#GOD WHAT A BAD SERIES BUT WHAT GOOD CHARACTERS

[vanitythevantropist]

OOOOO I like this one :DDD

Imma go with this one👇 (His name is Quill btw)

1. Chris McLain (or howver tf you spell it) from Total Drama the original series :3

2. Canonically, he’s best friends with an alien cat named Spine who is a fire dancer! Working out the kinks on how they met so👉👈

3. Ermmmmmm… Immortals by Fall Out Boy

4. He does not have a love interest, he’s too swag for that

5. See above

6. He is a gunsmith canonically so prolly that👀

7. If he was in a fantasy setting, he’d be some guy who is WAAYY too confident in the world full of giants and dwarves n shit

8. His main hobbies - besides making guns cuz it’s his job - would be dress making, actually :3 He’s very into cross dressing and likes tailoring his own stuff, along with doing traditional at for the funsies and going scrapping (looking for scraps in the junk yard)

9. He takes very good care of himself as he wants to look pretty 24/7 and succeeds better than most people

10. He’s very very bad at it :) Just pretends everything’s fine and covers it all with humour because he has issues

11. He was originally a side character in a Mandelorian ripoff story I made when I was 14 but he overshadowed the mc of that story cuz he’s just like that lmao (Idk what directly inspired him tho)

12. Yesh, I have done sum roleplays with a friend! Their OC is named Junko and they get along well cuz they’re so similar

13. To be determined

14. See above (there are so few characters in this story cuz Quill is my world and my soul)

15. He’ll die before he ever retires (he refuses)

16. He was created in a test tube so that may be a little complicated :)

17. He would not have children as he ain’t that kinda guy but I imagine he would be the fun but kinda forgetful parents who lets their children wield guns (one’s average american, basically)

18. He goes by he/him :3

19. He is aro/ace! His main love language is physical touch (friendly hugs n kisses for the homies)

20. GUNS GUNS GUNS

21. To be determined (it might be Anything You Can Do with basically anyone tho)

22. In rough situations, FIGHT. Lover or a fighter? Imma go with ‘it’s conplicated’

23. Abso-fuckin-lutely! Feeling sad? This man will be there in under five minutes with snacks and a nice warm blankey for you in case you’re sad, as well as all the necessary tools to fix your tire!

24. He isn’t a musical guy

25. Yes absolutely he does it most of the time👀 Walkin down the street, running sum errands, in the middle of a battle, whatever, it’s singin time

26. Errmmmm… I have no idea, what do you think?

27. In spirit, a fox. In appearance, ehhh-

28. Oh my god I need to ask you if I should tag you in this cuz this is such a good idea (high school clique? He’d be the guy whose strangely popular with everyone despite hanging with the weird kids)

29. GUG, see question above !!

30. Quill is very glad that someone wants to be his friend :3 Most people do not

Anyways, ty forthis, it was fun <3 Now y’all have sum lore✨ Have fun~

Fuck it, OC brain rot won. Get ready for the Secret Ask List

1) Does your OC have a voice claim, if so who?

2) Who's your OCs best friend? How did they become best friends?

3) What song describes your OC?

4) What song describes your OC and their partner/love interest?

5) Do you ship your OC with a Canon character? If so who?

6) If your OC is in a fantasy setting, what profession would they be in the modern day?

7) Vice-Versa! If your OC is in the modern day, what fantasy class would they be? Would they be a different race?

8) What hobbies does your OC have? What do they do to unwind?

9) How does your OC handle their physical health? Do they take care of themselves?

10) How does your OC handle their mental health? Do they take care of themselves?

11) What was your inspiration for your OC?

12) Does your OC interact with other people's OC? If so, who's their best OC friend?

13) Does your OC have a rival? How did it start?

14) Who's a character your OC cannot stand! It's on sight when they see them!

15) Will your OC ever retire? Do you see them making it?

16) How's their relationship with their parents? Are they alive?

17) If your OC has kids, are they a good parent? Do they ever feel guilty if they have to leave them?

18) What are their pronouns? What would they like to be called?

19) What's their sexuality? What's their love language both giving and receiving?

20) If they fight, what's their weapon of choice?

21) What song best describes their relationship with their enemy?

22) Fight or Flight? Are they a lover or a fighter?

23) Is your OC reliable? Can I call them up at two in the morning if I have a flat tire?

