#does anyone know if that's confirmed or like a fan theory

[cornflowersandspoons]

"Shiny and stupid doll! MIKE MORTON!" ✨️✨️✨️ (LOVE HIM SOO MUCH😭💕)

Kinda a wip, couse I want to add like a circus postery background to him, and probably do some for the other circus members too, couse I literally adore all of them!!! But idk when I'll have the time for that. 🥺

[tornado1992]

No one knows where Sonic lives.

Even in his so called world renowed hero status, there’s way too little that the general public knows about Sonic The Hedgehog, sure, they know what his favorite food is, they know the names of his friends, and they know when his birthday is, but they don’t know where is he from, how is he so fast, or what is his reason to fight.

They know about most of the times he has saved the world, but they don’t know why his shoes don’t get burned by his speed, they know he can turn into a god-like glowy golden being, but they don’t know how exactly the magical jewels that do that work, they know he’s unstoppable, but they don’t know why.

Most people don’t care that much about that kind of information, even if he’s a hero, that’s his own business, even heroes need privacy; but then there’s the curiosity, the enigma, the mystery, most of those questions will be left without a solid answer, but there’s a few that should have definitive one.

Where does someone who can run around the whole globe in a matter of hours live? There’s a lot of theories.

Sonic has enough fame to have several fan clubs all around the world, and between all those fan clubs there’s been a lingering interest in the enigma of where does sonic live, between all the other questions this one is the one that gets the most possible answers, considering factors like his speed, his well known crave for adventure, his love for nature, all of it could make the difference between the right answer and the wrong answer.

At certain point, the curiosity reaches to more general public apart from the fanatism prone, and when in opportunity to talk to him, a lot of people start asking him the same question: “where do you live?” the answers all equal and all different at the same time “right here in the same world as you” “it varies from time to time” “I don’t think you could visit me”

The vagueness, the confusing contradictions, the evasion of the subject; he’s doing this on purpose. They might not know a lot about the blue speedster, but now this sole data needs to be known.

They start asking Sonic’s acquaintances instead of the hedgehog himself, they know they’re not getting an answer out of him at this point, and if anyone could have one, his friends should know it. Turns out that they don’t know.

Most of his friends being more annoyed with the fact that not even they know where he lives than about the people sticking their noses to his friend’s business was a surprise to the masses, and underwhelming, backtracking, frustrating surprise.

There’s an anonymous user online who affirms that not even the hedgehog’s arch nemesis knows where Sonic lives. Reliable sources support the statement.

The waters of nonsense gossip calm down after some time, but the question still remains, left to be more of general curiosity than lingering mystery.

A random day in a random town, a news program happens to be live outside when the speedster passes by and stops to smell the flowers around the area, the reporters ask him for a small interview, he says they have till he finishes picking up enough flowers for a crown.

They ask the same question everyone has asked for quite some time, just a different word, “Sonic, where is your home?”

Apparently the accidental rephrasing change is what finally gets it, as the speedster just says “right now? should be at mystic ruins”

He runs off immediately, the reporters left speechless, the program still on air on TV’s and the web, and the world going wild.

They finally got a straight, solid, specific answer. “That can’t be true” “but it can” “it’s logical” “it’s not” “he must’ve been joking” “he sounded serious” and more and more discussions take place around that single interview, the fan clubs are theorizing again, the general public is now more curious, and the official news from all over the globe need to confirm this by themselves.

So they ask again.

A full week later, a different city in a different country, different news reporters don’t even bother to ask him for an interview, they just run to him the moment they see the blue blur pass by and ask him again “Sonic, where is your home?!” He yells his answer without stopping:

“Last time I checked was in Central City”.

“It’s a contradiction” “then he was joking before” “he might change where he lives weekly” “we need more proof” “that was way too specific again”.

A different continent, two days later, a group of kids manage to record him when he greets them from the other side of a mountain, they ask “Where is your home?!” He yells back “I’m not sure at the moment!”

The confusion only grows, now no one knows if he’s genuinely giving true answers or full ass lying, it would be logical for him to do either. The curiosity becomes a mystery again, and people are legitimately trying to track all the locations he has mentioned to find out what is this all about. Some people even try to track him down. They try.

A whole month later, there’s a celebration near sunset city, a commemoration of some sorts, there’s been a lot of battles in way too little time so people just try to think about the party rather than the motive for it. Sonic attends the celebration along some of his friends.

A local news channel manages to reach him at the chili dog stand where he is waiting for his food while talking to the two tailed fox everyone knows is his best friend. They don’t mean to interrupt, but these opportunities are limited.

They ask the same question, the same word change that they know works: “Sonic, where is your home?”

The blue blur hangs an arm around the kit’s shoulder in a half hug as he grins widely, he says loudly: “right now, it’s right here!”

This time his home was with him.

[rockrosethistle]

If there's one thing TGWDLM fans are gonna do, it's think about the implications. And the implications of the opening number are crazy.

So. We know that the show isn't completely chronological since the opening number takes place before the meteor hits. So that song is a sort of "flash forward" moment. But when you think about it, we don't really know how far in the future it takes place.

What we do know is that by the time it's happening, Emma is infected. She has a little solo in it singing about how Paul is pining over a barista

And we know that this is meant to be an infected Emma specifically. Lauren had other characters in the show, if they wanted to avoid the Emma implication they would've just dressed her as one of those.

So we know this is meant to be Emma.

And Emma isn't infected until the very end of the show. She's dragged off stage during the credits. So since she's infected in the opening number, we know the number takes place after the events of the show.

Another important detail is that Paul is infected before Emma. He's the one that passes it on to her.

So back to the opening number, Emma is infected. Which means by just following a simple timeline, Paul must also be infected. He should be singing and dancing, right?

But that's not what happens. Paul misses his entrance.

If Paul is infected, then there's no reason he should be missing his entrance. Furthermore, if he's a part of a hive mind, there's no reason other members of the same hive mind shouldn't know where he is. They are literally all connected by one brain, and yet both Mr. Davidson and Bill express they have no clue where he went.

What I'm saying is that Paul is not infected. He was infected (again, we know that because Emma is infected and he was infected before her) but now he's not anymore.

I'm saying there's a way out of the hive, and Paul found it. That's the only explanation that makes sense given the facts of the situation. Sometime after the events of tgwdlm, Paul is able not only to break out the hive mind, but to hide from it.

And if he broke out, others could do the same. Maybe even Emma.

Edit because a countertheory has emerged: Yes it's possible that everyone is infected the entire time and the show itself is just Pokey replaying the events for the fun of it. But it seems unlikely to me. First of all, each of the Lords in Black has a distinct personality. They all are evil, but within that they seems to fall somewhere on a spectrum of "silly billy" to "prick." For example, Tinky is more of a silly billy. He toys with humans without much of a motive and more for just shits and giggles. But in every instance, Pokey's more on the extreme side of prick.

He's one of the few with an actual motive behind what he does. In Yellowjacket, it's confirmed that Pokotho hates the sound of anyone's voice except for his own. The events of TGWDLM don't happen because Pokey is bored, they happen because he is executing a plan. So I don't think that he would just have them play out their little scenario just to entertain him, especially just one small island? I just feel like he'd be more focused on world domination.

If the theory is that all this is happening after Pokey's already taken over the whole world, no one was successful in stopping him, then yes it's plausible, but still weird. There are a strange amount of things in that show you just think an eldritch god wouldn't include.

Edit 2: New evidence has emerged???

The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals is loosely based off of Invasion of The Body Snatchers. Paul's last name is even a nod to the main character, Matthew. At the end of the film, Matthew survives, and continues living among the infected, pretending to be one of them. And wouldn't that be just such a fun little parallel...

Obviously it doesn't prove anything but the source material doesn't lie folks.

[funpoire]

What I think is going to happen in book 8

this post is a side note for me. to see if my medium power is real. Also, I would love to know what you guys think

Sebek and yuu friendship. I think Sebek will be introduced in the first-year group by Yuu.

Mickey comes back. I think in this book we will see him even more. Understand why he is in the mirror.

Finally, understand the weird dream Yuu had. Why do they dream of the Great 7, why it’s happening before before/during overblot?

Crowley's true self (not him being Malleus's father). He is the reason Grim overblot I’m telling you. Look at this post for more info about why I think he is a bad guy

Yuu going home without telling anyone / not on purpose. 1) Trying to reach Mickey and traverse the mirror in their room like Alice. 2) Crowley tries the spell to go home and make a mistake.

Yuu is not going home I’m telling you. They are going to be in some different place with Mickey or related to the great Seven (omg yuu going back in time)

Yes this thing is only around yuu cause I need more content with the mc

Ace flirting with yuu (trying to at least have something right). Or at least Ace finally showing he does care about Yuu deeply.

First year sleepover before yuu go home. Very hurt/comfort scene. Where they all got their bed next to each other.

Lot of tears

Grim overblot after yuu go home because he is so sad and can’t absorb the blot anymore.

Yuu coming back and finding a way to travel between words

The ending being « and it was just a dream » (I’m burning aniplex if this is the ending)

The theory that yuu is dead being confirmed. I’m not really into this theory but there are so many references to death that I can a little bit understand why this theory exists in the first place. But maybe this theory could have a twist like everyone at home thinks yuu is dead. If you know what I mean

The theory of time loops. Imagine 2 seconds reading a chapter and then in it boom the game acts like it reset. That would be so cool. (Rip 4th wall)

Oh, you think Book 7 was giving you a heart attack? Get ready for book 8 with more lore drops, more « Omg is he dead » and ofc « Where is yuu? ». Book 7 was the calme before the storm

Even longer book

Yuu and grim relationship getting more developed with angst and trauma

The basic “let’s all remember the good times” and it’s a flashback of all the sweet moments in each book. This is the most basic thing media have ever done and i fear twisted wonderland will do the same. Not complaining ofc.

I smell the fan service for shipper in this book don’t know why. I know twisted wonderland is not a game to do that kind of thing (they are) but i can already imagine a chapter were you wondering if the character is truly talking about friendship or trying to have more. i’m watching you adeuce

They all using the power of friendship

At the end ramshackle dorm will be used by all the student to hangout or even maybe be a new dorm. Seems like bittersweet because that means Yuu’s home getting use for something else after they are gone.

Grim : 1) going back to his original habitat or even owner (i will hit my head against a wall) 2) getting adopted by adeuce or Idia (again hitting my head against the wall) after yuu is gone

Bittersweet ending. I don’t like bad ending but i feel like the ending would feel sad cause at the end of the day yuu have to go home and leave all the memories behind them.

Timeskip: First years being dorm leader or being third year now (tears and hitting the wall)

A possible RSA development

The more i think about this book the more i feel like going to therapy.

[104cadetlauren]

SEE YOU SOON, LEVI.

Another meta take on Levi’s CH139 Panel

Levi’s future in CH139 is deliberately left open to interpretation. It’s so vague that we’re left to fill in the blanks ourselves. But for those of us who look closer, who read between the lines, it’s easy to conclude that it’s connected with Hange.

Why do fans speculate that? Because in that final panel of Levi, there’s a quiet parallel to Armin and Mikasa, who are visited by a bird, symbolic of Eren.

Throughout the manga, Eren is often associated with birds, a metaphor for his longing for freedom, for soaring above the world, only to realize he was caged all along.

Now, let’s talk about Onyankpon’s last panel first, I have two interpreations of his CH134 panel.

1. The more popular one: Onyankopon, who witnessed Levi and Hange’s bond over the course of 3–4 years, glances at Levi with quiet understanding. He knows exactly why seeing that plane hurts. He knows it reminds Levi of her.

2. If you look carefully, the shot of Onyankopon is just a zoomed-in version of the wider scene above where we can see all four of them strolling the city. Maybe the point wasn’t to focus on Onyankopon’s expression, but to contrast how each person reacts to the plane, only the Onyankopon and Levi could connect Hange with the image of a plane. Falco and Gabi gaze at it in wonder. For Onyankopon, maybe he doesn’t look up because he’s already made peace with her passing. We saw him cry when Hange died. Maybe he’s accepted it. He’s moved on.

