#and two whole rambling paragraphs

[xxplastic-cubexx]

what is your favorite thing about charles and your favorite thing about erik? separately, as in what you like most about their characters :]

a devious question this one is, my friend!!! it's hard enough for me to explain my thoughts cohesively, but having to pick ONE thing i particularly love is difficult. with characters like charles and erik, theres been so much done with their characters over the decades and so they have so many components to them that make them so interesting and fun to observe. BUT I TRY FOR YOU TODAY. under the cut i kinda ramble and the size of this text box makin me anxious

i think if i were to be simple and broad, what i enjoy most about charles is his determination to help others, even if he isn't really thanked and/or if people don't even like him. ofc, this isn't to say he hasn't done wrong- to be honest, the fact he does wrong/questionable things at times is another aspect of him i really enjoy, maybe because- broadly speaking- he's meant to be altruistic (intent vs outcome and all that). i don't know if that's super exciting to most people, but it is for me

as for erik, my reason for liking him is easier to explain tbh. To Be Simple And Broad, his progression from villain to antihero over the decades has been fun to observe (as much as i have so far anyhow) and analyze. i think to be a bit more specific, him using his rage and pain as justifications for his villainous actions is definitely what compels me the most: hurt people hurt and the sort, an idea i've always found interesting (something something vicious cycles and the like). yet now, he recognizes this wasn't really. A Just Thing To Do and is beginning to change that, which i enjoy

[bidisaster-peanut-romano]

soo hi everyone!! i'm back on my bully essay/meta/something writing!! sort of. i did this.

anyways anyone who's been on this page for some time know how from time to time i have insistently mentioned the parallels between lola and peanut, right?

welp! that was a joke but the time has finally come!! a super-pretentious essay just for the fun of it!! (and also bc i haven't been writing actually argumentative texts in like months perhaps a year, so. yikes, i really need to practice again)

word count: 2.2k WOAH. IM SORRY

i, in my corner, with my monstrous needs. — susan sontag, as consciousness is harnessed to flesh

take this quote both as a title and an anticipation of what is to come. the essay will be distributed analyzing first the dependence of each of them on johnny, to then draw comparisons. i'll make sure to steer as away from headcanons as possible, sticking closely to the source text. obviously, some things' interpretation might be ambiguous, but, you know. your usual occupation hazard.

also, a disclaimer before we start: while they are psychologically complex and there is always a mimetic intention in developing them, these are fictional characters, and, as such, their primary function is to be vessels for different themes, questions and so forth. therefore, i will prioritize meaning and themes over moral implications and similar elements.

i. peanut

for how much i can adore talking about him, the way peanut depends on johnny is very much on the nose; worn on his sleeve, even. in 11:11 minutes of voice lines, he mentions johnny 30 times.

many interpret this as the caricature of a boy crush, but i have reasons to believe it is much less cute than that.

the problem is that, really, more than trying to identify specific situations... peanut seems to rely on johnny for a significant part of what he does. when he does good at dodgeball:

Look at me, Johnny, look at me!

almost like a child calling for his parent's attention to be praised. he calls johnny's name when he's going through hardships, when he's scared or when he's sad.

more than someone he just loves, johnny is a point of reference. whenever there's something going on, whenever he does or has to do something, his first thought goes to johnny; vice versa, what johnny asks of him is his priority.

I gotta tell Johnny! No time. I gotta see Johnny now. Gotta help Johnny. What can I do next to please Johnny? I mean Lola! I mean…

(this also goes in a "negative" direction, envy being the other side of the medal to adoration. especially because, in some way, this reliance on johnny might be felt by him as emasculating, and, being johnny his model of masculinity, adding it to the napoleon complex thing, it's not hard to guess why it can be so unpleasant. we can see this manifest through some of the things he expresses in regards to lola- not as much an interest he has towards her, but the interest he wishes to have from her- which are a bit more different than it might seem at a first glance. but this is a mouseketool we'll need later. still:

Last time I saw her, Lola made eyes at me, not Johnny!

do we really need this part? heh. i'm not sure, but it's always good to point out)

(also, just because, for the purpose of this analysis, it might be useful to specify: while these sentiments are very much implied in peanut's canon quotes, we have no evidence in canon in what measure they are reciprocated by johnny. the fandom has universally agreed that johnny also views peanut as his Best Friend In The World; while in some measure, they must be at least a bit close, i think it is even safe to say, given the caricaturist nature of bully's characterizations, that johnny holds peanut in less consideration that peanut deludes himself into believing. quoting another post of mine, the kids who show some level of obsession towards their leader mention him on average ten or less times (gord mentions derby eight times, parker six times, kirby mentions ted five times). the leaders don't usually make names at all, that much is true; however, peanut mentions johnny 30 times, and, even in front of this proportion, johnny mentions peanut 0 times. just to make that clear)

overall, what undeniably shines through his voice lines is a feeling of general inadequacy, whether about his height, or his strength in front of a bigger adversary. the audios in which he tries to show off range from being disingenuous, to straight up improbable.

crossing what we have until now said, it is not hard to come to the conclusion that he really tries to make up, to fill this empty feeling of inadequacy by taking pride in his role as johnny's second in command.

