#antagonist gets her shit together 2

[antagonistchan]

Sequel

Antagonist Gets Her Shit Together: The Movie, my attempt to chronicle my repair of my life, began in 2018. It was titled the Movie because I wanted it to be a fast and explosive process.

Clearly it did not end up being such. In 2020, I actually felt like it was nearing completion, and I could transition to Antagonist Gets Her Shit Together: The Animated Series, a more chill and relaxed long-term followup... but then Covid happened and derailed everything. In 2021, I actually realized how much I'd failed at this, but I didn't really do much about it at the time. I felt like it was kinda too late to do much about it.

But it's been another few years. My AGHST:TM posts have become few and far between. And I've been in a bit of a colossal downward spiral lately. Hell, I've actually become a bit destructive- doing more harm than good to some people I care deeply about. And now, the straw has broken the camel's back pretty severely (not as badly as I was initially afraid, but still pretty badly).

For a few hours, I just wallowed in self-hatred and concern. But now I'm feeling determined.

I need, more than ever, to get my fucking act together.

So, I'm officially starting Antagonist Gets Her Shit Together 2.

I'm determined to make this one legitimately faster- two years at max, hopefully closer to one year- and actually follow it up with a more relaxed and longterm "TAS" followup.

I need to regain control of my schedule, make forward progress in my life again, and be better to all of my loved ones- including myself.

[pyrrhiccomedy]

A DM’s Fair Play Guide To Plot Twists

I love running a game with a lot of surprises. The challenge to pulling this off well is that, unless you’re playing a one on one game, your players outnumber you: and between them, they have a good chance of figuring out what’s going to happen, no matter how sneaky and clever you are.

The first way of dealing with this - which I’ll just call the bullshit way - is to not give your players the information they need to solve the mystery. Don’t let them find out about the secret society until it’s too late. Don’t give them any reason to suspect that their NPC ally is planning to kill them. Don’t let them find the murder weapon, don’t let them locate the witnesses, don’t give them the chance to skip to the end of their investigation.

This sucks, and if you run your games like this, you’re going to piss off your players. Because it isn’t fair.

In mystery literature, a “fair play mystery” is one where the reader is given all of the information they need in order to figure out the solution before the Big Reveal. It’s what makes the reveal good: that GASP, the “oh shit, the knife! the knife from the party! that was hers! I forgot!”

Pulling off a twist in a fair play game is an incredible feeling. Your players will think you’re a genius (or an absolute dick bastard, which is just as good) and they’ll respect it more when they land in hot water that they plausibly could have avoided. So how do you run a fair play game without your players figuring out the twists ahead of time, given that you’re definitely not smarter than all of your players put together?

By fucking with their expectations.

Here are some things that I keep in mind, to keep my players guessing. And it’s important, with all of this, that if your players see through something, let them have it. They should figure out a lot of things on their own! But if you’re regularly seeding your stories with all of this stuff, eventually your players will miss something. Those are somethings you can build on. The same way that a low level enemy who gets away once can keep coming back again and again until they become an important antagonist, a misapprehension your party proves to have a blindspot for can grow and develop until they get smacked with a breathtaking twist. 

What’s a twist if not the sudden overturning of an assumption you never thought to question?

1: Make your powerful friendly NPCs know a lot...but not as much as the players think they do.

Player characters often end up with powerful allies. It would be very convenient for the party if those allies always had accurate information. Make sure they don’t always enjoy that convenience.

It’s a balancing act: you want your powerful NPCs to be powerful. You want this alliance to be meaningful and beneficial to your players. But give your NPC an Achilles heel of some kind, when it comes to the information at their disposal. The Noble General commands powerful forces and knows the lay of the enemy’s land well...but that doesn’t mean he knows what every squadron and scouting party is up to. The Political Mastermind may know the ins and outs of the court, and have keen insight into the motivations of others: but he has an enemy who pisses him off so much that he loses all objectivity around her. The Powerful Wizard can call upon great magic to aid the party: but his divinations aren’t as accurate as he thinks they are, and he’s prone to finding, in his signs and omens, what he wants to see, more than what’s actually there.

Most of the time, their information should be good! That will make it more likely that your players will trust them the one time when it isn’t.

2. Let (apparently) less powerful NPCs sometimes know more than the players think they do. 

Most NPCs aren’t the Noble General or the Powerful Wizard. Most NPCs are Daves, designed to get the players from place to place. Most of those Daves know about as much as you’d expect them to. But some Daves have plans of their own.

You don’t always have to signpost with big blinking lights which of your NPCs are ‘important,’ and which ones are ‘unimportant.’ Sneak in a crafty Dave from time to time. That assistant they talk to, every time they go to see the prince? That bitch knows everything, and she’s almost ready to make her move. 

3: There is no such thing as a completely reliable witness. 

If the players only get information from one person, that information should be flawed in at least one, potentially small, but important way. Smart players will seek a second opinion, or at least allow for the possibility that their information may be incomplete. But even smart players get out over their skis sometimes.

4: Let your NPCs be aware of the power of a first impression. 

If an NPC gives a strong first impression of being a particular kind of person, it’s because they’re comfortable giving that impression. That might be because it’s who they are. But maybe not.

One of the first characters the PCs met in a VtM campaign I ran was Gawaine. Gawaine was a good old pine-scented man’s man, with salt and pepper stubble and a blue Ford truck. He listened to AC/DC, and talked about the war. He was affable and honest and willing to lend a hand. You already know Gawaine. Everybody knows a Gawaine. Gawaines are trustworthy, salt of the earth types. You don’t necessarily think to question a Gawaine.

That’s exactly why Gawaine was such a useful persona for Krystiyan, the Tzimisce Voivode, a cruel and alien sculptor of flesh who “never left his haven.” There were plenty of clues that they were the same person, but that campaign was in its endgame before the players put them all together.

5: Sometimes, dangerous and villainous NPCs should be helpful and cooperative. 

Not even necessarily because they’re manipulating the players, or even deceiving them about their true natures, but because their interests and the players’ interests genuinely align...for the moment. 

One of the easiest levers in your players’ brains to exploit is the expectation that people who help you are your friends. Even if your players know, consciously, that they shouldn’t trust this person, most of the time they kind of can’t help it, if the NPC is genuinely helpful to them and at least a little charismatic. 

6: Sometimes, good and valuable NPCs should be unhelpful and uncooperative. 

No matter how mature your players are, there’s a natural tendency to react to uncooperative NPCs with a reflexive, “Hey, fuck you! We’re the protagonists! This guy is an asshole!” so from time to time have a helpful, honest, good-aligned NPC have a wholly justified but as-yet-unknown-to-the-party reason to flatly refuse to deal with them.

7: Every NPC should have a secret. 

Not necessarily a bad secret. Were it to be revealed, it might even make the party like them more! But for their own reasons, the NPC does not want their secret to come out, and they will lie to the party to protect it. Players go crazy when they realize they’re being lied to, and often jump to some wild assumptions about your NPC’s motivations. I’ve had an NPC lie about the opening hours of a shop, and had the PCs assume that they were black market dealers for the villain when the dude just wanted to be able to close early so he could go smoke weed in the park.

8. As a DM, it’s polite to remind your players of the common knowledge their characters would possess...even when it doesn’t reflect the truth.

We all know it’s tedious when the DM calls for a roll when you’re just asking for common knowledge. I shouldn’t have to make a roll to know the dumb space word for plastic in a Star Wars game. I shouldn’t have to make a roll to know who the Holy Roman Emperor is in a game about medieval vampires. The DM should supply common knowledge for free, whenever it comes up.

That doesn’t mean common knowledge is true.

This is different from just lying to your players, because you don’t put the weight of DM word-of-God behind it. It’s not “You would know this guy is a Ventrue, based on XYZ.” It’s “it would be a common assumption that this guy is a Ventrue, based on XYZ.” He might not be a Ventrue. It might in fact be extremely important that he is not a Ventrue. But if it is commonly assumed that he’s a Ventrue, that is - word for word - something you can share with your players. If they don’t look any deeper than common knowledge, that’s on them.

9. Obviously untrustworthy NPCs provide great air coverage for less obviously untrustworthy NPCs.

The obviously untrustworthy NPC might or might not be planning to betray the party. But if you introduce two untrustworthy NPCs in the same storyline, and one of them seems normal and cool and has a genuine plot-related reason to be there, and the other one is Jaffar, Jaffar’s gonna get clocked, but Susan over there will probably slip under the radar, and might even get tapped to help out with the whole Jaffar situation. They might get Susan’s number, by the end of the session. Susan might become an ‘ally.’ Susan might even get romanced by a party member. Play your cards right, and Jaffar might just end up a footnote in the introduction of Susan, Scourge of Worlds and most hated NPC in the entire campaign.

10. Your villains should always have a secret plan B.

Your villain isn’t stupid, right? And your villain probably isn’t so arrogant that it is inconceivable to them that their plan might fail. They’ve been planning this ritual for ten thousand years, after all. It’s always possible that some plucky band of heroes could show up at the last minute and murder your high priest, or steal your amulet, or seduce your second in command. So what does your villain have in his back pocket to make the players go, “Oh, shit - he planned for this!”

