#And like to be frank it's not more 'manipulative' in a literal sense of the word then when normal empathy havers do it

[prolibytherium]

It's funny when people treat the level of planning and calculating out sympathetic responses that you have to do with low empathy as like 'scary' or manipulative or whatever because in practice it's so deeply un-malicious and if anything motivated by NOT wanting to unintentionally hurt someone

[ethan-acfan]

Okay, so I like to imagine that all pjo characters have some weird traits from their powers that really aren't that noticeable unless you point it out, so here is my list of weird traits they all have

Percy: gets dehydrated really easily, needs way more water than the average person. Also, his hands get wrinkles faster in water (like under 5 minutes)

Jason: has a lot of static around him all the time, shocks people every time he touches them. Also, he's just completely given up on trying to get his hair to sit normally

Hazel: has really spatial awareness, but only when she is outside in contact with dirt. She also hates concrete with a burning passion, like it blocks her senses almost, and it just feels weird. Let that girl roll around in the grass

Piper: never gets a sore throat, like literally never, she can be surrounded by people with strep throat and never get sick

Leo: has never gotten a cold or the flu because his body is so naturally hot that a virus can't survive inside him. He also has a larger lung capacity and is always taking deep breaths, like he needs a lot of oxygen, and he can not hold his breath for longer than 10 seconds, no matter how hard he tries

Nico: is really food at figuring out and manipulating someone's fears. Like he knows someone's fear within 3 seconds of being near them. Also, he can never be snuck up on because he just knows if someone is near him (he is sensing their soul, and that's why) but large crows also suck because all those souls get overwhelming

Frank: Complete disney princess vibes, is really good at understanding what an animal wants due to body language and animals are just drawn to him, birds will just land on him at random points of the day if he is outside

Annabeth: really good situational awareness and is really good at coming to compromises. She can get two complete opposing sides to agree on something if she tries hard enough. Battle tactics also mean diplomatic solutions

Will: can tell if someone is sick just by looking at them, can also tell what that disease is if he touches them. Also, he never gets sunburned

[therowdymagpie]

Arcana Main 6 as Animation Styles

A/N: Here's some short headcanons for what what style of animation the Main 6 remind me of. These are mostly based on vibes.

Asra: Psychedelic animation

...Come on, you know why I picked this

To be fair, I also see Asra as 2D because of the sense of wonder and whimsy, but this was too fun to pass up on(It's what they would have wanted)

It's just perfect for him, it's literally Asra's flavour of mystery and what the heck aura, it's colourful and very Lisa frank in vibe

No thoughts, no purpose just trippy landscapes and bright colours with underlying meanings

Julian: 3D Animation

Like Julian, it is very popular with the crowds as well as the industry itself

There's also a connection with the theatrical as 3D is meant to create the illusion of real life in 2D animation by lighting and using the right setup

It's main purpose is to (aesthetically at least) please the audience, adding debth and life to the world, which I feel like really goes well with Julian's personality and effect he has on others

Moreover, It's one of the only types of animation that get used in the Medical Field to illustrate how diseases develop and progress in the body, which Julian would definetely be fascinated by :D

Nadia: Graphic Animation

This is frankly the only style I could see Nadia as

Have you Seen this woman's cursive? This works really well

Graphic animation needs creativity, it's efficient, practical and always aspires to be stylish and desirable, much like the Countess herself

I think it also makes sense from the perspective that Nadia has to be always well-presented herself as a person in a position of power(I mean this style's most popular uses are in Marketing and Business)

Muriel: Stop-motion Animation

The use of an unmoving and limited movement material that gets manipulated to create a very specific line of action hmm...

Honestly, aside from traumatic connotations, I really feel this style suits Muriel because it just does.

I mean from vibes alone...It's uncanny, eerie but also very life-oriented and grounded which are so him in the start of his route.

Also a very versatile style of animation that can use an array of objects(often more environmentally friendly) to work, so maybe it can be compared to Muriel choosing to live in the middle of the woods.

Portia: Rubberhose/ Traditional Animation

Just Bubbly, energetic and vibrant, it feels like classic 2d is just perfect for Portia.

I especially love rubberhose for her because of her lively nature and child-like wonder she presents.

Plus seriously Portia is all about her fictional books and fantastical adventures so it's not too hard imagining her just being so immersed even in modern cartoons.

Don't be fooled though this style of animation took (and still does) incredible dedication and putting your soul in it, which could subscribe to Portia's strength and hard work ethic.

Lucio: Rotoscope Animation

Rotoscope animation looks like being between the real world and another entirely, which is just very reminiscent of Lucio's state for a certain 3 year period...

It essentially "uses" or "takes" elements from real life to create movement, which I think is just a very funny pararel to Lucio basically wanting to snatch MC's body to come back to life XD

Much like the man himself though, there's also some controversy with it as a technique, as many people think it just a way to trace and a shortcut to animation .

Using it in projects can also be quite expensive too so yeah, very Count all in all.

[ckret2]

bouncing off that anon's ask, who would you ship Bill with *outside* of Gravity Falls? Literally any media go ham with it

Invader Zim for exactly one reason: their voices would be sooo annoying together. Imagine it. Imagine the dirty talk. Absolutely atrocious.

This isn't a ship but I think he should hang out with Team Rocket. I mean I guess it could be a ship if you wanna find a way to fit him into the polycule. They've got plenty they can relate to each other on: complicated relationships with parents, being special in your species in a way that makes you a freak/outcast, seeking family via criminal gang, trying to accomplish ONE evil task for like a billion years and somehow no matter how many people you try to manipulate or how clever your cover stories and creative your plans you just canNOT do it...

But mainly I want him to give them terrible advice and horrible help on their criminal ambitions while trying to get them to build him a portal. They waste 50 episodes on 50 different portal-building schemes while Bill gets progressively more irate, and in turn they get equally furious at this annoying talking Ghost-type they can't touch or make go away. Poké balls work on him but he immediately pops back out even madder, which does nothing to help him persuade them that he's not a Pokémon.

Anyway within a month they'd all die for each other. In a very emotional moment when he thinks they're about to be killed and there's nothing he can do about it, he'd tell them they would have made fine Henchmaniacs; and then when they inevitably survive he immediately takes it back.

