#I literally just made the connection in my head that my problems with Hunter in season 3 are sorta the same as my problems with

[bobbydagen24]

Okay I know what I said on my last post but this meme idea just came to me and I had to make it so I'm sorry but after this post I'm gonna try to be more posotive for a while I promise 😂😂

Like I said I just had to make this since I felt the meme fit so well but this is the last negative post ( at least for a little while ) I swear lol.

Anyone else feel this way about either of these two?

[goddness-lunafreya]

Meet my Tav/OC!

Philrath, the Half-Dragon

Hello everyone, while I'm writing the next chapter, I thought I'd show a little bit of Philrath, the OC who co-stars in the story, and my Tav in the game!

Race and Appearance: Philrath is a White Half-Dragon, children of dragons with humanoid races, usually humans and elves. Unlike Dragonborns, Half-Dragons are literally children of dragons, inheriting characteristics from them, but also from their parent's non-dragon races. They usually end up being an amalgamation of the two breeds, with certain characteristics. They are hybrids, just like animals in the real world, and are therefore infertile. Philrath has an elven body, white hair, with turquoise blue highlights. His skin is fair, with freckles on his face. He has white horns, with slight bluish tips on his head. She has white scales on her face, and on the rest of her body, in places such as: Back, Shoulders and Legs. Her eyes are yellow with these draconic pupils, which have a certain glow in the dark. I like to imagine that she would have fangs, very small, even though this doesn't exist in the game, it's a characteristic that I like to think about.

Class, Alignment and Combat:

Philrath was initially born in my game as a ranger, but I chose to leave her secondary class as a bard, and that ended up being canonical in my story. So, she is a bard who seeks to bring joy to people, with songs, or with actions. Still, the patrol class is not there for nothing. She is very connected to nature, not as much as a druid, but she understands it in a way that benefits her. She uses Speak to Animals a lot to get advantages and to help the poor animals, protecting them from people's evil. She also uses her ranged attacks to help the team, always giving buffs to her companions (cough cough, Astarion, cough), healing them when needed and being deadly when necessary. Philrath as a Half-Dragon transforms into one, being small at first, but growing as he matures and expands his powers, understanding them better. This in gameplay is well... Overpower, but I always dosed it to only use it when it was NECESSARY (hello, Cazador???), so as not to ruin the gameplay. And in history this was cool, it was as if she was afraid to use her powers, and let them emerge as the journey became more difficult. In the end, for her group, she turned into a deadly white dragon, which freezes everyone in its path.

Her Alignment changed A LOT, as my perception changed. At first she was definitely Lawful-Good, trying to be a good person. However, in act 1 she performed very... Chaotic acts. In act 2 I would already put her in Neutral-Good, and in 3 she is certainly a Chaotical-Good or even Neutral-Neutral. My explanation for this was two: The Journey and its Dragon Side. Baldur's Gate's journey is not an easy one, and she has made chaotic and desperate decisions for the good of herself and the group, yet never evil ones. She helped the Tieflings, saved the Nightsong, helped Halsin, was always respectful to Jaheira and let very few die. For her companions, she is a hero, but Philrath doesn't see herself that way. She killed the hunter Guur, she killed all the goblins, she was always aggressive when necessary. But still, she forced Ketheric to seek to be better, not facing him in the end. But as many know, White Dragons are Chaotical-Evil, and she may have gotten that from her father, in part, which explains her impulsiveness in combat.

(She judging Astarion AND the Hunter Gur)

Personality and Romance:

Philrath is someone kind despite the problems I mentioned above, she understands that she can be dangerous, and that's why she prefers to stay away than to get attached, but at the same time, she is afraid of abandonment. She grew up without her biological parents, always seeing herself as strange. Even though she had a great adoptive father, these problems persist with her to this day. That's why she has her motto: "The Group stays together". Philrath never abandoned any of them, he always gave them the chance to improve and stay with it. She never judged, she doesn't see herself in such a position, after all, she doesn't think she's worthy. As a bard, she likes to make people happy, even if the reason is sad. It's a way for her to make people ignore her different appearance, deep down she hates how she looks, but she loves being who she is. She loves flying like a dragon, loves the powers, the feeling of strength. But she hates being different from other elves, being seen as a monster and a freak. Hence her identification with those who suffer, how would she judge someone, when she is judged all the time? Maybe it was the identification that hooked her. She saw herself in Astarion when he revealed himself to be a vampire, when he declared his fears, when he showed his marks and scars. His words (sometimes false) were comforting. As a Demisexual, she is attracted to the self, not the form. And the Astarion being was interesting. She would love to write more about the relationship, but then it would be fic (more than I've already done in this post). Who knows, maybe I won't do it in my fanfic. She stayed with Astarion until the end, but had a light kiss with Wyll in a moment of excitement during a dance. And she decided to start a relationship with Halsin. I always imagined the "Teddy Bear" as her teacher in transformation, it's cute, right? But she loves Astarion, and always will. A Half-Dragon and a Vampire is a couple odd enough to appeal to me!

(They look so cute in these clothes...)

What do I expect from Philrath in fanfic? I hope to be able to explore my Headcanons and address what the story of someone so unique would be like. A Half-Dragon would certainly have issues that Tav normally doesn't have in the game, some of which I mentioned above. In the end, I hope to be able to write everything in "Icy Serenade", my fanfic that focuses on Philrath and all the backstory power. I know, it's all silly and trippy. But this character became part of me, playing her was fun, and in the end she had a place in my heart that I didn't expect. It's crazy how such an INCREDIBLE game makes us get attached to the model we create... Philrath ended up having a lot of me, I'm Demisexual, I identified with the story of several characters in the game, and I was simply moved by see her, or rather they, as Non-Binary. Yes, I used "she" out of language and name custom, but Philrath is Non-Binary! She is Philrath! And it's okay to be called She, They or even "Astarion's Husband". She never saw herself as a real woman, just as she never saw herself as an elf or a dragon. She can be both, or neither. It can be "she", "he" or "they".

Disclaimer:

This race is obtainable in the game via MOD! It exists in d&d 5e, but it is not normally playable. The MOD(which is not mine!!) is based on an expansion of this race, with extra things and an expansion of its mythology. These clothes are from MOD too, I can share them all in the comments, for anyone who wants them. And yes, a lot of things up there are FIC/HC, after all, Tav is the character made for us to play with our imagination and create his story. And everything is fine! We all create this ourselves when we play games like this. And I had to add these details to make sense of a Half-Dragon out of nowhere in the game. But remember that the game itself places us as Dragonborn in the dialogues, since this limitation exists.

(There's no way we... She's so expressive!)

Thank you all!!

Thank you for reading what I wrote and will write, it is gratifying to put what I think here. It has been an environment that has done me a lot of good in the last few days.

I hope to meet everyone's Tav/Durge/OC too! Knowing your Headcanons, your stories, your fics, let's all think and create things together. Expanding this wonderful universe that is this Game and RPG. Finally, I hope everyone is safe.

And what did you think of Philrath? Or the Half-Dragons? I simply fell in love with them. I'd love to hear opinions.

See you soon, with more fics and random subjects. Tchau! (Bye Bye!)

(BONUS: Her looking at Halsin like that is hilarious)

[venus-is-thinking]

Disventure Camp All Stars Power Ranking (Round 17 - Venus)

Recap: Grett's Elimination (1/5 pts)

(Total: 20/34 points acquired)

Sighhhh.

I want to disclaim this by saying that I don't think getting rid of Grett here was bad or unreasonable by the writers. I personally expected they'd spend more time setting up her downfall, but eh, I can't always be right.

I'm just salty because I've previously mentioned to @accirax that I try to do these power rankings solely on meta reads rather than on how I think the votes will play out, because I find the meta to be a better source of guidance. I then put Grett first because of how I thought the votes would play out. L for me.

So, no more vote reading! There's only like 4 of those anyways! Enjoy my purely meta-reading power ranking!

(Damn, I guess this is the last vote out. Wild.)

1: Jake

All meta, baby! Jake is winning this season!

Okay, but real talk, Jake is now the ONLY season 1 player left. I really don't think they're going to let the final 3 be entirely season 2, which means Jake SHOULD be a lock for the finale, making him safe from this vote.

I also just can't shake Jake's insane winner energy. Everything he does makes him make sense as the eventual winner. Even his earlier fuck-ups, like voting out James on paranoia, are just part of the arc. I really can't see Jake going out here.

The ONLY thing I think could put him in danger is if the writers want him to be in the losers' motel episode. Notably, whoever is eliminated this episode will be the last one making it there. I could see the appeal of Tom and Jake talking it out there, but... eh. Feels more like a "save it for the finale" type of thing to me. After all, the season 1 finale is where they made up and promised to move forwards last time. It'd be a nice parallel to do it again.

2: Ally

Ally just makes way too much sense to me as a finalist to go out here. I could see wanting to put Ally in the losers' motel to talk it out with Tess and Hunter, but honestly, I hope they don't. That is, I hope we get a chance for Tess and Hunter to talk without Ally. We've heard a whole lot from Ally on her perspective on the problems in her and Hunter's relationship, but I'd like to know more about Hunter's perspective and where he stands. I think getting some time with him apart from Ally could be a good way to show us both sides of the situation before they resolve anything in the finale.

Plus, Jake vs. Ally for the final 2 seems really likely. They've been beefing, like, all season, and it hasn't really come to a head yet. It didn't play out last episode as a reason that either of them got eliminated; they were both able to see Grett as a threat and take her out. That means that, though they both hate each other, they're focused on winning. What better way to resolve their feud than by making them fight it out for the victory at the very end?

Finally, I don't really think the writers want the finale to be 2/3 Connor and Riya. The Connor/Riya drama (+ Alec) has been a pretty central part of the season, but there's been a lot of other stuff going on as well. I guess the same case could be made of Ally and Jake, but that's because the Jake plotline was a lot more all-encompassing. We've already cut Miriam, Fiore, Ellie, Ashley, Tom AND Aiden as characters that Jake has been connected to, including some who at one point had an antagonistic relationship with him. The Connor/Riya/Alec plotline was really just Connor, Riya and Alec. So, it's fine if 2/3 people have been involved in Jake feuds, because it represents a larger portion of the cast, if that makes sense.

Plus, like I've said before, I feel like some people kinda NEED to be on Ally's bench. It just makes sense that way.

3: Connor

Connor is in a weird place, because he really SHOULDN'T win now that his leg is injured. In-universe, at least.

Like, we see him literally like hopping on one leg in the trailer. He CAN'T win challenges. It's a move by the writers where I really hope he won't be the winner overall, just because it'd feel very... contrived, I guess? Like, at that point, why sprain his ankle in the first place?

I do think Connor has good odds at final 3, though. The main thing going for him is that he's literally sworn several times he'll beat Riya, and, uh, if he's gonna do that, he has to make final 3 minimum at this point. Riya's still here.

My personal theory is that Connor might have to fight Riya in a tiebreaker 1v1 and manage to beat her. That'd give a clean reason for why Riya could be the boot, and it'd let Connor be the one to personally best her. It'd also give Connor a direct win, so that if he loses in the finale (likely at the final 3 point), it doesn't feel like he came up super short of his goals.

However, the thing I said about needing to get rid of Connor OR Riya still holds true for him, and I do think there's some merit to Connor talking to Alec in the losers' motel. However, it may not be as much merit as

4: Riya

I think Riya NEEDS a chance to talk to someone with the cameras off. The losers' motel is the perfect way to do that.

Plus, I think it'd be interesting to see Riya and Alec interact again, especially after last episode. I certainly think Alec would have some opinions on Riya tossing Connor aside after possibly permanently paralyzing him, considering Alec was already talking about how much Connor loves her. I think it'd be interesting for Alec, getting to see a dysfunctional relationship from the outside, and interesting for Riya, seeing someone who once wasn't too bothered by her villainy tell her that she took it too far.

Riya has also been girlbossing too close to the sun for WAY too long. I think the writers know that they need to call it a wrap on Riya sometime soon. Notably, I know that Accirax predicted Ellie to go out for 2 episodes prior to where she actually went out. The same thing happened to her with Yul. The same thing happened to me with Aiden. We've both predicted Riya to go out for two episodes already; it might be that the third time's the charm. I'm not entirely sure why we always read the writing on the wall two episodes early, but it certainly wouldn't be the first time.

