#But we got cardboard cutouts instead

[audiblehush]

“Let Down” doesn’t even BEGIN to cover it.

Part 1 was pretty phenomenal setup. Perfect? No, but really good in terms of how they were approaching their characters in all their complexities and contradictions.

Part 2 threw ALL of that in the trash. I feel like I can’t even really articulate all my complaints about it right now; it’s too raw. These characters became cardboard cutouts of themselves and I’m just like… how could they fumble the ball so badly?

I have been saying for AGES that the latest Part 2 could get away with Colin finding out about LW was the beginning of ep. 6. That would allow him an ENTIRE episode for him to work through his anger and heartbreak AND for Penelope to fight toward earning his trust back (idk, like the episode name IMPLIES?! “Romancing Mr. Bridgerton” … where?! Where was the romancing?!).

Instead we have him finding out AT the start of fucking episode 7, with the most manufactured drama “will she won’t she” lead-up EVER. And then they’re not speaking for the majority of the FINAL two episodes while I fast forward through Ben’s threesomes trying to find more non-existent Polin?!

We were told it was going to be “Polin against the world” in episodes 7 and 8 and we got NONE of that?? I had no problem with Colin being angry, but the TIMING and PACING of it was always going to be critical and they fucked up big time. We got ONE real Polin sex scene BEFORE Colin knew about LW. I was willing to excuse that if the writing made up for it later but yeah… that’s not what happened. The level of betrayal is unreal.

They spent all this time giving Cressida a sympathetic backstory to just… ship her off? To show the similarities in her home life to Pen only to… do nothing with it? A chance for Pen to “use her quill responsibly” and she doesn’t because nope, gotta shift to one of MILLION plots that are in the air! So many possibilities they could have employed there with Pen and Cressida but NOPE - ship her off to a controlling aunt!

They did NOTHING for Colin aside from a few lines about him working on a manuscript? That’s it?! We don’t even REALLY get him sitting down and talking with Penelope about LW and her reasons, his own insecurities… we just get like, a brief line about it in the last episode? We didn’t get him (OR Pen) calling out his family for the way they often treat him as an afterthought?! JUSTICE FOR COLIN.

And to have Pen still writing LW at the end? To have her keep the coping mechanism that she developed out of the result of an ugly home life? (that makes no sense even because logistically it only worked with her IN THE SHADOWS). When you could have made her a novelist? You just immediately hand-wave the column and make her a baby making machine?!

No fucking thanks.

The writing let Pen, Colin, Cressida, and Eloise ALL down.

The writing in part 2 just didn’t respect these characters of their journeys. That was always going to be a death blow, based on all the comments actors have made… I have to imagine so much of this season ended up on the editing room floor… because part 2 was a DISASTER. I guess this is what fanfic is for, but to barely have my babies together in THEIR SEASON growing into their own and together? It just breaks my heart.

Nicola and Luke deserved better.

Pen and Colin deserved better.

[plantsjustwannahavefun]

On Ed and Izzy's relationship

I see the "Izzy was the cunning mastermind manipulator in their relationship while Ed was his helpless innocent victim" take is doing the rounds again...

I honestly just feel sorry for anyone who can't comprehend and appreciate their relationship with its full complexity and nuance. Because it was simply magnificent. S01E04 alone is a masterpiece in character study that encapsulated their mutually toxic dynamic at its peak, and switching the character whose perspective you're watching it from completely switches what it looks like and who seems to be in the wrong. That episode was pure, beautiful, fucked up tragedy. They're both talking past each other. They both refuse to listen. Ed is crying out for help, but Izzy shuts him down. Ed wants to enjoy all those new fun original things on the ship that make him appreciate life again, but Izzy keeps nagging him. Clearly he's just an annoying, mean, insensitive buzzkill, right?

Except the whole time Izzy's terrified they are going to die because they're about to be attacked by the Spanish - something Ed brought upon them with his decision - and Ed seems completely disinterested in doing anything about it. Of course he's not going to indulge Edward playing with a toy ship or have a heart-to-heart in those circumstances. He doesn't insult or mock Ed for being suicidal, he simply points out that they're literally going to die if he doesn't come up with a plan right now. Meanwhile Ed's deliberately withholding crucial information from his own first mate and the rest of the crew, either (less charitable interpretation) for his own entertainment or to flex his skills or (slightly more charitable interpretation) to make a point to Stede.

The rest of it was so masterfully balanced out too. Right up until the point where Izzy betrayed them to the Navy, he didn't actually do anything wrong. Yes, he was still wrong - but so was Ed. Izzy was the "lawful evil". He was the one playing by the rules, while Ed was trying to cheat his way out of having to make a decision. Trying to run away from his problems instead of confronting them head-on (or just crashing into the opposite extreme and trying to violence his way out of his feelings) was literally the major theme of Ed's character. So was his inability to form meaningful relationships without bolting or lashing out the moment he encounters an obstacle. Completely removing this from the equation while putting all the blame on Izzy simply destroys Ed's agency and character depth.

We were literally given a glimpse of his childhood abuse to see where his trauma originated. It wasn't Izzy. Nor was it Izzy who appeared as the embodiment of Ed's self-hatred in the gravy basket. Izzy didn't somehow singlehandedly isolate Ed from forming meaningful relationships with people. He never had this much power over Ed. Their relationship was mutually toxic and codependent, but neither of them was each other's slave, they still had their own mind. We saw Ed constantly ignoring Izzy's advice and his judgment. We literally only saw it work when Izzy had the backup of other crew members and got overruled, and when he struck out at Ed when he was at his weakest and most vulnerable. And Ed wasted no time reestablishing the power dynamic in his favour, where it stayed until they managed to symbolically-and-almost-literally kill each in S02E02. That's what it took. That's how powerful their fucked up toxic relationship was.

That's exactly what I don't get about Ed fans who are Izzy haters (or misunderstanders). They claim to love Ed... and then they strip him of all the darkness and complexity and anything even remotely "unpalatable" that makes him such a richly realised character, and turn him into a cardboard cutout who's so indefensible as a character that the only way they can prevent people from criticising him is by pulling out the racism card. Which is so ironic and absurd because OFMD is amazing at diversity and writing characters equally well no matter what their gender, sexuality or skin colour is. It's also literally a show about one of history's most famous pirates. If someone doesn't want to see PoC characters portrayed behaving violently (even when that violence is shown to be caused by trauma and general pirate lifestyle and not indicative of their moral worth as a person), then OFMD probably isn't for them.

[acourtofthought]

Do you have any theories about who will be High King/Queen? If SJM does go with that story

Rhys seems like an obvious option but I wonder if that's too obvious. The fact that Sarah wrote Cassian thinking "No other male who would be a fairer ruler than Rhys" and Amren saying, "But know that the Cauldron's benevolence will be extended to you only for so long before it's offered to another" has me thinking she's just begging the reader to say, "I know someone!!!!"

I think Lucien is a possible option because of that. He is 100% a male who would be a fairer ruler than Rhys, maybe even more so. Rhys has a complete bias towards the NC, especially Velaris. I'm not saying I don't understand why, he's been the one responsible for the safety of his people for centuries however, he's already made a negative name for himself in other courts because of things he's done, he's not trusted. Lucien, on the other hand, seems to be more concerned about doing the right thing for many courts. Spring, the NC, he shows remorse for letting down the people of Autumn in regards to Jesminda's death, he spent his youth making friends with the sons of other HL (who at this point might even be HLs themselves), he went out of his way to help the humans after the war, etc. Because Lucien doesn't have sole loyalty to any one place, I think he'd be the least biased ruler.

