#but there are?? so many characters in UT right there??

[gaylactic-fire]

I can't believe the Undertale Sans AU fandom is still alive and well in 2023

[capricioussun]

Peaked into my Lovefell doc to see how much still needed done

[holidayking102]

CHRISTMAUS 2024 SUBMISSIONS

Today I am proud to announce ChristmAUs 2024! As you may have seen earlier, I have taken the reigns of ChristmAUs from @fmsdraws / @ut-poppy-askblog (with his permission). Unfortunately, I can not make a game like ChristmAUs 2023 (which you should really play Link here)! However, I do have a big plan for ChristmAUs 2024, and that plan is: Animated Christmas Card!

That's right! Unlike most of the other ChristmAUs collabs, this one shall be animated! Give your AU characters animations to bring them to life for all to see! Of course, animation is a hard, time consuming process. But with over 2 months to work, and with the simple rules on how the characters should be animated, it shouldn't be too difficult to get your character in in time!

RULES: *Submissions are open until Sunday, December 8th, 12 AM! Meaning that they are open through out December 7th and then they close! *Submissions must be in the style of Undertale and Deltarune! *No limit on the amount of characters you can submit, but I may ask you to slow down if I feel you are submitting too many. *The AU character(s) you submit must come from a publicly revealed AU that must have some content behind them other then this ChristmAUs. This includes: Art, Audio, Comic, Animation, Photography, Game, Sprites, Written Sources, or any combination of them. *No content that would be 18+. This is a family-friendly ChristmAUs! *No content that would be harmful or hurtful to anyone. ChristmAUs should be a joyous time, and hate and harm have no place in it. *No content that would violate the TOS of the majority of websites, including Youtube, Reddit and Tumblr. *You must have permission to submit the character, if you did not create them yourself! (UT and DR canon characters excluded; just link UT or DR for them.) Submission Rules: 1: Make sure you've read all the rules! 2: Give your Handle; how you want to be credited in the public. I do not accept anonymous contributions! 3: Share your characters name(s) and AU(s), along with link to the AU/those AUs! 4: Share your characters sheet(s); this should include every frame individually used for the animation, and I will add them in myself. Character Sheets should be 1x1 (meaning a pixel is just 1 pixel). Animations should be based on 12 Frames Per Second and Frames should be based on Multiples of 6! (6, 12, 18, etc.) 5: Share where you wish for your character(s) to be placed on the map. Keep in mind that while I will try to place them where you wish, I may move them slightly to fit the environment better. 6: Optionally, if you wish, include a GIF of the animation so that I can get an idea of how they should look in action! 7: Additionally, for those who can't animate, or for those who want to go above and beyond, there are also opportunities to add static content to ChristmAUs. These include: +Ornaments (20x20 max) +Gifts (30x30 max) +Table Set Pieces (45x45 max, 13 Max) +Pictures (30x18 or 17x18, 15 Max) 8: Characters should not be placed in areas that obviously would not fit them; like a massive character in a tiny area, for instance. 9: No walking animations, or animations that move characters from their standing point. This is to ensure there's no collisions and for a maximum amount of characters on the map. 10: All animations should loop into themselves. No animations should simply end. 11: All art submissions should include your handle/credit name!

SUBMISSION LINK:

I hope everyone has fun with this ChristmAUs! And I hope doing it in animated form works wonderfully for everyone! One last shout out to @mickonline1 for his wonderful ChristmAUs tree submission! I'll see you again through out the month, and ChristmAUs will see you on Christmas!

[gracieheartspedro]

I Can See You

fem!reader x dbf!joel miller

Hi friends! It's been awhile (:

I am back to writing! This time, I'm planning on having many parts to this story. It's a DBF Joel Miller story, which I love to read, which means I had to write it, right?

I wrote this with no Y/N, instead each character gives her a nickname/pet name.

So here's Part 1, I really hope you enjoy!

Word count: 2.7k

Warnings: DBF! Joel, age gap-ish (reader is 25, Joel is 39), eventual smut, joel being a little bit of a perv, reader not having a filter, alcohol consumption

“Mornin’,” His Southern accent was even deeper than usual. My head peaks up from behind my computer, noticing his very tired eyes. The bags under his eyes still somehow did him justice. 

“Mornin’ Joel,” I mutter before taking a sip of my coffee. I watch as he finds his way towards my bosses office. He was only my boss at work, but at home he was just Dad. 

I watch his ass move in his jeans, shamelessly. 

Finding your coworker hot is one thing, it’s another when it’s also your dad’s friend and he was about 20 years older than you. 

I’ve thought Joel Miller was quite the looker since I was about 18. I had just started working for my dad. I was mainly just scheduling and doing work orders. Joel took me out to a work site one day, on my father’s request. He wanted me to get know some of the people who would be scheduling work from us. I got to sit around with the property manager of an apartment complex in a tight black dress in the dead of summer, watching guys replace windows. While outside that day, Joel worked alongside some of the laborers, his tanned skin and shaggy dark hair glistening with sweat. Something about him doing manual labor turned me on. Something awoke in me that day, and ever since then, I thirst over him in silence. 

I catch myself looking a bit too long, quickly averting my eyes to my computer screen. I act like I am typing something, glancing over to Joel and my dad walking out of his office together. They are discussing another project that Joel was overseeing that would keep him very busy in the upcoming months. 

“My girl here will be starting back at college in the fall, so she will only be part time for awhile,” My dad says, drawing attention to me. 

“Oh really, where ya going?” 

I blank out completely for a moment.

“UT Austin,” I finally answer.

“Smart girl, you living on campus?”

“Nope, just getting my master’s in Engineering so living from home makes the most sense.”

Joel shakes his head, “Master’s. Didn’t you just graduate high school?”

“I’m 25, Joel.”

His eyes scan me for a moment, realizing I’m much older than he remembers. 

“Ha,” He grumbles, “Time flies huh, Steve?”

“Sure does, you just wait for that Sarah of yours is off to college,” My dad laughs, slapping Joel’s shoulder. I wince, realizing again he has a young daughter. It wasn’t ideal, to say the least. 

“We got about 5 years on that,” Joel says, his eyes returning to mine, “Well it’ll be nice havin’ you around during our busy season.”

“Happy to help,” I reply, not really meaning it. 

“Hey, Joel, you and Sarah making an appearance at our BBQ this weekend? We invited the whole neighborhood and I can’t remember if you told me you’d be there.”

His eyes are still on me, “Yeah, I’ll be there,” his eyes return to my dad’s, “Just me and Tommy though, Sarah is goin’ over to a friend’s house.”

“Can’t wait!” My dad cheers, “Baby girl, can you make sure my schedule is cleared Friday evening so I don’t have to worry about when I can get the meat?”

“Of course, dad,” I grit my teeth, “I’m on it.”

-

“Hey baby girl, can you go grab me some extra plates?” 

My dad was over the top with his BBQs to say the very least. The whole neighborhood was in on it. Steaks, burgers, hot dogs, chicken, the whole thing. I spent all morning getting the huge backyard and cabana ready for all our visitors. We usually had someone come over to do all the setting up, but Dad made sure to remind me that I was living rent free and being paid on his payroll, so setting up was the least I could do. 

