#but at the same time: i really am fine in the most ultimate sense of the word

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

still thinking about that one time one of my friends' mother told me that at my age she would have killed herself except for the people who would have had to find her (and that she was glad she didn't). when she was telling me about how sometimes you do or don't do things for other people, not for yourself (this was as a response to my needing sutures for self harm that one time, in fact). and I. it should bother me, I know it should. but a non-zero part of me simply goes 'it would be fine if i did xyz and then told medical professionals so that it wouldn't be normal people finding me'. I don't care. I've freaking thrown up blood and not cared and kept going (clearly, I was fine, and that's only been like once... I think).

I think studying to become a nurse, especially the mental health subject, has desensitised me to a potentially dangerous degree. hm don't like that.

[rosenotactuallyquartz]

Here is a question. As a pearlrose shipper, what do you make of Rose's objects stored in Lion? It makes me a bit sad because we don't see anything that's clearly about Pearl there. You have Greg's shirt and portraits, but no mementos of Pearl's. I mean, there is the flag, but Steven gives it to Bismuth, so I don't know if it was meant to be Pearl's.

why isn’t there anything about pearl in lion’s mane?

there actually might be. and if there isn’t, that’s alright.

i had to really look into pearl and rose’s individual characters & their history, but here are the possible situations that explain why we see nothing related to pearl in lion’s mane.

theory 1: “what am i going to do when she disappears?”

what im about to talk about would be quite in character for pearl, i think. in this scenario, rose did have some more obvious artifacts from pearl in lion’s mane.

remember this memory ?

“it’s rose. what was she thinking? she can’t have a baby! what am i going to do when she disappears? i’m going to lose her!” — pearl, a single pale rose

throughout the entirety of rose’s pregnancy, pearl knew she’d die—that’s been confirmed, at least. and this decision made pearl especially insecure about rose’s love for her. she was wary of greg at first, using the word favourite, but then we hear it’s over, isn’t it and she talks about her death while saying she chose you. but gems just love. they don’t label things like open, exclusive, polyamory, monogamy. pearl was alright with the meaningless human flings rose had, likely with this understanding that if she wanted to do the same, it’s okay, too.

(but mind you, pearl’s cleverness, tendency to be observant and focus on small details, & interests likely led her to finding out lots of not-so-great things about human society, while rose’s love for new experiences, naivety, and tendency to always see the beauty in things made her more attracted to human social life than pearl. but pearl was still fine with that, remaining quite protective, confident, & happy with her love life and personal relationships. it took longer for pearl to really warm up to humans, and then she made some friends, but this took until she got to know steven. she and rose always wanted to protect them from danger no matter what, because they loved earth and humanity but felt differently about human activities/socializing)

given that they lived comfortably together for 6000 years, this was great. but then, greg comes in, and he’s unfamiliar. he actually had something called decency unlike rose’s other human bonds, because it looks like said humans never asked rose if they could have a conversation, never asked more about the ultimate connection between gems, and quite frankly, given that rose was confused when greg explained that they (a human & a gem) were supposed to respect each other, i highly doubt these other humans even came close to respecting rose! forgive me, i have issues with these unknown humans, for some reason. they were more than some meaningless fling, so that made pearl worry about things like favourites. because really, this sort of bond was new and confusing for them. also, rose’s eyes always look quite sad, but in greg the babysitter, when she’s explaining how humans grow but she stays the same forever, her eyes seem to have more noticeable sadness. i think by this point, rose became more withdrawn. that, paired with greg giving her a sense of comfort and escapism from her pain made pearl start to really interpret this as, greg is her favourite. then, rose gets pregnant. this is when things become the most tense: it goes from favourite to choosing. pearl saw this as rose choosing greg over her. dying to have a child instead of living with pearl forever.

however, nine months feel very short for gems. and obviously, pearl wanted to spend as much time with rose as she could. rose getting cravings is probably why pearl is canonically very good at making pie (although i’m sure rose loved to eat the things pearl baked long before her pregnancy, so that’s why pearl makes food for steven, and that’s why she has generally a good & comforting feeling about baking pie). as pearl spent lots of time with rose, she couldn’t hide this pain, wondering how much she truly meant to rose. pearl is a passionate person already, and she was dealing with anticipatory grief on top of this. whether or not she tried to hide these feelings, rose knew at one point.

they couldn’t have proper closure, as rose didn’t want an in-depth conversation at all.

i mean, could you imagine what that would sound like? “how could you ever question my love for you? that was something i learned from garnet, not to question love, after i saw ruby and sapphire fuse for the first time. oh, it’s because i’m leaving you? all of you? you’ll be better off without m—oh no.”

she knew that conversation would only bring pearl more pain. so, instead of talking about it, her best attempt at giving her anything close to closure was to show her. she told pearl that she has important things from her and she “holds onto them” somewhere.

pearl wants to remember rose and hold onto everything related to their love, so she asked rose to return them to her.

but not right away. pearl wanted to watch over her every second that she could, and rose wasn’t feeling good a lot of the time. she’d retrieve them while pearl’s on a mission or something, so pearl never finds out about lion.

basically, rose did have things in lion that were related to pearl, but following that conversation she gave them back to her.

theory 2: “rose had a place that she kept hidden from all but me.”

this other theory is something i came up with when i was twelve. surprise surprise, i still don’t mind it.

“shhh! it’s a secret, even to garnet and amethyst. rose had a place that she kept hidden from all but me.” — pearl, rose’s scabbard

pearl and rose were incredibly close, and they had the secret armoury that pearl showed steven. so, why wouldn’t pearl and rose have another secret place? heck, they probably had a few.

rose & greg were together for 4 years, as greg is said to be 40 when steven is 14, but he says he was 22 when he met the gems. she was also much more familiar with earth and material objects, and she seemed to connect with greg through things like music and video tapes. they weren’t finding a bird feather and “oh my gosh this is so fascinating what is this” and keeping it, so that they could always remember their first hundred years of exploring earth (gregrose people, i am not hating on gregrose for not doing this… actually, im making fun of pearlrose more, look at these two silly sapphic nonhumans going wooooowwwooooooo when they see something on the ground).

it’s also been thousands and thousands of years since they first came to earth. every keepsake related to pearl… would be a lot of things. far too many for lion. so, maybe rose reserved those keepsakes in a separate place where she and pearl both knew of. i mean, it’s not unlikely considering pearl already had a secret place between her and rose—the secret armoury. she showed this to steven of course, but showing him their keepsake place is not something either of them would ever want. it’s personal. pearl goes there when she needs to be alone and reminisce, and it’s also probably designed with colours and features that they like. understandably she wouldn’t tell anyone about another place, bigger than lion’s mane, where they keep things.

my treasure chest theory

this can fit into both possible scenarios i’ve mentioned!

lion’s mane is still very much a mystery, even at the end of future. take the treasure chest, for example. it was locked, and steven couldn’t open it with a key that he found in lion 4: alternate ending. yet, in future we saw that the treasure chest was open. steven never acknowledged it, but given his issues opening it throughout the show, i really don’t think he had the key. i’ve made a forum thread about this, & you’d be surprised by how people think it was steven’s darn jacket. while that is something that noticeably changed, i don’t think rose would know his size at the oddly specific mid-teenage age, then store it in a box and lock it. some folks claim it’s a metaphor about pink diamond, but can the creators really do that? we see it in a scene. this means that the characters do, too. it can definitely represent/symbolize something, but it must also have some actual significance.

& i think it’s related to pearl.

the chest looks rather old, and i don’t think it would be related to greg even if it looked like something you’d buy in the 90s. this looks like a treasure chest you’d find hundreds of years ago… in an ocean, perhaps.

i think it’s a special box they kept where they stored all their memories in from when they first came to earth, first lived together, etc. maybe rose kept it in lion, and maybe pearl didn’t think she still had it. rose knew pearl had the key. she knew steven would find lion one day, and she wanted pearl to show him everything that they loved about life and earth. so, she kept it there, much like keeping the flag because she wanted steven to learn about the flag from pearl.

the box also has some flowers much like the one she put in pearl’s hair before the fake shattering, kept and pressed in a book. the original is also there, but wilted because it took longer to figure out how to protect it. she wanted to keep it because it reminded her of the beginning of their love. however, she also wanted to lock it for awhile after a few hundred years, because early life on earth was simultaneously a reminder of an experience they want to leave behind. it’s funny; the rose aspect of it, the beginning, they want to remember. the pink aspect of it, the end, they want to forget. years following this, pearl mentioned that she was ready to open it again, but rose didn’t seem to be. eventually rose was ready, but pearl never asked about the box again. she assumed rose never kept it, after this.

between change your mind and future, i think steven mentioned the box once. pearl asked him to describe it, and then she asked if he could bring it out. she had the key (hence steven couldn’t open it in the mane), she kept everything with her and after being incredibly emotional about all of this, she let steven keep the box. so now it’s open in lion’s mane so he can keep things related to connie (gifts, keepsakes, memories). pearl thinks this feels right because:

rose would love this

steven requested this

pearl is close to connie

they remind pearl of her and rose when they were younger

ending this post with these sketches of pearl by rebecca sugar. she’s wearing her 80s outfit with the leg warmers. in the first picture she sits with her cheek in her palm, blushing slightly, staring in adoration. the second picture is from waist up, her hands are in fists in front of her like she’s dancing, and her head is turned, smiling. i have a feeling she’s looking at rose in these pictures.

[dangakkisland]

Welcome everyone to my Dog-aronpa show!! Where I start with DR2 instead of DR1 because I simply do not have the list ready for that one game! And Techinical issues are all in and can't draw the line up at the moment (it will be done)

I want to show off my enormous dog knowledge for no reason at all!

