#but also the main character. one of the mains idk how to even articulate that. main narrator i think.

[magentagalaxies]

going to a comedy open mic tomorrow mostly to watch my friends (it's at a cool venue that my improv troupe performs at once a month and a few improv troupe friends are doing standup there) but when these friends were asking if i'd be interested in coming they were like "btw there's usually a ton of open spots on show days if YOU want to do something... and they're not strict about it only being standup either, people have done character pieces and sketches etc like they embrace the weirdness... and they're not strict about time limits you could probably do anything between three and eight minutes... sometimes if there's not enough people signed up they'll even let you go twice..." and i'm like god damn it i thought i was gonna take a break from aubrey but this setup is like tailor made for an aubrey appearance lmao

[ichorblossoms]

having ttw Thoughts while reading house of leaves but it's nothing that's lead to a breakthrough yet so i'm just like soaking in the vibes

[ectoplasmer]

sorry it’s early and i’m brushing my teeth while the sun is rising since I passed out last night before I got the chance to, and we’re getting genuine sunlight for the first time in weeks, and I’m busy contemplating just how ridiculous this series is

[theghostofashton]

.

[dropespeon]

something that fascinates me is the different sorts of aus different fandoms are drawn to. like i see a lot of canon divergent aus for isat, but then with other things like orv it's mostly different settings (classic fantasy aus and such). and then there's whatever the bnha fandom has going on where they just make the protagonist a completely new character

[impandgnomes]

As much as I grimace at the thought of considering what this says about me (even though my earliest posts on this account alluded to it) you are probably into something

The world would be a better place if we all understood Butters. Look at me, I’m intensely anxious and depressed but have been doing so much better since my Butters understanding posts got praised

[cripplecharacters]

oh yeah another question abt intellectual disability: what do people with moderate id speak like? i assume they wouldnt be perfectly articulate but i know making them talk like cavemen would be bad too. i do want it to be clear that they have language difficulties, but im not sure how to do that realistically. so what kinds of grammar errors are actually common? would it make sense to have them mix up words with similar pronunciation, or have difficulty discerning the differences in implications between words with similar meanings (like "pretty" vs "attractive")? do people with id ever 'imagine context' the way people(well, me) do when half-asleep where the brain mishears a statement as something completely unrelated? would spatial and situational awareness be impaired? also this is kind of a different question but if you can give advice on what to do with game mechanics for an id character in an rpg, that would be nice! i already have the stats figured out for every character and theres no stat that i think would be strongly affected by id but in terms of depicted fighting style and other mechanics maybe thered be some stuff informed by it (i cant do anything too complex though, im using rpg maker vx ace). idk! im spitballing here. main thing i need to know is how to write dialogue for a character with id ^_^

Hi! We have a post somewhat about this that you might find useful, I'll try to go over the other questions below!

Keep in mind my ID is mild (and on the milder side of that) so my answer will be all second-hand knowledge from talking to people with moderate ID in my SPED years.

A lot of it will depend on what condition causes they have. People with Williams syndrome have very “normal” verbal skills majority of the time and you can't really tell in my experience. On the other hand if they're autistic you can potentially guess from the tone of the voice e.g. they speak in a very loud and monotone way. People with Down syndrome are very likely to have a speech disorder, someone with cerebral palsy might slur their words, etc.

A lot of people with ID might be less talkative than your average person (there's definitely exceptions). So your character could use shorter sentences, simple sentences (in the grammar sense), prefer to use other forms of communication for things that don't require speech (e.g., nodding instead of saying “Yes, I agree”, or doing a thumbs up, etc.), or have to be prompted to actually answer/take part in the conversation.

I personally don't recall ever hearing the “mixing words with similar pronunciation” in someone's actual speech, maybe unless they learned the language from reading rather than hearing it? If that's the case, then ID could affect their speech more than if they didn't have it, otherwise I'd assume that the character might have brain damage or is maybe hard of hearing and simply mixes them up because they can't recognize/hear the difference between them.

Mixing words based on specific meaning makes much more sense in my opinion (probably because I do that myself lol). Synonyms or words that might make sense in one context but not the other are the worst. Your example here is great! When someone has ID they might take away the wrong meaning out of a word and use it incorrectly because of that. E.g., their parents used to take them camping to a forest with lots of bugs, they don't like bugs, they can later call something “foresty” to mean “with lots of bugs” even if it doesn't have much to do with an actual forest. This might make more sense for a character with more severe ID (or if they're just young) but using “attractive” when you'd normally say “pretty” makes sense for someone with moderate ID in my opinion.

Something that can also affect speech of someone with ID is word repetition. Not really in the echolalia sense (though it can be that too) but just using stock phrases that get repetitive over time. I try to edit it out from my posts but you can still kinda see it. For some people it will be ending most sentences with the same word, for someone else it will be starting two paragraphs with the same three words without realizing even though they're right next to each other or overusing “maybe” and “if” to start sentences.

