#fuck-off-jesson

[godmademewithoutarms]

wait what do you mean they canonically fucked how did i miss that

I'm assuming this is referring to my garrance/brothers in arms post. If not, you're gonna have to be a bit more specific 😅

It wasn't in the series nor was it an explicit event that you could pin point to a certain episode like aarmau's (gag) little... forest frolic was. It was on the infamous 'list' that Jess made.

Pretty much the list is just a list of mcd characters who she wrote smut of. And said smut is canon to the timeline. (I don't remember if she explicitly says it's 100% canon but she is the creator and therefore that makes it canon anyways). It's not just garrance on that list, I believe dante/aphmau is also on there.

Here is the link to said post:

I don't remember exactly what she says, I just copied the link 🫠

[xerith-42]

Why Blaze is MyStreet's Most Failed Character

Blame the big bang discord for this post, I wasn't gonna write it until those fucks encouraged me.

Anyways here's an entire essay about why Blaze is the most wasted character in the entirety of MyStreet and I will literally fight Jessica and Jason Bravura with my bare hands.

To get us started on our harrowing tale of wasted potential and the best improviser Jessica ever hired, we need to go back a little. Back to Phoenix Drop High Season 2. We won't stay here long, I promise, I hate it more than you can possibly know. But the single saving grace of this absolute mess of a season is ya boi, Blaze. Introduced in the 18th episode of the season, airing on April 12, 2017, with the airing of Phoenix Drop High Season 2 Episode 18, Blaze was a character who started his brief tenure series with a bang!

Literally dude showed up and the first thing he ever did on screen as a character in a piece of media we can engage with is throw someone out of a window. We do not know this mans name yet and he's already left a lasting impression. Sure throwing people out of a window is common in werewolf culture, which I don't care what you say that's objectively funny, but it is bold to start a characters entire introduction with that. Blaze comes out of the gate swinging before he's said a single line.

And then after introducing himself he throws a dead bird at Aphmau to show off his hunting skills?? Okay so he's just that fucking weird and overly enthusiastic about things I guess! That's amazing! MyStreet always shines when it just lets it's characters be fucking weird without making a big deal out of it or talking them down for it. Dottie even says that it's romantic which is again just a great showing of Blaze's enthusiasm and lack of what might appear to be common social decorum because of said enthusiasm.

This is all punctuated and brought to a hilarious breaking point when Blaze's final showing of why he should be the new top dog at his school is when the crazy mother fucker rips his shirt off to literally flex about how he's one of the hottest guys in the school. And I'm going to be real with you, given Blaze's later characterization as a himbo, I'm pretty sure he doesn't actually care about this. He just says it because he thinks it'll boost his chances. Blaze is later shown to be a character willing to throw away his reputation for the things he cares about, but he does get a rather sincere moment with Aphmau, even if she's blushing the entire time.

It shows that Blaze is not only physically affectionate, but also weirdly comfortable with his shirt off. Because this is purely objective character analysis I will not be shoving my Blaze is autistic and has sensory problems with things touching his chest propaganda down your throats, but now that I've mentioned it once you won't stop thinking about it when this comes up.

The show admittedly fumbles the bag a little by having Blaze say in his internal monologue that he thinks Aphmau is cute and acts kind of like a tsundere, but this is Jesson writing so there's always bound to be a bit of That Shit. But in spite of that, Blaze is a character who has an instant impression that leaves a lot of room for comedy potential, and just good ol' fashion silliness. And while the werewolf plot of Season 2 is... bad, Blaze and the Werewolf Pups are stand out characters in the sense that their characterization leaves a lot of potential if they're in a different, better written story.

And even if the arc is bad, Blaze still is a quality part of it. His shallow but hilarious initial characterization gets built on in some really solid ways. Namely in how he acts as a force for good in Aphmau's life even if she doesn't realize or give him permission to do it. This entire season is about how the different men in Aphmau's life handle helping her in a crisis, and funnily enough, in a season centered around Aaron literally overthrowing Aphmau's new love interest, Blaze is the one who was consistently doing what was best for Aphmau.

Aaron fumbles the ball more than a few times, Ein is shown to be actively malicious, and Kai gets hate crimed. But Blaze, who's barely even a contender in this ship war, is constantly working to actually make things better while everyone else is pulling Aphmau away from what actively matters about her position. While Ein is manipulating her and Aaron is trying to prove that, Blaze throws caution to the wind and just does what he thinks is best to restore order.

But more important than that end conclusion is his true goal of standing up for Daniel. A wolf it is established he barely knew before this year, that Blaze is willing to throw his reputation and standing in a bull shit hierarchy because he's seeing how this hierarchy is hurting someone who doesn't deserve it. Blaze is the one who is baring his fangs and willing to throw hands when Daniel cowers away from bullies. By the end of the season Blaze has been given adequate screen time to not only show off his fun and maybe a tad out of touch side, but he's been given a real level of sincerity that's tied into the things he's enthusiastic about. He loves being a werewolf, and he extends that love to all the werewolves around him, until they start being dicks to other werewolves who are literally just sitting there.

At the center of Blaze is that inherent goofiness though. He's always cracking jokes, or the joke when he's on screen, and in a series that was originally pitched as a light hearted slice of life comedy in contrast to MCD's general misery, that sort of character is needed to keep the tone. Such is show in episode 22 when Blaze is reading a book on the Scientific Method to just learn more about science, but realizes the book is upside down.

But he actually understood it enough to properly apply the scientific method to this situation?? Iconic. It's played off as a joke of Blaze exploiting a loophole to get out of class, but even that's pretty smart honestly. Blaze may be a dumb ass but he's always willing to cheat an unfair system.

Episode 22 is basically a Blaze centric episode, which I did not expect, but now that I'm rewatching it for this post it might be the reason I love this character so dearly. It's not only the episode where Blaze manages to learn the Scientific Method upside down, but also stands up for Daniel in a really substantial way. Blaze is loud, enthusiastic, and strong, all traits that are celebrated by werewolf culture, and whether he realizes it or not, him just being around Daniel can do a lot to get bullies to back off. Everyone has seen Blaze toss a mother fucker through a window, they do not want to be on the receiving end of that.

He spends the rest of the episode trying to figure out what Ein's deal is when he hears that Ein went behind Aphmau's back on werewolf matters, landing Daniel in this situation. He hears Ein actively plotting against Daniel, but that is normal werewolf behavior. He concludes that he'll keep an eye on Ein. And this through line of "normal werewolf behavior" informs a lot of Blaze's decisions once he comes to the conclusion that Ein sucks and deserves to be undermined. He resorts to letting his actions speak louder than words and goes to violence after realizing that the wolves aren't listening to reason, they're listening to instinct.

He fights fire with fire, and while Aphmau might not approve, it's more effective than her soft rhetoric has been in getting people to be less of jackasses. This eventually lands him in hot water where he steps in for Daniel after Ein tries to get his goons to beat him up, and even if Blaze is fighting in a five v one, he still goes down swinging. And I'll say it, I think it's sweet that he calls Aaron after this happens. While it's clearly meant to be a thing of Blaze calling the last alpha because he's probably the only person who anyone will listen to, there's an important detail I think is easily overlooked.

He has Aaron's number.

He says he got it from the werewolf pups, but that means that Blaze went out of his way to make sure he could contact Aaron. He's the reason that Aaron even realizes Ein is playing all of them. Blaze is the catalyst for his undoing because unlike Aaron who's nearly imprisoned, heartbroken, and been hesitant to act in the plot as a result, Blaze doesn't actually care that much if Aphmau currently likes him because he's more worried about her physical and mental well being than whether she wants to kiss him or someone else.

How many Aphmau love interests can say that?

Can any of them say that?

Blaze can.

Blaze actually consistently shows a level of selflessness that's unfitting of how I've seen some people characterize him. He gives up his real chance to be Alpha because Daniel is so compassionate and earnest and genuinely deserves it. Blaze wants to believe in a future lead by people like Daniel and Aphmau where he might not have to keep fighting people to keep things sane. Blaze constantly gives up his pride, his power, his safety just to make sure that his friends are taken care of, or to effect real change in a school he's about to leave.

It wouldn't be long after Phoenix Drop High Season 2 ended that Blaze would make his debut in the main series My Street in the second episode of Season 5, airing only a few days after the end of Phoenix Drop High Season 2. Just like before he really shows up with a bang, literally throwing himself through the air between Lucinda and Kim just to catch a frisbee because Blaze is the most extra mother fucker ever, and then immediately proceeds to flirt with them. Iconic as ever. Short but sweet.

It's in episode 3 that it's revealed that Blaze and the werewolf pups kept Aaron company during his rehabilitation year. But from the way it's worded it sounds like Blaze was called in before anyone else by Aaron's parents. Based on the way they talked and actively planned together before, I wouldn't be surprised if Blaze was the first person who came to his mind when Aaron thought of a werewolf friend.

I think Aaron reached out to Blaze when he needed it.

And even though I've previously stated that I don't think Aaron's parents initially liked Blaze because by this era he's old enough to fully take on his persona as the cool stoner friend who's also a little insane in the most charming way possible, he has a good impact on Aaron. Aaron likes being around him, and maybe they smoke weed to help Aaron relieve some of the lasting pain when no one's looking.

Regardless of his methods, Blaze does an ultimate good in Aaron's life as a result of being there for him when he needed it. So much so that he was invited out to Starlight and is shown to be one of Aaron's main pillars of support. We are given scarcely little of this actual friendship, which is where the problem lies. While before Blaze was a surprisingly engaging part of an other wise terrible story, at least in season 5 the story is a lot slower and character focused. And Blaze can work in these moments, we saw him have real moments of sincerity before.

He gets some of it, but the issue is that Blaze isn't allowed to be alone anymore. The cast of MyStreet is huge, and Blaze is a character who is making his second major appearance, while some characters in the cast have been present since literally episode one. It's hard to justify giving him solo screen time when he's been in the series for such little time and we barely have enough time for certain significant characters to really have arcs (Lucinda). Most of Blaze's scenes are scenes with at least four other characters on screen, he's never allowed screen time without at least two other werewolf characters attached to him.

