#but you get the gist. the fun is all in how you interpret characters

[st4rstudent]

hey do you have any tips on drawing mac opsys

absolutely ill give you my mac flopsys tutorial

this is very simplified but i hope it helps a least a little. it was done quickly so its not my best work but this is my general thought process.

now go out there and draw plenty of opsys's and i better see them or else an evil will be released upon this website unknown to mankind that has never seen before [joking

[doctorbunny]

A little speculation about Corpse Disposal and J-horror

But I'm a little bored so sharing a part-theory, part-headcanon on Muu and Rei

So we unfortunately don't see much of Rei in "Its not my fault" but I want to point out three key times we do

The first time we see Rei in the MV, is her wet sleeve (we know its not Muu because Muu wears a pink jumper under her blazer)

Then, after a lot of bug stuff, we're finally back in the real world, where Muu has just killed her Post-After Pain. In INMF, we don't see the surroundings as well, just the dirt track and bushes. But in AP, we see this is right next to a rushing river (Muu's undercover card also features a bridge as a landmark)

The next time we see Rei after her corpse, is a flashback to the start where she turns the hourglass over. Then it cuts just further back to before Rei stood up - as she pulls herself up off the floor She's alive and absolutely soaked after a session of intense bullying (which we saw Muu insert herself into in AP)

However, I want to now switch a little to talk about cinematography and a concept called the Kuleshov effect The video I linked is pretty concise but the gist is that if you put two shots next to each other, even if they were filmed separately, the brain interprets it as a continuous scene (so if you film a character looking off screen, then a picture of an apple on a table, we're going to assume they're looking at the apple)

Therefore while we understand chronologically that the sequence of events is Rei (wet and alive) -> Rei's murder on dry land ↺ Flashback to Rei still wet and alive Which I think everyone understood as a commentary on how this power struggle was a constant cycle of the hourglass being turned over

I think visually, it also implies a sequence like Rei was bullied -> Muu kills her -> Sopping wet, Rei crawls back to the classroom

But wait! That sequence suggests a missing step How did Rei get wet again?

Well, we know Muu killed her next to a river And if you were a scrawny teenage murderer with a body on your hands, would you leave it there where someone could see it while you grab a shovel and stand in broad daylight digging a hole in tough ground??? Or try lighting a fire in public??? Of course not!

It'd be much easier for Muu to, in a panic, just roll her body into the convenient river and let all the evidence wash away!

(Of course, if Muu was panicking, she might not have been very careful. Given she ended up in MILGRAM, there must've been something tying Muu to Rei's death and in T2 Muu seems to have finally remembered losing her left shoe...)

Fun fact: this is the same shoe Cinderella loses in the animated Disney film (and the best known version of that story came into English from France)

Shoe break over, back to the Endless Queen's Game

So, if we assume Rei's corpse was thrown in the river, what does it matter? Its just a pointless headcanon

But I speculate the meaning goes deeper!

So that image of Rei, soaking wet, crawling off the floor reminded me of something: J-horror ghost girls! Specifically the most famous of ghost girls Samara/Sadako Who became a vengeful spirit after being thrown in a well and now crawls out of TVs to kill people who watched her VHS tape

Her story too is a cyclical one (its called 'Ring' for a reason), the only way to break the curse is to copy the tape and have someone else watch it, who will then become the victim unless they can themselves copy the tape and show it to another unsuspecting patsy

The story goes back further because this movie is based on a novel, which is based on the legend of 番町皿屋敷 Banchou Sara Yashiki. There are many versions but generally a maid girl Okiku is proposed to, and when she rejects the proposal, her master breaks one of ten plates and promises to forgive her if she marries him. When she declines again, he beats her to near death then throws her into a well (sometimes it's a jealous mistress instead of a master)

Interestingly, Atrophaneura alcinous (swallowtail butterfly) larvae found in Japanese wells became known as Okikumushi お菊虫 (Okiku bugs), tying back to the whole insect thing...

It's been said a bunch now, but the name 'Rei' can be read as 霊 meaning ghost (seen in words like Yuurei 幽霊, a more common word for ghost than Rei on its own)

We know Muu is afraid of ghosts too (though I must admit she says Obake, not yuurei, but both words refer to ghosts)

Remembers the i/井 in Sakurai/櫻井 can be read as 'well' I'm sure that has nothing to do with anything

Uh, I can't think of a conclusion because its 1 am and I had to look up a bunch of spooky images

TL;DR: I think Muu may have quickly shoved Rei's body into the river next to where the murder happened (maybe forgot her shoe at the scene of the crime) and now she's scared by the cycle continuing and Rei coming back to haunt her

[botanphal]

THE VIVIBELLA BIBLE IS HERE AND IT’S QUEER

ENJOY

PREFACE

so you’re probably wondering. What is this weird sapphic tirade of 3K words? Well, this “note bible” was originally something I was going to keep for myself but figured others may want to see it too. This document is similar to a character bible, hence the name, except it’s more of a deep dive into two particular characters, strung out like notes. Please keep in mind that this document does not go into every idea I’ve had about these two but is more or less the basic ideas for the sake of consistency. This goes over canon and non-canon information which are separated so you know what’s true vs my own interpretations, though depending on which version of this post you’re reading, you may notice that there’s only canon information—which is more or less to let you have your own ideas from their purely canon-selves without the inspiration of my own non-canon ideas—the cut version of this document is also considerably smaller (1.7K). If you’re not on the canon cut version, then obviously the previous statement can be ignored. Regardless, I hope you have fun reading!

BOTANPHAL/PALIN’S VIVIBELLA BIBLE

LINKS

Just some links to their actual profiles for ease of access, as well as quotes and their theme music

Goombella:

https://www.mariowiki.com/Goombella

https://www.mariowiki.com/List_of_Goombella_quotes

https://youtu.be/1EmkKFaT7V4?si=erWshNwVBU5sfbo_

Vivian:

https://www.mariowiki.com/Vivian

https://www.mariowiki.com/List_of_Paper_Mario:_The_Thousand-Year_Door_quotes_by_character_(S–Z)

https://youtu.be/6WubRL1mPlQ?si=cY_tWs5TwyKZsr39

ESTABLISHING THE IDIOTS

let’s get down the gist of these sillies!

Goombella:

A junior at the university of Goom majoring in Archeology and seems to also consider herself a historian

- sassy, genuinely seems like she’d bite people’s fingers off sometimes

- nerd (but would backfire if you called her that given the note above)

- confident (of course, there are moments where she loses this but most of the time she seems rather self-actualized about things)

- kind, but does tend to poke fun at others (I can’t believe she called Koops cringe)

- curious

- knowledgeable (though she does make her mistakes regarding things like being fooled by Doopliss)

- excitable (after reading her dialogue over and over she uses a LOT of exclamation points. Girl calm down)

- kind of a hot head at times and jealous type, especially with how Ms. Mowz goes after Mario (Goombella definitely had a crush on him as well) and snaps back a lot though this could just be related to her mentioned sass

- this isn’t so much a character trait but she says “totally” a lot as well as “oh my gosh” which this one may be a catchphrase

Non-canon interpretations:

- has ADHD, needs meds or she loses her mind and becomes scrambled (top of the line “gifted” kid)

- possibly has a fear of heights given her comments at Hooktail’s castle making her nervous

- most Goombas seem to have two prominent fangs so I assume she’s missing one

- half Australian and half Maltese (has slightly an Australian accent but mostly sounds American)

- intersex, given Goombas are based off of mushrooms (and also chestnuts but I digress) and mushrooms are intersex, took estrogen to appear more feminine and identifies as a woman (this still applies to her gijinka, just that her species of demi-human is also all intersex)

- futch (femme/butch, will wear either or-or dress equal)

- has a lot of (unsuccessful) relationship experience which adds to her anxiety about her feelings for Vivian, specifically having dated three other people

- Full name is (Goom)Bellami Alessia Bones (Goom is a family title and not actually required to say, though she prefers to be called Bella than Bellami)

- 21 years old (while she has no confirmed age her being in her early 20s makes the most sense given she’s a Junior at university)

- has an earthy/dirt yet flowery scent

- has a cut on her right eyebrow

- loves savory flavors but occasionally enjoys spicy and sweet (Goombas have a main diet of meat so she tends to eat a lot of that)

- executive dysfunction sometimes causes her to not clean herself, but if someone complains then she will (she tends to carry around a perfume bottle)

- pansexual (possibly a coping lesbian)

- (gijinka) is missing the majority of her right forearm though she has a prosthetic for it (was born like that) and is missing almost all of her left arm aside for the shoulder (incidental)

- swears fairly often

Vivian:

Youngest of the three shadow sirens/sisters with the ability to use fire magic

- shy/somewhat reserved (opens up more later on, still shy but less reserved)

- cutesy (how the fuck did she speak with a heart symbol in one of her quotes)

- graceful

- polite

- sweet/kind (there should be no mistake to how far Vivian’s forgiveness goes considering she’s willing to forgive her own family that abused her for years—Vivian disowning them is not something Vivian herself would do)

- empathetic/sympathetic (I think about her random glitz pit dialogue a lot and how she worries if her and Mario did a bit too much on the enemies. But also she sometimes says “NO MERCY” she’s so silly)

- curious (moreso about most things being new to her due to being sheltered by her sisters for so long)

- submissive, though gains some confidence later on (this is just my own take but I feel like it’d take her longer than it does in-game to be more confident given the severity and length of abuse she experienced)

- struggles with an inferiority complex (this is actually a canon thing and made mention of) at the hands of her sisters abuse

- says “gee whiz” a lot, might be a catchphrase

- tends to stutter when nervous (possibly easy to fluster, especially considering she likely has not received a lot of compliments in her life)

Non-canon interpretations:

- possibly has athazagoraphobia (the fear of being forgotten) or just has general struggles with the concept

- given her trauma (mental/emotional abuse, unsure if there’s ever been physical though in one of the translations of the game Beldam apparently starved her, neglect from Marilyn), she probably would struggle with depression, anxiety and PTSD

- dysphoric, obviously feels better about herself the further into her transitioning (something about Vivian makes me feel like she’d struggle with dysphoria—it’s already a lesser discussed topic among fictional transwomen and given Vivian’s upbringing I think it’d make sense that she particularly has this and would make mention of it)

- she’s autistic and I can’t exactly explain why but someday I will (this very well could be projection uhhh. Anyway she probably doesn’t even know she has it or what it is, has had struggles to learn magic as the ways her sisters were trying to teach her weren’t working for her)

