#also ty for putting an unpopular opinion it makes these more fun

[aptericia]

1, 4, and 5 for Jarod & Micaiah? [You probably have more thoughts about her than him, I'm guessing. ;)]

yes!! I can always trust you to let me ramble about Tellius!!

How I feel about this character

Jarod: I was surprised by how much I ended up liking him! He's not my favorite by any means, but he's one of the best examples of a stereotypical first-arc villain who does his job at being utterly hateable while also having some depth and tying into the main story.

Micaiah: I think she's awesome. She's kind and empathic but also capable of utter ruthlessness. She hates violence but is a terrifying general. She's an apostle of the gods but is fully grounded in reality and the hard choices she has to make. What's not to love?

My unpopular opinion about this character

hahah I think for both, just liking them might qualify as an unpopular opinion...

In particular, it's because they are kind of cliché. Jarod is a violent, rude, and bigoted villain who murders for no reason. Micaiah is a fragile young maiden who wants peace and cares for her friends and country above all else. I can see why people are tired of those tropes, but Radiant Dawn does them well and puts interesting twists on them, which I love to see!

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

Honestly I really like how everything with Jarod went down, there's nothing else I think his story needed.

For Micaiah, I kinda wish she'd taken a more active role in Part 4, as opposed to Yune just doing everything. It would have been fun to see her and Ike figure out their strategy and actually have to work together.

[loverliner]

UNPOPULAR OPINIONS ABOUT TAYLOR AND HER SONGS?? i'm just the person for you.

1. i think i don't wanna live forever is one of taylor's best songs.

2. london boy, i think he knows and afterglow just might be the best tracks on lover.

3. safe and sound is one of taylor's best songs, if not her best (this is me being swayed just bc safe and sound tv was released last week)

4. tolerate it is the best track five.

5. 22 is better than dear reader

6. getaway car and karma sound almost the same

7. i forgot that you existed is an AMAZING opener for lover

8. question...? >> maroon (still LOVE maroon i just think question..? is better)

9. fearless is a good album, but not one of her best

10. the best song on rep is either call it what you want, so it goes... or endgame

ty for listening <33

ik these are controversial

nova ily omg this is great.

okay let me put my comments <3

please don’t murder me or nova (if you hurt her in any way i will track you down) this is just our opinion blah blah we don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings

i really love this song <3

“Wondering if I dodged a bullet or just lost the love of my life” is such an amazing line.

2. those along with “cruel summer” & “miss americana and the heartbreak prince” or “the archer” (i really just love lover as an album, despite all the depressing songs it makes me so happy and it makes me belive in love again <3 esp after crying to RED (tv) or evermore)

3. safe & sound was one of the first taylor swift songs i learnt on the guitar and i absolutely adore it, while i don’t think it’s necessarily her best song, i think it’s definitely a contender

4. i think tolerate it is definitely her best track 5 (writing and instrumental wise, it was written so so well) but also All Too Well is so so iconic.

i could write nine-page analysis on just the bridge because it is simply the most amazing thing ever.

i think my personal favourite track 5’s are “my tears ricochet” only ‘cause i’m attached to it (long story) and “you’re on your own, kid” because i can relate to it :(

5. i think they’re equal for me, they’re both not my favourites on their respective albums (i’m sorry to anyone screaming at this) but i think on their own they’re pretty good songs.

i think impact-wise, 22 is a more iconic than dear reader for sure.

6. i just spent the last two minutes with my best friend singing both of them to see if they match up, and i see your point.

i personally think getaway car is better than karma though, i don’t dislike karma but getaway car is just so so good.

7. i completely agree, it really sets the tone for lover.

8. i really love both and i really don’t get the slander on question…? because it’s just so good (esp the iconic cheering sounds)

9. i’m sorry but fearless (tv) might be at the bottom 3 taylor swift albums, it’s not that i overly-dislike it, it’s just not my favourite

10. i really love call it what you want and i think it’s so underrated, i think some of the best songs on reputation might be getaway car (i’m biased ‘cause i really just love that song) and new year’s day maybe?

we need to do this again, this was so so fun.

if you guys don’t hear from me again, i was probably murdered by a swiftie.

[mighwnt]

hey for the warrior cats headcanon post what do u think abt ashfur 😊

hiii ty for asking <3

sexuality headcanon: straight lol

gender/pronouns headcanon: i can only see him as a cis guy, but a cis guy who uses he/they

rate them out of ten: 8.5/10! i do really like him and his drama, he’s fun to hate and i like the plots surrounding him.

favorite thing about them: the absolute drama of it all. like, he’s such an incel but he has the dramatic flair to make him compelling, which is the opposite of bumblestripe, who’s a typical “nice guy” but has none of the charisma

least favorite thing about them: i wish they had explored his connection to his siblings/his jealousy of them more. i see that a lot in fan interpretations and i really like it!

why i first started liking/disliking them: so i read po3 before the other books as a kid, so i was predisposed to hate him since i never saw him grow up/his “romance” with squilf. but all of the amazing maps and amvs and everything…. mr brightside was FORMATIVE

do i relate/project onto/kin them? not at all

favorite quote/moment: his bit about his heart bleeding onto the stones and no one can see… so fucking emo. and the fire scene as a whole ofc

my fav ship: scourge x ashfur 4 lyfe

my fav platonic friendship: i really like his friendship with his siblings… i wish we had more of it. i also like the idea of him and spiderleg being friends, two men’s rights activist redditors

a ship i hate: squirrelash for obvious reasons lol

do i prefer canon or fanon? um. i dislike a lot of what canon does with him (putting him in starclan bc he loved too much) but i also dislike a lot of what fanon does with him, esp the people out there who are still woobifying him. so i suppose i’m a fan of my personal interpretation :)

random headcanon: he gets seasonal allergies during newleaf and has a weak immune system in general. he spends a lot of time being sniffly and a bit miserable.

what color do i picture them as: grey! he’s a blue spotted tabby with very low white

cat breed headcanon: i don’t like doing breed headcanons for most warriors. i can see him having a little oriental or devon rex in him though. curly furred ash is really nice.

unpopular opinion: i don’t think his character before his “snap” was really that much of a great/interesting guy. he was just another bg cat… male version of ferncloud really, everything you want him to angst about, she can also do, but the fandom was spending way too much time being misogynistic to deal with that lol

things i associate with them: thunderstorms, ash trees, orange, broken hearts, eye bags, emo hair, eyeshadow, black nail polish

song i associate with them: gossamer by fashion jackson and oh yeah? you gonna cry by lovejoy

favorite MAP/PMV/AMV with them: DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD A QUESTION THIS IS???? i think i have to say mr. brightside… but there’s so many good ones

[arson-09]

Ty for the tag @achaotichuman :3

Who's your favourite ACOTAR character?

Tamlin ofc💚 I find him personally relatable in quite a few ways and he ends up being one of the most nuanced and fascinating characters in the series.

Who's your least favourite character?

Well, the ratass himself, Rhysand.

Say something nice about your least favourite character.

He's interesting in the first book and works quite well as a secondary antagonist who helps Feyre out of his own interests. That makes him intriguing and feel quite Fae esq. ofc its ruined in the later books but book 1 rhysand is off-putting in a good way

Who's your favourite High Lord? (If you picked one for your fav character, then who's your second fav!)

Hellion or Tarquin! I find both of them to be interesting and their respective courts as well. I wish we got to learn more about them.

Favourite MINOR character?

Probably Eris, he actually feels like a morally gray character (so far) and he's just fun.

Favourite ship? (Crackships included!)

Book 1 Feylin is definitely my favorite favorite BUT I am a MAJOR Tamsand truther.

Favourite court and why?

Spring court lmao. Somewhat cause of Tamlin but also Spring has always been my favorite season. Its rainy and the weather is so nice where I live and my favorite flower blooms in May (Lily of the Valleys) I also find what little we know of the SC in acotar to be quite interesting and I prefer its more historic aesthetic to 2016-core Velaris

Make up a brand new court RIGHT NOW, NO PREP JUST VIBES.

Court of ADHD, everyone has ADHD. nothing gets done yet everything gets done. Its allies with the Court of Autism.

What relationship would you have wanted to see more of in the books?

Tamsand!!! Theres clearly more to them and I need to know all the drama. we all know they fucked, right? But also Band of Exiles, I quite like Lucien and I've grown fond of Jurian and Vassa, even with what little we know of them.

What's your unpopular opinion?

Every opinion on my acc is technically unpopular but probably my biggest is that SJM sucks at writing "feminist" themes and the way she tries to empower women in her books falls extremely flat. Also, I hate Azriel, he's boring, there's nothing interesting about him. I mean I hate him least out of the bat boys, I mostly tolerate him but there is still ire in my heart for him.

What's your favourite headcanon/fan canon?

I like to hc that Tamlin has a scar on his chest from where feyre stabbed him. also that Rhysand made the starpool for Tamlin.

If you were swept away to Prythian, what's ONE thing you would want to do?

Leave. Godbless I'm not dealing with that shit. If I have to say something I would go hide in the Spring court lmao.

If you could have ONE faerie ability seen in the books, which would it be?

Winnowing. I like the idea of leaving whenever i want and going just about anywhere. I would be on time no matter what!

Tags- i genuinely get anxious tagging people so if you see this and wanna do it go ahead :3

ACOTAR tag game 💕

thanks for tagging me @mathiwrites ! I don't normally do these even when tagged because i never know who to tag, a lot of times everyone i think of is already tagged LOL, but i figured id start today!

I don't think I've seen one around, and figured this might be fun to do!

Answer the questions below & tag whoever you want, or make it an open tag!!

Who's your favourite ACOTAR character?

