#and the main characters there are also mostly teenagers in the beginning!

[mirrorthoughts]

I started watching TW season one again (the only one I actually watched so far 😂) and once again I'm just amused by the plotholes and discrepancies and things they show or say once and never refer to or use again, as well as the technical side of camera shots and cgi - and I'm only in episode 5 so that's a record if you ask me. (Nevermind that me picking at threads already started with eposiode 1 😂)

Disclaimer: As I said I've never watched that much of the actual series even if I steal the characters to write! Also I'm definitely biased due to the fandom, wiki entries I read and so on. So take all this with a grain of salt! It's mostly stuff I was amused by so if I have it wrong - well. I have it wrong, I guess.

Anyway. On to my observations: (this got long, so I hid them under the readmore)

Sorry to all the people who like scott, but... he's so boring <.< WHY is that guy the main character? EVERYONE else would be more interesting just from a storytelling point of view! Give me Finnstock, Danny, the Sherrif, or any of the other main cast and just get rid of Scott as main POV <.< please.

It's so funny that they tried to make it some kind of horror tv show. I actually recognize classical horror movie scenes, camera shots that should invoke a certain fear or surprise but they somehow manage to put it in such a context that I laugh because I recognize what they want to do and it just doesn't work. Might be a me-problem because I like watching horror films, but... it's still very sad.

Stiles says he once had a boa. I asked the internet and it told me boas in zoos can get about 28 years old... Stiles is 16. Stiles... Stiles, what did you do with your boa?... STILES....

The scene where Stiles and Scott talk through video chat (and is that AOL? Those were AOL-icons... was AOL still alive in 2011? <.<) and Derek stands behind Scott... it's just... why did Scott stare at the screen instead of turning around? Nevermind that he read what Stiles was writing out loud and that Stiles's message was written in such large letters that probably anybody standing 5 miles away could have read it - nevermind the guy Stiles thought was standing behind Scott. Also: why did Derek just... stand there. Especially once he was sure he'd been seen...? I know that's also one of the Horror-esque scenes I mentioned but the timing of it all was so bad! (also also: Scott is just stupid <.<)

They use this weird alternative 'sight' for werewolves in the beginning (the scenes colored in red) and it feels like they use that in the first few episodes and never again after that <.<

Another weird scene: The game where Scott wolfs out and Jackson stays back and finds Scott's glove with holes where Scotts claws came out. I just... have so many questions... 1) Why did Jackson stay back after not only his own WINNING team but also the audience, the enemy team, coach finnstock and ANYONE ELSE who was probably assigned to clean up the field? He even was still in his own lacrosse gear so he stood back to take up a glove a person who'd cleaned up the field should have taken with them?... 2) Why the fuck was Derek staring at him? <.<... or rather, why was he staring at him for so long so Jackson even looked at him? Did Derek even see the whole game? Why did he let Jackson see him? It's not like he tried to scare him into staying silent, for that his staring wasn't nearly scary enough <.<... it's just... another weird composition. Especially since Jackson and Derek have nothing to do with each other <.<...

Scotts dream where he killed Allison in the bus that mimicked how Peter/the Alpha killed the bus driver. Even though later it comes out that he was there and tried to keep the Alpha from killing the guy, this dream is just one instance where they try to 'show' Scott's 'connection' with the Alpha. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the connection he has with Peter is the one and only time we see such a connection between an Alpha and a Beta, I think. I mean the whole "I dream of things the Alpha did" and the whole not remembering/blacking out due to instincts and Alpha?

Also, Scott was apparently was hurt/slashed by the Alpha's claws. How come that wound was healed the next morning? I thought wounds caused by an Alpha heal slower? <.< or is that a fandom thing? <.<

I want to hug Derek. Hard. Poor boy drives to a town he got traumatized in to help his sister/Alpha where she ALSO gets killed and all those stupid teenies do is blame him for her death, for their problems and for anything else the new Alpha did - especially the other killings - so he gets locked up by the Sherrif and when he gets out that stupid pup has the gall to search him out just to - again - blame him for all of his problems and even for the death of his sister and the bus driver <.<...

On that note: I think Derek said he came to find his sister/meet his sister. To me it sounded in that moment as if he hadn't known she was dead when he arrived and that confuses me...

Also: shouldn't he also have a connection/pack bond with the Alpha if he wants to or not? Or does a pack just fall apart when the old Alpha dies until they've submitted to the new one? <.< And doesn't that mean that Derek's currently a packless Omega? <.<...

Aaand there's another horror film track shot classic that sends the camera from Derek and Scott to the outside of the Hale house where the Alpha is waiting/his eyes are glowing in the dark. ... So why didn't the Alpha go to them? Or did he just... sit there and stare at the house until Scott leaves? If the Alpha runs on instinct why didn't he try to get to Scott or Derek - especially after Scott left - when he is trying to get Scott and Derek to accept being part of his pack? <.<...

Kate drives into town without stopping and the Alpha attacks here somewhere in town. Close enough to Scotts home that he sees her shortly after she shoots her shotgun twice when the shots were what woke him up. 1) did the Alpha smell her through her car and the fumes? <.< 2) did he just stumble over her car while running through the town?? <.<... 3) if not, did he follow her from the outside into town? why didn't he attack her there instead of somewhere quieter? <.<...

I'm still confused by the whole Derek clawed Jackson in the neck and it did something to Jackson-stuff. Especially because Derek's not an Alpha yet <.<...

And finally just a quote from Derek that amused me for potential fanfic reasons when Scott asks why Derek can't just track the Alpha as a human: "Beause his human scent could be entirely different" <.<

[justsome-di]

Now a Pulitzer Prize winning book (don’t fact check this, just trust me) and featured on Obama’s 2023 Summer Reading List!

You should be reading Nobody Ends Up Dead in a Bathtub, Everyone Keeps Their Organs! Why? See above.

It’s a good story if I do say so myself. And if you read it, you’re a cool kid. Don’t you want to be a cool kid? This is something called peer pressure, and it usually works.

But for real, if you read Nobody Ends Up Dead then you’re going to go on a good adventure with good characters I guarantee you will love. Not to brag, but it is a pretty good story. There’s funny one-liners, a cute plot, and relatable characters that have been developed for years. Just heed warnings at the beginning of chapters. NEUD deals with some heavy topics such as eating disorders.

NEUD is officially all online for free. But you can still access bonus chapters and short stories on Patreon for only $4.

Links: 

AO3

Wattpad

Patreon (Patrons had early access to the whole novel and also get exclusive short stories with the characters and sneak peaks for new projects!)

Netflix Previews

Characters’ Playlists

You can also check out my carrd if there are any updates to how/where I post, it’ll probably be the most accurate place to find new or updated links.

Transcript under cut:

The Story is Dope

A New York office worker and a sex worker get set up on a date--one thinking it's a real blind date, the other under the impression it's an ordinary appointment. After realizing it was all a shitty prank, they set out for revenge. Their plan: show up to an upcoming Halloween office party as a genuine couple, convincing the pranksters they genuinely fell in love and refusing to let themselves become the butt of the joke.

Our main characters are Alex, an awkward admin assistant for a medical company who hasn't been on a date since he was a teenager, and Damián, a sex worker who seems way out of Alex's league but keeps insisting on spending time with him so they can perfect their revenge scheme.

The novel features a diverse cast and explores sex positivity. I also like to believe that it portrays sex work well. Damián is a hardworking man, doing what he loves, and meeting mostly great people along the way--but he also would benefit greatly if sex work was decriminalized and therefore had better resources at his disposal.

If you're looking for a story with LGBT characters that's mostly light-hearted but still packs a punch every few chapters, this is it! Overall, it's a happy story.

The Characters!

oh boy the characters!

we got Damián who's hardworking and doting on his lil bro but oh wow does he have some angst

we got Alex who is nothing more than a burning ball of anxiety trying his best--all too relatable

Leo, Damián's bro, is an ally, and he will make sure everyone knows. Also has angst.

Eve, Alex's lil sister, is an edgy teen who's failing calc and runs a queer book club

together, they're a weird lil dysfunctional family

I'll be honest. There's a lot of love in this story. From me and among the characters. The characters love each other, and I think the readers love them, too.

