#he's my favorite and I have reasons for his behavior throughout the game

[mimiii-3]

Batsib being darlings favorite? 👀 Can you imagine the frustration the batfam would go through?

Oh, you will only do that if darling cuddles you? No need! They'll ask batsib for it instead! I'd love this au tbh. It's even better now (in that hc) batsib stole darling away

Good idea!

…

Saboteur: Two Most Wanted Prequel Pt.2

Yandere Platonic Batfam x GN Neglected Reader

Notes: typical yandere themes, kinda funny

…

What if Batsib becomes Darling’s favorite person in the manor…

🦇 - the close bond you share with Darling caught the Batboys’ attention right away

🦇 - you had always been nice to Darling but your new behavior was confusing to them

🦇 - you were no longer Bruce’s number one source of Darling news

🦇 - there were no new discoveries of needles, batteries, or kitchen knives

🦇 - to make matters worse, Darling stuck by your side like glue

🦇 - the batboys just have to sit and watch while you braid Darling’s hair or paint their nails

🦇 - Dick is the first of the batboys to try and intercept

🦇 - he spots you and Darling hanging out in the living room, watching tv

🦇 - Darling sits perched on one side of the couch while you lounge against the other side

🦇 - he tiptoes into the room before plopping down right in between the two of you

🦇 - he’s shocked when Darling gets up and storms out of the room

🦇 - Dick looks over at you and sees you smile at him while lazily knocking your foot against his side

🦇 - this is when the shift in the manor starts

🦇 - the batboys desperately try and win Darling’s attention and affection while you sit by and watch

🦇 - your heart feels incredibly full watching them flounder while begging for Darling’s love

🦇 - now they know what it’s like to be you

…

Darling waits in front of Tim’s room, weighing their options. Darling wants a Nintendo switch but knows that Bruce will flip at the idea. Their next best solution is Tim, the psychopath.

They let out a small huff before knocking against Tim’s door. His door swings open almost instantly. Darling figures he must have been watching them through the camera in the hallway.

Darling looks up at Tim sweetly, “Tim, I was wondering if you could buy me a Nintendo switch? I really want to play Animal Crossing.”

Tim pretends to think about the request before tapping his chin. “That sounds like something I could get. But you know Bruce won’t be too happy so I’m putting my neck on the line for you.”

Darling stays perfectly still. They can sense that their older brother will ask for a pretty price for the switch.

“Tell you what,” Tim sighs, “how about an advance on my cuddle time - in exchange for the console and the game.”

Darling feels that pinching feeling at the back of their neck. The batboys have scheduled cuddle times throughout the month. Tim’s scheduled cuddle time isn’t until two weeks from now.

Darling fights the urge to cringe, “I’ll give you one hug for the switch and one hug for the game. No more, no less.”

Tim smiles at Darling’s attempt at a negotiation. He lives for Darling’s fiery spirit as they try and navigate the many rules of the family.

“Nope.” The corners of Tim’s eyes crinkle with mischief, “You either take my deal or say goodbye to Animal Crossing.”

Darling glares at Tim’s gleeful expression. Without another word, Darling spins on their heel and marches toward the kitchen.

Tim’s floored. He knew they wanted that Nintendo switch for a while now. He had found that page of the Christmas catalog tucked neatly between their mattress and the bed frame.

He didn’t understand how Darling could just walk away. His proposal was reasonable. Tim had already done the mental math and there was no way they’d pass on his deal.

Tim’s curiosity gets the better of him and he follows Darling downstairs. By the time he gets there, Darling is already taking to you.

Tim peeks around the wall to listen in on the conversation. He nearly faints at what he hears.

“Hey big sib, can you get me a Nintendo switch and Animal Crossing.”

You reach over and pat Darling on top of the head, “Sure thing, Button. You want a case too?”

Darling nods happily and wraps their arms around you, “Yes! Thank you so much!”

You chuckle at their enthusiasm before pulling out your laptop to make the purchase. Darling hangs off of your shoulder while rambling about the villagers and decorating.

Cue Tim sliding down the wall with his head in his hands.

…

Extra Notes: I wanted to write more this weekend but I was busy Oopsies😅

Tag list:

@jjsmeowthie @shawty-a-lil-baddie @butratherbutrather @shirp-collector-of-fixations @stove-top96 @yaoizee @bellethesleepypotato @salfishers @eli-mayhaveatencats

[k9punkout]

If youre still doing the ask game Ivan and Sua!

I LOVE THESE TWO

Ivan:

1. Why I like them

i love ivan because he's unsolvable. there is literally no way for anyone to truly grasp how he thinks and feels. even the writers have admitted to not truly knowing what goes on in his head, and i find that so insane. to create a character so complex that it alludes the CREATOR HERSELF??? genius. i love it so much. there will never be enough thought put into his character because no one will ever reach a conclusion that will concisely and accurately describe Ivan. not even Ivan himself.

I also love the way he displays how people can develop when they really just have No One. throughout his entire life, ivan has always been alone. never an available support system, never a parental figure, never a place for him to vent his emotions. this lead to an absurd personality, and an insatiable desire for attention. when ivan loves someone, he craves their attention so desperately that he doesn't care whether it's gentle or violent. it's just so. GHHRHRHEHH

2 . Why I don't

probably for the same reason that i DO like him. because there's no true way to understand him, i always feel like im mischaracterizing him in some way whenever i talk about him or make content about him.

i also think it's very tragic how despite all the complex layers he has, ivan remains static in terms of development. he starts off with the same ideas and behaviors that he dies with, and he dies in a colorful burst of his own bottled up emotions, aggression and softness intermingling; mourning, rage, sadness, wanting, and joy all becoming one singular drive to do the things he did.

3. Favorite lyric

"you can break me apart"

4. Favorite frame/screenshot

the tears in his eyes, the drool on his lips, the sweat, the way he's hugging himself looking dazed. he's lost all of his composure. he's in shambles.

honorable mention to this one:

fake ass idgafer i SAW you yearning

5. Favorite outfit

probably his black sorrow one, simply because i really like the sparkly gloves

6. Favorite official art

his skin being a feverish and saturated hue to emphasize his mess of emotions, the way it looks like he's trying to hold himself together but the cracks just keep spreading... YEAH. I LOVE THESE PHOTOCARD ARTS BTW

7. Favorite canon fact

he views sua as a little sister ☹️

he's so desperate for a connection it hurts

8. Favorite straight-up-not-canon headcanon

ivan's favorite class is music interpretation and theory because he wants to better understand the music till makes.

9. Favorite song/cover

it used to be cure but black sorrow has been growing on me as of late. that PIANO.

10. Song I want them to cover

ivan and sua blink gone cover would go INSANE. if not that, ruler of my heart and ivan would sound so good.

Sua:

1. Why I like them

i like how distrustful she is. how she completely contradicts everything everyone believes about her--but solely when she's with mizi. to everyone else who isn't more observant towards her, she's just an ornament. a doll. closed off and pretty, meant to be looked at but never to love, never to be loved. and then mizi completely shatters that side of her, reaches in and grasps the emotional, fun-loving side of her, and suddenly she's bursting with life, as human and happy as it gets.

i also like how sensitive she is, despite trying her best to hide it. she cries easily. she gets mad easily. she gets insecure easily. she feels, she feels so much, and it's barely hidden beneath her disinterested persona.

2. Why I don't

theres nothing that i can think of that i don't like about sua. from her impact on the story to her personality to her design, it's all so cool. so for this part im just gonna name a fault in her morality that i love.

she hid from the truth by ensuring mizi never found out about it. she couldn't see a way out, so she found a way to ignore everything at the expense of mizi's happiness. she went into alnst knowing full well what it would do to her lover, even after ivan called her out for it, and died the happiest she could have been.

