#I do think its the case of.. parents who are so controlling to the point its abusive

[shadowxamyweek]

Where Does the Headcanon That Silver Is Shadow and Amy’s Kid Come From?

Much like Shadow calling Amy, 'Rose,' Silver being Shadow and Amy's kid is everywhere. If nothing else, he's often relegated to a distant descendant. When did we all agree though that this was just kinda a thing? To answer that, we're going to have to back up to Dragon Ball.

Sega has never hidden its love of Dragon Ball. Much of what is now Sonic Canon just started out as Sega artists and game designers delighting in some of the cool stuff Dragon Ball does, including but not limited to how the 7 chaos emeralds parallel the 7 dragon balls, and how Sonic's super form mirrors Goku's. This is important to keep in mind because there's another set of parallels that are being drawn when the, 'Silver is Shadow and Amy's kid,' headcanon comes into play. In Dragon Ball, there's an villain turned anti-hero/secondary protagonist called Vegeta and a very bubbly, very domineering woman named Bulma. The two get together and have a kid, named Trunks. Trunks ends up time traveling, specifically going back in time to prevent certain tragedies from happening. Aaaaand then once again, in Sonic, we have Shadow, being a villain turned anti-hero/secondary protagonist, and Amy, being a bubbly and domineering girl. We've also got Silver, who ends up time traveling, specifically going back in time to prevent certain tragedies from happening. *gestures loosely* People on Sega's payroll have noticed the parallels and commented on them as well. In 2008, on his Bumble King website, Ian Flynn answered some fan questions about the subject:

Later, in 2023, Flynn and his cohost Crouse over on the @bumblekast answered a question about this again:

(It's at 1:26:13, just in case I messed up the link) ---- TRANSCRIPT Crouse: Right, here's another question. This one is from ChaosSonic1. "This might kill this headcanon for others, but it always bugs me: people constantly consider Shadow and Amy as Silver's parents but that would be impossible due to two things. One, Shadow was in prison for 200 years. Thoughts?" ...That's only one thing but okay. [Laughter] Flynn: It is something that's come up because there were a lot of weird parallels, number one that silver was, you know, decidedly based on Trunks and I think it's quite obvious that Shadow is the kind of Vegeta of this group. It makes Amy default to the Bulma, which isn't really solid. I mean, if anything, Tails is the Bulma of the group, but you know there are no solid one to ones throughout the whole thing. You started trying to get too specific with it and falls apart. There was other stuff like-... something in Sonic and the Black Knight-... Amy was Nimune and Shadow was Lancelot and Silver was-... Galahad... Point being, within Autherial 1:27:40 within Arthurian, lore Silver's character was the child of Shadow and Amy's characters, which kind of made everyone go, 'beg pardon?' (Brief pause, this is slightly incorrect. Nimune is both the singular and plural name for water nymphs, one, or all of which, raised Lancelot. Galahad is *only* Lance's child. Again, like Dragon Ball, not a one to one, but enough to cock an eyebrow.) Flynn: There's also like the kind of vague mysticism around Amy and the fact that Silver can do Chaos Control so it's like, did he inherit Shadow's Chaos Control and his psychic powers from Amy? And it's all like extremely loose vague breadcrumbs that don't really so much make a line as they just are kind of scattered in the water for the ducks to eat so no, it doesn't really make any sense because like you said, in that timeline, Shadow was sealed away for like the duration and it's still 200 years. I don't think Amy was, you know, secretly carrying Shadow's love baby that long. That doesn't add up...- I mean, who knows. I mean, if that is your headcanon, if that's your ship, if that's how you want to connect the dots, go nuts. I'm not going to shoot it down.

Crouse: But there's also the whole thing, like time travel is a thing.

Flynn: Yeah.

Crouse: A lot of other things are things that could happen, like- [Laugh].

Flynn: And Amy's associated with Little Planet a lot, I get it, you can- you could put the pieces together that way if you wanted. I just don't think that's what Sega's doing with it.

Crouse: Well, no, but you know, who cares what Sega's doing except you I guess. You have to. Flynn: I do. It's part of my job.

Crouse: You have to care, but the rest of us now, we don't have to. Screw whatever Sega's doing, we can do whatever we want. My headcanon.

---- (This evidence I have to thank @shadamyheadcanons for. I remembered reading this ages ago, but couldn't remember *where*. She also provided the Bumblekast interview. ) I'm also going to point out, as many have before, that Sonic plays loose and fast with what Chaos Energy/Magic/Science/Whatever can and cannot do, including but not limited to time stuff as evidence in Sonic 06, where Silver debuted. I've also talked before that just because we see a future based off of the current events and trajectory of those events in 06, that does not mean that said-future is set in stone, and may very well change if the characters themselves make different decisions.

And that's *only* arguments for the headcanon that Silver is, in fact, their child. That doesn't include just how much more liberty there is in the headcanon that Silver is some distant relative, who's bloodline is intrinsically tied to Shadow and Amy. So yeah! That's where the headcanon comes from! It's moments like these that I can appreciate the lack of details in Sonic. That's not a thing I say very often, but in situations like these, it really allows for an open imagination of the different parts and pieces, and how they all fit together. Sonic is fun like that, and I love it for this reason <3

[yaoireview]

SPAMTENNA REVIEW (CLEAR DELTARUNE CHAPTER 3 + 4 SPOILERS)

No one asked me for this one. This ones for me.

Yaknow I think its beautiful, we all DROPPED THE ZERO and got with the hero... I'm just trying to warn you all.. Tony will soon brainwash us all to the point where we ask:

"Who's Jevil? I only know Pluey."

Some may be skeptical, "How would they be gay...?" Well I'm glad you asked.. I have NO DOUBT in my mind thats im wrong. (Until another chapter releases and we have to fight one of spamton's exes as if we were scott pilgrim)

I'm gonna list some evidence of these two characters being gay, If thats okay with everyone.

EVIDENCE 1: I'm just gonna say it. The divorce was Spamton's fault.

Going into Chapter 3 is like helping your friend through couples therapy, and after you show up and listen in on their session, you realize that your friend was definitely the problem.

WE (yes, we.) ALL thought that tenna was gonna be irredeemable. The way that spamton talked this guy up made us feel like tenna is someone who kicks puppies on weekends and uses money from their job to donate to organizations that are trying to bring back public hangings.

Then we meet the guy and he just has abandonment issues, yeah SURE he fought two kids but WHO hasn't?? (I surely have!)

In Tenna's battle, if you have one of spamton's equips on, the check dialogue will say this

Spamton wants him DEAD. The kids weren't enough for him he wants to take his life too!

In the scene where Tenna and Spamton interact, spamton says

As someone pointed out, this is REALLY messed up since the entire chapter, Tenna is scared of being thrown out and spamton's just here casually bringing that up

Its like the equivalent of your ex saying "Hey Aquaman how's it hanging! Wanna get back together?" when you told them while you were together that you're deeply afraid of the ocean because both your parents died in a shipwreck with you as the sole survivor of your family

His greed sickens me.. thats all I'm saying..

Don't act like you cared about the kids you sick fuck...

EVIDENCE 2: THE SIMILARITIES

They just have a lot in common in a nutshell. Tenna and Spamton have so many similarities in dialogue its insane...

Theres a lot of things in Chapter 3 to insinuate that they were once business partners, like how the Z room (which you could only get if you REALLY SUCK) was most likely a room for spamton, and about how the glitched out posters were almost definitely of spamton and tenna together making out sloppy style

Another thing that I've seen people point out is that the poster nearby Spamton's dumpster probably had Tenna in it also, but Spamton only ripped the queen part down that blocked him in a drunken rage, probably because he didn't want to see tenna's part

The main biggest similarity that you most likely noticed during your playthrough was the usage of "HEY EVERY !" in a good chunk of songs in deltarune chapter 3. You wanna know who ELSE shares leitmotifs like that..? Toriel and Asgore.

Atleast they have shared custody over one thing..

