#characters that are too fearful to know how qualified and strong they are <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[pink-tk-a-latte]

Huohuo is so flipping cute I wanna squeeze her to death the poor fox child

[merakiui]

Okay okay okay I’ve been thinking about this for a few days now here’s my list of genshin boys most likely to least likely to become a yandere and why:

-xiao. Millennia of suffering and he meets somebody who makes the pain dissipate? Hell never let go.

-diluc. People have died in his arms, he can’t risk losing another loved one... it’s not like he doesn’t have the wealth and resources to keep his beloved by his side.

-Childe. I think he’d be the most dehumanizing yandere - he treats you almost like a child (haha) as be manipulates his way into your heart. And god knows that he gets what he wants.

-albedo is obviously in the top half of this list. We’ve talked about his yandere tendacies before so I won’t relist them but jeez get this boy some therapy.

-razor. Now this sounds surprising but after years of protecting his Lupical, do you really think he’d let somebody he loves and sees as helpless wander alone? I feel hes less captor and manipulative and more of a stalker if he becomes a yandere

-venti. Freedom is his entire world, but can he let his beloved have freedom if it endangers them? One of the most manipulative ones on this list, except he has no clue that he’s doing it.

-kaeya. Maybe you’d gotten to close to one of his secrets. Maybe you’d figured out something he wanted to die. It doesn’t matter much now, all you know is that you were tried and declared guilty by the knights of favonius and were sent into a dungeon protected by the Calvery captain himself.

-zhongli. Has the yandere desires, but refuses to give in. He’s loved and lost so many times over the years and he figures he doesn’t want to take that away from his beloved.

-chongyun. I’ve gone back and forth between him and xingqiu for this one, but I feel like these last 3 are all pretty much tied for not being a yandere. However, if he met someone who could somehow null his congenital positivity than he might move up on this list...

-Xingqiu. He has a strong sense of justice and honor, the idea of manipulating, stalking or god forbid kidnapping his S/O is appalling to him.

-Bennett. Literally just tryna vibe. Devotes as much time as he can to make sure any relationship he has is healthy.

So basically:

Everybody on this list: *frothing at the mouth, thinking of ways to keep their S/Os with them*

Bennett, Chongyun, Xingqiu and to some extent Zhongli: what the fuck

Your list... Simply amazing. Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m beginning to wonder where other characters would sit on the list. Mainly Scaramouche though aha oops Anyways, please never stop sharing your thoughts!! They are so GOOD!

Xiao’s backstory and past is just perfect material to fuel his yandere desires. He’s suffered for so long and has never really experienced positive emotions, let alone love itself. The poor adeptus is always brooding on his own and here comes his darling, bright and happy and just...perfect. They’re like a glimmering star in his murky darkness and he wants to treasure them. There’s no way he’s going to let go of the feeling he gets when he’s with them, nor is he going to let them leave his side.

It makes sense that Diluc would also be at the top of that list. He’s got the making of a yandere, especially considering all of the people he’s lost in his life. Now that he’s found someone so important to him, he can’t risk losing them. It would destroy him if he found out that his darling got hurt or was even killed because he wasn’t taking enough precautions to keep them safe. He’d definitely blame himself if something like that happened.

Childe, pspspspsp!!! The power this man holds... Omg he makes for such a terrifying yandere. On the outside, he seems warm and disarming—just your normal, happy-go-lucky kind of guy. He’s not dangerous at all! No way. But under all of that falsified charm is someone who knows how to pull strings. He’s a Fatui Harbinger, so of course he has the means of getting you wrapped around his finger. It’s not all that hard when he’s got money, power, and strength. Plus, when he wants something he’s not going to stop until he acquires it; Childe lives for the thrill of chasing after you and it’ll be even more fun once he catches you. Someone should send me more thoughts about yan!Childe!!! orz orz

Albedo also qualifies as a neat yandere! Something about yanderes who are into science is just...fascinating to me. It’s also cool because Albedo’s rumored to be a homunculus, so that adds to the intrigue! Albedo has the resources to get what he wants as well. It won’t be all that difficult, and if it proves to be challenging he can just think of other solutions to pacify his darling. He is a researcher, after all, and a good researcher seeks to find the best solution to a problem.

Razor would be a feral yandere. He’s more action than words. He doesn’t put much thought into what he does because it feels more like an instinct to him. He’s just protecting his Lupical. There’s nothing wrong with that! So why are you acting so difficult? D: 

Like you said, Venti’s not aware of his manipulation and he just does it because it works. His belief that everyone deserves freedom is probably what really holds him back. He doesn’t want you to feel caged, but that feeling is practically inevitable since he’s always hounding you. Venti is a very suffocating yandere and he doesn’t even realize it.

KAEYA! KAEYA! I love the idea of Kaeya having some sort of blackmail on you—something so bad that you absolutely can’t let the world see. And so he uses that to keep you quiet. If you did stumble upon one of his secrets, he can’t possibly have you running that pretty mouth of yours. But if you do end up spilling his secret, it’s only fair that he shares yours, right? An eye for an eye, as some would say. Kaeya’s very smooth and calculative when it comes to handling blackmail. Whenever it feels like you’re trying to one-up him and possibly escape, he’ll flirtatiously remind you of the power he holds over you. Blackmail is rather compelling, is it not?

Zhongli does have the motive to be a yandere, as you pointed out, but he’s a strange case. On one hand, it makes sense that he’d want to protect his beloved at all costs, but on the other he’d probably be aware of these unhealthy tendencies. Although he probably uses the idea of a contract to keep your relationship going, even if it’s clear you don’t want anything to do with him. But if you do, that just makes it easier on him! 

NO BECAUSE I THOUGHT THE SAME FOR CHONGYUN!!! Not the yan!Chongyun piece rotting in my drafts for a month or two now ehehee I had some thoughts about Chongyun but never bothered posting it for some reason. Anyways, I do think Chongyun has potential to be a yandere! As you mentioned, his congenital positivity can become an issue and he doesn’t want that to seriously affect his daily life. So he’s probably very pleased to find someone who can nullify that positivity. It’d be similar to Xiao’s case; Xiao likes someone who can be the light in his dark world. Chongyun falls for the person who can null his congenital positivity and is someone who he gets along with. 

The only way I can see Xingqiu being a yandere is if he wants a noble, storybook romance. Okay, that sounds strange, but consider it! He’s a huge bookworm who probably doesn’t exactly experience romance aside from what he reads in his novels. Although he doesn’t dabble in the romance genre all that often, he does like the idea of being a hero and sweeping someone off of their feet. So when he meets you—another fellow bookworm or maybe the two of you are thrown into an arranged marriage—he just feels an undeniable connection. This must be some form of fate or a sixth sense. Maybe he can be the main character of his own story! You’ll just have to cooperate and you can be the valiant knight’s love interest!

Bennett’s vibes are so nice. How could he be a yandere? He’s just too sweet and pure. He’s really just here to chill and gather an adventuring team full of great friends! But if anyone has any thoughts...please share them! 

That’s it. I’m writing about Scaramouche even though he’s not on the list. Please, why do I simp so much for him? Anyways, we don’t know nearly enough about Scaramouche to determine his backstory or past. But he just oozes yandere! Most of the Harbingers are probably the same, to some extent. He’s like Childe with all of the power and resources, but whereas Childe relishes in the chase Scaramouche refuses to put up with it. It’s just way too inconvenient for him. He’d rather catch you when you least expect it and then keep you for himself.

Gosh, he’s a very determined and possessive yandere with a strict agenda; this man probably cheats in order to get you. He’ll send his underlings to do the work in his place. They’ll stalk you and report back to him and it isn’t long before he learns of your friends, certain family members you’re close to, and even where you live. It’s terrifying, but this is Scaramouche we’re talking about. For someone so short, he sure knows how to intimidate and beat fear into those below him. Good luck to the poor soul who catches his eye. 

I must thank you for making that list! It was lots of fun to consider their mindsets and behaviors as yandere. :D

[jmoriarty-221b]

Ok so this idea was inspired by AUs where Tim Drake is a member of the Addams family and thus this cute idea was born

Ok so, Tim’s parents still travel a lot but instead of leaving him alone in a big empty manor they leave him with his aunt and uncle Morticia and Gomez Addams

And Tim is a weird little kid who grows up without fear of the dark figures at night because the boogeyman is actually a pretty nice fellow who was very touched when Tiny Tim gave them a drawing of themselves, the monster in the closet actually gives great fashion advice as well as providing the perfect clothes for playing dress up, and the monsters under his bed are great storytellers and the shadow man gives Tim great advice on how to hide and use shadows to his advantage, etc.

The point is that Timmy grows up under the care of the Addams when his parents have to leave on long business trips or excavation sites and as such, is exposed to Gomez’s great appreciation of swordsmanship and fencing, and the haunted suits of armors are always great at comparing which kind of swords are the best in which kind of combat as well as the the importance of craftsmanship when in relation to having a reliable sword

And then one day Timmy watches the movie ‘The Legend of Zorro’ and becomes absolutely obsessed with learning how to use a sword and fight with it in the way only little kids can become obsessed with something they find completely cool, and Gomez is so excited to be teaching Tim everything he knows and they work together to craft Timmy his very own mini rapier for learning how to fence (swords are heavier so Tim learns those from Gomez when he’s older and can parry more weight)

And Tim becomes very Focused and Serious on learning how to fence and he’s very excited when he manages to finally best his uncle in a fencing duel (not as excited as Gomez tho, “MY CHILD SHALL BECOME THE BEST SWORDSMAN YET MY LOVE, DID YOU SEE HIS TECHNIQUE, HAD I BEEN SLOWER HE WOULD’VE RIPPED OPEN MY THROAT IN ONE SWIPE, I’M SO PROUD” “Our child dear”)

And then the movie ‘Count of Monte Cristo’ comes out and both Tim and Gomez are super fans (as a whole the family’s favorite movies are this one as well as the Legend of Zorro because 1. Revenge is achieved to the improvement of the main character’s well being and 2. The Aesthetic) and Tim just focuses on getting the hang of swords now with Gomez being more than happy to help his darling nephew

So years pass and Tim’s parents have finished one of their most taxing excavation digs so they return to Gotham and Tim has to return too (for the purposes of this AU Janet and Jack actually do give a fuck about their son so they would call him every other night when they’re away and if they can’t then at the very least they would call Tim once a week; they also call Morticia and Gomez at least once a week to check on how Tim is doing and they were also very happy to know that Tim has taken a liking to swords so they try to bring new types of weapons or literature related to weapons from the culture of their latest excavation so Tim can learn how different types of swords are wielded all around the world)

But anyway, Tim is going back to Gotham so he and Gomez work on creating a new sword for him with the family motto carved on the blade “Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc” which translates to “We Gladly Feast on Those Who Would Subdue Us” which is metal as fuck so yeah, and this sword is super durable and strong, inspired by a katana’s durability and a rapier’s gracefulness with a blade that is such a dark purple that it looks black like obsidian and the inscription of the family motto is carved in letters that are ruby red with a black hilt where an image of a drake is engraved in the same ruby red as the family motto (basically it is a Very Deadly Sword that is also Very Pretty with a dark aesthetic)

So Tim gets back to Gotham and one day he’s watching the news and sees The Batman saving the day and what not and sees Robin do a quadruple back flip and figures out their identities and decides that he wants to meet them at some point while on his nightly photography sessions of Gotham architecture; and if he manages to snap a couple of shots of Gotham’s heroes sometimes then that’s a bonus but Tim is mostly focused on capturing the essence of Gotham city (at this point in time when Tim moves back to Gotham he physically looks like 10-12 year old; he did meet Dick at the circus when he looked like he was 4 years old but for the purposes of the timeline Tim, as an Addams, can choose to remain at any age he desires for as long as he wants so while he did appear to be 4 years old at the circus, he had been alive for a couple of years more at this point, this also explains how he can master swords and fencing while physically looking like a 10 year old because he has been practicing for years as well as why he remembers Dick from that night at the circus)

So the timeline continues with Tim figuring out that the Bats are actually his neighbors but instead of staying away from the Waynes, he decides to go ask his parents if he can stay with the neighbors whenever they have to stay later than usual at the company or have to take a short business travel and they talk with Bruce about it and he agrees to take care of Tim, so now Tim has an in to befriend the Waynes and helps smooth out the edges of Dick and Bruce’s relationship so Bruce doesn’t fire Dick from Robin, but rather they talk about their feelings for once and Dick decides he wants to create his own superhero identity and Bruce supports his decision (Tim may or may not have had to talk about how his family happened to be very open about their feelings and worry for one another and how much closer they are due to talking to each other and resolving conflict; Alfred may or may not have been 100% behind Tim every time he made such a conversation) also, Tim is basically a trial run for Dick on becoming a big brother for when Jason arrives

One time Tim asks Dick if he knows how to fence which Dick can’t really answer because technically he knows how to fight with a sword but that’s for vigilante purposes which his civilian self isn’t supposed to know so Dick says that he doesn’t and asks Tim why he wanted to know, Tim proceeds to talk about how his favorite masked hero uses a sword to fight injustice and he has a black cape and a black horse and Bruce comes into the living room they’re in in the middle of Tim’s rambling about his favorite hero using a sword and is Concerned for a hot minute until Tim finishes the rant by saying “. . . and that’s why I like his movie so much, have you seen the Legend of Zorro?” (Cue relief for both Dick and Bruce because for all that they scrambled to put a name to the hero Tim was describing they couldn’t come up with one and were considering the possibility of a new player in the vigilante scene) so then Tim asks Mr. Bruce if he knows how to fence and Bruce says yes and asks if Tim would like to learn cue the “Oh, my uncle taught me how to fence a few years ago and when I lived with them we had a duel at least once a week, it was very fun so I was just wondering if you knew so we could practice if you want to Mr. Bruce”

Dick is 100% on board with this because the idea of Tiny Tim and 6’1” Bruce fencing is hilarious in his mind, Alfred is there to supervise and both Tim and Bruce are provided with the appropriate fencing equipment and protection; Bruce starts off slow and is surprised when Tim manages to beat him before starting to enjoy fencing with someone who can surprisingly keep up with him (Dick is taking pictures because the height difference is just too cute to be ignored and Tiny Tim is adorable in his own mini fencing equipment)

Whenever his parents do have to leave for extended periods of time (any company trip that takes more than 3-5 days qualifies as this) Tim stays with his aunt and uncle, thus starting a fun tradition of having spontaneous fencing duels with his uncle Gomez, basically if one of them is in the library then the other will shout ‘En-garde’ while throwing a sabre towards the other person and engaging in a quick duel; basically, if Tim is reading about the latest poisonous plants produced by Poison Ivy and annotating his research in order to get an idea of what would be a nice gift for his aunt Morticia and Gomez walks into the library then Gomez will grab two of the sabres they have on the wall for this exact purpose while shouting ‘en-garde’ before throwing a sabre at Tim and engaging in a duel, same goes for Tim, it’s almost instinct to the point that Tim has to hold himself back from doing exactly this whenever he sees Bruce in the library of Wayne Manor

Later on, when Jason is already adopted into the Wayne family, Tim still comes over and makes it his sacred mission to teach Jason the art of swords so he has another fencing buddy because “Mr. Bruce isn’t always here and I have decided that we will be friends and you’re pretty cool but knowing how to fight with a sword just ups your coolness level ya know?” So now Jason has smol Tim teaching him how to fence and it’s pretty fun to be able to do a taxing physical activity outside of being Robin with a friend, when Jason gets the hang of fencing Tim decides that he must now advance to the next level: sword fighting (Alfred is always there to supervise and give tips and pointers because he also knows how to fence but chooses to stay in the sidelines and let the young masters have their fun)

The problem with this is that, while the Waynes do have sabres for fencing, they don’t have swords, at least not in their civilian selves, so Tim decides to bring his own swords to teach Jason how to sword fight, Alfred is the first to see Tim’s very own special sword and is both impressed at the craftsmanship and concerned as to why a child has a sword, Jason thinks Tim’s sword is the coolest he has ever seen and Tim is happy to talk about how he made it himself with his uncle’s help when he finally learned all about sword fighting and promises Jason that they can make him his own cool sword when he learns how to sword fight too, Dick also thinks that the sword is a little concerning for a kid to have but he also wants his own cool sword and so now he insists Bruce has to teach him how to sword fight because Tim said he’s not allowed to have his own sword until he learns how to sword fight, Bruce is baffled as to why Tim has a sword, impressed at Tim’s skills in craftsmanship, and a little Concerned as to why Tim’s sword has that Latin inscription on the blade (no Tim, knowing that “we feast in those who would subdue us” is your family motto doesn’t calm me down yet it explains a lot about your mother)

By the time Damian comes along to the family he is very interested in where Jason and Dick got their Very Cool swords from, his father also has one and he wants to have his own Very Cool Sword too, thank you very much, and Tim visits them when Damian is still settling in and asks his customary question of if he knows how to use fence and gets an affirmative answer he asks Bruce if it would be ok for him and Damian to have a fencing duel, Bruce explains the rules to Damian and makes sure that Alfred, Dick, Jason and him are present in order to keep Damian from maiming/killing Tim

The duel does get a little out of hand as Damian gauges that Tim is more skilled than he previously thought so he stops holding back, Tim is positively grinning at this since he always has to hold back with the Waynes in a way that he doesn’t with Uncle Gomez because while an Addams won’t die from a stab to the heart, the same can’t be said for anyone else; the duel ends with Tim winning because he has more experience than Damian but he is positive beaming at how awesome Damian was and how these duels could become a weekly thing before they transition to swords and once Dames graduates from swords he can design his very own sword with Tim’s help as a sort of graduation present for learning how to sword fight and he’s sure that it won’t take too long for Damian to master swordsmanship because he’s basically a natural already and very skilled and this duel was so much fun Damian we have to do this again sometime oh my gosh I want to teach you everything I know it’s gonna be so much fun

And Damian, a poor baby, was mad at having lost to Tim but then Tim hits him with all this excitement and smiles and it’s the promise of getting his own Very Cool Sword is what gets him to agree to learn from Tim, it’s not that he feels warm at getting compliments from someone who also likes swords and knows what he’s doing in a fight, he definitely doesn’t find Tim cool at all, he’s just making use of a resource and he will learn everything Tim has to offer and become better than both Grayson and Todd, that’s all (that’s not all because it turns out that Damian is the younger brother Tim never had and he takes Dami under his wing and helps him adjust to a life outside the League of Assassins and how to find hobbies to enjoy; Damian won’t admit it but he is also Very Attached in to Timothy and feels like he won’t be judged for his past with him and he is also a fellow sword enthusiast so yeah)

Tim decides to do the same thing to Damian and initiating a quick fencing duel whenever he sees that Damian is in the gardens (no fencing inside the Manor on pain of Alfred’s eyebrow of disappointment); this helps Damian with the transition of learning to have fun and also learn to realize that not everybody is an enemy, it also helps keep up his training and burn some energy whenever he gets restless and helps him bond with Tim more

The idea was that Tim and Uncle Gomez would surprise each other with spontaneous fencing duels by shouting ‘en-garde’ at the other person whenever they find one another in the library, and now it turned into a fluff AU where Tim isn’t Robin but he’s still a family friend to the Waynes and an Addams and helps bring the family closer through his love of swords because yes

[antiloreolympus]

10 Anti LO Asks

1. once the trial plot line is finally wrapped up (at best maybe itll end in december) we still have to deal with apollo, and leto, and thetis, and eros and psyche, AND kronos, oh and you know, the actual hymn to demeter and even just hxp getting together, which is both rushed and dragged out. like how has it almost been four years and still so little has happened and we still have way too many plots to deal with?

