#but due to Reasons it just didnt develop further

[aka-indulgence]

🥲 Let me explain! ‘hear me out’ (unconventional/rare)

I don’t think it’s RARE considering he’s from FNaF, I haven’t exactly hid it, and I Know there are people out there who like him too but uhhh still feels like I have to explain it dsfjkhldfjg

I really like DJ music man :’’’)

He’s big, I think he has a cute face, and I really like how terrifying he is 👉 👈 when I first saw him crawling around the tunnels and over the walls I was scared but also!!! Something else??? Then after you finish his section he starts jamming out like in the gif and I remember immediately thinking “Wow that’s so cute. He’s really cute. Wow I like him”

And then Help Wanted 2 came out last year where you have that minigame where he snaps his fingers to start the music, nods his head to the beat, and threateningly approaches the player while he judges their work,,, and I went 😳 what if he like me

I drew art of him earlier this year after watching some playthroughs (that I almost posted) 😭 I think it’s cute if you sat on his hand and he quietly appreciates you… and the little mini music man guys are your friends bc you’re DJ’s favorite human… I mean it’s Giant loves Tiny that’s my jam

I want his bouncer mode to activate while you’re working and you have to shut it down/reset him… he gets really close to you and you think hes going to kill you… but he recognizes you and he breaks out of his programming because look. Favorite human is here. Why was he chasing you, “Hi human :) I love u”

Not to mention he has a boss theme 😎

[bogslob]

I think zukos character development is kinda missing in the live action. In the original he does bad things and hurts people, here they let other people do his part. Just to make him more likeable? Just like taking sokkas sexism away, it's not a bad thing as long as he grows out of it.

Hi, this is so exciting, my very first one of these question thingys.

Okay so I kinda agree with you. I do feel like Zukos anger has been kinda watered down, but he still does bad things and I honestly dont feel like his character changed that much . For example in the cartoon his attack on Aang set Kyoshi on fire and it didnt in the live action and I don’t feel like this has any repercussions on his character because I never felt like it was intentional to set the fire it was just a by product of Zuko trying to capture Aang, and I feel like if it had happened in the live action Zuko would have reacted the same way. I think Zuko never wanted to hurt people, but capturing the avatar was so important to him that if people got hurt on the way so be it, capturing Aang was worth it, but I don’t think in either version he would have hurt people if he could have avoided it.

I think thats what makes Zukos character development possible, he never wanted to cause any harm. I think it’s important that we see that what ever is going on with Zuko he truly cares about people. I think one of the key moments that shows this is when in “the storm” (cartoon) Zuko momentarily gives up on capturing Aang and prioritises his crews safety. I think another key moment was when Zuko attempted to save Zhao from koi-Aang, it seemed so poignant that even when he was the bad guy he would try and save his enemy.

I think it’s his desperation thats missing in the live action. The absolute drive to capture Aang and regain his honour. I think the reason he was willing to put other people in danger is because he valued capturing Aang over all else, at the end of the day, it was Zuko who was in the most danger every time, he was always the one to fight Aang head on. I think this is best evidenced when he swims through the seal holes to enter the northern water tribe. I just don’t feel like live action Zukos heart is truly in it in the same way. I think this is so important for Ozais and Zukos relationship, and without Zuko having this same desperation it seems less plausible that he would re join the fire nation at the end of season 2. We have already seen that the live action Zuko has fought Ozai at the agni kai, which makes me feel like he is allready further on his journey towards rebellion. Although to be fair his lack of desperation may be in part due to the fact that live action Ozai seems to have a slightly better relationship with Zuko, almost seeming proud of him for finding the avatar (although we also have no idea how he acted when he was around Zuko), but he does still burn Zukos face off so I think this is unlikely.

At the end of the day, I think both Zukos loyalty is to the fire nation, but I think in season 1 cartoon Zukos loyalty is to Ozai and live action Zukos loyalty is to his people.

But obviously this is all subjective and from the point of view of someone who has watched the cartoon many times and therefore my opinion is heavily influenced by this. I also feel like live action Zuko may be better than he really was in my brain because honestly he was the only character I liked. I am very curious how someone new to the series would view live action Zuko though.

[asillylittlefish]

this is a little animation i made for one for one of ampasmen on ao3's works, "Drowning in your sea of stars", go check it out!!

an explanation about what is going on is below the cut :]

Okay so this is just going to be me info dumping about this ship, not the fic itself. you can read that on your own if you want to

so first of all, the characters used are Benthomaar, from Seabound (a season of Lego Ninjago, for those who don't know him) and Scott, also from Ninjago, but from the Prime Empire season.

I dont know who started this ship but i love it a lot, even if they dont have a canon interaction (call me delusional, but there are so many other ships like this so shhhh)

i have age headcanons for them, since we never got any confirmations, so i think Benthomaar is around 24 years old and Scott is around 21 (not counting the 30 years he spent inside prime empire)

And yes, if you go with the timeline (which already doesnt make sense), Scott is around 40-50 years old while Benthomaar seems to be around the same age as the ninja, but this is my interpretation of how things happened with Scott, and i dont think anyone could age trapped inside a game where absolutely nothing around ever changes

since he also doesnt seem to be older in the show once he leaves prime empire (atleast thats what it looked like to me), i have no reason to assume that he did age, so yeah, while he legally ages, his body went through no changes (other than his skin and shit) and his mind didnt age either, considering the only interactions he had were always more or less the same. i dont believe those interactions can help your mind grow

If this wasnt understandable or too confusing, i imagine it being sort of similar to Krux and Acronix in season 7. Theyre twins and technically still the same age, but since Acronix travelled through time, he didnt actually age and is thus both younger and the same age as Krux.

So Scott technically aged those 30 years, but couldnt, due to prime empire sort of blocking his body from aging and his mind being unable to develop further

i hope this cleared up any misunderstandings if there were any to begin with!

[beelspillowpet]

Also hate how Lilith is just pretty much a plot device. I don't know what the game is doing now but I hate that she's pretty much there to speedrun a relationship between MC and the brothers.

And that's when MC is already developing a genuine bond with some of them.

But if there are any other instances of her being a plot device, I'd love to hear it.

i do wanna make it clear that this contrived plot point that is lilith does not drive forward the relationship on ALL of the characters. just the most difficult two to really complete the list. i refuse to believe that mammon, satan, leviathan, asmo AND beel didnt care about MC before this turd-bomb of a plot point happened, but i absolutely do believe that is the case for lucifer and belphie for different reasons.

i believe it is a method to sort of "punish" belphie by the games weird rule of telling but not showing. it was the first sign of cowardice on the writing team back then for pulling their punches and taking judgement out of our hands; something they honestly do not often enough and too much at the same time with more mundane things, but with it being a multiple choice type game, options were never really ours to make. just the illusion of it.

by making us the very distant relative of lilith we are punishing belphie for his rash action to anger and and giving us a contrived reason to feel bad for him afterwards. which doesnt work when hes still got the blood on his hands, diavolo hot on his trail, and lucifer coming to his defense.

its a plot point for lucifer because until you earn the trust of all his brothers, he could pretend to care, hell he might even care a teensy bit, but no matter how he feels about you, if there is a shadow of a reason as to how you could betray him and his brothers and use them against their will, there is a shadow of a reason for lucifer to not hesitate to kill you.

picture a scenario where all of the boys save for belphie (and consequently lucifer himself) are forced via their pacts to attack belphie as revenge for him attacking you. with belphie out numbers and his own brothers losing control of themselves to potentially kill him, lucifer would be his last defense against those odds. lucifer is nothing if not cautious and powerful, so he could hopefully subdue his brothers in due time. it also helps that in comparison to lucifer, each of his brothers as you go further down the line have a unique type of fear of him that could in theory ensnare them from continuing their assault on belphie at your command. ie. mammon is really afraid of lucifers wrath and more than anything wasnt to avoid having his credit card taken and being strung up from the ceiling for hours. aside from everyone else in the house, mammon is more powerful than THEM compared to lucifer. then next comes levi, a sort of spineless coward-like person i feel (when it comes to a fight anyway, you basically NEVER see him stand up for himself) and wouldnt want to face lucifer and deal with the punishment of that. and then you go further and further down the list and they get weaker and weaker as we go. satan cant combat lucifers spells, he himself far too busy learning how to cast them rather than protect himself from them. asmo is much like levi in that he would rather not lift a finger, if not for fear of broken nail than broken bone. despite this, he could fold beel like laundry (which still doesnt make sense to me but whatever i guess?) and speaking of beel the guy is built like a truck. hes also the only other one lucifer has physically struck with intention to subdue that was tied to a serious event. and i believe it was more than once at that.

my point being they were very specific and careful about who came in the pecking order, and it was for precaution that lucifer be the one able to straighten them all out in the end.

if there is an MC out there hellbent on destroying belphie, that is a person lucifer will never trust. and so its rather coincidental that in the heat of the moment we choose to forgive belphie, or at the very least put it off, until "months later" since the game jumps ahead in time a LOT since the killing in c.16 and the end of the years program in c. 20.

lilith being our distant relative was for belphie to feel shame, then quickly feel attachment, only for lucifer to see that if we all get along (or perhaps fall in love with belphie in that short period of time for the belphifuckers out there) hes allowed to feel something finally too. or at least let it show more.

