#BECAUSE THEY ARE LITERALLY *THE* CHARACTER THAT CHANGES THE ENTIRE TRAJECTORY OF THE STORY

[whumpy-wyrms]

i… must not… spoil… ANYTHING (<— struggling immensely)

[preciouslittle-bhaalbabe]

Thoughts about Ascended Astarion! (This is a long one, and I'm not trying to change anyones opinion, just highlighting the fact that the player is in complete control of the situation at all times. This game is about choices.) First off, I don't usually prefer to ascend him. But I love all versions of Astarion. His character is so well written and all of his arcs deserve praise and attention no matter what your personal opinion of them are. The devs did an incredible job. If any parts of his arc (ascended or spawn) make you uncomfortable, then romancing him isn't for you. If the dynamic between AA and your character makes you feel scared or upset, don't ascend him. That dynamic is supposed to be 100% consentual. He's a tough nut to crack and his story can be very triggering. I myself broke down a few times hearing him talk about what he went through. There are other companions with lovely character development that you can choose. When people go "ugh he's ruined I didn't want this" My dear, with all due respect. This is the dark fantasy romance option. Emphasis on the fantasy. You didn’t get his approval by being nice. It's not like he's the only option. You chose to romance the vampire. The game warns you of what exactly you're about to do multiple times. You willingly help him murder thousands of people for freedom. A vampire who was a literal slave for longer than he was even alive for just got a MASSIVE amount of power. Were you expecting he was gonna just be a good guy now? He has had NOTHING for so long. His entire life trajectory changed within moments. He’s still figuring himself out. You as the player are still completely in charge. He owes everything to you and he knows that. You can walk away at literally any point. He asks you to kneel and obey to establish trust and a dynamic. To confirm this is what you want. YOU CAN SAY NO. Then, he gets right down on the floor with you. He's either gentle or rough based on your choice. If you don't like the vibe just break up with him at that point like he literally lets you do. Or, even just reload the save. But just remember. "That's what you want, isn't it?". When Astarion ascends, Neil says it best. His mask is off and he's allowed to be at his most terrible with no fear. He doesn't have to perform or be aloof as a distraction from the pain anymore. He was never good aligned. But now, he has the power and ability to give himself and his favourite person the life he thinks they wanted. Otherwise why would you ascend him? His love language becomes acts of service and gifts. He ADORES tav to almost obsession. He's always doting on them and calling them his. The ritual only amplifies that. "but what about what he says if you convince him not to go through with it?"

He’s not lying. He knows tav saved him from himself. It is technically the “good” ending. But that’s not what matters here. The ascension is for characters who are not good aligned. It is for characters that are just as much of a power hungry monster as ascended Astarion is. They want to be a monarch that rules the world over. It’s a role playing thing. Is it wrong? That’s for you to decide for yourself. Not others.

"but what about karlach? He's a massive jackass to her when he ascends" ...Yes. He's not a good guy. Karlach is basically the goodest character in the game. It won't work. And if you do break up with him, he lashes out and says some extremely hurtful things. Because you just broke his heart. It's a perfectly normal response from someone being completely blindsided. He thought you wanted this. You said you wanted this. After everything you both did you get here, he feels betrayed. Not even to mention ascended Astarion does not make you just a regular spawn. You quite literally become his vampire spouse. He thanks you for putting your trust in him. Then eventually you become a true vampire with time. He wants to make sure tav doesn't go insane after being turned. If you wanna learn more about vampire spouses in DnD I highly reccomend doing some google searches. It's fascinating. Is ascending him the right thing to do? No, but it's not "wrong". The game doesn't work that way. Is keeping him a spawn the right thing to do? Maybe, if your character thinks it is. Either route has their sets of pros and cons. It's up to you which ones you think work for your playthrough.

I almost always convince him not to go through with the ritual. But ascended Astarion + durge is a power couple and the vibes are immaculate for evil runs. Just have fun with the game! The devs made all these character arcs for you to explore! Thanks for reading <3

[mysteryanimator]

Myst rambles about animation longer then they should + their love for Nocturne whoops

I keep thinking about the animation industry as of late again, all the layoffs, all the animators looking for jobs. So I might just be speaking to a void right now. I have not experienced any of the drought so I just may look doe-eyed trying to break into a disaster zone but I’m just here to offer that newbie perspective, as naive as it may seem. I’m gonna try and keep this short (whoops a lie) but if you can see where this is going, this is just going to be me talking about the impact Nocturne has on me, aka rewriting the abhorrent Twitter thread/Instagram post where I free-formed without checking my grammar. 

As someone who is pursuing animation, I have watched A LOT of animated shows growing up, I swear it was the only medium I did watch growing up. I made scuffed animatics and animations of the current show I was watching, not realizing they counted as love letters to the media. Yet, the animation industry scared me. It was so elusive and mysterious. The bar seemed too high, even when I decided to choose to study it at university. It seemed so out of reach.

Until Nocturne. 

Castlevania Nocturne practically humanized the industry to me. These people were fans of their own creations. They breathe life into them. All the character sheets that popped into my timeline, the rough cuts, all the silly memes. Something that seemed impossible became possible within an instant. My skills at the time were not what they are now by any means, hell even now I could be better, but, I looked at that show and went “I can do that. If they can do it, maybe there’s a chance I could do something like that.” I think it helps I am at a stage of my life where I can consciously consume content and have the ability to break it down.

Also, let's be so honest, it's combined with the fact that I fell in love with Mizrak and Olrox's plot... you get a very insane person. Passionate but insane. Who spends their entire day going frame by frame reanalysing 10 minutes of an episode? ME. Despite this, I have learned so much more than all my years at university have given me. I have become a genuinely better animator and a better artist. My understanding of animation finally clicked. I knew I was built for animation but didn’t know how I fit into it. I’m constantly on YouTube, absorbing information from YouTube channels like Dong Chang, wandering around Discord Sakuga servers/twitter, and taking notes. I'm still worried about bothering other people in the industry/more technically skilled than me but I think I'm getting slowly better and going "Hey I love your work! How did you achieve x/y/z? OH!? Can you explain what this means?" because again, these are just people like you and me.

So every single Mizrak and Olrox animation I’ve made has not only been a love letter to the show, and crew of people who put their heart and soul into making this, but these animations have been a testament to my skills. Take it like a capsule of how I’m improving every month. I will admit I sometimes get weirded out of the fan content I make, albeit a combination of low confidence, and imposter syndrome, and now my animation style has just become very synonymous with the nocturne style. These ‘cons’ however do get outweighed by the pros of it all. Finally finding a style that I find goes hand in hand with my illustration style (and I can't wait to see how I can evolve it into my own) and the bouts of self-doubt are vast and temporary. I am super grateful that I can look at my work in times of doubt and go “Literally anything is possible, let me put on a show that explores this certain animation principle/story beat in a particular way, and let me study it!"

It's super embarrassing to admit but Nocturne has genuinely changed the trajectory of my life. I am genuinely a whole new person with such a different outlook on animation because of this show. Yes, I am creative through and through, you cannot separate that from my blood, but Nocturne solidified that “You are exactly where you need to be”. The industry is in shambles, with people now reaching a year+ jobless, and contracts are ending, yet, if Nocturne genuinely wasn’t released at the end of September, I do not think any of this would've clicked.

(Backed up by the very fact I am/was directing a short and running a genuine studio when Nocturne came out. I was very unconfident at the time and doubted myself a lot in private since it was my first time doing any of this. This show helped me solidify a new perspective on how to run things! How to be a stronger animator!)