24) Can they play any instruments? If so, what do they play?

25) Are they the kind of person who can't resist a good song? Can I catch your OC singing to themselves while they do the dishes?

26) What flower do you associate your OC with?

27) What's their spirit tamagotchi? Or an animal you associate them with?

28) What clique would they be in? (Draw them in the clothes of said group!)

29) Imagine a mood board for your OC! What's on it? (Make it if you want!)

30) My OC and your OC are friends. This isn't a question. I'm not asking. (How do they respond?)

[scwicks]

FROM THE ARCHIVES

First, I must apologize. Unfortunately, tumblr has not provided dates to posting. Good thing?? Bad thing?? Personally, I would have appreciated dates. Despite MY preferences, I copied this from a posting "years ago" and I thought perhaps it would be an interesting rerun. Enjoy:

Reveals from the Outlander Emmy Panel: How Caitriona Really Got the Job, Who Knows What About Ghost Jamie, Stolen Souvenirs and the Murtagh Dilemma – Check Your Local Listings

The story Toni Graphia told in the 2nd panel

Excerpt:

Balfe may have been teasing about the ghost scene pages, but there was one true revelation for her during this night…the truth about how the producers found her.  When she is asked where she was in her career four years ago when she first auditioned for Outlander, Balfe laughs ruefully: “Well, I didn’t have a career. I was a struggling, jobbing actor in Los Angeles. I had bits and pieces of jobs every now and then, but I was going through a particular dry spell. You get sent to these auditions through your manager, and a lot of the time you put yourself on tape and you send it off and generally, you never hear anything back.” That was true of the first Outlander tape she sent in. For that audition, she had been given a two-line description of the character. “I didn’t even know it was a series of books,” Balfe admits. “It was… a nurse from the 40s, she’s confident and she does something …so really you have nothing to go on.” When no word came, Balfe says, “I was just like, well, that’s just another one.” But a resourceful UK agent thought she should give it another go, and got his hands on a more extensive breakdown of the part and an extra scene. “I re-taped [my audition] and that got sent off and I think Toni Graphia…[was] trolling through tapes and came across [mine] at the last minute.”

But Executive Producer Toni Graphia interrupts Balfe with a completely different story of how it happened. “Actually, we didn’t come across [the tapes],” Graphia says, and shared for the first time how the actress, who had never done television prior to Outlander, came to her attention. “Maybe it’s the first time anyone’s heard [this story],” Graphia says. “I’d been up all night Googling things like ‘undiscovered acting gems in the UK.’ Yeah, I put that out there….You were being interviewed about a web series you’d done, or something. It was a personal interview… And I…was just watching you naturally, who you are as Caitriona. I went, ‘Oh my God, I think that’s Claire.’ I knew it was risky…but I sent it to Maril and said we should look at this girl. And [they told me], ‘She’s sent in a couple of tapes.” You know, you didn’t have a lot of credits at that time. But we went back and looked at them and thought, “Wow, she’s pretty good.” Adds Graphia: “We got really lucky because you were the perfect Claire. I can’t imagine anyone else doing it.”

[starglow-xx]

𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘺 ˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

(𝘯.) 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵

the nakajima atsushi collection of “the love of an older brother” series

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ synopsis: he’s had a terrible childhood, and is in no condition to take care of himself much less a newborn, but he’ll do everything it takes to make sure you’ll have the childhood he’s never had

having a baby sister pt. 3 !!

(platonic!) older brother! nakajima atsushi x baby sister! reader

characters: tanizaki junichiro, tanizaki naomi, miyazawa kenji, izumi kyouka | type of work: head canons | pt. 1 | pt. 2 |

a/n : i have risen from the dead! hope u enjoy!

mini guardians time ✧˖*°࿐

when the agency adults can’t watch you and neither can atsushi, it’s lucky that there’s still some people who can! let’s see how things work out…

tanizaki junichiro ˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

he's already a big brother so what could go wrong?

many, many things

he’s genuinely a good caretaker but smth always happens idk

nothing bad or like dangerous but like clumsy and or inconvenient little mishaps yk?

but the thing is, it’s never his fault

things just happen ™

“u-um tanizaki-san why are u and my sister covered in formula?...”

