#also this isn't a transmuter hate post

[kaijuposting]

"Saw traps for people with moral OCD" is a phrase that has embedded myself into my brain because, well, Saw traps for people with moral OCD are everywhere.

Stuff that basically amounts to...

"You have to listen to my opinions on [issue], or else you don't care about [issue]. (Constantly talks about how people like you are the absolute worst.)"

Anything that's functionally like, "you have to let me tear you down over things you can't control or you're a bad person."

Anything that's functionally like, "you have to let me vent to you whenever and however I want or else you're a bad person."

"If you enjoy X media/trope, you just hate Y people."

"Everyone knows that X thing is harmful/hateful; if you engaged in it, it's just because you were fine with perpetuating hate/harm."

"You should have just known better/should know this already!"

This thread over here talks about the inherent issues of putting this kind of stuff out there. The TL;DR is that it really only works on people who are mentally unwell and have poor boundaries, while just pissing off everyone else. It really doesn't matter if you're technically correct; you're still attacking people, and that means they're not wrong to block you.

I think that many of these Saw traps are created when people effectively write posts directed toward people who don't want to help, rather than the ones who do. Like, if you catch yourself writing an angry, shame-laden post, ask yourself: who are you writing it for and what are the odds you're going to change their minds? If your mental image is some smug fuck or angry reactionary, you're writing for the wrong person. Write for the person who's curious, who's willing to learn.

Also? Work on figuring out how to transmute negative feelings into positive, encouraging rhetoric. EG:

"Why is there no X positivity?" -> "Let's hear it for X!"

"No one cares about Y problem!" -> "Hey, we need more recognition of Y problem" or "I haven't seen many people talking about Y problem, so here's some info on what's up."

"If you don't reblog this, you don't care about [group]" -> "Please reblog this, it would mean a lot for us [group]."

And if you're really super duper frustrated and want to vent with a lot of nasty words and sentiments? Consider taking it to a private vent channel or a journal or somewhere that a stranger with moral OCD/scrupulosity isn't likely to run across it.

Remember, most people don't want to hurt anyone. More people are ignorant than malicious. People naturally want to do the right thing, so if you feel like you have to guilt them or shame them into it, there's probably a fundamental communication issue somewhere, or they simply lack the context to understand why what you're saying is so important.

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

Watching the Show Fanfic FMAB

@anastasian-dreamer suggested writing a big rambling post about the FMAB watches the future Au to get it off my chest and for me to offer people to send asks. You want a scene/me to explain how i’d handle something? Send it it!

 So how would this go?

First the background: 

First: Edward is a trans man. He's known from childhood. We dont have transphobia in Amestris or in this world. Envy is genderfluid and Father is literal shadows in a human form. Gender makes zero sense to them and they don't allow bigotry they'd be affected by.

 We’re going to give them testosterone but Ed isn't on it because 1) he doesn't want to take it while Al is in the armour (and that is a frequent discussion) and 2) he's not sure if he wants to. He's a fairly androgynous person and he is small chested. He’s one of the lucky assholes who have very light periods (Winry hates him for it) and its alright. He doesn't want to take it also because a part of him wants kids and he’s nervous it will lower his chances. He also knows adoption is still there so he is a bit torn. I honestly just want to explore this concept.

Second: this is also a soulmate AU. I'm thinking there are multiple types of soulmates: paternal/child, platonic, romantic and enemies. 

 Now, you're born with the paternal ones (and the parent gets their when the child is born) but the others happen later. You are five when you get your platonic and romantic; then you’re ten when you get the enemy one.

 Ed and Al are both born with a red salamander on their shoulders and the flamel Izumi has on her chest. I've read a few ‘your own mark is on your chest’ so we’re going with that. These marks tend to be something that can define you. Edward has the alchemy sign for human on his chest and Al has the helmet of his armour. 

 Hohenheim tries not to let it play on his mind. 

When they turn five, Edward gets a sword and the ouroboros on his arm, while Al gets a kunai. 

 The boys both get a silver gear which is Winry for platonic to. (how can they tell? Vibes. Literal vibes)

 When they're ten, Ed is so confused why they get more ouroboros marks. But he's busy with the transmutation. So big deal. We all know how that ends.

 But Ed also is surprised when he gets a mark when he’s eleven.

( “It kind of looks like the head of a long-haired dog?” 

 “It does. Weird.”)

Ling gets the sign for human and the ouroboros. As well he gains a silver blade for a friend (Lan Fan), the child mark of a long haired dog, and the enemy tattoos of ouroboros along with some family. (he also gains the panda friend mark of the heiress to the Chang family) 

 Greed has a sword and the sign for human, along with markings for all his Chimera buddies and the long haired dog for a child. 

Three: Roy starts off being very nervous about the kids. He sees Al and knows its his soul son. He would keep it quiet if he didn't know that his soulmate Maes would spill the beans. He tells the boys. Edward is so angry that of course it's his fuck up that defines his brother. 

 Roy and Ed keep the antagonism but it’s just their thing. They're like that. Al gets to have a cat that stays with Roy. 

