#about fandom and they ways in which we relate to our heroes

[pinkpastels113]

Tell us how you feel about arcane. Use your emotion words! Use a visual aid if you must, too lol.

you want some visual aid? i'll give you some visual aid:

that describes perfectly ab how i am feeling rn

first of all the LESBIAN SEX SCENE????!! I-??!! i knew that something was bound to happen (esp after meljay and the rated for sex warning in season 2) and i celebrated when they (finally) kissed but oh my god?? an actual lesbian sex scene? in a prison?? in vi's sister's prison?? after a parallel about how cait is always finding her in a prison and expected her to be there?? (with dramatic music and banter and soft giggling and the ANGLES and HAND PLACEMENTS??) I AM NOT OKAY

just that scene alone is enough to nudge me off a cliff. but moving on

how is JAYVIK more homoerotic than now-100%-canon caitvi?? that's all i have to say. (what do you MEAN that love conquers all?? that he loved and admired viktor for all his imperfections and that was what made him special and beautiful?? GET OUTTA HERE)

i did not know that i needed timebomb until this season but HOLY FUCKING SHIT why must you make ekko fall (surprisingly, even to himself) in love with jinx/older powder and have that ripped away from him not like two days later?? WHYYYYY (the dance. the "can we pretend it's like the first time?" the "oh and he's got lines." the nervous wave after he fucked up in that scene with dead vi and powder was like hmp and he goes :(. the mural. im sent. im gone. nobody speak to me.)

ISHA NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (she was just trying to be like jinx and copy everything that she does and is and looked up to her as a hero STOP WHY MUST YOU DO THIS TO ME. also the song?? IM CHINESE BRO AND I WAS SOOOO EMOTIONAL OVER THE LYRICS like hit me where it fucking hurts why dont you)

i cried at how vander suffered a fate worse than death. @becasbelt can attest to that

caitlyn adfshjk i knew she would come around and she was and always has been my blorbo (even if she stayed evil) MWAH my female rage filled, slightly wild, grief clouded, confident, "im an excellent shot," sexy, " i am a decorated officer, leader of house kiramman, address me with respect, or keep your mouth shut." dictator, vampire, badass, mofo. YES

the way she said "no amount of good deeds can undo our crimes" hit me bc she's acknowledging that she went off the rails and did some pretty bad things to justify and achieve (which she didn't. not really) her goals

i LOVED jinx in this season. she single-handedly made it a comedy show and was the sole focus of a lot of the emotional damage the storytellers and animators wanted to convey

the way jesus came to be and then quickly became evil SDFHSDKJ i was legit like WEEO WEEO ABORT ABORT JESUS HAS TURNED EVIL (also want to point out the "no you wont" sky dialogue bc DAMN she really called you out huh viktor)

that alternate universe timebomb episode had me gasping so much (like SILCO?? WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE?? WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?? what do you mean everyone is well and happy but at the cost of vi's death???) i think i had asthma for a split second there

MELLLL MY GODDESS MVP PLAYER you saved cait's ass so many times it's not even funny and ugh the way you finally stood up to your mom (very cleverly too, i might add) ugh i applaud

EKKO MY KINGGG the way he hurts himself so bad turning back time and specifically saving jinx from offing herself BYE

HEIMERDINGER MY TINY ANNOYING/affectionate FURBALL WHYY

no but yea i am ruined and my emotions have faded away into numbness and i hope this post was relatable to the people in the arcane fandom and i also agree that this season was way too condensed and rushed and the last episodes in particular needed at least a couple more to drag out the events and character development bc at times when i am supposed to be cheering i am crying and at times i am supposed to be crying i am screaming and at times i am supposed to be screaming i am Horny and at times i am supposed to be Horny my heart is wrenching but only a few tears slip out bc IT IS CUT TO THE NEXT SCENE AGAIN??? does that make sense??

(also do we think jinx is actually dead or no. im still not sure but obv i would hope/am hoping that she is lmao)

[aya-luri]

Am I the only one who doesn't associate Zekrom with Ingo and Reshiram with Emmet but do it the other way around? Well, perhaps this will become an unpopular opinion, but, if you stop to think about it there are quite a few points that can support this theory. Let's check them out! To begin with, it's the legendary dragon Zekrom the one who appears on the cover of the White version of the game, while Reshiram does the same on the Black version, which would indicate that they actually represent their opposite color. Such small detail is already important in itself, not just the basic color of the dragons per se. Also we all know that Zekrom's associated element is the electric type, like Emmet's Eeleektros, while Reshiram's is the fire type, like Ingo's Chandelure, both being the most representative pokemons of the Subway Bosses.

Although the issue of ideologies of each dragon is used to link them with each brother among the fandom, "ideals" being the one typically attributed to Ingo for his passionate way of encouraging trainers, while for Emmet it is the "truth" for his direct way of communicating, this could work much better the other way around. If we have learned anything from Ingo on Pokemon Legends Arceus, it is that this man is full of existential doubts that lead him to want to get closer to the player in order to know more about himself. That's it, the truth about his origins. But he already had some tendency to this type of behavior long before, as it was evident in the first Black & White games.

"Where is my destination? I've kept thinking, and I've learned one thing. That is, you cannot know what happens after winning without winning." Through such questions, Ingo seeks to reach a real conclusion, his own truths. And perhaps in our idealized image of him we forget that he can also be frank and direct, without the need to embellish words with lies.

"However, it is difficult to win unless you and your partner are in total sync." On the other hand, and as we have said before, the frankness with which Emmet expresses his opinions makes him look like an open-minded character, sincere, making this seem (for many people) to be his only notable characteristic, despite the fact that it's kinda obvious the way in which he greatly idealizes Pokémon battles.

"This time, I am really serious. Really serious. Because if a battle is not serious, it is not fun." He firmly believes that there is a way to go about Pokémon battles, and that way is by giving it your all in them, and in an ideal world, everyone would have fun battling just as he does, but this is not always the case. Emmet clearly expresses how he believes things should be, and he's also aware that his own victory may not only be due to his skill but also to circumstantial elements or, put another way, luck. So he also idealizes the player's own defeat when it occurs, having enough consideration to make it seem like something unfourtunate. Further proof that the fandom has been associating the wrong dragon with the wrong twin can be found in the legend of the twin heroes, where it was the oldest who pursued the truth, while the youngest pursued the concept of ideals.

This birth order also corresponds to Ingo and Emmet, Ingo being the eldest of the both and Emmet the youngest.

That's why despite being white, I think Reshiram suits to Ingo much better and the same for Emmet regarding the black dragon Zekrom. All of these points put together carry much more sense than simply thinking that each dragon's ideologies relates to a brother just by the main color of his outfit. Although this, in the end, does not have much relevance either, since canonically there is no relationship between these legendary Pokémon and the Subway bosses, other than the simple fact of playing with mere chromatic issues. Still, it's always fun to speculate, right?

[thelittlelegends]

THE LITTLE LEGENDS

This is a blog for sharing and spreading love for the smaller Zelda games in the fandom!

For everyone crying over Spirit Tracks being forgotten, to people who wish someone else remembered the struggle to find a fourth player for Four Swords or sobbing at the end of online co-op for Tri Force Heroes – this is a home to join others in that love. Mainline and third-party Zelda games are all included!

The criteria for which Zelda games count as “small” is hard to quantify. To make things easier, we went by the numbers posted to Archive of Our Own, which has the option to disambiguate which game you’re writing for and is the current best-known fanfiction site. From there, we removed some things to try and narrow it down to core game fics and picked everything that was under 1000 works.

The resulting list of Zelda games is as follows:

CDI games = 14

Zelda cartoon = 29

Cadence of Hyrule = 50

Tri Force Heroes = 51

Oracle of Seasons = 76

Oracle of Ages = 85

Zelda II: Adventure of Link = 93

Zelda (1986) = 180

Spirit Tracks = 183

Phantom Hourglass = 191

Link’s Awakening = 256

Link to the Past = 260

Minish Cap = 290

Four Swords = 359

Four Swords Adventures = 423

A Link Between Worlds = 587

Wind Waker = 739

Some of this will be a case of poor tagging, and things winding up in the wrong place. (eg. Four Swords has 1200 entries, but upon removing all Four Swords Adventures or Manga story tags it reduces to 359.) Others may not be here at all because nobody has posted it under it’s own name vs a related game or “& Related Fandoms.”

While this means these numbers are not absolute, they still represent the problem: it’s hard to find content for your favourite games if it's in the list above, and we want to fix that!

WHAT DOES THAT ENTAIL?

The event we’re planning is very chill, very low-stakes way of building up interest and knowledge, and then collecting and sharing fanworks produced.

The event month will be AUGUST, 2024.

Every few days in August we’ll make a post for each game on the list (and any bonus games that were highlighted alongside the main ones), which people can reblog with a link to the fanwork they created! You can also make your own posts and tag the blog plus the game of the day but we cannot promise to see and reblog everything.

