#discussions of dark themes

[aventurineswife]

one request <3 (im really bad at explaining)

how some hsr characters would react to a reader that are into otome games?

HSR characters with a Reader who's into Otome Games

Synopsis: How would some of these characters react to having a Reader who's into Otome Games?

Tags: Veritas Ratio x Reader, Aventurine x Reader, Jade x Reader, Kafka x Reader, Blade x Reader, Jing Yuan x Reader, Headcanons, Fluff, Established Relationship or could be read as Platonically, Psychological Themes, Banter, Supportive, Deep Discussions.

Warnings: Teasing, Occasional Dark Humor, Discussions On Morality And Psychology, References To Manipulation, Themes Of Ambition And Power Dynamics, Light Romance, Exploration Of Past Trauma(?).

A/N: I wish there was a HSR mod where we could romance the characters 😪😕

Dr. Veritas Ratio

Ratio would be intrigued by the narratives and character development in otome games, seeing them as an interesting exploration of human relationships and emotional intelligence.

He might initially scoff at what he considers shallow romantic tropes, but upon further discussion, he'd appreciate the complexities and motivations of the characters.

He’d encourage you to analyze the storylines critically, turning your hobby into a learning experience about psychology and social dynamics.

He’d love to engage in debates about your favorite characters and choices, often challenging your views to foster deeper discussions.

Aventurine

Aventurine would tease you about your obsession with fictional characters, using his charm to poke fun while secretly enjoying the playful banter.

He’d be fascinated by the strategic elements of the games, perhaps even comparing life to a game of chance, finding ways to apply his risk-taking mentality to the scenarios.

He might surprise you with gifts that reference your favorite games, like custom trinkets or stylish outfits inspired by characters, showing his support.

Jade

Jade might initially appear skeptical, viewing otome games as frivolous, but would soon become intrigued by the underlying themes of ambition and emotional manipulation.

She’d encourage you to see beyond the surface, urging you to analyze the dynamics of power and desire within the narratives.

Jade might even suggest treating your interest as a business endeavor, perhaps exploring ways to monetize your passion through game-related content.

If you have any game merchandise, she might admire your collection, possibly wanting to trade valuable items or share insights about the game's market value.

Kafka

Kafka would find the psychological elements of otome games fascinating, especially the manipulation of characters and narratives, seeing parallels with her own skills.

She’d casually drop remarks about the games, comparing the characters’ strategies to her own, which could lead to deeper discussions about morality and choices.

Kafka would be especially interested in the character designs and fashions, perhaps wanting to discuss or even replicate certain styles for herself.

If the games feature memorable outfits or coats, she might express a desire to acquire similar pieces, leading to playful banter about your mutual interests.

Blade

Blade might initially express a cynical view of otome games, seeing them as naive distractions from the harsh realities of life.

He would likely make darkly humorous comments about the characters’ romantic dilemmas, providing a contrasting perspective that could spark interesting conversations.

Despite his cynicism, he might secretly enjoy the escape they provide, finding a strange comfort in the fictional dramas.

Blade would likely appreciate the themes of love and loss, connecting them to his own tragic past and engaging in deeper discussions about the nature of relationships.

Jing Yuan

Jing Yuan would appreciate the storytelling aspect of otome games, often relating it to historical tales and strategic narratives he values.

He might offer calm, insightful perspectives on the choices you make in games, helping you to consider the ramifications of those decisions.

Jing Yuan would be supportive of your passion, perhaps asking about your favorite games and characters, fostering a sense of connection.

He’d likely inject gentle humor into the conversation, lightening the mood and making the topic of otome games feel more engaging and less frivolous.

[elusiiev]

Basil's Somethings

YIPPEEE OK I HAVE WANTED TO TALK ABOUT MY HEADCANONS FOR HIS SOMETHINGS FOR A WHILE NOW AND now i can because theres a visual so

spoilers for the truth a little !!!!

