#and then ratio’s character gets misinterpreted

[arsonstatistic]

something something screwtio something something the woes and wonders of a human-robot relationship something something learning from each other as equals something something affection displayed by mental connection sometjing something time passing and the memory of one living on in the other eternally idk idk

[toytulini]

Disclaimer im just processing some thoughts im not cancelling the show

have almost thoughts about how i find the like....narrative on here that if you have chronic "zebra" conditions youd want a doctor like House and wouldnt sue for malpractice bc at least youd have a doctor that cares about whats wrong with you but lets take it one step further. so often he does NOT give a shit about the patient and actively endangers them frequently with his god damn heoric era of medicine approach? non zero amount of times he gets a diagnosis but it comes too late, or he gets a diagnosis after their first wrong 3 guesses of the episode shut down the patients kidneys and they either have to get a transplant or they are just, doomed due to other preexisting conditions etc? idk. i know ppl are almost certainly exaggerating and just letting off steam about the very real failures of our current medical systems and the ableism baked in and All That Shit. i just think its weird how ppl romanticize House who STILL, FREQUENTLY, MULTIPLE EPISODES will actively dismiss shit in the exact way that is a problem in our current system, especially when hes being Forced Against His Will To See Clinic Parients, he loves to be dismissive as fuck of symptoms and if he was a real doctor i think he'd be fucking 50/50 on cases he Notices Something To Dig Into vs cases he dismisses as an Anxious Hysterical Woman Who Wants Attention, the only reason he's Right so frequently in his snap judgements is cos it reinforces the narrative. its like a crime drama that has the mastermind serial killer masterfully using "loopholes" and lawyering up all sneaky and dodging Justice and if only our poor little cop protags were allowed to do A TEENY BIT of Justified Police Brutality, they could Save Lives!

and like sometimes in the show they will have a patient die despite his efforts to narratively punish him. not to mention, i think its been at least mildly brought up and glossed over how much they absolutely do not think about insurance costs for these ppl for the insane amount of tests that find nothing and Wrong Medications To Force A Diagnosis they use? i think it was brought up once in the episode following a day in the life of cuddy where she had to fight a lawsuit bc a guys insurance like didnt cover his thumb being reattached but chase reattached it anyway while in surgery cos it was The Right Thing To Do and the guy didnt have the money to cover it and the insurance wouldnt pay unless he sued the hospital or whatever. thats like the only time its come up. whereas like frequently the doctor I go to for osteopathic manipulation tries to check in with me and make sure im covered by insurance etc and that im not going to go broke or get buried in medical debt seeing her.

idk. just some Thoughts. not a defense of our current system and all the flaws it enables and enforces etc. his approach to medicine is really reminiscent to me of what I know of the Heroic Era Of Medicine which i dont...love? and hes framed on here as being an asshole but would kill for his patients to get them a diagnosis etc. but hes definitely extremely paternalistic to patients ? and despite some good clippable lines about ableism and being against eugenics, it honestly feels like his stance on that is kind of a toss up.

[ironunderstands]

2.1 was so good holy shit (spoilers, obviously)

GOD THEY ATE AND IM SPECIFICALLY GONNA TALK ABOUT HOW WELL THEY WROTE RATIO IN THIS BECAUSE IM FOAMING AT THE GODDAMN MOUTH IT CHANGES HOW YOU VIEW EVERYTHING BUT IN A GOOD WAY.

so, let’s start from the beginning in 2.0 I want to walk you through my experience of it

ratio mean to aventurine, everyone gets mad. I feel weird about it, pre-2.1 I come to the conclusion that he got used as a plot device in that scene, since being racist contradicts his core motivations and the dialogue is awkward and has no real reason behind it, I chalk it up to bad writing but ultimately forgive it because 2.1 seems centered around Aventurine so they need setup for that

2.1 drops, my bsf plays the update throughout the night and we are losing our shit. He gets to the part where Ratio “betrays” Aventurine. I fucking lose it, I try to reconcile this with my preconceived notions of ratio, they don’t match up at all, his behavior that whole time doesn’t in the slightest. I am confused, I wonder if I have been wrong about him this whole time, if his whole speech on the Space Station and his character quests were some kind of fluke. I mean it could be in character? Knowledge of how a stellaron works could save millions if not billions of lives, invaluable information which Ratio would have trouble turning down because of its value. It still feels deeply wrong, Ratio isnt a backstabber, and he wouldn’t so easily bargain with Sunday over information he has no confirmation of (and could likely obtain in some other way).

The story continues, me and Haseeb (aforementioned best friend) are still pissed, I’m losing it because my favorite character just did something so unforgivable and out of character and I feel like a complete and utter idiot for interpreting a character to be a good person when they so clearly weren’t. Well, I (luckily) was so so so so so so so wrong about that, as it was all a setup, a plan devised by Aventurine to distract Sunday and forward their goals. I’ve never been happier, and suddenly every weird behavior, every “this doesn’t make sense” goes from “bad writing” to perhaps one of my favorite retroactive twists in fiction.

Ratio belittling Aventurine for his background doesn’t make any sense, I mean we literally saw the guy give a whole ass speech about how he believes all people deserve access to knowledge and that everyone is capable of being creative and having intellect, but that they just have to try for it, and if they are incapable of it, he DOCTOR Ratio is there to lend a helping hand. To cure the galaxy of stupidity, something which he views as not the lack of knowledge but rather the misuse and misinterpretation of it, how he depises the Genius Society because they mostly do not try and use their intellect from the betterment of other, and actively guide/encourage other scientists (and in Hertas case the researchers at the space station) to view knowledge as some sort of prize or commodity rather than tool. This notion is what causes Screwellum to acknowledge that Ratio is more like a medical doctor than a scholar. And this notion is something Sunday Isn’t Aware Of.

Sunday doesn’t know who Ratio really is, he may have heard of his various exploits, but Ratio has a reputation for arrogance, bluntness and insensitivity, something which Ratio plays up to the nines. The 2.0 scene with Aventurine goes from seemingly massively OOC for Ratio to him actively playing up his negative reputation to play into Sundays perceptions of the pair for their plan. Ratio->

a) makes it seem like Aventurine fucked up and he’s mad at him for losing the cornerstones, something which Sunday would see and go “hmm they don’t like each other

b) this “oh I can drive a wedge between them” notion gets worse (although in their case better) when Ratio brings up Aventurine’s (not entirely accurate) background. Sunday now thinks he has leverage over Aventurine and even more of a chance of getting Ratio to betray him. Ratio also makes it seem like he just learned this information by stating he “did his homework” and this supposed unfamiliarity with one another would give Sunday more confidence to try and drive a wedge between them

c) this makes it seem like the IPC are unaware of the Families constant surveillance, as it looks like they are having an important conversation in a private room, which would make Sunday think they are unaware of his eyes and ears everywhere

Now let me qualify this notion with more evidence because you could still try and argue that the deal Ratio and Aventurine struck was post 2.0 argument

Topaz (my glorious Queen). At the end of the 1.4 (or was it 1.5?) Belabog quest she has a conversation with Aventurine in which he requests for her help in Penacony, and we do not get a confirmation on if she said yes or not. Until 2.1, in which the the Topaz (and Jade) stone in in Aventurines possession, meaning she took him up on that offer prior to 2.0 because how else would he bring multiple cornerstones there, which we know there are many because Ratio says he lost the cornerstones, not just his own. Topaz would not give this item up easily or on a whim in between 2.0 and 2.1, meaning she would have to be let in on his plan prior, meaning the plan was formed prior. Since Ratio was also assigned to this mission keeping him in the dark would make negative sense and actively undermine their collaboration, something which he brings up in their fake argument

2. The Final Victory Lightcone. I originally thought this scene to be after their argument for complicated reasons, the most important of which being the minor snippet of conversation we see between Ratio and Aventurine during the first time we meet Acheron. Aventurine mentions 3 chips, Ratio doubts him, and the lightcone description starts with Aventurine questioning his doubt and firing three shots, a perfect correlation that made me place the order of events in that way. However, we get to see the snippet of conversation between Aventurine and Ratio in game, right before they meet Sunday, not prior to the lightcone events. However, they are still clearly connected for aforementioned reasons, just in a different manner, let me explain. Now we know the three chips reference not bullets but the three cornerstones, and Ratio openly expresses his doubt because the family is always watching (something which I will get into) and because a part of him does doubt this plan will go well. However, Aventurine prior reminds him of the events of the lightcone with the three chips. My interpretation is that Aventurine took that gamble in the lightcone to convince Ratio to go along with his crazy plan since if he can win a game of Russian Roulette with an unwavering smile on his face he an insane gamble means nothing to him (ratio doesn’t buy it because it’s ratio but the sheer audacity or you could say the “charming audacity” makes him go along with it). In my opinion this scene only makes sense pre-penacony, due to the timeline of events, which is why I believe it the reason for the events in it has to be Aventurine trying to convince Ratio to join in.

