#OKAY I'M DONE WITH MY RAMBLE ABOUT TURNING CHARACTERS INTO VILLAINS-

[peppermintstarsonamintyway]

Elder Faerie watching Bengin Butter sacrificing herself to resurrect White Lily, i'm sure he will be normal and not go though some sort of villain arc :3 /silly

Totally will not go through any kind of villain arc, surely!

Pay no mind to the screams of the damned in the background of this message! /silly

[purplekoop]

How about a classic? Reverse Unpopular Opinion: TMNT 2012

oh god, okay, this really is easy mode, I gotta say nice things about TMNT 2012. I gotta hold off some praises for the long overdue Things I Love (paused my rewatch because I meant to make a season 1 post, never got around to that so I stopped because I didn't wanna watch more past that. oops. anyways,)

Theme Song! Very good! Very nice evolution of the classic theme that perfectly sets the vibe for the show. I don't think I need to specify that the Season 5 theme is also incredible. An incredibly random choice for an homage, but still an awesome intro that helps set apart the weirdo (affectionate) season.

Uhhhh god wanna keep these more specific so uhhh Leatherhead. Just him. the whole guy. Love his voice, LOVE his design, love how the show uses him as the "things are getting serious" backup in the earlier seasons. He's one of the characters I was always excited to see in episodes as a kid and that feeling hasn't really gone away.

On a related note of just saying a character, Fishface. Visually he's a great example of how 2012 will take a goofy concept and make it look and move as cool as possible, it's astounding a character proportioned like that fights mostly with his feet and doesn't look stupid. Well. Too stupid anyways. He's also a fun personality, enough a jerk to warrant being a bad guy but charming enough to where you almost wish he wasn't. Also, without spoiling any specifics, the way he exits the show still cracks me up. I think the whole Foot Clan villain gang is a great batch of mainstay baddies but Fishface is definitely the standout to me, especially as someone entirely new to 2012 (unless I'm unaware of some obscure comic character of the same name)

Tales of the Yokai. banger episode. Especially the big scene at the end. I don't need to specify what I mean, you know it if you know it.

The whole first half of season 3 is so fun. The classic farm house being turned into a setting of horror parodies is such a fun choice that they use for a bunch of great episodes that don't have to keep the main plot going after the big bang of season 2's finale.

Actually on that note, the canon explanation for Leo's VA swap is so funny, more shows should do that. I mean I guess in a way Doctor Who already does that... and like. Fugitoid in almost every sense but literal is basically a Doctor.

Speaking of

FUGITOOOOIIIIIIID THE BOY

Look I feel like it's not a shock at all I love a good overly formal robot character. Before his introduction in 2012 I already adored him from seeing him sporadically in a few 03 episodes I saw, so I was ECSTATIC to see him in this show too. He's also just great in general, maybe my favorite character in the entire show if not franchise, I love this little guy war criminal so much

Gonna stop there because this WILL devolve into me either incoherently rambling about almost every individual character or just an analysis about all the major show elements like the art style or humor or something. Again, this is easy, except in the respect I need to save something for the actual long post about the show.

Actually wait okay one more:

armagon.

shark :)

Okay now I'm done, thank you.

[accirax]

Disventure Camp All Stars Power Ranking (Round 14)

With last episode's elimination weighing heavy upon us, I'm at a bit of a loss as to what will happen next. Still, I have to stick to it, and hope I'll be luckier with this week's upcoming ranking.

In case you haven't seen my previous power rankings, the Power Ranking Format is essentially a way of ranking how well each player is doing in the game. So, in essence, this is a long form way of predicting who I think will be eliminated from the competition in the next episode. There will be spoilers for last week's episode (obviously) and its power ranking, so make sure to read that first if you don't want to be spoiled on how I ranked our last boot. If you want more clarification on the rules, that first post will help you out as well. Furthermore, I'm going to be spoiling the preview for next episode, so if you want to go in TOTALLY blind, save this for later. Let's go!

Recap - Gabby's Elimination

Current Score: 61 acquired/90 total

(Points versus @venus-is-thinking: 12 acquired/17 total)

Oh boy.

Look, I already rambled about how weird it is that Gabby was eliminated in this manner in my initial thoughts, so I won't waste my time writing the whole thing out again. It is true that Gabby already had a pretty complete character arc (going from insecurely relying on Ellie 100% to being afraid of what would happen when she was alone to overcoming her intrusive thoughts), so I can understand why the writers thought it would be okay to get rid of her now. I-- and I think a lot of others-- aren't so much upset with Gabby being eliminated as with the fashion in which it was done. Certainly for these power rankings, throwing in an elimination without voting was not something that I'd accounted for.

Thankfully I did well enough on Yul's elimination that how poorly I did with Gabby kinda got canceled out. Although, it also means that I wasn't able to reap the benefits of getting a 9/9 last week, and am now back in the 70% accuracy zone, though. Sigh. I fear that it won't get any better from here.

Let's just hope that there's an ACTUAL VOTE THIS WEEK HAHAHAHAHAHA (/lh)

Trailer Analysis

Ally pulling herself up into this tree and then Grett seeing a leaf falling from above makes me think that Ally might hide in a tree to spy on people, and Grett might spot her doing it. Embrace that Spy Nest, Ally.

EMILY???? MAYBE?????? Idk, I just miss her so much and I want her to come back.

Idol hunting, maybe? Or trying to spook people into thinking there's an idol to be found?

I assume this is actually Derek trying to check up on Trevor/see if he's okay, he's just doing it in his own Derek way.

It even seems like Trevor and Derek might both be serving as challenge tester interns for this challenge, which would add to the reading that Derek wants to make amends with Trevor.

Friendship! :D Death flag? D:

I hope that this is Jake telling Connor to get his head in the game instead of just yelling at him for no reason. If you're angry at him for being mopey, you're being a bit of a hypocrite, Jake.

Okay yeah, more treevidence.

This is a pretty standard strength-based Survivor challenge. Although, much like the balls challenge, this was also one that was discontinued for injuring the real life contestants too much. It's interesting to note that, for some reason, Connor's light turns red instead of being blue at some point in the challenge. It could just be an indicator that he makes it farther into the challenge (he's shown with eight bags instead of four). However, it could also be some sort of penalty, including one that starts at the beginning of the challenge.

To quote Venus, "IT'S THE BREAK CONNOR'S LEGS CHALLENGE???"

"I'm starting to feel like myself again~!"

This is presumably about Grett returning to her more villainous ways. Ironic, considering that she's just left the villains alliance, or at the very least it's less powerful now than it's ever been. I guess Yul and Gabby were both keeping Grett in check, in their own ways. Still, I missed s1 Grett, so hopefully we can get a bit of that flavor back in this end stretch. Also, this is the only scene we see with sunset lighting. That means that this scene is definitely the last chronological scene to appear in the trailer, and probably from after the challenge is over.

Power Ranking

#1: Grett

Speaking of Grett, let's keep talking about her.

Although I think Grett is in a much less safe position than she was before Yul or Gabby's elimination, I would still be surprised if she was the next to go. Obviously, I said that about Gabby too, but Gabby's elimination also strengthens Grett's position. Would they really eliminate Yul and Gabby AND Grett back to back to back? I sincerely hope not.

There also seems to be a lot of foreshadowing that Grett will be in a position of power/decision making in this episode. Last time, she said that she wouldn't forget that Alec and Riya continued to stand by Yul, and this time, she's clearly getting up to some sort of scheming. Obviously, it's possible for a character's own meddling to wind up taking them out in the end. However, I don't think that's what they'd want to do with Grett right now. She doesn't need to have what power she's finally managed to accrue swept out from underneath her again.

Oh, and she just told Gabby that she'd kick ass in the competition for her. That's not something you say right before getting cancelled yourself. Grett really should be okay.

#2: Jake

And, sure, why don't we put my other best winner candidate in the #2 position as well? If I think these guys could make the finale (together, even), then surely they have to make it past this episode, right?

I am a little bit worried for Jake, as there is definitely potential for Ally to shoot some votes his way. I'm almost expecting him to get some votes this episode, I just don't think it'll be enough to have any effect on him. Given his growing relationships with Aiden and Connor, I don't think that either of them would really ever vote for Jake at this point. That means, that, assuming all three of them vote together, Jake would need literally every single person in the game-- Alec, Riya, Grett, and Ally-- to vote for him in order to have a majority. Like I said, I am a little worried that that could happen, but overall, I don't think it will.

Despite the level of focus Jake has gotten this season, I still feel like there's more to come with him. I think the writers might want to expand more on his relationship with Connor, with both of them feeling like screw-ups, and Aiden and Jake's newly friendly dynamic is super fun to watch. In either case, as is probably evident by the fact that we haven't seen Connor or Aiden on this list yet, I think that Jake is the least narratively expendable of the true heroes. If you removed him, Aiden and Connor don't have much tying them together. Jake is the lynchpin of that alliance from a storytelling standpoint, and I think they'll want to keep him around for that reason.

#3: Connor

Okay, potentially a bold choice, given how many death flags Connor was throwing up at the end of last episode. You can't just spill your entire backstory in a heartfelt conversation, dude, you're gonna die. And now he's in the #3 spot that's been cursed by Gabby?! Now I'm really second guessing myself...

I do think that Connor's clock might not have ticked its final tock yet, though. Despite the fact that I honestly think it's more likely that he's been impaired (probably by Riya) in this challenge than that they spoiled that he makes it to some sort of second round, I still think Connor might win. Sure, in the superhero challenge, he wanted super strength; it's not that he had it already. But, who else is supposed to win this challenge? Twink 1 or 2? The gamer girl, or the depressed bookworm? Riya's snappable-looking arms?

My money's on Grett if not Connor, but I think that Connor winning immunity this episode would be an appropriate level of win for him after the rough time he went through last episode. It would prove to him that he can be strong and have good things happen for him, even if the circumstances are actively stacked against him. Jake's supposed pep talk could also help get him in the proper mood, which could bring the two of them closer together.

