#but that case was for the people that loved the og trilogy (me)

[killjoy-prince]

them announcing games 4-6 as an a/po/llo j/us/tice trilogy is so funny like i get why they marketed it like that but only 1 1/2 games are about him and the one where 1/2 the games about him only focuses on him in the second and last case

[captainzigo]

so unfortunately very few entries here are going to properly be vintage. also what i consider vintage might not line up with what you do. i am not old.

also i am not wealthy. and my family isn’t wealthy. this is an expensive hobby to have. i get most of my stuff from loving it and refusing to throw it away… and digging through the trash at university. you would be surprised with the stuff people throw away. planned obsolescence has nothing on the fact that people can’t be bothered to fix a sour harddrive.

i actually fix computers as a sort of second job. it’s nice to work on computers i can’t afford and that aren’t from the trash. but i love old tech. i love breathing life in to things long dead. i’m a technonecromancer. i am not including pictures of things i haven’t finished yet for the most part. and i simply am not including most things. this is but a fraction of my power

ok so these are all my computers that work. i didn’t include ones that im still working on. they all worked but needed repairs variously. mostly they just needed new hard drives.

my game consoles. again not including ones that don’t work. i actually bought that 3ds, but the rest my parents gave me after they got them used. that gameboy has needed a screen replacement that required soldering. the ds is my little trooper and has needed nothing ever. the wii needed a new disc drive. and the 3ds came in japanese and i hacked it to english.

there’s a back view of my stickers

these are some of my various devices. again not including ones that don’t work. that nano needed a new battery which was actual hell and i’m surprised it survived. that ipad is the first ipad and she works beautifully and one time i fastened it to my tummy for a tellytubby costume. i was slutty lala and i played the old spiderman movie trilogy in glorious VHS quality. i couldn’t find my iphone 3gs for this picture :( but it will turn up. i’ll include an old picture instead of cleaning my room to find it lol

here are some novelties i just like. thats an old radio i swiped from my great grandfather. i got it working but it broke again. i dont know whats wrong with it and its so old that the parts are impossible to find. on the right is the browser for DS which is just so quaint. i love it. it barely works at all but i loaded a wikipedia page one time so xP

this is my terrible stupid tiny phone i got from aliexpress that barely works BUT IT DOES WORK and is technically loaded with all modern smartphone features. i attached a video of it barely playing roblox

this is my og imac. with the og keyboard. i didn’t include it with the working computers because it doesn’t. the harddrive died and im trying to fix it but its really hard. i’ve already sought out two different adapters that haven’t worked

and this is a commodore 64 that i also got out of the trash. it does not work but im hoping to make it work. someone clearly loved it. enough to paint it crazy colors and enough to

write some weird scifi quote on the inside of the case under the RF shield. but maybe they died, or it just became too much of an undertaking.

not included here is:

• several more apple products that i just don’t think look good. all the iphones between 6 and 11 are just so ugly. and i don’t actually like the way apple watches look

• the phone, tablet, and smart watch i actively use

• various bits and bobs like the official speakers for a imac 4, an electronic pocket dictionary, various wii peripherals and so on

• all of my audio equipment

• my iphone 3gs. i just never found it or any pictures of it. i love it tho. it was my first phone (hand me down. i’m not that old) and i have had to repair it so many times and i love taking bad photos with it

• all of my monitors

• my many videogames

• my old fridge that i love and cherish and use

• anything i have fixed and then given to someone else

• a bunch of other stuff

so if you are a beautiful trans woman, are you in love with me yet? or do i need to make a part two

[riddles-n-games]

That Night In Prague Rant

Let me start off by saying Hannah and Toby's story was amazing and heartbreaking, Libby and Nash were also sweet and supportive of one another, Xander is awesome at giving emotional depth to others even in the strange circumstance of tackling, and Secret Santa was quite literally a blast. But there's one story I haven't mentioned yet, have I? You know which one since it's the literal title to this rant/critique.

To get the basic pleasantries out of the way, I loved the promise ring scene, the way Jameson admires Avery lighting up and wanting to see the world through her eyes, the fact he wrote her postcards, and Avery's protectiveness of him. That's it. Great. Now we can get to the real stuff. My dear Jennifer Lynn Barnes, when you announced this book back in February during the month of romance, I recall that this book promised to deliver on ROMANTIC stories and showing us how a Hawthorne man loves. Why the heck did you keep trying to insert every possible wink wink nudge nudge moment possible in Avery's POV then?

When she stated Avery was gonna have a POV again, I was excited but I wasn't sure if I should leap for joy. See, given how Averyjameson were portrayed in the last book, I was somewhat disappointed since I really wanted to see Avery through Jameson's eyes in a more romantic light. It was an eyeroll, unfortunately, and what a missed chance for a wedding dress ref in the race outfit scene since he gave her a promise ring.

However, people were saying, ah, it's Jameson, he's a teenage boy. And ok, I did bite my tongue after that because alright, that's just him (though I am still bitter about his lack of development in TBH), but that wasn't the case with Avery. She's my girl, I can always rely on her, right? Three books of build up with a pretty solid character voice made her who she became in TFG. Cool, I was ready to go back. And as I said so many times before, she gave Jameson depth which helped us see what so many did not and I loved how she didn't let him get away with certain things. She was sensible.

WTF was this then? This is not Avery Kylie Grambs. This is A Very Random Imposter (you come up with the anagram). Imagine my fricken surprise when out of nowhere Jameson As A Girl.

The crimes of the story: "after a lengthy and not quite G-rated negotiation" (WT actual F), "like his body wasn't tense in all the right ways", "smile of his made me want to do things", “I would let him demonstrate all the many, many reasons he had to be that smug", "His search had been... thorough" (????).

This sounds so cringey and unlike Avery. It felt like JLB was trying to force Max and Jameson and Rohan into her POV. Clearly after only two years of not being in her original character's POV and changing through 5 main characters (which was a horrible idea in the first place), she's managed to mish-mash her only properly developed character into sounding like another person.

The innuendos here are the worst I've seen. Avery has never been crass or sexually charged so why start that now? We already have characters that take on that route and now you're trying to ruin Avery with that? PUH-lease. Jameson was enough in TBH and now you're trying to ruin my girl? NO. Absolutely NOT. If JLB wanted to implement this in the og trilogy, then it should have been done earlier but no, Avery was never that girl and she shouldn't be now.

This isn't and cannot be listed as character growth in the slightest because if she sounded the same after a year in TFG post THL and also sounded like her normal self in Secret Santa which is in the same book as TNIP, there should be no reason why she sounds like this here. It ruins the continuation in her character POV which is something that at this point should be solid as stone. Not to mention, not everything works for everyone and that's ok. While I hate it, it makes more sense in Jameson's POV than hers. In Avery's POV, I cringe at it because it sounds so unnatural for her and feels like I'm looking at someone trying to fit into a crowd they just don't mesh with.

Three books solidified that. Why else did we fall in love with TIG in the first place? Partly because of who Avery was and who she became over the course of the trilogy. She stood out amongst the crowd. Did she have a similar way of thinking about puzzles like Jameson? Yes. Did she have a different approach to romance? Yes. Did she help Jamie become a more sensible guy? Yes! Was their flirty banter fun and interesting? Always. That's part of what made me love them so much in the first place but it shifted so suddenly that now they're sounding like Savannah and Rohan.

In October, when we had the preview of more chapters, I immediately noted this sounds like a very different Avery, either older or an alternate universe version of her. If she wants to do this with Rohannah, go ahead; they're a new budding romance so that has room for whatever she didn't use in other ones but leave Averyjameson as we've known them to be for three novels that solidified who they are. I know other romances should be given a chance, I never said that shouldn't be the case but if I'm being given the chance to see my favorite ship being in the spotlight, then do it right one last time. You have three books as your guideline.

Anyways, I'm dissatisfied so I will be doing a rewrite of TNIP since this is a shorter thing to take care of than a whole novel. Have a great day and thanks for reading. Fics will be out at some point, God, so much real life work to do.