Now let’s go to Levi’s panel, he’s reading a newspaper, strolling through Onyankopon’s hometown with Falco and Gabi. A plane flies overhead. Levi glances upward subtly, like he doesn’t want anyone to know or notice that he was looking. Also what I meant when I say subtly is because I don’t think he is completely paralyzed because he can still turn the newspaper himself, but he does not crane his head upward but his eyeballs are at the very corner of his eyes meaning he’s looking upward, which was also evident in his close up panel where we see his eyes, the lingering sadness in them, and the stitches Hange had sewn into his face.

It’s like he’s still speaking to her, along the lines of “Are you watching me, Hange?” Or: “So you’re still watching, Four Eyes.”

And since I’m a Levihan shipper, and I like to emotionally ruin myself on a daily basis so I will share my a headcanon of mine.

In CH132, the plane symbolizes departing. Levi riding the plane and in Hange’s hallucination/afterlife, the plane was moving away from her. It was a symbolic representation of Levi and Hange parting ways. A realization that once again, both of them let duty outweigh their personal desires, as always.

The plane was also the contraption that carried hope (at first) but later became the one to take them away from one another, one staying behind to die, the other forced to go on.

And Levi’s parting words to Hange was “See you, Hange. Keep watching me.” (Or us, depending on your translation.)

In Levi’s CH139 panel, the plane appears to be hovering. (We can't really tell if it’s arriving or leaving.) But what if that ambiguity is the point?

What if this plane in Levis CH139 panel is a symbol of coming home or being together soon? Hange’s response to Levi’s “See you soon, Hange.”

“I’m still watching. See you soon, Levi.”

And after that, we don’t see Levi in old age, not in the manga, not in the anime. Not even a hint of his later life. The idea that he lived a long life was never confirmed. In fact, that theory has been quietly debunked.

So what if...

What if Levi did see Hange again? Sooner than any of us expected.

What do you think? Am I making sense? Let me know your thoughts! Let’s share ideas.

[eroguron0nsense]

The Mysterious Mysteries of Mr Sir Crocodile (Character Analysis)

(Apologies in advance for discrepancies from my usual tone and for holding off on everyone who voted for this on my last poll. Honest to God I hope y'all enjoy this in some capacity because I've been procrastinating on this meta so long it's derailed ALL my other One Piece writing and I only accomplished it through addy-fuelled mania)

This was such a fucking pain to write. I really wanted to say something about Crocodile and what makes him so fascinating that wasn't like, another fan theory or just a set of headcanons, but that's easier said than done?? We could boil it down to immaculate design, screen presence, attitude, or just the fact that he got brought back as an unlikely ally who shocked everyone by saving the protagonist, but I don't know that those factors in and of themselves make for a villain who's become such an object of fandom obsession.

Whatever it is, it's certainly not backstory or depth, because 24 years and hundreds and hundreds of chapters after his introduction, we still know nothing about Sir Crocowani's past beyond a vague confrontation with the Late Great Edward Newgate (that apparently like, ruined his dreams or something?), and some totally-not-just-a-threat-to-out-him-if-he-betrayed-the-alliance blackmail material the Queen of the Queers is holding over his sandy reptilian ass. I was born and grew into adulthood in the time it took Oda to tell the world fuck all about where he's from or his inner thoughts, or his actual honest motivations and traumas.

All we have about this character are questions. Why did he save Luffy and Ace –very conspicuously after both of their lineages were revealed to the world– against all logic and reason? Does he have ties to the revolutionaries? Is he the long-lost son of Rocks D. Xebec? Did he bounce on Comrade Dragon's Monkey D and squirt out the fucking Warrior of Liberation? I assume Oda's going to tell us more about him, but at this point, he's managed to keep a tighter lid on Sir Crocs, Inc.'s past than the fucking Secret History

You may be wondering, dear reader: what the fuck is my point? What is there, at this final stage of Long Running Pirate Manga, for me–Frankie EroGuroNonsense, OP Tumblr Community Z-lister with like, 7 mildly popular meta posts under my belt–to write about the legendary Sir Krokorok that hasn't already been said or theorized? What eagle-eyed observations did I make while rereading Alabasta and writing toxic Crobin fanfic? Am I going anywhere with this? Sorta. Yeah.

Let's start with listing things we actually know about Crockpot, in roughly chronological (??) order: –attended Gol D.'s execution way back when he was my age, along with anyone else who's anyone from his generation.

–At some point, met and was known well enough by Iva that she could effectively blackmail him

–Made it far enough on the Grand Line, somehow getting to the New World, and managed to pick up an 81,000,000 bounty (low end for a warlord, presumably scouted fairly early in his career)

–Wanted to be Pirate King until he gave up on it, not 100% explicitly confirmed but most likely due to getting his ass beat so badly by Whitebeard that he settled for picking off small fry and racketeering behind a government desk job. This makes him profoundly relatable to the rest of us depressed fucking losers who acquiesce to our own mediocrity.

–At 30, after presumably licking his wounds for a hot minute, sets up shop in Alabasta, comes up with a clever evil plan to quietly build up enough arms to conquer the world with a WMD, and then gets his years-long bioterrorist coup attempt foiled by a 17-year-old.

The rest we know: after a brief moment of glory as the unsung MVP of Impel Down/Marineford, he immediately reverts to Failguy Mode, gives all his money to a literal clown, and consequently gets roped into the neverending uncontrollable PR nightmare that is Cross Guild. It's still super vague and we know little to nothing about his past before the Alabasta Saga (for all we know he had a fling with King Cobra)

...Onto his personality and mannerisms. This shit's a lot more revealing. Superficially, he's everything: immaculate Bond villain levels of charismatic villainy, unbelievably ostentatious, dripped out like a Pimp, constantly smoking cigars, absolutely dripping with smugness and grease and disdain. Owns exotic pets and a giant casino, and spends every waking moment either grinning like a maniac when he's got the upper hand or storming around in a fucking mood when anything goes mildly wrong.

He's also pretty hardened underneath all that, obviously couldn't have lived a day on the grand line or survived Impel Down Torture otherwise. But even in Alabasta, Crockery gives off an air of being distinctly more grounded and willing to get his hands dirty than other flashy, established villains who flaunt their wealth and status. A big part of it is just his really hyper-masculine indomitable tough guy persona, but even early on he's very much micromanaging his operation, fighting people hand to hand in (as opposed to, say, Doffy, who literally puppeteers people while lounging around) and makes a point to keep almost all of his followers at a distance and rely on them as little as possible. He rants a bit about how dreams and whatnot are pointless follies, as One Piece antagonists tend to do, and repeatedly taunts Vivi about how her idealism can't save her, but with the context that he wanted to find Laughtale himself, it feels a lot like projection.

The character trait that's harped on a LOT in canon, and probably the most pertinent one to whatever demons he has, is Croconaw's profound pathological distrust for everyone around him. It's a huge part of what makes him a good early foil to the Nefertari family and the Straw Hats, whose collective strength is derived from organic human connection; Crocalor, by contrast, makes sure that up until the very last moment, he keeps most of his people so distant from him that they genuinely have no idea he's even their boss. His relationship with Robin is interesting, but he turns on her immediately when he realizes she either can't or won't give him the location of Pluton and has his dramatic stabbing/"I forgive you" lines about how he never trusted her or anyone from the start. He says the same shit to Mihawk when he suggests they join forces, even citing their mutual distrust as a kind of paradoxical justification for why they'd actually work well together.

Arguably the only exception is Daz Bones, but even that relationship is still a pretty reserved one; one of the few traits Daz exhibits is a similar avoidance of human connections to his boss and even though they've ironically formed a bond despite it, I can't imagine that they're emotionally close. I find these more explicit declarations of paranoia a lot less indicative of what's actually going on in Croconut's head than subtext, but I feel inclined to mention them just because it more or less tells us that his background/trauma has something to do either with betrayal or alternatively just being jaded and deprived to the point of self-isolation.

Krookodile's character gets a little bit more interesting when we get to see him again in Impel Down being a smug little manipulative rascal right up until he gets blackmailed by his endocrinologist, which is definitely medical malpractice but also funny as hell. I also appreciate that literally the first thing he does after getting out of his cell is change into a big coat and cravat to keep up appearances, but it's not until Marineford proper that things get really complicated. Saving Luffy and Ace is the first selfless thing we see Crobat do–while yelling at Luffy that he needs to protect what matters to him properly, no less– and he just keeps fighting for them after that, teaming up with his most hated rival crew to cover Luffy's retreat and telling the entire WG to go fuck itself multiple times over. He fights everyone on sight with no regard for his own safety, talks mad shit to Doffy, and demonstrates a genuinely compelling amount of honest to god chivalry.

For a short time, we see Crocomotive less as a really entertaining cartoon villain and more as a person with hidden, profound emotions and a confusing moral code that's seemingly incompatible with the vicious little creature we met in Alabasta. We come to understand, in a few very brief lines that give us way more questions than answers, that Cromagnon has deep-seated, emotional convictions he actively suppresses, and that whatever baggage he has is probably tied to wanting to or failing to save something of his own. His resentment of Newgate, who he really really wants to have a go at (despite theoretically no longer caring about the ambitions of his youth) is indicative of a desire to revisit the fight that probably ruined his dream and ego, but it's also tinged with a deep-seated grudging respect for a living legend.

Crock–Afire Explosion's obvious seething hatred of Doffy also gives us a few more insights into what's wrong with him. On a surface level, it makes sense that he dislikes a profoundly obnoxious, even flashier fellow warlord who achieved more or less the same goal he set out to in a shorter time, fucks with his business, and then mocks him/tries to recruit him right after his very public defeat and imprisonment. He postures a lot, especially with his lines insisting he's on a higher level and that Doffy could only ever join him as a subordinate, but he's visibly steamed in their initial encounter and clearly hasn't liked him for quite some time. I bring this up because if we stretch our interpretation a little (for the sake of my argument), Croc Holliday's distaste for someone who's (outwardly) so much like himself and embodies all of his villainous characteristics from back in Alabasta might also suggest that deep down, he doesn't actually like the things they have in common; he sees right through Doffy because he's done the same shit and he hates what he sees.

Having gone over all that, I've come up with some key characteristics of Crocomelon that I'll use going forward:

–Extremely performative: puts an ungodly amount of energy into maintaining a carefully curated persona, and projecting a certain amount of power, masculinity, and prestige. Not necessarily an unnatural or inauthentic one, but a constructed and purposeful one nonetheless

–Deep-seated paranoia, hidden secrets; probably intertwined. Keeps personal details on tight, tight lockdown, probably afraid of being known.

–Constant projection of his own insecurities and failures onto other people, making a point to be uniquely cruel in Alabasta to an idealist who loves her people and a dreamer who wants to be the Pirate King.

Ironically, he demonstrably respects and defends two people–Luffy and Whitebeard–who theoretically embody everything he hates or scorns (ambition, goodness, love, connection, romanticism, greatness in the traditional sense) and he intensely dislikes the villain most like himself, or at least the one who shares a lot of his worst characteristics (ostentatious manipulative scheming rat bastard backed by people stronger than himself) –The Grinch's heart grew three sizes at Marineford because of like, the compelling power of brotherly love and reminders of his youth or something

SPECULATION, CONCLUSIONS??

The difficulty with writing anything definitive about Crocko's Basilisk is that he's such a mystery, which functionally lets the fanbase project literally whatever weird personality traits, potential backstories, or anything else they could possibly come up with onto him. So I want to be clear that I have absolutely no interest in theorizing about the specifics of his past or secret identity or potential baby daddy or anything along those lines; I'm only interested in what we can infer about his personality by extrapolating from canon. And the conclusion I keep coming back to, the one that I'm convinced is true on some level, is that Crocodile is living a lie and he fucking hates himself. Everything he does, from how he acts to what he claims to believe, is a desperate effort to cope with his own insecurity and failure and cover up a past version of himself he's deeply ashamed of.

Now, unfortunately, Oda did not conceive of Crocodile as a trans man but stories belong to the people and we can do what we want let's forget about that and play it straight because he's constantly performing gender as a means of compensating for a deep-seated shame and self-loathing from whatever traumas and secrets he keeps hidden. Even assuming he's a cis man, he deliberately chooses a hypermasculine persona with a Capital V Villain moniker and pimp outfit and speech pattern he's carefully curated to project masculine power–physical, political, and financial–and we know it's performance because we see him break kayfabe and get legitimately fucking angry whenever he's confronted by a person like Luffy, who's crazy and brave enough to try and do what he couldn't and risk everything for love and hope that he cannot bring himself to feel for another person, or reminders of the past he tries so desperately to bury.

