#I like all of these characters FINE in THEIR OWN STORIES

[flightyalrighty]

Being for real right now, but like what questions do you not want us to ask you about this comic cuz what you may see as rude, I/we may not see as rude.

I mean, I see asks here all the time where people ask things that are dumb, annoy you, and are repetitive, like you've mentioned many times before.

But, there's other asks where someone will be asking a question or talking about a theory they have for the story and then you respond with an aggravated response.

I guess I'm also asking to what extent are you willing to answer questions till it gets in the "that's a spoiler i don't want to spoil" zone. That's a fine line I can't see.

There's just so many different other artists out there who all have their own personal boundaries about their works just like you do and I just want to make sure that me, and anyone else can stop crossing boundaries we didn't know we were crossing. (Also it's very easy for people to get comfortable in someone else's space then move to someone else's and subconsciously assume the things are going to be the same there, yn).

(I'm just ranting after this)

Cuz from MY point of view, I've seen a lot of wholesome theories and comments about what could happen in the coming chapters or about a character and you flick them away like they shouldn't have bothered existing. And that the person who thought them up was stupid for even thinking such a thing.

And no, I don't have full references or screenshots of the asks that I'm thinking of. They're the Ivan and Sonic ones mostly.

I'm just curious about this because I thought the beauty of sharing your stories and even creating them in the first place was for people from all different lives and experiences to come together and read something and have their own points of views of said story and share their points of views of the story that they are reading/watching with the creator or the other people that enjoy SAID story.

Because people ARE going to come up with some wacky shit. That's the fun part! Even if it's neeeever going to happen or it is entirely false. I see how the whole thing with Tails and Rouge being alive or dead could have been annoying especially coming from how people were handling it. Of course! But at the same time I don't think people are crazy for thinking that Tails could be alive! (even though now you confirmed he is)

Genuinely people are grasping at straws most of the time. But there's been some where I was like "huh, okay, I see your vision". I've even tried figuring out how he could be alive myself! Because genuinely, there are a looot of storylines out there where people have pulled the "Oh no! They're dead! ... Oh yay! They're back!" card a dozen times.

So it's not crazy for people to just assume that's where this story was going to go, too. We humans go on autopilot when we think we've spotted a plot consistency. That's just the way we are sometimes. (This applies to Rouges' thing, too.)

But the people that are still waiting to this day for the big reveal that Tails is not a rotting corpse even though you've already told us the reality many many times concerns me.

Another thing-

I know that when people come up with other ideas about your story that do not in line with what you had in mind, it can make you doubt. And let me just tell you right now, even if you already know this and I'm just talking to a brick wall, I want you to know that this story is perfect. It is it's own thing that you made and no one can change that or take that from you.

People's perspectives are their perspectives. You can't please everyone. You can't satisfy our personal wants for the future of this story. What is written is written and what you've made is incredible.

There are going to be nasty people. People who are going to piss.you.off.

There are those who are going to bombard you about how they want this and that to be done. People who criticize you and your work and who believe they're the judges.

But there's also going to be people who simply appreciate what you've made. Those who want to share what they love about your stories and how it's made them feel. People who make a million theories about your story and who can be a lot, but in their core, it's just their way of expressing their love.

There's going to be people who create things for you. Those who compliment and scream with joy everytime it updates.

And just so many others out there.

I think that's the beauty of telling a story! The critiques, and the fans. The community you create. The excitement that you bring out of people when a new update comes, and the kindness and love you receive from little strangers from all over that enjoy the story you've created just as much as you do!

Idk, I just want to say that.

And just because someone's theories doesn't align with exactly what you had in mind with your story doesn't mean that you failed in telling the story you were trying to tell. It means that people just like reading between the lines even when there's nothing there. This causes conversations between fans. Good, bad, and whatever. And because of what they THOUGHT they found, it gives them even more of a shock when they find out they were wrong. Even better when the reveal is even more incredible than they could have imagined it would be. And that they discovered possibilities that you couldn't have seen yourself. Things that inspire you and others.

I've also been given the impression that you just want people to enjoy things once update at a time. Be patient. That we're going too crazy trying to get all the answers NOW instead of later. And I see that.

Cuz we all know for fact that there aren't only 16+ people here reading this comic, lol. And even for the older folks, they can still be impatient and illmamnered people who aren't any better than the 12 year olds lol.

But still, you can't expect for people to NOT create discourse and asks trying to debunk things. And from what I've deduced, this is going to be a pretty long comic. And it's what, over a year old or something? And the patrons are many chapters ahead of us, only with the script, though. So from where we're at, I'm assuming this story is going to take a good chunk of years till the end. I genuinely have no idea what the length of this story is going to be.

But yeah, anyway, there's gonna be a lot of discourse between here and then. Discourse you might not want. It's just to be expected. But I wish you all the luck for the coming future of this comic!

Also, I'm sorry If I sounded like an a-hole at all during this. That was not my intent nor was I trying to be anything like that. I'm genuinely curious how you view all of this and I want to make sure I don't upset you. I'm also just confused about a lot of things in this space. But I'm learning!

Thank you, kudos ❤️

Well, yeah, when you send me a massive tone-policing lecture about how I choose to answer asks within my inbox, that does, in fact, make you kinda an asshole.

"Cuz from MY point of view, I've seen a lot of wholesome theories and comments about what could happen in the coming chapters or about a character and you flick them away like they shouldn't have bothered existing. And that the person who thought them up was stupid for even thinking such a thing."

- Well, without any actual evidence to confirm this, there's no way for me to know what you're even talking about here. Kinda just seems like you're putting words in my mouth.

"I guess I'm also asking to what extent are you willing to answer questions till it gets in the "that's a spoiler i don't want to spoil" zone. That's a fine line I can't see."

