#but it makes for great character building

[thoughts-of-bear-undercovers]

Idk I personally disliked it a whole lot. For me the general feel of the movie was "we have the rights to this big franchise and the kids these days like anime so now let's merge the two so we can make even more money". Like, at some point I was wondering if anyone in the making of this film even bothered to go deeper into the source material. Obviously there's spoilers in my review:

First thing I noticed was that they had spyglasses. Which didn't make sense and already killed part of the immersion for me. I mean, LOTR is based on a somewhat medieval Europe inspired world and a 17th century invention did not fit in that world. The whole point of "Legolas, what do your elf-eyes see?" is kind of that they did not have spyglasses (otherwise Aragorn would've had one as a pro ranger).

Second, there's some logical errors that just made the whole story crumble in my eyes.

How on earth did the Haradrim get into Rohan? Did they use submarines to swim up the Anduin in order not to be detected by the whole of fucking Gondor? Did they bribe Gondor to let them through? Did the whole ass oliphaunts-and-mercenaries-procession climb the White Mountains? Or did they put the oliphaunts on boats and drove up the Isen? How did they get into Rohan?? How?

I understand that this is how it's described in the appendix but if you're not super familiar with that (which I assume most of the audience isn't, including me even though I've read the books several times, which is more than what the average viewer has regarding lore knowledge) then that seems pretty unreasonable. Not talking about the "you don't want to marry me and your dad killed my dad in a fair fight after my dad provoked him which is totally unforgivable" motivation of the main character, which is kind of ridiculous.

Speaking of ridiculous: the siege tower of Wulf, a masterpiece in physics-defying engineering and a testament to the superhuman skill the people of Dunland and their mercenaries have. They built this thing in like a day? In the freezing winter? In a valley that does not have trees in it (at least not usually; looking at you Fangorn)?

What even is that???

Oh and another thing:

Girl who has lived her whole life in a grassland where the hill on which her house stands is like the highest mountain is suddenly a climbing expert and can do that without breaking a sweat and guess who she goes to see? the extra special white Eagle who she is friends with because she fed it one (1) time.

I mean I like having a female lead that doesn't concern herself with love and marriage and the likes but Hera was not really much more besides "strong badass woman". At least her body proportions were realistic, I'll give the movie that.

Another thing that bothered me is that they essentially recycled the great epic scenes of the original movies for the audience to go "ah, this, i recognise this" but by doing that removed the unique emotions that accompanied these scenes. Most memorable example for me was the war cry of the people of Rohan, where in the original films you have this 5 minute scene with epic music and Theoden riding along the line of his soldiers and leading them to their (most likely) death and in "War of the Rohirrim" it is reduced to this 10 second clip with less epic music and just general idk irrelevance. Same thing with the Watcher in the Water, that was randomly there too, no reason except for showing the audience something familiar without much effort.

Which reminds me of another weird design choice the movie made. The oliphaunt in that scene had slit-pupils? An elephant and generally animals of that size and build are not predators. The do not have slit pupils because they don't stalk their prey? whyyyy???

And last among the more major things that bothered me about this film (not last in what smaller things bothered me):

I do not understand much regarding Anime as a genre, I've never been very interested in it and won't likely be but even I noticed that sometimes the frame rate was just too low. Like sometimes the animation looked more like some cheap stop motion than a smoothly animated film. I noticed that the first time Hera saddled her horse, I think. My friend (who knows like every anime in the world [at least it feels like that]) said it was probably the detailed backgrounds that caused this, because they put more effort in them instead of drawing more frames for a scene but while i do appreaciate the backgrounds (the style was good imo) I do think for a franchise like Lord of the Rings you can expect both detailed backgrounds and smooth animation.

And my friend in question also disliked the anime even though she doesn't know much about LotR, she said by anime standards it was not very good either. I don't know enough about anime to question her judgement in that regard.

So anyway, that was my rent and I don't recommend wasting money on watching that in the cinema.

Some of the reviews for War of the Rohirrim, mentioning that "it doesn't justify its existence" makes me remember how absolutely soulless professional "critics" can be. It's a good movie, it respects the source material, it stands on its own. What more do you want?

Yeah we can point out the problems with the film, cause they do exist, but saying "This was only made to extend the IP" shows a lack of knowing what you're talking about, because there are so many other softball methods of doing that. Specifically choosing the story of Helm Hammerhand, expanding it in a way that does feel rather Tolkien-esque, and having it be an anime does not feel like a safe move, even if it is attached to one of the most recognizable fantasy franchises. If it was just an IP thing and nothing else, it would have been much safer.

Not to mention how a certain other Middle Earth adaptation has so thoroughly poisoned the well for adaptations. This movie is how interpretation and expansion of Tolkien's works, or any source material really, should be done.

As a fan of Tolkien, fantasy in general, and anime, I definitely recommend going to see War of the Rohirrim in theaters.

[opbackgrounds]

The Romanticism of One Piece III: Emotionality and the Absurd

AO3 Part I Part II Part IV

“Do you think I am an automaton? — a machine without feelings?” —Charlotte Brontë

After opening with Roger’s death in chapter one, the perspective of the manga immediately switches to focus on our main protagonist, whose first action we see is of him stabbing himself in the face in order to look cool. The introductory panel of Luffy is one of childish, absurd determination. His mouth alone takes up over half his face. It looks a bit silly, and after patching him up, Shanks just…laughs. 

The Romantics, on the whole, were not silly people, but they were bursting at the seams with emotion. If you read a Romantic novel expect the characters to spend a great deal of time soliloquizing about their feelings. If you look at a Romantic painting expect bold colors and dynamism composition. If you listen to a Romantic musician expect songs that are passionate and full of energy, unrestrained from traditional forms. In a word, these people were extra. Specifically, the Romantics embraced the full spectrum of human emotion, from the depths of despair in a work like the Sorrows of Young Werther to the heights depicted within the essays of the American transcendentalism movement. 

This heightened emotionalism of the Romantics always trumped over what was realistic or scientific. For example, look at a work like Jane Eyre. While melodramatic, it’s a work that ostensibly takes place in the real world. Yet the most emotionally-charged moments introduce supernatural elements, including reuniting the main couple at the end when Jane randomly hears Mr. Rochester speak her name on the wind from halfway across the country. 

And by random, I truly do mean random. It’s difficult to put into words how out of left field this is for the reader. There are only a few pages left in the book, and by this time the main couple has spent more time apart than together and had no reason to believe they’d ever be reunited. But their love becomes a literal supernatural force strong enough for Jane to rush after him without hesitation, and they live happily ever after. 

(Please, I beg of you to watch the last 10 minutes of this movie. It was one of the most unintentionally hilarious experiences of my life).

It’s an extreme and slightly goofy example, but what is One Piece if not extreme and slightly goofy? It’s a story that, at its most fundamental level, makes you feel. We all know the pain of crying over a boat, and what makes the death of the Merry, along with any other number of things that should be stupid but aren’t, is Oda’s commitment to sincerity. Emotional truth trumps logic, always. It’s why we celebrate characters like Bellmere who can’t not call herself a mother, even if it costs her her life. The bond of found family is more powerful than the logical choice of denouncing Nami and Nojiko. Oda had other characters try to inject logic into Bellmere’s decision after the fact, but there’s no evidence from Bellemere herself that she was behaving logically, and we love her for it.

The artstyle itself emphasizes emotional truth over realism. Oda is more than capable of drawing in a more realistic or traditionally “cool” style if he wanted to, but it would be to the detriment of the story he’s trying to tell. Every smile takes up half a character’s face. People who are crying are portrayed as sniveling wrecks. Their fury becomes palpable, their hopelessness gut-wrenching, their joy contagious. Oda chose very early on not to give Luffy thought bubbles, and in the absence of knowing what he’s thinking, it was absolutely imperative that the audience knew what he’s feeling. The few times his expression becomes ambiguous immediately stand out and lend a scene a sense of weight that borders on unease.

This expressiveness doesn’t stop with the character designs. Oda will tweak perspective to make important people or places seem even larger than they really are. Buildings will follow Loony Toons logic if a gag calls for it. Locations and ships, particularly once the crew reaches the Grand Line, become absurd and impossible. 