This may mean that there is a whole separate plot happening, running alongside the main story. This is great, because when weird things happen, the players have to figure out whether this is part of Plot A or Plot B, and working out who did what and why gets a lot more interesting. If they end up foiling Plot A, great - your villain was also secretly behind Plot B the whole time, and will transfer all of his resources over to that. 

Sometimes your players will figure out that Plots A and B were both the same plot the whole time, with the same villain at the head, and they’ll feel like the smartest people on the planet, and it will be their favorite moment of the entire game. That’s great! You gave them that!

Sometimes, they won’t. And when the villain of Plot A, apparently defeated, starts laughing and reveals that he was also the mastermind behind Plot B, which is now too late to be stopped, that will probably be your favorite moment of the entire game.

[generalluxun]

Revisiting S5 E14 Derision, and Making it Work

It's *easy* to dunk on Derision. I won't rehash all the holes here. What is harder is actually doing better... or so you would think.

What follows is a back-of-the-napkin idea I threw together in about 5 minutes. So I hope it doesn't meet with universal... derision. 🐈‍⬛

Reworking this episode reaches back earlier into S5 and recasts one of the side/new characters... but bear with me it's to good purpose. When you're creating a pivotal pre-canon character moment 5 seasons in, there's going to be a little collateral.

It begins with... Socqueline.

Socqueline was NOT Marinette's savior at FDP. In truth... she was Marinette's bully. She was everyone's bully in fact. She ruled FDP with an iron fist. Teachers were afraid of her, and no not her dad, her. Socqueline is the one who terrorized Marinette and pulled the awful prank. The prank that was bad enough that she was expelled. Marinette meets her unexpectedly at the craft store, and is instantly a yr younger and in shock.

HOWEVER

Socqueline is still the one pretending to be Ladybug. She's still the one trying to help people. She's still kind and helpful and Marinette is so very confused! You see, being expelled, having to be in an entirely new environment, and even just a year of change and reflection has made Socqueline a different person. She has grown and is trying to do good to make up for being bad before. Why is she done up like Marinette? She's not! She's done up like Ladybug. She's emulating her hero and inspiration. (who is of course, Marinette).

This already gives us some really good changes.

1)We have a valid reason for Marinette to not have seen/wanted to see Socqueline until S5. you don't go seeking out your former bully.

2)We have a cover for why Marinette hasn't reacted to stimulus before now. She was 'doing good' until she crossed paths with Socqueline and after that. *bam* right in the Trauma. It doesn't matter that Socqueline has changed, trauma is trauma. Marinette hasn't processed it yet, so it gets stoked.

3)Have Kim think Socqueline's pranks were funny. He's Kim, he's thick as two boards, at least he's not gushing about how hot another girl is right next to poor Ondine. It leans into Dark Humor just fine on it's own. Skip the Adrien/Chloe scene for a Marinette/Socqueline scene where Marinette brings up the event to Socqueline and how much it impacted her. have Socquline apologize(she did back in Jubilation for everything, but have her also for this specific thing) have it end on a hug, how nice.

Already we're doing much better! But wait, there's more!

We cut Chloé out of Derision! What does this mean? If she wasn't Marinette's bully doesn't this mess everything up?

No, not really.

Chloé wasn't Marinette's bully pre-canon in any meaningful way. She didn't rule the roost. She only stepped up once Socqueline was expelled, trying to fill the power vacuum/rule the roost/be the new Queen. She's just really bad at it. This explains why the class and even Marinette react to Chloé even in S1 with a sort of exasperated resignation and Marinette isn't even remotely afraid to snap back at her. It's not 'Oh no she is such a bully' it's 'oh God, Chloé's on her shit again.' She's still a brat, mean, and entitled. We're not rewriting any of that. She'll even be an antagonist in S5, but we're going to lean more heavily into Lila/Gabe/Tomoé actively manipulating her, much like in S3. She's not evil, but she's very easily persuaded to be bad.

you see- What we've done with Socquline is foreshadowing. We've shown someone who WAS a bully, who changed when their environment changed and they found the right motivation/inspiration. So when Chloé is going down in flames in S5 we're going to build organically on the parental abuse into the manipulation by villains. We seek to inspire frustration with her, revulsion with those manipulating her, agony that the manipulation all goes unseen, and of course sympathy for everyone who has to deal with it. However, we've also set up the seeds for a future where her environment changes, where a new motivation/inspiration comes in, and where we get convert her from brat to ... okay maybe not GOOD person but at least a decent little porcupine. 🤣

We've even given Marinette a firsthand experience that change CAN happen. Which is something she didn't have the first time around with Chloé during S2/3.

So, what do y'all think?

[cocogum]

The Great Wave - Chapter 19 Review

‼️SPOILERS FOR THE CHAPTER‼️

Y'all I remember when I used to think that the chapter cover was supposed to be a yumalia shower scene from that one ankama tweet mentioning Cathiane 😭😭😭😭

Like idk why we thought that this would've been THE shower scene that Ankama had mysteriously mentioned through a meme of all things. I can't speak for everyone, but the reason why I personally thought that this would've been a yumalia shower scene was because I thought that her hair seemed like it wasn't tied up in the chapter cover. And whenever we'd see her hair let loose in the Great Wave, it would usually mean that she'd be dominating Yugo or would share a very intimate moment with him.

This chapter ended up being the latter. Because it wasn't a shower scene.

It might be something related to it.

But before I explain all that, let's first focus on where we left off with Joris explaining Grougalorasalar's deal to Yugo and Amalia.

I mean Yugo come on....

I get that Grougalorasalar is a hottie who likes to cause shitty problems for everyone due to his color but the only people in Yugo's race that ended up being big deals for the world were Yugo himself, Qilby, and their mother the Goddess Eliatrope. Three people aren't a lot to suddenly have the world's nations hate an entire race but when these very same three people are supposed to be two primordial eliatropes and their goddess, then yeah...you might have fucked up a bit too hard.

Joris agrees.

Omg yes, Joris hates his past tormentor, but even he thinks that he's right in a sense.

"Do what I tell you, not what I do."

PLEASE OMG HE COULDN'T HAVE SAID IT ANY BETTER‼️‼️‼️

I love how JORIS just soothes his tired eyes and describes Grougalorasalar in only a few words while clearly looking disappointed but not surprised.

Like THIS is literally Grougalorasalar's quote! If someone had to describe him in a few words, THIS WOULD BE IT.

He's such a hypocrite but in a way that makes him aware of his actions and yet doesn't give a shit cuz he's strong af and can do whatever the hell he wants. Running away isn't an option, this guy WILL DIE TRYING TO MAKE HIS POINT AND NO ONE WILL MAKE HIM THINK OTHERWISE.

The royal osamodas family needs to take some notes. Write these traits down, you inferior wannabe antagonists ✨️✨️✨️

Are we surprised? No lol

Well shit.

Guess that wave is coming after all.

LIKE OFC DADDY DRAGON LOVES FIGHTING!!! HE PROBABLY THINKS TALKING IT OUT IS LIKE THE MOST CORNIEST THING YOU CAN EVER DO.

What Joris said: "It would be best if the fight happened in his territory."

What Joris actually said: "Rasalar is gonna catch some bodies anywhere else. Fight him where he lives. Like that, he'll only ruin his own place."

😭😭😭😭😭😭

Seriously how big is Luis's extended archive room?????

They got a library that looks like an illuminated underground village, a small secret passageway that leads you to Joris's private room, and a freaking side room showcasing a board with connected maps and research on each of the primordial dragons' locations....

So in a nutshell, Joris is a hoarder, an analyst, a theorist, a lost media collector, AND a stalker lol

We stan Joris's messy lifestyle ✨️✨️

Makes sense, really.

The primordial dragons were born here with the world. So they originated in a certain beginning point of the world and made it their own place.

This would explain why we saw Dardondakal inside a floating rock in the middle of the ocean while being protected by invisible barriers. It was because that was his own "source location".

Oooooohh is Yugo gonna bring back the entire gang??? 🥰🥰🥰🥰 OMG WHAT IF THE REASON WHY TOT DECIDED TO MAKE SEVEN GREAT WAVE VOLUMES WAS BECAUSE WE'RE GOING TO SEE THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE TOFU REUNITING AGAIN!? This would actually be so cute. They would all end up going to one of those dragon locations together while getting into all kinds of problems just like they did back in Seasons 1 and 2! The idea sounds so nice to think about because come on, you're telling me you don't miss the gang solving problems together all around the world while they were getting closer to their goal? If that's what's going to happen, THEN SIGN ME UP!! We'll get to see them all interact with each other just like in the good old days, except that Pin and Elely will be there (without Flopin...). Or maybe they'd most likely have Goultard babysit them while the rest leave lol. It's better to have a iop babysitter for iops than anything else 😭😭 And Adamaï will most likely have to stay in the Sadida Kingdom for Yugo and Amalia's sake again 💀💀💀💀

But what I would really love most of all, would be to see these adventures WITH A GROWN UP YUGO HELL YEAH BABY ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

That is, IF Tot wants to bring back the old adventuring days lol

Yugo.

Yugo who did you give it to.

Last time we saw the Eliasphere, it had been kept in the Eliatrope goddess's garden during Yugo and Amalia's (unconventional) ceremony.

So like....Did Yugo move it around after a few days or was it because of Harebourg in season 5 fucking around and finding out?

