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ticklystuff · 1 year ago

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Hiiiiii I saw that Childe and Zhongli have their banners together and I was wondering which of the two would be the better pick? You are the Chili expert, so there's no better person to ask c: I want both but I'm F2P so I can only get one.. *sigh* any advice is appreciated! I'm a newish player (started during Baizhu's banner), but I do want to do abyss one day. Thanks for reading and I hope I'm not bothering you

ah hello anon! i hope you're enjoying the game and you are correct; this is my area of expertise ohohoho

the only answer to your question: break out your wallet and get both pull whoever you like more

since you mentioned abyss, all characters are viable some more than others but childe and zhongli are both great for abyss runs and both are considered f2p friendly. if you really want my opinion, i say go for zhongli because childe is for sweaty gamers, whereas zhongli is mainly for people that like comfort but he does appeal to all crowds. they are night and day though when it comes to their roles:

zhongli - off-field support, easy gameplay, easy to build, low investment, good pick for many teams but is usually not the best option

childe - on-field dps, steeper learning curve, harder to build, higher investment, is only good for one team but that one team is arguably the best team in the game and childe will be your best option for that specific team (you can use him as your hydro in other teams but he will perform worse than others)

very long explanations under cut:

there really isn't much to say about zhongli. he is the best shielder in the game and the comfort he brings is valuable. unfortunately, he doesn't provide much outside of defensive utility, which kinda ties in with what i said with him usually not being the best pick for a lot of teams because once ppl learn to survive without his shield, they start to phase zhongli out of their teams for more offensive options. i used to do abyss clears for friends and whenever i felt like i needed more damage, zhongli would often be the first one to be swapped out. that being said, getting hit and flung around or just dying is considered a dps loss lmao so unless you're a pro-gamer with perfect dodges, zhongli will always hold some value. i always bring him on my personal account because he lets me turn my brain off lol

but ya, since zhongli doesn't offer much outside of defensive utility, i do think his pull value is heavily affected by your account and which other characters you might have. characters like baizhu, kokomi, kirara, diona, layla etc will all give him competition and even though they might not be superior defensive options, they offer other utility outside of survivability. he's still a good pull though! there's just many things to consider

childe is unfortunately a one-trick pony and is only good in one team. you are free to use him in other teams, but he is outclassed by the other hydros and requires more effort to learn. his one good team though is arguably the best team in the game and is referred to as international, consisting of childe, kazuha, xiangling, and bennett, and childe is the best hydro for this team. the team is regarded highly by low to mid spenders because a c0 childe can perform on par with many other teams consisting of five stars with constellations and is a great team for speedrunning abyss and has been the only team consistently in the top five of abyss teams for the past two years. a couple of reasons why the team is good: damage is split somewhat evenly between childe and xiangling and you buff both of them, which is unlike teams with xiao or eula where you only buff the main dps. the team has a good mix of front-loaded (childe burst) and consistent (childe melee and xiangling burst) damage, making rotations flexible and adaptable to whatever abyss decides to throw at you (ex: you can kill off a wave of enemies with childe's burst and then save xiangling's burst for another wave). although the team is primarily aoe focused, it still does good damage in single-target scenarios, which is great because most other teams usually are only good in one scenario. the team does have a steeper learning curve and has a bunch of nuances you need to get used to and if you hate xiangling for whatever reason, you will have a bad time, but there's a good reason why childe is the golden child of the speedrunning community

although childe is harder to play, his playstyle is a good gateway to understanding genshin's mechanics, if you're interested in that. also, his complicated kit does mean he has a few tricks up his sleeve that only childe can do and while most of them are situational, they do have their uses and does make him a surprisingly versatile character, despite the constricting cooldown

anyway, since childe is heavily tied to international, i've linked a good video below if you feel like watching to get a better understanding of his playstyle (it's a long video, but the basics section is the important part and it's not that bad and also i like the cute fanart lol). also, even though international is good, it is overkill and you don't need this much damage to clear abyss, so if that doesn't interest you, then maybe childe isn't best for you, but he's still a good pick. sorry that this is so long, but i hope my response helps and that it all makes sense!

youtube

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danieyells · 2 months ago

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I did notice this before and I was starting to make a list of each anomaly in each chapter and how they might link to a ghoul in the house/squad that took them down, but I ended up deleting it because it was a bunch of pretty loose connections lmao

But yeah I think the Oblivion Dealer is definitely more of Romeo and Taiga's problems than the other students', although if it were just them it wouldn't have spawned. It isn't just the casino, but the whole house that contributed I think. They even have a little civil war going on between them. I'm sure they both have more than their fair share of days they wouldn't mind betting away if it meant possibly winning a solution too.

(below the cut is what i remember of my previous observations on possible other ghoul and anomaly connections lol)

Faceless anomaly that changes who it is to achieve its goals → Tohma

Influencer whose death resulted in such hype that it became a tulpa → Leo

Caring mother kraken who keeps her ecosystem in balance → Haru(arguably the anomaly could also be Princess Oto whose children disguise themselves as friendly anomalies to lure others in for Otohime to prey on, at which point I would argue the connection is to Towa whose general demeanor deceives you into believing he's rather harmless until you've aggravated him)

Oblivion Dealer, a monster scorpion born of negative emotions in Taiga and Romeo's casino → Romeo(arguably Romeo and Taiga, especially since the Oblivion Dealer erases a day in your life and the effects from it, i.e. erasing memories)

Cursed doll and the mourning mother who created it → Subaru? (arguably Zenji, a spirit himself, who takes a cursed doll from among the dolls at the temple because it reminds him of his younger brother)

Barometz, a usually harmless anomaly who consumes that which it holds dear to keep it close → Lyca? (could also be Ed, a vampire who perhaps would turn a loved one, or Rui who would kill a loved one with his touch, but Ed pointed out that Lyca could have also seriously harmed the PC if he'd not been stopped which drew an immediate parallel)

Immortal Inpatient, a normal human who, failed by even anomalous medicine, resorted to extreme measures which went out of control and became an unkillable monster → Jiro

Imperial Auction, which consumes the lives of those so greedy as to partake in it → Romeo again(arguably Taiga who consumes anomalies, sometimes without self-restraint, possibly especially if Romeo wants them?)

The Arachne is a little harder to pin down. It opportunistically fed on the souls of the cultists and the people whose souls they'd gathered from within the graveyard. I'd argue that the anomaly that connects most here would be the gathering of spirits from the cult → Kaito, who chases trends and gets caught up in/dragged into other people's matters and schemes fairly easily? But even that doesn't really fit so this one is harder because, among the four ghouls, the one who would opportunistically harm others for his own gain would be Romeo but I feel like that's a little too shallow of a connection to make?

Can we just talk about the fact that the Dealer anomaly, an anomaly that was created by the (negative) emotions inside the casino, which very much includes Taiga's and Romeo's, is a scorpion?

Are we sure the gambling students' emotions weren't just a drop in the ocean compared to what Taiga and Romeo were going through, thus modeling the anomaly after the animal/constellation Romeo was named after?

#tdb

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katatonicimpression · 2 years ago

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Marvel Voices - Iceman

Time for me to be too much about this one

Off the top, this is a lighthearted, cartooney free to read comic. Expectations should be set accordingly, like with all these infinity comics.

I really like the outfit - although I'm a little less convinced of it when Dauterman drew it so idk. It suits Vecchio's style really well.

On a related point, damn is it nice to see Bobby's face every now and then. Also: Vecchio goes for a brown haired, brown eyed Bobby and I think this is the correct choice. I also kinda love how he leans into the body hair - you don't see it enough in comic books tbh. In an ideal world, he'd have curly hair like he did in the 80s, but I'll take what I can get.

RETURN OF ICE GOLEMS!!! YES THANK YOU I MISSED THEM!!!

This was brilliant:

Also hey Pyro, hanging out with Blob and is that Toad???

I don't think it even makes sense for it to be toad but whatever I'm saying it is

I mentioned before that putting some distance in between Bobby and Christian is a really good idea. Duggan just lumped him with Christian with no real plan for them and it felt awkward.

I also appreciate the move of separating Bobby from Krakoa. He makes more sense as someone who interacts with humans a lot. Also as Jean-Paul put it:

I'm also happy to see Angelica. Love their friendship it just gives me good vibes

"Please don't be Raven." - I laughed

Like with the lava monsters, this is a fun little self contained adventure

Oh wow OK I wasn't expecting that

Or that

"Sometimes I don't know why I do what I do."

This is pretty impactful I think

Already more time spent on this relationship in this one mini series than in two years of Marauders.

Another good one:

I think I like this vibe actually

And I appreciate that the "realising his full potential" thing is being directly challenged in the text

Lol:

Once again, surprisingly hard hitting subject matter

What's this? A metaphor for emotional pain using mutant powers? Is it my birthday already?

Lol:

Shout out to Christian's new outfit:

I liked this

Closing thoughts:

Lol I say "closing" like I won't be thinking about this for weeks

Once again Vecchio deserves serious credit with the art here. I know a lot of people find his characters too babyfaced. I don't mind that myself but either way, you've got to admit that he really makes something work with the scrolling format better than a lot of these comics do. He's also doing great with the ice in general. It's just really pretty and also crisp and clear. Just fabulous.

I also think he really deserves credit for doing his homework on the character (referencing the comic where Loki kidnaps him lmao). It's arguably the bare minimum, but maybe after years of writers half arsing Bobby, it's nice to see someone try. If nothing else, he definitely depicts his entire arse.

I also think that Vecchio does get Bobby. Obviously different writers have different interpretations and all, and I'm sure we're not on the same page on everything. But his version is super valid.

The series hits harder than it needs to. I don't want to give spoilers because I genuinely think people should read it.

But yes overall I'm really impressed. For a little infinity comic, it's genuinely really doing a lot. I'm still in mourning for how Duggan now has control of this character again, but this has definitely put a damper on the pain.

But yes, very funny and very gay and surprisingly emotional.

#dauterman and others should give the ice scruff a try tbh #iceman #bobby drake #iceman (2022)

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milkytheholy1 · 4 years ago

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When you have time, can I request a Rise!Leo x human!female!reader (lol I just love him) where all of them came from a mission and from all the rising anger the reader was building, she accidentally hurts Mikey? How would they react? I know Mikey would be trying to calm everyone down, but since Leo being with the leadership and 2nd big bro, he takes it all out on the reader? Then he goes to apologize, but he finds something he didn’t wanted to see? Angst with a happy ending?.....but angst.