I think Bill and Unicron would hook up and I think Unicron would make Bill worse. I think he's one of the only beings in existence that could make Bill worse. Bill's got a self-destructive streak a mile wide and Unicron would exacerbate it. They'd break up cordially and then slowly grow to loathe each other more and more in retrospect. Bill would still booty call Unicron when drunk and Unicron would accept.

this isn't necessarily a ship but imagine if bill and getaway teamed up

The Princess in Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer. Bill would promise her a diamond the size of a star and she would build him a portal in less than a week. Bill would compliment her interior decor sensibilities and she might actually compliment his appearance because he's very bright, and that would be enough for them to decide they're besties. They'd get champagne, trash talk their enemies, and bully the plebs like a couple of high school mean girls. They'd make out while completely wasted and deny it when they're sober. Each of them privately thinks the other one is their pet.

Grendel from Grendel. Bill would initially hook up with him expecting him to be the monster equivalent of a party frat boy and then they'd talk philosophy in a dark cave for 18 hours straight and mutually feel like they're not alone for the first time they can remember. They'd make each other worse and then fix each other and then Grendel would die in battle and Bill would get worse again.

I think he could have something with Frankenstein's monster, too—original novel version, not movie version. Similar reasons to Grendel: strong sense of alienation from parents and of isolation from everyone else in the world; feeling of having been created as something totally singular, feeling of having a perspective no one else shares; self-identification as the monster in the narrative of their own life... Plus with the monster Bill's also got "life inevitably culminates in killing my own dad." Bill met him because he was actually trying to get Frank to build him a portal—he's like the first scientist trying to do major projects using electricity—but then ended up more fascinated by the science project than the scientist.

[elizakai]

you guys i can’t take this anymore i need to release steam from this pot of killer and dust thoughts that’s on the stove

listen. if you don’t know by now. one of my favorite things to do is bridge narratives between fanon ideas, and canon truths hehe

Killer and Dust. The accepted dynamic is basically killer being a pestering little shit and dust being over it.

THATS GREAT ON ITS OWN it’s funny etc

but think about their ACTUAL characters for a moment. they are two sides of the same coin.

⬇️

i don’t want to hear any of that old fandom “they are literally the same” shhhhh. nuh uh dear friend, they commuted the same (general) action💥

their motives and situations are very different however! which is important when it comes to understanding a character

They both played into an opposite role in their world if you ask me.

Killer partners with chara, filling the role of the player. he’s a lot like flowey actually.

(in killers world, while he is still a pawn of this sick game, he gets manipulated after all, he has taken on the ROLE of the player. everyone else are the pawns.)

dust is against the anomaly of dusttale, which is that worlds player.

dust is a pawn. a pawn that is defying the player of the game

(in the same way that killer is still pawned, dust still uses his fellow “pawns” as a means to “win” the game, meaning he’s also playing)

(but again, i’m speaking role wise)

Killer and Dust’s dynamic doesn’t have to just be haha funny, it has some actual merit and potential to their characters.

Killer is constantly looking for new forms of entertainment. something new. he’ll get bored, and if he’s bored he’ll have to look at himself. killer is very much a character representing disassociation avoidance and to an extent, escapism (huh. like someone playing a video game?)

Of COURSE he’s gonna poke at people. it’s INTERESTING. it gets a REACTION. he gets to have that small power trip of being in control, after feeling like he lost control this is something that’s probably addictive to killer.

meanwhile dust…well. killer acts like his own anomaly in a way. he prods at him, toys with him, he’s leering and he takes pleasure in any reaction dust gives. dust probably would resent this feeling without really knowing why. he feels like some toy, and he’d probably be inclined to even interpret a genuine interaction this way.

this honestly makes dusts inclination to shut off or dull down any emotion make more sense. be as unremarkable as possible, and you’ll be left alone, right?

isn’t that…kind of what sans does? he’ll repeat same lines of dialogue and such when he reallyyy doesn’t have to. he’s being uninteresting. (and no he doesn’t need to remember everything magically for that to be possible. in game he will poke fun at past conversations and dialogue so he’s clearly aware enough)

Killer wants a response, so dust doesn’t give one.

killer wants control and feels like this is a challenge, dust feels cornered and defensive

if they had existed in the same world, it would have been killer vs dust in the end either way.

it’s a big old game of cat and mouse until someone snaps. they need to be given the opportunity to understand their similarities

even in an interpretation where they are in a healthier relationship, in whatever capacity, i think these mindsets would be conflict they may have….

to killer , on one hand he may be OFFENDED by his lack of response. he may be EXCITED, it’s a CHALLENGE. he might take dusts resignation as a sign of submission, which would give killer a HIGE power trip.

he might. genuinely just be trying to have fun?

it could be ENTIRELY lighthearted, and it’s still…rather toxic, considering where that mindset branched from

and we know dust won’t be inclined to say anything. he probably doesn’t understand his own feelings to be frank💀 he just feels gross and intimidated and cornered so he shuts off and sees killer as oppressive , and grows resentful regardless of intent, as these feelings only feed into his crippling self hatred anyways

….thats all for tonight-

[chiistarri]

i love you merging interests ,, anyway genshin pjo au

annabeth : pyro – passionate, dedicated their lives to something they like. her passion/interest/etc would be architecture, obviously. even tho she's a child of athena, it's not that her biggest trait is searching for any and all knowledge about whatever. it's that, even removing her godly heritage, she would still have a burning passion for architecture that she would 100% put into use regardless of whatever world or au she's in

percy : hydro – strong dedication/desire to help people (or their movement). percy's fatal flaw is literally loyalty. even removing the fact that he's the son of the sea god, the fact that he is overly loyal to those he adores is just really hydro of him. and yeah, other characters can be loyal asw, but it's the forefront of who he is, and defines him, just like his element

grover : dendro – wanting to know things/skills that are hard/forbidden/that they like. for years, he and his ancestors searched for pan. he and his uncle and other satyrs dedicated their lives to it, which was clearly a hard skill-esque thing to do. it's only fair that in teyvat that he'd get a similar story of finding the knowledge and completing what's been lost. even as a human, he'd find something nature-focused to dedicate his life around

jason : electro – seeing the world uniquely and are considered weird/in their own world. the whole camp half-blood vs. camp jupiter arc he had would make you think he would be cryo (stuck between two things) but really, even at either camps, it'd still be off for him. from his parentage to how he was raised and who he is as a person, it just makes sense for him to be considered hugely different from his peers. and if you want to keep in the raised by wolves things, think razor