2. i see one excuse for LO is "well its free content! dont critique it!" like girl, we know she's making a lot of money just off fast pass alone, not counting books, merch, etc, also she's being paid by the company too as well as ad revenue, so its not really free, is it?

3. LO Persephone is Veruca Salt from Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.

4. lets be very frank here. if rachel was a woman of color pulling the shit she does in comic and on social media, shed be so hated as a regressive person with conservative ideas who is selling a horrible story and messages to her young fans, but because she's a white lady they hold her up as the goddamn messiah. theres so many better BIPOC creators who know what to do with this mythology and make it fresh and interesting and yet shes held up as the authority on it and coddled? sounds about white.

5. i dont get where lo fans claims antis are "apollo apologetics" bc literally none of us like him, we like actual mythology apollo and hate rachel took an interesting and diverse god and made him That Way to push her badly written romance along. No one is excusing him and idk where they're claiming thats from?

From OP: Exactly! I have no clue they got that from. Plus, every “Apollo Apologetic” I’ve seen so far likes LO and/or is active in the fandom.

6. that other anon hit the nail on the head. persephone isnt a character dictating the story like she should be, she's just being pulled along by everyone else or just rachel forcing it, all so persephone cant be held accountable for any action, good or bad, it just happens to her. this wouldnt be a problem if it werent for the fact it claims it's about "empowering" persephone and giving her agency to make her own choices, yet she doesnt even have that in this story, even less than the myths, IMHO.

7. does rachel know having hades be a threatening dick towards his pseudo son thanatos actually makes him less qualified to be a father? you cant tell us his biggest dream is to have a family yet when given the chance to care for a child he mentally and emotionally abuses and threatens them with physical violence over any little temper tantrum hades has. how is demeter seen as the abusive parent when she clearly doted and spoiled persephone, but hades is held up as the one "deserving" of a family?

8. hades' whole 'you should be grateful that i raised you FOR FREE and mentored you' is literally verbatim something my physically and emotionally abusive father said to me. that, PLUS him flinching away from hades/shivering, PLUS hades' constant anger at thanatos. just really rubs me the wrong way.

9. im also confused? bc persephone clearly isnt comfortable with how violent and angry hades is, yet she never pushes back on this, and even if she tries he does nothing but a momentary "apology" at best but goes right back to it, and seems to have only upped it recently much to her discomfort. it's (hopefully unintentionally) like how we saw rhea and kronos, where she only dealt with his anger with her body. idk why but rachel is making a strong case their eventual marriage won't be a happy one.

-----FP Spoilers/Mention-----

10. fp spoilers

dude 😭 i dont have words. badly written characters be like: barely 1 minute in we have perse all “*is forced to share her trauma due to fear*” meanwhile hades: “*has a temper tantrum* *2 seconds later* you should not be consoling me” trash can fire comic.

[captainpikeachu]

Steve & John: shared similarities

People have talked endlessly about Steve and John’s differences that made Steve worthy of the shield and John not worthy (plenty of gifsets are all about that), but for me, the contrast of their personalities and how they handle things only really work because the two characters actually share many similarities at their core. And I don’t just mean because superficially they are both blond haired blue eyed white dudes with military experience. 

So in this post, I’m going to talk about the ways Steve and John are much more alike than people would like to admit.

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

1. Shy down-turned smile (also Imposter Syndrome)

Steve always had this shy/nervous downturned smile when someone took a genuine interest in him, and no doubt much of that came from how often he was looked down upon before his transformation. So he’s genuinely surprised/pleased that someone is interested, and a little nervous too. Because even if he is the big strong man now physically, I think there is always that bit of imposter syndrome with Steve where he still thinks of himself as the scrawny kid from Brooklyn and not this big tall hero that people see him as. John when he gets teases from his wife and his best friend in those locker room scenes does this same shy downturned smile, as if he’s still that nervous anxious high school kid with a lot of expectations on his shoulders, a side that he doesn’t really present to anyone but the people he trusts to let his guard down with because John also has a huge case of imposter syndrome as his past experiences and trauma doesn’t make him feel so strong and qualified and heroic. Everyone may call him the hero, but in his heart, he doesn’t feel like the perfect righteous hero that people expects or sees him as. 

2. Discomfort with their public roles + Just want to do the job

Steve was notably uncomfortable being thrown into the USO tours. It’s not what he wanted, it’s not what he intended. He felt like a dancing monkey, performing for people instead of doing the things that he wanted to do to actually help people. And while he reluctantly accepted that all the autographs and fake smiles and acting and fame was part of the job, all he really wanted to do was actually do the real job and save lives, to have the chance to make a difference and do the right thing. This same sentiment is echoed by John, who is equally as uncomfortable being placed into a public role that he clearly does not want to be in. He’s a soldier used to serving a silent and thankless role, we see his discomfort with publicity in his GMA interview, and we see it later in the show when strangers come for autographs. Yes, like Steve, he has accepted this is part of being Captain America, but he doesn’t want it, he just wants to be able to do his job, complete his mission, and keep everyone safe.

3. Loyalty to their loved ones

Steve will always come for the people he loves, he will always stand by them, he will fight for them and die for them. Numerous times now Steve has been willing to risk everything to protect Bucky or anyone else that he cares about, even if no one else is willing, even if the world is against him or his own life is on the line. John carries that same loyalty for the people who matter to him. When Lemar is taken by the Flag Smashers, John’s immediate concern isn’t even about the mission or his job, it’s getting Lemar back. When they were fighting on top of the trucks in Episode 2, when Lemar’s life was in danger, John puts himself at a disadvantage to take a shot at the guy holding Lemar even though it leaves himself open to attack and nearly kicked off the truck roof. And then he throws the shield to cover Lemar’s landing despite it would leave him weaponless as a regular non-powered person to face off a super soldier. Steve and John would both do anything for the people they love.

4. Self-sacrificing

We’ve seen Steve willing to throw himself on the grenade, so to speak, time and time again. He did it in his first film to send the plane into the water. He does it for Bucky in Winter Soldier. And not to mention actually jumping on grenades, even if that ended up being a test. Steve’s instinct to throw himself in danger and sacrifice for others is well documented, but John matches that self sacrificing instinct as well. He’s jumped on grenades before as an active duty soldier. He has three Medals of Honor that would only be earned through willing to sacrifice himself above and beyond the call of duty to save others. And even in the final fight in Episode 6, we see him fighting off the Flag Smashers while trying to pull that truck up even if the Flag Smashers pull him over the ledge. When push comes to shove, Steve and John’s instincts are to jump into danger to shield others with their lives, no hesitation. They both would see it as their duty. 

5. “I can do this all day”

This is Steve’s signature line. He doesn’t give up, he can keep standing up to fight for what he believes in, whether against bullies, Red Skull, Tony, the government, Thanos, and even a version of himself. Steve is resilient and his endurance goes beyond just his physical abilities. He has the heart to keep fighting, the stubborn tenacity to never give up even when all seems lost. Yet John has that same stubborn tenacity that Steve has. Those three Medals of Honor are proof of that. You’d have to be able to walk through hell to even get one medal, much less three. The mental endurance required to keep going would have been enormous. And even after Sam and Bucky broke his arm in that warehouse, John got back up and tried to keep fighting, they had to bash him into unconsciousness to even stop him. And even then he went on to forge his own shield and got back into the fight. Much like Steve, he doesn’t know when to give up. 

6. Lying (in an attempt to protect themselves and others)

Steve lied to Tony about the truth of his parents’ death. He knew and he kept silent, lying by omission, and he was going to keep lying until Tony finally confronted him for a simple clear answer. Steve even admits that he thought by not saying anything, he was sparing Tony, but he realizes that he was really sparing himself. It was a selfish choice, one born not out of malice, but perhaps a misguided attempt to keep the peace, thinking if the truth isn’t out there then maybe any conflict is unnecessary and everyone can have their peace of mind. And that same line of thinking is what drives John’s lies to Lemar’s family too. A part of him wants to spare them further pain, because what good would come from telling them that their son/brother’s killer is still out there and that he failed to stop them? He wanted to spare them, he wanted to give them closure and peace in their grief, to not burden them with an open ended story with no justice. But he was also sparing himself, because he’s afraid admitting the truth that he didn’t kill the person directly responsible might lead to Lemar’s family hating him and he’d lose them and his last connection to Lemar. This is not a decision of malice, this is a decision born from fear. Steve and John both lie in trying to spare others from pain but also selfishly spare themselves from the further conflict that the truth may cause. 

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

In a way, yes, John was designed to be a darker mirror to Steve (less solid morality, less emotional control), but that darker mirror only works when they share some core similarities. Their differences are in how those traits can manifest outward into different actions.

Perhaps shockingly, I think Steve would have understood John and his choices more than most, and may have been able to talk him off the ledges better anyone else besides Lemar, and maybe with some more understanding guidance, John might have made for a good Captain America. After all, Steve did say once say in that letter to Tony, “I know you’re doing what you believe in, and that’s all any of us can do, that’s all any of us should.”

[i-need-entertainment]

It’s my Fault...right?

Character: Komori x female reader **TOXIC RELATIONSHIP** Washio x female reader...Pretty long too..

WARNINGS: Toxic relationship, mental and emotional abuse and manipulation, gaslighting, reader thinking things are her fault. ANGST, some yandere themes/behaviors.

*So uh...this got pretty uh, pretty rough. I would not recommend reading this if you do not like angst. Also, I love Komori and I am in love with Washio, so this one hurted.*

@motoyafightclub​ I hope this was angsty enough~��

**PSA: I AM IN NO WAY ROMANCING OR EXCUSING ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR, THIS IS AN ANGST, IT WILL NOT END WELL. I AM VERY CLEAR THAT THIS IS A TOXIC RELATIONSHIP, IT IS ABUSIVE, IT IS NOT HEALTHY, OKAY OR JUSTIFIED!! I DO NOT THINK KOMORI WOULD EVER BE LIKE THIS, BUT THIS IS FANFICTION, IF YOU DO NOT LIKE IT, DO NOT READ IT!**

Komori Motoya was known to all as a joyous, kind and considerate man. He was hard working and inspiring, he could light up a room just by walking into it. That was how everyone saw Komori Motoya. Everyone except you, who knew much, much better.

Komori was a nice guy, he was always smiling and always positive. But he was also incredibly two faced. You were 16 years old when you met Komori. He had come up to you one day during lunch in your second year of high school, asking if you could help him with some class work he had been struggling with. It was on your second study session when you realized he didn’t need your help at all.

When you asked him about it, he simply confessed he felt he needed an excuse to talk to you, him feeling you wouldn’t have been interested in getting to know him. You, who had been admiring him from afar for the past 2 years let him know that was not the case, and the ‘study sessions’ turned into get togethers. About 2 weeks later he asked you out officially, you of course said yes.

That was 7 years ago.

A lot can change in 7 years, a lot did change.

But nothing changed as much as he did.

To most, he was still the same happy-go-lucky Komori, always smiling and cracking a smile. But that was when he was out of the house, and the two of you weren’t alone. Because alone…well, you didn’t know who he was when it was just you two.

You couldn’t place just when he changed either. There was no traumatic experience, no negative changes made to his day to day life. And yet he was…off. He didn’t like you hanging around your friends as much, which confused you, he always liked your friends. But he would never lie to you so you started spending more time with him, and less time with your friends.

It seemed to be that way with most aspects of your life, if he didn’t like something, you changed it, no questions asked. Asking questions only made him mad, and you didn’t want him mad, you wanted him to be happy! So you did as he requested, even if you yourself didn’t think it was fair.

You could tell he wasn’t the same, at least not to you. But it became most noticeable when you two moved in together when you were 19. You had been going to college and he had advanced greatly in his career, your relationship was steady and strong, so it seemed like the perfect time to take that next leap.

It started off small.

He was always a little bit more irritable than he normally was, nothing too major. It could be from you leaving a plate in the sink even though you did dishes that morning, or you forgot to move the washed clothes into the dryer one time. But it was also on days he had a rough practice, so you let it slide.

Why wouldn’t you? You knew he didn’t do it on purpose..you knew he didn’t mean it. Why are you upset? Why are you getting defensive? Are you questioning him? Why are you doubting him? He just had a bad day, he can be upset, he deserves to be, you do not.

Every time he blew up at you it always ended the same way, it was your fault because you overreacted.

That was one thing you learned after living with him for 3 months, you were the one at fault, not him. And you had no right to suggest otherwise.

But it wasn’t bad, no. He was having a lot of bad days anyone would be upset! I mean…sure, he shouldn’t be directing it at you, but…he can’t help it, he’s not doing it on purpose. It doesn’t mean anything. You know your Toya loves you, he tells you every day, so why would you doubt your precious Motoya? Stop being a terrible girlfriend…

It wasn’t long before you stopped questioning the biting words, he threw towards you, because after months of hearing them, you started believing them too.

He was right after all…wasn’t he? I mean, isn’t he always?

The next big change you noticed was how utterly controlling he became. It wasn’t just about what you two ate for dinner, or what movie you watched. He made the decisions about everything. Specifically every decision about you. What? Didn’t you like the dress he picked out for you? It doesn’t matter if it wasn’t your style, you love him, don’t you?? If you loved him, you wouldn’t question him.

Ah, that’s the other thing he had become exceptionally good at. Guilt tripping.

If there was ever a moment he didn’t want you at a specific place at a specific time, it was simple; you wouldn’t go.

It had been your best friends 21’st birthday when this happened. She had wanted to go out to dinner, nothing crazy, just a nice dinner with her friends and maybe a little shopping. You swore you had told him; you were sure of it. So you were utterly confused when he walked into your shared bedroom, eyes narrowing at the sight of you dressed up nicely.

“…Where are you going..?” You turned around in shock, heart beating unnecessarily fast. You gulped as you fumbled with your words. “U-uhm, it’s Aiko’s birthday, I’m going out to-“ “You’re what?” You stopped talking as your gaze met his ice cold one, eyes unwavering as they stared you down. His stance was relaxed, but it was anything but cheerful. He knew the power he held over you, how else was he supposed to watch over you? Keep you safe…love you. This was what love was. And after 5 years, he thought you knew that.

“I-I told you two days ago..” His eyebrow raised as he very slowly took steps towards you, you unable to go anywhere. “..I don’t remember that sweetheart, are you sure you told me? Because…I specifically remember asking you to tell me things a week in advance…” You looked down as you nodded, hands clasping together In front of you as he stopped before you. Even though you were sure he had never told you that…

He sighed as he started to play with a piece of your hair, “You know I hate when you don’t communicate with me…you’re supposed to let me know these things..you’re supposed to listen to me, you know how hard I work for both of us, you know that…don’t you?” You very meekly nodded, and he shook his head as his hand dropped down to his side.

“Well, you can’t go out, text your friend and tell her you can’t make it.” Your head shot up at his words. “But- Toya, please..I…I haven’t seen her in months and-“ “And?” You gulped at the definite sounding tone he used, but you almost screamed when you saw the look in his eye. There was no trace of the fun-loving Motoya you knew and loved, there was barely anything in the glare he was giving you. But you knew better.

That was two years ago.

And despite your constant wishes for him to change, for him to go back to being the sweet, kind Toya you knew and loved, he was good at reminding you that wasn’t how things were. You thought that was just how it was, he was your first relationship, your first love, your first everything actually…

How could you know better when all you knew was Komori Motoya?

You’ve been out of college for a year now, but you hadn’t gotten a job yet. Your dream job. I’m sure you can guess why you didn’t have a job.

He had been downright insulted when you suggested it, the thought of you being off for a whole 8 hours by yourself, away from him. Out of his reach. Even if all you did now was sit at home and wait for him.

