#And something else i've noticed is the characters that fans most often like to say get adopted by other characters tend to be poc

[fernacular]

It’s a bit weird that you keep seeing people talking about various characters “adopting” Miles when he very clearly has parents who love and care for him already

Like

He doesn’t need a new dad he very much has a dad

It’s actually a pretty important part of the story that he has a dad who he loves and loves him

[ao3cassandraic]

As far as they can

At the end of the Job minisode, Crowley inaugurates Their Side by proclaiming Aziraphale "an angel who goes along with Heaven... as far as he can," parallel to his own stated relationship with Hell.

Only it... doesn't actually work that way. Their exactlies are different exactlies.

Crowley defies and lies to Hell as often as he thinks he can get away with it. He never disabuses Downstairs of their misconceptions about his contributions to human atrocities. He cheerfully lies in his reports Downstairs, something Aziraphale briefly turns on his Baritone of Sarcastic Disapproval about in s1. Crowley even turns evil homeopathic in the latter part of the 20th century, likely in hopes that it will look good to head office while accomplishing essentially nothing. (This, of course, is another way he Crowleys himself, both with the London phone system and the M25.) After Eden, Crowley's default given an assignment from Hell is to see how he can subvert it.

Aziraphale, on the other hand, defies Her and Heaven as little as he possibly can. Sometimes, as with his sword giveaway, his compassion gets the better of his anxiety. Sometimes, as with Job's children in the destruction of the villa, he can try to stay within the letter of the law by leaving the defiance to Crowley.

His default, however, is "'m 'nangel. I can't dis- diso -- not do what 'm told." This comes out most often as respect for the Great/Divine Plan, which to him is sacrosanct. He sounds quite sincere in s1 when he says "Even if I wanted to help I couldn’t. I can’t interfere with the Divine Plan."

Aziraphale quite frequently Good Angels along by parroting Heaven's party line, whether it's "it'll all be rather lovely" or "I am good, you (I'm afraid) are evil" or droning on about evil containing the seeds of its own destruction, or condemning Elspeth's graverobbing as "wicked" (a stance he offers absolutely no reasoned support for, no logic, no "but She said," not a word -- that's very Heaven; most of Heaven's angels have the approximate brainpower of paramecia). Maestro Michael Sheen even has a particular voice cadence -- I think of it as Sententious Voice -- he uses when Aziraphale is thoughtlessly party-lining.

When the angel's conscience wars with his sense of Heaven's orthodoxy but (and this is an important but) he can't feasibly resist whatever's wrong, he offers strengthless party-line justifications he clearly doesn't agree with (as with the "rain bow" in Mesopotamia) or resorts to a Nuremberg defense: "I'm not consulted on policy decisions, Crowley!" Once or twice, he's even vocally aware of Heavenly hypocrisy: "Unless… [guns]'re in the right hands, where they give weight to a moral argument… I think." This isn't Sententious Voice. It's I-can't-disobey-and-I-hate-that voice.

But at base, the angel prefers obedience (not least because it's vastly safer), and he'd rather have someone else do his moral reasoning for him. Honestly? Pretty relatable. I know lots of people like this -- hell's bells, I've been this person, though I grew out of it somewhat -- and I daresay you do too. Moral reasoning is hard and often lonely (since it can be read as self-righteousness or even hypocrisy) and acting as it dictates can hurt. Nobody would need ethics codes if The Right Thing was also invariably The Convenient Thing.

Many GO fans find these Aziraphalean traits frustrating! Especially his repeated returns to parroting Heaven orthodoxy! Sometimes I do too! (Not least because I'm rather protective of my own integrity, and it's cost me quite a few times. I'm well-known in professional circles for picking up a rhetorical spear and tilting at the nearest iniquitous windmill. I often lose, but I sure do keep tilting. Every once in a blue moon I actually win one.)

The key, I think, to giving our angel a little grace on this (beyond honoring the gentle compassion that is pretty basic to his character) is noticing how often he can be induced to abandon an unconsidered Heavenish default stance. As irritating as his default is, and as consistently as he returns to it, it's not really that hard to talk him out of it. Crowley, of course, is tremendously good at knocking Aziraphale away from his default -- he's had to be. But Aziraphale even manages to talk himself away from his default once, in the form of the Ineffable Plan hairsplitting at the airbase!

I think the character-relevant point of the Resurrectionist minisode is making this breaking-the-Heavenish-default dynamic as clear as the contents of the pickled-herring barrel aren't. "That's lunatic!" Crowley exclaims, when Aziraphale Sententious Voicedly parrots Heaven's garbage about poverty providing extra opportunities for goodness. Aziraphale isn't quite ready to let go yet, replying "It's ineffable."

But Dalrymple (who, I think, parallels Heaven, perhaps even the Metatron -- there could be something decent there, but it's buried too deep under scorn and clueless privilege for any graverobber-of-souls to dig it out) manages to break Aziraphale's orthodoxy by explaining the child's tumor.

Once released from his orthodoxy, Aziraphale can't be trusted to handle moral reasoning well; his moral-reasoning ability is not-uncommonly (though not always) portrayed as vitiated. When he gives Elspeth the go-ahead to dig up more bodies, his excuses are just as vacuous as they were when he was convinced of her wickedness. He knows that he's crossed Heaven's line, too, and just as at Eden it's worrying him. That's why he has to talk to Crowley to nerve himself up to help Wee Morag... only he spends too much time talking, and it's too late.

But Crowley can then talk him into bankrolling Elspeth toward a better life. Aziraphale doesn't even put up any fight, both because he's compassionate and because Crowley is temporarily taking the place of Heaven (he's even Heaven-sized and staring down at them!) as the angel's moral compass.

S1 has an even worse example of Aziraphale's moral wavering, actually. Crowley yells "Shoot him, Aziraphale!" and Aziraphale sure does try to murder Adam. Again, he's adopting his morals from the nearest (and loudest) convenient source. Madame Tracy, thankfully, has enough of a moral backbone to save our angel from himself and Crowley.

(With my ersatz-ethicist hat on: this is a fight between utilitarianism and deontology. Crowley is the utilitarian, which is actually a bit of a departure for him, but he's admittedly desperate. Madame Tracy is the deontologist: One Doesn't Kill Children. Aziraphale is caught in the middle.)

I wouldn't be surprised if part of the reason we start s3 with Aziraphale and Crowley separated is so that Aziraphale finally has to do his own moral reasoning, without Crowley's nudges. I don't think it'll be easy for him. It will absolutely be lonely. And it may well hurt.

But I will watch for it, because it's how he will become his own angel, independent of Heaven and even of Crowley. And he must do that.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

Obligatory, I don't think I'm technically wrong, but I know I could be an asshole, I think I'm justified, I wanna know what other ppl think, etc,

This is mult. fandom related and I'm 25 and have been on Tumblr for approx 10 years so I'm not speaking as someone new to either Tumblr or fandom spaces

AITA for reporting art and fic as spam when it's tagged as something else in a tag I'm searching for?

This applies to many fandoms I'm in not just one so I feel no need to list them since it's not like personal beef or fandom specific drama but basically as I'm sure many people do when I want to see fan art or even the occasional fic for my favorite character I'll go into their character tag via Tumblr search, it's one of the few things I enjoy about this website is it's semi functional tagging and search system. But more often and usually lately I've been finding a lot of stuff in say character A tag that doesn't have character A in it, it's a drawing of character B that's been tagged with the main fandom tag, B, and every other main character. I know its so the art or fic gets more views but it's annoying ESPECIALLY if it's fic because not to generalize but fics tagged like that usually dont have a read more either so I have to scroll past this massive block of text that's not only a fic I'm not interested in, but one that's incorrectly tagged for a character I'm trying to find content of so they're the ones I tend to report as spam the most over art which is easier to scroll past ill admit

Even on ao3 it's a feux pas to tag characters that just "appear" if they're not central to the fic so they already shouldn't be tagging any character mentioned in their fic

This USUALLY tends to happen with people's oc posts as well and nothing against OCs they're just not my thing and if I were in the main tag I'd happily scroll by since I recognize their place but just like the other two I'll notice it's just a drawing of someone's oc or their OC's profile and it's tagged with the full main cast, thus showing up in the character I'm looking for's tag

Or character x readers and character A (and C, D, E, F, etc) will be tagged on a B x reader fic, obviously I have no interest in reading a fic like that especially when again the entire cast has been tagged not because they appear in the fic but for engagement

Also I'm not dumb I filter for fandoms so like if the tag I'm in is just "Steve" obviously I know it'll apply to multiple fandoms like Minecraft or avengers since that's a super nonspecific name/tag I'm talking about deliberate tagging within the same fandom

I also don't report the post if they're like "this is my OC his name is James Bond" obviously that's gonna show up in like the James Bond tag which while more specific would not count as spam since that's still a proper tag that would apply, it's the OC's name that just happens to be the name of another character

So, while I don't feel bad because I find these people annoying since they're obviously tagging things like I mentioned on purpose for attention but on the other hand I feel a little guilty because fan art and fan fic is important to any fandom but just, that is one of the definitions of a spam post is something improperly tagged on purpose

TLDR: I report posts in my favorite character's tag as spam when they don't have my favorite character but are tagged with them because they clog up the actual tag with garbage

[morskisir]

Answer to this ask I had to post seperately because I reached the character limit or something.

OHHHH Anon you are not ready. I think about this bastard so much and too deeply.

Before I get into it:

I love how you worded this question- gives a nice atmosphere.

Just to be clear this is all about RED Sniper. I apologise to any BLU Sniper enjoyers for I don't have thoughts about that guy.

I'm not the biggest fan of the comics for many reasons so don't mind me retconning a lot of that.

In the end these are all MY opinions and views of him- if you don't like them that's no problem. It's free real estate.

And FINALLY; my thoughts, under read more:

OKAY, let's start with what even got me to interpret him the way that I do; hell yeah baby, it's Meet the Sniper time.

I've seen MANY people often assume that Sniper is one of the most normal/chill people of the 2fort nine- but the impression I got is that he wants you to think he's normal so desperately despite everything else pointing to how fucking weird he actually is. Simply noticing the stuff he's saying makes it a lot more clear. The very beginning where he goes "Boom, headshot," making light of taking another person's life so swiftly. "Cause at the end of the day; as long as there's two people left on the planet- someone is gonna want someone dead," really positive light you see the world in, Sniper.

