#but a) the character absolutely does not & based on everything will not. & b) if she actually Does; e.g. in a fic. well it's about her now

[unproduciblesmackdown]

also it's something (better) like, the exercise of deliberately [art imitates life imitates art] holding up Billions to My IRL Things Perspective and going like whaaat would i want for winston. first answer is you want any character to not have been within the scope of the show in the first place, and to exit it since they are. and you kind of get that in the accidental reward in banishing winston, since like in the end it's just that the show doesn't care about him existing at that point But like it's winston sitting there quietly as everyone leaves & turns out the lights & Then he can leave too; others have peaced out & nobody remembers he exists so Now he can go off & do whatever.

but like in true form i think they definitely accidentally baked in another divine reward for winston in that, like, the way he's kept around as fodder for these fun little [pov: enjoy abusing this guy] asides with him, where it Just So Happens that he's autistic as something they're unaware of but is completely relevant to the expectation we understand him to be inferior(tm), it Just So Happens that he's also ""bad"" at not ""causing"" abuse to be turned on him. he's ""bad"" at staying in line. like well yes Yes that's what i want for him. just like In Real Life it's like yeah Ideally i'd want people to be able to extricate themselves from where they're trapped in power structures & i'd want them to have the perspective about it of understanding they're not Inferior / i.e. they are as much a person as anyone else and they're not corrupting everything good / i.e. it wasn't them Bringing It Upon Themselves and it's not them being Destructive by toppling a jenga tower of a hierarchy that happened to be pressing down on them. and winston is the kind of [the ruinerrrrrr] who is Turned On exactly because he keeps acting like someone who's on the verge of breaking out of the [being in line] someone demands of him as autist, employee, whatever other supposed manifestations of [inferior]

like in the 5 second stretches in which winston's allowed to speak before retaliation, it's because he's like "matter of factly" delivering whatever Information that's useful for another plotline. then he Brings It Upon Himself by making people aware that he's Also existing in his own right as a person rather than what they think serves their own deal / what they want from him at all times, perhaps by expressing his personality (didn't appeal to them! so it was Wrong) or not b/c of anything in particular said or done at present, just b/c people have a constant / accumulating contempt for him so their being in the same room as him & able to see & hear him is already dangerous. the [we're just seeing Any Abusive Dynamic in action] continuing apace.

and it's like, well, right there. he's written as acting like someone who doesn't blame himself for how he's treated, which billions frames as being Rude & Mean, and so too does everyone's abusers lmfao like and that these are his moments that are written to be Bringing It Upon Himself. and it's like hell yeah he doesn't blame himself. hell yeah that his self-esteem can manifest as anger at all. hell yeah that he keeps expressing himself with personality & confidence & doesn't even disguise his having been hurt, & it's this [his ass is Not grey rocking] that billions frames as both him "causing" his abuse & making that abuse "successful" lol, wrow just like real life!! and when like speaking of real life yeah it's not "bad" that people Do engage in strategies to mitigate & survive, including things like blaming themselves or being too "boring" to be anything but a non dialogued background character b/c that's all that goes unpunished, it's bad b/c it's done to them at all, not [ohh they're doing it to themselvesss] and like i'm asking myself like Ideally. what do i want Ideally. and i'd want winston to know that it's being Done To Him & i'd want him to find as much room for his personhood & autonomy as possible. and that's basically how he's written anyways, and billions hates that like You See this is why he deserves it this is why he's doing it to himself. and i'm like my god if that's not Inspiration for like "so what if people don't find you Personally Likable" and not preemptively holding back all personality or anything that'd draw attention as if you exist as a person in your own right & not something that only either gets in the way of or serves their wants of a Real person (someone with more power) like hell yeah you have him out here doing it =']

another fun addendum is like, billions isn't getting into it much b/c it doesn't seem to care much about "what if some people were peers & seem to have a genuine, recipcrocal relationship?" but that it just so happened to be like "oh tuk as the next closest loser who deserves it might be nice to winston" while it's framing winston as the "worse" Loser as being....unconditionally supportive of tuk. while the one downside of billions Also giving bentuk as much as it is is that it also inevitably has that shadow of "but ben is Superior to tuk" and like that it's correct that everyone encourages tuk to Stop Bringing It Upon Himself and start being less of a loser; it's wrong for winston to be like hey let's go have a foursome. like yeah probably don't make a list of the women you work with you'd be dtf but it's not like i'm convinced "ah billions and it's strong anti misogyny stance like" roflmao and billions is Not reflecting on "the downsides of unconditional support?" there when winston was beaten up for criticising taylor earlier like we WILL take his ideas while looting his [beaten unconscious] body there but he WAS wrong to express them as though he's BETTER than taylor!!! mafee's beautiful show of loyalty in kicking his ass even when he might agree with the argument and then benefit when it's adopted by taylor anyways! so it's as usual actually purely based on hierarchy & who gets to be in charge of people. it's correct for ben to be in charge of tuk, unless he has to step aside for that bizarre dead-end subplot about how it's tuk's fault if he's treated badly, b/c it's really his own Failure to have Confidence to know he has good ideas [raising our voice to deliver this message over the sound of breaking desks and chairs and computer monitors over winston because he had the confidence to act like he deserved to talk to someone and because he knows his ideas efforts & results are good & valuable around there] like. and isn't it sooo fucked up to talk about who you're dtf in the episode that has it be neutral if your boss is dtf & lets you know but is nice about it (and you're already Correctly tending to their ego, which you're responsible for!) like hey no possible problem! it's not even so much of a problem for a boss man to have the sex they're entitled to & be rude about their leveraging their power in that acquisition that it Stays a problem into the next season. ew, winston is Known (Inferred) Dtf??? we'll use it to exploit His vulnerability, exacerbate it, & punish him further for good measure in another episode that just revels in abuse & violation with a sexual aspect once again, but like, hey tuk don't do that, winston's such a Bad Influence for being like, shrug, kneejerk intervening with the Good Friendship where the One In Charge leaps in & Tells tuk the Correct thing to do. obviously there's also the tragedy that billions will Never let winston push back against Real Winners like rian or taylor in A Way That Matters (actually gets in their way at all) lol like. one thing that would have really been fun, winston should've literal kneejerk started physically fighting wags in either pertinent scene in 7x03 for real 110%. i wouldn't be like Gasp Violence Is Never The Answer if he just hit someone to hit them b/c fuck you. or broke anything on his way out etc etc. billions would Never let him. which is the other side of the same coin of [why he should get to]

tl;dr how great that winston's being "out of line" means he's basically always noticeably flouting & rebelling against the [He Deserves Abuse] agenda lol. that IS what i want. his being "beyond hope" like ohhh he's sooo stupid he doesn't realize how much he has the bad tastes & wrong interests & annoying personality He Will Always Be This Way like hell yeah!!! billions like oh no winston's personhood will never stay tamped down & locked away such that some godawful person tolerates keeping him in their inventory :( ohhh the ABA will never work :( that's right!!!!!!!!!! although they're not sad about it because it's about relishing the promise there will always be True Inferiors you can enjoy abusing with your righteous power over, but like well you wrote him escaping anyways even while dragging other "better" characters into standing around to serve axe's need for more than 1.8 employees and [crickets, reverberating cough, sneaker scuff] like. another ""wrong"" thing for winston to do, another thing for him to not "deserve," which is itself godawful actually lol like lord what it "rewards" its Good, Deserving characters with, no thanks. meanwhile winston's punishment is that he's autistic and """bad""" at being abused like lmfao good for him, fantastic for him, just what i want

[incorrectbatfam]

Types of obnoxious batfam stans

Written by an obnoxious batfam stan

Not really a rant but something I've noticed over the years interacting in different spaces and I've decided to make your problem now.

Please note that I'm not saying there's any "right" way to be a fan because we all suck by virtue of being comic nerds, but there are certain kinds of batfamily fans that stick out to be in particular.

Anywho, here are 12 kinds of annoying batfam stans that you've probably run into and you better get a laugh out of it *points gun to your head*.

1) The Newbies Who Never Heard of Google

There's no shame in being new to something. It's a phase that we're all guaranteed to go through, whether we're 11 or 101. However, in this day and age, so many things can be easily googled that you don't need to shout every question you have into the VVorld VVide VVoid. If you need comic recs or a reading list, google it. If you wanna know a character's origin story, google it. If you need to know the color of Batman's underpants in a particular issue in 1965... well that's probably too specific for Google but Reddit will definitely have an answer.

2) The Middle School Authors

Before the 13-year-olds get up in my notes, I'm not saying everyone that age writes like this. Middle school is a state of mind. These fanfic writers usually stand out in a few ways.

They're oftentimes first-person POV or reader-insert. Give Y/N a break, she's tired.

The grammar is stunningly atrocious. I get if you're inexperienced or if you're writing in a second language, but we are in the prime era of autocorrect. If you need help, it's right there. Also, fuck c*nsoring b*d w*rds and fuck "unalive."