3. Favorite lyric

"you hug me tight as if nothing happened"

4. Favorite frame/screenshot

the way Nigeh had complete control of her before she met mizi. SUA MY GIRLLLLL

5. Favorite outfit

probably her doll-like dress she wore as a kid. no regard for her comfort or convenience, only the aesthetics matter. (reminds me of till's metal shoes in round 6)

6. Favorite official art

the dullness in her eyes i actually cant

honorable mention to this one:

angel baby ☹️☹️☹️

7. Favorite canon fact

she used a flower that mizi gave her as a bookmark and she was so fond of it and and and

8. Favorite straight-up-not-canon headcanon

she doesn't ACTUALLY hate till and ivan, she simply doesn't want to get closer to them because she knows they'd remind her of how bad the real world is. she'll see it in ivans false smile and cynical observations, in the purple bruises and green patches on tills body. she wants nothing to do with it.

9. Favorite song/cover

MIZISUA CURE LITERALLY GIVES ME CHILLS. KILLS ME SO BAD EVERY TIME I LISTEN TO IT. the love in sua's voice is just so. oh my god.

10. Song I want them to cover

the aforementioned ivan and sua blink gone cover will be real guys TRUST 🗣️🗣️

[anonzentimes]

You're one of my favorite people on here, I love komaeda so much, oh my god

infodump about whatever you want about komaeda NOW!! (if you want, you dont actually have to)

RAGGG!!!!! you're so so sweet oh my gosh ❤️❤️ Sure i'll talk about komaeda! I'll just say what I've been thinking about specifically today.

I was thinking about the fact that Nagito can suppress sides of him today, when he needs to he's able to suppress some of his personality for people. I think the reason Nagito is "normal," before his freakout is not only for the plot twist but because he's trying to make a good impression for Hajime. And once he's even more interested in Hajime he wants his attention, He's always by his side at any chance he gets. I think Hajime just generally stood out to him because he felt a connection with him on a spiritual level and acted upon his curiosity. Why would he be the only one to stay behind and wake up Hajime otherwise? I think he had the gut instinct I do when I feel as if I need to talk to somebody who interests me.

His "facade," is sort of like how when you meet new people and you're not entirely showing your true self fully yet, I think he does that. He's able to suppress parts of himself for other people.

Nagito is always wanting Hajime's attention, he respects his personal space and beliefs but mostly wants to be around him. He's also VERY observant, even when he doesn't understand social cues sometimes his ability to observe others is a big factor about him. He observes Hajime a lot.

Which is honestly weird, isn't he afraid of getting close to people? He usually avoids his classmates, he thinks he isn't deserving of reciprocation, and yet he stayed by Hajime's side. He made an effort to talk normally enough that Hajime would like him. He even went swimming without any complaints, probably because he still doesn't want to lose his attention.

He continues this behavior throughout the game, even in Chapter 4 he uses the fact he has information to get Hajime's attention.

He doesn't think he's worth the ultimates time, and yet, he's always drawn to Hajime. He's always after Hajime's approval, it's so oddly fascinating to me. It's not an obsession thing, but he just really loves him for some reason. It feels more like an irrational emotion, it's not warped love, it's not about status, and It proceeds on even when he knows he's a despair.

I wonder if maybe, just maybe, if Nagito saw his suicide plan as freeing Hajime from Despair. Maybe that's how he justifies it with his emotions. And in an odd sense a horrible proclamation of love.

Sorry this kind of turned into Komahina more than anything lmao, but mostly I'm just thinking about how weird it is that he likes him, like why? What is it about him that Nagito is so infatuated with him? It goes against what he usually does, was he just really that special that he becomes irrational to his typical behaviors?

And in the free time events he's even more infatuated because he believes Hajime is amazing for tolerating him. He pushes him away so he doesn't get harmed by his luck cycle, but also to hopefully to get Hajime kill him. He wants him to escape, he wants him to create hope. Because he believes someone as great as Hajime can create amazing hope. And then his love confession???? AUGH his love confession like, it's so complicated. Did he bail out because he didn't want him to get hurt by his luck cycle? Did he bail out because he doesn't think he's worthy? LIKE??? He's so crazy.

Nagito's so interesting, his irrational infatuation with Hajime next to his warped beliefs, luck cycle, warped love, and intense obsession with hope to the point that he becomes morally grey over it makes him such a wonderful and entertaining character.

[alexablissmark]

detention (part 2) [hook x female reader]

mr. khan leaves you alone with your least favorite person. maybe you'll warm up to him?

warnings: smut, unprotected sex, school setting, mention of suicide attempt, swearing, theft, book throwing, angst

Mr. Khan didn't say anything about Tyler sitting next to you, which was weird. Usually, that isn't allowed when there's only a few kids. But with Mr. Khan being... well, Mr. Khan, he let it happen.

He was also notorious for overworking himself. Filling up his schedule to the absolute max, with little to no breaks during the day. You could tell he was always stressed and sleep deprived because of his twitchy behavior and nervousness. What was even more telling was the bags under his eyes.

Mr. Khan had double booked himself on that day by accident.

Not only did he have detention duty, but he also had a meeting. A meeting he couldn't miss.

So, he left you two by yourselves. How wonderful! You wish you could've just left, or if he could've just let you guys both leave, maybe just give you and Tyler both a warning. But no.

He said he'd be back at 4:25 to dismiss you both and to make sure you both stayed. Great.

Mr. Khan left after that, leaving just you and Tyler. You decided to take your book out again and read. You were able to get through a few more pages throughout the day. It was actually really interesting, but you really, really, didn't want to talk to Tyler.

Tyler took your book.

"The Book Thief?" he said, "What kind of shit is that, Y/N?"

He stood up with your book and started to flip through the pages.

"Seems like it's you. Give it back, please," you said softly.

You tried to be nice. You didn't want to be loud and cause a commotion that would lead Mr. Khan back in the room. It was 3:41.

"No," he said.

You stood up and tried to get it back from him. Tyler was way taller than you, so that plan didn't work out too well. He held it above your head and mocked you when you couldn't reach it.

"Tyler, seriously, give it back," you pleaded. "I don't want Mr. Khan to come back and give us another detention!"

"Fuck Khan and fuck you," he said coldly.

You rolled your eyes, and an idea popped into your head. It was your turn to be petty.

"You wish," you said.

Secretly, you wish he wished it, too. He may have been a raging douchbag, but he was certainly attractive.

"Do I?" he questioned. "Or do you?"

"Ugh, no. Definitely just you."

A very, very light tint of pink stained Tyler's cheeks.

"What makes you think that?" he said while looking to the side.

You looked to the clock before answering. 3:46.

"Well, obviously, if you didn't want to fuck me so bad, you wouldn't be such a dick to me all of the time for no reason. I think you're just trying to hide your feelings for me," you said, mimicking his own cocky smirk.

"Really? Is that what you think?" he questioned, still holding your book. You realized he made you lose your place. What a dick.

"That's exactly what I think."

He threw your book at you. It almost hit you in the face.

"Pft, whatever," he said, sitting back down. You followed suit and returned to your seat. Maybe you finally cracked the case? You caught a glimpse of the clock before he spoke again. 3:48.

"If I wanted to fuck you, I could've done it a long time ago. I'd bet you'd let any guy get in your pants... if he paid you enough," he said with a big grin.

"And you'd fuck any girl if her prices were low enough. The only reason why you don't is because you got that big ego, but down there? You aren't anything special," you whispered while looking right in his eyes. You really wanted to drive that point home.

"You wanna fucking bet, Y/N?"

You were a bit shocked at that one. Surely he wasn't serious. But, you must stay one step ahead of him at any and all costs. You can not let Tyler win at his own game again. The clock read 3:50. You still had time to spare before Mr. Khan came back.

"I think I'd like to take my chances, Tyler."

Before you knew it, a desperate tug on your wrist had you practically on top of the table and his lips on yours. It was very rough. But, there wasn't much time for intimacy anyway.

You could barely breathe. He held the back of your head so you couldn't move. But it was okay, because you didn't want to. In all honestly, the last thing you wanted was for Tyler to stop. Never in a million years did you think Tyler would be the one making you feel this way. Tyler wasted little time putting his lips to your neck and leaving love bites that would surely bruise your skin and be something you'd have to lie to your parents about.

It started in first grade.

You lifted yourself up, so your knees were on the table, and you were bent over, holding onto Tyler's shoulders for support. He grabbed you and sat you on top of his lap, not detaching his lips for a single second. You both wanted to savor this.