To him the idea seemed downright outrageous, the mere fact you even suggested it being a problem in and of itself. But to you..? A job sounded like freedom. It sounded like being able to do things for yourself again, getting to make (at least a few) choices for yourself, and perhaps the most appealing, it was time away from your lover.

You stilled as the thought crossed your mind. Why do you want time away..? Don’t you love him? Don’t you need him, don’t you rely on him for, everything?

But the more you had these thoughts, the less they made sense.

Wait a minute…you were your own person...weren’t you? Isn’t it your right to think for yourself? To try new things? To make decisions for yourself?

That’s how you found yourself sneaking away to the living room at 11:00 one night, waiting until Komori was sound asleep to use your laptop. You spent the next 2 hours browsing for a job, something, anything you would qualify for. Then you found it.

It was small, you would need to work hard, but you could do it. You took a deep breath as you started the application process, finger shaking as you pressed ‘enter’ and submitted It to the company. You almost smiled, almost, that is until the living room light switched on.

“…what are you doing up so late sweetie?” You froze. He walked towards where you were sitting, swiftly catching the screen right before your successfully closed it, eyes narrowing when he saw what was on it. His brows furrowed as he narrowed his eyes, expression growing more and more frustrated as he looked at the screen before him.

“What is…why did you…and behind my back?” Your hands gripped the edge of his t-shirt, doing whatever you could to will yourself to not cry. “I..I’m sorry but…I-I had to..please, I swear I’ll ask next time but, please let me have this!” You completely broke down, sobs racking your body as you cried. He closed the laptop and set it down on the coffee table, walking over and holding you in his arms.

You didn’t even know why you were crying…guilt? Fear? But why…what did you do?

“…you know you shouldn’t go behind my back, it’s not fair to me. You know better…it was selfish of you, cruel…am I not enough for you?” You shook your head as you pulled away, “Yes! Yes you a-are and I’m sorry. I-I promise I’ll always listen, please! I’m sorry!” He smiled, If that’s what you’d like to call it, as he placed a tender kiss on your forehead. The tenderness gone in a second when his eyes turned to stone. “Fine…but you will never stay late or go out with anyone from work. You go there, and you come straight back here. Do you understand me?” You nodded as you sniffled, holding him tight against you.

That night seemed like a win, and at the time it seemed like it was fair. It made sense; he was doing it because he loved you obviously! Now, in the past 7 years he had yelled, thrown things, demeaned, and degraded you and made you feel completely worthless.

But he never put a harming hand on you, not once.

So it couldn’t have been abuse…he didn’t hurt you physically, he just didn’t understand that what he said had such a devastating effect on you …he didn’t understand the way he broke your heart in two…that’s all this was, a big misunderstanding. You were mixing things up, you were making this a big deal. This was your fault.

I mean…wasn’t it always?

Slipping on your new work shoes, you exited the apartment, shutting and locking the door behind you. Komori left for work about an hour before you did, so it was on you to lock the door and such.

After meeting your new boss and getting the necessary training you would need, you sat down at your new desk. You were an up and coming event coordinator for the Japan Volleyball Association. Oh yeah, that was why he let you take the job, because it was still connected to him. But it was a job nonetheless!

2 months had gone by, and the job was going great. You were making quick progress in your career, and your bosses had taken notice of you. The only downside was you didn’t see Komori as much…but as the days went by…it started to feel like less and less of a downside…things, “normal” things started to seem less and less normal, and increasingly…toxic.

Right now you were walking through the EJP stadium. Your boss had sent you down to the stadium to coordinate some practice games between EJP and some other teams.

You walked through the hallways, heels clacking on the linoleum floors. You were just about to enter the open elevator when “Oof-“ You winced as your bottom met the cold hard floors, “I’m so sorry, are you alright?” You lightly laughed as you nodded your head, opening your eyes to meet the slightly widened ones of Washio Tatsuki.

Clearing his throat, he offered his hand, you gratefully taking it and allowing him to help you up. “I’m fine, it’s my fault I should have been paying more attention…” You looked down as you knelt to the floor, scurrying to pick up the many papers that had scattered when you felt a presence beside you; noticing that he had kneeled beside you and was helping you gather the papers.

You felt like crying. Not only had you only talked to this man a handful of times, but you had bumped into him and inconvenienced him, and here he was picking up the papers you dropped. The gesture was so simple, and when you thought about it, pretty normal. But there was something so simple, so utterly kind that struck you right in the heart. This was how Komori used to treat you…this is what it was like for someone to do something nice for you..

There was no complaining, no expectation for something in return, just a kind smile as he gave you back your papers neatly stacked back together.

“I’m sorry, they’re probably out of order.” You shook your head as you swallowed, “I’m sure it’s fine…thank you, it’s nice to see you Washio” He nodded as he stood, you standing as well. “It’s been awhile, it’s nice to see you L/n. I was getting worried, I haven’t seen you in awhile.” You offered a small smile as you nodded. “Well…I just don’t go out much anymore…but uhm, I should get going.” He nodded, “It was nice to see you again. Oh, and the office you need is on the other side of the stadium.” You groaned as you dragged one of your hands down your face, sighing and muttering an ‘of course it is’ as you lightly laughed.

Washio offered a small smile, “I was headed that way, would you mind if I walked you there?” You blinked, You knew you should refuse, say you could find it by yourself. But he was being so…kind. So respectful…So much like what Komori used to be… You couldn’t refuse. “Not at all.”

You hadn’t done anything bad, you had run into him and he offered to help you find your destination. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the encounter, and when Washio asked for your number to be friends again, you gave it to him. There was nothing wrong with that either. Afterall, you used to be friends with him.

When Komori had started at EJP, your relationship hadn’t gotten so bad He often took you with him to social events and team things, and you had gotten along well with the middle blocker. It had been concerning to him when it was like all of a sudden you had dropped off the face of the earth, Komori always having a reason as to why though..

There really was nothing wrong with the encounter, or what followed.

But when you came home that night…things were not okay. As soon as you stepped foot in the house you could feel Komori’s glare slicing through you. You gripped the strap of your purse as you willed yourself not to break.

“What happened earlier with Washio?” Your eyes widened, how did he know..? “Answer me!” You flinched as his voice echoed off the apartment walls. “I ran into him a-and he helped me! That’s all! I swear!” He snarled as he walked towards you, you yelping as he tore your bag away from you, frantically searching for something. “Where is it?” “where is wha-“ “Your phone!” You took a step away from him.

“…why do you want to see my phone..?” He glared at you, “So I can delete his number.” Your eyes widened. No…he couldn’t do that…that’s not…it’s not fair.

You gulped as you clenched your fist, “….no..” One of his eyebrows lifted. “…no?” You looked to him with tears in your eyes, be it from fear or from pain was unknown. “No…you can’t look in m-my phone…you can’t- you can’t control me anymore…I am my own person, you don’t own me…It’s not my fault.” This wasn’t okay, the words, the thoughts, nothing about this was okay. And it had to end…Before he could so much as blink you spoke again “….goodbye Motoya..” Not bothering to grab your things (not like you had anything important there anyway) you turned around and headed back to your car (luckily your keys had been in one pocket, your phone in the other).

You got in your car, and you drove. Adrenaline coursing through your veins as you drove. You got 15 minutes before the tears started falling. 7 years…you had been with him for 7 years…and it was all gone.

You pulled into the parking lot of some random fast food place and pulled into one of the more secluded parking spots. You gasped for air as you continued to cry, all of the tension that’s been collecting inside of you releasing itself through your cries. Your phone started buzzing, and after wiping your eyes on your sleeve you checked to see the caller ID, quickly declining the call from ‘Toya<3’ before you blocked his number, deleting your social medias as you did that. You spent an hour in that parking lot, crying and reflecting, and as you did things started to make sense, and you started to see things about your relationship that you hadn’t.

For starters, it was not a good relationship. At all. He was manipulative and cruel, and controlling is an understatement. He made you feel like you were always at fault, like everything bad happened because of you. But that’s not true…you are more than that.

Sniffling and wiping your still damp eyes on your even damper sweater sleeve, you picked up your phone and called the one other person you could.

It was a gamble, and it would no doubt be weird, but something was telling you to make the call.

So, you scrolled through your short list of contacts and clicked on his.

*riiiiiing* *riiiiiing* *riii-* “Hello?” You sighed, “Hi, Uhm, this is L/n from earlier, *sniffle*, uh, I’m really sorry to call you, but um…could I stay with you? I know that sounds really weird and probably creepy but. *Sniff* Motoya and I Just broke up and- and I need to talk to someone and…and I need somewhere to go…” The other side of the line was quiet for a moment, “I’ll text you my address, please be safe, call me when you get here I’ll come down and get you.”

That was the moment you knew, Washio Tatsuki was someone you could rely on.

Which was good, because as of the moment he was the only one you could rely on.

You spent the night crying your eyes out on Washio’s shoulder as he did his best to comfort you. He wasn’t used to being peoples go-to guy for comfort, but he definitely wouldn’t turn anyone away, and especially not you. So, he listened when you needed to rant, gave advice when you asked for it, and soothingly rubbed your back when you started hiccupping from crying so hard.

You thanked him as you carefully sipped the cup of tea he had made you. Your eyes burned, slightly squinted as you gingerly sipped from the warm cup. You were exhausted; physically and emotionally drained, and heart broken. “..sorry…I’m a mess…” He shook his head, “Don’t be sorry, you have nothing to be sorry for.” You shakily set the cup down when you started to cry again, elbows resting in your lap as you clutched your face with your hands. Washio started to freak out a bit, he had spent the past 2 hours consoling you, did he really just make you cry again?!

“I-I’m sorry, it’s just,” You laughed, maybe a bit more from hysteria than humor but you laughed nonetheless. You sniffled and rubbed your eyes before looking up to him, smiling up at him. “It’s been so long since I heard that…thank you..thank you so much.” He smiled and handed you another tissue, you taking it and wiping the new tears that had fallen.

You spent the night in his guest room, and for the first time in who knows how long, you slept very well. Because for the first time in who knows how long, you felt safe. Washio made you feel safe.

Seeing as your work was close and you needed some time to get back on your feet, Washio offered to let you stay with him until you found a place of your own. And from there, you two got close. He was someone you could depend on. He was honest and steadfast, he never pinned his wrong doings on you and he was clear with his intentions. He never twisted your words or placed blame, he was so incredibly good to you, and you weren’t even dating.

Although…it wasn’t completely out of the question..

It had been six months since your break up with Komori, and you were still living with Washio. And after countless late-night conversations and several deep conversations, you decided you were ready to move on with your life, from your first love. You were ready to move on from Komori, and move on with Washio. So, you two started dating.

Your life had been going great, but there was this unmistakable feeling of doubt, of guilt eating away at you. No matter how far you pushed it away, no matter how much you ignored it, it was always there. But, you ignored it, or tried to. You had other things to think about!

Washio was an incredible boyfriend, he truly was. He was everything you could have ever asked for and more. He was more than you deserved…were you even good enough to call yourself his girlfriend?

You had gone to the store to get some groceries for dinner. You held the small list in your hand as you scanned the grocery aisle shelves, looking for the specific thing you needed. You jumped a bit when your hand bumped into someone else’s, someone who had been reaching for the same item.

You turned to apologize when you stilled. “Hey Y/n, it’s been while.” You swallowed and tried to smile, “Hello Motoya….” The aisle had been empty aside from the two of you, and you were feeling increasingly uncomfortable.

“So, Washio huh? He must treat you well.” You nodded, “yeah, he does.” Komori looked at you, that same dangerous glint in it. “He’s a great boyfriend I’m sure but…it’s too bad you can’t be a great girlfriend.”

You glared as you stopped yourself from hitting him. “Before you get all mad, look at the facts. You don’t deserve him because you’re not meant to be. Don’t you think he’s sick of taking care of you all the time? Don’t you think maybe he doesn’t want to deal with you? Well? Can you look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t think those things, I think you’ve forgotten, I know you.” He stepped closer and grabbed your wrist, pulling you closer to him. Leaning down to where his mouth was right next to your ear he spoke in a low voice.

“..You’re mine, that’s how it is…you will never have anyone else because you don’t deserve anyone else, I am the only person who will ever love you, who ever can love you, you need to accept it.” He pulled away, a feeling of satisfaction running through him as he saw the walls begin to come crashing down inside of you. Watching each and every doubt that had been circling your mind slowly take control of your thoughts and rationality.

“Face it, you’re just not enough for him, I mean, c’mon Y/n. He’s a professional athlete that could have anyone, he’ll leave you someday…but I won’t. I’ll always be here, because I’ve always been there. I am home for you, and I know you know that. Don’t throw away 7 years, not after all we’ve been together, come back to me.”

You knew what you should do. You should scream, run out of the store and into Washio’s arms. Heck, you wanted to do that more than anything. But. He was right…Washio didn’t deserve that…he could do so, so much better, you were just wasting his time.

He shouldn’t have to put up with you…it’s not fair…was this all you did? Cause the people around you pain?

You wiped the tears that started to fall, “…fine…”

Komori Motoya was known to all as a kind and fun person, always there to support a friend and the life of the party.

But you knew better.

And you should’ve known better than to think you could get away, since you’ll always just come crawling back to him. You should’ve known better than to got to that grocery store alone. And as Washio spent the night alone, phone still where he dropped it after reading the text you sent, breaking up with him. He knew he never should’ve let you go alone.

But even if you knew better, if you knew what you were going back to, you couldn’t complain. This was on you after all.

I mean, wasn’t it always?

[margridarnauds]

🔥 takarazuka *hides*

Anon, do you want me to be MURDERED? 

Okay, I want this to be emphasized: I LIKE Takarazuka! I do! And I have friends who are Zuka fans and I love hearing them talk about Zuka/watching Zuka musicals with them! 1789 Zuka was basically what got me back into loving 1789, and getting into Zuka was a good stepping stone for getting into Toho. The costumes and production value are excellent, and I give them full credit for their reputation as a Japanese cultural icon and the current leading musical theatre troupe in Japan. 

HOWEVER, I also think that they routinely bank on that reputation in order to have a “style over substance” approach - Exemplified by the Top Star system, which often focuses on capitalizing on the popularity of one or two stars while underdeveloping other characters and, on top of that, due to the privileged position of otokoyakus compared to musumeyakus, it often comes with quite a bit of sexist baggage as well. (See: Solène’s song being given to Camille in 1789, Dmitri getting “Journey to the Past” + his own solo song in Anastasia, Guinevere having a mental breakdown in La Legende Du Roi Arthur + having her father threaten to honor kill her, Emma’s characterization in IAFA being flattened so that she can still be palatable, not having had a boyfriend before, not being as assertive, not being as casual when she’s around Josi even though the entire point of her relationship with Josi IS that she’s able to loosen up around him.) 

And to some extent....no, I don’t expect, in the case of an adaptation, for EVERYTHING to remain the same, and in a lot of musicals, I think it was, genuinely, for the better - 1789 is much better than its French counterpart, partially DUE to the star system because it forced them to give multiple minor characters songs to create a solid ensemble musical, as is Don Juan. I do believe that there’s a problem where, when people see Zuka musical adaptations, they’ll miss the forest for the trees, complaining about plot details being changed without considering the broader cultural context. (See: Robespierre.) That being said, I do, fully, believe that we can and should be allowed to talk about sexism in particular. And, if we want to talk about Japan’s relationship to sexism in particular....Toho, while it’s made its share of slip-ups (Solène), has been doing perfectly fine with stronger female characters as well. Zuka relies on fan loyalty to do the bare minimum so that it can get pats on the shoulder for making progress (though I WILL say, in its defense, that it does have to keep up fan loyalty as well, so I know that it can’t go TOO far but...) Just have the top star wink at the camera in an important scene and people will keep coming, no need to talk about the sexism here, keep it rolling, keep giving the right amount of fanservice, toss some glitter on the problem. We don’t need character development, we don’t need plot, make it kawaii and sparkly and it’s fine! (And I want it noted, before anyone suggests that I’m forcing western feminism onto Japanese media, that a lot of my understanding of this has been formed by talking to Japanese friends.) There have been some Strong Zuka Heroine, but some of them seem....generically “empowered” without really having all that much to show for it, still being palatable, dainty, poised, and lovable, even if they might initially reject the Zuka hero’s advances. You couldn’t have, say, Margrid Arnaud in a Zuka musical, as grimy and gremlin-like as she is - You still can’t really have female characters who are PEOPLE. 

It’s also very hard to be a Zuka fan as someone who’s very much a fan of MUSICALS because in general, within about a month or two, the bulk of fan attention tends to go to the next big project, especially since Zuka is constantly producing new musicals (exhausting its stars to the point where most top stars only last around 3 years which, tbh, can’t be mentally or physically healthy), and, for me, six months is barely enough time for me to fully decide my basic opinions on a musical - It usually takes that long, in the case of double-casts, for me to decide which I like more. To the Zuka fandom’s credit, I DO regularly get, say, likes and reblogs on gifsets from older productions, but, for the most part, there’s very much this constant moving from one show to the next while I tend to stay put and stan a few shows at a time. 

And, of course, as a Toho fan, it’s difficult because I generally get this feeling of Toho being....inferior. People will boast about spending upwards of $500 on Zuka merchandise, going to Japan to see shows, but when it comes to paying for Toho shows, suddenly ~$125 is too much and I should give my DVDs to them. I will gladly watch Zuka musicals with friends because I like watching new musicals + hanging out with friends, but SUDDENLY, when I want to watch Toho musicals, I have to qualify them by what former Zuka stars are around. Toho musicals don’t get much appreciation - all we get is people wanting Zuka/complaining about Toho because it includes men (which makes me feel SUPER awkward as a bi woman, ngl) and then, when we want a tiny bit of recognition, getting a shoulder shrug and “well, girls do it better.” (Note: The Toho girls are doing quite well in their own right - Just ask Aya Hirano, Sonim, Erika Ikuta, Natsumi Kon...) And, of course, that’s not including musicals from other theatre companies, it’s just that, frankly, any recognition Toho’s gotten in the last few years has been purely because me and a few friends/mutuals have been working our tails off to give it that recognition, while Zuka gets more while doing less. 