It touches on a lot of loneliness--inspired by how I've felt since Covid started--and a lot of the conflicting emotions that come with being gay. What happy endings do we deserve? What about happy middles?

It's a touching book about learning to be a better person and finding people who love you--platonically and romantically.

Here are some of my fave parts:

And then there was a streak of gray hair that shocked Alex. A streak of gray hair off to the side, nestled close to a salt and pepper beard. Textured hands held cocktails. Little, subtle lines creased when mouths laughed. Alex held his breath. On the packed floor, they were the only people Alex could see. They were laughing and holding each other and enjoying themselves, firmly in the place they knew they belonged. Flashes of teeth pressed against each other, disappearing for long seconds at a time.

--

“Sorry,” Alex said. “Your arm got heavy on top of me.” “You’re a little mouse of a man. I didn’t mean to crush you.” “I’m what?”

--

“A dog!” Damián cooed as he sat across from the lesbians. “His name is Yam,” Martin said.

“His name is Yam,” Damián cried. Kris and Clara released Yam and gently nudged him to Damián. Ecstatic, Damián picked him up and set him on his lap. “His name is Yam,” he repeated to Alex. “I heard.”

--

But he couldn’t deny that he was having a good time. It was like intense yoga with the perk of having a cock shoved up his ass. He was going to feel limber as fuck after.

--

“Can I do anything?” Alex asked. “To help cheer you up?”

“You don’t have to worry about me.”

“I’d like to. If you let me.”

--

“Wow this sounds great where can I read it?”

Tumblr @justsome-di

Watpadd @justsome-di

Patreon @just some di (link on Tumblr)

AO3 @justsome_di

Updates every friday!

[krakapi]

I'm probably not the first person to say this, but I really don't understand all the hate Genmui receives. It isn't illegal, they aren't related, nor are they toxic.

The two main reasons I hear every fucking time as to why people dislike this ship are that :

A. They're too young

B. They only ever interacted once

Addressing the first part, that being that they aren't of age to be dating. That's false. Most teenagers begin relationships (although not long lasting) as, well, teens. Additionally, Genya (16) and Muichiro (14) share the same 2 year age gap as Zenezu (Zenitsu x Nezuko), an extremely popular, canon and hetero ship in the franchise.

Zenitsu (16) and Nezuko (14), do end up together after Muzan's defeat, and have kids, who then have kids, etc. However, before marriage, Zenitsu was absolutely in love with a then demon Nezuko. That's cute and all, if we just ignore the fact that Nezuko herself was turned into a demon at 12. Demon's don't age. Meaning, even if she was physically able to age herself, mentally, she is a young girl. Which, in itself, is kinda icky if you ask me.

As for the second claim, that being that they rarely had any interactions. Although in the manga it is indeed true that we don't see them talking together often, it's important to realize that Demon Slayer was a very rushed, short series. Therefore, it was very direct, and focused mostly on the plot. Aside from that, it is known that Muichiro and Genya are good friends with Tanjiro and company. It's displayed in this cute lil' manga panel :

(Zenitsu keep your hands away oh my god...)

They probably are relatively close, so it's safe to say that "behind the scenes", they hangout. Also, and not to bring up another canon HETERO ship, but Inoaoi (Inosuke x Aoi) literally have the same amount, if not less exchanges than Genmui. Heck, most people agree that them being a couple is random, no matter the adorableness. Listen, I don't want to pull the homophobia "card", but with the past two comparisons I've used, and the fact that Genmui is a gay pairing, it's difficult to say otherwise.

With that being said, I've also seen alot of people claiming that because Demon Slayer takes place during Taisho era Japan, these characters would be 100% straight, or even... homophobic. First of all, L opinion. Just because the society of that time was more openly against queer people, does not mean that they didn't exist. Many people of the lgbtq+ community back then did not ever get the chance to come out of the closet.

Second of all, the Demon Slayer Corps is known to be accepting of all people. You can't expect to maintain a secret military-like organization if you're too picky on who's joining. The most prominent and talked about example is Mitsuri Kanroji, who was praised by Kagaya for her incredible strength, which was deemed weird by society for a woman. As a Demon Slayer, you're basically reduced to a human sacrifice, ready to give up your life on a whim. Who the fuck really cares about what gender you wanna make out with?

Anyways, to conclude, Genmui is an overhated ship <3 If you really dislike it that much, you can sit in the corner and be miserable.

[therealkaidertrash21]

Ok, this is the essay I've been talking about, defending kaider. Keep in mind that I'm 15 and English is not my first language, so I might've said something wrong. Also, this is veeery formal because that's what I was taught to do.

Like in all fandoms and all canon and non-canon pairings, kaider sometimes receives comments regarding their dynamic saying that it is not a good ship, that it is not well written, or that they do not go well together. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, however, there are several good arguments against this position.

Firstly, the main aspect that is often criticized about kaider is how quickly the characters "fell in love" and it is often referred as "instalove" even though, if it is carefully analyzed, it becomes obvious that this is not true at all.

Kai, Cinder's love interest, develops a romantic interest in her since their first meeting, this is a fact. But it does not mean it was instalove. Because instalove is love at first sight, when a character thinks the other is their soulmate and wants to be with them forever after only taking a glance at them. However, this is not what happens with kaider. Kai is interested in Cinder and asks her out multiple times but he is not in love, it is very obvious he is just a teenager who has a crush on a girl. This is not rare in real life. This is not unrealistic at all.

In addition, it is impossible to say Cinder's feelings are anything similar to instalove. She doesn't instantly develop feelings for the prince. At the beginning of the story, she does think about him and is interested in him, but her feelings are not particularly strong or obvious yet (partly because she is repressing them).

Secondly, another aspect that is often used to say kaider is a bad pairing, from Cinder's side, is that she is a "not like other girls" character, when she technically is not. This is almost a separate subject, but in essence: Cinder does not say she is not like other girls as a way to put herself above them and denigrate them, she does this because she is insecure, as a way to place herself below them.

Finally, often people criticize this pairing because they think Cinder would be unhappy if she married Kai, because she never wanted to be queen. But the reasons why Cinder did not want to be royalty are not simple. There are many reasons: 1. Cinder does not want to fail her people, 2. she thinks she will not be accepted by the citizens, 3. She desires anonymity. None of these reasons are actually about ruling a country, and once she overcomes these things they would not affect her.

Some might also argue that since she was queen, and then abdicated, she doesn't want to rule. But the reason for her abdication is mostly about her political position. She believes a monarchy is bad for Luna, since monarchs can easily manipulate their citizens (which they have done before). That is the true reason for her abdication. And even after her abdication, she still dedicated her life to politics as an ambassador, which she was not obligated to do.

In conclusion, even though kaider might seem badly written sometimes, this is not true. It is deeper than what it seems. The characters are complex, the reasons why they act in certain ways are very complex as well, as they would be in a real world scenario. Everyone has the right to have their own opinion, but it is good to analyze deeper, rather than only retaining a first impression or a superficial analysis.

also, credits to @impossiblesuitcase because I based most of the sixth paragraph on their post about a similar topic.

[livi-in-digital-circus]

The Abuse || a short Bunnydoll angsty story

I wrote this only because I'm having worse days now (also I started writing the new fic but I'm already stuck at the beginning of TwT)

TW: abuse

Through the glass wall of the infirmary, Ragatha stared at the guests of the Digital Circus. Once in a while, people from the real world had the chance to meet their favorite characters in person, not knowing that they were actually normal humans just like them. It was unfair that they could go home the moment their visit ended. But that was what the circus was all about. Every single member of the crew was an animal trapped in a cage, released only to perform silly and often dangerous acts.

And since Caine was especially busy when they had visitors, Ragatha couldn’t ask him to help her get back to her pristine self. Instead, she had to spend the entire day under the care of a nurse-like NPC who stuffed her with more pills, like painkillers, hour after hour. Even though the rag doll didn’t seem to have any bones in her plush body, she felt like her bruised arm was broken. Not to mention that she had vomited at least three times that day and felt dizzy all the time.