A/N: Kinda changed it from Mikey cause I know in my heart, I couldn't hurt that precious cinnamon roll. Song mentioned is Hey Heartbreaker by Dream Wife. Enjoy!

TMNT masterlist

Ultimate masterlist

Anytime

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You had been sat in the lair for what felt like hours now, just waiting around with Splinter and April for the boys to arrive back from their mission. Usually, when they were late coming back you'd bid them a farewell before they left then walk back to your apartment before it got too dark. However, today you actually had made plans to hang out with Leo after the mission, although you made those plans under the assumption that he would be back at 6pm; it was 12am.

Worry had begun to consume you, making the anxieties and nerves shake your body. Your thoughts had drifted to the worse no matter how many times you begged yourself not to think so darkly, but what if? What if something had happened to them, to Leo?

Sure, you loved them all equally. But, there was just something about the newly-christened leader in blue that you couldn't get over. Maybe it was because you were arguably the closest pair, only rivalling Donnie and April. Or perhaps it was because his jokes would send you into fits of laughter, the way his hands sort out yours when you got distracted, his demand for you to always sit with him during movie nights.

Of course, he would say it's because you were the best of friends, but you always hoped that you would become more. In fact, the reason as to why you were so eager to see him tonight was because you had finally gained the courage to confess to him. Over the course of a few months and a long debate with April, you had finally come to the conclusion that this was the right time to finally say something. But you never took into consideration him going missing pryer to the confession taking place.

You were currently sat in the beanbag next to a passed out Splinter, April had given him some cake and milk a few hours ago so he would stop boasting about how great Lou Jitsu was. The tips of your nails were jagged as you continued to nibble on them out of nerves, April had been asking you occasionally if you wanted any food but the thought of eating something that was actually edible made you want to throw up.

"Ughh, where is he April?" you whined for the 15th time that night, April was sat on the opposite side of Splinter; the only sound you could hear were her irritated groans and her angry texting. You feared that she'd crack the screen if she tapped any harder, "For the last time (Y/N), I don't know!" she groaned out, slumping further into the beanbag. You felt bad for April, having to constantly put up with your insignificant whines and complaints for over 6 hours, you really needed to make it up to her after today.

"I feel like I'm going to go insane, Ap." your fingers began digging and tugging at the roots of your hair, eyes constantly flicking to your phone in case Leo sent you a message. April leaned out of the beanbag and took one long look at you, her sympathy outweighed her irritation. She crawled over to you and stayed in a crouched position, her hands were stretched out and resting on your legs for your support as much as her own.

"(Y/N), I get that you're worried about him, but they're going to be fine. Besides, you know the guys, they probably got distracted by some pigeon with a pizza or something." she mused, you let out a small laugh. You looked back up at April with a slight smile, "I know April, it's just...it's just- tonight was meant to be the night. I wanted it to be special, instead the guy I have a crush on is somewhere out in New York and not here with me."

April glanced down at the concrete floor quickly coming up with a plan to take your mind off of a certain red-eared slider. Jumping up, she pulled at your hands and tugged you into the kitchen, "C'mon (Y/N), we're baking some cookies!" The night had continued on, you and April sang and danced around the kitchen, accidentally throwing cookie batter all over the place. Using a fork as a microphone, you pulled April to your side and sang your heart out.

"I've seen you on the silver screen

And I've seen you in the daytime

I see you everywhere I go

And I see you in my dreams."

The oven dinged indicating that the cookies were done and if not removed soon would surely burn, along with the kitchen. April sauntered over with oven mitts framing her hands like boxing gloves, humming along she opened the doors and groaned when her glasses steamed over. You, meanwhile, were strutting around the kitchen singing into the fork as you pointed a finger over to April:

"Hey, heartbreaker

Hey, heartbreaker

Yes, you, heartbreaker!"

April cackled as she watched you dance around, no care in the world. It had seemed that the fears and nerves from before had disappeared, only good vibes and fun; but even that ended sooner than either girl wanted it to.

"Honey, we're home!" yelled a voice, the sound reverberating throughout the lair. It echoed into the kitchen, alerting the two girls of their visitors, the sounds of cheering and muttering got closer and closer into the kitchen until all four turtles were illuminated by the dull lights. Your grip on the fork tightened when your eyes met Leo's, his face had a few scratches and cuts, but then again, so did his entire body; they all looked pretty messed up.

"Oooh, I smell cookies!" Mikey gleamed, making a head start for the piping hot tray, luckily April stopped him before he could burn himself. The room had felt pretty awkward, you hadn't said a word to any of the turtles since they had arrived, Leo could have sworn he heard you singing not just a minute ago. Your gaze hadn't dropped from Leo, in fact, it had gotten more aggressive as he continued to crack jokes in hopes of lightening the mood.

"Is, er, everything all right (Y/N)?" Raph asked, his tone laced with apprehension. You clicked your head into a slant, teeth bared as you smiled at them "Peachy keen." you squeaked out. The boys shared quick glances with each other before turning back to you again, Donnie saw the slight shake in your hand and the aggressive grip you had on the fork "Maybe you should put that down?" he insisted. You blanked him out, attention purely on the boy in blue who was giving you a worried look. Donnie nudged his older brother, shooting him a quick 'do something', before slipping away with the others.

Leo weakly smiled at you, only making the frown on your face more prominent, "Eh he, soooo." he chuckled, sweat starting to drip from his brow. You remained silent, not sure if you were going to ignore him all night, but thought you'd try your best for the time being.

"Are you just going to stand there and glare at me all night?"

Yep.

"(Y/N)? Hello? Great, so you're giving me the silent treatment, huh? Well, two can play at that game." he bragged, folding his arms over his chest and giving you the cold shoulder. You smirked at his childish behaviour, knowing damn well that you would be the victor of this short game. Just like clockwork, Leo turned back to you with a pout "Okay, I give, what did I do to deserve silence from such pretty lips~" now usually his compliments and flirting would leave you completely flustered, but tonight was different. Knowing what you know and how tonight was meant to go, his flirting rilled you up even more.

Leo's eyes quickly flickered to the fork in your hand, inching closer to you he reached out for it, "How 'bout I take this, huh?" before he could lay a hand on the utensil, you quickly jabbed the fork into his palm; hard. Leo flinched back with a loud yelp, his other hand going to rub away the pain the three-pronged utensil caused. "How can you say stuff like that when you clearly don't mean it!" you yelled out to him, hands on hips. His brows furrowed at you, his tone was sceptical "What are you talking about? Of course I mean it."

"If you meant it you would have been here at 6 like you promised me, tonight was meant to be special, Leo." you sobbed, your jacket sleeves wiping away tears as soon as they started falling. Damn it, you cursed to yourself, why now? Why not tomorrow? Leo frowned, guilt filling his heart "(Y/N), look I know I was late but can you blame me, I was out all night protecting New York-"

"From what Leo? The foot has been quiet for months so has Big Mama, so please tell me what was so important you had to miss this thing that I planned, hmm?" you interrogated him, taking a step closer and closer to him eventually cornering him against the kitchen counter. Leo looked away from you and mumbled out something, "What was that?" you questioned, getting closer to his face. Leo's eyes glistened in the light of the kitchen, his soul was there for the taking, "We- we...We were at this abandoned skate ramp all night." he moaned out.

You took a few steps back from him, eyes wide in shock and anger. You balled your fists, nose sniffling, "You- you left me to go skateboarding?" you seethed out. Suddenly, Leo got a bit defensive "So? Can't I go do that? What was so important about tonight anyway, I mean, if it was that important to you then you should have called me or something."

You were practically steaming from the ears at this point, face completely red with anger and frustration. Whipping your phone out from your jacket pocket, you thumbed through your contacts and went to your most recent messages. Shoving the phone out to him with a shaky hand, your voice dropped "I did message you, I called you over ten times and sent twice that many texts and you didn't reply to any of them."

"Oh," he deadpanned, rummaging around the small medical bag on his hip for his phone. Pulling the device into the light, the screen lit up with your name flashing across like a header, "(Y/N), I'm so so-"

"And do you want to know why tonight was so important?" Leo looked at you with pleading eyes, you sniffled again, casting your gaze to the floor. "Tonight I was going to confess how madly in love I am with you, that I couldn't stand just being best friends with you, that I wanted more. I thought- I- I thought you felt the same but I guess I was wrong." you whimpered out towards the end. You could feel your knees start to buckle as you stood in the silence of the kitchen, you couldn't even look at Leo anymore.

Opting to leave, you dashed out of the kitchen and grabbed your coat and umbrella. You had almost forgotten that when you first arrived at the lair it was pouring down with rain, the rest of the Hamato Clan watched as you sulked away, tear marks burnt onto your face. Leo had walked in a few moments after you had left, his eyes seemed empty, face emotionless. "Leo, what happened to ya hand?" Raph asked, worry in his eyes. Leo glanced at his hand not taking too much notice of the reddening skin, "I screwed up." he huffed out, falling to the floor face first.

Mikey sunk over to his brother, pulling the tails of his mask, he watched as Leo's face arose from the floor. "What happened?" he whispered, a warm smile gracing his lips, Leo sat up as everyone huddled around him; minus Splinter who was still past out on the recliner. Leo rubbed the back of his neck, eyes bouncing to each brother and April, "(Y/N), she- she had this special night planned for us and I blew it. I was meant to meet her here at 6 but- skateboarding, you know? God, I'm such an idiot."

"That can't be the whole reason?" Donnie probed, arms folded over his chest as he worked to analyse the situation. Leo squinted his eyes at his nerdy brother, "Are you implying that I'm hiding something?" he growled. Donnie shrugged his shoulders, pulling up notes he had made on his vembrace over the last few months "Well, it just seems a little dramatic for (Y/N) to stab you with a fork and storm out all because you missed a date-"

"It's not a date." Leo interjected, "Riiiight," Donnie carried out sarcastically, "There must be something more, did she say anything else?" April could see the way Leo seized up at Donnie's questioning, obviously, he didn't want to talk about it which was saying something since it's Leo, "How about we leave him alone for the night, guys? I'm sure Leo just needs some time to think about it, right?" Leo smiled up at April with a knowing look and shook his head "Right." he choked out.

