#actually the favourite applies to four characters.......

[kirstenonic05]

Joseph for the bingo :3

[terastalungrad]

Sometimes, you’re a comedian with a touring show to promote, so you do an interview with a regional newspaper.

I think that’d be the funniest possible time to reveal a big scoop, wouldn’t it?

Stewart Lee is currently touring, and to promote his Yeovil performance, gave an interview to Blackmore Vale Magazine.  According to Wikipedia, the Blackmore Vale is an area of north Dorset, south Somerset and southwest Wiltshire.  According to the comedian Jake Baker, the magazine would cover his school sports day as he grew up in Dorset.  That’s the level of news you’d expect.

The questions are friendly and easy, from a journalist clearly familiar with Lee’s work and history.

The first question is about the show’s angle.  Lee describes the nature of the show, and here’s an excerpt:

So it looks like stand-up, and sounds like stand-up, but it’s actually a kind of character piece about a desperate person who’s frightened and trying to organise the world in a way that puts them in control. And I guess you could argue that’s what a lot of stand-ups are doing anyway. Ricky Gervais to me looks like a very frightened man. He’s frightened of transgender people coming after him, the act is a defensive wall.

Fun!  This is a Ricky Gervais hate blog, so it’s nice to see a sudden, unexpected attack in an unrelated promotional interview.

Lee mentions Gervais again in response to question four.

Sometimes I become bitter and think ‘I get all this good press, why can’t I get 10 million quid for a TV special like Ricky Gervais?’ But on the other hand, I wouldn’t want that audience, it wouldn’t allow me to be better.

And then again to question eight, where Lee explains why he spends six months running new shows in the relatively small Leicester Square Theatre (as opposed to arena comics who might do 10 warmup shows followed by 60 tour dates).

You can still run it like a club gig, you can interact with people in real time. Also, you wouldn’t get better at the show because you wouldn’t have done it as many times. You can see this with an act like Gervais. Those shows have not been run in, they’re not fluid, they’re a succession of inflexible statements that would snap like twigs if the pressure of an unforeseen event was applied to them.

The journalist finally addresses this head on.  It really is worth reading the entire article - there’s a lot more than I’m quoting, including an interesting story about Sean Lock:

But here are my favourite bits:

[Gervais] still kind of copies me though, which is the weird thing. There’s still a lot of cadences of what I do but they’re used in the service of evil. In Star Wars, he’s Darth Vader and he’s taken the force, which is me, and used it for evil purposes. He was a fanboy, he was actually the booker at University of London and used to book me and Sean Lock all the time. And when he became famous for the Office, he wrote an hour-long act that was so indebted to us it was awkward. [...] If he’d come up through the circuit that would have been rubbed off him because you find your own voice doing club gigs. It took me two years of gigging five nights a week to come through the mesh of things I liked. But he didn’t have that experience in the same way. [...] Funnily enough, in his first show there were bits I’d never recorded that he’d do almost verbatim. He’d clearly remembered them. I went to see him at the Bloomsbury – on his invitation actually – with my then girlfriend and she was very concerned for me. I’d given up at that point due to lack of interest, and she was concerned for what it felt like to see my act being done to hundreds of people, it was quite weird. On the other hand, that sort of did make me think I don’t want it to be consumed into someone else’s vocabulary. And also, I think because he had a residual sense of guilt, he would always credit me in interviews as being an influence – that helped me in 2004 to get the audience back.

This is, to my knowledge, the first time Lee’s ever claimed that Gervais stole his material.  He’s certainly talked about Gervais clearly taking influence from him (though in the past, he downplayed this compared to the account given in this interview).

It’s a pretty big thing to accuse a comic of stealing material.  That’s a big taboo.  I reckon this is partly because Lee wants to discourage fans of Gervais from coming to the show.

Anyway, let’s finish by quoting the end of the interview:

It must be strange to have that level of financial remuneration and those audience figures but not really a single good review. And I expect what that does for you is create a cognitive dissonance where you have to manufacture a worldview by which the whole world is wrong and you’re right. Which can’t necessarily be very good for your mental health, although I expect the money’s nice.

[sunshinebingo]

A Gwynriel meet-cute fic inspired by my writer's block and the music video of I Hear A Symphony by Cody Fry.

Synopsis: Gwyn tries everything possible to put a stop to her writer's block, unbeknownst that her source of inspiration will appear right at her door.

Word Count: 2.4k

Read on Ao3 or below the cut

She sat, alone and upset.

She sat in her home, as lonely and desperate as she had ever been, and waited for a miracle to happen.

Gwyn crossed yet another sentence, the words becoming less readable with every line she frustratingly drew across them.

“Ugh. I’m a lost cause,” she complained.

What was she doing wrong? She was applying every advice she had received from her fellow authors, some of which had worked for her previous writer’s blocks. She was so desperate that she was even doing everything all at once to increase her chances at finally writing. Her head had been a blank slate for too many months now.

The first step had been to put on her comfiest hoodie and shorts, her hair up in a high ponytail, and to sit on her comfiest chair at her desk with some cool water. She was also using a pen and paper instead of her laptop. Typing everything out later would be an extra step, but one that she was willing to take. If, she hoped hard, she managed to write anything at all. In addition to all that, she was using a different colour than black, and had convinced herself that she was using a different font. If she always used Times New Roman, Arial or Calibri, her own handwriting had to count as a new font, right?

She even had ambient music playing in the background; the sound of a peaceful forest that she imagined her heroine – a nymph – living in. From the different sounds that floated around her, Gwyn imagined the nymph sitting in her little cottage, with a freshly polished dagger on a table next to a steaming cup of hibiscus tea. Magical birds could be heard chirping outside along with her ethereal voice humming. Occasionally, Gwyn could also hear tiny footsteps and giggles that made her think of the little folks that she had introduced earlier in chapter 3.

All the conditions were perfect. Every element was right here in her head; the setting, the mood, the time and weather. Yet it still felt like nothing was happening. As though she couldn’t get her heroine to do anything, no matter how hard Gwyn poked her with her mental stick. Perhaps she was also waiting for something more interesting than everything her creator came up with.

Gwyn sighed and rubbed her eyes. The bright pink was starting to hurt her tired eyes and making her annoyance with herself grow. Maybe she should have picked a different one among her many colourful pens. Could a glittery one work?

She took a few sips of water from her favourite mug, followed by a few slow and deeps breaths during which she wondered how the hell she had managed to publish two books in four years with a brain like hers.

Reading and writing were a passion that she had successfully turned into her job. It meant more to her than just paying her bills and affording everything she owned. It was her source of joy and fulfilment; what had slowly let her out of her safe shell and had given her a reason to live. At least it was all of this when the made-up creatures living in her head actually did things that she could write about. Her team of editors and publishers would never approve of a story where the characters only sat and waited for the unknown for half of the book.

“Someone could die,” Gwyn tapped her pen against her cheek and thought out loud. But for that to happen, she would have to come up with a motive and a plan.

She imagined her protagonist staring blankly at her as if to ask, “Really?”

She scowled at the pink ink on the white paper and asked, “What else do you suggest to spice up the plot?”

She refused to give up on her story midway through. Something would happen. She just needed faith in her creativity and her skills. And a prayer or two to the writers’ gods to send a genius idea her way. With little hope that they would listen, Gwyn plunged back into her story, where the nymph was still doing a whole lot of nothing.

She sat there, as lonely and desperate as she had ever felt, and slowly giving up on the hope that miracles could happen, when a rattling sound disturbed the quiet of her home. It persisted until…

“Wait a second.”

…until the author realised that the sound was coming from outside her own apartment door.

“What the hell?”

Both of Gwyn’s best friends, Emerie and Nesta, the only two who ever showed up at her place unannounced, were currently at work. Even if they had gotten out early, they would have knocked or called after finding her door locked. Which it most often was. The building that Gwyn lived in was quite luxurious with an excellent security system. But judging by the person who had been trying to forcefully open her door for the last minute, Gwyn’s anxiety about her safety began to surface again.

She stood from her desk and made her way towards what could be an intruder. Holding her pink pen up like a serial killer might hold a knife, Gwyn brought her hand to the knob. If she was fast enough, she could press the button on the interphone right next to the door as soon as she opened it and alert the security guard. But what if Frank was already dead and now the killer was coming for her? Gwyn damned herself for having gone with an apartment on the second floor instead of the twenty-second. What was the benefit of having one of the best balconies in the building if she was among the firsts to die?

“Pull yourself together Gwyneth!” she told herself.