It was a pure torture.

The girls in the main area were loud enough for Ragatha to hear what they were saying, so she leaned carefully against the wall. Due to her current state, she wasn’t allowed to greet the visitors. After all, Caine had to keep the reputation of the circus at its best, and if anyone found out there was a serious case of abuse going on behind the scenes, he would lose everything he had worked on for years.

“Did you see the way he looked at me? I’m definitely his type!” One of the girls exclaimed. Her digital avatar resembled a cute Lolita-style doll, making her look like an innocent angel. Another one, Ragatha thought.

“It’s a good thing we didn’t mention our shrines full of his limited merch.” The other said, her cat ears and tail moving on their own from time to time. “But then again, who wouldn’t want lots of Jax for themselves?”

Ragatha trembled. These two clearly had no idea who they were talking about. Judging by their behavior and appearance, they were mostly underage and delusional. The rag doll looked at her arm again. She should be jealous, it was her boyfriend who was the center of attention that day.

Instead, she felt anger, especially when she heard the girls mention all the things they wanted Jax to do to them. Ragatha smiled bitterly to herself, the familiar metallic taste tickling her tongue. She had lived too long in the circus to understand today’s teenagers. Some of them were born into rich families and had everything they could wish for. It could be anything, like an expensive dress worn by many famous models, or a bottle of sweet-smelling limited edition perfume. And yet they chose to be used by none other than Jax.

Little do they know that he is a real abuser.

And abuse is not something you should wish for.

Year after year, the rabbit became more mentally unstable. Several times he promised Ragatha that he would change, that he would try to be a better boyfriend. She was very proud of Jax when he managed to go a whole week without hurting her. But when she was about to visit him in his room after one of their adventures to watch a movie, she found him torturing the little version of herself that she had made for him to hug when he felt alone.

Caine had no idea how to fix Jax. His first assumption was that he would soon abstract, but Ragatha quickly shook her head. That had been going on for a long time, with no clear signs of improvement. However, she didn’t feel any hatred for Jax, even though she was sore and bruised the last few days. She knew it was because of his poor mental health and that inside he was still the bunny she had fallen in love with.

The girls disappeared from her view after a while. Ragatha groaned as she made her way back to bed. All she wanted was to fall asleep and wake up the next day. The moment her head touched the pillow, she heard someone enter the infirmary.

“Feeling better?” Jax sat on the edge of the bed, his gloved hand gently stroking the bandage on the rag doll’s cheek. Ragatha shivered, yet her lover’s soothing touch was all she needed at the moment.

“Still a little sore, but it’s okay. Did you enjoy the meeting with the viewers?”

“Not really, this group was annoying as hell.”

“I don’t like what those girls said about you.” Though Ragatha didn’t want to tell him exactly what. She knew Jax felt bad after each time he lost control and hurt her, and she didn’t want to make him uncomfortable now that he was temporarily sane again.

Jax let out a soft laugh and pressed his lips to Ragatha’s forehead. God, she loved his kisses so much.

“I actually brought you something to drink. You must be thirsty after I… you know.”

Ragatha gladly accepted the water bottle and began to pour the liquid into her mouth. But just as she was about to stop, she felt Jax’s hands suddenly tighten around her neck, causing her to cough and choke. The taste of water and blood mixed sickeningly in her mouth.

Jax knew it was only a matter of time before she started vomiting all over the circus from the ‘water’ he gave her.

Everyone told Ragatha to break up with Jax, but she was too kindhearted to do that. He was mentally ill and she wanted to help him. She hoped that one day everything would be okay, that her boyfriend would overcome this.

And before that happens, she would be tortured in many more different ways for the next few weeks, months, or maybe even years.

Still, Ragatha would manage to survive all this. It was impossible to die in Digital Circus after all.

Thanks for reading!

(I'm sorry, please don't be mad at me for writing this ;-;)

[fttlouie]

Significance of props in LFCT

I have been obsessed with lfct and its ruining my life. I need ep 7 and 8 now, today, NO YESTERDAY !! The best part is how well directed it is, rather, the direction in this show feels more intentional than other bls i have watched in a long time. The layers in the show, and the fact that the show trusts the audience to pick up on things is what makes me like it more. So I get frustrated when people complain it is too "unnecessarily confusing", isn't that the whole fun, to discover the story ourselves rather than have everything spelled out to us like we are just horny teenagers waiting for the two main characters to make out? (although that's exactly what I'm waiting for, but you get my point) Anyway, I'm sure there are valid criticisms, but I gotta defend this show because of my brainrot rn. :)

I wanted to compile a list of props that might have symbolism, can someone please help me organise and make sense of it. :)

1... Cigarettes: I found it odd that the show used a tracking short at the beginning and the first main character we see on our screen is Hyunwoo. The first conversation is also about cigarettes. The two students are punished by their teachers for smoking, and HW himself is hiding a pack behind a book. This immediately pointed to me that cigarettes must be a symbolism for something. Cigs or cigar, typically in many queer films or films with queer subtexts, have been a metaphor for homosexuality, due to the *ahem* phallic *ahem* shape, indicating to us that when two characters smoke together, they're probably fucking. Its definitely untrue in the context of show because we have seen that DH does not smoke but his dad does. So my next interpretation is that it represents abuse or trauma. Im going to interpret as whenever there is a presence of cigs = presence of abuse/trauma. We have not seen HW smoke but he holds the packet behind a book, aka hides his trauma from others, and put it in his left coat pocket, aka his heart. The two students are getting dragged by the teacher in the first shot, probably to get abused, hence the smoking talk. Whenever the dad beats up other kids besides JY and DH inside the taekwondo studio, he always says that it is because they were smoking. One of the friend and JY quit smoking because they were teaching children (they say that before DH comes to the funeral) because they do not want to transfer their trauma to kids, so quitting cigarettes represents stopping the cycle of abuse. They smoke together because despite us not seeing the two other friends being beaten by DH's dad, because they came from same, school, neighbourhood and time when corporal punishment was legal, they probably share the abuse. JY just came back from crying at his abuser's funeral so it feels fitting for him to smoke and reminisce his trauma. The dad is smoking indoors when DH confronts him for hitting JY. The dad and his friends are always smoking when they call DH and JY for their late night errands, the director could easily have them just be drunk, not smoke. But because they are all complicit in DH's abuse, they smoke along with the dad. I hope they bring up cigs in final two eps so we can see if its consistent. Its also fucked up that they used such a prominent queer symbolism with an abuse metaphor. Genius.

2... Vehicle: This one is also very consistent throughout the show. I am thinking the car represents their lives. JY uses the taekwondo van from his work. The key features of this vehicle is that it is bright, it is used to service others (picking up kids, dropping them off), it is rented, and it is big. Despite being apart from DH, JY is a positive person and his personality stands out brightly. If we look at JY's story so far, we can see that he is mostly a selfless person because he stood up for his friend who was getting hit, and for DH, and he probably has not changed much since that time as shown by the van. It is pretty sad to say but JY also probably does not have a life of his own, he is constantly influenced by people he loves and people around him. He works for his friend so he is using his friend's car (he returns the keys back to her in ep 6 before going to DH). It also means that the way he lives is similar to DH's dad (minus the abuse obv) as both JY and DH's dad drive a taekwondo van. Probably why DH does not want to ride in the van aka live a life that is so close to the image of his father. The taekwondo van had to go, and I'm glad it did. Side note but their first few kisses often happened on the back seat of DH dad's taekwondo van. Pretty symbolic that it was not on the front seat as both of their lives are being driven DH's absent father. JY also has never owned a car. The second car which he rented before going to see DH is heavily influenced by DH. Despite still being big and bright, it is a new and expensive car. It is white, just like DH's car. The fact that is rented also may imply that the life that JY and DH share may be temporary. I am scared. Hopefully he buys a cheap, bright car soon after everything is resolved and takes DH out. Make it more permanent JY, please. DH's car is expensive. Probably the only stand-out feature. His life right now is for show. He also has a lot of money. DH's car also has to go, start walking, get it towed away, crash it idc. DH and HW currently share a life together (despite the ambiguousness of their relationship) therefore they share a car multiple times, DH wants JY to drive his car aka, come to life. All DH desperately wants is to live his life with JY so this man keeps asking about whether JY can drive well, aka "whisk me away safely, thank you".

