#he's just so fascinating to me as a villain. he's the horrible part of every character you loved dialed to the extreme to the point it makes

[sufferu]

Y'know re zero reminds a lot of umineko and higurashi. Stories where the protags are dying and resetting over and over again to fight against fate. For a chance that is "infinitely close to zero"(yes literal quote---thats how unlikely victory was) or that one dude from toaru that died 100 billion times, resetting through horrific worlds.

What do they have in common? The protags save/forgive/pity their torturers. WHDAA cast has every right to beat some sense into Subaru damn. I get the whole "understanding the heart of others" theme. I love it, but like--there should be a line somewhere that got lost in the corpses of previous loops. Especially, since most of the time they are redeemed because they have a tragic backstory. Like "ofc I forgive you for torturing me for 100 years because your parents are dead"

Penny for your thoughts?

God I need to watch Higurashi. Too bad I cant FIND THE DAMN SERIES ANYWHERE— also I’ve heard of Umineko but I have no idea what it is lol. Maybe I’ll check it out. Same with A Certain Magical Index.

And — honestly, to an extent I agree with you lol, cause even if I haven’t watched any of those series I am very familiar with the “all is forgiven” trope that tends to happen in anime a lot. I think it often tends to feel a little unbalanced, ESPECIALLY if the perpetrator is some sort of waifu character. Like — okay, there’s this anime that came out a few years ago called Ranking of Kings that I actually really liked for the most part, except the way they handled the main villain (a woman named Miranjo) was just BAFFLING. She did all this horrible stuff in the first half, but then the second half was basically just — everyone bending over backwards to excuse/forgive her simply because…that’s what the author wanted to happen. And the thing is? I was one of like five viewers (judging by those comments :/) who would actually have totally been on board with her redemption if they hadn’t done that. I thought she was a fascinating character, possibly my favorite in the series, and I even saw the potential for her becoming a better person if they were to go that route. But then they hammered it in SO MUCH because the author wanted the audience to like her SO BADLY that — it just RUINED her.

That’s what I think the problem often is: the hand of the author becomes too obvious, and as their actions get excused by the narrative practically bending over backwards to get the audience to like the characters, the characters get flattened down and all their edges sanded off. To be entirely honest it’s the main issue I have with how Rem is often portrayed in this fanbase, because — a really large subset of fans seems to have looked at that HOT MESS of a person and decided that taking her “perfect waifu” facade at face value was the more appealing option, lol.

—It totally makes sense for Subaru, though. As a character this is, it makes SOO much sense that he’s like this. And…I’m actually holding out hope that it’s gonna be addressed as an issue in-universe at some point, due to 1) some very choice descriptors on his part of all those horrible things being “good memories” that are VERY worrying and 2) post-amnesia!Rem very explicitly ending up in antagonistic role to her old self regarding how they each want Subaru to develop going forward.

As for my own react fic…yeah. Rem is. Rem is gonna be in some SERIOUS hot water. If I may: I think that a lot of react fics tend to gloss over her behavior a little too much for my liking, due to her being a popular character (or even a favorite of the author lol) and as such the fic goes out of its way to make sure that the conversation leads to everyone forgiving her one way or another. …I, personally, do not plan on pulling my punches one single bit.

;)

[ewingstan]

Finished 14.10. Kinda got dueling reactions, because on the one hand I think it is an excitingly tense, knife-twisting conversation. You could practically feel Amy's stomach drop every time Dot revealed something through an off-hand comment. And the ugly knots Amy has tied herself in are captivating in places. I've already said that I don't think her recent habit of blaming other people for not letting her change is in-line with her character, or makes sense as a countertheme to Breakthrough's theme of working to change. But her comment about wishing one of them had died in Gold Morning? That was great. This horrible thought she keeps circling around and trying to steer away from because she knows how horrible it is—for all that it makes her look inhuman, it actually feels the most like something Worm-era Amy would say out of anything she's said this chapter.

That said, that good character work is being applied to the wrong character. "I know its wrong, but I resent that the people who hate me for justified reasons are still alive" is something that the members of Breakthrough should've been dealing with this whole story, not just their villain. Its an emotional reaction that's hideous, and is so wrong on the face of it that it makes you feel heinous, but its also what you'd expect someone who's badly hurt others to feel: to wish that there wasn't someone out there who hated them, and who hated them for good reason. Breakthrough's whole thing is that its made up of people who have horribly hurt others! If this is a story about confronting the hard parts of changing, don't pretend its just the bad evil people who have those types of fucked-up wishes!

But the members of Breakthrough have been given outs. The people who most hate Rain turned out to be brainwashed or evil, so their hate doesn't feel justified the way Vicky's hate for Amy does. The people who hate Sveta are all portrayed as bloodthirsty extremists, so Tress doesn't need to feel bad about wishing them ill. The people who hate Kenzie are beefing with a nine year old. Most of the people who'd have justified reason to hate Ashley are dead.

The one character who was in a situation like Amy's, where they ended up resenting the person they hurt for continuing to exist as a reminder of what they did, was Tristan (because of course). In the flashbacks, he seemed to sometimes wish Byron had actually died rather than having to deal with him being in the back of his mind, trapped and rightfully angry. And it was fascinating to read, because it was horrible, and he knew it was horrible, and yet you could understand why he felt it even as you screamed at him. But then for the non-flashback bulk of the story, Byron has forgiven him and Tristan doesn't need to deal with those thoughts!

If you want to make a story about people changing for the better, you can't have everyone they've wronged either forgive them or turn evil. You gotta explore what being hated for understandable reasons means. And you can't pretend that only the really bad people who never change their behavior have those types of ugly thoughts.

[d3sertdream3r]

I’ve noticed a lot of rancid takes about Taliesin’s characters that are annoying me, so I’m going to rant for a minute. 

Tal has perfected the art of creating paradoxical characters, and I think a lot of people end up getting lost and confused in the layers. This is not a “if you don't get it, you’re dumb” type of thing. It’s just that I wish people would truly ponder his characters and why they’re the way they are because they’re not the stereotypical protagonists that North American entertainment focuses on. They’re not strictly kind and generous, intelligent and charming, or hateful and arrogant. They’re all of the above. 

A lot of western media features characters that are fairly cut and dry and easy to understand. There isn’t a ton of complexity happening, and from what I’ve seen, the majority of the people hating on his characters and role-play style are from areas where they aren't used to Tal’s type of character. They’re not used to characters having multiple characteristics that seem to contradict each other all at once (even though that’s how people are in real life). I’m guessing that’s part of why they don't like them, but who knows. 

Caduceus is the least paradoxical of his characters, which is why I think most people say he’s their favorite of Tal’s characters. He is the personification of a fluffy blanket and a warm hug. What’s not to love?? Percy, Molly/Kingsley, and Ashton on the other hand, are all much rougher around the edges. The point of them is to provide the opposite of comfort for the audience; they're meant to make people a little uncomfortable. They hold up a mirror to the audience and force us to look at the parts of humanity that we try to avoid. Not the pure evil of mankind that Matt’s villains often show, but something even more sad and hard to swallow. 

Audiences tend to like characters that deal with trauma through humor and/or charm. People benefit from these types of characters by laughing at them or lusting over them. There’s nothing wrong with this by any means; that’s all part of the fun of fandom! However, characters that deal with their trauma in ways that are more raw and painful tend to be disliked. 

Percy is filled with constant fear that his past will haunt his future. He is convinced that wherever he goes, the darkness will follow and the pain awaits. He has horrible nightmares and lives with incessant paranoia, yet faces the deadliest monsters, demons, gods, etc with nothing but his wit and a gun. He can't stop inventing, not just to glorify himself but to protect everyone. He’s so many things at once, which is what makes him so real and complex and fascinating. 

Molly/Kingsley’s story is about wondering who you truly are and not meeting expectations of those you care about. Imagine that you’re not the only one comparing yourself to someone else; all your friends are too. You’re trying to figure out what defines you while feeling like everyone you know wants you to be someone else. His story is also filled with questions about nihilism and whether or not anything truly matters, including identity. 

Ashton represents the endless loneliness of abandonment and feeling like no matter what you do, those you love will never care about you as much as you care about them. He pushes people away and acts like he doesn’t have a care in the world while simultaneously doing everything he can to grip onto his friends. He is jealous of Laudna for the way she died because it showed how loved she was, and how sick is that? To be jealous of someone’s death? To try and force someone to admit that they haven’t gotten over their issues because you can’t accept that it’s possible to overcome yours? What's wrong with you? If it’s possible for people to do that, why can't you? What’s wrong with you? Why is it so hard for you when it seems so easy for others? What’s wrong with you? They represent not just the physical, but the emotional chronic pain that most people don’t have to think about every day. 

I have so much more to say about these amazing characters, but that would take an entire novel. They emotionally bleed all over the place. While they can still be lighthearted and humorous at times, they’re often really messy in various ways. But that doesn’t stop them from being so loving and wonderful at the same time! 

TL;DR, Taliesin’s characters are incredible and I’m so grateful that he is willing to play them in such a raw and real way for those of us that aren’t always funny or charming enough about our trauma to make society like us. 

