#I mean the whole game is but I feel really strongly about them lol

[weekend-g]

the reply about toya helping mafuyu find a childhood book knocked me dead, I love that

they're both comfortable with long silences, so even if mafuyu doesn't feel comfortable letting down her persona, I like to think she gets to relax around toya and likes hanging out with him because of that. and since he is the way he is, mafumom also really likes toya which means mafuyu doesn't need to exhaust herself hiding it

remember when toya said he's drawn towards books about searching for people?? I think about that a normal amount (24/7) which just makes me think mafuyu would be safe and cared for if she decided to relax around toya...like...he GETS IT...not the actual loss of identity but the pressure that drove her to kill her identity, you know?? he'd understand what she needs becuase it's also what he needed

^^also mafuyu doesn't really get anything out of reading books for fun, but when she listens to toya ramble on about books like that, she gets that warm feeling she always gets from kanade

^^and then in class, a group of people are talking about a book they all read...and mafuyu remembers toya talking about it so she joins in. and everyone is shocked by how warmly mafuyu talks about a gruesome murder mystery lol

they have a minecraft server together!!

^^mafuyu only really logs on sometimes...she just likes to see what toya's been up to, what he's built and stuff. she also messages him on there since her mom can't monitor that kind of thing. leaving book and quill messages everywhere...

^^one time, toya gave her a bunch of bones and told her to click the dog, but she accidentally attacked it and it killed her. mafuyu doesn't know what's going on

when toya starts learning to make music, mafuyu is already of experienced with mixing and creating lyrics so she gives him pointers. and toya is really skilled with music theory, so he gives her pointers as well.

mafuyu is incredibly skilled at arcade games, especially ones where you have to aim. together, they collect every plushie in the store and both of them give them all to ena

Alright , I have an Idea ,

Give me all of your MafuToya headcanons you have to make our days better and amazing like cotton candy. :)

[jflemings]

would you minds sharing any random jessie relationship headcanons you have? you write about it so well in your fics pls let us into your brain lol

— my oddly specific gf!jessie headcanons

pairing: jessie fleming x reader

warnings: nsfw & saw

a/n: got this ask and kept it in the drafts so i could just keep adding to it when a thought popped into my head :)

if any of my headcanons inspire fics please please please tag me!!! i’d love to see your take on them <3

- took soooooooo long to ask you out because she kept psyching herself out

- spoke with such confidence that it was honestly a shock to you when she told you she was nervous

- talked about you all the time to her friends and family before they ever actually met you

- introduces you to her sister before the rest of her family (mainly bc elysse begged to meet you)

– she has tiktok only so you can send her videos and you’re the only one she follows

– she takes soooo many photos of you

loves taking embarrassing ones just so she can laugh at them later

– sleeps on the side of the bed closest to the door

– is an absolute pain in the ass to go furniture shopping w because she reads everything on the label

– early bird

– not super big on pda but insists on holding your hand everywhere you go

– she doesn’t really celebrate her goals but if she knows you’re in the crowd she’ll point to wherever you’re sitting and blow you a kiss

– if you get married she gets your first initial tattooed on her inner left bicep closest to her heart

– easily embarrassed by compliments

– likes to read her book with your head in her lap

– makes the best bacon and eggs, i don’t make the rules

– if you drink coffee you can bet your ass she memorised your order the first time y’all went out for coffee

– super clingy in the mornings

– makes a playlist of songs that reminds her of you/your relationship

– very attentive gift giver, will take note of even the smallest things you say you like for future reference

– if you’re a reader she’s got your tbr in her notes app so that if she sees a book you’ve been meaning to read she can just get it for you

– likes to give and receive flowers

– a rambler, she’ll talk your ear off if she gets talking about something she really enjoys

that includes you, she talks about you to her teammates all the time

– secret avid pet name user

babe, baby, my girl, sunshine, ALL OF THEM

- blanket hog

- the two of you make a pact to learn something new by the end of the year and she chooses to learn how to play the fucking harmonica

- she gets rlly good at it tho

- picks out your outfit for game days

- loves having baths with you

doesn’t get to do it often but when she does she goes all out: bath bomb/bath salts, candles, her kindle. the whole lot

- talks during movies if she doesn’t know what’s going on

“why’d he do that” “jess i don’t know, we’re watching the same movie”

- not a big tv series watcher but will sit with you while you watch it

- loves her documentaries though

- does a really good david attenborough impression

- is ridiculously competitive when it comes to monopoly and twister

- which is funny because she’s shit at twister

- likes to be close to you at all times

if the whole couch is free she’ll still sit next to you, thigh to thigh

- doesn’t like to argue but will if she feels strongly enough about it

- she can honestly be kinda condescending in arguments without even realising it

definitely comes from her role as a leader

- she asks you multiple times through the day what you’re thinking about just because she likes to know what’s going on inside you head

- likes to do normal, everyday things with you like chores. honestly doesn’t even care that she has to vacuum the whole house, she just likes that fact that the two of you are cleaning together

- as clingy as she is she also really likes her alone time and will often take herself to a corner of the house to just mellow out, especially if she’s been around people a lot that day

- she’ll always come and find you with a smile on her face when she’s ready to though

- loves to update you on her day when she’s away. she’s been known to send you photos of anything and everything when she’s with team canada

- likes to get you lil something from every city she visits if she can

- you display all the trinkets she gets you on a shelf

- when you first started dating she’d write you letters as a way to express her emotions because she didn’t feel like she could properly communicate them directly to you

she gives them all to you on your wedding day

- she’s just so so so so in love with you

NSFW

– generally soft during sex unless she’s high off a win, pissed off or been away from you for too long

– is a switch lol

– gets pleasure from you being pleasured, she’d eat you out for hours if you let her because she likes knowing that she can get you off

- also a biiiiiiiiiiiiig fan of using a strap, absolutely loves the way you look when she bottoms out

- is surprisingly vocal in bed

- has a massive praise kink it’s literally insane

- she came untouched once bc she was fucking you w her strap and you were telling her how good she was doing

- likes when you scratch down her back but can’t let you do it often bc of the shared change room

- once went to training with a scratched up back and sam never let her live it down

- isn’t super experienced but she is observant so she figures out what you like really early on

- made it her personal mission to fuck you on every surface of your new place when the two of you moved to portland

- is a big fan of morning sex

- not a big fan of shower sex

- also is a fan of make up sex

- tries to give you as many orgasms as physically possible in one round (four is her record) (she intends to beat it)

- aftercare queen

- is pretty firm with what she does and doesn’t like and isn’t usually one to go out of her comfort zone unless the two of you have discussed it before

- refuses to hit you during sex. she’s just not comfortable with it

- doesn’t really like choking either but she does like having her hand on the base of your neck without applying any pressure

also goes absolutely feral when you do it to her

- definitely prefers to have sex in the comfort of your own home

- the two of you got caught by niamh once because jess was too loud as you ate her out

neither of you could look her in the eye for about a week afterwards and jessie endured so much teasing

- isn’t one to have drunk sex but she does like just having her hands under your bra so she can cup your breasts. she doesn’t know why, it just happens when the two of you are going to bed after a night out

- is the biggest tease in the world

- will rile you up and then pretend she has no idea what she’s doing

- has insane stamina and will go for rounds until she physically can’t

- can get really cocky during sex, especially when she knows you’re about to cum

- if she’s had a really shit day/week she likes to be overstimulated just to get all of her negative emotions out

[littledeathdove]

Family Woman Miranda, basically a rant/headcanons about what Miranda would be like if she had her own small family going on

Ok so obviously Miranda would have Eva back in this and a wife. Now I wouldn’t see Miranda’s whole family thing going on here to be complete until like Eva is two years old.

The reason why is because I strongly believe Miranda would give all her attention to Eva once she is back to where she isn’t paying attention to any possible lovers, you know what I mean? But once Eva is two I do feel like Miranda would be slightly more used to having her baby back to where she can give her mind to other things for a second.

Plus I do believe Miranda would want Eva to grow up with a complete and loving family, especially if Eva even so much as mentions wanting another parent. Listen Miranda will give that little girl whatever she wants so if she wants another mom, Eva will be getting another mom.

Now with that out of my system let me talk about the whole Miranda as a whole mom and wife cause I got a few things to say about that

Miranda would be very protective of both you and Eva. But it isn’t as noticeable since Miranda barely ever has to protect you or her daughter from any threats. When there do happen to be some threats coming against your life, especially physical ones, Miranda immediately deals with it. And suddenly you are limited on how much you go out without her physically being there with you afterwards.

Eva holds a very high image in the village, thanks to Miranda of course. So there will be no threats to her life on the villager's end because they all know that Eva is their priestess's daughter. So the threats would instead be like when it comes to sickness surely. We all really know why so I don’t have to explain that lol. But when sickness does even slightly start to spread in the village Miranda would either kill the sick ones ORR she would just put them under quarantine. But I would see her likely just killing them because that eliminates the whole threat of the sickness coming upon Eva altogether. 