Now again, this is such a crazy thing to say now. I'm watching people from the show I love have their contracts ending/being laid off since last year. I swear every second tweet on my tl is of an animator desperately looking for a job or on the verge of giving up. Me, Mystery, is an animator with no skin in the game, so I don't truly know what the Western animation industry looks like from the inside besides what I get from social media. Let’s be honest, for all you know, I just animate two characters kissing constantly. That is merely the surface of its impact. HEY, I MAY DELETE THIS B4 ANYONE SEES BECAUSE THIS IS KINDA EMBARASSING, the industry sucks right now. People are losing their jobs, so what I’m saying may not matter, but also I think it does maybe? I think this is just a unique perspective to where people are losing faith and hope in the animation, I re-sparked my thanks to Nocturne. Who knows, I may lose this spark as I go further into trying to break into the industry once I'm out of uni, but I’ll take what I have now and ride this new bout of inspiration and creativity. I want to tell stories. I want to bring life to still images. I know it's possible because Nocturne exists. These are real people who exist, who put their love and care into this show. Passion like that is inspiring.

I also somehow can't escape these people reading this, so if you have made it this far- thank you for making this show the way you have! Thank you to all the people both still in it and to others who have had to part with Nocturne. I will admit I have gone through the credits and made sure I could try and learn from everyone's work despite how unique/different each role is.

I hope my grammar is better than last time HAHAH, the technicality of English isn't a strong suit of mine but fingers crossed that the ideas/content are still passable.

[daenerysstormreborn]

I still think there’s a chance Dany doesn’t become a villain in the books because her characterization IS different in the show but I don’t think it’s really fair to claim the only reasons people think she’ll become a villain are misogyny and hatred of her and desire to see her get a bad ending. Yes there are Dany haters and misogynists who believe this but those are not the only reasons.

I love Dany. What I desire for her is not necessarily what I believe will happen in the story. I’m still split on what I think will happen and I’m keeping an open mind. What I want for Dany is a happy ending where she is loved and can live in peace. If I was in charge of the story, I’d have Dany participate in the battle against the Others and, in the process, really get to know and understand the people of Westeros and realize that claiming the throne could not happen peacefully. I want her to choose the path she wants deep down and not the path she was told is owed to her. She does not seem to particularly enjoy ruling. Based on my interpretation, what Dany wants is a home. She wants love and acceptance and belonging. But growing up with Viserys she’s come to believe that she is owed the throne and has a duty to rule and she doesn’t know what else to do. This isn’t because I think she’d be a bad ruler (it is hard to judge who would it wouldn’t be a good ruler when they’re young teenagers). I just don’t think it would lead to a happy ending for her. I don’t want the IT for ANY of my favs.

However. This is just what I WANT for her. There are many things in the show that are clearly made up completely by D&D, like replacing Jeyne Poole with Sansa. However, I don’t think something as major as Daenerys, one of the main characters who has been presented as a hero thus far, destroying King’s Landing is something D&D would just pull out of their asses. It’s just such a major event that effects literally every other surviving main character. It’s hard for me to buy the idea that villain Daenerys isn’t an idea that GRRM at least floated to them. It was super rushed and poorly executed, as was the rest of the show. But it’s just hard to buy the idea that these men whom GRRM trusted would do something that entirely betrays his ideas for the story. And GRRM REALLY had faith in them. He did NOT want there to be an adaption of his series but they won him over. I do NOT want this to be the trajectory of Daenerys’s character but I just can’t pretend it’s not a very real possibility.

And then there’s the original outline. Yes, many things have changed since then. But George refers to Dany as a “threat.” This demonstrates that at least at one point, he has toyed with the idea of her ultimately posing as an antagonistic force to Westeros. Is this enough evidence to say without a shadow of a doubt that this is what George will do? No I don’t think so. Not a single one of us can say what he’s going to do with this story. There’s also a very real chance that Winds is taking so long because he decided to make major changes after seeing how GoT was received by the public but I’d like to think he has more integrity than that. But again, I just don’t know.

I want Daenerys to be a hero. The ending she got in the show was so, so tragic and would be heart wrenching if it had been executed well. As a big ol Jon lover, I don’t want that ending for him either. There are characters who are obviously on different trajectories based on major changes the show made to events (Sansa), characterization (Arya), or statements GRRM made (Jaime). But I just can’t say for sure that that’s true of Daenerys. If any other Daenerys fans who are 100% convinced without a show of a doubt that she will remain strictly a hero, I would love it if you’d add onto this post and tell me why!

[saintsenara]

I’m obsessed with your unhinged ship opinions! They’ve really gotten me thinking about interesting combinations which is such a fun activity for the subway

My submissions:

- Narcissa Malfoy/Petunia Dursley

- Voldemort/Molly Weasley

- Nagini/Crookshanks

- Walburga Black/Barty Crouch Sr.

ahhh, thank you so much @epigaea-repens - light of my life and producer of the finest piece of fan art i've ever seen - i'm genuinely delighted to discover that somebody other than me gets something out of doing these.

narcissa malfoy/petunia dursley

i'm oddly partial to a bit of draco/dudley - entirely because the idea of vernon trying to out-pompous lucius is funny to me, as is the fact that they'd clearly both think harry would care and harry's actual response would be 'who's draco?' - and i have to confess myself partial to this too.

narcissa's narrative mirror is molly weasley - both of these women share a certain fierceness [and, especially, a fierceness and strength one might not expect of them at first glance], but they also share a certain disconnection from the rest of their family, and an undercurrent of loneliness can be detected in their characterisation.

this is present in the way petunia is written too - the implication of canon is both that she's married "up" in terms of social class and that vernon is quite a bit older than her.

[and her fandom reception is a victim, i think, of the aging up of the adult cast of the films - petunia is, at most, twenty-four when lily dies. like her sister, she marries and has children young, even by the social standards of 1970s/1980s britain, and having to take on harry changes the trajectory of her life when it's only just started - i am absolutely wedded to the idea, for example, that harry being placed in her care means that she gives up a plan to have a second biological child.]

she is, of course, also confined in a prison which is directly of her own making - the bland domesticity of her perfect little house, all of which is an artifice constructed so she doesn't have to admit how deeply she once longed to be magic. narcissa experiences the same - i always read her as someone who leans heavily on the gendered conventions of the wizarding world as a way of coping with how utterly both of her sisters defied them, and as being someone who is very concerned with keeping up appearances [hence why her wildness and desperation when she goes to see snape in half-blood prince is so shocking]. i think you can imagine that she runs malfoy manor to have the same nothing-wrong-here vibe as number four privet drive, and i think you can do something very interesting indeed with the idea of two women who live behind masks being forced to drop them when they find each other.

lord voldemort/molly weasley

does, in fact, exist, in the form of a story i will recommend to everyone - come slowly, eden by paimpont - which, like all the best rare-pair fics, takes two implausible characters and creates a genuinely meaningful love story between them, through a lovely character study of molly and her ability to notice when people [and, especially, when people who are very much in want of a mother] are hungry.

nagini/crookshanks

i had to look up crookshanks' gender for this - which is a wild thing to say on a weekday afternoon - so that i could confirm... flopping. nagini's a lesbian, crookshanks misunderstood when she said she liked pussy.

it's fine in the end, though. nagini's got something happening with one of the malfoys' peahens, and crookshanks can go back either to the enemies-to-lovers thing he's got going on with mrs norris or to the soulmates thing he's got going on with sirius.

walburga black/barty crouch sr.

i am completely obsessed with this concept, i don't even think it can be considered a crack ship, and i would like to see it written immediately.

debilitating grief at the son you thought you knew disappearing - whether literally or metaphorically? delicious.

[that-ari-blogger]

Spoilers Ahead (Hunting Palismen)

Usually, when I write these introductions, I can be vague with the story enclosed within. I can ask questions that I will try to answer in the post itself, and I can hint at the plot of the episode.

This episode, however, changes the trajectory of the story in a way so significant that I can’t be vague about, and this starts at exactly one minute into the episode, before even the title sequence.

So, join me, for a jaunty trip into an episode that might be a deep psychological meditation, or a character introduction, or maybe its just a silly fanfic for a FromSoftware game. If you don’t know which of these is true, you have been warned.

SPOILERS AHEAD (The Owl House, Bloodborne)

I’m going to start with Kikimora and her dragon, because I know why you are reading this post, and I’m enjoying making you wait.

Princess is a phenomenal dragon design, and it works as an extension for Kikimora. The creature is entirely made up of hands and fingers, which is creepy as hell, but it also carries the symbolism over from that.