My boy tamlin!!

Who's your least favourite character?

Hm....hmmmm...oh Amren for sure.

Say something nice about your least favourite character.

She has a cool character concept and i thought it was really sweet and endearing when she gave feyre the bracelet (necklace?) to help her get through the Prison trip without panicking

Who's your favourite High Lord? (If you picked one for your fav character, then who's your second fav!)

Oooh hm not to be a copycat but I loved tarquin from the moment he was introduced, he was an instant fav and i was kind of sad that he didn't have more involvement later on that didn't have to do with the whole feyre and rhys betraying his trust thing

Favourite MINOR character?

ooh i dont know if this is minor enough but i've come to really like jurian. i didn't really have much of an opinion on him for most of the series and then for some reason in silver flames when he was in it for like 2 seconds i was like wait a minute why haven't i been more into this guy he kinda fucks

Favourite ship? (Crackships included!)

tamsand by far. though azris is becoming a close second.

Favourite court and why?

well i loved the spring court aesthetic from the first book, but at this point in the series I think I'd say maybe actually dawn. it just sounded so pretty, and i think it would be one of the subtler, less overwhelming courts while still being awe-inspiring.

Make up a brand new court RIGHT NOW, NO PREP JUST VIBES.

oh shoot um okay court of clouds?? people who specialize in wind manipulation, likely populated by a race related to the Peregryns or Drakon's race? an actual cloud court like in the sky could be a vibe I think. perhaps it would be more removed from the politics of prythian--they'd still have a High Lord, but maybe it would be more of a military government or something.

What relationship would you have wanted to see more of in the books?

oh wow i mean i am always here for more rhys and tamlin content obviously, but i would have also loved to see more of like stories and stuff about the sentries from the spring court that went over the wall, like Andras. andras and lucien's relationship in particular would be one I would have liked to know more about. I also really want to see Azriel and his mom.

What's your unpopular opinion?

god what ISN'T my unpopular opinion. hm. i think feyre's whole reasoning for wanting a baby out of seemingly nowhere is dumb. like i get it, yolo, life can be cut short, but like i really do not feel like she picked a good time to have a baby, nor do i think she is remotely ready to be a mother. when she realized she wanted kids in acofas, it wasn't a strong enough argument for me to actually like get behind her decision.

What's your favourite headcanon/fan canon?

omg i have so many I literally started a list lol. the first one on it is kind of silly, it's that Helion is actually the faerie romance author sellyn drake that nesta, emerie, and gwyn like

If you were swept away to Prythian, what's ONE thing you would want to do?

go to a festival! not necessarily something as crazy as calanmai, but i would love to go to some sort of celebration. maybe starfall?

If you could have ONE faerie ability seen in the books, which would it be?

shapeshifting without a doubt

thanks again for the tag! ill tag @cheap-spirits @achaotichuman @thedickgraysons @wingsdippedingold @hugevanserrass @lady-of-sevenwaters @the-darkestminds @msbrownwithacrown @tamlinsnailtech and anyone else who wants to contribute!! if were mutuals and i didnt tag u im sorry i tried to think of as many as possible LOL but yeah definitely feel free to contribute if you want to! this was fun

[bryceslahela]

uhhh v unpopular opinion but i gotta say hana from trr is pretty bad, i mean i dislike a lot of the female li that have little to no screentime for whatever reason, but i particularly dislike hana's kicked puppy kinda tactic to make us care about her smh.. anways the boy from the werewolf book, elliot from ptr, emma from hss and ramsey from oph

no cause i honestly think hana is super pretty but boring. i genuinely can’t remember anything about her and i did play trr’s first three books. ALSO OMG ANOTHER EMMA ANTI, idk what it is abt that girl but she was soooooooo annoying lord! i wish she wasn’t a li and stayed as a bff but even then she was insufferable. i preferred myra as the bff. bastien is a creep, ethan is annoying, and elliot is british.

[workofheart]

levi ackerman relationship hcs

some modern headcanons, nsfw below the cut <3 it’s just levi brainrot at this point

definitely the type to follow (stalk) your spotify and check in to see what you’re listening to. if he has the time, he might even listen along and wonder what you’re doing. if it’s a particularly sad song or series of songs, he’ll know to send you a text to let you know he’s thinking of you

on that note, he also stalks your pinterest boards just to see what you’re into these days and (idk abt yall but i save pins of mens fashion) if he sees a cute outfit in your saves that fits his style, he might even try it out. reason being (though he’ll never admit to it) he loooves that kind of attention from you - when he looks particularly good and you can’t stop staring, it might just pull a smirk out of him

once you’re living together, he lowkey acts like a dad. might scold you for not closing doors, not turning off lights, all the like. he means well, honestly

however, doesn’t mind tidying up for you. folds your laundry, clears your plate, takes your jacket off your shoulders when you get home, just because it’s his way of showing he cares. definitely an acts of service kind of guy

really good at cooking! he likes spending days in the kitchen with you while he whips something up or tries something new and you just sit at the counter and talk to him. it’s a good way to catch up as your adult lives can sometimes get busy

if you fall asleep with earbuds still in, he’ll gently take them out for you before you go to bed <3 he’ll also plug your phone in for you if you forgot

occasionally reads aloud to you, especially if you’re having trouble sleeping. we all know he’s not much of a talker, but his voice is so relaxing and he doesn’t mind doing it if he knows it will help

the chillest, coolest boyfriend ever. he’s so mature, honest, and trusting, and you don’t have to worry about those high school dramatics when you’re dating him. when he chooses to date you, he’s serious about it - definitely not the type to just date for fun. he won’t hesitate to deny advances from other people, doesn’t care about what you wear, just fully devoted to you and wouldn’t even think about anyone else

i also think that with that dating in general, you would probably start out as acquaintances or maybe even friends. he needs to have a lot of trust in the person he chooses to date, so only after he’s known you a long time and you’ve made enough of an impact on his life for him to make it hard to let you go would he date you

speaking of, didn’t isayama say that levi would stutter around his crush? i can imagine him stumbling over his words, trying to cover it up with a cough, reaching to scratch his neck all sheepish, just getting all shy. even once you’re far past that stage of your relationship, sometimes you’re so upfront and bold, he can’t help himself :( you just make him so weak

braids your hair for you when you’re too tired to do it yourself - you’ll sit in front of him and his fingers are so gentle with your hair 🥺 he got the hang of it so quickly and has the dexterity to not tangle your hair and it always comes out so nice and clean, even if you’re just going to sleep in them

i peg him as a biiiig cuddler. not a lot of pda besides holding your hand, wrapping his arms around your waist, letting you hook your arm around his, etc., but in private he loves when he can just lay his head on your lap or chest bc then you can play with his hair, which relaxes him

he’s really intuitive and in tune with your emotions. if you’re feeling down, he’ll know, and he’ll also know if you need space or if you need comfort, both of which he is more than willing to oblige

he’s there to bring you cups of tea, maybe some cut up strawberries on the days you’re tired and want to sleep. will definitely tuck you in, and will also lay down with you for a bit if you ask

his go to way of getting you to talk is going on drives. 1) levi is a really good driver and 2) he’ll usually come and find you wherever you may be around the apartment, say something along the lines of, “i’m going on a drive, you wanna come?” or might just give you a look and jingle the keys around his fingers

it might take a little while of rolling through the backroads aimlessly for you to speak up, but when you do, he’s all ears. lets you talk through your thoughts, might prompt you further, offers advice if you ask for it. it’s also how you sort through relationship misunderstandings - they are rare, but all relationships have them, so it would be silly to present your relationship without them

i think that when levi is upset on the other hand, he’ll usually come to you for comfort. he isn’t necessarily looking for advice, but just to calm down and rest. some form of physical touch is good, like cuddling or napping, preferably where he can put his head on your chest so you can play with his hair

i think levi is the type of person to get a lot of intrusive thoughts or memories that he doesn’t really want to remember when they pop up, so having you as a distraction to hold him and let him know it’s alright is something he really appreciates

nsfw below the cut (18+)

unpopular opinion: levi is NOT the hard dom people tag him as. rather, i think of levi as a service top, so while he may be carrying out more of the work, you’re the one in control. getting you off gets him off 100%

considering he is usually very dominant outside the bedroom, he likes the opportunity to let you take control and direct him instead - it takes a weight off his shoulders

slow and smooth kisser. might put up a fake fight for dominance just to make it more fun, but eventually take the lead and kiss him dizzy

hearing your moans makes him unbelievably hard. the sounds you make go straight to his dick

and so: godly at giving head. he might edge you but it’s not to tease or as punishment, he just takes his time because he knows it feels better for you, and at the end of the day he wants you to feel as good as possible. your pleasure is his main priority.

knows how to use his fingers, knows how to use his tongue. knows what you like and picks up on it very quickly. i don’t think he’s that experienced but he’s got a good natural sense of what feels good - do not doubt him, he knows where the clit is 

he’s got a very wide range of capabilities for this, too. he can go slow and sensual on a calm sunday morning or absolutely dive in and ravage your pussy for more intense sessions - this is the one time he doesn’t mind making a mess 

making you cum is good for his self esteem/confidence lmfaooo he lives to see your flushed cheeks and heaving chest and be told he’s doing well. when you scratch his hair or cup his cheek as a quick thank you, his heart swells and his dick twitches

please kiss his neck, he will absolutely melt for you. especially the next day when he looks in the mirror and notices the little love bites you left him... he runs his fingers over them lightly and his eyelids get a little droopy as he remembers everything, will definitely seek you out for another round

tbh i don’t think he’s that kinky. he likes what he likes, i can’t imagine him comfortably degrading you or hitting you or anything like that. realistically, levi wouldn’t be having sex with someone he’s not in a committed relationship with. he wants it to be special and personal and therefore probably would not enjoy treating you poorly even if just for the sake of sex. if anything, he wants it the other way around bc he could easily be a bit of a masochist in bed

loves when you restrain him and ride the shit out of him, either by tying his hands to the bed or just pinning his arms down. likes when you “use” him to get off. put your hands around his neck and he’s putty in your hands

really loves when you tell him to cum - your voice is music to his hears and to hear it out loud and as a command has him doing exactly that. he’s not one to disobey orders lol. 

his brows furrow, his eyes squeeze shut, mouth falls open and lets out a low moan... jesus christ 

one more deep kiss, a quick clean up, and then he’s passing out with his head on your chest. after-sex sleep is some of the best rest he’s ever gotten

[reiverreturns]

vili for the character ask cause i love your ideas about him<3

First impression

oh no I feel a new hyperfixation coming on.