- demisexual-biromantic (I feel like it just makes sense for her to be this way given how she warms up to Mario and the same would apply to Goombella)

- has a beautiful singing voice partially learned from vocal training herself, however she is also called a shadow siren

- a piece of the Shadow Queen, her future

- has no exact ethnicity hc aside for being black as a gijinka, she’s something else entirely and can speak all languages (including sign language and braille) but mainly speaks English and Latin (if she were to be an actual human she’d be Eritrean and Sammarinese)

- femme (specifically loves to wear flowy things like dresses and skirts, the most “masculine” thing she’d wear is a suit)

- Has no full name, simply known as Vivian (if her and Goombella were to marry then she’d be Vivian Bones :flushed:)

- 20 years old

- has a smoldering lavender scent

- (gijinka) actually lost one of her legs while learning to veil, simply conjured up a convincing new one that she can freely remove

- can swear, refuses to do so (she’s too nice and polite the silly thing)

- is a pure-magical being so she requires frequent mana consumption to live, fire flowers are her favorite thing to use for this

- unaffected by fire and heat, can touch it without pain, body temperature is always high, only sweats when she’s sick, it’s very unusual for her to feel cold

- loves sweet, spicy and hot flavored things

- very clean, loves to shower or bathe (sometimes very atmospheric about it with hot water and candles)

- I like to think that she becomes a bookworm and wants to learn more about magic, but also reads up on psychology after the things she’s been put through

- shadow’s eyes are extremely sensitive to light, their hats have magical properties that keep them safe and shadow over them, without it she can only open her eyes in complete pitch-darkness, otherwise she keeps them closed (their gloves also work as buffers for their magic to make spells less intense, they’re sorta limiters in a way, Vivian especially has to wear them due to having fire powers and well… fire is commonly seen as destruction more than life)

- left handed, can use right okay

- knows how to cauterize wounds using her magic

- during new moons her appearance changes to more resemble the Shadow Queen, gaining more shades of purple and little stars speckling all over her, as well as having her eyes always shown

HOW THE FUCK DID WE GET HERE?

vivibella stems from Goombella’s tattle dialogue during the first battle with the three shadow sirens as shown:

note that this dialogue varies from the original GameCube version of the game compared to the Switch remake above:

unfortunate how the dialogue was nerfed compared to the original, making her seem jealous rather than having some kind of sapphic awakening but now I think of it as she’s deflecting what she’s feeling

DYNAMICS

- has a sort of opposites attract kinda thing going on, Goombella being the more open and expressive one while Vivian is the shy and reserved one

- enemies to friends to lovers

- love triangle (for the fact they both had a crush on Mario at one point but Goombella never seemed to be bothered by Vivian’s feelings for him unlike how she’s felt about the other women pining after him, she probably respects Vivian’s feelings for him given what he meant to her)

- the studier (Goombella) and one to be studied (Vivian) idk if there’s an actual name for this dynamic but I went into this concept a bit in this tweet:

- yapper x listener (I don’t think I have to explain who is who)

THAT ITALIAN GUY

Before we get into the meat of vivibella, it must be understood what Mario meant to these two. As it goes in TTYD, Mario for some reason is just a MAGNET for ladies and Goombella and Vivian are no exception to this, most of the female characters seem to express having a crush on him but let’s take a look at them individually:

Goombella particularly seems to fall under having a crush on him but she’s rather dismissive of it/acts like she doesn’t in a teasing way. She expresses jealousy whenever other female characters pursue him (think of Flurrie and Ms. Mowz, even speculates on Lady Bow post-game) but doesn’t with Vivian, likely due to the fact that Vivian doesn’t express her feelings for him around anyone (aside for the finale) considering during Chapter 4 it’s only her and Mario together when she kisses him—we don’t exactly know how Goombella would feel about Vivian’s feelings for Mario, but I think she’d probably be the most respectful to her given the things she’s been through and how Mario helped her open up and improve. During her letter to Mario at the end of the game, she talks about a “secret” which I imagine has to do with her crush on him, but she doesn’t follow through with it likely due to Mario’s pursuit of Peach

Vivian and Mario have a much deeper relationship compared to all the female characters that fall for him. Vivian definitely has a crush on him but also seems to actually be in love with him given the events that transpire; Mario helping her through her trauma and accepting her without question and also being a lending hand to someone in need despite his own troubles at the time of having lost his name, body and trusted companions. Even after realizing who he is and leaving given that he was her enemy at a certain point, she comes back upon realizing what he showed her and valued that over everything else as being the first person to EVER be kind to her. She turned her back on her family for him. During the final battle Vivian attempts to confess to him as well as during the end of the game when he’s leaving, but hesitates again due to the fact that she knows that he’d choose Peach and even thinks that the two would make a great couple. I’m sure it would be hard for Vivian to move on from him, he’s probably the first person she’s ever loved in such a way and again, he’s the first person to show her real kindness

THINKING TOO HARD

Goombella is obviously the one to crush first given her tattle dialogue, she may be kinda sassy about her feelings for her when teased by others but when she’s actually around Vivian she’s more reserved and anxious due to her shy and gentle nature, in some ways I feel like she may fear possibly scaring Vivian away by being too forward and is also afraid of the possible rejection as she’s aware of Vivian’s feelings for Mario despite him eventually not being in the picture (and of course possibly being unaware to the fact that Vivian is bi). Goombella’s probably very likely a girlfail and a fumbler when it comes to flirting but god if she isn’t confident about it and Vivian finds it endearing. I think it makes the most sense for her to confess later on as I’m sure she probably reaches some form of boiling point and just drops all her words out after being unable to hide it anymore (Vivian doesn’t like to assume things about others typically so that’s why I don’t see her confessing first instead)

Goombella falls first but I feel like Vivian would fall harder as the two of them grow closer, Vivian already experienced rejection from Mario so in some ways she probably wasn’t expecting to find successful love anytime soon nor in a more similar way to how Mario was with her. Of course, Goombella isn’t exactly like him at all but the kindness and patience is still there, albeit with some attitude which Vivian doesn’t mind. I think it would take a bit for Vivian to catch onto Goombella and her own feelings given her experience with Mario. This being her second experience with love, she’s definitely very inexperienced regarding all of it which is why she holds back. With my hc of Goombella having been through her own form of transition, a lot of comfort is to be found there for Vivian as they’re somewhat similar due to that. I don’t think Vivian really knows how to flirt but she’d give lots of compliments and do gestures, she’s also a girlfail but in a graceful way and tries not to show it, she’s kinda a secret dork (and I mean. With the fact she stutters when nervous. There isn't anyway this girl isn't also a girlfail of her own like come on now)

Regarding my own lore, I like to think that these two live together in Goombella’s Uni dorm after the events of TTYD. Vivian switches on Fridays to live with her sisters then back with Goombella the following Friday so on and so forth to help rebuild a healthy connection with them while with Goombella she explores herself given she’s been stuck with her sisters for so long. Their situation isn’t helped by the fact that they have to share a bed due to the limitations of Goombella’s Uni dorm size, though it is fancier as it’s more like an apartment with separate rooms, (basically consists of two small bedrooms, the other bedroom being her roommate’s, a living space and kitchen combo as well as a bathroom) still small though

Goombella tends to go to Flurrie for advice regarding her feelings for Vivian, while Vivian goes to Lady Bow after forming a friendship sometime after TTYD’s events. I also like to think that Flurrie and Lady Bow end up coming together to scheme about the two of them (neither are aware of this until they start dating)

Their relationship builds off of living together and Vivian learning about herself, Goombella there to guide her as someone who already knows her own life and the steps she took to get to where she’s at—the two spend a lot of time together obviously and Goombella strives to try and get something out of the two of them than just a friendship given her own growing feelings, even if it takes being more patient

Even on the weeks when Vivian’s living with her sisters Goombella tends to visit her and hang out, sometimes sleeping over as well. Vivian along the way starts to realize how Goombella’s care for her is much deeper than she originally thinks it is—in some ways Vivian already feels inspired by someone like her who is so confident and self assured, she could use someone like her to give her a nudge in the right direction

They probably even go out on adventures together which further strengthens their bond, which of course may stir up trouble and that leaves room for needing to rely on each other or help each other in such times of need (who doesn’t love some hurt and comfort mmmm)

CLOSING STATEMENT

Anyway, that’s really all I have though I have a feeling that even AFTER publishing this I’ll be still tweaking this until the day I die. I love these two very much if that uh….. Isn’t obvious at all. uh huh. I hope you gained some kind of enjoyment and understanding out of all this gay nonsense from these strange little sapphic creatures that have been rotting my brain for months :3

the canon version of this post will come out soon! This just took so long to do I’m going to explode rn

[kalinara]

So as someone who immensely enjoys disliking Charles Xavier, I have to admit, I was utterly delighted when the X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic (in Krakoa age, one of the rare times it did not involve Nature Girl murdering people) decided to do what is, essentially, an "It's a Wonderful Life" plot for the guy.

So if even if you've never seen the original movie that the plot comes from, you've undoubtedly seen a parody or homage, (at least if you're American). Sitcoms particularly like to use the idea, but occasionally even serious shows will do it too. A character goes through some shit, is dreadfully unhappy, and is shown what life would be like without him.

Now the thing about X-Men, is that we did see what the world would be like without Charles Xavier in the Age of Apocalypse storyline. And admittedly, it's pretty bad. Scott has long hair. Enough said.

And of course, the gist of this story is that Xavier ends up in the Age of Apocalypse world (or maybe just dreaming about it), and introduces them to the Krakoa concept and gets a big ego boost.

It is what it is. The part that amuses me is what drives Xavier to the point of needing this ego boost. And it is an AMAZING level of petty.

Since there are a lot of scans, I'm going to put them behind a cut. Enjoy! (These are all from X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #62, by the way.)

So we start off with Xavier's daily schedule:

It's a pretty busy itinerary, admittedly. So now, let's see how Xavier's day actually goes.

We actually start off with Xavier waking up, disgruntled, at 6:00 AM. I'm not actually going to show this, because I am not a morning person either and can't make fun of him for it.

Also, he's shirtless, and not being named Max or Erik, I am not into that. Sorry.

But, let's look at the rest.

6:30's resurrection of Rusty Collins

Xavier was apparently a bit slow, and Hope decided to resurrect the dude without him. That happens. You can hardly blame a teenager for leaping at the chance at grown-up responsibility.