Hands are, for the most part, how people interact with the world. They are how we manipulate things. For example, this blog is being typed onto a keyboard by utilising my own hands. However, hands are often used for self-expression, some of the oldest symbols of expression are handprints on cave walls.

So, Princess is an extension of Kikimora’s agency. Princess is an extension of Kikimora’s will.

Kikimora also features a hand in her design, replacing her hair. And considering how she acts in relation to Belos, that chain says a lot about her character. Kikimora lords over people below her, but she is really just as much of a pawn as they are.

A Kikimora is actually a creature from Slavic folklore, and can be associated with a few things, including sleep paralysis. That’s not especially relevant to this episode or post but keep it in mind as you watch the show. It’s neat how writers adapt folklore to suit their stories.

Anyway, The Owl House has a theme of anatomy, it is literally set on the corpse of a massive, kinda dead creature, and places aren’t so much named after body parts as actually are those body parts.

So, what gives?

Here is my reading: The show is about identity. It is a bildungsroman, a coming-of-age story about a teenager trying to work out who she is. So, the anatomical metaphor becomes set dressing explicitly intended to remind you of this struggle. Every place Luz visits is part of a person, every experience is part of her, and makes up who she is.

Speaking of identity, the palismen. I am running out of ways to say that this show is dissecting Luz’s entire deal, but it is, and here we see the nuance of that start to creep in. Luz wants to become a witch, which is a great thing to want, but this episode begins to ask what that actually looks like.

If you are following my blog, you might have seen some of my posts on She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (Don’t worry, you don’t need to have read any of them for this to make sense). In those posts, I bring up the gulf between intellectual and emotional understanding.

Luz is kinda the opposite of a few characters in She-Ra. Where they can make statements and plans on things based on information but are then emotionally unprepared to act on those plans, Luz has emotionally accepted her story and her goal, but she can’t articulate it.

The question of why Luz wants to be a witch has been answered already. It was answered before the first credits rolled. Luz wants to find acceptance. She doesn’t want to change to fit people’s expectations, she wants people to understand her and embrace her for who she is. Being a witch will enable her to do that.

The reason she can’t choose a palisman, is because there is no way that she can verbalise this emotion at this point in her story. She still has a long way to go.

But, from a writing point of view, what if you want to speed up character development a little bit? What if you suddenly have a time limit on your story set by arbitrary higher ups who don’t actually understand storytelling at all and just want to make money off of it? How do you solve that problem?

The best catalyst for character development is a good antithesis foil, an equal opposite to your chosen character, who can challenge their worldview from a place of similarity and encourage growth naturally through healthy friendship or rivalry.

Which brings me to the Golden Guard, who really focuses in on the “equal” part of that. This entire episode exists to position him and Luz on equal footing in everything. Their status by themselves is empty, their magical ability is so-so, they both project confidence despite actually having very little, and they are both massive nerds.

Their age is even similar, that’s the point of the reveal. It’s the “we’re not so different, you and I” trope done really well.

But, as I’ve mentioned before, the point of a mirror foil is to have two character be really similar, so that their differences stand out by contrast, and there are some significant differences.

The most important similarity, however, is that they both need to be understood through their relationships with others, and that is where the bulk of their opposition lies.

Where the Golden Guard acts as an equal to Luz, Belos acts as an equal to Eda. He is a parental figure, and he features a transformation. This puts the two in the same category, but unlike the two’s protégé, they have nothing more in common.

Belos’ transformation gets revealed exactly one minute into this episode. The introduction of the story lays out his plan, his subordinates, everything, and then it shows us this. And, I am going to go off topic again to link the series to a different FromSoftware game, Bloodborne.

Bloodborne, aside from being objectively one of the greatest games ever made, is a story with many meanings, with one throughline being the horror inherent in abuse of power and in the xenophobia required to keep that power in place. It deals with religious trauma derived from those abusers changing their religious doctrines away from their roots and into a form that will suit their own selfish desires. If you hadn’t noticed, those are all things that The Owl House deals with through the character of Belos.

I want to stress quickly that the two stories are most definitely not the same. Bloodborne goes into some territory that The Owl House stays very much clear of, and while I heartily recommend it, I also recommend reading the content warnings first.

Belos actually links directly to the character of Vicar Amelia in design and in story. Vicar Amelia is a symbol of the Healing Church’s blindness and hypocrisy. She praises the source of the current disaster that the game focuses on, and then she transforms into a chimeric, bestial creature before an altar, at which point she attacks the player.

Belos, meanwhile, gives a sermon to glorify a spell that will allegedly bring about salvation in the most overtly sinister way possible, then he retreats to the altar of himself, and turns into a chimeric, bestial creature.

Which is something that undercuts his advice to The Golden Guard.

“Please, be careful, our family is gone because of wild magic. I can’t let the same thing happen to you.”

If Belos was telling the truth here, it would have complicated the story. Suddenly, freedom comes at a cost to other people. And the weird thing is, he isn’t actually lying, he’s just not telling the entire truth. That’s some setup that will be paid off in a later episode.

The audience, however, is inclined to disbelieve Belos when he says this, because a) he’s just been explicitly shown off as a cult leader, and those are usually not the most trustworthy of people, and b) he’s the villain of the series who has spent an entire season up to this point lying to Lilith, the man has a history.

At the end of the episode, when the Golden Guard reveals his failure, he is met with threats, and a sob story.

“These outbursts are painful, and so is watching you fail.”

Yes, these threats are hurting you, but look what they’re doing to me. Look at how you are hurting me. Feel guilty.

Also, maybe Belos hasn’t been so accurate in the past as to only damage the Golden Guard's hair. Maybe some of those scars didn’t come from battle.

What this means for the Golden Guard is that he has a manipulative parental figure, in contrast to Luz’s parental figure who, let’s be honest, can’t strategize for toffee.

Look how happy he is, he's got a hobby. It's cute.

“I’ve never seen glyphs before, but it seems very similar to the elemental magic practiced in the savage ages.”

You wanna say that again, buddy? That’s a lore drop and a half and you just brush it off like it’s nothing?

The Golden Guard now exists in relation to Luz, and he will gain connections as the series progresses, each deepening his characterisation.

That’s an intentional thing on behalf of Belos, by the way, the fact that The Golden Guard is isolated. It means that he is barely more than a henchman, a tool. The Golden Guard won’t question Belos’ orders because why would he? He’s got no reason to doubt that Belos is telling the truth.

But the day out with Luz reveals that the Golden Guard is his own person, in a way that he isn’t allowed to be with Belos. When he spoke about wild magic in the introduction, he was glared down, but now he stops himself.

“You’re not my friend. Your just the Golden Guard.” “My name is Hunter.”

Luz’s greatest strength is her ability to act as a catalyst for change in others, and Hunter is the perfect example of that.

This conversation relates to that theme of identity in a really weird way, because in a series about the freedom to express yourself in whatever way you see fit, the greatest insult Luz can think of is “you are nothing more than a label”.

Hunter's signature move involves teleporting behind someone, and we've actually seen this before. The only other people to use this, were Eda and Lilith, when they fought each other. There's a connection there.

But she is proven wrong about that. Hunter extends his name like an offer of apology, he still plans on taking the palismen, but he owes Luz something. So, he concedes that she is right, he is more than a label, that more just includes being her antagonist.

Although, looking at this name, is he? Is he more than a label? Hunter is a name, sure, but its also a job. Hunter is Belos’ guard dog, his attack hound. In this mission, he was sent out to hunt palismen. There is nuance to this character, but it’s a lot deeper under the surface than even he thinks.

There is one thing that I need to bring up, and its something I talked about in my discussion of the season opener. But Hunter is cool.

I love how easily he switches from terrified of Belos to calm and Machiavellian with Kikimora. Everything about him is an act. I wonder whether that will come up again.

Like, this isn’t something that is measurable, or definable. But Hunter is cool. He’s badass, he’s smart, he’s calm (most of the time). I've been joking about his edgy ass aesthetic with the "I'm Batman" thing, but there's a point to it. He’s cool.