“please don’t ask atsushi-kun”

It’s like in those cliche movies where there’s like a character that just has really bad luck

once he was feeding u and the nipple of the bottle just popped off somehow

so like the responsible young adult he is, he cleans up the mess and goes to change you, but right after he changes you, like 5 minutes later you end up needing a diaper change, so he undresses you again to change your diaper only to have to change your clothes again after you spit up some milk 10 minutes later

it only really seems to happen to him and boy is tired

his favorite times are probably when he’s on baby duty and ur sleeping

1) because he doesn’t have to deal with those poor mishaps and 

2) no one bothers him when ur sleeping

yeah sure u have a baby car seat thingy but he also uses the carrier thing that get strapped onto you

kunikida makes sure dazai isn’t near him so that u can sleep which means he doesn’t get dragged into what poor atsushi-kun got dragged into by his mentor

not his circus not his monkeys or whatever the saying is

another plus ranpo-san can’t send him on any errands bc the president (god bless him) forbade him 

and yosano-sensei can’t try to bring him into her office when he gets a papercut or some shit

he’s terrified even when he knows she’s joking

anyways, all in all a pretty solid 8 or 9/10

tanizaki naomi ˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

usually the one taking care of u when everyone else is pretty busy

she and haruno-san love to buy u cute little outfits to dress u up in

maybe goes a little overboard…

“n-naomi-san isn’t that a little too much..? and my arms are getting tired…”

“nonsense atsushi-kun! she looks darling in everything!”

started to play peek-a-boo with u and lowkey regrets it a little bc u want to play for what seems like forever

just mindlessly yaps to u while she works and u just sit there in your little carrier car seat thing with a rattle

atsushi fears when he and tanizaki come back from some sort of errand or mission bc well…yk naomi

“jokes” abt how ur like her child and him coming back from the mission is like him coming back to take care of his family…

…yeah atsushi snatches u right out of that situation very, very quickly

but despite those…uncomfortable moments, atsushi genuinely trusts her with u

he’s glad that you’ll have a somewhat more normal female figure to look up to (sis/bro con thing aside)

your other options are yosano and kyouka and well, while he trusts them with his life and care abt them sm…

…scary sadistic doctor lady and innocent yet impassive and scary little assassin does he need to say more

…or actually now that atsushi thinks about it, maybe haruno-san should look after u more…

anyways

a solid 8/10 on atsushi trust scale

miyazawa kenji ˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

teehee finds u cute

all the kids loved to play with him back in his village bc he was so strong but he’s never looked after someone this young before

he gets along with old people pretty well, but yeah hasn’t hung around babies much

when he goes around town to just help out the old folks, he brings u along since he knows that they like to see u too hehe

everyone literally needs sunglasses to look at you both

it’s too bright

likes reading children’s book to u

especially when it’s abt farmers or smth on a farm since he can share his own stories too

Is very fond of singing the old mcdonald had a farm

introduced u to his cow and kunikida nearly had a heart attack seeing it in the office

“(y/n)-chan this is a cow! just like the one old mcdonald had! remember cows go moo!”

“kenji, i can take over watching (y/n)--WHY IS THERE A COW IN THE AGENCY?!?!”

got scolded by kunikida but got saved bc dazai was giggling so kunikida went to strangle him instead

besides ranpo and dazai, tbh kenji is the one that give kunikida the most heart attacks bc unlike the other two where kunikida knows they’re joking (he hopes), kenji genuinely doesn’t know any better (for the most part)

“kenji have you seen–WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

“oh! hello kunikida-san!”

“kenji why are you throwing (y/n) up in the air like that?!”

“oh! I heard it’s a thing people do”

“NOT WHEN THEY’RE NEWBORNS”

“but she’s still all bundled up! and look she’s smiling!”

“....”

a solid 7 on the atsushi trust scale

izumi kyouka ˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

means well, but like kunikida…

is just a little stiff

“k-kyouka-chan you can breathe…”

“...”

anyways

like dazai, is curious about u and just watches u do ur thing (which isn’t much but yk, it’s the thought that counts?)

but sometimes she stares…just a bit too intently

“ne ne atsushi-kun…is kyouka-chan okay?”

