#It’s cause I’m scared of like mischaracterizing characters

[thegroovyskull]

need to bring up my writing game it’s really ass 😭😭

[absolutepokemontrash]

Ignore how late I am but I saw the post and I feel the the need to complain about this. A squick I have when it comes to fics and headcanons is when Belphie is completely villainized while the rest of the brothers hate him with their whole being while also depicted as perfect. And while that's annoying on its own, whenever this happens everyone else in the work also gets fucked over.

I specifically mean works where Belphie gets reduced to "the cold and callous villain who killed MC" and that's it. No acknowledging any circumstance around or about why he did it and making being manipulative his entire personality trait. And the rest of the brothers hate him for killing and manipulating MC, which I would understand more if this didn't so frequently come with them acting like they've never even hurt MC before.

The brothers love and protect MC by lesson 16, yeah, but they also almost put MC six feet under on multiple occasions themselves and only just got used to seeing humans as equals. They would be upset with Belphie for killing MC, but they wouldn't hate or never forgive him because they've been brothers long before MC got there and it would be hypocritical.

And this causes the rest of the brothers to act extremely out of character as well. Especially when it comes to why the brothers can't forgive him. Sometimes the brothers will hate Belphie for "killing Lilth" or hurting her descendant which is??? Or they'll treat MC like they're a replacement for Belphie, which is also???? And in these situations, MC acts like they're the antagonist of a replacement AU.

For some reason in works where Belphie's personality or lore gets tossed out of the window, so does everyone else's and both of these are so nerve grating to me. Okay, done complaining.

I have so many thoughts and opinions on Belphie and the fandom’s treatment of him, that I could deadass write a peer reviewed thesis on him…

TLDR: The mischaracterization of Belphie in the fandom is so rampant that I’m convinced some people writing him or complaining about him haven’t played the game.

Just to get this out of the way, Belphie’s character redemption arc suffered due to the 20 lesson limit in season one. His grand evil plan got put into motion in lesson 16, and we had to spend the entirety of lesson 17 (and into lesson 18) turning him into a viable Husbando (tm), therefore, his redemption and development was incredibly rushed.

Onto the good stuff 😈

My take on Obey Me and the brothers as a whole is that while yes, the writers have been woobifying them a whole lot, a LOT of their “toned down” behaviours can literally just be explained by them not having a *reason* to be assholes anymore because MC has done so much work to help them repair their relationships with each other.

I was raised Catholic (decently progressive Catholic, still got the fun guilt though lmao) and the way I was taught to view sin, was that it was an act of violence against someone else, and/or yourself, because there is some kind of deficiency or problem in your own life. It’s that whole “hurt people hurt people” thing, and you can literally SEE it with the brothers.

Lucifer isolates himself and puts on the persona of the tough, scary, intimidating eldest brother when in reality, he’s scared, and guilty, and fucking embarrassed about what happened with Lilith. You can see this when Luke took the Grimoire, Lucifer wasn’t acting out of rage, he was acting out of fear and disguising it, and then lashed out at Luke and MC and only stopped when Diavolo told him to because Dia is literally his boss.

Now what does this have to do with Belphie? Belphie is downright homicidal when the game starts in season one (which is why Luci locked him in the attic, to protect him AND the exchange program), now the question is “why?”

To put what Belphie has been going through in perspective: this guy has been drowning in guilt, trauma, grief, and self loathing for thousands of years. He feels guilty that Beel saved him instead of Lilith, and most importantly, he feels guilty that he led Lilith to the human world to begin with. He’s lashing out because he’s been grieving for thousands of years with no one to turn to about it BECAUSE THE OTHER BROTHERS ARE ALSO STILL GRIEVING

Now of course, this doesn’t excuse what Belphie did to MC, but it does EXPLAIN it. He’s so angry at humanity and himself that he’s the emotional equivalent of a suicide bomber. He’s self destructing and trying to take the people he’s blaming with him and praying that makes the guilt go away.

Finally, when Diavolo and Barbatos reveal Lucifer’s secret about what really happened to Lilith (how she was reincarnated and got to live a happy life as a human), this is the kick that gets ALL the brothers to finally be able to move on. We spent the entirety of season one making pacts and going on silly little adventures with everyone, all the while being the support system they needed to finally move on from their grief.

So THAT is why it makes me so angry when people act like Belphie is uniquely The Worst.

This is coming from someone who doesn’t mind writing the brothers at what I believe to be “their worst” in terms of shitty behaviour (if you want an example, look at how Asmo is currently behaving in A Lovecraftian Exchange Student). But I think characterizing Belphie as some pure evil villain is a massive disservice to him as a character. (Ignoring his survivor’s guilt and grief etc etc)

Also, to act like the other six brothers would immediately hate and despise Belphie over this is so wrong, I’m sorry but it’s grossly wrong. Belphie is their sweet baby brother, yes they love MC, but guys, especially at that point in season one, yes they liked MC, but BELPHIE 👏 IS 👏 THEIR 👏 BABY 👏 BROTHER. I think they’d be disappointed and maybe angry at him, but they’re not going to just up and abandon him, no chance about it.

I’d say the brothers didn’t truly begin to love-love MC until the end of lesson 18-20 after they’ve done some growing as people, but that’s just my interpretation.

Finally.

Y’all.

Did you forget that Belphie literally offered a pact to MC, SPECIFIED THAT IT WASNT BECAUSE OF THEIR CONNECTION TO LILITH BTW, and did this entirely of his own free will because he liked them???

Guys, a pact is offering control of the demon’s entire being! Belphie had grown enough in trusting a human to the point where he was willing to put his life in their hands!

This was so ramble-y and confusing, I’m so sorry- I just have so many thoughts about the brothers and Belphie in particular 😭😭😭

[cinnanamii]

Ganjis 3rd year birthday letter and the heavy mischaracterization of the characters in game 3/just ranting about the birthday letter

(⚠️⚠️‼️THIS POST WILL BE DISCUSSING LEAKS/SLIGHT SPOILERS FOR GAME 3 OF IDV!! IF YOU DONT WANT TO BE SPOILED ON GANJIS 3RD YEAR LETTER OR GAME 3, SCROLL AWAY PLEASE! AND ALSO KEEP IN MIND, I AM NOT A GAME 3 EXPERT! IF I GET ANYTHING WRONG FEEL FREE TO CORRECT ME!!‼️⚠️⚠️)

Ganjis 3rd year letter was leaked recently (you can probably find post about it on tiktok and on discord servers) and I am so far beyond unimpressed and disappointed.

To start out this yap session/rant, I’m going to list the characters serial numbers, so that you can know who I will be talking about so that you can get a grip on what I will be discussing.

• 3-1-2 is anne

• 3-?-1 is aesop

• 3-1-4 is ganji

• 3-?-3 is Victor

The fact that netease decided to fill the letter with shock value racism, ruin annie as a character, and just ruined Ganjis character arc, and basically made Victor useless is so BEYOND me. This is a a lot, so I wanna start by talking about the blatant mischaracterization of annie and ganji in this letter.

To start off, they made annie so unnecessarily, hateful and racist towards ganji. It would make sense for annie to be afraid of loud noises, as they did introduce her as a timid woman, but making her afraid of ganji and becoming violent to him because of his accent is so beyond me. The whole reason why annie attacked ganji was originally because aesop manipulated annie into hurting him, not that annie got scared of the way he spoke? Plus, due to her timid and sweet girl type personality i could never see annie physically fighting/attacking ganji, it’s just not something that would happen. How could she ever have the confidence to do that, when she was literally scared of ganji? Then, on top of that, annie wouldn’t be provoked by his accent so easy? In her trailer, she was literally described to be like her mother, who was very nice, that being a trait annie had. So for her to just go attacking him so so EXTREMELY out of character for her.

Then, next screenshot I’m showing right now is the shock value racism randomly put in this for god who knows why?

“unfavorable impression” caused by 3-1-4’s accent? This is so ooc for annie, it feels like a poorly written oc/au. The antagonization of annie feels so unnecessary and just not needed. Game 3 might not have had a Hunter, but it did have an antagonist, that being aesop. The whole antagonization doesn’t feel right for her at all.

Then now, I wanna talk about Victor. One of the main things in game 3 is that they were not able to talk or communicate with each other. if they were able to do that, what’s the point of him even being here if they could already speak verbally? His writing was already kinda not the best, but this entire letter takes whatever relevance he had to the plot away. He needs to get something consistent, or else in this case his character is just useless. It’s completely unfair that aesop is able to get clear motivations and goals, but the other characters goals and aspirations just get handled horribly.

Game 3 was so unique in the way it functioned, and with the characters that were so similar, but so different at the same time. What could have been a group of compelling a deeply well written characters now feel like a dumpster fire or mischaracterization and the severe lack of coherence. All just from one letter too. This feels like a big fat slap in the face for me as someone who loved game 3, and all of the characters for game 3, ESPECIALLY annie, and if you loved game three, also this should feel like a slap in the face for you too.

