#and yeah like again i still do not *believe* his actual goal isn't 'himself on the top'

[just-a-little-unionoid]

Okay so okay, I'm thinking

I do believe Alastor is supposed to be read as power hungry but what you said is very true, it very much can be about control more than power, which are similar concepts but not the exact same

What bugs me a lot about Alastor is his part in the finale

The first half is about not wanting to die (and not being seen as weak) which okay, easy to understand

But then it goes:

I'm hungry for freedom like never before

The constraints of my deal surely have a back door

Once I figure out how to unclip my wings

Guess who will be pulling all the strings! (manic laugh)

And like, I do not fucking understand him

He says he wants freedom, when you say that you're "hungry for" it means that it's your goal, yeah?

So first line is about establishing his goal, his goal is freedom, okay, that's cool yeah characterization!

He then go about and explain why exactly he isn't free: he's bound to someone/something by a Deal, okay yeah I still follow

Then he goes "when I will be free I will be able to [...]" so you think, hell yeah dude tell me what you're craving for, what you will do with this liberty? 👀

AND THEN that fucker goes "I'll be the one to control everything >:)" like DUDE WHAT

Like, is he fucking implying here that control is his goal and that freedom only is the mean to that? Excuse me??? Like the fuck you establish your goal (because that's what "being hungry for" is, that's a goal, not a fucking mean) is freedom and then immediately turns around like "actually no that's just a mean my actual goal is control :)" pardon me but what the actual fuck

I'm sorry I'm going insane

But then you come with you're smart post telling me it's very likely that he wants to fully overthrow the system and I'm like, oh

I mean like, I do not want to get excited for nothing and get my hopes high and having them crushed and all but what if

He isn't talking about himself?

Like, like, he isn't actually saying "I'll be the one to control everything", he's saying "guess who will be pulling all the strings" and we guess that he means himself, but that's Very Much not what he's saying

It can be (and still probably is) what he means, but we don't have like, actual proof of that, we're just guessing

Again I'm not getting my hype up, I do not actually expect this show to go "well yeah Charlie is cute and all and she's a great leader sure but still, fuck monarchy (in addition to fuck capitalism), this is a democracy/anarchy/whatever now", but look

It would be cool

This is your hazbin hotel warning so sorry 🫶🫶🫶

OKAY SO, a thing I haven’t seen this fandom consider is that Alastor doesn’t deal in souls. Or, not often at least.

If there has I’d honestly like to see the posts bc this is a thought I’ve seen basically just me and my sister talk about. He doesn’t care—I’d even argue he thinks he’s too good to do so, thinks it’s too easy.

There’s a couple reasons I believe this, one of which being his backstory arriving in hell. Let it be known, the reason all of hell was impressed by his takeover as the radio demon was solely because he does not own any industry. He doesn’t have some company he’s been building for several decades. He didn’t join in with other overlords for shared power. He arrived in hell, and disrupted the power structure of overlords, and sinners. (We’ll get back to this later)

And the reason all of these overlords own major industries, famous for their insane production value and craft, is because the way that overlords gain power is through souls. Employment therefore being THROUGH these contracts (I’m going to refer to deals having to do with souls as contracts from now on, just to make a distinction). This is why Angel is owned by Valentino as a pornstar. It’s why Vox can just “call up the lowest earners this month” for Valentino to shoot for sport. It’s why Velvette can call her models hideous and let Valentino tear apart her best model. None of these souls, these employees, have any say in what or when or who their employers say they have to do. They simply do not have the autonomy to do so.

Now this calls in the question then, how did Alastor gain his overlord powers? If he owns souls, they are either ones he was given or earned from other overlords (ex, Alastor wins all of husker���s souls in a game of poker, leaving him powerless, and making his deal in the first place), or they were given to him by an overlord themself. Alastor CAN make souls stay at the hotel, but presumably, it’s not because he owns them.

If Alastor owned any other souls than Nifty and Husk’s, they would already be working at the hotel. We get back to that employment dynamic, contracts are means of living. None of these sinners had a choice because sinners have to make contracts to live.

Now, okay, we’ve established why Alastor’s overlord status is confusing and honestly makes no sense, why overlords are even overlords in the first place, the class metaphor and dynamic of the whole situation, AND why we know Alastor doesn’t own that many souls.

Now, I present you this: Alastor does not want Charlie’s soul. Alastor, wants to be rid of the overlord class completely.

LET ME PREFACE THIS BY SAYING: I KNOW The current ideas in the fandom of Alastor are that he wants more power. But, to be honest, the last scene with his character feels disingenuous to this idea.

Clearly, he’s in a deal with someone else. Clearly, this system has affected him too. Clearly, he just wants an out in the first place.

So, let’s go back to when Alastor first arrives in hell. Mimzy narrates how people dismissed him. How he wasn’t taken seriously. And then, proceeds to imply that targeting overlords for his radio show was to show said strength. Because Alastor was not someone to be dismissed.

And this characterization furthers in the episode itself: Alastor immediately has some beef with Lucifer because he’s a far more powerful being who wanted to dismiss his presence in the first place, preferring his daughter. Where they then have a pissing contest musical number, and Alastor generally dislikes him afterwords. My man even wipes his hand on his shirt after shaking his staff.

Not only that, but when Husk even IMPLIES that he’s not strong enough to handle whatever Mimzy has gotten herself into this time, that he’s still someone on a leash, he rampages on a killing spree to prove that he’s “still the baddass radio demon”.

This isn’t even mentioning when Carmilla said she wasn’t curious as to why he was gone. He needs to be important, to be noticed.

I understand that Alastor is genuinely someone who must prove themself and show their strength. It’s probably why he became a serial killer in the first place.

However, I think there’s a deeper intention with solely targeting overlords—one of his only contracts is with Husker, an ex overlord. The question would also be, why would he not put husk in his radio show as well?

Clearly, based on the fact that he warns him that Mimzy is just using him, that she’s a fake friend, they at the very least were amicable with each other. At some point. Maybe even still are. They STILL banter. And this isn’t to say it’s some weird “I’m in love with my kidnapper uwu” situation, this happened well before they were in a contract together in the first place.

Not only that, but Husker earned his souls, and therefore his power and overlord status, through gambling. He didn’t have some big scary industry, he wasn’t trapping people in these forever deals because they had no choice, he gained these through the unethical means of others. Maybe… Alastor believed that the ways in which he dealt souls, were different.

I can’t help but think that the company entirely surrounding taking away consent is the ONE COMPANY/THREE OVERLORDS that Alastor simply does not fuck with.

Not only that, but the only other overlord he’s friendly with is one that… just genuinely helps the people she employs? Just give them advice? Makes it THEIR CHOICE to march with someone else into battle? I love Rosie.

This isn’t to say Alastor is some saint that cares super oober deeply about consent. He doesn’t. If he did he wouldn’t be associating with overlords in the first place. He wouldn’t be taking advantage of people in such lowly positions.

All of this is to build the argument that Alastor does not own souls, nor associate with people who own them in irresponsible or unnecessarily cruel ways.

And, to further this point, Alastor most likely thinks it’s stupid in the first place.

In the pilot (which I understand isn’t COMPLETELY canon but it’s still Alastor’s character so. Whatever) Alastor almost immediately tries to jump Charlie with a deal. Work at the hotel, in exchange…?

But notice that this does not include ownership of her soul. At all.

In episode 7 before Charlie makes her deal, she asks, “You want…my soul?” And while he has this weird radio-y affect that goes all over the place while he says “your soul”, he also immediately replies in the most babying voice ever “Heavens no!” Like the very idea of needing her soul was silly. Ridiculous. Idiotic.

And, not only this, but when Vaggie bursts in to try and “save” her, he also rolls his eyes as he says “oh relax, she still owns her soul.” Again, babying. Infantilizing. Ridiculous.

It, again, feels like he doesn’t take the concept seriously. Like he thinks they’re almost too easy. To me, it’s clear he never wanted her soul. He’s always been far more interested in what Charlie can do for him, and what she can do with her dream.

Owning Charlie’s soul would simply give power over her, and her alone. Even in the interpretation that he “wants more power” she’s still just one person, one soul, one hell born. It’s so small inmemorable in the grand scheme of things. If he really wanted power through means of souls, he would fight the upward battle of capitalist destruction that is the overlord monetary system.

SO THIS IS ALL OVER THE PLACE, AND I ALSO WANTED TO WRAP THIS UP WITH ALASTOR’S TRUE MOTIVATION BEING DISRUPTING POWER—but this is also far too long and I’ve been writing for like. An hour straight lmao. I need a break and I wanna post this. So.

[thedemonsurfer]

hey uuuh im procrastinating on other things so let's write a big ol' essay about

Eclipse 3.1, and Why Moon Is Doing a Disservice By Writing Him Off As "Insane*"

*insane in this context being the definition of 'acting erratic and unpredictable with no regard to consequences' and not an actual mental illness diagnosis, I know, I wish they'd pick a different word too, but this is an essay about Eclipse's behavior, not linguistics

So! If you've only been sorta keeping up with SAMS, the current plot is someone (we still don't know who) revived everyone's favorite dusty Dorito that had been forgotten under the couch, slapped him on the ass, and pointed him at the Daycare. This has made a lot of people (in universe) very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move, even by Eclipse.