And the fandom, in general, isn’t willing to hear a SINGLE critical word against it, maintaining a policy of intimidation, fear tactics, and guilting in order to keep people silent while getting pissed off at minor faux pas that, unless you’ve been around the block, you wouldn’t *know*. And, for my part, I don’t have a general policy of outwardly TRASHING musicals, but I also fully believe that, when you’re asking people to spend upwards of a hundred dollars on a proshot (or to spend the time to watch a +2 hour musical), they should know, bluntly, what they’re getting. I swore, a long time ago, that I would never sugarcoat how I really felt about a Toho musical if asked because, as far as I’m concerned, people deserve to know the truth from my perspective. I won’t hide, for example, that I feel like Hanafusa Mari's acting hasn’t been solid for close to a decade and that Kaname Ouki’s Marie Antoinette’s been known to cause dogs to spontaneously break out in howling fits, because I want to be as trustworthy as possible. I’m happy for the friends I’ve made in the fandom, I wouldn’t trade them for the world, and I do enjoy the musicals that I’ve gotten into, but I wouldn’t dare go further into the fandom than that. 

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #70: Scáthach

Today on Fate and Phantasms, we’re making  the queen of the Land of Shadows and Witch of Dun Scaith, Scáthach!

Or at least we’re trying to, because to properly make her, you have to make someone who’s great at literally everything. Don’t worry though, you’ll just have to settle for being very good at most things instead.

Check out below the cut for the full breakdown, or you can look at the character sheet over here!

Note: I’m not changing the build around for it, but Tasha’s added the ability to cast cantrips as weapon attacks to the sixth level of bladesinger, so it might be worth the effort to shift things around to get that benefit.

Race and Background

Scathach used to be human, but now she’s half divine and guards the underworld. Fallen Aasimar would be more flavorful, but Half Elf gives us more to work with, also makes us half human, and will appease any stickler DMs when it comes to level 10. They get Darkvision; Fey Ancestry, giving you resistance to being charmed and immunity to magical sleep, and Skill Versatility, making you proficient in two skills of your choice. Here we’re going with Athletics and Religion to balance your physical and mental skills. You also get +2 Charisma and +1 in two abilities of your choice, here Dexterity and Wisdom. 

Guardian of the Underworld is one hell of a resume, but it keeps you away from the rest of humanity and makes you a lot smarter than most people, so Sage is a pretty close approximation, giving you proficiency in Arcana and History. 

Stats

Make your Dexterity as high as possible- you know where to stick those spears, and you’re also remarkably hard to stick spears into. Second is your Intelligence, you mentor some of the greatest warriors and mages in Ireland, so you’re pretty smart. For that same reason, make Wisdom third. Your Constitution isn’t as high as we’d like it. You’re supposed to be immortal, but we have plenty of ways to make that a nonissue. Same for your Strength, we don’t really need it, but it should be a lot higher than 10. Finally, dump Charisma; you can be hard to get along with sometimes, especially when people bring up your age.

Class Levels

1. Fighter 1: Starting off as a fighter gives you proficiency in Strength and Constitution saves, as well as in two fighter skills, like Acrobatics and Intimidation. You also pick up a Fighting Style. Two-Weapon Fighting will make your left hand just as strong as your right... just as soon as you can dual-wield your spears. We’ll get there. You also get a Second Wind, letting you use your Bonus Action once per short rest to heal yourself. You’ve got tons of runes, one of them has got to be able to heal you.

Eventually, you’ll be dual-wielding spears, but for now just focus on using the one.

2. Monk 1: Hopping over to Monk nets you Martial Arts, letting you use your much stronger dexterity instead of strength for weapon attacks, a d4 for unarmed attacks, and your bonus action to make an unarmed strike after making a weapon attack with your action. You also get Unarmored Defense, giving you an AC of 10+your dexterity modifier+your wisdom modifier when not wearing armor. I’m not sure what you’re supposed to be wearing, but it’s definitely not armor.

3. Fighter 2: Back in Fighter now, you get an Action Surge, letting you tack an extra action to one of your turns once per short rest.

4. Fighter 3: Grab Eldritch Knight as your martial archetype, gaining Spells that use your Intelligence to cast and the ability to Weapon Bond. If you spend an hour performing the ritual, you can bond a weapon to yourself, making it impossible to disarm you unless you’re incapacitated, and you can summon one bonded weapon as a bonus action as long as you’re in the same plane. You can have up to two weapons bonded at once.

For your spells, Create Bonfire and Frostbite are fire and ice runes, respectively. Protection from Evil and Good will make you more of an anti-divinity powerhouse, Shield will boost your AC higher and protect you from missiles, and Sleep’s just useful.

5. Fighter 4: For your first feat, grab Dual Wielder to increase your AC by 1 while holding two weapons, finally allow you to dual wield spears, and draw two weapons at once. Summoning weapons is cool, but maybe you should just keep some on hand too.

For your spell, Magic Missile can be even more summoned spears that always hit their target.

6. Fighter 5: Fifth level fighters get an Extra Attack, letting you attack twice per action. This adds up to two times normally, three times with your off hand/martial arts, four times with your action surge, and five times altogether.

7. Fighter 6: Use your next ASI to become a War Caster, giving you advantage on concentration saves, the ability to cast spells as opportunity attacks, and best of all, the ability to cast somatic spells with both hands occupied by weapons. If you’re going to dual wield, you better do it right.

8. Fighter 7: With our last level in fighter for a bit, you learn some War Magic. If you use your action to cast a cantrip, you can attack with a weapon as a bonus action. Now you can really mix your magecraft and weapon wielding!

For your spell, grab Darkness to bring a bit of Dun Scaith back to the material plane.

9. Wizard 1: We’ll be heading back to the fighter levels soon, but we’re taking a quick detour for some extra magic power. When you become a wizard, you gain another set of Spells that also use Intelligence to cast, but are kept in your Spellbook and have to be prepared ahead of time. You also gain Arcane Recovery, letting you recover a number of spellslots on a short rest with a total level equal to half your wizard level, rounded up.

You also get a ton of spells at level one, most of which will be your Wisdom of Dun Scaith helping you steal some abilities from other classes. Jump and Featherfall from monks, and Comprehend Languages and False Life from Warlocks, specifically. You also get Detect Magic and Indentify to help you sniff out magical artifacts that you probably already know about. Finally, you get Booming Blade, Chill Touch, and Message as cantrips.

10. Wizard 2: Second level wizards specialize in a school of magic, and being a half-elf qualifies you for becoming a Bladesinger. Bladesingers gain Training in War and Song, a long way of saying Performance proficiency, and the titular Bladesong, which you can activate as a bonus action. It lasts for a minute, and while active you add your Intelligence modifier to your AC and concentration saves, add 10′ to your movement speed, and have advantage on acrobatics checks. You gain a number of bladesongs equal to your proficiency per short rest, and it will end early if you wear medium or heavy armor, a shield, or make a two-handed attack with a weapon. None of those should be issues for you.

For your spells this level, grab Longstrider for extra mobility and Cause Fear because you tend to have that effect on people. Especially your pupils.

11. Wizard 3: Third level wizards get second level spells. Cloud of Daggers lets you summon a swarm of Gae Bolgs in a 5′ cube, dealing damage to those who enter. Hold Person lets you stun a Humanoid for up to a minute if they fail a Wisdom save each turn, for free advantage on attacks in guaranteed critical hits.

12. Wizard 4: Now that we can finally use spells and spears at the same time, we can use these ASIs for stats. Bump up your Intelligence for more wizard spells, stronger spells in general, and a stronger bladesong.

You also learn how to cast Gust for a wind rune, can Misty Step for high-speed movement, and Detect Thoughts for some more Clairvoyance.

13. Wizard 5: Our last wizard level gives you some third level spells! Magic Circle lets you carve protective runes to ward off or capture extraplanar beings, and Haste makes you anime-character level fast, doubling your movement and giving you an extra action each turn.

14. Fighter 8: Another ASI, this time bumping up your Dexterity for more damage to others and less damage to you. You also learn how to use your clairvoyance to Locate Objects. 

15. FIghter 9: You become Indomitable, letting you reroll a failed saving throw once per long rest.

16. Fighter 10: Tenth level Eldritch Knights can make Eldritch Strikes, imposing disadvantage against the next spell save a creature makes before the end of your next turn when you hit them with a weapon attack.

For your spells, you can Encode Thoughts, making a physical copy of either your own thoughts, or those you read with Detect Thoughts, to literally steal people’s skills. You also learn how to combine your summoned spears with an ice rune to create Snilloc’s Snowball Swarm.

17. Fighter 11: Thanks to another Extra Attack, you get a third attack each action. You also learn to combine your summon spears with a fire rune to make some Scorching Rays. 

18. Fighter 12: Another ASI. Use this one to improve your Intelligence for stronger spells and songs.

19. Fighter 13: You gain a second use of Indomitable per rest, and learn how to carve a Glyph of Warding. It can either be used as an explosive trap, or to cast a 3rd level or lower spell on activation. All you have are 3rd level or lower spells, so that’s not much of an limitation.

20. Fighter 14: Use your last ASI to empower your Constitution for more health and stronger concentration saves. You also get your final spell, Melf’s Minute Meteors, to summon some lasting spears, launching a few each turn as a bonus action.

Pros:

You have a really strong Armor Class, ranging anywhere from 17 with only your weapons to 26 with your bladesong and spear active, meaning you can last for a while on the front lines.

You also have plenty of options for dealing with enemies, ranging from spell-enhanced physical combat to using regular damaging spells.

Finally, you’re really smart, and have great focus. You have a high intelligence score and proficiency in most intelligence checks, meaning you’re always caught up on whatever lore the party needs to know. Your Concentration is also solid, thanks to War Caster and your Bladesong.

Cons:

Overall, the build is kind of unfocused. In FGO, being a good fighter and spellcaster makes you extra powerful. In D&D, it makes you spread thin.

Grabbing all that extra martial ability means you’re stuck with low level spells. Upcasting a glyph of warding to level 5 is nice, but let’s be honest; high level spells are just better.

Your Charisma is pretty low, and you don’t have proficiency in any interpersonal skills. Knowing the right thing to do won’t help much if you can’t convince others to go along with your plan.

Next up: If I had a nickel for every dual-wielding magical spearperson I’ve built, I’d have two nickels. It’s not a lot, but it’s strange that it happened twice.

[tigerkirby215]

Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything subclass Tier List

(Artwork from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Posted by @robmichel_art on Twitter. Copyright Wizards of the Coast.)

I was going to make some comparison posts between the UAs and the full release of Tasha’s but other more qualified people are doing that, so instead in my continued effort to pretend that this account is for more than just me satisfy my character building obsession I decided to make a little tier list ranking the subclasses from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything from my least favorite to my favorite.

This list is going to be comparing the subclasses from Tasha’s to each-other, but is also going to be comparing the subclasses to the other available subclasses for the class they’re from. So even if I really like a subclass it’ll lose points if the class already had better options. I’m not going to talk about any of the reprinted classes from Eberron or Ravnica but I will talk about the reprinted Theros subclasses (Eloquence Bard / Glory Paladin) as for many people this will be their first time seeing them.

Also it goes without saying but this is just my opinion! So sorry if you really like the next class you’re about to see because it’s at the bottom of my tier list!

F TIER

Psi Warrior (Fighter)

Well something had to be the worst. Truthfully I really wasn’t interested in the Psi Warrior during UA but wow its full release leaves a lot to be desired.

First let’s get the obvious out of the way: “Worse Battlemaster LUL!” It is laughable how bad this subclass is when compared to Battlemaster. BM gets to give itself advantage, give allies advantage, move allies, fear enemies, grapple enemies, give enemies disadvantage... and by comparison Psi Warriors get to do a little more damage or reduce a bit of incoming damage.

The fact that this subclass requires Intelligence confuses me to no end. They changed both Rune Knight and Soul Knife to not require intelligence (even though Rogues are kinda expected to have good Intelligence to help with skill checks) but Psi Warrior still needs INT? It amazes me that Battlemaster, Rune Knight, and Echo Knight are all SAD (single ability dependent) yet Psi Warrior of all subclasses is the one they consider too strong if you can min-max.

The biggest problem with this class by far is the Psionic Energy Die. Having your main class resource only come back after a Long Rest is insulting. (It’s the problem that Samurai Fighter has had since it was printed and it’s really sad that Wizards of the Coast didn’t learn from that.) While Battlemaster gets bigger die that have more effects which come back on a short rest Psi Warrior can only recharge one die per short rest. Honestly this subclass would be so much better if you regained Psionic Energy Die when using Second Wind (as well as having a dedicated action for it) so at least then you could have more than one die per short rest.

The only good level in this subclass is level 7, entirely because you get to Fly when you Dash. I mean, sure the UA Dragon Monk can also do that but at least this is in the official rules. Everything else that this subclass gets is weak: Telekinetic Thrust lets you do what Battlemasters were doing at level 3,  Guarded Mind is just bad (Monk? Never heard of ‘em!), Bulwark of Force is mediocre at best (I know like 3 people who actually understand how cover works in 5e), and Telekinetic Master is a laughably weak capstone. Your capstone as a Fighter is a situational 5th level spell that takes away your ability to attack? Meanwhile actual spellcasters are casting 9th level spells, and other martials are doing upwards of 50 damage per turn.

At first I was largely indifferent to the Psi Warrior but after reading over all its abilities its laughable how bad it is. It at least surpasses Purple Dragon Knight in terms of mediocrity (ironic considering that the two of them are beside each-other on D&D Beyond) but it’s the only true stinker of Tasha’s, and it gets the honor of being the second weakest Fighter subclass and the weakest subclass in this book.

D TIER

Aberrant Mind (Sorcerer)

This is the best subclass to play if your only desire is to cast spells, and I mean that in the worst possible way. While every other Sorcerer has a defined class role Aberrant Mind feels like the most generic milk-toast subclass that you pick simply because you didn’t know what to play. While Clockwork Soul defends, Divine Soul heals, Draconic Bloodline blasts, Shadow Magic sneaks, Storm Sorcerer evades, and Wild Magic does memes Aberrant Mind’s only major strengths come online at level 14+.

Telepathy at level 1 is a joke when compared to the other Sorcerers. CS can negate advantage, DS gets Super Bless on top of access to the Cleric spell list, DB gets free Mage Armor, SM gets super Darkvision and the Half Orc racial trail, SS gets goddamn flight, and WM gets to kill the party at level 1 with a level 3 fireball. Meanwhile AM gets the Message cantrip with a longer range.

Psionic Sorcery is okay. Getting cheaper* (citation needed) spells that you can Subtle Spell for free is alright. The subclass spell list is good and seeing as you can sub out the spell to take better ones if needed you can really get some useful magic for your kit.

SPELLS TO LOOK AT AS AN ABBERANT MIND SORCERER

LEVEL 1

Dissonant Whispers is honestly a really good spell to have, but Arms of Hadar is a bit situational. If willing you can swap it out with: the utility Divination spells (Detect Magic / Identity - remember that Sorcerers can’t Ritual cast so it might be better for someone else to take these), Hex, Sleep, or Tasha’s Hideous Laughter.

LEVEL 2

Gift of Gab from Acquisitions Incorporated is either going to be a complete joke of a spell or the most useful spell in your arsenal. Hold Person is the most obvious choice from second level. Tasha’s Mind Whip is a great single-target damage spell with some added utility, and is almost objectively better than Mind Spike because it doesn’t require Concentration.

LEVEL 3

Both Hunger of Hadar and Sending are great spells, and there really aren’t a lot of Divination / Enchantment spells at third level. The only one I can really recommend is Tongues if you need the utility.

LEVEL 4

Evard’s Black Tentacles and Summon Aberration are both extremely strong spells, but if you want to replace them for some reason: Arcane Eye is essentially just a better familiar, Confusion is a great AoE disruption spell, and Locate Creature can be useful in a pinch.

LEVEL 5

Honestly the spell list really opens up at 5th level. Just about any choice is good, so look on D&D Beyond to see what to take. If you know me I’m going to recommend Synaptic Static.

Psychic Defenses, like with Psi Warrior, seems to have been taped onto the class because WoTC realized how weak it was so they just threw more situational garbage into its kit to compensate.

Revelation in Flesh is pretty much the only good ability you get. And granted there’s some insane utility with this ability. Not-quite-Blindsense, fly speed (best one), swim speed (worst one), and the folding ability that I’m sure will result in some interesting stories on Reddit. Warping Implosion is also a great escape-utility ability but like it’s your 18th level capstone of course it was going to be good.

If I was going to play in a level 20 one shot I’d perhaps roll up a level 20 Aberrant Mind. (Or more like a level 18 Aberrant Mind with 2 levels in Warlock because Sorcerer’s level 20 capstone sucks lol.) But unless I knew the campaign was going to at least level 15 I wouldn’t even bother.

Oath of the Watchers (Paladin)

It was boring in UA and it’s boring now. I feel bad that I have so little to say about Oath of the Watchers, especially after writing massive paragraphs about Psi Warrior and Aberrant Mind. But Oath of the Watchers feels like the worst parts of Arcana Cleric to me. Only difference is that while Arcana Cleric gets Wizard spells you get Moonbeam and help with Initiative. This subclass feels more campaign-specific than PHB Ranger and that’s really saying something.