Before April could leave, Leo grabbed her arm in desperation, forcing her to stand still. Checking that the coast was clear he spoke: "You knew didn't you?" April smiled at him as she tugged her arm back to her side, "Of course I knew, we've been talking about it for months, who do you think convinced her to finally tell you?"

"God, I'm so dumb!" Leo groaned, his palms digging into his eyes as he fell back onto the floor. April crouched down next to him, events repeating she mused to herself, "Hey man, don't beat yourself up about it. I know she likes you and I know sure as hell you like her, just go over there and apologise."

"And what if she doesn't forgive me?" Leo weakly asked, eyes peeking through his fingers. April let out a sigh, eyes wandering over to the entrance of the lair, "She might not, not yet at least; it'll take time. Just don't give up on her and she won't give up on you."

"Thanks, April."

"Anytime, Leo. Anytime."

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tonyglowheart · 2 years ago

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actually, no I'm upset again about SIX lmao

because okay yes it's the Hamilton problem. Because for all that Six is like meant to be a, them, in that space, rewriting history.... it's like... it's all a complete fiction that doesn't...really seem to have bearing on the real queens' lives and legacy, like it all works within the context of the show, sure, but the "victory" of the show is, reframing a competition between them as solidarity, but it's still predicated on like reclaiming their assumed feuds. And SIX hardly highlights the amazing achievements these queens had in life, each is still shoehorned into an Archetype, and it's that Archetype that they seek to reclaim in the end, when like... for some of them that Archetype is manufactured for the show.

Like, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn both were highly educated and highly involved with politics in life as queens. Hell, Catherine comes from an impeccabl pedigree- her parents are the frickin Reyes Católicos. Catherine once rode in armor to rally troops while pregnant (in.. some war or uprising or other, I ain't an expert in English history, just a hobbyist on the Six lmao). Anne was definitely involved with politics lmao (though fine, arguably the song lyric means they weren't her thing before she came to the English court...), she was involved in diplomatic affairs as a court lady.

Jane Seymour was also disappointing to me because her whole deal was "I'm not what I seem on the surface, look closer and you'll see more." But really her song kind of... presents more of the same. Henry not only loves her only, but also she truly loves him/her love is stone. And she wants to be a mother to her son. That's exactly what we think of her already ((mother who) died after birthing a son), that's. not anything new. Like Jane Seymour may not have been as highly educated as Catherine or Anne, but she also isn't just "woman who died becoming a mother." She helped reconcile Henry and Mary. She pleaded on behalf of the monasteries, which were in the process of being dissolved (the dissolution of the monasteries caused a lot of upheaval not just religiously but also in the way of life for the common people. Check out the Tudor Monastery Farm series to see how enmeshed the monasteries were in the lives of the common people). But no, lol, you'll suddenly see more... of the same, ig

Anna of Cleves.. Yeah less said the better. They invented a made up Anna of Cleves who is a girlbossified ugly chick who honestly kind of becomes a Henry mirror in Get Down, which if I think on it too hard I do find off-putting lmao. When there are contemporary accounts that indicate while maybe not hot, she was hardly hideous. And I don't think SIX does a good enough job of addressing that aspect of, it rly was a Henry thing. They just fall back on "my face lost me my crown" (though Henry's chief complaints seemed to have been with her body), although I will say having her move back to Cleves (""haus of holbein"") probably actually would have been something Anne wanted. But like temperament wise, she was known being circumspect and a good housekeeper and generous with her servants. She greeted Katheryn Howard at court as queen courteously (perhaps a tad overly so even, but that helped to cement publicly/to Henry how little she (publicly) resents the humiliation of being cast aside and rendered "unmarriable" and sexless in the eyes of the public). They also cast her as like, "yeah my life is amazing lol no complaints" as if we shouldn't waste our time sympathizing with her, because I mean think of how much harder the others had it (which is quite contrary to the ultimate message they land on lmao). And also Anne is definitely one of the least formally educated of the six, and notoriously NOT savvy (so much as circumspect) the way say Anne Boleyn or Catherine of Aragon were, so to cast Anna of Cleves as the "educated, savvy princess" is incredibly ironic to me. Like, Catherine and Anne are right there.

K-Howard is probably the one who has a solid-ass arc and whose portrayal I think adds something very interesting to the discussions on the six. Hers is the only one that I think does a good job of highlighting something *based in reality* and shining a mirror to people's perceptions they have of K Howard as this ~silly girl who got in over her head.

And Katherine Parr gets an actual shout-out to her life outside of Henry (though I find the premise of her song as a "sob story" a bit.. of a tryhard stretch personally). But she's, like, the only one who gets to be the "educated wife" out of the six.. when like. that wasn't the reality of the Six

Anyway. There's a lot to dig into and ig for Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. Both are figures that are highly present in the public consciousness and imagination, so I guess even though they do, like, lose their depths... it's unlikely to really do "damage" to the historical discourse surrounding them? But still kind of a shame when I really think about it. Because like.. cmon.

But then again, this is after all a piece of musical theater, not a history lesson. So maybe it's fine, maybe it's excusable. Idk. It really is like... I both do and don't mind it. If they could have snuck in more historical references I would have been thrilled. But also they're trying to tell a specific story, and so the characters are written to service that story, and like, it does succeed in that. But there is like just enough history that it haunts me bc I just Know people are looking at it like a history lesson too and they're gonna take the wrong stuff away from it maybe. 8V

#six musical #six tag

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erin-bo-berin · 2 years ago

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I always wonder when people claim to have seen him "flirting". That's very subjective. He seems like a guy that just keeps it light and likes to joke around. That could be perceived as flirting. However there is not as much wiggle room around seeing someone kissing.

Yeah, I took that part with a grain of salt. Granted, that was supposedly last year too when they had broken up for a bit.

But I don’t know what flirty Joe actually could look like. He’s sweet in general and like you said, likes to joke around and be easy going—those right there can be easily misconstrued for flirting. Although I agree, M being spotted making out with someone that isn’t Joe is definitely less arguable—and more recent, for those who might be reading this and haven’t caught up or are just tuning in—and harder to make excuses for lol

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farmerlan · 5 years ago

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A guide to commonly used honorifics in 魔道祖师/The Untamed

OK - so, I’ve actually seen some confusion floating around on specific honorifics commonly used in 魔道祖师 and I figured I will put a post up to address some of this - especially the situations when they get used. Hopefully it’ll be helpful for fic writers or whoever else out there that’s getting turned around by the various translations.

As with most of Chinese vernacular, there’s a TON of similar, but different situations in which it may be permissible to use certain titles/honorifics, so bear in mind this is not an exhaustive guide. Also, I don’t have a PhD in Chinese honorifics or anything, I’m just a Chinese person that watches/reads a fair amount of historical dramas. So if I missed anything/if there was anything that was kind of unclear in the novel or drama, feel free to let me know!

公子 / gongzi/ master

Let’s start with the hardest so I can get this out of the way. You will see this translated in a variety of different ways - master, young master, sir...and they are all correct! Congratulations, you’ve hit the jackpot - depending on the situation, gongzi can be a whole hodgepodge of things.

Master: The most commonly used version in MDZS. This is a separate meaning of master from some of the honorifics discussed below - it is specifically used to address either:

Your literal master if you are a servant in the household

A somebody from a distinguished household in a polite way

General honorific: Gongzi can also be used between strangers/acquaintances as a respectful term. Gongzi is, in some ways, an indicator of respect of the other person’s status. So oftentimes you’ll find two young masters from different sects referring to each other as gongzi politely, but you wouldn’t find two beggars on the street calling each other that. and it’s usually used to address someone younger or a similar age as you. If you‘re talking to someone who is clearly your senior, use 前辈 or 先生.

Because it has the connotation of youth and aristocracy associated with it, oftentimes innkeepers/sellers may use gongzi to address male customers (particularly youthful men) because it’s a bit more flattering. Kind of like how the modern day shopkeeper calls you ‘美女’ (beauty) or even ‘亲爱的’（my dear - IDK when this started becoming a thing but if you do any online shopping on Taobao you know what I’m talking about) in China. They don’t actually think you’re beautiful/feel affection for you, it’s just a way of addressing the customer to make you feel good about yourself HA. It’s nice to be called gongzi even if you’re not actually a noble.

There’s variants of this - 小公子/ xiaogongzi is typically young master, although I think some translations just directly use the young master for gongzi. It can also mean the younger master if there is an older sibling in question here (e.g. Wen Chao was referred to as 温小公子 as he was the younger son), although you can also use 二公子（second master), as many do when referring to Lan Wangji. It sounds a little less juvenile.

This term is used for guys - I would say the female equivalent could be 千金/ qianjin or 小姐 /xiaojie.

宗主 / zongzhu/ sect leader

This can only refer to the sect leader - it is a title, and it is passed down. There is typically only one sect leader at any one time, and his eldest male heir will be the successive leader of the sect. I’m going to take this chance to clear up some misconceptions:

Unless Lan Xichen bears no male heirs before his death, Lan Wangji will not succeed him. Lan Sizhui, given that he is not a Lan by birth, will likely never be the Lan sect leader. Yes yes, we all know he’s the adoptive son, but adoptive means literally nothing in the progenical world of Chinese history. Plus, he’s not even the adoptive son of Lan Xichen, so he is a long, long way down from ever being sect leader unless he forms his own, which he would likely never because that’s kind of like betraying your family.

On that same topic, Nie Huaisang succeeded Nie Mingjue because Nie Mingjue died without an heir and Nie Huaisang was the closest blood relative.

For the Jin sect, the succession would have been Jin Guangshan -> Jin Zixuan -> Jin Ling. (y’all I wrote here that it was Jin Zixun first in line but I totally blanked that he was actually a cousin and NOT the son of JGS so ignore that LOL) Since Jin Zixuan died, it became Jin Guangyao - Jin Ling is next in line as he is of the next generation and too young at that time to rule. Honestly, if Jin Ling was older at the time of Jin Zixuan’s death and if this was a Chinese historical palace drama, there would probably be some serious internal political intrigue going on as Jin Guangyao’s claim over the seat would arguably be weaker than Jin Ling’s since he is illegitimate.