Hajime Hinata is a...Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (long ass name) or at least looks like one..In fact, he is just a very mixed dog that happened to look like the Red Duck dog and has a similar personality to one which is alert and can very well get mental issues easily if left behind for too long, they only howl (on average) when they are on a hunt however dogs don't hunt nowadays and since this is a snow dog and I can't own one I cant test it out.

Chiaki Nanami is a....Clumber Spaniel

They are low energy, they have rosy features. You yourself can read more about it, I am not an expert on them but as far as I have seem very Chiaki to me

Teruteru Hanamura is a...Griffon Bruxellois

These dogs have long beards for some reason I love them for that, they don't really realize their doggy size much like other toy breeds (My children are the same) this is a bit important you know (chapter 1). They are sociable at a certain point, but they lose their temper very easily when teased

Byakuya or the Ultimate impostor is a...Saluki

The most expensive and harshest dog to train, they like soft objects and very picky..For impostor themselves, I think they should just shapeshift in this universe. I can't even begin;

Mahiru Koizumi is...English Cocker Spaniel

They are very easy to train dogs, they like birds (hunt them) when I see birds I remember of photos, they are usually very happy dogs but they do get anxious and aggressive if you aren't be present for long due to depression on being left alone, any dog breed can have that even if they are labeled as a friendly breed, like most beings on this planet they are shaped with their life. So Mahiru is a Cocker Spaniel

Peko pekoyama is a...Akita

Which felt most obvious, they are reserved and mostly guarding dogs, my family (Mom-side) owned an Akita she was very overly protective. That's mostly it I don't remember much.

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu is a...Shiba Inu ...Mix with some small breed

I wanted to make them both Japanese breeds..You know the Yakuza it made sense in my head, but I couldn't find one with a slight yellowish coat and small like really small, you will get what I mean later. They are stubborn and strong-willed I have heard they are more a cat than a dog, and I truly believe they are staring at my soul...Maybe because they are more related to wolves than other dog breeds like Pugs That's just a theory I have heard though, I choose to not believe it because of its facial structure which isn't really harsh and this coat isn't related to most wolves.

Mikan Tsumiki is a... Saint Bernard! (Also known as my dream dog)

They are medical assistants sometimes, they are gentle giants they just don't kill you because they are too ❤ but Mikan killed so that's a loss..It would be despairing to see a dog like this kill so I believe I made the right choice

Ibuki Mioda is...A siberian Husky

Sh...I know the snow dog but they howl a lot, its fine for her to be that breed they are absolutely pathetic..I mean that with so much love. She got expelled from her band because she howled the wrong tune, always, all the time, on purpose even.

Hiyoko Saionji is a...Afghan Hound

Why she isn't small- Shut up she literally has a growth spurt that's the whole point: making her bigger than Fuyuhiko!! They aren't very affectionate but they are very loyal!! they are also very stylish dogs (the hears match her ponytails, she can even tie up them later but you would have to see if it is fine for a dog like this since it could cause ear infections)

THE OVERLORD OF ICE GUNDHAM TANAKA IS....ANNN ALASKAN MAMUTE BECAUSE HE IS THE OVERLORD OF ICE I KNOW WE HAVE TWO HUSKY TYPES HERE BUT I DO NOT CARE!!! THEY ARE STRONGWILLED!! THEY ARE ALSO FRIENDLY!! (I EXPECT THAT FROM ONE DOG THAT TAKES CARE OF HAMSTERS)

they also sometimes have heterochromia but you have to breed them a certain way and since he is the ultimate breeder may as well he be breed a way he looks the closest to canon.

Nekomaru Nidai is an Boxer

They have been reported of being easily having heart issues, they are guard dogs and reported a slight aggression but its expected of guarding breeds, if trained to be at home they are very friendly like Nekomaru its supposed to be they are honest and loyal, they are very bright would to the family who adopted it and they can be actually very clingy at home, wary on the streets. The dogs have to be kept always on a line between vet and affection and introducing them to other dogs would be ideal, Nekomaru would be a very sociable Boxer so I believe his owners treated him well and were aware of these facts

Nagito Komaeda is a...Borzoi

And everyone saw this coming, these things should NOT be that tall I swear if a child can mount on it Why is it a dog and why I am so obsessed over it like any other dog, they normally don't go for the typical dog training since they get bored very easily of it, they are very active and like fields..They CAN be very stubborn but are sweethearts depending on your method of training and getting close to it, Nagito can be stubborn too like in chapter 4 and when he refuses to cooperate when the trial could be faster if he put the stuff on the table, but I love him anyway just like Borzois he is confusing they are confusing together.

Sonia nevermind is a... Corgi

Do you see why I was so worried about Fuyuhiko? She is shorter than him in this alternative universe, and I HAD to pic a corgi for her since the royal family of the United Kingdom as far as I have heard owns Tons of those and I simply had to. Unlike other dogs on this list Corgis arent shy at all!

Kazuichi Soda is a ...Jack Russell

I had to pick this one since they are very lovable but will be absolutely sad if it isn't reciprocated, in a dog festival I saw one old man that refused to play with a Jack Russell and the dog was just hiding from his owner because he got rejected by a stranger, its not a universal experience (and dog festivals have been extinct since quarantine in here) so Kazuichi soda is a Jack Russell probably shorter than Fuyuhiko too, Jack Russel markings also make me need less ways to figure out how he dyed his hair, its just his markings he can cover the black parts with a hat

Akane Owari is a...Dachshund

Pomodoro why you picked a small breed? Akane owari jumps high and is agile. I SAY WITH EXPERIENCE TO NOT JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER THEY ARE SO ACTIVE ITS INSANE, my cousin owns one and since she doesn't take care of it I have to play with it and boy this dog takes a while to get tired and it FIGHTS you when you try to leave and there was once I said ''oh time for lunch I will leave'' and he jumped so high I am 1,70-1,75 ish and the dog just bit my nose I wasn't even crouching I was actually pretty much standing and my nose hurt for the whole day, the breed refuses commands for the most time and they DO bite furniture they are indeed very hungry

That's it I actually erased some thoughts because they went on and on I have this problem :(

[cherrybomb107]

Okay guys, I actually managed to have a civil discussion with someone on Arcane twt who disagreed with me! Everybody cheer😭😂🤭

But fr tho, I admit that I did quote twt that person in bad faith. A friend of mine made a joke about how Caitlyn wouldn’t have missed(iykyk) and this person’s response rubbed me the wrong way. Think something to the effect of “violence is never okay. Shame on you for joking about this.” So, I saw his response to my friend’s tweet and decided to ask him who he thought the “true villain” of Arcane was. I had a feeling what his answer would be.

He said Silco was the main antagonist (fair enough) but then, ofc, he started talking about how, ultimately, “both sides” were at fault for all that’s happening in the show. Now I know that one’s opinions on the media they consume aren’t necessarily a 1 to 1 with their real life politics, but for the sake of the argument, I’ll ask: what’s this obsession that we, as a collective, have with making things more complicated than they should be?

A lot of times, situations really are messy and complicated. But in this instance, I don’t think that’s the case. I don’t think the situation between Piltover and Zaun is complicated at all. I see an oppressor (Piltover) being responsible for the centuries long disenfranchisement of the oppressed (Zaun). Then here comes Jinx, who has been victimized by Piltover for her entire life, becoming radicalized against them, and being violent towards them.

The idea that “violence is bad; full stop” is very dangerous. Violence against an entire group being conflated with violence on an individual level is not good. For example, let’s talk about stealing for a second. Is a poor, starving person stealing from a store that upcharges on necessities “wrong”? In my opinion, no. Is a corporation stealing wages(which is actually the most common form of theft) “wrong”? Absolutely! Now, if you wanna be technical, both examples are “in the wrong”. However, let’s be real here: one of these things is a hell of a whole lot more “wrong” than the other.

But to bring it back to Arcane, why is this idea that “the situation is so complicated, there are no good sides” so popular? There absolutely are! Violence against an oppressor is not a bad thing! I, a marginalized individual, am not anywhere close to being “just as bad” as the mfers responsible for my oppression!!! Why do so many of us feel that way? That doesn’t even make any sense! Stop feeling bad for people who don’t give nary a fuck, nor a shit, nor a good goddamn about you AT BEST! And at worst? They will GLEEFULLY partake in destroying your community!!!

I know the show is ultimately centrist asf(and therein lies the problem) but still!

Anyways, I say all that to say, it’s fine to disagree with people, cause I was able to have a nice discussion with this person, despite vehemently disagreeing with them. But like, I really wanna know WHY these people think the way they do. How could the situation between Piltover and Zaun be thought of as anything but chickens coming home to roost? If you’ve been paying even the slightest little bit of attention to the world we’re living in, and everything that’s going on rn, how could you not apply those same principles to the show?

