#I talk way too much

[populousgraph]

So... Thsc oc! Yay!

(This is an info dump about Devin, so it might get pretty long...)

Okay, so! It all started when two Toppat members loved each other very much and had a baby. Which was Devin! They took care of him until he was 8 or 9 when they took him on a mission and ended up getting killed in front of him.

With no one to care for him, the Toppat Leaders (Reginald and RHM) decided to take him in and raise him as it says above on his card.

He turned out to be one of the best Toppats in the clan (obviously), but he was also very reckless. He would often rush into things without a plan and end up succeeding by a pure miracle.

Devin is also pretty lighthearted and cocky with him facing his issues with a smile and joke.

Well, what are his relationships with Reginald and RHM?

I'M SO GLAD YOU ASKED.

Reginald:

They have a close bond with Reginald being Devin's go-to for emotional support. Reginald shows his affection and concern for Devin a lot more openly. He's usually the one to fuss over him when he ends up doing something dumb that got him injured. He also taught Devin how to use swords with both hands, one he was old enough. (I read a fanfiction where Reginald knew how to fight with swords, and I thought it fit so well for his character.)

Right Hand Man:

RHM is a lot more subtle with his relationship with Devin but is not neglectful. They've spent enough time together that Devin knows that RHM cares for him just as much as Reginald does. He shows his affection and concern through his actions more than words, and it is the one to patch up Devin after he does something stupid. They like to train together by fighting one on one which is Right's favorite style of fighting.

(He's also pals with Burt, Carter (my oc), and Cathat (friend's oc), but I can always expand on that later if you're REALLY interested.)

What's he like during different endings, you ask?

Well since you asked!

Government Supported Private Investigator:

Devin doesn't show up on screen really for this ending, and instead has more offscreen importance.

When the government came to arrest the leaders and most of the clan, Devin fought his hardest to stop it but didn't succeed, which got a lot arrested. He also lost his arm in the airship crash and was taken by remaining Toppats to help him survive.

Once his injury was taken care of and he woke up, he was made the new leader. Of course, he took the position, but he wasn't ready for it. His main goal after this ending was to break the previous leaders out of prison. (Also, he gets a cool cybernetic prosthetic. Aw, like father like son.)

Pure Blooded Thief:

Devin isn't really on screen for this one either and really only shows up at the end with the leaders. Right wants to do something about Henry stealing the Ruby, and Devin is on board with it, but Reginald talks them both out of it. They all escape, but now they really don't like Henry.

Rapidly Promoted Executive:

Devin is on screen more as he runs with Reginald while Henry chases them down. (He would've been with RHM to fight with Henry, but he was told to go with Reg and who is he to disobey Right?)

Anyway, after Right is defeated and Henry tries to get Reginald, he's tackled to the ground and stopped by Devin. So they fight it out while Reg tries to get help. (I have fails and a success for this part, but I'll save that for another time.) Henry finally gets advantage over Devin and slams him into the wall, which knocks him out.

Of course, there's the whole betraying government thing, and Henry becomes leader. Devin is not happy with it...

Relentless Bounty Hunter:

Same thing as the previous ending, but this time, once Devin woke up and found out about it, both him and Right were rightfully pissed about it. Both of them become a terror to the government and work together to get that space station up in orbit so they can go break Reginald out.

(I might talk more about the Completing the Mission endings, but this is already long, and I have no idea how interested people will be in this guy. 🥲)

[away-ward]

Your last ask was about Will being more dominant. I think PD likes writing “strong” female characters because they don’t want to seem like they like writing submissive women. Rika is always written as this badass bitch who never takes a man’s bs, but she is one of the most ‘weak in the knees’ female characters in the series. Winter is winter (don’t have anything to say about her). Banks is a fighter but has a weakness for Kai and has insecurity issues, and Emory is sassy and dominant but we barely see her be dominant. The only time we see really see her be “dominant” is when she rides Will in the greenhouse and in fire night (I think) when she want to dance and Will wants to sneak off so they compromise by suggesting Emmy is going to “dance” for him (before they found the body). Idk I think authors don’t want to write submissive women they always have to be “sassy”, but authors don’t know how to write sassy characters. It’s very tiring when books get marketed to have strong female main characters but all the women buckle at the sight of a man.

