#he's a bully yeah but his character development is WOW

[yasmeensh]

Got the Master sword! I believe there is still one more upgrade to go...

Bonus Groose after Link sealed the imprisoned.

[jq37]

Just to throw my two cents on the Rat Grinder discourse: They weren't worth the Intrepid Heroes' time. We didn't get the full picture of what's going on with the Grinders until the last quarter of the season. Before that they were just this other clique that hate the main characters, so in-character why would the Bad Kids bother giving them so much attention when they've got so much of their own crap going on. Kristens quest to get Cassandra back and her presidential campaign, Gorgugs courseload, Riz's million and one plates that he's been spinning all season, Adaines financial problems, Figs curse and her doubts about what she wants to do with her life. Fabian's the only one who might have had the time, but he had to be Maximum Legend. There genuinely was no time or even an incentive on the IH's side to develop the Rat Grinders characters.

I still think it's fucked up that these teenagers got taken advantage of by adults they trusted, but we didn't learn any of that until we only had two roleplay episodes left. Too little too late to even try anything diplomatic even if they didn't spend all their time after the Last Stand in hiding.

And a thing about Ivy that no one is roasting her about and really should: An elven archer? Really? Wow, never seen that before.

Yeah totally. Like, from a meta level, I see where the players themselves could have been more curious about the Rat Grinders. There are obvious plot threads that could have been teased out there (though, in fairness to the cast, the adult manipulation aspect didn't become clear until way later in the season--the rivalry and foil aspects were more obvious). This final confrontation could look really different if they'd played that all the way out all season.

But in character? The Bad Kids really didn't have a good reason to waste time on the Rat Grinders. They came into this school year already burnt out from their Night Yorb quest and wanting a break. But they don't get that because they immediately are beset by problems they have to deal with--Kristen's god is on death's door from neglect and she's on the brink of expulsion, Riz is running himself ragged trying to boost his resume for college, Fig is having a whole ass existential crisis, Adaine is struggling with money issues she doesn't want to talk about, Gorgug is taking FOUR YEARS of school at the same time, and Fabian is multiclassing and dealing with his empty house/not having parental support (or Cathilda's support) for the first time. They are dealing with SO MUCH high stakes, personal stuff before the plot even kicks in. And, mechanics-wise, this is represented with the downtime system that means that any time they spend on the RG's is time they can't spend on something that matters more to them. IMO, not prioritizing your haters is actually pretty mature. Like, they weren't proactively using their free time to bully them or anything (except for arguably Fig). They were snippy with them when they crossed their paths and that was it. As opposed to the Rat Grinders who literally had to be told by Jace to stop antagonizing the Bad Kids (though they must have been pretty ineffectual at it because the Bad Kids hardly noticed, which I bet stung considering they were so obsessed).

And also, it's not like they didn't try at all with the Rat Grinders. Early Insight checks on Kipperlilly just got, "This is a polished steel orb of a personality" which doesn't sound very worth interacting with in a sympathetic way if at all and then the next big thing they learn is that she had hated Riz since Freshman Year and that she wants Riz and Kristen dead. And that's AFTER we saw her smile and kill her party cleric. In their position I'm not spending further time trying to empathize with this person, I have made my judgement and it's up to the Jawbones of the world to find if there's something in there to be rehabilitated.

And that's not the only case. Adaine straight up saved Ruben from disintegration during the Frosty Folk battle when she easily could have saved the spell slot, but that didn't soften him towards the Bad Kids any. Adaine also was really keen to Scry on the Rat Grinders to find out what was happening at their meetings. But, in scene at least, she was never able to do that so we never got a scene of them, huddled together, clearly unsure about the path they're on but not feeling like they can walk it back or say no to the authority figures in their lives. She didn't get anything humanizing that would cause her to rethink their position on them the way that she did with Aelwyn for instance. So why would they think they're anything but gleeful co-conspirators?

Hell, the one RG Adaine was even slightly curious about was Oisin and now we know that he was feigning interest in her which, man, can you imagine how much worse that would have felt if she'd actually taken the bait and pursued him beyond just thinking he was cute? Of course, it's possible that her interacting with him more along with some good charm rolls could have changed the narrative in some way but we can only go off of what we know to be true in canon and those facts are (1) He tried to get closer to Adaine while actively planning the downfall of her and her friends, (2) he (along with Ivy) was mean to Buddy behind his back while tricking him into a plan that would force him to go against his religious beliefs, and (3) he called his KVX related dragon ancestors to try to kill the Bad Kids and endanger the entire student body population. Three strikes, you're out. If I'm a Bad Kid I'm not super interested in whatever else is going on with him. And again, literally all of Adaine's friends (except Riz) gave her help to do an Insight check on him during their confrontation in the hallway so she was looking for something there worth engaging with, but she didn't get much.

Fig was fully doing CIA, MKUltra, Fantasy Geneva Convention violations on Ruben to try see if she could get information or flip him. I think she did it in an objectively insane way so I'm not entirely shocked that it didn't yield the exact results she was looking for. But she never found the smoking gun (or whatever the opposite of that is) in his head that would absolve him/show the Rat Grinders were being controlled and her messing with his dreams never flared his conscience enough to make him try to break free (as far as we know) which is what I assume she was going for. If I was Ruben looking for a way out but scared of the repercussions, I might go to Adaine who saved me from certain death earlier the same year and has helped saved the world 3 times with her party and their friends in high (and low) places. Maybe that's what Fig thought might happen but it didn't so from Fig's POV? Gave him a chance. Time to start blasting. And again, at that age, if I walked in to the first day of class and the first thing this random boy does is sneer at me and flaunt his musical success, I'm popping up on his Nemesis Alert at that moment. Doubly so after he tries to trick me and my friends into doing drugs so we get expelled. I'm surprised she tried at all with him.

Fabian absolutely tried to interact with Ivy--in large part for self interested reasons of course, but that doesn't change that he did it. And she came across as callous and unkind from the jump. Their final conversation before the latest episode is the one where she talks about wearing Mazey like a sweater and then says that Fabian missed his chance with her before stalking off. That's a pretty open and shut interaction. No way 17 year old me is like, "Hmm, but why is she acting so mean? Perhaps I should examine that more closely to further understand her." Nah, I've decided she sucks.

And Kristen has tried with Buddy literally up until the last moment. She rolled an Insight check on him right before the fight started and she got a 1. She got nothing from him.

Mary Ann is actually the only Rat Grinder who hasn't done anything to make a bad impression on the Bad Kids--the only thing she did was have a really good Bloodrush tryout. So no reason to hate her specifically (and, in fact, she is also the only Rat Grinder that at least half of them are positively obsessed with), but no reason to explore her further. And Kristen still tried giving her a stuffed animal and her response was that she already had that one and that she was going to give it away. What are they supposed to do with that?