For you, it was because Tyler, albeit a piece of shit, was basically your dream man. Fluffy brown hair, warm brown eyes, muscular but not too muscular, and very soft lips, you now learned. For Tyler, he had secretly formed a big crush on you.

When he cut your hair, he saw in a movie at home. It was of a girl giving her husband a locket of her hair before he went to war. He wanted to hold on to your hair, as a symbol of love between you both. He probably should've asked you first.

When he started teasing you, he only did it because he heard girls liked it when boys were mean, because it meant they liked them. Maybe he took it a step too far.

He also wasn't the one who but those notes in your locker. It was Maxwell. Fucking dick. In actuality, he intercepted a few of them. But more than anything, he wanted to apologize and make things right. You never gave him the time of day. He wished he told Max to stop.

When he asked you for pictures, he was at a sleepover. They all asked girls for pictures. Tyler's friend Ricky just made it seem like to everyone else you sent them. He stopped being friends with Ricky after that.

Now, here you are, topless and in his lap. Hands in his hair, quiet moans in his ear. With your help, he took his shirt off, too.

He put his hands on your hips and started to take your [shorts/pants/skirt] off. You stepped out of them and unbuttoned his pants and pulled them down. He went back to giving you hickeys.

"I thought you didn't.... want to do this..?" you said, out of breath.

"I lied," he said.

"I figured."

4:10. You were starting to run out of time.

"Hurry, Tyler," you whispered.

"I'm trying."

He moved his boxers and your underwear out of the way and helped you find your way.

He had to cover your mouth.

"Shhh," he whispered.

He moved his hips up rhythmically, hitting right where it felt the best. You could barely contain yourself or keep your eyes open for that matter. Tyler went back to giving you more love bites and grinned when he felt you moan his name into his hand. He whispered yours back to you.

Your hands were still in his hair, and he maybe enjoyed the pulling and tugging a bit too much. He started to get loud. You gave him a look, one that said to keep it down. 4:13.

After giving him "the look," he tightened his grip on your face and made you keep looking at him. His movements got faster, and you started to fall behind as you got closer to that feeling of bliss you were both chasing.

"I'm sorry, Y/N," he whispered while never breaking eye contact. "I'm sorry for everything."

You really didn't want to forgive him. How could you? In your eyes, he was the one who made you believe that you were worthless. That you were a slut. He made you try to kill yourself.

But, with the way you were feeling, you could forgive him for even the most heinous of crimes, let alone middle school drama.

"It's okay," you said, although it sounded mumbled since he still had his over your mouth.

He started to go faster and harder, which you didn't think was possible.

He let go of your face at 4:16. He kissed you. There was a lot of passion behind it. You tried to match that level but ultimately fell short. Tyler somehow made you feel better than anyone had before. Oh, how the turn tables!

At 4:18, you both finished, and you got off of him but still remained in his lap. He held you close to his chest. Tyler was certainly strong, as his tight grip prevented you from going anywhere. You guys stayed like that in silence for a while, with the occasional forehead and neck kisses.

It wasn't until 4:24 when you both realized the time.

You scrambled to get your clothes back on. Right after you sat back down, Mr. Khan came back. Right on the dot.

He let you guys leave. And he was totally and utterly unaware of the events that just unfolded.

Tyler walked you to your car. You turned back to look at him, your back once again to the drivers side door. Instead of telling him to eat a dick, you gave him a hug. He hugged you back. It was 4:32 when he let you go, and kissed you goodbye.

You guys didn't become a couple, but you became really close friends. There wasn't a day that went by that he didn't make you laugh or vice versa. It was during a late-night car drive that you guys reenacted the events that took place a few weeks ago, right under Mr. Khans nose. It was a lot more intimate, with you guys not having a time limit to stop the fun.

It was in that car that Tyler told you how the events that have transpired over the last few years really went down. You felt bad. If only you would've heard him out.

Well, better late than never.

Because now he was all yours, and you didn't intend on sharing. Sharing is overrated, anyway. Fortunately, Tyler didn't like sharing either. You grew to learn just how protective he was.

You hated more than anything to admit it, but, maybe detention wasn't so bad after all.

[erika111111]

Unpopular opinion about Josh Washington from Until Dawn

Josh is my favorite character in Until Dawn... but he IS a pervert.

I get it. He's an absolutely heartbreaking character with severe mental illness and a strong love for his sisters. A lot of us can relate to him, and I know that's why a lot of us do jumping gymnastics to try to deny him being a pervert, because that's the part we don't necessarily approve of or relate to. But the erasure of this VERY prevalent part of his personality is not doing the character justice. I find that a lot with Supermassive Games, that fans of a character will try to ignore or undo any of a said character's flaws completely and entirely, but honestly what makes SMG characters so amazing to me is that they're just like real people, with good and bad traits intertwined.

The endless excuses of "He was just joking" or "He was just trying to provoke them" or "It was just for his prank" are just exhausting at this point. Don't all of these things start to add up eventually? Not to mention that "just joking" does qualify you as a pervert. I do agree that the things he said about Jessica and Ashley in the shed were just to piss Mike and Chris off, but everything prior to that is inexcusable. Yes, he was trying to convince Chris to pursue Ashley in the beginning, but he didn't have to say such gross things. And Chris (depending on your answers) agrees with him, and nobody ever says that Chris isn't a pervert, so why does it not apply to Josh, the one who suggests and says these gross things to begin with? And he uses that type of lingo often, like calling everyone porn stars and the things he says to Jess and Mike before they leave to the guest cabin. Again, there's no reason for him to say these things, he's just a perverted little guy with a dirty mind.

And that's okay!! Again, Josh is my favorite Until Dawn character and possibly my favorite SMG character as a whole. I don't need him to NOT be a pervert just for him to be a likeable, relatable, or heartbreaking character. If anything, that makes me like him even more because it shows he really was just a normal teenager before everything happened. The fact that Josh fans feel the need to erase or excuse all of his perverted behavior is damaging and exhausting.

To get to the heart of why I think this conversation started to begin with, I also don't believe Josh was recording Mike and Jess in the guest cabin. I don't believe there were any cameras outside of the main house and the shed, simply because it was never brought up or hinted at ever throughout the game. We never saw a camera perspective inside of the guest cabin when playing there, and Josh never showed footage to anyone of the guest cabin, nor did he bring it up to provoke Mike at any point. Why Josh sent them to the guest cabin and away from all the drama to begin with despite them being so prevalent to the initial prank, that's a whole 'nother discussion. But point being, I just don't think there were cameras there. HOWEVER, even if there were, I honestly feel like this would have been one of the more "explainable" acts of Josh's perversion, given the theory is that he was doing it to avenge Hannah who was also recorded undressing/trying to have sex. So it really wouldn't have been because Josh just wanted to watch his friends' porno, it would have been to humiliate them like they did to Hannah. Yet, this is somehow the conversation that sparked pervert Josh vs. pure Josh originally...

On that note, he did factually record Sam naked, and I am more mixed on this one. He was definitely trying to make Sam feel uncomfortable and frightened, but I think it's clear that Josh has some underlying attraction to Sam. This is also a debate on its own, but I think there's some pretty strong evidence here. Even as the Psycho, he refers to Sam sexually or uses sexual terms, like "a beautiful bathing bird" and "here, pussy pussy." I feel as if his entire segment with Sam definitely has sexual undertones. But he didn't do this with Ashley or Chris. To be fair, it might have been because he was trying to push Ashley and Chris into each other instead, but I highly doubt Josh thought of himself as the Psycho was any competition. And, perhaps, the Sam/Psycho segment was sexual just to be the token "naked final girl" horror trope. It's hard to say entirely, and Josh's Psycho character was obviously just that, a character, and didn't necessarily represent his true feelings about anyone, but again, in combination with everything else, it's safe to say that Josh has a dirty mind. AND, not to mention, he makes sexual comments toward Sam prior to the Psycho segment as well, like asking her if she "needs any help" with taking a bath. Again, there's zero reason for him to say these things if he wasn't perverted or dirty-minded.

