#I KNOW I wasn't it's target demographic but so what?

[cbrownjc]

You know, I had to sit here and think about this for a few minutes because, even as a kid, I don't think any of the shows I watched regularly got canceled until they already had many seasons under their belts. Including all the cartoons I watched.

Guess that must be a thing about having been a kid in the 80s. I mean, even shows I watched like Small Wonder and Out of This World were on for 4 seasons each. (Which, back then, was all you needed -- 96 episodes -- to have a good syndication run and be set up to show reruns of that show until the end of time.)

Even shows that got canceled in my late teens to early-20s that got canceled didn't hurt me on that kind of level, such as Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Because it's 4th and final season sucked. And Angel the Series was already in its fifth season when it got canceled, so while I was sad it was ending, I was okay.

So yeah, for me? Me being cold and bitter and heartless over a show getting canceled starts with Netflix canceling Anne with an E and Julie and the Phantoms. And I mean, at least Anne with an E got 3 seasons before it was canceled. Julie and the Phantoms only got one season. F U Netflix. 😒 Even now this is why I'm wary about starting any show Netflix produces.

I’ll never forgive Fox for canceling Pitch. NEVER.

[lastoneout]

Fr tho I would like to ALSO thank One Piece Fan Letter for finally giving me now what 10 year old me so desperately wanted. No one would have expected the central character in a fan focused short for one of the most popular shonen manga of ALL TIME to be a girl. The target demographic is boys. No one would have batted an eye if the short was about a little boy who was inspired by Luffy or Usopp or Zoro or Sanji. But it wasn't, it was about a young girl inspired by Nami. And tbh, knowing One Piece, I was genuinely shocked when that girl said she was almost 15 because SHE LOOKS IT and that's SO refreshing!! She looks like a kid!! And she acts like one, all rude and funny and flustered and stupid and brave and weird!! That right there is exactly what little me needed, what I've always said was my dream, a female character in shonen who is allowed to be a normal person just like the guys, instead of a Girl(tm) who is always played as opposed to everyone else's shenanigans and interests because girls don't like boy things, don't ya know(or at least looks like a normal person instead of a stick figure with boobs). I wanted a character like Nami's fan so bad as a kid. And she exists now!!

This episode really was special. This and Echoes of Wisdom is just so validating, like bit by bit we're making progress!! And while it's fucking long overdue I'm so thankful that I'm actually here to see it.

[got-into-worm-by-mistake]

Okay, I've Read Worm: A Retrospective Part 3: Who the Fuck Is Worm For?

(Before we begin, two notes - one, the consistent use of 'fuck' in the titles here is primarily for humor value. Two, the promised Amy retrospective post may not actually happen because everytime I've gamed out what I want to say in it, I spend more time yelling at WB about Ward and stuff than I really want to. So we'll see if that happens)

Have you ever been watching TV, or watching videos on youtube, or w/e, and seen an ad for a new game, or show, or movie, or anything like that, and you find yourself wondering 'who wanted this?' 'who is this for?' Or you look up a summary of a movie or book and it's not even that the plot sounds bad, it just baffles you because like... who ordered this? Who wanted it? Is it for? The idea of someone actually being the target audience for the thing, or liking it, baffles you.

Now, to be clear, I don't have that with Worm. It is reasonably easy to grasp that people would like Worm, even that people would like it more than I do. But Who is Worm's real target audience is?

I've tried to figure that out, and I cannot. Now, I don't know if Wildbow actually sat down and gamed out who his target audience was with Worm. He's not a movie studio, he's not a TV exec. He's a guy who had a lot of ideas, and wanted to force himself to write a story. He presumably wasn't trying to game out what kind of story he needed to hit some right demographic to a return on his investment. Like, I'm sure he considered how the story would be received as he conceived of it and stuff like that, but not in the way a Disney Exec games out how to decide what movies to make and what executive meddling to do.

I don't know for sure who Worm's target audience was. What I can say though, judging from like, everything I've seen said about Worm, a lot of people who read Worm, or tried to, were, like me, very much not in the target audience. Like, at all.

The people who, really, deeply fundamentally are butthurt that Taylor was ever a villain, that the Undersiders are sympathetic. Equally, the people who are deeply, fundamentally furious that Taylor joined the PRT/Protectorate and that the PRT isn't actually just super corrupt and incompetent. That the heroes aren't the 'real bad guys the whole times'.

The people who, like me, just aren't actually that much into superhero fiction and yet stumble into it. The people who, like me, find the bleakness oppressive and exhausting. The people who call Worm grimdark. Some of the people who write the OP SI fixes everything quickly fics. (Some are just having fun with not taking themselves seriously).

This is not to say that everyone who didn't enjoy all of Worm's various writing choices was 'outside the target audience', but with Worm, as with other pieces of Media, I have absolutely seen people bitching about certain aspects of the story and gone '...*maaaaaybe Worm just isn't for you?'

I went into Worm knowing this. I came out of Worm knowing this even harder. Worm is not for me. I can definitely point to writing choices that I think were just flat bad for even what WB appears to have been trying to do (Not a ton, but a few), or just fundamentally detract from the story (again, not a ton, but a few), but a lot of my issues with Worm really do just come down to 'it ain't for me'.

There's a lot I like about Worm. But in a lot of ways, Worm ain't for me.

But if it ain't for me, who the fuck is it for? I honestly can't articulate a clear statement.

Worm is for people who are very familiar with superhero media, especially comics. Worm is for people who have some degree of dissatisfaction of what most mainstream comics do. (Worm is not for people who think Worm was the first 'realistic' or 'deconstructive' or even 'reconstructive' take on Superheroes)

Worm is for people who have a higher tolerance for boring antagonists... or who somehow found Mannequin not boring. (Because those people exist and will never not confuse me) Worm is for people who enjoy a degree of bleakness and grimness, even if they might not say it like that. They enjoy the fact that Being Taylor is Suffering, to an extent. I don't think that's a bad thing, and I'm not against a protagonist suffering and losing and having setbacks and so on, but Worm does go a lot further than I really like. I don't think Worm is only for people who 'liked' it. I have definitely consumed media where it was definitely in my balliwick, I'm definitely the audience, but I just didn't care for it. But one of the groups Worm is for is definitely the people who enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than I did. I was a bullied teenage outcast, but I was never on the level of Taylor's experience. I was out of HS by the time Worm came out, but only barely. I may have appreciated Worm more then - the fact that a lot of people identified with and related to Taylor being a lonely bullied teenage outcast has been observed and commented on by many people. (That she then goes on to become a deeply unrelatable girlie later on is often forgotten or ignored)

Worm is for people who care more about Shard mechanics than I do. Also probably for people who consider 'Word of God' to be more of an authoritative thing than I do in general (My issues with WoGs predate my experience of reading Worm. My position has always been that WoGs don't supersede the text, though they can be useful for grasping authorial intent - which only matters as far as one wants it to).

Worm is for people who who don't hate precogs the way I do, probably.

I don't know who Worm is for. I know it ain't for me. And I suspect, whether people in this fandom realize it or not, it wasn't really for them either. There definitely are people who it was for, and if you're one of them, good for you.

[blorbologist]

look, ima just say that yes, the cast understands their characters best - but they are not writers, and might not know how to best get those traits across to their audience.

My brother is like, the ideal target audience for a new fan. Big nerd into anime and mature animation already, a fan of several of the VAs and has a smattering of D&D experience. He absolutely loved seasons 1 and 2! In fact, his favorite characters in s1 were Grog and Keyleth, and I believe that held true in s2 as well.

While live chatting to me watching s3, he was so frustrated by how stupid and childish she was acting. He's completely naïve to C1 (but has endured some C2 when my dad and I would watch together). Without me to explain the complexity and depth of her in the campaign, he's gone from absolutely loving a character to loathing her appearance on screen because the writing did her so dirty in ways that are, frankly, easy to spot and easy to fix. Telling him how Keyleth was in the campaign was heartbreaking - he found it so cool! That was the character he found so interesting!

But whoever she was, she wasn't apparent in s3 Keyleth.

He also called Raishan 'the worst schemer (archetype)' he' ever seen, and enjoyed bitching about episode 10 with me more than he did watching it, soo...

I use Keyleth as an example because she' the most relevant one, as a favorite of my brother’s and having been done so dirty this season. But it applied to... a lot. From the friendships to the character choices to just the whole structure of season 3.