Her heroine wouldn’t cower before the one trying to break through her cottage. She would feel the fear but confront it. Gwyn might have no dagger nor claws; she might have no magic to bring down her enemies. But, like her nymph, she refused to die. Not when she had a story to finish. Gwyn summoned as much courage as she had often infused her nymph with and yanked her door open.

What she saw crouching before her with a key in one gloved hand and a black and blue helmet in the other didn’t look like a murderer. Not that she had ever knowingly come face to face with one to know what they looked like.

Gwyn lowered her pen at her side as the man straightened and towered over her with strong arms and broad shoulders that were hugged by a black leather jacket. His brown skin glowed under the dim yellow light of the baroque-style hallway of the building. His hazel eyes were like a blaze that bore into Gwyn, even as the rest of his handsome face showed signs of surprise. There was a hint of confusion apparent in the frown of his obsidian eyebrows that matched the colour of his short, dishevelled hair.

He looked like a male straight out of a romantasy. The type whose looks alone could mark him as someone who is always broody. Until he meets the one who can effortlessly make him smile with an adorable laugh, a teasing remark or an irreverent challenging look; the latter being the kind a writer like herself would describe as a withering stare that would earn the object of the male’s fascination an amused chuckle.

Was he even real? Or had Gwyn dived so deep into her fictional world that she had landed somewhere inside it? If it was the case, then it meant that there was more to her story that she had yet to discover, since she had never met such a stunning man in that world of hers. She didn’t even know that such beauty and magnetism was possible.

He was just standing there in front of her. Yet his eyes seemed to hold a power that made it impossible for her to acknowledge anything else.

“Hello.”

The deep voice she heard didn’t sound like it was coming from her imagination.

“Hi,” she breathlessly greeted back.

“Uh... Hi... I was...”

Gwyn took in every single fumbled words that came out of his plump lips, ready to listen to him say anything. But he stopped and, for a moment, just stared at her with an intensity that she did not realise matched the way she was looking at him.

“Can I help you?” she asked when the silence stretched, hoping that she hadn’t looked at him like she had never seen a man before. Although she was still not entirely convinced that he wasn’t a manifestation of her fantasies.

The man shook his visible stupor away at her question and offered her a small yet very charming smile.

“I think this is my new apartment.”

Gwyn frowned in puzzlement.

“I’m sure it’s not?” she said like she wasn’t sure at all.

He cocked his head to the side in thought before looking around as though he had dropped something. Then, realising he was already holding it, he held his key up for her to see.

“Isn’t this number 9?”

Gwyn’s frown deepened until realisation struck her harder than a lighting bolt.

“Ah. I see.” Gwyn pursed her lips to hold in a laugh. “May I?”

She extended her hand to the mystery man and motioned to his key with a tilt of her head.

He raised a brow at her. A corner of his lips slowly tugged into a smirk that disappeared a few seconds later. Whether he was trying to consciously school his features or not, Gwyn didn’t know. But she enjoyed the mischief that she had glimpsed for a moment there.

“You may,” he said as he dropped the small object in her open palm.

Gwyn held the key chain up and placed it next to the engraving on the wall with her house’s number on it. She showed him how, in this way, the key chain formed a miniature version of the engraving, with the design being the exact same, except for the 6 of her house number which didn’t match the 9 of his key.

His eyes darted between the engraving and the key, and to the redhead who was playfully wiggling her eyebrows at him. Then he laughed, his rich voice so beautiful that Gwyn imagined it would be impossible to ever tire of hearing it. And when she laughed with him, she found that she very much liked the harmony that their two voices created.

“I’m sorry.” He rubbed a hand on the back of his neck. “That was very dumb of me.”

“I’ll give you that. It was,” she said with a shrug.

The man eyed Gwyn like he was disappointed that she had so quickly agreed. His expression only pulled another laugh out of Gwyn.

“Yours is the one over there.” She pointed at the hallway behind him. To the second door down to her left. “Next to the wall lamp.”

He look there before turning back to her. Gwyn dangled his key in front of him.

“You won’t get my home just yet but you’ll get to be my neighbour.”

She found herself curious as to what kind of neighbour mister handsome here would be. Would they come across each other at random hours of the day and night as they went about their lives?

The smile that brightened his face was more disarming than any that Gwyn had ever seen.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, neighbour.” He extended a hand to her.

“I’m Gwyneth. Or just Gwyn.”

She shook his offered hand with the same one that she still held his key. He took it with him as he slowly, almost reluctantly, pulled his hand away.

“I’m Azriel. Or just... Azriel.”

He cleared his throat and adjusted the helmet he carried under his left arm. Gwyn smiled.

“Alright. Just Azriel.”

They stood there in silence for a while. Their gazes locked, their hands fidgeting with whatever they carried. Gwyn was here and somewhere else at the same time. His body, his face, his voice, his mere presence stirred something in her. It was thrilling and also...intimidating.

He was like a mystery that was yet to be unfold. A story that needed to be written. Gwyn sensed in her writer’s heart that his could be one with pain and pleasure, ire and love. His eyes were a window through which she wanted to dive into his soul and learn all of his secrets. She also wanted to know what kind of man he could be in his most caring or vulnerable state.

Knowing a person in such a deep, all encompassing way was almost impossible. But perhaps, Gwyn wondered as her eyes widened, her version of him could provide her with the answers she sought.

“I – ”

“I – ”

“I should – ”

“I need to – ”

They both laughed at their synchronicity.

“I should go check my actual apartment.”

“And I should get back to mine. I hope you don’t get lost on your way.”

One of his brows rose. “I will blame your directions if I do.”

Gwyn crossed her arms and scowled at him. But the effect was lost with the smile that threatened to spread on her lips.

She watched him turn around and walk to his apartment. No doubt sensing her eyes still on him after he opened his door, “just Azriel” looked at her again. Gwyn waved at him. He winked, then stepped inside. Without wasting another second, Gwyn closed her own door and rushed to her desk.

Words and images formed in her mind like music flowing out of her imagination; a scene playing out like a musician effortlessly soaring through the notes of their symphony.

Gwyn immersed herself in it and let her hand glide across pages after pages of her notebook. She wrote about the nymph and her intruder, a mysterious male that became more real with every element she discovered about his character.

It might have been luck or sheer coincidence. It might have also been an answer to her hopeless prayers. Gwyn had no time to care. What mattered was that she was now inspired.

[ahkylous]

Drifting Stars Masterlist Ⅱ

I never thought there would be a part two of this solely because of the limited number of fanfictions there actually are for this au. Yet here we are, four months later and somehow able to make this post. Same rules apply; general order of favourites, you are all entitled to your own opinion, add any I may have missed, and that's kinda it.

Onward!

Disconnected by DarrowWyrlde - 4th part of a series, 2 028 words, 2/13

Ok so this one probably should not be in this post at all since it's not drifting stars and more of a lost legends fic. I only put this one here because it's still about Mabel in the multiverse and who knows, maybe that's why you read drifting stars. I don't have much else to say, just thought I'd put it here.

Drift Away by GravityUniverse115 - oneshot, 1 174 words, 1/1

This one was written well despite it being fairly short, the only catch being that it - again - is not entirely drifting stars. It is about Mabel going through the portal, but it is written more as a concept in comparison to a typical oneshot. If someone did write a fic based off of this tho I would definitely read it.

The Drifting Star by Booblybaba - standalone, 35 337 words, 15/?

This was your typical drifting stars fic, I don't have too much else to say except that it was good and that it ends just as I was getting into it. It was a bit fast paced but again, not bad.

Into the Unknown by MintGreenMare - standalone, 31 681 words, 22/22

Finished and Drifting Stars does not go in the same sentence, and yet this fic exists. Fully complete, 100% resolved. It only took like 9 years for someone to actually finish writing one of these. It did take me a bit to get into it compared to other stuff I've read, mostly because it feels more like a collection of oneshots as opposed to a whole fic, but I did still enjoy it.

Ad Astra by Queen_Mab - standalone, 103 406 words, 18/?

So many people go crazy for this fic and I kinda get why, the worldbuilding is done really well and the stuff going on back in Gravity Falls is a lot more interesting than just Dipper and Stan rebuilding the portal. The only setback for me is that it feels unrealistic and was almost pushed too far in some aspects. But again, I get the appeal and do wanna see what would happen next.

Save That Light by Mezzorellasticks - standalone, 11 293 words, 5/?

I'm surprised there aren't more fic's with some of the concepts in this one. I won't spoil it but I could see this happening to Mabel more than once and yet no one has written about it. Some parts felt a little off in terms of character but overall it was pretty cool.

