#do not ask me about the meaning of the charms iirc these are the charms they actually share in canon

[pieruru]

Using St. Patrick's day as an excuse to post itchydoze slop, sí por??

[grif-hawaiian-rolls]

@leonardalphachurch ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE (in reference to this post)

Donut thinks his fursona is a red wolf, all handsome charm and roguish double’o’donut vibe but NO he’s a collie to me, specifically a rough/scots collie— he’s pretty he’s fluffy, he does good work but theres nothing behind those eyes affectionately. Also he likes to be told when he’s a good boy DOING A GOOD JOB

Grif… would not make a fursona for himself, but I think Kai makes one for him a-la garfield (fat orange cat) and he appreciates the Iconic humor of it at least and u know what i do think kai is right in the cat aspect but more maine coon less garfield (still fat tho /pos)- the kind of big lazy cat that make you do a double take bc like is that a big house cat or a bobcat, ya know?

Simmons does not Want a Fursona thank you very much he’s not Weird (tm) I'm telling you, he is a chihuahua. Puntsized ball of anxiety that bites and thinks its meaner than he is(but still pretty capable of being a mean little bastard, just,, not as big of one as he thinks)

Sarge Knows his fursona is a bald eagle. Bc its American. Patriotic! Sounds like a red hawk! Even better! He’s a pitbull— big brick of a head, mean reputation, but he’s a protective kind of caring at heart and u know he’s got that Iconic pittie grin

Lopez is hard, honestly, and if you asked him youd either get No Answer, or something thrown at you i think but like his fursona is like transformer mech bullshit that no one ever wants to draw and if you commissioned it you get like 20+ complex design additional charges because the rivets have to be 100% accurate and if they arent he would Know, its not even a fursona really at this point its just a cool mech body he wont ever build bc he doesnt trust anyone else to not fucking break it but emotionally its his fursona - the fursona I assign him is a remote control warthog, bc im sorry dude but i cannot give you a proper fursona to save my life my brain just refuses to do it so, goofy shit it is

SHEILA is, wonderfully, a sea turtle. Specifically i’m partial to a leatherback for her just for the scale factor alone but just the vibe in general of just,, seat turtle fits her idk how to describe it. In character, i do think she would misunderstand the assignment and just be like “oh! Im a Scorpion” bc thats the casual term for the M808B main battle tank in halo

Church(A), like simmons, REFUSES to even Consider it (epsilon considers it a Lot okay, theta’s got some cool design concepts but keep it on the dl bud) but i think he’s gotta be idog from the early 2000s. But like an edgy one the kind that were born of 12 yearolds traced over google images of the normal ones and recolored into Original Characters (i think their shape is based on beagles iirc??? Or labs), but yeah those things. If pressed, epsilon auto answers wolf but in that asshole way that sounds like he’s being a dick about it but no thats his actual answer

Caboose is a great dane. He’s just Great like that!! Yay! Friend shaped, really not used to being uhh mindful of his size and strength but loyal and protective ya know?? He's the only one who i think would correctly clock his own fursona on the first try

Tex would claim something badass like a tiger or something, but she’s like,,, a mockingbird :) i mean it IS the state bird of texas, and well... shes not a mockery of anything but she isnt the og either, ya know

Tucker claims a fox, because he’s sly and bitches Love foxes but to me?? Bluejay. Brightly colored, loud, mean little corvid asshole. Too damn clever for his own good- i would also maybe give him peacock or kingfisher if feeling more like,, flamboyant but he just feels very jay to me. maybe its the corvid bastard thing, or the bluejay in my backyard choosing the tree by my window as prime screaming spot for 6 am yelling for like a month but the vibe is there

Kai has so many furry characters. With the worst application of color theory known to man but somehow it works for her brand??? Sparkle dogs man, the woman is made for making sparkle dogs!! If i assign her cat to match grif, it'd specifically the kind of like bengal, this cat climbs walls kind of cat you know?? Zoomies all day every day! BUt i think more accurately to Kai as a person? Raccoon. Mischief and little grabby bastard hands and she would love it

Washington, if asked would shrug and say probably a cat bc u know, nine lives and all that- no. Im sorry cat wash truthers I respect cat wash, but nah Washington is a dog boy to me im sorry and specifically he’s a little Jack Russell terrier thats fast and vicious but man sometimes u gotta remember he’s like,,, he’s smaller than a cat man you gotta give him some help ya know?? Dont make him do it alone!!!

.......Or a horse i dont know how to elaborate on that one just,,, trust me

Carolina is oblivious to the concept of fursonas almost entirely, but she’s a greyhound and you know im right

Locus is genuinely the hardest one to place and i dont think he’d come up with a fursona for himself, but he gets assigned wolf by Donut i feel it, the whole lone wolf thing he has going and all during his redemption! Which honestly???? Maybe yeah? An argument could be made for another working dog (HELLO German Shepards my god) (context here: i had a german shepard/corgi mix, he was my lil guy, he was too damn smart for his own good and patrolled the back yard fence up until he couldnt keep his hips underneath himself anymore and then! He! kept! trying! So yes that does influence my input on german shepard locus) i just struggle to see locus as a dog???? Dogs are very high energy which -gestures to red team- but locus rarely has that same baseline energy i associate with dogs??? He’s hard to pin down and i’ve yet to manage it but im partial to something arboreal,,, the first thing that comes to mind on that train of thought is a binturong and i lost it imagining that so sure we'll go with that i have a lot of thoughts about locus

Felix wouldve loved the energy of being like the lucky cat with nine lives. I personally dont care for felix, but he would be that guy with like, its not a proper fursona bc he wouldnt b caught dead calling it that, but he has a fursona for scamming people and driving up the prices on auctions for no reason other than to fuck with people when he's bored. I subscribe to weasel/ferret Felix personally, specifically a yellow bellied weasel bc theres just,, honestly the name amuses me with the implications. He’s difficult to catch and handle, energetic and gets into shit no one wants him getting to. It fits

Doyle is a mouse, maybe MAYBE a rabbit, he doesnt know what fursonas are either but he just checks the mouse box for me personally,, very holdable, but skittish and might still bite you if u scare him bad enough

Dr Emily Grey does not have a fursona but she does think theyre neat and has let her patients all give her one, tho none of them agree on what she is. I think she's a shrike, specifically a great grey shrike! they're VICIOUS little birds, who dont look like much but they regularly hunt shit twice their size and are also known for impaling bugs on thorns and like, barbed wire?? theyre neat, and technically i think they count as corvids? clever little hunting machines

Kimball is definitely a german shepard tho like while im on the fence about it for Locus, there is no question about it for her she checks the boxes fits the vibe right down to the way she guards the new republic and chorus with her heart just under her sleeve

Sharkface. Shark. I mean….really. SPECIFICALLY THO a tiger shark tho, and he would absolutely be a dick if you implied a great white or a megalodon would be “better” bc no tiger sharks are exactly the kind of shark he should be thank you VERY much

thats everyone i have STRONG fursona assignment feelings for, and some are more flexible than others or more solid in some cases but YEAH! i think about this shit. a lot sidebar: i think the chorusans who know and are open about fursonas would probably use weird alien animals from chorus when picking them which makes this harder for them specifically bc the ones who would have fursonas arent limited to earth animals

all images are from the wiki pages for the animals! except for lopez. thats from the amazon page for the warthog

[oodlyenough]

DL-6 is so funny to me because like. We asked a medium and she said the victim said the only other adult in the room did it. But he got an insanity plea - which meant she was lying?

I don’t understand the leap of logic here like. Did he do it and was not imprisoned because of the insanity plea - meaning she didn’t lie. Or did he not do it and she lied and you ruined a man’s life with a stigmatising ruling anyway? And then just do nothing about that.