I also think people forget that Sarah has slowly but surely been setting Lucien up for something big. "He was barely in SF! Sarah forgot about him!" Lucien has been one of a handful of characters around since book 1. Even Az / Cassian / Amren / Mor weren't in Sarah's mind when she wrote book 1 and Sarah didn't think the sisters would be more than cardboard cutouts of wicked sisters in book 1. That means Lucien, even before the IC and the sisters, was a fully fleshed out character for her, someone she tells us has always one of her favorite characters. And Lucien has been the only male character since book 1 outside of Rhys who remained a good guy versus Tamlin who Sarah sent in a downward spiral. While Tamlin was left behind in Spring, Sarah had Lucien travel with Feyre to the NC. Sarah had Lucien as the one who met Papa Archeron and Koschei (since she retconned him meeting up with Vassa/ Papa A at a later point and instead had him at the lake with their father). Sarah changed his father so that instead of a tragic backstory that connected him to the Autumn Court, he now has a tragic backstory in the Autumn Court AND a secret Day Court heritage, setting him up to be a possible future HL where he not only has strong powers from his mothers line but that of Helion powers as well. Since I can't imagine Sarah writing Helion off, Lucien is going to need a purpose. In the same book she wrote Helion and Rhys as BFF's, she connected Helion to the Pegasus and Trove items (which are connected to the history of Theia and the Starborn fae) and introduced the High King plotline. And through all of that, she has continued writing Lucien as literal perfection. I'm not even saying that with bias, I'm saying it based on how all other authors / screenwriters write many heroes. He is snarky and sassy while also respectful and humble. He's genuinely good and decent, apologizes and feels remorse. He's intelligent and brave and tries to help out wherever he ends up but is never overly cocky. He's "I want to help however I can because it's the right thing to do" not, "you clearly need me because I'm the best". We as the reader know he's got all sorts of hidden powers that he isn't aware of though he constantly feels like he's not good enough, not strong enough to stop the people he badly wishes he could stop.

The reason Lucien was in the background in SF is because he's not meant to be a major part of the NC. He's not meant to be best friends with Nesta or Cassian. He's not there to serve Nesta's healing arc. It's not difficult to understand that Sarah is setting Lucien up for his own path. There are so many characters connected to the NC but that leaves Lucien as having alllllllll the connections to alllllll the places outside of that. While he is an ally to the NC, he's also the contact for Spring, for the Human Lands, he's going to have strong connections to Autumn because of his brother and mother, he's going to have connections to Day because of his father. Rhys and Feyre will be family to him because I strongly feel Elain and Lucien are endgame but Sarah doesn't need to write Lucien as relying on the NC for anything because they already rely on him for a lot of information. Therefore, we didn't need Lucien having major page time in a Nessian book, Nesta did not serve Lucien's future arc in any way. Cassian did not serve Lucien's arc in any way. And he did not serve their arcs (Valkyrie / Illyrian related stuff) in any way. But that doesn't take away how Sarah when is ready to write about all the other places on their world map (outside of the NC), she already laid the groundwork for Lucien to be the most connected to it all and because of that, I can't imagine anyone who would more easily slide into the role of High King, someone who has already shown he cares about more than just one court and someone who has the experience of being in charge since he kind of ran Spring for Tamlin half the time.

Or maybe Sarah will go a completely different route and put Mor in place as High Queen rather than High King. We know she's of a royal lineage as her bloodline was of the ruling family of the NC before Rhys, we know she was an ally to the humans long ago, we know that she's not 100% committed to the NC and NC alone (since Rhys tells us in ACOFAS that he could see the noose tightening around her neck in the NC, that he could sense her need to roam beyond the borders of the NC.

[afinestoutlove]

things i love about heartstopper 6/?

Characters that would be stereotypes in other stories are whole human beings.

Imogen and Isaac are the best examples I think. Imogen would just be the cool girl in another story, a bit ditzy, kind of fun, mostly there for the laughs. Here she is all those things, but she's also a deeply empathetic character, with understandable motivations. Even if you don't love her, you can understand her and sympathise with her. When Nick asks her "Do you ever feel like you're just doing things because everyone else is?", you can see the recognition in her face. That's her whole story across 3 seasons. And you care about her, you empathise with her, and you love her (well, I do), even though (because) she's a walking disaster a lot of the time.

Isaac deserves a whole post to himself (I LOVE HIM) so I'll save most of what I could say about him for that. But the sweet, book-loving, nerdy friend character could so easily be a caricature, and Isaac isn't. He's closer to that in S1, maybe because he was filling the place of Aled who has a whole backstory of his own and they hadn't quite figured out his role yet? But even in S1, his personality is never just book-loving nerd. He's funny and sassy and kind and insightful, and then over the seasons he becomes so much more than that. You can see why his friends love him. You also get a sort of feel for why he's so book-obsessed, when most similar characters "just are" with no real thought beyond "well they're a nerd". I think one of the things I love about his story is that his friends sort of accidentally pigeon-hole him, too, the way other stories often do. And part of his arc is pushing back against that, and them realising they need to do better (and then they do, which is so fucking good, I love them all so much!).

You can see this humanising process with the “villains” of the show, too.

Ben Hope, the worst person in the story (imo), has his main humanising moment in 'Sorry' (I think it was done better in the show than the comic, pls don't come for me). It breaks my heart every time, when that rainbow ocean gets close to his toes and he turns and walks away I wanna cry. Because it's so clear he could have been different, he could have chosen something better for himself and everyone around him. He could have chosen not to be entitled and cruel, and to not inflict his own pain and shame onto others. And he could have chosen this moment to do that too, but he doesn't. He cuts himself off from the possibility of freedom, which means he'll keep hurting other people and himself for who knows how long. (Sebastian Croft did such a good job with this character, he's so believably awful.) It's such a perfect moment. Even though I do feel real empathy and sadness for him, that doesn't make what he did okay and the show is always clear that he's wrong and he needs to be held accountable. Yes, we see that his family and environment led him here, but he could have made a different choice. He could have learnt from Charlie the way Nick did, but instead he tried to destroy all the parts of Charlie that would have helped him. We see Darcy struggling with similar pressures throughout S2, and they make a very different choice from Ben at the end of this same episode. We see how Ben got there, we see him as a full person, and we're never asked to approve of him or minimise the hurt he caused - it's basically spelled out in Ben and Nick's conversation in 'Family':

"I was going through some personal stuff." "I don't care, you hurt him!"

Probably the weakest characters in terms of being humanised are David and Harry. David has the most punchable face, but as the show progresses you can see a little bit of what’s underneath. It doesn’t make you like him and it’s not supposed to. But he’s not just a cardboard cutout. He’s a hurt little boy who, unlike Nick, leaned into the shittiest form of masculinity to try and get the validation he desperately wanted from his dad, and then everyone else. And it shows up irl for so many families. The older sibling who was just that bit older when their parents separated often has a much harder time adjusting, and often compensates in some shitty ways - especially if one of their parents is neglectful/toxic. On first glance, it's wild that Sarah managed to raise such different sons, but the context we get makes so much sense. Yeah, the "my parents are divorced/dad is a dickhead" manchild is a stereotype still, but there is an actual person there.

Harry is similar to David in terms of character, but probably gets the least humanising attention. He and David both like to poke at people until they get a reaction that they can be angry about. Harry gets a little bit of an arc of his own, but he never really gets far from the stereotypical bully - as Tao says, a "rich bellend". There are a couple of moments where you can see a human face underneath, though, if you're looking for it. His face when Nick stands up to him, there's more than just anger there. Or, perhaps, you can see when the anger hits and what's underneath it. You can see what drives his constant poking at people to get a reaction (especially if you've had to deal with assholes like that irl). There's insecurity, and sometimes a weird sense of shock when people snap at him, as though he didn't expect it - that's so true to life as well, and often something that gets left out of this stereotype in other stories. But later on, when he tells Ben he shouldn't call Imogen a bitch, you can also see something else there, the potential to be better, even if it's just for people like Imogen who he's friends with. (Maybe we'll see more of that in S4?) Props to Cormac Hyde-Corrin for those little moments, he did them really well.

I think what’s so valuable about the humanising moments for the “bad guys” of the show, even the tiny ones you have to look for, is that you are supposed to empathise with them to some extent, but you’re never asked to forgive them or absolve them. You understand more about who they are and sometimes why, but they’re still responsible for their choices. That's how people change, right? When we see their humanity and then expect better of them. It’s so important.

[firstchaplainerebus]

four days for the end and the death part 3. Predictions:

It was all an indigestion dream that Leman Russ had

Loken hits the emperor over the head by accident and puts him in a coma instead of horus

we see malcador’s stamp collection. This has nothing to do with the plot

Oll and John come together and create a super mecha for the emperor to pilot

Basilio Fo finally activates his doomsday device, only for everyone to find out it’s just a normal smoothie machine. He was thirsty.

Erebus smokes a huge blunt. Look at him.

Rogal Dorn smokes an even bigger blunt but he acts like he doesn’t like it. Real bitch about it. Coughs a lot and talks about his teeth missing.

It is revealed that Horus Lupercal is long dead and a cardboard cutout has been placed on the bridge of the vengeful spirit in order to hide the true warmaster from sight. Who is that you may ask? Why, you fool. It’s Peeter Egon Momus.