piper : geo – hardworking in general, does anything to achieve their goal(s). she was a struggle to decide, honestly. but her goal in pjo was to just live a normal life. from having normal attention from her celebrity father to eventually seemingly abandoning the mytho world in toa in favor of living a much more normal, mortal life, she does anything she can to get there. she dates jason to have a normal, loving relationship in the middle of a time where nothing was close to her normal (the war) and leaves him and the others for the mortal side of her life, and achieves what she always wanted

leo : cryo – contridictory life, stuck between two worlds/the past and present. it's his mom's death. even well-past her dying, he's haunted by it, and constantly thinks he's the cause because of his powers. no matter what he does, it always somehow links back to his mother, in one way or another. his life is so interlinked with her death that he's just stuck on it, and has been ever since it happened, and will always be

frank : geo – hardworking in general, does anything to achieve their goal(s). he was hard, like piper. unlike her, i don't think he'd really have one gigantic goal. in pjo, he did, which was to survive, and he managed it, and got rid of his life being tied to a woodstick. i think he'd be hardworking to prove himself, also like in the books. he proved himself to be useful to the seven despite his whole life-stick thing, to the camp despite being in the worst cohort

hazel : cryo – contridictory life, stuck between two worlds/the past and present. it's kind of self explanatory? from the whole sammy-leo plot to her having been literally dead for a while (think qiqi too), it's the most fitting. you can maybe add the whole dead mom thing like leo, although it would weigh more on her of how her mom was the cause of her death due to her being manipulated by a higher-being rather than leo's whole haunted by the memory of his mother plot

nico : cryo – contridictory life, stuck between two worlds/the past and present. like hazel, he's from the past. like leo, the death his mom (and sister) weigh on him heavily. bianca's affected him for four straight years, with him being completely on his own when he ran and had to face her death. he even tried to bring her back. i think that's reason enough for cryo

reyna : anemo – desire for/chasing after a form of freedom. she, although not being forced into it, had been a foundational role for camp jupiter for a long while at a young age, and eventually took her chance with the hunters to find herself. her freedom is her ability to now discover who she wants to be without feeling like she needs to step up into a heavly burdening role

only vaguely describing the reasons based off their pjo stuff rn, plus only main characters BUT i have more, cred to @wherefore-art-thine and @starrykanon for doing this with me

[vestaclinicpod]

Audio Drama Sunday - 19th May ✨

I have had my heart ripped out through my ears this week by certain shows *cough* Small Victories *cough* but here’s everything I listened to! 

👻 @tellnotalespod (S2E10) these ghosties may be incorporeal but the chemistry between them sure isn’t!! I loved hearing Leo find a role that they feel fits them but found myself burying my head in my hands again as they continue to be manipulated by Frank. I love that it’s been written so that there’s definitely something suspicious going on but you can’t quite put your finger on what it is exactly. It’s so much more like real life than if Frank was just obviously rotten and if (when) he reveals himself to be a rat bastard, I hope it helps people examine their own relationships with people who might be manipulating them! 

🌲 @hellofromthehallowoods (152) Clem 😭 I hate that even as a listener I compare her to Riot but her sense of humour in the face of being pretty much ripped to shreds is SO much like Riot 😩 

And, oh. Oh, Raj. Maybe he hasn’t made a covenant with Syrensyr …. maybe the real eldritch power was grief all along. This killed me. 

I’m hoping at some point (either in the canon or as a bonus) we get to hear the Nikignik/Marolmar conversation in its entirety from start to finish. I love getting snippets but I also want to hear it in full!! 

🧳 Travelling Light @monstrousproductions (22) ooooh I do love a spooky tale and would happily listen to an entire series set in the world of this story! 

🏛 @the-mistholme-museum (TRANQUIL) What a lovely ending to an astounding show. It’s so comforting to know that, at the end of everything, there will still be stories 🥺💙

🖥️ The Magnus Protocol (16) Poor Alice ☹️ I really enjoyed the multimedia additions in this episode, it made it so much more entertaining to listen to!! 

🍎 @notquitedeadpod (XXXVIII) Oh lord. Maybe Casper isn’t the angel we assumed him to be 😩 I literally didn’t trust Neige at all when he was first introduced but, god, I am so soft for him now. If it turns out that he’s the one manipulating Alfie I’m going to lose it. What on earth are they going to do with Casper now?? 

🌞 Small Victories by @wgc-productions (2.05-2.07) oh my GOD!! Marisol!!! I can’t even believe what has happened in my ears. CHRIST. I think what hurts the most is that it actually took zero effort for her to find the oxy in the end - she was REALLY stopping herself 😭 she could have taken it at any time and didn’t. Sometimes it’s hard to believe this show has been written and acted, the writing and performances are so spot on that it feels like real life!

^ So I wrote this and then finished off the rest of the season and OH MY GOD!!!!!!! Shit, man. I completely didn’t even realise who ‘The Host’ was until she apologised to him at the start of the last episode 😭 don’t do this to me, I’m too fragile 😭 ugh, it’s all just too much. I need season three right now. 

Please, everyone go listen to Small Victories!! And if you're having a generous audio drama Sunday, Stories from Ylemore by @itmeblog is crowdfunding and you should support them!!

[ask-the-witch-of-mind]

hiiiii!! always nice to see a new classpect blog ^.^ do you also do classpect compatibility/interactions? either way, could u analyze a prince of light plz? ty!!!

0h b0y this might be a l0nger p0st then what id n0rmally d0 but i l0ve writin s0 i cant rlly c0mplain l0l 8P

about classpect compatibility (going off of in-cannon examples of opposite classes) maids and bards probably wouldnt be the best classes to mix together! jane (a maid) isn't particularly too fond of gamzee (a bard) this could be for more reasons other than class (like aspect) but another example of certain classes not mixing are witches and seers. an example of witches and seers not mixing/not being on the same page, are jade (a witch) and rose (a seer) while saying rose and jade dont like eachother would be a lie (im going to completely ignore hs^2 here because its "dubiously cannon" also because of yiffany) but saying they mix well isnt exactly true. while they are in the same friend group, they don't interact much. only a handful of times and arent on always on the same page and when they are, they dont stay on said page for long. i mainly think why witches and seers dont get along is because of what they do, witches break the rules of their aspect and manipulate it. while seers on the other hand try to understand their aspect and you cant really understand something when you're constantly changing and breaking it. (im not trying to rose and jade "hate" eachother in this part of the analysis but i do find their relationship as a whole interesting) another example is princes and sylphs. kanaya (a sylph) tries to handle eridan (a prince) but eridan (to be frank here) is quite stubborn, theres also the fact that eridan quite literally killed kanaya with his (dorky) wand and then kanaya (came back from the fucking dead) killed eridan with her chainsaw. (another thing id like to add similarly with what i said about witches and seers, sylphs heal/fixes their aspect/heals/fixes theough their aspect, while princes destroy their aspect/destroy through their aspect) theif and page also dont go together (you can probably tell what im going to use as an example) vriska (a theif) and tavros (a page) have an infamously toxic relationship, vriska tries to make tavros "stronger" by literally just abusing him (eg: breaking his legs) and vriska just actually killing him.