The lessons he's wrongfully obtained from his past are as follows: Idealism is a weakness. Dreaming is a weakness. Connections to other people and being known are crippling liabilities (If he is, in fact, trans and closeted, that's all the more reason to be existentially disgusted by what he used to be). All the hope he brought to the Grand Line, all the excitement of trying to carry on where Roger left off, needs to be purged and buried because all he got to show for it was loss and humiliation. But he can't stop wanting more, and ironically, after he gives up on conquering the Grand Line, he ends up chasing the same fucking poneglyphs and weapons because his ambition's still there; it's just compromised and much more jaded.

Everything he does that's seemingly contradictory makes sense when you realize that Crocodile resents his failure and wants to avenge himself. He makes a big show of talking down to Luffy and Vivi's petty ideals and shit-talking Newgate and his family, but he still wants to fight Whitebeard like he did way back when and help Luffy protect what matters to him. He hates Doffy, who's honestly just a more successful schemer than he is because it's a constant reminder of what he settled for when he took that warlord post and fucking gave up. He claims to trust no one, but he keeps Daz by his side and rewards his loyalty because he can't help but trust someone who respects him so deeply and follows him to the ends of the fucking earth long after losing the material incentive to do so. He claims to look down on people who aim for the stars and fight for love and joy and freedom and yet, in his most vulnerable moments–not in the face of violence or imprisonment, but when he's emotionally compelled to defend a child and help save his brother–we see how badly he wants that for himself.

TLDR: Crockman Holic is deeply insecure in his masculinity, desperately needs psychological help, and his character/potential redemption arc in One Piece is just dealing with his midlife crisis.

[peachatini]

Sorry this is so long but I had a lot of thoughts.

A think piece about Choi San and Jeon Jungkook from BTS and the fanfic ideal of the alpha. I'm obsessed with all the similarities and differences between BTS & Ateez, guys.

The Alpha Misconception

Let’s talk about something that’s been on my mind: how fanfic tropes - even the ones we love - can sometimes mess with how we see real people. I’m thinking specifically about Jungkook from BTS and San from ATEEZ. I think they’ve got a lot in common in terms of how fans talk about them, but also some key differences that are worth noting.

Before we get into it, I want to make something clear: I’m pro fanfiction. I’m not here to judge anyone’s ships, fic preferences, or how you express love for your faves. This isn’t a “shipping is toxic” post. I’m a shipper and a fanfic writer of 25 years. It’s just a look at how certain archetypes and tropes can go from fun storytelling tools to something a little more limiting and even harmful when they get pushed onto real people too hard.

Also, I’m not pretending to speak for all of fandom. These are just thoughts based on what I’ve seen - if that means it’s a small slice of the internet, so be it. This is just one person’s take.

Backdrop that would be good to know: 

A small section of BTS’ label Hybe’s internal audit was released in late 2024. It was a report widely condemned for the “petty” nature of some of the comments within. It basically confirmed what a lot of fans had long suspected: that companies pay very close attention to fan culture, and sometimes even feed into it on purpose. 

It would be useful to know the people involved: BTS’ Jungkook and his most common ship partners Jimin and Taehyung and ATEEZ’ San, Yeosang and Wooyoung. But mainly focusing on Jungkook and San. The dynamics between them aren’t exact copies, but there are similar vibes and notable differences - especially in how fans ship them and assign roles based on appearance or energy.

Rough Male Pheromones

Rewind about ten months to an article published in W Korea. A review of the Jimin and Jungkook travel show Are You Sure?

The article is now deleted. The response from groups of people with enthusiasm for Jungkook was not great. Aside from factual inaccuracies, falsely attributed quotes and an overtly fanservice-y description of two friends on a trip, the “rough male pheromones” really stood out. 

Simply put: Many people simply didn’t recognise that description of Jungkook. 

And that dismay might stay in the BTS tumblr space if I wasn’t seeing a very slight reflection of this in Choi San.  

Fanfic as Profit

Saying that companies might engineer fanfic dynamics and characters onto their idols felt like a conspiracy theory once upon a time. It’s been quite a familiar refrain for me in the BTS shipping space: Well why would they make it up? Why would they bother doing this? Why would they construct things? What do they gain from it? 

But then Hybe’s report dropped, and it more or less confirmed four ideas:

They know fanfiction is powerful.

They create narratives designed for fans to latch onto.

They know fans love familiar BL-style dynamics - simple, digestible, romantic, TESTED.

They like to nurture the immersion of fans into the world and encourage the parasocial elements.

It really rewrote a lot of the thinking around what we're seeing. We’re not imagining things when we feel like certain “moments” between idols seem tailor-made for fans. A lot of it is intentional. That doesn’t mean the friendships aren’t real, but it does mean they’re being shaped into something marketable by using fanfic ideas. I don't think this was a huge secret uncovered. It was a pretty open secret but had it been laid out so plainly?

This is Hybe's CEO Bang Sihyuk in 2019 talking about a; fanfic and b; narratives to be developed based upon this. 

Here is Bang Sihyuk talking about going beyond fanservice with Jimin and Jungkook in a PowerPoint presentation:

Here is an article about the Hybe report seemingly confirming a song by TXT - also a Hybe group - is based on a fanfic:  

From the Hybe Report: 

Mad Summer: a fanfiction that was released around early days of debut. Not sure if the writer is just being sneaky, but they only release the fanfiction for viewing occasionally so as to self-manage any issues that arise. Perhaps that’s why it became a total hit amongst the 4th generation fandoms. Last week, it began trending on X that they made it public again for the first time in a long while and [redacted]. … Thanks to the fanfiction, in the early days, fantasies about the Yeonjun X Beomgyu OTP grew too big. But the two bicker a lot in real life, and the members also have the vibe of cousins who spend the whole summer vacation together, so it wasn’t a good environment for OTP stans to be active.

Even if the song and music video were not a direct reference to the fanfic, Hybe are aware of and monitor fanfic trends and how those trends play out with the member narratives. 

Here is Hybe monitoring fanfic trends: 

And not just fanfic but how sexuality is represented. Here is Hybe commenting on New from The Boyz wearing a crop top.

Translations vary on this. It’s either: 

So when New posted that photo screaming 'gayness', it triggered the outpour of 'queer-hate'. [...] overall, the 'queer image' that the fans wanted to see was not this 'teasing flirt' but more of the cute and little BL-story character. 

Or

The fandom wants queer members to be cute protagonists of the BL universe, not power players. 

At worst, Hybe believe fans want the simplest version of gay people as BL archetypes and at best, they’re keeping tabs on how they should be presenting their members for widest appeal. 

So we know Hybe are curiously married to fanfic presentations, utilising it to determine the direction of their narratives. 

The easiest way to present this to an audience is to replicate tried and true popular fic dynamics for queer ships. You'd be hard pressed to find a fandom without an ABO dynamic AU or a Mafia Boss AU. They're popular in every fanfic sphere I've ever been in: A tsundere/seme/masc/sexually confident top with a deredere/uke/femme/innocent bottom. The binary ideas of top and bottom, cute and grouchy, masc and femme are not necessarily always reflective of real complicated bedroom dynamics between real queer couples but they are really simple to grab, easy to understand. Think about the reductive questions queer people are asked: Who's the woman? Who's the top? Who puts up shelves and who cooks? It's a very simplistic shorthand for queer.

Certain popular pairings are reflective of these dynamics either by design - via constructed content or narrative - or by fortuitous circumstance to be capitalised on. In the case of San and Yeosang: the infamous WooSanSang live drama created a frisson to be explored.

This post about San and Yeosang really nails how these tropes show up: San as the protective, muscled one; Yeosang as the quiet, softer one.

Those same roles show up all the time in Jungkook/Jimin fic too but also very intensely in the Jimin/Jungkook shipping space.

Sidebar:

There’s a whole conversation to be had about how accurate the “innocent, seductive cutie who needs protecting” image really is when it comes to Jimin and Yeosang. They both have “cute” traits and are seen as sweet - but weak or helpless? Jimin is literally a black belt in, I think, a couple of martial arts. Still, he leans into the flirty-yet-adorable persona that fits neatly into the uke/seme dynamic. He’s quite committed to the role, often describing himself this way. 

Yeosang, though? He’s never seemed fully comfortable with it. Let’s not forget his EPIC eyeroll at a fan who called him cute: 

But yes, he’s whimsical and super pure and sweet. He’s the guy who doesn’t swear and draws his little aegyo character everywhere. But flirty? Not really. He doesn’t seem to court that kind of attention with any kind of regularity. He’s a soft-spoken, drone-loving, gamer-maths-nerd with a dry wit and, honestly, a suspiciously detailed knowledge of how to commit murder. So while the trope might suit Jimin, I’m not sure it was ever a natural fit for Yeosang.

And interestingly, we are witnessing the physical widening of Yeosang right now via his handy gains photos. That twink is PERISHING in real time:

I would talk more about Yeosang’s image but I think other people could do it better. And hey, look, Thirst did some excellent thinking about Yeosang and Wooyoung's image here.

Ok sidebar over.

The other pairings - Taekook and Woosan - don’t adhere to these ideals so strongly. Incidentally that would be our two could be real pairings. Thanks to @thirstkanaphan for that super handy shorthand phrase.

Taekook have similar characters and broadly similar physical appearance in terms of masculine presentation. Taehyung pre-military was physically slightly narrower but he does not have the femme qualities. They might be categorised as masc4masc vibes so the simple and easily comprehended lines around dominance/submission, alpha/omega, top/bottom are very fuzzy. Neither of them is playing the cutie to the tsundere, they both exhibit both traits. 

And in the case of WooSan, the pieces have been in place but seemingly never overlapped. Early years Wooyoung was the sexy one, the seductive cutie Jimin replica:

With his best friend little twink San: 

But by the time San had physically broadened to the point of being viable alpha material, Wooyoung seemed to have grown out of his designation. He’s now a bit more goth, a bit edgier and too steadfastly Wooyoung to play along with something that doesn’t feel real to him. See this quote from Wooyoung himself: 

My personality is such that, when it comes to my convictions, not only do I not tip toe around my stance, I'm also unable to put on an act for the sake of presenting a certain outward appearance.

(Further interesting similarity in that Taehyung occupies this kind of unapologetically self-determined role within BTS. On the surface there's not a lot Wooyoung and Taehyung have in common but the more I learn, the more I realise there's a lot of similarity.)

Some things with WooSan remain fic-friendly: the brat/brat tamer dynamic is strong with those two, Wooyoung can still play the enticing sweetie and physically, Wooyoung is shorter and leaner than San so they present the visual ideal:  

But crucially, every single time you think you have them pinned down, there’s a twist to them. Suddenly San is pouting and pushing buttons for attention, suddenly Wooyoung is attentive and dominant. There was a little fan story - that I cannot find the tweet for, sorry edit: FOUND IT - about San nearly tripping at Gayo Daejeon and going over to Wooyoung with a pout “I nearly tripped!” to be cooed at and loved on. The same event where Wooyoung gets San to check his hair looks nice. Those valued fic dynamics are so hard to hold onto in those two. The authenticity of them tends to override an overarching narrative. They just do their thing:

So now we’ve discussed the relative approaches to ships, to the actual point. It’s not really about ships at all. It’s all about a certain kind of shipping, whilst perfectly valid, and the box it inadvertently puts it’s main characters into: Our two “alphas” Jungkook and San. 

The Golden Maknae and the Mountain

This is how we first meet Jeon Jungkook, maknae of BTS, at BTS 2013 debut. He is 15 years old and looks it too: 

He grows up literally in front of Armys eyes. He has a vulnerability from his tender age, his huge bright eyes and babyface. He’s polite, he’s deferential, he bows low to his seniors. He adheres closely to age hierarchy, feeling it protects him from destroying relationships and making mistakes. 

And he hates to make mistakes. He’s hard on himself, a perfectionist to a self-detrimental fault. He’s silly and he’s soft and cute. We watch him go through puberty hormones that make him a little all over the place with his feelings but that’s your little brother, right? 

