#Writer trivia I guess?

[imaginethat0327]

Kay let’s do this *cracks knuckles*

🎱 My beta is the one with access to ao3 so I can’t see the stats 😅

🍓 I think I started writing fanfiction when I was like, eleven, I just didn’t know the terms for it yet. And I’m honestly not sure what triggered it other than me wanting to see scenarios with characters I liked. I think my first fanfic (which I never finished) was about the Young Justice crew going to DisneyLand??

🌵 https://open.spotify.com/playlist/64OXW7AK5ULeSPEKzgdtNp?si=5WEu21W6T0Or_BRXkCHCKw&pi=u-eINmVchcTp-l. (My fav instrumental playlist ❤️)

🕯️ 1. Just… it’s a 1. I don’t do it nearly as often as I should because I hate it 😂

🛼 - 🏝️🩺🔥🧟💀

🥑 @isyhawk 100%. If I contacted another then it would be @rurus-kadoo

🥤 I think this is supposed to be fanfic authors but I don’t read fanfic anymore, so I’m going to say Rick Riordan, lol.

💌 … 84. But it’s legit all spam which is why I haven’t looked at them yet 😂

🌻 @nyxcentury

🐇 Always would prefer OG characters as opposed to reader inserts

🧃 Personal lore that I haven’t shared before… uh, I sang the national anthem at one of my sister’s gymnastic meets one time.

🎲 Fatigue, mental or physical

🍄 Every spring, avians get a nesting urge where they’ll start crafting one out of blankets, pillows, clothes, and little trinkets or items that they’re fond of. Both Tango and Scar inevitably end up finding themselves in the middle of these nests at some point or another and even if it gets in the way of their projects, they can’t bring themselves to try and break out of it because it would make their partners very sad. So they’re both just kind of stuck being coddled and cooed over for a week and they both secretly (on Tango’s end) and not so secretly (on Scar’s end) adore it.

🧸 Aside from the logging stuff that I like, then reaching out and talking to me :) because then we’re friends and I’ll be obligated 😂

🪐 I’m on course to graduate college early, I have a pretty good living situation, and I have a ton of new online friends that I’ve been talking to/playing Minecraft with

📚 “Redbubble” and that’s it. I was going to make a password but I forgot, so now there’s just a note with the word “redbubble” in it

🍬 Deku is actually kind of dumb when it comes to fighting and how much effort he puts into stuff. Looking at a villain and going “I’ll beat him by trying even *harder* is dumb. Bakugo agrees with me. It ends up with Deku recklessly hurting himself and potentially hurting others. Real people, most of the time, can’t give 100% and then just decide to double their effort on a whim if stuff isn’t working out. I always thought it was kinda stupid and also very unrealistic/potentially a bad message. Granted, I haven’t read a lot of the recent manga, but if the fight scene with Deku in the third movie was anything to go by, he hasn’t learned.

🔪 I’ve tried to figure out the exact nerve/blood vessel that needs to get pinched for the Vulcan neck pinch to work. I don’t remember if I found it or not. Other than that’s it’s been a lot of “how do I kill someone in XYZ way” 💀

🦷 If you get a bloody nose, tilt your head back and get a twisted piece of tissue and stuff it up there. Then breathe gently in through your nose. The gentle airflow will clot the blood wicked fast. Be careful pulling the tissue out though otherwise you might take the clot out too.

❄️ I want James Patterson to write me a steampunk fantasy book

🌿 Give yourself a little bit of a break, but then find someone to talk about your project too. Even if it’s just recapping events, talking about stuff usually gets me back in the spirit of things. Also, at least for me, I have to make sure I write just a tiny bit every couple days, because big breaks may lead to the fic getting abandoned.

🥐 The Australian dude talking about the attack dogs and then he makes an impression “and they came bounding over -“ makes me laugh every time.

🏜️ Any comment that analyzes character relationships or plot elements makes me indescribably happy. All comments do, but those are my favs

🍦 I honestly can’t think of a character that I legitimately hate. Maybe it’s because I know they’re supposed to be unlikeable because they are a character??

🥝 oh dear god we’re getting real here… em, I’d say I don’t lie a LOT, but I do have a bad habit of lying about myself and my day-to-day going-one because I don’t want to feel like I wasted my day or did something wrong. For example, I told my mom that I did a good job hydrating yesterday when the only liquids I consumed were cups of coffee 💀

🦋 Umm… truthfully, I’ve been debating my value as a person/friend/sibling recently. How much joy do I actually bring to other people. How productive am I actually being. How much good am I actually putting into the world. How many of my interactions are me just clinging to the hope of validation as opposed to me focusing on others and their lives. 😥

🦴 no singular piece, but music and lyrics usually do

🍅 Imagine, for the love of god, go back and reread and edit your own writing. Stop word vomiting onto the page and expecting your beta to catch every little thing. Also, learn how to be CONCISE. Stop waxing poetical about every little thing or you’re never going to finish anything!

🐚 Depends on the surprise. Twists in movies are great. Friends showing up out of the blue are great. Random changes to pre-established plans make me want to cry.

🪲 “How are we going to kill it now?” Xisuma sounded a bit breathless from the heat, and when Cleo turned to look she saw the admin popping the cap on a fire res potion. “We can’t fight it while it’s in the lava. We have to draw it out.”

“If we try to fight it in here, we’re going to be killed by the blazes immediately.” Bad agreed. “We need to get it outside.”

☁️ I wanted a name that was whimsical - and the sort of dreamy, enthralled concept of “Imagine THAT” worked really well for me. Also I was really into Imagine Dragons at the time 😂.

🐝 Okay - I’m going to miss people, but I love every single person who’s read my fics and reblogged my post. For a few specific people: @rurus-kadoo - I am in awe of your creativity and your musical talents, and I’m so thankful you have shared them with me. I’ve loved chatting about music and making playlists with you. @isyhawk - My pen pal, you’ve taught me so much about life and you’ve helped me talk through some kind of heavy stuff, and I’m always going to be grateful for that. I love being pen pals with you ❤️. @red-carter - I’m so happy that you reached out to talk to me despite it being scary. I appreciate your openness and your kindness and I love getting to say good morning to you when I wake up.

🌸 I do have pets! An eleven year old golden doodle named Casey, and an almost 2 year old mini bermadoodle named Jojo. Pictures at the bottom!

🎨 Not sure if I have a fav piece, but anything by Applestruda, Hybbart, and Noxolotl is incredible

🧩 Anything with bad grammar/spelling/formatting is an immediate turnoff for me.

Pictures!!!:

Writers Truth & Dare Ask Game

🎱 ⇢ post your AO3 total stats  🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction?  🌵 ⇢ share the link to a playlist you love 🕯️ ⇢ on a scale from 1 to 10, how much do you enjoy editing? why is that? 🛼 ⇢ describe your latest wip with five emojis 🥑 ⇢ you accidentally killed somebody, which mutual(s) do you text for help? 🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love 💌 ⇢ how many unread emails do you have right now?  🌻 ⇢ tag someone you appreciate but don't talk to on a regular basis 🐇 ⇢ do you prefer writing original characters, reader inserts, or a mix of both?  🧃 ⇢ share some personal lore you never posted about before 🎲 ⇢ what stops you from writing more in your free time?  🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings 🧸 ⇢ what's the fastest way to become your mutual? 🪐 ⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now 📚 ⇢ what's the last thing you wrote down in your notes app?  🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character 🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project? 🦷 ⇢ share some personal wisdom or a life hack you swear on ❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best? 🌿 ⇢ give some advice on writer's block and low creativity 🥐 ⇢ name one internet reference that will always make you laugh  🏜️ ⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work? 🍦 ⇢ name three good things about a character you hate 🥝 ⇢ do you lie a lot? what's the most recent lie you told? 🦋 ⇢ share something that has been on your heart and mind lately  🦴 ⇢ is there a piece of media that inspires your writing?  🍅 ⇢ give yourself some constructive criticism on your own writing 🐚 ⇢ do you like or dislike surprises? 🪲 ⇢ add 50 words to your current wip and share the paragraph here ☁️ ⇢ what made you choose your username? 🐝 ⇢ tag your biggest supporter(s) and say one nice thing about them 🌸 ⇢ do you have any pets? if you do, post some pictures of them 🎨 ⇢ link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it 🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

[sasdavvero]

accents/dialects are harder/more complicated than i thought uh

[m0e-ru]

fan reading the official trivia book voice "bro you're just making shit up"

[dodgerkedavra]

Tea-Licious Fic Recs

I was already halfway through this rec list when I realized that, like, MOST of the fics I was looking through would have tea in them, but by then I had already looked up all the cute tea graphics, so GUESS WHAT? I finished it.

Please enjoy these delightful fics by DELIGHTFUL writers which all have TEA ☕️ in them!!

