#and i went kind of off topic but

[bacchuschucklefuck]

class swap design masterpost for convenience (from top to bottom: bard!riz, cleric!gorgug, sorcerer!kristen, barbarian!fig, artificer!adaine, and rogue!fabian)

[edwinisms]

i like to think, as a hc or a theory (because it’s definitely possible), that charles has had a few kisses throughout his high school years, sure, but past that he’s undeniably a virgin– well, kind of undeniably, because I think he’d deny it if found out by trying to use technicalities (“I mean that one time there was friction involved–“), but to any reasonable person, and by occult standards (see: edwin being a virgin sacrifice), he’s a virgin.

and i think this because it seems like him to fib about his level of experience (like he did when agreeing he’d sleep with crystal, matching her level of casualness about it) when in the presence of people who do, actually, have experience, in the hopes he doesn’t come off as lame or childish. given what we know about his “friends” when he was alive, they seem like the type to have teased or bullied boys– especially in their own circle– who haven’t gotten laid, or at the very least would’ve thought less of someone for it. and given what we know about charles, i don’t think he’d be nearly as sleazy and inconsiderate as his group when it comes to landing girls with the primary intention of adding to his body count. and considering he’s only supposed to be 16? and has never mentioned any significant relationships pre-death? it just seems unlikely.

all that to say– I can see him maintaining that facade of experience and confidence literally right up until the moment it matters, and in the heat of the moment getting nervous and embarrassed because “uhhh. so I may have been exaggerating some things.” though he’s not totally clueless either, I think it’d take a bit of a soft heart to heart moment for him to be reassured enough that he won’t fuck up and hurt his partner to go any further.

anyway not sure what the relevance of this is, but it’s something.

[fisherrprince]

oh so alisaie’s exaggerated bully behavior is 80% fanon. saying this she casually picks up a large rock

[popsicle-stick]

I don't know anything about England but I'm interested in how the characters' locations inform their characters like Seward's. I'd like to know more about the implications of being from Purfleet/Essex for example (Though iirc Stoker immigrated from Dublin well into adulthood so I don't know how well he knew all the cities.)

there's so much to be said! i really don't think that stoker meant much intentionally, but the placement of the asylum in purfleet specifically is interesting.

long post so i'm cutting this!

the asylum at purfleet, essex, is an example of the common 19th-early 20th century phenomenon of establishing psychiactric hospitals in the rural counties surrounding london - simultaneously serving as a 'tranquil' location away from the city, while also serving the dubious, cruel purpose of squirelling away would-be patients into residences away from the city - out of society, out of sight, out of mind.

in terms of jack seward himself, purfleet is a kind of an in-between, nothing place - things and people pass through, not much stays. (there's a reason why whitby is remembered as 'the dracula place', and not purfleet.) it's quite literally on the edge of london - of society - and in that scene where jack's looking despondently towards the sun setting west over london, his own isolation becomes palpable - from society and from the world as a whole. the endless, transient, liminal feel of the essex saltmarshes just....gives the vibe. this was a scene that felt particularly gothic to me - jack is the custodian of his very own haunted house, here, in all its bleak, isolated glory.

It was a shock to me to turn from the wonderful smoky beauty of a sunset over London, with its lurid lights and inky shadows and all the marvellous tints that come on foul clouds even as on foul water, and to realise all the grim sternness of my own cold stone building, with its wealth of breathing misery, and my own desolate heart to endure it all.

this is an fascinating parallel with the count's situation in transylvania, which is NOT the topic du jour here so i'll stop before i ramble but compelling nonetheless! like the count, though, he's a liminal figure - in london, but not quite in london. in the group, but not in the group. alive, but not really living. wide awake in the witching hour, unsure how to re-integrate with society.

it's also worth noting that the opening of dickens' great expectations has pip in his childhood home on the kent marshes - which would pretty much be the opposite bank of the thames from purfleet. in great expectations, pip's village serves a similar role - the quiet, bleak, nowhere-place directly placed against the bustling cosmopolis of london.