 Also: three way bonds like Roy, Hughes and Gracia aren't uncommon. However due to the need for alchemists in the East Roy is based there. He has a house and makes trips bi weekly to see his soulmates. They also make trips bi weekly so they basically see each other each week.

Four: Various countries have different views on Soulmateds. Amestris believes that while there is a bond its a choice in the end. You don’t need to marry/befriend/whatever your bond is. While about 90% of the time it does happen, there's then 10% everyone knows. 

 Xing fully believes in them and soulmarks are a great honour. There's been a few times clans will join together as an heir will find their partner in another, making an iron clad bond. Soul children are precious and enemies are the utmost awfulness. 

Five: I’m tossing in a few OCs. One is named Amelia Cross. My original story for her is she is the brother’s elder sister from Hohenheim having a one night stand years ago. Theres a whole plot. But for here she's simply the Alchemist that helped make the soldiers into human chimeras before she quit the military. (and was let go because she did human transmutation)

 The other is Amelia’s soul daughter Elaine who is a chimera herself and Ishvalan. Its a whole thing. 

Lets go to the start.

 Now: I think this story would start right after Tucker makes Nina into a Chimera but before the boys see her. 

 And I kinda want to keep to my theme of ‘ah yes everyone sees it’ cause I can. How does this happen? Alchemy. A bunch of stones (some dropped by Hohenheim, some in the ground from Father) bonded together. An alchemist in the region was doing human transmutation to bring back their wife, the stones hijacked it (the alchemist lost their heart) and Truth went: you know why not. (does it make sense? No but I'm keeping it)

 So everyone in the world is watching now. And we don't start with the brothers.

 We start with Slave 23, speaking to the dwarf in the flask. We follow him as he walks to Xing, as he walks the world. We follow him to Trisha and the boys. We see him put pieces together and realize what happened to Xerxes will happen again. Of course we don't actually know YET. As far as anyone can tell he found signs of the Dwarf and went hunting.

 There's also the drama of Ling seeing the marks on Ed and Mei also seeing hers on Al. And like every other reaction to. (the Homunculi are fucking baffled that this kid somehow got a mark for one of them. Hohenheim is freaking out)

 We watch as he leaves. Then we cut to the boys fighting the Freezing Alchemist. 

Now 2003 FMA is really good at the build up so i'll probably borrow from them but I like the freezer beginning. So that's going on. And of course we learn Roy is the parental soulmate, and its all cute…

 And then we learn of the Taboo.

 I 100% think Bradley makes a bullshit claim he knew and decided since a CHILD was willing to join the military and all their trauma he let it slide. Its on the radio.

 Its all ‘aww poor little meow meows’ kind of stuff. Ed and Al hate it, go to Tucker and FUCK NINA?

 Course since Ed’s child mark is shown he claims its destiny. Ed kicks his ass, and then Nina gets to go to grandpa Roy’s place while Amelia gets contacted by one of the soldiers who is a chimera. 

 Which side note: when that happens on screen Ling is busy discussing how to murder Tucker with Lan Fan and Fu (and his clan cause that is their heir’s daughter) while Greed and the others are heading to kick some ass. 

But after the freezing alchemist we get more flashbacks to the boys in the first few years of military, and then so on.

Themes of the story: 

 -A theme there is the discussion of family. I really want the idea of family to play a huge part in this because Al and Ed’s story revolves around their relationship. So a lot of focus is on this. But also I would explore rejecting family. 

 Greed rejects his ‘siblings’. The boys reject Hohenheim because he isn't a bad person but he sure is a bad father (and yes he is. I saw one post defending it but lets be real, abandoning your family is abandoning them no matter what.) Ling rejects some of his siblings. 

 Family is important but it’s family of choice that matters. You can choose your family and many choose their blood family but they also reject it.

 -Romance is the next theme, and exploring what its like to have romantic soulmates. Like I really want some drama since Edward has been raised knowing he doesn't need to be with his romantics mixed with Greed ‘its all mine’ and Ling ‘destiny bound us’. Like they choose to be together of course but its a thing. 

 We have the themes of FMA though included.

Other notes:

 -I do know Ed keeps alchemy and both his automail parts. Not sure how but he does.

 -Mei throws herself into finding out how to free her soulmate. 

 -Mei and Xao Mei both arrive with Ling due to the alliance and that they are platonics.

 -I want to keep Ling being possessed but also I think Father actually is weirdly interested in the soul bond? I think his attempts at being perfect isn't just about like being a god but also being better then humans. And here is a being he's made having a soulmate. Two in fact. And a soul child! He's very invested. So he somehow has it that they can share the bond like they do in canon? I dunno. I'd need to work on it. 

 -Amelia is killed by Scar and it sparks a large subplot because her romantic is actually Kimblee. She visits him every year on his birthday and he's allowed out to her funeral where Elaine is. Amelia and Elaine had a falling out after some stuff but Elaine is pretty messed up. Elaine is also Kimblee’s soul child. Also Elaine is Winry’s romantic soulmate. Its a mess. 