EVIDENCE 3: THE DIVORCE

We don't know much what went down exactly between them but we do know that they ended off rough.

In the secret boss (or mantle side thing your choice) quest, a digital version of tenna will start talking about spamton

After the phone call, spamton's face became pale, DASHED out of the room, and it seems like Tenna didn't see him after that (not including the divorce court)

Theres two options what could've happened, the likely one was

Gaster just called him: Maybe to just take control again, or to tell him to knock it off with the gay stuff. Maybe gaster's homophobic who knows!

Spamton did this little thing called acting: His ego couldn't handle telling Tenna how to be a big shot, and so he ran away when it was his turn to do his end of the bargain (This probably isnt the case)

Tenna helped Spamton all he could (from what we know) and spamton DINED AND DASHED when it was his turn to help Tenna, when he most likely didn't have any control over himself

I dunno if he could blame gaster when he told Tenna to invest into cryptocurrency though thats a LITTLE bit up in the air

FINAL THOUGHTS:

I dunno about you but thats toxic yaoi if I ever saw it...

YAOI: 8.5/10

TOXIC YAOI: 10/10

[lesbianisamu]

Why Isamu Being Queer Could've Benefitted His Arc Of Courage: A Semi-Coherent Ramble (and Criticism)

Disclaimer: I have zero intent to attack any member of the development team, my criticisms are untargeted and will remain unnamed. I encourage discussion about this topic. I (OBVIOUSLY) do not want disagreement in the form of homophobia. Yes I'm queer my URL is literally lesbianisamu what did you think I was? Not a lesbian? I'll start writing now.

The Mimic has a fairly substantial and fairly egregious history with misrepresenting mental health issues. This is relevant. While TMO (The Mimic Origins) is no longer canon (thank god), its influences still remain. While it is no longer explicitly canon that Futaba, or Futao, has bipolar disorder/bpd (unclear), the stereotypes, mishandling and frankly ridiculous storytelling are still present in The Witch Trials. This point has been done to death, but I will reiterate anyway.

Making a character with a severe mental illness an evil, abusive, disgusting individual is not GOOD(edit) representation, believe it or not. At first it seems that Futaba is aware of her struggles and how it affects her daughter, though I still don't like this. By the end, she completely contradicts herself by doing a 180 and claiming that she is not at fault for any of her actions and instead blaming the demon inside of her. Woah. Sure. Also the split-into-two representations of being manic and depressive with the depressive constantly humming a melancholy tune and crying, while the manic, or the demon (Mote) is constantly cackling with inhuman laughter. It's odd. Left a terrible taste in my mouth.

Yasu is a character who is objectively non-abusive. Pretty non-problematic too. I don't have much to say on the character himself as I've never fixated enough to do a full analysis (sorry to my Yasoomfs), but I can say that his resulting mental health was also handled poorly. So thoroughly traumatised by the events of Control that he apparently? Has PTSD? DO NOT QUOTE ME ON THIS. Either way, I'm going to disregard that, I just had to bring up the hearsay. Regardless of whether he did end up with a trauma based mental health disorder or not, the way he was treated and left after Control by the writing is nothing short of bleak. All of his friends being turned into butterfly spirits and then him being forced to sacrifice them simply to move onto a new room of horror? His parents being caught with his mother hanging in front of him, only to find out when he saves them that they don't remember a thing? Being hunted down by nightmarish mutants that are his long-dead family members, forced to save them all and carry the burden of the curse on largely unsuspecting shoulders? You might think he was put in therapy, or had counselling, or maybe sought out other people who had gone through similar experiences so he could start to heal.

We don't know anything after the knowledge that his parents are amnesiacs about the event. Like I'm not kidding, zilch. Second edition of a character with obviously poor mental health being mistreated by the direction the writing either took or didn't take.

Senzai. Jesus fucking Christ. The next edition we have of mental health representation is a guy who canonically is a terrorist, murderer and conspirator who flattened, and aided to flatten the densest city in terms of population on Earth. I don't think I need to say much more on this topic. If I do, I'll get angry. I hate Senzai and I wish he was written about ten million times better than he is.

In the case of both Senzai and Futaba, they are victims of abuse/generational trauma, which led to or exacerbated their previously present mental health issues. Both wind up as. I don't want to be yelled at again for my wording. Abysmal people. That's 3/3 so far on mental health, all awful, all harmful, and all bleak which is not really the tone mental health representation should speak with.

I promise you it was relevant to the title. Now that we know The Mimic has an, at best, shaky representation with mental health issues and illnesses, we could probably hope that their queer representation would be bett-

They decanonised Enzukai being genderqueer (fluid? or agender? not certain) when JC4 came out. They did this, I think, in an effort to lift the possible implications of a genderqueer character being. Evil demon creature. I get it, like I do. There's also literally everything else. Like Senzai being implied to be queer.

A character who is queer being a bad person is not inherently a poor writing choice. Just because someone is queer, they are not exempt from being awful, they are not exempt from consequence, and they most certainly are not exempt from being criticised for their actions in media, or in real life. However. Senzai is a genocidal terrorist who, I'm not kidding, killed upwards of NINE MILLION PEOPLE. Yes while under the cults influence, and Yes gave himself up to the authorities after (another can of worms) but holy shit. nine fucking million. It's not the best message to give off and I hope I don't have to explain why. Edit: I should have stated that this is heavily implied rather than explicitly canon, but my main point still stands.

Yes, fucked up evil queer characters are sometimes fun, but its less fun when so far (and continuing) its the only gimmick that the queer characters get. Then it's weird.

My biggest gripe is honestly with the Nagemi character in Halloween Trials. OOOO god. It's agender. Win for agender's right? WRONG. WE LOSE. AGAIN. It is, if you haven't actually seen the character, half a body. It is a decaying freakish torso that crawls behind you and kills you like all other mimic monsters. In an old. Insane. Asylum. AN INSANE ASYLUM. What the actual fuck.

There are no queer characters who are happy with their queerness, no queer characters that actually even have an arc that remotely includes their queer aspect, and all of them are fucking oddball freaks. I'm not including Kibo Edouji as a queer character, even though he pretty much objectively is as much as I detest the Kizai propaganda that gets pushed, because he's essentially a brick with a jumper, with no actual character arc, and exists purely to be in love with Senzai. (HEAVY IMPLICATION)

Overall. Not a good look. Time for the main event.

Isamu is a character that hides. While it's obviously not intentional, Book 2 gameplay has an extreme increase in hiding spots compared to Book 1. He was neglected by his father and mother, and definitely is a victim of their abuse I genuinely will not take any of that "we didn't see him get hit" bullshit. Go read my other post about this if you want to argue. Neglected for the first 15 years of his life and probably beyond, hiding in plain sight from care, and this is also shown in the way the C3 teaser shows him deflecting blame from himself, trying to remain hidden, and being caught off-guard when involved in a conversation only to act as the deciding factor in the result of the event, the result being Senzai hit over the head with a glass bottle. His only method of reliable defence was to hide, and he continued to do so throughout the book, hiding or running from danger instead of fighting it.

Giving Isamu a queer identity, or more likely a genderqueer identity would've fitted his character if shown, even briefly, alongside the display of his upbringing. He knows how to hide, it has been instilled into him from the moment he was brought into the world. He was also neglected, meaning the attention was away from him and on his older brother anyway. He could've gotten away with existing as a queer person in his early teens, though it wouldn't necessarily have been readily accepted by his peers. When thrust into the spotlight after the incident, and focus placed on him, likely to "marry well and continue the family lineage", he would've struggled with the conversations.

The UK is currently a shitshow with protecting queer and trans people, but even in school when it wasn't so abhorrent as it is now, the bullying was horrific, and I was incredibly lucky to have firm friends alongside me. I cannot imagine how difficult and isolating it would be in a country such as Japan where gay marriage is still not legal.

This, however, would contribute to him being isolated as an early adult. Isamu has no friends or partners listed in his "relationships" tab on the wiki. In a country where there is an ongoing "loneliness" epidemic, being queer would only further isolate you.