Either way, there was a reason, and I think it must've been the latter. I think Harebourg might have been the cause. Because the Eliasphere had been kept in the garden since the sadidas and eliatropes knew that touching it could fuck them up. Which meant that none of them would be stupid enough to try to take it. Besides, the Eliasphere has a defense mechanism anyway. So maybe when Harebourg had fused with the Eliacube, he might have been capable of taking it during Season 5 (I'm only speculating here) without getting attacked by it since the artifact recognized Orgonax's heart inside Harebourg. After some fight with him, Yugo might've realized the danger of keeping the Eliasphere out in the open like this so he gave it to....

He decided to give it to....

Bonta.

So....queen Astra technically has it in her possession.

Like it's painfully obvious that it's Bonta who has it now, given that it zooms at Bonta's Kingdom as soon as Joris says that Yugo didn't give it to him!

At first, I was incredibly perplexed as to why Yugo gave it to Bonta's queens. But when I thought about it some more, the decision to give it to queen Astra...actually made some sense.

Before Season 4 came along, we've never actually seen the world nation rulers' opinions of Yugo and his people.

But when the necromes attacked and Yugo had to explain the situation to the rulers of the world, we were able to fully grasp what each of those kings and queens thought about him.

The Brakmar King and his general unsurprisingly hate him and his people (but I'm sure they initially started hating him first for making a mockery of their court justice, defending Kriss Krass, and creating a chain of events that would make their best boofbowl player enrage them for her gender reveal and making her fight for women's rights lol)

Astrub and Amakna's governors didn't even waste a breath and told him to scram.

And even the Sufokia Empress told him that he was being delusional.

Count Lance Dur hasn't been shown talking to them, but there are no clues hinting that he might have been given the task to keep the Eliasphere. Sure, he spoke to Adamaï and they did get along, but Yugo had no connection with him.

So in general, every single ruler specifically rejected him as well as his people.

All except for queen Astra.

Her conversation with Yugo ended much more differently.

Unlike the other rulers, Astra welcomed Yugo and even told him to stop kneeling so he could properly stand up. She told him this because according to her, he was also a ruler and had also saved the world countless times. She recognized his efforts and accepted him. Joris might have also played a huge factor in this since he does present himself as Bonta's representative which means that he tells Astra everything that's going on, including his moments with Yugo, making him one of the reasons as to why she is at ease around Yugo.

But the second Nora, a complete stranger, tries to stand up as well, Astra forbids her and commands her to stay kneeling. Even when Yugo tries to explain that Nora is his sister, Astra doesn't back down.

This is crucial to remember because this tells us that Astra believes in Yugo, but not his people. He's not a stranger to her. He's not a burden. He's a hero in her eyes and a king. But his people? She considers them to be strangers and outsiders of a world they had never been in. She finds them strange and dangerous.

And now that the Eliatrope goddess left with most of her children, this only leaves Yugo and some of the elite eliatropes who helped the sadidas during the necome war. Without the Eliatrope goddess's presence, Astra might feel less tense about Yugo's people since there aren't too many in the world now.

So given that she's the only royal in the world who seems to appreciate Yugo, this only pushes us to further believe that she might have been the one who is now in charge of keeping the Eliasphere in a safe place.

Remember how chapters 16-17 had these two morons just blatantly sitting down at Kerubim's place without any security???

Well here they are CASUALLY WALKING IN PUBLIC AS IF THEY WEREN'T ROYALS.

Is anyone around them not bothered by this??? I get that they might have not brought any security because they could technically kick ass very easily if something did happen, BUT COME ON NOW!!!

You got the literal SADIDA QUEEN WHO'S WALKING WITH THE ELIATROPE DEMIGOD KING FROM ANOTHER PLANET RIGHT NOW.

Back when they were kids, it was much easier to blend in with the crowd. BUT NOW THAT THEY'RE OFFICIAL HEROES AND RULERS OF A FREAKING KINGDOM, THESE TWO IDIOTS ARE STILL CASUALLY WALKING LIKE RANDOM CITIZENS AS IF THEIR JOBS ISN'T RULING A FREAKING KINGDOM AND GUARDING AN ANCIENT TREE OF LIFE.

Also why is no one stopping them or looking at them?? They're clearly walking in a busy road of the city, do these people seriously not recognize who they are??? They should at least be glancing at them for looking so out of place! My god these people are dumber than iops.

Amalia...Honey.

The trees are still technically there.

They just ended up being roofs now.

It's for a good cause, I swear ✨️✨️

Amalia's over here explaining the tree's deforestation process to Yugo while he's swimming (HAHA GET IT!?!?!?!?) in his own inner turmoil.

Alright people.

This is where we can finally discuss that yumalia tweet shower scene being linked to this chapter.

So I've mentioned that this shower scene could happen in a later volume because of what Yugo and Amalia will be discussing right now.

Yugo tells Amalia that he's pretty much grown tired from the constant threats and enemies they've had to fight back to back due to his actions/choices he has made in the past.

He's had enough and just wants to take a break from it all. He wants to spend those free moments with Amalia.

And he doesn't just want a vacation...

DRUMROLL 🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁

‼️🥁‼️🥁‼️🥁‼️🥁‼️🥁‼️🥁‼️🥁‼️🥁‼️🥁‼️🥁‼️🥁‼️🥁‼️🥁‼️🥁‼️🥁‼️🥁‼️

👀🥁👀🥁👀🥁👀🥁👀🥁👀🥁👀🥁👀🥁👀🥁👀🥁👀🥁👀🥁👀🥁👀🥁👀🥁👀🥁👀🥁

⁉️⁉️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️‼️⁉️‼️‼️⁉️‼️‼️⁉️⁉️⁉️‼️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️‼️⁉️⁉️‼️‼️‼️⁉️⁉️‼️‼️‼️⁉️⁉️‼️‼️‼️⁉️⁉️‼️‼️‼️⁉️⁉️‼️WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️⁉️‼️⁉️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️⁉️‼️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️‼️⁉️⁉️⁉️‼️‼️⁉️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️⁉️⁉️‼️⁉️‼️

GUYS I CALLED IT I FUCKING CALLED IT‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

THIS THIS WAS WHAT MADE ME WAIT FOR TOT TO FINALLY CONFIRM IT FOR US

I'VE BEEN WAITING AND I'M SO HAPPY I FUCKING CALLED IT SINCE SEASON 3‼️‼️‼️😭‼️😭

I am SO FUCKING GLAD that Elely's foreshadowing back in season 3 MADE ABSOLUTE SENSE!!!

I just knew that if we ended up thinking about potential yumalia kids for the future, WE WOULD GET TO FINALLY SEE THAT THEY COULD ACTUALLY MAKE SOME TOGETHER!!!

I get that when season 4 ended, we knew that these two would've eventually thought about having children since Amalia is the last of her bloodline and will have to produce a new heir.

BUT IT'S STILL SO FUCKING AMAZING THAT YUGO GETS TO SAY IT OUT LOUD RATHER THAN SEEING THEM KNOW WHAT TO DO WITHOUT SAYING IT OUT LOUD!!

Yugo. Buddy.

If Dally managed to have a kid WAY BEFORE MARRIAGE with Eva, then don't worry. You're both adults now. It's not too soon and definitely not too late. You lovable idiot.

ALSO WTF!?!? I'M PRETTY SURE THAT AFTER ALL THE IMPLIED SEX THEY HAD, SOME OF US HAD THIS THEORY THAT AMALIA MIGHT'VE BEEN PREGNANT WITHOUT REALIZING IT.

But nope. It looks like they used protection or something. But I obviously don't believe it lol Amalia would DEFINITELY want no barriers or restrictions between them. I guess she just got lucky enough not to have gotten pregnant so many times (it is possible because it does actually happen but it's so funny when you look at these idiots).

Yugo has so many enemies, and the one time he tells her he wants a family is right after they're getting threatened by a PRIMORDIAL DRAGON.

Bro has such shitty timing I swear lol

He's over here with clear eyebags asking her to have his kids 😭😭😭😭😭

Now as funny and stupid as that sounds, I'm honestly not that shocked.

I recently talked about this with @geekgirles because if there's one thing we can say about this interaction is this: Can you imagine how incredibly hard it is for an ancient adventurer to take a break from adventuring???

Yugo had MILLIONS of lives, and all of them had been about ADVENTURING.

The twelvians were incredibly pushy and judgemental to the point where Yugo's optimism just completely faded away, WHEN IT WAS ACTUALLY A HUGE PART OF HIS PERSONALITY. He's genuinely tired of everyone and everything that keeps pointing fingers at him when they haven't even looked at themselves in the first place.

It's not that Yugo's unaware of his situation. He's just so fed up with everyone that he just ended up getting used to all the attention as if those were normal occurrences.

That's why he just asked Amalia for his kids out of the blue. Bro isn't fazed about the danger anymore. He just treats this as a normal tuesday.

Guys.

This is where we'll get to see that mentioned shower scene that Ankama tweeted at Cathiane.

We've come to finally talk about what I meant by that tweet.

So if you saw it, you should know that Ankama, for some unfathomable reason, tweeted Cathiane and sent her a yumalia shower meme. Then Cathiane replies with... "Saw the notif and panicked...”