**im aware that this is a leak, and it could be potentially false, but this has been on my mind practically ever since I heard of it, and everything is just so absurd.**

edit: the letter was updated and changed, a few things did change (examp; annie isnt racist anymore) but that dosent mean I don’t have issues with the letter, I’ll probably make an updated post eventually if people r still interested in this

[sneakyboythingz]

NO HATE TO MARISSA but I am also starting to get exhausted with her Ribbun obsession. It’s not the fact that she likes it. It’s the fact that she seems to make everything about Jax and Gangle related to shipping. I remember there was one time in a live where she had to sign an autograph titled “Ribbun BDSM” and was trying to catch Michael’s attention towards it. He slightly shook his head but wasn’t really interested in it, not providing the reaction she wanted. She looked a bit put off by it but gladly got the right idea.

However, I wasn’t aware that she wanted him to tag along with her in a Ribbun server too, even if he was a bit uncomfortable with it. I’m glad she’s a Ribbun shipper and all but Michael doesn’t have to participate in shipping tease if he doesn’t want to. Out of all of the VAs, he’s probably the most put off by shipping discourse. I think this not only stems from his bad experiences at cons and online about shipping but from his friendship with Goose. This connection has Michael know about his charact the most, possibly fearing the idea of leading fans on with OOC moments. He’s still up for ship moments with his castmates but attempts to avoid it because of the fanbase’s own good.

Amanda also does the same thing when it comes to their ships. However, it’s to a way lesser extent, fortunately. They participate in ship teasing the most out of anyone. However, they do it every once in a while. They mostly reblog shipping fanarts and comment on them! Though one thing I am scared of is their extreme support of headcanons. I don’t want people to get the wrong idea of Ragatha or her VA if it ever get debunked by Goose (ex: Ragatha being a lesbian, Ragatha being in love with Pomni/Jax, etc).

I don’t want Amanda nor Marissa to get backlash because of their excessive shipping support. I know they are just having fun but you know how fandoms are. Have fun, go ahead, ship them hard! Just don’t raise the fandom’s hopes too high if that isn’t in Goose’s plans 👍.

Completly agree!

Supporting headcanons and ships too hard can make the fandom too hopeful, and Will make them feel entitled over the Canon material in case something they dont like happens, and unfortunately the person who will get blamed is gooseworx, even thought that was never her intention.

About Michael and Marissa i cant say much, Im sure They are friends and If he joined in is cause he wanted to. But yeah due to him being more close to Goose, he is more aware about how she feels about the mega mischaracterization of her characters and fandom toxicity, Thats why hes more carefull

[neversetyoufree]

Too socially anxious to interact with anyone on my actual account (it’s a problem), but I just wanted to say I love your blog! I’ve been obsessed with VNC for about a year by now, and I get really lonely sometimes cause I feel like while it’s not exactly unpopular, people tend to treat it like a “side fandom” if that makes any sense? Like, they enjoy it but don’t really engage with it past surface level. It’s especially hard as an Astolfo fan, because I think I can count the amount of people who don’t completely mischaracterize him on one hand (but I digress).

Complaining aside, it’s so refreshing to read your posts! They’re always very thoughtful and well written, and I owe a good portion of my understanding of the series to your writing. I’m not sure if you’ve posted anything about this before, but I was curious about your predictions for who will die by the end of the series. I’ve thought a lot about it because people always say Mochijun is pretty brutal, but to be honest, besides Vanitas and maybe Roland I have no idea who’s going to live or die. I’d love to hear your thoughts if you have the time! ^^

Ah, thank you so much!! It's incredibly gratifying to hear that you feel like you've gained some extra understanding of VnC by reading my posts. Don't sell your own analyses short! But this series has so much interesting stuff going on in it, and it brings me endless joy to think I've helped nudge others into appreciating all that.

As far as upcoming deaths go, having read Pandora Hearts and Crimson Shell, I'll second the take that Mochijun is pretty merciless when it comes to killing off characters. I honestly don't think anyone is safe except for Noé, and Noé is only safe since 1. he's the narrator, and 2. outliving the others is much more painful for Mr. Savior Complex than dying would be.

Vanitas is the obvious given death-wise, and I'll second you about Roland, given how things end up for his namesake in The Song of Roland. There's good odds of Olivier also dying for the same reason, since his namesake dies in The Song of Roland. I can also envision a potential plotline where, when Roland or Olivier dies, whichever one outlives the other betrays the church (esp since this was foreshadowed with that bit about Olivier threatening to leave when Roland was hurt pre-canon).

I'm also, unfortunately, not super optimistic for my girls Jeanne and Dominique. Jeanne, like Rolivier, is named after a historical figure who very famously died young. She also carries around a giant coffin wherever she goes, and that coffin contains a weapon named "Carpe Diem." The context of that name makes pretty clear that it's evoking the full version of the phrase—carpe diem quam minimum credula postero—which is a reference to living life to the fullest because you don't know if you'll live to see tomorrow. So, in the same way that Vanitas's already-run-out hourglass earring is a symbolic death flag, Carpe Diem and its case feel like potential death flags for Jeanne.

In terms of Domi, her fate is less sealed than Jeanne's, but something deep inside me is scared for her nonetheless. I think it's partially because she's featured in the "all we gained and lost" section of Noé's closing monologue from mémoire 1. She's on the "gained" panel, but still, it makes me uneasy. She's also suicidal and written as a parallel to Vanitas, which is never a good sign for the likelihood of a character's survival.

Riche is also named after a character who is very famously dead in her source material (Beatrice Portinari from the Divine Comedy). If we run with the same logic applied to Rolivier and Jeanne, that doesn't look good for her. I don't want her to die (I love her v much, and I also don't want her to be even more sidelined compared to Dante and Johann than she's been thus far), but I also feel like it's unlikely that all three dhampirs are making it out of this series unscathed.

In terms of characters I think won't die, Chloé already had her big scene of choosing to live on despite life's hardships, and I fear her imminent death would cheapen that a bit, so I think the odds for her and Jean-Jacques surviving are relatively good.

Other than that, who knows! Besides Vanitas and Noé, these are all just wild estimates. Maybe the whole cast will die except Noé, or maybe everyone but Vanitas will live. You mentioned Astolfo, and I can envision him living or dying by the end, depending on how kind Mochijun decides to be. Absolutely anything could happen.

[sharffffff]

So. The Line SMP is only 4 days old, and yet here I am, trying to write an analysis of the characters I am most interested in. It will most likely not be the most accurate, but at 4 days old, characters aren't really fully formed either. What I have found out, however, is quite interesting to me.

I will discuss the characters first, and dynamics between some of them after. In this post, I will focus on the four guys I am rotating in my head - 4C, Apo, graaavel and StyStatic. You have no idea how interesting these guys are to me.

As much as I want to go in alphabetical order, line!4C is a creature I don't understand completely still, so I will keep him for last. So, starting with Apo instead.

Apo is an interesting case, mostly because of how people on the server mischaracterize them. Most of the server members look at her and all they see is the yellow circle that means he has killed someone - refusing to understand the circumstances of that kill.

Yeah, it was a social experiment to find out if someone actually would do it, but Abolish wanted to die. He spent the first two hours on the server afk with a sign asking to kill him, and Apo was the one who actually did it - because Abolish was literally asking to be killed. From Apo’s point of view, they just did what was asked of them, and they see nothing wrong with that - and gets angry and confused when people call them out as a killer. Sometimes he tries to play into the role, threatening to kill someone or jokingly critting someone out, but he cares about people still. He is loyal to a certain few, and despite his reputation, tries to do good - disrupted by occasional mischief, of course. It wouldn't be Apo if they didn't cause mischief.

While certainly not on a good side of the alignment spectrum, Apo isn't evil, either - despite what some people would portray them as. If anything, they're closer to chaotic neutral, but with quite a lot of care for other people, despite what their attitude might suggest. But he certainly isn't the most chaotic neutral person out of the four characters here, and certainly isn't the one most leaning towards evil. And this is what makes him so interesting - the disconnect between how the world sees him vs how he sees himself.

graaavel will also be left for later because of. cough cough. reasons. So. StyStatic time! I love this guy! He is my new blorbo. I am not sharing him with any of you guys. You are not allowed to have him. I’ll bite you. You have no idea I’m not normal about this guy. I love him so much.

Anyways. StyStatic, huh? His morality is so interesting to me and became even more interesting after today’s (yesterday's, let's be honest here) stream. Thing is, he tries to portray himself to the majority of people as true neutral. As someone trying to keep balance and right the wrongs. But oh man if it isn't the biggest lie ever. No, oh no, this guy is chaotic good to the core. Not even chaotic neutral, no, there's no neutrality in this guy whatsoever. He does whatever he thinks is funny or interesting, unless it stops him from helping people. Which he does unconditionally. He farmed 10 sets of diamond armor to give out to everyone just to keep them from dying, because he is desperately afraid of death, it is one of his biggest fears in the world. He is so, so, so scared of death and of anyone suffering from it, and will drop any bit going on if there's even a chance the other person involved might die in the process.