- If answering a question, no matter how I answered it, could spoil the comic (answering honestly or coyly or lying), then I simply don't answer it. Sorry to all the folks that have sent stuff before that I straight up couldn't answer. I won't be answering "will [Character] appear in Infested?" questions with anything other than a joke. Tbh, I'd avoid reaching for spoilers in the first place because, like, I'm not going to spoil my comic.

"But, there's other asks where someone will be asking a question or talking about a theory they have for the story and then you respond with an aggravated response.", "They're the Ivan and Sonic ones mostly."

- Yeah, so the thing about all of those "Oh! Sonic killed Ivan instead of Tails!" theories is that the readers saying those things are proving to me that they haven't been paying attention -- Both to the comic, itself, and to what I have been directly saying. They are missing big key signs that this didn't happen, like the fact that this is a flashback to two days ago so why would Sonic be dripping in fresh blood when he and Shadow find each other? Why would Sonic be covered in little orange hairs? Why would the last thing Sonic remembers be being "with Tails"? Why would the author of this comic be constantly talking about how Tails's death is one of the most important events in the entire story? Or how this is a Story About Grief. Like, yeah, I'm gonna get a little snippy if after all of that people are still insisting Sonic killed Ivan instead of Tails (or both). I didn't want to have to spell it out. I see so much of this theory, too. On here, and on Bluesky, and on Comicfury. It sucks, dawg.

"But still, you can't expect for people to NOT create discourse and asks trying to debunk things."

- I am not a massive team of people making a commercial product. I am a single person making a passion project that people keep alive via donations. Trying to DING my comic Cinema-Sins-Style, DIRECTLY AT ME, while the comic is still an ongoing thing and not a complete story is seriously rude. Like, keep that conversation within your friend groups, please. Shoot the gun in the air, not at my face. You gain nothing from trying to "outsmart" me.

Anyway,

EDIT: It didn't save my formatting at ALL so I've done my best to fix it to make it less confusing.

[satvrnsearth]

satoru gojo x fem!reader, angst, bittersweet, unrequited-ish love

The word backburner wasn’t something the past you would ever use to describe yourself.

you were raised to believe in center stages, in spotlights. You were always taught to stand tall, to be confident. To not settle for being someone’s second option, someone’s safety net.

But the present you? You whisper that word to yourself like a secret title—bittersweet, but somehow earned.

Because you were his backburner.

Satoru Gojo’s.

And god, if that didn’t make it feel okay. If that didn’t make it feel worth it.

You'd liked him since middle school—back when he was still just the annoyingly cocky boy with too much energy and a smile that made your stomach flutter. Before he became the strongest. Before he carried the weight of the world and the hollow kind of loneliness that came with it.

Before she came into the picture.

You’ve been there through it all. Quietly. Loyally.

A hand he could always reach for in the dark.

Sometimes, it was easy to convince yourself that you mattered. That in his own way, he cared. That it wasn’t just habit, or convenience, or guilt.

Because he did care, didn’t he?

He came to you when the nights got too quiet. When the noise in his head grew louder than the world outside. When she broke his heart in the same way, over and over again, like a loop he couldn’t escape.

Tonight is no different.

The knock comes at 1:17 a.m.—a rhythm you've memorized by now. You don't even ask who's at the door. You already know.

Gojo steps in with that usual dramatic flair, even as exhaustion clings to his shoulders like a weighted cloak.

“Fought with her again,” he says, dragging his feet as he drops onto your couch like it’s his.

You offer him tea, warm and sweet. Your version of comfort.

He takes it with a half-smile, fingers brushing yours. His skin is cold.

“She doesn’t understand me,” he mutters, sipping slowly. “It’s like… I’m too much. Or not enough. Or maybe both.”

He laughs bitterly. “But you get it, don’t you?”

There it is again—that look. The one that steals the air from your lungs. The one that’s laced with something almost real.

Almost.

“Of course I do,” you say, because how could you not?

And so, like always, he stays. He curls into the couch, head resting on your lap like it’s second nature. You run your fingers through his hair like it doesn’t break you every time. He drifts off eventually, guarded walls down, trust laid bare in the shape of his quiet breathing.

You stare at the ceiling, too awake, too full of feelings you can’t name without crumbling.

In the morning, he’s gone.

He leaves before sunrise. Always does.

The only trace of him is the folded blanket, the used mug in your sink, and the ache in your chest that somehow feels heavier than it did the night before.

You tell yourself it’s fine. You tell yourself this is enough.

Because for a few hours, you were the center of his universe.

The one he came to. The one who made him feel understood. The one who held the shattered pieces of him without ever asking for more.

But when you sit down at the edge of your bed, staring at the dent in the pillow where his head had been, the illusion cracks again.

You are not the main character in his story.

You are the backburner.

The warmth he returns to when everything else turns cold. The safe place. The emotional afterthought with a beating heart.

And still—you let him in.

Again, and again, and again.

Because when he looks at you like you’re the only person who’s ever truly seen him… it almost feels like love.

And for you?

Almost has always been enough.

୨୧ she's back smirksmirk 😎 sorry for the long, loooong hiatus. i'll just get back to writing like nothing happened. <3

@satvrnsearth all rights reserved.

[thehorsemafioso]

*She nods to him again, not really wanting to say much. Instead, she simply follows him quietly. She’s not entirely sure why, but she realizes that he is right. She has subconsciously begun to trust him. What a step from this young man who was once her opponent!*

And no, unlucky, it turns out that they are fake. How is disappointing: (

[this-is-intersexism]

Hi!