I bet that Yugo and Amalia will get to go on vacation and only fuck. Like straight up just fuck. And we'll get to see it. And one of these scenes will have that one shower scene.

Omg. I actually fully believe this to be the case.

This is gonna happen.

One of the future volumes (which Tot said that there will be seven in total) will just end up having all the chapters with BIG ASS LABELS IN RED WORDS SAYING "FOR MATURE AUDIENCE" like in chapter one lol

And there it is folks.

That kiss panel that we've seen being used as a sneak peak a few months ago for the second volume. Absolutely perfect 💖💖💖

[poisonwaterlily3]

Doing research for my Arcane Season 2 fix-it-fic and OH MY GOD WHY WAS URGOT NOT THERE???

One of my big criticisms of Season 2 was how much planting was done in Season 1 for the chembarons to be an important factor in the relations between Zaun and Piltover (since they'd be taking over the shitshow that is Zaun post-Silco) only to be completely irrelevant after three episodes (if that).

One of my other big criticisms of Season 2 is how irrelevant Noxus is to everything. The show is supposed to be about these two sisters and these two cities and while I liked Ambessa coming in near the end of Season 1 as a third, foreign player, I feel like Season 2 overly relied on her as a villain when I don't feel like that's the role for her. She always felt like a well-meaning yet fundamentally misguided mother figure to Mel who also had the strength and power to do as she pleased. She was actually a REALLY complex character in Season 1 in spite of having only 3 episodes of screen time and, despite her antagonistic presence in the story, she was never a "villain".

But do you know what would've tied these two plot points together?? Urgot!! A former Noxian warlord betrayed by his nation and is now a chembaron???? Holy shit, how did they not utilize him????? He and Singed could have 100% had some kind of business arrangement.

Plus! If they really needed Mel out of the picture for a while, make Urgot kidnap her, not The Black Rose. Give her an Iroh-esque training arc where she learns new strength and deception from being imprisoned. It'd also reflect Vi's imprisonment in Stillwater. When she gets out, she can see firsthand the kind of place Zaun is the same way as Caitlyn and Heimerdinger.

This is such a huge missed opportunity how did they not do this 😭

Also his bane-looking as would've been cool as hell to see onscreen.

[scoonsalicious]

Unwanted: Chapter 4, Unwelcome - Pt. 2

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Avenger!Fem!Reader

Summary: When your FWB relationship with your best friend Bucky Barnes turns into something more, you couldn’t be happier. That is, however, until a new Avenger sets her sights on your super soldier and he inadvertently breaks your heart. You take on a mission you might not be prepared for to put some distance between the two of you and open yourself up to past traumas. Too bad the only one who can help you heal is the one person you can no longer trust.

Warnings: (For this part only; see Story Masterlist for general Warnings) Language, mentions of sex, hints of jealousy, some slight self-deprecation.

Word Count: 1.7k

Previously On...: Now that you and Bucky are officially FWB, you couldn't keep your hands off one another, which obviously meant having fantastic sex in your office.

A/N: And it's time to finally introduce our antagonist! Sort of! Although, I guess you could say the real antagonism is the angst and anxiety we meet along the way. Chapter 11 is coming along very nicely, hence a posting today. I hope you enjoy!

Banner By: The absolutely amazing @mrsbuckybarnes1917

Taglist: (Please let me know if you’d like to be added!) @jmeelee @cazellen @blackhawkfanatic @les-sel @marcswife21 @buckybarnessimpp @mrsbuckybarnes1917 @erelierraceala

"You're both so codependent," Nat said to the two of you one evening a few months later as you all sat gathered around in the common room after dinner. It was a rare occurrence where no one was away on a mission and everyone was Earth-side. The space was crowded, so naturally Bucky had offered you his lap, theoretically in order to open up some seating for everyone else. Aside from the two of you and Nat, there was Wanda and Vision, Steve and Sam, Clint, Thor, Tony and Pepper, Bruce, and Rhodey. Your perfectly imperfect found family. The only one who was missing was young Peter Parker, but it was a school night and Tony tried to make sure the kid had his priorities in order.

"No we're not," you and Bucky said in unison, which made everyone else either laugh or groan. You glanced up at him with a smile and then back to the others. "What can we say? We just really enjoy the benefits of our friendship."

Bucky let out a cough into his hand that sounded a lot like "Be cool, damn."

"How come you never volunteer to sit in my lap?" Steve asked with an exaggerated pout.

"Do you want me to get up, Star-Spangled Man?" you ribbed as you feigned moving out of Bucky's lap. "You can have him all to yourself." Bucky squeezed your waist in warning, holding you down against him. You knew that if you got up now, you'd be exposing everyone to the erection that had been rubbing against your backside all evening. Fortunately, Steve wasn't one to take such a joke very far.

"No, it's fine. I can tell when I've been replaced," he teased, though his smile didn't necessarily reach his eyes. You and Bucky weren't necessarily hiding the fact that you'd started having sex from everyone, but you sure as shit weren't shouting it from the rooftops. There would be far too many 'I told you so's or 'about damn time's for your liking, not to mention everyone asking 'what's the next step?,' so it was something you kept to yourselves. Besides, you both decided that the secret aspect of sneaking around made it so much fucking hotter.

"Good, you're all here," said Tony, breaking through the levity with a serious tone, "since we're all together for once, there's something we need to discuss."

All eyes turned to him. Usually, a serious Tony meant a global-threatening event, but things on the world-saving front had been fairly quiet recently, so you were all curious to see what he had to say.

"As you're no doubt well aware, because most of you aren't complete morons, there are more and more enhanced individuals coming out of the woodwork, and not all of them are identifying as friendlies. I know we've already got a great team here, but Fury thinks we could be better."

"Pretty strong opinion for a man who just sits around watching and talking," Clint offered from his position on the couch next to Nat where he was re-stringing one of his bows.

"Don't disagree, Barton," Tony continued, "but Fury's good graces and government approval are the reason we keep getting to do what we do. He wants us to expand."

"What, open up a West Coast Avengers second location?" Bruce asked with a laugh.

"He wants us to consider taking on some more members," Tony said. "Expand our capabilities. I was able to negotiate it down to one."

"Do we have a say in the matter, or has he already made the choice for us?" Natasha asked warily. Like you, the Avengers were the only real family she'd ever known, and like you, she was highly uncomfortable with the idea of allowing just anyone to join it.

"He's made some... suggestions," Tony said, holding up a stack of thick folders, "but the final decision is ours to make."

"Well, I say we stick with known quantities," Sam offered. "Like Tic-Tac. He proved himself in Berlin."

"Nah, Scott Lang's not a viable option," you interjected thoughtfully. "Maybe as a reserve or something, but not a full-blown member." At Sam's questioning look, you elaborated. "His daughter's young, and he doesn't have custody. He's not going to move across the country and leave her in San Francisco. Not for us, especially after being apart from her while he was in prison."

"Same's going to go for T'Challa," Nat agreed. "His priority is always going to be Wakanda, he won't give that up, nor should we expect him to."

"We could always invite my brother Loki to join us," said Thor with a grin. "He's quite skilled," he paused for a moment to think his statement through. "Though he is completely untrustworthy and could very well try to murder us all, so perhaps not. But what a humorous situation that would have made!" The eye rolls from around the room proved that, no, it would not have made a humorous situation at all.

"I wish Pietro were still here; he would be magnificent. A perfect addition," Wanda said wistfully, and you reached over to squeeze her hand. She'd done so much healing since her brother had died in the crossfire of the battle with Ultron, but you couldn't imagine the lingering pain losing a twin must keep her in. She gave you a grateful look as she returned your squeeze.

"Well, who else do we know that we'd actually trust enough to ask?" Rhodey posited. The ensuing silence spoke volumes.

"Natty, what about your sister?" you suggested. "You think Yelena would be interested? It wouldn't suck to have another trained Widow on the team. Plus, she makes me laugh, which, you know, absolutely crucial Avenger requirement."

Nat looked thoughtful. "I don't know if it would be her thing, but I could reach out; wouldn't hurt to ask. But I wouldn't get our hopes up; she's pretty dedicated to helping all the former Widows right now."

"Swell," said Tony with an eye roll, making a note on a piece of paper inside his folder. "That's one, maybe. But probably not."

"Well, what options did Fury send over?" Rhodey asked him.

Tony began handing out folders to everyone. Each page contained a brief bio of an enhanced individual Fury had vetted and thought might make a good addition to the team. He handed you a folder, then made to hand another to Bucky.

"I'll share with Pocket," he said.

"Of course you will," Tony said with a shake of his head. "You sharing your balls with her, too, Barnes?" You stuck your tongue out at him. "Nice, Pocket. The pinnacle of maturity," Tony muttered as he moved on toward Bruce.

"Not just your balls," you whispered into Bucky's ear, giving his cock a discreet squeeze. He did his best not to moan out loud at your touch.

"You are going to pay for that," he whispered, causing you to laugh.

"Why don't we take a look at these profiles?" Steve interjected with a cough, waving a folder in the air. Everyone began leafing through their packets. The room was silent, save for the shuffling of paper.

"Wait, here's someone we should definitely consider," Bucky said after a long moment, freezing everyone's attention. He held up a sheet of paper with a picture stapled to it.