while i am a big fan of bully's characteristic of having left much content out of the main game, leaving the gamers to dig it up for themselves, i do believe that scrapping some of the stuff that was prepared for peanut is a loss. we have a number of voice lines coming from chapter 3, in which it was heavily implied how important peanut's role as johnny's right hand man was.

for example, much like... all other seconds in command, really, he was to be followed and then fought in the rumble, before you could get to johnny, with the specific duty to cover his back. even his very first scene, the opening cutscene of chapter 3, i believe, is not to be underestimated. most of the other people, as far as i recall, call you when they need it in person; johnny, however, sends peanut. making him, de facto, an extension of himself, almost.

again, you choose the motivation. what is important, from a narrative point of view, is that peanut clings to johnny through these acts of service, almost making it the foundation of his personhood.

basically, he makes it so that, if he can't be of help to johnny, his whole self is fundamentally annihilated, giving himself completely to johnny.

ii. lola

with lola, reading between the lines gets a bit more difficult; first of all, because lola is much less transparent than peanut, her insincerity being a supporting beam of the whole chapter 3. secondly, whether she was done dirty by the creators or not, it is undoubted that being the perspective that of a teenage boy (namely, jimmy, but we certainly, as viewers, are brought to sympathize more with johnny than with lola) with all the prejudices it can bring with itself.

however, it doesn't mean that there isn't anything to work with- quite the contrary, actually. the issue with lola is that there is a certain amount of layers to get through before gaining a satisfying perception of her as a character. still, we're here to try our best, aren't we!

even behind the muddiness of her intentions and the manipulation she shows herself a master at, it is clear from the second we first meet her that what she does is in function of johnny.

to get through this mess with order, we'll start from an easy, measurable numeric information: lola mentions johnny in her audio files 19 times. which, we're assessed, IS a considerable amount.

we have extensively talked about the way her cheating patterns are a strategy not to succumb to the passive role of the girl in the heteronormative, patriarchal prototypical couple (there's a post here breaking down a lot of this stuff, if any of you is interested!!), so, instead of this, i want to focus on what lies beneath that behavior.

ultimately, the whole point is that lola expects and wants johnny to fight for her. whether is it because she feels taken for granted, or just because he can't perceive it if not through grandiose gestures like the rumble- your interpretation will work; she wants to see johnny fighting nail and teeth not to lose her, she wants him to show her that he wants her.

she's all about that attention, and she knows exactly what and how to do to get it. and i think this is especially clear when you compare the moments in which she knows there's no advantage she could go for; when she has understood that jimmy won't fall for her manipulation, when algie and chad leave her unsatisfied, when norton openly accuses her and antagonizes her - she loses her temper, lets go of that sweetened and/or flirtatious voice tone, abandons that specific kind of gesturing. she doesn't care anymore about obtaining something. she was actually angry, and she was actually upset that johnny had disappeared.

in some of her audios, she references johnny with some amount of fondness, as well:

Johnny and I were on the best date ever.

(there is also a voice line in which she says "He told me he likes me because of my personality. Isn't that sweet?"; due to it being a general chatter and not exclusive to one chapter, i assume it is relatively safe to assume she is quoting johnny. however, as i said at the beginning, we're trying to stay as close to canon material as possible, so, do your thing- and i'm open to arguments!!)

a considerable amount of audio files, however (which will lead us to our final point) is about her... calling for help for johnny, or stating, confidently, that he will come save her, or avenge her later.

Someone get Johnny! Johnny's gonna get you for this. Johnny is gonna kill you!

but wait... i have some sense of déjà vu...

You're gonna be sorry when Johnny finds out!

iii. two faces of the same medal

if i had to pick an effective image for a metaphor, i'd say that the thing about lola and peanut is that they are both dogs looking for someone to take their leash; we’re talking here about an exclusive relationship with someone they can rely totally on, someone we’ll call the Other (with a capital o, distinguished from just other. yes it is unnecessarily complicated i’m sorry).

for what my professor would call accidents of history, it happened that both of them found that Other in johnny.

each of them attempts at creating an exclusive relationship with the Other, one foolproof and fundamentally… perfect. perfect in the way that everything works like oiled gears, in the way that every next move is predictable, in the way that any accident will not break the created equilibrium. (even if, in the general sense of the term, lola and johnny's relationship is everything but perfect, it is in the connotation that we have established here. lola is aware that, no matter what she does, johnny will come back around. hell, the very thing that she does is aimed at keeping that balance; specifically, keeping him a bit on the edge, pushing him into a corner where he has to actively make an effort to keep her close.)

they both hide something they are ashamed of, regulating not only their actions and reactions but their very way of existing in the world, in order to keep that gear working, in order to remain in johnny's hand. lola hides that craving for a genuine and stable affection, dissimulating it with the cheating and the fatuous physical demonstrations of closeness; peanut hides his sense of inadequacy and complex of inferiority, by being the tough and reliable second in command.

basically, what they mean to achieve is a sense of security, the safety of not really being the one to lead but, at the same time, finding a purpose, other than a shield from the outside world that they are not willing to concede themselves to. like a... symbiotic relationship?? i was going to say parasitic, but, yknow. the Other does get some advantages, which are, respectively, peanut's acts of service and lola's capacity to boost johnny's pride.

now, of course, johnny is not aware of either of their play. which makes it even better, since, as we already said, both of their approach to the relationship needs some degree of insincerity.