Of course you can take this as him being "realistic", and I do agree he's more of a realist than a pessimist or optimist, but "...have a plan to kill everyone you meet," is SO fucked up. Why is his first thought when meeting someone to know how to kill them? This to me is him not being able to properly connect to other people/understand them or actually SEE them as people. Not to mention his smile after delivering that shot in the timelapse of him sniping (AND after stabbing Spy). This cunt enjoys killing. He's not the type to slowly kill someone or torture them- but he is the type to feel satisfaction after planting a bullet in someone; give himself a pat on the back for it- or perhaps find humour in the kill.

The conclusion this brought me to is that he is an unreliable narrator in "Meet the Sniper". (Also the "..be polite," line. Yeah, sure, dude. Your voice lines are very polite.)

CAN WE TALK ABOUT HIS FUCKING TEETH? The way his teeth look and how much they're shown to the viewer by exaggerating his mouth movements feels like a "this guy is NOT normal" sign. No one in the game has teeth similar to him and his canines are HUGE. Like holy shit, he's an apex predator.

A comment @cheebuss (I know you wanna get tagged) saw once has been a running joke between us- it was basically "He indicates so he's normal," which is fucking hilarious, but I can genuinely refute that point. First of all we see him fucking speeding in the beginning of the video- to be fair we don't know what the speed limit on this road is, BUT:

Cunt drives around with a broken side mirror. That's really unsafe, obviously. A good chunk of that mirror has gone to shit and he does not care to replace it (which feeds into my headcanon of him being stingy/not wanting to spend money because he lived on a farm and they did everything themselves). Speaking of his van; it gave me the impression he likes having everything he needs near him- he doesn't need a grand, expensive space to feel comfortable. (I headcanon that he's actually scared/unnerved by vast, empty spaces/buildings) ALSO I think he's messy and prefers the claustrophobia of his van. I like to believe his childhood room was much the same (to the detriment of his mother)- that's his safe space damn it!!!

And here I can transition into talking about his parents!!! : D Of course, not much was shown to us of Mr. & Mrs. Mundy, but we can still glean some stuff from the video- and partially- the comics.

His father very obviously disapproves of his job, calling him "a crazed gunman", and showing his morals do not align with Sniper's. Sniper calls for his mum during the phone call shown at the very end of the video- looking annoyed and somewhat distressed. It's clear to me that they've had this argument many times and Mrs. Mundy is the mediator in them. I think she disapproves of the job as much as her husband does, but is sick of hearing them argue to that extent. Regardless of this conflict, Sniper loves and cares for his parents- they are his world. He doesn't care for anyone else, most of the shit he does is for their sake and continuing to provide support so they can live a stable life at their farm as they get older. It's one of the nicest things about Sniper.

Although, I do think he struggled to get them to understand him properly. He is a quiet man who doesn't express a lot of his emotions. That will complicate things, especially if he doesn't talk about it- and he doesn't!!! : D

Despite this, I think they were the people he was closest to. Sniper, to me, is a guy who's never had friends and has been lonely as well as isolated his entire life. "Too weird to live, much too rare to die." And this is a VERY long time we're talking about; DECADES. Decades of minimum to no human connection. (Just to note; he is almost 50 to me. The comic writers fucked the timeline up and made him a 20 something year old. The Sin. Do not speak of it to me. It makes him less interesting/compelling I'm not kidding.) He is anxious in social settings, barely speaks up, and prefers to simply back away when he doesn't know how to deal with something. (SUPER DUPER AUTISM + SOCIAL ANXIETY!!!) Does he try to interact with his co-workers? Veeeeery little. He yearns for connection he convinces himself he doesn't need. He trusts no one. He's a mystery to them.

But hey!!! Less distractions from his job!!! (Bad transition) This man is genuinely incredible at what he does- I keep replaying the part where he reloads his rifle. He was not kidding about being efficient (he also kills the entire BLU team in that video??). The lad's got incredible patience, aim, control, and overall understanding of what he's doing. There's something fucked up about him observing the people he's targetting like prey, but let's leave that for when I mention his previous job as a tracker (if I do). I imagine the only thing he excelled at in school (he did go there!! He can write!!!) is maths, as that is very much needed when you're a sniper.

BTW I think he barely passed school; he hated being there, had no interest in school work and his teachers kept pestering him about his social life. Leave him alone, he doesn't need that (he does).

Most of his focus went to his parents' farm where I think he mostly took care of the animals....or went out to hunt them; which is how he learned to shoot out of a rifle in the first place. (His dad taught him.) He's not exactly an animal guy but he's also not not an animal guy.

It's complicated.

ANYWAYS, I've talked enough about one single video. Let's mention his in game voice lines a bit!

There's a LOT of material there but here's the stuff I want to mention:

He talks to himself a lot. He isn't out there with the others- his job is to be perched up somewhere high and shoot from a distance so he doesn't get spotted. He makes so many jokes that only HE's going to find funny, except "You've got a forehead on ya like a coffee table," which is genuinely the funniest thing he's ever said. Boy voices his thoughts and tries to entertain himself when he's alone- I don't judge him for that. He has to sit there for hours in complete focus (he helps himself via a lot of coffee). I DO judge the things he says, however.

He's violent. (WHAT!?) There's plenty of examples but I would like to mention one adressed to his teammates. One of the "Jeers" commands is "Should've saved a bullet for some of you blokes!" which, hey, what the fuck? That's scary. He got so frustrated he threatened his own team with murder. (It's kinda funny) To me this shows he's bad at controlling his outbursts or that he never learned how to deal with them. (Autism moment!!!)

He literally growls.

There's this line addressed to Spy: "What goes around comes around, you snotty little nance." If you're not aware- "nance" is derogatory Australian slang for a prissy, effeminate gay man. I headcanon Sniper as a homosexual man so it tickles me that he's so insecure about this fact. It's sad, absolutely, but I find humour in this horrible man being a homophobic homosexual. Project your insecurities onto a guy who can read people extremely well, why don't you. He won't do anything about it, I promise :) (Lie)

I was doing my best to not mention SniperSpy but CAN WE TALK ABOUT HIS LINES AIMED AT SPY AND HOW THEY'RE DIRECT RESPONSES TO THINGS SPY SAYS? (plus the highest number of revenge lines he has directed at someone is Spy)

-> = response to:

"Aww, did I get blood on your suit!?" -> "You got blood on my suit."

"I was never on your side either! Wanker!" -> "I never really was on your side."

"Ah, my God, you've been shot. Did you get a look at the handsome rogue who did it?" -> "I'll see you in hell, you handsome rogue."

BY THE WAY, THAT LAST LINE? SPY ONLY SAYS THAT TO HIS COUNTERPART. WHAT, WERE YOU LOOKING AT HIM? WERE YOU WATCHING HIM ALL DAY? WHY DO YOU REMEMBER SO MANY THINGS HE'S SAID? WHY ARE YOU SO FOCUSED ON HIM? ARE YOU OBSESSED WITH HIM? ARE YOU OBSESSED? WHY ARE YOU OBSESSED WITH A LITTLE NANCY BOY? HM?

There is so much more I could mention. I think whatever thing he has going on with Spy is super important to him, but I will hold back for your sake as I can talk about this for hours. You have no clue how many parallels there are, etc.

Anyways, he's in Expiration Date! A little bit! He doesn't say anything. <3 I'm proud of him!!! <3

He literally just stands around ominously in the shadows (and finds RED Spy being made fun of very amusing).

"Hehe."

(I just noticed he took his watch off and put it on his vest. This is an autism moment because I, too, hate having something on me that I don't usually have so I need to balance it out by removing something else; if I have it on me. Either way it's sensory suffering.) (Him being super attached to his hat and glasses is also an autism moment. He is no one without them.)

And then he has that one part in The Bread Fight(tm) where he gets confused by Pauling and Scout pushing the bomb.

"Tails gets trolled" looking ass.

I like watching him fall over.

After he falls here, he takes his kukri out which was... attached? situated? It was behind the strap of his arrow carrier. I think that's cool. I also think he wouldn't be doing that during matches because Spy is very much capable of stealing it/putting it away without Sniper noticing, even if it was literally on his back.

Also, I am a firm believer in "Sniper can only do one thing extremely well and has little to no interest in creative stuff," so I disagree with the idea of him being able to play a saxophone. You could say he was made to do that in school, but this guy is a smoker. I do not believe he can do that. You cannot convince me.

I think that's enough! This doesn't even go past the hypothetical tip of the iceberg, but it's a lot of words. This is the very basic stuff you have to know about how I see this cunt.

Thank you for letting me share some of my insanity.

[skaruresonic]

I want to like Amy but her fans make it difficult.

Every other moment they're throwing another character under the bus to make Amy look better when that shouldn't be necessary. It's like they're playing victim over something that people don't do anymore.

If Amy is perfect like they claim then they shouldn't feel this threatened whenever another female character gets any kind of attention or praise. But without fail every single time another female character is girly, kind, brave, or anything else you can think of, it's somehow an attack on Amy.

Imagine if Sonic's fans got mad everytime there was a new character who was confident and athletic. That's how ridiculous this is.

Normally I'd say it's not really equitable not to give a character a fair shake just because their fans are being obdurate, but I can sympathize with your mindset when it comes to how folks gas up Sonamy. If they were chiller about it, I'd probably like it more. While I appreciate Sonic and Amy's dynamic as friends, I swear people portray it as an issue of life or death, and it's so freaking tiring.

Despite not posting about her much, Amy is actually tied with Maria for the third spot in my favorite Sonic characters list. Both girls are great characters for similar and different reasons. It doesn't make much sense to me to claim Maria is boring when Amy displays many of the same traits.

Heck, I kind of think people exaggerate how bad her Battle portrayal is, making it out to be the bad apple that spoils an otherwise good bushel. It's not fantastic, pretty Yikes(tm), actually; yet you'd think she singlehandedly ruined the game based on the way folks hone in on her portrayal at the expense of ignoring the others. ...and idk, I still laughed at a few of her lines. :v

Amy sits in the same boat as Shadow in that everyone holds their own interpretation of the character close to heart and will get defensive if you say otherwise. I've noticed a certain stubbornness among Amy fans that is also shared by Shadow fans. One time I said "I'm an Amy fan, I don't need a crash course on her character" in response to being linked a thread on her character, and got hit with "oh you're just saying what everyone else says." Like? bruh?

I'm just not one of those fans who's like "AMY DESERVES EVERYTHING EVER." She has her flaws and foibles, just like everyone else in the cast. She has a tendency to step on toes, be a bit whiny, overbearing and one-minded... and it can be simultaneously true that her kindness wins over hearts. Amy contains multitudes.

But it's almost like, for many people, taking her as she is isn't enough. She needs to practically be shown curing world hunger in order to be considered as valid as the boys or something… Which I kinda find more offensive to her character than dismissing her outright.