[bogkeep]

grousing about ai art stuff

every time i open twitter (my mistake) there's a new thread on how to spot ai art or ai photos by finding all the mistakes in it, and like obviously this is useful and it's good to watch out because they kEEP SHOWING UP EVERYWHERE AHHH HELL WORLD HELL WORLD, but it's also a little depressing that we're training ourselves to nitpick all kinds of details within a piece of art.

like even before the artifically generated image boom randos on twitter would reply to fully finished illustrations with the most asinine unsolicited advice possible. art's gonna be flawed sometimes! i'll draw someone in a weird pose because of vibes! i'll wing a hand! i don't fucking know what a house actually looks like!!! like yes of course the way a human artist creates flawed art is different from the way an algorithm doesn't actually know what anything looks like because it has no mind. it doesn't know shit. so it's not that it's UNRELIABLE but it's like. it's like... i've been telling myself and others every time i'm struggling to make something look Just Right that actually nobody i going to be staring as hard at my art as i am while making it. if i don't point it out people aren't likely to notice unless they are going through it with a fine toothed comb BUT NOW WE ARE DOING THAT APPARENTLY. WHICH IS ANYONE'S PEROGATIVE AND FAIR ENOUGH! PEOPLE CAN LOOK AT MY ART HOWEVER THEY WANT IT'S FINE

but it's ALSO so depressing to consider having to analyse every single piece of art you come across like that my goddddddd i just wanna enjoy it!! i wanna enjoy art!!!! i mean the main reason i finally stopped going on twitter regularly was during the NFT boom and i got so tired of having to vet every single artist i came across to make sure i wasnt retweeting nft stuff. like that really ruined my previously enjoyable experience of LOOKING AT NICE ART ON MY FEED WITHOUT PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE.

god another thing that happened during the dark nft times was how certain art styles tended to be nfts. and i don't mean the ugly apes and stuff, like of course there's those, but there were a lot of artists who sold their souls to crypto and there was just a certain Vibe to a lot of those styles. like i got a sixth sense for it, i would see a piece of art by an unknown artists and when i checked - yep, that was a crypto guy now. and you know what!!!! i hated that!!!! i hate that it ruined entire art styles for me!! AND NOW ARTIFICIALLY GENERATED IMAGES ARE DOING THE SAME!!!!! like what tends to tip me off is less because i spotted some wonky hand or a weird flap but because the style is a popular one for the ai bros to imitate. you know what i mean right!!!!!! it's kind of how the ai photos look a bit too clean and crisp and smooth in an unsettling way. it just pings the brain a bit.

ULTIMATELY the absolute main method i have for filtering away ai images isn't so much looking for mistakes, but by checking sources. it's the same way i check that i'm not reblogging from reposting accounts Because That's A Thing I Care About Too - if there's no description or the description seems off and i don't recognise the OP, i check the original post/blog to see what's up. if the image gives me a weird vibe, i check where it comes from and who posted it. oftentimes the comments on posts with ai images will point it out - they're not always accurate and there's definitely been times where people are a little too trigger happy to accuse art of being AI... but it can be a good lead or confirm suspicions. on one hand, i don't want to do detective work while im having chill scrolling time, but on the other hand - i already had this habit for other reasons, so it's less disruptive to me than the alternative. it also helps that it's very rare for ai shit to turn up in my tumblr feed. i don't want to keep looking over my shoulder!!

(also for anyone who wants a little bit of optimism in the middle of all this, here's an episode of Better Offline podcast that outlines how it's very unlikely for generative ai to actually get much better. here's the part two also.)

[bharv]

hello new followers!

I've had a lot of new followers recently and I'm going to take this opportunity to plug my fics, because that's why I am here (between shitposts and rushed meta.) So! I'm going to do a game I've been threatening to do for a LONG time, and I'm going to invite other writers to do the same.

Rules are that you plug a handful of your fics from your current fandom(s), give a quick summary, and then put in 1-2 lines from comments as reviews. Because fuck it, self-promotion is fine actually.

The Portrait

BG3. 6.5k one shot, Enver Gortash/The Dark Urge. Lord Gortash requests a portrait of his paramour. The pay is good, the contract legitimate. It seems almost too good to be true... In pre-canon, a young artist takes a job from an upcoming player in Baldur's Gate society. "The voice was amazing, the descriptions are poignant without getting too far in the weeds, you show so much without telling explicitly." "if i could frame this fic and put it up on my wall, i would in a heartbeat! literally the definition of perfection"

Monster, Mine

BG3, 7k one shot. Enver Gortash/The Dark Urge. There is a beast haunting the city, and there is a tentative reaching of hands across the table. In pre-canon, Enver Gortash tries to find the truth of the Slayer. "This is a genuinely stunning piece of fiction." "Their poisonous codependency and joint descent into it is the absolute delight to read!"

Even if Love

BG3, 8k, short chapters. Multiple. Shades of love for The Dark Urge, Orin The Red, Enver Gortash, Wisteria Jannath, Sceleritas Fel, Kressa Bonedaughter, Lae'zel, Minthara Baenre, Sarevok Anchev and Araj Oblodra. Can be read individually, but they do build a narrative together. "it is a crime that AO3 only allows one kudos for a whole fic" "All so distinct and sharply observed, and such gorgeous writing throughout!"

Blood and Bone, Bone and Blood

BG3. 3.5K one shot. Ketheric Thorm/The Dark Urge A collection of moments between Bhaal and Myrkul’s chosen as they are bound together with Gortash as the chosen of the Dead Three. "It simply drips with style. Gorgeous prose." "Feral about this fic"

The First Leaf on the Tree after Winter

BG3. 9k, multi-chapter. Halsin/Jaheira. Background Wyll/Karlach. Their time was a century before, she thinks. What can they be, these old souls rooted in their ways, these observers of the world, these failed heroes? "All the kudos here. The ultimate kudos. Oh I really loved this." "I reached the end with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. so bittersweet and beautiful. I adore every word."

Breath and Rosewater

BG3, 20k, multi-chapter ongoing. Gale/Tav She has always loved music for many reasons; the patterns that present themselves, and the sheer joy of playing. Working out the fingering, and bringing joy to others. The breath before the first note. The freedom that comes from following your heart and letting it soar. He has always loved magic for every reason; the study of it, the power in it. The quiet contemplation of hours of learning, the thrill of application on the battlefield, and off of it. The understanding that comes from complete control of your craft. "most well-constructed intro paragraph that i've read in awhile—we get such a strong sense of glim, her expertise, her pride in her art, in just four sentences." "Oh this whole thing is so beautiful. i adore your prose."

[absolutebl]

This week in BL - I am all over the place, But Laws of Attraction is Phenomenal af

July 2023 Wk 2

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Laws of Attraction (Thai Sat iQIYI) 1 of 8 - Icky picked it up but it’s not airing for me until Sundays so I held this post specifically to watch and talk about this show. Stars the pair from To Sir With Love with the same production team. IT’S SO GOOD Y’ALL. A morally corrupted trickster lawyer with a tragic past, sad eyes, and a beautiful smile that he uses like a weapon. Meets paladin martial arts instructor from other side of the tracks (who is out, at least to his baby sister). Corrupt police. Spoiled rich kid evil. Ambitious politician. Tragic death. Terrible subs.* This show is very like Manner of Death but so far it is a much better/tighter story. It’s NOT BL but it is fucking phenomenal. And you shoudl watch it. Not wait to binge it. WATCH IT. On a global scale this might be the best thing currently airing featuring gay romantic leads. Its really fucking good. It’s Lawless Lawyer but more complex character motivation and gay af. Fuck yes please and thank you. FINALLY. Triggers for violence, beatings, death & torture depicted on screen. Like MoD they are not holding back.  (* A lot of the familial names they are using are not gendered in Thai but translated as such, like “nephew”. This one is gonna go down a lot easier if you know some Thai.)

Step By Step (Tues WeTV & Gaga) ep 12fin - 2 years pass and no one’s hairstyle changes? Srs. Them meeting again = hella AWKWARD. Both still pining & hurt. NO SINGING. The reconciliation scene was great. I enjoyed that on the “do over relationship” they went with phi/pom (instead of the super formal khuns). So cute and so much more relaxed. Also lots of neck kisses! Charming final ep. It’s only flaw being they dropped the side couple, but I wasn’t really into them anyway. Ultimately? This is what Boss & Babe should have been and could we please have Up lead out another BL? I miss him and he only gets prettier. Full review below.

La Pluie (Sat iQIYI) ep 12fin - I adore the tiny little baby GL thread that we almost got. And I wish we had had more of it throughout the show. The side couple turned out to be good too. Emotional crying kisses are my favorite. Sunshine netted himself an earnest serious romantic boy, we likey. As for the main couple? Well... Tai’s search story arc was dull and dragging in a final ep and it felt bloated and slow as a result. It was a good confession reunion with Tai figuring all of his shit out, not surprising but fine. Kind of a a weak final ep. Full review below. 

Hidden Agenda (Thai Sun GMMTV YouTube) ep 1 of 12 - JoonDunk are back and we have all seen this a million times before, but Thailand never executed a successful formula it didn’t want to repeat a million times over, drunk bathroom and everything. Welcome (back) to Thai BL (and back and back and back). Basically they just added glasses, a new 1-shared-brain-cell friendship group, and different uni departments. Ah GMMTV, forever trying to recreate the magic of 2gether. But also I’m enjoying it. I’m a simple person. (Hi Jamie! Still in college since 2018 I see.) Anyone else notice that Chinese phrase that they did not translate for us? Mmm hum. Cute. Still... NO SINGING. 

Low Frequency (Sat iQIYI) ep 2 of 8 - Thames is in coma and getting slagged off on the socials. It’s moving a bit slowly but the premise is interesting despite the poor quality of the execution. 

Dinosaur Love (Sun iQIYI) ep 3 of 8 eps - Major trigger for self harm depicted on screen in part 2/4. I skipped it. Then there is assault and verbal abuse. I told you Ultimate Troop is NOT to be trusted. 

Be Mine Super Star (Mon Viki) ep 2 of 12 - Look, I don’t really mind this show but I also don’t like second hand embarrassment and I sense a metric butt ton incoming.