Also, she's a Summers. So it's pretty much inevitable.

--

So then we get the 7:45 meet and greet.

A small child adores Kitty. Kitty is a little meta here, but not wrong. After all, part of what the Marauders do, at this point, is rescue people.

Now, Xavier looks kind of neutral here, but given that this is part of the litany of disappointment, contextually, one must interpret this to mean he is disappointed.

But here's the thing, Chuck. You're not an "X-Man". You're the dude who sends them out from the shadows. You didn't even publicly admit to being a mutant for decades. And while, yes, you did have some physical issues that made being a field operative impossible, it's not like you're going out on rescue missions NOW.

Sorry, I shouldn't rant. There's more to mock.

--

So how does the 9:15 teaching session go? We don't actually know. Presumably it's not notable. Despite the fact that teaching is the one thing Xavier can claim he actually does.

Instead, we skip ahead to the 11:05 parole hearing:

I mean, you can't actually be surprised by this. I'm not even sure that Sabretooth is still IN there. But he's busy torturing people, if he is. So no, he's not getting out.

You could let the kids out though. Poor Idie.

--

This bit makes me laugh:

Got stood up by the guy whose mind you forcibly wiped. You can't be shocked by this, Chuck. That was a fucking dick move and you know it.

(Especially since you decide that Franklin isn't a mutant after all.)

--

How about the X-Corp Review?

Huh, who'd have thought that multi-millionaire business people would have the business shit handled?

I mean, to be fair to Charles, he does seem to never lack money, so he likely has business sense himself. But meh. I can't blame Warren and Monet for wanting to go off and canoodle or whatever.

--

I admit to some sympathy here, just a bit:

I've mentioned that I'm not a really a fan of the Arakko focus on Omega mutants, and how that kind of spoils my enjoyment of Storm basically being amazing up there. (I feel like it'd be more satisfying to have a non-Omega show them that sheer power isn't the only measure of awesome. I did like watching her use teamwork to kick Vulcan's ass though.)

That said, why did you not realize this would be a thing, Xavier? Arakkans make no secret of how their society works.

--

Now, sadly, we skip the legal conference about the X-Babies. Presumably it goes well and no one mocks Xavier, but I'm kind of fascinated by the idea.

But then we get the official Treehouse lighting ceremony:

...are you really feeling left out because your two former child soldiers are getting honored as "mutantkind's greatest heroes".

Fucking REALLY?

Are you living among humans and saving them from various threats? Heck, are you sticking around to help hand out meals, as the mayor mentions? Because you're not down there, and your itinerary says you'll be having a meeting about Orchis with Beast in like an hour.

It presumably goes well, because we skip ahead to sparring with Logan.

This goes pretty straightforward. They have a heart to heart, which I appreciate, because I'm still utterly boggled by that bit in X Lives of Wolverine where he claims that, despite their respective ages, Logan sees Chuck as a father figure.

By the way, Logan doesn't act like a "son" in this scene at all. He does give some legitimately good advice though and asks the question that's the point of all this:

And for FUCK'S SAKE, Xavier. The fact that this is apparently an armor piercing question, after a day where the WORST thing that happened to you was having a few appointments go on without you, getting stood up by a dude who's got every reason to dislike you, and seeing Kitty, Scott and Jean get SOME MEASURE of weak recognition.

THAT's what leads to the "It's a Wonderful Life" moment?

I mean, presumably, the interview with Trish Trilby which happens before the sparring match goes well. Meaning you're going to be on the fucking news as the face of Krakoa again. But that hardly matters because the Mayor of New York considers your SURROGATE CHILDREN to be the greatest heroes.

You couldn't even be HAPPY for them?!

(I also can't help but note that upon meeting AoA Cyclops, who assumes Xavier is an escaped clone and tries to kill him, we see no sign of the ACTUAL character's complexity or depth. He's just a random villain here. Because in the end, it's all about Xavier's ego.

He does refer to Scott as "the most pragmatic man I've ever known", which is a really interesting description that I'm not sure I agree with. But that's an analysis for another day.)

Anyway, as mentioned, the rest of the story is basically just fueling Xavier's ego. I mean, Age of Apocalypse IS a hellhole. (Though a friend of mine suggested once that possibly the only thing Age of Apocalypse proved that Xavier was necessary for is preventing Mr. Sinister from regaining control of Cyclops. I think I'd have to reread the story to see if I agree, but since I hate Xavier, I DO like that thought.) And he does bring them Krakoa and joy.

But I'm just going to bask in the fact that Xavier's deepest pain on Krakoa is that someone occasionally recognizes other people instead of him. I bet he hated Scott's Rolling Stone cover too. :-D

[loco-warehouse]

Mini TADC Theory

Okay, I'm not much of a theory person but since watching episode 3, I've been pondering a couple details. (Spoilers below)

I truly don't think there's gonna be a happy ending for the characters trapped in the Digital Circus.

I don't have too much evidence, but from previous statements from Gooseworx and the little bits of world building outside the circus, I believe we're gonna get a similar ending to, "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream."

I'm sure most of us have familiarized ourselves with the connection with the two pieces of media-- group of humans trapped to be played with by an AI higher being.

At the end of IHNMAIMS, the humans killed each other besides one, and the only known way out the Circus is abstraction, which is basically a death sentence (or so we believe at the moment.)

But, episode 3 showed something really interesting that I feel needs to be taken a lot more into consideration.

The one person you don't want losing their mind, is the higher power AI God who literally controls and keeps everything together.

Yes, the humans there can abstract from losing their sanity, but you're talking about people who have complex range of emotions and comprehension. Caine does not have that as an AI, but doesn't mean he isn't capable of losing it, as we have seen within' the episode. There's a sense that, yes, Caine himself can abstract, but it's not him that's abstracting, but the environments that he has created. So, for him as the Ringmaster, to have continuously do what he has been programmed to do for how ever many years, to be told suddenly one day that the one thing he believes he's good at, is actually bad-- that is all its gonna take for the whole world to start crumbling around our protagonists.

And due to this not being a official essay, I refuse to go through months of notes that the creator has said so I'm pulling a cheat card of slamming down the wiki pages.

This part is less on the show and more based on its inspirations, and Gooseworx's previous works.

Stanley Parable is a game with many interpretations and meanings, but there is a gist of deconstructing game play and storytelling, which leads into a more philosophical route based off player choices.

And basing it off the obvious, with episode 1 being heavily inspired by the game, the same is happening within' the series for all the humans. While their breaking points aren't a choice, Zooble has already been shown as a shining example of continuing to not play Caine's adventures, even if its for different reasons relating to their body/identity versus philosophical video game tatics. Pomni has made the choice to bring Gummi-Goo back, even if that choice was taken away from them in the end.

Runmo is a short animation based around our protagonist trying to get extra lives to finally be able to reach the other side of the obstacle, even if it meant cheating on gaining those lives. Which, ironically, results in their efforts being nothing, as there was no further platform on the other side of the spikes.

And Darly Boxman...well, I can't fully say, mainly because its less a story and more like a concept. Personally, the short animation feels more in tune with Gooseworx's bleak, dark comedy and slight hints at something bigger going on without giving too much away.

Anyways, the reason I'm mentioning these pieces is mainly to prove that Goose's work has a track record of making fun of the horrific, while also not indulging into viewers sense of happy endings and cutting it short in a dark manner.

There's so much to the show than what I'm saying and showing, but my prediction within future episodes is that the cast is gonna make Caine lose his mind, which may result in them having to hurt/kill Caine, and the rug is gonna be pulled under them where they're (or one of em, probably Pomni like I Must Scream,) in a more broken, haunting version of the Circus and still unable to escape.

Or I could be totally wrong about all of this! Which is fine, I just enjoy speculating and would like to hear other theories and thoughts, or even counter-arguments! Anyways thanks for reading my very first theory ever have a Gucci day yall

[nerves-nebula]

Dunno if it’s intended to be interpreted this way, but I think it’s really cool that there are spawnlings with basic needs like eating, and that’s bizarre to people. It’s a very impactful metaphor for neurodivergence in that it so simple and makes so much obvious sense in the eyes of the reader, no explanation needed, and it’s weird that anyone wouldn’t understand the notion intrinsically. But of course the characters without those needs don’t have that understanding. They wouldn’t recognize they’re starving someone. They wouldn’t understand what effects that has, or how obviously and deeply bad that is. That’s just a really cool disconnect to me, even if it wasn’t intended to be a metaphor and I think it’s really neat

i was thinkin more about physical disabilities & eating restrictions with that one on account of its a physical need they'll have to go out of their way to get met. like, the spawnling wellness association has a cafeteria because people like to eat food as like, a hobby, and also cuz they try to be prepared for the rare few who NEED to eat and shit and all that fun stuff. but not every small town in the world is gonna have enough food to actually feed people. some might not have food at all. Some might not have bathrooms.

people mostly eat for fun and cuz it gives them something to do as a group and cuz it's fun to cook with people- but a lot of people frequently forget that there are some who don't just enjoy eating but who NEED TO EAT to LIVE. so like not everyone has a stockpile of food, or an understanding of what kind of food you need. maybe they only have a box of carrots for visitors to eat and its like cool... this is not a varied enough diet... i cannot survive off of JUST carrots. and they're like but its food isn't that good enough??

but anyway yea disabilities in general is the gist. Dotty and Quinton (though u haven't met him yet) have got some other neurodivergence shit going on too. as you'll soon see Dotty has some emotional regulation issues. but the eating and the whole No Mouth thing are kind of more about physical disabilities.

uhh anyway i get SOOO happy when ppl send asks like this cuz it means people are READING MY COMIC and THINKING ABOUT IT !!! which is fantastic thaNK YOUUU and i'm glad you saw yourself in my little peopleee <3

[reading-stains]

hello!!do you have skk fic recs?

Introduction

Yes, I do. I’m sorry it took so long to give you a reply, but I wanted to give you a comprehensive list and was busy preparing for my last day in high school, and then I got a job 12 hours later, and then I traveled to New York for a couple Broadway workshops. But now that today’s been dealt with, I have my wonderful notes.

So here’s the gist of it. I have three focused reviews on some of my favorite Soukoku fanfics ever, but I felt like copy pasting it would kill you a little, so I’m going to use a simplified format that echoes what I once did for two other ships years ago.