Swarmkeeper (Ranger)

It’s certainly the most unique Ranger, both in terms of concept and in terms of abilities. It actually has a lot of utility with a good spell list and the Gathered Swarm feature providing a lot of great utility to a martial character. The thing is that in all honesty this subclass is kinda boring until level 15. And the other big problem is that the fantasy and roleplay that this subclass provides is so strange. When you think “Ranger” do you think master of the hunt, traveling through multiple dimensions and slaying powerful foes from the shadows with a tamed beast at their side? Or do you think “hurr durr bugzzz”?

This subclass feels like the one you pick when you've played literally every other subclass available, or when you get them from a random character generator. Ironically enough I do actually have a friend who made a Swarmkeeper for a one-shot I ran back when this subclass was in UA. But the fact that they made the character just to test UA shows just the type of characters that will be made with this subclass.

Way of Mercy (Monk)

You either love it or you’re completely indifferent, is what I have found the general opinion of Way of Mercy to be. Guess which camp I’m in. This subclass literally just feels like a Cleric with mobility whose healing comes back on a short rest. Time will see how OP “I can heal every turn and get my Cure Wounds back on a Short Rest” not-Cleric will be, but until then the subclass is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. For the people who wanted to play a healing Monk I’m happy for them.

Path of the Beast (Barbarian)

If I can sum up Path of the Beast in one word it’s “underwhelming.” Form of the Beast gives you three above-average weapons to choose from, Bestial Soul gives you some movement buffs, Infectious Fury lets you do some decent crowd control or damage spiking, and Call the Hunt lets you buff your party.

The thing is... you’re fighting against “resist all damage” (Totem Warrior), “protect your allies with your JoJo Stand” (Ancestral Guardian), “smite with the wrath of God” (Zealot), or “shoot lightning out of your goddamn chest.” (Storm Herald.) It’s not a bad subclass and honestly compared to some of the existing Barbarians (Beserker, Battlerager, and honestly Storm Herald is bad too) it’s pretty strong. But it’s just so, so boring.

I need to preface this by saying that Barbarian is probably my least favorite class in 5e and for what it’s worth I’m certainly more interested in playing Path of the Beast than say Battlerager, but I can’t help but feel that this subclass just lets you hit things better as the class that does nothing other than hit things. The only real positive I see to this subclass is the flavor, which absolutely carries it above the likes of Totem Warrior and Zealot. (Both of which I think are objectively stronger than Beast Barbarian.)

Clockwork Soul (Sorcerer)

It been mostly unchanged from playtest even though as I stated Clockwork Soul was one of the subclasses I was a little worried about. But even then the subclass just feels so boring to me. It seems like this subclass is entirely designed to be the “no fun allowed” character who just says “No U” to everything the DM does. Don’t get me wrong it’s certainly a strong defensive subclass but I feel like if you want to play a defensive spellcaster you’re more likely to play an Abjuration Wizard or a Cleric in general.

And the lore just doesn’t really click for me? I can understand how you’d have dragon blood magic, shadow soul magic, and celestial infusion magic. But how the heck do you get a Clockwork Soul? I know Mechanus is a thing in D&D but I feel like for the average normie this won’t make any sense.

Also RIP in piss Heat Metal from the subclass spell list. Here’s my suggestion for spells if you want to play a CSS:

LEVEL 1 - Absorb Elements, Armor of Agathys, Featherfall, Mage Armor, Shield

LEVEL 2 (Aid and Lesser Restoration are good but Aid chews through your spell slots) - Enhance Ability, Enlarge / Reduce

LEVEL 3 - Blink, Counterspell, Fly, Gaseous Form, Haste, Slow

LEVEL 4 (Tasha’s Summoning Spells are good but Freedom of Movement is highly situational) - Banishment, Polymorph

LEVEL 5 - Animate Objects, Passwall

C TIER

College of Creation (Bard)

It has a lot of interesting abilities. Performance of Creation in particular is arguably one of the strongest abilities for someone who knows the equipment page well in the PHB. The problem is just that unless you have a very specific build in mind I don’t really know why you’d play the College of Creation? It feels like a Conjuration Wizard... but it’s a Bard. Perhaps the biggest irony is how much stronger this subclass feels when compared to the Conjuration Wizard, but you really have to be in the mood to play a conjurer.

Oath of Glory (Paladin)

Having some experience playing this subclass in a one-shot (Theros yay!): it’s very hit-or-miss. The spell list is amazing, the Channel Divinities are mediocre at best, the aura is garbage (10 foot +10 movement aura LUL), Glorious Defense is insane, and Living Legend is a capstone ability so of course it’s going to be good.

I think the main reason you’ll pick this subclass is for their subclass spells. And don’t get me wrong: Guiding Bolt and Haste are crazy good. But considering that Paladins usually want to blow everything on Smites?

When I played this character it was a 9 level dip into Paladin with a 3 level dip into Warlock. I didn’t use a melee weapon and opted for Eldritch Blast spamming. And that’s essentially this subclass as a whole: it wants you to be a spellcaster, which is great if you multiclass into a spellcaster (Aura of Protection is always good) but it feels bad as an actual Paladin.

The new Fighting Style that lets you get some cantrips as a Paladin might make this subclass better, but you’re still stuck being a half caster. Can’t escape the feeling that an actual caster would be better.

Path of Wild Magic (Barbarian)

It’s fun, is all I can really say. The subclass is built almost entirely around the Wild Surge table you get at level 3 and all the effects are strong. (Thankfully none of them are OP like in UA.) Unstable Backlash means that with luck you should eventually get a good Wild Magic effect.

The use of a d3 for Bolstering Magic is still a crime. It should just be a d4, with the spell slot restoration thing being “reroll on a 4.” (Or better yet: “roll a d4 and take half the roll, rounded up.” I still think having an RNG chance to get back a Haste or Fireball is a bit too strong.)

B TIER

Fey Wanderer (Ranger)

All I can say is thank god this subclass got better. It went from a weird pseudo-Paladin to a subclass with its own identity and theme. The only ability that’s really weak currently is Dreadful Strikes since it encourages you to spread out your damage for no particular reason. Horizon Walker had a similar problem but you could still focus damage as Horizon Walker. And you were doing more than a d4 of extra damage.

But beyond that this subclass is great! The subclass spell list is very strong. Otherworldly Glamour gives you some utility as a party face. Beguiling Twist... is honestly a little hit-or-miss. But it’s made up for by Fey Reinforcements and Misty Wanderer. Having a non-concentration summoning spell along with near-unlimited Misty Step is so insanely powerful to keep out of harm and to keep your DPS up.

Fey Wanderer seems really good at a lot of the things a Ranger wants to do. It’s a good skill monkey (being good at Charisma which other Rangers usually aren’t), a good damage dealer, a strong defensive support, a great single-unit summoner, and incredibly slippery and mobile. I don’t know if it’s enough to make me play the class (Ranger’s flavor is still iffy for me overall) but it’s definitely on my list for subclasses to try someday!

Order of the Scribes (Wizard)

Order of the Scribes is the best default Wizard, which is its biggest strength and its largest weakness. Getting a free colored pen is fun and flavorful, being able to get all your spells back if you lose your spellbook is insanely useful, always having an Arcane Focus is great, being able to replace the damage type of your spells is MASSIVE, getting to cast a Ritual Spell with its normal casting time is situationally fantastic.

Getting what essentially amounts to a free familiar is amazing. Getting what essentially amounts to a free spell slot (to upcast a second level spell) is great, and is honestly worth multiclassinging into for a lot of classes. Being able to negate incoming damage as a Wizard (IE squishy d6 hit die baby) is huge, even if you lose a lot of spells in the process. (I assure you by level 14 you’re going to have some useless spells that you’re never going to cast.)

But the problem with Order of the Scribes is that it has to compete with Divination, Evocation, Chronurgy, and War Wizard. If you have any specific build you want to go for then the specific schooled subclasses are better. But if you “just want to cast spells or whatever” Order of the Scribes is a lot of fun.

I actually have a character who’d fit Order of the Scribes very well, it’s just that Chronurgy feels so much more fun even if it doesn’t fit him as well. And that’s literally the exact problem with Order of the Scribes summed up in one anecdote.

Peace Domain (Cleric)

You may be forgiven for thinking this subclass is just a Life Cleric that doesn’t wear Heavy Armor, but the Emboldening Bond and the upgrades it gets are incredibly useful. Protective Bond in particular is such a massive power boost to the tanks of your party, giving them mobility and letting them take damage for squishy allies.

Peace Domain is by far the best party buffing spellcaster. They make everyone else amazing, and while that may not be fun for everyone I’m a garbage Yuumi main so it’s right up my alley.

Circle of Wildfire (Druid)

“iT dOeSn’T hAvE fIrEbAlL aNyMoRe It’S bAd BeCaUsE nO fIrEbAlL” oh get over your Fireball fetish Reddit. Circle of Wildfire is carried pretty much entirely by its flavor. It’s such a unique take on a Druid it’s impossible not to find at least some build to make with this subclass.

That’s not to say that it’s a bad subclass! The summon feels weak but you get two of them per short rest. Having a powerful subclass feature tied to short rests is really nice as a spellcaster. All your other features are very useful and flavorful, though my one complaint is that Cauterizing Flames is hard to use in Theater of the Mind.

It’s just a very fun and unique subclass that offers a unique flavor to Druids that they don’t normally have. I’m sure a lot of players will be motivated to try a Druid just to take a crack at this class. Hopefully they realize that only you can prevent forest fires.

A TIER

Phantom (Rogue)

I’m actually surprised how much I like this class to be honest. I made a Phantom Rogue once as a joke for a one-shot and to my surprise the subclass is actually very powerful and fun! It surprisingly just feels like a better Rogue, but considering how strong Rogues are normally that’s all the better for Phantom Rogue. You can easily fill any skill proficiencies your party needs thanks to Whispers of the Dead, and Wails from the Grave really lets you increase your DPS.

Tokens of the Departed got a major boost from UA since it now lets you use Wails from the Grave more, but the flavor of being able to ask the souls of the dead for information is also great. Ghost Walk is just insanely useful in general, and Death’s Friend lets you do double Sneak Attack damage every turn! Imagine how much damage you’d do with a crit!

The flavor is the one thing that I think hurts this subclass, as it’s really hard to make essentially an undead Rogue without immediately being labeled as an edgelord. But if a party ever needs a Rogue to do all the things that a Rogue does this character is perfect!

I’m personally awaiting the day to bring back Bill, the Undead Kobold Detective.

Way of the Astral Self (Monk)

JoJo subclass. I like JoJo. This subclass was overpowered in UA but the final release manages to capture the same feeling without being broken. Let’s go over the features one by one:

Arms of the Astral Self gives you a JoJo stand rush against everyone close to you, letting you recreate the flavor of JooJ without breaking action economy too much. But being able to prioritize Wisdom is huge to keep your Stunning Strike DC high while still getting good attack damage. But it’s still not OP since Dexterity is tied to your AC. It’s perhaps a little strong for multiclass builds (you can use your spellcasting modifier to attack) but multiclassing into Monk has always been kinda iffy, and Shillelagh has existed since the PHB was released. It should also be said that having Reach weapons as a Monk is huge, since you don’t have to get the Mobile feat to do hit-and-run.

Visage of the Astral Self is a nice social feature for a subclass that doesn’t normally get social features. Body of the Astral Self gives you more defense and offense. And Awakened Astral Self just further increases your defense and offense.

Excluding weeb shit this subclass just has awesome flavor. I’m actually planning on playing this subclass soon. (I’m playing a Cleric / Monk multiclass and I’m only level 2 in Monk currently.) I’m surprised myself that my first Astral Self character isn’t a fucking JoJo OC, considering that I already have a grand total of about 5 JoJo OCs.

Twilight Domain (Cleric)

Twilight domain also surprised me with how interesting it is. I don’t really have much to say other than it has a good mix of defensive, offensive, and utility abilities. Your subclass spell list is very strong for the most part. Eyes of Night and Vigilant Blessing are both just generally useful. Twilight Sanctuary isn’t insane but it’s consistent and it’s nice. Steps of Night is very strong and has a nice aesthetic. And Twilight Shroud is a good boost to your Channel Divinity.

The honest truth is that Twilight Domain feels kinda weak by comparison to some of the other Clerics. It’s no Forge, Grave, Life, or even Order Domain is all I can say. The fact that all your features only work in the dark is iffy if you don’t have shadows to sulk in. But along with just generally having good abilities the flavor is really what carries this subclass.

Here’s a meme:

Armorer (Artificer)

Artificer is one of my favorite classes so it’s no surprise that a new Artificer subclass excites me. Armorer fills a niche that I think Artificer didn’t have, and surprisingly it’s not the “tank” archetype. Armorer is still a good tank but the Infiltrator armor also gives you an option to play the subclass at range.

What I like is that Armorer is a subclass that doesn’t have a summon and puts more focus on your infusions. Armor Modifications is such a great feature that really brings the customization to Artificer. It truly lets you make your character your own instead of focusing on concrete class features. It doesn’t surpass Warlock Invocations for customizability, but it’s still great to get two personal magic items of your choice.

Yeah this subclass is going to be used a lot for min-maxing. Giving Wizards easy access to Heavy Armor is a little scary. But really if a Wizard wants to take a 3 level dip just for armor and the Guidance cantrip let them. Let the squishy boys have some AC for once.

Circle of Stars (Druid)

Full disclosure: I’ve been wanting to make a Stars Druid after the Rise of the Mountain expansion came to Legends of Runeterra. My first Druid had Telepathy (I took the Telepathic feat as a joke since I had a floating ability score) and it helped me realize how crazy a Druid with telepathy was for espionage. After seeing The Trickster celestial card from LoR I felt the artwork hit all three of my qualifiers for a character: class I want to play, great theme, and furry.

(Artwork by Kudos Productions. Made for Riot Games.)

My personal interest in this subclass aside: it has such a wonderful aesthetic that’s perfect for any character who wants an astral connection. The features are also great: Guiding Bolt is a strong spell to have as is Guidance, and having reactionary Bardic Inspirations is nice for a spellcaster.

But of course the main feature of Starry Form lets you still play the game normally while also benefitting from your Wild Shapes. Stars Druid is probably the second best Wildshape Druid despite not actually Wildshaping. Free Bonus Action attacks is huge, extra healing is always helpful, help with concentration (and Flight later) is really swell, and resisting all damage while not-Wildshaped is very helpful and lets you play as a pseudo Frontliner.

Stars Druid just does so many nice things and I think it’s a great subclass that can fit into any team comp. Druids are already insanely useful (arguably one of the strongest classes in 5e) so to have one that can do so much is massive.

Soulknife (Rogue)

Much like Phantom Rogue this subclass feels just really good in general. You can boost your skill checks and also add not-Bardic Inspiration to your attack rolls to do more guaranteed damage. However this subclass is by far the best Rogue for infiltration. Yes: even better than Assassin. (Though I’d perhaps suggest learning how to use a Disguise Kit.) 1 mile telepathy, teleportation, and invisibility all seem to be built for infiltration. If you have a DM who likes infiltration, espionage, and other encounters that don’t involve combat then Soulknife is by far the best subclass on offer.

But of course you aren’t picking Soulknife just to sneak around! The Psychic Blades are easily the most useful feature not just for Rogues, but for many builds! Having an unlimited supply of thrown weapon suddenly makes a lot more builds viable. My dreams of a ranged Paladin or ranged Barbarian are somewhat crushed by RAW, but there are still some niches that can be filled with unlimited throwing weapons.

Fun fact: you can’t do extra Rage damage with thrown weapons, but you can use Reckless Attack on thrown Finesse weapons. What’s more interesting is that you can’t use Divine Smite on thrown weapons, but you can use Improved Divine Smite on thrown weapons. But of course you can always talk to your DM to see what their final ruling is.

Rune Knight (Fighter)

You can become Giant which makes my stupid furry ass horny for Volibear and Nasus.

I mean I’ve gotta be honest like 75% of the reason I’m hyped for Rune Knight is to become a giant. But the runes are also very strong, giving the subclass some Battlemaster-esque gimmicks that have a bit more magical flavor than the other martials. I also really like that the subclass gets boosts to their skills, allowing you to help out of combat as a Fighter.

There isn’t much I can specifically praise about Rune Knight because the whole subclass is fantastic. It’s a very good mix of defense, offense, and utility both in and out of combat.

The Fathomless (Warlock)

Sheeyutu Nagakabouros. Nagakabouros-shee-shok.

Having played a Fathomless Warlock in UA I can safely say: it’s a good subclass. Having a consistent source of Bonus Action damage is nice, and being able to use it defensively is also great. Extra spells known as a Warlock is nice (and Evard’s Black Tentacles is a great spell!) And a teleport with a mile distance is rather crazy.

So much of the subclass is built around the tentacle which is great because the tentacle is such a great Bonus Action damage source. I really wish I had more to say but the power of this subclass starts and ends at how great having what amounts to an extra Eldritch Blast as a Bonus Action every turn is.

S TIER

College of Eloquence (Bard)

Yup. One of the best subclasses in this book was also in Theros. It helps that my favorite D&D character of all time was a College of Eloquence Bard.

This subclass got so much better since UA. Reliable Talent for Charisma checks at level 3 is fucking nuts! And on top of that Unsettling Words is a great way to soften enemies up for devastating spells. Universal Speech at 6th level pretty much singlehandedly enables the “peaceful” route with a lot of enemies, allowing you to talk your way out of problems.