Guilliman shows up and he got everyone’s DoorDash order wrong. 😑 again.

[nerd-chocolate]

Unpopular opinion: I think Marinette's backstory in Derision works better for Zoe.

I personally don't dislike Zoe, the writers just didn't do a good job with her, but there's a couple of things about her that I really like that would make her less boring than she is if they were explored more.

We know she was used to keep up an act in her old school, and when she couldn't keep doing that, she started to get bullied. They put roaches in her locker and called her a loser, but despite all that, Zoe still had one friend, the one who wrote "I ♡ U" on her sneaker as she explained when she met Marinette.

That's literally Marinette's whole backstory with Chloe and Kim pranking her with spiders and the only person being there for her being Soqueline. I hated this backstory because it was used as an excuse for Marinette's stalking tendencies.

But what if it was instead Zoe's backstory shown in that episode? Let us know how she acted with her classmates and why she couldn't keep up the act anymore. Why did they dislike her when she just wanted to be herself? Instead of spiders, she got roaches in her locker. It was confirmed somewhere that Zoe's only friend was Jessica, the girl from the New York special. It would be interesting to see her again in a flasback, defending Zoe or comforting her.

And this whole story would be an explanation, not an excuse, for Zoe's tendencies of bottling up her true feelings, which is definitelly not as bad as stalking your crush.

I don't know, Zoe is kind of a bland character that I can't hate because I made up my own AU in my head where she's more fleshed out and isn't just a piece of cardboard meant to replace Chloe.😅

8, honestly Marinette’s backstory can work for anyone really other than Marinette. And this proves it, since this makes a lot of sense and would give more insight into Zoé’s character. This backstory also works for Nathaniel as well. In Evillustrator, Evie says this after it was revealed to him, that Marinette is working with Chat noir behind his back.

Which made some fans think he had a crush on Chloé but I think what happened was, that he had a crush on someone and Chloé found out about it. Chloé, his crush at the time, and Sabrina plan on pranking and leading him on. This goes on for awhile and the day he confessed his feelings to his ex-crush, the prank and Chloé humiliated him along as Sabrina and his ex-crush. That’s why he said that line to Marinette in that episode. You can see that has some similarities to derision and he doesn’t react in creepy like our main character did. With my theory and your idea for Zoé, that I kinda like, shows how much Marinette doesn’t need this backstory. Rather, she needs consequences and being single.

Also if you need anyone you want to discuss the au with, I’ll be that person since I’m like Zoé’s character and wish for her more than being a cardboard cutout.

[klbwriting]

Adventures In Atlantean-Sitting

Chapter 6

Fandom: Aquaman

Pairing: Ormxfemale!Reader

Warnings: mild violence

Summary: Orm goes to help and finds some evidence of who might be framing him

Orm ran back to the pier, YN following him. She called his name and he stopped, looking at her. He couldn’t get through the turnstiles with the bracelet on. She looked at him, conflicted for a moment. Would he run again? Use this as a reason to leave her behind like everyone else did?

“There are people who need help,” he said. She nodded, coming to her senses. She released the bracelet, taking it with her. Orm jumped over the fence to the park easily now, taking off into the wreck while YN stood out front, helping those who were escaping get to the help.

Orm skidded to a stop, seeing Atlantean soldiers firing weapons. They were wearing strange gloves. He studied them and realized they were pieces of his old suits. That’s where they were getting the DNA from. He noted that down for Arthur later and dove into the fray. He tried to avoid fighting at first, wanting to get as many people out as he could. He slid behind game stalls, cardboard cutouts, direction signs, anything so he wouldn’t be seen for the moment. He found a family about to be crushed from a falling awning, he lifted it and sent them away. He then found one of the rides, stopped, the operator having been hit and unable to move. He tore open the restraints, getting them off and sending them out. As he was going to the swing ride, he heard one of the soldiers call out to him. He turned and barely dodged the blast.

“Orm Marius, you are under arrest,” he called. Orm glared.

“For what?” he asked. There was a list of things, but he wasn’t the one attacking right now.

“For this attack and for the attack in the city proper,” he answered. Orm could see the smug look on the soldier’s face. He really thought he had done something great here, maybe he would get a promotion for this. Orm shook his head. Not today he wouldn’t. Orm held up his hands, pretending to be coming towards them. He knew they were just going to shoot him, would be easier bringing back a body instead of a living Atlantean. He waited until he saw the charge starting, then he ran right at him. The soldier was surprised, grip slipping on the weapon. Orm took the moment to slide just a little to the right, the weapon firing wide, him able to grab it from the solder’s hands, turning it and hitting him in the helmet with it. The protective screen shattered, and the soldier was forced to retreat to the water before he suffocated. The other two soldiers were ready, already firing. He winced as one of the shots grazed his side. These wounds would take longer to heal than the ones he got on the surface. He felt some burning also but ignored it as he fired the weapon back at the soldier. His hit was true, sending the soldier into a food stall. The final attacker, clearly realizing he was in trouble, dropped his weapon, holding up his hands. Orm didn’t lower his weapon.

“Take off the gloves,” Orm said. The soldier did as instructed. “Take your friend and get back to Atlantis, tell whoever is sending you here to leave me alone. I am not coming back there.” The soldier nodded, looking surprised. All the stories they heard about Orm was that he was bloodthirsty, that he had no mercy for anyone. Why was he sparing all of them? The soldier gathered the other and they went back to the water.

“Orm!” YN yelled, running up to him. He turned to face her, glad to see her safe. He motioned to the gloves on the ground.

“We need to get those to Arthur…and this weapon…” he wasn’t sure what happened next, everything went black.

Arthur arrived at YN’s cottage as the sun was rising the next morning. He brought Atlanna with him to help with Orm’s wounds. The queen had spent some time since coming back helping with the sick and injured in Atlantis and he hoped she would know what was wrong. Orm had a fever, the gash in his side wasn’t healing and was turning a strange shade of green. YN knew it was infected but they didn’t have the same medicines on the surface. As Atlanna went to help Orm in the bedroom YN led Arthur to her shed behind the house.

“He said to bring these back from the attack,” she explained, showing him the gloves and the weapons. “I’m not sure why, but I think they’re evidence that he isn’t the one doing this.” Arthur nodded and then looked at her. She knew she looked back. She hadn’t slept and her eyes were red and raw from crying. She couldn’t hold still either, feeling like she needed to do something but all she could do was stand there. She kept inadvertently using her power to find Orm even though she knew where he was, and it was draining.

“What’s been happening while he’s been here?” Arthur asked, putting the evidence in his bag carefully so not to damage them. YN debated being completely honest with him, but what was the point in lying?

“Well, he tried to run away first, I used the bracelet on him after that and I don’t know, we’ve just been, together,” she said. “Its so basic, we hang out, watch tv, cook together, go to the movies or the diner, talk. Do you know he’s funny? Like honestly, really funny in a dry kind of way. And he can sing, angelic voice on that man, and last night…he saw people, surface dwellers, in danger and he was so worried about them, had to run back to save them. I wished I could have kept up with him, but he ran and people were coming out and the ambulance arrived so instead of staying with him I went to help the others and now he’s in there hurt.”

“Its not your fault, he knew what he was doing,” Arthur said. She made a frustrated noise.

“I know it’s not my fault, but he’s been trying so hard to be good, to not be who he was and now someone is fucking with that progress he’s made. And why? You know that we were volunteering this week at a soup kitchen? He keeps saying he wants to make up for what he did, for the surface at least, because he can’t fix what he did in Atlantis, so we were starting there…its not fair!” she said. She knew she sounded like a toddler, but she hated to see him like this, hated not knowing what might happen to him. Arthur reached out and hugged her to him.

“He’ll be ok, mom knows what she’s doing, and we have some evidence of tampering, maybe we can do something with it, throw the investigation in another direction,” he said. “And maybe once he’s up and about again you can get back to your basic married life.” YN let out a hoarse laugh at that before nodding. He let her go and they headed inside. Atlanna was waiting for them.

“He’s going to be fine, there was a poison lace in the water that they shot him with, I was able to give him the antidote once I figured out what it was. He just needs a day or two of rest,” she said. YN nodded and went into the bedroom. Orm was awake, groggy but awake.