But he’s also neurodivergent. Like, that’s kinda a given for most of the characters in this story, but Hunter falls under the bracket too.

The reason I bring this up is that, usually in storytelling, neurodivergence is one of the factors that goes against the coolness factor. But Hunter doesn’t show off that duality at all, he manages to be both, and I would argue that he never ceases to be either in the entirety of the show.

Freedom of expression, the way he decides. Just something to think about.

But, I started this post by talking about how Luz needed a foil, and Hunter acts as one in a quiet way. He pressures her into taking her time to think, and plan. He shows her that she doesn’t actually know what she wants in the long term, and so her final resolution at the end of the episode is to wait until she understands.

"At least you have your future figured out now." "At least you can figure out your own."

Part of growing up is maturing at your own pace and taking things one step at a time. When you’re ready, then you can act.

Final Thoughts

Hunter is my precious boi, and that’s not an uncommon opinion in the Owl House fandom.

The kid is obviously drawing inspiration from Zuko, in his everything, but to say that they are the same character is a disservice to both. Zuko’s story revolves around personal honour, while Hunter’s exists as a vehicle to talk about freedom.

Hunter is also braver than Zuko, precisely because he is scared all of the time. Zuko runs on adrenaline and anger, for the most part, and it usually doesn’t appear that fear factors into his plans at all. Hunter is, at all times, bone numbingly terrified of failure, or rejection, and even himself, but he powers through anyway. That’s real courage.

Also, Hunter doesn't get redeemed. Zuko does some truly villainous things, so he needs to attune. Hunter doesn't really do much wrong. He's just kinda a jerk in his first episode, and quietly intimidating in the rest of the series, that ain't a crime. Hunter doesn't need redemption, he needs a hug and a bowl of soup.

Next week, I’ll be taking a look at Eda’s Requiem, which, I’m fine. I got this. No crying. Stick around if that interests you.

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[variousqueerthings]

I think it's also interesting to see how things change depending on the time in which they're being engaged with. so I see things about rose today that point out that she's written to be 19 when she meets the doctor and that's a big age difference (which... I understand the point is it's a big age difference because billie piper was 23 and eccleston was 40, and then dtennant was like 34/35 when he started which isn't so big of a shift but anyway the optics I get what people are getting at, but also I think it does oversimplify a lot of what's actually going on in the written dynamic, anyway-)

and also that the rtd run's Themes start coming together properly around s3 (although they are present from day one), and in some ways at this point, because nu!who has been running for... fuckn. actually quite a few years, which is wild to me as someone who started watching as a kid, and I wonder if classic!who fans felt the same way about their show and anyway -- she shifts from being Literally The First Companion You'd Seen For 17 Years (not counting the movie and fan things and the sketch) Who Was Defining A New Era For A New Generation to... a companion

comparable to other companions, comparable to the rest of the show

we sift through the writing to see what worked and what didn't (in our opinion), and we know how the ten-and-rose storyline Really ends, and how the ten storyline ends (sort, of because now that doctor and donna are Back), and we know what happens afterwards, and we talk about tenrose with a 2020s eye, and rose is "just" one of the people that travels with the doctor, one of several, and notably the one who gets most of the sunshiney doctor that buries a lot of the (wonderfully portrayed) angst of the latter half of the rtd show, and doesn't have as much lore as everything after that, so the story is "just" more simple overall

and to me she's kind of incapable of being just that. doctor who was still a risk that first season, it wasn't a done deal that it would have legs at all, never mind that it would continue for as long as it has. rose was created to be the Face of what nu!who was, moreso than nine/eccleston, because even with the extra angst and the eccleston gravitas, we know the doctor, the doctor is established, it's not actually the doctor that needs to sell what the new show is going to become and what the Feel of that new show is going to be (I mean, partly ofc, but-)

rose was doing so much heavy lifting and she succeeded! she was the face of who before dtennant or any other doctor or companion of his era and subsequent eras. she was created to appeal to a demographic of girls who wanted someone relatable in science fiction, because rtd wanted this to be for the girls, and billie piper came into it off the back of being a popstar and it changed her entire trajectory (for the better I think/hope -- there's a lot of bad shit in billie piper's past and I'm always sending her a fond thought)

nine/ten-and-rose were It! not calling it romantic or platonic or any secret third thing (haunting the narrative), but simply It! that's why it has so much staying power as a ship (which, my opinion on shipping has been somewhat *eh shrug* in later years, but in early-days when that was how you engaged with dynamics that got to you, of course it was going to be massive). it's so hard to properly describe how "for the time in which it was made" that this dynamic was written for, and how successful it was. it was rose that breathed doctor who -- and the doctor's character -- to life, as much as herself

she sets the stage for everything that comes next, both within and without the show proper

and I'm always so pleased that rtd at the time was thinking about what was needed to create this character and he opened with a shot from a girl on the estate with messy hair, clumpy eyeliner, and a minimum wage job, and went "that's the girl who's going to go on the adventure of a lifetime, that's the girl we're seeing the story through and relating to, because that's what girls (and uh... those who were girls at the time - and their parents and the boys) should be seeing."

I know rose isn't the first working class companion including classic!who, but she set the tone for nu!who and her family and background are important to why she is who she is, and is explored

"I've got no A-levels, no job, no future-" said the girl about to see the universe

she was very much for teenagers, and so she reads differently when you're an adult watching it back (much like those "teenager saves the world," novels you loved as a kid), but that's why she's 19 at the beginning. that's why she's billie piper (who does a perfect job). she was there to bring a new generation into this story, and it was perfect. and then she grows up. and we grew up. and she had adventures and it was brilliant and she survived and she made a life for herself. that's her story

[weaselandfriends]

You've mentioned struggling to come up with ideas for fiction, and needing to nurture the few you get carefully. In that context: which parts of your stories do you tend to think of first, as initial idea-seeds, and which parts tend to come later? And how do you tend to approach the process of growing them out?

Perfect timing on this question, because I'm currently back in the part of the process where I try to transform a story idea into a full story I can write.

When I get an idea, it's usually vague. More of a feeling than a coherent plot. Fargo's idea began as "angry magical girl in the Midwest." Cockatiel x Chameleon, slightly more communicable, was "romance between office worker and pornographic artist." It's much easier for me to remember the emotions behind these ideas than their actual content. It's the emotion that gives me confidence the idea can be a powerful story. If I ever try to explain my ideas to other people at this stage, they sound pretty uninteresting. Only I can believe in them because I know the feeling I want the story to create.

Over time, a scene related to those emotions pops into my head. For years, the only salient idea I had for Cockatiel x Chameleon was that it would end with the office worker running out into the desert to die of exposure. Modern Cannibals I imagined as ending with a rooftop confrontation that would cause the skyscraper, and then the entire city of Las Vegas, to collapse.

Once I have the One Big Scene, it becomes a matter of trying to figure out how to create a story that gets to that scene. So I extrapolate out from the scene, which usually gives me a general sense of the story's trajectory, as well as an outline of what types of characters I might need to fill the roles the scene requires. Sometimes the characters are nothing more than names and I struggle to figure out a personality, sometimes the characters are nothing more than a personality and I struggle to figure out a name.

Based on that, what usually comes next is the opening scene, the main character, the foundational stuff. That way, I have a beginning and an end in mind, at which point it is theoretically possible to figure out the middle more easily. (I've found it's not easy, though.) This is probably the point at which I'm certain I will be writing the story, so I start putting a lot of conscious effort into thinking about things, which usually involves gripping my head and rolling around on the floor. I'm always in a constant state of remembering how I wrote Fargo (where I took the idea of "angry magical girl in the Midwest," thought about literally nothing else, and just wrote a fully functional story with no effort or planning) and being frustrated I can't do it that easily again.