Especially by Eclipse.

Our buddy boy has magic (dunno how), incomplete memories of both the original Eclipse and the backup (no clue how he got those), and directives embedded in his code that can't be removed without killing him (¯\_(ツ)_/¯). He literally woke up in the hallway outside the Daycare and then went inside and started monologuing.

Eclipse wants to find the person who brought him back, maybe or maybe not ask some questions, and then kill them.

He reeeeeally wants to kill them.

(This whole arc honestly boils down to Eclipse grabbing various folks and shaking them while screaming "ARE YOU MY MOMMY?!")

In recent eps Moon has accused him of going 'insane', mostly due to his insistence on picking fights and threatening others, and that he cannot shut up about wanting to get the guy that made him. He very recently picked a fight with Lunar, who killed him again-- and proved at the moment he can't be killed permanently, he'll just come back in a new body.

Huh.. fighting a programmed compulsion, becoming more erratic and aggressive over time, breakdown of logic and reasoning... That seems kind of familiar...

Oh yeah! This is Eclipse's kill code. I'm calling it the 'bother code', but 'cringecode' and 'pain-in-the-ass code' aren't off the table. Unlike Moon's kill code, the expression seems to be 'be a distraction to Moon' rather than like, outright murdering people.

Like the kill code, fighting the compulsion seems to make his behavior more unstable. Because here's the thing: Eclipse isn't stupid.

Well.

Okay, Eclipse is stupid, but not... like this.

Eclipse is a manipulator. His thing has always been to recruit others to help him achieve his goal, and he's patient about it. He's willing to work for months on someone, and while he does shoot himself in the foot eventually, it's usually more indirectly than this. Moon is currently helping him search for the guy, it makes no sense for Eclipse to continue posturing and threatening.

Except-- that's his only outlet right now.

The "I need to find the guy who made me"? That's Eclipse's goal, the one he's pursing with all the stubbornness he has.

The "hey what if I killed or maimed some of your family"? That's the directives.

What we're seeing with Eclipse's behavior is him desperately trying to keep himself on track, when the bother code is trying to yank him in another direction. Threatening Moon so he'll 'work faster' is an outlet, a way for him to briefly pacify the code while redirecting it back into his own goal. He knows it's a stupid suggestion, but he's going to make it anyway because he has no choice.

I think he feels like he's running out of time as well. Because Eclipse can be patient, but he gets frustrated and short tempered the closer he gets to a deadline (this is why I believe he started being meaner to Lunar-- he was frustrated about not finding the star and had given himself only a month to do it).

So like.. yeah. I don't think he's going 'insane' or 'losing his mind'. I think he's fighting a losing battle against his own programming, and taking the frustration and panic out on everyone else. Because the kill code couldn't be fought off indefinitely, eventually the bot would crack under it. And it'd be nice if Moon could acknowledge that Eclipse's behavior isn't entirely voluntary, and he IS I think honestly doing his best-- he outright came to them for help, something he's never done before.

Idk maybe they need to let Eclipse put Moon in a stupid trap again for an ep to get it out of his system so he can chill out for a while.

A sidenote! Its interesting to me that Eclipse's behavior in the coming back ep seemed to be erratic only as long as Moon was present. Once Moon left, Eclipse changed gears in how he was talking to Solar, and had some very classic "you know you're better than this, don't you want to go apeshit?" lines. The kind of thing that we've seen from the previous Eclipse incarnations. Dunno yet if it means anything, but it's interesting!

[moongothic]

Seen quite a few people comment how they believe it's more likely the Dragodile Divorce happened due to ideological differences rather than because Dragon was too straight to stay with Crocodile, and. Like I did suggest that (or at least tried to) in my Crocodad Giga Thesis (really I should've been more clear about it in my essay so I wouldn't be writing this now lol), but like yes, Dragon and Crocodile absolutely have drastically different beliefs on How One Overthrows The World Government. And that absolutely could have contributed to the two separating and/or Crocodile deciding to go his own way instead of becoming a proper Revolutionary

Because like, as I tried to imply in the essay (but failed to deliver); if Crocodile's goal had always been to get Pluton so he could just nuke Marijoa off the face of the earth by himself and end it all in one go, then Crocodile and his way of thinking could work as this, like... contrasting opposite to how Dragon believes things should be done. Some fans (unfairly imo) call Dragon a "fraud" because over the past 20+ years he has only attacked Marijoa and the WG directly just once, and even when he did, instead of doing something to stop their corrupt reign for good... the Revs destroyed... the Tenryuubito's... food storage..? Like. Sure, that'll bother them for a little while, get their panties in a good twist etc, but in the end they're just going to demand more tributes and more free food. The Revolutionary Army may be successfully inspiring more people and more countries to rebel against the World Government's corrupt rule, but the Tenryuubito are still in power and will continue to be in power for a long time. And that's kind of how Crocodile would greatly complement Dragon within the narrative. Dragon being arguably "too soft" with his slow, methodical way of overthrowing the WG, while Crocodile would just kill them all without mercy, even if it meant hurting innocent people in the process. The two would act as the opposite sides of the same coin, the different extremes of the same spectrum. Crocodile would become like a response to the complaints people have against Dragon.

And yeah, the two having such wildly different ideological views could VERY EASILY contribute to a divorce, for sure.

My thing is that... If (and this is an if) Crocodile is meant to go a character arc and grow as a person, if we're meant to see him as a sympathetic character at all and maybe even feel bad for him... It'll be much harder to write that if the Dragodile Divorce happened only because of the two having ideological differences. Like who's going to feel bad for Crocodile if the two got divorced because Crocodile wanted to mass murder people and Dragon wasn't okay with it? That's not a tragedy, that's not a situation where we as the readers would feel for Crocodile and want to root for him. That's not something that would give a character unprocessed emotional trauma to heal from and overcome. He'd just be a villian who'd need to have his beliefs changed.

Where as, if The Divorce was caused by Dragon and Crocodile no longer being compatible due to Dragon being straight while Crocodile transed his gender... Even in the most respectful of scenarios that is a heartbreaking situation, a painful thing to go through. That is a tragedy without bad guys, a story where you could feel bad for Crocodile and want to root for him. That is a situation that would give him trauma to heal from.

And that's kind of why I so strongly believe in Crocodile's transition being a more important, contributing factor in The Divorce. Again, this does absolutely depend on what Crocodile's actual role in the story is going to be and whether or not he's even meant to go through a character arc at all. Like if he's not going to be that important and if he isn't meant to go through an arc then sure, Crocodile's transition doesn't have to matter one fucking bit. But if he is meant to go through an arc, if we are meant to feel bad for him and find outselves rooting for him eventually... From a writing perspective, that'll be far easier to do if we can find ourselves sympathizing with him even just a little bit.

Also like. Yes, you can have queer characters who are just queer for the sake of being queer, their queerness does not have to be an important aspect in them or a huge plotpoint in their story at all. Crocodile could be queer just for the sake of being queer. Because that's what it's like being queer, you just are what you are. At the same time, from a writing perspective. What would even be the point of making him queer if it didn't matter to his character at all and have an impact on his character?

Also while Crocodile and Dragon clearly have very different beliefs on how the WG should be dealt with right now, we don't really know when Crocodile came to his beliefs. Like for all we know Crocodile could've formed his worldview years after the divorce. Hell, based on the way he spoke to Vivi about her ideals, and how we know he spent over a decade in utter emotional solitude, his current worldview could have been partially born from resentment towards Dragon (and his ideals) that's been simmering away over the years.

All of this to say; yes I think the two's beliefs could have been a contributing factor in The Divorce, but from a writing perspective (and based on the direction I personally want to see the story go), I find it far more likely if Crocodile's transition was the main cause, one way or another.

[egg-emperor]

I love how much Eggman sincerely does not give an actual single fuck about how much damage he does/his creations do to the world, as long there's actually still something for him to conquer

Literally only focuses on the world part because fuck yeah he's gonna own it babyyyy

And then him being like "whatever there's still enough for me to conquer lol" and he sounds smug about it in the line delivery too to make it even better

This is why he'll happily destroy wildlife and cities to rebuild his bases or factories or Eggmanland on top of it, why he'll allow shit to be polluted immensely, why he'll blow up half of the moon with the Eclipse Cannon and threaten to fire it at the world to kill people on it if they don't give him what he wants, why he'll literally shoot and break the fucking planet apart in his plan, why he'll unleash destructive evil monstrous eldritch horrors on the world, why he'll happily leave the world as "nothing but ashes, from which a glorious Eggman Empire will rise" and why he only tries to save the world from being completely destroyed entirely so the world he wants to conquer actually still exists and also so he doesn't die obviously

And he doesn't go "um this is for the greater good I'm going to make the world a better happier place for everyone and this is actually a really good and nice thing, I'm the good guy here uwu 🥺" and if he did it'd be lies and propaganda, he isn't stupid and he doesn't actually believe that. But in these cases he knows he's not fooling Sonic and Tails, so he just shows boldly and openly that he truthfully doesn't give a fuck what happens to the world and the state it's in, as long as it belongs to him. When it isn't all his personal doing like Lost World it can be a pity, but when it's all his own doing alone then even that doesn't matter to him.