Snow Can Wait by @its-the-allure

Ten years after the war, Harry is on a first date with a cute Muggle bloke attending a classical music recital. But then the house lights go down, and an achingly familiar man with a shock of white-blond hair walks across the stage toward the piano. This is a story about waiting - and making up for lost time.

Got Me Started by @itsphantasmagoria, @kamaela

Malfoy said in a rush, “I don’t care about you.” “Uh, same?” was the only response Harry could come up with. Or: An unexpected partnership leads Harry and Draco to a sex club in Berlin. Harry doesn't quite know what to do with himself.

Birthday Blues by @edieblakee

"How long have you been there?” The door is fully open now, and in it stands Potter: casually leaning against the doorframe, arms in a loose fold. That stupid, half-smile on his face. Draco glares. “Long enough to know you’ve been sat here scowling for a bit.”

where i have to go by @desertforestfic

“So,” Ron murmured, “how was Malfoy last night? You two going to make it through the year without strangling each other?” Harry thought of Malfoy’s bloodless face in the moonlight, the way he’d shaken uncontrollably atop his bedsheets. “Yeah,” he said absently. “Don’t worry about it.” 𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒 Or: assembly instructions for something new in an old place.

when the birds are heard again in their singing by @matredaen

Harry hadn't been able to make it to the Hound and Hare's Thursday Trivia Night, which was a shame because Draco had specifically invited him—but unfortunately the moon waits for no man. Or, well. No wolf. He expects to spend the grey dim light of his Friday morning licking his wounds, both literal and metaphorical. He doesn't expect the barn owl, or the little care package clutched in her talons.

Harry After Healer by @zephyne

Harry’s loopy on potions after his procedure. Draco rather likes Harry this way, all open and innocent and awestruck. Oh—and yeah. Obsessed with Draco’s beauty. That part’s rather nice. “Do we call each other ‘love’? How long have we been together?” “We’ll have been married three years next month,” he replies. “Merlin, I hit the jackpot!” Harry exclaims, beaming.

[deliciouskeys]

Thanks, I hate it. Not all of Diabolical ep 8, but large chunks of its lore. Specifically for Madelyn, S1 painted an intriguing dynamic we don’t often see portrayed, where a woman who is deep down terrified of her charge deploys sex (or more often vaguely sexual maternal affection) to coax him to do her bidding and maintain control. By the end of season 1, we are left to wonder if she had any attraction or affection for him (Homelander decides she didn’t), or if she liked him only in the context of what heights he could take her career and everything else was fear-driven to keep him appeased enough.

Does that have some elements in common with an underage grooming narrative? Only a little. And the latter without any of the former is way less interesting. Madelyn getting her rocks off and feeling no threat is what the fandom moral tizzy over the grooming hc envisions.

In wanting Homelander to be a three dimensional villain, let’s not reduce everyone around him into flat villains? 🫤

Heeey, can I ask ypu something?

I've never seen Diabolical, but I've stumbled across a few tumblr posts trashing on Stillwell for doing stuff to Homelander in the episode because he's suppossedly underage.

Is this true? I always thought that Stillwell grooming Homelander was just fanon. I figured the whole tension between them steemed from Unresolved Sexual Tension, at least on Homelander's part.

Then again, if she's actually a predator, it could be that their relationship (?) ended because Homelander "got too old" and she re-started it in order to manipulate him.

Now, I don't know what to think 😩

In Diabolical 8, she absolutely has a very inappropriate moment with him. He’s 18 at the time, so not technically underaged—still gross—though we don’t really know when she met him. I was under the impression she was newly assigned to him, given how in that same moment she makes a comment about how they should drop ‘the’ from his title “The Homelander.”

honestly, I take the canon of Diabolical with a grain of salt, especially because it contradicts some points of canon in the main show. their relationship in s1 does not read to me like two people who’ve been sexually intimate over the course of the last 20+ years. like you said, it feels like extreme UST between them.

Grace Mallory describes their relationship as “special, complicated, intimate, hard to quantify.”

that seems like a really convoluted way to describe it if they were just fucking. imo, it reads as something aside from that. something Mallory didn’t know how to define.

I don’t really believe Madelyn ever had an earnest interest in Homelander, or that they had a true romantic relationship at any point. I think it was always a tenuous leash she had on him, something he projected onto her. but Madelyn 100% did manipulate him. the extent of it is just largely left to implication and interpretation.

[somehow-a-human]

The Filming of Good Omens Season 2 -

A Chronological Masterpost

I've finally put together this huge piece of meta that I have been working on for a very long time. I haven't written or posted much about GO since the allegations dropped. I don't think I need to explain anything to all of you about that. It has been hard to find my motivation again, but I'm finally feeling motivated to write, what with season 3 (I will not call it 'the finale' you can't make me) beginning filming very soon and all. <3

In this post I will try to put together the filming timeline of season 2, in order to hopefully give us more context and decipher the reasons behind season 2's blatant discontinuity problems.

I used any and all information I could find. From actors/writers/artists social media accounts, news articles, BTS information, filming slates, and more. We will follow a chronological timeline to establish what order the scenes of Good Omens 2 were filmed in. At the end we'll discuss what the findings might mean for the discontinuities of S2.

Are Crowley's sideburns changing lengths for a reason? Or are you just seeing them consistently grow throughout filming? However, why they might let them grow out instead of just trimming them is a different question all together...

Okay let's jump in!

Before the Beginning...

June 29th 2021 - NG posts on Instagram - Announcing GO series 2, and the BBC also releases an article announcing filming will take place in Scotland.

September 23rd 2021 - Prime XRay Trivia - Episode 3, timestamp 13:04 -

"The background plates for this car scene was the first footage shot for Good Omens Season 2 on September 23rd, 2021 at Forrestburn Hillclimb, weeks before the main shoot began."

This is the background scenery for Aziraphale's drive to Edinburgh, and was likely captured while crew were scouting locations.

October 13th 2021 - Michael posts on Twitter - His hair has been bleached for filming.

October 18th 2021 - NG posts on Instagram - First day of filming on the set in Bathgate, Scotland.

October 18th 2021 - Based on the scene number, this is likely a St. James park scene from early in episode 1 (not necessarily filmed at St. James mind you).

October 19th 2021 - Georgia posts on Instagram - David's hair has been dyed for filming.

October 26th 2021 - Aziraphale receives Maggie's note.

October 18th - 31st 2021 - Prime XRay Trivia - Episode 5, Timestamp 3:53 -

“This was the first scene Michael and David filmed together for season 2"

The scene being referenced is the modern day magic shop scene where Aziraphale invites Mutt to the ball. The ball invite scenes were some of the first scenes filmed. (Excluding the invite to Arnolds as the music shop interior was not actually located on set with the rest of Whickber Street, it must have been filmed later.)

November 2nd 2021 - NG posts on Instagram - A photo of Michael and David on set together. This looks to be one of the outdoor whickber street scenes, my best guess is this would also be the scenes where Aziraphale invites the Whickber Street shopkeepers to the ball.

November 2nd 2021 - NG posts on Instagram - a zoomed in photo of the "cupperty" scene. Only Crowley and Aziraphale's faces are visible. Quelin Sepulveda as Muriel was likely available from the start of filming, so some scenes featuring Muriel were able to be filmed at least prior to November 2nd.

November 6th 2021 - Georgia Posts on Instagram - David and Georgia attend "An Audience with Adele" at the London Palladium, so he must have gone home and spend some time with family <3

November 8th - 12th 2021 - Filming at Stirling Castle Graveyard, Stirling Scotland. This would include the episode 3 bodysnatchers minisode scenes in the graveyard, and Aziraphale's present day visit to the graveyard.

November 15 - 19th 2021 - Filming in Dumbarton and Queensferry. This would include the Edinburgh street scenes from the bodysnatchers minisode and scenes with Dalrymple at Hopetoun House. NG also says "Next week we're back in Bathgate".

November 22nd 2021 - Hell scene - Shax asks Beelzebub if she can attack the bookshop.

November 22nd 2021 - Anna posts on Instagram - The caption is: "It's Scotte-land, daddy!" Based on the previous filming slate, if they were filming scenes in Hell, Michael had some free time to spend with Lyra and Anna <3

November 25th 2021 - Ennon's house/courtyard scene is filmed.

November 26th - December 5th 2021 - News Article - Filming crews and the Bentley are seen at circus lane in Edinburgh, this would be to film any of the scenes when Crowley is in the alley.

December 16th 2021 - Georgia posts on Instagram - David facetimes her from set, holding a Good Omens 2 mug and sporting some styled Crowley hair.

December 18th 2021 - Glasgow donut shop Tantrum Doughnuts posts on Instagram about providing Christmas donuts to the Good Omens crew.