(Remember, Hancock and Mihawk are both only a little over six foot tall)

But for One Piece, it’s in this absurdity that the impossible becomes possible, through sheer force of will. Luffy is on every level ridiculous, but it’s because he’s ridiculous that he choses at every turn to keep fighting against forces that by all rights should be impossible to defeat. Many of Luffy’s most despicable enemies are the ones who in some way or another have taken away other people’s ability to feel as they wish. Arlong took away Nami’s happiness and made her cry. Crocodile stole Vivi’s ability to smile. The zombies of Thriller Bark are reduced to mindless slaves while the toys under Doflamingo’s rule are physically unable to emote. And perhaps most powerfully of all, the people of Wano and the slaves of the Celestial Dragons are both forced to smile despite their horrific circumstances, a bastardization of the joy Luffy brings no matter where he goes. 

In his prelude to the Lyrical Ballads, William Wordsworth wrote that, “All good poetry is the overflow of powerful emotion”. He linked emotion to motion, or action, with the catalist between the two being the creative power of imagination. While many of Luffy’s fights are ultimately won because he’s able to punch another person real good, the seemingly limited ability of the gum-gum fruit forces him to come up with increasingly-creative ways in which one can stretch, until he’s able to stretch the fabric of reality itself to bend to his whims. It is said, in all the world, that there is no power more ridiculous.

At the end of chapter 218 a galleon falls from the sky, and Oda quotes fictional physicist Willy Karen as stating, “Anything man can imagine is a possibility in reality.” It is through the power of imagination and absurdity that Luffy fights against the forces of oppression. There is nothing more dangerous to an institution than losing its credibility, and nothing so dangerous to one’s credibility than the power of mockery. If one can face the darkest, most difficult times and still laugh then, well, they become a little less dark and difficult. By laughing, and helping others to do the same, it becomes easier to make it through another day. It’s important, I think, that Oda has emphasized the act of laughing so much, drawing attention to it by virtue of giving out unique laughs all throughout the series.

One Piece has the reputation of being the silly pirate manga. This isn’t untrue, but it does a disservice to the breadth of feeling the series inspires. As I said, we’ve all cried over a boat. Slavery, oppression, and every sort of hardship exist within the One Piece world just as much as it does our own. 

Oda’s answer is to combat these things with the silly and the absurd, by being creative and imaginative while pursuing one’s passions with one’s whole heart, no matter where those passions may lead. He tells the reader you have the right to feel as you wish and pursue joy wherever you may. And when you run up against resistance, you fight like hell for what you believe in. 

And as it turns out, that’s a Romantic virtue, too.

[tanadrin]

Murder mystery is a terrific genre for a series of books, a series of movies, or a TV show--"mystery" or "murder mystery" is itself a great plot, one that's very flexible, but iterating it with an investigator character is a really easy plot generator, plus you can build out fun investigator characters, and leverage the inherent worldbuilding appeal of the murder mystery to drop those investigators in lots of different situations. I have a huge soft spot for murder mystery TV shows in particular, even really bad ones.

What I hate in many contemporary murder mystery TV shows--and this problem also crops up a lot in the related genre of "police procedural"--is a need to continually up the stakes in ridiculous ways, especially around mid-season two parters or season finales. Throwing your precinct homicide detective or quirky private investigator or whatever into big sprawling terrorism plots or having them face off with cheesy serial killers is just boring. Part of this is wasting the potential of the setup--repeat villains are the least interesting part of an inherently episodic format! If you want to write a serial, write a serial! But these also tend to be the least interestingly-written episodes, epsiodes that are leveraging their setup for all the drama rather than the characters, pure informed stakes and no fun dialogue or good lighthearted moments. Just lots of really dull scenes trying to force tension--characters in confined spaces screaming and Tough Guys with Tough Guy Talk--and none of the stuff that I think makes murder mysteries fun.

Not coincidentally, serial killer and terrorist plots are mostly in dialogue with other pop culture depictions of serial killer and terrorist plots--these are things that are phenomenally rare in real life, that are completely obscured in pop culture by the thick crust of sensationalism that has obscured any attempt to deal with them in a realistic way, and are also the subject of major efforts by law enforcement to try to hype up the pop culture depiction vs the reality bc it makes their jobs look way more important and interesting. I would prefer a dozen episodes with stereotypical Italian mobsters over one episode with a terrorist plot or a serial killer, and I hate Italian mobster characters.

[tsukii0002]

Mc and Luke have gone to get some stuff to continue celebrating the new year in the House of the Lamentations.

Luke: Hey Mc, don't you think a new year is kind of scary?

Mc: What do you mean Luke?

Luke: I never thought about this before coming to Devildom…. but things can change a lot in a single year…

Mc: *sighing* Yes, things in a year can change a lot, we don't know where we're going to be next year.

Luke: *looking at the ground* To have things that make me feel secure end or think that something I love is never going to be the same again… makes me feel insecure.

Mc: …

Luke: In a way… a new year is scary, I'm scared that the world I'm so happy in will be totally different, *looking at Mc* that my relationships… my relationship with you won't be the same.

Silence fell between them

Mc: *smiling* The new year is like a symbolism really, everything can change any time Luke, just because we enter a new year doesn't mean everything hasn't changed before.

Luke: That's true.

Mc: And change isn't always bad… sometimes it's scary and can make us anxious, but things come to an end and there's nothing we can do about it.

Luke: I know…

Mc: But, they also start, great things can begin, or they don't end and simply transform *placing their hand on the angel's shoulders* changes are part of our life and we have to learn to live with them.

Luke: But what if we change? what if we are no longer the way we were and… and we can't be together anymore?

Mc: Then, I will make an effort to get to know you again and to be your friend again, change doesn't mean forgetting, and if it's so important we can try that, with us, our relationship can transform.

Luke: *with crystalline eyes, making a little pout* I will also try my best to make you always love me Mc, even if you become an angel or a demon.

Mc: *smiling* Thank you Luke *hugging him* sometimes we worry so much about what's to come or what we can't change, that we don't see what we can do now.

Luke: *hugging them back harder* You're right Mc… if we only worry about the future we can never be happy.

Mc: You're right Luke, that happens to us a lot *leaving him and holding out their hand* now, we should get back, they've all taken too much Demonus to leave them unsupervised.

Luke: That's right, *taking their hand* we'd better hurry.

The two walked back on their way to the House of the Lamentations.

Mc: By the way Luke… has anyone said anything to you about this New Year's thing?

Luke: Solomon started talking about how little a year has always meant to him and how much it means now… he was actually laughing a lot, but it got me thinking about a lot of things.

Mc: Got it, no more human drinks at parties, noted.

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.

.

.

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Well, well, happy new year to all of you!!! 🎉🎉I hope you have started 2025 on the right foot and, as they say, I hope this year brings you only good things. Although we all know that almost never happens, in one year life can change a lot, to unsuspected points. When I started 2024 I never thought that Obey me! would end (I know it is only the official content of the game, not the franchise, but you know), although it is one of the things that has helped me to pass a not very good year for me, but life goes on, and just as things that we do not like can also come good things can come. Regarding a purpose for this new year in this blog well, keep creating content, create more complex stories about these characters that I love so much and focus more on world building and solve the mysteries that have been left open in the Devildom (now that everything is in our hands), work more on my Mc and draw a lot, a lot. Just as I hope to continue to see the Obey me! fandom alive and creating as many wonderful things as it has been so far, even more.

So, after this badge, it only remains for me to wish you a happy new year! And the wish that things will only get better for everyone.

Thanks for this year 🩷, a hug from this sheep in hell.

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[asexualbookbird]

Ah, I read some books in 2024, huh? And eight rereads? Who am I. Tried a lot of new things this year which yay! Go me! Branching out! Not all of those were successes, but I did it and therefore no one can criticise me. But we all know what's important here. So here you go, THE BEST AND WORST OF 2024 (in no particular order)!

THE BEST BOOKS OF 2024

The Adventure of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty - yes, I am still thinking about this, thank you for asking! A full entire adult of a person, a mother even, going on adventures? Fighting and killing and fucking and living? Hell yeah! More of this, please! I would also love to see a prequel of Amina's adventures before the book timeline. Everything about this was so great, I look forward to rereading it.

The City We Became by NK Jemisin - I was wary about this because it was so polarizing to readers. On one hand, even my least favorite Jemisin was still fun, on the other hand, I know nothing about New York. HOWEVER. The audiobook was FABULOUS. I wholeheartedly believe the audio is why I enjoyed this so much. This was FUN this is what reading should feel like all the time.