[iridescentoracle]

The Klavier Problems Post

so. i talked about a bunch of things in that post i made earlier about how to fix apollo justice (the game though also the character) including all the little things i would do but the two big changes i think are needed to fundamentally fix this game are 1) making apollo’s inscrutable asshole mentor a separate character from phoenix wright 2) make klavier gavin an actual goddamn person.

and i talked about #1 at length last time, so here’s the post about #2.

so, klavier gavin. i keep trying to come up with metaphors that don’t feel too clunky to actually use in a sentence and not being satisfied but to me he is several pieces of cardboard lovingly painted and assembled to make roughly half the shape of a person, held together by three staples and a prayer. what’s there is great! it’s just. not an entire character.

conceptually he’s fantastic. an actually nice and helpful prosecutor? WILD. absolute galaxy brain development. who knew you could have one of those. an apparently nice and helpful prosecutor who has ties to the game’s main villain and so might be playing the long game, leaving the audience and potentially protagonist suspicious and unsettled the whole time, only to eventually prove himself genuinely a good person when things get desperate? excellent twisty fun, and provides obvious and delightful room for things to get interesting and complex.

and even in practice, there’s parts of that that are genuinely executed well! there’s at least a half-dozen points over the course of 4-2 and 4-3 where he clearly knows what’s really going on and gives apollo the opportunity to figure it out/prove it when he could’ve just gone for an easy win. he actually plays way more fair than literally any other prosecutor so far up to and including edgeworth in the matt engarde case! he’s way more forthcoming with info during investigation segments than anyone else would’ve been, both directly and by providing access to crime scenes apollo was otherwise blocked from, and i swear during the first trial especially he, like, hand-fed apollo the win. that’s FASCINATING and so so different from anything we’ve seen before, i love it.

the problem is… kind of the everything else? or like, that there isn’t anything else. he’s set up to be this massively complex character who actually has by far the most difficult/horrible time over the course of the game, and the writers just… forgot to actually put the complexity in.

he’s got all the pieces of an amazing character—this consummate performer who’s always putting on a show, perpetually performing who he wants to be and how he wants his audience to see him, hiding his true feelings from everyone around him, that’s great, that’s always a good time. someone genuinely good-hearted and honest who truly believes in justice and doing the right thing and playing fair so sincerely and completely that they can’t even see that the people they love are secretly evil? again, that’s great! i love that! that’s so compelling!!

but like. [padme amidala meme voice] okay so he’s a consummate performer who hides all his feelings. he does have actual feelings, though, right? okay so he’s genuinely sincerely good and honest and kind and would pick justice and truth over letting his loved ones get away with murder if forced to make that choice? again, he does have feelings about that, though, right? that’s not an easy choice to make?

and while i do love the introduction of a prosecutor who plays fair and is nice and friendly instead of [literally every other prosecutor in the entire series both before and after this game], it’s really fucking weird how chill he is about interacting with apollo and trucy. like. really fucking weird. why are they all so normal about each other? why is klavier so chill about helping his brother’s ex-employee who proved his brother was a murderer and the daughter of the man his brother framed for said murder? like. even if he’s all Professional™ to the point of managing to hide whatever he must be feeling just about his brother being a convicted murderer, how how HOW is he so normal whenever he’s interacting with apollo and trucy. it’s WEIRD it should be SO WEIRD where is the tension??

even more weirdly, why isn’t apollo weird about interacting with klavier gavin, in turn? even if we want to assume klavier is Just That Good at maintaining his persona, apollo is not a professional musician and doesn’t seem like a very good actor. he should feel extremely weird about this guy and he just… does not seem to. for that matter, trucy should feel weird too! that doesn’t need to be something the game actually digs into, it could be implied in passing that she’s also doing the performance thing and hiding all her actual emotions in favor of showing a carefully crafted persona to the world and that she only shows what she’s actually feeling to phoenix, in private, but NOPE not even vague implications in that direction really, she’s just. actually totally normal around klavier gavin and is a huge fan of the gavinners somehow??

but the weirdness (or rather, baffling lack thereof) doesn’t end with apollo and trucy.

again, not wanting to talk about/show how he feels about his brother for most of the game totally makes sense, he’s a consummate performer with a well-practiced facade etc etc, he isn’t even in 4-1 so by the time we meet him he’s already had time to practice being His Normal Professional Self. he’s got this. in my hypothetical rewrite he’s got this slightly less around apollo and trucy specifically because of their very specific personal connections but if we hear him talking to ema or to other people he’s definitely got this.

but in canon he literally finds out during a trial that one of his bandmates/good friends is also a murderer and a smuggler and was the one responsible for setting his guitar on fire which he was SUPER upset about earlier in the case, and his reaction to daryan’s confession is… playing air guitar and saying “you’re not in the band anymore btw.” there’s a couple minutes in the last case where he’s like “oh shit my brother committed a LOT more crimes than i thought actually” before he goes back to not caring. like, setting aside his expression bc limited number of sprites etc etc, based specifically on the actual dialogue he’s clearly distressed about the possibility of kristoph having been responsible for poisoning vera, apollo openly says “but you clearly think it is possible,” and then klavier is like “eh fuck it, i knew something awful was going on, yeah let’s make my brother testify” and… that’s it. air guitar time. kristoph spends half his time on the stand insulting/manipulating klavier/attempting to undermine klavier’s confidence in himself and it’s clearly working! until suddenly klavier’s like “haha yeah no it’s all good.” in the credits scene he compares the trial in which he found out his brother had attempted to kill at least three different people and he himself was partially complicit in kristoph being convicted, positively, to a rock concert.

like. there’s maintaining a professional facade and then there’s that.

he deserves to be so goddamn compelling. but like. in practice he’s not even a person. why doesn’t he CARE. why doesn’t he care kristoph is a murderer. why doesn’t he care apollo proved it. why doesn’t he care daryan is a murderer. why doesn’t he care kristoph is a murderer again, and also forged evidence and used klavier to ruin someone’s career and presumably would’ve used the forged evidence himself to win under false pretenses in klavier’s first case if he had the chance and and and. why doesn’t he care in the next game that his mentor got murdered. let him be a person with interiority i am begging.

but like. this is what i keep coming back to. i could fix it. i could fix him. not in the “oh i could fix him” generally-dating-related sense. more like the opposite of that actually. i could make him psychologically MUCH worse. but as a character he would actually be good.

it should’ve been such an amazing dramatic reveal/twist in the last case when the scope of kristoph gavin’s crimes begin to be revealed and klavier stays true. all game, he’s too nice and too helpful and apollo and trucy feel more than a little awkward interacting with him even though he’s always perfectly polite to them despite little hints of something darker underneath, moments when his perfect facade falters. he should keep apollo/the player off balance and unsure what to think of him, and we should suspect that he’s just as bad as kristoph but playing the long game even better.

and we get to the final case and realize kristoph gavin has been behind everything and at first klavier acts like he doesn’t believe it, and we brace ourselves for klavier to show his true colors and push the judge to end cross-examination and let kristoph get off scot-free even though we know he’s behind everything and we know klavier knows—

and then he doesn’t.

he hasn’t known all along, he wasn’t in on it, he’d adamantly repressed any suspicions he’d had all those years—so the gradual reveal that kristoph was behind everything is completely devastating, not least because he has to learn and process it all on the stand in front of everyone (not least both apollo and kristoph himself), and so the evidence builds, and finally, klavier has a whole entire breakdown of his own, that’s if anything longer and more dramatic than kristoph’s

and then he collects himself, and he apologizes, and he helps us win the case.

like

that would be

so goddamn compelling

and i genuinely don’t understand why that’s not what the game gave us. we were so close to getting that, why did he just brush it off? why didn’t he care?

so in the secret good version in my head, that’s what happens.

there should be differences in how he’s written outside the courtroom, too, though. like i said before, in canon, apollo-and-klavier and trucy-and-klavier should feel extremely fucking weird about interacting with each other and be varying levels of good at hiding it but none of them should be perfect, and i think it’s a major writing/characterization flaw that none of that is true. in this version, though, the situation is a little different: trucy could still potentially be a little weird around klavier gavin bc he’s kind of part of why her original dad abandoned her (and vice versa), but she doesn’t actually have to be.

because here’s the thing: in this au, klavier hasn’t done anything to phoenix at all except (if he didn’t take the whole seven years off for his band—which, given that he did still get someone disbarred thanks to his brother’s tip and probably still had weird feelings to repress about that, he might have!) potentially face him sometimes in court (where, as in canon, he’s an entirely fair and reasonable opponent who doesn’t resort to anything beyond lighthearted insults and is an extremely graceful loser, and in general is an absolutely delightful change of pace from the paynes or who-have-you), and while he is part of why trucy’s original dad left, that was as much (as far as she knows) the fault of shadi’s defense attorney for forging evidence instead of proving him innocent fair and square, and if her dad had actually cared he could’ve come back for her eventually, so while she probably isn’t sure about klavier right at first regardless, i think it would be plausible for her to not have any sort of a grudge by the time the game actually happens?

conversely, though, if phoenix stays a defense attorney he and edgeworth definitely get married within, like, a year, tops. so while trucy might not be weird about klavier, at least by the time the plot of the game kicks off, he’s kind of nervous around her, just like. not bc of the zak gramarye trial. because one of her dads is his boss.

but then that just makes any conversation trucy-and-apollo have with klavier that much more fun bc as far as trucy’s concerned, here’s that cool prosecutor who’s one of the nicest people she knows from her dads’ jobs! while klavier is slightly terrified but in a normal polite kind of way, and meanwhile trucy and apollo have their canon pseudo-siblings-because-they-don’t-know-they’re-biological-siblings dynamic, and finally klavier and apollo interacting is every bit as fucked up and tense as they should be about each other in canon bc oh my god you’re why my brother was exposed as a murderer and got sent to jail / oh god you’re my evil ex-boss’s younger brother, and how the hell do you talk to someone like that? because that’s what their dynamic should have been in canon and frankly we were robbed

nyquildriver: klavier being polite and helpful but obviously taken off guard frequently by these two would be so entertaining nyquildriver: it gives us the tension that we want while not being like, bizarre about it and resorting to like. flirtation? that feels weirdly like pandering nyquildriver: although klavier disguising his uneasiness with flirtation? that would be an interesting choice iridescentoracle: YES i actually love the idea of klavier flirting reflexively as like. a defense mechanism. when he’s stressed and doesn’t know how to respond he leans harder into the rockstar persona which includes flirting with everyone whether he remotely means it or not. it fits into what we do see of klavier in canon so well but like. turns him into more of a real person?

nyquildriver: honestly the pieces are there! they just didn't arrange them into a complete picture of a person, argh nyquildriver: after their first meeting apollo: what the fuck was that trucy: was he… into you? apollo: I don't think he was, which is why that was weird as hell??? nyquildriver: trucy's favorite running joke now is klavier flirting with apollo like he's a fan nyquildriver: she buys gavinners merch to plant on apollo/his things on the off chance that klavier sees it because the reaction should be hysterical nyquildriver: and that is worth giving up her allowance for however many years

iridescentoracle: god. and the like, deeply comedic irony that of literally everyone in the world who he could have this awkward and specific a relationship with, it just happens to be the one guy who can tell he absolutely does not actually mean the flirting and is perpetually accompanied by his sister who can also tell iridescentoracle: like, if apollo was ANYONE ELSE he might be able to actually pull off using Flirty Rockstar Klavier Gavin as a façade to get through interactions convincingly normally. but unfortunately, nyquildriver: and it would be a great way to keep the player off guard and suspicious of him too!