 -I kinda think Ling having Ed as his soulmate puts him right at the top for heirs because ‘ah son of the Sage’ kind of thing mixed in with ‘the other soulmate is immortal’

 -Mrs. Bradley is actually in the know because Pride has her mark as a friend and Wrath couldn't lie to her. They never told Father until after the reveal of Greed’s soulmates but yeah she got told early on. She is subtly talking them away from the plans but it's slow going. (I kinda would want to set up Wrath in Greed’s place as a sacrifice)

[frogadir]

I'm sure I've made this exact post before but brotherhood following the manga so closely is actually its greatest weakness because the thing about an adaptation is you have to translate the source material in such a way that it functions in a new medium... things that work in a comic won't necessarily work in a show like the most obvious example of this is how the fma manga has a ton of cutaway gags that work because it's a comic! everyone reads at their own pace so having a random extra silly side panel isn't going to disrupt the entire flow. but when brotherhood tries to directly replicate the jokes in a format they weren't meant for they fall flat and it is so disruptive to the show. And like they choose to put those in but then cut out a ton of other scenes along the way for the sake of accelerating the plot, but the stuff they cut out is all character study and worldbuilding which hurts the final product even more. and you see this on a macro and micro level like not only the overall progression of the story across the entire series and the way they speed through the portion that 03 covered, but also the handling of certain scenes, particularly ones that are in both shows as the difference becomes very obvious. The most obvious example I can point to is ed and al's human transmutation attempt. idk 03 is so well directed and then in brotherhood they were just like we hate vibes. and some of that does just come down to my personal preference but I'm also not wrong... to be honest...

[mayhaps-a-blog]

Rewatching Fullmetal Alchemist (2003), I may have been too harsh on the ending - I definitely prefer Brotherhood, but the 2003 canon definitely has its charms. Definitely a mixed bag, as most shows are, really!

My pros and cons list got long, but here:

The good: Dante is a fascinating villain, and a neat character! Her attempts to vaguely justify her actions while clearly having completely lost touch with humanity were interesting to watch, and her interactions with the homunculi were great!

I also liked the homunculi - I think I prefer Envy from Brotherhood, but Lust and Sloth's struggle with their memories and yearning for a life that was never theirs added an interesting dimension to their characters. Wrath is an incredibly tragic character and watching him scream for his mother, any mother, only to be faced with abuse is heartbreaking.

Rose's story is likewise more extensive and tragic than in Brotherhood. "More extensively tragic" is true of a lot of 2003.

The themes of the cost of human transmutation are much more focused - human transmutation, its causes and its consequences, are the main theme of the story rather than a means to a different end (I could go on... but I already made a post about that). The show also deals a lot with child abandonment, and abuse - with Wrath as the scared, angry child who is drawn into a dangerous group through his desire for a mother, Envy as wrathful to the point of hating everyone, and Ed starting down Envy's path, but veering into something closer to acceptance, if not forgiveness. Al is the one with forgiveness. We see the why, we see the how - and for Nina of course, and Selim too. And that lends some interesting depth to the story.

The actual ending isn't as terrible as I remember thinking it - I liked Mustang's epilogue, but I wish they'd left Ed's ending ambiguous. But I like it when shows leave the future somewhat mysterious :)

The bad: I am still not a fan of the WW1 plot. It feels unnecessary, and I can think of a lot more interesting answers for "what's behind the gate" than a sudden surprise isekai story. Frankly, I don't even want an answer to what's beyond the gate; like God, death, and souls, that's the big mystery none of us should or could ever know, and any attempted answer in media ends up mundane and boring compared to the grand mystery. And the excuse of the deaths in our world somehow echoing back through time to fuel alchemy just raises more questions than it answers. The whole idea raises more questions than it answers, which is not what I look for in a show finale! Speculating over what comes next is one thing, having to scratch your head to figure out how the universe works when it's stated and supposed to follow clearly defined rules is just annoying.

Another answer that brings up more questions is Hohenheim. His backstory with Dante is fascinating - and almost completely unexplored. The fact that he is a mass-murderer, multiple times over (he changes bodies at least twice, the original switch and into his current body, and given Dante's original appearance the bodies do still age - he'd need a few to manage 400 years!) is never fully addressed other than "well he's not doing it again so it's fine I guess." But really, when exactly did he realize murder is bad, actually? (Yes, even if it's "witches and plague victims", like, seriously?) It apparently took 400 years - was it meeting Trisha, or something before then? Did he wake up one day and realize his marriage sucked and decide to hit the bricks? Was it some kind of immortal's mid-fourth-life crisis? Can we really ignore all the murder just because he's nice now??

Finally, the ending does feel a little rushed compared to Brotherhood, probably because of the fewer episodes (while close in overall length, 2003 spends 25 episodes on the content that Brotherhood covers in 10). A few plot points feel forced or unrealistically rushed - why would Russell and Fletcher's father have been shown the underground city? Dante has her own house to teach alchemy in! And Mustang's rebellion felt like it was really forced through for the plot - he could at least have leveraged the soldiers' experiences in Ishbal, etc. instead of demanding they commit mutiny with no evidence. I'd expect them to mutiny against him! But that's stuff a few more episodes may have fixed.

