#he would probably be in the first or last group depending on his arc

[lizdive]

I propose reader being a big brother figure who's responsible and reliable for the astral express trio (March 7th, trailblazer, Dan Heng) since Welt is the grandpa/father figure while himeko is the mother figure

i do 💍 /j this is such a cute idea i love the astral express crew found family trope it’s so cute <33 i don’t think i did this too well concept wise i’m sorry,,, but thank you for requesting <3 If you’re not satisfied then just tell me and i’ll redo it !! <33

notes 𐙚 male! reader — "you" + "he/him" + "big brother" used to refer to the reader ,, reader as an older brother figure ,, platonic relationships ,, trailblazer is not specific — can be seen as stelle or caelus ,, not proofread so excuse typos auhm ,,,,,,,

⭑ Whether you joined first or last, your closeness to the express does not differ. You’ll always be the one MARCH runs to when she wants to try out new outfits and needs an opinion, or when DAN HENG needs help with the archives, or when the TRAILBLAZER wants to go dumpster diving.

⭑ If you joined before DAN HENG, you probably had the role of Astral Express Guard and handled the archives. You left the most of the archive work to DAN HENG when he joined so he could freely enjoy the archives, but whether you give up your role as Astral Express Guard or still hold it alongside DAN HENG is up to you.

⭑ HIMEKO and WELT are very thankful for your responsibility and reliability, and HIMEKO will praise you for it with a pat on the head or the back. While DAN HENG is responsible and reliable, too, it’s nice for someone to relieve the stress of the TRAILBLAZER and MARCH from his shoulders while looking after him, too.

⭑ Also, while DAN HENG is a victim of the TRAILBLAZER and MARCH’s shenanigans, you’re always there to put a stop to them before they get too out of hand. Sometimes whenever you four are on a mission and your separated from the group, the moment you all meet back up DAN HENG will snitch on MARCH and the TRAILBLAZER. They’ll convince you to not snitch to HIMEKO and WELT after you scold them.

⭑ You’re the unofficial official chaperone for those three so good luck.

⭑ During crew group photos you’ll always be in the middle between WELT and HIMEKO. Doesn’t matter if you’re on the shorter side or the taller side.

⭑ After the Xianxhou arc, DAN HENG will find solace in your presence. Whether it’s just in silence or you comforting him verbally, he appreciates it. If you stay with him on the express during Penacony, he may feel a tear being shed from how touched he is.

⭑ The TRAILBLAZER will call you 'big brother' and depending on how you view / play them, it can be seen as either teasing or genuine. MARCH does it, too, but it’s joking.

⭑ WELT always feels himself relaxing more when you join him on missions because he knows you’ll be able to handle yourself and enemies as well as keep up with negotiations and pitch in ideas should there be any. He’ll make sure you don’t push yourself, of course, but he will appreciate you fighting diligently.

⭑ With HIMEKO it just feels like you’re babysitting the crew while she deals with the important things. It’s like when a mother is talking with a teacher and the oldest is trying to keep his siblings in check so they don’t do anything stupid.

⭑ The trio would follow big brother! reader like ducklings and if anyone calls them out on it, they’ll deny it. Maybe TRAILBLAZER wouldn’t and would crack a joke, but DAN HENG and MARCH will definitely deny it, DAN HENG being better at doing so than MARCH. big brother! reader just laughs and says he’s fine with it and doesn’t mind.

⭑ Good heart health is most likely non-existent. Poor heart will be at risk of stopping permanently with all the shit those three get into. HIMEKO and WELT will start taking your place in missions because you’ll need 5–12 stress and anxiety-free rest days after every few missions.

⭑ If anything during a mission is going downhill you’re the first person the trio will think to call. Big brother to the rescue!

[demodraws0606]

What Cyberpunk DeadBoy Means and What it's Potentially Foreshadowing (aka very complicated analysis that makes a lot of sense and could happen depending on how colorpalet is feeling while writing the story)

Now I'm seeing so many people like running around wondering what this event could mean for the future for multiple reasons and like I've made like one post throwing my hat into the ring.

I've been frustrated with people's unwillingness to realise that this comm is prob foreshadowing because this is not the first time Colorpalet has hidden foreshadowing into comms weither subtely or not

Exemple's being :

-Akito's second comm foreshadowing his third event

-Lower's cover art literally foreshadowing what would happen to Mafuyu's phone in her event

-88 vocals being emurui and nenekasa foreshadowing the kind of dynamic the disbandement arc had with nenekasa wanting to move forward with emurui being scared of isolation

-Probably way better exemples that I forgot

I've seen people make Some assumptions which I don't agree with but there is one thing I think is true

There is 100 pourcent gonna be struggle between corporation/reality and WxS.

Purely because that's been WxS's entire theme since the beginning. They constantly bash you over the head with the theme of compromising with reality and the importance of dreams. In fact the pick of Maiki-P is not at all surprising as he basically has the same message WxS has just... well harsher.

The Big thing people have ignored however is by focusing on the lyrics, they've ignored something that's personally to me even more telling and that's the line distribution

We know for a fact colorpalet loves to mess around with line distribution, weither it's to make characters say lines that fit them or to kind of foreshadow their headspace.

Now something Big happens with the line distribution of Cyberpunk Deadboy that i've seen NO ONE notice and that's in the last chorus (that and also Tsukasa's lines which people have pointed out but it works less on it's own which is why I'm gonna analyse his lines afterwards).

This is the only time the chorus is like that, the others have a much more even distribution.

In fact the distribution choice makes it look like the rest of WxS is Talking to Rui.

It's even more evident considering the lines they chose to make WxS sing compared to only just Rui

Emu/Tsukasa/Nene saying kimi (you)

Rui saying boku (i)

Which honestly makes me think this is colorpalet foreshadowing some kind of issue reguarding specifically Rui. Remember Emu's second event ? The story of Rilley whose imagination was crippled by the industry to the point where he didn't really have any artistic vision until Emu's grandpa helped him.

In fact remember how the flashback that showcases that has Rilley working on a film

Now we get to Tsukasa's line which have been pointed out to be kind of sus but it's not just his lines.

Tsukasa refuses to sing with Rui (unless it's a line they all sing together but i consider those exceptions). In fact pretty much everyone has a duo line with each other except those two.

In fact in the section where Rui has duo lines with everybody, Tsukasa is the only one he doesnt sing with and the visuals make it clear that it's something that we're supposed to find strange

And then we of course have Tsukasa's solo lines

Tsukasa is the only one that say "fuzakeruna" outside of Rui (of course ignoring entire group WxS lines) and i've seen some people pointed out how it sounds like he's saying it in response to Rui's lines. Which I agree with.

Then we got his big boy solo lines

These lines will make more sense with my theory/analysis but right now if we go with the idea that WxS in the last chorus were speaking to Rui and Tsukasa in this comm refuses to sing with Rui then this implies those lines are Tsukasa speaking to Rui.

And this is where the insanity begins because people have pointed out a concerning trend with Ruikasa that I know some people use for shipping fuel but for me kinda feels more so like foreshadowing.

IGNORING all the ARG ass weirdness of the Fixer 2dmv, this choice to switch Ruikasa's colors have to mean something in my opinion outside of just wholesome shipping influence especially considering the two songs they do this are less than jovial.

What this kind of color switching signifies to me is that, Ruikasa somehow are/or will switch places.

And with that let me bring back Tsukasa's lines

These lines stand out because Tsukasa before remembering his dreams was extremely shallow only doing things for fame and probably the money that would come with it.

Now if you think about everything I've layed out I think you can gain a pretty clear picture.

Of Rui falling into the trap Rilley did, becoming jaded and losing the true motivation of his dream (or at least starting to have doubts). Becoming stuck with the struggle of managing dreams and reality.

Rui's costume even has a mask which can be a metaphor for his artistic voice and individuality being silenced .

Which now you get into the line distribution where WxS is implied to be talking to Rui.

And you get to Tsukasa, who is refusing to sing with Rui and in fact seems to be arguing with Rui if we really want to overthink it. In fact almost switching their roles from the main story.

Because Tsukasa has grown now and how else to show that growth than to switch Rui and Tsukasa's perspectives/roles.

Now how this would happen really depends since there are multiple ways they can go about it with the time they have.

There is obviously mystery dude dude (who i know now is sakaki) who still gives me bad vibes. However there is actually two way they can make mystery dude trigger this sort of plot :

-Mystery dude is malicious and actively manipulates/confronts Rui to make him rethink his worldview

-Mystery dude isn't malicious but instead is just jaded/has been through a lot of industry bullshit which ends up rubbing off on Rui accidentally

But you can even just not have mystery dude involved with this at all (which i doubt but still) because you know what loose plotpoint is still lingering over WxS, fucking Asahi

Rui still has not talked about Asahi to WxS, in fact Curtain Call ends on an explicit cliffhanger which is never really emotionally concluded (at least in Rui's own events, technically the arc ender did but there are still a lot of loose threads from that arc). Why would Colorpalet make Asahi come back after Rui graduates, they could've just had him disappear into the sunset but instead they hint at his potential comeback.

Unless Rui will be forced to again confront similar feelings he did during Curtain Call this time with possibly an added layer of whatever happens during WxS's freelance arc.

Anyways yeah this is overly complicated but then again colorpalet is not being easy with us so...yeah.

[astro-vision-au]

If puzzles goes cray cray when hes given stars+turns into demon form

I gotta know- is it instinctual or does he have control over that scenario. Reading his lore it doesnt SEEM like he would choose to attack his new group but I also could have totally read over/missed something

(i could be taking the stars to seriously in general and that was a joke answer xD but it has me so curious)

If puzzles DOES go berserk. Im guessing by the Blood Moon form that Rowen could 100% get him to... Ahem

(⁠ ͡⁠°⁠ ͜⁠��⁠ ͡⁠°⁠) do something other than murder

For the first part it really depends! If you were to give him 5 stars during pt 1-2 or even the beginning of pt 3 he would have probably gone on a rampage. I actually got a similar ask before and made this response as they asked around that time when only those parts existed

However from the RoyalVision arc and going forward if you gave him 5 stars, he would actually ignore them! He doesn't feel like he needs them anymore. I mean, he has a husband and Son that love him more then any fans could, a kingdom who looks up to him and respects him, a best friend who, while annoying, still cares about him and propped him up at his lowest point. And finally, a father figure who cares about him and his accomplishments.