It's usually like chiseling marble at that point. Just a million tiny little taps over a period of weeks, months, or years, where I get incremental ideas one by one. I'll usually get antsy, say fuck it, and write the opening scene, only to not know what comes next or not like it, think some more, change stuff, and do it again. I must have written the opening scene to Modern Cannibals 10 or 11 times over the course of 4 years. I wrote 6 versions of the opening scene of Cockatiel x Chameleon, most with entirely different scenarios for the initial roleplay. I wrote 6 versions of the opening scene of When I Win the World Ends. I've already written 5 versions of the opening scene of my upcoming horror novel.

The serial works tend to fare better. I only wrote 3 versions of Chicago's opening, and 1.5 versions of Cleveland Quixotic's (1.5 meaning I wrote one and then rewrote part, but not all, of it). My serial stuff I usually approach with less pressure for perfection (or perhaps more pressure to "write it the way I wrote Fargo"), which is why I just go for it more often.

Brute force usually works eventually, though. Writing the opening scene over and over tends to force me to think about what comes next in a way that eventually spurs development. (If I sound somewhat pessimistic in describing this process to you, that's because I'm currently in this part of the cycle, as I mentioned at the start.)

Once I get locked in, though, things get easier. The actual wordsmithing is probably the easiest part for me. I'm very good at sitting down every day and hammering out words to consistently move the story forward. That, I suppose, is the tradeoff for my struggles coming up with ideas. Maybe even the reason I struggle with ideas is because I've transformed ideas into stories enough that I know the kind of pratfalls I need to have figured out before I try to actually write anything. (Fargo excepted.)

But yeah! It's a tough process for me. Recently I've been speaking to some other notable webfic authors and I'm amazed at how quickly and effortlessly they come up with ideas! It's extremely impressive, I'm definitely envious.

[pikahlua]

The Todoroki family subplot is so heartbreaking honestly. My heart aches for every one of them. Touya just wanted to be loved 😞

Also… I hope Iida will walk again eventually because that looked incredibly brutal on his legs.

Lately I've had trouble holding my tongue on how I interpret what's going on with the Todoroki family. For me, there's a lot about the Todoroki family story that hits way too close to home. But it just comes across as even funnier when people talk about how unrealistic it is when compared with abuse in real life--because they're usually referring to Endeavor's change. Endeavor's part is actually the best written (or more true to life) if you ask me. The part that rings hollow based on my experiences is the idea that the entire family all at once comes to the same realization about their faults and needing to be better. Very rarely do other people see themselves as part of the problem (the dysfunctional family, if you will), so they pin all the blame on one person.

Anyways, that's neither here nor there in the end. Any extrapolation to the real world we as readers make about the Todoroki family is just that--an extrapolation. We can try to find the morals or reflections of reality in these stories, but ultimately those are things we put into the story, not the artist himself. Even when the artist tries really really hard to make us make those extrapolations, they're still our own extrapolations.

What we really have, literally speaking, is a story about characters in their own world. It has a narrative arc and setting and character development all neatly contained within their society. The story is about a major societal paradigm shift, something that rarely happens in the real world. It was always going to be some sort of wish fulfillment story. Touya's actions from start to finish betray his emotions with respect to his family. I called it "love" in previous posts, but to be clear I don't mean the happy ending saccharine kind of love that diminishes the word. I mean that Touya cares. He can't divorce himself from his feelings about his family. He can't ignore his own investment in the family's trajectory. He's a hurt little boy who grew up and never healed the hurt. You're right: he just wanted to be loved. And now, his family has come to save him (unlike, for contrast, the majority of Tenko's family).

MHA is first and foremost a story about heroes, and true heroes save people--no matter who those people are. No matter what those people have done in the past. If someone needs saving, then a hero must save them. That's the story we've always been reading.

And I'm sure Iida will be fine. He's done way worse to his engines before lol.

[lady-of-snails]

bae what are ur thoughts on the new bnha chapters and how the ending is looking so far!!! i've been a fan of your fics since the beginning (since "snail has bkdk brainrot" had three parts LOL) and i know you haven't posted fics in a while but would LOVE to here ur interpretation/perspective on the canon events/the trajectory of bkdk's relationship!! i love how you illustrate and characterize their relationship sm and thank u for all the joy you've brought me through ur work the past few years!!

omg an og snail reader hi!! ty for the love <3 and UGH my thoughts about the ending,,, i will put them under the cut to hide spoilers!

honestly? i'm a fan of bkdk's ending!! ik its not the canonization everyone dreamed of but i actually love that there were 0 canon ships by the end :') so often stories feel like shakespeare comedies where absolutely everyone has to get paired up in some way even if that doesn't make sense, and i'm really glad hori didn't do that!! esp with ochako and izuku - I HAVE SO MANY BIG FEELINS ABOUT OCHAKOS ENDING TOO BTW :')) I LOVE HER SO MUCH AND I LOVE THAT SHES CARRYING TOGA WITH HER AND ACTUALLY MAKING AN ACTIVE EFFORT TO CHANGE THE WORLD (even though i HATE that toga died and think that shouldn't have happened,,,).

ok, as for bkdk specifically - QUIRKLESS DEKU GETTING TO STILL BE A HERO??? KATSUKI CANONICALLY DEDICATING YEARS OF HIS LIFE AND MONEY TO MAKING DEKU'S "IMPOSSIBLE" DREAMS COME TRUE BC HE CANT STAND THE IDEA OF IZUKU NOT BEING A HERO BY HIS SIDE?? KATSUKI CANONICALLY DREAMING OF BEING A HERO WITH IZUKU FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE?? literally what more could i realistically ask for (except for a final hand holding panel,,, hori pls we were so close </3). in my mind that is canon bkdk they love each other so much they're best friends they get to be heroes together, AND we get to see that deku really CAN be a hero without a quirk :') i loved the bait n switch ending where u think it's just gonna be deku saying "at least i can still inspire people" (which is sweet but a lil cliche) and then NOPE,, ur gay ass boyfriend changed his entire belief system just bc of you <3

the development of katsuki throughout the whole thing just means SO much to me,,, he grew up so much and now hes an ADULT and he's so beautiful :')) and the devotion that he and izuku show each other throughout, whether or not it has any specific labels, means SO much to me too (esp as a person who doesn't always feel comfortable with labels of any kind). the fact that hori emphasized that it was KATSUKI who drove the fundraising efforts, but also that all of class 1-A worked together, is just lsdskldklsd izuku is so so loved :'))

and god. i love ochako so much. her moments in the last chapters were so dear to my heart, watching her break down while trying to hold it in behind a smile was so painful and so izuku-like of her and i was so happy when he came over the hill to comfort her because those two are so similar and they are so best friends and their relationships means SO MUCH TO MEEEE. ik im rambling im just,, full of love for these characters.

and they all love each other so much,,, in so many different ways. and that just really strikes a chord with me <33 and pro hero bkdk and support gear deku are CANON!!! lfg

[waitmyturtles]

Unwinding, unwinding, unwinding. More Our Skyy 2 x Bad Buddy x ATOTS meta. (I can’t believe I have more energy to write meta, but why not.) 

I’m thinking of all the entanglements as kind of a math equation: how each person between Bad Buddy and ATOTS was influenced by each other. And to an excellent point made to me by @wen-kexing-apologist -- how Bad Buddy served as the support system to the ultimate, BIG changes that we saw in Phupha especially, and Tian as well. 

In the play: Pran played Phupha. Pran as the Chief, as the reticent one. The Chief, who, by place, by tone, by preference, by community, ultimately dictates the trajectory and environment of the Phupha/Tian relationship.

Pat as Tian. Pat as Tian, who wants to be more free and open, and loving, and have more of a peek into Phupha’s heart. Tian, who suffers guilt via the heart of Torfun. Tian, who follows Chief; Pat, who follows Pran; Tian and Pat, who follow their partners, because their partners have more needs than Tian and Pat. They have more emotional processing needs than Tian and Pat. Because Tian and Pat both come from families that can tolerate the winds of change better than Pran and Phupha’s families and society -- and we don’t even SEE Phupha’s family, we only know about Phupha’s dad through stories.