His way of making the world "perfect" is for HIM ALONE in his own twisted fucked up definition. And all of his plans of both conquering and ruling the world involves it becoming a dead polluted destroyed hellscape, that's his idea of heaven and utopia, a selfish self-centered one that only benefits himself genuinely. But he knows it isn't the good and right thing to do, he calls himself, his creations, and his actions EVIL to prove that. And in other cases he has to use lies and propaganda to deceive people because he KNOWS he's the bad guy, so he makes the conscious decision to cover it up then.

And he's also just as careless towards the actual people he kills in the process, be it intentionally as he does intend to kill Sonic and co all the time and has intended to kill random innocent people- or as collateral damage as he has acknowledged this too- and again didn't give a single fuck about either. He just practically shrugs off collateral damage and celebrates the intentional deaths caused by him. He has no limits in the deaths and destruction caused as long as the world exists to rule. All that matters to him is getting what he wants and he'll go the lowest, most fucked up places to get that and that's why he's such a dangerous threat.

The idea that he isn't all that bad, doesn't actually want to destroy anything or hurt anyone, and his intentions are good and not really from total selfishness and self-centeredness, greed for attention, power, and control, and total evil, just isn't true in the actual games. He isn't stupid. He literally loves fucked up theme parks and similar BECAUSE people having a horrible time and dying terribly in his death trap rides is so cool and fun to him and he likes to take something fun and happy and make it fucked up, the amusement parks are for HIS amusement and everyone else's horror and death hehe

He knows EXACTLY what he's doing. His methods, goals, and ways of ruling the world are all intentionally maliciously evil and messed up. There is not part where it starts getting good and beneficial and he starts being nice. I'm certain that he can only get even worse with the more power he gets. He always either just doesn't care about the damage and death he's causing, he actually enjoys it, or most often both at the same time- depending one what parts he's intending, focusing on, and enjoying- and what is also being done in collateral damage that he doesn't care about at all lol

I love this nasty fucked up bastard so fucking much 🥰💜

[magicwhiskers29]

So... Prime Season 3, huh?

I guess this is somewhere between an analyss and just general thoughts post. Probably too incoherent to actually be an analysis, but I just finished the season, and I'm going to talk about it.

So for this post? I want to talk about Nine.

Okay, so, yeah, Nine was FANTASTIC. His solo conversations with Sonic were brilliant, and so many of them hit so hard. His taunting of Sonic when Sonic first gets back to New Yoke is so good. Just. Wow.

"Don't you realise the power I have at my fingertips?" I love the delivery of this line. It isn't said as particularly menacing, as a typical villain line -- Nine sounds curious, really. Slightly irritated too, but he's not just raging, because all the time he's been convincing himself he hates Sonic, and that what they had really was just a lie. He wants to believe that so badly, because it justifies this, and what he'll have to do to Sonic.

We see things like Nine getting shocked, maybe even a bit upset, in episode 2 after noticing the citizens he's put in danger. His goal isn't to cause hurt, but he's just not above it. Despite it all, he trusts Sonic too. Trusts that Sonic will just keep everything safe, so he can do what he likes.

Later on, this even goes so far as he trusts that if lets the Shatterverse decay as far as it can go, Sonic will then come back to him, o save it, and give him up willingly. It's extreme, and it's villainous, but it's a gamble reliant on trut, and an understanding of Sonic's good character that isn't quite the same as just the 'You're like this because of guilt' type that he accuses Sonic of before this.

And oh. Oh. I cannot not talk about Nine and Sonic's conversation at the end of episode three...

SONIC: Ever wonder where we'd be if things had gone differently between us?

NINE: Not anymore.

SONIC: ...I do. All the time.

Nine: You had your chance.

Sonic: Right back at you, bud.

I really don't think just a transcript can do this scene justice, because the voice acting (aghghhhhh it's so good) and pauses in this exchange really give it life.

Despite what everyone says about Sonic, I think this scene really demonstrates that he does see Tails and Nine differently. He's clearly thinking of Tails when he asks about things going differently, because he knows a universe where things have gone differently, and Tails is his best friend, Tails his 'Always his wingman'. But it's more than that. He wants a universe where he and Nine are friends too. he says he's missed Tails so much, when he sees him again at the end. Nine can't just be a replacement Tils to him, but he still cares about Nine, because he knows the kind of person Nine could be.

He cared first because of Tails, and now because he believes in Nine. throghout the season, he always does. Even when he ahs to fight him.

And augh, if that "Right back at you, bud" doesn't half hurt... He says it so bitterly.. He admits here, that he wasn't all in the wrong for what happened. He has Nine telling him that he was cruel to him, that he used him, and he has everyone else telling him he was a fool to ever trust Nine, but he wasn't. He didn't listen, and that's what he later apologises for, but he wans't a fool for believeing in someone like Nine, and Nine just as much didn't listen to him. They never talked.

Nine had his chance to explain to Sonic what he really wanted. He didn't take it. this is on both of them.

Seeing Nine get all mad scientist at the slightest thing going wrong was fun, though, on a different note. I think Nine has always really worked because he's just kind of eerie. So much more jaded than Tails, so he often feels just sort of... off. So them leaning into Nine being kind of creepy like that was fun. Whilst still feeling a very Tails-y direction to tke villainy.

Alright, light note over. Sonic himself? Also fantastic.

Nine is right about his guilt, but he's wrong to call it Sonic's only motivation. He wants to save his friends because he cares about them, not just becaus ehe destroyed them accidentally before. But Nine has never felt like he's had anyone to look out for him like that before, so he doesn't get that. But Sonic sees Nine that same way. It's why Nine doesn't believe him when he tells him that. And it's why Nine is so eager to believe Sonic betrayed him, and is a bad guy, because he wants to reduce Sonic down to a guy that's just all about himself because that's easier to picture as the bad guy, easier to picture as the kind of bully he's always been dealing with.

But Sonic isn't that. Sonic is ready all season to die to save the Shatterspace, and that isn't just because of guilt. That isn't just because Shadow beat him around a bit and told him this was his fault. This isn't because he's seen the chaos that he's caused the alternate-universe versions of his friends. And isn't just because Nine told him that, once again, he hadn't listened.

No, Sonic can't fathom him having hurt his friends, and yes, he'd do anything to not do it again, but... He'd have done that before, right? His flaw was that he didn't listen to his friends, and that he didn't rely on them, not that he was ready to leave them behind, or that he wouldn't have given his life for them before. He was careless, but he always had a big heart.

Nine keeps calling him predictable, but he never predicted Sonic's biggest motivation, because he never wanted to consider what it was, because that would mean Sonic actually cared about him, and he would have to care if taking Sonic's energy killed him.

It hurts Nine to do that, in the end. It hurts him to have to potentially kill the only guy who ever did listen to him, and speak up for him. But he does it because, like always, in the end he does believe in Sonic.

Their hug at the end is very sweet. Sonic listens to Nine, and Nine admits that he can care, and does care, to Sonic.

Nine will never be, and would never have ever been, Sonic's best wingman, not like the Green Hill tails, but he could be Sonic's friend, and a very different kind of Right-hand Man.

If the ending was a tease for a season 4, I definitely hope we get a Sonic and Nine reunion in it!

[tacagen]

BY the WAY i want to talk about how thawne explains his feelings. i used to think he was being very open on that (i mean. to my schizoid ass that is because i wouldnt ever mention i feel anything when explaining my hatred), considering how he says barry hurt him not only to barry but to iris BUT. THIS IS THE ONLY THING HE SAYS DIRECTLY (i mean i remember him also saying 'before the pain of your rejection' to barry somewhere in the f*nish l*ne, + it's essentially the same point only clearer so wahoo, there is a progress! he also mentions that wearing the suit and bettering himself without barry to see it 'felt not enough' but those arent exactly on the same level of difficulty to realise and verbalize and most likely come directly from his time in therapy). everything else is just Implied. so my theory: this is the only thing he realizes and can actually formulate/admit about his feelings, either from therapy experience or reflection after the trip to 21st century which would still be based on therapy experience. this is why he says he will fix everything after barry defeats him for the first time. barry's authority confirmed by their otherwise perfect day together and him winning (+ probably the fact that it would be irrational to be mad at him for that. you can tell this mf rationalizes hard by his choice of words when he narrates his origin. 'better utilized as a teacher'? 'methods' about the shit he set up to pose as a hero? please he is so fucking detached from himself and especially the parts of his history that dont include barry directly. growing up in 25th century fucks you up in that way ig) convinces him that barry knows better and he suppresses everything and promises to become someone barry would approve of instead of whatever he is right now. he doesnt question barry yet but he also never understood what was so wrong with setting up those accidents, he doesnt see it as something bad neither that day which must've caused the fight in the first place or in his reverse-flash era when remembering it, he only refers to that as 'created opportunities', 'my methods, efforts to honor your legacy'. i think this whole period between the day they met and trip to the 21st century thawne straight up gaslighted himself daily that everything is fine and he isn't hurt, disappointed or mad at barry a single bit into not remembering/knowing what he felt that day and i fucking Know he is capable of doing that because this is the same man who dissociated from trauma into believing he was barry so much that green lantern ring indicated he was saying the truth about being him and do you even imagine how much it actually must've hurt for thawne to face the fact that barry didnt accept him and his 'ways of honoring and worshipping him' repeatedly (the day they met, cause of the fight and after the trip to the 21st century, rerealising he felt this way back then and that it was justified all along) after believing, dreaming for his whole life that he would in fact accept and understand everything about him because he never had any of those in reality and barry and meeting him was his only hope for that.

also the way thawne never shuts the fuck up? yeah, that's a defence mechanism. notice how every time negative barry says something hurtful to him, he COMPLETELY ignores his point and just changes the topic or starts up his usual bullshit again.

the only time he does answer is probably the lightest for his comprehension because the thing barry threatens to do to him already happened once.

and what do you know, it's also a coping mechanism! it's just more subtle and related to lying to barry and himself since we know his actual end goal here is only to spend at least some time with barry.

