#It's really not that bad. I don't think it deserves the super super low rankings it got

[solradguy]

Tbh Dirge of Cerberus' actual gameplay isn't as bad as I was expecting it to be, like I'm almost 4 missions in and I still haven't died, but the gameplay getting interrupted every 5 minutes by some kind of micro cutscene is driving me up the wall. Did they really have to stop the action just to show a common model NPC walking out of scene. Was that 100% necessary

[chocokayke]

Here's Alkaloid for my Splatoon/Enstars AU! All weapons are referring to their Splatoon 3 kits, because that's what I'm most familiar with. I wanna give a shout out to @mdkm444 for making this fanart that inspired this whole AU in the first place. : )

More info on each character below the cut.⬇️

Hiiro

I'm giving him the highest honor I could bestow on a character... My main.

I think Splatana Deco fits him, and how he sees himself at the beginning. It's a very mobile weapon and aggro with a supportive kit. He can easily strife with opponents to draw fire from his teammates, while also setting up beacons, and setting of tentamissles to displace enemies.

The idea is that he mostly sees himself as his brother's "shield" at the beginning, and I feel like having a weapon that supports and takes fire suits that role.

As he grows and gets more comfortable with his place in Alkaloid, he would pick up more aggressive weapons. I just really like the idea of him with dualies. I think he has a lot of fun zipping around with dodge rolls. : )

He runs a lot of Quick Respawn abilities.

I think his backstory would stay mostly the same, actually.

Aira

He's 100% that guy who draws hearts in the enemy base.

He strikes me as the type of person who would play weapons that are meta without fully understanding WHY they're so good.

He started out playing vanilla Splash-o-matic, but he sucks so bad at Crab Tank. Mayoi thought something more mobile would suit Aira, so he recommended Inkbrush and Carbon Roller to him.

Hiyori wears his eye makeup the same way. This is a very important piece of Aira lore.

Mayoi

Mayoi has the biggest change to his backstory out of Alkaloid. He was originally an Octarian Soldier under DJ Octavio.

He was there for the Splat1 final boss and the Calamari Inkantation. He is NOT Agent 8, to be clear. He escaped after Marina, but before Agent 8. He wasn't in the subway. (But the idea of him in the subway is very fun, and that might be something to explore in an AU of this AU.)

He's a huge Squid Sisters fan.

He first escaped to Inkopolis, but it was too overwhelming for him, and he ended up traveling a lot before settling down in ES.

He plays a lot of weapons, and at knows a lot about the weapons he doesn't play. He's extremely skilled and knowledgeable. He's a fantastic coach, and everyone wants them to coach their teams! (Help him.)

Unfortunately, he is still Mayoi and still has severe anxiety! Despite how skilled he is, he's too scared to play alone and is pretty low ranked. That's why he got his status as an "underachiever."

Generally plays a lot of long ranged weapons to stay as far away from the action as he can. Snipewriter is his main, but E-Liter deserves an honorable mention.

Any closer ranged weapons he plays are more supportive than aggressive. This bad boy can pop out so many Inkstorms and Tacticoolers.

I probably should have added Hydra Splatling to his list instead of Heavy Edit tbh? But, eh, he can play both.

I think Snipewriter fits his main really well due to the fact that it has super long range, paints well, and has a supportive kit. At the time I'm writing this, it's also the best competitive weapon in Splatoon 3.

Tatsumi

His backstory is also similar to his canon one.

His leg got damaged and wouldn't repair itself when he respawned, so he had to get it removed it let it regrow naturally. Squids can do that, don't worry about it. : )

The guy who makes sure your base is 100% inked during Turf War.

Me and my friend both agreed it is extremely funny for Tatsumi to run around with his beginner weapon going like ^_^: so that's what he mains.

Then my other friend recommended me what they call "noob trap" weapons, which is mostly short ranged shooters (Sploosh and Aerospray) so I immediately added those to the list. I feel like they suit Tatsumi, and kind of mirror how inept he is with technology in canon.

Despite that, he's actually quite skilled! He does pretty well with short ranged shooters and has fun playing with them. They're his go to choice, but he's experienced in a lot of different weapon classes.

Anyway, you know how the Sunken Scrolls in Splatoon 3 introduced Squid Jesus--

[pixeldemonia]

The story of Kacchan and his new car

Read from left to right ▶️

I'm not used to doing comics, but I really wanted to get this idea placed on a drawing, the public transport where I live makes hell on earth real, katsuki would never allow me to go through this.

Now, talking about the epilogue, I don't like that he's so low on the rankings, he deserves better, but the fact that he got a super expensive luxury car (a Porsche that according to my research hasn't even been commercialized yet) tells me that he's not in a bad place either, so I think, even if he's facing some hardships in the path towards achieving his dream, he's enjoying the process and doing his best, and I'll always support him no matter what 💕

Katsuki will be the #1 and I don't care what anyone else says!

[starfanatic]

Crafting the most controversial ranking of the olympians (including Hestia and Hades)

DISCLAIMER: THIS POST WAS INSPIRED BY @wanderingmind867

APOLLO: He's just fucking AWESOME???!!! What can I say? He's such a easy to like god when you don't let the stupid retellings poison you. He's the god of writing and music (both topics that I love) and just SO much more. I can't even grasp how much the greeks fucking loved this guy and so do I. In a more fanon-y way, in my head he's the best possible protagonist out of all the olympians for a story. There's so much nuance with him, and I just love psychoanalyzing him. I also think his relationships with other gods and every mortals is so INVESTING and intense if you think about it in the right way. Also I love blondes. Blondes are hot.

ARES: The more people hate him, the more I defend him. He gets so much undeserved bullshit, he should've been the Hades of our modern generation, he deserves it way more imo. He's a great father, a great lover, and he dances! DANCES! He's probably the god with the most misinformation besides maybe Hades. Ares kind of gives me the underdog affect? Yes he's this big huge god, but he loses FAR too much to be considered the "bully" like the myths advertise. And I get that it's supposed to be a message "brain over brawn" but quite frankly I could care less. Ares is treated bad by his parents, he just deserves so much more I love this guy. I love paralleling him with other gods too like Athena or Apollo or Zeus. He's just so fun to write.

APHRODITE: I feel the exact same way for her as I feel for Ares. I used to hate her SO MUCH, until I realized how misled I was. APHRODITE IS FUN. The only thing is that I'd defend her wrongs because I don't give a shit. "Aphrodite was petty" IDC!!!! I hate how authors (Rick.) write her. She's SO much more then what she's reduced too. She's SO powerful. I think the only reason she's not equal to Ares because I don't know a lot of her myths. She's serving cunt ALWAYS.

POSEIDON: Poseidon being so high is probably a disservice to society. BUT HES SO COOL AND SO POWERFUL????!!! Yes he does shitty stuff I'm not gonna pretend he doesn't, but seeing him in stories is just so entertaining. I typically like reading fanfics with him during the titanomachy or just fanfics where he's being a great uncle (so... super not accurate but it's entertaining). Ngl I giggled when he asked Apollo to fight him during the trojan war and Apollo said "nah im good". Poseidon is a BEAST in the fight with cool ass powers and a BEAST in bed (um.. when it's consentual... fuck I hate greek mythology sometimes). STORMBRINGER (i hope that's Poseidon and not Zeus???) GOD OF THE SEAS

HERMES: Hermes is kind of low, but NOT BECAUSE I DONT LOVE HIM. I tend to like gods who are a bit... violent if it wasn't obvious by the top 4? And even though I know Hermes can be violent I never see him BE violent. He just seems too perfect for me? Name one flaw he has that the other gods don't also have. HOWEVER he's so fun to read about, I don't like Percy Jackson but when I saw Hermes in the tv show I jumped out of my seat. I really like him with Apollo though, it brings a level of complexity that I LOVE.

zeus... I can explain. OKAY SO, I LOVE COMPLEX CHARACTER RIGHT AND GUESS WHO IS A VERY NUANCED GOD IN MYTHOLOGY??? ZEUS! I specifically like him from the titanomachy, because I like to think he was just... different when he was younger. Kind of like one of the typical heroes until the power he has changes him over time. I wish someone wrote a retelling because I'd love to see Zeus and Rhea or Zeus and Cronos interactions during the war. Disclaimer, I'm aware he does shitty shit but so does everyone on this list besides like Hestia and...that's it.

DIONYSUS: His low ranking is more to do with the lack of knowledge but also I'm not too interested in the domains he involves himself with. Never went to a party, never did drugs, never drunk alcohol, etc. HOWEVER I love when Dionysus is completely unhinged. God of MADNESS GUYS!!! ITS IMPORTANT! I love the myths where he's genuinely just being scary as fuck, I love how powerful but underestimated he is.

HERA: She deserves better. If I was her I'd do worse, but like... not to innocent children and women. That's all.

ATHENA: I don't find her that interesting. She just kind of reminds me of that one girl in the class who reminds the teacher they have homework. I am aware that I AM biased though, my top 4 gods consisted of 2 gods that are at odds with her. I just don't like how biased the myths were in her favor, it kind of makes her boring. If Ares or Athena lost equally I wouldn't mind her, but she wins every single time. Even when she loses, Zeus doesn't care and let's her get away with it anyway. Athena, for me, absolutely requires other gods to add complexity to her character.

DEMETER: I like her out of spite because I don't like Hades x Persephone shippers from modern retellings. In particular I don't like the Hades x Persephone shippers that hate on Demeter as if they know anything about her. She's only low because I like a lot of other gods better and I just feel like I'd never be able to write anything with her as a main character because I've never "psychoanalyzed" her like I did the other gods.

HESTIA: *shrug* I don't know her that well, and she doesn't seem to really have any myths to jump off from. The lack of myths and personality puts her low on the list. Though I do love how sweet she is.

HEPHAESTUS: ...he bores me. He doesn't offer anything to me whatsoever. I don't necessarily feel bad for him for the Aphrodite situation either, and I hate when a lot of people who like Hephaestus ignore VERY IMPORTANT details on the myths to serve their purpose. The majority of it is just plain boredom, but I hate how everyone villainized Aphrodite and Ares.

HADES: ...sigh. He's a bit of a unfair one. I'm not someone who can seperate the god from the people who like the god. A lot of Hades fans tend to just piss me off based off the most obvious misinformation in the entire world. I HATE how they try to hate on the other Olympians as if Hades is somehow better then him? He has no myths that doesn't make him better, we just don't have a lot of him. I don't find him necessarily interesting, and I desperately wish for the retellings for him to end. It's not really fair because it's less the god and more the "fans" but whatever it is what it is.