in terms of other characters and locations, i've written a bit before about jonathan (and mina possibly) hailing from exeter, devon, in the south west of england - which is much further from london.

jonathan and mina, in terms of the group dynamics, are outsiders: they're very much lower middle class, hyper-aware of the importance of money and societal etiquette as a means for survival and social betterment. this is a personal hc of mine, but i like to think of jonathan as having the long supressed remnants of a devon accent. south west accents are often the subject of a lot of ridicule and mockery in the UK (akin to a southern US accent) and hiding that regionalism, in both the 1890s and today's britain, would be a means of survival and progress for him - i think the fact that he's always given a standard home counties RP accent in adaptations cuts out a major aspect of his character. he's a devon boy!

in contrast to all this, lucy's hampstead residence shows her affluence. it, too, at risk of breaking my social isolation metaphor, was on the edge of london at the time - but was known more as a wealthy suburb with huge areas of greenery at hampstead heath and highgate. there's something to be said, though, about a place like highgate cemetery - a liminal place between the dead and the living, between city and country, haunted at night by a vampire - and the same could be said for purfleet.

arthur is hard to pin down - for the life of me i CANNOT work out where 'ring' is supposed to be - at first i thought it might be a shortening for ringwood, hampshire, which could work! but i just don't know. his character does scream privileged southern/home counties though, and if anyone has any followups on 'ring' and its wherabouts i would LOVE to know because this has been bugging me for ages. lmao

tl;dr, psychology and sociology as informed by place is SO fucking fascinating to me like it just. it affects so much. from the liminality of certain places lending themselves to the supernatural, to characters being mirrored by their surroundings and vice versa, to the social implications of where you call home. it's just!!! interesting!!

[musicalsiphonophore]

my workload this year is absolutely absurd (1.5x as much hw time as class time in maths, and since it’s double maths i have 8hrs of lessons weekly so that is A Lot, and probs as much hw time as class time in french and bio, but then i put extra time into bio myself). so i would expect to be deeply unhappy about this. but i’m not and i’m actually quite enjoying it. which is odd.

i guess it makes sense though. it has always been that in my spare time, i work on my hyperfixationy stuff, making notes on random crap or working on flute; i have never done nonworking free time stuff like watching tv (except going on tumblr ofc). and now a good half-odd of my school work is hyperfixation stuff. so i am, strangely enough, thriving under these conditions

[munchboxart]

So I'm putting my hand in permanent break time till Thursday/Friday where I lock in for my merch stuff, so for the time being, I will yap like always, so no difference actually.

Short yap session, actually it's more of a rant

I'm so tired of the OP and Bumblebee merch, it's always number one (understandably). I don't know if anyone else is tired of it, but I for sure am for the past many years I've been into TF. Like I'm looking at the Bumblebee popcorn bucket for the TF ONE movie and it's cute but PLEASEEEE IDGAF 😭 I ALREADY GOT OP'S HEAD FROM UNIVERSAL AS A DRINK BOTTLE

Maybe it's just me being a huge Decepticon fan and Bumblebee's #1 opp, like he should be afraid of me, I hate him. Actually I don't even know if I can say that, he's very cute with the horns from G1. But I am so sick of the OP and BB favoritism, but I know they're super popular with the kids, it's just...... Where's the Megatron merch at least 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 He is the antagonist!!! He is OP's opp!! Am I wrong to believe he also deserves merch, even for the merch that's targeted for kids...... Is it because they don't have enough of a budget to sell 3 characters and so they picked doofus and dorkus over hero and villain...

I kind of wanna go more on general TF merch and how much I'm tired of the G1 recycling, but I also feel like half of a fan so I don't really think I could say much on it anyways (TFP fan here hi, I do like Animated too and watched RID2015. Important word is "watched"). I do wanna kind of talk about collecting again because I do want to kind of go back to collecting TF merch, but it's just kind of hard because I'm picky, but that's a discussion for another time. Unless I did already discuss it then nevermind...