People littered the pool and backyard. I weave between people, giving smiles and welcomes where I could.

I walk in to the kitchen, the cold AC air hitting my bare arms. Luckily, I was wearing shorts over my bikini shorts, or else the goose bumps would be up and down my legs, too. I begin searching the cabinets for the large serving plates you always used for big gatherings. Leaning down, my triangle bikini top almost lets my boobs loose. I sit up straight, messing with the knots on my back. I knew tightening it could only help so much.

“Need help?” I almost jump out of my skin. I turn quickly, spotting Joel Miller standing in the kitchen with me.

“Shit, you fucking scared me,” I breathe loudly, patting my chest to make my heart stop racing, “I think I can get it.”

“Mhm,” He sticks a tooth pick between his teeth, “Lemme help, girl.”

God he was so fine. I hated myself for having a crush on him. But the domestic and simple gray t-shirt that hugged his arms so well and the blue jeans? I simply could not resist staring. 

No chance in hell. But I got to look at him every day and imagine it. 

I turn on my heels, holding the ties out to him so he could tie them. 

“I need them tighter,” I mutter, “Don’t want these puppies falling out in front of the Adlers.”

“Don’t want to excite Mr. Adler too much, he may have himself a heart attack.”

I smile to myself, biting my lip. He ties it, his fingers grazing my bare back slightly. 

“All good now, girl,” I turn to face him, looking up at him through my eyelashes, “Now what were you lookin’ for?”

“Serving plates,” I explain, “Dad is finishing up those steaks, needs more space.”

“Well let’s get ‘em and head out to all the fun,” He says, ducking down to the cabinet I was looking in originally. He finds them, handing them up to me. He looks so good looking up at me from this angle. 

“You want to grab us some beers,” I suggest, “I’ll meet you out there?”

“Your dad runnin’ low?”

“Probably, so grab three.”

–

“So, you going to be here all summer?”

I had no interest in talking to Tommy, but he was keeping me from toeing the line with Joel in my drunken state, so here I am. I sit in my lounger chair, wanting so bad to take off my jean shorts. I knew if I did, Tommy would take it as I’m making a pass, so I sweat extra. 

“I’m starting college in August, so yeah I’ll be around the office and staying home.”

He smiles, “Good to hear, love seeing you around.”

I smile back faking a cheery laugh, “Thanks, Tommy… care to grab me another beer?”

“No problem, sweetheart.”

I watch him walk away before searching the crowd for Joel. I spot him across the yard, talking to one of the newer neighbors. A single mom who moved in two months ago. My dad kept joking the other night that he’d be making her my stepmom, which only made me gag. She was beautiful, younger than my dad, but just about Joel’s age. 

A pang of jealousy rises within me. 

Joel finally catches my wandering eyes. He smiles gently, giving me a nod.

“Here, darling,” Tommy says sweetly, “Need anything else?”

“Yeah, actually,” Your brother, “Can you help me with something?”

“Sure, ‘s up?”

I sit up, leaning over making my boobs hang right in his eye line. 

If I couldn’t keep one Miller’s attention, maybe I could snag second best. My beer filled brain thinks about how they are cut from the same cloth, so they both are probably good at this. 

“Do you want to help me change a lightbulb?”

He raises his eyebrows, “I guess, where at?”

I smirk, “My bedroom.”

We sneak away, my eyes scanning the area. It didn’t appear as anyone was following us. My room was the last room on the left upstairs, so the anticipation as I guided him down the hallway was killing me.

Ever since Joel grazed my back earlier, I’ve been ready. So fucking ready. 

“Are we actually changing a lightbulb?”

I open my door for him, gesturing to him to follow me in.

In the dim light, Tommy was very cute. He was a sweet guy and I knew he’d be the first to jump on my idea. 

“You tell me,” I say, starting to untie the knot Joel tied. In my moment of trying to be sexy, I realize Joel tied the stupidest and hardest knot ever. Tommy notices my struggle, reaching around me, frantically trying to get the top off.

As it gets loose, I reach up to grab his neck.

“What the fuck is going on ‘ere?” 

His voice freezes me. Tommy looks towards the door in horror.

“Joel-“

“Tommy, you fucking know better,” His voice is so intimidating and scary, I cant even muster the courage to turn around, “Git.”

Tommy gives me eyes saying I’m so sorry, and I just stare blankly at my wall. I hear Tommy’s foot steps run down the stairs. I realize how drunk I am because my wall paper begins to move on it’s own. It doesn’t usually do that. 

“Now you,” His stride towards me is quick, “I’m not your Dad, but don’t think he’d like you fucking his employees.”

Maybe it was the liquid courage, “Who said I was trying to fuck him?”

I snap my head towards his stern and impossible to read face.

“Bullshit,” He spits, “He got through my knot, he assumed somethin’ was about to happen.”

“Well, even if that’s where it went, why are you putting your nose in our business?”

He chuckles darkly, “So now it’s ours, huh? I have you know, girl, Tommy’s business is my business. And you’re just makin’ my job hard.”

I tiptoe closer to him, “And what’s your job, again, Mr. Miller?”

“Make sure people are behavin’ themselves.”

I realize what he’s doing. My tipsy mind took a second to search his face for more, but I can't read him at all. 

“I’m behaving, Mr. Miller. I promise,” I reach up, touching his jaw, “No more funny business.”

It was the closest I had ever got to him. I felt a rush just touching him.

“Good, get your top back on and come down to the party. Your dad is looking for you.”

I look down at myself as he leaves the room. My fucking tits are out, and he didn’t even look down.

The game he was playing was not the same one I was playing.

–

The next morning, I have a pounding headache and no drive to leave my room. I was embarrassed and horrified. I knew I would have to face Joel and Tommy on Monday morning, so I had to make amends beforehand. I really didn’t want them to tell my dad and I was pretty out of line for trying to fuck Tommy when Joel wasn't giving me the attention my drunk ass thought I deserved.

After spending hours in bed, rolling back and forth thinking of a script to say, I figured that honesty is the best policy. 

Well, honesty with a little bend in the truth. 

I get showered and dressed. My usual summer time outfit was a crop top and short shorts, but today I needed to be more… conservative. 

I find a nice summery dress, that went to midthigh. It was yellow, not a lot cleavage, floral. Innocent. 

When I get downstairs, my dad sits in the living room, his feet propped up watching the news. 

“Where ya going, baby girl?” 

“I’m going for a walk,” I lie. 

“Wearing that?”

“Yes,” I nod quickly, “Do you need anything while I’m out?”

He shakes his head, “No, have fun, I guess.”

I could tell he was suspicious, but he wasn’t one to pester me too much. He had high expectations for me, but I always exceeded them. He never questioned me too much, unless it was about school. He didn’t even really care about my love life. He always got excited when I told him I was going on dates in college. I mean, I rather him be excited than bother me about the guys I was seeing.

I start my journey to Joel’s. I didn’t even know if he was home or not, I was going on blind faith.

It was hot as shit and I was not fully prepared to walk to his house in a dress and sandals. 

I could’ve just driven there and back. But no, I decided to roast in the hot summer sun.

–

When I arrive to his house, I just kind of stand in his driveway, catching my breath. He was home, his truck was here. 