coming from front -

this is when basil's guilt is catching up to him. it resembles mari's dead body more clearly, with hair strands extending towards him and strange misshapen arms doing the same. this reaching out both feels like the creature is begging for basil not to hang her, but at the same time reaching to drag him down too. this is more for gradual thoughts of guilt and shame throughout the course of a day. (tactile + visual hallucination)

coming from behind -

this one is more based on hellmari's appearance, however it shows itself to basil in multiple ways. for example, lying, especially in terms of mari's death, causes this monster to appear. it grabs for his mouth as he feels out of control spewing lies just to keep him and sunny safe, and tugs at his heart, actively making him feel worse about himself as the lies go on. it can also show itself during random intrusive thoughts, with the hair tendrils seeming to choke basil in every way. (vivid tactile + visual hallucination)

corrupted basil -

this is one of the strongest ones, it is a hallucination onto himself. he feels the darkness and lies spewing out of his mouth while he's covered in the blood of his best friend, a rope tied around his neck - this rope gets tighter especially in panic attacks. basil sees this in his mirror or when he looks at himself, normally around the hours of the night. to him, this is a representation of the monster he believes he is as the evidence overtakes him. hair tendrils continue to swirl, especially around the head, to where he can feel headaches after. this is not a constant hallucination and mostly appears during major depressive episodes, panic attacks, and anxiety attacks. (tactile + visual hallucination)

YAY OK THOSE ARE THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i plan on drawing how basil sees sunny because i have some ideas for him that would be super interesting !!! these are just my personal headcanons, and i know they most likely do not align with the canon but honestly thats fine im just being Silly!!!!!!

[bikananjarrus]

if yord had lived he'd be leading the hunt for qimir and osha and we would've gotten the most delicious tension between him and qimir. qimir would start out frustrated that yord got away, intent on finishing what he started. and yord, once hunted, now hunter, once an exemplary jedi, and now solely focused on revenge disguised as righteous justice (which it is also a bit of that). and qimir starts to enjoy the game, the chase. and in this timeline, sol still dies, osha still goes with qimir, but yord was unconscious, recovering in a bacta tank, so all he knows when he wakes up is that qimir is out there and took osha, his friend, away. so then you also have the tension of that confrontation, the realization that osha has willingly turned, and that maybe yord can't blame her for that, because what has he been doing these past many months, years, maybe, but give in to the selfish desire to finish what he started too?

[mediamatinees]

Dark Romance Community, We Need to Talk About "Haunting Adeline"

This is perhaps my most controversial piece yet, though it really shouldn't be. Today we're talking about dark romance, its potential, and its flaws. Find your happy place, because today's discussion is about The Cat and Mouse Duet.

“He keeps his hands to himself for now, but I know that won’t last much longer. It’s no secret how much he loves to touch me without my permission.” –       Haunting Adeline, H.D. Carlton Extreme Content Warning: Haunting Adeline and Hunting Adeline (also known as The Cat and Mouse duet) contain graphic depictions of sexual assault, graphic violence, stalking, child abuse and murder, the…

[katyspersonal]

me: I do not really understand the hardcore insistence of some Mohg fans/simps that he could not or must not have done any sexual-incestous crime! Not only it is a reasonable version, but also extremely interesting and intriguing to explore how not all victims of oppressive system are good people! Soulsborne is super fitting for fucked up themes and characters, any Mohg is valid and fun including the darkest you can get, right? Extremely messed-up interpretations of Mohg don't THREATEN other fans in any way shape or form!

fandom clowns: *passively-aggressively shun Mohg fans from the circles, attack Fromsoft for """homophobia""" (wtf), confuse acknowledging the event with enjoying the event, will label Mohg fans as insensitive or danger to real SO/incest victims, fear Mohg as an awful scary taboo to bring up in memes compilations or fanart that could obliterate all fun despite him being part of the canon, demand blacklisting anything about him in their clown Discord servers thus making lore chats weird, shame or block people with flattering interpretations for MeDiA iLiTeRaCy uwu, treat hating Mohg as a moral act rather than personal stance and generally cause a lot of hostility in the fandom, ALL because whereas seeing Mohg's SO as canon they then got mad at this canon instead of either swallowing it or move onto another videogame free of this theme*

me:

me: Nevermind, this fandom is chronically incapable of handling the dark themes and think the fandom owes them sanitised experience.

[raycatz]

midnight thoughts: like, I know there's a decent number of people in the LU fandom who haven't played the games or have only played botw/tears onwards. So, how familiar are people with zelda music? Like, would anyone be interested in like a fandom discussion post talking about music that stands out from each title?

[kiwisandpearls]

I really hate it when people act like madoka magica somehow invented darker magical girl stories, because like…

Sailor Moon (in both the original manga and anime) had darker moments in it. Heck the ending of the first season shows our main cast getting killed off one by one.