In the lead-up to August, we will be doing round-up posts for each of the above games.

Some will be doubled up and treated as “bonuses” due to their small pool of fans (CDI, the Cartoon), and if there are some we don’t know about we may take them on as suggestions!

Each of these initial game posts will include basic stats about the game: when they were released, on what hardware, where you can find them now, and what their story was. It will also include links to a walkthrough or two, for those without access to the necessary hardware.

The purpose of these posts is to be shared!

Reblog them with your favourite artwork, current fanworks you love and adore, your favourite AU they’re featured in! Share the lore you wish everyone knew, and the characters who get forgotten!

Share prompts you’ve never gotten around to using, or ones you don’t feel competent to handle!

Do not feel bad about doing this! Every exchange or event I’ve been in, people desperately wanted prompts and ideas to spark their own imagination!

The goal is for people to learn more about games that they may have never heard of before, or not had the time or ability to engage with in full on their own. And from there we can push up those numbers on AO3 for everyone to enjoy!

The scheduled games to be “main” features of this event, and their respective introductory dates, are as follows:

May 5th = Minish Cap

May 12th = Zelda II: AoL

May 19th = Oracle of Ages / Oracle of Seasons

May 26th = Cadence of Hyrule

June 2nd = Phantom Hourglass

June 9th = Four Swords Adventures / Four Swords [Game]

June 16th = Link’s Awakening

June 23rd = Zelda (1986)

June 30th = Link to the Past

July 7th = Tri Force Heroes

July 14th = Spirit Tracks

July 21st = Link Between Worlds

July 28th = Wind Waker

Exact dates for the posting schedule of new fanworks in August will be released soon!

[felassan]

BioWare Blog post: 'Unveiling The Veilguard: Cast and Characters Detailed at San Diego Comic-Con' [July 31st]

"San Diego Comic-Con has come to a close, but not before delivering mountains of Dragon Age fun for the amazing fans in attendance. The highlight of the week was the panel we hosted on Friday featuring some of our cast of companions who – in conversation with host Lucy James – shared new insights into their characters and revealed even more lore about Dragon Age: The Veilguard. We also joined our partners at Dark Horse on the showfloor for fan signings, giveaways, cosplay photoshoots, and more. In case you weren’t among the lucky attendees who got to experience this year’s convention in person, don’t worry – we’re here not only to recap all the action but also to share photos from throughout the weekend. Everything kicked off Wednesday night with the Dark Horse booth opening and some giveaways. Our team also enjoyed a celebration of Dragon Age with our partners at Fandom on Thursday night. Then on Friday came our panel “Dragon Age – Meet The Heroic Companions of The Veilguard,” which featured voice actors Zach Mendez (Lucanis), Jessica Clark (Neve), Nick Boraine (Emmrich), and Ali Hillis (Harding) and highlighted the heart of every Dragon Age title: the companions. The panel opened with a bit of background from Creative Director and 16-year BioWare veteran John Epler and Creative Performance Director Ashley Barlow, who helped to cast and direct over a thousand conversations and brought hundreds of characters and storylines to life."

"As Epler explained, Dragon Age: The Veilguard sees players embark on a perilous quest to face powerful Elven gods and stop the apocalyptic destruction they’re unleashing. You’ll step into the role of Rook, battling on the front lines alongside a deep and compelling cast of companions who together comprise The Veilguard, a group of heroes who have come together to stop the veil from breaking and bringing about the end of the world. Rook must become the unexpected leader who can rally and unite the group. Throughout the game, you can explore the detailed storylines of each companion, navigating love, loss, and complex choices that influence your relationships. “Companions have always been such a big part of this franchise,” Epler asserted at one point during the panel. “You’ll navigate some of the most compelling individual storylines you’ve seen from BioWare. I’m really excited about the bonds players will form.” Barlow later added, “I feel like you can fall in love with any of them. Everyone that has touched this project has put a piece of their heart into it and into all of the different characters you could cross paths with. I know for me at times, in the companion stories, it seemed like I was watching a scene out of my own life. It’s a powerful feeling to have something or someone to relate to on screen.” Meet the Cast With that, the panel shifted towards the companions themselves, as well as the actors who brought each character to life. First up was Zach Mendez (Horizon: Forbidden West, Married Alive), who voices Lucanis: an expert assassin of the Antivan Crow faction. Bloodthirsty, calculated, and a workaholic, Lucanis was raised with high expectations and fears disappointing those he loves. To him, being an assassin is his only job and identity to be excellent at. “As soon as Zach was cast, he deep dove into Dragon Age and read everything he got his hands on. He did it all to create that depth of character you can really feel,” Barlow remarked. “Zach’s a comedian, he would easily find the humor in anything Lucanis was saying. And sometimes I’d have to remind him he’s a deadly assassin and to stay bloodthirsty, but I think he found this cool way of finding the light in the darkness.”"

"“After I finished [The Wigmaker Job], I realized this might be the coolest guy I ever get to play,” Mendez said. “What struck me was his mind is as dangerous as his knives. He’s constantly attuning himself to the kind of shifting terrain of every mission. And also, he’s kind of hilarious. I mean, if you look at his relationship with his cousin Illario in The WigMaker Job, they’re constantly giving each other crap. But there’s a lot of love there. So I got to pull from my relationship with my brother, because we love each other dearly but we can be ruthless with each other.” Mendez also revealed to fans that, in addition to voicing Lucanis, he actually recorded lines for a variety of other characters, including the Grey Wardens. “I can go ahead and play a bunch of characters, so I had to really steep myself in the understanding that, okay, the Grey Wardens go through a lot to actually do what they do. They make a pretty intense bond. So, I tried to bring that as best I could to the physicality… I cannot wait to see how it plays out the game.”"

"Following a few more quips from Zach, the conversation moved to Jessica Clark (True Blood, Pocket Listing) and Shadow Dragons rebel Neve, a cynic with a heart of gold who cares deeply about helping people and never leaves work half-done. She also has ice powers to halt an enemy or take advantage of the environment. “I’d describe her as the working class hero trying to make her hometown better,” Epler commented. “I love her loyalty,” Clark shared. “I love her dedication. I love how much she loves Docktown and its people and how she really sees a different vision that I’m into, as John said, and then what’s previously been depicted, and she’s really really fighting for those people and she loves those people.” Clark also commented on her experience with the casting and recording process: “Even though [the cast members] were all separate disembodied voices a lot of the time, we really all bonded. I know in a lot of projects they’re like all ‘we love each other,’ but we really do! And it just evolved so organically. There was something magical about it just being our voices in the beginning.” Full of Character Next up was Nick Boraine (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Black Sails), who plays Emmrich – a sincere, friendly, and scholarly necromancer who comes complete with a skeletal assistant, Manfred (voiced by Matthew Mercer of Critical Role). “He’s part of the Mourn Watch,” Epler explained, “an elite group of necromancers who are revered in Nevarra, but outside it, they are odd at best and evil at worst. He’s your well meaning but oblivious academic – assumes everyone has an academic’s curiosity, so can be pedantic on select topics.” While Boraine agreed, he found another aspect of the character even more remarkable: “I love the fact that the writers took Emmerich and explored the whole idea of death and the whole idea of necromancing by bringing kindness into it. I really responded to that and got into that and I know it sounds crazy, but it’s to not have this idea that death is vulgar or something to be terrified about, but something to actually engage with on so many levels. I just love the fact that the writers had the courage to do that in a game like this.” Barlow chimed in to share insights from her time working with Boraine: “Nick encompasses Emmrich; his sophistication, and eagerness to teach and learn, his hot nerdiness. Often Nick is just playing off of someone making a sound, and he takes it and internalizes it and gives it meaning and care, which is amazing to watch.”"

"Finally came Ali Hillis (Mass Effect 3, Naruto) and everyone’s favorite dwarven scout Lace Harding, who returns with a big heart, positive outlook, and some unexpected magical powers. “The world’s changed a lot in the time period since Inquisition,” Epler observed. “She returns as an excellent scout and archer, and has been leading teams through the wilderness while covering friends in battle.” “My favorite things about Harding are the little things like she loves her mom,” laughed Hillis. “You know, she loves to write letters home and she’s always talking about her mama’s stupid stuff like that. I love that relationship. She likes plants and raising plants which is inspirational since I kill them. But just the texture they add to the characters. That’s in general, but for me, it’s those little things that really kind of give me a bunch of stuff to work with in my brain.” Barlow effused, “Ali brought a weight and a history to this project as an anchor of the series. There was a growth to Harding. She’s a veteran now. She’s a trusted voice at the table, and the writers did such a great job of integrating her with the new team and finding the relationships with each of the unique characters.” Photo Opps Our panel ended with a crowd Q&A, but SDCC was just getting started. Our team spent the rest of the weekend giving away posters and exclusive Discord pins, signing those posters, and of course, meeting fans out on the show floor. Footage of the full panel should be available in a couple weeks, so for now we hope you enjoy these photos of our favorite SDCC moments! We’ll have more to share next month – including a new roadmap, more looks at the game, and our official release date (!) – so don’t forget to follow our BioWare and Dragon Age social channels. – The Dragon Age Community Team"

[source]

[zexalmonth]

Hello, Zexal fans! Zexal Month 2024 is just around the corner and, for this year, we're doing the ABCs of Zexal! That's right, this year, our prompts are just based on the letters of the alphabet. Feel free to just use the titles (like A is for Astral) as the prompt or look at the following text for ideas. We can’t wait to see what art/writing/edits/cosplay/etc you produce for us!

