they're happy together!! Maybe they learn to accept help when they need it from some kind of Uncle Bobby figure (Jinbei?? Rayleigh??). but when it comes down to it, they only really care about staying with each other and keeping their brother safe.

I'm not really sure what's up with me today but I'm sort of in a horny mood so. I'm still thinking about what you typed with "They kiss and sleep together, bare skin pressed against bare skin because it’s always been like this," and I know you probably meant literal sleeping together. But I love thinking about the slippery slope Ace and Luffy took in the AU from "pressing each other close for comfort when they're shaken" to "Luffy noticing how good it feels when Ace holds him and Ace unable to stop his eyes from lingering on Luffy's lips" to "one time in the dead of night in the hotel, their breaths are mingling and their mouths are almost touching until, it isn't 'almost' anymore. and then somehow ace is on top of luffy and the orange glow of the streetlight outside is falling on where their arms are wrapped around each other. and even though that night should have been shocking, what they can't admit out loud is that it felt completely natural. it's just another part of everything that they are to each other, and no one else needs to understand this, either."

ANYWAY UH I can. talk about other aspects of this AU since I'm sure there were other things you meant to focus on but uh. I was in a mood. oops!

[randomnameless]

Of all the masterful and progressive storytelling elements and themes conveyed by the humanity-defining, unparalled work of art in written format that is the Aeneid, which is your personal favorite?

I'm personally stuck between:

Every woman perceives herself as an innocent little child, has her ultimate goal be to give birth to children and start a family, and will see themselves as ugly and unworthy of love the second they have a mild inconvenience happen to them

Every man with an iota of self-esteem is secretly an evil violent sexist child-liking grapist who deserves to be beaten near to death for little to no reason, and only by either being a doormat to the women around them and allowing themselves to get cheated on with no actual protest or anger or being redeemed by the purity of heterosexual love can they ever hope to be anything more than human scum

Mixed-race people are inherently born wrong due to not solely belonging to a single race, needing to choose a singular side in order to ever find any sort of happiness, with the pain of the uncertainty being so great they'd genuinely be better off un-aliving themselves than to continue to live with such a massive burden

And, last but not least, genocide survivors are not only selfish cowards for not announcing to an entire continent that had just wiped out most of their race that they still had the things they were genocided for in the first place and choosing instead to lie to them to restore peace and order and avoid being killed simply for existing, but also people with comparable, if not inferior, suffering to someone who was tortured as a child and became a racist, imperialistic warmongerer who started a war just to gain more territory and finish the genocide her inspiration started because of it

Replying to an earlier ask I just thought about tying it with this one lol

The Aeneid is peak exemple of something touted as canon when it's pure headcanon, and when people try to explain how the many takes and "points" from that fic aren't in the games at all with links to the sources and all, those people are harassed and cyberbullied because I guess some people really are asses and don't like when others point out their ship isn't canon.

Now, back to your award winning list,

#1

Mixed-race people are inherently born wrong due to not solely belonging to a single race, needing to choose a singular side in order to ever find any sort of happiness, with the pain of the uncertainty being so great they'd genuinely be better off un-aliving themselves than to continue to live with such a massive burden

I would say this one takes the cake, with the added topping that this fic also portrays the "other" race as inferior, making you more violent and, in general less "human".

I recently learnt (you learn new things everyday!) the word used back then mulatto (mulâtre for us!) was used to described mixed-race people, the parallel being made with a mule being important, because a mule is neither a horse nor a donkey but something seen, back then, as "inferior" to both and that cannot produce offspring, aka - again i stress the "back then" era - something "wrong" that isn't supposed to exist.

And Billy feeling like she's wrong because she's mixed race feels really... well, in check with the theories of "back then" about mixed race people - hell, even in certain parts of the world today, being mixed race is seen as fucking bad thing and the mixed-race persons are discriminated against because they're not totally "A" but also "B" and "B" is seen as worthless/shitty.