[anothergameofwickedgrace]

Unpopular opinion (somehow?):

Nimona wasn't a very good movie. It was just okay and very surface level. On the positive side, the animation was wonderful and it had an important and relevant message, good voice acting, and a diverse cast, but it was executed poorly. It had a lot of potential that they just did nothing with. There's a lot of issues with the world building and a ton of gaps in the story if you actually look into it. If you boil the movie down to its core, there is a lot of good in it, but that doesn't hold up when you look at the whole of it together.

The climax didn't have any impact due to the emotional speech basically being said almost verbatim earlier in the movie at a low stakes moment. It's honestly my biggest issue with the storytelling. In a similar vein, I find that the very end scene of the movie is unsatisfying. A bittersweet ending would've felt more fitting (impactful?) than a forced happy one. For her to finally achieve the love she wanted, and on a grand scale, but at a cost (though I suppose they did leave some ambiguity?). But it's a kids film, so I get why they went the route they did.

The society that the director was so dedicated to protect and keep from changing (to the point of mass murder) was barely more than a mention. We weren't shown how the world and community function. The whole knighthood being the pinnacles of keeping society safe was empty and never really conveyed by the citizens who supposedly loved them. There was a lot they set up that never really had a follow through.

There was never a monster to begin with, and there certainly weren't anymore attacks from the outside, so why is the wall needed? In the time it took for all of this to be created and implemented, they would have seen there was no danger from the outside. Even seeing Nimona as a monster shouldn't have been enough to base a whole society around keeping evil monsters out when she is all that they've ever seen and she never actually hurt a single person.

How did Glorith even become leader? She was a random village girl too young to be of any help to the village as it rebuilt and developed. Especially if lineage is supposedly very important in this world for those of high rank. There's a lot of things that don't really make sense on how they've gotten from point A to point B. This is just an example.

The mix of fantasy-esque things and a more modern and scifi world is super interesting and could have been explored more deeply. There were a lot of things they could do with this premise to bolster the themes of the movie or simply round out the world. But it was merely a inconsequential backdrop.

Overall, I feel like the movie is just a superficial, feel good type movie. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that, but people seem to think this is some super amazing movie and it's just not. It's very surface level and very much a simple children's movie (dont get me wrong, there are movies aimed at kids that are fantastic and deeply meaningful, but this just isn't one of them. I get the message it conveys, but the storytelling of the movie doesn't do it justice.). Its cute and has a very positive message. It's not bad, but I'm super let down by how much hype surrounds it. I think people are honestly putting the meaning they want to see into it when it's not really there. I've seen a lot of takes that just honestly have no backing in the actual film. I just think it's a lot of undue praise for things that the film never actually touches on or even tries to convey. I'm glad people see things they can relate to and make them happy. I just don't think the movie deserves all the credit it gets.

[whistlingstarlight]

I got one: rate Zelda games you've played in order of preference?

Haha so here's the thing-

I've only actually beaten one Zelda game (two if you count the spinoff Age of Calamity)😅

I'm notorious for being terrible at actually playing the games despite loving the series, most often because puzzles are not my strong suit.

So this list is gonna be focusing on my overall liking of the game and it's content, regardless of how much I've actually progressed through it (otherwise it would be a pretty boring list)

1. Skyward Sword. I love the artstyle of this game and the locations are beautiful. Skyloft is one of my favourite hub worlds in a game, the characters are all very unique and distinct, and I love exploring a land before Hyrule.

2. Breath of the Wild. I've got so many hours in this game, there's so much to do! Whilst I personally think Zelda is stronger as a linear series than open-world, I had a ton of fun exploring this open Hyrule and the Champions (new and old) are some of my favourite characters from the series. I completely got the wrong end of the stick as to what the plot was going into it, so it was fun finding out the real plot.

3. Phantom Hourglass, for one reason: Linebeck. He's one of the most well-written and distinct characters in Zelda (and probably my overall favourite), I love his progression from selfish coward to a hero in his own right. And that final boss fight omfg-

4. A Link Between Worlds. Lorule is a super interesting concept to me, and whilst I didn't play ALttP I'm aware of how this game continues on from it. I love this version of Hyrule's overworld, and it's always neat seeing the more hostile Zora.

5. Minish Cap, mainly because I love the Minish as a race and Vaati as a villain. The tiny world is super fun to explore, and I love seeing how the different groups of Minish live.

6. Spirit Tracks. For a very simple reason: I'm a railfan. I'm absolutely terrible at this game but I love the introduction of trains, the completely new Hyrule, and a unique villain is always a plus! I love Zelda's more (physically) active role in the story, and I'm a big fan of Byrne as a character.

7. Majora's Mask. I did atrociously trying to get through this game too, but I absolutely love its premise. Termina is a very unique world and despite a lot of the character models being recycled, still feels completely independent from Hyrule. Skull Kid is one of my favourite Zelda characters, and the heavy emphasis on death and loss makes it a very unique game

8. The Wind Waker. I initially thought this game was kind of overrated ngl (and I still think it overshadows games that deserve more praise), but I had fun with it. The concept is very unique, and whilst I found the sailing a bit boring at times I loved exploring the islands.

9. Tears of the Kingdom. I... set myself up for disappointment with this one. That's not to say it's a bad game! I've had fun with it for sure, but there was a lot of wasted potential imo. Whilst I love the unique styles of each dungeon (and the respective bosses), they were infuriating to get through because it's the same shit every time. Use Sage ability to open five locks, rinse and fucking repeat. Same reason I didn't enjoy the Divine Beasts. The exploration in the open-world Zelda games is phenomenal, but it comes at the detriment of story and dungeons. (Not to mention it's sort of a soft reboot and I'm... not really a fan of those).

10. Ocarina of Time. This one is so low basically by default (and because I'm kinda tired of hearing about it so much). It's a good game, don't get me wrong. But it's weird the timeline split came from this one and not.. idk, the game with an actual canon game over (Minish Cap)?? I love the Kokiri as a concept and really wish they'd returned, and the group of sages introduced in this game are probably my favourite.

And I don't really know where to rank it as it's a spin-off, but I had a huge amount of fun with Age of Calamity. A significant improvement over the original Hyrule Warriors imo.

[johanna-swann]

I've been discussing how we would rank the Star Wars Episodes with one of my friends, we watched a film critic's take on it too, I asked my brother and cousin about it and it seems like everyone has a different opinion. My friend really like the sequels, my brother prefers the prequels and my cousin stans the original trilogy.

Eventually I always come back to the conclusion that it's not about actual quality. All three Star Wars trilogies have their ups and downs, strengths and weaknesses. Which of the weaknesses you're happy to bear and which ones you can't stand is personal preference.

The original trilogy often gets more nostalgia points than it probably deserves. Yes, it's cinema history and I kinda love the low-key trashy vibe, the characters are pretty basic yet very iconic, but the pacing. Oh my. I don't mind a little slow burn (Andor did this brilliantly), but there are often spans when for 20 or 30 minutes nothing happens. Then again the important moments often come on so suddenly and happen so fast that it feels almost anticlimactic. And Episode VI? Everybody complained when the sequel trilogy came along and copied Episode IV, but Episode VI does the exact same thing and it's fine?

All in all iconic, loveable movies (especially Episode V), but they do have substantial weaknesses (especially Episode VI).

The prequels are often more appreciated by younger fans, hated on by og trilogy fans and they have a completely different vibe. Less space-magic fairytale, more political intrigue and tragedy. This trilogy has a very low low and a very high high.

Episode I wasn't super exciting, but kinda cute. I love that we meet Anakin so young, Darth Maul is pretty cool in this movie and Qui Gon and Obi Wan's relationship is really touching. Episode II was a dumpster fire. Everything it tried to do was done 10000 times better in Clone Wars. Episode III then was really great again and very emotional. Was Anakin's fall to the dark side a bit sudden, yes. Some of the dialogue is still very cringe worthy. But this is the movie that gives you the real classic tragedy stuff. You're rooting for Anakin, hoping he'll come through when you already know where his story ends.

The sequel trilogy is a tough one and is strongly disliked by all kinds of Star Wars fans, but sometimes I think people are too harsh and unforgiving with it. Episode VII isn't bad, quite good even, the visuals are great (compared to prequel cgi...), it introduces a bunch of new characters really well and those characters are so interesting. I love the main trio so much. It felt in parts very Disney and the plot was copy pasted from Episode IV, but as I said, that's basically what Episode VI did too. It was a solid start, then came the problems.

I didn't mind Finn going of with Rose in Episode VIII all that much. It wasn't really that important to the main plot, but it showed that while the galaxy suffers there's also war profeteers living their best life. Both Rose and Finn have never really known anything but war and suddenly they're confronted with this high society living in luxury at the cost of innocent lives. I also wasn't annoyed with Rey trying to save Ben yet, that came later. Poe's story on the other hand was complete nonsense. Leia's friend (I forgot her name) risked the entire rebellion because? She wanted to teach Poe a lesson about patience? And Luke would never, ever, not for a moment raise his lightsaber against a sleeping child. Again, the visuals were great. That last battle with the red and white landscape looked amazing. There are worse Star Wars movies.

Episode IX is where it completely fell apart. Somehow Palpatine returned. Rey is his granddaughter. After not only having killed his father, having tortured Rey and friends and having declared himself the new supreme leader of the galaxy, Rey is still trying to save Kylo? Kylo made his fucking choice. Several times actually. The last hour or so it felt like watching a pingpong match. "Oh, Palpatine returns, but Rey is on her way! Oh, he has a fleet. Don't worry, the rebels are coming! But there's too few of them! Nevermind, they got backup. But Rey is still losing against Palpatine! But what is that? Kylo Ren with a steel chair!" It was like a drawn out back-forth-back-forth which then climaxed in Kylo Ren kissing Rey back to life? I think the only way to enjoy this movie is to be a Kylo Ren fan. Which I am not. So yeah, I can't say anything good about Episode IX. Except the trio looked hot. Not even Episode II sucked this hard.

This rant got out of hand, but oh well. My point stands. All three trilogies have at least one rather strong movie and one not all that great, pretty bad actually movie. Og has pacing trouble, prequel has dialogue cringe, sequel lost the plot halfway through. At least my friend, brother, cousin, the film critic and I all agreed that Rogue One is an unexpected masterpiece and that the worst Star Wars movie of all was Solo.

[aijamisespava]

My Eurovision Winners Ranked

Up next on my list of super fun content to put out while waiting for more Eurovision 2024 Content is the 2nd place poll decision: My personal winners ranked.

This is a super exciting challenge for me because I will be looking at my personal favorites (from 2009 onward) and then ranking them (which may also be the hardest thing I will do this semester), so consider this my All-Star Fan Contest.