For the Jiang sect, Jiang Cheng is the heir even though Jiang Yanli is older because he is male. The question of who will inherit his seat (a very valid question given his luck with dating, although I am sure someone somewhere will eventually warm the prickly cockles of his heart) remains open. IMO there is a less than zero chance that Jin Ling succeeds him unless Jiang Cheng specifically demands for it, but he likely wouldn’t because he is all about decorum and also it would put Jin Ling in an incredibly difficult situation, which is the last thing he would want for his nephew. If he doesn’t end up producing heirs, the seat will likely go to whomever he names as successor, even if non-blood related - maybe the current head disciple.

With that said, although there were generally established rules for succession, actual Chinese history (like all of history) often played out very differently (e.g. Emperor Kangxi stripped crown prince Yinreng of his right to succeed and appointed Yinzhen (Yongzheng), who was the fourth surviving prince, as his successor) so really, even if you were to base sect succession off imperial succession traditions, you could still make the argument that anything goes as long as you have the right people in your corner. HA.

老祖/ laozu/ grandmaster/forefather

I mean, I think grandmaster is probably a fair translation of laozu, which, to be honest, is a harder honorific to translate. It’s definitely influenced by Taoism and not very common at all, but it’s likely derived from Hongjun Laozu (鸿钧老祖), who was a deity and teacher. It does NOT only stand for a senior teacher/master however, because 祖 itself has ancestral connotations, so I think I would personally translate this as forefather. IMO, it’s really only fair to use this on Wei Wuxian and/or originators of a certain branch of study in the MDZS universe - I would consider laozu as the term of respect afforded to people who were pioneers in their fields/sects.

In that sense, Lan Qiren is NOT the grandmaster of the Lan sect. He is an elder - a very respected elder that was basically interim sect leader, but in terms of official title, technically, Lan Xichen could pull rank on him, but he likely wouldn’t unless pressed to because he is also Lan Xichen’s elder.

前辈 / qianbei/ senior/elder

This is kind of an in-between term to politely refer to someone who is your senior, but with whom you really have no formal affiliation with. Unlike 先生, it’s also unisex. A related term is 长辈 /zhangbei, but that is used for people whom you have familial/closer ties with - like an uncle, or someone within your own sect.

师父/师尊/ shifu/shizun / master

Your teacher/master, but not in the servant-master context. Someone who mentors you for years - in the xianxia/wuxia culture, this is a pretty special term because most disciples will only ever belong to one sect and will only ever have one master, and everyone else is a qianbei. The disciple has to ‘拜师’ (to formally request this relationship) and the master also has to ‘收徒’ (to formally accept disciples). So a lot of people went to Yiling in an attempt to 拜师, but Wei Wuxian never did 收徒.

In the wuxia/xianxia context, shifu is technically unisex even though 父 in itself is a male-centric term, although female masters might be more commonly referred to by the gender-neutral shizun instead.

Now that I think about it, shifu doesn’t actually appear in MDZS. Lan Wangji calls Lan Qiren 叔父 /shufu, which is completely different. It means uncle (father’s younger brother, to be exact lol), since that is their relationship.

老头/ laotou/ old man

Wei Wuxian uses this to address Lan Qiren behind his back. It literally just means old man, haha. It’s informal but not a term you would use to refer to someone who is close to you/whom you like, but not exactly a term that is insulting or derogatory, although in Lan Qiren’s case, it is irreverent because it is ill-fitting for the relationship that Wei Wuxian and Lan Qiren have. Meant to be used on men, usually for women it would be 老婆婆/ laopopo (NOT THE SAME as 老婆/ laopo, which means wife. Welcome to the weird wonderful world of the Chinese language!)

师��/哥/兄/姐/妹/ shi di/ge/xiong/jie/mei/ younger brother/ older brother/ another variant of older brother/ older sister/ younger sister

NOT TO BE USED FOR YOUR ACTUAL FAMILY. This is in the context of the sect only. Your fellow disciples, but with varying levels of seniority. Familial honorifics are a whole different thing.

In the context of the sect, who you call your shidi/ge etc. is usually NOT based on age - it is based on someone’s seniority within the sect. If you have been in the sect/under your master’s tutelage for longer, you are the senior, even if you are younger in age.

With that, I think the novel states that both Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng are similar in age, so it is actually incredibly hard to determine if the author deliberately went against this convention and Wei Wuxian calls Jiang Cheng shidi because he is genuinely younger than Wei Wuxian, or if it is simply because Wei Wuxian is the head disciple of the sect (and therefore, technically, everyone is his shidi). I actually think it might be the former because he refers to Jiang Yanli as shijie, although now that I think about it, it might be the latter...as a reflection of the level of admiration Wei Wuxian has for Jiang Yanli WOAH.

(Fun fact: there’s a scene in the novel in Yi city where Wei Wuxian was silently weirded out that Xiao Xingchen referred to him as ‘qianbei’ - because Xiao Xingchen is his mother’s shidi, which makes him Wei Wuxian’s senior, but then he quickly realizes it’s because he’s talking to Xue Yang and not Xiao Xingchen.)

先生 /xiansheng/ mister/sir/teacher

In present day, this is literally the most vanilla term you can use to politely address a guy. Can be a stranger, or an acquaintance you want to politely address. Usually older than you, although if you’re both similar in age and you’re not really familiar with each other, you might still use it just to err on the side of caution. In xianxia/ancient China, this is usually used more like ‘teacher/sir’ to address an elder. It’s more scholastic in its implication and less generic than qianbei.

In the Lan sect, by crowd definition, 先生 refers to Lan Qiren unless otherwise stated, which makes sense and shows the amount of respect he is afforded in the sect.

夫人 / furen/ wife/madam

A term of respect for typically older women, or can also be used to refer to one’s wife.

Lastly, let me just add that this is just something that’s meant to be helpful for people as they work through the series - at the end of the day, it’s all fictional/xianxia itself as a genre is fantasy so if you need to subvert any one of the generally held succession traditions or whatnot in order to make your fic work, go!!! Do it!!!

#xianxia #honorifics #chinese #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #the untamed #cql #魔道祖师 #lan wangji #wei wuxian #guides #meta

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uncloseted · 2 years ago

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Idk if this makes sense but why were people so smart in like the ancient times? Like Plato and people like that. Was it just because there was nothing else to do but study? Why don't we have people like that anymore that are coming up with these crazy ideas that define everything? I know this sound stupid lol pls forgive me it's a real question.

This is a really interesting question! I love it. It has a couple of answers, but basically the answer is just that they weren't.

The first issue with the idea that people were smarter in the past is suvivorship bias. The accounts that we have from 2400 years ago are the ones people thought were valuable enough to preserve. And even then, a lot of that work was lost- for example, all we know about the teachings of Socrates come from Plato, who was his student, instead of from written sources, which were lost to history. That means that a lot of accounts of average people or even less-than-brilliant people were lost to history, and so what's left for us to read is the best of the best. It's kind of like basing your entire idea of Americans off of the US's 398 Nobel prize winners. The average Athenean was not super well educated, and philosophy was considered a discipline for aristocrats who didn't have other things to be doing.

The second is that there was less information to know. Some people say that Aristotle was the last person to know all of the knowledge there was to know. But he could only do that because world knowledge was pretty limited. Because information builds on itself, to understand any new information, you need to know everything that came before. Now, it would take about 31.58 years straight just to read everything on English language Wikipedia, and it would take much longer than that to actually understand it.

Along with that, our knowledge has become much more specialized. We've adopted kind of an "assembly line" approach to knowledge, where many people have very specific knowledge but not a lot of people understand the entire process or have general knowledge. True polymaths like Plato are less common than they used to be (although we're still here!). But that said, most people who have a US university education do go through "general education" classes that make sure they have some foundation in all areas of knowledge.

The problems that we're solving now have also become more complex, meaning that it's harder for a single person to create a paradigm shift on their own. Much of the work that's being done in science and technology right now can't be done without the aid of multiple researchers and computers, just because there are too many computations that need to be done. These days, teams typically make those kind of discoveries as opposed to individuals. A good example of this is the internet. It's arguably one of the biggest disruptors ever to occur. It changed how every aspect of our lives work for about 5.03 billion people. But it was an iterative process created by many different teams across the world working together as opposed to just one person.

But that said, we absolutely do have people who are coming up with crazy ideas that redefine how we interact with the world. A good example is Albert Einstein; his theory of relativity totally changed how we understand our universe. Science has these kind of "paradigm shifts" fairly frequently, but the average person doesn't necessarily hear about them or understand them. Even with that internet example, Tim Berners-Lee is often thought of as the "father" of the internet because he created the World Wide Web while working at CERN.

Finally, I think an issue is the voices that we elevate. We've stopped listening to and elevating the voices of philosophers (like Plato) and have begun elevating the voices of people without any specialized knowledge at all (like celebrities). As a result, philosophy has become something of a niche subject that acts as an ouroboros eating its own tail instead of a practical subject that informs the way people live their lives. That's actually one of the major reasons why I left academic philosophy and prefer to do things like run this blog instead- it reaches people. There's a larger conversation we can have about this point if you're interested, but basically because our current media landscape is so large and doesn't incentivize nuance, it's hard for anyone with a (actual, implementable) big idea to be heard. They tend to get drowned out by people who have adopted the veneer of being "disruptive", but who are more hype than they are substance.