I know some fics tackle dark themes and dark fics (iirc) don't have a happy ending, the author is free to do whatever they want after all it's their fic - but the way this fic tackles this issue, and how said resolution is touted in the fandom as something "good" - like how the fuck someone wanting to die because they are mixed-race became touted as "the pinnacle of the mc's story where they finally become A again, and get rid of their B blood!"???

#2

Every woman perceives herself as an innocent little child, has her ultimate goal be to give birth to children and start a family, and will see themselves as ugly and unworthy of love the second they have a mild inconvenience happen to them Every man with an iota of self-esteem is secretly an evil violent sexist child-liking grapist who deserves to be beaten near to death for little to no reason, and only by either being a doormat to the women around them and allowing themselves to get cheated on with no actual protest or anger or being redeemed by the purity of heterosexual love can they ever hope to be anything more than human scum

I'm cheating and grouping the two lol

It's the usual brand of sexism, and no, I don't think the pseudo "role reversal between who is an ass and who isn't" removes the sexism label, especially since women still want to start families and become Mothers (tm).

It's as if someone is saying they're not sexist because while they defend the tradwife movement (pure love! Must be pretty to be married! Babies!), they also think men deserve to die and be treated like subhumans or second rate humans who can be abused whenever a woman feels like it.

What is even the point? The message? If men BaD and "pure" women GoOd, if the "pure" women do the same thing as the men did, are they BaD too or not?

And lol@ the casual homophobia, "peepee on peepee action" is bad and leads people astray, Man must be redeemed by womanly love!

#3

And, last but not least, genocide survivors are not only selfish cowards for not announcing to an entire continent that had just wiped out most of their race that they still had the things they were genocided for in the first place and choosing instead to lie to them to restore peace and order and avoid being killed simply for existing, but also people with comparable, if not inferior, suffering to someone who was tortured as a child and became a racist, imperialistic warmongerer who started a war just to gain more territory and finish the genocide her inspiration started because of it

Victim blaming is so mainstream in the canon Fodlan games!

As a rule of thumb, I don't like the "trauma contest", but I've seen a lot of fics were this specific issue - absolutely not resolved in FE Fodlan!! - is resolved in a similar way, the Nabatean genocide is revealed just like the greater lie about the origin of crusts, and yet some people react with "yay you might have been hunted to near extinction to the point you can't even call your relatives relatives and lived in perpetual fear for the last 1k years of being slaughtered, but do you realise your lie made me feel sad because people want to marry me???"

I still think this take teeters a tad too close to the "it's your fault/you deserved being genocided/hunted because you belong to the wrong race" nauseabond take.

Again I need to stress how there's nothing inherently wrong with a Dark Fic, or fanfiction that tackles, elegantly or not, certain themes, and that's not what I'm ranting about here.

The Aeneid however takes itself as canon, is rec over canon and is lauded as essential to understand the canon (let it be through the very same reasonings and plot points developed in redshit essays about the canon, or fans rec'ing to other people).

It isn't the canon discrepencies that kind of annoy me, but it's rather how people will tell you how to interpret canon, in the light of this fic - from harmless stuff like "Supreme Leader totes has scars - so her FEH beach alt, made by IS mind you, is wrong" to the "toxic Faerghus masculinity values chivalry thus BaD, that's why they need to be civili- I mean, Adrestianised" to the various Rhea shitstorms/takes that are way too numerous for me to list, and ends up with people being puzzled when canon!Rhea (voiced by Kikuko Inoue) bakes cookies.