“...i…i’m not too sure dazai-san…she…she’s starting to scare me a little…”

yk how when she gets excited or amazed, her eyes sparkle amd stuff, that’s what she’s like when u start to giggle, babble, or coo

buys u a little bunny plush that matches hers!

now ur both bunny buddies ⸜( *ˊᵕˋ* )⸝

while getting the hang of watching over the baby, she does over time, begin to relax a little, but there was this one incident where you, her, and atsushi were walking through the city, you in atsushi’s arms when someone accidentally bumped into him and in like .2847309 seconds kyouka had her blade out

atsushi profusely apologized, bowing again and again for 5 minutes while kyouka stood behind him with an impassive look on her face as she held you

protective mama bear instincts 1927402/10

can even give kunikida a run for his money

(not that he has much given how often dazai steals his wallet…)

speaking of money

is lowkey excited for when you can start eating solids and have other things besides formula bc she can have tofu with u at tachibana

atsushi will mourn that day bc of his poor wallet

overall, just adores being with u

and bc of the fact that she and atsushi dorm together, she gets to spend more time with u!

although, in her eagerness to do everything…

sometimes it leave atsushi with nothing to do (・_・;)

nonetheless, thinks it’s endearing the way she cares for u

no matter how intense she can be (￣ ￣|||)

another solid 7/10

and as always, reblogs and shares are appreciated! i hope you all stay safe! and just in case nobody told you they loved you today, i love you! you are enough! <3

writing belongs to me! please do not plagiarize, repost, or translate on here or any other sites!

tag list : @themonsterinyourcloset @tkalell20 @moomoo-mochi @eren-jaeger-seijuurou21​ @localpansexualsniper @bellhella @glitch-magic @fatherlessbehaviorpt1 @a6r6o6k @zeeweee @darkfaethedestroyer @irethepotato @starsnmoonn @soba-mija @sinamew @Morigumy @mel-vaz @reginahillary @lenasvoid @anteroz @woolooisineffable @soyboywenzie @warcelia @missrown @falconflight123 @linthebinbag @summerxdepression @shadowfoxey @adrakeshoard @alfangel13 @demiwizardvampire145 @sam-savant03 @senjuisqueen @classisass @chenlelover @shy-socially-awkward-intovert @neiiuna @blckcloves @kenmaslittlebrat @luckywitchsong @izzieg3987 @ghosts-and-animals

join the tag list here !!

(if your user is striked through, i couldn’t tag you)

[bonesfucker3000]

My one year anniversary of watching Star Trek and just rambling about how much I love Star Trek

Today is my one year anniversary of watching Star Trek (3rd of February 2024 was the first time i ever watched any form of Star Trek media) and I honestly can not believe it has been a year already. I know this will most definitely sound cringe and what not but I really do not care; Star Trek is such a comfort to me and it helped me through a quite shitty part of my life. I only watched it because @thetwinksainttwunking really loved it and would not stop yapping about it for years since we known eachother and I decided to give it a go. I only knew a few things about Star Trek: it's gay, Kirk and Spock love eachother (Spirk is the main reasons why I gave Star Trek a go) and Spock had to pretend he was Chinese (one of the first things twunking ever told me about Star Trek was that scene in The City On The Edge Of Forever, where Kirk and Spock have to lie that Spock is Chinese and he only looks like that because he got into an accident in a rice farm, I thought it was the funniest shit known to man...Still do) and I decided to give it a go, even though scifi was never my thing but hey I might actually enjoy it (i never thought I ever would had enjoyed it THIS much)

So on the 3rd of February 2024 me and @thetwinksainttwunking watched Star Trek 2009 together and I actually quite enjoyed it, so the next Day we watched Into Darkness, which I somehow enjoyed even more and actually made me intested in the franchise, wanting to watch more. I really enjoyed both AOS films, I thought they were fun, enjoyable and had a good plot, I really loved Kirk in both movies (I honestly started tweaking when he "died" in Into Darkness and when Pike died too because Kirk was yk in pain) On the same day Twunking showed me an episode of TOS The Naked Time aka Peak and may god I loved that episode so much, it just fun and silly (and I started tweaking when I saw Sulu shirtless too-) and that episode is the reason why I even considered and given a chance in watching TOS, because I just loved that episode alot (and from that day I started singing randomly 'ill take you home again....kathleeeeen') on the 15th of Feb I watched Wrath of Khan and on the 16th of Feb Search for Spock, on the 24th of March I began watching the original series and a year later...here I am completely obsessed and in love with this franchise, already finished with TOS, all TOS films, half way through TAS and nearly done with TNG-