so it was a speedrun not for all of the brothers. lucifer, while he wouldnt hesitate in killing you in an instant before belphie got close with you, i wont say didnt feel anything beforehand. he just puts his brothers before anything and everything; something he makes clear time and time again. it was a speedrun ONLY for belphie. lucifer and MC have a sort of slowburn going on, but to say that their relationship is speedran from c.16 onwards is disregarding the little moments beforehand that were special to his character.

as for if and when shes used as a plot point again later, that requires i redownload OG and look around for it there and honestly playing in a pit of spikes sounds more fun than that. playing nightbringer is already such a painful chore....

edit: im also trapped in the early episodes of season 2 bc i flopped so hard at that boring ass gameplay in the first one lol

[mspaintbunny]

whats ur favorite pokemon gen??

thats gotta be the third one! and i know its a cliché to have the first gen you played be your favorite, but what can i say, that developing brain really be susceptible now here's my actual reasons

it is one of my favorite gens competitively, i really enjoy gens 1 and 2's respective metas, but more-so from a distance, they're really volatile and the pacing is not my thing gen 3 retains the classic feel {although the physical/special split WAS a blessing} and has some really interesting and cute stuff going for it and its just before gen 4 with its heatrans, before gen 5 with its eternal weather wars and its genies and its ferrothorns {yes i know sandstorm reigns supreme in gen 3 but thats just another layer of complexity} gotta say tho, gen 6 is when i really got into competitive and ill always have a soft spot for it, i didnt really play gen 8 but i found the last season of vgc interesting, from a distance, and of course im all about the current meta another reason is both kanto and hoenn have what i feel are the best designed regions, in term of how the player progresses through them, there's interesting ideas there that were never really revisited and that were sorely missed in gens 5 to 8 {with credit due to gen 5's and some of 6's route design} i love how the world of kanto worked as a blueprint for the whole franchise and the way hoenn's land and people all work towards furthering its themes, i love secret bases the most gen 3 also has the majority of my favorite pokemon in it, and i'll admit that susceptibility also played a factor there shoutouts to marshtomp and gardevoir and minun and latias and torkoal and nincada and snorunt my babies <3 lots of people {rightfully} complain about how to catch them all you needed to have ALL of the games, including colosseum the lack of gen 2 pokemon is noticeable, but as someone who only knew of the gen 1 anime and of the gen 3 games at the time, that only worked to mystify them in my eyes, and the few chances that there were to actually find them {the sevii islands in frlg and the expansion to the safari zone in emerald} felt all the more special i read on a magazine about how you could get a johto starter in emerald if you completed the regional dex and i fell in love with chikorita then and there i had to find out about celebi even existing and that was mind-blowing lastly, emerald's battle frontier is still the best one idc

[doctor-says-im-alright]

This lacks a heavy degree of nuance and more consideration and this take is a bit strange.

Its not a given. Its not a standard. I dont think Ive ever even really hard it stated as so, not to discredit that you have heard it.

But I will challenge it, its rather discompassionate to say it is jealous abled siblings and peers (not to say those people dont exist, they would fall into a different category Id say… generally selfish assholes, with narcissistic nature. But truly that is a rare category, if it even exists somehow without abuse being part of it).

You can take my family as an example… my little sister was mentally ill. She was rather depressed and had social anxiety, as well as ADHD, she became the “baby.” All the attention went to her, so much so that CPS was calling on us, I was the reason for her illnesses/the scapegoat. She really was mentally ill, and she really was favored, as in my parents took her to get help, harshly punished my siblings and I for behaving as normal siblings.

I have 2 other siblings. My little brother very clearly also had ADHD, a learning disability, and also depressed. He was ignored, and my dad often bullied him badly. My older brother used drugs to cope, and it later came out my little brother self harmed. I also self harmed, was sexually assaulted by a coworker twice my age when I was 16, groomed further by him because there was nowhere for me to go, I was kicked out for them finding out about it rather than helped, I continue to be put down to this day. Mind you I am 24 now, I have been in 12 psych wards in total over a year in just the past 5 years. I asked my dad to look after the family cat recently for me while I was in one and he told me it was too inconvenient.

They were falling over themselves to help my sister with everything. I remember the first time she was in a hospital, last year. First and only time. They felll over themselves to answer her phone calls and be with her. I remember one of my calls they yelled at me for the phone bill, told me they were too busy watching football, etc. she was only in for med adjustments, I was in after failing suicide. They pay for everything for her, while I was actually homeless for months due to being unable to afford anything.

But she was also subject to my parents abuse. She was forced into complete helplessness, unable to learn any skills because my parents decided for her she was incapable. I think a bit of Gypsy Rose, that story, but less severe ofc.

I am not unique. Ive heard many similar stories. I hear your pain, but I see it as the same situation honestly. She probably didnt realize she was favored - because frankly being favored means nothing about being safe from abuse. It is very clear to me anyone expressing how a ill sibling was favored was also mistreated. Like it is very obvious there is neglect and loneliness in there, if not heading all the way up to trauma levels of so. Development time is seriously a damaging time for even the slightest things to be off.

They are miscommunicating it and not being thoughtful enough just the same.

the “parents favor the sick child” stereotype is so utterly fucking untrue . I’ve literally seen parents make their teen kid babysit their 3 younger siblings while getting chemotherapy for aggressive cancer

the myth that when you’re sick you’re given everything you want is such insane made up bullshit 95% fabricated by jealous abled siblings and peers who will go on to disown you the microsecond you don’t get them attention anymore

[eziojensenthe3rd]

Midnight Gaming: If a vampire comes along, You must whip it!

So last night I played Castlevania on NES and Super Castlevania past midnight, checked socials later to find.... Ghost in the shell japanese voice actress Atsuko Tanaka passed away.... aw.

So Ghost in the shell is a pretty, pretty big deal, given its a contributing factor to a lot of the cyberpunk genres notable features as well as projects such as the matrix. The original 1995 film blew the minds of audiences that year and showed what adult animation could accomplish.

Well, the voice actress for the main character was confirmed to have passed away at the age of 61, a woman by the name Atsuko Tanaka. Kindest regards are given to her family on what is a sad day.

Bit of a bummer way to start a post huh? Well that cant be helped I suppose. If you havnt looked into the Gits series, maybe consider giving a look.

So Konami has a pretty bad reputation nowadays, since they've ended up ostracising one of their most notable and well respected developers for... reasons Im not entirely sure, and burning the bridge on gaming to focus on gambling machines, only to start to come crawling back. I wonder about the management of that company and what led them to make such awful decisions. I suppose the release of the castlevania and contra retro bundles and the upcoming silent hill 2 remake looking like it may be good is starting to change some minds but I do hope people never forget the shit they pulled.

So Castlevania? On NES? Generally regarded as a classic on the system and there were times were I've played a bit here or there but never got further than the 2nd stage. I decided for last night, i'd try to beat it without using save states and try to beat it legit. I got to the 3rd stage before I decided to abandon that. Castlevania is hard, of course it was, a lot of games back then were hard. And some folks may try to chime in saying that "gamers" back then were a different breed and had skill.

Thats a fucking lie and I hope enough time has passed that we as a society admit that. It was never about skill, it was memorization, going through sections of a game repeatedly until you learn where all the enemies spawn, where the best items are and whats the best route to take until you're able to complete a game without dying once.

And this was possible because you had more time to dedicate towards beating a game as child, along with having not many games to play at the time. Being an adult with more responsibilities along with a wider selection of games to choose from, means you're not gonna spend a lot of time learning one game. I sure as hell cant, even with save states.

Since the game was on NES, you only had two buttons and a dpad. So naturally you can only whip left and right with using items requiring you to hold up and pressing b. The game does demand some precision since a good number of enemies in the game tend to be small like the medusa heads, ravens and the hunchbacks. Those bastards were an absolute pain to deal with, especially since the whip has a slight delay in the attack animation. It doesnt come out immediately, belmont does a wind up first then a whip so if a projectile was coming towards and you whip too late, you'll get hit before you whip and you'll feel like a twit.

I made it to Dracula phase one before I just gave up, I didnt feel like banging my head against that wall tonight. Since it was yet midnight at that point I decided to switch to Super Castlevania from the SNES, A game I first played on the wii through Virtual Console. And man, Super Castlevania just feels so much nicer to play.

A main arguement for why older games were difficult was due to the rental market. If you rented a game and beaten it, you werent likely to buy it which does mean less revenue for the publisher. And games were fairly short to complete if you knew how to beat them so upping the difficulty seemed like a nobrainer way to pad the length. But overtime games got bigger, stories more grander and worlds more expansive. So I guess overtime that necessity was being used less and less overtime, as developers were able to build bigger and bigger games. Atleast thats what I think.

But Super Castlevania just feels a lot nicer to play for two big reasons. One being that the difficulty was toned down a bit and feels a bit more fair. Before, you had to know where turkey legs were hidden to recover health from your mistakes but here, you can also get a small chicken leg either from a candle or dropped from an enemy to recover a small bit of health. Less than the wall turkey but still health recovery nonetheless and therefore, a bit more allowance for mistakes. Still has its challenge though especially in the platforming but there were less occasions were I felt it was bullshit.