I loved how punked I was by Aof during the first three episodes. I loved how, through physical similarities, I was led to think that Pat was connected to Phupha (OHMEARTH 2024, MANIFEST) and Pran was connected to Tian. Pran literally LOOKING LIKE Tian and vice versa.

I loved how I ASSUMED, if the guys were to act as Tian and Phupha in the play, that Pran would play Tian, and Pat would play Phupha.

I loved that I was SURPRISED by that change. 

And then: it needed to be PRAN, to tell PAT, vis à vis Phupha to Tian, that Tian/Pat shouldn’t give up his life for the sake of someone else.

It makes me wonder... it makes me wonder about Singapore.

All last week and this week, we’ve been wondering HOW Pran COULD have gone to Singapore. Last week, some of us felt like we needed Pran to REALIZE that he needed INDEPENDENCE from Pat, because Pat seems to THINK that Pran always NEEDS his help.

I mean -- does Pat actually think that? That was Pat’s line to the homies. But Pat is there next to Pran, I’d posit at this moment, because -- Pat just wants to BE THERE next to Pran, to have a REASON to be near him, because Pat’s a big puppy, and Pat was ALSO the NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBOR to Pran his entire life, and Pat’s life was rendered so lonely when Pran finally disappeared in high school.

I’d posit that Pat just wants to BE NEAR Pran, and as well -- again, because they were neighbors -- that Pran ALSO wants to just BE NEAR Pat.

BUT, I ALSO POSIT: PRAN is aware of the burden that HE IS to Pat. 

I happen to feel like I agree the most with @grapejuicegay‘s wonderful analysis from yesterday regarding Pran needing distance from Dissaya. I utterly agree with that. And, since nothing in life is binary, I will also posit that -- considering that it’s Pran-as-Phupha who utters the line to Pat-as-Tian -- “[Y]ou have done enough/No one should ever use their whole life to repay anyone else’s life” ...

I also posit that Pran may go to Singapore to give space to Pat, to let Pat BE Pat. Even though Pat is a big puppy who wants Pran nearby -- Pran knows that they’re in the glass closet more for Pran than for Pat. I will always posit that Pran has more to lose as an only child, and Pran suffered more greatly at the hands of his mother vis à vis intergenerational trauma. While Pat may lose his dad, he still has Pa -- Pat will still have family in the end, on his side. 

@wen-kexing-apologist posted last night that it was Phupha in these last two episodes who went through the biggest changes, and I absolutely agree. I will also say that the utter stroke of GENIUS by Aof Noppharnach is that he STILL had his other three characters going through THEIR changes, however subtle. Because this scenario is situated between episodes 11 and 12 of BBS -- sure, we didn’t get as close to getting *concrete reasoning*, per se, of why Pran went to Singapore. BUT, BUT: I DO THINK we got SOME ACKNOWLEDGMENT, via the play, that Pran KNOWS about the sacrifices that Pat’s making in the relationship.

I believe that Aof is OKAY with us making inferences, and giving us easter egg hints, and I want to say that he might (EEEEK) trust our judgement with where we might land, at least right now, vis à vis Pran’s final concrete decision to move to Singapore.

I think Pran goes through transcendent changes here, just as much as Phupha does. I think Pran is learning how to give Pat space, learning how to let Pat temporarily go for a while, while Pran sorts himself out, because Pran knows he brings the shit -- Pran knows he’s insecure, he knows what it’s LIKE to be insecure and wonder if he’s liked and loved. Pran may have OCD (what a brilliant post, @grapejuicegay). Pran has his MOTHER all over his SOCIAL MEDIA, LIKING HIS PHOTOS, LIKING HIS SHIT, BRUV. MOOOOOOOM, GET OUTTA HERE. Mom, DUDE, gimme space.

Pran, in other words, has quite the number of reasons to go to Singapore. I truly think this play -- vis à vis the ability to inhabit someone else’s voice, almost Jung-ian -- helped him to transcend to get to his final decision, which we don’t see getting made, but I am okay with that. I’d rather see growth than artificial finality. 

@miscellar​, I joked to you that I thought these episodes would have body swapping, and -- they kinda did, right? They had some kind of character embodiment. It was used as a psychological tool in the end, to help each character transcend their own internal prisons. 

@wen-kexing-apologist‘s post last night brings this conversation back to the very biggest story of change in Phupha, and gets to the question of whether or not the ATOTS story could have held up without Bad Buddy.

But I have an answer for the Bad Buddy story for a question I didn’t even know I had. I didn’t know that I needed Phupha in Pran’s life, in Pran’s brain as a character, Phupha’s words in Pran’s voice, for me to better understand who Pran is. I didn’t know, because I didn’t anticipate it -- I didn’t know I needed Pran TO BE Phupha for a hot second, in order to understand Pran that much more.

[seldaryne]

"Wyll's quest regarding the Wyrmway is now a subquest instead of part of his main quest."

"Wyll's quest regarding Ravengard will now more reliably and frequently receive updates in Act III."

so mechanically speaking then, was the demotion of quest status in the first point required for them to implement the functionality of the second or??? because i genuinely don't understand why it became a subquest, especially when the game's structure already allows you to just ignore quests & move on to the next area if you want. most of the patch notes that directly mention wyll are bug-related or scripting flow, which i don't have a problem with (bug fixes are great, we love those). i'd love to hear any thoughts about this, though, because i really can't think of a reason why it had to become a subquest?

i also initially read that second point as planning for future updates to wyll's content but at a second glance i think it may just be referring to journal updates? i don't know, i'd like to believe my initial reaction was the correct one but... yknow. anyway i maintain that this is yet Another example of some really goddamn weird choices on the developmental end of things. if the companion quests exist on a sliding scale of 'most related to current main storyline to least,' wyll is very much at the top end of things. optimistic thought is that a lot of his scrapped content existed in the parts of act 3 that were cut, but i would think that as a studio you'd see that & make an effort to level things out with how much screentime the other companions have. at the bare minimum, your player base shouldn't be able to clock so many weird holes in his story arc where it's clear that something else was supposed to be offered.

i'm also not saying that the other companion arcs weren't clunky in some areas & didn't need a bit of help, but the disparity here makes deprioritizing those edits seem like a more logical course of action. like there's a difference between some slightly unpolished scenes vs. something that feels fundamentally lacking in a lot of structural ways, especially when you get into the finer points of the comparisons. act 3 imo is the one that feels the most bare-bones to me. like yes, there's Stuff there visually and quests too but it doesn't feel as lived-in as acts 1 & 2. i would say that the underdark to ketheric section feels the most dense, content-wise, and i don't think it's a coincidence that it's the bracket of the game i enjoy the most. i maintain that giving wyll's storyline the attention it needs would not only help with the character arc itself, but also pad out the quieter stretches of act 3. at this point i don't really see how they'd be able to add in the upper city without either completely changing the trajectory of the third act (so like, almost definitely something we Will Not See Happen & understandably so from a production standpoint. weird post-release editing aside, it is still a finished game.) & i'm also not sure what a DLC would look like here because the main story feels pretty complete too. off the top of my head, maybe one where you follow wyll & karlach into avernus would work, but that's worldstate dependent & probably wouldn't get made for that reason.

all that to say, from where i'm standing it really seems like giving wyll the same respect other companions are offered would by extension fix some of the act 3 issues, without having to release an entirely new area of the game (i'd love it i just don't think it's realistic lmao). like i know why/what the factors are that led to wyll getting the short end of the stick, it's bullshit but it's not the first time we've seen black characters handled unfairly by devs (& fans), but beyond that it's literally just. so confusing to me on the basis of writing alone. why wouldn't you use the character with that many ties to the titular city of the game more? why isn't he more integral to the story when it really seems like he has every reason to take the spotlight in certain areas?? like that's a fantastic resource of a character to use to move the narrative along and Yet.

idk. this started off as just a reaction to patch notes but it's so unbelievably frustrating to watch it keep happening every patch.