[layton-heritage-posts]

i came here from the BDSM fluffery and stayed to find out there's an expansive lore. What do you mean there's a yuri fanfic about you and another heritage blog?? you have an evil clone??? Fascinating fascinating I am intrigued to learn more! And also more about this lovely game franchise you seem so fond of, I am only familiar with ace attorney so this is!!! Wonderful news to a curious lot such as myself that there are MORE.

-sincerely, an experiment

1. The fanfiction author has their own blog where all the lore about heritage yuri is compiled, @lhpxaahpya

2. My evil clone exists purely to mock my very existence. They are also a relatively new addition to the layton Heritage posts cinematic universe

3. If you are an ace attorney fan you're gonna feel right at home with Layton games. The trifecta of Ace Attorney, Professor Layton and Ghost Trick has been unofficially titled as "superwholock for people who like ds visual novels".

4. You don't even know half of my lore yet. The Heritagesona. The triple Baka Video. The underground archive where I live. The fact that you have to kill me to become the new LHP. The-

5. If you're looking for a place to get started, I recommend either:

- Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright

A crossover game between ace attorney and professor layton, in case the title wasn't obvious enough. Perfect game for people who only know ace attorney ans wanna dip their toes into layton games. Also the Perfect game for people who only know professor layton and wanna try out ace attorney. Both the Puzzles and Court Cases are easier than in the other games and the story. Let's just say the story is a handful but it's still a really good game.

- Professor Layton and the Curious Village

The first ever Layton game, recently remastered for mobile phones and such its the most easily available game on the list (aside from piracy or a hacked 3ds obviously). It's certainly shows it's age and a case of "first-game-in-the-series-itis", but that luckily doesn't hurt the game that badly and is still a good time.

- Professor Layton and the Specter's Call

You know how with star wars there is the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy? It's the same with Layton.

Curious village is the first game in the og trilogy, and Specters Call is the first game in the prequels. Personally, this is the game I usually recommend to start with because I think it perfectly encapsulates that Layton feel, but this is just my opinion. It's fun, it's mystery element is great, I love the aesthetic, banger game.

[highfantasy-soul]

I get people concerned that 'viewers are seeing a hot guy and falling for his manipulation!!' but like....personally, I don't believe cops when they just tell me someone is bad without proof?

The thing about compelling antagonists is that a lot of the time, THEY HAVE A POINT!! Vader in the OG trilogy had no point. It was just black/white we want to be fascist all over the galaxy and have all the power, you want to stop us. In the prequels, Palpatine was the same: he wants power....just cause. Anakin you can make a partial argument for in that his initial intention was never just to get power for himself, but rather protect those he loved: this led to him being able to be manipulated and then making abhorrent choices like slaughtering a bunch of children.

In newer Star Wars, there's room for nuance - room for critiquing and looking into things and seeing it isn't always black/white our protagonists are perfect, the antagonist is psycho evil for the sake of being evil.

We didn't see the rebels in Star Wars Rebels, Andor, and Rogue One as evil because they were killing storm troopers - we saw that their violence was justified in fighting back against an oppressive regime that was hurting people.

When I look at Qimir, he's only killed combatants directly opposed to him. We don't know yet what his real goals are - we don't know why the Jedi 'abandoned' him. So I'm going to reserve judgement and hear him out until I get more info. You know, like you should when determining if someone is evil and needs to die? You don't just rush in guns blazing because you see a red saber and someone fighting enemy combatants?

I know a lot of people have woobified the jedi so much that even though they're a militant police force with absolute power to kill you with their laser swords, fighting back against them is somehow seen as kicking a puppy, but idk man. I'm not against violent opposition to an oppressive force. Obviously we need more info before we can say for sure if Qimir's goals need to be pushed back against, but I don't go into situations with the default view of 'the jedi must be right'.

For me, it's really interesting to see how similar Qimir's attempts to get Osha to join him are similar to how Sol got her to agree to join the jedi. Separating her from other influences: check. Giving her tests to unlock parts of herself she knows are there: check. Showing kindness and understanding of her situation: check. Offering her something she wants (with Sol it was to allow Osha to 'be her own person' rather than only the other half to her twin and the lure of other children like her (that he conveniently left out she'd never be able to have a deep relationship with due to the non-attachment rules of the Jedi) and with Qimir it was being accepted for who she was, not some sanitized version of who others wanted her to be, plus the deep relationships she craves): check.

Is Qimir pushing for Osha to join him so he can have power? Yup. Did Sol push Osha to join him so that the order could have more power? Yup. So now the real question is: power to do what?

Though the idea of the jedi is great, how they actually exert their influence isn't always good for everyone (see stamping out the witches who we, yet again, haven't seen do anything bad). When you have a huge organization that prioritizes their own view of the world above all others, it's not only 'bad' people who get caught in the crossfire. Everyone just makes the assumption that if the jedi are against you, that means you're just a psycho who wants to go around killing people with impunity and if the jedi are supporting you, that means you're automatically good - but that hasn't been shown to be the case. Lets take a look at the Separatists as seen in the Clone Wars tv show - they weren't all fascist maniacs, they just wanted to govern themselves - not to have slavery or be able to kill a bunch of people, but because they were concerned about centralizing rule too much (which turns out, they were right to be worried about that!!) Or Tales of the Jedi when we saw the Jedi turning the other way when members of the Republic were treating their citizens horribly.

Fighting against those aspects of the Republic and the Jedi doesn't automatically throw you into the 'fascist psycho mass murderer' category. Killing the Jedi you think are responsible for the slaughter of your whole culture, I don't think, puts you in that category either. And of course, there can be instances where people do bad things for what they believe are the right reasons (see: Andor and Rogue One) BUT they aren't doing it to people we've associated with 'the good guys' for so long it makes it hard to think about the situation at hand rather than reacting in a knee-jerk kind of way to protect your blorbos.

Very long winded way of saying: I'm not saying Qimir is good or bad. I haven't seen enough to say yet. No, killing Yord and Jecki isn't enough 'proof' any more than Cassian killing the injured rebel so they wouldn't be caught was 'proof' that he was bad. We need to know WHY they're taking such drastic actions before I'm comfortable making my decision on what the show is trying to say.

If you feel like that's me 'lacking critical thinking skills' because you've jumped to a conclusion that's not supported by any facts yet, fine. But I'll wait for the narrative to finish before casting judgement based on what I think is a common trope used in stories.

[where-theres-smoak-2]

Ok I am in rant mode again, sorry, this blog just happens to be a place where I dump all my thoughts negative and positive both, unfortunately for all who follow me. But I have seen some bad and incorrect takes from anti darkling/darklinas. So here’s just a few things I want to say.

Firstly LB has never stated that she based the darkling on her ab*sive ex. This is misinformation that was spread by antis. The only thing she has ever said about an ab*sive relationship was that she wrote the first book, Shadow and Bone, at a dark time in her life right after she had got out of a bad relationship. She has said in the past that the darkling was inspired by every bad boy she’s had a crush on in fiction including david bowie’s the goblin king. 

So it seems from these comments like the character was supposed to emulate those types of characters that woman find attractive, the ones you would fall for. 

I’ve also seen the argument that LB clearly wrote the darkling as a villain, well LB might disagree with you there as she herself has said on multiple occasions that she doesn’t write villains: 

LB says that the darkling believes he is doing the right thing and that ‘you can make a case for most of the choices he makes, even the despicable ones.’ So if LB says that she doesn’t write villains and that you can make a case for his actions you can’t really blame darkling fans for doing the same. 

The truth is LB promoted the heck out of both the darkling and darklina (or as it was known back then Darlina and Alarkling) when she was writing the og trilogy, even admitting to ‘fanning the flames’ when talking about people shipping m*lina and darklina and was clearly encouraging the shipping of both ships: 

She also put out teases for the darkling and darklina:

And promoted darklina fan edits even using the ship tags: 

It was only post the release of book three that she changed her tune, likely because of all the backlash she got about the ending of the books. So no LB wasn’t always against fans shipping darklina or liking the darkling. All of this information is easily found with a simple google search, I wasn’t even in the fandom back then being a show watcher first and yet I was still able to learn all of this with minimal difficulty. 