So no, he probably wouldn't go crazy if he got his hands on five stars.

As for that last part-

HA, I mean, he said it not me lmao

[pale-opal]

Hear Me Out 2:

So. I know that this image, like the ones in the last post I made, is incredibly niche. I also suspect that, the MMX and Warrior Cats fandoms, much like the Mega Man and Homestuck fanbases, probably don't have that much overlap. However. I am not going to let that stop me from drawing this conclusion: if the books existed in the MMX universe, Axl totally would've read Warrior Cats. And he would've loved it. To prove this, I am going to write an entire multipoint essay about this strange little reploid, and this somehow stranger series of books. Buckle up, folks. This one is going to get wild. Now, first things first: I need to explain what Warrior Cats is. For those of you not in the know, Warrior Cats (also known simply as Warriors) is a book series that follows several different groups of cats known as "clans" through their time in a forest. Every writer who has worked on the Warrior Cats series has done so under the pen name "Erin Hunter". However, some of the authors identities are known. For example, the first few arcs were primarily written by a woman named Victoria Holmes. - The cats are not anthropomorphic (for the most part). They are feral. Humans exist, but they can't understand them. Pet cats are referred to as "kittypets." - A clan cat receives several names during their lifetime. If they are born into the clan, they are born as [noun/adjective]kit. As an apprentice (a warrior cat in training), they would be called [noun/adjective]paw. Once they become a warrior, usually at 12 months (or "moons", as months are referred to in the books as such) of age, they will become [noun/adjective][noun 2]. Cats who are the appointed leader of their clan are known as [noun/adjective]star. Cats that join a clan from elsewhere have a chance to go through this naming system as well, but they do not have to if they don't want to. Cat names will be used interchangeably, depending on when that specific cat had that name. - Leader cats have nine lives, of which are given to them by Starclan (cat heaven). There can only be one leader at a time. Also, there is a hell-equivalent known as the "Dark Forest". Dead clan cats get sent to one of these two places after death. Their ghosts can also die - either through fading (being forgotten by the living), or through severe injuries and other similar causes of death. - The clan cats follow a set of rules known as the "Warrior Code". It is mostly composed of basic rules, such as not being allowed to kill cats for no reason, not being allowed to quit being a clan cat to go live with people, etc. However, some more complex rules were added. An example includes a rule that allows a leader to be disposed by their subordinates. - I will be discussing spoilers for the entirety Warrior Cats series. If at any point during this essay you want to put on a life jacket and jump ship so you can experience these books blind, feel free to do so (however, I do recommend skipping to the final few bullets of the "Additional Notes" section before leaving the cruise, as I do mention topics that I think would be a disservice to not warn new readers of beforehand). I also have to provide a content warning for violence because these books can be dark sometimes.

Part 1: Character Arc Cousins Something that makes a book or story likeable is relatability. And how do characters become relatable? By having experiences that readers are likely to have gone through themselves. And if we go through the Warrior Cats series, we find that there are quite a few characters that Axl would relate to. For instance, there's Firestar:

Let's go through a list of the things he and Axl have in common: 1. Born as a kittypet named Rusty, Firepaw leaves his home to join Thunderclan because he feels he's meant to be doing something else with his life. Axl leaves Red Alert when they become evil, and joins the Maverick Hunters because he doesn't feel that it's right for him to be using his copy ability to harm innocents. Shared experience: leaving home to pursue their destiny. 2. Firepaw spends the majority of The Prophecies Begin (the first set of Warrior Cats books) trying to prove himself worthy of being in Thunderclan, even when he becomes Firestar. Axl spends all of X7 trying to prove himself to the Hunters, and continues to work toward doing so when he fails to win X's approval, even after all he's been through. Shared experience: proving themselves to people who are older and more experience than they are. 3. At the end of The Last Hope (the final book in the Omen of the Stars collection), Firestar dies from his injuries in a fight against the ghost of Tigerstar I (long story), his final life being spent protecting his clan. Guess what happens to Axl in X8? If you guessed "gets a mysterious black crystal shoved into his head by Lumine's corpse after working together with his homies to kill him, leaving him in a near-comatose state," congratulations! You're right! Your prize is... um... the satisfaction of being correct! Huzzah! Shared experience: dying/becoming severely injured after working to secure the greater good for their loved ones.

Firestar's not the only character Axl would relate to, either. There's also: - Squirrelfight (both characters do reckless things to keep others safe, and have an early habit of rushing into things. They also have trouble getting older people to take them seriously.) - Hollyleaf (both she and Axl betray people they care about - and they both do it with murder, too. (Axl has to kill the members of Red Alert, while Hollyleaf betrays Thunderclan by killing Ashfur (note: to clarify, Hollyleaf did not betray Ashfur specifically. She betrayed the clan by breaking the Warrior Code (although one could make the case that she didn't actually break it, but that's a whole issue of its own))) - Dovewing (similar to Firestar somewhat: both Dovewing and Axl work with older characters, and struggle to fit in with them)

Usually, the more relatable the characters are, the more a viewer or reader will enjoy the story. And with four whole cats that he can feel free to project himself onto, Axl's all set to have a great time reading Warrior Cats on the basis of the characters alone. But that's not the only reason he'd have a heck of a time. There's also:

Part 2 - The Drama of it All

Let's make another list. This time, we'll take note of what Axl likes, what kind of person he is, stuff like that. Axl: - Is trigger happy. Literally. One of his lines in X8 directly states that the thought of fighting mavericks "makes [his] trigger finger itch". The boy lives to fight. - Is a child. Based on his behavior (not taking certain things seriously, wanting to be treated as an equal to those older than him, being easy to amuse), as well as the way he is voice acted (he had a female VA for X7, and a common practice in voice acting is to give male characters who haven't gone through puberty a voice actress or a male VA who is younger or around the same age as the character being portrayed. Additionally, the voices given to him in X8 and Command Mission are at a somewhat higher pitch than X and Zero's - while he does sound older, it's clear that he's younger than X and Zero) tell us that he is not meant to be the same age as the other members of the Hunter trio. Warrior Cats is aimed at middle-school aged children. Keep this in mind. - Despises injustice. He ditches Red Alert when they go maverick, and spends an entire game trying to become a Hunter. And after he becomes one in between X7 and X8, he gets darn good at it. By Command Mission, he's an S-Class Hunter alongside X and Zero. Oh, and in X8 he shoots Lumine in the middle of an evil laugh and tells X and Zero to disregard his evil monologue that he just finished giving.

Based on all this, I think it's safe to say that Axl would enjoy how Warrior Cats includes the following: - The first antagonist, Tigerstar I, attempts to kill Bluestar (the leader of Thunderclan prior to Firestar), kills several innocent cats in his quest for power, and manipulates a dying clan to become its leader after getting exiled from Thunderclan. And how does he get his dues? By getting killed by the second antagonist, Scourge, with all of his lives being taken by one wound, (yes, this is considered a children's book series). And Scourge gets killed by Firestar, who takes him out after coming back to life from Scourge killing him first. You know. Like a boss.

- The majority of Warrior Cats start off as kits or apprentices, meaning that they begin their journey as children and/or pre-teens/teenagers. Recall the target demographic for the books. Now recall how old Axl is. I think you see where I'm going with this. - All of the major villains in the Warriors series meet a terrible fate, one that matches their horrible actions. We already talked about Tigerstar I (and Scourge, to a lesser extent). Now here are some other examples: Brokenstar: He forced kits (aka BABIES) into becoming apprentices before they were of age (6 moons old) (which is not only against the warrior code, but also dangerous because... well, I think we all know why it's a bad idea to send an actual baby out to do certain things like hunt or fight against entire adults in any context). He meets his end by getting blinded and poisoned by his own mother. And then when he dies, he goes to the Dark Forest. Ashfur: After becoming bitter over how Squirrelflight chose another man over him, he decides to go and kill her and her children. But guess what? Not only does that loser fail miserably in doing that, but Hollyleaf also takes him out. Unfortunately, Ashur somehow gets let into cat-heaven. However, this lapse in Starclan's judgement leads to Ashfur being able to magically force all the dead cats in both the Dark Forest and Starclan to do his bidding. He also possesses Bramblestar. But you know what happens to him afterwards? HIS GHOST GETS DROWNED IN A POOL OF WATER THAT SAPS THE LIFE FORCE OUT OF THE CATS THAT GO IN IT. YOU KNOW. LIKE A FREAKING LITWICK (shout out to Bristlefrost for being the one to take out this poser).