[neonmetro]

HAI....SO LIKE,, OPINIONS ON MAHOU SHOJO.......... PERSONALLY IM A DIE HARD FOR IT

I've been into it since I was like 5. My parents have videos of me dancing to the music of like Precure and stuff....WHICH IS LOWKEY EMBARRASSING BUT WHATEVER

Favorite Magical Girls series 👀👀

I personally REALLY like Precure, madoka magica, and card captor sakura, and tokyo mew mew ( BUT OBVIOUSLY MORE ) I WOULD LOVEEEE TO HERE YOU RANT ABOUT YOUR LOVE FOR IT 💞💞💞💞💞💞

-Paris anon

I LOVE MAHOU SHOUJO!!!!!!!!!! i have SO MANY THOUGHTS ON IT YOU HAVE NO IDEAAA!!!!

it's so good. the tropes are so funny and endearing (the running to school toast thing is the most iconic thing ever) and its SO NICE TO HAVE A BOTH EPISODIC YET CONTINUOUS STORY LINE... I LOVE MAGICAL GIRL OUTFITS ITS PEAK I FEAR

i grew up on shit like sailor moon (good lord this changed the trajectory of my life forever), kitchen princess, pichi pichi pitch mermaid melody, and shugo chara (oh my god i am obsessed with shugo chara you have no idea) so um. so far my favorite is sailor moon + shugo chara but i really have to watch utena and cardcaptor ... those will probably make it on top

SAILOR MOON'S CHARACTER DESIGN/DRESSES ARE GENUINELY SOOOO AGUGHGHGHG i love the inbetween pages for mahou shoujo especially like. naoko takeuchi's fashion sense is genuinely peak (like i said i love her dresses especially)

i don't really remember all that much about kitchen princess? but it was cute i liked the food and how much the main character liked hokkaido and flan but i also read it out of order bc UGH OTHER people want to read it TOO (art style is so cute though augh)

PICHI PICHI PITCH LEGIT SHAPED MY ENTIRE CHILDHOOD EXCEPT IT WAS JUST THE FIRST VOLUME BECAUSE I DIDN'T KNOW PIRATING EXISTED AND I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO GET MORE VOLUMES SO I JUST REREAD THE FIRST VOLUME OVER AND OVER AND OVER i got the book at like a bookstore used and it was just peak to me at the time (i tried going back to it. genuinely cannot get past it now i fear)

shugo chara.

FUCK I AM SO OBSESSED WITH SHUGO CHARA THE CONCEPT OF EGGS AND HOW HAVING YOUR DREAM EGG BROKEN AND LEAVING YOU BROKEN IS SO DEVASTATING AMU IS A LITERAL 5TH GRADER AND SHE GOES THROUGH ALL THIS SHIT i love you utau peach pit cannot make me hate her. her arc of having her talent abused because she's just that desperate to save her brother is so devastating, AND TADASE. MY GOAT. MY KING. YOU CAN RULE THE WORLD I BELIEVE IN YOU SEKAII ITEEE his arc is also just so bad. his grandma dies. his dog dies. his adoptive siblings leave him. now he wants to rule the world so everyone in the world can be happy because he will carry their burdens FOR THEM FUCK ITS ALL JUST SO GOOD!!!!

its definitely one of the mangas i can actually go back on and read it it holds up so well and the art style is just so cute (they got a new reboot and it was AWESOME UNTIL THAT FUCKING CAT BOY SHOWED UP (unfortunately sometimes mahou shoujo is just connected with that cringe))

I STILL NEED TO WATCH PRECURE, CARDCAPTOR, AND TOKYO MEW MEW (shields my face as i'm getting tomatoes thrown at me) I KNOW I KNOW I'M SORRY

I DO HAVE A LOT OF PRECURE TOYS FROM WHEN MY MOM WENT TO JAPAN AND BOUGHT THEM FOR ME... plus a bunch of magazines i loved shifting through when i was a kid

i also did watch precure glitter force and that was. uh. well it was interesting. (um. i mean it was. partially good. i. i liked the character designs and art.)

i did watch princess tutu and that was just so fucking good. i love fairy tales and i love toxic lesbianism and some empty ass guy and his toxic yaoi with his best friend

i'll be real. madoka magica scarred me because i saw the mami scene but then i went back to it when i was like 15 and cried over homura and the last few episodes of the main series and look at me now mentally ill and gay and i have homura as my google pfp

i have Thankfully grown as a person and i now understand the hype behind madoka magica and i need every single person on this fucking earth to watch it it is the biggest influence on novaturient ever i love the concept of witches and magical girls and that FUCK ASS CAT KYUBEY HIS IS AWESOME

soul gems are so pretty. i got these perfumes in my room that look exactly like them and i put them up and i think wow... this is just like madoka magica

i have no idea how to end this post. thank you for enabling to ramble about mahou shoujo i am so glad there are people just as insane as i am about this genre

[historyofshipping]

More Teen Wolf thoughts

So I knew next to nothing about Teen Wolf when I started watching it last week. I basically just didn't interact with any fandoms when it was live and so I'm coming in without any kind of preconceived notions of who/what the good character/ships/storylines etc other than the movie sucks and I shouldn't watch it. I was also vaguely aware that Ste/rek and Stydia were fandom things.

After watching it, I scrolled through an obscene amount of tumblr stuff related to TW and I truly have to wonder if we watched the same show.

Again, it's a very different viewing experience for me because I didn't have gaps between seasons where I could theorize, over-analyze, etc. I'm also older than the target audience so like that could probably affect how I view things too.

I'll also add that my own relationship had a similar trajectory to Stydia. My partner had a crush on me while I was literally engaged to someone else and we barely knew each other, but then we had a deep friendship form over time. By the time my last relationship ended, his crush had changed to genuine love and my friendship evolved to something romantic. We've been together now over a decade.

So with all that said, here's Stydia thought: I am truly BAFFLED by the fact that people think Stydia getting together was fan service. (More under cut)

Note: I have zero interest in debating or arguing, which is why I'm hoping this won't come up in other ship tags. If you feel the need to argue, just move along because I'll either ignore you or block you. These are just my thoughts - it's not that deep.

I admit I absolutely fell in love with Stydia. I am an absolute sucker for good friends to lovers, detective duos, etc so they were *Chef's kiss* to me.

That said, I'm more than capable of separating my feelings about a ship from a story. So when people say that Stydia was forced together, I'm just kind of dumbfounded since I thought it was literally the only well-written ship in the entire show.

When we start, obviously we have Stiles obsessing over an image of Lydia in his head. But even still, he was never into her popularity or anything like that - he was into the person she was at the core, even when she kept it hidden.

Then they became friends over the course of the next few seasons and Stiles fell in love with her in a different way. He got to know her better and his feelings only deepened. However, she was with other people so he tried to force himself to move on. This is very normal in high school especially.

I did not like the Sta/lia relationship, mostly because I thought Malia deserved a lot better than someone who was clearly still into someone else, but I'm not going to get into that here.

We have canon proof that Stiles was STILL INTO Lydia during season 4&5. So much so that Kira, new to the group and mostly only around post-Malia getting involved, picked up on it: "He still likes her, doesn't he?" "Yeah, but it’s different now." "Stiles was the only one who knew." "He paid attention. He listened to her. He remembered."

Stiles is constantly the one whose main priority is getting her out of Eichen House. He storms in and doesn't give a shit about self-preservation as long as he gets to Lydia and gets her out.

He breaks through his bonds when she's about to be injected.

The camera constantly focuses on their hand touches with each other - whether it's in the hospital, the care with which they constantly stroke each other's face, etc. When Melissa was about to inject Lydia in the neck, she told Stiles specifically to hold her hand - even though he has a fear of needles.

Both of them essentially brought the other back from the dead through their connection.

When he sees her hurt or about to be hurt, it goes back to "I would go out of my freaking mind" - and he does.

Stiles was in love with her for nearly a decade. That doesn't just go away in a few months.

Now, for Lydia, we have her focused on Stiles above all else. He's the one she calls when she's in trouble or upset. She goes to him for comfort. "Stiles saved me."

Whenever there's a Stalia moment and Lydia is around, the camera goes to her for reactions. What comes to mind immediately is in the Mexico car scene where Malia says she'd come back for Stiles.