Which brings me to the whole darklina being an allegory for a older man manipulating a younger girl and how the darklina fans ‘missed this’. Well if they did miss it then it was for a very good reason, but the truth is darklina’s didn’t miss it, we just didn’t think it made sense within the narrative, the darklina fandom have talked about it, myself included, in fact I’ve already posted a whole pretty much essay on the topic. But let me explain why some people may have ‘missed it’ and why it doesn’t work in the story or with darklina as the allegory. The first is because LB chose to use an immortal/immortal couple for this allegory. The thing with immortality in fiction, especially as love interests, is it makes age pretty much meaningless. The whole point of immortals is that they are ageless. Immortal ships have always been accepted within fiction and this whole age gap issue has never come up before. Nobody was going omg but the age gap yuck with Bella and Edward when twilight came out, or when Magnus and Alec got together in Shadowhunters or with any of the ships in Vampire Diaries. Yet now anti’s are trying to use the argument that the darkling is 100s of years older than Alina and that’s creepy all of a sudden. Sorry but not in my book, an immortal is always going to be significantly older than anyone else what’s the alternative they spend eternity alone, never knowing love? At least with darklina they are both immortal. Another reason why it doesn’t work is because of how the darkling is described in the book, he is said to not look much older than Alina, so in the books he looks like a teenager. So of course people weren’t going to pick up on the older guy/younger girl allegory because the darkling isn’t presented in the books as an older guy. He’s described the same way every other immortal being in every YA book at that time was. It’s also worth noting that I am not sure if LB ever actually said that darklina were supposed to represent a older guy with a younger girl or whether that was something the fandom came up with. I’m not saying she didn’t just that I myself have never seen a direct quote from her that I recall and I wasn’t able to find one. I think the first time I heard of it was when someone sent me an ask about the topic. I know that she has said it was meant to serve as a warning of attractive and charismatic men being able to manipulate young girls but I don’t know that she herself has ever talked about an age gap or specifically mentioned older men? 

Another thing that I have been seeing alot of are comments like darkling/darklina fans only like him because he is hot. What bothers me about this is firstly even if that were true and the only reason people liked him was because he is hot, so what? There’s nothing wrong with that, its fiction and fiction is used to escape for a bit, its for enjoyment and entertainment, so if that enjoyment and entertainment comes in the form of staring at the hot guy irregardless of whether they are the hero or villain, let them be. Why are you criticising the way someone enjoys fiction? Sometimes a gal just wants to look at the hot guy. Secondly its just a really irrelevant argument because the darkling is not the only hot, charismatic character in the books or show. M*l is also described as being attractive and charismatic with no shortage of friends and girls, Nikolai is another character that fits that description, so by this argument the only reason M*l fans like him is because he is hot, and the only reason Nikolai fans like him is because he is hot. Thirdly its just plainly not true, whilst I am sure there may be some fans who only like him because he is hot, again nothing wrong with that, most fans like him for a variety of different reasons because he is an interesting and complicated character. As someone who spends a fair bit of time in the darkling/darklina tags the most common reason I have seen for fans liking him is because of his dedication to the grisha, his willingness to fight for the grisha something that he has dedicated 100′s of years of his life too. Personally I like Aleksander/the darkling because he has a sympathetic backstory, because he is fighting for the grisha and when seeing that they had no place to go where they could be free from fear he vowed to make them a safe place, a sanctuary, of course I am going to root for that goal too. I like him because he is complicated and complex and despite being an immortal being who has become deeply effected by past traumas there is still something beautifully human about him, particularly in the show. I also like the connection he has with Alina, the whole yin/yang of it and them being each others balance. I love the complexity and angst of them having this deep connection and pull to each other but also having this anger and sense of betrayal, how they have to try and navigate around having different points of view and seeing the world in a different ways, it makes for a very compelling story and their chemistry in the show is electric. The fact that he is hot is merely a bonus, but even if he wasn’t a conventionally attractive person I would still like his character because of those complexities, because of that connection he has with Alina. But one thing this rant has done is make me curious as to what my other fellow darkling/darklina fans like about the darkling? What drew you to the character? Anyway that’s enough ranting for one day, again my apologies, I am going to go and rewatch season 1 of shadow and bone in preparation for season 2′s release tomorrow...sheepishly shuffles off my soapbox, waving awkwardly.   

[secretagentspydetectiveninja]

since i’d already played the original trilogy approximately seven million times in french, i finally got round to playing french apollo justice instead. just finished it and hoooo boy was this localisation just as interesting

just like in the og trilogy, the entire thing now takes place in france (presumably paris, though they didn’t specify in this one). at least there aren’t earthquakes this time so it doesn’t feel quite as surreal.

apollo’s “i’m fine!” catchphrase is now “tout va bien !” which means “everything’s fine!”

some of the names have been translated again. for example, trucy is now called “Vérité” which not only is the french form of the english name “Verity”, but it also is the literal french word for “truth”, which gives some dialogues a double meaning whenever they’re discussing the truth. “Vous dites... la vérité... Apollo Justice... ?”

they did not change lamiroir’s name. they did however change machi tobaye to “Tomas Kashkash”, make of that what you will

in the first case, phoenix and kristoph use formal pronouns when addressing each other in court, and informal pronouns outside of court, which is fun. by the final case they’re exclusively using formal pronouns since their friendship has pretty much ended. (it’s a similar case with klavier and daryan, who switch to formal pronouns when they’re trying to be serious/professional and when their friendship starts to splinter.) (apollo and trucy use informal pronouns on each other pretty much the whole way through.)

trucy says “Mééééééé !” a lot

she also calls apollo “Pollo”

wocky kitaki (”Willy” in french) is my fricking favourite oh my god. he speaks in such verlan-ified slang i had to painstakingly decipher every single thing he said. i love him. when he said “sakom” i felt that 😔✊ he’s nigh-incomprehensible just like he was in the english version. absolute king.

in order to make wocky so iconic they apparently had to sacrifice klavier though, because in this version he is english. ENGLISH. AS IN, FROM ENGLAND. usually the french localisation takes its cues from the english version so i thought they’d keep him german, and then when he started calling people “miss” instead of “Fräulein” i thought maybe they’d made him american, like he was in the original japanese version, but NO IT TURNS OUT HE’S JUST ENGLISH??? LIKE FROM ENGLAND????? U WOT M8 JOLLY GOOD OLD CHAP CHEWSDAY INNIT????? I’M FROM ENGLAND, THIS IS THROWING ME OFF TOO MUCH

and they didn’t even commit to the englishification!! he barely says any english stuff at all! he sometimes says “miss” or “mister” and that’s... about it? he doesn’t even have any “Achtung, baby!” equivalent!! he calls apollo “M. Grand Front” which yeah means basically the same thing as herr forehead but it’s entirely in french so what’s the point?? god if you were gonna curse him by making him from freaking england then at least go all the way?? at least his “Objection !” sounds cool i guess...

and his name is “Konrad” in this version. that’s fine because “clavier” means “keyboard” in french (like the thing you type on) so i get that it would have sounded silly. but imo they should have gone in the opposite direction and picked a random english word to name him then. they should have named him Stapler or something. why’d they give him a normal name. he is Stapler Gavin in my heart

ema calls him “minet pailleté” btw which yeah pretty much just means glimmerous fop. (she studied in england too in this version WHY THE FRICK IS EVERYONE ENGLISH)

there were some fun french puns, such as calling phoenix apollo’s “mentor” (french for “mentor”, if you couldn’t guess) and then calling him “menteur” which means liar and sounds very similar

“I killed a man named “Smith” with a bottle because I am an evil human being.”