In summary...

FMA (2003): Excellent characters, excellent characterization, I wholeheartedly love episodes 1-25 (except maybe Barry's introduction, that aged horribly if it was ever decent at all), the time we get to spend with Hughes and Mustang's team and all the little mini arcs is great! I like that they brought in some of the earlier characters to work with, I like the way they took their themes and (most) story arcs. Would recommend watching, preferably before Brotherhood.

Brotherhood: Definitely the stronger plot to me. I like Father as a villain and prefer Hohenheim's backstory here; I definitely prefer the whole deal and ambiguity with Truth and the gate to the surprise!isekai in 2003. Brings in some absolutely fantastic characters and the buildup to the finale feels less rushed - more things feel realistic and well-thought out, like Mustang's rebellion, with the extra time to let characters get their chess pieces into place.

Overall, I still prefer Brotherhood - but 2003 has grown on me with this rewatch! I'd definitely still suggest watching it before Brotherhood, and will add at least episodes 1-25 to my regular rewatch list. If I can still find them. Plus Mustang's team's episodes. As far as I'm concerned, those are all totally canon to all versions of the story!

[illarian-rambling]

Thanks for the tag @mk-writes-stuff!

Character Interaction Tag

Rules: post the OCs of the people who tagged you and one of your OCs and say how yours would interact with theirs

MK's OC: Belladonna is a noblewoman in her early 20s of a space station floating in the void. She has recently been betrothed to a man she hates and informed that she is going to be replaced as the heir by a new younger sibling she will have soon. Belladonna is a highly anxious, neurotic young woman who holds herself and others whose appearances reflect on her own to an impossibly high standard and punishes herself (primarily via not eating, as she has severe anorexia) whenever these standards aren’t met. She has a kind heart and a clever, incisive mind behind all of her struggles, but years of abuse from her parents have driven her to disbelieve her own value and skills.

My OC: Ivander Montane is a 30 year old corrupt detective from the trade city of Unity. He has blue blood and double-pointed ears, wears fancy suits, and walks with a cane. His estranged family runs the banks of Unity, however he left them years ago, and in doing so, broke a divine contract, which left him cursed to slowly and painfully be transmuted into mist over the course of many years. Personality-wise, he's kind of a privileged shithead. He's got the catty attitude and love of gossip of a middle school girl, and can insult your outfit just as acutely. He doesn't have a sincere bone in his body and is afraid of any form of intimacy. However, deep down, he really just wants a friend and to not be in pain anymore. Show him the slightest hint of compassion and he will crumble. His hobbies include being a hater, fashion, and marksmanship (he's a crack shot with a rune rifle). All in all, he's got the snark of a drag queen, the heart of a lonely noir detective, and a body that's been through a cheese grater.

How they'd interact: Honestly, I think Belladonna and Ivander have a lot to bond over. They're both from abusive, aristocratic familys. They both tend to be effete and neurotic. They both have a complications relationship with power. However, they've also got about a snowball's chance in hell of actually talking these things out. I think Belladonna would be immediately untrusting of Ivander, which isn't a bad move. For his part, Ivander would probably underestimate Belladonna's cunning, seeing only her anxiety. If they ended up as rivals, I think they'd play some absolute mindgames with each other. Death Note level shenanigans. If they ended up as allies, I think Ivander would see a lot of himself in Belladonna. He'd encourage her to reach her potential, to not care what her family thinks, and to curb her self-destructive tendencies, as he knows what roads that can lead down. He'd also 100% try to set her and Cassie up, likely recruiting Nellie to help. Probably though, Ivander would just end up as some weird information broker Belladonna knows and trades witty banter with. Cassie would probably end up throwing him into a wall like undercooked pasta for being a shit.

Thanks again, hope you like this one! I'll tag @kaylinalexanderbooks @somethingclevermahogony @tinywater @pluppsauthor and anyone else who wants to play :)

[akatsuki-shin]

(this post is written before I pulled for Dan Heng IL, thus I haven't read his character story through Ascension)

I just rewatched Dan Heng IL's animated short and I kinda need to let this out.

At a glance, we're watching Dan Feng verbally and physically forcing Dan Heng to continue shouldering the burdens from his past life, which was caused by Dan Feng.

But I think the Dan Feng we're seeing here isn't the real Dan Feng. As in, these two don't physically met and fight (like in Jing Yuan vs Jing Liu animated short). Rather, it's the Dan Feng in Dan Heng's mind a.k.a. a symbolism.

We know that all Vidyadhara have their memories wiped after reincarnating, so after he hatched from his egg, Dan Heng only knows that his previous self did A B C, hence he got punished and this punishment was carried out to Dan Heng as Dan Feng's reincarnation.

AFAIK, the Vidyadhara High Elder position was given to Bailu after Dan Feng committed his crime, so I don't know whether Dan Heng still gets to receive the "Orb of Abysm" and "Transmutation Arcanum" to re-experience his past life through his dreams.