When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb -FRIEND TO MY SOUL. Again, beautiful audio performance. Beautiful story. I need my own copy so I can reread this to my hearts content. It's cute, it deals with heavy topics, it's gay, it's the friend to my soul.

WORST BOOKS OF 2024

The Novice by Taran Matharu - Ugh. Bought when released, knowing nothing, which seems to be a Theme with books sitting on my shelf I end up not enjoying. Learning about the history of this book made me more angry than the book itself. What do you mean his entire series was bought and published without an editor? It shows, but. Come on. Wattpad born and it shows.

Last Heir to Blackwood Library by Hester Fox- this was only for a summer reading bingo challenge, but come on. There are ways to pull the memory loss, or altered memory plot line and have it work. This did not do that. Wish a library would eat my memories of this book so I never had to think of it again.

Red Sister by Mark Lawrence - Mark Lawrence is one of those authors who writes long books because he thinks it makes him a Good Writer. Mark Lawrence is one of those writers who is afraid to write adult characters because he thinks they won't sell, but continuously puts them in adult situations to show how Hard their lives are and Isn't This Dark And Gritty And Sad without doing the work to actually get there. It toes the line between fantasy in scifi, but not well. It feels more indecisive than anything else.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Firebreak by Nicole Kornher-Stace -more like fireBROKE MY HEART!!!! It was on my tbr list for years, and I finally found a copy and I'm glad I own it so I can reread it at my leisure. It's what Ready Player One could have been if it was actually good.

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner - Okay honestly, this and City were fighting for a spot in the main top three. Either could be there. I do honorable mentions for this very reason. I was surprised to learn this was a tiktok book, because yknow. It's actually Good. Witcher vibes, but with more respect towards women. Why isn't book three in my possession right this second.

Someone You Can Build A Nest In by John Wiswell - I Am Normal About This Book. It was fun to read and annotate it for a friend. It was fun to be around as two friends read it and I loved seeing their reactions to it. Loved cheering on Shesheshen, still think she deserves to eat more people. Friends and I will still share biting goop memes with the caption "Shex3 posting". It's safe to say this has rewritten my brain.

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

Legacy of Ash by Matthew Ward - I was hyped about this book before release. I bought book two before even reading this because I was that sure I'd enjoy it. What a fool. This did NOT have to be 800 pages. It was another example of someone writing many words because they think that's what Good Writers Do, and not stopping to think about what those words even SAY. Which, in this case, was ~Absolutely Nothing~

Ghost Station by SA Barnes - crying sobbing this book was so fucking stupid. Best thing to come out of it was seeing a friend read it and confirming that yes, it was That Fucking Stupid. Learning the author mainly writes YA Paranormal explained why everyone had Too Stupid To Live disease.

I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S Beagle - Admittedly only here to make things even and because it's still pretty fresh in my mind. I was soooo excited when this was announced, and now I'm soooo happy I didn't preorder it. More boring than anything else, but I don't wish it was longer because it already felt Too Long.

Once again, ignored rereads because I feel like that's cheating somehow. Let these be for highlighting new and fun books I discovered! I feel like the last few Bricks I've read have been Very Bad so I hope a couple of the bricks I have planned for 2025 are actually good. Considering one of those is Labyrinth's Heart, I think we're okay.

[chameleon66]

Her Funny Bunny

Author’s note: I haven’t uploaded a fic in a while (Because who thought depression and high school was a good combination). I just really haven’t found the spark in a while but I just really want to write something for Jax as he’s a very controversial character in the TADC fandom and I think he could be a real sweetie. I’m doing much better now and I hope to upload more in 2025 (But no promises) . I hope you enjoy this fic I wrote and have a good day/night.

Warnings: Cheer up tickles, teasing, angst, mean jokes (Let me know if I need to add anything)

Word count: 2907

It was quiet at the moment, which was pretty abnormal for the life of a cast member in The Amazing Digital Circus, but the only reason it was quiet was because the adventure hadn’t started yet. Right then the gang were all hanging out in the main area playing charades.

You know, just trying to enjoy a bit of normalcy before Caine comes to take them to that day's adventure. It was Ragatha’s turn while Zooble, Gangle, Pomni, and Kinger had to guess, they had all taken note of Jax’s absence but didn’t bring it up as no one saw it as something worrying or they didn’t want to bring it up for fear of bringing down the mood (cough, Ragatha, cough)

At the moment Ragatha was standing up waving in a highly sophisticated manner then grabbing the skirt of her dress and curtsying down. While the others tried to guess who she was.

“Some kind of queen?” Gangle thought out loud.

“Or princess?” Pomni added.

“An insect collection.” Kinger guessed for the 57th time.

Ragatha then blew a kiss out to them and said “The brave knights have arrived!”

A look of realization came across Pomni’s face and she said “Princess Loo!”

Ragatha stopped mid motion and nodded at Pomni who immediately cheered for herself.

“Great job Pomni.” Ragatha praised it, it was nice seeing everyone being so happy and casual. “Okay, Zooble, your go.”

Zoble groaned but regardless stood and went to the middle of the circle they had formed, they stood for a moment clearly considering who to pretend to be, then as if a lightbulb went off her eyes flashed then the illusion of a smirk came across their features.

Zooble crossed their arms over their chest and began tapping their foot rapidly against the ground with a scowl on their face. Clearly pretending to be mad.

Everyone went into thinking but Ragtha did make a mental note of how it was similar to how Jax would thump his foot against the ground when he was upset.

Then Zooble placed one fist on her hip and let the other fall before she broke out into improvised words, in a tone of voice that felt more alive than her normal tone. “I’m indirectly communicating to you all that I’m unhappy that no one is feeling sad so now I must go forth and cause pain and suffering because it’s the only way to cope with my big scary feelings.”

The others all began laughing though tried to cover their mouths with their hands, it was clear who Zooble was portraying but they were laughing too hard to try and guess.

Happy they got a reaction encouraging Zooble to keep going. “Oh yeah I’ll gladly jump off a building but heaven forbid a ear of corn crosses my path, cause otherwise I’ll hide under the nearest couch and shake as if the corn had threatened to kill me.”

Now everyone was practically dying of laughter while rolling around on the ground. Even Ragtaha was laughing quietly behind her hand.

Ragatha’s non button eye drifted away from the group only for her laugh to go silent and her smile drop as her eyes landed on the tall purple rubber hose cartoon looking rabbit who was partially hidden away by the wall of the other room.

Jax clearly wasn’t trying to hide his reaction though because his foot was thumping softly against the floor, his eyes were big with hurt yet with small square shaped pupils trembling in them and his ears were droopy. Small things one probably would think meant much if they hadn’t been secretly dating Jax for about six months.

A quick side eyed glance back the others told Ragatha they hadn’t become aware of the youngest cast member's presence. But when Ragtha glanced back Jax wasn’t behind the wall anymore instead walking out towards the others with a grin a bit too wide adoring his face.

The others still hadn’t noticed Jax until he was right behind Zooble until Jax spoke up. “Hey looks like something’s got you all in stitches, care to let me in on the joke.”

Everyone was gasping between laughs but Kinger calmed his first and then said. “I honestly don’t remember what we were doing.” Before falling back in hysterical laughter.

Jax only shrugged his shoulders before walking closer to Zooble before stopping just behind them. “Oh well that’s ok. I’ll just create myself something to laugh at.”

He then grabbed both of Zooble’s arms detaching them from their body and throwing them across the floor and through the door that led outside the circus tent.

“Ugh! Jax you f%#king @$$ho/e!” Zooble yelled as they began to make their way back to their missing limbs while Jax laughed at their misery, though it didn’t escape Ragatha how Jax’s laugh stopped and his face became less animatedly happy when Zooble was out of ear’s reach.

The awkward silence wasn’t long though as a grand puff of smoke transported Caine above their heads as he shouted “Good morning my little superstars! Who’s ready for a grand adventure?”

The adventure that day was pretty small, they were taking turns running an obstacle course Caine had made and whoever completed the course in the fastest time would be dubbed the winner.

Each of them went one at a time but it was clear that none of them were really built to be athletes as all of them even failed to complete the course. It could’ve been because they were all not very athletic or because Caine had added fire, razor blades, sharks, bees, and other stuff to make the course more ‘exciting’.

Between each person’s turn they all just stood off and watched them, while waiting for her turn though Ragatha noticed how docile Jax had seemed to become, while he was still making sarcastic comments and jokes at others expense they weren’t as sharp as his normally were.