“Hi,” YN said, sitting next to him on the bed. He immediately put his head in her lap, hugging her legs gently. He had been having horrible nightmares about her being taken from him, hurt because of him. He needed her close and she didn’t mind, fingers brushing his hair back from his face.

“You’re safe,” he said softly. She chuckled as his words slurred.

“I am, and so are you,” she said back. He nodded. “Get some rest, I’ll stay with you.” She waved to Arthur and Atlanna as they left and didn’t move for the rest of the day.

[anthurak]

9S is the final boss though? Like his whole arc after 2B dies is him going insane until you get to the final fight with A2 with her being the obviously better choice.

Alright, ‘cracks knuckles’ guess I’m finally talking about those Nier takes I’ve never gotten around to.

Yes, you are correct. Which is why I call 9S a ‘blemish’ and not something that outright ruined the game for me.

It’s still annoying when you get into later parts of Route B when 9S starts stumbling onto all the big lore and backstory reveals with even Commander White dropping into emphasize how important what he’s finding is. As if the story is saying ‘aren’t you a smart and special little boy, 9S, for discovering all these important things’. Which combined with 2B dying at the start of Route C, makes it feel like, as I said, 9S is getting the ‘he was the REAL main character all along!’ treatment. Particularly when we consider that 9S gets to be the PC of both Route B and half of Route C, whereas 2B only gets Route A and A2 only gets half of Route C, effectively meaning that 9S technically gets the most screen time, story-wise.

Add on the fact that, as I said in the original repost, 9S reads and acts like literally every generic, cardboard-cutout self-insert anime protag-guy, to the point where some of his dialogue with 2B that I think the game wants us to interpret as ‘flirting’ feels like it’s out of a goddamn visual novel, and you can see why I consider him pretty insufferable.

It also doesn’t help that every time I’ve revisited Nier: Automata, I’m always finding 2B more and more interesting and compelling as a character. Just as an example, has anyone noticed that despite being seemingly the most ‘professional’ and loyal to the YoRHA cause on the surface of the three PCs, 2B is actually the most merciful of the three to the machine lifeforms? Like how when you first encounter non-hostile machines, 2B doesn’t want to attack them, stating that there is no reason to attack those that aren’t attacking them. Or how 2B is actually the MOST open of the three to talking and working with Pascal, whereas A2 is at first extremely distrustful and 9S just wanted to attack him on sight.

And yes, I really like A2 as well. Unfortunately the way her route is constructed means that she feels just as much like a replacement for 2B as she does a separate character in her own right. Which combined with the shorter length of Route C, makes her character feel a bit truncated.

And yes, 9S rapidly revealing himself to be a crazed, murderous incel simping for 2B the moment she dies IS in and of itself a great, twisted and interesting character turn, and I wholly agree that A2 having to Old-Yeller him is absolutely the better choice for the final battle. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really change everything else I’ve been saying up to now. Or the fact that 2B absolutely got fridged to make it happen.

Personally, for a long time now I’ve felt a better way to do the post-‘everything’s gone to shit’ reveal that we see in Route C would have 2B not actually dying but instead taken by A2 and eventually purged of the logic virus, though with 9S still wholly BELIEVING that 2B is dead at A2’s hands. Say, A2 still stabs 2B, but it turns out to be non-fatal.

From there, Route C follows A2 and a weakened/regaining-her-strength 2B working together. Likely with some fun gameplay twists were-in you’re switching control between the two. All the while, 9S is deteriorating even further than what we saw originally, to the point where even when he learns that 2B is alive and sees her again, he just goes into an even more crazed ‘you abandoned me!’ and ‘you left me for her!’ mode.

Which actually ends up leading to 9S mirroring Eve’s own crazed obsession with Adam and the rampage he went on after the latter’s death. Which in turn at first leads 2B to believe that 9S has some lingering virus infection from Adam and Eve from when they were holding him captive and that is the source of his madness, meaning that 9S could still be saved.

Of course, in a tragic twist, it is revealed that it ISN’T something lingering from Eve, but rather that 9S is deliberately re-infecting himself with the virus. That the true source of 9S’s madness is simply his own twisted obsession with 2B.

Which in turn leads to a final boss fight of 2B and A2 fighting a now-monstrous 9S. A fight which culminates in 2B and A2, with the help of Pods 042 and 153, hacking 9S in an extended trippy hacking sequence.

A sequence which culminates in 2B/the player having to hack into 9S’s menu and actually forcibly uninstall his OS-chip in order to put him down for good. Complete with you/2B effectively having to fight the ‘Are you sure?’ confirmation box which becomes progressively more crazed and unhinged, until Pod 042 mentions that you can force-uninstall the chip through some seemingly simply method like holding the button. Or perhaps something equally zany like switching control to A2 to uninstall the chip while the confirmation box is ‘occupied’ with 2B.

Thus, we still get a tragic/bittersweet ending of 2B being forced to kill 9S, but this time for good with the sense that now she can finally move on. Also this version would absolutely have 2B and A2 becoming a couple.

So yeah, that's a... few of my takes on Nier. Heck, I didn't even go into the AU I've had percolating for a few years now wherein 9S is expunged from the story entirely, 2B is partnered with 60 and is a bit of a yuri-harem-protag and there is frankly WAY more world-building than is necessary.

[warsamongthestars]

... How come the moment we got lady clones, they're both... treated so shallowly?

Well, its more complex than that.

Omega isn't a shallow character. In fact, she's probably one of the better child characters, and as a stand alone, I do generally like her. She reminds me of a hatched duckling, all yellow hair puffed out everywhere and following bigger ducks.

But the narrator / narrative of the story keeps bending itself around her, robbing agency or relevance of other characters to ensure that Omega comes out as the Untouched Hero (Down right Messiah) in all things. Literally stealing away the relevance of Main Character Deaths and entire Stories symbolism and impacts, just to ensure she stays the Main Hero.

( I've got two internal stories on this, that help me... handle things about her, that don't involve rewriting the entire story. One, deals in a kind of "Steven Universe Future" gig--where it turns out, instead of heading to the Rebellion, Omega was leaving at night to go find somewhere to just, rest for the rest of her life like a burnt out gifted child. Pushed too far to the brink by uncommunicative and militant brothers who spent significant moments of her life doing wrong by her through bad decision making. The Rebellion is just the easiest excuse to tell the others and Hunter. ) ( Two, that someone actually tells her about how the strings of those around her were pulled in order to ensure her importance. Crosshair and Tech were sacrificed to ensure her safety. Hunter's entire personality changed to a 180, to ensure she always had a Guardian. And now that she's an adult, the programming is at such a point that, her surviving brothers probably don't have much left of themselves to go back to, even if it was halted. )

But at the end of it, this was shallow writing. It destroyed entire ideas given by The Clone Wars, to overemphasize or even create Omega as an idea.

The other is Emerie Karr. Supposedly important, but just, given the opposite of Omega's treatment. Emerie is wholey unimportant. Her role can be given to anyone. Her arc makes no sense with the context the show already provides, more so if you're coming outta the Clone Wars. The themes the show already fails to push, is emphasized further by her rather rushed and ill-considered writing.

I don't see fanart or fanfic of this character. Because she is a worse cardboard cutout than Hunter, and doesn't stick.

One could argue that there's Lore as to Why she's like this--but I can use the same Lore to argue that she, as a conceptual character, should not only Not exist with the context provided, half the story shouldn't exist either.

The only reason she even sticks in my mind, is because my variant of Emerie Karr uses stronger writing and strong characters from outside of TBBshow, to supplement the idea behind her.

( ... So imagine a Good Guy variation of Albert Wesker from Resident Evil--so cool tones and cool aesthetic and monologue like, but instead, is facing off the bad guys instead of being a bad guy. Maybe a little bit of Steven Universe's Sapphire too. Add some cool ass Star Wars aesthetic sunglasses... )

But as a stand alone, by the standards of TBBshow... she doesn't... do anything. Nothing that couldn't be argued that another character, who has had 3 years, could do.

And even I will point out that she's meant to be a Tech clone / replacement. ( Which I would scream in rage about. They gave Tech up... to give us this cardboard repeat of a shock-surprise-twist. )

Its just...

How come, the two most significant / insignificant ladies of TBBshow, conceptually, end up with just as much of a short fucking stick as the rest of the characters?