And even though today he tried to hide that fact by pushing down Apo after they pushed Gravel, he knew it was safe to do so - there were almost ten people there, ready to revive them, and they were instantly given a gap to reset the number of downs they could have. It was a very controlled situation, very safe one, and Sty would've never done this attempt to ‘keep balance’ if he knew nobody would've resuscitated Apo.

And the fact that he who is so afraid of death has doom written all over him, destined to die by an eldritch entity, makes it so much more tasty and fun. Oh, doombringer, you have doomed yourself in the process. Let us hope you can survive.

line!graaavel. Gravel, Gravel, Gravelgravelgravel, oh the guy you are. Oh they guy you are indeed. The definition of lawful neutral if I ever seen one, so tied to his own moral code that he can't allow it to be disrespected even for a second. If you go against the community, you go against him, if you go against him, you go against the community, and are not welcome in it anymore. He has built a gated community to protect the people of the server from the many threats out there in the world, and keeps anyone he sees as a threat away from it, not allowing them nor their allies to enter. He stands against chaos, he hates chaos, and whenever someone spreads chaos they are seen as a potential threat. And if they continue? Well, they are no longer welcome. They deserve the deaths that will inevitably come to them. They deserve doom, they deserve to suffer, they don't deserve safety. Gravel always tries to give people a second chance, but if they refuse to take it, they're seen as unable to change, as monsters, as someone to be defeated and banished. And Gravel will mourn them in the process, but he will be the one to banish them from safety. Oh Gravel, how I love your character.

And here we come to him. Line!4C, oh line!4C. I love you, line!4C. You are so interesting to me. I have watched so many hours of you, and one would think I would know you pretty well, but while I do, I feel like there are so many layers I am just missing completely.

What makes him so interesting? Well, on this hardcore server his only goal is to die. He craves death, he dances with death, he doesn't fear it in the slightest - no, no no no, death is his friend, death is his final goal, he has accepted his own mortality ages ago and is just here to have fun! He will live life on the edge, he will sow chaos, he will cause mischief, he will teach ghosts how to kill and how to break blocks, something they're not supposed to be able to do. He will risk his life in numerous ways without a care in the world, he will almost drown just to hang out with some ghosts, he will repeatedly shoot himself out of a cannon and down himself in the process, all just to have fun. If you're not living every moment of your life to the fullest, are you even living life?

And yet. There's something there, behind all that. He is so easy to convince to steal, to break parts of someone's build, to attack someone as a joke. He loves to joke about killing people, he loves giving ghosts ideas on how to cause destruction and mayhem and death. Yes, his final goal might be his own death - but there is a chance there are more deaths that will precede it. I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of the server he has an orange or a red coin, but I also wouldn't be surprised if he remains green. What is the most likely, though, is him utilizing ghosts for his attempts at murder. After all, if it's not him doing the deed, will it even count for him? He has so much potential behind him, and the spark of chaos is burning brighter with each passing stream. The emphasis of the tnt in his final performance… I feel like there's a chance the tnt doesn't kill him, yes, but kills everyone in the audience. 4C would be the one to plan to take out everyone if he takes out himself.

And this is me not even mentioning the fact that he feels like he is already a ghost, like he belongs with the ghosts, he just has to shed his body. He doesn't belong amongst the living, he feels like he is already dead. Oh, line!4C, the creature you are. Chaotic neutral in its purest form, with a great chance to dip into evil alignment. I hope you fulfill that chance.

And now, we go to dynamics. I’d love to go to doombringers first, they are my guys, after all, but no. I have kept it within me for too long already.

Guys. Guys. line!4c and line!graaavel are just so. They are so, so interesting to me. They are great antagonists to each other and it's not even intentional. Especially if 4c goes full into the more chaotic side of his character, it has a potential to develop even further into this, but even already, their dynamic is getting close to perfection.

4c is sowing chaos. He is taking down walls around Gravel, he is taking down a roof above his head, he is intentionally doing things to annoy Gravel just because he finds his reactions funny, because he loves to instigate, because he loves mayhem. And Gravel isn't having any of that.

Gravel burned down 4C’s ship as a response and warned him to never again go against the people, never again go against him. He gave him a second chance, a benefit of a doubt, an olive branch as an opportunity to change. But even then, he never fully trusted that 4C would change, telling Sty to seek out less morally ambiguous allies. And he was right. 4C goes against Gravel again, proving that Gravel was right to doubt him, forcing Gravel to banish him from the community, forbid him entry into its walls, forcing Gravel to promise that he would deal with him for the safety of the people. And this is without any players getting hurt. If anyone did? Oh, it would only get worse.

For understanding, there are only two people that are banned from the community, and those people are Apo, who killed someone - and 4C, for his potential to cause an infinite amount of trouble. And Sty got caught in the crossfire, too, getting soft banned because of just being teamed with 4C.

Gravel despises 4C for what he is, and 4C just loooves to mess with Gravel. Their dynamic is quite something.

Gravel and Apokuna are quite curious as well. Gravel has admitted to Apo’s face that he is scared of him. He is afraid of what Apo can do because of what Apo has already done. And he promised that he will kill Apo if he has to do it to protect himself and his people - and Apo, in turn, promised that he would kill Gravel after being pushed to his doom by Gravel twice (second time was Sty but it was because of Gravel). Gravel is afraid of the fact that Apo has shown both ability and willingness to kill, and the yellow coin above his head will forever be a reminder of that. Apo, in turn, is annoyed by that fear, and by Gravel’s misunderstanding of him. And, most of all, by Gravel’s attempts to kill him.

And this is without mentioning that those two so far share the only moment of serious lore on this server, and hate each other beyond belief. Except Gravel’s hate is fueled by fear, and Apo’s hate is fueled by rage.

At this point I’m leaving doombringer for last, so, Apo and 4c. Lovely guys. My favorite instigators. Those who cause mischief together. 4C loves to enable Apo, and Apo loves to enable 4C. They bring out the worst in each other, and that's what makes them the best. They love to cause as much trouble as possible, they nudge each other towards chaos, and they love every second of it. 4C doesn't care about Apo having a mark of a killer - he likes Apo, he likes to hang out with him, and he would never let something as small as murder change his opinion of him. Meanwhile Apo cares about 4C immensely and fears for his life. Each time 4C threads the line between life and death and does something meaninglessly dangerous, Apo worries beyond belief, trying to save him from himself. 4C is one of the few people Apo truly cares about and would never even think about harming him. And he is oh so afraid of losing him.

Doombringer duo time! These two have doomed the server to destruction by bringing it to the attention of an eldritch entity of indescribable power, and that isn't even the reason I love them so much.

I think the moment that solidified my love for Sty and 4C as a duo was the moment where Gravel told Sty to look for less morally ambiguous allies, and Sty didn't even humor him.

Sty knows 4C is morally ambiguous, he sees the potential for chaos and destruction in him, and still decides to stay around, to stick as close to him as possible, and seems to only like him more the more chaos he causes. Sty isn't even afraid to nudge 4C towards more chaos, but more subtly and less roughly than Apo, thus allowing himself to go more under the radar. And he cares about 4c so much. He doesn't ever really leave his side - because even when they're away from each other, Sty is almost always looking through his chat, asking 4C to be careful, to not risk himself, and freaks out every time 4C even jokes about his final goal being death. The person who is afraid of death and a person who embraces it being teamed is just so lovely to me. Oh the potential here. I hope 4c kills himself in front of Sty to change the trajectory of his life forever.

Oh and 4C also cares about Sty quite a lot, he just doesn't show that care much - but the one time Sty got downed, 4C freaked out because he knew he would never be able to get to him in time. He had to rely on other people to resuscitate Sty, and blamed himself for not being there when Sty needed it. Sty didn't die, of course, but I think if he did, 4C would feel so lost there. He feels at home with the ghosts, he is friends with death, but he knows just how afraid Sty is of death and wishes for him to escape it for as long as possible.

I wish for 4C to take out as many people as possible and then come to Sty, covered in blood, and finish himself off in front of him, both fulfilling his own dream and keeping Sty alive through everything. I live for doombringer duo.

[warningsine]

For the early punks, many of them white British blokes, their music was about declaring themselves outside the larger society. The Sex Pistols dreamed of “anarchy for the U.K.” The Clash howled for “a riot of my own.” To be punk was to give offense, to make one’s self unpalatable, to choose to stand apart.

But what is punk when your society has already made you an outsider? This is the musical question that the raucous, cheeky comedy “We Are Lady Parts,” returning Thursday for its second season on Peacock, seeks to answer.