On a more srs note, I knew I was going to love Vili from the moment we met him. Where I'm from we kind of measure how much you like people by how much you insult them so when the first words out of his mouth after seeing Eivor for the first time in 10 years were to the effect of 'yikes time has not been kind to you' I knew I was in it for the long haul. I also have a soft spot for tall characters. And hard boys with soft introspective centres. And boys with nuanced and complex relationships to their fathers. Basically he checked all the boxes for my usual male character type lol.

Impression now

Love him. Adore him. Want only what's best for him. I've spent many hours clowning about Vili on this godforsaken site, but I really do think he's a character with such depth and potential it's kind of hard not to???

He's just such a deep, thoughtful character underneath all the witticisms and braying for a good fight. His whole life has been coloured by loss, so he holds onto the good things he has all the tighter. I've also said a lot about his personal arc in the story, and how he goes from living in the past to living in the now. Grief is such a funny thing - it sticks with you and changes your life in ways you can't understand unless you confront it and deal with that pain. I think Vili is a textbook example of that, from the trauma of losing his mother at a very young age to Hemming during the story. You can see very clearly how those experiences change and shape him, yet he doesn't lose the characteristics that make him such a good friend to Eivor - his wit, his good humour, his care.

Favorite moment

every single one of them

I'm gonna go a little left field for this one and say when Vili and Eivor save the people of Stoneburgh. Two things stand out to me. First, Vili actually works alongside Eivor and saves people himself, vs holding back and letting her do all the work. The vast majority of missions in Valhalla have Eivor going off and doing her thing on her own, so I think it's not only nice for her to have some help, but it kind of puts Vili and Eivor on a level pegging. Both strong, action oriented, want to help where they can. It also sets up how comfortable they are around each other - even in a high stress situation they're joking afterwards like they've just been picking apples and not pulling bodies from burning buildings.

Secondly, I adore the moment when Vili basically says 'I don't want to be seen as a saviour and a healer all in one afternoon.' The framing of how he says that is really interesting to me because it's not about him not wanting to help, but the optics of that. Maybe he doesn't want to be seen as too fitting for his father's seat? I always interpret Vili as putting a high value on honesty as well, which makes me wonder if he just doesn't want to comfort people because that requires a degree of lying.

Special mention moment - Vili ribbing Hunwald and Eidrich before the final battle at Hamtunscire. He just shits all over them for being soft Saxons and it's the funniest thing in the world to me.

Idea for a story

I'd love to see a story that explores Hemming and Trygve and Vili's relationship when Vili was growing up. There's a ton of hints that Vili was a bit of a handful as a kid, and I think it would be interesting to see how Hemming finally made peace with the fact that what he wanted Vili to be just wasn't right for his son.

Unpopular opinion

I actually think Vili should have been Jarl. Trygve is old and was ready to burn on the pyre with Hemming. I don't think his heart was in it any more than Vili's. And not to mention, unless Trygve gets frisky with a younger woman (would love that for him but y'know), Vili is likely going to have to return at some point to take that seat. It feels a bit inevitable. I think Eivor picking Trygve to be a Jarl is a decision made for selfish reasons of her wanting Vili by her side. That all said, Trygve was Jarl in my game sooo...

Favorite relationship

Romantic + in game - Eivor x Vili, obviously. There is no other pairing in the game that matches their chemistry imo. I'm also convinced that Eivor rolled out that 'flickering flame' BS just to protect herself knowing that Vili might still be Jarl. There's absolutely no fuckin' way you think about your best friend so often it's like he never left, fall immediately back into your old ways when you're reunited, and then pretend like ending up together was a one time thing. Get the hell outta here with that.

Platonic - Vili & Hemming. I adore Hemming to the moon and back (that is a rant in itself) but the thing that sticks out to me is how much they care about each other without really trying to change one another. I'm sure there's a lot of conflict and struggle that led up to that, but it just touches my heart how Hemming doesn't try to force Vili down a path he doesn't want to walk anymore. And Vili shutting down/not wanting to acknowledge Hemming's illness is just another indicator of how much he relies on his dad being there. AND HEMMING CALLS EIVOR KNOWING HE'S GOING TO DIE AND VILI WILL NEED HELP GETTING THROUGH IT AND HEMMING KNOWS EIVOR IS THE ONLY PERSON VILI WILL TRUST ENOUGH TO LET IN. I need to lie down.

Favorite headcanon

Probably that he would be close friends with Rollo and Birna. They all have a little fun wild streak, all have tasted what it's like to lead or serve a leader, all have joined Eivor's crew looking for something new. I think they'd have a lot of fun together. Plus Vili would tower over Rollo (even though Rollo is by no means small) and I think that would bug the shit out of Rollo lol.

ty for another excuse to wax lyrical about this big doofus <3 Send me a character

[zuzuslastbraincell]

Give me a character and I will answer: Azula

here we go

why I like them

absolute queen and absolute loser at the same time. the intimidating, confident #girlking persona she projects is extremely compelling to watch, the lines she makes e.g. "you were never really a player" are just so cutting, she's clearly having fun trouncing everyone and seeing the gaang struggle against that is a good challenge, she's just good *fun* as a screen presence and just immensely entertaining to watch. she's also just extremely fucking funny. like as much as I felt the writers over-leant into '14 year old girl is the most terrifying creature on the planet' as humour, to the extent that Ursa and Iroh end up saying some very fucked-up lines (which the series compensates for by taking seriously and exploring the consequences for Azula's psyche in S3), I do think the joke *is* genuinely pretty funny. Seeing Azula make grown men, soliders, leading officials, just panic and lose it is *funny* on some level cause she's just a 14 year old kid. Like she's a very good second season villain that ups the stakes.

but like, she's more than who she pretends to be, they give her a lot of depth in s3, you really very much see that at the core of it she's a dsyfunctional 14 year old who has been abused by her father, trapped in a toxic competition with her brother for the crown, and taught that weakness of any kind is utterly unacceptable. The show doesn't ask you to forgive her for who terribly she's treated others but it does present her as worthy of sympathy, as someone complex, made who she was by the conditions of her upbringing.

she's absolutely terrible but she's tremendous fun and you really do feel for her.

why i don't

she was just utterly awful to zuko, ty lee, and mai. she does just manipulate people. she is just unapologetically pro-fire nation and never questions that or has the chance to question it. But arguably these are things, weirdly, that I also like about her because she's just such a compelling example of a deeply flawed character - flaws make characters interesting. (really do wish she'd give zuko a break though.)

favourite episode

I thought about this for a moment but it's the beach. of course it's the beach. the volleyball scene. the petty jealousy. her inability to flirt. 'that's a sharp outfit chan'. the whole campfire scene from 'here we go again' to 'my mother thought i was a monster'. Finally burning chan's house down? Like ugh. Really showed Azula both at her most fun, her funniest, and her most vulnerable at the same time. Really made it clear how she's really lacking social skills from how she's been brought up as a little soldier - like it's made interacting with peers as equals just impossible for her and she really *struggles* outside of the hypercpmpetitive environment that her father brought her up to dominate.

favourite season

don't ask me this. I love s2 hyper-competant azula and s3 disaster azula equally.

favourite line

'Isn't it obvious? I'm about to celebrate becoming an only child!' always fucking cracks me up but it's like HOW dramatic can you be, and the ruthlessness here I think indicates some kind of desperation really. southern raiders azula is a really interesting azula imo (as we have discussed a lot recently)

favourite outfit

oh definitely the earth kingdom outfit in crossroads of destiny. she looks great in green!

OTP

azula/therapy azula/meaningful amends and redemption azula/working through her shit in order to become a better-adjusted adult

but azula/katara is good in an AU where it’s less messy and there’s less intergenerational trauma. 

brotp

azula & any kind of genuine parental affection PLEASE can iroh or ursa step up thanks or just ANYONE please adopt this child

but also i am very fond as sokka & azula as pai sho rivals in their early 20s who snipe at each other but eventually over time become almost-friends, and i like toph & azula having chaotic life-changing adventures together

a headcanon

azula is equally as knowledgeable about the theatre as zuko, she just hides her interest. I think artistically she's also quite skilled - though it's downplayed. I can see her being a great singer (in the same way zuko is apparently a good musician) or potentially very good with inks, as it requires a great degree of precision. post-redemption i imagine though she lets her work become more messy, more abstract, less precise. she sings off tune. she joins an amateur players group and lets herself be a hammy actor. she learns to dance and isnt perfect at it first try. I can see the arts as being really fundamental to her recovery quite honestly.

unpopular opinion

honestly don’t think i have any, unless 'an abused 14 year old child soldier is NOT irredeemable' still counts as unpopular. I think opinion has softened towards azula over time though and i think more people nowadays recognise she needs help & can better herself with the right support network.