It's also still true that I think that Aiden, Jake, and Connor is still the voting block that's most likely to work together in the upcoming vote, making it harder for the villains to get enough numbers to eliminate Connor. I could definitely see Riya and possibly Alec wanting to continue targeting him, and if Ally has become Riya's lackey, she could go along with it too. Grett, I don't really see, but... I can't deny it's a possibility.

Still, I find it unlikely enough that Connor will be immediately eliminated that he's at #3. Ugh, now I totally feel like I've jinxed it, and it will just be that Connor goes home again. C'est la vie, I guess. Use that old man strength to prosper, Connor!

#4: Aiden

Blah blah blah, Jake, Connor, and Aiden working together means that they're all less likely to be eliminated in this episode, you've heard it twice before immediately prior to this. I do think that Aiden is probably the most likely of the trio to be eliminated this episode, though, even if I can't exactly put my finger on why.

Part of it is probably that Aiden was a finalist before, which makes me less likely to think that he will be again. Aiden also already beat Riya via James in s2, so there isn't as much of a need to have him outlive/triumph over her again this time. Also, while we've debatably concluded Connor's character arc with that conversation at the end of last episode, it definitely feels like we're winding down on Aiden's content for the season. He's certainly made it far enough to appease James and Lake at this point, and that fist bump with Jake may be a signal that they are truly and undeniably friends at this point. If that's the case, why is Aiden still here?

To be honest, a big part of why I've put all of the heroes pretty high up this week is because of Grett's quote from the end of the trailer, the one about feeling like herself again. If Grett has started stirring up trouble, how is that supposed to result in Aiden going home? Or Jake or Connor, for that matter. Given that Ally has seemingly flipped over to the villains' side, Grett voting with them to take out a hero is, like, the default. What's so spicy about that? I mean, it's spicy that Ally is now voting with the villains, but that has nothing to do with Grett!

It is definitely possible that I'm overthinking things, and that continuing to work with the villains (but of her own volition instead of Yul's) is making Grett excited to be a bad guy again. If that's the case, I'll surely regret putting all of Jake, Connor, and Aiden in the upper echelons of the list. However, I feel like Grett is planning to scheme something beyond what's more obvious, and that it's more likely that she will turn on Alec and Riya to work with the hero boys instead. If that's true, then all of them really should be safe.

#5: Alec

Welcome back from the brink of death, Alec. Don't make me regret moving you back up.

Alec was taking an unprecedented number of Ls last episode, and I fear they may keep coming for him. But, if that's the case, it may actually make him less likely to go home. No longer having any power, Alec at least appears like much less of a threat. He is still a worry when it comes to physical challenges, but there's much more of an appearance, at least, that he could now be taken out whenever.

I also feel like taking him out right now would be a little random. Like, if you were gonna have him go out as a direct result of the kiss, it probably should have been last episode. The current timeline of events would be Alec kisses Riya, then the truth is revealed and there's a strain on their relationship, then Alec just waffles around for an episode or so before being eliminated. Why have that period of waffling around in? The same felt true of Ally, and then they picked her up for a new plotline and some continued relevance!

Everybody keeps reiterating to me in the comments that there desperately needs to be a true villain in the final three, and they'd never eliminate Alec before that point because they need him there to be a losing finalist. And, you know what? Fair. I don't know as much about how Total Drama works as I do about how Danganronpa works, so if that really is a rule that's written in stone, maybe I should start listening to the wise words of the more informed fans. I'm always a fan of messing with the rules to catch people off guard, and I personally would probably prefer a finale where I'm not already certain that one of the three finalists isn't going to win. (Like, let's be real, ONC knew to cut off the s2 finale part 1 at whether or not Aiden would be saved instead of whether James or Riya would win, because once James jumped off that cliff it was basically a foregone conclusion that he'd be the winner.) However, it's nice to have some villain representation in the finale as well, and maybe that still can be Alec.

#6: Riya

I don't have much specific to say about Riya, just, like... bad vibes.

I could completely see Grett's scheming be in an effort to get Riya out of the game. Currently, I think Riya reads as the biggest dog on campus, so if Grett is looking for her "game defining move" (to whatever extent that actually matters), it could totally make sense to target Riya. Now that Connor is moving towards moving on, all she has to do is say the word to Jake, Connor, and Aiden, and I'm sure they'd comply. The scheming would be to the extent that it's a blindside, and Riya doesn't realize that she lost hold on Grett to an extent that Grett would be looking to target her.

There's also the fact that Riya was a finalist before, and therefore may not be again. I maintain that if they're going to have a repeat finalist, it's more likely to be Riya than Aiden, but there's always the possibility that it's just neither of them and Aiden could be taken out later.

I really don't have much else to add. I think Riya could very easily be in danger this episode, and there isn't much depth to it. Leaving Alec to fend for himself could be an interesting turn of events as well, as he never competed in s1 without Fiore by his side, and his plan going into the season of focusing more on his social game would have totally backfired. I'm not fully convinced on Riya going home, but it seems like a likely enough outcome.

#7: Ally

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. To be clear, I'm talking about Ally's placement in the power rankings-- from first place to last place-- as opposed to the decline of her character. Even if she's choosing to act a bit more villainously, I haven't started to dislike her more, or particularly think that she's being written worse. I merely think that she's put herself in a pretty precarious position.

As I said earlier in this power ranking, I think that Grett is going to be a major player in this episode, and as such I think that those scenes depicting her and Ally in the tree will be Relevant. Basically, I wonder if Grett will stir up trouble by throwing Ally under the bus this episode. It won't be hard for Grett to convince Jake and Co. to take her out, and if she can convince Riya that Ally has been spying on her (while still pretending to be under Riya's wing), Riya and Alec might turn on her, too. The scheming, therefore, can be a plot to humiliate Riya by tricking her into voting out someone who genuinely wanted to work with her. And, with Grett now joining the heroes, Riya and Alec's days are totally numbered. It's a brilliant plan to pin all six votes on one person in a move that secretly swaps your major alliance and gives you lots of power... just like what I predicted Riya would do to Alec last episode. Mannnnn...

Anyways, if you're like me, you might be wondering what an Ally elimination would do in terms of Ally's character arc this episode. It is possible that there would be some issues with Ally's heart simply being broken by an elimination in ways the writers don't want. However, there are a few ways around it. The first is that Ally, already having learned that it's better to play as herself instead of who she thinks the audience will like, will be satisfied by her elimination as a result of her trying to play the game as she thought best. That's like, super unlikely to have happen, but it's not totally impossible.

The other is that Ally will be upset, freaking out over whether flipping to being a villain and then immediately being eliminated as one will have totally ruined her rapport with literally everyone. But, she'll be comforted either in this episode or in the eventual Loser's Motel episode. In the case of being comforted this episode, I could honestly see Grett being the one to do it. In season 1, Grett was eliminated after the villains turned on her, and then faced a lot of public backlash for her actions. It was tough, but she made it through. Ally should be proud of the game she's played, having made it this far, and not take it too harshly that she got outplayed.

The Loser's Motel option would probably include Hunter and/or Tess trying to cheer her up, with the added bonus that Ally could see what people really thought of her this season. If they actually thought that she was more funny/engaging/interesting this season, that could lift her spirits. It could also be a combination of both, where Grett gives her word of confidence now and social media finishes it out later.

The other point of conflict is Ally's relationship with Jake, which... uhhhh, I don't know. If Ally does go out here by Jake's hand, I don't think that their relationship will be at all salvaged. However, I also don't know if that's one of the goals of this season? They might just hate each other, and that's the end. I think the biggest issue with that is, if Jake wins, it might be a bit of a weird look to have your winner have a lot of animosity towards another fairly rootable character.

Should that convince me out of putting Ally down here? I don't know, maybe. But on these trajectories, how would Ally and Jake ever make up, even if they had the entire rest of the season to do it? Both of them being losing finalists? I don't know! So, Ally stays here for now.

Well, that's the power ranking for this week. Unlike either of the past two weeks-- despite how different their outcomes were-- I'm not confident at what I've put here at all. I'd put, like, everyone here other than Grett at like 5 or 6 if I could. Will that lack of confidence be unfounded in a brilliant result, or will I have swung for the fences and missed wildly again? Honestly, as long as there's a genuine vote out this episode, I'll be happy. I look forward to seeing what happens on Saturday.

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

It’s good to see you again, Blair :D

I am asking you to ramble about absolutely anything you’d like. Whatever it is.

You never disappoint! I won't lie, I had hoped to see your name crop up in my inbox.

So, since I rarely have a chance to ramble about the shows I work, I'm going to take this opportunity to rant about The Little Mermaid. Why? Because I'm trying to get that show added to the roster of productions we put on for my children's theatre.

Tumblr has already talked about the misconception of this show. How Ariel is seen purely as a romantic who literally gave up everything to chase a boy she didn't even know. But in reality, Eric was just an excuse that pushed her into finally doing something she had always wanted to do deep down. Ariel doesn't surrender her voice to get a boyfriend, she does it so she can visit the surface and experience what it means to be human. Something she dreamed of long before she met Eric. (Part of Your World, anyone?)

I actually want to write in some dialogue into our script where Ariel lampshades the absurdity, Frozen style. Where she acknowledges that it was foolish to chase after Eric when he was more or less a stranger. But of course, by the end of the show, he definitely isn't. I want Ariel to reunite with Triton and for them to talk about Eric. "You were right. I didn't know him. But now I do."

Writing Sebastian is so damn fun. He's 100% done with Ariel's nonsense and absolutely does not get paid enough for this, but he will truck on, and try to keep her safe. I want to write a line for him reuniting with Ariel after almost getting killed by the Chef and his cleaver in that number, "You would not believe the day I'm having."