DISCLAIMER: This was put together rather quickly and on a day that wasn't the day I put this post out. So this ranking may be different over time. It's so sporadic that my top 5 changes almost every time I hear the respective songs. HERE WE GO!

15. "You Are The Only One" by Sergey Lazarev/"Sound Of Silence" by Dami Im (🇷🇺 and 🇦🇺 2016) Technically, this is more "UNRANKED" because I have 2 2016 winners that change depending on my mood. That's how this list is kicking off.

14. "Running Scared" by Ell/Nikki (🇦🇿 2011) A divisive entry when it comes to if it deserved to win. I think it did (obviously lol), but I just liked others from other years a little more. But it doesn't take away from the fact that I find this song really beautiful.

13. "Fairytale" by Alexander Rybak (🇳🇴 2009) Wow. I ranked an icon so low, but that just means that Eurovision, for me, improved so much over the past years since I started ranking them. Plus, the iconic level that this song holds alone is astounding.

12. "Undo" by Sanna Nielsen (🇸🇪 2014) Staging wise, the staging really catapulted the song to great heights. But the song is amazing and I always enjoy hearing it. It has kind of a music box opening, which is always something I can get behind. I feel bad for ranking this one so low!

11. "Beautiful Mess" by Kristian Kostov (🇧🇬 2017) This song is so mellow, but great because it's NOT boring! It's really calming and was a really popular song at the time and even personally (was 81st on my Wrapped in 2022 and my mom has this on her playlist).

10. "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence (🇳🇱 2019) Of the actual winners at the contest, this one has to be my favorite of the bunch. It deserves all the accolades, and is the perfect song to be the first Eurovision song to reach 1 billion streams. I respect Duncan so much as a musician and think he deserves all great things with this song.

9. "O Mie" by Aliona Moon (��🇩 2013) A beautiful, rather underrated ballad from Moldova took the top spot for me in 2013, and I don't regret putting it up there. The song is so amazing. It's one of the songs where the performance didn't need to do anything for the song as the song is great in and of itself.

8. "Répondez-moi" by Gjon's Tears (🇨🇭 2020) I feel so bad for putting this down in the middle of the pack because I really do like this song! It just shows how much I like these personal winners. And thing is, I think this song would have done well had the contest gone on. Probably not a win, but I could see it getting a similar result as "Tout l'univers" had one year later.

7. "Forever" by Alekseev (Belarus 2018) This is only 1 of 2 NQs I had of all my personal winners. But this is one of my favorites because the ambiance is unique and eerie, but so entrancing. It's something I would love to write something for it, but also love the personal feelings I have when listening to it (if that makes sense?)

6. "Die Together" by Amanda Tenfjord (🇬🇷 2022) My first run through of Eurovision (catching up with all the songs as they came out) brought me an amazing winner to kick it off. I was hooked from the concept of the song and was not disappointed with what we were given!

5. "Crno I Belo" by Kaliopi (🇲🇰 2012) Kaliopi is a total queen for bringing this iconic song to the contest. I love it so much, was so happy when it got put on Spotify in the US that I actually wrote something about it. But from beginning to end it amazes. The pacing is magnificent and everything about it (HIGH NOTE) was absolutely stunning!

4. "We Could Be The Same" by maNga (🇹🇷 2010) I know I know I know. I'm team Turkiyë in the debate. But as someone who loves rock music, this song was perfect for me. In fact, it was one of the first Eurovision songs I had heard that hadn't won!

3. "Aijā" by Sudden Lights (🇱🇻 2023) What haven't I already said about this song? It's such a magical piece from beginning to end. It's so relaxing (and I actually tried listening to it while falling asleep once like an actual lullaby and I was OUT before the song was done!). When I first heard it, it quite literally shot to the top of the rankings and stayed there (despite my runner up's efforts). I also must note that I also listened to the rest of Sudden Lights' discography and was impressed with what I heard!

2. "Rhythm Inside" by Loïc Nottet (🇧🇪 2015) Taking runner up is my personal favorite from one of the most stacked years of Eurovision. This song, while varies away from songs I typically listen to is just so catchy. It also bears an emotional attachment because since hearing this song (and watching the performance), I have become a huge fan of Loïc's post-Eurovision discography, which is also vastly different from his entry.

1. "Tout l'univers" by Gjon's Tears (🇨🇭 2021) I know from when I mentioned my favorites from each country that I pointed out my favorite entry of all time being Switzerland's 2021 entry. A lot of what makes it my all time favorite is the emotional attachment I have towards it. If this song didn't exist, I doubt I would be writing this today.

[littleeyesofpallas]

it was a mistake to do the follow ups to these one batch at a time. a foolish decision.

Shocked Loly got voted down so hard, obviously she's got issues, and she's not even particularly one of my personal favorites or anything, but like clearly that's part of the appeal. Also suprised at Ginjo's performance on these, especially given that his bankai form got its own. I get not liking the mullet, that's fair, but I feel like the bankai rectifies that, not to mention the overall villain form. No Love for Love, really? Also absolutely shocked Luppi scored so low. An egregious disrespect to those hip windows. I'll admit the bangs aren't great but the cute little curls are to die for.

I just cant with people and their love of utterly featureless dead moms/wives. And i love Momo to death but she's just not a smash. girl needs therapy and like a vacation from work, but the girl does not need to be sexualized. Most of the rest of these seem pretty obvious though, both for me and the general concensus. Yeah yeah Mayuri fans are in the minority. Boo... Actually, you know what, in regards to miss Misato, the lack of respect for a modestly attractive teacher over a bunch of tragedy fodder madonna martyrs is shameful

Once again I just cannot jive with the fanbase's absolute garbo taste in wwomen with either zero personality zero autonomy. Nanao I'd have considered back during SS when she was still more of a corporate icequeen, even if the begrudging mommy/put upon secretary role would still have been a huge turn off. But the whole thing in the TYBW arc just ruins her character for me. I feel like I've complained about Nel enough on this blog that I don't need to go over this again: I would unironically rank screeching baby Nel over Neliel, even if they're still both a pass. Nemu I feel bad about, I don't dislike her general character, but again zero autonomy is not a turn on: Hard Pass. Ya'll are cowards not fucking with The Wind. I like his perma bed-head and his two tongues, and yeah even his goofy ass casual ahegao. I want to pull him by the hair. We all knew how the Nnoitra thing was gonna go; obviously not a popular pick but the girlies who got it bad got it bad bad. Nobutsuna is some kinda Thief and the Cobbler/Jafar Aladin/Rurouni Kenshin Udo Jinne ass ting going on and I'm not gonig to lie, I'm into it. The man looks like a whithered corpse but in a good way(?) It's not a super committed smash, but it's there. Honestly, Numb Chandellier I had to think about a little, but she's just the wrong kind of tentacle and the wrong kind of mind control. The heart eyes are cute tho (Category N also marks the first time I've managed a 0% Smash Approval Rating comparing my picks against the general consensus.)

This was a nice short batch with a pretty big split on almost every one. I'll admit, I had to stop and think about Nimaiya a little. When he ties his hair up in a samurai topknot and gets serious about blacksmithing I almost would, but his loud goofball pervert shtick is just not for me. Given the spit I think these are all safely decided, even though the last ones have a few days left. Nimaiya could still flip on me in the next like 24 hours tho...

looks like the R polls are prettymuch wrapped. I feel like i'd get flak for it but look, Unohana's cool and all but not like sexualized cool. And I'm just not into the fetishized servile and demure matronly thing. I feel bad Riku scored so low, he doesn't particularly feel like he deserves it, just not my type. Boy the bleach fans really hate the moustache huh? like it's not an overly enthusstic smash but I wouldn't not. Shocked at the cowards not wanting to fuck Rudbornn; he's a cool guy who you don't have to look at his face, what more do you want? All the benefits of just putting a brown paper bag on their head but what if the bag looked cool. The rest of these were just obvious picks

I'm cutting the Ss in half just because it's a lot. These seemed like pretty clear cut picks all around. Shukuro Tsukishima was a tough decisions because he's basically just me without my glasses and a different location for the forehead scar, and I just don't love myself enough to think of him as hot. But he does have his weird moment toward the end where he has a little too much fun messing with people's memories and I'm about that energy. Shawlong is verymuch contingent on his cool monster scissorhands form.

Been meaning to go back and take stock of my "score" on the ongoing @bleach-smashorpass, I've grayed out anything where my personal pick didn't match the popular outcome, and left the ones where I fall into the majority vote in color.

Look, I'll be real, I'm not above monsterfuckery, even if I don't consider it ""my thing"" but I'd have voted smash on Ayon if he didn't have his weird secret muppet face. Also Aaroniero was an extremely light smash, i really had to flip flop on that one a few times before making a choice. I'll be honest, I liked original Chapter25 epilogue Aisslinger way more than what we got in the Arrancar Arc, and if I could split the vote I'd smash original and pass on final design for him.

Bambi is just such a boring design, and honestly Batsuunsai isn't much better, but the glasses are cute. She was really close to being a pass.

I was actually surprised that I had to stop and think about Choe but his giant chin and tiny bowl cut were not doing him any favors. Also as much as I like Cyan as a character, there is just something about hime cuts that are an automatic off switch for me. the rest of these felt fairly obvious.

not gonna lie, little hurt by the lack of D-Roy and Dordonii love

Confused that people were so lukewarm on Findor, although it was a close split. Also oddly I could have sworn I passed on Furofushi... I'm not really a fan of pigtails, with very few exceptions, but when I went to check the poll results it said I voted smash. Maybe I was thinking she was feeling Hiyori adjacent enough to count it at the time? I.... I don't remember voting smash on Entetsu...

i feel very scandalized by having voted unpopularly on all these old men... I'll be honest, Gremmy is a very lukewarm smash, and the potential of the Visionary power as a sex thing was very much the deciding factor.

boy bleach fans really don't like moustaches, huh? So funny enough it wasn't until the anime that I realized Hidetomo has his multiple earrings and somehow that changed his whole vibe for me, but prior to that it would have been an easy pass. I absolutely cannot abide characters whose whole thing is being someones dead wife/girlfriend, even if she otherwise looks exactly like Rukia, who'll be a smash for sure once we get to the Rs.

i figured i'd be on the wrong side of the fence with the kurosaki men but it's a real hard no on all the above. I'll be real, I'm kinda surprised Ikkaku was so popular. The rest of these felt obvious. Oh wait no there was like no love for Izumi Ishida. Boo to that.

okay so hear me out... Jugram is too blond. I know that sounds like nonsense, but like, he's too fundementally blond. Like most of Bleach's blond characters could have other generally light hair colors, and it wouldn't super change their image or aesthetic, but Jugram has to be blonde because the alternatives don'teel the same, and that's too much blond for me.

i know i voted pass on ichigo, which might make smash on kaien seem weird, but it's between the personality difference and the eyelashes. People not smashing on Kiyone is a catastrophe

and with that i'm all caught up with the letters where all the polls that have already closed. i'll be back to update these as the rest keep rolling along. I dunno why I really did this apart from the compulsion

[spockandawe]

Hi...if you don't mind me asking, can I ask, who are your top 5 favorite couples (can be canon or non-canon) from all of the danmei novels that you've finished reading until now? Thanks and sorry if you've answered this before...

ooh, this is hard, because if a pair sticks with me, it's usually because they're bringing some kind of DIFFERENT vibe, which makes it a lot harder to compare them. But let me give it a shot, and lemme try to be short-winded, i've been hard on my hands lately and things are le sore. And I'm going to restrict myself to canon just so things don't go totally off the rails.

5. Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji. Oh no, I feel bad that this is so low. I love them both a lot!!! I love a good opposites attract story, and I adore Lan Wangji's strength of emotion versus how little of it shows on his face. I love his quiet character growth and his stubbornness and the way he devotes himself to Wei Wuxian, and the way that Wei Wuxian is so hard to realize because he's got, ah, issues, that he thinks circles around because he's an unbelievably unreliable narrator who doesn't think he deserves nice things. But even through that, he takes such joy in life and cares so much for the people around him, and it makes for a lovely dynamic. It's very, very compelling to me, and I love them a lot, just, today I'm really feeling assholery and/or messy relationships, haha

4. Zhou Zishu/Wen Kexing. Oh, this is harder to talk about than everyone else on this list. They both have long histories of bloodshed, and violence, but somehow bring out this shining, youthful joy in life in each other. It was such a magnetic draw, but they were different enough that the process of drawing them together is fascinating to watch. They're both, objectively, very strange men, but incredibly in sync with each other. For some reason, the scene in the book where Wen Kexing bites Zhou Zishu's arm hard enough to make him bleed, and Zhou Zishu waits until he's done, then holds him close, and they fall asleep in each other's arms... there's something about the feeling of reading and deciding that these two were meant for each other that always does it for me.

3. Hua Cheng/Xie Lian. They're just......... so compatible. I usually like a lot more conflict in a relationship (see ship number one), but this just clicks into place so beautifully, it's impossible to say no. I adore them. The primary conflicts in this relationship are 1) fear of rejection, and 2) no, i AM mad that you aren't taking better care of yourself >:( How can I say no to that? And, of course, I love love love that Hua Cheng is unrelentingly soft for Xie Lian, and is an unrelenting asshole to basically everyone else, and that Xie Lian makes no effort to change him, he just loves him as he is.

2. Shen Qingqiu/Luo Binghe. Is tgcf objectively a better book? Yes, probably, but Luo Binghe hits my weak spot for massive damage. He breaks my heart, and there are very few characters in this books that I'm as desperate to see happy as I am with Binghe. And it's a very good ship for pondering post-canon character development, which is a very good way to get me fixated on a ship. Because they only barely settle into the shape of a relationship by the time everything is over, and everything is so fraught and complicated, and plot pushed them into a nasty corner before they were able to take control back, and they want to make it work. Luo Binghe was designed in a laboratory to target all my weak spots, and that's just the way it is.

1. Feng Xiao/Cui Buqu. Okay. Okay. In this day, in this moment, they're my favorite. These rankings change very much, all the time, but right now, I am living for their dynamic. They're such ASSHOLES! Like, with yanshen in the technically-prequel, you've got the one asshole boyfriend and the one decent person boyfriend. No. We're done with that. No half-assing it HERE, everyone is the FULL ASSHOLE, and i gasp out loud every time one of them makes a huge, sweeping gesture of trust, and then follows it up by refusing to say anything as straightforward as 'I appreciate you.' My favorite love language is 'I will allow you to stab me in the chest and won't blame you afterward.' My favorite love language is 'I will feed you this life-saving medicine in case it helps, even knowing it will leave me in a terrible position later.' My favorite love language is 'yes, you tortured me, but i get why, and i'm not going to blame you, i'm just going to get revenge.' My favorite love language is qi transfer. And this is also one of the few xianxia ships I've read where one boyfriend isn't a martial artist, and is actually super frail and delicate. And I have thoughts about this dynamic and feng xiao's hangups. I just... they're so good, you guys. I LIVE for reading about assholes in love. It's one of my favorite food groups.

[mistwraiths]

3.5 stars

No one is more disappointed than me that this book ranked pretty low. The first two books in A Good Girl's Guide To Murder were 5 stars for me and I absolutely adored the characters. So, yeah, I'm super shocked.

THIS WILL INCLUDE MAJOR SPOILERS, if you want the short version: I loved the first half with Pip struggling with her PTSD, but after a major plot twist this book changes drastically in its direction and goes down a path that has me wondering about some characters sudden moral changes. DO NOT READ PAST THIS POINT IF YOU DO NOT WANT MAJOR SPOILERS!!!!

The first part of the book I really loved, although I had a difficult time reading it. Pip struggling with PTSD really had me remembering the really dark times I struggled with my own PTSD. It was hard to read because it felt incredibly familiar and similar to my own. But it was written so well and felt realistic.

I could understand her frustration and rage too when it came to Max Hastings. He absolutely deserved to be found guilty on rape charges. I could understand her struggle with Charlie Green and Stanley, and the aftermath of it all. The whole first almost 200 pages of it all is so good. And it deviates from the usual podcast to Pip which is fine.

The DT killer getting her was terrifying and exciting, I really thought she was going to go missing and we'd switch to Ravi or someone to help find her. Instead, there's a HUGE twist. A twist I never expected and I didn't think the book would go there. Pip kills the DT killer, rightfully so he totally deserved it and I don't care if it wasn't technically self-defense I don't think anyone would have blamed her. However, then the book shifts. It's no longer Pip finding the truth in her true crime podcast. It's Pip decides that she can't trust the justice system and decides to frame someone else for the DT killer's murder. Not just anyone but Max.

Am I sorry for Max? No. Does Max deserve to be punished for his hit and run AND his raping several women? 1000% yes. One of the hardest things for me was that Pip decides this is what she must do to get justice, which feels like a big leap from her previous bit of morals and beliefs. I support her I WILL TAKE HIM DOWN on Max but to actively plot to get away with murder is another. That's not the hardest thing though. It's her getting literally every one of her friends to join her, which really felt hardest to believe.

I understand her distrust in the justice system. But I just really felt like her not calling the police with all that she knows and had, and the evidence on her and the scene would have been enough. It just felt almost like a departure from the Pip and Ravi I really loved in the first two books.

And then Pip distances herself from literally everyone to protect them, and also it feels a little like to punish herself too. It just really disappointed me.

I thought maybe she'd disappear and it would be up to Ravi and her friends to find her. Or if she did get out, she'd stay hidden to make the DT killer sweat and make mistakes. I just didn't forsee this.

I can appreciate how full circle the series did get. I also appreciated that Pip completely forgot about poor Billy in all this and that's acknowledged. This book really leaves you with the question of: was Pip's decision good and that's completely up to you. It gives you good gray morality. I don't completely agree but I'm not upset by what she did and I understand it and I'm glad to see him suffer. But the two halves feel very different from each other, and I found the latter half to be less enjoyable than the first half.

Overall? This wasn't a bad book by any means. I just didn't enjoy it like I did the others. It definitely hurts the series in my mind because I kind of just wish I didn't read this one.

[umnvatra]

About Zhongli's state in the game right now..

I just want to vent(?) and let out my thoughts about this whole ordeal as a Zhongli simp. Take note that if you are someone who has Zhongli or wants Zhongli/is planning to roll for Zhongli and wants to read this post, be prepared. Because as much as i hate to say it, this one is gonna be harsh. I wish it wasn't, but the truth really hurts and is also something that i struggled to accept sjdjdjchsk

Ngl i'm probably going to get hands thrown at me because of this post but i really, really want to vent about what Mihoyo did to his character. This week has been a roller coaster when it comes to Zhongli. From being super excited for his release, being elated getting him, to being absolutely devastated at all the comments and information that had come out prior to his release.

Basically, as a 5*, Zhongli is very underpowered and underwhelming. This is something i hadn't noticed myself because my Zhongli still didn't have a proper build and weapon yet, but when i did, i felt my own happiness plummet at the weight of the reality.

I don't care if he is strong as a support or a dps, and no i don't want him to necessarily be good at being dps. But this will include a lot of stuff regarding damage because he is a five star with nuking potential. It's also this way because he is THAT underpowered. Even having him be a very good support would be a blessing, but as it goes, he is not.

First it was the comments in Youtube videos, arguing with each other about how bad/good he was. Those comments made me question a lot of things. But i felt absolutely crushed when Jinx and Tuner uploaded their stream of their Zhongli and Xinyan testing.

For those that don't know, Jinx and Tuner run a youtube channel where they test many things in Genshin and provide objective information about them based on the results of their testing. When i saw how incredibly disappointed and frustrated they were with Zhongli, i felt really, really sad. After all, they provide maths. Not only are they one of the genshin youtubers that i trust but they also study characters closely and tell you if a particular 5 star character is worth pulling for or not. And you guessed it, they concluded that Zhongli was NOT worth pulling for as a five star character because he is so heavily underpowered.

Then there comes the arguements presented.

Majority of people thought that Zhongli was going to be more of a support character rather than dps, and i could see why, but ironically he has more potential as a phys carry. And this information comes from the testing that Jinx and Tuner made.

However

Xiangling is still a better physical carry than Zhongli especially when you take into account the abilities she can use while attacking. Zhongli's pillar has questionable energy recharge generation, something that i too had noticed. Every tick of the pillar does NOT guarantee an energy, and it drove me crazy. Meanwhile you have Xiangling who can easily bring out energy with Guoba if she so wanted.

And you need C6 Zhongli in order for him to heal like Noelle too by the way. And Noelle is a 4* that is guaranteed on your first time playing the game. 👁

Zhongli's shield is good for sure, but then you have Noelle who can shield + heal. In terms of stuff being done, Noelle's is better. Zhongli's shield is strong yes, but it can STILL disappear after one or two hits from enemies (at least from our experience in higher AR. I have no idea if the same applies to lower AR).