Part 3 - It's Not All Perfect Now, anyone who's read Warrior Cats knows that the series has some... interesting flaws in its writing. From forbidden romance being the Special of the Day every series to established lore being retconned at the drop of a hat, the Warriors books have gone through their fair share of bad writing decisions. Here's how I think Axl would respond to some of those issues:

1. Continuity Errors: - "Redtail's Debt" has dubious canonicity. It was established in the second book of the first arc that Redtail, the first deputy of Thunderclan talked about in the series, did NOT kill Oakheart (a former deputy of Riverclan) in a battle that took place in the first book's prologue. Whether or not he did was a huge part of the intrigue of the first two books, and finding out he didn't was an important part of uncovering Tigerstar I's treachery. The writers who took over after Holmes retired from the series retconning this has horrible implications for the series timeline. (And it makes Ravenpaw (one of the most iconic characters, and the one who revealed that Redtail wasn't a murderer) look like a liar for no reason. And we can't have that.) As a result, I think Axl would be pretty upset about this one. I feel he'd take the lore for these angry kitty-cats super seriously. He probably has a mock timeline in his room on the wall. He takes notes whenever new bits of worldbuilding is introduced. He represses the urge to bang his head against a wall whenever the writers confuse a cat's lore with another (looking at you, Graystripe). He knows everything about these cats, and he knows that Redtail didn't kill Oakheart. - On that note, the Heavystep situation would drive him up a wall. For those of you don't know, Heavystep is a character who has died a grand total of three times in the Warriors series. But he was never leader or anything like that: no, the authors just kept losing track of him. But you know who didn't lose track? The readers. I like to think Axl has an original copy of the book Dark River. In the original print of that book, Heavystep was brought back to life for a fourth time. This was later fixed in a reprint, but Axl doesn't know that. 2. Forbidden Romance: Until recently, cats who belonged to different clans were not allowed to become mates. But due to some changes in the Warrior Code, that is less of a problem. However, that doesn't change the fact that we got a lot of forbidden relationships in the series before that point. But even with that in mind, I think Axl would actually eat this sort of plotline up. He'd love it. We've already established that he would enjoy the more violent aspects of the drama. So why not the drama that takes place between characters in non-violent ways? - I figure that Axl would enjoy it until the last book of Omen of the Stars (AKA The Last Hope). That's when he starts punching the air out of frustration. I can totally see him venting about it out loud to anybody who will listen:

Axl: "And then Dovewing chooses freaking BUMBLESTRIPE over Tigerheart, even though Bumblestripe tried to ask her out DURING A FUNERAL." Zero: "And then what happ--" Axl: "Dude, I haven't even told you the worst of it. Before all that, Jayfeather was catching feelings for someone from the freaking PAST because TIME TRAVEL. And - oh. OH. Let me tell you about Firestar and Spottedleaf. Guess what they do. While everyone around them is dying and fighting for their lives. Guess." Zero: "Firestar.... moves on from her?" Axl: "HA! I WISH. No. Instead, they have an entire MOMENT. IN FRONT OF SANDSTORM. I HATE IT HERE." - As you can tell, Axl wouldn't exactly be supportive of the whole "Spottedleaf x Firestar" debacle (Spottedleaf dies in the first arc after Firepaw develops a one-sided crush on her. Spottedleaf starts to reciprocate as a ghost (after Firepaw becomes an adult and is named Fireheart), only for this to continue... until the day Spottedleaf's ghost dies). I imagine Axl would be fine with it at first, but once Firestar becomes mates with Sandstorm? All bets are off. I just can't see Axl supporting Firestar emotionally cheating on his wife. Axl would appreciate a lot of things - adultery most likely wouldn't be one of them. - Omen of the Stars would probably leave a bitter taste in Axl's mouth as far as forbidden romance goes (even after Dovewing ends up getting together with Tigerstar II) until The Broken Code, which would end up redeeming the concept in his mind in the most dramatic way possible:

Axl: *Is crying* X: "Aw, Axl! What's wrong?" Axl: *Is holding book 5 of The Broken Code, weeping miserably* "Bristlefrost and Rootspring just w-wanted to be h-happy, but now they can't, because -- because Bristlefrost is dead!" X: *Has no idea what he's talking about, is trying his best* "Oh, no! That's... that's awful." Axl: "And now all Rootspring has left of her is a vision of her and him with - with the kids that they'll n-never get to have-!" *Sobs* X: "Okay... how about... how about you read something a little happier-" Axl: "No, that - that's okay. I wanna finish it." X: "Are... are you sure?" Axl: *More serious than he has ever been in his life* "Yes." X: *Puts hands up* "Well - okay, then!"

Part 4 - Conclusion So. To sum this up, Warriors is a book series that contains copious amounts of violence, underdog characters to root for and relate to, killable villains, romance, and things that people can complain about. And Axl is someone who would enjoy all of that. In other words:

Rest in peace, Axl. You would've loved Warrior Cats. ...

(Yes, I know he's technically not dead. But he may as well be since we never got X9. The writers of the ZX series didn't even know what his final fate was supposed to be. That's why we got Model A and not Axl. Seriously. Look it up.)

Part 5 - Additional Notes Here are some other things that I would like to say that wouldn't fit into the whole of the essay:

- This took way longer than expected: it was in my drafts since August 10th! I actually had to edit a certain part of the essay because the arc A Starless Clan concluded while I was writing this. But now it's free. And I am now able to start work on another essay meant to boggle hearts and minds. Get ready. - Axl's favorite villain would be Tigerstar, even though he reminds him of Sigma. Reading about him getting killed twice gave him deja vu. - Zero would read Warriors to get a feel for it, so that he could understand whenever Axl started ranting about it. He ends up losing the plot and has to resort to watching YouTube videos. - X, on the other hand, would get super invested - but only after Axl started reading A Starless Clan. Which means that he's got a long way to go before he can relate to Axl's cat-related tangents. - Signas tried to read Warriors because Axl brought it up during a meeting once. He confused it for Tailchaser's Song (1985) and ended up introducing Axl to a new book to get excited over instead of figuring out what's "hip with the kids." - Axl cried at the end of The Last Hope. He bawled his eyes out. Just completely inconsolable. And then he read Dovewing's Silence, and cried some more. - When Grey Wing said "Kill me. Kill me and live with the memory. Then tell the stars that you won.", it formed an entire core memory in Axl's brain. He would totally say this at some point in the fight against Red. And Red would just laugh and recall when Axl lived with Red Alert and spent a bunch of his free time reading silly cat books. The tension is eased. And then Zero runs over with his sword while screaming a battle cry and then they remember that they're at war. - Now for the serious parts. To begin with, there is a certain novella in the series known as Spottedleaf's Heart. Long story short, I don't like the idea of Axl reading this book. I don't like the idea of an actual child reading this book (at least, not without guidance). So Axl will not be reading it. I do not feel like it would be appropriate for me to explain why here, since it involves topics that would be hard to discuss in what's supposed to be a lighthearted essay. However, Moonkitti has a video that explains the issues with this book in case you want to know what it is I'm referring to (however, please heed the warning that she provides at the beginning). - For the second point, I'll cut straight to the chase: Warriors has quite a few examples of ableism and sexism. I didn't discuss either of them in-depth because I felt that it would be out of place tone-wise in the grand scheme of the essay, but again: I would be doing you a disservice if I didn't at least warn new readers about these aspects. To be specific, these problems are issues because it sometimes feels like the writers resent having disabled and female characters existing in their narrative at all. However, something that is worth mentioning is that there seems to have been efforts made over time to fix these problems. - In case you're wondering how Axl would feel about all this, here's how I see it: he'd hate it. While there aren't any disabled characters in the MMX series that he could've interacted with, Axl does know what it's like to be underestimated and mistreated for reasons outside of one's control. So he would most likely be personally upset by how the narrative takes the chance to sideline or get rid of characters in a similar position, regardless of whether or not the reason why was because of a disability (I imagine he would have some very strong words to say about what happened to Snowkit). As for the sexism: as far as I'm aware, most of the female influences in Axl's life are positive, with him knowing all of them personally. Why wouldn't he get mad about how the series treats women? Especially when all of the ones that he's friends with have been directly involved in what he does as a Hunter, or in saving the world in the case of MMX Command Mission?

Additionally, the books sometimes have legitimate trouble properly writing abusers. Some are written in genuine, believable ways, while others are written that way by accident or aren't fully treated the way they should be by the narrative. This leads to some... odd implications as to what is considered abuse in Warrior Cats and by the authors. In light of that last sentiment: do not come after any of the authors. While you don't have to respect all of their writing decisions, that doesn't mean you can just run around attacking people. Be respectful.

Furthermore, Warriors also includes relationships between characters with lengthy (and sometimes problematic (which is a topic that warrants it's own discussion, although I am not sure if I should be the one to discuss it)) age gaps. Keep that in mind before you start reading. - TL;DR: read the books at your own risk. And be mindful of what you're getting into.

[corviiids]

this can be a fic prompt or just me asking your thoughts on a scenario, whatever sparks joy for you: p5 au in the death note universe where goro has a death note... but so does ren. do they both use them? just one of them? neither of them bc they both realize it's foolish? (its not even a debate who the L stand in is, obviously its detective prince goro, you've already set up how he'd handle keeping kira from thinking he's a particular threat in your kira game answer-)

(deciding to make this unrebloggable to keep it in the family so to speak. pleeease dont screenshot and repost it, thank you for your consideration i appreciate)

great question. they'd both use it. however i think goro would not use the death note the same way that light does, he would use it more selfishly. either the same way he uses the metaverse (to join and subsequently sabotage shido) or to create a conspiracy of his own. nobody has time for my seventy year presentation on what makes light and goro superficially similar but deeply different in every way that matters

ren (& co) are more likely to become kira. (or something close to it, likely much lesser in scale and not to the same level of commitment.) i think a lot of people forget how close they came to straight up killing kamoshida in that first arc. annrenryuji had all resolved that if their infiltration ended with kamoshida's death then they were still ready to go ahead with it. gestures very vaguely at one of my many (unexecuted) roleswap concepts which i was contemplating, which was roleswap where the only thing that changes is morgana finds goro instead so the gang become the 'phantom assassins'.

for all the PT's targets, they have a deadline which if not met something bad will happen, but some of those deadlines and consequences are pretty damn severe even on top of all their ideological frustrations. if heartstealing was off the table and murder was all they had, and they were backed into a corner like that, i have no problem whatsoever believing they'd see the death note as a lifeline and last resort.

i will also say that i don't think all the thieves would join in this plan. at minimum ann, ryuji, and likely futaba would probably be on board. haru and makoto are absolutely capable of murder in the abstract but have much, much higher barriers to entry due to their initial reserved personalities. i don't think yusuke would be down with killing madarame and he has little to no reason to want to kill anyone else in context, although again in the abstract i don't think it's entirely beneath him either if pushed far enough. if they wouldn't, ren and morgana would do it alone.

'L stand-in' is murkier because it depends how the term is being used - broadly, detective searching for the murderer? yeah, goro would probably do it, either to increase his own profile / because shido wants intel on how to circumvent or take advantage of this supernatural murder method / because goro himself wants it. but i do think L's role in death note goes quite a bit deeper than the traditional detective in a cat and mouse story, wont go into that, it's too complicated, you get it anyway. i will say without the aid of the metaverse i dont think goro would be able to intuit or identify how the death note works. he'd probably identify the group because they're the least subtle people on the planet but he wouldn't be able to discern the means.

if goro were using the death note but was uninvolved with the phantom thieves, they would absolutely try to find him. they would fail

[starwikia]

Undead Unluck Theory

Feng’s Character Arc isn’t over - Possible Unfade Evolution

I’ve been thinking about this theory for a while and with chapter 191 partly confirming something for me I think it’s time to write it down.