You leaned over to get a better look and immediately felt an odd sensation deep inside as your eyes focused on the woman in question: Jade Carthage, code-named 'Vixen'. She had long black hair cascading down her back and vibrant emerald green eyes that, in your opinion, looked cold and calculating. She was absolutely stunning.

"Let's see..." you began reading out loud, "she's the only survivor of a secret Hydra super soldier facility. Looks like they gave her a relatively successful version of the serum, but she single-handedly destroyed their base before it could be replicated and defected to S.H.I.E.L.D. Damn; that's really impressive. Enhanced strength, regenerative capabilities, trained in various forms of martial arts..." While reading about her powers and skills, you couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of jealousy over your own lack of superhero abilities. It was a gentle though bitter reminder that, though you may be able to play in the Avengers' world, you'd never really be one of them. 

"She seems..." Bucky said, almost reverently, letting the rest of his thought hang in the air. "We should definitely meet her." You weren't sure why, but the tone of his voice left your stomach feeling sour.

"Well, she certainly seems interesting," Tony said, perusing the profile, "but I'm not sure she'd be a good fit for the team; I'm not seeing anything unique she can bring us that we don't already have on tap, and I'd want to know why she was the base's sole survivor. What happened to the rest of the subjects? We'll have to look into her more closely before we consider inviting her."

"I think it would be a mistake not to at least meet her," Bucky said, his gaze still locked on Jade's picture. "You can't just walk out of a Hydra base, especially when they value you as an asset. She's got to be good at what she does."

The others seemed to agree with Bucky's assessment after reviewing Jade's sheet. The general consensus seemed to be in favor of inviting Jade in for a more in-depth interview and meet and greet before making further decisions. You weren't sure how you felt about it, but you kept your discomfort to yourself. After all, she could definitely be an asset to the team if they chose to make her an offer, and if she chose to accept, of course. Those were two big ifs that might amount to nothing.And really, when it came down to it, your opinion didn't matter. You weren't actually an Avenger. You were just... Avenger-adjacent. Shaking your head, you attempted to disperse the negative thought. It was a term you'd used to refer to yourself when you were feeling less than your friends, when you were being hard on yourself. You hadn't used it in a while, and you weren't about to let yourself spiral down the familiar path of self-loathing... at least, not just yet.

<- Previous Part / Next Part ->

[illarian-rambling]

Because I'm bored, here's a definitive rating of canon and non-canon ships across my works!

(Based on what people have told me they shipped and what I think would be funny)

Starting with my big two canon ships:

Astra/Mashal - This is my ultimate otp, the one I wrote a whole trilogy for. They're fucking adorable together, in all their chaos/calm glory. 10/10 imo, they make each other want to be better people.

Nyda/Kaulakri - My lesbian scientist ghosts, how could I not love you? True rivals to lovers, they get on each others nerves as much as they admire each other. 9/10, only because I haven't actually gotten to a confession scene yet.

Short list, huh? That's why we've got non-canon:

Ivander/Mashal - The foils are foiling. Something, something, Mashal makes Ivander remember the world can be kind and Ivander is someone Mashal wants to protect. 7/10, it's good...

Astra/Ivander/Mashal - But it could be better! Astra adds in a note of tension with Ivander and a note of sweetness because she understands Mashal better than Ivander does. This ship is just Mashal and his two partners who kinda hate each other, 8/10.

Astra/Ivander - Without Mashal as a buffer, they're gonna tear each other into ribbons. 4/10, it'd be fun to watch.

Sepo/Izjik - No, pass, skip. I know they're soulmates but they've got more of a blood brothers vibe than anything. That said, they would totally get married for tax reasons, so 2/10.

Djek/Daedryn - I know she kidnapped him but she said sorry. The street rat/priest vibes would be funny, he'd take her out to a casino and she'd get tempted to cheat at cards them immediately pray for forgiveness. 5/10 because in all universes, Djek has no game.

Izjik/Daedryn - I know she kidnapped her too, but godkiller/priest?? The angst is baked in. Also, Izjik knows Daedryn is easily flustered, so she's just teasing her the whole time. 7/10 for doomed lesbians.

Elsind/Avymere - Hard no. Elsind might be deeply involved in Avymere's love life, but they're besties. Honestly, I can see them in a qpr as the years go on, they're very close. 10/10 for the qpr, 0/10 for anything romantic.

Daedryn/Loqang - For an antagonist/secondary protag, Daedryn sure ends up in a lot of ships. Loqang is her god so... No? There is a deep and passionate love there, beyond anything platonic or familial, but it's not really romantic either, more of a secret fourth thing. 4/10 for anything romantic though, the power dynamic would be kinda fucked.

Anarac/Faalgun - I can see how some people would get these vibes from their casino scene, but if anything, Anarac sees Faalgun as a son-figure and Faalgun sees Anarac as a member of his crew he wants to help out. 1/10 because a rebound might not be bad for Anarac, just not this rebound.

Nyda/Vermir - Canonically, this did happen. Two ambitious scientists who traveled a lot, who were alive in the same time period.... I don't think they had anything more than a fling, but it is fucking hilarious to think about. To be fully for real, Vermir might honestly have been pretty good for Nyda, in the sense of giving her a confident boost for her research. 7/10.

If you've got any other suggestions for ships I missed, I will rate them accordingly 🫡

Until then, have a bitchin day!

@amandacanwrite @elsie-writes @riveriafalll @kosmic-kore @kaylinalexanderbooks

@bard-coded @carrotsinnovember @patternwelded-quill @somethingclevermahogony @whatwewrotepodcast

@the-angriest-author @mk-writes-stuff @frostedlemonwriter @vyuntspakhkite-l-darling @watermeezer

@leahnardo-da-veggie @mr-orion @televisionjester @ray-writes-n-shit @evilgabe29

@trippingpossum @tragedycoded @halfbakedspuds @ominous-feychild @cain-e-brookman

@wyked-ao3 @thecomfywriter @mysticstarlightduck @rumeysawrites @the-golden-comet

@cowboybrunch @gioiaalbanoart @theink-stainedfolk @sableglass @thelaughingstag

@finickyfelix

[cheylouwho]

do you know of any famous south park fanfics that ended up becoming published books?

ok so I think i answered something like this before on my blog but i cannot find it for the life of me so I had to go dig out some old stuff from sphs from when we were putting together the iceberg and remember my sources so i'm hopefully not giving misinfo. So for all of these I will mention that I don't know if any of these fics were considered "famous" by any means, just that the author decided to publish them.

1, it is a common misconception that the story "Both Sides Now" by Peyton Thomas is SP fic gone published work. That is simply not true at all. The author had like one sp fanfic and did like one things for SPBB back in the day but actually was on record apparently saying Both Sides Now started as IASIP mpreg fanfic, not SP (and god dammit the link to the interview where this was said is now a dead link, but damn proof I had it). And while the connection people made to the antagonist being like cartman is uncanny, it is NOT south park. Apparently also when the fic was first being published there was some promotional artwork that did look very stan/kyle and yes the author was partially in the fandom but it was not Originally SP. There might have been some accidental references because of the author being adjacent to the fanbase but nothing intentional.

2. Actual published work number 1 is called "Fighting The Truth" (same name when it was pubished for sp) which is legitimately published and can be found HERE. Absolutely insane little story that managed to get away with flipping some character names, hilarious recap by sekrit here. And apparently, is exactly the same save for name changes.

3. Actual published work number 2 is called "Raisin" which was originally titled "Raisins Boy". This one is a technicality since it is actually a self-published work, in which the author did not go through a full fledged agency to get it out there. Still, the character names are changed and it was in fact originally SP fanfic, so it fits the bill. You can find it HERE, with another funny recap by sekrit HERE.

4. Semi-counting this one, but Earily self-published her fanfic "oculus" in limited quantities back in the day. It was unchanged from the story that was on ff.net, just in a hardback form with a cover. Was a pretty neat edition of the book and regret every day not buying it. I have some friends who did purchase it though.

5. THERE IS, I'M PRETTY SURE, another fic turned published book that I was told about but cannot fucking find. I remember seeing the listing on some website (prob amazon) and being absolutely baffled by it. I remember reading the details about it years ago and it stuck with me but I can't tell you for the life of me the name of the story or what the original fic was titled. What I do recall, and idk if anyone can maybe confirm I'm not insane on this one: I think it was a style fic, something about Kyle being heavily abused by his family and sleeping in a doghouse (???????), Cartman's changed name was laughable and obvious. Nvm im tired as shit turns out this is also just im p sure raisins boy Anyway that's the stuff I can think of right now. Hopefully I covered my bases

[antagonistchan]

cw animal death

We were actually planning for Glimmer to go about a day earlier, but we couldn't get a vet appointment in time. She was also supposed to go to the vet, but the vet ended up coming here.

I was actually upset at first. I'd emotionally prepared myself for that plan, not this one. But I'm glad it happened the way it did.

Yesterday was a really nice day for her. In the daytime, she got to spend several hours lounging around outside on the porch with Mom and Non-Bio-Parent, which she clearly enjoyed. She actually ate something for the first time in a few days. She got to say hi to a local stray cat that's been hanging around for about a year.