Miranda would cook most of the meals and everything would be made homemade, nothing is eaten from premade products. Couldn’t fully explain my headcanon with this besides the fact that Miranda made Rose’s baby food all homemade as Mia in the game. I do believe she does it because of the love she has for both you and Eva so she wants you to have good homemade food because of it, but I also believe it to be because she doesn’t like the idea of you two eating something not fresh or healthy

This is especially true if such premade products did somehow make it into the village. Just know you will not be getting them (unfortunately)

Miranda cancels things just to spend time with you and Eva, I mean like the woman is basically with you the whole day. Basically, she is clingy when it comes to you two but don’t say that to her or else you will get a mean remark out of her.

Miranda's clinginess has her spending extra minutes in bed even after you wake up. Don’t even get me started on how long it would take her to get out of bed if Eva snuck into y’all’s bed in the middle of the night.

She always is holding Eva whenever she can, Eva could have been the type of baby that cries immediately after being put down and Miranda wouldn’t even care nor do anything to fix the behavior since she loves to have Eva close to her.

Not to mention Miranda does randomly come up to you and just warp one of her arms around you or lays her head down on your shoulder. Sometimes this could last for mere seconds or a good couple of minutes, it all just depends on if you are doing something interesting and she gets distracted by watching you.

Now if Miranda isn’t around you physically for whatever reason don’t worry because there is always a crow following you if you do go out with Eva when she isn’t there

OH TALKING ABOUT CROWS, ok ok so I have this cute headcanon that Miranda has specific crows she brings out for both you and Eva. Eva’s crow is the one you can see above her grave in the game, and yours would be a slightly bigger crow than the others you see. Oh, and that’s on purpose too because just in case you do get attacked while out and about the crow will always be watching over you and will be just strong enough to leave some damage on your attacker before Miranda gets there thanks to its slightly larger size.

Miranda reads Eva's bedtime stories almost every night. It just depends on Eva’s decision for that night. Not isn’t a surprise that Miranda is a good storyteller since the woman is dramatic at times, but yeah, Miranda is a very good storyteller. Not to mention her voice is very calming as she is reading stories to Eva, so it’s very hard not to go to sleep with such a soft voice soothing you to sleep.

Miranda spoils both you and Eva a lot. It’s very obvious Eva would get anything she wants after being gone from Miranda’s life for so long, but when it comes to you as her wife, it’s more surprising. Before you even became her wife — during the courting stage — Miranda appears randomly and just hands you gifts, especially jewelry. Even after you both marry Miranda still comes up to you when you’re taking care of the house and just handing you a random gift. No reason and even if you ask you won’t get a good explanation anyway.

Miranda also doesn’t let you pay for anything with your own money, you can only purchase things under Miranda’s name/money. Is this also because of her unknowing want to spoil you? Yes.

Hmmm, yeah I think that’s all the headcanons I got for family woman Miranda. Am probably going reblog this post if I think of some more cute headcanons

[mysticmellowlove]

yan chat being delusional as well

note - a little adjacent part to the yan streamer, much shorter

warnings - yandere stream chat, mod reader, simps, gn reader

word count - 527

Getting back on and modding for Streamer wasn't as mortifying as you expected. It was like everything was the same as always. He logged on, set up his latest game and played away as you scanned the chat for any assholes.

However, you did have to admit that there was something different about the chat on this particular day. As soon as you took a closer look the reason was pretty clear.

Aside from streamer, who seemed to always gush over you playfully when he had a spare moment, there were a few select chatters that always seemed to fill in the gaps for him. By that you mean they spent almost all of their time redeeming rewards and talking directly to you.

Some days it was nice, especially when you were really feeling down, but today it was becoming more and more annoying. Almost every second message came from one of your 'adoring' fans. When you first started to mod for Streamer you'd notice the same three or four chatters talking to him the most. His loyal fans. The second that Streamer had started to get closer to you they started to get closer to you.

It also didn't help that they ran Streamer's discord group.

You could already see them in the chat saying hello to Streamer, after they found that he was busy trying to pass the level they switched their attention to you.

"Hello Sugar!"

"Sugarrrr you haven't answered my dm yet"

"hey im unbanned sugar step on me"

You pursed your lips, these three were the main perpetrators and once they got started they usually dragged the whole chat into their antics. True to nature the chat filled with greetings and emojis, including the ones that Streamer had customised for you.

"Oh yeah, guess what everyone. I found out a little secret about our favourite mod." Streamer trilled as he cheekily grinned into his webcam. You flinched, you knew he wouldn't leak your location but it was still nerve-racking. You were kinda friends with him but he owed you nothing. Instantly the chat burst into action as it whizzed by faster and faster.

After deleting some of the more... disgusting messages (seriously how do people know your sexual orientation from a simple username...) you noticed that the three usual perpetrators were being uncharacteristically quiet.

Streamer seemed to look towards another one of his screens and smiled before swapping back to looking at chat. A worried huff left your mouth but you continued to scan the sentences pouring into the chatbox.

"That's right everyone, I know what Sugar looks like." He winked and for a moment he wasn't someone you worked with but rather someone who looked boyishly attractive. You shook yourself out of it as the chat exploded in teasing remarks and bitter sentiments. You had no idea they felt that strongly about you.

"no fair"

"come on then share the deets"

"bet you're lying lol"

"i would literally pay millions to see sugar"

"lol, he's lying."

"You can believe what you want, it makes no difference to me. I'm fine keeping Sugar's identity to myself." He grinned at the camera, acting as if he was talking to you specifically.

Still, you couldn't get the feeling out of your mind that something was happening in the background. Where did the three main chatters go...

[charlie-pippin-faraday]

my danganronpa v3 chapter 3 investigation and trial running commentary:

would it be too obvious to predict that kiyo killed angie? because it seems like there was a ritual involved, and he's the ritual guy. and he wouldn't shut up about the resurrection ritual angie wanted to do being like an offense to proper rituals or whatever

you know people have been saying "yeah they're definitely dead, positive, i watched them die" so many times i'm starting to get suspicious

the instant kiyo was like "the spirit medium should be a girl" i knew it was gonna be tenko, and i had the immediate thought of "she's about to die, isn't she?" which only grew stronger as she was saying all that uplifting stuff to himiko

"alright himiko i'll see you later!" i have the sinking feeling you won't

"i'll see you all after the seance!" no you won't, tenko

this singing strongly reminds me of being in church lol. no tune, rhythm, or pitch, everyone's singing terribly, it's barely more than a chant lol

there was a huge obvious thunk in the middle of our song and we just kept singing?? lol okay

kiyo looking at tenko surrounded by a pool of her own blood: "something is amiss." yeah ya think???

tbh i expected there to be a double murder at some point. there was one in each of the previous two games (both in chapter 3, if i recall correctly), so this isn't a surprise

even though i 100% saw it coming, i'm a little bummed it was tenko. i fucking HATED her at the start but she was really growing on me

however, i DID predict that all of the girlies would end up dead, and they took out 2 of the 3 of them in one fell swoop

lmao maki you can call kaito stupid as much as you want, but i see through your ruse. i too was once an angry, brash teenage girl. i know that "he's so stupid i can't stand him" is teenage girl code for "i want him so bad i don't know how to handle it." and like, someone treating her kindly, including her in the group constantly, and believing in her on blind faith alone has got to be out of the norm for her, i get why he gets her so bent out of shape lol

she really did punch him super hard in the mouth tho lol

i miss having kaito around, my buddy my partner in crime. was really missing him the latter half of this chapter

but he's with me at all times in spirit, now that i have the kaito monopad theme! it's like i stuck up a picture of him in my locker, that's what that feels like. he's always there, cheering me on, inspiring me. a constant reminder...of Him

now, as for this case, i do not have nearly as clear of an idea of what happened or who's guilty. i'm definitely more confused than last time. last time i knew basically how the murder happened. this one i'm stumped, on both murders. there's so much that doesn't make sense, idk how it happened. OR who did it. my only hunch is that i think it could be kiyo? but that feels like too simple an answer just because of all the occult stuff and i have no clue why he would do that

"i believe that inner voice will lead me to hope as long as i listen to it" keebo you don't happen to hear the voice of makoto naegi in your head, do you?

LMAOOOO @ kokichi and miu going back and forth about "cum dumpster" and gonta just being like ".......anyway what should we talk about now?"

the taxi game should just be called "reckless driving: the minigame"

"soul bro"????????? kazuichi soda is that you?????