[bytedykes]

maya fey for the character ask thingy :3

Sexuality Headcanon: WOMEN!!!!!! maya likes women for SURE i dont have like, a specific label for her but she is into women

Gender Headcanon: honestly i dont really think abt it that much so i guess cis woman but i have seen some really good transfem maya stuff before!!! im not a transfem maya truther but i believe in their beliefs <3

A ship I have with said character: basic ass answer is franmaya... i do actually like them together, i think it could be a rlly fun dynamic to explore. also maya/regina was cute in case 2.3 (one of the only things i liked about it rip) i've seen some good maya/blackquill stuff before also but its not really something i ship just an interesting dynamic. in general though i dont really devote much time to shipping maya w anyone i think her canon platonic/familial relationships are already very interesting

A BROTP I have with said character: PHOENIX!!! nick and maya 4EVER they are so good. !!!!! i loveee their dynamic, they work so well together and really bounce off each other well. i also like the more serious aspect of how mia's death connected them and how they both share this grief even in very different ways. i like how even if mia hadn't died they still would've probably been friends when she introduced them :) anyway phoenix and maya are very fond of each other and i think it's really sweet - bridge to turnabout is one of my favorite cases in part bc of the very present bond between them and how much phoenix cares about maya (same w the engarde case, but that one is almost better in this regard bc of how maya's care for phoenix is also heavily present). also big fan of the silly part of their dynamic where maya steals his wallet and hits him over the head with evidence <3

another really interesting relationship that's less canonically present is maya & godot. what we see of them in bridge to turn about is soooo compelling, and i would have loved to see more of them. i think in a world where godot eventually gets out of prison he and maya could work to have some kind of relationship to both their benefit. <- its interesting how mia and mia's death is kind of a driving force for maya's connections to people, maya & mia is also deeply interesting and compelling but i could write an essay about them so i will just say that i love them a lot as well lol

A NOTP I have with said character: phoenix... dislike the age gap + i just think they're better as a platonic relationship lol. maya/phoenix is like the one aa tag i actually have filtered kjaskd

A random headcanon: if u assume that in aaverse lawyers are famous and there is law twitter fan spaces . maya 100% has an account where she posts "lawyer spotting" pics of phoenix (and also edgeworth). neither of them know abt it . maya is lawtwt famous

General Opinion over said character: I LOVE HERRRR she's the og aa weirdgirl !!! maya is very dear to me, she's definitely one of my favorite characters and i love seeing her. currently my friend and i are playing aa4 and i miss her so bad :'( maya in general is a very endearing character, and she + her family is a big driving force in the trilogy which i find very compelling. she's also just cool! i love it when teenage girls have weird superpowers! i think maya is a very caring character who is silly but has really impactful serious aspects to her which are so awesome to see <3 anyway i did draw maya every day for months last year so like yeah u could say i like her a normal amount lol

TY FOR THE ASK CHEREN <3 mayaaaaa maya fey i love her sooo much. girl ever<3

[cutebisexualmess]

blog intro(finally)

hey! I'm Vee or just V, welcome to my blog! I mostly use they/them pronouns, but xe/xem is fine as well!

pronouns page

@vees-anime-escapades - my anime sideblog (also the only blog I organise by fandom)

@purple-blocks - mcyt sideblog, for all my life series and eventually hermitcraft stuff

@veeliveblogs - my liveblogging sideblog for all my random thoughts as im watching things so I don't spoil it for others who follow me here

ao3 (i don't post but i bookmark a whole heap of things, also just in case i do post something)

ill send you my goodreads if asked!(this is encouragement please ask i need to share my favourite books)

I also run a couple of tourney and rp blogs but you can only know those if you find them first >:)

fandoms Im in:

Percy Jackson, the owl house, keeper of the lost cities, the amazing digital circus, helluva boss and hazbin hotel, heartstopper, the dragon prince, epic the musical, high class homos, the Hatchetfield trilogy, and good omens

others I (might) occasionally post about:

she-ra and the princesses of power, camp cretaceous + chaos theory(not the og park and world movies though but i’m working on it), the umbrella academy, ava/m, sanders sides, the two princes, nimona, starkid musicals, a little wings of fire, miraculous ladybug, hells belles(webseries on tiktok), young royals(maybe), red white and royal blue(maybe), our flag means death, spy x family, bungou stray dogs, sk8 the infinity, yuri on ice, a lot of musicals, and other assorted webcomics and webseries my brain digs its claws into

things Im reading/watching atm: the martian and haikyuu!!

also just fyi i wont be tagging pjotv spoilers on rbs sorry

✨neurodivergent minor✨

I’m also from Australia!

my sorting tags:

#vee speaks - for my original posts

#vee arts - the occasional art i post

#save - favourite posts I'm saving for later

#from the draft dungeon -posts scavenged from my drafts

#tag games - tag games

#picrew chain - picrew chains

#ask game - ask games, specific ones will be tagged: [thing] ask game

also feel free to send me recs! I will consume any type of media and any content(including fanfic), and recs give me direction in my endless pile of to be read/watched :3

I don't mind if you dm/tag me in anything :D I love it when people interact with me.

feel free to ask for my discord as well!!

🐚 team no abs

Mutual tags(so far)(lmk if you want me to untag you :))

@glacierruler - #mutual ❄️!

@periwinkle-the-11th - #mutual 🪻!

@fuzzysoulyt - #mutual 🐇!

@violetthunderstorm - #mutual 🌩️!

@nico-the-overlord - #mutual 💰!

@brookie-writes - #mutual 🧊!

@dragonairice - #mutual 💎!

@multi-fandom-lunatic - #mutual 🍪!

@randomnerd737 - #mutual 👍!

otherwise atm mutual tags are #hi (name) until i change them :))

[fandoomrants]

So I have this love-hate thing for the whole Hunger Games because while I've seen the movies and read the books and I've been hyped and I've waited for each movie, gone to see it, etc, and I usually don't like First POV in books yet everything in them is so brilliant... It gives me chills. Because I can't say the writing itself is a masterpiece in terms of language used, although it's brilliant because it fits the perspective of a teenage girl, it's raw and doesn't sugarcoat anything, the way everything is presented is amazing and that's the whole appeal actually.

The Capitol, for example. They're shown almost as the bad guys, not just Snow but all the citizens because they find the games interesting and don't do anything to stop them. And District 13, which was believed to be destroyed and then we find out it's not and in the beginning this is like some light in the tunnel but then we slowly realise that Coin and Snow aren't too different and they're both power hungry and cruel in their own ways while at the same time we meet people from the Capitol who aren't bad and genuinely want to help and change this reality. And all the layers that get revealed until we reach these conclusions along with Katniss...

But what really scares me is that... This isn't entirely unlikely to happen in the future. Like, we already have distopian novels that have influenced real reality shows and we have way too many shows about survival and all of that, the only difference is that people aren't dying there (but you know what, there have been death cases in some! They cancelled one season or Survivor in my country years ago because someone died) so really, the line here is thin. And if it's not really about the games really happening, then there's the political situation. That's even more likely to happen one day. These thoughts have always been holding me from truly getting in this fandom.

And now revisiting it when I'm much older, I see other sides of it. And I think I dislike some things even more but at the same time... I can't help but find some understanding of the Capitol citizens. And no, has nothing to do with TBOSAS and young Snow. If anything, this scares me even more because what do we see there? A character we already know and despise that suddenly people start liking him because he looks good (no judgement here. I admit he looks good. I just can't simp), and people finding the games boring in the book/movie itself and then also people seeing the movie complaining about the same part with the games because it wasn't as interesting as the ones in the OG trilogy? The Capitol is basically the same as almost every one of us.

And let's face it - we see the Capitol and its citizens as bad because we get to see it in the OG trilogy through Katniss's eyes, a girl which was brought up in poverty and knows what real hunger and dealing with this life is but this is almost like comparing a third world country to... Almost every other country. Because the Capitol is loud, it's obsessed with crazy things, shows, fashion trends, etc but this is not too far from our own lives. And we as an audience are shocked by them just because we see them compared to the Districts and their life but in fact, we're living in a world which is so much closer to the Capitol than it is to any of the districts. And it's the same thing happening with Snow. He's charming and uses it to his advantage, and is played by a good-looking actor and people like him just the way people like Snow in TBOSAS.

