#I don’t actually know if I’m going to keep this piece of dialogue in tbh it just cracked me up. thank you Eric Andre for all you���ve done

[lichtbrenger]

Playing with my dolllsssss

[bruisedboys]

STAR TRIPPING, blurbs ─── send in a character + a prompt from the lists above and I’ll write you a blurb!

❛ nope, puppy dog eyes aren’t going to work this time! ❜ + miguel o’hara

hiii angel! thank you sm for the request, I cheated again and changed the dialogue a bit just to fit his character more!! love you xxx

miguel o’hara x gn!spider-person!reader, fluff, ditzy!reader, miguel being a grumpy worrywart tbh

You’ve messed up on a mission more times than you can count. You’re clumsy, you’re a bit on the uncoordinated side despite being a spider-person. And Miguel talking in your ear every five seconds makes you flustered. He’s got a nice voice, rough around the edges but smooth and velvety where it counts. And he’s never on anyone’s case as much as he is on yours, so every time he utters a command into your earpiece or tells you to watch out for a falling piece of building you almost trip on your own feet.

After yet another mission where all you did was get in the way, you make your way defeatedly to Miguel’s lab for a post-mission briefing. You know for sure he’s gonna bring up the fact that you stopped to tie your shoes in the middle of a fight, and he’s definitely gonna mention how unprofessional and dangerous that was. But listen, having untied shoelaces is a danger in itself. Especially when you’re the type of person to trip on tied shoelaces.

Miguel’s back is to you when you enter his lab, orange and blue holographic screens projected in front of him and around him. You don’t get to glimpse what he’s watching because he swipes it away with one hand as soon as you’re close enough to see, the screen disappearing into thin air like magic.

“Hi, Miguel,” you sing, as charmingly as you can, hoping to get out of a scolding.

Miguel sighs audibly, like your very existence irks him. “Hello, Y/N.”

“Uh, oh-kay, you don’t sound happy to see me,” you say, mocking offence.

Miguel turns to face you. He’s extraordinarily handsome, even when he’s scowling like he is now. The urge to push your thumb between his brows and smooth out the grumpy wrinkle there grows stronger every day.

“You’re right, I’m not,” he agrees, completely stoic. “Who ties their shoelaces in the middle of a fight?”

You huff. “Uh, me? You know I could’ve tripped on them, right?”

“Why d’you even wear shoes in the first place? They just get in the way.”

You roll your eyes and skip over to his desk, ignoring his question and instead entertaining yourself by going through the stuff on his desk. He’s not messy but he doesn’t necessarily keep it organised — there’s papers and gadgets and devices all over it just begging to be dug through. “You’re so grouchy.”

“You’re so careless. Don’t touch that.”

You pull your hand away from the important looking device with about a million buttons on it that you were about to pick up, giggling to yourself. It’s fun, annoying him. He’s all bark and no bite, especially when it comes to you. Maybe only when it comes to you. He’ll gladly let you know how much of a nuisance you are but never seems to actually do anything about it. Peter B. says it’s because he’s deeply in love with you. You say he’s just a big softie at heart.

“Look, Y/N,” Miguel says, and you know he’s about to go on one of his telling-offs. You can feel his eyes burning into you as you sit in his spinning desk chair and sway it side to side, the toes of your shoes skimming over the floor. “You can’t be so careless. It’s stupid. You’re gonna get yourself killed one of these days.”

“Yeah, right. Death by shoelace,” you murmur to your shoes.

Miguel groans loudly. You look up at him. He’s turned away from you, pinching his nose with his head ducked, mumbling to himself what sounds suspiciously like curse words in Spanish. Even though you can’t understand what he’s saying, you can tell by the tense in his shoulders that he really is annoyed, not just fake annoyed like he usually is with you.

You mull it over in your brain. You could either one, deny you made a mistake, probably annoying him further and getting yourself kicked out of his office, or two, admit you messed up, which would hopefully get him to stop being so grumpy for once, and you can stay here as long as you please. You sigh and decide to admit defeat.

“Miguel?” You say into the silence, sweet as you can.

“What?” He snaps, still with his back to you.

“I’m sorry for tying my shoe in the middle of a fight. It was dumb. And I’m sorry for … getting in the way all the time.” You hop up off your seat and walk towards him, hoping he’ll turn at your approaching footsteps. When he doesn’t, you add, “Would you look at me? I’m trying to apologise here.”

Miguel turns around then, swivelling on his heel to face you. You’re close, close enough that you could reach out and touch his abdomen, his chest. You don’t, though you’d like to. Instead you give him a soft smile and your best I’m sorry eyes.

“I’m really sorry,” you say sincerely. “I’ll try to be more careful next time.”

Miguel stares at you, completely stoic apart from his eyes, which are significantly softer than usual. His frown stays put but his eyes go all melty, like they’ve been glazed with honey, and the furrow in his brows softens just slightly. He looks like he wants to say something. He opens his mouth, changes his mind and closes it, then opens it again.

“Are you giving me puppy dog eyes?” He asks, raising his eyebrows. “‘Cos that’s not gonna work on me.

“I’m not giving you puppy dog eyes,” you argue, even though you totally are. “I’m trying to say sorry.”

“Well, you’re forgiven,” Miguel says abruptly, shrugging his shoulders. “Just … please try to be more careful.”

You think he’s done with you until he reaches out and presses his thumb to your jaw in what you think is a show of affection, the pad of his thumb sliding down the length of your jaw, then a brush of the back of his fingers under your chin, a trail of burning hot stars left in his wake. You think your whole face might be on fire, but it’s over as soon as it starts, and Miguel goes right back to scowling. “And stop looking at me like that.”

He drops his hand and turns away from you abruptly, pulling up a holographic screen with a list of anomalies yet to be caught. You don’t comment on the implication that his last sentence has made — that your I’m sorry eyes really had been working quite well on him — but instead spend the next five minutes in a shocked sort of silence, the weight of his touch still present on your now burning face.

[lynne-monstr]

Fic Writer Interview

i was tagged by the lovely @forerussake, thanks so much!! what a fun list of questions. alright, here goes

name/nicknames: lynne

fandoms: mostly the king’s avatar these days, though i lurk and read fic in others

two shots: i’m assuming this is a two part fic. i don’t think i’ve ever written any of those, at least not deliberately. I do have a two chapter fic but the chapter break was added specifically to integrate my big bang artist’s piece into the fic, it wasn’t originally by design.

fic - Five Times Yu Wenzhou Gets Stuff Thrown At His Head and the One Time He (Finally) Catches Something

most popular multi-chapter fic: haha well i write almost exclusively one-shots so there’s not much to choose from. 

and anyway, metrics are a finicky thing.

by kudos, Dressed for Sin (Shadowhunters) is the most popular. But that’s just because it’s the biggest fandom i’ve written multi-chapter fic in. By relative popularity within the fandom, this one would probably be pretty low on the list. But it’s one of my favorites because i got to write one of my favorite tropes: alternate first meetings.

fic - Dressed for Sin                                

Since it’s the end of the year i can indulge in a little navel gazing and say that my most popular fics overall were in leverage fandom, probably due to the size of the fandom at the time and writing What Fandom Wanted (ot3 with a focus on eliot, getting together fic with feelings).

If I was going to list my Most Popular (TM) fic based on my vibes for relative fandom popularity I’d probably say the de-aged ywz fic. I wouldn’t say it’s a popular fic overall, but in terms of what i’ve written, i feel like it’s the multi-chapter that’s gotten the deepest engagement. lol maybe because it’s the longest.

fic - Means of Transportation

lol that was a lot of words for someone who has written prob less than 10 multi-chapter fics but the year is ending and is there a better time to be self-indulgent?

actual worst part of writing: when i know exactly what i want but i just can’t get the words right. either because i don’t know exactly how to shape the plot or because the vibes are off or because i just can’t wrangle the dialogue or characterization. knowing what i want and being unable to get there is incredibly frustrating.

how do you choose your titles: I cry.

(okay, i actually do have a document where i keep snippets of lyrics and poetry but tbh they rarely come in handy. a lot of times i just blindly google lyrics to songs on my spotify playlists and hope for the best. my favorite is when i can snip a piece of narrative or dialogue to use as a title but oof the stars really have to align for that to work)

do you outline?: if the fic is longer than a scene or two, yes. it’s very helpful to know where the story is going. i also color code my outlines as I write (green, orange, red for written, in progress, and haven’t started writing yet) so i can get a quick view of where i am.

sometimes my outlines start as rambles and end up as real writing and then i can copy-paste that part of the outline into the actual fic and that is very satisfying.

callouts @ me: write that stupid, self-indulgent, silly idea!! it doesn’t have to be good, it doesn’t have to be a complete idea, it doesn’t have to be anything but fun. also, don’t feel bad about writing fifty thousand fics for the same pairing, you’re not here to be well-rounded, you’re here to have fun.

best writing traits: when i’m determined and in the midst of a project, i can be very good at sitting down regularly and doing 500 words of writing a day. which is wonderful for making progress. also i often get compliments about my characterization and humor in my fic, which i work very hard at.

spicy tangential opinion: i’m sure i have many of them but as usual, when i am asked to list them, they all *poof* into thin air. I have a not-so-spicy opinion that I hate 97% of epithets I come across and would like to throw “the smaller male” into the sun.

tagging: @glorious-spoon, @junemermaid, @afincf-tirwer, @tehfanglyfish, @beatperfume, @undead-robins, @gingersnapwolves, @la-muerta, @vampirenaomi, @dirty-corza

[kaz3313]

for the fanfic ask game, F and L 👀👀

L: how many times do you revise your fic/chapter before posting?

This really depends on the length! If it’s a single fic around 1k or under I’ll usually write everything, revise once, post, read it over in case I need to edit anything real quick. I usually leave it for a few hours to a day so I have “fresh” eyes to look over it.

For longer fics I tend to read through parts of it as I go/revise as I’m making the fic. So if I’m at the end of a scene, and plan on writing another scene, I’ll look over what I have, revise, and then write more. I Also do read through the whole thing afterwards- and unless I’m on a time crunch I give myself at least a day after “finishing” it to revise.

F: Share a snippet from one of your fav dialouge scenes and explain why you’re proud of it:

(Everything is under a readmore because tumblr format makes things quite lengthy)

So I shall share two!! One from a fic I’ve posted and one from one I have not :)

(Snippet from Pit of Sorrow, Pit of Comfort):

“It could definitely be worse… Though I mean not to offend you, if it wasn't for Quan Yizhen I would’ve gone to Yin Yu. At the same time, he is far too subservient to me. You have a bit of a bite to you. What if I was left without either of you? Then who would I seek out?”

Seek out- there, the beginning of Hua Cheng’s only way to “cry for help”. Seeking out people he couldn’t care less for (their relationship was strictly business after all-).

“Crimso- Hua Cheng, would you like to do something to help your mood?”

“Yes, I’d rather this encounter be enjoyable. What would be the point of it otherwise?”

Instead of offering what was in his mind or anything he wanted to do Hua Cheng stood there- He Xuan, if not for his good judgment, would strangle him. Why couldn’t he just be one bit normal?

He, of course, would be expected to think of something.

“We could go beat the shit out of The Green Ghost?” He finally offered.

(Snippet end)

I really enjoyed when I wrote this and posted because I’ve seen miscommunication used a lot for angst (understandably) but I really enjoy using it for humor. Tbh I really love the dialogue in this fic in general because of Hua Cheng’s nonchalant attitude and He Xuan’s bubbling worry about him while also trying to keep himself more neutral. It was a fun piece to work on!

Snippet from (Part two in a series and fic unnamed). Please note is rough draft so descriptors will be added when I do post it:

“Randy, we need you back. Soon as possible- you can come in tomorrow even. You don’t have to go on the bullshit training, you know your shit, and same hours as before.”

“Is it cause I’m the only one who’ll work with crazy-“

“We can’t find anyone else who’s willingly to work with Karen,” He sounded oh so desperate.

“And people have been-“

“I can’t believe it but people have been asking about you. You know seemingly know every actor, plot, and directors of every movie here”

“Yeah, also I enjoy cl-“

“And of course you’ll have to close again on weekends but you never minded that. So how about it?”

“Under a few conditions. Number one, I get my keys back, the keys I used to have don’t try to pass someone else’s on me.”

“Done,”

“Fifteen cent raise,” He stated.

“Five.”

“Ten’s my final offer. Otherwise I’m not coming back,”

“… Alright. Ten cent raise.”

“And! If you fire me again and rehire me I get another ten cent raise and a bonus.”

(Snippet end)

This is actually an incredibly angsty story so I really enjoyed making this type of witty/non serious dialogue in between everything. I think even for the most serious of writing a bit of lightheartedness is needed (whether he from internal dialogue, external dialogue, or even just a humorous scenario among all the more serious ones). Also it is quite hard to write angst with nothing at all inbetween (for those who can massive kudos)

[grumpyoldsnake]

Liveblog: The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski

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Context: I caught bits and pieces of several scattered episodes of the Netflix Witcher series while at my parent’s place, and have had my curiosity piqued!

Further context: I don’t actually know anything about storytelling techniques. High school English classes were a long time ago, hah. But… I am currently actively trying to learn via observation. So! A lot of my comments are going to be on that topic: what I’m seeing, why I think it’s been done that way, how well I think it’s working, etc.

Disclaimer: My thoughts might be scrambled, names might be misspelled, and most quotes will be paraphrased. I’m reading via audiobook at work, and only stopping to jot down what ideas I remember after I’ve already read large sections. And some of these thoughts are just writing style and craft thoughts, no chronology to be had.

.

So! Okay! Starting off with unnecessary murder! Always endears one to a protagonist, let me tell you /s

Setting that aside, I do appreciate that Geralt’s already a bit more talkative than what I recall of the show

Sapkowski really likes ‘no words were necessary’ and ‘gave a look’ and other such unspoken communication, doesn’t he?

Which, y’know, I do like its use in some sections — for myself I find it almost impossible not to respond (or to write a character responding) to statements or questions, so I think it’s a powerful character note to just have someone. Flat out not reply to something. xD And I’m going to try to remember it, now that I’ve had my attention called to that gut instinct of mine.

Other sections it feels more like the author being unwilling to say or commit to something, though, or occasionally like the author expects something to be clear without being outright stated when—for me at least—it definitely isn’t.