The first season, back in 2021, introduced Lady Parts, a punk band of Muslim women in London: Saira (Sarah Kameela Impey), the caustic lead singer; Ayesha (Juliette Motamed), the fearsome drummer; and Bisma (Faith Omole), the earth-motherly bassist. Together with their manager, Momtaz (Lucie Shorthouse), a savvy Malcolm McLaren in a niqab, they recruit a reluctant lead guitarist, Amina (Anjana Vasan).

Amina is no one’s idea of a rock star, least of all her own. She is an introverted microbiologist who worships Don McLean, with a severe case of stage fright that causes her to heave her guts while performing — and not in a defiant, Iggy Pop way. (Vasan gives Amina an engaging nerd-hero energy, similar to Quinta Brunson in “Abbott Elementary.”)

Over the six-episode season, Amina finds that Lady Parts gives her a way of defining herself rather than being defined, whether by the conservative suitors who tell her “Music is haram” or by her free-spirited mother (Shobu Kapoor), who wishes Amina would wait to seek a husband.

The root conflicts of “We Are Lady Parts” are familiar rock-band woes — having no money, having no gigs, being judged by family and by hipsters. This is where making the series about Muslim women rockers accomplishes more than representational box-ticking: It makes an old story new and nuanced.

For Amina and the rest of the band, rebellion is complicated. It means being Muslim women musicians, with equal stress on both adjectives. (The name Lady Parts itself feels like an answer to the anatomical name of the Pistols.) It means owning their sexuality and spirituality, seizing the right to define what being Muslim means to them and affirming their Muslim identity, as reflected in their sly, effectively catchy songs (co-written by the show’s creator, Nida Manzoor).

“Voldemort Under My Headscarf” embraces the traditional garb as a badass statement as defiant as any ’70s punk’s safety pin. (“I’m sorry if I scare you/ I scare myself too.”) “Bashir With the Good Beard” addresses a certain kind of haughty, elusive boyfriend. (“Are my clothes too tight?/ Do I laugh too much?”)

The series has some resonance with the recently ended “Reservation Dogs,” though its sense of humor is more rowdy and brash. It, too, is a story about young people asserting their individuality while affirming their community rather than rejecting it. The first season’s climax, in fact, involves the band being mischaracterized by an article profile that labels them “Bad Girls of Islam.”

Season 2 finds Lady Parts in the flush of minor success. (The show also shows signs of having hit the big time, attracting guest stars including Malala Yousafzai.)

The band has finished a camper-van tour of England and is planning an album. Their fan base now includes not just Muslim kids, but Muslim kids’ parents, as well as middle-aged white people, whose cringey praise recalls the garden party guests from “Get Out.” Amina has mastered her stage fright and — with occasional wobbles — is embracing her confident “villain era.”

The show’s sophomore outing is as brassy as the first, but adds layers of theme and character. Early on, the band discovers it has competition in a younger Muslim band, Second Wife. (“That’s good,” Ayesha grudgingly acknowledges of the name.) Rather than set up a battle of the bands, “We Are Lady Parts” puts a twist on the “There can only be one” mentality that pits underrepresented artists against each other.

As the band progresses, and Amina grows into her romantic confidence, the season plays with the way a kind of fetishizing adoration can be as toxic as rejection, both artistically and personally. Being stared at because of your head scarf, in post-Brexit Britain, is alienating, but so is being asked to keep your head scarf on to protect your Muslim-punk brand.

Over six episodes, the season fleshes out its supporting characters, wrestling with who they are and what they want to say. Bisma, who is married and has an adolescent daughter, starts to feel typecast as the group’s maternal figure. (“I am Mommy Spice. I am Wholesome, Boring Spice.”) Ayesha is dating a woman but is reluctant to come out to her parents, which makes her worry that she’s letting down her gay fans. Saira, the most old-school-punk of the group, itches to branch out from “funny Muslim songs” and write more pointedly political material, but that risks hurting the band commercially.

It’s hard not to see this last story as a meta-comment, intentional or not, on what the series itself can get away with saying, on a major media platform, with these characters. There is reference, for instance, to Saira wanting to speak out on how Muslims are being persecuted around the world, but less reference to any specific conflict, be it in Gaza or elsewhere.

One striking scene makes this sense of invisible boundaries literal, as Saira struggles to put her politics into song form. She runs through a verse: “It’s like death and the maiden / Dancing with my corporation / I won’t mention the w—” The what? The world? The war? We never hear. Her mouth is pixelated as she tries to finish the line, over and over; she strains and screams but the word won’t come out. Whether “Lady Parts” chooses not to complete her lyric or can’t, the image of asphyxiating silence is potent. (The episode closes with a song by the Palestinian singer Rasha Nahas.)

Of course, getting silenced by the industry is another perennial tale of rock ’n’ roll, among other vocations. As in Season 1’s getting-the-band-together arc, the challenges of making it are superficially familiar from other music stories: What is selling out? How do you distinguish growth from compromise? Can you make it big without abandoning any of your mates?

But the execution and the details are captivatingly specific. What works about “We Are Lady Parts” is what works about great punk. You can still fashion something new out of the same old three chords. You just need a distinctive voice.

[winns-stuff]

LO RANT:

Alright, I’m terribly sick right now and a little sore from it hence why I haven’t gotten to those other rants I have in my drafts. But because of the welcoming of existing characters coming back it looks like I’m going to have to be defending one of my favorite characters once again from this damn fandom.

Y’all already know it’s Leuce. I don’t get why everyone has such a huge problem with her like she didn’t even do anything to Hades or try to seduce him or anything. Yet everyone acts like Leuce was trying to steal “Persephone’s” man at the very beginning when that was never even fucking true, Leuce was probably called on by Zeus to try and get married to Hades which means she was not actively looking for this creep at all and I’m sure if she had to be sought after especially by the KING OF THE GODS then she was very valuable and already had the attention of many that y’all say that she wants from Hades. Basically ain’t nobody give a flying fuck about Hades and his grown ass tantrums, there’s not a fly on the wall trying to court his weird ass except for Persephone and that’s only cause she’s not affected by his dumb actions and borderline abusive behaviors.

I’m pretty sure Leuce was one of the most beautiful nymphs in Olympus and I’m pretty sure she already had a numerous amount of options to choose from at her every beck and call. I don’t know can we say the same for Persephone? Probably not since the only man and option was always going to be Hades. Leuce is and will always be a grown woman at the end of the day as well so obviously she’s not going to play homewrecker with Hades since he’s a literal king and would probably punish her unlike how Persephone did. Actually, let me get into that because I truly believe that why people think Leuce is trying to split up the marriage between Persephone and Hades is because Persephone did the same thing, Leuce and Persephone had similar reasons of going to the Underworld, they both got to speak with Hades, and they both had history before their “first” meeting with him. There’s a lot of similarities with how they approached and met Hades yet no one wants to acknowledge that Persephone slept to the top and ruined a relationship mainly because they’ve been conditioned to believe that when Persephone does it it’s not homewrecking it’s just taking what’s yours while with Leuce she’s definitely sleazy.

Speaking of sleazy, could everyone’s distrust in the situation be because Hades has a very very bad sleeping around history that he’s done multiple times? It’s okay to say that Hades is a cheater or really an accomplice to cheat and this causes many people to fear Hades being around women when we get introduced to more. Like c’mon people, you’re saying every single time a woman gets introduced to Hades in the chapter and everyone loses their shit that it’s not rooted in this lingering fact that Hades is not loyal in the slightest way possible? LO fans obviously have this premeditated anxiousness about Hades with the opposite gender and it’s all connected to Hades going with them or being “seduced” by them. I’m just going to tell you right now, if you have to make all of this commotion and insult the female character this bad because you’re worried or scared that means you don’t trust them. You can’t say that Hades is devoted and loyal to Persephone when you worry about this man stepping out from his own marriage every time another character (female) gets a simple interaction with him. There shouldn’t need to be competition for Persephone either because competition means that there will be someone betting on something you’re also after, which means that that something isn’t truly yours to begin with because if it is you wouldn’t need to defend and fight for it so badly.

But back to the fans’ mischaracterization of Leuce as a whole. One thing I absolutely hate about this situation is that people will swear up and down that Leuce is some evil, homewrecking, gold digging, irrelevant slut essentially yet all the scenes we’ve seen with Leuce has been completely harmless. Leuce was brought to Hades as a gift and was positive about the situation, she believed that Hades would accept her and he declined. Did she force herself onto him after he said no? Absolutely not. Did she insult him for rejecting her? No. Did she spread unnecessary rumors or continued to pursue him? No. All she did was accept the rejection and left, she did not argue with Hades nor did she try and change his mind unlike Persephone she respected his decision and didn’t try to persuade him into agreeing with her or accepting her. Honestly I have no clue why no one’s upset with Persephone, there’s been countless times where she’s ignored Hades’ unease, forced him to agree with her and even ignored his responses. Why is Hades getting walked over and disrespected by Persephone cute? There’s been times where he’s shown obvious discomfort with something she’s did or wants to do and she completely ignores him and pressures him into doing it.

