#I have opinions on who I usually agree with in the comments its bad

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

The way I recognize people in the a03 comments on all Spider fics now. I’m like ah yes you’re here too, we agree it’s good and we are both starving men who haven’t seen food in years I understand. Guzzling this shit down.

Lol I’m EndOfStoryGoodbyeTheEnd on a03, if you see me out there say hi or dm me about fics we’re mutually reading. 

[cloudcountry]

SUMMARY: married life with eiland

COMMENTS: i've been thinking so hard about marrying this man i have two lawn chairs next to my mail box and a desk for him and a chest full of sweets for when we get married im planning ahead ahead i need him so bad

reader is compared to lady luck but they're not fem aligned.

It’s not uncommon for you to wake up in the morning to see Eiland curled up in bed, his reading glasses askew and a book opened over his face. You always remove the book gently, marking his page with a bookmark you keep handy on your nightstand and he thanks you profusely for it later. It’s not even that he stays up outrageously late, you just so happen to have a husband who is so dedicated to his research he can hardly put it down!

Although he would love nothing more than to have chocolate chip waffles with whipped cream and a hearty amount of syrup for breakfast, he is unfortunately bound by the knowledge that food like that has little nutrients and will not keep his precious spouse up and running throughout the day. Soft hands cut up fruits into hearts and stars, depositing them into one of your bowls with a proud smile as seasonal fruit pancakes sizzle on your stove. He takes pride in taking care of your needs. That is, after all, what a husband does! (Ignore the copious amount of times he messed up a dish...he's trying his best.)

Whenever he comes home after a meeting with his sister, he makes sure to ask your opinion on things. If it's something the two of you don’t agree on (much to his chagrin...yes, he pouts about it later) he will still report your honest opinion to Adeline. His sister can tell immediately if you agreed or disagreed with him based on his facial expression alone.

Eiland has a tendency to say things that can be taken in a flirtatious way, but are usually innocent. He still has not learned to watch his words with you even after years of marriage, calling you over to Louis’s stall to look at the beautiful wedding outfits and yapping about how lovely you would look in them. Oh Eiland, he has no idea what he’s implying!

Due to his hobbies, he is more of a help on the farm than some may think! You’re certainly going to have to walk him through ranching if he decides he wants to feed the animals, but he’ll pick up on how to plant seeds a lot faster. He’s quick work with a shovel and can figure out a hoe in no time flat! (He thinks you’re so cool and just wants to help out his lovely spouse, please let him.)

Without a doubt, you will get wrapped up in his Dungeons and Drama campaigns. He’ll be delighted if you make food based on the campaign and will brag for weeks about it. Be prepared to be referred to as the lovebirds when you come to the Inn on Friday’s! That’s simply how Mistria works I’m afraid.

Elsie is going to have the time of her life when the two of you get married. She’ll be on cloud nine, orbiting the two of you with well wishes and the most random gifts she insists you two need for your new life. It’s very sweet of her, even if you’re not entirely sure what you’d use a fondue pot for other than satisfying your husband’s raging appetite.

Daily trips to the Western Ruins and The Narrows are a must. Eiland likes to check in on the Museum, having been contributing to its upkeep for a long time now. If you find him starting a special set of armor tucked away in the back of the main area, don’t mind him. He’s just reminiscing on old times with you.

Eiland takes very good care of his skin and hair, and if you let him he’ll pamper you every morning and night. He tends to lose his sense of personal space when he does this though...his face will be very close to you. If you lean in to steal a kiss, he’ll jump and laugh, cheeks growing warm as you smile at him.

When he spaces out, he’ll reach out for your hand and start fiddling with your wedding ring. You’d think he’d fiddle with his own, but he likes feeling your knuckles under the pads of his fingers. Eiland will slowly come back down to Mistria at some point, his eyes focusing on his fingers against your skin and your soft smile shining upon him like Lady Luck herself. Truly, he got so lucky.

[cazzyf1]

The other day on my tiktok I created a simple post about how James Hunt is more than just the Playboy persona that is associated with him. This flew over someone's head who commented about how he was a Playboy. I responded explaining the point of the video but instead they doubled down saying that James didn't care about F1 only about partying.

So today I went through some of my books and gathered a load of quotes to show the James Hunt that most people do not know about, the one outside of the Playboy perception. I've posted it on tiktok but figured I'll upload it here as well so the true James Hunt can reach more people and slowly we can dismantle the reputation 'Rush' gave him ❤️

TW: Depression, unhealthy coping mechanisms/addictions

When you think of James Hunt you think of the 'playboy'. The guy who partied, drank lots, took drugs and slept with lots of women. Its true he did that, and a lot but to dismiss him as just that is wrong. He was a good driver, a person who tried his best, a kind man who cared for human & animal rights.

The next few slides I've compiled quotes from a few books and website to show what kind of person he actually was and what he went through in life and that less people will dismiss him as just a Playboy.

James Hunt's first marriage was rocky because James was already very involved in his addictions and he knew he didn't love Susy because he felt that he wasn't capable of love. But he felt responsible for her and wanted to look after her. Here is his own opinion from his book ->

"It was really THE problem. I thought that marriage was what I wanted and needed to give me a nice stable and quiet home life, but in fact it wasn't and the key mistake was mine. I really wanted to go racing on my own, and it wasn't much fun for Susy to sit at home and wait for me all that time. It was also a terrible hassle for her to come racing because race meetings were probably the most relaxing time in my schedule. The rest of the time you tend to be leaping on aeroplanes once a day and that made it even worse because it's bad enough organizing one person to get on an aeroplane. Organizing two gets to be twice as much hassle. It got to the point where it was a problem for Susy to come travelling and a hell of a deal for her to stay at home. It was making life miserable in the extreme for her and since I felt responsible for her it was making me miserable too. So we had agreed to split up and then Richard Burton came along and solved all the problems. We had had an immensely successful marriage because I learnt an awful lot about myself and life and I think Susy did too. We all ended up happy, anyway, which is more than can be said for a lot of marriages" - p14 Against All Odds

Much is said about James Hunt and the ladies he kept company, and without knowing anything about James you might assume the worst, but here's some quotes about what he was actually like with the ladies ->

"I don't usually have sex before a race because I am very definitely concentrating -I find that it is the communication between two people that makes it worth- while, and before a race I am pretty uncommunicative. However, if say I have an hour or so to spare before dinner on the night before a race then I can enjoy the physical release. But I will only do it with someone who is fully understanding" - p15 Against All Odds

"He was always attentive to his partners needs. Indeed much of his satisfaction came from giving pleasure. The only problem, some of them confessed, was that his desire to please often out-stripped their needs" - p264 James Hunt: The Biography

"I was sure he was gay, because he never made a move on me for so long" - p278 Jane Birbeck, long time partner, James Hunt: The Biography

"He missed the actual skirmish - he was inside getting drinks at the bar - but had to be forcibly restrained from going after the policeman who hit his girlfriend" - p284 James Hunt: The Biography

James Hunt had many affairs in his time, because he had become an addict to many things including women (more on this later) He was aware of his and it plagued James that he couldn't control it ->

"One evening she returned to their London home to find James in tears. He was tormented by feelings of guilt caused by his lust for other women. He confessed the full extent of his unfaithfulness, that it was unfair to her and that for her sake they couldn't remain a couple. It wasn't that he was bored with her, but that his desire for other women was insatiable and uncontrollable. He held Jane in his arms and they both wept" - p320

One thing that helped James in his life time was his love for animals especially his pet dog Oscar. Here are some quotes about his love for animals and how far he would go to help protect them ->

"I think in a way Oscar was the child James never had at that stage. He was a remarkable dog, no question, but James thought a lot about animals and their requirements and was very concerned about their needs. He gave Oscar the very best treatment and also was keenly intrested in the welfare of other dogs. He would look at a dog, wonder if it's owner was treating it well and bringing it up properly and if the dog was getting everything out of life that it could" - p281

"Before he came to know James better, the journalist Nigel Roebuck was pleasantly surprised by an incident involvinged stray dog. It was late in the evening after a Grand Prix and tha teams were packing up to leave when James, while talking to Roebuck, saw the dog wandering around the paddock, shiver-ing and obviously very hungry. Roebuck, also sensitive to the needs of an animal in distress, went with James to several of the team motorhomes where they got food and fed the dog. But that wasn't the end of it as far as James was concerned. He insisted that they should take the dog up to the race control centre.