Canon Space

Here I compiled four fanfics that take place in main canon spaces (so not BEAST). While I encourage you to read, I also ask you to make sure to check the tags of the actual work for any possible triggers. Furthermore, the styles these characters are written in, and the way they are portrayed, vary from writer to writer. Some are more “canon” based than others, but they all carry the essence of this ship. And if they don’t in your eyes, then you’re just reading a great novel with Japanese names. 

i'll bleed out for you by StarshipDancer

Synopsis: After getting impaled together, basically dying in each others arms in a joint mission with the Port Mafia and the ADA, and getting brought back by Yosano, this shattered Soukoku is asked to go into hiding. In this time, things seem to start healing. But the impending call asking them to return to their positions in their groups haunts them, and when it arrives, things fall apart all over again.  

Tags: Caretaking, PTSD, A Singularly Important Rat Is Present, Canon-Divergence, Post-Port Mafia Days, Love Confession, Pet Co-Parenting, Angst

Word Count: 71,848

Notes: Rattata is the best character. I remember reading this fanfic between the airport and my flight, and when chapter four ended, I had to board the plane, with my shaking hands and quiet sniffles. Please read this one.

If you kiss me (I might let it happen) by encsiimomo

Synopsis: Chuuya’s done watching this. Dazai’s literally dating a new girl every week. He dates based on who asks him first that Monday, he breaks up with them that Sunday, and it goes on again. And again. And again. It’s driving him insane. So he does the only thing he can think of to earn himself a break – He asks to date him for that week’s cycle. Dazai’s surprised. Chuuya’s exhausted. But once the sparks fly, they’re unable to be put out. 

Tags: Canon Divergent & Kind of Canon Compliant, Dark Era, Smut, Mutual Pining, Light Angst, Silly

Word Count: 52,127

Notes: I loved this fic because it encapsulates a pretty carefree tone that isn’t associated with Dark Era. It’s pretty smutty, but it’s really lovely to read them. It’s not a reflection of what these characters canonically represent. And while it definitely stays as a loose interpretation of these characters, it keeps the essence that makes this ship so sharp and wonderful. I loved Oda’s appearances too, they made me laugh.

A Doll's House by Abyss_In_WonderLand_likes_sexy_cannibals

Summary: After coming to contact with an ability-powered artifact, Dazai and Chuuya are forced to work together to overcome the ability’s trials, and face the bubbling sentiments they keep trying so hard to ignore. 

Tags: Teamwork, Ability Loss, Poisoning, Denial of Feelings, Confessions, Light Angst

Word Count: 45,288

Notes: While definitely not a character study, this fic goes and shows how wonderfully warm a Double Black fanfic can be. You’ll giggle in some moments, be entranced in others, and it’s just fun. This is for those that aren’t scouring for the angst. This was the first fic that sunk me into a skk fanfiction hunt all throughout the winter holidays.

On Deathless Feet by AbsoluteNegation

Synopsis: Chuuya always knows the monster can get out of control, but it doesn’t get any less surprising when Arahabaki powers through him. For a while though, it’d been comforting to know Dazai could always reign it in, make it go quiet. Because he did when they recently met, when they rose through the ranks, and at the brink of their end. But after years of disconnection, and the consistent waves of betrayal, is Chuuya capable of trusting him? And is Dazai capable of letting him?

Tags: Caretaking, Controlling Arahabaki, Port Mafia, Post-Port Mafia, Mistrust, Non-Linear Storytelling

Word Count: 71,848

Notes: This story is just breathtaking. The writing style is incredibly vast and detailed, which may seem scary when described, but it flows so easily when you read it. You cannot negate AbsoluteNegation’s incredible skill. The story takes place in an event where Chuuya loses control of Arahabaki in a  Post-Port Mafia Soukoku time. But because of its non-linear style, one gets to understand their past experiences with each other in a manner that contextualizes and weighs in the events of their reunion. 

Fanon Spaces

Before I begin, I’d like to note that there are so many AUs in this fandom, that I had to really search for the canon ones in my list. So understand that if you want more of these, I DEFINITELY have more of these. Also, again, while I encourage you to read, I also ask you to make sure to check the tags of the actual work for any possible triggers. 

I’ll crown your inner child with laurel by acuteguwu

Synopsis: Chuuya has worked in a Michelin Star restaurant. So he really has no place in losing this cooking competition. But a sudden newcomer, who seemingly has no previous experience in the field, seems to want to tell him his bechamel sauce isn’t ready. And really, who does he think he is?

Tags: Chef Competition AU, Character Study, Slow Burn, Chuuya Is A Blunt Perfectionist, Dazai Is A Culinary Genius

Words: 197,090

Notes: I read this in two days, and I finished by waking up at four in the morning to finish up before going to a drag queen brunch. So really, my experience was incredible. You get to really know these characters, who are very themselves, and it’s lovely. Please read, it’s so worth it.

music for our funeral by itotypes

Synopsis: Dazai has always been lost on what exactly he wants to be. Chuuya knows exactly what he wants. Working with such incredible differences proves to be a difficult challenge, ending in at least a little bit of violence multiple times, but they make it work. Because their music sounds beautiful. Because they’re better geniuses beside the other. And maybe because once it started, they can’t seem to process this journey can ever end.

Tags: No Smut, Angst, 70s, Musicians!AU, Drug Abuse, References to Child Neglect, Lowkey Pretty Violent, Emotional Cheating (w/ Main Ship)

Word Count: 67,723

Notes: Look, there’s a whole genre of Soukoku music AUs. And I could tell you to read the famous “still, still, still” by icedlightroast, or the even more famous “I Was Screaming Your Name Through The Radio” by ElectricSplatter. Which really, they’re both INCREDIBLE fics that I think you should read (IWSYNTTR literally inspired me to try and write music, which led me to do an album for a school project, so I’m not kidding when I say they’re life changing), but I also know that these are famous fanfics that you can find in almost any big skk reader thread. So disregarding the following recommendation, I try to give you fanfics I found through a long scrolling process. 

Everything or Nothing by Wellthathappened (Cataclysmic_Calamity)

Synopsis: Chuuya has never been able to experience much. So when he meets Dazai on the night of orientation, he lets himself explore. So as lips sink into his, and as he lets himself be free, Dazai lets him know how unimportant he is by walking away when kids walk in on them. Cut to a month later, they’re paired as roommates, Chuuya’s gotten what Dazai insists is a douchey boyfriend, and Dazai Osamu has to recognize it wasn’t true. It wasn’t a night’s fluke. He really, definitely isn’t straight.

Tags: College AU, Pinning, Chronic Illness, Creation & References Of Illegal Panini Rings,  Confessions, Miscommunication, Past Sexual Abuse, Bad Parenting, Cute Dates, Dazai’s Really Rich

Word Count: 264,937

Notes: I recognize I just put in my notes that there’s no major point in recommending these big fanfics, but I just read this because the person that introduced me into the fandom in the first place really loves this one. And it’s incredible. Worth every moment. I laughed a lot, and cried a lot. It’s those pieces of work that resound with you that keep you engaged. This one builds off of that.

Inseparable by milwritescausewhynot

Synopsis: Dazai and Chuuya have been joined to the hip since day one. But they’re not best friends. Or enemies. Or, worst of all, lovers. They are, however, great at pranking each other. Until one goes close to dangerous, and things begin getting complicated afterwards. 

Tags: High School AU, Pranks, Light Angst, Denial, Pining, Confessions, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Crazy Kouyou, Childhood Friends, No Smut

Word Count: 107,804

Notes: I hadn’t saved this one in my compilation, but I couldn’t not find it. This fic is so charming, and I most enjoy how the characters move through the story. You can feel the way they're in-tuned from the get go. Definitely recommend.

In Conclusion

Again, I’m sorry for such a late response. I’m literally falling asleep right now but I felt too guilty leaving this for tomorrow morning. If you have any questions, notes, or looking for something specific for your reading, we can talk about it. 

Anyways, thanks for asking! Hope you love them, and sorry for any mistakes

[nyaskitten]

Tell me about your au plz :3

(IMPORTANT NOTE: I REFER TO CHARACTERS BY THEIR ACTUAL NAMES IF I DON'T HAVE A NAME FOR THEM YET, THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT I'M NAMING ANYONE NYA OR WYLDFYRE OR ANY OF THAT!!!)

OK !!! So the details are very messy cuz I just came up with this idea last night while drawing my guy the Nightmare King from Dreamzzz... Basically it's this super self-indulgent story where I just mix shit from Dreamzzz/Ninjago/LMK/Chima for the fucken sake of it!!!

In this story, the main characters are a Kai ripoff, Nya ripoff, and a Wyldfyre ripoff!!! Wyldfyre ripoff is Kai's youngest sister (Kai 22, Nya 20, Wyldfyre 8-10, probably 10), and she also has a pet dragon who she found years ago (knockoff Heatwave!!!)

For elemental powers, those are like these magical crystals called Elemental Cores, which you are blessed with (idk how yet) by ancient dragon lords (they all go by kings but they're not all men.) Kai has his Core somehow, and same for Nya! Unfortunately, Wyldfyre doesn't yet, either due to being too young or not proven herself yet! She doesn't let it bum her out too much because her epic dragon can grant her sort of temporary Core powers (kinda like Chi from Chima). Unbeknownst to them there's a special reason Wyldfyre and the others can accept powerups like this without detrimental side effects (I won't tell.)

The story goes something like this, a few years ago (probably between 3-5) Kai's parents and uncles (in this story Wu and Garmadon are his uncles) mysteriously go missing, and in present day he hears rumors of an ancient dragon king (Overlord) whose darkness has slowly been festering and increasing greatly. Initially, Kai doesn't care, "Surely if this nonsense were to be true, the great Dragon Knights (he doesn't know it, but they're his dad and uncles) will find out about and stop it!" Idk WHY he decides to go yet, but he takes Nya and the dragon, and leaves Wyldfyre with the others... but she does her own thing and follows. It's too late to turn back now, so reluctantly, Kai has to keep his baby sister out of trouble!

For characters, I'm not too sure how many I'm taking from which series' yet...

I know I have Kai, Nya, Wyldfyre, a Lloyd/Arin combo possibly, Jay, Ray, Maya, Wu, Garmadon, the Overlord, and Misako. I'm ALSO taking Lord Ras for self-indulgence reasons, and renaming naming him Korros (for fun and maybe Wu/Korros exes yaoi!) I also know I wanna get some Monkie Kid inspiration, so I'm thinking of the Lady Bone Demon, but crossed with fanon interpretations of the Preeminent as well! Also, again self-indulgence, Nightmare King from Dreamzzz, and also totally Cinder come the fuck on I need Cinder.