It's one thing to know Keyleth is strong, and angry, and feels responsible for her people, and doesn't trust Raishan. It's another thing to communicate that effectively - and this goes for everything and everyone else this season too. You just hear more vocal complaints from fans who know the show because they have, right there, a blueprint for how these inner conflicts and personalities were shown very well, and so have easy examples for how it could have been done better.

But hey, how dare we engage with s3 as a work of art on par with s1-2 instead of turning our brains off, right? The campaign will always be there - as a reminder that this season definitely lost new fans and those that stay will walk away with carricatures of the characters compared to what they were in s1-2. Look - genuinely beautiful battle sequence! 😍 I have no concept of storytelling or writing and clap in delight at the third Ripley fight of the season! Wahoo!

(Ignore that all that gorgeous animation and score were not enough to keep my brother invested when he, a member of the target demographic, started getting annoyed by the writing. Nothing is worse for art than being annoying.)

[thestrangestthlng]

HOLY DOUBLE FUCKING DOWN BATMAN.

"Remember, this is not me backing down or being defensive." "Remember, this is not me apologizing?"

Babes, who are you talking to? Your little fucking friends who are just as problematic as you?

"Just because you were offended doesn't mean you were right."

Be so fucking for real right now. That is not for you to decide. You don't get to determine what is offensive to someone and say they're wrong. You do not get to tell people from communities that what they were offended by wasn't offensive. You do not get to determine whether or not someone else can be offended by your actions.

"I am not the creator of gay stereotypes."

No, you are not, but that doesn't not mean that you have to continue to give them life.

"they created it themselves." Re: stereotypes about queer hookup culture.

You do realize that straight people have a hook up culture, right? We'll get to that. Do you want to know why there are so many negative stereotypes about marginalized communities? I'll tell you. It's because of white supremacy culture and the patriarchy. White people in power made sure the seeds of these negative connotations were spread far and wide. Media creates those biases and creates the stereotype. Would you say the same thing about Black women and the Mammy and Sapphire stereotype? These are stereotypes that are mocked and negatively reinforced in culture for entertainment and oppression.

"Gay men, I'm sorry... [...] my bad, I thought that because gay men can joke about it, I can too."

It's not that you can't joke about it. The fact was it wasn't fucking funny and I will explain to you exactly why. When you are joking abut a marginalized community, or a demographic that you have a position of privilege over (which you do, as a bisexual woman) you have to PUNCH UP for the joke to be funny. You punched down, which made it an attack and not a joke.

"The hook up culture exists in every sexual orientation [...] so what are you even mad for."

It absolutely does exist with every sexual orientation, WHICH IS WHY YOU COULD HAVE LEFT OUT THAT WHOLE FUCKING PARAGRAPH WHERE YOU TALKED ABOUT GAY MEN ONLY BEING ABOUT THAT THING. (And I'm sure that you're not even old enough to get that reference.)

"The word "target" was part of the fun little dialogue I imagined in my head when I was explaining Tommy pov. It wasn't meant to be taken in a fun docu-series kinda way."

Just because it's not how you intended doesn't mean that isn't how it was received. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. You mocking this just really goes to show how ignorant you are.

"I'm bisexual."

Okay, and? The same way a gay man or a lesbian can be biphobic or make biphobic statements or actions, bisexual people can have queerphobic statements or actions. I explained this to you. Internalized phobias are a think too.

"Queer people are not untouchable."

No, they aren't. You can dislike queer characters, I know I dislike PLENTY. You can just be honest with yourself and be like "I don't like him because he's in the way of my ship." You don't have to prove anything you can just say you don't like him. You don't need to justify this, you can just be honest about it.

The problem is that the rhetoric that you are spewing is homophobic in nature. And when gay men and other queer people are telling you that it's offensive, it's offensive. You were explained to in detail why what you said was offensive, reductive, and dangerous. You just don't care. Your little friends are just in your ear backing you up.

Tommy is absolutely just a character. He will never see any of this shit, but people like him, will.

If after this, you still don't understand how you, a bisexual, can be homophobic or make homophonic actions, I don't know what to tell you.

[chronicsyd]

Yk… I feel like people have become So used to like TikTok doom-scrolling feeding their limited attention span and having most sapphic rep be TV-Y7 shows (She-ra, TOH, TLOK, etc.) that when they’re faced with a TV-14 show where they actually have to Pay Attention to little things like facial expressions over words instead of having constant exposition shoved in their face they don’t like it.

And this is not me saying you can’t be an adult and watch a TV-Y7 show, but you Do have to keep in mind that the shows target demographic Is younger viewers so they have to utilize stuff like exposition so younger viewers can easily understand it. And those shows have pretty black and white morals “Horde = Bad” “Princess Alliance = Good” all that fun stuff.

But Arcane isn’t like that, it makes you think deeper about what’s actually being told to you and I’ve had to do a couple rewatches myself to pick up on stuff I hadn’t noticed the first time. And putting those same black and white morals to the characters like these really does the show a disservice.

(I also think the "oh I don't like oppressor x oppressed" complaint to be Incredibly stupid because you could slap that onto practically Anything. Heterosexual relationships/Hetero-passing relationships? that's oppressor x oppressed because of men over women. Mixed relationships involving any white person? that's Definity oppressor x oppressed. Relationships involving a cis and trans person? yup oppressor x oppressed again. Reducing characters down purely to their socioeconomic status and occupation and ignoring all the nuance, complexity and logic of them and their actions frustrate the hell out of me because they refuse to think deeper than that.)

And I'd RATHER Caitlyn Show she's remorseful and changing through her Actions rather than a sob session of "I'm sorrys'" (Also, LAST time Caitlyn merely said words to Vi ("I won't"), her actions didn't reflect those words, so why would Vi trust a simple "I'm sorry" now? Not to mention we already got that "I'm sorry" plot beat when it came to Jayce and Viktor back in S1 with Jayce doing stuff like setting the Bridge Blockade (and No one wants to bring up the "oppressor x oppressed" thing when talking about Jayvik despite it being the same dynamic...))

(Let's also address that Vi never said "I'm sorry" to Jinx for joining the Enforcers. No, the "I'm sorry" in Ep 3 wasn't for That it was an "I'm sorry for what's about to happen" because they Both know that there's a high possibility that Jinx might be dead at the end of this fight, and I know this because Vi becomes defensive in Ep 5 when Jinx brings it up. Vi doesn't say "I'm sorry" for hitting Isha either (btw if you say Vi saw Jinx care for Isha as a "I'm a bad sister" then you just lack basic media literacy all together). Jinx never says "I'm sorry" for all the fucked up shit she does like kidnapping Caitlyn and forcing Vi to kill her. Also, Vi AND Caitlyn come up with the plan to take out Silco loyalists, Shimmer and Jinx so why the hell does Caitlyn have to apologize for that? Caitlyn admits that forcing Vi to take the badge was the wrong thing to do and gives an explanation as to why she wanted Vi to join her as an Enforcer, because Caitlyn's worry of "one of us comes back in a box" IS justified)

(I also think the time jumps have fooled the audience, because they feel that Caitlyn's scene with Ambessa in ep 4 is "a complete 180" when you have to keep in mind that Caitlyn's been watching how her actions have affected those in these 6 months that we haven't really been seeing her on screen; we see bits of her during the "Paint the Town Blue" montage and Even Then you see her damn near crying in one of those still shots and looking so exhausted and over it in another. Once again part of that "Arcane wanting you to use your brain to connect those dots instead of the show doing For you but the audience refuses to do so" kinda stuff.)

Also, do people need to go through their Own trauma, grief and anger in order to understand Caitlyn's actions/motivations? because it's kinda starting to look that way. Caitlyn wasn't maliciously manipulating Vi with the kiss and the "I won't" statement because when going through emotions like this, Caitlyn doesn't have the time to reflect on those actions and see how she is changing, it's more of a hope that she isn't changing in the way that Vi doesn't want her to (you have to remember that S1 Ep4-S2 Ep3 happens within the span of like a week, maybe two at the most; Caitlyn's not being given time to stop or think about what's she's doing or what's going on, she's merely going through the motions in a sense. So by the time we pick up Ep 4 and there's been months of shit happening under her watch, she's had Time to be like "I don't want to be this, I hate this and the person I've become in all this".)