She also saw how he had distanced himself away from everyone with his face being all glum with his normally ever present smile not there unless he knew somebody was looking at him.

By the time everyone had run the course, Caine declared that no one had won because no one finished so that meant they got no reward. After Caine had reset all of their avatars to rid them of their injuries he sent them off to go and do their own thing for the rest of the night.

Jax and Ragatha went with each other to Ragatha’s room to hang out. They walked in silence which was something else that concerned Ragatha as Jax was never quiet. Had Zooble’s comments really gotten to him that bad?

Ragatha really felt bad for Jax, sure he was a jerk to the others but just like everyone else here he had his whole life taken away from him when he put on that headset and being a jerk was just his way of keeping himself sane.

Ragatha knew she couldn’t let Jax just keep being sad so she decided to employ her best tactic guaranteed to cheer him.

Once they reached her room she opened the door and let Jax walk in first before going in after him. She shut the door behind her and readied herself to set her plan into motion.

“So Dollface, don’t you think it’s not far I didn’t win despite making it furthest on the course.” Jax sat down on her bed with one leg crossed over the other. Target achieved.

“Oh totally Jax.” She famed a sweet tone, then made a soft turn to face Jax. “If that is your real name.”

Jax’s ears and eyes perked up as he looked more directly at her in confusion. “What?’’

Ragatha smirked. “How do I know that this isn’t one of Caine’s tricks and that you’re one of his NPCs pretending to be Jax.”

Jax titled his head and lifted one eyebrow. “You’re taking crazy Doll, I’m not some dumb NPC.”

Ragatha’s smile only grew more mischievous with that comment. Of course she knew it was Jax but there was no he’d accept this without hearing a good reason first.

“You sure?” Ragatha leaned forward til her face was inches from Jax’s. “Cause earlier me and the others were playing charades and Zooble pretended to be you, which made me realize just how easy you are to impersonate.”

Jax’s face flushed a darker purple though he tried to hold the stern look on his face. “I’m not an NPC Rags, I’m Jax, your extremely handsome boyfriend.”

At last, the final part of Ragatha’s improvised plan was set. Now it was up to her.

“Well then you wouldn’t mind if I ran a simple test.”

Jax’s face now read as more curious above all else and seeing no sign that he wasn’t down to clown (As he would say) she wasted no time running then pouncing on top of him. Effectively holding him down with her own weight as Jax might have been the tallest in the circus but due to his thinness he was also very light weight wise.

She then proceeded to grab his sides with her plush doll hands and began to mercilessly squeeze and poke at them.

Jax’s goofy smile went back to his face and his face got blushy as he laughed. Ragatha immediately rejoiced at her small victory so far.

“Hahahahaha how is this hahahahaha helping?” Jax tried to squirm in her hold but her hands persistently remained on his form, attacking his waist with vigor.

“If you are truly my Jaxxy then I’d expect you to be just a precious sweetie while being tickled.” Ragatha explained, though she kept her true motive unsaid.

Through the months of them secretly being together Ragatha had come to see that Jax was a very affectionate guy who more than anything wanted to see her smile. So she had noticed whenever she was down, Jax would take the first opportunity when they were alone to tickle her until she swore to him she felt better.

And after she got him back a few times she had come to see that tickles were just one of Jax’s ways to show love. She had read in a book from the library Caine had for them at the circus that people sometimes project how they want to be shown love and do it to others in hopes they start doing it back.

Though he had never admitted to her, she had seen it in how genuinely happy he seemed after and how he always wanted to remain all snuggled up against her after too. So if there was one way she knew to make Jax feel better, it was tickling him to a pulp.

After Ragatha felt that Jax’s walls were down she spread her hands up to his ribs and began to get at them causing Jax’s laugh to jump up and become super cackly.

“Ragathahahahaha! It’s reheheheheheheheally mEHEHEHEHE.” Jax pleaded through his forever shut teeth.

“Hmmm-.” Ragatha hummed in consideration. “Jax is pretty ticklish on his ribs. But I think I better keep going for a little longer just to be sure.”

“Nohohohohohohoho! Ragdoll! Hahahahahahahaha.” Jax kept trying to squirm away from her hands but whenever he did her other hand would tickle the other side harder causing his body to try and squirm away from the opposite hand.

“You do have a super endearing laugh like Jax.” She observed

“You also have a lovely smile like him, you squint your eyes tighter when I hit a particularly bad spot.” She poked her fingers into the soft spots just below his ribs to prove it, and sure enough Jax’s eye shu tighter hand he let out a squeak with it.

“You also aren’t even trying to get me off you just like Jax..” She continued rattling off small things Jax was doing, keeping them sweet yet teasy which effectively flustered him.

“Wehehehehell Mahahahahahybe I’m Just lehehehehetting you hahahahahave your fun.” Jax retorted, trying to defend his lack of attempts to escape.

“Oh really?” Ragatha questioned, her eyes locking on her next target for tickles. “Since when is my boyfriend known for being a gentleman?”

“I cahahahahahahan behehehe nice whehehehen I wahahannahaha.”

“I’m still not quite sold on you mister.” Ragatha brought herself up and kissed the spot where Jax’s nose would be if he had one, making his laugh go all squeaky with a gentle hum to it.

“I had better do one more test just to be 100%.” Ragatha turned her body around and sat in front of Jax’s feet. Despite her now being off him Jax didn’t make an effort to get away from her despite most likely knowing where she’d be going. Instead just laying there limply trying to catch his breath.

Ragatha gave him a second to breathe before she took both of his feet in her arms and while holding them in her grasp with one hand she used the index finger on the other hand to gently tickle the silly pink heart paw pads he had on his feet.

Jax absolutely lost it. “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NOHOHOHOHOHOHO F%#K NOT THEHEHEHEHEHRE!”

His feet had always been one of those spots where you didn’t need a lot of force in your tickles to make him squeal like a tea kettle.

His feet had always been Ragatha's favorite tickle spots too, not only because it got the best reactions from him but also because his feet were just adorable to her. They had the appearance of paws with three toes and paw pads on the bottom of them. but the full anthropomorphic functionality of feet.

She was also happy she had chosen to sit in front of him to hold his feet because now she got a great view of his cute face, which only got cuter when he was being tickled. His eyes scrunched together, his ears flop haphazardly with his head as his body twisted trying to escape the tickly sensations, and his smile would be genuinely sweet and freaking precious.

Unlike the mischievous or fake smiles he’d give everyone else. This smile was only for her eyes.

Ragatha’s hand stopped ticking up and instead opted to gently trace each of his paw pads, starting with the biggest one then moving up to his toes then back down.

“HEHEHEHEHEHEHE! IT TICKLES!” Jax was giggling as the sensation was now a bit too soft to provoke his loud boisterous laughter from him.

“My Funny Bunny boy does have very ticklish feet, doesn’t he?” Ragatha’s tone now was softer along with her tickles.

“YEHEHEHEHEHESS HE DOHOHOHOHOES.” Jax agreed with her.

“Cute soft paws, squishy sides and ribs, yep that solves it.” Ragatha released Jax’s feet and she watches as he curled up while still giggling.

“I guess that checks out, you must be the real Jax.” Ragatha sat and watched Jax as he slowly stopped laughing and sat up to face her.

“Well I could have told you that.” He remarked with a playful eye roll.

Ragatha chuckled, “Yeah, sure you could.”

Jac then dramatically flopped back down on her bed, his head landing on one of the pillows near the headboard. “Come now Dollface, join the Funny Bunny Boy. You know you wanna.”

Ragatha fought to hold back her giggle at her boyfriend's silly antics but she was already moving towards him as she said back. “Alright I’m coming Jax.”

“Awww… No sweet nicknames.” Jax pouted.

Ragatha rolled her eyes as she settled on top of Jax and laid her head down on his chest while placing a kiss just under his chin. “Don’t worry Jax, you’ll always be my sweet little bunny.”

Her hands went in different directions as one went to his free hand to rest in while the other went up one of his ears to begin petting and rubbing it.

Jax sighed as he sank deeper into her bed letting himself enjoy the feeling of his ears being pet and the pressure of his Ragdoll over top of him.

Ragatha smiled, her plan had been a massive success, her boyfriend was now happy, relaxed, and his mind had been taken off the other’s hurtful words.