3) The family is always watching. During the 2.1 story quest it gets brought up several times in many different ways that it seems like the family has eyes on everything and everyone. Sunday’s fuckass bird is everywhere, and the man himself (minus being a goddamn biblically accurate angel) is covered in eye shaped shit and possesses close ties with the Harmony, which lends itself well to a character that knows things considering the Aeon itself is a conglomeration of many different perspectives. He fucking perception checks Aventurine, when the crew goes to look for info on firefly they learn the dream pools monitor people’s vitals and everything, even producing a dialogue option where the trailblazer states they feel like their every move is being watched. Topaz gets stalked by bloodhound members upon arrival, I could go on. TLDR Sunday knows almost everything that’s going on in Penacony, this is what leads him to believe the traitor is within the family, and his access to knowledge is something the IPC 100% knows about. I mean they have been presumably attempting to try and get it back for a while, and they would reasonably extensively try and learn everything about it. The Family notoriously hates negotiating with them so the IPC either learning and/or coming to the conclusion that the Family is watching their every move isn’t a ridiculous notion. If this conversation was genuine, if Ratio truly wanted to discuss this matter with Aventurine, why would he do it in a likely wiretapped, not very soundproof room where any passerby could hear Ratio loudly exclaim that Aventurine lost the very important cornerstones and that he is also one of the most despised groups in the galaxy because that would really do numbers for both their reputations. If you think about it, this not being staged is an incredibly stupid blunder on Ratio’s end (minus the deliberate OOCness) because of all the places Ratio could set up a very important meeting he does it in one of the worst places ever.

4) The dialogue in the scene. It’s awkward, it’s so awkward and the whole “also my family died I didn’t get an education” seemed so tacked on the first time I watched it. Knowing now, it seemed so tacked on because it was, Aventurine had to shove the info in there somewhere and their incredible conversational skills decided that was the best part in there. Ratio fucking leaving before Aventurine is even done talking goes from a “huh weird” to a “wow he is really playing up this arrogant scholar role”. And if Ratio is playing the arrogant scholar, Aventurine is playing the dumb, helpless, blonde to a T. Losing the cornerstones and acting nonchalant about it, letting Ratio insult him so callously and letting the insults slide, talking absolute nonsense at the end about random things that don’t matter, sadly lamenting into the distance that he’s alone again. Bro is playing it up and I live for it. They also and play up these personas in their little adventure prior to meeting Sunday, Aventurine asks stupid questions like wondering about the species of the bird that make up the statues and talking about how he wants to play in the sandpit and even insulting Sunday a bit, behavior that would make Sunday think him unprepared and unserious rather than cold and calculating. If Aventurine does that well, Ratio plays up his arrogant, uncaring scholar persona to the nines. He insults any and every decision or thing Aventurine does, loudly sighing of how happy he is to finally have some peace and quiet when Aventurine leaves his sight for 0.00008 milleseconds, pointing out his sarcasm, beefing with a random Pepeshi bodyguard no reason, pointing out his sarcasm, just the exaggerated way he talks in general, and suggesting he admit Aventurine into the Genius Society (even Ratio wouldn’t stoop so low as to suggest Aventurine was worthy of that).

Moreover, this is really, really tragic because I do think there are several moments of genuine banter and fun the two share “Ratio, you’re huge!” was not added to the script to enhance the plot guys. And obviously Aventurine knows most of Ratios behavior is acting, however he has such severe trust issues, and Ratio is so damn straightforward and blunt that he worries the man was serious about some of it which just breaks my heart. Soft Ratio please add it give me one conversation, the note at the end of 2.1 doesn’t count it’s too short.

Ultimately, knowing what I know now I can’t help but view the 2.0 conversation with Aventurine as being anything but staged, it simply makes no sense otherwise, and it happily obsolescent Ratio of his sins. This was a bit incoherent I honestly just wanted to rant (if you couldn’t tell haha) but I hope you enjoyed it regardless. I need sincere Ratio more then I need oxygen and I’m not afraid to say it.

[enden-k]

So your post about Ratio's handwriting got the brainworms going for some reason (idk why, don't ask)

Anyways, here's some random hcs about various characters somewhat related to "doctor's handwriting" :

(Note: none of these are based off cannon, purely vibes)

- Aventurine can read Ratio's writing no problem, but with any other doctor's handwriting he always gets Ratio to translate... even if it not even that hard to read

- both Sunday and Trailblazer can't read Ratio's handwriting, but were Sunday interpret's it in the best/nicest way (he's very wrong) TB interprets it in the most chaotic way

- Natasha, Luocha and Bailu also have "doctor's handwriting"

-Herta thinks she can read it, but often misinterprets parts and doesn't to reread it

-Sparkle misinterprets it on purpose

love these!!

[juminies]

I feel like in the Mysme universe Jumin would have just enough fans to warrant there being at least some Jumin x reader RPF. There's a lot of secret readers since it's kind of taboo so the hits:kudos ratio is always super off. In general Jumin fan circles are small but unapologetic. They also know practically nothing about him and tend to misinterpret his personality wildly based on his occasional interviews. Several of his fan accounts have been cancelled for not holding C&R accountable for their negative impact on the environment. Once someone got bullied into deleting their social media after they uploaded Jumin x Jaehee RPF. Twitter user 1005hjm goes semi-viral every time Jumin does a new solo photoshoot because locals are always shocked by how hot he is. She deactivates after he announces his marriage. Jaehee has one random fan who crops the two pixels of her in the back of Jumin's paparazzi photographs like this

Zen fan circles are bigger but also more normal because they aren't just stanning a random rich man they really don't know much about, and people mostly actually talk about his acting. He is very lovely about meeting people after his shows and gets praised for it in wider musical circles. People do occasionally ship him with his coworkers though. There's also Zen x reader RPF but (surprisingly?) less of it. A couple silly, less romantic ones were written by Seven. Zen reads it and is shocked by how in character the author writes him. He does not know that's because it was written by Seven. Jaehee does not read it (she did once out of curiosity and felt guilty afterwards) but she respects the writers for their craftsmanship and dedication. Unlike Zen she does know Seven wrote some of it because he's sporadically active in the Zen forums and she recognises the way he types in the posts he makes

[voiceofsword]

every1 that voted rinne as worst husband is so wrong... its literally canon that he cares SO much and fakes his insane persona hes just awkward and embarassed when he gets noticed

i have so many things i can say about this but im really bad at words but theyre stewing around in my brain explodes

what were your thoughts?

i do agree with the ones that mention niki haha those are true rinne is absolutely smitten but the ones that say its like. because hes rinne amagi. and others thay were probably filtered out by the OP... people that either didnt read the main story or just dont want to look further lmao

(cracking my fingers) okay. this may or may not be long. i fear you have struck a bit of a nerve with this (NOT YOU but just as like. a general statement. i feel like u dont know what ur asking. but that is ok)

this whole thing might seem really aggressive at times bc this situation did get me a little heated... plz keep that in mind going in! AGAIN IM NOT ANGRY AT YOU ANON ILY AND THANK YOU FOR ASKING you just happened to ask abt smth i feel very sourly about – not the poll itself but the answers to it – but i tried to be as. tactful as i possibly can while talking abt this

overall im very disappointed in a lot of the answers given for the voting so ive stayed off twitter almost all day today and yesterday. i fear like with stuff like this a very silent population of eng side shines through, the one that specifically Doesnt actually engage with the story and goes off fanon interpretation. look, im not saying its necessarily a bad thing. but when it comes to stuff like this, where people grossly mischaracterize a grand majority of charas or narrow them down to be the butt of a joke, or use it as an excuse to be plain racist/ableist, i feel like people really need to reassess where all of this is coming from. like. not rinne, but KANAME couldnt even be included because the answers used for his votes were, in their majority, apparently ableist, and op (definitely in the right, i think this was the right choice to make) chose not to post at all because they feared the qrts would be just as bad. because for some reason people seem to think that because they're fictional characters that being ableist is somehow ok, that saying they would "pull the plug" on charas like him and eichi is fine because theyre not real people – as if there werent disabled or chronically ill people in this fandom, in every fandom, or hell, around you?

and lets not mention tatsumi and people blatantly misinterpreting his christianity as something he would force upon others – first of all, western christianity does not apply to tatsumi. at all. i understand that people might find it easy to just associate him with that and make "haha, he would make me convert" or "haha he would be a homophobe" quips, and obviously its not necessary to have extensive knowledge on kirishitan history in japan and how they are, to this day, a minority that was persecuted for a lot of japan's modern history. LIKE, EVEN FROM HIS DIALOGUE IN ANY STORY.. when has he given off that impression? cite your sources, he's literally one of the most inclusive and accepting charas in the whole cast! not a prejudiced white christian middle aged mom...

i think that if you absolutely must reduce a character to tasteless jokes, stereotypes that arent even funny to begin with, and you refuse to even read the source content at all to correct yourself, you really need to think about how you engage with any media, not just enstars. if you want to look at the pretty characters just say that! but dont be like this, and don’t speak on things you don’t fully understand as if you did just to make a point or be funny! 