Yes I love how absolutely nothing at all calls into question Misty's power and yet -- lmao. I can see why "we asked a ghost" would be embarrassing for the police, but Misty being a fraud because Ghostworth failed to ... idk... secure the harshest conviction possible with his testimony is funny. Especially when AA2 and 3 double down on channeling not just being "source: dude(s) trust me" (as I assumed, playing AA1) but rather literal full on physical shapeshifting. Irrelevant in the face of Greg... maybe misunderstanding the facts of his own death, I guess, lol.

IIRC part of why they turn to Misty is because they have no definitive evidence against Yogi, just circumstantial, which is cool and all if not for how every other case in the game has a moment that's like "well sure you've proved your client couldn't possibly have committed the murder mr wright but we've gotta hang SOMEONE". Was the justice system so embarrassed and incensed by Yogi "getting away" that they passed even more ludicrous reforms.

And also the general implication that if Edgeworth really had killed his dad by way of accidental misfire when he was nine years old he'd still be fully liable, despite adult man Yogi getting off on an insanity plea. Lmaooo. I love the case so much and AA is a dystopian nightmare to the point I consider all these bizarre leaps just part of the charm, it's fine. But it's very funny to me.

[ipatrichor]

dead boy detectives episode three thoughts

NIKO MY GIRL NIKO. i love her so much holy shit. she's just so effortlessly charming and so deeply, sincerely kind 😭 i would kill for her good lord the scene after they leave the devlin house? she was so scared for completely understandable reasons (i would not want to go to a house with an axe murderer ghost either, and she almost just died like the day before on top of that!) but she suits up and braves a Goddamn Coastal Storm (seriously, it was dark when she left and light when she found them meaning she was out there alone in the dark storm for a little while Minimum) to help her friends!! it's like. yeah she's pretty naive and easily scared (again, Reasonably so), but also she cares so goddamn much about her friends. im gonna cry dude

also this episode really is giving me everything i asked for huh. i asked for niko joining the gang and changing their dynamics, and we got that incredibly sweet scene with edwin at the library. i asked for the bickering to stay while dynamics grow and evolve, and edwin & crystal have a scene where they still snipe at each other while working well together to rescue charles and appreciating each other's skills and knowledge. i asked for charles backstory, and holy shit. this show really does have it all huh

okay speaking of charles. i love love love what we got this episode. i mean yeah i kinda guessed his dad wasn't great from what he'd said before, but i was also second-guessing myself a little because well, if he was that bad charles probably wouldn't be checking on him to make sure he's okay, right? and then we get that reveal, and damn. god it was so cool to see something actually really hit charles, because he's mostly a chill guy! sure, he's gotten annoyed and stuff, but it never seems to last long and i've been really looking forward to seeing what'll break that composure. this episode did not disappoint holy shit

speaking of which. idk if it was just the dad's abuse that was affecting him so much... this is an odd theory, but hear me out. it's making me kind of wonder if the reason he was so deeply affected was because his dad was involved with his death somehow. iirc his cause of death was drowning or something? hypothermia maybe i do not remember but i remember something about injuries like broken ribs or something. and i dunno i'm starting to wonder if those injuries were from his dad and they contributed to his death. or maybe im completely wrong and it hit him so hard to see a man kill his wife and daughters because he's spent the decades since his death afraid his dad will do that to his mom! who knows! only time will tell, but i am so intrigued

also i actually really love that him repressing so much doesn't get resolved. like yes girl keep deflecting from your trauma until you get overwhelmed and have a messy breakdown where everything explodes. and like yeah his friends know he's keeping shit to himself now, but that's. really not something it's easy to bring up so really the most they can do is let him know they're there for him and keep an eye out. which is probably harder to do with So Many Goddamn Enemies.

like okay let's count we've got esther + monty, crystal's demon ex, death's scottish secretary (idk her name or job sorry. the lady who played the witch mom on supernatural. rowena??? girl idk i didn't finish s5), the cat king (not necessarily evil but he is literally keeping them trapped so), miscellaneous enemies/villains each episode like the sprites or the misery wraith (terrifying btw! i Do Not like that thing on a personal level but i appreciate it thematically 👍), and ALSO Literal Death is basically looming over them as an existential and also very literal threat. girl this is crazy there is So Much going on how the fuck is this show only 8 episodes

crystal's memories... i actually really like that she might've been an asshole. like yeah you could argue her ex was influencing her (either supernaturally or just like peer pressure) but i actually think it's more interesting if he wasn't and she was just willing to be an asshole. and also maybe endanger people's lives?? idk what was up with dropping a large rock on moving cars but it didn't seem like anyone died bc he would for sure have leveraged that against her so. but i just think it's more interesting and compelling if she has to deal with like... yeah she was an asshole. what now? she can't change it, she's just got to live with it and choose to do better

also back to charles bc that scene will not stay out of my head. his actor is so good... the subtle emotional nuance in his facial expressions... i may need to rewatch the episode everything about his acting is so good. also charles getting stuck in the loop was fucking chilling- i didn't expect hitting the dad to work really, I thought it'd do nothing or go through him, but when he caught the cricket bat and hit charles with the axe i actually gasped. and then just sitting there unmoving and unseeing until the loop restarts and he vanishes... girl that was terrifying. like would they kill off charles like that? no I don't believe so, not in episode 3 of 8. however it was genuinely scary i didn't know if something fucked up would happen that he'd need a while to recover from or something. im glad he's okay physically at least, even if mentally is debatable :')

monty... what do i say about monty. he's cute and so awkwardly charming- if we hadn't seen that he's esther's familiar i would've been rooting for him to be a side character who shows up every now and then, kinda like jenny y'know? but because we know he's part of her revenge, i'm spending his scenes side-eyeing him like hey. the hell is that about. however i will say it's better knowing so we can stress about what his plan is instead of having him introduced as just a guy and then being a traitor or something. idk i like the dread and suspicion! it's a quality writing choice

i will say though, there's one thing about him that's making me side-eye him even harder. why did he antagonize charles? if he's trying to ingratiate himself with the boys + crystal and earn their trust, being a dick to one of them won't help. does esther's plan rely on isolating edwin? why? and if it's not her plan, why is he singling out edwin specifically? idk many questions lots to consider!!

in conclusion, this is such a good show and each episode just keeps getting better. i'm jumping right into episode four, i just wanted to organize my thoughts here first haha

[misc-obeyme]

i would read the barbatos essay ‼️

Anon, you have made my entire day lol. I'm always worried about answering asks with lengthy posts because I can really ramble on and on. But since you asked for the Barbatos essay, well...

Buckle up 'cause this turned out quite long! I'm putting it under a cut just so people don't have to scroll.

There's only one section of spoilers, which I indicate so you can skip it if you like!

Here it is, my Why I Love Barbatos essay:

Okay, first we have his design and the color scheme. That teal is just so pretty. And the way his hair has that one streak of brighter teal? Perfection. I very much think Barb would look amazing with long hair, too.

The way his uniform is altered to look more like a butler. The way he's always wearing those white gloves. When he actually does take off the gloves?? Though I do wish they had given him a casual outfit, they kinda do this with all the side characters - all of them are missing at least one outfit that the bros have. BUT it's funny to think that Barb just wears his uniform all the time instead AND sometimes he does take off the jacket when he's about to get into something. Such as in the Dust-Fighting Demon SSR and the Face Paint Charm SSR.

And then there's his human world outfit?! It's perfect for him. Elegant and unique and just visually interesting. And if iirc it's like a tea merchant outfit? I mean. Of course it is.

Demon form? Perfection. THAT TAIL. I wanna touch it so bad. And his horns are just so different from everybody else's. They're so unique. And the outfit? It's like butler uniform but upgraded. The patterns and the colors and the frills that come out of the wrists I just love it so much.

Needless to say, I very much love Barbatos's design. Visually he's just so pretty and I think that is part of what initially drew me to him. But in the end, what it really comes down to for me is personality, too.