Revolutionary Girl Utena (yes I consider rgu a magical girl anime you can fight me on this) while not dark and bleak right out of the gate slowly but surely shows it’s more ugly side as the anime goes on

so like…yeah. There are probably way more examples but magical girl anime before pmmm weren’t always sunshine and rainbows, they did have darker undertones to them, it’s just that madoka magica was more upfront with the more darker and bleaker aspects of its story.

[whatever-you-can-give-me]

yknow. i’m glad stampede took off because it deserves it but it IS funny that it taking off involves the influx of the no-fun crowd who think (contrary to the entire history of art and literature) that incest is too ickynasty to be viable as a fictional topic. because tristamp is so extremely aware of the inherent incest subtext of trigun that it’s barely subtext anymore.

[not-souleaterpost]

...

[angelofthepage]

Hey gang, let's talk about Bendy: The Cage. Last night we got a new screenshot from theMeatly's Twitter page involving an eyeball, pointy teeth, and a lot of red, something monstrous. And the first exposure I had to it was numerous Discord servers posting it in channels that were either likely to be unmuted because they contain important updates about said servers, or with an at everyone so everyone would be notified and have to click on the channel to clear the message. And it was all in spaces that normally haven't done this for new screenshots or releases, which was very odd. I had no choice but to look at it because it was shoved directly in my face, uncensored, no content warnings, nada. If it hadn't happened MULTIPLE times (on more than just Discord in the end), maybe I would leave it at addressing it in just those spaces, but the frequency and variety of places where it happened makes me feel like this is something we're not on the same page about. I think there's a conversation that needs to happen about The Cage and what this is going to mean for the future of interacting in this fandom. There are some things with both the contents of The Cage and the way we choose to engage with it that I feel we would benefit from talking about.

This screenshot itself isn't particularly bad, I won't lie, at the very least it doesn't squick me out all that much, but it's creeping up on something that I foresee being a problem. When we talk about indie mascot horror games, one of the unintended consequences is that because the cute mascots have such a charming appeal, they attract a wide variety of people. Some of those people are kids (many of which have parents that aren't teaching them internet safety or looking at what they watch, even though the original Bendy is rated T for Teens, so they shouldn't be looking at it in the first place). And some of those people are people across all age ranges that have their sensitivities, phobias, legitimate triggers, and squicks, and this group is the one I'm the most focused on today. One of the things that's special about this genre is that a lot of people can exist in it because it's usually a little less intense in terms of horror media out there (at least in terms of visuals/what is shown on screen), but that also comes with a variety of consequences. With The Cage making a shift into being a more mature story, with confirmed blood, body horror, dark themes, etc, that means that part of Bendy's existing audience is not going to be able to partake in this adventure, just per the nature of it containing things they can't handle. And that's not a bad thing, there is no shame in that. We cannot help our brains, not every experience or game is going to work for every person. Nor are the devs required to make every entry the same as the last, if they want to experiment with new things, they have every right to. But when you make a shift like this, it means the content warnings have to change and adapt, and how you conduct yourself online now has a lot more questions you might wanna ask yourself.

What is safe and fun and enjoyable for one Bendy fan is not going to be that for every Bendy fan, and if we don't make an adjustment to how we tag and share this stuff, it's going to further alienate people, to the point where you will see people leave the fandom altogether even if they still like the old but not the new. That's why we tag stuff with things like gore, blood, body horror, etc, that's why we use the sensitive content filter on Twitter. That's why we have words you can mute or censor here on Tumblr, and even on Instagram and Tiktok to a certain extent. By giving people a tag that's a content/spoiler warning, you give them a choice about whether or not they look at that content so they can self curate and protect themselves. Because the last thing you want is to send someone into a panic attack or spiral if it could have been avoided. If someone can't trust you to be thoughtful about how you post when you are posting legitimately horrifying stuff, the end result is you will be unfollowed/blocked, your servers will become a lot more empty, and your fandom space will grow a lot quieter, as it has become an actively hostile place. You can make the choice to not tag that sort of thing, if you're okay with acknowledging that people can't partake in your page, but it's responsible to give them a heads up somewhere, somehow, that you don't use those tags, so they can just unfollow you from the start and avoid the hassle, part on good terms at least. Again, being considerate goes a long way. Managing expectations is just as important of a skill as self curating. That said, tagging to be sensitive of others also comes with the plus side of essentially advertising to people that like that stuff. It will give them a sign that you are sharing things they enjoy, because they likely follow those tags, so they will find you, and you can have new and fun interactions over a shared interest. And that is very worthwhile.