(I mean we can have Another discussion of how a lot of hate is just performative activism. One of the reasons I Like Caitlyn so much is because she shows that even with good morals, someone from privilege can easily fall down that rabbit hole. Because that's happened to myself before. Despite being lesbian and mentally disabled I still come from certain privilege, while I don't come from aristocratic wealth, I still lived a life better than most and just being a white woman that also gives me privilege and I've had to do my own reflecting on how my thoughts and actions can affect others simply from that privilege; which is what Caitlyn's able to do herself over the course of the season, which it seems that none of these haters are able to grasp)

[yinwaryuri]

Seeing a lot of upset posts about how the show ended with Boston and feeling like something really went over a few heads. Do I also believe Boston deserved better? Yes. But let's be realistic in the way Jojo and Ninew approached this.

Boston and his promiscuity have been the target of harsh judgements from episode one. And the writers have stated that he has a moral code, it's just very different from others. I was never expecting him to state it outright, that it would just be a thing worth paragraphs of speculative meta, but he does!

Boston stated his definition of boyfriend. If he wants to be exclusive, that's for all the emotional bonding that he desires with someone special, but does not deny him the ability to fulfill his physical desires with whomever he wishes. That's not just polyamory, it's a very specific kind!!! And it's entirely different from the traditional sort of relationship society has accepted. The thing is, he wouldn't have discovered that possibility without knowing Nick.

Boston did genuinely fall for Nick. But how could he have handled that properly when he has no experience being loved and has never learned how to love someone back? Moreover, how could he come to the conclusion that he likes being exclusive in one way but not another without absolutely fumbling the bag with someone who's on a different page? It's not exactly Nick's fault that he prefers physical affection to be exclusive as well, that's just how he is. There couldn't have been any discussion about this, it was a discovery in the making.

The truth is Boston would still have a hard time finding happiness in Thailand due to the political climate, especially with his father being a politician. He's gay and that alone makes achieving his dreams more difficult, but being as promiscuous as he is means even a majority of the queer community will shut him out. He's better off moving to the states where at least he has rights and better acceptance for who he is. And that's what happened.

Because having a sexual or romantic appetite outside of monogamy is still looked down on. I still see it in the BL fandom. I see it just in general. 3 Will Be Free is so often cited as a must-watch, but how many people stick to their comfort branded pairings?* How many people have made or heard jokes about the "Seattle polycule"? How many romantic aces and allosexual aros get othered and excluded and judged for their identity?

Jojo said there was no intended message, but that doesn't mean there isn't one to be found. Boston's arc is a prime example of how slutty queers get treated even by their own peers, even by people who care about them most. It's a cry from the cold and lonely dark that if we think these people deserve better, we need to change existing paradigms and find how we can give them that!

Nick wasn't prepared to do that because he is still hurting, and that's also okay. Not everyone has to change themselves to make the puzzle pieces fit. Boston and Nick's story centers around that so much. Nick being jealous and trying to copy Top, Boston trying to be what he thinks a boyfriend is - they only hurt each other because the parts that don't fit are digging in.

I hope we get a second season, but if not friends, remember Boston. He represents such a particular demographic that gets hated on and ignored constantly, and they deserve a chance. They're not easy, but that doesn't mean they're not worth it. Remember Nick too. We all have a Nick in some manner - someone that made us want to try, but no matter how much we cared for each other it just wasn't going to work. Family, friends, partners, whoever.

Instead of being outraged with the show, be outraged with society. Do something about it. Be kinder. Community is important, now more than ever. I cannot possibly overstate how much we need community, especially among minorities.

*this isn't meant to be judgmental toward fans who prefer branded pairings or aren't interested in that particular show. I know watching anything requires time and energy and scratching a certain itch at the right moment. It is, however, a concern that so many fans complained about numerous aspects of OF to the point where the creators went to the effort of explaining themselves on a weekly basis and editing certain parts to avoid backlash. I mentioned 3 Will Be Free because it's another example of Jojo's work. Many BL fans have heard of it, but only a small portion seem to have watched, and that can be an indicator of certain biases. This is not to imply anyone who hasn't seen it has said biases and is only intended to encourage reflection if needed.

[moonswolfie]

Nekogiri

Timeskip!Osamu x gn!reader

Ohhh boy it's been a while samu I missed you dearly my dear onigiri boy

i got inspired by this post to make this hehe, these are far too cute!

"Mornin' babe. Since when are you the one cookin'?" Osamu lovingly mumbled into your shoulder, wrapping his arms around you in a surprise backhug.

You got up early this morning, wanting to experiment with something in the kitchen. Osamu wasn't supposed to get up for another hour.

"I could be asking you the same thing. Why are you up so early?" you smiled, leaning back into him.

"Missed yer warmth." he mumbled sleepily.

You could feel his head shift, looking over at what you were trying to make. "...What is that?" Maybe it was just his hazy vision, but he can't exactly make out what the food is. What your vision with this strangely shaped onigiri is.

"Can you not tell? They're little cats." you pushed the somewhat poorly made cat shaped onigiri to his face. He slowly removed one of his hands from your waist to gently take the onigiri out of your hand and inspect it.

"Hmmm..." was the only warning you got before he was stuffing it in his mouth.

You gasped. "Nooo, my little baby..."

"I taught ya well. This is pretty good..." he tilted his head to look at you, only to find you pouting at him. He took a couple of seconds to gaze at you before your expressing truly sunk in.

"What now?" he asked like an annoyed parent who knows they just pissed off their toddler.

"You ate one of my masterpieces..."

"Food is meant to be eaten. Can't be wastin' any." Now that you think of it, Osamu always brings any leftover food from his restaurant home so you can eat it together. But that's still no excuse for eating one of your little nekogiris!

"I was gonna eat them later...! I just wanted you to see them, not eat them..." you complained, wiggling out of Osamu's arms, much to his dissapointment. Holding you was the next best thing after a home cooked meal straight from mama. Actually, that might be a lie. The line is starting to blur.

Now that his sleepiness was wearing off, he got a better look at your creation.

"Huh... these aren't half bad. Ya think they would sell well?" he picked up another one, inspecting it up closer.

"You want to sell these?" you asked with a little surprise in your voice.

"They might become real popular among cat lovers. Or little girls. Little girls is a target demographic I haven't reached yet." he chomped down the second one, making you let out a little offended yelp.

"Didn't I just tell you to stop eating these?"

"What can ya do, ya know better than anyone how insatiable my hunger is." he said in a casual tone, though the slight smirk gracing his lips was telling.

[slushiesandshowtunesat3am]

you have a good point about the increasement of non con/dub con fanfiction. i just want to add that it's not surprise that Joel Miller's fanfiction are the one that always sexualize the word "kiddo" or are mostly about age gap because the fandom (and i'm talking here about Pedro Pascal fandom generally) has been more toxic in the recent years. big problem here is they tend to fetishize Pedro Pascal a lot so, when you scroll in his character tags, the stories you always found are about daddy kinks, age gap kinks, dbf/bfd, etc. it's look that a reader that is over 30 is a crime.

funny thing, this doesn't happen when i'm looking in other characters tags that aren't latinos, like Bucky Barnes or Steve Harrington, i wonder why🙄

This is an interesting perspective for a lot of reasons <3

The ask above and the text below is a response to concern about the growing number of infantilization and dub con/non con content that is taking over certain fanfiction spaces.

I will be using tags from those spaces to spread the message and further encourage conversation, so if you do not want to see my posts, block me now

Honestly, until reading this ask, I didn't realize just how severe the overt sexualization of Pedro Pascal has gotten.

I remember seeing videos of him reading certain fan tweets filled with the term daddy and I would cringe, but I just figured it was because I was a bit put off by one of my favorite actors being put in that situation.

But I do remember, before Pedro really started picking up traction as Joel Miller, his most sought after character was the Mandalorian, and I don't recall ever seeing as much non-con and infantilization content as I do now.

All of the dynamics explored, at least in the fics I read, where all based upon mutual protection because of the environment that Mando was in. Mutual respect, mutual responsibility, because it was life or death. And even if age was a concern, the term daddy was hardly ever uttered.

With Joel, it's almost the complete opposite. Despite the landscape for the show literally being the end of the world, it seems as though the most popular works for the fiction focus on age gaps. And a good number of them, aren't even focused on the actual plot line. It's all: Dad's best friend, hot older man next door, perv! Joel, etc.

And I get it, I do! It's fanFICTION for a reason, you're supposed to create your own stories, but there seeks to be an underlying theme here that I don't believe I'm comfortable with.