"as a self-proclaimed expert of stepping through floorboards" i'm glad kokichi can make fun of himself as well as others

i mean once they said the loose floorboard was inside the magic circle, the magic circle that kiyo drew and that kiyo told us not to step on, in order to perform the seance that kiyo put together and convinced us to perform........the answer there felt kind of obvious

kiyo was acting very sus the whole trial, trying very hard to pin the blame on himiko

the very unhinged nervous laughter gave it away tbh

is miu saying that she makes keebo look at her shit everyday? also, why go through all that? wouldn't a camera be easier?

why is everyone bullying keebo PLEASE stop

i would just like to say, sincerely, from the bottom of my heart: what the FUCK, kiyo

i didn't expect this game to include an incestuous serial killer, yet here we are

"i nearly went mad" you know what my dude i think you can cut out the word "nearly"

"all the girls here are worthy except maki and miu" hey shut the fuck up, those are my two favorite girls!!!!

"i have finished my explanation to you, friends" we're not friends

"i'll watch over you as a ghost! as your friend, i'll watch over you!" please don't. and once again we're not friends

now i know why i couldn't figure out what happened in these murders or why they occurred - it's because kiyo is INSANE and just did murders for funsies

"i'll put in the effort until everyone trusts me" i see that kaito finally got through to maki

she's still annoying but i'm glad to see that himiko finally grew a bit of a backbone and fought back. and it's heartening to see tenko inspire her, maybe she'll be more interesting as the rest of this game progresses

i do feel bad for her tho, they cruelly took out both prongs of her love triangle at once. she wailed about being alone now, which is sad, but i sure hope she doesn't come to ME for comfort or friendship; despite these developments i'm still not interested in hanging out with her

i thought he was gonna end up annoying me endlessly, but kokichi has become very fascinating. what's your motive, my dude? why do you do the things you do? what's your endgame? i don't understand you and i'm never hanging out with you, but i'm curious

gonta carrying himiko on his back is actually the sweetest thing

bro holdup is kaito dying??????? no no no!!!!!! i need more information IMMEDIATELY!

oh great, i get kiyo's mask as a present, exactly what i wanted

on to chapter 4!

[emerynn]

MAX 🥺🥺🥺

(double exposure spoilers under the cut)

I knew episode 5 was gonna be a nightmare sequence but i still ate that shit up what can i say it's fanservice and im the fan lol

genuinely did get a bit emotional at the end like okay im HAPPY FOR HER

post credits scene was wild?? Not sure how I feel about them just handing out super powers like halloween candy but...okay? and MAX CAULFIELD WILL RETURN HELLO ???? part of me is sceptical and part of me is like yay more max hehe (fanserive, fan, etc.) - either way, guess im gonna be insufferable for a while then whoops

'will you ever go back to arcadia bay' 'one day' 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺girl i'll cry

lowkey the journal entries were nerfed. i mean i dont really care but still.

amanda max flirting scenes gave me major flashbacks to my own lesbian situationship so 10/10 points for accuracy on that one

i really enjoyed all the characters ngl!! and safi was so good and so intriguing i love that they let her be morally dubious oooo

'our lady of the storm' iconic. shes my fucking GIRL.

okay but is safi creating the lis avengers. like what is her plan. im concerned

how many endings were there because i strongly suspect there might have just been one and if that's the case that's hilarious but also like, come on

they kinda baited me with the "two maxes" bit at that one point i was like YES time travel bullshittery and max being a bitch to her alternate self EXACTLY WHAT I ASKED FOR and then i figured out the twist like 10 seconds before it was revealed and i was like well thats cool but.....i just wanna see max bully herself is that too much to ask for.....

'text from: chloe' like okay my heart did skip a beat lbr

okay so did max actually kill safi or what because that was never clear. like i think the polaroids were from the original timeline and then max shoots safi in that timeline leading to timeline 2 which is OUR original timeline i.e. the dead timeline and then...the living one happens asw? or was it like a pre-emptive timeline split did max ever actually shoot safi? i mean someone had to right? maybe this will make sense in the morning. or on the wiki. who can say

knew there was gonna be darkroom shit in the nightmare sequence fuck yeah (lowkey wanted more but hey im just being greedy now)

another tiny criticism but the krampus party did not feel like a college party lol like the vortex club end of the world party felt intense it felt dramatic it had stakes - krampus i was like oh this is giving me dead freshers week vibes guys just animate in some more extras please i know you can do it

music was amazing ofc

man i had this whole theory going on where max died in the "living" timeline at the same point that safi died in the "dead" timeline and that was why there was no alternate version of herself and it was some safis trying to save max while max is trying to save safi thing - obviously very wrong but i still vibe with it

i just really like max okay <3

To form something of a coherent conclusion: Really solid game, with some great scenes (the end of chapter 2 and start of 3 were def the standouts to me) and (in my opinion at least) really really good development for max - she was so clearly the same max as the original game but also she's grown up and she's grown into herself and ahhh it made me so happy to see!

I found some of the twists more effective than others and I think there could have been more build up to the storm (like in the original lis you KNOW it's coming for so long and there's this feeling of dread throughout whereas it kind of felt like we rushed to get to it here), but overall i had a good time, i really enjoyed getting to know the characters, and most of all, i really enjoyed getting stupidly attached to Max Caulfield again <3

7/10 looking forward to going down the rabbit hole with this one and i guess we'll see where we go next...??

[linkspooky]

Just got done with reading your "How To Do a Dark Deconstruction of your Shonen Hero" post, first off amazing work as always! As much as it pains me to hear (good faith, non-reactionary and well thought-out) criticism due to having gotten into MHA in middle school when I was impressionable and attached onto works quicker than I do, it was satisfying to hear someone as well-worded as yourself put into words a thought that I had. For a while I could only summarize it by thinking "Man MHA sure does feel toothless and inconsistent about what it delivers on, and what ideas or themes or messages or what have you are left in the fridge and forgotten about."

It was also fun to hear about Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, growing up YGO was only ever a game some of my friends played or "HEART OF THE CARDS" and Kaiba memes, so hearing that there was a lot more to the series was a welcome surprise, even if quite anecdotal on my part.

As for the question part of this ask, near the middle of it you brought up how despite being quite captivated with the idea and the final result, you weren't as impressed with how YGO got there, and vice versa with MHA in how it was paced better but so far(let me have a little bit of hope lol) ultimately hasn't made good on it's "storytelling promise" if you will.

With the preface that no story is "perfect" along with the fact that everyone has their own interests, biases, icks, etc., I wanted to ask if there was a story which in your opinion, that blends proper pacing and build-up, with proper follow-up and payoff? I had the idea of deconstructing the perfect shonen protag or similar character in mind, but I'm also curious to hear about other ideas as well if you have them.

PS Thanks again for writing and posting these. They're often the highlight of my day when I remember to get around to reading them. And apologies for this long-ass ask hehe.

If you want a shonen series with similiar themes of "saving the villains" as MHA and Season 3 of Yu-Gi-Oh GX! but better pacing, buildup, payoff and overall story structure then both manga then I strongly reccomend another Yu-Gi-Oh series, Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal.

To begin with as a disclaimer I think Yu-Gi-Oh, but especially the spinoffs post 5DS get a bad reputation. For several reasons, the dub, but also the Duel Monsters anime adaptation is kind of bad. A lot of people forget that Yu-Gi-Oh! started out as a very dark urban fantasy, or just the fact that it runs in the same magazine as MHA and JJK. Once you get over the fact that it revolves around card games, Yu-Gi-Oh is as much of a battle shonen as MHA or JJK.

If you give Zexal a chance, it has everything MHA promised us. A conflict where there's really no heroes and villains, a story about what it means to save people, and a protagonist who wants to save everyone.

Yu-Gi-Oh no Cristo!

If you want to take my word for it that Zexal is good, and avoid spoilers then don't read any further. However, I thought I'd demonstrate HOW Zexal tackles the same themes that My Hero Academia tried to tackle.

I'm going to limit this analysis to Zexal I, because while Zexal II is superior in every way I don't want to spoil the whole darn show. Zexal deconstructs the idea of what it means to save others, by having the central conflict in its first season focus on several different factions where no side is the clear good guy. it also tackles the theme of "revenge", and how no character's revenge is justified no matter how wounded they are.

Zexal has three main characters, Yuma, Kaito, and Shark. The latter two are deuteragonist, and tritagonist respectively, and vacillate between being rivals and outright antagonists. If you wanted a story where Shigaraki post My Villain Academy was basically given deuteragonist status alongside Deku then this is the story for you. From her on out I'm going to focus on the cycle of revenge and also the intertwining arcs of Yuma, Shark and Kite and how these characters develop the themes.

Before I get to the World Duel Carnival, I would be amiss to mention that Zexal has a faster start then any Yu-Gi-Oh anime barring 5DS. The introductory arc is episodic in nature, but it does two things really well, first establishing Yuma as a character and second laying the groundwork for both Shark and Kaito showing they are human beings with their own motivations even when they act as antagonists to Yuma. World Duel Carnival starts at 27, but in my opinion the real conflict starts in episode 33 with the introduction of the Tron Family.