But even if he did, he'd still just be watching those memories as an audience. He didn't become Dan Feng let alone sharing Dan Feng's feelings and sentiments (which he already expressed to Blade and Jingyuan that he isn't Dan Feng); he only knows that from the moment he opened his eyes, everyone already condemns him because he just so happens to be the reincarnation of Dan Feng.

I believe this creates a certain image of Dan Feng in Dan Heng's mind. He may not hate Dan Feng or blame him for what he did (after all, we still don't know what exactly Dan Feng did and, most importantly, WHY) but it wouldn't be strange for him to feel pressured and choked up by all the hate and persecution he received because of what Dan Feng did in the past, hence why the Dan Feng in this animation short appears to be forcefully making him shoulder the responsibility and punishment.

It's also possible that at first, Dan Heng had been continuously torn between thinking "Yes, I need to carry on and take this responsibility" and "Why do I have to clean up my ancestor's mess?"

But then at the end, we see Dan Feng "acknowledging" Dan Heng's resolve by telling him to go and never look back. I think this is a symbolism of how Dan Heng was finally able to make peace with himself.

Yes, he is Dan Feng's reincarnation. Yes, he is carrying Dan Feng's legacy, all the good and bad, and he will never be rid of it. But Dan Feng is Dan Feng; his story already ends a lifetime ago. He is Dan Heng and he will be living a different story from his predecessor.

So yeah, this is just a meta probably, but I don't believe we should take Dan Feng's portrayal here as the real Dan Feng. After all, the accusations against Dan Feng that we've heard characters in the story said so far are pretty shallow, in which they only saw it objectively "Oh he broke the taboo, so he's a criminal." Nobody went in depth to explain about what he did; there are still many things we don't know about Dan Feng's so-called crime.

In an RPG like this, I won't be surprised if the real story turns out to be something like "Dan Feng has no other choice but to commit the deed" or "Dan Feng saw a danger that he couldn't share with his friends, so he opted to make himself the villain as long as it gives a way for the future generation to solve it." Basically he did it for a greater good or something, and I won't be surprised either if Jing Yuan is the only knows or finds out early about the true reason.

Either way, I'm looking forward to seeing the continuation of this story. ✨

[fma03envy]

Fma rewatch thoughts for episodes 9&10

9:

Ed's mission here is to inspect the coal mines, but he isn't told anything specific to actually look for/what standard the mine is to be measured against. In retrospect I should've guessed that Mustang knew about Yoki's corruption from the start

It's really sad here how Ed is trying to push away both Winry and Al (it's obvious he blames himself for Winry being in danger :/ )

Al always has such great expressions for someone who can't move his face

Obviously the citizens of Youswell hate the military bc Yoki is fucking them over. But I do wonder if another reason for it might be that their Eastern location makes them know a little more about Ishbal than the rest of the country, given that they're closer to it

Iirc this is actually the first time I'm watching it subbed. In the dub Lyra's name is pronounced lee-ra but apparently in the og it's lie-ra (like in HDM) and it's kind of throwing me for a loop

Ed is such a bastard (affectionate) in this episode. Like he makes such a show of messing with the villagers before actually helping them and is sooo smug about tricking Yoki. Local child is committed to justice but also to The Bit

On that note though, I feel like emotional repression is a theme throughout this episode. We start off with Winry giddily trying to lose herself in her passion for automail to avoid thinking about how she and Ed were almost murdered the episode before. With Ed it's more subtle, but the way he's so spirited in the second half of this ep despite having just gone through the stuff with Barry and Nina definitely doesn't feel entirely genuine

10:

The card scene at the beginning is definitely the high point of this ep, I love it

With this talk of Ed and Al's travels still getting them nothing, I do wonder what material Ed produces at his assessments to keep his certification. I forget if the state alchemist assessments get brought up in 03 after Tucker (I think they do once in the manga but not in BH?) EDIT: Forgot about episode 13 nvm

I can't find that "This poor boy is afraid of needles [insert picture of Ed being stabbed by Envy]" post but I am Thinking About It

The way Al uses alchemy to put the apple that had fallen on the ground back in one piece makes me wonder about alchemy's sanitary uses. Can you just transmute the germs away from the rest of an object? Do people in the fma universe know germs exist

The whole Psiren thing sucks and I hate it. Stop being weird to Ed he's 15 and you're an adult I'll kill you (also I feel like she's even worse about it in this translation vs the dub one)

It's especially annoying because otherwise the premise of "phantom thief who preforms elaborate magic tricks with alchemy by night and has an impractical number of secret identities by day" sounds like it would rule but here we are. First Cornello then Psiren, why do alchemists who use their powers to do sick magic tricks keep being shit people

The site I'm watching this on classifies episodes 4, 10, and 37 as the only filler episodes in fma03 and honestly I think that's fair

[immoral-wizard]

My time has come. I must preach the good word of hating on this series.