I think him specifically being some form of trans (transfem/neutral) would've introduced yet another parallel to Enzukai. Youngest siblings vying for the attention of their family and going to extreme methods for it (destructive in Enzukai's case and semi-self-destructive in Isamu's). Informal and crass, making (and keeping) them both genderqueer would've introduced a neat parallel, showing us again that Senzai turned from his brother to a version that could give him power, instead of accepting the power that came from Isamu's encouragement. But they decanonised Enzukai being genderqueer. So whatever.

It also gives us an aspect to Isamu's character that's a personal struggle, even if it's in the background and barely touched upon, and derails the focus from being entirely on Senzai and the antagonists for THE ENTIRE BOOK. He wouldn't be a person going through shit in a queer way, it wouldn't be a central aspect of his character. He'd be a character going through shit who also happened to be queer but ultimately is busy focused on saving the world. It humanises him a little and shows how things operate in the real world. Being queer is important to me, undoubtedly, but I also have a job, I have responsibilities, I don't focus on being queer 110% of the time, because it's just one aspect of who I am. It would add another layer to his character that makes him more intriguing when his arc is all about COURAGE. and supposedly acceptance but the execution of that was dubious at best

Isamu's courage. Growing up, becoming stronger, saving his brother and saving the remaining people of Tokyo that he could at extreme risk to himself. I have points to make but they're not totally relevant. Stay Tuned Maybe.

Actually fighting the monsters, fighting a huge dragon with the weaponry equivalent of a very bright candle and barely breaking a sweat. But also having the courage finally to actually show his emotions, show his feelings to someone who isn't himself, and actually break down a little bit even if it was for five seconds, he had the courage to not be okay for a moment. If Isamu had gone through the journey of queer self-acceptance before all this had gone down, it would've GREATLY increased his ability to become courageous and stay courageous, as it is such a hard thing for many people to do, and would show his eternal strength and bravery to keep existing despite the world being against you for who you're attracted to or what you identify as.

We would also finally have a queer character who is genuinely a good person, who before the events had a stable job he enjoyed and got along with his coworkers, even if he wasn't the best at making friends. We would have a queer character who isn't a terrorist, who isn't just a creature or an insane asylum resident clump of flesh. We would have a queer character who is the HERO of the story instead of being a direct antagonist. We would have a complicated, naive and slightly flawed in his thinking queer person who felt the most like an actual, real human from this game.

I have contradicted myself and been aware of it the whole time, as it fuels my own point. Isamu is not a happy character. Even if he was queer he would not exist peacefully, but it isn't due to his queerness. This is less of a point about how queer people rarely end up happy in media - although it's also one I'm actively making - and more about how Isamu himself was treated anyway. A punching bag, a scapegoat for the writers and the fandom intentionally or not, abused, belittled, refused genuine peace at every turn, his one supportive figure snatched away from him at the very last moment, and the last thing he sees being his brother flinching away from him in fear, confirming to him that his self-hatred was correct, diminishing any and all character growth that they barely acknowledged before ripping it away. He died alone and unloved, and being queer wouldn't fix that, a complete rewrite would, and should be done.

To conclude: I'm always going to be angry about the mental health mishandling that happened and continues to happen in this game. Isamu's entire character focus should not have been on his brother. Your only queer characters should not be fucked up evil insane 100% of the time. I miss Isamu. He's a transfem lesbian to me always and forever.

Edit: I've received a little criticism on this post, and have made necessary edits and changes, particularly in my wording or indication as to whether something is implied or is canon, or whether something is representation or not.

[caffinated-squid]

The Eltingville club- consumerism, control, and how they relate to Josh Levy

So initially I wasn’t going to talk about Josh because I have seen his archetype multiple times and it felt self explanatory, as well as not really having much to say on him as a character, but I still want to give it a shot. So I am going to talk about 2 things: what Josh represents in fandom, and how that intersects with his relationship with his parents.

Starting with the basics, even though all the characters collect figures and memorabilia, Josh is the most obsessive about it, which can be seen in how he goes to several fast food stores for toys to complete his collection, later tearing through several loaves of wonder bread for a card in Bread and Suck Asses, and refusing to eat anything other than Batman Kraft Mac n cheese in the hopes of getting a new figurine.

On surface level, a lot of Josh’s behaviors reflect the overconsumption aspects in toxic fandoms, the need to spend everything to finish a collection, even if it is something they don’t even like. But I also think that its a way for Josh to have something that he doesn’t have a lot of in his life: control.

As much as Josh owns and collects, as much as he knows about trivia, he is unable to control how other people view him, which becomes more of an emphasis when taken into account that Josh (next to Jerry) is usually bullied the most. He has no control over the club, as Bill constantly reinforces his status through making sure that he gets to decide how the day is planned and what they are going to do. No matter how much he knows about comics and sci fi, he will never get hired at Joes because Joe sees him just as another source to get money out of.

I think the collecting allows Josh to have some say in how things go, same with his writing of superhero fan fiction, it gives him the ability to decide what will happen without being questioned.

*This can also apply to how he treats people in customer service, considering how he talks to them and how he treated the seller from As Seen on TV. These people can't lash out because if they do, they will get fired, and only exist to Josh as someone who he can tear into without consequence.

In this case, it is probably why Josh never got better as a writer, along with his own entitlement, he probably saw any criticism as an attack on him, and he already gets shit on daily by pretty much everybody. The only way he could find a way around this was to force people to have to deal with it out of spite, which can be seen in the epilogue as he goes on a whole speech on how when he finally gets in with the desired group of people, he can finally force people to accept his work as canon.

Josh’s parents also play a role when it comes to his consumerism and how he interacts with people. Although they are never seen, the pieces of information given (Josh having the most money to spend on memorabilia, their willingness to let him keep spending money and continue his terrible diet, giving him punishments for his behavior but still being very forgiving as they still let him interact with the club even though that’s usually how he gets into trouble) give more context for why Josh is so quick to anger and entitled, he is used to getting what he wants with little to no resistance which is something that Bill constantly challenges.

Though there is definitely a shift in this behavior after the events in This Fan, This Monster. Out of all the characters that get yelled at, I would say that Josh’s is one of the worst. You can see that his parents have reached their breaking point, and possibly have a lot of built up resentment towards Josh that is finally being let loose as they tell him they would rather be dead and blame him for his mothers heart attack.(as well as their own regrets of how they raised Josh being blamed on him) It is a personal attack that is directed towards Josh, and this is one of the only times that he doesn’t respond with hostility.

The one thing that Josh lacked which he needed the most to improve was some degree of self-reflection, as well as needing to accept that he can be wrong. The epilogue shows he did neither of these and instead doubled down. He may have gained more power, but has not gained any sense of self or respect to others, and will probably be treated as just another disposable piece in the comic industry.

[astermagnolia]

My Stalkers and Cryptids Soulmate Au headcanons

Timothy Drake-Wayne

• hes half-vietnam on his mothers side (based on that one fanart of Vietnamese Tim cause the artist is Vietnamese. I cant find it though :(( )

- unfortunately, because his parents traveled a lot and didn't stick around for very long either, Tim isn't super connected to his culture and traditions.

- he does try learning on his own through the Internet but its not the same. He does learn the language though! Its the very first language he learns.

• hes bisexual and demiboy and goes by he/they

• he was not in any sports but did sign up for self defense classes and learned how to skateboard

• Bernard convinces Tim to go to college so hes majoring in business and minoring in photography 

- he told Bruce what he was doing and Bruce was absolutely ecstatic to hear that. He was worried for Tim not having a life outside the vigilante stuff so he happily took control over wayne enterprises again if it meant that Tim would go to college/University

• tim is 5'6 making him the shortest out of all of them (wes is 6'0, danny is 6'3, and Bernard is 5'9)

• he is very much touch starved and it took a while for him to get used to all the hugging, touches, and just generally being so close to another person.