Like look. Nonverbal communication works because there are nonverbal things to observe. It does not work if there isn’t even a narrative description of said nonverbal details. 😂

(Mind you I can’t read nonverbal communication to save my life half the time even when there *is* something to observe…)

Other writing thing of note is the occasional use of dialogue to imply/narrate action that’s going on, without any further belaboring of it in the actual narration.

That I rather like. Reminds me a bit of western style comics where character statements are providing half the context, because the illustrations can’t cover it all efficiently enough. Might experiment a bit with it myself, see if it streamlines my writing any!

The third-ish sentence after Dandelion is introduced being Geralt calling him his friend is a massive contrast to what I recall of the show. 😂

It’s another thing I like though. Aside from the random fucking murder at the beginning of the book, I do think I’m finding this characterization more interesting than show!Geralt. (Jury’s out on ‘likable,’ mind. 😝) Both crankier / more vicious and more demonstrative / more personable, somehow. Feels more rounded?

Don’t quote me on that though. Again. I’ve watched like 3-4 episodes, and not in order at that. Not sure why I keep wanting to make comparisons to begin with tbh, I don’t actually know what I’m talking about slskjfhf

Case in point though — an entire? Fucking chapter? That’s literally just Geralt talking? To a stylistic degree, there isn’t even any narration? “I need to talk to someone” and then he does, wtf is Netflix doing

Admittedly he’s doing it to someone who he knows for a fact will never pass what he’s saying on to anyone else but like. Still.

…Geralt is a dork. Jaskier is a dork. They are both such fucking dysfunctional dorks. (Context: catfishing.)

Ffff holy fuck Jaskier is in bad shape. Oof.

…Geralt is furthermore a self-righteous philosophical sap. Who likes making speeches. (Context: half this book, when he isn’t keeping silent or ‘smiling nastily’. Or uh. Murdering people.)

PFFT I spoke too soon. Yennefer seems to share that thought

“The witcher didn’t like to do anything needlessly” (paraphrased, again, reading an audiobook) — Geralt. Geralt. Why did you kill those jerks at the start of the book, Geralt. (I’m saying ‘Geralt’ but what I actually mean is ‘why did you write this that way, Sapkowski’ >_>;)

Poor Dandelion is so concerned and upset ffff

…I am too aroace-spec for this bullshit 😂

Like is it weird that I would find sheer stubborn desire not to let Yennefer get herself killed more understandable and believable in isolation than I do when it’s tied up with attraction as it has been?

In isolation I’d just nod along but as it is I am banging my head against the wall with frustration slsjfhf

THIS WOMAN HAS BEEN NOTHING BUT CALLOUS TO YOU why do you like her. Like. Again. Yes I understand wanting to save her, but why do you LIKE her good GRIEF

…okay the very last bit of it is incredibly fucking sweet though.

I mean look at this: “And they were considerate and very thorough. They were caring and tender, and though neigher of them knew what caring and tenderness were, they succeeded—because they very much wanted to, and they were in no hurry whatsoever.”

Tell me that isn’t the sweetest damn way to describe some sex

Ohh. And. Also worth mentioning, Yennefer apparently heard the wish? And liked it / found it touching? Huh. For some reason I feel like that was handled very differently in the show, though I can’t recall the specifics.

Anyway I comprehend the whole interwoven destinies necessary result of the wish, but I am not successfully guessing what the actual wish was. Wonder if we’ll ever be explicitly told?

…that uh. That sure is an ominous ending, goodness. Nenneke is so worried and upset, I think that’s the bit that struck me hardest.

I didn’t mention it earlier but I do really enjoy the sections with Nenneke just in general. Their dynamic is really fun :)

Speaking of those sections — climate change! Except not that! Good times. Makes me think of our ozone layer and the potential impacts if it were lost.

And speaking of ominous things — “it’s already too late” or something along those lines with regards to the changing sunlight. Ahah. Good times. Slow natural… well, again, change. Apocalypse, for some species. Curious to see just how many species that will be.

.

Well! I have a few gripes, but overall I did enjoy it enough to be interested in reading the next book! Curiosity is still a bigger factor than actual investment, currently…? But interest is interest, ahah.

[tokyopewpew]

Veilguard Breakdown Part 3

I'm consistently going over post limits so this is going to continue to take awhile. This is reactions to the FINALE and major ending choices (and the beginning of my criticism of the criticism of the game) Spoilers under the cut.

Oh my god what a long and drawn out fraught miserable amazing devastating final Fight against Ol Ghil

Ok more like five final quests. holy shit holy shit

The choice between Dav and Harding?? Fucking impossible. Miserable. i will never be able to handle it. Nor Varric. Oh my god. My heart hurts. I’m sick to my stomach. Miserable. But that’s good writing baby. You got me to care.

I literally keep ping ponging back and forth between which could be worse. They’re both so bad.

For me, Davrin dies a hero’s death. Assan was a protector until the end. I couldn’t do that to Harding, or Taash. Harding deserves an apology from Solas (spoiler: boo she doesn’t get it edit: ok damn she does get a weak ass one!! i just didn't get that banter?? Man I wish I got more banter). I chose Davrin because the griffons are set up to have their new beginning. They are his legacy, but Harding hasn’t had the chance to share the Titan’s memories. It still fucking hurt so bad tho. Assan…

I also chose Bellara to disable the wards. Which I ultimately really liked Belara’s final thing with the blight better than her actual main quest so i’m super happy to have chosen her. Her having the archive and using it when it suits them but also being like you aren’t MY GOD and fucking Elgers up. Amazing heroic moment. And she survived! Hooray for being a hero!

did have to restart a section because I accidentally killed Emmerich which was um. The Worst thing to see knowing his problems with mortality and giving up lychdom to revive Manfred? That got my jaw cracked to the floor.

Amazing awesome set pieces and animation for the finale. Final fight was not hard at all. I got a bit OP’ed tbh lmao

FUCK YEA TO THE HAPPY SOLAVELLAN ENDING THO! Or as happy as they can be

Solas and Inquisitor in the fade together sigh. Forming it to their quiet idolized life of study and magic. That juicy thick, raspy Thank you, Rook got me. Him crying was SO well animated and voiced. Sad wet egg.

The hilarious non serious version is that she’s like oh my fucking god I am sick and tired of Chantry bullshit. I don’t want to be in charge anymore. Please the south is so fucked and everyone is gonna be so mad at me regardless and I cannot fucking deal with it again. Please take me away.

THE MYTHOLOGY of her actually having an end like Andraste??? Wild, genius, so big brained. Another instance of people being very Literal tho and applying real world relationship standards. Or I guess being mad it doesn’t fit their canon? Idk it’s very odd to me to get such a different read on Solas. Like he fucking hates the material world, idk how his story could end anywhere but in the Fade drenched in magic? I also am gonna choose to believe they aren’t completely cut off from the rest of the Fade. One, because the prison was opened when Solas released the Evanuris. Two, together they should be able to release the binds of the prison. And three, the Fade is Dreams, where mages can be fully conscious in the Fade. So she’d be able to visit people in their dreams, and like fully communicate with Dorian

There’s SO MUCH dialogue i missed so I’m gonna have to read like a script. LIKE SORRY I KNOW IT GOT MENTIONED ELSEWHERE BUT LUCANIS HAS A SNAKE? i know for like venom and poison and stuff but oh my god. I feel like I got so little banter but that’s my fault for fast traveling and sprinting everywhere. Punished for being too good at game.

NOW WE GONNA TALK ABOUT THE HARD CHOICES:

God take the game away from idiots complaining about the hard choices. Do you want the game to be gritty, dark, with hard choices? Or do you want it to be a point system where if you do enough good, you can save everyone? YOU CAN save most everyone! if you didn’t do that you can lose like the whole team!

Like saying it affected you deeply and gave you actual GRIEF over these characters is a GOOD NARRATIVE! they made you care THAT MUCH! and it DOES have to be between those characters because that’s what makes it such a hard choice! If they let you sacrifice your least fav companion and walk away unscathed emotionally THAT WOULD BE CHEAP.

How many times do they have to say we’re fighting the gods?? We won’t come out unscathed, Solas saying we have to make the hard choices, make sacrifices. i’m coming from Origins and DA2 where someone has to die or compromise their morals A LOT to kill the archdemon and no matter what you do Kirkwall ends in tragedy.

It's also REALLY EASY to talk shit on Solas and be like "well I wouldn't let anyone die, I wouldn't sacrifice people to win." WHICH HE TELLS YOU, if you do it right you won't have to make that call, they'll do it anyways (and subtext of you'll still feel responsible for it. It will still feel like YOUR FAULT. That's his whole deal, his whole problem, is feeling responsible for his own AS WELL AS other people's decisions).

I’m trying not to be soft on the game but seeing people’s frustrations and complaints is a little between… I get it, i think that would have been nice, i think it could have been cool, i wonder what that game could have been…

But also i know enough about writing and game/general production that i totally see why they made the choices they did. I see the narrative arcs, and see the streamlining needed for the scale/scope/pace of the narrative and I can imagine where it would have gone if they DID go the other way people will ask... and still see why they chose to do it the way they did.

Also none of the choices have mattered across many of the games. Love DA2 but in game none of your choices really matter. The qunari still destroy the city and the Mages rebel. How it gets there matters to us playing it but in the grand narrative it doesn’t.

Same with the Warden. If one of the main options is for the Warden to DIE then they can’t have any Concrete story where they show up. They have to write to include ALL possible realities.

OVERALL VERY HAPPY! Very much enjoyed the game! I thought it was the most fun gameplay of all of them and I love my Solavellan ending and getting a new series of Ships to set sail on.

The next posts are going to be more into the production and game designing stuff I touched on a little bit here in the end.

[luminari-mc]

My Human, My Sunshine - Part 1

Genre: Angst, hurt/comfort.

Pairing: GN!MC x Mammon

Word count: 5194

Summary: Mammon finds himself lost in the human world. Meanwhile, MC can't get ahold of Solomon, their phone dead silent.

Warnings: N/A

A/N: My first writing piece for Obey Me! It's kind of a long one so I recommend you grab a snack or two during it. While this part is occupied by a good amount of text messages between Mammon and someone else, I'm already thinking of writing a part 2 which will have way more dialogue. In the meantime, please enjoy this little scenario I came up with after listening to a song that set me in an angsty mood. :)

______________________________________________________

Wet. Cold. Exhausted. And completely lost.

Mammon felt all of those, and yet, his legs kept on marching into the dead of night, his jacket covering his head despite being too drenched to protect him from the rain anymore. Each time a droplet of water came rolling on his cheek, his wrist would come to brush it off, and Mammon would let out an annoyed groan. If only there were any shops open, but the city was definitely asleep. He was thankful for the crashing sound of the rain on the ground around him, along with the smell of the wet asphalt keeping himself awake, otherwise, he surely would have gone crazy by now. The demon had even lost count of how many hours he had been wandering through the streets, how many mailboxes he had checked, how few passersby he had come across, only to receive negative answers to his questions.

And so Mammon kept on walking, not sure where to go next. But he felt sure of one thing: he wouldn't stop moving until he had found what he was looking for. Be there rain, or no rain. Lost or not.

"Tch, the human world's weather really sucks..."

As he walked on the pavement, his brow furrowed from the lack of new clues as to where his destination was supposed to be. His eyes caught sight of a bakery he had already walked by earlier during the day, its gentle light piercing the darkness that had been accompanying him for far too long now. Mammon's brow furrowed slightly at the sight- he knew he had gone in circles time and time again, but seeing it confirmed once more rubbed him the wrong way. Despite that, he decided to walk towards it, and took shelter under the entrance's porch. Surely the owners wouldn't mind him checking his phone for a few minutes, right? Right.

Pinching between his fingers the precious D.D.D. he had tucked under his shirt to protect it from the rain, Mammon looked at the map again. His stomach dropped for the upteenth time upon seeing the address still showing in his search bar, the letters and numbers taunting him. A knot formed in his throat as he tried his best not to scream at his screen.

"It wasn't there, you idiot..."

His mouth formed into an angry pout. Mammon looked into the list of potential addresses he had made throughout the day, and all had been crossed out. He felt his jaw clench- not only was he left with no addresses, no other clues, no humans to help him, but also that stupid rain surely would keep on falling for the rest of the night.

He was truly cursed.

"What the fuck am I supposed to do now?!" Mammon groaned, his free hand reaching upward to grab at his hair in frustration.

Yes... that was a good question. What was he supposed to do? It wasn't like he could ask help from any of his brothers, or from the angels. It had already been a miracle a witch he knew accepted to snuck him into the human world without anyone knowing, but there was no way he'd get any more help from her without offering his own life in exchange. And contacting Solomon was absolutely out of the question, for his own obvious reasons that he still was suspicious of the guy.

For the longest time in a while, Mammon felt alone. More alone than he had ever been before. He had promised himself to go on this search on his own, stupidly thinking that it'd be over by the end of the day, and look where that got him. Lost in the human world, on the verge of catching some nasty human virus from all this rain that had poured on him, and without anyone by his side.

The grip on his phone tightened, the hand holding it shaking slightly as the anger was starting to consume the demon. Even Mammon's patience had its limits, and he was starting to reach it.

"Dammit, where the hell are ya-"

A pathetic yelp escaped his mouth as he looked in fear at his phone, which had buzzed for a very short second in his palm. Wait, was it a notification? But from who? He had taken all the necessary precautions before leaving, so who was still able to reach his number?

His mind ran through all possibilities as he quickly checked his screen, the name of the sender making him open his eyes wide.

Leviathan: Mammon!!

Leviathan: Where are you???

Leviathan: You promised me you'd play this new game with me after coming home from RAD, don't tell me you forgot?? It's been HOURS.

Leviathan: Also the others say they can't reach your DDD and Lucifer is seriously pissed!

Leviathan: And I know you didn't break your DDD, that wouldn't explain why I can send texts now and the others still can't. Even though mine didn't work before.

Leviathan: But do you know how much time and effort it took me to find a way to bypass a blocked number?? Well guess what, the same amount of hours since you broke your promise!

Leviathan: You're reading this, right? Then send something! Anything!

Mammon backed even more into the porch of the shop, his eyes stuck to the screen of his phone. All of the blood rushing to his head suddenly made him forget he was cold in the first place. Of course Levi would be the first to find a way to contact him.

The demon's chest rose as he breathed in heavily, his hands slowly wrapping around the phone. It took him a hot minute to get ahold of his trembling fingers so as to not make any typos, his mind debating whether responding was a good idea or not, even as he hit the send button.

Mammon: Sorry Levi, gonna have to postpone the gaming session.