If you are joining us for the first time: we have a list of prompts with suggestions attached! They're not hard rules though, so you can freely skip some or combine them. Tag your creations #zexal month 2024 and we'll make sure to reblog them all! Make sure to @zexalmonth on your posts as well!

Week 1: Introductions We’re going straight into it this year! For this week, introduce yourself and share with us something you like about our favourite warring factions!

1st: A is for Astral Make something involving our favourite, naked protagonist. Alternatively, draw something related to the Astral World. You can draw a character as a resident of the Astral World if you like. 2nd: B is for Barian Share with us which Barian Lord is your favourite or something you like about the world! Maybe even make another character you like a Barian.

Week 2: C to G!

5th: C is for Chaos Chaos is both a force of evil and the essence of life in Zexal. For this prompt, you can go either way. Share the craziest thing you enjoyed about Zexal or put your favourite character in a chaotic situation. Alternatively, draw a character in Zexal getting corrupted by Chaos. 6th: D is for Duel What’s your favourite duel in the series? What characters would you have liked to see duel? 7th: E is for Enemy Oneshot villains like the Fallguys, the Arclights, Don Thousand? A hero’s journey is only as good as its bad guys so let’s give them some appreciation! What do you like about them? 8th: F is for Friendship What’s you favourite friendship in the series? Alternatively, what friendship would you have liked to see? What two characters would have had a good friendship? 9th: G is for Gate The gate to the Astral world can also link to other worlds. This is our crossover prompt! Throw the Zexal characters to another world/fandom you’re in at the moment or bring other characters to the world of Zexal.

Week 3: H to L!

12th: H is for Hobby Whether it’s a character doing your hobbies or what you have headcanoned for them, show a Zexal Character (or characters) enjoying themselves with a hobby outside of card games! 13th: I is for Icicles Whether it’s icicles because it’s winter right now or icicles as in the stuff you eat at the beach, it’s time to give our faves a treat! Throw everyone in a beach episode or in a cabin under the snow... 14th: J is for Justice (Or Jail) Tell us what you thought was unfair in Zexal or show us a character that you think should be punished. Maybe show us bringing it into your own hand… 15th: K is for KATTOBINGU Kattobingu is the will to never give up without giving it your all. It’s taking a chance and moving forward with courage. What’s something positive you’ve gained from Zexal? Good memories? Fun experiences in the fandom? Friends? Share us something good you’ve gotten from Zexal or just draw characters with the Kattobingu spirit! 16th: L is for location There are so many pretty places in Zexal. Scenery appreciation prompt. What’s a place in Zexal you’d like to go to or would have liked to see more of in Zexal.

Week 4: M to Q!

19th: M is for Monsters Whether it’s a literal Duel Monster or characters that are monsters (Black Mist, Don Thousand, Tron, Dr Faker, etc.), a monster is a monster. Sshow us what you like about them. 20th: N is for Numbers Let’s give our favourite MacGuffin some love. What’s your favourite Number? What design you like? Feel free to include non-Anime Numbers here. 21st: O is for Originality There are a lot of OCs in the Zexal. Share them with us and tell us about them. Alternatively, show us some new outfits for one or members of the Zexal crew! 22nd: P is for Powers Photon mode, Barian transformations, Arclight crests, ZEXAL. Zexal has so many powers in the show. What’s your favourite? If you have an OC, feel free to show their powers if they have any. 23rd: Q is for Quotes Zexal has both quotes that hit like a truck and lines like “You just summoned your mom.” Show the scene that has the Zexal quote you like!

Week 5: R to V!

26th: R is for Ruins Whether we’re talking about the literal ruins the characters go through the series or the past (the ruin of the self), it’s all about our characters’ history. How were the characters when they were young? How will they be in the future? How would they be if they had a past life? 27th: S is for Siblings The Arclight siblings, the Kamishiro Twins, Yuma and Akari, Haruto and Kaito. There are so many familial relationships in Zexal. Show your favourite sibling group being a family or combine them together! 28th: T is for Tag Duel Did you like the Tag Duels in Zexal? Who do you wish you could have seen Tag Duel? Show us two characters teaming up! 29th: U is for Utopia AU day! Show us your AUs! Alternatively, show us something you wish to have seen from Zexal. 30th: V is for Victory Today is the last day of Zexal Month! We made it to the end! What did you like about Zexal Month? Also share with us what you liked from Zexal.

Bonus Prompts:

W is for Wonderwing X is for Xyz Change Y is for Yesterday Z is for Zexal Æ is for Aeon Ȝ is for gift ð is for thoughts “Anyone can overlay if they try.” “This isn’t goodbye!” “I’d rather do this with anyone else.”

Can't wait to see what August has to bring! -Mod Fla

[regretevator-confessions]

• erm hey. 1 think 1'm the person that a certa1n "SUSH1" anon was VAGU1NG. •

• "SUSH1 🍣" anon is actually an ex fr1end of m1ne, the one that was talk1ng about F1sh, yeah they were part of my fr1end group. they jo1ned my regretevator k1nn1e server and 1nvaded our group and they were really n1ce at f1rst but they kept break1ng our rules about be1ng aggress1ve to doubles 1nstead of block1ng. anyway when 1 tr1ed to 1ssue a warn1ng they responded by attack1ng my k1n/comfort character Emerson. they sent me g*re of Emerson and a lot of 1t was related to D**p-Fr*ers wh1ch they KNEW was one of my TR1GGERS. 1'm pretty sure they were the one who drew the gore too because we couldn't f1nd 1t onl1ne. we banned them from the k1nn1e server but 1 wanted to make sure they werent do1ng anything l1ke that to anyone else so 1 went undercover and 1nvaded the1r server. the1r whole server was f1sh themed and they forced all the1r fr1ends to match f1sh but nobody was allowed to talk about f1sh 1n a way that they didn't l1ke. •

• anyway th1s was all really crazy because they were actually a really popular art1st early on 1n regretevator fandom h1story and 1 was really exc1ted to meet my 1nsp1rat1on. then they devolved 1nto th1s.... never meet your heroes k1ds... •

-🥙

Dude I don't fucking care

(referring to this)

Oh. I also have to translate this mess of a confession. Okay

TRANSLATION:

( • erm hey. I think I'm the person that a certain "SUSHI" anon was VAGUING. •

• "SUSHI 🍣" anon is actually an ex friend of mine. They were part of my friend group. They joined my regretevator kinnie server and invaded our group. They were really nice at first, but they kept breaking our rules about being aggressive to doubles instead of blocking. Anyway, when I tried to issue a warning they responded by attacking my kin/comfort character, Emerson. They sent me gore of Emerson and a lot of it was related to Deep-Fryers- which they KNEW was one of my TRIGGERS. I'm pretty sure they were the one who drew the gore too because we couldn't find it online. We banned them from the kinnie server, but I wanted to make sure they weren't doing anything like that to anyone else. I went undercover and invaded their server. Their entire server was Fish themed and they forced all their friends to match Fish. Nobody was allowed to talk about fish in a way that they didn't like. •

• Anyway, this was all really crazy because they were actually a really popular artist early on in regretevator fandom history and I was really excited to meet my inspiration. Then they devolved into this.... never meet your heroes kids... •

-🥙 )

I avoid saying anything regarding confessions, but this was one of the most mentally taxing things to read and I genuinely do not understand why you would subject me to this.