I’m a perisex person as far as I am aware (I have never been to an LGBT-safe doctor to find out for sure or thought to until recently). I randomly started getting posts from you and another blog about Intersex and Intersexism on my For You page and have reblogged a lot in support.

I am a writer and an artist and I want to contribute to the growth of accurate portrayal of people in the world, whether it’s gender, sexuality, or cultures, and even if I don’t identify the same as them. I like to talk to people, as well as do my own research.

I’m submitting an ask because I saw a post about representation in media and as it is important to talk about what is wrong with it, I’m wondering: How can creators depict intersex people in a more accurate, sensitive, and respectful or honoring way in both fictional and non-fictional worlds? What would Intersex people like to see more of?

If any of this is insensitive of me, please let me know!

Thank you! 💛💜

hi! thank you for listening and supporting intersex people. it means a lot.

about intersex representation in media, here is my takes:

1) choose an actual variation for your intersex character. i mean, they may be undiagnosed, or the variation may fall under "idiopathic" category (when their intersex traits don't fit under any known "condition's" diagnostic criteria), but at least you as a creator should know how their intersexness works. a lot of people see intersexness as some kind of solid "third sex" situation and/or vague thing that makes you more androgynous when, in fact, intersex is a very broad category and intersex people have very different bodies and experiences. it isn't fetishistic or stereotypical if it's something that actually happens with real people.

2) i'd like to see more intersex characters in general. it would be cool if you were able to add several intersex characters in your stories/projects! not all of them have to be the main characters. casual representation matters and helps to normalize things. it's cool when random side character is intersex and just exists. also, it helps to avoid a lot of issues with stereotypes and tokenism. it gives opportunity to show diversity in our community. it also prevents your audience from thinking that the only way of being intersex is [what your only intersex character has]. so it's generally cool for every kind of representation.

3) maybe my personal thing, but give your intersex characters other marginalized identities! i often see this thing in media when the character has one marginalized identity, and it's all. like marginalization is some kind of limited stuff, one thing in one pair of hands. like if character is disabled they can't be queer or POC or even have several disabilities, etc. i mean. give us intersex POC. give us intersex disabled people. give us intersex people with other queer identities. don't limit yourself by only one marginalized identity per character.

4) this is overlapping with disability representation, but. avoid making misery porn. like, when you scroll this blog, you may see a lot of horrible stories of mistreatment and abuse and marginalization. while it's important topic to discuss and depict, it requires knowledge and sensitivity and balance to show respectfully. if your intersex character is constantly mistreated and suffers and is abused because of their intersexness, it may be painful to see for intersex audience and it may accidentally reinforce the idea that our lives are horrible and we should be "fixed" or better dead than living like that. eugenics is an actual problem for intersex community. a lot of people, for example, "consent" on igm for their children because they are afraid that their children would suffer horribly if they got to live with their intersex bodies. a lot of doctors hide diagnoses and medical documents from intersex patients because they think that these people will be terrified and morally crashed if they find out. so there is a fine line between realistic depiction of intersex struggles and misery porn. if you're going to write about intersexism, find a sensitivity reader.

5) i include this because you're new in intersex community. so. avoid popular stereotypes. bigenitalia ≠ intersex (bigenitalia as in two separate perisex-looking perisex-working sets of genitals). your character may have both penis and vagina, but it would be intersex penis (for example, phalloclitoris or hypospadiac penis) and intersex vagina (for example, shallow vagina). so again, look at actual variations and intersex people's descriptions of their lives. in fantasy settings, if the whole species has different sex traits than humans, this species is not intersex as a whole. intersex is about individual variations in sex traits that are untypical for this species. whole species can't be intersex. i personally would like to see nonhuman intersex characters from species with different sex traits (i even have one in my own setting). it can help break the misconception that species with non-gonochoric anatomy are "intersex species" and may actually motivate people to learn what intersex means. but be cautious if your only intersex character is nonhuman and all human characters are perisex (if all your characters are nonhumans, it's fine). because it can accidentally contribute to the dehumanization of intersex people (like this "all asexuals in setting are robots" or "all nonbinary characters in setting are aliens"). this problem can be avoided by adding even one background human intersex character.

other intersex people, feel free to add!

[therobotsarestuckinmyhead]

If you were to write the TFO sequences, how would you write them?

hmmm i have many thoughts on TFO

i think the movie is amazing the way it is. i just wish there were a few more scenes about some things & if they toned down B-127's character a bit.

but i'll list them down below for it to be easier.

this list may be a bit long... brace yourselves. again, i'm pointing out crtisism and putting my own opinions on the table. i love this movie the way it is but it can be better. i understand that this isn't easy to achieve because of budgetary constraints & other issues when it comes to filmmaking because its a long and complex process so i'm purely sticking to the writing.

1. the life of the miners & the transforming bots. in Iacon, you can see some offices and a live broadcasting news network (from the looks of it). if they showed the duality and contrast of how vastly different the world is for transforming bots, i think it would've showed greater emphasis on just how unfair the system is. showing the struggles of one class is good but showing how the other class lives in luxury because of how the other class toils? it would make sense as to why Megatron was shooting down everything because the system was corrupt from the very core, he wanted to remake Iacon in his image. he wanted every single conspirator with Sentinel, every single transforming bot who lived lavishly off the backs of miners to suffer. speaking of Megatron, i do feel like his decent into tyranny was a little too quick.

2. more focus on B-127. they focused on Orion & D-16 wonderfully. after all, the deterioration of their relationship & eventual fallout is pivotal to the plot but i think they could've worked more on my girl Elita & B. B-127 in particular because they used him as comic relief. while i'm somewhat fine with that, a bad comic relife can doom a story because they can come off as annoying— B-127's behaviour in the movie makes sense, technically he's unintentionally the comic relief because half the time, he isn't really trying to be funny. its just the way he is and how much the isolation back on sub-level 50 affected him. for me, personally, B-127 was threading on a fine line between funny and annoying. if they explored his character more than just laughs-and-gags then i think then the audience would've sympathized with him more, they wouldn't find him mildly irritating.