about your prince of light question, heres my personal thoughts:

princes tend to ignore/reject their aspect (eg: dirk, kurloz and eridan) and also destroy their aspect/destroy through their aspect, light as an aspect is fortune, attention and any type of light in general.

princes of light are a bit stubborn in the sense that they try to destroy light WITH light, they'd lurk in darkness, break lamps and destroying the meaning of something or making its meaning pointless.

they tend to over-analyse things to the point where its meaning is stripped away, kinda like stripping a tree of its bark and saying "behold, the tree itself!"

princes are naturally pessimistic, they commonly have the mentality of "why should i care about this when it doesn't apply to me?" when it comes to their aspect. but deep-down, they know WHY it applies to them. with the knowledge that princes are naturally pessimistic its safe to assume that most are derse dreamers and normally they are (with in-cannon examples) im a bit stuck on what write for potential prospit dreamers who are princes, im guessing theyd just be less pessimistic? but saying that and just calling it a day feels wrong. im gonna say theyd apply to almost all of the requirements to be a prospit dreamer other then optimistic.

[nerdyqueerandjewish]

About to beat the Backerkit’s record for longest in Overtime (overtime ends when there hasn’t been funding in 10 minutes)

They are $10k away from unlocking Blood and Coal setting, which I would be soooo stoked to get. It seemed impossible but now it’s getting so close. Here’s their blurb about it:

Blood & Coal takes place in the town of Thurmond, West Virginia in the early 20th century, during the first years of the Great Depression. The player characters���the hunters—belong to a secret club known as the Bushburners' Lodge who, while posing as Thurmond's volunteer fire brigade, investigate and neutralize demonic threats that appear around the areas of the New River Gorge and surrounding Fayette County. Over time, they become aware of the plans of a sinister mastermind who seeks to unleash an all-consuming evil from its imprisoned slumber beneath the ancient hills. The hunters will eventually be forced to confront this mastermind in an attempt to halt the End of All Things and save their community. Blood & Coal is directly inspired by the audio drama series Old Gods of Appalachia and the 1987 film Matewan. It also takes inspiration from cosmic horror fiction, as well as real-life Appalachian history, music, and folklore. Blood & Coal is by Alex Rybitski, with contributions from an all-star cast of writers, including Lin Codega, Wesley Franks, and B Narr!

Playbooks

The Canary is a beautiful innocent stuck in a bad situation. They were born with the gift of foresight and the ability to sense malevolent entities in their presence. They are also the ward of another hunter, who has conscripted them into the dangerous work of the Bushburners' Lodge against their wishes. Play the Canary if you want to use miraculous powers to illuminate even the darkest places, or if you'd like to explore the relationship with the one who forces your hand.

The Runner is a bootlegger, hockin' hooch to the good people of Fayette County from the back of their trusty automobile. They fled their past life in the big city, leaving behind more than a few burned bridges with people both powerful and dangerous. Play the Runner if you want to be a noble renegade that outsmarts their opposition, or if you just want to go careening down backcountry roads at hazardous speeds.

The Scab is a detestable coward with a damned soul. They were a labor spy for the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency during the coal wars, using dirty tricks and goading words that lead striking miners to their deaths. They are literally haunted by the spirits of those they betrayed, and it's only a matter of time until their vile soul is dragged to Hell. Play the Scab if you want to be a manipulative, two-faced, lily-livered snake, or if you're interested in exploring how an irredeemable piece of shit gets what they deserve.

The Balladeer is a folk singer, entrusted with the preservation of a precious musical legacy. They've traveled all over these hills, gathering generations of nigh-forgotten songs and stories. During the game, they will pursue truth and tradition with fiery zeal, singing songs that rouse the heart and stir those around them to action. Play the Balladeer if you want to be the most charming person in the room, or if you're interested in exploring your role in the living history of Appalachia and its people.

The Revenant is a vengeful soul. They were recently killed by someone they knew, perhaps even trusted, and left to rot—only, they didn't stay dead; something dark, twisted, and hungry brought them back. During the game, they will have to contend not only with their undead nature and the pursuit of revenge, but also a gnawing corruption that's taking root deep within. Play the Revenant if you want to face having a tenuous and fading grip on humanity, or if you're interested in being an unkillable force out for blood.

The Daughter is the last true witch of Appalachia. She comes from a long line of proud women just like her, but is now alone. She is the chosen guardian of the natural order, the only thing that the forces of darkness may come to fear—if they don't manage to corrupt her, first. During the game, you'll explore her connections to those that came before her and the wisdom they left behind. Play the Daughter if you want to use holler medicine and granny magic to protect others, even if they're scared of what you are.

Threats & Mastermind

Blood & Coal is still in development, but will feature a variety of Threats, including: The Bad Death of Dolores Fink, in which a recently deceased homemaker miraculously revives, only to terrorize her family; The Snarly Yow, in which a monstrous wolf has been scaring travelers along the old roads outside of town; and The Blue Devil of Ratliff Holler, in which the hunters investigate a folk tale, a blue-skinned family of moonshiners, and their criminal clientele. In addition to the other 5 planned Threats, there will be two secret Threats associated with Playbooks. We will have more to reveal in the coming weeks!

The Mastermind in Blood & Coal is Father Tate, a mysterious and charismatic preacher with a dark secret—he is in direct communion with the malevolent forces at work, and will eagerly see Thurmond burn to bring about the return of the God Beneath.

The $30 tier, which has digital copies of all 3 books, would include the Blood and Coal campaign and setting. Across all settings, there’s enough information for several campaigns. If you’re on the fence and can swing it, I highly recommend! The community is also awesome and super encouraging of new game designers / homebrewers.