[the-owl-tree]

I’ve seen some theories that curlfeather haunting Splashtail is actually just his own paranoia, I’m not sure whether I like that or vengeful demon curlfeather more. Splashtail being undone by his own paranoia? Good. Curlfeather haunting him bc he thought he could do better as leader and IMMEDIATELY fumbled it? Also good

I do like the idea of it being a mix of real and paranoia, mainly because I think it's retreading Mapleshade's story a little too much for my liking - hence why I wanted demon guardian for Frostpaw lol but I am enjoying it! I feel like they could've changed up the characterization as well, imagine her being condescending, almost sickly sweet in a motherly way as she digs and digs at his failings and weaknesses before pouncing.

That being said, I feel like the narrative is a bit too indecisive to really make this moment sink in for me...is Splashtail a master manipulator (he's not. obviously) or is he coming undone and making rash choices? The books seemed to swing back and forth whenever the narrative demands one or the other.

Nonetheless, I do love all the fucked up Curlfeather art <3

[suffarustuffaru]

I love your otto brainrot. He's favorite person to gush about in this series. I also love your analysis about one of the latest chapters and regarding Otto! ust, chef's kiss.

Anyhow, I would also like to add a crack theory about why otto never talked about his dp allowing him to talk to infants too. In this moment, it very much be because, as you said, he wants Spica to be eliminated. But! We're thinking small here. My question morphs into a more general perspective; why would Otto, and tappei to an extent, keep such information about his dp under wraps for this long, way before these Spica shenanigans? And I feel like the author may want to expand on that regard. Because as far as the rest of the crew knows (and as far as I remember), they know he can only talk to animals. But that chapter states he can talk to any living being (?), which I think may hint to it being a bigger fucking deal than we may realize. Like outside the Louis development, as well as Otto's frustration development, this power in of itself can cause a ripple of what Otto's capabilities are, and to not underestimate it.

So, now I wonder, would tappei utilize this tidbit for more development about Otto's power? What do you think?

aa thank you for liking my otto stuff!! i adore him a lot and arc 8 has me even more fixated on him bc his development is so Fascinating.... and also my fictional character type has always been the weird fucked up ones with terrible morals HAH.

OK ALSO LIKE i love your crack theory to bits. i think like the idea of his capabilities being A Little More Massive than they already are hasnt really occurred to me if only bc 1. i have like one braincell at a time and 2. ottos unhinged anger and various ugly habits (ie: doing things behind his friends backs HAH) were smth i was distracted by (positive) bc its so fascinating and now Finally everyone reading rezero knows hes crazy For Sure and 3. i think like. idk ive always kind of thought that his power is like super crazy like once you think about it. like iirc theres the canonical fact that other people in the fantasy world whove had ottos dp have gone like insane from it, so hes Basically the outlier here. and also hes insane anyway but his dp absolutely has partly to do with it. not only bc it like affects so much of his life with the constant overstimulation he experienced for a big chunk of his childhood along with the other effects it had with how he was behind his peers for a while and it made him socially awkward and anxious - but also like.

animals Are insane. a lot. genuinely. and then you have a power that allows you to understand them and hear their voices all the time. (more under read more bc its Long.)

theres so many fucked up animal facts out there HAH so i suppose that could just take like a couple google searches (god.... if oceans were in the fantasy world otto might go a little insane with all those sea creatures if he ever came close...) but i always feel like ottos learned at least a bit of his ruthlessness from that. and hes Definitely seen and heard shit (dont forget stuff like livestock ahah T^TT or bug infestations or something aljsdfls or the fact that otto would probably be seeing animal friends eat other animal friends or before he even knew he had his dp he could be eating some cattle he had a convo with like twenty minutes ago and ALSO garf and fred have their meat pie recipe that they adore and its like. that meat came from an animal and otto has most likely seen them make their meat pie before). but like nature is nature. its not always. Nice. survival of the fittest and things just die sometimes (ottos made various animal friends throughout his life and Many animals have smaller lifespans than him as well + some, such as bugs, are more fragile than him) and animals take actions according to their Nature (even if its. Bad, by human moral standards.) and all that - so i think the double whammy of ottos dp and him taking on merchant ideals is very much partly why hes so insane fr HAH.