[tookishcombeferre]

Cedric for ask game- 1, 12, 14, 25

1. Why do you like this character? Okay. So, ever since I watched Avatar: The Last Airbender, I have been a sucker for a well written redemption arc. However, if I were to get into specifics, I think there's a lot to explore in this character from a literary perspective. He's complicated. Very complicated. His motivations make a lot of sense even if he goes about things in ways that aren't objectively moral. Which, honestly? That is stuff you don't see in children's TV much since Gargoyles or other things from the 90s and early 2000s. He has the backstory and personality of a Shakespearean tragic hero. He reminds me of like if you shoved Macbeth and Hamlet in a blender in the best way possible, and then, somehow, came out with Macduff? IDK how that works, but that's what happened. Secondly, I find him relatable to my literal life. Zuko hit me when I was just a little younger than Zuko's age. I saw Sofia the First, for the first time in earnest, as I approach 30. I am, exactly, the right age to relate to Cedric's personal issues. So, I like him because a lot of the stuff he deals with is the stuff I'm processing in my own life. Aging parents. Trying to repair a difficult relationship with my own dad as we both grow older. Realizing I might not be able to fix everything that's missing there, and trying to walk the line between indifference and cynicism. Check. Trying to form a solid relationship with a/my child and teach them things. (Granted my squish is biological, but still. Check.) Trying to look past my own personal failings to create a better world for my kid and future generations. Check. Trying to look past what people say/ have said about me and others like me to see the intrinsic good in myself despite my nuanced set of identities. Check. Realizing that my kid just existing in my life is what gives me hope to see myself as great. And, maybe, just maybe, that's a lesson I can teach my kid without them having to go through all the crap I've gone through to learn it: we are great because, unmasked, in our fullness, together with others, we are greater than in isolation. So, I like him because it's easy to walk his journey and see some elements of my own life and where I'm at personally. And, you know what? The show does a nice job presenting this struggle. I feel less alone in my own crap when I watch it. I've got a buddy to walk in my adult problems with while my kiddo gets a princess to learn how to be a good person alongside. I LOVE that. It's truly something we both get something out of, which, is, like, SO supremely rare. As a parent, I just cannot express how much I care about that. Bluey might be the only other program I can think of that does "both" as well as Sofia does. Like, I don't know if there are any other fans in this fandom who are parents. But, man ... Cedric hits because *all* of the life stuff he's dealing with is stuff that, like, is so real. Especially the stuff with his parents. Oof. I don't know if any of y'all have had parents age. But, it's a different beast y'all. It makes you think about things, it makes you want to retreat, and it makes you want to fix things - all at the same time. Sorry if that's a lot. But, when we talk about Cedric being an adult, this is what we mean. So, I just kind of fell in love with Cedric's character because in so many ways his story just kept slapping for me from every angle.

[oodlyenough]

apollo justice: ace attorney thoughts

over the weekend I finished playing AA4 so I wanted to try to put my thoughts in order. much to think about etc

spoilers for the whole game obv, but i haven't played AA5 or AA6 yet so any mention of those are speculation lol

I had heard some pretty mixed reactions to AA4 and I had a lot of reservations going in. It's also probably the AA game I've played that I've been the most spoiled for, which is a shame but probably an unavoidable consequence of waiting for the port while engaging with the fandom. I don't usually like being spoiled but I think knowing the broad strokes of what to expect actually helped here. I can imagine an AU where I blitzed through the first trilogy and onto 4 with no idea of what was coming and being... very upset and disappointed by the direction it took. Having several months to brace for things like Phoenix's disbarment, the 7 year gap, Trucy, etc definitely softened those blows and made me more amenable to them than I would've been otherwise.

Cases

For the most part I thought the puzzle solving was good and the pacing was solid. The puzzles were mostly challenging enough to be satisfying to solve but not so challenging as to be infuriating, and I don't think I needed a walkthrough at all. 4-1 is one of the best tutorial cases in the franchise so far (though I'd give the edge to 3-1) and 4-4 was a really cool finale. The middle two cases tbh I also found fairly charming, and there's usually a least one case in the middle that seems to drag forever, so that was a pleasant surprise. I played Investigations 1 right before this, and I thought both the puzzles and pacing in that game were frankly horrible, so AA4 won a lot of points just with that.

I did think Turnabout Corner and Serenade would be more relevant in the grand scheme of things. The half-spoilers I knew had me expecting a much bigger web of conspriacy than we ended up with -- I expected it to be more than coincidence that Phoenix got hit by a car, more than coincidence that the Borginian egg coccoons are related to poison etc ... like... I fully assumed this was going to tie into the atroquinine plot. But I guess not ... ? Lol

Characters

The new main cast are all very likable, despite my initial reluctance to have a new main cast to begin with. Klavier was an interesting change of pace as prosecutor, in that he wasn't particularly antagonistic outside of the court, nor was he particularly preoccupied with winning, but he was still fun and challenging enough to face off against. Trucy was fun and delightfully bonkers as all assistants should be. Apollo's longsuffering exasperation was hilarious. Ema is the BEST I loved having her as the detective I wish she was there all the time.

I loved Beanix, for the most part. I can see why he rubs some people the wrong way, and tbh I'm glad his last canon outing isn't ... this. But I didn't find him wildly out of character, or at least, when he was feeling "out of character" vs the trilogy it made sense given the intervening events. I also thought it was fun to see him from the outside and see what a galaxybrain 5d chess master he is. I do wish we'd gotten to see more genuine moments of him with Trucy.

Kristoph was fun as a villain, though I have to say fandom led me to believe he was much more of a mastermind puppeteer than he seemed to be in reality. I was expecting a whole decade worth of conspiracies! Instead he fucked up once and struggled to fix it for seven years, lol. I also found the Kristoph/Phoenix relationship a) very fascinating, b) not really what I'd been led to believe by fandom (shocker). I like the canon more though -- I like that instead of being a retread of the Dollie betrayal-from-someone-you-love it was two guys who hate each other being forced to play nice as part of their own schemes.

Criticism

I think it's fairly obvious AA4 was meant to be a soft reboot of the series, to pivot away from the trilogy cast and set up our new heroes in Apollo, Trucy, and I guess Klavier. I think this is probably the entire explanation behind Maya and Edgeworth (and others but lbr those are the big two)'s conspicuous absence... but that doesn't make their absence any less conspicuous. I can squint and forgive neither of them being there when Phoenix is accused of murder, even though I find that insane. I can squint around Maya maybe being off in Kurain during the Enigmar trial, even though I think they could've used a line of dialogue to explain it. But then we started playing past-Phoenix for huge portions of investigation and that started to fall apart for me. Sure, maybe he's pushing his friends away because he's depressed, or maybe he wants to keep Maya out of things because he thinks it's dangerous, or whatever -- you could at least throw in a line or two saying as much. Not mentioning them at all and setting AA4 so closely after AA3, where Phoenix fell through a bridge to save Maya and Edgeworth chartered a private jet, just feels ridiculous.

I also think, at the end of the day, the story here was focused on and pivoting around Phoenix. The core question of the game is "what the hell happened to/is up with Phoenix Wright?" I love Phoenix, so that alone isn't a negative -- except that I think it meant Apollo, Klavier and even Trucy felt underwritten. Trucy and Klavier have such personal stakes in the unfolding events with the Gramaryes and Kristoph, but we only spend a little time and hints on how that might influence Trucy, who mostly falls into the AA weird girl pattern of brushing off major trauma instantly. (Maya got this a lot too in the original trilogy.)

Klavier ... I like Klavier, but they did not do much with him. How did he feel about Kristoph going to jail? He doesn't seem to hold it against Apollo, which is uh, noble, but perhaps not believable. He says he values honesty and truth but do we know why?

Apollo, likable as he was, felt like a passenger in his "own" game, rather than a major character. He doesn't even solve much of the stuff happening in the big overarching mystery -- he is Phoenix's avatar in court, presenting evidence and clues Phoenix left for him. Unlike Trucy and Klavier, who I am pretty sure take a back seat from now on, I guess Apollo still has two more games to try and flesh himself out ... lol but I also know fan reception of those two is not great, so my expectations there are minimal.

Overall

A really solid game that I enjoyed playing, though I can see why it's controversial and not some people's favourite, if they really loved the trilogy. I think it's debatable whether this was the best/only way to continue the series after AA3. And I am excited to read and write a billion 7 year gap fics now.

[accio-victuuri]

CPN : the birth of “weiba” ( weifen wangba ) 😂

even while writing this, i’m still not entirely sure how people are seeing the data about these newcomers. i’m thinking it functions like any other online groups like a super topic. you can see which specific accounts have recently joined.

if you’re looking at the bjyx st, it’s pretty lively and people are celebrating because of the rapid increase in members ever since last night. around 2PM i think it’s 6k++ and then right now i checked again, it’s 9k+. that’s a lot, considering these two have not interacted publicly for so long. maybe we will finally cross the 4 million mark before the year ends. 🫶🏼

so what’s all this talk about “weiba”?

it’s a combination of weifen ( what we call solo fans ) and wangba ( us turtles ) . the conversation is around these wfs joining the ST overnight. so much so that you see people posting a meme ( taken from ome and only )!about a moto & shrimps housewarming 😂😂😂

This is actually not new, the whole concept of a wf being cpf friendly. There are spaces like douyin where these 3 groups co-exist and will sometimes tease each other. It’s not always toxic, but oftentimes it is. There were a few times before too when a particularly strong cpn comes out and turtles screenshot the reactions of wfs who are confused and feel like bjyx may be true.

Now what’s the “cpn” that probably sent them over the edge?