Star Trek just means so much to me, I started watching it when i was in a bad and failing relationship which led to a horrible break up and Star Trek was a massive comfort to me during that time. I just loved watching TOS seeing the silly situations the crew were in and just overall loved seeing the characters (in the beginning it was just Kirk, Spock and Sulu i mostly cared for but later Chekov and Bones too because of my Bones obession), interacting with eachother and just in general seeing them. I absolutely loved it and still very much do. I also loved how Star Trek overall was optimistic about the future and the lessons they taught (even though some in TOS were outdated or not handled the best)

Man...I just love Star Trek so much...though I only liked it for a year, it really does mean alot and it will always hold a special place in my heart ❤️🖖

Thank you so much @thetwinksainttwunking for introducing me to Star Trek, I love you

[mixelation]

i read through part 2. spoilers i guess. also, again, if you can't handle reading critique of a professionally published book, don't read

so the reviews on storygraphs indicate a lot of people were frustrated with part 1 because zetian is basically confined to a room the whole time. i do think this whole section could have been condensed by a lot because it was pretty repetitive and filled with a lot of characters just explaining "laborism" (communism, basically) to each other and also with the nuance and vocabulary of the average twitter user, but i don't actually think it was a bad writing choice. it lets the breakneck speed of the previous book take a break and lets zetian orient herself to the next step in her... whatever her plan is. she is a uneducated 18 year old whose only talent is having a lot of qi, suddenly being handed a crown and betrothed to an emperor deadset on revolutionizing society. seeing her learn to navigate this new type of life is genuinely an interesting concept

so what is zetian's plan? one of my big criticisms of this series in general is that what Zetian is even trying to do at any given moment is frequently completely unclear. if you read my Iron Widow review, I said that the later ~2/3s of the book feel really unfocused because Zetian doesn't have a real goal or driving force. things just happen because the plot requires them to happen. Heavenly Tyrant is..... a little better about this. Zetian wants to kill the "gods" and get Shimin back. Qin Zheng, the emperor, also wants to kill the gods. This part is solid and the plotting revolving around making this happen while the gods can see their every move is easy to follow with clear action -> consequence.

but then there's zetian's other goals about making society better, especially for women. she doesn't seem to have.... any sort of real plan here? she has very few specific goals for improving the lives of women, and when she does come up with a goal (like getting more female pilots), it's often unclear how exactly she thinks her actions will lead to the outcome she wants or what the outcome will look like. then some outcome happens and it feels more like we just hit that part of the story outline rather than an organic consequence of characters' actions. and "zetian keeps doing shit despite being bad at planning" is a fine character trait, don't get me wrong, but the writing is not good enough to make this feel like it's what's happening instead of just a bunch of "just trust me bro" moments

another complaint i had about Iron Widow is that we get told all these worldbuilding details for qi and how the mechs work, but none of it is actually used to be plot relevant. this.... also gets a little better. but not a lot better. mostly we just see Zetian struggling in battle a lot, even though she should theoretically be more experienced and have all this special training from Qin Zheng, which made me wonder why she's the empress at all. she's bad at politics and she keeps flubbing her robot battles. oh, plus-- the fights are not written super well. i know Zetian can pull the tails off her nine tailed fox mech and form them into lances, but i still don't really know what a hundun looks like??? also what happens to the lances she drops? and they just gone? what's happening

we do slowly see her get better at politics in part 2, but it's slow going and also largely boring. the "laborism" theory as presented feels juvenile and a lot of the societal problems are just "telling" and not "showing." there's a few scenes where we actually get to see problems illustrated, but they're few and far between, and there's so much boring internal monologues and poorly written dialogue spaced between them.

and guys.... the dialogue. it's so bad. everyone speaks with the exact same voice, and that one voice does not adequately mimic how real humans speak. there's a line where "and/or" literally appears in the dialogue.* every other spoken sentence ends with an exclamation mark. i grew up reading fanfiction so more exclamations mark than usual seems fine to me, but it's SO MANY. plus a lot of descriptions are written like the writer is unsure of what things are actually called? i don't know how to describe this feeling but i don't like it. it's like a watered down version of when fanfics will say stuff like "an oven-like device"

*yes i KNOW some people say this irl. i say this sometimes. do you think an ancient emperor who speaks with a cockney accent** says this???

