#Who would've thought I can draw other ships

[iguana-braces]

That sub!Jayce post really popped off, huh?

Ehehe okay here's my rambly thoughts about it (I'm literally sitting at work clocked out writing this instead of going home because THOUGHTS)

Building my theory off of this post:

And this one with all the examples of how Jayce's love language is clearly physical touch

*Disclaimer: there's a lot about season 2 that irked me in terms of plot and characterization so this is me retconning a little bit and picking and choosing what examples make the most cohesive argument. Like, in season one they're like "Jayce has this brotherly relationship with Caitlyn and him and Mel have this deep, meaningful relationship" and then season two was like "No more relationship building, it's time for trauma now" but, I digress*

First things first, he's a people pleaser. He does what he's told, clearly (against better judgment but like). And he's clearly committed to the people he cares about. HE BROUGHT VIKTOR BACK FROM THE DEAD (AND THEN KILLED HIM) AND THEN DIED WITH HIM AGAIN. You can't tell me that wouldn't translate to an "I'll do anything for you" attitude in the bedroom too.

I already did the bed gif but I also have to draw attention to the following:

Okay but season two, post-horrors!

Mr. Dopey Heart-Eyes McGee is NOT the one calling the shots here.

Season one Jayce? That man is whipped. One glance from his partner and he's on his knees like it's a religion. Whoever you ship him with! Mel, Viktor, both, a secret fourth option--

He spent an indeterminate amount of time alone, in the bottom of a pit. He's touch-starved but also! Traumatized!

Imagine, if you will, that he survives the astral plane. Imagine he goes to find Mel, or Viktor also survives, or imagine your own y/n, OC insert scenario here. Whatever floats your boat.

In such scenario, and in the aftermath of his self-awareness epiphany where he realizes that yeah, he's kinda been used (by everyone really), I think that in regards to any potential sexual relationship, he would have to become more dominant, more in control of the situation. Especially if it's with Mel, since he does pointedly blame her, or even Viktor, who has literally shaped the course of Jayce's entire life since he was a child. The man needs to set some boundaries with people and good for him.

So I think dominant, scruffy Jayce does have a time and a place.

However, I don't think he'd stay that way forever. It's kinda like him trying to be a politician-- it's a different role that he can pull off, but it doesn't fully scratch his itch.

BONUS HEADCANON: Wouldn't it be just so interesting if he survived the astral plane and goes back to whoever, and while he's looking for comfort and reassurance and all that physical contact he's been deprived of, he realizes that he really doesn't like people touching his head.

I hypothesize that in regards to canon relationships, Mel and/or Viktor, once they regain his trust and show that they're not trying to use him again, he's 100% going to be simping for them even worse than before. Like, that relationship would've gone through the fire and only come out stronger on the other side. You might even say it's been vulcanized.... 🤭

From the on, he can go back to letting his walls down around them and letting them be the dominant one because he knows there's solid trust and respect there now.

Feel free to agree or disagree 🤷‍♀️ also please feel free to tell me all your thots about this too!!!

He's got all this beautiful hair that needs to be tenderly pushed away from his eyes by a loving hand, but he's a little fucked up from the times Mannequin/Mage Viktor did that little murder mind meld.

Like, he put his head in Mel's lap TWICE, you know it would kill the man if he couldn't do that anymore because having someone's hands near his forehead is too reminiscent of... well, basically his death.

[thewertsearch]

JOHN: are you sure you can't make it go any faster? JOHN: i mean, not to sound too demanding, but… JOHN: didn't you say you can teleport stuff? JOHN: why not teleport us there? JADE: i cant! JADE: not here, at least

I thought as much. Jade's powers probably don't work in the Furthest Ring, because if they did, she could have brought Rose, Dave and the trolls to this Prospitian ship during Cascade. Her teleportation is probably limited to contiguous areas of conventional space, and the Hussieverse is anything but conventional.

JADE: becs powers draw from the green sun JADE: and the green sun presides over our universe JADE: many universes actually! and the sessions that created them, as well as the sessions created within them JADE: including the trolls universe and their session JADE: think of it like a giant solar system, but instead of planets revolving around the sun, there are many universes

Back when Rose was outlining the Tumor plan to Dave, I referred to the Green Sun as a core of reality - and it seems that's even more true than I thought.

In addition to powering the First Guardians' magic, the Sun also serves as the metaphysical nexus point of all Sburb-generated universes, as well as their associated sessions. Since we've never been given any reason to believe that non-Sburb universes exist, the Sun appears to 'preside' over all possible universes.

It almost sounds like the Sun is reality - and its creation was masterminded by Doc Scratch. The more you think about it, the worse it gets.

JADE: so, bec was able to teleport anywhere in the universe he wanted in an instant, much faster than light JADE: jack was able to do this too, within our session, and then when i inherited those powers from jadesprite, so could i JADE: but we could only teleport locally JADE: which means, bec could jump to anywhere in our universe, but not to another universe, or into a session JADE: and jack could jump to anywhere in our session, but not outside it

In other words, First Guardians can only teleport to locations they could physically travel to, from their current position.

During Cascade, for example, Jade could teleport to anywhere in her session, but it was impossible for her to reach other sessions, because those sessions didn't have a consistent physical location relative to her own. Similarly, Bec could teleport from Earth to anywhere else in his universe, but not into sessionspace, for the same reason an observer on Earth couldn't point towards a Sburb session. They're on different planes entirely.

tl;dr: to reach a given location via Space, Jade needs a well-defined direction to move in...

...and since moving to another session involves Furthest Ring travel, no such direction exists.

JADE: we cant even jump to the green sun itself, even though we sort of serve as a gateway to it, and all its energy

This, I believe, is the one notable exception to the rule above.

No matter where they currently are, a First Guardian can always open a portal to the Green Sun.

It doesn't sound like they can enter this portal themselves, though. Well, I suppose that makes sense - after all, they are the portal, and you can't move through your own body.

Could Jade reach into that portal, and fetch someone from the Sun, though? I suppose if that was possible, Jack would've just pulled Aradia right back out again, so I think the portal is completely inaccessible to the Guardian who embodies it.

JADE: and once we leave the suns domain, our travel is limited by the speed of light, like everyone else! JADE: for example, the furthest ring is not in the suns domain JADE: it is more like the suns medium, allowing it to exist

The Sun's domain includes, at minimum, every Sburb session in existence, alongside every universe they've produced. The Ring, however, can't be a domain, because it's not really part of conventional reality.

Yes, it may be the scaffolding on which reality is built, but the scaffolding is not part of the building.

[bambooswordwielder]

So funny to see the different demographics that each MXTX book series attracts and how that affects the way the fandom interacts with each other and themselves.

SVSSS is a Fandom full of people who embody the 'dont-like-dont-read-it' mindset I believe we need more in fandoms. You wanna ship Shen Qingqiu with Tianlang-jun, Luo Binghe's father? Go ahead. Wanna write a 300k fic about Shen Qingqiu as a bird that follows Luo Binghe around during his childhood? Where's the bloody link. Wanna make memes about Skinzun? Me too, send me all the memes and drawings.

The nature of SVSSS being a meta-retelling of stereotypical Male fantasy harem novels means it references and is heavily influenced by Fandom Culture, especially during Airplane's Extras of his past life.

