#and loving his character Anyway is also kind of the point

[tossawary]

I'm only on Episode 5 of "Teen Wolf" and it's hard not to think about Stiles/Derek due to the pairing's influence as a fandom juggernaut throughout the 2010s. It has, over the years, occasionally made me intensely curious as to what was actually in the source material to spark this, versus how much of it was the migratory slash fanfiction fandom stuff.

I don't have... super strong opinions of them from the source material yet? I don't really think they have positive or negative chemistry at the moment. Their interactions are hampered by the fact that I think Derek Hale is currently kind of incoherent as a character, apparently not allowed to actually talk to anyone due to contrived drama reasons, preventing him from connecting naturally on an informational or emotional level to Stiles or Scott. Derek's backstory is still murky and largely unknown. Derek's personal goals here are also a little unclear. Some of this will be cleared up as the season goes on.

I do think that I personally would enjoy Derek more if he had actually been only a few years older than Scott and Stiles, as Stiles says in the first episode, and actually looked it as well. I think that Derek being younger, being another "teen wolf" at 19, would have 1) put him on more even footing with Scott, and 2) made him come across as more of a scared, cornered animal, lashing out at the Argents and stumbling around lost without his family/pack. Like, the traumatized lone wolf thing is apparently what's happening with Derek anyway, but I do think all that would be better communicated to the audience if Derek looked younger and more pathetic and was allowed to snap at / talk to people more and with purpose.

If Derek was younger, I also think that he would function as a better mirror / foil to Scott. Here's this kid who was born a werewolf (unlike Scott), had a big and loving family (Scott has a single, loving mother and an apparently better-absent father), and is now orphaned and homeless and friendless (unlike Scott). It would also make Kate look even more vile and I'm good with that. I know the writers are going to absolutely miss the opportunity to have Scott and Derek's relationship have some more positive give-and-take. Scott has a lot to offer Derek! Scott's kind heart is one of my favorite things about him so far!

Anyway, back to the Stiles/Derek stuff. Yeah, I would also like Stiles/Derek or Scott/Derek more as concepts if Derek was younger. Right now, from the actual canon material I've seen, disregarding the knowledge I've picked up over the years regarding Derek's life, Derek is mostly giving me Angel from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" vibes. And I really did not like Angel and especially not Angel/Buffy.

One positive thing I will say for Stiles/Derek is that I can absolutely see where the ship originally came from. Stiles does have some very queerbait-y lines with the "am I attractive to gay guys" humor. Derek is conventionally attractive. Derek and Stiles are the only two people in on the "Scott is a werewolf" problem, helping him out, and there's maybe a dash of "pair the spares" to it, but these two people are actually interacting and cooperating to solve problems together. And "I got you arrested for a murder you didn't commit" / "you need to cut off my arm" is a hell of a starting point for a ship. That's honestly great stuff. That's a level of freak that might generally inspire me to invent chemistry for a pair of characters, just to figure out how to make that relationship work.

In conclusion, I don't personally ship it, but I get it. I totally see where it came from.

[marikosenwrites]

karasuno men -- time skip headcanons

a/n: this is time skip ver., so spoilers!! i mean they're not big, but yeah. i'm doing like four characters at a time so i seem like i'm productive and my brain thinks so too

characters: hinata shoyo, kageyama tobio, sawamura daichi, sugawara koushi (for part one)

pt. 1 / ? (i'll be updating this afterwards...)

gn!reader

↳ ❝ [ 日向翔陽　HINATA SHOUYOU ] ¡! ❞

much like his high school self, he's very cheery

he's matured though lmfao

if you were an msby staff (manager etc), he's clinging to you anytime he's on break

"manager-san, [proceeds to ask you about your personal life]!!"

bokuto often complains about how shouyou sticks to you half the time

i think, in any circumstances, he's the bolder one and will confess first.

once you guys start dating, shouyou's telling EVERYONE

and i mean everyone (EVERYONE HE KNOWS)

even if you want to keep it a secret, it's kind of hard with how he clings and gives you MORE affection

eventually it gets the press catches on because y'all (shouyou) are too wild with pda

anyways it's much better but you sometimes get toxic messages from shouyou's fans (you block them and sometimes tell shouyou 'cause you don't really wanna worry him)

why do i feel like he'd slip up and call you 'my beloved ball'

you guys go on dates occasionally! he always makes sure to reserve some time for you and tells his coach ahead of time

you try to adjust your schedule to his most of the time, but there are rare occasions where you don't go on dates at all whether it be because he's going overseas or whatever

you guys definitely get married after like two years because shouyou is a jumpy little guy

↳ ❝ [ 影山飛雄　KAGEYAMA TOBIO] ¡! ❞

mayybe staff or classmate in highschool? (idk man)

if you were a classmate, i feel like he'd open up to you more easily cuz yall have history even if you only did like a few projects with him (be so fr, you carried)

you'd have to tend to him a lot with scheweiden if you want him to be closer to you

but he's quite obvious with his feelings i guess

the teammates caught on pretty fast (even wakatoshi)

tobio's also quite the tsundere, i think

he's not so good at recognizing nor understanding his feelings and he's REALLY blunt with everyone

but for you he's willing to try <33

i think he typically loves home dates because you're comfy and you're with him.