Even when they tried, they didn't get information that was worth chasing when they were so busy and had to manage their free time. Gorgug didn't even slot in downtime to talk to his bio parents when they visited. Why would he spend any time on Mary Ann to figure out her deal? Maybe if they were given more explicit opportunities to interact with them in passing. If Mary Ann was shown at Bloodrush Games. If during class time Oisin tried to interact with Adaine. If Kristen ran into Buddy and Bucky talking. If any of their forays into talking to them or looking into them yielded anything actionable or that piqued their interest--they opened the door for Brennan to give them something more than once. But they never got anything that was worth investing more of their limited time into.

(And also, they didn't learn that Porter was involved until WAY into the last quarter of the episodes. Which absolutely could have changed things since, as far as they knew the RG's were working alone to raise this god which isn't crazy for them to think because Kristen literally did that last year and it was of her own free will. If they knew early that the RG's were smaller players in Porter's plot then maybe they would have been in more of a rescue mindset--especially since Fig has always mistrusted him--but that's not information they had and by the time they got it, the RG's were in deep hiding, like you said.)

And so, coming into the last few episodes, that's who the Rat Grinders are to the Bad Kids. A group of kids who they first heard about in the context of, "they famously hate you," even though they'd never interacted before. A group of kids who they already thought sucked even before they tried to kill the entire study body an hour ago. A group of kids who are trying to doom all of Elmville to eternal rage and who are willing and ready to kill them to do it.

With that context, yeah I think their actions are pretty understandable.

(Also, lmao. Yeah, I think calling Ivy basic would probably hurt her more than most things you could say to her.)

[demodraws0606]

The way people talk about Tsukasa makes me want to murder people /neg

Somehow just because Tsukasa attracted the attention of the younger fanbase, people just have found themselves allowing to dunk on his fanbase because "how dare these 12 year old misinterpret a character that I don't even personally like".

Because yeah it's almost like young people can identify a darker part of a character but overexagerate it because the part that discerns nuance isn't even fucking developped yet. Or you know maybe it's just fun making angst, maybe they're just venting through Tsukasa ?

And somehow these people making angst are somehow more wrong than the people who just act as though Tsukasa is like the happiest guy ever with the least amount of struggles (because how dare he be happy, the only way a person can be struggling is if they're miserable 24/7).

Like it's wild it's somehow the same thing that happened to Sans, it's as though people don't realize that making a character have less problem than in canon is just as much of a misinterpretation than the opposite, you're not smarter for it.

No genuinely what's wrong with people, every other male oc fans get to do whatever and somehow Tsukasa fans are the ones that only enjoy his character cause he's a "dude".

I'm a Rui fan but it makes 0 sense to me how much of us just get away with more because ig it's more acceptable to make angst of rui ????

Like people say "wow people exagerate Tsukasa's backstory so muchh lol", like ok here are the multiple instances of Tsukasa flashbacks :

-Dazzling Lights

-Tenma mixed event

-Colorfes card

-Vocaloid World Link

Wow, yeah really short and rare Tsukasa flashbacks yeah....

And also people acting as though he was fine being alone at home are just straight up lying, like that is a lie the game literally tells you he's not fine blatantly in Dazzling Lights. And if you somehow needed more proof you can dig through the vocaloid world link, his colorfes card or even fucking side card stories.

There's no reason to talk about Tsukasa fans and how exagerated Tsukasa angst is i'm sorry, you're just being a bully and passive agressive to fans who want to have fun. The only time it's worth while to dunk on them is for ableism which IS a problem with Tsukasa fans.

Obviously I'm not gonna police you into what you should talk about but I just think it's really obnoxious and just kinda has been worsening the toxicity of this already radioactive fandom.

Also don't take anything in this post too personally this is just like a scream into the void about this fandom's behavior around Tsukasa.

I'm talking about this also because I literally saw firsthand how just kinda mean people are to others who just have fun.

[knichii]

OK. does anyone else feel irritated that eng dub seems to be favoured in mha? in edits, in fics, it's clear most people watched dub and idk it's been rlly grinding my gears.

okay, to get this out the way, I don't like mha's eng dub. I don't like any of them. half don't fit their characters, 75% of the time the tone lands forced and awkward, and its literally just unbearable for me to watch I'm sorry. I have this issue with a lot of anime and cartoons so this isn't solely a my hero problem, but this is definitely the most severely I've disliked a dub. and yet I cannot escape it.

one of my biggest issues is the nuance that's lost in translation. anyone with any familiarity with the Japanese language will know what I mean. list of examples:

HONORIFICS

1. iida refers to class 1-A with '-kun'

2. yaoyorozu refers to class 1-A with '-san'

3. asui refers to class 1-A with '-chan'

3. deku with '-kun' (m) & '-san' (f)

that says SO MUCH about their characters, how they view their relationships, how they view themselves,, but in dub?? all of that's lost. ESP the significance of deku still calling bkg 'kacchan'. [simplified, '-chan' is used for cute/endearing things. it stemmed from children mispronouncing '-san', and became a childish, cutesy way of calling someone, usually someone you're VERY familiar with. it implies a shocking ammount of intimacy] thru years of bullying, all the rocks and straight up non existent road of their relationship, deku STILL calls him 'kacchan', the ONLY one allowed to do so ("but kaminari--" NEENAWNEENAWNEENAW).

in eng dub it gets reduced to a mere nickname, lacking all of its weight.

another thing is bakugou sub vs dub (...)

URGGGGGGHHHH

the most recent example is when bkg says "of course you pulled it off, Icyhot." (I forgot the context tho) in sub, he says "of course you pulled it off, TODOROKI".

THATS SUCH A NICHE, SUBTLE WAY OF SHOWING HIS DEVELOPMENT THATS TOSSED STRAIGHT OUT THE WINDOW. translation (manga) also has him calling his seniors 'senpai' which is... not what he says in sub????? 'senpai' indicates respect for someone your senior,,,, which. bkg would never show. (or only in EXTREMELY rare cases, MAYBE)

there's also my peeve abt names. this may be an only me issue, but I don't like it when japanese names are written in western format (e.g Izuku Midoriya)... ("this guy cannot be fr rn" unfortunately yes I am). I don't have a reason for this, and I'm aware it's niche and irrational, but I always cringe a little when I'm reading a fic, that's SET IN JAPAN, and their names are written Given Name, Family Name. emphasis on SET IN JAPAN. THEY ARE JAPANESE. THEY ARE NOT AMERICAN.

bkg's hero name. his og one which was translated to King Explosion Murder, losing all of the wit and cleverness in the jp original. this post goes into more detail and is very cool check it out

slightly irrelevant but bkg's jp va, Okamoto Nobuhiko, like. wow. the bkdk fight? the voice cracks? the ANGUISH?? the softness in his voice when bkg was abt to die (the hallucination w all might) ??? like,, wow. the emotion is so much more raw than it's conveyed in eng

I've gotten off point. point is I WISH MORE PEOPLE APPRECIATED AND WATCHED IN JP SUB. IM SCREAMING INTO THE VOID AND MY OWN VOICE IS ECHOING BACK I CANT DO THIS ANYMORE.