The characters do things that are out-of-character because the author is projecting their own personality. Bruce Wayne is a lot of things but he does not listen to the fucking Mountain Goats.

There's a lack of experience or research when it comes to certain topics. That's not how physics works. He can't walk that injury off. And that's definitely NOT how you do the horizontal hokey pokey.

3) The Neckbeards

Unfortunately, these basement-dwelling mouth-breathers tainted the image of what a comic fan is, though that's been changing recently. Still, we've all seen them. They gatekeep via pop quizzes, 'cause obviously you're not a real fan unless you know what page 10 of Batman #138 smells like. They give unsolicited commentary on people's cosplays, nitpicking the guys and being gross toward women. And heaven forbid the comics add a little diversity.

4) The Moviegoers

Nothing inherently wrong with getting into the fandom via the movies, nor is there anything wrong with sticking to that. I just feel like we're two different species of Galapagos finches, you know?

5) The Christopher Nolans

Separate from casual fans of the Nolan movies. I'm calling them the Christopher Nolans because these people have a tendency to reach for the grimdarkest thing possible. It's like they cannot fathom Batman having any other emotions besides punching and gargoyle brooding.

6) The Canon Purists

Wanna share a fun headcanon? NO, because Stephanie Brown never used cherry lip balm in the comics so therefore that must be the absolute truth. These people are a stickler for comic accuracy to the point where it's like... why bother interacting with the fandom in the first place? The worst part is when they're adamant on following a single continuity and refuse to consider anything else. This is comics we're talking about. Everything either has been or will be canon at some point.

7) The Fanon Worshippers

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the people who base their entire perception of the characters on something either they pulled out of their ass or that their mutual with 16 followers came up with, despite evidence directly contradicting it. I love WFA, but I feel like that's partially responsible for further perpetuating certain popular myths. Also, these fans tend to focus solely on the batfam/their ships. It's one thing to have some people in the foreground vs. background, but put some respect to Bart Allen's name you goddamn cheesecakes.

8) The Golden Age Dads

These guys aren't really obnoxious. I actually find it kind of cute how they think Jason Todd is still dead.

9) The Chronically Online

I have a rule of thumb when it comes to discourse: if it's not something I'd hear about at a bar, it's not worth my mental energy. Some people haven't gotten the memo, though.

These are either the well-intentioned but misinformed teenagers or grown-ass adults beefing with children because they don't have a life. They have takes that are oversimplified, rage-inducing, TikTok algorithm attention-grabbers that no one cares about in real life.

Don't get me wrong, we've got a bunch of issues in comics and fandom that are worth discussing. However, there comes a point where you're splitting hairs and need to go the fuck outside. I'm not gonna link the post 'cause I don't wanna call them and their 7 notes out, but the other week I saw someone saying Stephcass was a racist ship because something something colonialism parallel. You gotta be Elastigirl to have that kind of reach.

10) The Corporate Simps

I love comics. I appreciate the writers and artists. However, you will find my carcass in a ditch before you catch me licking the boots of DC/Warner Bros. Basically, these fans, fewer as they are, can't seem to fathom that their favorite franchise can (and does) put out some steaming motherfucking garbage.

11) The Hot Cosplayers

Not actually annoyed, I'm just a little jealous. Stop being hotter than me, please and thank you.

12) The One With A Punchline For Everything

Wait–

[rizsu]

BOO! gotcha~ gojo satoru.

sum. he meticulously planned the night out, she was busy with her routine. ( basically gojo trying to be bold and manly but the bold and manly doesnt want to be him )

"BABE! COME QUICK — NOW!"

voice louder than ever, gojo's curled into a ball, on the couch, diverting his eyes everywhere but the tv screen. it was movie night — or so it was supposed to be. you left him alone in the creeping dark. left him all alone to tend to your nighttime routine.

you see, truth be told, he's absolutely terrified of horrors. the setting, the music, the jumpscares, the plot — everything. poor gojo wanted to be a romantic "i'm here for you," man for his girl but it seems like that plan is screwed! he does not have a plan b in mind. there was one sole plan and it didn't consider the possibility of him being scared shitless.

you both decided on having a horror marathon. as the month of halloween dawns closer, it's only fitting to watch horror-themed stuff, right? not quite. there's one person who's covering their eyes with the blanket every time it gets intense and it's no one other than gojo satoru.

the plan was picture-perfect:

a) get the scariest horror movie.

b) watch to see when you're scared.

c) put his arms around you, bring you into his body, and whisper, "it's okay, don't fear."

d) become your knight in shining armor.

clearly, this plan was not properly thought out. he's shivering in fear, waiting for his knight in shining armor to save him from the misery — and also from the thought of some demon waiting to jump at him from behind the tv.

the movie's soundtrack quiets, only the character's hesitating footsteps towards the locked room can be heard. as they walk closer, the door creaks open. nothing's in the room..? "that's... strange," they whispered, stepping into the room with their oil-based lamp. the camera pans to the left: nothing suspicious. it pans to the right: nothing out of the ordinary. it goes back to the center and—

"FUCK no," gojo turns the tv off. he knew what was about to come, and he wasn't going to sit through it.

suddenly, as if the saying of art mimics real life comes true, he hears the same hesitating footsteps. strange, the tv's off. absolutely not, he thinks, balling up the blanket ready to leave. fastening his steps to the front door, he grabs the keys off the counter. the keys have gone in the keyhole, and so did a hand on gojo's shoulder.

he freezes. body gone stiff. breathing halted. heartbeat intensifies. what the fuck.

"babe? where are you going?" you questioned, confused as to why gojo's ready to sneak out in pajamas and a blanket.

gojo doesn't respond. he's watched that movie for long enough to realize it doesn't have to be you who's talking.

however, it is you, and you're very confused. after finishing your routine, you came down to watch the movie with him only to be met with a mess of popcorn, tv off, and a missing gojo.

"babe? you alright?" you questioned again, this time grabbing him with both hands and turning him to face you.

"who are you?" it's his turn to question. you look like you, but are you really you? a question that only makes sense to the man himself.

"i'm y/n, duh."

"then prove it," he demands. if it's truly his beloved, he knows how she'd react.

hands on hip, your face twisted into a mix of confusion, deadpan, and slightly amused. "what are you on about, satoru?"

"oh my god you're an imposter," his conclusion makes him turn back to the door, frantically twisting the keys to unlock the barrier that keeps him from safety.

without looking back, he walked out the door, tripping on himself as he sought his safety. all you can do is shrug. he'll be back in two minutes maximum.

[lemotmo]

Their downward spiral has been fun 😊. But everything she said is fact.

Q. Your boy wonder blocked those of us who don't love his boy wonder. Class act you got there.

Q. We get it Oliver we say Tommy you say block. Still want us to pretend he's not a brat?

Q. I asked your leader about his onscreen boyfriend and he blocked me. Actually he told me I was getting blocked and then he blocked me. Very mature of him.

Q. What kind of petulant child actually takes the time to go through a comment section of 900 plus comments like that photo had and manually deletes certain comments and then blocks the person who sent the comment? And you want us to respect him????

Q. He's so pathetic 🙃. How are you not mortified by how embarrassing his behavior has been? Nevermind you are you will just pretend you're not.

Q. Oliver is basically giving his fandom the middle finger and yet he has the nerve to get butt hurt because we all like Lou more. What an immature brat.

A. So this is a very small sample of the asks I have received since Oliver went on his blocking spree. I wanted to include a sample because every single person who has sent me a complaint that he blocked you has intentionally not disclosed the question or comment you left that got you blocked. The only thing that's clear is they all involved Tommy in some way. And based on your pattern it's not hard to imagine that most of those comments probably included insults of some kind directed at anybody not Tommy/Lou. Oliver is not a brat. Oliver is tired. They are all tired. The sad thing is if you all had allowed the story to just unfold and taken it for what it was, Oliver would have been very kind to you. Because he's an absolute teddy bear of a man. He never gave you all false hope. He's been the one you should have been paying attention too because he has the one who's been honest with you. He never would have shipped it but he would have been respectful of you shipping it. And when Tommy's part was complete, that character, and you, probably would have even received a thank you post of some kind from Oliver because he loves Buck, and he would have been grateful for the role Tommy played in getting Buck ready for his next chapter. That's the kind of person Oliver is. The Oliver you all are seeing now you brought on yourselves. He is a petty king and once you push him over the line it's over. You all have made it your mission to make him, and his friends miserable because they refuse to encourage your delusion. You deserve being blocked by him and I hope he continues to do it. There's no need for him to subject himself to your abuse. He doesn't have to allow Tommy content if he doesn't want it there.

The real reason you all are so upset today is that you're rapidly running out of delusions to cling too. They have systematically eliminated or debunked every one of your talking points, and that's what actually angers you. Examples:

'OMG Oliver and Lou are total besties look how much they love being together' = Oliver completely ignores anything and everything Tommy/Lou related. Doesn't like any Tommy content, doesn't follow Lou on any social media. Zero BTS interactions. Publicly admits to blocking people who demand he fawn over it.

