#also on a separate note

[lotusflw3r]

A lot of people tend to agree that Mephisto keeps around Amaimon specifically because it pertains to whatever plans he has meticulously crafted. But I think it's worth emphasizing that they do play games together, as demonstrated by small omakes.

And I'm by no means implying that they are buddy, buddy with each other, canon has supported that much, but I do think Mephisto keeps him around at least partially because he's so goddamn lonely.

I truly think Shiro was probably one of the only true friends Mephisto's ever had, at least in the past few decades, which makes me wonder just exactly what his social life looks like to begin with.

Mephisto's a huge attention whore, as demonstrated by his eagerness to be on TV around the time when civilization was beginning to become aware of the existence of demons, so, to a certain extent, he definitely craves social validation.

I can't imagine him being much of a fan of cocktail parties, just because I feel like he'd find himself "above" that sort of thing, in the sense that I feel like he'd find them to be a stupid and superficial human ritual, (mind you he thinks humans are cute, most definitely in a condescending "why do you even care about that sort of thing" way but maybe also as genuine admiration on his part, because he can't have that for himself) but he might indulge them every once in awhile as a means of fulfilling personal social quotas (and social networking as a means of maintaining his status as a socialite) because who else is there to intellectually stimulate him (as if priveleged, psuedo-intellectuals could ever do that pffftt, not like he has much of a choice though.)

He definitely engages people in a superficial way as a means of getting some, and in a way, it works for him, simply because I don't believe Mephisto has it in him to be vulnerable with anybody like that.

This sort of behavior may also give reason to why he's always observing others and their interactions, perhaps as a means of living through others, because he doesn't allow himself to do the same. This could also serve as an explanation for his degenerate ways, because you can't be out here binge playing otome games without some social ineptitude on your part (I'm mostly joking but it's far too fitting tbh.)

So, who else is there to keep him company, except for his little brother, who he can't even really share much of an intellectual connection with because... I mean, it's Amaimon? Amaimon definitely does not care to discuss the endless possibilities of the universe, but he will most definitely indulge Mephisto's litte video games, so long as it doesn't require much effort on his part.

THE POSSIBILITY IS KIND OF SAD TO THINK ABOUT TBH.

[beannary]

Donnie has entered his Rapunzel era

This is part 55 of The Little Prince Separated AU

Beginning | Previous | Next

[tagidearte]

My internship has started and I'm overloaded with doing historical illustration + writing a whole ass roman history of the region book for children, so... No time for finished stuff any time soon (except one I've already started and will probs post within the next few days). Take this quick messy shippy little concept.

If they ever got separate bodies, I know they would be touchy. Trying to get as close as they once were.

[rottmnt-residuum]

Hi, I've read the Residuum comic, and I think the characterization of the boys is really good. I was wondering if you have any tips on how to write them? Especially Mikey, please.

I'd actually recommend re-watching the show with one character in mind. All my notes on the turtles come from doing separate re-watches for each of them. The key is to ONLY watch the character you are focusing on.

In the end, you'll probably be happier with your own personal interpretation. As we are with ours lol

TL;DR

Massive post under the cut

To preface: we'll be contrasting (this Mikey) against the fandoms version of Mikey, as our interpretation is very different. Don't worry if you prefer the fandom version, there's nothing… wrong per se with writing him this way. We just find him flat and uninteresting. (Main author: not me, I just hate him, lol).

Every reader or fan comes into a story with their own biases and experiences. A ton of our view of Mikey is based on how our siblings acted. We see Mikey as the young sibling that got preferential treatment from the whole family, simply due to being the youngest, but is now aging out of the privilege. Which all youngest siblings do at some point or another.

The fandoms version of Mikey is empathetic, naive, vulnerable, co-dependent and quite often a door mat who cries at the drop of a hat. And as much as the fandom like to say that people love him… when this particular character archetype is in other media, they seem to attract the most criticism. Mable pines, Bolin from Korra, people rag on Aang all the fucking time, and Steven Universe is a whole other bag. These characters don't deserve it, and yet it happens anyway.

To flatten Mikey to simply 'the baby' is a disservice. We don't see or write Mikey as the fandom “baby” version (cinnamon roll uwu). Part of this comes from having multiple siblings, so we interpret the times when Mikey does the puppy dog eyes as typical younger sibling bullshit, mostly by the way that the other turtles rarely react to it, if at all.

The other turtles traits can also get projected onto Mikey. Mikey being the fandom therapist is in the same category as this. He isn't a therapist, he's a psychology nerd who likes to psychoanalyze people and meddle in their relationships. (Donnie and Shelldons relationship, Splinter and Draxums...) he's not trying to resolve your emotional issues. Of the turtles, the character that cares the most about people's feelings is Raph. And Leo is more of a consoler than Mikey ever is. It flattens all the turtle's characterizations when you start doing this because you are ripping out parts that are integral to another characters' complexity.