[jinxed-ninjago]

One thing I don't think we speculate/theorize/discuss/whatever enough is how Plundar would interact with the team on a more casual basis and vice versa (I'm specifying Plundar because with Wyldfyre's existence I feel like we can get a loose idea of how Korgran would interact with the team on a more casual basis and vice versa because I think Korgran and Wyldfyre have similar attitudes [although Korgran is definitely more chill than Wyldfyre], and I don't think Fungus would be much different considering how he interacts with the rest of the Upply, Cole, Wu, and Vania casually).

So Plundar interacting with the rest of the ninja:

We know Kai was likely jealous that Cole "had a crew" when Plundar introduced himself as "part of Cole's crew" so if we go off of that, I feel like Kai and Plundar would have a rivalry going on. Would it be one-sided on Kai's end? Probably, let's be honest. The idea is really funny. BUT I also really like the idea of Plundar finding worn out daggers and swords in the mines under Shintaro Mountain when he goes spelunking with the Upply and taking them to the monastery for Kai to restore. Still rivals but Kai appreciates Plundar giving him weapons to restore in the monastery's forge. Maybe Plundar even takes the weapons to Kai for him to restore in an attempt to demonstrate that the one-sided rivalry he has going on is fucking dumb lol.

Everyone else is gonna be significantly harder just because they don't really interact with Plundar canonically (Jay's only interaction with Plundar is screaming when he sees Adam then questioning who the Upply are, Nya's only interaction with him is asking who he is, and Lloyd and Zane don't interact with him at all). I will do my best however because the idea of Plundar interacting with these goofs is great.

Lloyd would probably be more skeptical of him at first, just because that's how Lloyd is. Statistically speaking, even if one of the ninja makes a new friend or ends up with a love interest who is briefly evil but ends up on their side in the end, they're still on the villain's side at some point to an extent, and I don't doubt that Lloyd would extend this sentiment to Lloyd. It happened with Zane and Pixal, it happened with Kai and Skylor (and there it resulted in Kai getting briefly corrupted), it happened with Lloyd himself and Harumi, basically you can count on ninja love interests starting out in league with the villains/villainous factions so I wouldn't doubt that Lloyd would be distrusting of Plundar, especially since Plundar's a thief. Cue Plundar trying way too hard to gain Lloyd's trust, and Cole trying to explain to Plundar "you're fine, he's just like this, he'll come around eventually as long as you aren't horrible."

I feel like Plundar would probably troll Jay all the time. Plundar's a thief who probably aces his stealth checks every time AND canonically Cole brought him on a stealth mission, you can't tell me he wouldn't tease the shit out of Jay using his stealth. It's probably more in an "I see you as a little brother so I'm gonna tease you relentlessly" way and not from a place of malice. Jay, who is used to getting this kind of shit but from a meaner verbal place from Kai, probably doesn't mind and tells Plundar when he needs a break from it.

Plundar and Nya would probably do a lot of sparring. Canonically, Nya's always looking for ways she can improve her skills, and having a stealthy thief around to help combat stealth would probably lead to a lot of sparring between the two. Outside of that, Plundar would probably be in the same spot as Cole and see her as a younger sister.

Plundar's been underground for YEARS, bro would be absolutely fascinated by both Zane and Pixal and I think they'd both be 100% down to answer any questions he has, whether it be about their mechanics, their programming, or really anything. Even if the question would be something the others would call invasive, they're patient and understanding because they understand it's new to Plundar.

I think Plundar should've interacted with the rest of the team more, I genuinely feel like we were robbed of some interactions that could've been pure gold (ESPECIALLY with Plundar and Kai) lmao

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 12/19/2022

shambling along towards the new year

listening

cotton heads by caravan palace. i think this has been on every spotify wrapped playlist ive ever had. soft and comforting in a way that’s hard for me to describe. this has been part of the background music in some of the softest times of my life, winter-warm and safe and solitary noodling around on some project that involves a lot of fiddling with tiny pieces on a desk. spotify

-

reading

houston thrift stores are, predictably, awash with cowboy western novels. mostly it’s every louis l’amour or zane grey possible (no thanks)

jake logan’s SLOCUM AND THE YELLOWBACK TRAIL is number three hundred and seventy nine in the series, which is quite impressive. i am fascinated when a book attempts to transplant a cowboy into an urban environment so we’ll stick with it for a bit, despite a truly horrible sex scene describing a “rigid pole”. there were no onomatopoeia sex sounds which is both blessing and curse bc the intel SLOCUM gathered during this sex scene seemed like a completely different conversation totally unrelated to the sex he was having. she simply happened to come three times in three pages while telling him everything he needed for Next Location.

-

watching

saw several very beautiful movies in the last two weeks, one of which i liked very much.

Experiment in Terror (1962, dir. Edwards) has one of my favorite Mancini-composed pieces of music but i had never seen the movie it was from. a neo-noir man with an asthmatic rasp puts pressure on a bank teller and her teen sister to rob the bank by terrorizing them through various means. however, despite successfully playing on a lot of Womanly Fears (unexpected phone calls, driving at night, being alone) the fbi. this is perhaps a bit snide since it is extremely good at keeping the tension up through most of the runtime, the leads all did a good job imo— a letterboxed reviewer pointed out the villain played by Ross Martin has a certain chameleon-like quality from scene to scene and it is really arresting, he pops up in some unexpected places to great effect. a well-shot movie, just a hair longer than i wanted it to be, i don’t think any movie could survive the hype i built up in my head after loving than mancini piece so much, and was not quite the vibe i was looking for on the afternoon i finished it.

in a different noir with an important scene during a baseball game, Stray Dog (1949, dir. Kurosawa). everything you could possibly say about this movie has already been said. mifune is such a fucking joy to watch as a somewhat hapless young cop with a bad case of the scruples. gets his fully loaded pistol pickpocketed on the tram, sending him hither and yon during a brutally hot summer tracking down every bullet. widely available for free. fucking beautiful work of art. deeply annoying when widely acclaimed movies are actually really good

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playing

nothing new to report, nothing i want to play has been a free epic game lately. very excited that a character ive been waiting for is dropping in genshin on…uhhhhh…tomorrow? she has sunglasses. she has a gunbrella. she can call in heavy cannon bombardment. she’s just so cute

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making

one of the purposes of the tuesdaypost is to remind myself to expand the selection of things i do and my brain partially feels like sludge bc of the time of year and partially bc i haven’t fucking done anything more complicated than scrambled eggs or cleaning things in like two weeks

[moreespressoformydepresso]

You think the Descendants books are canon? And who's you're least fave AK and why?

Yes and no. I think the books color in canon, and things like the shrimpy debacle and Cruella’s abhorrent parenting certainly seem to fit in very well with the movies, but I don’t think they’re straight up 100% canon. Mostly because the rotten four in the movies are very close and behave like they’ve been besties since birth. They have a clear, deep bond and behave like they’ve known each other since forever. You cannot tell me with a straight face that they met in the same year that the movies happened. Also, their parents live together in the movies and they don’t in the books. Well I guess it’s not explicitly stated that they do, but how else do we explain them being together whenever they’re onscreen, and stuff like Evil Queen knowing how the “safe” works? It’s the most logical conclusion to me. Aside from that, Ben and Mal give no indication of recognizing each other in the movies, so the dreams aren’t canon either unless I’m supposed to believe that Ben made a declaration based on his dream, partially to get that one girl off the isle, and then didn’t recognize her when she stood in front of his face. To me it seems some parts of the books are canon, some are canon-esque, and the rest are creative liberties for the sake of telling a good story.

My least favorite AK is Chad, I hate his guts. Or rather his lack thereof.

It was a tossup between him and Audrey, but Audrey has redeeming qualities and a reason to be the way she is. I briefly considered going with Jane but she’s only kinda unlikeable in the first movie and just like Audrey has good qualities and a reason to be Like That. Chad does not. Like- at all. He doesn’t have a single good thing about him, he doesn’t do anything other than act horribly, and his only merit is that he’s so unlikeable we can laugh at him every time he face plants into the mud. His main character trait is that he’s mean, he’s judgmental, and he uses his good looks and status to get what he wants (like making girls do his homework and then dumping them/not following through on his end of a deal). Then in D3 he’s lost all the charming front and has turned into a pathetic coward who licks Audrey’s (fabulous) boots and that’s it. That’s all he has. His reason for being that way?

Good question, I’d love to know too!

Actually no at this point I honestly don’t care, but I guess I’d hear it out if we ever got anything. That’s why I dislike Chad so much though, there’s nothing to him. He’s an antagonist making our villain protagonists’ lives harder because he can and he’s something for the audience to laugh at or yell at, but he’s got nothing beyond that. I can’t analyse him, I can’t really talk about him in any meaningful way because there’s nothing to talk about. Audrey, I can talk about for days, because she’s fascinating and a lot deeper than you’d think in the first movie, but Chad just isn’t. Jane was only kinda mean in the first movie and it’s clear that it’s because she’s been an outcast all her life. Of course she’ll do anything to keep her newfound popularity once she’s finally accepted! When you get what you’ve wanted all your life you’ll do stupid shit to not lose that again, especially if you’re an insecure teenager. And Audrey was told since birth she’d be the queen of Auradon, her grandma (who she clearly cares about a lot) puts a lot of pressure on her and even talks down to her when Ben breaks up with her in a way I’d say borders on verbal abuse.

"A lifetime of planning gone. Our family status gone. Audrey you were supposed to be his queen and you let him slip through your fingers."

"Your mother could hold on to a prince her sleep."