Why does Amy need to star in everything before you're happy, even though of the female cast, she's technically enjoyed the most screentime? Again, not to pit two bad bitches against each other, but Maria's representation isn't exactly sterling, especially considering how often folks objectify her as Shadow's morality pet or treat her death as something to shock non-fans into thinking the series is Deep and Dark(tm). If you're really for better female representation, you should be arguing for better representation for every girl character, not just saying "let Amy get hers and fuck the rest." This shouldn't be a competition. Everyone can have a seat at the table.

First the fandom consensus was "Sega sucks because they didn't include Amy in Origins." Then when they actually did that and included her in Superstars to boot, fans proceeded to move back the goalposts. Superstars doesn't count, apparently, because (insert spurious reasons here).

Maybe it makes me a bad Amy fan or whatever, but I find her crush on Sonic to be the least interesting aspect of her character in part due to how much emphasis people put on it. She and Sonic cannot have a single conversation without fans being like "OMG OMG THEY LOOKED AT EACH OTHER SONAMY IS CANON," even if canon implies that Amy is imposing on Sonic, such as SatBK's manual describing Sonic preparing for their date as "awaiting a stressful encounter."

Although I can acknowledge that Amy's crush is integral to her character, the way people talk about it makes it seem like female representation in the series as a whole is at stake every time she's mishandled. There's apparently a hashtag trending on Twitter called #letamylove that was made in response to what people perceive as Flynn's mishandling of Frontiers!Amy, FFS. They can't just say "Amy sounds too depressed in Frontiers," no, it has to be blown up into a near-political issue.

The other thing is that people who ship Sonamy often ignore Sonic's feelings and comfort in the matter. Ohshima's tweet that Sonic isn't a "real man" due to his reluctance to express his feelings towards Amy exemplifies this. It's like Sonic is considered some sort of prize that Amy earns through personal growth, when really, folks should be arguing for Amy's personal growth for her own sake.

[narratingvoice]

My sincerest apologies for the radio silence from this blog recently. I know, it's very out of character for me. The thing is, I've been in a bit of a pickle over the past few months. The fiscal year for 2023 didn't end nearly as profitably as I projected, not even with the hype and celebration surrounding

THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE STANLEY PARABLE (2013)!

Server maintenance isn't free, you know, and neither are infinite holes. And with Unity changing its pricing structure on top of it, well, I really needed to put the old noggin to work finding a way to squeeze every last dime out of my fans provide new and valuable pieces of entertainment that will be worth your money. And that's why I'm thrilled to announce my partnership with the fine folks at I Am 8bit to bring you: The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe: Collector's Edition!

It's true! Yes, I know I did a fake announcement for something similar last year, but this one is for real! A physical product that you can purchase and have delivered to your home, and play on your Nintendo Switch or Playstation 5. And this package involves absolutely no changes to the game itself, which really takes a load off my back. Since I have no presence in the physical world, I have to trust that my collaborators will deliver the finest quality items. And trust them I do. Shall we take a look at all the wonderful bonuses you'll receive?

Stickers!

Just like the ones I slapped onto Stanley's bucket, now you too can slap these stickers on your own bucket. Or anything else that currently lacks stickers on it. You will not receive a bucket to stick them on. We floated that idea, but Mr. 8bit told me he'd rather not have to lug dozens of buckets down to the post office every day. You'd look like a right idiot doing that, I agree. So get your own bucket and enjoy the thrill of sticking!

Oh, and do be aware that whatever object you affix the "Property of Stanley" sticker to, does legally become Stanley's property, and he will demand you send it to him.

More surprises under the cut!

An instructional manual!

"But Narrator," I hear you saying, "didn't you just say you're not giving me a bucket? What do I need this for?" First of all, do not interrupt me when I'm giving a presentation. Second of all, this manual is for the bucket that's in the game. I've noticed many players do not seem to know how to operate the bucket, and treat it like it's a person rather than an inanimate container. With this instructional manual, I will give you a comprehensive guide as to what a bucket can do (such as: prevent water from spilling all over your trousers) and what it cannot do (such as: love you back). I have had some harrowing experiences in the field of instructional manual writing, but I think this one is some of my finest work yet.

A figurine!

Yes, our most requested piece of merchandise is finally here! The OFFICIAL Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe Stanigurine stands 5 inches tall and is made of durable PVC. And as with the virtual Figustans, that's all there is to it. There's no articulation or any type of toy action. You don't get anything but the feeling of deep satisfaction at owning this collectible. The package only comes with one, so why not buy six copies if you really want to recreate the game in your home?

But wait, that's not all!

If you are an absolute Stanley Parable fanatic, you'll want to supplement your Collector's Edition with even more plastic tat commemorating your favourite game. And you definitely want to support me as much as possible, right? So you can also buy:

The button that says the name of the person playing the game!

For just $10, you too can have a button that says your name, presuming your name is Jim. The button will only say the name Jim and will never say any other name, no matter how often you press it. I found that a lot of players really got into the immersive experience of being Jim, so I decided to keep it that way instead of programming it to say a whole lot of names. Sorry, but there are too many different names in the world. You're Jim and you'll like it.

Vinyl albums!

When you buy the Collector's Edition, you'll get a free code to download the Official Soundtrack in MP3 format. But what if you don't like MP3? What if you're a bit more old-fashioned in your audiophile taste? Well, I've got you covered! With this 2-record set, you can listen to all the office ambience on your gramophone or turntable. Why, you could even DJ a set with it! If you do, please send me your mixtape and I'll give it an honest review. My music taste is impeccable.

An instructional audio cassette!

Yes, this is just a cassette telling you how to install and run a copy machine. Listen, I took some odd voiceover jobs here and there to pay the bills. And I figured, you lot are so ravenous to hear my voice that you'd even pay good money to hear me deliver some boring instructions. At least, that's the impression I get from the more saucy side of the fandom. So that's what you get. Do I do anything funny? You'll have to buy it and find out!

Hold on, Stanley is trying to tell me something. What do you mean, nobody has a cassette player any more? Why wouldn't they? It's the perfect compact audio format! It's got two sides, which is more than you can say for a CD, and it's a lot more portable than vinyl. Well I'm not shipping out cassette players. You can take it or leave it. No refunds.

[charbon-et-eau]

Hoenn boys brainrot is still going strong. I should have some new art to share next week. In the meantime, I was rambling about some headcanons on aethy and figured I'd share them here too.

If you're interested in my top/bottom and sexuality headcanons for Steven/Wallace/Brendan, they're below the cut. <3

When the Hoenn boys brainrot started, I quickly decided that Steven was 100% a top, whether he's with Brendan or Wallace. Seemed like the obvious conclusion to me. So it was very surprising when I started looking at fanart on pixiv and bottom Steven seemed to be much more common with all of his ships except Brendan.

I was wondering why this is. I've noticed that a lot of people like to make Steven their silly autistic babygirl and I guess that makes him a bottom by default? Idk. I think he's silly and autistic too, but I don't think that automatically translates to bottom. But another thing I've noticed is that many people make their fav character in a ship the bottom. One of the daimiku shippers on pixiv clearly adores Wallace and draws him a bit more than Steven, and they LOVE drawing Wallace getting absolutely destroyed. On the other hand, bottom Steven fans tend to focus on Steven more. I guess people prefer to see their favs getting wrecked instead of the other way around. Makes sense.

And I'm sure there are plenty of other reasons why a lot of people prefer bottom Steven. Everyone interprets and plays with characters differently. These are just some of the more common trends I've noticed.

As for my headcanons, Steven is a rich CEO's son who was most likely taught how to be in charge and probably didn't hear the word "no" very often, so being in control comes naturally to him. He canonically likes to play with people and see their reactions, and he can also be a bit arrogant (thinks he's "the best there is" and has a habit of taking on important tasks himself instead of asking for help). When he finds someone or something he likes, he can be VERY intense about it. All of these things translate well to being a top imo.

As for Wallace, he's a switch, but he prefers being a loud, dramatic, slutty bottom. This man is an overachiever - being hot, doing contests, being a gym leader and helping Steven keep his privilege in check. In the bedroom, he just wants to turn his brain off and let someone else be in control. However, he'll happily top Brendan when he's in the mood and Steven's busy.

Brendan is a bottom for now simply because he lacks experience. Wallace will teach him how to top eventually though. And then Brendan can be a switch.

Now for the sexuality headcanons.

Steven is one of the few male characters that I hc as 100% gay (I make most characters bi disasters like me). He has zero interest in women.

Before his dad realized that he was gay, he would set Steven up with random women that he met through work, telling Steven to take them home and show them his rock collection, *wink wink*. So Steven would invite them over, show them his rock collection, and then say good night and politely ask them to leave once it got late. Wallace almost died laughing when Steven told him about this. Everything eventually made sense when Steven invited Wallace over for the same reason, but they didn't actually look at the rocks until the next morning... after a very passionate night of sex.

Wallace is bi with a heavy preference for men, like 90% men, 10% women. He has a deep appreciation for the beauty and elegance of women, thinks they're all queens, and would happily have sex with one. But after a wild night at the club, he's probably taking a guy home.

Brendan is also bi with a slight preference for men, like 60-40. Due to his daddy issues and mommy kink, he tends to be more attracted to people who are older than him. He's slightly more aware of his attraction to men, especially after meeting Steven, until he starts spending time with Glacia. Brendan is a hot mess around Wallace since he is the most intoxicatingly gorgeous combination of masculine and feminine energy. It doesn't help that Wallace will mercilessly flirt with Brendan any chance he gets.

[being-of-rain]

I gotta get round to writing down my feelings on Dot and Bubble, before the next episode comes out! They're conflicted feelings. My opinion has been swinging like a pendulum.

For most of the episode, my main reactions was 'are they Seriously just doing a Social Media Bad episode? Surely there has to be something more to it.' And of course, there was. But... well, the last few scenes really committing to the twist doesn't really change the fact that for a lot of the episode I was cringing at the 'these people spend too much time on their phones' vibes.

The twist that everyone was bigots... well, at first I wasn't sure it landed as well as it could've. I've seen lots of accounts of people who didn't get 'space racists' right away, and I agree that most of the final read classist more than (or just as much as) racist. But then again, in many circumstances aren't the two things tied together? And the more I sat with the episode after it ended, the more I appreciated it. There were quite a few moments and microaggressions throughout the episode that were easily dismissed as simply the mistrustful and argumentative nature of many a Dr Who guest star. And I guess the episode WAS saying 'being on your phone too much is bad', but it followed it up with 'because you'll end up in your own little bubble of social media that could easily radicalise you or feed your inherent prejudices.'