3... Food: Love. Thats what I think it represents. DH initiates the act of giving love first. He prepares food for JY. Always. And JY does not get a chance to return it, which is why he keeps saying that he wants to cook sometimes. He finally gets a chance to make food for DH and they eat together. JY also wants to eat with DH's dad, he says 'it would nice to eat together often' during ep 1. DH is uncomfortable because he does not have love for his dad. JY's parents pay for his meals but never eat with him in the show, they pay for his love aka they love him but never directly (idk what kind of twisted love it is). We never see them share the love between them last time because JY never gets around to making the lunchbox before the final test. We are also never shown the food they eat at the restaurant that JY chooses after they are reunited, their love is a shrodinger's cat at this point, we will never know if they shared a meal there together or not. We also see a conflict when HW wants to have a nice meal with DH after he books a restaurant. DH does not want to eat with him aka share his love with him. We never see them eat together despite going to a restaurant with their friends. We see a menu but never food. A twisted love once again when we connect money with food, representing what is going on with DH and his current friends.

4... Chapstick: No idea. Please let me knowww :(

Then there is the glaring ones like telephone, snow, taekwondo and alcohol. Is there any other, I want to talk about this show forever...

[cooligas]

I feel like y’all don’t understand that the roots of Aemond being an evil mf, is bc he was bullied as a child and the adults didn’t care enough. Him losing an eye and never getting justice worsened him and he doesn’t want to appear weak EVER AGAIN. The last time he did (brothel scene) he got mocked AGAIN by his brother.

“I don’t understand what did Alicent do to him for him to act like that towards her”

First he was raised with misogynistic ideas around him (his mother being a victim of it and a misogynist at the same time) so ofc he will look down on women. Second, yes she was the one who stood up for him when he lost his eye but she literally allowed Aegon to bully him as long as it’s not in public, at the same time. He’s also frustrated because she didn’t condone what happened to Luke and didn’t want him to be part of the green council to begin with.

Mostly and most importantly ; she is the person he loves the most. Love = weakness to him. Hence the fact that he’s the only main character with zero love interest btw (for the moment). She’s the personification of all the feelings he can’t bare to express anymore.

“I don’t understand why he burned Aegon”

Aemond is basically a teenager (important to remember that) who is impulsive (he regrets the shit he did to luke) and has anger issues. He attacks people who hurt him and the people he loves (bc yes, he does love). He has conflicted feelings for Aegon because of all the shit he did to him. He e wants the throne not really for himself but to win the war at all costs, because his mother always told them that the family would be in danger if team black was ruling. Also to show that he is capable of great things (he claimed the biggest dragon to show that he isn’t a weak bullied kid) and that he is better than Aegon.

His brother never showed real affection towards him (him allowing Aemond to be part of the green council was pure strategy since he has Vhagar) and spent most of his life degrading him and bullying him. Y’all also forget that he is the reason he’s sexually traumatised bc he allowed him to get sexually abused. Aemond has more reasons to hate Aegon than to love him. We legit have zero scene of them being lovely brothers to each others btw.

The whole “I’m strong and nothing and nobody scares me” is just a facade. Look at the way he tried his hardest not to look at alicent (or cry but you didn’t hear that from me) when she talked to him on episode 6 bc he knows his mask would fall off. It’s a shield he uses to protect himself and to never show weakness bc he doesn’t want to be mocked and hurt anymore.

Aemond genuinely didn’t seem like a bad kid before losing his eye. He was sympathetic, he still felt empathy (towards Helaena, Jace during the funerals). If he had been raised with kindness, and was not being filled with filthy ideas against women or his nephews by his MOTHER, if his father slightly gave a f about him and his siblings and if people actually cared about him being bullied and him losing an eye, he would’ve been a normal human being.

[el-255]

I’m not sure if this has been said before but I find it very interesting how differently the writers of persona handled Junpei’s character in comparison to Ryuji’s. With the role of the mc’s best friend and mostly comic relief, I find the two of them to be the most similar personality wise compared to either of them with Yosuke so this analysis will only be discussing the parallels and differences in the way the story handles Junpei and Ryuji respectively.

To me, Junpei is handled pretty sensitively by the writers (not as much as he could be or should be, but still a lot more than most would expect given his trope); he’s given a lot of character with the introduction of Chidori and we see how he grows to like her as he gets to know her. I’ll admit it’s been a while since I played 3 so take this with a grain of salt but from what I recall, his and Chidori’s relationship gets quite a bit of screen time and development in the main story in a way that gives us a different perspective of how Junpei normally operates around the other members of SEES. With Chidori, he isn’t the class clown or the idiot of SEES, he’s simply a teenage boy who falls for a teenage girl. To me, there’s not much more humanising than that. After her presumed death, Junpei loses it and sinks into a depression, and when he finds out she’s alive, albeit her memory lost, he does his best to help her recover and grapples with the moral implications of her regaining her memory. (I think at least one can’t really remember).

This relationship is important to the story and gives us another, much more sympathetic view of Junpei’s character who, up to this point in the game, had mostly been kept in a box marked “comic relief pervert”. You root for Junpei and Chidori’s relationship because it is clearly shown how much Junpei adores her and not once after he meets her does he stray from this love for her.

It’s not only Chidori’s character that makes Junpei’s character more sensitive either, I find that his general personality and relationships with other characters to be handled better as well.

We have his friendship with Yukari (aka Yuka-tan) which I’ll begin by saying also isn’t perfect, Junpei oftentimes falls into the perverted trope so many of the male characters fall into (such is life with Atlus) and he definitely makes comments towards her that most friends wouldn’t and yeah that isn’t good, but I think Yukari gives it back just as much as Junpei dishes it out and never takes him too seriously. I get the impression that that’s just how their friendship works, it’s a constant push and pull, a give and take between them, they both take every opportunity they get to tease each other mercilessly and it works. It doesn’t feel one sided in the way that Ryuji’s interactions with other members of the phantom thieves tend to feel but I’ll get more into that later. His friendship with Yukari may not be the most noteworthy part of his character, but it’s something I think deserves a bit of credit all things considered.

He matures so much over the game and generally becomes more serious and methodical as the story progresses but in a way that is still undeniably Junpei. That’s a difficult feat to accomplish when dealing with certain characters and I think Atlus does well to make these changes happen in a pretty organic way.

Junpei isn’t a perfect character, he has his flaws and shortcomings, but out of all the bro characters from 3-5, I think that the writers of 3 deserve more merit for handling Junpei’s character arc in a way that actually feels like he’s grown by the end of the game.

I could not say the same for Ryuji.

I will preface this by saying that I love Ryuji, I think he’s a neat little guy and I think the writers did him so dirty in 5 when they clearly had the capacity to do so much more as we’ve seen already with Junpei.

Ryuji is filled to the brim of wasted potential as a character, his backstory is only barely brushed on with a few throwaway comments about his dad being abusive towards him and his mother, his abuse by Kamoshida who literally breaks his leg is barely brought up after Kamoshida’s arc, and the trauma he suffers from is never the focus of the story compared to how other characters like Yusuke, Futaba, and Ann’s are. Of course, trauma isn’t a competition and all the party members in 5 have dealt with awful shit but the point is that all of them rightfully get the opportunity to be angry about it at some point in the main story or in their social links, Ryuji doesn’t. Ryuji instead gets beat up by pretty much the entire cast of 5, is constantly belittled by the party members, and is basically treated like shit and the butt of the joke throughout the entire game.

I don’t think I even need to bring up that scene because I know everyone feels the same way about it, but I will because it’s a necessary part of this analysis. That scene haunts me, not only is it the unfunniest thing that’s played for jokes I’ve ever seen in a game, but it’s quite possibly the biggest controversy I know of in the persona fandom.