Cause no matter how hard Jax denied it he was still a human who put up a false image of himself, this cruel, mean, unshakable guy, just because that’s how he protected himself from the fear of being forever trapped in a video game and never being able to free. As much as Gangle and Ragatha pretended and wore a mask, Jax did too though his was far better concealed.

“I love you Jaxxy.” Ragatha whispered only to realize that Jax had fallen asleep. With a sigh she pulled her quilt over them both and let rest come to her as she laid in her boyfriend’s arms.

[talonabraxas]

Sun in Capricorn Pan “All-Deity” Talon Abraxas “The name Pan means ALL. If you accept the Christian etymology of this compound word and form it of … “all,” and … “god,” and then imagine and teach that this means that every stone and every tree in Nature is a God or the ONE God, then you will make of the Pantheists fetish-worshippers, in addition to their legitimate name. Our DEITY is neither in a paradise, nor a particular tree, building, nor mountain; it is everywhere, in every atom of the visible as of the invisible Cosmos, in, over, and around every invisible atom and divisible molecule; for IT is the mysterious power of evolution and involution, the omnipresent, omnipotent, and even omniscient creative potentiality. PAN was at one time absolute nature, the one and GREAT-ALL; but when history catches a first glimpse of him, Pan has already tumbled down into a godling of the fields, a rural god; and history will not recognize him, while theology makes of him the devil. Yet his seven-piped flute, the emblem of the seven forces of nature, of the seven planets, the seven musical notes, of all the septenary harmony, in short, shows well his primordial character.” (The Pantheists, Theosophy, Vol. 68. No. 2, December, 1979)

[coastxlwaters]

Yawns and stretches

Well uh... I wasnt planning on making one of these bc i appreciate everyone so much i cant put it into words... But ah. Lets go

This is gonna be extremely cheesy, also remember im making this half asleep and even fully awake i couldn’t explain how much i care for you all

No specific order, lit just what pops up as moot first:

@escapetheslaughters Hey Ze! I love your ideas and creativeness, even if at times i have to back away due to my uncomfortableness with ykw related topics. You are by far one of my most trusted moots even though i trust all of them with my life, and i wish i could call you my father, but im happy to atleast call you my friend

@eternal-soup Hey soup, god you have pulled me through some rough times without even knowing it. I cant tell you how much i treasure our few and far between interactions but god you are just a great person to call my friend. I cant put it into words for how muchi care for you, but if i ever hear that someone was rude to you i would go to war on your behalf

@eclipsen-smiles Hey Clips Mod, i dont know you too well but you do take up a special place in my heart, you are a very wonderful person with great character building, i wish i could say i knew you more but i respect that you find more likeness in others and not me, im just happy that i know you well enought to call you a friend

@theinfamousmaybelle hi maybelle!i dont know you too much but when we do interact it calms many of my always frazzled nerves!

@im-just-a-dumb-gay Hey Gay, oh god icant put into words how much i appreciate you. You wereone of my first ever moots and i am so happy i have had the fortune to have you in my life

@inkyucu Hey Inky! We may not interact much but i hold you near and dear to my heart, you always know the right thing to say somehow and always make my days better!

@itsahotminuteinbetween hey minute! Oh god, agajn, i cant put it into words but you are a treauredpart of my life i could have never hoped for, as i aslent lurker myself i always understand you not being able to interact much due to social anxiety and i appreciate whenever you become braveenough to interact with me, i am trying to telepathically hug u as i type this i hope you feel it-

@obsessivecelestial i havent known you for long, Celestial, but you make people i care for happier than i ever wish i could, please, please continue to be their friend because you have an untouched power for making people happy

@o-i-w-u hey Charlie! I miss when we were able to interact alot, but i still silentl lurk through your blog for memories of when we would interat alot. You pulled me through one of the roughest times i have ever had and i still appreciate the hand you offered for mine

@potatotato-26 Hey Tato, god, i miss you so much. I think about you every single day, your anxiety about uour art, your little quirks, you bring light to many people and i ask you continue to do so even if ur not in the tsams fandom anymore, u will forever be one of my role models

@strawberry-arrowtip Prime, Prime, Prime, i cant put inro words how much i just LOVE u /p, you have been there for me since my early days under the user of ’CoastxlWaters’ or ’Xellia_eclipse’ you have been one of the best role models for me and i cherish ur existence in my life, though i cant decide whether you are brother figure or father figure <3

@froggielovescoffee Oh Forrest,god your terrifying in a good way, i cant believe i have an amazing artist following me of all people, much less being able to call you a friend!

@h-didanart H, H, H H H H, god I have always loved your stuff and always will your aus fascinate me and your support for whenever I try to do something has never went unappreciated, also, you made one of my absolute bestest of friends as happy as they are, and I think you know who they are, wink wink

@just-a-normal-nova Nova I cannot stress how much I care for you, you are literally part of my family in my head, your older brother btw💥 but anyways, god i hope you get the man ur looking at and i hope you are the happiest you can ever be even if i have to someday leave you behind in my online life

@knizuu Same as your brother, Knizuu, i cant put into words how much i care baout you, i am hugging you and burying my head in ur chest out of appreciation rn

@letthebloodrunlikeariver we dont talk much but for fuck’s sake you are treasured, treasured i tell u, treasured.

@liminal---nightmare-aliza oh Liminal- oh god i miss u so much... I hope you are living a great life even ifim not even noticed in it

@loony2star LOONY, LOONY LOONY LOONY, OH LOONY, GOD I CANT PUT MY APPRECIATION INTO WORDS BUT YOU ARE- SOSOSO- GREAT? AMAZING? TREASURED? SOMETHING LIKE THAT!-

@creaturenamedchoir Choir i literally cant say anything when it comes to you, when i do all i end up seeing in my head is me hugging ur sona with my shark onesie with caption: ’Big brother’

@brightsstar i dont know u that well but ur creations lighten my mood every time i see one!

@multifandomcutie13 oh god u are so treasured in my life i think ill cry if i try to explain, even if u are ominous smt with ur messaging and get the wrong idea you are still an amazing person!

@mellonaide-skys KASHI, I think you know how much i appreciate you, i could make entire posts for every single one of my moots and you would still be in my mind waiting for ur turn to be yelled at with appreciation

@morriganfey i call u every day, u help me through some of the worst times in my life, i cant put my appreciation into words but everytime i hear your voice i smile and my self deprecating thoughts become a little less heavy, i care for you more than almost everyone else on this list. I am sorry for anyone else reading this, but Fey has heard me crying and helped me more than i could even hope for

@capring *sobs into ur chest* i care for you so much i cant tell you how much of an impact you have made on my life and not sound like im overexagerating but you certainly had a huge impact like Fey’s, i care for you deepky and wish i could flick a wand and watch yoir worrkes melt away

@librarian-computer My unbelievably anxious friend, you are treasured and u can talk to me about anything, though i do ask that u message me when u lose motivation for an rp so i can cut it off or try to help <3

@bittyfromquotev you are a role model and i cant say nothing else without sounding really, really crazily happy and i sadly have reputation to uphold

@sunny-inajar ifyou killed me i would die happily/silly but actually, you were one of the biggest motivations in my life and you continue to be, im so happy i have the continued ability to call you a moot

My hands are hurting from all this typing and i know this isn’t everyone byfar but im in more pain than i am in when doing chicken scratches to vent-

I love all of you

So much

I am so tired and slow

I hope i worded this right

But you are truly gifts in my life

Everyone of my moots and people i trust

You are all gifts

[cripplecharacters]

Debated on whether I wanted to resend but here goes nothing.

This is Margo, my OC. She is currently being developed into a Stardew Valley mod. I don't wish to spoil too much, but she fought in The War and was injured. She now has facial + body scarring and a cane. I'm still writing the story, but so far, she has two plots: A, which is her learning to open up and accept the player. And B, which is her trying to find a hobby with the help of other NPC characters.

I'm mainly sending an ask in for feedback on her design. As of now, her torn lip has been edited to show her gums instead of all teeth. Otherwise, nothing has changed. Thank you!

Side question: How should her facial difference and cane be addressed, if at all?

[Image description: two pixel drawings. The first one shows the full body of the character; she has light tan skin, a burn scar on her face, and long red hair. She's holding a cane. The second drawing shows multiple versions of the character's portrait with various facial expressions.]

Hey!