'Oliver and Ryan clearly hate one another and only tolerate each other because Buddie fans are insane' = Oliver and Ryan take, share, and post amazing b&w photos of one another. Loads of BTS content of the joking around and having a good time together on set. Follow each other on social media. Openly discuss and like Buddie content. Admit to reading Buddie fanfics and watching fan edits. Hang out at each other's houses and play around with Instagram filters.

'Lou's going to be bumped up to main: = release cast lost proving that didn't happen and he didn't even appear on the call sheet

' Buddie will never happen because Ryan said he won't play queer/gay' = Ryan does several interviews openly discussing the Buddie possiblity. Refers to Eddie as queer coded, starts using only gender neutral pronouns. Films a BTS video implying he hooked up with Peter Krause.

'Tim sent us a DM telling us spoilers' = Tim gives an interview flat out dismissing this.

This is the reality and it's making your delusions increasingly difficult to sell. Your own people are starting to wake up and as a result you turned your venom on your own people. And what's insane is if you had just been basic level decent you would have found plenty of fandom people who would have let you fan girl over Tommy. We have all been there. We have all fallen for a minor side character the show was never going to care about. I promise you people would have been kind to you about it. But you followed the lead of a crazy person and believed being horrible and nasty to people would get you what you wanted. You're in the position you are because of yourselves. No one else is responsible or to blame. And that's why no one feels sorry for you. Everyone is exhausted and that clearly includes the cast as well. What they're doing is hilarious and deserved.

Thank you Nonny! I do appreciate you dropping this in my inbox.

All right, Oliver is obviously as fed up with all this craziness as we are. I say 'good for him' that he is actively curating his online spaces. He is just doing what all of us do on social media: blocking the people we don't want to deal with, deleting the comments that contain topics of things we don't want to see, deleting comments with hatred in them, deleting comments where anons are shitting on our friends...

As for the rest of this excellent reply?

IMPORTANT! Please don't repost this ask and/or a link that leads straight to my Tumblr account on Twitter or any other social media. Thank you!

Heads up! For anyone who is giving me the shifty eyes for reposting Ali's updates instead of reblogging. Read this.

Remember, no hate in comments, reblogs or inboxes. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of Ali’s posts, you can find all of her posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[evilios]

What do you think of the new Epic saga?

Hi, hon! 🌻

I appreciate you letting me Epic rant on the main, I'll keep it under the cut for my dear mutuals and followers' mental stability (some spoilers):

I should say: I separate Epic from Homeric texts. If it was loosely based on the Odyssey back in the Troy Saga, it's entirely its own thing now. Which is not bad! It's just different and it handles its own questions and problems.

Overall, I think it was good. It has its downsides (a little below on that) but I do like the hard work put into the musical. It's not exactly easy to put events of hundreds upon hundreds lines of an epic poem into five songs, so I'm not harsh on it.

I presume that everything Jorge showed on the livestream is what is more or less firmly canon within his musical (visually and lore wise) so with that in mind:

I think he nailed Telemachus. I love this boy, he's my everything. He's young, sweet, protective, he's just lovely. Legendary was my favorite when it existed in snippets and cut videos, it is still one of my favorite songs. The "I want" songs are always fun and Telemachus is very much a Disney prince singing from his magical tower. It's fun!

I see what Jorge did with Antinous being older than Telemachus in the musical which is, well, he had to sacrifice something. I'm guessing letting a guy around Telemachus' age sing about planning to wife up his mom would be weird. But! The only reason I'm bringing it up is that the potential ship dynamic/chemistry between epic Telemachus and Antinous would have been insane if they were around the same age. But, again, I understand the change.

Antinous' voice is also everything.

I like Telemachus' dynamic with Athena in the musical. It's a little closer than in the epics, a little more lighthearted. He doesn't really know about the weight on her shoulders but he's hospitable, sweet, and kind. We'll be Fine is a good song.

This is overall an "Athena's character development arc" saga to me. I see she's repeatedly mirrored to Odysseus, regretting her decisions/being too harsh and all. Jorge can't stop making parallels but! I'm a slut for parallel plotlines, so I like that. Myth Odysseus' usual mirror is Agamemnon but... he doesn't really fully exist in the realm of the musical so I see why they picked Athena, it's an interesting choice.

I could be Calypso's love in paradise 😔

No like she's so pretty. I know she's morally questionable (modernity-wise) but. She is so pretty. Her hair is so pretty. She's so bubbly, I'm so obsessed with her.

I don't think the clock-reverse thing needed to be in her song, it kind of messes with the tempo. I can see how it will work out on stage if Epic is ever in theater, but I'm still 50/50 about that part. Overall, Love in Paradise is catchy as hell!

From the visuals Jorge showed, I assume Calypso was physically close to Odysseus in this version too. Which, coupled with Athena claiming he never cheated, brings me to two different thoughts: a). They were physically close but he didn't have intimacy with her b). Athena does not consider forced intimacy cheating and I'm definitely for the second one, Odysseus' S/A is important.

God Games... torn on this one. A bit too short to my liking BUT will work out on stage. I can see how you could use stage lights + physical space to reconstruct it. Song length wouldn't matter as much.

I love short haired dark haired Apollo, it's like Jorge requested his version of the God to be distinct. His argument also IS SO UNSERIOUS. Like he's there only because Daddy asked him isn't he.

I'm glad Helios' cattle was not brought up as some people expected (and as I feared), Jorge knows his source material.

Hephaestus is absolutely too sweet for this world. I'm not sure if his bit with loyalty is about Hera myth or Aphrodite myth or something else... but it was sweet.

Aphrodite can have my heart on a plate. Fully. I don't care. Her bit is my favorite + I love that she's more pissed off about Odysseus "betraying" familial love rather than blaming him for, idk, potentially sleeping with Calypso or something.

Ares has an amazing voice though I keep wondering about his point. We know Odysseus didn't fight Scylla because a). There's no point in fighting Scylla b). He was planning to betray his crew. A part of me wants to think Ares is pissed because he sacrificed his comrades instead of fighting for them, it is cowardly.

I like their little fighting sequence, really shows Athena's ready to throw down in a fight if needed.

Hera is gorgeous stunning show stopping etc. I like her bit, it's not really serious, like Apollo's, but I don't see why it would be. Odysseus isn't really her business and he is a notable hero, she doesn't need to test him as one. But she needs to test him as a husband! Which is lovely.

Zeus would never hurt Athena I refuse to believe that part /lh

Overall? It's good. A bit clunky/compressed but good. Thunder one is still my favorite but the Athena Saga was good, gave my girl some more depth.

[sofoulandfairaday]

1 for the ask game

from: choose violence ask game

1. the character everyone gets wrong

Err... all of them? I'm not even kidding. More on this here.

Bellatrix: fortunately there's been progress in the fandom, but for years everyone loved to describe her as an overly sexualized, crazy, shrieking mindless slave, when she's actually quite the opposite. She is sadistic, but not insane, she's passionate but not irrational (she is the only one who knew Snape was a traitor; to me, it's because of a peculiar mix of rationality and intuition that shows her to be actually quite intelligent). Nothing suggests her being promiscuous in the text and I would actually argue the opposite of her (why would she ever lower herself to sleep with someone who she deems her inferior - so basically everyone -, even just to satisfy mere physical desires? This post, to me, is Bella at her core).

Narcissa: this is canon Narcissa, all of you are perfectly entitled to your soft babygirl headcanons, of course, but then again you are perfectly entitled to be wrong <3 [also, shameless self-promo: x]

The blorboification continues for every single member of the Black family and I hate it so much you have no idea:

Andromeda: somehow described as a soft little girl who loved her mean, mean sisters so much and had to run away? Bitch stood up to seven centuries of tradition, and abandoned her sisters and parents, to marry a boy she had fallen in love with maybe two years prior (we know this based on Tonks' age). Good for her, but as I have said previously, both Narcissa and Andromeda (and Sirius, really) strike me as a bit selfish. The one with the romantic attachment to the idea of her family, the child most like Walburga, is Bellatrix.

But this is nothing, NOTHING, compared to what this fandom does to Regulus and Sirius.

Regulus: canonically a Voldemort fanboy, with newspaper clippings of him everywhere, and a blood supremacist. Sirius says it better than anyone: Reggie is soft. But not in the way the fandom believes, nope. He's just a coward who, much like Draco years later, was super excited to be like Bellatrix (Lucius) until he realized what killing really meant, what fighting a war really was, and most importantly because Voldemort touched him personally (Kreacher, whom he loved). Voldemort was probably a little more deranged than he had been at the beginning of the First War, and someone that had inherited the Black pride/haughtiness probably didn't like being branded like cattle and treated like a slave, on top of everything else.