Be My Favorite (Fri YouTube) ep 8 of 12 - I was not best pleased with this episode. Ya’ll round the tumblr-sphere seem to be enjoying it but I have officially hit the wall on Kawi. There is not enough booze for me to cope with his shizz. I may be alone in this. But gotta say how I feel... Unlike him. Trash watch here.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Tokyo in April is... AKA Shigatsu no Tokyo wa (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 5 of 8 - Poor Ren, he feels compelled to take on the burden of protecting everyone from sexual assault because he blames himself. And he can’t even talk to his boyfriend about it. Oh fuck me the pair of shoes at the door. And neck kisses? TOO MUCH. Argh. Japan. Why must you hurt so good? 

Stay By My Side (Taiwan Fri Gaga) 3 of 10 eps - It’s a very cute show. All the tropes and archetypes with no fuss or attempts to be clever, just executing them (sometimes over and over again). Even hiccoughs as a result of flirting! I haven’t seen that one in ages. The show feels old fashioned as a result. Nostalgic. I��m good with that. 

Tie The Not (Pinoy YouTube) ep 6 of 8 - Sad boys still sad now drunk. (Noooooo shoes on bed! Argh.) Finally kisses! Also good ones for a large portion of this ep. Plus hair pulling. And verse rep! And after sex convo. Then side dishes have a whole proper gay ax covo about top/bottom. Everyone say thank you Philippines! get down with your queer selves! 

Stupid Genius (Vietnam Fri YouTube) ep 6fin - I believe this was the final episode. It was cute. This is a standard sort of semi-crappy VBL high school drama. Enjoyable in its floppy friendliness, weirdly like a queer after school special promoting education. Dead fish kisses but fine for what it is. 7/10 

Minato's Laundromat Season 2 AKA Minato Shouji Coin Laundry Season 2 (Japan Thu Gaga) 2 of 12 eps - Activate cohabitation trope. They okay bfs. Minato not as frustrating this week, but still frustrating for me and Shin. Next week = cute outfits and dumb miscommunication yay!

Vian the series (Vietnam YouTube ) ep 11 of 12 - again it didn’t show up on my dash in time for this. I’ll pop it into next week. 

It’s airing but ...

House of Stars (Thai Mon iQIYI) 12 eps - I bounced at ep 3. Will binge if told it is worth it at end.

Stay (Pinoy YouTube) 7 eps - It’s mostly English & set in LA (shudder) so I’m not bothering.

Stay With Me ... NO I WILL NOT! And you can’t make me.

Ended This Week

Step By Step Series Review  

This was Thailand’s answer to The New Employee, and everything I loved about that show I loved about this one. This was an office romance between stern boss and sweet subordinate that felt more authentic to an office environment than previous Thai BLs of this ilk. And that authenticity added tension to the narrative and character development (how novel). Now that might be because it has western source material, or it might be because it is actually kind of old-fashioned (it’s been years since I worked as an office grunt). I also really enjoyed the brothers’ relationship, and kinda wished they hadn’t attempted (and failed) to give said brother his own side BL. That one flaw made it a 9/10 for me. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

La Pluie Series Review

This BL takes to task the fated mates trope and what it means to have love chained intimately to predestination. It’s about how faith in destiny before choice diminishes the authenticity of emotion, relationships, and connection. This is a high concept to examine through the lens of a BL. By activating + examining the soulmates trope this show is challenging a foundation of romance: the idea that there is one person meant to be your one romantic partner all your life. This means that we, as viewers, spend much of the show worried about it having a happy ending, and that’s the source of both its brilliance and tension: would the narrative have the strength to truly challenge its own romantic core? But, ultimately, all this elevated complexity was executed in a somewhat shaky manner with the narrative derailing into some serious pacing issues and characters manipulated by miscommunication. However, with good chemistry and decent acting all around, plus some excellent high heat and representation of consent and a few other rare tropes, this one has to (like it’s sibling show My Ride) earn a 9/10. I enjoyed it even as it made me think, so despite its flaws: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Starting:  

7/19 Wedding Plan (Thai Wed YouTube & iQIYI)  - It's Mame and she's coming for our GL. She's such a misogynist IMAGINE what we will get with a GL side dish? It's going to be absolute carnage. To crane your neck as you drive by the car wreck or not? That is the question. Me? I'm wallowing in the guts. Trying to decide to trash watch or not... 

7/20 Jun & Jun (Korea Thu Viki) - From 2022 I CAN’T FUCKING WAIT! So excited for this one. 

2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED)

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

FYI roselle juice is made from hibiscus (a flower) so technically neither a tea nor a juice. (Hidden Agenda)

Tie the Not = all the verse rep this ep. I love this for them. 

The giggling was SO DAMN CUTE (Step by Step, na?) 

We all guessed it but it was still fun. (Stupid Genius) Also miracles of miracles, two actors who actually look like they could be brothers play brothers. 

First time I’ve seen faen translated as significant other. (Laws of Attraction)

THE PAIN! (Tokyo) 

(Last week.)

[flippinpancakes64]

Requesting Rules!

Hello!

So as I am getting more requests I figured I should put a couple guidelines of what I do/don't do

I will try to keep it brief but no promises

Also this can change at any time so please check!

My requests are CLOSED

Please be patient while I catch up 🩷

Characters I can write for:

Edward Cullen

Alice Cullen

Esme Cullen

Rosalie Cullen/Hale

Jasper Cullen/Hale

Emmett Cullen

Bella Swan

Carlisle Cullen

The Phantom of the Opera/Erik Destler

Marc Spector

Steven Grant

Jake Lockley

Scenarios I will not write for:

18+ scenes (I'm bad at them sorry)

Excessively Graphic Violence of any kind

Anything romantic involving blood relations

Anything romantic involving children (I am looking at you Jacob and Renesmee)

Excessive drug/alcohol use (a little is fine but I won't write about someone being addicted to like black tar heroin or smthn)

Toxic relationships

DDLG or other forms of age regression

Angst no comfort (sorry I like being happy)

Something excessively weird? I don't know if that makes sense. For example, I'm not gonna sit here and write a story about Emmett Cullen with a reader who shits rubber ducks, sorry <3

Additional Notes:

I am like, really bad at writing narrative scenes. I might try it in the future but I feel like it always comes out awkward. So for the most part please try to stick to a headcanon format. Like something that I could answer with the bulletpoints i have been using

I am a college student and I also have a job so please bear with me <3 I also might shut down requests if they get too piled up so please check that first line under the cut to see if my requests are open before trying to request

I am very sensitive with a tiny fragile baby ego. If you don't like my stories please just block me or keep scrolling

I am here for fun! I decided to start writing specifically for Twilight because I couldn't find anything new anywhere. This isn't like my life's passion or my ultimate dream. So don't feel pressured into liking or reblogging or requesting anything. But it is still very appreciated if you do!

The characters I listed above are obviously not all of the characters I know. Those are just the first ones that came to mind. If you have a character you want me to write about but aren't sure if I know who they are, send me a request or a message! Like I said above, I started writing because I couldn't find anything. If you're in the same boat and just want to see if I could help you out, don't be afraid to ask!

Please make your requests detailed. The last thing I want is to write a whole story and have it not be what you wanted. You don't need to keep it brief, use all the characters in the text box if you want!

[tsumuus]

here for the 555 event!! congrats ^^

i’d like to rq a romantic matchup!! i’ve watched hq a lot so i’m way more familiar w the charas, but if you think there’s a better mha chara, i’ve recently gotten into it and so i’d really love that too! i’m a straight female so i’d like the matchup to be male please :))

my good friends would call me super bubbly and super energetic. i’m often told that i light up a room, and i’m super positive and optimistic. i am a d1 yapper and the ultimate thought daughter lmao. it does, however, take a little while for me to get comfortable and really let my personality come out with new people. i’m a bit quieter with people i don’t know. (trust you js gotta let my personality defrost) while i love people and spending time with my loved ones, i do need time alone to recharge. my mbti is infp. i can spend lots of time with my close friends when we can just sit together and cuddle and not talk, but i find it difficult to spend lots of time with people who have to be doing something all the time. i’m SUPER empathetic and a big crier. it takes NOTHING to make me cry. hopecore tiktok? sobbing. old people eating alone? crying. my friends sharing their traumatic experiences? bawling. a children’s movie? wailing. someone talking about animals? weeping. someone telling me how much they love me? howling. when my parents talk abt my immigrant grandparents’ upbringing? dying on the floor. i have the most tender heart ever and i feel things very deeply. however, i would not say that i let my emotions control me. when faced with upsetting situations, i have never once lost my temper or yelled at someone. my family is full of hotheads, and i’m really the only one able to stay calm and coolheaded. anger kind of scares me because of my family and so i really like people who are like me in the sense that they can be patient and understanding and talk things out instead of yelling. sometimes, i can get kind of avoidant and pretend like the problem doesn’t exist (due to my confrontation-avoidance) in addition to being unable to describe what i’m feeling in words when i’m worked up and also bc i’m scared of how they’ll react. i get annoyed with people who aren’t self-aware or aren’t able to pick up context clues. i get intense cuteness aggression and i love ppl who are smushes. sometimes i’ll just see one of my friends sitting there and i have to just run up to them and give them a fat hug and scream abt how much i love them and how cute they are and how they make me wanna sob bc i love them sm and they’re so FREAKIG CUTE.

due to family situations, i am kind of attention-starved and so when someone pays attention to me i am locked in with them for LIFE. i’m super loving and super affectionate and i have no issue showing it in private. however, in public, i’m not the hugest pda fan. if we’re watching a movie with friends, a head on the shoulder or a hand on the thigh is fine, but i just feel awk when people around me are like super pda lovey-dovey. it just icks me. i have no problem being suuuuper affectionate with my friends in public, but it’s different with bfs. i’d say my love languages are physical touch and quality time, but i will honestly soak up any love anyone gives me. i’m definitely kind of clingy, and i would get kind of insecure if they couldn’t love me with the same sort of passion. i have a lot of love to give, and i’m able to receive a lot of love in turn!!