That's an interesting thought, and there's a conversation to be had there. It's probably one of the reasons people go through romances so quickly and still complain of not finding "good romances". There's definitely a high call for unsubmissive women in fiction. I think it's an intense response from years of reading girls with "no personality" (which is debatable) but overall, I also think it's because part of reading for many is the escapism aspect. In real life we often can't act on impulse - do what we want to do or say what we want to say. So having a character that does what they want without a care is refreshing for many. However, it seems part of the escapism aspect is also having an equally strong partner that doesn't make the fmc do all the work.

That being said, when I'm speaking of dominant and submissive, I'm not just talking about the sexual or physical aspect of their relationship, but rather who calls the shots. It's very hard to write a mmc that talks the talk and takes the lead and also... a fmc that takes the lead. In fact, it's nearly an impossible balance to strike.

(Editing note: while that's what I'm speaking about, I'm aware that PD very much did focus on the dominant/submissive part being about the sexual side of their relationships)

Instead of speaking about the girls, I think it's probably better to discuss the way the guys are approaching the relationship. Michael and Damon never pretend their girls are the ones in control of the relationship. They're the ones calling the shots and making decisions. And they made allow Rika and Winter a certain amount of leeway and room to go after what they want, but there's never a misunderstanding of who has the final say. It's Michael and Damon.

This isn't to say that Rika and Winter always listen and "obey", but that is the way their relationships work. Early on, this causes a lot of friction for Rika because she wants to be taken care of without feeling demeaned, and Michael has a natural habit of demanding respect and control instead of asking for it. When he learns to ask Rika to trust him and follow his lead, they work better together.

With Kai and Will, they seem to like to play tug-of-war with control with their girls. Banks and Emory very often say no to them, rebuff their advances, and they like that. It's fun for them to have to put into the work At times, they'll take back the control and at other times, they'll let the girls call the shots.

That's the frustrating part for me about Will saying that Emory was the dominant one. Because most of the time when she did say no, he'd ignore it and do what he wanted anyway, showing her that he was controlling their pace.

She wants to sit alone. He forces his company on her.

She doesn't want to stay during the lock in. He creates a situation where she can't leave.

She tells him she doesn't want a ride home. He tricks her into getting in his truck.

At the same time, he waits for her to come to him, letting her control the pace.

He allows her to steal the truck and drive away.

He waits until she asks to be held. He waits to touch her until she verbally asks him for it. He waits for her to show up and ask him to dance.

Kai and Banks have fun fighting for control; the push and pull is what turns them on. The difference with Will and Emory is that they don't fight. He lets her have it. When they're in agreement, he lets her set the pace, not because she's naturally dominant but because... he likes it that way? Big surprise, Will happy to let someone else make the decisions lol. I don't think Will fights for control as much as Kai though, but he will if he wants it, as we see in Blackchurch.

All jokes aside, there's a big disconnect between what readers say they want, what the trends show, and what the majority of authors are able to provide.

I've said before that I haven't read much of PDs other stuff, but from what I've seen, they like writing blonds who haven't explored themselves or much of the world around them, and are helped to reach their true self with the help of 1 or more men.

Or dark haired brunettes that have struggled and have a rough exterior. Who are able to soften with the help of 1 or more men.

Not that I'm criticizing that. As long as their writing fulfills them, right?

Either way, there was a lot of false promises made in the DNS, and as many people have commented, the characters needed so much more fleshing out. PD has talent and skill, but I think they were pushing their limits writing this series and publishing it too quickly to meet demand that some parts were just lacking.

I feel like my response was too long, so hopefully you don't mind. But it was interesting to look at their relationships this way, and I hope something I said was interesting for you.

Over and out

Ko

[swaggypsyduck]

me in the tags

[aluminescent]

Hello! I was wondering if you might be willing to share some of the most pivotal literature and resources that you used in the process of making Blackout? I for one would be interested :)

Hi there!

I'll do my best to answer! Under a read more, because I'm terribly long-winded.

RESOURCES As far as resources go, you're welcome to check out this post, which gives a general list of the many places I went online to do much of my research. As mentioned, that list isn't complete. At some point, I'll definitely try to expand that list, but some of the information is a bit proprietary only in that some of my research has a bit to do with things that will happen in the sequel(s), and I would definitely like to maintain those mysteries for now.