Ahem

Harry Potter isn't just a flawed series cause the creator sucks, but it literally just is a bad series anyway. When your most powerful spell is an instant kill spell, but it takes longer to say the incantation than firing a bullet, I know which I'd pick. 3 bullets are better than firing one spell in the same amount of time. Also, it's confirmed that transmutation spells both can turn people into animals (we've seen a guy turn himself into a part shark), and it doesn't take a projectile to do, so why do no wizards just turn their enemies into like cats??? The series has a terrible magic system, and I refuse to recognize it as such. It's plot bs, not magic.

Anyway, good post. Love to see the HP hate.

HP fans Dni

one of my posts got tagged with harry potter shit so im just gonna say this: if you bring harry potter into my wizard blog im blocking you on sight.

I am a trans woman and the author of those shitty books literally wants me and people like me dead and actively spends her vast wealth from the franchise to hurt us.

if you're too attached to a terrible book series you read in middle school to care about the harm joanne does to my community, fucking leave.

[revui]

Quin seems like a fun character but I have nothing to go by beyond Foreverlands and a few memes. I saw on your blog that you're down for talking abt your OCs though. So! Do you have any fun facts about Quin?

what if i [kisses anon on the mouth]

fr this is one of the best things i could've woken up to in my inbox although by the time i finish this it definitely won't be the morning anymore

SO QUIN. Quintilian Holmes. Here's a random fact before I really get going, looking at the posts that I have tagged as Quin, the oldest one is actually referring to a completely different character, and their name was Quindecim. They wound up sharing nicknames by accident. Anyway, from this point forward, this post is now all about Quin-as-in-Quintilian and not Quin-as-in-Quindecim.

So, the thing about Quin is that he's very emotional, he's very artistic, and he's very observant. He's also highkey brimming with rage at all moments in time. When people read "emotional" they sometimes forget that incandescent fury is an emotion, and it happens to be one he wears well. But it's very easy for people to overlook that because he tries quite hard to avoid showing that. He tries to act like a Guy Not Full Of Anger and partially succeeds, but anyone who really knows him is very aware of (and wary of) this part of him.

His major role in the actual story that I've been writing with him (I only post the random episodic stuff I think of) is as someone who's trying to solo the entire government. He pops up a few times earlier but his first big appearance is when he's in the middle of his plan to topple the whole system.

He's from a place called Ivory Ridge, a now-destroyed town which was a safe-haven for demons. "Demon" as a term is very loose in the Foreverlands. It just refers to any humanoid who isn't a human. Actual demons are hard to come by in the present—you'll pretty exclusively find descendants and people with demonic heritage instead of actual full-on demons. Quin is descended from dryad-like demons. After Ivory Ridge got destroyed, Quin got adopted by his moms, Mildred and Emelia Snow.

Switching topics entirely, glyphs. He brings those up quite a lot in the chapter, and the weird thing is that they're kind of a lost art. Quin isn't fully aware of this. Glyphs are essentially tiny symbols that "code" the magical world of the Foreverlands, and when you notice certain patterns (such as a symbol that seems to code for creatures being able to change color), you can mix-and-match different glyph symbols into a whole new glyph. If you mix the symbol that codes for color-changing with a symbol that codes for a lattice-shaped structure in a bush, you can use this new glyph to... I don't know, transmute your blue fence into bright orange lattice.

The reason he uses glyphs is somewhat related to his disability. Sorcerers can use magic because they have a special organ that turns the magic in the world around them into something they can actually wield, and Quin's doesn't work properly, and to put it very very simply, this results in him having "less magic" than other sorcerers. He medicates for this but still has an easier time just using glyphs instead of other focuses because they're smaller, easier to carry, and his special interest. That's right, boys. Autism is about glyphs.

Quin's an artist who is constantly filling his pockets with crumpled papers and pens and looking for new stuff to draw. He likes other arts like sculpting, carving, and pottery, but he's not as good at those and usually doesn't have the tools on hand like he does for drawing.

Colum's also from Ivory Ridge and the two have known each other since they were three. Quin still has a crush on him. Quin knows this fact. Quin hates this fact. His standards are basically "be a person, breathe oxygen" and yet he's only ever been on a single date, mostly by accident, because he didn't realize his classmate was asking him out in a romantic way instead of a friendly way. If ever asked on a date (assuming he actually realizes it's a date), he would dress in his weirdest clothes so that whoever he's dating knows what they're getting into ahead of time.

He's my little skrinkly.

His favorite color is pink, which happens to be his hair color, but he prefers more vibrant shades of pink, especially those that lean closer to purple, while his hair color is a sort of pastel pink instead which he really dislikes. Speaking of his hair. It's very curly and he never has any clue what to do with it, so he just kind of leaves it there to do its thing and hopes for the best. It ranges from "halfway decent" to "I was just in a wind tunnel" and he's stopped trying to keep it under any modicum of control.

He's got freckles. Lots of them.

He's very bad at holding himself to plans and deadlines and has made a habit of showing up to things late, or not at all. He was actually almost ten minutes late to his definitely-not-a-date and agreed to a second one only because he felt bad about that, and then they never showed up to the second date so Quin went home and carved a little wooden bird statue instead. Her name is Toodle.