Imagine someone you love deeply telling you that because your boyfriend broke up with you. Look at that and tell me queen Leah hasn’t been pushing Audrey to become queen since forever. Audrey herself says she and Ben were supposed to be a couple from an early age, practically betrothed, that whole thing was not her idea and I can imagine her boyfriend singing a love song for another girl in front of the entire school isn’t gonna inspire nice behavior. Was Audrey a little vain? Yes, but again she’s clearly had much pressure put on her to be perfect (she and my Anthony would get along great with the instilled perfectionism, I might write about them bonding one day 👀). Her behavior can be explained, and given her lyrics in Queen of Mean we can assume that she was very nice to people who weren’t the VK’s. As you can tell by the length of this, there’s a lot to talk about with Audrey. I can’t do that with Chad because there’s nothing there. He’s not a good person, and that’s all we get.

The most I can do is tell you he’s a representation of the nature vs nurture themes, with his parents being heroes and him being the way that he is, but not only is that very obviously his purpose in the story aside from driving the drama of the plot, he’s also not the only character serving that purpose. Queen Leah does it better than he does given the way she treats Audrey (her grievances with Mal and her behavior towards here are unjustified, but they do have a basis), and Audrey is just a more interesting angle to take in that theme. Jane’s little “mean girl” phase is better than Chad’s whole character, because it shows in just a few scenes how good people can become assholes in certain circumstances.

So yeah fuck Chad, at least he’s an easy pick for when I wanna write drama and need an inciting incident. He’s perfect for that if nothing else.

[constelationprize]

hi! i’d love if you’d answer a, u, and o for the ask game

A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.

I am currently in Rhaenicent brainrot lockdown. (someone posted a full edit of them to the full 3:39 minutes of Good Luck Babe to YouTube and I'm being very mentally well about it). My beloved doomed yuri. I cannot wait until Alicent has to (redacted) (redacted) (redacted) Rhaenyra and then be miserable about it the rest of her life. I don't care if she's not on Dragonstone in the books life will find a way.

HOWEVER I have also been enjoying the armandaniel/Devil's Minion content we have gotten from the IWTV fandom post-finale. They are horrible. I do nothing but look at memes about them all day.

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?

Instead of choosing I will just shuffle my downloaded songs and report back to you.

I got An Act of Kindness by Bastille and I'm gonna assign that to jeanee :)

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

This one is fun because I instantly forgot every media I've ever consumed.

So, uh.

Luke Castellan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians – Baby's first morally grey character. I just find him so fascinating as a foil to Percy and as a villain in and off himself. Unfortunately he is struck by the curse of being part of a middle grade franchise and so people often engage with his character in a very black-and-white way, and I hate how people use a single, ambiguous line in his literal last scene to moralize about him. ANYWAY. He did in fact do all that shit but he was Literally Right. So.

Adam Parrish, The Raven Cycle – he's truly the perfect character. He's a liar. He's traumatized. He refuses to accept help and be perceived and so tries to do everything himself, always resulting in making things 100% worse. Most of his problems could be solved by open communication and polyamory, and he refuses to do either. He's a real magician that does fake card readings for money. He does absolutely everything wrong and still manages to get everything he wants. He got rid of one of the villains by framing him for murder. He fully killed a guy. He's even bisexual. What's not to love?

Mallory Glass aka Sister Carpenter, The Silt Verses – Maybe my favorite podcast protagonist of all time. Attack dog of the faith. She's jaded and cynical and still gets emotionally attached to almost everyone she meets. The only thing she wants in life is a peaceful retirement from making horrible human sacrifices and two separate gods refuse to let her. We listen as she gets more and more tired of the world around her and the path the marginalization of her youth led her to take, and is still forced to keep going. Owner of the iconic line "Tell me more about your god, I wanna know whose house I wrecked", a batshit moment in a batshit episode that's been in my main blog bio for two years. I'm not ready to say goodbye to her this Thursday :(

[llycaons]

ep15 (part 1): compels me though

starting off, sect leader yao gets such a bad rap in fics because he'a annoying/a symbol of mindless agreement with the popular opinion, but it seems a bit mean to me. the dude got really badly hurt to protect his guys

oh, wwx. poor sweet naive wwx. it's wild to think he once had faith that the JIN clan would be on the side of justice here

honestly I find this a very stupid pretext to get jfm out of LP. there is no need for him to personally go in such tense times, and no need for jyl to go with him

GIRL DISCIPLES! OH BOY!

myu in this episode is so fascinating to me. I don't think it's a stretch to say she genuinely cares about jfm even though she treats him like garbage. those two things can, and often do co-exist. she expresses her affection sideways because...what, she's embarrassed? because she's as emotionally repressed as adult jc is? because jfm would refuse it? he doesn't look very happy hearing that she's packing him something to help him. he looks resentful, if anything. man, this family is screwy

look at her being concerned and protective over her daughter! she may be villainized in a lot of scenes but honestly most fics I've read don't capture the balance between 'shrieking, cruel, bitter harpy' and 'genuinely concerned mother and wife'. the area between those two extremes is massive and I don't know that many fan works bother to explore that space without just redeeming her and pretending like she never did anything wrong, or saying 'deep down she loved them all so it's okay'. it's like they worry if they show a scrap of care or humanity then they're excusing everything else she did. but I don't agree. she has nuance but that doesn't mean she's not a horrible mother, and in real life it's not like (most) abusive parents are screaming criticisms and attacking their kids 100% of the time anyway

the way everyone talks about LP in this episode hurts me. 'our Lotus Pier" from wwx "my home" from jc "my Lotus Pier" from myu. interesting 😭

oh dammit. I talked so much about how the wens would have attacked anyway and jc and myu were wrong to blame wwx only for it to be a personal grudge anyway. fuck. well wen chao's actions still aren't wwx's fault and even if they were he did enough to pay it back tenfold

...which is probably the facts that jc has to grapple with post-gc reveal. fuck

so mean to him

ppl like to talk about jc protecting ww from dogs (and he does, in the past) and a certain type of fan seems to think that because jc used to be like this, it means he still is, deep down. he is not. by the postres inn scene with fairy, he clearly is not

I've said that jc never changes, but that's a lie. he becomes so much worse. I grieve for this kid

oh huh. wwx being trapped at LP isn't ever anything that's rly talked about in fics bc LP signifies youth and innocence and happiness and freedom but here it is. wwx suspects he's being spied on by myu too, which 😬

jc's panic and anger vs. wwx's cool, clearheaded response and reminder. jc is really not suited to leadership I feel so bad for him

THIS SCENE FUCKS SEVERELY. it's everything ramped up to 100. it's one of my favorite sequences in the show, and absolutely one of the top three non-wx related scenes. maybe the very best for me. the arrogance of this woman is breathtaking and if you know a thing about myu you can see where it's going

YOU SAID THAT??? MISS FORMER MAID??? YOU HAVE THE GALL TO SAY THAT TO A CULTIVATOR OBSESSED WITH BLOODLINES???

glaring at wwx OKAY way to make every convo about beating him down

obviously this is a really hard scene to watch and I always have mixed feelings on it bc on the one hand. obviously really upsetting. on the other, myu is acting to appease a sect that will destroy their entire home if not satisfied. she is not harming him permanently, and MAY be pulling her punches so the damage isn't as bad as it looks (tho arguments like 'he can walk later!' don't rly pull weight for me bc wwx walks off horrific pain all the time)

I don't think this means she secretly cares about wwx further than as a tool to keep jc/the sect safe (she needs him functional, after all), or that it means she's a good person, but it's a strategic decision that wwx understands and accepts because of the political situation they're in.

logically myu obviously uses zidian on wwx in other cases, because he talks about it, bc it's talked about enough that lwj knows about it, and because she didn't need to close the doors (implying it's a commonplace sight that nobody would balk at) but we don't actually see any of her whipping as punishment onscreen

and yeah he's bleeding from his mouth already so it's not like it was nothing

just fucking shoot me I guess. jc doesn't even know what's going on here does he? the others had to hold him back at the beginning too

and myu thinks this is it! she doesn't want to disable her top disciple, who she entrusts with her son's life! she doesn't want the wens to have that kind of power over her people in her domain. but like. I think it's pretty clear she would have if pushed to it. like she was ready for it

FORESHADOWING. ugh because of all the trauma you get it?

^^^ again, whipping isn't an uncommon occurrence

wwx is so good at adapting to situations he's already planning on training with his left. and he could have done it. I'm sure he could have. jc is thinking this is the end, he's ready to start begging. when he loses his core, he's ready to give up. but wwx always thinks beyond whatever horrible, world-ending situation is going on now. it's why his suicide is so shocking and powerful. he's never been one to give up, even through seemingly insurmountable odds

[beboped1]

Hogfather

You're not really back until the second post, especially not with ADHD. Luckily, we're out of the rut!

Hogfather

First read: High School

Verdict then: Definitely one of his better ones, but it didn't connect with me as well as Vimes.

Verdict now: What a great jump out of the rut we've been in since Soul Music - not a return to form, but a true evolution of it. Susan continuing to grow is awesome, Death in one of his best forms, and the first truly great Pratchett Villain all lead into such a clear moral statement. The best art hits different but lesser as you move through life, and Hogfather fully stands up to that.

I really hoped that Hogfather was going to signal the end of the rut, and while it's still possible that we'll fall back into it, Hogfather itself was even better than I remembered it. The scaffolding has fallen into the background again, while the characters shine, the jokes land, and the philosophy is excellent.

It's easy to compare it to Soul Music as the structure is very similar - Death is doing something strange, and Susan has to deal with the consequences. But everything here is elevated - from the incisiveness of the parody to the truth of the characters to the existence of a villain.

And oh, that villain. Pratchett's villains are some of my favorite parts of his books, but to this point in the series, they've been largely forgettable. Men-at-Arms & Feet of Clay were the closest, but still, they didn't hit the height. Teatime is the first example of a true Pratchett villain to me. Everything about him is deeply screwed up, deeply horrible, and deeply human. If you've never met anyone like Teatime, count your blessings. And the way everyone reacts to him too, so true to their natures and so purely human.

Every character is so well drawn here. We've moved on from Death as his own protagonist to Death as an inciting incident/guide, and Pratchett nails that balance here in a way Mort and Soul Music just didn't. Susan, in her uncertain 20s, has a different set of existential problems to face, but also more tools with which to do so. The Wizards are really coming into their own as a unit too - the way in which they are both many characters and one character here is fascinating, and often hilarious.