I think there are a couple of things about Barbatos that I really love that just made him become my absolute favorite.

He's not instantly in love with MC. People have talked about this before. It takes basically all four seasons for Barbatos to say or do anything that indicates he might have feelings for MC. A lot of his more romantic interactions happen in his Devilgrams and the events, which are outside of the main story line. (A Party Just For Two UR card is one of my all time faves when it comes to romance with Barb and most of it happens in the kitchen lol.)

The thing about this that was always interesting to me was that he didn't act like he was NOT interested or that he disliked MC or anything. In fact, he always seemed to be curiously intrigued by MC. While most of the other characters usually develop a kind of crush on MC before they're just straight up in love with them, Barb is just kind of like, oh you are interesting. But that's it until much later in the story. And even THEN we don't get a straight confession out of him.

I have always been a fan of the slow burn. The little moments that just steadily increase the character's feelings, the build up, the anticipation... it's so good.

And then there's just how mysterious he is in general. We know very little about him. In the beginning I was like okay so who is this guy? He's just a butler? I don't get it. And yeah, he's a butler, but then you find out he's also got time powers and portal powers and suddenly he's a lot more than just a butler.

NB spoilers here for his Tea Time With You UR+ Devilgram:

The story in this Devilgram really hints to there being so much more about WHY Barbatos is Diavolo's butler. He talks a lot about atonement and how something he did had a profound impact on both Diavolo and Solomon. He won't tell us what it was because he's not ready to reveal it, which is not surprising, but also indicates that it still weighs on him pretty heavily. At least it does in the NB timeline. To me, this added a whole new layer to his air of mystery. We don't know why he stays as Diavolo's butler except that he says he likes it and that's what he wants to do. But there is clearly another piece to that involving some self imposed penalty for whatever he did.

End spoilers.

And even though there's a lot we don't know about him and especially his past (which to be fair, there are probably a billion years of past there so we'll never know all of it lol), he just has this comforting way about him. Once he accepts someone as sort of being in his charge, he takes care of them without being overbearing. He sort of does this thing where he gives each person in his life as much as they need from him.

Diavolo is the obvious example and he needs the most from Barb. So Barbatos does a lot for him and Dia is always his priority. But then we've also got characters like Luke and Solomon. With Luke, Barbatos is always ready to teach him how to bake or give him advice when he asks for it. But he also doesn't smother him or anything. He knows that Luke has Simeon and Solomon that help him, too. And with Solomon, Barbatos only really helps him when Solomon asks. In the OG, it's pretty clear that by that point, Solomon is incredibly independent. He doesn't need a lot of attention from Barbatos anymore, so Barb just lets him do his thing for the most part. But if Solomon does need him, Barbatos has no problem helping. (I am assuming, of course, that the only time that Sol forced Barb to do something he didn't want to do was in the labyrinth in NB.)

And I think this tendency to care for people extends to MC as well, but he knows that MC has everyone else looking out for them, too. So he's willing to sort of stay in the background, but you know that he's paying attention to MC. He will sometimes ask MC to come help him with something in daily chats or he'll invite them over for tea and he always says something about being happy to see them.

Another thing I love about his personality is his tendency to be subtly teasing. He's always so super formal and restrained that sometimes it's hard to tell when he's teasing because he does it the way he does everything else. But we all know that one demon sticker he sometimes uses, the one that's covering its mouth 'cause it's laughing slyly. Yeah, that one. It's kind of similar to the way he always smiles even when he's angry. He never breaks his butler persona, but those who know him can tell when he's being playful and when he's actually angry. (Unless he's really angry, which we have seen in the way he interacts with Solomon in Nightbringer.)

And then there are his interests. He loves tea, as we know, and he likes to cook and to bake. For me personally, these are big reasons why I love him, too. I drink both coffee and tea, but when it comes to tea I'm really picky. I only drink loose leaf tea that I buy by the ounce and I know about the different kinds and what my favorites are and how to make them correctly. I sometimes cold brew loose leaf tea to make iced tea and I have a very particular way of making it. So like... I get all that, you know? I think I would love to experience the way Barbatos makes tea. I also enjoy cooking and baking, but I don't get to do it very often. However, I absolutely have a sweet tooth. So again, I'm just imagining tea parties with Barbatos in the garden with some tasty dessert he made and that sounds like absolute heaven to me lol.

He's also just a little less boisterous than most of the other characters. He's calm and collected. I have some anxiety issues and I'm an introvert, but I just get the feeling that spending time with him would be so nice and relaxing. There's just something about him that makes me feel peaceful and contented.

And all of that is why I'm in love with Barbatos.

If he turns out to be Nightbringer, I don't know how I'll feel about it. I'm just hoping they don't change his character too much because I love him just as he is now.

[sysmedsaresexist]

Hey ~

It’s been so amazing seeing the positive change on this blog, we are so here for that kind of growth and energy!

We saw that you recently reconciled with @/sophieinwonderland, and we have a couple questions.

Are you okay with and support those who use “tulpamancy” language (a huge thing she defends)? Curious about this because we have seen many Buddhist POC systems express genuine concern with that language (not the practice, just the words “tulpa” and “tulpamancy”)

Are you okay with those who equate therians/nonhumans and the people who love them to zoophiles (another thing she has stood by which was incredibly triggering and offensive to us, a therian-heavy system).

Personally, we followed her for a long time then unfollowed after we saw someone else’s post which brought this stuff to light. We are just curious what your thoughts on this are!

(Also as far as we know she has shared some really harmful misinformation about dissociative disorders… specifically iirc that DID can form after childhood and trauma is not necessary for this disorder to form. Just letting you know in case you weren’t aware!)

- Starling

I kind of went back and forth on whether to reply to this, but ultimately decided that it would be for the best. I'm sure many of my followers are wondering the same thing and what it means.

The truth is, we're married now. I finally wooed her with my charm.

@sophieinwonderland just so you know that this is out here. I hope it's a fair response to both of us.

No, in all seriousness and honesty, I reached out to sophie because she had the largest audience and sway, and when you're so violently mean to each other, you develop a special bond. It's been... jeez, monthsss since I interacted with sophie directly. I don't know if Sophie will agree, but I think we had a habit of getting each other going, with more ridiculous posts on each side the longer the spats went on. I think the fact that we both left each other alone for so long was really good for both of us, and over that time, as much as sophie saw changes in me, I saw them in her. I found that when she wasn't being an inflammatory twot (/aff) and stayed away from the tulpa-language debate, I agreed more and more with some of her posts. She's really been doing good work with the stuff on reddit-- the RAMCOA deniers and fdc.

And what kind of person would I be if I didn't give her the same chance that she and her followers gave me?

Yeah, she's done some really shitty things, but so have I, just to different demographics (? Does that make sense??).

As well, reconciliation and interaction doesn't mean total support. I'm sure I have beliefs that sophie doesn't support. I'm sure sophie will reblog posts of mine that she agrees with, and skip the ones she doesn't like, and I'll do the same.

All that said, let's get a bit more specific.

The post linked in the ask. I am going to link it so that people can make their own informed decision. I think, though, that most of you reading this answer lived through all of that, experiencing each event first hand as it unfolded. Many people have issues with other events not listed. I can't cover everything. Again, interaction doesn't mean total support, and I can decide at any point to step back in support.

So.

Tulpamancy: I'm white as shit. I made my posts about the topic, and I reblogged everything I could in support of changing the language. I will continue to support changing language. This is a topic that is so much bigger than me, though. That's not to say I don't want to try and that I won't support efforts, but... I think the easiest way to explain this point is to use an example-- that it's not feasible to block and refuse to engage with people using the language. However, in those interactions, I can advocate where possible, and not interact with content I don't agree with.

Therians: I'm going to be super honest... I don't know what that is. I especially don't know how it relates to zoophiles. I do remember there being a lot of talk about this, I remember reading what people were saying and Sophie's response, but... I think the only thing I can pull specifically to mind was reading her response and going,

I really can't comment on this. I don't think that having sex with a therian is the same as having sex with an animal?? If you were hurt by something, obviously I support you.