(note: jjk was my first anime fandom so I'm probably spoiled. over there, sub seems to be favoured, barring a few iconic lines [ray chase lwk served as sukuna in the shibuya arc] and the fics, like 70% of the ones I read, used japanese honorifics and culture. in comparison, mha was a bit of a shock. the side of the fandom I washed up on is so... American??? maybe I'm in the wrong place idk. everything's just extremely white and slightly uncomfortable.)

this was a bit of a vent post,, obviously ik people are entitled to opinions (even if they're wrong), I js wanted tk if anyone else felt the same way

reading this back, I'm aware of how chronically online I am. yeah. still tho

[cult-of-the-eye]

Mag 81 A Guest for Mr Spider

FUCK FORMER HEAD ARCHIVIST

Wait I need to check the timelines - this was 2 days after leitner's death

New spooky music???

My man is so fucking dramatic I love him so much "grand of sand behind my eye" love the way he speaks

Yeah FUCK JURGEN LEITNER

Omg the greying hair is canon??

Child in the 90s makes him at most 27 GOD DAMN. I was imagining like mid 30s...can you imagine a fucking 27 yr old using words like "ilk" when talking to you

Oh shit he's an orphan poor guy

Yeah ok a lot of his personality seems to make sense if you realise he was raised by his grandma

You know those memes that are like people raised by their grandparents are exceptionally polite but in a brisk way, talk fancy and are super posh? Yeah that's him.

Getting such neurodivergent vibes

Yeah he sounds like a main character from the start Jesus Christ he's such a kid who got traumatised and then grows up to be a horror protagonist vibes

My First Leitner lol like kids had to be introduced to them at a young age like those my first toys

He's so funny I can just imagine him as an 8 yr old getting super like affronted at this like how dare my grandma think I am of subpar intelligence he's such a little bitch from the start

"The eponymous Mr spider" even talking about his childhood trauma he's busting out the vocabulary

Fuck that story actually kinda rattled me I had my hand over my mouth in shock for most of it

I think it was the bit where the horsefly brought his son and they were both crying that got me, I could definitely imagine it scaring an 8 yr old

The way it drags out as well, with the pages of the same scene it really heightens the suspense

Is his childhood bully someone we should keep track of?? Love how he says Michael probably cause he sees him as a bully lol

It's interesting how despite him bullying him (quite badly seeing as though he beat him up) he's still like yeah but he saved my life and that means he deserves to be remembered

My bro didn't save your life on purpose, he was just trying to make it worse and happened to come to a terrible fate cause of that

I guess underneath it all he was still a kid who watched someone die, knowing they'd get eaten by a fucking spider, he still held him in some regard

The way he specified the guy was his bully even after he was being eaten though lol

He was desperate to get the book back? That's a leitner thing I guess, the book makes you want to keep it so it can finish whatever it wanted to do to you

On my relisten (which I will do once I've finished the series I'm sure of it), I'll have to look out for any reaction of leitners name

I wonder why Jon didn't react more to Carlos vittery's statement, like it must've terrified him? I saw a post a while back explaining Jon's thoughts and IT WAS GENIUS it was like of course he doesn't react, he must be terrified that someone knew about his experience and somehow did this to mess with him or it was a joke and he can't let anyone know that the Head Archivist is not Good at This ugh it's so good I'll tag it if I can find it

AHHHHH HE REGRETS DISMISSING THE OTHER STATEMENTS AHHHHHH

HE FINALLY ADMITS THAT HE NEEDS HELP WE LOVE THIS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT YES YOU FUCKING DO BITCH.

yeah at least he's right about Elias killing leitner

GEORGIE THE EX GIRLFIEND

ITS SO WEIRD TO SEE HIM ACTUALLY NICE TO SOMEONE WOW HIS VOICE CHANGES SLIGHTLY AS WELL HES LESS ACADEMIC

THE ADMIRAL

Awwww he's so cute with georgie

GHOST PODCAST GHOST PODCAST

THE WHAT THE GHOST T SHIRT IS CANON???? AHH THATS SO CUTE

Can he not go back to his own flat?? Did he bring all his clothes to the archive and then subsequently leave them there? Does he even have a flat??

God Georgie is so nice I would kill for her

It's so funny that an apparent supernatural cynic dated a ghost podcaster

WOW SEASON 3 OFF TO AN AMAZING START I CANT WAIT TO KEEP LISTENING IM GONNA TELL MY THERAPIST ABOUT THIS TOMORROW!!!

[babiebom]

Stardew Bachelor/ette's as relationship tropes

A/N: because this is cute and im in my feelings watching the little mermaid im feeling so giddy omfg THIS MOVIE WAS MADE FOR MEEKLALQOWOSOA also plus victor and Sofia(sophia?) WOW so if anyone has already read this it was not finished nor was it supposed to be posted so as I finish it it'll just be updating because i don't wanna delete it oopsies!

Tw: none? Idk maybe bullying???

Genre: headcanons

Wc:maybe like 5 bullet points per thing?

Sdv Masterlist

Strangers to Lovers:

Emily

Penny

Leah

Elliott

Friends to Lovers:

I feel like Penny and Leah would be a meet-cute sorta thing like at a coffee shop or a library

Maybe elliott also at the library or at a bar

But I feel like with Emily it would be somewhere chaotic

Like a concert

Or a rally of some sort

All of these would be like a romance novel of some sort you meet your soulmate on a chance outing super cute!!!

Sam

Sophia(Sofia?)

Enemies to Lovers:

Harvey

All of these guys seem as if they fall hard for friends mostly

Like yeah they sometimes find a stanger attractive

But I feel as if these people are the kind to slowly develop a crush on someone they already know

Sam would make the best tv show character and Sophia(pls someone tell me how to spell) and Harvey would make better book characters

Haley

Sebastian

Abigail

Second chance:

Alex

You probably absolutely hated these guys ngl

Like I feel like they have enemy quality

Like especially Haley and Alex they have high school bully energy to me

So even if they weren't bullys they would somehow end up on your kill list

Seb and Abigail seem like general assholes and probably did something to piss you off(im saying this as a Seb girlie)

Honestly my favorite genre to read but that's because i am toxic oops

Shane

Victor

Maru

I feel like these three would've been in relationships they had to let go of for different reasons and now that time has passed you meet again and get that second chance at loving one another

Shane would prolly be because of his downward spiral and you two broke up after a heated fight because he just refused to try so you left(Jas was torn up but doesn't really remember because she was younger)

Victor prolly had to break up with you because of Olivia and different statuses in money. She only wants the best for her son and unfortunately in her eyes you were not it.