Now for his meteor. Yes, his meteor is good. Not only is it spammable, but it deals great damage as well. BUT THEN you have Ningguang who can be a better burst spam and possibly deal more damage than his could do (remember, Ning has a lot of jades that could each deal 1k if built properly). The duration for petrification is 3 seconds too, which, a lot of people argue isn't enough time (personally, i have no problem with this since i do not mind it much). And apparently his meteor got nerfed because it does not increase geo damage and phys damage as it used to in the beta testing with petrification.

How about his ability in being able to break shields by holding E? Truth be told, i expected that he was going to be able to explode all shields in one go, but it does not work for every one of them apparently. Shields by hilichurls do break with just one E hold. But the ones by Mitachurls don't. I also tried breaking the Geo Hypostasis's pillar using his E hold and it did not break immediately. This could differ however. 👁 I'm still not sure if its because i have not properly built him right for breaking them or not. And about Stonehide Lawachurls... it's the same as the Geo Hypostasis pillar. The geo shield does not break immediately.

I'm not saying all this because i am mad at Zhongli. Rather, i am disappointed at what Mihoyo did to him. I am absolutely happy to get Zhongli. He is the one character i had been looking forward to for MONTHS. I saved resources in advance for him and even held off on leveling up my current team so i could dump all said resources on him when i get him. I stayed as AR35 for many many weeks because i wanted to level him up properly before ascending my World Rank. I think he is super fun to use especially with his burst and i absolutely adore the animation and when he crosses his arms and does his 'osmanthus tea' monologue at the most random times with his lil hand gestures. Even just listening to his voice while being idle fills me with so much happiness. There is so much joy in getting him. Which is why i am very disappointed at Mihoyo for how they butchered his character.

After Jinx and Tuner made their video about the results of their testing with Zhongli, i was genuinely saddened but i gradually came to accept the truth. It sucks, it hurts, but it is the truth. Even they said that they wanted Zhongli to be a GOOD character, but he is just insanely underpowered right now. You can invest resources into him and make him work, but compared to 4* and the other 5*, it takes so much effort. To make him decent, you'd have to level his stuff up so much but that also applies to four star characters and they perform better than him. Husbando > meta yes, but i gotta say that it still stings when my underleveled Xiangling and Fischl could do a much better job being a dps and support respectively than him when he's many levels above them.

Which brings me to the main point of this post.

Why was Mihoyo scared of making him strong? OP? Why did they nerf him so much? He is a 5* character Mihoyo, make him be STRONG at something. It's why he's a five star. But no. They watered him down so much to the point where even four star characters can do his own job better than him. His pillar doesn't even deal damage upon being destroyed just like Geo MC's. The range of his pillar's resonance is too small, and given the fact that his auto attacks can push enemies (except for the bigger ones of) or can be easily walked out of range to is 👁👄👁

And it deals criminally low damage. Like, why? Why not rack up the numbers? What is the problem????

The more i think about it, the more i can see the points that people have been pointing out. If the issue of energy generation with his pillar is RNG based, then that's simply screwed up. It already adds into the lists of problems that doesn't help with how underpowered he is. And as i am writing this post rn, there are lots and lots of Chinese players enraged about how weak he is as a 5* and causing HUGE fights in forums. People in the genshin subreddit had been debating again and again over heated arguements about his abilities. Even if you visit the genshin subreddit today and check every post about Zhongli, you will see people in the comments mention stuff about how he performs in the game and his abilities.

Mihoyo, give him a buff. I know that giving buffs isn't your thing, but there is honestly thousands and thousands of people expressing their disappointment and anger in how weak you've made him. He is a fan favorite. I love him. Majority of the genshin fanbase do. His character is really good and it hecking sucks that he is having major difficulties in fitting in on the game right now. He deserves better. Make him strong. Buff him. Adjust some of his abilities. Literally give. our. geo. dad. justice.

Those who don't care about damage is probably rolling their eyes at my rant rn but given how objectively weak he is compared to the other characters in game, it won't hurt if he gets a buff.

When the survey for Zhongli and Xinyan comes, rate him low. I know. It sucks. It's despicable. Even i hate it. But that is why we have to do it. If we become honest to Mihoyo about how much weak they made him, then maybe they are going to consider buffing or adjusting his abilities.

I'm sorry for the negative post. There is still hope for geo dad. He is incredibly fun to use but if you are debating on whether to pull for him or not, my answer would be

If you absolutely love him as a character, go for it.

Otherwise, just wait for now. Because his state in the game isn't looking so good at the moment.

For those that already have him and are also disappointed or saddened by what happened, take comfort in knowing that tons of people are still using Zhongli (including me who went through such roller coaster of emotions lmaoaoaoa) regardless of the information that he is behind in terms of being a dps and support. And that there is still hope for him (WAIT FOR THE SURVEY AND RATE HIM LOW YO 😭😭😭 IT WON'T GUARANTEE THAT MIHOYO IS GONNA BUFF HIM BUT WITH ALL THE PEOPLE RAGING RN THERE IS A HIGH POSSIBILITY THAT THEY WILL LOL)

Have some goofy screenshots that i took while playing as Schlongli

[noel-levine-fan]

Personal Notes

Sorry this took so long to post, lol!

Note: I wrote this before the release of Wilardo's Conclusion in English, even if I'm posting it afterwards.

I counted votes at they came in, meaning... I was counting votes during the US presidential election, which was an experience. Noel won this poll, he should be president... well, okay, no, he wouldn't be able to handle any sort of position of power, I think he would just crumble on the spot, but...

Besides that, I love meticulously organizing things, it's a problem, but it means I also had a lot of fun. With that said, here's some of my thoughts on the results.

What surprised me (just because something surprised me doesn't mean it's bad, I just hadn't expected it):

COSMOS getting so few votes, even fewer than Tin Coffee Maker, since one is a major ED and one I just kind of included out of technicality and didn't expect anyone to vote for. Though, Tin Coffee Maker is a good song, I just hadn't expected anyone to vote for it because of it not being a major ED with lyrics. I'm honestly a bit confused by COSMOS's lowness however, just because it's the ED of the most popular game, and its corresponding OP was pretty high. I guess people just weren't feeling it, which is fair enough. I like COSMOS quite a bit but it's not my favorite. (Luna is my favorite!)

I didn't expect to see a Monster Daniel vote! He's a fun character though.

The amount of platonic ships! I was a little worried nobody would bother voting for platonic ships but I was pleasantly surprised.

I was surprised how low ClaireAshe (both romantic and platonic) ranked. I don't know why I had kind of expected it to get more.

Pleasantly surprised to see a ClaireLime vote! I was so happy when I saw that one, I really like that ship and think it has so much potential, but is also super underrated. (And I'd also argue they are the have the most explicitly gay interaction of... any two characters honestly.) I also hadn't considered Claire/Invective but I like it.

I was pretty surprised CharLime didn't easily overtake all the other demon ships, and even more surprised RougeZizel ranked higher than it. Both are good ships, but I had only ever seen people post about CharLime when it came to demon ships, I knew people liked RougeZizel but had never seen any posts for it before so I thought it was like a little bit of a rarepair, so it surprised me to see it outrank what I had thought would easily be the most popular demon ship.

Pleasantly surprised to see how high SiriNoel ranked! But also just... very surprised, generally. I do think the fact that I'm a SiriNoel blog really did it, either that or my perception of SiriNoel within the fandom is just totally wrong... I've felt for a long time like SiriNoel is (somehow) kind of a rarepair.

Things that didn't surprise me:

The game rankings, I kinda had a feeling Bonus Stage would rank the highest.

The OP rankings - though I was glad to see Voice of Glamour get its fair shake! Besides Moon and Wolf, Voice of Glamour is my favorite.

The character rankings, besides the inclusion of Daniel, were totally unsurprising. It is possible that there's a bias here, but none of it was really super surprising to me.

A lot of the rankings didn't surprise me, but in particular, the massive lead NoelClaire has definitely didn't surprise me. It definitely deserves its place, it's also just super funny to me how far ahead it is. Seriously, there were very few people who didn't put NoelClaire in their top 3, it's just a little amusing.

Other:

I kind of wish I could have asked for more than top 5/top 3, but the thing is just that I didn't think most people would have an opinion past their top 5 characters and top 3 ships. I knew a few people would, but not enough to justify putting them on the survey. It's mainly just that I know limiting it to top 5/top 3 meant rarer characters and ships wouldn't get voted for. It doesn't surprise me that say, Lilia didn't get any votes, but it would be nice to ask for like... top 10 instead, because I know I would probably have seen her if it had been top 10. The same is true for like - hm, Charlotte/Fiona or Lucy/Coco. I know people like those ships, but they're rarepairs that won't end up in most people's top 3s. I'm not going to expand the number in the future, but I just... I absolutely adore seeing how all the different dynamics rank. I was really happy with the amount of different ships and characters voted for here, but it'd be fun to see more niche characters are rare ships... But I know there just isn't too much room for that in top 5/top 3.

[This note is being written post-WC release as opposed to most of this post, but don't worry it's not spoilers.] I think I felt like some of these results may have been influenced by WC, and that it was a bit of a mistake to have it open while that game was out (since I wanted this survey to be unbiased by WC, since this is the post-SC version)... I had assumed nobody who followed me would have played it until it was out in English because of this being an English blog, but I think I hadn't accounted for the number of people who speak both JP and EN and may have played the game in Japanese. I could be wrong about this suspicion, maybe most voters were uninfluenced by it, but I think there's a fair possibility it was a factor. (Notably, around a certain time, I started receiving a very sudden influx of WilClaire votes at the same time when I hadn't gotten many before, and I had assumed that maybe a WilClaire shipper had reblogged the post or something, but it may just have been I recieved that influx around the same time most people who played in JP finished the game... I don't know.)

Witch's Heart Survey Results - Sirius's Conclusion

! Please read everything and don't just skip to the results !

About a month ago, I posted a survey asking various questions about Witch's Heart. Here are the results!

Spoiler warning! Images used in this post may contain spoilers for all Witch's Heart games (except for Wilardo's conclusion). If you want to just see the results spoiler-free, click here.

This survey was posted before the English release of Wilardo's Conclusion, as such, the only Wilardo's Conclusion related response was the ability to pick Voice of Glamour as your favorite OP (because this OP released several months before the the release of the game).

I said I'd make a new version of the survey including Wilardo's Conclusion options a few weeks after the English release, however, this has been changed. I feel if the survey is too soon after this one, people will be less eager to fill out responses a second time. I also want to give Wilardo's Conclusion a while to sit in people's heads to see if any of their stances on favorite characters or ships changes. As such, I'm thinking I'll release the next survey when the OP for the next game releases. I know that will be a pretty long time, but I was thinking I'd make different versions of the survey for each conclusion (this this being Sirius's Conclusion ver... though it's pretty late for that game...), and all the game releases are gonna be pretty spaced out anyway, so why not, I suppose?