I dunno if I'll add Zane or Cole tho... part of me wants to do a Kalmaar knockoff just for one hyperspecific joke of like, Korros is taking forever to find some hidden mechanism in a wall, and Kalmaar goes "you know, i wouldnt have killed my father if i knew what followed would be so boring."

I have many other thoughts brewing in my brain but WHEW thats the gist of it.

PLEASE ASK ME MORE!!!

[maestro04yayyy]

Ended up thinking on that scattered Miraculous, multi faction idea a bit and here's the gist of how I think it'd start at least.

So, regardless of what came before it, Juleka has the tiger in secret, & Hawk Moth opts to do his big Heroes Day, Scarlet Moth Strategy. The big difference is, rather than just sending Sabrina to spy on ladybug he also sends Lila and Marinette only picks up on the former.

Aside: I should note, I love including this idea that Lila actually did have the Fox Miraculous & was "Volpina" in AUs, but she mostly used the powers for like, juvenile mischief making and petty theft, Trixx is up for this cos fun. But then she sees ladybug & Chat and tries to do the hero thing, but is so desperate to be "The" main event and hero that she ends up revealing too much to be 'cool' and trying too hard to engineer scenarios to be heroic and loses the Fox. A fact she is deeply bitter over, which makes her easy ground for Hawk Moth.

So its that version of Lila who's sent after the Miraculous, though the canon version (at the time of S2) probably works just well.

Regardless, Marinette arrives, but Fu senses she's been followed (The same way he senses someone was using Noroo for evil) and Lila busts through the windows and a fight begins.

Exactly how it goes down is up in the air to me, like Lila could arrive after Marinette's picked some of the traditional Miraculous but then claims the rest, or she arrives before that and Fu transforms & they use Kaalki to bail out. Or some combination there-of.

I think regardless of what happens, this might lead to an early Guardian-ship, though Fu may not renounce his own roll. & it would regardless effect the overall battle extensively.

I think the main thing that'd be a total blindside for Gabriel would be Juleka with the tiger cos he has no idea the tiger is even an option, so when a giant violet meteor of deadly explosive fire comes out of nowhere, that is what knocks him & his forces off balance and also likely serves to scatter the Miraculous.

As a result, who ends up with what is rather nebulous and open to interpretation and alternate avenues ya know?

So many options XD

Ohhh yes i love that idea!!!!!!

Also yep finally lila is a bit more flashed out as a character!!!!! And is actually important!!! Beside the mastermind stuff they decided to do in canon that really don't have too much sense when you lookbat it for more than 5 seconds!!!!

Also I just love how you described juleka!!!! I just imagined juleka junping from the eifell tower ehile using her power and just make everything go boom on top of hawkmoth!!!!

Also it's so nice how violet is so close to violent!!!!!

Ohhh and chloe is watching all of this(either as civilian or a hero, because chloe sure as hell would be fighting even as a civilian mayne stole a sword or even an armor decorating the hotel, because there always are armor decorating stuff when you are rich and is fighting) and just has the most loving gaze and says: that's my girlfriend.

Also yep!!!! There are so many possibilities!!!! Maybe some are found my random people and they get recruited by one of the three side, maybe a fourt side get started by those or maybe some are found by noone and the sides fight eachother when finding and trying to retrive one of those!!!! Or all of those option toghter!!!!!!

Also lets say the third side is chloe with the bee and juleka with the tiger, I can actually see them being ok with letting lila join them and just teaching her how it's ok to not be the protagonist, but just have fun breaking the law with magical super powers!!!! Also maybe lila has the fox or maybe she doesn't!!! It kinda depends a bit on how her fight goes!! But she could also use a different one!!!!

Soo yeah so maybe possibilities!!!!!!

[archivalofsins]

So, that was really something wasn’t it? I bet no one was expecting all of that. @doctorbunny had been looking into all of that since our conversation on June 4.

All this from a simple inquiry- It must be surprising for those that weren’t expecting it. So, for the Mahiru lovers out there, how was it? What did you think? Is it doing super great? Is it heating up inside those heads of yours? If it isn’t yet, then how about going for seconds-

Let’s talk about ARGs! ARG is short for Alternate Reality Game. There have been many across the internet from Everyman Hybrid to The Cipher Hunt in 2016. I’d assume the Cipher Hunt is more well known. It was an international scavenger hunt attached to the American animated series Gravity Falls. Gravity Falls is a good example of ARG media overall.

A lot of the series involved breaking codes put after the end credits, playing sound backwards to uncover hidden messages, and of course taking it frame by frame to possibly discern what was coming next. This all culminated in the 2016 Cipher Hunt as a sendoff to an amazingly fun series that not only entertained viewers but prompted them to think more about how they consume and interact with media. That’s the point of every good ARG to give the audience a chance to interact with the media in a way that usually isn’t possible which allows the audience to feel like a part of the story as well.

They’re also really fun when it comes to scratching that deductive reasoning itch for those that really like to go in depth with their media consumption. When some say it’s not that deep, ARGs are there to resoundingly say not only can it be that deep, but it is. So, we’ve got the where from This Is How To Be In Love With You now let’s talk about the why?

Milgram, for all intents and purposes, can be described as an ARG. Many, like myself, concluded that the ARG aspects only went as far as our votes but it’s becoming more and more apparent that this is not the case.

Yamanaka said this in regards to Mu’s case,

“Mu-chan had a lot of specific scenes. Her character is also pretty different between her MV and her voice drama. How you interpret her character changes depending on how far you pursue this character. Even in the real world, for example with news stories regarding murder, you’d have very different opinions depending on if you just read the headline, vs when you view the whole thing, vs when you do more research on the person.”

Generally, one’s opinion of someone/something changes based on how informed on a topic they are. That is what I believe was the gist of what Yamanaka was getting at. To use Yamanaka’s example with news stories, the headlines of news articles are usually inflammatory and a reduction of the overall point of the article. This is because they seek to grab a person’s attention and give them as much information as possible in a very short span of time or as few words as possible.

In Milgram’s case, the MV’s would be the headline and the voice dramas would be the article.

However, articles aren’t that trustworthy either, news publications lie all the time and cherry pick information to better frame the point they’re trying to get across. Continuing forward with Yamanaka’s example in situations in which a murder is being reported, depending on the news outlet one could get very different framings of the situation. Be it a different framing of the victim or assailant.

This is something Milgram fans should be used to because a vast majority of them do it. It’s not much different from what many people have been doing with the Milgram theories they type up or put on YouTube. Each person displays their own unique perspective framed by their own ego and biases. So, we have the headline, we have the article, but what about that last thing?

“When you do more research on the person.”

Well, we have multiple examples of Milgram fans doing exactly that. The most recent one being the post DoctorBunny put out. It’s exactly what it says on the tin do more research compare the voice drama and the mv look out for inconsistencies key locations. Those are the ARG aspects that have been overlooked. Either for being too time-consuming, too wordy, or just going further than one expected.

It’s every fan that’s gone hey have you seen this tiny detail in this scene, please don’t bring up the socks in After Pain, hey um why did Kotoko go change clothes before going to help that girl, who’s that guy you can vaguely see in Kazui’s mv during that sort of distorted part, hey doesn’t this image resemble- and so forth and so on. That’s the doing your own research part that hasn’t been neglected per se, but it has been overlooked.

Each music video has enough information that for what may be detective work for people outside of Japan may come off as common place things or child’s play to people who live in the areas the prisoners were in before. Many people that live around where Mahiru is from probably would’ve been able to tell most of the places in her mv from a glance. See that’s the thing about common knowledge, it changes depending on where you’re at.

A good example of this is,

In the previous post DoctorBunny mentioned how I brought up the store Mahiru was outside of was a 7-Eleven.

I saw something that came off as commonsense to me, but that same thing won't be common to someone else. Not because they're uninformed but simply because it does not color their world view. It's not something they see every day so why would they be familiar with it? This is one of the reasons it's so enjoyable to see other people's opinions on Milgram from all over the world. Because those personal experiences shape how one will interact with the media.

Hell, a few years back I probably wouldn't have been able to tell it was a 7-Eleven myself, but I moved to a place right across the street from one so the colors in the corner and the outdoor setup were familiar.

This is why it's important to collaborate with others and discuss things because it can lead to new and interesting discoveries. I didn't really think I contributed much to the search since I was just around speculating stuff for the most part, but it was fun to be involved!

Now this may sound like a disadvantage for fans living outside of Japan, but it comes with its advantages. Because when someone is around something all the time it’s easier to take that information for granted. Chances are no one would really ask about why Mahiru was in these areas. After all these are everyday places, nothing special. They wouldn’t really take into consideration that these places are sort of tourist spots. Because there are a lot of places in the world that have a tourist industry but that doesn’t mean locals can’t enjoy the things connected to that too.

It wouldn’t clock as suspicious because honestly, it’s all rather normal right? People go places all the time, it’s no big deal. However, attaching these habits to that of someone we’ve explicitly been told is a murderer creates a different story. So, what does where Mahiru has been tell us about her as a person and a murderer?

Let’s start with the question that led to all of this where does Mahiru go to college? It’s not 800 degrees Neapolitan Pizzeria, the place she claims to be her university’s terrace. Although there is a possibility that they could not get a picture of the school to use and chose another location. However, there are many pictures of the campus online that they could have chosen.

I still can't fully rule out that they'd need certain permission to use that sort of image and couldn't get it.

Q.16: How did you meet your lover?

Shidou: In our neighborhood. We were family friends so that was our relationship.

Mahiru: We met eyes at the university terrace. I really felt like it was fate.

Despite all that- Mahiru's school is more than likely Aoyama Gakuin University or based on or around it. As DoctorBunny stated previously there were two schools in the area of the pizzeria.

The second one was Kokugakuin University. This school has no religious ties but seems to have some ties to Shinto beliefs. For those curious about the second school considering, it's a likely candidate for Mikoto's college. Here's its ratings, website, and a comprehensive history of the institution.

For brevity, I'll be putting both schools' information right beneath this. Mahiru's school will be first and Mikoto's possible one second. This serves a point outside of bringing up Mikoto again I swear.

20/07/15

Amane: Eh, my studies? I enjoy it. To me, studying is something I do for fun. Do you not think the same, Mikoto-san?