Second is that it controls way, way better since you can whip in 8 directions. EIGHT. Left, right, straight up, diagonally up on left or right, you can even jump and whip down. And if you held the button down, you can keep the whip out and twirl it. Lil noodle. Lil vampire killer noodle.

Items in both games are useful and becomes situational in some cases. The crosses and stopwatch were essential to get through a lot of sections in NES were in Super, I just stuck with the crosses especially since I have the upgrades for them. On the subject of items, it becomes another challenge just to keep an item you wanted. If you end up dying, you lost that item and if you got it before a checkpoint, you aint getting it back unless you game over. And if not that, its when you whip a candle and another item drops, you'd need to be careful not too stand too close to a candle and wait for the item to despawn before you go foward.

I stopped Super when I was at the clocktower because it was already past midnight and I didnt want to spend more time up just to finish it but I atleast feeling pretty pleased. I didnt feel that way when I dropped Castlevania on NES.

One final note before I wrap it up, the Castlevania retro collection I have on switch has a number of the classic games before Symphony of the Night, the nest trilogy, Super castlevania, the genesis game and the Game boy ones. The game boy being regarded as not being too great The sames one that got remakes on the Wii through wiiware but never got ported anywhere else, not even for this collection. You know what you got instead? Kid Dracula... Kid Fucking Dracula......... Konami is Konami I suppose....

Anyways, thank you for reading, I will see you tomorrow. Feel free to leave game suggestions and/or feedback, anons are currently on.

[mbti-notes]

Hi mbti, i am an ENFP. I seem to have no problems with close friends and my wife but i have problems with more "surface" relationships and i cannot seem to "fake it" as well as the rest. What is wrong with me? I think this issue stems from teenage trauma where i was backstabbed by a very fake narcissist. He was very two faced and spreaded lies about me to the masses and tried to steal my girlfriend. I placed a lot of trust in the wrong person and got betrayed. The problem is that it became a

[con't: mental block. This is so stupid, i want to be able to be myself and be a better conversationalist to people, not just close friends or wife! Ps - another thing that makes me annoyed that i cannot fake it is this: i was talking to many friends and they mentioned wealthy high income earners who are working jobs they hate but still succeeded. I dunno if this is mbti related but this is sooo annoying! I am a high income earner myself but it is due to passion in my field and dedication. It is an inseparable part of my identity. IF i was ever in a profession i hated, it would show immediately and i would get kicked out. Which didnt happen.]

There are two issues to address:

1) Ego Development Problems: When people are at low levels of ego development, they do not see the world objectively. They are only able to see the world through the distorted lens of their unresolved ego dramas/traumas of the past. This woeful lack of objectivity should be of particular concern for NFPs because of the primacy they give to their past experiences when formulating their worldview. Having a distorted worldview enables faulty beliefs and poor decision-making.

For instance, your negative relationship experience of the past has led you to see new people as a potential threat to be defended against. You aren't able to show who you really are or see people for who they really are, so on what basis can you develop a healthy and satisfying relationship with them? Your past pain has hijacked your mind because, when you believe your "feelings" are an accurate representation of reality, you have no reason to question them, let alone act against them. You dutifully obey their every command to hide, evade, or run.

Worse yet, instead of doing the work of resolving and letting go of your past, the strategy you believe you should resort to is "faking it", which leads you even further away from your purported goal of having good relationships with people (a symptom of Te loop). When you wear a mask, nobody can see who you really are, which shields you from the pain of being hurt, but it also blocks you from forming meaningful connections - it is an unhealthy defense mechanism. You have made the choice, again and again, to forsake connection because you give first priority to your past pain during the decision-making process (a symptom of Si grip).

You have put the mental block in place and it is up to you to remove it by facing up to your pain and putting it in the right perspective. You call the block "stupid", as though you're smart/aware enough to know what's up, but it is just an empty performance as long as you keep choosing to let past pain run your present life. I have already written a lot about getting closure on the past, see the tags page.

2) Function Development Problems: Immature/unhealthy FPs generally suffer from self-esteem issues due to Fi development problems. Instead of facing up to those issues, it's easier for them to deflect and shift the focus onto others. It's quite common for FPs to blame/envy/resent others for the things they can't get a good grip on in themselves - their judgmentalness is a clear window into their soul. This is how FPs contribute to their stereotype of being moralizing and self-righteous.

Because you struggle with this issue of "faking it" and project it out into the world, all you see around you is how others fake it, without acknowledging how presumptuous and insulting it is to judge people like that. Are you claiming to understand people's inner thought processes when they make big decisions, or are your judgments entirely tainted by your own struggles with "authenticity"?

For instance, have you considered the fact that many people do not have the socioeconomic means to make their job "an inseparable part of their identity"? Have you considered the fact that different people approach life differently and some do not need/want to make their job a part of their identity because it would be unhealthy for them to do so? Failure to consider multiple possibilities reflects poorly on your Ne development.

You seem to equivocate about whether "faking it" is good or bad, but it's apparent you consider it bad. You chose the word "fake" which has obviously negative connotations, and you try to place yourself on moral high ground by claiming you are incapable of "fakeness". By concocting this moral hierarchy between yourself and others, you actively destroy the empathy you need for encouraging deeper mutual understanding, thus sabotaging your purported goal of having good relationships with people.

///

In short, ego development and function development issues have come together to form the bigger problem of you not having the courage to be yourself, which leads you to have an unhealthy fixation on anyone who can't be themselves as you define it. This is a great example of having a distorted worldview.

One of the main purposes of learning about different personality types is to understand, accept, and honor individual differences. Instead of treating new people as individuals, with the trust, openness, and understanding they deserve at the start of a relationship, you allow your negative feelings and distorted judgments to take over and corrupt the socializing process.

Healthy Fi:

You fully accept yourself.

You admit your limitations and weaknesses.

You are sincere and authentic.

You trust your feelings to guide you well.

You have good moral judgment.

You always make an effort to better understand and appreciate what makes people unique and different.

You actively make space for everyone to express themselves authentically.

You take people's behavior in stride because you set and enforce appropriate emotional boundaries.

You need not depend on others for validation because you understand that self-worth comes from within.

Unhealthy Fi:

You frequently struggle with shame or self-reproach.

You fear having your limitations and weaknesses exposed.

You try to avoid/deny/circumvent the truth about yourself.

You are driven by unresolved negative feelings and emotions.

You have questionable/problematic moral judgment.

You can't understand those who are different from you and cast them in a negative light as necessary to soothe your ego.

You are afraid to be yourself (and feel jealous when others are braver than you).

You take people's behavior too personally whenever it triggers your low self-esteem.

You are deeply afraid of being invalidated and feeling like a nothing or nobody.

For ENFPs, socializing successfully requires developing mature Ne and healthy Fi, as per the Type Dev Guide. It seems like you have lots of work to do.

[dailypearldoodles]

Pearl designs ramble? 👀

Yes!!!

Ok so

my goal for designing pearl was 'a totally normal human', because i like the idea of like, being human to compliment her soup groupmates, but also shes pretty unhinged how can she even be human. so she has a lot of little traits on a very human body, i guess

i also incorporated a bit of her like timeline into it, so some of her traits developed over time as she visited different smps. most of them developed in hermitcraft because hermitcraft is weird like that

she gained extra eyes in Evo, her lava-lamp skin markings are due to the withering effect in legacy, she got her wings and antenna when she first came to hermitcraft, her eyes started matching the phases of the moon around when the mooners came to be, and her white particle flecks emerged when she summoned the onyx deer. in my first proper design of her (not on this blog) i went further to add fungi growing on her skin because of her alien base (but that takes too much time to draw too many small details lol)

and if you're wondering why she has pointed ears, its because i also headcanon her to once have been a zelda like how grian was once a link. and also because i like to draw characters with pointed ears

evo smp pearl, there are so many gradients going on lmao i had to tone it down a bit. her hoodie design is done by clipping a multiply cloud layer to some airbrushing. her eyes are black for some reason! and also she has extra eyes because...watchers? maybe? pearl in evo smp didnt give me like, a consistent theme to work with. like nothing stood out to me. i probs would have given her some flowers and bird friends if those werent destroyed by the watchers midway through the smp and she switched to a different build style. and thats fine! there was just no one or two things that really stood out that couldve been probably incorporated into her design in some way, so her design is kind of plain

a build a day pearl, is just based off of her youtube and twitch banner, plus the extra eyes from evo. in hindsight i probably should've given her flowers as well. Her eyes have changed back to white, but they become black at night like evo. this is probably the closest to her irl appearance that ill draw lmao

legacy smp pearl, i just watched all of her legacy episodes yesterday XD if you look closely, you can see red hearts and a red x on her eyes and mouth. theyre supposed to be correspondent to the 'blood night' and 'cant say name of item' events (the second of which wasnt very well adhered to lmao). Also, post-apocalyptic! I was very happy to make her design as asymmetric as possible. the withering effect plus the post-apocalyptic setting caused the lava-lamp markings to develop. OH YES she also has mechanical wings that resemble moth wings! i couldn't quite fit it into the drawing but they are based off of the optifine elytra, which with the two 0's look a lot like moth wings and pearl noted that herself in the video so yeah that exists. ill draw them sometime! on the base level, her design is pretty similar to hermitcraft pearl because its just an older version of her current skin, so her hair shading is chunkier and more, i guess crystalized like Pearlescentmoo's hair