But this bard is the king of inspiration! Unfailing Inspiration fixes the biggest problem with the Bard class, and Infectious Inspiration multiplies your Bardic Inspiration to a ridiculous degree. This Bard is just so reliably fantastic at Bard things, all while still being a full spellcaster that can make it harder for enemies to deal with spellcasters. It doesn’t get anything special from its subclass but you only got 3 features from your subclass as a Bard anyways. Baseline Bards are amazing and the insurance on your features from this subclass makes it all the better.

The Genie (Warlock)

If the fact that I stick Warlock levels into literally every build didn’t prove it I really like Warlocks, and Genie Warlock is easily the best Warlock subclass. Period. I actually have a post in the works where I go in-depth as to why Genie Warlock is so good. But in short:

Being able to choose between four subclass spell lists is crazy good. Like ridiculously good. A single level in this subclass gives you a Bag of Holding, a (single person) Leomund’s Tiny Hut, and a damage boost to all your attacks every turn!

6th level gives you damage resistance which is always good, but I seriously can not stress how ridiculous non-concentration Flight is for a Warlock. Your spell selection and spell slots are already so limited, and this subclass lets you get all the utility of flight pretty much whenever you please. Just think about how strong Aaracokra are and then consider that this is basically the Aaracokra’s only racial trait.

Sanctuary Vessel lets you upgrade your Leomund’s Tiny Hut power to affect the whole party. By this point you can indeed Long Rest in the lamp, and I need to stress how less suspicious a lone lamp is to a giant bubble of magical force. You could easily hide the lamp somewhere and (if the party is traveling light) be practically undetectable.

Oh and Limited Wish? So you know how the best feature of the Bard is their Magical Secrets? What if you got to choose (practically) any spell of 6th level or lower whenever you please? The only “problem” with Limited Wish is that you have to know every spell that you can pick from, but whenever “too much choice” is a problem in a game of infinite choices you know it’s a good feature.

Genie Warlocks do everything that Warlocks want to do so well. More damage on all your attacks to maximize the value of cantrip spamming, mobility to keep safe without spending spell slots, more high level spells, and giving the party a safe place to rest and recharge. I played a full Genie Warlock and absolutely loved it. I highly recommend this subclass to anyone who wants to play a Warlock. It’s just so versatile and useful I’m sure anyone can find a way to enjoy playing it.

[geometricalien]

U bet I'm gonna ask for my boys Aomine & Kagami!!

Hey!!!!!! I will gladly talk about your boys!! I LOVE YOU, thank you for the ask sweetheart <3

Kagami

Why I like them - He’s great, just great. His fire and passion. The fact that he gets so excited about playing a match that he can’t fall asleep. He’s scared of doggos, that’s adorable! His extra two toned hair and split eyebrows. The fact that he’s just so cool. I think about him growing up gay in california alot. God what a great character, so much to play with

Why I don’t - I j-just said that I like him?? OH I don’t like the fact that he leaves after The Last Game (I do though because it creates a fun long distance dynamic which could be fun for ships, you know long distance pining and then a reunion at long last, but I also hate it which I will get in below)

Favorite episode (scene if movie) - Hmmm I’m not sure… I don’t think I can pin point an exact episode, I really love his moves in the Seirin vs Rakuzan match, like covering the key like Akashi did and when Akashi steps in he steps back and passes the ball off because thats a hard nope, the moment he fucking dunks on Akashi with Meteor Jam. I love seeing him in the zone, it's so entertaining

Favorite season/movie - Maybe the first season?? Because you are still getting introduced to him and who he is as a character

Favorite line - “Life is all about challenges, there’s no point in living if there’s no one strong to play with, it’s better if I can’t win.”  (tell me that him and Aomine aren’t soulmates, I dare you, they are literally foils for each other, they truly understand each other and complete each other)

Favorite outfit - I don’t remember if it's when he leaves for training in America or he leaves to go back to America, but he’s wearing a hoodie and headphones. Those headphones make him feel so real?? You know??? I want to know what he listens to

OTP - AoKaga

Brotp - (can I say AoKaga again??? fjdsaljf) If not, Kagami and Himuro, obviously jfdklaj

Head Canon - After his mom died (maybe she left?) Kagami took it on to learn how to cook because his dad worked late. He still can’t get her katsudon quite right. 

Unpopular opinion (I don’t really have an unpopular opinion, so this is kinda a surprising Head Canon) - Kuroko would successfully get him used to dogs and then he would adopt 2 big ole doggos

A wish - I really hope he makes it into the NBA, its my favorite career for him

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen - Leave Japan after The Last Game…. OKAY HEAR ME OUT, what happens if Kagami leaves? Huh? If we are being frank here, Seirin doesn’t do well at nationals (assuming they qualify if they don’t go against other GOM teams) because yeah, they got like 2nd in Nationals when it was just the senpais, but we have the monsters from Teiko now and without another monster to combat them in some way it's a landslide in points. But Rachel, Kuroko is a GoM! You’re right! And he would definitely help them get points, but my point still stands, Kuroko is a support/booster who can’t even be in the entire match. AND THEN they won’t be able to beat Touou, at all! AND THEN IT WILL ONLY BE WORSE WHEN THE GOM ARE 3rD YEARS! Secondly, Aomine…. I fear the fact that they separate from each other. Because it's so easy for Aomine to slip back into his depression, But Rachel, Kise is still in Japan! He would be a good competition for Aomine! You are right, that’s assuming he actually could beat him But Kise has finally broken the ideology that Aomine is special and can’t be copied! And I say again, you are right. Give me this fic. I want this fic. Please make your words a reality, otherwise I won’t accept this. Because Aomine will be left alone with no strong fiery companion to fight against, and it's easy to slip into old thought habits when your brain follows the same path… SO PLEASE SEND ME A LINK TO A AOKISE FIC WITH THIS PREMISE

5 words to best describe them - Passionate. Stupid. Heart-of-gold. Determined. Tiger-man.

My nickname for them - ….. Kagami…. I know I’m so smart. Besides that, Basketball Idiot #1

Aomine

Why I like them - Have you seen him??? He’s so hot and slick, I fall in love a bit and bit more when I watch him play basketball. No but really, I love his more childlike innocent playful side. Even when he’s sarcastic slinging an arm over his boyfriend Kagami’s shoulder. Like, What are you doing here bitch? He’s fun, and has a lot of depth

Why I don’t - He’s crass?? Like in irl, I would either be deeply scandalized by him or he would make me laugh uncontrollably while transforming into a tomato, no inbetween

Favorite episode (scene if movie) - I think… oooo, I really love the first 1 on 1 between him and Kagami, “Your light is too dim” because he was looking for a light for himself too. Someone who would push himself to being better, to bring him out of the darkness. BUT, him in the zone and dancing with Kagami is also really good. I watch those amvs every other week

Favorite season/movie - hmmm the second Seirin vs Touou match, BECAUSE THEY’RE DANCING, THEY COULD DANCE ALL DAY try to catch me try to catch me, im sorry I had to

Favorite line - “That’s it, show some spirit so you can entertain me, even a little.” The sexual tension when he drops his arm over Kagami’s shoulder, and like… that’s definitely something you could read in a smut fic jfdklsj

Favorite outfit - HIS ASS KICKING OUTFIT. I love his parka 

OTP - AoKaga

Brotp - AOMINE AND MOMOI!!!! THE BEST OF FRIENDS, I THINK ABOUT THEM PLAYING IN SANDBOXES AND ON THE BASKETBALL COURT AS BABIES AND MY HEART GETS SOFT

Head Canon - He fell down a lot as a child and has many scars on his legs. 

Unpopular opinion (I don’t really have an unpopular opinion, so this is kinda a surprising Head Canon)- I guess, he plays 1 on 1s with Kagami every Saturday at sunset and they go to Maji afterwards until it causes a hefty dent in his wallet and hangs off of Kagami to get him to cook for him. Also, they get some other GoM’s to join in their weekly fun matches, Kuroko, Kise, and Momoi

A wish - He also goes to NBA :)))

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen - He fucks up his leg and isn’t able to play basketball anymore, too tragic for me to even think about

5 words to best describe them - Depressed. Let-down. Child-like. Intense. Feral energy.

My nickname for them - Ahomine (yes I stole it) and Basketball Idiot #2

[calliecat93]

ST: TNG Watchthrough Episodes 17-20.

Home Soil: So from what I’ve read, this would be Gene Roddenberry’s final episode as showrunner before getting replaced by writer Maurice Hurly. I won’t comment on the behind the scenes drama and such that caused it because it was decades ago and not relevant for a First Watchthrough post, but since this is the last I wanted to make note of it. My thoughts? It was okay. This is very much borrowing from the TOS episode Devil in the Dark (the one with the Horta) with the plot being of an alien presence killing humans... but only because the humans were unknowingly causing it harm. It’s done fine enough, not being any better or worst than when TOS did it, but that’s about it. It does executed it a little differently with the events and the alien is FAR less willing to comply than the Horta was at first and ends with the alien backing down, but refusing contact with humans for three centuries, which DOES make it a nice contrast to how Devil in the Dark ended. It’s not great. It’s not horrible. It’s just okay with the biggest criticism being pulling too much from TOS again. Look, I love TOS and so far TNG hasn’t passed it. I outright have a 30 disc Blu-Ray set coming in the next few days of all the TOS material, including TAS and the films. If I want to revisit TOS, I’ll go watch it or read fanfiction or heck, go watch AOS. TNG has remained painfully average or not good at this point because it’s trying to retain what TOS had, despite it being over 20 years later and even the TOS films had changed how it did things compared to the show. Whatever one feels about Roddenberry, his removal I hope helped push TNG away from TOS and let it carve it’s own identity while still honoring what TOS had stood for, and according to history it did. Not sure if we’ll see the quality go up in these final few S1 episodes, but still. Sorry, felt appropriate to finally get this out here. Going back to the episode, it’s perfectly fine and it delivers it’s message well, and hey it’s not always a bad idea to showcase the same themes as the previous incarnation in a spinoff especially fi a relevant one/gets shown to viewers who hadn’t seen that TOS episode. Not the best, not the worst, and that’s not such a bad way to end up. 3/5.

Coming of Age: Alright Wesley, it took a bit but you’re starting to grow on me. So we have Wesley going through a test to get into the Academy while Picard and the crew are dealing with some rough interrogations and Picard being painted as an incompetent captain by the interrogator. They don’t seem that connected, but infact the latter is a test for Picard to determine if e’s ready for a promotion. I like how they bring up Picard’s actions in past continuity that WOULD present him as at least fallible to major error, ignoring certain conditions that caused it to begin with and how he got them out of the situation. Like I said, this was one of Wesley’s better episodes. While doing well with testing, his worry about the psyche test and not knowing his own fear and therefore worried about what the test will unleash upon him is very relatable. Heck his talk with Worf was a really nice scene, especially with Worf outright stating that only fools fear nothing which in turns add more depth and dimensions to the Klingons. The reveal fo his greatest fear, while I wish he had hesitated a little bit more, made perfect sense and he acted as a true Starfleet Officer. Which since this was before Undiscovered Country, is a VERY positive development. Picard guiding a kid who made a stupid decision was also good and shows why he’s a good captain, and his talk to him as well as encouraging a disappointed Wesley at the end was a nice moment to cap the episode off with. As far as Wesley goes, he may still be presented as too competent and intelligent, but he is more likeable and the testing setting allows him to shine like this without, again, affecting the adult characters. Plus text anxiety is super relatable haha. Now of course due to Status Quo is God, Wesley fails, but he takes it well and proved that he will be ready for it in the future. It was a pretty nice episode all in all. Nothing spectacular, but I enjoyed it, neither plot overpowered the other, had a good theme of one’s integrity as a person/doing your best, good use of past continuity, and it really shows the best in characters like Picard, Wesley, and the crew’s loyalty to the former. 4/5.

Heart of Glory: Back in TOS, the Klingons were depicted as war-loving jerks. They weren’t without some depth and episodes like Day of the Dove did attempt to give them a bit more positive limelight, but it wasn’t enough to overpower the one-dimensional characterization. The films were a bit better, Undiscovered Country especialy, but that one hadn’t been made yet and they still stuck with the ruthless characterization, just changed up the makeup to make them look more alien like. It was weird sicne whenever I ddi watch TNG back when that’s all I knew of Star Trek, Worf never came across like a ruthless warmonger but like an honorable warrior which made him stand-out amongst the cast for me (that and because I freakin’ love Michael Dorn due to his animation voice over work, anyone else remember I.M. Weasel? XD). So now we get an episode where Worf gets to interact with other Klingons. I lift a brow at Worf not knowing about most Klingon customs when he seemed perfectly knowledgeable about i in past episodes. Maybe that wad due tot he shift after getting rid of Roddenberry/ IDK, but these kinds of retcons happens sometimes. This was an interesting one for sure. The Klingons are much better presented here than the entirety of TOS, showing more of their culture/customs and compared to Worf, who was raised by humans and therefore not fully in touch with his people and their ways. This is probably one of, if not the first time he’s interacted with his full culture and naturally he’d want to interact with them and learn more now that he has the chance. There’s the themes of one growing in another culture, how they adapt while still trying to be part of that culture, and finding one’s own path. There is the question on why Worf wans’t just returned tot he Klingons as a child and IDK if they address it down the line, but that type of life and struggle with identity/culture clash due to upbringing IS real and VERY relatable. I’m really glad to see the Klingons fleshed out past their TOS depiction and it’s overall respected by the cast, showing how far things have come since Kirk’s time. It fleshes out Worf’s character a great deal and makes him more likable/relatable and giving him a very realistic struggle, and in the end he stands by his beliefs and even gets the respect and offer to serve with Klingons in the future by Klingon Captain K’Nera. Very much glad that I watched this one~ 4/5.

The Arsenal of Freedom: Oh boy, war machines that killed everything! That theme never gets old! I’m not joking, with how modern warfare and technology are growing and being sold for profit, it feels like it just keeps getting more and more relevant. There’s a lot of tension in this one with Yar, Data, and Riker dealing with the arsenal that is intelligent and they’re unable to be beamed up, the ship getting attacked with Geordi in command and the Chief Engineer (they seem to go through a LOT of those this season, guess they couldn’t handle the strain of acting as miracle workers like Scotty) being an asshole to him, and Crusher injured with Picard trying to keep her alive and not get killed. Seriously, I loved Geordi here for being an effective acting commanding officer during a VERY intense situation AND telling off the Chief Engineer without even so much as raising is voice while encouraging the other officers. Badass and admirable. The away team scenes were also good with everyone being plain awesome~ Crusher having to explain to Picard how to treat her injuries while she’s in obvious pain was really good character stuff and Thank God that they avoided indulging in the obvious shipping fodder. I know they’ve hinted a little at Picard/Crusher... but I’m not really interested in it int he romantic sense at least currently. It comes off as a Captain and CMO trusting the other (not quite the same as say... Kirk and McCoy, but the trust is very much strong here plus Picard and Crusher should be allowed to form their own dynamic) and that’s the kind of interaction I live for~! It feels like everyone got a moment to shine, even Troi checking on Geordi’s mental well-being and letting him express some of his nervousness was really nice. And of course the arsenal having destroyed their own creators... like I said, a theme that just seems to grow more and more in relevance. Like I said above, some themes are necessary to repeat, and this one very much qualifies. But yeah this was great for it’s tensions, the characters being all great especially Geordi, and it’s themes (even fi IDK how intentional it was) being a huge reminder of the dangers of modernized warfare/using warfare for profit. It doesn’t go well. 4.5/5.

Okay, it’s late in the season, but we are FINALLY getting somewhere! The characters have truly grown on me and their characterizations are getting better (i.e. Picard is still a serious captain, but is very much warming up and not as cold as he was early on), the stories are steadily improving, and even with what I said about the first one, I really enjoyed this batch of episodes! Only five remain in the season, and the plan is to knock ‘em all out tomorrow. Might take a day or two off before tarting Season 2, but golly I’m finally feeling excited~!

[silver-wield]

I absolutely can't get enough of you analysis and I was wondering if you could do one of cloud and tifa after the plate fell and after barret hugged tifa? when sephiroth visits cloud again. like how'd that have been from tifa's perspective too?

Sorry this took a while to get to, Nonny. I would've had it done yesterday, but instead I wasted my time banging my head against a brick wall. Lesson learned lol

Ok, spoiler warning for ppl who haven’t played – do I still need to do this? Eh ok, (I tag FF7R spoilers as final fantasy 7 remake spoilers) and it’s gonna be reasonably long.

Also, this is one person’s interpretation of the scene, so if you disagree that’s cool and we’ll agree to disagree.

You’re also gonna have to excuse the janky quality on some of the screens, I’m grabbing them from Youtube and it’s frustrating af trying to get the exact moment I want.

Please check my master post to see if I've already covered your question, thanx

Recap time!

The sky has fallen and our brave failures have escaped by the skin of their teeth! Cloud watches over Tifa until she wakes up, then follows her until they locate Barret.

AH MY HEART! Cloud's so adorably concerned for Tifa. (also far too goddamn pretty! Someone shove mud in his face or something I can't stand it!)

Who knows how long he's been waiting for her to wake up. There's a couple of times it looks like he wants to reach for her – there's a definite twitch in her direction with his left hand – and then as she goes to get up, he takes her hand to her help her. Someone remind me, how often does Cloud offer Tifa his hand? A lot? Yeah, that's what I thought.

It's a very demoralised journey through the rubble to find Barret.

Well, I was aiming for a screen showing him punching the wall, but this is better. His rage and grief burst out. He's punching the wall with his actual hand and not shooting at it with the gun. This is because he wants to feel physical pain to dull the stronger emotional pain. Those were his friends. He should've stopped it. You can hear him sob Marlene's name once that rage is spent. He thinks they're all dead, including his innocent little girl. It's a powerful moment for his character.