I WENT A LITTLE OFF TOPIC BUT no yeah i agree. and i just think his dp has always been such a huge factor in what makes him so dangerous - its not only helped mold him into who he is as a person (especially when you remember that the rest of his family are Normal People and he Very Much Is Not Normal) but also like you said. his dp makes him extremely dangerous especially with the new information that he understands babies. iirc otto didnt Necessarily keep that bit of info under wraps - at least not before he met the emilia camp, bc the text said something about how hed take on side jobs where he babysat infants and hed be good at it bc he can understand the intent behind their wordless "words". and i definitely think otto - and tappei - havent really said anything on his ability to talk to infants before this bc it just hasnt come up in much relevant context until now. BUT I ALSO THINK YOU HAVE A POINT bc this does open like. a bit of a can of worms. theres these 2019 tappei qnas where he talks a bit about otto understanding "intent" -

Q: Is Otto's Blessing of the Spirit of Words limited to sounds that the speaker understands? Can he translate something Subaru wrote down in Japanese, or something that someone reads out loud phonetically without understanding it's meaning?

A: He can't. It's a blessing that conveys the intent of the other person's words, so if you said something like "Honbaradaratodetta", it wouldn't mean anything. It's just that, if Subaru had been saying "Honbaradaratodetta" for years to mean "What's for dinner?", it would convey that.

Q: About the "Blessing of the Spirit of Words" that Otto has, in cases where the same word can contain different meanings, can he discern the difference? (The English word 'servant' and a servant from Fate, etc.)

A: It's not the letters, but the speaker's intent that he picks up, so he could tell the difference.

--

but no yeah like........ ottos dp is specifically about Animals and well. humans and demihumans ARE animals. so it makes sense that it carries into humans and demihumans a bit so the whole catching someones intent thing is super fascinating and i feel like he could Definitely utilize it for more of his schemes?? esp when you combine that with the usual ways he uses his dp with animals - his power is Perfect for spying on others and gathering info in general. from my understanding of his power though, animals have to agree to help him, but given he can communicate with them and hes. well hes a good talker and also a bit of a manipulative bitch (affectionate) so like getting animals to help him doesnt seem like too much of an issue usually for him. so no but yeah his power is like. Off the Charts. and now we got big confirmation in the main story that he can UNDERSTAND PEOPLES INTENT BEHIND THEIR WORDS....? no yeah i think tappei will at least utilize it for the louis-spica plot things (ie otto wants her dead so hes just not gonna say anything about how he knows her true intent isnt to actually hurt anyone).

but i feel like otto could possibly use it for plans... or accidentally catch tidbits of info he shouldnt. im not entirely sure how, but. well. roswaal still hasnt delivered on his promise to kill everyone if even one person subaru cares about dies and Now roswaal knows that 1. otto plans to continue opposing subaru and emilia and keep pulling strings and 2. subaru wants louis to stay alive because he cares about her. it seems like massive emilia camp inner conflict is bound to happen at some point hah... the current situation is a ticking time bomb T^T and thats ON TOP of otto still working on restoring the book of wisdom... it all makes me wonder if otto will overhear a convo he shouldnt and catch the true underlying intent to otherwise innocent dialogue. or something like that.... or if louis's intent fluctuates in some way which otto will be Very aware of. if that happens. or if someone else somehow figures out ottos hiding the fact that he knows louis is innocent via his dp alsdjflsjdf. or maybe roswaal hints at his genocide plan and otto figures out the intent???? everyone is at a stalemate atm fr and im fascinated to see what comes next.