Anyways, now ending this rant I don’t want to see anyone talking down on Leuce when she is more mature and respectful than the actual love interest. Persephone does not have the capacity to be mindful of Hades and Leuce actually treats him like he isn’t some mindless hamster. Not only that but Leuce is gorgeous, I’m tired of everyone trying to claim she’s ugly just to boost Persephone’s looks if you really need to do all of that than maybe she’s not as pretty as people state. But leave her the fuck alone, y’all don’t even know why she needs to talk to Hades and you’re already trying to go in on her, it’s not her fault that Hades and Persephone’s relationship is so weak that one woman can walk in and completely obliterate it.

[mihii-i]

Omg I LOVED your Yuri fic, you write her so well and I’m so glad you wrote it as wlw🥰 I hope you write more for her in the future because I absolutely love how you characterize her🫶

ABSOLUTELY I’m so happy u liked it i definitely wanted to write it as wlw since i got the option and everything ddlc related (especially Yuri related) is for men, wlm, or just mischaracterizes her so badly

I’m for sure writing for her again if I get another request and I’m glad you liked how I characterized her since whenever I write characters I do it very carefully cause I’m scared I might make them ooc on accident 😭😭

[moonyeclipses]

Rant(?) incoming I’m just gonna be talking about my fav boy and how much I hate his mischaracterization

But am extremely excited for the new season and maybe it’ll happen less cause I think a good chunk of the fan base probably just, view him differently from being anime only?

Hopefully lol (also manga and light novel spoiler warning!)

Excerpts from my priv twitter (but slightly altered to get my point across more):

Of all the bsd characters I think I could write the most about Ranpo and his characterization and how ppl completely fuck it up

Like- it’s hard to read a lot of fanfic with him cause they don’t portray him right? Like just the ‘UwU sweets loving boy who knows everything but is still oblivious’ OR ‘self centered arrogant man who acts too childish for his age and thinks he’s better than everyone’

LIKE NO‼️‼️

I know we haven’t really gotten to it in the anime yet but his whole thing is the fact HE DOESNT KNOW EVERYTHING- but he’s also aware that he knows a lot more than everyone else so people view him as this all-knowing unbeatable person when it’s simply not the case

Like, he puts himself on such a high pedestal cause he knows his family puts him on such a high pedestal, they expect him to be able to do everything and to know everything, and that’s why he fights so damn hard for the agency - he doesn’t want to let his family down

He’s always feels so isolated cause of it, and he’s so scared of messing up and he does mess up and it RUINS him

That arrogant front he puts is cause once your the best of the best there’s no where to go but down right? He keeps trying to prove himself and prove himself - he also doesn’t want to give anyone the idea of otherwise because he feels he has to be the one to keep everyone safe- if he shows weakness their enemies will find the loopholes and unfortunately for him that did happen

And yes he’s childish! He was literally sheltered from the entire world besides his also super genius parents for the first FOURTEEN YEARS of his life, he genuinely believed the world was out to get him and didn’t understand it once he was shoved into the outside world alone without the guidance of his now dead parents

They planned on raising him as a normal child to be a good person and not use his genius skills for bad, but they died early into the plan so he just, doesn’t know, doesn’t know any different

He thought everyone could see what he could and just refused to acknowledge it, and every time he would call something or someone out HE would be the one punished for it, it wasn’t till Fukuzawa came along and told him that he’s the only one to do that

AND, he knew to protect him at the time he told Ranpo his deduction skills were an ability, and Ranpo held onto that for protection, cause he refused to believe he was different for no reason, Fukuzawa knew he would be isolated from both normal people AND gifted people because of it

Please read the Untold Story of the Founding of the Detective Agency if you haven’t, it’s the third light novel and it’s about Fukuzawa’s and Ranpo’s meeting when Ranpo was only 14 years old and how Fukuzawa took Ranpo in and eventually created the Agency - it really helps you understand him more and why he is the way he is

Also! Once he discovered he is different, his first reaction wasn’t to use it for this benefit, his first reaction was “the people in the world are like infants, I understand now, the world isn’t cruel, it’s just stupid, and I need to protect them!” This has been his mindset since them, if no one else can see it, then he can and has to save them

It’s like having a pet and calling them stupid in an affectionate way whenever they do something dumb and taking care and nurturing them

Even if he’s not all that emotionally vulnerable and caring, he shows how much he cares through his actions - he’s different, he knows it, he states it like the fact it is, he brags as a manipulation tactic, but he still is a man who’s childhood was cut short, and grew up thinking murder is normal and a everyday casual thing, he loves praise and sweet things because he just simply does, he acts childish I believe as a way to keep a happy front and to stop others from worrying

“Alls well that’s well for me” he means it in the sense of, “if I’m happy, if I’m not worried about something, then no one else has to be, because I have the situation handled” and we see the opposite of this during the DOA arc, when he’s trying to outsmart fyodor and suddenly he gets dead serious - everyone is unsettled by it, they realize how serious the issue is

Idk guys I just, yes he’s a man child at times, yes he acts arrogant and self centered, yes he loves sweets and a lot of things children love but I hate it when people see it as his only traits

They don’t realize how deep his character is and how much he knows. His deduction isn’t just towards mysteries, he can read people in an instant, figure out their life story and more

He may not be a manipulation expert like Dazai but I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves in his other skills and how just, aware he is of everything happening around him - and how normal he tries to perceive himself and live his life in other non serious situations

And people don’t tend to realize how much he cares for everyone, all the innocent people in the world, and especially the agency who is family to him - he’s sacrificed himself on more than one account to protect them

He also puts his trust in the world even though he knows not everyone is as smart as him, because he knows he doesn’t know everything like when he did the press conference to prove the agency innocent

And you can see how relieved he is when some of them do, even if there’s a book that change reality to point all fingers at him

Anyway yea, I sincerely hope with the fourth season (and praying they animate the untold origins for the first couple eps like they did with the other light novels) more people will appreciate Ranpo, and the true Ranpo and not just some simple aspects of his character traits

Thank you for coming to my TED talk LMAO

[haik-choo]

I don't write cause I feel I don't have a good grasp on the characters personalities etc, the characterisation of akaashi post is so helpful! 👀👀 Would you do kuroo or bokuto?

a/n: I hope you like both of these! again, if yall want me to do others, let me know! these are across the span of their life, so some may seem college-related and some may seem young-adulty! 

[MISCHARACTERIZATIONS OF BOKUTO AND KUROO]

bokuto kotaro.

clueless: i’ve stated this in akaashi’s post, but bokuto is extremely emotionally intelligent. he can pick up on the slightest changes in people’s demeanor or posture, he can tell if someone is sad or happy even if they aren’t good at displaying emotions. he’s not a dumbass -- and he can pick up on others’ limits and boundaries very quickly. despite his ability to read people relatively well, he has no qualms about pushing people out of their comfort zones and forcing them to do things they might hate at first, but will love later. he pushes boundaries according to your comfort level, and respects your hard limits. 

only positive: a lot of people write bokuto to be someone ho’s only happy-go-lucky, or someone who rarely gets sad (aside from his moods that are less sad and more discouraged), but I think that almost dehumanizes him. he gets back up faster than most, yes, and at the end of a lost game where everyone is crying, bokuto is dry-eyed. he’s the type to get home and plop down on his bed, face-first into his pillow, lips quivering and eyes lightly watering. there are times where he feels insecure, especially when he’s younger, just because he can tell he’s different from the rest. he has a feeling that people are put-off from his personality, he has a feeling that he’s not as (traditionally/academically) smart as everyone else, he has a feeling that some people find him annoying. that’s why when he’s near his close friends he’s very loose -- he doesn’t feel the need to hold back even a little because he knows that they love him for him. this translates to his toxic trait with his lover being that he feels dejected/insecure if you ever want space. while he can read boundaries, he would really benefit from a lover who has just as few as he, because then he can be his truest self.

love-at-first-sight: he’s not the type to fall in love at one glance, he’s just not. yes, he might get interested or you may catch his attention, but he’s not going to fall in love with someone because they have a pretty smile. it’s not that he’s calculated or over-thinks his emotions, he knows exactly what he feels, it’s just that his heart is a little slow when it comes to falling in love. he’s such an energetic all-over-the-place person that love is never really on his mind (he gets into some trouble with accidentally leading girls on because he’s so friendly). when he eventually falls in love, though....oh boy. he stutters, he’s over-thinking all his movements when it comes to you -- he’s usually impulsive but with you he really, really doesn’t want to screw up. he wants everything to go smoothly -- so he’s the type to plan out a confession and actually try to stick to it. when it comes to something like love, bokuto is surprisingly slow and careful, because he knows how fragile a heart is. 