For Maru i think its obvious Demetrius had something to do about it. Maybe you were in a relationship in high school

And even if her grades didn't slip at all when he found out he made her break up with you to force her to focus on her future.

[scrapyardboyfriends]

Plotdale

7 August 2024

[A lay by on a country road that’s not reminiscent of anything we’ve ever seen before…really]

AARON: *Jamming out in the car unaware of the PLOT he’s about to get sucked into* *Sees man in the road* Oh hello PLOT my old friend. I haven’t missed you. I’d been having such a nice time being set dressing. Sigh…*Playing my part reluctantly face* Hey! What are you doing? You’re not about to drag me into some PLOT I don’t want to be a part of are you?

FAUXBERT: *Puts on his best Robert impression* *FAILURE…ABORT…FAILURE* 

PLOT: No no, keep going, this is fine. I’m going to force this to work even if it kills me.

FAUXBERT: Right…here it goes. Hey, I my car broke down and I coincidentally have no signal. I’m sure you have absolutely no experience with kind of situation. 

AARON: *Sigh…face* Ah yes, this is a signal dead zone. Clever play PLOT. *Stares at Fauxbert* *Does that torso look like the one on my PLOT phone?* Hey, the PLOT is sending me to a hotel for a hook up because they still have no idea what to do with me romantically while Robert is in prison *off screen land* and it didn’t work out with the guy I used to bully on account of him getting murdered by a paddle *for the fans* by the latest local serial killer…anyway, you wouldn’t happen to coincidentally be the guy I’m supposed to meet would you? That feels like something the PLOT would do. It loves coincidental meetings and misunderstandings and hates actual character development. 

FAUXBERT: *Casual flirting face* *FAILURE…ABORT…FAILURE*

PLOT: No, it’s fine. No one will notice. 

FAUXBERT: Yes, it was coincidentally me you were supposed to be meeting. Imagine that!

AARON: *Deja vu Face* A broken down car in a lay by…and me…a former mechanic…who has never been in this exact scenario before. Well, I guess I’ll help you fix it. *Fixes van*

**AWKWARD FLIRTING ALERT**

AARON: Maybe I would have recognized you if you showed more than your torso…

FAUXBERT: *Winky face* Something wrong with my torso? It was all I was allowed to show so we could have this exact exchange apropos of nothing. 

AARON: *Reluctant flirting face* I guess it’s a nice torso. I’ve seen better. 

FAUXBERT: *Best Robert impression face* *FAILURE…ABORT…FAILURE*

PLOT: *Whispers* keep going….

FAUXBERT: Number one rule, always play your strongest hand first. 

AARON: *Oh is this supposed to work on me face?* I guess you’ve got….assets. Any other rules? 

FAUXBERT: Never forgive, never forget. Wow…that seemed like a random thing to say. 

PLOT: *Whispers* Go with it. 

AARON: *Reluctant acceptance face* Well, I guess the PLOT wants us to get on. A certain Ryan Hawley won’t return their phone calls. Smart lucky bastard. Okay…I fixed your car enough to get you to a local garage that my uncle happens to own that I used to work at. 

FAUXBERT: Lucky thing, me swiping right on you I guess. Aren’t coincidences great?

AARON: No, I don’t think so, but let’s get this over with. I don’t normally talk this much on my hook ups. I’m usually just waiting to be called an idiot (affectionately) and then I’m in the mood. 

FAUXBERT: *Forced flirting face* Oh good, I was wondering when you’d shut up. *Awkward forced kiss* *Waits expectantly*

PLOT: Now slam him against the car Aaron. You’re well practiced at that move!

AARON: But…that’s a Robert thing. 

PLOT: Yeah yeah but Ryan wouldn’t call us back so this is the next best thing. It’s…Fate!

AARON: Is it though? 

PLOT: Just pretend he said “because you know why we’re both still here”

AARON: *Caught in an amateur dramatics performance of the Robron story face* Sigh…fine. *Aggressively shoves Fauxbert against the van and kisses him with forced “passion”* 

*Fade to black and other scenes* - for the fans…no one wants to see that.

[Back of Fauxbert’s car]

AARON: *I guess we just hooked up on the side of the road face* So…give me your life story so I know who I just slept with. 

FAUXBERT: Oh, no can do mate. That’s classified. You’re going to be PLOT ignorant until at least tomorrow. 

AARON: *Concerned face* Damn, really? I hate when that happens. It never means anything good for me. I wonder who you’ll turn out to be? *Looks around* *oooh face…not that kind* So this is going to be a Robert thing huh? 

FAUXBERT: Still not at liberty to say. 

AARON: *Resigned face* We have zero chemistry but uh…round two? 

FAUXBERT: Sure…but uh…get out of the van for a second so I can drive off with your stuff. We’ll need a PLOT reason to see each other again. 

AARON: *Angry at the PLOT face* For fuck’s sake. Couldn’t I just meet a nice normal person and build a solid relationship with him instead of this nonsense? Ryan…CALL THEM BACK! 

[obstinaterixatrix]

the reason miscommunication gets a bad reputation is because examples that stick out to most folks end up being the really frustrating shallow narrative device engineered to extend unnecessary conflict, that is—a miscommunication that could be solved with a one-minute conversation. miscommunication is such a good tool for conflict as long as the writer knows what they’re doing though.

one of my favorite versions of miscommunication is when Character A knows that Character B has jumped to Wrong Conclusions but is either unwilling to clarify or unable to convince B otherwise. I actually really liked The Cat Across The Hall for this because the love interest is convinced the main character’s in love with the main character’s best friend, and the main character wants to hide that he actually has a crush on the love interest, so a lot of the tension between them builds as the love interest tries to help, catches feelings for the main character, and starts feeling miserable and jealous about the main character’s (nonexistent) romance with his best friend (lol).

another really good one is when the characters have such fundamentally different experiences that they really can’t understand each other without a lot more development. in Failed Princesses, the main character is a very popular girl and the love interest is a gloomy nerd, but the love interest sees the main character get brutally dumped. When the main character is basically like ‘yeah I bet you’re having a great time, you probably love seeing your bully eat shit’ the love interest says ‘no actually, you’re not allowed to stop sparkling because that would be unforgivable.’ what the love interest MEANS is: ‘I’ve always wanted the role of a princess, but I can’t have it because that role is monopolized by pretty, extroverted, arrogant girls like you, so as someone who took the role of the princess from me you are not allowed to be miserable’. what the main character thinks is: ‘wow! even though I bullied this gloomy nerd, she’s nice enough to want me to be happy!’ and that kickstarts their friendship, but also ensures that the love interest (initially) rejects the main character when the main character confesses, since this pretty fundamental misunderstanding/one-sided conflict was never addressed or resolved.

there’s also miscommunication because of past history (we’re assuming each other’s feelings/actions/intentions because of past baggage) and miscommunication because of personality/ideology differences (I thought you were condescending/abrasive towards me but it turns out we have similar priorities, just different ways of going about things) etc.

the thing is, if miscommunication can’t be solved in one minute, then either it has to be because of character-specific reasons (fun) or because the miscommunication has spiraled out of control and is too convoluted to unpack in a minute (also fun). sometimes both. the anatomy of a resolvable conflict is just so interesting!