Meanwhile, Ursula. Best role. Best villain. Best song. She realized she could exploit the King's daughter to seize his throne. In general, her motives and her history with the crown are interesting. In some versions, she was the one who murdered Ariel's mother, explaining why Ariel would have been wary of her, but of course, Ursula claims it was all a misunderstanding and that she tried to save her. In other versions, Ariel's mother was killed by sailors. (Not Eric's sailors, but still) explaining why Triton hates them so much. In other versions, Ursula is literally Triton's sister, and Ariel's aunt, which does give her a claim to the throne. But, I'm not crazy about this. As I've talked about before, I'm no fan of the "evil aunt/uncle" trope.

Ursula's end is also much better depicted onstage, in my opinion. In the Disney movie she turns into a giant titan and then gets speared by the ship...and it's like, sure, okay I guess? But in the stage play, they can't do that. Instead, the power of The Trident consumes her. She can't handle it, and it destroys her - and Triton even warns her beforehand that this could happen, that not everyone has what it takes to wield the Trident's power, but of course she doesn't listen. I love that. It's much more interesting and character based.

There are also some great songs in the stage version, in addition to the iconic tunes from the movie, that a lot of people don't know. I invite anyone reading this to search up "Fathoms Below" and "Human Stuff" and especially "She's In Love" which is sung by Ariel's sisters and is a knock out show-stopper. Basically I've been penning a version of Little Mermaid to pitch to my Director so I've been thinking about that show a lot right now, and I think it's fascinating.

The main thing I want us to add song-wise is a finale number, that talks about the Land and Sea coming together. Little Mermaid 2 does have this, but the melody is awful. It's so bad. In general, Little Mermaid doesn't have a final number, and I want to show how the two worlds that were divided by ignorance and fear are now coming together, through Ariel and Eric. That's an important message.

[sanguine-tenshi]

Right so, I'm playing through the game for the second time and i have... opinions. I'll put all of it under the cut since I know some people are waiting for the full realease.

Final warning, spoilers ahead.

Okay so, I'm not exactly happy with how the main plot turned out, primarily because of Pen.

To begin let me say that I'm not a fan of Pen. He's a good character, but god is he cunt. He is entertaining tho and I kinda do miss seeing him around town.

Anyway, when Logan and Grace were explaining the whole thing to you I was fully expecting Pen to be a red herring.

I just kinda expected for them to make Pen this convenient, prideful idiot. Someone the main bad guy manipulated to their ends.

I expected for his backstory to be something along the lines of a weak kid who failed at protecting someone/himself growing up and working towards becoming this big strong muscular guy only to fail again. There being something about him losing to Heidi or Hugo or someone like them, ya know, some bad guy with inhuman strength. Like maybe some bandit or something attacked Sandrock, he tried to protect everyone and failed because the person was genetically altered. Maybe even somehow tie it into the Duvos plot.

He heard about Vivi inhaling fumes and because of that Hugo and Heidi came out overpowered, so he's like al'ight imma do that. And so he goes off into the dessert, because no matter how much he works on himself he'll never be enough. Instead he stumbled onto this ancient weapon.

He plays the whole trip as some sort of training trip, as him finding the secret to strengthening his body or something. He keeps the weapon a secret partly because he is a part of the church, but mostly because Pen WANTS to be The Protector of Sandrock. He wants the credit. He wants the praise.

This way it's explained why he has the weapon and also why he blamed the tower incident on Logan.

And if they had done that they could have used the fan theory of Pen and Owen being brothers (with a strained relationship). That way you can fluff up both their backstories. Hell, throw Logan into the mix as well. Like maybe despite Pen being a small sickly kid he always got himself into trouble (his delusions of grandeur being ever-present) and so either Owen or Logan or both had to save his dumb ass.

And maybe Owen still has those overprotective brother tendencies Pen accidentally trained into him.

And you can still get him tangled into the Miguel plot, but make him the useful muscle headed idiot. Like maybe Miguel is just manipulating him, maybe he found out about the weapon and is blackmailing Pen, depends on which direction you prefer.

And then you have a line for a legit redemption arc for him, as yes he did a bad, but he's still redeemable.

Idk, I just feel there's a lot more to play around with this way and they wouldn't have to just drop a whole ass character at the end of the game... again.

And even if you disregard all of my ramblings so far, it straight up just doesn't make sense for Pen to be the one to poison Howlett. I'd expect that from Matilda, but definitely not Pen. For crying out loud! I'd expect him to punch Howlett to death and then play it off as 'Oopsie! Daddy got crushed by rocks! Guess he shouldn't have been sniffing around old ruins, huh? It's almost as if old ruins are dangerous and stuff. Who could have guessed that one?'

Also, all focus is put on Pen when Matilda is supposed to be the main villain. There's just not enough of her being the bad guy. The set up is great for her, yes, but all we really see of her villainous self is her betraying us during the Duvos fight and the final robot fight. Outside of that all the focus is on Pen and I just don't get that. Like either commit and make him the main bad guy or let Matilda actually do something.

Like I'm hoping they are holding back stuff for the main release but I doubt it.

Anyway, that's my rambling two cents. Thoughts? Opinions? Agree? Disagree?

[not-poignant]

Hi, Pia! I am thinking of going the same route as you - free chapters on AO3, then Patreon - for my historical m/m romance projects. Could you share a little about your journey, and how did you manage to gain visibility within the originals section of AO3 (I know it's not easy)?

Hi hi!

We've talked a little over at Subscriptions for Authors I think! *waves* :D

Okay firstly, i don't know if any of this is going to be very helpful, because to tl;dr it - I didn't set out to be a professional author when I started this, and I wasn't even trying to be a professional when I started my Patreon (though I did approach it seriously, like I wanted to treat my readers well). I didn't believe I could be one, my impostor syndrome was so epic I literally started an entirely new AO3 account and kept it secret from my main account because I believed all the people being nice to me about my writing were somehow just lying to me because they felt sorry for me.

That's...

That's a whole lot of impostor syndrome insanity. But I've always been pretty honest about having mental illness so....

Re: my journey...

I started out in fanfiction. I started writing Rise of the Guardians fanfiction (a two part serial called From the Darkness We Rise & Into Shadows We Fall) and it went viral (I did not expect this) and I put in several original characters to flesh out the world, because I added a Seelie/Unseelie Court element that wasn't in the original movie or the books.

Two of those original characters had roles as semi-significant ensemble characters. One was a terrible villain who is defeated by the other, who is the Seelie King (also defeated by the main characters of the fic but *coughs* anyway).

I started getting people asking me what was going to happen to those two characters, especially once people found out they had a relationship history together prior to the events in the fanfic. I mostly put those people off - I fully intended to keep just writing fanfiction - until finally I decided to write some fic of those two characters. It was like...revenge hatefucking, lmao. I wrote three chapters of that, and then more, and then finally realised I couldn't give them the tragic ending I'd planned to, and that I'd have to actually figure out how the hell to save them from their own machinated doom.

And that became the first book in my original Fae Tales series - Game Theory.

It was my amazing readers who asked me to make this Tumblr, my amazing readers who asked me to write that original story, and they were the ones who asked me to make a Patreon (and then a Ko-Fi), and so in a way, they were the ones who let me know when I was ready to try making this work in a (slightly) more official capacity. They were the ones who believed in me enough to keep me doing this, and they still are. *waves to you all*

They were the ones who gave me visibility, I don't know that I did anything specific to make that happen, except writing the stories, turning up, and listening to them.

It's a very weird way of doing it and I don't know that anyone else has ever done it quite that way like this. I feel like a massive outlier in that sense. I don't relate to anyone who is starting out in professional subscription with no readers because I could never do that, my lack of confidence wouldn't let me. But there's aspects I think any author can replicate: I reply to all my commenters (except the trolls), because they're great and I want to support connection, community, and conversation. I embrace fandom and love all transformative works, and also, like 99% of my writing is free on AO3. (You don't have to make everything free, but it certainly doesn't hurt on AO3).

I mostly finish my serials and folks can trust my happy/hopeful endings and they can trust my hurt/comfort. And I'm pretty communicative! As you can tell by how much I'm rambling right now x.x I intentionally provide a safe space for queer people and neurodivergent people as much as possible, and write a lot of representation for us. I set out to make a space I would personally feel comfortable in. That might not work for everyone, but it works for those who stay.

From there though, I'd say a lot of visibility came from word of mouth, writing chapter by chapter over time (serials naturally pick up readers simply because they're often at or near the top of a tag or fandom category on AO3 - there is NO algorithm there), sometimes sorting by kudos, and me just posting about random stuff on Tumblr with good tags.

I still write fanfiction on another account (my impostor syndrome account) that has also had some people trying my original fiction. There's quite a few people who came directly from fanfiction to the original fiction because the themes were the same!

I didn't have the confidence to intentionally try and be a professional writer. When I started writing that fanfic I was writing it because I was depressed, sad, and I'd quit an unsatisfying job as a professional artist (I loved the art and my clients, I could never make the income part work). I didn't want to be a professional writer. I was writing as hooky, as escape from my real life, and as 'oh god I just need some hurt/comfort and I can't find what I want so I'll write it.'

To this day, I still write fanfiction as an escape, it's partly why it's now on a separate account to my original stuff (but even plenty of my original fic is indulgent and self-escapist in nature, which is maybe why other people find it escapist and cathartic as well).

In writing, financially, it makes more sense to publish books, or do serials-into-books, and develop a backlist of novels alongside the serials. I don't do that. I should, I plan on starting soon. I can point out a lot of the things that I either did wrong, or that I can see a way of doing better, because I didn't set out to be a professional writer, and I still put 'keeping it fun' and 'the readers' ahead of 'making money.' I'm not very mercenary and I make financially not great decisions in favour of 'but I enjoy it more this way.'

(That's partly because I am really very ill, and I can't afford to make myself sick through my work, and not enjoying it is the fastest way to do that).

