#especially when it comes to his representation in all the AUs where I put him

[nemo-in-wonderland]

Ngl I am kinda living for the idea of Jacob getting *increasingly* frustrated because no matter what he does, he cannot, for the life of his, get Dorothea to sign THE contract that would bind her to him for all eternity (homeboy completely lost his head for her, and I love that for him).

Like, homegirl is devoted to Lathander and whatnot, and her faith is STRONG (though, she is not as zealous as Shadowheart, that's for sure), but she would be willing to give him a chance IF HE WASN'T THAT PESTERING.

Like, ngl, if Raphael can be a bit of a brat, Jacob's own brattiness is multiplied tenfold, and I hc that it's caused by the fact that Mephistopheles sired him later in life - much earlier than Zaynab and Karim, but definitely much later than Raphael (fucking hell, I made Jacob the middle child).

So, I imagine him just travelling down in Cania one day, just stomping in his father's laboratory and asking him HOW did he manage to get Aranea to sign his contract and be with him in Cania.

To which, I can see Mephistopheles give him a long look (veeeeeery long look, because he is weighting if sending that son of his out with a kick in his butt for interrupting in his experiments or just answer him with a roast of his own).

But I can see his heart mellowing a bit for the "romantic woes" of his son (damn Aranea for softening his heart and having him invested in his children's romantic life like a telenovela), so I can see him reply to him something along these lines:

"Son, Aranea signed her contract with me because she came willingly to me."

IT'S THIS WHAT YOU TELL YOURSELF, MEPHISTO????

BUT NEVERMIND THIS IS ACTUALLY ONLY HALF-TRUE, AND HE SWEATED LIKE A DOG BECAUSE ARANEA WOULDN'T GIVE IN.

But still, Jacob kinda got the message, and would reduce his pestering a good 5%, which was a great improvement since, much like dear old dad Mephistopheles, Jacob as well suffers from the same codependency needs lolol

OK, NOW THAT I BLURTED OUT EVERYTHING, LEMME GO GRAB A COFFEE, AND LET ME MARINATE THIS IDEA BECAUSE I AM DIGGING IT.

and honestly, this has opened up my brain gates to develop Zaynab and Karim as well.

I just love how sometimes one single character can be the catalyst to a whole waterfall of new ideas.

[starzzmissthesun]

ohhhh…oh. bartylus preacher’s daughter au…i need to know more!!! which of them is the preacher’s daughter!! which of them is the cannibal!! vital and imperative questions that i fear i won’t be able to stop thinking about until i receive an answer…

Well, here's the thing... I'm not following the story of preachers daughter exactly, purely cause like, Isaiah didn't love ethel, he kidnapped, drugged, and forced her into prostitution, his cannibalism wasn't an act of love, it was of hunger and control. It was a representation of her fate and karma from herself and her parent's wrongdoings coming back, eternally the martyr. She was so drugged she thought they we're in love, and then reality came too late. Preachers daughter itself MUCH darker story than I'm putting out (hate to admit it😔) because I want them to actually love each other lol. Regulus is the preachers daughter and barty takes on more of the role of Willoughby Tucker (love forever) (house in Nebraska, high school sweetheart guy) I'm using the story and the songs to interpretation rather than exactly writing the same story, along with using her unreleased stuff and EPs, (I'm planning on making a little chapter by chapter playlist for it, cause most are based onn specific songs). I'm not going to include literal cannibalism, just more so as a metaphor. I just don't think that's the vital story of preachers daughter AT ALL, it's definitely been super popularized but it's not even the end of her story, there's so much more to it, and that's why I think I want to focus on that other stuff because it's never talked about. The main parts I'm taking is the role of the mother and ethels relationship with her family and generational trauma(and ofc religion which I could go into for days) . I also am making it scary and horror- like (though it won't be all that) but more so simalar to southern Gothic genre if you know about that (I could go on for days if u want) where the main importance is of social commentary using these small almost supernatural towns. The main part of the fic takes place in an incredibly small town in Louisiana, it is very very Catholic(that's just the Christian denomination I grew up in so I know about it, though ethel's is Baptist). Regulus' father is the beloved preacher of the town until he passes away in a fire when reg is 10. Him and his brother have a way larger age gap. The story starts off in Regulus and barty's second year of high school and takes place over about 4 years or so. It does incorporate PD songs heavily into the plot (except Gibson girl I think). I haven't decided quite yet how I want the story to resolve yet, but neither of them are going to be cannibalized literally, sorry😭I wanted to, but I just can't see it in any other light than betrayal, especially because of the whole hard times and fate thing. I'm gonna leave it there for now but PLEASE if you have any other questions lmk🙏🙏🙏

[stagefourlovenote]

NINA HOPKINS — PAVLOVE REDESIGN/AU .

; for those that don’t know, i have my own universe set around for the pastas / slenderverse ! i just labeled it the pavlove au due to the fact that it’s the name of the story i’ve been writing for my oc, but this is just what i’m titling any au information over all. now, i should’ve written about the entire setting / operator information, but i asked on my instagram who i should talk about first and someone said nina so! NINA! and i’m not complaining. a reminder : this is just my headcanon !! please do not be disrespectful !!

HEADCANONS / INFORMATION.

; dominican ! she moved to the states at a young age, spanish is her first language !

; scene , honestly i just love the scene and emo style. it’s just her favorite way to express herself, and she’s confident in the way she dresses, do not expect her to just dwindle under any criticism towards the fashion — just prepare for any direct critique you receive in return.

; plus sized, mostly because i just love seeing the representation, especially when it’s on such a confident character.

; her relationship with jeff wasn’t romantic, she mostly looked up to him due to her finding that she was in the same situation as him — before his accidents. she wanted to find some comfort in the isolation she dealt with, unfortunately it lead her down the rabbit hole of thinking there was only one way out. needing to seek out jeff and to find some sort of friendship / almost a mentorship. it turned ugly, he obviously didn’t take any kindness to a sort of ‘copycat’.

; though, the operator decided there might be something left to salvage from her actions. it sealed the deal for her life, she felt remorseful for her brother’s death and she spiraled. the admiration she had for jeff turned to hatred, and she had to learn to deal with it after being recruited.

; she wasn’t really angry towards anyone but him — and herself — but there were times where she was snarky, where she wanted to blame everyone. it wasn’t until natalie was recruited that she found solace, seeing that the other was similar to her. it was nice to not feel stuck, and alone again.

; even if she’s doing better and knows she has someone else to find better company in, there’s times where it just slips up on her. times of self deprecation that contrasts her usual confidence, it’s jarring for the others to see. usually, it’s best to just reassure her or maybe coax her into coming out of her hideouts to just surround her with comfort.

; after a while of trying to convince jeff she was just worthy of some sort of friendship, and it ultimately being shot down, she didn’t want to look anything like him. no association! which meant the scars in her face, for some reason she decided that the stitches would be the best option. natalie helped her, using multicolored string just to make sure it adds to nina’s style. every few months or so, nat will restring them for her.

; if you’re nice to her first, then she’s the best person to befriend as a new recruit. new interactions mean new ties, she loves being social! it stems from her lack of socialization growing up, so now she tries to make up for it by making a light and joking environment for new people , but that’s only if you’re giving a good impression.

; her parents weren’t as present, much like jeff’s. she was often left to rely on the company of her younger brother, or just her own. in school, it was worse, people didn’t know how to respond to her hyperactivity when actually given the chance to speak — so they opted not to respond to her at all. even now she has little doubts about talking, but she can’t stop herself from rambling on. it’s like word vomit.

; she wanted to be an alternative cosmetologist, she wanted to create her own brand for alt communities. she’s lucky if the others will even let her put eyeliner on them.

; she doesn’t drink energy drinks, but she thrives on faygo. you’ll catch her chugging at least 3 a day. pair that with those gummy peach rings and she’s set.

; knows how to give piercings, and if she doesn’t know how to do one? she’ll just guess, give her a chance <3

; her thoughts on killing others really aren’t that guilt lead, she only feels immediate remorse for her brother. she’s grown into the lifestyle and doesn’t plan on really living, she only struggled accepting it in the beginning. she was around 18 after all.

; this is all i can think of for now — BUT MORE WILL BE ADDED IF I THINK OF IT !

[kandisheek]

FIC REC WEEK 3 – STUCKY FAVORITES

Call it Dreaming (you can have my love) by BonkyBornes

Pairing: Steve/Bucky Rating: T Words: 15,817 Tags: Wedding, Barnes Family Shenanigans, Mentions of Past Abuse

Summary: “Let’s go get married, Buck.” “Let’s get married, baby.” Or, the one where they get married and throw shoes at people

Reasons why I love it: The Stucky sweetness in this is fantastic, but I especially love Bucky's interactions with his family. We get so little of it in canon, so it's amazing to see it fleshed out like this in these heart-warming tidbits. Also, I'm a sucker for weddings, and the way it's described here sounds absolutely wonderful. Definitely give this one a read!

you give me butterflies by Ketita

Pairing: Steve/Bucky Rating: T Words: 2,907 Tags: Domestic Fluff, Light Angst, Introspection

Summary: If Winter, despite his daily struggles to live a normal life, can find pleasure in small, innocent things, how can Steve do any less? And how impossible it is, to explain that Winter is somehow one of the small, innocent things that Steve finds pleasure in. or: Steve knows that Winter isn't Bucky but just wants him to have nice things

Reasons why I love it: This fic hits that really lovely tone of quiet, private joy. I really like the distinction between Bucky and Winter, and how Steve deals with his feelings for both. Also, seeing Winter enjoy things after all the pain he went through is a pleasure in and of itself. Give this one a read, I highly recommend it!

when I come home to you by cable-knit-sweater

Pairing: Steve/Bucky Rating: M Words: 1,376 Tags: Post-CA:CW, Soft and Sweet, Happy Endings

Summary: After giving up the shield, Steve hangs up the uniform too, and finally goes home, home to Bucky.

Reasons why I love it: I really like the whole format of this fic, with the numbers as a bit of a red thread tying the whole thing together. The relief and joy in this fic is palpable, and it always gives me a little pick-me-up when I'm having a not so good day. This fic is lovely in the best kind of way, so please give it a read!

my youth is yours by this_wayward_life

Pairing: Steve/Bucky Rating: E Words: 7,334 Tags: No Powers AU, Trans Bucky, Meet-Cute

Summary: Off to basic training in just a few days, eighteen-year-old Steve Rogers gets dragged along to a party. He doesn't expect to meet Bucky Barnes.