Mammon: I got business elsewhere and I'm not sure when I'll come back home, if ever.

Leviathan: Ew stop sounding so gloomy, you're almost starting to sound like me and tbh it would be kinda creepy.

Leviathan: That still doesn't tell me where you are! I know it's like a common thing for you to get into shady stuff on a regular basis but even Lucifer seems concerned, and weirdly enough he's not even trying to hide it???

Leviathan: He's been pacing back and forth in the common room for 20 minutes and won't let go of his phone it's starting to creep me out.

Leviathan: Hey huh, if you really were in big trouble you'd let us know, right? Like, even by typing a secret message to let us know that you got kidnapped or whatever?

Leviathan: Nevermind, I really don't see why you'd even get kidnapped, so it HAS to be that you chose to disappear by yourself.

Leviathan: But anyway! It's been 2 months now since everyone's been acting weird and I've seen and heard you enough to CLEARLY see that you're getting worse but finding trouble with witches or whatever won't help you feel better. And yes I know you've been faking being fine the entire time!! Don't think you can fool me!!

Leviathan: Believe me and the hundreds of figurines I bought!! I thought they'd help and it's somehow doing nothing, I feel like the worst fraud of an otaku EVER!!! How can I call myself an otaku when I can't even find joy anymore in the things that make an otaku what he is??

Leviathan: It's like I'm losing my identity! Wait no screw that, it's not just me, we've all been losing it!!

The three dots of a message being typed disappeared and reappeared, and Mammon couldn't do anything but watch the messages of his brother pop up one after another on his screen. A sense of guilt surfaced inside of him, and it only made him frown. It's not as if he hadn't thought about asking Levi for help, before getting himself into this mess... but for both of their sakes, he had decided that it had to be him coming here, and only him.

But suddenly, just as he expected his brother to send another message, the three dots disappeared, and didn't come back right away. Mammon's focus on his phone increased at the unexplained absence of new texts from Levi, and he waited, expecting him to continue the chain of messages he had started. But nothing followed.

It wasn't in Levi's habits to suddenly stop texting in the middle of a flood of texts. The demon gripped his phone tighter, worry beginning to grow within his mind. Was it because they were in different worlds that their phones couldn't reach properly? Or worse- had Lucifer found him out?

His heart almost skipped a beat as the three dots reappeared under his eyes, before letting another message pop up.

Leviathan: wait

Leviathan: waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait

Leviathan: OMG NO WAY

Leviathan: MAMMON TELL ME YOU'RE KIDDING

Mammon: I literally haven't said anything?

Leviathan: YOU PERFECTLY KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT

Leviathan: DON'T TELL ME YOU'RE IN THE HUMAN WORLD RN??

Shit.

How did he even find out?! Well... he could only assume that it wouldn't take a genius to figure out where Mammon could have gone if not anywhere in the Devildom, but still, why did Levi have to type it out? His plan was supposed to be flawless after all.

Mammon: Sorry bro, I can't say where I am.

Mammon: I know Lucifer's bound to check all of your DDDs sooner or later and that's only gonna help him find me.

Mammon: And like I said, I have something to do, so I can't come back.

Leviathan: Wait! I'll delete all of our messages, and I'll even destroy my DDD if it means you tell me why you're there

Leviathan: Actually no don't even answer, there can only be one reason you took that kind of risk

Leviathan: Is it... because of MC?

Upon reading their name again, Mammon felt his stomach sink. The eyes of the Avatar of Greed closed almost instantly as if to avoid reading it, the damp air whistling through his teeth as he breathed in deeply. Of course Levi would figure that out too. Any of his brothers could have.

The demon leaned his head against the wall behind him, his eyes opening and staring into nothing as he contemplated telling Levi about his plan. It wasn't as if he had any backup plans considering the situation he was in, after all. And Levi had the advantage of being at home, and having access to technology and magic that could improve his search further. But the thought of Lucifer figuring everything out still haunted him, making the hair on his skin stand straight.

And yet... At this point, he had nothing else to lose.

Mammon: Ya gotta promise not to tell anyone about this.

Leviathan: Who do you take me for? I'm not a snitch!

Leviathan: Especially if it's about MC.

Leviathan: But huh... what about Lucifer? You know that if when he finds out you went to the human world, he's going to kill you.

Mammon: Fuck Lucifer.

Mammon: I'm tired of hearin' him say he's "taking care of it". He clearly knows something but won't tell any of us and I'm tired of not getting any news from MC since they left the Devildom 2 months ago.

Mammon: And what's with his excuse about them not havin' their DDD anymore to contact us? I call that a load of bullshit.

Mammon: Something weird happened and Lucifer's too stuck-up to let us know what it is.

Mammon: So I'm done waiting around to see when they'll come back, or IF they'll even come back. So I'm going to get them myself.

Mammon: Problem is, I went to MC's place, and they weren't there. Their neighbor told me that they moved out a while ago with, get this, "a guy with white hair".

Leviathan: ??????? Solomon?????

Mammon: I'd bet my Demonio and all the things I possess that it's him.

Mammon: Not only Lucifer's in on this secret thing about MC, but Solomon too. I've already booked him an appointment with my fists if he did anythin' to them.

Mammon: Hell, even Diavolo and Barbatos seem to be in it too, which sucks even bigger time.

Mammon: So that means it's just us 6 who don't know shit. I wasn't about to play nice and dumb for Lucifer any longer.

Leviathan: Mammon

Leviathan: I never thought I'd ever write something like that to YOU

Leviathan: but

Leviathan: you sound super cool rn!! That just makes me wish I could have gone too!!

Leviathan: Pleasepleaseplease let me help!!! I'm also worried about MC and I miss having them here. The atmosphere at the house has sucked ever since we realized we couldn't text or call them anymore and I huh... kinda miss seeing them around the others too.

For a split second, Mammon considered taking a screenshot of Levi's last message to sell it as "the proof that the Avatar of Envy can control his jealousy!", but now wasn't the time for that. He had Levi's approval for helping him find the whereabouts of MC, and that's all he needed at the moment. He hadn't even noticed his lips turning into a small grin upon reading his brother offering his support.

Mammon: Alright Levi listen.

Mammon: All I'm tryin' right now is to find where MC might be.

Mammon: I don't think they left the place I'm at, but I ain't about to search at every damn house there is here. Would take too much time anyway.

Mammon: So can ya use your shut-in powers and figure somethin' out? Like I don't know, catch their human phone's signal or whatever through hacking?

Leviathan: Lol? I'll let you know it's not because I spend my entire days in my room that I know how to find a human phone!

Leviathan: I know how to hack yeah, but I don't know how to hack human technology! Not that I maybe tried once or twice and it resulted in failure each time.

Leviathan: But huh... I could try?

Leviathan: Let me ask Satan if we could use magic too.

Mammon: Satan? Levi, are you stupid? Last thing we want is to get more people to know about what I'm doing.

Leviathan: Oh huh yeaaaah, about that.

Leviathan: I should have told you sooner, but when I stopped answering earlier it's because Satan caught me texting you.

Leviathan: But he actually knew you had left to the human world! So we don't have to worry! He's on our side... obviously.

Mammon: Then the two of you get on it.

Mammon: And don't catch Lucifer's attention.

Leviathan: Yeah!

Leviathan: I'll let you know when we've found something.

Leviathan: BRB!

And then just like earlier, Levi's texts stopped appearing on his screen. A sigh left Mammon's lips as he closed his eyes, and the demon allowed his body to slide against the wall behind him until he was sitting on the ground. As he stretched out his sore body, the second-born finally realized that after two whole months of not getting to hear MC's voice, seeing their smile, getting to touch them... he had gotten closer to finding them, all thanks to his brothers. He had let Lucifer's intimidation get the best of him throughout all this time, but not anymore. No matter whether his older brother would catch wind of where he was, and what he was doing, Mammon would never stop trying to bring back MC where they belonged. With him, in the Devildom, back with the family they had found and grown to love.

Closing the messaging app with his thumb, the picture of MC he had set as his D.D.D. background seemed to radiate like the sun. How dared them all try to separate his human from their first man? From the one who'd they come to whenever they had a nightmare and couldn't fall asleep? The demon who'd hug them as tight as possible in their bed after a long day at RAD? The one who'd had the chance to fall asleep with them, getting the absolute honor of seeing their face so close to his, and who'd protect their dreams from any bad thoughts and scary nightmares?

The anxiety that Mammon had worn on his face all day slowly disappeared, and a small smile was placed upon it instead as his eyes met MC's in the picture.

"I'm almost there. Ya just gotta be patient a little more."

I'll find ya.

Time went on as Mammon waited for any news of Levi and Satan's research. The rain showed no sign of clearing soon, and the demon was starting to doze off after spending his entire day without taking a single break. He could have almost fallen asleep if it hadn't been for the owner of the bakery opening the door to close his shop and asking him to sit somewhere else. So Mammon moved from one spot to another, and took shelter near another store instead.

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting on the stone steps he had sat on, his phone's screen flashed a bright light as a new notification from Levi appeared from the top. Quickly passing his wrist on his tired eyes, Mammon tapped on the new message at the speed of light. The contents made him gasp, and for a second, he had almost forgotten how to breathe, as his now wide-open eyes were glued on the content of the message.

A full-on address, along with a picture of the place.

Mammon instantly stood up at the sight of the picture, the memories of his day resurfacing in a flash. He remembered very clearly seeing this particular building sometime during his search- its height had been making it stand out very easily amongst the other buildings in the city. Nobody couldn't mistake it with anything else.

Mammon: This is it?

Leviathan: Yeah, we placed down a map and confirmed it was there.

Leviathan: Satan actually found a book in his room with a spell that can help find a person's specific item with just some of their DNA.

Leviathan: So we went to MC's room and found some hair that Satan used for the spell, along with his phone so it could narrow down the list of MC's items.

Leviathan: I didn't think Satan's room could look even more of a mess, but he spent 10 minutes shoveling through his collection and now you can't even see the floor or his bed anymore lol

Leviathan: Anyway now that you got what you wanted, go and check if MC is there!

Mammon felt his legs move on their own as he flipped his jacket above his head and stepped under the rain again, a confident grin now brightly adorning his face as he typed on his phone to reply.

Mammon: Thanks Levi. I'll owe ya one.

Leviathan: Find MC and bring them back. Then you can consider us even.

Mammon nodded, a newfound hope filling his entire body and mind. After confirming that Levi had ceased texting him, the demon turned the phone off. He opened his hand to drop it on the wet floor, and let his right foot crash down upon it, the object almost breaking in half. Mammon promptly gathered in his hand the shattered item, now completely unusable, and threw it down a nearby sewer before letting his excitement take the best of him and sprint further in the direction of the building from the picture. At least, now Lucifer wouldn't be able to track him down with it if Levi and Satan got caught.

The more distance he covered, the more Mammon could swear he was about to take on his demon form at any moment. The thoughts of MC began to fill his head even more, as if they were the one pushing him to find them, to get to them as soon as possible. For the first time in 2 months, Mammon felt truly alive.

"Almost there. The Great Mammon's coming for ya, MC!!" he let out in the form of an encouragement to himself, his legs having found their energy again as his form was engulfed further into the city.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Anxiously pacing around the room, their head low and their phone in their hands, MC was growing more and more impatient. They were supposed to receive an update from Solomon about three hours earlier in the form of a phone call, but no matter the amount of messages they'd spent in the hopes of the wizard finally answering them, all they received was a dreadful silence. Grabbing a nearby chair, they let their body fall onto the seat as their fingers typed yet another message. They couldn't really understand how they had come to grow so persistent when it came to getting Solomon to reply to them, but having no other person to talk to ever since they left the Devildom 2 months prior would do that to anyone, they assumed.

'Solomon, sorry, I know I'm sending a lot of texts, but you said you'd visit today and I'm starting to be worried and... honestly a bit lonely. I thought going out today would help, but I just sat in the park for an hour before going back home and not doing much of the day.'

'You were supposed to meet with other wizards today, right? I hope nothing bad happened. But in case you're alright, all I'm asking is just one reply to at least get some sort of human connection. Not that I had a lot of it in the past few months.'

They felt their throat tighten upon writing their last sentence, feeling the frustration spilling out of their own words right back into their face. But who could blame them?

2 months without seeing, hearing, or even texting their friends back in the Devildom. 2 months without receiving a single visit from Luke or Simeon. 2 months spent exclusively with the company of Solomon, who had been acting strange ever since and had made them move out of their home under the excuse that it was to "train them at magic in a more private setting". But more importantly... those had been 2 months without having Mammon around, and MC would lie if they said they hadn't spent several nights crying themself to sleep, wondering how the demon was dealing with their absence.

The memories of their latest departure from the Devildom played in their head like a movie as they placed a hand on their forehead. Everything had seemed alright at the time, with them getting to say their usual goodbyes to the brothers, wishing to see them again once the new year at RAD would start, foolishly thinking that they'd get to spend their time hearing their voices on a daily basis once they were back in the human world. And before they could understand, their DDD had been taken from them, Solomon had been more present in their life than ever before, and for a reason they still couldn't grasp, it was as if the brothers had vanished from their life completely. No news whatsoever. Complete radio silence.

Just thinking back to this period, and how they could have probably caught that something was up as soon as Diavolo asked for their DDD after the brothers had left... it just made them want to puke.

But nothing could make them want to do so as much as the long-awaited reply of Solomon appearing on their screen.

'Hi MC. I'm deeply sorry I couldn't get ahold of you throughout the day. I won't be able to visit you today, since my services are still required here. Besides, it's getting late. I recommend you go have a good night's sleep as soon as possible.'

'If everything goes smoothly, I should be able to come back tomorrow. Then, we'll be able to go walk wherever you want. How does that sound?'

'I need to be going, but I shall wish you a good night. Take care, MC.'

And just as quickly as he had answered, Solomon went silent again. Leaving them in this apartment they had grown to hate, this prison cell he had put them in. A place where no fun could be found for them. MC didn't even bother sending anything else after that.

Their head sunk even lower, until their forehead slowly met with the hard surface of the dinner table. The phone faceplanted onto the wood as MC's hands turned into hard fists, a deep groan shaking the walls of their throat. It was hard not to let the tears escape their eyes, but instead, they opted to punch the table several times as hard as they could, until they felt their anger diminish.