What I do know is how to help create a community, though. And how to encourage and try and care for that community of people. How to respond to what they want and sometimes don't want, alongside what I want and don't want. How to have boundaries in that space. Well, I'm still figuring it out but I think I'm more comfortable with it than I used to be!

I also don't want to make it sound like I didn't know about writing before this. Long before doing serials for 10 years, I did creative writing and scriptwriting (among other things) at university. I wrote very technically correct short stories with sad little tragic endings that won awards and sometimes decent cash prizes. I hated it, and it put me off writing for years afterwards. I felt trapped in trying to write the 'correct' way. I am entirely unsurprised that to this day I reject standard formulas for novel lengths, and that in order to write, I kind of have to break a lot of the rules I was taught.

But I was taught how to write 'correctly' by Australian standards back in the early 00s (very spare, evocative prose). These days I follow a lot of scriptwriting / television drama beats in serials and have always really enjoyed doing it that way. :D

I'm meant to be talking about some of this in the Subscriptions for Authors podcast tomorrow and it's going to be a mess, as you can tell, lmao.

(There's something to be said about the lightning-in-a-bottle moment where I just wrote a fanfic I thought everyone would hate in a popular fandom and people were just ready for that story and it took off. I had no idea how to deal with it and it was very overwhelming and I had a bit of a breakdown a year and a half later over it. It's no coincidence that a year into the Patreon I paused it for 1.5 years and walked away because I couldn't handle it. But then I did some growing up and came back and figured it out.

But yeah I didn't do any of this the right way, or in a super intentional way. The only part I know I did well was supporting a community, and communicating with the people who turned up. And I did that for very selfish reasons - I wanted to be in a community, and I enjoyed meeting people who had things in common with me. I sometimes feel a little like a gremlin who just stumbled into a community and was like 'oh, um, I'm here, I guess.'

It's really everyone else who made it magical, but it did help that I think I am (in retrospect) pretty good at writing a hooky, addictive serial for the right kinds of readers. I cannot understate this enough -> learning how to write serials and exploring episodic television drama can be very helpful).

[wuekka]

@neiti-kassiopeia tagged me for rambling about 10 characters from 10 fandoms, thank you and okay, lets do this...These are not in favourite order, I don't want to make a puzzle for myself. :'D

Majima from Yakuza/Like a dragon. One of the biggest twists for me getting into the series was that Majima wasn't Joker-type insane recurring villain! He's actually smart who fakes being dumber/crazier than he is (character type I love when it's done right) and actually cares about people, another surprise was that he was in the same family as Kiryu, that he's his aniki. I just love you can see his fooling that he doesn't care/understand, then turns back being like "shit.". He's the smartest playable character Yakuza has, others are himbos.

Vincent from Final Fantasy VII. I love his tragic backstory with his lover Lucrecia and tying to Sephiroth's backstory 👌.+Vampire aesthetic and turning into a monster he can't control is just more tragedy on top of that.

Gale from Baldurs gate 3. I'm sorry Astarion, who is little too self-contradictory at times (You don't like saving other slaves Astarion?!) but Gale's just so adorably nice with really funny lines.

Percy from Critical role/Legend of vox machina. There's a reason I have a tag of "badass percy lines", he's so awesome with those. Tortured man with a secret demon he isn't aware of with vampire arc-nemesis, just beautiful. Taliesin plays him so well, he fits into the worlds talking style perfectly. Even his "life needs things to live." I feel is made fun of a little too much, like it's basically "you need stuff in able to keep going."

Jianzhu from Rise of Kyoshi. Reason why rise of kyoshi is the best avatar novel. He gets good motivation, pov chapters and is shown very well to be not fully manically evil.

Enji Endeavour from my hero academia. I'm not in this fandom anymore at all, except for the ship of endhawks. Turning Enji's character from cartoon evil jerk villain to a regretting, flawed man who tries to become better and focusing on it was the best writing decision Hori made. Sadly Hori stopped and decided Bakugo is ultra gary stu more important than main character. -_-

Ashe from Final Fantasy XII. Real main character of the story, awesome literal queen with revenge plot. Only minus is her hot pink way-mini skirt.

Nanami from Jujutsu kaisen. Again, fandom I dropped but this man was such a brainrot for a good while, he and Gojo got me trying to write again.

Amaterasu from Okami. Snarky by body language, a wolf who doesn't say a word, but she's badass and adorable. What other game lets you play with a character that paints with their tail creating a better world and poops exploding stuff at their enemies.

Terra from Kingdom hearts. ...I don't like the joke of calling him stupid or himbo, because he's not. He goes along with some villains, not because he's trusting them but because he has no other choice or wants to see how things play out without intervening ("no meddling! -Donald) Terra's also the strongest character, "man too angry to die." The angst of being Xehanort/Xemnas and getting moments of losing identity is just angst factory gold.

Tagging @homo666 @vampiricfruitcake but no pressure doing this. :D

[emoshep]

had a thought as i reblogged a discussion about adam from rwby but i didn't wanna butt in on the actual smart people, especially since my thought went in a different direction involving a comparison of characters from different series and reflection on how men specifically fixate on "edgy badass" characters. just gonna throw my thoughts out right here. i hope i'm making sense :/

it was said that one of rwby's interesting subversions is that adam is an edgy "badass" man who wears black and has a cool sword- and overall he's just not that important. i like this take, it's a thing i didn't think about until it was brought up. good job rwby fandom i learned today you're doin' good work thanks a bundle.

anyways, discussion went on to how many not fans of the show lament adam's "wasted potential" and how he should've been more important because look! he's edgy and wears black and has a cool sword and a tragic backstory why isn't he more important??? and the story even has a woman who is even more edgy with a cooler sword, and she actually has something important to do. folks flip their lids when a given media doesn't conform exactly to their chosen tropes in the expected way and it shows with the way some (a lot of them men) react to adam being relegated to "minor villain" status instead of "arch nemesis." it's real cool how people connected the dots like that! i sure didn't.

here was my little thought. there's some hay among men about these characters like adam and how they're wasted and unimportant and that this makes them feel bad. i think those fellas should look inward. sorry, the typical isekai hero trope isn't gonna apply everywhere. (don't look at me like that boy, i know you idolized kirito.) anyway here's the thing: if men really need an edgy cool sword guy who's important to a story to follow... Guts is right there. and the contrast between him and adam is an interesting one i think.

adam is a sad edgy violent asshole with a neat sword, and throughout the story he never learns his lesson, never grows, and never atones for his wrongs (especially against blake) or heal from any of his past. Guts starts out as a sad edgy violent asshole with a neat sword (even after rescuing casca from the tower he does some heinous shit), but as his journey continues he learns and grows and eventually, tries to turn himself around toward a more positive way. the same dude who chops demons in half as a day job eventually comes to put someone else first and through it all finds a new, better purpose for himself. then there's adam, who never acknowledges his wrongs, consistently puts himself before others, never develops any new way of thinking or purpose for himself, and torments blake in the hopes that breaking her down will force her back under his control. what. a. fuckin'. joke.

boyos, if it's that important for you to have a violent edgy power fantasy. *reveals the copy of Beserk* Look at this one. This is the one you want. RWBY is about Team RWBY, with badass female villains besides. And that's awesome.

okay i'm done sorry for the rambling

[cillianhead]

Warnings: I'd like to clarify this is just me rambling on about marvel for ages just for something to think about so i'll put a little 'keep reading' section SJDKJDAKJ

(Tony Stark / Iron Man, Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow, Clint Barton / Hawkeye, Sebastian Stan, Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier, Steve Rogers / Captain America / Sam Wilson, Chris Evans, Eternals, My opinions on pretty much everything Marvel related.... ok byeeeeee....)

Also I'm sure there is gonna be a heavy long rant in there about THE Wanda Maximoff / SCARLET WITCH............. because she's the best and I'm in love with her.... you could say.... I've got my vision on her if you know what I mean.... okay enjoy (if you wish)

I know... so much wasted potential!!! like I ALWAYS LOVE the characters they play but maybe only because of my interest in superhero stuff... ESPECIALLY Marvel (not really DC that much but I do love Batman.... and a certain Batman villain (also the (1) Wonder Woman was good...)) Anyway.... erm.... wasted potential!! Sooooo sooooo much it's painful, I think the way they killed off Tony was good but I think Natasha deserved... a much-deserved mourning and a scene dedicated to that... she sacrificed her literal life in the hopes that this would guarantee... literal whole world and everything in it...

Yet she died knowing that even if she dies they still might not yet win and that's the gamble she's going to have to take because HAWKEYE can't do it since he has a "wife and kids" sort of scenario. Anyway...

They gave her some crappy screen and the only real shown display of weakness and sadness that was shown from them was Bruce Banner/Hulk's crush of a can and that was in despite of Clint dropping to his knees in shock as the realization that THE NATASHA ROMANOFF wasn't there. And they gave her some shitty little thing where they go "sHe DiDn'T HavE A. fAmiLy" ((BULLSHIT)).

Anyway

I thought Eternals was good... like it doesn't deserve all the hate?? I thought it was good and enjoyable and seemed interesting enough (also bonus little Harry Styles in there who I looooooooovvvveeee with every fibre of my being) And also I thought the acting was pretty good and I really like Gemma Chan she's wonderful and charming and a good main character girlboss moment!!! Anyway lol....

And I sorta loved the thing she had going on with Ikarus (idk how they spelled it in the movie I just remember laughing at his name and how it's spelled) Like he was kinda weird and creepy yet really sexy (I think he looks like an English version of Sebastian Stan). And she's this lovely and open... like someone you would run to when you cry or someone helps you out sometimes. She was sweet like a cherry and he was the wolf to eat her. I know that sounds dumb but they're both attractive people. And ALSO OMG BARRY KEOGHAN IS IN THAT MOVIE AND I LOVE HIM.... He's Irish and he's done stuff with Cillian too (+Harry Styles). Anyway the movie was good... I won't give away all the spoilers lol but the romance and I thought the monsters and stuff was cool (FUCKING BILL SKARSGARD WAS IN IT BUT HE PLAYED A MONSTER SO YOU DIDN'T EVEN ACTUALLY SEE HIM BECAUSE HE'S JUST CGI ughhhh).