In comparison My Hero finishes the Stain arc around episode 33, so I'd say they equally have as strong a start, and both works have introduced their main trio in that time.

With the Tron Family the secondary antagonists of the season we're finally introduced to the season's main confict of revenge. There are four factions and I'm going to take the time to explain each one's motivation before digging in deeper.

The conflict starts with the parents of the three main characters, Lord Byron Arclight (who will later return as Tron), Dr. Faker, and Kazuma Tsukumo. The three of them were studying alternate dimmensions together when Dr. Faker betrayed his two close friends. Kazuma and Lord Byron were dropped into an alternate dimmension as sacrifices to open the door between dimmensions. Kazumi did his best to try to save himself and Lord Byron, but he was unsuccesful and they both dropped out of the world.

Arclight wandered around between dimmensions, until he was eventually saved by the Barian world, a world of pure chaos kind of like the flipside of our world. However, his salvation came with a cost he was reverted from an adult man to a ten year old's body, and he also lost half of his face which is now a black hole (it's weird I'm not sure how that happened). The only thing that sustained Tron was the idea of getting revenge against Dr. Faker and now that he's returned he's determined to have it.

Tron had three sons, Michael, Thomas and Christopher. Which he renames III, IV, and V because he can't be bothered to remember their names I guess. Tron was once a very loving father and left his children behind on what was supposed to be a temporary research trip. However, their father apparently died, and Christopher the oldest was not old enough to take custody so III and IV were sent to different orphanages. At the same time Christopher was broken-hearted to learn that the man who killed his father, was the father of his student and close friend Kaito Tenjo, and ended that relationship for those reasons.

With the return of Tron the family was allowed to be back together with a now older Christopher taking custody of his brothers and now parenting his ten year old father (which is hilarious by the way). However, Tron distorted by the Barian world and his desire for revenge now uses his sons as tools in his revenge scheme against Dr. Faker. All three sons comply on the thin hope that if they complete their father's revenge, he will go back to being loving Byron Arclight. The Tron Family is a family united by revenge, but also defined by an intense family loyalty to each other, both as siblings, and to their father. While their father may not deserve it, all three sons love him deeply and would do anything to try to save him.

IV: You can't trust me that much. Just because I can't become an obedient servant to you like III and V. IV: But even so...I still also...for your sake. IV: Dad, you always smiled gently in the past. IV: But... after you returned from the parallel world it's like you had an entirely different personality. IV: Despite that we were still willing to follow you, Tron. Shark: Stop pretending to be a victim. Shark: Even if you were being used, I won't forgive you for what you did.

Which dovetails nicely into the conflict between Shark and IV. IV, obeying his father's orders challenged Shark's sister to a duel in a building that later blew up. He knew about the first part, but not the second, but still is somewhat responsible despite his ignorance. He did his best to save Shark's sister from the flames getting scarred in the process, but she was left comatose.

Soon after, IV engineered Shark's disgrace as a duelist, by purposefully letting his cards fall on the ground so Shark could see them during a tournament so he'd be disqualified for taking a peek.

All of these under his father's orders to turn Shark into yet another tool of revenge against Dr. Faker, as a wildcard to be pointed in Faker's direction. IV further antagonizes him by giving him a Numbers Card knowing that the darkness of the Numbers card will soon possess him in order to further his father's scheme. He also just wants to flat out defeat Shark so he can prove to his father he's more useful.

Shark looks like the clear victim in this situation, but his complete lack of sympathy for IV is total hypocrisy. Because, Shark is also only after revenge for what was done to him and his sister. Shark was hurt by IV's revenge, but Shark will also attack completely innocent people, including Yuma, just to get his revenge against IV. Shark is the aggrieved victim, but he fights only for revenge not to save someone and he just does not care for anyone other than his sister, himself and Yuma to an extent. Unlike IV, who has the added motivation of saving someone, and also is self-aware that he did something wrong that he can't take back.

Shark is very much a case of "well, my revenge is different from your revenge" somehow, and it makes him look like a hypocrite. Which is why Shark wavers between being an anti-hero and an anti-villain, because in spite of his mroe heroic qualities and his friendship with Yuma he pretty consistently is only motivated to duel for revenge and not for saving others like Yuma is and the show is clear on it's themes of "there is no such thing as a justified revenge."

Shark does not get his revenge, in fact the same way IV is manipulated to pointing his anger at Shark, Shark gets manipulated by Tron to pointing all of his anger at Yuma. Yuma basically has to act as the punching bag, in order to try to calm Shark down again and in Shark's own words even if you were being used, I won't forgive you for what you did.

Shark won't forgive IV, but he ends up committing the exact same unforgivable acts, and by his own logic manipulation is not an excuse.

Now that we've introduced Shark as the wildcard, the last faction is Dr. Faker's. Kaito and Dr. Faker both are fighting to save Haruto, Faker's second son and Kaito's little brother. Here is the twist with Dr. Faker's betrayal he's presented as a "I did everything for power" type of villain, but he's actually doing everything to save his son from dying and is willing to backstab his closest friends to do so, and turn his son Kaito into a pawn. There's an added layer of complication where Dr. Faker is legitimately using his son as a pawn, but much like the Tron Siblings, Kaito is also willing to comply because saving Haruto is just as important to him.

Kaito is a numbers hunter who rips out the souls of people in order to reclaim numbers cards from them, something which ages them and leaves them completely comatose. Kaito also blatantly says on several occasions, he doesn't care how many people he has to hurt to save his brother. So Kaito's motivations aren't revenge like Tron's, but he's also just as willing to get innocent people involved. He even attacks Shark once who didn't even have a number card, simply for GETTING IN THE WAY when he was trying to steal Yuma's key.

Kaito's not just an "I'll do anything to save my brother" type of character, he actively does not care about how many victims he creates along the way.

KAITO: You're wrong. Just one person matters to me. I only care about Hart.

And he sure does mean that. His own allies? Don't matter. His former friend Christopher? Doesn't care. Yuma who actively wants to save Hart too? Get out of the way bucko.

YUMA: Kaito, Droite fought desperately against Tron for your sake. YUMA: Droite liked y- KAITO: That's none of your concern.

Kite's obsession with saving his brother is all-consuming, and even ignores that Haruto does not want Kaito hurting himself for his sake, because it is just as much about Kaito as it is about Haruto.

Kaito also clashes with V from the Tron Family, and is deeply hurt by the fact that V will make punching bags out of both Kite and Haruto in order to get revenge against their father.

However, Kaito who has at this point put several people in comas in order to save his brother (the exact same motivation V has for his father and two younger brothers) is a complete hypocrite in this regard.

V: Friend you say? V: But that ideal was completely wrecked by Dr. Faker. V: Could you forgive that person's son? V: When I realized the truth, I... KAITO: Enough of this nonsense.

I'm sure none of the people Kaito put in comas had brothers, and they all kicked puppies when no one was looking. Even after Kaito realizes that Christopher was only trying to save his family the same way that he was, and promises to inherit his feelings, he forgets all about that when dueling Tron.

Kaito's one and only loss in the whole series comes from when he loses himself to revenge against Tron after he provoked him one too many times by tormenting Haruto. Once again, no matter what the reason revenge is never justified in Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal!

Tron: You're right I have no emotions. Droite and Shark... I was willing to even use my sons in order to create rage. Kaito: Say what? Tron: You did pretty well, too! You get angrier and angrier when it comes to Haruto. It's all thanks to you, have a look.

As much as Kaito would like to make a martyr of himself, he is just like the Tron siblings, just like Shark, an angry little kid lashing out against innocent people for the pain both him and his brother has suffered. Even kaito who has the most explicit desire to save someone, succumbs to revenge in the end when he's pushed.

The tragedy of season 1 is that basically every faction involved has a case of "my revenge is more important than your revenge, and my loved ones are more important than your loved ones". Even though both the Tron Family, and Kaito are fighting to save their families, neither of them ever backs down or considers the other side's motivations because THEIR PAIN is more important.

The last faction of the story is Yuma's, and as stated above Yuma is the only one who attempts to see his opponent's side. Yuma's central motto is "if we've dueled each other, then we're already friends." He also believes that duels should never be used as tools for hurting each other, something Shark, Kaito and the Tron Family all gleefully do in their conflict against one another.

Yuma is a deconstructoin of the "save everyone" because while he is involved in the conflict too because he lost his father to Dr. Faker, unlike the other three factions he has a support system. He still has his grandmother and sister, childhood friends, friends at school and Astral.

This fact is explicitly called out in his duel against III who by that point Yuma considers a friend. III spends a day with Yuma, bonding with him over their shared love of archaelogy, seeing his family and home life, only to turn against him.