How long was Solomon going to act ignorant towards them? How long was he going to ignore their pleas to get news from the Devildom, anything that would let them know why they couldn't contact the brothers, Diavolo and Barbatos? Even if the lords had been in some sort of trouble... they'd still find time to talk to their human, right? There was no way Mammon, the one they loved, wouldn't try to reach them one way or another... right?

Him who had been so clingy in such an adorable way every time they'd be at the House of Lamentation, he who had revealed to them that there wasn't a single day where his thoughts wouldn't drift to them no matter how hard he tried...

No. No amount of important duties would explain why Mammon of all demons, would ignore them like that.

They missed his antics. His entire being. The warmth he'd bring them each time he'd hold their hand before tucking his face into their neck like a pouting child, desperately trying to sneak one or two kisses in there, in the hopes he'd get to hear that sweet giggle of them. It wasn't for nothing that Lucifer had come to name them the chaotic duo of the House of Lamentation. They were two parts of a whole.

And yet, the world had dared to separate them. And MC was tired, oh so tired of not having their other half near them. The only feeling they had left, was one of pure desperation to see their greedy demon.

"I'm not asking for much... even a single word would do." MC replied to no one as they turned their head to rest their cheek onto the table. They closed their eyes, the anger slowly being replaced by a profound exhaustion. Could they really do nothing but act normal around Solomon, and accept that this was now their new life? No demons, no angels, just... humans around them?

Before they could slap the thought away, a loud banging coming from the entrance door made them straighten in their seat, their head turning towards the hallway in a panic. Their heart pounded inside their chest as the banging seemed to go on forever, until they used the back of their chair to push themself up, their legs shaking.

"S...Solomon?" They asked, way too silently for anyone to hear, and fully knowing that the person behind the door couldn't be the wizard.

As if they were waiting for an answer, MC stood there, their hand grasped onto the chair. The banging was insistent, demanding, angry. At this time of night, there were few reasons they could think why someone would mistreat their door in such a way, and MC wasn't sure they wanted to find the reason for it.

That is, until the person behind the door finally let their voice be heard.

"Oi, MC! Ya can hear me right?! Come on, open the door!"

It didn't take long for MC to let the familiar voice enter their ears, and it took less time for them to nearly stumble over the chair as their legs moved in a hurry to lead them towards the door as quickly as possible. Their hands messily trying to open the locks on the door, they were sure their mind had just played a trick on them, and the person outside was going to leave them completely disappointed, but they didn't care. This voice they could only remember so well despite the time since they had last heard it, was simply inviting them to open the door, to check for themselves whether it was true, or just a nasty joke played by their brain.

But as the last lock was undone, and the door was swung open, MC couldn't do anything but just stand there, their mouth agape.

Mammon kept on drawing breaths, his wet hair stuck to his forehead and drops of rain falling from his clothes onto the floor below, so much so that it had started to create a small puddle underneath him. As if the person who opened the door wasn't the one he expected, the demon took a step back, letting his eyes wander up and down on the human he had in front of him, almost in an attempt to check if it was really them. He too, couldn't stop his mouth from hanging open at the sight.

The two of them just stood there for a few seconds, taken by so many emotions at once that they weren't sure what to do. But right as Mammon took a step forward, his mouth opening some more to let out words that he so desperately had wanted to say for so long now, MC's face contorted into one of pure sadness before they rushed towards him. Mammon greedily welcomed them into his arms as they jumped and wrapped their arms around his shoulders, and their legs around his waist. They buried their face into his neck, the warmth of their tears mixing with the rain on his skin.

His embrace only tightened even more as they mumbled his name amidst broken sobs, the sound ever so close to his ear that even though he had his eyes firmly closed, he might have cried on the spot too. But he had found them. He had them in his arms again. After what had seemed like a million years, finally, they were back where they belonged, and he was back with his human.

Almost as if they were about to be pulled away from him, Mammon placed a hand on the back of their head, wanting to protect their entire being from harm no matter the cost. He still wasn't sure why it had taken so long for him to reunite with them despite the obstacles, but at the present moment, nothing else could matter.

The lord had finally found them, and he wasn't about to let anyone interfer between their happiness once more.

"I ain't letting you go." He whispered through gritted teeth, his head lowering into their shoulder. "Ever again."

[zainclaw]

Hello. I am a new symbrock shipper and i really appreciate your posts of the excerpts from the comics. But i was wondering which part of the comic people said the writer (the cates one) erased some kind of part about the eddie & venom? It gets me curious somehow and was wondering if you knew about this.

...I’ve actually been expecting someone to ask me about this, sooner or later. Kinda been dreading it, tbh XD But here goes.

(This is quite a long and serious answer, and I totally get if not everyone wanna read this, but as more and more people are becoming interested in the Venom comics, I do think this is an important thing to address.)

This is also a conversation about fandom.

*deep breath*

First of all. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and just like some people might be upset with the writers of a tv-show when things take a turn they don't agree with, some people are upset with the changes Donny Cates did when he took over the Venom comics after Mike Costa. Yes.

But here’s the thing:

The Venom comics have had many writers (and artists) over the years. I mean, jesus christ, the Venom symbiote’s very first appearance was back in 1988. That’s over 30 fucking years ago, people. At this point, I don’t think it’s realistic to expect the feel of the story to be the same under every single writer that comes on. I just don’t.

In 1996 Len Kaminski gave us Eddie and his symbiote holding hands and giving each other chocolate gifts with love hearts and the line “it’s not human, but it’s given me things no girlfriend ever could” in The Hunger. Then, 20 years later, in 2017-2018, we had Mike Costa give us Eddie calling the symbiote ‘my love’ and ‘dear’ and ‘darling’ and refer to their partnership as a relationship and finally made them have a baby together in First Host.

(I strongly recommend using my masterlist of comics excerpts as a timeline here to understand what the hell I’m talking about.)

Sure, Cates hasn’t had Eddie calling the symbiote ‘my love’ or ‘darling’ since he took over. I guess you could say he “removed” that. Do I miss that part? Yeah. Of course. But as far as I know, no one had Eddie and the symbiote hold hands again in the 20 years following The Hunger, either. Different writers have told different stories, chose to focus on different things.

Cates chose to go down a very angsty route. To, for example, bring back the topic of the Venom symbiote having a past with Flash Thompson, of sometimes wanting to be with him more than Eddie, and feeling torn about who to choose, and Eddie’s pain and jealousy over that. This is something Mike Costa barely touched on during his run. Costa wanted domestic bliss, so that’s what he did. But that doesn’t remove past canon. Not for him, or anyone else.

I’ve said this before - have basically warned people who’ve come to me saying they wanna start reading the comics because of my excerpts - but the comics are fucking angsty. There’s a reason I’ve made a point of posting Symbrock highlights from the comics, rather than just say “read the comics, they’re just never-ending domestic Symbrock bliss” because they’re not.

Eddie Brock is not a happy man, and his relationship with the Venom symbiote has been obsessive, possessive and unhealthy at times. They have grown a lot and come a long way over the years, but this has always been a part of their canon. Eddie’s fear of being alone, of being the symbiote’s second choice.

This side of them is part of why I, personally, find their relationship so intriguing. How they can’t stay away from each other, even though they're both so flawed and not always good “people”, and don’t really know how to keep their relationship healthy.

And I think Cates must have felt the same way, because he’s chose to dive into Eddie as his own person. He’s made Eddie face his demons, his past, deal with his fear of being alone and do a lot of growing in ways I haven’t seen him do in any previous comics. He wanted to tell the story of Eddie Brock, to perhaps let him become a better person than he was, in order to make the relationship between him and the Venom symbiote better. And in my personal opinion, he’s doing a great job of that.

I’m very much against the “fandom hive mind” thing, and the thought of new people entering the Venom/Symbrock fandom and simply adopting the “we hate Donny Cates, he ruined the comics” mentality because they see so many other shippers feel that way, is so upsetting to me. I don’t like how entitled fans can become at times.

(I don’t know how many people who still follow me from my Teen Wolf days, but, damn, I’m embarrassed about a lot of stuff that went down between that fandom and the show runners/actors. It was a silly teenage show on MTV, and yet so many adults (myself included) thought they should have a say in where the story went, and not. It took me a long time to realize that, but there it is.)

Donny Cates did NOT deserve the hate he got from so many Symbrock shippers back in 2018. He’s NOT unfaithful to the story of Venom as a whole, and has NOT ignored previous canon. He openly spoke to and supported the Symbrock shippers on Twitter, before they tore him to pieces for not being Mike Costa. For, in their opinion, completely ignoring the loving nature of their relationship.

But like?

Cates is the one who gave us the Venom symbiote’s first “I love you, Eddie”. Cates is the one who gave us Eddie getting phantom limb syndrome from being apart from the symbiote. Cates is the only one, in my opinion, who’s given us SO many beautifully heartbreaking inner dialogues from Eddie like that about love and loss and longing, all referring to the Venom symbiote. Cates is the one who gave us the exchange “You found me” / “Always” that I’m still crying about.

My point being: I don’t think it’s fair at all to say that Cates has ignored the intimate relationship between Eddie and the symbiote. Because he hasn’t.

And it wouldn’t surprise me if, one day, when the Venom comics get a writer who actually doesn’t treat Eddie and the symbiote like romantic partners, people will look back on previous runs and say “wow I miss what Cates did.”

But,

I’m not here to convince anyone that Cates’ run is better than, or even as good as, Costa’s. I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to love every Venom comic that’s come out in the past 30 years written by several different writers. That’s unrealistic. You’re allowed to have a favorite Venom writer. You’re allowed to think that where Mike Costa’s comics ended, Eddie and the Venom symbiote’s story ended, for you. You’re also allowed to, like me, enjoy the angsty and slow burn story currently being told by Donny Cates.

You don’t have to hate Cates just because you’re a Symbrock shipper.

That’s all I wanted to say, more or less.

[hopefulobjectmiracle]

A quick analysis of the puppy scene in 3x15, because my OTP is perfect.

This is honestly just a whole lot of gushing and flailing, tbh. Because Kurt and Blaine and their relationship are wonderful and I love them so, so much. So much so that I can write paragraphs on a scene that is barely one minute long. 

This somehow ended up being much longer than I intended, oops. Hope you enjoy it :)

We start off this scene with Blaine alone at his locker, presumably putting away his belongings from his last class, and you can still see Kurt’s ‘Gay-diddy-gay-gay-gay’ class council election poster on the inside of Blaine’s locker, even months after Kurt lost the election. But Blaine still keeps it up, because he loves Kurt, and if he had it his way, Kurt would win everything. Awww. He appears to be deep in thought, and when Kurt hides behind Blaine’s locker, speaking in the world’s most adorably terrible British accent, it startles Blaine for a second.

And man, does that make me sad. This is a kid that has been bullied, undoubtedly shoved into lockers and pushed here and there just like Kurt was. He hears an unfamiliar voice and immediately flinches back in fear, expecting the worst. 

But it isn’t the worst - it’s the best. Because it’s Kurt, the person Blaine loves more than anything, hiding behind the locker, and it’s Kurt speaking in that cute-ass accent holding a stuffed puppy in front of his face. 

(Side note - I once read that Chris Colfer improvised the dialogue and accent of this scene, as well as coming up with the name for the puppy, which totally checks out since Chris is a huge Anglophile.)

And as soon as Blaine recognizes his boyfriend, his face breaks out into the sunniest smile, and he does his signature “Kurt-made-me-laugh” move, the blushy head-duck (see here for reference). 

Kurt also looks similarly delighted to see Blaine, because Blaine is lovely and Kurt loves him so, so much, and because he’s also excited to show Blaine the gift he got him and help Blaine out with his problems. Kurt really loves Blaine, y’all. He looks so damn proud of the stuffed animal he got for him and equally proud of his own ability to make Blaine laugh with his clever puns. 

Kurt goes on to explain that Finn won the stuffed puppy while out at the amusement park for Senior Skip Day, along with thirteen others for Rachel, and as soon as he says this, Blaine nods along as if to say - oh, of course, that Rachel - because Blaine is considerate as hell and knows his friends very well. And in honest-to-god Kurt fashion, bb stole the puppy from his brother, because Kurt is the definition of Be Gay, Do Crime, and he also recognizes that Rachel does not need 14 different stuffed animals. 

He pouts a little right then, telling Blaine that he wanted to give it to him so that Blaine would have something, since Kurt wasn’t able to convince Blaine to go with them on the field trip. I wonder how that conversation went. 

Also, pouty Kurt is fucking adorable. Protect him at all costs.

Blaine is melancholy again, telling Kurt that he would have just brought the mood down for the group. And when Blaine says this? Kurt stops beating around the bush and gets straight to the point. 

Sweetly stroking the stuffed puppy, Kurt tells Blaine that he understands him. That he gets that family problems are hard, because they’re hard for him too. He uses himself as an example to try and get his point across to Blaine more effectively, and mentions that he and Finn disagree on nearly everything, but at the end of the day, they love one another and are always there for one another despite their differences. 

I’m also getting so many brotherly Furt feelings from Kurt referring to Finn as “the big lug” and talking about how much he loves him. Ugh. I also cry at the line where Kurt tells Blaine that he only has one brother and shouldn’t give up on that, given what happens to Finn. I wish we’d gotten more of that relationship in canon before Cory’s untimely passing, because they clearly had so much love for one another, both on-screen and off.

Anyway, Kurt sees the love he has with his brother and wants Blaine to be able to experience the same thing, because he loves Blaine so, so much and he thinks that Blaine deserves everything great in this world. He also brings back the cute-ass accent, and upon seeing Blaine look upset, bumps Margaret Thatcher Dog against Blaine’s cheek to get him to smile again - which Blaine absolutely does; his face is bright and sunny again because of Kurt’s silliness. Awww. 

Kurt tells Blaine never to give up, and Blaine indignantly responds that Cooper is the one who is leaving for a big audition. Kurt pauses, and tells Blaine that Cooper hasn’t actually left him yet. He says that Cooper is waiting in the auditorium, hoping that Blaine will come and talk to him and make things right. This line very strongly implies that Kurt and Cooper coordinated this, and that Kurt made an effort of talking to Cooper to try and arrange a meeting with Blaine - because in a matter of mere days, Kurt was able to glean how important their relationship was to Blaine and wanted to do everything he could to fix it. Give him all the boyfriend awards, folks.

I’m kidding. Please don’t start the Better Boyfriend Olympics again, lol.