It's because of that fact it means to read and finish the books, you automatically just have to be a person who's been dealing with fandom culture for a long time. You've learnt to accept that other people ship other ships, you've learned to love the random rare pairs that show up on your homepage that you never would've thought of but now will be hunting for on AO3, you've just learned to have fun with the source material.

This mentality is further pushed by the fact SVSSS doesn't have alot of Canon Material being produced, meaning a majority of content is fanmade for fan consumption. This builds a level of community that means there's not that much discourse, and any discourse there is is usually shut down with a simple "Oh hey Shen Yuan, nice to see you here."

MDZS has a bit more diversity in the people it can attract. It has a well-written love story between WangXian, it has Sibling Angst in the form of the Yunmeng Siblings, Nie brothers, Lan Twin Jades, and the entirety of the Jin Family, and it has deep political intrigue and discusses/dissects discrimination of your birth status (Sexism, Classism, Merit VS Blood). MDZS is also the novel with the most adaptations (The OG Novels, a Donghua, a manwha, audio drama, Life Action in the Untamed, and a manga), meaning more people can consume it in their preferred style.

However, it's due to these reasons that MDZS tends to have a lot of fights/debates in it in terms of interpretations of the characters/plot. Someone who watched the Untamed primarily is going to have a vastly different interpretation of Jiang Cheng’s character than say someone who read the original novels, and someone who watched the Donghua will have different scenes than in the Novel. People who came primarily for the Sibling Angst might wish for Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian to reconcile, while someone else for came for something else might be happy they don't interact.

There's also the fact the story deals with a lot of characters going through extreme circumstances over a long period of time, meaning characters make decisions that might make some fans hate them and some fans want to defend them for it. This overall just causes a lot of debate.

Love the works, love the Fandom, but 99% of fighting is caused by people reading/watching different adaptations which has different portrayals of characters (I'm staring directly at you Jiang Cheng).

I will update this when I finally finish TGCF and can get a glimpse of the Fandom, though would love to see any statements about it or the other fandoms.

[py-dreamer]

So... I know I'm late...

But yea! I said I was coming back with some stickers and I kept my word! I would've hoped that I could've completed the sheet in like a day but as you can see...that didn't work out

I know I've been a bit MIA lately but burnout sucks. I do have a lot of WIPS I really want to work on but again, it seems that the ProcrastiNation hath struck my feeble mortal brain again.

But anyways:

I headcanon Aroace Mei, just a personal headcanon (disagree if you like) I also like lesbian Mei but thought I'd give some aroace appreciation

Silktea was only given 1 episode but OH BOY did it fuel our wild shipping habits. And I jumped on the bandwagon. It's a reference to that scene in She-Ra where Scorpia tells Catra she 'didn't want to do this' then wraps kitty up in the blankey and cradles her like a wee baby. And Sandy would do that for any friend, I will die on this hill

Saw a fanart where Mk had a pig nose themed pacifier and I just yoinked that idea. The pig hoodie and the pacifier seems like something Tang would do for Pigsy (also to get away with free noodles cause who can say no to that face?~)

Mac showing Wukong the lantern. What can I say, mans' fascinated by them pretty lights. Though our little performer's eyes seem to be straying from the show (^u ')

I know many people have issues with shipping with Nezha and such and I know the two had a rough history but y'know what fans do; they love to make the people who kill each other soulmates (platonic, romantic or otherwise) Even if it wasn't romantic, I still love the idea of them being buddies and just chilling, the danger noodle prince and the angy prince snuggle and watch a movie (mainly from Nezha 2019 but I also saw New Gods and can I just say, I want those two twinks to bicker then kiss awkwardly and I want Yun Xiang to BEAT. HIS. ASS) but in case anyone asks, I do perceive Nezha to be a consenting adult in general outside shipping drama and if the two are adults, it does make my heart squeal when I see these two hold hands and whatnot

HOW COULD I EVER FORGET MY SPICYBOIS, inspired by that one Ponyo kiss scene. I was actually gonna make a bigger piece but then I saw someone do it already in a much better fashion than I ever could and I just gave up on the idea but Ig here, its just like the two cakes mentality and I gave it a go. Hope I could do the concept justice

Have spider queen or scorpion queen ever interacted before? No. But they are both queens and I believe Spider Queen's confidence could rub off on Scorpion Queen and she'd appreciate the company of Spider Queen's children henchmen. Also she give yummy food so lesbian venomqueens for the win

Redraw of that moment with Peng and Azure. I normally detest that bird but these two do get some gears grinding and whatever anyone says. Neither of those two are straight. I'll tell ya that.

Toxicinsanity is another rarepair that had like 1 sec screen time. I don't think they'd ever work out in canon and had virtually no chemistry. I still love all the fluffy ship content I can find of them though and if it ever were to happen. I think the mayor would scare the sh!t out of Syntax

Let's get at least one hetero couple here, Chang'e and Hou'Yi are a couple of favorites ngl, I took most of their outfits from Over the moon cause both of them looked stunning, Chang'e especially. I've seen people ship mah girl with other people and while I do agree it's healthy to move on, in my heart she will always long for Hou'Yi

Also irl, on valentines, my mum took us out for lunch, she treated us to bubble tea and donuts. We walked home so I waited to drink mah drink in my room while I drew and I accidentally finished it all... I'm so sorry mum

f*ck I forgot ironbull. Uhh....I'll draw something later, rn I need to go to bed before I get yelled at...

click pic for less sh!ty quality!

[bobosbillionsknives]

Do you have any trigun ocs that you'd like to share with the world?

Also besides Trigun is there anything else that you're into? Any video games, manga, animes, etc...

I did actually have an OC! She was a famous assassin/thief who accidentally fell in love with her mark....😱

I wanted her character and place in the story to feel very early 98 but in a hypothetical universe where Vashes relationships with women weren't weird 🤦‍♂️. Like I love the Spot joke I think it's hilarious but it's super weird in the context of "I literally saved this girl when she was a child" WEIRD ! So no more woman harassment. The awkward comedy is now people harass HIM but he's INTO it which makes it WEIRD ! And he's like "whaaat !!! 🙄" You get it.

She'd be completely undisguised but go "undercover" to gain Vashes trust. Meryl could obviously tell this was a world famous killer and not the nice lady Vash was crushing on so she spends the episode trying to get this idiot to realize he shouldn't trust her. Turns out he knew the whole time and didn't gaf . As the episode goes on Rosa keeps stalling killing Vash just to hangout with him more. Eventually her crew betrays her and tries to kill Vash themselves BUT ROSA DEFENDS HIM DUN DUN DUUUUUN 😱!!! It's after this she realizes her true feelings for him...but even after simping for her the whole episode....he rejects her....it's all very silly.

But also makes sense bc even though they have obvious chemistry Vash will always turn to self isolation or whatever.

I wanted it to feel like it could realistically exist in an early 1998 episode but I thought her character leaned a little TOOO stereotypical so I sort of scrapped it. It was very fun to brainstorm for it tho!