And another thing I've already seen people commenting on but I still wanna add is that we have these movies which I believe are good adaptations but most of the characters are played by older actors. Like, go look at some actual teenagers and imagine them in these scenes where children are killing and dying... (When's the last time y'all saw a 14yo? Imagine this being an actual victor of these games...)

So yeah, these things really make me think how it's a brilliant story but the concepts we see there are so messed... (And a good proof is how I have way too many thoughts of the games and their making and wanna know more despite how wrong they are...)

[ghost-proofbaby]

nine people i'd like to know better

being a bit of a cheat since i haven't been keeping up with my notifs, and doing a nice little conglomeration of the tag games going around that both are regarding getting to know people better! thank you so much for tagging me @rosewaterandivy, @onegirlmanytales, and @emma-munson in these sweet fun games <3

favorite part of your daily routine?

probably checking in with all my friends, asking about their days and making sure they know i love them. that, or calling my pets stinky as i feed them first thing in the morning, and genuinely arguing with them as they meow/bark at me during the process

last song?

favourite lyrics right now?

"i'd give you my life, if you'd promise you want it." - black ice by maya hawke

favorite color?

a deep maroon or emerald/forest green. gimme allll the deep reds and pretty greens please

last three books (or fics) you've read

'if he had been with me' by laura nowlin (tiktok made me do it), 'my roommate is a vampire' by jenna levine (cute read), and then catching up on most of @icallhimjoey's fics (wes' way with words is driving me insane)

currently reading

'assistant to the villain' by hannah nicole maehrer (10/10 so far!)

relationship

painfully single. probably forever. it's cool. i'll just spill all the love i have to give into my friends' cups and my writing.

currently watching

i've started two different half-assed rewatches as of recent - strangers things, and the walking dead. the goal is to finally watch the entirety of the walking dead since i stopped around season 5? or just... whenever negan was introduced (yeah. yeah. that episode with glen. he was my favorite. i never watched another episode.)

last movie

i rewatched the entire og hunger games trilogy!!!!!

at a movie theater, which arm rest is yours?

the one closest to my friends, or the one farthest from strangers.

sweet/spicy/savory

gimme all the sweets as of recently, surprisingly. (i've never been much of a sweets person growing up)

last thing i googled

'weird old people smell' (please don't ask)

currently working on

a top secret thing that i haven't decided if it'll see the light of day yet. :pedrosmile:

what 'old person' things do you like?

well not their smell i'll tell you that i really love learning people's histories, or about their days. i'm a yapper. i love chatting with all the old people that come into my job.

vintage or new?

depends, but usually vintage.

are you scared of the dark?

yes, but also no. idk. it's a work in progress in my ripe old age of 24.

candles, essential oils or incense?

candles or incense. i do enjoy essential oils, but i never use them (outside of spellwork)! i love my incense quite a bit, but my roommates aren't overly fond of the smell most times haha

random fact/story you want to share about yourself?

i frequently keep small 'mourning' boxes for major times/changes in my life. i have one for my first love, one for my childhood pet, etc. i'll keep things like physical photographs, letters/notes people have written me, small tokens of defining moments, all that fun stuff. i don't open them very often, but i like having them there, in the back of my closet. always just in case.

jesus. that was terribly long and terribly boring. my bad!

i'm tagging @maladaptive-menace, @hellfire--cult, @emmaisgonnacry, @corroded-hellfire, @littlesubbyflower, and anyone else who wants to join in <3 no pressure to do so, of course!! i also have no idea who's been tagged already and who hasn't so my bad if you already have!

[teecupangel]

I've been dying to read Desmond's adventure in star wars, but all fics i found were not finished ; (

Could you give me some inspiration plzzzzz

You’ve probably already read this but just in case, esama’s Sailing the Stars is complete so if you want a Desmond-centric fic set during the Clone Wars, go check that out.

So I was thinking where I would punt Desmond into the Star Wars ‘verse and a part of me wants to punt him during KOTOR’s storyline just because that is my favorite Star Wars game (also, just imagine Desmond being mistaken as Darth Revan with amnesia???) but then I realized after checking AO3 that most seem to be set during the prequel trilogy + clone wars so… may I suggest…

Desmond getting punted into the Star Wars OG Trilogy timeline? XD

In this setup, Desmond could wake up on some random planet and he’s just trying to get back to Earth but no one seems to know where and what Earth is (unless we count non-canon but sssshhhh, let’s make it a mystery).

So Desmond does what he does best, he starts gathering information and keeping himself afloat by stealing from the rich.

Now, to ensure he gets sucked into the main plot, we can do the following:

Desmond gets in contact with Han Solo who suggests he joins the Millenium Falcon after Han realizes Desmond has a knack for seeing danger before it approaches and he suggests that Desmond would have a better chance of finding this ‘Earth’ planet of his if he joins them since they do travel everywhere.

Desmond has the habit of being a stowaway whenever he wanted to go off-planet and the Millenium Falcon was simply the next ship he boarded. Old Ben is the one who noticed him when he was just hiding and waiting for Han to finish his business in Tatooine because Desmond didn’t really feel like getting sand all over.

Desmond ends up owning the cantina where Han ends up shooting Greedo and he goes on the run because that incident caused the Imperial soldiers to snoop around the cantina and Desmond, technically, owned the cantina… sorta illegally… So he hitched a ride on the Millenium Falcon since he figured Han owed him… without anyone knowing he was even there until Old Ben saw him.

Unorganized Notes:

Desmond has been assassinating the really bad ones on whichever planet he’s been on. That’s why he mainly hitches rides. On the other hand, if he was the owner of the cantina, he had taken over the cantina to have a ‘base of operation’ while gathering information he can use as part of his plan to assassinate Jabba the Hutt.

Desmond could totally be a Jedi if you want him to be but anyone who trains him will notice the darkness inside him. While he’s mostly chill, he’s an Assassin and that means he would be willing to use anything to finish his mission and survive. He won’t be tempted by the dark side though. It would be more like… he can control the dark side… but that makes him dangerous.

Desmond and Luke would have a more or less brother-like friendship. He could easily influence Luke to be less honorable though, especially if he stays with Luke during the whole ‘Yoda training’ part of his character arc.

On the other hand, Desmond and Han would have a more of ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ kind of business relationship that would thaw to a bash brothers type. He, Han, and Chewie share one brain cell and it bounces off each of them. If Desmond had joined them before the start of the trilogy’s story, Desmond would be their lookout and their ‘bodyguard’. He’s fine with all the smuggling as people do need to eat but… if a really bad person dies during one of their runs, well… Han will definitely say ‘no love lost’.

Desmond and Leia would start with snark-to-snark combat which would later turn to respect and trust. If Desmond stayed with Leia and Han’s side of the storyline instead of Luke’s, he’d be more of the shadow of the rebellion.

Desmond will definitely build a Brotherhood during the rebellion and they would be more into clandestine and guerilla tactics. He and Leia won’t always see eye to eye but Leia knows that Desmond’s plans would benefit the rebellion.

Desmond doesn’t see Leia as a princess. She’s a leader of the Rebellion first and foremost and Desmond definitely hides whenever the topic of making him and the Brotherhood officially part of the Rebellion comes up.

If Desmond learns about Darth Vadar’s true relationship with both Luke and Leia, he would have flashbacks of Haytham and, since he doesn’t know who Anakin Skywalker truly was, he would warn Luke that ‘Some people cannot be reasoned with nor can they be saved.’, hoping that Luke wouldn’t feel the same pain Ratonhnhaké:ton felt after killing Haytham.

He would still be glad to learn he had been wrong after Luke tells him how Anakin Skywalker saved him in the end and tell Luke that at least he had a ‘less shitty dad’ than Desmond.

Ben/Jacen would probably end up as an Assassin with Uncle Desmond instead of a Sith… just saying.