I suppose what could be counted as unpopular is that, while azula may love zuko 'deep down', the olive branch she offers him in s2/s3 to return home is also a self-interested move that puts the harsh light of scrutiny on him and ensures he'll be blamed if the avatar is rediscovered (see their convo in s3e1), and zuko is well within his rights to reject and want better than azula's 'love' when it is clearly also a self-interested and manipulative ploy. Love isn’t and shouldn't be manipulative and it's tragic that Azula can't open herself enough to build something based on trust and instead has to manipulate the people she cares for in position.

OH wait - actual unpopular opinion 'do the tides command the ship?' never landed as a line for me, the whole time i was just thinking about how ignorant she appeared to be of like, how boats work... how the sea works..., and her confidence just came off as arrogant stupidity. azula you cant argue with the dudes they’ll just wreck your boat dude.

a wish

wrote a post about this which I'll link but azula joining the ember island players is really my favourite recovery arc for her:

read here

oh I would also just azula, as part of her recovery-redemption process, to just go full anarchist on us, i’d really love to see a dramatic political shift in a moment of “fine! i’ll be everything my dad doesn’t want to be!” spiralling that ends up with her genuinely adopting that position.

an oh-god-please-don't-ever-happen

become the fire lord. azula needs a life outside of politics. she clearly cares for her country on some level and wants to do it right but there are other ways to fulfil that need. imo she needs to give up the crown, because, as with zuko (who travelled as a refugee in the earth kingdom and grew because of it), the elevated sense of superiority she has due to being royal prevents her from extending her sense of compassion, prevents her from seeing the cost that imperialism and monarchy has caused, she needs a new perspective, and that will require stepping away from the crown. like becoming the fire lord would create more distance rather than reduce it and she very much sees becoming the fire lord as a continuity of old practices - in contrast to zuko who breaks from them.

five words to describe her

precise, deadly, hard-working, theatrical, and dearly in need of a hug from her mother

[spikeymarshmallows]

spikey’s dnw’s for tua s3

So I've seen lots of stuff going around. People talking about what they want for S3, or what they don't want.

And honestly, I get major FOMO, and am very much like "HELLO, I AM HERE, PLEASE LISTEN TO ME, I AM BABY WITH LOW SELF-ESTEEM". Taking a leaf out of Sarky's post....

What don't I want from S3....

Warning: here there be much more salt than you're probably used to from Spikey. I’m *certain* I’ve got a lot of very unpopular opinions here so uh... sorry???

The Sparrows. Like, I want them to be a part of it. But I don't want them to be Mains. I don't want them to get lots of development at the expense of the Umbrella Harkids. Ben is the exception. I want more of him but I am counting him as an Umbrella Harkid lol. Lila. As with the Sparrows, I'm happy for her to be a part of it. She was interesting. But I cannot emphasise how much I don't want her to be a Main; hell, I don't even mind it if she is... (Okay, that's a lie. I do care). But can Diego have a storyline outside of her, please? My ships aside--I just don't really want romances as driving factors here (with the exception of Alluther, and like, I want them to have storylines outside of their romance too. Argh, hopefully I'm making sense). And I worry they're just gonna erase my boy for the sake of romance... Romances. Look, we know this about me--I am a shipper. When I engage fandom, it's 95% for ships. But when I watch things... It's less for the ships. Give me meaningful moments (like... Klaus tying Diego's boots, and them at the hotel, and the banter etc there. And GOSH, the EYE CONTACT T.T MY HEART). Anyway. The point is: I love moments like those. But I really don't watch this show for the Romance TM. Sometimes I think I'd love to see my ships become canon. But I don't know. I've never really had it happen? I don't know that I'd love it. Anyway. They're never gonna have Kliego making out on this show. That's fine. Give me moments. Give me connections. But please, please let the only overt romance be Alluther. Alluther being tossed out. They're not My Ship but they're a favourite background ship for me. And I like what it stands for. So I really hope they don't go the shitty route and say Allison Rumour'd Luther. And I hope they keep having their beautiful and loving chemistry. I also think they do well at being characters with lives outside of that romance. I don't think the Alluther takes away from them as characters so.... I DON'T want Alluther to be tossed out. Toilet humour and fart jokes. I just don't get it??? Like, I know I don't spend time in lots of TUA circles but I don't think I've ever seen ANYONE ask for the toilet humour?? Like. I don't get it. IN THE BIN. Making the show an outright comedy. Yes, it was fun to watch. But... I think we all fell in love with the quirky, weirdass, gritty show that was S1. I liked the random silly moments in S1, but that it never made me wanna choke on my own sadness. Brushing over the trauma. Again, I think this is something that a lot of us fell in love with the show for. The nuances and differences in trauma. How these kids were raised by the same people, but trauma looks so different in all of them. Can we have some of the anger back? The sadness? The fury and resentment towards Reginald? Having conflicted feelings about Pogo? Heck, having conflicted feelings about Reginald too. Because goodness knows that trauma is funny in that some of us still deeply care about and love our abusers, even though we don't want to, and know we shouldn't. So, I really, really don't want us to keep brushing over the trauma. We don't need to see daily therapy sessions for them, but can we stop acting like it just... didn't happen? Give me more moments like that Horrible Dinner Scene. I know a lot of people hated it, but for me.... it resonated deeply with my own trauma. Give me anger and resentment at each other for wrongs of the past. Give me love underneath it all (between the sibs!! Not Reggie), yes. That's a major thing for me. But don't have "wheeee happy families, no issues between us anymore uwu". Overpowered Babies. I know, I know. We all love it when our faves are powerful and strong. And hell yeah, I get that! Diego being able to manipulate objects in motion like that?? *chefskiss*. Five travelling back my seconds? Amazing! But I would have loved to have seen Vanya in particular struggle to control her powers. She didn't even know she had them!! And has been on mood stabilisers/killers for 20+ years!! And within?? Less than a month?? Without even knowing she HAD powers, she just had this immense control??? God, I just wanna see her and the siblings having to work through their issues so that they can help her learn. I don't want to see Klaus.... IDK what he does in the comics. But I don't want him to be the Savior Of The World. Give them good powers; but make them work for it. So Many Damn Songs. I know a lot of people really love the soundtrack. And maybe it's because I don't know most of them that I was just *shrug emoji* about them. I didn't dislike them. But it just.... I just don't care??? Focus less on that and focus more on, you know, everything else? Another Dance Scene. The first episode? I stopped watching after that dance scene because I had severe second hand embarrassment. And then? Came back to it. And now I'm so endeared by it. But the second season... IDK. It felt forced. I didn't like it. I skip past that part now.

Another apocalypse. You’ve been there, done that! Give us something else, kthx.

The siblings being stupid. I just.... I just don't think they're stupid?? I think they can be idiots, and be dumbasses. But in terms of Knowledge.... I think they all had a pretty comprehensive education. Shakespeare. Seven languages. Homer. Dancing lessons. Lessons pertaining to music. I really hate how they made Diego and Luther out to be stupid. Luther went to the goddamn moon! He just doesn't have street smarts, etc. Diego might have yeeted himself through a window, but he's not entirely an idiot. He shows off. He does dumb things; that doesn't make HIM dumb.

Oh, the twins thing. Like. Nah. Whatever man.

Dave. God. That's how little I give a shit about Dave... I entirely forgot to put him on the list until now... I don't hate Dave. I just... I just do not care one bit. It was okay in S2. But like. Can we have Klaus processing his death, and just... give him something not-Dave-centric? I don't think we ever "move on" from the loss of loved ones. But same as Lila: I don't want it to be a major part of his storyline. I like to think we saw Klaus "letting go" at the end of S2. Let's keep it there?

*

Fucking hell.... I sound like Nothing Makes Me Happy. But that's not true. I just.... need to be less grumpy for me to write that list. Anyway. This has been a salty-ass-bitch-post, courtesy of Spikey. 

[jeonqqin]

27, 33, 34, 48 ?? — ty and sorry for so many questions!! tbh i wanna ask more bc i rlly love all the questions !! 😭 also tysm for writing!! i enjoy your fics sm and i’m so glad to have found you on here!

27.) Every writer’s least favorite question - where does your inspiration come from? Do you do certain things to make yourself more inspired? Is it easy for you to come up with story ideas?

I actually watch their vlives w/out subtitles, or with French subs if they have them. just so I can mindlessly follow along and listen to their voice.

that and music helps

and I’m always coming up with new ideas, which often leads to me day dreaming and getting distracted 😂

33.) What’s your revision/rewriting process like?

don’t hate me here

but I often don’t rewrite my chapters

😱 i know

but if I were to constantly rewrite and revise I’d never stop and eventually it would never be posted

so I post it and go back to edit minor mistakes so I can give my brain a break 😂

34.) Unpopular writing thoughts/opinions?

ok well don’t kill me I guess

part of being a successful (notice that I didn’t say “good”) writer is to adapt to the masses

you’ll hear authors say “just write what you are happy writing!” and yeah you should enjoy what you’re writing or you’ll be miserable doing it

but we can’t complain about people not reading our stuff if we aren’t writing what they want to read

sure if you are just writing for therapy or you just have fun doing it, do whatever your heart desires!

but if you’re looking for people to enjoy the content you put out, you have to understand what kind of content that is

48.) Do you prefer to write skimpy drafts and flesh them out later, or write too much and cut it back?

I always start with a skeleton of a fic (small bits and scenes that I have in my head)

and then I fill it in to avoid messy transitions and confusion bc that will happen if I just write willy-nilly

and no problem about the questions dude! I’m happy that you enjoy my writing so much 🥴

[t4tbruharvey]

5, 12, 14, 21, 34, and 36 to end it!!