Part of me is worried about what The Cage is going to look like in a broader sense. Just how "mature" is it really going to be? And is that going to have consequences in more than just the fandom? Take a look at YouTube, the platform that was crucial for Bendy's success in the first place ala let's plays and reaction videos putting it on the map. Look at how their algorithms have affected other titles in the horror genre that are openly gorey, bloody, brutal, or disturbing. Heck, look outside of the horror genre at games that are just plain violent. A lot of those videos don't survive. There's demonetization, age restrictions, there's messiness with the system, and a lot of people who try to cover those games will stop because of how hard it affects their channels. I'm concerned for the future of Bendy. I'm surprised that the filters let stuff like the ending of BATDR through, given we push Wilson into a grinder and have Audrey brutally get her legs chomped off. (Frankly I'm also surprised the "insanity ending" made it through, though that's not bloody, it was certainly uncomfortable to watch and was not the greatest example of how to execute a psychiatric ward in a horror game. Which is a whole tangential topic for another day.) But now that we're doing something as small as introducing the color red into the mix? It may not be as forgiving. We may see people unable/unwilling to cover Bendy content because of how dark and unfriendly it's getting for YouTube's system. SuperHorrorBro has a great video that goes over it from about a year ago, I'm gonna link it here. Highly recommend giving that a watch. Bendy can get away with a lot because it's in sepia. When all your blood is ink, somehow it doesn't seem as brutal, even though we have characters getting impaled, decapitated, etc. But that's not the case anymore, there is confirmed blood and red in the palette. It's not the same flavor of horror as it once was.

There's a lot running through my mind as we approach the future of this series. I don't want to police anyone's behavior or how they should do things, that's not my place nor my intention. At the end of the day, everything I've said here is more to make you aware so you think about how you want to handle this shift, rather than explicitly telling you what to do about it. Equip you with information and stuff to consider when making those choices. Would I prefer it if we all were thoughtful about the tagging system? Yes, absolutely. I could stand to be better about it too, and I'm going to make an effort to be more thoughtful about how I post and engage with social media regarding topics like this. I would greatly appreciate having an open dialogue about it so we can figure out which tags work best for our fandom space. But do I expect us all to use it the same way? No, not in the slightest. The fact that I am still required to go on a social media hiatus whenever new Bendy media comes out is telling enough, I don't trust this fandom not to spoil things. I'll acknowledge it's gotten a lot better than it used to be, but when I'm still hearing stories about how people tried to enjoy BATDR blind and got spoiled on MAJOR PLOT POINTS in the first WEEK of release, nay, the first DAY, despite blocking and muting every tag and word possible to avoid stuff, it's not good. So how can I trust fans to take care with this larger, more serious thing, when we haven't gotten to that point with spoiler tagging? It makes me upset. I'm not upset that I have to self curate, that's essential on the internet no matter your space. Can't control anyone but yourself in life. I'm upset that people are inconsiderate and don't think about the consequences of their actions.

I don't talk about this often, but I'm not a traditional horror fan. Bendy is my weird exception. For most of my life I've been scared of the Tower of Terror at Disney, and that's freaking TAME. This last time I went, I tried to conquer my fear and go on it, and I only got through it because I was actively looking away and covering my ears during the story, and holding my brother in law's hand. Is it really scary, or am I just struggling with the childhood trauma of having gone on the ride the same day there was a thunderstorm? I don't know. But then I'll be fine watching something like the FNAF movie, which I'll be real, I didn't find scary in the slightest. So why am I into Bendy if horror isn't usually my vibe? Because Bendy is more than its horror. It's got a really cool art style that sucked me in. It's got a story about humanity and hope that was just the right amount of darkness when I needed it. You know that comic that makes the rounds about the story blimps that pull you out of dark places? That's Bendy for me. It's not the story I expected to get into, but it's the story I needed when it happened, and I've continued to stick with it because it's kept giving me that. The last book? That's the story I needed, absolutely. And in a strange twist, I've found myself seeking out more of the less intense horror stuff, this genre is something I've started to really enjoy. The darkness can be kind of fun. But The Cage may be going somewhere I cannot go. I hope not, but I recognize it's a very real possibility, for myself and for many fans. It's fine if it's not the same as what we love about Bendy in years past. It's not required to be the same as other Bendy entries to be valid or valuable as a game/story. Heck, I don't want it to be exactly the same, that gets stale, let there be new and interesting innovations in the series. Let it tell new stories. But it does make me wonder if what I value about Bendy is the same as what the devs value in this series.