empires smp pearl! definitely the most different pearl from all the others because i dont see this pearl in like the same timeline or time period as the others. like, evo, a build a day, legacy, hermitcraft and kind of traffic life but thats a bit complicated, those are all designs of the same pearl just at different time periods. empires smp is probably a different pearl entirely, mostly because 'gestures to her empires smp lore' oh yeah she has freckles. because i say so. and i think theyre cute. she has little crescent moon pupils in her eyes

traffic life pearl, or more specifically double life pearl. her skin markings have changed a little to match her deranged self, and also did you know that lightup combat boots exist, because they do, and i love that. Her hair flecks are longer and sharper, and her antenna are supposed to resemble horns. All of her eyes are open at all times. ive played with the idea that the traffic life world like, exists beyond the bounds of time progression in the other series, so maybe the players in the world would be from different eras. also tilly <3

hermitcraft pearl, she gets her wings! her wings are based off of the mimosa pearl moth, very pretty. her hair shading is smoother like the style of her current skin. i also tried to be consistent with this, but her hair is also similar to her eyes in that it kind of changes through day and night. during the day, there are more lighter parts of her hair, and at night there are more darker parts. you can probably see it if you scroll through the more recent doodles. of course, her left shoe is very fancy velcro sketchers courtesy of anon on day 43 both shoes are still untied, you cant stop me

the number one important thing about pearls design /j are her lil hair feathers on the top of her head! because they match with grian's. and i like skysiblings a lot. (on a side note, grians hair is the same shade as pearl's highlights)

yeah i think thats it thanks for reading my rambles :D

[mama-mia-its-mia]

This is a big long ramble but at the very bottom is my final answer with a 1 scentance explanation.

First we have to figure out what of pon farr is, is it

A strictly biological drive, therefore cut off from their telepathy/emothons

A release of mental pressure/emotional pressure gained from their telepathy or

A mix of the two

Personally, I think its 3.

It started out as a physical drive pre-Surak but functioned much like our own hormone cycles do - specifically womens cycles seem to be the most similar, though not by much - plus the need to further the development of your clan, it makes sense for the other party to be procreated with. AND I think theres a little bit of telepathy involed too. You're a telepath in a war-like and high-anger society, at least some of that has to seep into your brain and make you a bit crazy.

Then, post-Surak I think that the emotions/telepathy switched with the physical drive. You're a probably-repressed, highly emotional person with such a tight hold on the sand that is emotions that they seep through your fingers. Couple that with telepathy (while also tightly controlled) that specifically focuses on others' emotions? Has to be hell on the psyche and there has to be a release of tention at some point, which is where pon farr comes in. The biological drive is still the foundation, but I believe that the form of it has changed through Vulcan societal development. Ill bring proof for this in a sec.

However, the reciving party no longer has to be procreated-with because the 'clan' loyalty idea no longer exists.

Also take into account a few other details

Female Vulcans also go through Pon Farf

Modernday pon farr is done with a specific bondmate that the Vulcan has had since childhood

Kal-if-fee can end pon farr

Intesive meditation can end pon farr

So if both men and women go through pon farr, its most likely not a 'i must procreate' though that could play into it.

If kaliffee can end a pon far NOW but didnt pre-surak (canon) why does it now? That goes back to one of my other points: it implies after a certain level of agression is released, the Vulcan regains control - ergo emotions are more involved rather then it being specifically a drive

Same with intensive meditation - and I hate to do this but we have to figure out what Vulcan meditation is like. They can, from what Tuvok (who tried to use this method) and Tpol specifically have implied, bring up detailed scenes in their mind and 'control' them (an ocean that YOU must calm - Tpol) or use them to order their thoughts (each star as a thought - Tuvok) while meditating. So its a way to order and control thoughts and (presumably) emotions. Again, more evidence that pon far relies on emotions more than the biological drive in modernday.

Theres also the bondmate thing which was introduced post-Surak which could go either way in the emotions vs. Drive debate but puts a snitch in there where Vulcans 'logically' want to make more Vulcans so they do male-female matches rather then homosexual matches. (We also dont know if they do it according to procreation or mental attunment of the kids to one another (also fucking wild but I vibe))

Please note that I am in no way a Vulcan historian and just an avid Star Trek fan

So I don't think it would be possible for a pre-Surak male Vulcan to go through pon farr with another male Vulcan due to clan pressures and just general Vulcan society (personally I imagine it like the medieval times, gay sex happened, but they certainly werent getting married about it). But i do think a post-Surak male Vulcan could go through pon farr with a male Vulcan but won't because abovementioned argument in bondmate paragraph because its based more on emotions then pre-Surak pon farr seems to be. So the whole question rests on wether or not bondmates are tested for if theyd be mentally aplicable for each other or if theyre male-female for reproduction reasons.

(And knowing Star Trek writers its probably repro reasons)

Also we dont know that much about pre-Surak Vulcan, this is just speculation on the tid bits we're given.

Final answer: Yes!

The gay Vulcans could fuck if they wanted because Pon Farr is based more in the release of emotions then the actual act of sex or reproduction.

Now I debated with my dad if gay vulcans would have sex with male vulcans or females during pon Farr. (both big fans of star trek)

[supernova-151]

violetta season two: final thoughts

hiiiiiii. so. season two is over huh. damn. what the hell!!!! this feels like the end of an era. i started s2 in march and finished just the other day which...i think doesn't reflect well enough just how much i think this is technically the best season of the show. the plotlines are powerful, the characters go through real growth and are interesting, and it's actually unpredictable! there are plot twists, people! so. lets go through it like we did the first time: storylines, characters, ships, songs. you ready? i sure am(n't)

storylines

alright, so, let's get this out of the way: this season's villains are easily among the most multifaceted characters of the series. there is no "big baddie", in my opinion everything feels very real. the conflicts are human and the choices the characters make (not all the characters but we'll get there) feel grounded and sensical to their development. so much so that when you take these season's new villains (diego, esmeralda) and compare them to the regular s1 ones (ludmila, jade) you definitely feel that...you're watching a show that is growing up with its audience, you know? like you KNOW how much i love my girls but there's a tone shift there that is hard not to notice. despite all the new cast introductions and just how much we are working with, the season never feels particularly stuffy, and for one reason or another i found myself enjoying most of the plotlines. my glaring, impossible to ignore issue was with the jeremias storyline. it completely ruined that middle of the season and i didn't feel the desire to continue watching as much because of it. fortunately i stuck through it once and i can do it again, still...mid-season 2 is not exactly my favourite. despite this, first and last 15-20 episodes? i love them sm. the first ones bc the campiness of s1 gradually shifts into something else (and im not here saying s2 isn't campy but, you get me) and it has some absolutely stellar episodes in my opinion (the sleepover? fran's birthday???? though i think that's further than first 20 but we'll let it slide). and the last ones just bc i love the conclusions this season has for the characters: gregorio and diego, violetta and struggling to find her love for music again, ludmila and the weight of her actions starting to weigh down on her...it's (you guessed it!) a lot for my little heart!!!

(just bc i want to mention it, the racism plotlines were really not it though. the Chinese restaurant was in no way, shape or form influential to the plot so completely unnecessary stereotypes. and well, we all know why the esmeralda/german wedding was edited so. awful awful awful, but still, we should acknowledge it exists as much as it sucks. yikes.)

characters

last time i didnt properly introduce this, but i think with such a big ensemble we should divide the characters into three categories: hall of fame (my besties, my best friends, the yassiests), hall of shame (disappear off the face of the earth immediately or face my wrath rn), and in memoriam (one time thing, but we love you anyway). characters i don't mention are just the ones i have nothing to say about.

onto the hall of fame!

vilu stays a likeable and real main character once more. like im sorry i do not get the s1-2 vilu hate she is literally the main character???? like do you want the plot to just stay stale forever??? of course she's gonna make questionable choices! what are we even talking about. but my baby goes through SO MUCH this season, from angie to german to diego one right after the other like it was getting capital b Bad for my capital b Bestie there and im so so glad she found herself again in the end. her growth is so admirable, so much so that then s3 happens and everyone's like ???? but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

i have previously mentioned how i thought fran didn't get to shine properly in s1 due to a certain annoying whiny pissbaby nobody misses, but HELLO????? s2 opens the door for a much funnier, smarter and, let's face it, better character. i LOVE fran, she's one of my favourite characters! she gets her boytoy this season and it's what she deserves!!! and i love the fact that she canonically gets recognition from people around her for her voice because. HELLO. HER VOICE. ma'am i am completely head over heels for you. my Italian sister i ALWAYS said that

cami stays in this section. no need to explain why. i am so mad she gets so screwed over in the love department, but she is so so funny and the traffic light book was so 😭😭😭 when i stop and think about it realistically, i am probably personality-wise the most like cami, so i love to see that unhinged chaos...makes me feel represented yknow. well. i mean.

if we're talking chaos. let's open up this discussion. is ludmila ok? do we as a society need to create a trust fund to get this girl to therapy? probably. does she remain the most entertaining, off-the-rails, pathetic little bitch of the series? like why are you even asking me that. i said it in my s1 post, ill say it here: you can't like violetta as a show and not like ludmila. unfortunately she gets shot directly into your DNA and you cannot possibly escape from her. no matter how much you try. NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU TRY. i need this girl's confidence. i need her mentality in life cause this girl is always so sure she is the smartest in the room and it cannot be further from the truth and im sorry it is SO SO funny help. s3 is a rollercoaster for her so i am glad she's getting some rest rn. she'll need it.