[stonelions]

[disclaimer: again, not blaming the cast for anything. blame being set squarely on writing/directing choices]

as i understand it, tlhbou very intentionally cast Pedro bc they wanted to present a more lovable, softer version of Joel. (Show Joel, if you will.) which, considering the source material, an unusual & potentially disastrous change to make, since fundamentally altering Joel's character and casting media's current darling loveable dad..... ends up gutting the story in a pretty fundamental way.

in-game Joel is a traumatized, emotionally shut-down survivor who has succeeded as long as he has in a dangerous world because he's selfish. it's simple self-preservation. he avoids FEDRA mandated QZ duties, he and Tess are clear heavy hitters in Boston's underbelly, and he is disturbingly competent at killing people. to that effect, his violence is measured; decisive. practical. (this disconnection from his actions is arguably a result of trauma, yes, but unlike Show Joel, he isn't "triggered" to violence. he chooses it, because it's the most expedient way to stay alive or get what he needs. and in the tlou-verse, if you aren't the guy doing the violence, somebody else is gonna do the violence to you.)

this Joel has given up on his brother. they have not spoken in years, he has no idea if Tommy is still alive, and if he is, he assumes Tommy wants nothing to do with him. his primary goal is to keep his and Tess' existence as "free" and comfortable as possible, regardless of the nature of their relationship. (never made explicitly romantic, in-game.) he does not need to be "managed" by this Tess, like some kind of unpredictable guard dog, and the two of them together kill people handily, as needed, to maintain their place in the QZ pecking order. they seem committed to staying off FEDRA's radar, for obvious reasons. (FEDRA doesn't much care about protecting law-abiding citizens, let alone smugglers.)

so when Joel meets Ellie and is tasked with her transport, he is annoyed. it is a huge, hazardous inconvenience. & losing Tess is the exact kind of slap in the face he expected from getting involved in a battle he had no interest in fighting. he was not "already going out west" to look for his brother, and now he has to, in the hopes Tommy is still alive, and won't immediately turn him away because of their bad blood.

this inward facing selfishness is what we start to see chip away as Ellie--NOT "violence in her heart" Show Ellie, but traumatized, survivor's guilt riddled in-game Ellie, who is shy at first, and more jokey than mouthy--endears herself to him by being in parts clever, naive, hopeful, oddly sweet, and competent.

by the time they arrive at Tommy's, Joel wants to offload her not out of fear or self-doubt--convincing himself she'd be better off with Tommy and his guys is a lie to soothe his conscience--but because he's afraid of the bond they've formed, and is trying to run from it. he is being selfish to protect himself. (from more loss, pain, etc.)

this changes after the fight in the ranch house. he realizes he can run, but it's already too late, and actually they might as well finish what they started because yeah, he is capable, and maybe he's not her dad, but now? he's something.

and it's this selfishness, (love can be profoundly selfish) that motivates his heinous actions in the hospital. Joel, because of who he is, what he's been through, and how he gets attached, could not have made any other choice, world-be-doomed.

whether you believe killing Ellie would provide a cure or not (i do not, tbh, like, killing your one immune subject immediately is high stakes storytelling but terrible fucking science, w/e), the choice Joel makes is heinous and awful. and SELFISH. Joel. is selfish. (this is not me saying he is a bad person. the showrunners seem desperate to map our moral sensibilities to the setting, but that is ridiculous. Joel has to be selfish, or die.)

Show Joel... is self-doubting, and self-hating, full of regrets, (even suicidal????? WHAT??) and as far as we see, way less competent than his game counterpart. he's an emotional being. (that monologue to Tommy? i am not even going to touch it. he would not say that.) his attachment to Ellie seems almost instantaneous, and the showrunners treat it as an inevitable outcome, like these two characters are destined to meet and do violence together, which is, frankly, far less interesting than two very different people forming a close bond through incredible hardship that fundamentally alters the course of both their lives.

anyway. that's. just a brief (lol) summary of one way I've been looking at it. if they wanted to make Show Joel softer, they needed to change other story beats to match, and they... didn't. so.

[flownwrong]

happy wincest wednesday (in advance, i'm actually thinking ahead for once)! I'm all about the crossovers this week: how do you think Sam and Dean's Disco Elysium stats work? They've obviously got a lot of points put in everywhere, what with all the hero stuff, but what do you think are their signature skills? Do they have any unique ones? Thoughts, thoughts <3

happy happy ww, z! thanks for the awesome question <3 (your previous one is still not forgotten btw!)

oh jeez! i can immediately see dean generally tending towards psych/phys, obv, and sam more confident with intellect/motorics (like lol e.g. i think it's more or less canon dean is a somewhat better shot, but that boy does Not know what composure even is, let alone savoir faire)

i do think they're fun custom builds though — sam is defoooo high up on volition scale, to the point it's my closest contender for signature, and suggestion—a deadly, borderline sociopathic combo, when you remember all that composure and rhetoric waiting in the wings. but with that much volition—he has a final say in what he is, always and ever, as demonstrated in swan song, the entirety of s9, the list is endless.

and no one can beat his endurance+pain threshold combo. we saw many try. it's just easier to hit him in a thinner spot (electrochemistry seems to be one. not much care over it, but also not much control. the rubys and lady tonis of the world see it plain as day. it won't make him open up to you, but it will work as a carrot for choice goals.)

dean, i imagine, lives life immersed in a conversation between half-light (isn't it fun to think of moc > demon dean pipeline as his natural half-light predisposition steadily getting maxed-out to the point it cancels out his psyche sensitivity?) and drama (which, in his case more of a genuine mutability + desire for connection and participation than a performative weapon. comes with the ability to see through it in others (ruby anyone?) and i'd go with it for signature.)

i believe all of this is modified by his high empathy turned endless feeling of responsibility, leaving half-light in more of a fear of abandonment+pessimism line of thought position than a deranged aggro position.

i'd also bet he's not bad on shivers (all those long drives in the impala, talking gently to the road!) and very much an esprit de corps guy when it comes to hunting teamwork, while sam is the resident encyclopedia king, not opposed to flexing the authority either.

all of this is just the usual framework where sam is immutable and dean is relatively easy to mold, but not easy to fundamentally change, whatever he might think about his own liabilities and failings, of course.

and a little of those unique skills, as a treat; i know DE fandom loves inventing those, which makes all the sense, we don't all live in harry's head, so.

i'd give dean the one called family business, haha. that would be john's voice in his head when it comes to all that hero responsibility paid for by own desires (it would have a field day with WIAWSNB dean or the pre-s6 family guy dean), hunting community (e.g. the whole bobby deal), taking in companions and friends to that end, occasionally finding himself in a mentor position later on. mostly unpleasant. always loses checks against anything sam-related.

sam, i'd go with boy king, lol. his natural ability to pick up and use supernatural skills that, when maxed out enough to mess with his volition, gave us the beauty of s4, let lucifer get hold of him to the degree he did in s7, and in later years made him suitable for trials and rowena's trust and occasional spellwork, but, from his point of view, is just kind of a nuisance, and a dangerous one at that. imagine what fun it would be to listen in on this tempting voice always suggesting he go back and flex those powers, it would be so easy to just—yeah.

(you said unique skills not cool skills!! unique fuckups are just more fun)

anyways. that's that. thanks again it was so much fun to think about!

