#and also im extremely biased for many characters

[kerizaret]

Doodles based on your fave card(s)?

I need u to give me 2 or 3 characters and I'll draw my fav card of theirs if that's OK

[thedevotionaltour]

matt sucks bad but like how op can't bring themself to necessarily call him a good person i cannot bring myself to call him a bad person. there is nuance to it but ultimately end of the day. he is good and i root for him. i hate him horribly sometimes because he can be such a terrible person to others and a massive fuck up and there is zero denial that he can, and has been, a bad person to others. like he has genuinely been a really bad person to other characters. but he cares so much and he is ultimately so compassionate and wants to do good by others and he does the thing is he still does do good by others. he pulls his mask off for children and he always comes back to help his friends no matter what qualms are going on between them. he cares so much for the people he tries to help as a lawyer and he wants to protect and save people in every way he possibly can at the end of the day (even though this can also do more harm than good a decent amount of times). in real life because as we all know superheros would not be considered nor should they be considered like. necessarily good people in real life. but as characters within their genre? they are. within his superhero narrative matt is still ultimately a good person. i can't bring myself to call him a bad person. because he does do undeniable good. he wants to do right by others. even if he can often go about it selfishly as much as he does with a selfless mindset. you can still like. root for him. you still want him to win even if you want him to get kicked down. because you know how helpful he can truly be. you know he is trying to be good for others at the end of the day.

[remusawoooo]

anon here, excited to read the essay! i asked you because i really like your takes and i see people in the more canon-adjacent parts of the marauders fanbase to complain about the extremes of the fanon one, though personally ive never really seen anything Too extreme, tho thats probably just tantamount to how well i curate my spaces i suppose (ive seen people say that fanon makes remus really “alpha” or makes sirius “bimbofied” and while ive seen hints of those extremes here and there, mostly it looks like it varies from person to person. ive just seen remus be more assertive than he probably is in canon, or sirius being more dramatic and “fem” than he probably is in canon). from what i know people like exaggerating events (the prank, etc.) or shifting some personality traits, but i dont really think thats a bad thing - i personally enjoy it. as long as they dont completely turn characters into stereotypes (though its a pitfall of every fandom, i fear), then whatever its just camp.

people are allowed to criticize stuff like that though, not taking that away from anyone, i personally just dont really care enough to be totally accurate esp since this hyperfix is kind of the bottom of the barrel for me LMAO. but i ask mostly bc im just curious to see what other peoples opinions are, and bc i think - especially in a fanbase like this - that its incredibly important to be at least a little critical with your media experience and reflect on it. saying “oh fuck canon we’re just having fun” is fine and all, i dont think anyone is stopping you, i think the personalities people have made up for characters that have zero screen time are super fun and the little ships are not everyones tea but like its fine. but even still, people should be way more aware of what characters theyre dealing with and from what franchise, and like reflect on any biases you may have. if youre making shit up for a random DE character, or retconning some sutff, okay, whatever, but be sure to not defend or like suddenly turn to really weird rhetoric. idk i think its the bare minimum in a fanbase like this

i definitely rambled way too much here, super sorry op! i hope this doesnt bother you, feel free to reply or feel free to not. i just really like hearing peoples thoughts on things, and i like your takes and your blog so i hope i didnt catch you by surprise. i really am just an outsider trying to look in LOL

hello anon, I'm sorry I lost your ask. I was writing on my laptop and saved the draft (but apparently had to press on alt, and didn't do it) so I basically lost your question and half of my initial response. Ty for sending in another ask!! Not a bother at all, i find this very lovely :D 

I was mortified to find that someone who isn't really a part of the fandom was perceiving me while I was complaining about fictional characters ahahaha. still, thank you for validating me and asking my thoughts on the mischaracterization of marauders!! I do talk about it daily, unfortunately, and without any prompt too. I'll try to gather all my thoughts here. I don't necessarily come across fanon as much as I did when I reentered the fandom and honestly, I can not be more with you about curating your space !! at the end of the day, I am just here to have fun, and really, pointing out these issues is not a good time at all! But I do post a lot about these, I can't be bothered to bottle up any thoughts lol.

I think the major issue I have with current interpretations is the underlying bigotry that comes along with it. There is a lot of unchecked problematic content that doesn't sit right with me.

Flanderizing characters in fandom interpretations is not limited to marauders fandom obviously. any popular media will face this because so many of us want to interact with one character so their traits are simplified for easier consumption and to find a common ground. this is also not limited to new marauders fandom. even in the older era, leather jacket-wearing, motorbike-driving quintessential bad boy siruis was a thing. so I won't nitpick on silly simplifications.

I just want to say that this isn't about me wanting everyone to have the same interpretations as I do about the canon. I follow so many lovely people and I don't agree with all of their posts. But, we all just simply share the love for these characters in the text and form an imaginary community. So, if we were to remove all the issues I will mention, it is still very well possible to have different personal takes.

Here are some of my issues:

Queerness, Gender roles, and misogyny:

My biggest problem is the representations of queer relationships. the fandom packages these couples in a strange and obvious heteronormative mold where the individuals fit into male and female gender roles. mlm and wlw are now an “f/m”* stereotype and characterization gets affected by the ships. Heterosexual relationships shouldn't have these limitations either, anyway. There is no one way to be a woman or a man. With queer relationships in particular, we have reclaimed the word queer now but it was used to describe the unconventional weirdness in the relationship. We didn't fit into the normal portrayal of a loving relationship. So, it really bothers me, even in fiction, that queer ships are popularly consumed in a way that represents a traditional template. (*this is not about gender itself but the gender roles! f/m can very well be queer!). 

Let's take the biggest victim in this fandom: sirius.

Sirius’ portrayal concerning his gender and sexuality has heavily changed his characterization in the fanon. We have a character who is popularly headcanonned as trans and is it a coincidence that all their traits have changed from the og material? Sirius is suddenly vain, whiny, and dumb. Canon doesn't suggest this interpretation, it has to have stemmed from somewhere. It's the implicit bias. Sirius becomes a caricature of what a woman “should be”. When we focus on sexuality, there is the suddenly short twink sirius who has the same new traits- proving the point of fulfilling gender roles. These characteristics are a stand-in for the “female” role of the traditional relationship and it becomes more clear in the example of new age wolfstar. Remus is now the big alpha stoic manly man- the obvious stand-in for the “male” role. I could go on, it is apparent in the way you can see remus becomes a caretaker and sirius is taken care of.

The point I am trying to make is not to discourage gender/sexuality hc. I love them, keep them coming. But, why is female sirius not tall suddenly? It is not inherently bad at all to have a feminine and masculine pairing! But why do we need to change the constitutions of these characters to consume their relationship?

I'll keep dropping disclaimers because I hate being misinterpreted: I don't obviously mean every single person is doing this or that doing one of the things means doing the other too. 

Race:

It is related to the point above. I was personally so excited to see the popular desi james hc. Even in fanon, I have never seen such a prevalent and encouraged brown rep, it was quite sweet to come back to that. But the problem is the change of characteristics that comes with race hc. Desi james is also a manly dude who is big and buff as opposed to the white petite and delicate regulus within jegulus ship. The melanin is directly proportional to the manliness here. 

This is a propagation of race stereotypes. Maybe jegulus was a bad example because usually there are seen as blank templates. I will raise the argument that this can't be all we can come up with for blank canvases then. Either way, my point about race still stands when you repeatedly design interracial queer relationships so they fall into heteronormative roles. Anyway, same issue with wolfstar when there is a brown remus.

Canon, JKR, and hypocrisy:

Refusing to engage with source material is funny when we are picking characters out of it. the interpretations of the characters will be from their book. otherwise, they are just original characters with the same name. you can add onto the traits and a lot of the time fandom comes to a consensus regarding a few things! This is common in every fandom but I don't think I have seen such reluctance to not only critically engage with media but also shame others who do. We are surely in special circumstances with this fandom but I really do think jkr and how we navigate the fanon should be two different things.