Roebuck: 'He took the dog in there and would not leave until he was sure it would be looked after. James actually made this official sign a piece of paper saying he would take care of the dog and see that it was housed and properly cared for. I was very impressed with this. James was probably one of only a handful of people on this entire planet who would even give that sort of thing a second thought." - p281

"He also thought the wild animals residing on his estate should be left alone. If vermin had to be controlled it should be done in the most humane way possible, and he strongly dissaproved of blood sports. The very thought of fox hunting he found horrible and he vowed not to allow it on his property" - p308

James was also incredibly caring towards the young people in his life such as his sons and his younger siblings. Here’s an extract from his first GF about James and his siblings ->

".. the way he expressed his concern for the emotional youngest members of his family:

He really enjoyed looking after them, and just seeing the way the behaved with his little brothers and sisters you knew was instinctive in him. He was always going to be a good father.

One evening he invited her home where he was babysitting Jo Jo, Dave and Tim. When James had tucked them in he left Ping to read them a bedtime story. When Ping came downstairs James asked her if she had helped them say their prayers. When I said no, James said: "Right. You've missed out hugely there. Come on, we'd better go and do it." So they did. His attitude was that he was taught to do that by his parents and it simply had to be done.'

But he also practised what he preached, and he believed in the power of prayer. In the troubled years to come James would pray to God for strength and help, and he eventually passed on the bedtime prayer ritual to his own two boys, to whom he became completely devoted.

During his time with Ping he had talked about having children, and she thinks fatherhood earlier in his life would have prevented James from sinking into his period of decadence.

I felt so sorry for him then because I knew underneath it wasn't the real James doing this. I think he was trying to make life happy, the wrong way. If he had settled down earlier, had a more normal home life with children of his own when he was younger, one could have seen a totally different James.' - p26

James Hunt cared for human rights especially taking a stand against the Apartheids in South Africa. The Apartheids in short was a system of racial segregation. In protest most sports were not going to South Africa but Formula One still was, and James Hunt made it clear his thoughts

->

“We were once covering the South African Grand Prix during the days of apartheid. All of a sudden, and for no particular reason, he launched into an attack on apartheid.

“It was nothing to do with the Grand Prix, nor would it do British-South African relations any good. Our producer pushed a piece of paper across saying: ‘Talk about the race!’

“And then James blurted out on air: ‘Thank God we’re not actually there!”

But simply calling out Apartheid on the air wasn’t enough for Hunt. He sought to have his race commentaries blocked from being broadcast in South Africa, but was unsuccessful.

When that didn’t work, he instead — and secretly — gave financial support from his income as a race broadcaster to groups struggling to end Apartheid in South Africa."

"His deeply compassionate and loving nature was something that, unfortunately, wasn't adequately conveyed to the public, who only ever heard about the sensational side of James Hunt" - p282 John Watson

As mentioned earlier James Hunt was an addict. His playboy lifestyle was his addictions and this is all rooted back to the fact that James Hunt had depression which grew stronger and stronger. He relied on his additions to get rid of his depression which meant he kept doing more and more. Here are some quotes about his struggle with it and eventually how he overcame it ->

"At home James became increasingly introverted, uncommunicative and reclusive. He gave up golf and spent more and more of his time in the aviary tending his budgies. While the parties continued he would often leave the guests to Sarah and closet himself in the aviary for hours on end.

It became obvious that James was very troubled, but only Sarah and his closest friends knew the full extent of the anguish and despair James suffered during his bouts with what he called his 'dippers'.

Black dog' was the term Winston Churchill used for the recurring 'depressions which afflicted him throughout his life. Bubbles Horsley thinks James was 'born with a "black dog" on his shoulder. His racing pushed the "dog" away far enough so that it was no longer visible. But underneath that wonderful joie de vivre, the laughter and enjoying life, he was given to black moods. He was fearful of them and maybe it was that fear that drove him on. Perhaps without it he would never have been World Champion.

'And I think after the initial "honeymoon" of retirement from racing the black dog came and sat on his shoulder and wouldnt go away. So he became more fearful and sought distraction in various ways, through sex and drink and drugs and rock and roll, as it were." - p323

"At home Sarah watched her husband's condition worsen and desperately sought to help him. She thought his depressiond might partly be due to a chemical imbalance that James was born with, a theory that James explored himself. Then, too, to keep his dippers at bay he consumed too much alcohol and marijuana, both of which can temporarily bring relief but over the long term on have depressive effects.

Like others, Sarah felt that another reason for his 'dippers' might have been because he cut off his emotions early in his life and never learned how to open up to people, or to need them. He was essentially a lonely man and his inability to form close relationships made him despair. His depressions further deadened his feelings, and when he was unable to respond emotionally to marriage and children he grew progressively more despondent.

Sarah: 'He was at war with himself. His depressions became Intolerable and towards the end he stopped trying to fight them coming on because he knew they would take over for two days or week. His face would go black and he would take to his bed and stay there, even on Christmas Day. He'd gone to bed two days beforehand and we had Christmas stockings for the boys. I said, Come on, Beast, the boys are waiting." And he said, "Beast, i can't do it." And he was crying" - p333

"When James felt a "dipper" coming on he would go on two- or three-day benders, mostly drinking vodka. He would just keep going and going, which was always a bit terrifying, and after these deep, dark blank days he would suffer real self-loathing. He could forget his trouble with drink, but it always came back.

For many years trying to get rid of his depression was his major concern, which is why he got the budgerigars. He thought it would be such a huge amount of effort that it would distract him and they became an obsession rather than a hobby. He would sit in the aviary for hours, but he would come back still in the grip of gloom. And for a long time he was so down it was very hard to even converse with him." - p326

"He tried different treatments acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine and looked into every possible theory. He went to different healers, therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, the lot, to try and find the root of his depression. And in the end he cracked it" - p337

"He began to become more diet-conscious and to eat healthy foods. He also consumed information, in books and magazines, on overcoming addictions, and sought more professional help.

He knew he should stop smoking cigarettes and reduce his marijuana consumption, and he told some friends he thought he might be an alcoholic. He worried that his need for women was another form of addiction and feared he might contract AIDS and infect someone else.

John Hogan: 'So he stopped it all. Straightened himself out by absolute willpower. The strength of character of the man enabled him to get out of it. He cut out the cigarettes, the dope and drugs. the booze and the womanising and his sense of priorities became more well-balanced.' - p338

As he started healing himself of his addictions he became serious about F1 again. He always cared for the sport, doing everything he could to race when he was younger and now though he was retired he still commentated and took part in other ways to stay close to the sport ->

"James became serious about strengthening his position in the media side of Formula 1 racing. He took on an internationally syndicated newspaper column and spent many hours gathering information for it. Working with a journalist he applied himself conscientiously to making sure that every word was written to his satisfaction" - p338

James started to heal his relationships as well, becoming an amazing parent to his two boys and finally meeting a woman who helped him feel loved and be able to love after so long of not being able to ->

"The boys were real handfuls to look after but he was awfully good with them and he really fathered and mothered them extremely well. He was always up early in the morning cooking their breakfast and then the four of us would go off salmon fishing. James would fish properly and I would fool around fishing with the youngsters. And then in the evening we used to settle down and he would tell them stories." - p343

A letter James sent to his girlfriend Helen:

"I went to the parents' 50th in a totally negative frame of mind, feeling very much an outsider and wanting the floor to swallow me up. As the day went on, although I remained 'out- side', I could see and feel lots of generous, undemanding love around me. Something changed for me there with my family. Everyone was exuding love and I saw the wonder of it and want to be part of it, but firstly with you.