I walk to the front door, knocking first then ringing the door bell. 

It takes about minute, but he gets the door. 

And he’s shirtless. 

It was the worst and best moment of my entire life. 

“What are you doing here?”

And it’s not quite the response I was anticipating when I arrived at his door. 

“I uh-,” I hear some stirring inside the house, which causes me to peak my head past Joel’s shoulder. 

I see movement, but my eyes find Joel’s again before I could focus in on it. He pushes me back a bit, coming outside and shutting the door behind him. 

“I came to apologize, but you seem busy.”

He shakes his head, “Not busy, just woke up.”

“With someone?”

What the fuck? Why can’t I shut my mouth?

“Pardon me?”

“Well I walked this whole way to apologize about my inappropriate behavior yesterday,” I explain, “But yeah, that’s it.”

The door creaks open and I am wholeheartedly anticipating a hot MILF or something. But instead, it’s a little girl. 

“Sarah, get inside!”

“Oh hi, I know you!”

I smile at the girl. She was cute, I had to admit. She looked a bit like Joel, mainly the smile. A smile I wasn’t too familiar with, because he wasn’t too keen on my jokes. Ever.

“Yeah, I work with your dad,” I explain, “Nice to see you, Sarah.”

“You too, do you want to have lunch with us?”

“Sarah she can’t st-” 

“I’d love to, only if your dad says it’s okay.”

He got himself in a pickle, but I was aching to have a conversation that didn’t involve me putting my foot in my mouth like I almost did again. Plus, some food and water would help the heatstroke I felt coming on.

He stares at me, almost like he wished I’d disappear, “Of course, come in. Sarah is making sandwiches.”

“I hope you like turkey and cheese!”

—

“Thanks for the sandwich, Sarah,” I say, wiping my face making sure I didn’t have mustard left over.

She smiles with her mouth full, “You’re welcome!”

“Hey Sarah, why don’t you go get ready for swim practice,” He suggests, “Me and your new best friend need to have an adult conversation.”

She looks up at him annoyed, “I guess, but don’t scare her away. She has a cool pool I want to swim in.”

I laugh out loud, “Yeah, don’t scare me away, Joel.”

He doesn’t laugh, he just looks at me with his lazer eyes. I just wish Sarah a farewell and shut my mouth, waiting for the storm. He stirs, eating another bite of his sandwich. 

“So you came to apologize, huh?”

I swallow, “Uh, yeah. I’m sorry for my inappropriate behavior. I had one too many yesterday.”

He nods, “Yeah you were practically falling out of that top of yours before you took Tommy upstairs. Surprised you didn’t have it off before then.”

My eyes widen, “Well that’s humiliating.”

“Don’t think anyone was particularly mad about it,” He says, “Maybe one of those neighborhood watch moms, but who cares about ‘em?”

I can’t help but smirk. Was he insinuating that he wasn’t mad about almost seeing my boobs?

“Yeah, they always give me the most disgusted looks when I’m out jogging.”

“Cause’ they miss bein’ young and beautiful,” He explains, “All their husbands stare, too.”

I can’t believe he’s talking to me like this, I find myself leaning in a bit to try to talk quieter. It seems like this is conversation we should be whispering to each other.

“Do you stare?”

Foot. In. Mouth. 

He smirks, giggling a bit. I finally got to see him smile.

“Of course, I do.”

----

Hehehehe tell me what you think! I'll be back with part 2 soon!

[delusinaldreamer19]

After receiving some interaction with this post I made about my feelings on the Undertaker, I wanted to clarify some of the things I said. And give, you know, actual points + evidence for why I don’t like him.

I’ll start by rephrasing that very point. It’s not that I don’t like him as a character, it’s that I think he’s evil. Maybe one of the most evil characters in the series.

@abybweisse left a comment on my post saying how Yana had specified that UT wasn’t the main villain of the story. I agree. But whether or not he’s the main villain of the story doesn’t take away from how evil his actions are.

I’m just going to go ahead and get the main point across, or my main reason for “hating him” ig.

He needed r!Ciel’s body in order to revive him. In order to retrieve his corpse from the sight of the sacrifice, he needed to have known where it was. In order to retrieve r!Ciel’s body before the place fully burned down after being set ablaze by Ciel & Seb, he would have needed to be there when it was happening.

Remember this panel?

There are numourus theory’s abt it, but I personally believe it’s UT.

Case and point, he must have known that the twins where being held captive by the cult. Whether or not he knew about all the ways they were being abused is kind of irrelevant—I feel that seeing them in the cage would be enough to know they were being harmed.

This biggest thing about him that I just can’t get past is why didn’t he intervene?

Your telling me that the same person who said “I can’t bare to lose another Phantomhive” just sat by and watched as one of these Phantomhives he supposedly cares so much about was murdered right before his eyes? It’s just doesn’t sit right with me.

I’m halfway to believing that he specifically waited for r!ciel (and prob o!ciel) to die so that he could do the whole reanimated corpse thing. But I’m not convinced that will be the main payoff of his actions within the series.

Speaking of his actions…yeah I’m not done.

What is the point of him essentially ruining o!Ciel’s life? Seriously. Framing him for the sapphire music hall incidents, kicking him out of his own home, stripping him of everything he has aside from Seb and his servants. Like- why? What does that do to further his goals (whatever they may be)?

I feel like he could have kept the whole reviving r!ciel thing more…idk personal? Privet? Like revealing to only o!ciel that he’d done that.

And why revive Doll if not to specifically torment o!ciel with a ghost of his past? Or at least to have some sort of negative effect on him?

There are so many questions about the UT, and while we don’t have the answers for them yet, the questions themselves paint him in a very bad light.

Yes, he had some sort of relationship to Claudia. Yes, he cried over the picture of Vincent. He may care about the Phantomhives in some manner, but I can’t help but feel that he doesn’t care about o!ciel. He may have had a few lines that suggest otherwise, but is actions have spoken very loudly through this series.

If I had to put it into a theory, I’d say I think his main reason for doing all of this is that he just want to pit a real human (o!ciel) against one of his reanimated creations (r!ciel) to see which will come out on top. His whole thing has always been laughter and entertainment.

But that’s just the impression I’ve gotten from thinking about the Undertaker and trying to piece his actions together. Do I think this is the real motivation that Yana has in store for him? No. But I just can’t seem to get past it.

[wily-art]

I haven't finished it yet, but I watched some of it, and skimmed through the rest (I will finish though at some point; when/if I have the time), and what I did see of it the "Undertale Insomnia: Something Isn't Right" Trailer looks amazing! Ur art and the looks of the characters and the Blasters is on point and great as always! And ur animation is looking awesome too! I think ur comic already had some cool gifs/small animations, but if not; it is cool to see animations from u now too!

The Paps's (both older and younger) and his Casters and/or the Blasters are looking great in the trailer u released!

And Asgore (I think) and the fallen human kid(s) look great in some of the animation WIPs and/or whatever too!