He’s a little duo with his best friend Taehyung. He’s the annoying little sibling to some of his hyungs, he’s the beloved baby to others. 

Then he hits 19 (20 Korean age) in 2017 and performs a dance cover to Coming of Age Ceremony by Park Jiyoon. It’s a popular song for girl groups to perform when they come of age. It’s a little problematically sexual, honestly, with a bunch of lyrics about how a man waited for her to become old enough and now she is, he doesn’t have to wait anymore. It’s weird. 

A new narrative emerges about Jungkook: He’s sporty; he’s a gym bunny; he can drink now; he can have opinions about kissing; he’s a MAN. He is now in a full time shipping narrative. 

Jungkook is a workout aficionado since pre-debut but he had been discouraged from strength training to maintain a young teen appeal. He begins to work out. He gets tattoos too, a full sleeve that he begins in 2019. He rides a motorcycle. 

By 2023 he looks like this: 

And the transformation into the Seme-Alpha-Masc idea is complete. 

Any Atiny reading will probably see the similarities between this and Choi San. San was 19, so a fair bit older than JK at debut in 2018 but he looks younger, just as innocent, like this:

He comes from a little island in the South called Namhae. The first ever idol from Namhae, in fact. There’s only a two year age range in Ateez, he’s the middle of five 99 liners. He has this sweet little voice still in the process of deepening. He’s excitable, youthful, playful, bubbly and he loves singing. He smiles a lot with these deep dimples. He collects plushies, can’t sleep without something to cuddle and he’s a scaredy cat. He’s a mischievous brother with some, a hyung to one, a joined-at-the-hip soulmate to another. 

He’s quite self conscious about his skinny body. I’m unsure of whether he was prevented from working out but around 2021, he begins to bulk up. Just including this comparison picture because it makes me laugh:

In 2024, he looks like this: 

Transformation complete. His name means Mountain and he looks like one. 

I want to be clear: These two men made these choices for their own bodies. I don’t think for a second either of them was forced to become muscular. They clearly find mental wellbeing in exercise and conditioning their bodies. It’s a stress reliever, it’s a fun thing for them. We’re all for the muscles as their personal choice. 

When it becomes a problem is when people treat them as if masculinity of the muscles are now their whole personality when the contrary very much still exists in them. I think it’s convenient for the company to lean into it but I don’t think the seeds they sow with a throwaway caption are easily controlled. It grows like weeds and seems to invade the fandom consciousness until the soft parts of them are always secondary to the mafia boss/northern duke. 

Some of the negative portrayals of Jungkook in shipping spaces, in fandom spaces and in official content include: 

He’s aggressive. 

He’s rude. 

He’s jealous to the point of toxicity. 

He’s abusive. 

He’s violent. 

He’s an alcoholic. 

He’s sulky. 

Too competitive. Too toxic. Too Western for singing about sex. Too big for his boots. So ungrateful. Overgrown manchild. Stubborn. A Hongdae boy, a fuckboy. Pushy and sexually aggressive. Himbo. 

Why is he so angry? Jungkook just punches me all the time. Jungkook scares me. Why is he so scary? If you get into a fight with Jungkook, he’ll definitely win. 

After the airing of Are You Sure, a travelogue featuring Jungkook and Jimin (and Taehyung), a tumblr user genuinely began to accuse Jungkook of physically abusing Jimin because Jungkook had made this prototypical younger sibling gesture at him: 

Around the time of NewJeans relationship with Hybe imploding, Jungkook posted to his instagram a fairly generic message of support to NewJeans, calling for companies to not use their young artists as pawns: 

Because this message partially called out Hybe, a lot of Army were convinced he had been hacked. It simply wasn’t comprehensible to them that he would have the wherewithal to take a mature and noble stance about something and put his own reputation at risk in support of young female artists. 

Hybe eventually confirmed that yes, Jungkook did make the post and what’s more made ANOTHER post along those lines and then the response flipped. Now he was ungrateful, biting the hand that fed him, foolish, immature, egotistical. There’s only two options for Jungkook here: He’s either oblivious and dumb or he’s ungrateful and childish. 

Some of the ways Jungkook is written in the top 40 fanfics:

Mafia boss, Bad at feelings, asshole, manipulative, alcoholic, drug user, abusive, cheater, top, tsundere, playboy, rich, sad, protective, alpha.

Once again keen to point out that it is ok for these things to exist in fic and absolutely no judgement on the content thereof but it is concerning how often these fic ideas become shorthand.

It's not helped by the mainstream presentation of Jungkook pitched by Hybe content and some other members:

Jungkook's house in the BTS mobile game. All gym equipment.

Alongside comments like: Why is he so angry? Jungkook just punches me all the time. Jungkook scares me. Why is he so scary? If you get into a fight with Jungkook, he’ll definitely win. Jungkook's muscles scare me.

Shipping edits of him as a sulky aggressive toxically jealous boyfriend, usually made up of slowed down clips of innocuous facial expressions, and even Taekook afficianados at war with Jikookers contribute with excessive edits of Jungkook fighting with Jimin to prove they don't even like each other when to ANYONE who has had a sibling this is perfectly normal playfighting. In the great ship war, Jungkook is consistently painted as the aggressive fuckboy.

While all facets of him are on display in this content, his silliness, his cuteness, those easy to grasp alpha archetypes tend to override. That's why the Spice Girls became so popular. Easy to cling to Posh Spice, Scary Spice, Baby Spice. It's good PR, it's fantastic marketing.

But it disregards so much of what Jungkook himself chooses to present. 

He collects make up. He dances when he eats. He has a little bratz lipbalm. His purse is fluffy. He is just about the babygirlest it’s possible to be. He loves Hello Kitty dolls, gg choreo and skipping about the place: 

He went full androgynous for Calvin Klein:

And more importantly, he’s uncommonly kind and polite as noted by anyone who meets him; he's a talented painter and artist and keen videographer and photographer; he works unbelievably hard, putting in the hours into his craft; he’s into gender free clothing and LGBT+ clothing brands; he is vocally sex positive; he’s not bound by macho expectation about never having feelings; he’s very silly and pure of heart. All of those things he was when he was younger and leaner are still there, softened by maturity and experience. That’s why Jungkook-aligned fans don’t recognise these negative portrayals of him… because overwhelmingly, the masculine muscle boy is the smallest part of him. 

Is it a problem to think of him as a gym obsessed muscle bunny if that's your point of reference...? No.. maybe not. But in dehumanising him with this Hulk idea, it makes him an easy target for blame and criticism. There’s no benefit of the doubt, no will to defend him against unkind commentary. His shoulders are so broad, he can carry the weight, right? That becomes cruelty and robbing him of his identity.  

And so perhaps I was more aware of what I was looking out for when it came to San. Maybe experience has made me cynical. I have noticed that generally Atiny are kinder to San than Army are to Jungkook - I think that comes from the fandom being a lot more aligned on ships and general approach and a lot of this perception comes from non-atiny seeing tiktok edits - but there’s little things I keep seeing creep in. 

San is scary. 

San is possessive. 

San is too sexual. 

San is too big with his movements. 

San is forceful. 

San is so moody and cold. 

San is rude to fans. 

But what do we really know about him? 

He is a human cat. He took needle felting kit on tour with him. He studies English diligently. He loves strawberry cake and cats. He still sleeps with his plushy shiba inu. He makes plushies kiss, he makes legos kiss. He loves this kitty card.

And on a deeper level, the real principles that he lives by? He studied tattoo types and placements for his Warriors video to ensure he wasn’t going to inadvertently offend someone’s culture. He is a vocally feminist, trans inclusive, LGBT ally. He’s a gentleman and an empath. He is educated on disability and neurodivergence. 

He, like Jungkook, is everything he has always been since debut, soft and sweet, but matured. And I think we should celebrate these things about them as much as we celebrate their masculine presentation. 

The alpha thing only works at a surface level with these two. When you take the physical size and assign a bunch of characteristics to it, it feels a little like using San or Jungkook as avatars for a character that doesn’t ring true. Fancasting them as OCs… and then attributing that personality to a person it doesn’t belong to. And maybe that’s not so bad, they’re strangers to us after all… but when it starts to encroach on their liberty and their ability to be judged for who they actually are, it feels heavier.

Another sidebar: Any smart Atiny reading might be recognising that Mingi is arguably falling victim to this in a much more toxic way than San is. It's a much more pernicious issue of the treatment of perceived potential neurodiversity within this space. Traits shared by both Jungkook and Mingi has led to demonization of them in certain spaces and I'm sure it's as much a contributor to Jungkook's treatment as his physical form is. There's another essay to be had there, I'm sure. But for now, I am just working on the ideas I have more firm in my brain.

San is definitely getting off lighter than Jungkook did. I think this is because ultimately KQ aren’t as determined to trade reality for the fiction ideal, valuing the unique appeal of authenticity. Hybe are much more committed to story and narrative and construct. To me, there’s a sense that KQ throw things at the wall and if it sticks, it sticks. If it drops, it drops. Leave it and move on. 

Hybe will go in with gorilla glue and duct tape and make it stick.  Unfortunately there’s human collateral in that thinking. 

So when the youtube channel says: 

Remember Seonghwa saying: 

[greypistacchio]

apologies for the dreadful quality of these pictures (my phone is in its dying bed, and I keep pretending not to hear its cries for a merciful death), but-

LOOK ME IN THE EYE. BUDDY THERE IS NO HETEROSEXUAL EXPLANATION FOR THESE TWO

DEAN: [Looking Cas in the eye as he slowly steps towards him] "So what? I'm Thelma, and you're Louise, and we're just gonna hold hands and jump off this cliff together?"

LISTEN. ONE DOES NOT JUST QUOTE THE SUPREME SAPPHIC QUEENS TO THEIR SAME-GENDER BESTIE, ALL THE WHILE EYE-FUCKING THEM INTO THE MULTIVERSE

AND KEEP HAVING A SHRED OF PLAUSIBLE HETEROSEXUALITY

IT IS NOT A THING THAT HAPPENS

This isn't even a stretch, there were hundreds of non-romantic duos that Dean could've quoted instead. He was raised on a steady diet of '70s and '80s TV, so there were plenty of straight couples and platonic friendships he could've mentioned instead. Cowboy films are notorious for the "No homo but I will die for you, and you will name your firstborn child after me" vibes between their characters, and we all know how much Dean loves those. He could've quoted the male friendship duos from "Willow", "The Princess Bride", "Heathers" (the '89 movie, of course, in the musical Kurt and Ram do give off them fruity vibes)...

Hell, he could've even brought up "The Lord Of The Rings" (BC you and I both know he would've watched the shit outta those) and mentioned Aragorn and literally anyone else in the Fellowship!!

But he did not. Instead Dean made a conscious CHOICE to mention THELMA AND LOUISE instead. He had countless examples of non-romantic duos, and yet he still went for one of the most iconic OUT AND CONFIRMED queer couples in the history of the film industry.

Macho performativity king Dean Winchester compared himself and his very platonic bro Castiel - "I rebelled, and I did it, all of it, for you" Castiel, "You are an exception" Castiel, "What would you have me do?" Castiel, "Can I tell you something if you promise not to tell another soul?" Castiel, gets-sacked-because-"See, he has this weakness. He likes you" Castiel

to

THE SAPPHIC QUEENS OF MURDEROUS ROADTRIPS

Subtext my ass, headcanon my ass, fan theory my ass. THEY ARE HOMOSEXUAL FOR EACH OTHER, YOUR LIEGE

THERE IS NO SILENCING THE BLATANT SEXUAL TENSION BETWEEN THESE TWO

[mygnolia]

get better! | 6. join stream 4 special guest

SMAU! synopsis -› in which your neighbor and popular twitch streamer park sunghoon breaks his arm, so he switches to vlog style content that matches up with yours! now everyone’s curious why 1) you have a cute boy in your apartment, 2) sunghoon’s not on his grind anymore, and 3) when are you two going to date!?

[1.9K WC] To be neighbors in the same apartment complex is a blessing- especially when all of your friends are across town. When you knock on Sunghoon’s door, it’s followed by a loud sound akin to a crash (is sunghoon okay???), before Sunghoon opens the door running a hand through his hair, feeling nervous.