Definitely of note is that I also traversed SubReddits and Quora posts as well—under the assumption that the posts/responses were in good faith. There's nothing better than delving into actual accounts of people in the situations that I depicted, although I definitely felt at times that I was infringing on something private. I suppose internet anonymity sort of alleviated a touch of guilt 😅.

LITERATURE As far as pivotal literature. Ehm . . . I barely read published fictional literature anymore. As in, up until five years ago, I had a ten-year dry spell where I hadn't touched a book for recreational purposes. The most recent books I've read in the last 5 or so years are audiobooks of classics, and it's been about 3 years since I've listened to any of them again. For Blackout, I downloaded/read a lot of journal studies or text books. I'm so ashamed, hah! In that vein, even the amount of fanfiction I've read over the years has gotten smaller and smaller; I literally just reread/re-listen to my favorite ones over and over again, even if they weren't the best written. I blame my hyper fixations.

I still want to create a mini 'suggested reading' list for CM fics (which will suspiciously be heavily Reid-centric and suspiciously whumpy), so I don't want to drop any Criminal Minds fics here yet. But on that, I did mention one in Chapter 16: Guilt endnotes, so you're welcome to read that CM fic.

Okay, yes, shut up me—sorry. Again, I'm not the best person to go to if you want a quick answer, hah! Here's one that is not Criminal Minds related that—well . . . the first book made me quite literally manic. Manic. If you're going through some mental stuff at the moment, I don't suggest you read it yet, because I was going through some things the first time I read it, and oof. Or, I dunno, if you're a glutton for pain (like me), go ahead and read it anyway. Back when I was still heavily on FFN, I wrote hundreds of thousands of words in reviews for this fic. I began creating a comic for it that I posted here on Tumblr (years and years ago—it still exists because I don't have the heart to delete the blog). In other words, I'm a die-hard fan of this series and will always, always recommend it to people, whether they're reading fandom blind or they're familiar with its source. I'm currently rereading the whole series again—for the umpteenth time. This fic has 100%—nay 300%—had a massive influence on my approach to writing, and if you read it I think you'll notice that.

I primarily access it now through AO3. The first book even has an amazing podfic. Here you go:

The Fallen by Engazed

Fandom: BBC Sherlock

I promise, you won't be disappointed.

Yes, good. I hope? I answered your question. I'm sorry for talking so darn much. Good day, good day.

[skrimbloskromby]

Get to know me!

I figured I'd make a pinned post talking more about myself since I don't often talk about my life or personality behind the screen! I'm pretty basic, all things considered, but I do have a few special things I think? I'm your average Canadian really I mean, I like poutine and syrup and I speak a basic amount of French, having taken 3 years of French immersion and continuing to learn French through finding things in a dictionary or using Duolingo! On a more identity note, I'm an omnisexual cis female with ADHD and potentially other things like Autism and Harm OCD. Though my blog doesn't focus on it, I do sometimes like to talk about relatable neurodivergent things or the hardships of it (like I've started a new dose for my Vyvanse!) but I try not to dwell on the negative things. For hobbies, I have an UNGODLY wide variety but only really focus on a handful actually. I'm a HUGE fan of reading, writing, TTRPGs, and things of the sort but with school and most of my friends being in different timezones, some of those things are harder to focus on, but ones I regularly touch on would be things like the furry fandom, drawing, playing video games, and things of the sort! One of the main reasons me and my autistic friends suspect I myself am autistic, is I do a lot of stimming and have many hyperspecific interests such as; -Moths -Cicadas -Snakes -Team Fortress 2 -Danny Phantom -Furbies -Neco-Arc -Minecraft Origins Mod -SCP -Warrior / Warrior cats -Wings of Fire -Isopods There's probably plenty more I'm forgetting but those are the most memorable! Anyways uhh thanks for coming to my Ted Talk or whatever bye :)

[hellofriendhawke]

ok hear me out this scene w nandermo kinda has gray ghost vibes (valerie as guillermo and danny as nandor)

ok ive been seriously thinking about this, honestly probably giving it more consideration than what was wanted ANYWAYS

THESE are my thoughts and while I absolutely think Guillermo and Valerie are like the badass side to their respective couple whereas Danny and Nandor are liek ? these silly littol guys. however, i must say danny is the guillermo of the pairing in general. I mean, they both had a hidden side of them that their crush doesn't like (ghost and vampire slayer). Also, Valerie can you imagine Valerie as Danny's familiar? Of course not. But I love the idea of them fighting as a symbol of showing the change in status quo, the leveling of the playing field so to speak.