And again, THAT'S OKAY. In no way does Josh being a pervert make him a bad character, unrelatable, irredeemable, or anything of the such. Again, he's my favorite Until Dawn character and one of my favorite fictional characters ever. But I like this character for who he is in his entirety, and that includes him being a pervert. Because he is! I've been seeing so many posts and comments everywhere for months now with everyone saying he's not a pervert and attacking anyone who says he is, and it's gotten annoying. We need to be able to like characters without ignoring and erasing all of their flaws.

Edit: Because I feel the need to clarify this since people love to make horrible assumptions these days, in NO WAY am I justifying unwanted sexual comments or advances. Pretty much every character in Until Dawn is perverted, not just Josh, and everyone is "in on" Josh's perverted comments and jokes, so to speak, and they all play along or reciprocate. This post is just about Josh because his perversion is the only one that gets ignored or denied. I don't approve of the things he said or did to Sam as the Psycho or to Mike and Chris in the shed. A lot of people who do actually acknowledge Josh's harmful perversion just excuse it by saying "boys will be boys" and that's even more annoying than denying it altogether. If his comments always made the other characters uncomfortable, I might think differently of him, but again, everyone's a pervert just like him and don't mind. But I also don't think his moments as the Psycho or in the shed should be excused as "boys will be boys" because that's not "normal teenage boy behavior," and I think people deserve to be able to criticize him for these moments. It's always one extreme or the other with Until Dawn fans and it's exhausting. Yes, Josh is a pervert. And yes, you can criticize him for the harmful perversion. Again, every SMG character is multi-dimensional and you can debate what parts of them you do or don't like. But don't deny any parts or come up with bad excuses for them.

[ark-barkness]

It took me a bit longer than expected but I finally wanna talk about Tennis Ace. Spoilers for Keisuke's and Shoichi's routes ahead ⚠️

I know I said before how I think Yuuichi is the best MC of all visual novels, but I never explained in full detail why. So today I wanna talk about Yuuichi

Point number 1: His growth as a character

Yuuichi is a character that I frickin love for a simple reason, he has a HUGE room to grow as a character.

During the prologue of the game Yuuichi is on a rut. He stopped caring about Tennis, barely putting in any effort. As the story progresses depending on your choices and the route, Yuuichi rekindles his love for tennis, especially in Keisuke's route where not only he finds the motivation to start putting in the effort again, but he also starts acting like a proper menton and senior for the newest members of the club.

His relationship with his friends is also a huge part of his growth as a character, let me explain.

Point number 2, Yuuichi is kind of a bad friend

Yuuichi tends to be an airhead, he does or says things that end up hurting his friends, but he doesn't do them out of malice and once he's called out he tends to back off and try to change his behavior, except in certain scenarios. Yuuichi, just like Dave from Password, has a huge Atlas complex, and just like Dave's it comes from not wanting to deal with his own shit.

This is frustrating as hell, but again, it gives him a lot of room to grow. In the perfect route with Shoichi he starts correcting that behavior, in Jun's route he learns to be a better friend, in Keisuke's route he realizes how bad teammate and senior has he been.

It's still frustrating but I still love that point of auto realization he has in all routes.

Point number 3, Yuuichi feels like an authentic person realizing he's gay

Yuuichi is not demisexual, his past relationships with girls didn't work because he didn't have a strong connection with them, it was just that he wasn't into them, plain and simple.

He's gay! Yuuichi slowly realizing his friends, classmates, teammates and even professors are cute or handsome is one of my favorite parts of Yuuichi's inner monologues, and he only needed to get a boyfriend to realize it.

TL;DR: Yuuichi is the best MC in a furry visual novel because he feels real, because he's flawed, because he grows as a character.

I don't want a big, muscular, perfect wolf as an MC, that's boring (...but hot). I want a character that tries his best and feels genuine, that doesn't stay the same throughout the whole game, that ultimately learns his lesson and grows as a character. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

[satansapostle6]

Angel With A Broken Wing | Jonah Simms

And if I may just take your breath away / I don't mind if there's not much to say / Sometimes the silence guides a mind / To move to a place so far away / The goosebumps start to raise / The minute that my left hand meets your waist / And then I watch your face / Put my finger on your tongue 'cause you love to taste, yeah / These hearts adore, everyone the other beats hardest for / Inside this place is warm / Outside it starts to pour

Warnings: Mature language and themes. Sexual content.

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven: Like Dylan In The Movies

Things were going better. Marcus barely talked to me anymore, which was a good thing, and Ryan and I were back to normal, just worried about Gigi and ourselves. I had things going for me. I had work, and I had Game of Thrones nights and stuff with Garrett. Game of Thrones or movie nights with Garrett were my favorites; I didn’t have a lot of friends these days, and with a kid to worry about, I never really made any. Except for Jonah, but that’s also Jonah.

I think he’d have no problem befriending a particularly friendly leaf. Nevertheless, my movie nights with Garrett meant a lot to me, because I could just stop being a mom, or a Cloud 9 employee, for just a minute, as horrible as that might sound. When it’s just me and Garrett, having a few beers and meaningless yet still profound conversations, things feel a lot simpler and more manageable. Of course, those discussions and debates had a tendency to also come up at work.

This particular Wednesday, it started with a typical Cloud 9 distracted morning break room discussion that generally took place between me, Garrett, Jonah, Cheyenne, Mateo, Janet, Marcus, and Dina. Today’s topic? Racism. A hot one.

I don’t really remember how it came about; no one does. No one ever does. But from what I remember, it started out with us all discussing something that had happened to Brett earlier this week, and basically whether it was a hate crime or not. Of course, this collective group didn’t have the best general grasp of what a hate crime was, so our working definition was roughly a racist behavior. Basically, the day before, someone had just decided to buy Brett (Kobashigawa) a bag of rice... Yeah.

So, naturally, the animated group discussion had eventually devolved into a debate about whether or not it was racist to buy a (Japanese) man a bag of rice(for micro aggressively racist reasons) if said man(Brett) took it home and actually ate it afterwards(he technically did). Yeah. As an objectively Asian woman, I had a few thoughts about one that I just kind of kept inside with this group. Jonah kept looking at me throughout the discussion, though, which wasn’t my favorite.

But anyway, it somehow eventually led us to here.

“…Some of the racists employed here actually become more tolerable at work,” Garrett offered dryly. “Kinda like how Myrtle considers the Civil Rights movement when she talks to people here… But then there’s the other… most of them that definitely don’t.”

Jonah frowns, looking at him in confusion. “Who gets more racist at work?”

Garrett makes a face as Marcus shyly raises a hand. “This isn’t a role call!”

I just shook my head in shame as Marcus, clueless as ever, just put his hand down as everyone just tried to look past it at that point.

“Getting more racist at work actually doesn’t have any foreseeable benefit to it. As someone who works in loss prevention, I actually find that racial profiling is the least effective form of profiling,” Dina offered.

Janet and Mateo seemed to particularly agree with this point.

I just nodded. “Thanks, Dina.”

She gave me a smile. “You’re welcome.”

“Actually,” Garrett turned to Jonah, “You get more racist at work.”

“What?!” Jonah spun around in his chair. “How do I get racist, let alone more racist, at work?!”

Jonah was immediately sent into a white panic while Garett, of course, was more than happy to help.

“Okay, see, it’s not that you’re a racist person, you’re not, actually, in fact, I think you’re a little too ‘woke’ for me, even,” Garrett expanded, “Honestly… Wish you were more racist sometimes, it’d definitely make watching movies a little more fun…” he got lost on a tangent.

Jonah frowned, looking troubled and confused, but Mateo, Cheyenne, and Janet also seemed to be able to empathize with this particular point.

“…Anyways. You are not racist, but given your usual stats, your upward trends do kinda tend to take place here, as far as your awkward slips and weird interactions,” Garrett concluded, “Although… That’s not necessarily a reflection of you as a person, that’s really more the general vibe of this place…”

“What?” Jonah laughed nervously. “That’s ridiculous. I do not get more racist, or just racist, at work…”

There was a collective “Yeah, you do.”