[cadybear420]

Came across a Choices Ask Game thread from 3-4 years ago and I couldn't help myself.

Anyone else who wants to join is welcome!

1.) What book(s) did you think were too overhyped but everyone loved?

7+ months ago I would have quickly said Ride or Die, but after my replay in May, I now like that book. So my next picks would be Crimes of Passion and Immortal Desires. They were good for what they were, but I couldn't quite get into the hype for them. To be fair, I've only played the first book for each of these, but even when they were just on their first books they were pretty hyped. But who knows, I might like them a lot more when I play their sequels.

Actually, I could maybe still put Ride or Die here if I wanted to. While I did come to like it after my second playthrough, I still wouldn't call it amazing or consider it one of PB's bests like many seem to do.

Distant Shores and Nightbound were both indredibly average to me as well, despite the former being about freaking pirates and time travel and the second one being a supernatural horror-themed story.

Laws of Attraction is also one that was very popular but hard to get into. When I first played Book 1, I couldn't stand how quickly they just went between cases. Luckily this was less of a problem when I replayed Book 1 and then played Book 2, but it was also still hard to follow the lawyer jargon. However, I did enjoy the characters and I loved that MC was a flexible blank slate, which does make it a series I want to like. So I'll probably give this one a second chance at some point.

I'm also tempted to say The Cursed Heart, it's one that gets a lot of love and while I enjoyed it, I didn't think it was amazing. But I'm kind of disqualifying it since not only have I only played Book 1, but also that pre-TCH 2 opinions were mostly divided. I remember lot of people hated Kieran kidnapping MC and that one option in a premium scene that leads to Kieran shoving MC's face into the ground. There are still people who hate that stuff, but the overwhelming majority nowadays seems to enjoy the series, especially with Book 2.

2.) What book(s) do you think deserve more hype?

Across The Void. Don't get me wrong, it has incomplete lore and inconclusive endings, but that's not really the story's fault as I remember hearing it was originally meant to have a book 2. Personally I found the good qualities to far outweigh the bad. It deserved so much better from PB and a hell of a lot more love from the fandom.

I also found Baby Bump really cute. It's not amazing and it has a lot of problems, but I never got why it was often deemed as one of the worst.

And maybe I'm just biased, but I also think the OG HSS trilogy deserves more hype. I guess it's technically one of the more popular and beloved Choices titles, but even then I feel like it doesn't get enough credit. Even though it may seem like a cheesy Disney Channel High School style story, the writing is actually quite polished, balancing out the thrilling high school hijinks with a vibrant cast of compelling and down-to-earth characters and character development. It's enjoyable and worthwhile, both as its own thing and as a companion to its predecessor (AKA the original HSS Prime mobile game).

Not only that, but it's quite rich in choices that actually affect the story/experience. Like, how many people know that you can make your MC a jerk to the Hearst kids in Book 3 and lose your tryouts spot over it even if their actual tryout was good? Or that the story acknowledges a Slow Burn romance if you choose to wait until MC and LI are official to have them kiss? Or that you can have MC completely screw up the Spirit Stick Heist? I've played this trilogy nine times already, I'm currently in my tenth playthrough, and there are probably like 50 more different playthroughs I wanna do for the different route/outcome combinations. The MC is just so flexible and wildcard, and to me that's peak Choices MC.

3.) What was a book series that you think did NOT need a sequel or more than 1 sequel?

The Nanny Affair would have been soooooo much better off as a standalone. I actually really like the ending of TNA 1, where Sam and MC are getting pinged with news headlines about Sam leaving Sofia at his wedding, and they start anticipating all the trouble they're gonna be in. It's actually got a touch of self-awareness to it that you usually don't get in smutty single-LI romance Choices stories.

Books 2 and 3 however just drag everything on, trying so hard to make it seem like Sam and MC have genuine feelings of love for each other, even though their relationship is clearly mostly lust-based. Then again, one of the smut scenes in Book 3 has an option that implies MC is putting a finger into Sam's bootyhole. And even over two years later, it is still the only scene in Choices that more directly depicts a female character anally penetrating a male (or male-coded) character. So maybe the suffering is worth it.

The first book of Surrender was pretty mid on its own, but the ending it got could have worked as a series and book finale. Book 2, however, just... made it all so much worse. Book 2 is the reason why the Surrender series is on my permanent Choices shitlist. As the worst title of the entire app.

The switch to a new MC and cast felt very arbitrary and unjustified. Not only were the returning characters from OG utilized poorly, but everything about it just did not feel like HSS. No flexibility in your main character or activity, which greatly cheapens the whole "you can be whoever you wanna be" and "you'll always be accepted no matter who you are" themes of the previous iterations; no sense of Berry being "high school but actually good" as it relies purely on trying to showcase average high school experience; so many of the side characters were useless and felt like overly mean-spirited middle schoolers rather than actually stressed and irrational high-schoolers; and the and finale and sendoff to the franchise as a whole was inconclusive dogshit. It was like "HSS" was an afterthought to CA. I'll give this its own analysis one day.

OG HSS did not need HSS:CA as a spinoff. Don't get me wrong, HSS:CA is pretty cute and does bring some interesting situations and characters into the HSS canon. But when you really think about it, it easily could have been its own new title, and it probably would have been better off if it was.

4.)What book(s) did you think needed a sequel/another sequel?

OG HSS Trilogy, the main cast of that one deserved a far better sendoff then the bullshit one that was the HSS:CA finale.

Laws of Attraction. That ending was so inconclusive.

Hero, an obvious one because the story ended right on a cliffhanger.

Across The Void, PB should have stuck to giving this one a second book. Instead we get these super-rushed endings and for what?

5.) What LI(s) do you think are overrated?

I'd maybe put It Lives here, but part of me is also kind of glad PB didn't make the third book because the It Lives Within fanproject is chockablock full of "PB could never"s. Granted their reason for cancelling it in the first place was kinda unjustified but yeah.

I'm not sure really. Maybe Gabe and Cas from ID, but I don't have strong opinions on them. It's moreso that I'm just not as into the hype for them as most.

6.) What LI(s) do you think are underrated?

Ajay Bhandari from HSS:CA, though with him it's moreso overhated than underrated. Didn't Ajay warn MC about Danielle in the earlier chapters? Why would he so easily believe MC was the one who sabotaged OG MC's auditions? Or at the very least, tell Danielle + Team C(U)NTs (Clint, Natalie, Trevor) to fuck off with ostracizing MC. Like they weren't just accusing MC falesly, they started being outright cruel to them.

Ajay is a character who cares so much about the play wanting to go perfect, so much so that he initially banned cellphones from the auditorium during rehearsal because he thought they'd be distracting or disruptive. Surely you'd want to be a hardass on other crew members who are acting like assholes??? I think his behavior during MC's accusation is just OOC, hence why I don't hate him. It's a problem with the writing rather than the character.

7.) Which LI's were most forgettable?

IDK. I think I've forgotten them.

9.) Finally, what book do you think would have been better/more popular if it WASN'T genderlocked? (This goes for both LI's and MCs)

Witness MC could have and should have been GOC. I found the book pretty average-with-issues upon replay, but I personally might have liked it a tad more if it was GOC. We rarely if ever get stories about men getting swept off their feet by protective bodyguard characters! (But sure, muh few female-locked stories).

I certainly would have enjoyed Roommates With Benefits a lot more if the MC could be male. Imagine, the studious goody-two-shoes "good boy" gets awakened to a more party-loving sex-loving side by the University's resident fuckboy/fuckgirl who happens to be his roommate.

Ride or Die was pretty fun as it is, but part of me still feels it would have been somewhat spicier if MC and Logan were both GOC.

With Every Heartbeat also, give me ONE good reason why needed to be genderlocked. Same with BloodBound. Seriously, you could have made the Bloodkeeper thing go to any gender and the story would remain exactly the same.

[bloody-wonder]

Hello, can I ask from this ask game :

https://www.tumblr.com/threecheersforinking/677824836625694720/anime-ask-game?source=share

You can pick for either of these series : the lymond chronicles, all for the game, a song of ice and fire, harry potter, captive prince?