Hogfather has perhaps my favorite description of humanity - "Where the falling angel meets the rising ape", and the demonstration of the value of that contradiction is the heart of the novel. Like all his best works so far, Hogfather is laser-focused on the exploration of dreams and reality. Of the small lies and the big ones. In High School, on my first read, I was too innocent to really understand how rare, and how essential to leading a good life, the lessons in this book are. But reading Death's final monologue, I had tears in my eyes this time, because, well, he really gets it. Pratchett so clearly articulates both the core of one of humanity's most fundamental existential crises, and outlines a beautiful solution all at once.

Hogfather has definitely risen up my personal favorite list, and I think I'll be chewing on the philosophies at the heart of it for a while longer, as well as the ways in which the whole is so much better than the parts. HO HO HO.

[d3l3t3d-deactivated]

random niche inner turmoil ahead (tw: sh)

When I started doing drag 3 years ago, I was a horribly depressed, anxious, lonely, cis lesbian who was getting out of a bad relationship. I spent half my time living in a dorm with a roommate who didn't like me, and the other half with my parents who abused me. I viewed drag as a outlet for my anger, an alternative to self harm (while still having really self destructive practices in drag), a way to express my queerness & masculinity, and a personification of the villain I had been made to feel like I was my whole life up to that point. I was deeply sheltered, and had a fascination with what I knew of raves & nightlife from comics and the internet, however had never actually experienced it firsthand being under 21. I developed a character who was this aggressively straight, washed up, gay for pay, dirty scumbag scene guy. He was womanizing, unhinged, & violent, deeply inspired by my own struggles with relationships, abuse, & suppressed masculinity/queerness. The man was a ghost, constantly dying/on the brink of death, because I myself wanted to be dead. Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, Dot Dot Curve, Brokencyde, like, every Wes Craven movie, basically anything hilariously violent and grotesque was my inspiration. This was Shean King.

Over three years later, So much has changed. I've learned to manage my emotions, the anger, the anxiety, the depression, they are still battles I fight every day, but I've learned to cope and regulate myself, and would consider myself a pretty happy guy. I've come out as trans, and live life every day as a gay man who loves drag. I've got friends, weird queer friends who I love for who they are and they return that love a million times over. I've moved away from my parents, rarely speak to them, and am learning to recognize abuse and cut the people who hurt me from my life. I club, I travel, I pursue what makes me happy and abandon what makes me suffer, and am living my life in a way 19 year old me couldn't have ever imagined. Basically, I'm a completely different guy now, and the outlet that Shean King was is obsolete. The hurt, the loneliness, & the suffering I faced during that time will never stop being a part of me, but that part is so so small now, that I don't need this punching bag imaginary friend to cope & build confidence. I've coped, I'm confident, so what now?

I feel like I'm at such a transitional point in my drag. Shean King is no longer a character I play, he's just me. My friends don't call me Nat, they call me Shean! The character of "Shean King" has become something totally different, and I'm trying to figure out what I want out of an alter-ego. I want to explore fashion, I want to be the biggest faggot I possibly can be, I want to make weird, balls-to-the-wall art, I want to feel affirmed in my gender while still exporting parts i don't get to in my day-to-day life, I want to be a force of nature, I want to be a figure in this incredible community, I want to be beloved, and show my art to the whole world, I want to feel like a fucking drop dead beautiful supermodel rock star. My art is now about joy in being trans, joy in being part of a vast, loving community, standing up for myself and others, and being a crossdressing freak and loving every second of it. My character is young, fresh, larger than life, colorful, faggy, and still inspired by the early internet age, absurdist humor, and the comedy of clout-chasing-attention-whoring, but not defined by it. Early in my drag I thought of myself as a black-and-white horror comic antagonist, but today I think I'm like a CGI popstar or something. I'm some kind of vocaloid, I'm daft punk, I'm the Cresendolls, but like the next generation of this idea. I'm tired of living life in black and white.

All this being said, I wonder if the label of "drag king" still fits for what I'm doing. Lately I've been being invited to all king group chats, collectives, shows, hangouts, and the likes and feeling like the odd man out. I've been being referred to as an "AFAB performer" as a synonym for "Drag Kings & Bio Queens" which I have to say I HATE. It's well meaning but nonetheless poor langue that just makes me feel like shit. These "all king" spaces are exactly that, well meaning but make me feel like shit. A lot of drag kings are trans masc, and a lot are queer cis women as well. This makes "all kings" spaces unintentionally segregated by genitals, the EXACT OPPOSITE of what drag should stand for. Why would I want to be in a space void of drag queens? My boyfriend is a queen! Many of my best friends are queens! Are we segregating a space by style of artwork, or assigned gender at birth? I'm deeply uninterested in recreating the gender binary but ~opposite~, and additionally, I do NOT want to be thought of as a "woman dressing as a man". I am a man in drag. I love drag queens, and kings, and things, and DRAG. Being a drag queen feels so open as well, there's bearded queens, and monster queens, and there's something affirming too about the idea that as a man, when i'm in drag I'm a queen. My drag as it is is already such a femme portrayal of masculinity, I'm some faggot-ass scene guy, I'm a supermodel, I'm an experimental artist, if the "character" of shean was in drag he'd be a queen. I had to ask myself, If I were to start drag tomorrow, what would I be? And if I started drag tomorrow, I'd be a queen.

So why can't I start drag tomorrow? A core foundation of my art is to be free, to experience joy and do whatever I want. I've told myself over and over that as soon as drag stops being fun, I'll quit. Well, being the sad, lonely, washed-up scene guy has stopped being fun, so I quit! I want to have my art be as vibrant and full of life as I am. I've built up a bit of a legacy for myself already, I've hosted shows, won 3 competitions, gotten big bookings, and made a name for myself! Myself, Shean King! But the fears holding me back from making this switch are loosing the legacy I've built up for myself, loosing the weird horror-comic style that made me unique, and not being taken seriously as a queen-- being seen still as that cursed term, "an AFAB performer" or just "experimenting with queen drag". The thing is, I don't expect my drag to change all that much as a result of this new label. I expect my drag to change and grow with me, and I expect myself to become more seasoned and skilled with makeup, costumes, and performance as time goes on, however the core of it all (ME!) remains the same. I'm still designing the costumes, making the mixes, writing the poems & captions, everything goes through the filter that is me. Additionally, I don't really express an exaggerated version of ANY gender in drag I think. I'm just a guy in weird costumes, I do draw on a shitty little mustache, but that's about it, and I don't plan to stop. Really all that is changing in my mind is the label, the presentation of it all. A label that feels more open and less dysphoric for me. A label I won't have to explain to people. I guess another fear of mine is people feeling like I "betrayed" kingness in a way. I know there are younger kings who look up to me as a drag king, and I know there are older kings who look upon me with pride, knowing they paved the way for me to be there. And that's true, they did, and I love and loved being a drag king, but above that I love being a drag artist and a trans man, and I want to do what's best for me in and out of drag, not just in it.

[stromuprisahat]

His pride inspired him to protect the Grisha who were being horribly treated, looked down upon, shamed, killed or maimed.

Actually, it was his compassion.

He understood then. The Grisha lived as shadows did, passing over the surface of the world, touching nothing, forced to change their shapes and hide in corners, driven by fear as shadows were driven by the sun. No safe place. No haven.

There will be, he promised in the darkness, new words written upon his heart. I will make one.

Demon in the Wood

But he didn't actually protect them in the end, did he?

No, he was murdered by his own and his enemies took it as permission to freely hunt Grisha even on Ravkan soil. Khergud, Fjerdan breeding facilities...

He fought for Ravka, fought for Grisha as long as he was the hero and his vision was what saved them, and did not care for the sacrifices that were made so much that I would argue he lost his original goal. The fold makes sense considering how often Ravka is at war, but was taken to too much of an extent and killed many, making people hate Grisha again.

A bit of contradiction, don't you think? The Fold makes sense, but it was too much?

It killed "many"? Who? One village docks city (depending on the book...)? How many were destroyed by Fjerdan raids? Or Shu Han? But we never get to see these, do we. That might make us question the narrative and who's the real evil here.

I can agree The Fold shouldn't have been used on Ravkan territory in books, that doesn't make sense, but I've always seen it as bad writing in order to make the Darkling the villain Alina needs to defeat. Not the stategic mind we're introduced and shown again and again.

How do we know Aleksander doesn't care about sacrifices? Because he doesn't break down every time something bad happens? He's been watching the most horrible events for centuries, often helpless to do anything about it. It might have made him numb enough not to cry about it, but that hardly means he doesn't care. He merely learnt to make every single sacrifice count. And he's the first one to make them, when it's needed, to a point of self-destruction.

“I have lived a long life, rich in grief. My tears are long since spent. If I still felt as you do, if I ached as you do, I could not have borne this eternity.”

Ruin and Rising- Chapter 15

He paused, studying me. “How are you finding life in hiding, Alina? You don’t look well.”

“Neither do you,” I said. It wasn’t just the scars. He wore his weariness like an elegant cloak, but it was still there. Faint smudges showed beneath his eyes, and the hollows of his sharp cheekbones cut a little deeper.

“A small price to pay,” he said, his lips quirking in a half smile.

Siege and Storm- Chapter 1

He let a nichevo’ya form behind Azarov, towering and bewinged. Calling on merzost was painful, like a breath torn from his lungs, a moment of terror as his life was ripped away to form another. Creation. Abomination. But he was used to it by now.

Rule of Wolves- Chapter 33

The funniest part is saying (parrotting the author, really) he's been doing his job "as long as he was the hero". That happened when, exactly? Because the Darkling we're introduced is feared and hated, othered by masses and Alina both, yet it doesn't stop him. He's readily embracing the role of a villain, if it serves his purpose and he'll be allowed to continue his carefully laid out plans.

Alexei insisted that I retell the story of the Grisha coaches, and it was met by the usual mix of fascination and fear that greeted any mention of the Darkling.

“He’s not natural,” said Eva, another assistant; she had pretty green eyes that did little to distract from her piglike nose. “None of them are.”

Alexei sniffed. “Please spare us your superstition, Eva.”