I also had some one offs, just random people from Vash and Knives' past. There was Ameer who was a kid on the "home" seeds ship that Vash became friends with after the big fall. We meet him first when he's older and really cool with a hot wife but in a flashback we find out he was sort of a dorky kid. Anyway he goes against home and decides to live on the surface instead of hiding on the ships. His father was one of the original home founders so this is super scandalous. And it's like cute or whatever cuz older him is very rebellious and kid him is a total rule follower. Something Vash would've criticized him for when they were younger bc he believes his own complacency is what led to the big fall in the first place. Vash and Ameer lowkey got beef but you can tell in their interactions that they have very good chemistry together.

Also Jimmy whose Knives' childhood bully....a reference to Jimmy Hopkins...from the game ... bully. Lol. But in my head it's a whole thing where it shows how they lived on gunsmoke after the big fall and how they become separated and found by different groups of humans. Spoiler alert the humans were mean to Knives but he tried to love them and the humans were nice to Vash but he rejected them. Knives' has doubts about his choice to kill everyone but this experience makes him justify it further. Bc all humans are bad actually and I'm stupid for trusting them in the first place. Whatever whatever there's always a lot going on in my head with these guys poops on the floor

AND FOR THE OTHER QUESTION !

There's lots of other crap I like !!! I've been drawing a lot of Dont Starve lately !! 🤗. And I LOOOOOOOVE Ace Attorney it's genuinely one of my favorite things to ever exist ever I've loved it since I was 14 it'll forever have a beautiful warm pillow in my heart. GODOT I LOVE YOUUUU GRAWUGGHHH....💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔 I also really like Fight Club I have watched it 10 times no jokes ..😕 Resident Alien and Crazy Ex Girlfriend are some of the most underrated shows of all time and I love MUSICALS 💔 and BALLET. 💔 LIKE A GAY LOSER. Gothic literature and comics as well. Whatever. I also really really like Victorian era men's fashion. I'm a gay fucking LOSER bro....😡 GET THAT THROUGH YOUR SKULL ! I also love Disney's Enchanted.

I do have a main art account if you'd like to see any other art from me !! 🤗 Thank you 💖💖💖

@bobosbobonicshitwatershit

[exo-raskreia]

I found your account a little time ago, but only recently I came back to actually consume Bleach media. Even if it is only for a little while.

I went searching for IR content, as I always do. And I find it impressive, how in every edit on tik tok or fanarts on twitter you will see a IH shipper spreading hate on their content.

Like. Orihime is not even mentioned. Bleach ended years ago. What do you want? Why are they so mean? I personally wanna understand how can someone say "their age(IR age gap) is not ok" and go and draw parallels between IH and Masaki and Isshin if "age is a problem". The level of mental gymnastics. I am not even going to enter on how immortal X mortal is a very commun trope in millenia during the history of mankind. We have literal myths in diferent regions about gods and goddesses who fell in love with young humans and this comes with a huge age gap.

Whatever. I personally always hated IH. Not Orihime herself, but the ship. + She always had a better development and dynamics with other characters and I dont mean only romantically, it can be platonic as well: Tatsuki, Rukia, Chad, Uryuu. Dear Gods even the entire arc with Ulquiorra she actually was a better character than someone only yelling "Kurosaki-kun" on repeat for the billioneth time.

I feel differently about Renruki, because at least for me, they had a shared history, they had their cute moments, and they actually ✨️talk✨️.

I just... whatever. It is just very frustrating getting into IR content, open the comments and see people spreading hate.

Yeah, instead of enjoying their ship being "canonz", they go & harass IR fans, get triggered when IR fanarts go viral & appreciated. Honestly, it's like they're more obsessed with IR than actual IR fans, haha. They're mad no one outside the remaining Bl3ach fandom cares about their mid ship.

Yes, Ori showed her potential & had better interactions with others, especially with Ulquiorra (UlquiHime FTW 🤭). Whenever Ichigo would be in the vicinity, all her potential would go down the drain, & it stayed like that 'til the end (pathetic team-up against the final boss)... 😮‍💨

Yeah, that whole age gap argument when it involves a mortal & immortal is ridiculous. Romance trope since millennia ago, haha. How they conveniently forget or ignore Isshin & Masaki are a literal example of the trope is baffling.

RR is meh for me. As if Rukia would've ever laid eyes on him 🤣. She never gave him a second thought. I don't even believe Renji had actual romantic feelings for Rukia (made a post on it once). Heck, he never even apologized to her for his villainous actions when he took her to SS & while in SS before Ichigo put him in his place...

But yeah, I get it. It's best to stay away from the general Bl3ach fandom which is mostly full of dudebros now. I don't engage with that. Just stick to my ships~

[titaniumions]

i think it's probably somewhat clear that i see isolde and kakania as lesbians (seems to be a common hc anyway) but i think i want to explore how that'd fit into their respective characterizations, not necessarily only from a shipping standpoint. note that this does get into headcanon territory, still i try to keep it as in-character as i can

i think kakania would actually be pretty open about it. in the 1910s?? i mean sure, she's already a controversy as she is ... an arcanist, an uncertified psychiatrist with unconventional methods, an outspoken member of society who stirs up public opinion. might as well give herself one more reason to be a subject of controversy. those who are set on hating her probably have no intention of changing that, so hey, might as well authentically be herself in every possible way including this. among those who have a more positive opinion about her, i do think this would make her somewhat of an icon. she draws other members of the community toward her. she lets them know that she is there for them and will fight for them. that they can turn to her and she will not scrutinize them for it. she'd tell them, no, there is nothing wrong with being this way. it isn't something you need to be "cured" from

in line with this, i think it would make sense for the "circle" to be a queer safe space. in fact, i like to think theophil himself could've been bi and thus would've accepted his sister's sexuality. but due to her own inhibitions (which i will touch upon later) i don't think isolde would ever have told him.

meanwhile for isolde ... i think it's more complicated. having a sexuality outside of the norm would be a deviation from the socially acceptable definition of the "perfect noble" she tries to be. so even if she were to ever consider it, she would simply end up pushing those thoughts away. no, not a chance. this shouldn't bother her at all. she's supposed to be perfect, yet she already has enough problems in her life as a member of the dittarsdorf family. considering the possibility of herself being anything but straight would lead to more problems, wouldn't it? and that's the last thing she needs. nonetheless she's ... never been attracted to a man either. but she tries not to think too much of it. maybe she just needs to wait it out. or so she tells herself

now to piece it all together ... i do really like the idea of kakania being her ... awakening. in fact i think it would make a lot of sense for her story, what with kakania being the metaphorical key to the doors that have always surrounded and confined isolde ... so hear me out. when isolde started associating with her and the circle she realized that it felt far less suffocating than ... pretty much any other aspect of her life. it's like a breath of fresh air. kakania in particular would fascinate isolde, in a way that makes isolde question things about herself. perhaps she even comes close to having a realization. but again, isolde remembers who she needs to be, and stops herself short.

eventually though, she would learn what kind of person kakania is, and what she believes in and fights for. this only deepens isolde's admiration further and she finally comes to a point of acceptance about her feelings. alright. i can accept this realization now. she no longer pushes it to the back of her mind. there's still a bit of repression and shame left in there but meeting someone who has not only awakened her, but also wouldn't judge her for it, has changed something within her entirely. the feelings overflow and she can deny it no longer. but again, at the end of the day she still needs to be perfect and socially acceptable. she can't just ... exist as freely as kakania does. but it's alright, isolde has feigned compliance for so long regardless of however difficult it might be. putting up with expectations has been a regular part of her life. so there it is, something authentic about this actor that she can't show to anyone else because it doesn't fit the part that she's supposed to play. kakania is allowed to know though, of course she is. it can just be their little secret. and one way or another, she'll figure out how isolde feels toward her. surely kakania would be quite honored to be on the receiving end of the affection of such a wonderful lady. as long as this affection doesn't eventually turn into a catalyst for destruction, right ...