[pastelalleycat]

(This theory won't make as much sense if you don't see this post where I reversed the beginning of the Looky-Loo storybook to hear what it said. TL;DR, it sounded like "A story by Wally Darling" but I can't confirm whether it says it for certain.)

So when detectives are trying to figure out what happened at the scene of a crime, they don't just go on one person's testimony, right? They get multiple accounts of the story from multiple people- because each person is going to be a little biased, intentionally or not, and one person may have details another person doesn't.

So far, we've been learning about Welcome Home and the Neighborhood through Wally's eyes. The "listen" videos are 100% from his perspective, and he addressed us through short audio clips and secret pages several times in the older site. There was a brief intrusion by Sally on the Halloween record and Frank seems to have some level of sentience as well, but otherwise Wally is our guide.

And it works, mostly! Back in the day he was essentially the viewer-stand in, the main protagonist, the most popular character, the one who had the most communication with the collective You (the one he knows). It makes sense he'd want to fill the role of a host again.

But... it has its drawbacks.

Wally likes when everything is in order- not in the sense of literal organization like Frank, instead in a more social sense. He likes knowing a holiday will happen at the same time each year. He likes anticipating a planned excursion. He likes knowing this neighbor lives over here and this one lives over there. He likes knowing this neighbor is his best friend and this neighbor is Frank's best friend-

See what I'm getting at here?

Wally has a very fixed viewpoint on the Neighborhood. If the collective You can help him, his world will, theoretically, go back to the way it was. Everything can find their normal again. Whatever's manipulating Wally seems to have less than savory intentions, but that's what Wally himself believes. He's doing this for everybody's good, not just his own, no matter how sketchy the path is to get there.

Even if it means presenting a version of his world that only exists through his eyes.

[cto10121]

Finished re-reading Rebecca and I have Observations(tm)

It’s so obvious upon rereading that Beatrice doesn’t like Rebecca, lol. She never says anything positive about her other than objective facts, forgets that Gran liked Rebecca, and has uncharacteristic patience with the narrator.

Maxim keeping cool while Favell brags about being Rebecca’s lover but losing it when Favell merely insinuates the narrator finding a sympathetic “arm” with Frank is so revealing.

Also, the fact that it took Maxim so long (literally years) to confront Rebecca about her infidelities—practically only doing it when she took lovers at the boathouse in Manderley—says a lot. Maxim really did not give two shits about her.

Mrs. Danvers practically raising Rebecca (per Favell) and being with her from when Rebecca was at least 12-years-old really changed my perspective on their relationship. Less of a flying monkey to a narcissist and more of a mother/companion figure. The way she worried about Rebecca not returning home and staying up was especially mother-like. On the other hand, we don’t quite know how old Danvers is compared to Rebecca. It could be a case of younger servant / older madam, but Danvers does read as older by a lot.

Otoh, you could make a case that Danvers/Rebecca is a parallel to The Narrator/Maxim, both with servant/master overtones. The narrator does liken her love for Maxim as that of a schoolboy over an upper form and that Maxim is “father and brother and everything” to her. Du Maurier may be depicting (eroticized?) class dynamics.

Rebecca’s infidelity is made into such a big deal (‘30s after all) but Du Maurier definitely wrote abusive signs: Rebecca flogging a dead horse with a whip, her threatening to send Ben to an asylum, her mocking the servants behind their back chief among them. She reads as a female Iago—an excellent liar and manipulator expert at masking and mirroring people. It makes all the Rebecca defenders look really obstuse

The narrator believes that Colonel Julyan knows the truth, but I don’t see how he would. Rebecca committing suicide after a cancer diagnosis would be in character—Mrs. Danvers said that Rebecca had a horror of sickness and would have wanted to be quick about it. He may have had his suspicions aroused when Maxim punched Favell, but honestly, who wouldn’t? Either way, Julyan opted to protect Maxim. It also makes that awful Beauman sequel about his knowing and liking Rebecca all the more stupid.

Surprise, surprise, but I felt for Mrs. Danvers and even Favell at parts, particularly Mrs. Danvers crying and Favell shaken after learning about Rebecca’s diagnosis. But it’s clear they are awful people and so of course they’d like her, lol. It’s telegraphed that Mrs. Danvers would have been 100% okay with the narrator if the narrator had been another Rebecca clone and/or wasn’t such a pushover. Curiously enough Favell was still hopeful to get Maxim even after the cancer revelation…but we never learn how.

On Maxim’s love for/not love for the narrator: The narrator really is unreliable in the sense that everything is colored by her insecurity and her crippling shyness. She takes everything personally—every slight lands like a blow to a youth and all that. How much is Maxim truly being coldly callous—and how much is he genuinely panicked and triggered by the memories of Rebecca’s abuse?

I think a good example of the above is the narrator feeling slighted that Maxim set her up in the renovated east wing suite with the rose garden (usually for bachelor guests) when the original marital suite (the “best” and most beautiful rooms per Danvers) were in the west wing with the sea…only for Maxim to come in and cheerfully say he always loved the east wing suite with the rose garden and it was a shame that it was wasted as a guest room. Homeboy wanted his new bride to be in the rooms he loved and not the ones he was forced to share with Rebecca…aw

And then there is Maxim easily confessing the truth to the narrator and admitting he almost confessed earlier. Weirdly enough, I do believe him—but what a horrible risk! What if she turned against him, feared him, ceased to love him? Denounce him? Maxim knew her so little before they married, and yet he didn’t seem to fear any of these things. Curiously enough, he doesn’t even ask the narrator to help him, either directly or indirectly, and even seemed resigned to his fate. Was he that entitled, to take it all for granted, that stupid…that in love?

Usually I dislike typically the (typically) Christian theme of innocence/naïveté>>>>wordliness/just not being a clueless idiot. I think it works better here though as a basic but non-abusive>>>>beautiful but abusive type type of thematic messaging. Both the narrator and Maxim struggle to move on past their trauma, for want of a better word (the narrator as an orphan under that awful degrading Mrs. Van Hopper and Maxim with all the shit Rebecca put him through). To a certain extent they’ve internalized these survival instincts as mere habit. The narrator’s crippling insecurities follow her as a wife and Maxim doesn’t even think to change Manderley from Rebecca’s influence, renovating only the east wing suite. It took Rebecca returning, so to speak, for them to face their hang-ups squarely. The narrator realized just how much her insecurities have blinded her to the truth and made her unhappy and Maxim gained a true ally.