But... after I fully digested all that, I was left thinking 'is that all?' The episode's big reveal is 'this society is bigotted,' and it did have a few things to say about that. But in the end, is that it? I know AI has been done to death, but 'social media becomes sentient and hates is userbase' is an interesting (and hilarious) idea that gets brushed over as quickly as possible, and the slugs don't get much more attention, all because the episode is too focused on the human aspect. And if this episode is so interested in racism, then what does it say that there's only one character in the episode who's experiencing that racism, and when he finally understands it he doesn't care about it at all. Because the Doctor's frustration in the end is just about not being able to save the humans, not about anything they've done to him.

Then again maybe we should circle back to this being just as much about other prejudices and not racism exclusively. Sure it's important, but as we've said, the episode does have things to say about bigotry more generally. About the mindset of mindlessly following instructions, and ignoring your own hypocracy, and throwing people you idolise under the bus if you need to because the only person more important than people like you is you.

But on the other hand, I'm extremely very white. I've seen fans of colour accuse the episode of being cheap and shallow. After all, why is it a big statement for an episode to have an all-white guest cast if there's tons and tons of other Dr Who episodes that do that without thinking?

You get the idea.

In the end... well, I'll be brutally honest. On top of my mixed reaction to the episode's politics, I've just never really vibed with 'sanitised dystopian utopia' aesthetic. So my current emotional reaction to Dot and Bubble is 'meh'. Mark it down in the same category as the previous episode: I'll be interested to see what I think when I rewatch it, but it's not going to be something I'll go to rewatch very often.

What else to say about the episode? I actually noticed that a lot of the colonists were white and blonde before halfway through the ep, but then drew the conclusion that maybe they were all clones. I didn't fall in love with Ricky September like it seemed many viewers seemed to, I just got a little confused about what role in the story a random perfect guy like him was playing (I found out eventually, and boy was it more brutal than I expected). But I did enjoy seeing the Doctor and Ruby both try to flirt with him. The Doctor is now a Gay Best Friend tm. Oh it goes without saying that Gatwa's acting is phenomenal, especially in his brief time appearing in-person.

I know it isn't the show's fault that Gatwa was busy filming other things, and I usually enjoy shows finding ways to work around production limitations like that, and I even tend to like Doctor-lite episodes... but it is a real shame that in the first season of an exciting brand new Doctor, there's two episodes in a row that he's hardly in. I've seen the next episode described as the most traditional of this season, and while I'm not going back on my opinion that I love the experimenting this season, I am looking forward to More Traditional purely because it'll mean more Gatwa. And regency Gatwa at that. I hope he has a fucked-up romance with Jonathan Groff.

[dairy-farmer]

hope my question doesn't sound so awful, i'm curious, when it comes to you and your ships like BruTim and etc., would you consider yourself a proshipper?

it's not! don't worry!

i consider myself very firmly anti-censorship which means that i am very firmly proship.

i know that there has been an attempt at changing the meaning of proshipping by people trying to cast it in a bad light because if you control the definition of something then you basically control all future arguments. (interestingly it's anti shipping that is the reason for pro ship's existence. livejournal was full of people telling others that their ships were gross and launching crusades against ships they hated calling themselves "anti-x-ship". pro, the opposite of anti, emerged to show as a symbol that you weren't an asshole. a lot of proshippers don't like or even approve of all ships but they believe you shouldn't get targeted and harassed for something as stupid as a ship essentially)

proshipping is something that i agree with not only for the anti-censorship aspects, it's also the finer details

1) your fictional interests are not a reflection of your irl beliefs

2) that harassment, doxing, and threats are not a logical or stable reactions to seeing something you don't like

3) fiction is not what influences reality it is interpretation of fiction that does (you were already a bad person if something you saw on tv or read in a book made you violent or do something depraved etc)

i've been lurking in fandom for a long time and i've noticed a trend with antis that have shaped a very low opinion of them because of the glaringly clear political agenda so many antis appear to have. there's been a rise in 'anti rhetoric' that pretty closely coincides with the rise in american alt-right movements and this is no different because it's people being radicalized by the exact same pipeline. anti's, right wing, q-anon people, etc say (oftentimes line for line) the EXACT same arguments.

arguments that tend to be anti women and anti lgbtq+

i realize indoctrination is hard to spot especially if you're young, vulnerable, or its being said by someone you look up to. but there are two things to keep in mind when you think about all the claims and stances antis make.

is the claim outlandish or incredibly bold? such as saying that people who like lolicon or make nsfw art of underaged characters are pedophiles. that is a VERY serious accusation and people online say it like its nothing. when you understand the full depravity of a crime like pedophilia there is ABSOLUTELY no way you could ever equate drawings of a fictional character to a living breathing child.

who benefits from you believing those claims?

-you ever wonder why ao3 writers who are majority queer women in their mid 20s tend to be baselessly accused of pedophilia? even though the profile of a pedophile in the USA is of a middle-aged white man in their 30s-40s? if we wanted to characterize fandoms by most likely to have pedophiles i'd be eyeing the nascar and sports fandoms given their fan basis fit the profile better.

did you know referring to queer people as pedophiles is a very age old tactic of eliminating public support or sympathy for them. look up 'boys beware' a 1955 PSA directed at boys to help protect them from the "sick" "pedophiles" known as the homosexuals.

-you ever wonder why antis claim to be "for the children" and yet use terms like 'cp' when referring to real children?

did you know RAINN has stated the proper term to use is CSAM-child sexual abuse materials. because 'child' and 'porn' cannot be used in the same sentence? fundamentally "(often) pornography online depicts adults who have consented to be filmed, that’s never the case when the images depict children". you'd think someone who cares so much for real children would get that.

-you ever wonder why so many antis rally for censorship on ao3 and cite the overnight mass deletion and censorship of fanworks from livejournal as proof of something that occurred because there was too much "cp" on the cite?

did you know it was it the 'warriors for innocence' who were behind not just livejournal but issues with other fansites and who directly stated their goal was to "hunt down people who support homosexuality, pedophilia and incest" and who have very clear ties to dominionism, and "Christian Patriot" militias?

do you notice how that's exactly what antis today say about "proshitters" just without the 'homosexuality' part because that part is being whispered since they know being homophobic within fandoms who are en mass queer would lose them a lot of support?

the anti and proship structure is a very american creation because it was born on forums mainly populated by americans and its only recently that this has started affecting overseas fandoms. recently on twitter a LOT of japanese artists have started referring to themselves as proshippers and blocking anyone who has 'antiship' in their description box because proship is the default for basically everywhere else that doesn't have american theocratic conservative powerplays.

maybe being an anti started as being an asshole but that's no longer the case. it's no longer just about "i hate this ship" its becomes "i hate this ship because ive fallen into an alt-right pipeline to appeal to the young future conservative and so fiction is real and you, a dirty fucking queer, are a pedophile, rapist, molester!!!!'

all you have to do to see a grown up politically involved "anti" is to turn on an american news station and watch the debate about banning library books that contain "explicit material" like things related to critical race theory or homosexuality. because that's what an anti evolves into. that's what all indoctrinated conservatives evolve into.

so the anti objectives and alignments have very firmly changed to something i will never respect or side with.

i think that an old article about WFI can summerize what i think is happening with modern antishipping and a changing political climate:

and if by chance an anti has somehow read this far: u were lied to girl. they knew you were a sucker and desperate for online connection or to be part of the "young activist" wave. but you were easy to trick and they filled your head with lies to help them push the christian conservative agenda that women dont deserve autonomy and gay people are depraved freaks who should all die.

"No mistake should be made here: these people are not so much about stopping pedo's, they are about erecting and establishing a hate filled theocratic society by any means necessary. They are all about control. And they are firmly entrenched in the belief that they are "more right" than anyone else"

[dervaaas]

Sae Itoshi, you egoist

Character: Sae Itoshi

F! reader

Probably this is one of the best things I've written in recent times. It's quite easy to read in my language, I haven't used this method for a long time, I hope it also turned out to be easy to read. Also, many thanks to one person for sharing with the site where I can read the chapters up to the most recent one :)

It must have been difficult to interact with Sae since childhood? He was definitely much more open, but he's not like that now, and not much pops up in my memory. I can't say that some of my childhood memories have been erased from my mind, but I don't remember the moment when he began to treat me like that and also, it seems, to Rin.

I was a frequent guest in their house, and their mother probably loved me very much: no matter how I come, he will treat me with something, joke, tell me what the boys have done in my absence. I certainly liked her, and she reciprocated.

As I remember, my parents loved to travel around Japan: now there is no place where they would not be, and therefore I often went with them, and we did not stay long on the spot. But we stayed in the city for several years - it was already financially impossible to continue constant movement.

A child of five or six years old was not interested in it, I did not pay much attention to it. We stopped - yes, we stopped, there is an opportunity to communicate with someone else. At that time, Rin hadn't played football yet, but I just sat with him and played with different toys, sometimes looking at the field.

I clearly remember that I didn't notice how Rin disappeared from under my side and stole that goal. I was as surprised as Sae. "Wow, someone else is going to play football!" - that's what I thought.

Football was one of the things I didn't understand. More precisely, some moments in it. But I don't think that a child who is not particularly fond of it even thought about such difficulties. Then for me it was just a game without rules; the main thing is to score a goal and no matter how.

For me, their game was something exciting: I always watched the process with interest, dragged my parents, just so they could see how they play. In a way, I'm their biggest fan. Since I didn't understand it, it seemed to me something incredible. Their play is what I found their interaction special for, something that made me feel their connection special. 

Perhaps if they continued to practice in the same spirit, they would be invincible. I sometimes joined them, and we came up with different combinations of our attacks. Playing with them on the field is an unforgettable feeling! However... Something went wrong after Sae's arrival from Spain. Of course, he was exactly the same: a quiet guy, answering with monosyllabic sentences, with a calm, bored look. But there was rudeness in his behavior and an unbearably bored expression on his face.

Oh, right... that's when we all broke up. I was shocked by this behavior of my friend (or maybe a guy I liked). It was rude of him: the Sae I knew wasn't like that. Not at all. 

I couldn't stay on Rin's side either, although I perfectly understood his desire to play with Sae on the field together, but not as a midfielder and striker, but to be strikers together. That day I finally stopped writing Sae. Or rather, I wrote to him, and even a lot: at first he answered as much as possible, and then he stopped, but I continued, thinking that he was very busy. But the message "I like you" was the last one, and remained unanswered.