She looks good! I especially like the top right one, very cute :)

I think my only concern would be re: her right eye - is she meant to have corneal scarring or a traumatic cataract? I'm asking since it looks like she has corneal blindness, but that's rarely caused by an injury like that (it's mostly a vitamin deficiency/parasitic thing). It's not impossible that she'd have it from a burn, but I want to make sure you're not confusing the two (since I see that a lot) and these two conditions do have different symptoms (outside of blindness).

If you're willing to address her disability then I think it would be a good idea. I'm not sure what kind of narration you're going for, but it wouldn't be ableist for the player character to simply Acknowledge that she has burns on her face (e.g., before the player learns her actual name, the placeholder could be "red-haired woman with a burn" since these are just her most visible characteristics). It also wouldn't be out of place if the player character wondered "what happened" - I know we (disabled people) all hate this question, but I don't think it's weird for someone to just think that in their head when they see someone (thought crime isn't real, etc.). As long as the player character isn't going around harassing her asking why she's disabled as the first thing they do (unless I guess it'd be to show that the player is ableist and has a lot to learn?) it should be ok.

If you want the characters to discuss "what happened" in the actual dialogue, it'd be preferably after they actually develop a relationship. I don't think it's weird to ask one's friend about their disability (as opposed to demand that information). Depending on Margo's personality and/or feelings toward the player she could either explain the whole story in great detail, leave it at "during the War, a building caught on fire, I was in it; it took them three months to put me back together but at least I'm finally back home, isn't modern medicine incredible?", or simply decline to answer that. All three are valid options; it's not like her character arc will fall apart if the player doesn't know what happened. She's visibly a burn survivor, there's hardly any mystery as to what's going on. Not everyone wants to talk about the origin of their disability, even (sometimes especially) to people they're close to - sometimes it's PTSD, sometimes it's the fact that they're tired of being asked that.

Her cane is more straightforward since in her case, her main "thing to address" are her burns and the cane would probably fall under that for most players. If you want you can have the player character compliment the design of her cane* or how well built it is, especially earlier on when it would be more awkward to just go straight to discussing her actual disability.

*Real life (not writing) tip: Not everyone likes that, please don't randomly compliment real strangers' mobility aids, especially if they're undecorated or without anything else that would imply they want to bring attention to it. A lot of people (myself included) will think you're being condescending.

Other than that, there's no reason to ignore her burns or cane; e.g. if the player visits her at home before going out she can mention that she needs to grab her cane, or put a pressure sleeve on before leaving, maybe on some days she's not available to talk to because she has physical therapy scheduled at that time, etc. As long as she has other character traits that have nothing to do with her disability (which it sounds like she already does) it should all be good.

I also like the plot B she's involved in - I wish this wasn't the case, but so many characters with facial differences don't have any damn hobbies ("obsessing over revenge for making them disabled" doesn't count) and almost never seem to have casual friends, so this is cool to see!

Hope this helps,

mod Sasza

[amagicalmoonlight]

I dedicate my first post of 2025 to the underrated and underutilized friendship of Red and Blue, who’re like thematic opposites of each other, like literally down to their color (red and blue as colors are psychologically opposite).

Blue is the most passive and defensive of the stick figures, almost always last to resort to violence but always first to check up on if someone’s hurt, and when he is battling his weapon of preference is long distance; while Red is the most aggressive and first to fight, his preference being hand to hand combat or anything short distance.

Both times I remember Blue broke that hesitance for violence after AVA 4 revolved around Red, first when she knocked some sense into him after scaring them in the first avm short, and second was her actually running first to fight Dark after just seeing him kill Red.

Blue is one of the most emotive characters at times of distress, openly weeping and shaking any time he thought one of his friends died, hugging Green when they both thought they’d fall at The End; meanwhile Red is the least vulnerable, refusing to show weakness, when he thought green died he distanced himself, when losing at fighting it becomes irritable and even pushes others away, but he makes up for being the most emotive when happy, it’s literally the character that happy stims the most.

They at times seem to have somewhat of a friendly rivalry, specially from Red’s side: Red poking fun and lightly shoving blue for wearing a wig and Blue shoving him back, Red being dismissive of Blue wanting to break and obsidian block and then furiously storming off as Blue crushed it, Red immediately jumping to arm wrestle Blue after seeing her completely defeat Orange, Blue knocking over Red with her helmet after Red scared them pretending to be possessed by herobrine again.

But they have similarities too, or interests that parallel. Red is a lover of fauna and Blue is a lover of Flora; Red has a close bond with pigs, Blue has a strong bond with piglins. And ultimately they’re great friends, they play pretend star wars together, they cheer together after seeing their home movie finished, Blue gladly build a large scale version of Reds chicken just cause he wants one and play with noteblocks together, they’re silly billies and I love them SO MUCH.

[windbelle]

Is there any aspect of Astarion that you feel you specifically created in him?

Newbon: I think it’d be remiss of me to say I brought this to Astarion. I took Stephen [Rooney]’s words, which were beautiful, and I did things with them. This is what Stephen told me after the initial demo when I sort of quasi-auditioned, demo-ed for Asatarion. Stephen reviewed it. He liked what I was doing… He didn’t predict the things that I was doing with the character. So they were a surprise to him, which he liked. He then started writing towards the rhythm that I was trying out with the character because he liked it. I think the word “Darling” became more of a thing after he heard me say one line that had the word “Darling” in it, and it wasn’t supposed to be like a thing for him, but it sort of became like an anchor point for Astarion, which I think was really interesting.

Newbon: I didn’t improvise any of the lines. The lines of dialog were beautifully written. But what I did do is the cadence, the habits, the mannerisms, the different jumps and changes, the theatricality, the facade of him, all that kind of stuff I brought in, which isn’t scripted per-se, but I’m obviously following Stephen and the other writers who contributed towards the Astarion’s words and just brought my own take on it, my own flavor on it.

I did a lot of background work, I did a lot of character creation work myself. I spent a long time, over four years, really cultivating different aspects. And I thought a lot about his habits. I brought in a lot of different methodology, from method work, movement work, creature and character design. I spent a lot of work.

This was not something that I just switched on and got into. This took a lot of experimentation to find what was right, especially with things like the voice and particular habits he would do for deflection or dismissing you. I wanted to build very strong habits into him so that even if he was saying one thing, his body might give himself away or what his real intent was. And I think largely we got pretty successful at that because I think you can watch his physicality and realize he’s saying the opposite of what he’s saying.

There was a lot of fun to be had. But yeah, I worked my socks on this role and it was great. It was four years of joy. It was great. Four and a half years of joy.

So, speaking of that work, you did building his lore…

Newbon: Not his lore, the lore is set by the writers, building his life, I think.

Perfect, building his life. Given all that work, do you have, in the fandom, we call it a head-canon? Do you have any headcanons about Astarion that are not explicitly said in the game?

Newbon: I have his background, and I developed aspects of his background that aren’t talked about because that’s a method tool to help live the character’s life. Okay, well, in the past, he used to do things like this. Therefore, that’s a habit that he would carry on into this new life, being a vampire and being a slave, essentially.

So, I took habits from his past that aren’t scripted and developed those myself. Nobody knows that. Nobody needs to be told that. But what it does do is that if I’m put into a new context of a new scene, I know how he’s going to react habitually and also his wants and needs and objectives, anyway. All of that factors into the choice I will then make in-line with physical movement because I have his life in my head. So, if you want to call that a head-canon. That’s kind of like a historic head canon.

What I don’t do is head-canon the future of beyond the story because that story’s happened.

Is there anything you can share there? He loves wool and socks or something.

Newbon: Yeah. There’s a thing where Astarion always checks his nails when he is trying to just dominate people. He dismisses them with a head turn, usually to the left. He does this to put people in their place. To make very them acutely aware that he’s in control.

......

[argonblue]

Ok I talked abt this a lil before in another post but THE RUTHARI DESIGN LANGUAGE

Ethari outwardly has changed, but that design reflects more of his grief, the passage of time, and his inability to let go of his husband. It’s also all external—his hair is longer, his Moonshadow markings are now asymmetric/unbalanced, his earrings are gay as hell and really show how he is not over his marriage at all. Most importantly, his armor/shoulder things. He looks prickly, closed off, and that’s exactly how he acts when he thinks runaan is a stranger, which is very un-Ethari.

On the other end, Runaan’s design is hugely the same as season one, with the only two changes being A) his weird ass cutout sleeve is missing on his right, and B) his horn. Unlike Ethari, runaan’s biggest character design change is losing a part of his actual body. Hair can grow, clothes can change, but Runaan’s horn is part of him. His being has been fundamentally altered in a small way, and he’s going to carry that change for ever. Both figuratively, with how he’s seen the true outcome of his assassin work, and literally.