Sirius: fanon Sirius is basically another character. Canon!Sirius is: tall, canonically incredibly handsome, quite masculine (in an explicit and toxic way, especially as a teenager in the fucking 1970s - the skirt-wearing, feminist one-liners spouting version of Sirius is something I just cannot get behind), a dick, a bit classist ((don't come @ me with your "oh, but what about Moony?!" because a) we don't know Remus' wealth when Lyall and Hope were still alive, we only know he can't get a job as an adult because of his condition and b) Remus is Sirius' exception, in the same way Lily is Snape's when he calls her a Mudblood - everyone else is in his eyes)), brave to the point of recklessness, quite cruel, funny, witty, magically talented, loyal to a fault, extremely charismatic and everything else outlined here. For the same reasons, I'll say Remus too.

Don't even get me started on Severus Snape. Other people have spoken on this better than I could ever. At least here on Tumblr, though, it seems to me that things are getting a little better after years of absolutely bizarre takes. Or maybe I've blocked all of the idiots idk.

Dumbledore. More on this here and maybe I'll outline my ideas better in a future post.

Also: I do not accept any characterization of Evan Rosier, Barty Crouch jr, Reggie, and Rabastan Lestrange as anything less than violent blood supremacists. Yes, they can be nuanced and gay (and only for each other might I add), but these people are the KKK (metaphorically, of course, because I hate comparing real-world tragedies to completely fictional ones, but still).

Lucius: a complete dick, but definitely not abusive. The man couldn't raise a hand to Draco if the Dark Lord threatened to kill him over it.

Speaking of which: my darling Lord Voldemort. Not much to say about him really because I know that some people do write him in a very interesting way (and I am open to interpretations of his character even if they are different from how I see him - and I have a very fucking specific vision of him). The problem is that perhaps three (3) of these people write him with Bellatrix and that saddens me.

Now, I mostly read First Wizarding War stuff or Death Eater stuff so I can't really speak to many other characters, especially in Harry's generation, but anything other than cowardly Draco is not a good Draco characterization to me. Ron is hands-down the best one in the Golden Trio and Ron Weasley bashing is pathetic. Hermione has faults but is ultimately a strong, take-no-bullshit girl and I'll take that over basically any and all female YA protagonists. And Harry is sassiness personified, but with a heart of gold, and oh-so-caring. Which is also why I can't read dark!Harry for the life of me. It just makes me giggle.

[helslastangel]

Amerie Wadia (Heartbreak High) - Astro Character Theory

Right so judging from Reddit, Amerie is no one's favorite, but I don't really care.

I kinda like her and I think people are way too hard on her compared to the others. She's a selfish brat half the time-but so are the rest of her friends and nearly everyone in that school except for Ca$h and usually Quinni.

At least, as far as I've seen for now.

I've got one episode left in season 2 though, so I'm pretty sure of my position lol).

But that's not my fight today

I just want to analyse her potential sun, moon and mercury based on an (unconfirmed and hypothetical) chart.

The only character (tmk) in Heartbreak High with a fully confirmed birth date so far is Harper (Nov 21, 2005).

Amerie's sun sign (Virgo) is confirmed but there is NO CONFIRMED birthdate. I repeat: WE DONT KNOW ANYTHING. Everything I'm about to say is just speculation based on clues and hunches. Save the tears for another day.

We can reasonably guess that she's the same age as Harper, +-1 a year.

Someone put forward a theory that her birthday is September 4, 2005 and I'm going to roll with that one for two reasons.

Beyonce's birthday is Sept 4th and, to me, Amerie has the same preoccupied, "in my own world" energy that Queen B does.

As a Virgo myself who has been close with Virgos of all decans, I would not put Amerie in the 3rd decan at all if I had to guess. 1st could work-maybe. But the 2nd makes the most sense to me, as it influenced by Saturn & Capricorn, which I see a lot of in her approach and response to certain things (like trying to head out and work through moments that she should ABSOLUTELY spend resting. I'm not spoiling THAT scene, but IYKYK). She seems to deal with a lot of karmic stuff too, so there is that.

Again: there is no confirmed birth date. I hate when people don't read and jump to lose it in the comments, so I'm emphasizing that this is all just for fun. Amerie is a fictional character.

The actress herself (Ayesha Madon) is an Aquarius. But it's acting. Acting professionals are literally masters of not acting like themselves if they want to.

Speculations

Virgo Sun (11°)

With her sun at an Aquarius degree, Amerie identifies with her friend group and social communities more than you might expect from a stereotypical Virgo. She strives to develop the humanitarian side of her character.

She also makes an effort to get better at considering the big picture and the wider impact of everyone's actions, despite her natural tendency to get bogged down in the weeds of whatever she's involved with or working on.

Virgo Moon (14°)

While Amerie seeks emotional fulfilment in being useful/valuable to the people around her, with her moon at a Taurus degree she also holds a phenomenal amount of space for others, both emotionally and in a practical sense too.

You see this in how quick she is to set up a comfortable environment and make lots of room for her friends, especially if given the opportunity to help them in some way.

Leo Mercury (28°)

Amerie speaks in a direct and simple manner-she doesn't really mince words or try to present herself as someone she's not. Whatever she says is either exactly what it sounds like, or not to far from it. But we notice that she has a way of being blunt yet also compassionate, especially towards those who actually need it.

With her Leo Mercury being at a Cancer degree, some of her fire is watered down which can make her appear to second-guess herself or lack conviction at times. Mostly it works to make her come across as more likeable than she might be otherwise.

Maybe I'll look at the other placements later, but I'm curious about what others think about this.

𓆩♡𓆪

↤ go back to the masterlist

[youngerfrankenstein]

So today I watched two movies where the deuteragonist goes kinda nuts and turns into a dragon thing, before the protagonist has to calm them down.

They were both a pretty fun time!

Promare is something I had been meaning to watch for quite a while but somehow never got around to. Glad I finally did!

Promare has quite possibly the Worst oppression allegory I have ever seen. A bunch of people are discriminated against because they burned half the world and killed billions (with a B!) of people. Also it’s not actually anything inherent to them it’s a bunch of alien parasites that will destroy the planet. However, since this is basically just an excuse for robots to fight other robots on fire… I can’t say I really care in the end. Promare is ENTIRELY style over substance, and I mean that in the best way.

The plot is breakneck and stupid. Most of the characters barely register as such. The dialogue is so dumb. And it FUCKING RULES! I’ve seen the film described as “Anime the Anime” and that does kind of sum it up. Everything feels like a ten year old boy smashing his action figures together and you can’t help but get swept up in the enthusiasm.

Helped by the absolutely (excuse the pun) FIRE soundtrack. The energy almost never lets up, and on-the-nose engrish lyrics just add to the experience. Even if you don’t watch the movie holy heck listen to the soundtrack.

The characters may be paper-thing but holy hell are they fun to watch. Our protagonist, Galo, himbo extraordinaire is as ridiculous as he is somehow charming. You can’t help but admire his drive to help people. And his foil, the ironically icy Lio, here to set fires and fight for his rights. Aina, a nice, spunky girl set up as a love interest for about five minutes before it turns out her character has more of a story based around her relationship with her sister. Which is a nice change! In fact the only romance in the story arguably involves CPR for plausible deniability. And our hero remembers to open the airway thank heck. Though whether intentional or just ship tease who knows? And who cares. You can guess who the villain is about ten seconds after he shows up and he is as much a blast to watch as the rest.

And really, this is a movie with a secret robot used to save the day called the Deus X Machina. A movie that ends with two shirtless guys setting the Earth on fire to stop the Earth from being set on fire. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and really neither should you. Let it sweep you away for almost two hours and you will feel much better afterwards.

-

I started reading Nimona around the time it was wrapping up as a webcomic. I have a copy of the graphic novel on my shelf. I was excited when I heard the movie had been greenlit (less so when I heard it was Blue Sky Studios), disappointed by the cancellation and, well, I’m happy it’s here now. While I’ve gotten grouchier over the years, it does make me smile to see these guys on my television, even if they’re not quite the same people either.

Because the movie is very different, and yet much of it feels similar as well. Certain scenes, like the board game, are almost directly from the comic, others are from the comic but not quite the same. The characters are different, Ballister is less jaded, Ambrosius less delusional and Nimona less, well, monstrous. She seems to more beat the snot out of people than commit mass murder. In the comic she’s every bit the monster people fear her to be, though a sympathetic one, and perhaps one who will heal someday. While the ending of the movie is far happier, it fits the new tone. And honestly? I need to stop making comparisons and judge the damn movie on its own merits. Of which it has many!

Our setup is fairly simple, Ballister BlackBoldheart is a new knight of the realm, who immediately gets framed for the murder of the queen and disarmed (heh) by his boyfriend Ambrosius Goldenloin, while on the lam he is approached by a shapeshifter called Nimona who is up for a little mayhem and hijinks. Together they try and clear his name.