TY OWL YOU CONTINUE TO BE A REAL ONE

5 - top five formative books?

hmm i think I'm gonna have to go with what was for the longest time my list of favourites. please mind in bear that some of these have questionable themes/authors and I'm always mostly in it for the prose.

1. the great gatsby (prose, characterisation, yearning)2. the book thief (prose, introduction, something that happened while i was reading it that i don’t want to get into)3. how to kill a mockingbird (intro again)4. the picture of dorian gray (prose and plot and that bit where it breaks off and describes jewels for like five pages)5. ....*deep sigh* it was jekyll and hyde. i really really liked and still like the strange case of dr jekyll and mr hyde. the descriptions of the settings and the main character (UTTERSON THE MC IS NOT JEKYLL) is very well done. he has nuance and you have to be told that on the first page and yet he does prove it. stannable.(bonus 6. the secret of platform 13 bc I'm OBSESSED with the idea of a distinct supernatural world interacting with ours through specific passageways)

12 - which story of yours do you like best? why?

i think at the moment it’s magic salem 100%. i think there are elements of other wips i’m very attached to –– style with venice fairytale, characterisation with toaster and sleeby peebles, plot with reese’s pieces and setting with the 20s one –– but magic salem has the fun of creating my own world and rules within it, as well as having a brilliant cast that i can apply to pretty much any situation (it got me back into sophie ellis bextor, not that i ever was into her) AND there are werewolves in it.

14 - what does it take for you to be ready to write a book? (i.e. do you research? outline? make a playlist or pinterest board? wing it?)

okay so here’s the thing. i’m still not ready? i’ve done a  ‘dump doc’ which is just songs and ideas and world building for magic salem, i’ve done a bit of research for venice fairytale and bough many many postcards with pictures of venice on them (the aesthetic is great so i’m killing two birds), i have a basic plot for sleepy peebles and reese’s pieces which is more than i can say for the rest of them, and i’ve done literally everything possible for toaster. i have a massive colour-coded folder on my computer with aesthetics for all the main cast and clothes and stuff, and many side aus, but no plot? so maybe that’s it. 

so, to answer the question, research and outline mostly. but playlists add some fun to it.

21 - what aspect of your writing are you most proud of?

absolutely extended metaphors and lexical fields. they’re the most fun thing to write, possibly ever. also character development. i know all of my characters inside fucking out, even background ones.

34 - unpopular writing thoughts/opinions?

if your grammar’s off i’ll be immediately taken out of the story, unless it’s a continued stylistic choice. like, maybe that’s mean, but it applies to me too: if i make a typo and DON’T find it before showing someone i’ll want to hurl myself into the void.

also cliches about light are so good!! they’re so fun!! i don’t CARE if they’re overused i WANT to know how the light is streaming in through the curtains of our YA protagonist’s room!!!!

36 - post a snippet

aaaa you know i will!!!! i love spoiling my own stuff!!! also do you know how long it took to find this. sigh.

-

The toddler is still downstairs, crying. Good. If it’s crying, it’s awake.

Mal considers bringing soap, but it’ll probably leak, and anyway. Space. So they get toothbrushes and toothpaste because Ophelia once said that toothache can make you go blind, and while they don’t really believe that, they don’t want to risk it. And then another thing Ophelia said fights its way through their other thoughts, shoving itself to the forefront of their mind.

Ophelia, cooing and awwing over the toddler, bouncing it on her lap and saying thank you for the tea Mrs Jani and letting the toddler pull her hair. 

“It’s a nightmare,” Mal had said as soon as their mum left the room. “It’s always up in the middle of the night, screaming and shit.”

“He’s lovely.” The toddler had its hands in Lia’s hair, trying to pull it out of the french plaits she’d put it in. “Aren’t you? Yes you are!” 

“You’re using the pet voice.”

Ophelia ignored that and went back to bouncing the toddler. “If he bothers you that much when you have to watch him, just give him some toys to play with. I do it all the time with my cousins.”

[silverlightqueen]

daisies - Roses Mixtape Pt II

here’s another playlist to reflect the songs on Roses Mixtape Pt II, enjoy x

a/n: I’ve also linked both YouTube and Spotify x

tracklist

1. Intro: Sounds - Seokjin, Jimin, Taehyung, Jungkook & y/n (ft. Rosé & Jisoo) = Wild Thoughts - DJ Khaled, Rihanna & Bryson Tiller

The sexy upbeat vibe and guitar riffs from Maria Maria would go perfectly in a song for vocal line like I can just imagine their voices sounding amazing. Sounds would be very similar to Wild Thoughts with message and topic as well as the actual sound of the song itself, lots of sexy summery vibes. I also put Rosé and Jisoo on this song because a) gang shit and b) vocals.

2. Aphrodite - Jimin & y/n = Acquainted - The Weeknd

The Weeknd’s beautiful harmonies and big notes in this song would be perfect for Jimin and y/n, and the focus of Aphrodite would be the same as Acquainted; sex, lmao. It would basically be Jimin singing about how y/n is his Aphrodite but they both get the feeling that the relationship won’t work out and its foundations are the physicality they share.

3. Shots - Yoongi, Hoseok & Namjoon ft. Jennie = Or Nah - Ty Dolla Sign ft. The Weeknd, Wiz Khalifa & DJ Mustard

Shots is straight up about sex. Like no metaphors or wordplays here, they straight up talk about sex in the song, just like in Or Nah. It’s got the same sexy dark vibe with fire bars, and this song also give Jennie the opportunity to show that she’s not this good little girl that YG make her out to be; she’s a grown woman and she ain’t afraid to show it.

4. Lingerie - Hoseok, Taehyung & y/n = Sin Pijama - Becky G & Natti Natasha 

Lingerie is very much similar to Sin Pijama; just as sexy, just as fire, just as fun and upbeat. I felt like Tae and Hobi would definitely suit this kind of song and they would definitely be speaking in Spanish too, as well as y/n. It’d also be about the same thing, but I think a lot less explicit than Sin Pijama.

5. Mi Amor - Yoongi & Jimin = Suit & Tie - Justin Timberlake & Jay-Z

The word that comes to mind when I think about what Mi Amor would sound like is slick, and Suit & Tie is nothing if not slick. The old-school RnB vibes would suit Jimin and Yoongi so well and the whole message of the song just suits them both so well too like the suit and tie, the subtle dominance over their other half, the smart, slick retro vibes; the song just scream Jimin and Yoongi to me. I also put these two on a song together because they’re both singing to the same girl so it made it easier when they were writing because they were more on the same page than Jimin realised sksks.

6. On Lock - y/n ft. Rosé = Low Key - Mabel

The old-school RnB vibes from this song makes me think of y/n too, and I thought it’d be unusual to have as her solo song dedicated to Jimin as its message isn’t what you’d expect, but it also screams y/n to me. Rosé would also bring in some pretty harmonies and adlibs in the background so that the song for y/n herself is quite simple and doesn’t put too much pressure or strain on her for high notes, giving the song quite a chill and relaxing vibe.

7. Promise - Jimin = Say It - Tory Lanez

Again, I thought this song would be very unusual to have as Jimin’s solo song dedicated to y/n, but it appealed to me a lot because the whole vibe makes me think of Jimin. He’d be fantastic on an RnB song like this, and the pretty notes and harmonies would suit his voice so well. I think it also reflects Jimin’s mindset at times; he has his walls up quite high and so questions people’s true intentions a lot due to a lack of trust, asking y/n to make a promise to him about her love for him, which is the exact feeling I get from Say It.

8. Lights - Seokjin, Namjoon & Taehyung ft. Jisoo & Jennie = Love Galore - SZA ft. Travis Scott

I really feel like Seokjin, Namjoon and Taehyung’s solo music (Awake, Mono and Stigma/Singularity) combined would produce this kind of vibe. The sad reminiscent vibe of Seokjin’s, the gentle bars from Namjoon’s and the RnB sound from Taehyung’s really makes me think that, together, it’d produce the Alt RnB sound that Love Galore has. And Jisoo and Jennie had to be on this song because we stan Kim siblings.

9. 24 - Jimin & y/n = Side to Side - Ariana Grande ft. Nicki Minaj

Basically, y/n and Jimin like to have sex. A lot. And Side to Side is about sex. A lot of it. That’s it. That’s literally it. Okay, no, it’s not. So the strong pop vibes from Side to Side wouldn’t exactly suit y/n and Jimin as well as RnB or ballads do, but it would show off their versatility and also the fun side of their relationship. Combine Acquainted and Side to Side together, and you’ve literally got y/n and Jimin’s relationship.

10. Vibes - Hoseok, Jimin, Jungkook & y/n ft. Lisa = Confident - Justin Bieber ft. Chance The Rapper

If you don’t think Confident would suit dance line, you’re a liar. The song Confident, whilst being about a confident girl, radiates confidence from the singer themselves, and dance line themselves radiate confidence onstage. They’d be something to watch performing Vibes onstage. The mix of genres between RnB and hip-hop would be perfect for dance line, and Lisa is on the song because have you seen that girl dance? Like, imagine them all performing it together. 

11. Babygirl - Seokjin & Jungkook ft. Jisoo = Her Way - PARTYNEXTDOOR

I know it’s a very unpopular opinion but I think RnB suits Jin and Jungkook really well, and this song is pure RnB. Jisoo would do the adlibs and harmonies (along with Jungkook because that boy can’t breathe without making it an adlib or harmony) and it’d just have a super sexy and beautiful vibe. Partynextdoor’s voice also really reminds me of Jungkook’s when he goes high so I can just imagine him on this song, and Jin’s confidence and cockiness would go so well with this song.