In the evening, I had an emotional moment with her that I wouldn't give up for anything. It was such a good way to end things. I cried. The last time I cried was in April, and the last time before that was about a decade ago. And I cried way harder than I did in April. And it was an eye-opening experience. It reminded me how it feels to be constructively sad. Sad in a way that feels satisfying, helps me work through my feelings. Instead of sending me into a depression spiral, it just made me feel deeply emotional for a while, and then I could be back to normal. I felt alive, and I got to have one last really good memory of her. It was good for my relationship with her, and it was probably good for my mental health in general going forward.

And this morning... she got to spend her final moments in a place where she felt comfortable, rather than a scary new place. What little was left of her was happy to see a new person who was here to visit her. And then... she peacefully went to sleep.

[yourlowkeyidiot3]

Characters who I'm like 80% sure will die

1. Inho

I've said this before I don't think he's gonna survive I believe Gihun, or another player will kill him because he's literally responsible for their suffering and their friends deaths😭 Or maybe have a "death as redemption" moment

2. Daeho (player 388)

LOOK I love him and I want him to survive but I feel like he's gonna blame himself for the rebellion failing and Jungbae's death and sacrifice himself for others because he'll feel like that would make up for it💔💔

3. Geumja AND Yongsik (player 149 & player 007)

I DON'T WANT THEM TO DIE💔💔 But I feel like they'd team up in a game that'd end up being like Marbles where one has to die in order for the other to survive and decide that they both can't live with the guilt of the others death and instead refuse to play until the time runs out and they're both killed

4. Myunggi (player 333)

I'm fully convinced they're gonna pull up that shit where he genuinely improves his relationship with Junhee and properly apologises and they decided to get back together after they leave the games only to have him sacrifice himself for her

5. Namgyu and Minsu (player 124, player 125)

Well Namgyu's an antagonist so he has to go😭 and I feel like Minsu is actually gonna be the one responsible for his death. Like he'll have character development and decided to pull up a sacrifice during one of the games that gets both him and Namgyu killed (think of it like Deoksu and Minyeo in s1) as revenge for all the times he's tormented him and to avenge Semi's death

[raayllum]

Sometimes I think about the gap between the thematic perception of a theme/character versus how they themselves perceive the same thing. There's not too many gaps routinely like this in TDP except for antagonists — Karim comes to mind most notably, in how he earnestly believes he's doing the right thing with no pretense while becoming increasingly hypocritical — nor are all these gaps negative, per se.

But I think about it in regards to Rayllum a lot.

For example, in their actual relationship, they're pretty healthy. Rayla in particular has struggled with open and honest communication, but they're getting there, and we see that Callum has given her an unconditional, rather than an ultimatum base, upon which for her and both of them to build upon. They can teach really good lessons about taking time for yourself so you don't yell at your partner, that you have to work on yourself and a relationship won't fix your problems, that approaching things together is good and that you should support one another, etc etc.

However, thematically — identity wise — they are codependent to a super intense degree, wrapped up and incredibly dependent on the other person's construction of their sense of self (Rayla struggling to be a good person when she's reeling in the S4 fallout, because what does she have to show for it? Callum trying in 4x07 to push them both into their worst roles if the worst comes for him). And this codependency as well as intense desire to protect one another can cause them to make dangerous or self destructive choices in the name of love (or both), like Rayla leaving to protect him and luring Sol Regem away, or Callum doing dark magic and jumping off the Pinnacle.

Thereby, playing with this push and pull, how they exist and perceive themselves vs how they exist in the narrative (and may be seen as other characters) is well, a lot of fun.

This is also true for the "Rayla as Callum's method of destruction and salvation" theme that's been running through every season of the show, with Rayla being the lynchpin to burn down his old life / understandings of self and trust, and usher in new ones.

Callum doesn't see his relationship with Rayla as anything negative, ultimately; she's loving and brave and she saves people, she saved him, and he saves her right back. He'd do anything not to lose her, because that's the Right Thing to do to him, even if it's not automatically 'the right thing' for the rest of the world's safety.

But we know, thanks to their pattern (1x03, 1x04, 2x07, 3x09, general S4, 4x07, general S5, 5x04, 5x08) that it's something that can and has routinely gotten him into trouble in the past, particularly in S2 and S5.

We also know that Rayla fundamentally doesn't see anything wrong with Callum, either. "It doesn't matter" that he did dark magic before (2x07) and it likely won't ultimately matter to her again. She has so much faith and trust in him and his ability to do the impossible that the idea of Aaravos possessing him again in an awful way is downright hard for her to fathom. To her / in her mind, Callum is sweet and nice (even on the rare instances he yells at her), caring and loving and compassionate. And he is all those things, but even when one another's worst traits come out, both have a tendency to forgive and accept.

Now, part of this is because they have a mutual basis, for lack of a better word, of lines the other would never cross that are all conveniently the lines the other could never forgive (Rayla putting Ez at risk on a whim, Callum killing Stella for dark magic ingredients) which just perpetuates this cycle of support, forgiveness, and unconditionality.

Because unconditional love is great — until it's not.

And I think this blend of "they are actively healthy and actively working on being healthier" mixed with the "oh God quarantine them and their codependent shit together elsewhere for the good of society" is why they 1) have the range that they do and 2) the subsequent appeal that they do.

[silviakundera]

Does it feel like they're trying to redeem the dickless bore? idk if he's doing a con on her or they're showing he has real feelings for her wasn't the novel different?

One thing I'm really noticing in the Princess Royal (Grand Princess) adaption is that they will 'play it straight' with characters like Su Rongqing and the Emperor: giving the character similar dialogue and facial expressions as they would have in the novel -- except without PWX or LR's internal dialogue of 🙄 why u lying???

🙄 lol ok sure

😒 oh i see, back on your bullshit again

😤 the AUDACITY

😬 oh shit oh shit danger BE COOL

The consequence is that if you take everything at face value, the Emperor seems like a reasonable guy and not up for The Absolute Worst Dad award. Under the surface, the novel reader knows he is acting out a play and coldly calculating every interaction with Li Rong, the Crown Prince, and Consort Ruo. Every single scene with him, Li Rong is in peril and she knows it. She's pretending to be his sweet, obedient 19 year old daughter who believes in him and is following Pei Wenxuan's direction and acting as a puppet, making moves that he has already approved PWX to make. The Emperor's pretending that this play isn't supposed to end with LR and the Crown Prince taken down & the power transferred into Consort Ruo and the other prince's hands.

The viewer can just interpret all the words coming out of a character's mouth as facts & just believe everything they claim about their motives/real agenda as true. Or they recall the implied horrorshow of Life 1 and view all of these interactions with a cynical eye, questioning what else could be under the surface.

With SRQ, that guy is so fucking complicated. I think actually he's portrayed in character. Nothing we have seen isn't .... him. At least so far, as of ep 19 he aligns with the novel.

But 3 different factors: A) The music is romantizing him; B) The audience is given a couple internal-thought voice overs from him, which other antagonists don't get; C) With those voice-overs, the screenwriter has chosen to affirm his love for his brother and LR way earlier than the reader has it confirmed in the novel (where he is intentionally kept a total mystery for far longer, while the reader is the math lady meme, trying to piece together clues to figure him out).

And ultimately, when in SRQ's PoV in the drama, we have to deal with him being the hero of his own story. He is absolutely sincere about himself and, as has been revealed, in his own way he's sincere about wanting LR and his brother to have a good life this time around.

So does that mean the writer intends to do a swerve in the narrative arc and redeem him in the end? It's totally possible. Maybe?

However, not necessarily.

#1 There is a certain refrain from many of the great cnovel/drama villians: I had no choice! You all forced me to this!

We saw it from Shen Yurong in The Double, we saw it from Meng Yao/JGY in The Untamed, and in the novel (and I presume in the drama), we're gonna see it from Su Rongqing.

And it's the reason why they become villians who can't be saved. Because so many people suffer in life or experience unfairness. But they don't turn around and use this as an excuse to enact horrible cruelties on others.

Out of the billions of people in the world, few have no problems but so many of them actively chose to do good, or are willing at least to turn back and be better.

#2 imo the reason LR has historically been bad at reading people's hearts but has an exquisite read of SRQ, his flaws & darkness, is THAT'S HER FUCKING MOM. And I do think ep 16-18 put that out there in the text, if you're looking for it. He and the empress are the same sophisticated aristocrat who is clever & educated but with a narrow perspective limited by their privilege and desperate need to maintain the status quo. So sorry bro, but no wonder she might have settled for marrying you in the first life if you wanted to, but she was never gonna fall in love with you 💀.

PWX can see that SRQ loves her and he thinks that matters, so it scares him. LR has tender nostalgia for her empress mother and her former companion but she's all too aware that their love for her will not necessarily get in the way of stepping on her to protect the social structure of a powerful aristocracy class operating at a higher level above the peasants and restraining the throne. To them, this is safety and stability that guards the realm.

(ofc both those characters are complex and when it comes to LR's life & death we can't be confident on what they will always choose. that's part of what made all the palace drama aspects of the novel incredibly suspenseful. So many of the suppporting characters are layered and tho everything they do makes sense when it happens, you can't often predict people's hard choices when their back is up against the wall)

Story of Kunning Palace and The Grand Princess say that caring about people and trying your best to understand them, wanting what's best for them by listening to what's best for them, can make a huge difference. But not everyone is willing to change.