[bkdk-all-day-err-day]

idk if you've ever seen dragon ball but,

Vegeta: literally murders Goku's friends, commits genocide, endangered the whole planet to feed his own ego, is extremely disrespectful and rude to everyone including Goku

Goku: forgives him for all this

The anime community: he's the absolute GOAT who always has Goku's back/Goku is so kind hearted that he turns his enemies into his friends

Bakugo: bullied deku, told him to kill himself once while he didn't mean it, and is constantly aggressive and tells everyone to die as a catchphrase and quite literally never means it unless he's talking to an actual villain

Deku: forgives him for all that

The anime community: Deku is so fucking weak, how do you just forgive someone like that? / Bakugo sucks, if you like him get your head checked/ If I was deku I'd never forgive him / Bakugo doesn't give a shit about anyone/ Bakugo hates deku

Hey Anon!

And wow, yeah, that's such a great comparison. The double standard is really evident, huh? 🙄🙄🙄 I think we all project onto our favorite characters to some degree but at the same time, it becomes a problem when you see that as the only way to interpret a certain character. Like if you wouldn't behave the way they do or forgive someone as easily as them, then they become "weak" or "badly written" or a "bully", right? And these kinds of blanket statements and character archetypes don't allow for true character development which involves having the room to grow and learn and change throughout the story's journey. To box someone in and hold them to the standard of their very first impression, well...that's just a very sad and narrow-minded way to consume media imo. All this to say, I'm glad that there are people in this community who push back against that rhetoric. It's important to appreciate the world created by Horikoshi and it's worth it to put in the work to really analyze and understand what he's trying to convey. I think our side of the community more than makes up for a few immature takes like the one above. Thanks again for sending this in! ~blazing

[celesteskingdom]

Character Rambles Part 2

Logan! My second favorite. There's a special place in my heart reserved for shy introverts. Believe me when I say I was more than gleeful to find out how there were layers to this astronomy dork! Yes, he's a nerd. Yes, he's shy. Yes, he's bullied. But is he not simple? Absolutely not! He learnt how to shoot a rifle with great accuracy! He manages to steel his nerves in order to get things done.

He learned self-defense to help him with his bullies. I don't believe that violence is always the answer, but it is necessary at times. Much of the time, actions speak louder than words. His bullies wouldn't have left him alone, or lessened their bullying, if he tried to reason it out with them. This is coming from someone that has been bullied; some bullies just don't do words. While I've never retaliated with violence, I can understand why Logan did. He was quite literally just defending himself.

He's intelligent too. He strikes me as an anxious person but he pushes through that. And that? That takes guts. There's not much known about his backstory but I'm sure we'd all love to know more!

The way he's taken all of this in stride is impressive. The way they all have taken this in stride is impressive.

Logan, though? I didn't think this was how he would've been given character development. I'm pleasantly surprised by the route Red took!

Taylor! She holds my heart dearly. The way she explicitly cares for all of them says so about her. Even in the backgrounds of panels where the focus isn't on her, you can clearly grasp her kindness and sweetness. The way she's grown as a character is just. Wow. To me. She's so mentally and emotionally strong. She's good at keeping them together and getting them to cooperate with one another.

The way she's keeping herself together too! She's does mechanics too? That's so cool! A very sweet and caring character that knows her worth, and how to keep the team together.

Tylerrrr! Hello, jock! Now..where do I even begin with him? Surface level, he's definitely a jerk. In depth, still a jerk but with layers. Yeah, he can be very brash and harsh at times but can you blame him? At one point did either of the twins have a regular childhood? All he's trying to do is keep his sister safe and keep himself safe too. And yet, he's grown fond of the rest of the team to the point he too wants to keep them safe! He sees them as family too.

You can see him growing irritated at Logan's bully. You can see him chilling with the others in the backgrounds of panels. Sure, a lot of the panels have him acting as a jerk or being irritated, so what? Look at his small sighs. Look at how he grows more and more comfortable with the rest of the team.

I love all of them, individually and together as a team. Look out for a post talking about their dynamics sometime soon!

[ottiliere]

oh my goodness your dios.. what a delight to see someone so fully invested in phantom blood dio wow. i am very happy. i love your 3D dios. really makes me want to sculpt him as well

Do it... clay is cheap bake it in the oven paint with 10 dollar set of acrylics your life will never be better. I adore phantom blood Dio so very much... years ago saw someone coin the term “phantom blood purist” and it's so funny I think about it literally every time I enter a Dio cycle. There are many aspects that go into this preference of course, and upon a great amount of time pondering i can say confidently that this is because mainly that:

1) I love history (especially the fin de siècle) and I love thinking about him in relation to Victorian values/etiquette/sociology in general... there's something so special about a society that enabled such a gross disparity of wealth&poverty while being so inherently pretentious that its asinine etiquette rules would completely elude you unless you were raised in an aristocratic family or had access to etiquette books. Dio absolutely read a great amount of these before going to the Joestar mansion btw, even before his father snuffed it I think. God help him he would not be doomed to look like a slovenly ill-bred gamin if and when he needed to manipulate the upper classes. I really can't think of a way for him to have developed these skills enough to outclass Jonathan otherwise. god and like thinking about him as a barrister too with his profligate fashion sense you just KNOW he gets drawn that way into all of the court sketches that go in all the newspapers since everyone loved to read about crime and there were a million papers for this in England alone... he'd get caricatured so bad sometimes and he is NOT happy about this.