[total-drama-brainrot]

i'm not entirely sure who the first merge boot would be: my options are cody owen and sierra (mostly the first two since i don't doubt cody would use any chance to get sierra eliminated). but, yeah i'll probably just keep owen.

see, i don't think duncan's "alliance" would pan out quite as well here considering the lack of teams, but hm. duncan and gwen in the serengeti (duncan - alejandro, tyler, courtney, gwen - heather, lindsay, herself?, heather/courtney? idk the voting here was weird - duncan) (i like to imagine them both stuck on one half of a cage while feral zeke is in the other because let's not have the guy steal the money in the finale, let's just bring him to rehab) and courtney on easter island is a tantalizing possibility. i could also swap duncan and courtney in that last paragraph without changing too much though.

there is definitely something to be said for keeping the "dives in front of the girl when the plane explodes" moment but i could keep that without heather having to be eliminated and just have chef do it instead. also, she just got un-bald do we really want her to do it again.

i think i might say tyler gets eliminated and then i'm gonna make it consists of alejandro and lindsay arguing about him and heather :/-ing. i don't know what this is how we will end it would consist of. maybe lindsay finally realizing the true extent of what alejandro did?

"you left bridgette stuck to a pole / robbed leshawna of her fabulous soul / made even courtney lose control?! (okay this lyric no longer fits as well but.)"

I. I can't believe I forgot about Cody. He's One Of My Blorbos From My Shows and I forgot about him completely. Throw that twink out pre-merge, have him eliminate himself just to get away from Sierra or something.

You're right about the Aleduncan alliance not having the same basis as canon since they never shared a team. The whole 'love triangle' situation is more than enough plot for Duncan anyway, so you could scrap the whole idea, and nothing of note would really change.

Duncan and Courtney are, as painful as it is to admit, pretty interchangeable as far as plot is concerned. Gwen is far too passive and reactive to function as a conflict generator/plot device (she was the reactive protagonist in Island, and the 'damsel love interest' in Action before her elimination; any conflict involving her is always generated by outside forces and Gwen just kind of reacts to it) so she'd have to be the first of the three to be eliminated, simply because there's not much reason to keep her around. She won't generate anything new for their subplot. But both Duncan and Courtney are proactive problem starters, so swapping their elimination order is fairly easy to do.

But this AU isn't about them, despite how much I've discussed them.

Having Tyler be the one eliminated in Drumheller makes more sense to me, simply because having him in the finale for the tiebreaker doesn't have as much tension as having Heather there would.

Think about it; you've got Tyler facing off against Alejandro in the tiebreaker (assuming Lindsay's the one who wins the cross-country challenge), he's just gonna throw the whole thing, right? He's either completely under Alejandro's thumb, or he's having his doubts thanks to his talk with Lindsay in Drumheller; either way he's throwing the tiebreaker to give the people he loves (both Alejandro and Lindsay) a chance at the million, because he's Tyler. He's chivalrous to a fault, and just earnest enough to care more about the people in his life than the money he could win.

Heather, on the other hand, is here to win. She and Lindsay still have their unsteady 'alliance'- I think there's something poetic about the two of them actually taking each other to the finale this time, since that's exactly what Heather promised in Island, even if she never intended to upkeep it- fuelled by their shared goal of getting Alejandro eliminated. The tiebreaker is her final shot at achieving this goal; the penultimate conflict between herself and Alejandro that the whole season has been leading up to.

Having her eliminated in Drumheller takes all of that plot momentum and throws it out of the window. All of that build up for a face off against the 'villains', gone. In the least satisfactory way possible.

And then you could either have Lindsay and Alejandro duke it out in the actual final challenge, OR you could have Heather beat him and have Lindsay and Heather play a game of 'Who can backstab the other first?'- because there's no trust between the two of them, and Lindsay (as guileless as she is) is wise to Heather's tricks. I personally think, from a narrative standpoint, that having Alejandro and Lindsay as the finalists is the better idea; the whole AU revolves around their conflict, after all.

Meanwhile, Tyler's in the peanut gallery stands, (probably) charred and wheelchair bound, conflicted over which finalist he should be supporting. Does he remain loyal to Alejandro, despite the doubt creeping in? Or does he, now free from the other's rose-tinted influence, wisen up to the fact that he's been played and support his ex instead? Do any of the ex-contestants manage to convince him that Alejandro sabotaged his relationship with Lindsay as a ploy to win the competition?

(For 'This Is How We Will End It', you could just replace Courtney with Tyler, since he's essentially just done with Tyler what he did to Courtney in canon- that is, "lose control" by catching feelings. That could be how Lindsay realises that Alejandro holds no real affections for Tyler, he just sees the jock's feelings towards him as a boon in the competition. And she'd be furious, because he sabotaged her relationship and stole her boyfriend, yet he doesn't even really love Tyler at all?)

[amimuu]

✨So I finally decided to dump my au into here. Share it with the rats✨

—You have a garden in your house, you love your garden and take care of all the flowers, however you’ve been noticing they’ve been withering without apparent reason lately.

One day while going out to the garden, you find a single, healthy tiny flower. As you notice it is alone, surrounded by all the bigger plants, you feel pity for it, and, in an act of goodwill, you decide to take care of it.

However, what you didn;t know was that said flower would grow and grow until the garden was left completely unsalvageable, because that little flower was actually just the first of thousands, waiting to grow and consume the garden whole.

If you had plucked it out, however, you would’ve noticed the roots and you could’ve saved your garden—

*proceeds to dump apparently non-important chunk of text onto you* Anyways...

The basics of the overal plot :)

Winter, 2007. After his father's death, Adam's life completely started falling apart. Slowly, he fell out of his routine and the only times he dragged himself out of bed were to check on his dad's old room or to leave the house for says, unable to deal with just how empty everything felt after Jude left.

Just as he believed he was about to hit rock bottom, an old friend of his reintroduced themselves into his life. Empathetic yet stubborn, Jonah managed to drag him out of the Hole he was falling into and slowly but surely, piece him back together into his old self for the better, or for the worse—because, being honest, what would he be without them?—

The main story follows Adam, but there's a little subplot :)

Back in 1992, a troubled Cesar searches for ways in which he can help his best friend, Mark, who seems to be going through a tough time with his parents, as each day their fights and discussions become more frequent and there's hardly any peace at his house. Cesar knows Mark wants to speak up about it but feels insecure about what his parents' reaction to him saying anything would be. Besides, he has begun to close himself up, going outside less and less and just staying in his room all day listening to his mom's cassettes or re-reading his books, trying to ignore all the yelling outside. So, Cesar has set it as his goal to help in any way he can—But of course, a good intention isn't enough to fix a problem—

I can't spoil much because i want to keep the element of surprise but yes! There is a catch to all of this. This au was planned as some sort of metaphor to the healing/grieving process...Mostly on Adam side, but I like to think grief can come for various reasons and in different forms. But still. On Adam's side, it is about grief and healing, trying to ignore the problem because as long as you don't think about it, it can't hurt you; but it's always there, present, in the back of your mind, growing bigger and bigger the more you ignore it, until it becomes too much and it collapses on you all at once...

While Mark is more about obsessing over said problem, overthinking again and again what could and couldn't have been done to avoid getting into it in the first place, trapping yourself inside an endless cycle that continues to worsen every time it repeats, and starts over...

And with all this said you may have made yourself an idea of the basic plotof the au. YAY!

It is planned to be a multi-ending interactive au on twitter, since those are of the thing right now over there, but I would very much like to post it here too cuz yeah. This place seems more chill about new aus and stuff...However, i do have planned for the 1992 sub-plot to happen in a fic. It'll probably be up on ao3 when the time comes :)

Oh, one last thing. That big chunk of dialogue. Thats how choices will work in the au. Because, the reasonable option isnt always going to be the one that gets you to the better outcome.

and now: the doodles i have made *dumps them onto you*:

main dodles i did- there are more but i think i'll post them later heh

Anyways...If you have any questions about anything feel free to dump it onto my q&a cuz I would absolutely love to answer ya'll.

[b0nelessdoodles]

Art Summary 2023

shoutout to the one month were i drew fanart and then everything else was just dnd content again lmao (also shoutout to me being late to posting this haaaaa)

2023 wasn't the best year for me personally. between money problems and job searching, health issues, mental health issues, unintentional discomfort at my new job, and the overall issues of the world it just hasn't been great and I felt it heavily in my creativity. I never really had any creative highs this year outside of artfight (and even then i felt like i didn't do well) which only fed into some of the issues I was having.

But looking back I am really happy with most of what I made! Sure I didn't draw much but hey I think I popped off when I did!

So here is to 2024! Already off to a good start in the art department and even if I slow down at least I've had fun so far!