OKAY RINNE SORRY LOL i hate it. i hated all of it and judging by the ratio many people seemed to dislike it as well (god bless!). if you havent seen it i wont link it bc tbf i dont feel like looking at it again (peace and love) but the answers summed up are like "oh he would steal my money" "hes selfish and would take stuff from me and not gaf about my wellbeing" "hes married to niki already" the last one being the only one i agree with. and it makes me think about a lot of issues with how a good portion of the fandom sees rinne. ive seen a lot of people read rinne in bad faith, regardless of whether theyve read main story, hot limit or any story rinne is in. and i dont get it, genuinely. YES he can be upsetting! he can be an asshole, he can be rude, he DOES steal money from niki! but these people neglect to see or mention that he gives it back and then some. they fail to talk about how he spends a lot of his time trying to make niki see his self worth!! since hiiro was BORN he's been trying to get him to understand that he's deserving of love!! that YES he can be a dick but ultimately treats crazy:b and his friends with love and wants what's best for them! these are the same ppl that think he's abusive or something idk i can only assume. like yeah rinne has a carefully crafted persona where hes a complete dickhead and ig some players cant really bother to see past that act

unfortunately rinne himself is built on a few harmful stereotypes of ainu culture irt the drinking, being portrayed or viewed as more 'uncouth' by other characters, etc which is why the initial more explicit ties to ainu culture were removed altogether from his and hiiros design and background. it is understandable, which is for example why it's not really my place to say whether he can be interpreted as ainu or not, and even so, i try not to rely on those aspects of him because it still veers into sensitive territory. and its an unfortunate part of his character, but undeniably, rinne amagi DOES drink, (he's one of the only characters in main cast of drinking age anyway) does partake in harmful behaviors, but fsr suddenly that means hes nothing but a drunkard, to a lot of people. when reading rinne you really have to take these things and ofc, consider that theyre relevant to his character, but it's not all there is...? in the slightest..? there used to be a tweet thread explaining this link further but it's either been taken down or the account has been locked. either way, just a bit of googling goes a long way. i'd rather not go into too much detail here because i don't feel informed enough beyond pointing these issues out, and i personally feel like it's not really my place. if anybody wants to add onto this post to cite more specific sources please feel free

he's such a fun loving, cunning, caring guy who helps people get jobs (dance of the white tiger), who volunteers to play with kids at a daycare (asobi), and wishes so badly to become an idol and grant everyone the same opportunities if theyd like to be, as well (main story, sudden death SUDDEN DEATH IS MY FAV STORY AFTER HL BUT THE TL IS DOWN....SORRY. but i really really think it's one of the most important ones when it comes to rinne's character and motivations. also if u can read it in app it's even better bc it's voiced and theres a line where he's like "oh this guy's [niki] is engaged to me" when talking to kohaku's sister AND HE SOUNDS FULLY SERIOUS TOO....)

don't get me started on people who dumb him down as if he wasn't one of the most clever characters in the game. and unknowingly, people that continue to make rinne's character out to simply be a gambling flirty drunkard who doesn't know how to control himself, as if there weren't other facets of him – they lean into stereotypes, bordering on racism, even if its not malicious or theyre not aware. and it makes me so sad. a lot of the time these interpretations are spread around and then liking characters like him becomes some sort of moral debate, esp in current fandom (which is one of the reasons i think this stereotyping? happens? b/c ive found that fandom sometimes has the tendency of grabbing characters and mischaracterizing them so BADLY that liking them makes you a bad person..? not necessarily villains either! i promise it's okay to just dislike characters without making stuff up!)

that aside also suggesting he'd be an awful, neglectful spouse is simply incorrect. i very firmly believe that if rinne is devoted, he will drop every vice, every pretense, to make the other person happy. he's Like That in the story and towards niki because they keep tiptoeing around the subject but the second he gets an inner monologue, or is truly being genuine, you can tell he would do anything for him, if niki would just let him. to say that rinne isn't capable of being a good partner because he'll treat you badly or not care about you just proves to me that you're not reading any scene he is actually in. if rinne loves you, romantic or not, he will go big or go home. read hot limit btw

im not about to pull the story caps out no wait yes i am lol rinniki4ever ✌️

these arent in order bc i had to scroll up like 2k pictures because i take caps of this game every time i blink. i was considering adding hiiro caps, to show his dedication to him as well, but given that this is for like a marriage poll id rather not. either way he cares about his family and loved ones a lot. read chapter 155 if you want to know the exact scene i was thinking about/referring to while typing this

um ok (breathes out) im fine now. theres things i didnt address because it's 1 am and i want to go to sleep. congrats kuro on getting #1 most marriageable tho u deserve it KURO NUMERO 1 CAMPEAO DO MUNDO 💯💯💯🔥

[intrulogical]

i genuinely think the sasi fandom on tumblr is one of the worst in terms of rbing/supporting content creators. the ratio/general support i get for sasi content is EONS behind the other fandoms i've been in. maybe it's because the fandom is decressing but it irks me how people can complain about how the fandom is "dying" yet barely reblogs content creators.

disappointed people misinterpret your favorite character? reblog an essay. do you want to show your followers a glimpse into sanders sides? reblog a gifset. do you want to inspire content creators to make more? reblog with compliments in your tags.

i don't also vibe with the "i don't have followers" rhetoric because a.) rbing shows how much you as a person value the post, and the intent to share it already means a lot and b.) liking without rbing also inspires others to do the same and it lessens the chance to build communities/rapport with other people. believe it or not, i don't always follow people for original content. when i see they reblog stuff and have funny tags or comments, i just follow for that! and tumblr is literally BUILT this way. we HAVE to interact and share shit because we don't have an algorithm.

tldr the sasi fandom aint dying tiffany, you just need to reblog posts

[drarrypotterrenaissance]

Helloooo for the fruit asks: 🍓 What’s a fic you’ve written you feel is underrated? and 🍍 What kind of AUs do you like? Are there any AUs you hate or just generally have beef with? If those don't spark joy or you've done them, feel free to swap 'em out for anything you want, pls and thank youuuuu!!

Oooh, thank you @phdmama! These are such good ones!

🍓 What's a fic you've written you feel is underrated?

I've been struggling to think which of my fics is underrated - when I post a fic, it's usually as if it entirely ceases to exist in my brain. That's great on the one hand, because if any of my fics have flopped then I have no clue and I'm just as happy as I would have been otherwise, but it also means that I forget what I've written and my irl bestie (who doesn't read fanfic) knows my fics better than I do 😆 By virtue of lowest hits/kudos ratio, I think my most underrated fic is Pieces Falling Into Place. It was the first fic I wrote for the Drarry fandom, and I didn't do much to promote it or share it or anything, so I think it went somewhat under the radar. It's also pretty unconventional, in that it's from Dean's perspective and is just him jumping to conclusions about the nature of Harry and Draco's relationship, based on what he's hearing when they're faced with the Snatchers in book 7. I think it's pretty funny though, and I had fun coming up with the ways that Dean could misinterpret canon compliant things to come up with Drarry!

🍍 What kinds of AUs do you like? Are there any AUs you hate or just generally have beef with?

The question of my favorite AU is incredibly easy - soulmates, all day every day! Red string of fate, sharing pain, identical scars, hearing the others thoughts, lost things finding the other one, any soulmate trope at all is amazing and I will read it!!! However, there is one exception to that rule: I don't like reincarnation fics, or ones where it's the same characters in a bunch of different time periods finding each other again and again. I have no clue why my brain is so against that trope, but I just do not like it. Tbh I'm really sad that I don't like it, because there are some fics that follow that trope written by authors I love, but I know I wouldn't enjoy them properly if I read them. I'm not sure if it's just my historian-brain being skeptical of someone being able to write multiple time periods accurately (I don't watch most period movies for that reason too, I can't turn off that part of my brain no matter how much I try), or if it's the implication of death that fics like that require (I don't do well with death usually), but I can't get myself to enjoy those fics so I just avoid them.