I hope someday to see some of the other Undertale cast in animation form, or at least some of the other Insomnia important and/or etc. cast members like Sans (could be both older or younger), Gaster - before or after getting goopifed, lol (though, I think he might be in this animation and/or at least the full? one), Frisk, Chara, more of Blasters and/or Casters, and/or Alphys (I have gained a soft spot for ur Alphys). Maybe Asriel and/or Flowey too?

Not mentioning Asgore or the kids here, because I think u might have some stuff/ideas/etc. with them already. And not mentioning Undyne either, even though it would be awesome to see her too, bc I don't think she has been in the comic too much yet?

Ofc, u don't have to do any of this. I know animations, and animatics even, can take a long time! Just seeing the Undertale Insomnia (one of my favorite UT, and maybe just in general, comics/series's!) cast brought to life even more through animation like this, has got me excited! ^^

Last of all; I just wanted to clarify, the animation release is just the trailer, and not full thing, or...?? I just wanted to confirm.

Heya! First off thanks! That little tidbit is just a teaser more than a full trailer. IT's definitely not the completed thing. I didn't want to give a solid release time due to genuinely not knowing how long this all would take (at this point a little over a year- Good god). But I wanted to share at least a little something since this whole project has been so all consuming- that from the outside world's perspective I've been more or less absent. It's kind of hard to be active with other things when a singular thing both eats a bunch of time but can't be shared since it's not done X'D. It's a lot of behind the scenes work and not much to show for it yet.

Other characters will definitely be getting way more time to shine in the comic moving forward since I finally hit a particular turning point. Also regarding animations I have a lot of ideas for the other characters and the fallen kids that all more or less tie into the same world in a "how did we arrive to this point" kind of scenario. But due to how long all of this takes and I can't promise how many of them I will get to. Or at least how quickly because right now I'm moving at a blistering speed of _not very fast_ ✨ That said this one with Papyrus is absolutely being released (hopefully later this year) because if I have only one of these in the system it's gonna be for this guy XD The other one that I absolutely want to do as another animated update for Insomnia involves Chara and Frisk to answer what exactly happened at the end of the last run before this one. I'm hoping that since I've learned a lot (this is my first animated project) that that one will go a lot smoother. An account of figuring out a lot of things I Was doing that made my life INFINITELY HARDER. Hope that answers things.

[cowboymater]

controversial opinion maybe:

I KNOW. i know. hear me out

i saw a couple edits on tiktok of mcspirk to soldier poet king and like. i’m not putting anyone on blast but good lord some of those choices made my head hurt. it’s taken me a couple days to synthesize my reasoning for the superior choice (as pictured above), but here goes:

the problem with assigning characters to soldier poet king comes when you take it at face value, flattening the paradigm to angry-sad-tired or violent-artsy-authoritative. if we want to get down to the root of it, the song is based on the threefold office of christ as priest (soldier), prophet (poet), and king. like i’m not christian, but on a textual level it gives us context: the concept that as prophet jesus gave us counsel and words of wisdom, as priest he sacrificed himself to redeem us, and as king he provides for, defends, and forgives us

maybe the most famous priest/prophet/king (& thus soldier/poet/king) allegory in all of literature is frodo, gandalf, and aragorn. frodo bears the burden, though he wishes he did not need to; gandalf offers words of wisdom and mercy; aragorn is a born leader, on the front lines with sword in hand, ready to die with his men if he must

KING: capt. james t. kirk is the easiest one to place. it is a burden and a privilege, an honor and a horror to have the lives of so many depend upon you to make the right call under fire. he makes the call. he leads the landing parties, he puts himself at the head of the charge because by god he is not about to send his men into a battle he wouldn’t fight himself. he leads—with heart when he can, steel when he must—and people follow him. bones and spock are always right behind because they believe in what he believes in, and more than that they believe in him

POET: bones serves as kirk’s emotional sounding board, his moral peer review. he lends an ear, and the word of an old country doctor who’s seen much and understands more. man has ascended to the heavens, to hurtling through the void in a glorified tin can, and it would be no great hardship to forget that our place in the universe is not that of higher life—we are not as quasi-gods, moving pieces on the great three-dimensional chessboard, but flesh and blood, and we must attend to each other. bones tempers the pure logos and rationality offered by spock; he offers grounding in this age of technology that wrinkles the fabric of reality, offers the kind of emotional intellect that cannot be taught, and has always been sorely needed

SOLDIER: this is the one where you really get tripped up by surface-level analysis. yes, spock is reserved and collected. yes, vulcans are pacifists (as you may recall, so are hobbits, and yet frodo remains the soldier in allegory)

the thing about vulcans, though, is that despite the vegan pacifism, they are warriors. it’s tangled up in their history and their DNA. the koon-ut-kal-if-fee survived through centuries of analytical dogma for a reason; even now, they cannot wholly escape their inheritance of violence. their forefathers ran the sands of vulcan green with blood. they venerate logic and condemn emotionality so that they will not

your average high-achieving vulcan, probably on the path to kolinahr, commits their lifetime to the pursuit of knowledge at the vulcan science academy. it’s a measured, rational decision. a controlled environment, where there will never be any logical reason to resort to violence

spock joins starfleet

he joins starfleet, and pursues knowledge in the vast unknowable universe. there is reason for violence, frequently. and sure, the purpose of their mission is peaceful. it’s true that spock would rather resolution be reached without force. but a soldier needs not want to be a soldier. he only needs go to war

when it comes down to blows, he will match them. he makes the sacrifice play, jumps on the grenade, goes into the radiation-soaked engineering room alone. it’s only logical, after all

spock is there to pick apart the universe, unravel the threads of logic until it all makes sense. bones is there to stitch it up. kirk is the hand that holds it all steady, the gravitational field that binds the people of the enterprise to their purpose. soldier-poet-king, commander-doctor-captain. it’s a story old as dirt, and we’ll keep telling it, i think

edit: my bad vulcans have. green blood

[conkreetmonkey]

idk if I've posted this before, but an UT/DR headcanon I have and don't see in others often is that humans in those worlds are not the same as the humans from ours. They're definitely more similar to us than the monsters are, but they're not the same "species" as what we'd consider to be a normal human in our world.

For starters, they can have bright yellow skin. That is straight-up canon. While we've never actually seen two humans interact in canon unless you want to count the end of genocide (which I won't because I interpret it as Chara talking to YOU, not Frisk), the fact that we now have two separate individuals with this skin tone does sort of imply it's normal. It's not a colour it's possible for a human to naturally be in our world; even when one has jaundice, it's not bright-ass Lego minifigure yellow. These kids are the colour of poison dart frogs. They're the colour of a hazard strip. That's not normal.

Given both this hint that these humans are different and the fact that all 3 humans seen in canon are universally addressed by they/them pronouns and are completely androgynous, I have a headcanon/theroy:

Humans in these worlds have no male/female sexes, no concept of gender, and no differing sexually dimorphic traits.

I do not think these humans have men and women. I think all humans are born as genderless, completely androgynous beings, and have no concept of gender within their societies. I have no idea how they'd reproduce, but I imagine them as having either no genitalia, or all having the same "set," and what it looks/functions like I have no clue. Honestly, I'm kind of leaning towards mitosis.