What was the shift?

And I can't help but view your other point as one of interest as well.

A post I made a while ago highlighted a lack of representation, or rather an exclusion of POC in fanfiction due to descriptive terms often catering to a white demographic.

In a follow-up post I made, a response to an ask, I said that I couldn't help but wonder if the seemingly deliberate exclusion of inclusive vocabulary was because there has been a growing number of content feeding into this very lolita-esque style of reader. One of pink, princess purity, and sexuality found in corruption. And, because POC do not fit this image of purity in your mind, we are subconsciously removed from these spaces.

But now I'm wondering about other repercussions.

It's no secret that Latin women have been sexualized since Christopher Colonizer sailed the ocean blue, but I truly haven't looked at how Latin men may be as well.

As a black women, I know black men, (black women as well, but not as frequently) are often sexualized by other races for various reasons, but I wasn't aware that this may be happening in the Latin community as well.

Is it possible that Pedro, or rather his characters, present an easy target for blatant sexualization, even of graphic and exploitative content, because of this ideology?

Again, open to discussion.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Since Miraculous Ladybug is becoming for more mature audiences it should split povs between Marinette and Adrien. Its upsetting how Adrien has such a main character backstory yet he's not apart of it or a major character in the show even though he feels like it. It feels like he should be Marinette's costar but he's treated as some guy most of the time. I get that Marinette's the main character but still Adrien feels so wasted on. Honestly he kinda reminds me of Steven Universe. Dead mom, complex with not being entirely human, well meaning but absent dad(Gabriel's hearts was in the right place but just went down hill). Like when Adrien finds out about the whole sentimonster thing imagine the identity crisis he's gonna have. I also wonder what they're gonna do with Emilie. She's not dead anymore and she was the driving force for why Gabriel did what he did. I wonder if she's gonna be a good mom or if the fan theories are right and she's just as bad if not worse then Gabriel. Rose haunted the narrative because she was so important if it wasn't for her and her actions we probably wouldn't even have Steven Universe or the many momswap aus. But after Gabriel got all the Miraculouses Emilie felt kinda of forgotten and last minute when she was talked about.

Are there any other shows that you sometimes compare Miraculous too?

I don't think that Miraculous is aiming at more mature audiences now unless there was some announcement that I missed? If anything, I'm expecting season six to tone things back down because I'm guessing that it's going to be a soft reboot. New main villain, new animation style, new school, the signs are all there.

Shows rarely ever change their target audience like that. It's just too risky a move. You have to redo the marketing and somehow convey to parents that the show is no longer safe for their child as it's aimed at teens now. But anyone who wants a more serious show for teens isn't going to want to sit through the first five seasons which were not written like a serious show for teens, so the audience for this would be the small subsection of viewers who want to watch their childhood favorite get more serious.

While that's certainly a demographic, it's not the massive one you get when you stick to anyone ages five-and-up. Since five-and-up is also where the toy sales are and Miraculous has a lot of tie-in toys, it would be pretty wild if they abandoned that demographic at this point. I dug up an old tweet that I remembered seeing to give my warning some extra backing. For full context, this was in reply to a tweet asking if the writers consider the teen audience when writing the show:

[Image description: a tweet from the show's head writer reading "they are not the primary audience. The main target is kids 5 to 12 max. It doesn't mean we don't consider older audiences. But it means that whatever we write must not leave the kids behind."]

This tweet is admittedly over two years old and anything is technically possible, but I would strongly caution you against having expectations for more serious content unless you know something that I don't. The show was originally sold as to investors, distributors, and so on as a kids show and, unless they were able to renegotiate those agreements, it's going to stay a kids show.

I'd also caution you against assuming that Emilie is alive. I thought that was where the show went, too, but statements from the writers have made it pretty clear that Emilie is well and truly dead, which further supports my soft reboot theory. Bringing her back means a stronger tie to the previous seasons and you don't want that for a soft reboot.

Please don't read this as me praising that writing choice! I think it was stupid as hell to magically bring back Nathalie while killing off Emilie. They were both dying and only one of them is a domestic terrorist who actively chose death by knowingly using the broken Miraculous. The other is a Good And Pure Soul Who Was Too Perfect For This Cruel World (or, at least, that's what the show seems to want us to think). Plus, if you're going to use the wish, do something big! Change the status quo! But that's not how formula shows work so they probably couldn't do that.

Quick side note: this is my best guess as to why the leaked scripts indicated that Emilie was going to come back when season five ended the show. Series finales are usually allowed include elements that would ruin the formula if the show continued because the show isn't continuing. Season finales are not allowed to do that because the next season needs to stick to the same formula. When season five went from end-of-show to a mere end-of-season, that probably signed Emilie's death warrant. Sorry Adrien, no happy ending for you! Hope you like being an orphan!

Moving on!

In my opinion, it feels like they only used the wish to let Gabriel die and get rid of Emilie without it being too traumatic for the indented audience, but it's still basically a murder suicide being treated as a happy ending which is wild! At least it was a pretty one where the murderer and his victim ascended into the light?

We admittedly might see larger impacts from the wish next season as we don't explicitly know what the wish was, but have they ever let a season finale lead to something interesting? Not really, so I don't see why that would change now. I'm not even sure if Adrien's sentistatus is going to come up again. It should, but it may also just fizzle out because the writers don't know how to deal with it. The sentimonster thing is not the kind of plot point that you can handle in 20 minutes, especially when you have to include some sort of akuma fight, too. Bringing up the sentistuff would also complicate a soft reboot so, yeah, I have no idea if they're ever going to touch it again.

As far as recs for shows like Miraculous go, I'm afraid that you'll have to be a little more specific about what you're looking for because Miraculous is trying and failing to be a lot of things. If you want a duo show with a lot of banter, a badass female lead, and a goofy-but-narratively-important male lead, then I'd point to Kim Possible. If you want a team show with romantic undertones, then Teen Titans is a good pick. If you want identity shenanigans, magic, and romance, then American Dragon Jake Long might be worth checking out in spite of the very dated slang, though fair warning that one is enemies to lovers. It's done in a very fun way, but it's not a partner show like Miraculous kind of is and the romance is also not the main focus.

Part of the reason I was drawn to Miraculous is that shows about superheroes don't tend to have a strong romance element to them, so there aren't a ton of options for me to give you when it come to shows that fill a similar niche. However, if you're willing to go into the realms of fanfic, then you've got a wealth of options. Pretty much any property with secret identities will have fics about identity shenanigan romances. Love squares are nothing new. I've been reading them for years! I basically watched Twelfth Night when I was about eight and never looked back. Identity shenanigans or bust!

People will even bring them into fandoms that don't have any secret identities because identity shenanigans are really fun to play with! They make for some of the best romances. I'm sure that you can also find them in novels, but it's not something I've seen a lot of, so I mostly stick to fanfic for my identity shenanigan needs. That's where almost all my recs are from.

Should I do a fanfic plug to demonstrate what I mean? Yeah, why not. This baby deserves more readers and, if you like Miraculous, then you'll probably love this. (Seriously, if you read it, feel free to come talk to me about it. It's so good and also proof that I really am drawn to very specific tropes. What can I say other than I know what I like?)

We Didn't Start The Fire by ohhgingersnaps

Ava is all burned out, literally— she’s an exhausted JojaCo employee by daylight, and pyrokinetic superhero The Phoenix by moonlight, until she accidentally starts a fire at work and has to blame it on her superpowered alter-ego to avoid being discovered. The Phoenix is forced into early retirement, and with nothing else to lose, Ava moves to her grandfather’s old farm for a new start. Between restoring the farm, resolutely bottling all of her feelings, and trying to keep her powers under wraps, Ava has a lot on her plate. She’ll figure it out. Eventually. She hopes. Meanwhile, the hacker Memento, Phoenix’s good friend and confidant, is left to pick up the pieces alone after her sudden disappearance. He’s fully convinced that she didn’t start the fire, and he’s determined to discover the truth and clear her name... As long as he doesn’t fall for the pretty new farmer down the road, first. Part superhero AU, part mental health recovery arc, and part rom-com, topped with a generous serving of secret identity love square shenanigans, hurt/comfort, shameless flirting and banter, and dramatic irony.

I've mentioned before that I don't like OC main characters. Video games are the one exception to that rule. I'm really not big on reader inserts (no judgement, just personal preference), so when I read fanfic for a video game with a self-insert type main character, I'm looking to read about people's fully developed OCs, but I also want a good deal of the focus to be on the game's characters as they're the only reason I'm looking for stuff to read. That's what this fic is and I love it!