“Hi.” He chokes out. “Come in.” You glance at his cast to make sure he’s okay, and despite his tweet from earlier where he took it off, it looks fine.

“Hi..? You..okay?” and the boy in question gives you a tight lipped smile. Was he…nervous?

You take in his apartment- it’s minimalistic in the best way, with succulents on the windows and polaroids of him and his friends hanging near the TV. While much of the furniture is white, it looks clean, and you’re glad that Sunghoon really does take care of his space. Twitch must pay him well (or used to) to have an apartment this nice.

He ushers you to his gaming room, where you see his extensive set-up. With monitors, cameras, headphones, and a glowing keyboard, you’re enamored by the way he’s gotten everything set-up all without his wires being tangled.

“I’m live- but I’m muted.” He starts, and his camera records him saying something, but the live audience on the other side is curious as to who he’s talking to since you were out of frame.

“Wait, I need a chair, right?” And it makes Sunghoon pause his one handed typing on the keyboard, mumbling a quiet ‘oh,’ before he stands back up.

“Here. Sit.” Sunghoon pushes you slightly to the gaming chair before your can protest, his movement awkward and robotic as he makes you sit down. The thought of Sunghoon being as nervous as you makes you smile, before you remember who you’re in front of.

‘IS THAT HIS GF’ ‘omg with yn rent free’ ‘YNNN I LOVE UR VIDS’ ‘bro they’re LITERALLY DATING’

When your eyes scan the messages, you call for Sunghoon to come back, who’s barely passed the door. “Let me unmute and introduce myself.” You suggest. And the streamer finds his palm becoming even more sweaty as he clicks a few buttons to turn the mic on. You watch him intently, and send him a warm smile as your thanks.

“Hi guys.” you wave at the camera before giving him the green light to get the chair that you need.

‘omg she’s so pretty’ ‘who is this wtf’ ‘where’s hoon lol’ ‘HIII YNNNNN’

A smile makes it’s way on your face with the last message. “My name is ____, and Sunghoon’s invited me over. Did he say anything to you guys?”

‘stream is called join live 4 special guest’ ‘nooo he never said anything’ ‘are you two tgt or what’

“We’re not together.” You confirm with a nervous smile, afraid of what would happen if his diehard fans found out about his relationship. “He’s just here to teach me bedwars.” The chat gets even faster- if it’s even possible. Questions and theories about your friendship with Sunghoon continue to pop up. “But don’t leave!” You say after you see some disinterest. “You guys should totally learn with me. Is there anyone who also doesn’t know how to play? Just..” You try to find the right words. “Think of Sunghoon as like, your boyfriend who’s teaching you bedwars.”

‘are he the one you keep tweeting about’ ‘YN IS HERE WOAHH’ ‘no yn you’re the gf he’s teaching’ ’so endgame couple!!’

The scraping of the chair as your neighbor tries to bring it in with one hand is funny to listen to outside of the door, and you giggle when you hear him curse, leaning out of frame to see if he’s okay or if he needs help.

“I heard that.” Sunghoon says when he’s in your range of vision, and it catches on the mic. With the way his viewers see your face light up now that he’s here, they automatically assume you two really have something going on. You’re only relieved to have him take over, no longer having to see some of the negative messages that fly by. At least on YouTube, you could ignore it all. Here? it’s all live, and you see it all.

Sunghoon sets up the chair and makes sure you’re comfortable before assuming his spot.

“What’s up bae-bees?” And you fight yet another smile at that stupid name. “This is Y/N. Makes vlog content but I think my gameplay is much more fun to watch. And by the way, check out our Q n A on her channel.” He glances over to you, and now that you’re properly able to look at him, you see the makeup that he had on for the photoshoot; and you can’t just not admit that Sunghoon is cute with his blush across the nose and freckles. You saw the after photoshoot post from him, too.

‘wait so dating rumors..???’ ‘DATING OR SIBLINGS’

“Are you two dating? Absolutely not.” He sends you a teasing grin, one that makes you swat at his shoulder with an indignant look- yeah, you’re not beating these dating allegations.

“Wow, you hate me? We spend like, 7 hours together the other day, and then you texted me saying you were outside- I thought we were friends!” And Sunghoon feels a flood of panic pass through him. Yes- he knows exactly what you mean. But his chat? his friends? Everyone who has just heard you speak? They have zero idea without context.

You’re not use to phrasing things as a streamer, and in an effort to calm his faster than light chat, Sunghoon stammers, “Yeah, we were cleaning so much of your new place. And those texts were all jokes- I’d never do that to a friend.”

Nodding in agreement without understanding the commotion you’ve caused, you try to read more of the chat.

‘pick me’ ‘ur too cute for her’ ‘she’s so cringe’

When Sunghoon sees the same things you do, his expression hardens, suddenly feeling upset. He was worried that this would happen. “Just because ____ isn’t in the gaming space or a streamer doesn’t mean you guys have the right to be mean to her. She puts in just as much effort into her videos and marketing her channel as much as I do for my gameplays. Please be nice, or I won’t be as willing to do special streams in the future.”

With appreciation, you pat his wrist, which is out of frame. You’re not really sure how to defend yourself against such baseless accusations, and considering Sunghoon’s not even your boyfriend, they have a reason to be so much more toxic and rude towards you without him defending you the way a boyfriend would.

“Maybe I should leave-“ You whisper to only him, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

Sunghoon shakes his head. “No, let me return the favor- plus, you wanted to learn bedwars. I’ll teach you the ropes.” His reassuring words make you feel more inclined to stay, not feeling as negative and embarrassed as before. He returns his attention to the chat after uncovering his mic, seeing some of his friends have seen the special title for today’s stream and joined.

“Hi Riki, Hee, Jay. Where’s Jake?” You peer over to see their verified badges with special colors appear, and Sunghoon reads their comments out loud. “Okay- enough of that. I’ll be teaching her how to play, now, so I might not be checking chat. As always, please be nice, and seeing as all my friends are in chat, there are even more mods available to ban you guys.” His voice is stern, but you can tell how much Sunghoon hates being mean to his fans.

simjake: ‘hi y/n please kick his ass so he’ll stfu.’

Sunghoon catches he quicker than you do, reading it with widened eyes. “Please kick his ass so he’ll shut the fuck up? Dude, If we’re on fortnite tonight, you’re last choice for squads.”

“But you can’t even play, Sunghoon.” You point out, and he frowns- trying his best to pretend that a kid on a bike wasn’t the whole reason he’s going bankrupt.

“I’m learning how to use it with the cast.”

“Don’t doctors tell you to literally not use it so it heals faster?” And he shrugs. Sunghoon’s arm really isn’t healing anytime soon, even if he swears it is.

“Well- anyways.” He uses his good arm to pull up the running tab for Minecraft, his avatar already in an empty lobby for you to practice. “Y/N is going to learn bedwars!”

Your face falls, and you look over to Sunghoon in horror. “I thought we were going to learn first. Without the stream.

He shakes his head with a half shrug, and moves his mouse around to make sure it’s still working like how he needs it to. “I think chat will find it funny to watch.”

You straighten up with determination and tell him to scoot over so you can place your hands on and familiarize yourself with the keyboard.

“Try the spacebar,” Sunghoon says with pride, and you laugh at how nerdy it sounds coming from him. After clicking the key a few times, and experimentally typing in the MInecraft chat, he begins to explain how to play, and you do your best to listen to him as he instructs you. “You know how to play, yes?” And your slight experience whenever you come to play on Sunoo’s set-up comes in handy for basic things like managing the game controls.

His 20k viewers all noticed a few things that neither of you picked up- both too engrossed in learning how to bridge without falling off, but also trying to fight and defend from other players.

They noticed how you liked to poke fun at Sunghoon sometimes- similar to your Youtube video where you’d make small but funny digs, and Sunghoon would go along with it. Everyone noticed how he was gently reassuring you with a hand on your shoulder or his fingers intertwining with yours when you stood up in frustration to pull it back to the mouse. Sunghoon here wasn’t the same flirty streamer who read his chat, called people his wife, or yelled at his friends (all in good fun!) when they lost match point; he was doting, and calm, with eye-crinkling smiles and praises everytime you bridged enough blocks to the other side. And after a bit more than an hour, you became tired of falling off the cliff from dynamite, or running out of golden apples to eat when you were running away- all to Sunghoon’s amusement.

You bid farewell to his chat, who all had fun watching you get excited while playing. For the gamers who watched Sunghoon’s channel, you le gameplay and reactions reminded them of the excitement it felt to play for the first time, and the problems they used to encounter trying to get better.

Sunghoon returns, with his chin resting on his good hand was he lazily reads chat. “He’s so in love.” He reads, scoffing. “Absolutely not, me and her are just friends. I’d do it for anyone.”

‘he’s so whipped’ simjake: ‘simphoon’ ‘someone get this man a gf’ heeonmic: ‘SIMPHOON BYEEE’

For the rest of his live, Sunghoon practices playing, blaming you offhandedly for cursing his keyboard and it was the reason why he was doing so bad. “Stop bothering ____ with us dating. Honestly she probably doesn’t even want a boyfriend.”

And how he was wrong.

prev. | ml. | next.

REN SAYS... i am my own writer. yes, i included sunghoon's selfie with biceps even though technically it wasn't needed because my brain needs it to be canon...

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[cosmerelists]

My Earnest Hopes & Dreams for Wind and Truth

Happy Wind and Truth Eve everyone! I just wanted to send out into the universe all of my hopes and dreams for this book--maybe a few of them will come true.

This post is safe if you've read through Rhythm of War! No WAT preview spoilers. Does refer to fan theories about WAT if that matters to you.

PLEASE do not put any Wind & Truth spoilers in the tags or notes of this post as you read!

Kaladin lives.

Kaladin lives and is happy.

There's a really cool Kaladin fight. Maybe two.

Kaladin & Szeth have to fight someone together.

Leshwi has a significant role.

There's a really cool Leshwi fight.

Adolin is NOT Odium's champion.

Adolin lives.

Shallan lives (I'm not super worried about her for whatever reason but I couldn't just include two of the three, you know?)

Rlain & Renarin romance.

Rlain & Renarin romance that isn't like tragic or awkward or anything. I request warm & fuzzy plz.

Shallan & Thaidakar meet.

MeLaan cameo.

...I notice the MeLaan cameo.

Rock returns or at least is in the book somehow.

Kaladin hits his head on a doorframe in Shinovar.

Navani invents something cool.

Navani thinks about Raboniel.

We get the third Bondsmith.

The third Bondsmith isn't human.

We find out that there are more than five Radiant oaths (pet theory that I want to be right about)

Hemalurgy gets used.....I know that would be bad but I think it would be interesting.

Hemalurgy doesn't get used on anyone I care about!!

Shallan doesn't incorporate Radiant.

Maya cure.

The theory that Shallan's mother was a Herald is confirmed. I think it's a cool theory.

Bondsmith powers used for a fight. I think it would be cool.

Satisfying Sanderlanche.

Kaladin meets a sheep. Or a dog. Or BOTH.

I don't cry too hard...

[sapphire-weapon]

Just to circle back on DG's tweets from last night

Because I recognize that I was um

a little

delirious last night.

This is a long post, but please read all of it, because it is important and needs to be said.

DG's statements about what's "canon" are clearly nonsense. Like, that's not even up for debate. Claiming that Gun "It Was All a Dream" Survivor 2 is canon is ridiculous to anyone who actually knows anything about Resident Evil or about Gun Survivor 2. Saying that the live-action RE movies are even partially canon just because the games steal ideas from them is ridiculous, and I shouldn't even have to explain why. RE steals from shit all the time. That doesn't make the things that it steals from canon. That's such a fucking stupid mentality, and he should feel stupid for saying that shit.

DG isn't so far up Capcom's butthole that he has a documented, verified list of what's canon in RE. I don't think even Capcom has a solid understanding of what "canon" means with regards to the RE universe. These are the same fucking people who claimed that the Netflix RE series that had Lance Reddick as Wesker was canon to the games.

Yes. They said that. They explicitly said that.

That doesn't make it true. Anyone who's ever played any RE game ever in their life knows that that fucking show isn't canon to the games. It doesn't matter what Capcom said. That shit is not canon to the games. Period. The end. Not even in question.