like, i don't deny that johnny might be a good friend, or a loyal one. but he is an oblivious, prideful fuck who can't see past his own nose; he's got a tendency to make it all about himself - which of course goes perfectly with what we said about both peanut and lola making the Other their center, taking up, in a certain way, a passive role in the relationship.

this way, both of them aim at creating with johnny a relationship that is, in a way, codependant and conditional, in which the do ut des (their respective "service" ↔ johnny's guarantee of stability) creates the foundation of the very relationship.

this, of course, brings up the problem of exclusivity; on which, however, i prefer not to delve into too much, as this would bring us to the topic of their antagonism which... isn't really what i wanted to go for, at least not here. (it would risk bringing us a bit too close to my subjective interpretation and too far away from the canon, which i PROMISED i wouldn't do. however, someday i might elaborate on that??? idk , please do lmk if someone's interested around here)

i will, however, show you a diagram (it looks like a triangle- i guess it is, but it is VERY important that it is a pyramid, with a top and a larger foundation) and a quote, to wrap this up bc i think it is already WAY too long and ramble-y lmao. let me know what you think anyway, my ask box is always open <3

it almost feels like a joke to play out a part when you are not the starring role in someone else's heart you know i'd rather walk alone (i'd rather walk alone) than play a supporting role if i can't get the starring role -- starring role, marina and the diamonds

[merrymorningofmay]

the english language is so lenient with word repetition like just throw in an occasional "replied" instead of "said" and you're gonna be fine meanwhile writing in ukrainian is like

[only-one-brain-cell]

I know I talk a lot about my headcannon of Maeve hitting on Spencer 24/7 (for those of you who are just seeing this now I have a headcannon that if Maeve lived she would be the most chaotic girlfriend but in the best way possible she would be hitting on Spencer 24/7. Its probably one of my favourite headcannons I ever thought of.) but I rarely talk about Spencer side about how when this happens he would go blue screen every time, I call it the dumbifcation of Spencer Reid.

If everyone is sitting down talking Maeve will walk in and sit on Spencer’s lap regardless if there’s space for her or not and that’s the second that Spencer stops talking and completely forgets what he was saying. The only thing he’s focused on right now is his wonderful beautiful girlfriend in his lap, the other team members can visually see his IQ growing down.

Maeve is very affectionate and once Spencer got comfortable with her he slowly started to become more affectionate so now she’s always holding his hand, wrapping her arms around his, hugging him from behind, anything so when this happens again absolutely nothing there’s not a single thought in that man’s brain. Similar to when their kissing, the minute Maeve’s lips are on his hes a goner. She finds the whole thing hilarious and Spencer adorable of course.

[nomoretumbler]

ok…… I just finished reading jekyll and hyde…….. what the hell was that /pos

[crowleys-bentley-and-plants]

Am i gonna use the heisenberg uncertainty principle in my anthropology essay in which i need to refer back to my own discipline which happens to be the exact opposite of quantum physics? You bet i am

[tectco]

Hello, just wanna start this off by saying that I love your art. I've decided to ask my favourite artists for art tips as I wanna get into it, but no matter what I do it never looks right. So, any tips?

WARNING YOU JUST OPENED THE FLOOD GATES GET READY FOR A LONG ASS POST

WOOOOO BOY, first off huge fucking compliment i honestly didn't think i was anyone's favorite artist (despite what my friends say) and i find it super cool of you to try and draw

Anddd nowww the cowards will run out as soon as you read more

okay so first things first, disclaimer! I AM NO PROFESSIONAL BY ANY STANDARDS, IM JUST SUPER INTERESTED IN ART, DO NOT TAKE MY WORDS AS GOSPEL AND YOU DO NOT NEED TO TAKE MY WORDS OF ADVICE (you didnt say i was but just to cover my ass)

I am still learning as an artist so this will just be advice that helped me, lets just hope i can remember what got me here, and this will be just me jotting down my thoughts as they come so maybe im not the best person to come to about this (i may repeat what other people say in terms of art so bare with me)

SO WITHOUT ANYMORE DISCLAIMER! YOU WANT ART TIPS FROM ME? WELL GET READY FOR SOME BULLSHIT FROM A PERSON WHO'S BEEN SO ARTSY FARTSY IN THEIR ENTIRE LIFE AND HAS NO IDEA WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT, WELL COME INTO THE SHIT TRAIN!!

Now i dont know if you are an intermediate artist, beginner, need help in specific areas or whatever the hell else but! here's the three main points i always wanted to scream at artists who are just starting out!

Your art WILL look like shit in the beginning

References and inspiration are YOUR FRIEND

DONT be afraid to trace

(I know I know this feels like regurgitated and it probably is BUT HEY STICK WITH ME)

does your art looks fucking trash? THATS GOOD!! KEEP DRAWING!! My art looked fucking ugly when i started and some might say (me) it still does, but thats okay!! You learn more and more from just drawing without any tips, art is a pure skill that builds up, do not be discouraged!! The point of art isn't to be the greatest in the world, it's to be at peace with what you create so if your art looks good to you and you are in a happy place in your progress, you are basically successful in my eyes at least (this doesn't mean to quit learning obviously but it'll come in time, be patient, do not push yourself! that's how you stop loving art and we don't want that happening!)