The implications of a teenage boy who was abused by his father and his teacher thinking he’s found a safe haven in the phantom thieves because they all know how shitty adults can be and yeah they insult him but they’d never actually purposefully try and hurt him, right? Only to find that they would hurt him and pretty severely after he risked his life to save theirs because they’re his best friends and he loves them is horrendous and incredibly insensitive to everyone out there who has dealt with similar circumstances. The joke he plays isn’t funny, but I take it as Ryuji trying to lighten the mood the only way he knows how and even if he was insensitive to Ann and the rest of the team who are mourning him, he does not deserve to get beaten to a pulp by the very people he almost killed himself to rescue. They don’t even fucking apologise to him, it’s all just brushed under the rug and never so much as brought up again !!!

The scene didn’t need to make the cut at all, especially with the rerelease in royal, but it did and it’s honestly astonishing that with all the backlash it received, that they didn’t just cut it entirely. And if they really had to keep the scene in the game, let him be angry about it. Let Ryuji go off at the team for beating him up after he saves all of their lives. Let Ryuji tell Joker that he expected more from him as his best friend. Let the team have to jump through hoops to gain Ryuji’s forgiveness because it’s what he deserves.

Not only this, but in comparison to Junpei, Ryuji doesn’t get as much growth in his character arc. Throughout the game, Ryuji largely stays the same which honestly isn’t really an issue, not everyone has to change dramatically and drastically to be a compelling character, but he doesn’t change at all. Honestly, from the start to the end of 5, I could barely tell you a difference between the Ryuji we see. Like I said, I don’t need a drastic change, it doesn’t suit some characters, but Ryuji isn’t given any sort of growth by the writers and any he is given feels forced because he genuinely isn’t given any of the spotlight outside of Kamoshida’s arc unlike with Junpei.

It makes me angry because like I said, the writing was already there with Junpei, they had the capacity to write Ryuji in the same sympathetic way they did with him but they chose not to !! They chose to leave Ryuji as a character who you have no choice but to take at face value because he’s not given any more than that.

In conclusion: the writers dropped the ball with Ryuji and I’m mad about it, Junpei is a good character and I’ll fight anyone who disagrees, and Yosuke is Yosuke and I mourn his cut romance route every day.

[booksandchainmail]

@the-yuri-librarian

Will someone please tell me if any of these series have lesbians

(in regards to this post)

Of the two web serials featured in that meme:

Pale Lights, by erraticerrata one of its 2-4 protagonists is a lesbian. There hasn't been much in the way of romance for her yet, but the series is pretty early on, and also romance-light. One of the other female protagonists is possibly bisexual, and the male protagonist is ace. Pale Lights is about new recruits to an elite god-hunting organization in a gunpowder-and-sail era world that is also entirely within a massive cavern full of strangeness. Ongoing

Twig, by wildbow umm. ok. so how do I put this. It has ambiguously bisexual girls in an situationship? It got a lot of submissions to a yuribait poll tournament. Also in the main cast is a trans girl. I cannot in good consciousness recommend this on the basis of lesbianism, but I do like it. Twig is about a group of child lab experiments/field agents of a biopunk empire. Complete

Other web serials that may be of interest to you!

A Practical Guide to Evil, by erraticerrata Protagonist is a bisexual woman, and almost all of her romantic interests are other women. PGTE has my favorite slowburn romance of all time. Also in the main cast are (at least) two more bi women, and an aroace man (there are more queer characters depending on how you define main cast). In a medieval fantasy world where narrative tropes have metaphysical weight, a new group of villains begin fighting smarter to overcome their narrative disadvantage. Forty years later, a teenage girl from a conquered country, seeing how heroes have failed, chooses to become the Squire of the empire's Black Knight. Tagline: Do Wrong Right Complete

Katalepsis, by HY Lesbian protagonist, largely lesbian supporting cast, including a couple trans women. Lots of romance, including an expanding polycule. A young woman tries to rescue her twin sister, who was erased from reality as a child by an eldritch entity. Tagline: A web serial of cosmic horror, urban fantasy, and making friends with strange people Ongoing, almost finished (with the first "book"/major overarching plotline)

Necroepilogos, by HY I think literally the entire cast of this one is queer women (including at least one trans woman) having homoerotic moments with each other all the time. A bioengineered supersoldier wakes millennia after her death to find the world a wasteland, populated by women resurrected from across history who must now kill each other to live. Tagline: Lost girls in the ashen afterword Ongoing

PGTE/Pale Lights and Katalepsis/Necroepilogos would be my primary recommendations. Some other webserials:

Some of wildbow's other serials have more lesbians than Twig, but it comes with caveats: Worm (and its sequel Ward) are, uh, controversial for how they handle lesbians. Pale is much better, but I'm also only 1/3 of the way through so I can't vouch for it entirely. Pact has a single important lesbian character.

I lost interest and didn't finish Heretical Edge, but it does have a poly lesbian protagonist.

Time to Orbit: Unknown is not particularly lesbian in specific, but it is largely queer and genderqueer.

Another option of thing I read is quests and original/fan fiction on the forum site Sufficient Velocity. The downside here is that they mostly have really irregular update schedules (unlike the above serials, which update 1-2 times a week on a fixed day) and are prone to being abandoned. I'd recommend looking at how often/recently thy update before starting. With that caveat, some titles with lesbian (or bisexual) females leads and queer romance: Petals of Titanium, The Last Daughter, Lieutenant Fusilier in the Farthest Reaches, Castles of Steel, On the Road to Elspar, Mercy (and Other Costly Mistakes), Pound the Table, and A Little Vice

[kryptonbabe]

Superboy: Trouble in Paradise, A Review

I finished reading Superboy: Trouble in Paradise by Karl Kesel & Tom Geummet, it is a collected edition of the first 10 issues of Superboy's 1994 run, and although this was supposed to be the first volume in a series of books collecting this run, so far only the first one was released, sadly.

As for the book I felt like it was a sort of mixed bag, while Kon-el is an angel, an interesting character with flaws and room for development, which make him a very appealing character to be a fan of, other aspects of the stories would bring the narrative down.

Probably the most baffling issue here is how Kon-el is sexualized despite being only 15-16 years old, that information is brought up constantly by many characters, Conner himself, and yet we see most adult women in the book falling for this kid, flirting with him, making sexual innuendos and kissing him at some point. While the text calls attention to this problem the story refuses to discuss it in any meaningful way, Conner has a main romantic interest and she is a professional journalist who is aware of his age, but after a brief initial conflict, she just ignores this problem. I don't believe in taboos in fiction, anything can be discussed and debated, this story line could bring an interesting discussion about teenage sexuality and the adult responsibility required to deal with that, how this dynamic can happen between women and boys as well as it happens with men and girls. There is something to be said about this, but Karl Kesel won't go there, making this particular story line feel more voyeuristic and less an aspect of character building.

As I tried to ignore that and focus on the main plot lines, they could feel a bit generic, but would be often brought to life by Conner's charisma and the dynamics of the supporting cast, with characters like Dubbilex, the telepathic mentor, Lex Leech, the inescrupulosos manager and Roxy, his sanguine daughter, keeping things fun, which is the overall tone of the stories. The action in this book happens mostly in Hawaii and the atmosphere of it is clear from the beginning to the end, this is supposed to be a fun and light set of stories, and it mostly achieves that. Although the inclusion of issues concerning events of the time, World's Collide and Zero Hour, could be distracting and work to break the rhythm of the book. I was still interested enough in Kon-el to work my way through them and keep the focus, but that could be a problem for someone less invested in the character. Also the Zero Hour issue is a pretty good one if you're familiar with silver age Superboy, with touching homages to the 60s Superfamily stories.

One thing that is as charming as Conner and really helps to sell the feeling of the book is the art of Tom Grummet, a stylish take on 90's trends that still look cool and alive today. It's time for us to stop being so harsh with 90s comic book art, yes there were some duds there, but there are pretty decent works that hold up well to this day.

At the end I had my share of fun even considering how uneven this book can be at times, but I'm patient and back then Kon-el was a pretty new character, the editorial team and artists involved might have taken a little time to understand him and build stories to suit this new creation. It makes me sad that there's not a second volume to this book since I know Conner has a strong fan base that would be interested in buying it, me included. Thanks for reading this!