Finally, it's been said a million times, but Riya's already been a finalist. When there are 6/18 previous finalists in the cast, I guess it's reasonable to think one of the three finalists could be a previous finalist, but from a writing standpoint, I feel like they'd want to diversify. Besides, it's SO obvious that Riya can't win the season at this point. Like, narratively, there's no way. Even if I'm 100% locked in for Jake winner pick, I think it's plausible that Ally or Connor COULD win. Certainly more plausible than Riya, at least.

I'm personally really glad that Riya has had such a chance to shine in All Stars. I think her showing here was MUCH stronger than in Season 2, even if you only count her performance from final 6 onwards. However, I do think it's time to wrap up her in-game antics and let her process everything from the privacy of the losers' motel.

[mischieffoal]

LotR Musical: Round 3!

Just a bunch of my thoughts, once more. From Wednesday 4th October matinee

Pre-Show: 

Hobbit!Gimli asked if I wanted to play Ring-toss, and Lobelia challenged me to a game… if I gave her a spoon if she won. I went on stage, shook hands, bowed, played and failed, she got one, shook hands, happily congratulated her with a spoon. Which Rosie then accused her of stealing from me! The audacity!! 

Also, I gave Fatty a chocolate bar, and he loves it when people come back again because they always bring him snacks. Got some very funny photos with him. Also, he was having great fun yelling about food - “Hey! Everyone! If you want a Mars Bar, they’ve got a whole bag!”

Mrs. Bolger came and chatted to us about the party, and birthdays, and Rose having her birthday the day before Bilbo’s, and Fatty and Mrs.’ twins being born then too! A busy time in the Shire! The little fauntlings are over their with Fatty’s mum! For Bilbo’s speech, Gollum sat right behind me on the picnic table! He was wearing such a cute jumper. I have a problem. 

Act 1:

Gandalf!! I like this understudy! Actually much better than the original! Patrick Bridgman. More sure of himself, powerful in a way, authoritative. Felt more magic and different from the elves than Peter.

Aragorn carries Frodo in so many different ways in the space of about a minute (fireman's, bridal, piggyback, shoulders round)

When Bilbo says "I'm worried I'll turn into him", Gollum pokes his head in from the side and sneers. I’ve never noticed it before, it’s that subtle. You would only notice it at all if you’d seen it before, because he’s still in full hobbit costume. Holy shit it sent chills down my spine.

Each time they mentioned rings and losing their power, they all held theirs, including Elrond who doesn't even mention his

All the Hobbits are so HAPPY all the time up to and during star of Earendil, when around them others are worried and scared and sad - but they’re still set on their Adventure!! I love them!!

Gimli's outfit has the knotwork on the set, lit up in Moria, I really like that detail. It’s obvious, I just hadn’t made the connection before. He’s connected to the “earth” around them. 

Gandalf hugging Sam into Moria. Everyone in this show hugs so much and I love that.

It's *Legolas* who tells Merry that Gimli is singing a song of his ancestors. Goddddd the elf/dwarf everything in this musical. (Earlier, in the council, Gimli has to sit down on a bench next to Legolas, clearly hesitates, and Legolas literally turns his body away from him once he’s sat down)

The movement in Lothlorien is so *different* and fluid

Frodo just fucking crying his eyes out in Lothlorien. Everyone else is having the time of their lives. Poor poor man.

Boromir really is the bad guy in this musical, huh?

All the chest and head hand signs are so so sweet - touching you to me, sharing my mind and heart and soul. Elrond does it from his heart to Frodo’s heart, touching his chest and it’s just… so affectionate. The three hunters do the same to Boromir’s body, along with all their different prayer signs, and it makes me cry. 

This time the flute music truly was menacing - Saruman’s evil grin held for a while before playing

Have some accidental floating hobbits for the intveral:

Act 2:

R’s favourite bit was Aragorn and Arwen, she kept talking about it!

Aragorn/Arwen’s duet ends very abruptly with lighting changes and Arwen disappearing to aragorn finishing last note kneeling alone surrounded by men. Yes. God. Dream sequences for the win.

Legolas leaps around and does not-quite-flips in his fighting, whereas Gimli is always on the ground

Legolas snogging his bow

Legolas always looks so... clinical, practiced when fighting

"Come back when you're sober" catty asshole

Wonder - bunch of men (including many principles in human gear) sit on the round. As Galadriel sings each "out of", another person gets up and stands before her, until Aragorn, sword held high, “WONDER” - really uplifting. I also really really love Aragorn’s little bit “day may end”, why isn’t it in the cast recording.

When Gollum climbs, it’s up the wall rather than the ladders like Sam and Frodo, and in act 2’s lighting you can’t even see the holds - very creepy

Shelob was actually fantastic when I was properly aware of her. Beautiful and creepy and so much going on. 

Frodo and Gollum moving together and also SPEAKING together, when Gollum hears Sam say they'll destroy the ring

When Sam is convincing Frodo to get up so they can walk to mordor, he's reaching out to him, everyone comes on stage and reaches out to him, and he eventually manages to grab his hand

Sam yelling as he carries Frodo on his shoulders is spine-tingling again

Gollum's death, was, again, incredible

Sam and Frodo and Rosie standing together hugging as they wait for the wedding, making me awwww

Group Hobbit foot goodbye aaaaaaa

At the end as Frodo leaves, Gollum and then Bilbo play the tune accompanying him aaaaaa

Final observations:

Head holding situations: 

Aragorn and Boromir practically in each others’ faces as he dies

Aragorn and Frodo practically kissing

Gimli and Legolas do this too!! After they’ve proposed!! The spotlight has gone to Aragorn but they’re holding each other in the darkness!

Funny hobbit versions: 

Gollum x Aragorn Hobbit AU, 500k

Mrs. Bracegirdle is actually in the show! She’s Kelly!

Gollum is a Proudfoot. Need I say more.

Rosie is Scottish! How could I forget this!

After the show, I congratulated Rosie, Legolas, Haldir, Bilbo and Saruman! I passed on E’s praise of “gay supervillain audacity” and they laughed and said “well it’s hard to hide”. (Side note: they’re enby, of course this is why I find him so attractive)

And, finally, my favourite thing I noticed in the whole show:

For all of Act 2, Frodo's voice is tremulous, breathy and tired EXCEPT directly after Sam says “Well, there’s nothing we can do about that” (the elves leaving for the West). 

“Yes we can.”

Completely normal voice. Terrifying.

[starlightrows]

Hello and welcome back to Krax Watches. Tonight I am binge watching The Bad Batch Season 3, Episodes 10-14.

Episode 10 — Identity Crisis

• The little kids being imprisoned made me cry. Like immediately. I’m on my period okay? Leave me alone

• Why haven’t they killed Nala Se?

• I was hoping we would have more info on Emerie by now. Like is she really a clone? And if she is, is she a female clone of Jango or a clone of someone else?

• I know it’s already been established that Cad Bane is a known child abductor, I hate looking at it with my own two eyeballs every time. ITS LITERALLY A BABY

• I’m so glad Boba Fett murdered Cad Bane like 35 years later.

Episode 11 — Point of No Return

• The second she put down Lula and Tech’s nerd goggles, the ship was toast

• I hope someone kills Sid. Snitches get stitches and also fuck you

• Hunter really fell from like a hundred feet up and just swam his ass back to shore

• I hate that this season has made me go back on my hatred of Crosshair. I still think he’s a crusty dusty musty asshole. But god damn am I weak for sibling tropes, especially older brother tropes.

• You just know he is beating the ever loving shit out of himself for losing Omega to the Empire

• Mystery masked guy, that is definitely Tech, really just allowed Omega to be loose back there behind him while flying at the end there… I know this is still sort of a kids show and they would never actually do this… but Omega could totally bash him in the back of the head while he’s flying. Or garrot him or something. Maybe even yank off his helmet.

Episode 12 — Juggernaut

• Omega looking at Emerie… hello traitor

• Kinda forgot that Crosshair and Phee haven’t met yet

• Phee still refers to Tech as brown eyes, cute! But don’t all of them have brown eyes… ya know… because they’re clones

• …. What was Admiral Rampart arrested for again? I remember hating him… but I can’t remember anything else about him

• Phee is cool as fuck and I love her

• Rampart is racist… alienist… whatever, fuck that guy

• Wouldn’t it have been a wild connection if Rampart was in a work camp or work facility like the one Cassian was in?! Way harder to get him out, but would have been a cool connection

• Wooooooo! Jail break!

• Playing chicken with a tank!

• Lmao throwing Rampart like a sack of potatoes

• I kind of can’t figure out what it is they are trying to accomplish with Omega and the other high M count kiddos. Maybe I’m just dense

Episode 13 — Into the Breach

• It makes me intensely sad thinking about the fact that Omega has spent the majority of her little life in captivity

• They’re making the children take care of the literal baby

• Echo my boy! You’ve returned!

• I like how Omegas legs are almost too big to fit under the table, she’s groaning up 😫

• She’s so devious and crafty, I love Omega

• They stripped the paint off their armor. Why does that feel so foreboding???

• Rampart is cranky because he hasn’t gotten dick in months, damn shame

• Even with the paint stripped off their armor, they look wildly out of place

• Wrecker playing is playing Candy Crush, scrolling space Tumblr, swiping on galactic Hinge, reading fanfic on space AO3

• I want to cuddle that owl baby so bad

• I love bitchy little R2 units

• Crosshair saying, Relax, Echo’s on it, makes me emotional

• Literally can’t believe that fucking worked

Episode 14 — Flash Strike

• Howmst the fuck did they know that it was Clone Force 99 and Rampart? They didn’t get caught by anyone

• I feel like Wrecker hasn’t gotten to do anything or have any personality this season :/ he’s kinda just there

• This bitch with the bangs is going to be an ongoing problem. I hope the children kick her shins until she croaks or something

• Lamo what does Rampart sound like that?!

• Echo really needs to get a prosthetic hand at some point his little screwdriver nub is a dead give away

• Did they leave Batcher on Pabu? I didn’t realize she was missing until now

• Rampart have ZERO self preservation skills. There is almost nothing preventing the batch from killing him

• Inventory droids always have a stick up their ass

• Thanks for the hand! Oh my god 😂 I was right!!

• Please let the monster eat Rampart, PLEASE let the monster eat Rampart. PLEASEEEEEEE

• What the fuuuuuck? I forgot about the Zillo Beast

• I was such an anxious child. I would have been so worried about Omega I would have thrown up

• Omega’s poker face is iconic!

• Let’s go Emerie! You have exactly one opportunity to not fuck this up

The final episode next week is going to be chaotic as fuck. I have no idea what to expect. I feel like there are waaay too many loose ends to tie up. Which further leads me to believe that there’s going to be another spin off about Omega or about Rex or something.

[crypttaphophobia]

I really need to start sharing my weird ass TOH au I have

It’s a very l o o s e The Last Of Us x The Owl House AU in basics like

Emperors Coven is now a Branch off of the Fireflies with completely f’d goals (thanks belos).

Belos wants to use the Cordyceps fungus to further “human evolution” (man is committing multiple crimes in human experimentation) and has some how made it WORSE

The emperors coven is known as the “Torchlights” (creative I know right/s) And now our coven heads (+Camilla) are now Head Scientists/Doctors/Security

Camilla is part of the Torchlights because of Luz, similar to Ellie she is immune and Belos said to Camilla that he’ll let her live as long as Camilla does what she’s told. She works with any animals based subjects (since she is a vet in canon)

Luz’s story line with Eda and the others is her canon development mashed with Ellie and Joel’s. She escapes the Torchlight facility and Meets Eda and who is traveling West to the primary Torchlight facility at the invite of Raine Whispers (They are requesting her assistance to actually retrieve Luz to get Camilla and her out of there before Them, Darius and Eber enact their take down of the Torchlights, They where shocked to see that Eda had already had her with her. Saves the trip back I guess)

Lilith, Willow, Gus, and Amity are all residents in a safe zone similar to the one Tommy had going. Lilith is an ex-torch light here, cause of it her and Eda’s relationship is strained.

Eda isn’t cursed here but she was thrown into testing cause of Lilith, and she was lucky to get out unscathed. That and she may have left eda to literally die multiple times via hordes of infected.