Here's a hint of a grief stricken Cloud too. He cared about the trio. He wanted to save them. Nobody had to offer payment for his services. He tried to be the hero and failed. He doesn't know how to handle these emotions or how to comfort anyone either.

Tifa blaming herself is typical for her character. She puts a lot on her shoulders and keeps her feelings locked up tight. She sees the situation from the pov that if they hadn't blown up the reactors then Shinra wouldn't have dropped the plate. Barret sees it as, if Shinra weren't destroying the planet then they wouldn't need to blow up reactors. It's a pointless back and forth, round and round with no true winner. They have different povs, morals and principles and that's why Tifa just agrees with him in the end. Why argue on top of everything else that's just happened?

Tifa is very much the peacemaker, who doesn't want people to get into unnecessary fights. She'd rather back down than fight if there's a possibility of another choice. She says this in chapter 3 with her “I know we have to make a difference, but not like this.” And to the Shinra manager she says “I don't want anyone to die”

She's a goddamn sweetheart who can pack a punch, but doesn't need to rely on her fists first.

This is why later on with Elmyra, she stops Cloud from arguing to go get Aerith. It's not that she doesn't care. It's that she doesn't see the point in forcing your opinion on someone. By giving Elmyra time to think through their side of things she's letting the situation settle and everyone can approach it calmly and rationally. Which is exactly what happens. Elmyra had time to think and agreed with them. Because of Tifa. Because she’s the mature one.

The real!Cloud hand twitch lol we know what this means and I think I've already mentioned is plenty of times in other analyses.

Barret and Tifa's body language here is very placid, not romantic in any sense of the word. Her body is turned to the side and he has one arm around her shoulder. He's not got his head tilted down towards her and hers isn't tilted up at him either. Her arms are by her sides. This is minimum contact and barely qualifies as a hug. It's perfunctory comfort between friends. What it does is motivate Cloud – who harbours romantic feelings – towards the urge to comfort Tifa in the same way. He wants her to rely and find solace with him. Because his feelings are driven by romantic urges the way he comforts her is different.

And we're on our way to Aerith's house, where Cloud suspects Marlene is. Barret's highly emotional – shocker – and begs Cloud for hope, then admits it doesn't matter what he says he'd get mad. Cloud accepts this with a bland face, what else is there to say? He can't admit he might be wrong, but he can't say with all certainty that he's right.

He asks Tifa about the Ancients and then we get a visit from Sephiroth.

So after we see a future flashback of OG Sephiroth talking about the Ancients like before, Cloud gives us a blurry 1st person view and pan up of Sephiroth. Now, this one is a vision that only he sees, but that really doesn't matter to him. He sees that creepy ex-boyfriend stalker smile and freaks tf out. You can hear him whimper.

So, we don't get much of the scene from Tifa's pov. She's noticed Cloud freeze, probably heard that whimper. She's definitely concerned – you can see her frown just before we move back to Cloud – but she's unsure what to do about it. She's not a doctor after all. She has no idea if the right thing to do is insist on talking to Cloud about it, or pretend it didn't happen. She has to take his lead, which is to forget about it.

“Through suffering you will grow strong. Isn't that what you want?”

Cloud's a sweaty mess of fear at this minute, but you can still see this question on his face and his answer that no he doesn't want to suffer. The part of him that's real!Cloud definitely doesn't want to suffer, but it's too scared to do anything.

I find the possibility of this being a different aspect of Cloud's personality interesting. It's a vision, after all. So while we have real!Cloud in chapter 8 trying to encourage himself and repair the broken parts, we have this Sephiroth aspect that wants Cloud to remain broken and afraid. It's a good metaphor for how Cloud tackles his mental illness, and of the 4 different Sephiroths, the hallucination is the one that speaks the most and talks about Cloud as a person. It's the one that tells him to run away in chapter 2. It's the one that calls him a failure. It's the one that murders Tifa.

It's a manifestation of his mental illness. Not totally because there's more happening than just that, but of the 4 Sephiroths we see, this one is the one that causes Cloud to freeze the most. This one is the one he's terrified of more than the rest. The one that's not actually there.

I had to choose between this and Cloud looking terrified, but this one has Tifa edging into the frame with a concerned look on her face. Cloud's lost in his own head, probably overthinking everything Sephiroth just said to him. He dismisses Tifa again – remember, he doesn't want her to have a bad opinion of him, so he's pretending to be ok as usual. A lot of his reluctance to confide in her is his fear of her being disappointed in him. A lot of Tifa’s reluctance comes down to the aforementioned need to avoid confrontation. She doesn’t want to fight. If Cloud refuses to talk, she’ll respect that. She’s not pushy.

Conclusion.

Tifa and Barret have known each other for 5 years, give or take, but Barret doesn't even know the story of Nibelheim because Tifa keeps emotional things to herself. The way she's struggling to contain herself is mistaken by him as anger. It's not anger. It's self-blame. And because Cloud understands Tifa better than Barret – despite them having been apart for years – his real self has the urge to comfort her. He doesn't know how because he lacks social skills and emotional maturity, but after seeing Barret's example he understands this is the way he wants to support her.

I just added my suspicions about this version of Sephiroth to another post, so to sum that up, I think most of what he says is induced by Cloud's own feelings of failure and fear. The times Sephiroth shows up can be attributed to the connection Cloud has through Jenova, but the content of Sephiroth's speech comes across more like it's Cloud's inner self dragging him down. Sephiroth is the darkness within Cloud – the representation of his mental illness that won't ever become a memory, that's something he has to fight against every day. The fractured parts of Cloud's psyche aren't strong enough on their own, which is why the one in chapter 8 was chased away. It's only once they're reunited because of Tifa that Cloud becomes stronger overall to fight against his inner demons.

[bitchiha]

Upcoming Works

!For the month of JULY!

A/N: Shawties, I am not promising that I will  finish all of these requests by the end of the month. I am simply showing you how fucking garbage my work ethic is! And theres no way I can pull through all these in that time. Requests are simply requests, if I don't want to write them I am not going to force myself too! Also, some of these are some self indulgent works I have been personally wanting to write. And YES I have 7 current works <3 I don't know why I did that to myself but I did. I only did up to 30 of my requests 4 this

1) CURRENT WORK / IMAGINE / YAMATO

Request: NSFW! for a friend! Also for myself bc I’m self indulgent.. Yamato + reader + empty hokage office, do the math luvs <3

2) CURRENT WORK / IMAGINE / KAKASHI

Request: hii can you write some detailed nsfw headcanons for kakashi or just write a smut fic i love your writings so i wanted to ask if u could do it or not!

3) CURRENT WORK / HEADCANONS / SHIKA, SASUKE, TOBIRAMA 

Request: Can I request some filthy nsfw hc’s for Tobirama , Shikamaru and Sasuke makeup sex w s/o after a pretty heated argument? Ofc if you feel comfortable writing for them! Thank u, ily 🥺

4) CURRENT WORK / HEADCANONS / YAMATO

Request: Hiya! You’ve got me lovin’ that Yamato so could I ask for Yamato with a S/O who is the epitome of an angry lil midget (like 5’3 and under)? S/O’s also got that life-of-the party personality which totally clashes with Yamato’s gentle and sweet, would be interesting to see how that goes!

5) CURRENT WORK / HEADCANONS / TSUNADE 

Request: I hope it’s ok I’m requesting Tsunade. Hcs of her having a daughter figure in one of her students. Like a few years younger than Shizune but she is qualified as a kunoichi and exceptional in what she is doing. I would really wanna know how she would act with her etc.

6) CURRENT WORK / HEADCANONS / NEJI, KIBA, SHIKA

Request: heyyy!!! can i get a neji, kiba, shikamaru headcanon where they’re jealous over their s/o??? — anon 🧊

7) CURRENT WORK / HEADCANONS / RAIDOU 

Request: I loved your headcanon about Genma Ibiki and Omoi! Would you mind doing the same with Raidou? Finding some content abt him is so rare 😩

8) PENDING / HEADCANONS / NEJI 

Request: hiii! please can you do nsfw hc for neji?❤️

9) PENDING / HEADCANONS / NEJI, RAIKAGE, DARUI 

Request: Can you do oblivious reader headcanons for Neji and Raikage Darui please?!

10) PENDING / HEADCANONS / SHINO 

Request: Hey, so after reading my matchup again, I got an idea for a head-canon. I'm not sure if this has already been asked, but headcanons with Shino that has a S/O who has a fear of bugs, but doesn't want that to ruin their relationship with Shino and tries to work on it ( side note: gotta love that auto correct changes Shino to Rhino).

11) PENDING / HEADCANONS / KAKASHI

Request: Teehee, could you do a headcanon in how Kakashi would react if he was out at a bar with his friend he’s crushing on and he let something close to “I love you” slip out in front of her (bonus points if she ends up feeling the same?) Omg it would mean the world ❤️

12) PENDING / HEADCANONS / KAKASHI 

Request: Can we have more Kakashi love Super PLEASE? how about a s/o who is motherly towards team 7 - especially Naruto, & loves taking care of Kakashi. 👀

13) PENDING / HEADCANONS / TEAM 7  

Request: Can I request some Boruto team 7 headcanons? How they confess to their fem crush? Or other way how they would react to a love confession from their crush *^*

14)  PENDING / HEADCANONS / SHISUI

Request: 🌻Hi! Some shisui headcanons with S/O coming from different culture? I know that their villages have same/very similar cultures so how would he react to S/O from like another😅 im sorry english is not my native language

15) PENDING / HEADCANONS / SASUKE, KIBA 

Request: jealous sasuke or kiba 👉🏾👈🏾?? maybe please 

16) PENDING / IMAGINE / KIBA 

Request: Hello! I love your blog. You're amazing. Can I request some Kiba fluff where he proposes to his S/O with Akamaru's help? I think that would be super cute. Thank you!

17) PENDING / HEADCANONS / KIBA, SHIKAMARU 

Request: Hi lovely! Can I please request some headcanons for Kiba and Shikamaru's reactions to finding out their S/O is pregnant with twins? Thanks a lot :)

18) PENDING / HEADCANONS / SHIKAMARU 

Request: Wait, can I request Shikamaru meeting his s/o’s ex too please? Wlfklskajdkskamdnemks

19) PENDING / HEADCANONS / MADARA 

Request: Hi! I love your writing! Could I ask hcs of Madara with a s/o, please? Like under what circumstances would he get one? What'd attract him and make him go for it? And how would he behave around his s/o?

20) PENDING / IMAGINE / SHISUI 

Request: Lizzie 😭❤ may I request headcanons for Shisui where the fem reader is a new ANBU member and is really strong but is underestimated by her male team mates (except Shisui) so he hears her crying in the evening in her room and comforts her by making her compliments and they start kissing and making out? 😊

21) PENDING / HEADCANONS / (N/A)

Request: ummm i just read ur last ask andddd are there any other characters you’d wanna write for that situation? 👀 (S/O walking in on character masturbating) 

22) PENDING / HEADCANONS / NEJI, HIDAN, KISSAME, KAKASHI 

Request: hi can i request some smutty smutty hcs about fem s/o waking neji, hidan, and kisame up in the middle of the night w a bj? 👀 throw in a bonus kakashi if u feeling extra generous 🙏🏼✨

23) PENDING / HEADCANONS / TENTEN (THANK YOU FOR REQUESTING HER BTW <3) 

Request: it says ur requests are open, if not i’m sorry for bothering you :( but can we have tenten relationship headcanons, u could do nsfw only if u want to!

24) PENDING / HEADCANONS / KAKASHI, YAMATO, IRUKA

Request: Same anon from a similar ask, what if it was flipped, how would kakashi, yamato, and iruka react if they walked in on their s/o masturbating? 👉👈

25) PENDING / HEADCANONS / TOBIRAMA 

Request: I love your worksss 🥺💕💕 so I’m new in the tobirama club so can i request sfw and nsfw headcanons of him?? 🥰✌🏻

26) PENDING / HEADCANONS / KISAME, HIDAN, DEIDARA, ITACHI 

Request: May I request a hc for Kisame, Hidan, Deidara, and/or Itachi (separately) with an s/o who's a total mom-friend in general, but becomes a merciless killer in battle. Just 0-100 real quick-

27) PENDING / IMAGINE / KAKASHI 

Request: Hello! ❤️ I was wondering if You could write a small scenario or headcanon (which ever is easiest on you) of how Kakashi would react if Jiraiya and Gai brought him to a strip club for the first time? (It’s something that’s been in my mind for a hot minute)

28) PENDING / HEADCANONS / KAKASHI OR SHIKAMARU 

Request: Hi could you maybe possibly do a headcannon for Kakashi or Shikamaru with them and their s/o being cuddly/just laying in bed together? 👉👈 ty ilysm

29) PENDING / NOT SPECIFIED / GAI OR ROCK LEE

Request: Pls- just something Might Guy/Rock Lee related... they practically carried the show and for that, they need more love 

30) PENDING / NOT SPECIFIED / SASORI 

Request: Love your writing, would love if you wrote something for Sasori one day

31) PENDING / HEADCANONS / GAI OR LEE

Request: Gai/Lee anon here! SFW and NSFW pls :3

32) PENDING / IMAGINE / KAKASHI 

Request: Scenario where reader is having a wet dream while cuddling with Kakashi and starts mumbling lewd things in their sleep and Kakashi wakes them up and it leads to sexy times 👉👈 ik that's hyper specific srry 💜

33) PENDING / NOT SPECIFIED / KAKASHI 

Request: what would kakashi do if his s/o teased him so bad 👀

[fragilemxnds]

Was that [SABRINA CARPENTER]? Oh no no, that was just [CIRILLA OF CINTRA], a [CANON CHARACTER] from [THE WITCHER]. They are [TWENTY THREE] years old and [ARE NOT] aware that they are not actually from Washington DC. Too bad they can’t stray from this city for long.

how long has your character been here?

years bro. years.

what is your character's job?

ciri works as the communications director to the vice president. a job she feels very under qualified for despite being very good at it.

where has your character been pulled from?

she is pulled from the lat ep of the witcher season 1. she has finally met up with geralt and gets pulled immediately after that.

has any magic affected your character?

holy hell...yes. so despite the fact that she is pulled from when she is 13, she is now 24 years old. she is completely unaware of her real life and has grown up as an orphan in d.c. - or so she thinks. even though she is unaware, she still feels as if she is searching for something but doesn’t know or realize that its actually Geralt.

additional info:

her story line pretty much exactly follows the series.

lost her parents when she was young & was raised by her grandmother.

when citra was attacked she ran from the dark knight and continued to run all the while trying to find geralt & evade the dark knight.

while running she realized that something was different about her but didn’t know what. ( still doesn’t know but has yet to be in a situation where she would use her powers )

she is bound to geralt by the law of surprise, he is her protector & guardian

however, she is unaware of all of this!!!

as far as she is concerned she grew up in d.c. as an orphan. she stayed with a few foster homes until she was 13 when she was taken in by a single mother & soon after adopted

she considers this woman to be her mother, and loves her as such. they had a very good & strong relationship and ciri finally felt secure.

this woman also pushed her to try new things, like gymnastics & beauty pageants ( mostly because both could offer scholarship opportunities )

ciri excelled at both, she has a bit of a competitive nature as well as just natural talent

 it was because of her winnings at various pageants & the scholarships recieved from here that she basically got a full ride to georgetown university

she studied political science and public relations while there and held three internships with the white house. she eventually  ended up in her current position of director of communications for the vice president.

ciri feels as if she is out of her depth and not qualified for this job, however being promoted into this, and several other positions based on her hard work. her fears are unfounded though, as she is naturally good at the job and is exceeding expectations.

she is headstrong, stubborn, but has a heart of gold. she sees the best in people even when she shouldn’t and although she can’t kick your ass... she will act as if she could.

wanted connections:

friends - shes been in d.c. all her life / a while so i think it would make sense for her to have cultivated a group of friends

coworkers - she works in the white house so some friendly coworkers & some maybe not so friendly coworkers, people who work with the vp & president, ss agents

college roommate - would have been maybe 3-4 years ago that they lived together

foster / adoptive mother - thinks she was adopted at 13 by a young single mother!

[olivia-lovecraft]

Who We Once Were

Take a trip down memory lane, pull up the oldest ‘about’ post you can find for your character, and annotate what has changed and what has stayed the same in {Curly brackets}.

Originally posted: November 11th, 2017

Olivia came to Tumblr in August of 2017, but I was too new to know that people liked character sheets.