- once he does get used to all of that, he ends up being the little spoon. And by that i mean he just starfishes on the bed and lets whoever fets to the bed first to cuddle up to him.

- He definitely does have a time limit for how long they can hug him though. But if he initiated the hug then it can last a long while

• obviously Tim can stay up for hours if not days for cases and other things (he practically lives off coffee, something Bernard has been trying to stop) but he also has the ability to just... sleep anywhere. And i mean anywhere. He once fell asleep on a freaking rollercoaster

• hes a monster fucker.

- no i will not clarify.

• he has trackers on all his partners and a special tracker for danny since they dont really work around him

- he absolutely asked before hand and had a whole ass presentation as to why he should be able to track them and their vitals (at the end it said that it was completely fine if they didnt want to go along with it)

- Bernard understood. Hes lived in Gotham so he understands. (He was also kidnapped by a cult once. Once was enough)

- Wes was excited that he wasn't the only "stalker" in the relationship.

- Danny–i was already stalked once by a soulmate who was trying to out me as a half ghost vigilante–F̶e̶n̶t̶o̶n̶ Nightingale: yeah sure. It's happened before. I think its kinda romantic now

• he will set loose his partners if it means he gets to fuck with people. Danny being the future ghost king while Wes being extremely liminal means he has above human strength, slightly glowing eyes, and is far more silent than a normal person should (both also have an "off putting aura" that sort of freaks people out). Bernard just freaks people out by knowing things he shouldn't (thanks to his partners)

• he adores the nicknames from his partners. He got 'birdy' from Bernard, 'timmy' (and other versions of tim) from Wes, and ducky/darling/starlight from danny

• his romance language is knowing every single little thing about his partners. Like he has a binder each for his partners.

• Forgets to eat and drink unless something is placed directly in front of him by Bernard or Wes

• Has a special mug that he drinks his coffee out of that was given to him by Bernard when they were friends in highschool, any other mug is wrong

• once it's out that Danny is half ghost and can travel through portals, Tim begs Danny to portal him anywhere just cause.

- it got to a point that Danny made/found a ring that can create portals and gave it to Tim

• definitely, 100%, doesn't have plans for world domination, whaaaat?

•definitely, 100%, doesn't like to be pampered by his partners and just his partners. You're absolutely insane to think that. Crazy talk

[starcurtain]

Not sure if you've discussed about it before but any thoughts on the suspicious amount of number 10 associations surrounding Phaidei, and esp. Mydei? Number 10 in Pythagoreanism also represents perfection or completeness. So I don't know what to think of that in this context.

Numerology is not my area of expertise, but a couple thoughts:

You already mentioned Pythagoras, so I figure you have the ancient Greek numerology covered. It seems that 10 was particularly important for ancient Greece; the entire mathematical system was a base-10 system, so everything is built on and reduces to that. In the sense that 10 is "completeness," I think this number must also convey a sense of balance--therefore, I think if we apply the constantly recurring number 10 to Phainon and Mydei's connection, it seems to be the idea of one of being each other's "match," or balancing each other out--neither can defeat the other in battle; both are needed to protect Amphoreus, etc. The idea of completing each other is very romantic, of course. In any case, even if the number itself is not the actual importance, the fact that the dev team deliberately paralleled Mydei's parents have a ten-round duel and falling in love to Mydei and Phainon having a ten-day-and-night duel at their first meeting, and then to Mydei telling Phainon his one weakness (the 10th vertebra) demonstrates that the link between Mydei, Phainon, and closeness is all intentional and important. I think that the sense of "perfection" in this case could also be linked to the sense of "meant to be."

On the Chinese side, at least as far as I've been able to read, the connotation is a little less extreme. The number 10 isn't bad, but it isn't extremely special/lucky either. Decent luck? lol. From what I've been able to gather, the sense that "10 = complete/perfection" is also present in Chinese numerology, but culturally, other numbers like 8 have more significance, and 10's sense of perfection or completion can sometimes run contrary to the idea of personal improvement--once you reach fullness, completion, or the pinnacle, there is nowhere else to go. So it's not an ill omen or anything on the Chinese side, but may carry some social baggage that the Greek interpretation did not have. As ten constantly reappears in Mydei's life, perhaps this is a sign pointing to fate--perhaps ten symbolizes moments where one meets one's destiny, where one approaches the end of the cycle.

As a final number to consider, 10 is also the number for "the Wheel of Fortune" card in the major arcana. Since there's been a lot of speculation connecting Star Rail and the tarot in recent worlds, it might be worth considering the connotations of this card. In conjunction with 10 symbolizing "completion of the circle," or "reaching the pinnacle," the assumption is that life is made of ups and downs. We rise and fall, like a turning wheel--or like Amphoreus's repeating cycles. When you reach the top, the only place to go is down; thus, the "perfection" of ten represents the exact turning point at which one's fortunes will once again change. The Wheel of Fortune tarot card represents those major changes, connecting back to the concept of both fate and will--what is inevitable and has yet to be decided, what you can do to seize control of your own destiny. I think this relates very well to Mydei's situation and role in the plot of Amphoreus. His experience is one long metaphor for the cruelty of fate, for those who cannot or who fail to break free of what prophecy has predicted for them. At every turn, Mydei challenges the destiny that has been set before him, refusing to continue the traditions of Kremnos, desperately rejecting the coreflame, stating that he will fight with every ounce of his will to reject the future in which he is forced to become the titan of Strife. Thus, he is both suffering the affects of the "Wheel" and doing his best to break free of it. With this card and its meaning in mind, we could also read his connection with Phainon, where the 10 keeps repeating, as symbolic of turning points in Mydei's life, places where the "wheel" of his fate took new turns.

Just sayin'!

[thechaoticfaelostitsshame]

I think I finally figured out Murkoff’s message they’re trying to instill with Franco? It’s anti pleasure and anti ease

It’s similar to how gooseberry started off with “we don’t want kids to do cocaine and murder” it escalated into promoting control through strict parenting and religion, as well as denial of frivolous childhood pleasures which are linked with deviant things (such as sex toys).

In Franco’s case, most people would find it reasonable to say that doing heroin, gambling, and having sex with prostitutes at public clubs isn’t the greatest thing to be doing. It escalates and gets a little less bad at its base in “Pleasure The Prosecutor” since it’s mainly just kinky sex at that point, before it culminates in linking the pleasure and ease that comes with union protections with depravity. Murkoff, essentially, wants you to not only not indulge in bad habits whilst punishing others who do so, but they don’t want anyone to advocate for an easier life if it goes against the status quo.

Whether it’s drugs, sex, or being paid a living wage, they all make you feel good and alleviate some sort of “suffering”.

[blimbo-buddy]

I would love to know about rodent kid/evil rat baby. Is it still a rat in this au or some other kind of rodent? Whats its relationship with bram like? Do you have any ideas for how it joined the party n how that differed from canon rat baby?

Good questions! (Rat Child will be referred to as Rodent Kid in this post)

To start off: It's kind of hard to say what Rodent Kid exactly is.

It does retain some more rodent-like qualities, but it also looks strangely. "Rabbit-like"

However, what the characters can't get over is how strangely human it looks and acts

Especially in it's eyes

Nobody is sure what exactly it is, even if it reminds them of a weird mutated rabbit

When Bram finds it, he doesn't think it even feels right to call it a rabbit, but he doesn't know what kind of rodent it'd be

So: Rodent Kid as a nickname was born

Some characters do call it Rabbit Kid, but it's official name in the au is Rodent Kid

Second answer: It's relationship with Bram somewhat follows the OG dynamic with Rat Child and Sam

You know how Rat Child copies Sam, to the point where it's a battle move that it can use? Same case here

Unfortunately: It's not good when Bram is a rather unpredictably angry and frustrated guy who can't control his emotions well

RK (Rodent Kid) and Bram are kind of like a strange dysfunctional child-and-parent duo; They care for each other and do honestly need each other (RK for literal reasons and Bram for psychological/mental reasons) but they fight a lot, Bram gets frustrated with this freak and RK lashes back like an angry child

Shows up often when RK interacts with other characters like this interaction with it and Leah (Evil Leigh). It's tricky, it tries getting what it wants with deception

Third answer: Yes and no

The way Bram finds RK is different

Unlike finding Rat Child in a baby crib, Bram finds an old rusty pet cage on the ground covered by sheets

He uncovers it and Rodent Kid is revealed

Note, this is based on an interpretation of the og source material and isn't canon to the game: A popular idea is that Rat Child was once a baby that fused with/gained features of a rat after being Cursed.