Reasons why I love it: Bucky and Steve are so sweet together in this, basically falling in love at first sight. The author mentions that Bucky's experience and sexual preferences as a trans man are directly influenced by their own, and I always love seeing that kind of representation in fandom. Plus, the smut is incredibly hot and really well-written. Definitely check this one out!

when words fail by plincess_cho

Pairing: Steve/Bucky Rating: G Words: 3,461 Tags: Artist Steve, Healing, Canon Divergence

Summary: Art reveals more of Steve than he could ever put into words.

Reasons why I love it: This fic is SEVERELY underrated. Like, criminally so. I love the way it explores Steve's character from an outside perspective, and the whole sentiment that art is a window into one's soul really resonates with me. Also, the way the author managed to weave canon and the other Avengers into this is really cool. I love this fic so much, and I really hope you check it out, because it deserves all the love!

[onward--upward]

seven sentence sunday!

nobody has tagged me yet this week but TOO BAD i have stuff i wanna share!! there were so many weeks where i was tagged and had nothing, but now!! i've been writing!!

here's some more from the rwrb musician x actor AU that has been taking over my brain! enjoy <3 (this is waaayyy more than seven sentences, sorry )

It’s dangerous, this game they’re playing. Trans-atlantic flights, late-night phone calls. They’ve been playing fast and loose with their words, baby and love and fucking sweetheart, but it doesn’t change the fact that they both know it’s fucking impossible for them to be together. Alex knows this – intellectually, he knows this. Henry isn’t in a place to come out. Henry might never be in a place to come out. He’d waged a long battle with his grandmother-slash-manager to be allowed to take on a minor role in a queer TV show, and even then he’d been denied – real life is simply not attainable, at the moment. And Alex is simply too high-profile to be safely dating someone so deeply closeted, especially if that person is as famous as Henry fucking Fox.  And yet.  And yet, Alex is writing songs. They’re fucking pouring out of him, songs referencing Henry’s eyes and his hands and his sweet, syrupy voice in the early hours of the morning, after Alex has talked him over the edge.  He shouldn’t have released sky blue on Henry’s birthday. The timezone skullduggery is as much an attempt at misdirection as it is a romantic gesture, and even then it’s too obvious, a shiny new clue for all of the fans on twitter who try to puzzle out his dating life like it's a game. Like it’s any of their fucking business.  But the thing is, he just can’t help himself. Henry is too addicting, and Alex finds himself doing all kinds of unwise things just for the pleasure of seeing his smile.  “You’re a plague,” Henry says, voice soft over the phone line. “It’s deeply cruel of you to write me a song like that when I can’t kiss you for it.”  And Alex says, “If you could, though?” and Alex says, “Tell me,” and Alex says, “Please.” He doesn’t say, “I love you,” because this thing between them is the kind of balancing act that is constantly in danger of toppling over like a house of cards. He thinks it, though. He writes it, in every song he’s putting to paper, in a thousand different words that all add up to Henry, to the warm, lovely, imperfect heart of him.  Maybe, he thinks, every time Henry gives an interview about how important representation is in cinema, every time Henry talks about getting out from beneath his grandmother’s iron control with tentative hope in his voice. Maybe, maybe. Someday.   Someday. But not today. Not yet.  “Happy birthday, baby,” he says, and he has to be okay with how uncertain the ground is beneath their feet. He has to, because the alternative is losing Henry, and that’s unthinkable.

tagging @cowboy-buddie @shitouttabuck @sibylsleaves @eusuntgratie if any of you want to share xx

[natasha-in-space]

Ohhhh, I'm not big on most of the au's bc I like the og's personalities so much that I don't really get sick of them, but I do have a few that did catch my attention for sure! I honestly feel like au's were a bigger thing before the initial big summer update, because we had so little to go off of in terms of personality. It is rather amusing to see how the vast perception of the characters have changed, though. Like Frank being characterized as the standard 'grumpy' one of the group, when in reality they're actually a big sweetheart who just want everyone to be safe and out of trouble (his interactions with Julie and Poppy are so sweet fr fr). Wally's the biggest contender to this, though, lmao. There is something very enjoyable to me in being proven right that he was never some yandere manipulator who murdered all his neighbors or something like that. Especially so because I relate to his autistic traits as much as I do. Like his manner of speech being read as 'creepy' and 'menacing' when it's just the way he talks. (Shout-out to everyone with monotonous way of speaking who get told that they're either cold, sad, or creepy, I'm there with you). I am very interested to see where Clown will go with him, because I am sure Wally will do something questionable. Be it by mistake, out of desperation or isolation. He's got layers to him, and I do agree that it irks me to see him get treated as a child sometimes 💀 The man is in his late twenties, come on now.

Most of the characters in media I can only headcanon as being on the autistic spectrum, admittedly, so him being a confirmed autistic representation is honestly so important to me. (Also yes! He's canonically autistic! So is Frank and Julie!)

I'd say my favorite au's would be the Real World au by chez-cinnamon, Replaced au by kobaltt, and both the Lights Out au and Fantasy au by carnivalcarrion! I like them all a whole lot, they keep characterizations pretty close to what we have so far, and play around with them in very interesting ways. Love to see those guys put into situations, hehe. Also they are all somewhat angsty, aside from the Fantasy au. I love my angst. Oh! I also very like Infected Home au by suketchi-s! The horror and tragedy aspect is yummy, and I adore the creature design... The fandom sure is full of very creative and talented folks, no doubt about that.

I also very like Actor au by frillsand, despite it having very distinct characterizations from the original... I don't know why. I like the world building of puppets living among humans and how it affects them. I think it's the only 'sassy' Wally I actually really enjoy, because there's a reason behind his attitude. And behind it, he's still a very caring and loving soul.

Neat stuff!

akjdfkjds it's honestly always a treat to me to see that I have some Welcome Home mutuals!! Those silly guys have captured my heart ever since last April. Honestly, take this ask as an invitation to babble about it bc I wanna hear your thoughts! I'm a basic gal who's favorite is Wally bc of his autism 😔 Like I saw that man and went: me. That is me. We are kindred spirits. He's my bestie and I love him. Very excited to see him going through the horrors (I will cry). Also Eddie has really grown on me! He's such a lovable fella, he deserves a good break fr fr. Sally is an icon as well, and as a fellow musical theater nerd, I support all of her hustle.

Honestly, they all have so much personality that I would legit watch a real show with them, horror elements be damned. It's also lovely to see queer centric stories receive so much love and support <3

I too am a basic gal whos favorite is wally, and probably for similar reasons! I do agree with you, wally is definitely autistic in my eyes, and we would probably be the best of buds if he was real. I'm excited to see all of them go through the horrors, but especially Wally and Eddie. But at the same time, PLEASEEEE GIVE THEM A BREAKK. Gonna use this as an excuse to ramble about the au side of the fandom because why not :3 I got super into the fandom side of welcome home last spring, specifically the au side. I think the fall of some of the better known au's kind of killed part of the fan base, but honestly, people shouldn't let some bad creators ruin an entire fandom for them. I do miss seeing more of the au's, ngl. It was so much fun, even if it was SO HARD to keep track of the aus. (There were like over 1,000 aus. What is this, the undertale fandom? /j) At some point I had ideas for an au as well, but i'm pretty sure i've entirely forgotten them by now 😭 (This is why we write down our ideas, BUT I STILL HAVEN'T CAUGHT ONTO THAT YET.) Also, Id totally watch a real show with them. There's a lot of interesting aspects that I think could translate well into 2d or 3d animation, especially the horror elements. I love seeing queer centric projects like these as well, especially when it's not over-stereotyped. Stories like this deserve all the love and support that other stories get, and I do hope we see more projects like this down the line.

[ichayalovesyou]

Christopher Pike is GREAT Invisible Illness Representation

So, this is, probably entry one billion on reasons I’m obsessed with this character but

To put it simply

Sometimes the medication isn’t worth the equally damaging side effects that accompany it. Sometimes, somebody who appears to be in incredibly good health will suddenly not be and never will be again and you have to learn to adjust to that. Sometimes, modern medicine is not enough, at least it won’t be in your lifetime.

Pike knows he will lose his ability to move and communicate complex thoughts easily in about ten years. Both physical and mental struggles.

Pike knows that there is no cure or rehabilitation for exposure to Delta radiation. That there may not be in his lifetime.

Pike knows, that if he doesn’t choose the future laid out before him, that leads to said disability, he will not be himself. In his mind, he will be sacrificing everything that makes him who he is as a person in exchange for things that are far less important to him than other elements of his identity.

Pike is grieving for the inevitable, but making an effort to embrace the present while he is still able to enjoy it as he is with his present capabilities. Knowing that those capabilities will change dramatically and have to be adjusted to in the not so distant future.

Not to get personal but, I come from a family a long history of invisible and/or degenerative physical and mental illnesses on both sides. I’ve watched loved ones lose significant capacity to do things, things they needed to do, things they loved to do, within my relatively short lifetime. I’ve seen many of them pass away or lose touch with reality due to those same illnesses. I’m seeing signs of a few of them in myself that I intend to get looked into. Bracing for the likelihood I’ve inherited at least one.

Pike’s struggle with what he thinks is best for his future is one that is incredibly relatable and personal to me.

Does he give up the core of his identity to live a longer and more abled life? Does he give up his current capabilities in order to save what he believes is his fundamental identity? How much of this is informed by his mental health, his self-esteem, his compassion for the people around him? How will that be affected by what he chooses to do? How much of it is fear of the unknown, and how much of it is knowing where his boundaries are? Is there anything he can do to lessen the pain or slow the progress of what’s coming, or does he have to just hunker down and take it?

Like Pike says in the pilot “How will it live in me?”

It’s confusing, it’s complicated, it’s scary, it’s grief and loss and judgement calls. It’s learning how to make peace with it so you can live your life to the fullest, whatever that ends up meaning. For some of us those questions become absolutely necessary to ask others and to personally grapple with.

So when people’s reaction to Captain Pike’s dilemma is the same as a lot of abled people’s reaction, which is to wanna stop it or fix it when they ultimately can’t. It kinda hurts. You see Spock and Una do it with Chris. Spock even takes it to the extreme in The Menagerie which I have… mixed, feelings about. But how the characters handle it isn’t the point of this post.