Yuma tries to reach out to III the entire time through the duel and talk him down, and it doesn't work because Yuma with his support system, cannot truly understand where III is coming from and the desperation that drives him. Yuma's not caught in the same rock and hard place that III is, and all the sympathy and good intentions in the world cannot overcome the difference between that.

Yuma also in spite of his desire to solve things peacefully is basically forced to still fight, because if he loses a duel his close personal friend Astral will die, so it's actively a challenge for him to seek the third way to settle things without contributing to the cycle of revenge.

So Yuma represents the correct path, forgiveness and understanding the other's point of view, but it also shows that Yuma is able to do that because unlike everyone else he has a support system. Yuma is not internally more good than Shark, Kite, or the rest. He's just in a place where he can afford to look at the other people's perspectives because he's not desperately fighting for survival.

It's also a challenge for him to do so, because Yuma is someone very immature. As I said with III he does not understand the depths of what they are feeling even if he wants to make the pain go away. He tries to offer his unwavering support to people, but he fails just as often as he succeeds due to his immaturity.

In Yuma's case it's less being a perfect hero, but rather making an unrelenting effort to help others and offer a hand that matters. Yuma's character development in season 1 for me crystallizes in his final redemption of Tron, the character besides Faker who makes him the most angry because of his gleeful abuse of his sons for the sake of revenge. Not only does Yuma start to get through to Tron at points in the duel, because he tries so hard to make Tron understand how much he's hurt his sons, but at the end of the duel he mirrors his father's own action of trying to save both himself and Byron Arclight I mentioned at the beginning of this post.

Yuma: I won't give up! Tron: But why? Why are you trying to save me? Yuma: It's obvious, isn't I? Everyone I duel are my friends. Yuma: I don't understand all that complicated stuff, but we create bonds through dueling. And since you dueled me you are my friend. Tron: I finally understand. Your dueling goes beyond my desire for revenge. Yuma I can't live the same way as you and Kazuma, but I can't let Dr. Faker go either. I'll release all the souls I captured.

Yuma does represent the themes of love, and understanding being the only way to heal revenge (because more revenge does not fix anything) but he's not just propped up as a saint by the narrative. He's a character who has to go through serious character development before he's finally able to back up his good intentions with actual concrete action.

Yuma isn't just good internally, but rather his constant efforts to find the third path, and befriend other people is what makes him the hero of the story. Yuma is Deku done right and I will stand by this.

I hope I've been able to demonstrate the themes of Zexal, and I would be amiss to mention this is just Zexal I. Zexal II the second season does all of this even better. The Barians are an even better version of the League of Villains because despite starting a war with the main characters, they are all sympathetic and their point of view is just as valid as Astral and Yuma's. I don't want to spoil Zexal II though, so if anything about Zexal I caught your eye I reccomend watching both series.

[funnier-as-a-system]

Heyy I'm that game concept anon! Wanted to say that it's been absolutely lovely to read about different systems' experiences!! Nice to see we're not alone lol. I'm usually pretty confident in what we have going on, and people around us (in college) somehow are... supportive, even tho they don't understand what I'm talking about like half the time, but that moment bent me out of shape a little. Glad to report that I'm now back into the proper confident shape yeehaw :)

Also in my first ask I somehow failed to mention this, but the whole deal with the "romantic connotations" was literally just my teacher making it up himself. Like as much as I wanted to show my relationship with my husband/co-host one for one, I wasn't originally going to make the game characters have a romantic relationship. Cuz platonic relationships are very important too! And overall the goal was to show how alters should have better in-sys communication and collective problem-solving, when possible (and NOT bully each other for 'stealing' each other's life, and NOT bully the persecutors for being mean without trying to figure out why they're mean and without trying to help them, and NOT bully other alters for acting like they do without learning their reasoning, like we did, unfortunately.) I guess husband's 'Protective husband' energy was just too intense for the teacher to handle lol. But NOW I do want to incorporate in-sys dating. We'll see how it goes, I guess.

(also please take care!! That's a lot of asks to have wow. Hope you're doing well!)

Hey there!! It's great to hear from you again!

I'm really glad you're feeling better after what happened. So, your professor was just seeing romance where there wasn't any, huh? Feels like a common theme with professors whenever someone writes about any kind of close relationship – maybe it's due to amatonormativity, or maybe in this case it's just your husband's "protective husband energy", as you say, haha. But I'm happy to hear that you've continued working on your project with passion, and that you have people who support you!

I'm also happy to learn more about this game concept you're working on, because it sounds very cool! Everything that you list are important things for systems to learn, though I find many systems struggle to learn them when they first discover their plurality. As we said to a friend once, with how strongly the idea of "one body = one self = one life" is cemented into everyday narratives, it's difficult to unpack that and accept that your body and life may not be only your own, thus making it difficult to accept your system and respect your headmates. Of course, this doesn't excuse rude or cruel behavior between system members, but it's a common reason we've found for conflicts that occur shortly after syscovery. So, I find the fact that you're not just acknowledging but showing these conflicts and the process of improving relationships (with the word "relationships" being used in a general sense here) between headmates in your game to be a very good thing!

Thank you very much for the follow-up – and for the concern, haha! We'll be alright, but I think we'll soon have to create a specific tag for all these asks about intrasystem relationships. Maybe "datenight musings" will work? Hm, we'll workshop it.

[cosmo-watches-movies]

Wilde (1997)

Triggerwarning: Homophobia, Sex (in the movie, not depicted in this blogpost)

Plot: A part of Oscar Wilde’s life story.

Spoilers beyond this

Michael plays Robbie Ross, a good friend to Oscar Wilde and, delicately put, his first male lover.

Following are my incoherent thoughts as I was watching the movie: (some gifs for context, for the other parts watch the movie and you'll get it)

starting out chill with Oscar meeting his future wife

oh who might this dashing young fella be?

lol that didn’t work did it?

Nevermind it did work

I was so not prepared for this

This guy has a lot of thoughts in his head and none of them are holy

Bitch what

If someone looked at me like that I’d instantly fall for them too. Man brought his A-Game

Oh my god this is going too fast even for me and I’m just watching

Why would you give him lines like that?

(I refuse to clip the next part, I don't know who might read this)

What in the what I barely got into the movie, why would you do this to me

I have questions

I have so many emotions at once right now I actually feel a bit sick

I’m 16 Minutes in and my heart is breaking at the thought of where this might be going

Okay, I got used to the fact that I am actually watching a movie about gay men

Me watching a movie about a gay author: （☆ω☆ ）

Me when theres actual portayal of intimacy between men: （○ □ ○ ）

I swear I’m so normal about this.

Wtf Oscar why would you drop Robbie like that. I get that this was an affair, but like this? He picked that other guy up like an apple from a tree.

Watch Robbie take this like the king he is

Oscar met yet another guy (Bosie) and seems to fall in love with him and guy #2 litterally wants to khs and/or Bosie, while Robbie has only respect, acceptance and love to give.

lol taste of your own medicie, huh?

I hate Bosie

I love Robbie

Drama between Bosie and Wilde, which results in Oscar being sentenced to two years in prison

Oof that speech Oscar held in court tho, right in the feels

Robbie is an absolute treasure of a person. Get yourself a man like him. Don’t settle for less.

Wtf all this stress and heartbreak for Oscar and Bosie to break up after three months, the world is a cruel place

- End of incoherent thoughts-

That was heartbreaking in so many ways. The main story obviously is unbelievably tragic but we shall focus on other things. There are a lot of strong performances in this movie, the whole cast was quite good. You can strongly feel the love Robbie has for Oscar, he has this soft tone when he talks to or about him, he wants him to be happy even if it means that he himself wont be. He accepts that Oscar doesn’t love him the same way and still supports his friend under any circumstances. It's not just in the dialouge, it's also in the way Robbie talks to and looks at Oscar. He’s pure kindness, love and devotion.

He cares so much for him it's breaking my poor little heart :c

On a less serious note, my guy really went ahead and had his first on-screen kiss be a gay kiss!?! Fuckin hell! And he did so well! Icon, king, legend, right from the start!

Because there aren't enough gifs in this already, have some more little moments I enjoyed :3

✨Puppy dog eyes✨

Good save xD

Why would you hold it like that?

I don't even know why, just thought he looked dashing in this scene

Me too, Robbie, me too.

I probably could've written more, but that wouldn't do the movie and characters justice. Bosie's full brattiness alone is something I couldn't even capture in gifs. Kudos to Jude Law, he really made me hate that character. He's the exact opposite of Robbie. They had only two scenes together I think, but it's awesome to see their personalities clash.

I’d say you should check this movie out, especially if you’re lgbt+ yourself obviously. And then go ahead and read Oscar Wildes works, they're queer history and in general important literature anyone should know.

At the end of this I have learned that I, in fact, don’t hate love drama, I just like it if it's gay. And preferably has a certain actor in it.