My fist fear when I heard Blue Sky studios would be the ones releasing the movie was that a lot of the humour would be Quite Bad. And while there definitely is plenty of that, I think more gags hit than miss. Hell the movie got quite a few laughs out of my dad and he’s a fair bit less likely to chuckle than I am. It is quite a funny movie, which is good because it helps the harsher moments hit harder. Because there are also plenty of those, especially in the final act.

Speaking of, the film is somewhat surprisingly well paced. Scenes tend not to overstay their welcome and the movie flows well. What else flows well? The animation! (My segways not so much) Everything is very smooth, which is rather necessary for all the shapeshifting, and there’s quite an interesting scene made to look as if subway tiles are telling the story of Nimona’s origins (ish).

And the main trio really are quite fun to watch. Ballister, always the underdog, now a public enemy and trying to both clear his name and perhaps open his mind a bit. Ambrosius, golden boy, trying to do the right thing and not always doing a great job. And, of course, Nimona, who’s just here to break shit, though it is quickly clear there’s more underneath, also a pretty blatant trans allegory.

The relationships Ballister has with both the other two are sweet as heck, but also riddled with mistrust that they all have to work to overcome.

And while the movie does get a little preachy at times, it’s a kid’s movie. What do you expect? Rah rah fight the power, all that jazz. I may be too jaded for it but it certainly works.

—

Would recommend checking out both or either if they sound like something you’d enjoy!

[muddypeeps]

I've come back from the dead to talk about Stephanie Brown for a second here because I really like her character. Now I can't guarantee this accurate to like... anything, so yell at me if it isn't!!

Anyways actually rambling time. To me Steph has very loud personality. The most common example of this is that Steph's anger is loud, she doesn't hide that I feel. However that also means her happiness is loud, anger and happiness are very connected to each other. As anger is usually formed from the absence of something, say for Steph a lack of good father, while happiness is formed from the gaining or having something, say Steph gaining a close bond with Cass letting Steph feel like she can rely emotionally on someone in a way she couldn't with other people (as Steph could very much be emotionally vulnerable with Crystal, but it was also complicated, I'll go more into it in a bit). Now this is where some people leave her character traits at, which can sometimes be fine, but I also feel like it leaves a lot that people can use Steph's character for. Because Steph's compassion and sadness are also very loud.

Steph's compassion is very much influenced by her moral compass. As seen from the fact that Steph became a nurse for a good bit because a man and a tiger died from a cop shooting them and she couldn't save them. Now this does also lead to a lot of guilty. Having compassion is great, but it also has its cons like everything else, it's just to Steph especially the pros outweigh the cons. Her compassion is loud in such a way that if you get helped but Steph I feel like you could genuinely just tell from that Steph is a good person, a hero even. It's not overwhelming though it's just assuring. This is also where you can really see Steph shine through. Steph is different from say Jason is this regard when it comes to this type of compassion. Because Jason isn't tied to guilt in the same way that Steph is. Jason can take a life because he can be assured that it was the right decision because other people were being hurt and now they won't be. With Steph however she thinks of it in a different way i feel. Steph wouldn't be able to reassure herself that killing someone would fully be the right decision unless pushed to absolute extremes here because yes killing them would stop people from being hurt by that person, but who's say that people will not also be hurt from the death of that person even more so. Death isn't a one way deal after all, killing a criminal can bring safety... but it can also get rid of stability. I feel like Steph with Cluemaster as her dad could understand that, though Jason would also understand it but their moral compasses are different in that regard but I am not here to talk about Jason that much.

Now onto Steph's sadness being loud. Sadness and anger are like twins, they are both caused by the same thing but they are different reactions to it. Steph is the type to have sadness underneath her anger and vice versa. It's honestly something that I love to see in characters and I wish that people would write Steph more in this way.

You might be wondering though that based on what I said earlier how can Steph have troubles with being emotionally vulnerable if she has a loud personality? Well you see that is because Steph isn't always verbally loud, I mean she certainly is sometimes, but not always. However Steph's behaviors have always been pretty loud, it's just harder for people to pick up on that sort of thing. That's why Crystal couldn't always understand Steph when she was emotionally vulnerable and Steph with all that honestly overwhelming compassion didn't want to give her mother more work or things to worry about. This is why Steph and Cass's relationship works so well. Because Steph both a) can talk enough for both of them and still understand Cass because Steph shockingly (/s) has a good bit of empathy and can read people pretty well, b) Cass is y'know very good at reading body language which Steph always speaks very loud with in a metaphorical sense and that is absolutely something Cass can pick up. They understand the parts of each other that other people might not be able to understand. As much as Crystal is a pretty good mother and she really does try, it doesn't mean that Steph reallys know how to be emotionally vulnerable in a way that her mom will be fully able to understand. It's just relationships (especially with parents) are complicated like that. Anyways that's all I really have to say. Once again feel free to decide to disagree with me or like make your own take!!

[maespri]

my thoughts on the your turn to die percentage sheets

i keep thinking about how strange the percentage sheets are in your turn to die. so. here’s my thought dump. everything under the cut.

spoiler warning for the whole game, just in case…

so. from my understanding, they’re based off of the AI test runs of the death game, or off of the characters personalities prior to being put in the death game. but how exactly would either of those things work?

for starters, if they’re based off the AI runs, then the percentages instantly become unreliable the moment any uncontrolled variable enters the death game. in this case, that would be joe and (if im remembering correctly) nao. joe and nao presumably were not part of the test runs, considering the fact that neither character had an AI made for them in chapter 2 (besides joe, technically, but he wasn’t part of the main panel, so… he’s up in the air). therefore, the fact that they are in the death game instantly makes the percentages null. it’s like throwing a slice of banana into a smoothie full of vegetables- it may seem small, but now the entire composition of the smoothie is totally different.

literally every characters percentage could be different based on the sole fact that joe and nao are in the death game. you might assume it would only really affect sara or mishima, but this isn’t true at all- from big questions, such as who would’ve picked up the sacrifice cards in chapter 1 and 2?- to small questions, like… in chapter 1, would sara have ever even opened that door under the bar that shin couldn’t get open if joe hadn’t done it?

we’ve heard that sara’s percentage was only so high because in every run, she would do terrible things to win, becoming increasingly violent with sole interest in self preservation. so joe was put in to be a handicap for her. but, once again, this makes her percentage- you guessed it- inaccurate! it would presumably be considerably lower with joe there.

if the percentages are based on the characters personalities prior to the death game test runs, based on what asunaro has gathered from watching these people for forever, i think that actually only makes them even more inaccurate. that means the percentages are entirely based on assumption. just because sara can be an intense person, does not mean she would have the highest chance of winning. similarly, just because shin is weaker than a newborn baby, doesn’t necessarily mean he would have a 0% chance of winning.

so, here’s my thing with the percentages. i think either way, it fails to consider one of the games overarching themes, and a topic i could go into extreme detail on in another post: humans are inherently good. and inherently very unpredictable. and AI can never replicate that, no matter how accurate asunaro’s data may be on these people. they can run the AI death game a million times, but the robot versions of each person cannot perfectly simulate how a real human would genuinely act in such a situation. this is also because AI can imitate fear and desperation, but it cannot actually feel it, and i’d argue feeling is the driving force behind every decision characters make in this game.

another thing i want to note is the concept of zero probability and impossibility, which basically just means the chance of something happening can never be 0%. anything can happen. and that means that in at least one simulation of the AI death games, each character won, even if it was only 1 time out of 1 billion runs. which means that shin’s percentage absolutely could not be 0%.

it does the beg the question of why asunaro made the AI’s at all, because if they put that much effort into them, i don’t think they would A) make their data totally unreliable by throwing in unknown variables during the real thing, or B) run all those death games tests and collect the data. i honestly think the AI’s were solely to impede the characters.

this isn’t to fault the game at all, however- in fact, i think the percentage sheet is incredibly genius if only for the amount of chaos it causes. it’s a completely unreliable piece of information, and yet shin sees it and thinks, “15% versus my 0%… ok, this seventeen year old girl is my WORST enemy now…”

another thing that i’m too lazy to figure out for myself rn but is a question i had- do the percentages even add up to 100? because i don’t think they do. which begs the question of what they’re actually out of. sara has a 15% chance of winning, out of… 100? out of 20? out of 50? out of 1000? i know percentages don’t have to add up to 100, but it just adds to the unreliableness. technically, we don’t know what these percentages are measured out of.

i guess my overarching point here is just that the percentages sheet is really interesting, and simultaneously really useless and unreliable. but that’s what makes it so interesting. i think it instills a feeling of dread and uncertainty in the player seeing how low certain percentages for other characters are, or maybe it instills confidence and superiority seeing how high sara’s is. either way, it definitely helps you understand why shin acts the way he does once you figure out he’s known about the sheet from the beginning.

anyway. that’s it. i’m sure someone else has talked about this or everyone knew about it blah blah blah but. whatever i had fun writing it out. Peace and love

[retromotherfuckers]

OBX Rock Band AU (headcanon)

Characters:

jj maybank, john b routledge, pope hayward, kiara carrera, sarah cameron

Word Count:

~700

A/N:

i have no idea if this has been done before but the idea came to me the other night in the shower lol. i’m in a band so you can guess what i loosely based this on

JJ - Drums

is my opinion biased on this one? probably

my favorite band member and character

the one with the most problems

drinks a little too much,  stoner

personal life in shambles most of the time

once he found the drums as an outlet he dove into it, eventually becoming an intensely devoted musician 

that drum set has seen some things

jj lets his anger out on that poor, innocent drum set

all the different pieces have had to be replaced so many times because he beats the living shit out of them

the one that got john b into rock music and the rest was history

he's not one of the chill drummers who just shows up and does their thing, this man is a show-off

so many tricks

long solos whenever the chance arises for one

flirts with the entire band

music genres: rock, grunge, alt, metal

bands/artists: Sex Pistols, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Nirvana, Guns N’ Roses, Def Leppard

John B - Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar

a no-brainer. this is practically canon

no i will not be hearing opposing opinions at this time

he's the frontman

the one most people's eyes are drawn to right away

controls the vibe in the room

him and jj put on a show

stoner

is naturally a gifted singer, but had a vocal coach for a little while to get some pointers

rhythm guitar because most rock songs need at least two guitars and he's played guitar since he was a kid just for fun

music genres: country, rock, alt, pop when jj isn't around

bands/artists: The Rolling Stones, Paramore, Fall Out Boy, Aerosmith, Taylor Swift, Johnny Cash 

Pope - Lead Guitar/Band Manager

he's just there to vibe but also an incredibly skilled guitarist 

the one that tries extremely hard to keep everyone on track, but can't because no one listens to him

also the one that found kiara and Sarah

he's classically trained, but he only did classical as a kid because that's what he thought the smart kids were supposed to do

he plays like Slash: relatively controlled body language, but his fingers fly back and forth on the frets 

music nerd

everyone can tell he loves what he's doing

manager because who else would manage these fools?

music genres: rock, alt, indie rock

bands/artists: Falling in Reverse, Foo Fighters, Arctic Monkeys, Green Day, Hozier, The Killers, The 1975

Kiara - Bass

i will not be accepting arguments on this one

she 100% grew up on cello, but wanted to rebel against her parents as a teen and switched to rock but realized she fucked with it

this girl is hot as all hell and knows it, but has nothing to prove

she's one of the more responsible members of the group but also super laid-back

stoner

effortlessly keeps everyone in check 

she just wants to vibe and play some songs

flirts with the entire band

weird, hippie, earthy screams bass player

music genres: indie rock, r&b, pop punk, anything from the '60s and '70s

bands/artists: Janis Joplin, The Strokes, Young The Giant, Hozier, Paramore, Joan Jett, Whitney Houston

Sarah - Backup Vocals

she was definitely an attention seeker in her young years and would've hated backup, but now she's perfectly content chilling in the background with some killer harmonies 

she has a few songs she leads in the set when john b needs a rest

she absolutely KILLS them

but she loves playing with the melody and adding a harmony on something that you wouldn't expect

this girl has perfect pitch so harmonizing takes about 3% effort from her

if a song is too low for her or too high for john b, she transposes everything (perfect pitch and all)

she will. not. touch. an electric guitar with a 10-foot pole. 

don't ask, i have no explanation for that one

on the occasion a song needs keys, she's the go-to

music genres: she's a retired theatre kid so she listens to just about everything under the sun except country

bands/artists: Taylor Swift, The Beatles, Queen, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Knicks, Amy Winehouse

[jackoshadows]

Benioff and Weiss had Arya sailing away on a boat at the end because according to them Arya’s story over 5 books is her having ‘cool badass’ adventures!

It’s bad writing, it’s NOT THE BOOKS, and anyone trying to argue that the show’s ending for Arya is going to be her book ending should be embarrassed to call themselves a reader of ASoIaF.

This is how David Benioff and Dan Weiss described Arya’s arc in the books, downplaying Arya’s trauma and suffering in order to prop up Sansa.

Benioff: [Sansa] just seems really believable, and also she goes on one of the most interesting journeys, because she doesn’t start out as someone who is sharp, and shrewd and tough, but she becomes that person.

Arya is kind of always there—which is what’s great about Arya—but Sansa had to get there by painful experiences. She’s always been one of my favorite characters.

Weiss: In a way, Sansa has to face harder choices. Arya always has a pretty clear path, like: “What’s a cool, badass thing to do and I’m going to do that thing.”

Benioff and Weiss haven’t  a) Read the books. At the Oxford Union discussion they didn’t know Sam Tarly was a POV character until John Bradley told them!

or b) Don’t understand the themes and character arcs that the author is telling in his story. Remember according to them ‘Themes are for 8th grade book reports’ and not important.

or c) Have read the books, and yet don’t care about the story GRRM is telling, instead putting their own spin on these characters based on the actors.

Meanwhile Book Arya:

“She could feel the hole inside her every morning when she woke. … It was a hollow place, an emptiness where her heart had been, where her brothers had lived, and her parents. … The hole will never feel any better, she told herself when she went to sleep.  

Some mornings Arya did not want to wake at all. … If the Hound would only have left her alone, she would have slept all day and all night.” (Arya XII, ASOS)  

“She could feel the hole inside her where her heart had been.” (Arya II, AFFC)

Just a reminder that in the books Arya Stark goes through an absolutely harrowing and traumatizing journey after she flees KL and the Lannister guards send after her by Cersei.

TWoW Arya:

Half-light filled the room, grey and gloomy. Shivering, she sat up in bed and ran a hand across her scalp. Stubble bristled against her palm. I need to shave before Izembaro sees. Mercy, I’m Mercy, and tonight I’ll be raped and murdered. Her true name was Mercedene, but Mercy was all anyone ever called her…

Dan Weiss reading 11 year old Arya shaving her head, getting ready to be raped in a play - ‘Wow, this is so cool and badass!‘

Also, the way they talk about Arya having a clear path and no hard choices to make, meanwhile:

Arya watched them die and did nothing. What good did it do you to be brave? One of the women picked for questioning had tried to be brave, but she had died screaming like all the rest. There were no brave people on that march, only scared and hungry ones. - Arya, ACoK 

Arya deciding to make her escape from Harrenhal, Arya deciding to rescue Gendry at great risk, Arya taking along Weasel at great risk, Arya being ordered to kill the insurance agent, Arya deciding to keep Needle. And these hacks think that Arya has a clear path and no hard choices?!

Dan Weiss about Needle:

Arya's gotten very good at letting go, she's been forced to let go of everything that means anything to her in this r53world. And she does a great job getting rid of that costume and getting rid of her money and getting rid of the coin, but Needle was a very, very special gift. She sees herself as an instrument of revenge in many ways in this world and that sword is the way she's going to exact that revenge on the people who wronged her family. It's the instrument of that revenge. Letting go of Needle would really be letting go of Arya Stark, and the fact that she can't let go of Needle makes it clear to us that she's not at all ready to be no one.

In the books:

Needle was Winterfell’s grey walls, and the laughter of its people. Needle was the summer snows, Old Nan’s stories, the heart tree with its red leaves and scary face, the warm earthy smell of the glass gardens, the sound of the north wind rattling the shutters of her room. Needle was Jon Snow’s smile.

Polliver had stolen the sword from her when the Mountain’s men took her  captive, but when she and the Hound walked into the inn at the  crossroads, there it was. The gods wanted me to have it. Not the  Seven, nor Him of Many Faces, but her father’s gods, the old gods of the  north. The Many-Faced God can have the rest, she thought, but he can’t  have this. - Arya, AFfC 

GRRM about Arya and Needle:

- Needle! The last link to Winterfell and Arya. The Faceless Men want her to give it up because they recognize it’s importance.

Arya is missing her family and home in KL right from her second POV chapter in AGoT!

The rest of the time, they ate in his solar, just him and her and Sansa. That was when Arya missed her brothers most. She wanted to tease Bran and play with baby Rickon and have Robb smile at her. She wanted Jon to muss up her hair and call her “little sister” and finish her sentences with her. But all of them were gone. [---]

Arya had loved nothing better than to sit at her father’s table and listen to them talk. She had loved listening to the men on the benches too; to freeriders tough as leather, courtly knights and bold young squires, grizzled old men-at-arms. She used to throw snowballs at them and help them steal pies from the kitchen. Their wives gave her scones and she invented names for their babies and played monsters-and maidens and hide-the-treasure and come-into-my-castle with their children. [--]

Only that was Winterfell, a world away, and now everything was changed. This was the first time they had supped with the men since arriving in King’s Landing. Arya hated it. - Arya, AGoT

Arya missing her home and family in every book, wanting to desperately go home, trying her very best to first get to Robb and Cat and then Jon Snow and failing and losing hope and only being with the FM because as GRRM says’ where else does she have to turn to’.

And Jon is waiting for her in the North. The two characters with the closest bond. Jon is trying to save her. There’s an entire plot about the North rising up for Arya Stark.