Blaine huffs out that talking doesn’t actually work with Cooper, and that he’s tried it to no avail. And Kurt just nods knowingly, as if he was aware that Blaine would say that. And though it isn’t explicitly mentioned, I bet he did know. He then goes on to say that perhaps talking isn’t the best answer for Blaine. Maybe there’s something else, a better method of communicating his feelings that would work more for Blaine. 

Okay. You know what this reminds me of? Flash back a year, to Silly Love Songs. This is (perhaps unintentionally) a direct callback to 2x12. Back when Blaine was still crushing on someone who is not Kurt, he said this to the Warblers about his idea to serenade Jeremiah. 

Blaine (2011): I'm not really good at talking about my feelings. I'm much better at singing them.

And here are Kurt’s words, from more than a year later. 

Kurt (2012): Maybe talking is not the answer. Maybe you need to show him how you really feel in the best, most honest way you know how. 

Can I just stop right here and squeal a little bit? Because Kurt knows his boyfriend so, so well. He remembers the things that Blaine tells him, even things from over a year ago. He holds onto this key piece of information about Blaine, because Blaine is important to him and the things he tells Kurt are worth remembering. And here, in this scene, he puts his memory to good use to try and remind Blaine of his most effective and heartfelt form of communication so that he can help Blaine mend fences with his brother. 

GIVE HIM THE BOYFRIEND AWARDS, FOLKS!

Kurt is so, supportive of Blaine and just wants the best for him, and it just boggles my mind when people claim that Kurt didn’t love Blaine as much as Blaine loved him, because from even short simple scenes like this one, anyone can tell that it isn’t true. 

After listening to Kurt, Blaine stops, and for the first time, genuinely considers it. Prior to this, all of Cooper’s attempts at talking couldn’t get through to him. Blaine still felt the jealousy and resentment from all those years growing up. But after hearing Kurt’s advice, he puts that aside and realizes that some things, like family, are more important, and so he makes that decision to go see his brother and try and express his feelings in a different way. 

Blaine turns to go meet Cooper, and Kurt watches him go, looking so damn proud of his boyfriend and so, so hopeful...

Y’all know what happens next. Blaine and Cooper, a pair of brothers, sing a breakup song. Yet somehow, it works. Singing manages to communicate all of those emotions that were suppressed before, and opens the doors for real conversation between the two of them. They do successfully patch things up, with Cooper finally recognizing Blaine’s talent and Blaine trying to support Cooper in future endeavors. They are on a path to a close relationship, which is all both of them had ever really wanted in the first place. 

And if not for Kurt’s advice, this may not have happened. Y’all heard that right - Kurt Hummel helped Blaine patch things up with a member of his family because he knew how important it was to Blaine, and he knew how badly Blaine wanted this even if Blaine didn’t let it show. From all the bits and pieces of information we’ve gathered over the years about Blaine’s family, they don’t appear to be all that close, which is why it’s even more important for Blaine that he is able to reconcile with his brother.

(For more of my thoughts on Blaine’s family, feel free to check out this analysis of mine. Yeah, this is a shameless self promo. Deal with it.)

So...what was the point of this analysis? I’m not quite sure. I suppose I just had a lot of feelings about Blaine, Klaine, family, and the way that Kurt shows love. Like I’ve said millions of times, just because Kurt is more subtle in the way that he shows love to Blaine, doesn’t mean that it’s any less powerful. Scenes like this, in which he handpicks Blaine’s own words and uses them to push Blaine towards something he was too afraid to admit he really wanted? Kurt helping reconcile Blaine with his family? This is Klaine at its best, and scenes like this are why I will always, always ship this couple. 

Kurt and Blaine are incredible, y’all. 

Peace. 

[fannishcodex]

So I was just gonna finally share my thoughts on a little moment of c/// that always rubs me the wrong way about her, something that's worsened by what ultimately happens with her; and I was rewatching the scene to try to take a screenshot (which I apparently can't do, so I just took a photo), but...well, I rewatched the scene.

And I think the dialogue really does suggest c/// is aware that her triggering the portal caused the loss of Angella? This is the scene I was thinking of, from S4E1; this is the dialogue (with italics for emphasis):

c///: We need to talk about plans for--

Hordak: Plans? (Bitter laugh.) Your last plan was to set off the portal machine before it was ready. Do you remember how that ended?

c///: Whatever. It worked out for us, didn't it? (Gloating grin.) The Rebellion's a mess. Their queen is gone.

It just really sounds like Hordak and c/// know that c/// activating the portal machine led to the loss of Queen Angella. (Does anyone else read it differently?)

It’s not perfectly explicit, but it really seems very close. Not every word is said, but their connections seem clear. It really seems to read to me that both c/// and Hordak know that c/// starting the portal caused the loss of Angella, and c/// treats it as a success/something to take advantage of (while Hordak seems more stuck on, y’know, c/// activating the portal apparently starting to rip the world apart--but then he’s very depressed over the belief that Entrapta betrayed him because of course he was never truly worthy of affection from anyone let alone someone like her; so it feels like he loses a grip on his pretty valid point to sink back into despair).

Like, I always thought c/// knew, but there’s been some fandom talk that she might not, as part of general fandom talk wondering how many characters actually know the specifics of what happened to Angella and who was directly responsible for it--and I honestly wasn’t buying that c/// didn’t know, though I was buying that Glimmer didn’t know because I keep thinking about that for salty post-S5 fic

[more discussion under the cut, and warning: even more spop salt below. i was late to the fandom and finished the show early this year, it still feels fresh to me--that, and this dialogue ended up reminding me of things.]

(fic where Glimmer freaks out after learning it wasn’t just vaguely the Horde in general that got Angella trapped, it was specifically c///--and that’s the only reason she’s been weirdly chill with c/// in S5, Glimmer didn’t know what c/// actually did to her mom--but Glimmer flips out when she learns). But I thought the show might not be as explicit as I thought. But then I rewatched the scene I was thinking of, the one from S4E1, and it seems like both c/// and Hordak know c/// triggering the portal caused the loss of Angella.

Like even if looking at the on-screen events doesn't seem to make sense (c/// finally gets destroyed in portal disaster before Angella steps up to save everyone [even c///], c/// doesn't know Entrapta ended up foiling c///’s portal plans after all by figuring out what can be done to save everyone from the portal disaster), the dialogue seems to really say differently. Like the dialogue doesn't seem to comprehensively consider what was shown and just suggests that c/// and Hordak actually are aware of this piece of information after all.

Here’s some more analysis of the dialogue, again with italics for emphasis and my notes in brackets:

c///: We need to talk about plans for--

Hordak: Plans? (Bitter laugh.) Your last plan was to set off the portal machine before it was ready. Do you remember how that ended? [It sounds like Hordak is very much directly talking about what c/// activating the portal caused, and his tone (that bitter laugh, etc.)/the context implies it was not good in his mind.]

c///: Whatever. It worked out for us, didn't it? [This directly follows and responds to Hordak bringing up how c///’s last plan with the portal ended, and it sounds like c/// is acknowledging what Hordak said, that her activating the portal had consequences, but then she suggests they turned out to be good for their side. And look at the next few sentences that directly follow this.] (Gloating grin.) The Rebellion's a mess. Their queen is gone. [This part directly follows “It worked out for us, didn't it?”, suggesting they’re all connected, suggesting it’s c/// then elaborating/specifying on how it worked out for them. And due to the context of their conversation, it feels like she also implies that it’s because of her it’s all worked out, she’s claiming ownership over what happened--the rebellion in disarray, the loss of their queen, and those are all good things for their side in her mind, and they’re results of the portal machine she activated, as pointed out by Hordak and seemingly acknowledged by c///. It’s not quoted here, but as the scene continues, Hordak doesn’t seem to dispute these last lines from c///, he doesn’t deny that c/// activating the portal led to the loss of the queen, he just seems to silently acknowledge her last lines as fact and continues their conversation. It feels like meaning is in the order of the sentences, how they seem to respond to each other and connect.]

It just feels less ambiguous, and more clear to me. It actually feels harder for me to read the dialogue as c/// and Hordak not knowing the portal c/// activated led to the loss of the queen; it really feels like they talk like they know who’s responsible and what their actions caused, it really feels like they talk as if they know c/// activating the portal machine led to “the rebellion [being a] mess” and to “[t]heir queen [being] gone.” Their conversation actually starts feeling odd if it’s instead read as if Hordak and c/// don’t know c/// activating the portal didn’t lead to the rebellion in disarray and the loss of the queen, because the text of their conversation really suggests the opposite to me. 

I noticed in some of the same fandom talk wondering about how many people knew the specifics about Angella’s fate, I remember there was someone who suggested that maybe the rebellion just sent out news that Angella sacrificed herself to prevent a critical disaster. And now I’m thinking maybe they even more explicitly said Angella did it to close a disastrous portal; either way, c/// and Hordak could’ve heard about that and put two-and-two together and realized c/// “set[ting] off the portal machine before it was ready” led to the loss of the queen--and now that they know that, they can have a conversation where Hordak criticizes c///’s plan with the portal and can ask her “do you remember how that ended?”, with c/// just responding with “it worked out for us, didn’t it? the rebellion’s a mess. their queen is gone.”

The dialogue feels like it’s missing a few words that could make it even more explicit, but they’re only linking words, and the meaning is plain enough without them. Like (bolding example of more linking words/phrases):

c///: We need to talk about plans for--

Hordak: Plans? (Bitter laugh.) Your last plan was to set off the portal machine before it was ready. Do you remember how that ended? Do you remember what you did?

c///: Whatever. It worked out for us, didn't it? (Gloating grin.) Look what it did for us, look what I did--the Rebellion's a mess. Their queen is gone.

And the dialogue as “screenshots”/pics here:

Again, it really feels like c/// and Hordak know that c/// activating the portal led to the loss of the queen, and it’s something that c/// sees as a win, something that makes her smile.

Even before rewatching this part, I felt other things still pointed to c/// knowing what she did to Queen Angella, or suggested she knew even on a thematic level (like, it would be thematically appropriate if she knew). Again, as mentioned above, maybe the rebellion/royal alliance shared news about what happened to Angella, and c/// could put two-and-two together and realize she was responsible. I also was thinking that c/// was aware that the portal disaster was literally destroying/killing everyone, and she still didn’t care to stop it--

Adora: Catra, look what’s happening! You’re going to destroy everything!

Catra: I don’t care. I won’t let you win. I’d rather see the whole world end than let that happen.

So, kinda feel like, with the timing of it all actually, c/// could connect the dots--the portal’s somehow fixed (Adora’s won after all, again), Adora looked murderously furious, probably not long after there’s news of the queen’s loss...I feel like with that, with the close timing of those moments and with the knowledge of the portal’s destructiveness, c/// could put two-and-two together and even assume that not everyone was able to escape the portal’s destruction even after the portal was apparently fixed, that the queen couldn’t escape the destructive portal c/// caused. And tbh feel like the show makes other sorta jumps in logic anyway, and I feel like going “forget it, why not make my own jump in logic about spop then?”

But then I rewatched the S4E1 scene, and...well, again the dialogue really seems like it suggests that c/// knows what she did. And that Hordak knows too.

In any case, I think it works better that c/// knows she caused the loss of Angella, even if S5 doesn’t follow up on it with any sort of satisfying narrative payoff. I feel like c/// not knowing would be another poor writing choice. I feel like it would take away too much emotional weight if c/// doesn’t know and never knows by the end of the show that she caused the loss of Angella. And season 5 already ends up taking a lot of emotional weight away from the previous seasons, so I wasn’t looking forward to more getting discarded. Like...it’s okay c/// actually appears this knowingly cruel. So much of her character really does end up like that. It’s less okay when S5 tries to ignore that and sweep it aside.

And after everything, it would just be...jarring if on top of everything, on top of no character essentially being allowed to express negative feelings toward c///* and on top of S5 ignoring Angella, if c/// also apparently had no idea what she did to Angella. It would just feel like another thing artificially bending to give c/// a very unearned and flat “happy resolution.” Like so much in S5 is artificially forced to cater to c///, the show artificially forcing c/// back into a being a punching bag instead of acknowledging/honoring her ascent in power in a very artificially forced attempt to make the audience Sympathetic for c/// without addressing what c/// did and her twisted behavior (i.e. it really feels like the show tries to force, “ohno look at what’s happening to c/// forget-everything-she-did-before look at what’s happening to her now and-definitely-don’t-think-about-how-c///-activating-the-portal-brought prime-to-etheria-and-she-literally-summoned-her-own-defeat-while-trying-to-destroy-etheria-out-of-spite-for-adora-and-successfully-trapped-Angella-between-dimensions-or-that-c///-tried-to-brainwash-adora-in-season-2-or-that-c///-electrocuted-adora-in-season-4-and-how-for-most-of-the-show-c///-has-very-willingly-and-maliciously-fought-adora just forget all that”), so many characters don’t get to have more natural-feeling reactions to her, it feels like too many of her actions are clumsily swept under the rug, so tbh I don’t like the idea of “c/// also didn’t know she caused the loss of Angella” added to that.  

(*It’s just so...weird/unsatisfying/monotone and frankly boring that ultimately only c/// gets to wallow in negative feelings with ultimately little consequence while no other character ultimately gets to feel as negatively as her. Why is that by the end, only c/// got to absolutely lose it? And that’s a lot of “ultimately’s” since I find it a pretty good one-word adjective for how I feel about spop canon, like there are things it does before but then ultimately a lot of it is undermined and negated in the end.)

(And even if c/// really didn’t know, feel like in this context it would not lessen the harm she did--though it would very much ditch a lot of emotional weight and lead to even more weak writing/an even weaker story. It would just be another poor writing choice.)

And tbh I don’t mind venting/criticizing c/// because canonically she’s fine. She gets everything she wants, every character given screentime and dialogue time with her pretty much just accepts her, no one ultimately rejects her, no one ultimately gets to be mad at her. She’s fine in the show and she has a large fanbase. I feel pretty much zero compunction over criticizing her and not caring for her because it’s really not gonna cause any problems, she’s fine (poorly written, but fine). I’m not about to enter the c/// tag (and I’ve been trying to avoid her name for partly this reason) with my criticism for a character they like.