I’ve talked a bit about it here and it’s related to XZ’s work schedule change.

For the longest time, he was going to work in Condor Heroes early in the day. Then in 7/26, it was bit late but this could only be slightly affected by WYB’s condition. Remember that YBO announced that WYB is sick in the evening of 25th and they were in Hunan ( based on the IP ). We are not sure if Yibo is also there or just the staff but the thought is he did intend to come. In the 26th, WYB probably came back to Beijing a bit later or if he was already in BJ, ZZ can’t change his schedule. Then on the 27th, ZZ’s schedule is way later than his usual. Same with the 28th. These days we CPN that ZZ spent time with sick WYB before going to work. Then on 7/29, ZZ goes back the his old schedule and WYB is the same.

An additional speculation here is the photo going around of ZZ giving out drinks to Condor Heroes cast and crew. This is not something new. We know ZZ loves to treat the crew. However, this time, we interpret this as him giving his “apologies” cause he had to come in to work later than usual for the past days. ☕️

That’s it everyone! tbh, I don’t care if wfs cross over to being turtles or what. I still believe in staying in our own lanes and treating each other with respect. Just enjoy our own corner/s fandoms. ✌🏼

PS: Another probable reason for some newcomers are those who watched One and Only, then looked into WYB. 🫶🏼

-END.

[writebackatya]

Darkwing Duck’s* Biggest Fans Haters

*As in the old tv show from the world of DuckTales (2017), not the superhero Drake Mallard assumes the identity of to fight evil

To fans like Drake Mallard and Launchpad McQuack, Darkwing Duck is the greatest piece of television history that helped shape their lives to become the ducks they are today thanks to its titular hero who never gave up despite the odds against him

To the rest of the world, Darkwing Duck was just another superhero show from the 90s that starred a problematic diva d-list actor that may or may not have died

Opinions are subjective of course, neither are 100% correct nor incorrect but I feel like when the fandom talks about Darkwing Duck it’s always about the characters that would also like the show. So why not flip the script a little? We’ll start small and work our way up to its biggest hater

Gosalyn Waddlemeyer:

“GOSALYN!?” You might be screaming at your monitor/phone to which I have to say:

“Yeah”

Again we are not talking about the Drake Mallard or his super identity here, but the tv show he and Launchpad are obsessed with. Because frankly, I bet Gosalyn loves doing all that superhero stuff with her adoptive dads. It’s a cool life to live!

Other than the fact that Drake is a huge nerd who INSISTS that Gosalyn do her “homework” and watch every episode of Darkwing Duck, read all the sacred texts (comic books), and playing the original Darkwing Duck video game on the original hardware so she won’t use the rewind or save features that modern games or ROMs have

Like all kids who have had an adult push their interests onto them, she has a little disdain for the show. But not a whole lot since she’s first on this list. I like to think she’s in the same boat as Dewey where she finds the show cheesy and doesn’t really hate it per say and sees why Drake and LP love the show. She even has a few guilty pleasure episodes

But one thing she doesn’t understand is why Drake and Launchpad insist on watching the Darkwing Duck Christmas Special every year when they’re both practicing Jews

Scrooge McDuck:

Yeah the old man can barely remember Drake, let alone the Darkguy Drake played in that movie he cancelled so I don’t really see Scrooge being a fan of the Masked Mallard. (No, not that Masked Mallard OG DuckTales fans)

If Scrooge did sit down and watch the show, he’d find it to be rather ridiculous if anything. Some vigilante running around dressed like The Spirit or The Shadow or whatever superhero kids are into these days getting slapped around and fighting back just doesn’t seem like his cup of tea

I like to think when Donald and Della were kids they watched Darkwing Duck at the mansion and Scrooge just walked by the room, looked at the TV for a few seconds, scoffed, and moved on with his life forgetting all about that nonsense his niece and nephew were watching

Louie Duck:

Honestly I always had this headcanon that Louie just isn’t a fan of superheroes. Like at all. He finds the stories all copy and paste, using all the cliches he hates from other genres and putting them in tights.

And don’t even get him started on superhero related adventures! If he sees a sky beam, Louie is running in the opposite direction of it. He’s not dealing with the many different diva supervillains out there trying to take over the world with cartoony extreme measures, he doesn’t wanna be around all that property damage

He does have a favorite superhero tho. Waddle Duck because he gave him a Pep once

Lena Sabrewing:

She thinks it’s lame.

Gandra Dee:

This is a no brainer for me. Gandra Dee made herself Darkwing Duck’s biggest hater the moment she heard the duck talk shit about Gizmoduck around Fenton who insisted she does not reveal his secret identity to Drake, because Drake is all he has left

Wanting to respect her boyfriend’s wishes, Gandra decides not to spill the beans but instead add more fuel to the fire by talking shit about Darkwing Duck

And she does not hold back

She’s not ashamed to talk shit on the show. It’s predictablity, it’s cheesiness, the plot holes, how lame it was for its own time, etc

It ain’t her childhood, she ain’t afraid to fight dirty either. She will bring up problematic episodes that depicted races in a not so good and stereotypical light (“It was the nineties! They were different times!” -Drake probably) such as the fact that in one episode Darkwing Duck called a group of Native Americans “primitive savages” or that a non-Asian actor played an Asian character in a sterotypcial manner and that how one of the characters names was “Duck Ling”(Okay but for real, all that shit did happen in the OG show.)

This of course frustrates Drake who is extra suspicious of Gandra ever since he saw her with Gizmoduck and writes her off as a blind fan girl who doesn’t know what she’s talking about

She’s pretty chill about not being into the show with Launchpad tho. He respects her opinions because he’s Launchpad and at the end of the day Gandra is still his friend

[naranjapetrificada]

Thinking this midday about ofmd AUs and what it means for someone to be "out of character". I've talked about this here at length before, but today I'm thinking about a different aspect of it. Namely that I wish people thought more about their goals when writing and recalibrated their relationships with canon as a concept.

We all know by now how contentious a certain late first mate (what is the opposite of "qepd" lol) is. When writing him in fic, some people seem to have this (inexplicable to me) urge to show him behaving in ways that the canon version of him would hate (outwardly nice, polite, kind, open, etc). And while not everyone is open to direct feedback about their writing, I've seen discussions a handful of times in ao3 comments and more commonly over here between readers about how in or out character potrayals of him are, and something occured to me today.

When there are opposing sides on the core question of whether or not a portrayal is in or out of character (vs people who agree on that question but may have quibbles about the reasons why they came to their conclusion), the sides tend to be "here's why this was in character" and "here's why this isn't in character". And while that gap will always exist because there are as many readings of a text as there are readers, there's a reason the concepts of "canonical" and "non-canonical" exist. There are things that are canon and things that are not and there is disagreement about which things are which but like it or not, there are some people that are more correct about canonicity.

The thing about fan works is that people should always create what they want, and will do so according to their interpretations of source material, and the question of being in or out of character should, at the end of the day, come down to your goals. We all have more goals in our creative work beyond "finish" or "do it well" and we may not consciously consider them, but they're always there. Those "alternate" goals may be different from work to work, but they exist are influenced by our experiences and inspirations and aren't ever going to be 100% impartial or canon-aligned, because the former would be boring as hell and the latter is neither possible nor desired in what's supposed to be a transformative work.

Everyone who creates anything wants it to be "good", but measures of quality can change from work to work the way goals can. For many writers, how "true" their characterization feels can be one of those quality measures that relate to their goals. Probably in most cases tbh, and especially in AUs. But it isn't always part of the equation because other writers have other goals, and it's usually pretty obvious when those goals haven't been examined.

Some of y'all think Con O'Neill/Izzy Hands is hot, and just wany to imagine his character in various sexual situations with other characters you find attractive (or at least narrative useful) in some way and you know what? That's perfectly fine, and despite not comprehending that impulse at all I understand the importance of creative freedom in fandom enough to want people who write that to write it without hesitation. In these cases we often just tell people to be "proud villainfuckers" which is easy, straightforward, and usually has less contentious discourse around it.

But some of y'all find Izzy to be the most sympathetic character in the series, and while I have enough of the acquired (and healthy) suspicion as a black person who has spent decades in fandom spaces to not want to touch that tendency with a 10 foot pole, those same decades of fandom experience make me understand that there will always be people who glom onto antagonists and secondary characters like that. Even when if I wonder about the motivations behind such an inclination, I understand that y'all are usually part of the ecosystem too.

But the thing is: if you're motivated to write Izzy as outwardly nice or kind or as some kind of hero vs the antagonist he canonically is, or gravitate toward reading those kinds of portrayals, why argue with people about what is or isn't in character? If something in you is drawn toward that kind of Izzy and wants to sympathize with him, why not just own it? There's no easy "villainfucker" way of making peace with this though because it's much more likely to make you want to think about individual morality.