i’d say my interests are pretty basic lol. i’m a big sabrina carpenter/ariana grande fan, i really like sweet drinks, im super girly and i like anything pink, i love romcoms, i play volleyball, im a big sephora enthusiast, i’ve rewatched gossip girl and clueless and mean girls many times, but i’m also big on children’s shows. sofia the first, liv and maddie, my little pony, ever after high, descendants, phineas and ferb, etc. i’m TERRIFIED of anything remotely horror or scary (one time i watched paddington 2 and i had nightmares for weeks) and so i think i like the comfort they give me knowing nothing REALLY scary can happen in them. (i’m still scared sometimes) i’m not really scared about getting run over by a car or getting kidnapped or anything real that has almost happened multiple times, but i am very scared that the evil princess ivy will come and cast a spell on me.

wow this was a lot of info sorry. (can you tell i’m a yapper) thank you sm in advance and congrats on 555!

your perfect match is…

₊✩‧₊˚ keiji akaashi ! ˚₊✩‧₊

₊✩‧₊˚ runner ups: osamu miya and eijiro kirishima ˚₊✩‧₊

✧₊⁺ akaashi’s calm and composed demeanor would provide the perfect balance to your bubbly and energetic personality

✧₊⁺ he’s someone who thrives in environments where he can observe and be thoughtful

✧₊⁺ which would allow him to appreciate your enthusiasm without being overwhelmed by it

✧₊⁺ since you mentioned being avoidant in confrontational situations

✧₊⁺ akaashi's patient and understanding nature would be a comforting presence

✧₊⁺ he’s known for his emotional intelligence and communication skills

✧₊⁺ which means he’d handle your emotions with care, always taking the time to talk things out rather than reacting impulsively

✧₊⁺ akaashi isn’t the type to raise his voice or get frustrated

✧₊⁺ he’s calm, composed, and would understand your need to avoid conflict while gently encouraging you to open up.

✧₊⁺ akaashi would appreciate your empathy and tender heart, always paying attention to your emotional cues

✧₊⁺ he’d be that person who notices when you’re on the verge of tears and subtly offers comfort without making you feel overwhelmed

✧₊⁺ his intuitive understanding of people would make him the perfect partner for someone who feels deeply, offering quiet support when you’re moved by something emotional, and he wouldn’t shy away from giving you all the attention you crave in meaningful, subtle ways

✧₊⁺ akaashi would find your affectionate outbursts both endearing and amusing

✧₊⁺ he might not be as open, but he’d secretly love your sudden hugs and declarations of love

✧₊⁺ probably offering you a small, amused smile or a gentle pat on the head in return

✧₊⁺ he’d let you express your affection fully without feeling awkward, knowing it’s your way of showing love

✧₊⁺ your preference for subtle PDA would align well with Akaashi's own more reserved nature

✧₊⁺ he wouldn’t feel the need for grand public displays of affection but would enjoy the quiet, private moments

✧₊⁺ like holding hands under the table or resting your head on his shoulder

✧₊⁺ in private, he’d return your affectionate, clingy nature, appreciating the warmth and comfort that comes with your love

✧₊⁺ your love for comfort shows and avoidance of anything remotely scary would also be something akaashi could relate to

✧₊⁺ he’s someone who appreciates calm, low-stress environments

✧₊⁺ given your love for quality time

✧₊⁺ akaashi would excel in creating meaningful moments with you

✧₊⁺ with your tendency to be super affectionate and sometimes clingy

✧₊⁺ akaashi’s emotional stability would provide a solid foundation

✧₊⁺ he’s not someone who would feel overwhelmed by your love

✧₊⁺ instead, he’d welcome it and offer reassurance, making you feel secure in your relationship

✧₊⁺ his calm approach would ease any insecurity, as he’d show through his actions and words that he’s there for you wholeheartedly

a/n holy yap😭 idk i just love akaashi so much <3

₊✩‧₊˚ 555 follower event ! ˚₊✩‧₊

main masterlist

[words-of-wolf]

hello, I’m feeling generally a little lost and not really sure what to make of my own feelings - I was wondering if you could talk a little about what it actually means to be therian, and your experiences with it? (explain it like I don’t know anything about it)

Hello!! Torn between wanting to take some time to mull over how to answer this, vs knowing exactly what my ADHD brain is like and that I will 100% forget if I leave this in my inbox so I can "think it over". So just gonna wing it ahah!!

This is a pretty big question, but it's also a very good and important one. Outside of essays I think it can be hard to find descriptions of what the experience of therianthropy actually is, so I understand how you could feel a bit lost!

I figure I have a fun perspective on it too because of the situation in which I started to figure it all out, which was before otherkinity and therianthropy were anywhere near the mainstream - I didn't know about nonhuman identities till after I realised I identify as nonhuman! An experience that's probably a bit harder to have nowadays, with the ever-increasing spread of "kinnie" stuff plus how online everything is nowadays. '^^

I apologise in advance if this is a bit rambly, but I'll do my best to explain!

What it means to be therian, to me, is... it's a very visceral idea in a way - it's an experience of being nonhuman in a way that is devoid of any kind of anthropomorphisation or romanticism. It's very raw, this bundle of feelings and emotions and instincts that sits of the centre of who I am.

I am a wolf. I'm a wolf in a human body, a wolf working with a human brain. The way I think and feel can, for the most part, be understood as human.

But the thing that's doing the processing is a wolf. The thing that's seeing out of my eyes is a wolf.

I'm a wolf that not only has a human body, but was raised to be a human. So what does the wolf part mean in that?

And the reality of it is, it means so, so much, but also nothing at all!

People in the alterhuman community, I think can sometimes give weight to the idea of a nonhuman identity beyond what is warranted, y'know? So you get this culture of doubt, or trying to weed out anyone who's not "real" enough about it, and like... ultimately, that's meaningless. It's not better or worse to be nonhuman rather than human. It's neutral.

So when anyone asks me for help figuring things out, I tend to give the same advice - sometimes helpful to people, sometimes decidedly not - that you've just kinda gotta give the identity a try and see if it feels right. Do you feel more you to see yourself as an animal? Does it make you happy? Does it feel like home?

If it doesn't, that's fine. Doesn't make you any less interesting or cool or unique or whatever other quality might be associated with it!

And to be clear, the feelings here don't have to be in an all-encompassing sense.

For example, you can find it comforting to view yourself as an animal, yet know for sure that you would NOT swap your life to live as one, if that were a thing that was possible (which is, coincidentally, how I feel).

You can view yourself as kinda an animal. You can view yourself as human* (*but also animal).

You can view yourself as utterly animal, down to the core of your being, such that every aspect of human existence feels immutably alien to you, and such that you'd give up your whole human existence in a heartbeat for the chance to live as the animal instead.

You can be any of these things, or all of them. Often, it'll change over time. The feelings might fade, or maybe they start to present differently after a while.

The core question is - does seeing yourself as this animal feel genuine?

Setting aside the doubts, the uncertainty, self-consciousness, whatever you've been taught about being human and being normal... taking off all those layers that have been hiding you, some put there by your family, some by your peers, some even by yourself! What's underneath it all?

What are you?

And of course, this is a really, really big thing to wrangle with.

Some of us get it easy. I noticed I felt different, looked underneath the surface, and: duh, I'm a wolf. I landed on that answer pretty quick and it's never once changed, or even felt uncertain.

Most folks don't have quite as smooth a time figuring it out, but that's okay. It's daunting, I think, to read that some people spend years figuring it out... but it's a journey, and the journey can be very fulfilling - it can even be fun, if you let it!

I didn't have such a journey with my theriotype - it was like I looked around and unexpectedly found myself at a destination already. Not one I expected, but one that was home to me.

But my spirit kintype was far more complicated, and that one did take me many years to get to the bottom of, and it was convoluted and I did so many u-turns and hit so many dead ends! But looking back on it, I don't regret the path I took, and I don't regret any of the time I spent on it.

One thing I see a lot with nonhumans who haven't figured stuff out yet, especially newly awakened folks, is this like... itchy feet impatience to get to the end of the journey! And I absolutely understand it, I do.

But this rush can make things stressful, and that makes it harder.

I think for some folks the idea that it might take years to find an answer is a bit scary, but... hmm. Y'know. I think the problem here is the importance put on "The Answer" over whatever feelings, thoughts and experiences lead you there.

The meaning in a nonhuman identity isn't found in the label you stick on it. It's found in the path you walk. The label is just an short-hand - it's a short-cut to describe a collection of incredibly nuanced, personal feelings. It's not an answer.

Your destination isn't to find a word that succinctly portrays your entire being - your destination is just to know yourself, and to find happiness in that understanding.

And on that journey, you may well try a lot of things before finding what feels right! That's not just "okay", that's a fundamental aspect of what this journey is. You probably will be wrong! You will probably be wrong a lot! There's absolutely no bad in that. To realise you were wrong is to learn something - and everything learned is a step further along that path you're walking.

Now, as for actual experiences... my experiences as a therian have been very diverse, and really they span the entire breadth of what an experience can be - from silly quirks to absolutely life-changing spiritual epiphanies. In a way, everything I do is a therian experience, because I'm a therian and I'm experiencing it in a therian way. :P

Shifts were a big part of me figuring things out early on. What prompted me to question my humanity was my experience of shifts - a combination of mental, phantom, and dream shifts, to be specific! Getting across what each of those feels like to me would take a LOT of words, and would probably be better suited to their own posts.