Thank you so much for your ask!! 💜 I think I need to go get to work on one of my Drarry Soulmate WIPs now.....

[deepdreamnights]

A lot of this is spot on, but I think the choice of tools has skewed the data here, however, and may give an incorrect impression of how AI art tools on the whole work, because Dall-E 3 isn't representative of the options at large.

Dall-E 3 is pretty (if you make it be) and has good coherency and works with more naturally written prompts, but it is wholly uncooperative and has almost zero workflow accommodations for artistic applications, heck, It can't even do non-square aspect ratios (at least through Bing).

Playground AI beats it out on those fronts, and Midjourney and Stable Diffusion piledrive it into the concrete.

The only reason to ever use Dall-E 3's chat GPT interface is if you want to run up to three jobs simultaneously on a free bing account. It routinely misinterprets input, even direct "replace this word in the prompt with this other word" requests. It's essentially playing whisper-telephone with two hallucinating robots instead of one.

Here's how the process would go down in Midjourney:

Gonna be making a 90s fighting game version of my DeinoSteve character. Goal is to keep him largely on-model, minus changes that work for the style change from 70s comic/80s cartoon to 90s fighting game.

Prompt: fullbody character design, a velociraptor-anthro fighting game character, in the style of 1996 Capcom (Darkstalkers 3/Street Fighter Alpha 3) promotional art, fullbody on white background. Red scales, yellow shirt, black leather jacket, long tail, clawed feet, long tail, retrosaur asthetics, vector art inks with flat anime shading

Aspect ratio 3:4, Niji model v6, style 50:

Some pretty good stables at DeinoSteve (left image), but nobody's quite right. I've got several ways to get him kitted out right, but we'll use the same techniques CGPT was trying to use: inpainting and variations.

Upper right is closer to the character concept, but I like upper left's pose better, so we'll start by doing some variations on the subtle setting (right image)

You'll notice the variation problem from Dall-E 3 isn't there. Using Chat-GPT to change the prompt means you're at the mercy of two hallucinating robots instead of one, and it's probably been altering the prompt wildly with each revision, thus the slow degradation of mural-jesus.

Now, I'm just demonstrating in-system tools here, but on a piece that I was doing for finalization, I'd be upscaling all the ones that had features I liked, for later composition.

Steve looks... okay here, but he's off model in several major ways. Pants wrong color, no full-t-shirt, the spines on the tail, etc.

So here we'll do some inpainting. Unlike the GPT setup, I'm laying out what areas I specifically want changed at each go. Starting with the pants, I forgot to mention in the first prompt he wears blue jeans, so I add that to the prompt as well. If you're out to do your own post-editing, you can hit more parts at once and just composite from fewer gens.

I like #4 (left)'s swagger, so we'll repeat the process to get him full sleeves on his jacket, and to remove the spiked wrist cuffs. #4, again, is my winner. Now, I can keep varying individual bits, but I can also return to doing general variations, and the influence from the current version will carry over.

Now, it will me re-doing some bits, but #2 is pretty sweet, so he'll be where I tinker next. Note how a bit of his tail and claws are cropped out. I can fix that with outpainting.

If I were instead going for an edit in post, I'd probably have taken the best 5-6 chunks, merged, dropped to line art, then recolored by this point.

Now, I can keep tinkering on him bit by bit, put part of using the AI system is knowing when you're going to have to go manual. I know from experience that my chance of getting him to have his raptor-foot claws is going to require me to go in and do 'em manually.

If its not the horns and claws on dinosaurs, its hairstyles and clothing details on humans, the nature of using a randomized system is that you're going to get random hiccups.

But there are ways to mitigate that, depending on your toolset. Stable Diffusion has controlnet, different versions of which let you control things like poses, character details, and composition more directly, (as I understand it. I haven't messed with it myself, don't have that kind of beastly graphics card)

MJ's answer is presently in alpha: character reference. It's an extension of their image-prompting system (which isn't the same as image-to-image), wherein an image is examined by the AI's image-identification/checking processes and the results are used as part of the prompt. For Character reference, it tries to drop everything that isn't connected to character design.

A quickie iteration using a handful of previous DeinoSteve pics made the image on the left, while re-running the prompt with the semi-final DeinoSteve above as a character prompt produced the images on the right.

Of course, even with the additional workflow tools you get with non-DallE generators, doing anything with long-term consistency is going to require manual editing.

Anything with narrative? Well, this panel has over 20 individual gens in it, from across two generators (MJ and Dall-E 3)

The AI systems will get better over time, but there's an inherent paradox that I don't think they'll escape. To get to complex results you need complex control, and to gain complex control you need, well, complex controls

The more stuff an AI generator can do, the more literal and figurative buttons and/or menus you need to use those features. The more complex the features, the more knowledge and practice it takes to utilize them. Essentially: Any tool capable of (heavy air quotes) "replacing" an artist will wind up requiring an artist to operate it at that level.

As with other force-multipliers for art (photography, digital image manipulation, automated image touchup/filtering, etc) the skill gradient never goes away.

Among the many downsides of AI-generated art: it's bad at revising. You know, the biggest part of the process when working on commissioned art.

Original "deer in a grocery store" request from chatgpt (which calls on dalle3 for image generation):

revision 5 (trying to give the fawn spots, trying to fix the shadows that were making it appear to hover):

I had it restore its own Jesus fresco.

Original:

Erased the face, asked it to restore the image to as good as when it was first painted:

Wait tumblr makes the image really low-res, let me zoom in on Jesus's face.

Original:

Restored:

One revision later:

Here's the full "restored" face in context:

Every time AI is asked to revise an image, it either wipes it and starts over or makes it more and more of a disaster. People who work with AI-generated imagery have to adapt their creative vision to what comes out of the system - or go in with a mentality that anything that fits the brief is good enough.

I'm not surprised that there are some places looking for cheap filler images that don't mind the problems with AI-generated imagery. But for everyone else I think it's quickly becoming clear that you need a real artist, not a knockoff.

more

[staticinmybrain]

I like drawing. I like giving gifts.

I've spent hundreds of hours making gift art. Over a hundred pieces. I get species currency for it. I'm rewarded somehow. But I still wish I could receive a gift, sometimes.

One hour, three hours, ten hours, sixteen hours, on and on.

I usually receive nothing more than thank-you's and compliments. And because of gratitude for those compliments, I feel moved to make gift art for those who thank me. And so I sink more hours for nothing more than words. And practice, I guess. These are gifts, not trades, but I still wish. Some say they'll draw my characters back. They still haven't. I try not to keep my hopes up. These are gifts, not trades. I think they're happy to receive gifts. I'd be happy, certainly.

I don't know why I want praise so much. Why I'd value a little thank-you or compliment to the degree I'd keep this cycle going. I don't know why I expect so much. Maybe it's my environment. Maybe it's the culture I'm used to, being in a collectivist country. Maybe it's because I believe in the golden rule. As if that's a binding thing on anyone, really.

I have horrible luck in chains. A drawing chain stopped after I did my piece, so I'm not getting anything out of that, anymore, other than the currency I get from the piece I made for the person above me. Before that, the piece I did get in the chain was the bare minimum requirement. It's hard to not be a little bitter.

I still like drawing. That's why I can sink so much time into it so easily. If nothing else, it's practice. Practice is good.

I still like giving gifts. I'd like to receive gifts, even if that likely won't happen.

It happened a few times though. A few mass drawings with my characters in it. Other art fight things. Someone practicing a simple comm. Someone trying to get through all the characters in the group at least once. So gifts, not really for me specifically though, just for the sake of drawing my characters, to tick off a number on the list, or an obligation for the team.

All my actual gifts are from one person. A cute pencil sketch. A ticket. Interaction doodles. They make me want to cry a little, because they're so unexpected.

Everyone wants free art. Post open request and people flock to it. Reply to a request, and receive nothing ever.

It makes me tired and frustrated. Then I feel bad for feeling that way.

Look on the bright side. More practice for me. More currency to make characters that only I will ever draw.

Maybe I should only do trades from now on, but that won't feel the same. It's not really about the art. It's about people caring about my things and characters. I'd like a gift. Something with effort and care to balance out this give/receive ratio.