I don't object to Blaze hanging out with his friends, or even making new ones though out the season but... Would it kill the writers to let him have a scene with Aaron? Like. A single scene. Where it's just Blaze and Aaron. I mean just Blaze and Aaron without Aphmau there. They've done this before. They did it in the season Blaze showed up in. Just one scene where the two of them get to talk about literally anything would do so much. Even if they talk about Aphmau, it's better than nothing. It would strengthen both of their characters so much to be able to get a scene where they talk to each other not as conspirators who kinda know each other, but as real friends supporting one another.

Show that even though Blaze said Daniel was more compassionate than he was, Blaze still is a compassionate and even empathetic person. Show why Aaron was grateful to have him during his recovery. They have those scenes of Aaron at physical therapy, right? Why not have Blaze take him one time and just show how they interact then? The possibilities with this unrealized idea are endless, and that's genuinely upsetting. Opportunities like this present themselves every time Blaze makes an appearance, they even tease me by giving me scenes where Aaron is alone with a character he has little to no connection with, Maria.

Maria was a foil for Aphmau. And Ein was a foil for Aaron. And Blaze was a foil for Ein. There is no reason for Maria to really have a rapor that matters with Aaron. He doesn't really know her that well, she's clearly a friend by association, and it seems like an odd thing to focus on when Blaze is LITERALLY RIGHT THERE IN THE BACKGROUND OF THIS SCENE.

Why won't they let Blaze talk to Aaron? It's so infuriating. The closest we get is in episode 7 when Blaze attempts to calm down Aaron, but he's shown to be ineffective and it comes down to, of course, Aphmau being the one to talk him down. I swear to Hatsune the writers are making fun of me at this point. They're going "Oooooh you want Blaze to be an actually helpful and supportive figure in Aaron's life soooo bad." AND I DO!

I'm serious when I say the show is teasing me. I've been skimming through Season 5 and only watching the episodes when Blaze is on screen, and so far he has never been in a scene with less than 4 people in it. Never. And even in scenes where he gets to be at least a focal point, he's always limited because he has to share that moment in the spotlight with FOUR OTHER CHARACTERS.

Episode 14 is a great example of this. When the werewolf gang gets told they aren't allowed to eat at a restaurant because they're werewolves, Blaze makes it abundantly obvious that he's put up with this before and really doesn't feel like being hate crimed on his vacation. And he knows that actions speak louder than words and therefore joins Maria in saying they should "teach this establishment a lesson." Personally I think Blaze would've just thrown the manager through a window only to realize it's an outdoor establishment and throw him into the ocean. Which would be objectively funny and deserved because that owner was being cringe and racist.

I love the conversation that happens because it shows the unique way that Aaron sees things from passing as a human for most of his life. This has never happened, but he knows that further acts of violence as a result will only make it happen again. This is a great scene for Aaron. Not really good for Blaze, and the next scene makes him worse. I love the detail that Blaze is an instinctual person more than a planner, but it feels wrong that he doesn't even let Aaron consider planning. I know he wants Aaron to be more spontaneous but he should have more awareness of his friend and his habits and be able to accommodate it, not talk over it.

But it's Jesson, so misunderstanding even their simplest character is par for the course. At least episode 15 gives me Garroth and Blaze talking in the background, and I'm starved for good Blaze content, so I was eating this shit up. The problem with watching MyStreet this way is that Blaze... Just doesn't get a lot of moments... At all. There are some episodes where he doesn't even speak at all, and when he does get to talk in episodes, he gets a few lines in one giant ensemble scene.

I don't object to a show having an ensemble cast, or even a lot of characters with a few central ones, but it really is a detriment to the show that Aaron never gets a scene alone with any werewolf he isn't related to. Nana gets to talk to Blaze when she's having a crisis of her relationship history and experience, but it's just so Blaze can tell her the opposite of what she wants to hear. It's not a scene that feels like it was written for Blaze, because it wasn't. It was written for Nana.

And before some jack ass says it "Blaze is a side character he's not supposed to get a lot of focus" and I'm not asking for a lot. I watched every scene he's in in PDH to prove that it works

BECAUSE IT DID.

Blaze showed up officially in episode 18 out of 30, and he wasn't in every episode after his introduction. But the writers gave him a solid introduction, one good episode that spent most of its run time with him, and really good moments throughout the rest of his time in the series. All I'm asking is that Season 5 at least give me one of those things. Either a good episode where he and his relationship with Aaron is brought into focus, even if it's used as a vector to study Aaron's character, or just more sincere moments for him.

It feels like Blaze is a joke character now when he previously made it very clear he's far more than that.

And then they just forget about him. During the first part of the 3 part finale Blaze is there. He's the one who got everyone to gather at the docks because an mf wants to eat some scrumptious food. But when Aaron sees Ein and starts freaking out, Blaze is literally just not in the scene. At all. Not even as like a throwaway of someone who could've helped but failed, he just is not in the scene at all. It legitimately feels like the writers forgot about him entirely.

Blaze the minute the plot shows up:

He's there after Garroth gets turned and was apparently at Garroth's bedside trying to calm him down which I will be thinking about. A lot. I'll be thinking about how we deserved to see or at least hear some of it, about how the writers continue to tease me with an interesting scene that involves my favorite little fucker, about how heartbreaking it would have been to see Blaze and Melissa try to calm Garroth only for him to scream in pain and try to push them away only to reveal that Zane and Nana are able to hear the entire ordeal downstairs and Zane is panicking when he hears his brother screaming in pain. Just thinking about what we could've had if the writers actually cared about any of these characters.

And then after that he dies.

I'm not watching any of When Angels Fall because I know what's good for my health. I know what happens in Season 6 Episode 9 and that's all I need to know. It doesn't matter if the writers may have finally given Blaze an emotional scene, it doesn't matter if they finally gave him even a hint of character development, it doesn't matter if he made a connection in a real way. Because no matter what he did the result is the same. No matter what quality the writers might've pulled out of their ass, it would ultimately be in service of one end. From the start of this season these writers knew what they wanted to do. They wanted to up the stakes and add more drama to the show, and they wanted to do it by killing Blaze.

And I think I know why.

This is 100% a limited view, but I was on Aphmau Instagram at the time that this season was airing. And I ran a Blaze fan account. I talked to a lot of MyStreet fans during this time and I was constantly upset and disappointed that people didn't understand Blaze's character, or just didn't appreciate it as much as I do. Most people liked Blaze on a very surface level, or because he was attached to another character they liked. I found very few people who genuinely cared about him as an individual, probably because Blaze stopped getting scenes alone by the end of PDH, and because the Aphmau fandom (at the time) had more of a focus on shipping than character work and quality. Blaze was easily shippable with a number of characters, canonically shipped with Dottie a little, and had enough characterization that people cared about him, but not enough to get a large dedicated fanbase.

He was the perfect one to kill.

Enough people liked him because he was hard to hate, he was stapled onto Aaron's character with little regard for a story of his own, and his death could be eventually inconsequential. And it was! Blaze's method of dying is so bad it makes me physically angry!

I know the whole story for the last few seasons has been all about Forever Potions and turning people against each other, but just mind controlling Blaze and having him die while under mind control is such such a missed opportunity. There's been a disappointing lack of proper Aaron and Blaze friendship content, but they could have made up for it in this scene with just a few tweaks. Just have Blaze not be mind controlled at the end. He can still go on that rant about Aaron being the cause of all the bad that's happened, but then the words start to become... disjointed. Jilted. As if Blaze is struggling to say them because he knows that they're wrong. Aaron's his friend, there's no way he'd say that about him.

Have it break.

Have him look at his friend in a worse state than he's ever been in, and instead of approaching him with intent to harm, it's intent to heal. A final attempt at getting through to Aaron. And like the times before, it doesn't work. Aaron's angrier than ever and he isn't seeing or thinking straight thanks to Ein's bull shit. All he can see is an enemy in his way. Maybe he sees Blaze's eyes but Blaze's green eye is still Emerald Green, even if the control broke for a moment. Whatever reason, Aaron still attacks.

He doesn't realize that Blaze wasn't trying to hurt him until it's too late. Aaron's anger already ruined a friend's life, it already pulled all of them into the hell they're in, and now it's killed one of his best friends.

ONE CHANGE. THAT'S ALL IT TOOK. ONE SINGLE CHANGE TO MAKE BLAZE'S DEATH ACTUALLY MEAN SOMETHING.

Ideally I'd like it Blaze just didn't die at all, least of all before the finale, but if you're going to kill him off unceremoniously at least make it have some emotional weight. You've been neglecting him for an entire season and now you just kill him off? Just like that? Oh he gets to show up in heaven? How nice. Is it a scene where he gets to express regrets, remorse, or even give any insight into his feelings?

Of course it fucking isn't! Are you kidding me, that's not even close to what happens. I said i wouldn't watch When Angels Fall but

I LIED!!

I watched Blaze's death scene and his scene in heaven to make sure I knew well and good how badly they failed to kill off my favorite character! And man, the scene in heaven is just the worst! Blaze does a genuinely kind thing for Aphmau and decides to stay with her when she's alone because he doesn't want her to hurt. He saw how much pain Aaron was in without her. He just wants to fucking help her.

But Aphmau's too self absorbed to realize that and instead goes on a whole rant about how she always needs other people to take care of or protect her and how everyone else would be better off yadda yadda. What she doesn't realize and what Blaze eventually gets to tell her is that people were around her and took care of her because they just wanted to. Because she was nice to be around. And they never expected anything else, and never saw her as a burden.

And that's actually a really nice moment. Sort of. There's two major problems. First, Blaze gets cut off from telling Aphmau this at first because Irene has to go on a whole rant about Aphmau being selfish. And she is right in everything that she says, but it feels weird for Irene, who literally doesn't know her, to be making this judgement. This scene should have been Irene observing a conversation between Blaze and Aphmau were Blaze just tries to make her feel better.

And that would hopefully solve problem number two. Which is that what Blaze says is very genuine and heartfelt, but severely handicapped by the fact that he and Aphmau were only friends for a short period of time in High School, and an equally short period of time within the last few months. What Blaze says about why he likes being around her is true, but it would have a lot more weight if there was a chance for Blaze to have been around her as a friend more.

Fuck it, if you need Blaze to be on screen with at least two other characters, why was there never a scene of Blaze, Aaron and Aphmau just talking? Would a single scene of that fucking killed you? Just one scene would have made their friendships a lot more solid and therefore heartbreaking to lose when it gets torn apart.