Ever find yourself asking "man why the fuck does (include art shit here) not look accurate??" well here's a tip, USE REFERENCES! DO NOT BE LIKE ME WHERE YOU JUST WING IT OR ELSE YOU'LL BE CRYING OVER YOUR DRAWING TABLET LIKE I DID AT SOME POINT!! Pay attention to the shapes of the reference, break it down and draw over it if you need to, shapes are very important in art and you need to be able to draw whatever you want in the most basic forms (im no good example of this, i really need to practice more aughhh). As well as references, inspiration is KEY!!! Everything is inspired off each other, nothing is original, so steal from your favorite artists!! Look at their speedpaints, look at how they use colors, analyze how they draw anatomy in their style, see how they use shapes, etc etc, learn from who you consider are the "greats of their times"!! USE ALL THE INSPIRATION YOU HAVE AT YOUR FINGERTIPS!!LITERALLY COPY THEM IF YOU WANT EVEN IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY THEY DID THAT, YOU'LL LEARN WITH TIME!! just whatever you do, don't compare yourself so heavily against other artists, i know its hard, i do it myself even! If there is an artist who has a style you so so want, don't crumble if you can't draw in their style perfectly, you'll never win against someone in their art style. I suggest taking inspiration from multiple artists and mashing them together until it looks good in your eyes!!

That actually leads me to my next point! TRACING IS OKAY!! Now obviously I do not mean directly tracing over like some lines, showing it off/posting it and calling it completely original. I mean tracing over the references i mentioned before, or like what i said before, i believe you should actually trace from your favs! (don't call it original like i said before), tracing can help build memory on how to draw certain things like how i took a photo of my hands before, traced them, and then put it to the side to redraw it, making me understand futher how hands work! OR like how i traced a piece of art that i liked to understand how the artist drew their bodies, tracing is used by total professionals in the industry so do not be afraid!! You have total permission from me to trace my art and learn how to draw my wack ass bodies

and for a little extra bit, little bit of a hot take (I'm actually not sure how much of a hot take this is), i don't think you HAVE to learn the fundamentals to get into art. NOW BEFORE YOU RUN OFF SCREAMING AND SHITTING, IM NOT SAYING YOU DON'T NEED THE FUNDAMENTALS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!! I'm just saying that if you want to get into art as a complete hobbyist and just want to draw to yknow draw and be happy, you should just go for it! Again don't make art something you hate! I completely encourage learning the fundamentals but don't ever feel like you're failing just because you don't, get into it when you have the time! be patient with yourself, this goes for any hobby/skill but just sink some time into it, i promise you will get further in you hobby than if you push and rush yourself into complete burn out

OH AND HERES MY ULTIMATE TIP! THERE IS NO WRONG WAY TO DO ART!!

Uhhh i think that's everything? Im not exactly sure how comprehensible this is or how the spelling is since i am not beta reading this! But apologies if this wasn't what you were looking for! (if anybody even read this far) and i hope that if you asked your other favorite artists they answered with anything better than whatever this is! I wish you alot of luck in your art journey and thank you for giving me an excuse to talk about art! OH AND REMEMBER TO TAKE BREAKS

[sophieswundergarten]

I'm still considering @bi-demon-ium's post about what would happen if Milligan adopted Kate before regaining his memory fully.

Because, imagine:

Milligan has been looking out for Kate and the other kids for a while, now, and he's very glad that they're finally off of this island safely. He loves all of them, of course, but he can't help but feel especially connected to Kate. Something about her just sticks out to him, either because he's had to save her from herself more than a few times or because of her spunk and attitude or maybe because she was the first child he felt like really looked him in the eyes and saw him since he'd started helping run the tests.

Either way, he feels a really strong connection to her, and after he escaped Curtain's men on the island, he began feeling twinges of memories returning. Throughout his time on the island, he kept experiencing odd sensations of déjà vu, but nothing concrete. A few of the agents that the team ended up rescuing from the Institute seemed to recognise him, and he could sporadically recall some of their names, so he became fairly certain that had been an agent at some point, but there wasn't much else getting clearer.

In the weeks after Curtain's defeat, Milligan began experiencing disorienting memory flashes which, while still not helping him piece anything together, gave him horrible migraines and would, on occasion, short out his awareness of where he was presently. These would always pass, but when they happened Kate was right behind him, helping him sit down and running to get him water (She eventually began keeping a bottle in her bucket when it became apparent this would keep happening), and she was consistently proven to be the best out of all of them to bring Milligan back to the present.

As the other kids began finding their way to their families, with Constance and Reynie being adopted, and Sticky's parents coming to find him, everyone began to settle into their lives. But Kate had yet to return to the circus.

"Oh, of course I love the circus, and I'd love to get back to them, but Milligan still needs me here. I can't leave him."

After this goes on for nearly a month, Mr. Benedict begins talking to Milligan about adopting Kate. He's been through it a few times now, after all, he'd be happy to show Milligan how to do all of the paperwork (And maybe make a few bribes in the right places, since Kate's technically a semi-unregistered wild child who ran away). It takes a bit longer for Milligan to broach the subject with Kate, but when he does, she just looks at him in surprise.

"Well," She begins, slowly, "I can see how that would be nice, for legal reasons and everything, of course, but I kind of thought that's what we were already doing? Just, without the paperwork."