I think all of this is probably why I get really snippy when I see people discuss the show being an alternative timeline or suggest fix-it fiction to dodge Pike’s disability. By the way shout out to people who make AUs where he’s accomadated for and keeps doing what he loves, y’all know who you are and I love you.

When it comes down to it, knowing what’s ahead of him is a fundamental aspect of who he is as a character. Taking that narrative consequence away takes the oh so incredibly rare invisible illness disability representation away. And that sucks.

Because it’s not only rare to find that kind of rep in general, but especially that rep exists in addition to the character being strong and compassionate and nuanced, and his eventual disability not becoming him. It’s rare when you relate to a character a great deal in addition to that rep. And I personally have found that fulfillment in him. Pike makes me feel seen in a way very few other characters have.

So here’s to Captain Pike, and I hope going forward more people think before they instinctively try to fix disabled characters who are comfortable with their own choices they make in regards to their own disabilities.

[theveryworstthing]

So over on patreon Trevor asked for my take on the Addams Family and I grew up LOVING the Addams family movies so here we are. Instead of doing a straight up style interpretation, I decided to do a full on design challenge, using the characters as bases to make a black southern gothic Addams au. I actually drew the kids first, using the character bases of Wednesday and Pugsley to create some delightful kiddos I'm calling Sunday and Blanche. I of course then redesigned Gomez and Morticia into Carlisle and Mortesha.

The Addams have a very specific high aristocratic goth aesthetic (they've got a butler and nobody really works among other things) so in this re-imagining I wanted to go with vibes that run a little more middle class/upper middle class.  I thought it would be interesting to think about what would be considered weird and off-putting in an entirely different culture, and how being a big ol' goth is way less controversial than it used to be.

I tried to keep this short (HAHAHAHAHAHA) so I didn't spin off into an essay about villain coded families, black people in the horror genre, and normalcy as it pertains to social survival, but just...bits of that are in these designs and lore. Keep that in mind.

Also I made the kids twins because they've flip flopped in age so much in different media and also twins run in my family (i'm the daughter of one). And let's face it, I'm pulling a lot of their southern gothic traits from living as a southern goth so *shrug*.

10 thousand pounds of lore incoming loooooooooool.

The Parents

From the moment he saw her he knew that there was a 50/50 chance of him either never making it out of that swamp alive or marrying the figure that was creeping out from under the distant willow tree in a black cocktail dress. The third time she found him trussed up in one of her traps, he complimented her rope work and asked if she'd like to go out sometime after his head wound stopped bleeding.

Or while it was still bleeding.

If she was into that.

Some kids and a mysteriously burnt down Piggly Wiggly later, their love is still as strong and inescapable as a bear trap in a sink hole.

Carlisle Guillermo (now Addams through marriage but I wanted to give him two first names for a name since Gomez has two last names) makes a vaguely described living practicing ‘law’ around town. A loophole king, people come to him from miles around with contracts signed in blood, fights over chunks of hair buried in their rivals’ yard, dehydrated primate hands, memories that seemed like dreams until the evidence of their happenings became too real, and other regular Legal Items asking for counsel which he is all too happy to give. For a price. Sometimes that price is a homemade pie and sometimes it’s a million dollars, depends on who you are. Whatever you’re asked to pay it’s worth that price, and if you try to scam him out of work or he just plain doesn’t like you? Well. He knows how to twist a contract better than anything at the crossroads.

And he always gets his due.

He doesn’t just serve the local (living)humans though, there are many things that need proper legal representation in this day and age. You wouldn’t believe how many city councils try to build on sacred burial grounds even after he lets them know that his ghostly clients are totally gonna haunt the FUCK out of the ensuing shitty condos and curse their families for all eternity. At least 50% of his energy goes towards dealing with real estate bullshit.

Carl is an excitable and good natured(?) man who loves his family, cigars, dancing, and his many knife-based hobbies. People find him very charming once they get past the feeling that they’re talking to a sultry gator badly disguising itself as a human. I didn’t put a ton of deep thought into designing him, mostly I wanted to make a middle aged dude who looked like he would have been voted ‘most likely to smooch the literal devil’ in high school. Tbh he probably has, but no demonic ex’s can compare to his lovely wife~

Mortesha Addams(her name was already perfect so I just tweaked it)is a woman of many talents. A self proclaimed homemaker, she prides herself on a greenhouse full of Concerning Foliage, a beautiful wasp apiary, and a coop full of what are probably chickens that she keeps for what are probably eggs. She’s also an avid creator of the outsider art that can be seen around the estate. She has taken on the family business of selling her homemade goods in a little stall by the road just outside the swamp with her mom, and makes pretty good money doing so. A surprising amount of poison gets bought in quaint southern towns.

Speaking of poison, people who come out to the edge of the swamp to buy it are usually carrying a lot of secrets around, and Mortesha knows most of them. It’s not like she pries the truth out of people, it just so happens that many nervous hellos eventually turn into the tragic backstory power hour if she’s alone with a client for long enough. She supposes that’s just how people are. Despite the fact that the Addams are very active in the community (whether the community likes it or not) she especially, as a direct descendant of the first Addams matriarch, is seen as…Well not an outsider because the community feels A Certain Way about outsiders and despite it all the Addams are their people, but maybe something like an exception. They feel like whatever weirdness they’re hiding can’t be weirder than any given Addams, so they get a little loose with their words.

This is amusing to her, since Addams’ don’t naturally keep the kind dramatic secrets that their surface level prim and proper neighbors do. It’s much more fun to openly talk about those things.

Do they have a sadly decrepit yet terrifying grandma up in the attic? Yeah, like three. They got a tv, all the creepy porcelain dolls they could want, and they’re close to family. Where do you keep your gram-grams?

Any bodies buried on the property? Yeah some, but most are thrown to the gators.

Any creeping through the balmy summer night with ill intentions? Yeah dude, everyone loves a nice family stroll.

What about dangerous forbidden love? If an adult Addams isn’t incorporeal then they’re either queer or in a torrid romance with some person/thing mysteriously drawn to that awful swamp. Sometimes both at the same time. Most times actually.

Mortesha would know.

The current head of the Addams family is just as outgoing as her husband but a lot quieter and harder to read. She never really seems to get mad about much and always has a genteel smile for everyone whether they deserve it or not. A seven foot tall human shaped “Oh, bless your heart”. A perfectly composed Lady even when she’s, oh I dunno, burning down a Piggly Wiggly. You know. A regular southern mom. Chat her up at the hair salon for 50% off a jar of wasp honey with your next purchase of a mysterious but foreboding packet of herbs.

Designing her was pretty easy because I just drew a lankier Grace Jones and called it a day. I had some problems with her outfit simply because if we were going HARD southern gothic then she’d probably be wearing a white/cream dress with a fuller skirt but I thought keeping the silhouette and the black was more important. She’s supposed to be an anti southern gothic southern gothic character anyway. A woman who looks like she has a million secrets who is actually the most open person you could meet. For better or worse. The red hair came from a coloring error that I really ended up liking (my mom had red hair her whole childhood that only darkened up in high school so I can buy that an Addams can be naturally fire engine red) and the veil was to get more of that classic Morticia silhouette in there.

The Children

Sunday and Blanche are the twin children of Carlisle and Mortesha Addams. Some say the Addams clan got their cursed homestead when a wealthy local businessman made a deal with the devil and lost, leaving his grand mansion to his least favorite maid and cutting his losses once he realized that the swamp would do everything it could to drag the house into the water and take what was owed with its horrible curse. Others say that the family has just always squatted there and no one really cares because man, fuck that particular swamp. Have you been in there? Absolute horror show.

Anyway.

Blanche is the more outgoing sibling and quite the engineer/mad scientist in the making. He started going grey at 2 weeks old but considering he was also rocking some extra fingers, toes, and a tiny tail (he takes after his dad), his parents just put it on the 'not life threatening' pile and decided not to worry about it. He's the kind of smart that teachers find utterly infuriating, less a dog eagerly learning and obeying commands and more a hyena who keeps teaching itself how to pick locks. He has a few friends in his school's robotics club (which they honestly allowed him to make so the school could contain his... creations) but mostly hangs out with his sister exploring the swamp. They find all sorts of neat things in there! wedding rings, suspiciously lumpy garbage bags, cloaked cultists who can't read private property signs, it's an adventure every day!

Blanche is all about experimentation with his creations, his look, and his tether to this mortal coil. Is lipstick a cool thing to try? Let's find out. Can he get out of a strait jacket fast enough after being pushed into the depths of the swamp by his sister? let's find out. He's not dead yet and confused local doctors can attest to the fact that he's rarely attained more than a bad bruise so he's pretty set on continuing to kiss rattlesnakes on their cute little heads and have his sister practice her knife throwing at him until that fact changes.

Blanche is very much a country goth. Cowboy boots (customized by his mom), knife, and lighter are daily accessories. He likes to wear the crusty swamp jewelry they find (the rust adds a splash of color!) and despite appearances he does try to keep himself neat. He's just got  natural Grunge Colors and a tendency to wear clothes he likes until they fall apart. Pugsley always seemed the most modernly styled to me (which might just be because little boys clothes have been the same for a long time) so I wanted Blanche to be the most purposely fashionable Addams. Everyone else is goth by nature, but he's the only one truly familiar with goth as an alternative fashion.

I got really into designing Blanche because honestly, I find Pugsley to be the most boring member of the family. And he was hard to design! I had to mess with his vibe a lot to get him looking how I wanted. I know he's supposed to evoke an " 'evil' little boy next door who's parents never reign him in", but that's just goth Dennis The Menace.  I's 2020. We can at least go queer goth Calvin.

Sunday was much easier to design. Wednesday was my favorite as a child (of course) and I really wanted to keep the spirit of her look while adding things like billowy sleeves (it gets HOT down here), big poofy twists instead of braids, and a nice tie. She's a professional after all, been running the local pet cemetery since she was 6 and the previous groundskeeper met with an unfortunate accident after telling her that tarantulas don't have souls. Her specialty is creating beautiful naturalistic animal funerals similar to those that Maquenda (https://linktr.ee/artofmaquenda) makes, and she takes pride in creating miniature dioramas of her subjects after each burial which she uses as a kind of 3D catalog for future clients.