[entities-of-posts]

yknow i wish i could exaggerate this and say this isnt real but i keep ending up in liminal spaces. i feel like this is the best blog to discuss such things. i dont know why, just feel the need to share my strange experiences! i just found this blog, but it calls to me or something dramatic like that. i dont know, im pretty sure these liminal spaces keep finding me instead of me finding them.

heres a few pictures of the places i go! i kinda wonder how i get here. those first two was when i went to see a movie, and it was kinda full when we got there, but when we left there was no one! no cashiers, and the theater we were in was empty too. the whole town seemed kinda dead at that time, which was strange, cause it was only 8pm.

second one… not sure how i got that, to be honest. i just found a slide. i dont know how far it goes up, or where it leads. you cant see it, but it turns and spirals to some far off second floor.

the warehouse one was when i was trying to find something for someone! was sent to grab something from a warehouse. the warehouse was on the 6th story, strangely. never found what i was looking for.

ooh, that street. that was a strange seat. was trying to find the car after a long night. there was a lot of alleys. that was one of the alleys! no idea where the alleys went to. they simply existed. they are simply alleys.

the last one. i just.. found it like that. it was in an empty room in a church. i didnt really dwell on why it was like that.

theres a lot i didn’t get pictures of, either! that church i mentioned is really strange. me and my sister broke into a room below the chapel once, and the floor was covered in dead bugs. we didn’t get far past it. there were so, so many bugs. that church underground lead to a few other tunnels within it. I’ve gone through those tunnels many times, and I’ve gotten lost in them so many times too. Possibly more than I’ve entered have I gotten lost!

Oh, what else. Ah! I was in the backstage of a theater once. I don’t know what play they were performing. They werent playing it yet, It was a few months before the show. In fact, the show should happen soon! Regardless, I found strange things in the backstages. A lot of black, cardboard cutouts of human shapes. There was a large room, so large. There was some kind of mountain of props, with a stairwell leading up it.

i only have a blurry images of that theater. i don’t actually know why they’re blurry! they just turned out like that. better not to question, huh.

i hope you enjoyed reading this! all of this is real, to be as honest as possible. you can throw away this ask, i don’t mind! or publicize it. i don’t mind either! I just felt that, seeing as you are an archive, it was fitting to settle down my own ‘statement’ or whatever. have fun, and remember! there are liminal spaces around every corner. for some weird reason.

Oh I love those uncanny little corners of the world! I would have climbed up the inside of the slide 👁👁

Liminal spaces are generally in the Stranger/Spiral overlap. It may be an overused word, but nevertheless the feeling remains as strong.

[overwatchloresnstuff]

Orisa lore

Orisa was originally an OR15 Idina unit, one of a squadron deployed in Numbani to participate in its defense. Their first task was to defend the Doomfist Gauntlet, an advanced prosthetic that was being moved to the Numbani Heritage Museum on Unity Day. This was considered the end of an era, and once the gauntlet was on display, the security would make it nearly impossible for any enterprising criminal to recover.

Doomfist beat them to it. He seized his gauntlet at the airport, and devastated the OR15s waiting to take it into custody. Doomfist hated everything Unity Day stood for; humans and omnics were not to be peaceful with one another. In his opinion accepting omnics had made man weak, and so he was determined to sow discord throughout Numbani.

Sadly, the OR15s were considered totaled. As unawakened drones with no sentience, they were auctioned off as spare parts. With Numbani’s future uncertain, and Doomfist spreading terror throughout the city, they were gathering funds for their defense. Selling the robots as scrap metal was, seemingly, the best they could do.

Enter Efi Oladele. She purchased the chassis of a shattered OR15 unit for 1 million naira on behalf of her grants by the Adawe Foundation. The young engineer, barely 11 years old, rolled up her sleeves and got to work. The OR15 unit in her care needed a new fusion driver, a Brandford Arm capable of firing pulse munitions generated by the reactor, and a strong Tobelstein reactor capable of generating gravitron fields. Efi wasn’t just building a bodyguard or something to put back into service. She was going to end Doomfist, or drive him out of Numbani forever.

Efi and her friends Hassana and Naade got to work rebuilding the OR15. Efi took heavy influence from the Overwatch heroes of old, as well as her own Yoruba culture. She named her Orisa, taking inspiration from her unit name as well as the orisha, Yoruba spirits that represent Supreme Divinity.

The project consumed Efi. She obtained the Brandford arm, even though it had to be upgraded as it was from an OR14 unit. Naade generated a new voice for Orisa, blending the voices of Efi, Efi’s mother and grandmother, and President Adawe together into a unique sound only Orisa would possess. As Doomfist spent weeks causing hell around Numbani, Efi’s work ethic, heavy handed schedule, and frustrations drove Naade and Hassana away. She worked on Orisa alone, debugging, reprogramming, and fighting with a modified version of Liao’s Adaptive Artificial Intelligence….the same intelligence that created the god programs. Efi was no fool. She put in a shutdown code imbedded in Lucio’s song ‘We Move Together as One’. If Orisa hears it, she will stop what she is doing as an emergency protocol.

Efi eventually settled on a blend of AAI, some “borrowed” subroutines from the Numbani military, and programming of her own. Orisa would be trained in military field first aid, military strategy, and would be programmed to be a model citizen alongside a terrifying warrior. Along with upgraded armored plating, and a new faceplate, Orisa was complete.

All that was left to do was turn her on.

Orisa booted up beautifully. She was no awakened omnic, and would hold no true sentience. Chained to her programming, she would have no choice but to be the new hero Numbani needed. However, Orisa needed to be put through her paces.

Efi started her on several standard robotics tests to gauge dexterity. She had her hold a glass. Orisa shattered it instantly, and Efi cut herself picking up the pieces. Upon seeing the blood, Orisa leapt into action, seizing Efi’s arm and attempting to cauterize the wound. Panicked, seeing as Orisa was about to use a very large cauterizing plasma cutter on a very small hand cut, Efi played her shutdown code.

Efi didn’t blame Orisa; the adaptive AI was still trying to find its feet, and the poor thing was only a few hours old. She showed Orisa a cardboard cutout of Doomfist instead, telling her that was her enemy. Efi cut back a bit on Orisa’s weaponry, and decided to take her to the outskirts of Numbani to get familiar with the city.

It was an unmitigated disaster. Orisa’s sense of Justice was extremely strong, and a strange robot didn’t fit in well on the streets of Numbani after the spectacular failure of the OR15 squad. After trying and failing to fit Orisa into a tram, the pair decided to walk. However, things didn’t get out of control until Efi spotted a man trying to break into a vehicle and pointed it out to Orisa. She ordered him to bring him to justice, as a test of her AI.

Orisa charged the man, who fled in panic with the robot hot on his heels. Orisa smashed through the streets in pursuit of her prey, quickly outstripping poor Efi…and now out of range of her shutdown code. Orisa ran down her prey like she had been designed to do, hoisted the would-be thief into the air, apprehending him. Efi stopped her just in time, and the pair retreated home after dropping their quarry at the police station, rattled but unharmed.

Perhaps Orisa’s programming was working a bit too well. Unfortunately, news of the incident had gotten out, and by morning the only assistance job Efi could get Orisa was stacking cans in a local grocery store. Unfortunately for Orisa and every member of the public shopping that day, she was just too big for the store. Her mannerisms and firm insistence on helping people drove customers away. People were afraid of her, especially with the new propaganda Doomfist was spreading.

Orisa could tell she was disappointing Efi. She had to try harder!

The next day, they went for a walk around the city. Efi reasoned that Orisa needed lessons in civics. Surely once she got the laws down, she would be fine enforcing them. Orisa was uneasy walking around the city…she was regretting smashing the place up just chasing a car thief. Efi reassured her that was what her empathy module was for, and not to worry about it.

Things went from bad to worse. Orisa caused a car pileup when she neglected to wait for the light to turn before escorting an old lady across the street. She simply stiff armed the vehicles, protecting her charge and Efi but causing hideous damage to property all along a major section of Numbani. With Orisa embarrassed and Efi terrified of another incident, Orisa was sent back to her docking bay until Efi could decide what was to be done with her.

Orisa worried. She just couldn’t do anything right. Her biometric scans told her Efi was stressed and upset. Orisa didn’t want to be a failure either. Quietly, Orisa used Efi’s computers to purchase a lower-quality gravitron processor from the Junkers. It wasn’t a Tobelstein, but maybe it would help her be less of a failure.

Grimly, Efi made the decision to rip out Orisa’s empathy module, removing Orisa’s ability to feel more complex emotions like self-doubt, worry, sadness, or compassion. She needed a weapon, and not a self-conscious toddler.