Olivia Lovecraft, Lover of the Unloved

~Appearance~

Gender: Female {Same}

Race: Human {Same}

Height: 5’6” (5’3” without shoes) {She some how shrunk one inch. I write her as 5′2″ these days. Not sure why, lol}

Eye Color: Green Hazel {Her eyes are just described as green because I found that people saw her that way even when I wrote “green hazel.” I am cool with it.}

Hair Color: Dark Chestnut {Same, though many people will call her hair black. I roll with it since I know Eva Green has black hair in several roles she plays.}

~ The Facts ~

Name Day: January 4th {Same}

Occupation: Seamstress / Designer and Scribe {Same, though her role as a civilian contractor to the military has come up a bit as well.}

Sexual Identification: Heterosexual {Same}

Romantic Identification: Monogamous {Same. This is simply how she identifies romantically, with no additional qualifiers, despite having been in a poly relationship.}

Relationship Status: Single (and hard to love) {She is arguably still hard to love, but she is now in a happy, long-term relationship with @carlkrogen​}

Alignment: Wicked Good {Oh...oh no. I thought I was clever, but Olivia is Neutral Evil, to be certain.}

Criminal History: No history of crimes committed, but she has a record of sorts. During the Burning Crusade, she voluntarily registered as a Warlock with Stormwind City. This comes up whenever someone looks for a criminal history, despite her innocence. {She still hasn’t been caught being shady or terrible, so no record.}

~ Favorites ~

Favorite Food: Rare Roasted Venison {Same}

Favorite Drink: Wine {Specifically sweet Dalaran Red.}

Favorite Animal: Spider {Same}

Favorite Scent: Lily of the Valley {Same.}

Favorite people: Sylaera, Quinaeris, and Zelmaris. {This has evolved, but not because she loves these people less. Since these characters don’t show up in her life anymore, she has new favorites. Carl [ @carlkrogen​ ] Dragaur [ @silentasagrave​ ] Darthea [ @darthea-the-demon​ ] Lorcan and Alle [ @lorcanbeithioch​ and @allebeithloch​ ] Alice [ @alas-ward​ ] and Quin [ @subjectragnar​ ] are easily her favorite people today.}

~ Randoms ~

Ten facts about Olivia Lovecraft:

1.     She has protection wards inscribed upon the tops of her feet. These intricate designs are made from an ink similar to henna dye, but give off a faint abjuration aura through her shoes. {Same.}

2.     Beneath her make-up, Olivia has freckles, and she secretly loves them. {Same.}

3.     With the leftover scraps of fabric from her clothing projects, Olivia makes dress-up clothes and outfits for dolls, and donates them to the Stormwind Orphanage. {Same.}

4.     By her appearance, it is assumed she is in her early 30’s, but Olivia has yet to tell anyone in Stormwind her exact age. {Same, though she does look just a little bit older.}

5.     While her education was social-centric, Olivia picked up a few skills which weren’t commonly appropriate for a young woman of the landed gentry. Her chaperone, and cousin, Kaliban Silentsun, taught her to shoot a rifle and fight with a saber. Although she never purchased a rifle of her own, she keeps, and occasionally carries, her cousin’s saber. { This one made me sad! Early in her story, when I had her just doing random rp in Stormwind, someone stole the saber from her. That person stopped playing the character before we could run the storyline for Olivia to get it back, so I have always assumed she simply lost the weapon forever and now I am sad for her. }

6.     Having never learned to swim, Olivia is hesitant to participate in voyages across the ocean. {Olivia learned to swim late last summer. She is not a strong swimmer, but she can at least swim enough to avoid drowning.}

7.     Olivia is a self-proclaimed lover of unloved things. She is drawn to people who are loners, collects chipped teacups, and considers spiders to be her favorite animal. {Same.}

8.     In all the years she has lived in Stormwind City, she has been mugged on six separate occasions. During these robberies, she has given up her gold and jewelry without a fight, even if she may have had the upper hand. To her, this stands as a testament of dedication to leading a normal life. {This number has surely increased, but I stopped keeping track. No shade, but a few guys have tried to rob her as a pick up line.}

9.     Olivia’s modest occupation as a seamstress is one borne out of necessity. She covets the finer things in life, but no longer has the means to afford the finished products from other designers. The raw materials, on the other hand, are not so expensive. {This is still true, but Olivia’s income has increased thanks to some IC connections she has made.}

10.  Olivia’s Duskwood home stands as the setting for numerous ghost stories. Accounts of young men and women sneaking into the empty home for romantic adventures often end with harrowing tales of escape from a siren-like spirit haunting the estate. Olivia is amused by these claims and makes no attempt to explain them. {Olivia’s Duskwood home burned down in a storyline in 2018.}

~Five Things~

Things she likes:

1.     Cool, sunny days {Same.}

2.     Tragic romances {Same.}

3.     Philosophical conversations {Same.}

4.     People watching {Same.}

5.     Unloved things {Same.}

Things she dislikes:

1.     Violence {Same.}

2.     Prolonged silence {Same.}

3.     Wide open wilderness {Same.}

4.     Uneven cobbles {Same.}

5.     Corsets {Same.}

Good habits:

1.     Punctual {Same.}

2.     Clean (Personal hygiene, anyway) {Same, and her housekeeping has also improved!}

3.     Attentive {Same.}

4.     Exercises daily (though you would be hard-pressed to catch her at it.) {Same.}

5.     Makes a wish at every fountain she passes. {Same.}

Bad Habits:

1.     Messy / Disorganized (She is one of THOSE people. One who doesn’t tidy up after herself but still seems to know where things are.) {This has changed significantly. She keeps a tidier home but still hates dusting.}

2.     Sarcasm / Dark Humor {Same.}

3.     Drinks (sometimes heavily) {Same. Although she has cut back, her habit is still heavier than healthy.}

4.     Occasionally summons demons (never in the city) {Same.}

5.     Really likes sweets {Same.}

Personalities she gravitates toward:

1.     Brooding {Same.}

2.     Dangerous {Same.}

3.     Mysterious {Same.}

4.     Masculine {Same.}

5.     Talkative {Same.}

Personality types she avoids:

1.     Aggressively Insecure {Same.}

2.     Misogynistic {Same.}

3.     Senselessly Evil {Same.}

4.     Senselessly Lawful {Same.}

5.     Overly Gullible {Same.}

Fears:

1.     Losing her eyesight {Same.}

2.     Succumbing to her demons (figuratively) {Same.}

3.     Dying {Same.}

4.     Spending her entire life alone {Same, though it is less of a fear now that she has Carl in her life.}

5.     Her cousin Diana {This is no longer a fear since Diana has approached Duchess Beithloch and she promises to pose no threat to the “silly girl.”}

This was really fun! Thank you for the tag @alyssa-ward​!

Tagging: Anyone who was tagged above as one of Olivia’s favorite people, but also anyone who wants to do this thing.

[troped-fanfic-challenge]

Who will be on the CHOPPING BLOCK!?

Fifteen fics were written following a Theme of [Angst], including the Tropes [Stranger to Lovers] and [Road Trip AU], and with a Character focus on [Harper McIntyre]! Voting determined the 8 who would continue in this competition…

We had fifteen (15) INCREDIBLE fics this round, but, unfortunately, not everyone can move on to the next round. In this round, eight (8) authors are on the CHOPPING BLOCK! Thank you so much to all the authors who participated, and, to the authors who were Chopped, we hope you’ll consider joining future Chopped events, and we are so happy you decided to be a part of Chopped Madness! 

Our reviews for these fics can be found under the cut!

The eight authors who have been Chopped are:

Author 1: @iexasheart​ : You can bloom again [Harper x Clarke] [Rated T]

Qualifying Round Fic: don’t be who you were

Author 2: @shen-gong-oops​ - Never Gonna Give You Up [Harper x Raven] [Rated T]

Qualifying Round Fic: The Sixth Bride

Author 3: @justwalkedaway​: Take back my life (Prove I'm alright) [Harper x Monty] [Rated T]

Qualifying Round Fic: Where is the path to Wonderland?

Author 4: @mobi-on-a-mission​ - The Hardest Thing [Harper x Emori] [Rated T]

Qualifying Round Fic: 2199 Nights

Author 5: @kuklash​: I Need You (Like I Need a Gaping Head Wound) [Harper x Echo] [Rated T] **graphic depictions of violence, major character death**

Qualifying Round Fic: There's Gonna Be a Party When the Wolf Comes Home

Author 6: @hopskipaway​ - i wanna shoot the whole day down [Harper x Monty] [Rated T] **major character death**

Qualifying Round Fic: i've got a heart in me (i swear)

Author 7: @vmreed​:  What the Hell is a Pulmonary Embolism? [Harper & Murphy/Clarke] [Rated T

Qualifying Round Fic: How to Kill a Two-Headed Turkey

Author 8: @pawprinterfanfic

Qualifying Round Fic: Simmer Simmer Simmer

—-

Now that you have been Chopped, all the fics you’ve written in Chopped Madness have been revealed and you can post about your fics! Don’t forget to tag us so we can share!

But don’t be discouraged if you were Chopped this round (or unable to participate)! We’ve created a non-anon collection, where you can submit your fics if you would like to write for other rounds, keep pace with the writing period, etc, in a non-competive way! That’s where you’ll find us!!!! We’d love to read your fics and will gladly share them on our tumblr! The non-anon collection can be found here! To submit your fic to the collection, simply enter ‘chopped_non_anonymous’ as the name of the collection when uploading your fic!!!

Non-Anon AO3 Collection Link: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Chopped_Non_Anonymous

To all the remaining Chopped Madness Authors, we hope you’re excited for ROUND 2, which starts TONIGHT, 12:00am (EST) March 26th!! Please be sure to check our google doc for theme and trope explanations! Good luck!

@iexasheart​ Mods’ Review

The concept of this story, with Harper having Nightblood on the Ark and no one knowing or even understanding it, is so cool. It plays such a relevant part to really drive the whole story. Harper and Clarke are such a good ship, they’re a perfect match, like it's shown through the fic, they’re both survivors, they both can push through and make it through anything. This pairing added a nice layer to the story! Harper being kidnapped and held hostage for months was super dark, and very angsty! “She catches bits and pieces of conversations, when she can, and learns that they’re keeping her there just in case she is a Commander. Through her tears, she screams at them that she’s not, that she doesn’t know what this means, but they don’t ever listen.” This was such a good scene, we were genuinely terrified for Harper and so concerned about her. We loved this as a rationale, and that it makes it worse for Harper because she isn’t and doesn’t understand, it was a really nice touch to add an extra layer of angst! We also really loved the catharsis of the moment when Harper finally gets free. Harper getting to express her pure fury and rage was a nice character moment, a chance to let her feel her pain out loud. “She hasn’t moved from that spot, but for the first time in years, Harper takes a deep breath in and feels a fleeting sense of freedom” this quote really captured that moment so well! It was a nice touch to let Harper learn that being a nightblood kept her alive, giving her a chance to see that the thing that caused her so much pain and misery was also what kept her alive, letting her appreciate something unique and special about her! Them digging up Polis together was such a cool scene. It added an extra layer to the scene we saw in canon, and it also gave a little extra mystery (to Harper at least) when Clarke found Lexa’s throne! And the ending, such a nice way to relieve the angst of the story. Them being happy in Eden felt like a natural and easy conclusion to a story where the characters didn’t get much ‘easy’. 

@shen-gong-oops​ Mods’ Review

This fic was ANGSTY. Best friends who were never allowed to hug or touch? Who had to go on a roadtrip in seperate cars just to be able to share an adventure? So good! And Raven being introduced as the surrogate Monty chose was a great way to incorporate the strangers to lovers trope! Also, so cute, that it was so clearly a set up. The fact that they had been planning this trip since they were kids makes the angst hit even harder, the idea that they’ve spent years wanting to get to be normal kids and be together, but they never could. There were a lot of great character moments, but some of our favorites were Raven ironing, and Harper getting to express her anger. Raven ironing felt super in character, a way to maintain order and structure in the chaos, a nice way to show that she likes to be in control of her life, and a nice way to show how much its hurting her that she might not be in control after her accident. Harper getting to express her anger and frustration with the world and its unfairness was very sincere and felt very earned for her character, and it was a nice way to show how Harper was really feeling about the hand she’d been dealt! As soon as you mentioned Raven being an organ donor, we KNEW you were going to have her get hurt, and we were already upset about it, but the scene was so well done. It was angsty and sad, and scary, but by adding that cheesy rom-com joke about Harper having Raven’s heart, you were able to add a little levity and a breath of air to the scene in a way that was super natural and so well timed! 

@justwalkedaway​ Mods’ Review

First off, Monty and Harper feeling like strangers in their own marriage, and coming to realise they loved each other in a different way than they did 10 years ago was such an angsty and super creative way to incorporate the ‘strangers to lovers’ trope! This fic was so angsty, and painful to read! Little things like Monty forgetting their anniversary, and Harper being aware that Monty was attracted to Miller even though they were drifting apart were really great ways to establish where they stood in their relationship! We really enjoyed the ending, with them getting a chance to talk to one another and realise they were on the same page about their feelings, and then letting them start to forge a new path forward. We especially liked the line “They would never have to be strangers again, that their love as friends would help them grow together. Everything was going to be okay.” The paragraph at the end, where you really explained that the connection between them was so good, and allowed for a slight tint of hopefulness for their future while maintaining the angst at a 10! 

@mobi-on-a-mission​ Mods’ Review

This fic used the combination of the character, theme, and tropes so well! Emori x Harper is such a unique pairing, and it definitely works great! The set up of the Mountain Men killing all of Skaikru is really eerie and angsty, it adds a really unsettling air to the fic where you feel like both of them are unsafe at every turn! “I’m an invader too” the idea that Emori is an invader because she was left out to die, and they see her as a stain, an unwelcome piece of their community is so good, this was a really nice character moment! Harper copying Lincoln’s map, and wanting to carry on with their plan to go to the see was a great way to tie canon back in and set up the ‘road trip’ they were going to go on! Emori teaching Harper the same way she taught Murphy was also a really fun addition! Harper waking up screaming from her nightmares to marry an angst plot and a romance plot together, letting them be physically comforting and hold each other through it, this was a really nice detail to incorporate! The story kept you really invested the whole time, and having Harper be kidnapped towards the middle/end of the fic was a really great way to do that. It was an opportunity to add angst and danger, but also a way to show how Emori had grown during their relationship,  to not only love Harper, but to put Harper’s safety above her own. “She was always light, so light, so light… She was the sun” this quote is so lovely, and such a nice way to describe Harper!! And that final kiss? “Tears welled in her eyes and smeared against Harper’s skin as they kissed”? So angsty, so good!!

@kuklash​ Mods’ Review

To start off, 90’s political thriller? Corrupt government officials and spies on the run? Like…someone make this movie for us, but it has to be Chelsey Reist and Tasya Teles as the stars! On to the actual fic though, a kidnapping and being forced to hit the road is a great way to hit all the tropes! Maintaining the kidnapping for a while helped the story feel serious, and made the stakes higher, adding a little fear and letting us know Harper wasn’t going to be safe in the story, which was a great way to add more angst! This fic had a lot of great character moments that really showed who Echo and Harper are in really great ways. “..but she has to stay strong. If she wants to survive she has to be strong”, this line is a great way to show Harper’s characteristics! We loved that Echo was her false name, but Ashe was her real name, and we loved the reveal being a soft moment of peace. It was a nice way to involve a canon element, but in a way that fit the story, because of course a spy on the run wouldn’t give her real name. It was also a nice way to show Echo slowly warming up to Harper! Echo’s death scene was SO well executed, even though we knew they weren’t safe, we were still stunned when she died! And don’t even get us started on the ending, so eerie and creepy and a great way to tie off the story with a slightly ambiguous ending!

@hopskipaway​ Mods’ Review

The set up for the road trip was great, a nice way to tie the angst directly into that trope, and Harper and Monty never meeting until this point was a great addition. It added the strangers to lovers part, obviously, but there's also a nice amount of angst involved in bonding over the loss of a friend. There were so many nice character beats that really showed Jasper’s bond with all of them, like when Harper knew Monty’s favorite candy just because Jasper had talked about him so much, and how Jasper thought Harper would be cute for Monty. It worked really well to establish how much they all meant to him. We loved  the moment of all of them finally arriving at the bar together. It felt very much like a community of strangers who were really joining through loss. We really liked the dynamic of the entire bar scene. “I worked with him.” She wasn’t sure why when someone dies you trade around excuses and explanations of how you knew them, like it was some sort of grief currency.” This line was such a great way to express the uncomfortable feeling that situations like that can have, and it was a nice touch. The delinquents coming together after Jasper’s Death was PAINFUL, and a great way to establish a sort of Found Family dynamic in a way that definitely hit the angst mark! Definitely crying at that last bit. Also, great use of the song Jasper was singing in the Rover being on the Jukebox!! 

@vmreed​ Mods’ Review

Harper’s outsider POV on the Strangers to Lovers Story was such a unique twist on the trope, and the use of a bus crash within the ‘road trip’ was also a really great take on that trope! This fic was a great way to showcase how the tropes we give for Chopped can be used in unexpected ways! This fic had a lot of great character moments too, like Murphy being so obviously grumpy and sullen that Harper knows not to try with the cute Tour Guide move is so good. A nice touch of characterisation that was added in a very natural and interesting way. Harper losing Carl was also a great moment for characterisation! “Carl stopped breathing, and Harper died a little bit too” this was such a sweet touch of angst, and a nice way to show that Harper’s life exists beyond this story, and that she and Carl were friends. We loved the very real action drama of the bus crash, with Harper running back in over and over to save people, the chaos and the fire, the acknowledgement that people actually died. With all those deaths, it sounded like the Road Trip from Hell, but the trio really jumped into action and it was great to see their interactions. The whole scene was an exciting and fun read! 

@pawprinter​ Mods’ Review

The Qualifying Round was so great and your fic was a lot of fun to read! There are so many callbacks to early Bellarke and it was great to see their relationship bounce back on their journey. When Russell warns Bellamy that they can only trust each other...he can only trust Clarke, and then all he does to save her...well, let’s just say this fic gave us all the Bellarke feels!!! The idea of Sanctum beginning anew, and going back to harvest the land, is a very human thing to do on a foreign planet. “The sky glittered with stars, showing constellations he was unfamiliar with. He missed the stars from Earth more than he realized…” This line is so good. Can you imagine looking up and not recognizing any part of the night sky? This is such a cool thing to add, and we loved it! The vines are SO creepy! We loved how creepy and scary you made the Hansel & Gretel fairy tale with the vines scene. It really upped the stakes and had us on the edge of our seats. AND THE ENDING?! Bellamy frantically searching for a cure that likely doesn’t exist, only to stumble upon a mass grave from the cannibal lady in the woods?! INSANE, and SO well executed!