As for the “imagining context” while mishearing something, I'm not sure if I know what you mean by it so I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I don't do it lol

Situational awareness is definitely impacted for all people with ID but to different degrees. I don't know if it's part of the diagnostic criteria but it might as well be. When the person's ID is mild it might look like someone who's just kinda unaware of what goes around them, maybe don't recognize that they're doing something that could end up badly. The more severe the intellectual disability the more obvious it is, the person might elope (wander off) and not be able to find their way back, not be able to use cooking utensils safely because they don't recognize the risks in real time (not really in the “not realizing that the knife is sharp” way if they have moderate ID, more like “not realizing that you need to be careful when putting things on hot oil or you can get burned”), assuming that people are automatically safe to be around, things like that.

Spatial awareness doesn't affect everyone, but one of the biggest comorbidities of ID is dyspraxia, which does affect it a lot. There are people with mild ID with severe dyspraxia, and severely ID people with no dyspraxia. It varies.

Unfortunately I have never played any RPGS and I'm not really familiar with the mechanics. Here's an old ask about intellectually disabled characters engaged in combat, hopefully it's useful?

If you want some real-life resources for hearing how intellectually disabled people talk, I really recommend this playlist. It's a bunch of interviews with people with Down syndrome and you can see that they're all very different from each other despite having the same disability.

I hope this helps! mod Sasza

[arcane-vagabond]

i think people are also upset by aus because this is probably their first (or one of their first) fandoms. they probably don't realize how loved and important aus are to fandom culture. it's the same reason writers are being commodified and seen as content creators. they're new to the fandom space (and were probably often the people who made fun of people for reading fanfics when they were younger) and instead of learning the culture and rules of the space they want it to conform to what they think it should be.

lots of new people have been getting extremely upset by tropes (like dark/dead dove) or anything that strongly deviates from canon because imo they're in their y/n/main character phase (like the kinda cringy type of y/n that was popular in the early-mid 2010s who's ✨not like other girls✨) who obvi is this badass aviator who takes no shit and totally hates (insert dagger here) but gasp they secretly have feelings for them or this sweet girl next door that (insert dagger here) can't help but fall in love with

not to say there's anything wrong with those but when they refuse to allow any creativity it gets super boring. especially when the reader is blatantly white coded

Kara, genuinely. GENUINELY? You are one of my favorite human beings ever omg and I’m laughing because I and many other authors on here have said some of the same exact things.

Because I couldn’t have articulated this point better if I tried. AUs are such a vital part of the fandom ecosystem and experience as a whole, and the new attitudes towards fandom have really caused us to lose sight of that.

I cannot tell you how many time I’ve had this conversation and with how many authors on here that think the same thing. Those of us who’ve been in fandom for years (decades, even) are fighting tooth and nail to keep the culture alive because people who are new to fandom never bothered to learn the culture or etiquette associated with any of it. It’s horrible.

It’s like a Mary Sue fiasco all up in every fandom lmaooooooo

And there are so many things that people don’t even realize are AU coded. Hell, if you really break it down, that’s all fanfiction is. AU is whatever you want it to be, and I’ll defend it with my dying breath because it’s so much fun to put characters into different scenarios and see what they’ll do!!

You gotta let your writers deviate from the formula. The formula is nice, but idk about anyone else, but if I eat the same thing over and over and over and over again? I get bored and tired of it.

[hyperactivewhore]

Hi! I just like binge read all of your tvd post and I adore them, I feel like you talk about the Mikaelson the way I feel about them, like I love the characters but they ARE awful and it causes this very push and pull with the way I view them and I'm ngl the fandom doesn't help when I'm trying to acknowledge the pit falls of the characters. that and I can't articulate the way I view characters well and I just really appreciate how multi dimensionally you view them because it really refreshing to see some one put it into words in a way I can't.

I don't know if this is the kind of thing you do or anything but I was wondering if I could ask you your opinion on Kai Parker? I feel like I view him the way I do Klaus and kol in sense. Like obviously he's a bad person but I feel like the level of fucked up he is and why hes that level of fucked up makes him a really interesting and enjoyable character for me, and it's kinda hard for me to say this because I Adore Bonnie Bennett. I personally don't believe liking one character cancels out the liking another but seeing how the fandom acts about it especially how many people will stand by Kia entirely and make Bonnie out to be this monster (because they're racist weirdos point blank.) makes it harder for me to feel comfortable voicing my intrestest in him as a character. Now I do think a lot of factors played into Kai becoming who he is and I can understand why people would empathize with him but I don't think it justifys how weird they are to Bonnie, yk? Idk this wasn't about Bonnie I got carried away but yeah I'd love your option about Kia Parker if you have one. I also understand entirely if you don't like him obviously everyone's entitled to there opinion and he did kill his siblings and stuff, but I'd love to hear your opinion on him regardless if your interested,that is. have a good day/night :)

Hello, love! I'm really glad you do, and I definitely agree. This fandom is very, very strict in which characters you can like and which ones you cannot. It's exhausting, to be honest.

I definitely like Kai, he was the only thing that kept my attention glued to the screen after the Originals left and he made the plot more entertaining. He was funny, downright evil and enjoyable to watch, but he was, at least for me, a very obvious mix between all the main villains/antagonists (Klaus, Damon, Kol, Katherine), and the writers clearly intended for their audience to see him as irredeemable, and this is of course tied to the fact there were no available white women to beacon him into "becoming a better person". Bonnie was around, but for obvious reasons she could never be that woman, though the writers certainly played around bonkai, having Kai have a clear interest in her even after she wasn't the key to make him escape his prison world.