3. similarly, more emphasis on Elita One's character. considering she's a character most of the new audience may not be used to since she's considered underrated and its mostly hardcore fans who know anything about her, a bit more time to really show us Elita's character would've been great! the parallels between her and D-16 are something i live for. speaking of which, i think they should've shown how she is like with other characters because most of her interactions are solely with the reckless Orion Pax so we don't get to see any other side of her than the pissed-off-manager. other than that, i love what they did with her.

4. explaining how T-Cogs work in the verse. clearly, in TFO, T-Cog don't exactly work the same way as they do typically in most TF media— apparent by how D-16 seemingly learnt how to beat up the leader of High Guard out of nowhere. T-Cogs seem to have special abilities in TFO, some sort of explanation on that would be pretty helpful because bots can just switch T-Cogs? the way D-16 threw out the Cog Alpha Trion gave him and replaced it with Megatronus'. using another bot's T-Cog seems to make a bot's frame take up the alt mode of the bot who the T-Cog belonged to. same thing with The Matrix of Leadership and its mysterious capabilities because clearly, the matrix is more than meets the eye (kill me).

5. i think if they showed some of the miners leaving with Megatron, it would've been great because not everyone is going to agree with Optimus on how violent revolution isn't the way to rebuild a society. there has to be some other miners that are filled with rage because again, they too were a part of Sentinel's exploitative system. i would've crashed out too if i found out i was slaving around, nearly dying multiple times all my life for a system that was rigged from the start. conversely, some of the High Guard staying back with the Autobots because how tf is Optimus, Elita & everyone else going to learn any military related without any knowledge or experience in the military?

and thats pretty much it. like i said, budgetary constraints and limitations need to be understood so i can totally get why we got TFO the way it is and i'm fine w that.

LET ME KNOW YOUR OWN TAKES IN THE COMMENTS ‼️‼️‼️

[thattimdrakeguy]

ya know what, it's so late almost everywhere in the world so i'll just ramble a bit now

but i really, really, really dislike how so many creative people are just absolutely fine with the Bat-Family characters being so generic, and interchangeable these days

Lonely Place of Dying, Under the Hood, the Grant Morrison run on Batman and Robin, and other stuff that I can't name off the top of my head--

These have excellent character work, and made these characters so damn popular to begin with, that they've been kept around this long. You learn what they're like, you get attached to them! Ya wanna read more of them!

And for the past damn near decade, maybe 15 years for some of the characters, they just been erasing what makes them who they are. They're all just snarky crime-fighters with soft hearts and quirky friendships. At best some are just a bit more rough around the edges, or for a few talk a bit differently.

When damn it, guys, these characters were all individuals at one point. They were so unique, and stand-out, and excellent, and so damn good. At one point in time you could tell who was saying what based on the character moment and dialogue

Now they've all been made so normal, I don't even know why people care anymore!

And the thing is, most people don't care! Tim can't keep a series on his own, Jason can't keep a series on his own, Damian can't keep a series on his own.

Does no body care to take the time to think and realize why? Comics are a floundering industry, but enough people still buy them that enough series are still successes. So why can't these characters stay afloat? It's 'cause they suck now. Harsh, I know, but, they do. They just do, man. I have to be a bit harsh. Compare them to who they once where, and it's so sad.

Some have gotten better in some ways, but some of the writing quality is still simply abysmal regardless way too often for comfort.

Fandoms create the illusion that the wider fanbase likes what they're doing, but we have to realize that the fandom mostly consists of people that don't read comics. I'm not being gate-keepy, they just don't. It's not on me that they don't, but look, they don't.

Sales wouldn't be that bad otherwise.

All these excellent work, and stories, and histories, and effort put in by these creative giants of the field, all going nowhere because no one can be bothered to put in the work and give a shit.

Now it's a roll of the dice if the character will look like themselves or not, or act like themselves, or have their relationships with one another be consistent with what they've shown before.

And this fandom praises that stuff so much. And I don't wanna stop their enjoyment, I get absolutely no pleasure out of that. Hence why I keep to myself on this website and everything. It is not helping at all though. We can't deny that. Not anymore.

The results on the greater image of this once magnificent franchise is dire. Absolutely miserable.

Honestly, I don't even get what they get out of it. Fan art of a character that looks nothing like the character? Fan fiction that has them act nothing like themselves? I'm on the spectrum, so maybe I'm missing something, but I don't know what anybody gets out of that. I don't get how you can say you're a fan of something, and not actually like what it is, and you have to change so much about it. Hardly sounds like a fan to me.

It upsets me greatly. Even during the past so many years where I didn't pay attention, because why would I if things are so rough, it still upset me.

I want to like this stuff! I wanna be able to read all the comics about them and enjoy myself! Look in the tags, enjoy some fanart, read some fan fiction if I was tempted enough. But there's nothing to get out of it.

If this was any other creative medium (besides maybe radio, who cares about that anymore, or audio dramas, the modern equivalent) people would be furious! My gosh the tweets and posts and everything that'd be happening.

Comics greatest weakness is being so niche, 'cause now that so many people are gone, fanbase wise, buyer wise, and creative wise, I'm not sure if it's realistic to assume DC, at least Bat-Family wise will ever get better

The great stories and moments we've could've had, had more people cared a bit more. It's so tough to think about.

We haven't had a truly iconic Batman stories in so many years. So, so, so many years. At least in the comics.

And not enough people wanna put the work in to change that.