Milligan has a hard time keeping himself from bursting into tears right then and there, but he sweeps her up into a huge hug and if a few tears slip out as his brain sighs with the correctness of holding her in his arms, and if Kate finally relaxes as if she feels he could protect her from anything in the world, well, that's between them.

Life slips into a routine for them, and though there were a few close calls with Milligan's memory flashes while he was doing things like cooking breakfast that led to Number Two pulling a few extra fire extinguishers out of the closet, and a couple of times that Kate would find him standing outside in the rain, staring at the puddles in the backyard with blank eyes and a slightly frustrated expression, as if there were some secret hidden in the muddy ground that he couldn't quite find, for the most part, things were going alright.

As Milligan slowly, very slowly, began to understand himself, he began to understand Kate, too. There were times she seemed too ready to jump up from a meal and help, too prepared to drop whatever she was holding and run to his side, like she was afraid of finding some terrible tragedy when she arrived. She offered to do the shopping one day when Number Two couldn't quite find the time, and though she came back with everything they needed (and a few things they didn't strictly need) with money from the budget she had been given somehow leftover, the sharp, frugal expression on her face when she counted over the food again as she started to put it away was far too serious for a twelve year old.

Milligan's heart broke for Kate every time he saw how growing up alone had affected her, even if she couldn't see it. Of course she couldn't see it; she was a child, she wasn't supposed to see it, she shouldn't need to. Every time he saw her expression harden as she tried not to cry, before she remembered she could now; every time he watched her freeze when a knock came at the door, subconsciously positioning herself in front of Constance and between the perceived threat and the boys, before she relaxed when she saw Milligan himself go to answer it, trusting him to protect them; every time he went looking for her and found her curled up in the vents, breathing shallowly and refusing to come out until he assured her they won't send her away, she doesn't have to run anymore, she's welcome and safe here, and then when she slowly unfurls and drops heavily into his arms, burrowing into his chest and sighing deeply as she breathes him in — All of those times and more, he feels a growing resentment and even a simmering hatred for whoever Kate's father is.

This man who found whatever else he had going on more important than protecting his daughter, as if anything could be more important than the child he wanted so desperately to hug, wanted nothing more than to protect and love, but had to watch as she shut herself away and steeled her body to be prepared to face any and everything all on her own. What Milligan wouldn't give to find this man, to hunt him down and shake him, to explain to him exactly how badly he'd messed up, and then leave him somewhere he could never come back from; somewhere he could never return from and hurt Kate again.

Sometimes she'd mention a task she had experience with, or a time she'd "lived off the land", or recounted her ability to perform a grownup's job just as well, with a sense of pride in her skills, and the adults in the room would exchange sorrowful glances over her head. The first time she said she'd never played on a proper playset, since she'd been too young when her dad had left, and the orphanage never had any safe equipment, Milligan sat straight up, and the next day they went to the nearest park and stayed there until dark, Kate spending hours on the swings as his strong arms pushed her higher and higher until she felt as free as when she was flying through the air on the trapeze.

One day, as the two of them were sitting at the kitchen table, eating a late breakfast since they'd been up half the night because Milligan took her stargazing, Kate offhandedly says, "You know, Milligan, I've never really minded that my dad left, but now, I think that I'm glad he did. Because otherwise I would never have met you."

Milligan stops dead as he's buttering his toast, trying very hard not to overreact and shatter this moment where Kate is humming contentedly and swinging her legs. Slowly, carefully, deliberately, he responds, "Well, I'm glad that I met you too, Katie-Cat."

[igneouswyvern]

After nearly two and a half years of being completely obsessed with Zestiria after I beat it way back in July of 2021 I finally decided to go back and watch the anime, Zestiria the X and, yeah I have some thoughts

I'm gonna start with the good. Definitely the best part was getting to see Rose and Alisha interact with each other, and Dezel and Zavied interact as well, since they were never in the party at the same time in the game. The anime format also did a lot of good for both Alisha and Zavied's characters (I'm so glad Zavied is something besides "the horny guy" now). Really the story works a lot better with the full party of 8 together towards the end.

The anime also gave me the one thing Tales games never give me, which is a full proper ending, and by that I mean showing us exactly what happened to the world after the final battle was won. I've never been very good at using my imagination when it comes to a peaceful and normal world so it was nice to see that fleshed out. While unrealistic I am also glad Sorey came back within Rose and Alisha's lifetimes because that always kinda bugged me in the game

Using Berseria as a legend in Zestiria was pretty cool considering they didn't get to do that in the game since it came out first. I thought it worked really well. However I am very confused on why they decided to animate the first three hours of post-prologue Berseria smack dab in the middle of the Zestiria plotline and just...never return to it. I don't know why they decided to do that, it didn't fit at all and the whole time I was just wondering if or when they were ever gonna come back to it. And if they were gonna do it for context's sake shouldn't they have, I don't know, jumped ahead to some part where Velvet actually fights Artorius?? It just felt so strange to me.

Onto some more bad: Why the hell did they make Maltran a good guy. She worked just fine as a twist villain. They just cut that entirely for no reason??

And there's one particular huge thing that they just completely changed. One of the most interesting things to me about Zestiria's narrative was the underlying theme that "you can't save everyone." From "everyone knows you can't purify a dragon" to that first moment in Pendrago when they encounter a hellion so strong that the only way to quell its malevolence is to outright kill it, leading all the way up to the finale of the game where Sorey has to kill Heldalf because he can't be purified. They learn over and over again that malevolence has consequences, and that the Shepherd's journey isn't without sacrifice, and that sometimes taking a life is the only way to save that many more.