I definitely think Kai had a rough childhood and did not deserve to be isolated, though that obviously doesn't excuse what he did to his siblings, but that's what makes him a good character in my eyes. He was a good antagonist but an awful evil person, the circumstances surrounding why he became that person are tragic and sad, and that's okay, because that's in my opinion exactly what a character like Kai should be. And no, that doesn't excuse what he did to his family either, before anyone thinks that's what I was implying.

Though I do not understand why Kai gets so much hate over the whole "killing children" as if the Mikaelson or the Salvatore had gone through centuries of their lives without harming a single child (Klaus ordered to have his unborn daughter killed, for god's sake), and it's really funny how bonkai is portrayed as this top awful abusive couple when every single ship in tvd is. I definitely get the appeal of Bonnie and Kai, the only thing that prevents me from shipping them is the fact she nearly killed herself because of him, there are a few lines I won't cross when it comes to shipping, sa/rape and suicide are on that list, but people need to stop acting like they're worse than the other more popular couples.

To summarize it, I like Kai a lot, I understand why some other people don't (I do, really!), but nothing justifies what he put his family and Bonnie through.

Thanks for the ask, darling. You have a good day/night too!

[devoted-assassin]

Ok ok, so something that gets me so emotional is whenever Shiho, Honami, Saki talk about how Ichika is regaining more and more of her personality from when they were younger.

For one, they speak so fondly of her in this scene that it makes my heart melt, and two, just thinking about how these are all kids who dearly love the person that their friend has become, but also recall Ichika when she was much more outgoing and energetic, so them seeing more and more traces of her previous self must be so reassuring.

There’s nothing wrong with Ichika growing up to be more cautious and reserved, but the others seeing her impulsive side again is something that they probably thought that they would never get back (and there’s a chance that Shiho and Honami even blamed themselves for that) and just ugh—

I can’t articulate it, but it makes me feel so warm. This goes back to as early as the main story, where Ichika pretty much drags Honami to the Sekai to talk sense into her. Like, Saki and Shiho mention that she took more initiative when she was younger, and you can tell that it’s a soft spot for her, but it kick-started a lot of character growth (or character regrowth??)

She’s just grown more and more into a person that she can be proud of, and that l/n remembers so fondly, and idk that makes me so happy.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I find it so interesting that with in the twist universe, the boys write things out in English and not Japanese. For instance, the Valentines Day cards having been written in English as well as the contract in the Octavinelle commercial. It feels very deliberate. As if to indicate that they are foreign and don't necessarily speak the same language, but the writers also want us to still understand what's being written so they write it in English. Idk I just think it's a neat way of depicting this without having to go full Tolkien.

Mmm, that's definitely an interesting topic 🤔 Most fantasy media doesn't go out of its way to invent entirely new languages for its use (I only know of Devil is a Part Timer! doing it). It's actually difficult to come up with an entirely new language; you don't just come up with substitutions for words, but also new meaningful symbols, pronunciations, grammar and syntax which governs how the and sounds, words can be arranged, and social rules for the language's use. It's just easier to use a preexisting language and then to come up with some excuse for why we can understand them (typically because of magic doing the translating for us, or plain old suspension of disbelief). In the case of TWST, I think there's a number of reasons why they decided to utilize English for its writing system:

Firstly! The main setting for the game, Night Raven College, is modelled after a British boarding school and England's education system in general. With such English roots, it only "makes sense" for the characters to also write in English. If we consider that Yana herself is involved with TWST, "English" is also an aesthetic that is very suited to her skillset, especially considering her other very popular work, Black Butler. (She really was a perfect pick for the job, huh?) Secondly! If TWST's intention always was to go international someday (which it has), English is a safe bet to go since it's considered a "global" or "universal" language. Not everyone knows it of course, but it's the closest thing we have to a "common" tongue, as the most people in the world speak it! Thirdly (and this is the big one)! In Japan, TWST's country of origin, English is seen as (for lack of a better term) "aesthetic" and even as a status symbol. One 2020 poll found that less than 30% of the Japanese population speak English at any level, and 2-8% speak English fluently. In other words, most Japanese people would not understand the level of English being used in TWST, from Azul's contracts to the wording on the Great Seven statues and more. (You can sort of get a grasp for how few Japanese people are fluent in English from the Valentine's Day Gifts, which are all written in English; it's the one time of year when Japanese fans behave like EN fans and ask around for translations of the cards rather than the other way around for generalized TWST content.) Now, continuing off the point I made about English being seen as a status symbol... It's typically the highly educated and/or the privileged of Japan that learn English to a fluent degree. Considering that NRC is seen as an elite institution, the fact that its students can fully articulate (ie use full sentences in complex ways) in English only adds to that feeling of "being elite" (at least for the Japanese audience). English also has the effect of making the world of TWST come across as more "foreign" and helps to simulate the "other-worldliness" of the TWST characters in general (again, because of how rare fluent English is in Japan). The effect is somewhat lost in TWST EN, as most things are in English and the material is presented to predominantly English-speaking audiences in the USA and Canada, although I guess you could make the argument that the spoken dialogue staying in Japanese makes up for that lost feeling of the writing seeming foreign.