“It was a Darkling who made the Shadow Fold to begin with.”

“That was hundreds of years ago!” protested Alexei. “And that Darkling was completely mad.”

“This one is just as bad.”

Shadow and Bone- Chapter 1

“Someone has to lead, Alina. Someone has to end this. Believe me, I wish there were another way.”

He sounded so sincere, so reasonable, less a creature of relentless ambition than a man who believed he was doing the right thing for his people. Despite all he’d done and all he intended, I did almost believe him. Almost.

I gave a single shake of my head.

He slumped back in his chair. “Fine,” he said with a weary shrug. “Make me your villain.”

Shadow and Bone- Chapter 21

I'd also love to see that utopia, where Grisha weren't merely tolerated it Ravka. Even the Retcon duology admits they're hardly equal citizens...

“Perhaps you don’t give the people enough credit,” said Yuri.

“No?” said Zoya from her perch. “The people who still call Grisha witches despite the years they’ve kept this country safe? Who bar them from owning property in their towns—”

“That is illegal,” said Nikolai.

Zoya raised her glass in a mock toast. “I’ll be sure to inform them the next time a Grisha family is driven from their home in the middle of the night.”

King of Scars- Chapter 12

And the retaliation and punishment for going against him was severe and enforced by him. Was it necessary? Hell no. This part of his pride, the selfish, controlling pride was what made him the villain, and is clearly negative.

Are we talking about him not treating traitors and deserters in kid gloves? Really? Because what would you have him do? Sit them down, patiently listen to their fears and objections and explain his every single move?

That's not about someone's pride, but actual order and how military usually works. Do you think disobedience is tolerated in organization build on the opposite? This is 19th-ish century army, not democracy of 21st. You don't like the comparison, don't use the set pieces.

From what I can tell others such as Alina and the Triumvirate are positive activists. People like them have his old pride, have his rage and need for justice. But they aren't as selfish and have more compassion. Even Zoya. And that's what separates him from them.

Genuinelly laughing my ass off on this.

Alina- an activist? Alina "I want to be left alone" Starkov? She isn't proud, she's persuaded the world revolves around her and has love/hate relationship with the notion. Totally different thing.

Also have no idea, where you gathered those "heroes" have "rage, need for justice, compassion and aren't selfish".

Poor Genya became one-dimensional perpetual victim and anti-Darkling mouthpiece that likes to blame everything on him, probably including fall of Roman empire and they don't even have one...

David's personality is "loves his wife, tinkers and occasionally feels guilty for helping the Big Bad". We don't really get to see more of him, his main purpose, aside from the above, is to die, which tends to anger anyone, who liked glimpses of his (NOT)autistic ass.

Don't even get me started of LB's overpowered self-insert. She likes to list all her people, who died due to the Darkling, but the living matter only as long as they're one of hers. Facing hard choices, she has plot armour to make everyone love her and bow down to her just in time to save those 3.5 people she cares about and knows by name. That's unlikable character and bad writng right here.

“This is a trap,” said Genya. “Not a negotiation tactic. He wants you to do something rash. Zoya? Zoya, what are you doing?”

Zoya stalked back to the tent. “Something rash.”

“We have a strategy,” Genya argued, hurrying to follow. “It’s working. We need to stick to it. And Nikolai needs you to help guide our rockets.”

…

She shook her head and plunged into the tent, stripping off the First Army uniform she’d worn to disguise her identity. “There are other Squallers,” she said as she dug through her trunk for something less recognizable. “Adrik can guide the missiles. And I’ll be back in plenty of time. With Nina Zenik in tow.”

“She may not even be alive.”

Zoya nearly tore the roughspun shirt she’d drawn from her trunk. “She is not dead. I forbid it.”

Rule of Wolves- Chapter 36

Pretty sure if the Darkling had the power to make his wishes come true, we wouldn't be having this conversation...

The part of his pride which made him want to fight for and protect Grisha was could have made him good, or at least the person Grisha and Ravka needed. But he failed and became the monster Grisha haters needed to confirm their beliefs. That is where he went wrong.

I don't know how you think prejudice works, but it's sort of in the word itself. It's about judging pre-meeting whoever it's against. There was no excuse needed to hate Grisha. That's been happening this whole time, Ravkan General's military decision or not. The Fold just got on the list of reason, why is it justified, and it's terrifying to watch real, living people accept such notions.

But then again, operating on Good/Bad scale is rather tell-tale... We're not in a fairy tale.

#sorry for disagreeing but I think it definately needs to be remembered#I agree with the point that his orignal pride was admirable and courageous and if he'd stayed like that he would be the protagonist #except he wasn't #and he killed and punished many

I know the narrative likes to treat his actions as a result of arrogance, but he's literally military leader and the only person actively doing anything, offering real solutions, not just "Let's make a pretty speech and hug it out!".

#plus i disagree with the show in the banning of Keftas# like bruh #their Keftas are what makes them proud to be who they are in a time and country where what they are is frowned upon #like a pride flag or something

They're certainly a symbol. (And protective garment.) Not the only thing making Grisha proud, but celebration of their difference. And their enemies know it.

A large pyramid-shaped skylight looked down on what seemed to be a training room, its floor emblazoned with the drüskelle wolf’s head, the shelves lined with weapons. Through the next glass pyramid, he glimpsed a big dining hall. One wall was taken up by a massive hearth, a wolf’s head carved into the stone above it. The opposite wall was adorned by an enormous banner with no discernible pattern, a patchwork of slender strips of cloth—mostly red and blue, but some purple, too. It took Jesper a moment to understand what he was seeing.

“Saints,” he said, feeling a little sick. “Grisha colors.”

Wylan squinted. “The banner?”

“Red for Corporalki. Blue for Etherealki. Purple for Materialki. Those are pieces of the kefta that Grisha wear in battle. They’re trophies.”

“There are so many.”

Hundreds. Thousands. I would have worn purple, Jesper thought, if I’d joined the Second Army.

Six of Crows- Chapter 30

@glitter50000:

#I feel like also his pride in why its viewed as negative is that he doesn’t like to admit he’s wrong #Or it’s rare for him to admit that and he doesn’t like it when people get the best of him either

He's literally crawling to Alina any time she beats him somehow. He even offers her the throne after she tricks and almost kills him.

#You know he made the little palace and thanks to it the grisha are feared and respected at least by others and they don’t have to hide #But then his own actions with the Fold regressed that progress and he doesn’t want to admit it even if I believe that he knows that’s true

So we're back to "otkazat'sya have reasons to hate Grisha and it's the Darkling's miltary action, not the fact they've been doing it this whole time anyway"?! Please...

#But to admit it would mean to have to change how he’s been going at this for years but he thinks he’s right in how he views it #When how he thinks goes more for how it was when he was growing up and not now. When he was growing it was a dog eats dog world for grisha #Better to strike first and give them something to be afraid for then give them any chance to get you but #they’re not really in that world anymore in the present time

I bag you pardon, where? Look, I know the show made sure to skim over or straight up erase Grisha oppression, but how are Grisha better in present? When the best case scenario is live in Ravka with life-long military service and being basically property of the Crown, frowned upon, distrusted and viewed as something other?

The Darkling's pride is constantly presented as a negative trait, but I'd argue it's the exact opposite. He's living in a world, which treats "what" he is with suspicion at best, disgust and outright hatred more often than not. Not only he's refusing to accept such views, he's openly defiant. That takes a lot of courage and for me, it's worth admiration, not negative judgement.

[tommytranselo]

sal marcano as the sinister reflection of tommy angelo.  “everything i’ve done, i’ve done for my family” taken to its most horrible extreme.  everything else will come and go but family is forever.  “find yourself a nice woman, give me some fucking grandkids.”  times are changing, this isn’t sustainable anymore.  finally betraying the crime family for your immediate family.  getting tired of looking over your shoulder and just wanting a way out, to go straight, a better life for your kid–how far would you go for it?  who gets fucked over in the process?

[dilatorywriting]

Heroes vs. Villains : The Staff [Part 2]

Platonic GN!Reader x NRC Staff vs. RSA Staff Word Count: 3.1k

Summary: Woe to the Ramshackle Prefect, being caught up in the drama between the Disney Villains and their respective heroes. NRC Staff Version (Part 2: Crewel and Crowley)

ie. Mr. Rogerson has awesome dalmatians and his wife makes even better cookies. Meanwhile, Crewel continues to be an emotionally constipated mess, and Crowley is... himself.

[PART 1] [PART 2] [PART 3] [PART 4]

You were met at the door by a pair of over enthusiastic dalmatians—the chaotically cute duo sending you ass-first to the office floor in a merry greeting that was more of a graceless tackle than anything else.

“You brought Poe and Perdy!” you exclaimed, laughing past the face kisses.

“Well, they’d never forgive me if I didn’t,” Mister Rogerson huffed good naturedly. “Do you know how much this little nutter cried when I came home the other day and he realized you’d been by? Ages, I’m telling you. Thought he was going to pout me into an early grave.”

You squished both of them affectionately and showered the lovely, spotted, beasts with every compliment under the sun.

“Oh! Before I forget…” the professor rustled around in his leather messenger bag and retrieved a neatly packaged pastry box all bundled up in a colorful, twine, bow. You accepted the treats happily and removed yourself from the dog-pile to take your usual place on the well-worn piano bench. “Annie made you some more cookies, seeing as you liked the last ones so much.”

“Did you help?” you asked.

“Hmm? What makes you say that?”

You held up the first treat from the pile—half-singed on one side and squishy with raw dough on the other.

“You caught me!” he laughed, and retrieved a second box. “These are from Annie. Those are my failures.”

“Such horrible lies,” you tutted, dramatic. “Trying to trick an innocent victim into ingesting poison just so that you can keep all the good ones for yourself.”

“Hey, they’re not that bad!” he defended, taking a large chomp out of one of the less charred looking of his creations. Immediately his cheeks went nearly green. “Or… maybe they are.”

You pushed a water bottle in his direction which he accepted gratefully. There was always a stash of them just to the left of his composer’s stand, and another hoard in a conspicuous looking storage cube closer to the piano at which you’d perched yourself. There were more sweets hidden in his desk drawers too, for when something stronger than water was needed to wash away whatever awful thing he’d tried to ingest. You knew where a lot of ‘secret’ things were in this room. It felt nice, to be so privy to all its little treasures.