**I'M NOT MAKING THIS UP

i don't think i really talked about this in my Iron Widow review, but this series has a lot of characters that are there for structural support and nothing else. an example in Iron Widow would be Sima Yi, who's there because a strategist character is needed, but barely has a personality and zero interesting things about him. there's no point to him except that this specific type of role needs to be played by someone. and that's fine in small doses. some characters are just there to be the usher at the theatre. Heavenly Tyrant is better at making its side characters actual characters (like Wan'er and Taiping), but then there's still more and more named characters you have to keep track of who are barely characters. like in part 2, Qin Zheng has to go into quarantine for... almost all of part 2, so Zetian needs a new copilot and recruits two prisoners. one of them is basically not there, and the other is a guy named Di Renjie whose narrative job is to be there and occasionally lecture other people about prison reform to remind you that he is a person. he's barely present at all and has no emotional or narrative impact, so it doesn't feel like much when he dies. there's not enough room in the novel to flesh him out (it's not impossible to communicate a character quickly, but this book doesn't seem to be good enough at character writing to do this) or to explore the absolutely horrific situation zetian forced him into, even though this seems like it definitely should be explored because it's what happened to her. he's just there because the plot needs her to have a copilot who's not qin zheng. zetian does spare a few thoughts of guilt about di renjie, but he's very much a non-character

as for the quarantine thing..... qin zheng gets confined to a single "sterile" room because his 200 year old body supposedly has no immunity to modern pathogens. my educated scientific opinion was "that is bullshit evolutionary biology" so (SPOILERS) i was relieved when it turned out to be a lie. however i need you to understand that that is the tone of this book. i read a completely bullshit explanation, knew it was bullshit, but everything is so overexplained yet immature that I was just like "yeah, seems like that's real for this world"

i will say the Fake Quarantine Reveal briefly had me excited. but i have read the first couple chapters of part 3 and it's just about sex. these two do not have enough chemistry to make this interesting or spicy, and you guys know i love characters who hate each other so much they simply must have sex about it. nope, these two just regular hate each other and their interactions are largely unpleasant. please bring back the plot

their safeword is "private property" and once again i am choosing to believe this is a joke for my own sanity

i've been reading heavenly tyrant (the sequel to iron widow by xiran jay zhao). thoughts after finishing the first part below the cut.

note my impression is mostly critical so far, and so clicking will reveal negativity. i assume most people have control over their own ability to gauge if they can handle this or not, but i've been proved wrong before

bullet points:

i feel the writing has improved on a structural level, but frequently veers into strange twitter-esque rants about the evils of capitalism? and often there are very first draft vibes to descriptions

there is a scene-- i shit you not-- where zetian accuses qin zheng (a legendary emperor who was frozen for 200 years that zetian woke up) of treating her like he owns her, and then makes a quip about how a guy who's against private property shouldn't be like that. qin zheng then replies-- i shit you not-- by explaining the difference between private and personal property. then he says something like "i have to go reform the education system" and leaves. i choose to believe this is a joke for my own sanity, but it is genuinely unclear

one of my complaints about iron widow is that the last 2/3-ish of the book seem to lack focus because zetian doesn't really have a specific goal, she's just doing stuff. in the first third of this installment, she spends 85% of her time confined to a single room. so now she doesn't seem to have much of a goal (she keeps talking about learning how qin zheng became powerful, taking that power, and killing him... but it's unclear why she wants to do this or what she thinks will happen if she succeeds) AND she's not even doing stuff.

i do like qin zheng more than shimin or yizhi. probably because he is the only one in this book making any sort of decisions. that being said, his ~toxic situationmance~ with zetian isn't... like... fun? they just don't like each other

if you liked yizhi or shimin then bad news!!!! they're barely here!!!! i didn't really care so i'm having fun with this new guy. how are you going to uplift the common man but live in a palace, new guy? hmm?

also zetian has gone from "ridiculous but fun to watch break things" to just like. unlikeable. it's to the point where it's hard to feel bad for her because some of her problems really do feel like they wouldn't exist if she was just, like, polite.