So!! There's actually many different reasons (or perhaps a combination of all of these, or unintended side-effects of one of them) as to why the general writing system in TWST is English rather than Japanese.

[murdockmeta]

hi, im new here (not to dd just to the tumblr sphere— why does everyone seem to hate zdarsky/checchetto? i really enjoyed the first part of zdarkys run and i adore checchetto’s art + design, so idk what i missed that makes everyone who comicsposts dislike it so much??

hm. this isn't the easiest question to answer. there's a LOT of different reasons as to why people disliked that run.

tbh I'll admit the first 20 or so issues of v6 are kind of okay. not impossible to read. it goes downhill fast after that, tho. very very downhill.

here's this post by @/xycuro-illuminati that does a good job of explaining why so many people disliked the run. here's my post on the ableism in zdarsky's writing. trust me you aren't the first person who's asked this question before

i'll give you a more general answer of my own opinion, tho

zdarsky's writing misses what most consider to be crucial points of Matt and Elektra's characters. with this, he entirely obliterates their characterization and that really pissed a lot of comics fans off.

i would consider volume 6 to be the beginning of the MCU-ification of dd. it is clear that at that point, some higher-ups were pushing for daredevil comics to become more like the show. the show was a MASSIVE hit and they wanted to cash in on that. so, they had the writers start shifting the comics and the characterization around to fit the show better.

this is where the problem lies. it is insulting, honestly, to ignore the past 50 plus years of writing for matt's character to shift it into something that will be more palatable to live actions fans just so marvel can get a good payday.

the most glaringly noticeable part of this is - the catholicism. the live action show makes a big deal out of matt being catholic when this was never really the case in the comics. while matt being religious and catholic are present in matt's background in the comics, it's not even close to being a big part of the character.

one of the main things that makes matt so compelling as a character is his morality, his integrity. he upholds his moral code relentlessly because he believes it is the right thing to do. he believes everyone deserves a second chance no matter what. in zdarsky's run and in the show, matt's reason for upholding his moral code is tied to his religious beliefs.

here's a good post on the origins of catholicism being related to matt's character and how it differs from the show and why it is such an injustice to tie matt's morality to his religion.

it's really really hard to articulate every single thing that's wrong with zdarsky's run while also giving you a thorough explanation.

i could tell you about how zdarsky's original plot was focused around matt's guilt when he accidentally kills someone but... matt's killed people before. he killed someone in his very first issue. ever. he was chasing after the man who was responsible for his father's murder and scared him so badly the man had a heart attack and died.

all of zdarsky's plots and subplots are all things that have been done over and over, he just writes it worse.

i could tell you about how shitty checchetto's art is. he can't draw women. or fat people (foggy fans deserve reparations). toward the end of the run he gets ESPECIALLY sloppy. he whitewashed kirsten and sam.

i could tell you about how zdarsky wrecked elektra's character. he completely ignored her origins and the character development she's had over the course of decades of writing just to slap some random retconned backstory onto her.

theres so. many. things.

i got into the comics through the show. when I started reading the comics I honestly perceived comics matt and show matt as two entirely different characters because they just felt so incredibly separate from one another. it is not that there are zero similarities, but their reasons for WHY they are the way that they are diverge wildly from each other

i dont know how else to put it except to say this. when I read zdarsky's run, I do not feel like I'm reading about Matt Murdock. it doesn't feel like matt, it doesn't feel like daredevil. it feels like an entirely new character that I do not know.

to fully explain to you why i feel that way would take a damn book. i realize that my answer isn't at all comprehensive and some parts are probably confusing but it is impossible to pick a start and end point. that's just not matt. that's it.

[bvckbiter]

a couple of people were wondering about the pjotwt fiasco i referenced in my filipino!percy post so for those curious im gonna provide the best breakdown i can of that entire convoluted mess

ever since the live action casting, show fans have been saying repetitively that blonde haired blue eyed percy “just makes so much more sense” because blonde hair is like the sand and blue eyes is like the sea

I see a millionth iteration of that tweet and quote-retweet it making fun of how this fandom can’t come up with any actual hot takes of substance

op gets in my mentions all angry asking why the “discourse” makes me so triggered. I reply basically saying “im not triggered? and what discourse, we’re talking about the hair color of a fictional character”

op suddenly moves goalposts and talks about how leah and aryan faced racist backlash for their casting even though we were originally talking about percy's casting. I point that out and how theyre not even remotely similar cases, but she just goes “well it’s your fault you thought we were only talking about walker, and people like you who are disagreeing with my tweet are shitting on walker’s appearance which is harmful! So i will call you out! 🤓👆🏻”

I then proceed to be very baffled about how walker is getting harmed from any of this at all and try to end the convo since i realize that she’s not even arguing with anything I’m actually saying. But op continues being angry in my mentions going “how can you say that telling a 15 yo actor is a horrible casting and that he cant embody percy is not harmful!” and im like “huh???? Why did this come up i never said this you’ve lost the plot” and she says “i never said you said that YOU’VE lost the plot im sorry you’re stupid” ⁉️⁉️⁉️

the thread more or less ends there but op apparently firestormed a lot of people she caught disagreeing in her mentions so i wasnt the only battle she was fighting lol. Other people are talking about how while they enjoy walker’s performance, theyve only ever seen him as a character of color so… obviously blonde blue eyed percy really isnt the first thing they envision. Somewhere along the line, someone reposts THAT iconic fanart of latino!percy (from… well… user latinopercy) with the caption #MYpercyjackson

People jump on it in the comments and qrts saying “JUMPSCARE” who is that?!” “Idk who that man is” “this is your percy??? Be so for real…” One comment even said that he was ugly. Another comment said that he didn’t embody percy’s vibes because he was “too angry.”