(i was gonna put me gushing about things in tags but its a lot so i'm doing a read more this post is already so damn long lmao i'm sorry)

okay i'm here to gush about two pieces at a time and their contents cause then make me happy to look at so lets get started on that with march and september 'cause hey! look at the relationship development of my little goblin guy!

march was when kk (tic's best friend and now boyfriend) first appeared to the rest of the party outside of just tic talking about him. literally the entire party could see that kk was in love with tic and was just like "oh buddy sorry about that" 'cause tic was a dumbass and romance was just never something he thought about until meeting the party. then we flash forward to september where the two confessed to each other after what really felt like the end of tic's story arc. at least it felt that way to me 'cause he reached his goal of killing groll and becoming the king of goblins but i know he still has shit to do I'M LOOKING AT YOU TRAVELLER AND RIP! but yeah that was the whole reason he left and it was done. he did it! but it almost cost him kk and the two ended up having a really important talk about it. kk chewed tic out and spilled his guts and i still think about it a lot holy shit it was so good omfg but it was in that moment that it clicked for tic. that if he had actually lost kk he had no idea what he would do, that he felt like his whole life would fall apart without him. and just man it was good wholesome content. congrats to the goblins for being the first canon relationship! (even tho they were not the first confession that one goes to rhami!)

now that that block of the text is out of the way we get to more depressing ones, those being january and october with my guy, dr. cecil wilfree.

its just.... man. what do i even say about him. january was probably the last moment before his life went into a full downward spiral, eventually leading into his demise. that piece isn't even anything major but rather something like a reminder going "hey, remember when wilfree had two normal eyes? good times!" and just man (-insert that image of a horse standing on the beach-) compare that to where he's at in october and knowing what happened in those 10 months? january he still had trust and hope, he believed that he was going to get back home and help river out with his plague, maybe even get aster home if she'd let them, maybe find a way to cure himself and help casey. but by the end there was no hope and he found out that he had been used, was nothing more than a tool for someone who he trusted, despite knowing that he really shouldn't have. river was dead and it was his fault (at least in his mind it was), he had failed to protect aster and traumatized both her and willow, and he could do nothing to save an entire population from being wiped off the face of the map. and he caved under the guilt. he gave up. its sad to see him alive and pissy in january and then look at december and see a shell of the same man, no more thoughts in that head as his mind got disconnected from his body and self.

and then for extra sads we've got december which was his birth month, so i drew something from a time before the campaign. back when he was alive and well, no soul curse and unknowing of the horrors yet to come, and receiving a gift from someone whose life he could soon destroy due to his own hubris.

anyway! pay no mind to may! i didn't draw a damn thing that whole month!

[demonsfate]

I think I've mentioned it before but that's just why i couldn't enjoy the story as much as I could've. Just bc every time Jin says something like "do I deserve to live...?" I think, well, did all the people you kill deserve to live? Or when characters like Lars and Alisa being super friendly to Jin even though in TK7, Lars wanted to kill Jin, and Alisa literally cries at remembering what Jin did to her. It just felt super weird. And I did went into TK8 assuming they weren't gonna explain why Jin's suddenly good again and how people just came to become buddies with him. But I was still highly disappointed they didn't give that explanation.

As I've pointed out many times. in TK6, Jin just wasn't forced to do something bad because he had to or else the world would go bye-bye. But he was also just uncharacteristically cruel for no true reason. See this post where I literally show examples of pre-TK6 Jin with TK6 Jin and how they behave totally different. So the fact that Jin went from telling Alisa she's a "worthless piece of junk" and that he's glad she's gone, versus him showing gratitude for her protection is something that's noticeable in the story, and something that you will question. Because everything Jin did in TK8, I just remember TK6. TK6 left that much of a stain on the character.

So if they weren't gonna explain the sudden change in Jin's character, why he's suddenly good, why everyone supports him... they should've just gave it a quick retcon. Like it would've been much easier to quickly say "yeah Jin's body was controlled by Devil or Azazel and he wasn't actually responsible for any of his actions! Because of this, the other characters sympathized with him and now view him as a victim as well!" As I've always said, if they want Jin to still have That Guilt... he can! it can just manifest from his weakness and shame that somebody used his body to harm and kill.

Another problem is all the unanswered or unresolved things. Maybe I'm wrong, but I could've sworn they said they'll explain the source of the Kazama powers... they don't? Like Jun has the power to repel the devil gene and supposedly heal, but that isn't explain how. She gives Jin the power, but it isn't explained why the Kazamas have it - just that they do and it exists to protect the ones they love. Jun was another problem because they built up her hype regarding her return but she was barely in it other than for flashbacks and in Jin's head. it was only until the very end that we found out that she's, seemingly, still alive. The inclusion of Reina means this isn't the end of the Mishima or the devil saga. Many other characters didn't really get their resolve, either. Xiao did upon finally being with Jin. Jin did with learning to love himself and wanting to live. but characters like Marshal, Paul, Bryan, Yoshimitsu, Lili, Asuka, Jack... they're all stuck in the same loop they've been in for over 20 years now. The same ol' story of marshal needs money, Paul's an idiot who never gets to go far in the tournaments, Asuka and Lili still fight each other - we're STILL not told how Asuka is related to Jin, and Asuka STILL doesn't know of her power that was hinted in her noncanon TK5 ending.

Then there were things I was just... confused by. Azucena is a prime example. When I first saw her in the second story trailer, I thought she was gonna be an evil capitalist queen who isn't what she seems - similar to Reina, she seems like a fun girl, but in reality - she's evil, selfish, power hungry and will do anything for her goal, even if it means siding with somebody who's gonna kill millions. I thought this made her more interesting than the first impression that she's just coffee obsessed. But when we actually see her in the story mode??? She... thinks she's on the good side?! Like she starts talking about world peace and how she'll do anything for it, and then starts accusing Leo of being the bad guy??? Wtf??? How on earth could she believe that G-Corp are the good guys when Kazuya is literally threatening to WIPE OUT countries?! And then her and Leo just as a casual banter afterward?? Maybe I just misunderstood something here? I was kinda confused why Nina just... left the story, too lol. Like did Kazuya had her on a timed contract or something? Some fans are even still debating whether certain characters died or not lol.

I had problems with DJ's depiction (even if he's usually very entertaining before the uh... Saving Jin moment). But I already wrote my issues in a separate post and it feels redundant to repeat them here lol and that other post i reblogged already mentioned other issues i had, too lol

And I know that yes, Tek's stories are usually a mess and it's best not to focus too much on a fighting game's story. But like, when you're consuming a story, it's just hard to turn off your brain and ignore the glaring issues. Whilst I still enjoyed it, there were also a lotta things that were weird.

[icharchivist]

It kinda sounds like the people didn't actually unlock the Eternals so they'd miss out on the characterization (understandable, I'm also not about to try and recruit them currently), and then, what, based their personalities off headcanons and fanfiction? And then get upset that the characters are more complex than fanon?

You can see Siete's manipulative side, maybe not in Poacher's Day, but it's really obvious in Bzzt! when he's manipulating the twins

Sure, it's "just" to go to the beach with him, but still. He plays it off as being a sad bullying victim, but it's very clear what he's doing if you just look for a second

God, literacy is so low, how dare people just imply things instead of spelling them out

the worst is that i saw that from people i KNOW unlocked the Eternals which is what bugs me. I can only assume it's because it was so far ago in their mind?!

And yeah else i'd say maybe the summer events didn't help, and i know when SoR came out Poacher's day was in the side stories but not Bzz! so maybe they were really relying on him being more lowkey in Poacher's day?

tho i think in general people only see manipulative behavior when those behaviors are supposed to be harmful and/or have a negative impact.

When Siete shows himself being manipulative in Bzz! people probably overlook it as him just being quirky and he doesn't actually do harm, so it doesn't matter and he must know to hold back when it matters right?

or when Siete is manipulative and threatening with MC during his FE, it's because he doesn't know MC and just sees the threat the weapon cause right, so when he will know MC he won't be manipulative anymore right?

I think it ultimately comes from this idea that Siete wouldn't *seriously* try to manipulate someone he actively trust, for something that could hurt them. which is why people thought it was out of character that he left Seox be hurt the way he did to manipulate everything right.

but, yeah no, i'm sorry, Siete isn't manipulative just to be quirky and "knows to hold back", he's manipulative most of the time and it just ends up spilling again when he's having some downtime because it's a second nature.

and he doesn't manipulate MC just because he doesn't know them and doesn't trust them and see the threat of the weapon, he would do the same if he trusted them, the whole point is that Siete gets tunnel vision when he sees a threat he can handle on his own.

and i think "... and you" doubled down on that in a way people found satisfying, but /i/ remember when people thought it was out of character. But "... and you" makes clear that, no, Siete has this habit to want to handle everything on his own and thinking he knows how to handle threat this way, and in this case he will manipulate people around him to get there. and "And you" shows both how, if unchecked, this behavior would have him turn into Sieten't, and how Siete now has to learn to rely on the Eternals, as the whole climax of the event relies on Siete having to come to term with the fact that now he has this group he can rely on and he shouldn't be manipulating the odds so he himself can take care of it.

But ultimately i think it's really just that when people hear of behaviors that are usually coded negatively (manipulation, lying, ect) they believe it means the character is trying to do harm, and it's.... not the case. and it's why they struggle to reconcile that when Siete manipulates and lies to his crew, it's usually because he has their safety in mind on the grand scheme of things -- but that to get to his end goal, he will have to accept that they'll get hurt, and he genuinely believes he can handle it alone and that they wouldn't understand his reasoning. I believe he's very much a "the end justifies the means" type of person, and he knows people will not accept the means, so instead of discussing it and compromising, he just takes the whole heat once people explode at him for it.