Suffice to say, I started to experience these moments of feeling more like an animal, and it was an impactful enough thing that I both recognised it and wanted to find an explanation. And the explanation I landed on was that I just wasn't human. Somehow.

That said, there's a lot of other experiences that I've had related to being a wolf!

Species dysphoria was a big thing I struggled with, especially during my teen years. Sometimes I didn't want to be human. Sometimes it was more like an agonising feeling of unbelonging - that I wanted desperately to belong somewhere but couldn't, because everyone else was human and I wasn't. Sometimes the way my mind worked felt out of tune with my sense of self. Sometimes I just felt so overwhelmed by human life, and a wolf life sounded... not easy, but simple. Easy to understand.

Far more impactful as I've gotten older, however, has been species euphoria! There is an incredibly deep, rich joy for me in embracing my identity as a wolf. And I think that feeling is something that is enough to make an entire nonhuman identity - what matters most is that knowing yourself as this creature brings you joy and fulfilment. Calling myself a wolf makes me feel seen. Knowing myself as a wolf and a werewolf brings me so much happiness and so much comfort.

There's things like memories, too. And noemata - the things you just feel are right about yourself.

But there's also been so many experiences I've had that have felt small. Not every therian experience is big or dramatic or defined - for some folks, none of their experiences are.

Sometimes what makes you feel most sure you're an animal isn't a shift or a memory of some other life... sometimes it's that you read a little quote about animal behaviour and realise, wow, I do this exact same weirdly specific little thing!

Sometimes it's like... the way I, without really realising it, will try to bow at my cat to invite her to play (she just looks at me very confused).

Sometimes it's smelling the flowers, not because you have an extra good animal sense of smell (I sure don't), but because the experience of focusing - just for a moment - on scent over any other sense, makes you feel like a purer, more candid version of yourself... like for a moment you embodied the truest, most instinctual version of you, and how freeing that feeling can be even when it only lasts for a second or two.

Sometimes it's things that nobody else would think twice about.

But if something compels you to want to think twice about it, I think you should. Even if the experience doesn't seem significant, the feelings it evokes in you surely can be.

I wrote very much here ahah! I hope it's not too hard to follow, and that it helps in some way. ^u^

And absolutely feel free to ask more questions if you have them! I'm very happy to clarify or talk about things some more if you'd like. c:

[kyngsley01]

plsplspls go into more detail about your silly little au, i need them for my brainrot(only if you want to ofc ^^!)

*Cracks knuckles* Buckle tf up bc this au has been rotting my tofu brain for several days now <3

SO. Personality switch au? Or alignment switch au? Not sure what to call it. But all we know is that Scarab is yellow and almost nice now and Prismo is well… Nightmo.

Nightmo loves messing around and twisting the wishes of his visitors in the worst ways possible. Nobody likes this freak, but it’s hard to not develop a sick sense of humor when you can’t even use the time cube-provided tv because of how bright the screen is! Dude’s just sitting up in here all by himself in the dark most of the time.

Scarab (or Goldie, which I’m going to call him sometimes to differentiate between him and OG!Scarab) is a god auditor… if you can really even call him that. The guy majorly sucks at his job, often failing to catch his quarry because he’s weak to sob stories. The guy ultimately wants to do good by both the multiverse but also all beings who reside in them, which is really hard when you’re supposed to be an unfeeling space cop. Orbo’s on his ass about his failed missions all the time, which leads him to picking up Nightmo’s bounty (the guy really needs a breakthrough, okay ;-;?)

So anyways, Nobody has been able to catch and contain the rogue wish master, bc, like, he can simply poof you away into some god awful forbidden corner of the multiverse, always making sure to snatch the offender’s crystal beforehand so they’re stuck. Worse, if he finds you interesting enough, he’d toy with his hunters-turned-captives until he’d get bored and resort to the same measure mentioned previously. Goldie knows that he’s got like. No chance against this guy, so what does he do?

He makes a wish. Simply surrender himself to the vessel to be turned into the Citadel. Simple enough right?

Nightmo, obviously, seriously misconstrues Goldie’s wish.

“Oh~? Which ‘vessel’ am I supposed to surrender myself to, bug?”

“W-what? Obviously the one in my hand! What other vessel is there?”

Needless to say Nightmo’s been itching to get out there in the multiverse, but he wouldn’t be able to do much squished into that pitiful egg, but that pretty, /shiny/ body of Goldie’s? Oh, that would do just fine~

Wish granted! Goldie’s stuck with the worst mind-roomate ever until he can physically bring himself back to headquarters to turn the wish master in for his heinous crimes! Which, with Nightmo at the steering wheel, was not going to happen anytime soon. Loopholes are so fun to exploit~!

Shenanigans ensue 💕

[lurkingshan]

Be My Favorite and Accepting the Things We Cannot Change

Several weeks back, @shortpplfedup posited that Be My Favorite’s core theme really comes down to the Serenity Prayer:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,  The courage to change the things I cannot accept,  And the wisdom to know the difference

Having now seen the finale and the full arc of the show, I have to declare her the most correct of clowns, because she nailed it. This finale was all about Pisaeng’s journey to accepting that he can’t control the outcome of Kawi’s illness in the future, and that ultimately, he doesn’t want to change the beautiful life they’ve had together on the off chance it might make a difference. 

I love the way this played out in the new temporary present (I am going to miss finding awkward ways to accurately describe what timeline we are in). When Pisaeng travels back in time to the night before they went to the amusement park, Kawi clocks it immediately, but waits for Pisaeng to fess up that he had time traveled back from the future, and why. Once everything is out in the open, we see a sense of calm come over Kawi as he begins gently guiding Pisaeng to what he has already learned: they can’t control it, and the best thing they can do is commit to enjoying the life they have together here and now. And so Kawi and Pisaeng put a pin in it and have a great day together at the amusement park, reveling in each other’s company and committing to the joy of being in each others’ presence. At the end of the day, Pisaeng admits that even though he’s scared, he wouldn’t want to change anything about their life together or risk losing what they have for the off chance that it could lead to a better outcome, and he goes back home to the uncertain future so he and his future Kawi can face it together, hand in hand. 

I absolutely loved the melancholy undertone to these first three parts of the episode and the poignancy of this message. While Pisaeng struggled, Kawi’s character growth was on full display as he settled into the wisdom he has earned over many timelines and failed attempts to control things he now knows he cannot change. Once he was the one on the outside of the time travel dilemma, he reached full clarity on how futile it all was, and how little would be accomplished by attempting to engineer a different trajectory that might save his life at the expense of his relationship with Pisaeng. And he has achieved a measure of peace and reached a level of confidence and comfort with Pisaeng that enabled him to guide his partner to the same conclusion. It was lovely to see, and felt very well earned. The themes in this section of the episode were so strong that they actually had me thinking they might go there and not give Kawi an explicit recovery and happily ever after. But they quickly changed tack once Pisaeng traveled back to the future in the final part of the episode.

Now, here is the part where I admit that I would have preferred a more nuanced final act rather than Kawi suddenly waking up fine and everything being peaceful from there. There was an opportunity here for a more thematically resonant ending, and the show chose to steer away from it to give us a standard joyful bl epilogue. An ending where Kawi does not fully recover or where his fate is left more open-ended would have really made the poignancy of their choice to stop trying to change things land more firmly. Something more in the mode of Bad Buddy’s somewhat happy ending with a bittersweet edge would have also felt right. That said, this is a bl drama and I can’t really be surprised that it stuck with genre conventions. It was a lovely ending for Kawi and Pisaeng and it was very nice to see them happy together after all the turmoil.

So where did I land on this show overall? I really liked it, and given that I came in with such low expectations, the fact that it ended up being a show I consistently looked forward to week after week is no small thing. This drama gave me a lot to think about and inspired such wonderful discussions with friends, not to mention more clown theories than I could ever hope to track. It also gave me the opportunity to see both Gawin and Krist in a new light—I was really impressed with both of them in this drama and I hope to see Gawin especially continuing to get lead roles. 

I don’t think this drama was perfect, however. At the time episode 10 aired I had some issues with the resolutions it put forward for the main timeline, and those criticisms stand. I wish it had done more with all the meaty stuff it set up with queer politics, Pisaeng’s mom’s hypocrisy in positioning herself as a queer ally while forcing her own son into the closet, and Max’s role as a queer activist who was her fan. There was so much story potential there, but it seems the show just had other priorities. And I’m still not entirely sure what the point of the Not/Kwan subplot was, given that they didn’t really do anything with it in the final arc of the show. I guess I will just settle for thanking the universe that Pear was marrying a very nice looking man who was not Not (lol) in the finale and be grateful they didn’t subject me to a redemption arc for that mean little man.

As always, it has been an honor clowning with you all, and I’m pleased that we’re ending Be My Favorite on such a good note. Shouts to @waitmyturtles @bengiyo, @thegalwhorants, @twig-tea and @rocketturtle4 for talking through a lot of my reactions to this show with me. On to the next! 

[grandmother-goblin]

Some thoughts about Astarion and romantic relationships because why the hell not!

As always, these are my opinions! My experiences color my interpretation just like your experiences color yours! Not here to fight, just here to talk about a character I like because I’m a huge geek.

1. After all he did whilst under the influence of Cazador, I strongly believe that he doesn’t really want sex or romance without a genuine connection with the other person.

2. This is why the potential scene with the drow twins makes me feel a little bad for him. I think if Astarion agrees to it, it’s mostly for Tav’s sake and not because he really wants to. But he does want to make Tav happy. And I think Tav, in that case, is a bit selfish for asking that of him.

3. Or! If Astarion agrees to the thing with the drow twins, it might just be because he doesn’t know how to say no or he’s falling back into old habits.