generally he just loves wherever you are

OIKAWA GENUINELY WANTS TO MAKE TOBIO JEALOUS AND STEAL YOU AWAY— win win situation for him— tobio isn't letting you go that easily though <3

"oikawa-san, please back off"

wahh you make pork curry for him all the time

sometimes you two going on a convenience store run is good enough to call it a date (MEAT BUNS???)

just calls you by your given name

↳ ❝ [ 澤村大地　SAWAMURA DAICHI] ¡! ❞

policeman, right? i hc he saved you from some creep or something

just on patrol, sees this person (you) walking in the streets, the lights are barely on, and then another guy creepily stalking them…

straight up walks up to you and say, "baby, are you heading home?"

you stop walking, stare at him and he points backwards, and you get the signal

that's kind of how it began ;)

after that incident you see him once in a while and he accompanies you home because it's on the way to the police station

he asks you out on one of the times you guys go home

then one date turned into multiple dates and he finally asked you to be his partner

you go to the monthly karasuno meet-ups too

lovely man, honestly— he's like the ideal husband

daichi likes to fiddle with your hair or hands because they're soft

interlocking hands while walking is a must for him, he likes holding onto you but shh you don't need to know that

ahh he loves treating you to any food you want…

like if you want steak, ok we're getting steak at a fancy ahh restaurant

during the worst days of your periods he'd like…take a day or two off because he knows that those are the days that you need support the most

mostly calls you by a nickname or your given name

↳ ❝ [ 菅原孝支　SUGAWARA KOUSHI] ¡! ❞

you could be a colleague, a friend, or a classmate

(i'll just say yall are already dating)

he usually stays up until like one grading assignments for three classes because he's developed a serious case of procrastination…

you try to remind him to get some rest all the time

"kou, it's already midnight…shouldn't you go to sleep?"

"just one more…"

that sentence usually turns into a couple more

you always make bentos for him because you have the time and YOU SLEEP EARLIER THAN HE DOES…

i'd imagine that he sometimes wakes up a bit late and then panics

weekends are for dates!! so he cramps all his work during the weekdays (poor koushi)

"baby…i do this for you…" (when you scold him for staying up too late) (you end up accompanying him while he grades)

complete ray of sunshine (like shoyo but less bright) during the weekends because HE GETS TO GO ANYWHERE WITH YOU YIPPEE

koushi calls you by so many different nicknames though…like a shortform of your name or some random adjective he thought of on the spot, there's no pattern to it

if you happen to want anything during your dates, koushi always tries his best to buy it for you because he's a gentleman

but of course living ain't easy so it really does depend on the price

BUT YOU SAY "daijoubu, we can just buy that one instead" and you point to a completely different thing

regular meet-ups with the karasuno gang

yippee!!

ending notes: i'm sorry i couldn't find better photos of daichi and koushi, there weren't any good ones so i had to settle with these but they're pretty

©marikosenwrites 2024-25 all banners, dividers, and work. please do not steal. i own none of the HAIKYUU!!/ハイキュー！！ characters mentioned. reblogs, likes, and comments are welcomed. <3

[solarsavoy]

Sure, I'll share. I've got a couple of approaches for this, a fandom list, and an original work list. I have surprisingly few ships that are important to me, actually, but I should have enough.

Fandom list:

Karmagisa, from Assassination Classroom: my first and one true ship. I love both the chaos and stability they represent, leaning towards chaos. These characters definitely represent me in different ways, and seeing them matched together, in a way, makes me feel whole. I am a highly intelligent loner with no family at home, hung out in the back of the class by myself when I was in school, and played videogames all the time instead of actually trying. I'm also perceived as super sweet and friendly with people, suffer from incredibly low self-esteem, and show a little bit of my surprisingly dark and twisted side every now and then. I didn't know this when I first jumped on the Karmagisa ship, and then later even learned what a ship was, but the more time I spend with it, the more of myself I discover. So really, I think this is the only ship that represents me quite perfectly, but I will list others anyway because they still matter, just not in the same way.

"SakuSyao", from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles: Even though this was technically chronologically my first ship, I didn't know what a ship was at the time and simply liked them together. For this one, the story matters much more to me than the ship, but I can't say I don't love them together. ^^ (The quotes are intentional, for those that know the story. Warning: if you look up what they're for, you'll spoil yourself on a big part of the story.)

Karushuu, from Assassination Classroom, with a focus on Shuu: so this one's a little weird in concept. I ship Shuu with Karma, but don't necessarily ship Karma with Shuu. I think Shuu needs a little more chaos in his life in order to grow as a person, and Karma is the perfect one to inspire that. I go back and forth on whether or not I want Shuu to be ace or aroace or other, but regardless, I see Karushuu as a necessary ship for Shuu. I admit, I have a lot of well developed, personal headcanons for him, and because of those headcanons, Karma is the one that helps Shuu break free from his trauma, become his own person, and gives him purpose. And in the reverse, Shuu doesn't really do much for Karma. He challenges Karma mentally, and, I imagine, frequently fights with him to get him to conform. I hope that makes sense, and even though it's a one-sided ship, it's still really important to me. I think any ship where at least one person is able to grow internally and become a better version of themselves because of the other is a good ship, even if it is also best set to sail temporarily.