...And it’s just weird, because I was, I really was thinking “I guess c/// knowing what she did to Angella could’ve been less explicit than I thought, but I still think she knows, and I guess it’s my headcanon now--” and then I rewatch the S4E1 scene I’m thinking of and I’m just surprised and thrown by how it does seem to actually more explicitly/clearly suggest that c/// and Hordak definitely know c///’s responsible for what happened to Angella after all. Like even if the visual scenes don’t add up, the dialogue suggests c/// and Hordak know that c/// activating the portal led to the loss of the queen. It could be like contradictory info, but it’s there on the screen (and spop’s contradicted itself before); it’s viable enough to just go by what the characters are saying/their dialogue. And I can headcanon all I want about the specific logistics of how they know. I think that’s kind of already happening with more talk about how much characters actually know about Angella’s fate and who’s directly responsible for it, and it feels like it’s partly a way to rationalize why Glimmer ends up so bizarrely chill with the person directly responsible for the loss of her mom. And the S4E1 dialogue at least does more to address c/// and Hordak knowing about the consequences of c/// activating the portal than all of S5 largely ignoring Angella and c///’s role in her fate and how Glimmer should really feel about that.

And tbh, I’m more inclined to believe/headcanon that Glimmer didn’t know in S5 that c/// is directly responsible for the loss of her mother. So except for the idea of c/// not knowing, I’ve been finding the talk about how much characters actually know about the portal disaster to be interesting. Again, think Glimmer might not know c/// activating the portal led to the loss of her mom. It again makes me wonder if like all of Etheria’s citizens remember the portal disaster almost destroying them and if they have some existential dread, or just passed it off as an awful dream because they had no context for what was happening, what was that if not a bad dream? But it was so terribly strange, and so many seemed to have had the same or similar nightmares... Can you imagine the portal disaster happening and you have zero context for what the hell is going on? Adora and co. had context/more understanding; most of Etheria did not. Kyle and the Horde Trio touch on this a little, but it’s sorta...more a gag and I kinda wish in retrospect this had been explored more too. This may be yet another instance of the show nonsensically holding back to cater to c/// and avoid any natural follow-through on plot/theme/character threads in favor of ultimately ensuring everything’s too easy for c/// and she doesn’t have to deal with any real emotional consequences. But this might further fuel the idea that the rebellion did make some announcement about Angella saving everyone from a portal disaster for everyone’s peace of mind, to try to explain to them what the hell happened.

Anyway, did like how this all made me think of some new spop ideas, and it felt like it personally clarified more things about spop for me.

[white-tulips]

well, since it’s 5 in the morning I think now’s the perfect time to ramble about my thoughts re: OMORI vs Yume Nikki game design, Black Space, and how trying to copy something successful kind of sets you up for missing the mark 

these are thoughts I’ve been stewing in since january, I don’t want people to forget that I have a lot of opinions about OMORI as a game

(firstly, I’m sorry if this is all over the place or not worded well. it is 5AM)

I’ll preface this by saying that these are merely my opinions. I’m specifically going to be focusing on one aspect of game design here, so if you’re curious about any of my other OMORI game design opinions they’re scattered around my blog and are not hard to find tbh

okay so my thoughts about this are mostly Black Space exclusive, and considering that’s one of the climaxes of the game this might be a bit of a spicy subject to talk about KJFGHKFJG but I am passionate about good game design okay. especially in psychological horror RPG games. (also throwing out there jic that I don’t think OMORI is a bad psychological horror. pls reference this post) 

(also want to say that I genuinely like Black Space. okay? okay)

so this was something that I was talking about with a couple of friends back when I first finished OMORI around the beginning of january. actually, at this point I hadn’t even played Yume Nikki yet, but when I did finally play it recently my thoughts on this were 100% solidified

essentially, our thoughts on this can be boiled down to how Black Space was trying too hard to be Yume Nikki, but didn’t grasp exactly what made Yume Nikki so impactful in the first place

obviously taking inspiration from something you like and wanting to rework it into your own creation is normal, good, and even encouraged! however, the most crucial thing with that is the “reworking” part.  when being inspired by something, the goal is to take what you loved, and didn’t love, and mold it into something entirely new. it shouldn’t be “well I like this thing, and this thing did it like this so I’ll try to do it like that too” because it’s just not going to work. (this is actually an all around issue I have with OMORI, not just Black Space, but more on that later)

so to me, a good 50% of Black Space came of feeling kind of... eh...? it was like... you have 50% that feels so well thought out and meaningful, and then 50% that’s there just to. be there. and be like Yume Nikki, I guess. even before I played Yume Nikki, I couldn’t even remember some of the rooms in Black Space existed until I replayed it again, which is a shame because Black Space is the type of area where everything should leave an impact

now I want to talk about the game design itself-

Yume Nikki is a game about experiences, and atmosphere. there’s limitless area to explore, so much so that it feels endless. there are so few things to interact with that sometimes it feels like you’re doing nothing at all. all you have is aimlessly wandering these huge areas, taking in the sights, and listening to vague sounds and music in the background that are often just a few seconds of audio played on loop. (this is one of my favorite OST in the game. having this be all you hear for 30 minutes as you walk around in a looping forest really does things to your head)

it uses all of these elements to make you feel lost, confused, and very alone. you’re just trapped in a dream, where even with all the space in the world to explore, the lack of anything to do makes it feel suffocating. even the small area you have in the waking world is designed in such a way that feels cramped and destitute-

Yume Nikki is a perfect example of “less is more” and “show, don’t tell.” 

then take OMORI, which doesn’t really know how to balance those things with it’s tendency to try and shove too much in. for instance, think about the over abundance if NPCs with irrelevant fluff dialogue. it was all too much and so dull it got to a point I stopped reading most of them altogether

(and something important to note I think, is that the general feeling of Yume Nikki is the same throughout the entire game. the tone never really changes, and neither do the expectations. OMORI, however, tends to just drop things on you out of nowhere. and that’s not necessarily a bad thing! it works for a lot of different sections of the game, I’ll say. 

however, Black Space was different. it’s kind of like, it just drops you in there and expects you to understand the way it works, despite the fact that all of the other horror segments lead you to have a completely different set of expectations for what you should be doing/feeling. it’s like shifting you into another game entirely, and it’s almost immersion breaking. up until this point, OMORI was not the same type of “show don’t tell” type of game, so suddenly jumping to attempt to do that can make it lose some of it’s impact)

like I mentioned before, Black Space is designed in a way that’s meant to mimic Yume Nikki. and I think we need to ask ourselves “just because we can do this, does it mean that we should?” again, taking inspiration isn’t a bad thing, but it’s the execution that matters

and here’s where my biggest issue actually lies, I suppose. it’s the fact that OMORI has multiple instances of trying to take inspiration from other things, and failing because it’s trying too hard to copy, not rework. it’s just most obvious because of Black Space, I think. because, like I said before, a good half of Black Space is just trying to be Yume Nikki without giving it any OMORI original flavor, and the fact that it’s trying to be something else is immersive breaking as hell to me

for example, take the red mazes. I don’t think the idea to incorporate it into OMORI was bad, but. you can plainly see when you compare the two maps that nothing was really reworked, made more interesting, or even given a OMORI flavored twist-

(Yume Nikki-1 ; OMORI-2)

another instance is less about the game design itself, but surprising/not-surprisingly, it actually has to do with OST

this is something my friend was telling me, because I myself have not read Umineko, but there are OST in OMORI blatantly trying to mimic songs from that VN, even down to their names

the biggest offender imo is GOLDENVENGEANCE which is a decent song, I won’t say it isn’t, but compare it to it’s Umineko inspiration, Golden Slaughterer 

it’s just another unfortunate instance of “this thing I like is good, so I’ll try to copy it!” with no clear grasp on why it’s successful and it’s disappointing. that’s really the only word I have for it at this point, disappointing

and the reason it’s most disappointing is because of things in OMORI that are obvious inspiration, but were reworked so well

let’s take this other Umineko OST, Worldend Dominator. this is a brilliant song, and it’s really fun to listen to. and, it very clearly inspired beloved World's End Valentine

World’s End Valentine slaps. it’s great. it takes aspects of Worldend Dominator and shifts them around to be a unique and fun piece of music that also fits into OMORI perfectly. 

something important to note about this, is that World’s End Valentine and GOLDENVENGEANCE were written by two different composers. what this makes clear to me is that there were people on the OMORI dev team that were better at reworking ideas than others. because, despite a lot of the criticisms I was talking about, there are things in OMORI that are obvious references that I love and think are great!

like this one, the most pointed out nod to Yume Nikki-

I think it’s great. it’s taking a very memorable bit of imagery from Yume Nikki, and giving it a reference while also giving it it’s own deeper meaning beyond just the aesthetics of it. it’s just good, I love it

and yeah, not all of Black Space feels like one giant copy of Yume Nikki. there are plenty of doors that I think take the same aimless, empty, and unsettling feelings and use them in a new way that feels more grounded in OMORI. my personal favorite door is the “Sunny... I love you.” room. 

actually, funnily enough, the area in OMORI that felt the most like Yume Nikki to me wasn’t in Black Space at all. it was actually the snowy area right before Snowglobe Mountain. something about the vast empty space, simple yet atmospheric OST, and little things to find scattered around just gave me a nice Yume Nikki vibe, but mixed with the OMORI style (hell, the OST there and the one for the snowy area in Yume Nikki even have a pleasantly similar vibe, and not in the “oh this is a copy” way [X] [X])

gosh, I feel like if I keep talking I might end up going in circles more than I already have

hopefully my words made sense!! I’d love if anything I said resonated with anyone aha. I just hope that I’m not coming across as hating on something because I’m biased towards something else or something... almost all of the critiques I have about OMORI come from a place of genuine interest

thank you if you read all of this!

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 286: VESTIGE ANTICS ARE A GO

Previously on BnHA: Deku was all “what’s the record for most consecutive bone breaks within the span of a single minute” and, without waiting for an answer, proceeded to unleash roughly 17 Smashes onto Tomura. Kacchan was all “THAT DOES IT, I’M TAKING THE REINS OF THIS SHITSHOW” and carried Endeavor and Shouto up to where the action was so Endeavor could hit Tomura with a Prominence Burn. AFO was all “Tomura would you rather burn to death or let me take over your body” and Tomura was all “...” and so AFO TOOK OVER and was all “STABBITY STABBITY” and used his Stabbing Quirk to do some Good Old Fashioned STABBIN’. First he stabbed Endeavor, and then he was all “hee and now I’m gonna stab Deku”, but Kacchan was all “SIR THAT’S MY EMOTIONAL SUPPORT RIVAL” and so he rushed on in AND GOT HIMSELF STABBED INSTEAD. And so basically THIS PAST WHOLE WEEK HAS BEEN A RIDE, LET ME TELL YOU.

Today on BnHA: Kacchan is all “sup Deku lemme just downplay how I totally took this fatal blow for you just now” before he dramatically passes out and is caught by Todoroki “BTDUBS I CAN FLY NOW” Shouto, who is also carrying his dad because the kids really are just doing it all, here. AllForRaki Tomura For One is all “HAHA BAKUGOU IS PRETTY DUMB”, at which point Deku just LOSES IT ENTIRELY and ASCENDS INTO A NEW PLANE OF FURY LIKE A LITTLE GREEN RAGE BUDDHA. But then like two seconds later Tomura is all “ANYWAY, SO” and FUCKING TOUCHES DEKU’S FACE, CAUSING THE TWO OF THEM TO ASTROPROJECT INTO THE FREAKY OFA/AFO MINDSCAPE BECAUSE THIS CHAPTER IS BANANAS. Vestige!AFO is all “reports of my demise were greatly exaggerated but aren’t you glad I saved your life though, Tomura”, while Tomura is all “!!” because he’s hopefully starting to get A Clue, and meanwhile Deku just stands there watching all “what the fuck.” The chapter ends with SHIMURA MCFUCKING NANA showing up all, “HI, I HEARD SOME BITCHES WERE TRYING TO HAVE A GIRL POWER ARC, AND THEY DIDN’T INVITE ME.” Go on, Nana. Give ‘em hell.

you guys. I’m not normally one to take pleasure in another human being’s misfortune. BUT THAT SAID, there are exceptions to every rule, and so let’s just say certain events have transpired early this morning which have PUT ME IN A VERY, LET’S JUST SAY, NOT-TERRIBLE MOOD which this chapter will hopefully improve upon!!

oh my god Deku’s one non-fucked-up eye that he still has control over is SO WIDE YOU GUYS

hmm I know I shouldn’t be all (゜▽゜) while the two of them are all (； ▼ Д ▼) (⁰ Д゜;) ... and yet here we are. btw I’m worried tumblr’s formatting will ruin those two emojis which I worked so hard to get just right so I’m gonna repost them on another line here just in case

(； ▼ Д ▼) (⁰ Д゜;) that’s them. Kacchan and Deku. my boys 

HERE COMES THE CHEESY “JUST GOT STABBED BETTER PLAY IT OFF ALL COOL!!!” ONE LINER OH MY GOD

(ETA: really love how my son, with what for all he knows could be his dying breaths, decides that the absolute most important thing is to preserve his selfish asshole facade so as not to fuck up his status quo with his rival. “LOOKEE HERE I GOT MYSELF ALL STABBED AND SHIT FOR YOU, BUT I TOTALLY JUST DID IT BECAUSE I WAS TIRED OF YOU GETTING ALL THE COOL HERO MOMENTS” yeah, that’s right! SELFLESS MOTIVATIONS, WHAT ARE THOSE sob.

also tbh I’m glad they didn’t delve any further into their feelings right here and now because this really isn’t the place or time for it sadly. WE WILL JUST PUT THOSE ON HOLD UNTIL AFTER THE ARC ENDS, when they are all recovering from their various wounds and traumas and have time to catch up and have some long-overdue heart-to-hearts. it deserves its own chapter or two or three. maybe time to head back to Ground Beta once they’re healthy? “healthy” perhaps being a relative term given their current condition fjsdjkf.)

by the way it looks from here like only the ones through his torso and shoulder actually hit, so that’s something at least. WE’VE LOST ENOUGH LEGS TODAY. I need to conserve my remaining puns

MEANWHILE TOMURA IS HAVING A CRISIS

ARE YOU MAD AT YOUR EVIL DAD TOMURA. HE JUST WON’T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER WILL HE, THAT GUY

anyway so it looks like Kacchan might have caught a break here because AFO/Tomura is pulling the stabby quirk activation tendril things back out! rip, “Kacchan vs. Deku part 3″ theories

p.s. I got ALL CAUGHT UP IN THE DRAMA and thus glossed over the chapter title which is “one among us”! hmmm this is definitely AFO/OFA related, calling it now. ooh lord I am excited

NOW MY SON IS DRAMATICALLY FALLING

THE BLOOD FROM THE MOUTH OOF NOT GOOD AHHHH. DEKU’S FACE AHHHH. HIS BODY JUST WENT TOTALLY LIMP DID HE PASS OUT AHHHH. SOMEONE CATCH HIM!!