I like this idea for the following reasons:

Mettaton EX being so androgynous despite his identifying as a binary male would be a thing he lifted from humans, being such a fan of them and all. The thing with the four, five and six fingered gloves heavily implies he wanted his body to appear as human as possible, and I suppose that could mean combining what we would consider to be masculine and feminine traits into one metal genderbeast.

It adds a touch of "gremlinous creature" vibes to all 3 human characters; "inhuman" anatomy despite being explicitly, plot-importantly human.

The confusion about reproduction and just how tf not having gender or bio sex would work I and you are feeling right now is EXACTLY how monsters, the main in-universe demographic of both games, would feel.

Feels kind of Homestuck troll-ey, which is always a plus in any Toby Fox project because it solicits groans.

Things I percieve as flaws in this headcanon:

Kind of discredits the non-binary identities of the human characters, especially Kris, whose themes of identity, control over one's body and teenage angst are strongly complimented by a trans identity. If these characters were born non-binary, though, they wouldn't be trans for continuing to identify as such, for the same reason Mettaton and Mad Mew Mew are trans for being born genderless yet having a binary identity.

While opening narrative doors, also closes them... this is again very Kris-centric because they're older, but I've just seen so many portrayals of Kris as a non-binary kid stuck in a perisex body going through puberty that are really interesting and compliment their angst. Binders, facial hair, periods, voice changes... can't do anything with that anymore if these humans don't go through puberty as we know it, and that makes them less relatable.

It just feels bad to hc away canon trans rep like this, yk? UT/DR certainly wouldn't be hurting for it without human trans characters, but they're canonically trans, non-binary playable characters in a mainstream game. That is INSANELY rare. I cannot think of a single other example. Trans mcs are rare enough in mainstream media as a whole, let alone non-binary ones. To strip these characters of that to non-binarify their entire species feels a little... tradeoff-ey.

[under-lore]

Do you agree with Nochocolate post "cooperation, not corruption"?

That post is one that i find to be both very correct and very wrong depending on which part of it you're asking about.

Whilst Nochocolate can be a pretty good blog in terms of purely gathering information about a topic, their actual analysis of that information often tends to suffer a lot from confirmation bias compared to other UT blogs.

That is especially true for Chara in particular, Nochocolate team has a particular vision of Chara (which you can see in their AU : Caretaker of the Ruins) and often ends up twisting the facts to make it line up with their version of the character. To the point where the screenshots they show and the conclusions they make based on those images sometimes contradict each other. I would suggest keeping an open eye when reading their Chara related posts in particular. (their other posts are much better, though)

At its worse, this can result in posts like this one, which is quite blatantly wrong in nearly everything it tries to argue in its last section and was quite obviously only posted because Nochocolate made their Chara masculine.

That particular post's most recurrent issue though is jumping to conclusions far too quickly and bias in the wording.

Its also really long, so going through it bit by bit to detail all of that would be quite boring (especially since a lot of it would be nitpicking every couple paragraphs.)

Making a detailed post covering that same topic with evidence is something that i may do in the future, but for now here are a few key talking points :

LOVE does have some amount of impact on one's behavior, however, Nochocolate is right in saying that LOVE couldn't have been the sole reason for Chara's aggressive behavior in genocide (as shown by the more aggressive variants of the neutral routes). Chara's decision to cooperate with the player and go along with the route is and remains their own choice. Whilst they were influenced, they were not "corrupted" either and remain responsible for their own actions. The overall idea that gave its name to the post is mostly right, but it was exagerated quite significantly.

However, neither LOVE nor kills scales with Chara's ability to control Frisk ! Rather, Chara is present and is capable of exerting control on Frisk in any route (and does ! This is actually one of the things where Nochoco contradicts themselves). But they however do not decide to exert it so assertively in other paths than in genocide. (This particular assumption causes many minor issues throughout the post. Tying multiple things to Chara's presence/influence/etc... that just aren't.)

The genocide route is mechanically driven by kills and by unique encounters indeed. Although, those are not takeover requirements as much as they serve both as help and as requests to the player. For instance, Chara themself decides to abort the genocide route if Snowdrake isn't killed, even if the kill count is fulfilled. The helping/guiding goes both ways. That is why we are "partners" after all.

Frisk isn't ever "replaced" either, they're still openly present, stated as having conscious feelings and opinions on what is happening up until the very end of the route, however Chara's increased assertiveness makes their influence feel relatively weaker within the PFC. (The entire post tends to try and ignore Frisk as a factor in general for the sake of their narrative. Multiple things which are from Frisk get pushed into Chara instead without solid evidence.)

[abandoned-quiche]

Oh hey I got a good one

Rank ut/dr characters by if they pour milk or cereal first

alphys: milk first. she vehemently defends this decision against everyone who says it's the wrong way. also, she exclusively eats cereal from like, those japanese snack loot box services that send you foods from japan.

papyrus: milk ONLY. cereal is "A SUGARY CONFECTIONARY TREAT THAT HAS NO RIGHT TO BE CALLED A BREAKFAST." meanwhile milk is full of strong bones. when it comes to breakfast he prefers oatmeal

papyrus is right btw most cereals have no right to be called a breakfast. anyway

sans: you do NOT want to know how this man eats his cereal but i'm going to tell you anyway. he pours orange juice into a bowl, pours chips ahoy cookies into it, and mashes it together until it is an orange chocolate cookie sludge with little chunks of solid cookie in there. and then he eats it with a spoon. he has to eat breakfast in a separate room because of it. as punishment and because nobody wants to see that. he always "accidentally" walks into the room everybody else is in anyway eating his "cereal" because he "thought of a joke" or something. they hate it so much. he loves it

undyne: doesn't eat cereal because itll rot her awesome sharp fish teeth, but she knows alphys is doing it the wrong way

napstablook: they always have to use a very small amount of milk in their cereal because their tears fall into the bowl, watering down the milk, making their cereal soggy, and increasing the amount of liquid by a lot, which would cause it to overflow and spill, causing them to cry more because god why

mettaton: cereal-in-the-shape-of-mettaton's-face after milk-in-the-shape-of-mettaton's-face. by the way, every item of food merchandise he sells is available as ghost food as well. he's one of the staples of a ghost's diet on the surface because of this, as there aren't many ghost foods available. in the underground ghost produce was a lot easier to come by but on the surface they now make up an even smaller portion of the porpulation than they already did so it's tough to come by. thanks mettaton!

mew mew: hates mettaton for the way he does his cereal, but honestly, she would hate it no matter how he did it. eats mew mew cereal. cereal before milk

toriel: doesn't encourage eating cereal because it tends to be unhealthy, but occasionally takes a cheat day. milk before cereal. doesn't understand why there's a debate about this. as far as she's concerned the only wrong way to eat cereal is sans's way

asgore: milk before cereal. would let the children have cereal as a treat sometimes if toriel wasn't around. "our secret".

flowey & chara: absolute snobs about this. HATE anyone who does milk before cereal. not literally of course.

-------------

susie: milk first, because she's not the one who pours the milk.