I qrt talking about how scummy it is that people are attacking a fan depiction of latino!percy THAT WAS MADE WAY BEFORE THE SHOW WAS EVER ANNOUNCED just so they can make it known that theyre defending walker’s casting. I also point out that the fanart is a repost, so it’s really unfair for the artist that their art is being bandied around like that then receiving all that vitriol

Another motherfucker comes into my mentions saying “i need you to realize that a real life child is worth defending more than a headcanon.” I reply asking to clarify how walker is supposed to be getting harmed by any of this and why defending him should entail shitting on people who prefer dark-haired percy hcs. I also point out that if the actor is a real life person, so are the people who hold those hcs as well as the artist whose fanart was getting dragged into this.

Mf says that people are attacking walker over a drawing/hc, which aren’t real. I try to articulate that the imagined harm walker is facing is not in any way a tangible, material threat. He’s the most popular among the main trio and his acting has never been fully discredited just because of his hair color (unlike leah and aryan who people said only got casted for DEI and woke agendas, yk how the grifters go). “People hoping he’d dye his hair and wear contacts is not tantamount to harm and hate,” I said, and neither is having dark-haired percy and/or percy of color hcs.

I thought I explained it well but mf just repeats like a broken record that thinking like that is thinking that fake headcanons are more important than real life kids. No matter what I say in response. SEVERAL TIMES, AD NAUSEUM. “Headcanons aren’t real, the kids are.”

The final statement that really pissed me off was them saying this

That’s where the brouhaha ends lol. Since then I’ve also seen tweets making fun of people who genuinely prefer/want a percy of color over a blonde percy because they say and I quote, “percy has been white ever since the books.” Like, YES WE KNOW 😭 But there is a deeply held lore for percy’s ethnic ambiguity in the fandom that was there long before the show was ever in development.

I have no problem with people who prefer the show or blonde Percy or walker or whatever. But to for some reason crusade FOR it on the pretense of protecting the actor from some imagined harm is just fucking ridiculous to me. Just to backtrack, this all came about simply because I made fun of how repetitive the “blonde percy supremacy” take was. And that was construed as shitting on walker. That guy is not seeing any of our tweets if his parents and agents know half a thing about media training??? No one cares! It’s a fucking hair color! Besides, as much as they want to pretend otherwise, the books and the show are invariably separate canons. Not that they can handle an analysis more complex than “yay perca/beth crumbs in the show so show good” lmao

Needless to say, show stans piss me off lol and this is one of the reasons why. A lot of them are show stans primarily because theyre so (parasocially) attached to the actors. It doesnt just show in the crusading, it also shows in how they keep lock and step with every single movement of the actors’ activities on social media. But that’s another discussion entirely deserving of its own post lol.

[monstersinthecosmos]

As a fellow Marius lover, I always find it kind of disheartening how most of the content/fandom talk about him (meta, fic, fanart, etc.) revolves around m/m ships (Marius/Armand in particular but I’d even go as far to include Marius/Daniel here) when, in my opinion, Marius is like the one male character in the VC universe whose relationships with women are far more interesting than his relationships with other men (the only other character might be Lestat but even then it’s pretty 50/50). They’re so monumental and so full of complexities and pain and so much love and they define him and inform his character in ways that I think, his relationships with men simply do not. Interesting/hot under the right circumstances? Sure but like ARE YOU GUYS SEEING THIS MAN??? AND HOW HE RELATES TO WOMEN??? It’s one of the best things Anne ever wrote and I can never get enough of it and it makes me sad how little content there is of it and I feel I can never say this out loud because I would never want to make people feel bad about what they ship (truly not my intention here) but ugh SO MUCH potential there for life changing discourse and meta about Marius and the women he’s loved and lost and have shaped who he is and there’s like… nothing.

Tl;dr the reason I’m sending this ask is because I’m a firm believer that you must be the change you want to see in this world and because YOU get it! And every time you post or write about Marius/Pandora (or Marius/Akasha! Or talk about Marius/Bianca) an angel gets its (black) wings. You are seen, you are loved and appreciated tysm <3

OKAY FIRST OF ALL THIS WAS SUCH A DELIGHT TO GET IN MY INBOX, SECOND IM GOING TO BE COMPLETELY HONEST AND ADMIT I FEEL TOO INCOHERENT TO TACKLE THIS TOPIC HAHA. I don’t feel articulate enough to do it justice. And I don’t say that to be obnoxious and self deprecating but like in all honesty idk how to synthesize it neatly but I think you’re sharing some GREAT IDEAS. 