Sae, do you regret that you decided to play with the national team against Blue Lock at all? You obviously like to win. I'm sorry, Rina, that you didn't recognize him. Can you imagine, even Shido managed to take your number: it's so convenient than writing to you all the time through websites. Whereas I asked you about it many times after your first arrival back to Japan. This is probably the best option for you: you are right to put your desires higher than the thoughts and needs of others. Sae, that's who, and you are a real egoist. Even your words about love won't change what you've already done.

[sandglass-art]

I just discovered your beautiful Neji x Gaara art and I was hooked immediately! That's hard to do because I've been so heavily shipping Gaara with someone else that I didn't think I had it in me to ship Gaara again with someone new.

But this pair?? It's got so much potential!! And I cannot believe I am just now discovering your this rare pair and your art.

Have you thought about doing fanart for Boruto-era Gaara with Neji (he lives AU)? Neji would be so handsome and would be a great father to Shinki.

Hi! Oh my God, do you know that these are the coolest words when someone falls in love with your peering? No, seriously! It's simply impossible to get a stronger compliment. I'm really glad to read this, really! And yes, you're absolutely right, this is a very rare pair. Once I tried to write fan-fictions to somehow fill it. To be honest, I write fragments to the table from time to time and now)

This couple really has a huge potential. Of course, Kishimoto wasn't going to bring them together in any way, but it's nice to try to catch moments from the anime where they can interact. How they look at each other on the exam. How closely Gaara watches Neji. And at the moment of his battle with his sister, he begins to tremble, and Temari notices: "oh no, he is already trembling with excitement." And yes, I understand the message that Gaara is looking for a strong opponent and good blood, and Neji is a great fit. But it still catches him, even so. And the fact that Neji, being from an aristocratic family, with Gaara not to use any suffixes at all even when he becomes a Kazekage. About the selection by Gaara Neji for appointment immediately two ranks higher, you can compose a lot of off-screen stories. And the fact that, on the instructions of the Neji clan often performed missions for Suna alone (as mentioned in the anime), is also nice.

And in general, I really like their interaction (and thought out too). I see them as a couple as allies. Not lovers, but allies. This word suits them better. They are both strong guys, separately significant for society and successful. They will not talk about tenderness and love. Instead, they will show it as much as possible in support, care, sacrifice. They will always stand by each other's side, but in private they can say “you're wrong. You are acting like a fool." This is a strong union. They understand each other and communicate with their eyes: Gaara himself was silent for a long time, I'm sure he reads emotions well. Well, Neji's noticing byakugan is not worth talking about, I think he also perfectly captures small changes. And both are far from stupid.

I guess I lose a lot by not romanticizing them too much. For me, it is considered romantic in their pair training, where you can nail one of them to the ground. Exhausted, in the dust, but contented even with defeat. They will definitely never get married. I don't see that kind of opportunity in the Naruto world at all. For me, they generally do not advertise their relationship. Even if it was accepted in society, it would not be Gaara with the title of Kazekage to mess with it. And not Neji - a brilliant descendant of one of the most respected clans of Konoha. That's probably why I never imagined Neji alive and a father to Shinki. I want the characters to be happy. But with age, it would be more difficult for them to defend their relationship when the clan and title expect something different from you, and the traditions and influence of your actions on others are so strong. To some extent, Neji's death fits me with the fact that Gaara still did not marry. He lost a very important person for himself, but could not betray him even after that. The appearance of Shinki gives a new round in his life, he can finally afford to love and live for someone, while not betraying the memory of Neji. But yes, I'm sure Neji would be great in Boruto)

PS. I love glass in a relationship and dislike it at the same time. For a very long time I want to draw the moment when Gaara sees the corpse of Neji after the war. This story is very vivid and stays in my head for a long time. But I seem to be afraid of him. I'm afraid to draw not as strong as it should be. And I'm afraid to bring this plot into their couple. Once I wrote a story about the two of them, where throughout the whole story I was sure of the ending, when Gaara would have to die. This would be a very logical and necessary outcome. He deserved it. This would also be a strong point. But I couldn't do it. I love this couple too much. What to say: this pair appeared for me somewhere in 2009 and to this day remains the only ship for me. That's why it means so much to me when someone gets into it too.

Thank you for your question and the opportunity to pronounce all these words)

[marshallpupfan]

Just Some Thoughts About the Third Film

As many of you know now, it was official revealed recently that PAW Patrol will get a third theatrical film. It's due to release on 2026, three years from now. Third movie, three years, and a certain spotted pup drives a vehicle with the number three. It just fits, eh?

Okay, maybe that's a stretch. As of right now, we still don't know anything about the third movie, it's plot, or which pup it will focus on. From what I've noticed, most fans are rooting for Marshall, as am I. Despite my complaints in the past, I want this to happen for a specific reason; to put Marshall back in the spotlight again, which I feel is sorely needed after the way the franchise treated him these last few years... ESPECIALLY during season 9. To see the TV series practically treat him like a side character for nearly a whole season was... annoying, to say the least.

Marshall headlining a theatrical film (and a good one, I hope) would surely mark a great turnaround for the pup and hopefully negate all of that. However, despite how much I want to see him be its main character, I must admit, I do have some reservations.

This isn't a rant, but more akin to a fan expressing some thoughts and concerns. This is, however, easily one of my longest posts yet, so if you're curious, click "Keep reading".

Whenever I look back at the first theatrical film, I have mixed feelings about the way Brunker handled Marshall. On the plus side, he had some great rescues, especially when he saved all those people on that subway. And if I have to credit the film for anything, it's that I'm grateful it allowed my favorite spotted pup to actually be a fireman and put out fires. This seems to be carrying on into the sequel, thankfully. Believe it or not, the last time the TV series allowed the pup to put out a dangerous/uncontrolled fire was, no joke, all the way back in season one. Only the theatrical films, and Rubble & Crew, interestingly, seem to let him do this anymore.

While his rescues were really cool, everything else wasn't as good, in my opinion. And one of the biggest reasons I say this has to do with how Brunker handled one particular element; Marshall's clumsiness.

You all know I love that aspect of the spotted pup... but if I had to take a guess, I'm going to assume Brunker does not. The first film only gave us two brief bits of clumsiness, and both were restricted to the first twenty minutes, no less. Furthermore, he wasn't even allowed to have his pre-mission wipeout, which is arguably one of the franchise's most iconic elements. Brunker skipped over it like it was nothing. Granted, we did sorta/kinda get something else in its place, but it was given to Rubble. Sadly, I can't help but believe both of these will be lacking once again in The Mighty Movie (at the time of typing this, I haven't seen it, so I've no idea yet).

It wasn't just the lack of clumsiness, but how it was handled that also left me disappointed. In the TV series, Marshall might get careless while playing a game and trip over his own paws, or he might slip during a moment of haste. It just depends on the situation, how serious he is, among other factors. And yet, it tends to be, for lack of a better word, natural. Marshall was excited to finally find Jake in that dark cave, wasn't watching where he was going, slipped, and he slid all the way down and kept going until he was stopped by a stalagmite and started spinning on top of it. Classic Marshall! If Chase has slipped, he likely would've only slid a little or stopped near Jake, but with Marshall, we always seem to get so much more out of it.

And in truth, his clumsiness isn't always a detriment, but often a moment of humor. It's something we've all come to expect from him over the years. He saves or helps save the day, and we tend to get a laugh or two along the way because... well, that's Marshall!

In the theatrical films, each moment of clumsiness always seems to be specifically *caused* by something. So far, he's been "clumsy" because he was dancing in a moving vehicle, startled by a hologram appearing beneath his paws, and Chase startling him when the shepherd snuck up behind the Dalmatian with his super speed. Cute moments, but with his tumble in the PAW Patroller being a possible exception, none of these felt like natural moments of clumsiness to me. Rather, they're scenes that, arguably, could've made any of the other pups react in a similar way. What if Rocky was the one standing there when the hologram appeared? Wouldn't he have jumped, too? Or, what if Chase startled Zuma instead? Couldn't he have accidentally sprayed someone or something with his water powers?

I guess what I'm getting at is, to me, these didn't feel like genuine clumsy Marshall moments. They felt less "this happened because of Marshall's characteristics" and more "Brunker wanted a funny scene, and any pup might've reacted the same way so it largely didn't matter which one it was". Maybe I'm wrong, but that's just the feeling I get.

Now, compare that to Marshall's appearance in "Rubble & Crew". That episode included his trademark clumsiness at just the right moments, even during the mission. They never restricted it to the first act, but rather, it was seen throughout the whole episode. Even little moments, like when he slipped while climbing into Mix's truck, left me with such a big smile on my face. His clumsiness wasn't caused by something, but rather, it happened naturally and in a way we, the viewers, expect! And these moments really made me appreciate the episode all the more, as I felt the writers took their time to understand Marshall and get him just right. If you ask me, they did a great job!

Going by the first movie alone, I don't get that same impression. Maybe things will be different in The Mighty Movie, but for now, I don't think the director seems to *get* Marshall. He might just see him as the one who "trips a lot" which is why he wrote his clumsy scenes in a way that, to me, didn't feel natural. Instead, they felt forced. Something *caused* Marshall to be clumsy, instead of something happening *because* Marshall is clumsy. There is a big difference, and I'm not sure if Brunker sees this.

And if he doesn't, and he sees Marshall's clumsiness as something that can be turned off as easy as the lights in a room... then I fear we might be in trouble if he directs a film based on the spotted pup. Personally, I don't see Marshall's clumsiness in that way, nor do I believe that was ever the intention. I think it's something the pup simply can't help at times, and it's just a part of him he has to live with. He always gives it his best, but his paws just slip more than the others. It just happens, although it doesn't make him or his actions any less heroic.

And I don't know if Brunker sees it that way. His version of Marshall doesn't trip down the slide, doesn't get a wipeout before the mission, and only acts clumsy when something causes it to happen. Due to being unwilling or uninterested, I don't think Brunker understands Marshall's clumsiness, which in turn makes me think he doesn't understand the pup...

...and to write a whole movie based on a character he might not understand? That... is what has me concerned.

With that said, it's not like Marshall is super complex or anything, so Brunker can certainly take the time to learn more about the pup and how he's like. I just don't know if he will, as he has a tendency to shrug off stuff from the TV series. As he, himself once said, he doesn't treat most of the cartoon as canon to his films. He ignores everything after a certain point in season two, which is why the pups are discovering their Mighty powers for the first time again in his theatrical sequel. Will he try to build off what we know about the character, or will he instead pull something out of thin air again, like he did with Skye and her sudden lack of confidence about her size? Or will he pretend Marshall's clumsiness is the result of something from his past, and like Chase's fears in the first movie, will a pep talk before the finale make it magically go away? Again, I don't know.