[mrs-nate-humphrey]

Honestly, one of the WORST things about the Gossip!Dan reveal to me is that it’s damn near impossible nowadays to explore the moral ambiguities already present in Dan’s character without the “Dan is Gossip Girl!”/general season 6 stuff seeping in and polluting the discourse. The duality between Dan wanting to be this upright beacon of morality in the ethically derelict world of the Upper East Side versus the way he’s so easily drawn in by its most morally dubious residents (Georgina, Chuck, and - to a certain extent - Blair, namely) and the lifestyles they live… Like the whole “Dan is no longer baby! Dan wants power!” thing from season 6 never worked for me, because power was absolutely not what Dan had ever sought from the “shadier” parts of the UES, but rather love. Friendship. Acceptance. Dan tried to position himself above the Upper East Siders, but unlike someone like Vanessa who truly did not give a fuck what those rich brats thought of her, Dan absolutely fucking did. I just can’t see Dan, the way he was originally written, ever selling out his friends and loved ones for success or power - 2x05 and 2x10 entirely exist to refute that notion. On the other hand, I think 2x05 provides a great basis for what a “Dan gets corrupted!” arc could actually look like if done well - one can imagine what might have happened had the strange friendship between Chuck and Dan not been broken by the end of that episode, and had Dan continued being so heavily under Chuck’s influence. I just think that if Dan were going to go “dark” for any reason, it would ultimately be out of love and loyalty to those less-than-savory characters in his life that he formed attachments to, not any of the reasons presented in season 6.

oh yeah, absolutely!!! you said it SO well. dan is not the kind of guy who would write scathing exposés and twist the knife in your back. dan is the kind of guy who would look the other way when something bad happens if a person he loved was the one who did the bad thing! dan hates conflict, dan fears abandonment..... why on earth would he instigate those two things deliberately for himself? nobody can make this make sense to me.

interestingly, part of this is a thing i've always thought dan AND nate both have in common - both of them want to see the good in people, often to an extent that ends up being dangerous for themselves & the people around them, or makes them vulnerable. whoever it is, whatever it is.... both dan and nate do their utmost to help other people when people come to them in distress, which is by itself a good trait! but in BOTH of them, it manifests in a sort of disregarding of their own boundaries, a sort of putting their needs aside/seeing themselves as less important than the person they're helping. it isn't necessarily a saviour complex as much as it is a "i don't want anyone to feel as shitty/lost/helpless as i once did", but it's also very interesting that neither of them afford themselves this same courtesy.

but yeah, dan really, really wants to be loved & accepted. serena is the first person we see giving him that (not including his family & vanessa.) chuck sort of gives him that in the worst possible way - chuck hates dan, but it's fine, because dan lets chuck treat him disrespectfully and doesn't see anything wrong with it, maybe because dan's own sense of self-worth is so fucked. "hey, chuck bass compared me to a plague rat, but at least he's talking to me, right?" oh, dan. i'm so fucking sorry, dude.

then there's nate, who is just, in canon, platonically the one person who, so easily, fits into dan's life and who makes space for dan to fit into his? i mean. they have a don draper pact. they watch tv together, it's canon! they play video games together canonically too! & unlike with serena, and later, with blair, the fact that they don't have romantic history hanging over them means they never really have to navigate figuring themselves out as exes and all that messy stuff. like. they're best friends, unconditionally! (hilariously, this is why i ship them, among other things. if you have a friendship that strong.... it's a good base for a romantic relationship. and like, the romantic spark was there. fuck sparks, it was a whole firecracker.)

and of course, there's blair. dan's relationship with blair is the prime example of this, of him being validated for all these niche little things about himself and being with someone who is just as extra as him in similar ways, who has a lot of opinions on literally everything, etc. and blair appreciates him and supports him and sure, she didn't say she loved him, but the way she treated him & looked at him was proof enough.

acting as if serena was the gateway to all these relationships is a pretty big disservice to dan, who knocked on chuck's door on his own (sweetie WHY), who befriended nate of his own accord, and while he and blair DID team up to help serena, their whole s4 arc is about them connecting authentically in a way that has nothing to do with serena. so the retcon in s6 of "there is no winning without serena"... meh.