2) You can probably tell from my indifference to the rest of the parts (except sbr; I call this the "diego rule") that I'm not the biggest fan of fantastical elements and I'm much more interested in interpersonal conflict/relationships in general... PB is extremely unique to the rest of the series because for five WHOLE chapters absolutely nothing abnormal happens and we just get to see Dio harassing Jonathan and his girlfriend until Jonathan snaps and humiliates him so bad in beating him up that he makes Dio cry. and then Dio kills his dog. Like it's literally just some impoverished child abuse victim bullying a spoiled rich kid who wanted to be his friend because lalala sunshine daisies only knows what "poverty" is from reading Oliver Twist and has no conceptual understanding of what the real-world implications of that are. That was the character development that needed multiple chapters to develop it's so fucking awesome. like yeah I'd read an entire novel of just this alone happening and how it impacts their relationship as adults no vampirism needed. I reread "dio the invader" so frequently I'm surprised the spine of my jojonium copy isn't cracked at the exact endpoint of it. I just adore him interacting with Jonathan so much it's hard to remove him from that… that's his FOIL... all the stories (some "AUs") I make with Dio involve the way he and Jonathan gravitate each other to some degree. we get the clearest view of who he is in the face of someone who is the polar opposite of himself. 🤯

2) This iteration of him is the closest degree of separation he has from his "humanity" (childhood), thus

3) I find him to be the most interesting, endearing, etc., version of him walking around, given that... well. behaviors stem from somewhere... the thematic & active severance of himself from a species he is fundamentally incapable of connecting with due to the way he adapted to help him tolerate his childhood... from his point of view I can't imagine that there is one convincing reason for him to continue being human after given the opportunity to deviate from it (despite likely still being inebriated when he vamped himself — very much an impulsive decision since he had, what, an hour or two to think that through? drunk?). If everyone's underneath him, yes, after the fact the choice seems extremely fitting. Maybe he'll cultivate a vast swathe of worshippers and disciples that obey his every command. Maybe he'll rule the world. And then, maybe, he will start to feel genuinely content for the first time in his life. But probably not. That's the drawback of having something fundamentally missing from within you.

4) He lacks a certain type of introspective awareness that 100 years alone in a box might enable him to develop... he's very animalistic to me and possesses a precarious/immature/nonexistent grasp on his emotions just given the fact that he exhibits enraged outbursts from perceived ego wounds (in both childhood and adulthood) + struggles with alcoholism due to an incapacity to self-soothe any sort of negative emotion that makes it past the self-aggrandizing filter he can't help but see life through; he really isn't in conscious control of anything happening inside of him despite needing control over everything and everyone so he can get exactly what he wants, and deserves, always. PB paints a very dim and pathetic view of his character by allowing us to see when he's most "vulnerable", which is the thing he likely hates being the most, so getting to see scenes where he's walking around publicly intoxicated and disparaging himself for acting like his father (implied: again), who he hates, and attacking men with a wine bottle for evoking the concept of his mother, who he also kind of hates but lacks the cognizant cogency to dissolve whatever cognitive dissonance is causing this mental incongruence, rules. he rules

tl;dr SDC dio is "iconic" but I feel like he misses a lot of the charm he had in part one, removed from the context of the society that had such rigid social boundaries and rules of decorum, in addition to his maladaptive approach to interpersonal relationships, his substance abuse issues, his humbling foil... he's too "cool" for me. In the end SDC dio is simply not my Dio... he is someone else's Dio. And that's okay.

[thiscomicruinedmylife]

Question: Who would be a character you like/love the most or most identify with? appreciate all you do for this tiny fandom! :>

First of all, thanks!!! Just humbly reposting stuff and discuss whatever people want to discuss :) Second of all, that’s a good question!

Can’t say I wholly identify with anyone, but I do relate to a deadpan look and kind of please-leave-me-alone attitude both Gretchen and Aton are giving, since irl I have a severe case of resting bitch face and on top of that I’m introverted as shit.

As of the character I like/love… wooo boy, where do I even start… I'm gonna ramble for a bit, so please bear with me here. My absolute faves are Tim and Astaroth Matauzier and let me explain why.

Short and simple, I always like funny pathetic losers who get their asses kicked (just look at some of my other faves).

And wow does Astaroth get his ass (nose) kicked a lot.

Doesn’t help that his human counterpart Tim is a poor little meow meow, who’s also getting his ass kicked, but in this instance I just feel sympathy for him, cause here it’s absolutely undeserved.

And for the long reason why I like them… I like the creative potential they have. Not in a sense of development, but the whole concept.

So Tim was supposed to be only that – Tim. But he’s been literally split into two characters since his birth and I kinda can’t treat them like a single one. At least not fully. They were two different people for 14 ass years, how can you unify that and not have some bumps in the road so to speak. Just this fraction is already fascinating enough, how can a person grapple with being two? Two set of beliefs, two set of memories, two behavioral patterns. Top notch angst/psychology fanfic material amirite or amirite.

But it doesn’t stop there! They were presented like two separate characters and then Francis dumps this infobomb on us that Tim and Astaroth's been one person all along, which is… fine, I could run with that, but his explanation doesn’t make sense?

He claims you can’t see Tim and Astaroth at the same place at once, which implies he’s been switching between two of his personalities and teleporting between the human/park world. And then in literally a few panels he says there were two bodies he jumped between. Huh???

Also this weird line.

So which one is it? Was there a single body or was there two? I'd say it's an important difference. Either you have a teleporting dude with split personality disorder or you have one brain shared between twins.

I know this could be a translational issue, but some of native French speakers can’t understand Francis’ explanation either??? HUH?????

Yeah, I also can't for the life of me understand how no one noticed a child constantly disappearing out of thin air for 14 years straight. This weird discrepancy is what makes it so interesting though. My friends and I spent hours discussing, guessing and straight up headcanoning how this child works.

Obviously headcanon territory here, but we came up with “there were two bodies with shared but split consciousness; when one body was active, the second one was sleeping or dissociating or being awake but severely absentminded”. That way he won't disappear randomly and school bullies will have reasons to pick on him. And we headcanoned that when they've become one they were having conversations in their unified head and fought for the driver's seat, which could potentially be either funny or tragic, your choice.

If you survived this long ass ramble/rant congratulations and sorry it took so long :D But I do love this stupid child-who-became-office-rat and he absolutely lives rent free in my head.

fanart by @martapreliy 

[ebitachy]

short indigo disk thoughts under the cut (just kidding this ended up being long) (i am a little frustrated with the story bits)

while i'm having a lot of fun with the post-story stuff and the clubroom and i thought resolving kieran's issues in areo zero rather than at the school through battling was a good way to do it i felt kinda... idk... reminded? of what i felt was the weakest aspect of scvi's main story/the way home, which is that important characters cannot do things that can't be easily walked back or forgiven, even if it's honestly really small or petty in the grand scheme of things. and important characters ESPECIALLY cannot be implicated in someone else's wrongdoings. team star's story is so weak because to give the bullying plotline any sense of weight they'd have to implicate their shiny new characters at the school that they want the audience to care about, and that's no good. so instead all the bullying is a vague formless nothingness and none of the staff we actually know have any stake in it because they weren't there and even the biting back against it didn't even really happen. it's vapid. the consequences of sada and turo's obsession is pretty much the only thing this doesn't apply to-- because they're dead! even the AI has vanished! death resolves!