[tinyfantasminha]

TALK ABOUT YOUR SONIC 3 EXPERIENCE 👹

HHHHHHHHHHHhhhHHHHHHHHHHHH

OKAY before anything else I want to state that I am well-versed enough in sonic lore and I played Sonic Adventure 1 + 2 and watched Sonic X in japanese so I'm VERY biased 😫(also I watched it in the PTBR dub so when I mention dialogues it might not be totally accurate to the original audio BUT I did as much research as I could 😫)

Overall the movie went pretty much the direction I was expecting 🤔it wasn't 100% accurate to SA2 sure but?!? The changes were not bad at all! I remember when I saw the trailers I was a bit doubtful on Gerald being present throughout the movie but he ended up BEING ONE OF THE BEST THINGS OF THE MOVIE OHMY GOD BLESS JIM CARREY 😫 I found myself having a blast of fun and laughing at EVERY single scene of him and Eggman just doing silly (for evil reasons >:)) shenanigans

EGGMAN'S AND STONE'S DIVORCE ARC 💔💔The ''toxic'' yaoi was only a facade..... they were actually just doomed yaoi this entire time 💔

THEY ACTUALLY DID THE ''talk about low budget flights ✈️🙄no food 🍿🍕or movies 🎞️📺💅i'm outta here 😂😂😂🏃🏃'' IM CRAYZYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Tails was OK in this movie, not really as interesting as he was in movie 2 but ooOHHMYNGOODDD KNUCKLCKES 😫😫😫😫😫😫💕 I LOVE LOVE LOVE the movie characterization for Knuckles... the big-brother coded scenes ..... the highlight was definitely the scene when he and Sonic are arguing about the Master Emerald, OML THE TRUST HE HAS IN HIS BROTHER

Ok let's skip to the good part already. SHADOWWWWWWWWWW SHADODWWWWBWHGHHGHDHJFGDFJNJNFD THE INITIAL SCENE WITH HIM KNOCKING OUT THE GUN SOLDIERS AND TELEPORTING I WAS JUMPNIG IN MY SEAT POIUNTING AT THE SCREEN THEY REFERENCED SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG 2005 OPENIGN IM SHITTING MY PANTS I COULD ALMOST HEAR I AM ALL OF ME IN THE DISTANCE OML

Shadow's and Maria's story was done spectacularly. It was SO nice to see how their daily life was..... Maria getting to act just like a pre teen her age, they danced and watched movies together.... 😭😭😭I was almost tearing up at that sequence just by knowing that these peaceful moments would come to an end. Her death was a liiitle different than what we expected yeah they wouldn't just fucking shoot a 12 year old in a kids movie unfortunately but it had the same impact nonetheless and dAAMMN Gerald's absolutely HAUNTED look??! I GOT CHILLS

Okay but hands down the moment that I just can't get out of my head??? ''Oh Ivo... you're no Maria.'' I LEGIT GASPEDDDDDD like yeah I did expect Gerald's plan because that's what happens in canon after all but I was NOT expecting this level of coldness towards his own — and REMAINING — family. Not a twist villain, but a villain with a twist. I may have gotten spoilers for the post credit scenes but I'm SO GLAD I wasn't spoiled for this. (Also me and my friends laughed out loud when he went down like a looney tunes villain 😭)

I was spoiled that Amy appeared in the post credit (the kid behind me was also saying ''oh Amy will appear'' 💀) but UUUHHH IDK HOW I AVOIDED THE METAL SONIC SPOILERS SO I WAS LEGIT SHOCKED. The only time I admittedly screamed in the theater, ''WHAT IS THAT?!? METAL SONIC?!?!!!'' OKAY SO SONIC 4 WILL BE BASED ON SONIC CD IG........... I regretfully am not really well versed in classic Sonic lore BUTTT I WATCHED SONIC OVA A LOT so PLEASE PLEASE if Metal turns out to be the main antagonist in Sonic 4 PLEASE make Sonic OVA references 😭🙏 ESPECIALLY TO ITS CLIMAX...... if you know you know.

AND LAST THING BUT THEY DID IT. TJEY DID IT THEY DID IT IM FUKCCN CRAZY

NOT ONLY SHADOW IS A FEMINIST HE ALSO LOVES LATINAS CONFIRMED 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 GABRIELLA SHOULD KILL THEM BOTH SHES NOT A PRIZE TO BE WON !!!!!!!!!!!! THANKY YOU SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG YOURE THE REAL ONEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

so glad I went with my special shirt for this occasion 🙏🙏🙏 IF NO ONE GOT ME I KNOW SHADOW GOT ME

[rockatnothing]

Season three of From has got me screaming, crying and throwing up!! I love it!!

Here's a bunch of random thoughts I have from episode five 🐦‍⬛ ngl I don't remember any character names so forgive that please lol

I'm theorizing that Fatima is being turned into one of the monsters. She was eating rot and was drinking Nicky's blood. Plus, she couldn't get into the colony house in a previous ep. I'm thinking the eating rot might reflect whatever happened inside the monsters to make their internal organs dry up. Honestly, I think all of the monsters were at some point human and then got turned. I think there was a mass turning sometime in the 60s because of the monsters based on their costume design. Perhaps they figured out how to kill all their monsters but as a trade off they got turned. The life Fatima could be holding is the birth of a new monstrosity.

The town and everything feels like an escape room to me. There are rules the world follows and things get more intense when the people find something new. Like with the phone/radio. There was a man in S1 Jim talked to and now we're talking to Thomas. If all of this was meant to destroy the people then why have someone warn them about Tabitha digging or returning. This world works in a specific way where there are ways to solve the horrible mysteries and active various entities helping the people.

Which reminds me of the whole thing with Tabitha and Victor's mom. It feels crazy how deliberate the town picks people. Plus that Tabatha isn't the only one that has had visions! I think all of the characters who hallucinate fit into roles. Like the town needs someone to see the kids, the symbol or the dried up woman in colony.

Who is the dried up woman??? Is she a ghost like the other dead we've seen or like Boyd has seen? She doesn't feel the same because she looks immediately scarier than the other dead. Maybe she has different motives or a different purpose narratively.

I'm glad Victor is talking to people about the past and thank god it's Sara who can help put puzzle pieces together.

I want a big reunion with Victor, Jade and Tabitha. I like their dynamic and want them to talk to Boyd because I feel like they'll solve some shit. I do kinda love the lack of communication tho. It makes things tense and you kinda know these plot hound characters WILL argue regardless.

I'm going to go crazy when Victor sees his Dad. I feel like the writers might make me cry again lol.

It was so funny seeing Kristi and Kenny have a heart to heart, then cut to a wide showing Jade just off screen. It brought a fun sleep over energy to it. Especially when jade went fuck it, wanna hear some weird shit?

In season 2 I found Randall annoying and a good antagonist. Then, as he got isolated and cicada-d I started sympathizing for him. Yeah he was a dick, but like damn he has nobody in hell. Then seeing him get picked out by the monsters and getting left alive on the ambulance really made me feel for him. I can't wait to see if he'll call out Boyd for leaving him or really how either character will react in episode 6. I hope Randall lives because it'll be a lot more interesting if he does and I want to see more of him.

I want to see Marielle and Kristi be sweet together. I love my sapphics 💚💚💚 I do like how Marielle is proving herself as a nurse and her caring for Fatima is helping her feel grounded. If something goes wrong with Fatima and the baby then I feel like it'll be a big blow for Marielle emotionally.

Julie and Ethan deserve so much better. Their dad, Jim, is obsessed with the mystery and can't pull his head out of his ass to be there for his kids. Plus I bet he's going to be super protective over Tabitha now she's back. Like let your wife be the plot hound and learn your lesson you need to protect the kids you still have. I just feel bad Julie and Ethan are thinking about what will happen when their parents are gone. It sucks.

I want to hug Donna; she is being pushed beyond her limit.

For a sec I thought Donna recognized the new cop character when the cop ran in. But it could also be a Holy shit more shit to deal with kind of reaction.

I bet the cop character has some sort of connection to one of the main characters. Like all of the new characters from season 2 ended up playing a significant role. This cop has to bring something. If not I hope the cop and Tabitha have an interesting relationship since they entered together.

Tabitha can find someone better than Jim and that better person is bisexuality

I like how before they kill minor characters they have tended to be present in episodes prior to their death. Like Nicky's death wasn't on the same level of emotional devastation as Tian Chen dying. But Nicky still felt like a real person in this world who died and not just the red shirt of the ep. The writers are doing an amazing job and I hope that keeps up.

[trashrattt]

I totally think Code lyoko should have it's talked about reboot, mostly because

- when it came to Carthage, the most canon explanation from Franz himself, the explanation only lasts about 1 minute and 25 seconds, and nothing else comes of it

Sure, we knew why Xana was created, but like, Franz never really said Xana stopped it as it was his main intended purpose, why Xana was made to begin with, so like, that's a real issue in canon consitering Franz wanted to stop the project but never got to consitering Xana gained autonomy and all

And like, Carthage was kind of hinted at to be a bad thing too, you'd think that could be a real issue in universe

- spent 3 whole seasons building on this one character only not to do much with it at all and give him a really bad rep in universe afterwards

Okay, you know me, I like William an abnormal amount, but with all things considered, he wasn't a character to begin with, neither was a plot device imo

Yeah, he absolutely has no personality, argue with the wall if you need to

So like, yeah, he got posessed, but then what? Sure he was used to try to throw Aelita into the Digital sea, but like, tarantulas could do the same thing with those long ass arms, they could just use them as bats

And you've literally seen megatanks push her closer to the digital sea when she used a energy field as a sheild of sorts, so really, what was the point of him to begin with of other monsters could do the same thing no problem

And after a whole season of dawdling around, the writers rushed the whole "set him free" arc after ignoring it for basically the whole season, like there wasn't any episodes besides cold sweat where the characters actively try to break him free, you'd think there would be a little more give from the characters considering how #depressed Yumi was

(and yes, I know the show says, "I made ___ program" but let us see the FAILURE!!!!)