I realise now that the feeling of not being loved as a child made me close up to any incoming love projected onto me. I do see that I cannot live on without love. You brought it home to me when you pointed out how well I'm doing with the boys. Well I have had to work at that and I've got better at it and I have to do it with you. You are the girl of my dreams. Without you I have no future. I want to make you happy and continue to do so until I die.

All my love for the love of my life,

James"

- p350

Finally James was happy. He was healed from his addictions, in a healthy relationship, had two lovely sons and a job he loved. And best of all he was able to be open with Helen ->

"James confessed to Helen that he was unable to be faithful to anyone in the past because sex was for him just another addiction and he needed women to get his highs. He disliked social gatherings and only had parties or went to them to pick up women. Helen was willing to forgive and forget what went on before, but told him she wouldn't tolerate it in their relationship and he agreed to be faithful to her." - p350

Helen went away on a girls holiday before her and James were going to start trying for children. James proposed to her over the phone on the holiday to which she said yes. But she would never see her finance because he passed away from a heart attack. Unfortunately the previous life he lead caught up to him.

Thank you for reading all of this and I hope you now know more about James Hunt than you already did! It's sad that James is best known now for his unhealthy coping mechanisms for his depression, especially with the film 'Rush' romanticising it. But even if just one person reads all of this it means one more person knows the truth of James Hunt and that makes it worth it ❤️

[shiny-jr]

hello! this is like the first time I'm sent an ask on this app ever so i hope I don't embarrass myself 😭 this isn't a request at all so dw!! sorry if this is super long!!

I wanted to say how I loved you wrote the MC's in the damnation au. I was on your page when I saw someone talking about how the MC's act and how they are inherently bad people at heart and their actions show that.(That really captured what I had thought so kudos to them 👊🔥) I love the idea on bad people just doing bad people things for their own gain and reading their thoughts while also (somehow) gaining the attention and (obsessive) love of the other characters even if the MC's did not have the best intentions for them at all. Even if it was under the guise of wanting the best for them, I love how you portrayed that.

I also wanted to talk about how the MC's react to the characters idk how to word this but like confessing(??) their love with the intention of keeping by their side whether they like it or not and the MC's not being okay with that. I love how you wrote their reactions and how you just wrote that they are not happy at all with that arrangement.

Its probably just me but I don't like MC's who just go along with a Yan's and like love them. Its always felt very, very icky to me. This is probably just my own opinion but I don't like how some MC's focus on loving a Yan and ignoring the stuff they do for them or worse acknowledging it and just flat out ignoring it or seeing it as some weird love language. But what makes this worse for me is how readers react to a Yan's actions. I never liked how readers would comment that "it's so hot that their doing bad things for us" or like "OMG like take me" like um ew??? This would also apply to authors since I mean they are the ones writing it. I love the MC's not liking being kept under lock and wanting their freedom. I also like how the MC's don't grow attached to the Yan's in the story and how their just playing along.

Anyways, I just wanna say I love your writing and this au. The concept is super interesting and I love how the MC's are written and portrayed. I'm looking forward to more!!

Feel free to ignore this and super sorry if this feels really wordy!! Thank you!

Don't apologize, I love reading super long messages that go into depth like this! My only regret is that I usually don't know what to say by the end of it, especially without sounding repetitive if a previous ask brought up similar topics. The point is, I don't want to sound like a broken record, agreeing or disagreeing and saying the same things over and over again.

Anyways, I think one I haven't talked about too much is the acceptance of yanderes. I have talked about it here and there, but not as much as other topics. You'll never see me writing an mc that truthfully and wholly accepts the yandere. The only instance of an mc accepting a yandere that I will write, is if the mc is using them and doesn't truly love/want them. Such as the mcs from damnation that play along with the roles to reach whatever devious goal they have in mind. So yeah, I agree with you on that part.

I can't think of much else to add because I only recently woke up, so sorry about that. 😭

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

Do you feel comfortable with us recommending your blog to others or...?

Because there are blogs dedicated to analyzing homestuck and they are usually very good but the moment they talk about Eridan all the magic disappears and, I just want to know if it is acceptable to recommend you as like, homework i guess (?).

In the style of, if they are going to talk about complex characters then they should do their due research.

It's okay if you're not comfortable with the idea, maybe I shouldn't be that interested either, it just hurts to know that they can do better, and they are not (on the contrary, its just worse).

Unfortunately, not with that attitude!

I actually have a pretty strict rule to never go out into the fandom in search of fights, and to never answer asks asking me what I think about another fandom member's interpretation of canon ("official"/semi-official works like PQ are exempt). This is because, if I go onto some other guy's blog with zero intention to change my opinion, and say "you're wrong," that makes ME the asshole.

Nobody likes it when someone rocks up to the discussion to tell them they're wrong and try to own them with facts and logic. It's actually kind of a dick thing to do! That's why I contain my takes to my own blog, which, thanks to the block button and blacklists, means that nobody has to engage with me if they don't actively want to.

I've had several instances on this blog before of either having to dismount a conversation where neither side will change their mind with "agree to disagree," told people I can't/won't comment on something because I don't engage with the fandom overall, or straight-up blocked people. I do this because I've made the mistake before of trying to be Correct on the Internet, and the truth is it's an unwinnable battle that makes everybody involved look like a clown. At the end of the day, we're all squabbling about what a webcomic "means," and it's impossible to be 100% correct. God knows I've been wrong, sneakily edited posts, and hoped nobody noticed (if you did, thanks for not saying anything).

If you like my posts and agree with my opinions - great! I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't like the ego boost. If you don't, I'm usually willing to hear people out, but I'm pretty egotistical and we'll most likely agree to disagree. I pretty exclusively reserve actual retaliation for people who rock up (especially while hiding behind anon) pretty much just to tell me I'm wrong. Like I said, the person who does that is an asshole! I try not to be that asshole.

If someone's takes are so "bad" to you that you can't stand seeing them, you have the power to banish that person from ever appearing before you again. Block they ass. You literally don't need a reason. But if you want to do the hard, thankless, joyless, unrewarding, and nearly always futile task of changing someone's opinion, then step one is to take a deep breath and trying not to think about it in terms of enemies and allies, right and wrong. This person is another human, just trying to make a living on this shitty earth, talking about this thing you both like. The vibe should be excitement that you can share an insight they haven't considered, not a tribal monkey instinct to hit another monkey with a big bone club.

If these blogs already do a lot of Homestuck analyzing, chances are, they're receptive to Homestuck. Instead of using me (some rando on the internet) as a source, you should use the comic itself. Lucky for you that I cite my sources, or at least make it easy to look up the parts of the comic I'm talking about. It's a little more legwork than just linking an essay, but you're trying to perform the nearly impossible task of changing someone's mind, so put some elbow grease into it.

And if that doesn't work, welp. Agree to disagree! Haha.

[caffeinewitchcraft]

This is maybe the weirdest question I could ask but - do you have any advice for a writer who wants to do stuff like answer writing prompts but keeps getting caught up in being too anxious to share them?

This ties in so well to my last answer! I was kicking myself for not saying this:

1)Have an opinion on your writing before you post.

2) Trust that, eventually, the right audience will find you.

3) Post and run if you have to

First, “have an opinion on your writing.” Don’t look online for people to tell you if your writing is good or bad. You don’t know who they are! You don’t know their experience! You don’t know if they really read enough of your work to comment!

A lot of anxiety comes from worrying about what other people will think. That’s totally normal! It’s so normal that it never really goes away. Here’s how I combat it!

Before you post online, write down what you like about your story. I usually write three things. “This character was well done, this dialogue sounds good, I like the theme.”

Then write one thing you wish was better about your story. Don’t fix it! The purpose it to acknowledge that your story, no matter how good, has flaws. Even if you don’t ask for it, people will critique your work. You don’t need to take their critiques, but you need to be okay that they have them.

When someone points out a problem in my story, I look at the flaw I picked out. Sometimes they match and I know what I need to work on next! Other times they don’t and I get to say, “Hm, I don’t know if I agree with this person, but I’m working on [this flaw] next anyway.”