[cherryblossombombs]

There was a bkdk poll asking us how we thought bkdk's relationship would end. I typed a paragraph response, but tumblr won't let me reblog my response or that post in general, so I will make a separate post lol.

But to answer @ammy246's question, I would've answered the other option.

While I still feel like the ending is still anyone's game, I do believe that it's unlikely that hori will end it like naruto. It seems like an izch ending is unlikely due to how the ship has been treated for the few years. Yeah, hori may pull something like that, but I honestly believe he's not going to do it. It's been too long since izch has even gotten a moment and hori knows that. This is the same author that recommends romance manga and apparently is a fan of unrequited love. This is also the same author that drew that 2021 art of the two falling in the sky and said it's what could've happened IF he had decided to developed the two more (he apparently said to pay attention to what was happening in the drawing; falling = bad omen; also reference to spirited away where the two characters separated).

We are at the point where a bkdk implied ending is not far-fetched. It's not something that can only exist in fanon anymore. Bkdk's relationship has seriously developed to the point where dudebros and non-MHA fans who are caught up (whether anime or manga) can't deny that the relationship is close. Not to mention how the ship has been promoted for the last couple of weeks (Bakugou's JP VA promoting a BL that has BKDK undertones, the little promo panel of midoriya and bakugou talking about opening an agency together, how CD dramas and those games have been recently, the 2024 Spring GIGA cover, Shonen jump's tiktok promoting the GIGA cover, Hori telling Bones the ending and now suddenly Bones now cares about BKDK and is adding more scenes about them compared to how they were with izch). It really does feel like these people are doing a soft launch of the ship.

However, because I feel like (IMO), that I haven't seen enough in the manga, I still feel like we're going to get an open ending. No ships. But I do believe that we will get a hand hold soon in the manga, as well as a deep conversation that will bring katsuki and izuku even closer than before. The question is, will hori go even further and make it romantic. Atm, I don't think we will get a kiss or a love confession, but I do believe that we are at the point where we may be lucky and get a crepe date at the end. I also do believe that we may get the ending where the two open an agency together.

[nihilnovisubsole]

hey, gang! miss me? no? too bad, because i miss you. i think about you all the time. i hope the year has treated you well. this is, what, the third, fourth year i've done a year-in-review post? have i done more than that? it's after midnight. i can't be bothered to check. i fear a lot of the mysteries of getting older, but i will say, i don't mind that it's easier to shrug certain things off. i look back on all the times i hid from some scary fandom discourse and go, "god, why did i care?" it helps to have other things going on.

on the other hand, i guess 2024 was the year of finding out what happens when you put everything into your day job and leave nothing for the weekend. it was a wild year at work, which i assume is normal as a game ramps up to ship. i gave a lot, which was good! i'd be lying if i said it didn't take a lot out of me. important people at trade shows have now seen things i wrote! i got to work with voice actors! good news: a lot of your faves are great people! i also made, like, no progress on any of my own projects except the picrew, which i still chip away at. yes, i still draw. more on that later.

one or two people in my coworkers-turned-friends circle have broached the subject of occupational burnout and whether i've reached it yet. as i said last year, i remember what voltage burnout felt like, and it took a much weirder, angrier journey to get me there. it's kind that they're looking out for me, though. i think it's something all creative people could stand to keep an eye on. a buddy of mine even gave a GDC talk about it. it's a shame GDC is so stingy with access to its talks. at least this article has a great summary if you're interested in learning more.

there were other things, though. my mother broke her hip in june, which forced me into a caregiver role that i'm not suited to. don't worry, she's fine now. i love her, so it was important to me, but it didn't leave a lot of time to sit and write for fun. i started what i thought would be a casual fanfic project, wildly over-scoped it, and made a ton of work for myself. i outlined an original story about a difficult, personal subject and a culture i'm descended from, but not really familiar with. there's a lot of pressure to do it right, is what i'm saying. i'm taking the only path i can think of, which is to bury myself in research. the trouble is, a lot of the literature about this time and place is also very challenging, so it burns a lot of brain calories. it's a far cry from what usually gets me to start a story, which is "i want these characters to sleep together. let's see where it goes."

in a different time, i would've taken this struggle as an omen that i wasn't the right person to write this story and abandoned it. it's critical that i don't take the coward's way out this time if i'm going to honor the question i asked at the end of last year. "what is my work saying?" my mother told me the same thing a few months ago: "i think you're a good writer, you just need to find good things to say." i take that to mean i have to write closer to real experiences, which means including the parts i don't like: disappointment, loss, mistakes, uncertainty. i had all of this year to figure out how, and the evidence shows i didn't. i don't know what to say. "oh well?" maybe you can't put a deadline on these things. in the meantime, hercule and aida deserve more stories (it's an hercule and aida story), and i want more people to know about them, and maybe i can say something real through them.

this was also the year that i reckoned with the other side of "all it takes is money to make problems go away." i was able to travel, i mean really travel, for the first time. all it took was being able to throw a chunk of my salary at it. i had some shipping drama [sorry, not the romantic kind] where i had no choice but to pony up a ton of customs fees. my arm PT didn't work, so i'll have to try a specialist who's out of my insurance network and pay full price to see them. this must be what they call "being a successful adult." i thought it'd look different. i wanted to live in the city and have a hot, mysterious boyfriend. well, i can still live closer to the city if i keep saving up for that house, and maybe some hot, mysterious guy will take pity on me someday. do you think they like 32-year-olds who play video games and have flat chests? i went all the way to paris and still didn't find out. damn! 🤌

nah, i'm kidding. i mean, i'm not, but i have other things to worry about. as i mentioned above, things with my arm have taken a curious turn. after six and a half years of assuming i had tendinitis, i found out, not only is it likely not that, i may not be injured at all. the particulars of this theory get out into the weeds of neuromuscular science, so i'll only bore you with them if you want me to. the point is, if any of it holds water, it would go a long way toward explaining why none of the typical rest/heat/stretching/strengthening protocols have worked. it's actually unfathomable how much effort i've put into solving this mystery just so i can get back to drawing fictional people kissing. you can call my creative work boring or predictable or whatever you want, but never say i haven't committed to the bit.

i don't tend to read my previous years-in-review. this year, i did, because i sensed i was grappling with a lot of the same things as last year. there's nothing i hate like being repetitive. not that you would know from the way i keep writing the same three character archetypes. humor me here. i was all set to keep whining until i reminded myself how 2023 had gone, and i thought, "geez. it wasn't that bad." nobody i love died, for a start. my health is better. i have some unread books sitting around. as terrible as 2023 was, i survived it. if you're reading this, you did too.

so here's what i'm going to do. i think you should do it with me, though whether i'm in any position to give advice is up to you. i'm not going to make any predictions about whether 2025 will be bad or good. i'm just going to see what happens. deal? all right. we'll check in next year. you'd better be there!

