#as well as in actually allowing her character to be challenged and progress in the story

[avelera]

Thinking about how one of Mel's flaws as a character, as I see it, is that she's fixated on being the power behind the throne, rather than the power itself, despite already having all the ability she needs to be an effective and incisive ruler.

We first see this characteristic of Mel's when she's a child, picturing the sort of hand-picked regent she would select to be her family's puppet.

But Ambessa points out even back then that there's no reason Mel couldn't rule directly. This I imagine is part of the whole fox vs. wolf theme that is a source of tension between them.

In Mel's defense, there's plenty of good reasons to be the power behind the throne. It gives you a lot more deniability and an easy escape-hatch if something goes wrong. You can always throw the puppet to the wolves and start fresh. But it demonstrates a lack of commitment to always be hedging like that and it also lose you a certain amount of direct control. After all, the puppet can always grow teeth.

I think about this in relation to Jayce's Man of Progress image and how he needed to be the face of Hextech (and eventually a Councilor). Because why did he need to be the face of Hextech? Why couldn't Mel do it?

Mel was one of their first believers. She enabled their creation on the night of its inception. Why couldn't she be a partner in Hextech from the beginning, handling the public-facing side from the start? Or taken over from Jayce once it went from prototype to proven quantity?

I'd argue that if she had, a lot of the tragedies that befall Mel later would have been averted.

First of all, it's not as if there's an air-gap between the State and Hextech. There'd be no appearance of impropriety if Mel championed Hextech from the point where the Hexgates open. The Hexgates and Piltover had become synonymous by that point, there's no reason she couldn't continue to advocate and get funding for Hextech even as a Councilor. She had a skill for it, and the knowledge, and connections.

She could have allowed Jayce to remain in the lab, working on new innovations, occasionally coming out to offer the more scientific explanations as needed. But she didn't, why? (Doylist, obviously because we wouldn't have a story, etc. etc.)

I would argue it's part of the flaw or challenge she's facing in the story: she always wants to be the power behind the throne. So she helps elevate Jayce and supports his public persona. This persists until she sees an opportunity for an even bigger play by making Jayce a Councilor. Again, she sees a bright, charismatic, well-intentioned and easily-moldable person that she can work through to enact her own goals in Piltover and, because she is actually a good person, theirs too. She's not entirely self-serving and that's where she's different from Ambessa.

But this is where the problem of setting up a puppet sets in. Because Jayce has agency and he grows teeth and he pushes back on things Mel wouldn't want and does things she wouldn't advise with her superior political experience. Had she been the one in power instead of the power behind the throne, she could have avoided this, she could have molded the situation more specifically to her preferences, based on her superior knowledge. Jayce didn't want to be out in front of the crowd. He wanted to stay in the lab. Mel being the public face would have worked just fine for about 90% of the public appearances a representative of Hextech would need to make to the world. (I say this as someone who works as a public face in tech and has been a startup founder myself, such a role for Mel totally exists and often goes to someone who is a bigger name when the founders themselves are not charismatic or would simply prefer not to do all the wheeling and dealing.)

And this flaw loses her the relationship she could have had with Jayce, I'd argue. If she'd more directly worked alongside Jayce and Viktor, and taken over being the public face, she wouldn't have needed to manipulate Jayce or raise him to the Council, which were the dealbreakers that made him break up with her later.

Of course, they may not have had any reason to date in such a world but then, maybe they would have anyway as partners, now with a stronger foundation beneath them of working together, with both Jayce and Viktor relieved that the public, political side is being handled by a pro with a ton of resources (not that there wouldn't have been tension at all but certainly, this is a world in which I could see some flavor of MelJayVik happening harmoniously).

There's a Silicon Valley AU buried in all of this, free to a good home, but a world where Mel came on as a full partner early on would certainly be fascinating.

[conclaveconfessions]

I'm not og anon but, imho when I started reading conclave fanfic I also sometimes felt like the Catholic yaoi is not Catholic enough, that being said if you go to the book Vincent literally says he isn't afraid of a schism. So I understand why people write him like that. it's a bit difficult to write the character differently. I don't quite agree with the notion that he wouldn't care about his vows or see them as irrelevant, because it's a whole thing in the book as well, but the whole confession stuff was actually so weird ajdjdn. I think book!Vincent is complicated in a way that perhaps has to do with the author not knowing how to make the theme land. And movie!Vincent is just this unknowable figure, really. Like "Vincent thinks it's ok so he ropes Lawrence in, who is so devout to him that he lets go" is not... A totally incorrect interpretation of the characters. It's AN interpretation, that yeah, protestants and atheists would be more partial to.

But there are different types of Catholics, and some are more progressive than others. And not everyone upholds his vows.

If we're talking about celibacy vows there are many justifications on how or why a priest would fuck. Youd have to guess the thought process of any given character except Lawmeli, and you can get creative with it. Someone like Tedesco might outright believe he's above it even if he's a traditionalist, something something cognitive dissonance.

The only place where I do care is extremely petty and has nothing to do with care for the scriptures and just on my understanding in how religion works as an atheist that grew up in a Catholic society, and it's when fanfics make Thomas and Vincent "marry" each other. Like my brain literally can't compute it and I just ignore it or outright skip it ajsjdjdj

I 100% understand this is poetic language (tho not always) and yet-

I'm always like... but they are Catholic priests... They're "married" to the Church... Even if they were a straight couple/the church was nice to gays it's just not possible... I have a friend and her parents are married evangelical pastors and the first six months of friendship I kept forgetting and remembering this fact and my brain said: ... That's not how religion works.....

But that's like, my gut feeling. Obviously religion works in many different ways. My friend has like legit religious trauma because her parents do not like that she's queer (she liked conclave btw sjdjdj).

This is a small cultural bias (I knew in other religions priests can marry but I constantly forgot) that is actually Huge in terms of how the characters relate to each other. They would never consider themselves husbands, as long as they're pope and cardinal... And this has to rattle their brains ajsjddj how do you, top dog of THE catholic church, rationalize your union to the eyes of god? Compartmentalize? Ignore it? Confess all the time? Change your whole POV? It's tricky! It's interesting! It's also mostly absent in some Conclave fanfic. It doesn't seem to be a question. It's ok if your answer is "oh but it's fine because we love each other c:", but it could be more of a challenge to get there. Also I don't buy the explanation that "well some Catholics allow priests to marry". Not these Catholics ajsjdnd

So if you're wondering: what does someone with a Catholic background might feel it's missing? Sometimes it's not even about anything scriptural and it's really just the vibes of forbidden love and guilt. Bartender, more guilt please!!! At least to me that was the feel. It's not called catholic guilt for nothing.

Eh, actually, it's not that it's not present, but it's usually not developed from Vincent's perspective, and that's the thing, I think.

If you rewrite Vincent to be sexually active prior to the conclave it all ties together more neatly, he can be the instigator to Lawmeli's desire and, I like it, but if he held onto his vows... Why? Why now and not before? Why Lawmeli? Is that why you are marrying them? You think he thinks in marriage is less sinful? Why? Oh, you say he doesn't care/believe in sin? Then why didn't he break his vows before then? Why were his vows important before but not now? Was breaking his vows a sin before but now that he's pope he can deem them not a sin now? Is his lust just that big? But then, doesn't he feel guilty about it? Because it kinda seems like he should feel conflicted about it, if he held to his vows all his life only to break them after becoming Pope.

You can take this in so many different directions but for that, it needs to be a conflict first. But if you're protestant, and you had a married priest growing up, maybe it just wouldn't occur to you. You "know" catholic priests don't marry or have sex, but you don't feel anything about it, so when you write conclave porn, they don't care about it. If Vincent is fine with being an intersex priest he would be fine with sex, right? But would he? And why?

Take this with a grain of salt given the atheism. Maybe an actual catholic can reply in earnest.

~

[secretsofthewilde]

Well. I did say that only one person needed to ask and I'll share. So here you go @raisedbythetv89 @richtea-biscuit

The actual academic essay I wrote and submitted is available to read here (x) for now at least, but as it was written for an assignment with a set word count and parameters, I ended up having to take out the section I had originally written about Cordelia and also there are a lot of references to the set textbook readings I was given. So it might not be the lightest of reading.

Essentially the essay poses the argument that for all the supposedly progressive feminist intentions of the show, we regularly see gender and sexual stereotypes still being reinforced within the show especially through the way that the women are treated for their relationship with sex. That is to to say that while the ‘Scooby gang’ typically seems to contest gender norms, with the male characters often appearing as submissive to Buffy and the female characters themselves each threatening gender norms in their own way, the intimate relations between the characters often undermine these initial contestations. In my essay I explore this through comparing Faith and Buffy's relationship with sex during the early seasons of the show.

Below is my section on Cordelia which unfortunately didn't make it into the essay, followed by a summary of my essay points on Faith and Buffy. I'm mainly sticking to seasons 1-3 for this essay because while I do mention season 4 at one point briefly, the introduction of Riley and Tara mark a change in the nature of sex and what it means in the show.

Part 2 (which is a look at Willow) has also now been written and can be found here (x)

Cordelia Chase

Cordelia starts out as a mild social antagonistic force to our Scooby gang, she is a bully. As the show progresses though she slowly starts to build connections with them, however she isn't allowed into their group until she is depicted as having romantic feelings for Xander, rather than just sexual. When it comes to Cordelia and Xander's relationship she is the dominant one. She has more social power than him and the Scoobys, as well as being more financially and academically stable than him. She also is the only one with a car, meaning she is the one who drives them to their dates. And while this at first seems to be challenging gender stereotypes of powerful men providing for an attractive but weaker woman, the problem is that she isn't allowed or accepted into the Scooby gang until after she sacrifices her social privilege to commit to a public relationship to him. Prior to this sacrifice any relationship or attempt at casual sex we saw Cordelia make was framed as shallow behaviour from her to be scorned or done for comedic effect. We see both her and Buffy seek intimate relationships in these early season, but only Buffy's attempts are framed as sympathetic. It was only when she expressed an emotional connection to Xander that she was presented as a sympathetic character to the audience.