If someone says something negative about your story DO NOT GO AND REREAD YOUR STORY RIGHT AWAY. I can’t repeat this enough! If someone says something not constructive about your work and you go back to look for what they’re talking about you will find it even if it’s not there!

Instead, go back to the three things you like that you wrote down. Ask yourself, “even if this person is right and there is an issue, do these good things outweigh that one bad thing?”

The answer is YES.

Second, “trust that the right audience will find you.”

This one is so hard! But think of it like this - some people only read one genre. They only read scifi and they think historical fiction is pointless. If you write historical fiction they aren’t going to give your work a chance!

Your writing is its own genre. The people who appreciate it will find you eventually.

Doing prompt fills is the perfect way to find them faster! Prompts tell the reader exactly what your story is going to be about and gets them engaged.

Third, “post and run if you have to.”

Sharing your writing is scary! But that fear will hold you back from the even better things you’ll write in the future. It’s preventing you from finding an audience and from meeting like-minded people.

Post the story and then log off. Set a timer for the next day or even the day after that. Refer to your list of good things about your work. Think about why you liked it and why you wrote it.

Take however long you need to remind yourself that you liked it! Then when you’re feeling a bit better, go ahead and check what people might have to say.

Also, not related to the ask, but reblog your work! You wrote a whole story and you should be so, so proud! People will want to see it but can’t find it on their dash. Reblog!

[areus-in-a-little-cave]

I wanna comment on something I'm seeing that is deeply annoying me again. I am glad to see several posts similar to this, though.

Firstly, please stop acting like this is an "us vs them" situation but making the "them" be people on your own side who aren't responding to things perfectly. The problem is the people defending Wilbur, attacking Shelby, and spreading hate.

Do not take your anger and upset out on other people, because people are going to feel and respond differently but most people are supporting Shelby. It can be hard to see but people are usually trying their best and not trying to hurt others with what they're saying. You can both support Shelby and want Wilbur gone without agreeing on every opinion. Stop harassing people for responding differently to you. If their opinion is harmful, maybe try explaining why instead of harassing.

Secondly, please stop acting like every CC is this deeply evil, deeply toxic, abusive, horrible person because they haven't made a public statement about Shelby's abuse.

[Image ID: A screenshot of Shelby's alt twitter account's liked tweets. The tweet shown is by imiziee, one of Shelby's mods, and is a quote tweet. It reads "pls dont be like this. its been 2 hours since he posted it. people take different times to process that theyve been manipulated and friends with an abuser, calm down. instead of hating on people why dont you show support for shelby?? #ShubbleSupportSquad". The tweet it is quoting reads "the silence from his closest is so damning. fuck philza, tommy, jack, niki, tubbo, charlie, lovejoy, quackity" before it cuts off.]

This is from Shelby's likes, it's written by her mod. Shelby herself then likely agrees that this is a reasonable standpoint.

CCs should be supporting Shelby, of course. They should regardless of how close they are to this. However, we know that Wilbur manipulated people, close friends according to replies we've seen. We don't know what the behind the scenes is right now. Imagine if it was you and your closest friends, who you have known for years, and literal millions were watching you. It might take a few days to come to a conclusion, to say something, and I'd personally rather a CC come in a little late than rush an empty response.

I'm not expecting everyone to be perfect in their response, but a response is a response. Again, we don't know what is happening behind the scenes. I understand that public support of Shelby from other CCs is very important, but private support can be very helpful for them. This isn't about the fandom.

There's a difference between supporting Shelby and deplatforming Wilbur. They're connected, obviously, but given that Shelby is another CC, there's more ways to support her compared to previous cases of mistreatment allegations against a CC where it's someone without a platform coming forward.

Stop supporting whoever you want, and do whatever makes you comfortable. But stop attacking people and demanding they stop watching CCs because "all men are horrible monsters" and "all CCs will disappoint you" and "you support abuse if you watch any CC who could possibly support an abuser or abuse". Which ignores the fact that anyone could be an abuser, and abuse isn't a CC issue, this isn't an MCYT issue, it's a society issue. Yes, some groups, especially white men in positions of power, are in positions where they can abuse people easier. But literally anyone could be an abuser. That's part of what Shelby talked about.

I doubt that it's healthy to assume everyone wants to hurt you, to harm others, to abuse and manipulate, and that you can never watch or enjoy someone because they might be bad or support harmful people. Obviously, it's understandable to think that obsessing over a CC is bad because it is. You shouldn't put people on a pedestal and say "they could never do that!". But I'm seeing blogs who have been devoted to a CC and/or their character(s) for 3+ years talking about why you can never find comfort in a CC, and should distrust all of them completely. Like dude. It's fine to like a CC who may not be related to this at all.

We know according to Lexie that some CCs knew about abuse she faced and didn't do anything, in fact they kept hanging out with these people. It's fine to be wary, to stop supporting people who it could be. Because I'm sure there are people behind the scenes who knew something.

But again, the random tumblr blogger who wants to grant a CC a chance to get their thoughts together instead of making a shitty statement is not your enemy! Guilt tripping and harassing people into never thinking about any CC who could be related is not an effective way to support Shelby, and it does not make this seem like something that is about abuse. It makes this seem like online discourse.

This is not drama. Stop treating it like drama where you need to throw around buzzwords. You cannot "win" supporting someone. The only "right" opinion is supporting victims of abuse. People can feel different ways about CCs who did or did not respond. Stop saying people are horrible because they didn't loudly, actively denounce a CC who hasn't responded in one day to possibly finding out for the first time that one of their closest friends is an abuser. That's not supporting Shelby.

[presiding]

I'm not a new follower and I've been here long enough but i do have a relatively bad memory

So I've wanted to ask, what's your opinion on "Dishonored: death of the outsider"?

Right now I'm replaying Dishonored games not in the release order, i already finished DH2 and started Daud dlcs. Maybe I'll go for vanilla DH later

But thoughts about going through death of the outsider again makes me feel something that i can't explain... 😬

It has some interesting ideas but antagonists are underused. Locations repeat a lot. And Billie herself deserved SO much better than whatever is going on with her character

I'm genuinely debating if i should revisit *this* one or pretend that DH2 is the last game. I know that some people love DOTO but i can't find strength in me

love to chat about death of the outsider, ty for the ask!

i feel your pain. it's the one game i struggle to revisit. but! i was thinking about your points and how DotO has the feel of budget cuts.

it's been about a year since my last DotO post - so, essay time -

a measured response to common DotO criticisms

(the thousand bugs of dishonored 2 I had borne as I best could, but when doto ventured upon sidelining billie and retconning daud's arc I vowed revenge*

*can't resist a cask of amontillado joke

criticism is easy and creation is hard, so, if this isn't the type of response you wanted, you can read my other DotO posts:

how i'd write death of the outsider

that post i did after trying to play doto a third time and couldn't make it past the opening scene (you might like my tags on this re: your comment "makes me feel something i can't explain")

billie lurk as a nonprotagonist & misogynoir (more on this below...)

gonna leapfrog off your comments cause I agree!

antagonists are underused/locations repeat a lot.

who is steering the boat?

let's start up at the top; everything stems from there.