A Familiar Face by Missintroverted - 1st part of a series, 2 350 words, 1/1

This is another fic that's not entirely drifting stars but at the same time kinda is. Instead of Mabel being fully related to Ford, it's another version of her but older (possibly a relativity + reverse portal version). I thought it interesting and I enjoyed the interaction between the two.

Among The Stars by Maviiigirl - standalone, 4 603 words, 2/?

This fic follows the typical outline so far; Mabel falling through the portal, Ford being an awkward dumbass, the two figuring out what's going on before any proper multiverse madness occurs. But the way it was written was really good, that and the fact that this author also wrote a very good oneshot which gives me hope for the future of this fic.

A Little Help by Maviiigirl - oneshot, 3 130 words, 1/1

I thought this oneshot was so cool. Mabel being all responsible while internally panicking and Ford being delusional was actually so funny to me. Some parts were a little quick but overall I thought it was really well done. I kinda wanna see it be continued just to see what Ford would say when he woke up tho.

That's mostly it, if I were to compare the two list's I'd say the quality of the fics from the other one are far better, but these one's are a lot more recent meaning there is hope that some of them will be continued.

I didn't mean to insult any of these, I find my main problem with fanfiction is the way the characters are written and the way characters bond, especially since many are rushed and often there isn't enough time allowed for certain emotions to properly form before diving straight into hurt/comfort. I understand tho, I struggle with that a lot in my writing too.

Anyway, here's the first masterlist if you wanna look at those too :))

[goldenheartstudios]

Why is Rai your favourite? :D

  That’s an excellent question my dear anon and I can answer this in a rant of itself!

  Ok first of all, this all started because I watched the show when I was a kid and it really influenced my taste of media on a deep level. The combination between western and eastern culture is like, the ideal content for me and many of the things I enjoy are this because of my adoration for the show and it’s vibes

  And this is one of the reasons why Xiaolin Showdown is my favorite cartoon, because it reshaped my interests at a very young age and I genuinely think I would be a different person if I didn’t watch it

  And this thing applies to my favorite character as well, aka Raimundo. Many of my favorite characters have something that remind me of him in one way or another, and Rai’s characteristics are something that I find myself gravitating towards more often, all because of Rai being my favorite character

  But how did he become my favorite in the first place? Well, I will start with his introduction

  In the first episode, we see him simply described as someone who likes to mess with others and is not fond on being told what to do because he likes to chill and have fun. For short, he’s a laid-back rebel

  At this moment, you don’t know much about the main characters, only the basics. So you can get an attachment to one of them later on, or be attracted to their concept because you like their personality

  And well, I didn’t have a special interest to Rai at that time, but I did like him because he was funny, simple as that

  The second episode shows more of him, where you get to see that he likes to make remarks on stuff and can actually be the voice of reason on occasion (example being him reminding Kimiko & Omi about Clay)

  But the third episode is when I started to get interested in him, when he betted on Kimiko’s favor for the showdown

  Because this not only serves as a subversion of expectations, it’s also tied so well with the previous episode

  Raimundo didn’t have any faith in Clay winning in the second episode, making it very clear by the way he was impatient and commented during the showdown. But at the end, he got proven wrong and congratulated Clay for the win

  And now with Kimiko’s showdown, where she shows signs of not having a chance of winning? He not only believes in her, he makes a bet where he’s confident on being proven right

  He learned, but in a way that it’s not shoved in your face, that it’s not commented on. It’s a neat portrayal on the show’s continuity, where there are subtle elements that tie the episodes together if you get the chance to see them in order

  The third episode shows how there’s something more to him, that he’s not just the standard troublemaker, which piques my interest on the boy

  And the more episodes I see, the more my fascination on him grows. He can be reckless but also wise, an idiot but also smart, an asshole but also considerate of others (just look at how many episodes he was shown to make fun of someone but then genuinely showed support for them afterwards-)

  Throughout the show he just keeps getting layers of characterization while he’s also going through his own character arc. You learn more things about him while at the same time you see him change and grow and it’s fascinating

  What’s even more interesting is that you see him changing without necessarily feeling it. Unlike other characters (like Omi for example), his personality doesn’t really change, but his level of maturity does, and you get to notice the difference once you compare him from the beginning to what he became at the end

  Which this makes it a delight for rewatch, because even if I rewatched the show at least four times, there are still things about him I just notice, because this boy is so full of layers you can mistake him for an onion

  Seriously, I once made a psychological analysis on him for college of 9 pages and I still could have written more about him

  And what’s crazier is the fact that there are still things we don’t know about him, like his family and childhood. Only thing we got are hints which can be interpreted however you like and that’s great, because it encourages creativity and you can go by personal interest!

  Personality wise, aside from liking everything about Rai for reasons stated above, there’s one core characteristic of him that contributes to my attachment: his kindness

  It’s unconditional, loud, but also quiet. It’s honest, simple, but also complex, buried in layers of emotions and fear of showing his vulnerabilities. And when it’s about the people he cares about, he can go to an extent of sacrificing his safety or even his life, but it’s not because he doesn’t see value in himself, it’s because he sees more value in others which makes it worth it for him

  This kindness in him is so so beautiful and it has so much potential for how dangerous it can be for him. Like, this kid is a goldmine for writing and analyzing, it’s insane-

  He’s one of the most developed and complex characters from the show and it’s proven by how he breaks the trope he followed at the beginning: if we were to put the main cast in the main tropes we see in teams, he would be the “lancer” because he serves as a contrast to Omi who’s the “leader” (as we follow his perspective and has the most common characteristics of the trope) and has the main characteristics many lancer-type characters have (Raphael and Knuckles being better-known examples)

  But here’s the thing

  He becomes the leader at the end

  Which brings a whole new perspective on his character

  Honestly, I could go on a whole different rant on its own about this incredible choice the show made to make Rai the leader at the end, but what I’m gonna say here is that despite following the trope of a lancer, Raimundo also has the characteristics of a leader that makes it harder for him to be categorized to only one trait if you want to describe him properly

  You can use characteristics like “laid-back prick” or “piece of shit with a heart of gold” to introduce him to other people, but if you were to describe him deeper, then you have to go on so many directions to do him justice, which for me it’s amazing

  And this, is why Rai is my favorite

[dunktape]

can you genuinely, i mean so genuinely not copy a creator who's already been through and is going through rough shit? i thought you were an alt of chocoperrito's, i saw you were "heavily inspired", same style and similar intro, this is plain disrespectful and cruel to do to an artist who's already stated they're not okay with that.

i hope you can find it in your heart to at least apologize to hym.

hey , saw this and genuinely wanted to address it as my intentions are genuinely not to copy anyone , let alone cause harm . summary is all the way down under the cut ( last paragraph )

first of all , i'm sorry to hear that reki isn't doing well . i hope hy'll get better soon , but i couldn't have known he wasn't in a well mental state because i don't want to and can't interact with hys blog . i've been blocked quite a while ago , just after the first post i made on this blog . what happened will stay private as requested , but ive apologised and as far as i know , we made up . hy doesn't want to interact with me and i respect his boundaries .

talking of boundaries , i did not know hy was uncomfortable with people getting inspired by his art style . it is true that i took inspiration from hym , but to be fair all i took inspiration from was the shape of fur . my colour theory was fully taught to me by ashenoranges , round shapes have been inspired by another artist who does not want to be named , the way i draw hands along with cartoon-ish ( and also the round shapes ) by an artist on tiktok whose name i forgot ( but did a lot of utau / fell art , something along the lines of pupbiteez ) and the eyes i've just always drawn that way because i adapted it from when i just started getting into animation memes , but i tend to add tearducts too ( which i've adapted from p0ny.world ) . also , i love the chalky way calciumdreams's and yokoneko's art looks which i'm trying to work on getting into my art . i also mentioned some other artists in a previous ask about my artstyle , those artists also provide me references for when i'm trying to draw animals that stand on all fours .

asked one of my friends if they had any art of reki saved , for comparison . i guess i can see the similarities ?

the thing is that i use several outlines and lots of rendering on top of it and use a shade between green and orange always - when reki uses one line-art layer , has highlights instead of shadows in the hair , usually a blue shade and overall has thinner line-art where parts between similar parts of clothing and / or fur gets coloured differently in line-art .