That's too much to ask though. It would be rude. It would be naggy.

"Hey, could you care please? A little? I don't need a surprise party, like those cartoon episodes where everyone hides from the mc and the mc gets sad until it's revealed at the end. It would be nice, but I know that's unrealistic. Could you just, do more than say thank you? Something more substantial than words, after it's been months? A little sketch? A dumb meme? Please?"

"Hey, I don't think you guys care enough. I think you're all horrible, greedy people who want to milk me for free mediocre art! I think I deserve to be a valued member, be special, because I do stuff that no one asked me too! Because my words and intentions don't match and I want you to be able to read my mind! So show you actually care! Feed my ego! You can do that at least, you lazy freeloaders!"

I don't want to be misinterpreted. I don't want to sound anything like the latter. Think I will, if I say something. Maybe I'm overthinking.

I'm grateful to that one person. I'm very grateful. But some other people would be nice. Anyone would think so, I think. I hope.

It's my fault too. My instinctual response is to tell people, "It's fine! You don't have to give me anything back!"

I mean it. I really really mean it. Because these are gifts, not trades. Because I keep gambling with hope even if I try not to. Because if they give me something anyway, it means they care to surprise me back.

I'd see a piece despite me saying it's unneccessary as a gift. Maybe they just see it as pushing an unwanted thing onto me? I'm not insulting their styles when I say, "you don't have to." Do they think I am? Because context variances? Culture clashes? I don't know.

I know this will probably keep going on though. Because I love the species, and that friend, and my characters, and the people who show interest, or thank me. So I'll keep making gifts with a vain hope of receiving them, and be elated whenever I receive anything from that friend or in a mass attack, and I just have to work on the gambling problem, I guess.

[ironunderstands]

AAAAAAAAA

Genuinely I feel annoying as fuck for saying this but like I can’t stand the way anybody else but me or my mutuals writes Aventio/Ratiorine 90% of the time

So, to vent my frustration, here’s a not in order at all bulleted list of stuff I absolutely despise when seeing content of them. This is not to call ppl out or anything, I just wanna rant about my preferences lol

oh and cw: mentions of slavery, nsfw, suicidal tendencies and non-con

-one or both of them being way to horny/flirty

Maybe this could work in content with an established relationship, but like, these guys don’t fuck, I’m sorry, they don’t. They are the biggest virgin losers ever regardless of if they have had sex in the past or not. Some of yall don’t get that they were acting in Penacony for the most part and Aventurine’s flirtiness didn’t have any weight behind it, he was really just messing with Ratio. I think if he were seriously trying to court Ratio, he’d probably be LESS flirty, but that’s just me. I understand why people make nsfw of them without any kinda buildup because well it’s fun, but for me personally I don’t really like it 90% of the time, however I fully get this is a me thing. I can tolerate it more in fanart bc well it’s fanart so yeah there’s not gonna be 3000k words of lore behind it, but like if I’m reading a fic and Aventio go from not even being in a relationship to having sex on a whim it just confuses me.

-yandere anything

I despise this trope already but it makes me 100000x more annoyed because holy shit neither of them would be a yandere I get it some people like this but WHYY THEMMM it doesn’t make sense. Yandere Aventurine makes me even more mad bc why the fuck would he make someone suffer like he did when he was younger???

-emotionless Ratio

Idk why half the community treats Ratio like he’s an unfeeling logic robot who’s sole goal is knowledge even when the game beats you over the head about how he’s the exact fucking opposite of that, but honestly I think this is just a symptom of the fact that a lot of ratiorine writers don’t give two fucks about him at all and he’s practically written as a plot device for Aventurine’s characterization.

-misunderstanding why Ratio is a tsundere

I’ve seen a lot of people misinterpret how and why Ratio is a tsundere towards Aventurine, citing it as if he doesn’t want to be associated with him/looks down upon him/is ashamed to like him when that’s really not true at all. Ratio respects and cares about Aventurine a hell of a lot, and he isn’t shy at all to show it when it’s necessary (see DSAIWYTBOL or the “if you can’t hold on any longer then tell me”). However, the reason he pushes away Aventurine isn’t exactly personal (although Aventurine’s closeness to him is part of the reason why).

Rather, Ratio tends to downplay his close relationships a lot, likely as a defense mechanism, as he admits himself that he isn’t good with people in one of the dialogue options with trailblazer for the express visits. Now why he is this way is a subject of speculation because Ratio rarely ever talks about himself, and the only character who actually has a voiceline on him is Aventurine himself, so it’s very hard to get an outside perspective on him. His character stories don’t really help that much either, as they are more about his personal philosophy and journey in life rather than his personality.

However, taking what Ratio says towards Aventurine at face value when he has proven the opposite (especially considering how the trope of the tsundere is kinda centered on the character in question spouting bullshit) results in people completely misunderstanding their relationship which can get REALLY annoying. Ratio doesn’t think Aventurine is an idiot in the slightest, he just worries about how his methods put himself in danger, not his capabilities.

-fast burn

You’re telling me these emotionally constipated idiots will get together easily? No. There’s a reason I write the most crazy bullshit happening to them before a confession scene and that’s because that’s the only way you can get them to confront their goddamn feelings quickly.

-slavery aus/anything like this

Self explanatory. If you have fetishized Aventurine’s past or made stuff like this please stay 1000 feet away from me at all times or block me. Thank you 🙏

-babying Aventurine

He’s one of the most competent members of the cast, but somehow people act like his breakdown scene in 2.1 is how he behaves 24/7 when that isn’t true at all. Aventurine is incredibly smart, and single-handedly clawed his way to the top. He does not need Ratio to save him. Would he appreciate Ratio’s support? Of course, and he definitely needs loving relationships in his life, but Aventurine isn’t a damsel in distress and not everything in his life is miserable and related to his trauma.

-or the horrible reverse of babying Aventurine: his trauma doesn’t exist actually and he’s perfectly fine/ they write him like it never happened

This one is rather rare and it has overlap with a few of the other points (seriously I’m gonna tweak out the next time someone writes the character who is implied to have survived sex trafficking being a person who would even dream of crossing others boundaries). Usually this happens because people treat Aventurine’s playboy mask as if it’s his actual personality and not traits he picked up to survive and succeed at his goals, and while admittedly even Aventurine is losing track of where the mask ends and he begins, some of y’all take it wayy to far even going on to unironically call him a fuckboy when he’s anything but that. The thing is, I think this happens when people erase who Kakavasha is from their minds, and act as if that side of Aventurine is a purely innocent child and all the “bad” parts of him are part of Aventurine’s mask. However, that’s not true, and Aventurine’s most admirable traits ARE Kakavasha’s. His strategicness, his intellegence, his bravery, these are all traits he possessed long before becoming Aventurine of stratagems, something which he demonstrated when he for example got his sisters neckless back, or made that bet with his first enslaver.

Aventurine’s purity and Aventurine’s capabilities are not separated between Kakavasha and Aventurine of Stratagems, both of those qualities ARE Kakavasha’s so if you are going to write him with the mask off, you have to write BOTH, not give into one or the other.

The things I tend to drop when writing him with the mask off are his false compliments and niceties, acting like he really gives a shit about the IPC’s goals, turning down the flamboyance and cockiness to reasonable levels and making him seem less like he’s playing pretend. Honestly I don’t think it’s that hard yet this is still a pitfall I see a lot of people stumbling into.

-Ratio talking like a goddamn encyclopedia

I understand he’s like that sometimes, but he also is well versed in internet lingo and seriously nobody unironically talks like that 24/7 because it’s pointless, and Ratio doesn’t use big words to seem smart, he uses them when they are necessary.

Like I’m sorry but if they are in a middle of having sex and unprompted Ratio starts talking like a biology textbook I’m closing the fic and running around my room screaming BECAUSE GOD IS IT CRINGE. Promoted it can be funny because yeah I can see him doing that but oh my god HE WOULD NOT SAY THAT I don’t even want to give an example it pisses me off that bad but trust me it’s a common phenomenon AND I HATE IT

-Aventurine trying to kill himself 24/7

He isn’t an active suicide risk every goddamn day of his life, he’s just self destructive and those are TWO DIFFERENT THINGS.