DotO was caught up in ownership/transition issues. here's an article about harvey smith and raphael colantanio at that time. if you didnt know, colantonio is the main founder of arkane (semi-related but just for fun look his appearance up then go through arkane's protags and tell me what you notice...).

quote from harvey smith re: DotO -

“Then, just as I move back, [Colantonio is] announcing that he’s leaving. Going forward, I’ll focus more and more on the Austin studio and what we’re going to do there. Death of the Outsider is my wrapping up with the guys in Lyon – the first half of that we planned together while I was living there, but the second half was worked on while I was living in Austin. I’ve been communicating with them through video conferences and stuff, so they carry a lot of the load of the second half of it.”

so the founder jumped ship and the co-creative director has to step away from his usual position (over to sinking ship Austin). meanwhile, DotO is still in development. i'm a big believer in people making art, and not companies (even in this article Smith acknowledges much of their "secret sauce" can be traceable to specific devs but i digress)

$$$ kaching - some speculation

on the note of founders - past this point in arkane's history (ie. the main founder stepping back), arkane would have been being primed for sale. this translates to high scrutiny on project expenditure (such as hiring cheaper early career staff, hiring less workers, denying your best staff raises causing them to leave and hiring cheaper workers in their place, etc) to make the company's EBITDA look more appealing to buyers (briefly, its the piece of paper that proves you're profitable). based on speculative timelines, from a purely $ perspective within the first year of dh2 being released is when you'd be looking to slim down your capitalised expenditure (aka: cutting staff while the revenue is at a peak to make number go brr and make your company look like a better investment) because to maximise the profit of a company's sale, you really have a great track record for a few years.

this is purely speculation based on timelines. companies are very careful to hide when they're doing this, ideally they want ~3 years of a great track record (and staff that will keep working their hardest).

big goals and no money

DotO was meant to be a two-part DLC like the Dh1 DLCs, so shout out to what could have been made if their original pitch had worked.

On locations & antagonists & budget - this dev's site discusses the Conservatory level in game AND specifies it was budget constraints being the reason for cutting off traversable area from that mission. Great link for comparing the original level & the DotO version, especially re: your point about reused assets/levels.

We could pick other examples here but this post is already long so -

Billie herself deserved SO much better than whatever is going on with her character

i would forgive this game anything if there was any good billie storywriting.

:')

its never just the writers

after revisiting articles to fact-check for this essay, i've seen a lot of articles blaming writers by name (you didn't do this anon which i love <3)

games are made by teams, and decision making is generally done top-down, so blaming individual contributors is shit. 1) writer's pay isn't good enough to cop this kind of abuse. 2) it's rarely in their control - you can write a beautiful scene only to have that level cut due to costs (etc), and then you need to work out how to make the story make sense. ideation & decision-making are separate and i guess 'this idea was [X]'s' should not be mistaken for 'this is the fault of [X]'s.'

on hiring fans (& imm-sim writing strategies)

the new writers [...] already had an idea of the world, as they’d seen it from the outside, as fans. “These are all people that knew this world we had created and they took it as canonical, as the gospel. Whereas, for us, it was bits and pieces we’d made up along the way.”

as someone who used to hire writers, and i promise this isn't in bad faith: don't hire fans unless your priority is cost then, sure, fans are likely to put in overtime (and not be in a position in their career where they can ask for higher remuneration - they'll pay the passion tax to be involved).

writers (esp new career writers) have to be open to receiving feedback assuming healthy/functional processes, and being a fan makes that harder because you care more. and, as a fan, you know what loose ends exist and that's where you'll naturally jump to, even though writers should start with target audience and branding, and build from there. if i expand on this i'll get offtopic so let's keep going!

DotO feels lifeless because it doesn't add anything to the DH universe, it only takes away by closing storylines without the satisfaction of closure. sure, stuff was added - the cult subplot, locations, some NPCs/enemies, etc. but they feel like part of the objectives, not part of the dishonored universe. you can feel the decision-making process when you play: there's a feeling that the priority was to finish the assets required for missions, instead of writing a story that feels immersive.

compared to standard videogame writing, where you can generally get away with "everything you touch and read relates to your objectives as the protagonist", as an imm-sim writer, you need to focus on:

how does this text build the universe so that the player feels like they're only seeing a small part of the world?

of course - this is difficult with budget/time concerns. i've said it before but this is part of why we rarely have games as rich as dishonored 1 & 2, because imm-sim design philosophy flies against the current videogame industry trends of microtransactions & cheap-to-make addictive mobile games. given a tight budget you focus on the high level story, but player immersion is a function of details.

most likely, dh2 was the end of an era. typing that out makes me sad.

what did the devs say about writing billie

*breathes deeply*

the death of the outsider protag was originally pitched as being about a regular human, someone not related to emily and corvo but instead an overseer or a brigmore witch. daud was also pitched.

this could have worked! really cool to have a nobody, or a heretic, or an overseer, be involved with the death of a god. and i've mentioned before that storywise DotO's protag could have been anyone (i think i made a joke about wyman? hah) and wouldn't change the story much, bar some daud bits.

quote from the same article:

eventually Arkane settled on Billie Lurk, Emily's companion from Dishonored 2. [...] Bakaba tells me that because Billie had already received her redemption arc in Dishonored 2, Death Of The Outsider's story could be about something more than that.

welp.

so there's two things here - a redemption arc claim, and DotO's actual story.

in addition to not being the first pick, the view was that billie's story was over. i question the 'redemption arc' claim - sure, billie helps the protag in dh2 but after her confession, if you tell her she's changed, she brushes it off and you part awkwardly without forgiving her... does that count? if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it does it make a sound? if a character redeems themselves but the story never tells you, are they redeemed?

billie's role in dh2 isn't really that different to the dlcs, where she follows you around being Mr Exposition while withholding a LOT of information that could have actually helped the protag. given DotO's plot, going after the killer who shaped her doesn't scream 'reformed' either. ludonarratively speaking, the lack of chaos implies billie never changed from being a callous killer - which i'm not against, it would have been a cool story.

and! contrast this with daud who already had his redemption arc!

When first conceptualising Death Of The Outsider in around 2014, Smith and Duval knew they wanted two things: Billie Lurk being used to get to The Outsider himself, and closure for Dishonored villain (and later ally) Daud.

in the two DLCs, as we know, he comes to realise his actions sucked, and as the player you actively make things right (related: my post about ludonarrative dissonance in dh2). so if billie had "already received her redemption arc", why was this another daud story?

imo this isn't a budget issue but a misogynoir issue. "we want this story to be not about the protagonist so any random NPC will do, how about we go with billie lurk and get a black woman as a dishonored protag?" this logic, which is what i'm reading of the above two quotes, feels frustratingly tokenistic when she's an established character with a rich background. it's an example of surface level diversity because DotO is not about her by arkane's own admission. it's a similar vibe to the companies who say they have a diverse team but you check their staff page and all the people of colour have 'assistant' in their title and the board is all white, so it's not people of colour who are driving the business. maybe this was entirely by accident but these accidents add up to systematic failure - billie gets her own game but never her own story. it feels like she got assigned the caretaker role for these two guys. great.

for fairness, let's compare to dh2. corvo & emily are relatively hands-off protags in terms of their ongoing thoughts about their surroundings and the lore placement about them specifically is sparse, and this style continues in DotO. the issue is the core narrative: corvo & emily are both the protagonists of their story in the sense that dh2's story reflects their goals ("take back what's yours"), whereas Billie is an established character who has arguably little reason to go along with each mission. worse, the main plotline she's literally forced into going along with. in the opening scene billie gets assaulted and still helps the guy who assaulted her.

fundamentally, DotO's narrative is not about billie but about daud and the outsider, and this article makes clear that was by design.

whats the takeaway

DotO is the weakest entry in the Dishonored series for most people, and blaming budget & a corporate changeover makes me feel... uh well it doesn't really help me tbh but your mileage may vary. it does interest me to think about what we could have had!

for me, my opinion is that if writing billie was a priority (link to my own post where i describe the feeling of playing doto as someone interested in billie) arkane would have made it a priority, even amidst constraints. billie's redemption arc was not resolved imo, and putting her in a game without a chaos system feels like as much a backwards slide for her as daud's plotline to kill the outsider was for his arc.

we absolutely 🤝 on not being in a rush to play the game again.

on the upside. dishonored 2 is a really wonderful game and i love it very much.

[ttr-loviz]

READER X Shinichiro

Enemies to lover

Third piece

Chp3.

The next morning.

Shinichiro went to school to see Y/n in her usual place in front of her locker like every morning. He stared at her, shook his head, and went on to join his group of friends. He couldn't face her now because of last nights dream he had.