[bisupergirl]

what would you say were the most in-character cwsg kara moments? (also, do you think it was any more faithful before it moved to the cw?)

prefacing this by saying that I hardly remember like 90% of anything that happened in that show (and what I do remember is mainly from seasons 1 and 4), but off the top of my head here are some in-character (imo) cbs/cw!kara moments:

i've talked about this one a couple times, but that scene from the very first episode where Kara angrily confronts Cat after she names her SuperGIRL has a really great start:

Kara: "Supergirl"? We can't name her that! [...] It's just, uh... I don't want to minimize the importance of this. A female superhero. Shouldn't she be called "Superwoman"? [...] If we call her "Supergirl", something less than what she is, doesn't that make us guilty of being anti-feminist?

because she's right! she's literally right. and yelling at her boss (and other figures of authority) because they've done something that she strongly morally disagrees with is something that comic!Kara loves doing. this scene started out so nicely but immediately fizzles out once Kara backs down when Cat goes on her dumb "what's wrong with being a girl? i'm a girl!" speech and has to be bailed out by Jimmy so she doesn't get fired. comic!Kara would've kept the energy throughout the entire argument and either quit or gotten fired right there. and she would've told Cat to drop dead (her favorite thing to tell her bosses).

another moment I really liked is from 1x06 when she's venting to Jimmy:

Kara: Growing up on Earth, I never felt normal. And I always thought that if I started to use my powers, my life would make sense. But I'm realizing that... being myself doesn't make me feel more normal. And it never will. Because my normal life ended the second my parents put me on that ship. And that makes me so mad.

yep, that's Kara alright ! it really is so fundamental to Kara's character that she can never really be "normal" again. she can begin a new (and fulfilling!) life, but the version of her that lived on Krypton—the girl who got into trouble with her friends, who loved learning about her peoples history, who bounced her baby cousin on her knee, who shared her passions of art and science with her father and mother—is gone! she can carve out a new version of "normal" for herself on Earth, but that girl who woke up everyday and lived on Krypton is gone—and that haunts her!

and of course you have the classic and much beloved scene from 1x08 where Kara screams at her mother's hologram when she finds out Alura used her to draw her aunt Astra out of hiding and arrest her:

Kara: Could she have saved us? Alura: She was a criminal. Kara: But was she right? Alura: I am not programmed to give you that information. Kara: Tell me! [...] You let everyone that I love die! You left me! You left me alone! You sent me away! How could you do that?

and then this exchange between her and Alex:

Kara: She lied to me. Alex: Kara, that wasn't your mom. You don't know what happened then. Only what Astra is telling you now. Kara: I know that Astra and I were both given life sentences by my mother. We didn't have a choice.

Kara having a complex relationship with her mother and overall feeling deeply alone and abandoned by her parents is so important to me and very important to her character. this scene really fits in perfectly with that post I made a while ago that compiles the different instances across continuities where Kara admits to wishing she had stayed on Argo City instead of being sent to Earth alone. she's really the loneliest and most tragic character in the world !

okay and one last scene (well. multiple scenes) from season 1 that I really enjoy is from 1x16 where Kara gets infected by red kryptonite. I truly believe that the first 10-ish minutes after Kara gets infected is the closest cbs/cw supergirl ever got to capturing pre-crisis Kara's energy:

Cat: Oh, and look at that. A reward. Somebody gifted me tickets for Club Apocalypse for Friday night to see a Scandinavian DJ whose name I won't even try to pronounce. Kara: Thank you. I'll put them to good use. Siobhan: Do you even know how to dance? Kara: Don't be jealous. Or do, I don't really care.

K'hund: Your mother— Kara: Sentenced you to Fort Rozz, blah, blah, ruined your life, I've heard the story. You wanna fight about it?

Kara: Hi, Siobhan! Siobhan: What do you want? Stalker. Kara: Messenger downstairs wants you to sign for Ms. Grant's flowers. Siobhan: Okay, you do it. Kara: Well I would but Ms. Grant needs me to proof a column for her ASAP. I'm sure one day she'll give you more editorial responsibilities too.

Kara [to Siobhan after she gets fired]: Well, I guess that's your exit. [...] Well, that was awkward. But not surprising, though. She was a bad seed, it was only a matter of time.

the Kara / Siobhan catco scenes in particular really remind me of pre-crisis Linda Danvers / Nasty Luthor and the workplace feud that they had back in adventure comics. one of the biggest failings of cbs/cw Kara is that she's not enough of a dick. comic!Kara can be an asshole sometimes! she's catty! she's not above having a stupid feud with a coworker that she hates! she can be somewhat of a dick and also be kind and compassionate, they're not mutually exclusive.

moving on! (and skipping anything from seasons 2 and 3 because it's been literal years since I watched them) fast forward to season 4, I liked the scene in 4x08 where the US President fired Kara from the DEO for not revealing her secret identity:

Kara: If I did that, sir, everyone I know, everyone I love would be at risk. President Baker: My family is with the Secret Service as we speak. You think they're not in danger? No one should be above the rest of us. We need to put country first. Kara: I'm sorry, sir. I can't give you what you want. President Baker: Then, I thank you for your service, but you're dismissed, effective immediately. I hope you'll comply. The United States does not want a war with Supergirl. Kara: Then I trust you won't start one.

FINALLY Kara gets fired from one of her jobs, it's about damn time ! but seriously Kara standing her ground in this matter, especially when the President is trying to make it look as if she's selfish and thinks she's above or better than him or anyone she protects ("MY family's with the Secret Service!! NO ONE is above the rest of us!! you're putting YOURSELF before the country!!"), is VERY comic!Kara. she knows he's full of shit and she won't be guilt tripped into doing something she's not comfortable doing, even when it's a direct order from the US President. and I especially love the "then I trust you won't start one" at the end of their conversation. get his ass.

there's definitely other moments throughout the show that give comic!Kara to me, but alas, I don't remember any. I loved anytime she was onscreen with Nia though, so take that as you will.

as for the second part of your question, I don't think the show was any more or less faithful to her comics when it switched networks. however, just in terms of Kara's personality, I think she actually somewhat improved once the show moved to the CW. I just find the overly bubbly, "adorkable", "golden retriever" type of personality they gave her in the first season to be SO grating, and I felt that she mellowed out once the network switched. as the show went on Kara matured and grew more of a spine, which is more accurate to the Kara I love from the comics.

imo the first season did a good job when it came to touching on Kara's connection to Krypton and letting her feel complex emotions about her past, but I think it's disappointing in every other aspect. they majorly declawed her and they centered Superman in a really annoying way by constantly comparing her to him and just mentioning him unnecessarily (not to mention changing Kara's character to be more like him and giving Clark HER villains (yes i'm still mad about the show's version of Reactron)). make no mistake, CW Supergirl is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but they let her be more of an established and confident hero. obviously that's just like. character development. but even so, when you compare season 1 to Kara's early career in the comics, it's just like. kind of insulting ! 15 year old, incredibly traumatized comic!Kara was doing a better job at being Supergirl than 24 year old show!Kara. just a shame!