“What?” Jonah spluttered, flabbergasted as he looked all around the room. “When have I ever been racist at work?!”

“You assumed that Taiwanese guy was Chinese last week,” Dina provided.

“That’s different!” Jonah corrected her, “I thought he said Chinese, it was a mixup, and I apologized…”

“I was telling Glenn why I don’t call it Ho Chi Minh City, and you cut me off, and explained it for me,” I added, “And then proceeded to mansplain it for me.”

“Ugh!” Marcus yelled, indirectly at me, “Enough with this whole ‘mansplaining’ thing!”

“Yeah,” one of the other women in the break room agreed, “It’s not a crime for a man to just explain something—”

“No,” Marcus shook his head, “Women think men explain things to women that don’t need to be explained just because of some sense of superiority—”

“Okay,” Garrett interjected, talking to me, “That was just an instance of him being annoying, not necessarily racist.”

Dina nodded in agreement. “It’s true, a lot of autistic children do the same—”

“Nope!” Garrett shook his head, not encouraging this branch off of the conversation.

I just nodded appreciatively at the scene going on around me as Jonah immediately got defensive.

“I’m not annoying—!” Jonah began, before immediately putting his head down and abandoning the sentence.

“Do you just hate Asian people, Jonah?” Mateo asked, for the sole purpose of instigating.

“Yeah,” Cheyenne looked him up and down, “Should we hide our cats from you?”

Garrett and I both exchanged contained wide-eyed glances before Mateo could frustratedly correct her.

“No, Cheyenne, that’s not—”

We all decided to continue to provide examples of Jonah’s occasional racial faux pas, not because we thought he was inherently deserving of criticism or correction, but just because it was fun.

“You gave me an unprompted review on To Pimp A Butterfly,” Garrett reminded him.

“Be-Because it’s a masterpiece!” Jonah exclaimed defensively.

“Again,” Dina decided to try and facilitate, “Not a point to racism, more of just a point to autism.”

Jonah was again flabbergasted. “Guys, I don’t have autism, where are you getting this rhetoric from—”

“Actually, there’s a pool going in the warehouse,” Marcus shared, as we all kind of went quiet.

“…But it doesn’t even matter if an individual is particularly racist at work,” Dina chimed in, “It’s really about who their respective cliques are.”

Garrett, Mateo, Cheyenne, Janet, Marcus, and I all seemed to agree on this one as Jonah seemed more confused than ever.

“What?!” he exclaimed. “How does that—”

“Simple,” Garrett stated, “Everyone has a racism type. You’re either racist, woke, or neutral, and then a joker, campaigner, or neutral.”

This was, somehow, a revolutionary concept for the group. Garrett and I had come up with it weeks ago. Everyone except Jonah somehow seemed to be able to grasp the concept.

“What…does that even mean?” he stared in awe.

Garrett easily explained. “Simple. Everyone falls somewhere on the racism scale, but how that interacts with society also depends on their social tendencies… Like, say, me, Sophie, Dina, Mateo, and Cheyenne? We’re all woke-neutral, which is between woke and neutral, which seems simple enough, but we’re also jokers… one way or another… and that kinda affects the wokeness a little, but not offsetting it; we’re woke-neutral jokers,” Garrett concluded.

“And what am I?” Jonah questioned.

“You’re a woke campaigner,” Garrett stated, “You’re woke, and you’re very serious about it; but somehow, that gives you about the same potential for racism as our group, but not as much as Marcus, who’s just a racist joker-campaigner.”

“I’m a racist joker-campaigner?” Marcus questioned.

“Yes, but you’re generally harmless, because you don’t actually know enough of what you’re talking about to actually affect the greater social climate here,” Garrett provided.

“Sweet,” Marcus grinned.

Janet just shook her head.

“And Glenn?” Jonah asked.

“Neutral-racist campaigner. Similar to Marcus, but with better intentions,” Garrett answered.

“And… Elias?” Jonah tried to test the system.

“Neutral-racist joker,” I nodded promptly.

“…Brett?” Jonah tried.

“Oh, same as Elias,” Garrett nodded.

“Really?” Jonah questioned.

“Yeah,” I agreed, “He’s hilarious.”

*****

Then, there was this other conversation that took place, allegedly, not in my presence.

“I think people get more or less racist depending on who their work-spouses are,” Mateo contributed.

“Hundred percent,” Garrett agreed.

“I’m sorry, ‘work spouses’…?” Jonah echoed.

“You know,” Cheyenne provided, “Work wives, work husbands…”

“No, I’m aware of what you meant…” Jonah stated.

“Then why are you talking?” Cheyenne genuinely wondered.

Garrett was thoroughly entertained.

“No…” Jonah tried to explain himself. “How does one have… multiple ‘work-spouses’…?”

Mateo just shrugged, looking Jonah up and down. “How does one afford a wig on a Cloud 9 salary?”

“Okay,” Jonah nodded, “That just felt cheap…”

“Guys, the ‘racist work spouse’ thing is true,” Cheyenne stated, “Me? Not racist. Mateo? Not racist. Me and Mateo? Racist.”

Jonah furrowed his brows in confusion at the whole thing, but did not contest.

“Jonah? Not racist. Garrett? Not racist. Jonah and Garrett…?” Mateo trailed off. “…A little racist.”

Jonah seemed more confused by this than Garrett, who just nodded and accepted it.

“Jackie? Racist. Bill? Not racist. Jackie and Bill? Racist,” Garrett added in agreement.

“Sophie? Not racist. Marcus? Racist. Sophie and Marcus? Not racist,” Cheyenne concluded, as everyone seemed to agree.

This seemed to cause Jonah’s ears to perk up, an immediate, strong reaction.

“Wait, Sophie and Marcus…?” Jonah questioned softly.

“Not now,” Mateo scoffed, “When they were banging.”

“Oh…” Jonah nodded uncomfortably, “Right…”

“Sophie? Not racist. Jonah? Not racist. Sophie and Jonah? …Again, a little racist,” Garrett stated.

By this point, Jonah had forgotten his main reaction to the statement, as he tried to hide his grin spreading from ear to ear during a conversation about racism.

“Oh my God, does Sophie have, like, liberal arts pussy?” Mateo wondered. “Like, is she curing racism?”

Jonah’s smile ultimately as faded as the discussion took yet another turn.

“…I don’t think Sophie went to real college,” Garrett pointed out.

“What’s ’real college’?” Cheyenne asked.

“One with a mascot,” Garrett offered.

“Oh, okay.”

*****

I took my lunch break in the cafe, eating a bunch of mediocre French fries and sipping soda out of a bottle as I watched my YouTube. Jonah sat opposite me, just kind of staring at me after he ate his lunch. This wasn’t exactly unusual for us, he was just kind of big on quality time.

But he was particularly smiley today, for some reason, just kind of observing my daily rituals after we finished our brief conversation about the general clusterfuck state of the world. I frowned as I looked up from my video, seeing Jonah staring at me like Norman Bates.

“…What?” I asked skeptically.

“What are you watching?” Jonah asked curiously.

I stared. “Uh… ‘Hostile Architecture During the Holocaust’…?”

Jonah nodded with a smile. “Cool, cool… I mean. Not cool…”

I just nodded, understanding what he meant.

“Uh… You know, just… Nice. Not nice, like, ‘gah, I love Hitler’…”

An old woman gave us a strange look as she passed.

“Just nice, like… I know you’re a huge history buff, like I am,” he corrected.

I frowned. “Dude, do you have cancer?”

“What?!” Jonah asked. “No! No, I just…” he shrugged, unable to shake off his smile as he looked around the cafe.

I just looked back down at my YouTube, not really sure what to make of this whole thing.

“I just…” Jonah smiled at me. “I just like sitting here.”

“In the Cloud 9 cafe?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Yes!” he exclaimed, looking around, “It has its charms…”

“Jesus Christ, Dead Poet’s Society,” I muttered under my breath as I went back to my video.

“…And beauty,” Jonah thought to himself pleasantly as he finally stopped searching around the room.