Co-author has told me that they've seen people become confused when going into the show after only reading fan fiction or coming from the movie. They see his characterization as inconsistent and become upset when their view of him is contradicted. This also happens when a fandomized version of him becomes the primary characterization that they use. Sometimes when this disconnect happens (or if they just don't like the character), Mikey characterization is swung in the complete opposite direction.

They make him manipulative and abusive, or someone who is hyper violent and avoids being held accountable for anything. This is an uncharitable interpretation of him and can come off as pretty racist depending on the circumstances. (like if someone considers the turtles black or not)

Every version of Mikey is a shithead (affectionate), even this one. Especially this one, really. When Mikey not doing the "baby schtick" hes mean. If you pay attention to what he's saying, and just not his tone of voice, he's consistently saying pretty mean or condescending stuff. (You could take this as simply naïveté, but he still says mean shit pretty often regardless)

The times he does say genuinely nice stuff the turtles don't exactly expect it from him, at least, in the early season. And while he is mean, and seems to find saying mean things to be funny, Mikey isn't cruel. Nor will he ever be.

This shit-headery behavior is found in both 2003 and 18 Mikey. They have a degree of social intelligence that lets them use it to annoy people into doing what they want. 18 just has the advantage of being baby faced and having better tonal control. He's good at using people's perception of him to get what he wants.

Let Mikey have his problematic traits, but don't overexaggerate them. He doesn't revel in fooling people. He loves doing character bits, and the baby faced one just happens to be one of them. However, to infantilize or to deem him incompetent is to piss him off, he wants to be viewed as a competent part of the team and competent as an individual. He's not insecure about being young, he just doesn't want to be treated like he can't do anything.

Mikey above all is an optimistic character, he sees the brighter side quite often and is conscious of the harm his actions have on people. Mostly after the fact, but he consistently attempts to rectify the harm he has personally done to peoples lives. (Todd, Bullhop, Draxum). Food and shelter seems to be a thing that he considers to be a right. He doesn't cross a boundary twice once he learns of it, and he never pushes people too far (if he likes you, that is. if he doesn't know you or doesn't like you, he doesn't give a singular shit. But that is standard to most people.). He doesn't care about people's stuff, though. He breaks things all the time.

Mikey understands boundaries, but he doesn't automatically recognize them. He needs them to verbalized or for there to be a very obvious reaction to the boundary being crossed (unfortunately, for Todd and Donnie). Sometimes people mess up (esp. younger people), and it can take a while for teens to learn where boundary is, but he fully respects the boundaries he does know about. He doesn't act petulant when he's told about boundary, he apologizes, accepts it, and moves on. He doesn't dwell.

Mikey doesn't hold on to distressing emotions. He bounces between emotions quickly, but isn't effected in the long run. One thing Iv'e seen people often conflate is the difference between sensitive and vulnerable. Mikey is sensitive, but I have never seen him vulnerable to others. To be sensitive is to be easily influenced by the current situation. To be vulnerable is to hold that influence for a long time. Characters can have one, both, or neither of these traits. But Mikey is not vulnerable. It is the difference between compressing memory foam and a piece of metal until they deform. One will pop back, the other does not.

Those who are vulnerable but not sensitive will take longer to effect, but once you do, they will hold on to that emotion for a very long time. The vulnerable, are grudge holders. (leo). But like I've said, Mikey bounces back. What a character does has an effect on his emotions, but it doesn't make a lasting impression.

Forgiveness is another thing people like to push on him. It is not that Mikey forgives people easily, it's just that he doesn't hold grudges. He neither forgives nor forgets, but he does not ruminate. He's generally affable, first impressions seem to be a big part of how he views people. He is idealistic, and doesn't assume people are unchanging and/or evil, but he's not a mark.

Mikey isn't so much as naive or overly trusting… it's just that he's inexperienced. He doesn't get fooled by anyone in the series except meat sweats, and that's because Meatsweats is on Todd drugs. Mikey just didn't notice when he started faking. He's not… actually all that aware of people's emotional states, passively. He has to tune in to notice things like that.

Mikey isn't someone who really tries to regulate others emotions, either. The fandom like to make Mikey afraid of his brothers fighting and others being upset, but Mikey doesn't actually care. The most distressed we ever see him in a fight is in the movie, and he's not SCARED, he's just concerned (and then alarmed once it turned physical). If anything, outside extenuating circumstances (like the movie), Mikey actually seems to find their fights annoying.

(Mikey actually seems to have a pretty short fuse, but his bounciness doesn't really let it linger very long, lmao)

(One pet peeve of fandom Mikey is the constant crying, crying at fights, crying at insults, crying for no reason all the time. Sure, he tears up when he gets emotional, but when Mikey is genuinely crying It's when he's desperate, like when he's hungry, or when he's trying to save Leo from certain doom. Same thing, really.)