I have to say this in bullet points because I don’t feel equipped to string this into a cohesive post:

Marius was based on Anne’s husband, and Marius/Pandora was based on their marriage!!!!! And I think it explains a lot about why their relationship feels so fuckin POTENT to me, like it’s so genuine!!!!!!! And like knowing that I think it makes sense why she wrote him so HOT lol. Like she’s just writing thirsty stuff about her husband right? LOL

Also like insofar as there’s a lot of genderfluidity in VC there’s also something vaguely misogynist about it at times. And Anne Rice was a mega feminist and her work had so much womens lib in it!!!!! So I don’t think it’s intended as misogyny at all vs. Anne having conversations about gender and maybe her own relationship to gender. I think enough characters have said vaguely misogynist stuff that it makes me think it’s an Anne Problem vs being Watsonian. (This is also a historical/time period issue and we can discuss another time if and when vampires are supposed to break out of that when they transcend humanity and social constructs even when they’re still saying weird sexist shit at their big ages.) But I say that to say all VC characters are a tad sexist, even if perhaps she was writing with the intention of her own male power fantasy/male superiority/penis envy. AND THAT MAKES MARIUS VERY INTERESTING. 

Cause like really the three main ladies in his life (Akasha, Pandora, Bianca) DO define him so much! And we don’t see him pine for Armand the way he did for any of them! Why!!!

Like there’s that aspect of sexism where women can be infantilized by men who don’t think they’re being unkind and it makes me wonder, especially when the author is a boomer, like where is that line between condescension and respect? I don’t have an answer here, this is too big-brained for me LOL but like he is SO devoted to the women in his life and I just wonder like if he sees them as creatures unlike himself, you know? 

This is headcanon territory but I bet he’s such a fucking sub to Pandora lol and it just thrills me that he spent 2000 years begging Akasha for affection and she ignored him the whole damn time wow. And he continued to simp!

AND ALSO LIKE, I think people DO NOT DISCUSS THIS OFTEN ENOUGH, but did we forget that he chose Armand because he needed a Bianca rebound? He was absolutely TORTURED by his love for Bianca and picked Armand because he didn’t want to kill her oh my god. Oh my god!!! HE KEPT HER LETTER IN HIS POCKET OVER HIS HEART OKAY??? HE DIDN’T WANT TO DRAG HER INTO HIS COLD AND FATAL DOMAIN????? Fuck lol

It’s so fucked up that he didn’t go after Armand but spent like actual fucking millennia trying to find Pandora. HE KNEW EXACTLY WHERE ARMAND WAS AND LEFT HIM THERE LOL BUT PANDORA HAUNTED HIM EVERY NIGHT OF HIS LIFE FOR CENTURIES.

After everything he wound up spending like 200 years with Bianca or something and ?????? CORRECT because Bianca was the fledgling he actually wanted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But it’s odd, I know I’ve said this 337589235 times, but Marius like. Has an idea of the person he wants to be and he tries SO HARD to live by logic & reason and he just can’t reconcile with the fact that he has EMOTIONS. And so like part of the person he wants to be like, open/empathetic/wise and he begs his lovers/students/fledglings to CHALLENGE HIM when he’s not actually healed enough to be challenged? And to me there’s something kinda like, extra spicy about it when you’re in Rice World and you’re a lil sexist; how much that burns EXTRA when it’s Pandora or Bianca sticking up to you or AKASHA FUCKIN IGNORING YOU. 

Just really incredible that this person who is like the epitome of a patriarch has such fucked up relationships with all the women in his life. And like he underestimates these women, like the way he tries to manipulate Bianca and she leaves him! PANDORA AND AKASHA ARE UNAVAILABLE TO HIM AND BIANCA FUCKIN LEAVES.

akasSHA JUST IGNROING HIM!! JUST STRAIGHT UP FUCKIN IGNORING HIM FOR 2,000 YEARS!!!! HE'S OBSESSED WITH HER!

Anyway Enkil is ignoring him too but he doesn’t give a shit about that guy tbh lol 

Also the amount of space he gives Eudoxia and Zenobia in his book like there’s more here too but tbh it’s midnight and I can’t start unpacking. I just think like, in 2000 years it’s interesting how Eudoxia wound up having such a lasting impact on his life. 

I did just peek at the Eudoxia part and I’m dying, he goes “Her face was small, oval, and as close to perfection as anything I've ever beheld, even though she bore no resemblance to Pandora who was for me perfection itself.” CERTIFIED WIFE GUY.

What kinda mommy issues are we dealing with here? HIS MOTHER WAS A SLAVE THAT DIED IN CHILDBIRTH AND HE INHERITED HER GENES AND LOOKED LIKE HER AND DIDN’T LOOK LIKE HIS FATHER & BROTHERS? AND HE’S SORT OF AN OUTCAST AS A HUMAN LIKE ? THE STIGMA HERE? AND THEN HE SPENDS 2000 YEARS WORSHIPPING HIS NEW MOTHER??? PERHAPS YOU COULD SAY ENSLAVED TO HER? IDK MAN. 

IS THIS ALSO WHY HE WAS SO OBSESSED WITH LOSING PANDORA?

The irony too, and something I think a lot of people miss, is that he DIDN’T WANT TO MARRY PANDORA LOL. He wanted to be betrothed to a child so that he could FUCK OFF and NOT get married because she wasn’t old enough to get married! He fucked off! He went exploring! He said this is not for me! 