i'm not saying my and reki's styles do not look extremely similar or that he never said anything about not liking inspiration , but i did not copy ( or at least INTEND to copy ) hym , neither did i ( key word , i ) ever read he was uncomfortable with inspiration . if you would like to provide proof then i'd love to have you dm it to me /gen

my intro post had taken me quite a few months to come up with , going through a few things to get inspiration from . however , i can see why you think i copied him , especially with how i provided my links . asked a friend of mine to provide a screenshot of reki's blog to compare them after you sent this ask . to clarify - i actually got inspo for my graphic and the stars between links from a friend of mine , who used to make simple transparent background graphics and used the 𓈒 symbol in between links instead . since i'm a pretty big fan of stars , i used stars instead . went through tags to find introduction posts that i could take inspo from , which mostly used different colours , and since i usually use orange or green shades in my art ( since they're my favourite colours ) i thought i'd apply that to highlight parts i thought were important . just talked a bit about me , connected a link to my identity in case you want to get to know me better , provided a link to my toy house in case you wanted to see my characters , then talked a bit about asks because i barely really got any before . it looked a bit empty at that point , so i thought i'd largen up something , but doing that at the top of the post seemed like it went from big to small and i didn't like that . moved the links to the bottom , largened them up and that seemed pretty good . but now it was a bit empty on top of the page , so after messing around with the graphic i realised that maybe i should add something that would devide the graphic from the text - a divider . now everything looked tidy , while not being too little nor too much . a link to stuff that went more into detail ,, perfect right ? but ;

i can totally see why you think they look familiar : same colours , same link stuff , separate part about the inbox , divider between texts and images , but i don't have access to reki's blog so i wouldn't have known . even if i did before , i wouldn't have remembered that in the past 2 months where i was much more busy with other stuff than remembering what someone else's , who didn't want to interact with me , intropost looked like .

HOWEVER ! i do acknowledge that my EMOTE art looks incredibly - extremely , almost completely identical to hys . hand shapes , eye shapes , body shapes , even the yellow body and line-art , the SHADING - all of that . i guess that comes with having similar artstyles , then also worrying about whether or not your art looks ok . i actually asked a friend of mine what i could change about my art so other people would maybe like or use it more , and they said that i only ever use harsh - thick lines , so i should keep the line-art simple and try airbrushing stuff . this is basically what reki did , and so i did use one of hys emotes from a server i'm in as a reference - i really liked the result , and posted it not thinking about how familiar they looked despite literally having his emotes and mine side by side for comparison .

they're extremely similar , especially the little closed eyes and blush . they both have that little red eyelid bit above their eyes and shaded cheeks + hands . i admit this is my fault for not having realised earlier how i basically copied hys style , and i'll try to make it more into my own style next time . i'm unsure of how to yet , but i'll figure something out .

also , besides all that , i'm not really copying his appearances , sonas , other stuff hy might have made . the yellow guy is pretty popular after all since it doesn't have an actual appearance or anything that would relate to identity and can be interpreted as anyone . sure , there's blogs like k9emotes who make white sillies instead of yellow , but i prefer using yellow and i'm also going to use these emotes . not saying i won't change how i'll draw them , this is just a reason , but that's why my and hys emotes look so similar — they're exactly what i and my friends would like emotes to look like if we're going to use them frequently .

all of this is not an excuse but simply an explanation so i hope everything is more clear . as stupid as it may sound , the intro post was truly a coincidence . my art looks similar to hys ( but not that much ) because he was an inspiration , but not my only inspiration and definitely not my biggest but the hair / fur is something i do use the most . i deeply apologise for any harm i have done and crossing unknown boundaries , but i'm afraid i can't directly apologise to reki as he doesn't want to interact with me , boundaries are boundaries .

long story short — yes i got inspired by the fur , the intro post was purely coincidental , unconsciously took too much inspo from emotes , i apologise for what i did but can't apologise directly bc im blocked .

[unhingedlesbear]

MARK ESSAY! BIGASS MARK POST!!!

A lot of y’all already know I love Mark. Bro isn’t even my favourite SMG character but he’s also currently the one I feel the strongest about simply because I don’t see anyone else literally anywhere willing to defend him. Emily and Emma don’t need me rn y’all they have fandoms but THIS is a job for ur girl only it seems (woop woop) so I wrote this essay about why he deserves more recognition and less hate from the fans. I can’t promise it’s very well written bc I wrote it from like 2-4am and I haven’t exactly proofread but whateverrr.

LONG FUCKING POST AHEAD

A common thing I ALWAYS see from Mark haters is that he’s “boring” or “dull” compared to the others. While it’s true that his personality isn’t quite as distinct or individual as the other four, is that not… literally one of the aspects of his character? That he follows what the people around him do rather than voicing his own thoughts and opinions? It’s literally a part of his character so I don’t see the issue with him usually just falling behind Charlie or Kate for example, because it makes sense to me that he’d do that.

 People often argue that he’s “too nice” and doesn’t have enough flaws. Why is that an issue when it comes to Mark when the same could be said about characters like Salim or Sam who are infinitely more loved? I also really like Sam and Salim but for the sake of this argument I’ll point out a few flaws in the fact that people seem to think they’re significantly more interesting than Mark. You can argue that it’s because of Salim’s arc with Jason, but that’s the arc more than the character himself. Really Salim doesn’t have any real flaws at all and isn’t all that deep of a character, as likeable as he is. And people have said it’s because of his action scenes, but I’ll get to that point about Mark later. With Sam, similar things can be said. Point mainly is, the idea that Mark is boring because he’s “too nice and lacks flaws” doesn’t really make sense if you’re not consistent with it when it comes to other characters too.

Something that @108garys pointed out that I agree sm with is that a lot of people tend to ignore the relatability of his character. I feel like I can especially talk about this one as Mark is one of the SMG characters I relate to most, possibly even more than Brad. With characters like Kate or Erin, it’s easy to relate to them because of their anxieties, and you see a lot more people admitting to relating to that where you don’t with Mark. He relies on other peoples opinions rather than his own, doesn’t like making decisions and can end up passing up opportunities that are better for him because of it. You can see in his interactions with usually Kate or Charlie that if they disagree with him about something, it doesn’t take much for him to step back and agree with them because that’s just how he is. I don’t know about other people but I find all that to be extremely relatable so I wanted to point that out as probably one of the reasons I ended up so attached to him in the first place. 

Another think I see him hated for is because of his plot armour. Now this would be fair coming from someone who just hates all forms of plot armour but I see a loooot of inconsistency with this one. Out of all SMG characters with plot armour, Mark’s is a rare case that actually makes sense in the plot. Du’met had specifically selected Mark to be the next ferryman, of course he wasn’t going to kill him. I’m going to use Mike from UD as a comparison but a lot of this can apply to the other plot armour characters too. If you want actual plot armour, Mike is a perfect example. Where through TDIM, Mark isn’t actually in danger of death in most of his scenes (The only exception is when he and Charlie are crossing over that beam, in that case I definitely think he should have been able to die there but this is aside from that) Mike is put in dangerous situations where he can’t die SOLELY because of plot armour. Du’met isn’t trying to kill Mark, he’s trying to contain him which he does in fact do if he captures him. The Ws in UD are actively trying to kill Mike and yet never actually do, for no plot related reasons at all, just because the game doesn’t want Mike to die yet. Another thing that’s different about these two cases is what happens when both characters lose their plot armour during the respective climaxes. In the climax of UD, Mike has ONE singular death and that’s it. Once he can die, he can only do so in one way. With Mark, he has the most death opportunities in the climax out of anyone. Du’met targets him during the entire fight. By default, Charlie and Erin have single QTEs to survive the end, Jamie has one choice, and Kate (Or Jamie/Erin if they’re the second to last instead of her) can only die if Mark is killed. Once Du’met is pinning Mark over the axe, it literally takes one fuck up to get him killed from that point on. I know I used Mike for this argument but similar things can be said about others like Jason, Salim and Nick. Mark is one of the only characters whos plot armour makes sense and yet I see his get shit on far more than any of the other examples when so many of those are worse.