December 25th - January 1st - Georgia posts on Instagram - David is home for the holidays and Anna posts on Instagram Michael is home for the holidays.

This is the point at which Jon Hamm joined the production! He was only available halfway through filming so any scenes with Gabriel/Jim in them were filmed after this point.

January 11th 2022 - Aziraphale's arrival to the Edinburgh pub is filmed, multiple sources post about seeing the production take place.

Jon Hamm is also seen arriving on set in Edinburgh to film his and Beelzebub's Pub scenes.

January 13th 2022 - The ball begins & the demons invade Whickber Street. Scene 19 gives us the dichotomy of the warm jubilance inside of the ball contrasted with the scary scene taking shape outside as Nina and Maggie arrive.

January 14th 2022 - "You are out of order!"

January 17th - 19th 2022 - Scenes 21 - 27 are all the goings on inside the ball: the seamstress conversation, Maggie and Nina dancing, Crowley and Aziraphale dancing, etc.

January 23rd 2022 - Instagram user marty.kelly (also the Supervising Art Director of GO2) posts a photo of a stunt banana peel. Could this be the peel that Maggie tosses from her shoulder during the bookshop invasion?

January 26th 2022 - Filming Slate - "Leave now and nobody will be hurt"

February 12th 2022 - Georgia posts on Instagram - David is home.

February 14th & 15th 2022 - Filming at Bo'ness Hippodrome takes place. These are the whiskey delivery and subsequent magic show scenes from the 1941 minisode.

February 16th 2022 - The hitchhiker scenes from episode 4 with Shax were filmed at Forrestburn Hillclimb. A local car club posted about the filming crews visit.

February 18th 2022 - Shax rousing the troops.

February 22nd 2022 - Douglas posts a photo of himself in front of the blue screen set for the Before the Beginning scenes.

February 24th 2022 - Instagram user kaedesmith7, who worked on the set of GO2 posts a photo of a pen of goats with the caption "Just a normal day at work" - We can guess then that some of the Companion to Owls minisode scenes were filmed on or around this date. If I had to guess, these would be the scenes where the large blue screen set was needed.

February 26th 2022 - Georgia posts on Instagram - David and Georgia go out for a date. Sidenote: cute <3

March 1st 2022 - The last scene is filmed on the last day of shooting. Douglas posted the slate on Instagram and Michael posted on Twitter about "hanging up his angels coat"

Conclusions:

SO! What can we learn from all of this brain rot I've compiled? First, let's list the scenes of GO2 in filming order. I'm going to include some scenes I don't have explicit proof of, but were likely filmed at the same time as others.

Crowley and Shax meet at St. James Park

Azi gets Maggie's note, and additional record shop scenes

Crowley and Aziraphale invite the whickber street shopkeepers to the ball

Coffee shop scenes, Maggie & Nina scenes, and bookshop scenes without Jim were likely filmed around this time

Muriel's arrival and cupperty scenes

Bodysnatchers minisode & Aziraphale's present day visit to the graveyard

Shax asks Beelzebub if she can attack the bookshop, more Hell scenes were likely filmed as a batch during this time.

A Companion to Owls minisode courtyard and cellar scenes

Scenes with Crowley in the alley way: Shax tells him Gabriel is involved, Crowley is summoned to Hell by Beelzebub, Shax tells Crowley she thinks Aziraphale is involved

Aziraphale arrives at The Resurrectionist

Gabriel and Beelzebub's meetings through the years

The Ball and demon invasion

The first weeks of february are likely when they filmed most of Gabriels whickber street and bookshop scenes

1941 minisode scenes at the theater

Shax tricks Aziraphale into picking her up as a hitchhiker

Shax rouses the troops prior to the bookshop invasion

Blue screen scenes were likely filmed around this time including Before the Beginning, the opening and closing scenes for A Companion to Owls

The last scenes were filmed on the final day of shooting.

I couldn't find much to indicate when the Heaven scenes were filmed so if anybody has anything, this is very much a working document so feel free to share!

What does this tell us about a 53 year old man's sideburns? Well, to me it seems like they simply grew out during filming. Does this explain Bildad having two completely different wigs?! NO. Does this explain why they didn't just trim them to a consistent length during filming? NO. When his snake tattoo was being applied nearly under his jawline, there must have been conversation about it's placement, but they chose to leave it for a reason. Why? Well hopefully we'll understand some day.

I can also tell you that the progressive wear on Aziraphale's beloved waistcoat is consistent with the filming timeline. I won't bore you with the entire document filled with screenshots, so you'll have to believe me, but it appears to be that his waistcoat simply aged as filming went on.

What do you think? Let me know your thoughts and as we approach S3 filming, happy sleuthing and happy holidays!

As always a massive thank you to the folx @ineffable-detective-agency for their contributions! @embracing-the-ineffable, @noneorother, @kimberleyjean, @lookingatacupoftea, @komorezuki, @maufungi, @havemyheartaziraphale, @theastrophysicistnextdoor, @dunkthebiscuit, @ghstptats, @251-dmr, @commonmexicanname, @eybefioro, @beebopboom

[burningvelvet]

36 chapters into moby dick. some thoughts:

- take a shot every time he expresses his love for nantucket or whaling trivia

- i know everyone said it was queer and usually i've come to expect that as hyperbole but this time they weren't joking

- CHILDE HAROLD REFERENCE?!?!?!?!?! BYRON QUOTED?!?!?!?! not surprised bc it is the romantic genre which byron & chp helped inspire & he was the best selling writer in early 19c usa & is noted for his oceanic refs & he & esp childe harolds pilgrimage esp are both noted on wikipedia's "nautical fiction" page but like. i had no idea they were immortalized in moby dick

- "Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian." AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

- does gay cannibal tumblr know about queequeg & ishmael?

- utterly obsessed with captain ahab for numerous reasons but does anyone else notice how similar he is to captain flint from black sails? like he's literally him but a bit older & combined with silver's leglessness.

- the part where ahab calls stubb a dog lmao

- ishmael getting worried for queequeg when he couldn't find him omg...

- "Where's that girl ? — there, Betty, go to Snarles the Painter, and tell him to paint me a sign, with — 'no suicides permitted here, and no smoking in the parlor;' — might as well kill both birds at once." MRS. HUSSEY!!!!

- i'm sure that all the focus on queequegs spirituality & his consultation with his god yojo wherein he was informed that ishmael had to pick their boat bc yojo demaded it TOTALLY won't prove to have any prophetic and symbolic consequences later on or anything

- love how the chapters are nice and short but on the flip side that means theyre tricking me into thinking i have less to go than i actually do... as long as i get more ahab i'm good i guess

-melville, at random: and now we take a break from our regularly schedule programming to give you . . . WHALE FACTS! [whips out multiple books on the history of whales and whaling, begins to recite]

[ecargmura]

Bofurin Are Named After Plants (Part 1)

I like Wind Breaker, but what I like more is the creative thought process that goes behind a character's name.

Here's a post about the plants the Bofurin characters are named after.

Since there are some anime-only people on this site, the first part will only be about the Bofurin members who have been officially introduced and their affiliates.

Let's start with the MC:

Sakura (桜) means Cherry Blossom.

(Sakura Kinomoto from Cardcaptor Sakura also uses the kanji for Sakura in her name and both are born April 1).

The Nire (楡) in Nirei means Ulmus davidiana var. japonica, commonly known as the Japanese Elm.

Suo is an interesting case. Instead of having one syllable in his name being a word for a plant, both of the syllables in his name make up one word for the plant he's named after. In his case, Suo (蘇枋) means Biancaea sappan. The sappan plant can be used as dye, called Sappanwood, and the color is a reddish brown just like Suo's hair color. The color is actually called Suo in Japanese, which is actually really creative on the author's part.

The Sugi in Sugishita (杉) is the Japanese word for Cryptomeria japonica, commonly known as the Japanese cedar.

The Ume in Umemiya means plum (梅)

Hiiragi (柊) is the word for Osmanthus heterophyllus, which is commonly known as either holly osmanthus, holly olive or false holly.

For Bofurin's affiliates, they also have plant names too.

Kotoha's surname is Tachibana (橘), which means mandarin (as in the orange). This sort of goes along with her foster brother Umemiya who is also named after a fruit.

Sasaki, the middle school kid Bofurin saved from Shishitoren, is quite an interesting case. Sasaki is a common surname, but the way his name is spelled is actually a bit different from the more commonly way Sasaki is spelled. In Sasaki's case, the sasa in his name means bamboo (笹).

Not only are the people named after plants, but the shops too!

The cafe Sakura frequents and the one where Kotoha works is called Pothos, which is a plant.

The bakery that Sakura gets his bread from is called Saboten, which is the Japanese word for Cactus.

As a writer, the creativity behind the plant theme names really gets to me. I can tell the author put a lot of thought into their names and have them be consistent with a certain theme.