Lilith doesn’t join the travel party till later. Willow, Gus and Amity jump at the opportunity to get out of the safe zone, having all spent their entire lives in it. Amity and Luz still have that beginning conflict, but hand to hand combat. Amity is like convinced this girl is gonna dies, she can’t fight, she can’t barely shoot. Amity wins their scuffle and it goes pretty similar to canons but it’s more of “you’ll never make it out there. Admit it” and “I wouldn’t, but I’m still gonna try.”

Gus is a stealth master STRAIGHT UP. This man could sneak by infected no problem (and people too) he’s a melee master, shank central.

Willow has learned as much medical know how as she can, one of her dads being one of the medics for the safe zone. She uses her knowledge of nature to her advantage. She can think of 50 ways to poison you with local fauna, or she can literally surplex you cause buff willow supremacy. She knows her way around a gun when needed. She takes up Teaching Luz how to shoot with just a hand gun cause eda only has a shot gun and rifle and it wasn’t going well.

Amity.. Amity is definitely interesting in this AU. She’s definitely smart and sharp as a tack, and a skilled sharp shooter but she definitely prefers a bow and arrow. Hunting professional (Ed and Emira Taught her) despite her age she’s part of the hunting parties and stuff and is seen as a very established citizen with her family. Odalia and Edric are basically the same, they where high class before all this went down and Odalia is still trying to be. Alador is still building things, straight up an engineer. Amity and willows situation is still pretty much the same.

Hunter,, my poor boy. He’s still a clone by technicality. He’s technically Evelyn and Caleb’s kid.. but like he’s made from “genetic material” belos has frozen and uses to basically keep making these ‘kids’. Hunter is like the 12th one to happen. Is the oldest one. (Most never lived past 3 and usually their where 2 or 3 at a time. But Hunter is an only kid atm.) he’s still 16 here. A literal walking experiment, he is immune like Luz but holds a altered strain connected to one belos has placed in himself and allows him to basically fuck with his mind. (And control it if needed but it’d nearly kill hunter.) He was basically a child soldier until the Hexsquad basically snatched his ass and he had to choose between being mauled by clicker or joining this weird found family. He’s secretly a NERD.

Flapjack, Hooty and King are here as HUMANS. Hooty is this weird lanky dude that travels with eda until they get to the safe zone, he stays with Lilith until they meet back up later. Flapjack was a doctor that was close with Caleb and Evelyn! And has been keeping close tabs on hunter. Came looking for him when he went missing, becoming yet another me member of the strange group. King is a little kid Eda found and has been raising as her own!

I have so much but it’s a whole lot and I’d love to see if y’all would wanna see content of this!

[mdhwrites]

🦝 Got tired of Amity's "awesome gf" filter on her so much and I was thinking if her character still had any personal motivations, hypothetically speaking (although it SHOULDN'T BE), what do you think those would be to fit with the current events?

For me, based on the little that we had in S1 progressing to the present, I think it should be her realizing the ill intent of the emperor and the coven system on her own, not just because it's bad twoards Luz and that somehow affects her too, (we didn't even had a transition of that come to think of it). If I'd have to give her goal to fit with the present I'd say she would want to change/abolish the laws and indoctrination left by Belos. She wanted to be in the emperor's coven (not buying that her parents wanted that) and had the ex EC head as her teacher (Lilith), she had affiliations, I don't think it would've been hard to make a connection and give her an eye opener. Based on her toxic environment and past, I always thought she'd have the character trait of seeking freedom or justice.

Like Willow's drive to protect the ones close to her, or Hunter wanting to discover/find himself, (or Luz's wish to be accepted but I have issues with that one that I'll ask later)

I hate that it feels ooc to give Amity any priorities outside/besides Luz. It shouldn't be like this Ugh

Any thoughts?

fears the Luz question It's just annoying being lit on fire but I won't censor myself for it. Just that the first time I made my opinion clear on Luz's 'desire', I managed to piss of EVERYONE. -_-

I also have to point out just how many retcons or things the show did that you have to make to give Amity… Anything. It's genuinely just sad and someone today made me realize "Oh, yeah, the canon lesbian does kind of just get reduced to "I have a girlfriend" which is usually not great on the representation scale…" But I could be blowing smoke out of my ass with that one. Just your question itself kind of points out how hard the show has worked to define Amity honestly not by what she's interested in but what parts of her past she refutes.

Main problem with that is nothing replaces it. Even your claims make you have to ignore how she treats the coven system in general. After all, I phrase it as "Her deciding not to go to college" because that's the importance she puts on it. That it might disappoint people but it isn't some life altering, capital punishment level crime that she is committing with this choice. Worse yet, how it's framed and it being Odalia's dream actually takes away from her goal? in Reaching Out.

Because Reaching Out in theory is the closest that the show comes to giving Amity a motivation beyond Luz. Her want to connect with her dad has nothing to do with Luz after all. Now, by the end of the season, and even in that episode, you can see the hand of the plot and the writers forcing this to happen to setup for later and it's handled pretty poorly if you ask me, but it is technically there and so it must be discussed.

So… What does Amity want from her father? She claims it's to connect with him but that's a really nebulous thing and somehow she treats beating a tournament that Alador questionably remembers winning or caring about would somehow be as momentous as JOINING THE EMPEROR'S COVEN. No, sorry, it's actually made out to be somehow a greater achievement despite the EC supposedly being for the best of the best and kind of guarantying a good future for you, at least if you believe fucking anything Lilith said in Covention. If you tried to take these Stormtroopers ever seriously instead of only listening to the S2 assassination that happens to them.

So connection is viable but it feels week. Her motivation more towards the end seems to be recognition. And I say recognition, not being understood, for a reason. She literally just wants her dad to see her, go "Do whatever you want," and then… Profit? Because if she actually cared about his opinion or what he thought of her… Anything else in that episode would have mattered? Bare minimum, the FUCKING COVENS. But she throws that away easily and rejects any real form of affection.

Honestly, one could make a claim that her desire there is a want to be proven as superior to her parents. Superior to her past. That would honestly fit a lot more with her rejection of her father, of anything they care about, etc. like that but because the show wants Alador to be a good guy for… I guess a better answer to the Abomatons (something that goes nowhere really. At all. And everything to do with Alador's 'redemption' is S2B so you really can't blame the shortening for the lack of any plan or point) and that's about it. So Amity had to want to be closer to him but none of her actions reflect this.

Which just leaves us back with Luz. Hell, the desire to prove she's better than her past… Could be her trying to say that she is truly the person she needed to change herself to be to be with Luz. That would actually be half compelling because it'd bring out her worst traits pre-Luz in an attempt to prove how great a girlfriend she is, handle some actually interesting themes with how focused on Luz she is and how sole minded obsession is bad but…

We don't get any of that. We just get told that Amity wants to be close to her dad because it's her dad, even if they haven't been close for years and she should actively resent her parents, especially now for both trying to kill Luz and the childhood trauma of losing her best friend because of them. And that's without anything else she may resent them for for the years between those two things.

But that would have taken thought and a real plan for the Blight Family and outside of Odalia, rapid onset character change out of nowhere seems to be genetic. So… shrug

Oh, and for your personal motivation for her… I question it because of the cast, Amity has the biggest reason to need the largest proof that the Coven system is bad. Her family in general is the closest to the Emperor and the most committed to his causes, even if it's because of profit. They're also the happiest under the system. It would also be reasonable for an intelligent girl like Amity to say "Eda was a wild witch and Lilith turned traitor. It sucks he almost killed both of them but that is the risks they took with the crimes they committed and I'm not ready to take those risks myself." This is why her dismissal of the coven system is SO GALLING to me because it was RIGHT FUCKING THERE for good story telling and conflict and a good question about what a couple has to do when their trajectories in life take them inherently different places.

BUT NOPE! FUCK THAT! Amity drops the coven system as easily as one drops a hot fucking potato! And all the potential she had in the first season dies alongside it so that… So that it becomes hard to even enjoy S1 Amity without just thinking she's a lie. A well crafted, pretty lie but a lie nonetheless.

And it's hard to find motivation from a lie.

[thesheeark]

omg I was able to finally login! Anyways…

If the problems are from them being "stereotypes" of a certain culture. Not only am I someone from part of those heritages, I'm also someone who was in the Editor's chair behind the scenes of creating fantasy stories. Let me tell you something from the creation process.

The layman often gets confusedly offended at what is actually called "Familiarity." Familiarity is an ENORMOUS important part of the creation process that dictates what we see as a spectator/consumer, especially for a show geared at children in their learning years. Children's brains connect and formulate permanent paths to what is real in their lives. And it's part of the cartoon's JOB to do that. Familiarity is not inherently offensive, it CAN be, but it's neither supposed to or purposely used that way.

Take for example Disney's Gargoyles. Remember they are in a modern world with futuristic tech, yet the most key notable tech is Familiarized for the younger audience to correlate in their brains. They could have used any sort of made up cool looking doohicky for the "thing that stores this important data", yet the super futuristic high tech data storage device was a FUCKING FLOPPY DISK!

This has been done MANY times actually, it's very humorous.

Bc that's what we knew as a data storage device for many years and they wanted children to correlate that to the real world floppies they saw in their homes, and probably just learned what they were for by the cartoon itself.

There's stereotypes and then there's alluding to parallels from our own world for familiarity.

This is NOTHING like the Apu in the Simpsons situation, which is parodying real life with humans doing human stories. Mobius is a Furry Fantasy World. While something not being real doesn't make it not offensive, Sonic Underground was extremely tame in these cultural parallels compared to most if not ALL other cartoons during that time, including the ones BASED in those "countries" and directly about their cultures ("Mummies Alive" anyone? How about Count Duckula?" And heaven Forbid the old "Duck Tales" -including it's games!).

A good way to visualize Familiarity used during a modern show (that is very safe by not using human cultures) would be to look at/watch "My Dad the Bounty Hunter." Every Alien was based on an animal we know and carries some of their mannerisms that can reach further into their own cultures.

Hippos, Pigs, Squids, Bulldogs, Bats, Lizards, Blobfish, Chinchillas, cats, ect. While alien they are built to be familiar by linking them to an Earthly animal children are familiar to.

For a deeper, more adult and nuanced example. Lucas’ Star Wars.

Lucas is very open about his "star wars universe" as just our world (including it's history, especially note the Vietnam War) and our struggles, injected with fantasy. Every alien or planet is an allusion to something on our own world for familiarity. It's most notable in Tatooine and "the Sand People"/aka "The Tuskan Raiders", who in MANY ways could be an extremely bad portrayal of the Arabians (I argue that it's realistic, as it's literally my heritage), but Lucas shows both the good and the bad like unto real life, un sugarcoated.

Bc that's what he witnesses in the world, and the entire point of Star Wars in general. That not only are people not innocent, but that even the great powers that people put their faith into are not all holy.

Sonic Underground is not offensive in regards to my heritage. My heritage's culture is extremely fucked up, in fact there is very little one could say is good about it compared to the egregious list of it being traumatically terrible. So there is MUCH that one could do to gaff at it, but Sonic Underground never went in those routes.

Sonic Underground is using as much Familiarity as Eyewitness books on Egypt and Arabia a child would see or watch the episodes of or learned in school at that point.

Which I'm sure was the point! Going farther would be going over their heads! It's imagery they are likely to know from school and the library. And that's entirely fine.

I encourage you to write your story from what was given, and then just ask in post for a cultural proof reader for the parts. No need to fear walking on eggshells, get the words in order, and it's much easier to simply rearrange them in a way that is safe without destroying the feel or message.

Show our Nomads, we're proud of them! They're cool! Show our dress, it's beautiful! Show our mannerisms, their unique! Show us! Don't hide us.

Edited: bc I keep accidentally calling George Lucas friggen Spielberg bc I saw ONE pic where they look similar and its fucked me up ever since I’m sorry. I fixed it! XD

How would you implement the unintentionally problematic characters in Underground into a continuation story?

As someone who is writing an ending to Underground with what we were given with the imposed rule of using the pre-existing characters before introducing new ones, I realized that...some characters are bordering the "problematically designed" line. Some...may have even crossed that line already.