She really wants to try out her skills on humans one day. Well. Publicly try out her skills. Lotta random bodies float into the swamp. None of them have turned down her requests for diorama models so far. Most seem downright flattered. Plus, she usually figures out which graveyard/crime scene they floated over from and gets her parents to give them a lift back. She'll even help enact terrifying revenge from beyond the grave on whoever put them there if she's not, y'know, busy.

Besides arts, crafts, and pet based funerary arrangements, Sunday is an avid lover of archery (any ranged weapon really), books where little fantasy adventure animals die dramatic deaths, and history. She is That Kid who eagerly raises her hand when asked who Christopher Columbus was and ends up being sent out of class after 15 minutes for making 'a scene'. Her favorite party trick is just picking an item in the room and talking about how it relates to either some obscure historical figure with a buck wild life or a horrible disaster. At least one charity pancake breakfast ended with children in tears after her vivid description of the Great Molasses Flood of 1919.

Social-wise, while Wednesday is the girl that people ask to smile because they think she'd, "look so pretty", Sunday is rarely asked anything at all. People just kind of assume from her quiet nature (in between horrible history facts) that she's angry all the time and that she hates everyone. This is untrue. She hates some people but she's ambivalent to most everyone else and even downright friendly if you bother to talk to her like a person instead of a terrifying cryptid. Like, she IS a terrifying cryptid but she's also a little girl.  

That’s about it for now. One day I might do the other family members but for now I’m happy with the four I’ve redesigned. Making an au! Lurch in a family that doesn’t do butlers could be interesting. Over on patreon I put forth that he could just be Motesha’s mute little brother (similar bone structure) but Amy Crook had the nice idea of quote: “ a mysterious "cousin" that "helps around the house" whose origins are both long in the past and faintly unsettling. He's good for lifting heavy things, like that tank of propane you're about to throw into the burning Piggly Wiggly... “ which i now consider canon. Who's kid is he? How old is he? Not important. Anyone willing to commit arson with you is family.

Annnnyway.  This challenge was a lot of fun! I love indulging in AU’s.

[side-of-honey]

Okay I’m really curious about the Somethings Within You Au, it’s just such an interesting concept. But on that note, do you know what everyone’s Something traces are? And/or what their reaction is to finding out they have them?

Thank you so much!! And yes, I can give you a more in-depth explanation of everyone's Somethings :D I'll put it under a cut because it's long lol.

(Warning that most of these involve eyes in their description. Also this might be slight body horror? idk)

Sunny: The most obvious one, his Something is a black shadow permanently covering half of his face and his missing eye getting replaced by Something's eye! His initial reaction is kind of just "oh I guess that's a thing now", since he doesn't realize it's actually happening and not just his imagination ^^;; Once he does realize, he's still somewhat chill about it (considering everything else he's been through for the past 4 years, this is just another thing to add to the pile) but also confused and a bit worried. He doesn't know why this is happening, after all, or if it could spread to the rest of his body...

Basil: For his Something traces, Basil also has some black shadows (in the places he got cut up after his fight with Sunny), but they're a lot thinner/smaller. He also has some sharper teeth and an extra little eye, emulating his own Something :) He gets VERY stressed out about them, but improves a bit after finding out it also happened to Sunny. Most of the traces are pretty easy to hide with band-aids or play off as just scars, but there's not much he can do about his teeth so he gets in the habit of covering his mouth with his hand when opening it u_u

Aubrey: Her Something is where Sunny cut her during her first fight with him and Kel! It's sort of this.. dripping black mass full of eyes ":D This is simultaneously a representation of her feelings of abandonment and the feeling that everyone is watching and judging her as she is a delinquent and especially after what happened at the church. She is very caught off guard and grossed out by it, but by the time she it happens she's already seen Sunny and Basil's traces of Something so she at least has a little context.

Hero: He gets some marks stretching across his chest, with a shape similar to a broken heart in the middle. It's a bit obvious what this represents... Hero knows what this is by now, was kind of expecting it, even, after seeing what happened to the rest of his friends, but he doesn't want anyone to find out because if they do, it'll be like proof that he ISN'T actually fine and HASN'T recovered as much as he pretends he has. The traces of Something can't be completely hidden by just one shirt, but they do get fainter with each layer so Hero just...wears a ton of clothes. And he's visiting home during the summer. So you can imagine how well that goes!

Kel: Kel's normal eyes get all funky and glow a little, plus he gets EXTRA eyes beneath those! This is representative of uh,,, him crying after his fight with Hero,,, He was feeling left out as the last one to get a trace of Something, so at first he's mostly just excited and thinks it's cool as heck, haha. He's the main catalyst for helping his friends see the positives in the situation and come to accept it! Although when he realizes what his Somethings are representative of, he starts trying to just ignore them/pretend they're not there, and has a little trouble looking in the mirror....... But hey, the extra eyes are helpful in basketball so like. #win

Sorry this ended up so long lol, I totally get if you don't read it all. As you can tell this is one of those AU's that I'll like occasionally think about but don't have enough time/interest to draw out all my ideas for -w-""" Thanks for the ask!

[miss-kittyy]

Rewriting Briarlight and Longtail’s Deaths

So I am disabled, like very disabled, I am %50 of the teenagers ever diagnosed with my special combination of pain disorders, and I also unfortunately hyper fixated on warrior cats, which is bad news for me because warrior cats is super ableist, and to add insult to injury, the fandom can also be pretty ableist.

My biggest problem with the majority of “anti-ableist” AUs is that they “fix” the ableism stemming from the narrative and able bodied characters by making the disabled character less disabled, this so bad for many reasons. I’ve talked more about in other posts. The justification that real life disabled cats are less doesn’t make it not ableist, since when was warrior cats meant to be realistic? If you’re making an au where the disabled cats function like actual disabled cats you also have to make all the cats genetically accurate, and retcon Lionblaze lifting a tree.

My problem with warrior cats is not that the disabled characters cannot become full conventional warriors, I’d like it if they got to choose what duties the perform instead of being crammed into the medicine den, but I don’t care about Cinderpelt not being able to complete a marathon. Most of the fandom seems to think the issue is that the disabled character are not useful enough, instead of the way that able bodied characters deny of them agency and make remarks like “you wouldn’t want to return to a life like her’s would you?”. Disabled people do not need to be “useful” to be worthy and empowering.

It’s very obvious that most of the fandom just wants the disabled cats to be more palatable to abled bodied people, so I’ve decided to make my own rewrite instead to hopefully make myself feel better. A lot of these things are inspired by my own experiences and not every disabled person is looking for the same things in representation, this is totally self indulgent.

The goal of this AU is to highlight the many unique and valuable aspects disability and how being disabled does not infringe upon anyone’s worth, ever.

- Longtail doesn’t die in the storm, Briarpaw is still injured, but he’s found besides her, trying his best to help her cling to life.

- after Briarpaw begins to recover he stands up to Millie and other cats insulting her quality of life, he says her journey will be hard, but it is one worth taking.

- She asks him why he’s an elder, and he decides to request to have his warrior ship restored as Briarpaw is dreading the life of an elder.

- On his first patrol the cats accompanying him insist on speaking to him in an incredibly infantilism tone, and whispering amongst themselves over what he can or can’t do, without consulting him,

- He initially gives up on patrolling after that insufferable experience.

- Briarlight begins to create marks and blobs on the wall of the medicine den using crushed up dead herbs she asks him to retrieve some berries for her, and he complies.

- Jayfeather shows him how he navigates the territory with the help of some of the sighted cats, and Mousefur is quick to volunteer as his guide. He finds her company surprisingly empowering. He realizes that it was not his blindness which was limiting his abilities, but the other cats attitudes.

- Mousefur and Longtail return with mouthful of berries and herbs, Briarlight describes to him what she’s drawing on the side of the den and he helps he mound the materials into paint.

- The cats begin to pop into the medicine den to see Briarlights painting and soon Jayfeather has to kick her out occasionally so they’d stop crowding him, she’s given the walls of camp to decorate instead.

- She begins to illustrate Longtails stories of the old territory and Bloodclan, and this new form of storytelling becomes a tradition amongst Thunderclan.

- because more young cats are aware of the clans history it becomes harder for the dark forest to recruit them, unfortunately, Blossomfall’s resentment towards her sister means she never cared to listen.

- Ivypool is still recruited and trained like in canon, given her relationship with the dark forest was much more emotionally charged and manipulative than just plain lies.

- at a gathering Longtail meets Grasspelt who inquires about Briarlight, Longtail is surprised about how little he knows as the she-cat had mentioned how well they got along as apprentices. Despite Millie nagging him not to tell him the truth about her daughter he does anyways, but puts much more emphasis on how well she’s doing than Millie expected. Grasspelt thinks this sounds really cool and decides that he is going to see her and her paintings, and that nobody can stop him. Longtail makes sure to put any opposing cat in their place, but Briarlight is a very respected Clanmate, so most warriors don’t say anything.

- Briarlight is nervous and doesn’t want to come out of the medicine den at first, but when Grassheart darts into the den holding berries and flowers for her to paint with she quickly warms up to her visitor.

- Grassheart is happy to tell Briarlight that he’s never been able to be a “functioning” warrior, and that he has always imagined that his spirit is shaped different, the medicine cat says his body is normal, but he’s never been able to keep focus in a fight or react as quickly as he should be able to while hunting. (He’s autistic because I say so)

- As dusk nears he’s visually hesitant to return to Riverclan and when Longtail inquires on why he says that he hasn’t felt so “here” for a long time. On the way back he wanders off and comes back with a chipmunk, when returning to Riverclan territory his father, Mintfur, is shocked to see his catch. After talking with his family a bit he realizes that it was the noise from the river that was making him so tense and dissociated, Brackenfur, who was escorting him, notices that he keeps rubbing himself on the ground and wincing.

- For the next couple moons Grasspelt returned to Thunderclan to bring Briarlight plants that only grow in Riverclan territory, he begins trying to fish from the quite lazy stream in their territory and soon both him and Briarlight have got it down.

- Longtail notices the sadness present whenever Grasspelt left and exclaims that it’s rather stupid that he’s living somewhere so unsuited for him just because of words long repeated.

- Grasspelt confesses that he feels the same, but knew he wasn’t supposed to say anything. Briarlight tells Longtail that her and the Riverclan warrior had been thinking of each other as mates for moons.