Most of us don't condone jkr or even remotely agree with any nonsense she spews on the daily. Most of us can see the problematic nature of even consuming this media and staying in this fandom. It is one of the reasons I even left the fandom. Most of us are simply doing our best to engage carefully while distancing ourselves from her. So, it is quite laughable when some love to take the moral high ground for rejecting canon while still engaging with the same characters. (the rejection of canon in question being sirius’ height, lol)

(Sirius' height is quite a polarising fact apparently. Unfortunately, the point about height is also discussed so disingenuously. When I talk about sirius’ height, it is not really about him being 6 or 7 feet. It will not really impact my life. It is about what it represents. He is bimbofied as he becomes short. It's an issue of "WHY" again.)

Of course, this isn't an accusation of intentional bigotry from everyone here. The problem with this fandom is that the people in it tell themselves that it is progressive and to run away from the problematic creator as much as possible. We are not progressive if all we do is co-opt queer and racially diverse identities on such a superficial level. The bias manifests in subtle forms. I just wish we check ourselves from time to time, that's all. 

There is a lot of hostility when we try to discuss issues in the fanon. Things are interpreted in the most misguided way to just win the argument. Like I said in the beginning, we all just want to have a good time. That also means creating a welcoming space for vulnerable groups (especially when the same identities are used to pat yourselves on the backs for inclusivity points). I didn't even cover everything btw, I just wrote about the issues that concern me. queer and poc also partake in biased representations, I also probably have some biases that I didn't identify yet. I just think it would be super neat if everyone tried to make an effort to unlearn and engage with media without hurting anyone. 

I have other issues but they are all just super subjective opinions and smth I can ignore when others do. ex: I really don't like giving tragic backstories to bigots in the story. Not every supremacist loser has a trauma that forced them into oppressing people! There is also "tropeyfication" of all major ships. Just an overall issue in the reading world I think, though.

Anon, I didn't mean to make it preachy in any way btw. You probably asked for a silly little rant and I went full lecture mode, so I apologize for the tone shift!! I mentioned these because every other issue can be brought down to these imo. Like you said, I also don't have any fixation on everything being canon-compliant. I only complain by asking about the thought process behind certain kinds of changes, if that makes sense! I hope this wasn't a drag really and you can see where I am coming from. If I misspoke anywhere, pls lmk. Thanks for sharing your opinions too!!

This is a long long rant, anyone who read everything, you are wonderful and patient. Thank you for taking the time. This huge post and the content can make you think, “who cares this much?” or “it's not that serious” and yaa it really isn't that serious. The characters aren't real but we all are. the identities projected are real. so, it does matter to talk about this.

Everything said this is a fun place to be once you find your own corner in the playground.

[rewritingcanon]

If you don’t mind me asking? why do you believe that Slytherin is a terrible house? Draco was an asshole and some of the other Slytherins(Crabbe, Goyle). although throughout the entire series the golden trio were practically bullies to most Slytherins for no reason(more so in the books)? Slytherins at hogwarts were usually mistreated due to their reputation of producing dark wizards, as if Ravenclaw doesn’t have almost just as much 🙏 plus how biased the entire school facility were with Slytherins, honestly i wouldn’t expect Slytherins to act the best when the whole schools against them.

And Slytherins being bullied or mistreated isn’t a new thing, especially by Gryffindors(Ex; Golden trio, marauders, fantastic beasts).

And whats your take on Ron? i’m a bit meh on him, as he was a good friend although i still can’t forget or excuse him

-Bullying first years

-Abusing his Prefect status

-Almost calling Ginny a slut

-abusing Crookshanks

kinda confused a bit because i don’t remember ever calling slytherin a terrible house lol. i’ve said that slytherin was written with the mind to make it a bad house, with all its characters being pretty morally bleak. hp is not supposed to be very morally complex, all the work in that is mostly credited to fandom.

as readers, we’re positioned to sympathise with the golden trio being mean to slytherin characters more because they have the moral leverage of not being blood purists or terrorists. maybe harry had no reason to go after them at first, but hermione definitely had as a muggleborn, and ron was constantly getting slandered for either being poor or a blood traitor. granted, this was all mostly from draco. the other slytherins are one-dimensional characters who serve as his lackeys, there’s not one that’s properly fleshed out except maybe severus snape and even that’s iffy for a lot of fans.

yes, ravenclaws did have death eaters, but not to the same extent that slytherin was producing them. most death eater characters have unconfirmed houses, the only ravenclaw we actually know to be a death eater is quirrel and thats it. so they’re actually tying with the amount of death eaters gryffindor produces (pettigrew), not slytherin. everyone else— lestranges, blacks, malfoys, crabbes, snape etc— are slytherins. this is unsurprising as salazar slytherin literally wanted to gatekeep his house from progressive and inclusive ideals.

i have many gripes with the oppressive world jkr has written— i don’t think she understands how oppression operates because i agree with what you say about most of the hogwarts staff treating the slytherins like shit. in reality, the ones who are oppressed should be the ones discriminated against, but in the hpverse you see the oppressors getting treated badly. im not saying i think slytherins should be presented as the oppressed, its just horrid writing on her part.

i really like ron, i think he’s a really well fleshed-out character with realistic flaws and a good arc. i cant remember when he bullied first years and i don’t remember him abusing his prefect status in any extremely terrible way that would lower my opinion of him. i do remember him almost slut-shaming ginny, and though i think it was terrible of him i also think it was a realistic thing to say from an older brother to a younger sister in the 90s. i have a younger brother and you should clock some of the arguments we’ve had over the years in the 2020s. it’s within the same vein. ginny was pressing on ron’s sore spots as little siblings do, and ron was attempting to compensate by biting back in any way he could. it was realistic to me. and its been a while since i read the books but ron bitching about crookshanks read as comedic. granted, i was like 11 years old when i read them, but i remember thinking it was justified because to ron, crookshanks was literally trying to kill his pet. he’s not going to be chill around something thats tried to eat his rat multiple times. when someone is attacking your pet, you get scared and angry and try to fight back in defence of your pet because you want to deter that animal from trying anything like that again. they obviously can’t understand you if you simply lecture them. i once had to do something similar (i did not physically fight anything though LOL) when i got a new cat, and our neighbour’s cat would constantly attack and injure him every time we let him outside. and that was a cat v cat, this is a little mouse versus crookshanks 😭😭

[milfygerard]

Do you think Gerard's comics are good? I haven't read all of them. I felt like the story doesn't really wrap up well and make sense good in the Killjoy comics or Umbrella Academy but maybe comics are just like that. Maybe they were imitating other writers I don't know about and I'm missing context. What are your thoughts

anon i am so deeply biased towards gerards comics but YES i do think theyre good! I think lots of the critiques are fair but i also think it leads to the fandom kind of underrating him as a comic author at times and dismissing the work out of hand. I especially see this for umbrella academy and to answer your other question yes i do think some of it is a matter of missing context! TUA was never...really made to be a popular and commercial comic? The satire and style are very inside baseball, mostly about x men, as well as later leaning more into a silver age style of both writing and illustration (which is why im soooo obsessed w hotel oblivion guys its so goood its so good i swear)

When it comes to other comic runs, I'd say killjoys comics tend to be the messiest but they are also deeply meaningful to me wnd natuonal anthem is so fucking gorgeous and interesting (controversial but im a natam ending defender even if i think the comic itself couldve used another issue or 2 to push the character writing more). I think gerard has one of the better doom patrol runs, Including milk wars i'd put it up there at maybe 3rd or 4th depending on how much i let personal bias into the equation. However doom patrol is also very Like That just as like a superhero group and can be kind of impenetrable if you arent down for genuinely bizarre and sometimes seemingly nonsensical writing, its kind of apart of the teams DNA as the "worlds strangest heroes". Milk wars is soso good and maybe one of my favorite Comic Things gerard has made/been involved with but its also best with looots of comic context bc its playing w both doom patrol history and the context of where DC as a company was during the time of its release. Its still relevant in many ways but probably feels impenetrable if you arent already into comics at least a bit.