Onto the next sorta films after Endgame, it all became sorta mush... like the cereal had turned soggy from the milk that is Creativity. And maybe the characters are bland... I've never looked at them that way because you can project onto them and imagine what they would do and say in certain scenarios and stuff like that. Black Widow the movie.... was actually pretty good, it introduced Florence Pugh into the MCU (Ha... it rhymes...) as Yelena <3 I love her and she's putting on some sort of Russian accent.

I'm so sorry to whoever actually reads this you poor soul...

Anyway, I love the characters... like all the new stuff... like I love the characters, what can I say? But the actual movie itself with all the poor CGI and cheaply written jokes and sort of lazy action sequences (and blah blah blah)... it all becomes one huge JOKE within itself. It's bad. But I'm talking about projects like Thor: Love and Thunder which I saw four times in cinema just out of disbelief at how bad it is that it was nearly good. I tried to convince myself I liked it but eventually all the stupidity got in my head.

Let's just talk about what I'm thinking about and that is:

Wandavision, Loki, and Falcon and The Winter Soldier...

Those were fucking amazing. And maybe I am biased because I have a deep fondness for them because I was only like fourteen or something when it came out?? They were just so.... perfect and they still are to me because I love them so much.

Wandavision is by far my favorite. I just love everything about it. It's quirky and I fucking love Elizabeth Olsen because I think she's just beautiful and amazing and so talented. Wanda Maximoff is a deeply emotional character for me and I sort of feel like I am her but also in the way that I just want to be with her and around her and feel the power of her love. And I love Vision... he's so fucking great and I love them so much it hurts. This is gonna be one long-ass blog... I am so sorry no one is reading all this lol.

I loved the way Wandavision used different sitcoms for each episode, I just thought that was brilliant. I remember showing it to my dad (who really hates the MCU but has enjoyed some but he hates the CGI) and he really loved it up until the last episode or two. He hated all the bits where she was up in the sky being the Scarlet Witch. But he still said he liked it. Anyway... Wandavision is one of my favorite things of all time (even outside of just my love of Marvel and all that). Also, my actual name is Scarlet so the name Scarlet Witch is really fucking cool. (Flower is just a nickname). I love her, her powers are so cool and incredible... the fact she can even do that is amazing. Anyway... I LOVE THE SCARLET WITCH I JUST LOVE HER. (I'm not gonna discuss Multiverse of Madness in this post...)

There was Falcon and The Winter Soldier next.

The middle child of Wandavision and Loki that didn't quite... move the people as much I guess.

Falcon and The Winter Soldier was soooooo good. I loved it. I couldn't name any major things I would want to change but there were little things I guess lol. I loved it though. And I love Bucky and I love the way it showed his grief and the way he deals with it all. And I really liked the way they dealt with Police Brutality and racism and stuff. Sam Wilson really changed as a character to me then, I had always liked him but this made me really like him as a character and understand him more. He was then no longer "Falcon" in the title but CAPTAIN AMERICA. No, it wasn't some big tall blonde blue-eyed soldier from the 40s anymore. It was Sam Wilson, a black man whom the people he had to deal with... weren't quite ready for. But that doesn't deny him of the hefty title CAPTAIN AMERICA. Meanwhile, this John Walker fella is saying he's Captain America and he's some Kurt Russell lookalike (the actor is literally Kurt Russell's kid) and he's got the blonde hair and freaky blue eyes and he's saying he's Captain America because THE GOVERNMENT SAYS SO. (Because that's totally what the actual Steve Rogers or Sam Wilson would feel....) (Sarcasm). I loved how we saw a more flirt side of Bucky... yes there were all the true and dark sides of him but we saw him open up a bit more, he smiled and talked to the ladies a bit and was a bit cute and snarky instead of usually mellow. I just love the characters.

Loki was also really good... I just love it. I love Loki. I love that Tom Hiddleston is so passionate about playing Loki... like he truly tries to perfect it. He's like canonically bisexual basically?? Which is cool!! But I hated what they did with Sylvie... I just found it unnecessary. I thought they could've had like a cool person moment and been like fun siblings sort of thing SINCE THEY'RE LITERALLY THE SAME FUCKING PERSON JUST FROM ANOTHER UNIVERSE OR WHATEVER. UGHHH But then they made them have weird tension and then made them kiss and Loki cries and all that. Whatever. Omg... I still haven't watched Season Two yet which I need to do immediately!!

There's a lot I haven't gotten the chance to watch/haven't even bothered to watch at all like She-Hulk, MoonKnight, Ms. Marvel... Secret Invasion... or even the new Captain Marvel that has just come out. I have a bit of Marvel Fatigue, to be honest, I just think they need to slow down a bit. They need to let the suspense hold a little longer... I think they've all just become too money-hungry to care what they're putting out.

Anyway that's all from me!

let’s talk about how badly marvel went downhill after half of phase four… lol… let’s talk about it..

[takaraphoenix]

3 and 9?

Thanks for playing! ^o^

3. What’s a fic idea that you have but haven’t written yet?

The easy answer here would be to give any of the multitude of WIPs lined up on my personal updating schedule that haven't made it onto my online updating schedule (which are 18 rn), which seems like the boring answer sooo I'll go with an idea I've had for many many years that regularly gets microwaved in my brain but I still have never ended up writing it - I REALLY desperately want a Merwaine rewrite of BBC's Merlin to exist, where Merlin adopts the Wyverns, where Merlin ACTUALLY BEFRIENDS MORGANA BECAUSE FUCK THE SHOW and TELLS HER ABOUT HIS MAGIC, where we do not leg Morgause ABDUCT AND BRAINWASH Morgana into becoming a villain and where they fight Morgause together, also where the knights get to, ya know, be actual characters, I just hate how much they got shoved into the background after becoming knights, a story where Arthur actually gets to be king for more than, what was it in the show like two or three years maybe like how was he a legendary king he never united SHIT what was all that prophecy about gods that was so stupid he barely made a dent AND THEN THEY KILLED HIM OFF JUST AS HE LEARNED MERLIN'S SECRET ARE YOU SERIOUS, so he actually GETS TO BE KING WHILE KNOWING ABOUT MAGIC and ruling with Merlin at his side, I mean for heaven's sake that was the ONE (1) thing I kept looking forward to on this show AND IT NEVER HAPPENED.

Uh. As you can see, even after many years and many rewatches, I still have incredibly strong opinions and feelings on the very, very bad writing on this stupid, stupid show about this stupid, stupid magic boi. And every time I rewatch it, I want to write this story, but the decline on the show happens so fast that it sucks all joy and life out of me and I am just an empty husk watching the show with despair written all over my face, wondering why I am doing this to myself over and over again.

Being a fan of BBC's Merlin is genuinely the most masochistic thing I have ever done to myself. But this show has such great characters and had so much potential and it just kills me every time.

9. What’s your favorite line(s) or scene(s) that you have written?

Uh. At over a thousand fics, I gotta admit, this kinda thing's really, really hard to answer. xD"

There are so many fandoms and so many things I've written.

Okay. With TOTAL recency bias, I am going with Keeping Up With the Scoobies and Buffy's love-confession to Spike. Because I have been shipping them for so, so many years yet and this fic is actually the very first time I wrote them getting together and it genuinely did not turn out in any way or shape as I would have ever predicted it because I just let Buffy ramble on and on and I kind of love the way it happened.

Like, I genuinely LOVE the whole entire scene, but to pick out the core of it (because it's a longer scene and this answer would be waaay too long then):

"I told you why I was avoiding you, will you tell me why you were avoiding me?"

"That not obvious?" Spike huffed softly, a pained look on his face.

"Wouldn't be asking if it was," offered Buffy. "I think... it's time we actually talk. Instead of assuming what's inside the other's head and heart. Instead of avoiding each other."

"You told me you loved me and I died and that should have been it," Spike heaved a tired sigh. "But now I'm alive again and your words, meant to comfort a dying man, are still in the room and I'm not... I could face the end of the world, but I don't know if I can face being let down gently. Or worse, coming back and seeing you with someone else."

"There's no one else," said Buffy without missing a beat. "I mean, there was this Slayer and we kind of, you know, slept with each other, but it was more of a self-finding stress-relief needing a break situation than actual... feelings, romantic ones, that is. And you were gone months without a word."

"...Slayer?" echoed Spike surprised, blinking a couple of times.

Buffy flushed brightly. "Not the point here! But yes. While you were off ghosting me and, well, kind of also ghosting Angel I guess? I was... thinking a lot, about my feelings. All of them. Not just the ones about you. And... there were a lot of them. And I realized that... I have always been so busy trying to be perfect, be the best Slayer, I didn't allow myself to... doubt myself. Question myself. And there were things... I've been ignoring, pushing down, because confronting them was distracting and confusing. I'm bisexual, but that's super not the point, the point is that I love you."

"Wait, I'm sorry, what is the point?" Spike looked so bewildered.

"I love you," repeated Buffy, a faint smile on her lips. "You really are the only person who didn't notice, huh. I mean, in the entire house. Everybody knew. Even people who barely knew us knew."

"Ah... I..." Spike paused and blinked a couple of times. "Didn't prepare for that possibility."

"Of course you didn't," Buffy sighed and stepped up to Spike, grasping him by the coat.

Fanfiction Ask Game

[captainseamech]

[4, 8, and 9?]

Questions for muns

8. do you expect your answered memes/asks to be turned into threads? regardless of answer, what’s your reasoning?