- Longtail accompanies Jayfeather to the next half moon meeting where he proposes his addition to the warrior code, “no cat should be confined to laws which harm them due to an inherent physical or spiritual difference.” (Cats don’t really know how brains work, so they see mental disabilities as a difference within a cats spirit)

- A moon later the leaders meet to discuss this proposition, it is accepted and Grasspelt makes the journey to Thunderclan for the final time.

- Grasspelt is renamed Grassspirit when becoming a Thunderclan warrior, unlike prior renaming of disabled cats this is a celebration.

- Grassspirit spends most of his time taking care of the elders and kits, he’s incredibly compassionate especially with kits and is able to solve many problems within the nursery.

- When twigkit and Violetkit arrive in Thunderclan Briarlight and Grassspirit help raise them, after Violetkit is taken Briarlight and Twigkit paint her on the side of Thunderclan camp.

- Briarlight still gets sick and her illness progresses without any treatment, Grassspirit notices her trying to hide it and when Longtail finds out he’s very upset. Jayfeather frantically treats her, expressing his frustration that she didn’t tell them sooner, the second Millie steps out she breaks down and explains that she just wanted to deal with it herself, and perhaps if she were successful Millie would finally treat her like an adult.

- Longtail gives Millie a stern talking to, he tells her that Briarlight is a warrior of Thunderclan and as her clanmate she should show her some respect.

- Millie is inherently very reactionary, as she had not realized the full extent of her suffocation, but eventually after a couple moons her and Briarlight begin to rekindle their relationship, like adults.

- Blossomfall sees how Brairlight wasn’t basking in their mother’s attention like she imagined, and feels the urge to seek out an actual sisterhood after ignoring Briarlight for moons and moons.

- Briarlight isn’t really mad at her sister, and understands why she felt the way she did. Jayfeather suggests that Blossomfall help Briarlight with her painting, Blossomfall seems put off with the suggestion of being her sister’s assistant.

- The interactions that follow are less than ideal, Blossomfall commends Briarlight’s able friends (Thornclaw, Poppyfrost, Alderheart, etc) for being so nice to her, as if that’s not what friends do. She seems very sad the entire time, sighing when her sister dragged her legs around with her mouth to sit more comfortably, even though she was completely fine. When watching her paint she comments that it’s good she has “something to keep her busy”, and finally she expresses her view, of Briarlight’s injury and her (Blossomfall’s) suffering being all worth it because of her talents, as if her life was not worth living to begin with.

- Briarlight tells her that if that’s truly what she wants she’s going to have to put more effort into understanding and respecting her way of life, and that she won’t apologize for their mother’s actions.

- When Blossomfall has her kits they take a liking to Auntie Briarlight, and Blossomfall seems to have reflected on their past interactions, trusting her sister to watch her kits. Briarlight teases a bit, a subtle way of telling her not to rush things, but they do begin to feel like something close to sisters.

- Right before Briarlight’s Nieces and Nephews are made warriors Longtail dies of Greencough. Throughout the entirety of his sickness he kept his sense of humour, his mean streak, and his immense love for what he had made of his clan.

- At his vigil Grassspirit began whaling like a bird in new-leaf, he insists that the vigil is too sad, and that Longtail wouldn’t want everyone moping around, for Starclan’s sake, his life was good. Standing amongst them, Longtail’s spirit can feel every cat in Thunderclan standing around him, singing the song of a life well lived.

[transgenders-for-levi-ackerman]

Levi Ackerman as your boyfriend (headcanons)

Disclaimer:

A lot of Levi relationship headcanons (or most headcanons in general) I’ve seen before are made with cis people in mind, e.g. things focused around female anatomy and him calling you a princess or vice versa, which really puts me off…especially since the person wouldn’t say it was for a cis female reader and it'd catch me off guard

so even though these headcanons can be applied to anyone regardless of their gender identity, some of these headcanons will be written with a trans guy S/O in mind because I don’t see a lot of FtM headcanon representation

ok enjoy

Even when you and Levi finally have some private time to yourselves, it takes a while for Levi to drop his guard down. When he does, however, he only becomes slightly more affectionate. It’s not that he doesn’t like physical touch; he’d never admit it, but he’s sometimes just too shy.

Levi tends not to beat around the bush or bite his tongue; when he wants to say something, he’s going to say it. When you’re feeling down about something that happened, something someone said, or your gender dysphoria is particularly bad, Levi always knows exactly what to say. He’s no poet, but when he just straight up says what he needs to say, it always makes you feel better.

This is a bit of a wild card, but I personally feel like Levi would be really good at massages 💀 like after an expedition or a stressful day at work (in a modern AU) he’d massage your feet, your back, or your legs and it’d feel like he just gave you a brand new body part

(This headcanon is a very common one, but I don’t think it any less true) After expeditions where there are lots of casualties, Levi briefly becomes more possessive of you; he holds you more, kisses you more, and sometimes will procrastinate some of his paperwork to spend a tiny bit more time with you (that happens when it gets really bad)

Levi has an incredible poker face. You’d have to tease him a lot for his eyebrow to even twitch. However, just because his facial expression remains neutral, doesn’t mean he can’t blush; when you’re annoying him or getting him worked up in other ways, (I can’t elaborate, trying to keep it SFW) you can tell by looking to see if his face becomes ever so slightly flushed.

Levi loves it when you cuddle up next to him in bed, when you hug him from behind, (you have to let him know beforehand, or else he’ll think he’s being attacked 😵‍💫) or when you sit on his lap while he’s working. Levi enjoys it when you do little affectionate things like this, especially the lap thing (in a non-sexual way).

(trans headcanon) While you and Levi are cuddling, sometimes he becomes more confident and his hands will roam your upper body. He’ll intentionally avoid your chest so he doesn’t make you uncomfortable. Even if you tell him that you’re fine with it, he’ll still be cautious. Regardless of gender, the one thing Levi is afraid of the most is hurting the ones he loves.

When you’re sick, on your period, or just generally too tired to do anything, Levi would gladly take care of you. Remember when I said he’s not very affectionate because he’s shy? That all goes out the window. Do you need him to bathe you? Got it. Go to the store to get you menstrual products? He’ll come back with those, and some of your favorite food that you just happened to be craving. Just need to be in his arms all day? He’d happily oblige.

Levi isn’t a very smiley person, even around you. But, occasionally, he’ll let you see a smirk on his face or a very small grin. You’re the only person he trusts enough to even be slightly emotionally vulnerable.

(slightly nsfw) If you try teasing Levi in public, it’d be pretty hard to get a reaction out of him other than a slight flush. However, whenever Levi teases you back out of frustration, it shuts you up. Quickly. 

“...You’ve got a naughty mouth on you, dear. Be a good boy (girl) for me and at least wait until we’re in private…” he’d growl under his breath, just loud enough for you to hear his tone of voice.

Let me know if you want more levi headcanons (or possibly an NSFW alphabet)

[erixyin]

Let’s talk about Encanto:

I doubt  many people if anyone is going to read this but I just had to put my thoughts out there.

I’ve seen a lot of posts and tiktoks discussing how a lot of LGBT people, or specifically white LGBT people, are “forcing” some sexuality labels upon the characters of Encanto. And I am paraphrasing so I recommend you do your own research when looking into other people’s arguments, especially POC, before adding to the debate.

While I can see where people are coming from because us LGBT+ people do want representation for literally any of our sexualities and identities because we don’t get a lot of it and Encanto is such a positive film that of course we’d project it onto such positive characters. It’s not needed in canon.

Now I’m not going to talk about who deserves what representation and how that matters to people because that’s not really what I think this issue is about, and it’s not really my place to say.

But saying that it is CANON that Camillo is gender-fluid because his power is shape shifting worries me. I get that people are projecting themselves onto their comfort character but this kid is 15 and when i was 15 i was still figuring out a bunch of things. I think its great if that’s your HEAD-CANON because that’s all you, write that fan fiction have fun with that. But to point out in the film for this view and to force them to think this opinion is seriously problematic.(Oh and the people that simp for him that are adults, you people disgust me)

Another great example: Luisa in the film is strong muscular woman who is also really feminine. I’ve seen a lot of people claim that she is trans which is 1] what the fuck. the only argument I’ve seen for this is because she is muscular and can carry heavy things like??? women can be strong too also like that’s kinda trans-phobic if you think any of those factors make someone trans. A person can be masculine and feminine without being trans, just like they can be masculine and feminine while being trans.

And then lastly the one I’ve seen brought up the most is Isabella. People are stating that her song in the film is her “coming out song” and like that makes me annoyed as well. If we, the LGBT+ community, are pointing out stereotypes and supporting that then it creates so many problems both within and outside the community. I’ve seen people be like “oh she loves plants and her powers are plants because the succulents therefore she is lesbian” and I’m like fam that’s cool if that’s your head-canon but stereotypes are really damaging. like that;s the road you wanna go down?

To summarize: I think it’s completely fine if these are your head-canons and what makes you happy in your AU but to project these views onto other people who don’t see this and to get toxic about it is wrong and not ok. If Disney do later come out and be like oh yes Isabella is a lesbian then yay representation, I’m delighted for people. But to see a character do or say something and to be like “oh they are gay now I think they are gay and no one can argue with me and this is canon” is like really not ok.