[storytellers-contest-tjac]

Prize Information

What’s a contest without prizes? Yeah. We said there would be actual prizes. Wanna know what they are? 

You gotta be in it to win it, as they say, and we agree. To be eligible for the prize packages, you must have followed all of the contest fine print and rules and submitted your story for judgment by our panel of elder statesmen. As you know, there are two categories for stories in regard to length, so there will be prizes given for each.  

Let’s get down to it, shall we?

For the Magnum Opus Category -

1st Place

Book binding of your epic story - Your story will be lovingly magicked into a physical book, which will appear on your doorstep sometime soon after winning. You read that right! Your words. Actual paper. Full, tangible cover. All the trimmings. It won’t be eligible for sale, and there will be only one, but there’s nothing quite like holding your very own book in your hands. And, you can do whatever you want with it- hide it in your dungeon, display it on your coffee table, read it on the subway, so when people ask you about it, you can proudly proclaim that it is your award-winning novel! Because it is.  

Featured blog - Your blog will be featured on @storytellers-contest-tjac as well as our main blog @storytellers-contest for an entire week that’s totally yours! Your page will receive promotions, reblogs, comments, etc. Get ready to be in the spotlight. It’s all charged up and ready for you!

Badge - You also get a sweet badge for your social media accounts telling the world that you’re a real-deal Award Winning Writer. 

2nd Place

PopCosmic art piece - A hand-crafted, one-of-a-kind painting by @mom-and-popcosmic based on the character(s) featured in your story.  

Featured blog

Badge

In the Category of Novella -

1st Place

Podfic by Drasna (Sandra) from @idlingintheimpalapodcast - Your 1st Place Winning story will be turned into a podfic, lovingly narrated by the amazing Drasna (Sandra) from Idling in the Impala. It is truly something special and will bring lots of ears (and eyes) to your story!  

Featured blog

Badge

2nd Place

PopCosmic art piece

Featured blog

Badge

For The Reader’s Choice Awards -

1st & 2nd Place

A Mystery Merch Box filled with awesome fandom merch and things you just can’t fan without.

Featured blog

Badge

For our mid-contest Aesthetic Winner -

1st & 2nd Place 

A custom fanfic written by one of our hosts.

Blog Shout Outs

Badge

But wait- there’s more! You could also win one of our Honorable Mention Categories for 

"The Best Line I've Ever Read"

“I Wish That Scene Could Be Filmed”

And a Super Secret Special Third Thing (TBA) 

Each of these Honorable Mentions will receive a shout-out on our blogs and a social media badge to display all over the internet!

… That’s the basics, but don’t be surprised if a few extras get thrown in. We are quite unpredictable. 

If you’d like more information on prizes, feel free to ask away! You can also ask how you can help us with the cost of shipping the physical prizes (as international carrier pigeons ain’t “cheep”).

We here at Storytellers Contest LLC, Esq, Inc., are very excited to bring you this awesome event and we hope you are enthused as well.

Sign-ups are just around the corner... get ready to rock.

[kittydruthers]

One thing you can trust about Langdon haters is that they love to cry about endangering patients but it's crickets when it comes to Santos, an intern, doing 4 (?) unauthorized procedures on patients, nearly killing one. Not to mention potentially exacerbating the alleged abuse between that father and daughter with her secret threat.

No one has to like Langdon but let's not exaggerate what actually occurred on the show and ignore the wrongdoings of other characters if you want to pretend to care about morals. All this does is show how much they look down on addicts and tells me everything I need to know about what kind of person they are.

If you didn't know it, you'd think Langdon was coked out of his mind the entire day, shooting up heroin in the break room, and had killed three patients based on the way they talk about him.

The entire first season has I think about 7 patients that involve drugs in some way and then of course Langdon's own story. The show is telling us that drug use doesn't always present like you think it does. It's not black and white. They've completely missed the entire point because they're mad one character yelled at the character they chose as their favorite. People need to grow up.

I do not hate Santos (I’m mostly neutral and becoming more endeared the more I think about her) but I do think her tendency to push off checking in with senior staff and to cherry pick cases/hunt for cool procedures can be dangerous. She’s also still clearly letting her past experiences affect her judgment in cases (which can be good with the attempted suicide patient, and bad with the CSA victim and her dad). I don’t see these things brought up a lot by the fandom but I also could just not be on the side that talks about it because I’m hyper focused on ER Barbie and Ken. TBH this is the exact stuff that makes the Pitt such a good show in the first place and so interesting because every character has their virtues and flaws and we see why it drives them into medicine and how it effects patients as well (And I do love talking about it).

If we want to get into the Santos and Langdon of it all, Langdon absolutely sees some of himself in Santos and I think he had a lot of hard lessons to learn as he’s gone through residency. Seeing some of those same bad habits and mistakes he knows from experience can and will go sideways is likely also setting him off with everything else going on. By this point in his career I believe he takes protocol seriously (and maybe it is also a control thing because there’s so much in the ER you have no say in at all), he wants to teach but Santos proceeding with treating patients because she’s confident in her experience is the trigger point because all she had to do was run it by a senior resident or Robby first and she still would have gotten the credit. I think Santos is eager to prove herself and has a wicked competitive streak. She wants to be the best at what she does and according to Robby, Langdon is his best resident. There’s a natural competition right there to want to overtake that one day. Santos also, doesn’t do well with authority especially when she finds it stifling or controlling and Langdon not giving her a pass immediately raises her defenses. These two are just rife for conflict with where they’re at and I don’t think we have to hate either of them because of it.

I think there are some people who Langdon’s character just rubs the wrong way and that’s fine, but there is for sure the subset that can’t handle talking about him with any nuance because of his addiction. The Pitt truly has (so far) handled addiction with such nuance! There is an opioid and fentanyl crisis currently ongoing in America and seeing these storylines play out is so important.