Basically: Start Investing in Feng Kowloon stocks.

Major Spoiler Warning all the way up to chapter 191 of the manga. 

This theory initially spawned after chapter 177 came out. More specifically, it spawned from the spread panel that showcased the current union members (minus Chikara, Sean, and Yusai who were shown to be in the operating room with Latla and Rip).

Here it was shown that Feng was not with the other union members. Earlier it was hinted that he didn’t join because he wasn’t with them when the group time skipped from 1999 to 2015.

At the time I had suspected that Feng simply hadn’t time traveled with everyone else and had used those 15 years to train (taking advantage of Unfade) and might’ve rejoined later, but no, turns out he hasn’t joined the Union at all.

Which made me ask this: why didn’t Feng join the union? It would’ve been easy for Tozuka to write a little panel or two where Fuuko could’ve said, “ok sorry I lied to you, I promise this time we’ll fight monsters this time though” and Feng could’ve begrudgingly agreed to join at that point.

The thing with Undead Unluck is that Tozuka has a habit of constantly setting up minor plot details and then giving them major payoffs later on. It’s one of the best parts of the manga’s writing in my opinion. So I believe Feng not joining the union at this point of time was a very deliberate writing choice on the author's part.

So with that in mind, let’s get started.

Current Quest Rounds

Currently, there are four quests active.

Let’s take out “Capture of UMA Burn”. It's not relevant for this theory. What matters for this theory are the quests for Language, Beast, and Summer.

Language and Beast have relevance because of their rewards. Four extra seats added to the round table means four negators can participate on quests. But that’s all they can offer for this topic.

Summer, on the other hand, is extremely important. Because in loop 100, Summer was the exact quest Feng got his formal debut in.

My prediction is that in a direct parallel to loop 100, the 101 version of the Summer quest is where we’re going to get reintroduced to Feng, and probably get told that he’s been up to for the last fifteen or so years.

What follows is that one of the union members will tell Feng about the Sick fight, to which he will be extremely disappointed to have missed out on. It’s at this point that upon learning there’s more of these extremely strong UMAs that he’ll go, “Fine, you win Fuuko Izumo, I’ll join your Union.”

My guess is that, assuming that Fuuko successfully recruits the five negators Andy led her to, the open seats will go as following:

- Feng

- Top

- Tatiana

- Latla/Julia

This is because the first three are more suited to go straight into combat roles. As for Latla and Julia, I think the last seat could go to either one of them. It depends on whether Julia manifests Unjustice during this quest period but if she doesn’t, Latla can now fight directly due to being equipped with one half of Blade Runner.

This would leave Ichico, Nico, Kururu, Haruka, Bunny and Julia/Latla (aka the one who didn’t get the seat) as support members until new seats are rewarded.

It’s extremely important to note that at this point Feng isn’t part of the Union because he cares about protecting people or saving the world. Despite him acknowledging Shen as his son, Feng still prioritizes his quest of being the strongest more.

Unfade Intermission (AKA Billy Would Kick Feng's Ass if they fought Right Now)

This is where I talk about my thoughts of Unfade because this is where it would flow best.

(I am also going to put a quick disclaimer that this isn’t an invitation for power scaling arguments as they don’t have any relevance here.)

Anyway, Unfade, Feng’s negation ability. In Feng’s character bio in the volume 8 extras Unfade is described as a self-targeting compulsory activation type. “An ability that Negates aging after activation.”

… aaaand that’s all Unfade can do, really. 

In fact, Unfade stands out from other negation powers because from what we’ve been shown it has no viability in combat. I think the only negation that shares this trait is Unsleep. The reason Feng is such a threatening person has to do almost entirely with his years of cultivating his skills as a martial artist (granted, having an ageless, unfading body which is forever at peak condition probably does help a lot but I digress). It’s worth noting that if Unfade had been given to almost any other person, they wouldn’t nearly be as dangerous as Feng is.

It is my belief that within the current negators, you take out their powers and make them fight purely hand to hand as normal humans? Feng comes out the strongest, if not pretty damn close to it.

However, the second that negation powers are added into the fray, Feng would lose his title as the strongest, and he would lose that title very quickly. In a negator fight with, say, Billy, he wipes the floor with Feng, easily. Feng having no idea how negator powers work is how Fuuko was able to keep him in check for so long in loop 101.

In UU, negation powers don’t get stronger via traditional training. In order to level up, the negator in question has to expand their interpretation of their powers.

By expanding their interpretation, this typically leads to the negator having a journey of self discovery about themselves. Inherently due to this system, a lot of times this means that negators evolving their powers tend to be directly tied into character development. It’s a neat system! One of my favorite power systems in SJ because of how naturally it ties together with the narrative.

But for Feng? This is the literal worst thing for him. Because even though he’s a legendary martial artist, Feng has a terrible understanding of people. He’s the least emotionally intelligent person among the negators, and it’s not even close. Shen, who was raised by Feng for around twenty years, notes that Feng’s unending pursuit of strength hasn’t brought him any sense of fulfillment and that Feng himself isn’t even self aware of that fact.

Feng didn’t even realize he even had a negation tragedy until 150 years after his ability manifested. Even then, Shen (who, for the record, only found out about negations like… 15  minutes prior), had to spell it out to Feng.

Throughout loops 100 and 101, we’ve seen how differently negation abilities can evolve. Negation abilities so far have tend to have fallen in three ways:

It has direct ties into character development and how they evolve as people (Unluck, Unchange, Unseen)

It has manifested differently due to the wildly different circumstances between loops (Unfair)

The negator have found ways to work around what would be entirely detrimental abilities to make them useable to get through day to day life (Unsleep, Untell)

The idea that Unfade has never evolved since manifestation ties pretty well with how stagnant Feng has been as a person throughout most of his life. In fact, while the circumstances of manifestation are different, Feng 100 getting UF as an old man vs Feng 101 getting UF when he was around his twenties, the ability itself hasn’t changed at all. Which definitely isn’t unique but it is worth noting, I feel.

Master Rule VII

Remember at the beginning of this post that stated chapter 191 partly confirmed something to me? Yeah that’s relevant now. This was the big clincher that inspired me to write this giant theory. 

Right now we don’t know exactly what Master Rule VII represents exactly (it’s possible “Time Defense” is just an attack name just like how Andy uses “Crimson Bullet"), however he is absolutely heavily time based if not outright time. My top prediction for him is that he’s UMA Time or Fade. (For simplicity’s sake, this theory will use “VII” when it comes to referring to him.)

Anyway, assuming that we’re going in order of counting down, then naturally VII is next in the line up. Feng's first round as a union member means he’s conveniently part of the quest period where, chances are, he might be a hard counter to the UMA that represents time in some capacity, as Unfade negates the passage of time affecting his body. Everyone in the Roundtable comes to this conclusion as well and thus Feng is signed up for the quest for the neutralization of VII. In this scenario, Shen would also be one of the negators in this quest, this is going to be extremely important. 

However as the actual fight begins, Feng turns out to not be a perfect counter to VII for one reason or another. This fight would end up being a struggle for everyone involved because VII would presumably use his time abilities to avoid hits and disorient everyone by time lagging them like how he did to Andy in 191.

During this fight, Shen is going to be in danger, and possibly get hit with a fatal injury before he can even react. Feng, witnessing this, is going to have one thought in his head, “Shen is going to die.” “My son is about to die.”

And at that moment Feng recalls what Fuuko believes the meaning of being the strongest:

“Those who care for others with an unwavering heart have always been the strongest people around.”

And Feng, after decades of not knowing what she meant, finally realizes what Fuuko was trying to tell him. And this, in turn, causes Unfade to evolve. 

Interestingly, Feng back in loop 100 is stated to figure out how souls worked, but this hasn’t come up since. 

And I think this would be a great opportunity to fire that Chekhov’s Gun, because my friend (who also reads the manga) gave a really cool possibility on how Unfade could evolve into a combat viable ability by combining the idea of Feng mastering using his soul in combat. The basic idea follows that by unleashing his soul in his impacts he would be able to make strikes that don’t fade away. Tying into the idea of how he only unlocks Unfade’s true potential when he opens himself up to the more metaphorical version of “the impact he has on others” and vice versa.

(Of course this is just one idea of how Unfade could evolve, I just really like this idea because it ties with UU’s constant video game analogies, with Unfade’s evolution being akin to a damage multiplier like when you get a really good combo in a fighting game. Basically Tozuka would acknowledge Feng’s a giant Tekken reference).

I know that negation abilities are classified with external or self targeting, but Sean alone proves that if you bend the rules enough, you can get away with not following those classifications to the letter.

Either way, this upgrade leads Feng to turn the tides against VII and complete the quest in a way that leads to the Union getting away without casualties. Maybe as a bonus we get Feng making a Shen-esq joke (like "Your rules are outdated, you old coot" or smth) to tie how much influence both of them have had on each other. Also ideally Feng stops having the emotional intelligence of a goldfish and trying to fight Fuuko at a drop of a hat but that might be asking for too much, honestly. 

After the fight Feng would finally drop his tsundere bullshit and admits out loud (and to himself) that yes, he cares for Mei and Shen not just because they’re his disciples but because he genuinely loves them as family.

This would also be the point he’s marked as a true member of the Union because he now wants to protect his family.

[starry-eyed-steve]

Max taking the risk in season 2 is the reason she survived so long, and it will (hopefully) be the reason she gets saved in season 5.

I love the angsty lumax scenes comparisons/parallels like every other person, but it's not true that Max getting involved led to her being in a coma in s4. I think people want an angsty Lucas arc for the last season where he blames himself for everything, but I need someone to reassure him it's not because he got Max involved in s2. I believe his guilt will mostly stem from him not being able to stop Jason in time, letting Max go through with the half-baked plan and, in general, letting Max isolate in the months leading up to Vecna. (Which is already enough. Someone needs to give him a hug in s5)

Max being part of the group by accepting the risk, actually saved her life in multiple ways.