[reaper-bloodmoon]

My Fave Character Analysis: Solar

Yes, I'm going through with this because ohohohoho, I love picking apart and analyzing characters. So in this post I'll first go over my theories and trauma responses that I see for Solar. So let's begin:

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

Like some people have pointed out, Solar appears to be acting himself and yes, I do agree. Although his acting is more to cover up a personality that's entirely different than what most people would think. Most of you would probably think, "Well, he probably is only acting nice based off the statement that Old Moon made that even nice versions of bad people are still bad people, just in a different way", and to that I say NUH UH. For me, his acting seems to be more of a trauma response. Follow me on this if you will.

He acts like a stoic, mostly chill, worried person to cover up his actual personality, which is much closer to Lunar's personality before he(Lunar) died. You see, Solar has been shown to have parallels with Lunar, such as his name and being rebuilt in space, but I believe there's even more parallels than that.

The parallels being, like I said, a personality being more similar to Lunar's than he wants to admit. He also was in his old Sun's head for a long time and coexisting more or less, just like Lunar and Moon.

Now why he would cover that personality up? Well it's his trauma response of course. This whole thing started back in his old dimension as a matter of fact. After all, he suffered abuse at the hands of his old dimension's New Moon, so in a way he had to force himself to grow up too fast and he's had to maintain that appearance since it started, including in his own home. And I mean the home he's made in our main dimension.

Also seeing him be so frustrated and angry about being turned into a plushie got me thinking that he doesn't like being seen as "small and vulnerable" because being like that got him physically hurt by his old dimension's New Moon. So that's why he tried to hide, it's what he would've had to have done in his old dimension.

Also people really forgot he had to defend himself against his old dimension's New Moon when he came over to the main dimension and tried to kill him. And you know, Solar didn't want to have to put down his old dimension's New Moon but he was so damaged by Solar's arm canon that he had to. So Solar saying that they had to kill Nexus doesn't surprise me because Nexus has shown he can and will try and kill everyone and even threatened to do so to Solar's face. Solar's response to that read to me as he didn't want to risk Nexus trying to do that to his family because he cares about them and doesn't want them to go through what he did even more.

Also little tangent about Jack and how he parallels a much tamer early on Eclipse. Basically I've observed that Jack has the whole young teenager vibes with some possessive issues because he's insecure, which just screams early on Eclipse to me. Also the fact he finds pain funny also screams that to me.

Then again this all could be me overthinking things, but what do ya'll think?

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Just started Medjed arc of P5R; here are my current thoughts on the characters I know so far:

Joker: Look, I know people say he's a "self-insert" but I really, really see a few very distinct personality traits in him. He's lost in thought a lot. He zones out. He's really goal-driven. He's clever. He's a risk-taker. He's wary of consequences. He takes a little while to trust people, especially adults. He's suspicious and easily annoyed. He's on your side. He wants to help. He's a snarky little shit. His compassion is as much his defiance as his bitter disdain. He's hesitant. He's confident. He's bluffing. His respect is earned. His assistance isn't. He's free. He's chained. He's larger than life. He's a dumbass dork of a teenager. Incredibly fun character to play as, 10/10. I love that you can actually see him becoming more confident as time goes on. His dialogue options also become sillier/snarkier/more teasing as he becomes closer with people. It's just fun. I have a lot more thoughts on him but I'm going to stop here. I'd love to do a bit of an analysis on him once I finish the game - I'd like to go back through his main story dialogue options and his idle and specific scene animations. Plus, they seriously popped off with his character design. There's so much I could say about that alone.

Ryuji: Ryuji, my beloved. I wish you were less horny in uncomfortable ways in some scenes - I think, as well as Atlus not knowing what teenage girls are like, they also have not... spoken to people raised by single mothers, or mothers who got out of an abusive relationship... but anyways, asides from that, I love Ryuji. I think his desire for popularity makes a lot of sense - he's only ever stood out in a bad way. He just wants to be liked, you know? And he doesn't think he's enough the way he is. He's trying his best. I need him to shut up so bad but also I hope he never shuts up, you know. He's genuinely so funny, and he's the most ride or die of anyone. Ryuji gets angry on everyone's behalf when they can't muster up their own anger yet. Everyone say thank you, Ryuji.

Morgana: I do not get the hate for this not-cat; he's so funny to me. He's becoming a little more aligned to the thieves' morality, which is probably for the best since at the beginning he was definitely down with accidental murder and totally open about his pragmatism. He actually encourages this in Joker. It's just funny. I love my emotional support not-cat bestie who sits in my desk at school then tells me to go strike shady deals with random people in back alleys. You can definitely see a change in Morgana though; he's becoming more excited about helping people for the sake of it (like Joker, he too has gained purpose), but he's also becoming more insecure.

Ann: She remains my favourite of the Thieves. If Ryuji is the original drive and Morgana the original method, then she is the original conviction. The strength to stand with victims. The desire to force those who hurt others to understand the feelings of said victims. She has the rawest fucking lines at the end of the Kamoshida arc. She loves Shiho so much, and I really feel like her and Joker are on the same page when it comes to things deeper than their surface level interests. Get you a friend like Ann fr. It's a shame that later scenes have her mostly just getting mad at the guys when they uhhh... act like horny guys towards her. Feels bad man, especially because I love the aspect of her character that wants to be more comfortable with her sexuality and have that be on her terms. <- That's really cool, actually! Why couldn't we do more with that...? As a note though, I seriously love her admiration towards female cartoon villains and that one mean girl model. I think that's so funny and also such a mood. I do not believe for one second that Ann is straight. I hope she becomes the sexy and confidant morally-ambiguous thief of her dreams, and also that she gets a girlfriend. It's what she deserves.

Yusuke: He's so dramatic. Do you expect me not to love him? I really loved his conflict during Madarame's arc - those revelations were absolutely brutal, and Yusuke really handled things well, all things considered. Again, like Ann, there were some raw lines in there. But then, of course, the slump on the other end, when the adrenaline wears off. That Yusuke's painting only showed the dark side of desire tells me that he is still grappling with the effects of all these reveals. He has a lot to process.

Makoto: I just think she's so cute. Her design is adorable. She's such a sweetheart. On the flip side though, while I don't find her as intimidating as the game seems to, I definitely would not want her mad at me. While, as I mentioned before, I found the lead up to her joining the thieves to be a little janky, the actual moment was great. I love that she has a support system now. She really needed that. I hope there are more scenes with her in group settings tbh. While I'm enjoying her one-on-one dynamics with Ryuji and Ann, I do feel like she doesn't really... gel with the group as well as, say, Yusuke did. I think they need to drag her out to more activities lol.

Sojiro: I still don't know yet? He seems like the tough love sort. I do enjoy getting to learn random coffee trivia from him, and it seems like he cares in a kind of gruff way. He also gets a lot of suspicious people coming by. Guess I'll find out more later.

Maruki: Again, I don't know much still. He's endearing and dorky. That salt bae thing still lives rent-free in my head. I feel his frustration with not being able to help more. I get it man. I will say though, the fact that we get to see scenes with the thieves and Maruki, with no Joker present, is... odd.

Kasumi: I... I don't know how to feel. She's too nice. She's too polite. All of her scenes are so weirdly convenient. I like her just fine, but there's something seriously off. I almost feel like she's an outlier on purpose, like she doesn't blend into the world. Unlike Maruki, who is new to Royal but blends into the story quite nicely, Kasumi really stands out, to the point it kind of feels like that was the intention. She is adorable, though, I won't deny that, and I do want her to succeed and all, I just... hm. I don't know how to feel about her.

Akechi: I could fix him (smack him upside the head). <- okay but seriously, he is so obviously suspicious, he so obviously knows about Joker, he's such a smarmy little shit. I would despise him irl, but he's absolutely the funniest character in the game right now. Everything he says has me either cackling or my jaw dropping at the fucking audacity. He's also really interesting to me. Love a character whose every line means three things rolled into one. He feels dangerous and weirdly endearing at the same time. What the hell is his problem (affectionate + derogatory).