Y/n was a bit confused bc she thought Shinichiro would come up to her and tease her or just comment on her appearance like every single day he did "what was that about..?" She muttered to herself before closing her locker and went to her class.

During class, when the teacher comes in, she introduces new students: "Okay, class, we are having new students joining us today, so be kind to him." She looks at the tall, handsome boy with dark fluffy hair

"Introduce urself".

"Hello, my name is H/n." He brightly smiled

"I moved here recently, and I hope we all get along together."

He was quite handsome in her opinion. Then, the teacher points to the empty spot next to y/n and tells H/n to sit next to y/n.

Well, well, well, he seemed to be nonchalant, but actually, he was a very kind and talkative person. H/n and y/n were already talking like friends. They would be very close in such a short time, huh?

At that point, Shinichiro was glaring at them. Always glancing at them, he didn't know why, but it was frustrating for Shinichiro, and that was really weird for someone like him. Like, no one, i mean no other guys talked to her that close before, so it's oddly weird for him. He was the only person who talked with her like that before, so eventually he got very jealous.

Y/n and H/n were talking and chatting all morning, acting like best of friends.

H/n "So theres was a girl who bumped me while i was walking down the hall to the teachers office, I turned back to hear an apology but instead i got a mean glare from her! The nerves... man, kids need to be more respectful. " He laughed as Y/n giggled. "You sound like an old man H/n." She nudges him by her elbow.

While this was going on. On the other side of the classroom, Shinichiros patients were running low from just the sheer sight of Y/n talking chatting to another guy like that. "Fucking shut up..." he mutters in his mouth annoyed. Shinichiro didnt want to hear her laugh at some other dude that isn't him. But the worst part about it was she wouldn't laugh at his jokes or comments like that and it hurt him a little.

Suddenly the teacher talks up "Class! Next week the school trip is happening so remember to put a reminder and tell your parents." She announced to the class.

H/n "Hey Y/n, you will go right? If your not going then I will lonely cuz ur the only friend I have in here right now." He chuckles. "Duh ofc i will." She nods.

Shinichiro overhead their conversation and was surprised that she was going, I mean she didnt go before but now suddenly she was going? And that set Shinichiro off even more.

The teacher leaves as the bell rang dismissing the students. Shinichiro leaves after the teacher, he walls down the hallway towards his friends and they all see him in a bad mood.

"You guys comin? To the trip i ment." Shinichiro asks them, they all agreed and one of his friends calls out. "Y-yeah we will but bro.. you good? You dont seem like urself."

"Nahh something just got me worked up, its no big deal.." he sighs. Another one says "So should we head out? They're all waiting for you."

"Yeah, let's go."

Tbc...

(swwy we took lil long to wrote it cuz we WAS TOO LAZY! <3)

From: J&Y !! :3

[porcelain-gal]

tw/cw .. mentions of psychosis, paranoia, and christianity

. . . CONTEXT + PSA!

i had someone in my inbox basically say that shifting can cause psychosis and/or paranoia due to some reasons they provided and i'm going to be speaking on this and giving my opinions on this topic! i accidentally deleted the post like an idiot so i can't reply to it directly which i apologize for!

please keep in mind that these are my personal opinions and i am in no way a mental health or spiritual professional or anything of the sort, i'm just speaking about my own thoughts on the matter.

also to those reading, please don't be disrespectful to op because they were respectful in their original message and this is a serious topic i wanted to discuss!

. . . MY THOUGHTS!

My opinion on this is: people possibly having these issues isn't because of shifting itself.

one of your points was that people sometimes make others feel like it's their fault for not getting their desires (i paraphrased so i apologize if that's not entirely accurate but that's what i got from it!) notice that it's not shifting itself causing that issue, it's the community.

say christians say to another other christian who is struggling that they aren't being recognized/forgiven by god because they're doing something wrong and they're just shitting on them and whatever. then this person goes on to start spiraling into paranoia and all this stuff thinking that they're being shunned by god or that they aren't pleasing god. this person isn't feeling bad because they're a christian on it's own, it's because of the community making them feel that way.

for another example, say someone who is a dog owner is dealing with a dog who has health issues and people in the dog community are blaming the owner because they think they aren't taking care of the dog meanwhile the owner is doing everything they can, essentially blaming the owner without knowing their circumstances. in this situation, the owner doesn't feel bad because they own the dog and are dealing with its health issues, it's once again because of the community blaming them.

if both the christian and the dog owner simply decided to leave the community or just ignore it, they would be able to get help and heal would probably continue on their life being a christian and a dog owner. why? because the issue was never what they were doing, it was the people around them fucking with their head and making them feel bad.

for the second point, if someone is developing psychosis and paranoia, literal mental disorders, from not obtaining their desires then i personally believe that person was not stable in the first place. if said person decided to just stop shifting entirely and leave it, they would still have to deal with the possibility of going into psychosis and paranoia over other things because shifting was never the problem, it was their mental state.

your average person won't just develop whole disorders from simply believing in shifting. people believe in gods and higher powers and aliens and manifestation and all these things that sound just as fantastical as shifting and a lot of them aren't dealing with those issues but there are people who do. the only difference is that the majority of people who do develop these issues were never mentally healthy to begin with.

and of course there are special instances where seemingly normal people develop issues through believing in these things but those are pretty rare and usually happen because of additional causes, not just what they're believing in/doing (e.g., someone converting to christianity and being taken advantage of by other christians, causing them to develop issues.)

i hope this explained my point of view on this and maybe gave some others some insight! if you don't agree, then you're valid of course but please don't be disrespectful or rude in the comments or my inbox. thank you for reading!

anti-shifter, proship/profic, ageplay, pro ana, bigot/incel, and any variation dni

[ludwigplayingthetrombone]

Hello! Firstly I wanted to say that I'm an old fan since your overwatch days and I've always admired how much depth you're giving all the characters and relationships you touch! I'm talking like, mariana trench DEPTHS. And how confident you seem about just doing the things you enjoy and exploring the themes you want? I really respect that.

I'm having a bit of an art crisis recently and I was wondering If you could offer some advice?

I'm thinking about self-indulgence in art, particularly fanart. I like to dive in deep to expand on characters, I find it as enjoyable as creating my own work. But I fear of people getting angry at me for latching onto these characters, thay they'll say the original work wasn't THAT deep, or that I'm completely wrong or cringe or whatever. And I don't care about being right or anything, I just want to have fun here and tell my little stories? :( The fear is making me keep the work to myself and I don't know what to do. Would it be better to just enjoy it on my own?

Your blog really is goals when it comes to that, so I'll respect your opinion a lot. Thank you for your time!

holy moly thank you so much for your sincerity first of all!! Second, this is making me misty eyed ngl!! I have alot to say about this so i shall put it under a read more bc im gonna ramble

If someone cares about you fixating on your fave characters, then they're usually the fucking weirdos in this situation if they dont just block you and move on. I LOVE making shit up about my faves like i have a modern au hc that kakashi and gai are ddr competition rivals and i gave yeehan 7 dogs just for funsies!! we were in the trenches in early overwatch making up our own lore bc there was none and it was so fun

I've always been like that now that i look back bc when i first started uploading my shitty ms paint fanart on deviant art in like 2006(naruto funnily enough we've come full circle) i was still drawing cringey shit /I/ wanted to see. I don't agree with almost all of it today, but i remember the fun i had while making it, and that's really the trick. Drawing what you personally want to see then people can come and go audience wise. If they like it, they like it, if they dont? oh well! There's people who still follow me from when i was 14 and i follow them even tho we're in completely different spaces now.

The fanart part i vibe with personally bc im really bad at coming up with totally original work and premises. i much prefer having pre-established rules and worlds to work with (plus the characters i love getting massacred in the writing i HAVE to save them)

Just existing online will garner you mean comments or asks, and my best advice is its not worth it to take the bait even if its absolutely absurd and wrong, i just block and go now, and im much happier :) this all being, of course, as long as what you're doing isnt harmful, bc even with good intentions, you'll mess up/blunder eventually. If the heat gets too much for you, no one will judge you for withdrawing your art from social media. thats a perfectly safe thing to do to keep it for yourself.