“You know,” he smiled, finishing the last of his water with a final gulp. “Annie keeps pestering me to have you come by for dinner.”

“I wouldn’t want to impose,” you hesitated, looking around the room where so many of your little odds and ends had already started to accumulate. Empty mugs, the patch that had fallen off your jacket, the thread which you’d intended to use to fix said patch. Just… little footprints showing you’d been by.  “Well, any more at least.”

“Nonsense,” Mister Rogerson laughed. “You’re more than welcome! But we don’t mean to pressure you, of course! Especially if you’re busy! Just something to think about if you’d like. Anyways, how has your day been?”

And thus began your afternoon ritual. You would sit and split Annie’s delicious cookies as you rambled about your various grievances. Mister Rogerson would inevitably come and take a seat beside you on the piano bench and start playing some gentle strains of this or that—‘just little things he was working on,’ he’d said. Occasionally you’d accidentally lean on the keys, throwing the whole thing into a cacophonous mess. But he would just chuckle and replay whatever the piano had just screeched, calling it a ‘fascinating addition’ and merrily jotting bits of it into his notes. It was nice. Better than nice. And you didn’t realize just how comfortable you’d become in your daily chitchats until you’d become perhaps a bit too comfortable.

“It’s just been so exhausting. And on top of all the other ridiculous things, I’m so sick of that fact that it’s like my job to be their personal punching bags or whatever when they’re Overblotting all over the place, and—”

The piano cut off abruptly.

Mister Rogerson’s hazel eyes had gone wide, as if he was spooked. Immediately you realized that you’d said something that you should not have.

“There are students at Night Raven College who have Overblotted?” he asked, slow, like he couldn’t even believe the words were coming out of his mouth.

“What? No. Of course not!” you lied, like a liar.

“Kiddo,” he frowned, stern. “You just said—"

“—I mean, no one’s actually Overblotted, Overblotted,” you spluttered hastily, rifling frantically through your brain for every plausible excuse you could cough up. “It’s more that I’ve heard a lot about Blot, and how it becomes a—you know—Overblot. Which sounds really scary, and like something that I never, ever, want to actually see! And it’s just that everyone there is a mess, so I guess I should I have said that I’m more just worried about Overblotting.” 

A pause.

“Which, again, I’ve never, ever, actually seen.”

More silence.

“…Ever.”

Mister Rogerson sighed, apparently relieved by your bullshitting, and slumped forward over the piano keys.

“That’s… That’s good. You really scared me there for a moment, kiddo. Overblots are no small matter. They have to be reported to the proper authorities and dealt with accordingly. It’s a whole fiasco, and paperwork and legal proceedings aside, it’s dangerous.” He laid a gentle hand across your shoulder. “I’m just glad you haven’t been anywhere near something like that.”

You swallowed a chunk of wayward cookie, hoping you didn’t look horrifically guilty. But then some other part of what he’d just rattled off stuck in your head and that shame was wiped away by panic.

“They’d be taken away?” you whispered, something unpleasant and nervous curling in your gut.

Mister Rogerson looked down at you with a sympathetic wrinkle to his brow. He squeezed your shoulder reassuringly.

“I know it sounds scary, kiddo. But that’s what we have to do to keep everyone as safe as we can. Does that make sense?”

You thought of Riddle, crying into his hands after years of emotional neglect—and then of the pair of you sitting in the Heartslabyul gardens after all was said and done, eating strawberry tarts with your fingers like little children. You thought of Leona, miserable and bitter as he was, finally breaking after an entire lifetime of feeling like nothing but a failure who slunk about in his brother’s shadow—and then how just last week the beastman had been lounging in the sun with his head in your lap, grouchily demanding your leftovers. You thought of Azul, and his bullies, and his stupid desire to take on the world just to prove he could. You thought of all the friends you’d made, and of just how many of them really needed a goddamn therapist. You thought about them being taken away to who-even-knew-where. Where you’d probably never see any of them again. And where you wouldn’t even know what was happening to them.

General grumpiness with the lot of them aside, your friends were the one, genuine, beacon of warmth in this miserable, cold, new world. Sure, they were all assholes. Mega assholes. But you knew that they’d stand by you through anything—do anything, if you needed the help.

 And the idea of giving up on them? Just like that? Because it was protocol?

Your stomach roiled and you set the cookies off to the side.

“I’m sorry if I’ve upset you,” Mister Rogerson frowned, taking in whatever unpleasant expression was no doubt twisting your face into knots. “We shouldn’t talk about it anymore. It’s not a fun topic.” He slid a new page of sheet music across the piano’s sleek, black, shelf. “Here. I started writing this the other day. What do you think?”

Strains of upbeat jazz threaded through the room and Perdy and Poe came over to mouth playfully at your ankles—no doubt begging for crumbs. Soon enough you were laughing along, clapping off beat and making jokes at the expense of his nonsense lyrics. You still liked Mister Rogerson. You liked him a lot. And you didn’t doubt that he was a genuinely kind person.

You’d just… maybe have to be a bit more careful about what you let slip.

.

.

“It’s kinda like being in therapy,” you explained to a very frustrated looking Deuce. “Like, how you want to say just enough to get help but not enough for them to throw you into an asylum. You feel?”

“What in the fuck are you on,” Ace gaped.

“See, if any of you actually even knew what therapy was, you’d get it.”

“I still can’t believe that’s where you’ve been every afternoon,” Deuce frowned, poking at his lunch with a consternated sort of look on his face. “Don’t you—I don’t know…”

“What?” you asked.

“Feel horrifically guilty and maybe like you should be burnt at the stake?” Ace complained, reaching over to swipe a fry from your plate. Grim hissed and swatted at his fingers—his little mouth stuffed too full of your half-eaten burger to yell much of anything else. “You’re a traitor, that’s what you are. Prancing around with those goody-two-shoes in their stupid, shiny, building every damn day like a—like a—”

“A frog?” Deuce suggested.

“What, no. Dude—”

“Frogs prance!”

“Frogs fucking jump, you ingrate—”

A heavy box landed on the table with a THUD, sending the quarrelling duo into silence. A mountain of homemade chocolate chip cookies stared back at them, nearly sparkling in their brilliance.

“Yes,” you intoned, stern. “It’s worth it.”

“It’s worth it,” Grim and Ace agreed heartily, already busy swapping their lunches for sweets.

Deuce sighed and reached for his own cookie. “If you’re sure...”

.

.

Being called into the Headmaster’s Office was not something with which you were unfamiliar. In fact, Crowley not having summoned you into his gloomy chamber over the past few weeks was more of an anomaly than not. Normally he was hurling new jobs at you left and right—organize this event, Prefect. Pick up my groceries, Prefect. The main hall is looking a little dirty, Prefect. Go stop my students from committing mass murder, Prefect. Maybe your wave of insults had rattled him enough to leave you alone for that little while. Or maybe he’d just been biding his time until he could think of something equally as nasty to say back.

Of all the things you were expecting upon trudging back into that office, a scowling Professor Crewel was not one of them.

You blinked owlishly, taken aback.

“Good afternoon, Professor.”

His lip curled, sour, and you fought the intense and suicidal urge to ask him just who’d pissed in his cornflakes that morning because damn. You hadn’t even done anything. That you could remember. Maybe. And besides, if either of you had any right to be acting all bitter and pissy it was you. Not Mister ‘I Have No Intention of Playing Parent to Anyone.’ The memory had your eyes stinging and your blood boiling all over again. When neither of the men deigned to greet you, you cleared you throat irritably and crossed your arms.

“Can I help you with something, Professor? Headmaster?”

“It has come to our attention that you’ve been sneaking off campus in the evenings,” Professor Crewel declared, with all the civility of an off-grid hermit. “Which I’m certain that you are fully aware is against school policy.”

Crowley just nodded, stiff lipped and robotic, and his silence immediately had you suspicious.

“Well?” Crewel snipped. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

You took a deep breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. Then another.

You smiled, icy. “Then I’m sure this is just another infraction to add to my file. Which I’m very sure totally exists. Right, Headmaster?”

Crewel’s dark glower swiveled in Crowley’s direction, and you watched the Old Crow audibly gulp.

“Because of course, you keep proper records on all your students here,” you continued, happy to push your luck. “Especially the ones in special circumstances, and whose documentation is therefore not automatically forwarded to you by their previous schools. Right, Headmaster?”

You’d never seen a more apt demonstration of the expression ‘sweating bullets.’ It was intensely satisfying. Professor Crewel looked like he was heavily debating turning Crowley into a feather boa. After a too-long moment where you were pretty sure you were about to witness a murder, the two-toned professor sighed and turned back to you with a stiff sneer.

“It’s not safe,” he said, and you gaped at him.

“What?”

“It’s not safe,” he repeated, practically grinding his teeth. “What were you even thinking? Leaving Night Raven when you know full that you have no other connections in this entire world! Running off with a complete stranger on top of that.”

“Mister Rogerson isn’t a stranger!” you defended, resentment bubbling beneath your skin. How dare he? Now he cared? Now you weren’t just a leech, or a brat, or—or—No. It wasn’t fair. “And it’s not like I ran off into the woods or something! I’m at another school!”

Crowley slammed his clawed hands down onto his desk with a metallic BANG!

“AH-HAH! YOU ADMIT IT!” he howled. “YOU’VE BEEN GOING TO THE ROYAL SWORD ACADEMY BEHIND OUR BACKS!”

“I left you a note telling you that was exactly where I was!”

“YOU’VE BEEN CONSORTING WITH OUR ENEMY! AND AFTER I’VE WORKED SO HARD TO RAISE YOU AS MY OWN!” He wailed, inconsolable. “ARE YOU TRADING OFF MY GRIMOIRE TO AMBROSE, TOO? WOULD YOU STOP AT NOTHING TO SHATTER MY POOR HEART?!”

“I don’t even know what that means, but I wish I was!”

“Enough!” Crewel snarled, cracking his pointer across the desktop. “Both of you!”

“But he—!” you defended.

“Detention!” he barked.