(This part is a bit more of a ramble about his role in the story and relation to Du’met than anything. Bear with.) Anyway another point I need to point out is that people really have no business acting like Mark is somehow unimportant when he literally has the most personal conflict with the antagonist?? So for starters, Mark was specifically targeted by Du’met, and I’d argue has the most personal conflict with the guy. He was the only one that ever could have worked for ultimatum (It would have to be a man making the call, and Charlie doesn’t really care enough about any of the others for it to work with him.) So he’s at the centre of Du’met’s entire game, and I’ve always felt that the fight on the boat feels kinda personal for this reason, because Du’met would honestly have such a hatred for him by that point now that I think about it. Du’met had this entire plan that he thought would go smoothly and time and time again Mark actively fucks it up for him. He breaks through Kate’s window in breathless, and right after that in workshop he ends up avoiding the cage he was supposed to fall into. After that he’s the first to escape the hotel, and next time he runs into Du’met they fight. By this point, sure Du’met is still not trying to kill Mark, but he chooses to attack Mark when he could easily just chloroform him as usual. Something about the way he fights Mark here makes me think he probably had a personal hatred of him at this point. Assuming qtes are failed, he’s out here stomping on the guy, hitting him with an axe handle, literally picking him up and throwing him and kicking him in the ribs while he’s down. And we know he’s not trying to actually kill him here so that whole thing screams anger or frustration more than anything. Then on the boat later, he targets Mark the entire time. (plus the way he deliberately shows Mark, and Mark only, his face definitely makes it feel more personal imo) He’ll spend half the fight trying to shove Mark into an axe, the whole time just swiping off Kate/Jamie/Erin when they try to save him. And out of everyone, Mark is the only one who can directly kill Du’met. (at least until he’s revived) Also this is just the boat ending. Ultimatum is a whole new thing. He literally is forced to work for Du’met to continue the cycle. So when a character has this obvious (to me at least) of a personal conflict with the main antagonist, you’d think the fandom would do more with that, since they seem to do it with other characters, but then I remembered it’s Mark and nobody thinks about Mark </3

(This entire thing I realise can be used as Du’mark propaganda. It’s not exactly what I was going for with it but fuck it, it is because it was things like this that made me point out the ignored potential of that dynamic in the first place. You can’t tell me people wouldn’t go wild if things like this happened with like… anyone else.) 

So I find it weird that people seem to not really do anything with any of this? For example, ultimatum is such a horribly amazing concept, and it specifically involves Mark at the centre of it, and yet on the rare occasion I’ve found an ultimatum fic, it never involves Mark. I’m being so fr rn, until 108garys posted their recent ultimatum fic I’d never seen an ultimatum fic with Mark. Lemme repeat that there were ultimatum fics, but no ultimatum fics with Mark. How tf r u gonna have an ULTIMATUM fic and exclude the ultimatum guy???? There’s also people who think he didn’t adopt Connieeee guys wtfff literally whooo else can he have one thing omg omggggg😭😭

Sorry got a bit unhinged there at the end but look whos living up to the name <3 anyway yeah as Mark’s no.1 fan😍 this post was always gonna happen. I jus think he deserves a lil bit more credit yk??? 🥱

Anyway gonna tag @queerkearney in this bc the whole idea came from our chats I love our chats <3

[pink-strawberry-kissess]

Re4 Remake with Leon Kennedy Actor, Nick Apostolides & Heisenberg actor Neil Newbon and Tom De Ville

i’ll only be taking note of anything that i think is interesting but please watch or listen to the whole stream if you want to know other stuff that happens

WHY DID HE (NEIL) POINT HIS GUN AT ASHLEY TO PUT DOWN THE LADDER SJKDFBSKJFS

neil IS REALLY JUST LEAVING ASHLEY BEHIND SJFDSJKSFBS

neil said *middle finger* BYE ASHLEY

i have a feeling he might not like ashley sjkbdfskjfdbs (he’s probably joking)

nick is not going to back seat game lol

they are going to have a bad time, he (neil) is not keeping track of ashley lmao

nick did blow up ashley and kicked her in the head in his own gameplay

“THAT DOG WAS A FUCKING DICKHEAD” 32 minutes in. neil thinks the dog is a dickhead

34 minutes in, nick says “Leon Fucking Kennedy” in an accent lol

question section starts at minute 41

nick is eating oreos again

one of nick’s favourite leon lines are “the bingo line,” and he didn’t want to spoil the other lines since neil hasn’t gotten there in the game yet

in game mechanics, nick did almost none of the mocap for it. he thinks it was done in japan with another team. (almost all internally in japan) (tbh i’m not 100% what he means by this and it’s not clarified) (EDIT: i think he means that anything that wasn’t a cut scene he did not do any mocap work)

nick does not have final say in anything, he was not allowed to change anything at the end of the day

he was allowed to suggest some lines, but capcom gets the final say

47 minutes, he said he vibes with the re4r team a lot and he said he had a bit more fun with this version of leon. he got more collaborative liberties in re4r

nick had been working for leon’s character for 6 years at this point

he was “allowed to be more of a cowboy” minute 49

he said that the building show he’s working on has helped him a lot with gratitude and how it applied to how he characterized leon as well for re4r

nick has been a fan of re4 for 18 years

neil loves how leon opens doors “it’s unnecessarily flexing,” (it actually reminded me of how aragorn opens doors in the lord of the rings lmao)

neil was born in the 70s lol 1hr01 

actually, yeah why does the photo say 1981???? but it’s like more like 1891 maybe it was an error????

1hr07 nick says “leon needs a shower cap” lol

question section number 2 is 1hr13

nick’s fave is double stuff oreos

nick did not do the round house kick in mocap

nick also did not do the death scenes in mocap, he mostly just did the cut scenes. i guess that’s what he means about the game mechanics he didn’t mocap that

he did the facial and voice over for the death scenes though

nick’s favourite death scene is the axe death with the three cracks at the neck

neil’s favourite is the chainsaw through the chest death

1hr17 nick says “miranda, that bitch.” for trying to do one of heisenberg’s line

neil every few seconds, “ashley’s dead��

omg neil is refusing to sell the fish because neil played gavin and oh god i forgot his KAMSKI in detroit become human and one of the things was you can save the fish in that game so he’s refusing to sell the fish in this game lol

1hr30 “I can also sell Ashley Graham apparently, which is worrying.”

andre (va for luis) got luis’s jacket made!

1hr33 neil “IM GONNA LEAVE LUIS TO HIS DEATH CAUSE HE’S A FUCKING DICK.”

1hr42 neil does the leon suplex

nick apparently died at least four times during the first cabin rush scene with luis

1hr48 nick has a feature film coming sometime in the summer! maybe netflix! it’s called aftermath!

1hr57 nick mocap the guy who got squashed by the door (OH I THINK HE’S LYING LOL)

ASHLEY HAS CONSUMPTION SJFKBSDFKJS

ughhh this stopped before mother would’ve showed up lol but here are more questions!

okay nevermind they had no more questions!

maybe next week they might do another session (never mind they’ll figure it out!)

nick’s next convention is maryland may, 26-27, 2023

he’s going to do more streams with more actors!!!! hopefully lily soon!!!

they raided nicole and andre afterwards! :D

[bluedalahorse]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

I was tagged by @silvagrey! Thank you for bringing me into the game.

How many works do you have on Ao3?

Four so far! Heart and Homeland is massive and multichapter, though. Hoping to post two other fics this week—one old one for the Les Mis fandom, one new one for Young Royals fandom.

What's your total Ao3 word count?

254,916

What fandoms do you write for?

Primarily Young Royals. I do have one sort of experimental piece for a show called Merli Sapere Aude and am going to be posting an old Les Mis fic (that I’ve never put on AO3 before) for Barricade Day this Thursday.

Top five fics by kudos:

Heart and Homeland comes first, followed by Terrain Boundaries Territory. Peripeteia and Pieces That Make Up A Set are tied for six kudos.

Do you respond to comments?

Yes, absolutely! I came of age in the livejournal era when comments sections were buzzing with conversation. Please just come and chat with me on my fics, it’s so much fun.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Chapter 32 of Heart and Homeland is the angstiest/most tragic ending of anything I’ve ever written and I am still proud of it. I made @heliza24 cry! But Heart and Homeland overall is going to have a happy ending, I promise.

Calculated Dust, the Les Mis fic I’m going to post, also has an anngsty ending.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I initially read this question and went ??? because I wasn’t sure how to answer it. I think this question might be better answered by my readers and what they might find happy.

Do you get hate on fics?

No. I suppose I get more indifference because I tend to write less popular characters and pairings.

Do you write smut?

Yes! I’m one of those aces who enjoys writing smut. My smut is not very explicit, admittedly. But I enjoy it as a form of character study (and also it is fun and hot.)

Craziest crossover?

I’m not going to tell you because I want it to be a surprise, but there is a blink-and-you-miss-it reference to a favorite childhood book series in my current WIP. I wonder who will spot it?

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge. I do not recommend stealing my fics, though.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I haven’t yet. I suppose if I wanted to be a masochist I could translate some of my fanfiction into Latin.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! @heliza24 and I are the dream team! The great thing about writing with a co-writer is that we try to one up one another and it means our stories are full of all kinds of twists and turns. We also sometimes record ourselves reading new chapters and send them to one another in little “audiobooks.”

All time favourite ship?