Third problem, the scene ends with a focus on Irene. Blaze's words echo in her ears, and remind her of her friends. And I like that idea because I'm an absolute sucker for MCD, but it takes the scene away from the focus. This should be a scene about one of Aphmau's friends encouraging her to not give up even if it all seems lost. At least don't let her death be in vain by saying such awful things about her friends while they may be grieving. But Irene is brought into focus again because the show isn't about Blaze, or Aphmau apparently, I guess her Aphmau Main Character Powers overrides Aphmau's. She has more experience with them.

Blaze and Aphmau's very heartfelt dialogue is brought down by the fact that these two characters lives didn't intersect very directly out of high school. Through the course of Season 5 I never got the idea that Blaze was Aphmau's friend. Not to say they weren't friendly, I think Blaze adored her just as much as he did in high school, but as a viewer I was never shown that they cared particularly for one another. I believe that Blaze sincerely cared about her even after all this time, but that's not because of anything the writers did with him in these seasons. It's just because that's the kind of person Blaze is.

But their friendship not being strong really weakens the scene. This is a scene that I know for a fact worked as intended when I watched it as it was coming out. I was an overemotional mess of a 15 year old who hated how this series was going but kept watching it because it was almost over and I might as well get it done with. It pulled on my heartstrings and they sang and I cried. I cried a lot. This scene made me incredibly emotional, and it still got to me as an adult, but the devil is in the details.

Blaze and his arc might work on the surface. They work if you don't pay that close of attention to it. They work if you care more about the characters he's constantly around more than Blaze. And when I first watched Seasons 5&6, I still had a very deep attachment to a lot of these characters, especially Melissa, who he shares a lot of scenes with. So I felt... satisfied? I would've liked more, but I probably wouldn't have complained about what I got (his death scene not withstanding I always thought that was bad).

My my, how the times have changed.

If it wasn't obvious from the four thousand or so words you just read, Blaze is a rather unique case of these writers failing as writers. A rather unique case where the perfect character to fix a lot of problems with their show practically jumped up in the air waving his arms around and they still brushed past him to focus on a predetermined story he was shoved into. I don't think the writers ever really had a plan for where Blaze would go or what he would do.

A lot of Blaze's best character moments are when he isn't being written by Jesson. The reason I love the minigames so much is because there, Blaze's incredibly talented voice actor Jason Lord is actually really funny and pretty good at improv. Obviously some bits of the mini games are scripted, but a lot of them are just seeing how much voice actors can get into their characters, which he's fantastic at. A lot of Blaze's funniest moments come from this too, which is great when the writers turn him into a comedy character but the characters voice actor is funnier than they both are and is only a funny character when they don't have direct control of him. Lord is able to bring life to a character who may have been lacking it due to the simultaneously focused and unfocused way the series was written.

Blaze is proof of what happens when writers don't bother to develop their characters beyond the outline. The draft notes for PDH Season 2 said "there's going to be a wolf character who tries to become Alpha and instead stands up for Daniel when he's bullied." and then Blaze was born. The writers gave him some characterization as a treat to make the story work better, and then were done with it then and there. We fleshed him out enough, good character, time to put him in season 5 so people stop criticizing us for not giving Aaron enough friends.

But the problem wasn't a lack of quantity in friends, it was a lack of quality. It was a lack of scenes that let Aaron interact with other characters without Aphmau present. It was a lack of characters to point to that were real emotional connections Aaron had that weren't his last minute family or his girlfriend. It was a lack of attention given to the few characters that could've filled that role. Dante almost filled it in season 2, and Aaron and Garroth could have arguably become closer after everything in season 4, but at that point Aaron's entire arc became centered around Aphmau.

It was the fact that Blaze was one of the few people who ever directly reached out to Aaron and then was never given a scene alone again. It was because the writers wrote too many characters, tried to give the series a more direct focus, and then failed to account for the characters that were dragged along even if they didn't necessarily know what to do with them.

So when Season 6 came around and they decided to make the show super serious no really stop laughing, they needed characters to kill off to up the stakes. It's not like Blaze's character was going anywhere. It's not like they had a plan for him. Nothing was really being lost.

It's not like Blaze was one of the most sincere and dedicated characters in the series. It's not like he had one of the biggest potentials in regards to his relationship with Aphmau or Aaron. It's not like there was time spent proving that he could be a solid pillar of support in both of their lives even under dire circumstances. It's not like he was set up that way through individual scenes where he got to talk to each of them on a personal level. That definitely didn't happen.

TLDR: MyStreet peaked at season 2 and they fumbled the bag with the best chance to make it peak even higher and I'm forever bitter about it. Now get out of my house.

[gumbootillustrations]

i can fix him your honour *smacks him with the oc-ification hammer*

anyway. enjoy the babygirl-ification of aaron lycan. more stuff below the cut.

i love the idea of aaron. like, some guy whos hellbent on revenge learning to live and love outside of it?? and he finds not only love but a new home in someone else searching for the same thing after they've both lost so much??? UGH ITS SO GOOD. and then jesson fucking. fumbled it. SO BAD. im still mad abt it almost like. ten yrs later (how tf is diaries this old i swear it was still airing like last yr). so uh. ive tried to go in n fix him. i swear. but in the process a Lot of his backstory n stuff has been overhauled and im sorry to all the canon aaron truthers but the way that jesson handled his arc n stuff was God Awful and i hate it. so uh. yeah.

aaron shows up in ashes, ashes way earlier than he does in canon diaries - hes following the high priest's trail, and when he catches wind of him travelling to phoenix drop to officiate a wedding and track down his supposedly dead brother, he follows the rumours and shows up right after alexis is cursed. he forms a sort of truce with aph (although garroth is hesitant to trust him, given that he wants to murder his younger brother n garroth still believes that zane can be saved) and fucks off again until they meet up again when aph n co are snooping around pikoro trying to find lord luke so that she can sign a trade deal with him - aaron's (rightfully) convinced that zane has something to do with luke's disappearance, and once all that tomfoolery is settled, he decides to return to phoenix drop with aphmau, believing that the impending war will offer the best opportunity for him to finally kill zane.

as we all know, though, this... really doesn't go to plan. they get trapped in irene's cathedral - which is more of a labyrinth with religious imagery plastered everywhere - and it isn't aaron who lands the killing blow on his mortal enemy, but rather garroth, who gets possessed by esmund's relic. then, when they manage to escape thanks to zoey, ten years have passed and the cathedra of irene (the religious organisation that zane was in charge of as high priest) has all but collapsed. up until this point, all aaron has really been living for is destroying the cathedra, and with his job already done for him by the passage of time, he's now sort of... lost, is the best way i can really describe it. he decides to stick around in phoenix drop - although he doesn't really want to admit it, the people are nice, he's become friends with garroth and katelyn, and it's a safe place for him to stay while he figures out his next moves. it also doesn't help that aph keeps roping him into her adventures (although he secretly enjoys having something to do).

it's through these new connections that he learns to start opening up about his past; how he was raised as the heir to the lordship of a hunting town up north named falconclaw, how the cathedra ordered its destruction and the murder of all its people due to them allegedly being descended from shad, the destroyer, how he came back from a hunting trip to find all his family and friends dead, how the grief manifested in a long-dormant magick that causes anything he lays eyes on to disintegrate, only to be controlled by an enchanted blindfold given to him by a passing elf who took pity on him. over time, he learns to control his magick, leading to him starting to leave his blindfold off - a sort of symbol of his willingness to trust in others, and to trust himself around others. most of this is me wanting his fuckass bandanna to have some sort of meaning behind it outside of "uwu edgy man with edgy outfit" but uh yeah. idk.

anyway, after a while he decides to stick around permanently right before the gang heads to gal'ruk to track down carin valkrum, an ex-juror who went missing decades prior, who katelyn is convinced knows of the whereabouts of the keeper's relic.

which means an outfit change. i tried to make his second winter outfit noticeably lighter than his first one, but still incorporating his trademark reds and browns. there isn't too much else to say abt this outfit? i dont think?? like there isnt a ton of lore stuff tied up in it except "oh hes going to a cold place lol". uhh i guess i could mention that he has a fucked up knee from a hunting accident when he was younger, hence the wrapped up knee?? idk. also he has a lil brooch w a falcon claw on it as a sort of homage to falconclaw. and his fucked up eyes r a reference to his eyes being fucked up in mys. yeah. idk.

uhh casual outfit. i like to think that he asked laurance for help w finding something to wear that wasnt super casual for more formal events (like the monthly potluck dinners that phoenix drop holds for everyone to celebrate the new moon) bc garroth is fucking useless when it comes to clothes n katelyn isnt that much better so laurance, having grown up in meteli surrounded by pirates, threw a billowy white button down at him n told him to go ham. i think laurance also lowkey influences aaron to get the falcon tattoo at some point - i dont think he loses the brooch, but since its so obviously a reference to his birthplace in ru'aun and could potentially get him and the rest of the gang hurt or even killed once they decide to travel to tu'la, he decides to get the kārearea tattooed over his heart as an homage to his family. anyway, it's in tu'la where he learns that he isn't the only survivor of falconclaw as he had previously thought: the werewolf pack that he'd grown up alongside (blaze, dottie, maria, rylan, and daniel) are still alive and well, as is melissa, although she's been cursed w what will later become known as the "ultima" curse due to her striking a deal with the demon warlock in an attempt to restore falconclaw. anyway, it's pretty emotional, esp since both sides have long thought the other to be suuuper dead. the scars on aaron's forearm are from when he n blaze got into a tussle as kids.

and finally, his destroyer form! after katelyn finally kills ivy n recovers shad's relic, there's a lot of debate as to what to do with it; some folks think its best to find it a host, others want to try and destroy it, and others want to simply lock it away in a pocket dimensino or something to keep it safe. eventually, aaron decides that, in order to protect the family he's created and the family he's rediscovered, it's probably best for him to take on the mantle of the destroyer of the second war of the magi, especially once it's revealed that the aaron of the first war (shad) cleaved his soul in two once he began to get corrupted by the influence of the void - the half that was corrupted would become the shadow lord, whereas the uncorrupted half would go onto reincarnate like the other souls of the divine warriors (excluding irene). i'm still fiddling around w how the second war of the magi ends, but my thinking as of right now is that the first war ended with irene burning away her first physical form to seal the shadow lord in the nether, the second war (mcd) ending w the restoration n reunification of shads soul n the divine warriors sealing away most magicks as a temporary stopgap against the spread of the void, and the third war (mys) being the war in which the void is finally defeated.