(Sorry for the long post)

[transhorrors]

holds mic out... actually there's nothing i would love more than hearing you talk about fandom's views of how trans men are allowed to exist in both fandom and transformative works :)

bestie............... thank you

honestly, doesn't it always come back to a/b/o and mpreg? and i felt this way before i was consciously trans and it's only gotten more pronounced as i've pushed forward into the non-fanworks world of fiction writing. there's a distinct lack of trans characters in both, but there is an especially noticeable lack of visibility and representation for ftm/transmasculine characters. i've speculated a lot about why this is (best i can come up with is the societal fear of a surprise phallus is greater than the surprise of a lack thereof, but this is a really hard thing to articulate and incredibly nuanced, and it'll take me way off topic), but people in general are just incredibly adverse to writing trans male characters, in particular trans male adults. adults who hold positions of power and adults who have sex and adults who fuck up.

and trust me: i have tried to read a/b/o. i have tried to understand the appeal. but i'm just like, goddamn, why are so many girlies choosing wet ass when you could just write a trans character and fucking have your cake and eat it too! trans men have dicks, natural and surgically! if you're that obsessed with needing two cocks, you can still have that with a trans character, and you don't need this gross, cissexist trope that requires ass pregnancies.

and that segues nicely into how fandom writes characters when they are actually written as trans which is... still woof. because it's never just normal. 80% of it is pregnancy whump, "woe to me, for i, a transsexual, am pregnant, and this is the worst thing that could ever happen to me". obviously there's nuance to this (hell, when i was a teen i wrote a polyam series where my trans character got pregnant. i also wrote a lot more porn than angst, though, it wasn't just endless angst), but when that's all there is?? and when it's not pregnancy angst, it's g or t-rated, which, fine, whatever, but why can't we have casual pwps? why is it so hard to get casual explicit stuff with a ftm character? fandom is full of all kinds of weird porn, but i have actually gotten yelled at by Fandom Girls for asking why people write a/b/o over making a character ftm lol.

obligatory "if people aren't comfortable writing trans characters, i would obviously rather ignore their weird cis porn than have to suffer through shitty trans fetishization". but also. people should learn how to write trans characters, in fandom and in general. a character can (and, imo, should) be trans without that being the whole plot. the problem is trans people still exist primarily as inspiration/tragedy porn in the cisgender eyeballs, and so we don't get to just... be a character. we don't get to have casual sex or get put into cutesy little au's or any of that.

(that's also why i'm happy that my chris/adrian series has been doing well because like..... this is not meant as shade to anyone in the ao3 tag. but right now, besides me, there's, like, 2 other trans adrian fics that i would go back and reread. everything else is a/b/o, and one tagged as "mpreg" that i refuse to touch on principle. but the two good ones are i think both t-rated. we have far more fic for breeding kink, which, fine, whatever. and i really want other people to write trans adrian, because i think combining his obsession with identity makes him FASCINATING to write as trans, and i want people to get fun and freaky with explicit stuff like they do when they write him as cis, but also i trust a maximum of 5 or 6 writers to do that decently. and at this point, i've dissected and analyzed so much fucking trans media that i just emotionally and mentally cannot. spare the time of day for people who are still doing it objectively wrong. lol)

[phandombigotryarchive]

Ayo @madamefaust ? You gonna tell me why you're writing about the white ass french De Chagny's being involved in the SLAVE TRADE?

Playing into the tragic mulatto trope by making Raoul half Black for some diversity points? (See the word bastard when referred to Raoul's Blackness.) All for some fucking fanfiction?

Do you even know the implications of naming a Black/White biracial child a bastard and flat out stating that their white side was involved in the slave trade? It means that child's mother was possibly r*ped. You are implying that Raoul's mother was a victim of slavery and sexual trauma. You are playing into the tragic mulatto trope. You are anti-Black.

You decide to write Raoul as Black. Then you state that his family is involved in the slave trade in the description AND ON TOP OF THAT YOU MAKE HIM A TRAGIC MULATTO. How do you even sound? 💀 FUNNY how you only care about writing Black characters when it's to exploit and fetishize Black trauma for this lily white ass fandom. Much less, for a pharoga fic! (I know most of you pharoga shippers/writers are white. Yes that's a bad thing!)

Is you even BLACK too, madamefaust ? 🤔 And don't give me that "oh I did my research" I DO NOT CARE. IT IS NOT IN A NON-BLACK'S INTERESTS TO BE WRITING BOUT US. You don't speak for us. ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO SLAVERY LMFAOOOOO

Let me not forget the fact that she based Raoul's story off the Dumas family. Alexandere Dumas was a biracial Black and White man who wrote the Three Musketeers. His Father, Thomas Alexandre Dumas was a born into slavery in Haiti but was freed and fought in the French army under Napoleon. Do you know how disrespectful it is to base a fictional white aristocratic family off a Black family traumatized by slavery and anti-Blackness for your fanfic? Did you know that many of these BLACK PEOPLE in Haiti suffered brutal conditions under slavery by the French? That many of them died in the Haitian Revolution obtaining their freedom. How could you be so disrespectful as to base off A FICTIONAL WHITE MAN OFF A REAL LIFE BLACK ENSLAVED FAMILY?? MUCH LESS FROM HAITI OF ALL PLACES??????

Do you think slavery is a fun joke? Do you think that me and many other members of my diaspora not knowing where we come from as a result of COLONIALISM and ENSLAVEMENT is something to use as a fanfic trope? Do you think this is a fucking game to you? That making an aristocratic white french family being aligned on the slave trade cute to you?

FUCK YOU.

This is everyone who left a kudos and bookmarked. Fuck all y'all. Notice any familiar faces? 🤔

I don't expect nothing from this fandom about blocking and accountability cause y'all stay being weirdly racist + colorist with the Daroga, interacting with transphobes and all other types of heinous shit.

So I just want you all to know that hell is a hot place if you keep interacting with this person. And madamefaust? Stay the fuck away from Black people and don't forget to donate to Black Trans Women if you even have a slight bit of remorse. I know you be interacting with them transphobes around here (we can see who you reblog from. I know you've seen the call out posts).

That includes the rest of y'all in this fandom too. Since we're on the topic of anti-Blackness, non-Black people in this fandom love to make and share fanart of Black Christine, yet they call and paint Erik as abusive while they draw their Black Christine fanart. What does that tell you, when you have a Black woman in a relationship or friendship with a white man, who you view as abusive? This implies that you want Black women to be abused. You people claim to love Norm Lewis' Phantom and interact with non-white adaptations of the characters yet you paint Erik abusive and depraved. So why do you like Norm's Erik so much, huh? What does that tell you about how you see a Black Erik? You people profit off the pain and consumption of Black people under the guise of your false representation. You are anti Black and cover it under the guise of, "we welcome everyone."

You don't.

You don't make Black fans safe with interacting with @filthybonnet an anti-Black terf as well as madamefaust who thinks she's so high and mighty as to exploit Black trauma under the guise of "historical accuracy". You don't make Irani, darkskinned and Muslim fans feel safe when you fetishize the Daroga or call him slurs under the guise of calling out racism. The monkey "jokes" aren't funny. You are colorists. You make make mentally ill fans unsafe when you demonize Erik's trauma. You make fans with facial differences unsafe when you demonize Erik's face. You consistently make trans women unsafe by refusing to stop interacting with terfs. We can go on forever.

And if you just scroll past this post, knowing what goes on in this bullshit ass fandom, you're part of the problem. I bet y'all don't even care anyways.

Anyways Happy Black History month and fuck the ph*ndom.

I do not like y'all.

I better not see not one of y'all ever interact with my fics. I'll see all y'all in hell ♥️ and I do hope all y'all block me too. That's what you're good for anyways LMFAOOOOO

Better not see y'all bum asses talmbout ooh "I love Norm Lewis' Phantom. Ooh, I love Derrick Davis Phantom 🥰" while y'all support this anti-Black racist white woman. You only love Black people when they're suffering or when they're performing for you. You consume our pain and trauma and expect us to hold hands with you while you view us as subhuman. Similar to how y'all treat Erik.

Must be why you like Black Phantoms so much. Anyways.

Oh look what we have here! madamefaust putting out some performative ass shit about how she "loves" Norm Lewis whilst writing the tragic mulatto trope ft slavery on Raoul De Chagny 🤔

(I won't delete this btw, it's people like you that make this fandom impossible to navigate as a non-white person. You are a grown ass woman. I'm sure you can handle the pressure if you can write a slavery AU. I ain't listening to your non-Black crocodile tears too, so don't come into my inbox playing kumbaya cause it's not gonna work on my ass. Go read a book on anti-Blackness if you're such a librarian or better yet? Stay away from Black people all together. I know you be liking and reblogging posts featuring and from Black people too. I'm not accepting no apology neither. Go take that up with my ancestors.)

P.S: A colonized person venting out their oppression via the medium they enjoy is different from a privileged person weaponizing oppression for their own consumption and enjoyment. The historical traumatizing brutalization of Black PEOPLE is not your little plaything.

[captainkurosolaire]

~ Mass Update ~

Mainly going into future plans and intents alongside ideas below cut.

Ton's of things I've in store this will prove difficult to vent it all out. But here we go... First off rehashing and appropriately learning to tag and organize things better on my blog. Each category will have their own corresponding content, I seek to bring or share. [Tales of Goldbrand] -- I intend this to carry a Compendium of all my writes soon that'll have everything neatly in-order including a glossary, so it'll have highlights of stories that even matter or the best stuff. I've written here for a very, long time, there's been many shifts. I want to make it more accessible. While coloring what matters for people who want to learn Captain or his Crew with less chapters. While also giving choice to find it all easily. This is essentially a step-above master-lists. I'll be doing that after the Saga I have going on, right now is done. [Captain] -- Will provide you strictly with Captain screenshots, gifs, photo-sets. This is still his blog despite the Crew thing's will sort of make this a scuffed Multi-Muse blog. I've few more things to edit and tag fix to get all his stuff though. [The Wild Crew] -- Afterwards this story is done Immortal Age Saga, It's something that I mainly wrote as a passion project within three days to get my warm-up process fixed. It's to allow me to get a feel for all his Crewmates and casts, in combat, in-general, to feel their presences. While also giving a bit of their backstories. At any point, I can go back and polish or tweak things in. They're NPC's but... not entirely. All will have their own 'Dreams' and their own 'Disapproval's' they have their own missions even. These things will factor eventually, they might set seeds, to betray or disagree with something, but that's all angst and more stories to be created, but overall, they'll probably always be Crew, eventually. -- I plan on making character-profile sheets of them and putting them in this Tab, it'll have their screenshots, their likes/dislikes. Some RP partners or people can also be shipped with them, but they'll all be monogamous and originally start off probably Pan. This allows them to figure out what they like on their own stories. I've always been someone who likes organic-flow. Although this one story contain all 16 characters or more, the rest will probably be shortened to a Squad of 4 and dispersed when on adventuring missions. Until I do a War Arc, that's my main goal to build too. [Roster] -- Will contain this Crew in just screen-sets dedicated to them, I'll probably randomly produce those. I've PC players among this Crew too. I may not be done either adding more, but this Crew is mainly built around Quality. Most pirate crew's mainly, have hundreds, thousands. Even Fleets. This Crew has personalities, monsters, people who are living life's that exist with piracy. He's an particular leader that had PC players the same way, he's had split-personality serial killers aboard, tribal chieftains, succubus, all sorts of various people once on a Crew. It's often an outcast style, pirates default are chaotic in nature, so this really isn't any different, it's a Fantasy version of it. There's humanization characters aboard too though, so this cast is really decked, everything and person is vital, they matter because they remind or covet something that others can draw upon. If ever played (Three Houses or Mass Effect / Dragon Age Origins) A lot of things like that are relatable too this structure and format. Which, Is something I want to be able to give when RPing. I want a genuine feel of this new world someone else's muse will be the main-character too. Depending on what's interacting everything they'll be scale appropriately to follow the genre they're in and environment even. [Aesthetics] -- Already explainable what you'll find here. [Asks] -- Same thing. [Prompts] -- Trivial things I was tagged too, I plan on compiling later. [Writing] -- Another alternatively to randomly go-down and it works right now. [Logs] -- Will have more individualistic master-lists and posts there, my poems from Sheik Sphere the Bard, etc.