in the dlc it kind of felt like part two of this with the entire School Drama thing. kieran says some mean things and is pushy and rude blah blah blah ok cool. he's in a bad place mentally and is punishing himself and others because of it. wow that's so sucks. the resolution of this being that we fight our way to beating him down AGAIN, not helping at all, before finally figuring things out in area zero is even a good resolution to that i think!! i'm not against any of this!! it feels very gx the way our only solution to getting him to enjoy battling again is to make him hate it more by being too op as the protagonist (lol) and then go on a dangerous adventure with him.

but all the jokes people are making about how oh everyone actually liked kieran all along and and oh he didn't even have any problems at the academy he was just like that is like... Yeah? it's the same issue with penny and team star's entire plotline? in that a problem that should be there... seemingly isn't?

drayton is presented as manipulative and a schemer but his grander goal isn't to actually make kieran go back to being a bottom of the food chain wannabe or something by having you shove his face into the dirt. because then your cool new elite four member would be mmmmmmmmeean.

if kieran's issue was just that he truly struggled to make friends and felt too reliant on his sister and not that he was actively ostracized by anyone at blueberry academy, making it so everyone could clearly see that his 180 was bad and being upset with it feels a bit like a slap in the face. it's not like they knew what caused it! like, really! you're saying the majority of non-carmine people wouldn't see that in-universe and start flocking to kieran, the guy who shot up to champion seemingly over night? if you're going to write it like that, you couldn't make it so everyone but carmine and drayton (who don't get along!) see it as a good development, that everyone at the academy wouldn't either ignore or excuse or not see his roughness with the other club members who aren't "getting stronger", and not see how clearly unwell it all is? you're saying everyone saw this shy kid rise up from some average rank to the champion and went, "no, that's not your place, that's bad"? come on!

if they didn't want to risk you not liking the members and faculty of blueberry academy by having one of its students be actively ostracized, why was this not a story about going against the majority's belief that this is "good" for kieran or anybody else in the league club? give me something. anything. these kinds of writing decisions are so frustrating-- it is an active denial of the slightest weight.

[sirjuggles]

Worm Reading - Part 5, Arc 5 Hive

Back at it! Taking notes as I go this time, so expect more short reactions to individuals moments/sentences.

Ahhh a good ol’ Bad Guy Council Meeting! We get our first looks at a whole bunch of the other villains in this town. Interesting to see where the Undersiders fall on the power scale: clearly above lowlifes like Skidmark, but otherwise pretty low on the hierarchy. I’d assume our team could mayyyybe go toe-to-toe with Faultline’s crew but it depends on who gets the drop. Would definitely lose to Kaiser’s crew. Coil is very interesting, but I’d assume his hi-tech goons could overpower the Undersiders. Trickster and his team are interesting out-of-towners, but I’d assume if they’re surviving on the road they’re capable of taking care of themselves.

I do feel like I’ve seen the name Faultline crop up in Worm Fandom posts in the past, so I feel like this character may end up being important? I don’t remember in what capacity though. Curious to see what her powers are.

Ok, once again we see Brian being abusive towards Rachel. And I get that he thinks it’s justified. But just from the language he uses you can tell this is something he gets from his dad. I don’t like it. If the only way you can control someone is with violence, does that make it ok?

Hero names “Assault” and “Battery” ugh it’s such a terrible pun. I hate it and it’s perfect.

We haven’t seen Shadow Stalker in action yet but as Grue’s nemesis I am covertly half-rooting for her. I hope she’s cool, I hope she kicks ass.

Lol hell yeah punch Emma in the face! Nothing good will probably come of this but frankly it’s been a long time coming.

Aww good job Danny, your girl needed a hug. I think that’s about as well as he could have handled that.

Oooh ok we’re going into a parent meeting at school about the bullying issue. Predictions: Danny is going to try and stand up for Taylor. He might blow up in a full rage outburst, he’s been holding that in for a long time. I don’t think they’ll actually have any success within the system though, Emma and her dad and their posse are too secure to face consequences here. However, if this goes really bad, I can see Taylor tip past the point of using her powers, which would be a disaster but would be a huge leap forward for the story, forcing her powers into the open and causing all sorts of interesting consequences.

Wow ok that went almost exactly how I expected. I had some hope at the beginning that all the documentation and obvious severity of abuse would tip the scales, but of course not. So we have yet again postponed Taylor going supernova on her bullies with her powers. I am becoming more and more convinced that’s the only way this is going to end.

Ok, we’re in the middle of the team-up raid on the ABB warehouse. Oni Lee is absolutely terrifying, honestly I’m not sure how you pin down someone with that sort of powerset. Hopefully he tires out at some point, but even then I assume he would just escape. The ability to bring items/weapons with him as he teleports and duplicates is super powerful as well. EDIT OH THAT WORKS ON THE BUGS TOO.

Ok Warehouse Raid is still ongoing, but Taylor has just demonstrated to Coil, Faultline, and Trickster’s teams that she can step up and take leadership to salvage a bad situation. I think that will not go unnoticed.

The eyeballs thing is BRUTAL and we are hardcore supporting my previous point!

Great job in the fight, great job on the outcome, top marks all around!

Awww Rachel is making a friend and doesn’t know how to feel about it.

Ok yeah vindication #CutRachelSomeSlack

Interlude 5: Gregor the Snail - Ok, some interesting worldbuilding. I like basically everyone on Faultline’s crew, especially... no yeah pretty much all of them. This definitely seems like the kind of group who can both notice and appreciate how Taylor handled the Warehouse situation.

Most interesting development here is the introduction of a potential person/group creating new parahumans. I had a suspicion this topic would crop up. It is, frankly, very well-tread ground for modern superhero media. I suspect in this case the answer will be not nearly as simple as it first seems. There is almost guaranteed to be some sort of consequence or side effect for handing out powers.

[bluebird990]

No I really appreciated your answer !! Now I'm wondering how you think donald and gray would be different if they didn't go through the things they went through,, eg donald still had the same past but didn't end up so bitter?? And if gray still had Stephen by his side after the incident. I'm sorry this ask is all over the place lol

-💫

Gosh thanks so much anon!! I'm so glad that you liked my answer!! :D

This is a really really interesting question and a tough one too. What would Gray be like if he still had Stephan with him after the "accident"?

Gray Yeon character analysis!

Let's assume a situation like Kenny's where Stephan got really injured but was still awake and by Gray's side. I think that that would be a good and a bad thing for Gray's development. If Stephan was still here then Gray would definitely be extremely protective of him. Like "I will die before I let anyone lay a finger on you" protective. This would definitely bring them a lot closer.