-------------

thanks for the ask! :D

[inthevoidzone]

okay so I'm just now FINALLY watching the ONLY trek I've never seen a single episode of and don't know many characters from -- Enterprise. Here is an exhaustive list of things I knew about Enterprise before starting it: - Captain Archer is a guy - T'Pol is a Vulcan - It's post Star Fleet but pre Federation - 9/11 That's it. So now that I'm a couple episodes in, here are some off the cuff observations of the only Star Trek I don't already know: Love the lo-fi tech stuff! When some basic, classic Trek tech doesn't work right. The way the med bay feels like a abattoir. The ship doesn't even have shields. Three tries at firing a photon torpedo and all three failed. Brilliant. Giving Archer that beagle was the best call ever, because he's kind of a dick but then he picks up that tiny dog and I am just filled with patience for him. No one who loves a dog that tiny can actually be a POS. I turned to my wife at the start of episode 4 to shake my head and sigh that I kinda hated Trip Tucker, only for him to spend the entire episode trembling and sweating and shouting and tripping balls. Then spend the first half of the episode after THAT... trembling and sweating and crying and tripping balls, before coming down and immediately getting pregnant. So okay, Trip Tucker, you know what? You can stay if this is what they're write for you. T'Pol is a Vulcan! I haven't much to say about her but I do have stuff to say about the Vulcans. Mostly that I imagined this show would be about how the humans need to grow to catch up to the Vulcans, and instead it's more about how they need each other to challenge their ideas and grow. I like that. There's a certain irony inherent to a prequel imo and here a lot of the good stuff comes from knowing that these judgey space guys who think each other are weird and gross end up becoming BFFs who found the ultimate BFF club. My wife says that this doctor is a Tuvix of Neelix and the Doctor. She was correct and also I love her for talking VOY to me.

I really like Hoshi so far, and I've gotten some really interesting conversations/thoughts about the role of the comms officer on the bridge of a starship and how interesting the surrounding history is. Hoshi is one of the most crucial members of the ENT crew, but in 200 years, her job will be so automated by the Universal Translator that fuckin Worf will do most of it. Not entirely -- those duties are actually spread between Captains, counselors, ops, and security, but it's definitely different! It's interesting seeing Hoshi build the UT. Does she know it'll eventually replace linguistics? How would she feel about that? Or how would Uhura feel about it, for that matter?? That generic british white guy who is the security chief sure is a security chief, isn't he?? Got me thinking about the inherent conservatism of the security chief, how the security chief tends to be the least 'evolved' person on a starship capable of seeing the least nuance. Maybe that type of person is cool if they're tempered and not in charge? Maybe a tiny little dose of fascism is good because order can be good??? God I fear a Captain who came up through security tho! Also, they tend to be some of my faves lol... Odo, La'an, Tuvok... sigh. They're always there stubbornly advising we shoot it and then learning you don't always have to shoot it. I have definitely noticed these guys seem a lot more flawed than the VOY or TNG crew -- more than DS9 too, I guess. Like, less likeable? But I think it's on purpose. T'Pol and Archer and Trip are all kind of awful to each other. Hoshi is scared shitless. British White Guy seems like a real dick. I think it works for me because I honestly just like unlikeable characters lol, but I hope it's in service of GROWTH. It excites me to imagine them coming to see how they're wrong. It excites me to imagine these NASA ass motherfuckers becoming the Federation. I hope I get to see it, and the coming 9/11 doesn't completely derail these arcs and the show doesn't become 24.

[darkspellmaster]

As kuroshitsuji gets a hiatus to make way for Yana to prepare for the climax, what are your current thoughts or predictions to how the next events will unfold? How long do you think we still have before the loose end of the story gets tied together?

Also.. do you think Lizzie will still have a chance to return to Our!Ciel, or will it be too late for her/them? I have a horrible thought that she might end getting injured or killed (I really hope she won't though 😭) but I still hope there will still be time for them to explore and acknowledge their feelings for each other, no matter the nature of it.

And what about Soma? I really hope he finds out the truth soon that it wasn't his best friend who killed Agni :< he can't drop out of the series not knowing anything sksksks

I absolutely love these two characters so I hope we get to see them return to the earl's side eventually

Thoughts for Yana going on break. GOOD! Girl needs it, she hasn't had a break ever, and avoided it even when her mother passed in 2011. So yeah I'm all for her going on a trip.

Few things are crossing my mind. First, the stranger, Barnabus, who showed up to greet Sebastian and O!Ciel, I have a feeling he's going to be someone like Blavat. He knows things. Honestly I feel like the young Earl is going to have to come face to face with some aspects of himself, and possibly the fact that Sebastian liked to trick him into the contract.

My guess, at least a few months after the break, and probably a year or more for it to conclude. I'm of the opinion that Lizzie is going to be like Gerda from the Snow Queen and be the one that saves O!Ciel from Sebastian in the end. I think the kids from FOL are going to play a part, (what I'm worried about with Theo is that HE's going to be the one that gets with Lizzie since HE fits Ciel to a T and Finny even implies that he's the most like his young master) in dealing with R!Ciel and Undertaker. I honestly think UT isn't clued in about how R!Ciel may have helped in the deaths of Vincent and Rachel. I honestly think there will be for the two of them. I'm wondering if Yana will end up doing what Kaori Yuki did and split the series into two. In that case we had Godchild and Count Cain. In this case I wonder if we'll have Black Butler and something else. So that would allow more exploration with Ciel and Lizzy. God I'm going all over the place with this because so many theories in my head right now. Soma I think will come back and protect Ciel, he's going to be his Agni going forward and keep Ciel safe from things. I think he knows that O!Ciel and R!Ciel are two different people and realized that it wasn't O!Ciel that killed Agni. If I was a betting person, given what Yana has said in tweets: Druitt is the final big bad and not the Queen as she stated that he is always there when important things happen.

(We've seen it with each arc where something happens. Jack the Ripper (Madam Red dies and we get the Reapers), the curry arc he's a judge, Circus I think he's mentioned only, Ship arc he's trying to take over the world, Public school he connects Redmond to Stoker, He's seen as the Red house leader in the Green witch, He probably will show up in Brighten. Also the guy is based on Alister Crowley, the famed Occultist, so Yeah...I'm banking on him being behind the whole thing.

Already has a connection to Vincent via the past.

Noble and a doctor

Has the goal and desire to be a king

Dude was willing to sell Ciel as a girl to the highest bidder.

There's more there, but maybe I should do it as a theory.

O!Ciel and Lizzie are going to be the Kai and Gerda of this story and in order to stop Sebastian, Lizzy is going to have to cry out the seal in some way and remove it with tears.

Soma is going to be the one that protects Ciel from R!Ciel and helps beat him.

I feel like by the end, Sebastian just isn't going to want to eat Ciel since it would be no longer fun for him. Or he can't because of Ciel's connection to Undertaker.

I hope so too. Soma will be coming into my story though.