never gets angry: i think most people like to imagine his anger is so rare because the image of an angry bokuto is scary, especially with his stature. and while it’s true his anger is uncommon (because he’s good at processing his own emotions and not lashing out at others), when he does get angry it can be pretty unnerving. he’s the type to slam his fist on the counter unknowingly when having a really bad fight with his lover, and he has a booming voice. he’d never hit someone, but he doesn’t realize how intimidating his physique is. anger is uncommon, but that doesn’t mean he’s not scary. he always apologize afterwards, though.

boundless confidence: i touched on it earlier, that he has bouts of insecurity, but again, i really want to emphasize that he’s not endlessly confident. honestly, maybe in the anime and manga he seems that way, but if you want to make him more human, have more life than a fictional character, you have to create limits or certain traits. bokuto is very sensitive, and the slightest thing can either inflate his ego or deflate it. plays in volleyball constantly not working may dig at his confidence, but he always re-inflates. in real life, outside the court, there are things that keep his confidence low everytime they happen. fights with his lover are one of these things; he’ll get jealous when they leave the apartment after a fight because he’ll worry about you finding someone more stable than him. jealousy alone is a solid sign of chipped confidence, something that someone as sensitive as bokuto gets every once in a while. 

overall, bokuto is a lot more intelligent than what people give him credit for. he’s honest with his own emotions and can read people very well, which is probably why he’s such a people person, but he still has flaws. he does not have boundless confidence or have no perception of boundaries; he’s unbelievably understanding. he may be initially insecure, have intimidating anger, etc. but ,after all, he’s human, isn’t he? 

kuroo tetsuro. 

sex god: don’t get me wrong, I definitely believe that he’s had a lover or two, especially in college, and that he’s played the field a little bit. but i don’t see him as the guy that has had sex with every person in his major. he’s a genuine guy and can’t have sex with someone he’s not emotionally invested in -- despite not being a ‘player’, he’s totally gotten in trouble with a few people because they think he’s leading them on when he walks with them to class everyday. 

intimidating: people always characterize him as this mysterious, sexually intimidating guy, but i just can’t see him as someone intimidating. if anything, he may be a little unapproachable because he has a really tight knit group of friends that he’s always with, but he’s not scary. he’s not the center of attention but he’s not a wallflower either, he enjoys observing people and watching drama play out, but he’s not silent and glaring all the time. he’s quite fun, he’s loud, and he enjoys embarrassing his friends in public. he’s the type to twerk in public and laugh his ass off when akaashi or kenma give him the side-eye and bro-kuto joins in. he likes to have fun, ya know? i don’t know about you, but a guy that twerks in public isn’t very scary, to me at least. 

prideful: I understand why people paint him as a prideful guy, he obviously likes what he does and has a personable personality, but honestly, he’s not perfect. he often has moments where he doubts himself because of his past decisions, his career one of them. kuroo is an amazing middle blocker, and his choice to go into sports advertisement rather than an actual volleyball league no doubt haunts him at night sometimes. he thinks of the ‘what-ifs’, and he dreams of what he could be. especially since his best friend is bokuto, a professional player, it’s often on his mind. it’s a super touchy subject for him, and if someone were to question his job-choice i have no doubt that he’d get really sour and distant from that person because he’s not sure of himself either. 

frat boy: he’s not someone who can’t cook, he’s not someone who sleeps at 5am everyday, hungover. he’s not the type of person to be immature in any way -- he’s got his shit together. i’m sure most people can actually see this, but kuroo is very responsible and realistic (which is part of the reason he didn’t do professional volleyball). he does his taxes, does his homework, gives out good advice, gets up early and eats everything that a healthy person should eat (in all the right proportions, too). he doesn’t even drink often, if anything he’s just a social drinker. he goes to bed at 10pm and wakes up at 6am to work out, no joke. he’s gotta keep that physique somehow. 

decisive: i know i said he’s responsible, but i don’t think that translates to decisive. i can see him having a lot of conflicting things going on in his life, different wants and different paths that he wants to take but can’t keep all open. it happens in love, his career, his college major, etc. he wants a lot in life, he wants success, happiness, a good love-life, everything. when he had to choose between volleyball and a life-long, stable career, he was broken for weeks. was he good enough for his dream? was it wise to chase his dream? would it be better to get more kids into volleyball, do what he did, what he couldn’t do? in his love life he always hesitates, too: does he see a life with them? how long will they love him? will they be able to deal with him once they see that he’s not perfect? is it worth it? it doesn’t matter if he’s in love or not, because his extreme caution can come off as very distant and unwilling to let you in, hence his toxic trait. he’s indecisive, scared, yet passionate and hard-working. 

overall, kuroo is full of contradiction. he wants a lot from life and is willing to work for it. he has dreams and tries to stay healthy and put himself out there, have fun, the whole shabang -- but he’s not perfect. he’s overly cautious when it comes to making important decisions simply because he can see a future with all of the different paths he can take. but honestly, isn’t everyone a little contradictory? 

[julymarte]

unpopular twst  opinions

i’m so  glad I am not  big in the  jade  fanbase (like i used to be in other fandoms  for much less popular characters) cause i have OPINIONS on his  mostly western fanbase’s  portrayal and i’m scared  by treyjade stans like ..... esp when they act like it’s  canon completely  mischaracterizing both of them but...ok.... everyone  does what they like it’s fictional who  cares....but it still kinda......yikes idk

[iridescent-honey]

Mysterion characterization

In my opinion, he is one of the most mischaracterized people in the hero franchise.

He is often portrayed as an angsty, edgy, and a ruthless antihero.

Although I can see how that conclusion is come to, here are my thoughts:

*TL;DR at the bottom in red*

*This information is coming from both the game and show, if I can find direct clips, I will show them*

I used the word anti hero, allow me to elaborate on that briefly. For anyone unaware, an antihero is described as “a central character in a story, movie, or drama who lacks conventional heroic attributes.” I would also describe it as someone who is fighting for good while being uncaring/unhelpful to others if it means the majority of the public is helped. Note that the definition of what an antihero is varies from person to person. Poorly characterized antiheroes are written as villains who are part of the hero’s team for some unknown reason.

The first episode we see Mysterion in is in S13E2, he is seen as a rival to The Coon, however he does not view himself that way, in his eyes, he is helping because that’s what he should do, not to spite Cartman.

I think this episode is often forgotten when people view him as an anti hero. We see him expose his identity and putting himself in danger to not have citizens caught in The Coon’s attempt at blackmail. Not my exact idea of an antihero however I digress.

Spoilers for the the game

In the game, the entirety of freedom pals aren’t introduced until the halfway point, however Mysterion, Wonder Tweek, and Tuppaware are introduced very early as opposition. After a lovers quarrel between Tweek and Craig, Doctor Timothy have an argument causing the two factions to fight. Craig is a mandatory player on your team.

While you fight the Freedom Pals, Tweek is the one doing the most talking (I say Tweek because it is very out of character for Wonder Tweek). Throwing insult after insult at Craig, even when the insults aren’t at him directly, Craig respondes as though they were. Tuppaware is not to important, he does his job and fights you, nothing too noteworthy there. But this is about Mysterion so I’ll move on.

In this fight, nearly every time you attack him or his teammates, he responds with how we are only being used by The Coon and we can do better than the Coon and Friends franchise. Also, note that when the opposition show interest in attacking Wonder Tweek he appears fearful, Tuppaware looks disgusted, but Mysterion appears surprised? Disappointed? I’m not quite sure but it’s definitely different than the rest of the Freedom Pals’s reaction. (I know how pointless it may seem to analyze the facial expression when they’re drawn, well, like that. But also consider this! I don’t care.) The best way I could describe it is as being upset/disappointed that that he is being attacked. It is my belief that this is because he doesn’t want to fight. This is countered by the fact that he is a relentless fighter. The only time he isn’t is stated before: the first time you fight him.

The second time however is a different story, he attacks you ruthlessly. He gives you one chance at the beginning of the of the fight, saying that “Fighting Doctor Timothy is a mistake beyond your comprehension.” But afterwards makes no attempts to help you, instead changing to his one liners.

This is another thing I need to talk about. I have a post made for the future where I talk about way too many of his quotes but I’ll summarize it for you.

Being angsty

Being ruthlessly

Being dark

Being concerned for his teammates

Cheering his teammates on

There are some more types but these are the most important because a lot of his lines are dark, angsty, and ruthless and tend to overshadow his other quotes. The appeal to throw in the towel and say that he’s an antihero would be very easy but I truly don’t see it. Despite his quotes he isn’t as angsty in most parts and is seen being distressed for other teammates and trying to help whoever he can.