In s3, the chance of her dying due to Billy would have been significantly higher than it actually was. Billy would have gotten possessed either way. It was Karen's fault, not Max or the party, that he was at the wrong place at the right time. If Max hadn't known about the Mindflayer or El, she wouldn't have suspected anything, thus making her an easy target to get flayed as well.

If she were to survive s3 on her own, Vecna would have still targeted her because she felt guilty about Billy dying not because she witnessed it but because she wished that something would happen to him to make the abuse she suffered from him stop. And when something did happen, she blamed herself. Her complicated relationship with Billy is the reason why she got cursed. It was never because she took the risk. Her issues stem from outside of the supernatural things. Without Lucas and her friends, she wouldn't have survived the first attack. She would have been confused like Chrissy, Patrick, and Fred, not knowing what was going on and then dying a horrific death.

Taking the risk ensured her to live as long as she did because she had the opportunity to get information that were vitol for her physical well-being.

But taking the risk also gave her the opportunity to live a more fulfilled life. In the beginning of s2, Max was super closed off. She was scared to get close to anyone because of her brother. He was threatening to harm people if Max disobeyed him (aka him trying to run the party over as a scare tatic to get her back under control after the argument). So she pushed Dustin and Lucas away. It was easier and safer for everyone involved. If we take Runaway Max as canon, then Billy actually physically harmed one of her friends, so it's understandable that Max tries her hardest to stay away in the beginning. Only due to Lucas and Dustin constant persuading and pushing she opened up a bit more. And then when Lucas told her the huge secret she was suddenly a part of something so big she had to allow herself to trust others because her life was dependent on it. It gave her the opportunity to be honest and vulnerable to an outsider, which also then led her to free herself from her brother's control by the end of s2. Meeting Steve and the rest and seeing that someone was willing to protect her from her brother's abuse gave her the strength to set boundaries, which then allowed her to be happier and more open. She met El and found amazing friends in the party, which she wouldn't be close otherwise. It also allowed her to have a different relationship with Billy. In s3, they seemed to be more relaxed before everything went south.

Without getting involved, she probably would still be the closed off girl she was at the beginning of s2. She would still be under Billy's control until he died. And then she would be alone without anyone really looking out for her, which would lead to her definite death in s4.

Lucas saved her physically and emotionally by giving her the opportunity to take the risk. And because of that, she can still be saved in s5.

[azapofinspiration]

So about Corruption…

Who all knows about Corruption anyway? Like Soukoku was well known for their feats but were their methods and trump card well known?

It’s just something I’ve been wondering while reading through BSD, considering how powerful Corruption is and how it tends to be used as a last resort, especially considering how well Dazai and Chuuya can handle threats without it, both separately and by teaming up. Plus, it doesn’t seem like something they’d want their enemies to be too aware of.

So Mori and the Executives of PM (both past ones and current ones) obviously know as he made that info about Chuuya’s past and the gov experiments Executive level exclusive. Hirotsu knows as implied in the Dead Apple Prologue when Chuuya alluded to it while going to get Dazai back. Clearly, he knew exactly what Chuuya might use to get Dazai back and defeat the enemy. But even if not an Executive, he has seniority and looked after SKK when they were teens.

But does anyone else know in the PM?

When talking about SKK, Akutagawa doesn’t mention it (focusing more on just what the two were capable of when they teamed up and their specialties) and while Chuuya’s power is well known and respected - after all he’s not considered both the strongest ability user and martial arts specialist for nothing - it’s unclear if the full extent of his powers is. Anyone who joined after Dazai left would probably have even less than a clue as Higuchi didn’t even know the extent of Dazai’s work in the PM at first.

Obviously, the government and the higher ups in the Special Abilities Division know as they created the singularity in the first place. Or maybe Ango learned by spying on the PM or if Dazai bragged about (in which case, Oda probably knew too). And then the Division would have known how Chuuya’s powers have developed since he escaped. Not all of the Division knows though as Tsujimura didn’t know the details of it until she saw it, though she was told it might kill him.

I would assume the Hunting Dogs probably know (and Tachihara through them) as it seems they were the successors to the Arahabaki project.

Steinbeck and potentially his allies in the New Guild might know because he actually witnessed it (and Dazai bragged about it) and got to live to tell the tale. I don’t know what he might do with that info though.

Fyodor knows because Ace sold out the PM and he gained the info from him. Though then again, he was also there for Dead Apple and seems to have been lurking in Yokohama for a while so he might have made some observations and guesses about it and Ace’s info simply confirmed it. But Fukuchi might have already known before - both due to his ties to the military and gov and due to being the leader of the Hinting Dogs. It’s unclear whether Sigma and the others in the DOA know the full extent of Chuuya’s ability but they know he’s strong.

And then, finally, there’s the ADA.

I think Fukuzawa (and Ranpo naturally) might know especially from when SKK reunited during the Guild Arc, but it’s unclear if the rest of them know. It’d depend on if Dazai told them or not. I’ve seen people’s opinions go both ways on this.

Sure, Dazai likes to show off his Chuuya knowledge but he only really told Steinbeck because he was there. Though Corruption was a potential danger in the Cannibalism Arc, so maybe he did?

He’s never given up any of the Mafia’s secrets from what we can tell (which is part of what gives him leverage over them) and Chuuya especially is important to him so I don’t see him revealing more than he has to.

So overall, while there are several groups and people who might know about Corruption, it doesn’t seem to be too well known, with usually the higher-up levels of each organization being the ones most likely aware of its existence and uses. At least from what I can tell.

What do you think?

[happilylovingbitch]

911 Lone Star Countdown - Disasters Week Questions

Hello and thank you for including me @lonestar-s5countdown! This is a little trickier for me to answer tbh. I think 9-1-1 might stand to have longer-lasting consequences from their natural disasters (no need to skip past tsunami wreckage recovery or months-long rebuilding of the highway collapse, those would make some meaty dramatic narrative arcs), but otherwise it so far edges out Lone Star when it comes to order of experience (like, which state got which disaster first).

1) My favorite disaster… okay, gonna have to divvy btwn the 9-1-1s for this!

The plane crash in 9-1-1 (OG) would probably be my underrated favorite in terms of narrative developments for Buck, Bobby and Abby.

Season 4’s heat wave was more glossed over for plot setup, but I didn’t mind this natural disaster precisely because it was a little smaller in scale and because the plot setups (even the Iris arc tho that definitely needed fine tuning in hindsight) hooked me in already. (I also didn’t mind Brianna and Caleb in this one b/c this time Caleb’s situation was not his own fault.)

2) Since they’ve already done tornadoes (though, there’s always a chance they’ll do those again), a volcanic eruption, wildfires and a winter storm, I would think the only disasters LS hasn’t gotten down yet are freeway collapses, floods (barring how the cast would look while soaking wet, don’t ignore areas like Galveston, writers! There’s WAY more to the state than farmland, Dallas, Austin and El Paso yk! Let’s just say before I digress I kinda wish the showrunners were able to film in actual Texas), a border skirmish (just out of genuine interest— not getting any more political and no Owen’s refugee rescue doesn’t count) or droughts/ water shortages (no, heat waves also don’t count). I also just realized that the domestic terrorist arc could have waited for a later season too! O’Brien and Owen had chaotic good vibes much akin to him and Billy Tyson (if the three of them worked together tho? The 126 should probably move their whole firefighter team out of Travis County b/c they ain’t gonna go through the second-hand pain again).

3) They had and lost me at meteor/ asteroid, so I’m not sure I’d say looking forward to it. It all depends on execution, I suppose? (Sorry for the question mark, I’m just baffled since that usually needs film-length amount of time— I’ve seen the film Deep Impact. Scientific nitpicks aside the investigations, action and future implications in that film were well-paced enough.)

4) My top 3? Judd b/c he’s a great all-around leader whenever shit hits the fan— honest (sometimes to a fault but I can kinda relate), strong integrity and conscientiousness, and so dad-like even before he became a dad. Mateo b/c he’d be like the underrated badass youngest brother of any group— speaking as an only child tho. Third… boy, I can’t break this tie. It’s a draw between Tommy (she’s very composed and professional even during the times she isn’t) and Paul (I’d like to learn memorization-observational skills from him, and he fits the “cool Zen mode” temperament a little better than Carlos, don’t @ me).

5) This is painful… okay I’m so sorry. I don’t think I can answer this one as of now.

Tagging next: @lutavero @reyesstrand @toomanycupsoftea @fitzherbertssmolder @marjansmarwani @trkstrnd

[attackfish]

@candleslitsnow asked for an AU in which Jet and his freedom fighters ran into Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee, disguised as Kyoshi warriors, rather than Zuko and Iroh.

Sometimes I get a prompt that makes me go, "Ah yes, you share the same kind of malicious sense of humor that I have."

1. So the thing about Avatar the Last Airbender is that I can't say that x-character is y-character's foil. I can, but I have to clarify that they are also z, a, b, c, and d's foil, because Avatar: the Last Airbender is an absolute master class in parallel character arcs and thematic cohesiveness. So you can in fact pull out any of those parallel character arcs and compare them to each other, and all of the characters can function as foils to each other, and you can compare and contrast them and it is great writing. But of course some characters are more obviously narrative foils. Jet serves as a foil primarily to Katara and Sokka when he is first introduced, and then in Book Two, he serves as a foil to Zuko. But there is a character that is a whole lot alike in some fundemental ways that he never meets. And Zuko's reaction to him in canon is colored by this fact. Because that character is Azula.

2. But actually the show does go out of its way to draw a strong narrative parallel between Jet and Azula, wherein Jet's approach to Zuko, and attempt to get to go to join him functions as a microcosm of Azula's attempt to do the same thing in the first and last episodes of Book Two, and later when Zuko ultimately comes to reject each of them, they react in very similar ways. There is a solid literary essay to be written on this by somebody who isn't me. All of this is a lot of words to say that Jet and Azula share similar tactics, and are manipulative in very similar ways. And people like that are good at recognizing each other for what they are, and seeing each other as threats.