Gerards style def isnt for everyone (and they do sometimes get bored and cheese the ending a bit though i defs tend to like them more than other ppl do) but i do think theyre extremely good at what rhey do and im soooo excited for paranoid gardens especially bc 1. gerard has always taken an extremely empathetic and nuanced and honest approach to writing about mental health and mental illnesses bith real and semi fictionalized and 2. the artist on board is an industry mainstay and has made some fucking incredible work! I didnt love the first issue cover dropped and was worried i wouldnt click w the artstyle but after properly checking out chris westons style im really excited!!!! gerard time

[brainrotgoverner]

FINALLY have time to watch an other episode of the Scracthed Universe series so I'm just gonna write this post as I watch it cuz I'm OBSESSED with them:

The way Jumpsuit signaled Fixer to get behind him permanently altered my brain chemistry. THIS is the reason I'm watching this series so slowly, im writing them a fic wherever they like of or not XD

Okey, pausing my 2013 fangirl rant to talk about how GREAT the infected are

The mutilated faces are a basic yet extremely effective way to show the virus. It corrupts their faces, like corrupted files. Because that's exactly what they are, they are in a video game and they are made out of digital blood and 01100100 01101001 01100111 01101001 01110100 01100001 01101100 guts. The faces are unnatural and unique to the character (and even according to game mechanics as the Spy's can hide it), it makes you feel uncomfortable in a way only uncanny valley could and I love that XD

ALSO this moment I'm losing my MIND here with this series-

Another reason I like their dynamic so much is even though Jumpsuit is more comfortable in this environment, Fixer is in no way helpless. Shown in the way how he efficiently held up his own before Jumpsuit showed up to save him from the infected Spy (WHICH only got the upper hand because he was about to backstab him) in the last episode, the way even though he panics frequently and Jumpsuit calming him down definitely helps, he throws in ideas on what to do, fixes sentries and jumps right back up to headshot that Demoman after getting blown up. I like how they both have strong suits in different departments and complete their dynamic. I'm fairly positive they are going to make it out <3 please don't tell me I just jinxed them

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING?????? THIS IS ACTUALLY DISTURBING LIKE I'M NOT KIDDING- the other infected were spooky, yes, but this is downright bone-chilling this is WRONG THAT THING SHOULD BE PUT DOWN the only reason I added scared Fixer there is because I genuinely can't handle looking at that thing in full size BUT I might be biased since I was always uncomfortable with hyperrealism in animated horror lol

WHY WON'T IT DIE?????? I mean, I'm happy about the full-white eyes since it's less creepy but NOPE THE EYES ARE BACK JUMPSUIT DO SOMETHING YOUR BOYFRIEND IS SHAKING

To be honest I'm not really sure if the BONKBOT can access the map interface and or if he knows how many people are on the map thanks to his visors or something BUT he is a brilliant character XD he is a perfect way to lower the stakes and sprinkle in some comedy without it feeling out of place

ANOTHER BADASS SCOUT (with AMAZING vocals I mind you) AND HE IS DROPPING SOME DELICIOUS LORE

...what's going on with Fixer?

[antiv3nom]

ive been enabled so im making a new post for it <3 n e ways welcome to my list of what characters the straw hats would play in guilty gear strive

luffy - sin kiske/may

ok first of all im entirely biased but luffy would fucking LOVE sin, like the bit of him eating to get buffs would DEEPLY entertain luffy (although he'd use it entirely way too much and get blown up for it)

but for both characters, i think he'd be a big fan of doing like one hit and a simple combo and absolutely DESTROYING someone's health bar, which fits for both of these. he wouldn't be very GOOD at the game because he wouldn't be able to sit still and wait for openings or anything of the sort but boy would he be great at corner pressure (until he gets dp'd)

zoro - nagoriyuki

i swear to you im not just giving the sword guy the sword guy (although that's certainly a factor because i bet you that'd influence zoro's character decision) but like. zoro is also the type to want to do one combo that does a ton of damage

i think he'd be moderately better than luffy and defense and neutral though, being able to open people up with pokes (cough cough beyblade cough cough), but he'd CONSTANTLY spend too much blood, although he plays surprisingly well inside of blood rage

nami - asuka r#

nami is the type to want to stand on one side of the screen with her opponent on the other side of the screen and just shoot so many fucking cubes at them honestly. plus i think she'd be really great at keeping track of spells and resources while she plays

however if u can get in on her? it's over, she has negative defense and constantly flails and mashes her way to death, but otherwise she's a pretty solid player. also, im a wizard's whimsy believer regarding nami so. asuka!

usopp - happy chaos/axl low

usopp is ALSO a zoner main but like. to the fucking extreme. hes GOING to guard crush loop you from across the entire screen hes GOING to rensen your ass for a whole round hes GOING to be sent through the fucking wall if you close in on him

sanji - giovanna

ok so i actually think this is a cool decision because like. we see gio use her hands in like...2? 3? of her moves? like its 5p 2p and 6p and thats about it. and its GIVING SANJI!!!!

i do think that sanji would have fun playing a rushdown character but also he'd get so good at playing defense bc he doesnt want to let gio get harmed

chopper - jack-o' valentine

CHOPPER WOULD HAVE A FUCKING BLAST PLAYING JACK-O'!!!!! i dont think hed be good at strive by a long stretch but hed LOVEEEE controlling the goobers and all the silly animations hed be having the time of his life

the ASSUMPTION might be faust but i think chopper finds him too creepy to enjoy playing him regularly

robin - anji

robin is a fucking MASTER in neutral i am convinced of this, specifically that she can just. get her opponent to do what she wants. so easily. and then she uses spin and kills them! as is her right!!!

this one is more vibes than anything but i do think she'd enjoy spin and counter as moves to just fuck with her opponent in a major way, plus anji just being a graceful motherfucker

franky - potemkin/goldlewis dickinson

franky doesnt want to play your silly little game. he doesnt want to hold your mix, he doesnt want to set up oki, he doesnt want to play neutral, he wants to KILL YOU AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE

this isnt how he approaches things in life but i think theres something about strive that would just make him want to do the biggest damage possible with the least amount of hits and he'd want to land every fucking pot buster and behemoth typhoon to ever exist. unfortunately this means he wouldnt entirely be engaging with the strategy side of the game and would frequently be blown up but if he can get one grab on you hes happy.

brook - i-no

look. ok. the music connection is awesome and i think brook would enjoy mixing you into oblivion but. i have never met an i-no player who doesnt play her at least in part because she's hot. and thats absofuckinglutely how brook would choose who he plays LMAO

like its JUST the nature of the world. but in terms of gameplay yeah i think he'd like flitting around the screen with her hoverdash and divekicks and he'd have so much fun with her pressure and mix

jinbe - sol badguy

ok for legal reasons i have to specify that like i have met jinbe and know him im thr series but not super well so take my opinions with a grain of salt. but anyways i think jinbe would have a lot of fun with sol, he feels like the type who wouldnt like play strive much on his own but REALLY get into it when playing with other people, and i need him to experience the euphoria of hitting a clean hit hvv or getting a wallbounce combo

i also think he's another fan of doing a shit ton of damage all at once but i think he's willing to do some comboing and some setups to get there, and i think he's get REALLY fucking good at stagger pressure it would be scary

[silverselfshippingchaos]

ABDJAGRJWHE THANK YOU THAT'S SO SWEET!!!

HII OMG i had to follow for the soul calibur and kingdom hearts ships!!! also you seem pretty cool!!! :D if it isn't too much trouble, could you tell me more about your ship with aqua? i love her sm! (kittyandco)

hello!!! thank you thank you! it's great to see you here ajdhqkdjw I love so many of your ships and have been following for a while! i'm a huge marvel fan and hux is a character i like a lot too and there's so many f/os of yours that i recognize! soulcal is so special to me since some of my earliest memories are of me playing it! as a result, I've been with my guy for a while- what a guy, am I right? 😍

i'm always down to talk about my aqua! I also love her sm if i do say so myself- this might end up being a little long but here we gooooo!

okay so. Ash is another Keyblade wielder raised by Master E.raqus! He found her after she was orphaned so she sees him as a fatherly figure. She's just a few months older than Aqua and a little younger than Terra. She dresses in mostly all red (her and Aqua are the red and blue couple!!!!) and has those chest straps the other wayfinder trio folk do as well.

She became a Keyblade master before Aqua did (though not very long before- just a few weeks) and she's very good at what she does! She wears a long red coat. I wanted her to look cool and important which is why her outfit is like that.