So; Rodent Kid was once a baby.... rabbit or rodent that either fused with or gained features of a human baby (Still ages as quickly as Rat Child though)

I'm not so solid on what happens after this but Bram still does end up keeping it. Don't know how to approach The Wall Face thing because I'm stuck on it and whether Bram should just lose an arm like OG Sam or sacrifice a leg instead somehow

[choshashio]

Difficulty with plotting and staying consistent.

I don't know if anyone else has this problem, but I've struggled with it since starting to plot out my stories.

It doesn't matter if i have a prompt, or an idea, i always go off track. I have a hard time sticking to that prompt, plot point, or idea, and it drives me absolutely bonkers.

Recently, though. I have found a cool little trick that has helped me stay on track, and meet my word goals;

Whether you're writing a short story, a blurb, or a whole novel. Try to split it up into three parts; Beginning, Middle, and End.

Instead of the convoluted, and sometimes overstimulating plot line;

Splitting your plot into its three most important parts; Exposition, Climax, and Resolution. Is supposed to help you plan out your story easier, or in my case, lazier.

Beginning = Exposition | Middle = Climax | End = Resolution

Point of View

Next, think about what point of view you're going to write your story in. If you've already decided on what your pov, conflict, and genre are going to be, you can skip down to Plot Points, where i pick back up as splitting your plot.

1st person = from a characters perspective.

In first person, you're going to be using a lot of sensory words from the characters perspective; "I feel" - "I see" - "I hear" - "I taste" - "I smell" This point of view also means restricting a lot of information to your character.

For instance, if you're writing from the pov of a child. This child wouldn't know the cookie jar is on top of the fridge, because they're not tall enough to see what's up there. So, they would have to get this information in a different way. You could make them accidentally see the cookie jar, but then you have to consider; Do they know it's a cookie jar? Does it stand out enough for it to grab their attention? If no, you could introduce a secondary character, like a parent, who gets a cookie for the child. Now the child knows it's a cookie jar.

2nd person = Telling a story to the reader, and directly involving them in it.

In the second person, you're writing from the narrator's perspective, but you're also addressing the reader, or talking directly to them. In this pov, you're telling the reader how they should be experiencing the story, by using sensory words like; "You feel" - "You see" - "You hear" - "You taste" - "You smell"

Pov's from the second person perspective goes great with unreliable narrators. You get to choose what information you tell the reader, and what information the reader has to find for themselves.

3rd person = Telling a story about someone or thing.

In the 3rd person, you have a lot more creative control. You get to pick which character's you're observing, and sort of play with them like dolls in a doll house. I think this is the most popular point of view and is incredibly versatile, using sensory language like; "She feels" - "He saw" - "They hear" - "It tasted" - "She's smelling"

Genre and Subgenre

Now. Deciding your pov is as simple as deciding what you're going to be writing, and for this, i like to decide what my conflict and genre are going to be. Sometimes it's as simple as picking horror, then deciding you like the slasher trope, because you want to write about a killer on the loose. Now you already have your conflict; There's a killer on the loose, and so and so need to escape.

I like to do this by drawing inspiration from other creators; From that book i read yesterday, or that movie i saw, or i just really like this genre.

Once you have your genre, look into its subgenre's. In horror, you have; Slasher, Supernatural, Monster, or Zombie. The conflicts in those are pretty easy to discern, Slasher = Killer on the loose - Supernatural = There's a spooky ghost in here - Monster = There's a spooky monster trying to kill me - Zombie = It's an apocalypse and i need to survive.

Draw Inspiration from other Creators

But it's always okay to draw inspiration from other creators; Junji Ito, for example, has a book called Gyo. Its a horror story about fish growing legs and crawling on land. You can take that concept and create your own horror story about fish growing legs.

Once you have your conflict; There's fish growing legs, coming on land, and eating people. Try to ask yourself; What do i want to tell the reader? What do i want to say in my story?

For example, if i wanted to write a short horror story about fish growing legs, and coming on land, and i decided i wanted to make the reader be more conscious about throwing away plastic. I would probably have a better time writing in the 2nd perspective, because my short story is meant to address the reader, and make them uncomfortable about throwing plastic in the ocean.

Plot Points

Finally, after we've figured out our genre, conflict, and pov. It's time to go back to our plot columns.

I know that when it comes time for me to decide plot points, I'm always at my wits end. I HATE figuring out what i want my plot points to be. I'm awful at figuring out the big changes in my plot, and sadly, i don't really have a solution for that yet. But, all this stuff I'm telling you has made it a lot easier for me to work on this.

First, how do you want to start your story? No, not what scene you want to start on, HOW are you going to start your story? Are you going to start with a monologue? Are you going to start with a description? How about some dialogue? Or a flashback? A departure? A character description?

This can be one of the first things you can write in your beginning section.

For example;

Then, think about what you want to happen next. Write as many plot points in each section as you want, use prompts, or random scenes you've discarded in the past. Fill it up with as many prompts as you're happy with;

When you start writing, start from your first plot point, make a word goal for that specific scene, and write it. When you're finished with that scene, move onto the next plot point, until you've written all of them.

Once you're done writing your major scenes, go back and edit everything so they puzzle together. If you want to add more stuff in between scenes, now you have guidelines on where and how your new scenes should start and end, so you're technically just filling in the blanks.

[calxvace]

in my mind modern luka is that college senior who looks untouchable, the very symbol of perfection but under that facade he is really pathetic in every aspect besides academics and of course his looks

pathetically insufferable, in the verge of collapsing with a small inconvinience

"s-senior luka? are you okay?" you questioned him feeding to your curiousity why his eyes were his only imperfection you see, tge moment your eyes met its slowly becoming clear to you

"what made you say that? im fine, dont worry, im senior luka" he said lightly nudging your side as he focused on his book again

"i can see through you, you are about to break" mentioning the very problem, it seemed that you had hit a nerve

luka hurriedly collected his things preparing to ran off, escape

"Nonsense, I dont break!" he stormed off elegantly, leaving that remarkable smile again

the smile he makes everytime, a very bright smile but with sullen eyes, subtly gloomy.

"wow senior luka is really good at everything, even at pretending"

but its no use, after all, you have been watching him since the day you saw him sleeping by the library window, you knew exactly where he went, where he isolates when he's so close to falling off the deep end.

and you were right, you can already hear the specific melody he plays on his violin. this time, it sounds more aggressive, like he's eager to tear the hair on his violin bow.

hesitating to barge in the music room, you stayed sitted by the door

"i know you're there, come in" he said in a calm manner, you heard him sigh heavily as he finishes the piece off. that scared you yes, but if it means more time with senior luka, you'd do anything.

as you enter the music room, silence accompanied the both of you for a fair minute, him tending to his violin and lovely bow allowed you to watch him intently, for some it would be labelled as awkward, but for you? its such a bliss

"about what you said earlier..." finally done placing his instrument to its case, he started the conversation sitting across you

"im sorry for prying, i didnt mean to- its just-" you hesitate to completely say it, because who in the right mind would pick a flaw on the ever perfect senior luka?

"oh relax, im not punishing you or anything... i just wanted to ask, how did you know..."

playing with the hem of your shirt, you looked at him straight in the eyes and pointed at it, "eyes are the windows to the soul"

you expected a long silence after that but luka coming up to you and holding both of your hands surprised you, "help me"

in what way could you help? what more could you contribute to the perfectly made senior luka?

you tilt your head in confusion yet he just smiled at you, differently

it was not his fake smile nor a smile you've seen, this time it was new, it was the very picture of finding hope.

but would you call it hope when the net thing that comes of his mouth is another one of his play pretend.