BY HIS FOOT, SHOUTO?!

well NOT EXACTLY THE MOST GRACEFUL THING I’VE EVER SEEN, but we’ll allow it because HOLY SHIT BOY. ARE YOU ALREADY CARRYING YOUR DAD ON TOP OF THAT?? HORIKOSHI PLEASE CONFIRM, IS TODOROKI MOTHERFUCKING SHOUTO FUCKING FLYING AROUND UNBALANCED AF ON HIS ONE FLAMEY LEG, CARRYING HIS 500 LB POP AND NOW HIS FLOPPY PASSED OUT BEST FRIEND AS WELL?!? HOLY SHIT TODO?!?!

LADIES AND GENTLEFRIENDS OF THE VILLAIN STANDOM, FEAR NOT, TOMURA’S HAIR IS THE FIRST THING THAT GREW BACK LOL

even before his eyeballs kfldkakjk. which, btw, how does he even know what’s going on right now? “this fight has shed a lot of useless blood” sdkmkjl okay well (1) WHOSE FAULT WAS THAT, AGAIN??, (2) SERIOUSLY THOUGH, HOW DOES HE EVEN KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING. DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO YOU STABBED?? ARE YOU EFFECTIVELY BLIND FOR THE NEXT FEW SECONDS HERE, WHAT’S GOING ON, and lastly (3) I seriously can’t tell if this is AFO or Tomura talking right now. or are they going back and forth?? help this is so confusing

HEY

THE DISRESPECT. I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW KACCHAN ANGST IS NEVER USELESS!!

AND NOW HE’S BACK TO THE STABBING JFKJLKJLF I AM NOT TOO HAPPY WITH YOU RIGHT NOW MISTER

okay and now we’re cutting to some quick panels of the unconscious Aizawa, Gran, and Ryuukyuu, along with the “still conscious but in a very real sense might as well not be counted” Manual who is really having a day, that poor guy

anyway but then there’s also some dialogue boxes being all “if you act out of rage your power will respond accordingly, the most important part is to keep your head clear.” which I’m like 90% sure is Deku/OFA related, but honestly NOTHING ABOUT THIS CHAPTER IS CLEAR SO FAR YOU GUYS. except for the Shouto-is-a-badass part anyway

HMM YEP I’M GONNA GO WITH DEKU-RELATED

it must be a callback to some line I’m forgetting. maybe Lariat explaining Blackwhip to him that one time. probably should have been in italics if it was a flashback quote, but hey. anyways the point is Deku is absolutely, 100% following this advice to the letter (/s)

(ETA: yep I’m almost positive this is the same quote from chapter 213. “listen, when you use this power out of anger, it’ll really start working for you. what really matters is controlling your heart.” which is still one of the weirdest pieces of advice in the entire series, but basically I think he was just trying to tell him it’s okay to get mad, so long as it’s calmly mad. like, controlled fury, as opposed to this white-hot berserker nonsense he’s been running on as of late. anyways I do still love me some shounen rage all the same but Lariat has a point.)

...

it took me a minute to realize THOSE WERE DEKU’S EYES. holy --

AND ANOTHER MINUTE TO REALIZE THAT DEKU FUCKING GRABBED THE ACTIVATION TENDRIL WITH HIS BUSTED UP OFA HANDS AND BIT INTO IT WITH HIS RABID OFA JAWS AND SNAPPED THAT SHIT LIKE A FUCKING KITKAT KLJLKSJDLKJFLK WOOOOOOOO I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING BUT GODDAMN. POWER MOVE

(ETA: this is a two-page spread omg. I didn’t even realize at first. this scan ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT DO THIS BADASS PAGE ANY KIND OF JUSTICE but I can’t wait to see the real deal on Sunday holy shit.)

LMAO

DEKU RAGED SO HARD HE TURNED INTO AN ANGRY GHOST SONIC THE HEDGEHOG FKLSKG

(ETA: he actually looks a bit like the Vestiges/Kurogiri tbh.)

meanwhile Tomura basically has the exact same face I would have had in his position. yeah for real man. I don’t even know

p.s. WHEN will people learn to STOP INSULTING KACCHAN IN DEKU’S PRESENCE. WHEN, I ASK!!

WHAT IN THE CINNAMON TOAST FUCK

if this was a physical page I was holding I would have FLUNG THAT SHIT AWAY LIKE THERE WAS A SPIDER CRAWLING ON IT. WHAT THE FUCK

HOT DAMN. well uh. so that’s SUPER DISTURBING, what a lovely panel of Tomura’s melted face slowly growing back while his ears lag behind, and meanwhile that little scar that had been growing and growing and which at one point certain people (ME) thought might turn him into a BEAUTIFUL BUTTERLY instead RIPS HIS FACE IN HALF to reveal the KINDER EGG AFO SURPRISE UNDERNEATH AHHHHH TAKE IT BACK

THIS IS WHY YOU DON’T LET MAD SCIENTISTS PERFORM EXPERIMENTS ON YOU, KIDS. PSA. JUST SAY NO

-- NO!!!

HORIKOSHI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

fuck

oh my god. I almost would have rather cut away right after the Kacchan incident than freaking cut away NOW of all times, jesus. THAT’S JUST A BITCH MOVE, IS WHAT THAT IS. if we don’t cut back within the next three pages I SWEAR TO GOD

anyway so GUESS WHAT GIGANTOMACHIA’S DOING YOU GUYS. if you guessed “the exact same thing he was doing last time we saw him” then you are absolutely right, because it was actually PRETTY EASY TO GUESS

anyway but he says he detects “master’s scent”, except that there’s apparently two of them. interesting! one in Tartarus and one in Jakku, right? lol Horikoshi has burned me so many times already with his excruciatingly slow reveal of this that I’m not gonna hold my breath just yet, but I’ll get the hype train warmed up JUST IN CASE

okay so meanwhile in downtown Jakku, the heroes are handing off the civilians over to the police and rescue forces while they prepare to engage with “the villain”, by which I assume they mean Gigantomachia. does this mean Iida and Ochako are gonna fight Machia you guys omg

OOH!!!

“PLEASE INFORM THEM ON FOOT” well I know a certain SPEEDY BOI who would be PERFECT for that job oh my. make haste, Tenyar FastmLeggy

WAIT WHICH WAY ARE THEY HEADING

ARE THEY HEADING TOWARDS MACHIA OR TOWARDS DEKU AND AFO

so rather than answering my VERY PERTINENT question, Ochako is instead spending an entire page thinking about how their complete clusterfuck of a life keeps getting exponentially worse all the time! well but she’s not wrong though

NOW SHE’S ALL “GUYS...!” and, rather than explaining ANYTHING AT ALL, Horikoshi is again cutting back to THIS, OMG AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

(ETA: good thing Kacchan wasn’t awake to see his dramatic “I’ll just get myself impaled for Deku’s sake” plan result in this outcome ALL OF TWENTY SECONDS LATER smdh.)

I ACTUALLY PREFER MY DEKUS NON-CRUMBLED, THANKS. ALSO JUST ON A SIDE NOTE, POOR SHOUTO THOUGH. THE LAST NINETY SECONDS OR SO HAVE BEEN ENOUGH NIGHTMARE FUEL FOR A LIFETIME HAVEN’T THEY

so now he’s all “MIDORIYA!!!” because OF COURSE HE IS. his best friend just got impaled, and his dad too, and now he fully expects to see his other best friend crumble to dust right before his eyes holy shit. T R A U M A ™

-- !!!

somehow in the excitement of the moment I forgot his actual goal for a sec lol. meaning I instantaneously switched from HORRIFIED to GRINNING LIKE A MANIAC :D :D :D come on OFA time to show him what’s what

AND NOW WE’RE SWITCHING OVER TO EVERYONE’S FAVORITE TRIPPY DREAM LANDSCAPE FOR ADDITIONAL DRAMA, WELL OKAY

I’M ON BOARD WITH THIS, WHATEVER. also it’s becoming increasingly apparent that Deku is in fact nekkid underneath that mystical cloud bs, so let’s hope one of his remaining yet-to-be-unlocked quirks is a pants-conjuring quirk lulz

“this place...” yeah we all fucking know what this place is son, let’s get on with this. by my count we’ve only got four pages left so PLEASE BUDGET THEM WISELY

OH MY

holy shit. I have so many screaming thoughts about this lol but I just want to keep on reading lkjlkjlkjl okay I’ll come back later and edit them in, how’s that

OR MAYBE I’LL JUST RANT ABOUT THEM NOW GODDAMMIT

shit. okay let me just try and sum this up as quick as I can

so just in case it wasn’t already crystal clear, AFO’s soul being roommates with Tomura’s seems to be just about 100% confirmed now. good for you, All For One For All theory!! the “Kacchan loses his quirk” theory died so that you might live on in glory

AFO does seem to have almost fully taken control now. it looks like Tomura’s still fighting back, but AFO clearly has the upper hand now if their body language is any indication. Tomura on his knees with AFO calmly holding him down and ignoring his struggles... not looking too good for him at the moment

people seem to have somewhat lost sight of this in the midst of the great “heroes vs. villains Who Is Right Who Is Wrong What Are Morals” debate of 2020, but just a friendly reminder that AFO is in fact responsible for 100% of all of Tomura’s suffering from pretty much the moment he was born up till this very moment we’re now witnessing!! like, you can go ahead and blame Nana and Gran and The Complacent Apathy Of Hero Society and whatever the fuck else from here till Sunday, but All for One is the reason Kotarou was orphaned. All for One is almost certainly the reason why the seemingly quirkless Tenko suddenly just magically developed THE MOST FUCKED UP QUIRK OF ALL TIME at the worst possible moment. All for One is probably the reason why no one helped Traumatized Baby Tenko in the immediate aftermath (I can and likely will write a separate post about this in the near future). All for One is definitely the reason why no one helped Tenko at any point after that. All for One is the reason why Tenko grew up all fucked in the head (“HERE’S YOUR DEAD FAMILY’S HANDS, MERRY CHRISTMAS”), and the reason why he grew up blaming Heroes and Society rather than the sole person who was actually responsible who was literally standing right in front of him the entire time. and lastly, All for One is the reason why Tomura has now been manipulated into unknowingly sacrificing his own body and possibly even his mind. so THANKS A LOT FOR THAT. more like jerk for one amiright

basically what I’m trying to say is that Deku and Tomura are not actually enemies here, and they never have been. the two of them have a common enemy, and I’m convinced Tomura’s story is about him eventually coming to realize this. and this looks to be the first step towards that, for two reasons. one, because AFO is finally starting to out himself to Tomura as the rat bastard he has always been. and two, because Deku is catching a glimpse of this now for the very first time. up until now he didn’t have a damn clue lol. but this is now something for him to file away in the back of his mind, and perhaps follow up on at a later date, once all of this craziness finally subsides and he has some time to process

anyway, so that’s basically it! tl;dr AFO is the final villain and unless I’m very much mistaken, this scene is going to finally start to set that up. let’s read on!

OMG

NANA?!?

lKDSJFLKSHGLISHDOGIHOLRKL

NOOOOOO I can’t believe it fucking ended there I can’t fucking believe it, fuck everything

smdh. what a place to end it. didn’t confirm a damn thing. not even whose mental landscape all of this is actually taking place in! like, don’t mind me though Horikoshi, it’s not like THE FATE OF THE WORLD HINGES ON THIS QUESTION OR ANYTHING except oh wait it really kind of does. kljkj

but seriously. because if it’s Deku’s mind, it means that Tomura’s attempt to take his quirk wasn’t successful. but if it’s Tomura’s mind, though... well... hhhhhhkhfff

or it could be both, I guess. more of that “AFO and OFA are the same quirk and thus linked” goodness. oh man. anyways stay tuned for next week when Nana presumably helps Deku out with the rest of that black fog and also hopefully finds him some pants. or maybe Nana can just go fight AFO herself. a little payback for everything he’s done to her protege and to her grandson. either way I CAN’T WAIT omg. VESTIGE ANTICS ARE A GO

[nautilusopus]

tbh the 2001 version of ocean's eleven is better than the rat pack version (and ocean's 8 too from what i've heard don't @ me) but the dumb subplot with tess is easily the weakest part of it

they could've cut the tess thing and lost absolutely nothing and the movie would've functioned the same, except for maybe the metaphor about the lose half the money or try to keep all of it and lose all of it thing. which wasn't really a terribly strong or compelling theme anyway so

but like julia roberts is acting so goddamn hard and there's just nothing for her to actually do. like never mind the fact that danny's plan to win her back is fucking stupid because that is just not how people act??? like no one in their right mind is gonna go "oh well my current husband is a piece of shit so i guess i'll go back to my ex, who went out of my way to show me what a piece of shit he was while robbing him (which is the reason i broke up with him to begin with because it kind of ruined my life) because our relationship was just that loving prior to the being arrested thing and the movie keeps vaguely alluding to that, even though we never actually see that at any point at all."

like, even in a wish-fulfillment movie, the idea that she'd take him back because of all this stuff is batshit moon logic at best. except then she does. the problem is, a movie like ocean's eleven is already purely style over substance in the biggest way possible, and i mean this as a positive. it is extremely stylish and it is there to BE stylish. it has nothing deep to say to you, but it wasn't trying to do that anyway. it's a popcorn movie, and it is here to show you some people stealing things in a really fucking cool way. the director even outright admits this in an interview, claiming he set out to make "just a pure piece of entertainment" and i think he fucking nailed it, and i especially love shit that knows what it wants to do at the outset and then does it without fucking around and with a high degree of competence. this movie knew what it wanted to do and then set out to be the best version of itself it could possibly be and absolutely knocked all the goals it set out of the park

this is especially important given that it's still not a brainless movie despite being a turn-your-brain-off movie; it's a heist movie. there are a lot of moving parts, and that shit is very hard to do well without it feeling dumb and contrived (just look at ocean's 12). knowing how much to show the audience so they can follow what's going on/the reveal is hard! knowing what to hide so there can still be an air of uncertainty around the plan is hard! maintaining suspension of disbelief for a movie that specifically is calling attention to logical inconsistencies, meaning it has to keep its narrative even more tightly wound than normal, is hard! all these things are difficult, and ocean's eleven does all these things really, really goddamn well. it is genuinely a brilliant piece of filmmaking. (maybe i will get into how at a later date but for now i want to encourage you to watch it yourself by bitching about it shhhh don't question me. all i'll say is that brad pitt was actually fucking spot-on casting.)