I'm a dumb white female who doesn't know a lot of the harmful stereotypes and depictions some characters in Underground could have, but I know that some are there. Some are even bad enough for artists I commissioned for a project to draw the line at them due to how uncomfortable they were drawing them. I know that the ice is REALLY thin with these characters.

This problem wouldn't exist if I chose to rewrite the whole thing...but I don't want to do that. I want to use what was given and make something with it. This is a little more fun.

I could just exclude them completely, and I was very close to doing just that. I plan to mention Speedster Island a few times but never have the hedgehogs appear there ever again on "screen," for example.

...But the more I wrote the story, the more I realized that Raphi (from the episode "Who Do You Think You Are") would play a decently important part in a character's growth due to his lower body being robotized (which, by the way, I will go off on a totally different rant over that on a later date), making him suddenly more important to the story. But the problem doesn't stop at Raphi, as, from the VERY START of my ORIGINAL drafts, Ifyoucan (from the episode "Dunes Day") becomes a vital part of the story, which would mean the rest of his tribe of nomads as well. While I could write Raphi out of the story and try to use another character for the points Raphi was needed for, there is no other character like Ifyoucan in the show. We KNOW this! He became a LEGEND among the other Resistance members due to him getting caught by Robotnik and ESCAPING! He was the only character we see who was starting to be Robotisized but managed to escape WITHOUT the help of the hedgehogs like Raphi. He has become vital to the story I have written. Without Ifyoucan, everything starts to fall apart.

So now both Raphi and Ifyoucan -two of the characters that the artist I commissioned did not want to draw, mind you- are really important to the plot. It'd be hard for me to write Raphi out, and near impossible to write out Ifyoucan.

Other characters I could see being on thin ice on the problematic scale could be Hothep from "Mummy Dearest", who would play a decently important role in future plot points, and apparently, Doo-Bot from "Haircraft in Space" (I personally didn't see a problem with her, but I've read here that it was) who also plays some important rules in future plot points. Both of these characters, while won't be important in this story, WILL be important in a continuation if I feel people are interested. Maeve from "The Pendant" may also play a role in this story.

Now, aside from Ifyoucan and his whole being the chief of a tribe of nomads being decently important to his character to begin with, I have thought of ways of not ever hinting at the problematic sides of these characters. (the parts that I THINK are problematic, mind you).

Raphi's whole point in my story is about him and his robotisized lower body and that not every mobian is willing to forgive someone for their wrongdoings and that is perfectly fine. (I'm trying to explain well enough without spoiling plot points).

Ifyoucan's plot is...well, a lot. He's good at being a leader, and understanding. He understands firsthand how it feels to think you can't let anyone know your troubles because you fear it'd make them think differently of you. He also knows, again firsthand, how to escape Robotnik without the help of the hedgehogs. Sure, he may have had help with Jamal and Amir, but that is different than getting help from the Queen's own children, I feel. And he knows how to function with half of his body robotisized. While, yes, Raphi does as well (again...I'll go into that on a later day), it is JUST his lower half, and is still a child/young adult. Ifyoucan have had time to adjust to his half robotfication. The strengths and weaknesses of having one arm, leg, and eye taken over by robotic parts.

What I'm saying is...who they were designed to portray isn't important to their overall story, which is why I didn't see a problem with them when I had started plotting them into the story. Nothing in the words would indicate anything malicious to the people who share a likeness with them. But just KNOWING about that could be problematic enough. Or, if I wanted to have this story be given some illustration or amvs in the future (Just throwing spitball ideas), then it really might become a problem.

I guess...what I am trying to ask is this:

how would you handle writing unintentionally problematic characters in a story? Mainly Raphi and Ifyoucan and his nomad tribe?

[wormstacheangel]

When Dean finally rescued Cas from the empty, he expected a happy reunion. He envisioned a strong hug like the first time he had escaped. He expected a long-awaited kiss and repeated confessions that weren’t said with sorrow or heartache. He expected to find the same Cas that was taken, but that would have been too easy.

Cas was left awake, alone, and in complete darkness for months on end.

So when Dean went into the empty, ready to wake up the love of his life, he found Cas curled in on himself—staring blankly out into the void of nothingness. He whispered something so softly and quickly that Dean couldn’t pick up on the actual words, but it sounded familiar. Almost like he was humming a song.

Dean tried to get him to stand up on his own, but he quickly realized that Cas wasn’t even looking at him. His gaze was distant, seeing something Dean can’t even imagine. He then noticed the white film over his eyes dimmed the once bright blue.

His fingertips gently traced over the skin he had only dreamt of touching for months before he took a deep, shaky breath to steady himself. With that slight pause, Dean used whatever desperate strength he had and dragged Cas back to the portal.

Back home.

As they got closer, the light of the portal seemed to startle Cas, and he started to shove Dean away. Dean had to put Cas down so he could take his green jacket off and place it over Cas’s head to calm him before he slowly continued to walk through the portal and into the bunker’s library where Jack, Rowena, Eileen, and Sam were waiting for them.

When they walked through, Dean quickly shushed them as he fell to his knees with Cas still in his arms, hidden under the jacket, and covering his ears at the sudden loud voices surrounding them.

Dean looked around at his family, all sharing the same worried glances knowing they were on the same page. Cas’s welcome home party would be pushed back until further notice.

Cas didn’t cry. His expression didn’t change much at all. All Cas did was sit or lay on Dean’s bed with the lights off. All but the desk light. It was an old lightbulb, so the light wasn’t a bright white like the rest of the place. Instead, it illuminated a soft golden glow against the wall.

Cas squinted at it at first, blinking so inhumanly at it, until all Cas did was stare at it. Whenever Dean made any move to turn it off or even just get near the lamp, Cas made a little whine at the back of his throat.

Little noises were the most Dean can get out of Cas. At least it brought him a little relief. It meant Cas could see him at that moment.

Cas still did that rapid talking or singing whenever it was a little bit too quiet. It made Dean wonder if Cas knew he was out of the Empty. Especially during those times when he would stare right past him, unblinking with cold eyes.

It was only the end of the second week when Dean broke down.

[continue under the cut or on AO3]

He didn’t mean to. He was trying so damn hard to keep it together, especially in front of Cas, but one night he just lost it. He can blame the lack of booze in his system, or as he wants, he can blame Sam, who came up to him about a stupid case. It pissed him off more than it should have. The fact that Sam even believed for a second that he would leave the bunker while Cas was like-well the way he was, just gave him enough of an excuse to raise his voice at someone.

Eileen had to step in and tell him to cool off.

Dean stormed off without a glance back and went to his room. He changed into his pajamas and climbed into bed beside Cas. He laid on his stomach as he wrapped one arm over the top of Cas’s waist, scooting close enough so that he could rest his head on Cas’s shoulder. He then opened his mouth to wish him goodnight just like every night, but something in Dean just broke.

He felt the pressure rise up his throat as he tried to hide his face into the familiar body beside him, but the sob still came.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry it took me so long to go get you. Fuck, Cas, please.” Dean took a shaky breath, sniffling as he reached to hold Cas’s hand closer to him. “We missed- I...I missed you. I missed you so much, Cas.” Dean brought Cas’s hand up to his lips and kissed the knuckles before letting the hand rest by his head. His eyes closed as he sighs, “I love you. So come back to me, okay?"

The only response Dean got was a squeeze of the hand, which was enough hope for the future, and more than Dean could have ever asked for at that moment.

As the days went on, Cas didn’t change. Literally and figuratively. He was still an angel, so there was no need for him to shower or brush his teeth, but Dean swore that Cas’s facial hair was growing, so he liked shaving him at least once a week. Cas seemed to like it by the humming noise he made.

They did learn a couple of things as the days went on.

One, peace and quiet are not what they strive for.

It only brought Cas anxiety, and his humming or singing became much louder and more desperate. They fixed that problem with a Bluetooth speaker constantly playing music in the background, a playlist Jack made mixed in with a playlist Jack helped Dean make. It made the humming stop, and Cas started to roll over in bed. He even sat back against the headboard with his eyes closed a few times.

A month after Cas got back, Dean's phone died in the middle of the night, and the silence must have gotten to him. He covered his ears while he started muttering to himself again. Dean woke up and pulled Cas to his chest while softly sing to him in his still half-asleep phase. He didn’t know why that was his first instinct, but he went along with it cause it started to calm Cas down. Then, Cas held him back for the first time—tucking his head right under Dean's jaw and relaxing.

Dean tried not to stiffen at the touch; if he were honest with himself, he would admit he was trying not to cry because he was busy singing. Busy, not wanting to disrupt this moment.

That night Dean sang all night long until Jack checked on them in the early hours and connected his phone.

Two, always have a light source on.

The lamp was the first one they had. Cas constantly wanted it on, but it bothered Dean all the time when he wanted to sleep. So they bought a cool starlight projector, Sam’s idea, that kept the light on the cement ceiling and not on Dean’s face. Cas seemed to enjoy it as he laid on his back, watching it all night, letting Dean curl up on his side as he slept through the night.

Three, never leave Cas alone.

Nobody wanted to leave Cas alone for more than a minute if they could help it. So they made plans to keep him company at all hours of the day. Of course, they weren’t crowding him. They all came in one by one, except for Dean, who would say, “This is my room. I get to come and go as I damn well please.”

Sam liked to sit by Cas's side and talk nerd like they usually would while cleaning his guns or doing research to help another hunter. He would even pause during the one-way conversation to give Cas some time to answer or try to imagine what Cas would say in that situation. Sam was always calm, wanting to keep it as normal as possible while Cas just stared at him, sometimes his eyebrows knitted together, and Dean had to excuse himself as he felt his chest tighten up.

Eileen sat by his side and watched shows she liked while she talked to Cas out loud and signed so he could hear her voice. Even then, she didn’t talk much. Instead, she let the laptop do the talking as she pets Cas’s hair while sitting on the chair by the bed.

Jack came in the most next to Dean. He liked reading to him or talking about how his skills as the new God have improved thanks to Amara.

"Dad, I hope you'll be proud of me." Jack once whispered to Cas, who was having a bad day, checking out more than usual as he stared off into the distance. Eyes wide and almost screaming.

It was almost the end of the second month when another big mile-stone happened.

Jack was lying in bed with Cas while Dean was at his desk, cleaning his guns obsessively again. Jack was reading him a book he bought during his recent trip to the bookstore with Eileen, it was a Star Wars story.

Jack was getting into the book as he read slower but louder during a big fight scene. He got so excited that he even jumped up and looked back at Cas, "Did you hear that, Dad? He won!"

Cas smiled back at him- a genuine smile- and Dean almost dropped the piece of metal in his hand while Jack froze, his shoulders tightening up while he scrunched up his lips as if trying to hold back his cry.

Instead, he quietly composed himself as he asked in a shaky voice, "You want me to read the rest?"

Cas only blinked at him, keeping the slight smile, and Jack took it as a yes. Jack sat beside him again with a big smile plastered on his face, wiping his eyes every other word, as he rested his head on Cas's shoulder to continue reading. Dean didn’t miss when Cas tilted his head down to rest his cheek on Jack’s hair.

He had to excuse himself again.

After that day, Cas slowly started to open up a little more.

Once Dean woke up with Cas out of bed. Dean was already in full panic mode, his shoes on the wrong feet and jacket inside out as he called out for Sam.

Then just as quick as the panic came, relief flooded him when he found Cas in the kitchen trying to make coffee. He turned towards Dean and gave him the smallest of smiles, but it filled Dean with such solace that he just dragged himself to Cas’s space. Dean held his arms open to press Cas into him, and without a second thought, Cas fell right into him as if it was an everyday normal occurrence.

That was the start of Cas now being up and around the bunker. It was like when a baby starts crawling, everyone keeping tabs on the baby’s first steps, except this baby was an eon old celestial being.

The library, Dean’s room, the Dean-cave, and the kitchen were Cas’s favorite places just to sit. He always had Dean’s headphones on, softly playing music, just in case it went quiet, and it took a while for him to be able to walk around without those.

It was the sixth month when Cas wished Dean a goodnight first and then added, “I love you, Dean.”

Dean fought the lump in his throat, but Cas instantly pulled him in, his arms wrapped securely around him. He had so much he wanted to say to Cas just to hear his voice again, anything to listen to his voice again, but instead, he kisses Cas’s chest before saying, “I love you, too.”