though. ok given otto went insane hearing the white whale..... well you could just fling mabeasts at him and maybe he'll shut up lajsdlfj bc using his dp (especially when overusing it gives him nosebleeds and headaches and pain and etc etc) against him is a Viable strategy to stop him among many others but like. the problem with otto is that hes persistent and Will hold a grudge against you if you wrong him. like i really do feel like he will hunt you down if you do which is the big Thing with otto. T^T hes unpredictable!!! especially now with arc 8 where hes been dragged through all these dangerous situations he did not sign up for and he just wants him and his friends to be safe but said friends want to save a whole country and NOW a sin archbishop alsdjflsjd.

like i really feel that hes so tired of things happening throughout his life out of control (remember his bad luck T^T and the way his dp used to fuck him over in his childhood? yeah T^T) that hes been trying to exert more and more control over his camp. bc like. vincent asking the emilia camp for help was nudged into that direction by otto. ottos also stepped a bit out of line by being hostile to julius and anastasia bc. otto that shit was unncessary aljsdlfjd theyre your camps allies!!!! and now ottos letting his camp be sus of louis by keeping quiet about her true intent. like otto is straight up like. hes kind of possessive of his camp isnt he? bc hes so fixated on making things go the way he wants (not that he wanted to help vollachia, but he wanted to help subaru and emilia which is why he pushed things in that direction, and now he wants to kill louis). it all makes me wonder if he'll ever have to use his dp against his camp given hes. kind of already doing that by lying to them - though itd probably be difficult to use his dp more actively against them if only bc they all already know what his dp is. theres no element of surprise there, but i think with the right circumstances he could possibly use it to figure out Something at least. bc like while he Does feel guilty, there is next to nothing stopping him from doing more shit on top of the shit hes been doing so far in arc 8 HAH. his moral compass is just literally broken and pointing straight down to hell. that mixed with his stubbornness and intellect and anger is like. well anyone going against otto is pretty fucked.

like. what is stopping him from sending a little bug to spy on subaru at all times. probably the fact that subaru and co. have a high chance of maybe noticing it and noticing that ottos keeping. too close of an eye on them. which would stop otto and his new declared "i walk in darkness" goal but all of this keeps making me wonder what lines otto WONT cross. and how far hes willing to go to do what he thinks is necessary to save his camp. and also what the consequences of his decisions will be.

but also like............................................... ok time for a crack theory of my own are you ready. anyway. can you imagine if ottos dp extended into fucking mind reading or something............ HAH.

[rcguish]

silver and his gyarados.

this relationship happened to be one of the more tumultuous ones amongst the metals team. the manner in which silver caught gyarados was innately disastrous, a thwarting attempt to the workings of team rocket forcing evolution via radio waves. subsequently, forcing the newly and unnaturally evolved gyarados to begin rampaging to the degree of causing severe inclement weather in the nearby area and town. silver and gold located the red and odd one out to be the source of amplification, possibly the alpha of the school, and silver had been successful in closing distance and capturing him.

they were both hurting and broken hearts that took that pain and hatred towards the world and made it their fuel to keep going. that want to rage, rage, and rage some more because surely that was the only thing there was to this life? only knowing destruction in the face of their wrath? a way to sort of say 'fuck the world,' seizing power at the first glimpse of it because that's the only way they thought they could change their lives.

and from that was where their interests became mutually aligned, motivation to fight from a place of deepset despair and to bring down those that had wronged them. gyarados had noticed silver's pain, and in a way he recognized his, even when he ignored his pokemon's hearts and thoughts to a detriment as a lost kid.

silver had a hard time in general in getting along with his pokemon in the beginning, a hard fought battle to recognize behaviors and change over the course of roughly seven to eight years. he'd only started having a perspective change when he'd found steven stone, and demanded a battle from him - only to end up losing miserably and him verbally confronting / making silver face the reality in which he forced his pokemon into. when steven had once reached into silver's heart, saw the deepest flaws and insecurities and spoke so matter-of-factly in brutal truths :