As an adult, shits not that serious im 28 drawing naruto fanart bc it makes me happy after a long day of work, so have fun!! art's supposed to be fun don't let the fear win i love sharing my art with strangers on the internet!! Hope this made any sense at all and I wish you the best, my friend!!! If you ever wanna dm me, feel free

[zan0tix]

And it was nice to see you actually enjoyed a media ive enjoyed, I wanted to enjoyed it, but it was hard because ive hearing contants negatives about the fandom in social media (how ive feeling negatives that people dont like dirkjake) So hearing u enjoyed dirkjake make feel better that maybe i can enjoyed homestuck again, so thankies :0

PRO TIP FOR BEING A HOMESTUCK FAN: Log off twitter! 💕

Homestuck is soooo fun and enjoyable when you dont have a bitch in your ear telling you everything about it and all the characters that arent dave or karkst suck 24/7!!!! OFC READ IT CRITICALLY when homestuck is Bad its badbad but damn if homestuck isnt GOOD when its good. Its really fun to analyse and discuss the good parts theres so many interwoven pieces that all fit together somehow I LOVE IT.

I think the best way to enjoy is homestuck is to find friends! Ive had the most fun here by reaching out and befriending mutuals who like it as much as i do and sharing our ideas together. Ive literally muted all the annoying ship names and homestuck tags on twitter because its made my experience there so much more fun😭

If people dont have actual analysis or evidence from the comic behind what theyre saying IDGAF. I feel so much more at peace not listening to people lie at eachother about characters and then all congratulate eachother about “being right”

People shit on literally every ship there. And then everyone in the comments will agree with them LMAO ITS SO WEIRD. Personally i really enjoy having canon material to think about since like i said before theres so many moving parts its so interesting to see how they all come together with the bigger picture and greater themes!! So i love thinking about the canon relationships way more.

I think alot of fandom opinions come from prior experiences detached from canon content itself, the dirkjake yaoi apocalypse was real and i think made alot of people hate them😭 when in canon theyve got so much substance and are really important to act 6.

If you didnt get to have fun with homestuck because of fandom opinions id reccomend trying to read it again ^^! Its way more enjoyable appreciating all the artistry and complexities of the narrative for yourself than trying to fit the understandings of people who erm probably dont have sources to backup their claims about things. Theyre usually just saying things online to get interaction bait 😭

Thank you for the asks though!! I really appreciate it :D I hope anything i said was helpful or insightful LOL im so good at rambling about homestuck (insane)

[raffaelamusiker]

Raffi Musiker and Michael Burnham for the character ask

Thank you for the ask! From this ask game

Raffi!!

How I feel about this character

Oh gosh, I love her with everything I have. I love all of her good and her bad. I love that she is perfectly imperfect. She's one of the most realistic human characters I've ever seen. She is my baby and she deserves the whole universe and I love her SO MUCH. I relate to her a lot.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Well Seven, of course. I do also like thinking about pre-canon and her marraige and relationship with Jae. Honestly I'm quite open with shipping Raffi with people: B'Elanna, Emmy, Jadzia, a load of OCs ect. She just deserves to be loved by everyone. If Raffi wants to give everyone little kisses then she should be allowed!!

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Raffi and Rios are the top brOTP. Platonic soulmates to the max.

My unpopular opinion about this character

I don't know if this is unpopular but I have seen a few comments about it: Raffi is not ooc in s3. Ignoring the abysmal 'offical' (thats putting it lightly) timeline between s2 & 3 that doesn't make sense, Raffi had been through a lot of trauma that was never addressed again in s2 (surprise surprise). Elnor died in her arms, she watched Seven get deathly injured and nearly die, she herself nearly died and her best friend stayed in the past. All of that and with what she was going through in the first half of s3 would change her, harden her, make her slip over the edge.

I do agree that the show never really knew exactly what to do with her and so we have 3 different angles of her, but its not ooc. Raffi has just been through so much trauma, especially between s1-3 and hasn't had the time to deal with it.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

For her and Seven to officially stay together lmao. No, I loved how she found a friend and supporter in Worf, I love how she's by Seven's side on the Titan Enterprise, I just wish they'd done the family stuff a bit better you know? She deserved so much more than Jae suddenly believing everything she said just because Worf had leaked her medals and such, and not having listened to her himself. (Gabe is different). It just kinda sucked and she deserves better and to be believed and listened to.

Michaeeeel!!!

How I feel about this character

I love Michael a lot. I think she's one of the best captains, an amazing friend and someone who just wants to do the right thing. She knows her flaws and works on them. She's not afraid to emote, to feel, to love. The way she loves her friends so unapologetically <3 She's truly the best.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Michael and Book are cute, but there was this polyamory Disco post going around a while back which I loved too. Michael, just like Raffi is allowed to just kiss whoever she wants.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Michael and Saru's friendship always brings me to tears tbh. Also Michael and Tilly's friendship. I love them being best friends so much. The way they always just hug!! and Michael and Saru doing the head touch kills me every time.

My unpopular opinion about this character

I don't know, probably that she's one of the best captains?? I know it's usually just the trek bros who say shes a mary-sue or whatever, but I think she has one of the best character arcs and character growth on any ST show. I also loved that she got such a good, peaceful ending. It's what she deserves!

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

That she got more time as captain. That Disco didn't have to end. I think she had so much more to give us and I miss her!!

[x0401x]

Hi! I've only watched the anime for Tsurune and I LOVED the first two seasons but after reading some of your Tsurune posts it got me curious. How different is the anime adaption from the source material? It sounds like an entirely different thing! I really liked the first season, but apparently it was a disaster? In what ways, if you don't mind me asking? Should I read the novels instead? I'm sorry for so many questions or if you've answered these already

Oh.

Oh, holy shit.

This is not the kind of ask I was expecting to get in the year of our lord 2024.

I’ll start by saying that you’re totally right. It sounds like an entirely different thing because the original work and the anime adaptation are, in fact, almost entirely different from each other. If you ever look for reviews of volume 1 on Japanese sites, the comment you’ll see the most from people who also watched the anime is “it’s so different from the novel that it might be best to just view the two as separate stories”. If I had to estimate how much of the novels was actually included into the animation, I would say 5% to 10%. I’m being pretty generous here.

You’re also right about the first season being a disaster. I remember that when I first watched the first episode of S1, by the moment that the series title came up, I immediately thought to myself, “This won’t sell well. 3k DVD copies, give or take”. And turns out I was wrong. It actually sold around 2.7k, which is even worse than what I had predicted. It did so infamously bad that many fans were worried about the second season before it came out, and some people were being rather foul-mouthed about it, which was a shock for me because you don’t usually see Japanese fans not following fandom etiquette. However, there was much more effort put into S2 than S1, thankfully. There’s also the whole thing with the arson attack, which pulled in people’s interest and support for the series. Overall, it did fairly well, I believe. I would never say that S2 does the novel any justice, but it was light years better than S1. That’s something everyone agrees to, even those who enjoyed S1.

Still, though. Even with S2 being far more successful than S1, that’s technically not so big of a deal, considering S1’s tragic underperformance. The series is known here in Japan mostly because of its association with the arson, but not many people are really into it. I would say that it has a niche audience consisting of 1) people who were already fans of KyoAni to begin with, 2) novel readers and 3) people who practice Japanese archery. As for the overseas audience… barely anyone has ever even heard of Tsurune, be it the anime or the novels. Many people who do know the anime have dropped it by S1, and the reason I see being pointed out the most is that it was “boring as hell”.

Other than this, I’ve noticed something in common when reading comments on S2 from Japanese Twitter. One thing people say a lot (and I do mean a lot) is that they didn’t like S1, but after watching S2, they were able to see that “KyoAni was, in fact, taking this franchise seriously”, so they gave it a second chance. This is meant as a compliment, but although it’s not backhanded per se, it’s kind of underhanded. I mean, who wants to be told, “Thank God you got your shit together this time around”? It’s good that S2 changed people’s opinions on the series, but the fact that it had to be changed speaks volumes about what people thought of S1.