3. All this means that I can't imagine Jet would approach Azula. He's going to make his manipulative little approach to Mai and/or Ty Lee, before he knows about Azula. He would probably like Ty Lee better, because of how wide eyed and innocent she seems, but really it depends on who he meets first. But Mai and Ty Lee both have a lot of experience with Azula, and they would have no problem recognizing Jet's brand of manipulation, and uh, leadership. And they also would have no trouble figuring out that Azula has him completely outclassed, so they would bring him home for her to eat alive.

4. As I mentioned, Jet is going to cotton onto the fact that Azula is a threat real fast, and the last time he looked at a group of people and picked out one of them as a threat, he tried to separate that one from the group and have him killed. That was Sokka, and it did not work out well for him. It would probably be pretty funny to watch him try and fail to do that with Azula. She might even let him try for a while before closing the trap in around him. But either way she's going to find him very entertaining, and she is going to have him arrested and hauled off to the Fire Nation to cool his heels in a cell at the Boiling Rock, along with Suki. If Longshot and Smellerbee were with him during this whole thing, they're going to the separate prison that the Kyoshi Warriors went to. If not, they're going to have no idea where he disappeared to. Either way, he's going alone.

5. He's going to meet Suki, they're going to hate each other, flash forward a few months, and Zuko and Sokka are going to show up. Zuko will of course have never met Jet before, but Sokka has, and he is not going to be happy to see this particular jerkface again Escaping from the Boiling Rock is going to be fun.

[vacantgodling]

HIII hi i'm (mostly) normal again now and i'm gonna yap about sunbringer's song to you. specifically the fanfic version bc that's what's on the brain right now. though the specific thing i wanna yap about is also just a fact about eden as a character that means a lot to me. and that's his huge soft spot for children.

(off the top of my head i don't remember how much bg3 lore you're familiar with so. if any of this is confusing pls feel free to ask for clarification fjasld;kjf i love to yap about it. anyway)

SO ANYWAY! eden is a very selfish and logical character, and ESPECIALLY at the start of sunbringer's song, his main goal is to figure out what the fuck happened to him and save himself from the fuckin Parasite shit he's got going on.

he decides to let the other major characters travel with him because they're working towards the same goal, and he reasons that having more people working towards the same goal means that they'll get shit done faster. he doesn't have much interest in them as people, but he's helping them because he expects them to help him in return. everyone wins. and this is his approach to most interactions early in the story.

(side-note, but god i'm also so excited for eden to slowly become attached to the group. he thinks he's doing suuuuch a good job keeping them at arm's length and that this is all just to cure his fuckin brain worm, but before he realizes it he's decided that he would gladly die for any of them. they're his best friends. found family but he's the last one to figure that out.)

(and that but twofold for the romance shit he's gonna have going on with gale and wyll,,,,, i wanna talk so much about the romance arc i have in mind for those three and the slowburnnnnn but i'm nervous for no gd reason)

BUT ANYWAY. AN EXCEPTION TO THAT IS CHILDREN. there's a few instances in the early arcs of this story where eden is presented with a situation where a child is in danger, and without fail every time, he drops everything to help. eden has a HUGE soft spot for kids and their safety is important to him, even kids he doesn't know.

with adults, it's gonna depend on the circumstances whether or not he does anything to help. with a kid, he's going to help.

and a lot of this comes from his upbringing. eden basically had to raise himself and his younger brother, and he easily falls into an older sibling role when interacting with kids. that, and he remembers all too well how the adults in his life when he was a child didn't do shit for him... so, much of the time, he assumes that no one else is going to help, and it is up to him to protect the child.

one of my favorite examples from this in the first proper arc of the story is with a little tiefling boy who wandered away from his parents, and ended up being lured to the edge of a cliff by a flock of harpies that wanted to fucking kill and eat him. eden sees what's going on, figures out what's about to happen, and decides *absolutely the fuck not.* he takes charge and grabs the boy, taking him away from the danger and handing him off to another member of the group. and then he turns to take care of the harpies.

another example is with another tiefling kid being threatened by a powerful druid. eden knows logically that he should be working with this druid because she has a lot of power and influence in this area, and if he wants to be healed, he's probably gonna wanna stay on her good side.

but when he sees her threatening to fucking kill an innocent child, all of that goes out the window, and now the only thing stopping eden from attempting to gore this woman with his horns is knowing that this is a fight he won't win.

idk i'm not sure how much sense this is making but it's something that makes me super emotional to think about. all bets are off when it comes to kids, especially younger kids. eden sees a kid on their own and goes "is anyone gonna be their new brother?" and doesn't wait for an answer.

okay thank u for your time

1. i don’t know much about bg3 tbh my only knowledge of it is other people’s ocs, mainly eden tho HFJDJRJ so in my mind its just the eden game where eden is the mc and im sure thats not good for his ego PFF—

2. eden being a big brother makes me HMM EMOTIONAL and the instinctual way he just looks after any kiddo he comes across: wEH

3. i can’t wait until eden has the realization that welp he’s stuck with these guys they are his family now and he’s stuck it’s gonna be both sweet and really funny FJEJRJA

[webbedphantom]

Okay so I know I have a bunch of drafts but I really want to talk about my Ideas for Sae's Palace in my AU

To start off with, if you're familiar with the AU at all, you'd know that the MetaNav just straight up doesn't exist, so you might be wondering how I'd even do Sae's Palace? Like is it more about changing her heart through character interactions, kinda like how they do in-game but just making that the focus?

Yes and no.

They do actually go into her Palace, but to explain the how and why of it, there's some setup I need to do first.

See, the way this world works is that with every Persona user awakened by the Metaverse Serum (AF-15), the more the Metaverse begins to leak into the real world. And by the time of Sae's arc, there's now no less than 8 people awakened in this manner, meaning that the connection is now strong enough for something major to cross over, provided it got a little push.

The specifics of this I haven't exactly worked out yet, but someone (probably Akechi being driven mad by his symbiote) sets off a device that causes Palaces to erupt out of the ground, covering the surrounding area in a thick fog that turns people into mindless puppets for the shadows to control, forcing them to go out and bring more people into it. (If you've read my Other Verses doc, this is the scenario that inspired the Kingdom Come verse)

Naturally, this whole scenario isn't something the team was prepared to handle, and since it's affecting the entire city, they need to split up to take care of things, trying to save as many people as they can.

There's a lot that happens during this section, with each of the team members getting their own little missions fighting against one of the palaces (including a lot of original ones, as aside from Shido, Okumura, and Futaba, every other Palace Ruler is in prison and they sort of turn the place into a mishmash of all of their Palaces), either on their own or in small groups, before meeting back up to try and get things back to normal.

Now before we get into Sae proper, we need to do a bit more background to catch you up on her history in this world.

At the beginning of the year, Makoto and Sae's father was still alive, and was a police captain heading the team assigned to bring in the Spider-Man. But while he eventually realizes that they're on the same side, and even helps Aaron and the team against the Shadow Possessed victims, in the end he dies, getting stabbed through the chest by Jack-o'-lantern (As in someone possessed by a Jack-o'-lantern/Pyro Jack, though an evolved version of it that was strengthened by Yaldabaoth to make it more akin to the comic book supervillain of the same name. He's got a sort of Grim Reaper vibe to him, including a gigantic scythe blade on one of his arms) taking a blow that was meant for Aaron.

This naturally scars Makoto pretty badly, since she saw it happen. And while she didn't see the event herself, Sae was no different. She and her father had grown a bit distant over the years, but she still loved and respected him greatly, so losing him really tore her up inside.

Seeing this as an opportunity, Shido pulled some strings to make it seem as though it was Spider-Man who killed Captain Niijima. After all, no one really knew what happened that night, only that the Captain was last seen chasing after the vigilante, and while he didn't use it often, Aaron was known to carry a knife, even if it had a completely different blade from the actual murder weapon.

So Sae, believing in the lies of the falsified autopsy report, began to hunt down the Phantom Spider like her life depended on it.

Over the course of the next few months, Makoto would encounter the symbiote, which led to her lashing out at everyone around her as it took advantage of rage and grief. This would include her sister, and while the team would get her to come to her senses, it would lead to Sae finding out that she not only knew, but worked alongside the Spider. And while she would forgive her for what she did while wearing the suit, that revelation would cause her to disown her younger sister, forcing Makoto to stay with Futaba and Sojiro until she could get her bearings again.

NOW back to our present crisis, despite the growing rift between the two, Makoto still cares deeply for her sister, and immediately rushes to her workplace to make sure she's okay. Only to find a casino standing in the place of the courthouse.

Makoto manages to infiltrate the place, searching desperately for Sae, only to find her on a sort of show stage, being held captive by her Shadow. She tries to free her but ends up getting caught, and is forced to relinquish her symbiote to keep her sister from harm.

Aaron, having just wrapped up dealing with all of his old villains and the Shadows of the Palace Rulers trying to break out of prison, gets word (somehow, I'm not quite sure yet. Maybe Futaba??) that Makoto has been captured, and despite how exhausted he is, he immediately rushes over to try to save her.

Now I'm not quite sure how to work this in, but an idea I had that I thought would make for a neat scene was if Shadow Sae, for some reason, forced the two sisters to do a duet of Whims of Fate (inspired by this cover of the song). Not really sure why, maybe she's just toying with them or something, but I really like the concept.

As this is going on, Aaron begins tearing through the casino, fighting through hoards of shadows, chucking roulette tables across rooms, smashing through walls. He's getting tired but he can't afford to wait even a second, not while Makoto's in danger.

He breaks into the show room, and the second Sae sees him (the man who she believes killed her father), she snaps. Her shadow immediately transforms into Leviathan and begins to tear into the Spider. Makoto seeing this as a chance to escape, trying to use the fight as a distraction to get Sae to safety and get her suit back.

But Sae refuses to move, just staring at the battle before her in silence, almost frozen, but not due to trauma of seeing the Spider again. She's seen him before, several times. No, she's rather torn. Part of her wants him to see justice, to be brought in for his crime and unmasked. But another part of her, the part her shadow embodies, just wants him dead, wants him to suffer like she had to. So she just... watches.