And Zestiria the X just throws that whole concept out the window?????

First they straight up replaced the corrupted church lady in Pendrago with something totally different and far less impactful, just a corpse that can be purified. And then they go and purify a real dragon??? You can't just do that????? And of course that means they won't kill Heldalf either. He ends up unrealistically purified as well. It just bugs me so much. It goes against everything the original game wanted to set up. Sure it gave us a happier ending but we don't always need a perfectly happy ending! Life is full of heartache and tragedy and sacrifices, and the original Zestiria showed that in a really neat way. And the anime just goes and tosses all of it out the window. It just...it makes me really upset. Tbh the Pendrago sequence is one of my favorite moments in the game, and the dramatic sequence where you kill Heldalf is another favorite, and I was really excited to see those in anime form. And instead they just got binned entirely. My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined :(

And for that matter they also kind of completely got rid of Sorey's character arc, as meager as it may have been. One of my biggest gripes with Zestiria the game is that Sorey is just too perfect a guy, he's too pure and innocent and never really makes mistakes and the game had opportunities to allow him to do that but were too scared to actually commit to it. But despite that, Sorey still has a character arc of some sort, mainly in what I mentioned above where he has to accept that sacrifices are inevitable but in some other ways too. Meanwhile the anime just removes all of that. Sorey pretty much never struggles, except maybe in matters of strength in the beginning you know, and he always gets his way--he never has to make a sacrifice and always saves everyone. All this culminating in The X Sorey being somehow even more flawless and perfect and static than game Sorey. And it's really disappointing to see because I was really hoping to get a more fleshed out Sorey as a result of the anime format.

Something pretty insignificant that bugged me was the fact that they pretty much never got to explore ruins or old temples or whatever else. The game's gameplay loop was pretty much go to a town, deal with some political stuff/watch some cutscenes, go to a ruin or temple and fight a boss, back to the town. Which worked really well for a game setting, but I recognize doesn't work as well in an anime. However, what the anime decided to do was completely cut out any ruins exploration and focus exclusively on the political conflict in the towns. I see why they did this, don't get me wrong, but I just can't help that it doesn't really feel like Zestiria when Sorey and Mikleo aren't nerding out over random stuff in ruins, you know? All that political stuff started to get really boring after a bit. And like so much of the game's story and lore takes place in those dungeons, so it just feels so odd to have them completely removed.

Pretty minor thing but I felt like they kind of messed up Lailah's character. Her whole thing in the game is that she knows everything about the Shepherd's journey but she's not allowed to talk about it because of her oath, so she does the whole inconspicuous whistling and deflecting to other topics the whole time. And I kind of liked it because she looks totally airheaded but it isn't true, she knows a lot she just can't tell us. But in the anime it felt like Lailah didn't know all that much about the whole situation, like she seemed just as surprised as the rest of the party in a lot of scenes. And I feel like that just kind of took all the life out of her character. She was already kind of generic in the game and taking away the one thing that made her interesting just made her even worse.

Okay I'm starting to make it sound like I hate Zestiria the X, I don't. I think I am just a huge purist when it comes to the original game and the anime did a lot of things contradictory to the game that I didn't like very much. But it's okay it was still a good anime and worth watching

It didn't really help me like my favorite characters (Sorey, Mikleo, and Edna) even more, but it did help bring the characters I was lukewarm about (Alisha, Rose, Zavied) about up to par with the original three in terms of how much I liked them, so that's nice. (Lailah and Dezel were more interesting in the game anyway.) I think if you took The X Alisha, Rose, and Zavied, and put them into the game's narrative, you'd have a pretty solid experience in total.

[waytootiredstudent]

[cowchickenbeefpork]

How it feels to talk about edlee while I haven’t touched my WIP for chapter two of my MLEN fic in a hot minute.

[heyheycaitalin]

Not to sound like a weirdo or anything but

How do you know when someone genuinely likes you? Platonically.

Not like they just like me as a coworker because I'm dependable and a hard worker and "phenomenal at customer service". They're not just being nice or polite. They just like me as a person.

How do I know they like me enough to talk to me and stay friends with me even if I live 8 hours away and they might only see me a couple times a year? He doesn't have social media. But I want to be close enough friends where I can visit for his birthday next year. I want to know if I take a vacation and visit for a week, he'll honestly be excited to see me.

[teiasviago]

finally back to thinking about my essay class today. i don’t think i have ever gotten less helpful feedback.

[sztefa001]

OMG YESS

I mean ofc there's some fun in making alien space robots similar to us because this is how we can relate to them better. We project our own (human) experiences on them because it feels good. Because on one hand we know they're piles of sentient metal but on the other hand ouugh... hugs nice amd somft... even tho it hardly makes any sense. Lazy mind likes nice things and it's ok to be lazy sometimes and have fun like that.

AND THAT BEING SAID AND OUT OF THE WAY - RAMBLING TIME

Because sitting comfortably in what we know is nice but so is exploring the Unknown and Different!

Tl;Dr at the bottom.