Personally, Langdon’s journey with addiction is very different to me. I do believe him when he says he wasn’t getting high. The class of drugs Langdon is struggling with does not always have a high effect and it’s extremely easy to develop a dependence on them if you’re over prescribed like he was and the hell of benzodiazepines is the withdrawal symptoms that appear. Anxiety, insomnia, depression, mood swings, physical aches and pains, feeling like bugs are crawling over your skin, muscle spasms, weight loss, sweating, hyper sensitivity, seizures, and the list goes on! It’s very likely he’s never been getting high at all but just staving off the withdrawal from his dependence on benzos. Should he have gone to a medical professional for help? Absolutely. But when you’re in the middle of something like that I don’t think you’d be making all the right decisions. Pball has called Langdon a high functioning addict, and it’s not something we’re used to seeing on our screens when it comes to portrayals of addiction.

All this to say I think the characters all deserve some more grace (except you Doug Driscoll) and I can’t wait to see where Langdon’s storyline goes in season 2!

[catesartworks]

Hello! I just read the most recent chapter of This Isekai Maid is forming a union and I love it so much!

And while I love it very much, I need to make a confession: I did not except to like it. I fully expected to be a parody or weird, simply not being able to click with it, or straight up thought it wouldn't be good.

I started reading RoFan manhwa in 2023, with the series Like Wind on a Dry Branch (i need to finish that), completely falling in love with the story and then i went directly into the rofan rabbit hole. And in that rabbit hole, my second manhwa ever was The Remarried Empress and so on.

So, in the last two years since i started, while i am not an expert by any means, I've gone through a lot of slop and read manhwa that seemed interesting but for one reason or another, had this tropes that just rubbed me the wrong way, or stories where i would scream "WHY IS THE AUTHOR DOING THIS, GIRL RUN!!", keep reading more because I didn't want to accidently miss that one good manhwa among all the bad ones, and as i kept going, a little part of my brain started saying "maybe this is just how it is. maybe these authors just don't want to do anything different. or they can't. or are unable to. it's fine, as long as i can think critical and be able to identify what's okay and what's not, it's fine. I just need to turn off my brain every once in a while." and while i was always aware of this, i didn't really realize just how deep in went until i started This Isekai Maid on a whim.

It's a weird thing to admit, but you know when people say "you are not immune to propaganda" and you are like "duh, anyone who thinks they are, is already in its clutches"? Well, that was me. I've read multiple posts talking about all the common tropes and cliches that rofan mahwa have, would nod my head and take notes, and I would TRY to think it critically and then patted my own shoulder when i thought I did a good job.

Reading this series was like someone grab their heavist boot, whose sole read "YOU ARE NOT IMMUNE", and threw it right on my nose.

in fact, that "screenshot" of the readers of the novel where Bridgette was Fawn (I forgot the name of that novel), where basically the readers were fighting over morality and saying things like "I never said it was okay" or "media literacy is dead!", I remember cringing from embarrasment because, while I don't like writing comments in general, i could see myself in them, from both sides.

I'm a comparative literature student and some of the things our professors taught us are that novels don't dictate morality, fiction is fiction, readers have critical thought, that sort of thing. So conversations about the trending manhwa stories and comics like yours are interesting and also mightingly frustrating to get a clear answer from because, on one hand, what my professors say is right, fiction is fiction, what a story does doesn't dictate is right, that sort of thing, but on the other hand, you are also right, some authors are a little too comfortable with the tropes they use and ignoring their implications, not thinking the characters are possible people and how they would behave in such settings, but as their dolls to do whatever they think is interesting (which is valid but i digress). There's such a fine, fine line between this things and, gah, it's getting difficult to explain.

Back to my main point. Reading your comic reminded me a lot of my experience with anime. Before lockdown, i was extremely against it and whenever someone wanted to recommend me a show, i would immediately shot it down if it was anime, thinking they were all like Darling in the Franxx (my sole experience with anime at the time that left, not traumatized, but also not okay). It wasn't until i actually sat down and started watching shows that i realized i was being prejudiced. And just like that anime, I took a single look at this comic, it's premise and the fact that it was from the US (probably), so not a "real" manhwa and decided it simply wouldn't be good.

I wish, from the bottom of my heart, to apologize for that.

There is so much about this comic that I love, i would need to make an entirely different ask. There is so much detail, the worldbuilding is awe inspiring and my jaw keeps dropping when it keeps expanding and it seemlessly clicks with the rest of the story, Marina is my favorite character and she's so dear to me, I cheered when I saw little Claire, at such a young age, being able to find herself despite her situation and her birth mother, taking charge to who and how she wanted to be, the artstyle has me wanting to (metaphorically) rub my cheeks against it like a soft blanket, the way you draw kids with their outfits and expressions make me wish there were stickers to put on my laptop, i love how every character is so real, how every cliche is desconstructed and examined upon, how so many sh*tty tropes are grabbed by the throat and is screamed at "why are you here?! why do you keep doing this?! why don't you learn?!"

I await every update with bated breath, I am bullying (affectionaly) my friends to start it, I am so happy you decided to write this comic! Thank you so much!

(I apologize for all the mean things I said. I wanted to be as honest as possible, but I know how it can't be difficult to express through the internet/writing, so once more: i was prejudiced and wrong when i came across your comic and your story made me realize it by just being unabashedly itself. thank you.)

Hello! Wow, being a comparative literature student sounds awesome. What your talking about (being apprehensive about a story, or medium) is something a lot of people do. Personally, I do it all the time, so it's not offensive if you didn't like Isekai Maid at first or had certain impressions of it. It's pretty common.