Days came and went. Sometimes it seemed like Cas was getting better as he talked a little more, but then those days would come when he would just stare off into the stars on their ceiling. Not moving an inch or bothering to fake breath like he liked. Those days the music was a little louder, and Cas held on to Dean a little tighter.

“I don’t want to go back. Please,” Cas pleaded as he stared wide-eyed at the darkness in the corner of their room. As if he was having a nightmare with his eyes wide open. “Please don’t make me…I-I don’t want to be in the dark again!”

Dean took Cas’s face in between his hands to hold his gaze. Only talking when he knew Cas was seeing him. “It’s okay, Cas. I got you. Nobody’s taking you away from me ever again.”

“Promise?” Dean felt Cas’s grip at his shoulder, holding him with desperation.

“Promise.”

That’s how Cas became human.

The nightmares have him waking up screaming some days, but at least Cas knew he was safe from the Empty’s clutches.

He was going to live his human life being loved and taken care of, and Dean was happy to say he felt Cas was doing the same for him.

[multifandom-but]

Who is likely to take Hunter in + How is drives the story:

Chances are I’m going to edit this post along the way but these are my thought so far just after 2x17 events.

Starting with The Owl House:

Considering we already have 2x17, they seem less likely as of now. I would’ve assumed they chased Hunter down but with all of them wanted and so close to being arrested, it’s probably not the safest for Hunter to be there. But what about after the events of the story?

After, it definitely seems possible. They’re clearly making a sibling dynamic between Luz and Hunter (as if they don’t have that already). And it would be good for him to branch out and learn the ways of wild magic, especially away from Belos. This family, especially Luz, are so good at making others see another point of view and keeping an open mind. It would be nice to see them try to help Hunter and make him feel comfortable. Showing that just because he wasn’t born like other witches or even humans, he still gets to be his own person. And we all know Eda loves adding more people to the family. But at the same time, Hunter and Eda need time to build a connection. At the moment, it seems more like a “I’ll take him on weekends and holidays” kind of deal rather than a permanent situation but I definitely see them becoming family whether they live together or not.

In terms of where we are this the story right now, it would be a lot to focus on. With Luz going back home, King’s new identity, and everyone clearly keeping it hidden that they’re upset Luz will head home soon, the story would be pretty thick if Hunter were added on though I wouldn’t mind much. That being said, I’m sure they’ll meet again either planning a rebellion or somewhere within the rebellion.

Willow:

Chances are Hunter is in a group chat with the Emerald Entrails after the events of 2x13 ASIAS. Out of everyone on the team, Hunter would most likely ask for Willow’s help as he clearly respects her as captain. It would be a nice place for him to stay away from Castle grounds and have somewhere cozy. Plus Willow seems to have no ill will towards Hunter as she’s awaiting “Caleb’s next day off.”

These two are clearly made to be parallels of each other via being “half witches.” I’d even make the argument that they’re foils of one another.

When we first meet Willow in S1, she’s bullied, has one friend, and is lacking self-confidence. It isn’t until she’s thrown into the plant track where we see her blossoming (hehe). With Hunter, we saw him at the top of his game as the Golden Guard and Emperor’s right hand man. Now he’s lost all of that and is disgusted at the thought of being the G.G successor. If Hunter is with Willow, we would get more Willow and Gus (I’m assuming) content. Willow would help Hunter the same way Luz and Gus helped her. She would help him find his confidence and sense of meaning in this world.

Now the problems: 1. Did Hunter have his scroll with him when he chased down Team RED (Raine, Eber, Darius) into the Night Market or did he leave it at the castle? I guess Flapjack (DAMN YOU PANCAKES) would be able to get it by flying up to his window but something tells me he wouldn’t leave Hunter alone like that even for a couple minutes in case something happens.

2. How would Willow’s dads react to having a 16 year old boy who’s literally the G.G and on the run in their house? But that could be easily fixed by having them be chill with it or making up a cover story and lying to them. Which would lead to conflict later but oh well chaotic route for the win.

Even if Hunter isn’t with Willow, I definitely think they’ll have room to grow together in the future and I’m excited to see how that happens.

Darius (Raine and Eber?):

I shall admit my bias here. I want Darius to take Hunter in. But I also think that’s the route we’re heading towards and he’s the most plausible guardian for Hunter.

Let’s start by saying Darius isn’t the kindest. He’s definitely not perfect taking into consideration “you don’t deserve to wear that patch,” and “Darius ignored me as per usual” in Hunter’s palisman observations (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s on YouTube. Dana did a stream).

That being said, it’s clearly depicted that Darius is not what he seems. He’s actively rebelling against Belos and was kind enough to give Hunter a scroll to contact his friends outside of the castle and pat him on the head. Bare minimum, I know, but that kindness has been foreign to Hunter for the past 16 years. Not only that but he shows genuine concern and panic over Hunter being trapped in Belos’ mind. I like the idea that they can make and grow their own family together. It would be nice to see them mourn and heal together.

It seems set up perfectly anyways. The fact that Hunter starts acting on his own accord the same time we find out that Darius was the previous G.G’s protege? Darius didn’t like that Hunter was Belos’ little lap dog. And that we know all of the previous G.G’s rebelled against Belos at some point and now Darius is as well and Hunter is on his way to doing so? He could help Hunter stand his ground. They could learn about Grimwalkers together as Darius knows Hunter’s predecessor, he knows the most about the previous G.G and he definitely knows something isn’t right over the fact that his mentor disappeared and this kid looks so similar. Darius has something to fight for with his connection to the G.G but now it has purpose and meaning cause he’s looking after Hunter.

Their stories align so perfectly.

Not only would we be able to focus on Hunter’s story cleanly about finding his own sense of dignity and self-worth, we get to see Darius humbled and step up, ready to fill in the role of a mentor and even a positive father figure in Hunter’s life. He gets to give back to his mentor by taking care of Hunter. It’s also worth noting, it would push Team RED’s objective and tie it to the main plot too. We’d get to see more of their story and how they started working together after Eda’s Requiem. It would be the smartest writing move with what we have so far.

Not to mention, chances are they found him already. You can’t tell me after such a strong reaction from Darius, plus Raine clearly wanting to help Eda get her kid (and their future stepdaughter) back, they just gave Eda the teleportation potion and dipped. I figured they would’ve stayed hidden to ensure Luz and Hunter made it out safely which means they could’ve seen the direction Hunter ran and followed him.

Only problem is: Would Hunter trust the three coven heads? After everything he went through, it would most likely take him a while to trust an adult in power, especially ones so close to Belos. And I feel like the only safe place they would hide him in where he can have access to basic needs are either if they have their own individual homes away from the castle, or maybe the BATS hideout that we saw in Eda’s Requiem.

Honestly, knowing this show and it’s creator, I wouldn’t be surprised if they went with none of those and surprise us somehow.

Regardless, I feel like all three of these are good choices and it’s nice to realize how many people care for Hunter and at the end of this hopefully he’ll have the biggest found family that ever found familied. Fingers crossed he isn’t just camping in the woods alone and cold.

[takerfoxx]

The Owl House, Season 2, Episode 18, "Labyrinth Runners," First Impressions!

Gus, m’boy, I underestimated you.

So it’s been no secret that Willow and Gus have really gotten the short end of the stick this season. They formed a vital part of season 1, and they still are more than welcome, but let’s face it: once Amity started crushing and Hunter got introduced, we had a new main trio to focus on. Willow and Gus are fine, don’t get me wrong, but when stacked up against two redeemed rivals, one of which became a sapphic love interest and the other exuding both Zuko energy and sibling vibes, they had no chance. They’re the school friends now. They’ll pop in when they can, but it was clear that they were no longer a priority.

Even their solo outings this season really hammered this home. Gus’s little adventure was…fine. It was fun, enjoyed that illusion stuff and all, but the B-plot had that Lumity kiss. My boy had no chance.

And I still hold that Willow’s episode was the weakest one this season, sorry.

But here we have a second Gus episode, one that has a strong Hunter focus and that sees the long-awaited return of Amity, and is the first episode to not feature Luz, Eda, or King at all…

And it’s one of the best episodes yet.

Yeah, this kicked all sorts of ass. And it did it while still keeping Gus as the focus! Yes, Hunter was kind of the deuteragonist, but it still was very much a Gus episode, exploring his own inner insecurities and issues.

Now, the easy route would be to have him not be strong and feel bad about that, but as it turns out, he has a different problem, in that he is actually very skilled with illusion magic and always has been, but because of that people have made a habit of using him, of pretending to be his friend just to get ahead, which has given him real trust issues that he masks with his showman nature. Honestly, for a long time Willow’s been his only real friend, who was also a talented witch but was underperforming by being forced into a track that she wasn’t suited for. But even though Gus has since made real friends and is doing very well, all that hurt still gnaws at him. He's scared of being tricked, so when his own coven head pulled that trick, that was his trigger.

Actually, can we talk about that little shit for a moment? Because Adrian was a lot of fun. I love how every coven head so far is just a different brand of dramatic. Here we have an evil primadonna director! Yeah, I like this guy, and want to see more of him.

Speaking of bad guys, I also appreciate the effort made to make Belos’s flunkies distinct from one another. Normally they’re sort of copy/paste with those uniforms and masks, but here you can see height and body differences, different coven magic at work, and little things like protruding tails and stuff like that. Also, you go, Severine! You don’t have to take that bullshit!

But anyway, given how much I like weird, cerebral stuff, Gus projecting his inner insecurities into a labyrinth that covers the whole school was right up my alley. And his final breakdown was the right kind of spicy drama.

I have to say though, I didn’t see the duo of Hunter and Gus coming. It did fit though, as they both need guy friends in their lives. Poor Hunter is just going through it. It says something that the school was the only place he could think of to run to, as it’s literally the only place in the Boiling Isles he has any kind of positive connection to. Good thing too, because Gus was the right kind of supportive friend he needed, someone who would genuinely try to reach out to him just out of empathy. He still really needs therapy though. I’m glad that he has an actual support system now that the whole school’s adopted him. And hey, give it up for Bump as principal of the year!

Also, can I just say how funny it was that after having him aggressively shipped with both of the twins, we finally get an interaction between them and him, and it’s just them insulting him and asking if he’s ever sneezed with his helmet on. Bless.

Plus, dude’s known Willow for like two weeks, but he still knew the fake when he saw it. Why? Because Willow could easily kick his ass, and they both know it! So of course she wouldn’t be afraid of him!

If I have one complaint, it’s that I didn’t care for how Willow and Amity’s little thing resolved. At first I was excited. Like, okay, they’re finally addressing the tension lingering between the two! And Amity’s still unknowingly being condescending toward Willow! Good stuff! But to have it just be that Amity is afraid of losing Willow again and is thus overprotective is just kind of…eh. I would’ve preferred her to wrestle with realizing that she still unconsciously looks down on Willow after having bullied her for so long. Like, okay, they’re friends again, and Amity is trying hard to be a better person, but she still has her deeply ingrained prejudices to deal with. I just feel that would’ve made for a better resolution.

That aside, this was still a killer episode. And now Hexside knows the truth about the Day of Unity, and from the sound of things, the Owl House denizens are on the run.

Two episodes to go. LET’S FUCKING GOOOO!!!!!!!

[niobiumao3]

ty so much for this Viv! Let's see...

1. Your favorite member of TBB is:

I am going to cheat and interpret this as the show and say Phee. >.>

2. Because:

We get so few women in SW who are independent of other organizations, just out there on their own doing their thing. And then they made her a refugee from the war which gave her a connection to the Batch as former clones without making it too reliant on their story directly. It's really nice to see that kind of writing, which gives a woman a tangential experience. And she's one of our few black women as well! All around I love her.

3. You identify the most with:

tbh as much as I am maybe the most similar to Tech in a general behavioral sense, I identify the most with Hunter.

4. Because:

I too feel like I could stand to sleep for a century to recover from The Literal Everything and am second-guessing my own decisions about 1 picosecond after they're made. Tech NEVER second guesses himself, Hunter does even as he's doing the thing. His confidence in himself is destroyed and boy can I relate.

5. Your favorite minor character from the show:

idc what anyone says I love Cid.