Sure some characters are child- or elderly-coded for an obvious reason of showing who has more experience. We get enthusiastic, big eyed OwO babies like Terrans or Bee (to lesser extent but still, I mean look at TFA) and we get old guys with tired voices like Ratchet or even with facial hair like Alpha Triton. And it's easy to establish without confusion who's more and who's less experienced! Clear and easily noticeable, petty important in media that's just an elaborate toy ad!

Which made me think... How would it work if it all were more realistic? Or what would be the realistic reasons for Cybertronians to be like that?

What if they choose to present themselves in a certain way to show their age or the age they feel as? New shiny paint job and nice parts to keep up with trends and show that they care for themselves vs not caring for the shiniest coat and choosing functionality, same with keeping older parts that show different times they went through or because they're more reliable or comfortable than the new models. Much like buying a cool jacket and dying your hair a crazy color vs sticking to an outdated but signature suit with some order pinned to it and letting your hair go gray.

This then leads to the concept of Cybertronians not presenting their age. Because the specific parts are too expensive or just not available. Because they want to seem older or younger because they prefer some old model parts due to how they work. Because their specific frame doesn't have much variation in certain part models.

This can also tie to how they feel. Maybe there's a very old TF who looks and behaves as a much younger one just because they feel like it and like keeping up with trends. Because despite their experiences they still feel or choose to feel young.

Maybe there's a much younger one who looks much older because they just like the way outdated shapes look on them or are more functional / comfortable. Maybe they're not doing well mentally and are already more traumatized by war than an older but younger-looking buddy.

Maybe in this case the older one is just doing better mentally due to the experience with coping or worse and their coping is forgetting the trauma. Or they live in denial. Or have a "mid-life" crisis. Hence the behaviour of a young bot. Meanwhile the younger but older-looking one is doing worse because idk, they had a rough start and/or their coping skills are shit and they're bitter and have very visible PTSD. And that's why they behave like an old war veteran.

So looking at a TF you could probably guess their rough age sometimes based on looks and behavior but othen you could get so many contradicting clues. It's like if a human had a wild mix of old and young features and the image was blurred further by their fashion choices and behavior.

Think how many times you hear someone's young voice (both in terms of sound and the manner of speech) or about someone's childish behavior but then turns out it's someone much older than you imagined. Or the other way around, you listen to someone say very wise things in a very experienced voice but turns out it's a well-educated college kid who caught a bit of cold and their voice is raspy. Same with Cybertronians but blur the image further.

This is also why something that would make sense for a near-immortal alien species could get a human cancelled for depicting. Those who go with "Cybertronians are age-coded because it's to show human issues through the sci-fi lense" will say BlitzBee is bad because it's adult x minor but those who go with "it's literally robots from space who probably start off as adults from day one and if not the age gaps stops to matter at most after a century" won't have an age-gap based problem with it at all.

And just with experience alone and disregarding looks - imagine a tf made for a certain task and they perform it like an adult would from day one. But throw them into a different situation and they're just as lost as a baby in a forest. I have a few OCs like this, respected pro in one field but absolute baby once their world gets turned upside-down. Real fun.

Now regarding age and growing up - sparklings. Where do cyber-babies come from?

So you see, when a mommy-bot and daddy-bot love each other very much... Yeah, well, this is certainly something you could go with and even make it make sense! I do it sometimes. Look, monkey brain wants what monkey brain recognizes and relates to with least effort, ok? Ok. I'll talk about cold-constructs and other canons/headcanons in later paragraphs. If you really dislike it you can skip to a next mark like this:

/ / /

I think that some tfs could totally get a kid this way. They can but don't have to be a "femme and mech" or "carrier and sire" or whatever terminology you decide to use. I just think that it could be neat if two (or more! get yourself that polyclue!) Cybertronians could mix the life energy of their sparks so much so there's enough for another one or more to develop. Man, imagine if humans could come to be only if their soul were created with pure love from their parents...! Say what you will but that's pretty alien to me lol. It's ok to not like that version tho.

My personal hc is that such new spark would grow living metal around itself and after some time (years? decades? more? less? varying depending on the circumstances?) would take a form of sth like an egg, not necessarily egg-shaped tho. Then it can live outside the parent's body and transform, their "egg" slowly changing into their altmode. I like to think "egg for an altmode" could be an insult in some parts of space lol

How long till sparkling becomes an adult? Do they grow up faster than humans because they're more advanced? Slower because living metal takes longer to grow than flesh? How about mental growth, do they start out with some pre-installed knowledge or do they have to learn manually or download updates? Or a bit of both? How long does it take and what does it depend on? Fuck if I know, go wild and have fun with the concepts!

/ / /

[Edit: forgot to mention and putting it here. A tf can also come to be when a divine power brings a regular machine to life giving it spark and sentience. How much such a tf knows? How much experience they have? Maybe they're only experts in their narrow field tied to their alt and are baby-level regarding other topics? Sorry but it's 6am and I've been writing this since 4]

And now, forging. Look, idk much, I read the wiki articles long ago and watched very little of canon media but what I get is that a Cybertronian can come to be either from a naturally forged spark and frame from the living crust of Cybertron (or some titan) or be cold-constructed as in spark taken from where it developed and frozen till a mass-produced frame for it is ready. Yes, there apparently can be also cloning or other mitosis but imma allow myself to skip that.