This is part one of the post! I really wanted to include images for every result, but tumblr's stupid image limit means this can only be part one. Please check the reblogs for the second and third parts.

I will ask to keep negativity out of reblogs. "X should've been higher..." "Why is X so high..." etc. Nothing inherently wrong with feeling that way, I just want this survey to be a fun positive thing! I can't stop you either way though, just a request.

Potential Biases

Because this was hosted by me, I expected preferences to be somewhat biased towards my content output. While not everyone who voted was a follower of mine, followers of mine are probably more likely to vote than non-followers, and followers of mine are probably more likely to enjoy the same things I do. It's worth noting that I am aware that just because I post about, say, Noel, a lot doesn't mean that every single one of my followers is as avid a Noel fan as I am, they may just enjoy content for every character including Noel, but avid Noel fans are probably more likely to follow me, and the people who follow me at the very least tolerate Noelposting - a Noel disliker is not likely to follow me. The same applies for pretty much everything I commonly post about. I thought I'd list out some possible result biases here.

Game Biases: I've never stated which game was my favorite, and my posts are more generally about the series than any specific game (though I did write notes on both Bonus Stage and Sirius's Conclusion for my replays of them), but I have referenced the content of Witch's Heart and Bonus Stage more than Sirius's Conclusion just because until I replayed it recently, I barely remembered anything that happened in Sirius's Conclusion lol. I don't really expect this to be a heavy bias though.

Song Biases: I've never mentioned any of the songs on my blog.

Character Biases: As you can see, I am a Noel blog, and very few of my posts aren't about Noel in some way. I also post about Noel and Sirius a lot, meaning I post about Sirius the second most. I post about Claire the third most because I'm a childhood trio enjoyer. I also like Lime, she's one of my favorites, but I'm not sure how much that comes across in my content output. I post about Dorothy more often than many others might.

Ship Biases: I'm a SiriNoel blog. I've posted about them a looot over the course of my blog in general. They're pretty much the only ship I regularly post about. I've also made a CharLime post and a ZizelClaire post, though the latter could be interpreted as not a ship post, so. I also don't post tooo much about the childhood trio together but I have a few times and I know I have at least quite a few followers who are SiriNoelClaire enjoyers.

I'll let you be the judge for yourself on how much these potential biases impacted the survey.

CG Usage

Some images have been cropped (the big ED images were cropped into CG size). I assuuumeee this is okay with the editing guidelines considering profile icons and banners are allowed and those are just cropped images, and the images are also displayed at this size within the game itself.

I tried to find good CGs for every character and pairing but some of the CGs are not ideal because there just weren't many good ones to pull from. Apologies in advance. (Once I play Wilardo's Conclusion, if there are any better options for a CG than what I put, I'll update the post to have those, but that might be a few days.)

There are and most likely never will be CGs or even good images of Monster Daniel, who got a vote. I put a cropped image of the only art that exists of him - I again hope that's okay with editing guidelines...

There are no CGs of Claire and Invective together as of now, so for their ship I had to put one of Invective possessing Claire.

There's only one WilSiri CG as of now, and we got votes for both platonic and romantic WilSiri, so unfortunately I had to put a CG that has Claire in it for one of them. ...There was also a vote for Claire/Sirius/Wilardo, so just so you don't mixed up, make sure to read the ship names and not just look at the images.

Results

We got a total of forty-four responses! Thank you to everyone who responded!

If you're wondering why the count of votes for a question might not line up with the number of responses, it's because users were encouraged to skip questions in which they did not have particularly strong opinions.

Results are listed from least votes to most votes to build suspense!

Question 1: What is your favorite game?

3. Witch's Heart: Unknown Past, Dorothy's Secret -Conclusion- (9 votes)

2. Witch's Heart (13 votes)

1. Witch's Heart -Bonus Stage- (20 votes)

Question 2: What is your favorite OP?

4. Inno-Syndrome (2 votes)

3. Voice of Glamour (6 votes)

2. DANCE (13 votes)

1. Moon and Wolf (15 votes)

Question 3: What is your favorite ED?

5. COSMOS (1 vote)

4. Tin Coffee Maker (3 votes)

3. Outrunning Sunset (4 votes)

2. Luna (8 votes)

1. Silver Boat (17 votes)

Question 4: Who is your favorite character? (Overall scores)

I asked for the top 5 characters. This count takes answers from all 5 questions into account, going by a point system which gives characters answered as the first favorite the most value and characters answered as the fifth favorite the least.

Worth noting, someone put two characters for their second place vote (Claire and Noel). That wasn't really supposed to happen, but until that happened, I hadn't clarified in the survey you could only put one character, so because that was my bad, I did count that as a legitimate vote for both of them.

First favorite: 5 points Second favorite: 4 points Third favorite: 3 points Fourth favorite: 2 points Fifth favorite: 1 point

12. Invective (1 point)

11. Daniel (2 points)

10. Dorothy Elford (6 points)

9. Charlotte (13 points)

8. Rouge (16 points)

7. Lime (23 points)

6. Zizel (29 points)

5. Wilardo Adler (72 points)

4. Ashe Bradley (92 points)

3. Claire Elford (118 points)

2. Sirius Gibson (123 points)

1. Noel Levine (134 points)

Continued in the next part.

[happypledis]

I feel like this year for seventeen has been 😑 u know like they haven't really accomplish anything like they did last year, like they don't get invited to places, i think it's cause no one talks about them like ever it's once in the blue, no one really know them which makes me believe things people say about them now. when people attack them I don't defend svt cause I think it's true, i think really low about svt, I think for the awards shows it's just gonna be sad cause we aren't gonna win

anon, I’m gonna be frank here. This negativity is unnecessary. Comparing Seventeen to other groups (though technically comparison is not mentioned by name, the spirit behind this and all the negative asks I’ve gotten is) is always going to be pointless. I’m not mad at you, I still feel like I know who you are and you know I like you, but I don’t like this attitude from you!If you’re who I think you are, I still respect you, I just don’t want to hear such negative thinking from you. It’s time to think positively, okay? And please, avoid these “people”, because 1. toxic atmospheres aren’t worth it 2. If you’re who I think you are you potentially have depression and you don’t need anything to hurt you as you focus on recovery, 3. they’re probably lowkey jealous about Seventeen’s success and think of them as a threat.

My responses will be in bold. I hope you will respond to this.

I feel like this year for seventeen has been 😑 (what represents a good year for you, then?)  u know like they haven’t really accomplish anything like they did last year (what’s different about their achievements, in your opinion?), like they don’t get invited to places, (um… -Seungkwan: fixed guest on Unexpected Q + over 3 solo appearances-DK: at least 2 solo show appearances (Ranking Show 1 2 3 and a karaoke busking here)-Mingyu: 2-3 time guest on Master Key plus other appearances I can’t remember-Mingyu and DK: special Weekly Idol dog episode-Mingyu and Seungkwan: Battle Trip + Happy Together-Jeonghan and Seungkwan an appearance on a swimming show-Joshua and Wonwoo: Weekly Idol rebranding episode-Joshua, Wonwoo, Seungcheol: While the Teacher was Asleep-Vernon: Happy Together-Hoshi: Creaking Heroes, Amazing Saturday [idk if that’s the name or what, that’s my personal translation]; Hello Counselor with Seungkwan-China and American line both were/are parts of shows in China -all of Seventeen got Seventeen Club, Immortal Stages, countless radio shows, Idol Room, Abema, an entire 2 or more Japanese episodes of shows dedicated to them, and more! This is just the stuff that comes to my mind), think it’s cause no one talks about them like ever it’s once in the blue, (not true) no one really know them (also not true, search “idols dancing to seventeen” and so many videos will pop up; as for fans, their fan cafe is the 10th biggest, which only counts the fans who have registered to join) which makes me believe things people say about them now (don’t! hopefully this changes your mind). when people attack them I don’t defend svt cause I think it’s true (it’s fine not to defend them honestly, sometimes I don’t have the energy or time or even, say, a social media account on that platform... but honestly they’re wrong, really, and at the least we can all link to refutes other people have written), i think really low about svt, (please stop, honestly, if you’re who I think you are I know despite your opinions you still love them, so you shouldn’t think lowly of them)  I think for the awards shows it’s just gonna be sad cause we aren’t gonna win (we’ve won multiple awards every year including their debut year 2015, 21 awards to be exact…so, the odds are in our favor, don’t you think?)

Seventeen is big. I’m honestly tired of hearing stuff like this. The groups Seventeen are usually being compared to are Exo and BTS. Exo debuted in 2012. BTS debuted in 2013. Seventeen debuted in 2015. At debut Exo were literally considered flops and apparently fans say they got popular in June 2013 with the xoxo album (Growl). BTS were considered failures for 2 years, basically gaining their popularity in 2015.However… Seventeen has never been a failure, their debut honestly was more popular than either of those groups’ were. They’ve never been called failures in the industry--only by stan twitter who are blinded by the success of their older groups and aren’t researching further so they have no idea. Seventeen has top 5 sales of male groups right now. They’re only under BTS, Exo, Wanna One, and Super Junior. All these groups but W1 have 2 or more years of experience on them.

I just read a post where someone said they think something that makes BTS, for example, stand out is that Armys respond to hate towards BTS in a way that brings the fandom closer together and even basically makes it even larger. Although sometimes army’s methods are bad, I honestly wish carats had this dedication. Seventeen doesn’t deserve the negativity they get, do they? I want to ask you personally to stop fighting against Seventeen and start fighting for them.

[dreamy-dusk]

MY QUEENDOM 2 FINAL THOUGHTS

(I should've totally made a bingo card...)

--------------------------------------------

I literally can't find my original post so ima just post it here

(You'll need to expand the left one to see my thoughts before the show started. The edited stuff was after I saw the openers tho)

And as I write this, the right is the current results (I say this since apparently the votes were rigged?)

I guess Hyolyn, Viviz and Brave Girls were pretty predictable? Since I ended up getting most of what I said right

And I even got the loona units correct! So don't mind if I pat myself on the back

Oh, and there were a lot more dance breaks than I thought, when that should've been obvious 😅

Other than that though...

I'm surprised how much power the fans had.

And by that I mean how kep1er kept getting low scores, since, you know, they're mnets baby. But I'm glad they didn't favor them.

But a good thing can also be a bad thing...

There were times when I though "why did this performance get a higher score that this one?" And I think it is solely based on the fans voting for them. Which is sad! But I'll explain it later

And lastly

I don't know Korean. Which I feel is important if you want to know the true impact of these songs. So maybe there is a reason a song/performance did a thing. But since I don't know the meaning of the song, it will go over my head.