I also wouldn't normally rec fanfic for properties outside of Miraculous since this is specifically a Miraculous blog, but this is Stardew Valley fanfic, which is why I picked it over fic from other, more complex properties. If you don't know that game, it's a farming sim whose cast is developed enough for you to get attached to them, but who don't have a ton of depth, so you can read this sucker without having touched the game because there's no deep lore here. The game dev is apparently pretty open about the fact that he kept lots of things about the characters ambiguous so you could read things like their relationships and ages in whatever way makes you happy. Only prep work I might recommend is reading the character summaries from the game's wiki and you'd only need to do that for the named characters.

As I said above, fics like this are where I get my more-serious-story-with-identity-shenanigan-included itch scratched and are what I'd recommend looking for in either fanfic or original fiction form if that's what you like as TV shows just don't seem to have this kind of content, probably because TV shows often draw plot lines out to maximize views while novel-style stories generally have a clear end goal, which is why it can be hard for TV romances to feel satisfying. However, there are certainly a ton of TV shows that I haven't watched, so if anyone has recs for anon, then feel free to drop a comment or give this a reblog with your rec list.

[snaxle]

you didn't even say it back. kys, i mean. i sent you such a thoughtful letter and all you do is malign me as a fanfic writer, who, even worse, can't even finish her wips. horrible. it wasn't a terrible guess given the demographics of your blog (or so i would conjecture based on halfhearted extrapolation based on crumbs of information absorbed counter to my will through social osmosis here) and the fandom inclinations of tumblrinas at large, though this is a cross i do not personally bear.

the charge levied against me by one commenter, namely that "[you] live rent free in [my] head" is false. a sizable proportion of your followers/mutuals/orbiters presumably are constituted of writers who don't finish their works (many such cases) as well the readers who are subjected to those half finished fictions and therefore cannot concieve of someone who looked at a couple posts, wrinkled their nose in distaste, and cranked out a "drabble" or whatever, closed the tab, and went about their day is out of the realm of imagination of the archetypal tumblrite, weighed down by a dozen half actualised ideas, splotchy faced and writhing around and waving their teensy fat fingered hands, shrieking and grabbing out to be given care and attention and to be nurtured so that they may mature into a finished work.

you may ask me what i am doing here if when i showcase such scorn for the character of the average tumblr user and the answer simply is 1) i don't care i just sound like this as a fixed state of being & 2) im like jane goodall if she was kind of a dick to the chimpanzees sometimes and if she was kind of stupid and insane and wrote screeds to one piece fans online.

becoming a one piece fan is an outstanding suicide prevention measure because it's just one final thing on the list to do forever. so im not really anticipating for any harm to personally visit you, nor do i have any personal stake in your demise or success but instead want for the environment of the internet to be slowly poisoned; first in small, enclosed environments like lonesome, neglected, and dying fish in places as toxic as a never cleaned fishbowl and then maybe, in some rosy dreams of mine, the sea dries up entirely and every whale is beached and terrifying krakens of the sea are brought to light crying and gasping and drying out in the sun and lethal pathogens unleashed when the artic permafrost melts and then evaporates and the sun beats down on all the sea creatures of the world, and bakes them, and the hole where the mariana trench once was reeks of rot for years on end. i wish people could be awful to each other, so so so badly. and you're a perfectly serviceable target, but so am i. i hate you, won't you hate me? why can't all the sisters and the brothers of the earth unlink arms in conjoint discord? if only.

and yet you don't see this vision at all, or don't value it. all this is heaped on you but you toss it aside without regard for the feelings and yearnings of the only anon you've ever received of substance. i wrap my undersized cold black ink secreting heart in some papers for you, crumble it into a ball and hand it to you, and you tag it as suicide bait without even doing suicide baiting of your own. tell me youve had an anon that has devoted 20 minutes to writing you before. repulsive. if it be your will for this to make it to publishing i would like to let the reader know that i would not recommend visiting to future hate anons.

[thowawayuntilfurthernotice]

the way people say

'Oh, we watched those gruesome material as children too, and we're fine.'

as if that were something to be proud of.

Whether they like it or not, Helluva and Hazbain have more edgy adult shit in them than family guy. (I'm not sure about South Park because I haven't seen it.) 

Unapproved access to the internet fucks with your mind.

And sorry, Branbedn, but you should've declined the kid. You know you can say no politely. especially with the kind of contact you make.

If I was in his position, I would have still taken the picture and chatted with the fan, but then I would immediately have a private conversation with the mother and tell her that the show isn't meant for kids.

But that would require the cast and crew to act like actual adults, and goodness knows they're incapable of doing that.

Bragging about being exposed to adult content at a young age isn't a flex.

Say what you will about Seth MacFarlane, but I don't ever recall him ever saying that it was okay for kids to watch his shows.

Hell, the Critical Role cast had to state that The Legend of Vox Machina wasn't meant for kids in interviews just so parents wouldn't get mad at Amazon Prime from promoting a fantasy themed animated series that featured tons of adult content.

Yes, you can't stop children from watching these types of shows, but you should hold the parents accountable.

It's really not that hard to just say "Hey, I don't mean to be an armchair parent, but the show I work on isn't intended for children. I'd really appreciate it if you would not bring your kids to any promotional events because they aren't the target demographic."

[epictacobird]

Dorms react to Demon Slayer! Yuu

I’m so glad people are enjoying this I was so worried it was gonna be too targeted of a demographic lol. Love you all <3

Btw this can be platonic or romantic, no gendered pronouns used, only “you”

Heartslabyul - Savanaclaw - Octavinelle (here) - Scarabia- Pomefiore - Ignihyde- Diasomnia

Warnings: angsty, spoilers for book 3 and 4, dark themes, ptsd mentioned, my favoritism for Azul shows a little

Context:

You're a demon slayer, an extremely experienced one at that. You have been fighting demons ever since you were young, and preparing to do so even younger. When you were unexpectedly thrown into Twisted Wonderland and admitted to NRC, you hid your sword in your uniform, and stashed away your clothes once you could. You figured the best way to survive here was to hide your cards. After all, being surrounded by morally questionable strangers with magic was not ideal. So in case you really needed it, you figured it was best to pretend to be weak so your strength could cover you when you needed it most.

Now that a few months have passed and you've gained reliable friends, you didn't see a point anymore. You felt safer than you ever have in your entire life. You were no longer on a battlefield, no longer surrounded by the pained cries of the people you failed to save. But the battle was catching up to you. Now that you were no longer fighting constantly, you had more time to think. You're nightmares of battle have been getting worse and you can't escape it. The guilt of hiding such an integral part of yourself from your friends wasn't helping either. Eventually though, you let the dam break. You tell them about your life, the reason behind your scars and show them your sword. There's tears in your eyes and you're shaking like the child you once were long ago.

Azul

Took notice of you immediately and decided to make note of you. You could be useful later after all, especially since you seemed pretty clueless about the world around you.

He just wanted to help another poor unfortunate soul being so benevolent and all.

What he didn't count on though was how much of a nuisance you were. You threatened his plans with each step you took.

Like Riddle, your eyes unnerved him. When you were making the deal, your eyes held such intensity it made him sweat. It was as if you were staring right through him, seeing through everything.

Shady calculating people such as himself did not appreciate the idea of being seen through so easily. He thought surely you had figured him all out somehow, yet it didn't reflect much in your actions. It did little to ease his worries though.

He should've known you had something more planned with the way you stared at him. Your eyes are worn by something unbeknownst to him, and piercing through him as if he was your sworn enemy.

So when he overblotted, why did you look at him with such pity? How could eyes sharp as yours soften into something as low as sympathy? He couldn’t believe it. How dare you pity him when you’re the reason everything failed!

You on the other hand were weirdly torn with guilt. You couldn't help but think about all the demons who lashed out when you had them at the edge of defeat. You felt guilty for comparing him to a demon. He just looked like a broken child who finally had enough. Maybe that's just what demons were.

You were thinking too long, and failed to notice Azul's tentacles lashing out at you. In a way it worked in your favor, looking weak was your goal after all.

You didn't appreciate being caught like this though. You tried to reason with him, but nothing worked in his state of frenzy. In the end, you were given a new set of bruises to add to the collection of scars.