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threeletterslife · 2 years ago

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Chana Chana! I have a hard question for you to answer >:))) Which Y/N is your favorite? MUHAHAHAHHA

oh god. you... are so right. that is a hard question

and i will give the most annoying answer ever: it depends

it really depends on what i would consider being my favorite! (i also have 41+ OCs including from stories i haven't yet published, so this is gonna be a wild ride)

tl;dr: lod yn

which y/n would i be best friends with in real life?

i'm really picky with the people i keep close to me. but as i was writing sticky notes yn, i knew this girl was for me LOL. i'm usually friends with quiet, mellow people who stick to themselves but become very passionate and open with the few folks that they care about. i like that sticky notes yn has a very obvious passion (music), and i like that she doesn't necessarily feel like she needs to verbalize everything in her head. she knows how to stick up for herself, and she apologizes through her actions. that's my type of person. she's canonically istj, but the more i think about it, she could also pass as intj

which y/n was the easiest to write?

easy for me means that i can get into this character's headspace easily, so i'm able to write her actions, her dialogue without having to struggle ruminating upon what would be in character for her or not. i might not necessarily agree with her or even have a similar personality as her, but i can understand her. that award definitely goes to ly trilogy yn. she's a character i've known for five? years now. i got so accustomed to writing her character at one point that when i wrote her, i could literally feel myself thinking like she did. she's most likely an infp (maybe intp), so pretty different from my intj (although we do share similarities)

which y/n had the best character development?

a lot of my yns are static characters, but out of the few who are dynamic (into the spiritual realm yn, it runs wild yn, true love at first sight yn, where the colors fade yn, before the looking glass yn), i think... i would choose before the looking glass yn. it was actually a very close choice—i adore itsr yn's development. but overall, it came down to impact. while itsr yn's development is pretty simple stuff (from selfish to selfless), btlg yn's development is more complex. it involves (arguably) a devolution, wherein a sweet character becomes mean and untrusting due to her circumstances. it was much harder to write, but i'm really proud that i got her story out! (she's one of my few isfjs who have gone "bad")

which y/n is the most lovable?

i have a lot of lovable yns. (because i hate creating unlovable characters LOL.) it really depends on the type of lovable. is she lovable because she's sweet and kind? (i.e. legends of darlaria yn) is it because we pity her/relate to her? (i.e. a kiss to forever yn) or is it because she's spunky and unique? (i.e. nothing a lil green can't fix yn). i definitely think for me, the most lovable yn is legends of darlaria yn. her story involves a lot of her stream of consciousness, and it really helps the reader understand her morals/her thinking process. we're inside her head every step of the way, and i think that's what makes her the most lovable character on my blog. because we all understand her! she's also an infj!!

which y/n is the best written?

damn i think i'm going to have to double-dip and say legends of darlaria yn again. she's one of the few characters that i've created where i can look at her and be like, 'wow she feels so real.' it might also be due to the writing style i'm using for lod, but i think she's a very complex character and so far, i think she definitely feels most like a tangible person

which y/n makes me wanna be her?

i desperately want to be into the spiritual realm yn. she is confident in her abilities, knows her worth and is goddamn intelligent. she's a woman of her word, and she makes things happen. i very much admire that about her. and we also get to see her softer qualities in the story as well. for context, she's an entj

which y/n made me want to hug her and cry?

i have so many yns that i want to hug and cry with. BUT! i think the one that has a special place in my heart is a kiss to forever yn. i will never fucking shut up about how much i love her. i'm still unsure if she's isfp/infp, but i definitely think she's the one i would want to give a nice, warm hug because i can partly relate to her struggles. of course she faces them on a larger scale, but i just find her entire story so misfortunate. she deserves some love!!

which y/n is technically me?

i think i only have one(?) intj yn. she's over the moon yn. except... i'm not sure if she would be me? she's a lot scarier than i am, i believe. (and a lot braver/confrontational.) just purely based off on instincts, i think (our very own) camaraderie yn is the most like me. she's definitely not an intj, but given our similar high school backgrounds, i think i reacted a lot in the way she did in the story. but i'm also less confrontational than she is... and i'm more stubborn too. if i found out jk was my horrible ex's friend, i would've done the whole project myself and turned it in LOL. there would've be ZERO chances of romance

which y/n is so different from me that i like her just because we're polar opposites?

nothing a lil green can't fix yn HANDS DOWN! our resident enfp joy! she's very different from how i think and act, but i can't help but adore/admire her. sometimes, i wish i could be carefree like her LOL 'cause what would that actually feel like???

hm, if you were really holding a gun to my head and forced me to choose, just by looking at these categories i made for myself, i think lod yn would be my favorite. she appeared twice in the list. and also, i genuinely enjoy writing her (although sometimes even i admit she overthinks way too much). but i think that's what makes her so endearing because she's so afraid of underestimating things or leaving things unperfected. i think that's something i have in common with her. in a way, we're alike. except for the fact that she's very friendly and i hiss and slink back during large social gatherings LOL

#ask #anon #writing

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tepidtrashpile · 4 years ago

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covering taeyong’s parts

I am HEATED.

tldr: i don’t usually do stuff like this but i’m highly caffeinated and have nothing better to do so prepare for a (very convoluted and long) rant cause omg im so fucking mad.

so for those of you who don’t know, nct 2020 had a resonance vlive/concert last night (dec 26/27) and taeyong and jisung were unable to perform due to a back injury (herniated disk) and knee injury respectively.

I’ll mainly be talking about taeyong in this just due to his extrEmely large presence within NCT and also jisung was there to vocally cover his parts.

(also not to take anything away from jisung, however in the sheer amount of screentime and tracks ty is in, him missing is much harder to disguise within a performance with or without vocals)

in order these are the members that covered ty’s parts in each song (tbh i may be forgetting some, but the point is look at how hard they had to work to even fill ty’s dance position within the concert, the boy is in like 50% of their performed tracks)

nct u - boss - sungchan

nct u - the 7th sense - shotaro

nct u - light bulb - yangyang

nct 127 - touch - haechan (first part), johnny (iconic ty and mork), yuta (pulls up in the chorus to fill in ty part to the stage right of jh)

nct u - make a wish - jeno (first part), jaemin (basically rest of the song)

nct 127 - kick it - mark (usually the center parts), jaehyun (first rap), yuta (end dance break), johnny (mark stepped on him rip lol)

nct u - misfit - johnny (start), sungchan (end)

nct 2020 - resonance - jeno / jaemin (?) - dude idk im having trouble keeping up at this point

// I want to make it very clear that NCT would not be where it is without taeyong. I’m not suggesting that he is replaceable in any way, shape or form. however as a person with two parents in the performance industry - and im sure that many of u understand just from general life experience -- the show mUst go on. when you have a presence as large as ty missing, it is undoubtedly going to take a toll on the overall energy and performance but i personally think that the boys fucking killed it -- especially with such a short turnaround from learning that ty would not be performing. (jaemin said that jeno legit had one HOUR to practice the beginning of maw (and by proxy the beginning of resonance) and that amount of talent and skill is unfuckingbelievable) but I digress.

// there is nothing wrong with being disappointed that taeyong cannot perform. (get well soon ty!) he is an incredible performer and human being. there is nothing wrong with seeing (and understanding) that another member filling ty’s part is going to FEEL different, even if they do a phenomenal job. there is nothing wrong with feeling the difference in energy and performance -- there is obviously ANOTHER PERSON doing the part that we are accustomed to. there is nothing wrong with having a conversation and discourse about the performance. however... there IS something wrong with putting down members and harshly criticizing their performance in a malicious way. constructive criticism is one thing, but a lot (not all but an overwhelming amount) of what I have seen in the comments and the little bit of twitter i have been on has just been bashing members (one in particular) about their performance.

// let me get the easy part out of the way here. jaemin and jeno killed it during maw. yuta’s dance break, mark’s center time, jaehyun covering ty’s rap, and johnny stepping up to get stepped on (hehe i’ll stop now don’t mind me) were all surprisingly refreshing. yangyang covering lightbulb was (imo) one of highlights of the concert. for a rapper who often doesn’t get the recognition that he deserves he did a PHENOMENAL job covering the entirety of ty’s parts in his own way and conveying his emotions. yes, the members weren’t the same as taeyong, however, they added their own twist and their own personalities to it. it is in fact BETTER to do this and be remembered for their own style than attempt to emulate someone else’s performance. it is the sign of a great artist to take something and make it your own.

// now, onto the two newest members. i will be candid about this. the biggest difference I felt within the performance was when sungchan and shotaro were covering ty’s parts. tbh this is to be expected (?). i’m not trying to put down the boys but the reality is that they debuted 2-3 MONTHS ago? all of the other members covering ty’s parts have had significantly more experience in every aspect of performing. jaemin and jeno may be about the same age as chan and shotaro but they have upwards of 4 years more experience (debuted anyway, and anyone can tell u that practicing vs the real thing can be a very daunting change) than the other two. the other members have performed in front of a live crowd, they have had time to deal with criticism and learn from it. they are just in every way more experienced, and although we expect great things out of all the members, it is simply unrealistic to expect the same level of performance out of members with 2 years less experience than anyone else on the stage.

aneway...

shotaro covered one of the hardest parts in nct history - taeyong’s 7th sense. in every way - the rap, the technicality of the dance, the sheer charisma ty brings - this was a daunting task. him being a rookie DID show in the performance. this isn’t a bad thing. the tone of his rap did sometimes lack nuance and the level of sophistication that we know taeyong to have. however, i do think shotaro was the right choice for this song. you have to give rookies experience for them to grow, and a concert like this (even without a live crowd) is a great time to do it. (i’ll get into logistics later but bear with me)

the sad reality is that we’re probably not going to have large in person concerts for at least the next year and it will be a long time til travel, concerts, and simply life return to what they were before covid. it will be a very long til the boys get to perform on a stage with the energy of a crowd in the same way they have up til now.

now sungchan. my poor bb sungchan :(

sungchan covered ty’s part is boss (and a little bit in misfit but johnny covered the first part and its more of a hype rap song than one with designated dance moves and centre parts). the dance (in boss) may not be the most technical but this is an unfORGETTABLE song when it comes to taeyong’s part. the beginning “nct leggo?” *chefs kiss*. from what i’ve seen sungchan is the one receiving the most criticism (read hate) about his performance. look, i’m not going to argue that out of all the members who filled ty’s part he was the weakest. (im not trying to hate, but imo his performance was the weakest, u can disagree with me). he definitely less comfortable with covering taeyong’s part than anyone else was - including shotaro. i think most of the criticism is coming from the fact that he just looked anxious and unable to throw himself into the choreo and when comparing him to taeyong (who again just -- idk he’s unexplainable) his performance does fall a little flat. imo the rap was okay, his tone is actually somewhat similar to ty. i really think that most of the hate is stemming from the execution of the choreo rather than the rap. HOWEVER... calling him “stiff as a board” and commenting “cap” emojis does absolutely nothing except spread unnecessary hate. sungchans position is NOT as a dancer. he is only listed as a rapper. shotaro, however, is listed as both a dancer and a rapper. not to say that these listings are the end all be all of a member’s position, but because they are so new they are a decent representation of what SM thought their strengths were. we would love our idols to be aces at everything, but they are human and humans have their strengths and weaknesses. compared to taeyong, and also shotaro, sungchan does not have the technical ability nor the confidence while dancing. I’d like to believe that anyone who analyzes their performances and takes an objective view can understand where i am coming from.

tldr: you are placing unrealistic expectations on a rookie who’s main position is NOT main dancer. you are asking him to fill the shoes of arguably one of the most charismatic and talented rappers, leaders, and centers of 4th gen kpop... as a ROOKIE. his performance is most likely going to show cracks of being relatively new to the stage. its okay to acknowledge that, but don’t be fucking rude when discussing his performance.