Now how could a naturally forged one work I've seen covered in many fan continuities and I really like the the concept of them starting out smaller and less knowledgeable. Probably needing a paren- uhh I mean mentor or having to live in a school/preschool/kindergarten of sorts... Yeah yeah, baby-coded, I know; monkey brain, remember? They could ttly sprout from the ground as young adults tho. Sorta like gems in Steven Universe - popping out ready to whatever awaits!

But this may fit better the cold-constructed ones. Their frames adult from the start, probably with some extra upgrades already... And than they go online and just learn about what to do! Or are told to just download some updates to spring right into a more experienced adult from day one, why not.

Also I'm a fan of a cold-construct's need to modify their frame to better fit what their spark would've been if allowed to grow the frame on it's own. Do you think space robots would have mad dysphoria sometimes? Fearing heights when there's wings on their back, wanting to swim when their frame would sink instantly, feeling like lightest version of their gear is too heavy for them despite their strong frame?

Do you think they tend to crush on tfs with frames they would've been because their sparks recognize what they need and long for? Do you think they would hate them due to bitter jealousy? Do you think they'd know why they feel like that? If processor is the brain and spark is the soul I don't think so. How repressed is their spirituality in the times of war? Do you think they would start self-discovery when given the chance...?

Well that took an existential turn. Let's switch to gender.

Earliest TF cartoons where marketed mainly towards boys so ofc all the space robots were boys, with a token robot girl or two added later on. Some peeps shit their pants when they see a continuity where an usually "male" character gets turned into a "female" or what's even worse, an enby. Hurr-durr the show is woke. "They're alien space robots! Why gender them!" Yeah, right, why they all gotta be boys? Why just boys and girls?

Realistically speaking I think gender fuckery can be even more wild and free in whatever alien species (and especially robot ones) than humans cursed with gender dimorphism. Some hc that tfs start out always as he/him 'cuz they only have one gender and just sometimes choose to change that when introduced to a possibility to being an opposite, both ot neither.

But that begs the question - what is gender to a robot? They don't need sex. They don't need genitals. Oftentimes in fanon I see that all have both sets or all have none. Creating offspring also isn't related to it. It can be, if you want. If creating sparklings from two or more adults is sth you enjoy then you can have it in a humanized way or keep the act of creation as purely spark-to-spark. But as mentioned earlier, babies don't have to be a thing in a continuity.

If sparklings are not a thing or are created without anything sex-related and therefore there's no bodily dimorphism then what do they base their gender on? Is it gonna be altmode? All boats and ships going by she/her by default? Is it as an honorary title, like a renowned medic or leader being referred to as xe/xir to show respect? Are certain model lines referred to differently? Or maybe there's two groups from different backgrounds and to differentiate members of one group go by she/her and members of other by it/its?

And sure going with vibes makes most sense! And it can but doesn't have to go with presenting a certain way. Bet tfs choose specific paints and parts and change their voice based on the vibes they want for themselves and a given set of pronouns they prefer isn't any different from a more or less angular spare part or tinted visor or shimmery paint or or or-

So yeah, personally I don't think they have gender, certainly not a biological one / one based on how their frame is built. They just have vibes. And we call it gender because this is how we relate. Shout out to an old toolbox with a jar of various screws and nails - gotta be one of my favorite genders.

Congrats for reaching the end, here's a potato for you!

Tl;dr - it's ok to imagine your robotic blorbos as having as many human traits as you want, sometimes this is what your brain needs and that's perfectly fine. And whenever you wanna spice up your continuity with something way more alien and otherworldly - go for it! Have fun! Be wild, be free! There's so many possibilities! And also - you can put your faves in as many different iterations as you want! Go ahead and put your human-like one on the shelf right next to the pure alien one and then make ten more ;)

Actually I have a hot take that's been brewing on my mind a little in regards to Cybertronian society and physiology and stuff so like

I've said it's annoying when people impose human gender binaries on the genderless alien robots with no sexual dimorphism, but honestly I also find it annoying when people impose human standards of childhood vs adulthood on the non-organic robot aliens who are almost always born/built immediately having all of the faculties of what we would call an "adult," just lacking in actual worldly experience.

Obv there are exceptions like the recent Earthspark where the Terrans are explicitly children/child-coded

But it's honestly just so weird to me sometimes sjdkshfjd people will be like "awwww baby" to Bumblebee and ma'am that's literally a grown man. Also what functional difference is there b/t a robot that's 4 million years old vs 5 million years old when their race is technically near immortal. Like why are ppl calling Rodimus a child out there when dude is literally the same age as or just slightly younger than characters like Optimus

It's not nearly as annoying or offensive as when people put cisheteronormativity in a culture that wouldn't have it, but like. Am I the only one who finds it really boring to impose human ideas of age on alien robots ESPECIALLY when it comes to basically recreating "oh here's mommy and here's daddy and here's the baby" like sigh

[tigeristired]

college work is so very serious. i kept reading this as 'beepboop'.

[astaraelthesnek]

Time zones

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Iceland and Greenland get their own little paragraph. They are both wrong. Iceland claims its in 0 when it is all in -1. Just… anyway. Greenland’s alright, I hear you say. They go from -1 to -5, so they just chose to all be -3, that’s fine, right? Nope. They decided to make one little section 0 when it is obviously in -1 or -2, there’s a -1 section in -2, and there’s a place called Thule, very clearly in -5, which they have labelled as -4. It could have been so good if they had just stuck to all being -3, but no.