When Azul found out the next day he was horrified. Dark circles where his suckers latched onto you littered your neck and wrists and god knows where else. He knew he was strong, he could’ve killed you!

Yet you laughed it off as if it was nothing! How could you be ok with that?

Your kind words at the museum didn’t help either. You told him how you admired him for being so hardworking, how he should stop focusing on the past and be proud of what he accomplished. Just because his contracts were gone didn’t change the skill he held or how successful the Mostro Lounge was.

When he looked into your eyes this time, he wondered how he could’ve ever seen the cold intensity from before. This time, he only saw something so tired, void of life, yet held a sparkle of hope. A fire that burned deep inside just waiting to be let out. It was much more complex than he gave you credit for.

He was intrigued, even more so when he found out about your issues with Scarabia. This was his chance to figure out more about you, and he wasn’t going to let a potential business opportunity slide!

After the day passed and Azul spent more time with you, memories of his overblot came back. Being so busy meant he didn’t have a lot of time to think back to what happened. Your bruises must have healed a long time ago, but what was that scar around your neck? It was just peeking above your collar, he didn’t give that to you, did he?

He asked about it, later that night. Floyd and Jade were already sleeping on the other side of the room. And Grim was long gone as he rested in your lap. The two of you were the only ones awake.

He figured the only way was to be direct, so he adjusted his glasses and spoke as calmly as ever, “How are your injuries? I apologize again for doing that, It was very..unprofessional.”

You shook your head, giving off a small smile, “It’s nothing, they healed a while ago. There’s nothing to worry about.”

He frowned, “Then what’s that scar around your neck?”

He watched you freeze for a moment, as if you were scared by the very idea of his question. You replied with the same composure you always had, “It’s an old scar from back home. My job had some… dangers I guess you could say.”

Dangers? What type of dangers would leave you with claw marks around your neck?? What animal that size would have such precision and patience to aim for your neck?! Wouldn’t it rather use its jaw? And besides what job were you working in the first place?

The shock must have shown in his face, you looked frantic to find a response. But before you could, Floyd spoke up instead.

“Ey, Azul, if you’re done questioning shrimpy can you shut up already? I’m trying to sleep.”

Azul sighed, hating how the conversation was unceremoniously cut short. Nevertheless he let you be and went to sleep.

Soon after the events of Scarabia he offered you a job at the Mostro Lounge. After learning you’d likely mooch off of Scarabia for food, he knew you’d want the extra money.

One evening he was walking around the Mostro Lounge to help close up for the day like always. You were washing up the last of the dishes, and he almost passed you by until he caught sight of the puffiness in your eyes. He did a double take and found that you were indeed crying.

Your crying was so silent, the tears falling angrily out of your eyes while you were calmly washing dishes as if it was normal. Without even thinking, he called out your name.

For once he thinks he actually caught you off guard. You jumped, whipped around to face him and quickly turned your head away from him in less than a second. You knew you couldn’t even wipe away the tears without the risk of getting soap in your eyes and making it worse. So you just kept your head turned and spoke quietly, “Hey Azul, did you need something?”

Truthfully, Azul had no idea what to do other than keep up the whole suave businessman shtick. “Not in particular, I was just closing everything up.”

“Ah, alright. I’m almost done, give me 10 minutes.”

Azul frowned, you were still turned away from him. He sighed and rolled up his sleeves, joining you on the other side of the sink. “Let me help you.”

You wanted to protest but decided against it. Something in Azul’s eyes told you he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. In the end both of you finished quickly and began cleaning up.

“Are you ok?” The question fell out of his mouth quicker he would’ve liked. Either way you responded with a yes, and he could already tell you said it with a smile like you always did. But when he looked over to your hands you were shaking, bad.

He frowned, “Prefect…as your boss I’m inclined to know your well-being. I don’t mean to pry into your personal life but…” He sighed, but before he could find the right words you spoke up instead, “It’s fine, I understand. I guess I just feel a little homesick is all.” You shrank down to your chest, holding your arms close to you, “But every time I think back on it, I’m a little scared to go back. You know?”

That’s when the dam broke. You were still facing away from him but he could tell you were crying again. You confessed to nearly everything, the scars, the pain, the demons, the death. Working in the lounge made you truly realize what your life could’ve been. You could’ve been working a normal job, day but day greeting customers. Going to school, laughing with friends. That’s what your childhood should have been. And going back meant you had to give up that normalcy, even though it was for the better of humanity.

“I’m so sorry Azul, I haven’t cried like this in years.” You laughed bitterly, “This was all probably a bit much. I mean Im not sure if you’d even believe me.”

Azul didn’t say anything and just moved to face you. He looked at your face, splotchy with red and tear stains. You looked defeated, utterly devoid of hope. He frowned and spoke firmly, “You told me at the museum that I should stop focusing on the past and look to the future. That I should be proud of what I accomplished so far- believe your own words. You have a future here, both with the Mostro Lounge and Twisted Wonderland. Whether you choose to stay here or not is up to you, but no matter what, know that there was never a moment I doubted you.”

Azul looked at you, the fire in your eyes returned. It was a little brighter than before, and, although cautiously, you gave a genuine smile.

Jade + Floyd

Jade scared the shit out of you simply because you could never tell if he ever actually knew the truth of what you did back home.

He was always watching you carefully trying to figure you out. He saw the scars and the way you would peer into the trees at night. And when it was dark outside you never allowed your friends to walk alone.

Which must’ve been why when he mentioned that he was going on a camping trip up the mountains on club business you asked to come along.

Does this mean you’re friends now? How sweet.

Truth be told, he was ecstatic by the idea. Floyd never took much interest in his hobby, and he didn’t even bother to humor Azul. No matter your intentions he was grateful you wanted to come along.

So there you both were, hiking up to the camping spot, stopping every so often to collect and admire mushrooms. You listened to everything he said with rapt attention. You even asked questions about which mushrooms were what, and tried to identify some by yourself.

It was easy to say Jade was enjoying himself, and you could’ve sworn his smile seemed more genuine because of it. Any tension between the two of you vanished.

Once you both reached the camping spot though, your mood began to change ever so slightly. You were tensed, expectant even. Although you never let it stop you from pulling your weight setting up.

The next morning. Jade took note of the dark circles under your eyes. You clearly didn’t sleep much, but seemed to function fine despite it. He decided not to pry.

The two of you continued to search the mountain for fungus throughout the day. As it turns out, you remembered more than he expected and the two of you left with a satisfying haul of mushrooms.

Everything was going well and the two of you packed up and prepared to head back down the mountain and return to NRC. Unfortunately it was extremely windy that day. Which meant the dead trees that said fungus were growing on were very unsteady. So it wasn’t much a surprise when the two of you picked up on a heart stopping cracking noise coming from the tree beside you.

You reacted immediately and leapt at Jade, grabbing him by his waist and rolling to safety while the tree fell behind you with a resounding thud.

“Are you ok?” You said as you got off of him, helping Jade to his feet.

“You have amazing reflexes, prefect. Im lucky you came along.” He smiled, although like always it never quite reached his eyes.

You gave a half hearted smile, “Im just glad you’re alright…”

Floyd didn’t care that much about you initially. He thought you were just a little shrimpy.

Once you started working in the Mostro Lounge though, the two of you became better friends. You didn’t mind his squeezes or his rapid mood changes.

At some point though, Floyd made it a game to try to sneak up on you.

You would always catch him, no matter how creative he got. And that only made him more determined to scare you. He would pop out of trees, hide in bushes, closets, hell he even jumped from the roof once.

None of it worked, you’d always manage to figure out where he was hiding. That is, until one fateful afternoon…

You were more tired than usual, and some particularly rude customers that refused to leave didn’t help. All you wanted to do was crash on the rickety bed at Ramshackle.

Which was why when Floyd jumped out to squeeze you from behind your brain went on autopilot and you threw him to the ground.

The two of you sat in silence for a long while. Floyd stared up at you from the dirt with wide eyes while you stood stiff. Just as you were about to rush an apology Floyd began to laugh hysterically.

“Ehhh I didn’t expect Shrimpy to be so strong! You just threw me! Can you teach me how to do that?”

Much to Azul’s disappointment, you did in fact teach him how to do that. It actually became a little thing between the two of you. Sometimes y’all would just wrestle for the sake of it. It reminded you of a little boar guy back home.