Original list, all are from Krystar:

Rizzy, Roxin and Izzy, canon: Roxin is a hyperactive extrovert that is kind and loves people. He's absolutely crazy about Izzy and always has been. It's like love at first sight cranked all the way up to infinity. Izzy is an introvert who likes working on technology. He often acts like Roxin is a nuisance, but also sees him as his connection to the outside world. Without Roxin, he feels isolated and disconnected, fully aware that this is of his own doing, but he has a problem fixing it on his own. He just feels more comfortable in his own workspace, and is often annoyed by people, but Roxin constantly helps (forces) him out of his shell. And in return, Izzy is a point of stability in Roxin's life. They're also just super cute together. Roxin is really touchy-feely and Izzy hates being touched, but for the most part allows Roxin to do as he wishes, which makes Roxin feel extra special.

Steshi, Stag and Deshi, not canon: I know it may seem weird to ship two people in my own work and have them not get together when it's technically within my own power to make it so, but it just is the way it is. In canon, they work well together. They balance each other out when fighting a common enemy and make up for each other's weaknesses. Stag is wild, unafraid to attack first and ask questions later, great at reading people, fast both mentally and physically, and is quick to come up with short term strategies in battle. Deshi, on the other hand, is extremely tame and reserved, questions every action he ever takes, is completely oblivious when it comes to other people, is slow to react on purpose but makes up for it with his instincts and intuition, and leans on his instincts for more "in the moment" decisions while fighting. They just balance each other really well, and even though it's not canon romantic, Stag does have a crush on him, and I'm a sucker for unrequited love. (Compare "SakuSyao")

Mythren and Gerit, canon: I just love these two and most of it is because Gerit is just so precious! ^^ These two also balance each other out really well. Mythren is quick, thorough, and playful while Gerit is deadly and dense. Gerit is a very unique character for those that haven't read the bit I've posted for him on AO3. It's hard for me to put it into words exactly, but Gerit is lacking in a lot of ways and Mythren not only compensates for those weaknesses but helps Gerit to grow out of them. They're just really good for each other, and like with the themes of most of the other ships I've listed, they fill in each others' gaps and mesh quite perfectly.

I know this was supposed to be a quick list and I went and made a thing out of it, but I know most who might see this won't know any of my original stuff, so they needed an explanation. So, do these ships say anything about me? 👀

Tagging @jackiewepps, @heyhellohihowareyou, @magicalflyingfish, but only if you want to do it. No pressure if not!

I don't wanna hear any of the emotional-wreckage psycho-sexual deviance comments that my answer might arouse

Soukoku

Klance

Jegulus

Next question.

Bonus point for stsg which takes charge whenever one of em is resting

[lady-mole]

Alright, everyone ! As I initially planed, I am gonna tell you more about my love story with Lord Mole for Valentines day ! :3🩷

Okay, first of all, I started to fall in love with Lord Mole on July 2022, I even had a dream about him, and we were dating ! :o

Anyway, we were best friends at the time (he even told me his "darkest" secret), and we were spending a lot of time together in Strangetown ! :3

Unfortunately, I had quite a hard time realizing and accepting my romantic feelings for him, which is the reason why we only got married on November 28th 2024 ! x3🩷

So, what happened during more than two years ? I desperately searched for another f/o to marry. I really wanted to settle down and to have a fictional husband to stay by my side forever. But, since forever sounds like a pretty long time, I wanted to find THE "perfect profile".

Of course, I didn't work. The characters that got me interested were "too pretty for me" or "too complicated to live with", anyway, I was always finding some excuse, and at some point, I even felt like I simply wasn't made for married life, or for love ! xc

Except when I was with Lord Mole... During these two years, I occasionaly thought of him, and we even had a few dates together at Strangetown's saloon ! x3🩷

We grew even closer than before and, at some point, I just thought to myself : "no fictional character could ever make me feel the way Lord Mole does..."

I just couldn't entirely stop thinking of him and he was always the one to comfort me and to make me feel loved. 💕

Why did I fall in love with him, of all people from literally every other universe ?

Well, first of all, he is beautiful to my eyes, and I am not afraid to say it anymore ! x3🩷 (Even if I still have a hard time drawing his perfect body, damnit ! xC)

Then, his presence just makes me feel safe and home, I still can't really explain why, though...