No one who is partial to Izzy wants to be called racist or femme-phobic etc, and I'm not here (on this post at least) to litigate whether or not those accusations would be fair or not (although my opinions are probably obvious). But isn't it exhausting to have to put canon through so many refractions so you can insist that what you like seeing and/or writing is canonical? I understand that being able to point to canon can make it feel easier to stand by your preferences, but is all the bending over backwards to make it fit worth it? What if you could just acknowledge if your goal is to persuade others to see him the same way you do, or see him getting cared for, or whatever else you get out of it? I wish more of y'all had the courage of your convictions and were willing to just say "I like seeing Izzy this way" or "I sympathize with Izzy" because you would probably be having more fun.

[gamebird]

The Soonercon Convention Report

I went to Soonercon this last weekend and I wanted to share what it was like in an attempt to encourage others to attend similar local events, for those who don't know what they're missing.

It’s a science fiction/fantasy convention held in Norman, Oklahoma every year. It has what I take as the standard scifi/fantasy convention events including: Dealer’s room where people sell stuff, gaming room where scheduled and pickup games are held at all hours of the convention, art show where you can buy fandom-related paintings, prints, or sculpture (or commission an artist if you have something special in mind), a costume contest, panels by authors, artists, media guests, and other folks, and various socializing events (a dance, a burlesque show, a drag show, a Star Wars parade, a philosophy discussion den, a cartoon watching event, crafting events, etc.)

The only thing Soonercon didn’t/doesn’t have that I’ve seen at other conventions is a con suite where snacks are available either at all hours or specified hours, and a designated media room playing classic shows 24/7. Plenty of other conventions also have party rooms or even a party floor of the hotel. Some will have live action role play events. Some will have a few big-name guests. Soonercon’s guests were smaller names like voice actors or the guy who played the hero of NeverEnding Story. If they had hardcore partying, it was kept well clear of the convention areas. I heard nothing of it.

There's a lot for everybody! I go to attend the panels. My son goes for the gaming room. My nephew goes for the cosplay. My spouse/partner goes to be supportive and present (also he meets up with a friend of his from that city who volunteers at the con or at least likes fandom). My daughter likes the merchandise, the gaming, and cosplay.

It’s a very relaxed vacation for us. We get a hotel room at the convention and all go our separate ways from that safe home base.

I thought I’d go over the various things I went to and some of my thoughts about them, to give a window on what a person might do:

Friday we arrived. I went through the dealer’s room in detail by myself, which was nice to do instead of speeding up or slowing down at someone else’s pace, or having them there calling my attention to whatever they wanted me to see. I bought some delicious pomegranate gummy fruit. I made preliminary arrangements with a leatherworker for some items.

I went through the art show, which I have never been to at the beginning of the show. The previous two years I showed up at the end and rushed through. I took my time again.

I also wandered the halls at liberty, with no agenda. I didn’t think much of the panels available that day, so I did other things. I did attend an author’s reading of horror fic. One of the stories was titled ‘Grindr’ by a gay man, featuring a gay character. As soon as he went over that, two of the six in his audience left. It was a good story. The other author read a bit of theirs (also good). And then we discussed. One of the things discussed was how this was Oklahoma and the very mention of gay sent two people out of the room. It was good and thoughtful conversation.

Later that evening, I attended a comedy panel that was ‘Am I The Asshole?’ with various heroes or villains of popular fan movies discussing if they were the asshole for their role in the plot of their respective media product. It was funny and a light end to the first day.

Saturday, we got up in time for ‘Cartoons with Cereal’ panel where we ate a couple weird over-sugared cereals while watching an 80s cartoon that featured transforming vehicles and masked/helmeted action figure type characters. After that, we went to a better breakfast, complimentary at the hotel plaza.

My first regular panel of the day was ‘Essential Sci-Fi Television’ where I was hoping to see if there were important shows I haven’t seen. Maybe? Maybe not? They talked a lot about the different flavors of Star Trek and the different ways people get into fandom. I didn't add anything new to my list, but I did get more emphasis that I really ought to watch The Expanse.

At 11, I went to a panel titled ‘How do I put THAT on my resume?’ about how to translate fan interests and skills into marketable descriptive terms that can get you hired. I attended not so much for myself, as I hope to never work again after my current job, but for my son and daughter and my attempts to give them advice on how to present themselves in the business world. I’d encouraged my son to go to this panel, but he went to the gaming room. It wasn’t a great panel – I think he made the right choice. But you don’t know these things until you attend them.

I had lunch and then attended a panel titled ‘I ship it!’ thinking it would talk about the range of shipping in fandom circles. And maybe it did, but mostly it was the panelists talking about rare pairs in anime fandoms – both fandom and characters unfamiliar to me. They were excited to talk about it. I managed to steer them into sharing their thoughts about why antagonists are often more interesting to pair with a hero than the designated side kick or another hero, and then a little about what fueled ship wars/fandom drama. It was good to hear, as always, that totally different fandoms have the same problems.

After that was ‘Libraries, Intellectual Freedom, and Book Challenges’ about what books were banned, why, how, and what efforts were going on or the attendees could undertake to oppose book bans. Afterward, I approached one of the panelists for her advice on finding a good Ursula LeGuin book since I hadn’t liked Always Coming Home, but did like Left Hand of Darkness. Turns out she was a core convention organizer. I sent her an email so she could send me a rec later and separately, I filled out a form to volunteer at the next con.

At 3 I went to early dinner with my spouse/partner and his local friend, who was the one who told me the panelist I’d talked to was high up in the convention hierarchy. At 4, I roamed the dealer's room again, finalized things with the leatherworker, and bought a bunch more delicious candy.

At 5 I had a panel titled ‘LGBT+YOU, Discuss the Plus’. Given the conversation the day before with the gay horror author, I was particularly interested. Also, the panel was focusing mainly on the queer identities other than LGBT – asexuals, aromantics, pansexuals, polyamorous, etc. I found it something of a relief to see them stumble and fail to define an aromantic relationship in a way that differentiated it from non-aromantic ones. The panelists varied from early-30s to mid-60s, some partnered, some not. It was lovely to hear people’s experiences with living queer in Oklahoma.

At 6 I attended ‘Fandom Life vs Long-Term Illnesses’ but found it not super helpful. It was mostly about arthritis and diabetes, neither of which are issues I have. But I listened and learned a bit. I enjoy these authentic little windows into other people’s lives.

I attended the costume contest for the rest of the night, which was a big event with a stage show and a music act. My fave costume won! Even cooler, someone I knew was announced as winner of the Fashion Show which was an informal or less formal contest they’d had earlier in the day. I was thrilled for them.

That night at 1:11 am, someone set off the fire alarm, but it was quickly squelched. Still, everyone woke up. Later sleuthing turned up that it was a person attempting to smoke inside their hotel room.

Sunday! We had a nice breakfast again. My first panel of the day was ‘Hollow Humanism?’ talking about utopia, dystopia, and the philosophy of humanism – what were the things that prevented us from making a better world? I had hoped for stuff I could incorporate into my headcanons for Preservation or the Corporation Rim. Not so much.

Then I went to ‘Fandom – The Next Generation’ which was not about Star Trek but instead about the intergenerational fandom experiences of the panelists. I found this not very helpful. Those weren’t my families. It wasn’t about how to interest my kids in fandom (not that I needed that – they’re into it) or how I could better relate to their interests (something I was very interested in). I asked a few questions trying to guide it toward what I wanted, but the panelists really wanted to tell the audience about their lives. So. I listened.

At noon my group packed and checked out of our rooms.

But we hung around as there was a panel at 1 pm I wanted to attend, ‘Neurodivergent Characters in Fantasy and Anime’. Alas, they did not discuss Murderbot. In fact, they didn’t discuss specific characters or genres at all. Instead, they discussed neurodivergent representation in general, mindfulness, coping strategies, dealing with negative social pressures to conform, masking, exhaustion, career intersectionality, disabled rep, and a lot of things I was equally interested to hear about. So that was neat!

At 2, there was a panel about ‘Oklahoma in Fandom Media’ that I attended half of. It was fun to hear the various filming projects and other media mentions Oklahoma featured in. I left halfway through to help our group depart.

And so we drove home. It was a delightful, low-stress vacation. Lots of viewpoints. Lots of experiences. It was lovely seeing people face-to-face and getting such different impressions. It’s a very different experience than Tumblr or discord or streaming. I would very much recommend it to all of you! Get out and meet people in person in your area. Talk to them. Listen to their stories. Find out what they have to share. Share a bit of yourself in turn.

[that-spider-fan-over-there]

I'm still very baffled at people who complain about lack of Izuku's POV, and it's not because I don't understand it; hell, every leaked chapter I keep thinking if we'll soon get an insight on his mind (admittedly, my patience has dwindled because of the previous fandom so that's 100% a flaw on my part rather than the story's pacing. In my opinion), but.