ANOTHER complaint i had about iron widow was that there was too much telling instead of showing. i felt this had improved a little with heavenly tyrant, as we see zetian actually attempting positive interactions with women (one of her repeatedly stated goals in the first book was wanting to help girls, and yet we barely saw her give a shit about any individual woman) and the narrative actually gives itself enough room to have zetian and qin zheng interact. however qin zheng keeps giving speeches about new policies he's going to use to fix society and folks, we have not been shown all these societal problems. like at all. there's medical debt? educational debt? no named character has these problems. i did not know these problems existed in this society before this speech.

also his big plans really do read like a 16 year old on tumblr making up an imaginary government based on some posts they read and 0 real world experience. slay

a lot of the reviews on storygraph complain it's too slow but honestly i read the first ten chapters really quickly because like. what is happening here. we'll see if anything manages to happen in the next part

[obstinaterixatrix]

I love villainess stories but I hate when some hack writers take the stupid direction of. the ‘villainess’ used to be/is seen as a HEINOUS BITCH but is actually clumsy/misunderstood/nice—however, the ‘protagonist’ is ACTUALLY a HEINOUS BITCH and everyone should hate her for real. like this is not actually subversive. this is nothing.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Welcome to the Dungeons of Fear and Hunger.

[gunsatthaphan]

🤓🚩🫶🏻

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

The fans: Ugh Sonic was just so preachy. I mean obviously he's supposed to be the good guy, so any uncomfortableness I feel here and any way I feel like Sonic's choices are framed as being why some other people have shitty lives is just bad writing because he is obviously supposed to be right always, but this characterization makes no sense. Isn't he right for the things he did?

Ian Flynn, using Kitsunami to say the (barely even at this point) quiet part even louder: Hey it's almost like ever since the Mr. Tinker event we've been purposely running with the critique of Sonic as being more selfish than he appears. Sonic is upholding a system of Eggman v Sonic that currently benefits him and shuts down talk of how to improve the current system because he likes his own personal enjoyment and he's attached enough to Eggman that he'd rather Eggman pretend to be a good person than be stuck in prison for life. He doesn't even quite practice what he preaches. We are trying to show that the current hero v villain system and Sonic's recklessness currently affects some people poorly and that Sonic isn't a perfect hero.

[ender1821]

shut up im coping

[michaun]

BAD SISTERS

Ruben won’t remember me. Before… That doesn’t make you any less of a parent. Okay? Maybe one eye less off a parent.

[markantonys]

just accidentally stumbled on an egwene hate reddit thread and everyone was bitching about how she tries to act like rand's equal when she's only the second-most powerful authority figure on the continent, and one sane person was like "well, balance was a huge theme of the series, so it's pretty clear that RJ did consider the dragon and the amyrlin two halves of a whole and that rand is meant to be egwene's equal co-authority rather than her superior" and of course they were downvoted to hell. and this one little thread just really epitomizes how the readers who approach WOT as a male power fantasy just fundamentally will never understand the series and its themes and the story it was ACTUALLY telling.

[madbard]

A continuation of that Dustplates post from earlier…

In the original Handplates, the Player’s curiosity ultimately frees Gaster, allowing him to contact Sans and Papyrus and restore their memories. In a Dusttale universe, the Player would never reach this point. Driven by their fixation on the genocide route, they would completely miss out on all the secrets a Handplates universe has to offer. Those memories would remain off limits, and those years would remain a mystery to Dust.

Until.

Until that mission to spread negativity in a young universe. Initial scans revealed what appeared to be a classic universe. The final human had not fallen yet - this world balanced on a knife’s edge and didn’t even realize it. The mission was simple - break in, cause chaos and misery, then retreat before the Stars could arrive. And at first, all went smoothly.

Horror rigged the trap and puzzle systems scattered throughout the Underground. Cross created panic, wrecking buildings and terrorizing passerby. Killer killed Gerson and challenged Asgore and Undyne to a battle. Nightmare slunk through the Underground, feeding on fear and despair, offering assistance when his henchmen needed it. Throughout all this, Dust remained in the shadows, searching for the perfect place to strike to cause maximum damage. That’s when he spotted Gaster.

Gaster was a bit of a question mark throughout the multiverse. Sometimes kind, sometimes cruel - in many worlds the genius had disintegrated into the very fabric of reality, leaving behind only echoes. Still, in worlds like this one, Gaster served as a beacon. What better way to bring about darkness than to destroy the one who had brought light and power to the Underground? Dust gave chase.