In my opinion I think it depends on what kind of meme/ask. But in general, I don't expect much about most of the time because well... either I just end up writing a drabble whenever it's a prompt/starter or, in case someone turns the ask into a thread, I don't feel like going further with that topic. Again, it depends of my muse and my inspiration at the time, but most of the time I keep my expectations low.

9. when you look at a new blog, what is it that makes you press the follow button? is it the muse, the aesthetics, the writing–?

Being honest with you, I'm what people calls 'your friendly neighbor' so I try to go and support as many new rpers as I see and can! Of course I do look at things like rules page, about character and if the person tags their posts accordingly. But yeah if I see a possible interaction with our muses in general, I gently slap that follow button and even offer some help if they need!

//okay so... I replied to these out of order because question number 4 accidentally turned into a ramble of mine, which is of course under cut. There's a very small f.naf mention in the first paragraph but you can safely skip to the second one if so desired.

———————

4. which muse of yours is your all time favorite? if you stopped writing them: why?

Well I mean, I have quite a good variety of muses (not counting with my deadass multi) but in general, I love all of my babies equally! But I do have a certain muse that I had some fun for a while which is M.onty from F.naf, I sadly stopped writing him because the fandom kind of... killed him for me because they kept calling the character a villain etc etc (which is just because of a stupid theory curse you MatPat) and... yeah.

But to keep myself within the fandom of this blog, High Tide has been my very first muse for years now. I love that we kind of grow together and I learned to write more about him occasionally, but his muse is... kind of quiet all of a sudden. I mean sure it happened before and that led me to dip from the internet for like, 2 years. Sure it can happen again but I have to say that I have a small concern that his muse goes radio silent again all of a sudden because I do want to write him with my mutuals, being them old or new, but my scaredy ahh keeps making me think that I intervene or ask for too much attention. Not to mention the fact that people constantly annoying my mutuals because of my 'main ship' (even though I declared myself multi-ship) saying that he'd probably steal a different ship's partner is just... yeah. Demotivating not gonna lie.

Not to mention that I feel like my headcanons are unintentionally forcing people to follow that part of what imagined of his canon (like saying that he was friends with TFP Megatronus in his Gladiator era for example) and this... sort of counts as god-modding for me and I honestly don't want people to feel forced to follow my canon. That's why I mostly do silly headcanons regarding his actions or his daily routine instead of going too deep with his backstory because I have this sense that a secondary/background character shouldn't have that much lore in a single rp blog. I rarely bring his lore up for the reasons mentioned before sooo yeah I think that's why I stopped writing him that often, even though I love him dearly and I'd do anything for him...

And I also feel like I make him way overpowered strength wise, another reason why I never brought the topic about his full strength up in public. Anons are probably just waiting for me to make an 'OP move' with him to start their ramblings or saying that I'm unfair. That's why I almost never do fighting threads, I know that I may or may not have done High Tide extremely strong and I don't want people to come here and say that I'm buffing him up. Not to mention the rare instances of me mentioning his gladiator arc and almost immediately regretting bringing this up.

I feel like he's slooooowly going inactive again, but that's part of life I guess. If he does go inactive, I may try to go absolutely radio silent about his past and even discard the headcanons about him being a gladiator, his strength and all and just keep the trauma of having to lose his partners since they're somewhat close to canon giving the nature of the whole franchise.

[hishoukoku]

I'm anon from this ask, hope your doing fine.THANK YOU SO MUCH for the comprehensive answer and for the WWX pointers!! and sorry for the embarrasingly late notice on this.

I notice you're very partial to novel WWX and that's cool ! He does sound more mature and willin to admit his mistakes which good for him, but given by what you said I sorta prefer and i beg you not to hate me, cql's wwx, especially due to him being more mellow.

I do believe you disagree though??

It's crazy they changed so much though overall , especially the Yi Iron plot. I didn't know what that was for, or that it wasn't in the novel even so woo!

Hi again anon ^^ Mention not!!

I was kinda worried that that answer got too long, (as I tend to ramble in asks) so thanks for this ! So, I didn't originally intend for that post to be a sort of WWX meta post, but I guess I did ramble on for a bit there.

I absolutely fell in love with cql too at first, but as I read the original novel i learned how much much more I can learn about him and this entire story.

Yes, I do strongly prefer and adore novel!WWX.

It's not that CQL did 'bad' overall, they did well in their version/adaptation of MDZS, but that doesn't mean there aren't major divergences from the novel, which was what my reply was about. I'd also like to preface that I'm not saying people shouldn't like CQL!WWX but they shouldn't equate him to novel!WWX or ignore the alterations done to his character (to fit the live action environment restrictions). Because doing so, would be a disservice to the way MXTX masterfully crafted this character.

So, not to reiterate but the best way to describe CQL!WWX is a victim of circumstance and misunderstanding. His actions there never justify the overwhelming hatred he gets. It's not 'cause and effect', it's wrong place, wrong time, always making sure his morals never fully waver..

The main issue is exactly the Yi Iron plot -as analyzed solely from his perspective- which was created to make sure we understand there's no way he would EVER be so morally gray as to invent the "big bad" demonic cultivation (book title xD?) It's a mockery towards the foundation of how novel!wwx came to be and to why he sacrificed himself for. The "crafty tricks" he apologetically uses in CQL don't even scratch the surface of the magnitude of his craftiness in the novel.

Novel!WWX did magnificently well to turn an outrageously desperate and tragic situation into a solution. (surviving Burial Mounds + inventing demonic cultivation).

He's extremely calculated, highly intelligent, he's devious, he's crafty, he's inventive and he deserves all the credit in the world for that. He wasn't handed a solution, he invented one with his own sweat and blood.

Yes, he's confident and arrogant, but with a very solid, valid reason and towards those who deserve to be on the receiving end of it (which are many!)

Yes, he killed thousands of people and the 'damage' he's done doesn't outweigh the damage he's taken.

And then if CQL decided to keep these other's reactions to him similar to the novel while downplaying his actions, then of course it inevitably leads to a superficial, lackluster climax. Then of course, it makes you wonder, okay and? what was it all for? why did he have to go through this ordeal? They overused the mob mentality theme.

Because yes, in the novel he actually makes mistakes, he actually lost control and that needs to be explicitly shown, because he's only human (which is why I said it's incredibly realistic of him) and he assumes that, he suffers for that, he berates himself for that, he died thinking that's the solution for that.

He doesn't need villains™ to pin the blame on (Su She, JGY+ WN hearing another flute). He's entitled to breakdown over the consequences of his own actions and to have a saying in his own tragic ending (his death), instead of being pushed into doing it.

But he does all of that while also carrying the same selflessness, pride, absolute sense of justice and core values that were presented in CQL.

Novel!WWX is not a total opposite to CQL!WWX (as I've unfortunately seen people say). He's him and so so so much more and he's well-rounded, balanced and masterfully crafted the way he is.

[postmodernmulticoloredcloak]

So my memory of events might be a bit shit, but I thought it made sense for Billie to try to actively kill TFW in 15x18, because of how they enlisted Dean to carry out their plan to actually get the universe back to "normal", the way they think it should be, with no crossing over worlds and no resurrection and no natural laws violated, except Dean did not actually do it in the end - Chuck says he goaded Death and it was based on knowing this plan of theirs, except TFW all backtrack again, the main argument Sam using to convince Dean being that all the people who died and came back would die again because that's what the natural order is, right ? To me it was about choosing selfishness there, 100%, and it turned out to work out for them because doing otherwise would have meant playing into Chuck's hand (which we're led to believe Death didn't know about) - and so in 15x18, Billie is done with their bullshit, finally, and knows as long as they're alive they're gonna bring chaos, and Billie/Death hating chaos (calling Dean "human disorder incarnate"), they want to personally get rid of them all so they can go about their business (finishing that Chess game with Chuck and restoring the natural order) - So like, Billie's motivations make sense to me there, they had been pissed off for a long time, and had stopped being fully neutral the moment they enlisted Dean to fight against God (which they were 100% right to try to do by the way) - but s15 was all about trying to do better and make things evolve and about change, and what Billie wanted to do was to take things back to a state of "stagnation" in a way, to "the way things were", which s15's story was telling us is not a good thing (well, some part of s15 were saying that) I might misremember some things but I never read the events of 15x18 as telling me Billie was evil, it was another powerful entity trying to restore a state of the world and TFW, again, saying "nope" and fighting against it, even though, depending on people's views, Billie's plan was totally valid (and then there's also the strange fact that they left their scythe with Dean, which ended up with him mortally wounding them... and okay, I don't know how this fits into all of that, but I have a hard time believing it wasn't intentional on BIllie's part, when they LITERALLY said to Dean's face that it would be a bad idea to leave it in Dean's presence 2 seasons ago) Sorry, that's a lot of rambling but I keep seeing this take that they made Billie evil and I'm genuinely confused because that's not how I read it at all ?? But yeah, I might just be remembering stuff wrong ?

The thing is, when a character goes to try to kill one or more of our protagonists, then they become a villain, no matter what their intentions or motivations are inside the story. Dean and Cas are characters we root for by structure. A character antagonizes them? They're an antagonist. If the antagonist does not become remorseful/change their ways/acknowledge they were mistaken/etc, then it's a villain. At least how I see it, it does not matter which were the intentions and motivations (I'm also tired and had a lot of sushi and my eyes burn a bit so I'm not exactly in the mood to think too hard about this lol) because the structure of the story places Billie in the spot of the antagonist/villain (a villain can have perfectly understandable reasons, but still be a villain in the logic of the story, i.e. in relation to the protagonist).

Additionally, the way this was done was through giving Billie emotions and motivations that contrasted with how the character is usually written. Additionally 2.0, there's baggage in making a Black woman "angry", Billie's character had been loved so much because it was so different from the sterotypes of Black women that are pervasive in media, and suddenly making the character an ~angry Black woman who consequently immediately dies left a bad taste. (Really, everyone was understandably up in arms about the gay guy being sent to ~superhell, but guess who also had the exact same fate at the same time?)