Doomfist attacked the Numbani Heritage Museum the next day, and Orisa sprang into action unbidden. Efi tried to get her to stop, but without her empathy module, she was deaf to Efi’s impassioned pleas that she wasn’t ready.

Orisa plunged into battle, but blew her shields too early. Doomfist watched as the shields ran down Orisa’s power reserves, and used his strength against her as he had before. The strike didn’t kill her this time, thanks to her upgraded machinery, but Orisa was badly wounded. As Doomfist raised his arm to strike the final blow, Efi ran between the two of them. Doomfist, unimpressed at the 11 year old barrier, moved to slap her aside. At the last moment, Orisa reactivated her shields and pushed Doomfist back with her Junker-made gravitron, climbing to her feet. With sirens blaring and the military on its way, Doomfist and Talon retreated.

Efi decided to put Orisa into military training full time. Naade insisted on showing Orisa footage of the Numbani Airport attack, where Orisa got to see her OR15 self slammed into the wall. Doomfist was a monster that wouldn’t hesitate to hurt people, and Orisa needed to see what he had done to her. Efi worried the footage would traumatize her impressionable robot, and her fears were soon realized.

On a training run at their school, several students were dressing up as Doomfist. Orisa, remembering the footage of her killer, fired on the children. She injured several of them before Efi was able to use her shutdown code.

It was a step too far.

Orisa pleaded for her life. She was still learning! She was barely weeks old and still getting a handle on life let alone the monumental task she had been built for!

Efi, sorrowfully, put Orisa into stasis. She, much like Echo, was put into storage. Not alive, not dead, but asleep.

Lucio, scheduled to perform at the next Unity Day celebration, had heard Efi was on the lookout for a Tobelstein reactor, and helped get her one. Efi was torn; here was the final upgrade for Orisa…but could she keep a handle on her? She installed the upgrade, replacing the Junker-made one, and made the decision to reactivate Orisa’s compassion module.

Awake again, the full weight of what Orisa had done settled on her shoulders. She could feel again, and regret and grief at attacking a defenseless child who had only been playing washed over her. Efi apologized; she had been impatient with Orisa. She was a new AI, tantamount to an infant, and it had been unfair to push her. Efi admitted that when push came to shove, she simply hadn’t wanted the responsibility…she had been so focused on Doomfist, she hadn’t been thinking of the AI she had created.

Orisa accepted her apology, and the two danced to Lucio’s music in celebration of Unity Day. Orisa was put on usher duty at the concert, and performed her duties well, proudly, and with less collateral damage than normal. Her duties done, Orisa settled in with Efi to watch her very first concert.

It wasn’t to be. Doomfist attacked en masse, and this time Efi, Lucio, and Orisa banded together. Lucio used his healing music to protect the crowd, and Orisa moved to engage Doomfist. This time, with all her upgrades, the two were evenly matched. The tide was beginning to turn against Doomfist, and he seized one of his own troops as a hostage, threatening to kill him in cold blood.

Efi recognized Doomfist’s plan at once: while she had been upgrading and training Orisa, Doomfist had been recruiting from Numbani itself. The young man he held was none other than one of Efi’s cousins, a man named Bisi, that she had been close to when she was younger. She couldn’t reach either Doomfist or Bisi in time; it was up to Orisa.

Orisa had a choice to make. She could let Doomfist crush Bisi’s throat, and take Doomfist into custody. Or she could save Efi’s cousin…but let Doomfist escape. Logic dictated that arresting Doomfist was priority. Her compassion bade her to save the human so callously hung in front of Akande.

Orisa chose Bisi.

Doomfist fled Numbani by the skin of his teeth, and Bisi was arrested for his involvement in Talon.

Despite the bittersweet ending, Lucio, Efi and Orisa were hailed as heroes. Efi and Orisa dedicated themselves to protecting Numbani’s peace…now more than ever.

(Taken from facebook group "Deadlock gang: women of Overwatch from a member there)

[himbo-in-limbo]

Now this is probably just because I’m a huge simp for Monty, but while I do think he’s lazy with aftercare, I do think he’d snuggle you. But that’s about it. And not just because he’s lazy. He’s also just a little stupid and doesn’t know what to do 😭

Now, since I rambled about Bonnie and Monty, and you rambled about Freddy and Bonnie, I’ll ramble about Freddy and Monty. And maybe another little surprise!

Now Freddy and Monty are both himbos. So two sides of the same coin. In other words, Freddy’s so sweet and gentle and telling Monty to be gentle with you. Not like Monty listens, so maybe. Jusssst maybe, Freddy gets aggravated and starts dominating Monty. Like we’ve established, Freddy doms brats. Monty is a brat. You see me?

And maybe you also get a bit of fun with Monty!

And then there’s after. Where he gets his revenge. Yeah you and Freddy are both gonna get a bit roughed up. Just imagine Monty dominating you while Freddy watches. I can just imagine all the dirty talk Monty says. Especially if this is a situation where you’re in a poly with Fronnie (Obvi with both Freddy and Bonnie being okay with this… okay not alright with it, but they both said you could smash Monty.) and Monty stroking his own ego and degrading you while Freddy just watches, knowing Monty’s about to do the same to him after.

I said I’d give you a surprise so here it is! Glamrock Foxy. Except I’m not mentioning bottom Foxy cause I do not hc that Foxy is ever a bottom. At most he’s a sub top.

So. He’s a half time cowboy half time pirate. According to SB and RUIN anyways…

Pirate Foxy: Definitely into knifeplay with his hook, teeth, claws, maybe a sword if he’s feeling extra frisky. And also, hammock. I’ve never banged in a hammock (Actually I’ve never.. actually banged. Irl. Just in fan fic and my imagination. Yknow that’s kinda weird cause I’m represented as a cro-) but Foxy definitely would smash you in his.

Cowboy Foxy: COWBOYS HAVE BIG DIC- ahem. So cowboys use rope is what I meant to say. (Unrelated but I find it extra hot to see Freddy all tied up in wires. Like imagine he went to go fix something and accidentally got all tied up in the wires and you just find him.) So Foxy ties you up. Anyways, milks you like a cow JSNAJKDJDN BYE

-🐦‍⬛

TW SPICY TOPICS N RAUNCHY SUBJECTS 🔥KIDDIES BE GONE!!!

I think I’ve finally perfected the way I will draw Monty….(hopefully)

Anyways, yes 100% these two would only (in my opinion) hate boink each other bc theys got tension (it also happened to be sexual tension…) I feel so sorry for Freddie bc 😭 Monty would be giving him such a hard time (in more than one way 😏)

And he’d DEFINITELY hog you like expect to get topped by Monty the most bc he’s a greedy bastard. oh but the degrading remarks he’d make at Freddie…..oof they way Monty would make you beg for HIM instead of Freddie and like you said that’d eventually piss off our Honeybear…if they start wrestling in bed I’m throwing money…

Uhhh…now for Foxy….honestly I don’t feel much for him LMAO not even enough like I do for Monty 💀💀💀 cute guy tho!

Maybe that’ll change if we get more lore about him? If he even is canon in SB (like yeah we see his old cardboard cutouts) but atm to me it looks like Foxy could have been Roxanne’s old model??? So she’s trans maybe?? If so good for her!! ♥️

[radashes]

Book Review: The Syndicator (Dark Verse, #6) by Runyx

No sugarcoating, no hate—just my honest opinion. I didn’t like this book. It was disappointing.

I walked away feeling unsatisfied. Maybe my expectations were sky-high because the first four books set the bar so well. Here’s where the wheels really fell off:

Spotlight overload on Luna and Dainn: The book was supposed to cover all four couples, but it felt like the whole story revolved around Luna and Dainn. They were the main focus, and everyone else got sidelined.

Rename this book 'Morana and Shadow Man Save the Day': Seriously, Morana cracked every mystery like Sherlock Holmes on caffeine, and Shadow Man cleaned up the action. The others might as well have been cardboard cutouts in the background.

Tristan and Luna's unnecessary plot twist: Their relationship twist was completely unnecessary! I almost threw the book across the room. What was RuNyx thinking with that? It felt so pointless. Their first meeting was great, but then what? Zero screen time at the end. I wanted to see more of their sibling bonding, but nope.

Dante and Alpha were basically VIP spectators: These two felt like they were just sitting in the front row, watching the drama unfold. What exactly was their role here besides looking cool?