[rustedleopard]

if ur still doing th asks. 12 and or 20 for ummmmm axis 🤖robor :)

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

Well, I already made a post a while back about how I headcanon that the highest that Axis can count to is 255, so let's get a bit more serious. I don't think Axis has a "true SOUL" in the sense that monsters and humans have SOULs. In Undertale, SOULs are treated as actual tangible objects that can be held and interacted with (like humans with their persistent SOULs and Boss Monster SOULs that can exist outside of death for a few moments and how Flowey/Asriel pulled the SOULs out of every monster in the Underground when he went god-mode). Axis, meanwhile, is made of metal and magic and computer code, which is detailed enough that it can emulate what it's like to have a SOUL very accurately, but there are limitations (like how he still has to follow his programming and kill Integrity no matter how reluctant he is). Like what Alphys established in Undertale, creating an artificial SOUL (with all the properties of a real SOUL) is impossible. That isn't to say that his life/experiences have less value because he doesn't have a "true SOUL," he still has thoughts and emotions and such, but if he was around a bunch of monsters when Flowey pulled their SOULs out of their body, he would've been stuck there. Conscious. Completely untouched.

(Though considering his speech if he's spared on Neutral, he'll get past it. It's just another thing that makes Axis, Axis.)

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

Kanako and Axis, easily. Have you seen the little drawing that Kanako has of Axis in her room? Surely they must've met before. I bet that Chujin showed Axis off to Kanako to be like "Hey, check out this cool robot that your dad made." and she was like "Did you make a brother for me?!" And Chujin was trying to politely correct her by saying that "Axis is not the same as a child, he's my robot that I made to protect you, yadda yadda" but it's too late now, Chujin. She already has it in mind that Axis is her new sibling. She is already figuring out where to put stickers on his chassis. Axis loved the attention from Kanako as well, there's only one person out there who could "CAPTURE MY LIKENESS SO PERFECTLY."

... After Axis killed Integrity, Chujin cooked up a lie for Kanako about how Axis had to go to the Steamworks to be a guard robot there, since he was frightened of the idea of Axis's code going buggy and him attacking Kanako. "Oh, but don't worry, we can still visit him. Ah, when? Maybe next month, he's very busy." And on Axis's side, most of his memories of his domestic life with Chujin/the Snowdin Incident were sealed so there wouldn't be any risk of him spilling any potentially incriminating information. This included his interactions with Kanako. Then he was shipped off to the Steamworks under the pretense of "Whoops, accidentally stumbled across some of my robotics work that I had taken home and left in a corner of my house when I was still employed here. Here, take him. He's functional."

From this ask game

[bugismymiddlename]

So, at this point, I might as well just use this account to rant on and off just like how I use my Tiktok for the same purpose, but my phone is being a pest simply because I'm losing storage that keeps piling up everytime I even delete something but we're not going to talk about that. I recently just saw someone say -

"I hope Mileven breaks up in the 5th season for good"

Or I hear

"Mileven happening would be fan service"

Not to be rude to Bylers....but the fact that these words were said the second "Byler hate" started getting on the rising point, just leads the way for others to build skepticism towards the ship. Byler happening would be fan service for these specific reasons -

1. As much as I don't like this fact: Mileven is the most obscured ship in the series than Byler, unfortunately. Most people that pedistalize one of the main protaganists, Will Byers, (and if you don't believe me, go to other social media apps) who are mostly Byler shippers, refuse to look at studies and statistics and what they call "clues" around Mileven just to spill more "Byler proof" that is at it's most high probability about looking at colors, shapes, eye-glances, lip-glances, ST books, fake scripts etc. to prove their ship is actually existent. And as most of them are SEEMINGLY legit, it only takes your brain and contents of the actual show to know that the claims and statements can be easily met with a counterclaim. Something more popular, in this case, Byler, has tons of fans with their throats on it, Mileven has a bunch, but not that many believers. Mileven happening would not even be fan service because it doesn't have that many people on board with the ship compared to Byler.

2. "They've been building Byler up from season 1" is a complete lie. Will wasn't around for almost all of season 1, simply because he was kidnapped, we only got glimpses of Mike and Will's dynamic through the photos Mike would had, or Mike caressing Will's drawings. That sure gave us something, but that didn't give us the immediate thought that he was having anything romantic in feeling for Will, because from the start, their trope was that they were missing a best friend, a BEST FRIEND. Not a lover that Mike was secretly in love with. If that was the case, we would've gotten signs early on, just like they did with Will. The snowball scene when he was stuttering at the fact that he'd be dancing with a girl. The scene of Will moving his foot away from the girl that supposedly had a crush on him in class in season 4, they were obvious. For Mike? Not so much.

3. "What was the point of making Will in love with Mike if they weren't gonna be together?" Okay, and what was the point of making Mike supposedly in love with Eleven if it wasn't for the plot? You see? Most arguments in the Byler ship can be met with logical counterclaims. The point of making Will in love with Mike was to make his trope more relatable to gay men in the 80s, and I learn that now. There were rarely any LGBTQ+ representation around the 80s, and Hawkins, announced by the Duffers, is a place with lardge homophobia (take Will's father Lonnie calling him a slur related to that topic as an example). His trope is to realize that he's crushing on a straight man that will never reciprocate his feelings because he loves someone else, a girl, Eleven. In the van scene, it wasn't just Will coming out subtly using Eleven, it was him realizing and coming to terms with the fact that Mike's love for Eleven goes deep and that he will just have to except, hence him crying at the window.

Now, saying that you want the two (Mike + Eleven) to break up is you encouraging the Duffers to do inadequate writing in season 5. Mike's monolouge obvioisly was the most powerful thing in Mileven's relationship, he didn't lie one bit. Everytime he had expressed his love for Eleven, something bad happens, it's kinda like Mike felt like a curse just like Hopper, but in connection to him and Eleven's relationship. Their insecurities, Eleven feelings disappointed within herself and afraid Mike feels the same about her, feeling undeserving of love, to Mike feeling like he's powerless in being able to show his love for her as he we never experienced something like that before in his life, meaning he can't properly show it verbally, makes way for Mike to feel afraid even more when saying something as deep as "I love you" just for her to go away again. It would make that day hurt more, and it would make Mike's biggest fear come true, making him feel like she doesn't need him anymore, but she DOES need him. She WANTS his love, and proof of that is her using his love to fight against Vecna just like she used her own mother's love the first time. Them breaking up after that would mean that none of that matters at all, which could lead to the potential death of Eleven, and Mike's insecurity rise. Because then he has another person to worry about: Will. And while Will might be understanding, he definitely won't be as understanding enough when Mike can't please his wishes either. What makes you think Mike would IMMEDIATELY go to liking boys after a "breakup" with his first love, hm? Again, pedistalizing a character.

Anyways, Mileven endgame.

[houyin]

In life, Yingxing was an ardent Pathstrider of the Hunt. In unlife, Ren became a Pathstrider of Finality.

For centuries after Yingxing 'died' and became the Unnamed, he wandered in a state of perdition. Wandering across worlds, stowing away in freight ships, facing innumerable foes whom he collected the weapons of upon their defeat, and otherwise becoming a bushman surviving in the wilds, the Unnamed held no purpose in life. Unable to die, seeking his end, one might have thought that the Unnamed would've become a Self-Annihilator as the pointlessness of existence should've weighed absolutely upon him. In a way, it would've been a sensible outcome.

Yet, something was holding him back from pure oblivion.