It’s very, very clear that Benioff and Weiss didn’t care to understand Arya as a character, weren’t interested in writing for her other than as a one-dimensional killer/assassin having bad-ass adventures and the final insult being Michelle Clapton saying that Arya was just passing through when talking about Arya finally, finally getting to Winterfell as reason for why Sansa gets all the Stark sigils and clothing and not Arya.

They sidelined the Starkiest Stark - Arya - and Bran and Jon and killed off Rickon so that they could turn Sansa into The Stark ™

Reminder from D&D themselves:

and GRRM:

[merci-bitch]

i loved ur nsfw alphabet for lady lesso, would u consider writing a fluff alphabet for her?

Here you go! It’s a bit hard since she ain’t the most fluffy person haha. Now this is based on the movie version of Lesso !

SFW Alphabet

Not my gif ! Do apologise if it seems a bit off !

A = Activities

Well, girl is busy practically 24/7 but she does like late night talking with you. She’s not much of a book reader herself but she wouldn’t complain if you laid your head in lap as you read your own book.

B = Baby. Do they want a family? Why/Why not?

Absolutely not. I mean, I just can’t see her as a mother, and I don’t think she’d want a baby either. Now this is the movie version of Lesso, cause I know in the books she does have a son, but if we think about her character in the movie I don’t really think she’d want a kid. She’s got future evil on her hands 👀

C = Cuddle. How do they cuddle?

She’s not the biggest cuddler, but she’s used to you snuggling up to her side. Wraps an arm around you and lets you snuggle close. She will hog the covers and kick you out of bed if she wants to.

D = Dates

Perhaps Dovey sets something up for the two of you. 🥺

E = Everything. You are my ____ (e.g. my life, my world…)

You’re her love. Something she never thought she’d have again.

F = Feelings. When did they know they were falling in love?

She’s very stubborn when it comes to love, and poor girl is scared. She’s scared everything that happened with Rafal, who we now will not name anymore, will happen again.

She would be in denial about it, until dovey sees it in her eyes and pushes her to do it.

G = Gentle. Are they gentle? If so, how?

Meh, I wouldn’t say that. It’s Lady Lesso we’re talking about ;)

H = Holding Hands. How do they like to hold hands?

Interlocked fingers, it’s rare but it happens.

I = Impression. First impression/ how you met.

She thought you were an idiot. She didn’t like you.

You thought she had a too big ego. Despite the evil side.

Hate to love 😫

J- Jealousy. Do they get jealous often/easily?

Eh, yes. 100%. Girl does not share. Have you seen her?

K = Kiss. How do they kiss?

She likes to cup your cheek or your neck as you kiss. She wants you to be as close as possible. It’s often very demanding, but sometimes it’s just a soft little kiss 🥺

L = Love. Who says ‘I love you’ first?

We, she won’t say it. So you did, she says it with her eyes.

M = Memory. What’s their favourite memory together?

There was this one time. The floors had been washing for the first time in the school for evil, surprising you all. It was Dovey of course.

You tripped and landed face first on the ground and Lesso burst into tears from laughter. She still brings it up. Calls you stupid with heart eyes.

N = Nickel. Do they spoil? Do they buy the person they love everything?

She does like to treat you. If it’s possible she will get you a new book you’ve been wanting to read, can’t see her as the big gift giver.

O = Open. When would they open up and telling you things about themselves?

It takes a long while. After everything that happened with the one who must not be named, no wonder girl is scared. If she trusts you enough she will tell you, but if you ever speak about to someone or mention it she will kill you.

P = Petnames

My love, my darling, sweetheart, pet

Q = Quiz, how much would they remember of their partner?

Well, she knows the basic things of course, and she knows what you like and what you don’t like. The rest she couldn’t be bothered with.

R = Rainy Day. How would they spend their rainy day off with you?

She likes dark and gloomy days of course. She usually still works but she doesn’t mind your company through the piles of paperwork.

S = Sad. How do they cheer themselves up?

It’s not often she’s sad, but if she is she gets more angry. Starts losing her patience more often. She doesn’t allow herself to cry in front of anyone. The only one who’s seen her cry is Dovey.

T = Try. How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, everyday tasks etc.

She remembers it, and forgets it. She doesn’t really care, as long as you’re still with her.

U = Ugly. What would be some bad habits of theirs?

OVERWORKING HERSELF

V = Vanity. How concerned are they with how they look?

Well she doesn’t really care like that. She knows she’s enchanting, intimidating and very gorgeous

W = Wedding. When, how, where do they propose?

To be fair, she doesn’t had the need to get married. Sure she’ll love the fact that you’re hers and can call you her wife. Don’t you dare put her in a dress. She doesn’t want to make it a big thing like Dovey wants to.

X = XO. How do they show you affection?

If you’re alone, if she passes you, she’ll perhaps give your head a kiss or swat the back of your head because she wants to.

If you’re in public it’s more the glances.

Y = Yearn. What do they do when they miss you?

She claims she doesn’t miss you, obviously it’s a lie.

Z = Zebra. If they wanted a pet, what would they get?

Well, they have a bearded lizard at the school for evil. That’s enough for her. Not that she pets it or anything.

[bohemian-nights]

What’s your opinion on show and book!Viserys (Rhaenyra’s father not her son btw)?

Where do I even begin🤦🏽‍♀️ I apologize in advance because this is going to be a rant and probably won’t be that coherent.

I straight up hate his guts. Sorry not mincing any words because he’s a f*cking idiotic selfish POS(actually that’s an insult to sh*t) Jacka** whose actions(or rather lack of actions cause this MF does nothing) almost single-handedly destroyed an entire dynasty. Seriously f*ck both the show and the book versions of him are literally the worst.

If anyone is looking for one character to blame the Dance on, well look no further than this turd because he’s the reason for all the unnecessary chaos.

Book!Viserys gets 1/2 a point over show!Viserys based on the fact that he never orders Aemma to be cut open, but he’s just as stupid and selfish as show!Viserys.

I think out of all the characters on the show Viserys is the one who’s changed the least fundamentally from his book counterpart. The only major difference is the Aemma situation, he’s not a creepy pedo(cause he and Alicent only have a ten-year age gap), and he “cares” for Helaena and her children in the book(I say “care” loosely because if he cared he would’ve realized that those babies would become targets the moment he died).

Fundamentally, Viserys is a character who is willfully oblivious to what's happening around him. He’s created a powder keg situation yet he fails to notice it because he thinks his word is law and everyone should just blindly follow what he says because he’s the king. He can break tradition because he is king. He can make the rules up as he goes and spit in the face of others because he is the king.

Let me be clear, there is nothing wrong with breaking the precedent of succession for favoring males over their female relatives. However, this dude is a. A hypocrite(the whole reason why he is king is because he was a man whereas Rhaenys who had the greater claim was a woman) and b. A dumb dumb.

The moment Alicent popped out Aegon II he created a succession crisis. You can not tell me that he didn't realize that Otto and Alicent would put Rhaenyra first over their own flesh and blood cause he would never do that himself. He should’ve never married her if he wanted to keep Rhaenyra as heir.

(And as much as I rag on her, you know what, the reason why she’s so horrible is because of him. He was a sh*tty father to her just as much as his other kids).

He was the king. It’s not like he loved Alicent. He could’ve had any number of mistresses and fathered any number of bastards no one would care and they wouldn’t be a threat to his daughters claim like his true born sons were, but what does he do? He marries her anyway.

You could make the argument that oh Rhaenyra was his eldest child so the Hightowers should’ve respected that, but Viserys also helped to facilitate another succession crisis by turning a blind eye to Rhaenyra having obvious bastards(he got lucky that Corlys for the longest time cared more about appearances than his blood).

While everything might have been okay for Rhaenhra had the Targtowers not been in the picture(or if they bent the knee), No one, and I mean no one was going to take those boys being made king and the Lord of the Tides seriously once he, Rhaenyra, and I guess Corlys, had died.

If Viserys actually loved any of his children he would’ve named Aegon his heir, married Rhaenyra off to a man who she could have a fulfilling marriage with, and called it a day, but nope. This dummy really let his guilty conscience(and his nether regions) ruin his family(I believe that even book!Viserys felt some guilt over Aemma dying which is why he kept Rhaenyra as heir and allowed her to do whatever).

If this is your favorite character(I doubt he has any actual fans except god bless him, Paddy) please tell me why because there is absolutely nothing likable about him:

I apologize for posting this yucky picture, but I’m so glad they decided to make him look like a rotting corpse instead of making him fat like in the book. His outsides started matching his insides and it’s what he deserved🤡

Bottom line show!Alicent is a saint for putting up with him and I don’t blame book!Alicent one bit for letting his putrid corpse rot for days on end. He's the reason why House Targ almost went extinct(and why they lost their dragons for basically 200 years).

[bardicbeetle]

character rambles - Isaac Raes

Isaac Raes definitely has a self preservation instinct.