Yoshida: YOSHIDA MY ABSOLUTE BELOVED. I love him so far. He's my favourite confidant right now. He just makes me so happy man I love him so much. Yoshida takes the hard road and he's got the conviction, but you need support from people to really turn your life around. Hey, that's kind of what the game is about, yeah?

Takemi: Oh I love her confidant so far. I don't know that she's one of my favourites, character-wise, but I was especially taken with her dedication to that medicine, and Joker's response to her saying that she doesn't suit everyone coming to her for medical help by countering her with an "it suits you". Very sweet. I'm getting close to finishing her confidant; I just need to level up charm.

Mishima: I'm almost done his confidant too! I actually enjoy Mishima's character. I feel like his downward spiral made a lot of sense, and I like that he's both helpful and made me feel a bit uncomfortable. I especially like that he's pulling himself out of that fame mentality by himself, without his heart being changed. We just gave his shadow something to think on.

Kawakami: Idk how I feel about this, but the perks are good. I'm curious about her though.

Sae: She seems dedicated to her job. Forming a confidant with her during the interrogation was something I did not expect and had me going "ohohoho". But man, some of the stuff she says to Makoto is way out of line... I'm glad she's at least aware as soon as it leaves her mouth, and I cannot imagine the constant stress and scrutiny she's under but... still. Girl. :/

Iwai: I'm going to properly start his confidant soon. He's cool. I feel like he's not nearly as scary as he makes himself out to be.

Ohya: Don't know much about her so far, but she's a disaster, and I will always enjoy a good disaster woman.

Lala: SHE'S PERFECT. I wish there was a mechanic where you could get advice from Lala-chan. She's looking out for everybody. She's good. :)

Chihaya: She told me I'm gonna die... :(

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

WIP Re-Intro: Herald At Dawn

Title: Herald at Dawn

Genre: Steampunk fantasy murder mystery

Status: 30k, draft 0 mostly finished

POV: Third person limited, multiple POVs

Setting: A steampunk city called Volimere, loosely based on victorian/edwardian london. Fashion is 1890s based, technology is, uh, wherever I think is coolest before the 1940s. Technically, its set in september & october of 1891, but thats largely because any later and the sleeves on women’s shirts get unmanageable. 

Universal TW/CW: Murder, corruption, legal systems being really really shit at their job, implied homophobia, cheating/affairs on spouses (past), bribery, death, implied past sexual assault, severe injury

Plot/Synopsis: 11 years ago a woman named Marisol Ekker was murdered by the wife of her son's father, Evelyn Belmont. Despite all evidence, Evelyn Belmont was acquitted and faced no punishment. Nearly a decade later, investigative reporter Alexandrina McLelland approached Marisol Ekker's son, Nathaniel Ekker--who was 12 at the time of her death--, to write an article about the corruption in the case. It is published in The Clockwork Herald, the newspaper where Alexandrina works, and exposes the dirty laundry of one of the city’s wealthiest families, the Belmonts. Soon after a string of murders begins. At first suspicions point to someone entirely unconnected with the Ekker trial or Alexandrina’s article, but as the pressure mounts (and the danger gets much closer to home), it becomes clear that the article and the deaths are far more connected than anyone initially thought.

Main Characters & Important Side Characters (Character Into links to be added):

Alexandrina "Alex" McLelland. 31, she/her, aroace. Investigative reporter at The Clockwork Herald and the narrator for this story (most of the time. sometimes there's another narrator)! Possesses a strong sense of justice and a weak sense of self preservation. Firmly believes in pockets. She wants to finish what her father started and expose the crimes of the city’s wealthy and powerful. This is, unfortunately, going rather slowly.

James Blakely. 32, he/him, gay, editor at the Herald. Alex's childhood friend, and Leo's partner. Is best described as a golden retriever with anxiety. He worries too much for his own good. James inherited editor-ship of the herald from his uncle 10 years ago, but he had been working there in various capacities since he was a teenager.

León "Leo" Rivera. 33, he/him, bisexual & bilingual. Writes the pages on politics at the Herald & is James' partner. Leo wrote the original articles on the Ekker trial 11 years ago; he used to be a court reporter. He does his best to not get hurt by his job, but sometimes he’s terrible at it (Chapter 10. Chapter 10 is when he’s really, really terrible at it. Though to be fair it is not in any way his fault). 

Nathaniel Ekker. 23, he/him, queer. Tailor, and the son of the woman whose murder was the focus of the Ekker trial. He agreed to do Alex's article on the condition it would be anonymous (and it was). He was 12 when his mother was killed by his father’s wife. His aunts raised him, and he only returned to Volimere 4 years ago t0 reopen his mother’s shop. 

Arthur Hall. 30, he/him, cishet. Investigative reporter at the Volimere Daily, and Alex's (mostly friendly) rival. Also one of her closest friends. Despite this, they have a lot of disagreements. He was supposed to co-write the article with her but ended up not doing that.

Ronald Wilks. 65, he/him, bisexual & polyamarous. Sports & Entertainment reporter at The Clockwork Herald. He used to work with Alexandrina’s father (Donovan), before Donovan died. He was not supposed to be as plot relevant as he is and I do not have a lot to say about him (yet).

Taglist maintained below the cut, ask to be added or removed!

@thelaughingstag @gr3y-heron @another-white-void @amethyst-aster @akindofmagictoo

[wordsandrobots]

Have you ever watched other big robot shows or space operas? like Evangelion, LoTGH, Patlabor, Gurren Lagann?

I have, though none of those you listed (Evangelion is the only one I've actively avoided, since I know enough about it to know I need to be in the right frame of mind to engage with it; the others I've just not gotten around to). I don't know if all of the others I've watched count as 'big', but I'll get you a quick breakdown of what I can recall seeing.

For Japanese space-opera in general, I've watched bits and pieces of Leiji Matsumoto's work and have a special fondness for the 2013 CGI Harlock adaption, weirdly enough. For whatever reason -- certainly a lot of the feelings that ended up latching on to Iron-Blooded Orphans were involved -- I just really vibed with what it was doing. Indeed, I think I generally vibe with a lot of Matsumoto's aesthetic approach despite not necessarily liking what he's saying with it. I've also seen the live-action Space Battleship Yamato movie , which I didn't like in the slightest.

I don't think Cowboy Bebop quite counts as space opera, but I've of course seen that too (it was required viewing for my generation) and count it among the best animes ever, just on artistic merit alone. I've also seen Crusher Joe, which certainly isn't that good but was somewhat fun nonetheless.

For mecha specifically, I've never gotten into Macross despite knowing the overall basics. I've only properly seen Macross Plus, but it didn't leave much of an impression. It's kind of odd, actually, since I'd have to say I prefer the artistic direction of Macross' mecha to most of Gundam (love a good transforming jet fighter). Still, story will out, I suppose.

For what I have seen, there's Code:Geass, obviously, in all its utter-batshit glory. Terrible, awful show. I had a whale of a time.

Eureka Seven basically does everything Gundam has ever tried to do over most of its run, better, with much more depth and clarity. Like, seriously, all the stuff the first three Gundam shows are flailing around trying to Say Something About, Eureka Seven nails in the most heartbreaking ways imaginable. It's ridiculously well done for what it is, partly because it actually commits to its main character being an ordinary teenage boy in ways that most things don't (which it also has in common with at least Gundam 79 and Zeta Gundam, only, again, done better).

I more or less enjoyed Argento Soma. It has some very interesting art design and direction, and the general idea is compelling. But it's also rather less than the sum of its parts, overall, and is perhaps tamer than it could have been.

I watched the first season of Eighty-Six and a few of the second season episodes before ditching it like a hot rock when the subs pulled out actual Nazi rhetoric. It had already ditched the moral horror of the first season for something more bland, anyway.