// the amount of posts i’ve seen calling sungchan “untalented” “stiff as a board” just im so fucking over it. yes, his performance had its weaknesses but name-calling and just straight up hate does nothing to help a performer and just ruins everyone’s mental. you can bet your ass that every single one of these boys has worked their ass off, given up unimaginable things, and faced challenges to get where they are today. not to mention that (in particular the case of sungchan and shotaro) these boys are young. the other youngest/newest members have had about 2 years (yangyang, xiaojun, hendery) to become accustomed to the criticism and also hatred that comes with being in the spotlight. sungchan is less than a MONTH older than me. shotaro is just a year older than me. my best friend is legit older than both of these boys. idk your age but think about yourself at their age, or where u think you’ll be at their age. they have accomplished SO much and are so young. they’re 19 and 20 and in an internationally recognized band. we know that a lot of these boys (and idols) do read our comments. i don’t care how much media training you’ve received, how strong your mental is, getting called untalented and being hated on is going to take a toll on your mental. along with that, what is the NEED? to spread hate? to show that “huhu, im such a big deal that all these people are responding to me”. like, legit wtf do u gain from this?

// when you are a performer you do open yourself up to criticism, it is part of the job. but criticism and hate are two very different things. to get where nct is today, every single member has to be humble enough to accept guidance AND constructive criticism. we all know how much the boys value nctizens opinions and take them into account when performing. when you are a performer like that you also have to criticize your own work. no matter what profession you are in, no matter what you do, you analyze ur own work and attempt to make it better. i can all but assure u that shotaro and sungchan (and all the boys) know their strengths and weaknesses, know when a specific move, performance, or other area of their ability is not up to par (or they just want to improve which is imperative to success in the music industry)

just be a decent human being. put urself in all of the boy’s shoes and think “hmm how would i feel if some stranger on the internet said this about me” before you make hateful statements.

again, there is nothing wrong with having a discussion and understanding that humans have strengths and weaknesses, but don’t just put someone down because u feel like it.

in case you aren’t convinced to be a decent person, have a more logical (?) approach -- not that u should have to shown a dissertation to be a decent human but i digress.

(think about how many other songs the rest of rap line has to perform, logistically, who else are you going have cover the entierty of boss and 7th sense.)

rap line is: taeyong, mark, lucas, hendery, jeno, jaemin, yangyang, shotaro, sungchan, and jisung (?).

everyone except lucas and hendery (and jisung but bb was injured :( ) covered ty’s part in some aspect. in fact, people not in the friggin rap line helped cover some of ty’s rap (johnny, jaehyun, haechan im looking at you) and other members covered dancing and center parts when they were asked to.

mark is in just as many tracks as ty and was RUNNING around to get to the next song this entire concert. you can legit see his outfit change with jackets and hats. he filled in for ty in kick it (group effort but u get the point) but in 7th sense just to the way that the song works and the dance etc etc, you can’t have mark doing his part as well as ty’s without it falling flat and taking a huge toll on mark. same with boss, marks filling just as big a role as ty and like, legit how do u give this boy mOre lines than he already has. (u can see that sm did a similar thing with jeno and jaemin in the beginning of maw, jeno covers the first part and then jaemin the rest of the song because jaemin can’t leave an open space at the vEry beginning of the song) (10/21 total performances)

lucas isn’t in as many as say mark but he is in boss and make a wish (boss being very hard for him to cover ty’s part, and jeno and jaemin covered maw. if i’m being completely honest i don’t think lucas has the same tone or technical ability to fit into ty’s parts in the songs as much as say - sungchan on a pure technical and tone pov (6/21 total performances)

hendery, similar to lucas isn’t in an absurd amount of tracks but still enough to tire a guy out lol. because of him performing full choreos in other songs it doesn’t make sense for him to learn a completely new choreo while simultaneously having to memorize and practice the others songs. also, in a similar vein of lucas, i just don’t think hendery is the first choice when choosing someone to cover ty’s parts (dont kill me hendery and lucas stans lol) (6/21 total performances)

jeno while jeno isn’t in the sheer number of performances as other members, he does end up covering ty’s starting part in maw (see reasoning for jaemin above). this by proxy means he covers the maw part in resonance. while he does a fantastic job covering the starting part, asking him to learn the entirety of boss or 7th sense would be a fuckton of work. u can legit see him yEEt himself out of camera view after his part - not to mention again that he had an hour to practice lol (6/21 total performances) 7/21 covering

jaemin - first off u can literally see jaemin’s energy fall throughout the final song the boy is so tired by aneyway... it makes total sense for him to cover maw as he already knows the choreo and it take less effort than learning an entirely new song. also, when ur comparing popularity/center time between jeno and jaemin vs. hendery (even lucas sometimes) they simply have more, and when u aRe in the center u have to expend more energy becAuse u are holding the performance together (6/21 performances)

yangyang let me get my yangyang simping out of the way, but this boy is so fucking talented and his rap deserves more praise. lightbulb compared to other songs ty is in, is a more melodic and emotional based song. there is no choreo, therefore the person covering the rap just has to focus on the rap itself rather than the rap AND the choreo. imo this was the best possible choice for someone to cover ty’s part in lightbulb (6/21 total) 7/21 covering ty’s part

shotaro shotaro is only in 4/21 performances. it simply makes sense for the rap line member with the fewest songs to perform to learn a a full choreo. as stated above, 7th sense is the more technically difficult of the songs that required learning and covering a full part. assigning shotaro (the dance line member) to the more challenging choreo is just the easy choice -- especially if ya’ll gonna come for sungchan’s dancing skills, give the damn song to shotaro smh (4/21 performances) 5 when covering 7th sense

sungchan tied with shotaro for the fewest performances (just by nature of being the newest members) in the same way that it makes sense for shotaro to learn a full choreo, it makes sense for sungchan. reasoning for the assigned songs above. (4/21 total performacnes) 5 with boss

// the songs where they didn’t have a designated member cover most/all of taeyong’s parts were in the 127 songs as well as in baby don’t stop (ten and taeyong duet). 127 is the most veteran of the nct subgroups, and is in general just more accustomed to filling in parts (ie winwin - screw u sm lol). they have johnny who trained as a rapper who can fill in, jaehyun, haechan, and yuta have all proven that they can cover rap with more a sing-rap style and mark can take/cover parts when it is logistically possible.

// in 127′s songs although ty does often take center and many lines, in general 127 is just a more well rounded group. (don’t come for my ass). in the same way that dream has an undeniable chemistry, 127 is the same way. when you work with the same group of people for an extended period of time without many (if any) changes you just build better chemistry. in nct u taeyong takes more of the spotlight just due to his charisma and raw power. think about it. which performance suffered more due to taeyong’s absence: touch / kick it or make a wish / boss / 7th sense.

also: because 127 is a fixed unit all the boys know the choreo and have consistently performed it at concerts allowing for member to step in where they know they are comfortable without the amount of discussion it might otherwise take in a rotational group

// take a second to think about a certain performance without taeyong in it. it may just be me, but i think 127 fare much better without their leader than any rotational group without taeyong very (firmly ?) bolstering the performance in the center. (taeyong doesn’t hold all these titles for nothing, he is truly another breed)

// in baby don’t stop they didn’t even attempt to cover taeyong’s absence. idk if that was ten putting his foot down and saying that he didn’t want someone covering the part or if it was more of a choice based on marketing and fanservice. baby don’t stop is truly ten and taeyong’s song and idk if even pairing 10 with a dancer with ty’s vocal in the backtrack would have received positive feedback.

if you have somehow made it this far props to you lol. a rant that started because i wanted to defend sungchan has turned into a long analysis of members... whoops.

tldr: just be a decent human being. everyone in nct is human. a talented, multifaceted, human with strengths and weaknesses. being a nctizen doesn’t mean not being proud, disappointed, happy, or any other emotion about the boys. but it does mean treating the boys and other fans with respect.

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corpsentry · 4 years ago

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allahrakhii (dot) tumblr (dot) com/post/148596180152/honestly-the-depths-of-ignorance-of-white-people

this is a really good post for those who want to learn more about the harmful portrayal of brown women in the legend of zelda series. theres a bunch of helpful links that direct to articles throughout the post as well. if you scroll through a bit youll find the section that covers why the gerudo outfit is racist.

i would appreciate if you post this and not simply brush it aside! this message isnt intended to be hostile or offensive, but rather it is an opportunity for learning and discussion. thank you.

i find the insinuation that i might brush this aside rather ominous anon! first of all, thank you for sharing this post. as someone vaguely from southeast asia i uncovered another facet of the fuckcluster of internalized racism in my system while reading it and will be thinking about it for a while to come. the post is well-written and thoughtfully phrased, plus op provides links to several other resources that i’ll be checking out in my free time too so i’d recommend anyone passing by here give it a read. i also want to apologize for responding to the earlier ask (now deleted) where op was like ‘how is the gerudo outfit racist’ and i was like ‘fuck all if i know’. i was talking out of my ass and failed to consider alternate perspectives. i retract that statement and replace it with this much longer and much more eloquent one.

now everything from here on is frankly quite unrelated to this ask so to the person who sent it please feel free to stop reading right here right now from high school musical as i want to talk about the previous anon message i received and some general stuff regarding fandom and none of that has anything to do with you (you are lovely and the rest of the world is a shithole).