I hope you like the childhood best friends to lovers trope because that's exactly what happens! These two have been together since they were children. They were always together. No matter what. Always together, hand in hand, giggling and laughing and training and talking. It isn't until their teenage years where Ash goes "... Oh. Oh."

Ash has it bad. She's so horribly in love with her best friend. Terra knows, Ven knows, Dad knows, they all know- It's so obvious! As a kid, she always wanted to be with Aqua, but as she grew older, those cute little giggles turned into longing glances.

Ash often calls Aqua "Berry", a nickname from when they were kids. Ash was red... Aqua was blue... Like a blueberry! So she's Berry for short. She always called Aqua that when they were little, and it stuck! So you can sometimes see her call Aqua "berry"!

Just imagine a little Ash and Aqua when they were small.

"You're Aqua.. and I'm Ash!"

"You're red, and I'm blue!"

"You're like water... But I'm like fire!"

And little Aqua giggles,

"Hey, we match! We're meant to be, right?"

"Yeah, that's right! Ash and Aqua, we'll be best friends forever and ever!"

Anyways, Ash said that she'd finally confess after years of pining after they're all Masters, but... haha... ha... (looks at birth by sleep). She doesn't take the end of the game very well.

(Oh and more appearance details! Ash has brown skin and eyes and black hair like I do. Her coat is red and her shirt under is black. Her straps are green. Her Keyblade is green too. Her hair is long, but tied in a ponytail with a white ribbon. The ribbon was a gift from Eraqus when she was younger.)

Like with the others, Aqua makes a wayfinder for Ash. Ash's is red, just like her coat. But Ash refuses to take it. She laughs, saying that her and Aqua are so close that they don't need this to be together. And so, for all of BBS, Aqua carries two Wayfinders.

But at the end, right before she falls into darkness, Aqua asks for Ash's hand and gives her a blue Wayfinder.

"Aqua..." "Keep it. I'll always be by your side, okay?"

So for all of Ash's appearances until they reunite in 3, Ash carries a blue Wayfinder from her belt. However, that also means that Aqua carries a red Wayfinder in 0.2

It makes moments like these a little more emotional. She thinks of Ash whenever she looks at that. Ash is what keeps her going throughout the darkness. Her best friend, the woman that she loves.

And then... At the end of BBS... Aqua falls into darkness. And Ash is forced to watch. The last thing Aqua hears is Ash begging and screaming, pleading for the darkness to please just take her instead. Anything, she'd give up anything to save Aqua.

Ash punches at the ground again and again till her knuckles bleed the same red as the Wayfinder Aqua always held onto, casts every single spell she knows. She doesn't care about how much it hurts. She just wanted to save Aqua.

... And she failed. Aqua doesn't come back.

Ash's hands are scarred from all that, and every single one of those scars are a reminder that she failed. She has bandages around her hands.

For ten years, she is alone. Eraqus is gone, her best friend Terra is gone, Ven is gone... And Aqua is gone. Her light is gone. Ash spends ten years by herself, wandering worlds and imagining what it would be like to see Aqua again. She loves her so much..

Ash can be seen wandering worlds in 2. Sora tries to talk to her, seeing that she's a Keyblade wielder. But Ash tells him to leave. She doesn't care about anything that doesn't have to do with Aqua. She doesn't even have it in her to be a boss fight.

But yeah. For ten years, we get mean and sad Ash. After Mickey sees Aqua, he tracks down Ash. Ash agrees to help them because she wants to see Aqua again. So we see her work with Riku and Yen Sid and Mickey and all those losers later. She's a little serious and quiet (which is wild, since she's a goofy and bright jokester with Aqua!)

Her and Riku also develop a sibling type bond. She's the cool big sister to him. Riku picks up on Ash always playing with the blue Wayfinder she carried on her.

And then a bunch of stuff happens and she's the one who has to fight Anti-Aqua. It horrifies her and she's crying for the whole fight.

"Please, Aqua... I-I can't... Don't make me do this..."

"You left me here. You abandoned me. You never came me."

"Aqua, please... I did everything I could!"

And when Aqua finally comes back, Ash is tackling her in a hug. They're both sobbing, clinging to each other with all they have. Aqua has always felt like home to Ash. Ash was home. She was finally home. Aqua cries, saying that she never stopped thinking about Ash.

You know how in 0.2 Aqua looks up at the sky sometimes? Ash looks up at the stars a lot too. Reminds me of the days when her and younger Aqua would stay up and laugh together under the stars.

A little while after they reunite, they kiss. They've always been so close, and sometimes just... snaps. And they both confess that they've been in love with each other for a long, long time. And yeah! For the rest of 3, you can see them kissing and holding hands and being really cute. They're a very adorable couple (if I do say so myself hehe)!

Also, Ash is afraid of taking off her bandages around Aqua at first. Her scars are ugly. Her scars are a reminder of how she wasn't enough. She wants to be the perfect woman for Aqua, and Aqua shouldn't have to see that side of her. But Aqua tells Ash that she loves Ash for who she is, and her hands are beautiful, no matter how many scars are on them. Aqua kisses them often.

Also, Ash sometimes refers to Aqua as "my heart" and Aqua refers to Ash as "my light". In a world of darkness, thoughts of Ash was all Aqua had. Her bright smile, loud laugh, all of it... Ash was her light. And a heart is supposed to be Ash's guiding key, right? Well, Ash's heart always found its way back to Aqua. Aqua is her heart.

There's a lot more to this ship and I've written soooo damn much for them, but that's pretty much what you need to know about them! They're the red/blue Keyblade gfs!!!! They're so in love! Best friends (and even more than that) forever!

Ash is pretty sassy and humorous, and can sometimes be a bit of a flirt (only towards Aqua). It makes Aqua blush. Aqua is just the sweetest person alive- It's adorable how she's the only person who can fluster Ash. They love each other so much. Ten years without each other wasn't easy. Ash isn't used to having anyone around again, and Aqua isn't used to the light. But that's okay. They have each other, right?

Oh! Also! When they reunite, they finally trade Wayfinders again. Red for Ash, blue for Aqua.

This is mostly Ash/Aqua focused, but she's cool big sis to Ven, and sassy daughter (who loves him lots) to Eraqus. She didn't like Terra as a kid, but as they grew up together, they've gotten extremely close and care for each other deeply. However, Ash likes to pick on him a lot. She calls him an idiot a lot, but she cares about him, I promise! He was also one of the first to go "hey, Ash, youre down bad for your bestie aren't you-"

Thank you for this ask!!!

[ropebunnykant]

to the anon i just got: im not gonna publish your ask because of the last part of it (though i do agree with you), which im sure you can understand. however, i do wanna post the rest of it and respond, so im gonna copy and paste that below. my answer got very long, so i am gonna put that under a cut :)

anonymous asked: idk whether this means anything to you, but your posts on the show are by far my favourite on this website, precisely because of the parallels and interpretations you draw from the play. i guess i'm biased because i'm an english major and love shakespeare, but your posts are so much fun to read. i don't think that you should dwell too much on why not everyone is so on board with the show having a direct link to the shakespeare play itself when it clearly does for me. i mean why throw othello in the mix in ep 6, make book covers with specific quotes and go as far to use direct quotes from the play, which were not in the movie; and these are just very obvious basics, you have already drawn so many more interesting parallels. i think with the particular people dismissing the play it's just the fact that they want their characters to be derivative of heath ledger's patrick and not shakespeare's petruchio, who is, for lack of a better word, less charming. there is also this thing of thinking of shakespeare as unattainable and oh so very different from modern media. it makes sense for people to think that this cheesy silly action romcom bl is much closer to this cheesy romcom movie that everyone has seen than a play written 500 years ago when in fact the play is just as cheesy and silly, it just uses iambic pentameter that's all.

first of all, it does mean A LOT to me that my posts are your favorite, especially because shakespeare and theatre in general is something i'm extremely passionate about. i graduated less than a year ago with a bachelors degree in theatre performance, and while my shakespeare research isn't extensive by any means and i don't claim to be an expert, it is something i'm incredibly interested in and i love getting the chance to share my knowledge and discuss it in this setting because it’s so rarely something i get to put to use in a fandom spaces despite it being a passion of mine.