Things of that nature, I'll probably add still. It's where a lot of my creative writing is summed. [Gems of Hydaelyn] -- My main #tag for other characters and artists, creationist. Lot of amazing people easily to find their zones or follow them optionally if you like. Ton's I intend to support and bolster, be a lot less unspoken. I'm never the type who's been strictly inclusive. But I'll do that when I've time to even explore the dash, I'm always still planning ahead with things and projects. [CKS] My original character-sheet it's outdated on something's but not too terrible. I'll give him polishing someday, I swear? [21+F-List] -- Just purely degenerate stuff of Captain. I'm a pirate blog. I will represent that with openness and furthermore. I'm never projecting you some false-image. I started off a smut-writer by stripping that, I no-longer represent the same aura and identity. But those are strictly his stuff and kinks, I'm effective in executing them but they're not all relatable to me OOC. This blog will always be 18+ containing crude or dark material sometimes, romantic things, this Captain is blunt, will literally put his cock on the table in conversations. Swearing and being censored would be too uncommon and displace most of him, but there's more about him then all this. [Other] -- I pay homage to a lot of characters, I originally am a Concept Designer. Which mean's I make characters and ideas like my addiction. Bad characters / villains or other little things I like to share in designs, I'll put there. Some villains might get little photo-sets, even if they died. Just cause I like their design, or maybe I'll give them an AU, where they won. When I've wrapped up things. [Collabs + Ships] -- Is a new project idea. This isn't going to be something limited too romantic only ships. It'll contain, platonic, romantic, friendships, rivals, frenemies, family, PC Crew, all ships. I am desperately working on improving my gif, screenshot, posing game so I can supply 'Screen Stories' this is not only a way to RP that's accessible with even people who are upon time-crunches from work, It gives visual-representation. To impactful stories shared with others and establish bonds. That are all-valid and impactful matter. Lot of people take a lot of their characters attributes into them and are them dialed up, I work with that and bit more, differently. I'm disconnected from my characters and they'll get hurt and injured and killed by me, that's my duty as their Author to give them conflicts and struggles. I'm their major antagonist, but that doesn't mean at-all, it's always SET that way. The characters I like to make have their own life, they live in this setting and are abide by it, they're often nothing, nobodies, and by the interacting with others, they slowly gradually building, more... Through emotional impacts, they alter, these are REAL people by all their beliefs. Each person they come in-contact with are legitimate and treated like that too. They've always impacted or given them insights to grow, or represent more. Otherwise it'd be criminally disrespectful if I allowed any emotional I felt OOC be the grudge to something IC. Captain in-particular is set on defying me. I cannot have that. ...But I can't stop him. He's met and encountered so many people and lived so many scenarios based on the actions of others, he's giving a chance right now to actually do things a lot further than impossible. The more people he meets and encounters, experiences, the more I lose. These stories are emotionally interactive where everything is a factor and adds to the dice, where the other people are the one who get to roll the dice for him, not me. That's something I want to color in. People range in emotions, they have their down's, ups, their own wholesome-grounding people, spending time with your favorite people, there's nothing more cherishing than that, being in your own comfort-zone or 'safe-space' these are all treasures that we live under, today. Contrary if what people assume of me, I'm not another 'blogger' that's came

before, who's wanting to force a harem, then constantly is bewildered when that falls to pieces cause of selfishness or a lack of communication, or the skeletons they have in their closets and beliefs they hid behind and swindled fooled everyone. I'm not looking to be popular or anything really, I just create stories and want to share in those, and I want to also boost others included, upward with me, especially those who make me. There's no ego in anything I do, this is purely love. I've never cared about being replicated or duplicated, I've had stalkers, I've gone through more then anyone would imagine, I've been used OOC and abused, just for my writing and cold-harshly told, i'd never amount to anything other then that or vice-versa. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Passion. That's all I got and am anymore. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Passion is the hardest thing to keep. It's something that can be stolen, quite effortlessly. Few words of discouragement, a bad negative representation, a lack of confidence, or small amount of time, there's many thing's that can put that flame out. Once you lose it. The difficulty to reattain is hundred-times harder than climbing any mountain for real. I've watched the greatest creators crumble from under the pressure, from beaten down by others. I watched many of them do it to themselves because they put a grand vision of needing validation of another and once lost, felt uncompelling to press onward. But passion also can be given BACK and drawn. It can be shown and encourage others, with a soft-triggering, that pushes them. That motivates, that constantly sticks to it. There are many that fuel me. If I ever quit, I let them down, I spit in the faces of people who're better than me in every-way. Or people who've came and given me their precious Time. That have given their character's or dedication to the abundant stories and community-driven things I've done. There's ONLY things you can do, create, give and provide. It cannot ever come to life without YOU. This is a fact. ...I swear, If you let your creativity soar, you'll be amazed by the heights you get. Constantly polish and learn and hone the best you, challenge yourself day after painstaking day, to draw better improvement on something, no matter how trivial or unfamiliar you are. You'll find a confidence only you can give yourself. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Future Plans --------------------------------------------------------------------- For me, I've got so much more stories to give and also explore, I might be taking up soon some other artists and more skilled people from community and hire them for some of my future writes, to up my game or cause something thing's can't be done in-game cause no background carries it. I also got a lot of-set up things and more angst stuff I want to practice, plus I'm adamantly on that grind to produce screen-sets with the intent's to some sort of improving daily. Additionally more people I'll be reaching out too soon for these collab's ideas and things. I look forward to shaking your hands, giving some hugs, show you my respect and admiration, then creating some enchanting stories and giving plots light. Feel free to reach out to me, I get scattered-brain but I'm working on getting better about it. Eventually will get to you though, my goals, if uninterested just say so when I poke, no bites, unless you kinky. Anyways, cheers hearties.

[hamphobicbasil]

Could u elaborate about the dsmp story being bad? Not a rabid/brain dead fan, just genuinely curious and I enjoy reading people's rants lolol

oh you dont know the floodgates you just opened

a few things:

1. despite not liking the creators of the dsmp anymore, I don't actually hate most of them. [the ones that are particularly unsavory fall outside of this of course] so all that I'm saying i truly mean in a critical sense towards the story, its also just all purely my opinion as someone who enjoys fictional and fantasy stories and who like criticizing works to see what it does well and what it doesn't do well

2. for clarification I'm going to use the c![name] to indicate when I'm talking about the characters. Don't get me wrong, I think its annoying too but its the only way I'm gonna be able to write this thing without getting something across the wrong way yknow?

3. I stopped watching the streams after November 16th, [save for one Techno one but I closed out after a particularly bad story beat lol] and so all information coming afterward is all second hand from either me seeing people on twt talk abt it or people dming me. All i really know is up to dream's imprisonment and some stuff past that.

4. This is mostly aimed towards the "main" story, so stuff abt the badlands, eggpire, and whatnot are briefly mentioned.

anyways uh, i'll try to be brief but also include enough information to get why i feel the way i do on some stuff across

A. Performances Alright obviously these people are all streamers, so obviously they might not be the best actors, and hell no one is even asking that of them. However, when you're telling a story that's based on the audio with the visuals kinda coming to a second, it's gotta be pretty strong. I will say, some of the best actors in my opinion are Wilbur, Tommy, and Tubbo. I would include Ranboo but I never watched any of his story bits or story streams so I can't say much. Wilbur and Tommy are excellent in selling their character's emotions and feelings, when I watch the stream I don't feel like I'm watching an rp but an actual thought-out story yknow? And one of my favorite Tubbo examples was in the Hog Hunt video whenever Techno attacked him, he sounded genuinely afraid and I believed everything his character was feeling.

However, unfortunately, not everyone is gonna be that good. And I'm gonna say it; Dream and Techno have to be the worst out of the entire cast. I understand Techno's whole character is this monotoned badass, however, when really emotional moments hit I feel like he never lets that fall, and a lot of intense moments just ring hollow. And I'm sorry but Dream's attempts at being intimidating leave me laughing whenever I watch them. It feels like he watched that one scene from The Marriage with Adam Driver and Scarlett Johannson and said "Oh this is what good acting looks like! Just yelling." His whole "I don't give a FUCK about Spirit!" speech isn't as great as people keep making it out to be. And whenever he tries to act coy when being a villain it feels like a guy reading the script for the first time, a bit like he's trying too hard. I have more problems with his character but his portrayal certainly doesn't help.

Everyone else is fine, and I don't feel strongly either way about a lot of them.

B. The "Lore" Okay first off, I can't be the only one who thinks it's silly that people are calling the dsmp's story "lore" when it's not, it's the fucking story. Lore indicates backstory to either the world or the characters, which a lot of the streams don't really pertain to. This is a really petty section but god it's a weird pet peeve of mine.

Other than the misusage of "lore" vs "story", the actual lore and world-building of the world are so lackluster that new elements can be introduced whenever and it often feels cluttered or not well thought out at all. And here's the thing, I feel like if the writers sat down just for a few minutes to establish world rules and general history, a lot of this could be solved! but so much is made up on the spot that it starts to feel like they're grabbing at straws to keep people invested, trying to reach that next high and intense story beat without actually earning it.

C. The Egg / Eggpire This is a pretty minor note since I was only invested in the Egg storyline for a little bit, but god it's so underused that it's almost embarrassing. Bad has provided this super interesting antagonistic force that's infecting the SMP, can control people, and who one of our main character is immune to, and it's just never used or even talked about again? Now I understand if he wanted to keep it to a side storyline only, however, to introduce this borderline eldritch creature and force within the world and then never have it dealt with is so weird.