and finally some headshots. i personally headcanon aaron as being autistic as fuck n being the kind of autistic where he isn't super expressive (sorta like garroth), although a little less stern. speaking of, i really wanted him n garroth to be sort of foils for each other: namely, where aaron was raised to only ever see lordship as a privilege, garroth was raised in an environment that led him to believe that lordship was only ever a burden. anyway, they're best mates n i will die on this hill. yeah i know that in the first war esmund n shad didnt like each other that much (as an understatement) but something something healing the wrongs of the past with each reincarnation cycle something something they're best friends now and you can't stop me. also he and aph do end up together but it takes sooo fucking long, like those two are the most awkward motherfuckers this side of ru'aun and it takes longer for them to confess than it does for garroth and laurance to confess and thats Saying Something. like. c'mon. it was stupidly out of character for this wet noodle of a man to hook up w aph in the middle of s2. tell me that u don't know how to write ur characters without telling me that u don't know how to write ur characters n all that jazz.

anyway. gumboot rambles once again. its 2am at the time of posting this n i need to go sleep so uh. yeah. dante or travis is up next mostly bc aph has like thirteen outfit changes before s3 n im dreading drawing them all so yeah.

feel free to ask any questions or anything!! :D

[aphverse-confessions]

its your fav mcd-was-a-political-thriller anon and im here for a spicy take: Jesson needs to stop making blatant microaggressions as cutesy 𝖖𝖚𝖎𝖗𝖐𝖞™ questions or as a hahaha funny gag™ when werewolves and mei'fwa are written to be discriminated minorities.

In MCD s1, we're told that werewolves are dangerous brutes who are aggressive, but then we're shown how level-headed Bodolf is, how the western wolf tribe actively helps Aphmau and how they're genuinely good people. We even have a sweet arc where Donna accepts Logan for being half-werewolf and they both adopt Yip (who's the only surviving werewolf member of a GENOCIDE). S1 actively subverts the expectation of werewolves being dangerous or stupid, they're equals to their human cast members. ... Then S2 Ep72 (0:30—2:05) happens where Aphmau and Zoey are being fucking racist to Yip where the following conversation ensues:

𝘈𝘱𝘩𝘮𝘢𝘶: 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘠𝘪𝘱? 𝘡𝘰𝘦𝘺: 𝘞𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘠𝘪𝘱 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘈𝘱𝘩𝘮𝘢𝘶: 𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘸…

***𝘈𝘱𝘩𝘮𝘢𝘶 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘠𝘪𝘱 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵***

𝘠𝘪𝘱: 𝘞𝘰𝘸, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘭! 𝘈𝘱𝘩𝘮𝘢𝘶: 𝘠𝘪𝘱? 𝘎𝘦𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦! 𝘠𝘪𝘱: 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦! 𝘈𝘱𝘩𝘮𝘢𝘶: 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺, 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘢? 𝘠𝘪𝘱: 𝘏𝘦𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘞𝘖𝘓𝘍 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸?

𝘈𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘶: 𝘈𝘩, 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺, 𝘐 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵. 𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘯, 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘠𝘪𝘱: 𝘠𝘖𝘜’𝘙𝘌 𝘚𝘛𝘐𝘓𝘓 𝘛𝘈𝘓𝘒𝘐𝘕𝘎 𝘛𝘖 𝘔𝘌 𝘓𝘐𝘒𝘌 𝘐𝘔 𝘈 𝘋𝘖𝘎! 𝘡𝘰𝘦𝘺: 𝘈𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰𝘨𝘴? 𝘠𝘪𝘱: 𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭.. 𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰… 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰, 𝘐 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦——

***𝘈𝘱𝘩𝘮𝘢𝘶 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘪𝘵***

𝘈𝘱𝘩𝘮𝘢𝘶: 𝘍𝘦𝘵𝘤𝘩!

***𝘠𝘪𝘱 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘬***

𝘠𝘪𝘱: 𝘙𝘶𝘧𝘧! … 𝘞𝘏𝘈𝘛!? 𝘕𝘌𝘝𝘌𝘙 𝘚𝘌𝘌𝘕 𝘈 𝘎𝘜𝘠 𝘊𝘏𝘈𝘚𝘌 𝘈 𝘚𝘛𝘐𝘊𝘒!? 𝘐𝘍 𝘐 𝘋𝘐𝘋𝘕’𝘛 𝘊𝘈𝘛𝘊𝘏 𝘐𝘛, [𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘬] 𝘊𝘖𝘜𝘓𝘋’𝘝𝘌 𝘒𝘐𝘓𝘓𝘌𝘋 𝘚𝘖𝘔𝘌𝘖𝘕𝘌! 𝘡𝘰𝘦𝘺: 𝘖𝘩 𝘐’𝘮 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘠𝘪𝘱, 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘠𝘪𝘱: 𝘠𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘮'… 𝘏𝘌𝘠 𝘞𝘈𝘐𝘛 𝘈 𝘔𝘐𝘕𝘜𝘛𝘌! ... Oh my fucking god, Jesson. When I was rewatching MCD, I cringed so hard into my skin and I had to do a double take if they were fr doing this for the bit. Im sorry, my like for MCD Aphmau and Zoey TANKED after that scene oh my fucking god. Yip is a survivor of the eastern wolf village, a tribe that was murdered in a G E N O C I D E because of Zane and... theyre treating him like a fucking dog? B R O? It's even worse with Mei'fwa with how in PDH, Aphmau was asking Kai if he could go 'Nya!' to him or if Mei'fwa called the bathroom 'the litterbox' because MCD had an arc in Nahakara Village where Aph was discriminated against being a Mei'fwa. Also Kaitlyn being a canonical racist against werewolves cus they beat up her brother?????? I know jack and shit about whatever the hell happened to MyStreet beyond S3, but hearing about Aph's mom having a race kink is ಠ▃ಠ Like, oh my fucking god these microaggressions are awful, and I HATE how they're being played off as jokes because its so discomforting as a POC. These jokes would be absolutely fine if Jesson didnt made werewolves or mei'fwa victims of oppression/discrimination. Please, rewriters of MCD and MyStreet alike, please do not repeat this😭😭😭

.

[snekverse]

I recently saw some discourse surrounding the name Nana, but genuine question: is it actually that terrible to change it?

Like I understand being icked out by people changing it bc they thing it's a "bad name" n whatnot, and that it ties in to her backstory or something, but personally I feel like it just doesn't suit her character super well?? Like the vibes are off to me idk. I've been toying around with different names for her and the one I've been calling her recently is Yoko and I kinda fuck with that?? Is that bad???

Honestly though I do also feel like her name was a little half asked on Jessons part, not that there's anything wrong with the name itself but to me it kind of feels like something they put together last minute.. idk maybe I'm wrong about this but like I actually do want some constructive criticism and maybe a little guidance here please

[lggy]

I just wanted to tell you, coming from a past total Jason hater who has now accepted that they were wrong on things, that your takes about him and Jess have helped me get out of whatever parasocial disillusioned mess I was in. I just felt like you deserved to know that you weren’t shouting into the void.

THANK YOU

i'm trying to undo some of the damage caused by parasocial rumors n hater stuff.. i feel like i probably come off as a dickrider and it doesnt help that im the wiki guy on top of that and people probably perceive me as not being critical enough, but i think it's way better to approach things (especially accusations against irl people) with all the facts laid out and with critical thinking (bad-faith interpretations are not critical thinking) and also empathy/believing people's first hand experiences.

i'm mostly advocating for stopping the spread of misinformation and rumors.. but i am biased bc i love aphmau.

it's just really hard for me to hate on jess like some people here do after watching that livestream where she breaks down after talking abt the level of harassment/threats/(now as we learned, stalkers) she got during mcd s2. idk i feel bad for her people are so mean to her :(

a lot of people jump on hate trains bc they dont want to be labelled problematic hence all the ppl who tag their aphmau posts as like "jess defenders dni" "jesson supporters dni" "i dont support aphmau" and it becomes one big spiral of rumors and accusations and becomes a toxic cesspool then wonder why jess ghosted all social medias. it takes effort to get all the information and a lot of ppl dont want to do that, so thats why i'm doing it.

idk i just go about the internet as if the creators can see what i say and draw. some ppl straihgt up want to bar the creators from their own fandoms which is fucked up in my opinion. some of you people are proud of bullying the employees which is extremely gross and cringey too. thats just my opinion though

There really are issues with the workplace, a few current/former employees speak up about it. These are issues brought up in just the past few weeks:

( sebastian's og tweet was last year but he retweeted in the beginning of june for some unknown reason but i won't speculate on that though)

last one is just in general that pulls in over the past couple years^ i don't have any sources for the employee who allegedly had ptsd after working at blujay/catface because i haven't looked that deeply into that in particular and dont know where to look for it

i don't really know what to say about the workplace things.. they hired new HR recently so i guess they're working on it.

I can interview a few current employees to learn more but all i know rn is people in the voice and art department

i had more but its 1 am i have work tomorrow oops gn thank you for hearing me out

[the-martyrfication-of-the-matron]

Okay so i rewatched the first episode of rebirth and have... thoughts.

generally negative, but some positive.

I've already expressed my hatred of the first 50 seconds, but something else i'll mention about the opening is that it really... diminishes Zenix... and it is one of my least favourite things in the world.

The first three characters we ever see on screen in the OG are Zenix, Garroth and Vylad. And i think it's really interesting how these three are all characters who have both worked for and against Aphmau's favour throughout MCD. But the major point is that they're all important, though have varying degrees of on-screen relevance. And even when they're not physically present, they have a big significance to the plot.

them being the first characters we see is a big deal. They've been around since the beginning and were likely to remain important until the finale, if we ever got it. Them showing up FIRST, even before Aph (because we do see Vylad momentarily before Aph), is a huge deal. It sets them up really for their later significance.

But This is taken away from Zenix in Rebirth.

We see 4 characters before Aph in rebirth, but i like to work in 3s, so we will ignore Hyria for this point. i don't like her inclusion in this moment anyways so. boo.

We meet Vylad first, which I'm actually entirely okay with. It makes sense. Of all of them, he is probably the most significant for how MCD turns out as he was the one who led Aph to PD. But... then we get a little flash of... Zane... of all characters.