Mikoto: Not at all! It’s just a means to an end…… I just did the bare minimum needed to get into a good company. I actually went to an arts uni that had a pretty low subject requirement to enroll, and from there I studied curation and…… uhh, you don’t really know what that is huh. Hmm. Since your way of speaking is so mature, I keep forgetting I need to explain myself properly……

Amane: It’s fine. If there are any words I don’t understand I can look them up later. An arts university, though…… Does that mean you’re good at drawing, then? It may be a bit rude to say, but that’s rather unexpected.

Mikoto: No, not really…? I mean, I could do the bare minimum needed to pass the entrance exam though. Even though it’s called an arts uni, there’s still subjects where you don’t need to draw at all. I’m the sort of person who tries to be efficient, so I worked backwards from the job I wanted to get into and chose to study subjects like direction and management~ ……ah, I’ve done it again……

So, from this conversation we can gather a lot about where Mikoto went to college and it's shaping up to sound a lot like this place. So, good for him and his possible bachelor's degree. I say possible because he more than likely graduated at twenty-two and then got a job. So, if he started college immediately after graduating high school then that would be four years and he'd have a bachelor's degree.

However, like I said in those messages this ain't about him. Anyone with a keen eye would realize the difference in schools here. Mikoto's possible school has a 39% acceptance rate and that's a rough estimate because the school doesn't disclose its acceptance rate at all. Mahiru's on the other hand-

Whoa boy that's a smart girl a college with an 18.3% acceptance rate as of 2015 according to Google and it's not that much higher on the edurank website sitting at 19%. It's a Christian university private and in the top 50% in 13 subjects.

Notable subjects are

Physics Rank:

#42 of 274 In Japan

#222 of 1,879In Asia

#677 of 4,082 In the World

Engineering Rank:

#70 of 278 In Japan

#446 of 2,117 In Asia

#1156 of 4,624 In the World

It's a long list but most importantly-

Q.14 What was your major in university?

Shidou: Medical school.

Mahiru: Faculty of literature.

X

Q.04 Other than Japanese, what other languages can you speak?

Shidou: English and casual conversation level German.

Mahiru: I chose to learn Chinese in university but well... I don’t think I can go up to speaking.

"Die."

This is why Mahiru says she chose to learn Chinese because in her school English is mandatory.

I think this more than extensively proves that this is the school Mahiru was more than likely going to before being brought to Milgram. It's a rather good school overall. So, how much does a school like this cost?

Well, that's a pretty penny. A semester there in the spring time of 2019 would run a person 759,100 jpy or 5,241.06 USD. Either way this would be a difficult amount to pay on her florist job alone and she states this-

Q.15 How much do you earn?

Shidou: That’s not something you should ask other people.

Mahiru: I’m living on an allowance from my family……

So, it's safe to say the ones footing the bill for her schooling are her parents. Unlike Futa who complains about his classes saying,

"Storm Pazuzu　（＝Futa） A L L M Y C L A S S E S A R E S O D U L L.

W A S T E O F M Y S C H O O L F E E S.

Storm Pazuzu　（＝Futa） Everyone else there is an idiot so it’s boring"

Mahiru is never shown complaining about the cost of her tuition and with a semester price that high well she should be. This coupled with,

Q.05 Did you have a good relationship with your family?

Shidou: Yes. It really was a family as happy as you could dream of.

Mahiru: I think I was what they call a "sheltered girl". I'm thankful to my mom and dad, but perhaps they were a little strict.

Q.17 Tell us about your dating history.

Shidou: I don't remember much but, I had one girlfriend in kindergarten, and in elementary school I had two relationships. I started going out with my wife in the 2nd year of middle school, and we've been together ever since.

Mahiru: I attended a girl's middle school and a girl's high school, so I didn't date anyone until I started university.

From discovering Mahiru's school we've discovered several things. Her family is financially well-off, probably not as well-off as Mu's but maybe around the same area. Given the similarities in upbringing that Milgram has felt necessary to drag to the forefront in regard to these two characters this trial.

Her parents were overprotective, maybe a bit smothering. So, as a kid Mahiru more than likely didn't have much room to go out on her own and experience certain things such as dating.

We've learned that she chose to learn Chinese but more than likely does know English given this school's curriculum. Something that was heavily alluded to throughout "I Love You" not only through the song but the cd casing as well.

Look at her nice english/romaji handwriting of her name in comparison to the others. What nice penmanship!

"Clothes Food Shelter + Love and Miss you." - "Clothes Food Shelter - Love and Miss you."

Let's get subtracting, shall we?!

What do I mean by that well let me explain. Notice anything weird about the words inside the cd case?

Clothes food Shelter + Love and Miss you.

Certain words have been left in lowercase. Also, English is a very fun language where certain symbols have double meanings. The "+" symbol has been used to supplement for "and" just like "&". This is possibly yet another ARG element. To be precise, a code that Mahiru has put into her song. A fairly simple one at that. She tells us how to solve it within her song lyrics. Yep, that's why I highlighted those plus and minus signs. Basically, I believe we're meant to subtract the lowercase words from the uppercase ones to get the real message.

"Clothes Shelter + Love Miss. food and you."

This would basically be read as, "Clothes, shelter and love miss. Food and you."

When Star sent me the image of the cd case that was my first thought after hey why are some not capitalized. So, the next thing anyone would think is Gunsli that makes zero fucking sense what does that mean? Oh, but it does make sense. Let me run it down for you. However, for that we're going to have to go all the way back to This Is How To Be In Love With You.

Where we see Mahiru go through her hierarchy of needs just as she lists here.

"Clothes, shelter-

"Do you really think you know what love is? If you do, let’s just overheat together the things that I only want to say to you, and the things that I want from you- Is love."

and love-

"If you don’t hug me, even our hearts will start drifting apart. I pretended to be a good girl, but really, I don't want to say "I'm ok"."

Then with I Love You added into the mix,

"My love, it scored an own goal, destroyed my love and me with its weight."

miss."

And that's a miss folks! An own goal is a term used in soccer or football to describe when a team scores in their own goal.

"Own Goal noun- (in soccer) a goal scored inadvertently when the ball is struck into the goal by a player on the defensive team."

In contrast, who's the one that has always been associated with food-

"Food and You." - "Tell me, oh tell me why, can’t I just do it right."

20/06/08

Mahiru: Shidou-san…… you’re really good-looking. Personally, I think you’d be better if you ate a bit more, but you’re slim and tall, and well put together to boot…… You must’ve been super popular up until now, right?

Shidou: ……yeah, that’s true…… I did my share of fooling around in the past.

Mahiru: Oh~? That's not the sort of answer I'd expect from you. I've got it! Somebody told you that if you replied like that people wouldn't resent you as much, right?

Shidou: Haha, I’m surprised you guessed. ……it seems that no matter what guise I put on, it’s meaningless against a woman’s insight.

Mahiru wants some meat on those bones~ Well, everyone has a type, and he was looking rather thin before she started feeding him.

Go on eat that up, it's good for you! That's all I could really gather from that though. However, it's a fun little tidbit if true.

Now the second point of interest I wanted to discuss from the information gathered was The Imperial Palace Run.

WHOA BOY THAT'S AN ATHLETIC GIRL!

One Lap is Five Kilometers (3.1 miles)

The distance of the route is just the right length for running. The path is also beautifully paved and there are no traffic lights at intersections, so you can run without breaking your pace. There are slight hills in about three sections of the course. These moderate ups and downs will create a satisfying change of pace during your run.

X

The Imperial Palace Runing Route is a five-kilometer route that loops back in on itself. In the video provided in DoctorBunny's post the area Mahiru is running in the opposite direction of is at the beginning of the run. Basically, runners start running in the direction of the sign she is running away from. As she is running away from it this means Mahiru has completed at least one five-kilometer run.

Given the lack of people Mahiru and her love probably went in the morning which is the recommended time for runners to go to not disturb others and be able to run as fast as they like. This explains why the sidewalk is mostly empty. However, runners are still encouraged to run in a straight line together and not side by side to be considerate of others. This explains why he is not next to her as she is running behind him.

I don't know about you but running for three miles over hilly terrain doesn't sound like being bad at exercise to me. Mahiru also says,

"I've never run so much in my life."

So, they very well may have done multiple laps around the area. However, it can at least be safely discerned that Mahiru has finished one lap around. So, she gets to beat the stupid and weak allegations today good for her or bad depending on your point of view. Because you know what this means, right?

"How could weak little Mahiru, someone who could only complete a five-kilometer run, ever move a body", is beginning to sound really weird. It's not surprising that Mahiru would say she's bad at exercise. Mahiru has consistently stated she's bad at everything, it doesn't mean it's true. She just lacks self-confidence and repeatedly diminishes her own abilities. Most recent example,

Q.15 Have you contributed to society?

Shidou: I had thought my work was a contribution to society.

Mahiru: I don’t think that there’s anything that I can say with confidence.

Discussing Mahiru and looking into all of this was a lot of fun! I was happy that I could be helpful! I really didn't know how much I helped until the post was put up. To me it just felt like hanging out but ya know in a good way considering certain revelations that may not have been the best phrasing ha, ha...

I was really impressed by all the creative methods DoctorBunny searched for information and I never thought such a small inquiry would lead to so much. I feel like we've learned so much about Mahiru and a little bit about Mikoto along the way~

I hope my insights on this can be enjoyed as well as I've kind of been holding off on saying anything for a good while now. I also hope I didn't rush DoctorBunny into posting too much. Also, I would recommend looking up walking around videos on YouTube of your you may be pleasantly surprised by what you find. The running route one kind of dropped me down the rabbit hole and I ended up looking up some for my city just to see what they were like.

They're calming.

[re-dracula]

I was listening to another podcast at some point a while back where they had an interview with you guys to advertize re: dracula coming out. And you guys said some stuff about Lucy that hit a weird nerve with me as a history buff.

So the VA described her as polyamorous, and it triggered some conversation about how her character gets pretty maligned for it. And that last part is an adaptation issue not present in the original text.