Buffy Summers

Buffy and Angel are the first intimate relationship we see explored in the show and so it's the one that sets the audiences' initial expectations for intimacy. While Buffy is dominant within her social groups and her general use of violence to defeat enemies is something that we would say challenges gender norms, she rarely maintains these traits (or at least they are made much weaker) in scenes that explore her relationship with Angel. Once she's romantically interested in him she routinely takes a submissive role in their relationship; she goes to him for help and advice, places his well being over her role as a slayer, and waits for him to be the one to define and initiate their relationship.

 Unlike Cordelia’s early relationship with Xander, the audience is meant to be invested and sympathetic towards Buffy and Angel. From the get go we have it established that the two love each other, but despite their doomed fate we are meant to want to see them together and therefore we are sympathetic to Buffy's attempts at intimacy with him. When they do have sex and Angel loses his soul, these painful consequences is sometimes seen to be done as a punishment for Buffy having sex, but I think it's more to do with the tragic nature of their gothic romance rather than that - because Buffy and Angel did have the emotional and psychological connection that the show requires in order for their intimacy to be viewed as 'good'. In contrast though, once they break up we see Buffy try to have sex casually with other non-supernatural students but this only results in her getting hurt. When she and Parker have sex he dumps her the following day after using her; which is her punishment for attempting to have sex with something who she didn't really love like Angel. Buffy's also interesting in that her attempt to have a not only loving but sexual relationship also sets her apart from the other slayers - Kendra doesn't have sex, Faith doesn't do emotional intimacy, but Buffy tries to have both.

Faith Lehane

Faith gets to be the sexually free and explorative girl that Buffy is unable to. While she does struggle to do so, within the first three season Buffy does successfully create and sustain a heteronormative relationship that is both sexually and emotionally intimate. While Buffy might flirt with other guys that aren't Angel, she's still easily the "good girl" who cares more about the emotional connection with a guy than sex; in comparison Faith is someone who presents very confident in her sexuality and actively seeks casual sex without any emotional connections. If Buffy is seen to be masculine because of her traits as a slayer than Faith can be seen as hyper-masculine. So she challengers gender stereotypes in that her seeking casual sex and her dominant flirtatious behavior are traits typically reserved for a stereotypical "bad boy" type of character.

When Faith is first introduced to the show as an ally to our Scooby gang, her sexual confidence and behaviours are initially something that Buffy herself wants to replicate. The only time that we actually see her engage in sex on screen however is when she initiates sex with Xander, which coincidently also marks the last episode where she is considered to be someone trust worthy. Faith is the one to initiate sex with Xander, and she remains in a dominant position of control of the scene that we observe. The moment seems to subvert the trope of the confident male "deflowering" the inexperienced and submissive women (who in this scene would be Xander). However the scene is immediately cut with Faith kicking Xander out of her apartment after he tries to initiate an emotional connection with her, and this is framed for comedic effect. By framing their whole sexual encounter as comedic, it's undermining how Faith's sexual confidence seemed to challenge gender roles and instead framing deviations from expected heteronormative behaviours as something to laugh at.

It's also important that the very next episode (Bad Girls) is the one where we clearly see the descent of her mental stability as her reckless behaviour (both sexual and violent) in one-night results in her accidentally killing someone. What was initially seen as traits of a sexually confident woman, and therefore challenging gender roles, then becomes depicted for the rest of the season as signs of her mental instability and her eventual role as an antagonist. This is her punishment for engaging in casual sex; for not having the emotional or psychological connection that is needed for sexual actions to be accepted or approved of by the narrative.

Conclusion

Within the first three seasons of Buffy we see that the female characters are able to challenge gender roles in many ways, however this isn't extended to sex. They can enjoy and seek sex out at times, however they will suffer as a consequence if they don't fulfil certain heteronormative conventions during those times.

Buffy and Faith are allowed to be powerful slayers who are in charge, but in order for their power (and how they challenge dominant ideologies) to remain acceptable it needs to be limited to their battles in the streets rather than in the sheets.

[sleepythegh0st]

Hello, Persona 3 Fans!

Have you ever wondered what Persona 3 would look like if both protagonists were, well, the protagonist? How easy it would actually be for two different people to act as the Leader of SEES at the same time? Or are you just looking for a new, kinda scuffed way to experience the game?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, then I have just the challenge for you! Allow me to introduce...

Persona 3: Twin-Sync!

A multiplayer challenge run conceptualized by myself and my sister that allows you and a companion to experience the story of Persona 3 together!

Rules

One player must play Portable in order to control FeMC, but Roger may play any version of Persona 3 they like!*

Both players must be playing the same day*, and are not allowed to progress until all evening activities for both players have been completed.

All Social Links shared between both players that remain mostly unchanged (Such as Bebe or Odagiri, but not the party members) MUST be progressed on the same day, and both players must choose the same dialogue options, or their closest equivalent. Non rank ups may be done separately.

When Roger is able to begin his party member Social Links, he and FeMC may not hang out with them at the same time

Specific Velvet requests must be completed by both players at the same time. This mostly applies to bringing the attendants items that can only be obtained by party members (and Ikutsuki that one time.)

If both players are in Tartarus on the same night, they both must leave at the same time

Obviously, both players must complete the same ending

*causes a de-sync for FES and Reload players, but I have a solution

That's pretty much it for the rules! From here, you may add or alter rules in whatever way you'd like in order to make things easier or harder for yourself and the other player, or just for your personal preference. I do have a few suggestions for you, though! Feel free to pick and choose!

Bonus Rules!!

Both players must do the exact same activities at all times, or their closest equivalent

Both players must have the same Personas (bonus bonus rule: the Personas must have an identical move set to the best of your ability)

Aside from Orpheus, both players CANNOT use the same Personas

Both players must have the same Social Stat levels. If one levels up for one player, the other must catch up ASAP.

Both players must use the same weapons for their teammates

If one player wants to go to Tartarus, the other must go as well

If one player wants to go to Tartarus, the other is free to stay home, but characters currently in the first player's party may not be hung out with by the other (your choice whether or not this includes Fuuka, due to her inability to be removed from the party)

Both players must be on the same floor of Tartarus at all times

Both players must spend time with their Social Links of the same Arcana at the same time, even if they aren't the same character

Party composition must be the same across both players

When possible, party composition must have no duplicate characters between both players

All identical Velvet requests must be completed at the same time

The FES and Reload Time De-Sync (and how to fix it)

In FES and Reload, after awakening to Orpheus, Roger falls unconscious and doesn't wake up until April 17th. For some reason, Portable changes this date to the 19th instead, for both protagonists. Most story events that follow are the same, just on different days, such as the first trip to Tartarus and the Social Link tutorial.

The way my sister and I fixed this problem during our run was continuing to play all of these major events normally as best we can, and then having FeMC stop what she's doing on the 25th and wait for Roger to catch up. Across all 3 versions of the game, the bookstore you meet the old couple in opens on this day, and all major events that follow will be properly synced up again (To my knowledge. My sister and I haven't completed our run yet, but I'll come back to this if something comes up.)

Closing Thoughts

Aaaand that's a wrap! If you have any questions about this run, feel free to ask! And if you choose to try it out yourself, I wanna hear about it! How did you change it? Why? What names did you use for your characters? What version is Roger using? I wanna hear it all!

I hope you have fun with this! And, on the off chance you make a Youtube video of this challenge or something, credit me and let me know, if you wouldn't mind! I'd love to give it a watch.

Good luck!!

[childprotectiveservicesthemesong]

this black girl wants to ramble. major spoilers for black mirror season 7, episode 2

I both hate and love having this account. Anywhere I need to ramble about my thoughts on something, knowing people willing to discuss MIGHT see it, is a nice thought.

I want to talk about the second ep of black mirrors newest season: Bête noire, a wicked story about manipulation. With some trans girl technology on the side…(FULLY believed it was about to be a witchcraft episode LOL)

Please note I am not a very well articulated person, I use the words that get my point across because becoming a person is new for me lol that’s sincerely the best way I can put it. I have not picked up a book in years but I still want to challenge my critical thinking skills when it comes to analyzing media I watch, trying to understand implications that maybe aren’t there? I hope you like my analysis, please bear with me.

Starting off with the plot so you can get an idea of the episode, Maria is our protag, she works at a company and is pretty liked, you know. There’s suddenly a new employee that she recognized. This employee is named Verity, they went to school together. It’s revealed that Maria started something that was a rumor (it involves grooming, though the situation isn’t real.) About Verity. Little things start to change in Maria’s life though, literally like the mandela effect. It makes her go crazy and eventually something happens where Maria is in a situation where she’s constantly having to prove herself, when she knows she’s right, she’s somehow wrong. As the episode progresses, Verity reveals that she actually does have a vendetta against Maria and is deliberately doing this to her friend group that drove that rumor into the ground. It gets to a point for Maria that she ends up breaking into Verity’s home, finding out that the tech nerd that was “always hanging in the computer lab” was living in a mansion, on the cover of vogue, a fucking astronaut, LITERALLY EMPRESS OF THE UNIVERSE. There was only a painting depicting that though. Verity has a necklace that can alter reality, she made it herself. THATS THE TECHNOLOGY ASPECT OF THE WHOLE EPISODE BTW LOOOOOOOL anyways, a fight breaks out, Verity manifests cops into reality and ALMOST successfully frames Maria, BUT AHT AHT. MARIA SUDDENLY SNATCHES A COPS GUN, SHOOTS VERITY, SUCCESSFULLYYYYY GIVES HERSELF OWNERSHIP OF THE PENDANT AND BECOMES EMPRESS OF THE UNIVERSE. BIG WIN FOR BLACK WOMEN ALL AROUND

Okay sorry lol I’m serious now. But I just want to get into the fact that. I’m? On both characters sides? I think I’m supposed to be on Verity’s, but there’s just something about the white woman manipulating tactics she had going on that reminded me toooooo much a little bit about a white woman I know that tried twisting ALL the fucking narratives on me. Allow me to summarize this so you can see where I’m coming from, I don’t know why I am, but I’m traumatized from how she treated me without saying a single word to me. I haven’t gotten a say in the situation I was put in at ALL. wasn’t contacted where I should’ve been, she said a lot of things about me to people I will never know. people I thought were closer to me than her dropped me the minute she told them about me, knowing something about my identity and using it against me just so they can talk shit. They thought it was funny I tried exploring my identity. He told her things about me I thought he’d keep between us. I felt so, SO fucking stuck. I didn’t feel like myself, I felt like a puppet being fucking controlled. She has this grip over me, I still go out of my way to block accounts she has. This entire situation reminds me of Maria and Verity.