It quickly became clear that this Gaster was not a fighter. He sent a few powerful attacks in Dust’s direction but quickly retreated, turning and heading ever deeper into Hotland, making a beeline for his lab. Watching the scientist’s desperation, Dust tempered his attacks. If Gaster was so eager to return to his lab, there must be something important there, right? Perhaps some vital research that Dust could destroy, if he found it…

He tracked Gaster through his lab, until they reached a small hallway lined with forcefields. Here, Gaster suddenly turned on Dust and attacked with all the ferocity he could muster. Pleased to have found the most important area of the lab, Dust fought back, sending attack after incredibly powerful attack until the doctor was reduced to 1 HP. Gaster looked at Dust, and for a moment something like recognition flickered across his face. He opened his mouth to say something -

A bone slashed through his chest, and Gaster crumbled to dust.

Dust took a moment to steady his magic, panting through the scarf that hid the bottom half of his face. He leaned against the wall and felt his grin widen slightly - until he heard it.

“St-stay away from us!”

Dust froze. Beyond the forcefield lay two young children. The smaller one pressed itself against the far wall, trying to disappear. The larger one stood before it, summoning a small forest of blue and white bone attacks to surround and protect them both. That voice - higher than he remembered, and it trembled like a leaf. But there it was, clear as day.

A vision of a room just like this. A force field, just like this… and a silver plate welded onto the back of his hand… just like theirs…

Dust killed them. Didn’t he? He must have… that’s what he told himself at least as he paced his room back at Nightmare’s castle, on guard for when the others returned. Hadn’t he killed them? (Or had he broken the lock on their cell before vanishing from that world forever?)

He didn’t know. And he didn’t know what it meant. Apart from those images, he couldn’t remember… and it struck him that he hadn’t remembered the human’s resets, either. Not at first. It struck him that one could be a prisoner and never know it. He ripped off his glove, and the plate on his hand gleamed in the dim light. S-1… his name? Or the name of an experiment, someone else’s property?

He didn’t know. He didn’t know.

But he knew this.

He had sworn he would never be a prisoner again.

…

That night, the others didn’t think much of Dust’s absence. He often worked alone, and after the Stars showed up they assumed he must have left alone too. So they weren’t concerned… until he entered the room and collapsed against the table.

Horror leapt to his feet, rushing over to where Dust leaned against the table, breathing hard, his remaining eye light gleaming just a little too bright. Nightmare rose soon afterwards, walking over to where the two of them stood. He checked Dust’s HP and found that it was low - not dangerously so, but too much for such a routine mission.

“What happened?” Nightmare demanded, steadying the assassin with a tentacle as Horror brought over some healing food. Dust laughed and shook his head. “What. Happened?” This time, the lights flickered. Nightmare’s magic reached out, tamping Dust’s emotions as one might put out a low flame. Dust’s eyelight dimmed and he sagged a bit. The laughter stopped. Shoulders shaking, Dust lifted his right hand out of his pocket.

The bone was decimated. Bits of it seemed to have crumbled, while others were hacked away. His ring finger was gone, and some of the others looked nearly damaged enough to dust away. Immediately, Nightmare activated his emerald healing magic. Dust watched as the wound on his hand began to seal shut and harden, leaving behind fresh scars.

The plate which had marked that hand was gone.

Dust laughed.

“I don’t belong to him anymore.”

[thebirdsofgay]

My favorite thing about watching Joel Smallishbeans is that he is literally always vibing on entirely his own wavelength

Like,, oh, you’re all terrified of a demon on the server? Doesn’t exist.

You’re all herding cows to prevent the inevitable food shortage of late-game Life Series seasons? I’ll just ahaha stab that for ya’

You’re all doing Serious Lore? I think the sheriff is a toy and I’m a massive God so I’m gonna turn his town into Andy’s bedroom from Toy Story and sell toys of the sheriff, get sued for copyright infringement by said sheriff, and then willingly forfeit the trial because it furthers my Toy Sheriff Agenda

[yippee-optimistically]

yall havent experienced peak until youve read tmnt unleashed and its sequal wolf hunt IM SOOOO DEADASS this comic was genuinely so much fun to read. redrew some of my fav panels bc i couldnt think of anything else but ougghhhhh

i love you anya tmnt unleashed... ouuu.... also little hakuro doodle. i wish we couldve seen where his arc went. pls pls pls read this comic. i love it so much

[blueskittlesart]

i am an athena cykes defender forever and ever until the day i die but god. somewhere out there there is a universe where apollo justice got actual follow through and it kills me that i am not living in it