6. Because:

I support Cid's wrongs. She's a cranky old girl who's like 'okay why should I help ANYONE I don't see any of you showing up to help me! we're all in it for ourselves!' She has no time for any young person's nonsense either. She's as chaotic neutral as it gets.

7. A TBB-centric piece or post of yours that you are most proud of:

The Havoc Marauder Layout

8. Because:

I don't know who else has this problem but my orienteering is for shit. I cannot mentally map things, at all. Period. I need a visual representation in front of my face. Yes this includes the interior of the campervan shuttle. So, I'm glad I put together enough reasoning that I can almost sort of see it in my head.

9. Link so that we can appreciate it:

https://www.tumblr.com/niobiumao3/714174412004442112/havoc-marauder-interior

10. A TBB-centric piece of art that slaps so hard you enjoy (and why):

UGH SO MUCH I COULD PUT HERE. How do I choose????? Okay okay okay...GOD. Okay because I adore how it came out and pause every now and then to open it and look at it, the lovely 'Jedi!Phee' piece I commissioned from Eli Tan.

11. Link:

https://www.tumblr.com/aeli-tan-art/724018461071851520/filoni-please-commission-done-for-the-lovely

12. A TBB-centric fanfic that gives you life you enjoy (and why):

I don't typically go in for modern TBB AUs but every time kaydear updates 'message waiting' I am glued to my phone/computer to read it. I'm a long-time player of MMOs and everything about the interactions and characterizations in the fic has been so very perfect.

13. Link:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/46178920/chapters/116255770

14. A TBB headcanon or trope that is 100% canon to you:

ExobBiologist Tech. Given his druthers he would 100% be out there observing species and writing papers and arguing at symposia and any ship which was his (...or his and Phee's...) would have an entire section dedicated to his ever-growing collection of samples. I like to think that's where he'll wind up post S3 WHEN HE IS INEVITABLY ALIVE!!!!! >:(

15. Color(s) you think would suit if Crosshair gets "Mercenary" armor:

SO MANY IDEAS. SO MANY. ALL OF THE IDEAS. Since snipery-ness is his thing I actually think he would avoid the bright accent colors, as cool as those would be. Probably something in a middle-tone gray and a muted rust (not bright orange like Tech has), some arm wraps for The Obvious Reason in gray-green. Very camo-like appearance without being overt.

16. One thing you NEED to see happen in Season 3:

#TECHLIVES. And reunites with the squad and Phee. (This is one thing.)

NPTs: anyone who sees this and wants to tell us their thoughts! SPILL!!

Fellow Zealots of The Bad Batch, Unite!

Please share your answers to these questions and pass them on to some of your Bad Batch-loving buds!

Your favorite member of TBB is:

Because:

You identify the most with:

Because:

Your favorite minor character from the show:

Because:

A TBB-centric piece or post of yours that you are most proud of:

Because:

Link so that we can appreciate it:

A TBB-centric piece of art that slaps so hard you enjoy (and why):

Link:

A TBB-centric fanfic that gives you life you enjoy (and why):

Link:

A TBB headcanon or trope that is 100% canon to you:

Color(s) you think would suit if Crosshair gets "Mercenary" armor:

One thing you NEED to see happen in Season 3:

@wwheeljack @wrenkenstein @floundrickthewayfarer @raevulsix @enigmatist17 @slenderboo @echojedis @nika6q @zaana @wiseowl18 @toastyrobos @eclec-tech @jigget @destril @niobiumao3

[shihalyfie]

Regarding Konaka’s influence on Tamers (or how much he actually didn’t have)

(Rest assured that if you’ve had a conversation with me recently about this issue, I’m not vaguing you; this conversation has come up a lot in the last few weeks, especially in my private chats, so this is just me deciding that I should write something about this for once since it’s been weighing on my head lately.)

I think, right now, with what happened regarding the DigiFes debacle, a lot of people are having complicated feelings about how to feel about Tamers, and this is completely understandable. I think there are also some things that may be inevitably unavoidable, such as starting to second-guess certain nuances in the series and what they might lead to. All of that is perfectly reasonable, and in the end, it’s going to be up to everyone to decide how they feel.

In light of this, a lot of people have been bringing up the fact that, while Konaka was the head writer, he was by no means the only person working on it. This is very much true, but I’d like to add something else to the equation: this is an issue that goes much deeper than the usual claiming death of the author for the sake of sanity. The full picture is that Konaka has always had much less influence on the series than the fanbase tends to attribute to him. Official statements have been very clear as to not attribute the entire series to him, and, among all the other controversial statements he’s made, Konaka himself has at least been very active about crediting the other staff members as far as their influence on the series! The idea that he was the only person who ever did anything substantial for Tamers is something I’ve been warning against since long before any of this happened (if you want proof, I have a post from April with this sentiment in it), and right now we just happen to be seeing what’s basically the worst possible outcome of the fanbase constantly worshipping him like the only real creative heart behind the series to borderline cult-like levels...when that’s never been true, and has resulted in unfairly taking credit away from people who deserved it.

I’ll go into detail below, and I hope this can help people understand the situation better and sort out how they feel about it.

Note that I make references to his infamous blog in this post, which I’m deliberately refraining from directly linking for obvious reasons, but all of the information is still there, so it should be verifiable if you decide to look for it yourself.

Personally, I’ve always found it really bizarre how there’s been this obsession with portraying Konaka as some kind of auteur whom the entirety of Tamers depended on. I’m not saying this out of spite towards him, because, again, even he himself was very insistent on disclaiming credit for things he wasn’t actually responsible for (he was quite humble in this respect, actually). Not to mention that I think it’s a mistake in general to constantly pin a single person in a multi-person production as the sole heart behind it, and the Digimon fanbase has historically had this strange double standard behind it when it comes to uplifting him as the only heart behind Tamers when nobody says that about any of the head writers for...anything else. (How many times has Nishizono’s name ever popped up when talking about Adventure? People are usually more obsessed with talking about Kakudou or Seki.) Konaka’s work is certainly distinctive, but Tamers had a lot more going on besides just that.

In fact, based on his own statements on the matter and all of the other official information we’ve gotten about Tamers production, while you can’t really quantify such things, it’s generally been estimated that Konaka was responsible for something like only a fourth of the series. Which is an incredibly low amount compared to what the fanbase would have told you before all of this happened, because of this fixation that he must be the genius mastermind behind the whole series. Not only that, this “brilliant auteur” image of him was so inflated that people were attributing way more of 02 to him than he deserved; 02 episode 13 was the only thing he contributed to the series and he was specifically brought on as a “guest writer”, and the overall plot of the episode was determined by the rest of the production staff and not him -- but ask the fanbase and they’ll tell you stories about how he invented some grand planned arc for 02 that got cancelled, or even that Tamers exists because of a “writer revolt” from him and other writers not being allowed to do what they wanted. (You know, as much as I understand 02′s a controversial series, it would be really nice if people didn’t make up completely baseless stories like this just to scapegoat it...)

I honestly cannot emphasize enough how much of the problem we’re in right now has been horribly enabled by the weird pedestal the fanbase has been putting him on. This is to the point where there’s even been a double standard where some of the more unpopular/criticized elements of Tamers must not have been the fault of a brilliant writer like him, and in fact was forced on him by the executives (this excuse had always been brought up anytime someone doesn’t like something about Tamers, just to make sure the image of him as a perfect writer was maintained). Turns out, as per his own admission on the infamous blog, while he wasn’t the one who initially had the idea of putting Ryou in, the part that rubbed the fanbase the wrong way -- that he came in as an accomplished senior who was better than everyone and played up by everyone in the cast -- was unabashedly his idea (he apparently was enamored with the idea of having someone like Tuttle from the movie Brazil). Again, this is a weird scenario where even Konaka himself has been more humble about this issue than the fanbase’s perception of him; he fully admitted whenever he had trouble writing certain parts. For instance, he doesn’t actually like writing about alternate worlds, felt they were out of his comfort zone, and only wrote in the Digital World because the franchise needs one; he’d stated that if he’d had his way, the Digital World arc wouldn’t have come in as early as it did, which might be a pretty shocking statement for a Digimon fan to hear.

If you want even more specifics, here are some extremely major parts of the series that Konaka was not actually the one behind:

The character backgrounds. Konaka stated on his blog that he wasn’t interested in going too much into character backstories because he felt it was too plot-limiting to say that a character is the way they are thanks to something in their past or background (basically, he cares more about plot than character for the most part), and that he’s also not into worldbuilding. Certain things like Ruki going to a girls’ school were supplied by Seki, who infamously loves worldbuilding, family backgrounds, and character settings.

Certain nuances of Ruki’s character, especially the part where she’s pigeonholed into uncomfortable places due to being a girl, were informed by Yoshimura Genki, writer from Adventure and one of the head writers of 02 (who eventually would go on to create an entire career out of feminist cinema).

According to the posts on his blog, Impmon’s character arc didn’t have much input from Konaka himself and was largely written in by Maekawa Atsushi (also a writer from Adventure and one of the head writers of 02).

The whole concept of Yamaki being redeemable in the first place was something Konaka didn’t originally plan for; he’d initially intended to make him a straightforward antagonist, but, of all things, his Christmas song, combined with the input of the other writers (especially Maekawa) humanizing him, led to the development where Yamaki eventually changed sides and became sympathetic. (This makes Konaka’s recent stunt revolving around Yamaki a bit painfully ironic.)

The director, Kaizawa Yukio, was deliberately picked because he didn’t have experience on the prior series, for the sake of changing things up, and he spent Tamers as a period of studying what Digimon should be like. Based on what he’s hinted, it seems Konaka's writing style and choices were able to have as much influence as they did because Kaizawa approved of them -- that is to say, Konaka’s detailed imagery and descriptions were extensive enough that Kaizawa could go “sure, let’s go with that.” But in the end, nothing Konaka did would have gone through unless Kaizawa and Seki (among many others) didn’t also approve of it or provide input. Moreover, Kakudou Hiroyuki (director of Adventure and 02) has also been stated many times to have been a valuable consultant on invoking Digimon so that the new staff could understand what to aim for and how to get the right feel (and also assisted with providing stuff for the mythos, such as the Devas). Nevertheless, Kaizawa also seems to have had his own strong opinions and input on the story; he especially seems to get passionate when it comes to the topic of making the story something the kids watching it could relate to and imagine. (He would eventually go on to direct Frontier and Hunters, along with several episodes of the Adventure: reboot.)

So in other words, looking at this, a lot of these things that people emotionally connected to and loved about Tamers are things that literally were not his personal creation, and were largely contributed by the other writers! Of course, Konaka’s “creator thumbprint” is very obvious -- he was the head writer, after all -- and all of this had to go through his own vetting to make sure he personally liked it as well -- but nevertheless, you can see that this very much was a collaborative effort from head to toe, with him being very open about this fact himself. Insisting on making sure that this fact is well-known isn’t just a coping mechanism to try and remove his presence in the series, but rather a desire to get people to seriously stop giving him credit that really should be going to others (especially since, again, even he himself was very diligent about assigning that credit).

In the end, I’ll leave you with another thing to keep in mind: Konaka doesn’t get paid anymore for Tamers work (unless they make something new like the DigiFes thing), so continuing to buy Tamers merch and supporting the series through fanart and such will probably end up going more towards the Digimon IP as a whole. Basically, if we’re just talking about Tamers specifically, what degree this is going to matter is only really relevant to the content in the original series, which is now twenty years old and remains unchanged. By Konaka’s own admission, he wasn’t into all of these conspiracy theories until 2010 at the earliest, so while it’s understandable to be a bit wary about the themes in Tamers having traces of the base sentiment, the original series itself does not seem to be an outlet for alt-right propaganda, and it’s probably forcing it a bit much to read into it that way. Konaka’s also repeatedly insisted that all of his attempts at a Tamers sequel have been rejected and that he’s been doing increasingly strange swerves to get around members of the original cast not entirely being available, and the Japanese audience has turned out to not be very fond of the contents of the 2018 drama CD and the stage reading for reasons entirely separate from the politics, so it’s also unlikely we’ll be getting a Tamers sequel from him or something in the near future.