And not only does this little Zane moment spoil that he's evil, it is just fucking infuriating. Is he an incredibly important (and iconic) MCD villain? Yes... but i don't actually think he was significant to the level that Zenix was. And maybe that's controversial... but he only got Garroth's SECOND face reveal... Zenix gave us Garroth's first. And i just cannot fuck with a second-place bitch taking such a significant spot in the intro.

MCD is not about the Ro'Meaves. It's not even, as a whole, about the conflict of O'Khasis trying to take over Ru'Aun... It's always been about the Shadow Knights, and their little reign of terror, and trying to bring back Shad. O'Khasis was a significant plotpoint, sure, but MCD was never going to end with defeating O'Khasis... it was gonna end with defeating the SKs... 'The King' in earlier episodes is the prototype of Shad... we see SKs are villains constantly. Shad is introduced as the Big Bad before we even know O'Khasis exists...

So why is Zane there?

It gives a very O'Khasis Conflict-centric idea of MCD that isn't accurate at all. Even when Zane is a major issue, he is still contributing to the SK storyline... He is literally spending S1 trying to reform Shad's relic...

and i dont... i don't understand why Jesson did it other than fanservice...

it just pisses me off.

I can get more into this, and why i think Zenix deserves to get that recognition more than Zane (and i do understand the scene is Vylad trying to express why he's putting Aph in PD, but it's about what Jesson was trying to tell us too), but i am very angry and will just insult Zane the whole time.

So i'll simplify it to: Vylad/Zane/Garf intro is very O'Khasis-centric. Zenix/Garf/Vylad intro shows us some of the most major characters in MCD and foreshadows their later significance, as well as sets up that both O'Khasis and Shad are major threats.

[panicataphmausinsanity]

aaron rant

ok this is a rant no one asked for but i just wanna put all of my disorganized thoughts out there about aaron and the man my dude could've become without jesson's horrible execution. my grammar may be off and im not a good analyzer or anything, this is just a rant that i wanna get off my chest.

disclaimer :: i haven't watched MCD and i do plan to, and i'm aware of some things that happen but if you wanna share your opinion on anything id rather anyone would keep the reblogs spoil free

lemme start by saying that i love aaron. i genuinely love his character so damn much but NOT his canon. i love the IDEA of aaron and not his execution. jessica and jason did such a bad job portraying him- dont get me wrong i am not bashing them for the foundation they've laid for most of their wonderful characters it's the portrayal of them that gets me so ENRAGED. all of jess's characters have at least some thing going wrong with them and it's genuinely fucking insane. i don't mean what they go through in the series- as in who they ARE. what the fuck is a kawaii~chan? like god. i think so many characters in the series deserved so SO much more, especially aaron.

starting off with pdh s1 aaron. - i don't necessarily loathe pdh s1 aaron. i mean in here, he seems to have a personality than he ever does in season one of mys which is an upgrade i guess? a main problem imo was how his character always revolved around aphmau. i'm not even gonna choose to comment on the horrid age gap jesson's implemented in aarmau's story. i just hate that aaron himself didn't really have any other friend than aphmau and the fact that after they met, the series just continued to revolve around them.. and not them individually either- them as a relationship.

i think seeing certain instances like how aaron became lily's friend and stuff would've been important because technically, wasn't lily aaron's first friend in pdh? how is that just glossed over considering the fact that aaron pushed everyone who tried to interact with him off his back? isn't it interesting how lily managed to get a hold of him and actually became a friend? i don't understand why that was never shown because while students were scared of the dude because of all the rumors and shit going around, some kids like jeoffery actively reached out to him like we see in the ep where aaron asks aph to prom. he never relented to jfry's attempts to be friends w him and through this a girl like lily managed to be friends with him. i feel like something like this shoudlve been shown. i wouldve also liked to see a stronger reaction to him over lily and ivy's scheme. aaron obviously considered lily a caring friend and when he understood that they were scheming from what i remember, when he saw lily after learning about everything all he did was go "if ur gonna treat aph like this we're better off not being friends" or smt?? i think from what we understand about aaron over the series, emotional connections are obviously something he cherishes very much. so seeing him kinda like- brush the whole thing off and not be lily's friend feels so anticlimactic. idk how to phrase it. i know this was premature aaron and the aaron we know over the series is grown up and everything, but i still do feel like aaron would've had a stronger reaction to the scheme.

prob 2 was how after aaron and aph came to know ab each other being shu n fc, aaron didn't become full fledged friends with like ANYONE other than her. this felt extremely weird to me. we see him go to this dinner sylvanna planned and we see him socially thriving there- him cracking jokes and everyone having a fun time around him, travis and garroth wheezing over his jokes- how did this dude not become friends with them? i feel like they (garroth & travis) would've talked to aaron more and become more than acquaintances w him. a lil bonding thing if you get me?? mainly garroth. it's just weird that garroth never became a friend of aaron's imo. they were put in situations where they could've easily become friends. i know that garroth was jealous about aaron coming outta nowhere and swooping aph off of her feet, but he clearly got over it (during the time of s1 anyway, after that he went batshit crazy). they must've had one on one interactions during the dinner or prom right??????/ like come on. it's just weird!! this brings me to the fact that i literally don't see aaron making proper friends other than aph until fcu. like- aph is his only friend ever ykwim?? i feel like im phrasing this in such a dumb way- but it's just frustrating to see his entire social life just being- aph for a while. i just think garroth and aaron could have become friends as well, maybe even travis. and during prom, maybe even kaitlyn. we see aaron also being pretty mature and giving actual, promising advice to aph during the music room scenes. from this i feel like at some point aaron could have also comforted kaitlyn and maybe a friendship could've bloomed out of this??? this thought's just been sitting in my mind. aaron COULD have had a friend other than just aph. it just feels like his whole world revolves around aph and aph only until his family issues and the ultima bullshit comes around.

now in mystr s1, aaron is so FUCKING BLAND AND STALE AND UUUGHGHHHHHHH its actually so fuckin funny because mystreet season one aaron is relatively decent compared to his other versions *cough s5 cough. i actually do like s1 aaron's character. he's the epitome of chill- laid back, honest, communicative and supportive. he's a great friend to aph during her times of need, and during s1 he's the sanest character on the show.

but that's it. all he was was this friend to aphmau until the dumbass play arc during which they decide to go for something romantic. like his whole identity revolved around walking shirtless, being a chick magnet and a friend to aph. he revolved around aphmau, much like his pdh s1 self and that pisses me off so much!! he had no fucking personality other than being supportive to aph for a while. around the end you see him start to gain *something* similar to a personality, and while it was less than pleasant it was better than whatever the fuck was going on while he was only a friend to aph. it's also disappointing seeing him practically only gain emotions after developing a romantic relationship with aphmau. even during this, his interactions are limited to aph and zane most of the times, and even then he doesn't develop an outward friendship with zane- which would've been fucking amazing!!!! while they do start to bond, it's still like aphmau is the only one keeping them glued together while it would've been real cool for aaron to develop a friendship with zane and interactions w him that doesn't solely have to do with aphmau all the time. the fact that aph's brought him out of his shell is cool, but he's still ONLY friends with aph which is VERY eh. he may be considered friends w zane and stuff, but we only see major bonding stuff going on when it's between aaron and aph, but we don't see it with the other characters. it's jsut weird because everyone's known each other for so long, aaron;s bound to have grown closer w someone at the least- for example, garroth or travis. we've seen the unlikely group form during that one episode- aaron, aph, zane and travis- where they have a stupid lil immature game thing or whatever. i feel like travis and zane and aaron could've collectively bonded and it would've been super cute!! plus aph nudging him and zane to be more social as well- a lil detour to fcu where we see aaron trying his best to get out there and make friends w/ aph's adorable support- he has the perfect opportunity to do it during moments like these but it never becomes more than just what seem like forced interactions. like UGH. UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. so. much. potentialll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! just gone. poof. a strong friendship between aaron and the ro'maeve brothers wouldve been so fucking ack. sfryquoeuiwhiblforhgubhjfwe. litera;;y/. now i wpuldve loved to see tht1!!!! it's also just so weird that we see a drastic change in aaron's character from fcu to myst, in fcu he's so shy and he's trying his best to be friends w others and he succeeds little by little (we never hear of these friends again but ok.) and then in ms we see him as this super chill dude w hot gains sigma male or whatever and his only friend is aph. he was so much more expressive during fcu and while many events occurred in between, it's just weird seeing him not get out there more during s1 esp considering the fact that he has more freedom to. ill mention this later. anyway-----

one thing i liked to see was aaron break out of his cool character during the spectacle of zanemau, another stupid attempt by jess to get another boy to get infatuated with aph which thankfully did not happen.. kind of. id love to see people talk about how zane just heavily depended on aph as an emotional support system and was just afraid aaron would take aph away from him, a feeling of abandonment rising out of his own self loathing yada yada. . while zanemau is a cool ship, this whole thing was jsut extreenmly forced-it was obvious it was just to get another guy to fawn over aph. i hate aph's harem. i'll get off topic if i talk about how every single boy within a 50 mile radius of aph falls head over heels in love with her, but anyhoo. i did get off topic.. . . . so aaron breaking his character was like this breath of fresh air for me. when he's in the resto's bathroom, talking to the mirror ab his frustrations ab aph going all flushed and orgasmy over zane bc of the love ption that he wasnt aware of and how he should stop whats going on bc of zianna (fucking hate her ass), he seemed like an actual person lmao. i love that scene alot because he wasn't just this cool chill flirt(for aph), his feelings finally poured out in some way. it made him a full fledged character (for a little..). then garroth came in and talked to him and whatbnit (another wasted opportunity to grow closer maybe??????? idk) and they went back to the table . i havent talked ab how much i loathe this whole zuzu aph arc though like oh my god it mustve been incredibly uncomfortable for aph and aaron sitting through all that. i hate zianna so much and it was also mega annoying of vylad and the brothers to drag them into this bc he couldnt say no to his mommy. it was genuinely weird and so many things in the show are brushed off as comedic relief- things borderline crazy and worthy of restraining orders and jail. literally. literal kids watch these and may think it's normal bhvr when it isnt. but anyway.