"Be my muse which my eyes only looks at, play with me y/n"

a nice attempt on fixing one's flaw, but isn't this just another 'running away' ?

"senior luka... I dont think that's the solution you need"

"well, this is all I know, to pretend"

you look at him flashing a genuine smile, "well then stop pretending"

cupping his face, gently caressing the tip of his eyes, "your eyes cant hold that much longer, let it all out"

Tears are starting to fall down, he slumped on your embrace.

What is going on in their family why is he so fragile the minute you let him be? but this is only the start,

"after we exit this room, can we be friends?"

"dont be silly, I've been your friend the moment we talked"

and that was the start of a rebellious yet awakening endeavor of luka and his friend towards navigating life with controlling and abusive parents.

[thetinksessays]

Let's Talk About The Jedi And Children

Introduction

I am not a Jedi fan. There are many issues with them. One of the biggest is the way they choose to handle bringing children into the order. Let's talk about it.

Age At Recruitment

We are told, in Phantom Menace, that Anakin is too old to join the Jedi, even though he is only nine years old. So the implication is that the Jedi recruits new members when they are younger than nine. Quite a bit younger.

There are many ethical issues here. Children do not have the ability to understand what joining the Jedi actually means for them. Joining the Jedi is a massive decision that will impact their entire lives. Children just aren't capable of making decisions like that.

Parental Consent

So it's the parents making that decision for their children, which is not great. Especially because I think it's highly unlikely it's a fully informed decision- I somehow doubt that parents are told they'll never be able to see their children again, or that their children will be put in dangerous situations from the age of 10 or 11 onwards.

I'm also dubious that all parents are making this decision completely of their own free will.

Let's put it this way:

You are a poor farmer on Planet #132 out in the galaxy somewhere. You've never met a Jedi before but you've heard plenty of rumours. They can control minds, move objects without touching them and their laser swords can dismember someone with one swing. Then one of these Jedi shows up at your door and tells you your child is force sensitive and needs to go to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant for training. You don't really want to give up your child, but you can see the Jedi's laser sword on their belt, and you remember the rumours you heard about their powers.

Would you feel like you could say no?

Contact With Families

The Jedi do not allow the children they take to have any contact with their families after they have joined. There are two examples of this in canon that I know of.

In Attack of the Clones, Anakin is not allowed to contact his mother when he has visions of her dying. When he disobeys and goes looking for her, he has no idea that she is no longer a slave. This clearly shows that Anakin has had no contact with Shmi, as there's no reason she wouldn't have told him that, or that she's married to Cliegg.

In Obi-Wan Kenobi (the show), Obi-Wan tells Leia about his birth family, only it's half-remembered bits from when he was very small. He's not even fully sure if he has a younger brother or not. Clearly, Obi-Wan has not seen his family since he was a very small child, prior to joining the Jedi.

This is very isolating. With no family, the Order would be the only people its members are close to. And if you don't know anyone outside of it, leaving is going to be a very scary, very difficult situation. That feels pretty intentional.

The Reason Why

The main reason I see given (by the fandom, I would like to point out. As far as I'm aware, the actual canon has not addressed any of this.) for why the Jedi have to take children from their families is that an untrained force user could be dangerous to themselves or others.

The problem with this is that there are multiple characters who either weren't trained until they were adults or were trained much older than the Jedi takes children, and there's no indication whatsoever that any of them hurt themselves or others with their force abilities.

Luke, Leia, Finn and Rey were all adults when they began their Jedi training (or just realised they are force sensitive, in Finn's case). Ezra started his training as a young teen (I think, I've never seen Rebels, everything I know about it is picked up from fandom osmosis) and Anakin began his training at 9.

None of them have any issues because of their lack of training from a young age. It doesn't affect them in any way. Starting their training later also doesn't impact their abilities at all. Luke, Rey and Anakin are three of the most powerful Jedi of all time. Leia also may have the potential to have been a powerful Jedi; it's unclear if she inherited Anakin's strength in force like Luke did. We're told nothing about Finn's abilities (could be an interesting thing to explore in a TV series, but we'll never get that.) and I don't know enough about Ezra to speak to his power level.

The point is that it's clearly not necessary to take children from their parents at a young age to train them. And given that Luke, Leia and Rey all continued to have contact with their chosen families during and after their training, it's also not necessary to isolate them from their families.

So, then, why did the Jedi do this?

Indoctrination. If you take a very young child from their family before they are old enough to have formed full memories of their family, it is easier to ensure they have no contact with them. If you don't remember your family, you're not likely to kick up a fuss about seeing or talking to them.

This means that the only people you know are the Jedi. You have no other influences in your life, no one to point out any of the dodginess around the way the Jedi operate or what they believe. No one to help you if you decide to leave the order.

You are solely reliant on the order. You will do exactly as they say without questioning it because why would you question the order that raised you, that is your only family?

[black5wan]

an analysis of kristoph gavin pt.3 - the curse of the perfectionist & motive for murder

1. we all know that kristoph is a perfectionist. he is the type to control each step and breath he takes. nothing is spontaneous, he is intentional in everything he does.

why though? in most cases individuals with perfectionism were neglected, felt unloved and experienced conditional love, meaning the individual felt like he had to earn love and i kind of think the latter was the case for him. its merely speculation but i kind of think his parents had high standards for him and they didnt put klavier under the same pressure, which is why kristoph then proceeded to project his perfectionism onto his younger brother, so he wont be the only one suffering from the curse of the perfectionist. as i said- this is my theory. and now i have built the foundation for my main argument and i will now go over to over to point 2. allow me~

2. kristoph believes that one must earn fame, success & be truly good at what they do in order to deserve praise. and if one is praised despite being obviously flawed or mediocre, it angers and hurts him- it feels unfair and undeserved. if people have high standards for themselves, they also claim the right to make judgment about others and whether or not they deserve or dont deserve something.

3. this would bring us closer to what happened in the game. long story short: he tries to be absolutely flawless. not just in his career but in basically everything & being fired and replaced by someone whos less talented, someone who is so openly flawed, someone who deserved it far less than him...it is unacceptible to kristoph because it goes against everything he stands for. whether or not he learned in his childhood that love must be earned and you must be perfect to be praise- this is still merely speculation. but it is obvious that kristoph believes praise must be earned and deserved and he was praised for his carefully crafted persona -and maybe that was the only way he would ever receive recognition because a man like him is aware of his flaws and knows better than to expose them. (more about this in part 3 xp)

4. picture this: all you ever try is to be perfect...and this one person who never worried about being perfect replaces you. you try your best and they choose someone else, but you know you would be the better pick. its a betrayal. its the equivalent to trying to be a great friend to someone but they like this other person more who hurt them, would not put in as much effort as you, would not treat them as good as you would (...totally not speaking from experience, no <3). and maybe just maybe kristoph is wounded like many other perfectionists and believes that no matter how hard he tries, he isnt lovable & phoenix is flawed and not afraid to show it and was chosen instead of kristoph, which of course does not justify murder. but it explains his motive for murder.

thank you for reading! i hope you enjoyed it! writing these is so much fun! if you havent; check out part 1&2 and stay tuned for part 4!

and as for me; im either super empathetic or just a bad person like him and try to justify what he did xx

lmao bye~

[class1akids]

I saw you dragged Aoyama a bit recently by calling him a traitor coward. I like that. The guy doesn't get roasted enough. What do you think of him? My thoughts are that he's sooooo lucky he lives in a shonen manga with plot armor, because he was only forgiven since nobody died because of his leaks. All of which was entirely outside of his control, by the way. He didn't control if a villain hurt someone. Imagine a world where Muscular walked alongside Toga in the forest. Or if he joined Magne and Spinner's group. Or god forbid, he had a rebreather and stood with Mustard in his gas. If Bakugo had been turned into a Nomu when Shigaraki lost patience with him in a hypothetical worst case scenario alternate universe, Deku would have taken Aoyama down himself. The MHA universe we observe is truly blessed and Aoyama has a guardian angel who carries him on its back.