And that's something that I've been trying to impress upon this fandom since day fucking one of this blog rising to prominence within it: Do not listen to a single fucking word Capcom says. They make shit up; they lie. They forget their own lore and their own stories, and they just invent shit on the fly because they can't be assed to go back and doublecheck anything.

This had been conventional fandom wisdom for years, and I don't know when or how, exactly, we collectively lost sight of it. But truly old RE fans (like, active in the fandom since at least 2005 RE fans) will all tell you that everything that ever comes out of a Capcom rep's mouth is fucking nonsense. Supplemental material is garbage. None of it is real; none of it matters; none of it will ever show up in a game. I don't care what the wiki says; I don't care what Project Umbrella says. None of it's true, none of it makes it into the games, and almost all of it gets contradicted somewhere else in the series, because it's all just fluff and filler.

And when you follow RE for long enough, you will start to see it, too.

I promise.

I'm sorry if this bursts the bubble of anyone with a crazy insane RE9 theory based on super deep lore from obscure spin-offs and dev interviews, but it's the truth. I'm sorry.

So, I want you guys to understand that when I talk about "canon" -- when an Old Guard RE fan talks "canon" -- what I mean and what I'm referring to is: on-screen shown, stated, or described lore, character developments, and/or story beats that are immediately relevant to the core/numbered titles of the series and have a decent probability of affecting or showing up in a future mainline title.

That is what I'm referring to.

So, no. The Stage Play is not canon. Gun Survivor 2 is not canon. Umbrella Corps is not canon. Resistance is not canon. Dead Aim is not canon. The mangas are not canon. The books are not canon. None of that shit. None of it! Is canon.

The numbered games are canon. The Outbreak games are canon. The Chronicles games are canon. At least Degeneration is canon, and you can make an argument for the rest of the CGI movies being canon, but nothing's been confirmed yet. The Revelations games are... questionably canon. Up for debate. Depends on what Nakanishi does in RE9, since he worked on Rev1. Maybe he'll loop it in. I don't know. We'll know in February.

But that's really it.

And who knows? Maybe future numbered titles will start bringing in more spinoffs into the main canon. Maybe they will.

But they haven't yet.

And until they do, none of that extra supplemental shit should be coloring your understanding of what the actual, real, relevant story and lore of RE is.

Because I can tell you

I promise you

I will bet real-life money dollars

That when an RE dev team sits down to make an RE game, they are not leafing through every single RE thing ever made in order to ensure that the lore is pristine and everything follows a logical, consistent path forward. Our friend Andy over at ScreenFire Germany even said as much; he's the one who told us that RE's dev teams are not beholden to continue the story that came immediately before them.

When an RE team sits down to make a game, they can do whatever they want with the story, irrespective of anything that came before. This is why plot points get dropped so often in RE. This is why Umbrella dies off-screen between CV and RE4. This is why Steve Burnside has never reappeared in the series, despite Wesker promising us he would at the end of CV. This is why RE8 didn't continue the Blue Umbrella storyline. This is why RE9 is about Grace and Leon and the US government and not about corruption in the BSAA.

This is why.

There is no encyclopedia of RE lore sitting at Capcom HQ that the devs consult for every new title. There is no repository of plot points from every single game, movie, manga, book, stage show -- whatever -- that the devs reference for new game titles. The devs don't read the fan wiki.

They don't. I promise.

When the devs make a new game, they decide which character or characters they want to make the game about, and they make that game. That's it. That's all that happens. If they want to -- and if time allows them to -- they will go back and reference the main sources of canon regarding those characters, which is why it's important to identify what those actual sources are.

But... sometimes they won't do that. That's why RE6's lore and story are so fucked up. They didn't go back and replay RE1 or RE2 or RE3 or RE4 or Code Veronica when they wrote RE6. That's why Sherry's age in RE2 magically changed from 12 to 10 as of RE6. That's why the actual plot points between Sherry and Leon are completely absent from RE6. That's why Chris never brings up Wesker in conjunction with Ada, despite Leon somehow knowing that there was a connection between Wesker and Ada as early as RE4. That's why RE6 tried to establish that Leon and Chris met sometime after the BSAA was founded, despite the fact that they've been in contact with each other since 1999 in Code Veronica.

I could go on and on and on.

It's because no one went back and referenced the old material. Sometimes, that happens. That's why it can feel, sometimes, that it's really fucking hard to keep track of what RE canon actually even really is -- and why it's important to keep it as bare-bones, basic, and simple as possible.

And when you do that, understanding the series and the canon becomes a lot easier.

Because, again. I promise you. No one in Division 1 is going back and watching recordings of the fucking Stage Play in order to build their next game. No one is reading those novels. No one is searching through every ad and every dev statement going back to 1996. That's not real. That's not realistic. It's not happening.

So, when we're talking about one timeline vs two timelines...

You know, I hope DG is right. I'm on record having said that already. I hope to god he's right and that the original games and the remakes are both canon at the same time, and everything is a weird mishmash where nothing makes sense and the details don't matter -- because it will break RE fandom from this spell of trying to suss out what every little detail of "canon" actually is.

I hope he's right.

And he very well may be.

But I also don't think that it matters.

And the reason why I don't think that it matters starts with Hirabayashi's statement on how DSC's Operation Javier is canon to OG RE4 but not to RE4make. Hirabayashi stated in pretty plain terms that the OG games are one thing and the remakes are something else.

But I also recognize that Hirabayashi is just one man leading one team, and there are allegedly five separate teams that work on RE games. And Hirabayashi's philosophy for how his team develops RE games might not be the same as, say, Nakanishi's.

But it all comes down to this issue of what is canon and how the games address continuity.

For the remakes, Hirabayashi has made it very clear that he's following his own continuity irrespective of what the finer details of the OG games may state. RE2make logically leads into RE4make; RE4make is a direct sequel that pulls exclusively from RE2make without regard to any of the finer details that the OG games established and built off of. We can expect to see the same thing from the Code Veronica remake, which he is also in charge of. CVXR will be a direct sequel to RE2make the way that RE4make was -- but it'll just be Claire's sequel this time, where RE4make was Leon's.

So everything that is "canon"? Doesn't really matter to Hirabayashi. He's making his own """timeline""" of events. He's making his own """canon.""" And, as a result, you cannot say or assume that RE4make will lead Leon right into RE6 as it currently exists. Hirabayashi is doing what he wants with regards to Leon's character trajectory -- Leon's personal growth/development, his relationships, and his characterization in general. Remake Leon won't look, sound, or act the same in RE6make as he does in RE6. He will be different. The game will be different.

And it might piss some people off. And that's okay. Because it's its own thing. And it doesn't erase OG RE6.

But... this same philosophy might not show up or be true in RE9. Nakanishi might take some stuff from Hirabayashi's version of events. RE9 might end up being confusing in a lot of ways for that reason.

But that doesn't affect anything that Hirabayashi is doing on his end.

So, in that sense... the timelines are separated.

Even if RE9 combines them, they're still separate from Hirabayashi's point of view. And Hirabayashi still isn't beholden to honor anything that Nakanishi does or establishes in RE9.

I know that that's confusing. I know that that's hard to understand.

But that's why it is so important that we view the OG games and the remakes as different things. The remakes might affect OG, but OG won't affect the remakes. Because they're remakes. They can do what they want -- and Hirabayashi is doing what he wants with them (within reason). And he's said as much.

And... that's RE, man. That's how this series works.

If what you want/need/desire from a series is for everything to be explained in a way that's adequate and satisfying, RE isn't the series for you.

If you're looking for a series that you can piece together and have it make logical sense, RE isn't the series for you.

Well, maybe the remakes are. But not RE as a whole. Abandon anything that's not a remake, to that end. Don't pay attention to anything else in the series, if you're that person.

Because RE, overall, is not the series for that. It's not the series for you. It will not give you what you want. And the more that you look for it to do that, the more you'll walk away frustrated, upset, and disappointed.

[snorpyz]

Day one.

Ivlis & god!Reader, requested!! Part 2 (iykyk). Angsty, general woe. To my biggest fan!! <33 More to come?

Ivlis had not spoken a word since you'd both traversed through the portal. You surmised there could be multiple reasons why, with one common denominator.

Fear. This could be a dream of his. You could grow tired of him, and throw him back into that wretched place. You could be just as bad as anyone who's ever shown him any sort of interest. Hell, you could even eat him- as far as he's concerned.

All of those, reasonable.

So you try not to feel anything but indifference at the way he immediately shoots himself into a corner, cowering against the wall. You're sure it flickered across your face for a moment, concern. You quickly school any expressions and slowly move your hands up in a placating gesture. "I have no intentions with you." You start, knowing that he probably wouldn't believe you anyway.

"I'm sure you know who I am." Alright, perhaps saying this wasn't the best method of soothing any worry. Recognizing this causes you to furrow your brow, and you notice him flinch just from that action. Why would you, of all gods, help out someone like him? In his eyes, the only sentiment you'd held for other beings was indifference. You feeling anything warmer than that was impossible. Rather, becoming colder and crueler was more likely a possibility.

You mourned the position he was in. Of course, he'd feel that way. You try not to focus on your gnawing conscience, screaming of your inability to think properly today, and instead erase any physical semblance of emotion from your body. You need to appear as impartial as ever for him to feel even the slightest bit of comfort. You're sure he's gone through enough big changes today, he's visibly stressed to all hell.

Instead, "Look around you. You're in my domain. Impartial territory, where no one but me has any power. Do you recall my courts?" He does cast a glance around. You'd teleported the both of you to one of your viewing rooms. It's wide windows taking up an entire side of the room. You had many of these in your home, often choosing to gaze upon your world for hours at a time.

You cherished your belongings. Especially one you'd crafted by hand, so your domain was kept under tender care. A world where all your denizens could bring themselves before your courts, and ask for anything they'd wished. If sensible, you'd grant any number of their wishes.

This was, of course, a reason for shock amongst the other gods. Other higher beings would snarl at the idea of bending to the wills of those lesser than them. You'd like to laugh in their faces, and question the length of their power if simply granting wishes warranted them to be weaker. But even so, you'd have to put up an air of cold indifference to ensure no one tested you.

That couldn't entirely eradicate any whispers of how your world worked, no. Especially from those with tainted and vile lips, such as Satanick. So you're sure that Ivlis knew. At the flicker of recognition that crossed his eyes, your theory was confirmed. His stiffened figure relaxed slightly, and he seemed to lean almost imperceptibly against the wall.

That progress, as miniscule as it was, felt like a triumph. Feeling lighter, you turned your back. A pause, to test how volatile he was. He could try and lunge for you, sure, or demonstrate his intelligence in not attacking a god. Either way, it's not as if you'd get hurt. Irritated, sure, but his case of violence was understandable.

He didn't go for it. You allowed yourself a hidden smile before continuing your way to a side room, a small kitchen area with snacks and drinks. You get started on some tea, thinking he could do with something relaxing. Halfway through, you stop and question if he'd even take it.

He might think it's laced with something, or you're out to poison him. You grimace, frowning down at the boiling water before shaking your head. You'll bring a second cup, and pour out of the same pot. Perhaps that'll be enough to ail any worries he has.

Grabbing everything you think you'd need, you take a moment to collect yourself. This is the decision you've made, and you'll have to endure whatever consequence comes of it. None of the other beings would dare trespass in your territory, not for the moment. When Satanick comes to them bawling about his latest toy being taken, due to your behavior for the last millennia, they'll doubt that you're the real perpetrator.

Stepping back into the room, you notice he's still in the same spot as before. You don't bother with bringing any attention to it, and instead step over to a table. Placing everything down, you walk over to the other side and pull out a chair. You give him a glance, waiting until he meets your eyes to move on. Then, you go back over to your side and take a seat.

You pour yourself some tea, leaning back and taking a sip. It's only when you're on your third cup that Ivlis takes a step towards his designated seat. You don't pay him any mind, keeping your eyes on the table. It's over a span of 30 minutes that he makes his way over, his steps starting out incredibly light, then ending up firm and purposely loud. As if he's gaining the confidence to ask with his actions, if he's really allowed to sit before you.

You couldn't imagine a being so prideful and scathing to stoop as low as to ask things with his body language. But here he was. And here you were, feeling pity for every action he takes. Vile, you remind yourself. He was once vile.