which, i think the fact that it does mean so much to me is part of why it does upset me so much that people will so easily dismiss that aspect of it. like again, i understand not everyone is knowledgeable on shakespeare or even interested in being, but to completely dismiss something that so clearly inspired a huge part of the show just doesn't make sense to me. it's not like it being a shakespeare adaptation makes 10 things LESS influential, i think they were both big inspirations for jojo when it comes to the show, in fact it's very clear that he took inspiration and is making intentional references and parallels to both.

and look, i understand everyone loved patrick in 10 things and loved 10 things itself, and i even understand the disdain towards petruchio because i absolutely hate him, too. however, there's also nothing wrong with style being based on and around petruchio, either. especially because patrick was as well, and everyone is so fond of him. it's not a dig for style to be based on a character you don't like, if anything i think the fact that petruchio is so detested and style is so lovable adds a very interesting analysis element to the whole thing, which is very much what i was trying to get across in my initial post that started this discussion. and while i don't think there's anything wrong with thinking of style as being also based around patrick, because i very much think elements of him were, it is again just very dismissive to not at all acknowledge the parts of him that ARE petruchio, and even retroactively, the parts of PATRICK that are petruchio as well. because again, patrick was also based off petruchio, and you can't deny that whether or not you think style was.

and i do definitely think the disconnect does exist where people are going to automatically think 10 things is closer because it's a modern adaption, and again, i do think there is merit to that idea. however, like you said, the original play is just as cheesy and silly, it's just written in a way that many people don't fully understand. which, is again, totally fine, and it's also part of why i want more people to ask me questions about the parallels i draw because i recognize the language isn't the easiest thing for everyone to understand.

i just also don't personally know what things people are going to understand vs what they aren't because not only is everyone going to just have a different level of understanding and noticing different things, but i also have read, watched, analyzed, and even performed many shakespeare pieces, so i have genuinely no idea anymore what things people aren't going to understand compared to what i do - i recognize my understanding of it is going to be better than the average person and i've also recently even realized that some of the things i assume people know and understand when it comes to the language aren't actually common knowledge and just the product of me understanding the language and being surrounded by other people that do! so again, i beg, if there is something i post and discuss that anyone sees and doesn't understand, ask me about it! i am more than happy to clarify it for you. i want shakespeare and the shakespeare aspect of the show to be accessible and easy for everyone to understand.

because the thing is, despite these plays having been written hundreds of years ago, they're also still incredibly relevant to the modern day. it's why we keep getting shakespeare adaptations, like the heart killers. no, it's obviously not a one to one translation but that doesn't mean there aren't still things from the play that can fit into a modern context and even the themes and ideas can carry over in all sorts of different ways. and that's what jojo and the team have done with the heart killers!

[caitie-likes-talking]

Part 4 Critique: Everything I'd Change

I love DIU..however, I consider it one of the post flawed of the JJBA Parts. Honestly, I feel like Araki didn't fully know where he was going with it til halfway, which is why the plot can be so janky. No matter what, let's dive into it. First, characters.

(also quick disclaimer: this is all my opinion and i am biased for MANY things.)

if u diagree w me dont tell me i think it would crush me

Characters [Josuke, Jotaro, Okuyasu, Kira]

Josuke Higashikata

I LOVE Josuke. I think he's a lovely character concept and his design is really cool. My main problem with him is literally his LACK of screen time!! He is the Jojo of this part, yet his spotlight is constantly stolen by other side characters like Koichi, Rohan, and even Jotaro. This also happened a lot in Part 3, with it basically being the Polnareff show (idk why Araki did this sm in pts3-5...either let the mc have screen time or don't have them be the mc!!)

I think Josuke had some of the most missed opportunities in DIU. Especially with his relationships with other characters. I think this part could've been way more interesting if it chose a solid theme, and one that I think would've made sense is commentating on death & tragedy and how that can impact personal relationships. The reason I believe this is because there's already easy set ups for this in the story. Ryohei's death, The Nijimura Brother's family, Reimi, Shigechi, and Jotaro all have that theme in place, but not enough connecting points or real arcs related to this. What was the point of killing off Ryohei (who was the only father figure Josuke had growing up) if you're not going to show how this impacted Josuke, Tomoko, and how he acts with others besides one single page? Sure, it taught him that his powers have limits and that he can't save everyone, but that was a stupid thing to teach him because Okuyasu doesn't fucking die when he should've!! Like why did we make an arc saying 'hey stands aren't magic they can't bring ppl back to life' just for EXACTLY THAT to happen??

Moving on, I also have problems with his stand. I LOVE Crazy Diamond, I think it has a super cool design and power concept, but personally I wish it's powers were more grounded and had clear limits. I feel like a lot of stands suffer from this treatment of vague power limits (ex: Golden Wind..) but my problem with CD is that there were MANY opportunities to add one! For example: we know Josuke couldn't bring back Ryohei even after using his stand on him. So that bears the question: what can CD not fix? What is the real reason it can't bring a dead person back to life? Jotaro says "No stand has the power to bring back the dead" WHY?? am i missing something? Have I forgotten when it was officially established that stands cant do that? I mean, literally in part 3 there was a stand that could reanimate corpses. So does it have to do with the soul? No matter what, I would've used this moment to establish that CD can't bring back ANY living thing. I actually wrote a short fic abt this and included the fact that he also couldn't "fix" a dead leaf. I feel like overall his stand needed more grounding.

Also, I have beef with Josuke's backstory, but I'll get into that later.

Jotaro Kujo

Ok firstly, I have MAJOR beef with his design in part 4. Mainly the fact that he's drawn extremely pale in the anime. Like..obviously he COULD be pale as he is wasian (im not trying to say all wasian ppl look the same), but he is TAN in part 3. Why did they take that away?? Pisses me off to the extreme. At least they fixed it in p5+6. Anyways..

Character wise, I really enjoy Jotaro's personality in p4. I like how he's mellowed out in comparison to p3. However, I feel like he needed a more clear role in the story. He showed up to figure out grandpappy's shit, and then took the leader role when facing Kira. Why don't I like this? Because most of the time Jotaro was just..there. I think Araki wanted him and Josuke to have a mentor/student relationship (ex: rat episode) but just didn't focus enough on them or Josuke training with his stand for this to work.

Also, the fact that it took Jotaro so fucking long to figure out who Kira is WITH the help of all those other stand users is so goofy. Like him and the gang back in '89 found Dio's ass from a goddamn microscopic fly in a photo but couldn't find Kira's identity?? Like ugh he almost redeemed himself with the button thing but then he got blown up like gosh what happened king

When it comes to stands, I forever find it stupid that Jotaro didn't work with his stand to become more powerful. Araki just had to nerf him (which is something he does with most reoccurring characters, ex: Joseph). I don't like it and it pisses me off.

With the death of Ryohei, I feel like it would've made more sense for Jotaro to somewhat open up to Josuke and be a bit more sympathetic towards him about it (or maybe he stays closed off until Josuke explodes, causing Jotaro to reveal the truth about his past.) Either way, I think the two of them could've bonded over shared grief.

Okuyasu Nijimura

I absolutely ADORE Okuyasu. I think his dynamic with Josuke is really fun to watch and his personality is just overall super enjoyable.

Stand wise I do think Araki slightly nerfed him by making him dumb as fucking rocks, but I let this slide a little more just bc he's a side character..

I honestly think Okuyasu has the best character arc out of the whole part 4 cast. I think he definitely deserved more screen time, but what we got was really solid in my opinion. His relationship with his brother was well developed and it was really interesting to see how it still affected him even after his brother's death. The way he felt a need to get revenge for his brother and still felt like he wasn't enough really hit me in the gut. I love him.

When it comes to Okuyasu's "death" I have very mixed opinions. On the one hand, ofc the goat of part 4 survived. On the other hand, I feel like him surviving goes directly against the idea we've been given since the beginning. You can't save everyone. And on the one hand, I enjoy the subverting of expectations. On the other hand, I don't like how it's still just never fully explained. I guess in JJBA as long as your soul doesn't feel like dying yet, you won't. I wish we saw Okuyasu actually speaking to his brother when he "died" however. I find him and Keicho's relationship really gut-punching and that would've been a fire scene imo.