“What?! That’s no fair!—”

“Detention!” he snapped again. “Three weeks!”

“Are you joking?! I didn’t even do anything!—”

“Four weeks,” he growled.

You pressed your lips shut, feeling your mouth wobble and your eyes warm with frustrated tears.

“Yes, sir,” you finally managed to grit out, and then turned without another word and stormed from the room, slamming the door behind you.

.

.

.

‘That may have been too much,’ Crowley had the gall to say to him, after Crewel had just watched the man have an entire meltdown in his desk chair and accuse you of outright subterfuge.

‘That may have been too much.’

The alchemist had watched, carefully stone faced, as your eyes had welled and you’d glared him down with a look that was a step or two past betrayed. Something tightened uncomfortably in his chest, and he refused to put a name to it. Naming things gave them power, allowed them to grow and spread. Like a tumor. This was all your own doing, and the subsequent punishment was clearly for your own good. So, what? He steps a bit too far and says something that’s perhaps just a bit too cold, and you go running off to—to Cliff Rogerson of all people? Pettiness is not an excuse for making poor, stupid, unsafe, decisions. And he would have certainly responded to any other student in exactly the same fashion.

‘That may have been too much.’

Crewel grit his teeth and fought the urge to run his hands through his hair in frustration. Normally he could use Badun as a stress ball, but he’d stopped bringing the dogs to campus when you’d continued to refuse to show up to his office. It had stressed them terribly, and it was unfair to force them to sit through the same, dull, solitude that he had to endure just on the off chance that you may change your mind and come wandering in. Jasper hardly acknowledged him at all anymore—only grumbled at him miserably when he returned in the evenings before curling up by the fireplace for the rest of the night.   

‘That may have been too much.’

It… It really, probably, was. And he really should… apologize, shouldn’t he?

Divus Crewel could deny it all he liked, but he knew well and good that he wouldn’t have treated your classmates in such a manner. That unnamed twinge behind his ribs may have influenced his reaction a bit more than it should have, especially when he himself had so clearly relegated your place in his life to ‘by professional association only.’

So he forced himself to straighten his fur coat and start the trek to Ramshackle. It was a grueling walk, with broken pathways and rivers of mud. No wonder you were always running late to things. Perhaps he should bring this up to Crowley, and—

A familiar face stopped him in his tracks, and a wave of red-hot irritation worked its way through his veins as efficiently and viciously as one of the poisons he was so keen to brew.

“Oh,” Cliff Rogerson blinked back at him, “Divus! Good to see you.” It was not. It didn’t sound like Cliff thought it was either.“No need to call campus security or anything. I’m just here to pick up the Prefect for dinner.”

“Dinner?” Crewel repeated. It sounded bitter in his mouth.

“Annie’s making lasagna,” Cliff stage-whispered, like a secret.

“Can we get going?” you called and Crewel startled, noticing you off to the side for the first time. You looked so… small, for some reason. Hunched, maybe. Just, not your usual larger-than-life self—the Otherworldly Hero who showed up swinging to every fight, always armed to the teeth and ready to duel any monster, every horror. It made something in his gut twist unpleasantly. “I’m starving.”

“Of course, kiddo,” Cliff laughed and tossed an arm across your shoulders.

“How lovely,” Crewel interrupted, trying and failing to force the steel from his voice, “But I think that maybe you should reexamine your professional priorities. That hardly seems appropriate.”

“Oh, come now,” Cliff smiled. It wasn’t friendly. “It’s only dinner. And besides,” he chuckled, and gave your arm a fond squeeze, “Annie and I have always wanted kids.”

‘I have no intention of playing parent to anyone.’

A deep, cold, sort of dread rattled through Divus Crewel’s bones and settled all the way in the pit of his stomach. It was similar to the sensation that had been slowly clawing its way through him these past few weeks—the very same unpleasantness that he had refused to name.

‘You know,’ Crowley’s grating voice swam through his head once more. ‘That really may have been too much.’

.

.

[blood-and-pizza]

Listening to the animatronic voice clips from FNAF AR, and... god, I love this voice acting!

I don't know who Classic Freddy is voiced by, but man, did they ever nail it! If I didn't know what Freddy looked like, and you told me it was a robotic talking bear, I'd believe you. He also sounds appropriately kid-friendly, all the while he seems like he's TRYING to threaten you, TRYING to taunt you, but his programmed personality won't let him. It's so fitting that it's terrifying.

Classic Foxy's voice is perfect, okay? The perfect pirate voice. He's also not afraid to threaten your life multiple times, and he's clearly enjoying every second of hunting you down. Gives me chills.

Toy Freddy has such a cute, friendly personality, yet he seems to be better at being threatening than Classic Freddy. He sees hunting you down as a game, and we all know how much Toy Freddy loves games. I really enjoy listening to him.

Toy Bonnie's voice is amazing. He sounds high-pitched and effeminate, and considering his physical appearance, it's rather fitting. He's also terribly sassy and self-centered. A diva. A bitch. I love him.

Toy Chica is very good at sounding sexy and horribly threatening at the same time. Like, she knows she's a bad bitch and she isn't afraid to be unhinged about it. I freakin' adore her, to be quite honest, for many reasons.

What I find interesting about Mangle's voice lines is that sometimes she refers to herself as "we", and he also talks with more than one voice at a time. Mangle isn't just one animatronic; they are parts from multiple animatronics forming one being. She is a collective, a hivemind. One voice might say she almost longs for the days of Kid's Cove, while another voices his distaste for those days ("Never again"). Mangle is super-fascinating, my dudes! If anyone can recommend a good fanfic that explores Mangle as a collective, I would love to read it.

Springtrap... holy shit. I am not a simp, but I won't deny how terribly attractive his voice is. He's also a fantastic villain, feeding off of people's fear and suffering. He seems proud of all the deaths he's caused, like it makes him powerful. But how powerful can you be if most of your victims are smaller and weaker than you? I love to hate this son of a bitch. Just listening to him makes me want to break out a flamethrower, and I mean that in the best way possible.

I can't take Jack-O-Chica seriously because she is just SUCH AN EDGELORD. Am I the only one who feels that way? I mean, her voice lines are performed well, but the actual lines are so edgy. She totally shops at oldschool Hot Topic. And she won't stop with the fire references, either. It's honestly funny to me.

Circus Baby... a creepy, creepy little girl who happens to be a giant killer robot. She tries to manipulate you as she hunts you down. When she's not doing that, she's incredibly threatening and unsettling. She's clearly trying to get her victims to squirm before she kills them. She's a sadist, just like her father.

FUNTIME FREDDY'S VOICE OMG HELP ME I LOVE HIM SO MUCH. Ahem. He's so goofy and silly-sounding, yet he's clearly enjoying hunting you down. He's completely unhinged and sadistic, and he's having the time of his life. It's a blast listening to him, honestly.

Bon Bon is adorable. Even when he's trying to be threatening, he's so cute! He's a mischievous little gremlin, honestly. Even if he killed me, I don't think I could stay mad at him for very long.

[serpenteve]

You were so right about the Darkling vs Kaz post you made. People just aren't ready for the truth.

While I definitely think they're different (Kaz is more towards anti hero/gray character while the Darkling is villain thanks to the narrative)

people forget that:

a) Kaz go his own pov in the books. So many fans would scream "tOxIc" over his relationship with Inej if we weren't able to see through his thoughts

b) he has little to no morals. Sure he loves Inej and cares somewhat for the crows but he's selfish and bend to his own needs. That isn't necessarily bad. It makes his character interesting, but the stans really just pick whatever traits they like and forget that he threatened to kill a little girl in the books along with many other horrible actions.

c) Even Leigh (whose opinion I don't even care of) has stated that the Darkling has higher morality than Kaz

So, what people who aggressively responded through reblogs of your posts didn't understand is that it's less Kaz vs Darkling and more of an insight over how fans are hypocritical. It's fine to dislike a character. But I've seen Kaz stans hating the Darkling as if their own fav character isn't fucked up

Hypocrisy at its finest ✨

ps: I'm very happy to hear you're doing better in your personal life

I agree! There's lots of fascinating techniques Bardugo uses to change audience perceptions of both characters.

With regards to (a), Kaz gets a lot of humanizing throughout the books. We get a detailed backstory in the first book as well as a "Morality Pet" in the character of Inej. If Kaz didn't have such strong feelings for Inej, he wouldn't come off quite as human and would be harder to root for, I think.

I also think audience expectations and first impressions with regards to both characters is also key. Kaz very much wants to convince us he is pURe EvIL and has no humanity left inside of him, which quite obviously is not the case, no matter how allergic he is to his own feelings. So as the audience, it's very exciting and fun to watch this character reveal their inner goodness and we root for it. We want Kaz to show his human side. On the other hand, the Darkling got somewhat of the opposite treatment. He was obviously villain-coded from the start but we see Bardugo trying to disarm us by showing us that he is a good commander to his men and encourages Alina's powers. Every time Alina gets suspicious of him (before the reveal that is), she's shown to be prejudicial and paranoid instead. So when he is revealed to be the villain, we realize that his "good side" was just a facade and he's been manipulating her the whole time---Or, at least, this is what Bardugo intended, I presume. But I think she blundered writing their relationship and the character and therefore a lot of readers came away with a different interpretation.

I would also agree with Bardugo that the Darkling has more nobler goals compared to Kaz. I think we had a discussion at some point that if Kaz was the one who was immortal, he would be 1000% worse than the Darkling ever was. He is far too selfish and has a strong self-preservation instinct to throw people under the bus when he no longer needs them. Inej is probably the only character for him he sacrifices for but watching him change from a selfish man to someone who learns to care for another is part of what makes him a compelling character to watch.

I'm not surprised that a portion of the Darkling hate comes from Kaz stans. Don't get me wrong, I love both characters (but for different reasons) but I'm able to admit that they are still both very fucked up people. The Darkling hate comes off like some massive projection. They don't want to get caught simping for "the bad boy" so they idealize Kaz into this feminist icon (???) that he just isn't so they don't have to confront that he's just not a good person. He doesn't have to be, he's a fictional character and anti-hero at that. But still, it's pretty interesting that this is the exact same thing they accuse Darkling stans of doing lmao