Then there's Fafner in the Azure which is flat-out the best mecha show I've ever seen. I know I rave about Iron-Blooded Orphans and have tons to say about it, but Fafner operates on a completely different level. I have *nothing* to say about Fafner which is not 'for the love of everything, go watch Fafner'. It is an incredible piece of work, that absolutely demands a chronological, beginning-to-end watch, because it is one of the few things I've come across that *needs* to be so long, to say everything it is saying, as well and deftly as it is saying it. It's gruelling, heart-shattering, nail-biting and utterly uplifting in how it centres community and sacrifice for the sake of others. I'm not sure I've seen anything with such a clear idea of what 'we are fighting to defend humanity' means, positive and negative. It will rip your heart out of your chest and you'll thank it for the pleasure.

Also, it does a similar 'two characters are in love with the hero and it's mostly chill' thing to IBO, edging very close to being polyamory too, expect they're all total dysfunctional messes and also occasionally dead so it doesn't work out so well. Plus two of the three are guys, meaning the 'in love' thing is more heavy implication than overt statement but, boy are they implying heavily.

Oh, and I have also see Brave Bang Bravern! It is deeply silly but also contains some wildly out-of-place torture apologia that I still can't quite wrap my head around in terms of what the writers were thinking. Possibly they just wanted to get in some gratuitous bondage? Which, I mean, fair, but still. Odd show (even on top of the deliberateness to its camp).

[expectopatronum18]

Unpopular opinion

Ron and/or Hermione should have died in the deathly hallows. And I say this as someone who loves these characters (probably Hermione more than Ron), but here me out

Now let's be fucking real, I really like ron, but he really wasn't skilled or prepared enough to fight in a war against voldemort, be it magically or mentally. And that's ok! He's still 17, he's not meant to be fighting a war. And to some degree he probably knew that the chances of him actually making it were pretty slim too. But he still stuck with Harry anyways coz there's no way he was going to let his best friend go through with this alone. Because that's who ron is, he'd rather die fighting beside his best friend, for his family, his muggleborn gf and for the cause than play it safe and hide.

Now coming to Hermione, things get a tad trickier here. Yes, she is very skilled and powerful and quick on her feet. But is she powerful enough to take on an army of adult DEs who've trained for years and have experience from the first wizarding war? To win against the darkest wizard who ever lived, who's said to be worse than Grindelwald, who's the most powerful wizard in the whole world after Dumbledore? No, I'd say she isn't. Because she's also fucking 17, she's not even done with school yet. But I think she'd live longer than Ron, or that there's a better chance of her making it out alive. But if she did die it would be extra heartbreaking coz a) Harry (and the readers) just lost 2 of the people who had been there from the very beginning, b) Hermione's parents would live on in Australia, not remembering that they had a daughter, not knowing that their daughter gave her life in hopes of saving her friend and creating a better world.

I majorly have 2 specific reasons for being this sadistic. The first one is the fact that the plot dumbs down it's main villain and his followers just to make the kids win. Voldemort (during Harry's time) is probably the dumbest villain ever written, he doesn't live up to his hype. People have already discussed how stupid his gof plan was. In ootp, during the DoM fight Lucius says that voldemort can't come get the prophecy himself coz the ministry is filled with ppl and he would risk revealing himself. But it's possible for 6 mostly dumb teenagers and an army of DEs, (who hv just escaped azkaban and are sought after by the ministry) to enter in undetected? Doesn't 👏 make 👏 any 👏 sense. The supposedly feared DEs who were trained by voldemort himself can't win against a group of teenagers. It's surprising how long it takes them to take the kids down in the DoM battle. The thing is though, this is out of character for ALL of them. It seems like they were dumbed down just so the MCs could make it out alive. Voldemort during the first WW started out as absolutely no one to having the highest class of the wizarding society obeying his every command. The whole wizarding world was so afraid of him that they wouldn't even say his name. The DEs picked out member after member of the original ootp, mostly coz they were outnumbered but also coz they're fucking death eaters. And ur telling me these guys can't fight kids? Pathetic. Also it doesn't make sense that most of the adults from the first war are dead but all the kids live. Like did the war become safer or sm shit? Instead i would have loved it if the trio got away with things in the first few books, but then realised what a war against voldemort actually means later on. But they won't back down, and they'll still stick with their friend and fight for each other and the cause anyways, and that vil have real, legitimate consequences

Now, the second reason is that it would have been an amazing but heartbreaking callback to book 1. Ron sacrifices himself in a game of chess and Hermione says that there are more important things than books and cleverness, like friendship and bravery. Ron's line of "It's you who has to go on Harry, I know it! Not me, not Hermione, you!" would have also come full circle. Back then they were still 11, so they could still get their happy ending. Now they're in a real war and the stakes are higher, but they'll stick to what they started anyways. Ron sacrifices himself so the other 2 can move forwards, Hermione's intelligence gets her further but she still needs to part with Harry. Harry needs to leave them behind and face voldemort alone because that's how it was always meant to be

And finally, it would have given us a more bittersweet ending to the series instead of that vanilla 'all is well' epilogue. Harry has lost almost every one he loved. But there's still life, there's still hope, and he lives by cherishing their memories and making their sacrifice have meaning. Kinda like the ending of the hunger games. Ik this is a kids book, but Harry Potter as a series is incredibly deep and deals with a lot of fucked up shit, so I think it could handle it if it was written well.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk

[kismetmoon]

The False Shepard, Here To Lead Our Lambs Astray

[ID: a digital drawing of an original, stylised Flatland character named Elizabeth.

Elizabeth is a vaguely humanoid character. She is depicted here with a seven-point star head with an eye in the centre, a clawed right hand and a left arm that is cut in half at the elbow - leading onto a white geometric hand. She has a broad chest that narrows into a thin torso. Her legs are cut out of frame - her body is only shown from the waist up.

She is stood in the centre with her arms held perpendicular to her body and the palms of her hands facing upwards. Over her right hand hovers a white crescent moon with a black earth shadow. Over her left hand hovers a black four-point star. She is smiling and staring slightly upwards. Her body is made up of black lines that get denser at the edges of her head, the bottom of her body and on her forearm.

The background is a stained glass window. There is a yellow and orange sun behind Elizabeth’s head with grey and pale blue glass around it, that fades to purple further down. Faint rays of light also shine out from the sun and into the corners of the canvas.

End ID.]

putting the background story and symbolism about this piece under the cut bc i feel like it really deserves an in-depth explanation

i can’t believe i’ve never properly discussed it before, but Liz’s main goal is to stop Chief turning out like his father.

after she tries and fails to kill their Chief Circle and instead kills his guard in Atlas’s defence (and i’ve decided that this is the incident where she loses her arm), she can’t risk taking any more blows like that. so instead of resorting to physical violence, she instead tries her hand at ‘positive manipulation’ to tear her problem from the root up.

she makes sure Chief has enough emotional ties to the lower classes (Atlas and Vance), irregulars (Ruth and Elijah) and lines (Liz, Ruth, Stella and Irene) for him to reconsider everything he’s been told about them. this is all to make sure that when Chief Sr. kicks the bucket they have a somewhat more progressive next-of-kin lined up to take his place. this works for her as Liz first meets Chief when he’s only about 15, so he’s still pretty young and an impressionable teenager.

but Chief Sr is still alive so boo. he has a strong grip on everything and has Chief Jr pinned under his thumb out of fear. while he doesn’t know about Stella, he does know that this ‘false shepard’ is up to something that involves his son. again, he still doesn’t know exactly who Liz is but he’s working on figuring it out.

so this image of Liz - a large, dark, looming, unnerving figure - is made to fit the circles’ depiction of her. how the next Chief Circle and his daughter are locked in her clawed grasp, and she smiles almost mockingly about it. her prosthetic is replaced by a white geometric hand and it sticks out like a sore thumb, as though it makes her ‘unhuman’ - but easily identifiable. her body is made up of a mass of lines, joined together in their force (danger !! women !!). the glass is only coloured around her head (the sun is the same as her colour palette when she’s not greyscale) and at her ‘feet’ (it’s more like the bottom of her torso but you know what i mean) which is mostly shaped with triangles - as if she’s breaking their world of grey out over the blood of the circles (again, i use purple as circle symbolism). the sun is rising in the sky, as the dawn of a new day and a new era begins.

essentially, she’s a revolutionary of the lower class, and a tyrant to the upper classes.