When you really think about it, our little freckled unreliable narrator here never actually gets introspective on anything personal- we get the "I gotta be stronger so others won't worry" "I need to save that kid who was crying" "I have to catch up so I'll be the best version of a hero I can be", but uh all that aside. Literally most times he's actually introspective is either to help someone with their own feelings or when he's thinking about. Well.

Point is I still haven't forgotten that door with a bunch of lockers in the vestige world. Or the entire "control your heart" narrative- which is one of the reasons I'm an advocate for "Final battle in the vestige world".

Because I wanna see that door being opened with all those raw emotions hitting him like the true tsunami he holds in.

For comparison, Izuku is like an outsider's POV of Steven Universe in SU:F; we can tell he's bottling it up, but "what" exactly and "how much" is the suspense, rather than the "when" he'll be forced to face it all, even if we already know some of the things he's keeping it in.

Because while both are a matter of time, Izuku has the added bonus of keeping it too close to his chest. He's stopped being a POV character long ago. Which now that I realize, could count as a subversion of the "everyday relatable MC"; because usually in most comic books, we know what makes a human a hero; but in BNHA; we're questioned: what makes a hero human? It's one of the reasons, I'd argue, Izuku's been getting flack as a protagonist: we're seeing a hero who needs to rediscover his own humanity, his individuality.

It's because he has put his own expectations of himself on such a high pedestal post-PLF, he only thinks now of what he can and should do, but we, as the audience, have known him as someone growing to be a hero while he accidentally forgets and confuses his origin. We're still seeing "the Deku who always does his best", but learned that's detrimental without the heart of Midoriya Izuku.

Personally, however, I'm patient. It's been a little fun because in a way, everyone else is getting an exercise on being the main character, and it feels like Izuku became a side one. That's actually not a bad thing: as he rediscovers what makes Deku and Izuku important to his identity, he regains agency to the story and we as the audience will slowly get back on his mind. BNHA's themes of identity are still prevalent; we just need to open that door beforehand. How or when, it's up to Horikoshi-san, but soon enough. I'm putting trust it'll pay off, the story has yet to make me regret it, bumps in the road and all.

TL;DR: I think Izuku's lack of internal thoughts since the PLF Arc is an intentional choice it'll pay off, and it's related to OFA's door; as it would make sense to the themes of identity and self discovery BNHA has, just involving the audience's reaction in a way. Especially because Izuku's a character who thinks he's worth what he can do rather than who he is. That said, the absence of these thoughts has precedents because Izuku is an unreliable narrator who doesn't really do introspections unless it's to other's benefit, hero-related or relative to his relationship with Katsuki.

TL;DR to the TL;DR: We'll get Izuku's thoughts eventually you guys are just mean /j/j/j/j

[specializationisforinsects]

On Names, Meaning, and Self-Determination

aka ✨✨I woke up wondering about the significance of the name Anthony at three am and I'm now certifiably insane ✨✨

Good Omens is undeniably a queer allegory, and also at the heart a story about self-determination and free will. I think I’ve discovered something related to these two things that I haven’t heard anyone talk about, and it’s making me loco.

Choosing one’s own name is a very queer (often trans but more broadly queer) action; a way to assert and affirm one’s identity, often in opposition to a power structure that existed in a previous iteration of one’s life - our hero does this several times. Let’s take a closer look:

(Disclaimer: I’m using he/him for Crowley here for clarity and because the show and book often do.)

Starmaker [???] -> Crawly

We get to see Angel!Crowley, popularly called the Starmaker, in the opening shots of season two. Whatever the Starmaker's name was, he's insistent at several times throughout history that that is no longer him:

"I knew the angel you were." / "The angel you knew is not me." "You were an angel once." / "That was a very long time ago."

I love that the narrative never tells us what Angel!Crowley's name is - and I hope it bears out in season three. That's not him, and quite clearly he doesn't want to be (mistaken for) that angel ever again.

When we see him again, (chronologically) Crawly is now fallen from grace, a serpent demon, introducing himself to Aziraphale on the wall of the Garden of Eden after all that business with the apple. This is pretty clearly a callback to Genesis 3:14:

And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

(Even though...chronologically...I think he had that name before tempting Eve.)

Crawly -> Crowley

In Golgotha, he cites Crawly as "too...squirming at your feet-ish" which again is not him (except for some *cough* situations into which I will not delve here) anyway

The shift from Crawly to Crowley is a subtle one, just a few letters. It speaks to me of a quiet rebellion against Hell, not changing so much that it attracts a lot of attention, but nevertheless rejecting the role Hell has cast him in.

[sorry my gifs suck so bad. It's quicker to grab a snippet than find someone else's better gifs.]

Aziraphale is surprised by this, but not unpleasantly so.

Crowley is making it clear he will only go along with Hell as far as he can. He doesn’t use their name for him, he’s not fully on their side. He still sees himself as a demon (unforgivable) but he’s taken some of his power and agency back. He won’t go blindly along with either Heaven or Hell, he’s asserting his independence.

(I don't know much about the meaning of this name, other than the fact that it's an Irish surname. Doubtless, there's some connection to Aleister Crowley. It's also apparently a maritime logistics company that will "Build and Operate the First Fully Electric U.S. Tugboat". Good for them!

It also reminds me of crows. I have a soft spot for bad boys who model their image after corvids as a defense mechanism.)

Anyway, part II. This brings us to the part that I woke up at three am thinking about.

Crowley, Anthony J.

"The famous Mr. Crowley!"

Here's what we’ve (fandom) spent a lot of time focusing on:

“What's the J for?” / “Just a J, really.”

Here's what I propose we focus on instead:

“Antony?” / “You don’t like it?” / “I didn’t say that! I’ll get used to it.”

Anthony. Why Anthony?

Anthony's not a name that appears in the Bible, but there are a few historical Anthonys we may know…

Marc Antony

(Most of this is pulled directly from wikipedia.)

Marc Antony was one of the Second Triumverate, a group of three men who ruled Rome after the assassination of Julius Caesar. Politically there were a lot of power struggles between them, and Antony married the sister of one of the other men (Octavian) in the triumvirate, as a kind of peacekeeping political move. However, Antony’s territory included Egypt and the young queen Cleopatra.

There were a lot of wars and sieges - I’m not gonna pretend I understand it, but basically Antony was hanging out in Egypt with Cleopatra and Octavian consolidated power in Rome, and started a smear campaign against Antony.

He argued that Antony was a man of low morals to have left his faithful wife abandoned in Rome with the children to be with the promiscuous queen of Egypt. Antony was accused of everything, but most of all, of "going native", an unforgivable crime to the proud Romans. Several times, Antony was summoned to Rome, but remained in Alexandria with Cleopatra.

Going native?? Where have we heard that before?

Octavian and other Roman Senators believed that turning the hostilities towards Cleopatra as the villain would gather the most support from Romans for war. […] Octavian's publication of [Antony’s will (alleged)] which named Antony and Cleopatra's children as heirs and directed his burial in Alexandria, was used as a political weapon in Rome to declare war against Cleopatra and Egypt as a whole. Octavian, now close to absolute power, invaded Egypt in August, 30 BC. With no other refuge to escape to, Antony stabbed himself with his sword in the mistaken belief that Cleopatra had already done so. When he found out that Cleopatra was still alive, his friends brought him to Cleopatra's monument in which she was hiding, and he died in her arms.

Oof. Choosing their own side under pain of death.

St. Anthony of Padua

Okay I’m not religious, and I'm tired of spending time on catholic websites but here are a few bullet points I found to make me scream

Saint Anthony is known in Portugal, Spain, and Brazil as a marriage saint, because legends exist of him reconciling couples.

Saint Anthony of Padua is known as the patron saint of lovers, often prayed to for meeting one's soulmate or finding lost love.

Pope Leon XII referred to him as “the saint of the world.”

Anthony

We don’t learn about the name “Anthony” until 1941, meaning that Crowley chose it for himself sometime after 1862 and before 1941. During a period of separation from Aziraphale after one of their bitterest arguments, he picks a human name for himself.

So, finally (jk this was first, but…)

I looked up the meaning of the name Anthony and (allegedly) it means “highly praiseworthy” or “priceless one”.

Take a minute.

The implications of this being a name he’s chosen for HIMSELF??

That maybe he hopes Aziraphale will call him??

That, to my knowledge in the show, Aziraphale hasn’t called him??

In conclusion

(I made myself crazy with this, please scream with me a little bit? I gotta go take a shower and wash the catholic websites off.)

[melonisopod]

I still really like the way DunMesh introduces Kabru's party. Where they're clearly set up to be foils to our main party but not in a way that the narrative is pointing at them and saying "These guys suck and you should hate them!" They could just as easily have been the main characters and have the Touden party introduced second and it would have worked just as well IMO.