i don’t know if the original anon who sent the ‘i like your art but the gerudo outfit racist :(’ is gonna see this but let’s take a moment to unpack it. i’m not quite sure what anon was going for with this ask. what did they want from me? did they want me to apologize for drawing and posting it? did they want me to delete the post? did they expect me to say oh thank you so much!!! sorry about the racism xd or did they want me to call up shigeru miyamoto and be like ‘hey dude your shit’s racist’ and then take down the entire nintendo corporation in one fell swoop like i was somehow implicated in either the development process or the game by pure merit of drawing fanart of it(????). this was the shit running through my head when i woke up at 6 am this morning because jetlag and opened tumblr and there was this Person sitting there trying to :( me. what’s up with the :(. why are you :(. what do you want from me.

this is where the second anon above comes in. relative to this ask, if the first anon had so much as dropped one (1) link to one (1) post explaining how the outfit might be racist (and taken out the :(, which is lame) then instead of being like ‘which reaction image should i use for this’ i would’ve been like ‘oh here’s something i didn’t know about the world and here’s how i can learn more’. ‘your art great but this racist u___u’ reads like someone trying to guilt-trip someone for shits and giggles. a B grade on a paper is useless unless your prof tells you where you went wrong and before anyone Calls Me Out i’m going to acknowledge that there is a broader issue with marginalized groups having to bear the burden of ‘explaining themselves’ to privileged people who aren’t willing to go and seek information on their own, but let’s just look at this ask for a moment.

what the fuck is this??? what am i even supposed to do with a statement that not only tells me nothing but also seems to have no clear purpose? i am sitting here drawing video game fanart in a college dorm in pennsylvania and i know like 3 things about western media because i don’t like live-action film. if you want to have a conversation please give me something to work with instead of trying to sound sad in my askbox. i can’t turn your :( into a :) because i have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about because i am not god (yet) (although i am trying to).

but let’s talk bigger. racist stereotypes are a huge fucking problem in everything the ideological west gets its hands on. i promise you i know this because i grew up in singapore where the racism was directed towards everyone including ourselves because sir dickbag raffles stuck a flag in the ground and then ruined everything. i can see how nintendo has replicated those racist stereotypes, especially given that east asian countries generally have a long history of racism towards black and brown people. singapore fucks with it too because we’re majority chinese-singaporean and majority lighter-skinned (relatively speaking). op makes a lot of excellent points. perpetuating stereotypes in popular media serves to reinforce racist ideas and further entrench discriminatory beliefs. it’s a chicken egg chicken egg thing. people are socialized into racist beliefs. they create media with racist depictions. young people consume said media and are socialized into racist beliefs. and so on. egg chicken egg chicken.

so, question: where does fanwork figure into all of this? is that 5k ganlink (is this the ship name lol idk if it’s wrong feel free to take me out with a bazooka) e-rated smutfic the egg or the chicken? who is it socializing? who’s writing it? what kind of audience is it reaching? and, more broadly speaking, what is fandom here for, and what does fandom want to achieve?

here we’re going to take a huge detour into another very popular disco horse (at least on twitter i have fuckall clue what’s going on on tumblr at all times) of the present times: the wmulti level wmarketing (wlw) discussion. it is statistically true that there are far less f/f fics on ao3 than m/m fics and f/m fics. this clearly reflects something about fandom’s habits, but the floor is divided. in fact, the floor is on fucking fire all the time. several arguments have been made over the years, of which 1) media creates less-nuanced female characters which makes them harder to connect to (mass media’s fault) and 2) everyone is a gay fetishizer (the individual’s fault) are, arguably, the most popular.

as a head ass philosophy student i’m going to pick the option no one likes and say that i think it’s a combination of all of these factors. and i’m going to step out further and say that people are so inseparable from our communities and societies that it’s impossible to tell where external influence ends and personal preference begins. what this means, more simply, is i think that both individual arguments are insufficient. media is fucking complicated and so are people so imagine when you put all of this shit together on one webpage and then you light a match. tell me, bethany, can you truly say that you like twinkies because You Like Twinkies or was it that advertisement you saw at the bus stop every day for eight years that finally got to you? are you trying to rebel against society’s fear of fatness? are you depressed? do you just like sweet things, and anyway, can anyone “just like” something?

now let’s transplant this issue of societal/self influence (a fandom friendly version of the nature/nurture argument, if you will) onto fandom. so okay, there aren’t a lot of f/f fics. what do?

some popular options i’ve seen are: 1) make angry posts/tweets about how everyone sleeps on f/f relationships in fandom and we’re all secretly lesbophobic 2) call everyone a gay fetishizer 3) write f/f fic

and so here is the other (other? i don’t remember how many problems i’ve listed lol i’m trying here guys) problem: fandom doesn’t have a single cohesive goal. like people don’t come to fandom and then sign a 5 page contract at the end of which is the company vision. everyone comes here to do their own shit. some people use fandom as a means of escape. some people are trying to spread a message (like the evangelists) or educate the youth. some people fuck around and find out.

concept: if the goal of fandom was social activism, then the argument could be made that We Should Write More f/f fics. that make sense to you? because there’s something we’re all striving towards, we can agree that we have an obligation to our community to do something. but the goal of fandom isn’t social activism, is it? maybe it is for you. but it isn’t for everyone here including the 14 year old kid in chinese orchestra and the 56 year old who just wants to read some good werewolf smut. and because we’re all different people who do different things and fandom is not and cannot be your entire life, we can’t make these prescriptive statements. we can’t tell people what to do. ‘people should write more f/f fics because there are very few right now’ that is a valid statement and observation. now will you write those fics? because you’re the only person whose fandom life you can control. because the point of fandom is we’re away from the rules and regulations of Society. because when people are told they can do what they want they will do what they want and if you tell them to do something else, it’s hard to fault them for not taking kindly to it. i’ve written 5k character studies. it’s work. not everyone wants to do that work. that’s why i do it.

detour end and now we return to the chicken egg problem. in my opinion, the shit we create in fandom isn’t the chicken or the egg. it’s the onsen egg that’s been placed on top of your ramen. it’s a product of several complex societal processes, but now it’s here you and maybe the dude sitting across from you are the only ones, by and large, that it’s going to affect. this onsen egg isn’t for the children of the world (broadcast via disney+). this onsen egg isn’t for the politicians who’ll decide on the policy of your country for the next hundred years. they’re not even going to see it because it’s a fucking onsen egg now and no one has taste anymore these days except for yourself, which is why this onsen egg is just for you. put in clearer terms, i agree with op that people in fandom often replicate societal bias in their work (people are copy machines, bethany), but i don’t think most fanfiction has the power to influence society the way that popular media can (see: marvel movies, i dunno, fucking, like, austin powers?), and to critique it with the same mindset we use to critique tony stark is to say that we earnestly think every 15k smutfic is going to be read by millions of people of all ages from across the world. which is not the case. ao3 has a thing you have to click if you’re not logged in you know where you have to agree that you’re 18 or older o read adult stuff. if you lie about that that’s your own goddamn problem. they asked.

and now, part 2, we come around to several interesting points made in the post. op mentioned that ganon is often portrayed as hypersexual (which is fascinating to me i don’t read e rated fic I See What Zelda Fandom Is Doing) or just fucks a lot in general. since i don’t go here i will take op’s word and roll with it, but i have my own word to add: so ganon fucks- what do we do? do we tell people to stop writing fics where ganon fucks? do we force them? do we tell people to write more gen rated character studies (please join me i sit here alone and i (pensive homo stare))?

we could. but we can’t make them. and we also can’t tell them where their ideas are coming from. i don’t, like, read a lot of smutfic but i sure know that shit exists because half my friends are horny as shit and can we all agree that fandom as a whole is just super fucking horny. like yes if ganon as a whole is portrayed more often in sexual situations than the other characters in the franchise, it’s a good and fair observation that Something’s Up Here. but can we really point to individual authors? the premises mentioned in the post by op are premises i’ve seen for haikyuu fanfiction. multiple times. tens of hundreds of times. what if someone’s just really fucking horny? what if they’re replicating racist ideas taught to them by mass media? can we tell? can THEY tell?

the answer is no because humans are black boxes that can’t be opened up even if we drop into the pacific ocean and instead screech helplessly at walls all our lives. the answer is these are complex issues and i don’t think prescriptive ‘Never Write Sexy Ganon’ statements or pointing fingers at random 30 year old smutfic authors will improve the situation. the answer, or at least my answer, is that we should consume media with a critical eye and be aware of potential biases perpetuated by the authors/creators, but striving towards ideological purity is impossible on principle (i promise you everyone on this planet is problematic in some way or another because this purity thing from christianity is fucking lame and also completely fake) and so we should all give that up. my personal answer is i’ve learned a lot about stereotypes about middle eastern and south asian people and i’ll take all this info with me moving forward, but i honestly and earnestly do not think me drawing link and zelda in dumbass princess jasmine outfits is going to directly correlate with an increase in racism as observed in the island city-state of singapore. i am aware now. that’s a good thing. but just like how the h*rry potter fandom has completely detached itself from its horrible creator and now fucks around in its own space doing its own thing, i think it’s fully possible to engage with flawed media because, surprise surprise, all the media in the world is flawed.

#asks #anon #Anonymous #my stuff

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robotslenderman · 4 years ago

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To counter all my bitching about light and fluffy VTM, here's my light and fluffy headcanons:

VTM is lighter than the edgelordery WW portrays it as, just not dramatically so. I like dark, not edgelordery. I'm not shitting on people who have happy headcanons at ALL when I rant about VTM being defanged lol. While I generally headcanon my vamps as darker, more selfish, and more indifferent to human suffering than most tumblrites, I don't see them as 100% psychopathic assholes. It's not realistic.

I just asked @badass-at-fandoming about theirs so I'm gonna write mine. It's a stereotype that Gangrel completely abandon their childer - generally, because they can't use Dominate/Presence and lack the resources to fully vet their childer, they Embrace and then let the childe fend for themself for a while. But it's like a mama deer appearing to abandon their fawn - the sire is usually not far off and will, if the childe has what it takes, take the childe in after a while. The tradition is three months.

They do this not to be assholes but because there is enormous risk to the Sire of taking on an unvetted childe immediately. What if your childe ends up a blabber mouth, or has some kind of breakdown, or starts shit with the local Camarilla? It's not like a Gangrel would have the resources to see if that's the case before they take them in, unlike most clans that are more social, have more contacts and more social disciplines to use in vetting new childer.

If a sire made a mistake in abandoning their childe and it turns out the childe does have what it takes, they're usually found and taken in by another Gangrel sooner or later.