I have more to say on him, his dad, Keicho, and the arrow, but I'll save that for when I'm talking about the plot.

Yoshikage Kira

I find Kira to be a really interesting villain. I really enjoyed every moment we got going deeper into his psychology and it's something I really wish we got to see more of. I enjoy his sleek design and he's fine asf tbh.

Im not gonna give commentary on his stand rn bc honestly i dont fully remember how that shit worked by the time he was using the arrow

Character wise I just really wish he was established as the main villain sooner. The build up and hints dropped about him were so addictive, so it's disappointing that they're only there a little before his full introduction.

The psychology of Kira is something I really liked. The way he truly believes he's never really done anything wrong and only wanting to live a peaceful life is something I wish was even more looked into. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but from my memory, in the manga Kira's whole thing with his nails growing quicker when stressed/when his need to kill is getting too strong was only psychological. At least, I don't remember them growing the same way it's shown in the anime. I think this would've been something really interesting to deep dive into. The fact that he believes his nails grow when his need to kill is really high is really intriguing and the overall connection between hands and his killings are something I wanted to be fully developed more. I know it was kind of just a weird ass fetish but like..that's interesting!! this is interesting!!

I'll probably make an individual post to talk more abt him.

Plot

Where do I even begin. The plot of part 4 is all over the place. I loved many episodes, and I enjoyed when it leaned more into the slice of life style, but why the fuck where there like 3 seperate plots? Honestly, cut out Anjuro. His whole plot shit was annoying as hell. Didn't care for him.

Akira's entire plot pissed me off. I only like this arc because of Okuyasu. Overall I found there to be a lot of plot holes and just annoying parts. Everything til Kira was like this for me. Like get to the REAL plot please.

The arrow annoyed me. I've never wanted to rip my hair out more than when Kira's dad got a hold of it. He was SO GODDAMN ANNOYING. I like the concept of Kira using the arrow to get allies or ways to cover up his plot, but most of the stand users that came out of this were annoying and Kira's dad was insufferable in the worst way possible.

I think something I wish was more covered by the plot is the aftermath of Part 3 and Dio in general. This is something that CDDH (best jojo spinoff) covers really nicely, however. Go read it.

I also just in general think more should've been done w Okuyasu's dad, as he is a direct aftermath of Dio.

I feel like a lot of the women in Part 4 were set up to have strong, actually plot-influencing roles, but then were totally side-lined. I'm going to make a full post abt this tho.

Reimi being connected to Rohan never made sense to me. Just narratively speaking, why did you connect the main motivation for catching Kira to a side antagonist instead of the main character? This is slightly fueled by my hate for Rohan but like, c'mon! I think it would've made more sense to 1. just not include Rohan so fucking much and 2. connect Reimi to Josuke's past.

Speaking of Josuke's past, I feel like it just..needed more. Or at least, I think something needed to be done with the boy who saved him. I can appreciate the idea of it connecting to a theme of the general kindness of strangers, but you don't see that theme pop up as much in the rest of the plot. Also, I again would've connected Reimi to Josuke because WHY ISN’T SHE CONNECTED TO THE MAIN CHARACTER OH MY GOD

Overall tho I like the vibes of part 4, i really enjoyed different arcs and characters, and I just wish Araki got more time to flesh everything out and refocus on certain themes and characters.

[secretsofthewilde]

About your post about misogyny in fandoms and shipping spaces, I do 100% agree how a lot of female fans do have internalized misogyny based on how they navigate fandom spaces. It doesn’t have to be extreme like hating all women, but people do have biases where they tend to gravitate to more male-dominated shows or would justify why they hate m/f or f/f bcuz it’s uncomfortable for them to write about the female body due to personal reasons. Which i used to be as a teenager but overtime i learned to come to terms with my own version of feminitity and became more comfortable with writing m/f ships. Sometimes when i see that brought up, im like “okay dont u see there is a problem there? like u discomfort of the female body has some ties to misogyny and u cant just write it off as an excuse for the majority of female fans.” Even the defense of the lack of female characters is also flawed due to the fact that some ppl would desperately two male characters together even tho one character was in two scene for less than 2 minutes yet completely ignore the other female ccharacter that has more interactions with the male lead. You could also throw in racism as this is also always used for WOC and justified as “oh not everything has to be about shipping” when those the same ppl that ship anything and everything in other fandoms

Yes, you are so very right!! And thank you for giving me an excuse to continue to talk about this. (Post anon is referring to is here x)

I tried not to generalise too much in the initial post bc I think there's different reasons and I guess flavours of internal misogyny which contribute to individual fans dismissal of f/f. Your example isn't exactly relatable to my personal experience, but it is one that makes sense to me and is something I assume is the case for many others too (including one of my best friends actually!). For me personally, I knew I was queer around the same time I got into fandom (so quite young), but despite being aware of this I still found myself feeling uncomfortable or even guilty for looking for anything f/f. I think that this was bc there was this ingrained fear that by engaging with female characters in any way I was sexualising them*. Which is ridiculous in retrospect, considering there's no sense of guilt for so many of us to engage with male characters in ways that are actually sexualising them.

Bc of the patriarchal society we live in we tend to see male characters as "neutral" ones (the same way whiteness is considered "neutral"**). By engaging with male characters repeatedly and normalising both the general celebration of them but also the sexualisation or queering of them, we ended up somehow creating an environment where male characters being queerified in fandom is seemingly more neutral than doing so with female characters - by which I mean that we expect to see people in fandom creating and celebrating m/m or m/f ships of male characters in any given fandom regardless of who they are canonically, whereas to do so with female characters is often considered to be unconventional or strange. I mentioned briefly in the post about the projecting of self onto male characters, and I think that's because they offer us a "neutral" character to explore queerness but also just multifaceted characters in general. There's so much more fanworks exploring things like the nature of morality or mental health issues using male characters than there are with female ones. That's because our engagement with female characters is kind of stuck in this area where we can't be neutral with them.

With the way that fandom discourse works nowadays we often analyse our characters as being figures of representation***. This means that even though we are now getting more media with female characters at the front of it, we often view them through the overly critical lens of "how is this representing us?". Even something as shallow as a joke about the character enjoying retail therapy then becomes something that is used as an excuse to tear the character apart, because we don't want to be seeing what we have been taught to view as negative female traits on our screens. Women can be bitchy, they can be jealous, and even evil. We need to learn to recognise that our discomfort in seeing them portrayed as such on our screens isn't always due to being upset about the representation of all women, but rather our discomfort in seeing these traits within ourselves.

*There's something particularly difficult about combating internalised homophobia when you're young and also learning about feminist ideologies where we want women to not be viewed as sex objects. I think this may also be a huge contributing factor for queer fangirls' tendencies to subconsciously project themselves onto male characters.

**'The Matter of Whiteness' by Richard Dyer explains this theory really well and is an academic essay that I highly recommend everyone read. I also think it's a pretty good starting point if you're not familiar with reading academic texts and are interested in intersectionality, racial bias, media analysis etc

***I'm borrowing from Dyer's theory here, which essentially argues that a black character's existence will always be viewed (and judged) as a representation of all black people. In comparison we will watch white characters and view them as their own individual character. To apply this to my above points; we don't question whether it's bad representation for our male lead to enjoy watching action films because we just view that as a character trait of his, whereas we will be critical of the female lead who enjoys watching chick flicks because we will then view her as a shallow representation of women.

[utilitycaster]

I saw the same post you kind of, alleged? (Unsure if it's the correct word) and man oh man, the way it was written felt extremely accusatory for no reason. Like, i have my own opinions about the bigotry in the CR fandom, but it is in no way more or less present than almost any other fandom

Im paraphrasing but it felt like they were saying "hey critters, just so you know this story has PoC and it's very important to PoC (not me of course cause im white) so be cautious and respectful" like ok? And?? (I'm aware that this is ofc how i interpreted the post, and may not be the true intentions of OP)

Sorry im rambling to your askbox, but it just, felt wrong to read lmao

No worries (and the word would probably be alluded to, or honestly you can just say “vagued” here, let’s not beat around the bush).