[internetskiff]

seem to be falling back into my UT/DR phase lately. Probably quite obvious, but I don't think Flowey's lack of compassion is exactly literal. He definitely thinks so himself,

but I think it's less a vanishing of compassion and more a byproduct of a complete switch of perspective that occured from the moment he first woke up in the garden. He doesn't quite "feel" anything for anyone anymore because he doesn't view this world from the perspective of an ingame character - as the one who held the power to Save at the time, I believe it came with the side effect of his perspective completely switching over to that of someone playing the game, even if he doesn't quite understand it. There's always an inherent disconnect between a Player and a Fictional Character. A game could tell you "This character is your mother", but you could never feel the same compassion towards that character as you do towards your real parents. I suppose this argument tackles it from the perspective of Flowey being a seperate entity from Asriel - and I do believe this to be the case to a certain extent. It's similar to when the Player takes control of a protagonist with a defined backstory that goes waaaaay back before you even took control. Flowey knows of Asriel, knows of Asriel's history, knows he was Asriel, but as much as he wants to or tries to he simply can't feel the same love Asriel would toward what should be his parents. He can't help but view them as what they really are, even subconsciously - characters in a story. A story where he, at least for now, assumes the lead role. That is of course until Frisk/The Player comes along. He can no longer Save, which means he's ultimately at their mercy now, and as soon as he meets them - what do you know - he feels something! Almost immediately he begins to antagonize Frisk relentlessly, starting with him outright trying to kill them, until instead he resorts to using them as a tool to gather as many souls as possible in one place. He needs his control over the game's Save File back, and for what? To wipe the slate, setting them back to the beginning so they can play together forever. There's a twisted sentimentality to it. A sentimentality he seemingly doesn't ever show towards anyone else except the one entity in the Underground that shares his perspective. Someone he is convinced is an old childhood friend. He knows he can torment them as much as he wants, kill them over and over, because he's been through it himself - therefore he knows they'll come right back. Either that, or they'll simply grow bored and leave him behind. He wants to prevent this in any way he can, and he knows that relentless adversity is the key to keep them from leaving. We usually don't stop playing the game until the main antagonising force is defeated. We don't stop until we reach a satisfying ending. Therefore the answer is simple - dangle that satisfaction in front of their face until repeatedly tearing it away. That way, finally, Flowey can forever play together with a true equal. In his eyes, he and "Chara" are the only two people that truly matter in this world.

[lynxgriffin]

Hey wanted to ask, and sorry if you've gotten this before but

How do you feel about how Deltarune is going? Do you like it?

How much do you think Paper Trail got right based off chapter 2?

And this is more personal but

Are you ok with some people not 100% liking Paper Trail's ending and choosing to focus more on what the full game is giving us/going to give us?

Yes, of course I like what we've gotten so far! I'm nervous about what might happen, but not in a bad way. Mostly I'm excited! I'm really hoping that we get some new chapters soon, but I also want to make sure that Toby takes his time.

Obviously, a lot of plot stuff ended up being incorrect...I think the biggest one was that Darkners turn to stone when in a world they don't belong in, and before I even finished PT I knew for sure that multiple Ralseis wouldn't be a thing. I'd put Gaster in a vastly different role now. Also, I feel like the connections to Undertale were off, and based on that, I'm actually of a mind that DR's universe is fundamentally different from UT's in many ways. What I think was closer to being correct was just the character interactions and backstories, and how the characters may develop over time. The going to different Dark Worlds and meeting new Darkners bit was also right, but I feel like that was very obvious, honestly. Also, I am still of the belief that canon will end in a similar way to PT (with the player being disconnected from Kris at a crucial moment), but I imagine the circumstances for it will be very different, and executed a lot better.

And yeah, of course, it'd be absolutely silly for me to have a problem with people preferring canon over a fancomic! It's just a fan story after all, and one based off of very limited information in the grand scheme of the whole canon story. Of course the actual game's going to be better!

[entomjinx]

Uta is NOT a Mary Sue

I wrote this on twitter for a "what's a controversial One Piece opinion" post, but I definitely want it here too. Also I apologize for any typos, as I'm physically incapable of not making at least one.

Uta, by definition, is not a Mary-Sue despite how people seem to believe so due to her past, abilities, family, and how she's introduced into the story.

Definition: The term "Mary-Sue" comes directly from whether or not the character in question is 2 dimensional, depicted as lacking any flaws, which makes them unrealistic, and the rules of the story tend to bend to them second they would stop the character. Other notable things about Mary-Sues is that they are typically free of any weaknesses, they're innately virtuous, and typically attractive.

So let's break this down bit by bit.

Right off the bat, I will say she's attractive, but so are most characters in One Piece. If attractiveness is all it took to make a Mary-Sue, then everyone would be a Mary-Sue. It's the same with the fact that she has a unique design.

Uta has several very clear weaknesses:

One: her devil fruit is stamina based. If she falls asleep, they all return to their bodies. If she dies, they die with her. She has to die to take her opponent down like that, and it is therefore, a weakness.

Two: she doesn't fight much outside of the song-world. This could be because of a lack of training to fight, as shown by her unwillingness to harm someone's body. Instead, she has to have unconscious people fight for her.

Three: If they can't hear her, they're unaffected. There is a whole scene depicting marines in headphones to block her voice, and it works until they're knocked off.

Four: she's not omnipotent while in the song-world. Several people were able to hide from her and the things she created.

Five: she can't alter a person's will, only their form. Sunny, Bepo, and Blueno fought against her after their bodies were changed. The people from the audience still called out for Uta to stop.

I could continue, but I think these get the point across.

She's not virtuous; she's morally gray, like most characters in One Piece.

She wants to start a new era, but the way that she plans on doing so removes people's freedom and will kill them. That's not virtuous, even if she believes it is. It makes her similar to a cult leader. Even if they somehow had everyone's best interest in mind, wouldn't call a cult leader virtuous, would you?

Everything above covers how she has character flaws, but I'm going to add a few more.

She begins to panic when things don't go how she expects them to. That's why the audience gets turned into stuffed animals and such. If they won't stay themselves, then she has to keep them there.

She was eating wake-shrooms the whole movie. Those are literally in universe stimulant drugs. Another point against virtuous and towards character flaws.

She didn't seek help for the things that were bothering her, which ultimately led to her crazed idea. Her isolation led to her being so independent that she probably didn't know asking for help was an option.

And finally, the big one: is she a two dimensional character? Definition first: a 2 dimensional character is a character with little to no character development. They're too simple, and show little to no serious thought. The have no real dimension to them.

Guys, the whole movie is about her. We see how her trauma changed her from loving being a part of the red haired pirates to not being able to stand pirates at all. How her lack of outside help and isolation only made everything worse, and what ut eventually turned into. We see her realize she was wrong the second she's able to process a fraction of what she's done, which if you pay careful attention to the movie, you know that not all of it was fully her. Parts of it were the wake-shrooms, which make people slowly go insane. (How many shows was she using one or two on, I wonder?). Some theories even believe that Tot-Music was still affecting her mind after the first summon, but I digress.

She just needed help.

There's so much more I could put into this analysis, but I've made my point. She's not a 2 dimensional character.

To address some of the concerns I know will come up:

"She's the daughter of the strongest Yonko." Being Shanks' daughter doesn't make her a Mary-Sue anymore than being Garp's grandson and Dragon's child makes Luffy one.

"She's Luffy's childhood friend. He was supposed to be alone." Being friends with Luffy doesn't make her more of a Mary-Sue. If anything, it adds more depth to both characters, as it helps explain why Luffy wanted a musician so badly. It also explains part of his hatred for loneliness. He had one friend who went missing and he never saw her again. ("Being alone is more painful" -Luffy's flashback post Marineford) -She was adapted into that spot of the story very well. "Luffy's never mentioned her before." Luffy never mentioned Ace before Alabasta either. In case you haven't noticed, Luffy doesn't really talk about things unless he's asked directly or has a direct reminder.