However, Bofurin itself means wind chime which doesn't really fit the plant theme, but it is powered up by the wind, which is a part of nature, which plants are from. I guess that counts?

Anyways, if you enjoyed reading this post, I'll be back with a part 2 once more Bofurin members are introduced.

Here's a video I made for this trivia.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

What is your opinion on each of the known students in Ms. Mendeleiev's class (Marc Anciel, Aurore Beauréal, Mireille Caquet, Jean Duparc, Zoé Lee)? I realize that Zoé’s section of your answer will most likely be the longest, but I figured I’d go ahead and put them all in one ask anyways since there’s only five out of sixteen total and having one ask for each of the other four seemed unnecessary.

Zoé is going to get the most analysis out of me, so we'll save her for last and start with the character that I have the least to say about:

Jean Duparc

I didn't even know who this was, so I had to check the fan wiki page about him. He's apparently a minor character who gets akumatized and defeated off screen. His design is so generic that the trivia section reads, "Jean's design is a regular background model used in groups and crowds in the series."

So, yeah, nothing to say about this one. I can't have opinions on a character who barely even counts as a character.

Mireille Caquet

Mireille is a minor step up from Jean in that I actually know who she is - she's the girl who wins the weather reporter job at the start of Stormy Weather - but as far as her personality goes, I have nothing to comment on because Mireille does really have a personality. She only exists so that Aurore has someone to lose to at the start of Stormy Weather. That's why Aurore has a really cool and memorable design while Mireille looks like she's wearing pajamas. I don't think Mireille even has lines at any point in the series. If she does, they're not memorable, making her another character who barely counts as a character, leaving me nothing to talk about.

Aurore Beauréal

I really like Aurore's design, but there's not much else for me to say about her because we don't really get to know her character. She made for a fun akuma and that's all that she was meant to be. Her non-akumatized lines are just generic ranting about her loss

Aurore:(in the elevator) I should have won, I have the talent, the star looks, everything! But she took everything away from me. They took everything away from me! They--

and a generic statement of confusion after she's freed from her akuma. I wouldn't have been upset if she'd become a reoccurring character because - once again - she's got a really cool design, but I can't tell you anything else about her, so there's nothing for me to analyze.

Marc Anciel

Marc is the first character with some actual substance, but the substance is hardly abundant. He's just a kind of generic shy writer. I'm not sure why he's been added to the cast as a reoccurring character because they really didn't need more characters and they already have a writer in Alya. So I don't dislike him, I think he's fine, I'm just not sure why he's here. I was especially confused when he was given a miraculous because what has he done to earn one? He's not even part of the miracuclass where everyone gets a miraculous no matter how unworthy they are. It feels like he was just picked because they needed 18 holders, but they only had 17 and Marc is Nathaniel's comic-writing buddy, so I guess he's good enough?

Speaking of Nathaniel, I know that people ship him with Marc and that they're kind of implied to be together in the show, so I guess I should comment on that? I have to admit that I'm not a fan. Nathaniel's actions in Reverser were incredibly off-putting making this yet another couple with a really unhealthy foundation to their relationship. Why does Miraculous keep doing that???

In case people don't remember, Marinette gives Nathaniel Marc's story to read and Nathaniel assumes that it's Ladybug's private diary because the story is called "Diary of Ladybug". Why Nathaniel thinks that Ladybug would have Marinette deliver her private diary to him is beyond me. This is especially true since it doesn't read like any diary I've ever seen and the episode starts with these exchanges:

Marinette:(sees Marc) Marc you made it! (Marinette runs up to Marc and grabs his arm) Come meet everyone! (dragging him inside) This is Marc, the boy I told you about! The one who's always writing. Marc:(hides his book in his jacket) Uh... I'm sorry I didn't want to disturb you.

Jean-Pierre: Alix is our expert at street art. (Alix flips spray can in the air and catches it) And Nathaniel- Alix: He likes to draw people in skinny suits. (Nathaniel throws a piece of paper at Alix and she laughs) Nathaniel: Welcome Marc. As you'll find out, the good thing about this place is you can say whatever you want and no one will judge you, or only in good fun. (Marc notices Nathaniel's drawing and walks over to him) Marc: I... I saw your drawings on the school website, but they're nothing compared to the real thing. The movement, the expressions, the attitudes. They're all so-- Nathaniel: Thanks... That's nice.

Jean-Pierre: By the way Marc, you've shown up at the perfect time. Marinette told us that you're always writing and Nathaniel is looking for a script writer. (Nathaniel smiles at Marc)

Based on all this, it's not weird for Marinette to assume that Nathaniel would be able to guess that she was giving him Marc's writing. After all, the first few scenes of this episode all happen during the same day, meaning that Nathaniel was given this book right after being told that Marc liked his art, being told that Marc was a potential script writer, and being told that Marinette was Marc's friend, but whatever. What really matters is that, when Nathaniel goes to meet "Ladybug" and finds Marc instead, he gets extremely mad and rips Marc's book in half:

Nathaniel: What?! You're not Ladybug! Marc: Of course I'm not, it's me, Marc. Didn't Marinette tell you? Nathaniel: Marinette? (He looks over to Marinette's balcony, where he sees her filming him) Marinette: Uhh, operation "Comic Book" has hit a snag! (Tikki hides) Nathaniel: You were trying to make a fool of me, weren't you? (Points accusingly towards Marinette) Do you think it's funny to toy with my feelings? Marc: No, not at all! I-I just want.. to make.. a comic book, if you want to, that is. Nathaniel: A comic book? Us!? Together?! Never! (He tears Marc's book in half)

Oh yeah, I'm totally shipping these two. Couple of the century here. Really living up to that whole, "say whatever you want and no one will judge you, or only in good fun" thing, Nathaniel. Why did you even jump to the idea the they were making fun of you? Nothing in the episode set that up as a reasonable conclusion. No one was bullying you and you seem pretty freaking secure about yourself. If any character was set up to assume they were being made fun of, it was Marc!

This is another case where the show is trying to make things Marinette's fault, but she's actually not doing anything wrong. This is almost entirely on Nathaniel. They had a relatively minor miscommunication and, when he discovers that, his reaction is to destroy another artist's passion project in a fit of rage.

Anyone who thinks that it's okay to destroy another person's property because they're hurt needs anger management classes before they're ready to date anyone. Any time I see Marc and Nathaniel together, I remember this moment and wish that Marc would get out of there because I just don't view Nathaniel as a safe person. This was just such a massive overreaction and it gives me major ick vibes. Especially since this is yet another case where the wronged party never really gets an apology. The most we get is this:

Ladybug:(turns to Marc and Nathaniel) Marc and Nathaniel? By now you realize there was a big misunderstanding, but if you give each other a chance, I'm sure you'll find out how well you can work together. (Nathaniel holds out his hand, Marc looks, smiles and shakes Nathaniel's hand)

Why are we implying that there was blame on both sides here? Marc was the wronged party in every conceivable way. Once again, major ick vibes.

Zoé Lee

Zoé is written like someone's Mary Sue self-insert which is not a dig on Mary Sues! Mary Sues are just the most popular female equivalent to escapist male power fantasies and escapist fantasies should belong to all genders! However, if you're going to write a character like this, then they're supposed to be the main character. It's really freaking weird to have a side character written like this.

What do I mean by a Mary Sue self-insert?

Zoé shows up out of nowhere and immediately becomes best friends with all of the core cast members

Zoé has a tragic backstory that everyone finds oh so sad and comforts her over even though it really should make them wary of her ("I used to lie about everything and it lost me all my friends!" Yeah, I'll bet it did!)

Zoé is good at basically everything she tries and has no real flaws

Zoé gets brought into the magical girl squad in her second appearance, making her the character with the least development prior to being given a miraculous

Zoé is somehow the voice of reason, seeing the truth of things while everyone else is deceived in episodes like Kwami's Choice or Adoration, giving her things like the anti-Lila powers previously only held by Marinette and Adrien

Zoé is chosen as Adrien's replacement while Alya replaces Marinette, implying that these two are on equal standing somehow

In other words, Zoé is generic and kind of boring, but is treated as the best thing ever, which makes her a pretty annoying and crappy side character. The reason characters like this are successful main characters is because the whole point is escapist fantasy. You're supposed to be able to project yourself onto this generic cool person and pretend it's you being fawned over by your favorite characters. It's not my cup of tea, but I see the appeal and get why it's not hard to find stories like this especially in the romance, isekai, and fanfic genres, all of which are big on escapism.