I do think Aoyama is a victim - a victim of his parents' bad choices and a victim of AFO and did not have a lot of choice in the actions he took.

But this description also fits the villains - the LoV trio are all the product of their parents' bad choices in a way and their upbringing defines their choices going forward.

And in the end, what Aoyama did was endangering everyone and like you say, it was only by luck that nobody died. Still Hagakure and Jirou got into the hospital, Deku got really beat up, Kota almost got killed, Bakugou got kidnapped and everything that came with it (All Might's retirement, BJ's lasting injury, Ragdoll losing her quirk etc.).

So it's not true to say "no harm done". Harm WAS done and what consequence it should have should come down to the law. This is a general problem I have with MHA. The idea of law and justice, of an independent and impartial judge are all missing from it. In my opinion, heroes cannot represent justice if they are above the law. Yet that's all we see. Heroes are not subjected to rules and laws, only public opinion.

Endeavor never gets any kind of process (whether criminal or professional disciplinary) for the abuse he inflicted on his family

There is no investigation into Hawks killing Twice

Nagant chooses her own punishment and decides to hang out in prison but would be free to go

Aoyama is held responsible, he again gets to choose his own form of atonement by transferring to a different school, but even then he's allowed to become a hero

Hawks as HPSC president seems to have a VERY wide berth deciding who gets special treatment.

I don't think that a society where heroes are above the law, while the public is oppressed by it is a good society worth defending. The MLA definitely had a point about it, but it was never explored / resolved in a satisfactory way.

[warrior-of-storms]

Warrior yaps about Death in the Family (part 2)

(once again, probably going to get long)

Jason is a character who thrives on stability and affection, and when he can't have those, he has a tendency to swerve hard in the other direction and try to be completely independent. He needs to be in control, because if the only person he can rely on is himself, he would prefer to avoid being hurt instead of risking trust. Consider his origin story, where he gets defensive about Batman implying that his living conditions are subpar (even though he definitely agrees), and later he shows up to stop Ma Gunn and her students from robbing the museum because he doesn't trust that Batman took his warning seriously.

This trait doesn't show up much in the rest of Jason's time as Robin, because it didn't need to. Jason trusted Bruce, felt safe and cared for with him, and didn't have to be independent for the first time in a while.

So when things start spiraling, first with the Garzonas case, then having Robin taken from him, Jason falls back into his old pattern of prickly independence, and finds himself back in Crime Alley, where he gets his parents' stuff. This seems like a positive at first - after all, Jason is seeking stability right now, and he used to have that with his parents before Willis got arrested and Catherine died. But instead of finding comfort in these scraps of his parents, Jason's world is further turned on its head when he finds out that Catherine was not his birth mother.

So. You're Jason Todd. You're having a really sucky week due to the justice system being a mess, and then your dad/mentor accused you of murder and then took Robin from you because he thinks you can't be trusted, and then on top of all that, you find out that your mom isn't your birth mom.

Really, it's not surprising that Jason decides to try and find his birth mom. Things are not looking good with Bruce, and Jason is a problem solver at heart - he wants to do things, to fix things, and he hates feeling helpless. He has two separate problems - Catherine apparently was his step-mom rather than his bio mom, and Bruce doesn't trust him anymore - and comes up with one solution for both of them - find his birth mom.

This thought process, I think, is key in why things end the way they do. Jason doesn't think he can ask Bruce for help on this, because Bruce has already proved that he doesn't trust Jason and thus Jason doesn't think he can trust him, especially not with something this personal.

Had Jason discovered this at any other point in his Robin career, I think things would have been fine. At any other point, he would have probably been able to take the birth certificate and Willis's address book to Bruce and been like, "hey I just found out I might still have a mom out there and I want to see if I can meet her," and Bruce would have helped. Jason just had the misfortune to find out about his possibly alive birth mother immediately after the triple whammy of the Garzonas case, falling out with Bruce, and Joker escaping Arkham (not that he knew about that third one.)

There's also the question of, if not Bruce for obvious reasons, why did Jason not turn to anyone else? I think it was a matter of that previously mentioned defensive independence more than anything but also, who would he have reached out to? The only people I can think of are Dick and the Titans, but they were (rather famously) not on the planet at the time. Even if Jason had been willing to call Dick, Donna, Gar, Kory, or any other Titan, they weren't available to answer. And Roy and Wally, the other ones he got along with on his two Titans missions, weren't Titans at that point - I believe Wally was Justice League and I'm honestly not certain what Roy was up to. And we have no idea if Jason even had contact info for anyone but Dick. Maybe he could have called Barbara, but as I've mentioned in other posts, they never once interacted on-panel prior to Jason's death. We have no idea if they had the kind of relationship that would make Jason okay with reaching out to her for something like this!

The really important thing to remember here is that 1) Jason was in a really bad state emotionally and 2) this was a really personal thing for him, and it was kind of a crisis of identity too. His identity as Robin had been taken from him (though he doesn't hesitate to take it back - he kinda takes a "Bruce can suck it" approach to his benching once he knows his birth mom might be out there) and now his identity as Jason Todd is being unraveled too.

Fast forward to him actually meeting Sheila.

Jason is so happy to meet her. Jason is so unconditionally excited to finally have found his mom, to the point that he doesn't question anything when he finds out about the Joker blackmailing her. It's because of this blind faith and trust that he reveals himself as Robin rather than waiting for Bruce to return to make a plan.

[Previous] [Next]

[sorasan000]

Thoughts as someone caught up to ch.1130 in regards to how the subject of pregnancy has been incorporated into the worldbuilding.

Turning does something interesting with the omegaverse genre, and that is that it makes conception, viable pregnancies, and healthy offspring extremely difficult for Awakeners, and especially alpha and omega Awakeners. There's a small window where fertility is at its best point, and even then it's difficult to conceive. In the event that conception happens, a pregnancy rarely makes it to the end. In the even rarer case where a child is successfully born, Yudrein never came across a case where they lived past the age of 3.

It's really funny for the genre, but the story presents it as a mystery that needs an explanation for a while. It gives subtle clues, like a broken vessel leading to infertility. Mage apprentices referring to their masters as "Spiritual Parents."

It isn't until more than 1000 chapters in that it's revealed that when mages first appeared they ALSO had difficulties having children. They, instead, adopted a master-disciple culture where the master took on the "parent" role.

It casually drops the lore that it's "commonly believed that the amount of mana in one's body affects fertility." When a vessel is "broken" the power is left unchecked. The mana core organ is located beneath the navel, close to where one's testes or ovaries and uterus are. Heat leave people with far less control over themselves and their energies than they usually do. It all starts to make sense.

When Kishiar was nearing his heat, he started studying up on the Apeto experiments. More out of fear and anxiety than anything else, but after pondering on that Yuder actually showed interested in perhaps finding a way for people who want to have children to have them and keep them in their lives. Because at this rate, people really have no control over whether they'll awaken or not.

This sets the stage for them to start searching for those means, under the "for the Awakeners' sake" excuse. I think solutions they're looking for have already been sprinkled throughout the story.

Penpen's processes of ingesting and expelling energy is currently being studied by Hellem, and Yuder once wondered if it could help Kishiar with his vessel problems. Could help with overall mana levels, too.

The Awakener Power Suppression inventions made by Alik could provide a future answer. They work well for Marty, who is now an Awakener along with Robel. If they decide to have children in the future, they might be an early case study on their effectiveness. In the 1st timeline these suppression devices were used more for subduing criminals, and I doubt they were used for casual everyday use. So Yudrein wouldn't have observed them that way.