How much do I love him ? Oh, you have no idea, he literally made me realize I am a woman, after all this time feeling like some kind of weird creature who can't even love properly... 💕

Anyway, more than two years later, I finally accepted the fact that, dang, he is the one I want to marry, and I confessed my feelings to him ! 🩷

We became a couple on September 28th 2024, and two months later, on my 24th birthday, we finally got married ! 💕💕💕

If my life was a TV Show, the audience would have probably been jumping with excitment, yelling "FINALLY SHE UNDERSTOOD THEY ARE MADE FOR EACH OTHER !!!!!!!!! I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS SINCE SEASON 1 !!!!! #Lordlady is finally canon !!! #Royal Fit forever !!!! #IF THE WORLD WAS ENDING !!!!!!! 🎉🎉🎉"

Anyway, soon after that, since I was finally married with my f/o, I wanted people to know it, so I create this selfship blog, and even if I was VERY, VERY nervous at first, I am so glad I met you guys, you are awesome and you made me realize how important my love story truly is, I also love to read about your f/os and your drawings are totally amazing (ooh ! I love your moodboards too !) :3🩷🩷🩷

I wish you the best with your f/os ! After all, you do deserve the best ! :3🩷🩷🩷

Happy Valentines Day everyone ! 🩷🩷🩷

🫶🫶🫶

Tag list :

@fictodreamer @vergils-beloved @fl0ralsxgar @zoroscanonhusband @arsene-fixates @cosmoproductions @xx-evilestyuri-xx @silver-heller @paulisperpostridie @milkmallow28 @eating-plastic @deepwatersiren @jpeg-indulgence @mr12xu @ryez-loveyz @ardhoniel-evenstar-fics

[cheshitora]

❝ psycho x killer ❞ ✧ ೃ༄

『 love can be explained in a lot of ways. for hanma, his love was spoken through his devious plans of having you kill him over and over. 』

hanma shuji ver. (2/3 valhalla trio)

on the stand :: hanma shuji x afab!reader

crimes comitted :: DARK CONTENT, aged up characters, muder, mentions of death, blood, stabbing, gun usage, electrocution, explosions (well, you blow him up), you make a bomb, body parts everywhere, immortal hanma, body rejuvenation, Read at your own discretion, MDNI

che's verdict :: oh he's def guilty and he doesn't care either lol. part 1 with baji is up and i have the original with sanzu up as well. also with the way this one was coming out, i didnt wanna add smut to it. its kind of sweet in a twisted and morbid way yk? anyways enjoyy <33

word count :: 1.5k

"we're in a very weird and strange relationship..."

Hanma’s not like Keisuke that he stops you from killing him. No - instead, he encourages it, roots for you, cheers you on to do better, to think cleverly and be as eccentric as you wish to be.

A supportive husband indeed, even if it’s about helping his dear little wife try to find new ways to kill him.

The best part about him - he doesn’t fight back. He casually lets your modes of attack happen as if it were a normal occurrence in your daily life, and at this point, it had been.

When your dark haired lover first informed you of his immortality, you had become slightly more intrigued about the nature of his eternal life. The first death that took place in your home was actually an accident. Really, it was.

There had been a string of robberies going around in the neighborhood that put you on edge, forcing you to become acutely aware of every odd sound and sight that didn’t make sense. Hanma had been out buying you flowers to surprise you with. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for his sweet wife that he had come to adore, especially on Valentine's day.

Now imagine his surprise when he arrived home quietly in an attempt to surprise you. He expertly snuck up behind you as you were cutting meat for tonight's dinner, speaking in your ear with a low, hushed voice, catching you by undelighted surprise.

“Surpri-”, that was all he could muster after finding himself at the end of your steel kitchen knife, having been spooked by your own husband and retaliating by instinct. The news of the robberies had you on edge all day and you hadn’t anticipated your husband coming home so suddenly and without notice.

Your blade was plunged in the center of his forehead, blood trickling down from the open slit, coloring his face in red as the blood splattered onto his glasses and down his cheeks and eyes. All he could see was red, the familiar coppery taste dripping onto his tongue and lips, like he had a mouth full of pennies.

In his last moments of consciousness, he struggled to figure out if he was mad or impressed by your reflexes. Either way, he knew he was dead, falling to his knees, his body tilting to the side until he met with the cold, tile floor of your kitchen, dark red fluids pooling around his head as you stared down at him in terror.

Your eyes nearly fell out of your head as you began to scream, piercing cries of sorrow echoing throughout the house as you kneeled down next to your dead husband. You never meant to kill him and it was evident in the way you mourned him, mentally berating yourself for your own carelessness. And no, you hadn’t missed the bouquet of peonies in his grip when you stabbed him, making your heart ache even more.

Your hands shook as you tried to discern what your next course of action should be. Should you call the cops? Clean up the mess? You weren’t in the right headspace to make such a decision. Luckily, you didn’t have to, as Hanma’s once lifeless eyes began to blink rapidly, inhaling a hoarse breath of life as he pushed himself off the ground, his dark and gold locks soaked in his own vital fluid.

Hanma pressed his hand to his temple, a strong pulse making his head throb as he turned to face you, your horrified expression burning into his retinas. He started chuckling, then his chuckles turned into a full on maniacal laughing fit.