While I will defend this type of character as fine in general, they have no place in a show like Miraculous. Miraculous is not an escapist fantasy. It's supposedly Marinette and Adrien's love story, so what is a self-insert fantasy doing here? The show really showcases how awkward this is in Adoration where Marinette spends the whole episode freaking out about Zoé liking Adrien - because of course the self-insert gets a love triangle with the leads - only for Zoé to confess her feelings for Marinette like a good little self-insert would, but of course Marinette can't accept those feelings so it's just kind of fizzles instead of leading to the standard self-insert romance with their favorite character. Writers, what are you even trying to do here? Why is Zoé getting all this attention? It's weird...

Zoé's awkwardness is only exacerbated by the fact that she's also a blatant Chloe replacement and I don't just mean the fact that she gets the bee. I mean that she's often used to disseminate information that Chloe would have or to fill the role that a redeemed Chloe would fill. For example, take this scene from the episode Gabriel Agreste:

Zoé: (rudely) Jean Quinton, did my mother tell you that the dinner party is no longer at Gabriel Agreste's tonight? Armand: Oh no! Madam didn't mention anything to me. Zoé: A helicopter will be coming to the roof, to take you over to the Eiffel Tower. Armand: Is mademoiselle sure about this? Zoé: Excuse me? Are you suggesting that I might be wrong? (walks away) Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous! (to herself) Sorry, but it's for a good cause.

The writers needed Chloe for a minute, so Zoé adopts Chloe's personality to allow them to have a good Chloe without doing the work to actually make Chloe good. Btw, this scene shows exactly what I mean when I say that I want a wild card on the team. Someone who isn't afraid to be mean to get the job done. The writers clearly understand that a character like that has their uses, but then you'd have a character who is on the side of good, but who isn't a total goody two shoes and I guess we can't have that?

As you've probably picked up, I'm not much of a Zoé fan. I find her pretty obnoxious because she's so wildly out of place. Outside of her role as substitute Chloe, her character adds nothing to the story. There's no missing role that she uniquely fills because the cast was already bloated as heck when she showed up. To be fair, there are ways this could have been fixed.

Zoé shows up right after Chloe's betrayal and she almost immediately reveals herself to be a status chasing liar who is trying to be a better person. This should make everyone super wary of her and could have been used to demonstrate the difference between a person who doesn't want to change (Chloe) and a person who does want to change (Zoé). This would require the show to allow for multi-episode arcs, though, because Zoé's acceptance would need to be a slow process and not speed run in a single episode.

You could have also had Zoé show up at the same time as Audrey and used her as part of Chloe's story either to drive Chloe to be worse or to give Chloe someone who helps her get better because no one understands your messed up home life better than your siblings.

But those are some pretty major changes to canon. As is, Zoé is totally unnecessary and I wish that the writers would stop trying to make us love her by giving her cool roles in the story, shafting characters that we've all wanted more of in favor of this rando that they forced on us at the last minute. I will forever be salty that Zoé got the black cat instead of Nino. Alya had already had her identity outed twice, give someone else the Ladybug and let Nino get a chance to shine! Or just give the ladybug to Alya and black cat to Nino and imply that this is going to be a new love square situation. After all, Kwami's Choice has Tikki claim:

Tikki: No, they’re made for each other. Love is what gives them their strength.

Implying that the ladybug and the black cat should be in love so why are you picking Zoé and Alya? Not exactly opposed to that ship, but I don't think it's actually the plan, so what was that about? Plagg and Tikki didn't even seem to consider the comparability of their new chosen which is super weird given the whole "made for each other" line we get from Fu when he picks Adrien and Marinette in Origins. You can tell that no care was put into choosing the replacement heroes. They just once again wanted to show how cool Zoé is.

[warrior-cats-rewritten]

Unhinged or generally weird shit I read on the warriors wiki trivia tabs part 1

Crookedstar:

What do you mean by this??? She was listed as his mom in Prophecy and switched to Rainflower in Promise? Are you implying they wrote Lilystem the entire time, made a mistake, and then instead of fixing the mistake, just... Retconned Rainflower into the already written scenes?

Yellowfang:

My boyfriend has this. I use it to annoy him.

Bluestar:

But they had the time to write a Clear Sky Toe Sucking scene as well as have Bluestar be mean to Leafpool until she has to be reminded about her illegal husband and children she is later stated to SPEND TIME WITH IN THE SAME BOOK. Are you the writer or not?

Firestar:

Which I will remind you is followed by this:

Turtle Tail:

Cute name but also:

"It was so sad... Anyways she was hit by this model of car."

"Also they're polyamorous but not explicitly and only these cats despite my former insistence that 'first love always wins'"

Squirrelstar:

"He didn't have enough clout" then write more of him or write him better or stop making whatever you think 'clout' is a prerequisite for that... "Cope with" actually I'm not even gonna finish that thought it doesn't deserve my energy.

To absolutely no one's shock, Squilf is one of Kate's least favorite characters. She also said this about Crowfeather but guess who the narrative kisses the ass of harder.

Expansion of that statement. Something about this reeks of classism but I can't put my finger quite on it.

Brightheart:

Yeah, yall, Brightheart's inevitable death is looming. They will absolutely erase her wounds. Take that how you will. I personally wouldn't having my missing eyeball back in heaven but with the narrative history towards disabled characters in this fictional setting.... Yeah...

Also stop making Mega Mentors and Mega Queens if you want to stop this problem why did you highlight it in her fucking graphic novel? Why not just retcon it in? You've had no problem doing that before. Have her mentor Hollytuft, no one gives a shit about Hollytuft and you couldn't seem to pick a mentor for her anyways.

Twigbranch:

WHO IS THE AUTHOR HERE

[ladyloveandjustice]

A recent episode of Wonderful Precure was PEAK magical girl saves her kidnapped boyfriend, just the classic storyline so pure and crystalized in a way I haven't seen in a while, so I had to cap it. The magical girl staple of the dashing heroine rescuing the dude in distress.

Poor Satoru, after eating dirt just from being near the fight they're having, is cornered by the nefarious villain. She even kabedons him, wtf, poor kid is scared. Then she snatches him up and keeps him restrained with ONE ARM. The entire time. Like sadly Iroha didn't get to princess carry Satoru but we still got impressive ladies carrying dudes content so I guess it evens out.

Also I love that Iroha has to be like "DON'T OBJECTIFY SATORU HOW DARE YOU" which you often see guys having to say about kidnapped girls.

Also the subs are lying, Satoru says "let me go, please" remaining polite even in the circumstances of being kidnapped (though the form of "please" he uses, "kudasai", is the one for requesting something you're entitled to, as obviously he is entitled to not being kidnapped. It's less hyper formal and polite than how he usually talks, which makes sense for the situation.)

Iroha catching him as he fell and hugging her to him was also genuinely sweet.

(What I'm not happy with that the female villain's only trait is being horny. Like girl, you are the vengeful spirit of an extinct species, please have something else going on)

What does also make this scenario better is Satoru is really such a genuinely sweet kid that I think it's probably the best het romance in Precure history? Like it's cute. I'm rooting for them.

It's really a Good version of how gross the similar Happiness Charge storyline was, rather than the whole Nice Guy "you took him for granted and you're bad for not magically knowing he was in love with you the whole time". Satoru has also been pining after Iroha for a long time but the other girls tell Satoru he has to tell her himself because how can she know if he doesn't say anything? And he admits he's scared because he doesn't want to lose her as a friend if she doesn't feel the same. And when she's visibly nervous seeing him after his confession, he's says "Hey, I don't want to make you uncomfortable, please forget what I said and let's just keep being friends".

(He's not even upset by how she literally ran away after he confesses which tbh I would be pretty hurt by actually, so honestly, way to roll with it)

(Also it's incredible that he was so down bad for her that he learned all this trivia about animals, his main personality trait, just so he could talk to her more.)

So when Iroha realizes she likes him back, there's genuinely no pressure on her to do so. The show makes it clear he was in no way entitled to her liking him back, the only thing Iroha was gently challenged on him by her friends was "hey, I think you need to talk about him about this and let him know you're trying to figure out your answer, you guys always share your feeling with each other, so don't stop doing that now".

See, you can do it right, Precure (I know this is a diferent writer and has no connection). And it probably helps that the only other shipping option I have is Iroha and her literal pet dog, which I refuse to get behind even for yuri purposes.

[fivela-secret-gift-exchange]

📢 Fivela Secret Valentine 2025 // Some BTS and Trivia... Thank you all! 💖

👉 See full post in AO3:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/63929005/chapters/164826400

Secret Valentine: Challenges, Plot Twists & Hide & Seek!

Once again, our participants exceeded expectations!

This time, we used AO3’s matching system, randomly pairing participants based on shared keywords from their offers and requests. No one received the same Giftee as in Secret Santa, mixing seasoned authors with newcomers and artists with writers.

Like any challenge, some panicked when discovering their Giftee and prompts, but everyone pushed forward—whether with their best effort, best intentions, or both. Some were highly organized, while others spiraled into self-doubt, panic, and late-night despair. Yet in the end, everyone delivered—with sheer talent, determination, or dedication—if not all.