You grit your teeth, lost in your own thoughts as the drag of a chair pulls you back to attention. You still don't look up, giving him the choice to sit or make himself absent. No pressure, you repeat in your mind. No pressure, you try and scream with your body language.

He finally sits down.

You slowly, quietly, reach out and pour him a cup. You set it beside the pot, giving him the option to take it. He does. Small victories. He seems to stare at it for a few minutes, contemplating whatever is going around in that head of his. Five, ten, twenty minutes. The almost imperceptible sound of a sip. You allowed yourself a gaze upward.

Okay, woah, his eyes are almost slitted. An incredibly intense stare, seeming to reach into the depths of your soul. You don't speak, don't challenge his gaze with your own. Don't pay any mind to how his widened eyes reminded you of prey, fearfully studying a predator. Waiting for them to strike.

'Were you ever familiar with softness?' You wanted to ask. 'Were you ever comforted, as innocent as a child? What did you have? What did you lack? All of it, what led to this. What was it? How did it feel?' Never would you question it out loud, never would you pay him that pitying, comforting gaze. You try to ignore the soft coo of the word, 'Hopefully.'

You haven't had sensible thoughts lately, nonetheless actions. Hadn't you already done all that you said you wouldn't do?

Divinity was about contradictions, apparently.

Rip the bandaid off. Go on, do it. You sigh inaudibly, pushing air through your nose. You notice he stirs at this, undoubtedly watching your every move. You tilt your gaze up, giving him as much honesty as you could muster.

"You won't be able to go back." Unsurprisingly, he only stares numbly. No argument, no 'I'd never want to go back anyway,' no 'You can't tell me what to do.' Even though you'd expected no struggle, for that to have been beat out of him ages ago, it still makes you grit your teeth.

You continue, the silence filling the air festering like an open wound. "You'll have freedom here, the option to do whatever you'd like within reason." A tiny downward twitch of his brows, likely wanting clarification. "You may not hurt yourself, or any denizens of my world. Intruders? Sure. But none of mine."

You didn't bother to keep a civil tone when saying this, being aware of his past actions. He needed to understand that you'd have no leniency with any cruelty that possibly remains within his being. He doesn't nod, doesn't respond, but you know he has processed every bit of what you've said. Overthought it, rolled it around his brain a billion times- searching for any hidden meaning, any subtle suggestion that you wanted to hurt him.

You let him mull it over. His eyes are so empty, you can particularly see the thoughts ping around in them. The glazed over defeated look brought painful thoughts to the forefront of your head, and you had to will yourself to keep eye contact. You'd thought the idea of freedom might have brought some light to his eyes, but you guessed he didn't trust it.

Maybe with time he would. (Are you really putting more time towards this? You're a fucking idiot.)

"Until you have recovered from your injuries, and are fit to be on your own again, I'd like you to stay under my protection. My home will house you, but my people will not tend to you. I'll oversee your wellbeing, make your meals, and doctor you." You couldn't risk him lashing out at one of your people. Think of it as a punishment. You'd look after him dutifully, at the sacrifice of your own time and wellbeing. Suits you right, for becoming so stupid.

He doesn't resist. When has he been allowed to in the last few eras? The idea is probably foreign to him. You feel bile tickle the back of your throat. When did you get so weak? What about him makes you cave?

You nod at him. (At yourself). You don't move your gaze from him, but let it stray to his hair (matted and unkempt). Never lower, never at his body. You're sure he'd flee. The idea of him doing so, from you, makes you cold. What would be the point, anyway? To look at the bruises engraved in his flesh? To see the length of abuse he has endured? Everyone knows. Everyone has seen.

Why did nobody do anything? (Why didn't you do anything till now?) It swims in your head. It swims.

"I'll keep you safe." It's whispered, like a secret. Just between the two of you. A shared guilt.

I'll help you, but the second you do something to earn another stain against your soul, I'll put you down. For my sake. You can't say it, but you're sure he understands. This is selfish, all of it. You'll help him to feel better about yourself. To absolve you. Nothing else, nothing more. You can't look him in the eyes anymore.

You reach over and pour him a cup, before standing. He jerks back, wide eyes fixated. Always on you. Never looking away. Does he never consider that there could be a second person, lurking behind? You bite your tongue.

You collect everything, intending on taking it all back to the sideroom. Ten steps, and you notice you're being shadowed. You don't stop, don't falter, just keep making your way forward. He follows you, albeit at a distance.

When you get there, you notice he stops at the doorway, as if asking for permission to enter. Pausing at the sink, you turn to him and nod before placing the dishes down. He doesn't make a move. Maybe he doesn't trust anything but verbal affirmation? "You're allowed to follow me, unless stated otherwise."

Never one to answer you, he takes a tentative step inside. "I'll lead you to your room." He perks up a little at this. Did he not think he'd have his own place to stay? He quickly stiffens once more. Maybe he thinks it'll end up being a dungeon? You huff.

Taking a step to the opposite side of the room, you wave for him to follow. You're in one of the wings that'll likely come to his frequent use during his stay. The kitchenette and viewing room becoming commonplace to him. You'll be sure to keep him to familiar rooms at first, that way it'll bring him more comfort.

But first? He needs to tend to those wounds and rest. You'll make him some soup while he busies himself with that. You'd offer to heal him, but you're sure any hands coming too close to his body would lead to panic. Understandable.

The few hallways it takes to find his designated room feel like eternity, the silence extending till your arrival. You open the door, and step inside first. You're sure he'd appreciate not having anyone come up behind him.

It's a lavish room, built for a god like yourself. (Maybe too good for him). A perfect place to recover in. It's light, not filled with any dreary colors. Nothing like what you're sure he resided in before. You wait till he steps in, and expect him to look around the room.

Nope.

He refuses to look away from you.

That's alright, you're sure he'll have plenty of time to look around once you leave him alone. You meet his eyes, and take a moment to chant a protection spell. One you're sure he'll recognize. 'May no harm come to anyone within this room'. A little bit of a double edged sword for the both of you, neither will be able to attack the other. However, it also ensures you'll both be safe from harm.

You'll be sure to secretly enchant the outside with a spell that only allows the two of you within this room, in case anyone decides to intrude.

Once that's over with, you slowly make your way towards the bathroom. Opening it up, you flick the light on, letting him view the inside. Letting him view you. You kneel down, and riffle through the lower cabinet. At finding what you're looking for, you make your way over to the bed, setting it down. You then step away, and usher towards it.

"Medical kit. It has vials of components you can use to mix any potions you'd need to revitalize yourself. As well as sterilization, and wrapping material." There'd be no need in telling him to use it wisely. Another thought dances across those eyes of his, it might be more suspicion. However, you don't bother with it.

You begin to make your way out the door, to seek some food for the two of you. Soup, likely. It'll be easier for him to consume.

The sideroom is as you've left it, and you begin to prepare a simple meal: just some chicken soup. You allow yourself a dry chuckle at the thought of him getting any sort of nostalgia from this. As if anyone who's ever looked after him, cared for him enough to prepare him a meal. Without stipulations. If you keep grinding your teeth, they'll be turned into dust.

It takes about 15 minutes for everything to be done, and you're sure by now he'd have wrapped himself tight. In bandages, maybe not in the comforter. After he's eaten, and you've left for a good amount of time, maybe he'll seek some sort of rest.

With a sigh, you get to delivering him his meal. You knock before entering, and once you're at least sure he's heard, you slowly crack open the door. You decide to verbally announce your entrance, too. "I'm coming in!"

The door opens to reveal him standing, not too far from the bed, as if he'd just been sitting. A shame. You nod to him, and at a slow pace make your way to the bedside table. He doesn't move an inch. You place the bowl and silverware down, before backing up a sizable distance. "Chicken soup."

You're sure he could identify it by scent, but it never hurts to clarify. You still have your own meal in another hand, and you decide to sit down in the middle of the floor. You'll eat in front of him, just as you did with the tea. (Why do you care so much about his comfort?) It doesn't take you long to finish your half. You even tilted the bowl down into your mouth, making sure all the broth didn't go to waste.

You dabble your mouth with a napkin, and consider simply teleporting all the dishes to the kitchen. It'd be easy, with just a flick of your finger. But then, maybe he'd think it was all an illusion. Something conjured, something dispelled. There's no telling how paranoid he'd be. You try not to grumble as you sit up and gather everything. You'd at least wait till you're out of sight before using your powers for laziness.

You take a few steps before pausing, "I'm going to head to bed. You can summon me by ringing this." You manifest a bell, linking its matter to your own. If rung, it'd feel like a pinch. You'd notice immediately.

You set it down by the door, sure he'd move it to where he pleased. He'll be fine, you say to yourself. No jumping out of the window, no seeking to..... Dispatch himself. Nothing. He'll be back where you left him, rested and bandaged. Somehow this mattered to you.

"Goodnight." You're not sure if he heard, but you couldn't bring yourself to care. You close the door behind you, and get to work enchanting it. Once that's over with, you teleport yourself directly into your bed.

You drag your palms down your face, a groan surfacing. You're an idiot. You're such a fucking idiot. Whatever. You turn over, feeling your pillow tickle the side of your face. Whatever. It's too late to change anything.

This is it. It's your fault, now.

Day one with Ivlis wasn't too bad, huh? At least he didn't try to kill you. As if he could.

You're so fucked.

At request, I have returned to it! I'll probably make a part 3, I'm sort of invested in my own storyline of taking someone you detest under your care out of moral pain and suffering. Ivlis.... I see u, Ivlis..... He's so pitiful and sad. I hope u enjoyed!!! <3 let me know what u think.. I wanted to do a day one scenario- consequences of ur actions before. It went better than it could have!

[orengejoshi]

HI I hope this doesn't come across as weird in anyway but I've had this question for a while(a few days) and you seemed like you'd know the answer. Also because I have adhd and cannot stfu, there's a TL;DR at the end

so I'm relatively new to Villainous (watched it in 2022) and even more new to the fandom (literally started looking at it a week ago because i've hyperfixated on it rewatching) and I'm asking you specifically this question as you appear like a very good and well informed Flug fan. Again, hope this doesn't come across as fucking bizzarre, I just know, like, 3 Villainous accounts on here.

Anyway. I keep seeing a lot of people in the fandom saying that it was confirmed that Blackhat makes Flug wear the bag. Now. I'm not saying I can't get behind that, but do you appen to know WHERE was it confirmed exactly ?

I can believe that I'm just...somehow skeptical because 1-he pretty much throws a jab at Flug for wearing it in the Rhyboflavin orientation video and if that's true WHY would you do that if he has to because of YOU. Okay I mean it would make perfect sense if he did that just to be a dick but still idk I HOPE THIS IS NOT COMING ACROSS AS ME TRYING TO ACT AS IF I KNOW BEST THAN PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN THERE FOR YEARS,,,i just like to ramble. 2-in the Blackhat ask.fm someone asked him if he knows why Flug wears that and he says "Indeed I do." And I mean...if Alan Ituriel was going to confirm it outside of the show/books(or maybe he did confirm it in the books i haven't read the 2 Blackhat ones yet) why wouldn't he back then...or like hint at it. Again, not saying i dont believe it or that it wouldn't make sense even if it was true, I just don't want to BLINDLY believe it,,,not sure if any of this made sense

TL;DR : does Flug actually wear the bag because Blackhat forces him? Do you also know WHERE it was confirmed?

no don't worry, this is interesting.

so I read up on it again and had to find out that all of the info was strewn about and not just in 1 livestream. so as tedious as that is, I'm referring you to @ nightfurmoon

click the tag [# villainous livestreams] in their description, scroll all the way down and read all of the bullet points on every post there. there were crumbs to this topic in like 3 or 4 livestreams

all of this happened mostly in the 2019 livestreams. good times.

basically, Flug despises the bag apart from the fact that he appreciates the anonymity that it allows him.

other than that he is forced to wear it by Black Hat.

in Alan's words, "it's ridiculous to wear a paper bag over one's head... it was perfect for Flug. he's miserable, and what's more embarrassing than to wear a bag over your head?"

basically bullying tbh. Black Hat forces him to wear it and yet still (or probably specifically TO) humiliate him. and also there's probably some secret that he wants to keep. Black Hat has his reasons for not wanting anyone to know what Flug looks like. we're "not ready" to know yet.