Jingliu: I told you when I taught you the way of the sword — I am uninterested in drawing my blade against someone who does not long for life… who wants only to be slaughtered— - Clouds Leave No Trace

Of five people, three must pay a price. This ardent desire for revenge that had merged with the axiom that Jingliu had forever imprinted on his fractured mind held back the potential to fall into a sea of Nihility. Revenge was red. Revenge had a conclusion, and this end would need the blood and soul of another that had damned him, the woman so dear to him, and the world they'd once known. Instead of the colorlessness of nothingness, the Unnamed found the redness of revenge and the desire to bring all he hated to an [End].

Pairs of objects are destined for an eventual reunion. The long years of grudges and hatred between them should be savored, like ice-cold aged liquor, one slow sip after another until the bottle of resentment is finally empty. - Passerby's Roaming Dragon Bracer, Passerby of Wandering Cloud

It was in this that Ren found peace in the ultimate end, a guarantee that his miserable immortality would have an end at no matter the cost. Although Ren wouldn't understand this until Destiny's Slave took him in under their wing, he had been a Pathstrider of Finality for some time before Elio ever found him. Motivated solely by revenge, he'd first tested this unrefined Path on opponents who would fall by his blade as a constant reminder that death was something he could still seek.

But, among the Stellaron Hunters, he learned the true meaning of Finality.

He seemed to have let go of all his hatred in his dedication to the sword dance. [...] The slave promised to bring an eternal end and a final funeral to the unnamed's life and to everything he had ever hated. [...] If life could be deemed as a continuous journey, then the unnamed wishes to step over the pool of blood made of all whom he deeply resented before reaching his own end. - Passerby's Stygian Hiking Boots, Passerby of Wandering Cloud

In Finality, for the first time, Ren felt a feeling of peace. Though it wouldn't be enough to completely staunch the hatred and dire wish for death, it wasn't just Kafka's Spirit Whisper that silenced the Mara. Finality was the ultimate predator, the ultimate end. No Aeon, no Path, no person could escape what would claim all.

Jingliu: Blade... What a fitting name. In the remainder of your infinite life, you will experience only murder and your own death, all the while pleading for a place to rest. This is the only way you are able to relinquish Yingxing's regrets. - Clouds Leave No Trace Jade: I wonder what they are like, and if all Stellaron Hunters are like you… Traveling on the Path of Finality but struggling against your destiny, attempting to move in the opposite direction? - Soldier’s Pay, Farewell Penacony

One conclusion that can be drawn in the assessment of themselves and others is the fact that the Stellaron Hunters are defying their destinies despite the inevitability of Finality. In an opposition that can be likened to the Mourning Actors of Elation, the Stellaron Hunters act in defiance of the destiny that will take them down the shortest road, such as their current objective to target Nanook the Destruction, whose Primus Mobile is the heat death of all of existence. Elio leads them down the road that will lead to a predestined ending, of a better fate.

So, they dance against the current, just like their Aeon. For Ren, this means the end of everything he's ever hated, a fate that not even reincarnation can escape.

Blade: Guided by the "script," we've assembled here to temporarily accomplish a common goal… That's all. Blade: I don't care about anything else. […] Kafka: This path is anything but smooth… it's marked by flames, scars, malice, and bloodshed. But I guarantee, as long as you stand with the Stellaron Hunters, you will never know the pain of betrayal. Kafka: (Trailblazer)… Come, join us on stage. In the "script," we are the most brilliant actors on the cosmic stage, and the focus will always be on you. Kafka: All the bloodshed and cries beyond the screen are merely there to serve as the backdrop for the main characters. Together, we will dance against the current, until the universe meets the Finality. - Night Veil, Shroud the Silent Past, Heroic Saga of Flame-Chase

[that-left-turn]

It seems to me like norman was vocally pro caryl around season 2/3 and then became vocally anti caryl after Melissa won her Saturn awards for seasons 4 and 5 and became a main cast member.. and then became vocally pro caryl again after she got paired with ezekiel.. and then he's anti caryl after they break up and has been ever since - even more so now that he's got "his own show".

Do we have any good idea of who was behind the leah story and the connie shipbait? Even though they used both to give caryl parallels, those seem like the main obstructions in season 10 for driving caryl forward. I wasn't actively shipping them then, but I felt the show was starting to push caryl towards canon, but then when leah popped up, I was like 'oh... ok??? I guess I was wrong then, stupid me'. As for connie, I thought it was to show "it's not like that", but it was never made fully clear. I wonder what the motivations were really behind introducing those two characters as ships for daryl.

BASICS

Each character arc and the emotional arcs which involve one or more characters are laid out in pre-production, so the season is fully plotted before any scripts are written. There are zero surprises in screenwriting: each episode has a treatment, which details every scene and that's the basis used for writing the screenplay. The individual episode writers have no freedom to deviate from the plot, so it's very different from writing a novel or fanfic.

LEAH

The Leah arc was supposed to further Caryl's emotional arc, but a lot of plotlines were dropped or shortchanged in S11 because of things going on BTS. S9-10 were very deliberate and intricately plotted with a myriad of little beats throughout the seasons which were supposed to lead to a bigger picture reveal in S11, like how Daryl's facial scar factored into Caryl's relationship. If the showrunner is a good plotter, the groundwork for seasons to come is laid early, giving the audience plenty of puzzle pieces.

Unfortunately, Leah's arc was both stunted and misappropriated into a Maggie revenge plot which had zero payoff because viewers had no emotional investment in her entourage of redshirts. We don't know exactly how the Leah arc would've played out if the original vision had been followed, but it's clear from the pieces we do have that it would've led to Caryl canon so no, you weren't wrong or stupid. Leah was intended to be a foil for Carol and a catalyst for Caryl. I'm unsure of how sound this particular plot twist was, considering how easily something like that can get ruined when dealing with recalcitrant execs, but Kang is a detail-oriented writer, so as a viewer, I was willing to make a leap of faith with her.

SHIPBAIT

As for Connie, my guesstimate based on productions I've worked on, is that the network wanted to tease the possibility of 'something' to draw a larger share and to drag out the will-they-won't-they for Caryl (which doesn't work in today's TV). Sometimes, showrunners get notes where they have to make the best out of a situation they disagree with and Connie was never intended to be anything other than shipbait. The showrunner did her best to incorporate the studio notes into a storyline which would service the emotional arc she was actually trying to tell: Caryl thinking they aren't good enough or deserving of each other.

A good writer doesn't want to manipulate the audience. It's dishonest storytelling and it's not how you sustain and grow your viewership. You have to give clues along the way that will reward observant fans, even though the narrator might be unreliable. It's about building momentum and anticipation. If you do, a lot of the marketing will be self-driving at that point because of fan engagement.

If the Leah storyline hadn't gotten diverted, the use of Connie as a plot device in Carol's emotional arc would have been made clear. We never got any resolution to her self-loathing or the conflict between her and Daryl, and that's why there are still so many question marks surrounding the connection these two characters had to Daryl.

AUDIENCE RECEPTION

AMC has always wanted to sell the show to absolutely everyone and as long as there's a large ensemble cast, that might work to some degree, but it's not a long-term plan for sustained viewership and when the show is skimmed down to a handful of characters with the focus on two leads, it's no longer viable. The core emotional drive has to be the relationship between those two characters, no matter the nature of said relationship or whatever the external plot might be.