i know that mystreet s1 was a spin off of mcd that just blew up and multiplied into other seasons and as it doubled prequels like pdh and fcu came to life. im very much aware of the fact that jess just developed the characters in their modern steads as the story progressed because it wasnt done something beforehand- mystreet happened to be a happy accident and jess didn't plan the characters out beforehand, including the plot (horribly evident from the shit that started from s4). they developed as characters in stages as the stories went on and that's just painfully obvious, especially when we watch the series in the timeline jess posted it. we see how aaron goes from the stoic chill hot sigma male to this uwu boy personality, which was what jess wanted him as in the end ig? it's obviously very weird though. imo, my opinion, she shouldve kept aaron's laid back personality. through this we could see him gradually grow and insert himself into aph's friend grp as well. we see that happen during s2 and s3 of ms, where he does progress in terms of social interactions- hes seen to be cracking jokes outwardly, he even has his own lil comedic relief spiels, becomes good buds with dante and stuff (which went just as it came from what i remember :[[[) and in s3 he becomes much cooler and is more involved within the friend group. he also seemed to be like this in pdh, like during the dinner as i mentioned before.

during fcu, this just. changes. his character is very... emotional? i dont really know how to put it. it's out of character. he's incredibly shy and relies on aph as a social plug. while in pdh he seemed to be less awkward w social interactions, aaron was 100x times more awkward during fcu. he seemed overly sensitive, and at moments its like he needed to be coddled. i did love it when aph helped him grow more socially, but we see that in ms 1 he has no friends. he's like this hot lone wolf (..), a drastic contrast to what he wanted to be in fcu imo (i believe this because derek was off his back now and he had the freedom to do have more friends and emotional connections like these is what he desperately craved- it's something so evident.) he wanted to have more friends and be more social. while this does happen in fcu, in ms1 we don't really see the results coming into place. like he becomes much more bold- in fcu he used to flush and blush at just hearing aph's heartbeat and in ms1, that one instance where aaron gets picked to play romeo and aph is like "you do realise we gotta kiss?" he just goes "yeah." in the most casual way ever- like it's just another tuesday for him or somethin. it's just a weird ass change. his character fluctuates when we watch the show in the chronological order and it's jsut so out of place and while i know it's no fault to jess ( i mean it is but part of it is justified ) it's still incredibly weird. jess could have prevented this by just keeping him as the character she initially started with.

and his last form- season 5. starlight. god fuck- this aaron was such a fucking baby. if fcu aaron wanted to be coddled, starlight aaron straight up wanted milk from aph's bosoms. he becomes this uwu soft boi- and considering all of the events that unfolded, it's still weird. yes, many things happened during their time at the lodge but it's just so fucking weird!!!!! i don't even know what to make of it. i just hated his character in s5. he stuttered every 3 fucking seconds. jason voice acted him so bad like oh my god im so sorry but it was literally unbearable. rewatching starlight was fucking horrifying. the stupid ass dips in the voice- god fuck!!! im so sorry its just what i think but i really hated how jason voice acted aaron during s5. i liked the fact that he was more expressive but he just changed completely- and i liked the small part where he felt like everyone wanted him to be something different now that he was out as a werewolf, but he really did fucking change and it did not feel like he was aaron at all. it felt like seeing a 12 year old find out about age regression and implement it onto a character like aaron's. it felt childish and just weird. jess couldve done way better with aaron during s5.

this shit was long and i feel liek i still have a lot more to say and when i rememebr ill jsut edit it on. no ones probably gonna reach the end of this but if you did, idk how u got so much time reading all this but i lpve you

( i love this picture so much <3 )

[packcoventhing]

AS A SYSTEM: JESSON WTF, JESSON WTF.

FUCK YOU JESSON NOW I HAVE THE COMPELLING URGE TO MAKE HIM A SYSTEM AND NOT WRITE IT LIKE THAT

(Reminder this is based off the wiki but that description is NOT flattering)

[shuublebunny]

I WOULD JUST LIKE TO PREFACE THIS BY SAYING THAT THIS IS PURELY FOR NOSTALGIA PURPOSES. I DO NOT SUPPORT A LOT OF THE SHIT THAT JESSON HAVE DECIDED TO DO WITH THEIR CHARACTERS AND STORIES BECAUSE I LOOK BACK ON THEM AND I GO “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK THESE WERE ADULT HUMANS WITH FULLY DEVELOPED FRONTAL CORTEXES AND THEY THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA TO POST ON THE INTERNET?”

Childhood blinded me to how problematic some people can be.

It is the year 2023 and I am writing headcanons for a problematic ship in an old ass minecraft roleplay series

So

✨Aarmau HCs✨

Ok so to start out, I wanna address the UNCOMFY age gap. I think it should have been mitigated by making them about a year apart. “But Bunny, how do we handle the whole debacle of her not knowing Aaron is FC?” We drag it out in true slow-burn fashion. They meet when Aphmau is a freshman and Aaron is a sophomore (no more icky freshman-senior relationship because that is FRIGHTENING). So for 3 years they go about their lives kinda hating each other, but also kind of morphs into a “you’re not that bad, I just hate your stupid face (in an affectionate, platonic way (kind of)) and will tease you relentlessly because we’re both assholes” thing. Aph learns Aaron is FC yada yada yada BUT she’s in her JUNIOR YEAR by then.

Now the nature of their relationship. They’re not horrible with each other, but they’re definitely not super close or kind either. They have their gripes with each other and absolutely CANNOT stand each other at times. So when they find out that they have, in fact, been best friends online for the past several years, they both have a complete internal meltdown and panic. They’re idiots. They have no idea how to handle the situation. They’re awkward for like, a few months, but gradually build back their friendship, keeping a teensy bit of the snark they gave each other when they were “rivals” for the funny. But now that snarky, obnoxious behavior is ACTUALLY just a joke and they’re super close. Think of it like sibling banter.

Aph ends up developing a crush on him, but he can’t reciprocate her feelings(yes he can, he’s just scared bc he’s going off to college). Sylvanna still hATES him bc she thinks he’s trying to get with her daughter, but they just go to prom as friends. No kissing that night, nothing, just hanging out, being dumb, and ugly crying and hugging when Aphmau realizes he’s actually going away to college, and now that she only just realized her best friend was with her in person after 3 years, he’s being ripped away from her after only just getting to be his friend irl. They’re both distraught. They are ugly cryers.

They get reunited in college like they do in the og series, and that’s when Aaron realizes “oh fuck, I DO feel the same way, actually,” but doesn’t act on it because he thinks Aphmau has moved on by now. I’m not going to touch the bullshit that happened with Ein and Kai but for the sake of me being lazy and not having the energy to remove them from the story entirely, we’ll just say that all their bullshit happened Aphmau’s senior year and Aaron had to deal with them on breaks when he came back from college. None of this whole “you didn’t keep in touch with me for 3 years and now we’re reunited in college” bs. He cares about her enough as a friend to keep in touch, and finds sneaky ways to do so. He’ll send letters via snail mail after curfew and Agent R totally doesn’t notice (he’s cool like that; i will absolutely write more hcs on how Agent R is like Aaron’s adoptive dad). He’ll also use pay phones (loose change so it isn’t as traceable) around the campus/city to talk to her in real time So he absolutely knows that Aphmau is going to Falcon Claw University. Hell, he was the person she ranted to the most and panicked to over college applications. So when she got accepted to FCU she flips and calls Aaron to tell him before she even shows the letter to her mom (yet another reason why Sylvanna hates him lmao).

In college, they have a HEAVY slow-burn relationship development. They’re still not dating by the time they both graduate, but they’re also both kind of aware of the fact that they both like each other? They’re weird. Both of them are scared of fucking up their friendship. They eventually start dating around the time MyStreet takes place but uhh

This version is a lot less problematic

They catch feels for each other as ADULTS

AND THE AGE GAP IS NOT BORDERLINE PEDOPHELIA

BADA BING BADA BOOM

JESSICA I FIXED YOUR BIGGEST THING IN PHOENIX DROP HIGH

I need to write headcanons more, this was highly cathartic.

(Slight edit made because it was pointed out that I said something pretty tone-deaf that just didn’t make sense, so I fixed it).

[idcpxseur]

i want more laurance thoughts pretty please

OKAY BUT YOU ASKED FOR IT

My thoughts on Laurence Zvhal

soft warning for aaron slander. im not really slandering him im just sharing my conspiracy theories. ALSO THIS BITCH IS LONGGGG AND THERES SO MUCH RAMBLIGN GOD HELP

god i love him so bad... thats the main thing i wanna get cleared up right the fuck away. i love him SOSO bad and i think jesson uses him completely inappropiately and im stealing him. okay? hes my oc now.

this is also a warning, i havent refreshed completely with my mcd knowledge and mystreet is more fresh in my mind so if i say something wrong about a plot point be nice to me im doing my best im a little guy with a dissociative disorder so i forget shit

aaalllrighty where the hell do i begin?

okay so first off, right off the bat: when he got back from the nether in mcd, he should've been blind. because

disability representation. blindness isnt something that can just be cured unless you get touched by jesus christ himself (im not religious but i think thats in the bible lol) and it something that impacts millions of people on the daily. exposing that to young kids can introduce them to the fact that not everybody is just like them and that people come in many different shapes and sizes. and it ofc helps anyone who happens to be blind have a chracter to relate to and project on.

do YOU KNOW HOW COOL IT WOULD BE FOR A BLIND KNIGHT? like fighting is a very visual skill for the most part you need to see your opponents sword to properly dodge it or you are good and truly fucked. so taking something integral to fighting and ripping it away gives another great chance for character development as well as some really sick ass scenes where laurence goes all toph and uses his senses that are now firing at all cylinders and kicks total ass

ANGST ANGST ANGST ANGST!! like. laurence is a very visual guy, right? he sees pretty ladies to flirt with, he's a knight, he cares about his looks. so now he has all of that pretty much ripped away from him in an instant. what the fuck is he supposed to do? he flounders. hes a shell of his former self, in a way. like hes still there, hes still alive, but is he even laurence anymore? its something he has to learn to embrace and come to terms with. the main cast could also be super encouraging for him and basically is like "hey dude youre still the same fuckin awesome guy and you can still do all these fucking awesome things you just gotta learn how to do it again"

itd make for some cool relationship building between him and garroth or him and zoey or him and aphmau or even like him and cadenza. it gives him external relationships outside of just aphmau's love interest