-

Chapter Eight

[ghduck]

The Art of Shit Stirring: The Story of My Life

by Troglodyte

CHAPTER 3

It had been apperent that by second grade, there were a few concerns about my behavior; negatively speaking. Second grade had been an interesting ride I'll say. It was around this time that I had got a new music teacher.

Whos name was Mr. AdCOCK (Laugh all you want)

My new friends and I, as well as other students in my grade at that point would normally make fun of him for his bald spot, horrid singing voice, and his teeth, which were extremely yellow.

I don't care if he sees this writing someday. He can fucking kick it.

I had a massive obsession with video games around this age, usually gushing over Mario and Sonic games whenever I could. That's how I found my best friend at that point, who had the name of Knowledge.

There was also I girl in which we hated each other, and I would casually attempt to start a fight or argument with her for no reason. This happened almost every single day. Somehow my parents never got called over this, and I'm still in shock.

Anyway, our teacher at the time, is still one of my all time favorites, mostly because she got hilariously angry to the point of breaking her own possessions.

FUNNIEST. SHIT. EVER.

I believe the only real time I got in trouble in second grade, was when I said something inappropriate in the school bathroom (which I will not repeat). My teacher ended up calling my Dad over the situation, which I don't remember how it ended.

When third grade hit around, this is when I had my first "crush".

Oh christ.

At the time, I was in the third grade, while she was in the second. I recall getting playfully bullied for this interest, to the point of my cousin telling her herself. Later in the year, we became closer friends, but we were too young for relationship s anyway. I haven't seen her since 4th grade.

Throughout third grade, I also had many mental meltdowns, to the point of destroying school property (Which leads to question myself on having an anxiety disorder mostly later on in life). This was the last time my crying phase stopped, as well as temper tantrums.

My brother had revisited the popular game "Alien Hominid" on the Xbox 360 at this time. I remember being around 3 to 4 years old watching my brother play the bloodiest, most vulgar flash games on newgrounds.com, and alien Hominid was one of them. Although it was mildly gory, it was helly fun to come back too. Even nowadays, I still come back to this game.

That's how I aslo discovered the game Castle Crashers.

Third grade was also when I learned about sexual content on the internet. (We won't talk about that)

Then when fourth grade spun around, this was when I started switching classes. My math/science teacher was very cool though. She had a great sense of humor, and we often had a great relationship. It has become known to me that my behavioral issues also stopped in this grade.

During the middle of the year, I struggled with a few things mentally, constantly thinking I was a failure, due to me don't ng quite poorly in my grades. But, that got sorted out within a month. My friends at this time were very "show offy" I'll say. They often got in more trouble than I ever had at any time before hand.

Then things all went to shite months later.

When the month of March came around, BOOM. Pandemic takes a chokehold of our life's and we are all stuck at home.

Here are some artifacts from 2018-2020

[tc-doherty]

Character Inspiration Tag Game

Tagged by @the-letterbox-archives

I figured I would do Kit because I know you like him a lot!

So actually the very original idea for Untitled 3 was inspired by a completely mediocre anime that will remain nameless because I can't stress enough how totally mid it is. And even watching the audacity of the anime team trying to do a last-minute "no homo" in the final two episodes and completely failing to even stick the landing does not make up for watching the rest of it. In general I can say that what came from here was the idea of two idiot teenage boys (one of whom is a prince) from different worlds who argue constantly, and then it turns out that one of them is actually from that world originally and they have a deeper connection than random chance.

Of course in mine, it's Kit's family who's from that world, not Kit himself.

Otherwise I took a lot of inspiration from various mythology, the idea of them being geas bound due to a blood oath, for instance.

For Kit's personality I mostly just started with what kind of behavior would be the most annoying to Anrikas, and what kind of person Kit would have to be in order to say those things. And of course, what sort of upbringing would lead to that kind of behavior. His personality did evolve a lot throughout the course of writing the first draft though. I can't believe that in my original plans he was the more emotionally stable one, it just doesn't make sense that somebody who acts like him would fill that particular role.

But there is a sneaky Easter egg here.

Actually, Kit's design and partially his family's situation/history was inspired by Illsaide and his mother from Vampire Game, one of my all time favorite manga that nobody else has ever heard of. The whole plot arc about Illsaide, the Sea King, and the Sea King's daughter has lived in my head rent free since 2006 or something, and when I realized I was going to end up writing something similar I couldn't help it hahaha

Anyway, that's the reason that Kit and all of the other seafolk have red hair. Additionally, his design and even some of his behaviors were also modeled on Yuujin from the same manga who I was and still am obsessed with.

Here's an example of him being annoying, I don't have many pics on hand but I DO have this one.

Otherwise when coming up with his race I took a lot of inspiration from myths about sirens and selkies, and also a little bit of unicorn lore from some certain books, for some reason? Not sure how that worked its way in there but it did. There's a teensy bit of inspiration from stuff like Song of the Wanderer and The Last Unicorn. And also legends about the Seelie court and other folklore about being spirited away.

That's basically it though, the rest of it all came about just from writing.

Tagging: @unclear-contributions @outpost51 @magefaery @memento-morri-writes @bloodlessheirbyjacques and anyone else :)

[samofmine]

character game, for sam ❤️

18, 19, 21

omg OKAY SO

18. well GUESS. Wincest obviously, but in every form, samdean, gencest, weecest, weirdcest and so on. i love sam's babybrotherisms that pop out whenever he's with dean, i love how jealous and possessive he gets over dean, and i love their contrasting personalities that cant help but blend since they live in each other's pockets. also i think that the way sam's personality was molded into a softer, surrendered version because of dean's constant dominant sometimes abusive behavior throughout the seasons is very well constructed, truly fascinating to me. i could go on and on but let me stop here. lmao

19. hmmm i dont think there's a relationship i dislike because sam's character is very 'isolated' from having deep connections with other characters (unlike dean), so the few that he does connect to shows different aspects of him that are always a delight to see. i was kinda bored with the whole amelia situation but i loved seeing him all soft and the whole widow x widow thing they had going on.

21. i love everything about sam's character so for me it's amazing to explore different aspects of his personality when i'm writing. i think my favorite thing is to enter sam's mind and think about what his reaction would be in certain situations. i also love to write the whumpiest whump tropes. because. of reasons.

tysm for asking x

[in-a-bucket]

A silly little crack(?) theory for DRDT

Major spoilers for everything up until chapter 2 episode 7

When it comes to media I love, I usually end up getting super mega attached to one particular character more than any of the others. For Danganronpa: Despair Time, that happens to be Whit Young. And with the events of the most recent episode having taken place, I’ve been brainrotting about DRDT and by extension Whit a lot recently. Combine that with getting to look at the DRDT hidden quotes (link here: https://despairing-disaster.tumblr.com/post/658279268422500352/drdt-hidden-quote-masterpost), and thus this silly little theory was born. The tldr is basically that Whit is the mastermind. I don’t want it to be true because I don’t want my favorite character to be the reason all this suffering is happening, but I can’t deny Whit’s strange behavior throughout the entirety of the game, but especially during the end of chapter 1 and chapter 2. Keep in mind that a lot of this is pure speculation and I wrote it all for fun. With that out of the way, let’s get into the thick of it.

First of all, this is the quote that started it all:

This quote basically screams “mastermind” in my opinion, especially with the whole “I know how everyone reacts to murder” bit. When I first saw this quote, my gut instinct told me it was Teruko who says this. The fact that Teruko is resigned to the fact that her luck will cause life to be terrible for her and those around her and the fact that Mai (the unnamed student) was supposedly looking for her, made me think that Teruko had a lot to do with why this killing game was happening in the first place and this likely still remains true. However, the more I thought about, the more are realized this quote lines up with Whit’s strange behavior once people start dying.

First, let’s talk about Whit’s “intuition”,

When I first watched these episodes this was very interesting. Not only is it brought up more than once (there might even be more instances of this but I just forgot them idk) it’s also in bolded yellow text, like it’s important and something that the audience is supposed to remember. I also find it interesting that when this is brought up, he has the same, somewhat downcast expression on his face, almost as if he’s slightly upset by the fact that he knows what he thinks to be right. The hidden quote above talks about knowing the outcome and knowing how people will react to something. If you had been through something enough times to know what would come next and how people would react of course you would have good intuition about everything. The quote also talks about caring about how caring for people for so long, even knowing what would happen cause the person speaking immense suffering, enough to the point where they became bored with it all, so it would make sense for someone be upset that they know what’s coming next and can’t do any thing to change it.