Sargust aka MY SHIP OF ALL TIME. I will write them tragically, I will write them hopefully, I will write them in the 19th century, I will write them in an AU where August is also a girl and they are sapphic. Sorry not sorry but they are… so hot together actually. (Obligatory disclaimer applies.)

What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have this unfinished series of Heartstopper vignettes where they all have to take care of “egg children” at school as a project about responsible parenting. With one exception (eggception?) people are not paired with their romantic partner as coparent. 

The most important part of the fic is Darcy and Isaac deciding to protest the coparenting assignment by arguing for a better, more inclusive sex ed curriculum. They pass out a bunch of pamphlets written by one Dr. Jean Milburn. Darcy and Isaac’s chapter is told entirely as a school email chain, including some very beleaguered emails sent by Mr. Farouk.

It would be fun to finish that but I don’t know if I will because I sort of forget about Heartstopper when it’s not airing.

What are your writing strengths?

I think I have a good grasp of how to select telling details that show what’s going on in a scene. I also am very good at getting into a character’s brain/mindset and bringing the reader close to them. 

What are your writing weaknesses?

Writing quickly. Knowing how to end scenes. Being concise. (I’m hoping to get into a workshop this summer that will help me with the “being concise” thing.)

Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

It’s cool? I like it? I read a lot of YA books that do that, so I’m used to reading it.

First fandom you wrote in?

If being a little kid and writing stories based on stories I like counts, probably Disney’s Robin Hood or The Wizard of Oz.

Here’s some Wizard of Oz “fanfiction” from when I was about four or five years old:

Favourite fic you've written?

Definitely Heart and Homeland, but the current one I’m working on (tentatively titled Swell the Numbers) is fixing itself in my heart too.

No pressure tags: to my roommate and bestie @coruscantrhapsody!

[leonkennedygvrl]

tw: opinions.

sometimes i truly cannot stand videogame fandoms. the constant comparison towards the women is insane. i always find people arguing with me about ellie williams, ada wong and numerous others being ‘strong’ enough to beat lara croft in a fight.

first of all — all these women work completely different jobs. i don’t even know why ellie is being brought into the conversation, considering she hasn’t experienced anything like lara, and more so like ada, but not exactly. this brings in my first argument, really; she doesn’t share the same experiences considering she’s much younger than both lara and ada so let’s quickly draw her out of this!

second of all — regarding lara and ada. the reason i get into so many debates is because the people i’m talking to are usually hardcore aeon stans. which is fine, i’m not going to generalise, and really i couldn’t care less about who ships who. it’s just annoying, considering ada is heavily inspired by lara in many, many ways. lara is not just an archaeologist (you don’t see her digging up fossils and researching them. 🤦🏼‍♀️) she’s done many spy-like jobs like in tomb raider 7. i like ada, re4og ada is actually one of my favourite videogame characters, but definitely not the first. i don’t mean to say lara is better because my opinion wouldn’t apply to many people and another thing that irks me, these two brilliant women are from completely different videogames.

lastly, my actual thought on this debate? lara would win. i’m sorry, but let’s bring some facts into this. ada lacks upper body strength because she uses mainly grapple hooks and fireweapons, but this doesn’t mean to say she’s weak and can’t throw a good punch. it would just put her at a disadvantage, plus the heels she wears (which she rocks) but let’s be real for a moment here. ada is incredibly agile, she’s a fast runner and can think well in complicated situations similiar to leon which is an attribute i think they share, so her lower-body strength is really good. only problem is, she’d be versing a woman who literally has the best aerobic ability, both in the reboots and the classics. if you haven’t seen how high lara can jump, i suggest checking it out. she’s flexible, incredibly intelligent and sneaky, i can’t really give a comparison between the reboots and classics because she’s equally good in both.

another thing that puts ada at disadvantage, her arsenal. lara uses all sorts of fireweapons (rifles, launchers, sub machines, hand guns and etc.) , combat knives, archery gear, explosives, and of course, grapple hooks, climbing equipment— her hands and legs. in the resident evil four remake, ada wears that iconic sweater dress which tears quite easily in seperate ways, which also puts her at disadvantage as lara usually wears tactical gear that can protect her. her critical hit damage ranges from over 300% whereas ada’s (and leon’s and almost every other resident evil character) ranges from 25%. why? experience. she was born in 1968, which makes her older than ada in 2024.

so if some silly person were to ask me that immature question again, and actually wanted an honest answer; then yes, i do believe lara would beat ada, i do believe she would beat ellie and lots of others. even jill. but this is my opinion that’s based on facts that i’ve seen from playing the entire tomb raider triology.

but overall it’s a stupid thing to even discuss because it seems like i’m putting those women down. i’m not. they’re all strong in their own ways. if ada weren’t an anti-hero i believe she’d get along with lara, and it’s needless to say that ellie and lara would get along too, kind of in a claire and sherry way, and jill? honestly, i think they’d be best friends.

(by the way, i love leon so much, but he wouldn’t stand a chance against lara either. especially classic lara, who is practically op.)

[xiyao-feels]

which is your favourite sword or spiritual weapon?

The obvious answer is Hensheng and, yep, it's Hensheng!

Back then, when Jin GuangYao worked undercover at Wen RuoHan’s side, he had often hidden the sword at his waist, wreathed the sword around his arm to use during critical moments. Although the blade of Hensheng seemed to be soft to the extremity, attacking with lingering motions, it was in reality both sharp and haunting. Once the blade had wrapped around the opposition, Jin GuangYao would apply it with a bizarre spiritual power, and one would quickly be severed into pieces by the sword, despite its tender appearance. Quite a few famous swords had been battered into piles of scrap iron just like this.

(Exiled Rebels translation, ch 50)

Some random free-association thoughts:

- Walking around with this sword is among other things a reminder that he spied on and killed WRH! I think this can sometimes be viewed with suspicion by fandom but it actually seems to be viewed very positively by the cultivation world in the novel. It's part of the legend of Lianfang-zun—in a sense, the first part. Consider the description of LFZ's history WWX gives when he's watching the kids playing:

In these types of games, the head of all cultivators, LianFang-Zun, who was currently the most successful of all, was of course the most popular character. Although his family background was a bit disgraceful, the fact that he later climbed to such a rank was precisely why people respected him. During the Sunshot Campaign, he skillfully worked undercover for the QishanWen Sect, deceiving all of the Wen Sect’s people to a point that a tremendous amount of information were disclosed, yet they knew nothing. After the Sunshot Campaign, with flattery, wit, and countless other methods, he finally became the Chief Cultivator, fully deserving of the title. Such a life could even be considered a legend. If he was playing, he’d also want to try being Jin GuangYao. Choosing this boy to be the leader would very reasonable choice!

(ER, ch 32)

The background's embarassing, and avoided; but the spying is central, and described in positive terms. The next item on the list is becoming Chief Cultivator! There's really no sense here that the spying is shameful. (Though I'm amused WWX doesn't also mention killing WRH, lol.)

Similarly in the four panels about JGY, the first is about him spying on WRH, and the second is him killing him:

Out of all of them the four most famous sections about the current sect leader—Jin GuangYao—were respectively “disclosure”, “assassination”, “oath”, and “kind austerity”. Of course, the scenes showed how during the Sunshot Campaign Jin GuangYao hid in the QishanWen Sect and reported important information, assassinated the Wen Sect’s leader Wen RuoHan, became sworn brothers with the rest of the Venerated Triad, and rose to the position of Chief Cultivator.

(ER, ch 47)

It's very well-regarded!

- It's interesting that we get the description of Henjun breaking apart other swords where we do, because like five paragraphs later we have this:

Suibian flew out of its sheath and began to battle against Hensheng’s eerie sword glare. Seeing this, shock flashed across Jin GuangYao’s face. He regained his composure at once and nimbly twisted his right wrist. Like a vine, Hensheng wrapped itself around Suibian’s white, straight blade. He immediately let go of it, letting the two swords fight alone.

(ER, ch 50)

And yet he doesn't shatter Suibian. I suspect that although he clearly wasn't expecting WWX like this (shock flashes across his face!) he immediately realizes that he can use Suibian as evidence that WWX is WWX, and therefore Suibian intact is more useful than Suibian shattered. He's so smart 😍

- While there's no doubt that JGY kills people with it, I do think it's interesting that the signature, most famous move is destroying not the person but the sword—that is, destroying the thing that's the sign of the cultivator, this important signal it's necessary to carry, but does not actually hurt the person. Again, I'm sure he's had occasion to shatter someone's sword and then stab them, but it's interesting to me from a narrative perspective!

[mimble-sparklepudding]

A very Happy Starlight Celebration to all the various OC couples and shipped couples and OCs shipped with canon characters!