The past two months were a whirlwind of group support, cheerleading squads, writing sprints, spies, beta-readers, and giftee-checkers. The community came alive to make this event a posting feast and a resounding success!

We hope everyone enjoyed the experience—whether through the challenge of creating something in this fandom, the joy of receiving a gift, or simply the shared energy and enthusiasm.

While all stories were scheduled to drop on March 14th , the community came up with its own pace—posting steadily from February 14th to March 14th . Some were too excited to wait, some committed themselves early on so as not to pull out of fear, and others... well, they embraced the chaos and pulled a "we-die-like-Ben" drop, last minute or not 😂

And we thank everyone for the surprise postings and updates that kept us all on edge throughout the month!

👉 181,327 words—an impressive feat, even for the most hardcore readers, who couldn’t possibly read everything in one sitting! 😅👏 

And guess what? Some stories aren’t even done yet!

Creative Highlights & Standout Moments

gaishnik drew a full comic (WIP) in an unmistakably jaw-dripping style in All I Need, while JustBWilde blessed us with another expertly edited Mastermind video. One isn’t born a Swiftie—they become one! Or, at the very least, please all the Swifties of the community 💘 Want another game? Find all Taylor Swift references in this Secret Valentine Event!

Whether you’re looking for hidden love, yearning love, cozy love, angsty or sad love, there is one story for every taste! 

Alexa_K3S gave us a new spin to everyone’s all-time favorite Replacement with One wrong turn (WIP, 44k) writing one of her most cherished tropes—one of a pure and heartbreaking one-sided love story. 

Rowan_555 joined her first event with a 90s romcom-inspired The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret (WIP, 25k), packed with her unmistakable “yearnalism” and breathtaking moments.. Did she get called out by the first chapter? Yes, she was.

okay_lets_be_still immersed us in an intense first-person POV with Chaos and Control, reminiscent of her I Want Tomorrow.

HansoDax drew first a piece of art in her evolving yet now unmistakable style, but challenged herself with more in I hear you like drawing, here's my JPEG  by completing it with another chibi art and a challenging and kinky story.

Our authors and artists filled the space left in between seasons, or gave us a glimpse of what happened in the subways, at the Greenhouse, with Jerome and Nancy... 

ClumsyBookworm18 entered this event with a bang, delivering a tensed and guilt-tripping illicit affairs from Lila’s POV while Tardis_jpg also gave us an angsty one from Five’s POV in Indentation. Both pushed us into the minds of both characters, each fighting against their feelings.

chronokinesis wrapped us in warm, smutty green woolen jumper Greenhouse’s moments, with Five's Favorite Place.

deadinsideserpent teased us with a short yet full-potential meeting in Secrets Keep Us Close while HansoDax & monfivela finally teamed up… just to write smut. Shameless smut, playing with Five and Lila’s dissociative identities in These Dreams Are Made of You.

Our participants didn’t hesitate to explore new POV and characters outside of Five and Lila: 

In Is Your Drama Going to Have an Intermission Soon? I Need to Pee, InadequateAllAlong teased us with characters’ files and a moodboard before leading us through Klaus’ chaotic hamster-wheel mind. 

LadyMoony delivered a heartfelt story from Grace’s POV, In her eyes, offering a fresh and innocent perspective on the Fivela dynamic.

Can you imagine Five as the main character in an AU!Academy setting? As a therapist, a teacher, or a barrister?

Stephsageek set the perfect stage for a rivals-to-lovers tale with a dash of mystery in Sincerely Yours. Who sent that love letter? Who also sent those ominous letters in KitsuneUdon743’s mysterious Bad Omens -inspired work Just like the Rain. 

The plebs want to know.

For ifellintofantasy, it's high Time For Change as she gave a voice to Lila’s struggle and journey to save her marriage and her self while marygeldingm93 wrote a romantic and fun piece, using every trope loved by her giftee in Trying Not to Fall for You.

What happened between S2 and S3? 

Once again, monfivela and she_goesonandon unknowingly explored a reasoning idea, with two complementing stories that opened a new plot: what if Lila went to Five in the Apocalypse post-S2?

Until Again and The Twins both tell a love story that begins in Apocalypse and takes years to fulfill.

Our participants went all their way to study and give back to the authors, creating fanworks around fanworks:

panjava_clown_69’s Fever Dream Hallucinations shared not one, but two, and maybe three edits! All inspired by Rowan_555’s epic and Fever Dream.

crankytrashpanda brought theirs and Tardis_jpg’s Male!Lila (Lyle) to life in a hopeful (and smutty!) subway-set one-shot. After gaishnik’s illustration, Lyle now has some stories! We want more of him 🙏

Delicately, LokiNightfury (our secret artist!) didn’t only draw one fanart inspired by Fancy Nancy (HansoDax’s Secret Santa) but five escalating pieces, from G to M in We can’t make any promises, but you can make me a drink.

People, stop raising the bar—just kidding, don’t ever stop 🍓

Some Fun Trivia!

We’ve had the joy to have crankytrashpanda, our hit-pitcher for Secret Santa, who answered the call for Tardis_jpg’s gift—the secret only stayed for an hour at most as would most authors who know each other too much, the pleasure was literally skyrocketing as Tardis_jpg read their beloved OC come to life in Be Mine… and by someone who certainly wasn’t supposed to participate! What does Lyle look like? Check out gaishnik's art!)

monfivela tried to hide behind an edit (but left a Subway Script signature that didn’t go unnoticed to our code breaker LokiNightfury) and only stayed secret as far as the title went (as noticed by Tardis_jpg) and within 5 minutes into reading when called out by ClumsyBookworm18. Instead of her usual rom-com AU, she went with an enduring love that spans decades and rewrote all seasons (21k).

Cheeky! LokiNightfury didn’t deny having any of the Fivela Community mods as her Giftee, faking sprint-writing and drew right under HansoDax ’s nose. The secret was too hard to keep, so for those looking at her titles, one would immediately guess the Swiftie’s mastermind behind. Throwing HansoDax off her scent with all other known and unknown artists was part of the game, until Ao3 safeguard system that didn’t allow an author to like their own work and comment under their name betrayed her.

Turnabout is only fair, and how could LokiNightfury conveniently forget HansoDax & monfivela were subbing for one of the assignments? The mischievous tag team led LokiNightfury on a wild goose chase to every explicit-content author until they had to point out who didn’t Kudos and commented. We love you too (sincerely, yours).

Final Words

This event was filled with passion, surprises, and unmatched creativity.

Thank you all for being part of this family. Your talent, enthusiasm, and support keep this ship sailing!

Now, go forth and read, comment, and spread the love! 

We aim to please and hope you all have been well-fed 🍓

Sincerely yours,

@gaishnik @lokinightfury @marygeldingm93 @howdoioperateher @tardis-jpeg @okay-letsbestill @monfivela @just-b-wilde @hansodax @inadequate-all-along @stephsageek @deadinsideserpent @ssmhhh @silverywolf14 @kitsuneudon743 @kingofok @rowan-555 @ifellinto-fantasy @little-moony @littleleopardseal @seasphynx @clumsybookworm18 She_goesonandon

[72-votes]

Tʜᴇ Kɪʟʟɪɴɢ Vᴏᴛᴇ

Thirty-five years ago, DC Comics opened a phone poll to kill Batman's child sidekick, Robin.

The poll was open to paying callers in the U.S. and Canada for a window of 35 hours, starting on 15 September 1988 at 9AM EST. There were two premium-rate phone numbers—one for Robin's survival, and one for Robin's death. Each paying caller could call multiple times. The results were decided by a margin of 72 votes out of a total 10,614 votes—the difference was just under 0.68%.

Now you decide.

KILL ROBIN

Jerry Smith of Covington, Kentucky claims to have sold his Mercedes-Benz to pay for votes to kill Robin

"Who Killed Cock(y) Robin? I Killed Cock(y) Robin" article by Glen Weldon (2008)

"1-800-DEAD-ROBIN" autobiographical comic by Tony Wolf (2015)

"We killed Jason Todd" feature by Matt Markman (2021)

SAVE ROBIN

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), a noted Bat-fan and scholar, denounced the episode as a "Roman gladiator-like readers vote."

"I loved him [...] I personally voted for him to live 100 times, and my mom flipped when she saw the phone bill," says magazine writer Savas Abadsidis.

MJG6 said: I was dead broke, working my way through college, but I voted. My first job was at a comic book store, making me an OG fan girl, I guess, and I encouraged people to vote to save him. [...] Because killing a teen, in a role kids are supposed to identify with, that was just sick.