See, victorian era courtship did not come with a presumption of exclusivity the way modern dating does. You were not off the market until you were formally engaged to be married. So the general gist of it for upper and middle class folks (like the Dracula characters most likely are) is that there is this thing called the social season. And during the season there would be all kinds of parties and events where you would meet people. And the general structure was that if you went to a dance, you should dance with a lot of different people. Get a sense of the eligible bachelors/bachelorettes. And if you were a young man, you would be expected to go and visit each of the young women you danced with that night at some point during the week after. If you hit it off, you would then start courting (visiting back and forth attending other events together etc). But, as I said above, it wasn't exclusive. So a man would court a few women, and a woman would be pretty disappointed to only be courted by one man. As the season went on couples would get engaged (anding any other ongoing courtships).

So Lucy's situation, in its original context, goes something like this: Lucy is pretty and charming. A perfect victorian maid. She has many suitors. Three of them decide she's the perfect women for them. They each want to pop the question but they are good gentlemen so they agree to all ask her the same day so she can choose between them on her own terms. She is thrilled because of course she is. Any woman in her position would be! But! Before she can make her choice Dracula comes to steal her away. She gets terribly sick and dies. But then she is not dead after all. She came back all wrong and corrupted. Even such a bright, innocent, young woman as Lucy is not immune! It's tragic what she becomes.

By the time early film adaptations roll around though, courtship was mostly replaced by dating especially in America where it hadn't been so institutionalized. And now there is an assumption of exclusivity. Those poor men being strung along by that harlot Lucy when in the end there can be only one husband. No wonder she fell victim to Dracula's charms! And like, that was the exact opposite of the point in the books. But the culture was too different by that point to read the same way. So Hollywood made Lucy an example instead of a victim.

But yeah. I heard the polyamorous comment, and had a weird mix of "yay poly representation! That rarely happens," and "put that woman back in context, or so help me!" So when I saw you guys had a blog, I had to send a little mini rant. Feel free to disregard.

Thanks for the historical context! It is hard with historical texts to keep from bringing your modern ideas to our interpretations, but as an almost completely queer crew, it was hard to ignore the subtext in:

LUCY: Why can't they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble? But this is heresy, and I must not say it.

That’s what we’re talking about, we’re talking about subtext in a very sexy very queer-coded book. I believe the VA you’re talking about is Beth Eyre? As a professor, she knows this too and is playing with it in her performance. And she does brilliantly.

We’re not changing the text, as we’ve said before, we’re just having fun with what’s already there.

We’ll talk some more about this in our bonus eps, which I’m very excited about.

[ganymedesclock]

For the Sonic ask game, 🤖 Favorite robot and 🦔 Favorite version of Sonic? (the character)?

🤖 Favorite robot?

Even split between Gamma and Omega. Maybe a little predictable, I know, but if you haven't picked up the gist from the last reply I did, I was formatively baked on the Adventure games, and Heroes. Gamma's story is heartwrenching and he's such a compelling tragic figure, but I think Omega has a little more vivacity as a long-term cast member and he's very fun. I admittedly am not always the fond of the 'zany murder robot' interpretation others do, I kind of like his slightly stodgier game version where he feels like an affronted ronin who is also a walking tank and can't resist being a little snide and arrogant but also has his personal sense of ego that keeps him a bit chilly. 'Worthless consumer models,' indeed.

🦔 Favorite version of Sonic? (the character)

Kinda like the games, I think every version has its own appeals. Adventure was formative, obviously, so that tips the scale (classic Sonic is cute but I don't think he'll ever quite feel like 'my' Sonic).

Ultimately, well, I suppose I'm biased in that I have my own version of Sonic for personal AU purposes, and while I don't think he's 'the best' by any means (he's just more of the flavors I personally enjoy) you can kind of see my favorite bits in there.

I think my favorite writing take on him is Ian Flynn's comic run; where he's cheerful and upbeat, but distinctly cunning and calculating, whether that's bartering with Eggman without trusting him or honestly kind of lying to his friends to maintain that uncomplicated big brother best friend vibe. I feel like it's a fun statement about how Sonic, out-of-universe, is billed as Your Cool Babysitter to a presumed kid audience- a fantasy of how small children view teenagers. (This is part of why the movies feel like such a strong contrast; it's putting Sonic as a young person viewed from an adult's lens instead)

And that gets pretty spicy when Sonic himself is a flawed complex person dealing with a lot; in almost every incarnation he doesn't really have mentors or confidants himself, whether they just aren't present or unreliable or traumatically taken from him. He kind of stifles his needs to be an unquestioned hero to others, and unlike a 'chosen one' kind of dilemma, you get the sense Sonic does it to himself, which is a really interesting angle. 'Sure I have a little bit of a martyr complex but I'm cool about it'.

(We all remember that time you tried to outrun a black hole, Sonic)

[elliesgaymachete]

Would love your take on what a Bees(or just rwby in general) dnd au would be like. And you can interpret that any which way you’d like… the characters themselves with dnd classes and abilities or something like a more modern setting where they’re playing dnd etc

Ruby is the GM because she’s the one who roped everyone into playing anyway and she’s like a 90% improv GM like she does hardly any pre-planning and builds the world on the spot, doesn’t take any notes, doesn’t remember things EXACTLY at the next session but ehh she gets the gist and it’s close enough (this irritates Weiss to no end, she takes impeccable notes and is constantly correcting Ruby)

Speaking of Weiss, Weiss is so awkward but SO enthusiastic. She plays a college of swords bard, elf or half elf, the most self insert character you can think of. She probably researched dnd excessively before the first session, read the PHB cover to cover and memorized all the rules, watched a few different actual plays just to get a feel for how it works. She tries a character accent for the first session but Yang bursts out laughing and Weiss refuses to try again no matter how much Yang apologizes

I think Blake starts out as a basic melee class like a rogue just so she doesn’t get confused but VERY quickly gets the hang of things and multiclasses into some sort of spellcaster. Ruby jokingly suggested she play a tabaxi because geddit she’s also a cat and Blake unironically loves the idea. She’s also hesitant about playing at first cause she doesn’t know what to expect but when she realizes it’s basically like writing a story with your friends she gets SUPER into the roleplay and goes off on her own between sessions to write 100k of backstory

Yang was also super excited about the idea from the beginning and when Ruby asked Blake and Weiss she basically glared over her shoulder until they agreed. I feel like Yang would want to play something smart like Wizard or Artificer just cause in real life she’s always seen as like the muscle/the himbo but she wants the chance to flex her brain and has a lot of fun with it. She still plays something strong like a half orc or a goliath or something. Puzzles/problem solving are her favorite part of the game

This was so much fun, thank you for sending, and yes I have thought about it before 😂

[byhuenii]

⊱☆⊰ RULES OF THE HANI’s CONVENIENCE STORE

these are my rules and the basics. if you read this ILY everyone should be reading them even though i know some of yall dont. so if you are reading this and want to send in request add you favorite song in it so i’ll know xoxo!

RULES OF THE CONVENIENCE STORE

01 - Requesting

when you request please know that i mainly DO FLUFF and SLOWBURNS and COMDEY. i’m not an expert in angst because i really do suck at writing angst and while i’m writing this i’m currently in school so please do note that i will be in and out of writing these fics. please don’t be demanding it’ll make me hate writing whatever i’m writing. my writing is for fun and it’s a gift, if i hate it, it wont turn out good. pick ur poison you want a good fic or do you want a terrible fic?

02 - x reader

YES i do x reader or x oc or x yn. those are basically everything i do that a lot since i’m the most comfortable and like those the most, SO SPEAKING ABOUT THAT i do not do character x character IM SORRY I HAD TO SAY IT. i will only do character x character if those to are TOGETHER CANONICALLY..or if i like the ship (ex. usagi x arisu, natsu x lucy, mj x spiderman). and for the genders of reader i do fem and gn, i can do male but it’ll be harder for me to right simply because i am not a male, i dont identify as a male, i can try but i assure you that if i do post something and it’s not how a male is im sorry. and again for the reader i will add nationality to them (ex. black!reader filo!reader mexican!reader japanese!reader) you get the gist! most of the time it’ll be up to ur interpretation unless i add that.

ships i will write for:

itadori x megumi

gojo x geto

natsu x lucy

arisu x usagi

mj x peter parker

maki x nobara

gray x juvia

(more to be added)

03 - smut/lemon

i do NOT write lemon smut or wtv you call it, i will write dirty thoughts but i don’t write smut, yes i’ll repost some and put them in my library but i physically cannot write smut SORRY. dirty thoughts at most and yall can send ur ideas and thoughts into my inbox and i can do small headcannons and dirty thoughts, what I can do are the ABC’s.

04 - errors & grammar

yes i know i’m in school but my typing can still be autocorrected into words i don’t mean to say, or i could make a typo, or i can have a bad grammar sentence, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don’t point it out. i seriously hate that, unless you are laughing at it IDM but pointing out and saying “you misspelled so and so. the grammar is actually so and so on so and so” I HATE THAT. don’t do that to me please 🙏. also i type in lowercase, even in arguments i type in lowercase itd just be in bold.

05 - writing styles

i have many different writing styles, i have those im comfortable with and those i’m not comfortable with. and if i have one im not comfortable with i’ll just tell you straight up “hey i don’t do this sorry, maybe something else”.

my favorite and comfortable styles . . .

fluff, comdey, slow burn, friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, roommates, rivals, brothers/sisters bff, smau, opposites attract, fake relationships, actors au!, childhood sweethearts

my loathed and will NOT write styles . . .

ABUSE, damsel/dude in distress, baby trapped, STEP SIBLINGS, stockholm syndrome

that’s basically all my rules…if i need to add more, more will be added but these are what i can think abt on the top of my head so erm yeah! and if you made it to the end i love you /p …anyways have fun and buy lots in this convenience store my loves! - xoxo, hani

[hoursofmylife-lost]

The gist: we’re here to talk about comics!!!

I’m going to be working to make a post for every webcomic I’ve read; that’s going to take a while because at last count my list had over 150 entries— and then from there I’ll make new posts as I read new comics.

Sites: Webtoon, Tapas, and independent

Below is a list of my rating system for each one, which will be out of ten; I’ll also add any additional comments I have and credits to the creator(s). I’d love any recommendations and feel free to let me know your own opinions of the comics I’m reviewing, just keep in mind that despite doing my best to be objective, everything I say is my own opinion and can be taken with several grains of salt. Also, the majority of the comic on my list are ones that I read or have been reading for a really long time, so most of the reviews will be skewed positively because of that. I’m not pretending to be impartial.