Mikey respects no one (we love him for this). He admires people, he admires his family: April, the turtles, his dad, Lou Jitsu. He admires Rupert Swaggert, but he respects none of them. No one is sacrosanct to the Mikey.

Above all, the way we write characters is to give them a past that informs how they act now. We view Mikey and the other turtles as teenagers that were kids, and that will be adults. Yes they all have “problematic” traits, but 1) good characters need flaws, and controversial traits are one of the best to use, and 2) they're teenagers, don't expect adult behaviors from them, also don't expect them to be kids. They're minors, not toddlers.

This is getting as long enough as it is, so we'll stop here, but this is a very broad overview of how we characterize him. There's a lot we didn't cover here, but if we even started on hobbies, or the real minutia of his quirks and ticks, or even how he feels about other specific characters... we'd be here all day. So I hope this is good enough lol

If there was something you wanted to know in particular, you'll need to get specific. Feel free to ask again ahahh

[witchofthemidlands]

daemon's tripping balls & rhaenyra's kissing women in his absence. absolutely unhinged behaviour. 10/10 episode. one simply does not care about the plot. rhaenyra's a confirmed girl kisser, that's all that matters here.

[makemeimmortalwithahug]

payneland modern no-one died au in which charles and edwin meet during summer holidays on vacation and spend all the time sneaking away from their families to be together. Sitting at night with thin blankets at a bonfire that's slowly burning down, telling jokes and feeling warmed by the company. exploring nearby woods and charles climbing trees and silently waiting for some birds to come out and he can take close-up photos for edwin. edwin reading to charles from detective stories and non-fiction books he's interested in and charles telling edwin about his favourite comics. edwin and charles sharing a pair of headphones to listen to their favourite music. charles and edwin dancing on a balcony.

charles and edwin hugging for a small eternity when summer ends and fades into autumn. charles saving edwin's phone number on his phone and frantically writing it with sharpie on his arm and the back of his hand for good measure. edwin doing the same and charles writing him a small note with his number and a message that edwin can use as a bookmark ("promise me you won't read that until you're home, yeah?" "I promise, charles")

[13eyond13]

you ever think about how Misa's lack of intelligence and the way she lets her emotions impulsively dictate her actions was kinda constantly made the butt of the joke in DN, yet she genuinely outlived all the dudes and dudettes who were always scoffing at her stupidity. Somehow this is even better to me in that she wasn't even trying to outlive Light and didn't have any particularly high regard for her own life, so it's not due to her secretly being the best strategist of them all intentionally either... Regardless of the author's intent behind it I like that it pokes some holes in their constant smug assertions that you must have the very highest IQ to be the last guy standing in the murder notebook game

[sorio99]

Knowing “Nerdy Prudes Must Die” was the first idea the Lang brothers had for Hatchetfield makes the whole series so much funnier.

Like, did they know in “The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals” that the weirdo who demanded a hot chocolate would be the leading man of the high school horror show?

Did they know the prude they mentioned a few times would be a homophobic murderer who defiled a corpse, fucked a ghost, and became a vessel for dark lords?

Was the homeless man joke in BEFORE the recast because they were still brothers, or not?

[aroaceleovaldez]

Between TSATS and WOTTG at this point it seems like Rick has forgotten that Hypnos and Morpheus are actually two separate gods

Possibly one of the most amusing things about this is we DO have canon acknowledgement of Hypnos and Morpheus explicitly being separate gods, including even official art of Morpheus specifically.

...the thing is though, that this book in particular is ghostwritten.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[helpimstuckposting]

I love buckingham and ronance as much as the next girl but my favorite dynamic is without a doubt qpr stobin who live together no matter who they’re dating. Like, sorry but in my world Robin and Steve Do Not live separately, any girlfriend Robin has WILL just move in with them and if they want kids then they’ll move to a bigger place. “Robin and Nancy’s place” or “Robin and Chrissy’s place” is just a bedroom down the hall qpr stobin for life

[wizards101official]

Bad cliche theory but in my mind there has to be some sort of actual guy behind Wally

[moonkhao]

Hey, Chingching, Phi Shin is blushing. Stop it.

HIGH SCHOOL FRENEMY | EP12

[17mujipens]

i saw a video about the Queen in Dungeon Meshi and her skin colour. and people in the comments had all sorts of theories on why she and Flamela have such dark skin. and it made me realise that a lot of people haven’t seen this page of the Adventurers Bible:

[joydoesathing]

If Raffael was a gangster, what was Rafftellyn?

well, i've never really thought to hard about it, but I guess for my au, she was be flapper that did sometimes frequented in compensated dating. she was also be notoriously be known to be have quite a headstrong personality that could usually end up in fights.

bonus: a small little comic of her and alf getting acquainted

[askblueandviolet]

[mieczyhale]