The way Maria doesn’t feel even heard, I can’t even imagine how many black women, honestly at least women in general, who we’ve lost from sheer silencing. She is going fucking crazy, the difference with her and Natalie, a character Verity drove to suicide that was apart of the friend group that taunted her, Natalie tried withstanding it. Her solution to it all was jumping off a building, it makes you wonder…Why did it end so differently for Maria? I will say, Natalie is a white woman. The way she treated the situation was very different from Maria. We don’t know that completely, but even reading the analysis should tell you that killing yourself and becoming empress of the universe are two entirely different endings when encountering Verity. it was a stupid thing Maria started. I don’t at all blame Verity for how she felt, I can’t even say I don’t think it’s worth it because when you have a pendant that can do anything for you, you get bored, which is literally what happened with Verity, this is why she’s doing any of this in the first place. But I just don’t think it’s worth it, at least if the pendant didn’t exist anyway. It took Verity a month for Natalie to pull what she even did, imagine if Maria just withstood it? Would it have gone on forever? Also I want to say I do project my transness onto Verity, her backstory speaks to me as well. It’s really interesting seeing this episode as someone who’s been on both sides of that coin.

I don’t condone what Maria did, there’s a saying that gets thrown around the whole episode “Kids are stupid.” While they are, someone is still allowed to express how angry they are having been traumatized at that age. But Kids are stupid is something I just genuinely agree with to the point I feel like doing… all that to Maria, so far after that point of your lives was pointless bahaha but hey, makes for a hella cool episode. especially since Maria killed the girl and became empress herself??? Like? I didn’t even see that coming. Lol

I understand entirely what Verity went through with that specific rumor, though it wasn’t true, a rumor spread around about someone that’s an entire grooming situation from an outsiders perspective, I feel can tear apart someone’s autonomy, that happened with her. It’s funny though, the “ache” she describes is something I feel as well since my situation I mentioned. It’s unfortunate though she turned out like this, I don’t think anyone deserves to go what she went through. Bullying from kids is tormenting, but being harassed and gaslit about it as an adult is FUCKED UUUP DOOD. Verity is allowed her grudges, but if this pendant wasn’t in the equation at all, I’d call her a cunt lol. Not even gonna lie right now, Verity is allowed that closure as well! The way she did it? Is horrible lol! Uuughgghhh of course that’s the whole point I don’t know. These are all the thoughts I have since watching that episode, I totally forgot I was watching black mirror it was so good. I diddddd get triggered a little because of how relatable Maria’s situation felt to me, it was an INCREDIBLE episode. I feel like it’ll speak to people like me. I haven’t even finished the season aaahhhh!!!

Sorry if none of this makes sense, although I think it will to the people who want to try and understand where I’m coming from. If you have negative thoughts they will be deleted lol I can’t handle criticism, not right now. Please note that my stance on both these characters is that I love them!!! I actually really wish Verity accepted the closure from Maria, near the end they seemed like a really fun dynamic if they gave it a chance, especially since Maria is exactly the opposite from Verity. Again, all of this is just something I want to put out there to see if there’s anyone if understands my vision!! If this comes off as hateful, I am sorry, that is not my intention. What this episode reminds me of requires me to call out the experience differences between white and black folk. Thank you for reading if you did!!

[coraniaid]

Btvs season four and/or seven for the reverse unpopular opinion

Just for the challenge of it, let's go with Season 7.

I'm not sure how unpopular these takes are, but i think they're probably not shared by the majority of Buffy fans and I know for a fact that there are vocal proponents of the opposite point of view for all of them.

Anyway, seven things I genuinely like about Season 7:

As I've said before, I like the decision to go back to high school for this season. I think Lessons and Help in particular are really good, solid episodes. Giving Buffy a counselling job at the school is a really nice idea and it feels like a natural progression from her getting the Class Protector award in The Prom and being forced to act as her sister Dawn's surrogate parent after The Body. After three seasons of Buffy in high school, and three seasons of Buffy struggling with adulthood in various ways (college, the death of a parent, having to get a job and pay bills on her own) it's really fitting that the last season gives us the idea of Buffy as a young adult working in a school. Getting to play the part of Dr Gregory or Mr Platt to the various young people in school who are struggling with unknowable problems of their own, while still protecting them from the vampires and demons the way she's always done. Honestly I'm only giving this as an unpopular opinion because I've seen more than one person argue (utterly bizarrely, in my view), that the back to school stuff is actually a boring distraction from the compelling fight against the First Evil, which is ... uh. Well, it's good that people are allowed to have opinions, I guess.

I quite like Kennedy and I think the amount of hostility she gets from the fandom is pretty baffling. She is a fun character: not exactly one of my overall favorites but certainly not one I have any animosity towards. She's stupidly brave for somebody with no actual superpowers and kind of charmingly protective of all the other Potentials. And it's nice to have somebody around who can offer a critical outsider's perspective on Buffy and her reasons for not immediately warming to Buffy make a lot of sense. I miss Tara too but I don't think the show would have been improved if Willow spent the reason of the show in mourning. Honestly, she should have been in this season more. She's going to be a pretty major part of my S7 AU, if I ever get around to properly writing that. I do wish the show cared about her enough to decide how old she was though (she is somewhere between fifteen and nineteen depending on what source you trust and what parts of canon you care about).

I also like Robin Wood. While I am a firm Lies My Parents Told Me hater, I think having one of the relatives of Spike's former victims show up and confront him after he got a soul was a good choice and I think explicitly tying this back to Fool For Love in the way the show did was a great one. Making him the high school principal was a good call as well: again, I only wish that this season had done more with this.

More generally, while the show obviously made some pretty ... uh, odd choices this season (First Date, Get It Done, the previously mentioned Lies My Parents Told Me..., the running joke about nobody bothering to learn how to communicate with Chao-Ahn) in ways that make it pretty clear how overwhelmingly white the writers' room still was, it is nonetheless (on balance) ultimately to the season's credit that those writers belatedly realized that "hey, maybe not everyone in Sunnydale has to be white?". I read an article a few years ago that put numbers on how many Black or Asian or Hispanic named characters ever appeared on Buffy and it is very notable how many of that small list first appeared (or were first named) in Season 7. Limiting ourselves to characters who appeared in at least four episodes (i.e. at least one more than Kendra managed), there's Mr Trick (5 episodes in Season 3), Forrest Gates (12 episodes in Season 4) and then nobody until Season 7 when we have Robin Wood (14 episodes), Kennedy (12 episodes), Rona (9 episodes) and Chao-Ahn (7 episodes). And all four of these characters survive the season, too, which is more than you can say about Forrest or Mr Trick.

I think Storyteller is genuinely a very good episode. Yeah, Andrew Wells is in this season far too much. Yeah, the lessons he learns this episode don't stick at all, which is a real shame (I kind of hate the "Dark Slayer" / killing a vulcan bit he does in Dirty Girls for this very reason). Yeah, of the Trio, Jonathan is by far the more sympathetic character (and not just because we've known him for longer) and maybe it's not fair he died and the guy who killed him got to join the group. But that's sort of the point, isn't it? Life isn't fair. The writing of Season 7 often feels a bit weird, with characters acting oddly for the demands of the plot and not in ways that feel organic or natural to them, but the brilliance of Storyteller is that -- by framing this all from Andrew's perspective -- it's able to make that work in a way it doesn't in a lot of other cases. And it manages a nice mix of humor ("why can't you just masturbate like the rest of us?" or "here's something you'll find interesting, gentle viewers ... look at the fine work Xander did replacing the window sash" and all the little mythology gags like Andrew calling Xander "the heart" or wondering out loud why vampires show up on film or Buffy slapping a girl to stop her turning invisible) and some genuine pathos (Andrew's tearful breakdown at the end when he admits to killing his friend Jonathan and being scared about dying and his final message to camera at the end when he admits he thinks he doesn't deserve to survive are really good!). Actually, as much as I love Faith and as much I enjoy her return to the show in its last few episodes, and as well as I think Chosen works as a series finale, I honestly think Storyteller might be the show's last truly great episode.

I like Buffy's cookie dough speech in Chosen. Saw a bit of second-hand discourse on here recently about whether we should believe Spike or Buffy about whether or not Buffy meant her final "I love you" to Spike, but -- whatever side you come down on on that -- I think it's good that the show realized that the ending didn't need to have Buffy pick her true soulmate forever. That we could have some ambiguity about what Buffy truly felt about Spike at the end; that this wasn't a question that needed to be definitively resolved either way. That this is first and foremost Buffy's story, and that she's more than just a participant in her romantic relationships. That you don't need to have your whole life figured out by age twenty two in order to be happy. And yeah, obviously, I also like the fact that if you're willing to do a little mental gymnastics you can read this scene as Buffy slowly beginning to figuring out she's a (deeply, deeply repressed) lesbian, sure. We even get a fun nod to Season 3's "Slayer pride parade" bit, when -- after Buffy explains that she's starting to realize that she used to think there was "something wrong with" her because she couldn't ever make "the guy thing" work, but "maybe I'm not supposed to" -- Angel nods like he gets it and says "because you're a Slayer?".