Dissociative disorders: again, I've been watching her grow. I think she's been doing a lot more research as she's been battling fdc and it really shows. She made a post recently about whether DID could happen without trauma and I think I even agreed with it-- something about rare, fringe cases being inevitable in all things, and I was like, you know, I can agree with that. That's a good, happy medium. It's a far cry from what she used to say. I'm seeing a lot more respect about the topic and research, I see better advice to her followers. I want to give her a chance on this front.

[sovonight]

hi sovo ;u; I hope it's okay if I ask you a shop question! So um, I'm lower on money than I've ever been and I'm too burnt out to do commissions for ppl due to personal stuff, but I feel like... if I made one charm or one sticker for a particularly huge fandom/movie that's out right now, and if I put it up as preorder and sold at least 20 keychains then I'd be able to pay my bills this month. but I've never sold physical merch before and I'm a little nervous to try it haha :'D

Would you recommend I try making an Etsy since it seems to have a large enough audience, or do you think I should try making my own website/shop? I'm definitely not ready to consistently sell things as a steady job yet, I thought I'd try literally just one single keychain or one sticker sheet (I already learned how to make those, thankfully) in order to pay my rent this month bc I've only got about a hundred dollars to my name sdflkfssdf;; and if it goes well then maybe I can try it again.

I'm also not quite sure how to price things? if I made a 3.5 inch acrylic charm with the little star shaped keychains like from Vograce, do people normally price those at $15 when they sell them? should I also account for shipping? I've also umm never shipped merch before and I'm so worried about somehow messing it up sldfjsf like I don't know what kind of envelopes I have to get or if I should even use my own address bc I'm so nervous about my personal info being out there, but I don't know if it's worth paying for a PO box if I'm so low on money already. if you have any tips on anything whatsoever, I would appreciate any feedback if you're not busy. But if you don't want to answer please don't worry about it ;u; anyway thank you so much for reading this I really appreciate you! ❤

no prob! here are my thoughts:

pros/cons of etsy:

apparently if you're new to selling on etsy, there's a probationary period where etsy withholds your profits for 3 months. i don't know anything about it personally since it started in 2020, but it seems that funds are only released when your shipped orders are scanned at the post office. i think i also remember hearing about other cases where payments aren't released at all for 3 months--and etsy customer service has a reputation of being difficult to get a hold of if you have a problem as a seller, so if etsy made a mistake with your shop, it may take even more months to resolve. since you have preorders in mind, i would hold off on etsy unless you can pay out of pocket.

etsy can drive traffic towards your listing for you (if you choose the right keywords--it's more difficult to be discovered just randomly if you don't).

they have high fees (for a $15 charm they'd take $1.88 in fees, which is 12.5%).

people may be cautious to buy from a shop that has no reviews yet, but many customers are protected by etsy's purchase protection and can be refunded at no cost to you if their order gets lost in the mail (provided that you ship with a tracking number and meet other criteria).

etsy will strongly recommend that you offer free shipping; ignore them. i don't think i've ever bought fanmerch with free shipping in my life, and their advice isn't geared towards sellers like us.

preorders don't work very well with etsy's system--iirc you're not supposed to do them (even though people still do, of course) but the main reason i remember is that the max processing time etsy lets you set per product (as in, the time between the customer purchasing the listing and you shipping it out) is 6 weeks. that means that the time you allow for customers to place their preorders, the time it takes for you to order and receive the merch, and the time it takes for you to ship out orders, all need to add up a max of 6 weeks, which was personally a difficult timeline for me to meet when making keychains. ofc, it's possible to extend the processing time, but going over the processing time may make it possible for customers to leave reviews/open cases early before you're even ready to ship out their orders, which could affect the reputation of your shop.

pros/cons of not etsy:

if you're not going with etsy, i've heard people recommend bigcartel, since it doesn't require a subscription like shopify or other places do. bigcartel's free plan is limited, but it should work for what you're looking for. another alternative might be ko-fi--i've heard that ko-fi shops aren't ideal for shipping out a large amount of orders, but since you're targeting just 20 i think it should be manageable.

ofc, you'll have to drive all your traffic yourself, so consider if you have enough of a following in your target fandom, or how you should go about getting your post noticed by your target fandom.

unlike etsy, shipping isn't auto-calculated, so i'd probably set a flat rate (in the US i'd expect $5). flat rates might make calculating your taxes just a little bit more complicated; in california at least, you have to pay taxes on the difference between the shipping you charge your customers and the shipping you actually pay to the post office, so iirc you either refund the extra shipping to the customer or hand it all over in taxes.

pricing:

yes, the standard price for ~3" acrylic keychains is $15, though i've also seen people go up to $16 or $17, especially on etsy where the fees are high.

shipping should be a separate cost, either auto-calculated for you (if you're on etsy/shopify) or a flat rate that you set based on shipping rates for your country, so in the end a customer might pay $15 + $5 = $20 in total.

unless most of your prospective customers are international, i'd recommend against shipping internationally to avoid dealing with customs forms, especially since you already have a lot of info to take in.

you can ship everything in a regular bubble mailer, though if you're just shipping stickers not keychains, a flat envelope should work fine. when shipping packages, you'll need to know the weight of each package, but you can just go by an estimate. a 3" acrylic keychain weighs about 1 oz (it weighs less than that, but they don't accept decimals) so i just multiply based on how many keychains are in an order. for usps at least, shipping is the same rate up until 10 oz iirc, so you don't need to weigh it super accurately. you could also always just go into the post office and have them weigh and label everything for you.

po box:

if regular PO box rates in your area are too high, you can also consider using a virtual po box; they go for about $10 per month at their most basic plans. if you're not expecting to get any mail redirected back to you, you should be able to just buy a month's subscription when you're ready to ship things out.

words of caution:

you probably already know this, but large fandoms can often be oversaturated by merch, so just choosing a large fandom might not be enough to guarantee a sale--you might have to stand out by, say, choosing a character who's in demand but doesn't have much fanmerch, having a funny meme concept, or having such a unique/attractive style that people can't help but want your fanmerch in particular. if you haven't already, i'd recommend looking around the market and seeing what's out there and decide why a buyer should choose your merch over anyone else's. though honestly, depending on your fandom, it could also not be this serious and not warrant much research--it all depends!

even if the preorder process works out and you get the funds to place the order, the manufacturer could always mess up on your order, which could lead to delays in your fulfillment and at worst, more expenses if you need to pay to get them remade. if it's easier to get sticker sheets made (like if you make them yourself/locally instead of ordering from overseas) they might be a safer choice of merch to make. ofc, i don't generally see sticker sheets up for preorder so you'd probably have to order them out of pocket and hope they sell, and you'll probably have to sell more of them than you would of keychains to get the same amount of profit. i don't know the whole situation, so i can't say anything definite about the risks/rewards between choosing to sell keychains and choosing to sell stickers.