Even then, when he came back, the characters all decide "fuck this, you ain't shit to me" and dropkick him back to his life without any support, like dude lost months of his life without something he either remembers or blanked out on

- character writing in season four

Okay, this isn't really a reason why, it's more of saying "Why did you make your characters worse, we deserve better"

Because Odd in season four just became an absolutely terrible person, man

Constantly throwing his freinds under the bus just for some scheme he pulled or literally abusing the fact that he knows about Lyoko as a point to say to the others "This is why we're friends!!!1!@1!!" Even though at this point their friendship is downright terrible, like to the point where they just want to get Lyoko dealed with so they can fall apart like a poorly put together cup with scotch taped all over it

Imo nobody seemed to like each other as opposed to season 1 and 2 where they talked casually, like they had an actual friendship going on, not like "so, what's new on Lyoko, I want this shit dealt with today..." they were actual friends who did stuff together and had fun, I miss that :<

Anyways that was a more personal take, but season 4 just leaves a bad taste in my mouth with that rushed ending of theirs

Uhm oops, this was a long rant of what I dislike about the show, I was supposed to make this post simply to tell you guys what I'd propose for a continuation

Here's what I'd do:

Consitering Carthage was an abandoned idea from the depths of season 2, we build on that again

I'm imagining a non-terribly written Evo mixed with the chronicles, like bitch I actually love the idea of Ulrichs dad being tied in with Carthage simply because like, it would make so much sense (absolutely don't pull a chronicles though making EVREYONES mothers under the sun being tied in, that was stupid)

I'm also thinking, the antagonist we have is still a program, but it isn't Xana like in main series

Sure, they're simular, but it's a remnant from Carthage that has the same ideas as Xana, but worse (this is all first draft, but that's like the main idea that could work)

Also, give Will and actual personality this time, not just this "I'm soooooo sad" attitude that any traumatized character has, he has the potential to be COMPLEX!!!!

Kids cartoons nowadays are getting complex so don't say "Oh no they can't, it's a kids cartoon"

Anyways I'm hoping they build off of Carthage because that would be a PERFECT continuation aauaghh

Enjoy (?) My unexpected rant, idk

[lyss-sketchbox]

My thoughts on Inazuma vs Natlan so far. Is that Inazuma dropped the ball. There's no questioning that. It was rushed and the resolution lacked weight, and it almost definitely needed a lot more space to breathe and probably would've benefited from the 5 act structure instead of speedrunning with 3 acts (such as needing actual time spent with the Watatsumi Resistance rather than spending like 30 minutes tops).

HOWEVER. I feel like the initial Act I-II of Inazuma did a great job established the STAKES. It showed us the very real damage being caused by the various unjust decrees and why people are fighting. Natlan I kinda felt like did a lot of telling instead of showing, and any potential stakes feel kinda... Unserious? Because no one's really seriously hurt and even if they're saying Natlan will explode soon, I'm not really feeling like it's as dire as they're trying to sell it.

BUT IVE BEEN INFORMED YOU CAN DO NATLAN OUT OF ORDER??? Like you could in theory do Natlan BEFORE Inazuma thru Fontaine (with the quick-start function) which is why Natlan is more 'self-contained' which is absolutely insane to me?? Like HELLO???

Overall, I feel like the concepts and plot presented in Natlan is fine. But they didn't do a good enough job of selling to me these things. Like the whole child soldiers stuff kjadf like we actually dwelled on it for longer than a millisecond, we'd probably realize that's super fucked up!! But instead we gloss over it, making the whole quest seem fairly light-hearted despite everything.

Rubs my hands together ok anon lets talk cuz yeah i have thoughts

About inazuma

I definitely agree with you that Act 1-2 (especially 1) of inazuma did well setting up and showing how much negative impact the shogun's rule has impacted the people:

Vision holders literally losing a chunk of themselves (or worst, their lives) from their vision being confiscated.

Non-vision holders risking their lives for helping said vision holders (the resistance)

International traders being stuck in the nation, repressed by local government, and scammed by local traders just to keep business alive.

Local government bloating the price of everything!!! (And being able to get discounts only if you have connections)

Corruption even in the highest positions (gestures at the Kujou clan)

Fatui meddling that lead to the deaths of many for profit

The shogun literally programmed her robot to be that heartless because she herself dont give a shit about any of these issues. As long as her eternity stays.

Fr after venti and zhongli, getting an archon that acts as a proper ruler of a nation AND an antagonist sounds COOL AS FUCK. The booba sword scene while yeah, boobs wooo, also was a wonderful show of her authority over her nation.

After that they tripped and fell in Watatsumi. While i appreciate the environmental story telling of Watatsumi's and Shogunate's bases during the war, we barely get enough time to do... ANYTHING of substance. If i remember correctly, we became team captain, then do a bunch of training and defeating vagrants (on our own because friendly npc fighters didnt exist yet) and thats it. Where is the plotting? Wheres the planning? It was all just an anime training montage we barely get to see or feel. I genuinely feel like we couldve just replaced the entire Watatsumi arc with 'the fatui is selling delusions to people with confiscated visions to help them cope with the lost so traveller go to the delusion factory' and NOTHING wouldve changed. Hell it wouldve made ALOT more sense why yae came to save us at the end if the whole thing happened in Narukami.

Also after all that SHOWING they did alot more TELLING about wooo how smart kokomi is she is so smart and cool and the savior of the resistance. Like girl the fatui had their grip on your soldiers to the point they almost didnt want to surrender their delusions what are you on about. While you can argue she was only a priestess before the war and had no war intellegence skills, the people prop her up as such, kujou sara took her seriously. So she has to have some merit. Well im not seeing any (fight me on this i dont fully remember what happens in watatsumi)

Also at the end we fight the literal dictator of the nation with the power of friendship then everyone and i mean EVERYONE forgave said dictator...... cool. They would definitely benefit from an extra act so that watatsumi adds to the idea that this civil war and the shoguns current decree is causing damage.

About AR

The thing is that the requirements for you to start Natlan AQ is to be AR 28 and finish Liyue AQ (which requires AR 29 for the entire thing). While starting Inazuma requires AR 30, Sumeru needs AR 35, and Fontaine needs AR 40 (highest AR requirement by far).

Id argue that each nation is supposed to be a self-contained story. Even so, based on AR requirements theyve been chronologically in order because you NEED to complete the previous AQ to start the next. EXCEPT for Natlan.

While this is obviously to be more open to new and returning players, it really.... decreases the stakes, like you would assume the more we progress the tougher challenges we will have to face. But Natlan? Nawww you can go to Natlan without fighting the dictator 👍

About Natlan

I AM ADDRESSING THE CHILD SOLDIER THING FIRST BECAUSE YES. THEY DEFINITELY DID ALOT MORE TELLING THAN SHOWING HOW THIS CHILD APPARENTLY CAN BE SENT TO WAR WITH A REAL CHANCE OF DYING!!!!! I talked about this before because they ironically did alot more showing how child like Kachina is which adds more to the FUCKING CHILD SOLDIER THING.

HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO BE OKAY WITH THIS??? Oh its our nations culture, its just the culture shock, OKAY YEAH BUT THE TRAVELLER AND PAIMON ARENT NATLAN NATIVES AND THEY DONT FEEL ANYTHING ABOUT THIS????? Wow yey cheer for the child to go to war! BRO SHE DIED AND WE WENT JACOOZIING WHILE WE WAIT FOR HER TO RETURN FROM WAR...............

ITS VERY OBVIOUS INFANTILIZATION BECAUSE IANSAN DIDNT FUCKING GET THE SAME TREATMENT. You know, the other small girl character there, nah she went to war just like Kachina, lived, and stood by the Archon and WAS READY TO THROW HANDS WITH A HARBINGER IF THE ARCHON DIDNT FUCKING FIGHT HIM HERSELF.

Everything just feels so.... chill? So relaxed with no stakes at all. I mean yeah the Abyss is creeping into the nation's roots but instead of sending armies we make it a tournament. Yeah people die in these excursions but we can revive them so we can ignore the horrors of experiencing death. Yeah the flames are dying so the archon has to give up some of her power to keep it lit but its okay! The harbinger is a gentleman that wont take this opportunity to do some scheming. We need the power of the chosen one of each tribes to save natlan but hey cant rush it! We got a year after all teehee.

Man. Head in hands. What the fuck.

Not even gonna go into the whole the archon is human but mavuika is the one that got reincarnated to retake the role just in time to solve a national crisis thing. Because i dont even know if THAT is accurate.

If they somehow trip and fall worse than inazuma id actually be amazed because the bar is very very low.