It's not something I tend to focus on personally, but I really enjoy learning more about other people's characters and their relationships, whether tragic, romantic, spicy or wholesome.

Oh and I say "couples", but obviously this also applies to all the lovely group marriages, polycules and other variations in terms of number, gender and species (and height in some cases).

(Special mention to @furys-mercy for taking the time to explain to me what a polycule actually was!)

If love, sex and the various permutations to be found therein are something you like to read about I can recommend some FFXIV blogs...

@kissstealkai - Aymeric and OC

@hywl - Estinien and OC (and impressive chest hair)

@minilborel Aymeric and OC

@spotofmummery Amon and Scylla (but clones, it's complicated)

@scholarlostintime /@loldragoon-ffxiv OC and OC (and carbuncles and small children)

@nights-at-crystarium G'raha and OC

@amarestellas Pipin and OC

@pinxli OC and OC (plus supporting cast)

@miqomischief / @kskellington Four OC polycule marriage by two amazing writers.

@blucifer08 Elidibus and OC (more angst than you can shake a tragic narrative at)

@windup-dragoon Hien and OC

@talion-graves OC and sometimes other OC, but so so pretty...

@furys-mercy Multiple OC polycule

@avettabendrot Haurchefant and OC (and many baked goods)

@meepsthemiqo OC with different ships - Asahi, Emmanellain and others!

@superiorthaumaturge OC and OC (with current pirate AU shenanigans)

@firelightmuse G'raha and OC & Aymeric and other OC (two for the price of one)

@lunaria-de-borel Aymeric and OC (and angst, also potato-based dishes)

@windupsanson Sanson and Guydelot

@draculas-husband Count Edmont and OC (it's dadtastic)

@healersadjust G'raha and OC (with nice gposing)

@lizzy-of-the-dotharl-tribe OC and Sadu

@yloiseconeillants sometimes OC and Artoirel (and his critiques of her decorating choices)

@umbralaether G'raha and OC (with much beautiful Gpose and art)

Apologies to anyone I left out, this is just a quick list I dashed off.

This is one of my favourite Christmas Adverts and it reminds me a bit, in the best possible way, of the happiness people find in shipping and the happiness that brings me in turn.

Have a very Shippy Starlight Celebration!

[vivid-vices]

hii! ♥️

who's your favourite character and what HCs do you have of them? (list only as much as you feel like) :)

hi!!! 🖤

i was torn between mori and chuuya but i talk about mori a ton so chuuya!!

- most importantly: freckles. he definitely has freckles

- while he does enjoy a good drink, he's not the alcoholic a lot of fandom makes him out to be. he's a lightweight and seems to collect wine rather than buy it just to drink. i think he's just a casual drinker (or as casual as you can be in the mafia)

- he typically trains without his ability when it comes to martial arts. using his ability would make it too easy, too boring, so when he trains or spars he's careful to only use his body's natural strength and athleticism

- i'm a "chuuya and dazai were in some sort of contact during the four years between dark era and canon" truther. not saying they were texting every day like besties but i don't think they were ever entirely out of contact

- he had to be taught all kinds of things when he first started at the port mafia - from business customs to table manners to probably how to read and write more than just basic words

- BUT chuuya is insanely smart and picked it all up quickly. we know he plays dumb to seem more like the brawn than the brains but he absorbs and applies information easily

- actually a really chill guy. he's friendly and (as long as it doesn't affect his tough mafiasona) willing to do anything for the people he cares about

- the animosity with dazai is like 90% an act. the other 10% is well-deserved because dazai's an annoying little fucker

anyway those are all the chuuya hcs i can think of right now :) thank you for asking, i love to talk about the little guys!!

[dieu-mange-dieu]

Specific Character Headcanons: Donald "Jared" Dunn

His backstory is horrifying and complex so some of this may actually be canon I don't remember TW death

Real birthday is 16 December

Born in New York

Was over six feet tall by the time he was fourteen years old

Used birds as a beacon of hope during his time in foster care. He envied the freedom of such beautiful, fragile creatures and vowed to someday feel as free as they looked in flight

Was under the care of one genuinely kind foster family. A lovely elderly couple, Etta and John Hirsch, whose only son had died years before. He filled the hole in their hearts and they filled the hole in his

They both died in a car accident on an icy night in December

Got a partial scholarship to Vassar, worked as a prostitute to pay for the rest of his college tuition

Doesn't know his real middle name, so he changes his middle name to honour his elderly friends who have passed

Favourite bird is the Luzon Bleeding-Heart Pigeon

Favourite colours are yellow and light blue

Has gotten in many fights, but only lost two

Likes herbal scents, favourites are rosemary, lavender, and patchouli (he thinks patchouli is the closest you can get to the smell of petrichor)

Vegetarian

Is such a Mitski fan like you don't even know

Enjoys walks in the cold

Cries about EVERYTHING. Once cried in a supermarket because he was overwhelmed by the "beauty of all the fruits in the aisle"

Pan and demi

Has canonically fallen in love only twice:

The first time was a fellow prostitute he met in New York.

They looked out for each other, made sure each was getting enough to eat, and would have "picnics" on fire escapes, pressed together for warmth, legs dangling off of the side, talking about their days.

One day they disappeared without warning. Jared searched for them for a year and a half, often feeling like the only one who cared. Why did nobody else care?

He later found out that they had been murdered. They were not given a gravestone but Jared visits the park where they last saw each other every year.

The second time was Richard.

He never said anything, of course. How could he?

He tried to distract himself in any way he could, but he was a mere rock of space junk being pulled full speed into Richard's orbit

Favourite tea is Lemon Ginger

Thinks skirts are super comfortable and wishes they were more widely accepted at work

Doesn't like the show Friends but puts it on while at home to feel cozy

Cooking (or making things in general) is one of his love languages

Loves bubble baths

Writes poetry and short stories in his free time, used to write songs

Can sing pretty decently (was canonically in choir at Vassar)

Is a sucker for candles

Smell is his strongest sense

Runs the Pied Piper company Tiktok, makes really cringy but wholesome videos (think along the lines of Nursetok and Teacher/Office-staff tiktok)

A playlist for him

Spoilers (?) Ahead!

After Silicon Valley:

He kisses Richard on the roof of Pied Piper after it all, as the billboard is being torn down.

Richard kisses back, but they don't talk about it again

Goes travelling across Europe "with Richard," Richard doesn't quite know that they're travelling together

Quarantines with Richard

Both he and Richard volunteered at a nursing home on weekends before Jared applied for the job

Richard was grossed out by the bedpans and the general "like, elderly vibe"

They don't stay in close contact over the next few years but they stay in each other's circles

After ten years of unrealised pining and four dismally failed relationships, Richard asks him out at the hacker hostel after the filming of the documentary wraps

Jared cries.

They go birdwatching.

[jumpscaregoose]

ok I'm finally doing it I'm finally drafting up this post. if you've spoken to me about shaman king literally ever or even followed this blog for more than two days you know this one

goose's Renmei Thoughts™ aka:

(thanks @gelatinous-jellyfish for making me this wonderful image a while back)

(quick explanation for everyone unaware, renmei is the canon relationship between iron maiden jeanne and tao ren from the sk sequels. I never explain this in the post but if you want to read it and don't know that's what this is. also I mention this takei guy a lot he's the mangaka)

so pov you're me circa feburary 2022, currently unaware of the kzb manga ending or sequels because you got into sk 6 months ago and the 2021 anime isn't over yet. you're innocently googling your girl jeanne for idk drawing references or whatever and BOOM autocomplete drops the most confusing spoiler of all time on you

that's how I remember finding out renmei exists, and at the time I'm pretty sure I was like "oh this must just be a popular het pairing from the Olden Days or something it'd be ridiculous if that was-" it was it was canon. cue a terrible amount of suffering april 21st 2022 when episode 52 of the new anime aired and it was what it is

of course I was upset but in an attempt to not be That One Annoying Fandom Person I sat down and thought about it and gave the concept the benefit of the doubt for a bit and now I have a pretty solid idea of how I feel about it. my renmei thesis is basically:

well that could have been a good idea but wow did takei completely fumble it

part a why it's not conceptually terrible: this one's really simple it's just that they're both similar characters. I'm anticipating you the reader have actually read/watched shaman king so I'm just gonna present you with the chart I made a few months back

murderous child -> oh shit -> what now it's quite similar

btw this file was named "the.png". that is such an unhelpful file name I had to DIG to find it. wtf past me

basically if it was actually written properly I think we could have gotten some cool things out of a romantic relationship between these two characters. however

part b: we didn't

my favourite way to describe renmei is that it just wasn't written. because it wasn't. across over 300 chapters of mainline and spinoff manga they have maybe four interactions, three of which were after they were already a couple (and the fourth one is that time she raised him from the dead and they didn't speak. does that really even count?). and those three actual interactions were flashbacks and not... actually important. I think one of them was just about cheese. as a reader your experience is