“Wow, didn’t think you had that in ya,” he choked out in between laughs. Your face had gone pale, almost ghostlike as you watched Hanma stand up from the ground, readjusting his glasses on his face. He patted your head as he swiped up the discarded bouquet of peonies he had picked out just for you.

“Happy Valentines Day,” he said, an affectionate and loving smile on his face as he handed the bundles of flowers to you, your body still struck with fear.

From then on, any opportunity he saw, he took. It was a game to him at this point - to see how many times he could die and how fast he could rejuvenate. You had merely gone along with your husband’s twisted ideas, though you always hesitated to pull the trigger, literally.

When he handed you a 9mm Luger pistol with its safety off, you could imagine what he wanted you to use it for. He held your hand in his as he guided the barrel to his forehead, a sly grin on his face as he waited for you to take your shot and end his life.

But it was always too much for you to handle and yet, you found yourself slowly easing into murdering him anytime he voiced another idea. His favorite death by far had been electrocution by a defibrillator to his temples, the jolt of electricity coursing through his nervous system, breaking him down by the second before he collapsed to the floor.

Every time you effectively killed Hanma, after allowing his body time to heal, he’d shower you in praise, kissing your cheeks, letting his lips trail down to your neck, whispering against your skin how proud he was of you for being the incredible wife he always wanted, finding joy in the rush adrenaline you gave him.

Twisted love, indeed - morbid, to say the least and yet it was profoundly sweet. You’d cook his favorite meal, dress him in his best clothes like a man heading to Sunday service. In a dark way, you adored the smile that stretched across his lips just seconds before another planned death.

You knew he had enjoyed the electrocution death more but today, you had concocted a devilish plan. You were going to blow him up. In the past week, you secretly had been looking up ways to build a bomb in your own home - a small one with a force destructive enough to rip your lover apart but not strong enough to take you out as well.

You were going to be on the FBI watchlist now but it didn’t matter.

After Hanma returned home from whatever business he attended to, you dragged him outside to your expansive backyard, quickly strapping the makeshift bomb to his chest with an eager smile. He smiled down at you too, his heart thumping from the sight of your excitement.

You swiftly ran away from him, leaving him out in the open as you ran back inside, the small switch in your hand. You sincerely hoped this bomb wouldn’t kill you too but there was only one way to find out.

Without a second to waste, you flicked up the switch, triggering the bomb attached to him. A loud explosion rang through the air, shifting the house on its foundation as the ground. Your small house rattled uncontrollably for a few seconds before resting in its place, the smell of smoke quickly filled your nostrils as it seeped in through the cracks of the windows and doors.

You remembered hearing the sound of debris hit against the frame of your home, inciting you to inspect the damage left behind from your scheme. You tiptoed towards the back door, eyes falling on the sight of smoke clearing in the air. As you pushed the door open, you realized what you had heard was not debris - well, it wasn’t rocks.

Your gaze fell upon the scattered pieces of your husband’s body littering the grass, some splattered against the side of your home while others neatly decorated your bushes and flower beds.

You stepped back inside, shutting the door as you took a seat at your table. He was gone, possibly for good. Was it possible for him to recover from this? Would he be able to put himself back together and if he could, how long would it take?

You didn’t let your mind wander for too long. If in the event he magically respawned, you wanted to uphold your tradition of making him his dinner and wait.

After two hours, he still had yet to pop in. Worry flooded your body as you silently prayed you didn’t actually send him back to the underworld. Another hour rolled by and he wasn’t here. His plate of food had gone cold and you were becoming more and more anxious the longer he stayed away.

You settled your head in your arms on the table, closing your eyes as you silently wept. Maybe you actually killed him this time. The fourth hour flew by and he hadn’t reappeared. Your body went limp with exhaustion, soft sighs leaving your lips as you slept peacefully. And as you slept, the back door creaked open, Hanma’s disheveled figure coming into frame, his eyes finding you resting on your arms.

He smiled softly as he inched closer to you, leaning down to press an affectionate kiss to the top of your head.

“I’m home,” he whispered, and even in your sleep, your heart swelled, immediately recognizing the sweet sound of your doting husband. He didn’t bother to wake you. He sat across from you, pulling his plate of food close, his gaze never leaving your sleeping form.

Your relationship may have been strange but you were the only one who could get his heart racing with adrenaline and that was true love.

©ABOVE WORK BELONGS TO CHESHITORA. PLAGARISM AND STEALING WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. CHARACTERS BELONG TO THEIR ORIGINAL CREATORS

[superpyodan]

Alex Mullner and Tyler the Creator's Music

As I’m sure a lot of you know, for a looong while I have been playing with the idea that Alex from Stardew Valley, and Tyler the Creator’s music, have a lot of things in common! So here’s a ridiculously long analysis. I’m sorry, or, you’re welcome.

[ WC: 2,356 ]

(Please note, I am writing and analysing from the perspective that I personally have of Alex. This is going to be very biased, and I discuss the idea of alex being gay a lot, because it is a core part of my perspective of him. If that’s not your thing… Ignore me!)