there's also the discussion we HAVE to have about how evil!serena of s5 kind of set the stage for a LOT of, uh. stuff that wouldn't have happened otherwise. dan lashing out and hurting everyone around him the way he does in the first few episodes of s6.... is not that unbelievable, if you believe that serena essentially took advantage of him & filmed him without his consent the way she did in the s5 finale... which i don't. i don't think serena would do that to anyone, and i definitely don't think serena would do that to dan.

but yeah, idk!! i have nothing else to say. it's really sad that they went all "dan wants power over everyone else & serena wants attention all the time and neither of them will stop at anything to get it!" because like. that's not dan, and that's not serena. & i think it's really sad that that's what derena became, by virtue of being in a show as terribly written as this one :(

[stark-park]

Once Upon A Guard

Or, if The Old Guard were characters in Once Upon A Time.

Obviously, these two universes are very different so they’re not exact matches but... 🤷‍♂️ I like to compare my favourite things

David Nolan | Joe

Love their partners and would do anything for them

Met their partners through fighting (granted, Snow and David didn’t kill each other but that’s neither here nor there)

Best hair of any characters (no, I do not take criticism)

Sword!

Cutest smile (again, I don’t take criticism)

Underrated wit

✨soft✨

CHARMING AF (pun of course intended)

Is the fashionable one in the couple (I don’t care if you don’t think David is fashionable, I want his shirts okay? That’s makes him fashionable in my book)

Dramatic entrances on point!

Snow White | Nicky

True Love is David so of course Nicky is going to be Snow

Long ranged attack weapon is their speciality but can and will use other weapons

It’s all about the ✨hope✨

More reserved/quieter than their true love

Just as inspiring and loving as their true love

If you hurt the people they love, you better be prepared for the consequences!

Kindess is their middle names

If Nicky had the time, I fully believe he would’ve been able to talk any of his captors into friendship

Certainly have regrets but use it as a source of strength to fight the good fight

Sweetest smile

If they can help, feel it is their duty to do so

Emma Swan | Andy

Badass 1st, human being 2nd

Main character (bit of a cop out point but still, they are)

Tired of fighting

Memories = suffering 😔

Has a strong relationship with Henry/Nile that is part of the reason they are still fighting

Will do what’s right, even if they’re done with this shitty world

Have both been bounty hunters

✨Sarcasm✨

Have both been inspired and exasperated by their youngling (Henry/Nile) at some point

I need to stress that I do not see Joe and Nicky as Andy's parents in any way, I just think she has the strongest characteristics with Emma out of anyone in OUAT

Emma is The Saviour and Andy saves people

Spent a long time in their lives believing they were alone

Betrayed by someone they love

Trust issues 👍

Henry Mills | Nile

Nile has strong beliefs and Henry is known as The Truest Believer

The babies

A sense that they need to prove themselves? Perhaps. Shows everyone they are capable? Absolutely!

Eager to learn from the people around them

Headstrong, Clever, Resourceful

Successfully rescued their families

✨nerd✨

One of the first things Henry wanted to be taught was sword fighting. I shall not be convinced that Nile doesn't want to be able to sword fight too

I reckon Nile would enjoy naming the team’s missions

Jefferson | Booker

Depressed bastards

Would rather be in any other situation than the one they're in

Has to live with the grief of losing their children (even though Jefferson's daughter is still alive, he is cursed to watch her live happily without him knowing she may not forgive him for leaving her)

Neck related trauma (Jefferson got his head cut off and Booker's first death was via hanging)

So very tired

Kidnaps Snow/gets Joe Nicky captured before doing the same to Emma/Andy

Gets screwed over by the person he thought was helping/he was helping (Regina leaves Jefferson in Wonderland & Merrick decides he wants all of TOG in his lab)

I know there's a point about Henry/Nile and these two guys but I don't know what it is yet

Jefferson's "get it to work" and Book's belief in the potential for Merrick to find "a way to end it" has the same vibe