Furthermore, I also fear things becoming too stale for film #3. From what little I know so far, it seems like The Mighty Movie, and even Skye's backstory, might share a few too many similarities with the first movie and Chase's own backstory. These films even share similarities with his The Nut Job 2, oddly. Brunker seems to be following a template of sorts, and he's sticking to it like glue. Will Marshall's movie involve more of a corrupt mayor? Will we get more adventures in a city? Will Marshall suffer from a lack of confidence due to a painfully sad backstory, too? If so, I fear people are going to start getting bored. I'd hate to see that happen, especially if Marshall is the focus. The pup has plenty of potential, if Brunker's willing to see it.

It's times like this I really wish I was a somebody in the entertainment industry. I'm not saying this out of arrogance, but I'd like to think I possess a considerable amount of knowledge about Marshall... possibly more than anyone at Spin Master now. To them, he's just a thing in a cartoon that's helping them make money... but to me, he's a character who I've admitted before is my #1 favorite of all time. I know and remember things they've likely forgotten over the last ten years. The character has become special to me and I love him to death, whether that's a good thing or not.

I just wish I could be a consultant to Brunker, should the third or any future theatrical films focus on Marshall. Not to say I'm perfect, but I'd like to think I'd be useful with helping him decide what would and wouldn't work for the character, how the pup might react to certain situations, when and when not to add some [natural] clumsy moments, among other things. I'd even help figure out ways to push the character to help him stand out, especially in-regards to avoiding any similarities between Chase and Skye's stories in the theatrical films thus far. It's wishful thinking, I know. In the grand scheme of things, I'm a nobody, and I'll be the first to admit that. I don't have the slightest chance of this happening. I doubt anyone at Spin master or GURU know I exist... I doubt Brunker knows much of me, either (he might not like this post, so maybe that's a good thing). 😅

All I can do at this point is hope for the best... which I find myself saying a lot nowadays, it seems. If film #3 is about Marshall, I just hope Brunker takes the time to understand the character and get him right. Maybe he, too will start to see why so many of us, both young and old, have fallen in love with this clumsy pup over the years.

As usual, only time will tell.

[alovelyburn]

Is griffguts popular? Does Miura knew about the shippers? Was he shocked? You always have sources

It's kind of hard to gage what is and is not popular, especially when you're talking about a community of people that mostly stay away from the main body of Berserk fandom, but here's my general experience and understanding of things.

-In the Western fandom, the vast majority of active fans have what I'd call the western standard perspective: Griffith is a sociopath who may or may not have cared about Guts but if so he still didn't care about anyone else, Guts and Casca are soulmates and he lives for her and hates Griffith, the end.

Now I say active fans because my personal experience with running into people who like Berserk in the wild has been that many of them were fans of Griffith/Guts but unwilling to engage with the fandom at all because, well, of what I just described up there. But of course this is going to vary depending on where you go. In media fandom circles, like artists and writers and such, it's more popular than with say random people on a general anime discussion board.

In more recent years, since the OVAs I guess, there has been more movement around the relationship vs. say when I was in the fandom the first time when there were active efforts to drive fans of the relationship (or even just of Griffith as a character) out of the fandom entirely.

-In the Japanese fandom, there's a much wider variety of views on Berserk in general, and I notice a lot of I guess casual acceptance of Griffith and Guts as potentially a romantic connection. Even just in random threads on 2chan or whatever or replies to news posts you'll see references to it. And if you say go to pixiv or something, or look at doujinshi or whatever, the G/G fans are by far the most active of any pairing fandom, in any case.

And when I talk about things like the casual acceptance even by people who aren't really like pairing fans as such, I'm including things like... how the OVA scriptwriter directly referred to them as having romantic feelings for each other (among other feelings). The writer probably wasn't there pumping his fist and rooting for them to get together, but it was just a thing he knew and understood about the characters. This is kind of unsurprising because Guts and Griffith do have a particular kind of relationship dynamic, and honestly particular kinds of visual design, that are often used in manga or anime to evoke homoerotic relationships. And manga and anime in general has a lot more like subtle or casual homoeroticism than say random western stories anyway.

All of that said, the main takeaway I get from Japanese fandom is that they don't talk about romance nearly as much as English fandom does, and that applies to Griffith and Guts or Guts and Casca or anyone else. Couldn't tell you why.

As for Miura, that's an interesting question. That one 30 page article from the shojo studies book that was the source of the quotes that recently hit the fandom had been partially pseudo-translated before by a fan who said Miura had said he didn't like that interpretation, but they also said they had a hard time with that line, so I've never been sure whether that's actually what he said. At the time that I was told this I was surprised (for reasons I'm about to get into), but also not surprised (for reasons I will also get into).

But the matter became more muddled when Kojion@twitter began posting translations of the same article because there was nothing in there about not liking them to be interpreted romantically... but there was one line that seemed to correlate to what the fan had said that Miura said about Griiffith and Guts (that he didn't like it and liked relationships like rivals), but like, he was talking about his taste in movies at the time? Because he said he liked movies about men's relationships, and then clarified that he meant rivalries and such. So I kind of wondered if they misunderstood the context since they were having a hard time with the line anyway. Can't be sure though, since I don't have the book itself yet.

And now, the reason I was surprised when I first heard that:

-there's literally a line in an interview about how Griffith was designed after people he knew who can't love women and focus on men (romantically or platonically) instead.

-there's also this line where he refers to Griffith as not being one to "fall in personal relationships" with Guts being the exception which like, I understand that he's not saying anything directly, but you've gotta understand the word he used for "fall" is 落っこちる, which is commonly used to mean "fall in love" (actually it is the second dictionary definition, and the first means physically fall off a roof or fail an exam, so you know).

-he spoke openly many times about his interest in gender and sexuality, stated that he felt like androgynous characters should have both male and female love interests, that most androgynous characters in manga fall in love with men, and that he felt like he had to be ready to commit to that if he was going to write an androgynous character (he was discussing the lead of Duranki to be clear. But it's interesting, if you... look at Griffith at all).

-he also listed many lgbtq stories as major influences in his creation of Berserk, including Devilman (one of his biggest influences which is extremely obvious), Guin Saga (which helped create the BL genre and which he has stated was his single biggest influence), Rose of Versailles and Kaze to Ki No Uta (which is literally a classic boylove manga).

-but mostly just because he... wrote the manga. Which I'm bringing up because there are moments that are very difficult to read nonromantically, including a panel where the BoD heavily implies that Guts is in love with Griffith.

The reason I wasn't surprised:

Because it was a 20+ year old interview and he seemed a lot less comfortable with the topic than he eventually became.

One thing I noticed during my time tracking this manga and also obsessing over Miura interviews is that the early interviews are more conservative with his influences and intentions whereas as time went on he started saying yes Berserk is a shojo and then yes, I was influenced by "Go Nagai's style" and then "yes, I was influenced by Devilman specifically."

Basically by 2019 he was out there talking about reading BL manga and such. So even if he had said it, which I'm not sure he did because of the movie thing, I would probably attribute it to not having become comfortable with the topic yet.

Anyway, did he know about it, I'm sure he did.

Was he shocked, probably not given all of the above. He's the one who chose of his own free will to modify the meaning of 渇望 (thirsting/craving) with furigana that says こがれ (crave because you're in love with) in that BoD scene.

No one told him to do it. He knew what the words meant.

[hogwarts-legacy-confessions]

Anybody who thinks it's easy to be seen in any fandom should receive a reality check. I'm going to give those people a bit of tough love. Yes, it is discouraging to try so hard without getting much interaction in return. Yes, it is mostly based on luck and timing whether you get your foot in. No, a gigantic yield of likes and comments isn't going to pour at you with one or even a handful of works just because you think you deserve it. And no, you're not going to be making friends overnight if ever. Most fandom experiences are actually quite lonely. People who do make fandom friends often sacrifice a ton of their free time and in-real-life relationships to hang out with them. It's hard work, it's rotten work and it can eat at you mentally since getting friends and also sticking with them, no matter what your or they do, is hard. Making people read or look at your things is even harder because you feel like you are imposing on them (most of the time you are by the way). This is why you are not creating for others. You are creating for yourself! Out of self-indulgence! Because you are obsessed over these little fictional characters playing out scenarios in your head! I am so sick of hearing people complain about lack of kudos, likes, reposts and comments, and I can't believe a fandom this small suffers from it as well. Why do you care so much for a made up internet currency that will just make you miserable? Create something out of love for the creation. Why give a flying fvck about what others think about your work because chances are, they aren't real critics with real knowledge and feedback that you need. I've noticed that the "icons" of fandoms often don't even interact much in other's creations' comment sections. So why don't you concentrate on perfecting your craft instead, like they do? You can mope about it all day or you could go outside, work on your poetry, do a study of an impressionist painting or read a classic. Consume art, watch movies, go to the theater, experience. Make a roadmap for your goals, take notes, watch tutorials. That's what's gonna give you skills, inspiration and ultimately, visibility for your work, both fan- and/or original. Just do something useful, you! Right. Now.

👀

Sorry, I'm gonna have to tackle this little pep talk head on.

It's horseshit to say "write for yourself" and act like it's shameful for people to express their frustration with the perception of having their work ignored. Yes, one should ultimately create fanworks that are true to themselves as much as possible, and do so because they enjoy it first and foremost, but I have a feeling that anon here doesn't know what it's like to pour your heart and soul into something and get crickets. When you know people are seeing it, that feels like a judgment of your work - a negative one. I say that as a quasi-popular creator in the fandom.

I'm not saying people are obligated to like or engage with works they don't find appealing, I'm simply arguing why it's valid to feel sad about that situation.

If fandom creations are all "for ourselves" then why bother posting on Tumblr or ao3 in the first place? It's because there's a community here that we want to engage with. Every single one of us.

This posturing about "I write for myself so I don't need or want any validation for my work" might put you in a special category of emotionally different people but it's not true for the majority.

In fact, most of the idea of asking for prompts on Tumblr is to entertain an audience of people supportive of your work, so I hope you've never answered a creative ask, anon. That would make you a hypocrite.

Everyone should absolutely be writing what pleases them first and foremost, but that doesn't detract from the sense of community and pride you get when someone else openly enjoys your work.

I also feel like there's a definite subtext in this confession that reads "you're not popular because you're not good enough. You need to work harder and you'll succeed." Studies have shown that popularity is not necessarily based on merit, and it's almost random what gets popular based on who latches onto something and shares it.

In short, anon, please get off your high horse. There are plenty of amazing writers and artists in this fandom who get little to no traction. Maybe if you stopped getting comments, kudos, and likes on your work for a day we'd see how you feel about this issue then.