[inchidentally]

Just had a random thought.

I know a lot can happen in this sport but I was thinking about how as Lando and Oscar are very talented and more or less the same age they could be part of the grid potentially for more than a decade (this expecting not damaging injuries, a dramatic loss of performance level, or a lack of motivation to carry on)

Which means we could see their relationship going through a lot of different scenarios: rival teams, battles on track without the 'teammate respect', maybe even teaming up again after some time in different teams, one fighting for victories and the other for points...

Can you see them being close while being in different teams or do you think the base of their relationship is just being teammates and they will only hang out occasionally in Grand Prix weekends and that's it?

I personally think their bond is a work in progress and if they separated ways right now they would just get along and be nice to each other, but the more years they spend together at McLaren, the stronger their relationship will be.

this is such a good ask that I feel bad not having more to add to it bc I honestly agree with you on a lot of it!

I think the biggest thing that a lot of us are picking up on with Oscar and Lando is that they deliberately chose to not go the whole bromance angle… but that they also genuinely like each other so it was never due to coldness or being stand-offish. at first I think a lot of us assumed Oscar was just super nervous and that Lando was picking up a lot of the slack in terms of media work. folks who knew more about Oscar from F2 and F3 had more of a leg up bc they knew a lot more about Oscar's genuine personality.

it became clear sometime around spring? that Oscar's eyes tracking Lando and the soft smile on his face was genuinely that he Thinks Lando is Neat and Wants to be Around Him. I think that's also when it was clear that we were seeing overall a different Lando who was a little quieter and a lot more chill. Lando has no poker face to speak of and so it all suddenly made sense for me that not only were they not awkward around each other but they had just formed a super chill and comfortable friendship. do I think that as of winter break they've formed a friendship that transcends F1? truly I don't think they had the time for that and it's why I'm like you and so glad they've got two more years for sure. 2023 was such a boring season EXCEPT for McLaren so I feel like what Lando and Oscar developed very strongly was a bond of pushing each other (in a healthy way, as Oscar said) and sticking together no matter what. and it worked! the parallel of them accidentally coming together in Monza in the pit lane but then driving back to the pits together in Qatar and Japan is like. F1 teammate poetry.

I've said before that I feel like Oscar is a really natural fit for Lando's Quadrant/gaming friendships. I know we tease the hell out of Oscar for his fanboying over Lando before the McLaren seat (like, YEARS before lol) but I for real think it's bc he saw someone he would want to be friends with. not so much that they're similar but because Lando's humor and confidence and lack of filter is something Oscar clearly likes and he openly respects how Lando has dealt with his career and his ambition.

and Lando's said as much about what Oscar has brought to him as a teammate, that Oscar's calm and focus has been good for him and Oscar's talent has pushed Lando to a banner year for him. which let's remember just how much success in F1 has meant to Lando his entire life… it is possibly the biggest compliment he could pay Oscar to say that he's played a role in making Lando better !! and close to that is the fact that Oscar going out of his way to play a supporting role to Lando and hold up the fact that Lando deserves respect and acknowledgement for his status and experience in F1 and McLaren has like, genuinely made Lando happy. for someone who can plunge to the kinds of depths that Lando can, seeing Oscar waiting to celebrate him after every race or knowing that Oscar stands in the crowd with the rest of the team for Lando's many podiums this season… just imagine what that means to a guy who shown so much loyalty to his team as Lando. that his new teammate is matching that level of loyalty to Lando and to McLaren in his rookie season??

idk I feel like for two guys who have given up so much to be where they are (I know they're super privileged but they also missed out on a LOT of good formative stuff and left their families early) would a bromance or common interests feel more significant than forming such a deep amount of respect for each other in just one season? it's very sweet seeing Lando meet up with Carlos and Daniel in down time during the season and I'm not taking anything away from that. but Lando is in F1 for F1 - not for bromances and he doesn't carry those F1 friendships over to his other work or his other relationships. Lando's a very very serious guy under all his fun and jokey sides and even when reporters push the bromances angle he's quick to remind them that he's there to race and on track those buddies disappear into mere obstacles to him winning.

tl;dr I feel like we're going to learn a lot about Lando and Oscar's relationship in the next season but for me I'm spending so much of my time still bursting at the seams for how quiet and sweet and significant things have been for them this past season that I'm not even going to worry too much about what the future brings!

[just-a-carrot]

Hey, Carrot!!

Just wanted to confirm you that your self-indulgent does, in fact, also mean "us-indulgent" 🤣🤣

I've just played the game and I loved it🤩🤩

I was kind of mad when I saw that I could only choose the options with the hand so many times before the bar depleted and lost the chance of getting the true ending. (I wanted to "make a jest" so bad every time it appeared 🤣🤣)

I adore the menu screen once you get THE ending, it's just so sweet I will stare at it forever🤧🤧

Btw, the whole game reminded me a lot of that one piece of art from some time ago and I can't help but wonder: did this piece sparkle the idea of the game (like, the conversation that they could have given their roles, which would eventually become the game)?

Or maybe it's simply that they both happen in the same place and are inspired by dd2(?🤣🤣

(Also, I know almost nothing about dd2, what does it mean when his hand started glowing?)

WAH

i'm really happy you enjoyed it... 💕 thank you for playing! lkdjflaksdf i'm sorry about forcing you to choose other options 🤣 there are a couple different ways you can reach the end. i think you only need to save up will for like... maybe 2(?) choices. and there are a few possible choices where not choosing the hand option will still let you proceed

the rest of this got kinda rambly also with vid/images so i've put it behind a cut (what's wrong with me)

LOL i wouldn't say this game was directly inspired by that specific art piece, moreso that that place in the game is just really inspiring to me because it's so beautiful, so it fills me with all sorts of soft feels (and ideas) and also just gives me a sense of calm. it's also why i have so many shots of it in the music video LKDJFALSKD i think i've spent literal hours there i have so much footage there of just clips like this:

so it was more just me wanting to do something soft and sweet so my mind immediately went back to this place

re: the glowing palm scar LKDJFALKSDFA THAT'S...

ok so. mmm. the scar itself in-game is essentially a symbol of his connection to the arisen (iggy). it glows every time he gets summoned from a rift stone and is reunited with iggy... i think it might possibly glow at other (canon) times though it's hard to tell because until recently genzou's outfit always had gloves and/or he's often holding a weapon in his right hand (so i can't tell for instance if it glows when he's revived...)

on the left is the best shot i've gotten of it when not glowing. on the right is the only good shot i can get of it glowing because for this cutscene the game removes his glove lol... now that i have him in the new outfit with half his hand showing though i'd like to see if i can get a good shot of him being resummoned to see if i can see the glow. i need to try pausing and zooming in because i only have this faraway shot:

however for him to be resummoned it means he needs to die and that hurts my heart (and makes his affection go down LKDJFLADS) so i don't like doing it (but i would do it for science...)

ANYWAY. there isn't any actual explanation or lore given for it in-game besides being shown it and knowing that all pawns have this scar and it's their symbol. but ofc like so many things about this game, my head ran away with me and started coming up with many of my own head canons about the scar. mostly that i have decided it reacts to like... their connection in general. strong emotional responses between them (like when they kiss... ldkfajsldkfa). a literal symbol of genzou's internal psyche in relation to iggy and it'll flare up sometimes as a strong reaction to something about iggy, etc. i like to think that genzou gets embarrassed by it because it'll flare up if he's feeling particularly strongly LOL

i-it's just very precious to me... i think it's very sweet and cute and i love it very much...💦

I'M SORRY FOR RAMBLING I LOVE TALKING ABOUT THEM AND THESE SILLY HEAD CANONS LKDJFALSKDF

[lesbianwyllravengard]

Alrighty here’s mah lil ranty rant (But long, many apologies I dunno how I could shorten it)

Let’s start with Ada bc mommy- I mean mommy- I mean- (/j)

Ada Wong:

-So I see a lot of people trash Ada for the fact her personality seems to be more cold. She has distant she’s cruel (although she still seems to have lines she won’t cross, like with Wesker and the Las Plagas sample). I see people complain about that but I would like to make a hot take, here: it’s actually better. She’s a mercenary. She’s a gun for hire- her job has to be cold because she could be betraying her friends at any given second. In the older games, she was sort of just… I don’t know… A bit too human for the job, and the role in the story that she is meant to fill. I see people describing her as a Bella, and honestly, I strongly disagree. In fact, I would argue that the original was more of a Bella then the remakes. This is because all she was really there is for the generic “Ooh look pretty woman, bad ass eye candy” trope. I’m not saying that she didn’t have any depth as a character- I’m just saying that the remake gave her much more credit as a character, and made her much more interesting.

all right, moving onto the old man. (#1 Wesker hater over here I’m sorry I’m not sorry lol)

Albert Wesker:

-I know that I hate this guy, but even I have to appreciate that out of quite a few of the Weskers that have been made, this version is just better written. I see people complain that he is too angry and honestly, I disagree. The fact that he has a hidden anger, makes sense from a character perspective. And he’s getting increasingly more cheesed off at Spencer for obvious reasons. No wonder he’s pissed. Personally, I think the fact that they’re showing that he has emotions- he’s just learned to control them- is honestly much more compelling. I still hate the guy, but I can see where he’s coming from- in a twisted and a messed up way.

yeah. That’s it l. that’s all I got for him. I don’t really like him that much so he doesn’t deserve a whole essay like Ada imo. (Still like his character, though he’s very interesting.)

that’s my rant. Thanks for hearing me out -> I know this was ridiculously long. That’s why I asked permission first. I basically just wrote an entire essay in your asks and I am so sorry lmao

hjadsg no need to apologise. I may have to contest you for #1 wesker hater tho,,, 👀 I hate his guts too

BUT you're absolutely right the DLC added so much depth to their characters. and personally made wesker MORE hate-able to me personally because we just further see how messed up he is, to the point where even Ada - who has had to numb herself to the details of the job to survive - had visible negative reactions to his genocidal nonsense. I loved Lily's performance in the base game but she especially got to shine in the DLC, she absolutely nailed the cold look with emotion hidden underneath. Ada's cold exterior is her armour against her own emotions, she can't take a second to feel as that could be the second she dies, she doesn't have the luxury of emotional vulnerability; even though she does feel, she does care, she cannot afford to let herself. And little things like eye movements, lip twitches, subtle body language, and her inflections were all techniques Lily used to portray that tumultuous relationship between Ada and her feelings, and Lily did fucking amazing at it. Best Ada performance ever. Ada's never been allowed that depth before because she's always had to be palatable to the male audience :) so I'm glad she's finally getting it. And Wesker finally feels like a real villain, rather than just another power hungry white guy (which, he very much is, but now there's depth to it lol). Wesker's dialogue in the DLC is scary, and it makes the audience more aware of what exactly he believes and what his motives are. This DLC added so much to the base game that really drives it as my favourite RE game.

[floralegia]

4, 19, 27, 29 for the writing ask game! 💜💖

EEEEE thank you!!

4. How many WIPs do you have right now?

OH GREAT SO YOU'RE COMING FOR MY HEAD RIGHT FROM THE START

Well, I counted 29 for this post, but as I noted there that doesn't include the plot bunnies chilling in my ideas doc (aka The List™) or either of the two bingo cards I currently have out, which between them have I want to say 32 prompts? So, you know. :'''')

19. Give us a small teaser from one of your WIPs.

There's important stuff being said, probably, but the only thought Pete's brain is capable of processing right now is this one: Oh my God, he's such a fucking DILF.

Well, okay, that's not exactly true, because as soon as that thought slides through his psyche, it butts right up against the answering one that shouts Patrick! That fucking DILF is fucking PATRICK!, and then he gets sort of stuck in that loop for a little while, until at last the DILF thing overpowers the shrieking confusion of the fact that up until a couple of minutes ago, he'd only known Patrick Stump as a sort of sweaty, scowl-y, angel-voiced teenager, and the whole thing starts over again with the urge to drool dramatically over the glasses and the beard and the fucking build of him, Jesus fucking Christ.

Suffice to say, it's been a challenging few minutes.

27. Is there a fic you were nervous to post/share? Why?

There have been a couple of notable ones in recent memory, one that I won't name because I ended up posting it on a sock account and then this one. In both cases, I was essentially scared of being harassed over the content of the fics; the unnamed fic contains a couple of noncon scenes, and obviously the linked fic is Waycest, lol. Both have been received pretty well so far (touch wood), so, I mean, I'm definitely building up confidence, I think? I very strongly believe in the idea of writing whatever and who cares what people think, but also I am very small and very frightened lol. It's a whole thing.

29. Share a bit from a fic you’ll never post OR from a scene that was cut from an already posted fic. (If you don’t have either, just share a random fic idea you have that you don’t plan on getting to.)

Random fic idea, under the cut because it's a bit long: P2 RHPS AU feat. Bandom At Large!

Due to watching the video of Patrick's performance of "I Can Make You A Man" for the 2020 RHPS charity livestream--which, oh my God, by the way--I was struck by the idea of a Rocky Horror AU. To be clear, I don't mean an AU based on the movie the Rocky Horror Picture Show, I mean an AU about the boys putting on the Rocky Horror Picture show. So really, I suppose, it's a college community theater AU of some kind, but it's focused around RHPS. Not that I've been involved in a production myself, other than at CTY, I suppose, but having done community theater generally and attended RHPS productions, I think I can make a fair attempt.

So, anyway. Pete is running the thing--whole thing is his idea, he's the director, etc. I feel like this is likely not the first year, and in fact Pete likely inherited the production from an upperclassman. But they had a lot of people graduate last year, and they're having trouble backfilling those roles, so in addition to directing he's reprising his role as Rocky. They're advertising hard for musicians, too, because Pete--being a go big or go home kind of guy--ALSO wants to perform with a live band this year and do a proper Rocky Horror Show production, rather than perform in front of the film as they've typically done. That's how Patrick gets involved: he shows up to inquire about playing in the pit, because he's always trying to pick up odd musical jobs here and there to pay for school, and in true Fall Out Boy fashion he ends up singing a little bit and Pete's like, wait, no, holy fuck, sing this, throws the book at him, Patrick sings a bit of one of Frank's lines, and that's all she wrote. They've been having a particular amount of trouble casting Frank, and Pete decides Patrick is perfect for the role, which kind of baffles everyone else, especially Patrick, but Pete's like... distractingly pretty, so against his own better judgement Patrick agrees.

Beyond that, I'm not sure what the actual, like, plot would be. I think Patrick has a passing familiarity with RHPS but definitely not intimate knowledge, so partially he has to get up to speed. Partially, too, he has to overcome his stage fright and particularly his aversion to appearing on stage in front of a bunch of strangers while wearing sexy outfits and doing a lot of slutty slutty things, so there's that, but idk if that's a "plot" per se. There's also the implication/background of the production being sort of scrappy, but I don't know that that's a "plot" either, really. Hmmm.

Well, in the meantime, other notes that I had in my head include Gabe Saporta as Brad because I think that's really funny given his everything; Joe and Andy are definitely involved, I think with Joe playing Meatloaf and Andy drumming, or maybe Andy's Meatloaf and Joe is Riff Raff???? General DCD2/bandom cast... Uhhh, Ray should definitely be in the band/pit, Hayley Williams and Gerard are Magenta and Columbia (not sure which is which--I like Gerard as a sexy maid, so maybe he's Magenta???), and then that leaves, what, the criminologist??? Oh, and Janet, obviously. Maybe Greta from the Hush Sound is Janet? Or Vicky-T, that would make a lot of sense. Frank is either in the pit or he's the stage manager or something. Or crew. He kind of has insane stage crew energy. Mikey is... there. Possibly pit as well. Possibly just hanging around and the joke is everyone's always like, Mikey what the fuck are you doing here???? and he just shrugs and the answer is that he tends to get dragged into things Gerard's involved in and this is no different, but really he's just hanging around.

[angelmichelangelo]

wanted to just ramble on about bayverse 2: electric boogaloo for a minute because it actually has a pretty good plot (buried under some questionable directing and writing) that i don’t think we often get much of in terms of tmnt plot.

and that’s the whole purple ooze situation they’ve got going on. donnie discovers this chemical that could, in theory, turn them human. donnie shows this off to leo with upmost enthusiasm that he’s just gonna be like “omg yes gather everyone rn and inject that shit into me YESTERDAY” because.. yknow. they’re mutants. they live in a sewer. away from society. this is their big chance to get away from all of that and live an actual “normal” life.

but leo is very quickly against that. he’s dismissive (because bayverse leo is moody dialled to eleven) and as soon as he’s aware of what donnie has here, he almost instantly instructs him to keep this a secret from raph and mikey. because he knows the ramifications of them finding out about this.

and of course mikey and raph find out and are understandably pissed (the scene where raph really strongly sticks up for mike fighting for his right to have a vote really strikes me - it’s almost like he actually cares more about it being held a secret from mikey than it is from him and that highlights how much he knows it means to his little brother. raph is a good egg) and then for a good chunk of the movie we have leo + donnie and mikey + raph kinda just.. doing their own thing.