Yes, he tested if you could die in the dreamscape several times, but that’s because one of the favorable outcomes for his mission WOULD BE DYING in the dreamscape. He’s not doing this during a normal work week and even if I believe he still has suicidal tendencies, he’s not gonna throw his life away randomly or over nothing

-Ratio holds authority over Aventurine in any capacity

No, just no. Like the only other thing he might have over him is being intelligent, although they both are smart at different things so even then does it matter? Like I’m sorry but normal human with the ability to float and make imaginary constructs versus LITERAL FUCKING STONEHEART is not a fair fight on Ratio’s end. It doesn’t matter that he’s physically larger than Aventurine, muscles don’t mean shit in a sci-fi setting, especially when your opponent can just summon 3 bajillion coins to drop into your head at a whim and there’s nothing you can do about it. Not like Aventurine would ever dream of hurting him, of course, but seriously people need to stop acting like their different in stature really means anything. Even in terms of position, Aventurine probably outranks him so this false sense of authority people apply to Ratio in their relationship is confusing at best.

Hmm, well that’s all the things I remember to bitch about although I probably have more complaints. To be fair, whenever they aren’t written like incredibly smart people who are idiots hopelessly in love with one another when together I pop a blood vessel so most of these (besides THAT one) are non issues and if you have made/enjoyed these don’t feel ashamed because of my opinions. I needed to let out my inner grinch every once and awhile, so thanks for reading

[enden-k]

Ok but the real question is how would Kaveh and Ratio interact, because while Ratio is very similar to Alhaitham, they do have some notible differences.

Like he does seem to be more altruistic than Ahaitham in a sense (like his main goal is to help people learn, while haitham's is to just lead a simple life), also Ratio seems to have more appreciation for arts (at least I think) and I can see Kaveh getting alone with with him in that sense.

On the other hand I can also see Kaveh just not vibing with his personality or his methods. Either way i feel like a conversation between the two would be interesting to watch... even if theres a good chance I wouldn't understand half of what they're saying

(Aslo there's a good chance i got some of Dr. Ratio's characterization wrong, haven't exactly had the same amount of time to dissecte his character as we have with Kaveh & Alhaitham, so I could have missed something or misinterpreted it)

dr ratio shares some similarities to haitham regarding some traits (extremely intelligent, self centered, confident, a buff scholar etc) but is different. he gets angry or aggressive often when faced with ignorance or smth he regards as stupid; the most emotion (not counting azar scene) i heard of haitham being slightly pissy is the one time in aaru village when he told dehya to stop yelling AHHAHA (i just love how he says it, hes so cute ugh)

ratio detests ignorance and stupidity but not bc he thinks of himself as smth better but bc he sees those as illnesses dulling ppls minds and he wants to cure it by sharing his knowledge with the universe.

haitham and ratio both want ppl to use their brains yes, but haitham doesnt rlly care about educating ppl (in fact he doesnt rlly care about anything unless it directly affects him, seeing that he doesnt even bother correcting ppls mistakes or false claims unless it will trouble him. this is just connected to his philosophy tho, prioritizing/taking care of himself first, not meddling and believing that it would cause much less problems in general and lead to simpler lives if everyone else would do the same. its not that he doesnt care bc he hates ppl. hes asocial, not antisocial)

so yes, while haitham doesnt care about ppl and their intellectual level (yall remember how he picked books that are easy and interesting for paimon to read in his last birthday mail? my heart still gets warm aaa) ratio detests "stupidity" (not ppl or "stupid ppl") as he regards it as a disease; so much so that he wears that mask so he doesnt have to look at it. hes a professor wanting to educate ppl like a doctor wanting to cure an illness. he believes that intellect and creativity isnt smth only geniuses have but for everyone and everyone can reach higher intellectual levels if they educate themselves enough and learn how to use their brains, if they lose their ignorance.

this is the impression i got tho with the bits we have!! ofc i can be wrong with what i think.

anw ratios philosophy/goals are grander than haithams; it certainly isnt bc ratios such a good man who wants to educate the universe tho (i just know hes a mean prof u dont wanna disappoint), its just bc he wants to get rid of that which he regards as illness. i think its more egoistical reasons there, bro doesnt want to taint his eyes any more or smth

anw i think esp with the line about him believing that "intellect and creativity isnt confined to geniuses", and the appreciation for good arts, him and kaveh meeting would be very interesting. also they get angered so fast its funny

[plantsjustwannahavefun]

I agree to an extent but can you people please stop classifying literally every criticism of Ed's character you disagree with as racism? This is a show that has an almost 50/50 ratio of white vs PoC characters and literally had racist white characters murdered and captured for sale and an indigenous tribe enslaving white but not PoC people in the first two episodes of S1. Show me a racist who'd have survived watching those two episodes without flying into an apoplectic rage and then continued watching. There are no racist fans of OFMD. And that's something I definitely wouldn't feel confident to state about most others shows... But OFMD is exactly the type of show that your average conservative/neoliberal/far-right, fReEzE pEaCh, wOkEnEsS-hAs gOnE tOo fAr type of person would have a severe allergic reaction to.

Anyway, yeah, when you actually look at it, Ed is definitely much less violent than he pretense to be, but he's very impulsive and theatrical. He'd become very good at "performing violence" in very flashy ways for clout and reputation. And throughout the series we've seen (or were told about) him having wild mood swings and making drastic, life changing decisions very quickly without much consideration. And in combination this does sometimes look like, well, impulsive violence, even when it's performative and controlled. His reaction to that French captain was still disproportionate (I'm not blaming him for it, just saying). He literally went from a friendly pretend-innkeeper to wringing Hornigold's neck in like 4 seconds. When Stede left, he sank into depression, but I'd argue that anger was right there under the surface, otherwise it wouldn't have taken Izzy just one single below-the-belt comment to break that facade and send him spiralling down. Just because Ed's violence as Kraken was performative and looked calculated doesn't mean it was rational. Ed was hurt, but he was also angry. The first thing he did when he saw Stede again was hit him. He also broke Anne and Mary's shit when he found out why Stede left. Again, I'm not blaming him here, those were IMO perfectly understandable reactions, but the way he calmly excused himself actually made it feel more violent somehow, because normally when people get impulsively outraged like that they don't have enough inhibition at the moment to pause. And then there's episode 7 when he immediately lashed out at Stede when he was understandably skeptic of Ed's super-impulsive decision to abandon his whole life to become a fisherman.

In short, do a lot of fans at least partially misinterpret Ed's character because he's a complex, flawed and multifaceted character that can't easily be boxed into a simplistic one-dimensional archetype? Absolutely. Doesn't mean those fans are racist though, ffs. It's funny how there's only ever this one particular subset of Ed stans that constantly keeps throwing this accusation at the rest of the fandom whenever they want to feel like they have a higher moral ground but don't actually have much to stand on. But it's even worse with fans like this who do present good arguments but still feel the need to pull the racism card just to add unnecessary drama and toxicity.

I will never understand where the fanon idea that Ed has "anger issues" came from (yeah I know it's the racism just play with me in this space for a moment).

Because before I got into the fandom and started reading fanon takes, one of the things I loved so much about OFMD is how careful the show is to show Ed as someone who explicitly does not get angry very easily. It would've been so easy to paint this brown man in a hyper-violent profession as a hyper-violent person, but by virtue of his hangups around violence, Ed is one of the least violent characters in the show. We're shown early on that violence in this world is normalized and not treated the same as in the real world (we're expected to love Roach, a guy who is bummed about not getting to torture hostages), and we're told Ed enjoys a good maim, but all his violence that we actually see is so performative. He doesn't enjoy it the way other pirates do.

And every time Ed gets angry, we're beaten over the head with how hard you have to push him to make him mad. He will give people so many chances before he gets angry. Like the racist boat captain - he says "what's that supposed to mean" when the captain started being racist and gross, and only got mad once it was clear he was doubling down. In s1e10 he tries to de-escalate after Izzy starts being aggro, and that's after Izzy says he should've let the English kill Ed.

And literally every time Ed does behave violently, not only does it never exceed what is expected in pirate terms (and we're usually told this explicitly, like when Ed mentions cutting toes off as a part of pirate culture he doesn't like the episode before he does that), it is always very calculated and performative. When Ed reacts with violence, it's almost never a passionate thing, it's very cool and thought-through. He is very obviously a man who does not typically react with violence when he's angry.

It just baffles me. Every time I see takes or read fics that talk about Ed's "anger issues," or act like Ed's somehow destined to become abusive towards Stede, it's like...did we watch the same show?

[ralexsol]

L + ratio + stop infantilizing autistic-coded ADULT characters to fit them into a family dynamic + quackcicle kiss was canon

As someone who hasn't really said much about c!Quackcicle (I've only agreed that their dynamic is similar to father-son dynamics), I'm not sure where this is coming from? But I'll explain my view on it.