2 characters who never interacted -> literally what the fuck when did that happen -> she's DEAD???

when my friend was reading the manga I had to tell her to reread a scene because the panel where they explain it is such a blink-and-you-miss-it moment

literally the same pacing and payoff as CANON DESTIEL.

their entire actual relationship happens during the downtime between the main manga ending and the sequels beginning. and I'm going to bring osp into this because I think this graphic is helpful

(side note as I was scrolling through this trope talk I noticed a problem red brings up that does apply to the sk sequels but that's for another post...)

this is from the osp trope talk on sequels, and it shows the difference in Stuff Happening levels between plot time (red) and down time (grey). the issue with renmei is that it is an IMPORTANT PLOT EVENT (two characters with little interaction having an entire love story) that happens during DOWN TIME, when the audience only sees things through flashbacks in snippets. and it doesn't help that we never get any flashbacks to before the event happened, before they got together. it's jarring because the ENTIRE THING happens during down time. plot time 1 (the main manga) ends with no interactions between them, and ONE scene that's supposed to set ren up for getting Straight Married that in my opinion didn't work. because it is stupid. plot time 2 (every sequel manga) starts after jeanne's death. it's literally the inciting incident for red crimson. their entire 7+ year relationship is encapsulated in foggy down time, and we're expected to care.

and this especially doesn't work because we aren't set up to care. again, 1 interaction in the main manga, where they don't talk (but I will go to bat for the inherent intimacy of raising someone from the dead like we could have done something there). it's pretty clear to me from rereading the manga that takei didn't know these two would get together when he was writing it. that one scene I mentioned where he tries to set up ren getting Straight Married? if you've read it you know it's incredibly vague and with how takei wrote literally everything else it sure doesn't work as intended. or I'm too aromantic and yaoipilled to understand his literary genius idk. it's clear from some other missed opportunities that the jeanne part of the equation wasn't exactly planned from the beginning. which is even more insulting tbh

part c jeanne character assassination: out of the both of them jeanne really got the short end of the stick in terms of characterization in the sequels. I say this because I actually really like ren in the sequels I like the way takei took his character, so holy shit does sequels jeanne look even worse in comparison. the whole housewife thing is eeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhh, not really a fan of that but I'm also not mad enough to comment. her death I do have some thoughts about. conceptually the beheading herself with shamash thing is BADASS AS HELL and I do like it conceptually, I also know like, the themes. yeah remember that time "atoning for your crimes with your death isn't the right thing to do" was an important part of the plot. TWICE. FUCK THAT I GUESS. there is some equivalent exchange bullshit happening with these two and the continuation of main manga themes and I want it to stop please

part d tao men: one thing I've thought about a lot is Why. why fumble this so badly. why do this at all. what do we get out of this. and the answer is an inciting incident and tao men. and the fumble bag continues because tao men deserved better this is a tao men appreciation account. we could have done some cool shit with his revenge thing but nope fuck that I guess. poor guy

part e contrast: so the sequel manga where renmei is most relevant is red crimson. I absolutely love red crimson I recommend it to everyone. and that's because of jun and pairon (and chapter 9 full transparency). jun and pairon in red crimson have one of the most beautiful relationships I've ever seen. they have an established dynamic and baggage to work through and that's what the manga focuses on. and it works it works really well. however this is also the Renmei Manga, and having most of that stuff right next to jun and pairon just makes it look worse

those are all my renmei thoughts I remembered while writing this post, I think that covers most of it but I may reblog this later with stuff I forgot

[cursedvibes]

When reading a book or watching a series, have you :

a. Finish a book or a series, even when you dislike the mc until the end but love the story (What's the title?)

b. Finish a book or a series, even when you dislike the story but love the mc (what's the title?)

c Finish a book or a series, even when you dislike the mc and story but love the worldbuilding (what's the title?)

d. Finish a book or a series, even when you dislike the mc, story, worldbuilding but still finish it for whatever reason (what's the title?)

Generally, with movies or TV series I am very quick to drop them if I don't find them interesting and never pick them up again. It's moreso with books and mangas/comics where I continue while some parts might not engage me much or I even lost most of my interest completely, but I keep going to find out how it ends. Especially applies for stuff that is currently coming out. I'll quickly forget about a boring anime or TV series that updates weekly, but checking for a new manga chapter is much easier. There only has to be something that makes me curious about the ending or some slither of hope that it might become interesting again in the future.

a.) That applies to a lot of series, especially mangas and shonen in particular. With books I'm more likely to drop it if I don't like the mc, but that's mostly due to being constrained to that person's viewpoint in most cases. And being in the head of someone you don't like or care for isn't fun. Mangas have a much broader perspective there. Side characters or villains are usually the main reason I stick to them till the end. Best example, Monster is one of my favourite animangas and I very quickly lost interest in Tenma or even found him annoying. Johan very much made up for that though, as well a few other side characters and the mystery of the story in general. Same with Chi no Wadachi. I feel for the mc's struggles, but I don't feel him as a person very interesting on his own. Part of that is also intentional, since his mother robbed him of his identity, I just thought that made the last part of the story not very engaging. I can see what the author was trying to do, I appreciate it and I still like the story overall, but reading it with month-long break with only 10 page updates made it drag quite a lot. I'm glad I stuck to it though and reading it in one go instead of monthly makes for a better experience too, I think. Naruto would also be an example of a shonen where I find the main character mostly annoying. I skipped large parts of Pain's arc and the beginning of the 4th Shinobi World War and only returned for Madara and later Orochimaru. Even if I hadn't, I would've still read the end though, simply because Naruto was such a large part of my childhood. Hunter x Hunter is also an example where I don't care much for most of the main four, but I stick to it because of other characters, the villains and simply because I like the story and world building.

b.) I don't think there is any. Characters make up a big appeal of a story for me, but not so much that they could carry every other fault on their backs. I might check what happens to a character I liked after the series is over, but if I can't stand the story that is being told, I won't read or watch it till the end.

c.) Tengoku Daimakyou would fit here I guess. Any part of the story that follows Maru has me bored to disgusted and frustrated and his presence also sours me on Kiruko a bit although I like them isolated. I still check for updates every once in a while though because I think every part of the story that touches on Takahara Academy is actually interesting and there are a lot of engaging characters there. Seeing them adapt to the outside world was nice too and I like the previous Anjulas fight. Those little moments were we get more info on the mutated students and such are interesting enough that I check for updates, even if I end up only skimming the current chapters that focus on Maru. The end of Dungeon Meshi might qualify too, but I really only mean the last 10 chapters or so here. The ending left me very dissatisfied and I only finished it and continue to read the extra chapters because I'm hoping for a more in-depth explanation for how this new world without dungeons is supposed to function. So far I haven't really gotten an answer... I don't really dislike any of the main characters, but by the end the only thing I really cared about besides the world building was Laios and the Winged Lion.

d.) Chainsaw Man. Part 2 started promising enough, but after Yuko's death and this forced romance between Asa and Denji I really lost all interest in the story. I still check on it every month or so or whenever I remember it exist, simply because I liked Part 1 well enough and I am curious about what happens to Asa. And every time I get disappointed. Asa hasn't really been relevant lately, I never liked Denji all that much and the other characters are mostly uninteresting too, the story isn't very engaging and feels a bit aimless and you don't even have a charismatic villain to pull it all together. There's the vague threat of the Death Devil, but that doesn't feel very imminent. The Fire Devil is very poorly established and its powers don't make much sense to me (what about fire makes you able to willy-nilly hand out powers of other devils to humans while making fake contracts with them nonetheless). Fami is kinda more comic relief like Yoru, I don't find her very threatening. Barem is fine I guess, he knows how to spice things up, but he's only a minor antagonist. They are really lacking a real looming presence that also pushes the plot forward like Makima. Denji constantly getting used as victim of some predatory women also is getting really old and makes me feel very uncomfortable because nothing of consequence ever happens from it. It's always just "woman/girl uses or threatens Denji in exchange for sexual or romantic favours. he falls for it. rince and repeat." Feels more exploitative than any message about survivors of sexual assault and toxic relationships. But despite all my complaints I still want to at least see how it all wraps up to make up my opinion on the whole series and I still have that slither of hope that it might become interesting again at some point again. Die Hoffnung stirbt zuletzt.