So -- at least for the time being -- what’s done with him is done, and the remaining question is how all of us feel about Tamers. I think everyone will have differing feelings on it, and that’s perfectly understandable. Personally, given everything I just said above, I’m going to continue treating it as a series very important to me, and one that many people (including, as it seems, a very different Konaka from twenty years ago) worked on with a lot of effort and love, although you may see me getting a bit more willing to be critical about the series and its themes thanks to my concerns about some of the sentiments in it and what they imply. I also completely understand that there are probably people whose associations are going to be much more hurt and who will have a much harder time seeing the series the same way ever again, and I think that’s reasonable as well. But at the very least, going forward, I hope all of us can understand the depth of this situation, give credit where it’s due, and not force credit where it’s not due.

[buzzykrueger]

When Gon’s anger becomes a protective mechanism for Killua

IMPORTANT: The text is long, plus, I do not support Gon hate. He’s a human being and a kid, so don’t worry, none of my analysis will put him as a monster.

You know the theory that one of the reasons Gon shuts Killua out from Pitou’s fight, besides proving himself and erasing his guilt, is also to keep Killua safe? I didn’t understand at first, but I kinda agree with that now.

Remember the “YES I AM AN IDIOT” iconic scene, Greed Island arc?

Let’s talk about that and link it all.

They’ve spent half of the chapter 158 arguing because Gon kept insisting on meeting this “Chrollo Lucilfer” person inside the game, while Killua was trying to be logical, saying that this person wouldn’t clarify their reasons only by asking them. Killua eventually gives in, and after Gon uses the card, they travel to met not Chrollo, but Hisoka, who asks if they went all that way just to ask him a question (implying how dumb it was).

Gon says that’s pretty much their reason and Killua kept teasing Gon on his dumb choice.

But after some ping-pong teasing between them, the reason Gon was being stubborn is, actually, a concern that lights up on his mind with memories of his journey to rescue Killua from Kukuroo Mountain. Even blushing, Gon says that he was reminded of Gotoh’s words and was worried that both of them were being deceived.

Gotoh’s words were, exactly:

Be careful. And protect Killua.

This also adds to the character analysis - one that is very on point - that Gon being outgoing doesn’t mean he puts depth to analyzing his feelings. He speaks his mind, the problem is not to talk per se - but to put effort into understand his intentions behind those actions. He could say he was worried about them, but he doesn’t, because he speaks first and doesn’t think through what he feels. He’s yes outgoing, but impulsive, and very immersive into acting first, think later - or even thinking only when questioned, because it didn’t even crossed his mind. That’s why we see him talking but yet... it’s hard to know what is happening inside him aside from Killua’s common inner monologues. But maybe protecting Killua it’s so natural that he doesn’t even bother to explain. To think that he keeps Gotoh’s words and even mentions it after all this time, such a nice and gentle touch of how much he respects his bond with Killua. 

Now, let’s get back to the CAA events. Specifically chapter 222.

A very shocked and distressed Gon was learning through Kite's attacks, but not to defend himself or parry. His painful attempts were all leading to dodge the punches and faints, so he could give puppet Kite a hug, and an apology.

Yes, he said terrible things to Killua - and of course wanting to protect him wasn’t the only reason. But he knew from the moment they first met Pitou, that they were dangerous. He wanted to deal with that alone, because it was “his mess”, so he shouldn’t endanger his most beloved one. 

We know that this is a turning point for Gon’s development in this arc, because it is the moment where his resolve becomes tainted with all the guilt he is facing. It’s when he starts to lose himself, and Killua knows that, probably, nothing he says or do will convince Gon otherwise.

But what contrasts with the well-known harsh words towards his best friend, is that he never meant to exclude Killua from the whole situation. That's why he says "OUR fault".

Then, right after, he addresses Killua directly. Visibly starting to lose himself, he takes the responsibility to prove he's strong to fix it, but I think that due to his communication pattern, he might also mean that he’s want to fix it without endangering who he wanted to fight by his side under normal circumstances.

It’s an act that can hold both guilt and protection. He addresses only that one person in the room because he needs Killua to know that this isn't a normal situation, and that's why he can't bring him to this fight. It isn’t normal because someone dear to him got hurt really bad. It isn’t normal because his best friend, someone who would not think before putting his life at risk for Gon, shouldn’t endanger himself to the point he could face the same destiny, specially because this is Gon’s way to show he cares. Again, Gon just speaks his mind without much thought, with his intentions between the lines. His effort to put his feelings into words mixed with the suffering he is handling are, on his mind, overwhelming enough - but still he cared to speak directly to Killua. Could this be, again, another demonstration of not-so-well-thought feelings spoken with the first words that come to his mouth?

Wouldn’t make sense, after all of those demonstrations of Gon’s behavior when someone is endangered and he desperately wants to take control of the situation because he thinks this is the best way to protect them and to be useful, and with that, deserving of their company? 

As Gon's communication is both simple (in words) and complex (behind the words), since he doesn't think through his feelings and he’s a stubborn child, it makes hard for others to catch his intentions, specially if they're already struggling to understand that they are not a burden. Because Killua’s mindset on making friends also includes the need to feel useful, just like Gon’s, but expressed through different means - and by being casted away fro Gon’s decision and later saving the boy in order to push him forward once again to his goal (alone this time), Killua thinks Gon has cut ties with him. as he couldn’t play a helpful role within Gon’s life anymore. So, this is how he reaches the rejective conclusion.

But the connection that I'm trying to make is that even thought Gon’s words were awful as the boy himself recognized, I truly believe Gon still wouldn't want Killua to fight even if he knew how his friend felt.  But not because he rejected Killua or meant to cut ties with his “no longer useful” best friend.

Because Gon has stated already: Killua doesn’t have to earn his friendship.

Those harsh words during the Palace Invasion were an attempt to regain control of the situation, prove his worth in the middle of a mental chaos that he wasn’t ready to face. But still, what if he kept reminding himself that he must protect his best friend in the entire world and just couldn’t find a better way to say it? Because he knows Killua is capable of self-sacrificing, Gon tried to stop him before, and Pitou is terribly strong. If it’s hard for him to translate his feelings when he is calm and collected, the extreme condition he found himself dragged in would’ve just made this communication face more obstacles. Fighting his own pain - another thing he couldn’t translate for the sake of his own mental health - led to the words to come out like they were: heartbreaking.

So, I’m not saying that it was solely to protect Killua, but I think that makes sense for Gon’s character. And again, I don’t think he would agree that Killua would fight what he thinks it’s his battle alone. But, with his mind cleared and the right questions, he would've given Killua an answer. He would say that this is not about taking Killua out of the special place Gon has put him, but about Gon taking the the responsibility based on what he thinks it’s best for everyone. His feelings, either protective or hurtful, are only explained when he’s asked, because action speaks volume for him and he needs this trigger question to make him translate his intentions.

Just like in the Hunter Exam, he only tells Kurapika about how he felt with Hisoka because he questioned. 

And in the Yorknew Arc, Gon didn’t let Killua hurt himself and was really trying to understand how the other boy felt. Gon doesn't communicate well but not because he rejects his feelings, and still, he cares about others’ feelings too. He was just literally out of his mind. So yeah, I think he cared for Killua safety, and if after all this time he made a connection between his stubborn acts and Gotoh’s words, it’s because - on his mind - these words and thoughts never leave his head. He’s constantly worrying about Killua, in his own way. But he couldn't explain something that he didn't put a second thought even for himself to understand. And it's not the first time, he acts very similar in these mentioned situations.

What all these stubborn oriented situations that I’ve mentioned, except for the one regarding Hisoka, have in common? He wanted to protect Killua.

He was undeniably wrong in saying those words to Killua, but it’s something acknowledged by himself already. He IS, by his nature, a protective kid, and under normal circumstances, Killua would be allowed to fight by his side because it has to be him. If it’s not going to be him, it won’t be anyone else. He can’t risk to lose him for something that he feels overly responsible. His words were rooted in pain, but the moment he addresses Killua that he would fight alone - a moment recollected by the latter in the hospital scene - shows respect for the one he has just lost, Kite, and the one he doesn’t want to lose. 

Killua is the one who never left him, never discredited him and is irreplaceable. Killua is the first thing that comes up to his mind when thinking about meeting Ging. Who would have thought that Gon’s mind would reach so far into memories and hold so deeply someone’s words like Gotoh’s?

He was selfish. But it’s a childish selfishness, built on such empty expectations about himself that he ends up forcing on others what he believes that is the right thing to do, in order to keep others safe, no matter how bad he hurts his body... because when it comes to protect those he care, he loses respect on his self-care due to this low self-esteem of his. So, he didn’t ask Killua to “please, let me fight alone”, because he’s decided to not drag Killua into a fight he knows he might lose, and then Killua couldn’t be protected.

And makes sense, again, that Killua couldn’t read between these lines, because he also blames himself for everything that happened, and thinks his feelings and desires would only keep in Gon’s way - that’s why those words hit him so deeply, but the thing that hurts him the most was the sole fact that Gon fought alone. He can’t help but compare to the dodgeball, and like Gon, Killua has his own unhealthy patterns: since he only knows love through pain, when he’s prevented from getting hurt against his will, he fails to understand it as an act of love.

The bond they’ve established while playing Greed Island was expressed through dozens of symbolisms already well discussed among the fandom (Killua’s badge, the rainbow diamond, the famous line during the dodgeball game). And I don’t doubt that their encounter with Pitou held traces of the same protective pattern, but messed up by Gon’s internal struggle.

For the times Gon showed concern before, we can mention more expressive moments like the whole Zoldyck arc, when they were escaping from the Troupe, when Tzeseguerra said he’d endangered Killua or even when Killua got caught by some spell, etc, or we can even analyze his body language. Like here:

Before the date, Gon is indirectly protecting Killua in here, through his body language (Killua entered the room first, but Gon puts himself between them):

And after the date, while being punished for hurting her feelings, Gon screams at Palm when she tried to stab Killua, probably implying that he was observing and only interveins when she tries to hurt anyone other than himself - because he is, again, being stubborn and taking all the blame and control in order to redeem his actions and prove his capacity to fix things. I think it’s possible that Gon talked to her about Killua off curtains, or at least made an agreement about not involving Killua in her madness, but it it’s open to interpretation.

So, yeah, I can’t help but link everything to his pattern. He responds to the fear of losing those he loves with the same impactful devotion that is given to him, but it is so impactful that fails vocabulary and second thoughts. He knows Killua will be the first to risk his life if something happens or to prevent Gon from getting hurt during his tasks. Killua tends to sacrifice a lot and never complains while doing it, so I think it’s pretty much plausible that even when he can’t express himself at all, he’s worrying about Killua in the corner of his mind. Sometimes, just before our eyes.

Anyways, I love re-reading Greed Island arc and linking to their development through CAA because pretty much anything they do, they’re doing together, and they were bonding so beautifully. Their relationship was never so well-detailed before, but mostly for us, when they didn’t get much time to put in the balance how rushed their training was, and how fast they got attached to the point they can’t even stop thinking about each other while distant.

They look at each other like this:

They inspire this kind of reaction from others:

And there’s this one... nothing big, I just love it hahahaha

They’re in love each others’ top priority. It’s not impossible that Gon took Killua’s safety into matter, but his mind and words failed him, as he himself acknowledges that the only explanation to say those things to Killua is that “he doesn’t know what he was thinking”. Because, under normal circumstances, just like about letting Killua fight by his side, he would NEVER hurt Killua’s feelings. He IS protective. He didn’t have to rescue Killua from his own home - since Killua left for himself - but he still does it, instead of sticking to his main journey. And did not budge until Killua was safe by his side.

It’s a badly worded protection, because he doesn’t even know self-protection and puts action before everything. To figure a better way out of this pattern, he will now have plenty of time to find new ways to protect Killua and himself from the flaws of their dynamic. Their emotional attachment didn’t grow as fast as their fighting skills, but it doesn’t mean Gon is a monster, was malicious towards Killua or wanted to break his heart. I don’t even think he would reject Killua, but would explain the reason behind his decision in a reassuring way.

And finally, it’s so symbolic how Gotoh died and got replaced by a Kiriko - the same creature that translates Gon’s perceptiveness and how the boys are close. This way, they are still linked by Gotoh’s words through someone that mimics Gotoh’s appearance and also understands their relationship like the long gone butler. His words will never die.

And not to mention... how shoujo and romantic it is that Gon remembers the promise he made to Gotoh before he takes Killua with him? It is almost like a marriage proposal. That he didn’t forget, not even after all this time. 