[akkivee]

i am a little embarrassed to say i didn’t pay much attention to stage posse but still!!!!!:

stage ramuda is an entire menace lmao

like both the anime and stage’s takes on ramuda is a cutesy snarky young man who will tear everything and everyone down when provoked in a certain manner and it’s valid!!!!! doesn’t mean i particularly care for it tho lol

i love track 4 tho for showing off ramuda’s ability to manipulate and even tho he’s the antagonist of that play, he was provoked by jakurai so if you ask me, sensei was the true antagonist of that track and that’s the sort of writing that makes the stage so interesting lmao

there was a flavour of falseness sekoguchi-san’s ramuda had, like a deep seated mask over his emotions and interactions and it SLAPPED he played ramuda’s early self conflicts very well

i don’t listen to stage posse’s first songs at all anymore (i esp despise trap of fling gomen lol) but there was a time i’d listen to stage songs with yasui-san’s ramuda and get sad it didn’t hit the same as sekoguchi-san’s lol

now it’s not a problem lol yasui-san has a wonderful ramuda as well and it was an easy transition because i think sekoguchi-san and yasui-san have similar takes on ramuda

we don’t talk about stage gentaro’s first actor lol but he played a very fruity gencha and i always appreciate that lol

sakata-san’s gentaro i felt embraced more of gentaro’s weirdness which i like to see more of in my gentaro LOL

i always think about that final bop2023 encore talk where he pretended to cry bc everything was ending, but it was a just a big ol’ uso desu yo joke, much to his teammates chagrin lol. stage dice must have been still giving him a look or something because gentaro returned his gaze and did this half shrug with a 😌😏 expression that kills me tbh lmao

speaking of stage dice!!!!!!!!!!

*EXPLODES*

takizawa-san……………. takiryo…………….. uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu……………………………..

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu……………………………

when ramuda got recast, it taught me the fear of my faves leaving and i begged that takiryo would never leave the role of dice lmao

his dancing??????????????? FLAWLESS

his rap?????????? FANTASTIC

his face???????? PHEW 😮‍💨

*collapses* and he’s charming too i always think about this one report i read where he and doshiro’s stage actor iirc were doing a rewatch of sorts of track two, and before it started they were playing asakusa bounce in the bg so takiryo was singing the chorus, ‘SEIYA!!!! SOIYA!!!!!! ASAKUSA!!!!!’

except he was getting the order wrong and kazuya-san had to gently correct him and takiryo fell out of his chair laughing at himself and UGH 😭💛😭💛😭💛😭💛😭💛😭💛

takiryo’s daisu absolutely put the ‘king’ in daisu lol like he was brutally cool

the way yasui-san and sakata-san tended to look towards him and occasionally acted around him like he was their leader helped drive that home too lol

stage dice was insane btw lmao i still can’t believe he said this lol

i think the stage play leaned into a young master kinda dice, to show what kind of upbringing dice came from in absence of the women’s presence in the plays. i think it’s a bit of a disservice to dice personally, but i wasn’t unwilling to see such a side of him explored lol

before fp vs mtc happened, he and byrnes-san tried to fit dice and rio’s relationship in wherever they happened to be together and i *clenches fist* thank them for that lmao

[starscelly]

hi cel!! was just going through ur 42455 tag and wondering if you’ve been having any Thoughts about them recently .. also. miro in that pic on roope’s ig story- he looked so so good!!

miro my beautiful wife. he did look so good if im remembering the correct photo!!!!!!!! apolocheese as this has been in my ask for Weeks now and i’m finally ready to approach it whole heartedly with my arms wide open …. i am always having thoughts abt Them unfortunately.... cracking my knuckles….. thank u for asking abt my Guys <3 please take a little essay

THE THING IS…. and i’ve touched on this previously…… everything abt 42455 begs you to be like. roope jealousy. easy. him and miro have history and then harls comes in drooling after his boyfriend. of course he’d be rude. but i literally JUUUUST discussed that i don’t actually find roope bitchy. necessarily. like i think he would do so in a chirpy manner (see: him always being like ughh i hate esa esa is a big freak weirdo. and then he sees esa and is like ^-^) that would actually bounce off of harls chirping really well! like theyre actually Pretty similar in the regard imo

and then we also consider THIS second quote here abt the bubble ….. and this opens new doors 4 meee. like what do you mean actually that he got close to miro and roope in the bubble? why did he specifically name miro and roope??????? but anyways . harls even says himself that he normally wouldn’t get to get close to the europeans but that closed in environment Let him do so . and it lets me live in a world of pre established friendship and crushes. and isn’t that stunning. i also think it’s fun that like. harls was a black ace. from my understanding they didn’t really overlap with the team for practices? like they were separate (correct me if i’m wrong) so that can affect the dynamic a lot imo! like we All remember this saad tweet (i am the only person that thinks of this regularly) and how it - along with those harls interviews gushing abt miro - set up a kinda. hero worship to friendship to lovers. but if we consider harls was a black ace during the covid bubble and didn’t have the same access to follow miro on the ice all day. that means they got to know each other like. casually. obviously not Outside the context of hockey because of the environment but closer to that than not. i think u can still get hero worshippy abt it bc harls would’ve been FRESHLY 19. actually turning 19 IN the bubble iirc so literally probably 18 when they met? miro would’ve been freshly 21 and roope 23. which in pro hockey world is Old Enough to be considered Older and Wiser and Cooler. BUT ANYWAYS. yeah enough outside of the context for it to be a Relatively Normal Friendship Plus Some Admiration. like there’s an article where they talk abt how the black aces would hang out with the main rosters guys at dinners and other Activities and pick their brain abt stuff and i can def see harls doing that with miro - and by default roope - but obviously that could and likely would devolve into Normal Conversation as well.

u can also maybe get into some fun stuff that, if u struggle with repositioning roope as not a jealous hater, could help. like we Saw bubble miro (so insane so good). maybe harls was a good luck charm. something like that. etc etc. 

i also want to just. placing roope aside maybe for a second. not something i like to do frequently but humor me. if we could take a moment for the dress and such. re:

idk if i have much more profound to say about that but. 3 boygirlfriends who can skate soooo pretty and play such similar games..... idk im into it!!!! conceptually!!!!!!!!!!!

also idr how much i discussed this last time but. as someone insane + always miro centric. it is very quite important to me that miro has two men just aaaabsolutely obsessed with him. and i think the difference in the way theyre obsessed with him is really silly and fun as well!!!! harls is . seemingly. relatively sane abt him off the ice (well. insane abt him but in the way he is insane abt everybody) but is SOOO obsessed with him as a player. insert every time he talks abt miro playing hockey. and roope is relatively sane abt him as a player - so much so that they played together for a full ! year!!!!! without the having their names linked forever and the being attached at the hip - but absolutely insane abt him off the ice. like will not leave him alone. like half of his insta posts include miro atp (not fact checking so just trust me). like it's truly sickening.

ANYWAYS..... sorry this was especially all over the place... i have a lot of big feelings and thoughts! i hope this was appreciated regardless of the Mess of it lolll

[hoghtastic]

If you look at their photos together in public when they first announced their relationship, Alex looks genuinely happy with her and she has her hand on his jacket like "look who I scored?are you jealous" clearly showing him off as a trophy. You can argue that she just wanted to announce their relationship because she is serious about him and vice versa, but honestly that is not the only impression I got. Anyway, to continue further with my analysis :p I kid you not one of the next signs is "Luring coworkers into wild behaviours or seducing coworkers or supervisors into romantic relationships". I don't even need to explain that one hah. The next one is "using manipulation to reach goals" (in this case using Alex's influence and popularity to get more exposure and further her career) and who knows if he also played a role in getting her on the show, I wouldn't be surprised. Next one is "scheming for personal benefit without considering consequences". With all the talk about her changing her aesthetic and her personality to match Alex's, she doesn't seem to have a problem adjusting herself to fake a connection with him. People with dark triad personality traits are often charming, well liked and skilled at false mirroring with others, this is probably also how Johanne was able to get his family to like her and have Alex believe they are so alike. Like another anonymous ask pointed out, she appeared to like him/be interested in him for a while before they got together so it probably wasn't difficult for her to study him and find out his interests and likes and adjust herself accordingly through time. I myself encountered these kind of people before and luckily because of my long time and obsessive interest in studying body language, human behaviour and psychoanalyzing people to death lol I am usually able to spot sociopaths and people with sociopathic tendencies by picking up on these behaviours. Sadly most sociopathic people are able to fool others very well and they don't get caught, especially if they aren't completely devoid of empathy. Again we don't know their relationship and human beings are complicated, not so black or white. She could be benefitting from him while also genuinely liking him at the same time, we are just speculating at the end of the day but damn if she doesn't fit most of the signs listed lol. Btw I have some pics I would like to upload of her and you can't tell me she doesn't look like a sociopath in them lol (can you tell I am obsessed with psychoanalysis?) I'm not really sure how to though.