speaking of characters you can't not like, naty remains my skrunkly ever. my babygirl. my little baby. i love her in ways the human mind will never understand. i want her to destroy me. she's in her emancipation era and i am cheering from the sidelines. she is MY hero. she is MY queen. she gave me the finest jealousy plotline she could. she gave me that damn drums scene and...lord have mercy on my soul. the best. THE best

leon, you, my man, are a powerful bitch. you are THAT bitch and you know it. iconic, spectacular, not ever been done before. he is the bi representation we always deserved. he is currently raising all of your standards and doing it flawlessly. nothing else to say. stay totally mental for us

and diego complements that perfectly. he is the insufferable bitch to leon’s irritability and he is unstoppable and he is a menace to society and i hate him and he is a lot but like. he is OUR trash raccoon yknow. like he is the worst but we collectively decided to leave food out the door so he doesn’t have to keep ravaging our bins. you get what i mean.

marco is here everyone clap!!!! pathetic meow meow!! this boy is wonderful he is corny as all hell but he is so sweet. and i love him dearly. i love this for us as a society we needed a marco i think.

angie…now i’m going to say something controversial yet brave cause you KNOW i love angie so so much…but i think she should’ve stayed in france THERE I SAID IT. i’ll come back to this when i get to it in s3 but i really don’t like how after a while her plot is only exclusively jeremias/german related. with the decision to leave her life behind (and with that the toxic mindset that was keeping her trapped) the fact that she comes back in s3 and goes down THAT route again...is just very sad to me. i think she should've maybe come back for a few episodes in s3, slay the house down and put german in his place as she always does, and then keep living her best life in France.

jade has done NOTHING WRONG EVER. NOTHING WRONG EVER!!!!!! SAY IT WITH ME NOTHING. WRONG. EVER. good, let's move on.

gregorio gets the most memorable arc in the shape of a mid-life crisis that culminates in somehow becoming the best dad in the series. and we love to see it! my absolute beloved and once again, rodrigo pereira gives his most and i can only watch in awe. i don't trust people who don't like gregorio it has to be said.

parodi i am so sorry. i am so so sorry. you have no idea how sorry i am. i guess it happens to the best of us.

antonio is as always the only sane man in a world of crazy people. iirc at a certain point someone tells him (maybe dufre but im not sure) that he should open a whole new studio with new teachers and he's like. ABSOLUTELY NOT THIS IS MY CIRCUS!!! antonio my absolute beloved i am treasuring all the time I've got left with you because i love you so so much

and to no one's surprise, my favourite stays and will stay my queen, my legend, my moment, miss lena vidal. everyone clap for lena. she gets her 3-4 fun little episodes, brings the house down with her vocals, reads EVERYONE to filth and just leaves again. the MVP. THE MVP!!!!!

and now, the hall of shame. but like it's always the same three men so.

german has no excuse to do the shit he does this season. and you'd think after the jeremias fiasco he like, chills down and learns from his mistakes?? absolutely not, he makes scenes in front of HER DAUGHTER'S CLASSMATES bc she won a contest and is travelling to another country. he wants to hire a BODYGUARD???? WTF???? unforgivable piece of garbage who needs to get as far from his daughter as humanly possible. your little piano moment won't work with me old man! you are a menace to society!!! get help!!!!!

i think we all agree with the fact that we should lock matias in a jail cell and lose the key. gaslighter gatekeeper manipulator mansplainer. AND HE GETS A HOT GIRLFRIEND????? UNDESERVEDDDDDD.

it's not marotti's worst season but i am a marotti hater so he should be included here. what are you gonna do, sue me? make me sign an NDA?

unfortunately pablo has to be moved to this section for this season. he is insufferable and rude and uncaring towards the people who need him the most and does absolutely nothing to fix or recognise his mistakes??? he gets a little better in the end but he is so nonsensical and suchhh a hypocrite. wdym angie can't leave because of family emergencies but jeremias can come and go as he pleases???? ASS!

dufre irritates me so im putting him here too

in memoriam of my sweet princesses:

lara, you were just a cool little mechanic. got swept up in probably the messiest couple drama of buenos aires and we respect you so much for leaving we really do, you deserve the world. esmeralda, MY GOD WHAT A SMART AND LAYERED CHARACTER. i am unapologetically in love with you. you were not campy enough to survive the season i fear. still waiting for your epic revenge plan against the lafontaines, i would love to see it. i so so wish we had an update on you- i wish you and your messy iPad kid the best. and jackie...you did not deserve s2 pablo i am so sorry. in the end, you probably only wanted the best for your uncle. were you still unnecessarily mean at times? yeah but i mean, you looked hot during it so. ok but for real i don't like how they just get rid of her character because they clearly had no idea what to do with her anymore, and she gets to be the "crazy girlfriend" when she had every right to be doubtful of pablo's relationship with angie!!!! jackie i see you i understand you and i love you. we'll meet again some sunny day but PLEASE stop doing that weird jump dance move it haunts my nightmares i swear. ana, every day i remember you're not a fever dream i have to stop and think about it. you, YOU are the undisputed chaos god.

ships

let's as always start with canon (as in happened during the season), and then non-canon (it was real TO ME).

leonetta remain as always THE canon ship for me. as much as i can not enjoy or care for side ships and endgames, leonetta always always set the standard and my god......the lengths these two will go to for each other is impressive yall. impressive. they're everything. and once again, im enjoying them before s3 comes and destroys them again.

also dieletta is there! it's a ship i enjoy exactly with what it is: it has its sweet moments but...diego was the antagonist of the season. that was the whole point. they have an interesting run and they ARE cute but the way they break it off it's pretty much impossible for me to imagine them ever working together in a romantic environment again. am i explaining myself correctly? probably not. whatever, you get it.

on the note of enjoying a ship for what it is, leonara had a good run too. i felt even more with my rewatch that lara knows that leon's heart is never truly in it, though, and that makes me feel so sad for her. she truly deserves better - not in the sense that leon wasn't a good boyfriend for her, simply because she doesn't deserve to be plunged in the middle of the messiest exes to lovers plotline ever.

marcesca i enjoy even only because fran gets someone GOOD who loves her and her only. but they're cute too so i actually enjoy them a lot. HE LEARNED ITALIAN FOR HER. HE FLEW TO MADRID FOR HER. omg their HUGSSSSS. you two will always have a special place in my heart.

fuck it, i'll say it: late brodmila s2 rights!!! those last few episodes with their over-the-top antics, from the "let's pretend we don't know each other" act to the trials (?????) to them just finally accepting how they're so different but similar at the same time??? AND THAT HUG AT THE END???? im not ready to talk about it actually its a lot. i found myself liking cami/seba in this rewatch, too, but the way they conclude that storyline absolutely sucks and though i do not enjoy s3 brodmila in my head i pretend everything is alright at the moment. once again, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

naxi are once again really cute! good for them happy for them! i won't go too much into it just cause i don't wanna start anything, but i don't really like their back and forth at the end of the season and how maxi goes from trusting to not trusting her one ep to the other. still. good for them happy for them.

fedemila are also really cute! i think i realised my problem with them is just that i don't like nor care for fede as a character very much 😭 he does a lot and is SO nice and supportive and we thank him for his service but idk. i tried really hard this time around but i still am completely neutral about him. sorry to this man. thank you for giving us the binary star metaphors though, that was absolutely epic of you. ludmila was READY right there in the fish tank i still find that so funny

and hey. let me mourn caxi for a second. i am the self proclaimed number one caxi enjoyer and i like to live in my little bubble of whatifs. they were something don't you think so. roaring twenties tossing pennies in the pool. and if my wishes came true.........it would've been caxi endgame OR AT LEAST A BETTER STORYLINE. DO IT PROPERLY OR DONT DO IT AT ALL!!!!!

german and matias ships deserve absolutely no rights and thus i won't speak about them. on the same note, pablo/jackie too. im sorry, she deserved better.

onto the non-canon and hey, i know what you're here for.

nothing else to say. NEXT!

s2 is referred as THE franletta season and damn it you are all so right for that. the babygirls. the besties. they love each other so, so much. the Italy storyline was A LOT. fran couldn't bear thinking of her life without vilu AND VILU DID EVERYTHING TO KEEP FRAN WITH HER AND FRAN CAME TO HER FIRST WHEN SHE KNEW SHE WAS STAYING!!!!! they're wonderful. they're magical. they're perfect and they're holding hands rn

oh, have to mention: fran/ana? i am intrigued. i would like to see it. the vision has opened itself to me and i am visioning it. we shall see.

cadmila gave me a lot this season and i have to thank them anyway cause they're always on my mind for one reason or another but shh. let's all pretend they hate each other and didn't make out on stage during 2x80 si es por amor (which we very conveniently didn't get to see. hmm.)

shoutout to the biest couple ever dieleon. OHO, BISEXUALITY WON INDEED. it's about the touches, the nods, the tension, the stares, and no one told you to get that close to each other yknow. but that's your thing you do you kings.

jadangie have little to no interaction this season but hey, if us jadangie truthers had to go off of canon interactions only we would be nowhere right now. however, shoutout to the greats of this season! jadesmeralda (who i love love love and think of constantly) and angie/jackie (hard to keep in mind that they're not canonically exes). and also, because i thoroughly enjoy jade stealing the toxic men in her life's women, jarodi. it was good for me as a jade enjoyer this season.

songs

i must've said it a million times by now but it begs repeating: season 2 is, UNDOUBTEDLY, the best season music-wise. i LOVE these songs to bits. not even close. but let me illustrate this in a tier list because my feelings are many and my braincells are few. (please not that even the ones i put at the bottom i still love lol yes the season is that good)

in conclusion: season two is one hell of a season. i knew i was gonna have my fun with it and aside from a couple of issues i definitely did. and i hope you had your fun too following along! just to put things in perspective, i have around 580 posts tagged for s1 and nearly 1k for s2 💀 and oh my friends, my friends...imagine how s3 will be for me. im looking forward to it in the way that im going to be completely insane over it, and i mean it. COMPLETELY.

but for now, this is iris violetta s2: electric boogaloo, signing off 🫡

[bridgyrose]

Alright, time for the post that no one asked for! Which ship had more development between Bmblby and Blacksun!