This is certainly not a dynamic unique to HL, although in a fandom with only a few hundred active members at most (at least on Tumblr), it feels more personal when your work is ignored. Since our tags are small, it's harder to just accept that you're being overlooked and not take it personally.

You can find countless posts decrying the overall decrease in engagement in the past few years on Tumblr and begging people to leave kudos and comments! Maybe people should try to keep in perspective that they're not alone, maybe we all should complain less, but the idea that we should be better than wanting others to enjoy our work (and show that) does not sit well with me, especially while we're constantly watching others in the fandom sniff each other's farts.

[theratandcatshow]

Episode 5: TURBO

Summary:

After closing your eyes for a moment on a treetop, you notice a piece of paper lying on the ground with something written on it. This results in a wild beginning for an encryption, thoughts and fears that come up and finally a meeting with the prototype. And a little character development in between. Can it get any worse? Yes, it can.

Notes:

Ahhhh, folks I'm sorry it's taking me so long. It's just that lately I've been looking at my work and thinking things like “there's not enough personality involved” or “there's not enough description of the situation”. Personally, I hate losing the thread when I'm reading, not knowing where I am. That's why I try to keep it simple, with thoughts and extra descriptions. I took a look at my first chapters ever, from the “To Understand The Soul” and “The Genius” fan fiction, and I have to say...it's fucking shit writing. I wouldn't say I'm bad at writing overall, but my very first chapters are so unbelievably dogshit that I wouldn't be surprised if people stopped reading them right away. Well, it doesn't matter. Enough yapping, have fun reading this chapter, and pay attention to the details!

---

Beginning of the last week.

168 hours remain until the Hour of Joy.

You can't sleep. Since you've been here, in Critter Valley, you've highly slept for minutes.

It wasn't that you weren't physically able to do it. Your mind is just... somewhere else. The constant clicking of your internal clock, simultaneously thinking of the plan and the imminent rise guided by the prototype and CatNap: The Hour of Joy.

You're in a pretty shitty position; either you report the uprising of the two, prevent yourself from being dragged into it and avoid a lot of deaths. Or you don't report it, wait and see how everything goes and continue to watch the critters.

No matter what you choose, it looks damn bad for you. I wonder if the people out there would give you protection because you're doing their dirty work. After all, they're relatively fickle, like when you write insider information about critter relationships in the reports.

But there's no light at the end of the tunnel for you, you've already gone through most of the scenarios in your head. Trying to kill CatNap wouldn't be a good idea, because as long as you can get information about him and the prototype, he's worth something.

Just in case... In case you have to defend yourself or simply get the order to kill one of them, the critters.

Then you would slaughter Kickinchicken.

It's not an objective opinion, it's just yours. When you weren't here yet, but the short three days in this training. So finding out everything that is known about the Critter from the outside was a thorn in your side.

Kickin wasn't special, unlike the others at least, in your opinion.

In the episodes, he was always the joker that nobody took seriously. But it's almost the same here. Even though he's often out and about with Hoppy in the wide open fields of the valley, you can read them both clearly. He's an outsider, and it would hardly be noticeable if he disappeared.

Each of them was special in their own way, just like all critters.

DogDay was the leader, even if he often refused to be. He played the dog of the group, and even if you already know that he used to be a human, he seems to have characteristics of one. He smells damn good, has an outgoing nature and hangs out with the others incredibly often, he's hardly ever alone.

CatNap, who seems to have some kind of relationship with DogDay, was more the outsider of the group. You already noticed this in the Smilling Critter cartoon, as he rarely appeared, and when he did, he didn't play a leading role like the other critters. However, CatNap is a danger to your mission, with this prototype he is planning a riot, and this could ruin everything.

Bubba was the smart one of the group. For you, an absolute no-go and a threat to be killed if necessary. He had already stalked you once, and probably already suspects that you are some kind of spy from the people outside. He often hangs out with the others, seems to have cameras and often stays up late reading books. You had already guessed it: Come near me again and I'll rip you apart.

Crafty and Picky were also sometimes outsiders, but they spend a lot of time together. Whether Crafty is painting and Picky is nearby, they are rarely alone except in the house. Crafty often seems to stay up late at night, while Picky often falls asleep too early, and sometimes outside.

Hoppy was...annoying. She definitely has the best hearing of all, by a long, long fucking way. Sometimes, when you follow them into the woods because they're all talking about this whole fake world, she seems to hear the incredibly quiet rustling of the bushes you're moving in. She always turns her head rapidly in that direction, and the others always look at her as if she's crazy, which is a big advantage for you. After all, you are only a few meters away from them, and if someone were to come looking, it would be a problem.

And then there was him, Kickin. The most annoying, stupid and unnecessary of them all. He can't do anything that the others can, doesn't make anyone laugh with his bad jokes and, in your opinion, should finally disappear. He is discreetly out of place in a group where everyone can do one special thing except him. If you could, you'd probably ask the scientists why they created someone like him in the first place.

But in the overall situation it looks unimportant, especially right now.

Although you are not asleep, you have rested for an hour, here, in this quiet place. At the top of the huge tree crown, the biggest tree in the whole forest.

It went like this: you opened your eyes, disgusted by the metallic feeling, and stood up. Then you cracked your limbs, the unpleasant 'click' sound, which sounded more like a doll, reminded you of the whole situation again.

There was a note there.

But you didn't grab it straight away. A quick glance to the right, left and upwards. Then you listen for thirty seconds to see if there is anyone nearby or if there might be something like a quiet message from the scientists coming through your ears. Because nothing came and you didn't see anything, you finally pick up the note.

It read:

T U R B O

W hvwby mcif dcksfg ct cpgsfjohwcb ofs ibweis, Foh.

Cqn xcqnab mxw'c bnnv cx twxf cqjc hxd'an j byh, fqrlq rb j pxxm cqrwp.

Z'cc fwwvi pfl r uvrc kyrk nzcc yvcg lj sfky.

Fkyjw fqq, dtz uwtgfgqd bfsy yt pstb bmt dtz bjwj gjktwj ymnx...wfy.

- LNKPKPULA

The only thing you think when you see the paper is, "What is that?".

Standing in the middle of the forest, on both feet and standing up straight, you look around again. No one to the left, no one to the right, but something is wrong. This feeling that you're standing in the wrong place, and when you see yourself right here, with this paper in your 'hands'.

You don't need a minute, if at all seconds. It happens automatically, you tense your hands so that your claws come out, which you can't see under the long gloves but don't change anything. Then you tense your tail, you feel the metallic sensation with the next step and have to try hard not to gag. But within a second, you tear your claws into the tree, pull yourself upwards and push yourself further and further with your sharp tail until you are sitting on the treetop again.

Is this a message? Is it written in another language or what is this?

No matter how you think about it, it was pure gibberish. The letters don't fit together logically, the heading on the paper made no sense and everything looked like it was written by a toddler.

But then, the very next time you look at the white paper and the black ink, you understand.

It is encrypted.

You immediately pull out your own notepad from your backpack, wipe over the pages with your notes about the individual critters, and finally land on a free page. You hastily grab a pen and place the two pages on the crown of the tree. You lean against the trunk, spread your disgusting, unnatural-feeling legs and look at the page again.

The text is encrypted, but in what way? It looks like random letters thrown around, it doesn't make a bit of sense, and there's nowhere to start.

You look at the page lying on your legs. The Black Tine had already dried a long time ago, but you go over and confirm what your eyes have already told you.  You look at the heading.

Turbo. Turbo? Is that a reference to something? Maybe Hoppy, because she's the fastest of the critters? Or maybe to one of the scientists from outside? Is one of them called Turbo? Or maybe spelled 'obrut' backwards?

This brought to mind the next problem you would have to solve:

Who left me this encrypted message?

You think, but somehow no answer really seems right. You may be clever, but you can't just string together facts that don't exist to come up with a solution. Somehow, however, only two people seem plausible:

The scientist who looked after me, out there. Or the prototype.

Looking at the paper, you notice something that you should have seen beforehand based on your powers of observation. In the last paragraph, or the last word of the paper, there was a minus sign, it looks like a signature.

LNKPKPULA. L-N-K-P-K-P-U-L-A. It has just as many letters as the word 'prototype'. Wait a minute...

Could it be!

You look at the paper again, but this time at the heading: Turbo. The word was obviously scrambled, but it looked like a clue to you. Because when the signature reads the word 'prototype', you already have the first clue.

From LNKPKPULA to Prototype.

You let the pen in your hand sink slowly to the blank page, slowly and surely, although your mind is already going ahead, your hand follows.

4 letters back! That must be it! L to P are 4 positions in the alphabet! It is a Caesar cipher!

Your hand glides over the still blank paper and smears it. You are completely in the flow, your ears pricked up for your surroundings, your arms for the perfect movements when deciphering and your legs for holding the paper.

L (12) → P (16) → +4

N (14) → R (18) → +4

K (11) → O (15) → +4

P (16) → T (20) → +4

K (11) → O (15) → +4

P (16) → T (20) → +4

U (21) → Y (25) → +4

L (12) → P (16) → +4

A (1) → E (5) → +4

Your eyes catch sight of the paper, your mind is already thinking, while your body barely moves. There is something like a cool breeze on the back of your neck, which brings your consciousness back to the here and now.

So the prototype, why does he write in encrypted form? Is he worried and afraid that someone will find the note before I do? No, I don't have time to think about it, first I have to decrypt the entire document!

For anyone, the view would probably have been surreal: You, a rat-looking critter, on the top of a giant tree with a killer look while you scribble on a paper like a madman.

Your tail hung slightly from the crown, but you were far too busy to pay the slightest bit of attention. Every letter, every punctuation mark was burned into your brain as you slowly but surely deciphered each character of the message.

It would have taken anyone else hours to decipher the pattern and then every single letter, but you're not just anyone.

And that's exactly what you wanted to find out, who exactly were you before this rat? Why were you turned into a rat and the other critters into these weird cartoon characters? What was the point of it all, apart from sales for the humans out there. Were you perhaps one of the people out there who saw something they shouldn't have?

And now, are you being monitored while you decode this message? Will they kill you for it? Torture you until you give up every single piece of information you have about the prototype? What did the prototype do that they left him as a metallic monster? Or you, that you are a rat freak with pieces of metal on your tail and sharp claws?

Or is it all, exactly that, just a dream? A dream from which you can't wake up or don't want to wake up? And even if all this isn't real, the huge fields of grass, the bright sun and the colorful sky above the clouds, what's the point of it all? Is it the calm before the storm? Before your death arrives? Or were you already dead?