Definitely.

Probably.

Raised by his father alone (his parents had a college fling, his mother gave up full custody and he’s met her only a handful of times) while bouncing between Vermont and Connecticut, Isaac’s world has always been fairly small. His father, his uncle, his grandmother. A handful of scattered cousins seen only every other year. Thomas and Carrie have been his best friends since kindergarten and that isn’t likely to change anytime soon.

All of that is fairly normal and easy until the year he turns nine.

When he is nine, he watches his father die. In the dirt basement in his grandmother’s house in Enfield, CT.

Isaac Raes watches a little girl—she’s seven—she’s thirty-nine—rip into his father’s throat while throwing herself at him. Stands there covered in old blood and listening to the gurgling death rattle from the body on the floor that up until ten seconds ago was his dad.

And then he watches his uncle decapitate the thing that is not a little girl with a wood axe.

And everything goes wrong after that.

The Isaac who comes back from Enfield is not the same one who left. He’s homeschooled by his uncle for the rest of elementary and middle school (can you call it homeschooling if most of it is combat training?) [he finds a CD schooling program himself and runs through every grade from 4th to 8th] {luckily Vermont’s guidelines for homeschooling are very lax}, before finally returning to public school at age 14. He’s quieter, he’s more withdrawn, he is an anxiety ridden mess who vanishes at the slightest hint of conflict. Except when he doesn’t. When he doesn’t there is trouble and blood but most of the time he vanishes, so it doesn’t become too much of a problem.

Very quickly his friendship with Tom and Carrie rekindles until they are the two people keeping him grounded in now. He and Tom date on and off throughout high school, eventually breaking things off in senior year but it’s less of a break up and more of a soft return to friendship. The three of them are nearly inseparable all through to graduation—at least up until Carrie leaves for nursing school and she and Isaac have to very firmly remind Tom he gets woozy at the idea of blood and that he cannot follow her there. So he ends up in a culinary program led by a local bakery (Which he ends up managing after a handful of years).

By the time high school is over, Isaac is just about the only one running his uncle’s store: Lamplight Books. He doesn’t mind at first, his uncle makes most of his money as a distribution point for other local bookstores around the state and their customer base is small—if dedicated. The hours have always been funny, but it suits them being open late when they are a stone’s throw from the Church Street Marketplace and there is always evening foot traffic. He doesn’t mind. His uncle needs him.

Isaac Raes would really like to get the fuck out of this state.

He’d like to go to college.

He’d like to see a little more of the world.

By the time he is 22 he has convinced himself that much of what he experienced as a child is some sort of fever dream. That yes, something bad must have happened, but whatever his 9 year old brain conjured up to cover it was not the truth.

It’s not as though his uncle ever talks about it.

There’s no reason for him to think anything else.

Until Alex Blackwood walks into his store and leaves him for dead.

And that should be the end of it.

They show up the next night and he takes his chance and stakes them.

Right?

He absolutely does not spend the next few months giving them thermoses full of his own blood—begrudgingly removed from his body by Carrie—and trying to convince himself that he’s doing this to save them. He’s doing this to save them. He—

Isaac Raes definitely has a self preservation instinct. And a functioning survival instinct.

They just aren’t going to stop him.

@cjjameswriting / @falling-rivers / @maabonwrites / @blve0 / @inexorableblob / @blueberrypoptart / @betwixtofficial / @drowsy-quill / @ezwriting / @ofinscriptions / @vaguelyhumanekid / @meatandboneasmr / @h-faith-marr-writeblr / @necros-writings / @poetinprose / @flyingbananasaur / @oldestenemy / @multi-lefaiye / @dotr-rose-love / @abalonetea / @albatris / @incandescent-creativity / @kaiusvnoir / @vampireposter

[moe-broey]

OKAY. I. FINALLY HAVE DONE IT. IT TOOK A LOT OF TESTING AND TROUBLE SHOOTING AND FIGURING OUT BUT I THINK I HAVE IT

My Askr and Co. team!!!!!!! Sometimes I switch one of them out for story stuff (full immersion lmfao), but!!! It's them it's the OGs 🥺🥺🥺

Alfonse is still pretty much the same, but since the Dragon Flower limit was increased, I feel he no longer needs Fury! Which, removing it does synergize better with Florid Cane anyway, beyond the Canto gimmick (having an Atk/Spd bonus if kept healthy).

Biggest thing I needed to figure out though was who I was giving the special skills to (from an extra Acsended Mareeta and Felix). I WAS tempted to give them to Alfonse (head empty he means everything to me) but I came to the conclusion that Ruptured Sky works too well on him. I even think it's fun from a storytelling standpoint, where he's consistent almost to a fault -- can result in him being reliable, or juuust missing the mark (he's still adaptable as well though!). PLUS! Both are speed based skills, and even With my speedy Alfonse build, AND even with all those Dragon Flowers, Sharena outspeeds him at lower investment.

So it did come down to trying to decide which would work best between Sharena and Anna.

Sharena absolutely needed to be completely revised, since I realized I accidentally doubled up on Null Follow Up on her weapon and B slot (and her C slot was a wimpy Threaten skill lmfao). Ultimately I felt Felix's kit synergized better with Alfred's Arcane I gave to her -- espp Bulwark keeping her healthy! In this way I think I accidentally made her a tank. Especially with all the stat bonuses coming together, on top of a damage reduction special. Really my ONLY bit of grief here is she no longer has her special attack voicelines........... I'm SO sad about that 💔💔💔 (HOWEVER. IT. IS REALLY FUNNY.)

She's just standing there..... Menacingly........... (quite literally with the Menace skill too from the Summer Dimitri manual that's up for grabs. I'm not so sure if it Suits Her storytelling-wise but tbh it's funny. GO GIRL START KILLING‼️‼️‼️)

As for Anna! I actually haven't touched Anna's build in years, she's not a unit I ever use outside of the once a month free orb and sometimes for story... last I left her was with Life or Death 3, Vantage, and a Spur skill. I wanted to keep in line with this initial build though... bc I feel like it suits her.

Outside of this one time (very early on, before I really put a lot of thought into things) I Never use Life or Death (I'm too cautious HAHAH) so I was comfortable giving her a Life or Death 4 I had laying around. BEYOND THAT. IT WAS. SUCH A NIGHTMARE. To figure out What the rest of her kit should be. A Lot of trial and error, testing, troubleshooting, everything. Because the BIGGEST THING is I wanted to keep Nóatún on her. She gets INSANE movement from it, and I felt like if I could Just Get This Right, I could pull off something as gimmicky as my Hit and Run Canto Alfonse. You have to trade SO much power for that movement, and she's already made of glass and paper the way I'm building her (but I am SO committed to this idea bc it's EXACTLY how I conceptualize her character in my mind -- strong starter, hard hitter, high movement = speedy and lots of experience on the battle field!! And SOMETHING in her C and Seal slots to communicate teamwork and commanding.)

EVENTUALLY. WHAT I THINK WORKS. Spurn helps her Not Die As Much/As Quickly (thank you damage reduction), and I think the balance between Oath/Solo skills gets the idea across.

BUT ALSO. THIS. THE MOST FUCKED UP THING I DESPERATELY WANTED TO SHOW OFF IT'S SO FUCKING GOOD!!!!!!!!!

LOOK at this. LOOK at how STUPID this is. How by giving Alfonse Odd Tempest HE IS. SO POWERFUL. HE MAKES A KILLER OPENING (EXACTLY AS HE ALWAYS SAYS HE WILL‼️‼️‼️). Reposition into Canto into look at him fucking go. He's fucking gone. Halfway across the battlefield. AND ANNA HAS FANTASTIC SYNERGY WITH THIS!!!!! Being able to get That One Extra Space thanks to Nóatún!!!!!!!! (Unfortunately this was a terrible matchup and she died instantly, but this is more for demonstration purposes 🫡)

I am a little sad that Sharena gets left on the back lines when this works out but. I think she's still doing her part. Esp since I'm testing out Ardent Sacrifice on her, where I typically exclusively only use Reposition and always have a healer. On top of eating hits, she also covers for her allies as well! Making sure they're okay :)

Finally! Takumi! I. Have no idea how he fits in here tbh I don't even know how Pathfinder works. But I love him so much so dearly and he's here because he's a highly respected veteran member of the Order of Heroes. Also everyone say thank you Alcryst for fucking finally giving him a usable weapon and decent skills (I have gone through SO MANY ideations of base Takumi builds and they have NEVER been on the level of stronger units he was ALWAYS WOEFULLY OUTCLASSED. Which is DEVASTATING bc I really like using base forms sometimes!!!!). I'm SO happy he's finally on par w stronger units now!!!! OH. AND. THE MAJOR THING ABOUT HIM ACTUALLY. Is once he gets the ball rolling he is procing Deadeye every fucking turn. Just like in Fates... 🥺🥺🥺 (killing and maiming and violence complete with a cheeky attitude and bravado!)