TBOC did everything to diminish and downplay Caryl's ties to each other and that was the biggest failing of the show. The hokey cult with its underdeveloped messianic plot and the fudged pseudoscience of the super walkers would've been forgiven and forgotten if Zabel had nailed the central message the season started out with, 'to find home is to find each other.' You don't need to be an amazing writer to write a show that people will enjoy, but you do have to respect your audience for them to stick with you in the long run.

[flame-shadow]

being a kid obsessed with dinosaurs while being raised christian fundamentalist (i think?) made for some very interesting moments.

books would say that dinosaurs lived hundreds of millions of years ago. my parents would say the earth was created 6000 years ago. so for a while, i thought dinosaurs were fake like dragons. and for a long while after that, i never paid attention to the estimated years because they were all clearly false.

books would say that dinosaurs evolved over their millions of years of existence, at some point some developed feathers, and that birds probably came from dinosaurs. the pastors and sunday school teachers would say that evolution wasn't real and that god created the birds as they are. i was confused and disappointed, because evolution made a lot of sense and sounded really cool to boot.

documentaries would show fossil sites and talk about how the rock can be dated. one time, i heard that god left dinosaur fossils for us to find as enrichment. another time, i was told that satan planted the fossils to sow doubt among god's followers. i thought it odd that some people thought god would want to trick his people with such an elaborate hoax.

years later, i heard someone say that god created the universe to look like it had always existed even though it was created relatively recently, and that's why the light from stars further than 6,000 light years have already reached us. i was reminded of the explanation of god putting apparently millions of years old fossils in the ground.

more recently (within the past decade and therefore i was no longer a kid nor a christian), i've heard the people who raised me to believe the things above reciting new "facts" that people have since come up with to explain away more recent scientific discoveries and conclusions. a few years ago, my grandmother had someone speak at her church, and afterwards she bought some of the books they were selling and shipped them to me. whereas twenty years ago, she'd have told me dinosaurs couldn't have existed, now she had sent me books about how actually dinosaurs were created 6000 years ago along with humans and all the other animals. these "facts" were corroborated by some other relatives next time i shared a meal with them.

they can't even keep their false facts straight because the old stories don't make sense anymore, even though the new stories aren't any better!

and i keep coming back to my early interest in dinosaurs.

the one that my mom was reluctant to allow me to pursue because of the perceived falseness of their existence. the one that i felt i had to carefully regulate what facts i expressed interest in lest my mom decide that dinosaurs were banned from being talked about the way pokemon was. and i was so so deliberate to pepper in the occasional qualifiers like "even though the bible says that's not possible, 150 millions years is a long time ago!" or "i know they're not actually going to turn into birds and this is just a drawing, but this one with the feathers does really look like it could become a bird someday."

thank god for dinosaurs (haha), because im not sure how long i would've been mired in such a closed-minded worldview otherwise. even though satan didn't sow the fossils in the earth, they did cause me to doubt the veracity of what i was taught.

[minzart]

I've been thinking of the ships(Oc X Canon) I draw with Will recently so I decided to ramble the dynamics I like to use them in so here they are

Will X Azul

They have a MASIVE CRUSH in each other, the favoritsm is obvious for those who know both, however due to their own low self-esteem it's fated to never be

Full of almost and what ifs, of longing and cringe of first crush(not love, crush, a curiosity of what could be if it became love)

It came from their fight in chapter 3 in Azuls overblot, Will is rarely angry and that was the first time they truly felt devious enough to crush someone dreams and it felt good , scarily good to see Azul lose himself to despair and overblot, their plan did that, so much so that it scare them, the talk with Azul after was for Will finaly seeing and accepting the people of this strange new world has permanent humans with ambitions of their own and they are stuck here, so why not try to conect?

For Azul it was that talk and later assimilating Leona's revelation that that plan was Will's, growing a respect for the magicless stranger, he did misunderstood their talk for pity but when Will got to work at mostro lodge is when Azul finaly notices the true meaning of that talk. Their devious side is intriguing and when being an ally is mesmerizing what plans togheter they can make and it excites Azul to find someone calculating willing to share this freaky mindset against opponents with him

And yet due to unexperience both just don't match enough, Azul is too focus on his pursuit for a career and Will is too closed off to offer constant push to Azul's pull, not enough gut nor empaty to steer the Cecelia into a break for they are too preoccupied with their own spiral of thought and apathy

Malleus X Will

In another world? They would've been soulmates

But in this one? Too uncertainty to truly move forward. Will is Malleus first friend outside of diasomnia family, and does not open up enough to identify that he has a crush on the magicless human, Will also knows this and rationalized anything mildly romantic to happen as being Malleus not used to friendship, and they are right.

But there's this magnet around them both, Will likes Malleus, they match eachothers mean streaks and posture, Malleus ego and certainty of himself gives Will a bust in confidence bc not once do they fell a doubt of why they both get along, Will thinks Malleus easily impressed by only treating him as a normal person without the formalities, as does Malleus of Will when he extends his presence and companionship and it makes the little human bean with a pleasant aura every time

With little training Will could be a good consort, and with enough humbling/time Malleus could see them as more than a "curious child of man", does that has anything to do with part of Will soul/insp being Diablo? Yes.

Idia X Will

Friends with benefits tipe of deal.

Ortho has joined the first year gang ergo he hangs out with the gang more, and Will is kinda distant of them, so the Droid sees a pattern him and his brother have in Will and Grim and thinks maybe he could kill two birds with one stone

Forcing the two to interact was easier than expected and once they click there is no stopping, they match eachothers freak, and in more calm moments with the right mood, their self-esteem so low it cancels the others out enough for the "if not now/not with you then probably never lmao"

First everything for both, and since both know what the other has curiosity about they arr very open to exploring. The only reason both don't move to a next phase is that they like what they have going on and fear losing what they have.

Maybe with enough time and new experiences in a reunion, both would like to try serious then

Rollo X Will

"Oh fuck he is/they are what I want to be"

They click in a weird mirror way, in a way opposite and yet same, Rollo has a reliable persona that Will wished they could have, while Will has an antisocial one that Rollo wishes he could be. For deep down at their core they are what the other's mask is

Rollo talks of the compassion of the bell as if embodying it but what he wants most if for the world to burn while Will talks they don't fucking care and are perpetually annoyed while deep down they care too much.

And when both are next to each other it negates the other facade and let both rest bare to the other to see, Rollo clocks this imediatly upon meeting them and Will does at the end of the masquerade

Rollo did approach them with the intent of gaining an ally he sweared shared the same thoughs as him since the emanating frustration was palpable for him that emanates from Will, and after their brawl it became clearer for him that the only one his ego and his guilt could allow him to talk openly with was the magicless mage, their forgiveness and yet righteous anger haunt his very core.

Will did clock on Rollo's two face act, but they were too happy and eager to tune out every problem ever with this vacation, Grim was behaving, there's a competent professor to take care of any problem, so they could just sit back and relax, enough to openly debate with Rollo his idea and in a way understand his logic but ultimately someone they care about is made of magic so no thanks, yet Rollo was the only one they felt who got toe to toe and treated them as a serious oponent when they braw, and there is just something about violently letting out 10 pent up months of frustrations with themself in an oponet that goes fist to fist instead of magic that screams bonding for their soul