Thanks 🌻

thanks for the ask!

⚔️the lymond chronicles⚔️

favorite character: phelim o'liamroe, prince of barrow and lord of the slieve bloom...😐🤥 jk it's lymond - the man, the myth, the lemon. i mean if lymond isn't your fave character in the lymond chronicles are you even reading them right?

character i think is underrated: hmmm margaret lennox? i don't see people talk about her too often. justice for the evil ex!

character i think is overrated: philippa. don't even get me started🙄

favorite ship/pairing: while reading i did ship lymond with each and every one of his boytoys which was very entertaining but i wouldn't actually like any of these relationships to be endgame. i firmly believe lymond is bisexual, aromantic and non-monogamous, therefore the only person i would want him to "end up with" is marthe - not as a slash ship but as in lymond and marthe, both in drag, ride into the sunset together to cause chaos and mayhem✨

favorite arc/episode/scene: the hume castle shebacle from book one is my platonic ideal of a fictional experience. just thinking about don luis fernando de cordoba y avila with his "long, exquisite legs" and his perfecto scottish is enough to raise my mood for the rest of the day😁

something i love about this series: tbh the thing i love the most is lymond to the point that i'm afraid to try dunnett's other books bc there will be no lymond in them. however, i will still read them sooner or later bc my second favorite thing about the lymond chronicles is dunnett's witty but sophisticated prose which i'm sure i will find in abundance in her other works

🥍all for the game🥍

favorite character: i love both of my boys equally but i will admit i voted for andrew minyard in that best queer character poll bracket🙈

character i think is underrated: actually i don't think there is one. some of the aftg characters are controversial but i think everyone gets their fair share of love and attention🤷‍♀️

character i think is overrated: in the og trilogy it's nicky and in tsc it's sort of everyone?😅 lol i just don't think they're that interesting but i'm glad other people are having fun with them

favorite ship/pairing: andreil, obviously.

favorite arc/episode/scene: aftg is full of amazing scenes, both quiet and spectacular, but if i have to pick just one i'm gonna go with the first riko roast bc fun fact: i actually abandoned tfc halfway through the first time i tried to read it bc i just didn't know what to do with it - but then i decided to give it a second chance and the riko roast was the scene where i finally comprehended and internalized the chaotic but rebellious vibe of aftg. that's why i never dnf books - you never know which weird selfpub sports anime might become your all time favorite story!

something i love about this series: the way it depicts the relations between the society and people who are treated like outsiders due to their trauma - it always sides with the latter! exemplified by how the team needs andrew and so they have to put up with his little quirks and find ways of communication - instead of him making himself act more normal and agreeable in order to fit in. which i think is pretty much the status quo of writing about trauma so aftg feels very radical in that sense

👑captive prince👑

favorite character: it's laurent, lymond's baby cousin😅

character i think is underrated: aimeric? tbh i haven't read anything capri related in a while, maybe he's the newest fandom fave by now

character i think is overrated: never have i ever understood why everyone insists on resurrecting auguste. he dead! and not that interesting in any case😒

favorite ship/pairing: damen/laurent, since their love is the whole point of the series, but i will say for me it's more like. i'm obsessed with laurent and so i like that damen gets obsessed with him too and falls in love with him bc that's what laurent deserves. however i do not actually like damen nor do i like the final jump from enemies to lovers in the second half of book 3 soooo yeah. many caveats🤷‍♀️

favorite arc/episode/scene: laurent's duel with govart. listen, i'm a simple girl, i love me some competence porn and power fantasies with swords. also! laurent calling out aimeric for all the bad things he secretly believes about himself which leads to aimeric's suicide. that's some fucked up shit, love it👀

something i love about this series: the witty, backhanded, at times scathing exchanges which i started calling pacatesque dialogue upon encountering it in other books (of primarily australian sff authors who are personally acquainted with pacat, it's a whole thing). i know other booklr girlies like to talk about themes and motifs and whatnot but for me all of that is vastly inferior to lines like "tell my uncle boykiller etc etc". i think i just have lots of bottled up bitchiness inside me and like to live vicariously through characters who can vocalize it in such a brutal yet elegant fashion

🐉a song of ice and fire🐉

favorite character: tyrion lannister. lol at this point you can see a pattern: if he's shrewd, traumatized and blonde you can safely bet he's on my blorbo shelf😅

character i think is underrated: i'm gonna go with doran martell. he represents one of my favorite character archetypes - someone who is seen as a simpleton and a pushover but has actually been scheming and masterminding stuff all along. "oberyn was ever the viper. i was the grass. who fears to walk upon the grass? but it is the grass that hides the viper" - is actually one of my favorite quotes from the series. comparing book doran to show doran one can see how he's sort of emblematic for how the show butchered the dorne plotline😒

character i think is overrated: i did like sansa's journey in the books but they end just on the cusp of her turning from a pawn into one of the most capable and dangerous players on the board - something she however hasn't become, not yet. so i think the hype she gets in the fandom, largely based on the show which skipped a lot of steps in her character arc and made her a very basic girlboss, is somewhat undeserved🤷‍♀️

favorite ship/pairing: i definitely feel a certain kind of way about jaime & brienne but idk if i ship them in the proper sense of the word. their developing relationship is probably the most compelling in the series and some of its aspects are very personal for me as a weird looking ace girl, among other things, so i don't think i want them to become a *couple*. but i do want them to become *something*. if they survive, that is😬

favorite arc/episode/scene: tyrion's trial is one of the most excruciating and heart-wrenching yet dramatic scenes i've ever experienced. i have to admit i remember it better from the show bc that was just Peak Television and peter dinklage's acting?? unparalleled. a scene so epic it made me cry every time i watched it. just thinking about it gives me chills🫨

something i love about this series: i've spent an ungodly amount of time thinking about what makes asoiaf superior to other fantasy series and the character work and complex morality are certainly up there but the one thing that speaks to me personally and which i struggle to find elsewhere is something i call the slytherclaw ethos. normally the characters of western sff are rewarded by the narrative for being brave, kind, other boring gryffinpuff things, regardless of whether they could've *realistically* prevailed thanks to those qualities alone. in the world of asoiaf one is instead rewarded for cunning and ambition - or at the very least it's clear a character will not get anywhere without learning how to play the game of thrones. this difference is at the core of the subversiveness asoiaf gets both praised and criticized for and, as someone who relates to characters who rely on their brain more than their heart and other muscles and would like to see them elevated above generic fantasy protags, i find this approach to storytelling in general and to sff specifically very appealing

[silver-wield]

Yesterday, I did something naive and debated with a clerith on youtube. They were pushing onto me that aerith di fall in love with real cloud the moment she was able to segregate Zack from Cloud. Thus this realization was only possible because she fell in love with him---------> then I told them that's like falling in love with a celebrity. That means jack shit basically. So I did went cordial and respectful but they went on ad hominem with me and I just figured that I wasted at least 25 mins of my life or more? Anyway, my sister refered we to here and I just want to expound on my thoughts on their argument.

Aerith is not in love with neither real cloud nor false cloud. She is in my pov, in love without a doubt with an idea. And idea of wanting to move on. It doesn't take a moment to figure out that she waited for Zack for 4 years and then you think she's mentally and emotionally stable? I don't think so. This is why she is craving for closure. She wants to know and I don't doubt that she's still in love with him. I mean Cloud was able to live with himself for 2 years even w/o closure (well he still needed it but unlike aerith's his was resolved quite fast with the help of his companions and obviously Tifa's words). But this girl for 4 years couldn't let go of Zack, and only wished for it because she knows he's dead.

Im getting off track here, but basically, she did not fall in love with false cloud, I think a good example was shown on remake when she was surprised that false cloud actually cared for her? And this was the dead one who knows such future. How come she doesn't know false cloud is capable of such? Perhaps because she never really knew him nor understood him? We see with Tifa that false cloud is acting different and with the others too. What aerith sees in both OG and this trilogy is just one side of the many sides of a coin. In short, she doesn't know him at all.