Flug's face makes Black Hat sick. like he genuinely feels ill. he's also called him "cursed" before.

the theory is that Flug must be exceptionally cute and beautiful, because Black Hat hates cute and pretty things, it's disgusting to him.

I lowkey don't ever want to know what he looks like, I'm DREADING that day

[claws-and-all]

Unpopular opinions

Today’s been one of those days where all my least favorite theories regarding Tamlin have been popping up, so I thought I’d share some of my unpopular opinions in case anyone else feels the same.

1. Tamlin should not get his own book

From all the male povs we've seen thus far, it's evident that sjm struggles to write male characters with complex feelings. They tend to lack depth, have the libido of a teenager, and the romance aspect is nonexistent. This coupled with the way she handled Nesta's "healing" journey (a character she supposedly loves) - suffice to say, she will not do justice to Tamlin's journey nor his inner monolog.

On top of that, we don't need a Chaol 2.0 book. The only people I've seen enjoy Chaol's book are the haters who became slightly lenient towards him. I feel like that book was not meant for the fans who actually loved Chaol from the get-go (like me). It was yet another "healing" journey that did not heal him 😒 (it's been 7 years since it's release and I'm still mad at it 🙈).

Also, just like Tam, Chaol is another character that is hated by 90% of the fandom. His book had the worst timing. In-between a high stakes book where you NEEDED to know what happened next and instead, you're forced to read a book that took you completely out of the action. It garnered more negativity towards a character that was already so heavily hated upon. It was such an unfair thing that occurred, and his fans were the ones that had to deal with the backlash of our favorite character being torn apart by the fandom. I truly hope history does not repeat itself with Tamlin. The fandom is waiting for the elriel/elucien confirmation, and I can just see the hate pouring in if it's a book about Tamlin instead. He deserves infinitely better!

2. Tamlin and Lucien should never be friends again

I'm sorry, I know a lot of you love Lucien, I'm rather 50/50 on him. If elucien happens, it will mean Lucien is now a part of the NC family, bil to Rhys, friendly with the ic, uncle to Nyx, already friends with Nesta and Feyre. That's not the kind of energy Tamlin needs in his life nor the constant reminder of everything that he lost (Rhys is doing a fabulous job of that already).

I liked Lucien and Tamlin's relationship in book 1, but I was not a fan of how he kind of abandoned Tamlin for Feyre. It's like he became more her friend than Tams as the series progressed. I think Tamlin deserves a better friend - someone who will have his back and not his partners back. And someone not so heavily intertwined with a court that has caused so much pain to him. I can almost see Lucien slowly trying to convince Tam that the nc guys are actually "the good guys". Who knows, maybe he'll also pull a Feyre and compare Springs food to ash since nothing can come close to precious NC food, you know.

That being said, I have no idea where such friends will come from because every character we've met thus far automatically dislikes Tamlin and are fans of nc guys (still waiting for the explanation as to why Jurian, Vassa, Eris, and even Nuan are Tam haters?? Make it make sense, Sarah!).

Alternatively, I do love angst. I would love a storyline of Tamlin moving on with his life without Lucien. As in his future wife/mate/partner doesn't even know who Lucien is. Whilst Elucien is also thriving in the human lands/NC/DC/AC. Yet the entire time, they both feel like there's a missing piece in their life. They would see each other at HL meetings or balls. Yet they're too stubborn to speak to each other. Until decades later when one of them finally breaks the ice. The yearning and the hurt, love that shit lol

3. Tamlin x Briar?

Let’s keep that in the dark where it belongs. - nuff said!

4. Elain should not even look in the direction of Spring

Just because she likes gardening doesn't mean she should be spring queen 😑 I'm sure she can follow in the footsteps of her sister and brother in law and trespass into Spring if she needs to see flowers in abundance. It is afterall, nc tradition to lecture Tamlin in his own court and kick him in the shins. I really don't want to see her becoming friends with Tamlin, helping him rebuild Spring, making it her second home, etc etc etc. Like the point above, she and Lucien have enough homes to go back to. They don't need an extra one in Spring. And Tamlin doesn't need any more nc "friends".

[fannedandflawless]

The Wand That Yielded to Grief: A Snape Wand Theory

Darling, let’s talk wandlore—not the polished kind with Phoenix feather packaging and eager eleven-year-olds. No, no. We’re diving into Severus Snape’s wand. And the story? It's neither charming nor convenient. It’s charred.

Let’s begin with what little we do know.

The Canonical Silence

Official sources—wand replicas, Wizarding World merch, and the occasional lore snippet—suggest:

Wood: Ebony

Length: ~13.25 inches

Core: ?

That’s right, love. The core has never been confirmed. J.K. Rowling left it blank, the movies skipped it, and the books said nothing. Silence. Total silence. Which, frankly, is suspiciously on brand for Severus Snape.

Ebony, for the record, is a wand wood known for loyalty, strength, and an affinity for those who live by their own rules—individuals who walk away from the crowd without looking back. Sound familiar? Oh, absolutely.

But let’s go deeper.

⸻

Was That Wand Always His?

Remember the infamous scene—Snape hanging upside down, humiliated by the Marauders? The Severus in that memory didn’t fight back. Not with magic. He thrashed, cursed, but did not cast. Some fans assumed cowardice. But darling... I can’t help wondering if it might have been something else.

What if the wand in his hand wasn’t truly his at the time?

Perhaps it was a borrowed wand. Possibly his mother’s. A hand-me-down, serviceable but stubborn. It could cast spells, yes—but not instinctively. Not like a wand that had chosen its master in a moment of absolute clarity.

At fifteen, Snape was still divided. One part aching for Lily. Another drawn to the shadows of power. His identity was not yet forged, his inner world fractured. And from what we understand of wandlore, no wand of serious character would yield fully to a master it couldn’t read with certainty.

So when James struck without warning—Levicorpused him into the air—there was no duel. Only shock. Scramble. Exposure. And possibly... a wand that didn’t respond.

It’s just a thought, of course. But perhaps that wand wasn’t his. Not yet.

⸻

The Turning Point: The Half-Blood Prince

When did that change? Oh darling. The moment ink hit parchment and a boy wrote:

"This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince."

That was it. That was the baptism. He hadn’t yet started anything with anyone—no romance, no allegiance. Perhaps Lily was already slipping away, and maybe, just maybe, resentment had started to take root. It might’ve been the first time he truly felt seen within Slytherin—not for being clever or strange, but for doing something that others there deemed right. If there was a turning, it wasn't toward someone. It was away. Away from the pain, the disappointment, the fruitless effort. Maybe that’s when power began to shimmer—not as a prize, but as the only thing that might still answer back.

From that moment on, his mind sharpened. Cunning replaced confusion. The grief hadn’t come yet, but the isolation had—and he began to wield it like a weapon. That’s when he would’ve acquired the wand we now associate with him:

Ebony wood

Inflexible

Cold to the touch, but alive in the hand of someone who never asked to be warm again

⸻

Post-Lily: The Emotions That Forged Obedience

Now, fast-forward. Lily is dead. And Snape is no longer fractured. He is hollowed. The core that once wavered with longing is now filled with singular, punishing clarity. Let’s break it down:

1. Grief (but not the weeping kind) This is grief weaponised—steady, silent, permanent. He does not mourn. He functions. Every breath is penance.

2. Resentment Towards himself, Dumbledore, James, the world. And perhaps—even Lily. Not out of hatred, but from a wound so deep it blurred blame and pain. For choosing James. For becoming unreachable. For dying before he could make anything right. He might not have resented her directly—but in a heart that no longer knew how to grieve cleanly, every loss left behind a trace of bitterness.

3. Control Emotion stripped to its most minimalist form. No outbursts. No chaos. Just tight, merciless control.

4. Duty The unasked-for vow. The boy lives, so the man must serve. Not because he wants to. But because he no longer permits himself not to.

5. Emptiness The absence of desire. Nothing left to want. Only actions left to take. He becomes function incarnate.

And the wand? Oh, it submits.

Because by now, Snape’s emotional register is so sharpened, so pared down, that there is no room left to resist him.

He doesn’t ask the wand to obey. He tells it—and it does.

Because if it didn’t? The wand itself might’ve felt it—some deep, ancient knowing—that failure to cooperate wouldn’t lead to a scolding, but a fate worse than irrelevance. Not snapped in punishment, but surrendered to fire, repurposed as kindling for something colder. That’s the level we’re at.

⸻

Final Word: The Wand That Yielded

Snape didn’t earn his wand’s loyalty through brilliance. He bled it out of himself.

"He didn’t tame his wand with greatness. He subdued it with grief."

Darling, if I were that wand and I so much as twitched against his will, I’d snap myself in half out of shame.

Now pour the tea, snap the fan, and tell me I’m wrong. I won’t argue—just raise a brow, maybe. But deep down, we both know how this ends, don’t we?

[moonsceptre]

What is your opinion on the Beetlejuice 2 Dream Theory?

This theory?

My opinion is that it's very likely to be true. I walked away from the cinema extremely happy with all of the shippy moments—so happy I hadn't even considered theorising anything yet, however my first thought about the ending was, So it was all Lydia's dream?

I read through the post and was blown away by how much sense it made, but I think it helped push me to believe it when my friend sent me this

My friend is not interested in theorising or shipping, and has no connection to the BJ fandom, he's just a horror fan. Yet his interpretation of the movie's ending was a summarised version of the whole dream theory. Isn't it far more romantic to imagine Lydia having spent her life with Betelgeuse, and he's indulging her with a dream of her own child? Considering they both have a 'psychic connection', I'm not convinced that Lydia hasn't been thinking about BJ just as much as he's been thinking about her.

This user pointed out both of Betelgeuse's love songs are by artists named Richard, conveniently the name of Lydia's previous partner. The same partner who was described as a horror fan that loved playing pranks, and dressed as a Beetlejuice lookalike for Halloween.

Looks like Beetlejuice, acts like Beetlejuice—either Lydia is equally obsessed, or it's BJ projecting himself onto Lydia's human lover within the dream. Watching the movie with new eyes, I noticed in the "Later, fucker" scene that BJ is sitting in the same place Richard sat while working at the border control. "Astrid" herself has a name related to the celestial bodies, much like "Betelgeuse". You can either take this as a romantic parallel, or Tim is trying to show us that Richard's creation is based on Lydia's fixation with Beetlejuice.

Dream sequences often use characters to represent something within the dreamer's psyche. It's like an abstract analysis of the way that character thinks and feels. Astrid's sequence within the dream shows Lydia's material desires—it confirms everything was based off of what Lydia wanted, which included getting married to a 'monster' (in the sequence of events, Astrid marries a guy dressed as a vampire), and then gives birth to the Beetlebaby. I know in the first movie there is a reference to the horror movie "The Fly", so I imagine this was too.

Did anyone notice the dream sequence watching Astrid didn't actually have a clear indication for when it began? It transitioned from the movie as if everything was a dream right from the start.

Let's not forget BJ straight up looking into the camera and saying "I love a good dream sequence". Lol.

My other reasoning for believing the dream theory is what Winona said about Lydia. Winona and Tim are close friends. Winona pitched the idea of having Betelgeuse and Lydia be the endgame ship in her words, and she happily took part in this movie. If Tim had rejected the idea, why would Winona reprise her role for a story she didn't agree with? Winona knows that Lydia is Tim's self insert (Tim has said many times he relates the most to Lydia), so why would Tim approve of all the shippy moments if he opposed Winona's pitch? No one knows Lydia like him!

Winona said in this interview that she hadn't imagined Lydia ever becoming a mother, but that after a while it started to make sense. She does not elaborate on that, but explains her idea for Lydia was that she would end up a spinster in the attic. If you read the dream theory, it highlights how the movie begins with Lydia in the attic, and then transitions to Lydia's TV show, but the background is still the attic. I found the whole film very dreamlike in this way, and I think the fact that Tim has said Wizard of Oz (a movie where the girl wakes up after a dream, in which those she knew acted as characters within the sequence) is one of his favourite movies helps to put it into effect.

And finally...

It's Lydia Deetz. Lydia loves the strange and unusual.. do you really think she wasn't curious enough to contact Beej again?