I think there are so many different takeaways from literature, but one of the best things is that it is a time capsule and look into the culture of the person reading it. Or how they interpret the culture of the story they write.

Genres like Otome Isekai, which are built off of many different pieces of media (period dramas, shojo manga, video games) become saturated when tropes and plot devices are repeatedly used. If one story uses it and it's popular, it will be copied and that will also spawn copies.

It's what the show and titular character, Bojack Horseman (a good show about the entertainment industry and explores very dark themes), states that he himself is "a xerox of a xerox." Which in itself is about the inherent rehashing of ideas, stories, phrases through multiple people to the point it is depersonalized and sometimes loses the meaning that it initially had. In essence, trying to recapture what makes something so beloved to the point it loses meaning.

Thinking about it like this, you can come across tropes that were made to fill quotas without taking into consideration the context surrounding it and why it is used. Sometimes they're used as a means of giving an easy obstacle to the protagonist (evil maid, gossiping noble). Sometimes they're there because it is mandatory to gain the highest amount of viewers (like the isekai aspect being dropped/not mattering after five chapters).

So a lot of stories end up being filled with implications due to the author not researching important historical implications of the setting they chose, or losing track of character development and making them react inconsistently. But it's also a look into what the author thinks is acceptable and appealing, and what they think the audience might want from the story, based on what they themselves value most and what is considered an accomplishment by societal standards.

I guess that's why I wrote Isekai Maid, to ask these questions. But I'm very happy you love the comic, and I really appreciate your perspective too! ( ^ _ ^ )

[mehrfh]

Unfortunately, manipulation and misuse of a relationship and giving it a tragic back story to sort of justify moral skewedness of a character is a wildly abused trope in modern fiction... There is a fine line between empathizing with a character despite/in spite of their actions and eulogising someone despite their skewedness just because they had a tragic backstory which sells... I have no problem with Shisui in her own context but I ain't letting it off hook that they are underplaying my man's hardwork and incredible patience (given the times he was in and position he had) and all his selfless and tireless efforts in building relationship with MaoMao and comparing it to a character who was essentially a performer and used a dear friend of hers as one of many pawns in her final act, no matter how much she loved her or had a tragic backstory... At the end she did use MaoMao as a prop in her final act... So, no, Shisui is not someone I would or anyone should want as a lover— too caught up in her trauma to think what is safe for others... May a person like Jinshi who not only works hard for a relationship but also acknowledges his faults and accepts responsibility find me any day!

Love, eh?

People trying to pit a woman who literally gambled MaoMao's life as a rival to Jinshi will never not be funny to me....

Yeah nothing screams love of a person more than betraying the one you love in a very selfish manner against a person who literally *checks 16 LN volumes* brands himself like a servant, pretends as MaoMao's vessal few times despite being a crown prince, brings her forcibly removed adopted father back in his job in a dignified manner, spares literally rebels from horrific consequences for her sake, tolerates her father's disrespect regarding his position and still tries to win his approval, declares open intent to not have only MaoMao as his wife but free her in case he has to be the emperor and millions of such things....

Y'all need to get off the ‘morally grey wicked one gets the girl’ train promoted by internet, complexity can be decent and there can be complex characters like Jinshi who can act recklessly but also demonstrate utmost responsibility and selflessness in times...

Shisui, in her tragedy and beauty, acted recklessly and selfishly, something Jinshi would never....To even compare and say that they both are EQUAL as rivals in MaoMao's case is debasing the entire narrative of the KnH as a story...Just because Shisui came off as morally grey character who performed as a villain, doesn't mean suddenly she is a rival for Jinshi and somehow MaoMao's relationship with both is same. Somehow internet has made you think that villain gets the heroine trope fits here, please...

Many times, kind, noble and selfless hero does deserve the heroine because he has worked for it! And Jinshi perfectly fits that mould...Spare me this insult to entirety of Love.... How can one who reveals everything to you in the heart of rebelion and leaves you at the mercy of other's kindness can be compared to someone who turns the whole world upside down because someone dared to kidnap you? Just how are these two equal demonstrations of Love?

[roguestorm]

Started playing Midnight Suns and so far I’m enjoying it more than I expected! Although I wish the non-magical Avengers characters (Tony, Carol, Steve) were not there bc they don’t add anything to the story and they’re crowding out the characters I actually care about (the Midnight Suns, Wanda, Stephen, etc.). Spider-Man can stay though, he’s my guy :)

[corellianhounds]

Some headcanons for Mando:

Anything he uses to shower or wash his clothes with is unscented. Those scent-neutralizer dryer sheets keep his clothes from smelling like anything that can be detected while he’s on a hunt. Very few species are exempt from being unable to detect him

He keeps a clean ship and a consistent schedule. He’s been self-sufficient and on his own for long enough he knows how to cook and take care of himself. Keeping your tools, gear, weapons, armor, and ship in clean, efficient working order means you’re less likely to have to spend time fixing one of them when it breaks from your lack of routine maintenance, and his body is just another tool in his arsenal; sleep, food, necessary medical care, staying limber and getting vitamin D at some point all go a long way towards ensuring he can last longer in the field. You can’t run something ragged every day and expect for that to be sustainable.

That also means he’s well-equipped to handle long stints without different necessities when needed from time to time; you can push yourself pretty far when you’re already in prime condition.

Wilderness survival skills were some of the first things he learned while being brought up by the Mandalorians. Being aware of your surroundings, setting up and breaking down camp, foraging and hunting for food, building impromptu shelters, purifying water, navigating and tracking, having a variety of general and specific medical knowledge— All of those skills are building blocks for self-sufficiency. You never know when you’re going to be alone or thrust into survival scenarios, so it pays to be prepared.