“ how in all the potential of this earth do you expect to accomplish anything when you very obviously do not give your team the gift of trust? " with the absolute lack of synergy you have, there's no way on this earth you even had half a chance of defeating me. even if your pokemon were all fully evolved, i still would have pummeled you. "

those words stuck with him until present day. a kindler of hatred when he was a kid and didn’t understand any better ; now borne as a reminder from whence he came.

since then, silver and his pokemon have truly contemplated and reflected on what it means to be a team.

and even further than that, when he was free from petrification and was able to still connect with feraligatr while in stasis -- it all points him down the road in that his pokemon were not merely a means to an end. when he was able to connect with them in this state between life and death, with feraligatr, and learn the ultimate move in a tangible trophy to their evolving bond.

when that had happened and the battle was over, he did end up seeking steven out again. there was progress still to be made, however much his mind started opening he did not put it into practice yet. and so silver turned to each and every single one of his pokemon after that, and made them a deep, heartfelt promise that he would do his best to let them help him. that he'd help them, rather than isolating himself physically and mentally. that he would see them as equals, rather than not-quite-tools.

and when he'd come to gyarados, they both stared for a long time at each other. a thousand things spoken in a mutual language only they seemed to understand, without any movement or any words. eventually, after a considerable amount of passing time with their stare, his pokemon grunted, closing mouth and eyes to bump silver in a newfound show of affection. he cried that night, for the first time in years ; wrapped arms around gyarados and profusely apologized until he'd calmed himself down enough to sleep.

and then, mega evolution had crossed his radar from green, blue, and steven.

it was a push. a push for him to finally settle what he thought he knew all for all these years, and learn a different way of existing. of thinking, and caring for, and working together. gyarados was able to mega evolve for the first time after he'd finally rested ungloved hands on red scales and renewed his promise to care for / work together / love.

they were able to master it as quickly as the ultimate move.

separate post on mega evolution + that journey will be written + linked here soon.

[boomstab-papa]

from the website owner who bans you if you link to his blog

"We have a contractual obligation to try to make Live as successful as possible through the end of the year"???!!!!???!? (emphasis mine)

contractual with who???!!!?!?!

[flowerakatsuka]

kuroba not liking to talk about their time in high school and the one yotsubana florals employee that's actively attending akatsuka high hating kara's guts so he refuses to tell him where he goes to school is doing a lot of legwork when it comes to the whole " kurokara don't realize they went to school together until the reunion " situation.

[humanmorph]

Was the original meaning behind Reunion & August's/that group's goals known before this episode??? Because Austin said it so matter of factly but I feel like I would've remembered that & gotten extremely excited about it

[lesenbyan]

There are few things worse, I think, than reading a call to action memoir that is so close to right but really should have been shelved for at least 5yrs before going to print so the author has time to learn enough to see all the false equivalencies that really hinder the point

[sosilliest]

ILL BE WORKING ON ASKS SOON HOPEFULLY!!

i was out all day and i went downtown! I got some transformers comics at my local comic store 🙏!!!

I also went to a dinosaur exhibit and a war exhibit in the same museum so i was a bit busy today as you can tell HAHA

But yes tysm for ur asks and i’ll be working on them tonight if everything goes to plan!

[shoechoe]

i don't really care much about all the character polls going on but it is very funny that DIO is losing on round 1* to Marceline on the bi/pan monarch tournament. he deserves it make him lose

EDIT: i checked again it is actually round 2. i can't read apparently. still though he should lose

[teddybasmanov]

I have finally watched the proposal video, how did it happen:

watched Blake's audio for the possible lore (really really wanted Sunshine to taunt him/make fun of him about the friend thing);

metaphorically looked myself in the eyes and asked "So you watched Blake on the first day but let David's proposal stew there for three weeks?"

braced myself and watched the proposal;

it was fine.