[midnightstargazer]

❤️🤍 !!

thanks @slitheringghost!

unpopular opinion ask game

Took me a while to find the red heart, I think it's the one that's showing as plain solid-colored black for me, but please let me know if you meant something different.

❤: Which character do you think is the most egregiously mischaracterized by the fandom?

Barty Crouch Jr.

I like the idea that he had a tense relationship with his father going back several years before he got caught as a Death Eater. And I like the idea that he was close to Regulus Black and Evan Rosier, whether romantically or just as friends - although that's purely headcanon that I think could make sense, not actually something with canon evidence to back it up.

But that's about where fanon Barty and I part ways.

Canon Barty is, first of all, incredibly intelligent. Both in terms of book smarts (twelve O.W.L.s!) and in terms of cunning and manipulation (see: literally everything he does in GoF). Fanon Barty often seems like he doesn't have a coherent thought in his head.

In canon, he comes across as someone who nobody - Crouch Sr. included - would have suspected, so I doubt he was openly rebellious. More likely he was sneaking away to meetings and hanging out with bad influences at school while still toeing the line at home.

He was right up there with Bellatrix as one of Voldemort's most loyal followers. He definitely wasn't in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was caught, and he absolutely did join of his own free will.

I'm not a big fan of making Frank and Alice involved with Evan Rosier's death and framing what Barty did to them as revenge.

And I'm going to be petty here: he has straw-colored hair, i.e., dirty blond or light brown, and there's no indication he had tattoos or piercings.

🤍: Which character is not as morally bad as everyone else seems to think?

The difficult thing about this question is that in such a huge fandom, there are so many conflicting opinions, and morally ambiguous characters tend to be polarizing rather than overwhelmingly hated or loved.

But I think criticisms of Kreacher in OotP often fail to take into account his circumstances. I'm not talking about his role in Sirius's death so much as just his attitude in general. Sometimes, I think people tend to forget he's a house-elf, or forget what that means.

Like, yes, he calls people mudbloods and blood traitors and is generally very unpleasant. But he's probably never interacted with a Muggle-born before, or anyone who wasn't a bigot, except for Sirius and maybe Andromeda before they were disowned. He's repeating what he's always heard, and he's certainly never been encouraged to think for himself. He's loyal to the Blacks because that's how house-elves generally are, and also possibly because they treated him better than comparable families like the Malfoys would have. He's been completely alone for about ten years, interacting with no one but Walburga's portrait. And he's reacting to a situation where his whole world has been turned upside down overnight, not to mention suddenly belonging to someone who clearly hates him.

He has no power over his own life, he's probably frightened and upset, he's very indoctrinated, and he comes around eventually. While it's not good, I think something gets lost when people act like there's no context, as if he's just awful for no reason or as if he's coming from the same sort of position of power that a pure-blood wizard would be when they act in similar ways.

[anddreadful]

full thoughts on frank wildhorn’s dracula having re-watched it in its entirety for the first time in many years:

- I watched a recent upload of an (american) community theater production, specifically because a) its sound quality was surprisingly good and b) my recent interest is because a local theater is putting it on, so given the opportunity, I wanted to see whatever version of the show is currently available for north american licensing

- the production was charming but the community theater (technically dinner theater! I went on a google hunt to find the theater and it’s only two hours from me lmao) was community-ing so I can’t really write home about the acting. or the singing although mina had a nice voice

- the one place I will dunk on the production is how hilariously chaste mina and dracula were. the biting scene was notably stiff and un-suggestive of sex despite taking place on a bed. maybe one of the actors wasn’t comfortable with doing anything more, but they had only one kiss, and it was so late in the show and such a teeny little dry peck on the lips that I hollered. at that point just don’t do it and pretend theirs is an ~intellectual connection or something

- dracula did do a creepy hair-petting thing to both renfield and Mina that I was a big fan of

- “if loving you keeps me alive, then how can leaving me be right?” is such a funny lyric. dirtbag manipulative boyfriend dracula

- I knew not all the songs were on the studio cast recording, but I had forgotten HOW MANY songs aren’t on it. where is How Do You Choose? If I Could Fly? It’s Over????? I had fully forgotten there was a life after life reprise. I was obsessed with the studio cast recording in high school and I know all those songs by heart (except for a perfect life because I think it’s bad) and now i’m like. why was I gatekept from so many of the songs!! why is there no professional english recording of Its Over!! answer me frank!!!!!

- this is not a new thought per se but a) I so love that all the suitors are present and themselves b) this show squanders them. jack has no personality whatsoever (I would trade TWO mina ballads for a jack song please I beg), arthur gets needlessly dunked on, and quincey is delightful and incredible and also narratively extraneous given that he doesn’t kill dracula or die at the end

- on that note, though, I cannot believe they included quincey being the first person to promise mina to kill her if the time comes in a book-accurate version of that scene. even the 1992 version doesn’t do that!!!! and this is basically just an adaptation of that movie!!!!! is this the ONLY dracula adaptation to include that detail? it’s a top five book moment for me so I very literally love to see it

- I understand that we had to beef up van helsing as a character SOMEHOW but was a dead wife song really the best we could come up with

- there are too many sad slow songs in this show for what it’s trying to accomplish! some of them immediately on top of each other! and some of the songs distinctly go on for just one too many verses 😭

- does the mina/ dracula romance make any sense? no. does the show make any effort whatsoever to make it? no. am I into it anyway? yeah. fuck it. I have terrible taste and so i think dracula as a disembodied voice like HI? HELLO? DON’T IGNORE ME? and mina being like “unfortunately, i’m into it” rocks

- “She Devil, Nosferatu” and “the lady in white” from that other dracula concept album are both so superior to “undead one, surrender” I almost feel bad for Frank and co there, but “the master’s song”, “life after life”, and “deep in the darkest night” still fucking slap

- the train hypnotism scene was soooo good except for the part where mina did dracula’s accent. not sure if that’s standard but I wish we hadn’t done that

- i’m not THAT well versed in musical theater as an art form and also all art is derivative etc but i do know that wildhorn has been historically criticized for derivativeness and…… yeah! you can tell where he mimics sondheim, and it doesn’t work because you can’t casually mimic sondheim and get out alive. i can’t think of the moment but there was some bit of music I could have sworn was out of Phantom, and it’s obviously a big general inspiration. not to be Boss Baby Guy but I see a lot of Les Mis DNA in it too (what is It’s Over if not The Confrontation in a goth hat)

- the dialogue between songs is serviceable at absolute best, and it’s a shame that it’s so consistently sacrificed at the altar of moving the plot the fuck along. for the most part, only mina and dracula meaningfully connect via song, so it would be nice to use the dialogue to flesh out relationships more often. lucy and mina being besties is a highlight!!!