Your relationship with the tweels greatly improved after these two incidents. You’d help Jade with his mushrooms, and fuck around with Floyd. You had almost forgotten that Jade was still watching you like a hawk and Floyd had a knack for finding things he wasn’t supposed to.

Lately your nightmares have been catching up with you. You’ve barely gotten any sleep for the past few days and paranoia was starting to set in. Even though your logic said otherwise, you felt safer having your swords close by. So you had it hidden behind your back under you clothes. Aka mistake #1.

Mistake #2 was letting Jade talk you into taking a nap on your break time. Despite everything, you felt safe with the two of them. So there’s no harm in trying to take a small nap right? And Jade was nice enough to give you tea too…

So there you were completely knocked out on the table in the small break room. Unaware to Floyd creeping up on you. He was about to squeeze you until he saw a curious little handle poking out of the collar of your shirt.

“Why would Shrimpy have this…?” He muttered to himself, a smile playing on his lips. He reached out to get a better look at it, but he was caught immediately.

The second his finger touched the hilt of the sword you woke up and flung him to the ground. Once you realized it was him you spoke frantically, “Shit! Sorry Floyd!”

The eel pouted, still on the floor, “Mannn, I didn’t even do anything. Shrimpy’s so mean..”

“What’s going on here?” Jade walked in with a customer service grin, staring at his brother on the floor.

“Sorry Jade. Floyd scared me is all.” You laughed, “I guess I’m just a little jumpy today.”

“It must be because of the lack of sleep, you’ve always had issues with it, yes?”

You nodded and opened your mouth to reply but Floyd spoke first, “Maybe it’s because Shrimpy is sleeping with a sword on their back.”

You looked back at Floyd, who was still on the ground, with wide eyes. Jade did the same, although they were more directed at you.

You sighed, “Floyd-“ you started but Jade interjected, “Azul would throw a fit if he saw a sword peeking out of your back.”

The sword was startlingly obvious now. It had moved out of place when you flung Floyd, now the entire hilt was visible. You deflated, knowing lying would get you nowhere.

You apologized, saying that the sword made you feel a little safer recently. Floyd asked plenty of questions as to why you got the sword in the first place and if he could use it. You answered them all, with the last one not so shockingly being no.

Jade listened with careful attention, after all this was the whole reason he was watching you in the first place. If either of them were shocked they didn’t show it, but both of them were definitely curious. A world of man eating demons? And you were apart of the sole line of defense? You never ceased to surprise them over and over.

You brought endless entertainment to the two of them. It was an odd friendship you shared but you were grateful nevertheless. What will you surprise them with next? Jade and Floyd were waiting at the edge of their seats with you on the stage.

***

The entertainment and twists you gave the both of them were never-ending. And you found an odd comfort in them, it was a weird friendship but one you were grateful for nevertheless.

[t00nyah]

If you could make your own video game (think of an idea l and it just snaps into existence somehow) what would it be about and what mechanics would it consist of? What platforms would it be available for? Who's the target demographic? Or anything else you want to ramble about... I like to think of creating my own games sometimes.

haha they dont know i have a joke rpg game i made in a day to test my abilities.

in all seriousness though, i actually did have bigger projects that i never finished... so, just gonna drop that i'm a big fan of RPG maker games, horror ones, PSYCHOLOGICAL horror ones for even better score. and i am kind of a liiiittle experienced with rpg maker.

warning!!

this answer ended up containing a lot of sensitive topics(in my opinion??) and i tried my best to make sure to include them in tags AND before each idea's explanation, please check the tags and not proceed if those topics are sensitive to you personally!!

i had a project that i started making as a vent. that's the closest i had to actually making something. it was called zepphire's lair. zepphire is my sona from 2015 that had very bright neon colours that were probably UNBEARABLE to look at, then i tried redesigning her years later into something pastel. and then, umm... in 2022 i had issues with my style because i used to be VERY caught in 'oh,,,this one line is weird,,,how do people even like my art there's a stray pixel there...god.' and decided to do something about it. this 'something about it' was changing my art style to PURPOSEFULLY unpleasant to look at, messy and annoying. it was bright, i didnt care, and honestly i think it helped with being that critical to myself. anyways. sorry im rambling but it is important

so in 2022, when i had a giant relief of drawing in the most unbearable(and stunning at the same time) art style, i reused zepphire. FUCK PASTEL said me. NEONS ARE GOOD. it was a great decision.

so zepphire's lair was meant to be an rpg game where you play as zepphire. who in her head is still her young self that doesn't have to think about what happened. but in reality, her magical world she was meant to become a god of was destroyed and ruined because she wasn't responsible enough with powers granted to her. she is now the only resident of the Forbidden Location, an alternative world that people could get into by just clipping randomly. like you know when you find a spot in a videogame that doesn't have an invisible wall and you go OH. that. i wasn't sure how to continue working on it because it lacked story to tell as present. it had a past story to unfold, but i had no idea what would happen now. i had a thought of someone getting into FL somehow after long time and zepphire trying to solve this because they're clearly not meant to be there while in her head she's still stuck struggling with herself.

i want to put a little bit of assets i made for zepphire's lair, but since it's all very bright toxic neon i think i'm gonna place them at the veeeery end so you don't have to look at them if you can't stand it.

CW: cartoon blood!! a little bit of it!!

next up is my cool idea of a fangame! so, purrfect apawcalypse is one of my favourite game series. and i've been following it since first one and i have a LARGE fanmade setting set in the same universe! (in fact, two! i also made a reference for kitsune high which is set to be in an agricultural town inhabitated by foxes! it was a cool project)

the game idea was to make an rpg (because, again, that's all i know, lmao) that follows the Chatting club - a school interest club literally dedicated to rumors and just having a good time - as they unveil the secrets their school holds. cats and dogs disappearance cases? rumors of ghost around? who the heck lives in the garden and what're they up to? what is up with the Detective club's president Seraphima? there are many mysteries. it would have an overall vibe of the original novellas' series - a cutesy game about very cute furries and weird magic stuff happening, while also having a little bit...darker tone. like i was actually going to explore a very dark topic with this one but honestly? right now i really don't like the way i wrote it back then. if i were to pick up the idea again i deffo would try to rewrite it and make more sense into it. i like the detective vibe it had going though!

here are some references of the characters that are important to the plot! a lot of twists were planned for this story and i'm not going to tell them all because it's a secret tee-hee.

also as i searched for the refs i found that the working title of the game was 'purrfect meowting'

another concept for a game i had...which is a lot.

CW: contains themes of child neglect, probably abuse, general cat mistreatment, probably a bit of ableism(im unsure about this one) and maybe a bit of weird racism because one of mc's character's parent is weird and very stupid and we are allowed to hate her for that...i hope i mentioned it all.

i have a little ocs setting with three main characters that i refer as 'kitty girls' this story is tragic and is based on idea i had about making a story...about girls...but put them into life situations that would reflect what cats sometimes have to go through bc some humans are trash, but put it through a human lens, although not exactly. it also ended up a story that portrays children who've lost their childhoods for various reasons. idk how to explain.

these are Snowwhite, Rouge and Patches. their names were meant to be reflecting what another one's kitty sona is, but i fucked up, lol.

Showwhite is a picture perfect girl for her parents who's mostly been treated as a prize all her life, making her feel sick of herself. Rouge was neglected by her mom because 'she wasn't born red'(as in orange...like a cat...i used cat allegories every time i explained it but i think the implications are clear enough - her mother wanted her to look different.) and she lived a happy life with her grandparents. and Patches...is a deaf girl whose parents just couldn't take care of her properly so she ended up in an orphanage. she has awful attachment issues.

i won't explain the whole plot but their stories were meant to be kind of a portrayal of how some people treat animals as just objects, things they can just get rid of. a cat of specific breed, bred for specific traits which may be hurtful to it, a cat whose owner just threw it away after it not meeting the expectations, and a general theme of people not wanting to take in cats with injuries that make them 'not pretty' for them. i don't know why im tearing up right now but these make me so upset and i smh wanted to portray these issues though human characters, and while adapting them i realized that those awful stories ended up overlapping with how neglectful parents end up treating their children.

in the end they end up in cat heaven, where they all meet and get to be happy and be themselves. snowwhite learns to love herself for who she is and find out hobbies there, rouge just finally gets friends she lacked. also patches doesn't magically start hearing in cat heaven, she was given an option to but she felt overwhelmed a lot and ended up sticking to being deaf but not treating it as a bad thing, just a different thing.