As for people comparing her with Alicia Agneson. Alicia did seem somewhat like a clout chaser as well since she always tries to take pictures with him when they are together lol, but she never gave the impression of being a mean or manipulative person, I actually like her. IIRC they had a fling early on during the filming of vikings? but I'm not entirely sure what happened with them. Alex strikes me as the type of person who craves a deep and genuine connection with someone which is what Johanne is providing him with. Alicia is gorgeous and seems nice but she also seems a little superficial and dumb (I'm not even sure she even wants to date him tho or vice versa). Johanne otoh comes across as being a mature and articulate person and she is also charismatic. She probably picked up on this fact and was able to connect with him (how genuine she is with him we don't know) and remember Alex enjoys singing and Johanne is quite a good singer. (Yes unlike some people I think she is a talented lol). I watched a video where she won some singing competition I think? and she sang with a lot of depth and emotion, so that probably also won him over. Overall I can see why Alex is attracted to her but I genuinely do not think she is a good or nice person even if she happens to be genuine with him. Unfortunately irl bad people often get what they want and people often either make excuses for or don't see their bad behaviour. (part 2)

Anyway those are just my two cents

Part 2 of 2.

Thank you for your input and for your very interesting analysis, anon! 😊 It really is some food for thought! However, I’d just like to disagree with the part where you mention Johanne coming off as mature and charismatic. In my opinion, someone who is mature wouldn’t feel the need to play those little social media games (like “hinting” at them having a relationship in her instastories, or the infamous “you snooze, you lose”) just for attention, and you would expect of a mature person to own up to their mistakes and apologise when needed, instead of just deleting things and move on like nothing ever happened and they did nothing wrong (like when she posted that artwork which she wanted to pass as her own original creation, and when people found out and called her out for it, she just deleted both the picture and the comments, instead of crediting the original artist whose work she copied, for example). And about charisma, you’d expect someone charismatic to have a strong presence and personality, but personally, I can see neither. She comes off as bland, with the need to adapt and change her personality to better fit the ones she’d like to charm and be close with, which means that she has no real personality at all, just an amount of characteristics, likes and interests she “borrowed” because they suit her better at the time. 😕 Just my personal opinion, of course.

Also, to answer your question about submitting pictures, you can do so by either sending an ask or submission (though tumblr doesn’t allow those to be anonymous) or you can send me the pictures through a direct message, telling me to post them. In that case, I’ll post them here and you’ll remain anonymous. It’s whatever you prefer and feel most comfortable with, really. 😊

[cogbreath]

i don't think we've ever watched Shrek and we only really know about Farquad through memes, please tell us about him

OH MY GOODNESS. well this isnt gonna be an unbiased take. because he is my husband. so yeah.

anywayyy he's the ruler of duloc, and he rlly wants to be a king rather than a lord. so he gets a magic mirror to find him a princess he can marry to become a king (some ppl say that monarchy heirship doesnr work like this but i don't know anything.)

anyway imho hes like. such a ladies man. honestly. hes super charming and suave, he would definitely spoil his lover with affection and gifts and all in all treat them like the center of his world. (we see aspects of this with the way he acts towards princess fiona in the movie)

at the same time he is kind of arrogant and doesn't really care about anyone else. with his most well known quote "some of you may die, but its a sacrifice im willing to make"

personally i find his arrogance and selfishness rlly attractive and also kind of funny at times. hes very self confident. and adamant in saying he deserves what he thinks he deserves.

his voice is so beautiful and i love the way he speaks.

he doesnt like the fairytale creatures though and exhiles them from duloc. he wants everything the way he wants it. anyway exhiling them is how shrek got involved with everything because shreks swamp is just outside of the limits of duloc so thats where all the fairytale creatures went.

anyhow i feel all my compliments i make abt him are true because of the fact that fiona does seem quite charmed by him at first. only once it's revealed that hes quite short does she seem to change her mind. which is lame. but at the same time it means hes all mine to self ship with as i please :3 (which i do by means of my oc Allegro. who is his jester. heheh.)

oh also his first name is Maximus (iirc this is something that was mentioned only in shrek the musical so its dubiously canon but i accept it because. otherwise he doesnt have one.)

and apparently his birthday is april 15th! not sure where that came from though. its uncited on his wikipedia page but im willing to believe it because it gives me fun things to do on that day.

feel free to ask more. also my good friend @supivuokko knows a whole lot abt him too all kinds of small details and fun stuff. so u can ask them too if u'd like. :D

[bees-tornado]

hello stranger! I will ask you some questions! 6, 9, 26, 32!

thank you for the numbers stranger I owe you my life

6. Which route is your favorite?

I’m very biased towards Verdant Wind, largely because it’s my first route, but also because Claude is there + the way it explores and uncovers the game’s lore + it has the best final battle IMO. I really really like Azure Moon’s story though so it’s a close second.

9. What is your favorite scene in the game (can be in the main story or a support convo)?

Okay because this question is sort of open-ended I’m gonna do main story AND support convo.

As for animated cutscenes, I have two favorites. One would have to be the VW final fight, I won’t describe what I like about it in great detail because there’s a certain someone I know who will probably be reading this and still needs to finish VW cough cough, but it’s just a really cool sequence and I just think Claude really gets to shine in it. Two would have to be the Blue Lions’ Flame Emperor reveal because. Yeah. Uh. Wow. That was really something. The laugh? The shot of the spear flying by Edelgard? The way it really showed Dimitri’s monstrous strength for the first time? Very good. I had been looking forward to seeing how Dimitri cracks in that route and it did not disappoint when I finally got there.

As for supports, I’m not sure if I can pick just one, but a moment that really stayed with me was a Sylvain line from his B Support with Annette:

“There's just one thing I want you to remember. Guys like me who hate hard work and sorta get by on our wits? It all falls apart eventually. I'm smart enough to know that. So I respect people like you. I mean it.”

It’s a line that really personally resonated with me, and that was probably around the time I realized how much I liked Sylvain as a character.

Some of my other favorite support chains include Bernadetta/Sylvain and Bernadetta/Yuri, but it’s been so long since I’ve seen some of these supports that I’m sure I’m forgetting a few.

(Okay, I’m gonna try to reel myself in with all the text from this point on, because if I don’t I’ll never finish answering this ask lmao)

26. Who is your overall favorite character?

I love both Bernadetta and Sylvain very much but if I had to choose my overall favorite (looks nervously at merchandise on wall/shelf/etc.), I would have to go with Bernie. She was actually the first student character besides the house leaders that I knew about before the game came out and I knew I would have to recruit her.

I’m not sure how well I can put it into words unless I write a whole essay about it (that might be its own post one day), but I see a lot of both my gf and myself in her, and there are a lot of things about her character that are just really charming.

She caught me a little off guard early in the game because she had a lot more going on than I expected, but just like Sylvain, I think there was one moment when Bernadetta really captured my heart, that being when she showed up at the graveyard in Chapter 10. Not only was she (iirc) the only person to explicitly leave flowers for Jeralt, but she left her room and went all the way across campus during exploration hours for the first time to do it. She has several moments like this, where she goes above and beyond on her own volition despite her anxiety. I dunno, I just think she’s neat.

32. What is your favorite post-timeskip character design or outfit?

I love so many of the post-timeskip character designs, but there are two characters in particular that really blew me away when I saw them for the first time after the timeskip.

First of all is Bernadetta, they just made her soooo pretty for no good reason. I love her hair, her bow, her earrings, her pauldrons, her outfit, her color scheme, and how they kept her silly little bicycle shorts. Rip to the hoodie, but she has this sort of yellow cloak-like piece with the clasp that sort of gives off the same vibe.