Also additional preface: I have tried my hand at making comics and it is so so so hard and thankless, I am by no means dissing any of these creators. I am a critic through and through and I like to think I have really high standards— however, off the bat, I’m guessing a lot of my favorite comics won’t get great scores. I tried to incorporate some objectivity and some personal preference so that it accurately reflects my opinions, but I’m not sure how it’ll go yet. Anyway, point is, all artists deserve more recognition and just because I didn’t like something doesn’t mean that it’s not good or not worth your time. (I am mainly doing this for myself, because I like making lists and organizing stuff, but if it helps people find stuff they like reading then I’ll take it as a win)

Criterion and guide to my tagging system:

Show-not-tell storytelling: the characters aren’t completely transparent, the plot leaves room for interpretation, etc.

Worldbuilding: doesn’t have to be complex, not every story calls for it, but I like it when some detail and thought is given to the location, social system, politics, culture, weather… anything really.

The backgrounds are drawn by an artist: ideally the same artist making the story, or one working in collaboration with them. There’s a lot of comics, on Webtoon particularly, where the backgrounds are either real images with reduced quality or taken from a reference site and left unaltered. It just gives me the ick. (There’s a whole argument to be made about Webtoon’s commercialization of comics that removes their value in favor of marketing and monetization, to which I say, yeah, Webtoon is the problem, however, I still have standards. Not saying I won’t read comics with this, just saying it looks bad.)

Fun pacing: either the plot itself is interesting and unpredictable, or just the way the comic panels are arranged has a good sense of flow and action. Or both, both is good.

Building themes: they do not have to be complex, but going into a story knowing you want to touch on certain themes is much better than having none; this is so so important for making the story memorable and applicable for the readers (me).

Character depth/ nuanced motivations: characters don’t have to relate to everyone, they just have to be well-constructed enough that their actions make sense. This is so important!!!

Self-awareness: What I mean by this is that the comic understands its intent and audience. If it’s about social justice, they did research into activism. If it’s about romance, they spent time exploring the characters and their chemistry. The comic’s pitch and marketing align with what we get, and there’s a certain level of competence.

Thematically appropriate language: characters who talk like people and have different dialects and speech patterns from each other when applicable. Sometimes they want to swear and they deserve to. Sometimes it’s just not necessary. They shouldn’t all be speaking with the author’s voice. This category also in theory covers grammatical mistakes but I read a lot of international comics and at a certain point you have to accept that broadening your horizons means not getting exactly what you want, so maybe I don’t actually care that much. Idk.

Expressive characters: some comics make their characters look very beautiful at the expense of them demonstrating human emotion. Some comics have every emotion hyper-emphasized to the point that nothing can be taken seriously. Neither is good.

Same face syndrome: I can’t stand comics where all the characters look the same. (it’s always rooted in Eurocentrism) It’s not entirely necessary for a good comic to have incredibly diverse features and character designs, but if you can’t tell who’s who, there’s a problem.

Cookie cutter syndrome: I also can’t stand it when all the characters have either a “male” body or a “female” body. Grow up. Draw fat people, draw androgynous people, draw old people. You will probably be one of those things at some point in your life.

Racial diversity: Ideally you have a handful of non-white characters. Even more radically, make some of them important to the plot! (Specifically, I’m referring to a multicultural cast. If it takes place in one country and they’re all the same race and all from that same country, even if that’s different from my country, that’s still not what I’m looking for)

Bechdel test: unless the story is a yaoi with two main characters and absolutely no one else, chances are there will be women, and chances are they deserve lives outside of the male leads.

Visuals-colors: I love comics with nice colors. This one’s personal.

Visuals- anatomy: this one is also personal. Some artists don’t draw the human body the way I like, and it bugs me a bit. This doesn’t mean the art is bad, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read it. It’s personal taste.

Extra gorgeous tasty art: sometimes the story sucks but the art is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Sometimes they’re both good, but I think the art should get a little extra recognition.

Particularly satisfying or funny: mostly in reference to the dialogue and pacing. If the point of the story isn’t humor, it can still be satisfying, and that deserves recognition.

Excitement: these last three are very specific to me (any score I give a comic is probably within 3 points, give or take, of what it actually merits, due to my biases. I still have good taste, though, I promise.) This point just means that I get really excited when the comic updates. Sometimes I look at my phone and giggle in anticipation. I’m a silly guy.

Made me think a lot: as with any story, I want to be thinking about it for a while after. I want to want to blab about it to everyone I know because it was so gosh darn incredible.

Made me feel a lot: same gist. Happy or sad. If I cry over a comic, I’ll be thinking about it forever. If it’s a comfort to me during difficult times in my life, I’ll be eternally grateful. That kind of stuff is important.

Tagging

Demographic tags:

poc mc- the main character is a person of color

m mc- male main character

f mc- female main character

nb mc- non-binary main character

trans mc- the main character is transgender

Ship tags: m/f, f/f, m/m, and other variations- the dynamic of the main pairing, if there is one

friendships: m&m&m, f&m, f&f, and other variations- the dynamic of the main friendgroup, if applicable

Sorting tags:

genres: drama, romance, sci-fi, realistic, fantasy, action, adventure, mystery

pretty self-explanatory

feel: coming of age, comforting, charming, familial, supernatural, comedy, queer, slice of life, horror

The vibe, the main themes, the energy it gives, if you will

setting: modern fantasy, mundane fantasy, school, office/workplace, historical

Modern fantasy means the fantastical elements are the conflict, mundane fantasy means it just happens to take place in a magical world, which is fun and cool; plain “fantasy” is classic high- (or medium-) stakes, adventure fantasy.

elements: fame, teen, sports, magic/witches, hybrids, monsters, androids, royalty, sex, found family, revenge, mental health, mythology, demons, afterlife/death, existential, fairy tale, illogical hair

Any extra elements, this is mainly for me to find patterns and trends. Send me an ask if you have any questions

format: slice of life, autobiographical, fanfic

If relevant

location: Euro, Asia, Afro, Latinx, Americas

If the story specifically takes place on a given continent or the fantasy world is heavily inspired by a specific culture, I’ll tag that too. Americas and Latinx are separate because Americas means it’s canonically on the American continent, while Latinx means a specific latino culture or influence.

Most of the stuff I read is somewhere between young adult and mature/adult so I’m not going to bother tagging for intended audience; most creators will specify, anyway. If you want to know triggers for a specific comic, send me an ask and I’ll do some reconnaissance for you.

[secondhandsorrows]

Storytelling with Music in Mind

Rant incoming! You've been warned.

Like how writers and storytellers often use movies and film to teach structure, character, relationships, foreshadowing, mystery, climaxes, keeping intrigue, and more, we can explore the same things through a musical lens. 

Music can be a big source and tool for not just the tedious writing process, but also for inspiration and story form. Because I’m also a musician, music is one of the biggest factors I use in my writing. Listening to music is a fantastic tool in visualizing your scenes or characters, so it is extremely useful in planning out pacing, tone and atmosphere, as well as observing your characters act out in different ways in different situations. It’s one of my top-favorite ways to envision my ideas or structure my stories (especially thematically). 

Another favorite exercise of mine is taking inspiration from music, namely Classical or Romantic-Era music, for the content or foundation of a story. One of my short stories I’ve finished is structured around the three movements of Debussy’s La Mer, basing my scenes around each movement’s title and general emotional idea. It’s a fun way to distinguish what makes you love a song and how you can incorporate those values into your own storytelling. 

Though music and books are both totally disparate forms of art, there are some ways the two may not be so different. 

There’s a lot of music and genres out there can be inspiring for many different authors: it can be anything. Some of my favorites are folk, rock, classical, neo-classical, video-game, soundtrack… now I’m just listing the top genres on my Spotify Wrapped, but you get the gist. One particular kind of music I’ve been recently obsessed with has its form already structured by story: symphonic poems. A symphonic poem (aka, tone poem) is a romantic-era style of orchestral music that expresses or illustrates an idea, story, content of a poem, or a landscape, which is typically alluded to in its title. The whole idea and term was essentially created by Franz Liszt, who composed a multitude of them (though descriptive and programmatic music had been around for quite a long time before.)

The structure of tone poems often suggests a natural sequence of events. Dvorak's A Hero's Song, op. 111 depicts a nameless protagonist undergoing what could be described as a Hero’s Journey (kind of like the story structure)— facing trials and tragedies before coming out triumphant. Glière’s The Sirens, op. 33 evokes a fantasy-feel with its depiction of blood-thirsty, beautiful sirens. These are just a few examples out of many, and I highly recommend having a listen, if you’re ever in need of expanding your musical playlists. 

Depending on the content of which they want to express, composers would often use different, specific approaches according to the subject matter and the story or emotions they wanted to convey, such as instrumentation, dynamics, rhythms, rests, gestures, timbre, texture, what have you. Recurring themes can be sprinkled throughout, including variations to portray change or different events. I won’t get much into this, as this isn’t a composition post, but I mention these because the process is rather similar to the story writing process. We convey what we want to convey using themes, tone, dialogue, plot devices, and, in the more technical sense, word choice, grammar, paragraph structure, etc., which all create a kind of musical rhythm when put together. 

We can look at all the ways we can interpret and utilize music — from its form and structure, to its inspirational and emotional facets — into our stories. How it can all gets us to feel.

Putting it simply, the idea of incorporating music with story is, in its best terms, to explore idea generation, story structure, and character arc, in a way that impacts the reader emotionally, subverts (or sometimes mindfully adheres) to expectations, and keeps intrigue and relatability. We relate not to just the concrete content of a piece, or a song, or a story, but also the abstract emotion it gives us. Furthermore, this kind of music exists not just in the idea or the story, but also as the words on the page: the musical-sounding phrasing, the sentences, structure, word choice, rhythmic flow…

Speaking of, I’ll leave this off with a fantastic quote from Gary Provost’s “100 Ways to Improve Your Writing” (which I haven’t read, but found this quote interesting and just had to share):

“Writing is not a visual art any more than composing music is a visual art. To write is to create music. The words you write make sounds, and when those sounds are in harmony, the writing will work. Read aloud what you write and listen to its music. Listen for dissonance. Listen for the beat. Listen for gaps where the music leaps from sound to sound instead of flowing as it should. Listen for sour notes. Is this word a little sharp, is that one a bit flat? … There are no good sounds or bad sounds [in writing], just as there are no good notes or bad notes in music. It is the way in which you combine them that can make the writing succeed or fail.” - (100 Ways to Improve Your Writing, by Gary Provost)

Thus concludes my little rant — I just love getting to talk about music whenever I get the chance to. Thanks for reading!