He's ruthless and pragmatic on that regard. he's not a bad person, but ultimately he falls back a lot on some dishonest methods out of an unhealthy level of self-reliance. and it's something he does so often that it slips when he tries to have normal interraction with his crew, and i think it's a much more interesting justification on why his crew, especially Seox, Feower and Tien, have a hard time with this behavior, than if they were just being bitchy about Siete being clingy.

and it's genuinely much more interesting to see him get burn with that because his crew is trying to remind him that they're an unit, than just pretending he's the perfect big bro who is able to leave aside this ruthlessness to be a good captain.

idk man. maybe i'm also making a Siete in my mind that doesn't exist because i found the one from SoR to be compelling. But genuinely like. The pieces are here and it's so odd to imply that SoR came out of nowhere while there were countless of moments that showed that Siete is perfectly capable of doing this type of things.

[thatoneguy031]

(@silverott-chevalier except it's actually not Cooper in the slightest lmao)

Hey Suicune dude WHAT THE FUCK--

Impulse control is important. That goes for Cherry and the Suicune both.

FHAHCZJVSYHFDYO

You can roll your hands over the keyboard all you like. Still, it's good that the three of you have decided to journey together. I hear that there are ruins far to the west--I believe they're near a place called Lacunosa Town? Chevalier has mentioned wanting to see them for himself with his species-given water maneuverability, so if you don't have a clear goal in mind, perhaps you can make your way in that direction. Or perhaps you've already seen it, between the three of you?

... you know we owe Koop a visit to Unova anyway, so it's not like we need to live vicariously through them?

Well...ruins are nice. I can be mundane in my musings...

What the- Hey, it's not my fault that someone got a little too sensitive and wanted to attack me! I'm with the guy in blue here: What the DIST, dude?!

... [The Suicune glared at her. For the briefest of moments, Cherry hesitated, taking a step back from them, but she continued to stand her ground.] <I take no more disrispect. from no one.>

W-Well, because of your "no disrespect" shtick, someone got hurt! Look at cheesecake here, now he's hurt because of you!

I'm telling you, it's fine, Cherry. I just need to fine one berry, right?

Yeah... That isn't native to Unova, last I checked! How're you gonna fight with basically one arm till then, ah?!

Come on, chill- ...Relax. Awful phrasing. Besides, Suicune already apologized to me days ago now. I can probably find a berry here anyways, they're always selling goodies and stuff in Driftveil.

<Implys you have money.>

Actually, I do! I know it's not much, but I've been saving a bit up from the coins and stuff that humans drop. Something like... 3,000, last I checked? And I always bring a bit with me, in case I see some stuff I really like.[Guy lifts his helmet a small bit, revealing a small stash of coins and bills on his head.] I only brought 1,000 with me, but surely, that's enough. I'll even get you dudes snacks if it's not too expensive.

Anyways, what were you saying about some ruins? Near Lacunosa, right? We can go for that. Right, dudes?

As long as I don't get blasted by Mr. Blizzard-Breath over here, I'm fine, ha ha ha-

[Suicune glared at Cherry again, and she went quiet.] <Makes sense. we can do it.>

Alright, I guess it's decided! Although... If I'm not wrong, you said east of Unova, near Lacunosa Town, and freedom for water-types to swim as they please... I'm not too good at map reading, does this place have a name? 'Cause the place I'm thinking of is the Abyssal Ruins, but that's east of Unova, right? I just need to be pointed in the right direction, y'know?

[creamsoda100]

Warning I am not a writing creative so there is a good chance many of these questions are being answered for the first time

Secondly, I can't think of an oc more fleshed out than Austin so voila

♥️ praise almost certainly however I am unsure how love languages work and if that is one of them

👖 go to outfit is likely glamoured studded leather armor that non-magically already looks like a very nice suit

☄️ people assume he doesn't think before his actions sometimes I think. While this is rarely true, usually I think his train of thought simply misses the obvious quite often which can lead to that illusion

🖍️ If I had it, I would give him relationship advice. Sadly I am just as lost as him, unsurprisingly

🔪 I would say a combination of convincing himself there's nothing he could have done, and doing everything he can to make it better/prevent things from happening

🪤 probably something that he thinks will help him achieve his goals, especially if there's no other way to go about achieving them. If he doesn't do everything he could to succeed and he fails, that's his fault which is illegal. He is an absolute weasel though, so be careful and don't expect he'll come alone

🌌 MILKY WAY - what was the inspiration behind your oc? what was the first thing you decided about them?

when I was first introduced to dnd in first year, I made a bard and had a blast once I decided he is obsessed with catching a fish, but was disappointed I wasn't able to do anything bardy. that group fell apart (thankfully as I wouldnt trade my current group for the world), so after my first real dnd experience was done, I wanted to try the bard archetype again. when I first made him the only thing I really decided was that he would be secretly involved with the bbeg's daughter, everything else my amazing dm added. also the reason I chose bard at all was at the time I thought I might actually sing during dnd however I have transitioned into being much to embarrassed to be so spontaneous. also I switched to my pc at this point so there is much more writing now

🙈 SEE-NO-EVIL - whats a side of your oc that they don't want to show other people?

can't really think of anything off the top of my head. He's closer to his party members than anyone else and there isn't really anything I can think of that he wouldn't feel comfortable sharing. as for people outside of the party, he doens't want to show weakness or a lack of confidence to the people, as he believes that will weaken the already fragile stability we have. people he knows personally on the other hand.... not entirely sure. I think he's relatively open about his flaws in general (since theyre so evident so often) so yeah

🙊 SPEAK-NO-EVIL - what is something your oc will refuse to stay quiet about?

probably if he thinks something is a bad idea or plan. For all the horrible ideas and plans he's had, he is still confident in his ability to reason if something will work out or not.

🙉 HEAR-NO-EVIL - what is the worse thing your oc could hear from someone?

probably that "x horrible thing is your fault". There are many horrible things that have occurred due to austin that are undebatably his fault, and I do believe that he has effectively blocked them from his memory but being reminded of the horrible choices he's made and being genuinely upset at him about it would *not* do wonders for his psyche. he is doing his best and sometimes it isnt enough and that is not ok for him

🕷️ SPIDER - what is their biggest fear? do they have any irrational / mundane fears?

probably failure. He's definitely the kind of person that will not go down without a fight, so if after all these years all he's done just ends with making everything worse, that would be real bad

alright thats a lot of text sorry for my rambling I hope you enjoy

𝐎𝐂 𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐉𝐈 𝐀𝐒𝐊𝐒!

feel free to tweak questions + all emojis r listed in text form bc i can't see some of them aAAaaAA! sorry if any of these questions are too similar i tried to avoid that but .. there's a lot lol! categorized by emoji type.

i wanted to make one because i could not find one on tumblr already that had a ton of questions. this was created by combining ones under the #oc ask game tag + my own contributions. hi charmymemes nation i'm back.

people

👁️ EYE - what colour are their eyes? do people notice their eyes? is there anything special about them (shows emotion easily, literally magical...)?

🤥 LYING - are they good liars? do they have tells to show they're lying?

👻 GHOST - do they believe in ghosts? what are their "ghostly experiences", if any?

💥 COLLISON - what emotions do they have trouble dealing with?

😭 CRYING - what makes them cry? do they cry easily?

👊 PUNCH - are they quick to violence?

💢 ANGER - what are some habits they have that will take some getting used to?

👪 FAMILY - what is their family like? what is your ocs relationship to them? does your oc have any siblings?

😨 FEARFUL - when scared, do they go into "flight" or "fight"?

💤 SLEEPING - do they fall asleep easily? what helps them sleep?

food & drinks

🥞 PANCAKE - what is their comfort breakfast?

🎂 BIRTHDAY CAKE - when is their birthday? do they like celebrating it?

🍩 DONUT - favourite sweet treat?

🍟 FRIES - do they order food often? or they prefer to cook their own food?

☕️ HOT BEVERAGE - do they prefer hot or cold drinks? what is their favourite drink?

🍓 STRAWBERRY - do they eat their fruit & veg? what is their favourite fruit or vegetable?

🍰 CAKE SLICE - favourite cake flavour? are they specific about types of cakes?

🍧 SHAVED ICE - do they still have any objects from their childhood? what significance does it have to them? what would their reaction be if they lost it?

plants & nature

💐 BOUQUET - create a bouqet for them! what do those flowers mean? are any of the flowers their particular favourite?

🌙 MOON - what is your oc's greatest wish? how far are they willing to go for it?

🌋 VOLCANO - how bad is their temper? is it a slow boil, or a instant explosion?

🌺 HIBISCUS - do they have any allergies?

🍁 MAPLE LEAF - what is their favourite season? why?

🍃 FALLING LEAF - do they enjoy being in nature? what is their favourite outdoor activity?

☀️ SUN - are they a morning person? what is the first thing they do in the morning?

🕷️ SPIDER - what is their biggest fear? do they have any irrational / mundane fears?

🌹 ROSE - do they like valentines day? have they been confessed to before? have they confessed to anyone before?

🙈 SEE-NO-EVIL - whats a side of your oc that they don't want to show other people?

🙊 SPEAK-NO-EVIL - what is something your oc will refuse to stay quiet about?