3. Or! Lastly, maybe he does genuinely want to try it! And then he gets there and is like “oh…. Oh no… Well, I’m committed now.” While I can see this being possible, I find it a little difficult to wrap my head around why he would want to try it in the first place. Because he’s essentially just using his body for people again. One of those people is Tav, who he cares about, but he doesn’t know the drow from the gnome two blocks down. (This is probably just a me thing. I’m sure him wanting to try would make total sense to some people and that’s valid! My little pea brain doesn’t totally get it though lol)

5. All that being said, I think Astarion is perfectly capable of being in a healthy polyamorous relationship in certain scenarios! But it would depend a lot on his current mental state, where he is in terms of healing from his trauma, and how secure he feels in his relationship. I’ll use Halsin as an example because that’s a possibility in game.

6. Case 1: Astarion and Tav are in a secure relationship and Tav wants to hook up with Halsin (just sex). Astarion, I think, would be okay with that provided that he feels confident/secure in his relationship with Tav. Far be it from him to keep Tav from a good time! No pressure for his involvement beside his permission.

7. Case 2: Astarion and Tav are in a secure relationship and both of them are emotionally close with Halsin. I think Astarion would be totally chill with polyamory in this case. Him and Tav want the same thing and he doesn’t have to worry about Halsin stealing Tav away.

8. Case 3: Astarion and Tav are in a secure relationship, and Tav wants a threesome with him and Halsin. Unless Astarion is already close with Halsin, I feel like he would be less okay with this. It would be similar to (2) on the list where Astarion is mostly just trying to make Tav happy.

9. Last headcanon and one that I know not everyone will agree with: Astarion is a possessive bastard.

10. Astarion went so long without having anything to call his own, not even his own body, so I think that when he’s in a relationship that Tav is his. He can share Tav if he wants to, but at the end of the day he has to know that he is Tav’s first choice.

11. This is where polyamory would probably get messy with him. I think that he would need to be Tav’s favorite. If Tav seemed to be liking their partner just as much as they liked Astarion, I think Astarion would get really jealous and insecure really fast.

12. My personal favorite scenario for Astarion is a monogamous relationship (this is not everyone’s favorite scenario! That is okay! I’m not fighting you!) The reason why this is my favorite because I think this is ultimately what Astarion would feel most comfortable with. It leaves less room for doubt, insecurity, jealousy, etc (I am fully aware these pop up in monogamous relationships as well. I am not exalting monogamous relationships here. I personally just think that would be the most comfortable situation for this particular character. Your opinions may differ and that’s fine!)

I can probably talk about this more, but that’s all I’m gonna say for now! Again, absolutely not judging or calling out anyone who thinks differently. You do you! I’m just throwing thoughts around like confetti because why not?

[pjsk-headcanons]

ok welcome to today's ted talk (i am procrastinating on doing my schoolwork bc brother eughhh i am not reading a book from 1500 or smth /jk i will eventually. just let me have this for now) today's ted talk is.... what teams and drivers in f1 pjsk characters would like bc f1 and pjsk is arguably what is maintaining me sane and idk why not. if you disagree uhhh thats fine idc lol this is purely based off of vibes and cardinal directions WxS - rui: as i have mentioned in my first hc he likes a) ferrari b) red bull c) mclaren, bc every f1 fan ik is at least A BIT of a ferrari fan even if they like only one team (*cough* that fan may be me *cough* *cough*), so rui is a ferrari fan and a red bull fan, probably because he likes the crazy shit on red bull's channel (look at this for example: https://youtube.com/shorts/uf9PQT0OgUY?si=yA8NM97AJHeyf0HH). maybe he likes the drink as well, now drivers! his favorite driver is lando, bc i think he will like his streaming content (perhaps his personality and his willingness to talk abt mental health and i am not kidding, search it up!!) (i'd like to note that rui is most definitely a very avid f1 fan) - tsukasa, emu and nene: they all like ferrari and red bull, they're not avid fans but they understand what happens in the sport (mainly because of rui) and as i think they wouldn't be as big fans as rui, so they probably just follow rui's opinions LOL im sorry if it's basic, but it's imo :3 L/N - ichika: she's a casual f1 fan, so she probably likes ferrari bc it's popular and she doesnt know how much depression it causes to be a tifosi. (ps: i am not a tifosi) her favorite driver is lando yet again, because she decided to learn a bit more abt the f1 drivers and found out he can play multiple instruments, so that sparked an interest in her and yeah - saki: she probably doesn't even care but she likes to listen to ichika and shiho talk abt the races. im sorry if it sounds like saki slander, i just dont think she would really like f1 😭😭 pls forgive me saki fans - honami: the ultimate of ultimate of f1 casual fans. that's it, maybe she would like alex but that's it - shiho: the less casual f1 fan out of l/n, she likes red bull and max verstappen. arguably she doesnt even care abt the f1 teams, but she likes max for how he is(me too shiho. it's actually sad to think i didnt like him </3) extra hc: ichika and shiho most definitely talk abt f1 whenever they have time to! VBS - akito: he likes whatever team is fighting an's favorite team. if she likes red bull, he likes mclaren, etc, etc. point is, he likes what an doesnt bc he has some beef with an (i promise you it's not idk levels of genuine hate it's like uhhh i forgot the word im not sure if this is clear!!) - an: uhhh i accidently explained her in akito's part - kohane: weirdly, super into f1. she's not the "i watch f1 for the drivers!" fan, she's the "i watch f1 for the sport!" fan (<- i feel like i have to clarify that) and although that may not make sense, she roots for all the teams and drivers. (even lance.) so tbh if you asked her "kohane whats your favorite f1 team and f1 driver?" she would say "idk i just like the sport i dont really care abt who's winning" - toya: he seems like he would like f1 but he doesnt know a shit abt f1(the creative juices are almost gone now afksahsjkdgbhdg) N25 - mafuyu: i feel like she heard abt f1 at school and ended up liking instead of the sport, the aerodynamics stuff. very specific ik - kanade: she would get distracted by the f1 sounds so she wouldn't even know what's happening and somehow compose a music based off the sounds of an f1 car/f1 related - mizuki: she heard abt f1 one day from rui and ever since she talks with rui abt f1 stuff (other than the in canon stuff)!! her favorite team is whoever is cooking at the moment (she doesnt want to suffer over like. omg bad strategies and bad car) and her favorite driver is lewis (1. his fashion style 2. how good he is) - ena: tbqh the same thing as an's

MMJ - my creative juices have almost completely dried. but tbh, i dont think they would have time for f1 bc they do so much shit yknow, ik they like have managers and everything but id argue they're dedicated to what they do and they'd prefer to do other stuff than learn abt f1 stuff. im so sorry mmj fans i promise ill make a better headcanon than this one day 😭😭

oops how did it get this long? anyways, thank you for joining my ted talk! hope everyone is ok :D - papaya anon

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[mdhwrites]

Going back through TOH's episodes, it strikes me how boring they are. Part of the problem seems to be how criminally unfunny the show is, generally speaking. I can count how many times I've laughed on one hand. In fact I can list them:

There was the "It's been my dream since I was a boy" guy pushing kids off cliffs (Moving Hassle), Luz's "He'll be fine" after throwing Hunter overboard - and then his subsequent re-entry (Hunting Palismen) - and lastly Luz tumbling offscreen in front of Amity after a spider crawls on her face (Grom). That's 3 scenes, 4 jokes if we're being charitable. And sure, maybe my sense of humour is just incompatible with TOH's and I'm being harsh.

But I can't deny that I just feel like there's no rewatch value in TOH? Like it's just... the jokes are so bad to the point it's not fun, it's not entertaining, it's a slog, I see no value in retreading the same ground. And I am a SERIAL rewatcher! This is coming from someone who spends maybe 85% of their time experiencing the same stories! I love seeing well-done media all over again, because even if I know what's going to happen or what they will say, a well-structured joke or a skillfully delivered line is still gonna engage me.

I can't even recommend the show to anyone because I HAVE in the past... and what ends up happening is they watch the first couple episodes, get bored, go "I recognize that you like this, but it's not my thing" and drop it. And I CAN'T BLAME THAT! Because that's how I reacted too when I got into the show! I only stuck with it because it seemed like it was going really interesting places. And it tried to, I think, and failed.

I'm also a very fandom-heavy person so TOH's boring episodes have made it increasingly harder for me to stay within it. Because I'm not rewatching anything, I can see myself in real time as I forget more and more of the plotlines, and even a lot of the characters. It's just... kind of disappointing. It's like I just had a gradual fizzling out of interest. I don't even hate the show, which might be better in some ways - instead I just can't muster enough shits to feel any type of way towards it.

I rambled a bit but I guess my ultimate ask here was: what are your thoughts on whether or not TOH manages to entertain new/old viewers?

So I like S1. I think the characters are what carry it and that they are at their most interesting, EASILY, in S1.

The vast majority of S1, in terms of concepts and executions for plots, is OKAY AT BEST.

This actually just comes down to a simple tonal decision of TOH and also just the fact that a boring world with boring magic creates little to do with bog standard plots and TOH actually has a LOT of bog standard plotting. It is a pretty classic story structurally and takes genuinely very few risks in the structure... Which is okay in theory.

There is nothing wrong with not reinventing the wheel and TOH talks a big game about subverting tropes but no. As a fantasy fan, I can tell you this is EXCEPTIONALLY normal. Like... Insultingly from how much it talks a big game. Especially because if you're going to do classic, you have three options: Shoot the moon, lean into the unique elements of your concept or do it VERY. VERY. WELL.