12. Outro: Good - Namjoon, Jimin & y/n = Sativa - Jhene Aiko ft. Rae Sremmurd

y/n=Jhene Aiko, Jimin=Swae Lee and Namjoon=SlimJxmmi. Listen to the song and tell me you disagree, and I’ll tell you you’re wrong. This song is one of my favourites of all time and y/n, Jimin and Namjoon on this song together would be pure perfection. Good talks about the sex and drinking and drugs just like Sativa, and definitely has the same RnB vibes. Jimin’s voice would be so subtle and gentle in this, a lot closer to the choruses of Serendipity than to anything else in the sense that it doesn't demand much, just as it is with y/n except for the harmonies during the chorus (not that they’re particularly difficult or straining either). Namjoon’s rap would fit into this song just to make that bit less relaxed and chill, and more lit and hype, giving it that perfect balance that RnB songs have. But the overall gentle and calm vibe of the song makes it the perfect outro and also sums up y/n and Jimin’s relationship really well.

taglist💕: @khaoticamour @rjsmochii @minniestudies @oodlespadoodle @shay-the-turtle @yasbts705 @goldenchemistry @arvbellas @anothershorthuman @golden-pixie-dust-200 @onlinewhale @maknaeroni @sweetchocolategoblin @conslack @missbowkimjinju @pocketfullofsuga @booklover240 @dimple-jungkook @squishyshit @sakurauchiha2018 @keylowmonie @untainted-memories @babybluebisexual @dearbangtan07 @joyful-jimin

[strrne]

If Disney ever made an obi-wan tv show, starring ewan mcgregor of course, what are some things that you’d want to see in it?

thanks for the question anon! according to the most recent rumors, I think we might just be getting one…?

unpopular opinion. I was pretty ambivalent about the Obi-Wan movie (originally it was supposed to be a movie, like Solo) from the very beginning. Obi-Wan's Tatooine years have their place in canon, I think, but for me personally? I'd relegate them to the lower tiers of canon, like the novels and comics. heck, I'd prefer leave that to the fanfics, because heaven forbid something be left to the fans' imagination. like sure, there's stories to explore there, but the overall premise is much like parallel parking to me. you gotta figure out how to fit it comfortably between two sets of untouchable canon, which kinda makes some of it… almost predictable to me? like, yeah, he's going to be sad. the Jedi are gone, Anakin is gone… oh there's little Luke being a paragon of innocence. sure puts a doleful smile on my face. sand, sand, sand… unsung heroism. sparsely furnished hovel. Anakin's lightsaber. sadness, loneliness, angst. Anakin is Vader??!!! get out of town!  

maybe this is an overly cynical viewpoint, so I'll try to be positive. after all, I enjoyed Rogue One and even ended up liking Solo for what it was, despite the fact that both were set during a very specific point in the timeline and a little too concerned with explaining existing canon and tying it all together. so there's no reason that I wouldn't potentially enjoy this one, too? and, let's be real, even if the end product is abysmal, like I'm NOT gonna watch lol.  

my final caveat is that… I usually try not to make 'wish lists' in regards to media I consume. sure, I'll form my opinions on the plot and the characters and draw my own conclusions about what I think is going to happen vs. what I would like to happen… but I try not to get too invested in my own headcanons/theories/ideas (in this context. fanfics are an entirely different animal bwahahaha). the production of (Hollywood) media is an extremely complicated process involving many, many creative minds and decision-makers and external factors, so I don't really see the point of actively wanting something to happen and then being inevitably disappointed. at this point I've sort of internalized this mindset, so these days I go to movies/watch shows etc. with an open mind, looking forward to seeing the story unfold the way it unfolds. then I will either like, it or not like it, or land somewhere in between.

(tl;dr, it's complicated, actual answer + actual positivity starts below!)

what I would like to see in an Obi-Wan solo series:  

I'll just go ahead and assume this will take place during his Tatooine years following the events of rots.

- I'd definitely want to see a cameo from Hayden Christensen, maybe even have him on as a recurring character, or rather, a presence, in the form of a hallucination/dream or some such. I'm an unabashed fan of Hayden's portrayal of Anakin, flawed directing and all, and I don't really see myself getting invested in the show the same way if the character of Anakin, arguably the most important relationship in Obi-Wan's life, is merely given a throw-away mention or a shot of his lightsaber and maybe a leitmotif. I also don't see the inevitable Vader 'reveal' having the same emotional weight if Anakin, his past self, is not given proper focus and… well, literal presence.  

- and you know… you kind of need Qui-Gon there as well? (you're Disney, slap some of that de-aging magic on Liam Neeson if you need to.) I mean… he's literally a Force Ghost at this point, and kind of also an important figure in Obi-Wan's life… and that Force Ghost training, anyone? and then they could be sad about Anakin together, yay! and you could also do flashbacks with these two. or with Anakin! or both! 

- MAUUUUUUUUL nah, jk. :D but then again it would be HILARIOUS. and I'll take hilarious over predictable.

- I would love to have at least one episode (or even a major theme) dedicated to the clones (Temuera Morrison yaaayy), like some Empire defectors or Clone War deserters who kind of just cross paths with him (on an unremarkable, obscure planet like Tatooine I think it's entirely believable). there could be some tension/mistrust between them first (kind of like in Rebels), but Obi-Wan, of course, would get to showcase his strengths as a communicator and they would sort out the whole Order 66 disaster and the Republic slave labor thingy and… uh, become BFFs? up until Obi would go, this has been nice, but I'm already late for my infinite sadness over there, may the Force be with you, gentlemen.

- obviously there would be some Friendly Neighborhood Space Wizard stuff. go settle those disputes and help those orphans and overthrow some crime lords. bonus points if this is used to explore his Anakin-related angst as he reminisces about how Anakin always wanted to return to Tatooine and free the slaves. and then maybe he has an epiphany like, yeah, this is how the Jedi should have been serving the Galaxy all along. we meant well but made mistakes etc etc. which will result in a THEME and also it will be fun to see how he accomplishes all these small acts of heroism without attracting too much attention but at the same time gaining that 'weird old hermit' reputation.

- I wouldn't mind seeing Owen and Beru Lars as recurring characters. a simple cameo would feel a little hollow, as they are literally Tatooine residents and Obi's next-door neighbors almost and they get a REALLY rough deal in the OT. one of my biggest gripes with the OT is Luke's complete non-reaction to the violent deaths of his foster parents (they ARE his parents! they raised him from infancy! hello???) and while that can't necessarily be 'fixed' here, I would at least love to see them being a little family and living their simple lives.

- there's nothing to stop Obi-Wan from visiting other planets from time to time. I think the Tatooine setting would eventually get a little too limited and tedious. I would especially love to see Alderaan in all its glory, before… well ya know. and then the Royal family would have to cameo. little Leia, and BREHA ORGANA! (and Bail, of course.) 

- this is getting into the 'wildly improbable' territory, but maybe you could bring back a couple of Padmé's handmaidens (Sabé?) and we could have some Padmé feels? they could even team up with Obi on a mission or something! there's your resident Action Girl right there. also, my memory of the Rebels/Ahsoka novel canon is a little fuzzy, so this would probably be somehow contradictory, but… AHSOKA.  

- but since there would inevitably be new characters… my only wish is that they would be well thought-out and interesting (which is subjective, I know). also, you're Disney, you have the budget to do aliens, do aliens. more aliens pls.

I could come up with more, and there's probably something really obvious I'm missing or maybe an error in there somewhere, but here are some of the things I would like to see on an Obi-Wan show. as you can probably tell, I'm conflicted. on one hand, I'm one of those fans who never really actively needed for this to be a thing, but if you get me going about its potential, I actually get kind of excited. the limited scope thingy is a bit meh to me (yes, I say this as a fan of the prequels) since as a consumer of media I'm fond of such things as stakes, surprises, plot twists and creative freedom, and as someone with imagination I don't really need every time period in SW canon to be covered in meticulous detail. BUT! if the Obi-Wan show does happen, one thing is for sure: I will be really happy for Ewan McGregor, who I know absolutely adores his character and has been very open about his desire to play him again.

(but also; seriously, ya better deliver on the Christensen.)

[bthump]

for the 'send you a character' thing, how abt Max and/or Silver from Black Sails?

Ty! I was hoping for a few non-Berserk ones just for the sake of variety ngl.

Also warning for Black Sails spoilers. I’ll put this under a cut so people who don’t care about the fandom can more easily scroll.

Max

First impression:

Uh pretty much just “wow she’s so hot” lol. Quickly followed by being very sad for her when she was asking Eleanor to leave. She was instantly one of my favourite characters, and I was also immensely glad when her season 1 plot was over bc that was hard to sit through.

Impression now:

I liked her sort of following in Eleanor’s footsteps for a while before eventually reassesing, realizing she’d fucked up, and prioritizing Anne instead. She had a good arc. Refusing to marry a dude to secure her power was such a fist pump moment, especially because she got her power anyway.

Favorite moment:

Honestly her scene on the bench in the snow with Anne. I cried a lot.

Idea for a story:

Idk she had a pretty satisfying storyline, the only thing I really wanted from it was more solid closure with her relationship with Anne. So really anything post-series that explores their relationship as they get back together. Anne coming back to Max after a few months of pirating.

OOH no wait, something more plotty and historical lol. Anne after she gets caught and arrested for piracy, and Max helping her escape execution and running away with her or something.

Unpopular opinion:

A lot of people seem to not like her dialogue? Yeah she talks pretentiously but it’s great, I love it.

Favorite relationship:

Anne. I also really liked her covering for Anne after she straight up murdered two people lol, that was another great moment.