Further Reading

"A Death in the Family, or: How DC Comics Let a Phone Vote Kill Robin" via r/HobbyDrama

"Living Dead Boy: Jason Todd vs. The Culture That Killed (and Resurrected) Him" on Women Write About Comics

"The Vote to Kill Robin" - trivia, misconceptions, opinions by comic-commentary

Some fan letter columns from Jason's later times as Robin

No Birds Allowed: Batman without Robin

"A lot like Robin if you close your eyes": Displacement of meaning in the Post-Modern Age by Mary Borsellino, an essay on dead Robins, sexism, and classism

🦞 The Tale of Larry the Lobster 🦞

Submitted arguments below:

Kill Robin

Anonymous propaganda IN FAVOR of killing the lobster the Robin!

I love Jason Todd. I love his post-crisis Robin days, I love his sense of justice and his adorable love of learning and his silly curly bangs! I say this to emphasize that I don't want him killed out of any dislike of the character.

I want him dead out of a love for storytelling that gets to stick to its guns and doesn't pull its punches. In context of the poll we readers have just seen Dick Grayson get kicked out of the role due to Bruce's fear of him getting hurt, then he turns around and gets a new Robin anyways because he misses him! I really like that Bruce is being messy and hypocritical! Let that have some real consequences please!

If there were no real consequences then Dick got shoved out of being Robin for what? Hairbrained overprotective worry? Why even change the way he graduated into being Nightwing so much then or heck why even kick him out in the first place?

One might argue that we haven't even given this Robin proper time to develop, that instead he might be taken in new and interesting directions as his own unique Robin shaping the mantle into a legacy rather than just something that was Dick's. I admit this is a very good point, and we are cutting off some possible interesting avenues. As I mentioned, I do like this character! But are we really going to get that?

If DC is already prepared to toss him out of this mortal coil and through the pearly gates after such a short while, do we really think we're going to get much more love and care applied to him?

I say let's roll the dice for something new! May the comics world and all these characters have to deal with the ramifications for many years to come!

Save Robin

robin’s death (and subsequent resurrection) is, frankly, an insult to robin fans of that era. to want to see this child get killed in a brutal manner for no apparent reason, to see jason essentially removed from the narrative so batman could go back to being gritty and depressed—this is awful to me. he hadn’t even been robin for very long!

but that’s not why he should’ve lived.

the resurrection of jason todd as the red hood was narratively interesting enough that it kept most fans of the original jason hooked, and it still does! he has become a prime example of a trauma survivor: his death changed him, and those who loved him have difficulty accepting that.

but there is no resolution to that story, nor was there a resolution to jason’s tenure as robin. dick chose to leave robin behind and take on a new mantle. tim, steph, both had robin taken away from them (and let’s forget about how tim is still robin, because that doesn’t matter right now). damian’s role as robin conflicts with his misconception of his role in the family. everyone else has had an ending, and jason’s death…well. after his resurrection, he has somehow remained stagnant and wildly inconsistent at the same time. this applies to under the red hood too.

at its core, utrh is a deeply classist retelling of jason’s life pre-death in the family. winick makes him a villain—albeit a sympathetic one—who fucks over or kills people that he would’ve thrown himself in front of to save as robin. in utrh, the implication is that jason had always been violent and angry (and morally compromised), and that he was destined to become worse.

it sometimes feels that jason’s transition into being the red hood (and all the characterization that comes with that) was a decision dc made for shock value. just from jason’s robin run, it’s difficult to imagine jason becoming the red hood. it doesn’t feel inevitable. it’s tragic.

ultimately, i believe that jason never should have died, and that his death was a stunt by dc for its shock value. jim starlin wanted jason dead because to him a child sidekick, in a medium that was originally made for children, was “sheer insanity”. he was fridged, plain and simple.

[alexanderwales]

Movie Review: Upstream Color (2013)

I watched Primer when it came out on DVD. It's one of the few movies that, when I finished, I immediately watched a second time. I loved it. It was dense and opaque, and benefited greatly from a second watch, which made the whole thing slot together like a nice little puzzle. It was filmed on a razor-thin budget, with one of the main characters being a writer, director, producer, and editor. I immediately put Shane Carruth on my (then short) list of directors to watch.

So I've been meaning to watch Upstream Color, his second movie, for a full decade now. The reviews for it were never very good, and every Primer fan I knew of said that it was no Primer, and I guess I had other stuff going on for literally a dozen years. I keep a "to watch" movie list, which is usually 20-30 movies deep, and other stuff kept taking priority for one reason or another. I wanted to be in the right mood for it, that was definitely part of it. So I watch a movie every two or three days, something like 100 movies a year, and that means that since Upstream Color came out, I have watched more than a thousand movies instead of watching it.

Spoilers Follow

Let's start with the obvious: Upstream Color is no Primer.

I think that I could fit the story of Upstream Color into a single paragraph. It's not complicated. When we start any movie that my wife doesn't think she'll like, she goes to look up the synopsis and reviews and trivia and stuff, and she quoted me a review that said it was an "opaque mess", and ... I don't agree with that, but I can see where they're coming from.

Here's my plot synopsis:

A man (credited as "Thief") discovers some worms that can be used to induce a hypnotic state. He uses them to hypnotize a woman, Kris, and makes her give him her entire net worth while under hypnosis. When that's done, he leaves, and she writhes around under worm control until being summoned by some music by a different, unconnected man (credited as "Sampler"). The Sampler takes the worm out of her body, implants it into a pig, then releases her. She wakes up with no memory and her life is shattered. Later, she meets Jeff, who had the same thing happen to him, they fall in love, they have a psychic connection to these pigs, they gradually get more in touch with what happened to them, then they go kill the Sampler and rescue the psychic pigs.

I don't think that there's anything in there that anyone could be confused about. The movie spells everything out. There are one or two plot beats aside from that, but this is about it.

It's how the movie does this which is unusual. It's taking show, don't tell to its limits, almost never with dialogue that clarifies anything, and its scenes muddle into each other, with none of them feeling like they last more than a few seconds. There is essentially no grounding, even when it felt to me like there should be, and the movie doesn't ever really stop being a visual tone poem. I found this grating in the first five minutes, then got used to it, and eventually started to find it grating again. I guess my best point of comparison is Terrence Malick's Tree of Life, which I thought was more effective but also did grate on me a little bit.

When a moviemaker does something like this, particularly an auteur (or would-be arteur) like Shane Carruth, I always start by assuming that this is part of the point, that we're being fed the plot one way instead of another because it ties into whatever is going on thematically. And here ...

Where I thought it was most effective was the sequence when the baby pigs were being drowned, since we're almost required to have that whole thing be done with Kuleshov effect, cutting back and forth between the pigs and Kris and the pigs and Jeff. It's a nicely evocative little bit of cinema, even if I didn't think that it emotionally landed for me. Where it's less effective is when we really would have been better served by just having some straightforward exposition, or more standard filmmaking, but I guess if you're committing to the bit, you're really committing.

So what's the story about? What's the analogy, what's the theme?

Kris and Jeff are drawn together because of the psychic connection from the worms/pigs, but also (in my opinion) because they've both been victims of this horrible thing that's happened to them, their entire life having been torn down by some thief, then made to believe that they were somehow responsible. So they've got the psychic thing going on, yes, but they also have parallel traumas, and the same sort of gap in their lives. I think this what I'll call Thesis One, the shared bond of trauma.

Another major thing that struck me when watching the movie was that both our protagonists seem insane from the outside. They have this weird connection to each other that no one could understand (though they don't seem to have friends or family or anyone to talk to who could find it weird). They mix up their memories, and sometimes fight about that. They have bouts of irrationality, paranoia, anger, grief, with no explicable-to-them source. They feel like there's somewhere they're meant to be, but they try to follow that sense, and it leads them nowhere. To me, this immediately said "mental illness", so I'm going to call this Thesis Two, the terror of knowing that something isn't right with you, but having no idea what it is, having this internal feeling inside of you, patterns of behavior that make sense at the time. This movie is basically not shot like a horror movie in any way, and does not use the language of horror films, but I think it does share a lot thematically with the subgenre "mental illness horror" where the protagonist thinks they're crazy. That our two protagonists seem intensely codependent helps push that line.

Lastly, at least some of the movie is about personal identity and meaning, though I'm not sure that I would called that Thesis Three, mostly because I don't know what it's trying to say about personal identity. Clearly both Kris and Jeff are attempting to construct meaning in the wake of what's happened to them, and their identities bleed together with their overlapping memories, but this is just not fulfilled very much, and some of it is wrapped tightly in what I'd call the mental illness stuff.

Even if I'm reasonably confident in what literally happened in the film, and what it's about, there are a few things that don't really click for me.