In fact her golden saucer date line only ever happens if and only if you treated her nicely, there was no real indication that her date was the canon one, it's just that, that's what people thought to be the case. Im not going to lie, I had to take a break from it because this happened once to me, where someone forced me onto a date and I was too introverted and anxious to say no and then I just ended up not going and when forced I had to punch them. It's interesting if aerith was a guy coercing a girl onto a date they didn't agree upon on like she did with Zack's. And well all the other creepy things she kept pulling.

Okay I keep going off, im not here to write a diary 😔. In conclusion, it's like meeting a celebrity then you see them in a new light, you think oh because of that effect, you think you know the real them when in Reality , you don't really know them. You never saw every single side. The way they fart, the way they watch dora , or the way they chicken out over a rabbit. Im saying that we'd like what we want to see, and aerith is such. She wasn't able to make him into zack 2.0 so since she barely has anybody, she goes with false cloud despite knowing full well about Tifa and Cloud. Despite knowing full well there's something wrong with him and she never bothered to share the with Tifa, her worried childhood friend. She's still stuck in the idea that she has, because if she was really mentally stable and healing? You don't go for the guy who still would remind you of your love especially without closure. That is a recipe for disaster, and it was because she did put down all her defenses, lost in her own naivety and died because of it when she could have known better. I don't doubt Crisis Core aerith could have been more logically sound, that's what I have to say. Mourning is a tricky thing, sometimes it's nothing, and sometimes it's all too consuming. Bow, now I have to learn not to engage with these debates online. Life is too short for such foolishness.

Aerith's feelings are summed up in one sentence in otwtas.

"He was a symbol of everything she held dear."

Cloud is a symbol of Zack and all the things she wanted to do and express to Zack, but couldn't because he died. She understands at this point she was using Cloud as a stand in, but that's what she loves him for. Thanks to Cloud being a fake Zack, Aerith got to express a bit of her feelings and go a few places she longed to while waiting for Zack to come back.

She doesn't and never did love Cloud for himself. She doesn't know him as himself. Once she dies, she understands better what's happening to him, which is why she describes him as fragile and easily wounded emotionally. She cares for Cloud, but that's not love, and ofc he has no feelings for her. Everything about him is and always was obsessed with Tifa.

[jiabeewrites]

STAR WARS ATLA HEADCANONS

(because I'm now obsessed with this idea, thank you @vulpesarctica for your lovely posts)

THE CLONE WARS || OG TRILOGY || REBELS || MANDO ERA

GENERAL AU HEADCANONS: - for the sake of the story let's flip the original atla timeline on it's head - republic city came first, and then the whole "100 year war" - i actually haven't watched all of lok so pls bear with me - sidious is some sort of chancellor, still - dooku is firelord, however he's NOT A BENDER - I MUST STRESS THE FACT THAT HE CANNOT BEND - *cough*atleastothepublic*cough* - *cough*he'stotallyafirebender*cough* - anyways he's very "antibender" - and ig benders are a lot like jedi, bc they hafta be "disciplined" or whatever - except, yk, more organized than the benders in atla - but dooku declares war, on benders, and the rest of the world, yadayada - badabing badabang badabingbangboom - btw i have ZERO clue how clones would work in atla but let's just say they're all hired fighters or smth that look the same idk - or they're like the dai li - idk - ANYWAYS let's excuse my sucky worldbuilding skills and get onto the headcanons :)

ANAKIN SKYWALKER: SANDBENDER FIREBENDER 🔥 - actually tho imagine if he was a sandbender - okay so he would TOTALLY be a firebender like cmon - he's feisty and chaotic and fire is fucking perfect for him - but in this case firebending wouldn't be, like, taboo because of the circumstances of the war - and it's canon that darth vader cannot use sith lightning so let's make it (head)canon that anakin cannot summon lightning - he's salty abt it - sidious probably eventually burns him but blames it on obiwan - except his marriage with padme wouldn't be taboo either??? let's just say she's very anti-war so the rest of the temple doesn't really like her

OBI-WAN KENOBI: WATERBENDER 🌊 - so at first i thought that obi would be an airbender - but then i read iroh's lil speech on airbenders and it doesn't fit obi-wan - so waterbender he is :) - he was taught by qui-gon, who is an earthbender (he's so stubborn cmon) - so obi-wan definitely has some earthbender qualities to him - i think that obi-wan does eventually bloodbend, when maul captures satine - it wasn't something taught in the temple, but obi-wan is obi-wan - (ventress taught it to him) - and he fucking hated that feeling and vowed to never do it again

AHSOKA TANO: EARTHBENDER 🪨 - so ik that the post linked above has ahsoka down as a waterbender - and while it does, in fact, fit her - she possesses a LOT of earthbending qualities and honestly i think this fits her better - no, it doesn't make sense that anakin is a firebender and teaches her but then again - iroh said that people have to learn from each other and so that's what the temple does :) - ahsoka gets her fiery temper and overall chaoticness from anakin - and her adaptability from obi-wan - but her stubborness and her resolve? that's all her own - she's strong and she's not afraid to show it :D - tbh she's basically the avatar with all of her mentors but can't actually bend all the elements but whatever

MACE WINDU: EARTHBENDER 🪨 - i feel like this doesn't need to be explained - but i shall anyway - he's very headstrong - he has strong morals and isn't afraid to fight you on them - what other explanation do you want ;-;

PLO KOON: WATERBENDER 🌊 - *pulls out powerpoint presentation* PLO IS SUCH A WATERENDER AND HERE'S WHY - ok so i was SO FUCKING CLOSE to putting him down as an airbender but ultimately i had to choose water as plo's element - because he's a very peaceful person and we see that a LOT - but i had to make him a waterbender because he's a family man and so loving and that's what made me choose water for him - *cough*wolffepack*cough* - ily plo

KIT FISTO: AIRBENDER 🌪 - he doesn't really need any elaboration - he's just an airbender - he's very free-spirited, and we do see him joke around a bit during clone wars - very peaceful dude

ASAJJ VENTRESS: BLOODBENDER 🩸 - okay so i need to explain this for a sec - dooku's whole thing is against benders - but if we include some of the niche bending, like metalbending and bloodbending - which aren't really out there if yk what i mean - then nobody would know that it was ventress who was technically bending - i feel like there is a potential way for bloodbending to be used for good, and that's kinda where the whole nightsister thing would come in - people think they're witches but no, they're just really good waterbenders - (the nightsisters use bloodbending for kinda gray-area purposes) - (but they use it to help maul later and you'll see what i mean)

SHAAK TI: AIRBENDER 🌪 - i'm pretty sure that shaak ti could fall under waterbender, because she cares a LOT for the clones and i totally agree with her being their "mom" like how plo is their "dad" - but she's very peaceful, and i'm in AWE every single time she's on screen - like how tf is she so calm - so airbender she is :)

YODA: AIRBENDER 🌪 - he is an airbender and you can fucking fight me on this - HE CHECKS ALL THE BOXES HELLO - "detached themselves from worldly concerns" CHECK - "and they found peace and freedom" CHECK - "and they apparently had great senses of humor” DEBATABLE BUT CHECK - bro could literally be the former avatar but whatever - he's amazing and we love him - people sometimes think he's just a really weird spirit - and he probably is - but whatever

MAUL: FIREBENDER 🔥 - okay so i actually did consider making him a bloodbender - because of ventress & the nightsisters and that whole thing - however - there's no way that sidious would have taken him on as his apprentice if he wasn't a firebender so uhhhh yeah - he's a firebender, with a LOT of rage - a lil too much tbh

BARRIS OFFEE: AIRBENDER 🌪 - i think that barris is an airbender - she's very calm, most of the time - however she does have the capability to blow up, and we can see that when she frames ahsoka - aang blew up too tho so it's okay :) - i don't know a lot about her or her master so idk if this is good or not

also quinlan vos is an airbender okay bye