And, yeah, Chosen is a really good series finale. Is it a great episode in its own right? Does it do a good job of tying together all the different narrative elements this season offered up? Do I care about the big CGI fight against supposedly super-powered vampires who now seem to die awfully easily after all? Do I understand why Sunnydale is suddenly landlocked (a crater in the middle of the desert) after previously being shown as having docks and a beach? This is a post for positive opinions, so of course I cannot answer those questions. But -- as an end to the story of Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- I think it is pretty close to perfect. I will never understand people who think Season 5's The Gift would have worked better as a series finale. Buffy wins! She doesn't have to die or sacrifice herself or the people she loves or lose her powers or move to San Francisco and join the police force. She rewrites the rules of the show and gets to live her own life! That final shot of Buffy slowly smiling as Faith reminds her she's not the only Chosen One anymore and Dawn asks her what they're going to do now is so, so good. Honestly just that moment alone is almost enough to redeem the whole season. And thank goodness nobody's planning to ruin it all by rebooting the series.

[tokiro07]

Toki Reads Shonen Jump 2025, issue #22/23: Catching Feelings Week

One Piece: After capturing the Collun Hats, Gunko demands Brook become her slave and make music for her, but he insists he'd rather die than betray Luffy; the Gods Knights formally pose their ultimatum to Elbaf - burn down their institutions and swear fealty to the World Government or sacrifice the lives of their children, a choice Gaban and Robin cannot abide. / It seemed like it pained Gunko to kick her idol, could this perhaps be an early sign of a reversal of loyalties? More importantly, oooh boy, is Robin getting another fight???

Roboco: One of Roboco's old war buddies, Villa, has been slain in battle, so after reminiscing on their time together, Roboco sets out for revenge; Villa turns out to have actually survived. / Saw that coming a mile away, but I appreciate the yuri

Sakamoto: Kamihate's betrayal of the Order is not only because of Osaragi, but also because news coverage of the ensuing chaos replaced the Weather Girl segments; a new enemy, Gozu, arrives to block a fleeing Shishiba and co., but his static electricity shocks Osaragi awake long enough to allow a getaway. / I think it's a little weird to have both a magnetic and static character on the same team, but I'm sure they'll synergize well; both Kamihate and Osaragi betrayed the New Order because they prioritized what they love over a world that's better tailored for their lifestyles, I wonder if that will continue to be a theme for this arc?

EluSam: When Takauji's forces are repelled, he sends Myozuru as an envoy to negotiate, but Tadayoshi's demands that all of the Kono family be executed would be political suicide; Myozuru offers a compromise where the Kono be forced to live as monks and separated from Takauji, leaving them open to be attacked without Takauji being branded a traitor to his men, a plan that Takauji seems to readily agree to. / Without knowing the exact historic details, this feels like a trap for Tadayoshi, since it was Myozuru's plot and not his own; considering that Takauji is somehow both a divine and demonic entity, it seems odd to me that he keeps getting manipulated so easily, but I probably just don't remember how he was characterized earlier on

Witch Watch: A man who's absorbed 34 of Nico's spells appears to challenge Morihito, but all of the spells he's amassed are pretty useless; upon getting so many spells back at once, Nico shoots up to being 14, and her feelings for Morihito start to return in full force. / Finally, progress! Though I assume we're going to be at 14 for a while, so I don't know if I can use that to accurately gauge how close we are to the final conflict

Blue Box: Taiki and Chinatsu go on a date for their anniversary and discuss some plans for the future. / Just a plain cute chapter, I really feel like these kids are in for the longhaul

Akane: Akane has some trouble adjusting to Shomei's rigid performance style, but her delivery is still enough to get laughs out of the audience, giving her a solid chance at the Zuiun Prize; however, Issho places a handicap on Akane - during the competition, she cannot make the audience laugh. / When I saw Akane mimicking Shomei's performance, I thought it would be a good measuring stick for how she compares to Shomei, but I didn't quite like the idea of recycling content like that - it seems that Issho agreed, and is now forcing her to find a unique solution instead of retreading old ground; this also forces Akane even further outside of her comfort zone, which will only serve to reinforce her earlier assertion that she doesn't want to be limited to only one style

Kill Blue: As Iyori suggests doing a more comprehensive reading for Juzo, Student Council President Subaru arrives; curious what kind of man he is, Juzo challenges him to airsoft, but defeats him with ease before he can learn anything useful; the Student Council sets their sets on the Home-Ec Club, as Noren has been the center of a lot of trouble lately. / Subaru's lack of talent despite being in an exceptional role suggests that he's likely the type to only lose once and go all out in overcoming whatever weaknesses he's presented with; this will either mean that Juzo needs to become even better as a marksman, or he'll need to defeat Subaru at a different talent, most likely centered around Home-Ec

Nue: Gakuro and Nue confront Raisei, destroying his arrays and setting his plan back some number of days; unable to think of any tough dialogue, Gakuro asks Raisei if he's in love with Nue, which he admits to and fires back with an accusation that Gakuro is too; after escaping, Gakuro becomes a lot more conscious of Nue, which he tries to shake off in preparation for answering Tsujita and Shiroha's feelings, only for Kazusa to join the fray. / I always figured Nue was going to be part of the harem, but it never really seemed to me that there was any real plan for that; I honestly don't care either way so long as we get the poly ending, but this was still kind of an awkward way to introduce the concept

Kagurabachi: After the difference in their compatibility with their respective Enchanted Blades becomes clear, Hiruhiko tries to beat Samura with a Hail Mary - tearing down the entire building on top of them! However, Samura's Suzaku allows him to heal anything, including objects, and Hiruhiko once again loses both an arm and Kumeyuri. / Since this isn't the first time that Hiruhiko has lost an arm, I don't imagine he's done for just yet, even if he has to pick up Kumeyuri in his jaw again (also thematically appropriate to his first kill being with his teeth); I would assume he'll either be strongly compatible with Kumeyuri's third ability or his upcoming character growth will create the synergy he needs, even if it's not within this arc

Chojo: Chojo and Asuka pretend to be a couple to tail a suspect; though it's awkward, Chojo does show a little bit of his softer side, and Asuka gets a treasured gift. / Polimon, huh? With all of the shippy chapters lately, it seems more like Polymon...That said, I think Asuka might be best girl for me

Kiyoshi: Kurose Sata claims that the Demon World's lowest temperatures exceed what we call absolute zero, and freezes Hitsugi's arm; expending everything he has left, Hitsugi defeats Kurose Sata, collapsing with a contented smile. / That's my boy right there!!! Also, @wickedsick, no, that is NOT how temperature works; Kurose is talking about it like temperature is a show of force, but it's a measure of atomic movement within a system - I suppose atoms in the Demon World might just move differently than ours, but even if they did, our atoms wouldn't be able to move less than "not at all" as they would have no more energy to take, so at worst they'd just reach absolute zero and behave accordingly

Hima-Ten: Himari discovers that Maro, her new cat, came from her childhood friend Sumire; when she tries to thank her, Sumire acts coldly, a major blow to Himari's self-esteem; later, Sumire tails Tenichi on his way to work, mistaking him for Himari's stalker, and reveals that she's actually a Himari stan and just didn't know how to act around her. / Tomboy? Loves the main love interest? Accidentally ends up in compromising positions with the main boy? Close enough, welcome back, Tsugumi

Ichi: Bakugami smells World Hater's blood on Ichi and decides to make Gokuraku his challenger after all - which sends him into a blind rage against Ichi! / This is, ironically, the best possible outcome, as while Gokuraku is extremely strong, he's not going to simply kill himself like any other challenger would; this also gives us a great excuse to see Ichi vs Gokuraku as I predicted several chapters ago, so I get to have my cake and eat it too!

Shinobi: Squad 9 goes to the beach, but Yodaka is uncomfortable in such a public space and stays by the umbrella; Mimizuku tells Yodaka that Aoi's dad was also a ninja who protected Aoi's mom and asks Yodaka how he feels about Aoi; other ninja gather at the beach for a training session, including Hayabusa, an old friend of Aoi's. / Aoi's dad being a ninja adds credence to Kawasemi being her brother; it also brings up the question of whether Aoi might have a Kekkai and if that might be related to why she and her mother were being targeted

Syd Craft: Syd and Lulu track Zero Craft's henchmen to where the kids are being held, and meet Zero's righthand, X Craft; X escapes and sets the building on fire, forcing Syd to stay behind as Lulu and the children escape; Lulu comes back to save Syd, kissing him and vowing to steal his heart. / And Lulu comes out ahead by being the first girl to actively confess! No "it was CPR" either, that was a real, undeniable kiss! The introduction of X makes me feel less worried about cancellation since we haven't jumped straight to the final confrontation, but uh...seriously, Zero and X? Who's next, Axl? Actually, I kinda hope so, that'd be a good bit

Embers: Hikage and Inanaki scout out Kurobayashi's game and find them using possession tactics, a high-level strategy; Oshimi makes a bet with Nerima that he'll let him sit out of the game if he can score three goals in specific ways within 15 minutes, which he does with ease. / Having Nerima beat Oshimi's challenge and earn the right to not play is a great contrast to Haitani, who found a love for the game by constantly failing to beat Oshimi

Beethoven: Aigou and Sakami discuss the goal to crush Yaso at the Reiro Festival; Lexi and Marsha bump into some punks while searching for Beethoven; Yaso wanders the street through the night in a haze until Amano approaches him and reminds him of the song she asked him to play for her. / I knew that idol poster from last chapter was going to be relevant somehow, I think if they hadn't covered the A, I might have made the connection that it was Amano; I'm wildly unclear where this story is heading, but Amano is easily the most interesting character to me, so I'm excited to see where she takes this

Nice Prison: One of the Block 11 Elite Four (three weirdos and a dead guy) plots a breakout during a festival, but Mitsuboshi manages to thwart the scheme and take out a second member of the four by complete accident, leaving only one left. / One of the Elite Four already being dead is honestly a good bit, but I am so sure it's going to turn out he's alive and the joke will be ruined

Long-time readers know that I love love, so seeing Nico rediscovering her feelings for Morihito, Gakuro becoming aware of Nue as a woman and being approached by Kazusa, Asuka treasuring a gift from Chojo, Yodaka analyzing his feelings for Aoi, and Lulu accepting her feelings for Syd was all absolutely great for me!