And that's something I want to revisit in the future. Full disclosure, I've been trying to write a comprehensive post about my thoughts on the Bendy movie that's been announced for WEEKS since the announcement. Seeing as theMeatly very directly asked for feedback, I do have feedback I'd like to give. But figuring out how to give it thoughtfully has been tough. 'Cause like, the people who work on this thing are people, humans, who have feelings, and if I'm really going to put my thoughts out there, regardless of what they are, I want to do it in a way that's kind. Like, if I'm gonna take the time to be constructive in my criticism, I want it to be worded well. And then Tumblr screwed me over by posting it before I was ready, even though I clearly hit save and not post. So I deleted it in a panic, because it wasn't ready to be seen, and haven't found the energy to talk about it since. But I've had a lot of complicated feelings about the direction Bendy is taking right now. The short of it is that it's gotten away from what I think are the most important things about Bendy, which to be clear, doesn't make it bad. But it does leave me with questions, about Bendy and about storytelling as a whole. And if you know me, you know I occasionally enjoy diving into questions to really ponder the possibilities. I'm curious as to what it is that appeals about this story to the wider fandom, versus what about it is valuable to me. Maybe I'm the outlier here, who knows? I want to really think about that, what it is that makes Bendy special, what it is that draws us to this story, and what people have gotten out of it. Because I think that's a valuable discussion to have. Perhaps that's something I ought to open the floor to you for. But not right this moment, I need more time.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. Thank you for taking a moment to think about what I had to say. I know it's long, I know it's a lot, and I wouldn't say it if I didn't think it was valuable to talk about. At the end of the day, I just want this fandom to be a kind and friendly place to be. I hope that's what gets across.

[lususnatura]

🎤 🎤 🎤

a song that i associate with my muse meme!

AHH, hey, ramone!! thank you for sending in this prompt :D since you sent in three of the mic's, i shall now be treating you to three songs that make me think of blamore when i hear them / that i associate with it. an explanation of why i chose them will be in the tags <3

hozier - who we are.

icehouse - crazy.

depeche mode - personal jesus.

[nick-close]

Me when I wanna rant about dndads but first I need to explain the lore that I made up and my characters I made up and the non canon compliant universes I also made up and the literal multiverse that are also all connected and also this niche thing I stole from a fanfic and also how i retconned canon and then undid it and how it actually is technically canon compliant and

[deer-with-a-stick]

At this point I stay exclusively on this website and Ao3 for fandom stuff but DAMN what the hell happened with the reviews

Castlevania Rotten Tomatos below for comparison

[bthump]

Ok so in your about you said miura has an "inability to conceive of someone’s dark side without rape coming into the equation." Now idk if you mean the BOD but if you are, miura didn't do that out of an inability. He did that to show just how truly screwed Guts is because in that moment the beast is trying to break Guts's spirit by making him act like the person he hates the most so it can eventually ware him down enough to take over completely but it backfired because then his companions joined

That was an exasperated exaggeration, there are plenty examples of characters doing evil things that aren't rape.

However I completely disagree with your take on the Beast of Darkness. It's Guts' own dark impulses, not an outside entity forcing him to assault people.

Here are some more thorough explanations for why that's the case.

[ssreeder]

Hello there bringer of pain, I was just wondering how to join the LIAB Discord, so that I may panic and suffer with my people

Hello there,

I want nothing more than for you to suffer with us :)

Discord link

(Anyone welcome)

[yourockthebeatofmyheart]

I'd like to encourage everyone who enjoyed the Nimona movie (or the comic, for that matter) to listen to this podcast clip of ND Stevenson answering a 6-year-old's Nimona questions (goes 'til about the 58-min mark)

Also, as a reminder, since this audio is from 2020, he wasn't out/hadn't publicly changed his name yet (so he's not being purposefully deadnamed) and the movie was still years away from being released (so the answers may be specific to comic!Nimona and not apply to movie!Nimona). Also also this was recorded remotely!