tess is a fucking lamp, though, and her existence only serves to detract from the experience. i am only this mad about her because the rest of the movie is so good otherwise (hell, even her individual one-on-one scenes with danny, all fucking two of them, are well-acted and well-written), so it REALLY sticks out how awkward it is as a whole package.

and i know why they put the damn thing in, they needed an emotional core of some sort to the movie s it wasn't completely fucking shallow, because even in a popcorn flick there has to be something for the audience to care about. but like..................................... the heist crew is right there

like a huge chunk of the dialogue in ocean's eleven (mostly the banter, which is again one of the strongest parts of the movie) is ad-libbed. the cast all have excellent chemistry with one another and play off each other extremely naturally, and all the time in behind the scenes footage all anyone talks about is how genuinely well everyone got along, to the point where they'd just hang out on set with each other instead of going back to their trailers between shoots. and you're obviously invested in the heist, which in turn helps you get invested in the crew, and the actors work well together. and the sharp banter is the other reason besides the heist that you're watching the movie anyway and just

why not make THAT the emotional core of the movie why not build on that? it's right fucking there

why does nobody see these things

did they really think they needed a romance to sell this thing THAT BAD when the core cast already had such great chemistry. not to mention like a solid third of the movie is just danny and rusty exchanging Knowing Looks between one another and i absolutely buy them as friends that go way back a lot more easily than i buy danny and tess as a couple that were truly happy with each other a long time ago, in part due to them actually fucking getting screentime together. c'mon man

that isn't to say I think a Danny/Rusty romance subplot would improve the movie or is anything i particularly want to see, but the point is that the main cast already has a lot of chemistry together that is in turn written INTO the script already and they could've just worked with that lkdflhsdkslhhgssg.

or like, if you must have tess, maybe you could actually incorporate her into the heist properly beyond Existing as a weird mafia cuck subplot? this is actually something i think ocean's twelve did do right (just a shame about the heist in question but whatever, credit where it's due). as mentioned, roberts's perfornance isn't bad either and she also plays off clooney well in the brief fucking moments they're onscreen together.

i dunno. i feel like there were better options than what we did get. the tess subplot is a black spot on an otherwise really fucking good experience.

......................................................and YES OKAY FINE obviously i'm fucking biased for wanting more found family crime squad nonsense but that doesn't meant i'm wrong either.

[kitkatopinions]

Is it bad that i want ironwood to be alive in the show and travel with the ace ops and have a redemption? I know most of his fans are happy that he is dead so they cant ruin him anymore but still, his ending is so wrong to me like they redeemed cordo, emerald, FUCKING HAZEL, but not james? I was pulled back into rwby because of james and the atlas arc. v6 last episodes pissed me off so much i didnt even watched the finale to this day but then i saw scenes of james and winter and the ace ops in v7... and now i just want him to swim up from the ruins and be the amazing character he was before v8. His death is so fucking sad to me even with how much they ruined the character... he deserved a redemption arc the most (and better writers, sorry the ask got so long but james ironwood gives me so much feels)

You know, I am right there with you, anon. Here's the thing about James. We didn't see an on screen death and the writers kept his semblance completely unmentioned in volumes seven and eight, but made it public. Yes, Miles Luna said 'rest in pieces' (the total douche) when talking about him in a cameo, but tbh, Miles Luna is sloppy and unprofessional, he could straight up say whatever to try and make the next 'twist' in RWBY surprising.

In fact SPOILER ALERT. I don't remember who, but after Avengers Infinity War when Loki died, people in the project 'confirmed' that Loki was good and truly dead this time, and of course no one believed them and of course no one was surprised to see some version of Loki escape alive in End Game. They had a better ability to twist a not-quite lie out there, due to multiple universes and time travel or whatever (idk the details, I stopped paying attention after I watched and hated Thor Ragnarok.) But still, it stands that if you want to make a character death believable in today's day and age when 'character death' is taken back so regularly and sometimes multiple times per character, writers should A. show the death/show a body (which they didn't do for Ironwood or Watts,) and B. Not leave any character threads hanging.

With Ironwood, they didn't delve into enough emotional responses to things (like Oscar/Oz getting shot off a cliff, or Qrow ever confronting him,) which leaves his story feeling like it lacks a solution and like there's still a lot to be resolved there already. But confirming his semblance outside of the show proper, which seems to act as a form of at least partial mind control, is obviously one giant thread too. Of course, this is MKEK, so the likelihood that they were foolish enough to give Ironwood a semblance that forced his actions at least in part and then not address it, kill him off, and expect everyone to just be happy with that on top of the lack of emotional depth they bothered to give other characters in regards to his 'fall' is high. However, that doesn't make James feel dead, he still doesn't feel like a dead character to me, yet, even if I know a lot of the reasons for that feeling stem from bad writing.

But on top of his semblance being a very big thread that was left untouched, his semblance also would be a very easy out if the writers did want to bring him back or if they wanted to bring him back and redeem him. His semblance could help him survive Atlas and Mantle falling, and it could easily be explained as having pushed him into his acts of villainy. It would still feel like a big ol' retcon (especially with how hard they tried to convince everyone he's pure evil,) but for once, I would like a retcon that actually goes my way in this show. XD

On top of that, you're absolutely right that in the show where Hazel can get 'death equals redemptioned' and tell life lessons to Oscar, Ironwood could be able to be redeemed even without the semblance. In the show where Hazel can beat a child while victim blaming the already-a-victim-of-abuse guy in the kid's head for *checks notes* training young women to be able to fight the soulless monsters who will devour anyone (four to six year old child or not,) and then get redeemed within 24 hours of that... yeah, Ironwood could be able to be redeemed. Emerald can murder Penny, try to kill everyone else at Haven, try to murder Penny again in Atlas, and then join the friend group enough that everyone good naturedly ribs her, including Penny who giggles over Emerald saying 'switched sides' despite the fact that Emerald never once apologized for literally murdering her in cold blood. So yeah, I don't think it'd be off brand of the show to have the 'does bad for good reasons' guy get redeemed even if they did make him express regret that he hadn't tortured children. Clearly, the standard isn't 'if they apologize they're worthy of redemption,' and the standard isn't 'if they only always had good intentions they're worthy of redemption' or 'only kids who are villains can get redeemed,' or even 'so long as they haven't tortured or tried to kill children they're worthy of redemption.'

However, here's where things get a little tricky. Because the standard in RWBY seems to have much more to do with what was done personally against the main group that made them mad or sad, rather than actual moral standings, harm done to the world, intentions, etc. I've talked about that idea in another post, that the show (whether intentionally or otherwise) is treating going against Ruby and her team as worse than actual criminal acts. Emerald's actions are easily brushed aside without her ever admitting she was wrong or trying to apologize, but Ozpin's act of not explicitly trusting Team RWBY with dire secrets months after knowing them is so unquestioningly bad that he has to give an in-depth and very serious apology while explicitly saying he was in the wrong, which the mains then begrudgingly and seriously accept (even though they were laughing with Emerald mere seconds before.) Which isn't to say that I don't think Ozpin had anything to apologize for, just that the framing of Ozpin's dialogue and reception versus Emerald's is ridiculous. Therefore Ironwood being redeemed after wishing he could torture, shooting a child off a high place, and threatening to destroy a town... In the narrative of the show, that can be brushed aside fairly easily. But both the show and the FNDM at large have constructed a narrative where going against the mains is what's treated as hard to come back from and worthy of all the ire and disgust in the world - unless the character comes crawling back, bowing to Ruby's whims in every plan, and regretting ever doubting Ruby's amazing simple soul and the protagonist approved goals she's decided on.

If the price of Ironwood coming back and being redeemed is him kissing up to Ruby and joining the gang of people who just pat her on the back and assure her she doesn't ever need to change or listen to others... I might kindly ask MKEK to keep him dead. Ironwood belongs to his fans now as far as I'm concerned.

They can bring James back, and they even have an easy way to redeem him in their back pocket. But I don't trust them as far as I can throw them, and with the way they've been writing their show, I'd just as soon let James rest.

[outrunningthedark]

I'm pretty new to the fandom, but thanks to your wonderful page and some others, I'm aware that Ana has not been well-received (for good reason) since her first appearance in season 3. So it just really makes me scratch my head as to why Tim and the writers brought her back as Eddie's love interest this season? She's so poorly written they could have easily just created a new character in her place. It's baffling.

Unfortunately (for me!), Ana wasn’t all that poorly received when she made her two appearances in season three (First in Fools and then her brief dialogue when Eddie is telling Christopher’s class about his time in Afghanistan at the end of Eddie Begins). People were more interested in her beauty than her words, for one, and I think a portion of fandom prepared themselves for her return since the script called attention to the ~attraction~ between she and Eddie (through Carla).

Her ableism was purposely!!! never addressed by the writers - the same writers who have shown they know how to depict such an “uncomfortable” topic and explain why thinking such thoughts is harmful. Which, for the record, is something I’m happy about! Portraying Eddie as the Perfect Father who has all the answers and never says “the wrong thing” might make for good television and encourage even more emphatic support than he already gets, but it is not at all realistic.

And! Let me point out that Eddie, too, could have exhibited personality traits that the outside world doesn’t equate with a parent raising a disabled child. But we expect that kind of behavior from the men in our families regardless of disability, don’t we? Not the women.

Fandom Feminists want to believe the characterization of both Shannon and Ana boils down to innate misogyny rather than admit 1) it’s a reflection of the way society thinks of the disabled, and 2) Women/mothers are not exempt from this ignorance.

TBH, mothers can be the biggest culprits because they’re the ones who get put on a pedestal for all the sacrifices they make while raising a disabled child. Their life is just so hard! /sarcasm

Having said all of that (sorry!), the puzzling piece about Ana’s return isn’t necessarily her presence, but, as you mentioned, why she was used as nothing more than a reminder that Eddie is “dating” again.

Tim and the rest of his staff knew when they revisited the character that she wasn’t going to be Eddie’s endgame, and this decision was reflected in how little we saw of her once Eddie reintroduced her to his son.

The fact that Kristen Reidel (the writer of 4x14) had Ana be the doting partner at Eddie’s bedside while his best friend took on parental responsibilities…and then was confirmed to have actual parental responsibilities in the event of Eddie’s death…even though Ana was still very much in the picture…

Well.

Tim had to find some excuse to keep us waiting, didn’t he? What better solution than to bring in a love interest?

And now that Ana appears to be on her way out, look who’s here! Taylor!

I guess those two idiots in love are never gonna get it right, huh? 🤭😉

[cinnonym]

Fic Writer Review

Thank you @swanqueensalad for the tag!!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

24 (that’s so much more than I expected lol)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

264236... ah yes, one-shots my beloved :D

3. How many fandoms have you written for?

on ao3? 2 (Once Upon A Time and Supergirl). Elsewhere? uhhhh we don’t talk about elsewhere hskjd

4. Top five fics by kudos?

Y’all, I don’t have the ao3 skills for that kinda analysis, oof, the amount of time it took me to figure out the statistics button thingie... but here ya go:

1) i know you flirted with me before (but i didn’t get it right, can i try again) - yes and I know I still owe you a part two, it’s in the works, I promise!

2) the file drawer effect - I’m still quite proud of this one, but honestly, this statistics just shows that the SuperCorp fandom is currently more active, I think

3) Curses, like chickens, come home to roost - it better be on this list, I worked so long and so hard on this one. My first novel-length anything ever!

4) Thin Ice - uhm. I’d almost forgotten about that one tbh. It’s.. been a while?

5) it’s beginning to look a lot like christmas (ev’rywhere you go) - though I feel like this one has to be divided by 12 since it’s a short story collection, which would make my actual rank 5: A New Beginning!

5. Do you respond to comments? Why/Why not?

yes, absolutely!! because I love comments and they always make me so happy, and I feel like people deserve to know how happy they’ve made me? But also cause I just like connecting to fellow fans, yay!

6. A fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I’d say Till Death Do Us Part cause it doesn’t really end happily? But then, canon fixes that one, actually. Apart from that probably the greatest loves of all time were never made cause that’s just canonical angst in extra heartbreaking words..

7. Do you write crossovers?

not yet? But I don’t see it happening tbh..

8. Ever received hate on a fic?

Oof, once I had an issue where I tagged Regina&Robin but some OutlawQueen shippers took offence that it wasn’t their endgame, even though I’d put multiple warnings everywhere that it would be SwanQueen... But I myself barely received hate, it was just a heated discussion / minor shipping war in the comment section. Still made me sad :(

9. Do you write smut?

not yet. I’m keeping my fics T-rated at the highest, although I gotta say, I’ve gotten a lot spicier lately. But honestly, I prefer building build-up to writing actual explicit smut, so that’s probably all you’re ever getting from me, sorry lol

10. Ever had a fic stolen?

not that I know of..

11. Ever had a fic translated?

nope

12. Have you ever co-written a fic?

yes!! back in the day @godandmonsters1996 and I sometimes collabed on tumblr. Here’s an example of one of our very angsty pieces!

13. All time favourite ship?

SwanQueen probably. I see myself returning to it for all eternity. Though I also have to say that SuperCorp makes a compelling point!

14. WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

too many, loves, too many

15. Writing strengths?

dialogue, probably. Flirty banter, to be precise. I’m a Gemini, so this is all I do all day irl anyway, lol

16. Writing weaknesses?

Transitions! From one scene to another, ugh ugh ugh, I just overuse horizontal lines a lot hsdjkl but oof, I wish I was better at that. Also, long piece in general? I love it, but I also always run out of motivation at some point? It’s complicated okay??

17. Thoughts of writing dialogue in another language?

English isn’t my first language, and I do speak several other languages, but nope nuh-uh nah, I just feel uncomfortable writing in any language but English. Only exception can be pet names I suppose..

18. First fandom you ever wrote for?

... okay listen... 15yo me was very into ABBA okay (I still am btw, which is why I’m freaking out rn), and uh. I wrote straight ABBA rpf on wattpad back in the day (*hides in a corner*)

19. What is your favourite fic you’ve written so far?

I always like my latest fic most, I think, so A New Beginning? I’m really proud of it in any case! Though my favourite story-wise might actually be love bites, love bleeds (it’s what i need)

I’m tagging @waknatious if you wanna? Also, anyone else who wants to join in!