This Week's Top 3:

Ichi the Witch for setting up Ichi vs Gokuraku

Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi for Hitsugi's victory but loses points for bad physics

Syd Craft for Lulu taking an active role in the harem

[sieglinde-freud]

so the way endings in awakening work is a bit off if you have the gay mod because it reads single people normally, but married people have the man’s ending read, and then his wife just. attached. and so that alters which ending you see for both of them. unfortunately, that means if i have f/f pairs, which most of them were, i dont get to see any because none of them were read. and at least with the second gen, i did almost entirely f/f pairs, which dont show up, or m/m pairs, which had nothing written, so. everyone please give it up for gerome and cynthia, the only second gen ending i got to see!

😭😭 good for them!!! anyways unorganized final thoughts under cut so i dont have to make a whole other post for it

awakening lunatic sucks! but project thabes makes it suck a little less. in all honesty i had a lot of fun, awakenings a good game to revisit, and finding a way to make it challenging while being able to use my favorite units (awakening second gen) ever was awesome. normally having all 13 (or 14 in this case, with both morgans) would break the game, but lunatic kept the enemies strong, so it didnt matter what my units had. i actually got overwhelmed a lot 😭 HUGE difficulty jump between hard and lunatic all i’m saying. and then the games like “hey now u have lunatic+ if that interests you” NOOOOO THANKS.

anyways. here are my top three guys according to the medal thingies at the end

im so proud of them :3 of all the kids really but yeah these three were huge standouts. virion actually got a change in the mod where one of his subclasses was swapped for myrmidon, so yarne got to inherit astra which was actually insane? it procced ALL THE TIME so. that was crazy. chrom!inigo and fred!cynthia are always good thats not new but they were really clutch in the last few chapters. i had them both hopping around classes for most of the game bc thabes redoes skill progression so. IT TOOK CYNTHIA SO LONG TO LEARN LUNA. ITS FROM WYVERN LORD. GOD. she went through a LOT of classes yall dont even know. also honorable mention to marc and morgan, the best rallybots ever, and dancer lucina, who was outserving everyone she was in a scene with. my girl.

like ok serving cunt on the back of the god youre about to kill? get it girl!

anyways so for second gen pairs i did: lucina/f!morgan, owain/m!morgan, inigo/laurent, yarne/brady, severa/kjelle, nah/noire, and cynthia/gerome and you know what. i think i have a great taste. a lot of these were born from being unable to do other pairings but thats ok. i liked how it turned out. though i was gonna do nah/noire anyways because they were actually like. an insane duo. honestly im surprised noire didnt get a medal thing bc i feel like her nostanking with nah backing her up got me out of so much shit. maybe its because i didnt see her ending… oh. oh wait thats probably it. well. anyways.

i think awakening is not a properly balanced game, nor are the maps made for a difficulty like this. towards the end game especially, the maps are just. flat. most of them anyways, and they just become really repetitive and bland and boring. and despite this being the game with the tactician character of all the time, they dont really allow you flexible strategies, because if youre not pair up stat stacking, you will die! and that sucks. mid game is alright, but the last arc is really weak and kinda dampered my whole experience. im glad i did it, but i wouldnt actually reccomend it to anyone unless you like to play like that (which is totally fine! its just not my thing). definitely requires some solid planning as well. all in all, not the worst fire emblem ive played but… well. im not doing it again. ok anyways heres inigo mouthing off at grima

[illarian-rambling]

I heard ghost ship in space and came running :)

So I’m not 100% certain how your cast fits into the ghost ship unless I’m vastly misunderstanding what you mean by ghost ship but I’m here to ask questions all the same because I love characters. Here goes:

I’m going to assume at least some of the characters are either from or end up forming a spaceship crew (feel free to ignore this if not) so I’m curious what roles they end up playing (like who’s the captain, the mechanic, the helm officer, etc)? What ways do they suit those roles and what ways do they really not suit those roles?

What’s their goal? Do they all agree on it? I feel like going out into the death void that is Illarian space isn’t something you do unless you have a plan of what you want

How do they react to the unique challenges of space? Like I love space, but the tiny living quarters, lack of natural light or nature of any kind, spending time in a small environment with the same five people, rationing, knowledge that any minor damage to your ship could kill you… it’s not for the faint of heart. Are they used to it? How do they cope (or not)?

I hope some of these help the brainstorming :)

This helps so much, thank you!

So, by ghost ship, I mean the characters for this are gonna be ghosts. Essentially, the vague idea is that some mages on Illaros found out that there's this 'mysterious wall' at the edge of their solar system, and they want to launch a ship into space to check it out while also investigating some of the other planets along the way because yay first space travel! However, technology hasn't progressed to space suit level. The ship is actually just a wooden ship with a runic engine that they're teleporting into space via a teleportation rune etched on basically a manhole cover they managed to launch up there by putting it on top of a well with a bomb at the bottom. They know they don't have the means for survival up there, so what do they do? They go to a Chosen priest and ask them to summon up some ghosts.

At this point, the gods have a vested interest in this mission. A few ghosts might be small enough to slip past End unnoticed and find out if there's anything else in the universe. But they don't want to give up their best and brightest on what's likely a suicide mission, so they pick some screw-ups with a few skills to send instead, promising them a better place in the afterlife should they succeed. Some divine magic allows the ghosts to be bound to the ship and off the mission goes!

The thing about all these fuckers being dead though, is that they don't need a lot of traditional ship stuff. Especially since it's a magic ship that mostly flies by itself. I've got five crew members planned out, each with a role.

Faalgun Falani is the captain. He was a renowned Flying City pilot until his gambling addiction got him fired and eventually beaten to death. He's an uptight sort who tries to adhere to a code of honor, even though he often slips up. Out of all of the crew, he knows the most about space and the other planets, as the Flying City travels between planets frequently. I think he really wants to get into his religion's heaven to prove that he's not a total failure. Maybe he's got family or a lover there too? Who knows!

Nyda Burningrock is an astronomer who died about 400 years before the story takes place. She's Nabafyrian and has a bit of a complex about not being an adept fighter in such a martial culture, despite her rough and tumble nature. She was actually the first to theorize that the 'stars' move under their own power more than what's accounted for by gravity and the rotation of the planet, and she found a way to predict those movements, but unfortunately, she didn't write anything down or cite any sources. Her end came when she decided to travel to the realm of the Fair Folk to observe the sky there. She lasted about 15 minutes before getting hunted for sport by a fae lord.

Kaulakri Placeholdersurname is gonna be a sort of foil for Nyda, I think. She's a halawemavish selkie and the ship's cartographer, as well as a natural historian. She has beef with Nyda because mapmakers have been trying to replicate Nyda's method of predicting the unpredictable movements of Illari stars for centuries, but again, Nyda wrote literally nothing down. Kaulakri, on the other hand, writes everything down. She's neat and orderly and unfortunately wasn't able to get her comprehensive map of the world's ocean currents organized in time before she died of a random stomach bug.

Pashananath (Pash for short) is the ship's negotiator, for if they encounter any life beyond the wall of End. He's one of the Fair Folk and grew up in the Hive (a vast compound city ruled by a powerful fae demigod). His Contribution (an important concept for fae) was music. He was quite the musician, but due to his faculty for languages, he also worked as a honeytongue - essentially a smooth-talker/jester for hire in Fair Folk society. He died very young for one of the Fair Folk when another fae decided to kill him for playing a pitchy song. Pash isn't too mad about this (fae morals are weird), even if the rest of the crew things he should be.

And finally, there's Anarac. The scientists didn't ask for him, but the gods sent him anyways. No one knows what his specialty is because he never talks. He's the longest dead out of all of them and is one of the extinct Araunian people.

With such a cast, I'm hoping there'll be a good deal of tension. I don't think they actually know much about End (besides Anarac), except that the Chosen who summoned them said it's dangerous, so they arent worried about it nearly as much as they should be. I'm hoping that Nyda and Kaulakri can have a fun rivalry, while Pash might be the son figure Anarac needs, and leading these people to success will help Faalgun stop thinking he's a failure.

I'll probably structure it more episodically, with fun stuff happening at each planet they stop to explore. I have no idea what's gonna happen when they reach End's blockade, but I guess I can figure that out later. I think the main environmental problem for a ship full of dead people would be that if they get too far from the ship, they start to lose their ability to stay corporeal, then they just fade away.

Lmk if you have any more questions or suggestions! I think this really helped me with getting things straight in my mind, so thanks a ton <3

[cosmicwishingwell]

What makes king magnifico a villain is how mean, rude and how he lacks empathy, there was no good reason to force asha on the stage and be force to watch her loved one be disappointed and broken hearted that is his wish did not come true, while asha sits there knowing that sabino will never get to live out his wish all because magnifico is living in the past OR he is just power hungry, and none that gives magnifico a "OK!" to manipulate and lie to people about their wishes, and sure the people of roses know that you forget your wish when you give it to magnifico, they also know that magnifico grants one wish once a month but that is not a clear indication that your wish will never come true, the song 'welcome to roses!' They actually say your wish will come true someday while it is safe and magnifico backs that claim up, "someday your wish will come true" is a guaranteed that it will, but we all know that was not true.