Pre- Flower Boy

Let's start with the evolution of Tyler’s music as a whole, and how that matches up nicely with Alex’s character development. Tyler's discography begins very harshly, with lyrics that come across as somewhat aggressive, arrogant, and, say it with me folks — Misogynistic. The first song in his discography (on Spotify) is Yonkers, which aligns with Alex in a couple of ways. Yonkers includes misogynistic lyrics, homophobic slurs, and notably, Tyler saying that he isn’t gay. We will come back to this later, but I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this.

Anyways, the releases from Goblin to Cherry Bomb align with the player’s initial meeting with Alex. Many people complain about his misogyny and his arrogance, and while I don’t think that either of these things are points of true criticism for Alex, it’s an almost undeniable part of his personality at the start. Despite Alex’s character development, apologies and acknowledgement of his actions, it sticks with many people who play the game. Similarly, people still criticise Tyler for his past lyrics, and the ‘persona’ he was putting on during this time. I’d argue that the version of Alex that the player first meets is also just that — A persona.

Flower Boy, IGOR and Chromakopia

I’m going to focus on Flower Boy, IGOR and Chromakopia here, because these are the albums I have the most Alex associations with, and that I am personally most familiar with. This isn’t to say there aren’t relevant points to be made about CMIYGL, though!

I am also trying to keep this as concise as possible, so I am only pointing out the things that I consider to be the most relevant. There is definitely more to say about the albums / songs / lyrics!!

Flower Boy onwards is where it gets interesting (and the most important, for the points I’m trying to put across here!). Flower Boy as an album touches on themes of love, loss and loneliness, which I think are three things that Alex has struggled to grapple with throughout his life. Alex has struggled with romantic love, because of his internalised homophobia. He has struggled with loss because of his parents, and he has struggled with loneliness for various headcanoned reasons that I won’t go into now (just know that I consider him to be one of the loneliest romanceables in the game). Here I’m going to go into some specific songs and lyrics that I heavily associate with Alex.

Boredom

I have a feeling that Alex is the type of person to get fidgety and bored easily, in a very wide sense. He has this desire to succeed, to be something bigger than he is and to make a name for himself. I think that while he does like Pelican Town, there’s only so much a town like that can do for a person like Alex (somewhat speaking from experience!). It’s a kind of existential boredom that comes with having dreams bigger than the life around you. A boredom that goes deep into the bones, you know?

Garden Shed

This song touches on the idea of one’s sexuaity, and being ‘in the closet’. I personally consider Alex to be gay. If you don’t, you can ignore this, I suppose!

‘’Don’t kill a rose before it could bloom’’ — This lyric reminds me of Alex’s father. I personally think that Alex struggles greatly with his sexuality, with his relationship with his father being a huge part of the reasoning for this. But in a general sense, too, the idea of not killing a rose before it can bloom can be attributed to Alex’s childhood abuse.

‘’Them feelings that I was guardin’ / Heavy on my mind’’ — Alex’s sexuality is likely something he thinks about a lot, before he had the opportunity to come to terms with it. These thoughts and feelings are heavy on his mind, because to him, being gay isn’t something that is a possibility for him. It’s something he really struggles to accept about himself, and he tries very hard to conceal it.

‘’Truth is, since a youth kid, thought it was a phase / Thought it’d be like the phrase ‘poof’, gone’’ — This lyric in general is really interesting to me. I don’t know if it was Tyler’s intention, but in my country ‘Poof’ is a derogatory term for a gay man. Tyler talking about thinking that his (presumed?) bisexuality is a phase, immediately followed by the use of ‘poof’ creates a theme of internalised homophobia. I think that internalised homophobia is a huge struggle for Alex. I wrote into my fic that Alex definitely had crushes on guys, but was unwilling to act upon them, and would rather forget that he ever had those feelings. Ultimately, it all feels very relevant to this lyric.

911 / Mr Lonely

The first half of this song relates somewhat to a fic I’m writing, but we are going to ignore that part for now. What’s important here is the second half, Mr Lonely. I think Alex is a deeply lonely individual. There are several reasons for this: Briefly, I think he deals with feelings of ‘otherness’ due to his past, an unwillingness to get close to people for fear of them seeing his sexuality, and he also has a severe lack of a support system and adult role models. I could talk about this forever, but let's just go into the lyrics.

‘’Attention seeker, public speaker / Oh my God, that boy there is so fucking lonely’’ — Alex’s perceived arrogance! He puts on this facade of confidence as a cover for his emotional nature and his loneliness. His outward self at the beginning of the player’s relationship doesn’t truly align with who he is on the inside.

‘’I know you sick of me talkin bout cars / But what the fuck else do you want from me? / that is the only thing keeping me company’’ — Replace ‘cars’ with ‘gridball’ and the message is pretty simple. I think that Alex uses sports as somewhat of a coping mechanism, putting his all into something that he considers to be productive as a way to work through his emotions. He also doesn’t really have any friends in-game (this is a lot to explain here, but if anyone wants my explanation I can put it into a different post! I do however consider Alex and Haley to be the best friends ever in my personal headcanon), so what else does he have to do with his time but his sports?