My Rankings VS Actual Rank :

Round 1

Hyolyn vs Hyolyn

Wjsn vs Wjsn

Viviz vs Viviz

Brave Girls vs Kep1er

Kep1er vs Brave Girls

Loona

My individual thoughts :

Hyolyn: Amazing use of the stage!! It really did feel like she was a host of a party! And she is an amazing performer, so honestly I think she deserved 1st

Wjsn: I personally found their storyline to be too complex. The fact that I had to watch the episode and the bts to understand it isn't good. But the fact that they kept their cool despite the slippery situation shows their professionalism!! So major props!! (Honestly i didnt know the hourglass wasn't supposed to break until they mentioned it in the episode). The dancers and the choreo really shined in this performance. Overall it was very entertaining!!

Viviz: R1 performance was great. Points for nostalgia (when I first watched it I teared up 😢). But minus points for only using the bottom floor, so it looked a little plain.

Brave Girls: I liked it, but I was confused where they were going with it. Or what the concept was (if they had one?). I also liked the dance break. They have great energy!

Kep1er: The Kep1er members are amazing dancers, but when it came to the stage itself, it was VERY plain. Especially when compared to the others. Also (i'm nitpicking) some of the effects wouldn't be seen if you were an audience member, so minus points for that.

Loona: THE CONCEPT! THE SONG ARRANGEMENT!! I love it!!! And the bridge of the song sounds so sentimental. Granted at moments it kinda looked like their dancing was soft. But other than that, it really was a beautiful performance! Sad they didn't perform on the previous stage though; it would've looked AMAZING!

Round 2

Hyolyn vs Hyolyn

Loona vs Loona

Brave girls vs Wjsn

Viviz vs Viviz

Kep1er vs Kep1er

Wjsn vs Brave Girls

Individual thoughts:

Hyolyn: I feel this is so different than her usual stuff, but she did AMAZING!! She did the song justice while also staying true to herself. Also in this performance you can really see how good she is at being hyped and energized!

Loona: very entertaining and cute!! I love what they did with the song! Can't stop watching it!!!

Brave Girls: THIS WAS SUPER COOL!! I basically knew what they were going for, it was entertaining, and the song sounded great! What more could you ask for?! It deserved better

Viviz: I love the outfits, the concept, the song arrangement, and the choreo!! It sad that Eunha(?) couldn't nail her trick, but other than that it was a great performance!

Kep1er: I didn't really get the connection between the Alice in Wonderland concept and the song (at the beginning) but the rest of the ocean/sea themed stuff was cool! Definitely a lot better than R1

Wjsn: they had me at that first half, not gonna lie. And by that I mean the concept looked cool at the beginning, but as soon as they started singing it's all cute? It was so sudden I couldn't concentrate on the rest of the performance. They should've kept the song intense the whole way through. Also their outfits and the dancers outfits looked ugly together; the colors didn't match. (Also when I first watched it I felt the background didn't match their theme. But idk if I still feel that way)

Vocal Units

BraveHyolyn vs VivizWjsn

VivizWjsn vs BraveHyolyn

LoonaKep1 vs LoonaKep1

Individual Thoughts:

All of them sang amazingly, so this was kinda hard to decide. I could listen to these songs all day!

BraveHyolyn: they have really strong voices, it really makes you emotional. And even the stage, although simple, made an impact!

VivizWjsn: their stage was so beautiful!! It really left an impression!

LoonaKep1: don't get me wrong, those harmonies were amazing! I just feel their stage paled in comparison to the other groups.

Dance Units

BraveLoona vs BraveLoona

WjsnHyolyn vs WjsnHyolyn

VivizKep1 vs VivizKep1

Individual thoughts:

BraveLoona: perfect, amazing, can't get enough of it. They executed and embodied the style so well!! I'm proud of these girls!!!

WjsnHyolyn: it was a simple dance but they really brought it to life with their energy! It made it very exciting to watch

VivizKep1: I don't know whose fault it is, but the lighting didn't do them justice. At times you couldn't see what they were doing, and other times they blended in with the background. Which made all of their hard work pointless. It's a shame

Round 3 (Fan Performance)

Loona vs Brave Girls

Brave Girls vs Wjsn

Kep1er vs Loona

Wjsn vs Hyolyn

Hyolyn vs Kep1er

Viviz vs Viviz

Individual thoughts:

(My thought process - Yes it's a song PICKED by the fans, but is it a song SENTIMENTAL to the fans. With that said)

Loona: Okay look, I'm an orbit! Butterfly means so much to Orbits! Which is the point of this round!! It's for the fans!!! It made me CRY! SO IT DID ITS JOB!!! (BUT i COULD see why people didn't like it. Which is understandable. But again I'm their fan, so I really felt they hit the mark with this performance.) Also this version of the song sounds so beautiful?!?!

Brave Girls: this round felt like it was made for them! It was so sad but also inspiring. The concept of the glass shoe was also beautiful. I feel they did so much better than the previous rounds and also had a lot more fun. It really showed!! This one also made me tear up even though I don't know them that well. This performance was truly an appreciation for their fans; I loved it!!

Kep1er: DUDE IM SO SADDDDD 😭😭😭!!! THEY DID FRICKEN AWESOME!! SINGING, DANCING, STAGE, STAGE PRESSENCE, CONCEPT!!! THEY HAD IT ALL! THEY DESERVED BETTER AND I HOPE THEY KNOW HOW SUPERB THEY DID 😭

Wjsn: I love the creativeness of this stage!! Very entertaining! I also like what they did with the song! Granted I felt it got a little hectic at the end. For example you couldn't see the hanging dancers because of the smoke. But yeah, overall impressive!

Hyolyn: I really liked how she brought her fan/bae(?) into the dance. And hyolyn really has amazing stage presence. (And I get it, she's summer queen) But we already saw her near an ocean ... (but I really like this song so idk how to feel 😔) also the dance break kinda felt forced (but idk I might be nitpicking)

Viviz: they tried to sing and dance but it ended up looking bad. I think it would've been better if they were lip syncing. Or maybe i don't like how it looks like they're just standing around/barely moving;(And i know that's how the dance originally is like, but it looks so plain) it just looks boring. (I'm nitpicking the end of the performance ->) Plus for such a cute concept you'd think they'd have more energy in their voice. Their dancers were amazing tho and I feel they really carried this performance. Lol literally I guess 😅

Comeback Stage (edited)

First Impression vs Final Impression

Hyolyn vs Hyolyn

Kep1er vs Kep1er

Loona vs Viviz

Viviz vs Brave Girls

Wjsn vs Loona

Brave Girls vs Wjsn

Of course we won't know what rank they actually got, since people were voting before they performed (me). But this is how I'd rank them

Overall I loved all of their comeback songs!! So I'm not basing my opinion on that

Hyolyn: She really knows how to make a stage interesting to look at!! And Lee Young Ji didn't take away from Hyolyns performance. In fact I'd say she perfectly meshed in/it felt so natural!! And also Hyolyn FELL!?!?! ALTHOUGH EXTREMELY DANGEROUS, she was the only one to do something interesting with the lift, so extra points for that!! Also I love that she references "touch my body" at the end. I LOVED IT; IT HAD EVERYTHING!!

Kep1er: Holy moly they are intense dancers!! Their facials are great! And they have amazing charisma!(is that the right word? Regardless they're amazing!) The set was pretty simple but their dancing made up for it!

Loona: they looked so cool!! (Also I DID listen to the song on Spotify, so when they changed it up it caught me off guard!) They really know how to capture your attention!! This stage was also simple but they made it feel like so much more, maybe cuz there's more members but whatever. (Honestly I have nothing else to say, this left me speechless!!)

Viviz: I really liked this one! It felt very unique and quirky; just a super fun and pretty performance!! (Also sounds like a IU song/very cute)(idk I like Alice in Wonderland concepts so I might be biased lol) Although I wonder why they don't use all of the stage? Is it so everyone can see them?

Wjsn: I really liked the beginning! And the dancing was beautiful. But I felt it was lacking. Their outfits looked like they were gonna dance something more intense so I guess it left me wanting more? But other than that it really was a nice performance!!

Brave Girls: I had to look away at one point, it was too scandalous for me 😂! It's a very fun performance!! But they also didn't use all of the stage so minus 1 point (I really am just making excuses tho)

EDIT!! Even as I write this I still don't know what place to rank these performances. They are making me question what a good stage looks like. And it's really hard not being biased with loona so idk the real difference between my feelings and my tunnel vision/heart-shaped glasses. Like "are they actually cool looking, or do I just think they are?" It's been a struggle. Here's the proof 👇

Welp that's (finally) it! I can't wait for their reunion!! And I'll be cheering for them all!!!

Extra: I ended up biasing a few of them

Kep1er:

Hikaru is so funny I swear. And she's an amazing performer!! Can't wait to see more of her.

And Kim Chae Hyun is such an amazing singer!! I just want to hear her sing forever!!!

Wjsn:

Soobin and Yeonjung are such beautiful singers; they really shined in that unit performance! I'm also excited to hear more of them!!

And now I know all of the Viviz members names! So that's cool!

Last thing - Taeyeon and Lee Yong-Jin did great as hosts for the show. Idk how it compares to the first season, but they were pretty funny and entertaining while also making sure to make the girls comfortable!!

OKAY THAT'S IT FOR REAL

[spockandawe]

Hi....If you don't mind me asking, who are your favorite MXTX characters (top 5 from each novel)? And why? I'm sorry if you've answered this question before.

It’s absolutely no problem at all!! I don’t think I’ve been asked this before, but hey, I also have zero object permanence, so it keeps things fresh and new. And it’s interesting to see how my answers change over time! Lemme see, I think I’m going to go in reverse order, because I feel like then I’ll be doing the worst agonizing up front.

TGCF

Fifth favorite: YIN. YU. I know that he’s a minor character and him even making it onto the list is pretty solid performance, but I do feel guilty that he isn’t higher than this. He came out of nowhere in my first reading and punched me in the stomach with emotions. I find his sections so hard to read, and I was DEVASTATED when he died and BEYOND stoked to find out he was still alive in the extras. His story hurts so much! I am weak against characters who have relatively modest goals and still see them snatched away (see also: my next entry) and have to struggle on. I wish wish wish I had a way to see more of how he made his peace with things after being thrown out of heaven, and the nature of the (distant) relationship with Hua Cheng and what happens with Quan Yizhen now that he died in his arms, and still came back anyways, my god!