Absolutely! You've hit the nail on the head with your points about Magnifico's villainy. Here's how we can expand on them and further explore how Magnifico's actions paint him as a villain in contrast to Asha's character:

Magnifico's Moral Bankruptcy: Cruelty Disguised as Protection

Magnifico's villainy extends far beyond just his hoarding of wishes. It's the way he manipulates the system and exploits its vulnerabilities to solidify his own power:

Cruelty Cloaked in Control: Forcing Asha on stage wasn't just about entertainment; it was a power play. He shattered Sabino's dream in front of everyone, demonstrating his absolute control over their fates. It was a way to keep everyone intimidated and dependent on him, a tactic far removed from genuine leadership. Asha, on the other hand, embodies empathy and compassion. She understands the emotional weight of wishes and wouldn't dream of publicly humiliating someone for the sake of spectacle.

Lies and Deception: The Erosion of Trust

There's a difference between forgetting your wish and being misled about its fate. Magnifico's system thrives on ambiguity and half-truths. The song "Welcome to Rosas!" promises wishes granted "someday," leaving the timeline conveniently vague. This creates false hope and allows Magnifico to manipulate the system. Asha, however, is a champion of transparency. She advocates for a system where people are fully aware of the process and understand the implications of their choices.

Power-Hungry Puppet Master: Magnifico's ultimate concern isn't the "safety" of the kingdom; it's his own grip on power. The wishing system allows him to control people's dreams, aspirations, and their very destinies. He thrives on their dependence and constantly reinforces the idea that he's the sole arbiter of their happiness. Asha, on the other hand, stands for individual empowerment. She believes people have the right to pursue their own dreams and actively shape their lives, fostering a vision of a king who leads with the well-being of his people at heart.

The Glimmer of Hope: Asha's Fight for a Fair Wishing System

Asha's actions highlight the true cost of Magnifico's "benevolence." She fights for a system built on transparency, empathy, and individual agency. Here's why Asha's courage shines through:

A Voice for the Voiceless: Asha speaks out against the injustice of Magnifico's system. Her act of rebellion inspires others to question the status quo and fight for the freedom to pursue their dreams. She's the catalyst for positive change, a reminder that individuals have the power to challenge oppressive systems.

Compassion over Control: Asha's empathy sets her apart. She understands the emotional weight of wishes and the devastation of having them shattered. She embodies a leadership that prioritizes the well-being of her people, not just their obedience.

Empowering Dreams, Not Stifling Them: Asha champions a system where wishes become the sparks that ignite individual growth and societal progress. She envisions a future where everyone has the freedom to pursue their dreams, contributing their unique talents to the betterment of the kingdom.

In conclusion, Magnifico's villainy isn't about brute force; it's about manipulation, deception, and the erosion of trust. He's a power-hungry ruler who thrives on the fear of his people. Asha, the true hero, stands in stark contrast. She represents hope, courage, and the belief that everyone has the potential to achieve their dreams. She embodies the spirit of a leader who empowers others and fosters a society built on empathy, transparency, and individual agency.

What do you think? Does this response further highlight why Magnifico's actions are those of a villain and why Asha is the true hero of "Wish"?

[blogger360ncislarules]

Former Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester has spent several years now making viewers laugh in TV sitcoms such as the beloved ABC comedy Single Parents, Hulu’s How I Met Your Father and Fox’s far too short-lived Making History. So at first glance, a one-hour series titled Good Cop/Bad Cop might seem like a departure for the actress.

But as those who tuned into Wednesday’s series premiere found, there’s a lot of humor in the quirky police dramedy — a co-production between The CW, The Roku Channel, Australia’s Stan and ITV Studios — not to mention plenty of messy family dynamics.

“Because it is a detour a little bit, giving myself a little bit of something different is always a really great challenge for me,” Meester tells TVLine. “But at the same time, I really was excited to take on a comedy again because it’s just such a fun space to live in. And when I read the script, I, actually, was really laughing and excited to say the lines as they were, and then also collaborate and enjoy playing with it. So that’s kind of the best of all worlds.”

Meester stars as Lou, a small-town detective in the Pacific Northwest who is forced to partner up with her socially-challenged brother Henry (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’s Luke Cook). And the police chief handing down the order? That would be their father, Big Hank (Dexter: New Blood’s Clancy Brown). There are plenty of hurt feelings between the trio: Henry wrote a critical editorial about their dad, then left town after Hank only hired Lou out of the police academy. Plus, Henry reveals to Lou that Hank brought him in to offset her weaknesses, like how she’s too nice.

All those elements combine to form a unique series that’s “a little mixture of, like, Gilmore Girls with Twin Peaks,” Meester describes. “It’s family, fun, quippy sitcom dialogue that’s very heartwarming, and then you’ve got the police station, small Pacific Northwest town with quirky townspeople and the detectives on the scene. So that mix kind of makes sense to me, even though those two things don’t necessarily seem like they go together.”

Below, Meester talks about her character’s sibling dynamic, her husband Adam Brody‘s guest spot and whether she might visit his Netflix comedy, Nobody Wants This.

TVLINE | One of the things that sets this show apart is, usually, you would see a central partnership or relationship with some sort of will they/won’t they element, but here, it’s a sibling one. What does that dynamic allow you to explore as the season progresses that’s different and maybe more enjoyable for you? Well, the really nice thing about this dynamic is that, obviously, we’re the odd couple, but we have a common goal, and while we’re very different, and we have different expectations of each other than a regular two-detective duo would normally have, we have a lot of baggage coming into the relationship. At the same time, there’s a relationship that we both really care about making work and a deep connection with a lot of history, and we get to grow and learn from each other, and it’s a really fun dynamic both in the comedic and then heartfelt sort of pieces.

TVLINE | Did you and Luke immediately have that sibling chemistry, or was that something you had to work at? Honestly, from my point of view, it absolutely was pretty much instant. I think we both have a similar sense of humor. He brings a lot of really good energy and really good feeling to a set and to a scene. He’s just really so talented and quick, really fun and funny, and I think we’re very much on the same wavelength. So I didn’t ever have, like, a sort of adjustment period to being brother and sister with him.

TVLINE | And Clancy Brown is playing your dad, who is a fantastic actor with a long resume. What was it like establishing that father/daughter dynamic with him? It was quite nice. He definitely comes in [and] makes you feel very much like a collaborator. He’s got a good sense of humor. He’s very warm. He wears his heart on his sleeve and is very open with his heart and his emotions. He’s super funny, and I feel like he gets me, which is a nice feeling, and he just can absolutely carry a scene. He’s a really great person to work with and to know.

TVLINE | There are a lot of complicated family dynamics here. Once things are more out in the open in the premiere, about their dad only hiring Lou out of the academy and him bringing Henry on because Lou’s too nice, does that create a space for understanding and conversation? Or does it just cause more tension between the three of them as the season progresses? I think it’s a little bit of both. It ebbs and flows. There is some resentment and, obviously, some humor that we have to bring to it, which is really enjoyable, trying to play the sibling rivalry a bit. My character is close to her dad, and has always stayed close to him, and works under him directly. So when her brother comes in, she sort of gets her feathers ruffled, and her imperfections or her shortcomings are being pointed out to her more because a sibling will definitely do that, maybe more so than a parent. So she has to kind of stand her ground and defend herself a little bit more than she’s used to and be called out, and then she also has to be the boss over her younger brother, who doesn’t want to be bossed around.

TVLINE | Lou is a woman working in a male-dominated field, with her father as her boss and her brother as her partner. What kind of challenges does that present for her? I think she’s learned, for better or worse, that she has to kind of put her emotions, her personal feelings, on the back burner a lot. Things that she never really worked on or figured out from her past. When they were growing up, their mother left and kind of never came back, and she became, instantly, as I think many young women do, sort of the mother of the family and felt the automatic placement as the caretaker, and she took on a lot without really exploring how she felt about it. So it really was a joy to uncover that and explore, just as an actor, throughout the season, that particular piece of history for this character that was so well-written and just really dig into that. But I think she also has, by default, become almost like the son her father never had. She has to kind of be perfect all the time, and they get along very well, naturally, and all of their interests and tastes and methods kind of align. So when her brother comes in, and he’s so different from her, I think it reflects back on her just what her shortcomings are, and she’s sort of forced to face them.

TVLINE | When we posted the trailer for the show, I spotted your husband, Adam Brody, in there. What kind of character does he play? In one of the episodes, he comes in as a very quirky, odd duck, and he’s a doctor who has become a vet. Don’t ask me to make it make total sense, but that’s kind of the fun of the show. He helps us, maybe unintentionally, to solve a crime, and we get to interview him and track him down.

TVLINE | This isn’t the first time the two of you have shared the screen. What do you enjoy about acting together? Well, he’s my favorite actor, and he’s my favorite person. So the two of those things just make for a wonderful day at work. I get to be with my best friend, who I love and look up to. I always forget that I’m watching him when I am, and whenever I work with him, it feels very secondhand, and there’s so much love and trust. So I’m just grateful every time I get to be on set with him.

TVLINE | When I was doing the press junket for Nobody Wants This, I asked creator Erin Foster this, and now I get to ask you: Could we see you on Nobody Wants This Season 2? Is that something you’ve talked about with Adam? Oh, that would be really fun. I’m a big fan. So, yeah, that would be awesome.

TVLINE | Kristen Bell said that her husband, Dax, had a very visceral reaction to watching her and Adam, and was really rooting for their characters to get together. How did you feel watching the show, and watching that first kiss that was so hyped and them falling in love? Like I said, whenever I watch him onscreen, I just forget it’s him, really, and this show is no exception. I just am a huge fan of the show and of his work, and so, I, like most of the audience, was really rooting for the two of them, and I loved how deeply developed both the characters were and how they got to be these imperfect people, finding each other.