"She's so overpowered that she almost killed 70% of the world at once." Yes and? Kaido regularly attempted suicide. Big mom steals people's life spans. Luffy has a god devil fruit that the government renamed because they couldn't get a hold of it for 800 years.

All of them are objectively stronger than Uta in terms of strength. She had to become popular enough for most of the world to listen to her, and then strategize exactly how this would play out. There's also the fact that some people may be immune because of Haki (gorosei)

She had a plan and it was effective because she blindsided everyone with it. That's a talent and a half, and it wouldn't work more than once.

It also has nothing to do with whether or not she's a Mary-Sue and I think it's silly to bring it up, but I know how people are.

And finally: nothing is stopping you from continuing to dislike her. You don't have justify disliking her by calling her something she isn't. If she doesn't vibe with you, she doesn't vibe with you. Everyone has things they dislike, and that's perfectly normal.

If you'd like to know what an actual Mary-Sue looks like, then I recommend trying to read just five chapters of "My Immortal," with the main character Ebony Darkness Dimentia Raven-way, the Mary-Sue of Mary-Sues. Everything is so exaggerated that it's easy to spot.

If you genuinely want to discuss any of this, then I'm down to talk about it, but if you're here to hate and didn't even bother to read everything, then I'm not interested.

Thank you to everyone who made it this far, and I hope you have a good day <3

[ms-m-astrologer]

Transiting Saturn stations retrograde

Timeline (current events in bold)

Sunday, March 24, 2024, 02:26 UT - Saturn enters pre-retrograde shadow, 12°42’ Pisces

Saturday, June 29, 19:07 UT - Saturn stations retrograde, 19°26’ Pisces

Friday, November 15, 14:20 UT - Saturn stations direct, 12°42’ Pisces

Tuesday, February 18, 2025, 13:25 UT - Saturn exits post-retrograde shadow, 19°46’ Pisces

===+++===

I like to start these with a quote Martin Bulgerin (www . biopscinst . Com):

Saturn retrograde is probably the least pleasant influence around. Saturn is a hard-nosed, Mr. Brass Tacks himself, the teacher with the big ruler that insists you dot all your I’s and cross all your T’s before recess. He teaches us about responsibility and claiming our authority in the world, a class (Character Building 101) many of us would rather skip. Needless to say, this kind of discipline and skill is very useful later, even though the cycle itself is rough to get through.

One of the “highlights” coming up for us is the first of three squares between Saturn and Jupiter. The first two happen in Pisces-Gemini, but the third and final one takes place after Jupiter has moved on to Cancer, and Saturn to Aries - which will also involve Neptune, close to Saturn (but not exactly conjunct). Mutable sign challenges indicate new situations which we need to deal with before they escalate and are more difficult.

(And 2025, astrologically, is going to be a trip. Best to get our ducks in a row, now!)

So how might this pan out?

Many of us are going to have to deal with boundary (water sign) issues - what seemed like a perfectly safe “dam” dissolves or fades away. Or, we may realize there need to be boundaries, and we need to build them ourselves.

Some people will have to face up (Saturn) to any escapist (Pisces) tendencies. If we’ve been avoiding something, it refuses to stay ignored any more.

Pisces is the last sign of the Zodiac and has a lot to do with endings and (perceived) finality. With stern Saturn here, we may have to accept that some situation is well and truly over. Time to get ready to move on. As astrologer Isabel Hickey wrote, “Test is one of severance, letting go and letting God.”

Saturn moves slowly at the start and the finish of this backwards dance; I’ve been able to combine aspects for a general picture. From the faster planets’ point of view, they’re too far apart; but Saturn’s point of view, they are linked closely.

Tuesday, July 2 - Wednesday, July 10:

Saturn Rx/Pisces trine Venus/Cancer, 19°25’

Saturn Rx/Pisces sextile Mars/Taurus, 19°23’

Saturn Rx/Pisces opposite Juno/Virgo, 19°23’

Saturn Rx/Pisces trine Sun/Cancer, 19°19’

This starts us off with very good intentions (although with that Juno opposition we need to be sure they truly are our intentions). We admit there’s room for improvement and we’re ready to do the work.

Thursday, August 15 - Mars/Gemini square Saturn Rx/Pisces, 17°42’. Distractions, omissions, lack of attention span, frittering away time &/or resources. We don’t know which way to go. Let it pass.

Monday, August 19:

Saturn Rx/Pisces opposite Venus/Virgo, 17°29’

Saturn Rx/Pisces square Jupiter/Gemini, 17°27’

The first of the Saturn-Jupiter squares, with Venus coming along for the ride. This could work out to be some problem where past frivolities and indulgences (Venus, Jupiter) catch up with us. Unlovingness, criticism. Failure to commit, especially in relationships - and not necessarily our failure, could be the other person’s. This is a time when “playing both sides” ultimately won’t end well.

Saturday, September 7 - Wednesday, September 28:

Saturn Rx/Pisces opposite Sun/Virgo, 16°02’

Saturn Rx/Pisces opposite Mercury/Virgo, 15°15’

Saturn Rx/Pisces opposite Vesta/Virgo, 14°46’

Oppositions work through other people, and in September those “other people” are right there in front of us. Not necessarily in a confrontational way - what usually goes down is that people are behaving at us, like we behave (or used to behave) at them, and we don’t like it very much.

Sunday, September 29 - Friday, October 4:

Saturn Rx/Pisces trine Mars/Cancer, 14°25’

Saturn Rx/Pisces trine Venus/Scorpio, 14°07’

Quick, somebody queue up “Sexual Healing” for us! These watery trines, if we haven’t done the work, may just give us a false sense of accomplishments &/or peacefulness. If we’ve worked hard and honestly, they can bring common sense, willingness to assume responsibility, and spiritual lovingness.

Sunday, October 13 - Friday, October 18:

Saturn Rx/Pisces sextile Ceres/Capricorn, 13°36’

Saturn Rx/Pisces square Pallas/Sagittarius, 13°22’

These may not make much of an impact unless you’re sensitive to the Lady Asteroids. Ceres is helping Saturn on the domestic front and encourages “traditional family values,” but Pallas wants to go out and do its thing and not be weighted down by parental expectation and pressure.

And the home stretch - remember, this is three weeks long, but Saturn is barely moving:

Tuesday, October 22 - Tuesday, November 12:

Saturn Rx/Pisces trine Mercury/Scorpio, 13°12’

Saturn Rx/Pisces square Venus/Sagittarius, 12°58’

Saturn Rx/Pisces trine Sun/Scorpio, 12°48’

Saturn Rx/Pisces square Mercury/Sagittarius, 12°42’

As far as Saturn is concerned, this is almost like Lucy and Charlie Brown with the football: a promise (trine), followed by a lie (square). We have these watery trines promising a breakthrough, and then the squares from Sag taking it away. My favorite band’s masterpiece “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” comes to mind. Remember the following lines, though: “If you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.”