Favorite headcanon:

I actually got nothing. I’m bad at thinking of headcanons at the best of times lol, and idt I’ve got quite enough nerdy passion for Black Sails to come up with something.

SIlver

First impression:

Thought he was funny and entertaining, enjoyed him a lot.

Impression now:

hoo boy. I still think he’s a good fun character and I enjoyed him throughout when I watched the show a second time too, but it’s like, his choice to end the war in the finale didn’t make me retroactively hate everything I liked about him, but man I consider it pretty unforgiveable lol. I have no sympathy for that decision.

Favorite moment:

Curbstomping Dufresne was a fantastic scene. Also revealing that he traded his share in the treasure for his place in the crew. And early on “we might be friends by then,” was great lol.

Idea for a story:

Retelling of Treasure Island from Silver’s perspective, focus on why he’s obsessed with getting the treasure: because regret, just like Flint warned. Also Madi never forgave him.

Unpopular opinion:

I’m too out of touch with fandom to know what’s popular or not lol. I never really shipped him with Flint I guess. I can see it and I’d be into like, a one night stand situation between them in mid season 4 or something, but even in an AU I’m not into shipping them as anything long term.

Favorite relationship:

Flint. Their relationship was fun and intense and interesting and shifted a lot, alternately trusting and mistrustful, and v compelling. Despite my last answer I actually loved the romantic subtext between them too.

Favorite headcanon:

I feel like I should have a take on his mysterious dark backstory here lol but I don’t really have one. Same problem I had with Max, I just don’t have the creative impulse for this show really.

[cloneslugs]

oh fuck u sent me multiple so demo/engie/medic/scout and also u can do the one i already sent

ty i love you

Demo

favorite thing about them

he’s super fun!!! but also really smart and caring and just an all around cool dude he’s like B) !

least favorite thing about them

this isnt about him personally lol but like official stuff(comics) lighten the fuck out of his skin and its like. dont

favorite line

i didnt even see this question when i first did this wtf but uh all his “i love you” esque lines are really excellent

brOTP

exclusing soldier lol!!! probably sniper or engie!!

OTP

soldier :’)

nOTP

besides scout & pyro & just like. looking at just the mercs no one really demo deserves love

random headcanon

he likes turtles a lot & just reptiles/amphibians in general just in a kinda neat/favorite animal type way nothing special, he gets around with engie and sniper and they all get drunk and they talk about cryptids, he has a super big heart he loves love, outside of the battlefield he’s pretty apprehensive and cautious moreso than lots of the others at least, he doesnt push himself to be it often just bc he doesnt like leaderly positions but he defo has one of the more valid voices of reason amongst all of them, he loves to help and just listen to people he’s always ready to offer you a drink and take a load off and just talk things out & he’s super chill and easy to talk to anyway, he comes off as really lazy but he can jump up and make do when he needs to

unpopular opinion

idk whats considered popular or not on here lol but like!! he’s not just stupid silly drunk man he’s actually got heart and is pretty intelligent & like probably one of the better off mercs if he wanted himself to be

song i associate with them (this is literally the worst question im so bad at this if i dont have lots n lots of searching time and also i forget all music ever)

cheap thrills - sia

favorite picture of them (sorry 4 bg edits im doing what i have on hand lol)

hes so fucking happy i love you!!!

Engie

favorite thing about them

he’s my fucking husband he makes my heart fucking soar!!! he’s a quiet little sweetheart and he’s just really smart and nice and has morals iusdahui

least favorite thing about them

fucking nothing you animals 

favorite line

all his fucking nerdy engineering lines are so fucking good ;____; he’s so smart and passionate god“i love engines! pinion shafts! flanges. mitigating shock loads. but most of all: i love winnin’!” “they won’t know what hit ‘em! though it’ll likely to be bullets. statistically speaking” theres more but im like ;___; just thinking about him ah

brOTP

medic babey!!!!!! i have a thing for shitty best friends that tire each other out (especially on one side) but love each other at the end of the day and are just ride or diepyro also but for completely different reasons :-)

OTP

spy is fucking excellent -.- dont @ me

nOTP

soldier lol (excluding pyro & scout)

random headcanon

i think all the mercs are autsitic but engie is one of my fucking fav ahhhhh, he and medic info dump for hours especially where their special interests overlap and it gets really boring if youre not one of them lol, he loves learning but he hated school so much ):, he has pretty bad anxiety but only under certain circumstance, he’s kinda jealous that spy gets to automatically be seen as a paternal figure bc of scout and he kinda wishes he could settle in like that but he also doesnt think he’d be very good at it for a very prolonged amount of time, he loves math!!!! he loves numbers a lot he associates it with lots of fun and colors and just !!!!! wow wow!!, he has really really really high empathy when it comes to machines and stuff, he loves dogs especially smaller ones, he really loves to fidget w/ tools and stuff bc he always has one on hand and theres lots you can do with some of them, he’s really lazy and has a hard time applying himself sometimes

unpopular opinion

the comics really brush him aside i need to see him more please for the love of god he’s just as interesting as anyone else also fat engie is the only valid engie & also soldier/engie is fucking forced and weird idk where it comes from except they wear hats lol & also people call engie short but if you dont make him 5′00 give or take 3 inches youre doing it wrong and i cant stand by it

song i associate with them

this is like. also a soldier song for me lol but Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect - the decemberists

favorite picture of them

ms pauling and medic!! his buddies :) also i just love the shadowboxers art

his fly costume makes me so ;___; i love you little man

also i hate to default to beard engie but this is literally the sexiest man alive

Medic

favorite thing about them

i have a thing for shitty men with halfway decent hearts but are trying(sometimes) okay like okay he’s so chaotic and bad but ;___; i love you

least favorite thing about them

this mostly applies to his Meet the vid but he comes off as really apathetic and cruel? i think in everything else he comes off as a bit nicer if not absentminded and not too socially aware which is :)

favorite line

bro when he warns heavy about that gun in the comix? gay rights U__U also the like “you can take the brain out of the criminal and put it in a pumpkin, but you cant take the criminal out of the brain in the pumpkin” or whatever shit sir i love you

brOTP

engie baby!!!! i also really like spy & sniper bc im weak for shitty support relationships i think med just works really good w/ everyone really in some way

OTP

heavy baby!!!

nOTP

all of the mercs are fine (excluding the usual lol) but like cHeavymed people are freaks die

random headcanon

he has really poor eating & sleeping habits he almost relies on everyone else to keep him alive, he’s autistic & he’s jewish but not really practicing, he pulls & tugs on things when he’s stressed, he’s actually really smart medically he just doesn’t like showing it/messing w/ people (it makes some of the smarter mercs nervous lol), when he gets bored & has nothing to play with he digs for drama he loves to start unnecessary arguments that have no value whatssoever, he’s scared of dogs, he only trusts sniper & maybe heavy to handle his birds if he were to die, heavy & archimedes are like mega comfort objects(?) for him !!, he’s kinda really bad at showing he likes/cares for people, this goes especially hard on engie ):, he has a really big sweet tooth, he cant cook, he doesnt ever censor himself and can be pretty rude, he’s an open book and has no sense of integrity, he got super attached to heavy right off the bat for seemingly no reason and it was just super awkward lol, he gets distracted really easily and drops projects too often when he gets bored/forgets, his room is a mess he doesnt know how to do chores, he’s trans and hasnt done anything to medically transition but he handles everyone on team who is 

unpopular opinion

he’s not a fucking sociopath lol like he has a heart and cares he just has a hard time differentiating right from wrong and doesnt think things out i love you

song i associate with them

this is my emo music time i keep changing this but im gonna go It Was A Swift Not A Swallow - Crywank

favorite picture of them

i cant pick between these two he’s saving his fucking boyfriends life & also the 2nd he just looks so peaceful and :)

Scout

favorite thing about them

he’s a sweet boy!!! he just wants friends and he’s stuck with a bunch of middle aged men we have to love his endurance also he’s a little baby faced menace i love you

least favorite thing about them

in the canon i ignore lol.. too straight we cant have that

favorite line

all his lines talking about how the group of them are all best friends and stuff??? i love that

brOTP

sniper !!!! also spy also everyone

OTP

no one really lol pyro is like. the only one im comfy w/

nOTP

sniper lol if we’re talking popular things & all the rest of the mercs really

random headcanon

he’s a super sweet boy who loves everyone on the team, he warmed up the fastest out of all of them and became super attached!!, he really wants a base dog, he really likes to spend time with everyone and listen to them talk like he loves sitting with engie and having him explain nerdy engineering nonsense that he’ll never get but he tries to but its just fun seeing how excited the other person is!!!, he became super close to sniper right off the bat for some reason which is weird bc scout can talk forever and sniper doesn’t know how to hold a conversation for more than 5 minutes but they like hanging out even if it gets tiring, he lives off of sugary drinks medic keeps telling him to stop, he loves to hang out w/ spy and they get on each others nerves but really enjoy it at the end of the day, he has little to no sense of boundaries, he loves to give hugs!!, he really tries to engage with everyone’s interests like i said he just loves making/seeing other people happy, he loves being part of big groups it always just feels like a big family to him

unpopular opinion

he gay :)

song i associate with them

the calculation - regina spektor

favorite picture of them

trans rights!!!