TVLINE | Do you have a favorite scene or moment from the show? Honestly, all of it’s pretty good. I liked watching all the basketball stuff. I thought that was pretty funny.

TVLINE | This is not TV-related, but I was so happy to see people talking about your music on social media recently, because I love Heartstrings. It’s a great album. Do you have any plans to get back into music? I do. I have been a little bit more focused on acting, but I think in the next year or so, I’ll be putting a little bit more energy into music, and whenever I have time, I enjoy writing and recording. So, hopefully, I’ll be able to put some new music out, but I have no concrete plans for it.

[numbuh-72]

Artist's Message/Update

Hey everyone! Artsy_Lexi here!

Hope everyone has been doing all right and staying safe out there!

I have some stuff I would like to say in regards to Numbuh 72's blog and the plans for what's to come in the future, so buckle up and grab a can of soda!

First off, I wanna thank the people who've been around to support me and my work ever since I returned to Tumblr under Numbuh 72, you guys are all amazing and I've been having a blast starting to know some of you guys, through my fellow mutuals~. I will say, ideas continue to develop in my head for stuff to draw and interact with you guys and have some fun with our characters!

With that in mind, I'm already almost to 25 followers on here! I do plan on doing a small celebration for this milestone that's already about to be achieved, so once I hit it, stick around for a DTIYS art challenge and be on the lookout for a new hashtag that I will put for my oc, Gianna Chavez!

Aside from that though, allow me to give yall an update for what I plan to do to...better organize this blog;

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

So I have a lot of ideas for this blog that's been running around my head for ages now and I've been struggling on what idea to do first; This would include

Alternate Universes (FNF, Roblox, Little Brother, etc.)

Finishing up OC Ref sheets, well, updated versions of them-

RP Doodles for RPs that I'm doing as we speak

LOG Data (I've been typing away for days on some of these to catch up on the stuff-)

Creating my own Headcanon for Sector V and other canon characters (Basically a universe for Gianna-)

And so much more!!!!

Don't worry though, I'm gonna be taking as much time as needed to be able to properly organize all of these awesome ideas, though I think for the meantime, I'm gonna try and focus on Gianna's main storyline that involves her improvement on the Treatment Program and how she will successfully get out of it!

Most of her adventures she will have, I plan to maybe do them via roleplays or from doing asks with all my moots and at one point, involve them in the main storyline for Gianna! (That is of course, I get consent for those that see this~)

So the LOG Data you see, those are actual reflections from roleplays that I have completed or in progress that I think are considered worthy for Gianna to report, for this is part of her program to see if she has been improving or not during the course.

I might even at one point ask for help now and then from my friends to gib ideas and of course properly credit them since they are all amazing~

As far as how I will tell the story on here, I have some ideas of doing Arcs with chapters, following with illustrations now and then, or maybe attempt to do a comic series. Who knows, we shall see~

I'm hoping though to try and get more asks in her inbox since sadly it's been empty for the most part and I was hoping people were curious to know her more while I work on some stuff on the side.

Don't worry though! Everything's all good! I'm just pushing a gentle reminder that the Asks are open for Gianna and the ocs listed that are open for questions~ <3

Now inspired by the lovely @kandykatz's way of their organizing their master posts, I might go for that way of organizing my stuff properly, or might do some twists, who knows, still gotta figure that out-

I...think that's all I have for now in what's the plan for this blog, if anything comes to mind I will edit this post or maybe do a part 2.

Thanks guys for taking the time to read! I hope to continue cooking up in the kitchen with yall and have some fun here~

[mdhwrites]

The Owl House had an issue with introducing characters that had minimal impact on the storyline. Boscha, Kikimora, Vee, Hunter, and The Collector could’ve all been removed from the story with little change, and their screen time could’ve been used toward other characters that needed it more than them.

So we talk a lot about story necessity I want to start this with the fact that filler and side characters often help add flavor to a story. It's something frankly I struggle with because my stories focus on progressing forward which helps me get a lot done with a small word count. Most of the characters listed here though... Actually are fine. At least until S3 for Boscha and Kikimora and that brings up the fact that different roles require less time to matter, though I want to mention that this addition of flavor and the like is exactly why no one will ever question why Viney was a part of the show. She's fun and she's the ONE time we get ANYONE actually struggling with the desire to be multi-covened but the system won't allow it, even if it's not done particularly well in that episode.

So, what are the roles of each character versus how much time do they have on screen? Well:

Boscha: Basic teenage antagonist for school things. Requires only as much time as is dedicated to teenage drama. Mostly disappears after S1 because of this except for two funny moments at her expense... Except in S3 when the show states she's actually more than what was portrayed before.

Kikimora: Basic, irredeemable, comedy villain general to allow fighting Belos without fighting Belos. Requires only as much time as is required to confront Belos AND OTHER, BETTER GENERALS AREN'T AROUND. Then in S3 is there as a standalone, one off antagonist despite her BOSS having been defeated and her not being anything new.

Vee: One off foil to Luz for character conflict for an episode. Takes up one episode and that's... it. She's fine.

Hunter: Complex, Redeemed Villain General. Requires as much time as is required for a satisfying redemption. Is actually cut short because he is not actually a villain for any time, cutting his point at the knees. Also connects to Belos but *looks at Lilith and Kikimora, both from season 1* that's redundant. Kikimora LITERALLY goes through the same fucking shit as Hunter and only once Belos has left her for dead/tried to kill her, much like Hunter, she forsakes him. She just becomes a bad guy instead of a good guy but even the breakdowns Hunter has or the depression about losing their purpose are both shared. They're almost the same character and nothing is done with that foiling frankly.

Collector: Complex, Redeemed Final Villain. Requires the time for his machinations and desires to be unraveled and challenged in a way that is thematically coherent because if you're going to redeem your big bad, it becomes about a battle of ideologies. Instead, we get one conversation with him before him being released and like... Two afterwards. That isn't enough time for him to have a machination or big bad moments. That's barely enough time for a one off villain.

That's the bigger issue with TOH. It has no idea what its priorities are... Nor does it feel like it cares. Like Kikimora is Belos' main general, effectively his biggest expression onto the show before S3... And she sucks. Meanwhile, his coven heads go unused and underutilized, staying as one off villains instead. Then their more complex characters and concepts aren't actually given the time needed because that would mean not getting the payoff of redemption or reformation of these characters. It is also just lacking ideas so it doesn't know what to do with any of these characters the longer it goes on and so keeps scraping the bottom of a well. Hence why Kikimora and Boscha return in S3 despite one effectively not being in S2 (if Boscha was important, she'd have at least cameod in Labyrinth Runners) and the other being a complete joke by the end who's boss was reduced to a puddle once already.

And that's frankly the bigger issue. These characters feel redundant and like they don't even add flavor because... They are and they don't. The show has VERY few concepts in general besides social statements. That's why most of their villains or dilemmas are them miming at a social issue and why it had to carve up more and more angst as it ran out of ideas it could just copy from the modern world. Or reused ideas even in the same season just with other basic fantasy things.

And more complex ideas REQUIRE creativity and skill. They require the elements that seem to be most lacking in the show. That's why the fandom can create a billion ideas because they're unrestrained and actually see the potential in these concepts while the show runners feel blind to the gold they are writing themselves. Again: You could have spent an entire SEASON dealing with just all of Amity's baggage towards redemption and reformation, twenty episodes, and probably still had material on the table and instead, it frankly boils down to at best a handful of episodes, at most two, before she is fully redeemed and telling her potential to go fuck off because she has the job of a bland love interest to do.

As it is now? The show is lucky that it didn't have time to make literally everything redundant, no matter how hard it tried to anyways.

==========

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[landoftheway]

Thoughts on Lisa: The Definitive Edition

Finished all of the new content in both Painful and Joyful, and after giving it some time to sit I’ve got some thoughts about all of it. Below the cut for both length and spoilers:

The Painful

To start with, I love the new campfire scenes. They’re funny, heartwarming, and everything in between, and I actually like that they’re locked behind both the RNG of resting and specific requirements for certain scenes (having enough characters, progressing far enough, either taking or not taking Joy, etc.). It incentivizes people to actually use those rest opportunities instead of just farming mags and resting at an inn.

Brad’s Nightmare scenario is generally very good, but even I think it drags on a little longer than necessary. That said I really like both the fight itself and the lore both before and after it. It really gets across how deep the roots of Brad’s trauma go (a metaphor that I’ll come back to in the Joyful section below), and while ultimately it doesn’t change the outcome of his story it allows for both the audience to get a deeper insight into him and for him to have a moment of genuine reflection on his life, particularly allowing him to think about Lisa as the actual person she was and not the specter of grief and guilt he normally perceives her as. And while it IS possible to cheese the fight without losing anyone, I like the thematic resonance of Brad having to sacrifice the people around him and his connections to them in order to fight his inner-demons; it’s a cool way of tying that theme into a mechanical interaction the player can participate in.

The new sound and music changes are, unfortunately, weaker than the originals all around, but Jorgensen was very direct about the legal reasons they had to be made so there’s not much helping that. In the same way the changes made to the Playstation release are downright silly but also legally necessary for its release on that platform, so I get it.

The gameplay re-balancing seems fine all around. I should note that I did my playthrough on Pain Mode without using any Joy, so I stuck with the classic OP team of Terry, Birdie, and Nern, so for most of the game I had largely the same gameplay experience as my first time through. I do appreciate the inclusion of an EXP share for the party, since it made leveling everyone up at the EWC to get their level 25 abilities much easier and also helped get everyone prepped for the new superboss.

The Joyful

Much like the original release this new content is much more of a mixed bag compared to Painful, but overall I enjoyed it. To start with the least controversial aspect, I like the new Warlord abilities Buddy gets; they’re all both fun and interesting to use and definitely make playing as Buddy more engaging than how she used to be.