Morana deserved better: Tristan was my favorite male lead, but in this book, he was frustrating. He could tell his sister he loved her but couldn’t say it to Morana? She went through so much, and he just fussed over petty things. RuNyx could’ve portrayed him as a better partner. Morana deserved more than this sad, lopsided love story.

Alpha’s memory loss left hanging: The whole series ended, and we still didn’t get Alpha’s memories back? I was really looking forward to that.

The ‘family’ vibe was missing: The ending didn’t feel like “they’re all one big family.” Instead, the ending gave off “awkward coworkers at a forced team-building retreat” energy. Luna felt distant, and while her story took center stage, she didn’t seem to fit in at the end. Where were the heartfelt moments between Dante and Luna? All he did was doubt her. And Luna’s struggles were rushed through one scene like no one cared.

Luna’s character shift: I loved her in Annihilator, but here? She felt like a moody teenager on her first crush. The “Mine” line was soooo cringe and weird… When Morana was in the hospital, why didn’t she check on her or Tristan? And her reaction to meeting her own child, Xandar was So flat.

The Syndicate—big talk, no action: This villain was hyped up through the entire series as the ultimate threat. I expected an epic showdown, but it was over in two minutes. Shadow Man handled it, and everyone else, like Dante and Alpha, were chilling at home like it was a casual Sunday. The villain appeared and vanished in the blink of an eye.

Underwhelming plot: Honestly, the main story could’ve been told in 10 pages. The rest was just filler romance and unnecessary character appearances. Zephyr’s mother suddenly killing her father? Random. And everyone was so wrapped up in Luna’s drama that no one even cared. I actually laughed because it felt so ridiculous.

In the end, this book was just okay—not terrible, but far from great. I’m still glad I discovered this series, and I hope RuNyx keeps writing and creating amazing characters in the future.

[nono-uwu]

hi this is kind of random but. ive seen a few posts so far from people in the fandom expressing they don't like/aren't interested in mikayuu anymore and i was curious if you knew why? it's been like a long time since i was into ons (like 2018? 😭) so im pretty out of the loop and was wondering if smth crazy happened ig lol 😭

I'm more of a recent addition to the fandom (watched/read ons for the 1st time in 2021 lol) but here's what I observed I think (not sure if you've read the manga but just in case huge spoiler warning)(also I may or may not be biased against them since my favs are the vampires and shinoa squad without mikayuu lol):

- there is just too much of them. Obviously they're the main characters but ons always had a colorful cast of characters and a lot of them (mainly Shinoa squad tbh) were sidelined during the shibuya arc and basically turned into cardboard cutouts that shout "Yuu!" every few chapters. Though they did get their personalities back in ch 133, it took way too long imo.

- Mikayuu barley changed as people and their relationship stayed basically the same. Once they reunited and Mika 'joined' Shinoa squad their relationship dynamic could be boiled down to: Yuu is kinda stupid and wants to do smth bc fAmLIy or whatever, Mika disagrees, Yuu does the equivalent of puppy dog eyes, Mika begrudgingly agrees, Yuu gets what he wants with minimal consequenz. After a while it's just not interesting to have the main character constantly winning. Heck, Mika's 'death' and demon transformation barley did anything in the long run.

Like at one point, it got brought up that Mika is losing his emotions for everything except Yuu, which was a pretty interesting idea and could have brought conflict into their realtionship. But a few weeks later (in-story, took a few years irl lol) Mika gets turned into a demon, regains his emotions and the former conflict is left in the dust.

Now with Mika as a demon, he lost all of his agency. He is literally stuck to Yuu and the most he can do against him is refuse to give him power but Yuu can just force it out of him so. Pretty fucked.

After they split off from the main group post Shibuya arc, they once again have an inkling of a conflict.

For context, they split off bc Yuu had to either choose between resurrecting humanity or only Mika (at least that's how Guren phrased it). Yuu's gayass chose Mika and at first they had an argument bc Mika doesn't value his life and would rather have everyone revived at his expense. Yuu goes 'nuh-uh' and makes a run for it, devoures Asuramaru/Ashera in the process.

Once they've run off, Mika confornts Yuu and shouts at him, saying he should have a happy life with his human family instead of Mika. Yuu once again goes "nuh-uh" and decides to revive all of humanity, Mika included.

- They restate their goal, plans and whatnot too much. Ons is a monthly manga with ~35 pages per chapter. In Mikayuu centric chapters, almost half (if not all) are wasted on restating the goals they've stated LAST FUCKING CHAPTER. Maybe Kagami doesn't trust the readers memory but man, you didn't do this before, did you? Why now all of a sudden? There's plenty of plot to get through, we can reread old chapters if we forget something.

There's also way too much goofing around. Obviously down-time is needed in any action packed series but we've gotten so much random cut-ins of Yuu needing food in what are supposed to be tense moments. Also we do not need an entire chapter of them hunting, eating and talking about their plans and others plans.

-

This is all I remembered off the top of my head, anyone feel free to add more

[aheckinmess]

Bullet in a Gun [Snipe] (Angst)

(One-shot 23/? in a collection of My Hero Academia one-shots posted regularly on Saturdays - and sometimes Sundays.)

Read on AO3.

Tags: Snipe, Choku Dan, Pro Hero Snipe, Snipe x OC, Snipe x Reader, Original Female Character(s), Ichijiku Aoki, Angst, And When I Say Angst, I Mean the Cliche Damsel in Distress This Time, I'm Not Sorry, I Committed to the Chivalrous Cowboy Trope, Snipe Rides in to Save the Day, I Gave Myself a Panic Attack Writing This, It Was Worth It, Snipe is So Underappreciated, I Did My Best to Remedy That, We Stay Writing 1.6K Words This Week

Word Count: 1,639 words

Summary: As Ichijiku contemplates life, a villain decides to make her contemplate her life specifically when he kidnaps her to get back at Snipe. As the clock for Ichijiku's life ticks down, Snipe finds a hint left behind as to where she's being held. When he finally arrives, he might be able to save her, but at what cost?

Ichijiku (Tigress)

If I stare at the sky for too long, it almost seems like a cardboard cutout, ready at any moment to fall forward and reveal its Great Creator behind it, spanning out into the dark, expansive realm of space. Will galaxies seem finite in the infinitesimal vacuum of space? Or will they only seem that much bigger with my own microscopic existence soiling the atmosphere? 

Those thoughts plague  my mind before a blue-haired man with tattoos wrestles me out of my rocking chair and through my house to steal me away.

Now, tied to a railroad track and left with nothing but the sky to look at, I’m not wondering about the vast expanse of the heavens any more. I’m wondering what Snipe will think of my absence. Will he think I’m ready to move on from our year-long relationship, unaware of my predicament? Or will he be lost and confused, distraught when he doesn’t find my warning in time?

Death doesn’t even cross my mind, despite the fact that Chameleon makes it very clear I’ll be dying at precisely 3:00pm.

“You’re awfully calm for someone in this situation.”

“You’ll have to forgive me. I’m an introvert and not entirely sure how I should respond to this.” My tone is, in fact, far more calm than it should be. “If this is your idea of catching a date, you’ve got the wrong idea. This isn’t a girl’s idea of a fun time, nor is it what she means when she says she wants to be railed.”

“Shut up. That’s hardly an appropriate response.” I hear him huff out a breath before he continues. “You’re not nearly as fun as I’d hoped. I’d been banking on hearing you scream until you lost your voice.” He drawls, apparating into existence in my line of sight.

What I thought to be a simple blue, turns out to be iridescent scales camouflaging him with every winking beam of sunlight, a kaleidoscope of color with every step he takes. He might be handsome if he didn’t just hogtie me to the tracks.

“I’m so sorry to disappoint you.” I roll my eyes as I glare at him. “But it’s Snipe’s job to make me scream, you know.”

A moment later he’s got a rope tied around my mouth, effectively gagging me.

“On second thought, it’s far too irritating listening to you talk. You have no class.” He crosses his arms across his chest before looking down one side of the tracks. “But don’t worry. You’ll be screaming soon.”

When I feel the ground rumbling beneath me followed by a thunderous horn in the distance, panic sweeps through my chest. Even so, death still isn’t my first thought. Instead, I squeeze my eyes shut and think of Snipe. I think of the sky. I think of infinity and my cat and love letters and regrets and what could have been. 