I believe that he says his quotes only to scare the opposition. When he interacts with his teammates and civilians he stops the angsty-ness and acts as a protector. In my opinion, an antihero would not care about their perception, if the job gets done that’s all that matters. But clearly Mysterion doesn’t abide by those rules.

Although alignment charts are a gross oversimplification for explaining characterization but I think it is a very simple way to explain it. On the character sheets, the alignment is more simplified and only allows lawful, neutral or evil. He describes himself as lawful but that is not a proper alignment. I am still torn on his alignment but I will show three alignments definitions then my thoughts.

Definitions

Lawful Good

A lawful good character acts as a good person is expected or required to act. They combine a commitment to oppose evil with the discipline to fight relentlessly. They tell the truth, keep their word, helps those in need, and speaks out against injustice. A lawful good character hates to see the guilty go unpunished.

Lawful good is the best alignment you can be because it combines honor and compassion.

Lawful good can be a dangerous alignment when it restricts freedom and criminalizes self-interest.

Lawful Neutral

A lawful neutral character acts as law, tradition, or a personal code directs them. Order and organization are paramount to them. They may believe in personal order and live by a code or standard, or they may believe in order for all and favor a strong, organized government.

Lawful neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you are reliable and honorable without being a zealot.

Lawful neutral can be a dangerous alignment when it seeks to eliminate all freedom, choice, and diversity in society.

Neutral Good

A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. They are devoted to helping others. They work with kings and magistrates but do not feel beholden to them.

Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order.

Neutral good can be a dangerous alignment when it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.

*I did not add lawful evil because it is so wildly out of character there is no point in talking about it.*

Breaking it down

Lawful Good

A lawful good character acts as a good person is expected or required to act.

Mysterion shows himself to be a good person without wanting payment many times. Most notably when he reveals his identity to prevent harm to other citizens, and when he shows kindness and hope to the player despite the character and their teammates showing none back.

They combine a commitment to oppose evil with the discipline to fight relentlessly.

The commitment to fight evil seems self explanatory so I will not acknowledge that, what I will elaborate on is the “discipline to fight relentlessly”. Earlier in the post, I explain how he seems to not want to fight but does so fiercely. This explains it. He is the calmest out of the heroes at nearly all times, the only time this is false is when a teammate is unjustly injured. While he does get angry, he is never seen actively trying to start a fight, but he will always end one.

They tell the truth, keep their word, helps those in need, and speaks out against injustice.

Throughout the series and the game, he never lies, however, he is never asked to tell the truth and I’m hesitant on saying that the lack of evidence is evidence. Despite that he does keep his word, his promise to protect his city, and promise to protect Karen are always fulfilled. When the Coon acts against the group, Mysterion is quick to shut him down.

A lawful good character hates to see the guilty go unpunished.

In the game, he tells us multiple times that being a hero is ugly. That the merciless don’t deserve mercy. He has made it clear that he is the bringer of karma.

Lawful Neutral

A lawful neutral character acts as law, tradition, or a personal code directs them.

Mysterion is an upholder of morals. His own ethics pave how he reacts and behaves. For the most part, he follows the law very closely, but he will break off and actions will become unforgiving if the person deserves it.

Order and organization are paramount to them. They may believe in personal order and live by a code or standard…

His origin as Mysterion was to organize the town through peace and to help stop crime. He tries to keep his team peaceful and succeeds when part of freedom pals. When the franchise was whole, the Coon could break his peaceful exterior.

or they may believe in order for all and favor a strong, organized government.

This is the most difficult to defend. Yes, he does feed information to the police, but only when they are passive crimes. When active crimes occur, he attempts to deal with the issue himself.

Neutral Good

This is not in line with his personal alignment identity, but this seems the most plausible. Allow me to elaborate:

A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do.

This has been explained in many places throughout this post and so I do not feel the need to repeat it.

They are devoted to helping others.

Once again, Mysterion is constantly seen putting others first: revealing his identity, handling Hindsight by himself, and risking his life and immortality to save them from Cthulhu.

They work with kings and magistrates but do not feel beholden to them.

This feels more natural than the last explanation for lawful neutral. He works with the cops in certain situations but is quick to work by himself or with his teammates if needed.

The alignments have been broken down and the evidence has been laid out, feel free to make your own decision.

TL;DR

Mysterion is not a dark antihero, he is a vigilante, a defender of peace, and beacon of hope to his citizens. He puts the needs and safety of others before himself.

Alignment possibilities: lawful good, lawful neutral, neutral good.

[buckleysjareau]

Buck gets mistreated a hell of a whole lot more than anyone on that show he deserves support and writers just want to create that support since he doesn’t really get it anywhere without people calling him selfish

The lawsuit arc is bogus and I have stated so many times with the knowledge that I have as a firefighter that being on blood thinners and having a clotting disorder is a Category A condition which eliminates a firefighter from active duty. The LAFD had to settle with money, because he really honestly shouldn’t have been allowed to have his job back as an active duty firefighter with a condition he didn’t know the cause of it. If this were real life, Buck would have had to take light duty for a long time until they were sure the screws were causing the clots.

Bobby is shown to be thinking more with his heart than his professional brain, if you go by his wording in those few episodes, but he was still his captain and has other firefighters that he is responsible for and by bringing Buck back on active duty before he was off the blood thinners without issues, he’s putting himself, his firefighters, Buck, and any future victim in more of harms way than the job already is.

Bobby has shown Buck so much support and people tend to forget that in favor of babying Buck about the lawsuit.

For the thousandth time, Eddie had every right to be hurt and angry at Buck for the lawsuit. It’s canon that Buck is a big part of Eddie and Christopher’s life, and because Buck was, quite frankly, being selfish trying to get his job back before he was physically ready, they weren’t allowed to contact him when they were struggling too. You guys talk about Buck’s abandonment issues but always seem to ignore Eddie’s because honestly, some of you guys seem to see Eddie only as a love interest for Buck. Shannon left, with no more than a note. Buck leaving had to have felt as bad because of the impact he had on their life.

In the end though, Eddie forgave Buck. Things returned to normal. You’re telling me Eddie doesn’t support Buck? Doesn’t treat him good? We have got to be talking about different shows. When Buck was scared about ending up like Red, Eddie was there to tell him they’re there to stay. After the dinner with his parents, he was standing right there with Buck, trying not to let him get ahead of himself in anger. He was there as a steady person. “I had to do it.” “I know you did.” Eddie is always there for Buck, but because he’s called him out on being selfish once, you think he’s the worst best friend? What? Get over yourself.

Hen and Chimney have been nothing but supportive of Buck since the very fucking beginning so don’t even try to tell me you have to WRITE buck getting support since the show won’t give it to you when he’s got Hen and Chimney right by his side. Even through the lawsuit, they defended him and supported him when he came back.

Maddie not telling him about Daniel is not mistreating him. She’s a victim of their parents just as much as Buck was and I’m sick and tired of hearing that she should have told Buck. She’s an amazing sister and I’m so sick of the Maddie antis twisting everything she does that Buck very obviously never has any problem with. She gave up her freedom and the money that could help her get away from Doug just so Buck could be free from their parents and be happy. She kept all of the post cards he sent her even though she could never reply. She never told him about Doug because she was trying to protect Buck. She’s literally always supported Buck. Something awful must have happened for her to actually cut contact with her little brother, it wasn’t intentional. She was being abused. Even your precious made of glass Buck says “And it’s easy to lash out on the one person you know is always going to be there for you.” Or something like that.

There you have it. Maybe now you can stop writing things where you completely mischaracterize every single character to fit your stupid ass narrative. :)

[angelic-marzzz]

For the writer's ask game: 2, 4, 16!

Thanks for the ask!

2.) Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project

Well I’m really excited to write more cute Madro/MDGyro stuff. I really like writing their relationship and the whole idea of them being l a couple is very interesting to me! Also excited to write more about Prodigy. He started off as a character thst I actually used to ship with Ducktor. So it’s interesting to see that he’s no moved on into becoming something more than that!

4.) Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

Probably this one from my Chrismas fic!

“It was a scary thought. The idea that Ducktor couldn’t actually express his feelings to Gyro in a more normal setting in fear of the wrong people finding out. He had already caused some trouble with people that were much more powerful than him. They wouldn’t hesitate to hurt Gyro if it meant getting a rise out of him.”

I like this whole part because it just really shows how much Ducktor cares about Gyro. He doesn’t want him to get hurt by exposing his feelings in public. Being a villain and all, it’s easy for him to make a lot of enemies and I like the idea of Ducktor wanting to protect Gyro from all that. It makes for some good angst in the future

16.) Tried anything new with your writing lately? (style, POV, genre, fandom?)