However, some Gangrel get around the vetting limitations by deliberately choosing people easy for them to vet - for example, Elisa watched (stalked) the rangers at the local national park because they were often outdoors and at camps socialising with campers, whereas a potential childe at a city is much harder to track. Because of this, when she chose Harley, she took him in straight away.

Some Gangrel resent their sires for doing this to them and take their childer in right away. It often doesn't end well if they didn't vet the childe first, but sometimes they get lucky.

Gangrel are generally less social than other Kindred, but when they do bond they bond deeply and are much more loyal and trustworthy than other clans.

Tremere are very social and bond closely with their Chantry, although it takes them a while to warm up to transfers and newcomers.

Nosferatu, on the other hand, bond so closely together they are very warm and welcoming towards Nossies from outside their Warrens.

Nosferatu do not hate their appearances as much as they claim they do - it's like Australians with dropbears, they're mostly trolling other clans to beat them to "omg you're so ugly" comments. The stereotype comes from the poor Cleopatras. Most Nossies take pride in the more unique aspects of their appearances and openly admire them in other Nossies.

While most Toreador are physically repulsed by Nossies to a degree other clans aren't, some Toreador have an affinity for that kind of aesthetic and find Nossies absolutely fascinating. Some Toreador go so far as to make themselves prosthetics and join Warrens. While Nossies, admittedly, rarely take it well at first and can be absolutely ruthless in their mockery, if a Toreador persists and proves they're being sincere, sooner or later they gain the Warren's trust, and are welcomed in and taken under the Nossies' wings. These Toreador are often used as emissaries to the world above, or help decorate the Warren. After a while they're seen as just as much a Nossie as other Nossies.

These Toreador are often hooked up with Tzimisce by antitribu Nossies to fully "convert" to the clan.

Nosferatu rarely ask Princes for permission to Embrace unless the childe is well known in Kindred circles or they plan for the childe to be above ground often. A lot of Princes assume that newcomer Nosferatu are just transfers, but the ones aware that illegal Embraces happen generally cast a blind eye as the Primogen can be trusted not to allow overpopulation to become an issue.

Some domains have teams of Anarchs to keep an eye out for illegal Embraces and smuggle away the childer to contacts in other domains to keep them safe. They aren't common - they're mostly in cities with bigger Anarch presences and weaker Camarilla because of their nature - but they do exist.

Vampires are much more likely to stab each other in the back and use each other than humans are, as is canon, but many Kindred do have a coterie of trusted Kindred. They may not always like each other, but they can rely on each other. They're like very loose, polyamorous marriages/found families in that unlike the boon economy of Kindred society, favours are generally not kept track of unless one Kindred is too much of a - well - leech on the others.

It is considered way more of a Big Deal if a Kindred screws over a member of their coterie than if they screw over another random Kindred.

I guess the TLDR of all of this is - yes, Kindred are generally assholes and treat humans the same way (although arguably better) than we treat the animals we eat, but they DO have pockets of people they trust that they can rely on to get by in this world. It's hard life being Kindred, so they do form social bonds to help them survive, if for no other reason.

#vtm #headcanon

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amyscascadingtabs · 4 years ago

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2020 in writing

tagged by the wonderful @feeisamarshmallow and @b99peraltiago! thank you, this took me seriously three hours but it was fun.

tagging whoever has three hours to spare!! but i’d love to see @amydancepants-peralta, @letsperaltiago, @johnny-and-dora, and @fezzle do this, although no pressure because this took me the entire evening.

1. List of works published this year

oh god this is going to take forever...

i’ll walk through hell with you, chapter 5, 6 & 7

all the kingdom lights shined just for me and you

a single kiss and i’m under your spell

paper cut stings from our paper-thin plans

dust off your highest hopes

i can’t see the future, but i know that it’s there

look now, the sky is gold

look at where we are, look at where we started

bracing for the winds i always summon

just know that i’m already home

there’s magic everywhere you go

we’ve found a love to cross the ages

all my days, i’ll know your face

hell was the journey but it brought me heaven

(three times ‘cause) i’ve waited my whole life

if devotion is a river, then i’m floating away

when all your heroes get tired (i’ll be something better yet)

evermore

i am not a stranger to the dark

in the cracks of light, i dreamed of you

rare as the glimmer of a comet in the sky

21 works!!

2. Work you are most proud of (and why)

I am really really proud of finishing i’ll walk through hell with you, that’s still one of the highlights in my writing “career”. bracing for the winds i always summon and (three times ‘cause) i’ve waited my whole life, because they were both longer works with a lot of introspection that focused a lot on jake and amy’s feelings about upcoming parenthood. especially the last one I still love dearly. i’m also really proud of the fics i wrote all from rosa’s perspective (paper cut stings from our paper-thin plans and when all your heroes get tired (i’ll be something better yet)).

3. Work you are least proud of (and why)

none! I guess a few of them are shorter and written way quicker than some others, but I always take that into consideration when “evaluating” how proud I am of them so no. personally, I’m proud of everything in different ways.

4. A favourite except of your writing

referring to the creator tag meme for this where I posted excerpts from the five works I’m most proud of!

5. Share or describe a favourite review you received

questions like these remind me that I need to start saving my favorite reviews somewhere! that’s a goal for 2021, haha. but every comment that have listed their favorite moments in the fic I reread like five times over and smile every time, and all the comments people left me on the last chapter of i’ll walk through hell with you were so wonderful. and the rosa fic. and the -

you know what, I just started reading through old comments and I can’t pick one, it feels too unfair to all the other incredible ones I ’ve gotten. so. all of them!!!! I love you guys!!

I will mention this one that someone sent me in the middle of summer, during a period when I wasn’t writing or publishing so it ended up meaning that much more for that reason as well. comment on look at where we are, look at where we started (in the brief period of time when we thought peraltiago baby would be named Leo)

“Idk why, but the way Jake was talking to Leo made me wonder if my parents ever talked to me like that right after I was born. I've been told the story of my birth every birthday since I was born, so I know it by heart, but despite the countless Peraltiago baby fics and other fandom baby fics I've read, this is the one that made me wonder what my parents were thinking when I was born. And then it made me wonder what I'm gonna think when I give birth to a kid, or if I adopt a kid.” like, I was just so floored that something I wrote made someone reflect so deeply on their own life. and I want to underline that I have so so many favourite reviews but yes, this one stuck with me!

6. A time when writing was really, really hard

this summer was the hardest it’s ever been. first the (rightful) hesitance and reflection that followed the BLM protests and then some trauma and deep depression added onto that for me was… yeah. it took a really long time to find real joy in it again.

7. A scene of characters you wrote that surprised you

Jake and Rosa’s friendship in i am not a stranger to the dark! I’ve written a bit of Rosa and Amy and feel quite comfortable with their friendship and dynamic but far less of Jake and Rosa!

“At least this is still way better than... that.” “Literally everything is better than prison.” “True that.” Rosa looks up at the tv, realizing she’s missed at least ten minutes of the movie already. “I’m glad we got out.” “Sometimes it still feels like a part of me didn't,” Jake says, quietly. “You ever feel that way?” “Sometimes,” she admits. “We did, though. That's what's important.”

Rosa can hear someone talking in the background on the other end, and Jake mumbling something back in reply. “I have to go,” he tells her, and it makes her a little sad, because he's good company. “I can't miss dinner. Wouldn't want to piss off the entirety of my fiancées family before I’ve even married her, right?”

8. How did you grow as a writer this year?

I wrote more Rosa! that’s probably the single thing which helped me grow most, because she’s arguably a much harder character to write than Jake and Amy, since most of the time you really have no clue what she’s thinking. I have to think a lot harder about how Rosa thinks and feels and reacts to things and I feel like that makes me a better writer overall.

9. How do you hope to grow next year?

I don’t have any big expectations tbh. I know next year is going to take so much of my energy “”professionally”” or well, study-wise, so I think it’s the wrong year to set ambitious creative writing goals for me. then there’s also the inevitable fact that I’ve written a whopping ninety-nine stories for this show now and I’m always asking myself for how long it will last. there was a point in april-may where I thought it was going to be the end and during the entire summer as well. so… we’ll see. I don’t have any WIP I’m aching to finish right now.

10. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta of cheerleader or muse etc. etc.)?

@fezzle, @johnny-and-dora, @vernonfielding, @amydancepants-peralta, @feeisamarshmallow, @amazingsantiago and @letsperaltiago all deserve their own shoutouts here for various reasons!! (if you want to know more about why just message me!)

11. Anything from real life show up in your writing this year?

always, in different ways in how I relate to the characters and different feelings and moments and experiences that would take way too long to explain. but if I could choose one fic it would be paper cut stings from our paper-thin plans. I worked through a lot of feelings about a breakup I went through in this one and they were ones I hadn’t really had the chance to let myself feel before writing this. It isn’t similar to how my breakup went, at least I didn’t mean for it to be and haven’t put any intentional similarities in there (although I guess there are a few if you look for them) but some of the things Rosa thinks, says and feels after being broken up with were quite personal. i am not a stranger to the dark and the way it focuses on healing after trauma was also partly personal although way much less obviously so because the experiences are quite different lol.

12. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers?

make writer friends! talk to other writers! you’ll both learn so much and it makes writing and developing fics so much more fun!

13. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year

I currently have zero WIP and zero real plans so genuinely who knows. all depends on what my life will look like and what s8 will bring us!

14. If you could recommend only one work from yourself published this year

all the favourite five, but maybe when all your heroes get tired (i’ll be something better yet). I think it’s a great complement to the Rosa and Amy action we saw in season 7 and it has a lot of peraltiago from someone else’s viewpoint as well.

15. Year word count

are you kidding meeeee okay here we go.

okay, so adding everything I’ve published this year together… 111 283 words.

😳 😳 😳

DEAR GOD.

additional trivia: the shortest fic was 651 words (evermore), the longest if you exclude the three chapters of i’ll walk through hell with you (they are 24.6k together though) (three times ‘cause) i’ve waited my whole life, and the average word count for a fic of mine this year was 5 299 or 4 838 words, depending on whether you count the chapters of i’ll walk through hell with you as one or three works. that makes sense because i feel like i’ve written a loot of fics around that length this year!

#johanna talks writing #THANK YOU fee and adele for tagging me in this i've been so excited to do it

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