I'm not trying to fit anyone into a family dynamic specifically, and in fact, I feel like they're more bffs or mentor-student than father-son, but I was reblogging something quickly so I wasn't really making a point to declare what exactly my thoughts on it were. Also, you clearly just saw my tags on lacystar's post and don't follow me/read any of my posts, because I've never infantilized c!Charlie. I actually take his character very seriously, and he's my favorite character on the dsmp (as Charlie is my favorite streamer/YouTuber). :)

The c!Quackcicle kiss was technically canon, but it was unrequited by c!Quackity. I'm pretty sure it was a case of "c!Charlie doesn't get that kissing people is usually reserved for romantic pairings instead of just people all around" and just did it. That's... not infantilizing? He is literal slime and very impressionable. He literally has to learn about human society from c!Quackity (mentor-student), and yeah, he's gonna misinterpret some things along the way. He's still learning.

Also... why does everyone have to be fucking? Like obviously that sounds incredibly weird, but at the same time, it's almost like everyone in this fandom wants everyone to be in a romantic relationship. It's erasure of platonic relationships, which are just as valid and real as romantic ones. My favorite duos in the dsmp are Beeduo, Skephalo, and Quackcicle, all of which I regard as either qpr (first two) or just platonic (last one). Other than that, Karlnapity is my big main ship, and nothing else. (Don't even start the argument that "you just don't like r!quackcicle because you're a karlnapity shipper" that's not at all what's it about.)

In any case, c!Quackity would've been in the wrong to initiate romantic relations with c!Charlie. "Infantilization!!!!" you may say, but again - that's not what this is about. I'm not regarding c!Charlie as an autistic individual - which is just a reading of his character and how he happens to have similar tendencies to people in the real world -, I'm thinking about the fact that c!Quackity had to literally teach him about human society because he's not a human. I'm thinking about the fact that c!Quackity was unwittingly manipulating and gaslighting c!Charlie constantly, I'm thinking about c!Charlie's speech from the last stream. They were best friends, but it was still toxic because it was an unfair power difference.

When c!Charlie realized what c!Quackity had done to him, he killed c!Quackity, he stood up for himself. He said, "No, this is unhealthy, and you ruined both our lives because you are manipulative and you want power."

Maybe you should stop shipping a guy who unwittingly used his best friend/student for power and the best friend/student who was being manipulated and only got his information about society from his best friend/mentor.

It doesn't have to be gay for it to be meaningful.

If you want to watch a meaningful romance that is actually healthy blossom between an autistic-coded character played by Charlie and a badass genderfluid shapeshifter with identity issues played by GrizzlyPlays, you should check out the Just Roll With It $5 Tier on Patreon and watch their 15-episode campaign, Apotheosis! :)

[recurring-polynya]

Do I mind if I ask how you approach writing longer fic? I've always struggled to write anything more than maybe two chapters long and I'm curious if you have a particular method to how you approach such stories.

Thank you so much for this ask! I absolutely love it when people ask me for writing advice because it makes me feel like a Smart Person Who Knows Things.

Before we start, here is one grain of salt to take all of this with: I have a naturally long-form brain. It is very hard for me to write something less than 1k. Short fiction is great, and there is nothing wrong with sticking to short things if that's what your brain likes to do.

So. You have decided to write a story. This is going to focus on "stories". Some people write fic that's more freeform or whatever, I am not going to cover that. What I mean by a story is this:

It starts

Some stuff happens

It ends

It is highly probable that your story contains a change of state, which could be that a villain is defeated, or a goal is reached, but it could also be that character falls in love with another, or someone learns to like broccoli.

I like to start out by completing the sentence, "This is a story where _______". This is basically like coming up with a summary for an ao3 post, except that it doesn't need to be catchy. Lots of different kinds of things could go in that blank! It could literally be what happens: This is a story where Ichigo goes back in time and punches young Aizen in the nose. It could be about what you want to explore: This is a story where Hitsugaya gets a better understanding of his zanpakutou. It could be about the vibe you want to achieve: This is an AU where everyone is in a punk rock band and has cool hair and outfits. The idea of this is to clearly define what you, the author, is interested in writing. Make sure it feels right! Maybe you pick the first one, but when you say it out loud, you say, "You know, I really just want Ichigo to go back in time so he can horse around with young Renji and Rukia and punching Aizen in the nose is just an excuse for that." That may sound dumb, but it's fine, actually! Most people don't read stories strictly for the plot, they read stories for the implications of those plots! Will my favorite two characters kiss? Will there be funny interactions between these two groups of characters? Will there be sick fights? Stories are excuses to have scenes. Sometimes, you will have a story where the interesting sequence of events is the draw, but the point is to know what you're about.

Once you feel happy with your "mission statement", you need to decide the bounds of your story: where it starts and where it ends. It may be easier to start with the end. In some cases, it may be obvious from your mission statement: everyone gets home, a villain is defeated, Kenpachi realizes the meaning of friendship. On the other hand, let's look at that punk rock AU. You've picked a vibe, but you don't really have a natural story arc. It has to have a destination, though, otherwise, it's not really a story, it's a recipe for 3 chapters of an abandoned fanfic. So brainstorm a little: Maybe they get a record deal? Maybe they win a Battle of the Bands? Maybe Byakuya accepts that the band is actually good and tells Rukia he is proud of her. Do not settle for a plot just because it works. Pick something that makes you excited! You're the one who is gonna have to write it!

I said that we needed to pick a beginning point, too, but I'm actually going to skip that for now. The next thing I do is think of all the Big Scenes I want to write, the ones you are hype to write, the ones that pop in your head as you think about the premise. Make a bullet list. They don't need to be in order. The descriptions don't need to be super detailed, but write down anything about it that is important to you. If there's a mood or a snippet of dialogue or a joke you want to make, go ahead and jot that down so you don't forget it later. What you're doing now is putting broad blotches of color on a canvas, filling in space and leaving the detail for later.

Once you are pretty happy with what you have down, try to arrange it in chronological order. Put your end at the end (if it wasn't one of your big scenes, add it now). The next task is figuring out how to traverse your scenes. You've already picked out where you want to spend the majority of your energy. The rest, I regret to tell you, is your slog writing. Now, it often happens that you will find joy in some of these scenes and your best writing may occur there, but that's serendipity. These are the scenes that you are gonna have to make yourself sit down and write, so you honestly want to limit them to just the ones you need.

So how do we do this? Look at the first thing on the list. Can you start there? If so, congrats, that's your beginning. If you can't, what needs to happen to get to there? Where can you start so that you can get to your first fun scene as soon as possible? There. That’s it. You’ve picked your beginning, good job! Now, go through the rest of your list, and add in things that must happen, even if you don’t particularly look forward to writing them. The characters need to travel from geographic point A to point B. Shuuhei needs to say something that Izuru hears and misinterprets. The Central 46 makes a new law. If you have a good idea of how these things happen, go ahead and write them down, but it’s okay if you don’t know yet. Fill in all the blanks so that if you think of each bullet list as a scene, you could read it as a story, start to end. Once you get writing, you might add more scenes, or move things around or whatever, but you should have a thing that functions as a story.

If you struggle with this, an alternative is a story with a very strong structure that is going to guide you though what you have to write.Here are two examples from my own stories Hold On, Hold On (which is only one chapter, but the principle is the same) is structured around the 5 stages of grief. Not Broken, Just Bent takes place over roughly a week, and I just decided what happened every day of the week. See You on the Other Side takes place in the middle of a bunch of canon events, which worked at mile markers.

Congratulations. You’ve just made a rough outline!

Special note for avoiding burnout!: I am a slogger. I will drag myself through the broken glass of an interminable plot to get to a single thirsty scene. That's why, at this stage, I try to look at the ratio of what I want to write to what I must write. It's gonna vary for everyone, but this is a hobby, and if looking at this proto-outline makes you feel deeply tired, maybe this isn't a good story to be devoting your time to! Can you carve it down? Can you chuck two scenes you really want to write and get rid of 80% of the slog? Or maybe you can't! In that case, just write that thirsty scene as a standalone drabble! Or just go work on something else! Maybe in the future, this one will come back to you and you’ll have a fresh idea or a renewed enthusiasm for it.

Another thing I sometimes like to do at this point is to write out some notes about my characters and their motivations and moods. Character A is homesick. Character B is so determined to defeat the enemy that they are having a hard time being sympathetic to Character A. Character C cares for both A and B and is trying to support them both. This is sort of background info that you want to keep in your head as you are writing. Depending on the type of story you are writing, this might actually be the main plot, or it might be happening subtly, but adding to the emotional impact of the story. It’s very easy for me to write these sorts of emotional arcs, but if you struggle with that, you may wish to go ahead and made a more detailed outline for that, too.