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Fourth favorite:  He Xuannnnnn. I have a hard time articulating particulars, but. I love him a lot. I love a character with a grudge, with a deep, painful grudge, where the grudge is hurting him almost as much as it’s hurting the people around him, and setting the grudge aside would also hurt, and then what has any of this been for-- I've used this metaphor for other characters, but I don’t care if I’m overusing it, because I love it. He feels like a character caught in a thorn bush, where simply being there... hurts, but trying to escape or move in any ways is going to hurt worse, and there’s no path forward that doesn’t involve pain. And like... I don’t love the way he hurt Shi Qingxuan (who didn’t quite make this list adfasgdafsd I’M SORRY) but I wouldn’t have liked to see him swallow back down all that pain and set aside everything that happened to his family and fiancee either! I’m always, always soft for characters who have no good path forward and who grit their teeth and set out anyways.

.

Third favorite: MU QING!!!!!!!!!! I have done... extensive screaming about him. And I love him veryvery much. I can already tell that this list is going to have a lot of mean boys on it, and like... no regrets. Especially since this is one of my FAVORITE flavors, an unapologetic mean boy who is rarely (but sometimes!) soft for the people around him, and who regularly tries to do decently by people, but who consistently gets shat upon and misunderstood and accused of acting in bad faith. I screamed when he and Xie Lian finally got to talk their friendship out in the book. I also screamed when I realized how immediately after Xie Lian’s return he started looking out for him again, and how sincerely, despite his horrible attitude about it. I still want to write more fic for him so badly. I love him so much.

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Second favorite: Xie Lian! What a good boy! The best boy! He’s so sweet and gentle, but also the best fightboy this world has ever seen, and also so gently snarky with the people he loves! I just... really love me some traumatized characters who have trouble recognizing that they can be Loved, and I’m not going to write this whole essay right now, but I think in some ways, he’s the most... passive about his romance, out of all the leads? Shen Qingqiu is aggressively oblivious, but Xie Lian kind of gently shrugs off the idea that he might be Hua Cheng’s special someone, until he finally gets hit with the cluestick. I generally shy away from the idea of a character “earning” love, but he’s maybe the mxtx character who moves me most with ‘you deserve to be loved’

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Most favorite: Hua Cheng. HUA CHENG. Oh my god, gotta love this boy. Gotta love this devotion. I love a mean boy who is soft for one person, and he EMBODIES it. I mean, I love Shen Jiu, but he barely manages to do the soft thing at all, while Hua Cheng is over here like ‘if I could only be the stone beneath your feet--’ It’s hard to talk about him separately from Xie Lian, because they’re a unit in my head more than just about any other characters on this list are. I don’t want to get this list to get out of control, so I’m not going to scream for too long, but... I could just watch him go forever. I want to write him forever, and that’s a huge aspect of what draws me to some characters.

MDZS

Oh god, I think I lied, I think this book is going to be hardest. Making these choices is AGONIZING.

Fifth favorite: .....Lan Wangji. Oh god, I feel bad about how low he is. But this story is just packed SO full of wonderful characters, and I’m already consumed with guilt over all the characters who aren’t going to make it. I don’t love them less! But my love for characters in this particular story is very evenly distributed. And I think that Wang Yibo’s acting is possibly scoring points with me that the book might not have earned all by itself. Microexpressions and subtle body language add SO MUCH to a character with such flat affect, and I would be drawn to such a closed-off character anyways, but it really helps. And I love, like... the combined subtlety and intensity of his relationships. It’s not that subtle once you know what to look for, and the brother/sworn brother network makes for varying degrees of how much other characters understand of the things he chooses not to explicitly express, and it gives a really interesting character to the way he interacts with the people around him. Also, love me a man with intense separation anxiety.

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Fourth favorite: Jiang Yanli? I think it has to be Jiang Yanli, but these rankings are hard. So. I just talked about how much I enjoy the flat affect and closed off nature of Lan Wangji? Well, guess what, I also love it when m’girl is just very GENUINELY AND OPENLY an absolute sweetheart of a person, and I love the contrast between her genuinely kind nature and the uncomfortable pressure that her family’s dynamics put on her to start parenting at a very young age. It’s not necessarily a happy situation, but she adores her brothers so much and they adore her so much! And it’s... a very understated element of the story, but after her parents died, her baby brothers went off to war, and one wreaked havoc as a straightforward commander and one of them disappeared for months and returned as a creepy-ass zombie puppeteer. And she STILL dotes on them like before, despite knowing what they’re capable of. Like, yes, Wei Wuxian just raised an army of corpses and forced a man to eat himself, but I shall still boop him on the nose and feed him Soup. How can I not adore energy like that?

.

Third favorite: Wei Wuxian, I think. I do adore him a lot. He gives me some of the same vibes that make me ache most with Xie Lian, where he is trying his best, and is struggling to hold on in the face of lots of suffering, and I find it really interesting that when the suffering peaked, Xie Lian was forced go on because he couldn’t die, while Wei Wuxian... expired. That line about ‘he thought that no matter how large the world was, there was still no place for him’ always sticks with me, and hurts me deeply. Xie Lian had most of his personal attachments stripped away, and was left to wander on his own, while Wei Wuxian still had a number of strong connections left, but abruptly exited life. And that informs their respective trauma so interestingly! The way Wei Wuxian bounces between high energy chaos and drained exhaustion is really fascinating to me, and was the thread that held me attached to the book through a very confusing beginning. And I’m still very drawn to how intensely he loves, whether it’s Xiao Zhan’s fantastic acting, or it’s him busting out with how much he wants Lan Wangji in the middle of the Guanyin Temple scene. He’s a fantastic character, honestly, I don’t think such a convoluted book would have held together very well without a protagonist this strong.

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Second favorite: Xue Yang :X Look, he’s a good boy and I love him. Who among us hasn’t done a few mass murders that we are completely unrepentant about, but that we would really like to keep hidden from our current boyfriend, actually? Anyways, as always, love me an angry boy who makes terrible decisions for understandable reasons. And I do love a character who is consumed by agonized ragrets (see my next entry), but I DO also love me a character who has no regrets at all and doesn’t even have much interest in trying to justify himself to anyone else around him. Just look at that confidence! Look at him go!!

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Most favorite: Jiang... Cheng....... I knew he and Xue Yang were going to be at the top, but those were the only parts of this list that were easy. I mean. Love a self-sabotaging angryboy who is also super super sad and keeps hurting himself in his own confusion. And while I love the romantic thread in all of the mxtx books, the agonized family thread in mdzs is one of my favorite parts, and something that I don’t really see echoed in any of the other stories. I need ten million jc+wwx reconciliations, at LEAST. He’s so sad! And so angry! And I want to see him becoming less of that thing, and for Jin Ling and Wei Wuxian to demonstrate very firmly how much they love him, because they do. I am invested in his happiness in a way that goes far and beyond any of the other non-main characters, haha

SVSSS

Fifth favorite: Tianlang-jun. I think? Oh god, but moshang. THIS IS REALLY HARD, I HATE THIS ;-; But especially since writing my fic, Tianlang-jun has really won me over. And like, he already hurt me good in the novel, just thinking about how he was an innocent young guy, just! Trying to have a girlfriend! And instead got trapped in sensory deprivation, body-rotting-hell for twenty years, when he didn’t do anything wrong!!! He suffered, so much! And I live for his intensely strained relationship with Luo Binghe, because it’s! Perfectly understandable and painful, from both of their perspectives! And he wants to hate humans so badly, but in the end, when he’s told that Su Xiyan never betrayed him, he starts helplessly asking the people around him, ‘really? is it really true?’ and then in the end he loses the only family member he has left who cares about him, and it’s just! Everything is terrible! I have a su xiyan au brewing in my head because I can’t stand it! Someone just give this man a loving partner!!!

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Fourth favorite: Shen Qingqiu. But... moshang??? Goddammit. Anyways, this dumbass. I find him so endearing, in his dumbassery. I sometimes get a bit frustrated with Wei Wuxian for being oblivious, and Shen Qingqiu is just asking for me to react the same way, but I... don’t, for the most part? Because he thinks he has good information, and he’s slow to react to a changing playing field, and I still haven’t read another transmigration novel that strikes the same balance of hypercompetence and intense incompetence :ppp It’s a funny book, and he’s a funny character! And I really vibe with him, in most parts of the story, which covers a pretty darn wide emotional spectrum. Plus, the running internal commentary is choice.

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Third favorite: Liu Qingge. Look, I’m a woman of simple needs, and sometimes I just need a high-quality fightboy who clearly cares deeply and is absolute garbage at expressing his emotions. I can’t articulate it much better than that. I absolutely howl at the succubus extra, when Shen Qingqiu is talking to Madam Meiyin about his future partner, and Liu Qingge is like ‘oh my god, sHE IS CLEARLY DESCRIBING ME’ and Shen Qingqiu is like ‘haha, liu-shidi, i thought you thought this was stuupidddddddd’. They’re both so dumb. I love them so much. But stupidity plus war god fighting energy has a narrow lead over stupidity and internal commentary track.

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Second favorite: SHEN JIU. GOD. I’m still arguing with myself over whether he should go first, but Luo Binghe hurts me consistently through the whole entire story, so I think he wins. Shen Jiu just stabs me in the heart at strategic moments. This is it. My ideal mean boy who is soft for one (1) person, and who BOTH does unconscionable things for terrible reasons (someone just. give him a pile of girls to teach, it will be much more pleasant for everyone involved), and who ALSO gets blamed for things he didn’t do even when he tries to act in good faith. It is the best of all painful worlds. And even at the end, when he has a powerful person who wants desperately to protect him, he still tries his hardest to shove that person away, to keep him safe. I’ve got like four aus where he gets to live. I’m so invested in this character, I love him so much.

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Most favorite: Luo Binghe. He was.... made for me............ Like, the overwhelming amounts of childhood angst were baked in by Shang Qinghua, but the in-story pain and suffering is PRECISELY my jam. I love a character with separation anxiety! I love a character with massive anxieties over being unwanted! Over nobody ever, EVER just choosing him! I love a character struggling with the idea that the person he loves most in the world thinks that he’s intrinsically Disgusting! I love the kind of stubborn determination that leads him to preserve a corpse for five years, desperately hoping for a way to revive it, constantly cooking fresh food, in case, in case he someday wakes up. The way Hua Cheng loves is overpowering, but he’s had time to like... learn to be mellow when he needs to be. Luo Binghe doesn’t have a chill bone in his body, and if he’s acting chill, it’s probably because he’s done some mental math and decided that being more clingy right now will probably get him pushed away harder. I love the combination of manipulative tendencies and a very, very genuine fear of rejection and being unwanted. There is nothing I don’t love about Luo Binghe, including his worst decisions. I love him so so much.