There’s also how Whit has delt with death in the series so far. 

His reaction to Min’s execution is, uh, not normal to say the least. He even ends up making a joke about it later on. Someone who has become bored or resigned to death likely wouldn’t be super affected by something like Min’s gruesome execution, especially if you know how that was going to play out. With the last screenshot, that isn’t the kind of thing you should say when your looking for a possibly dead person, hell you could even make an argument with the last screenshot about how that plays into his intuition and he knew how Arei was going to die, even if he wasn’t the one who committed the murder (this one is a bit of a stretch tho).

I’m not sure how his hidden quotes would fit into to all of this. However, the stuff I’ve talked about could explain his odd behavior and reactions to stuff throughout the series.

If we don’t get any explanation why he acts so nonchalantly about these types of things, then my suspicions of him will only continue to rise. I don’t want him to be evil though. I do know for sure I’m extremely invested in where his character is going and I hope he lives a while in order to see it to fruition.

Again this all just some fun speculation and is most likely me reading wayyyyyy too much into things, but I’m truly excited for where DRDT is going next.

[webraciszekbastion]

My suggestions for the real names of the Characters from Danganronpa F: Shattered Hope.

Hello and welcome, brothers, sisters and non-binary comrades. I was bored, so I decided to share something I came up with some time ago. Namely, what the cast's real names are, in my opinion.

It's for fun.

Enigma - Dylan Thompson: I can't really justify my choice. I just think that the name Dylan suits both Enigma and the protagonist. Additionally, when I imagine that the others call him Dylan, I immediately label him with that name.

Cancel - Mary Brétan: I know Cancel, she said at free events that she was from California. However, seeing her clothes and her long, night-black hair, I am not convinced that this girl does not have Romanian roots.

Yaxi - Ivory Espadera: When I hear this name, I also hear its strength. A strong name for a strong woman warrior.

Grisp - Grant: I was thinking about the name Grispa and I think he would probably have a crazier, more unusual name. But the name Grant suits me too. When I heard the name Grant, the first thing I thought of was a tall and well-built man. Moreover, it is a distinctive name with a calm tone. Good name for Grisp.

Scarlet - Adreinne Phu: Sounds elegant to me. Therefore, for the beautiful, motherly figure of this killer game, it is absolutely perfect in my opinion.

Cross - Albert River: When I was thinking about a name for Cross, for some strange reason my mind went to the game "The Witcher". I kept thinking of something that had a "serious" or "intelligent" connotation to it. And so, thinking about the name and random, reimagined scenes from "The Witcher", the name Albert River came up, and honestly. I just really like it.

Moraiteru - Brooke Sirano: I'm not sure how I came to this conclusion. I have the impression that Mora has some family in Spain.

Corza - Trevor Talde: His name is Trevor, like Enigma's, his name is Dylan. God, why am I so stubborn about these two names?

Pocket - Paul Green: I love Poket, and its greatest asset is its voice actor, who I think does a great job. That's why I named him "Green". When I was a child, I heard many times from my mother that the color green was calming. Pocket Voice is my green color.

Rock - Gregory Stone: Do you get it? Because he's a Geologist whose last name is "Stone." I'm comical. Quite seriously. Rock's love of verbal jokes influenced my decision. After all, Rock was delighted to remember his name. (At least that's what I think)

Rox - Elena Wright: A beautiful name for a beautiful journalist. I like the name "Elena" so much, so I immediately knew what name sounded perfect for Rox. Besides, I think you'll agree that Rox would be like a female version of Phoenix, screaming "Objection" throughout the trial room.

Twin - Kenneth Flash: Kenneth will always be known to me as an archetypal character who is cheerful, full of life and cares for the wound. Yes! Kenneth is his name, I'm even more insistent than with Corza and Enigma. The name Flash comes from the fact that Twin captured my heart at flash speed.

Rissi - Kaitlyn Hart: Sounds cute and innocent to me. It accurately captures the wonderful person Rissi is.

Anon - Zack Smitch: When I thought about it a bit and looked at his nickname, the fact that it is currently targeted, that Anon will not have any talent and his behavior, I associated him with an ordinary surname. However, I gave the name more expressive, because the aura of an ordinary Anon raises some suspicions.

What do you think about this ? Have you had any thoughts on what the real names of our favorite fourteen Ultimats might be?

Have a nice day/night

[zevfern]

My thoughts on the core members of the Phantom Thieves from Persona 5! Spoilers ahead.

Kenta (Joker): he's just like me for real!

But seriously though, I really like Joker, and it's cool to RP as him, especially since the modern setting allows me to do so more naturally. I especially like fitting in pro wrestling related headcanons to his behavior (my headcanon is that Kenta is a huge pro wrestling fan, and before the events of the game was training to join a dojo after graduating HS).

Ryuji: THE BROOOOO

My favorite of the Phantom Thieves, his hotheaded and impulsive personality reminds me of a friend I have irl. For some reason his voice reminds me of Axel from KH despite the two having different VAs, and the two characters are quite different as well. He was the first confidant I completed, and maybe in a different timeline he would have been romanceable.

Ann: A rose by another name

Ann's very sweet and kind, and yet posseses tons of internal strength. Her whole story arc with Shiho and her recovery is so heartwarming it was hard not to shed tears during their farewell. Her VA also did an incredible job throughout the game, it's between her and Ryuji for best VA performance in my opinion.

Yusuke: Lorenz Hellman Gloucester, but poor

Really knocked me for a loop when I first saw this guy, but despite the looks he is quite different from his Fodlan doppelganger. His confidant cutscenes are some of the goofiest in the game despite (or maybe because of?) his serious demeanor. Yusuke also gets bonus points for introducing Hifumi Togo into the story, the girl I chose to romance in my first playthrough.

Makoto: Breaking the rules, for once

This is a very unpopular opinion, but I don't particularly like Makoto. Her whole "follows the rules but her true self wants to break them" isn't appealing to me, reminding me of a few other characters from other games and media I've never connected with. That said, I do think she has a great friendship with Haru, and their Showtime is incredible (it's a series of pro wrestling moves ending with a tag team finisher! They are in love a tag team your honor.)

Futaba: On the spectrum, off the wall

It's always interesting to see characters in video games who are autism coded, and while Futaba isn't perfect (of course she's a hacker and visits 4chan 🙄), it's the little details like her elementary school memories (surprisingly similar to mine) and the way she approaches her self improvement after having her heart stolen that really impressed me.

Haru: We fly balloons on this fuel called love

I'd been extremely exited to meet Haru from the first time I sighted her in game, as she's voiced by the same VA who voiced Marianne and I wanted to compare the two characters. In contrast to Marianne's gloomy demeanor that eventually turns hopeful, Haru is a beam of light right from the beginning. Her introduction as a Beauty Thief is the funniest gag in the game, and she keeps her optimism despite incredible hardship involving her father. Shame she's introduced so late, by the time I got her confidants I was already with Hifumi.

Akechi: I have forgiven Maxwell

The moment Joker met Akechi, this started playing in the background:

Hair jokes aside, Akechi's a fascinating antagonist: much like Kenta/Joker and his friends he's an outcast in Japanese society, an orphan living in poverty, and has only been accepted due to his newfound fame as the Detective Prince. While visibly he resembles Light Yagami, his personality reminds me of MJF, who also manipulated the people around him for his own gain. I haven't finished the game yet so I don't know if Akechi will repent, but MJF did turn face with Adam Cole's friendship, so maybe Joker can do the same to Akechi.

[shadowshrike]

Why I enjoy the yips arc

Disclaimer: This essay is exactly what it says on the tin. If you hate the yips arc or get upset when people don't love Sawamura from the beginning, you will likely want to skip over this post.