Alright, insane ramblings over. This was a lot of fun :D

[telehxhtrash]

So sometimes I worry about the world tree scene because of some things that happened before. Like how Kon left Gon and never came face-to-face with him again because of reasons. And then Hisoka said transmuters are fickle and are prone to quickly viewing something they once saw as a treasure as trash. I hope that isn't the case with Killua but his decision to leave and the number two comment just seemed messed up and unnecessary to me. I just wish Gon wasn't always being abandoned.

Hi anon ! I totally understand this feeling, I hate knowing that Gon probably feels abandoned again, and I know that Gon and a lot of readers/viewers took the "you're second place now" comment the wrong way.

I wrote a post analyzing this specific scene if you want to read it, because I think this line is the key to understanding Killua's motivation to leave Gon for now. To me, Killua wasn't just being an asshole for fun, he was trying to push Gon away purposefully so he wouldn't follow him, because he knows Illumi is after him and Nanika and he can't let Gon ever end up in the same state he was in during chimera ant arc ever again. So his best choice is to leave Gon, even if it breaks his heart, even if it breaks Gon's heart, it's the best solution for now, until Illumi is dealt with. In my opinion, Killua would never leave Gon behind for any other reason, he just cares about him too much.

Now for the part where you mention Hisoka's nen personnality analysis, I feel like it's a good point you bring up, and let me elaborate on why I think this will never, ever concern Killua, and why I think Killua still cares about Gon deeply.

Killua's character has always been one who breaks the pattern of expected behavior. 

Throughout the story, Killua has been assigned stereotypes and negative roles that he constantly breaks. The Zoldycks keep on insisting that Killua is a boy of darkness fit to take over the family business. Like you said, Hisoka mentioned that transmuters are liars and fickle. Illumi kept on insisting that Killua could never have friends, because he would eventually want to kill him, because that's in his nature. There's this red herring in the Hunter Exam arc where Kurapika even thinks "Yes, while he's still with us..." when Leorio says "It's reassuring to have Killua with us", implying that Killua would inevitably turn on them. Biscuit tells Killua that he'll eventually leave Gon behind to die. 

and Every. Single. Time. Killua does the exact opposite. 

When the Zoldycks tell Killua that he's perfect to be the heir, Killua instead yearns for a good life for himself. When Illumi tells him that he can never have friends, Killua does his best to be the best friend Gon could ever have. When Hisoka implies that Killua is fickle and will eventually get bored of Gon, Killua proves the opposite by always sticking by Gon's side no matter what. When Biscuit tells him that one day he's gonna leave Gon to die, Killua puts his life on the line and physically and mentally breaks free from his family's control just for the sole purpose of protecting Gon. And when Illumi (wrongly) foreshadows that one day Killua will leave Gon to die, Killua does the exact opposite, and actually saves his life. 

Killua always broke the expectations people had on his behavior. While people always implied that he's fickle, a liar, not fit to have friends and would eventually betray Gon, Killua always proved that he's in fact the exact opposite. Killua is none of these things people said about him. Killua is caring, loyal, devoted, loving, and a generally good person. He always, always tried his best to be the best friend Gon could ever have. He always proved that he's better than what people associate him with.

When Killua and Gon parted, Togashi did a wonderful job at creating a sense of tension : the fact that we don't witness Gon's apology, we don't see them together until they separate, the "you're second place now" comment, Killua "replacing" Gon with Alluka, the sad face when parting, all of these culminate to create a feeling of unresolved tension between these two. 

And in my opinion, it's intentional. Togashi WANTS us to think that Killua is mad at Gon, that Killua leaves because he doesn't want to be with Gon anymore after everything that's happened. Because that's what you'd expect, you'd expect him to be mad at Gon. And this time, it's not a character that puts a negative stereotype on Killua, but we as an audience. And just like Killua always proved everyone wrong, I'm willing to bet that this time won't be different, and that his reason for leaving is much more different than what we'd expect.

In conclusion, I don't think Killua left because he's mad at Gon or because he doesn't care about him anymore. Killua constantly proved everyone that their expectations of him were wrong. 

We saw Killua grow from a confused ex-assassin to a loyal best friend, and making him "throw away Gon" like garbage just as Hisoka “predicted” is not only out of character, but it's also contradictory to the narrative Togashi has been trying to convey through Killua from the beginning : that the only one who can define you is yourself. 

Togashi wouldn't throw away Killua's entire character development for the sake of tragedy. So don't worry, I'm 100% sure that Killua still loves Gon a lot, maybe even more than before since he's not always comparing himself to him anymore, and I'm also pretty sure that his true reason for leaving is to protect Gon. 

While we saw Kon and Ging abandon Gon behind for the sake of responsibilities, and we saw Killua do the same (to take care of his sisters), I'm certain that Killua will be the one that breaks the pattern by coming back to him with the reason for why he left being out of love for Gon. Togashi just loves slow-burn, angst and red herrings.