Do I think he would’ve change his mind on letting Killua fight? Not at all, and Killua couldn’t change his mind even if he begged, at least not without some patient mental work. This is Gon’s mindset on protecting someone. But like that time in Greed Island, under normal circumstances, Gon would’ve ease Killua’s worries directly or indirectly after some talking. And of course, it is not his job to guess Killua’s feelings, communication must be a two-way path. Killua waited for too long, and at that point, Gon was too lost in his grief and wasn’t able to measure his words. But I truly believe that, deep inside his mind, those words and that promise were still there, waiting to resonate if necessary.

And as @gallyl​ added so perfectly: Killua is alive and well, grieving on the hospital’s bench, trying to get a grip of everything he just experienced. Decided to give Gon a second chance, he’s now able to understand this message of love Gon has left for him: there’s so much he can do in life, that Gon simply doesn’t want him to die because Killua’s whole life was surrounded by death - and Killua’s greatest wish was to live like a normal kid. And this speaks louder to Gon than having Killua to himself in death. A love that is not selfish, and does not envy. Killua’s life is validated, and in return, he saves Gon and his sister, the ones he loves the most, and validate back their right to exist, to grow, to try again. Unconditional love. At first, he’s hurt and demands an apology. But it’s Alluka who reminds him of how love must be free to give and to receive - he should let his heart open for whenever Gon is ready to reach him again.

But now, the apology will matter. 

And this is absurdly romantic. Not every sacrifice ends up in dying together to prove a relationship. They’ve made promises similar to marital vows, and not everything happened like they wanted, but they made clear to us that they’re not done with each other - as they refuse to say goodbye, and keep grammatical constructions like “for a while”, indicating a break, an interlude. 

Their song is still playing, and their promises still exist as their split was never mentioned as something definitive, because preventing the other one to get physically hurt on your behalf and taking some time to think before you take the risk to accidentally emotionally hurt them too are both ways to show protection. Ways that they’re learning now, two boys who think they should get hurt to love and be loved. 

[samwinchesterism]

to be real for a second i think that nothing exemplifies the sheer badness of the twilight years of spn more than the retcon of sam’s reason for hating halloween in 14x04. like, first of all, what was the reason. it was a nice little character detail that showed the ways in which sam was affected by a childhood and adolescence full of literal horror (and was interesting in the way that it showed a contrast between sam and dean and how they individually dealt with that). but what dabb’s era did in general (and carver’s era wasn’t great about this either) is that it just sort of completely divorced that connection between supernatural horror and personal trauma that made the kripke years so great, that concept of using horror and monsters and evil as a vehicle to explore the personal pain and trauma of the characters.

part of the reason why i think this happened is that the show just stopped being very horror-y, which is the main issue i have, but then also the idea that the hunting lifestyle was this awful, awful thing that happened to you as a result of grief, pain, trauma, and something unspeakably horrific happening to you and/or someone you loved, it just got kind of diluted over time? that might just be a symptom of the age of the show, but things like sam encouraging au!charlie to stay in the lifestyle (in a very out of character moment) and people having stable full-time jobs while also being kind-of-hunters, it just kinda lost the whole “this life is nothing but pain and death” vibe, ya know, except in half-hearted lip service every so often. or maybe that’s just a side-effect of the show being less horror-based, idk. but that idea that was planted in the kripke era, the close interlacing of the supernatural horror aspect with the deep, deep personal trauma of the characters, it just gets kind of lost somewhere towards the middle of the show, both because of the shift of the mythology away from horror and the much more casual way the hunting lifestyle is portrayed through side characters and through sam/dean themselves, and this moment with sam and halloween was the final nail in its coffin. or maybe it was just my final straw, idk lol.

because now instead of this closed-off young man, sam, with a past full of horror and trauma who hates halloween but can’t tell anyone why (as in 1x01), which throughout the seasons just sort of tells us, you know, sam and dean are living these lives and it’s almost normal because it’s a TV show and you’ve watched them do it for X amount of years now, but here’s a quick and dirty reminder that their childhoods/adolescences were deeply frightening and traumatic and awful and they’ve carried that with them their entire lives! sam hates halloween, because this life is horror, and horror is trauma! but with the retcon you just get a dumb story that doesn’t tell you a thing about either sam or dean, doesn’t give you much of any insight into their childhood (other than dean being there to pick up sam which i guess is cute), doesn’t even let you conceive of their childhood as anything but normal teenage shenanigans (when the early seasons stressed and stressed and stressed that their was scarcely a shred of normalcy in their childhoods, they literally beat us over the head with the idea that they did not have good or normal childhood events as kids, but that’s not really my problem w/ this). and just for what, a laugh? doesn’t sit right with my spirit, that’s all

[nuclearnerves]

INCOMING VAMPIRE AU THOUGHTS

Don't mind me I'm finally getting the ideas I had on this shit out so I can actually go forward with developing it as an AU. It's my usual mixup of fps protags, Gordon Guy and John, but I'm starting with Gordon as the Vampire and Guy as the Vampire Hunter.

absolute beast of a wall of text under the cut

What If Being A Vampire Literally Sucks All The Time Forever like chronic pain sucks. like THAT level of sucks. Like Here's what I was thinking of. Being a vampire isn't just "being alive forever but you need to drink human blood" It's like Oh man I have some lore you look at vampires and their main thing is that they're blood suckers right so lets start with a corpse dead body. cadaver. no longer with us. just some rotting meat. The brain needs oxygen as fuel. The blood supplies the oxygen through blood. The blood is pumped through the heart. The blood is made by your bone marrow. You die. Your heart stops beating Blood stops pumping Brain no longer has oxygen to think marrow stops making blood thats standard! Now, becoming undead, as a vampire, is a little more complicated. The long and short of it is: your body is FIGHTING ACTIVELY to be alive against all odds and wins every time (immortality), but it hurts the whole way

I have the gist of it. It's like. Your heart stops. By all means, you should be dead. but the magic kicks in, and you're still thinking. Your brain is still sending signals to your muscles to move. But using what oxygen to move? whats burning in you? You don't know but you know it's just enough to get to your next meal. So you ferociously eat something, and then find you can't swallow. You can't make saliva. You barely have the energy to chew, and once you DO get something in your stomach, it immediately comes back up. Why can't you feel your pulse? What's going on? You're out of options so you figure you might as well just lie down and die. You're too tired to keep going anyway. So you do, you lie down, and you close your eyes, and you quietly hope that death is as peaceful as sleep. You realize you've actually been moving around without breathing, which makes sense because you can barely flex your diaphragm for more than a shaky wheeze. How are you thinking with such little oxygen? But as you fade from consciousness, you can feel something in you, and it's so upset, it's crying, it's filled with grief, and you instantly can tell it's your skeleton. It's your bones. You're distraught down to your marrow. You're dying. You're dying! Your heart stopped and you have no more blood! You need blood! You need blood to move! To breathe! To think! You try to breath deep again for the voices in your bones, trying to comfort them, to sooth them with the repetitive motion in your lungs, trying to fill yourself with anything but grief, but they keep wailing. We make the blood, our creation, our child, what we put all of our work into is gone! gone! gone! We need it back! Anything! All of it! Find it! Bring it back to us! We're hungry! WE'RE HUNGRY!

and once you find yourself too exhausted to listen, to think, how badly you wish just to die already to cease hearing this wailing, you find your body moving without you. And it's hungry and it's searching and it's crawling on all fours and it misses its beautiful red life that made it feel so full before and it needs it back, and the next thing you know you're desperately grabbing anything with blood in it and shoving it in your mouth in a desperate attempt to sooth this cry for life, you don't want to die, you don't want to die, you worked so hard to keep up this body and craft it and LIVE with it and you're not going to go, and even when you try, even when you try to lay down and die, your body refuses, it takes the reigns, and it keeps up the work itself with or without your help. And it's not until your stomach is full and your teeth are stained and you feel a pulsating burning in your bones that you snap back awake, completely conscious, just fine. You're lucid, you don't feel any more pain. Everything around you is dead and drained and messy and your heart still isn't beating. but you can breathe now and holy shit you guess you literally need to kill to survive and the less you eat and the more you starve yourself the worse it gets when your body finally decides to take recourse.

my idea was like. "the vampires curse is actually stored in the bones, thats why the teeth get so sharp and also theres a connection between blood and bones with the creation via bone marrow" its literally like i was sitting there thinking "no no no, whats it like to be a vampire. what neurosis would you develop. How would you panic? What are common mistakes beginner vampires make" which, by the way, gordon is a beginner vampire

so now you gotta factor, what blood lasts for how long? how long can you go between meals? not only that, but what creatures satisfy the urge? How long can you go avoiding human blood? Does it work like drugs where you develop a resistance to the high, or is it like food where it will keep you moving until you eat again? How the fuck are you gonna get your hands on blood? Can you just eat raw meat? Does that count? and thats where im at lol

OKAY now. now thoughts on beginning scenes of vampire au

So my idea was this Doomguy is a vampire hunter independent and one of his buds says that some freak scared and almost attacked his daughter when she got too close to his old abandoned laboratory up the hill and hes like “he might be… you know… a problem. if you needed a lead” and guys like yeah i fuckin hate the undead ill kill this dude so he busts into old lab space and sees so many dead animals its actually mostly Bones and pelt that hes seeing piles of feathers etc so hes like yeah this is all telltale signs of vampire uhhh hes introduced to gordon SOMEHOW im not totally sure of the details but the working idea i have is guy falls into a trap gordon devised that restrains him suspended in wire or something and gordon like. limps/stumbles into the room and this dude looks haggard he’s breathing heavy, his cheeks are hollow, he’s bug-eyed and shaking while looking at this massive wall of meat in his trap and he bares a bunch of hideous teeth and grits them and looks like hes really struggling with somethin... Like if these dudes don't know each other then Gordon might give in and try to drain Guy, and Guy would absolutely do anything in his power to turn this new vampire into ash, im thinking the inclusion if g-man as a coven leader can fix both issues.

i like the idea of guy falling into gordons trap and gordon thinking about what to do with him before gman shows up and whisks gordon away for a “meeting” while complimenting him on his good work catching the most feared vampire hunter in the country and gman just leaving guy suspended in wires that he has to fight his way out of. Instant situation defuser.

Guy ends up needing to take care of other monsters before going back to Gordon, and he DOES plan to go back to gordon, because no vampire is a good one, especially not one associated with the fucking head of a coven, but next time he sees Gordon, Gordon helps him out of a scrape by attacking and draining a combine who was going to take Guy out or something and escaping before Guy can catch him, or otherwise seeing Gordon do something good with his insane undead powers and like, the third time he meets up with him is when they can actually talk, and Gordons fuckin SO haggard, he’s not even fighting back and he’s even going as far as to say “just make sure theres nothing of me left when you’re done, I don’t want anyone else getting hurt”

Side Note: Guy has a bunch of scarring on his body from dealing with vampires, cops, ghosts, werewolves, anything violent that kills people. I'm playing with the inkling of an idea that he has Divine Blood in him, so that any time something undead bites him or tries to drink his blood, it burns. We'll see.

Side Note 2: now i really like the idea of the combine actually being an organized faction of vampire hunters that are WICKED crooked and exploit people for all their worth in exchange for their “safety” when they kill a vampire They’re essentially loansharks and Guy fucking hates them and hates the name theyve given to vampire hunting

Side Note 3: You've probably noticed that I haven't said anything about John yet! He's in this too. His species is a surprise but I need to get to him later I have an idea for where he came from (Cortana too)

I still need a good reason for Guy to not instantly kill this vampire, if not it's just gonna be "Gordon Freeman escapes the countrys best vampire hunter like a seventh time" every time they meet and they end up being rivals. And it gives Guy enough time to look past the whole "undead monster" thing and start looking at the "Oh this dude figured out how to fight his ridiculous craving for blood in a way more humane than most and is actually staying out of peoples way and keeping to himself. Guess he's not that big of a threat but I still need to keep an eye on him in case he loses it. Turns out he's got a family (Probably Alyx, Eli, Issac and Barney) who's been lookin for him and cares about him as well, don't wanna hurt them". I like the idea of them ending up needing to team up to take out undead together.

And that's what I got so far!!!