Makoto isn't satisfied with that, though. She tries again and again to get through to her sister, to get her away from here or to convince her that Aaron didn't do it, but nothing seems to work. All the while Aaron is fighting for his life, and he's losing. He's too worn out, and can barely keep up with Leviathan's onslaught of attacks.

Eventually, Makoto figures out that the only way she'll be able to get through is by confessing everything, recounting how she was there when their Dad died, how she saw him get stabbed through the chest to save Aaron, how he fought so hard to keep them all safe, how they did everything they could to save him but it wasn't enough. It's painful for her, to relive one of the worst moments of her life, but she can't let her sister keep lashing out at the wrong man.

It takes Sae a while to process this, unsure if she entirely believes it. But in the end, she decides to act, helping Makoto get her symbiote back and working with her to take down her shadow and get them all out of here.

This would eventually lead to her getting her Persona, though it wouldn't happen right away. She needs to confirm the lies for herself, and come to terms with just how close her darker half came to killing someone, and how she was content to just watch it happen. But at some point, either towards the end or after the Palace situation is resolved, she would awaken to her power (One of the only natural awakenings in the AU, because yeah the connection to the Metaverse is now so strong that Personas can manifest in reality without the serum) as the Wraith.

She'd be a sort of mix between Wraith from the comics and Daredevil (both OG and Electra flavours), using her Persona to induce fear in her enemies, as well as hard hitting physical and gun skills, twin stun batons which she can ricochet off walls like Daredevil's billy clubs, and Wraith's wrapping... thingies for swinging around or tying people up.

I'm not entirely sure what her Persona would be though. I've seen some people either give her a Transformer like Makoto, or turn Leviathan into her Persona, and while I feel like that last one has some potential, I also think she should have something more... original I guess?

I don't know, kinda just spitballing at this point. Most of this stuff is very loose and definitely still needs some work, but I think the general idea is solid.

But anyways, that's my concept. Someday I want to flesh out the rest of this arc, like have an actual explanation for the Palace thing as well as a resolution to it, plus all the little side stories that take place with the rest of the team (I'd love for Futaba to come across the Palace of a shut-in who's going through something similar to what she does in canon, and for Haru to take on Sugimura. Maybe even have Ann and Ryuji come help Aaron at the prison so they can team up to take down Kamoshida, since they weren't actually a part of that fight in this universe).

There's a lot of potential here, honestly.

But that's enough of my ramblings. Thanks for reading!

[riccissance]

With the Yellowjackets cast talking about how the Antler Queen role might not be so clear-cut, I’ve started thinking a lot about the possibility of the person in the position changing regularly and what it would look like for the characters.

Assuming the Antler Queen decides who they hunt next, I think it’s safe to assume that Natalie and Taissa would be most hesitant to accept the role. However, they are both determined to survive and would reluctantly give in if it was positioned as “make a choice or you’re next”. Especially if Van and Travis asked them to. They would probably make their decisions based on logic. They’d choose whoever was least helpful, had the smallest chances of survival, or whoever might target them or their loved ones. 

Shauna and Misty would definitely pick whoever they were most pissed at and would not even try to hide it. Misty would probably make a performance out of it and pretend to be a believer in the culty shit for attention but everyone would see through her. They also are probably the safest from being chosen since they have roles that would be difficult to impossible for someone else to fill as the butcher and medic. Nat and Travis would be next safest but since they technically have the same role, one could be expendable. 

Then Lottie and Van would be the true believers. They would genuinely believe they were picking who The Wilderness wanted dead. They’d go with their gut for better or worse (with the obvious exception of Tai for Van). It’d probably mostly be a coping mechanism to separate themselves from their actions since they’d believe they were acting as a proxy for The Wilderness. 

It would also help explain the “warring clans” from the synopsis (if that even still applies). It would be less full-on separation and more strategic alliances based on the Antler Queen role. 

[4filen0tfound4]

hey can you do a character analysis/comparison on zonic and shard to find out what silver likes in his men

Cries. They’re both stupid guys who piss her off idk. Real analysis tho

Ok Ok so Shard and Zonic have completely different origins. One was created purely to cause chaos and the other was created purely for order and stability.

However, they’re both Sonic. Yet how they view that is also entirely different. Ever since Shard was just “Metal Sonic” his entire purpose was not only to live up to him (power wise), but to best him. After he was rebuilt, he wanted nothing more but to live up to Sonic. Sure he could match with him power wise, but he couldn’t just copy and paste his exact personality and friend groups. I think his entire arc was him becoming his own person and realizing he’s more than just Metal or Sonic. With Zonic, he knows he’s just like Sonic, and even believes that he can beat him if he really needed to. Due to his origins, he feels superior to Sonic, while Shard looks down on his origins as it’s the exact cause of his insecurities. I believe, despite these differences, their core values and personalities are very similar. Zonic puts up this serious front for the sake of a mission, but it barely lasts that long. They’re both so. GOOFY. They make terrible puns nobody laughs at besides themselves and can act cheeky if they believe they’re better than whoever they’re being cheeky with. They’re also quick to act. Like a pathetic wet cat. The moment their insecurities are exposed and if there’s a doubt in their mind they fumble. I think it affects Zonic more than Shard, because he’s so used to being so sure of himself that if something goes wrong, it messes him up like crazy. Thissss is what also affects how they interact with Sonic. Despite his superiority complex, Zonic is really dependent on Sonic. This can stem off of his own fears that are now eased when he works along Sonic, or just the fact that Sonic is from the Prime Zone and without Sonic there’s literally no. Purpose for him. No matter what, Sonic is the OG and Zonic is the copy. His entire world is structured after Sonic’s and made to protect and defend Sonic’s. Shard has the exact same dilemma concerning Sonic, but it’s now taken from a more personal level (which I rlly enjoy and makes the comparison more fun) His interactions after he was rebuilt started out tense, but through the development of friendship and his displays of kindness, he was able to become Sonic’s friend. I’m not gonna say Zonic and Sonic didn’t develop a friendship bc they definitely did, but Sonic put trust in Zonic *after* Zonic revealed he was him. It was more like a “I have to trust you bc you are me even tho I can’t always agree with you” then develop a friendship rather than “You have to earn my trust because I never had any for you in the first place” like it was for Shard

BUT WHATEVER WHO CARES AB SONIC LETS TALK AB SILVER !!! Shard and Silver had more of a one sided enemy thing going on. Silver wasn’t there to make friends, but ended up making friends anyway because idk this is sonic the hedgehog. They were very. Brash and rude to each other, but Shard was clearly having fun teasing and messing with Silv while Silv was debating on killing him like half the time (I’m getting lazy just reread the wiki page like the rest of us) Because Zonic fucking DIED and every zone was erased besides the prime zone (which was a fucking LIE bc of the silver age and like several other issues but whatever) Silv and Zonic never interacted howeverrrr it’s easy to predict how they’ll interact. Silv, unless told that he could trust him in the beginning and that they need to work together, would be hostile and probably bite him ngl. Zonic, esp after the Silver Age, would probably arrest Silver. This would cause Silver to be on edge and they would probably fight a lot. Zonic would win but not rlly bc Silver doesn’t stop fighting that’s like his thing. I still think that although their fights would like strain their relationship, they would end up becoming allies due to having a similar goal and a similar way to attain it. Also thank god Silver is finally partnered with someone who wouldn’t blink if told he needs to kill someone in order to maintain order. They both have the same job and morals, so if they ever got over their differences then they would probably make a good team. So um TLDR Silver likes guys that he hates and finds annoying and only get in her way, only to find out it’s a good kind of annoying and they can rlly be her friends. They’re just like me fr

[laf-outloud]

What an episode!!! The cast isn’t lying when they say each episode just gets better and better!

I love how quick Abby is to tell people Hoyt’s crimes to bring them into the group. I also love that Kate is going to be the group’s voice of reason. Abby is too emotionally invested (guess that happens when your husband is murdered), Hoyt is too chaotic, and Calian has too much on his plate and mind.

Abby with the quick thinking setting herself up as Sheriff Davidson’s gentle lady assistant. Despite the protests of the boys her taking this job gives her the one they need to take down the Davidsons. I always worry Abby is going to set off Tom’s alarm bells, but sometimes it pays to be underestimated. Ask not how misogyny ruins your life, but how you can make it work in your favor. She really effortlessly switches between independent woman who can get a man’s begrudging respect (with the judge in Austin) and delicate lady depending on the situation/company. I love a wily woman, and Abby is slowly adjusting to the Wild West.

I know I’m in the minority, but I actually like Lucia. I think she’ll surprise us, I would be shocked if she was the only one who didn’t contain multitudes. Plus, I find her dynamic with Calian to be very sweet. They’re too people torn between their families and their desires to be their own people. And I don’t blame her for getting a bit flustered around Calian, I would too. Sorry Hoyt!

Kai’s character is starting to get fleshed out, and I am shocked at what is being revealed. Murder, theft and love along the railroad? What a backstory! Though how dare that snake oil salesman extort Kai, he’s just trying to make a new, honest life for himself. He’s better than me, I would have killed him the first time he came around. He’s the kind of creep no one would miss.

Kate really knows how to put on a show! Get you a Pinkerton agent who can solve crime and throw a party and with same flare. Katie Findley is such a talent, I’m so glad they got to show off their stuff. And devastated at how things played out between her and Hagan. Hopefully this isn’t the last we see of him, I was looking forward to see more of their Father-Daughter // business partners in crime dynamic. Him leaving his hat behind for her was so bittersweet too. I don’t want them to leave off on a bad note! She needs to know he only signed over the hotel to protect her!

And Tom Davidson this episode! He’s always getting one over on our heroes, and it’s so frustrating in the best way possible. Loved seeing him interact with his aunt (the real mastermind behind all this) and a peek into his backstory. Rescued from an asylum in his youth by his aunt? No wonder he’s so quick to do all of her bidding, and why he’s not afraid of the stakes. He’s probably seen some things, experienced some trauma. And the musical number may have warned the town council to be wary of him, but it also let him know that he needs to collect some allies/curry some favor with the townspeople. And he was smart to collect Kai. Was so surprised when he appeared and “saved” the day! And I think we’re going to see more of him pursing Abby, romantically. Between his interest in the last episode and his aunt encouraging him twice that Abby has her stamp of approval, this is shaping up to be a quite the game of cat and mouse. First he stole the job, and now potentially the wife, abet unknowingly.