Sorry for the long reply, I just had a lot of thoughts about it !! Thank you for this ask ! I hope I could bring a bit of optimism!

[ohpollenpowder]

1] I am...one of the oldbies. I didn't get to play early, didn't join at launch. I joined in October 2012 just in time for the first Halloween event. So story wise, it was just Personal Story at that point.

2] The first race+profession was my old main, whom I still have and sometimes still play. It's Laviii, my Human Elementalist currently decked in Catalyst. I still need to finish dragging her through story, ngl. I left her in Drizzlewood, just starting that part of story.

3] I currently have 69 characters made, but I have 71 unlocked character slots. Everytime there was a pre-launch for an Expac that included a character slot, I purchased it. And so... /gestures

4] My favorite playable race is actually Asura. Despite my list being mostly plants. I love the story that Asura get, but I also love the customizability for Sylvari. I get to explore color theory there.

5] So this is going to be slightly off, because I've been playing all afternoon and finally closed the game when I'm answering these. Not going to reopen the game for this. So last count was when I was taking Siriol's birthday picture: 6,558 hours and 36 minutes. And then probably add on another...oh, ten hours between that picture and this evening.

6] No real life ones, really? Though I have met guild mates at Otakon one year (oh, so long ago) and am currently encouraging a coworker to join in on the fun!

7] Any legendary, tbh. You could say map complete but honestly I look at it as a way to just disconnect from things and mindlessly do. So I'm kinda enjoying the Adventure stuff they've given us. (Found that secret room above/below in Snowden.) But not digging that it's per character given...yeah, I've got 69 to go through.

8] I have all my books in Laviii's bags now, thanks to an Instagram post someone made with the idea. I've also got several characters running around with Jars of Bees or Harpy Pheromones. A dwarven thumb here or there... Colwyn has gifts from his old partner still in his bags. Some of them have flowers and I think there's a coffee pot and a sign in my bank that belong to Laviii.

9] lmao Given my brain? Hell no, not a specific time. Has it though? Absolutely. Probably every story they've given us has an instance of this.

10] I don't....know???? I try to be hella open in game. There really isn't a reason to be otherwise.

11] The current wardrobe system. Dyes were once character specific. I don't really think transmutation was around at the start? Maybe it was. But you needed three of those stones in order to change one piece of clothing. I think those were also character specific but I could be wrong.

12] OLD LION'S ARCH. *ahem* I really did like when we had the option to mix certain outfit pieces together and they had their own dye palettes. Mostly because there's shirts that they've paired with the shorts that I wouldn't and then there's the old flying pants and...yeah.

13] I can't say that I do, honestly.There are certainly ones that I like more than others but can I call them to mind? Nope. Again, my brain is a colander.

14] How are we defining Companion in this? Because if it's loosely, Laranthir. But if it's more "several chapters spent together" sort of Companion...we're gonna go with pre-EoD Canach and then it shifts to Rama.

15] They've all been really good at being hated... But I'd have to say a mixture between Kralkatorrik and Mordremoth.

16] The little animals that end up being ambient creatures. They're just...gone so easily. "Shit. Sorry little frog, meant to hit the Awakened beside you." "No! Not the frog! How dare you!"

17] There's a little house in LA that's got a nice little sitting area. Obviously anywhere you can see the PoF sky-boxes. And Cantha is its own wonder. Would it be cheesy of me to say the instances that have bits of old LA in it? Mostly because I miss the fountains.

18] Aside from being decent at WvW/PvP/Raids? Never mind the fact I've yet to really try the latter. I still can't seem to get the hang of the dive/climb that the griffon has??? And ingraining a rotation for attacks in my head. I just. Use things. As they recharge. Most of the time.

19] I don't think ten years ago I would've imagined that I'd have a Tumblr platform or an Instagram platform. Or that I'd occasionally stream things. I've enjoyed the creativity this game has given me in other outlets.

20] Give Ranger a rifle/pistol. Give us more turtle skins, Canthan skimmer and beetle skins. Give the Commander a break. Keep giving us content.

Guild Wars 2 anniversary questions

This week marks ten years of Guild Wars 2, so take some asks or just answer the list as we look back on the game.

What was the current story release when you started playing?

What race and profession was the first character you made? Do you still play them?

How many characters do you have now?

Do you have a favourite playable race?

How many hours have you played overall? (/age in game)

Do you have real life relationships that have come from or been shaped by your play of Guild Wars 2?

What is the biggest or most arduous project you have completed in the game?

Do you have any items you keep in your characters’ inventory for purely sentimental reasons?

Do you remember any specific times when the game made you go “oh shit” in a good way?

Do you have a (not so) secret Guild Wars shame?

What’s your favourite feature that’s been added to the game since you started?

Is there anything that has been removed from the game that you miss or are particularly nostalgic about?

Do you have a favourite story episode (including expansion chapters)?

Favourite NPC who has been a companion of the Commander?

Favourite antagonist?

Favourite creature?

Favourite location?

Is there anything you have not yet mastered in the game?

Has this game inspired you for other things? If so, how?

What would you like to see for the future of Guild Wars 2?