🙉 HEAR-NO-EVIL - what is the worse thing your oc could hear from someone?

🌱 SEEDLING - what is their most vivid memory from childhood?

🍀 CLOVER - do they believe in luck? are they lucky?

🌏 EARTH - will they give up the world for someone they love? is this decision easy for them?

🌌 MILKY WAY - what was the inspiration behind your oc? what was the first thing you decided about them?

activity

⚾ BASEBALL - can they play sports? what is their best position if they play a team sport? what's their strong suit (speed, power etc.)?

🏊 SWIMMING - can they swim? or are they afraid of water? how well do they swim? how do they feel about swimming in the ocean?

objects

📣 MEGAPHONE - how loud are they? what do they speak like? got a voice claim?

📖 OPEN BOOK - do they like reading? what's their favourite genre?

🪤 MOUSE TRAP - what will always lure them into certain danger? a loved one in danger? a promise of something they are always searching for?

📸 CAMERA - do they enjoy having their picture taken? what's their go-to pose? do they like taking photos? what do they take photos of?

🎭 MASKS - do they act differently around certain people? what's different between the way they act around friends, family, strangers, etc.?

✂️ SCISSORS - what is the "last straw" for them to cut someone out of their life? how easily do they let go of people?

💡 LIGHTBULB - is your oc a planner? do they write down every small detail or just wing it?

💎 DIAMOND - how rich are they? can they live the lifestyle they want to?

🎁 PRESENT - what types of presents would they be most happy to receive? are they good at gift giving?

🍼 BABY BOTTLE - what are their thoughts on children?

🔪 KNIFE - how do they react to injury / misfortune befalling their loved ones (significant other, family, friends)? do they put themselves at blame?

👑 CROWN - what does your oc want to be remembered as? why?

✏️ PENCIL - is there a particular quote / lyric that you associate with them?

🎵 MUSIC NOTE - what is their playlist like? their favourite artists? do you associate a particular song with them?

🎤 MICROPHONE - are they good at singing? what is their go-to karaoke song?

🎷 SAXOPHONE - do they play any instruments? are they any good at it?

📚 BOOKS - how were they at school? what is their best subject? what is their worst subject? do they have a favourite subject?

👖 JEANS - what is their go-to outfit?

🎨 PALETTE - can they draw? what do they like to draw?

🎡 FERRIS WHEEL - are they someone who wants to kiss at the top of the ferris wheel?

⏳ HOURGLASS - are they usually late or on-time?

🔫 PISTOL - do they trust people easily? how easily will they turn their back to someone? have they been backstabbed before? will they betray someone if given an ultimatum?

🎀 RIBBON - how would they fit into other worlds / aus? what aus would you like to try out? what fictional world would they fit / not fit into?

📎 PAPERCLIP - a random fact.

📦 PACKAGE - what are some "most likely to..." that can apply to them?

🖍️ CRAYON - what advice would you give to them?

⚙️ GEAR - what are your ocs thoughts on science & art? which do they give more importance to? how much value do they place on each?

🔧 WRENCH - are they good at fixing relationships? or do they tend to avoid doing so?

❇️ SPARKLE - what is their most prized possession? what do they value?

📏 RULER - is your oc well educated? where did they get their learning from?

transport

🚆 TRAIN - what is their answer to the trolley problem?

🚲 BICYCLE - can they ride a bike? what do they remember from learning to ride a bicycle?

weather

🌩️ LIGHTNING - are they scared of lightning?

💧 DROPLET - random angst headcanon

❄️ SNOWFLAKE - do people consider them cold? if so, what made them this way?

🌪️ TORNADO - what is the biggest change you've ever made to them? how have they changed from their original version?

🌈 RAINBOW - what advice would they give to their younger self?

🔥 FIRE - do they have any self destructive tendencies? what habits do they have that hinder them from becoming their best self?

☁️ CLOUD - a soft headcanon

🌟 GLOWING STAR - what do they think about when they look at the night sky? is there someone they want to star gaze with?

🌠 SHOOTING STAR - if they could make any wish with no repercussions, what wish would they make?

☄️ COMET - what do people assume about them? are they right?

hearts

💓 BEATING HEART - what gets their heart racing?

💘 HEART W/ ARROW - what traits do they look for in a relationship? do they believe in love at first sight?

💗 GROWING HEART - if they have a crush, is it noticable? what changes when they're in love?

❤️ RED HEART - their love language(s)?

💙 BLUE HEART - do they miss their s/o easily? how do they act when their s/o isn't around?

💚 GREEN HEART - what things make your oc feel comforted? hugs, kisses, food?

💖 SPARKLING HEART - are they a subtle or a showy lover?

💌 LOVE LETTER - do they like love letters? what kind of messages do they leave for their partner?

💔 BROKEN HEART - what could their partner do that would absolutely break their heart?

[linawritestwst]

Vil pining for a male reader who doesn't care very much about his advances? Like he doesn't react to them and just dismisses them.

vil x reader who doesn't care about his advances headcanons (male!reader)

it's been a hot minute since i did a writing request and i really had to go with a sad one huh. don't worry guys i promise the next one will be cute

i wasn't sure if you wanted it to be more angsty or you wanted it to have a more hopeful ending, so.. i kinda tried to do both :'D

♡ vil is a popular guy, that's for sure. a lot of people would literally kill to be with him, that's how popular he is. he's talented, smart and he is certainly attractive, he really deserves to have a reputation like this. and you did think he was cool and even kinda admired him, but it's just.. you really wish vil saw you as another fan of his. not something more than that. what do you mean by that? oh.. well, the thing is that vil is obviously in love with you. sure, he does a good job hiding it, so that his other fans and simply other nrc students won't find out, but you just know that this guy likes you. do you like him though?.. not really, actually.

♡ sure, this guy is a great actor. you can really see why he would be such a popular model too. honestly, what is he NOT capable of? but you just don't like him in that way. you're not interested. you can't imagine having a boyfriend like that. hm, maybe it's because vil is too perfect for you? or maybe he's just not your type? saying that vil schoenheit isn't your type is like basically begging his fans to kill you though. so yeah, you just silently ignored his advances at first or awkwardly tried to change the subject, hoping that it won't attract much attention.

♡ what about vil being in love with you though? why you? why not somebody else? you didn't know the reason and vil is actually not so sure himself. he is not the type to fall for someone just because of their looks, even though he does pay attention to that. it was more because of your personality: you were the responsible type of person, who always worked hard to achieve his goals. you never gave up no matter what and you made sure others follow your example, you didn't care about how "strong" and "powerful" those other nrc students are, you weren't going easy on them just because of that. that trait of yours has certainly piqued vil's interest and as he got to know you better, he started slowly falling in love with you and genuinely admiring you.. he's still better though, of course.

♡ vil is not being annoying about it and he's definitely not the type to stalk you or anything like that that's rook's job, but when you know that he likes you.. it's just obvious to see that he's doing something for you not just because he's in a good mood today, he's doing it because he wants you to like him back. and oh well, now that you know why he's doing it, you're not going to fall in love with him anytime soon. you know that him offering to help you with something is just him trying to make you notice him. honestly, when you think about it that way, this extremely popular "model/actor/influencer" guy suddenly becomes a spoiled child begging for attention in your eyes. of course, vil would never fall that low, but.. it does feel like that sometimes.

♡ whenever you mention that to your friends, they say that you're most likely overreacting. again, vil's advances and attempts to flirt with you are obvious only to you, but not to anybody else. he's always very careful about it and you can at least thank him for that. also, your friends just can't believe that vil would ever fall for a guy like you. you don't really stand out much, sure, you have a lot of admirable qualities, but you're still kind of average. you're not boring, of course, but still, vil would never find you that interesting.. you really wish that was the case, but you know the truth. somehow, even the average guy like you managed to impress vil schoenheit himself.

♡ when it becomes too uncomfortable for you, vil actually does notice it and he leaves you alone for some time. you actually find it very surprising and you're even grateful to him for a moment before you go "wait, that's, like, a bare minimum, i'm not forgiving a guy just because he realized that he makes me feel weird and left me alone". you even start thinking that he forgot about you, but nope, he didn't. he decides to talk about your relationship in private, so that no one else could hear you or interrupt you.

♡ he just wants to know how exactly you feel about him. are you actually not interested in him or you're just "playing hard to get" and making him show his love more often on purpose- oh, so you're not interested. he.. he is surprised, he has to admit that. he has never met someone who weren't interested in dating him before. "oh well, at least that's a new experience for you", you laugh, trying to light up the atmosphere, even though it's a serious situation and you're nervous too. it kinda works, actually.

♡ if you really don't love him back, well, vil is not happy about it, of course, but it doesn't mean that he's going to force you to love him or anything like that. he's a smart man, he knows when to stop. however, he will give you some time to think about it. it may sound stupid and meaningless, but he just really wants you to think more about your relationship with him. he will accept your answer either way, if you really don't like him in a romantic way, he will stop trying to make you notice him, but he hopes you'll be okay with being friends. and if you're willing to give him a chance, that would make him very happy. the choice is yours.