Anyways, I think Danny is Laszlo and Valerie is Nadja. Danny's sassy, his sillay, his lazy 'do I have to?' is very Laz. Valerie and Nadja are very unapologetically ambitious, Val is just, you kno, has morals unlike Nadja. Can't you see Danny saying shit like 'I think all marriage is a sham, except of course my marriage with my lovely lady wife Valerie.' ofc he would

And then Dani is their baby Colin Robinson.

[eosofspades]

i didn't have "i'm broken" teenage asexual angst i had "i'm literally being the only reasonable one about this concept and the rest of you are behaving like fucking freaks" perception issues

[captainkirkk]

Concept: Peter actually got bitten by a totally normal spider. It's just a coincidence that his mutant powers were awakened around the same time

[lemongogo]

life of regret

[inkskinned]

you know, you know. no gods, no masters, no kings on pedestals. everyone is fallible. death of the author. you know! you are balanced about your intake of media - you allow the wiggle room, the grace, the gratitude, the skepticism. nobody above criticism.

but still. a weird gut-punch feeling, something akin to betrayal. you read the article. surprise! an author you love is actually: a serial fucking predator.

well, shit. what now. no, you knew he was a person (all people are), but now you're wondering - what have i overlooked by accident? what messages have i internalized that are strange and cruel? and also, like, what the fuck?

his actions lay a thick glaze on top of everything. like each place is now ruined, opaque in a new way. but okay, fine, you've done this before. you knew better, right? you've been betrayed by many a cherished childhood author.

still, this stickiness. fuck. can you pick up that book again. will you read it to your children. you've recommended it to others - will you ever do that again? and of course, of course, no parasocial relationships. you were theoretically above this kind of sentiment. but the artist informs the art, right.

so it's not something as clear-cut as feeling he owed you, specifically (a stranger) better behavior - just that you kind of, in a distant and odd way... sort of trusted him to do better. it's not like a real trust or something speakable, just the faint hope that the product (good books) was a thin representation of the soul. now it feels like the product (good? books?) was a mask. in some small or insignificant way, your previous support of this person lent them power. your money and your time and your laughter.

and the thing is - you have this terrible, echoing sensation. how many times will this happen? over and over. you find out that the singer you love is actually a predator. you learn over drinks that your favorite high school english teacher is in jail for what he did to her. you listen to the news idly and suddenly discover that a woman you used to idolize has been abusing her kids for an actual eon.

what can you touch without the static melting off. you can't even really complain about it too much (you were supposed to know better, and besides, you don't want the same re-split "it's not your fault, love what you love" basic advice), but now it's here. somehow, it feels like - you let him into your life.

it's not that things need to be pure or an artist has to be like, endlessly perfect, mindful. demure. it's more just this terrible truth that has been replayed through your veins so often it feels criminally vain. power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. did you want any one person to be worth that power?

it's just that he wrote books where he seemed to understand that. he seemed to know about hierarchies and unfair systems and bigotry and privilege. you thought they were books about what it means to struggle. you thought they were about having power and still using it for good rather than for control. he spooned you a narrative of being a good guy, a kind soul. you fucking bought what that fucking monster sold.

maybe that's why they were fantasies, after all.

[turtleblogatlast]

Leo learns something about himself 🏳️‍⚧️

Based roughly on this old post.

Bonus:

[Leo is taking the fact that he was born biologically female simultaneously very well and also not so well but overall he’s mostly coping with the fact that it was Draxum that just essentially gave him the turtle equivalent of ‘The Talk’.]

[370005]

dream i had abt these two the other night

[novahedron]

Joke that makes sense only to me and one (1) singular friend + live Martin and Tim reaction The vaguely referenced image:

[erabu-san]

I enjoyed every second of this quest

[This art has platonic intention. Thank you for not tag ship!]

[hinamie]

corvidae

[barghest-land]

drawings from paleo expedition to dagestan, done right on the trip. sometimes messy when it was cold and rainy, but i won't correct it. i think it's cool to leave it just the way it was done, and not retouch it after. there will be more drawings later, but those will be done from home