There are cases of mages having children, and they might have clues, too. Hellem, if she didn't adopt, had a child. The First Emperor and Empress, one wielding great Aura and Divine Power and the other being a mage, managed to have five children.

The little sprinkled clues still don't make a KishiYu pregnancy seem easy, even if anything is discovered.

Kishiar's vessel is in a state that I have dubbed "Schrodinger's Broken Vessel" because Kishiar is still not quite sure what the hell's going on with his. He figures that because he still goes through "cycles" even after awakening that his body's still having problems with stray powers going haywire. However, he has no idea how the Awakener protection of his vessel affects his fertility.

Meanwhile, Yuder's so powerful that Alik hasn't been able to invent a device strong enough to suppress him. Doesn't mean he won't, since Alik's inventions are notably getting stronger after each prototype.

Plus, there's the fact that Yuder now has some pretty interesting imagery going on with his body. When the power of the Red Stone reached his mana core, it began to pulsate and expand from that area. Imagining it, we know that that's the area of the mana core, but visually it reminds me of those succubus womb things. Like, I'm sitting there reading it, and going in with an omegaverse brain I'm like, "Kuyu, what is that? Kuyu, answer me."

Still, Yuder has never thought about it, and Kishiar has so many reservations in regards to having biological children of his own that the "will they, won't they?" strongly leans in the "won't" way. Things can change as things develop, but the Awakener protection + Red Stone powers just piles on one unlikelihood after the other.

[rosietrace]

This is a personal rant about my thoughts on Greek mythology retellings, and just the way Fantasy books and the publishing industry is at this point 🧍‍♀️

I have nothing against Greek mythology retellings, or just anything Greek mythology related in fantasy in general!

However, I have certain gripes about the way Greek mythology is portrayed in media, specifically in the way its interpreted in Fantasy.

[ More under the cut! ]

I love Percy Jackson, and I think that Uncle Rick did a wonderful job at expanding the world and making Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Norse mythology entertaining and easily digestible for young audiences. Genuinely, he does a better job at writing children's books than R*wling could ever be capable of.

However, as much as I can love PJO as much as I do, I still find certain bits of the world building and character writing as... Very hit and miss.

To start, I don't like the way Ares was written in the series. I can understand that it would make sense for his personality to be that way, because he's the God of War and it helps with Clarisse's character development; but I find fault in it because Ares in the myths is nothing like PJO Ares. (He literally killed one of Poseidon's sons because he raped his daughter, Alcippe, and he's one of the only gods who doesn't hump anything that can breathe in air. At least Ares has the courtesy of asking for consent 💀)

The Gods being the reason behind WWII and Hitler being a child of Hades. All I must say.

The portrayal of the Aphrodite cabin

The fact that Athena can have children. Annabeth, pjo fandom at large, I love you are, but you gotta admit it must've felt weird when you first read the books and you find out Athena — the maiden Goddess of Wisdom — can have offspring. Regardless of the reasoning, I still find it weird 😭 (EDIT: I've now just remembered that it was a reference to how Athena herself was created 🤡 I'm a clown)

I get that the Hermes cabin is also the cabin for the unclaimed, but couldn't have Hestia's cabin worked too? She doesn't have offspring, sure, but it probably would've made more sense for the unclaimed to go to Hestia's cabin so that the Hermes cabin wouldn't be so crowded

This isn't really a world building issue, but I think I should bring it up: I'm not saying this against the Kane Chronicles fandom, but... Sadie and Anubis. Why. Like you can't convince me that no one WASN'T weirded out by that.

Less of a complaint and more of a question because I can't remember if the question was answered in HoO or not, but when Percy told the Gods to start claiming their unclaimed children and be more decent parents (as he should, go off king), did that request apply to the Romans at Camp Jupiter too? Because that's gotta have been confusing when the unclaimed kids at CP suddenly started getting claimed 😭😭

I could go on a whole ass tangent about PJO, but that would make this post longer than it needs to be 😭😭 and any of the points might not make much sense, since I haven't read the books in a LONG time

Off to the YA Fantasy segment... Hoo boy.

The oversaturation of Hades/Persephone retellings makes me SEETHE. Why is it always Hades and Persephone why can't it be something else 😭

I just don't like the “modern feminist” retellings of Greek myths in the YA Fantasy genre, in general. They tend to completely miss the point of the original myth, and it's the case with a lot of Hades and Persephone retellings where they try to paint Hades as the good guy taking Persephone away from her control freak mother, Demeter.

Because that wasn't what the myth was about. The myth isn't a love story, at least, not a romantic one. It was about Demeter's love for Persephone and how much she wanted her daughter back after Hades stole her away. Keep in mind, in the historical context of the myth, the daughters of women in ancient Greece never really get to see their mothers after their engagements are solidified.

If they wanted to make a “feminist” retelling of the myth, they'd have it centered around the love Demeter had for Persephone to almost doom the mortal realm to an eternal winter to get her back.

I love the myth of Hades and Persephone, truly, I do. I understand the appeal it has on people, the appeal it has one me. I can see why people adore the myth in the way they do because Hades is one of the better husbands in Greek mythology (a low bar, but my point still stands).

Personally, I blame Lore Olympus and especially the video of the myth by Overly Sarcastic Productions for the way the myth is portrayed in mass media. And I say this as a former LO fan and a fan of Overly Sarcastic Productions 😭

I'd also want to go into my many, MANY gripes about “Crown of Starlight” by Cait Corrain, but in all honesty? I don't think I can properly convey how much I DESPISE Cait and their book. So I'd highly recommend y'all to check out the videos about Cait Corrain by Reads With Rachel, WithCindy, and Xiran Jay Zhao on YouTube if you're interested in going into more detail about the controversies, especially for those who weren't made aware of it.

I feel like the publishing industry just... Isn't good anymore, after Booktok went viral. Reading has been “hot girlified”, and all Booktok seems to ask when they get recommended a book is: “Is it spicy??”

Reading is like fast fashion, now. It's all based around certain popular tropes that that's how books are promoted now. Not for the plot — or sometimes lack thereof — but for the tropes the book has.

The only thing I can thank Booktok for is that they helped me discover The Cruel Prince. And even then, it's marketed as romance on there, when it's a political fantasy with a romance subplot.

‼️ Woah! A secret bonus section! ‼️

I, personally, don't read — nor do I like — Sarah J Maas. (Especially considering the problematic aspects of her storytelling, character portrayals, and is (apparently, correct me if I'm wrong) a Zionist)

However, that isn't to say that I don't like some of the characters she makes. A lot of them have potential, actually! From what I've seen, I think Nesta, Gwyn, Azriel, Eris, Tamlin and Lucien from ACOTAR are the only characters I actually like, based on what I've heard — and seen — on anything in the SJM critical tag on this hellsite.

And while we're at it, let's discuss the elephant in the room with ACOTAR, right? Rhysand.

By all that is good and holy, I hate Rhysand so much and I think I'd hate him even more if I actually READ the books. I don't get why Booktok is so invested in him when Maas retconned Tamlin's character to make him look better as Feyre's love interest.

Also, from what I recall, didn't Rhysand sexually assault Feyre? And he didn't bother to apologize for it, and justified it with his sad tragic backstory??

I can't with y'all, istg 😭 the fact that “Feysand” is apparently a Hades and Persephone retelling too makes me even more mad about it because it isn't even a GOOD retelling. It just takes away what ACOTAR originally was— a Beauty and the Beast retelling, with Feyre and Tamlin as the leads.

Didn't Maas dedicate ACOTAR to her husband because “He would go under the mountain” for her??? BECAUSE IT CERTAINLY WASN'T RHYSAND WHO SAVED FEYRE FROM UTM, I'LL TELL YOU THAT

I think, out of all the series Maas has made thus far, Throne of Glass is the only one I ACTUALLY kind of like, based on what I've heard. Crescent City seems to be too complicated to understand, and even though I've never read it myself, I miss what ACOTAR could've been. (My hope lies with Nesta, Elucien and Gwynriel, at this point)