On the other hand, Gray would never learn to trust anyone else other than Stephan. What would happen if he had met Ben and Eugene and the others in this situation? He wouldn't trust them. He would not have formed any kind of connection with them because he'd be too scared to have someone be so close to him and Stephan after Bryce. And as a result, he would lose some extremely nice people.

I think that Gray wouldn't be as nice of a person as he is now if he still had Stephan. Eugene and Ben played a really big role in making him realize that all good is not lost with the loss of Stephan. They're the reason why Gray can learn to look at people's other sides. This trait would come in handy in Donald and Jake's situations.

At first, Gray thought that Ben Park was yet another bully who bullied people for fun. But once he spent more time with him and Alex, he realized that not everyone is what they seem like. Just like how Bryce wasn't the good hearted friend that he pretended to be, other people, who might seem bad at first, aren't necessarily always evil. If Stephan was here, he'd (Gray) never realize this. He wouldn't even have given Ben and Alex a chance to prove that they're not some generic bullies.

Because Gray made new friends, he's able to see people beyond the initial first impression of them. This can be seen in Jake's case. Gray doesn't hate Jake. He is giving him the benefit of the doubt because he saw him outside of fighting and thought that he didn't seem like that bad of a person. He's willing to give Jake a chance at redemption. Gray who still had Stephan would never do this. If this gray saw Jake, he'd think that Jake was putting up a facade of a nice person. So them potentially being friends would never happen.

Also Donald.

Idk what situation Donald is gonna end up in but if there's anyone that can save him, it's Gray. Gray is the only person who'd be, even remotely, willing to give Donald a second chance. He'd be the only one willing to listen to Donald's side of story.

Notice how in the recent chapters, when gray is kind of defending daehyeon guys, Ben just brushes it off without further discussion. If Ben isn't willing to forgive Jake then there's no way he'd be willing to listen to Donald. If Gray still had Stephan, he'd be the same as Ben in this situation. Not willing to forgive. And then Donald would be lost forever. He'd either end up doing even worse things or just waste away.

So yeah, I think that Stephan being away from Gray played a huge role in Gray's development and overall, it was a good thing.

Wow I did not think that I'd have this much to say lol XD

So that's it for Gray character analysis!! This post is getting way too long so I'm gonna post about what Donald would be like separately in another post. Hope you don't mind. And hope you liked this answer anon :D

Again, thanks so much for putting these asks. I have so much fun answering these :D

[inamindfarfaraway]

Who's the first AK that Mina befriends and why? Which AK is the last for Mina to warm up to, and why? And which AKs will she never be friends with?

The first is Chelsea. Mina is mildly impressed that she volunteered to room with a VK, after getting a wary reception from some other AKs. Chelsea confesses that she didn't get on with her previous roommate, so it didn’t seem like that a hard of a decision, and they talk about being disabled and bullied and left behind and arbitrary AK social norms and hey, Chelsea’s funny, and actually gets Mina’s sharp sense of humour, and with healthy plants and wildlife being so alien to her Mina is more than happy to hear all her swamp facts and holy shit, she can do magic, that’s badass and -

oh. They’re friends. Wow. It happens a lot more naturally than either of them anticipated. They’re very sweet together. I love them. They have sleepovers at each other’s houses in the school holidays, because even by the first one they’re so used to and comfortable sharing a bedroom. Chelsea loves playing with the Foxworth pets. She visits the shelter and helps Mina sometimes, and Mina visits New Orleans and the swamp to watch Chelsea learn magic.

I think she'd get along pretty well with most canon AKs. They’re all generally good people, except Chad and to an extent, mostly formerly Audrey. Chad’s always come across as worse to Audrey than me, so his character growth would be slower and more begrudging and he plays a minor antagonist to Mina and other VKs; he’s too afraid of his parents, Ben and Mal making him face more serious consequences for his actions than the discipline he’s already got to try anything really bad, though. He is fundamentally a coward whose bark is much worse than his bite. And everyone can see that. He’s too pathetic, unintelligent and uncreative to be an effective bully. A minority of other AKs who share his malice aren’t, however, and not all of them change their ways. There are many AKs that Mina just never clicks with or warms up to because that’s how people work, with no such malice or judgment necessary.

It takes her and Terry surprisingly long to become proper friends. That’s why even after the time skip, I haven’t described them as friends in their bios. The reason is that I specifically created him to be Mina’s foil. Their personalities and roles are as different as can be, and she has trust issues and he’s bad at compromise, among other traits and attitudes that, by design, rub each other the wrong way. They both regret how awkward this is for Chelsea and want to be friends. But they just don’t get each other. Resolving this impasse is the result of their character development, particularly Terry’s, who’s more invested in befriending Mina. It requires him to slow down, acknowledge his flaws, listen to and learn from someone else’s perspective and put effort into building something despite knowing that it won’t be perfect. Mina is isn’t perfect, and neither is he. Neither is their friendship. But it’s still good. Yeah. Still good.

The last AK Mina warms up to is Audrey. Audrey has spent the six months since the movie having a big arc of unlearning her prejudices and callous, competitive, selfish worldview, which has involved coming to be on good terms with Mal, glad and grateful that she makes her best friend happy, and quite a messy breakup with Chad due to her no longer respecting him being a dick or liking that he enables and encourages her being a bitch. He swings between being bitter and desperate for her to take him back. She’s just tired of him. By Cotillion, her family is fracturing too: Leah refuses to change her views on VK no matter how unpopular they get or how much the whole rest of her family disagrees with her, and Aurora finally demands that if she can’t be trusted to look after all her citizens, she has to abdicate the throne. Phillip backs her up. In Audrey’s mind, Leah is her beloved, doting grandmother who’s always been there for her (a little critical and controlling, maybe, but all in the name of helping Audrey be everything she needs to be, right? There’s totally no toxicity in that dynamic that she also needs to unpack now, right? Please?) But… though it breaks her heart, she agrees with her parents. Leah is not taking any of this well. So Audrey’s under a lot of stress at the moment. Mina observes this from the sidelines and realizes that Audrey is not a shallow prissy princess/popular girl stereotype, but a Person with Feelings. Feelings about relatable stuff like a family member being awful. Now that, a VK can’t help but sympathize with. They have their first really open and honest conversation after that when Mina steps in to offer the appreciated sentiment of ‘you’re not alone and you’ll get through this, keep going’ and the less appreciated promise to sic her dogs on her grandma if she wants. Then Audrey ends up turning to the Core Four and Uma’s crew for empathy and experienced help processing and healing from Leah’s years of emotional abuse and thus forges a much stronger bond with all of them. Leah is forced to give up the throne, don’t worry.

It actually takes Mina longer to officially forgive Mal than to enter Audrey’s good books. She really does hold a grudge!