Second is Lorenz, they took away his haha funny academy haircut and made him downright majestic. I also love how the rose is incorporated into his armor.

Anyways THAT’S IT! I’M DONE

[essayofthoughts]

So I know you study the PCs of C1 with great intent and care - but how do you handle the NPCs, which get far less screentime and are all filtered through Matt? With, say, Cass there are easy shortcuts - looking at Percy and finding what they might share - but less to use with Syldor, for instance (who the twins likely tried hard not to emulate).

I mean, even with Syldor I feel like it's kind of possible to reverse engineer him in how the twins behave? Like they refuse to act like him, but his shittery still impacted them and their behaviour. Vax's defensive attitude and protectiveness of Vex, how he hurls himself into harm's way. Vex's quiet observance, the way that she can fold into herself when made to feel uncomfortable, ashamed or guilty.

It suggests Syldor used shame to police them and that's why Vax refuses to feel ashamed at all - he knows Syldor's full of shit and aggressively refuses yo abide - but it worked on Vex and that's why she reacts so badly to that and why Vax can get so overtly protective and defensive then. It also seems very likely that Syldor tried to play them against each other to some degree - Vex's desire to fit in versus Vax's indifference - and while that might have caused some disputes I think ultimatelynit only pulled them closer together.

But. Well. Syldor alone isn't what you're asking about.

For minor characters - ones which appear only the once or only fleetingly - I don't worry too much. I go off general vibe and make use of what is seen in canon. For more significant characters like Gilmore, Allura, Kima, even Clarota or Victor who are there several times but aren't so significant I think about what we do see of them and what facts we know!

Clarota was exiled by his people - so he's lonely - but he's also a mindflayer and so believes in his own superiority. Even in his weakened position we see him take an aggressive stance at a few points and he very kuch isn't there to make friends. Why would he be? Some companionship is better than none but it isn't at all like the elder brain or his own people and again - they are beneath him.

Allura was once an adventurer. For all her status she's much more understanding of and patient with VM than they necessarily deserve - because she's been there too.

Gilmore is a theatre kid. I'm pretty sure Matt has mentioned that Gilmore is based a little on someone he knew - queer and in theatre iirc - and so I use that same vibe of like... gregarious charm and utter self-assurance.

As I've said already you can also do a lot with dialogue to figure things out. There's a great Star Wars post circulating that has a wonderful point of like... don't ask what kind of person willingly dates trashfire murderer Anakin Skywalker. Just acknowledge that Padme is that kind of person and go from there. See her characterisation and find a way to slot that in. She has blindspots or perhaps isn't so perfect in her beliefs or perhaps she's makinf excuses or has a case of the I Can Fix Hims. Regardless - if the character does the thing, use that to inform the characterisation.

So... yeah. I use what we see and use that to capture the... idk, general shape and idea of the character, and then I try to replicate enough of the quirks or accents Matt gives them to keep them recogniseable.

After all, how many fics feature Victor and, one way or another, keep him recogniseable just by maintaining his abrupt, bonkersness?

Ask me about my fic ideas!

[apenapaperandadoofus]

Ohhh interesting- while I understand how someone might view the book like that as a person who’s favorite book id like to at least give my opinion about it

Thing is the romance from the book and movie are extremely different- and one is far more subtle than the other. So trying to get the same feel is almost impossible since the Ghibli is done in a more fairy tale sort of way (trust me I felt the same way when I watched the movie lol I was like: where’s my small actions of romance! Where are the characters flaws? Why is Sophie kissing the bird man when she should be throwing weed killer at him!

First things first- while I whole heartedly respect your opinion one thing rubbed me a bit off (respectfully ajdhdhd I don’t want to seem like I’m fighting lmao) also just in case- I am part of the LGBTQ community and have a close group of friends that are part of it as well (gays attract gays amirite lmao) so just in case I’m not a straight lady just saying stuff ajdhdbdb

While yes, Howl has the usual stereotypes of a queer man, I think saying that he’s gay just because he’s flamboyant af or likes doing his hair or likes fashion is kind of…very stereotypical? Just because a man does that doesn’t mean he’s queer- while we don’t know if he may be bi/pan it’s clear he has an attraction for women- and kind of assuming his sexuality because of personality seems a bit off? Like imo you never know until the person tells you or you ask. (And yes I do know there’s people that do conform to the stereotypes and that’s fine as well- however people should not be labeled based on it. The idea that gay men are all flamboyant, sassy and such is just really cliche atp)

We’ve been fighting for soooo long to break off stereotypes especially with what’s ‘feminine’ and what’s ‘masculine’ when like…there’s no difference? A man wearing make up doesn’t make him less ‘masculine’ etc etc you get the gist anyway I’m not getting into allll that but what I mean is we cannot say Howl is queer just because he does everything he does ajdbdbdb

I found it interesting that the book had Howl do that as a character when the book was written in the 80s. Like- for a man to be wearing makeup, being flamboyant, liking clothes etc etc was seen reaaaally bad in those times iirc. Like I obviously wasn’t born at that time, but I’ve got close familiars who had to hide that they were gay until like- the 90s/2000s because it was still seen weird at the time.

I like that like the whole book, DWJ makes it so you don’t judge people by their cover- so you don’t assume based on what everyone else says. That’s literally the message of the book. You don’t need to conform to societies expectations.

Now as for the other part- I kind of agree and disagree. When I finished reading HMC for the first time I was happy that Howl and Sophie ended together but was a bit like- wait a second what.

Then I read the book again and that’s when it became my favorite of all time.

The thing about DWJ is that you cannot read her books once. (I mean you can- but you will 100% enjoy it more if you read them various times). The beauty of Sophie’s and Howls romance, in my opinion, is how subtle and natural it is.

Sophie says countless of times that she feels charmed by Howls smile- from my memory she mentions it twice tho it could be more times. She gets angry when he mentions Miss Angorian! She tries to cut his suit so he doesn’t get hurt going to Mrs. Pentstentemmon (jfc I can NEVER write the name maam why) she literally goes to save miss Angorian just for Howl to be happy and she literally has an angry attack when she realizes she likes him (one of my favorite scenes haha!)

And Howl oh lord. He begins calling her nicknames. He takes her to Mrs. Pentsenaghhhhh so she can 1. Kind of give her blessing :000 and 2. See if she can take the curse of.

He also takes care of the scarecrow for her, begins flirting with Lettie only to get more info about Sophie (which once again hilarious Lettie was literally doing the same thing) he asked her what shop she wanted, what she wanted to sell- got her a big garden when she asked. He arranged for her family to visit her, went off to rescue her, got her her childhood home as well!

Anyway sorry for the long ramble (like I said- I love discussing and dissecting things like this and this is by no way me going “NO YOURE WRONG LISTEN TO THIS” since you were being respectful about it ahsbd just wanna make it clear I’m not attacking-)

In conclusion- I’m the case of the heteronormative plot maybe Howl shouldn’t be stereotyped because of how he acts in the book- at the end of the day personality does not define our sexual preference- and if you wanted to read a more queer romance with fantasy implemented im sure there’s a ton out there! It’s just hmc is not one of those :(

And the second I 100% get how you felt about the romance- I changed my opinion by rereading and noticing the little details and hints sprinkled throughout which is why this became my favorite book- but if the reader wanted a more passionate and heated romance it’s not the best book to read since it’s meant to be more subtle and natural.

Anyway I literally went off on a tangent do forgive me (and if my English wasn’t the best it ain’t my first language lol) that’s just my opinion in general about everything :D

(this is a ramble and isn't complimentary, so if you're in this tag purely for positive stuff, please swerve around this post; you have been warned, so pls don't add negativity to this post either, thanks)

Just finished hmc (book) and i have so many conflicting thoughts about it. Like it was obviously very well written in terms of the worldbuilding and the characters and the plot but then with the romance it felt,,, so odd to me.