Gonna preface a few things first: I dont particularly ship either ship, so I'm going to do this with as little bias as possible.

This is only over the first 3 volumes, so anything after the fall of Beacon isnt taken into consideration right now.

And the rules are as follows:

First, winking will not be considered. Since people keep saying a wink isnt inherently confirming of a relationship, I'll ignore any winks and judge the scenes based on the content.

Second, scenes will be judged by whether or not you could replace any character and still get the same effect. (the more you can replace, the better in my opinion)

And lastly, since I keep seeing this coming up as well, the only evidence I will consider for absolute confirmation is of any sort of kiss in the first 3 volumes. Although, its going to feel a bit rushed and out of nowhere since the first 3 volumes takes place over 4-6 months at best.

Without further ado... everything will be under the cut.

Starting with Vol 1, after re-watching, there really wasn't any build up to either ship. Which, doesnt surprise me considering that Sun doesnt show up until the end of Vol 1 and the entirety of that volume is centered around introducing the characters, the world in which they live, and just general ideas on what it's like being a huntsman academy. But there are still a few scenes to note in vol 1:

Initiation: Its a quick blur, but you can see Blake rush across the screen once we see Yang walking through the forest. At that point, its safe to assume that Blake had already made her choice on who she wanted, which is further implemented with Blake helping Yang out with an Ursa.

Its safe to assume that between talking with Ruby the night before and seeing hearing how what she thought of Yang didn't quite match her thoughts.

Our next scene comes to Sun and his infamous "slow-mo wink introduction." As per the rules, I'm ignoring the wink and going straight off the content of the scene itself. Which, doesnt leave much. We know he pinpoints Blake as a faunus very quickly and he has some sort of infatuation with her, but the scene alone doesnt give us much.

However, that one does lead into the end of the Vol: Blake runs off from her friends and takes her bow off to finally show us her ears. At which point, Sun comments that he knew she'd look better without it. So that already shows that 1) Sun definitely pinpointed Blake being a faunus early on, and 2) he wanted to talk to her and this provided the right opportunity. Or... so he thought. Especially since the next scene opens up with him half complaining that they've spent 2 days together and all she's done is make small talk.

Which is all pretty on par for Blake. She then spends the next bit talking about her past, how she was pretty much born into the White Fang, stayed with it after it went from peaceful protests to more anger filled, until leaving Adam just a few months ago. After all of this, Sun asks if she's told her friends, to which we can assume she answers no to, you know, since she ran. Overall, it ends up leading Sun into going a bit gung-ho about helping Blake with the White fang.

Overall, Vol 1 did well to start putting together dynamics between Blake and her friends. Sun and Yang both make different impressions on Blake, both of which she ends up seeing as friends... for now.

Vol 2, is a bit of a strange one. Our first introduction to Beacon is Sun basically telling Neptune how cool team RWBY is, emphasizing a bit on Blake. Which does end up bringing us to the meat of the first half of vol 2: Blake worrying over the White Fang. Now, because of this, we dont see any build up between Blake and Sun or Blake and Yang while they go around town to figure out what the White Fang and Torchwick are up to. Sun makes a good point that Blake shouldnt go to the rally alone, and the two pair off while Yang goes to the club with Neptune.

Once the dance arc comes along, that's where things take an interesting turn. Sun immediately asks a sleep deprived Blake to the dance, in probably the most awkward way since he's trying to say the dance is lame, but would be less lame if the two of them went together.

Sun definitely cares about Blake and actively tried to help her calm down a bit. Which, ultimately, she never says no, just that she doesnt have time for a dance. So, I give this one a +1 in points for build up.

Then, we get to the burning the candle speech. Which, a lot of people seem to write off as either pointless or not build up. Personally, it gets a +1 in points on build up for me on this. First, Yang is absolutely worried about her partner, seeing her go down the same path she did when she was much younger. She immediately starts by telling Blake that she doesnt want her to stop, just to slow down and take a breather. And she ultimately makes a strong point: slowing down isnt a luxury, its a necessity.

This also end s up being the first time we see Yang open up and drop the party girl demeanor that she's had. She talks about her mother, someone that she doesnt talk to many people about, and just how much it hurt her to find out that Raven left shortly after she was born.

After an emotionally charged discussion, we finally see the point that Yang had been trying to get Blake to see:

And it finally does work. Blake slows down, takes a rest, and ultimately enjoys herself at the dance. Which, in her own words, she technically goes with Sun.

Overall, the dance arc in general gives great build up to both ships. Which ultimately is the end for the Black Sun build up.

Bmblby doesnt get much more build up in vol 2, the only other notable scene being the campfire where Yang, Blake, and Weiss start opening up a bit more to each other to figure out why each of them are becoming huntresses. Which absolutely gives a bit more foundation to the friendships they have.

Vol 3 ends up having most of the build up between Blake and Yang. The first major scene being after Yang was disqualified for breaking Mercury's leg. When Yang finally asked her team if they trust her, Blake is the only one who doesnt immediately say yes, instead, saying she wants to. Leading us to this face from Yang:

(yes, I know, captions are a bit off, deal with it.)

But Yang ends up being distressed by her own partner saying that she wants to trust, but doesnt yet. Blake ultimately ends up opening up about Adam, telling us how she used to trust him... until accidents started piling up. Eventually, she looks at Yang and asks her to look her in the eye and tell her she didnt do anything wrong. When Yang does, Blake allows herself to trust Yang.

Which then brings us to the biggest piece of buildup between the two: Adam. When Adam shows up, he starts using words like "my darling", hammering in that at one point, the two had something going on. He decides immediately he wants to hurt Blake just like she hurt him by leaving. But what really hammers in Blake's feelings for Yang, is the fear she had on her face when she heard Yang's voice not so far away... and right where Adam can hear her. It doesnt take long for Adam to look down at Blake, notice the fear, and then look in the direction of Yang, ultimately stating that he'll destroy everything Blake loves, starting with her.

Now, I know a lot of people will dismiss that as "it could've been anyone. If Sun had shown up, it would've been the same." And honestly, yes, it would've. This moment here is what solidifies who Blake ultimately cares about. Had it been Sun to come around, no doubt she'd show the same fear. But it wasnt him. Instead, it was Yang, who immediately found Weiss and asked where Blake had gone. And we further see her feelings for Yang cemented by the way she blames herself that Yang got hurt. The way she stays close, gently reaches for Yang's hand, the emotion of the entire scene after they get to safety.

Sun does ultimately care about Blake, and helps out where he can, but at least in vol 3, he had his own priorities of making sure everyone could make it to safety.

TL;DR: Both ships had a bit of build up in vol 2 and 3, although, the build up that Bmblby had outweighs the buildup that Blacksun has. Blake definitely had feelings for both, but ultimately, it took until Adam was a threat for her to realize the feelings that she had for Yang, and even then, she still wasnt entirely sure what they were until later in the series. At this point, the only reason anyone can say that Bmblby has little build up is due to either a higher bar for f/f ships (because, lets face it, everyone takes the wink from vol 1 as absolute confirmation for blacksun because its m/f) or they continue to deny that sometimes, there are multiple ways to show buildup between two people for a relationship and the slowburn route usually takes an emotional route over a physical route. And look, Blake has two hands. Take that as you will.