That also means he’s capable of stomaching a wide variety of what some might consider inedible. Beggars can’t be choosers, and it’s rude to decline someone’s offer of food or hospitality so in any scenario where food is in short supply and/or it’s been offered to him, he’s taking it. As long as it’s something he knows humans can digest, he’s open to whatever cultural or regional dishes his travels have to offer, and he’ll muscle through the less pleasant tastes or textures of food he’s had to make do with when he didn’t have other options.

He does know how to make food taste good, but that more often than not requires more spices and ingredients and hardware than he can afford or spare the room for, so he makes do without. Once the kid comes along he branches out a bit more to make sure he gets some variety.

Along the lines of self-sufficiency and independence, he has a lot of general repair skills: you may not always have somebody who can fix things for you, and he obviously isn’t going to pay somebody else to do something he’s capable of learning, except for when he’s short on time or resources. We see him working on the interior circuitry of his armor in the second episode. He knows how to bypass and pick locks. He has the electrical, mechanical, and structural know-how to fix his ship and would know how to weld and use a torch cutter and a variety of other tools, but it also means he’d know how to sew and mend his clothes. Soft goods are just as necessary as hardware.

Injuries where he genuinely needs professional medical care are few and far in between partially because he’s very good at what he does, and partially out of necessity. Though it is by choice, him tending to his own wounds may not necessarily be because he is neglectful or prideful or has a penchant for pain; medcenters cost money, and submitting to that care means he is vulnerable and at risk of somebody breaking his creed by force, or doing more damage when he can’t fight back. It’s why he likely refuses anesthesia or anything that will put him under and make him unaware of what’s happening while he’s asleep. Either he will find somebody he’s close to to help him, or he will find a way to muscle through self-administered medical care yet again, or he will die from his injuries (which means he will have gone down because of a fight)

Though he has a few physical reference materials and logs he’s written down important details in, a vast majority of his knowledge concerning trade routes, ballistics, geography, maps, various customs and cultures and languages, exchange rates for currency, Guild bylaws— anything he could possibly need to know for a hunt— is committed to memory. He travels light, and the Mandalorians have an oral history more than a written one; belongings and archives can be destroyed, but their people live on and carry the knowledge that’s been passed down through centuries. It just makes more sense to him to commit everything to memory.

That being said, he does a significant amount of research before each hunt anyway, though the bulk of it is centered around the target themselves. Having all of your prep work done means the acquisition itself will go smoother.

He’s mathematically sharp: engine repair, manual piloting, vector calculus, electrical work, ballistics, basic engineering, weapons maintenance, financial management, and navigation by maps or by stars take a lot of mental acuity to understand and apply as quickly as he usually has to use them.

He’s not going to back down from others who purposefully encroach on his personal space, but he dislikes being in close proximity to strangers for extended periods of time. So much of his life is spent evading threats and fighting off challengers it’s hard to trust anybody to be that close. It’s not an aversion so much as it is an irritation that makes him tense. When you’re always looking over your shoulder, it’s just reflex to act defensively.

He doesn’t drink alcohol or caf unless he has sufficient time and he’s secure in the Crest without worry of attack; both impede his marksmanship and reflexes, neither of which are things he can afford while he’s working, so it’s usually only when he’s traveling through space that he’ll indulge

He doesn’t sing, but once the kid comes along he’s found that it’s easier to get him to sleep when he hums as he holds him and walks around the cargo hold.

[dukeofthomas]

I can't find it now but there's a post about suspension of disbelief and how it's broken when the story starts trying to excuse it. "character gets knocked unconscious for hours but there's no further issues from this" okay 👍 "and actually this makes perfect sense because of this and that" um no it doesn't why are you lying to me. like i am willing to ignore the holes and the discrepancies!! all you need to do is let me and not bring unnecessary attention to it!!!

and all that is my issue with the whole robin child soldier argument. like i am willing to ignore it i am willing to engage with the fantasy literally all you need to do is NOT try to convince me that Actually It's Fine Because They Want To Do It or whatever. like literally just shut up about it and i can engage with the fantasy!!

[glitchfang]

video games being respected and seen as a 100% valid storytelling device in deltarune makes me really happy. “lord of the hammer” got adapted into “dragon blazers” and no one is shrugging it off as the mindless video game cash in, they’re discussing whether or not its a good adaptation, and gerson himself sees it as a perfectly good way to engage with the story.

in fact there doesnt seem to be a societal hangup over video games being dumb or mindless slop for lazy people. noelle plays dragon blazers with her dad in the hospital. berdly is a gamer bro but that’s never shown to be a sign that he’s actually stupid, in fact noelle is just as big of a gamer as him. she just thinks hes annoying about it. hell, dragon blazers and blood crushers being a way for all the lightners to bond, berdly coming around to susie because of it, the suselle hangout in noelle’s house. most of tv time is you chilling with your friends playing video games, and ralsei (the “proper” one of the group) never once comments on it. and the fact that there’s a discussion about a book to video game story being a good adaptation shows that video games are seen as a valid art form.

toby fox loves video games so much that we’re getting a glimpse into a world that actually respects them enough to see them as art and devices to bond with people over rather than lazy slop machines. and i dunno, i’ve never seen anything like it personally. i wish we had that.

[thatneoncrisis]

i feel like were reaching a point where tlt readers are so fucking ravanous for a stream of content to consume, specifically that word and not read. just something new to chew on for a few months and be done with. that somehow the idea of series rot has completely slipped our minds. yeah taz should take all the time and novels she needs to finish this story. but i think if we ever hypothetically get past six, which is double the original planned series number, she just has a bad problem with editorializing.

[rinbylin]

雁回时 The Glory ep. 18 // 30