D. The Writing Oh boy this is. kinda a big one. Now I'm not gonna lie, it's pretty obvious I have a bias for the Wilbur writing over the current team [that consisting of Dream, Quackity, and Tommy mostly]. I don't this his writing is perfect by any means, the characters constantly bringing up traitors got obnoxious after a while, and writing Hamilton but in Minecraft really isn't the modern Shakespeare or anything. However, I think his exploration of characters and plot progression was a lot more thought out and well planned, like he actually had two brain cells behind the story yknow? The current team I think fails to be as emotional or even impactful, things happened too fast and my god was everything drowned in angst for so long.

Don't get me wrong, you gotta have your characters face hardships to make them reach their goal believable, but some of the shit they put the characters through just felt like too much. From c!Tubbo's constant comparison to c!Schlatt [who btw, fucking ordered his death and kept him from his friends in a nation he felt trapped in] and on a side note, i kinda really fucking dislike the "c!Schlatt dad!!" au's or the au's where c!Tubbo inherits some of Schlatt's features, it would be like c!Tommy getting a c!Dream mask after his exile, it's feels so weird yet people eat that shit up for some reason.

But god, did c!Tommy get the brunt of it all and in retrospect after his final death, it kinda feels really fucking gross. Now obviously, I'm not trusting any of these people to write decent mental health representation, but c!Tommy's PTSD and how it was explored was just degrading. [Specifically the scene in that one Techno stream where he saw the final control room from the first war, and had a flashback / panic attack where he started calling out for c!Dream. I understand this is an actual thing people with PTSD will experience, but it felt so fucking stereotypical it got on my nerves. I actually had to close out of the stream because it made me feel sick, fiction shouldn't leave you feeling that way.] And don't get me started on how they basically reused the formula from the previous arc. [Problem introduced -> Tensions rise as things start to fall apart -> Big confrontation -> Exile -> Return from Exile -> Blowing up L'Manberg, again.]

And speaking of characters-

E. Character Arcs, or the lack of them In my genuine opinion, some of these characters' arcs are so disappointing. Especially c!Tommy's. I'm not one to believe that he was a "selfish" character or anything, however, his goals were simply set on his discs and maybe c!Tubbo, he didn't have much outside that. However, L'Manberg gave him something to care about, he gave up his discs for it and he fought for it tooth and nail, I think it taught him to open up to others and trust more. It was a great character arc for him to have, seeing him still fight even after his first exile alongside c!Wilbur, to return safely to the nation that he and his found family had built.

But then his second exile happened, and I feel like all of that was undone.

c!Tommy's exile genuinely pisses me off for so many reasons. It's not that characters can't have their low points after reaching a major change or feeling like they've "completed" their arcs or anything, but it's more of the fact that it seems like he's never going to heal that feels like a spit in the face, especially to people who might have had setbacks like that before. Progress isn't linear, sometimes things happen and you get knocked back down, it can take a while to get back up, but I don't think c!Tommy's character is ever going to be allowed to get back up. From c!Dream, who pretty much was a constant abuser in his life, killing him then reviving him, and his still fractured relationship with c!Tubbo, which by the way I have a had time believing they would still be friends after all that happened, it feels like he can never get a win and it's generally kinda a shit way to treat your characters who have been abused. Of course, not all abused characters are going to get happy endings, I'm not trying to dictate that they all should, but c!Tommy deserves one and the fact that it's so obscure feels shitty.

Side note: we still don't have a canon reason to give a shit abt the discs. Like I'm sorry but without some sorta connection to the MacGuffin why should we give a shit about him getting them other than "he wants them lol". Like hell, I would even accept the classic "they were the last gifts from his parents" or something, but we still don't have a reason.

c!Tubbo also lacks a fulfilling arc as well, from someone who started out as a yes man, he has progressed a bit into having his own interests first, but besides that sometimes his character makes me so. depressed. He's easily one of the most pushed around and hated characters within the story, all for being a kid who didn't know what to do and he's in the same vein as c!Tommy; these kids can't get a break. Also, his anti-violence beliefs morphing into the "lets kill c!Techno lol!" bit was so out of place and without proper build-up it was like. what. And now he's building nukes?? god c!Tubbo makes me so sad because he's kicked around constantly and never given a chance to grow.

Another small note, I also don't really enjoy c!Techno at all. Besides the previously stated reasons of lack of emotions when they're really needed, I find his character to be weirdly pretentious. He talks as if he's constantly been betrayed and hurt but I personally, don't see it? Like, I think one of the main examples was the Pogtopia vs. Manberg war, yknow he wanted to end the government but they just reinstated it after they won = c!Techno upset. But this doesn't make sense to me because why did he think otherwise? The entire time c!Tommy had talked about taking back their nation and starting again, so the fact that c!Techno suddenly thought there would be a sudden change is, to put it bluntly, kinda fucking stupid. I don't want to say that he "plays the victim" or anything because that feels a bit harsh, but his character feels so far up his own ass that I can't enjoy him.

I have a major grip with c!Dream as well, but that's getting it's own fucking section.

F. L'Manberg This is a quick note before we get into the, forgive me for this, endgame, of this entire rant, since the next two sections are tied together. But god, L'Manberg makes me upset because it feels like they gave up on it.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that it is supposed to be c!Wilbur's "unfinished symphony", the thing that destroyed a once charismatic and widely loved man, his attempt at power that utterly ruined him. But the fact that it just got blown up in the end after everything and left to rot felt like such a waste of time. From the first war, to Pogtopia, to even c!Tommy's exile, it all felt fucking worthless in the end, and the story is actively closer to how it was when it started now more than ever. I wished it was actually allowed to exist and continue to be a peaceful place in what is a chaotic world, but no it was just snuffed out because why dedicate to this concept of finding others you can band together with and feel safe. fuck that noise apparently?

G. The Villains Now villain-wise, I'm only talking about c!Dream [during the first war], c!Schlatt, and c!Wilbur. And believe it or not, this is actually mostly positive.

Now I'm not gonna lie, c!Dream as a staring antagonist wasn't bad actually, he posed a genuine and threatening opposition to L'Manberg, even if we didn't know his real intentions or motivations as to why he was against it. He's lucky in this sense because he didn't have to be good, he had to be passable. If anything, he felt more like an anti-hero than a tyrant or traditional villain, and my god do I wish he kept this theme going forward.

Now quick disclaimer, I don't like JSchlatt as much as the next guy, he's an adult man who should know better than to joke about some sensitive topics and act the way that he does. But the one thing I'll ever give him is that damn, was he a good actor for his character.

Now here's the thing, c!Schlatt wasn't particularly deep at all. He had no real motivations behind his exile of c!Wilbur and c!Tommy other than getting competition out of the way, had no reason to act the way that he did and yknow? that's fine. The reason why he worked was from his performance alone, he was actually intimidating. When he came onto the stream and was doing his typical bad guy stuff, it was actually intense to see what he would do. Whenever he would almost catch c!Tommy back in Manberg, whenever he would begin to pressure c!Tubbo, it put you on the edge of your seat and it felt like everything would change at the drop of a pen. He's a villain to be a villain, and this works out because he's just charismatic and well put together enough to make it interesting, even without the backstory or motives.

c!Wilbur however, is much more tragic, and the best villain of the story. He essentially was the "mentor turned evil" trope and it felt terrible watching him descend into madness, unable to trust barely anyone except for c!Techno and c!Tommy. Hell, in the end I think he still cared about them both, despite losing everything. Sure, he blew up L'Manberg, but there was still a smidge of the old c!Wilbur in there made everything he did feel melancholic. His death at the hands of his father after achieving his final wish was chilling, and something I still think about.

Until yknow, Ghostbur came back way too soon to let people feel his loss as a character within that world. And then he got revived, pretty much-undoing everything that moment meant for his character lol.

And then there's the worst one:

H. Dream. I'm going to be completely honest, c!Dream is one of the main reasons why I dislike the current dsmp stuff so much. Outside of his actions as a person, the way Dream decided to write his character as this overpowered madman of the dsmp really just. destroyed any intrigue that he could've had. Perhaps this is from my growing dislike towards him, manifesting into a bias towards his character, but god I cannot fathom why people try to insist he's interesting when he has as much depth as a fucking puddle.

And here's the thing, I'm not even entirely against c!Dream being a villain, hell I think he would've been great as an anti-hero if anything. Make him sympathetic but not through c!George to get your precious "DNF" points or anything, but show him actually caring about the people within the dsmp, including c!Tommy and c!Tubbo. This would make his rival status with them just a bit more complicated, sure they're enemies, however, he doesn't want to hurt or kill them, and there's still a level of friendship there that keeps them bonded when things get super bad. This could've been super interesting to see, the first villain of the story receiving a sorta redemption arc then descending into madness as he started to fixate on being a god. This is all how I feel personally, but god do I feel like it would've been better than his current character, and hell would've worked with how he was during the Pogtopia arc, before the war that is. I'm not trying to tell Dream how to write his own character, but there are so many other ways he could've done the madman seeking to become god rather then. whatever the hell we got.

Because instead, we got this power-mad asshole who does things... because he can? And that's one of my major issues: he tries to surround his character in mystery to make him "intriguing" but it's kinda like c!Techno, it comes off as pretentious. Not only that, but you cannot keep waving around this mystery of a backstory without ever actually revealing it. I know the story isn't over, but c!Dream is effectively at his lowest point, now would be the time to reveal his backstory. But no just keep it in the dark and keep everyone guessing, that's totally fun and not at all tiring and annoying. (sarcasm, if anyone needs it)

And back to his performance, he doesn't sell this aloof, cynical and strategic warrior that has perfected the blade or some shit, he comes off as some angry guy yelling on reddit. which i don't need to tell you, isn't intimidating. It feels like he's trying to have c!Schlatt's intimidation combined with c!Wilbur's depth, but instead he's like a little brother who's trying to hard to mimic his older brother and is kinda embarrassing himself.

but other then that i dont feel too strongly abt the dsmp lol

but seriously, these are the main complaints I have abt the story tbh, I could probably talk about more but I wont because man. this is probably gonna get me in trouble if any of the hyper-dsmp fans actually read it.