Only when I see the approaching silhouette of the train do I allow myself a fleeting thought for death.

. . . . .

It’s 2:23pm when Snipe dismounts from his horse. It’s 2:25 when he whips past the overturned rocking chair and bursts into her open door, barely hanging onto its hinges.

It’s 2:26 when he finds the note plastered to her fridge. 

Been a while since we’ve had a fair fight, Snipe. Let’s see if you’re still on your A-game. Your lady dies at three o’clock sharp. See if you can save her in time.

C

Snipe’s world is out of sorts. The world is not in harmony because she should be here and she should be making tea. She should be turning to the door with that blue-ribbon winning smile as he offers her a bouquet of her favorite flowers. She should be gazing into the corral of his eyes that he leaves open just for her.

She should not be gone.

Snipe slams his fist into the wall trimming, using the pain to pull himself back together. He doesn’t have time to waste. No time at all. Time that ticks down with every second he spends rummaging through the house, searching for any sign of where Chameleon might have taken her.

He’s nearly given up hope by 2:35, where he sinks to his knees and reminds himself to breathe. She will not die. She will be in his arms again. She will hide little love letters in his hat-shaped ring box that once housed her engagement ring now sitting on her finger.

Love letters. Without thinking, he opens the box and what should he find but a note? A blue, crumpled sticky note folded more haphazardly than the rest, and on it is a scribbled word in her handwriting: train.

The box falls to the floor and the door slams shut as Snipe leaps onto his horse and spurs the mare to motion, flying through the forest and into the open plains like a bat out of hell.

When a train comes into view, his eyes follow the tracks on an uncomfortably close trajectory towards two figures. He knows even as he urges Kuroashi faster that he won’t make it. 

At 2:59 he aims his gun.

. . . . .

The train is here. It’s close enough to feel the heat from its smoky breath as it rattles the tracks. All sounds drown out from the steady rhythm of chug-a-chug-a-choo-choo until my brain turns the cadence into an ominous Death is coming for you. 

The train is here. The train is here. Death is here and all I can worry about is whether or not Snipe will keep the box for my engagement ring. Will he hold it when he wants to remember me? Or will he get rid of everything so he doesn’t have to remember what he lost?

Chameleon’s timer goes off to the sound of a gunshot. 

Click. Clank. The switch lever swerves with the tracks and suddenly the train zooms past me, still far too close for comfort, but no longer on course to swallow me with its iron jaws. The warmth of the train mingles with adrenaline and suddenly I can’t stop wiggling and whimpering in my restraints, muscles buzzing as I fight to get off these damn tracks.

“More vocal now, huh?” Chameleon hisses, disappearing and activating his quirk just as Snipe rides into range.

“MMPH!” I try to warn him.

But his camouflaged offender sends him flying off his horse and into the dirt, gun still primed in his hand. He’s on his feet quickly, but what can he do? I watch helplessly as Snipe’s homing quirk becomes useless. How does one shoot what he can’t see?

My eyes scour the dirt, searching for footprints and other minute signs of his movement. When a cloud of dust swirls by Snipe’s feet, I thrash in my bindings, desperately trying to free myself and help him. My fiancé’s head arcs back into the ground from his unseen adversary, kick-starting my heart.

Blood drips from his nose as keen, pro-hero eyes start searching for the same tell-tale signs of Chameleon’s movements I’ve been watching for. It costs him a hit in the stomach and his ribs, but he analyzes his foe’s movements to reclaim the upper hand. Snake battles snake in the hot, barren plains while my body quivers with fear.

All it takes is another dust cloud and bam! Snipe wrestles the invisible villain into the ground, appearing to fight air until Chameleon relinquishes use of his quirk.

“Glad to see you’re still in tip top shape, Snipe.” Chameleon growls, turning his glare to me as Snipe pulls out the restraining tape. “But you cut it kind of close, and next time she won’t be so lucky.”

“There won’t be a next time if you’d prefer to keep breathing.” Snipe barks out, his voice feral and sharp.

Snipe gets Chameleon’s hands behind his back and calls the cops as he sprints in my direction. Calloused hands act as a balm to the tremors tainting my muscles. When he cuts the bindings loose, he grabs my face and presses his forehead to mine; we share each others’ oxygen, our eyes promising the other what our mouths can’t say right now - I’m here and you’re safe and I’m not going anywhere.

My life remains finite while stretching infinitely before me, stretching straight out for Snipe. 

I don’t ever want to let him go.

“You’re okay.” He whispers; it’s hard to tell whether he says this for me or himself. “Are you hurt? Did he do anything before he tied you up?”

“A few bruises and cuts.” My fingers card through his hair and slide down his cheek, soaking in every ridge and bump of his body. “And that’s only because I put up a fight before he got me here.”

“That’s my girl.” He grins and the world clicks back into place.

The heat sears my body and pain torments my bones as I become abruptly aware of the world around me. His presence anchors me as I’m swirling dangerously close to the edge of unconsciousness. He catches me with whispered coos, keeping me tethered for now.

“You’re having an adrenaline crash. And, hell, I can’t blame ya. But take a few deep breaths for me, okay, darlin’? Police should be here soon.”

It’s 3:34 when the police arrive to stuff Chameleon in the back of their car and EMTs arrive to check me for injuries. Only when the blinding blue and red lights disappear from my line of sight do I make myself stop counting the minutes.

“Do you want me to take you home?” Snipe whispers in my ear, securing a shock blanket around my shoulders.

“Not my house.” I whimper. “Will you take me to your place?”

“Of course, honey. I’ll keep you safe. Let’s go home.”

Want More Snipe? Try: Hanging Fire in the Pond

[the-owl-tree]

regarding various ideas thatve been discussed here, my vision is like 

After the whole “seriously considered murdering him” bit in sunset, Firestar demoted Brambleclaw and made Brackenfur deputy. Cardboard cutout of a man 

Initially Jay is brightheart’s apprentice, Holly is Leafpool’s, lion is brackenfur’s 

In a battle that makes Jay and Holly change their minds (for Jayfeather I feel like I would want him to have some kind of arc about internalised ableism,, like he has to learn a nuanced lesson about how he doesn’t need to be productive by the standards of clan culture and it’s okay for him to acknowledge his limits and choose a different path, but also his clanmates should allow him to define his limits and not treat him like he’s made of glass. I digress) - in the battle where Holly and Jay change their minds, Brackenfur Freaking Dies and only now is bramble deputy. I think I’d want firestar to die earlier too so we can get shitty bramblestar + the most depressed squilf you’ve ever seen

Now we’ve got Jay as Leafpool’s apprentice, Holly as ashfur’s, and lion as brightheart’s because man I always felt bad she never got an apprentice again 

and with this setup I would want basically everything to be significantly more fucked up. Ashfur exacerbates Hollyleaf’s fixation on the code and power (foreshadowing tbc??), I’d want Lionblaze to like, accidentally hurt somebody really badly in training and have to grapple with feeling like a monster more. Maybe instead of Cinderheart falling out of a tree, Lionblaze accidentally injures her 

Speaking of cinderheart I want her to do some of the stuff poppyfrost does I love poppyfrost but having cinderheart narrowly escape death and feel strangely drawn towards the moonpool would be a lot more fun - I think I’d frame her being cinderpelt as something that was either accidental, or intentional but StarClan was in the wrong for not letting cinderpelt rest because I really resent the idea that cinderpelt needed a second chance at life as if the life she lived after becoming disabled wasn’t a good and worthwhile one 

So yeah cinderheart is possessed by a restless ghost, lionblaze can’t stop hurting people no matter how hard he tries, hollyleaf is just regular hollyleaf but more, jayfeather… I dunno maybe make StarClan genuinely scared of him because of how much his power allows him to defy them. Maybe he feels detached from himself and is almost constantly dissociating because he spends so much time walking in dreams and other peoples minds. I don’t know I don’t like jayfeather 

ALL THIS. And then have your thing about dove and ivy being cinderholly kits also be true do you see my vision do you understand . I am so sorry about the length of this I got carried away

I AM EATING ALL OF THIS UP BIG YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i always wished jaypaw's first battle with shadowclan was what got him to change, like it's this big awakening to what clan culture is really like. he gets the shit kicked out of him and he's like "wow. this sucks. why is everyone making this sound so great"

and big big BIG yes with cinderheart, i feel she deserved some better meat than what po3 and oots was throwing her. these are lovely i am LOOKING