Now, as to whether you should just read the novels, I would say yes. It’s literally the only way to know what Tsurune is truly about. But I have to warn you that, if you loved the anime, you might have to prepare yourself to see the things you loved about it either not being in the novel or taking a completely different turn in it. If you’re able to handle that, then by all means, go ahead and give the source material a try. It’s honestly one of the most unique novels I’ve ever read, and I’ve read just about every light novel out there. The depictions of Japanese archery and Zen go way deeper and you’ll learn much more about the characters, so I’m sure you’ll have a fun time!

[pazpatas]

Remember this is only my opinion you can disagree;]

I don’t know if anyone will agree but, I hate the yaoi fanart of Hannigram and Lacho. As a guy who is actively involved in the Hannibal and Better Call Saul / Breaking Bad fandoms, I am really not comfortable with these types of art. The characters aren’t ruined but it seems as if people miss completely the point of the shows.

Lacho is just… meh and shouldn’t be a ship. Like BRO THEY HAVE NO CHEMISTRY (in my opinion) and I know it’s hard to say, but Nacho Varga and Lalo Salamanca are straight men… who deal drugs and are just cool criminals. I get that there’s not a lot of people you can ship in this fandom, but these are just cool characters and y’all are ruining them with your horny bullshit.

Edit: I removed the lacho tag, you can stop commenting about me being rude. Damn y’all like to attack people who don’t have the same opinion as you.

Hannigram is a ship and it’s a very cool one! I like it, but when it’s done correctly:

There’s 3 whole seasons cooking this delicious soup of nuanced interest between Hannibal and Will. I love this series, especially as an asexual, because it shows sexual intimacy in a much more complex way and from a completely different perspective. At least, it is different from how we usually see it in media.

This intimacy is here to make us observe, these people; them and only them, in the rawest selves, between each other. That’s why it is so important. NBC Hannibal shows different characters in these moments, adding music and interesting visuals; they play with colours and sounds of fungus. Every scene is just so cool to watch and not as awkward as it usually is. I like how it looks like, people are merging in one. Sex scenes, like Alana with Hannibal and Margo with Will’s intimate shots, can also portray something that is happening subconsciously outside the very scene, disassociated from the moment.

(Hannibal spoilers season 3, 13 episode!!!)

Now, the coolest thing is that the relationship between the murder husbands doesn’t need sex. In my opinion, it’s purely intellectual! When it get’s physical its because they’re both killing the dragon. That was their intimate connection, the first time truly being with each other, not divided by two sides. They are one, together versus the dragon. After that, Will sees Hannibal; by that I mean that he sees his whole nature, and he can’t go back. His family is an illusion of something normal, but Will has reached something greater. After feeling Hannibal’s way of viewing the world he feels that he belongs. Of course, after realising that he is now with Lecter; that they are not understood by the world they exist in, both of them need to become even greater than their actual form. They had to die because their love is spiritual. By transcending into a bodyless form.

Hannibal, for me is the sanest character, he is always fine. The only moment when he’s not alright, is when Will “betrays him”. In Florence, Dr. Lecter is reckless, he kills a lot more than he needs to. He sees people, who he consumes, as pigs. It doesn’t feel bad killing them, because they’re just little animals walking around. He of course enjoys their company, humans can be befriended and he spends time with them with pleasure. It is still possible to eat them, except Will. Lecter, after Grahams betrayal, doesn’t trust him anymore. He does not want to show his true self to him anymore. Hannibal regrets opening up after he truly thought that he could be understood. So, Dr. Lecter convinces himself that Will is also just some meat. Yet again, seeing Will, after Florence, being on the same side, when they’re both confronted by Mason, Hannibal sees Will as a partner. A partner in a love crime.

SO NOW PLEASE FUCK OFF WITH YOUR PENCIL DRAWING OF NBC CHARACTERS FUCKING EACH OTHER /ref (welcome to the internet by Bo Burnham)

P.S. I realy like cute mini comics those are cool and funny keep doing them 💪

Again only my opinion, you can disagree, I literally don’t care. I would like to know your opinion actually!

[raspbeyes]

A bit more of a revised opinion on David lol

I did my intial thoughts post a while back but kinda realized that my initial impression was so different than how i see david now.

i pretty sure this has already been said, but yeah David's reveal is not really a reveal of true character but rather feels more like a breakdown in who he is

Now yeah, he definetely has got a flair for the dramatics but honestly, i think it makes sense why david would want to play up his cynical viewpoint to a cartoonish level like we see. But for all of his life, he's been playing a role that it seems he does not believe he actually deserves (as his hidden quote may allude to deep self hatred), so for once, david is truly acting out how he believes he really is

essentially, the reveal was not him being a liar, it was a reveal of how he believes himself to be a liar.

Not to mention ... and maybe this is that same denial i was saying before ep 11 that maybe david has the hopeless child secret but ... his motivation just doesn't add up to me.

His "mask" initially slipped in the prologue where he spoke about wanting to be in bed and not deal with people or wanting to come to hope's peak. Idk about u but that just feels like just being an introvert. Maybe a bit of a bitchy introvert lol but nothing that is a manipulative liar who wants to watch everyone kill each other for ... uhh ... shits and giggles???? I truly feel he is acting the part that his secret is.

So what exactly is his secret referring to as manipulative?? I think i agree with hu when i said its phrasing (For example, arturo does not seem as heartless as his secret ambiguously makes it seem, clearly very affected rather than how the secret implies callousness). I think the secret is really just referring to what his talent is. It is what we all guessed initially: He manipulates people, aka "inspires" them. He may just have the ability to manipulate using his words, but he has so far put that to good use.

But i think david never sees it that way. I recall seeing a few posts commenting how david must feel guilt/grief over the death of xander and arei, since he had gotten close to the both of them before their death. And i think that guilt is being amplified with arei's death:

A lot of people point to David's slip in ep 10 as either a sign of him being a good person or a bad person, as his way of talking can be interpreted as either.

(To recap, those who claim this proves this shows his truly good nature point out that he is truly upset abt the death of arei and he is showing his true distaste for the killer, something he wouldn't have said if he had wanted arei to die and didnt care for her like he said in ep 11. However others can mention how david speaks abt how she was in such a vulnerable state to be killed and his creepy smiling sprite sure doesnt help)

Personally i am leaning on the redeeming side, as i think david feels that arei's death proves why he's such a manipulator. We now know of the conversation (or really only a part of it judging by how arei is never answered) was likely when David first learned of his secret about him being a manipulator. David is completely silent, shuddering and unresponsive. I think that he may have at first viewed Arei as his usual routine of lifting someone up, but when we see arei actually hug him, he is caught off guard. And once he hears arei herself saying she really wanted to change for the better, david may have felt he did one good thing. Only then, arei reveals her knowledge of his secret and David is at a loss. Now, the one person who could have been helped by him now realizes his words are as hollow as he believes. So when arei begs david to respond, he cant seem to muster any words.

So when we see how he talks in ch 10, it is his own guilt and anger at himself combined with his grief to arei's death all muddied together. He had been able to help someone, but its because arei had put herself out there - a positive change he triggered - and got herself killed, david blames himself. After all, he can use people however he wants. So if they become worse off, he believes he is the reason behind it.

personally i want a more redeemable version of david since i just dont believe his supposed motivations. they just dont add up!!! moreover, with it being obvious he is not the killer, david has to now live with a supposed chapter 3 with everyone well aware of his "real" personality, so i wonder how david would feel about now actually being treated like a villain rather than a good person like he has for most his life. It might force him to realize that he might actually not be as bad as he thought he was, so maybe he'll slowly try to work up good faith with the group??? I think David has been trapped between two extremes: His morally good outward persona, and his self hatred making him believe he is irredeamable. So maybe david's development is him learning to gain a more nuanced look at himself :)

Or maybe he'll just die in chapter 3 lol and have an unresolved arc :'))