Now, any of these things individually you could say are just friendship things - and you'd be correct. Above everything, they are friends. Probably best friends. But their bond goes so much deeper than that. Both of them needed that basis of friendship before they could fall into a truly deep love for each other - and that's what we see in season 6.

So yeah, I'm not sure where people are getting the idea that it was out of the blue. It's clearly been built up over seasons and while it *could* have stayed as just very good friends, that wasn't the story they were telling. I'll concede that s6 was kind screwed up because of DOB's filming and injuries but it still wasn't out of the blue.

[sapphire-weapon]

I shouldn't be this deeply invested or high hopes about the RE universe, but I read that post about unkilling Wesker in the remakes and the part about Ada being inspired by Leon and I just can't help but side eye them if that's the route they take.

I like her, always have, but christ will she ever become her own character? She's a grown woman, older than him and an arc that's all "Oh, well our hero is just super super heroic so this one woman who's profiting from dodgy business from the beginning had a change of heart because of him and nobody else. Yeah. We decided she should still completely lack agency. We'll pretend she's miss independent by giving her a zipslide weapon or wahtever, but literally everything she thinks and does is decided by the men she's surrounded with", and I'm supposed to swallow that pill without tasting misogyny whatsoever. I've said it before, but for Ada to ever truly live up to her promised name and potential, she needs a story separate from Leon entirely. She needs her own agency and her own arc. She needs to actually exist as a full person outside of a ship, but I also recognise that myself and other fans are just... expecting way too much.

There ARE good female characters with decent backgrounds and fair stories. Those are Claire, Jill, Sherry, Ashley(sort of), Moira and Natalia. It's just sad that they don't really seem to recieve the same response, though maybe I'm looking in the wrong places. Even Claire, who's had an entire two campaigns to herself, who actually saved Sherry, has a whole ass story behind the scenes, is seemingly only mentioned when paired up with Leon... it's a stupid grievance, but it's all deeply seeped with raging misogyny and it often gets on my nerves. What are your thoughts?

No, I disagree; that's a bad call. Cutting her off from him is a horrible idea for the way the story has already been written. They've already gone through 2R and 4R with Ada's character arc still tied to Leon. If they were to completely sever her arc from his character now, that would still be terrible character writing, just in a different way. She still needs to close out that arc with him and achieve catharsis from it in some way. Otherwise, it makes the first two full game titles she was in completely pointless.

This is why I said that if I were to rewrite Ada's character myself exactly how I wanted her, I'd swap Leon and Claire's campaigns in RE2. I'd put Leon in charge of Sherry and the Birkin family drama and have Claire deal with Ada. Not only does that service Ada's character, but it also makes more sense narratively in general -- since Sherry is such a huge part of Leon's character arc when she's not really for Claire, and Chris's sister would be dealing with Wesker's spy.

But that's not how it happened, so we need to look at what the story is actually doing and analyze it from there.

As the Remakes stand now, there is still an opportunity for them to do more with Ada. Just because Remake Ada is inspired by Leon doesn't mean that she can't exist without him. Every story and every dynamic character arc needs an inciting incident. There's actually a literary term for what Leon is for Ada, especially in the context of Remake: he's her impact character.

The simplest definition I can give is that an impact character is someone who challenges another character's worldview and forces them to re-examine their ideology. Different characters can impact different other characters at varying points of the story, but the idea behind this is that their impact has a direct and relevant effect on the character's trajectory, which in turn helps shape the entire story.

All dynamic characters are affected by impact characters at some point (that's what makes them dynamic rather than flat) -- including protagonists. Leon and Ada are that for each other. Ada teaches Leon that his sense of justice is naive and somewhat childish and that the real world isn't so nice, and Leon teaches Ada to question what it is that she's fighting for.

That doesn't mean that those two can't be impacted by anyone or anything else, though.

We've already seen this happen with Remake Leon. Ada is just his first impact character. Krauser is his second.

Ada forces Leon to change how he looks at the world, but Krauser completely changes how Leon views himself. Leon killing Krauser in RE4make is a huge moment for his character because, prior to that happening, Leon still views himself as being different from the people who lie and betray and kill and get so focused on their own goals that they don't care who gets caught in the crossfire.

He isn't. If he was, he wouldn't have been able to drive a knife through his teacher's heart for the sake of finishing his mission; he would've still tried to help save him in some way.

Leon isn't just mourning Krauser when he almost cries after the fact -- he's mourning himself; he's mourning the last little piece of innocence that he was still holding onto -- that last little bit of naivety that allowed him to believe that there was still an Objective Moral Good -- that there were still such things as Good Guys and Bad Guys.

That's why the trophy/achievement you get after that boss fight is "You used to be a good guy!"

Who's "you" in this context? Is it Krauser? Or is it Leon?

This is also why it's so important that they changed Krauser's character from "guy who went a little nutty and decided to slob on Wesker's knob" to "guy who was betrayed by the government who was supposed to take care of him even though he did literally nothing wrong and is now just trying to reclaim some sense of safety and autonomy and purpose in his life" but that's a whole separate post on its own.

Anyway, the point is --

There's nothing that says that they can't do the same for Ada. She can still have a second impact character come into her storyline.

They still need to have Leon and Ada's connection pay off in some way and provide catharsis, but as of the moment of writing, there's nothing that says that Leon is the only avenue for Ada's character to be impacted and/or that she can't go on to have meaning and grow in a context divorced from him.

It's too late for OG Ada. It's not too late for Remake Ada. But Capcom needs to have the balls to do it.

[pochapal]

is pickle route also a junefic :?

"is pickle route junefic" is actually a pretty multilayered question depending on your position and which definition of junefic you're using and is in fact something i have been consciously thinking about when writing it.

the short spoiler-free answer is: if "junefic" is defined by "john egbert comes out as a trans woman" then that is categorically happening. june egbert is a character tag in the story and there's been a lot of groundwork seeding inevitable gender happenings for candy john, some of which stretches as far back as omelette route itself:

so yeah! candy john will eventually have a culminating gender arc happen because from at least one perspective this has already canonically happened. and without giving away too much detail this is all heading to a chapter that almost exactly mirrors the conversation june and roxy have in omelette route where june finally admits it to herself, this time consciously exploring the difference between getting there at age 23 and getting there at age 40. it's not the exact same shape and trajectory as omelette route since the meat and candy egberts are different people shaped by differing material circumstances, but at the core of it they do both undergo the same gender revelation.

for the longer answer: pickle route is both way more and way less of a junefic than omelette route. it's less of a junefic in that whereas omelette route was entirely centered around june and her self-actualization, pickle route isn't just "what if omelette route also happened in the candy timeline". egbert here is one of many moving parts in the story - a deeply essential one, yes, but not the core protagonist. in the wider sense, the core protagonist remains meatside june, but within pickle route explicitly the center stage is taken up by vriska and the candy kids to a lesser extent. egbert's gender arc was important for the emergence of june in omelette route, and is important for [SPOILERS TACTICALLY REDACTED]. however, pickle route is not solely a vehicle to deliver transfeminine egbert in the way that omelette route was. there are a lot more things we're aiming for here!

however, if you think about "junefic" in a way beyond the literal, then pickle route extremely remains in the junefic tradition. other than, like, june herself, junefic has a bunch of other i guess philosophical and thematic features that pickle route does pursue. ideas of characters redefining themselves against their canon/fanon molds, the nature of what it means to go against and change/disrupt an established narrative, and deeply queer interpersonal dynamics between the gods of earth c are all there in pickle route as much as they are omelette route. "junefic" stands as both an extension and interrogation of the ethos of postcanon - something which i go into more detail on in this post - and by that yardstick pickle route is very much carrying the torch.

omelette route used june egbert as a vehicle to make a very specific transformative response to postcanon, where june herself was in many ways the message via a metaphor triple reacharound. pickle route is using similar methods to make a complementary transformative response to postcanon. or to be much more blunt about it, pickle route is both explicitly and metaphorically the candy to omelette route's meat.