And remember: They did a body swap episode and it is one of the most hated episodes of the entire show. That's not a good sign.

But this touches on the second problem I brought up: This is a boring world with boring magic. Because TOH's fantasy world is so basic, has little magic and little flair with its magic, it inherently limits what it can do. Now, it doesn't have to be this way but the show made it this way with how little we see of it, how limited it is (like how plant magic is 99% vines), and how often it just blatantly makes one to one comparisons between it and our world with effectively NOTHING altered like how the covens are just jobs, right down to them being introduced through a job fair and a boring one at that.

So when we look at a classic episode concept like the body swap episode, the three plots are... Easily replicated elsewhere. One person gets in trouble in the swap's job because they don't know what they're doing (with the most unique twist of this actually landing them in prison), a classic animal plot where they're taken in by a place that seems cozy and then isn't with literally no changes, and finally... Teenager pisses off bullies and agrees to jump DEAD MAN'S GORGE! But instead of skateboards and people really building it up, its rat beasts.

None of these plots are actually bad, they're go tos for a reason, but... No one is bringing anything special to this. Luz is entirely ignored so her character may as well not matter, Eda is doing NOTHING to add to her plot and King... King is fun for about two minutes leading the bullies and otherwise is just any other character in this situation. It's not bad, I personally enjoy parts of the episode... But it's nothing special. From the second the thing that X character is going to do is revealed, you can guess every step of the plot and they don't even really throw in good jokes in the process. A couple jokes but nothing memorable because everything is weirdly subdued compared to how other shows would be, even in an episode that is definitely trying to be more over the top.

And this runs into the inherent tonal issue of TOH: It doesn't want to be an adventure comedy. Those are genres that are commonly really over the top. They hear jump the shark and go "How about a shark jumping ten other sharks in order to finish making a can of tuna for their fire giant overlord?" And the face of this fact, in that the genres it pitches itself as for the first two episodes!

TOH flatly refuses to be silly and over the top. It's characters are very... 'realistic'. I don't mean real, just that they're meant to feel more mature by being more in control. They don't let them interrupt each other for a joke, they don't let a character be potentially OOC for a one off gag like Hop Pop screaming "EAT THE RICH!" or Sprig asking "Have you ever killed a a man, Hop Pop," and I can only think of one time Luz got mad for the sake of a joke and honestly, yelling about the Rusty Smidge barely comes across as a joke because of how genuine the anger feels after a point. Otherwise, stuff that would normally get exaggerated frustration or the like to at least let you laugh at the reaction just... doesn't get one, like how Luz yells about Luzura being killed off but then... Just walks off and is passive aggressive mostly instead of even exasperated. For a drama or romance, this is not a bad approach but for even just an adventure kid's show... It's not great to put it mildly because people meet odd situations with weird levels of nonchalance. Not quite irony poisoned levels but getting there.

It's why TOH is mostly remembered for the romance and drama episodes. Not only do they allow some of the romance scenes to actually include melodrama, they also just fit how the characters act better. It's why Amity has some of the biggest emotions of the series and why Lumity have such great lines between each other because they're actually willing to lean into the sort of genre fiction that they're doing. This is also why S2 works better than S1 because a lot of the pretense of being a comedy adventure gets dropped but like... There's still plenty of boring in S2 with stuff like how Elsewhere Elsewhen takes time travel and includes a couple jokes at the beginning and then is just... horribly bland and barely qualifies as an adventure.

This lack of allowing people to be emotional and jokey also leads to the reliance on comic relief characters. People like Gus, King or Hooty, or S2 Lilith, who the characters can mock in someway, including the writers. Characters who can be the punchline even if it means a lot of people come off a lot meaner than they should, i.e. Luz absolutely rejecting Hooty for the vast majority of the series despite supposedly liking the weird and rejected. That also means that most of the time they're not on screen, either the scene starts getting pretty dry or you have a character suddenly warp to be comic relief, like how Eda gets in some S2 episodes like Elsewhere Elsewhen or Eclipse Lake where suddenly she's MUCH more of a joke than she normally is and also REALLY bad at it too and seeming potentially brain dead for it. Thanks to Them even does this to Amity even though she is probably the last person in the cast to make sense as a sudden clutz.

All of this stuff makes it so that if you go in wanting a kid's show, a fantasy show, ANYTHING that is pitched in the first episode... S1 is going to be just okay to you. I enjoyed it... But I also fell off when I first watched it. I thought the characters were good but none of it stuck with me as actually memorable and I watched until I think Adventure in the Elements. I never was never compelled to come back until Lumity animations (literally THE Little Miss Perfect animatic that is nowadays probably hard to find actually) made me go "I remember this show being neat." And Lumity was what kept me, not because I was generally laughing or calling these episodes something special. In fact, that sense of unsatisfaction is probably why I watched through it faster than Amphibia. No one episode of TOH is really great to watch on its own because... It's just kind of boring, or like half of it is boring because the B plots across the board are SO BLAND. S1 or 2 for that matter since Lumity starts getting boring B plots like with the archives or finding out the author of Azura. Both concepts btw that could have been really interesting setups and instead... If you're not into blushing Amity, get FUUUUUCKED.

That's without getting into REPETITION. Repetition kills comedy so King having one joke for S1 and also taking up like half of the B plots for the first ten episodes means you are going to be in agony eventually anytime someone talks to him because you know where it's going and you have DEFINITELY heard this joke before. And you know, he also gets three repetitive B plots which just hurts the joke even more, even as they try to make twists on it, and hurts the feeling that the show is doing... Anything..

It's just not good. Which is probably why once the characters and the 'subversive/unique' elements of the show both weakened, more and more people left because... Why would you keep watching this then? Those elements are what made up for boring plots with boring execution in a world that didn't allow for more interesting storytelling because it had few ideas and expanded on NONE OF THEM. So of course people pitch it using the elements that say "this isn't like other kids shows/fantasy shows" because if you pitch it to people who like those... They'll just be disappointed eventually and bored quickly. Like i think a lot of people did to be quite honest.

And a lack of creativity, and a lack of genre understanding, isn't something time could have ever fixed.

======+++++======

The short version of proving this point btw is going "Compare Bumi's introductory episode, which is a character giving three trials to prove another's worth, versus when the Bat Queen challenges Luz. One is exceptionally funny, interesting and has genuinely interesting twists while the other is... There. So very there. Painfully just... there. Not even bad, just... There.

Also, yes, comedy is extremely subjective which is why I tried to talk more about how a lot of these premises are boring because that can be a bit more objective.

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

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past.

I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead.

If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[farfromdaylight]

OH I AM SORRY somehow i completely did not see that you had already answered some of these lmao. anyway have some more: 9, 16, 20, 21

NO NO i got a bunch at the same time and answered them together, you just happened to double up! not ur fault at all. THANK U FOR SENDING MORE, i shall tl;dr below!

9: worst part of canon

god i could answer this for so many series, i am always full of salt about Bad Canon.

can i say "most of zero time dilemma?" i know this isn't final fantasy but oh my god, what the fuck was uchikoshi smoking on this one. i thought it was okay but not great when i played through it the first time. when @shepherdtostars played through the series she streamed VLR and ZTD for me and man, ZTD does not fucking hold up lol. like all three games have their low points (especially in gameplay/mechanics/traversal but i'm solely speaking about story here). ZTD's conclusion to the series is fucking stupid at best.

to be slightly more on topic, i have not thought dirge of cerberus was good since i was a teenager with no taste and no understanding of Decent Storytelling and Characterization. (and even then i could recognize some shit was garbage, lmao.)

16: you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

my gut answer for this is zenos, lmao. i think @anneapocalypse summed up a lot of it in her similar response (i'm on mobile rn or i'd link). i think zenos is fine in stormblood itself and his ultimate ending at the close of 4.0 is fantastically done, ties together the narrative themes, etc.

i don't feel that way about endwalker. i don't think it's earned. i struggle with it to the point that i am going to replay stormblood (i haven't replayed it since 2020) and really dig into how i feel about it for my wol's story, then extrapolate from there for an ending that makes sense for endwalker. like i'm genuinely stuck on my 80% complete endwalker fic due to The Zenos Problem.

here's the thing, i don't hate his character trope? ennui is fine for a villain motivation and it ties into the themes of uncaring imperalism that stormblood puts forward. by contrast, i really disliked how zenos carried forward after that in the story. fandaniel didn't work for me. EW zenos didn't work for me. i have no desire to replay endwalker but i've reread and rewatched the scenes enough that i don't think it'll ever really work for me.

which is fine. i know i'm supposed to be choosing violence in this meme but it's fine that This Specific Storyline didn't click. there's a lot else i like instead.

20: part of canon you found tedious or boring

FF14 is too easy an answer for this. I love the game but it has some dead boring story and gameplay structure for MSQ. i have nothing against the character (i thought she was fine) but "speak with wuk lamat" illustrates the problem perfectly no matter how you feel about her. you need variance in the actual gameplay of telling your story, or it becomes too obvious to the player.

it works fine in visual novels and in many ways FF14 is very similar to that medium, but... it's not. it's a RPG. FF14 can't really do much of interest with this kind of thing due to the nature of its setup. i don't expect the kind of genuine exploration and discovery you get in other RPGs from it because it's linear by design. but please hide the bones of the structure so i can focus on enjoying the game.

21: part of canon you think is overhyped

final fantasy vii rebirth dev. square enix

lmao.

i really wish i'd liked it. in so many ways i should have liked it. it clearly, CLEARLY worked for many people. but it didn't work for me. remake was solidly middle of the road, but rebirth? good god, what is nojima smoking these days. why is aerith singing. why is zack here. what the fuck is that ending.

sigh.