I consider IGOR to be Alex’s favourite album, in my personal headcanon. I also think it is the most important to him as a character, in terms of analysis and relatability. I’m no Tyler the Creator expert, but as far as I’m aware, this album follows a queer ‘love story’, and I see a lot of Alex in it! This is again going to be looked at from the perspective of Alex being a gay man, as he is in my headcanon.

I truly think this album as a whole has several points that point towards Alex as a character, so much so that going through the whole thing would take absolutely forever. Please know that while this IGOR analysis isn’t as extensive as the Flower Boy one, it is by no means exhaustive — I have just chosen the most important parts. Going through it all would also be very repetitive, because the whole thing essentially points towards ‘’Alex has a hard time being gay’’ which… He does. I truly think he does.

I THINK

While this isn’t quite what the song is originally about, I think this song can be interpreted through the perspective of Alex’s frustrations with his sexuality and inability to express his romantic feelings for a man.

‘’How can I tell you?’’ repeated — He doesn’t know how to go about romance, due to his issues accepting himself as gay. To me, the repetition makes the song feel quite tense, and this repetition specifically can, again, be interpreted as Alex’s frustration, but also confusion.

EXACTLY WHAT YOU RUN FROM YOU END UP CHASING

In an effort to not sound repetitive — It’s what it says on the tin, in regards to Alex’s sexuality.

RUNNING OUT OF TIME

This song, in the context of Alex, sounds like an internal monologue, or a conversation between Alex and himself. I headcanon that Alex doesn’t come to terms with his sexuality until his early-mid 20s, and because of this, he misses out on a lot of those romantic ‘life experiences’ that he would have witnessed many of the people around him having. Perhaps he truly does feel like he’s running out of time, you know? It’s an idea that many queer people struggle with anyway, even if they are open and honest with themselves and others about their identities.

‘’Are you living in pretend?’’ / ‘’Stop lying to yourself / I know the real you’’ — Both lyrics can be interpreted as Alex talking to himself about the fact that he’s hiding, or perhaps even not acknowledging, his sexuality.

‘’I found peace drowning’’ — Could be attributed to Alex’s sexuality, or even his mental health struggles. I’m sure he has some issues regarding his mental health struggles. I’m sure he has some issues regarding his mental health due to his childhood experiences.

Chromakopia does not express the same overarching narratives that IGOR and Flower Boy do. This album does, however, express a kind of confidence that Flower Boy and IGOR don’t quite have. Relating to Alex, it seems like the later part of his character development — The version of him that is more confident, and more comfortable with his sexuality. There are some glaring highlights here that I want to talk about in regards to Alex:

St Chroma

This song expresses an almost spiteful passion and drive to succeed, which I think Alex also harbours. He has such passion and determination, and this song, I believe, is so relevant to him. It relates to what I said previously, about Alex trying to project his feelings into his passion, and turn himself into a better version of himself.

Take Your Mask Off

This song touches on a few themes. The most important in regards to Alex, however, once again relates to his sexuality. It kind of feels like Alex talking to his past self, providing him advice and comfort through his own struggles.

‘’Since a kid, you knew something was up / Had you thinking God would hate you so you covered it up’’ — I don’t particularly think Alex is religious, but here we can replace ‘God’ with a lot of things. His father, George, the athletic world, etc. The rest is fairly self-explanatory.

‘’Sick of all the shame, sick of all the pain that’s within / Scared of bein seen, tired of rebuking the sin’’ — Again, as per my previous points, I’m sure it makes sense as to why I would bring this up. I just don’t want to repeat myself.

‘’You don’t have to put on no costume’’ / ‘’I hope you find yourself’’ — This links into the idea of the original verson of Alex that the payer meets, not aligning with who Alex truly is as an individual. Vulnerability is something he definitely has to make an effort to express, and he has to learn how to be comfortable with himself in multiple different ways. He does it, though! He finds himself. He takes the mask off.

Like Him

This one is a doozy. It’s so obvious, that I don’t even really feel the need to talk about it. But I will, for the sake of consistency and understanding. This song is about Tyler’s complicated relationship with his father, and in it, Tyler expresses concern about being a mirror image of his father. While Tyler’s experience with his father is different to that of Alex with his, it can still be related to Alex’s situation very well.

Alex was abused by his father (as was his mother), and I am sure that somewhere, deep down, Alex would also have concerns about being someone who doesn’t fall far from the tree, so to speak. We don’t have much information about Alex’s father, but here’s what I think — Alex would make an active effort to be different to his father. He may have concerns about the idea of him looking like his father, or behaving like his father, or ending up with the same fate as his father did. It truly wouldn’t be unusual, or unheard of from other people who have been in similar situations as Alex has been.

Ultimately, Alex idolises his mother. He speaks fondly of her, as he does with his grandmother too. I would be inclined to believe that Alex would strive to be more like them, as opposed to his father. But, the anxiety about it would linger. It’s kind of heartbreaking, really. Alex wants and tries to be a good man, despite everything.