That was exactly your rambling thoughts while decoding the message. Everything, really EVERYTHING seems so fake. Your mental status is getting worse and worse, and maybe, just maybe, you are afraid of what your body will do automatically when you are mentally at the end.

And that was the moment, not only when you finally finished decoding the message, no.

It was also the moment when you could understand the critters, a mixture of compassion and understanding on a level far above that of an ordinary person.

But finally, after 19 minutes and 46 seconds, you had finished decoding the prototype's message.

It was difficult to first crack the pattern, and then to decipher the most important letters, resulting in whole sentences that finally made sense. A cramp in the hand, like students when they write an exam for too long, stiff legs like an athlete who has just run a marathon, and an empty head, like someone who has just come from a parent's funeral.

Your eyes, half open, finally wander over the full sheet with your writing. No more logically incongruous letters, clear words with a clear message behind them.

F L A W S

I think your powers of observation are unique, Rat.

The others don't seem to know that you're a spy, which is a good thing.

I'll offer you a deal that will help us both.

After all, you probably want to know who you were before this...rat.

- PROTOTYPE

You may not like to admit it, but the encryption was damn clever:

Every single sentence and paragraph is coded according to the heading. So a shift from T to F is +14 letter positions and the first sentence was constructed with this exact shift. But you weren't stupid and wanted to test every way first, which is why you tested the letters 'FOH' first. And your theory was correct, with the shift the word 'RAT' came out.

So you carried on, quickly deciphered the most important letters and brought the sentences to a logical conclusion.

But what was the point of the message? You already knew that when you deciphered the signature 20 minutes ago.

A meeting.

Between you and the prototype. He seems to want to make some kind of 'deal' with you that "will help us both". Of course, you don't trust him one bit, especially after you saw and heard how he treated CatNap. It was pure manipulation, which CatNap, the idiot, didn't even seem to notice.

But he had apparently had something to do with the prototype in the past, he called it 'Theodore'. Maybe you could blackmail CatNap with the name too? Force him to say it, otherwise you'll go to the other critters and tattle.

But what's important right now is where exactly the prototype wants to meet. Maybe at the same place as with CatNap, or maybe not.

Should I make my way to the spot where he met CatNap?

No , my biggest advantage right now is that neither CatNap nor the prototype know that I know when the Hour of Joy is happening, or that it's happening at all. Neither party knows how much I know, and the prototype is dangerous.

If he's from the outside world, he definitely knows where I am by observation, it doesn't have to be that he knows that I was secretly at the meeting. I have to take advantage of that!

I will stand above that flock of pigeons, and I will control them!

Your eyes fall on the paper again, you haven't really moved from your position, after all, something was still missing.

He certainly doesn't want to meet up in the normal area, where there's a risk of encountering a critter. Certainly not in the Dark Forest either, so somewhere on the edge. But where exactly? The area around the edge of the forest is far too long to simply search, and anyway, when does he want to meet?

You turn, shove your right arm into your backpack and pull out the map showing the whole of Critter Valley. As you pull it out, you feel a slow headache coming on, right above your eyes.

You ignore everything around you, place the map next to the decrypted message and do your best, with all your intelligence, to find any position on the map.

Turbo

Turbo.

Turbo.

T = 20

U = 21

R = 18

B = 2

O = 15

If I assign a number to each letter, then use it as a reference for coordinates, it should work.

It was a guess at best, at least the word turbo made sense in contrast to the whole encryption. Your head feels even worse than before, you haven't thought as much as you have just now in the last few weeks, especially since the critters were all easy to watch.

Then the X-coordinate would be T + U, i.e. 20 + 21 and that is 41. Y would then be the sum of the last two letters, B + O are 2 + 15, i.e. 17 for Y. But what about R? Either it is a height coordinate or simply for a more precise point.

But as you read through the whole message again in your head, letter by letter, word by word, you also read the coordinates off the paper. And as is the case with a coincidence, an absolute coincidence, you don't understand it yourself.

You read the 'R', automatically as 'Right Now', out of pure chance and your tiredness. But even without the indicators of your mental state, no other options were really open to you than to interpret and hope for something pure.

Your gaze lands on the map, the coordinates were far away, on the other side of the valley. Where the employees come at night and exchange the things you wrote down in your notes.

Maybe...Just maybe it was some Force of Nature that chose you. There were so many possibilities that you just didn't understand it, didn't even get the message decoded or something else...Maybe it was fate.

And that's exactly what you're going to find out.

If you were already paranoid, tired and absolutely drenched in adrenaline before, it was even worse now. Before you set off, you had thought about whether it was really the right idea to go. But what did you really have to lose? Does he want to tell the Critters your real identity as a spy? Then you tell them with the Hour of Joy, simple as that.

But all the pressure, panic and adrenaline that came up when you were thinking was only because you were already thinking about the situation.

But now it was real. Every few seconds you had the feeling that someone might jump out of the nearest bushes, fire a shot or let out a scream. The forest had never been so damn quiet, you couldn't hear a single sound apart from your footsteps.

The green grass, the gray stones, the brown trees and the sun above you are a sign that you are still close to the valley. The Dark Forest is still too far away.

Every few seconds you pull up your gloves as if you had to attack someone. Even unconsciously, your hands were both tense and so your claws were out, but you couldn't see them because of them. You are quite happy that you found these gloves.

"Rat..."

You almost jump in fright like a cat. You turn around quickly and are confronted with nothing but darkness, from which a certain tension comes towards you. You don't see it, the prototype, the darkness takes any light that was in this happy world and swallows it up.

The only thing that showed you he was here was the voice. Just like the observed meeting between the Thing and CatNap, it was rough and sounded more like a machine. It doesn't help that you don't hear a shape to the voice.

"So you...decoded it." The voice gives you chills, a shiver that runs down your spine, telling your instincts that you absolutely must take a step backwards. You do so immediately, and say your first words since you've been here in Critter Valley.

"It wasn't hard." That was all you said, perhaps even with a slightly lowered voice, after all, your normal pitch would seem like a child in contrast to his.

"For someone... like you." That's all the voice says, but now at least you can see something in the infinite darkness that lies before you. This metallic hand slowly but surely sticks out of it, your eyes follow the fine fingers as they move.

"And who exactly would that be?" Bingo. You can steer the conversation directly in the direction you want, find out what he knows.

"I'll tell you...if you do me...a favor." The voice becomes even rougher than before, as if he doesn't have much time.

"And the would be?" You're getting really tired of this small talk, the first day with the critters where you didn't talk and now that you're both just answering as briefly as possible.

"You have to help CatNap...convince the others to join an uprising." That's the longest sentence you've heard him say so far without pausing again.

"What kind of Uprising?" You say, full of confusion and inner conviction that he doesn't know you were eavesdropping on him and CatNap's conversation.

"You already know that."

That was the moment when you felt like you were finally dead. Your eyes widen, your legs tremble slightly, your breathing quickens and your heartbeat becomes so loud that you can hear it through your ears and it absolutely drowns your thoughts.

The adrenaline doesn't even let you think, let alone fully understand the situation. So now you were in his Mercy, your lie was badly received, and even worse... The power of this conversation now fell into his mechanical fingers.

"I already know...How it will all end...Theodore won't make it and that's...a shame." You're only half aware of the words, the rest passes you by and disappears into the huge forest behind you. The fingers move slightly, making a 'come closer' gesture, which you don't return. "Besides... I have some information for you... which is incredibly valuable... but which you won't write in your report."

Information that is worth a lot, but that I can't write in my report? What exactly does he mean?

"And that information would be?" If your shaky voice, your gasping breaths and your hunched posture didn't already give it away, you were extremely nervous. You weren't even that nervous when you were about to be caught spying by one of the critters. Because there you always had the chance to somehow talk your way out of it or simply disappear, but right now, the situation was not in your hands at all, but in this mechanical one in front of you.

"The Critters... want to break out of here in four days."

Dawn of the Last Four Days.

96 hours remain until the outbreak and 168 until the Hour of Joy.

---

Can it get any worse? I mean, your mental state, the prototype knowing about your eavesdropping and the fact that the Smilling Critters want to break out? Oh yes, it can! Well, the next story to get an update is my Hold on fanfiction, after all, it's time to write about the year class trip. (in between, of course, another chapter for the Arcane Story, the second season is coming soon and I really need to finish everything). I hope you are all doing well! Leave kudos and a comment!

[skaruresonic]

How to put this frustration into words.

So, I'm a Maria fan, right. I've noticed fandom tends to fall into three camps about her.

1.) The camp that constantly dredges up her memory to provoke a Pavlovian reaction out of Shadow - the metaphorical bell you ring to get the dog to drool, so to speak. Maria's character does not matter nearly as much as the suffering her image can wring out of Shadow. 2.) The camp that's always cracking dead Maria jokes. This is the part of fandom that thinks it would be awesomesauce of Paramount to portray a terminally ill 12-year-old girl's death on the big screen. 3.) The side of fandom that insists she's boring or generic because she's too "angelic" and "perfect," and cites her undercooked writing as a reason to dismiss her on those grounds.

I feel like I can't tell any of these sides "you're missing the forest for the trees" without coming across as though I'm reading more into her character than is canonically there. I can acknowledge that she isn't the most fleshed-out character while also believing people aren't giving her enough credit.

(In fact, Games!Sonic often suffers from a similar brand of dismissal. People don't get the gist of his character, assume he's lacking something because he can't possibly represent what he says on the tin. Good Characters must have hidden depths, claim the unspoken implications, and so they mistake their lack of understanding for a lack of substance.)

It's true that Maria's death impacted quite a few of the men around her. Gerald and Shadow are obvious examples, but we also tend to forget the Commander who considered her "like a sister" and held a grudge for fifty years because of it. Even Eggman is affected to an extent, as we see in the memo that begins "I never really knew my cousin, Maria." Although I'd argue the effect is secondhand, since he seems more upset at the attention she drew from their relatives than anything else.

If you think about it, you'd realize the reason she had any impact at all is because her life was incredibly valued by those around her. She was a very life-affirming character, as evidenced by her belief that the Heal Unit was her Grandfather's "greatest invention" and her wishes for humanity's hope and happiness in her dying breaths. It takes enormous strength of character to not harbor hatred in your heart as you lay dying.

From where I'm standing, it feels like the "Maria is boring" crowd is falling into this trap of inadvertently implying the pain of those around her matters more than her as she was. It's as though they're saying Maria's character alone does not suffice, even though the games have demonstrated otherwise.

Dead Maria jokes, furthermore, put the pain and trauma of her death ahead of any impact she might have had on others while she was alive. And I find that to be just as objectifying and voyeuristic as turning Shadow into a trauma receptacle For The Angst.