Soldier

favorite thing about them

he is a sweetheart he is my big stupid husband and we both love raccoons =.=

least favorite thing about them

the patriotism……  we arent having that

favorite line

he’s literally so fucking funny especially all his things w/ merasmus and just. everything

brOTP

excluding demo uh !!! SPY!!!! :D

OTP

demo :)

nOTP

engie x.x

random headcanon

he’s super sweet !!! he loves his friends so much, he loves to show off his raccoons to everyone :), he bonds w/ sniper over wildlife(raccoons), everyone has a lot of patience w/ him bc he struggles to communicate things a lot and kinda needs his time to get points across, he’s actually really observant and it would be really good if he just didnt jump to wild conclusions based off of it all the time, he’s really conscious of his actions and how they affect others like he’s kinda violent impulsively but hes taken note of who is and isnt okay with it or who’s okay w/ him saying what in front of them, he’s really protective of his friends!!! he knows theyre capable but he loves looking out for them, he loves to drag them off on fitness expeditions/training but he tires out before a good number of them/gets bored, he wakes up the earlies he loves the mornings, he can cook but nobody knows it, like scout he loves to indulge in what other people like but he’s more handson he loves to screw in screws for engie or hand medic tools or read out loud to spy or heavy or show sniper things he catches/turn over rocks with him, he loves medics birds but doc wont let him touch them ):, he wants to get a base dog too, he has no volume or tone control, probably the best hugger, he’s kinda shy about personal things like himself in general or being trans & liking guys he’s actually pretty decent at keeping personal things to himself not that he wouldnt share it just feels weird, 

unpopular opinion

he’s not just like shouty mean stupid man,,, he’s actually really sweet 

song i associate with them

rejoice- AJJ 

favorite picture of them

i have worse naked honey pics but this is fucking it lads gay rights

[fleursetrebellion]

Why Breath of the Wild Doesn’t Have A Companion Character

Among Legend of Zelda games there’s a rift between two types of games in the series: those with companion characters and those without. And I think there’s an interesting topic to discuss in why some have them, and why some choose not to have them. To really get to the heart of this though, it’s important to recognize what the design of Zelda was originally made to do, and how that changed over time.

In the original Legend of Zelda, the game was explicitly made to be a game about freely exploring a mysterious world and uncovering surprising things around every corner. In some sense, the original design was intended to be the purest possible form and experience of an adventure. That adventurousness goes into every part of the game’s design. You’re never guided, you make your own path. You’re never pushed, you do only what you want to. And the game never stops keeping its secrets, you must uncover them yourself. There’s never a point at which the world is no longer mysterious. They even included a feature where the second time you play through the game, it shuffles around the map so that it maintains its secrets and you can give it a second try. But a big factor here is that players were explicitly meant to choose what they want to do next, not to be told. The game directs you, but only with hints and very subtle suggestions.

In this sense, having a companion with you simply doesn’t solve any problems. The companion character could be neat at best, but even still they would be an unnecessary element which keeps you from getting to the best part of the game: discovery. At worst they might even spoil secrets that you wanted to find yourself, or push you towards things that you didn’t want to do.

When it came time for the next proper sequel, A Link to the Past, some things had changed. The game started directing players more. Some secrets were given away, though most still needed to be uncovered. But the biggest change was that parts of the game started to push you through its critical path, always nudging you towards the next dungeon. There were lots of reasons for this, I believe biggest of all was that aLttP introduced a huge increase in scale, which made it harder for players to self-direct in such a big world. But to accomplish this they introduced the first step towards a companion character.

See, the game opens with the sequence of Zelda contacting you with her telepathy, and she directs you into the castle where you save her. But after that point Zelda no longer was poised to direct you through your journey. Enter Sahasrahla. This guy was an old man, like the ones who gave you cryptic hints in the first game. Except this time he outright guides you towards dungeons and tells you where the next objective is. His function was pretty limited, so he didn’t chime in much but he did was occasionally contact you through telepathy. Pretty hands-off, but it’s already a step towards a Companion Character. So to put it simply, they introduced Sahasrahla because they needed to tell you what you can do in the world. Otherwise you might not even know that there’s a dungeon to go find.

Anyway, the next main Zelda game after aLttP was Ocarina of Time, and that’s where we got the most iconic companion character of all. The reason for introducing a companion was complicated. It was an N64 game, and every designer at Nintendo was so excited to try out 3d game mechanics. But the shift towards 3d introduced all kinds of technical issues. Spaces became harder to navigate, game worlds became more costly to create, and most of all cameras became very hard to program. Ocarina of Time famously solved this camera issue with Z-Targeting. But it wouldn’t be Nintendo if they left that as “good enough”.

Maybe you’ve noticed but Nintendo has this habit, almost an obsession, of tying up loose strings. Anything done in one part of a game’s design must connect back to all other parts of the design, including the narrative design. They couldn’t just let you Z-target, they had to tie that into the game’s narrative design as well. So they came up with one narrative-friendly solution for all of the technical problems of the 3d world all at once: Navi.

How does Navi solve camera controls? Navi is Z-targeting! How does Navi make 3d spaces easier to navigate? Navi can chime in with hints and direct you towards doors! And how does she solve the problem that 3d game worlds are costly to create? Well, if the world is smaller, Navi can stick with the player and always let them know where the next objective is, driving players along the main path so they never stray too far and discover just how little is actually in this 3d world. (At least compared to aLttP.) And it worked amazingly! Ocarina of Time quickly became the classic we all know and love. Some other neat tricks that Navi has is that she can help make story moments more interesting by speaking for Link when he has to remain silent, which lent to the new more cinematic tone of the game. She could even give a sense of larger scale to the world with bits of lore, though let’s face it they weren’t really all that great most of the time.

And then moving into Majora’s Mask we saw something... weird. Majora’s Mask was developed in a hurry, and they didn’t completely have time to rework any ideas from scratch. So when the game abandoned the cinematic style of OoT, favoring a much more classic open-exploration style of play, they still didn’t really have the time to come up with a new Navi. So, even though Majora’s Mask is much more similar to aLttP in structure than OoT, Navi stayed. Or rather, her concept stayed under a different name.

But the N64 is done. The GameCube is announced and the new tech is amazing. The best console specs in that generation, as it would turn out. That meant fewer limits on the world size, the tech for 3d cameras had time to mature, and Nintendo learned how to communicate space in 3d. So we saw the first even return-to-form for a Zelda game. Mostly it was a return to the style of aLttP, but we even saw one interesting feature return from the original Legend of Zelda. That is, in Wind Waker, the world was organized as a grid of spaces.

It was kind of a brilliant piece of design. In the first Legend of Zelda you could never see beyond the edge of the screen, each time the screen scrolled over was a new chance to surprise. But even still, they were able to make sure you could still navigate the world without getting too lost by making the world... kind of small. I mean, no doubt it was full of interesting content, but there weren’t actually that many screens in the original Zelda’s world. And that made it easier for players to recognize landmarks, remember all of the things they wanted to come back to, and remember paths through the world. And in Wind Waker they found a way to replicate that sense of exploring a limited set of spaces on a grid. Except this time the grid was a massive ocean, and each screen was the size of an entire island. You never got confused exploring the ocean because there are only a few really important islands to go to. And you never got confused exploring an island because you can see the whole thing at once!

And that isn’t the only return to form. Wind Waker favored open exploration over the linear epic storylines of OoT. It cut down on Z-targeting and allowed for more free navigation and puzzle-solving even if there were enemies around. And, back to the topic at hand, it didn’t have a companion character. At least, it sort of didn’t. The King of Red Lions acted as this sort of Sahasrahla-like character (complete with telepathy). He would direct you to certain island (annoyingly locking you into an island once at the beginning) but he could never tell you how to explore each island. He was pretty hands-off. And there were certainly more cinematic moments in the game which featured companion characters, like Makar, Medli, and Zelda at the end. But it was never anything on the scale of OoT.

With Twilight Princess there isn’t much to talk about besides the fact that, for reasons that I can’t really explain, Nintendo chose to return to Ocarina of Time’s style of play. Not that this was a bad thing, OoT and TP are both classics, but it seems strange that they would return to OoT’s style having made almost no improvements at all. The companion and the strict guided-ness of TP got slightly more overbearing than OoT, but it wasn’t so much as to ruin the experience. And the story and characters were good enough to make us be okay with it. (Seriously, who doesn’t love Midna?)

And then... Skyward Sword. There’s a lot to unpack here.

First, the game wanted to use motion controls, you can’t fault it for that. I think most of us wanted to try out a motion control Zelda, even though it kind of seemed like nobody could do the sword thing properly. And in classic Nintendo style they started tying up loose strings. The motion controls become a character. Thus Fi joins the roster!

Second, Skyward Sword was made by a new director for the series mainline games. Maybe it was that Hidemaro Fujibayashi wanted to continue following in line with the Ocarina of Time style of play, or maybe it was that Nintendo wasn’t confident letting him go Wild on his first game (hah hah). But he pushed towards this more directed structure. More directed even than Twilight Princess was.

And with these two things together, Fi came out as... Well, she was the motion controls (a feature that wasn’t well-received) and she also heavily directed the player more than any other Zelda game (also not well-received). And the result was that she become a frustrating, hand-holding, symbol of whatever feature the player personally didn’t like in the game. I mean personally I like Fi. I think she’s cute, and her final scene made me cry. And I mean, (unpopular opinion) the motion controls were kinda fun. But there’s no doubt that she’s overwhelmingly hated.

And then we come to Breath of the Wild, the truest Return To Form in the series. The design is almost exactly, point for point, the same as the design of the first Zelda game. Except this time, we’re fully leveraging the power of 3d graphics. You can see distant objectives, which helps you self-direct. The world is broken up into recognizable regions, so no worry about getting lost. And the concept that you only have to do what you want to do is turned up to 11. The only things that the game forces you to do are learn how to play, and beat the final boss. Every path you take is a path you choose.

So given all of that background... of course there’s no companion character in BotW. Why would it need one?