- ultimately i had a blast but it must needs be said: the show is not good. the best possible execution of “literally just the novel dracula but dracula and mina are having a secret tragic love affair” is probably what we get in the 1992 dracula movie, and if there’s a way to translate that to stage well, it’s not this shallow, silly speedrun. but again. this trash is my trash. the painted cardboard castle of bad dracula adaptations is where i live.

- I actually think it would be really interesting to be involved in a production only because to make these characters function in terms of acting, I think you’d have to invent and extrapolate a lot in terms of motivation and characterization to supplement the text. which would be fun for me, a person who thinks about versions of dracula characters all the time already

[deuterosapiens]

Woah, two Hellraiser films in one night! It's like Christmas, but like, if Christmas was Hellraiser: Revelations and your parents hated you. So what make this, the ninth film, so remarkably special isn't just that it's bad, no. No no no. Bad, bad is something we can deal with.

This is a special kind of bad.

You see, Revelations includes a significant number of elements from the original film that I've found sorely lacking in the sequels. This one actually recreates a fair number of story elements that are unique to film one (and by extension, the original novella).

A pleasure seeker meets a mysterious figure who gifts him the Lemarchand Box. After being ripped apart by the Cenobites, he is revived through the spilling of blood which escalates into a series of murders at the hands of an accomplice to give life back to the pleasure seeker. The pleasure seeker ends up wearing another's skin as a ruse.

I think the best description I have for this one is unnecessarily exploitative. These films don't shy away from sex and violence, but in a very weird way, I don't think any of it actually adds anything to the movie. What exactly did that thing with the prostitute in the restroom actually add to this movie?

So there are two narratives happening. The first, which as I've outlined above, is basically the original Hellraiser's Julia/Frank plot and is background information which is periodically revealed to us as the second plot plays out. In the present, we have what feels like a standard home invasion, but where there's no invasion and everyone just sort of screams at everyone.

There's an interesting element in which our lead ends up stealing his friend's skin, who opens the Box and becomes a Cenobite. What I liked about this was that it actually shows us a brief moment where the Cenobites are doing Cenobitical things: we see a brief moment in Hell in which nothing is a plot to manipulate the damned, or punish a victim. It shows a brief glimpse of what is an actual Cenobite being taught and learning. This is actually kind of cool and flashes the world out ever so slightly more and would have been an excellent thing to expand on. The identity of this Cenobite is supposed to be a secret, but you've guessed the Reveal long before it's honestly worth setting up a Reveal.

There's an uncomfortable incest scene which is the exact moment you should have pieced together the Act Three Reveal, that Nico is wearing Stephen's skin.

This reveal, actually, this whole plot annoys me because I cannot for the like of me figure out what the point of the scene where he exposits in a trance is for, from a character perspective. Why would this character, if they are in a fugue state, speak as though he is not in fact, Nico in disguise? This feels like the writers had completely different intentions for these characters, then changed their minds as they continued, but did not go back and edit the script to accommodate.

I think I've keyed in on the biggest issue. This entire movie feels like a Rough Draft script written solely to get a script out. It feels like zero revisions were made and not a single person stepped in to polish it.

There's a return to basics that I did appreciate: The Cenobites are never actually given an Infernal explanation in this one. Hell, our live action Harry DuBois only uses the word "angel" to describe them. I love this interpretation of their purposes, which I guess makes sense since it is literally ripped directly from the first film.

I'm serious, this guy reminds me of Harry DuBois:

He's the vagrant who gives our leads the Box, which I guess technically would make him the Engineer, but, once again, that role seems to be had by the nail-headed Hell Priest.

We don't see much in the way of Cenobite design (truth be told, we don't see much of anything: this entire film's lighting feels like David Yates' most depraved fantasy; filters other than blue exist, you know!), but none of them are particularly new. Just rehashed versions of the nail-headed Cenobite, the Chattering Cenobite, oh look! There's a second nail-headed Cenobite!

So, why is this one so bad?

The best moment of the film is like thirty seconds long. The original parts of the story are boring, loud, and generally poorly written. The not-so-original parts are exactly the same as the first film, but they have chosen the exact worst ways to implement them.

I will admit, I saw exactly one turn on the Box that made me squee happily, if only because it was a corner turn and not the exact same two-move opening that has so royally pissed me off seeing. That's right guys, I got more joy out of a character making a move on the Box that was different than the opening sequence used in basically every other movie (any points this would have awarded us are lost because this turn exists in one scene, and the three other instances of the Box being opened return back to the standard two moves). It's a Puzzle Box, dammit! Is it really that fucking difficult to show this thing being opened like an actually fucking Puzzle Box??

I do not want to watch Judgement after this complete waste of time reboot. Officially it's a sequel, but this has reboot written all over it. Actually, this has "I'm about to lose franchise rights" written all over it.

[elizacinnamon]

Its the way that 6x10 was an episode that it was given all that happens in that episode which in some ways created unnecessary drama that then went no where:

~Archie and Betty speaking on their emotional tethers and in a sense Archie kinda believing he could be one for Betty given his body language. As this could speak to the fact that they feel safe test and emotional vulnerable to each other the most out of anyone. As Betty saying her mom is an emotional tether while Alice treats her like crap is RICH coming from the writers on some parts.

~Veronica showing up to Archie’s abilities competition but this girl didn’t even know that Archie was invincible and no one told her yet… HA so stupid just to tease the VAs and annoy the heck out of the BA fans. As Betty can not have ONE moment with him as her man doing shit like that. They didn’t even give them a cute scene after it was over, instead they gave us Jughead interacting with Archie instead about a stupid statue that means NOTHING by the end of the episode. Ugh. . Plus going back to the Veronica of it all, it was very weird that they specficially dressed cami in the same jacket that V wore when Archie was with Josie during that fight in S3.