And honestly I can't even really care about the specifics of the plot of season 15 anyway since it wasn't remotely brought to a conclusion, so what's the point, really.

[rrandomtthings]

Why i hate hawks and what i think about the heroes and villains :

Firstly I always thought of hawks to be really sus when i was watching bnha, and even before season 5 or when i started to read the manga this year. I didn’t trust that he was a good character and got really bad vibes from him. While everyone else liked him, I just couldn’t bring myself to see how. Sure he’s cool and I guess good looking to others. But I never understood why people could like him. Moving on. He’s a huge ahole. In season 5 , he really made me mad when he was treating tokoyami that way. Even though he ended up being a great teacher and helping him out, it still bugged me, idk but that’s my opinion. Now to the biggest reason I hate hawks, is what he had done twice. He had no reason . No reason to do that to him . Even though it was his job to betray the Lov, he really didn’t have to go down that path. Where was the good in killing twice? Making him think that they were friends, making him think that twice had another person to trust and someone else who understood . It's like hawks said right ? That he was only going to take him into custody, and help him change his ways . He said this right before he killed him off. And even more, what was the point at ALL for saving him from dabi’s fire???? What was the reason, if he was just going to kill him off himself . How is that being a hero ? Heroes are supposed to do anything to stop the villain, without causing deaths. There was no justice in killing twice, there was no justice in betraying the league, there was no justice in even giving the hero's information on the villains, because in the end, they just ended up having a huge war that they didn't even when, and let many heros die and villains get away, and everyone disagreeing with the heroes and having them against them. All i'm trying to say is , i don’t think hawks should be called a hero , and i hate him for what he has done, not only to twice, but also making things so much worse, gaining the trust of people who really believed him and then betrayed them, and for him getting justice for killing when isn't that a crime when the villains do it?

Speaking of heros. I don’t condone any of the villains for their crimes. But none of it would have happened if it wasn’t for society . The way I see it, it's the world's fault for how every villain turns out. No one is willing to help them. Listen to them. Understand their story . Villains, in my opinion, are understood people that lash out against the world, because the world turns their back on them. Just like what happened to Shigaraki when he was little. The old lady went up to him, gave him some type of hope that someone was there, got a good look at his appearance and she walked away and said “I'm sure the police or heroes will come soon” . Even the people on the street just gave him glances , not even bothering to see what's wrong.

“ After that, i left home and ran away . I had no idea what to do .” None of this would have happened if his family treated him better . “ What am i supposed to do now ?. Someone … Anyone… please tell me. Help me!”

“ But even so , in a society overflowing with heroes , I couldn't help but wonder if no one saving me was my punishment for killing my family “ . He even feels guilt for what happened, but he was put in a position where he had no choice, or that's what he was led to believe. That if he could take away the thing that led to his itchiness, he’ll finally be okay. He didn't know that it was a wrong thing, he was desperate to be finally okay, he didn't even know what to do , he didn't know what he was doing

“ If only he had done something , if only she had done something, I thought the itching went away but . If at that time, just one person had lent a helping hand … maybe all of the itchiness would have gone away.”

Why wasn't anyone there? Aren't heroes supposed to always be there, saving people, helping them, isn't society responsible for what happens around them since they are the ones who control how it can change and what happens to it from their actions? And then they wonder why things happen to them. Why not step into the villains shoes. Why can't the world just be kind , and right . But his itching went away, because just when he found himself all alone, surrounded by nothing but loneliness and getting hurt by the people around him, someone came to save him. And that person wasn't a hero, but a villain . Do you understand where I'm getting at? Of course shigaraki would grow up thinking that things that are illegal are okay, and why he turned out that way.

Fake heroes couldn't care less. They are in it for themselves , not giving a dang about anyone else. It's just for show. They just want to keep up appearances, show that they could never do wrong . But a true hero would keep fighting, and keep helping , making sure everyone was okay and preventing things from happening. He would fight for what's right. I dont think a true hero would let the villain get away of course, but they would look for the good in them and help them become a better person. Again, i do not condone the villains' actions. Because I do also believe that there are just some things that are purely evil and cannot be forgiven or even have an excuse for , but I'm saying, there are always two sides to a story. We just need someone who can look at both and make a change .Because maybe the heroes aren't really the people who should be getting praise in the story . In the end, sometimes the heroes are the hypocrites and the ones doing wrong. And we just need people to see that.

I don't know if I have a strong sense of justice, or think in grey, or maybe I'm just rambling. But I always felt strongly about these types of things. I am happy to share some more thoughts on bnha and some opinions and theories i have - 🔥❄️️

And anon!! You are super valid to have this opinion

I do understand where you’re coming from. I’m a very indecisive person. So when it comes to this situation I understand both sides. I understand why it was awful for Hawks to kill Twice, but I also understand why he had to do it. I generally agree with what you’re saying though and do understand where you’re coming from. But I also think it’s important to remember that Hawks did not want to kill Twice. It was 100% the worst case scenario — the scenario that had happened. It was an awful thing to do and you’re once again very valid to dislike him for this reason, totally understandable. I personally like Hawks bc,, he is the personification of what’s wrong with hero society. He was a child with a gifted quirk who was groomed to be what is perfect for societal standards — to be a good hero. He was stripped of everything from such a young age and to him,, this was normal. This shows how fucked up hero society is and how, being someone raised by the government, that has influenced his thinking. For example with the Twice situation and how he did not hesitate to hurt Twice

As for the villains, I 100% agree with you. They are a result of a failed hero society. Take Toga for example, she was completely trashed bc of her quirk. These people are pushed to villainy bc they literally have no where else to go. Where was Toga supposed to go after everyone treated her so horribly? Where was Dabi supposed to go after Endeavor? These people had no one. They are the result of a toxic mentality that revolves around quirks. The lesser or more “villainous” your quirk is, the further down you are in the chain. This was shown with Deku, but to a much lesser extent. Bc Deku was quirkless, he was treated like his quirk — he was treated like nothing. This is why I love villain!Deku AU’s so much bc,, it’s so interesting to think about where Deku would have gone if he had grown hatred for the people who treated him so horribly.

This reminds me of Ochakos question of “who saves the heroes” bc the answer is that the heroes save the heroes. They are the ones who are there for each other. This is why I want her to change her question to “who saves the villains” as she tries to save Toga,, bc who does save the villains? Bc it sure as hell isn’t the heroes

Also!! Pls feel free to come into my inbox at anytime!! I had a lot of fun analyzing and chatting about this <3

[serenagaywaterford]

1) Hey, it's me again. The idiot rambling anon. I wasn't gonna spam you again, but then I read your responses. At this point, I'm convinced you're my alter ego, lol. My thoughts are all over the place, but I'll try to organize them. So, about Nick. I've purposely avoided talking about him so far, but why the hell not? Let me make one thing clear: I'm NOT of of those thirsty fangirls. But even if I was? I wouldn't get offended or butthurt, because another person likes different fictional

2) characters (of all things) than me. I mean, big fucking deal. Each to their own, no need for apologies. ;) (My tone is a little aggressive, I know, but I’m sick and tired of some people on social media –in and out of fandoms– acting holier-than-thou and sending hate messages and even actual death threats (!) to creators or people that express unpopular opinions*. It’s reached a point where many people feel the need to put disclaimers in their posts so as not to be attacked.)

3) Back to Nick. I liked him just fine back in early S1, when he was all mysterious and his background story was unknown to us. When we did learn about it and the fandom started acting like he’s that pure, handsome angel uwu? Nah. Obviously, he’s no Fred/Serena/Lydia,but he’s not a “cinnamon roll” either. (Imo, the only decent dude on that show is Luke.) I mean, if Nick was SO altruistic, he wouldn’t have joined this job. Or even after everything went down, he could have tried to help other

4) handmaids without expecting anything in return. But no, he only helps June and that’s because he’s in love with her. I’m not blaming him for trying to survive under such circumstances, but I won’t idolize him either. Now, in s2? I’m kinda neutral about him. I don’t hate him, but I can’t say that I’m a fan either. Not gonna lie, he bores me at times, because he’s just… there. No sparks, no fireworks. Not sure if it’s the writing that doesn’t do the actor any favors, but his acting hasn’t

5) really drawn me in yet. A counterexample to this? Aunt Lydia. Her personality is despicable 98% of the time and yet. Dowd’s captivating performance makes me want to know so much more about her character.) On the other hand, I’m glad that June has someone (besides Rita) to back her up in that hellhole. She needs comfort and allies. But the whole ‘tRu Love 5eva" fanon thing? No, thanks. Not only it doesn’t fit the tone of the series, but I also believe that sharing an intense, forbidden love/

6) during such a shitstorm is not the same thing as keeping it alive after all is said and done (post-Gilead). Maybe they’ll stay together (as long as Nick doesn’t die), maybe they’ll fall apart. I can’t really see June romantically reconnecting with Luke either. After everything she’s been through… She’s a completely different person now. Unfortunately, the same things goes for Emily and her wife. Even though I’d love to see her interact with both her wife and her child in S3.

———

My inbox is so beautiful right now! Never, ever call yourself an idiot, my friend. (If you are, then so am I!) Brain twins, you see.

(Also sorry about this being out of order lol.)

I was trying not to talk about him too cos generally I just … I prefer not to think about him much. The fangirls, just, *sigh*. I try to avoid as much as possible in this fandom, esp on tumblr. Just hang out in my quiet little, not-Serena-hating corner. I always feel a need to put disclaimers these days cos as much as I don’t really care about random hate, I’d prefer not to have to deal with dogpiles or to look at it lmao. Like people can go around just hating on any character here–especially if they’re women–but say one critical (not even hateful) thing about their male fav and things just go off. 