Lots of potential love arcs emerge in this episode. The classic love triangle between Hoyt-Abby-Calian (Abby and Hoyt’s romp had great tension, and I loved Hoyt mentioning to others to try and bring it back to being platonic), and Hoyt-Lucia-Calian (if anyone could steal a lady from Hoyt, it’s Calian). Hints of something between Kai and Kate (is it just admiration, a puppy crush, something more?) and Tom potentially pursuing Abby. Really enjoying how they tackle romance in this show, I like that it lurks in the background rather than overtaking the mysteries of the town and it’s people that we’re watching unfold.

Fantastic review! Spot on with everything! Careful, or I'm going to start expecting these every episode! LMAO!

I'll have to watch again because I missed fully watching Calian and Lucia's scenes. I think she's sweet, but where everyone else is so dynamic, I worry that she can get a bit lost.

Kai needs to join the group of four! If only because I think both he and Kate are a bit rattled right now and they need each other. (I wondered if there was tragedy in Kai's past, though I didn't peg him for murder!) Also, do I think Kate and Kai will end in romance? Probably not. I don't see Kate as wanting that kind of relationship, but it's adorable to see.

"...it also let him know that he needs to collect some allies/curry some favor with the townspeople. And he was smart to collect Kai." I did not catch that as a calculated move from Tom to curry favor with everyone's favorite launderer/restauranter/designer/murderer.

All the awards to Katie Findlay for a stellar performance tonight!

I absolutely love how every minute in this show moves the stories along, increases the tension, and provides new mysteries. Nothing is wasted and I am never bored!

"Ask not how misogyny ruins your life, but how you can make it work in your favor." This should be every woman's motto!

(Petition for Nathaniel Hagan to be drawn back into town!)

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL

March 2021 Part 4

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. 

This is a LONG ONE, it’s been A WEEK everyone. 

Ongoing Series - Thai

Lovely Writer Ep 5 - a little slow this week, but at least Gene finally flirted back, and very cute flirting it was, too. Also we got Aey’s motivation, background, and love interest. Thank goodness for that. 

Brothers Ep 8 - still pants, what can I say? Clearly I am a BL masochist. Very embarrassing for everyone concerned. 

1000 Stars Ep 9 - the conflict over Tian’s father was REALLY well done. The plot of this drama is excellent, the leads are great together, and yes I totally cried. What, you didn’t? 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Word of Honor (China) Ep 16-18 - big battle fighty fighty stabby stabby. Ep 17 switches to “this drama isn’t big enough for two chaotic-neutral godlings!” So what do they do? Drink together and bicker... A LOT. Then in Ep 18 we all get the dubious joy of really freaky puppets. (I HATE puppets.) Also how is China letting this be so SO VERY VERY GAY?  Also, I wanna walk through the forest wearing a smanshy purple robe and waving a big fuck-off white fan around simply because I’m a pretentious fuss monger. And frankly, I feel like this is an achievable life goal for me. 

We Best Love 2 (Taiwan) Ep 4 - not gonna lie, this is looking to be one of my top 3 BLs of 2021. It’s SO GOOD. Big bonus to this ep for treating stalker behavior like the mental illness it is and not as some dumb representation of enduring love. 

The Most Peaceful Place is My Place (Vietnam) Ep 1 - finally dropped (find it under NƠI BÌNH YÊN NHẤT LÀ VỀ BÊN EM on O2′s channel). It’s got actors already comfortable with BL and looks pretty good so far. An angry tsundere uke reunited with his ex, a stoic chef, giving us lots of snap, crackle, and pop out the gate. 

Dear Uranus (Taiwan GL) Ep 2 - I want to love it, but it is just moving too fast. There’s not enough character dev and then they’re throwing flashbacks in? It feels like a treatment rather than a show, and a rushed treatment at that. Bummer. 

HIStory 4: Close To You (Taiwan) Ep 2 (AKA Ep 3-4) - let the cheesy popcorn continue! Idiot remains an idiot; ingenue remains an ice queen; nice gay guy remains nice and gay; obsessive stalker brother is getting ever more whackadoddle. Of course these last two have the best chemistry. (It’s caregiver codependency and the salvation trope. We got us a Leo/Fiat situation going on.​) Plus lots of classic BL tropes because OF COURSE there are lots of tropes. 

Occasionally, I am tempted to argue that shows like H4 or Cherry Magic or Ossan’s Love aren’t technically BL because of the office setting and age of the protags - but then they all behave like high school students anyway, so *shrug* 

Stand Alones

Cute little Taiwanese micro BL Friend or Lover dropped, about bisexual realization within a friendship group. Normally these are too short for me, but this one did pretty good with its 15 minutes of charm, plus it’s abad boy + shy softy pairing. 

Breaking News - Thai BL

Fish Upon the Sky released its actual trailer. The upside-down kiss is gone, which makes everyone sad, and it seems far less rivals to lovers than the first iteration, which makes ME sad. But it still looks good and a more classic BL than GMMTV has given us in a while. New trailer focused more on the makeover trope and they’ve upped Mix’s role (the object of everyone’s affection) now that he’s proved himself. (Or they are using him more to carry the trailer since he has a fan base form 1k*). Starts April 9 on GMMTV in 1K*’s time slot, probably with a 10 ep run. 

2gether the movie is apparently coming April 22 to Thai theaters. F4 Thailand must be having issues or GMMTV just wants to milk the BrightWin cash cow. It’s rumored to be a combination of 2gehter + Still 2gether with some extra scenes and ending. Also, one assumes a lot will be cut out, if it’s movie length.

Call It What You Want released its updated trailer. If anything, it looks more scary than before. What are we in for? April 9th. 

Nitiman got a release date, May 7 on One31. 

I Told Sunset About You 2 got an updated release date of May 27 on LineTV. 

Second Chance the series is coming to LineTV on March 29. I don’t know much about this one. Tons of familiar faces (mostly TharnType side dishes) and some nice looking new talent but a dearth of eng subs. I think it may take on Brothers’ time slot. Line did eng subs for Brothers so maybe they will do 2nd Chance too? 

Close Friend the series is coming April 22. This is a combination of 6 couples with 6 story arcs as music videos (maybe)? It’s an epic fan service with familiar faces like OhmFluke (UWMA), MaxNat (LBC also in Y-Destiny), YoonLay (YYY also in Y-Destiny), KimCop (GenY), and JaFirst (TT2).

Y-Destiny starts March 30, and has starting dropping couple’s trailers. I’m still suspicious given the director but it seems like there is plot (or plots) and a theme. Looks to be a series of 7 single ep vignettes (amended, see comments, might be 2 eps each for 14 eps total), different couple each time, some with supernatural elements, all with decent chemistry and acting chops. 

Sun MaxNat’s tutor/student arc

Mon jaded rich kid meets poor innocent  

Tues sports romance enemies to lovers 

Weds the messy realistic actual dating one 

Thurs hot ghost boyfriend (sad) 

Fri YoonLayPerth coping with loss and finding new love (sad). This one will all rest on Lay's acting so we know it’s in safe hands. Our boy is going to KILL it. 

Sat time-slip memory loss reunion romance 

I’m thinking we can’t expect any of these to end happy or be classic BL. They’re gonna be more slice of life-ish. 

Gossip - BL Outside of Thailand 

Scholar Ryu’s Wedding Ceremony AKA Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding (Korean historical BL) got a legit teaser (eng sub here). @curriculumvtae​ reports that it’s releasing April 15th on WeTV (Philippines & Thailand) and Idol Romance (South Korea), while Will of Thai Bl says it’ll be on Viki too. It’s a short run of 8 ep built on a fake relationship trope (arranged marriage variant):

Ryu Ho Seon’s (Kang In Soo from You Wish) arranged marriage turns out to be with his expected bride’s brother, Choi Ki Wan (Lee Se Jin from Mr Heart). Ryu tries to undo the marriage, but his ill mother opposes this saying the scandal would be too much. Meanwhile, Kim Tae Hyeong (Jang Eui Soo from Where Your Eyes Linger), a senior at Ryu’s school, comes to congratulate him and falls in love with Choi. Then one day, the original bride disappears.

Okay it seems a bit twisty turny for ONLY 8 EPS, but oh my goodness how excited are we? Our first intentional historical BL out of Korea!

We already knew Hong Kong was doing a remake of Japan’s Ossan’s Love under the same name (not my favorite Japanese BL but so very popular) but it’s now reported to be coming to Viu in June. Who knows how the CFA will take it. Depends on whether Hong Kong bows before the NO GAY KISSES regs or if they are going to use this as a political nose thumb... things could get cray with this puppy (the original has several kisses and s shower scene). Are we back in Addicted territory only with added comedy and civil unrest?

Speaking of Japan, Absolute BL (AKA Zettai BL ni Naru Sekai vs Zettai BL ni Naritakunai Otoko) dropped sooner than anyone thought, March 27. But being Japanese who knows how/when/if we get subs. Protag finds himself trapped in a world of BL, but being straight he fights against any hot guy that draws near, but the whole world (literally) is conspiring against him. It’s a parody adapted from a yoai.

What with Absolute BL from Japan plus Lovely Writer and Call it What You Want from Thailand, is 2021 the year of BL being ultra self referential? Sure feels like it.

In Case You Missed It

Faded a gay micro film from Taiwan from 2017 deals with parental acceptance and serves up a ton of BL tropes (piggyback, forehead kiss, etc). I’m pretty sure this was a propaganda piece for legalization of gay marriage, and it’s an interesting nugget of BL history as a result. Yes, it ends happy. It’s cute. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Some shows may be listed a day later than actual air date for accessibility reasons.

Upcoming 2021 BL master post here.

Links to watch are provided when possible, ask in a comment if I missed something.

Man there’s a lot going on right now! Spring has sprung... I suppose. 

P.S. I cannot believe I missed Absolute BL as a blog name. Numbnuts = me.