Ethari has a design that communicates his relationship with runaan, he always has. In bloodmoon huntress, runaan calls Ethari his guiding light, but in reality I think it’s the other way around. Because Ethari is the most out of character without runaan. He ghosts Rayla out of grief, which is very out of character, because runaan is gone. But after two years, runaan still comes home to an Ethari who is grieving and hopeless, but not broken.

And after they reunite, Ethari returns to the same state we’ve seen him in for pretty much the entire show. And I get why. He’s a minor character, the plot doesn’t need him to have a paradigm shift like runaan, but I like to read into it as Ethari being the moonfam anchor. He’s the home they all come back to, he’s the warm hug they all need, he’s soft and he’s kind and he’s defined by his love for them. So when he loses his family, he loses himself. He’s and anchor with no ship. Runaan is his heart, without runaan, there is no point for there to be an Ethari, and it makes him lash out and ghost Rayla.

So. Here’s why I’m thinking about all this: Ethari making Runaan a prosthetic horn. Ethari, runaan’s anchor, helping him reforge this part of himself and shine truth onto the great lie of assassin-hood that runaan held so close to his persona. Runaan choosing to replace his belief in precision violence with his belief in love. Most importantly to me, Ethari confronting the lie he helped reinforce for runaan. Ethari seeing that he’s been making weapons to fuel the cycle of violence that in turn took his entire family and his heart from him. And Ethari and runaan deciding to help build the new world, Everkynd, where the lie and the cycle don’t have to dictate their lives.

[magnorious]

I figured out why I didn’t like Arcane Season 2!

Randomly, while at work.

I do not have the energy or time to intensely rewatch all 18 episodes right now so if you’re going to harass me about some minute detail in episode 7 that I’m forgetting… go off I guess?

My issue when I watched it was a lack of connectivity between the buildup of S1 and the payoff in S2 and how the whole thing felt rushed. I did not like Ambessa but couldn’t figure out why. She’s a fine character, but every time she was on screen she just felt unnecessary. I know she’s there for Mel’s arc and is a threat to Piltover.

But the initial conflict that divided Zaun and Piltover wasn’t from without, it was from within. Zaun had been suffering under Piltover’s boot and the runoff of Piltover’s pollution for generations. They were disenfranchised and both left to rot, but still under Piltover policing. Their issues were never about magic or its existence, it was always politics between them and only them.

Enter the hex cores and Ambessa from Noxus. Having the big resolution of the entire series, that felt like it was building up to explore the many different realms for the game’s other popular characters, to then funnel it back into a snake eating itself, with Viktor being the mage that Jayce saw all those years ago felt… limiting. Viktor’s “the solution to world peace is removing free will” impacted Vi and Jinx in that they’re all three Zaunites, but after all these years of bad blood, one team-up against a third-party military is the solution to fixing the relationship between Piltover and Zaun?

It took what I thought was going to be a political story working at how to give Zaun justice for all the shit done unto them and said “wait, put all politics aside we gotta fight these robots”. The show does not have a “everything’s perfect now” happy ending, but that’s a whole lot to be left to interpretation.

I’m still in disbelief that this was apparently the plan from the beginning, when they crammed just so much into this season. You open the entire series on a genocide that orphaned the two poster characters, because of systemic issues between two nations, and resolve the series with someone else’s villain while these two run support.

I don’t hate any of the characters, despite being a bit disappointed that they brought Vander back to just… die again, like they could not come up with anything better to give these two. Ambessa wants the hexcore and wants to take over Piltover. Great. Yeah, that’s a threat to Zaun, assuming she plans to make life exponentially worse for them, but it wasn’t the original threat to Zaun. Viktor wants to solve all suffering by mind-controlling everyone. Great. Once he’s gone, does everyone just toss their grievances aside?

Could season 2 not have been building up the extent of the damage that the hexcore was doing to both nations, giving them all time to understand that they’ve got to work together to clean up Piltover’s mess with Viktor as the villain? Then go and expand the world into the Ambessa problem in season 3, once these nations have built at least the foundations of an alliance. Nobody would have complained about having more show to watch.

[banneriscarried]

Okay, getting in on this because I'm not the kind of person that can just sit back and shut up.

I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Philosopher's Stone if you're not in America) for the first time when I was six. I had to have a special note from my mom that explained to my teacher that, yes, I was actually reading the book, and yes, I could understand what I was reading or else I wasn't allowed to read it during silent reading time.

That book was the first book I'd ever read that I actually enjoyed reading. It was the first book that wasn't made for little kids with a plot so simple and basic that I was bored out of my mind the entire time. Being allowed to read that book was something my first grade teacher used as a bribe to get me to read the books I was supposed to read for class, because without getting to read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone as a reward, I would flat out refuse pretty much every book put in front of me.

I'd also listen to the audio books a lot. So much that, for a couple of years, classmates thought I was secretly British because I just casually adopted some of the accents from pure exposure.

Every year from the moment I finished the series, I had a tradition of rereading it, a tradition that went on for about six years.

That series was genuinely my life for such a long time, and I genuinely love those books so much, despite JK Rowling. I despise JK Rowling. I actively hate her, and I'm not someone that can hold grudges.

But that's not why I think the books are honestly incredibly mediocre.

The books are mediocre at best because the story telling is lazy, the plots are incredibly predictable, the timelines for most things barely ever add up, most of the characters are two-dimensional at best, all redeeming factors for "evil" characters are honestly pretty shallow, most of the good story telling and actually thoughtful messaging came from background characters, during background moments where it's clear JK didn't actually give much thought to what she was doing and just wanted to try to fill out the space, so many questions either go completely unanswered or are given nonsensical answers, and JK failed to actually make the main characters likeable for most of the series. I don't mean she gave the main characters unlikeable moments, which is great for any book or series, I mean there are massive sections of the books where the main characters are either just boring or unlikeable, but not in a "god I love to hate on them" way and more of a "can you just shut up already so I can pretend you don't exist" way.

All that's not even to mention the systemic and structural issues with the actual world building, like goblins being an antisemitic stereotype, or slavery being perfectly acceptable because the beings that are enslaved like it.

If you haven't read the books and don't want spoilers, leave now. The following is a breakdown of a few key characters and has information from the books. It's all really simple and I probably could get more in depth with it if I wanted, but I'm honestly getting a little bored here.

Dumbledore being an incredibly manipulative and honestly terrible person isn't satisfactorily addressed and his behavior is completely rug swept by the end of the The Deathly Hallows with Harry just casually naming one of his sons (an absolutely terrible name) after him. Someone who deliberately caused some of the most pain Harry had endured in his life.

Snape was actively a horrible person, and not just to Harry. Sure he was forced (by Dumbles) to take a job he clearly didn't want and wasn't suited for in exchange for being excused of his crimes, but that doesn't excuse the fact that he was outright abusive to those students. Being the victim of childhood abuse by his parents or peers doesn't excuse that. Being in love with Lily doesn't excuse that. Having an (honestly understandable) grudge against James Potter doesn't excuse his behavior towards Harry, let alone towards the rest of his students.

James Potter was a fucking asshole. Lily was genuinely right to hate him for so long. He was outright terrible to Severus, and for absolutely no reason at the beginning. Also, he really wasn't a good friend to Peter Pettigrew, was he?

Sirius Black (one of my favorite characters) definitely had a lot of reasons to be so stunted emotionally, but that doesn't excuse his behavior as a kid. Like, him telling Snape how to get into the Whomping Willow was genuinely such a fucked up thing to do, even if it was in the heat of the moment and not something he intended. Not only did that mean Snape could've died if James hadn't saved him, but what the hell would've happened to Remus if James hadn't? He would've been murdered by the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Magical Creatures for that.

Remus... I don't have nearly as many issues with him as the rest of the Marauders, but he did also try to abandon his pregnant wife because he was having a pity party. I can understand why he did a lot of the things he did, but that one's inexcusable to me.

Harry's honestly not given enough personality, he's flat, clearly meant to walk that fine line between just unobservant enough to keep things a mystery while still being smart enough to be capable, but JK definitely didn't walk that line right.

Ron is a character I actually like and enjoy, but he infuriates me so much sometimes. Not just because he's so quick to turn on Harry the moment his friend does something wrong, or abandon Hermione because she has an opinion he doesn't like, but he lacks a completely unreasonable amount of emotional intelligence and is in serious need of a cure for his chronic case of foot in mouth disease.