Maybe it's the fact that it's decades old, but it has that feeling of vagueness that classics and stuff often do, where I don't feel at all invested because it all feels surface level. Like Sophie and Howl clearly have a connection, but I felt like it was never explored in a way that tugged at my heart strings, it was more like they had the grounds for friendship and then bippity boppity they held hands and were getting married.

Which gets me to another thing- this felt very much like someone had taken a very interesting queer character and put them in a very heteronormative romance plot??? Like howl has such major queer vibes, but then he interacts with sophie and vice versa like they're the protags of every heteronormative straight romance book (if there weren't even making out to keep your attention on SOMETHING), and it just feels like they were done dirty even tho they are as the author intended them to be and saw them as.

Idk just... They're such interesting characters and I would have loved to see their love story if it weren't trapped in a heteronormative cage.

The rest of the story is just so incredibly fun and engaging that whenever this stuff popped up and they were forced to play into these roles it felt jarring and left me at the end wondering if I'd just ruined the experience I knew from the ghibli movie and wasted hours just to end up feeling neutral about the story.

[rainy-astrology]

Mercury signs

My view on mercury ruling different signs. Mercury is the planet of communication - the way you talk, the way you think and make decisions. May change/add to this later.

Aspects to Mercury, house placements, and degrees can affect how your mercury expresses itself

If you like kpop and astrology, I do chart readings on idols. List is here

___

Aries

Aries mercury people seem to be very blunt and straightforward. Although, all fire mercuries are like that...Honestly can't tell which one is more honest: Aries or Sagittarius lol. Not afraid to argue, seem easy to anger and saying anything in the name of "defending" themselves.

I have a sibling with an Aries mercury and another with a Sag mercury... They can both be quite mean ngl. I think Aries mercury is more prone to getting mad and yelling, whereas a Sagittarius mercury will just sass and insult you. In my experience anyway...

___

Taurus

Such nice voices. Often make for amazing singers (iirc, a lot of singers with amazing range and tone have Taurus mercury). They like to take their time to think through things and make firm decisions. They are decisive and may be stubborn.

___

Gemini

Mercury in Gemini is domicile. Curious and knowledge seeking individuals, always wanting to learn and do new things. Lots of mental energy, their brains never shut off. They prefer to detach from their emotions and remain rational and logical.

___

Cancer

Cancer in mercury are often very intuitive and sensitive. Can read other's moods and emotions very well. Soft spoken and quiet. People often seem to be very comfortable with sharing deep, personal stories with us even if we've just barely met. Also may have lower/deeper tones.

Cue all the times people have randomly trauma dumped on me lol. Not too long ago, I had a customer tell me a traumatic event from their childhood while smiling. I didn't say or ask them anything that would have led them to tell me that. Mind you, I am just training as a nail tech, not a therapist or anything. Funnily enough though, I did consider and still do consider becoming a pyschologist...I think a lot of Cancer mercuries are just a natural at drawing people's deeper emotions out.

___

Leo

Honey type of voice, loud, and noticeable. Have loud laughs especially. Voices are usually deeper. They can be natural leaders who don't mind taking initiative and center stage. They may be really creative people. They're emotional people and don't mind showing it.

___

Virgo

Mercury is exalted in Virgo. Studious, particular way of speaking, and perfectionistic. Articulate and detail oriented. They can have great focus and motivation when it comes to working on anything. Can be quite meticulous.

___

Libra

Very friendly and smooth, can definitely be flirtatious. They just know what to say to get others to like them, very charming. They can also be good at calming tense situations down, since Libras value harmony and peace. They may be a bit indecisive as they see every side in situations.

___

Scorpio

Investigative and deep, wants to know everything. Don't lie to them. Often have good memory, so definitely do not hurt them in any way. They will remember for life and hold that against you. They're prone to overthinking.

___

Sagittarius

Detrimental under Mercury. Sagittarius likes to focus on the big idea and go on from there, while Mercury wants the little details and to be exact. Blunt and honest people. Also very funny. Open minded and honestly don't really care what other people think.

___

Capricorn

Capricorn Mercuries are generally quiet. Disciplined and always ready to achieve whatever they set their minds to. Realistic and maybe slow speaking. Likely the type to give you advice and solutions rather than be emotionally comforting.

___

Aquarius

Can be a bit judgemental, make strong opinions and judgements. But they are willing to change them if they want to. They're somehow both stubborn yet flexible about their beliefs.

___

Pisces

Mercury is fall in Pisces. Pisces mercuries seem...confused whenever they talk. Tendency to space out and get lost in their inner world. They seem to struggle with articulating their thoughts. May be forgetful or remember things incorrectly

Reminds me of a post I read some time ago...The person mentioned having a Pisces mercury in their chart and how it was a struggle for Pisces Mercuries to word their thoughts precisely. I could tell bc that person's explanation was very confusing. They could have explained it in one-two sentences instead of a messy paragraph... I don't mean to be mean though - that was just a really good example of how disorganized a Pisces Mercury's mind can be.

___

If you like kpop and typology, I do typology profiles for idols on my main blog @rainymbti

___

Other planets

Rising | Sun | Moon | Venus | Mars | Jupiter

[cabezadeperro]

Hi! For the character game I was wondering if you could do Mereel? I think you said once that you had never read the Repcomm series (wise choice), so I was wondering how you settled on the style in which you write him

hi anon! sorry, i saw this right after i woke up and immediately forgot about it lmao. also i forgot what game this was sdkghkhghhk (it's this one)

actual meme answer thing here, what i first wrote after the cut.

i have read the books! not all of them (i stopped with order 66, and i'm not planning to read the rest), but i did read them. and i actually like hard contact, because imo the things i dislike about the rest of the series aren't as obvious and in your face in that one.

First impression: i read a lot of fic before actually reading the books, so iirc it was a bit like. oh, so this is mereel. nice.

Impression now: fun character! i'd hate his guts if i met him in real life, but he's very fun to poke at and i love writing him into stuff. he's very clever, very charming and very difficult, and the kind of character that makes every single scene he appears in complicated in a fun way if you let him

Favorite moment: ngl the one htat sticks to me the most is when we first meet him. he's there and gone but he leaves an impression

Idea for a story: i want to make him interact with cody because i like writing cody being mean to people.

Unpopular opinion: uhhh i honestly don't know what counts as an unpopular opinion in the repcomm corner of the fandom lmao. sometimes i feel every single opinion is unpopular depending who you ask

Favorite relationship: that's probably ordo. the nulls are a bunch of gothic horror tropes wearing plastoid armour, but ordo and mereel are like the sisters of we have always lived in the castle

Favorite headcanon: ordo's his favourite person in the world (threat)

the thing about mereel is that. hm. i think i'm still finding out how i want to depict him? i feel like i don't really understand him as a character, the way i know i understand idk. jango or cody or rex or even qi'ra.

i know about the kal thing (like the rest of his brothers, mereel is torn between the things he wants and the things skirata thinks he should want), and i think he's clever and charming and bratty and selfish and that he can be very sweet and very kind sometimes, but that's about it.

i find the nulls very hard to pin down, because we only get ordo's pov, who doesn't interact that much w them, and i really can't fucking stand kal skirata, so i skip huge chunks of the novels when he's the narrator, and he's the one who knows them best

sorry, this is getting too long. in other words: i'm not too happy with my mereel yet, but i usually keep in mind the idea that he's very self-aware and very self-absorbed, and that he doesn't like anyone too much, included (especially) himself, while being a naturally extroverted and gregarious person. he's a really fun guy to hang out with And an absolute nightmare of a friend and a brother. very ride or die but you can't really trust him to not hurt you if he's feeling vulnerable or uncomfortable. he really wants to care for people and be loved but the way he goes about it is completely insane, and if i met someone like him in real life i'd run in the opposite direction as fast as i could ❤️