Yeah it’s…something. Like, I am also white and so I don’t feel comfortable actually going on OP’s post to say “uh what the fuck,” but like, racism in actual play fandom is a very valid topic to explore, but “not watching the original series for a miniseries in which there were black characters” is an entirely neutral choice, particularly if the miniseries has twice as many actors of color (and twice as many black actors) in it as the original.

Anyway it fucking sucks. It co-opts social justice language/the concept of anti-racism but makes it about the white OP's apprehension about a different DM coming into a world they like. I also find that D20 fans have been pretty fucking obnoxious about "I just wonder if CR fans/fans of Matt will understand the rich lore" while not actually providing any tools to understand that lore other than watching A Crown of Candy. Like...obviously I have my biases as a CR wiki editor but the D20 wiki is in shambles. I've gone there to get Neverafter summaries because I'm still struggling to get through that season but do want to know what happens, and there's nothing. If all this whiny, hostile handwringing about how CR fans won't know the lore were replaced by a few hours of cleaning up D20 fan-made resources so they could learn the lore? That would do a thousand times more good. But it's not about that; it's pure snobbery. And here's the thing: it doesn't matter if people do know the lore. It's none of anyone's fucking business what other people watch, and to throw this into the CR main tag acting like people who are fans of CR can't pick up on lore is laughably stupid and incredibly obnoxious but also, if they can't? Why the fuck should that bother an existing D20 fan?

I love ACOC! I do think that if you have the time to watch it, it's a great watch and I highly recommend it! But presumably Brennan and Matt have worked together to set the scene for new viewers. And most importantly, it is not actually problematic for people to come in to the series cold, and it's immensely gross of a white person to act like it is when this is really entirely about their own feelings.

[This is a tangent but I have many thoughts about how to be a welcoming fan to new fans, mostly boiling down to "shut the fuck up and let them enjoy themselves without trying to meddle in the business of strangers simply because they like what you like." Anyway it's interesting bc I find CR fans err in the other direction of trying to be too welcoming in a way I find offputting, and glossing over the fact that yeah actually there is a lot of lore floating around that might be worth checking out if you are so inclined; both approaches suck.]

[astralleywright]

just want to say im glad for another person on this hellsite who is able to see the nuance of the godhood situation. it's VERY interesting how no one really sees ashtons anger at the pantheon as an issue, beyond some of tumblr, at this point. and while im glad it's secluded to here, it's deeply annoying at this point to act like their belief at this point is ashton' biggest problem. and it's honestly actively harmful to analysis at this point for anyone (many big accounts, especially) to suggest that there arent valid reasons for folk giving their *entire lives* to an anti predathos cause to be cautious when they've often been burned or slighted by the pantheon or its institutions (still reeling from folk calling frida evil for their measured disdain at the gods as if they werent from AEOR.)

oh god the takes on deanna and frida that first week. their perspectives were SO fascinating and complex and layered and a little confused in a very very real way, and so much of the posting about it was just begging for a PC that loved the gods uncritically or assuming they must be secret ruby vanguard spies because they didn't. aabria iyengar's incredible brain is wasted on some of you!!!

and yeah there's this very persistent idea that the, "what have the gods done for me" question, or similarly personal reasons for ambivalence or antipathy towards them, is selfish and wrong. which, given that these things are being said in response to "something is trying to kill the gods and we are risking literally everything to save them", is insane, but i also think it's not really fair under normal circumstances either? given how deeply individualized a relationship with one of the gods can be in exandria, and the fact that they clearly play favorites with mortals, and pick and choose whose calls to answer, and can literally grant whoever they want the power not just to bring people back to life but also murder them a bunch, it actually feels extremely reasonable to think they suck. they're unaccountable (to you) arbiters of an unfair system!!

but somehow the fact that the gods are flawed gets used to shield them from criticism; it's a reminder that they're just like people, which means that they should be forgiven and understood like people, and saved like people. they can't do everything, they're just trying their best, they have their own feelings. and because they're like people, they deserve to maintain the massive amounts of power they hold over all other people and should be revered and respected and not have their actions questioned, i guess?

it really is a shame, because it feels like there is so much fascinating discussion and meta that could be had on this topic if people weren't so intent on defending the gods no matter what, often twisting the narrative being presented to do so, and casting characters as objective and reasonable or selfish and irrational based on where their opinions lie (see liam repeatedly saying orym's opinion on the gods debate is deeply biased on 4sd, only for fans to continue to treat him as the measured voice of reason.) instead we're stuck with, "laudna shouldn't hate the gods because of her previous treatment by clerics (it was her fault anyways for being scary and dead), but she should support the gods because a cleric brought her back to unlife." sad!

[nicepersondisorder]

What is your favourote and least favourite character from hazbin? Would you change anything about them?

THANK YOU FOR QUESTION !!

i have MANY favorite characters from hazbin !! depending on the traits and the lense we're sorting them by

they're all so interesting and cool!! charchar is amazing and i love how she refuses to give up and sees good in everyone (AND HER VOICE ACTOR IS SO GOOD. SHE HAS SUCH PRETTY VOICE.). she's determined and goal oriented and her dreams are so good and while she has issues and problems, she's genuinely such a good person. i also like the fact that she's a sweet bubbly character, but she still doesn't shy away from swearing and she was shown to lose her cool several times. i love her. i really should reblog more arts with her. okkkk once i finish writing this answer i will go and queue more arts with my babygirl !!!! o7

have i told i love charlie? yeah? i love her. i love her a lot. sorry. next segment

in the next segment we have "pathetic losers", which has two sub-types: "dorks" and "just genuinely pathetic. like. good lord they're so fucking pathetic. (/neg)."

at the top is lucifer ! he's a fascinating critter. he goes in the "dorks" category, but he is really pathetic. dipping toes in the second category even! loser <3 (speaking of losers, i LOVE husk's design. no i'm not biased because he's a cat what are you talking about !!)(i'm lying)(don't have a special opinion on his overall character though, sowwy </3). ANYWAY continuing with lucifer! majority of the scenes with him were Physically Painful to watch due to Second Hand Embarrassment (also i did skip almost all of the episode due to Reasons tm. i need to go and actually watch it. sloooowly). his "TAKE THAT DEPRESSION" lives rent fee in my brain and reminds me of a "could a depressed person make this?" meme. he's pathetic wet beast of a man and while i dislike his absence and flippancy towards his daughter, i understand him (LOL). im also extremely depressed 🤝. that doesn't excuse his actions but i do get why he acts the way he acts. also i don't have "more than anything" playing on repeat. don't look at my music app

second in the "dorks" category is sir pentious! not gushing about him as much as about charchar or lucifer, but he is just so. he evokes cuteness agression in me. i need to make a balloon animal out of him. he is such a nerd. i loved him when the pilot came out (the only character from pilot i drew in 2019 actually!)(you should be honored sirsnake!!). he's not on the list of my favorite favorite characters, i just thought i'd include him since i brought up the "dorks" subtype.

breaking the segment to talk how i find charlie endearing. she's such a sweetheart..... she can do it i believe in her and her dreams <33 (sir pent DID get redeemed after all!!!! the hotel is working !!). she's so silly. love her. ok moving to subtype "pathetic /neg"

the one and only character in this category is vox. he's so fucking pathetic. tearing my hair out i LOVE him for this. okay so i might be a liiiiitle bit unfair to him BUT . his crush on alastor is just so. shaking crying i don't have words for this. he has such bad taste in men (affectionate). AND THE WAY HE ACTS ABOUT IT IS ALSO SO PATHETIC. "oh i learned that the guy who i have love(unrequited)/hate relationship with is back from 7 years absence??? i must broadcast how i don't care about him at all IMMEDIATELY". has the vibe from the joke i've heard somewhere "i've been chasing you for seven miles to tell you how much i don't care about you" or something like that, don't remember the exact wordinb unfortunately 😔. he IS a cool character tho. i love his design, im really weak for tv headed characters. i could run doom on him.sorry. also his powers are sick as fuck!!! but he's so pathetic it's easy to froget how much influence he has an how strong he is.i want to pick him apart on the vivisection table. sorry again. no im not

okay ! next category! "fucking dick holy shit". valentino. he's So Terrible. i need him boiled in oil and i also hate him and i like him and i hope he dies ten thousand deaths and i want to see him suffer. kind of niffty-like type of like for him! he's really fascinating in the worst way possible and he's like. hmmmm im not sure how to put it? he's a genuinely good character (NOT person, two different things) and he can be both absolutely terrible vile etc etc, there are scenes shown that humanize him, which i think is also a good thing, because irl abusers are not one dimensional, and so fictinal ones also shouldn't be, especially in a show that wants to bring up serious themes correctly. controversial opinion but people bitching about how val's design is wasted on him are completely missing the point. yeah.