~ They had Betty not attend the fight because she was with Cheryl (valid) but then when she finally shows up… Jughead doesn’t give them space to just talk together (basically C-blocked by the way he is basically giving daggers at them the whole time) she couldn’t even give Archie more than a touch on the arm because Jughead was right in their faces and have a quiet moment for her to apologize for missing the fight about having to care for Cheryl / give them a cute moment in the locker room just to take a moment to breathe. Instead we cut basically to IMMEDIATELY there is then this moment of angst with each other (Barchie) about the palladium not being where Betty said it was which was so random.

Also people critiqued how she happened to be sleeping in her own bed instead of beside Archie in that flashback / cut away scene was strange considering he’s living right next door. The scene was already creepy enough that Percival was able to manipulate Alice to let him into Betty’s room to unlock that info out of Betty, lord only knows how even creepier that would have been if Percvial who was downstairs with Frank assuringly plotting whatever shenanigans they were only for Percival to walk upstairs to Archie’s room opened the door to Betty/Archie in bed together sleeping to then try the mind control trick on her… that would be even more messed up.

Some of the choices in some of the episodes in this era were so strange and were to drum up drama but it just fell flat because they didn’t know what they were doing with it.

As like Veronica is the literal last person to gain her powers / know about them… but they also COMPLETELY retcon how she obtained her ability. As she got her abilities initially from Percvial, via Reggie’s gift. It’s why Percvial is literally SMIRKING at her when she does her “Toxic” performance because he is so proud its working. There was so many signs that Veronica was going to turn into a mini villain, but no we had to again throw Kevin, and Alice/ Frank into that role instead because we can’t make her a true baddie for whatever reason. Veronica in her light Villain era like in 6x03 Rivervale would have been ICONIC for S6 proper. As episodes later it is said that Veronica got her “abilities” because she killed her ex-husband and her dad as it’s THAT trauma as why she’s got these “black widow” abilities. Give me a break that makes no sense.

If you wrote even a one shot for 6x10 it would have been better executed than what we got 💕

I agree all of this drama went nowhereeeeee.

I starting working on my 6x10 fic and hope to publish it soon! I know people love missing scenes so trying my best.

-Betty is psycho for saying her mother is her tether. Maybe Polly but definitely not Alice. I have a theory for why she said that and why Archie reacted, which I may wait to elaborate on in my fic.

-Veronica acting like that, especially since she knows Betty and Archie are dating, is super cringe to me. Maybe it’s because she doesn’t know, whereas Betty is like “yeah, he’s fine.” Betty is also less hype in general. I also think Betty finds the whole competition a little silly, which is something I will also explore in the story.

-Jughead was SO annoying in this episode. So much you could argue he was borderline in love with Archie. The statue is embarrassing. But even more annoying, he should’ve given Betty a moment with Archie. I have the headcanon he potentially was a little oblivious to their relationship, which I will also further explore in my fic.

-The palladium bit was also odd but I liked the angst. I can imagine Archie getting a little mad at Betty for not being at the match/the palladium, leading to some emotional (and physical breakthrough).

-Betty sleeping alone is odd but I guess they weren’t living together yet and they needed her to be for the sake of the scene.

-I agree I wanted Veronica to have a much deserved villain arc. Making her desperate instead was a major downgrade to her character in my opinion. I don’t hate Veronica but the writers really missed with her characterization.

But overall, I agree the writing choices were off here. A combo of bait and bad writing. We’ll see what I can do . . .

[medicinemane]

See, thing about Amber diceless rpg is that... so much of it comes down to "what do you do when one character has a 45 in strength and the other has a 30"?

"The higher number always wins" would be boring and miserable, so you actually have to think about stuff like... does the lower number have higher strategic skills (warfare stat) or higher endurance? Maybe that means that while they're definitely losing, they can hold out for longer or they can come up with a good dirty trick to break free

What about people's plans? Is anyone wanting to do anything interesting? There's no dice here, so it's up to you think ponder how those plans would stack up against each other

Maybe they'd lose but they're good enough to avoid getting grappled as they back up towards that window to jump out of

It's honestly kinda a hard game to GM in some ways, but I really do like how much it's like "the numbers on the paper are a guideline, the skills and powers everyone have are just a part of the equation, work with the players to figure out how the story actually goes"

(Also, while it's... hmm... you know I might run a normal campaign like this just cause it's still fun)

(Anyway, the first session is the stat auction. You're allocated x number of points not just for stats but for literally everything, and you can drop down from the starting rank of Amberite which is basically zero to... I think it was get... 10 or 15 points for dropping to Chaosite and I think it was 25 for dropping to human stats but... if you're human you're trash at that, you're on par with literally you or me while you're dealing with what are practically gods comparatively)

(So the players can either have figured out what powers and stuff they want to get beforehand and know they need to reserve like... think it's like 45 for advanced shape shifting for instance, it's expensive for a reason, or they could do the action and then build their character of the flavor)

(Anyway, then you take a stat and start the bidding on it. Everyone goes around and says like... "10 in psyche", "17 in psyche" and you can totally just chime in with a "3 in psyche" if you don't want to go higher, you're literally just announcing your stat)

(You go around till everyone's happy and locks in... people could go higher, once again you could raise from that 3 to a 27 cause people are up at like 50 and you don't want to be stomped, you literally just say what number you want and it helps you avoid getting blindsided by Goliath over there that dumped half their stats in Str and half in End and nothing else)

(You just go through each of the stats one by one and... now one of the things you can do is play a one shot called a throne war where you all just try and take control of the throne of Amber, and there's a degree to which this mechanic is focused on that)

(But honestly I think it could be fun to run a normal campaign and tell everyone not to share anything about their character during the action so during the first bit of gameplay all anyone knows is Frank has a mind the size of Sweden and then you get to see what that character actually looks like)

...I don't know, I don't know how much sense this makes to anyone else, but this is how I grew up. Half the time I'd run campaigns for myself by myself... I really only have 2 characters who stuck from Amber... kinda 3 as one of them's kinda become a character in the past who figured out a lot of really advanced pattern based shadow manipulation but... he exists in that the stuff he came up with is called Edwardian shadow shifting, but honestly Eddie himself isn't much of a character

Nah, it's really just the Count and his General who ended up full fledged characters (and the the Viscount joined them from a totally different rpg... also, sorry but it's just so them to not even have me share the actual names, not even cause secrecy is important because secrecy is funny to them... making it all sound more important than it really is)

...so yeah