(I’m not going through lyrics for this one, because the majority of the song is relevant! But if you aren't familiar, just google the lyrics or listen to the song. I’m sure you’ll get it.)

Conclusion (?)

So uhh. Yeah. I’ve been thinking about this for a really long time, and I really hope you’re picking up what I’m putting down! The links between Alex and Tyler the Creator’s music have randomly become very important to me. I also just think that Alex would enjoy Tyler’s music in general, because I think he’d be a big fan of rap, and rap-adjacent music! But yeah. Thank you for reading, and if you have anything you want to add, please let me know! I’d love to talk about it with you :D

i started drawing this on the 6th of november but uhh. it’s done i guess

[trans-yllz]

as much as I love wei wuxian and slander against him is banned from this house I Do sometimes think that people forget he's like. supposed to be a morally complex person who did things that were bad. like the whole point of him and his story is that he was a good man who was pushed to do terrible things, and when we fail to examine those terrible things/completely ignore them, we're sort of doing wei wuxian and the points being made by his arc a disservice

[egophiliac]

Hi it's just to let you know that the official romanization of Revaan's name is Raverne ! Also they have romanized Baul's name to Baur !

Twst coming back at us again with the least expected romanization! thank you everybody (oh god my inbox) (no it's great, I literally asked for this and the reactions have been INCREDIBLE, thank you all!)

I do like Raverne though, I think it's got a nice fancy sound to it! (I had kinda suspected it was going to be an R instead of an L, so the fact that it's SO close to Laverne except for that is hilarious to me personally.) and Dragoneye Duke is honestly probably the best translation for his title, I wasn't envying the localizers that one. :') Baur instead of Baul I was NOT expecting, but in retrospect I think his name's supposed to be a reference to the Bauru crocodile, so that actually makes way more sense!

someone else also said Meleanor has become Maleanor, which is the REALLY weird one to me, because I was so surprised it was written as Mel instead of Mal in the first place?! oh god no I can't decide which one I like better. 😭 (I wonder if they might change it to Mal...they have made romanization changes before) (like I remember House of Distraction being corrected to House of Destruction in Playful Land) (I did check and she's still Mel for now, but I dunno, they might Mal her up and some point and save me from having to make a decision about which one to use) (HECK I CAN'T DECIDE)

uhhhh thank you for letting me ramble about anime names, let's just say MONOGRAMMED SWEATERS FOR EVERYONE

[tenderjock]

I’m with you, my love The lights shining through on you Yes, I’m with you, my love It’s the morning and just we two

[katabay]

THE JETSET LIFE IS GONNA KILL YOU, ERIC CARTER!

my laptop charger uhhhhhh. met its end in a very permanent, very fire hazardy kind of way last week. while waiting for a replacement I decided to try and get some work done at the library and was asking around for some urban fantasy (extra points for a mystery plot of some kind) recommendations to check out while I was there

the eric carter series was mentioned a couple of times, AND had the added bonus of having a necromancer for a main character. I love necromancers. someday I'm gonna play one in a game instead of immediately defaulting to vampires.

Fire Season, Stephen Blackmoore

[jackklinemybeloved]

zac’s “less is more” approach to comedy is always golden but it is working PERFECTLY for colin provolone from both a comedic and dramatic standpoint. everyone else I kinda get the vibe of but colin is Just Some Guy which is driving both me and raphaniel up the fucking WALL.

[rexonalapis]

it is very telling that average genshin players cannot comprehend seeing an actual mature, qualified leader that is actually good at taking her job seriously after meeting archons who either is still childish, clowning whimsically, or straight up incompetent.

[struggling-jpg]

Not to be that person but

The Wardance event really had Luka and Yanqing reflect each other. I feel like we got a speedrun of vaguely similar events that happen to Yanqing occur to Luka here. Like while being really good, he gets hit with obstacle after obstacle that shakes his confidence and willpower. Yet, when it comes down to it, Luka boxes because he loves it and it makes him feel happy and free.

"The most important thing is to always throw the next punch."

To work towards self-improvement, to love what you do, they both share that sentiment.

These two really felt like protagonists from different yet similar genres lol

This event was just so peak TvT

[they-didnt-last]

anyone interested in talking about the iconic 2000's middle-grade-bordering-on-ya book series gallagher girls??

[vulpinesaint]

kind of unfortunate that so many fantasy epics are also war novels because i will be honest i just do not like war novels that much... the grand clashing of forces is compelling obviously but it requires characters to talk about so much practical battle strategy and while i can get my brain to comprehend all these fantasy maps and kingdoms and borders and battalions and front lines and army movements it takes up. so much space in the book. feels like i'm fighting a war of my own trying to get through it sometimes

[what-is-it-to-be-pk-esque]

Ok I know I'm heavily biased here but like I kinda love that Astarion's romance is one of the few in this type of video game where you basically end up canonically unmarried and childfree in his "good" ending? Just travelling the world??

Like it's honestly the millennial dream lmfaoo cannot believe i chose what would undoubtedly be my favorite option, first try