AND TO GO OUT INTO THE WORLD AND BE MURDERED BY HIS MOTHERS PEOPLE???? IDK. 

I’m not sure how these last two points tie into anything but I just wanted to mention his complicated relationship with Pandora and his own heritage lol. And then Akasha like DELIVERS Pandora to him because she’s like “wow this guy needs somebody lol and I am not emotionally available” — Akasha who was famously a violent genocidal radfem and who would not approve of his relationship with Armand but explicitly allowed him to have Pandora and Bianca. IDK WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN! 

Did Akasha approve of these women because she knew Marius was completely pussywhipped and would worship them and she wanted to see someone mommydom the fuck out of him and she knew that Armand would never be that person? 🫢

And again I want to say like, taking the author into consideration!! Anne Rice had a HORRIFIC relationship with her mom so you see these themes pop up occasionally in her work. DESPITE ALL OF THAT SHE IS STILL A FEMINIST AND WRITES ABOUT MATRILINEAR FAMILIES like The Great Family or the Mayfairs. But thinking about Mothers in Anne Rice Works makes me think a lot about this like, the damage they can do and the voids they can leave even when you’re a feminist and love women! You see a TON of this with Gabrielle and I always think that Lestat & Marius are such similar characters that you can do a lot of extrapolating or backwards engineering to ask questions about them and how they work, since we get SO MUCH Lestat POV in this series to work with and how we can zoom out sometimes and ask like, what is common across her entire body of work and what is more specifically common between Lestat & Marius and WHAT EVEN MORE INTERESTINGLY is a result that they were both based on her husband in their inceptions. 

Like how much of this has to do with Marius’s actual feelings towards men vs women on purpose, or how much was subconscious author bias, how much was simply that Anne Rice based him on her husband and she was THIRSTY, idk. It’s always hard to say in VC because Anne was such an intuitive and self-indulgent author and the stories are so weird!!! So your mileage may vary!

But I agree with you that these are FASCINATING relationships!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I like Marius/Armand too (I recently made a post about how I didn’t “””””ship”””” them but then I spent 2 months working on a M/A fic every day and now I think I’ve corrupted and converted myself LMAO) but yeah like. There’s such a lack of substance between them in the end. He treats Armand like he’s temporary, fucks up and moves on, and it’s such a departure from how DEVOTED he was with all his other partners. 

Wow I didn’t think I had a lot to say, sorry about that. !!! EVERY TIME I BROUGHT A POINT UP I THOUGHT OF 5 MORE POINTS GOSH I COULD TALK ABOUT MARIUS ALL DAY.

[roykleinberg]

a couple unpopular tron opinions!! lmao

Tron '82 > Legacy, but idk if that's an unpopular thought loll

What that makes Legacy's story go from good to great is all of it's various companion pieces— The Flynn Lives ARG, The Next Day, Betrayal, Evolution, Uprising, etc etc. The best thing about the Tron franchise is how it uses so many different mediums (and technology that viewers interact with in different ways!).

The Flynn Lives ARG, to me, is still the most ingenious thing that has happened to this franchise. Is it a little sad that the deeper aspects of Alan and Sam (and sort of Lora and Roy)'s characters get sidelined to something that average movie-goer isn't going to seek out? Yes, extremely. But the ARG is such a treat for fans that I'm genuinely surprised that Tronblr of the 2020s doesn't pay any attention to it. There's so much character and world building, and so many little, little easter eggs— I think the ARG deserves so much more attention!!!!

Evolution does more for the main program characters of Legacy (Clu2, Quorra) character development than Uprising does 😭The existence of Abraxas makes Clu more sinister because we see him purposefully going behind Flynn's back, and as dark as it was, Quorra's personal losses almost felt more heavy in Evo than Uprising since Anon and Quorra work together through the game. But I'm also very biased because I liked Evo's story so much lmao

—— from @quorras :)

tron confessional with moss

alright let's break this down lol

1. 82 v Legacy

admittedly I have gone back and forth on this one a lot over the years. because I generally (obviously) love 82 to bits and it is my favorite part of the whole franchise. but at times I have questioned if Legacy is narratively the Better Movie(tm). and at the end of the day I think it's somewhat hard to compare because they're telling pretty different stories, once you get past the surface level sucked into cyberspace plot. 82 has a warmer fuzzier view of the potential of technology in the right hands compared to Legacy, which in my interpretation leans more into the idea that family -- human love and connection -- supersedes the more "alien" program way of life. 82 wants you to like the programs and see them as people just like us, whereas Legacy has more of a Basics kinda suck and only the more human ISOs are worth anything approach lol. and I think there's validity in both those takes, and I think the times and environments in which they were created has a huge impact on how they view and approach technology. but. yeah. 82 wins for me on its more optimistic hopeful vibe alone.