[mexicancat-girl]

Sooo I read your take on the bakugou vs uraraka in the sports festival. i personally agree that you’re right when it comes to bakugou being overpowered (like when he fought todoroki, his quirk shouldn’t have worked at all with all the ice) and the fact that the females here are underrated and are not written well enough. Also I hate that fan service scene with the cheerleading outfits. However when you called him entitled and said that the narrative is favoring him, i dont agree there. horikoshi has made it blatantly clear that he wrote bakugou with the intent of making fans hate him on purpose. It’s why he’s portrayed as such a asshole in the first place, then horikoshi proceeds to show us that bakugou has complexity later on. He basically wants to humiliate him and make him slowly see his errors, and then basically give him slow character development, which is apt for bakugou since he’s been like this for 15 years. Like you said, bakugou logically should have been tired out near ochako’s fight, owing to quirk weaknesses and all, but honestly, it would also be unlikely for bakugou-trained-since-the-minute-i-got-my-quirk to also lose to ochako, owing to the fact that she wasnt as experienced as him or as physically fit, also for her to win by fighting a “weak” bakugou would make fans claim sexism too due to the fact that he still had to be weak for her to win. Also having him win again would have the same issue. So I didnt mind bakugou winning, and appreciated that ochako did her utter best to do so and nearly won, which I felt was a realistic move by horikoshi to avoid as much as possible a sexist situation. Tho not gonna lie, why isnt there another female like bakugou or todoroki in this class? Makes me upset thinking about it but like you said, horikoshi cant write good female characters, so he does as much to avoid so.  Unlike miraculous ladybug which has so much crap going on with so called female strong leads and is slowly becoming so cringey to watch.

Horikoshi may claim he writes Bkugo for fans to hate him…But Bkugo is literally a fan favorite. He keeps getting top 3 in the popularity polls, if not outright winning them. 

Bkugo is Izuku’s childhood friend/rival, making him a core part of the series. He’s inescapable if you consume the media (manga, anime, promo materials). He’s presented as an equal to Izuku, and yet never once actually respects Izuku as a person. But Izuku keeps making excuses for him, as do the other characters, painting him in a better light than what’s actually shown.

Bkugo keeps having very small glimmers of moments where it seems like he’s learning from his mistakes. But then he goes right back to square one. 

(rest under cut)

During the license exam, he storms off on his own because of his belief he’s better by himself. He ends up having a plan to work with Kaminari and Kirishima, but only because they followed him and put themselves in a dangerous situation alongside him. Then during the last phase of the exam, he tries to take things on his own again, which results in him not getting his license. 

Which is a great moment, it seems like he’s getting actual development here! He has to work on remedial exams, puts some ounce of teamwork into getting his license…but it’s all for his own benefit. Everyone praises him over out of their asses over how he’s changed during the training with 1-B, but he still treats everyone like shit. He just sees the benefit of using people on his teams to help him instead of tearing them all down, because he can’t win if he does that. 

He still makes everything about himself. Even when something doesn’t revolve around him, he keeps inserting himself into the narrative. He forces more of Izuku’s secrets from him, forces himself to be there when Izuku talks to All Might about One For All, not for Izuku’s benefit, but because he feels entitled to know about Izuku’s quirk. Even during a discussion which should center around Izuku asking questions and finding out more about his legacy and quirk, Bkugo takes the reigns and takes nearly all agency away from Izuku.

As for the Sports Festival, Bkugo would get more humbled by losing. It would show both Bkugo and the viewers that not just offense-based Quirks (or the male characters) are capable of winning fights. Things like planning and pacing yourself can help just as much. Which would tie into Izuku not knowing how to control OFA during that stage as well, using his mind and ingenuity to get himself to the Third Round without needing his Quirk. It would’ve worked really well narratively! And tied things together!

It also would’ve provided more tension for Bkugo if he’d lost the Sports Festival. When he’s kidnapped, the LOV could’ve used that loss in order to entice him to join them. The only reason he didnt join was because he thought they were ‘losers’, both because All Might stopped the USJ attack and Bkugo has a strong quirk that won him the Sports Festival. If he’d lost, he’d be vulnerable and have had do show some struggle over whether he was going to take up their offer, and gotten some character growth from that. Because he’s cocky and strong, we already know from the beginning he isn’t going to actually accept their offer in canon.

As for Horikoshi’s lack of female characters–especially those that actually battle or do anything significant to the plot–I’m not 100% surprised. Shonen anime in general has a bad track record of writing female characters, if they’re included at all in the narrative. 

My problem is that Horikoshi has a decent cast of female characters with unique powers, and he goes out of his way to sexualize them and make them damsels/nearly useless in fights and scenes that actually further the plot. Just. Goddamn, let the female characters actually do something instead of standing around being support for the male characters, or having catfights with female villains (ala Ochaco with Toga). 

Even Ochaco, the main female character of the series, barely gets any development other than “struggling with crush on Izuku” and “I saw someone die and don’t want that to happen again”. Izuku, Shoto, and Bkugo get entire character arcs and countless chapters devoted to them, and we only get a few pages for Ochaco, if we’re lucky.

Miraculous Ladybug is another beast entirely ngl. I’m not going to touch that for now.

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

okay no but this just gave me such an Idea™.

i dont know how many people know about fordlândia but you could 100% do something exactly like that with menagerie and the og explanation of grimm.

short summary of forlândia:

henry ford, who had revolutionised the automobile industry, was getting older and was concerned with his legacy. his idea to create one was very similar to epcot (walt disneys version) where he bought nearly 4000 square miles of land in the amazon rainforest in order to build a town, a sawmill and a rubber tree farm. he had a second motive for this because at the time, england controlled like 90% of the rubber market so you had to pay their prices. but if ford could develop his own, he wouldnt have to.

anyway by town, i mean he created like an american midwest town. there was a hospital, a school, a library and a hotel. there was a square dancing hall because thats how he met his wife. he wanted it to be america but his version of it .

and in his version, alcohol, tobacco, and football/soccer were banned; you needed approval to being a new woman to town; your houses were regularly searched; you worked 9 til 5 even though that didnt at all fit the climate; you had to use a punch in punch out card; you could only eat a vegetarian diet as that was what ford ate. further, the farmers themselves were brazillians workers but all their manages were americans.

for various reasons, including the fact that ford did basically no research whatsoever on any of it, fordlândia failed. their trees were plagued with blight and insects. workers regularly passed out around noon hours due to heat and exhaustion. american workers were not adequately prepared for living in the amazon rainforest. the houses they built were not suitable for the amazon rainforest and more than once, a jaguar got in and carried away a baby. the brazillian workers hated it all because they were both treated as second class citizens, and their culture was being suppressed and they were forced to take part in americas.

AND CAN YOU IMAGINE IF THIS WAS MENAGERIE'S HISTORY????

like menagerie is the only country/colony/island/whatever where the majority population are faunus. there is also a specific plant there that some rich guy wants control over because we'll say vacuo currently has 95% control of the market.

in real life, an english guy took rubber tree seeds and they planted them in plantations in british colonies with similar climates. so we'll say that some non-faunus from vacuo did the same.

and this rich guy? maybe hes a schnee, and the schnees want market control and to not have to pay the price they currently pay. this schnee is also worried about his legacy because maybe he never did anything, he just took over and ran it after, not making any changes at all. we'll call him henrich schnee.

so henrich strikes a deal with the leader of menagerie who do desperately want market control back because they are struggling and they face systematic discrimination.

perhaps theyll do what the brazillian government did and essentially swindle ford who overpaid so much.

but anyway, work begins in menagerie to start building the town. in real life, ford never actually saw fordlândia so idk if henrich does, but work begins. and its slow work and its difficult work and the desert in menagerie is actually as dangerous as blake says. and they cant even start yet because the area theyre in (its a desert forest area) is only accessible by boat if youre transporting stuff like building materials and its the dry season.

and during this, theres all these different grimm and a lot of them look like bugs. like you put your arm down and hundreds of bug grimm cover it. theyre adapted to the area and the atlesian workers are not. luckily, its mostly menagerie folks, but unluckily, they dont work 9 til 5. they have a siesta because of heat but henrich wont have that. so people are passing out constantly.

(also like adding stuff like siestas is such an easy way to make your world seen so much bigger than it is btw)

and essentially what happened with fordlândia happens in schneeland or whatever he calls it (schneeria? schneencia? schneeville? schneeford?).

the first plantation fails because in the wild, these plants grow far away from each other. this means if they get infected by blights or bugs, they wont infect every other plant. but the atlesian managers told them to plant them the way theyre planted in vacuo, which doesnt have the same predators. they have to start again and theyll have to wait years for it.

the faunus citizens hate these new rules that serve to suppress their culture. they hide contraband in fruit and eventually, an island known as the "island of innocence" is set up upstream with butchers and bars and brothels.

the atlesian citizens and hunters are not prepared for the new grimm they face in menagerie; ones that have evolved to survive panther claws and wolven fangs. workers are passing out constantly and the hospital is constantly full.

the houses are not suited to their environment and at least once a month, a mother comes screaming out of their home because a grimm has taken their baby. they wake up with a grimm on their bed about to pounce. they can fit through the smallest gaps or come up through the floorboards. the death toll rises every day.

then the faunus workers riot. the first riot is quelled by mistral soldiers coming to help "calm the situation". its a bit calmer then with a less strict mayor, but eventually they revolt again and it was abandoned by henrich.

and blake tells this story to sun in season 4 and turns out no one knows it because its embarrassing to the humans and to the schnee family. weiss hasnt even heard of it. and she explains how they still occasionally get humans who travel to menagerie to find it and how often they never come back.

and ahh im rambling and i dont really have a cohesive conclusion but even outside of my rwby fordlândia au, im so obsessed with the idea of grimm evolving and adapting to their environments and hunters having to learn how to deal with these new grimm.

What I totally forgot about was how Professor Oobleck brought up Grimm evolving and understanding humans very well, so much that they learned how to adapt. Current RWBY had since tossed that interesting concept out the window, but I wanna reel it back in.