Haha. Not really tbh. I’m pretty hesitant to write for new fandoms because I’m always scared of mischaracterizing them. I really want to write a fic for the South Psrk fandom though. I think that would be fun

[bbq-hawks-wings]

Really long ask - Part 1: Hi, sorry for this long rant, but I just wanted to vent since I saw this latest story posted on AO3 and I am restraining myself on commenting on their story so I'm just letting my anger out here about it and other issues regarding fan-depiction of Hawks. It's vaguely related to your post on how DabiHawks or Dabi+Hawks stories make it all about Dabi and always made Hawks out to be the one who starts the problems in their relationship or is the one trying to get Dabi's

Content warning: passing mention of r*pe in a fanfiction.

LOOOONG post under the cut.

(Cont.)

Dabi's attentions when it's canon that it's the complete opposite. This latest story that came up in my feed was about Hawks "harassing" Dabi (who apparently has a backstory of r*pe) and Twice helps Dabi works out his feelings. Among the hoards of tags condemning Hawks, they decided to use "Hawks is very uncool in this fic heads up" so that's another one to add to my filters. I think I also have to block the "Dabi Needs a Hug" tags too bc he's always woobified like heck. 

I really want to read stories where Hawks interacts with Twice since they have a bond/drama with each other, but people have been adding Dabi and either making it seem like Hawks has been gaslighting Dabi in their "relationship" or with Twice. I can acknowledge stories where Hawks feels guilty for what he had to do or Twice being anger/betrayed over Hawks' actions since that is actually what happened; but I will not stand for Dabi claiming Hawks took advantage of Twice or Twice and Dabi having feelings for each other with Hawks in the way bc Dabi is a) the one who let Hawks in b) knew Twice is gullible and c) used Twice as bait. Even in the stories that are cute/causal+funny, Hawks is always the one who gets threatened with fire, harsh insults, or guilted into compliance but the seriousness of the first 2 are always brushed off and the third kinda makes me want it that Hawks doesn't have friends bc most people write him as a bad friend who only cares about his own problems (especially the ones that write Hawks like a celebrity/night club person). 

On writing Dabi, his issues always take priority over everything else, his family loves him, and the lov is always chill with him. He's usually written as the fun asshole/caretaker (bc of his big brother status or ablity to cook). Those factors aren't bad by itself, but it's extremely irritating when the writers/artists can give that level of care to Dabi, but just reduce Hawks to a meme who is a workaholic for the government/scared of punishment & not bc he really cares about the people he saves/helps. It's not like I hate the DabiHawks pairing, but the majority of the content (esp the recent ones), are frustrating to read & Hawks' character is usually written in bad out of character extremes. I am really mystified that I'm praying for canon content rather than fanmade most of the time.

Phew! After the back and forth it looks like we got to the end of that! (Or did we?! *Dun dun DUUUUN*) If not, though, feel free to keep the asks rolling. Lol Foxy and I are usually pretty happy to receive as many asks as people want to send even if it takes us a while, individually, to get to it. Now to finally address what you sent.

I find myself in a weird place when it comes to OOC fanfic because on the one hand people can write whatever they want, and I don’t really have a place to criticize them; but also when they blatantly and willingly misinterpret a character so they have grounds to bash on them it also leaves me acutely uncomfortable. I don’t think I’d call it “problematic” as much as a squick? Like, if they’re willing to blow past all the obvious proof to the contrary about their claims of a fictional character just because they hate them, then are they willing to do the same thing to a real person? Usually, those kinds of thoughts are pointlessly extreme, but we know those who unironically and/or unapologeticly call fans of the heroes “bootlickers” so... It’s like, ooc vent fics are also fine; and if you want to rewrite a character to fit the narrative scheme you’ve set up that’s cool as long as its tagged (“ooc [character]” or something) and/or just mention in the a/n that they knowingly and willingly mischaracterized them for the sake of the fic. Just. Don’t. Claim. It’s. Canon.

And speaking of canon, as much as I’m sure Horikoshi knew Hawks and Dabi were going to end up shipped I think it’s obvious that he never was going to canonically write them ending up together, yet here comes the “canon must validate my headcanon” crowd calling him a bad writer because the author had some bigger narrative goal in mind than having two pretty anime boys kissing.

And the worst part to me is, I feel there’s a distinct slice of the DabiHawks crowd missing out on some of the possibilities of this ship by intentionally mischaracterizing them. Like, the aesthetic equal/opposite draw of the ship is phenomenal as it is and I don’t even ship them, but I can see a wide range of possible fics based solely on the principle that they are canonically incompatible!

At the end of the day, Dabi is a dime-a-dozen edgelord - that pain in the butt OC that so many newbie D&D players make that they think is so deep and dark and mature, but is about as cookie-cutter as they come. It’s not that this kind of character is unsalvageable or a hopeless Gary Stu character, just that they don’t often come across as compelling in and of themselves or that they need more than just selfish hatred to carry them through a series. Two kinds of edgelords that can be done well are the “Out of the Ashes” edgelord and “I’ll Pull You Into Hell With Me” edgelord. The first kind recognizes there’s more to life than their sad backstory and getting even and thus choose to aspire to more noble causes - think Joel from The Last of Us. The second recognizes they’re actively doing wrong and come to embrace it - being more concerned with getting what they want than taking the moral high ground - think Frank Castle, aka the Punisher - and even these darker, “unsaveable” kinds of edgelord antiheroes can have redeeming qualities such as meeting and helping a young hopeful and telling them, “I know I’m on the road to hell, so if you want to save yourself you’d better not follow me.”

Dabi actually has what he needs to become the second type right now (assuming he’s Touya) and could even evolve into the first not unlike Kratos from God of War, but that potential can’t be fully recognized until you admit that he’s fundamentally self-centered and a bad person as-is. He may have the tragic backstory complete with justifiable hate at his genuinely abusive father, but rather than using that as fuel to see that never happen to anyone else like it did him - he just wants to get even. He burns people alive, knowing well he’s participating in the same destruction that his father committed to make him what he is now. He doesn’t recognize any of the merits of hero society and is only concerned with burning it to ash. He could use what happened to his family to incite compassion in his heart and take others under his wing, but instead he uses people as a mean to his own ends. He isn’t even proper grimdark - he’s just your run of the mill egotistical megalomaniac with a punk aesthetic.

And that’s still a good character in the grand scheme of things, maybe just not alone! Moreso, it’s a good villain and EVEN BETTER when you put him next to Hawks who is at his core:

Fundamentally Hopepunk!

Hopepunk is about being good and kind as an act of rebellion against a cruel and unfair world no matter how bleak it gets or how badly you’re beaten down. Despite his own cruel past, Hawks still has a heart to help others for no other reason than to help them, he constantly changes the odds to save as many people as he can when he’d be given a pass for letting the cards fall where they will, and not only is his aim to “help others” but to make sure that there’ll never be need for heroes again. He’s an active rebel against the system fighting with kindness and goodness, fervently looking and listening for the next opportunity to do good.

In agreement with you, Hawks and Twice are interesting to explore because while Twice is an optimist looking to make the world a better place, he’s still a step or two removed from Hawks’ worldview because Twice refuses to let go of the “family” he found for himself while Hawks is willing to sacrifice himself for others. That dynamic is so interesting, and it’s what made them so initially compatible and subsequently heartbreaking in canon.

And it’s such a disappointment to see this unwaveringly earnest character reduced to “shitty fratboy” so often. For a lot of people newer to his character I can understand the confusion, but there really isn’t an excuse if you’ve been reading the series, and the possibilities for fics with this canon personality are just so much more interesting to explore, especially with Dabi as his sort-of opposite.

For DabiHawks to work well, you have to recognize that something has to give in either of them. Some of the juiciest, most angsty content is when you have two characters grow close together over commonalities only to be reminded that despite everything else they share, that One Thing will always keep them from truly being able to see eye-to-eye. Either Dabi has to grow past his hatred and relearn compassion and empathy, or Hawks has to lose grip of that hopeful vision he has and fall into despair. Both options are good to explore, but both require the acknowledgement that Dabi’s view of the world is fundamentally bleak and selfish, especially compared to Hawks’. For a supposed revolutionary out to change the world for the better whose a diamond in the rough with a heart of gold, that’s not exactly on-brand; and at the end of the day the issue is that some are unwilling to admit that what they wanted Dabi to be is likely not going to happen and they love that fake version Dabi more than they love what Hawks actually stands for which is why Hawks always gets the shaft in the end.

I still personally hold a bit of a grudge against the DaiHawks ship as a whole purely because, as you said, Dabi always seems to take priority over Hawks instead of letting the two build a dynamic together. Hawks is always the one who has to give, and the torture porn some have made him go through to “make the ship work” is downright disturbing to me. Even at its height DabiHawks content completely flooded the Hawks character tags on Tumblr with some of the same problems that have persisted to this day such as emphasizing their aesthetic as opposed to their dynamic and rampant mischaracterization.

Anyway, that’s my long-winded response. What do you think, @autumn-foxfire?