2. The Tron EU (extended universe not European Union)

100% agreeeeeeeeee. I sometimes catch myself lamenting the fact that it's such a small franchise, but when you add up all the comics and games and the ARG (Flynn Lives ARG light of my life we will get to you in a moment xoxo) and the show there really is a lot! honestly throw ElecTRONica in there too, there was lore there. half the reason I have such a hard time even recommending the movies to people is because I want to be like okay but you also need to watch/read/play all of this please you don't UNDERSTAND

the way Tron has been handled by some many creators and creative teams is honestly just.... really beautiful and special to me in the most unironic sense. it sucks that the mouse has never given the franchise the trust or the resources to grow, and I hate that so many projects are soured by this air of something being ripped away from people who clearly loved it and wanted to do more. but that love is so undeniable in all these bits and pieces of the franchise. there will always be people who love Tron as much as we the fandom do, and I would rather have a hundred of these one-off passion projects like Uprising or Identity than a bunch of soulless blockbuster movies

3. ARG my beloved <3

42 Entertainment I am kissing you on the mouth

I really can't even articulate everything that the ARG is to me, and I wasn't even involved when it was ongoing. when I was just getting into Tron after Legacy got the home release, a good chunk of the ARG sites were still live, and I remember digging into all of it and being amazed and obsessed. I still have the wiki site where everything is archived bookmarked. there's so much good background in there. and Roy! ROY!!!!!!! and the big reveals in The Next Day? OUR little operation, ISOlatedThinker???? I am not and will neve be normal about it, and it's sad to think the current iteration of the fandom doesn't know about or acknowledge it as much

4. Evolution v Uprising

I feel ya. don't get me wrong, I love the Uprising cast, but I was never completely in love with how the show handled the pre-established characters. like I was saying before I didn't like how Uprising made Clu a more detached / distant villain, so having him be a more direct bastard in Evo worked better for me. and Quorra ugh :( she really loses everything over the course of the game, and I think it makes her character in Legacy so much more poignant knowing that she went through all of that but was still so hopeful. Abraxas was such a good, tragic, fucked up antagonist. and Gibson oughhhhhh. again hard to say what would have happened in a second season of Uprising (pour one out), but Evolution is so deliciously bleak in a way the show never completely got to be. Uprising is mostly dark because we know or can infer what's going to happen, because we know where canon ends up. but Evolution has more of an opportunity to show us the dark and horrible things that went on after the coup, and it's a carries a little more weight as a result. rip Anon you will always be famous

[mediocre-noodle]

recent reblog: tell about q!slime 👀 (i havent watched qsmp but i know crumbs)

HAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHA yippee!! im very bad at character analysis and articulating my words but its ok i got this

1. feelings: ohhhhhhhh my god. he literally has been my favorite character of all time for the past year or so? i cant get him out of my brain 😭 i think hes such an incredibly tragic character that deserved so much better than the shitty hand he was dealt :( i feel ill about this freaking guy.

2. romantic pairings: main romantic ship is definitely him and mariana! at first they were the definition of a toxic, loveless marriage (still pretty much are LMAO) but i think, especially after their conversation in purgatory, they were genuinely really good together. like, them joking around and being really sweet was so, like, augghhhh 😭😭😭 but like. the toxic marriage was so fucking funny to watch 😭 i laughed so hard i started crying during the trial of juanaflippa LMAOO

2.5: another romantic pairing is him and cellbit because. dude. their conversation during the dia de los muertos stream was SOOOOOOOOOOO omg. it lives in my head rent free 😭 i think they would only serve to make each other SO MUCH WORSE and i am here for it (yeah cellbit is married but like. slime had a mega crush on that man theres no denying it, and me personally i think their relationship (romantic or not) is SOOOOOO fascinating, especially during slime’s code arc)

3. non-romantic otp: slime and baghera!!!!!! they are the definition of friendship soulmates to me LMAO. baghera trying so hard to be there for him even when NO ONE ELSE WAS and the infection was getting so bad……. ough……! but also, their funny moments are EVERYTHINGGGG to me. the fish joke and the karaoke and all their silly little conversations… gah…….. AND PURGATORYYYYY!!! i cant articulate thoughts about them beyond OOOOGH🥰🥰🥰❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️😍😍😍 (platonic)

4. unpopular opinion: idk how unpopular this is but like. i wish purgatory never happened 😭 like it was SO MUCH FUN while it lasted, but the overall impact it had, especially on qslime, was DEFINITELY not worth it lmao. like, it completely shoved all of his lore and buildup out of the way in favor of the event, and then????? he wasnt ever told to log back on???????? (context xi: the admins on the qsmp handled a lot of lore for the players, and slime’s lore really started to pick up just before the purgatory event. when the event was over, multiple players were told to not log on for “lore”, but slime and one other guy (pol) were never let back onto the server 😭 like, they straight up forgot about him even though he was SUPPOSED to have made it out of purgatory) i dont really have much more to that. bolas was fun, wasnt worth my cubito never getting anymore lore tho

5. something i wish happened: i wish we got an ending… or closure……… or something………

because!!!!! like!!!!!!! his story was going SO WELL (in a pacing and interest sense, the character was SUFFERING lmao) and it was really coming together!!! the pacing and buildup were AMAZING and it really looked like it was going to reach its peak after purgatory!! but, alas. he was forgotten. and so was his lore. because we NEVER saw codeflippa again. or him. or his code infection. and im never going to be over it.

i really need to go back and rewatch the streams to brush up on my qslime brain but. yeah!! thank you for indulging me :333 (if any of this was confusing or smth lemme know and i can clear it up!!)