JESUS FUCK I YAPPED A LOT ABOUT LAURENCE BEING BLIND OKAY

i think giving laurence (in both mcd and mystreet) jealousy/possessiveness issues is lame and a total turn off. like its such a gross thing to tell to kids, no? like "hey kids if you love someone they are ENTITLED to love you back and they CANT be in love with someone else"

obviously this behavior is still shut down but still... like why include it? especially because, prior to him falling in love, he seemed to be just a completely chill dude who only gets angry if he needs to. but suddenly hes mass slaughtering people at weddings (mcd), stalking his love interest because he saw her talking with another guy (mystreet), giving aphmau the cold shoulder because she is either indecisive or loses interest in him (this goes in both series i believe)

like it just gives you such an ick and obviously i know why they did this. i will say this until the day they put me in the damn ground its because of motherfucking aaron becoming a love interest. i have zero issues with aaron as a character and i even like him as a character (i have redeemed myself. i used to hate him) but as a love interest i think hes the worst thing to happen to every series because he just simply destroys any male character who had the potential to be shipped with aphmau which was all of them

were moving to mystreet here because mystreet is the best and most glaring example of this because mystreet was after they had decided to make aarmau canon in mcd and you can tell because of the way they set up laurence and garroth.

lemme explain and yes i know this is deviating from strictly laurence a tad but stay with me

im not going to use pdh because pdh was written after mystreet based off of the fact that for some reason travis doesnt know aphmau???? despite them being best friends in pdh??? WHATEVER WHWATEVER NOT THE POINT OKAY. were also going to completely disregard the undercurrent of grooming for aarmau and were going to pretend like this relationship is normal and not at all weird. okay? okay.

so from the moment you first meet laurence and garroth, you can tell their vibes are off. theyre openly hostile with each other (even if its playful theyre still "competeing" for her), theyre trying to shove each other out of the way. it makes them seem unlikeable. every time theyre on screen theyre talking to her or about her (often times planning on stalking her or getting irrationally jealous because they heard something through the grapevine) and it just turns the viewer off. if youre a first time viewer without any preconcieved notions of these character you're thinking "wow thats creepy. why would she stay friends with them? why would she bother sticking around her if all they want is a relationship out of her and not a genuine friendship?" and if you happened to watch mcd first youre thinking "wow is this how theyre really like? wow i dont like them at all anymore" and then you go to mcd and see their worst traits being ramped up and amplified to make them even more unlikable

and then you see aaron

in mcd hes a silent protector. hes always by aphmau's side. hes her one true loyal knight even when she does something he doesnt like. they understand eachother in ways that laurence and garroth just dont

in mystreet hes her guard dog. hes always there to step in when shes uncomfortable. hes her secret best friend her home away from home. he makes her feel loved in such a way that laurence garroth never could since theyve only ever cared about her superficially and not in any way that really, truly mattered

it makes the audience cling to him. it makes them think "well fuck why did the other guys even try hes obviously perfect for her" it blinds them of any other potential option because jesson just didnt give any other opportunity to shine through.

and thats fine. thats completely fine they can do whatever the hell they want to with their series because as one creative to another sometimes you just gotta make your bed and lie in it knowing that not every bitch out there is going to like every creative decision you make.

as a viewer it just.... it just makes you feel dissatisfied. leaves a bitter taste in your mouth, especially given the fact that in mcd you were basically told "these are your two options for love interests" and then a third love interest swoops in seemingly out of nowhere, gets her pregnant, and then he fucking dies.

in mystreet it just like... ugh. i dont know. i guess i feel happy for them because i can see their development. but like me personally i cant really feel shit for ms aarmau simply because of pdh and the FUCKING WEIRDNESS OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP

sorry this, once again, turned into a rant about how aaron's introduction as a love interest fucking ruined everything (my words, not anyone elses)

to sum up this long, long, long post my thoughts on laurence are as follows: i think hes written very poorly in mystreet and severely mishandled in mcd. i think that he had the potential to be very interesting in both series if used properly and he couldve had more intersting things happen to him in terms of the love interest department.

i think hes a character that gets the a lot of the character assassination tirade that jesson went on and i wish we got to see more of him but unfortunately we never will since you know his va left.

but most importantly:

hes my pookie wookie booboo bear and i love him so bad and im going to shake him and bite him and rip him to shred

well... i hope you got what you wanted. i have emptied all of my thoughts about laurence

[xerith-42]

You're missing out on the best character!! Jesson wrote the dumb ass stoner friend to end all stoner friends, barely did anything with him, and then killed him off!! He got like 4 entire scenes of being friends with Aaron, enough to convince us they were really friends, and then he gets mind controlled to say that Aaron is actually the cause of everything bad and is the reason that the magical police force and also maybe government (??) are after them, so Aaron gets really angry and just kills him about it.

And then he's also there in heaven with Aphmau despite sharing maybe ten minutes of screen time together across the entire series.

This is in the same series where there was once a major plot about Laurance and Garroth's basement flooding and that took up an entire episode.

What the actual fuck happened.

Mystreet is WACK.

Writing a fic set in Mystreet while only watching up to Love-Love Paradise then taking a look at the wiki to see what else happened and holy shit. What did I miss.

Ein? Weird werewolf dude- what do you mean he SHOT APH. She went to fucking HEAVEN??? Then he got killed by having his throat ripped out.

This is the same series where Zane gets put into a maid dress, also have a violent death of someone getting their throat ripped out.

Garroth got turned into a FURRY. Cause he started at Aaron in the eyes. That's fucking hilarous. He peeped the horrors and got turned into a dog for it how is that not funny as fuck.

What else am I missing cause I know there's gotta be some gems.

[xerith-42]

Stop blaming characters for bad writers

Seriously, stop fucking doing this. While this is a post that could certainly be applicable to MANY fandoms, I'm mainly directing this whole rant at my target audience which is mentally ill minecraft obsessed freaks.

If a character is written badly, gets badly fumbled by the creator, or has the ball dropped in regards to their arc in some way, a lot of people will blame the character, as if they're a real conscious person making these decisions. When they aren't. They're a block man literally being controlled by two people who just aren't very good writers and one or both of them are incredibly sexist, kind of racist, ableist, and just bad writers in general.

Yeah, Laurance does some pretty shitty things through out Season 2 of MCD, actively crossing lines he wouldn't have previously crossed. We as fans can cope by saying something something calling, or just saying Laurance is a bad abusive person, but the reality is that the writers wanted to force the series to fit a specific vision and as a result were willing to do anything to get the series to that point. In order to make Aaron the most favorable suitor for Aphmau, her previous suitors need to be out of the picture, or clearly inferior options.

Garroth suffered the out of the picture, being mostly absent outside of a few cutscenes here and there until episode 81 of season 2, but episode 81 is the culmination of the writers goals to make Aarmau happen. By the time Garroth has returned to the series, the damage has already been done. He's not getting the life he wants. And Laurance is written out of the picture as well, but only after being shown to be inferior because Jesson were pushing an agenda.

Laurance didn't deteriorate as a person due to neglect of his physical and mental well being after a severely traumatic experience. He deteriorated as a character because the writers stopped giving as much of a shit about him and instead were using the series as self indulgent fanfiction of alternate versions of themselves. That's not Laurance's fault.

And this applies to any character who was completely fumbled in MyStreet due to this similar focus on wish fulfillment from the writers. Jess has stated that the relationship between Aphmau and Aaron in Phoenix Drop High is reflective of her relationship with Jason, we all know this. This means that any characters who come off as total fucking creeps in that series (namely Gene), are not actually acting on the whims of their own autonomy or desires as characters. They are acting in service of telling a predetermined story that they are retroactively being added into for author fulfillment.

In this regard I fully support fandom cope and say that you should rewrite your little guys to your hearts content. But if you're going to criticize these characters for their actions, don't criticize them. They didn't do anything wrong. All characters are just puppets in service of the story or themes a writer is trying to push. If a character acts in an objectively terrible way, especially a way that isn't in line with their previous characterizations, that is a failing of the writers, not the character.

And I feel like largely a lot of us can and frequently do this. We're actively criticizing Jesson for being terrible low-key bigoted writers all the god damn time, it's like half of the content here. But when we get into character discourse I feel like some people cling onto bad actions of the canon too closely and I've seen more than a few posts presume some pretty terrible interpretations of characters based on these actions. Obviously Laurance is a character I and a lot of others are fixated on so a lot of discourse revolves around him, and it was seeing some... interesting takes on him that prompted me to start writing this post.

But this happens to everyone. Quite personally based on the character I was shown in MyStreet, it feels really weird that Garroth would make an insensitive comment about his brother's weight. Yeah siblings poke fun at each other and often cross lines, but if that was something Zane was seriously insecure about (which it seems like he might be) then it does make Garroth come off as a really insensitive brother, which just doesn't gel with how hard he tries to bond with Zane despite their tense relationship. And I don't think Garroth should be criticized for making those comments.

Whoever wrote those lines (Jess and/or Jason) should be criticized for writing a scene where a character is mocked by their older sibling over a physical insecurity even if said sibling would not normally do that. It's not Travis' fault that Jesson never decided to give him more of a character beyond "funny pervy guy" that's not funny in every anime they've watched until Season 5 of MyStreet. It's unfair to try and say Travis should be scrutinized for his borderline sexual harassment of some characters when it's not his fault that happened, he was written by writers who don't think this sort of behavior isn't all that bad if they make it out for comedy and punch him in the face.

And god dammit it's not Laurance's fault that his jealousy became the most prevalent emotion he felt. Laurance has always been a character to give into his vices and yet fight against them at the same time, it's what makes him compelling. If they were going to pull on those vices in order to make him a less appealing love interest, he never had a chance to really be his own character after a certain point. Because at a certain point in Season 2, Jesson stopped caring about the character they had been writing for over a hundred episodes at that point. They just wanted to canonize their self insert ship and were willing to do anything to get it.

Laurance isn't an abusive angry person who would have killed Aphmau if they got together. He's a flawed character being handled by incredibly flawed writers who are prone to making some of the worst decisions you have ever seen a creator make in regards to their character writing. He was caught in the crossfire of the adoration he received from a very dedicated fanbase, and the creator who would rather pretend he and his previous arc didn't exist for the sake of her fun. It's not Laurance's fault his arc was stilted, jerked around, and ultimately ended with him completely face planting. And yet still reliably dragging his bloodied body up at just the slightest glimmer of hope (Void Paradox).