Now, it’s time to start writing! I am great at beginnings-- it is very often the case for me that the opening scene was one of my Big Tentpole Scenes. (Before you hate me too much, I make up for this by being double horrible at endings; just let me have this) Usually, I will start at the beginning and write linearly for as long as I can until I get stuck. Then, I will look forward on my outline and do the next chronological scene that I feel like writing. In general, if I sit down to write and there is something I have an urge to write, that trumps everything else. Inspiration is a precious commodity, and you should embrace it when it hits! You can slog any day. I will occasionally hold off writing a scene that I really want to, because I am saving it, like a prize for myself for getting that far. This is a very personal process of figuring out what motivates your brain and then giving your brain what it needs to be its most productive.

Eventually, you will run out of things you are excited to write, but the good news is, you’ve got a bunch of story now! Odds are that what’s left is going to be a lot of those connective tissue scenes, and you’re just going to have to do them, except that now, because you’re connecting two concrete points instead of two abstract points, it will be a lot easier. You can continue running jokes you’ve started. Maybe you invented a cafe in an earlier scene where your characters hang out and you can have them return there. Try to think of ways to make these scenes more fun, both for yourself to write and for your reader to read. 

Around this time, I like to start refining that rough strokes outline into what I will call an “as-built” outline. (This is an engineering term where you update your plans or models for something to reflect any changes that had to be made along the way). This is a great activity to do at times when you feel like you have writers block. I write down every scene I have written as a 2-3 word blurb, in order. I break the scenes into what I think makes logical chapters, and I will do a word count on those prospective chapters and write it down. As you do this, you will realize that maybe you can move a scene from here to there, which will make it 1000% easier to write. Things may be happening too much, or you’ve got the characters eating three times in the same chapter. If you have subplots and dangling threads, this is where you make sure they get closure. I know this sounds very headache-y, but you are so far along in the story at this point that it’s really not-- it’s a way to look at the problems you have left. Use some sort of formatting (I like to bold things I haven’t done and sometimes I put them in red) and it gives you a very visual to-do list.

You specifically mentioned multi-chapter fanfics and I admit that I don’t tend to think in chapters, I tend to think of the story as a whole and just break it up where it feels natural. The as-built outlining I described is very helpful in making sure that my chapters feel balanced. They don’t necessarily need to be the same length, but I like them to have the same amount of stuff in them. One chapter may basically contain one long scene, and other may contain many short ones. I don’t tend to, but you can certainly have a fanfic that varies between short and long chapters, that can actually be an interesting effect. But like I said, I always like to know what I am doing, and so having it mapped out, you can say “welp, this is what I’ve done, how do I feel about that?”

Polynya, you may be saying at this point, do you write the whole fanfic before you post any of it? and I regret to inform you, the answer is yes. A lot of people write as they go, and I have made one attempt at this and I didn’t like it. I don’t like locking myself in, I just need to be able write out of order and go back and change things. Here is the story of a little in love: someone gave me an AU prompt and I got mildly obsessed with it, and wrote 5 snapshots drabbles in that universe, ending with a slight cliffhanger ending. I probably should have stopped there, but I decided to keep going. I wrote out an outline of 5 acts where the first act was detailed to the degree of each chapter being specified. The chapters here were much smaller than I usually make chapters: 1-2k. I wrote act i and ii and it was actually great, and then I hit act iii which required a lot of set up for misunderstandings and a mini romance arc. I couldn’t wing it, but nor could I figure it all out with outlining. I write dialogue in almost sort of an improv “Yes, and...?” style, so until I do it, I don’t know what’s going to happen. So, what I did was treat the second half of act iii as a complete story in the process I describe above, wrote the entire rest of it, and then posted it. One might notice that the chapter lengths grew to 3-5k each. I have two more acts to go, and I haven’t decided how I am going to do them yet, but I suspect I will treat each of them as their own mini-stories.

(I will admit that in Heart is a Muscle, I tend toward chapters that are about 10k long, and this is honestly too long, someone should smack me. If you like punchy chapters, 1-2k is good. I think 3-6k is probably an ideal chapter length. Is this how long the chapters are in my latest fanfic? Absolutely not.)

Okay, so there’s one more step, which is quality control. I am habitual re-reader-- I read my fanfics-in-progress over and over and over while I am working on them. I understand that not everyone does this, but I am usually the primary audience for my own writing, and this is the actual fun part for me. Nevertheless, you should re-read your work at least once, to make sure it hangs together.

This is purely optional, but I recommend it: get a writing friend (if you don’t like re-reading your work, I recommend this even more strongly). If you can get a full-service beta reader, that’s great, but if you can’t find someone, or if receiving that level of critique stresses you out, it’s perfectly valid to just find a friend who will read your stuff and a) shower you with compliments, b) reassure you about parts you aren’t sure about (or suggest ways to help) and c) point out any huge problems you missed. When I am writing a long fanfic, it is a huge motivational factor for me to be able to send my beta chapters as I finish them. If you are already an established writer, and you have people who consistently comment on your fic, they might be overjoyed to get a sneak peak at your work.

And that’s it! That’s the way I do it, anyway! Some people are able to sit down and write a very detailed outline and the write it start-to-finish. Good for them, I say! I have tried this and it doesn’t work great for me. I will admit that some of my fics (especially my early ones) I just sat down and banged out whole-cloth like an insane person and they are generally better than the ones I actually plan out, but that’s not a reproducible process.

As one final mechanical note, I usually write in Google Docs, which I can access on multiple devices (I used to write a lot on my phone), has convenient sharing functionality, and I use the ao3 html formatting script add-in. I generally have two documents for a single story-- one is the outline, and any other notes I want to have handy. I’ll usually put a trashcan space at the bottom for scenes that got cut but I don’t want to lose. The other is the fanfic itself.

I hope this is helpful! Please feel free to follow up with other questions and good luck with your writing!

[critical-thinking-is-mandatory]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I can tell "salt" on ao3 gets sorted as "bashing" no matter what, so not all of those fics may have even been that extreme. But overall, I feel like people use ao3 as the ultimate metric for the fandom. I see a lot more people defending Adrien on pretty much every other website, personally.

yeah that's true i'd forgotten that a lot of individual tags on ao3 kinda get lumped in together as a big monolith even if people use a specific tag to indicate a different level of vitriol.

just double checked my numbers and on ao3 there are 468 adrien salt fics and 38,738 fics tagged with adrien as a character. i did look for fics tagged as 'adrien/chat noir centric' and there's only 137 of those but considering how many fics i've had to sift through looking for other character centric fics that have adrien as a main focus that were not tagged as adrien centric i'm not counting those. filing those away under "correct tagging but not in enough numbers to make a difference". so anyway.

just to do a quick check of numbers the number of adrien salt fics on ao3 is a....whopping total of 1.2%. comparing to alya who's only tagged in 17,929 fics but has 631 salt fics, has a salt:fic ratio of 3.5%, which is almost 3 times higher than adrien's! and lila's is even higher (though she is an antagonist so the point is kinda moot but i'll say the numbers anyway) lila has 1,564 salt tags and only 5,078 fics she's tagged in *as a character*. that is a huge proportion of her fics, 30.8% of her fics, in fact.

sorry, statistics yknow? anyway.

i think a lot of people use ao3 as a metric because it has such a thorough tagging system? and it's got so much content on it? obviously it's not a perfect metric because we've got sites like tumblr and fandom wikis and instagram and probably twitter or something too? i hear people do fandom stuff there? it sounds fake to me but apparently.

anyway, back to the whole numbers thing. the percentages aren't perfect, especially when comparing lila and adrien, because lila's a rightfully infuriating character and the audience is encouraged to tear lila to ribbons but adrien is our ~hero~ and ~uwu baby boy~ so it's kinda expected that we have...a big difference.

but comparing alya and adrien? they're both heroes, they're both people the audience is supposed to love and believe in etc etc, they both are used as mouthpieces to shill the writers' opinions and they both fuck up. sometimes hugely! *cough* adrien killing aeon *cough* alya spilling the beans about rena furtive *cough cough* but i wonder who has the most salt? hmm.

anyway, i didn't mean to imply adrien was seeing a significant portion of hate (if i did i'm sorry), or that ao3 is the best metric to use (it's pretty much just easiest lol) but yeah. i think? i may be misinterpreting your ask, anon.