In a normal film, I would expect that the sequence goes:

woman gets hypnotized and wormed

life is ruined

lots of strange thoughts and adventures with another man who is equally crazy

revelation that she's not crazy after all

revenge and catharsis

But in Upstream Color, the Thief and Sampler are implied to be operating entirely separate from each other. There's a little gap which can't entirely be closed through inference, but it's implied the Sampler incidentally pollutes the water with dead worm-pigs, the organism infects plants, those plants get (totally be coincidence?) taken up by exotic plant foragers, then bought by the Thief. So the Thief and Sampler apparently don't have any relationship with one another.

And yet, it's the Sampler, who removes the worms from people and puts them into pigs, that gets killed in the end. Yes, he was the one to kill the Kris-pig's piglets, but ... I don't really understand this narrative beat. Do they assume that he was the Thief? The Thief gets away with it, and all we see of him in the end is that he's sadly shaking his head because the magic worms are all gone.

I mean, yes, the Sampler is a creep who uses his psychic connection to peep on stranger's lives, and yes, most of these people (seem to be) victims of the Thief, and it's fucked up to not give them information or closure. But if the Sampler and Thief are unrelated, which seems likely to me, then it feels like the Sampler is taking bullets better meant for the Thief? Or is it just because he killed some piglets?

And what does that mean?

I am, moreover, confused about what the function of the Sampler is when compared to what the themes are. Does he tie in with the mental illness angle? No, not really. Does he tie in with shared bond of trauma? Only in that he's preventing people from getting closure, I guess. He's a voyeur, a failed artist, some of this ties to personal identity, but again, it doesn't feel like a strong thesis, it just feels kind of random, especially since we have virtually nothing to go on as far as the Sampler's motives or history. He seemed to me like he was mostly just an artist, with the sounds of nature as his primary art and the experiences of other people as his secondary "art".

I'm going to give my hot take on this movie now, which is that I would have liked it a lot better if it were more traditionally structured. The opening five or so minutes really made me think that I would have been better off leaving it on the to-watch list. The "piecing together the location of the Sampler and getting revenge" stuff was super rushed and kind of nonsensical, and offered no catharsis, only confusion.

Overall, I would say I didn't like the movie. I think it was trying too hard to be deep (for me this is a very high bar to clear), and didn't benefit from the experimental aspects, and would have been better if it at least had a stronger idea of what it was trying to say.

I will now go read some reviews, and maybe that will help something click for me. Hopefully I haven't missed anything major.

[just-here-for-the-moment]

Get to know your moots (if you dare)

LOL thank you for the tag @imaswellkid

What's the origin of your blog title? I wasn't sure if I was going to like Tumblr, but I came here to read fics and enjoy myself, so it's kind of a double meaning: I'm just here for the moment (to experience and enjoy it), but also I'm just here for the moment (and next moment I might be somewhere else). Yeah... very deep.

OTP(s) + Shipname: I'm too new to fanfiction to have any of these.

Favorite color: Hex code #fa7a95

Favorite game: To play with others? I like board games like Kulami and Guess Who and Forbidden Island. By myself? Tetris or 2048 or Sudoku on my phone.

Song stuck in your head: When I first got tagged for this game it was "Fuck and Run" by Liz Phair; right now this moment it's "Old Before I Die" by Robbie Williams

Weirdest habit/trait? I rinse cups right before I use them, even if I just took them out of the dishwasher. Not like a full wash: just a little water, swirl, and dump. It's automatic, and I can't drink from a cup, any cup, unless it's "clean" first. For some reason drinking at restaurants and people's houses or drinking something someone else made, I don't care, but if I'm at home or at work and I'm about to fill a cup with water or tea or anything, I have to rinse it.

Hobbies: Writing, knitting, napping, TV, and checking out library books but never getting around to reading them.

If you work, what's your profession? the most human of resources: Human Resources

If you could have any job you wish, what would it be? Author/editor/publisher

Something you're good at: hugs (I'm stealing Maddie's answer for this one)... but also encouraging other writers, and also staying sober (12 years and counting!)

Something you're bad at: Lots of stuff, but that just means I have room to improve.

Something you love: my black cat, being right about stuff, helping people

Something you could talk about for hours off the cuff: Aw jeez, so much stuff: knitting, creative writing, Godzilla movies, forensic anthropology and death investigation (how cool bones are, and what they can tell you about the person who used to encompass them, and other stuff you didn't know bones could do, like be shaped to break at one certain spot so that something more important doesn't break and hurt you more and take longer to heal [your clavicles!] and also the really bitchin' stuff that goes on at forensic anthropology research facilities, a.k.a. "body farms")

Something you hate: Hate is kinda a strong word, but I do not react well when people treat me like an idiot and talk down to me.

Something you collect: Godzilla stuff, books, dust, friends, trivia and factoids and general knowledge

Something you forget: That I'm not actually Wonder Woman, and it's disappointing when that fact slaps me in the face

What's your love language? Listening and being a shoulder to cry on and empathizing and hugging (but only for people who reciprocate, if you constantly unload on me and never let me do it I get cranky).

Favorite movie/show: Favorite movie: The Thing (1982), favorite show: Friends or 30 Rock

Favorite food: Lots of things, but if you made me choose it would be plants, fruits and vegetables, all kinds

Favorite animal: Cats

What were you like as a child? Fearful, anxious, inquisitive, mature for my age, physically frail and sick a lot, stubborn, cried a lot, lonely, and constantly with my nose in a book.

Favorite subject at school? Language arts, or biology/chemistry/general science

Least favorite subject? Math, but specifically geometry or physics

What's your best character trait? Stubborn, fiercely protective of my people, and love to help others

What's your worst character trait? Stubborn

If you could change any detail of your day right now, what would it be? I should have hydrated more

If you could travel in time, who would you like to meet? Edward Gorey

Recommend one of your favorite fanfics (spread the love!): Good. Things. Take. Time. by @oonajaeadira (The ultimate in escapist fanfiction and I will never not be in the mood to re-read it)

[fxckn-sxck-fr]

❥ 𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐘𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

GUIDE: P = platonic ;; R = romantic ;; YAN!CH = yandere character ;; YAN!RE = yandere reader.

❥ 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒

(a day in the life of Dick Grayson’s new younger sibling, who slowly begins to realize something’s wrong during the course of their stay in Blüdhaven… P!YAN!CH)

part I ❤︎ part II ❤︎ part III ❤︎ part IV

❥ 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐓𝐒

Ghostface Dick Grayson stalking, blood, stab wounds, reader is implied to be a college student, reader likes horror movie trivia, Dick’s kinda freaky in this, OOC Dick (since he’s obviously not a serial killer in canon), the writer’s poorly disguised blood kink (nothing NSFT-worthy, but it’s definitely there). R?YAN!CH

❥ 𝐈𝐌𝐌𝐎𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐙𝐄𝐃 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐒𝐊𝐒

(as Dick begins to spiral from his paranoia, he takes desperate measures to ensure you stay… P!YAN!CH)

the coddling gets worse GN reader, extreme infantilism, manipulation, pet-like treatment, mentions of drugging.

paralysis or amputation GN reader, surgical paralysis/amputation, brief mentions of an operation, manipulation, gaslighting, drugging, extreme infantilizing.

paralyzed with a missing caretaker GN reader, paralyzed reader, drugging, starvation, dehydration, brief blood mention (extremely non-graphic), emaciation, near death experience, brief mention of poor hygiene, feeding tube, infantilizing.

attached paralyzed darling GN reader, Stockholm syndrome, separation anxiety, mentions of drugging, paralyzed reader.

❥ 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐀𝐒𝐊𝐒

would Dick Grayson kill GN reader, blood, death/manslaughter, knocked out tooth mentioned, heavily influenced by Joker: Last Laugh #6. P/R!YAN!CH

sick darling GN reader, coerced care, drugging, forced sickness, slight manipulation, infantilizing, improper use of epidemiology. P/R!YAN!CH

birthdays and escaping GN reader, infantilizing, mentions of kidnapping, handcuffs, forced-affection, pissed off Dick Grayson, brief mention of drugging, reader fears being hit for a second. P!YAN!CH

dad or big brother GN reader, forced-fatherness(?), Dick is whatever the opposite of an estranged father is (but in a bad way). P!YAN!CH

yandere frat boy Dick GN reader, egregiously long post, paranoia, mind games, brief mention of suicides, death, blood, dead body. P/R!YAN!CH

Dick Grayson and affection GN reader, cuddle monster Dick Grayson, overbearing affection, themes of jealousy, I guess this is fluff. P/R!YAN!CH

disgusting big brother Dick 18+ THEMES, DEAD DOVE: DO NOT EAT, GN reader, fauxcest, age gap, toxic dynamic, noncon, making out, disgusting touching, brief hints of sexual content, general yandere fuckery, manipulation, kind of grooming(?), controlling behaviors, poor reader trying to cope so hard. R?YAN!CH