Cause I think a 'lesser' show would have set up characters like them as unpleasant jerkwads that you immediately can't stand. Maybe Mickbell is like that but even then he comes off more like a "funny asshole" than a genuinely detestable person. But the show goes out of its way to show that Kabru is incredibly smart and perceptive and knows and trusts his crewmates. The fact that he stopped Rin with a kiss tells me the two must be pretty close (it was pragmatic but I don't think she'd have reacted that way if they weren't at least on good terms, her main gripe was the illusion magic making Kabru look like a fish).

Plus, even though his reasons for going after the Touden party are /wrong/, he doesn't know that, and has no reason not to believe they've acted maliciously against his crew. So even while his party innately has it in for our heroes they're not bad people.

There's less that we know about Shuro and his current party and so it's harder for me to glean exactly what's up with him, but I also don't think he's set up as a 'bad person we're supposed to hate' either. I think the fandom is a little hard on him for his one-sided crush on Falin too - for all the "she's just like her brother" jokes she really isn't, not "exactly" at least. Falin seems a bit better at masking than Laois and has a better gauge for handling people, which makes her more "tolerable" in their eyes, hence why more people are willing to "tolerate" her monster obsession.

I know that Shuro has/had feelings for her and that it didn't go anywhere but that's...fine? There's no indication he acts entitled or pushy or doesn't respect her feelings or boundaries, and just having a crush on someone isn't a morally bad thing. I haven't seen the "outburst" when he and Laois fight either so I dont' have a lot to say here, just that I relate heavily to Laois, but I dont' think Shuro is bad for not speaking up on his dislike of him either.

As much as I desperately wish more people would tell me when they have a problem with me, how awkward is it to have to tell someone that to their face? How do you even say that? "By the way, I find you really annoying and can't stand you, I just want to clarify that so you stop assuming we're friends," I would love for someone to let me know but also imagine having to be the other person. I wish there was a nice way of saying it (and Shuro DID have a "nice way" of "saying it" but Laios is too autistic to pick up on subtle cues)

I still kind of hold the opinion that every character in DunMesh is some degree of autistic, but it's possible Laios is like the one guy who never really learned how to mask beyond "never talking about his special interest in public".

[my-fancy-hat]

A couple of days ago I finished reading Dungeon Meshi, so this post has the objective of offering a general review of my experience and opinions of the manga. I will try to avoid doing an in-depth analysis (gonna fail anyways ik myself) from the perspective of someone who have been observing the fandom from a backseat and does not intent to participe in it much (I've learned my lesson). Even though I couldn't resist spoilers during the time I planned to read it, I loved it! and it frustrates me a bit the idea that maybe I'd have enjoyed it more going full blind, but it is impossible to resist the online osmosis of information esp when its anime aired.

This manga has its story and characters clear, its writing is straight to the point, precise and clever, it trusts and respects the inteligence and feelings of its readers, giving us the essential utensils and ingredients to allow us cook our experience, and to continue cooking and eating for those who want to continue enjoying this rich story. The main dish, the essential theme is to butcher the multifaceted concept of eating. Through its volumes, one gets to discover and savor, in a divine comedy/hero's journey-descent from the circles of hell type of story, the owning of the ultimate primitive truth: the inherent and unstopable need to eat, the principle on which life is sustained, the element of addiction and connection.

I loved how dungeon meshi touches on complex conflicts related to the interpretations that can be given to its premise: devouring as a metaphor for oppression and destruction of rights between races, as can be seen in the subtle yet constant racial clash between long-lived and short-lived races. Eat also stands for desecration and usurpation of the self, embodied in the winged lion nurturing, creating emotionally dependent channels of power with the lords of the dungeons climaxing in the transgression and vore of their desires, the consummation of their intrinsic life essence, can't help thinking of it as groom and SA metaphors. We can also elevate our heads to christianity and eating becomes the way of in which humanity "devour god" and proclaims its death and independence from his unconditional goodness, crowning their place at the top of the food chain, in how Laios eats the winged lion’s desires and brings humanity back to the finite. Every living being yearns for the infinite, the dissolution of uncertainty and resentments through the promise of ethernal fullfilment. But eating, or rather, the deprivation of food, its absence as a symbol of slavery in Thistle, who had to intoxicate his soul and his people for a love that has already withered and rotted centuries ago, constipation of the innate desire to want something more, for the sake of someone's else wants, Delgal and his fear of dying.

But not everything can be catastrophic, on the act of destruction is the rejoice of creation. Eating calls for the act of cooking and connection, acceptance, as Falin, Marcille and Izutsumi accepted that to live they must continue accepting the unpleasant things on the menu, added pain and suffering, is on us if we want to swallow these sour diches in orden to appreciate its miracles. It's also about reconnecting with desire and living selfishly, for the ones who live for others or for a cause, thus reclaiming their humanity and inherit right to wish for more, like Kabru, the survivor's guilt character, making his first selfish act confessing his desire for friendship to Laios, or Mithrun, who like leftovers from a buffet in which him wasn't "appetizing" enough, compotes can still grow under care and compassion and reborn, your new life starts here. In Dungeon Meshi, cooking is sharing love, caring for others and pass on our work and wishes for those in need and cherish, like Marcille feeding a comatose Falin, Senshi to his teammates and the orcs, and Chilchuck and his union. The one who is able to provide and care, is the one who deserves to stand at the top, and that's why Laios' conclusion is beautiful writing. Even though he did indeed have to sacrifice in order to gain, had let go of his dream of a kingdom where humans and monsters could live in harmony (and the monstrosity of his new body), he created a kingdom where every human and demi-human is assured their right to have a plate on their table everyday, because eating is the privilege of the living, and in order to live we must eat. Because more than food, it's the will, the desire to eat when we don't want to, to live even if we are troubled to, whoever wants to survive will do so, because hopes and desires don't die. And as long as your desires exist, there'll be a will that remains in the world and continues to feed it.

Every character in this story (including secondary and tertiary extras) share an inherent desire to continue existing, to take and claim the selfish act of consuming. I mentioned addiction earlier, because it also struck by what it means to consume when there's no need, gluttony, reflected in the winged lion's path to humanization, which makes him quite a tragic character to me. A ilimitless entity dedicated to nurturing and fulfilling humanity's dreams for millennia, he approached and mimicked humankind and consumed desires until he created his own: to fulfill them and be his own master, he decided to subjugate himself descending to earth, to the rules of biology and abandon infinity. In parallel to Laios, who desired monstrosity and sacrificed his humanity, as if it made any difference, he choose the most fitting form for a man who failed to belong, the pain of betrayal of have desired to connect with his species, is one of the most memorable moments in my reading to see the embryo of his monster emerge from his back like a shell or butterfly coming out of its cocoon, a macabre rebirth. However, the winged lion failed to understand humanity, he failed to understand Laios, he underestimated their cruelty and desire for self-destruction "they'd be happy as long as they had their stomachs full" seen in his flashback, and failed (or manipulated Laios into believing so) to understand his kindness. Every meal, every step and bitterness Laios went through, he always tried to understand the unknown, his enemy, he respected his prey and all those who helped him on his way. He respected Thistle's wishes to the end, he accepted that his menu would not be to everyone's liking (Marcille, Kabru) and admired deeply their determination to help him finish their portion, that it's possible to be accepted, even him. Laios loves monsters but he also wants his love for humanity to be mutual: if he wished for the extermination of humanity, why would he want to create a kingdom where everyone can share the meals they like with the people they love? it's a fascinating dichotomy.

Among the things that I "didn't like" or rather say, my personal preferences, are the vast extra content this story has that, at least some of it? could have perfectly been included in the main story. I have read some extras and fun facts of some characters and I think if there were included in the main plot (making sense with the timeline ofc), would have enriched the experience more. Such as Kabru's complex of believing he's half monster/succubus and the fact this belief made a butterfly effect in dragging his mother to Utaya and she dying later. I would have loved to have an entire chapter dedicated to Utaya's tragedy from Kabru or Milsiril's pov, or Mithrun pre and post Lord of the Dungeon days, getting to know more about the cannaries and such. Nonetheless, I am still satisfied with what we got. I'm more than happy to see that Mithrun, Falin and Kabru meet their conclusion with a beginning of a new life ahead.

To grap up this all, (excuse the messiness of this lol but I wanted to write this in the most sincere way!!) I loved this story and I'm currently obsessed with these people, it's been a while since I felt an entire cast like this. it's great and a treat for anyone who likes to read with their mind and heart open, or to just have fun with a dynamic cast, exciting plot twists and rich world-building and a bittersweet but well-deserved ending. This could have been such a more darker story (i'd fw it too) but I'm possitively surprised and glad it maintained it's tone to the end. It makes everything more unique and loyal to its theme of cooking=bonds/nurturing/love. It makes me immensely content to leave this story with the promise of them growing old together like a family. Senshi, Chilchuck, Izutsumi and friends keeping at close, Falin, Marcille, Kabru and Yaad helping Laios in his new life as king of Melini. He will never feel lost or alone again.