I've wondered "what if Grimm began evolving to become much more predatory? Such as, they would begin making creatures that look human but it's just a hunting mechanism to lure in victims?"

So, what if Grimm began creating their own versions of the fairytale villains? I'm still annoyed that there's no Dullahan, no Big Bad Wolf, no Giant stomping around going fee fi fo fum, no Rumpelstiltskin, no talking untrustworthy fish in the water that grants finicky wishes, and no killer mother from the Juniper Tree story. Grimm could make their own versions of the villains, but we don't have them.

It appears that Salem is their all-god, only she can create new Grimm. But Grimm have existed for years, according to Oobleck. Even existed way before Salem jumped into the Grimm pool. I think even wild Grimm would evolve without Salem's will. Undiscovered Grimm could be out there that nobody knows about. Even Grimm that live among the humans and Faunus.

Brb making an OC lol

[the1312daysofchristmas]

okay so since you know more than sarah could u give more info?? because i love learning about pete and his blackness as its literally never talked about ANYWHERE else. like thank god for tumblr tbh. sarah is genuinely the only reason ive ever known anything about him in that way but its always been limited so thats why i sent her the ask. i didnt even know ur blog. sorry for sending to her instead of you!!!

oh its fine!! im pretty new on the scene technically. while sarah and i were in the fob fandom at the same time in 2015 ish, i actually left tumblr completely and recently came back!! but anyway, lets talk about petes melanin (my beloved <3)

theres a pretty pervasive narrative, not just around pete but around any black and especially biracial celebrities that theyre ashamed of their blackness or arent "really" black. theres like. a looooooooooong conversation to be had within the black community about this, but to tldr it, the assumption is if you dont look black, you arent black, which for a lot of reasons isnt exactly the case. with him in particular theres a lot of stuff that contributes to this.

most people do not associate the alternative scene and emo especially with black people, so its easy to overlook a lot if someone isnt SUPER obviously black. pete has other ethnic features, like his nose, and is recognizable visually as black except for his skin color. except thats because hes been artificially lightened in photoshoots due to editing and (ALLEGEDLY AND POSSIBLY) lighter foundations. further, he relaxed his hair, which takes away another ethnic feature of his.

there is another aspect to this, which is that black people tan, noticeably and by several shades. you will not notice it if youre like seeing them continuously throughout the year, but as someone who lives in the caribbean and has spent some time in the states, the difference is stark enough to be noticeable. a lightskinned black person may look MUCH paler in the winter compared to in the summer.

in addition, the wealthier you are, the less time you tend to spend in the sun, so ive noticed that black celebrities tend to get lighter as they gain notoriety just because they have like more resources. the reason people from the caribbean tend to become lighter when we go to the states isnt because of less sun, during the summer thats not at all the case, its because the US is more developed so you dont HAVE to spend as much time in the sun.

besides that, hes like genuinely very loud and proud about being black, but all of those attempts are met with backlash. there was the reaction to his natural hair, the reaction to him with cornrows, and the reaction to his very emotional rant about the murder of george floyd. it happens in fobs music too!! ioh for example draws a lot of influence from choral and hymnal arrangements and soul music, not to mention jay-z and babyface working on the album itself, which led to them being labelled sell outs. they also just generally work with rappers more, with lil wayne on tiffany blews and big sean on srar, both of which also led to them being called sell outs. ab/ap as an album draws influence from rap/trap and mixtape culture in the way it was written (thats why its got so many samples), and subsequently got remixed. remember what happened next? mania draws a lot of influence from calypso and dancehall music and features burna boy singing in yoruba patois. that one led to the featured artist getting harassed en masse and multiple (worse) edits of the song without him on it. i dont like it here 💞.

that last point brings me to the fact that while pete definitely loves hardcore and metal, he also has always loved reggae and dancehall. hes half jamaican, spent time in jamaica as a child and listened to his grandparents records, which were. well. reggae and calypso and a little dancehall. if anyone ASKS him about it, hell talk about it willingly and candidly, theres an entire interview from during the hiatus (which i can no longer find rip) where hes asked about and talks about going natural and spending time in jamaica and listening to reggae, which heavily influenced black cards. he visited jamaica during the hiatus! although its unclear if he visited family since literally every news outlet that mentioned it was like "oh tropical getaway <3" unaware that thats where his folks are from

also heres that interview snippet sarah mentioned! i have the full page, its about the early days which is funny bc its just before futct.

theres also some poetry on sarahs blog that she found years ago thats VERY black. i dont like making it easy to find for nonblack people simply because the first time it was unearthed mostly white people were talking about it and the meaning of it went way over everyone elses head so i try to make sure that if people start talking about it they know going in that its about being black and biracial specifically and so that black fans dont feel the way i did when it first surfaced lol

all of this emphatically points to pete genuinely loving his blackness and not trying to hide it and it being something that majorly shaped his life, but genuinely being unable to talk about it bc of public perception.

sorry for talking your ear off!! if you have any specific qs i almost certainly have answers!!

[taki118]

Debunking the Mori “fact”

I apparently have a trigger and that is people touting facts but never saying where they heard it from and I thought I could let it go but I just keep seeing it. This time its the “fact” that Mori was the original end game for Haruhi but the creator changed it to Tamaki due to popularity. This “fact” is often used in a kind of derogatory way towards other ships at worst and a justification (as though you need one) for the ship at best. I am a fiend for development history buttttttt I could never find this “fact” though I do think I found where it may have originated from. 

In volume 1 there are bonus character sheets in the official english translation it says this (sourced from  https://vm.tiktok.com/ZTdX1xvsX/ )

Which if this IS the source then I can see why no shippers link back to it. Its not very flattering. Its basically the author saying she finds your favorite character kinda boring and thought of pawning him off on Haruhi to have something for him to do. BUT there is also a LOT of ambiguity here. 

“Couple” can have a few connotations  1: It did mean end game 2: It could mean just a date like the Twins and kinda Kyoua had.  One chapter where he does something vaguely romantic with Haruhi. 3: He could have been used as a red herring love interest, where Mori dates Haruhi for a few chapters or a volume leading to her better understanding her feelings towards Tamaki. Its a trope in romance series not a super common one but it happens.  With the vagueness of it all and how its in volume 1 though I’m leaning more towards 2 or 3 especially with some interviews I’ve seen. 

But there is also this the fan translated version of the same character sheet.

Now this could also be the origin its more kind to Mori but equally as vague. Like maybe the original Japanese has a different meaning but I can’t read japanese so I can’t tell which is more accurate to the creators intent. But either way its a foot note in volume 1 which as its never touched on again, from what I’ve seen, and leads me to think it was a passing thought.

I also found this “Fact” on an article here from 2021 (which is kinda when I saw a surge in this fact) 

But again its not sourced and we all know CBR is kinda trash. But this could also be the originator. My hypotheses being the author of the article looking to fill out the list saw the character sheet and ran with it, leading to a chain of misinformation. Leading to more misinformation as I often hear in combination with this “fact” that the only reason Tamaki was endgame was cause Japanese women love blondes.....which rubs me the wrong way. It should also be noted that this article mis-genders the creator and only talks about the anime which could mean someone on the anime staff wanted Mori endgame but the series creator had no control of the anime production. 

But also theres this

At first Mori was more popular than Tamaki but as time went on he raised in popularity. Which this may also have lead people to believe in the “fact” that Mori was pushed off for Tamaki. However in volume 4 or 5 there were these little character things where the creator talked about birth dates, names of the characters and such. I highlighted the important bits

(I didnt do the Twins, Haruhi or Kyoya ones cause theres no relevant info) She mentions that she gets a lot of letters from fans of Mori and the Twins. And that Twins fans really HATE Tamaki but the creator doesnt seem to care much. She also mentions how much things change over time. This leads me to disproving the “fact” further with the creators feelings on the series in actual good sources.

In this Viz media interview in 2019 she says - That Tamaki was made first - Her favorite characters are Haruhi, Tamaki and the Twins - Her favorite relationship is Haruhi and Tamaki both romantically and platonically - Tamaki was the easiest and most fun to draw

And in this Anime News Network interview also from 2019 she is asked point blank if Tamaki was always endgame for Haruhi. She responds with a story about how her publishers werent sure about a lead like Tamaki during the early part of the series, which she was surprised by, her editor went to bat for her defending the character assuring them that he would sell. 

All this leads me to think that Tamaki was the intent from go but she purposely kept things open ended over the years of the story being developed to keep fan interest and to allow more organic storytelling.

Now these were the only interviews I could find there was this old live journal which i cant fully source that talks of an interview where she states Tamaki was the second character to be developed after Haruhi and that Mori was second to last to be made. Which also adds to my thoughts. But again there MAY be more that I don’t have access to. 

So I say this to Mori x Haruhi shippers who push this “fact” as the be all end all please do tell me where you heard this, please do try to prove me wrong, I’d love to read it. But as it stands its not a fact its a misunderstanding of a foot note thought. I also say this you don’t “Need a reason” to justify why you like a ship, HaruMori isn’t really in my taste i feel Moris need to be a caretaker would clash with Haruhi’s independent nature too much but I’ve shipped crazier with less. Just don’t use this “Fact” cause you’re just spreading misinformation and we really on a whole need to be more discerning with facts we hear. Don’t just accept it cause you want it to be true.