On a similar note, the new boss fight she has with apparitions of all the Warlords together is a fun bonus challenge. I particularly like that you can resolve it both by actually fighting them or just defending against them for several turns cause it ties into the ways Buddy is thematically different than Brad. Brad can only conceive of facing his guilt by fighting it due to both his past and having lived long enough for that mentality to become set in stone, but Buddy for all of her faults has at least the potential to see things outside of that dynamic (this being one of the crux’s of her final decision to take the vaccine or not).

The above aspect of Buddy is what ties into the more controversial part of the new content, which is the lead-up to the new ending and that ending itself. It’s worth stating at this point that a lot of this new content is very intentionally vague as to whether it’s literal or metaphorical. For example, the young Rick, Sticky, and Cheeks as well as the Dusty face all speak as ghosts of their adult selves, but in the same weird area we also see a young Bernard and Dusty that are definitely memories of the past. The setting of Olathe has always been one where the supernatural explicitly exists (fireballs, fingerbeams, etc.) and Lisa herself always kinda towed the line between shared hallucination and an actual ghost, so in that respect it’s nothing new for the game but it can definitely make what happens next difficult to parse.

The crux of the new ending is Buddy “planting” Lisa inside herself, which radically alters her dialogue with Buzzo after Yado’s death. Whether this is literal or metaphorical is, again, vague as all hell. On one hand Buddy speaks to Buzzo about things she should ostensibly know little to nothing about and Buzzo accuses her of stealing Lisa away from him, which lends to the idea that this was in some way literal. On the other hand pretty much everything Buddy says to Buzzo are either things she could have feasibly (if a bit improbably) put together or else just things she could have said just to hurt him as much as possible, and Buzzo himself is in the process of becoming a Joy mutant and completely losing his mind, so it’s also possible this is all purely metaphorical. My personal interpretation lies somewhere in the middle but leans more towards the latter; while I think there’s probably some truth to the idea of Lisa as an actual specter/tulpa/whatever, I see most of this new stuff as not things that literally occurred as depicted (i.e. Buddy did not literally collect the items that are part of the puzzle to unlock this ending).

What the metaphor of all this is is pretty plainly stated by Brad in the epilogue, and ties back into the “roots” theming of the new content in Painful. Namely, that a strong and healthy foundation is needed in order for a person to grow into their best self, and that foundation is rooted in love for others and one’s self. Brad compares this to gardening, specifically noting how it requires both healthy soil and constant maintenance, and how a failure to do so can cause weeds already pulled to come back worse than ever. In other words, you need to both connect with and love others as a foundation and find ways to address stuff like pain and guilt regularly, or else they’ll plant their roots in your head and never really go away.

Looking at the new ending through this lens, Buddy “planting” Lisa in herself pretty obviously represents making a connection to her not as a burden of guilt and pain but as a human being. This is reflected in the accusations Buddy throws at Buzzo that for all of his supposed devotion to Lisa he’s still blaming her for driving him to become the man he is now, and how that shows his failure to actually connect to Lisa as a person. Buzzo might claim that he loved her, but it’s abundantly clear he just sees her a justification to direct his pain outwards at the world around him. His accusations of Buddy “stealing” Lisa away from him can thus be viewed as her taking away his ability to think of her and “hear” her as he has up to this point. The final shot of the game is also connected to all of this: the figure holding Buddy could represent a number of specific individuals (the most notable candidates being either Lisa, Lisa and Brad’s mom, or Buddy’s mom), but more importantly it's a visual representation of Buddy having gained the ability to connect to, trust, and love others.

With all of that said, I do have a significant criticism of this new ending: Buddy’s dialogue with Buzzo is, in my opinion, kind of badly written. This was a problem in the original release of Joyful as well in my opinion, namely that the way Buddy talks is weirdly stilted at times compared to her more consistent flow of dialogue in the Painful. The things she’s saying are themselves perfectly fine (as someone who loves to hate Buzzo I particularly enjoyed someone calling him out on what a fucking manchild he is), but her phrasing comes across like it’s waffling between a bitter and blunt way of speech and a more formal and precise tone of voice. So the end result is a sequence with a great essence at its core but a weak execution, which like I said at the start is nothing if not consistent with Joyful’s original release.

TL;DR

Painful DE is great except for the music changes, Joyful DE is weaker but still pretty good which is nothing new, get the game on PC if you haven’t already.

[lumenflowered]

Hello. My name is Maria—nothing more, nothing less. I am a Faller hailing from a place known as Yharnam, though I am currently in the Johto region. It is a less harsh place than what I am used to; I would not recommend requesting further information regarding Yharnam unless you are mentally prepared.

Out of a lack of anything better to do after falling here, I embarked upon the Gym Challenge. At the time of writing this, I bear seven of the eight Johtonian badges, and intend to attain the eighth as soon as I have recovered enough to travel.

As of less than a week ago, I have been Chosen as a champion of sorts by Ho-oh, a Pokémon with power tantamount to the gods of my former world. While I still have rather complicated feelings regarding the matter, the gods of this world are considerably kinder than those I am used to, and doing this allowed me to put an end to Team Rocket's machinations once and for all.

My team is as follows: Rakuyo (Meganium, X) Hunter (Furret, F) Molotov (Arcanine, M) Adeline (Gengar, F) Evelyn (Seadra, F) Eileen (Honchkrow, F)

Adeline, my Gengar, rather likes to steal my device and make posts for herself—she is considerably better with this world's technology than I, so I have no qualms with this—and her commentary can be found in purple.

Though this has thus far only occurred once twice thrice, Ho-oh has utilized this platform and blog to communicate directly with me and others before, and they have done so in bold orange text. They have recently adopted another name in addition to their first: Solaire.

A very angry child named Silver, who inexplicably decided to form a rather one-sided rivalry with a grown woman, is unlikely to be on the blog again given how much the anonymous masses of Rotomblr set back my progress in having a reasonable conversation with him. However, while he was posting here, he used blue.

I am more than happy to discuss a great many things. Do keep in mind that I hail from a far deadlier place than this one, should you care to ask about my past prior to Johto.

...I still would rather like to know why and how I am here at all.

(OOC info under cut.)

Sup, it's still @ofstormsandfire getting perhaps a little too invested in my silly little blog where I throw a Bloodborne boss into the world of pokemon. I really wanted to make a faller blog of some kind, and promised myself that I could if I survived Nanowrimo, and... then I did. And went well, alright, Lady Maria's going to have a great time in Johto!

(That was sarcasm. Though honestly even a terrible time in Johto is an improvement over what she's used to.)

Do keep in mind that Maria is in fact a Bloodborne boss and as such will be unfazed by things that would disturb the vast majority of characters. I'll happily tag things as necessary, just ask if I've missed something you would like tagged.

Here's some navigational tags for y'all. If/when I actually reach the conclusion of this blog's story maybe I'll make more.

#firebird arc: I smashed together the Radio Tower plot and the Ho-oh plot, made the Kimono Girls more relevant, and also ramped up the stakes a little. Called that because Ho-oh is a firebird and also I'm 90% sure there's a kind of rocket called the Firebird. I like puns. I also put way too much effort into this and I regret nothing.

#the vampire allegations: A couple of people made jokes about Maria being a vampire. Admittedly, she is from Cainhurst which is the closest Bloodborne gets to proper vampires, and I thought it would be really funny to have her be allergic to garlic for legitimately mundane reasons.

#rainbow wings: That time Ho-oh showed up on the blog specifically to tell Maria to take a break. Same tag is used whenever Ho-oh turns up. (It's been like three times now.)

#what's with this sassy lost child?: The Silver takeover. For some reason the last couple posts just aren't showing up in the tag despite being tagged with exactly the same thing, but he got Pelipper Mailed bad memories of his dad and promptly dipped.

#hints to the future: Bits of prose foreshadowing things to come, because I got really into that one ask game with the gears.

[quirkwizard]

Hi again, QW! In thinking about the infrasonic fear inducing Quirk "Dreadful" that you were kind enough to help me with, I was giving thought to how to differentiate it from other powers involving fear. Thus I want to propose an ability that the OC the Quirk is for has developed: Folie a Deux. By attuning her mind so that her own infrasound affects her, she can then see the specific images of terror and dread that her Quirk manifests in another person's mind and thus use it to better manipulate them. It would only work for a single opponent, but I think it'd be a good vehicle for a "greatest fear" kind of story. Your thoughts? Thanks!

Howdy again! Have something of a follow-up in regards to "Dreadful" and how it would stack up against Izuku. I think I should clarify that the matter of making abilities to counter the hero isn't borne from a desire to outsmart the manga or its characters. I just wonder if "Dreadful" would actually prove an interesting challenge for Deku to overcome, as "One For All" and all its powers aren't necessarily the means to overcome their user's own fears. "You're strong, but are you stronger than yourself?" I suppose it's an expression of the paranoia I have regarding OFA. The idea that with how much it allows Deku to do, the series is going the way of DBZ power scaling. So I wanted to create a "horizontal challenge" of sorts, and what better way than a Greatest Fears plot?

Man, that was a long time ago. I struggled to find the posts, but I do hope this helps you out.

So I do think that you could make that part of the Quirk, but not as an expansion for it. If anything, I think that the user being able to see what the target is seeing is something that should be a part of the main function considering the purpose of the Quirk is to make people afraid and illusions only they could see. I feel like you could easily justify it as well, with the user's connection to the target letting them see what they see. Heck, I think limiting it to one target is a bit much. It doesn't seem like that big of deal. And I do understand wanting to have side way power progress like that, and mental attacks are some of the better ways to do it. Although, with "Danger Sense", that could be a way to work around the illusion. That's always going to be an issue when trying to work around Izuku. Maybe you could say that the user's power can somehow bypass that because it's not a real threat or that "Danger Sense" can't do anything about mental attacks.