and usually tmnt will give us the traditional A Team vs B Team which consists of leo + raph (usually for the whole bickering/arguing/coming together tie in) and then mikey and donnie just doing whatever. (not saying that sometimes they feel like props but. sometimes they do feel like props)

but i think the movie actually benefitted from splitting the team up differently here. we get a whole other dynamic that we’d usually see in perhaps a handful of episodes in some of the shows (my mind goes back to the leatherhead ep from 2k12 when we get a leo + raph + donnie team up mission without mikey and donnie is therefore instantly reduced to the little brother of the group and i LOVED that. i wish we got more of that because that particular dynamic was really fun to watch)

and this switch up especially makes a difference for poor donnie who wasn’t really totally on leo’s side, mostly because he too wanted to use the ooze, but kinda just got roped into being on his side without really a choice kinda like he’s the unfortunate child of divorce caught in the crossfire lol

but it’s also interesting that raph would have wanted to make the change when presented with the opportunity. in other iterations, it’s heavily implied that he’s somewhat content with the life he has. he enjoys his undercover lifestyle and he’s not really fond of humans in the same with his brothers are. (cue 2k12 raph scoffing “ugh. humans are so annoying” like he doesn’t have 2 that’re his friends lol)

but mike and don? fascinated by the human world. they crave a reality where they can just walk about amongst humans and live like them. even in the idw power rangers crossover issue where they use clocking broaches, it’s leo and raph who are somewhat anxious about the whole thing where mikey and don are instant game.

so to have raph part of this as well as the other two is really interesting. and whether that was just included in the plot to give him some reason to be fighting against leo, that’s neither here nor there. raph wants that too, for himself and for his brothers too. i think that if mikey and donnie weren’t on board with it, raph wouldn’t be either. he’d go along with being human if it meant making his little brothers happy — if it meant living a better life with them instead of being stuck underground without them. whereas it’s just leo who is reluctant. whether it’s a fear or the unknown or change or whether he’s just so okay with where his is.. he’s the only one that doesn’t think it’s a good idea. and as a result, he takes away the others choice which of course kicks off that whole plot line.

and it looks like mutant mayhem will touch upon this (this time it looks like all of them want in on being part of the human world) and i think that it’s just a really interesting plot point part of the tmnt franchise. being mutants and living in a sewer is all they know, but catching glimpses of a life they could have but can’t have? especially at an age where you’re trying to discover yourself and find who you are? i just hope this new movie pulls it off well if not as well as i think the bayverse movies touched upon it.

[nowis-scales]

no idea if this ask will reach you in time to alleviate your school boredom, but you have a lot of interesting thoughts on Felicia, so are there any wildly specific headcanons or theories you have for her that you've never really seen anyone else come up with that you feel like chatting about?

Hey, no worries about timing — a good ask is a good ask! Besides, I actually did end up having to think a bit about this one, so in a way it kind of all worked out. That’s why it’s uh… taken me pretty much the entire weekend to figure it out lol.

I don’t know if I have much in the way of full-on theories, but I am really quite good at the whole specific headcanons thing, so I tried to come up with some to share that just kinda have a tendency to rattle around in my head. And thank you for your kind words about my Felicia thoughts! It’s always nice to hear that you have a good perspective on one of your most precious blorbos.

All that being said, though, here are some of my ideas:

‣ Her scatter-brained tendencies are not out of carelessness or stupidity, but because she’s regularly thinking too fast to the point where she can’t even keep up with herself. When she thinks of one task, she thinks of all the little steps that compose the whole, and thus she finds herself bouncing from place to place with it and messing things up because she’s not paying enough attention to detail. I’ve mentioned before that this is why I think she’s so good in battle: battle requires a lot less thought on her part. When she gets into the heat of battle, her instincts kick in. She doesn't have to break things down step by step because survival in this case is all about flexibility. In day-to-day life, however, she can't just go by whatever her instincts tell her... especially since she can be a bit naive and gullible. This leads her to overthink to the point of jumbling herself up.

‣ She might actually be the most open-minded person in the army. While Corrin themselves is very, very kind and patient, they do still have a tendency to react towards the army's more odd characters. However, if you look at Felicia's supports with them, she doesn't tend to react all that strongly. She doesn't understand Niles's attempt at innuendos nor get all that frustrated with him when he makes it clear he's trying to pick on her. When she's asked to keep an eye on Odin, she's very matter-of-fact about it, and lets him rant to her about how he doesn't think he's the only weird one. In both their support conversations and I believe the anthology, Felicia is shown to keep quite cool about Laslow's flirtations. She doesn't really consider them directed towards herself, but she doesn't chide him for them, either. Even when she does react strongly to someone like Keaton, she reacts out of fear of the bug. She does categorize his hobby as unusual, but her main frustration that he doesn't seem to get that just because he likes it doesn't mean she does. So I really just get the feeling that Felicia is pretty non-judgmental, perhaps on account of being regularly judged for things outside of her control herself. She tries to see people for their intentions, rather than their quirks.

‣ Felicia is... not all that popular in camp. It's commonly acknowledged that she is "cute, but pretty annoying". There are only so many times that people are willing to put up with her breaking things or knocking them over or bursting into tears before they just get fed up, and unfortunately for her, she is quite aware of it (you'll notice in-game that one of her lines when she's invited over is "what did the others say about me this time?"). She definitely has tried to make peace with the fact that some people just aren't going to like her, but I feel like that most certainly contributes to her feelings of social anxiety.

‣ Her refusal to look at her hostage situation for what it is is a coping mechanism for her. Of course in the back of her mind she's kind of aware that she's not there just to learn responsibility and grace or whatever, but she likes to tell herself that that's what she's there to do. Otherwise, it would put her into a state of heavy anxiety, because it would be a lot easier for people to just get fed up with her and throw her out or worse. Even when they're being kind, people often talk to her about how she should quit her job. Sometimes she worries that if she weren't a good retainer, they would have disposed of her a long time ago for being the worst maid. Life in a tower might not be perfect, but as long as she's safe, protected, and with people who love her, that's all she cares about. Would she love to be in the outside world, maybe even living back with her Tribe? Of course... but she's grateful for the way she's treated at the Northern Fortress, so she will take it over crueller accommodations.

‣ She might actually be a half-decent representation of food scarcity in Nohr. I guess this one is one of the ones that falls more to theory side of things, but it's noted in one of her supports that she actually loses meal "privileges" if she breaks too many things. She is also more fixated on money than some others, making jokes about deserving a raise and even going further than Jakob does about being rewarded in the Ghostly Gold DLC. I think, with her clumsiness, food is probably something she thinks about more than other people, because she's not always guaranteed to get it even if she is employed. It's like the budget that would be spent on her food goes towards the things she breaks instead, so she is concerned about having her own pay to make sure that she might still get to eat something even if she is not being provided for.

These were about the first things I could think of after trying to wrack my brain to remember what I thought (convenient how I only forget them once I'm asked), but hopefully they interested you! Some of them were admittedly a bit more sad than others, but she is a particularly happy character. Sometimes that means people might forget that her life isn't always easy either, which is what leads people like me to our headcanons, lol.

Anyway, thank you so much for taking the time to ask me this! It was a great time passer.

[friedesgreatscythe]

Hello!!

Hope your day is going well :))

So recently I've seen you discuss the canonicity of ships and what it means for ships to be canon. I just wanna say, i was waiting for sooo long for someone to explain this and put it into a thorough perspective so thank you thank you thank you!!

I always found it bizzare and weird how people derived ships in terms of it only makes sense if they are a couple and have settled down together (hence the word 'couple')

Ships can be canon within their own isolated confined storyline and not be together nor even end up dating later in the future. It's the framed romance that matters. Ships can still be canon even if the said character has parted ways or moved on from the previous love interest and is now in love with someone else. It HAPPENED, right? It still matters.

example; I think that Leon x Ashley worked so well in RE4make in the context of the very clear romantic framework of their relationship and bond, i think because of the game using a romantic genre and structure, delicate conveyor of feelings, it makes the ship canon. But it doesn't make Leon and Ashley an actual couple nor does it imply or build up for that bond and relationship to be something more in the future, it just works perfectly for what the story is trying to tell and it executes it's characters so well that it is believable. Doesn't mean that Leon won't catch feelings for someone else down the line or if I'm being generous even fall in love (unlikely cause it's Resident Evil and it's Capcom) but purely from an example it is quite possible.

People often found it bizzare as to how i can ship individual characters together or even with someone else whilst they've been established to have feelings for one another like it's something outerwordly. OR how tf do i even self ship with i dunno Leon while he has feelings for Ada, Ashley yada yada and it would just go as far as to tell you how generally short sighted this outlook on the whole 'only one ship is absolute canon' really is. It's a weird hivemind and people treat it like a comparative competition and what not.

Anyhows, this is a long babble of an ask that i felt like sharing and i hope it's worth your read. Have a lovely day ^-^

you're in good company here, anon. i don't talk about it much but self-shipping is something i also feel strongly about in a positive way.

people take shipping in fandoms too seriously when it comes to judging or trying to scrutinize them closely. it's just fun times. not sure why it's become something puriteens are angry about, but w/e lol

eta: i hope you're having a good day as well!