It's deeply poetic and tragic that I can describe his character in universe and in the meta-textual sense that way, but we should never blame Laurance, or Aaron, or any other characters for things being like this.

They didn't write the show. Jess and Jason did.

[aphverse-confessions]

bro FUCK a mcd zane-reform believer. the mf is a VILLAIN AND A KILLER AND IN THEORY COULD BE A COOL CHARACTER.. BUT HE IS NOT GOOD. and he won’t EVER BE REDEEMED. are you fr. no, he would not fall in love w mf kc and suddenly be a dif man. this is MCD ZANE we are talking abt not MYST.

also, to pivot— i HATE the aaron as shad agenda. this is JESSON PROPAGANDA. those mfs couldn’t just let that mf die. ugh. he could have remained as the mysterious side character and i support the minor-character mcd aaron truthers.. but tbh he was TOO late of an addition to mcd to have THAT much impact. also jesson downplayed sm of the other characters to push in aaron. HE COULDA BEEN BETTER IF HE WAS NOT A WEIRD JESSON ENFORCEMENT.

also michi is hellspawn.

tbh donna is the best character in terms of lack of plot destruction

justice for the main characters who’s arcs were tainted past about 3/4 thru season 2. and yes that ties back to jessons forced aaron move. f that weird adaptation of what coulda been a cool character and his off putting modern jacket to expose his abs in a medieval snowy terrain. weird ass.

i rest my case

.

[the-martyrfication-of-the-matron]

Okay, finished rebirth episode 2, not as bad as episode 1 to me (I haven’t even finished talking about my episode 1 thoughts so… mmm…)

To summarise some of my notes:

Aphmau is autistic to me.

Rebirth garroth is a virgin (blushes when holding hands). Og garroth is a Chad (literally gave his lord a ring after basically deciding to be the father of her son)

I think Garroth shouldn’t have seen her do magic and only have seen the results of the magic. He should’ve walked over after she’d done her whole light show, and then we can recycle an OG line, which is iconic, with a bit of readjustment; the farm looks nicer… did you do this? And then have aph stare at him with her big babydoll eyes and scamper off without saying a word. That’s a true MCD remake.

Like genuinely if they wanted to keep the spirit of MCD, that small change would make me literally dickride this series SO HARD

Aph being dumb is because Jesson thinks we as the viewers are dumb and need to be spoonfed lore, and so aph is dumb and has to be spoonfed lore. Instead of just… giving it to us naturally.

Most og-accurate choice was Garroth trying to pressure aph into doing more magic. He’s canonically very… press-y about her doing labour for Phoenix drop.

Garroth needs to stop sending people into dangerous situations ahead of himself, especially children. He’s the head guard. Act like it.

Vylad would be sneakier than that.

Even tho OG jokes that Dale and Molly are arranged married, Rebirth makes a bit of a point that Molly ‘chose’ him. I can kinda understand why, but I think their marriage being arranged wouldn’t have been a particularly bad thing to leave in.

I wasn’t paying attention during any of the Brenmau interactions because I’m trash. But I do love the dynamic they’re given, and I think they’re being set up better than Aphmau and her other friendships so far. She spent the episode helping him willingly, and he paid her back in turn by being honest with her, and also giving her praise when she deserved it.

Brendan is the first to call Aph lord. I’m conflicted about this, but leaning towards hatred. It undermines her entire dynamic with Zenix in the original, and I understand they’re leaning for a more MyS-accurate Zenix in Rebirth, but I hate that it’s at the cost of what made him so interesting to me originally. His dynamic with Aphmau is frankly one of the more interesting friendships in early MCD and to see it erased when it was such an integral plot point is… not my favourite thing.

Kiki is brought in earlier, she comes into town because of the misery brought on by the lord’s death, and not Garroth’s shooting.

Aphmau weird girls her way to success.

Zenix is actually reasonable about the hamsters and I think one thing Rebirth does get right is that he is occasionally very reasonable. They are damaging crops and thus putting the livelihoods of Phoenix drop villagers at a risk. He is right to be irritated that Kiki has brought them to the village.

Kiki can only talk to Hamsters, but in OG, she can talk to more animals… like chickens, which is important for the Cadenza plot.

There’s a Zenix line I hate because it contributes to a particular trait they seem to be giving him in rebirth… but that’ll be its own post.

Garroth casually outs Aph as a magic user even though… I’m p sure they’re canonically murdered… so… what the fuck dude

Aph sneezing is cute.

[lggy]

4. Do you think Shad is as evil as he is believed to be in the series? Do you think he is justified?

I still struggle to gather all the divine warriors info together but I think shad was simply the force of nature - the matron, the light, he was the destroyer, the dark. she heals, he hurts. irene herself carefully chose shad to be the relic holder. i think it was enki/kulzak/esmund who betrayed shad and ultimately who drove irene to losing her emotions. shad in s3 regrets accepting immortality i think his wrath was justified

5. Do you think the Divine Warriors are gods or just humans with godlike powers? Are they humans who become gods?

☝️🤓the divine warriors were humans, but not normal humans. shad described himself and Irene as having been gifted with power from the gods. basically they are just magick-users (I would say high-class magicks, but there is no ranking system in the series)

7. Is Zane capable of redemption in some way in your eyes? What do you think his fate would have been?

this is litearlly where i thought season 3 was going and i was all for it!!! but then after his little "Urgh.. maybe i Shouldnt be torturing emmalyn after all the torture ive experienced myself" human moment he takes 30 steps back and burns down another stupid village. rip character development

10. Why do you think Zenix betrayed Phoenix Drop, was it the Calling? What would Zenix’s fate have been, and what would you have liked it to be? What do you think Garroth and his reunion would have been like?

urghhh im so SICK. So. here is my zenixbrain:

-zenix mirrors laurance a Lot. he just wasnt able to hold out as long as laurance was - he two ended up going down the same path in the end, as fate works.

-the calling was too strong for zenix. he tried killing the people he protected, garroth - that failed. aphmau - that also failed. i think his heart's goals and his shadow knight corrupted goals were interfering in his head. he wanted to kill/sacrifice garroth and aphmau for immortality, but he also wanted to kill garroth for (either his own protection assuming anyone can become a SK, or for.. idk dude lost his mind <3) and aphmau for being a lord -- lords and guardship is something he holds contempt for, since guards are meant to die for lords, and lords are widely perceived as lazy and greedy.

-Zenix at some point connects that the Shadow Lord... is a Lord. And he hates lords. and what he stood for and was against was hypocritical. So he goes fuck it im ballin' (GETS EXILED)

-garroth and zenix reunion would be like. time feels like it froze, theyre staring at each other, barely able to recognize them. it would be more like deer in headlights, theyre startled then they go back down their separate paths. all they gain is the relief and comfort they're alive, yet a little devastated that one day their paths will cross again and they will be on opposite sides. they wished the other had died, so the thought of piercing them with their own sword wouldn't be on their list of things to worry about.

-...............realistically it would be more like zenix doesnt give a fuck and garroth does the anime gasp like "Z-zenix?!" then jesson dedicates the rest of the runtime to aphmau talking over them. aphmau and her "ermm lets talk about that later" writing with zenix

12. What do you think would happen to the Shadow Knights after Shad is defeated? Would there be a difference between those that are immortal and those that aren’t?

i made a post about this but the shadow knights all have a brief period of clarity before all dying. heartless SKs like gene lose their personality and are confused and lost in their last few hours. corrupted SKs like sasha and zenix feel love and full clarity of their mind again. wiser shadow knights with control, vincent and vylad, can feel the weight off their chest and can find a quiet place to finish reading a book or write their last letter. however, laurance, the half-sk with no immortality, he gets very ill. he lives for just a few more years. :,(

Minecraft Diaries Focus Questions

Please respond within 150-500 words and reply to at least two of your peers (jk)

These are some questions I have about people’s opinions/predictions/interpretations that I’m really curious about!! Feel free to answer only one, a few, or all if that’s what you want, and answer in any way (reblog, reply, in the tags)

1. Do you think Laurance would have survived till the end of the series? What do you think his fate would have been if Jess continued? What would you want his fate to be?

2. Do you think Zane is Leona’s father? Would you think it’s a good plot point if he was?

3. Was Irene a good person? Do you think she was justified with her actions?

4. Do you think Shad is as evil as he is believed to be in the series? Do you think he is justified?

5. Do you think the Divine Warriors are gods or just humans with godlike powers? Are they humans who become gods?

6. Do you think Gene would have been redeemed if Jess continued? Would Dante forgive him? Would he forgive Dante? What do you think his fate would have been?

7. Is Zane capable of redemption in some way in your eyes? What do you think his fate would have been?

8. What characters do you think is the relic holder of each Divine Warrior, apart from the known ones? Would you have a different arrangement?

9. Was it a good idea to connect Mystreet and MCD together? Would you have preferred if they stayed separate universes?

10. Why do you think Zenix betrayed Phoenix Drop, was it the Calling? What would Zenix’s fate have been, and what would you have liked it to be? What do you think Garroth and his reunion would have been like?

11. Do you think Jeffory would have come back as a Shadow Knight at some point? Would you have liked it if he did?

12. What do you think would happen to the Shadow Knights after Shad is defeated? Would there be a difference between those that are immortal and those that aren’t?

13. What non-canon ship would you have loved to see, no matter how outlandish or obscure the character(s) are?

14. Is there any major character(s) that you feel is unnecessary to the plot? Is there any minor character(s) that you feel should have played a bigger role?

15. What do you think of the relationships between the Ro’meave brothers? What dynamic would you have liked to see between Vylad and Zane?

16. Do you think Garte is alive? What would you like his fate to be?

17. Do you think Kenmur’s death was a good plot point? Would you have preferred if he stayed alive?

18. What do you think of the personality changes from MCD to Mystreet?

19. They mention Cadenza has magicks that relates to the Nether portals but never really utilize this. What do you wish they had done with this information?

20. Many people have well established rewrites for MCD. Because of this, would you still want Jess to continue MCD, even though it will most likely go in a direction we wouldn’t like? For example, she would most likely focus more on the relationship between Aaron and Aphmau in her rewrite. Would this still be something worth seeing or have you grown content with the unfinished series?

Thank you so much to anyone who answers!

Edit: my dumb butt mixed up the numbering and had put 11 twice lol. I fixed it by combining the Zenix questions together, so I’m sorry if question 10 is very wordy :)