um! moving on !

there are more characters that i Like, but if i'd be listing them all im afraid itd take years 😭 like you asked for one (1) favorite character and i wrote you a whole essay LMAO

and i don't think i have a least favorite character? it takes too much energy to dislike a character that i don't have XD (i do have a slight distate for alastor, but it's for personal 🍎 reasons so i'm not gonna include him in the post! or in the tags)

nvm i lied i don't like zestial. i Can Not understand what he's saying 💔 bless the subtitles ! that's a silly "least favorite character" don't take it seriously !

ALMOST FORGOT TO ANSWER THE SECOND QUESTION. i don't think i'd change anything about the characters !! except maybe making zestial's speech more understandable. please bitches with auditory processing issues can't understand what you're saying zestial please im begginb you on my knees WHAT ARE YOU SAYING

[intertexts-moving]

YOUR TAAAAGS YOUR TAGS YOUR TAGS YOUR TAGS. ok. off is kind of hit or miss for most people because its so weird and vague and i am extremely biased bc its one of my favorite thinfs ever BUT. i am going 2 say i think u will love it actually. its got soooo many fairytaleisms. its got tragedy. its got extremely morally grey characters. theres no good guys or bad guys. ITS GOT WEIRD LITTLE GHOSTS !!!!!! look at these bitches i used 2 doodle the off spectres in my notebooks like constantly they feel like home 2 me

the art style is so unsettling and creepy. its got sketchy lines and weird freak of nature characters. i am going to be EXTREMELY selfish here in saying that i think u will very much enjoy the art style and also i want 2 see how u would draw some of the characters bc ur style is very monochrome and messy (<< i mean this in a beloved sense i love your linework so much) and i think it fits the vibe so perfectly. on a completely unrelated note are you still taking commissions.

ITS GOT ONE OF THE ALL TIME BEST OSTS EVER BTW. i still have the main battle theme (which is called pepper steak btw. best name for a song ever) as my ringtone on my phone. my video game ost rank goes 1.portal 2 2. off 3. undertale 4. minecraft. the off ost holds higher regard in my brain than undertale. shaking your shoulders it fits the vibe of the game soooo perfectly.

i will not get into the story too much here bc i already talked about some vague spoilery stuff in that post and i dont want to tell u too much more in case u do play the game urself BUT. ohhh my god. i could talk about the story for hours. u can ask aster after we finished the game we sat on call for like 2 hours while i walked her through my personal take on the ending and then she gave me her thoughts on the ending and EVEN THOUGH WE PLAYED THE GAME TOGETHER AT THE SAME TIME (i streamed it for her) WE HAD DIFFERENT OPINIONS ON THE END. ITS SOOOOO FUCKING GOOD its one of those things where like. its so open ended that nobody ever gets into fights about what the "right ending" is because. well. there isnt one UGH i love that shit.

also zacharie is here. he is such a beloved character to me hes been one of my biggest huge comfort characters since like. 2015. i love him. hes like sans undertale for people in 2008. he was the original sans undertale. i think they would be best friends

oh also despite the fact that the setting is very much like. weird abstract, sort of fantasy sort of industrial, the main character is a fucking baseball player. hes so out of place its so funny

^ official art btw. to give u a taste of mortis ghost's art style. its so silly and weird i love it so much

OK THAT WAS MY OFF PROPAGANDA SORRY FOR INVADING UR INBOX I LOVE YOU also ive been in a huge off mood for like 3 days now and have not been able to talk about it so im EXPLODING now

OHHHHGHGHGHGHHH. MACKERELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL MAC U CAN'T DO THIS TO ME..... ohhhh my god. ok. ok yeah im pinky promising u right now i WILL play it. like. SOON. it looks so good hooly shit. game that i can TELL will rearrange my brain. also it looks SO nice... i like the art style so much. mac u are GETTING me here u KNOW what u are doing. u cant just go ros theres an unsettling morally gray tragic game with an incredible ost and weird art and NOT expect me to go fucking bonkers.

[cosmicjoke]

what was that anon talking abt about how eruri shippers are white supremacists or the ship is tied into white supremacy? I dont like the ship either but I've never seen that (im not saying it doesnt exist or that I dont believe them at all, I'm just curious). Can you please elaborate if you know what they were referring to? /genq

On a different subject- just some constructive criticism, your response to that anon left a really bad taste in my mouth because you made your dislike of a random ship about how the Evil Gays are trying to "advance their agenda" through gay shipping...I get what youre trying to say but that is a REALLY loaded phrase in relation to gay issues, as were several other phrases you used, for example, saying gay shippers are delusional, biased, and self centered for projecting their sexualities onto characters. I also hate when ppl misunderstand characters canon relationships and try to pretend their fanon ships are supported by canon. I also hate eruri bc personally I just do not like the ship. But blaming gay people for it is more than a little fucked up lol like you could just say you hate eruri without dragging all gay people into it and making this statement about how the gays are evil for experiencing fandom in a way that you dont like. ESPECIALLY since straight people never have to worry about representation, while a lot of queer ppl "project" their sexualities onto canon characters due to a LACK of that representation. I'm sorry but someone saying "I think Levi is gay" LITERALLY does not hurt you at all, while it might be extremely validating and beneficial to somebody else. If you want to make posts critically analyzing AoT and discussing aspects of the fandom you don't like, you also have to analyze your own biases and how they might affect your posting.

I don't know what they're referring to, as I said. I've never seen any "white supremacy" in the eruri fandom. People love to throw that term around. They love to see racism everywhere.

Look, I'm going to get blunt here, because this is basically the second time in as many weeks that I've been criticized for using general language when referring to a general group, and accused of targeting a specific group. That's an assumption on your part because you're looking to be offended.

When I say "they" and "them", I'm talking about shippers IN GENERAL. ANY SHIP. Not just "gay" shippers or "gay" ships. And I'm not talking about shippers as a whole, but the ones who attack others for not accepting their ship as canon. And when I say people are projecting themselves onto these characters, again, I'm referring to people in general who do this. Whether that's their sexual orientation, or gender identity, or whatever. People project all the time, and then want to force their view of these characters, super-imposed with their own, personal traits, down everyone else' throats. I'm talking specifically about the group of fans who attack everyone and anyone who doesn't accept their headcanon version of these characters as canon. Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. You do.

I never blamed gay people for anything, ffs. I never said gay people are "evil". What's "fucked up" is you putting words in my mouth that I never said and then accusing me of being homophobic based on these made up words. I never said people calling Levi gay is hurting me, either. I said focusing on his sexuality and making his sexuality the most essential aspect of his person when discussing his character is distracting and potentially leads to bad interpretation because it literally has no bearing ON his character. His sexual orientation is irrelevant to who he is. People who make their entire identity about who they want to have sex with or who they're attracted to will often project that onto fictional characters, and then get mad at anyone who doesn't do the same. You're doing it right now. And when said characters sexuality has nothing to do with who they are as a character, doing this is harmful to ones ability TO UNDERSTAND said character.

I'm not biased toward gay people. Again, that's all you making assumptions because you want to be offended.

And I don't hate eruri. How hard is it for you to read? I've stated multiple times, in multiple different ways, that I've both written and read countless eruri fics. Some of my favorite AoT fics are eruri and it's the ship I primarily engage with when reading AoT fic. But I guess you just missed that little detail. Convenient for you, since it doesn't support your desire to see me as some homophobic bigot who's insensitive to the gays.

But whatever, I guess.