I’m more than aware the majority of people don’t like Serena and think she’s the worst thing ever. And fair play! (I get it… cos I’m not delusional. She’s awful.) Each to their own. I don’t go around bitching at people who say shitty things or stuff I don’t agree with, or blocking anybody who doesn’t like her. (There are a few posts I do engage with cos normally they seem like they want to go deeper in The Discourse but most Serena/Lydia/Eden/Janine/June-hate I just ignore.)

ITA. S1 was, like, okay. That’s Nick. What’s he up to? What’s his deal? (I don’t really care but I’m not opposed to him either. Just like I didn’t care about Luke’s backstory/escape.) He’s trying to be good to June and she needs that.When we did learn his backstory I was not pleased cos he seemed like a twerp but whatevs. Grey characters are grey. It wasn’t until S2 that I started to get irked by him (and the hypocrisy of his fans but that’s a whole other issue). 

I can’t agree ANY more with your assessment of Nick. Like that’s EXACTLY what I’ve been saying! Firstly, he was RIGHT THERE when the Handmaid/Ceremony thing was first suggested and was like “Oh, yeah, great idea!” to Fred. I get that perhaps he was pressured to go along to keep his job but that’s a stretch imo, and if you can give him that sort of leeway, why can’t characters like Eden, Serena, Lydia and June get the same benefit of the doubt for certain things? Why is Nick’s pressure to keep his job more important and forgivable than anybody else’s pressures? It’s like that entire scene doesn’t exist to fangirls and Nick is so precious and in love and wonderful. Then there’s the rape of June. Like I know it’s pretty controversial to look at it that way, but that first time, with Serena overseeing it like a fucking creepy pimp (YUUUUUUCCCKKKKK I HATE IT THANKS) was rape. June barely knew the guy and I’m pretty sure if she wanted to have sex with him it wouldn’t be like that! And sure, after that, it was totally consensual but that first time was not. And I’ve heard the justification and excuses of “Well, Nick didn’t have a choice either!” which I call bullshit on, cos Nick is not some powerless delivery boy. 

He’s a fucking Guardian who is tight with the top Commanders. He’s a man, if nothing else. Serena can act all high and mighty but she’s still a woman in a highly misogynistic society. I’m not convinced Fred would take his wife’s word over Nick’s tbh, especially if it was like “Dude, your crazy wife asked me to fuck the Handmaid you’re obsessed with”. If he really didn’t want to do it that badly, he could have taken that chance to report Serena. Even if Fred wanted to keep it hush hush away from other Commanders, he would have gone after Serena. Men are far more likely to turn on women than each other, esp in THT. But that’s just my take. Maybe I am missing something about Nick’s status. To me, it was like double rape. Neither of them wanted to do it, like that anyway. But Nick also did fuck all to stop it when IMO he did have some power to do something. He is not a helpless victim in that society, imo. Again, probably not a well-received opinion. 

Don’t even get me started on his “Poor me!” routine in S2 when June tells him to have sex with Eden. I’m glad she called him on that bullshit. (But again, over the fangirls heads. Enough about them!)

Basically, everything Nick has done wrong isn’t his choice; he’s just a victim. In a story about women, Nick’s victimhood at the hands of these nasty women and men is the real issue. Blah. Whatever.

I just find Nick lacks total self-awareness about being part of the shitty ass system. He kind of just floats around thinking nothing is his fault and he’s blameless for it all, and he certainly can’t seem to see it from anyone’s perspective except his own. He’s upset about Fred & June’s Jezebel trips, not for her own safety or well-being but mainly he’s jealous. Of course he’s concerned about her safety but I believe it takes a backseat to his jealousy. He just seems to never take any responsibility for anything.

And BINGO about the previous Handmaid. Nothing we’ve been shown has given any hint he cares about any other woman’s plight in Gilead other than June, and only cares about her cos he had a crush/fucked her/is in wuv wiv her. Basically, she’s HIS so suddenly he cares about her. Look how fast he dumped that Martha as soon as he got brooding about June. He’s done fuckall for anybody except himself and that alone makes me dislike him. He’s no better than Fred in that way for me. But where Fred can occasionally be an interesting villain, cos Fiennes is nasty good, I find the actor who plays Nick just… not engaging. And he’s not SUPPOSED to be a villain! He’s meant to be a good guy! It’s crazy. He’s not compelling, he’s not interesting. He’s bland. He’s not even good looking, lol. I was watching with a friend once and mention I thought Fred was way better looking than Nick and she just stared at me and said, “You shouldn’t say that. But me too.” So, count me in the camp that just does not get the appeal of the character OR the actor.

I don’t hate Nick generally. I am just totally indifferent to his existence. If he left the show tomorrow, I’d shrug and probably be a little glad I don’t have to see that bland moping anymore. If he stays, oh well. Shrug. And I just don’t want his and June’s star-crossed romance shoved down my throat. It’s so… I dunno. I’m not opposed to June finding solace and hope but making it some beautiful forbidden romance, I’m not buying it. Like you said, it’s all well and good in Gilead–but it doesn’t strike me as something that can be sustainable outside it. To borrow from you last time: It’s the Handmaid’s Tale, not The Guardian + the Handmaid’s Tale.

Okay, enough about that pipsqueak. I don’t even like talking about him, tbh. He’s not worth it when there’s so much else going on.

ITA about Luke/June too. I feel like the level of disconnection and trauma that they’ve sustained, especially June, they can try to reconnect but it’s pretty difficult and I think especially with June having a sexual/romantic relationship with Nick pulls that really tight. It’s just two different planets they live on now. I don’t doubt that she still loves Luke, but actually reforming the relationship they previously had seems like an impossible task considering everything both of them have been through. It’s sad, but … sadly true for many people. Relationships can fall apart for far less.

And on the same page about Emily/Sylvia too. She is just soooooo fucking broken, and hopeless, that if they have them just rekindle with no issues, it’ll be bad writing. (I dunno if you see spoilers but there’s one about them.) She needs therapy so much more than a cutesy feelgood storyline.

Back to Lydia: Exactly! There’s a character we know very little about and who is a horrible person, yet the performance by Dowd makes almost everyone go, “TELL ME MORE!” With Nick, it’s the opposite for me. I’m just like, “Please, less of this.”

[long-ago-in-a-distant-land]

Hi! Sorry, this is really random and I'm not even a follower of your blog (sorry) but... I've been seeing samurai jack content around for a bit and now I went in ahead and watched the first two episodes and TBH I'm rather confused. I get the plot and everything. Just. Um. HOW and WHY do people ever get past the first two episodes? What do you like about the show? What is in it that makes it worth watching? Because so far all I've seen has been largely uninteresting.

Hi! It’s okay, it’s an interesting question.

First and foremost, I personally rarely (if ever) get hooked after watching first two episodes. So to me it’s not that strange to not be a huge fan immediately, however if the show literally has zero appeal that doesn’t sound good. But I always watch for at least the entire season before deciding if I like it and if I should continue. 

I had the misfortune of running into the show randomly when it was already over and Cartoon Network was just showing random episodes daily so I started watching out of order and I can’t tell you exactly how people get past the first two episodes. Perhaps it would’ve been different if I started from the beginning seeing as I consider the first few episodes to be the weakest (the whole first season really, with a few exceptions), although I do believe I would’ve been intrigued enough by the first two to keep watching. I don’t generally like to tell people to just watch out of order, but for Samurai Jack it doesn’t really matter in my opinion, since episodes are largely unrelated and continuity is scarce. Perhaps watching some better episodes might catch your interest.

As to why do we like it… Personally, I have several reasons:

- Art style and animation. I find both to be one of the best (if not the best) and just the whole aesthetic of the show made it very pleasing to watch even when I had no idea what exactly am I watching. I distinctly remember seeing the show randomly for the first time and art was the thing that grabbed my attention. 

- Characters, setting. Granted, the show doesn’t even have that many characters but those that exist are to me extremely well done. Namely, Jack himself and Aku. Probably one of the best hero-villain relationship I’ve ever seen with an incredibly compelling dynamic, amplified by the rarely seen fact that Aku, the villain, has won. And that he keeps winning, despite Jack’s small victories. It’s a bold move, especially for a children’s show. Despite that, the show remained hopeful and optimistic which I think is a great achievement for storytelling. Speaking of…

- Storytelling. The way the show uses visual imagery instead of endless talks to tell a story is something that continues to inspire me and kinda set the standard I use to determine whether something I’m watching is good. Visual media should do this more often and the way it was done in Samurai Jack is absolutely astounding. So little was ever said, and yet so much was told regardless, just through the visuals. 

- Overall tone and execution. Everything about it seems so well done and balanced. The audio design, soundtrack, episode ideas, action and lack of action and how they are balanced, character and background designs, the little what we have of dialogue, voice acting… All this mixed together just created a show of exceptional quality. I understand some may not see the appeal of any of it, but in that case I don’t think anything might convince you otherwise. 

- Personally, everything about the setting somehow fit to appeal to my specific interests. I love science fiction and futuristic settings, but I also love the past and ancient cultures. Finding a setting that mixes both is almost impossible and yet this show has done it perfectly. I somehow take it for granted after all these years, but whenever I think about it more, I’m just surprised at how well it was put together.

Finally, I don’t really know how I’d make someone watch it or appreciate it and I’m not sure I can really do it justice with m rambling. Some elements of it are surely old and some episodes aren’t that good and any part that I’ve listed as great could be something someone really dislikes. But I’d definitely recommend watching a few more episodes, perhaps even out of order (as blasphemous as I find that practice, I really don’t think order matters for Samurai Jack, with the exception of episodes that come in more parts and some that are more impactful if watched later, like for example the Tale of X9). 

Tl;dr I don’t think seeing the first two episodes is enough to judge it and would recommend further watching to truly appreciate the art, animation and other qualities of the show, although no hard feelings if it turns out not being your jam after all.