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BONUS SECTION

i also have this unused character and concept art that i just made bc i finally felt like i could do something back in the day

her working name was 'vogel'

so. returning to zepphire's lair. one thing i forgot to mention earlier is that i also even made OST for it (didn't feel like it would fit the text above). this one is just the theme that plays in the first playable area

main menu theme...is too heavy for tumblr apparently. huh. it's a very simple tune it just goes on for very long (bc there's an easter egg if you listen to it for too long!!!)

next section contains bright images that im gonna put even deeper below!!

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title screen!

intro cutscene! small baby zepphire, and then zepphire acquiring her godmode key, and then ending up becoming a photoshooter!! the camera is important .

here she is!!! the cat herself!!!

a photo that she has in her inventory!! it's mewtona, her sister!

gameplay-wise i was gonna make it so you can collect random photos zepphire made and have to learn the implications of that and what it has to do with 'the photoshooting incident'. it would be somewhat close to omori - part of story is in reality and parts of it in headspace that explains the story.

I THINK that's all. sorry this took so long that was a lot of yapping!!!

[pinkprettycure]

I was thinking that Crunchyroll is a really bad site for kids anime because it lacks any good age filters or categories but now that I'm browsing the site it's just dogshit for anime fans in general imo??

this is the genre tags we have, it's extremely small and general tbh The shows also aren't properly tagged all the time so you might click on something and not see it in there because it wasn't tagged.

For example A Sign of Affection is tagged with "Romance" ONLY. so you can't find it in the shojo tag at all. The way they're defined is up to god as well because they have shows that aren't shojo under the shojo tag and whether or not a show even gets tagged with it seems based on if they remember it exists cuz you might argue maybe My Love Story isn't tagged shojo cuz the protag is male and there's a misconception that shojo = female protag, but Super Lovers is a BL and it IS in there.

It's not based on the magazines they ran in (Skip and Loafer is under shojo but ran in a seinen magazine) and it's not based on the protagonist's gender because Super Lover's is a BL and tagged shojo, and its not even based on like, whether or not the demographic is female regardless of if it's magazine (Precure is a girls anime first series and IS tagged shojo but Brother's Conflict targets girls as well and ISN'T tagged as shojo.)

Under shojo is a subcategory for magical girls which you already see a large glaringly obvious problem here right off the bat, only the very first precure is even in it.

Since MG is a subcategory of "shojo" it means that any non-shojo magical girls aren't in it, not that it matters since it's utterly lacking in shojo magical girls as well, this is NOT their only selections, they have for shojo magical girls, they have a bunch of Precure of course, Creamy Mami, Fancy Lala, Minky Momo, a few Pretty series shows, and Acro Trip off the top of my head.

Magical Girl IMO shouldnt be a subcategory at all, it should be it's own genre category and they should include everything under the umbrella in there regardless of demographic and then have subcategories such as shojo, ecchi, or idol underneath THAT. Madoka, Spec-ops Asuka, and Boueibu SHOULD be possible to locate under the same category as Sailor Moon and not just by digging through a massive generic tag like "Fantasy"

Mecha is a similar problem where it's a sub category under Sci-fi instead of it's own genre tag, I do think Mecha makes sense as subtag way more than MG does and at least it has a healthy amount of shows in its subcategory but it really should be it's own thing with it's own subtags, doesn't have to be just like, super and real robot it could be for stuff like whether it has heavy romance or the settings like if the battles primarily are in space like Gundam 79 vs in a fantasy isekai world like Escaflowne.

There isn't a tag for BL or Yuri at all, Super Lovers like I mentioned before is tagged as Shojo but Junjou Romantica is tagged as Drama and Romance and Love Stage is only tagged with Romance.

These shows are all way too hard to find if you don't know where to look or what to look for, and a fan who wants to find something new to watch will have little luck since their favorite genres either don't exist or aren't tagged properly, you can't really search unless the genre is in the name and you still get irrelevant shows in the search. So looking for "Yuri" gets you "Yuri on Ice" and not Strawberry Panic, and the "more like this" carousel is hit or miss on if it shows anything relevant. I saw Quintessential Quintuplets and Rent-A-Girlfriend under the recommendations for Citrus and I imagine anyone watching infamous yuri anime Citrus is not interested in a het harem with a male lead or whatever the fuck is going on with rent a girlfriend.

like its one thing imo for Hulu and Netflix to just slap a bunch of anime under one tag and call it a day but a site targeted specifically toward nerds that's trying to be THEE one stop spot for all things anime and japanese media? this is fucking embarrassing.

[saint-starflicker]

Happy Early Halloween, Chat!

By chat I mean @leiflitter (I know you're in output mode! You go, Leif's output mode; just courtesy-tagging 😁) @nbymop @rwoh @spacecasehobbit—and @wolfiso who might still be seeking out ghost stories.

I mentioned wanting to start a book club on the Fable app, and while I'm still discovering some stumbling blocks (app is sensitive to dropped connections so I often have to re-type and post twice after refreshing; the Book Quotes feature doesn't go beyond maybe 350 keystrokes; I never loved star ratings but the emoji rating is too limited and ambiguous too; only 10 tags allowed across so many different rubrics; filling out the Book Review form feels like being a research subject of a target demographic focus group, the Book Club thread-post format I think is less conducive to broader discussions about the books such as racism and disability representation and/or queer readings across a variety of works in the gothic novel "canon"...and then encouraging one another with writing, which was half my motivation for starting up a reading club in the first place, but there's not much wiggle room for customization...)

uh

maybe Fable's list function is better. Yeah. I'm gonna go with sharing my lists.

...I hope it doesn't force link-clickers to make an account before you get to see these lists, because what's the point of the list settings being Public if it's not going to be public Public?

And I don't put this up to imply that anyone reading must read all of them. This is more like, the book club could've been a wine cellar—so I appreciate recommendations because what I do have is still aggressively Anglo.

[screenshot of tweet by @MumblinDeafRo that says: "I said this before, but I try not to think of it as a TBR pile but more like a wine cellar. You try & time the right combination of mood, energy & interest, so that you pick a book when you have the best chance of getting along with it. That's what the writer prefers too." ]

Amontillado under Keep Reading cut.

Early Gothic �� The Castle of Otranto (more inspired by medieval chivalric romances and I think the author even tried to pass it off as one; but in all my research everyone says this was the first gothic novel), The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne (I think was still low-key riding Otranto's coattails in addition to taking inspiration from it, not that that's a bad thing), The Castle of Wolfenbach (now we're getting somewhere), The Mysteries of Udolpho (oh Anne Radcliffe we're really in it now, and by it I mean a literary genre that was new in like 1790 CE), Glenarvon (the earliest instance of a "Byronic" character I could find that wasn't literally Lord George Gordon Byron's self-insert), The Monk (of all the gothic novels that stirred up controversy, this one was the most stirred up controversiest), Northanger Abbey (oh Jane Austen we're really in it now), Fantasmagoriana: Geschichten der Toten (translated from German to French by Jean-Baptiste Benoît Eyriès, not really on this list to read but rather to say oh George Gordon Byron we're really in it now), The Vampyre (the second instance of a "Byronic" character that I've heard about) and Frankenstein.

I elected to leave out a lot that was on Jane Austen's characters' reading lists in Northanger Abbey (Necromancer of the Black Forest, Carl Grosse's Horrid Mysteries, The Italian, The Mysterious Warning, Clermont, The Midnight Bell, and Orphan of the Rhine) because Northanger Abbey was already there, and to include some nonfiction such as Richard Hurd's "Letters on Chivalry and Romance" that was Hurd's observations on that genre's development, as well as Idée sur les Romans by Worst Human Being of the Century award-winner Marquis Donatien Alphonse François de Sade.

Midcentury and Victorian/Edwardian era Gothic — I didn't actually know whether to put The Last Man by Mary Shelley in the Early Gothic list or if 1826 can count as "midcentury". As it stands, this list begins with A Priest in 1839 by Jules Verne (written in the mid/late 1840s but not published until...1992? and unfinished), Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo, assorted novels by the Brontë sisters, The Marble Faun by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Carmilla, Dracula, Clemence Housman's Werewolf, Frances Hodgson Burnett's sort of cozy gothic kid lit, The Phantom of the Opera and The Picture of Dorian Gray.

I really wanted to add Moby Dick and Karl Heinrich Ulrichs's Manor to this list but I think "nautical gothic" could practically be its own thing.