Hermione's honestly not much better, especially later on. You can tell JK wanted to make her "not like other girls" but also somehow didn't know how to write a girl as a human being instead of A Girl. Hermione's intelligence was nice, and she definitely wasn't perfect which is good, but the attitude she took was honestly incredibly, and needlessly, condescending, especially when it came to emotional intelligence. She was praised and treated like she should have the best emotional intelligence out of everyone just because she's a girl even though, in practice, she's even worse than Ron.

Maybe I'll come back and add more, but this is honestly all I've got in me for now.

I don't think I'll ever stop loving the books, story, and characters completely since my love for the books is so deeply ingrained in me, but there's a reason why I mostly stick to fanon stuff these days and don't really post about HP.

I remember there was a time period where if you criticized Harry Potter purely on artistic merit while also being open about the fact that you think Rowling is an obsessed transphobe people used to assume you were only doing it as some kind of purity signal.

"You're only saying you don't like it now because people are not allowed to admit a bad person can make good art" and so on.

Those arguments never seemed very good in general, but for me specifically it was just...

I grew up watching Rurouni Kenshin and can admit that I really liked it even though the writer was later caught with child sexual abuse materials.

I played Warcraft 3 and Starcraft as a teen and liked that as well, and the fact that Blizzard turned out to be a hotbed of abuse does not retroactively change that either.

I have even liked some other things that have conservative worldviews baked in that I disagree with, such as The Lord of the Rings or Dungeons & Dragons and their many derivatives.

So you can trust I am not motivated by shame when I say those books/movies were, in my opinion, just kind of okay at best and get worse the more you think about them, especially once you are an adult who has experienced other things that are much better.

[1ichtbringer]

i would love to hear more about your thoughts on choso if you want to share!! i always struggle to connect to him as a character admittedly because i haven't paid that much attention to his character building, so his connection to yuuji is basically front and center to me. would love to know more about what draws people to him though c:

hi, I feel like choso is one of those characters where most readers fell for the character’s facade when they were supposed to dismantle it or something like that :D

to put it simply, the reason I love choso is that, aside from his cool jujutsu skills, he is one of the few full-fledged characters in jjk, a character with a beautifully tragic story on top of that. all in my humble opinion, of course. :)

to show you, what I exactly mean, i will refer to 1. his jujutsu abilities and 2. his character arc and personal story. so, let’s start with the first one.

now, JJK has a lot of characters with super cool abilities and great understanding of jujutsu, unfortunately they just get overshadowed by the power houses like gojo, sukuna etc.

choso is such a case imo. he’s classified as a special grade curse and estimated to be a grade one sorcerer later. he’s a skilled all rounder, meaning he can combat in all ranges, has refined cursed energy control and high durability and strength, even compared to the other death painting wombs. he’s inherited the traditional kamo family CT Blood Manipulation and has arguably perfected his craft, without access to family knowledge, manuals or any battle experience, which is very remarkable.

but the problem with hereditary techniques is that the knowledge eventually seeps through the family boundaries, especially the three big clans seem to be thoroughly informed about each other’s techniques. which is the reason naoya instantly knows how to counter him. additionally, as his parent and because of his own former vessels, kenjaku also knows about the weakness’s of BM, which is a bit of a hardship.

choso can use all common BM abilities, however he also adds some of his own special creations, which is why he can catch off even stronger opponents in his battles despite his lack of battle experience (including kenjaku themself).

even though he looks like the hotheaded, emotional type at first glance, he’s actually very smart and an underrated tactician, seen to be advising JJT several times and coming up with clever plans to aid the sorcerers, even as they prepare to fight kenjaku and sukuna. he also has a remarkable logical understanding of jujutsu, that he seems to have developed on his own since he’s been incarnated for only a few months. I highly recommend you to pay attention to his fighting style or his comments on other people’s fights, it’s always interesting to listen to him. :)

now to his story:

I think since he’s a minor character, who seems rather stoic and unobtrusive on the surface, a lot of people focus on his dynamic with yuji instead of taking the opportunity to look behind his facade. so for a better understanding, let’s have a quick look into his backstory.

as death painting wombs, him and his brothers are the result of kenjaku’s “intellectual curiosity”, essentially conceived through longtime sexual exploitation of their mother, who naturally ends up resenting kenjaku for what they did to her. interestingly enough, choso is the only death painting, who gains memories of his parents and inherits his mother’s hatred for his father.

anyway, at some point, JJT retrieves the death paintings as cursed objects and locks them up in their warehouse, where they basically spent one and a half centuries in imprisonment while they’re fully conscious and alive. we know this, because it’s in those 150 years, that choso works on his jujutsu and also because he remembers his brothers reaching out to him for comfort while they have to live in complete darkness and cold.

once him, eso and kechizu are incarnated, choso, as the eldest, makes the decision to ally themselves with the disaster curses, despite not trusting them. He tells his brothers, it’s because “the future made by cursed spirits is more convenient for them”. We’ll come back to this statement later.

he loves his brothers and looks out for them, but he also has pride and confidence in their strength, which is why he lets eso and kechizu go on a mission without their big brother. unfortunately, it results in them being killed by their own half brother without any of them knowing, leaving choso with a lot of anger and the desire to kill the murderer of his brothers (remember, anger is just a secondary emotion).

after shibuya, where he’s finally confronted the killer of his brothers, only to realize that this mere child, is not only in fact one of his brothers, but has been going through hell without any remaining family, choso adopts yuji as his little brother.

now this is where it gets interesting, because most fans either seem to find his protectiveness of yuji extremely strange or endearingly funny, when in reality it’s evident that he has severe guilt and PTSD. not only, because he just failed to protect two of his precious family members the one time he left them out of his sight (even though it wasn’t his fault at all), but because he was the one who suggested to ally with the cursed spirits. in fact, he wasn’t entirely honest about his motivation to join the cursed spirits earlier.

see, the death paintings actually didn’t know anything about their appearances until the moment they incarnated. once they did though, choso quickly realizes a harsh truth about them. he looks quite “human” - human enough, to live among other humans, probably. but his brothers don’t.

eso and kechizu look different, their bodies are not normal. humans will never accept them and they will have to live in great pain, which scares choso, so much so, that he takes the “easy way out” for their sake.

but while he had worried about the hardships his half curse brothers could face among humans, yuji actually had to live through hell on his own, because of his humanity.

when yuji brings up, what he did to eso and kechizu, choso brushes it off quickly by telling him not to worry about it, that it was all a misunderstanding. again, he isn’t being entirely honest here. he actually doesn’t want yuji to worry, because he blames himself for their deaths. he blames himself for his dead brothers and he also blames himself for not finding yuji earlier, even though none of it is remotely his fault.

while yuji believes he doesn’t deserve to walk alongside his friends after sukuna’s rampage in shibuya, choso thinks he is undeserving of walking beside him. after all he killed humans - even though they were never treated kindly by them, deemed to be curses or objects or both their whole life.

yuki’s last words to him are to keep on living as a human. which is ironic, because right from the start, choso is as human as it gets.

he feels hate, but more importantly he feels love. love for his brothers, love for a mother he never met, love for yuji whom he just found, love for the first friend he’s made and who saves him before she dies.

his emotions are his greatest strength, but they’re also his biggest weakness. he is extremely selfless, but also very selfish. he has fears, is flawed and makes mistakes, quite a lot of them actually. he tells naoya that he makes them, so his siblings can learn from his misery and do better. It’s why he’s so tough in the first place, after all he had no one to rely on and had to learn everything by himself. he’s empathetic, oftentimes hiding his true thoughts in consideration for the people dear to him.

when he reunites with eso and kechizu in the afterlife, kechizu is surprised by how apologetic their big brother has become. their big brother, who always knew what to do and what to say without the need to apologise, looks strangely vulnerable now.

and even in his last moments, he still feels as though he didn’t do enough for yuji, despite being by his side in his direst times and giving his life for him. he dies with regrets, like sorcerers supposedly do, but he also dies with gratitude in his heart. gratitude for his little brother, who brought out his most human parts and allowed to stay by his side despite everything he did and like the big brother he is, he teaches yuji one last important lesson: that no one in this world is born with a set role.

[jimmytimmy-teen-pregnancy-au]

2-year-old Hannah Neutron with her bff Fox!