For me, the infamous 'yips arc' sold Sawamura. To be honest, I don't tend to like MCs in anime. Especially shonen anime. They don't resonate with my personal experiences regarding competition, failure, and growth.

When I started Daiya, I didn't appreciate the loud-mouthed "hard worker" zero-to-hero sunshine teenage MC that was dead set on causing me as much second-hand embarrassment as possible. I only continued my journey with the story for two reasons: the rest of the team was more grounded, and the plot tended to not reward Sawamura's early egotistical or out-of-touch behaviors with instant success.

It was only when I hit the yips arc that I wanted to root for Sawamura to the end from the bottom of my heart. He was no longer just comic relief or a guy who would suddenly obtain convenient new skills to make sure he stayed relevant in typical MC fashion. While he had the yips, Sawamura proved himself to be a true competitor capable of meaningful fear. One who doesn't steamroll everything when it really counts because he's a prodigy protagonist with a can-do attitude that everybody loves. Yes, Sawamura remained a hardworking prodigy of sorts throughout Daiya, but he more explicitly needed the help of his team and deep self-reflection to reach his potential and move forward during the yips.

Now, there are a lot of people in the fandom who hate the yips arc. I completely understand not wanting to see your favorite character suffer. Especially when 'tough love' communication styles don't feel like love to you. It's also unpleasant to watch many beloved characters struggle to cope after a loss, all while a new villain (at the time) is introduced in Ochiai. But for me, who was not a Sawamura enjoyer until after this arc, I appreciated it. It became a core thread in the tapestry of Seido's team coming together during the aftermath of a foundation-shattering defeat.

A bit about the yips

For those unfamiliar with the real-life condition, the yips are a notoriously difficult thing to treat. There is no cure, just things to try or avoid. Even the help of the best psychological experts at top levels of play can fail to salvage a professional's game after years of treatment.

Many high school athletes have had their careers ended before they began by the yips, forcing them out of their sport entirely. Others recover with minimal help or after a short slump. The scariest part is that you don't know which camp you're going to be in, recovery or permanent breakdown, and you can switch between them at any point.

Although the prognosis for someone who develops the yips is uncertain at best, I've gone through and seen friends go through stages similar to what's shown in Sawamura's journey. I'd argue Daiya touches on these as realistically as it tackles the other disappointing realities of playing a sport. That is to say - it mimics the real deal with a touch of dramatic flair.

Now, I'm no expert on the yips or sports psychology, but I've simplified the 'stages' of the condition I have experienced or witnessed to exemplify why this arc resonated so well with me.

Stage 1 - What's happening?

Failure following a high-stress moment makes the yips seem like normal performance anxiety. It may take a while to realize what's happened if it only appears in specific situations. You try to shake off the bad memory with your normal coping strategies.

Performance anxiety is a constant companion in competition. Nerves after a bad performance, in particular, are expected. Sometimes you luck out and recover immediately. Other times you have to go back to basics or shake things up to reset, especially if your nerves only hit during performance situations and not practice.

You may attempt to ignore it in hopes it will go away like normal. When your usual attempts to get back in the groove all fail is when panic sets in.

We see this most clearly when Sawamura starts falling apart for the first time while throwing inside. It's a story shown through Miyuki more than Sawamura, strangely, since Miyuki's many responsibilities include helping his pitchers regulate their emotions.

As a catcher, Miyuki has a wide bag of tricks to get pitchers going after a slump. Although his caustic tactics are infamous, that isn't the only way he treats them during a game, nor does he treat every pitcher the same, especially after this arc. With Sawamura, Miyuki's go-to is riling him up. Sawamura loves to rise to a challenge. He pitches his best when someone's pushing him or he has something to prove.

But when Sawamura fails repeatedly to respond in his normal way to his calls inside, Miyuki realizes this may not be some normal fluke of bad control. We see Miyuki's darkened expression before he decides what brave face he's going to put on to get Sawamura back on track. He tries other tactics - joking to take the tension out of the situation and redirect anger to him, and eventually trying to directly reassure Sawamura - both of which don't fix the situation and lead us into the next stage.

Stage 2 - I've got the yips, but don't pity me

You realize that the muscle memory is "gone". Something you used to be able to do without thinking about it now forces your brain to focus on every step. You struggle with failure, fear of not getting it back, and the sympathy of others.

When you're a highly competitive person in a competitive environment, being told that your sub-par performance is okay is an awful feeling. It feels like a person is sugarcoating the obvious truth to spare your feelings. What should be a gentle attempt to cheer you up from friends or teammates can become confirmation that they never believed in you in the first place, especially when you usually have a relationship based around friendly trash-talk.

In the worst cases, you may feel like they expected you to fail when you thought you could succeed. They pity you as the 'poor, broken player'. And the last thing you want to do when someone treats you inappropriately softly is validate that you need to be coddled.

This piggybacks off of the previous stage and can serve as a mental block throughout the entire treatment process. What stood out to me in the story was how we mostly saw yips through the other characters. Sawamura didn't really ask for help. In fact, he was unusually agreeable to everyone because he desperately wanted to prove that he could live up to their expectations without those expectations being lowered.

You may recall this is the same player who said, "their kindness hurts". Sawamura thrives in the high-drive teenage sports environment where friends talk shit to each other because they believe in one another. When that stops, it hurts.

Sawamura doesn't want sympathy. He doesn't want understanding or pity because he knows the way he played was indefensible. All he wants is to perform again.

Stage 3 - Step away

Take a break from the affected activity to reset the brain.

This is to avoid cementing unwanted mental patterns. As they say, practice makes permanent. The break may be self-imposed or made mandatory by an authority figure. If you're part of an active team, it can include a demotion or temporary removal. That status change is demoralizing but necessary after the nature of your condition is clear, not only for the success of the team but for you to have less pressure on you while you change tracks.

This is also typically when your mentors start developing a plan to help you recover, or when they adopt a 'wait and see' approach before intervening further.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a sports psychologist at Seido. It isn't surprising, but it does mean we don't see that as a potential aid here. Instead, the treatment comes in a way many might consider 'old-fashioned' but is a reality for most people.

Taking an approach such as saying, "go run," without a full explanation of why the break might help or what the long-term treatment plan might be isn't something I'd personally recommend. However, it fits with what we've seen in the strictly hierarchical world of HS baseball at Seido. The coach very rarely or never explains himself to his players, and as readers, we often only find out what he's trying to do through analytical characters like Miyuki, who piece it together themselves.

This is also common, if not desirable according to some cultures, in competitive environments. The coach is in charge - you trust their judgment and assume there is a plan, whether or not you understand it.

This phase is also where we see Sawamura's other established teachers deciding what to do. Chris tells Kanemaru to wait and see, and that he thinks Sawamura will recover on his own.

Miyuki, on the other hand, waffles between not being able to spend time on Sawamura due to his own personal challenges as captain and responsibilities to his struggling team, and wanting to make sure Sawamura overcomes the yips. It's unclear if his motivation is due to guilt, friendship, practicality, or some combination of the three, but in the end, he decides he has to take a proactive approach.

Stage 4 - Everything and the kitchen sink

If the condition persists, try new approaches to replace the lost technique.

This might include learning a new skill so you don't have to do what the yips are affecting, moving to a totally different environment or league, trying a new position, or pursuing any number of therapies. Typically, the old technique is not being used at this point except to test progress. Sometimes this phase will allow a player to ignore their condition by cutting out the problem behavior entirely, thus letting them return to their previous position without recovering from the yips.

There are two main examples of this I can think of that we see during the yips arc. The most controversial is the advice by Ochiai to completely change Sawamura's delivery so he can remain useful to the team. Although this was quickly overturned because of the reason Ochiai suggested it - not actually to help Sawamura's recovery because he was already pitching again at that point but to make him 'useful' - a pitcher changing his delivery to overcome the yips is surprisingly not without historical precedent as an idea. Daniel Bard tried a huge number of things, including temporarily becoming a sidearm pitcher, to recover from the yips.

Ultimately, Miyuki, Chris, and Katoaka settle on the skill replacement idea by teaching him the out-low. It's unclear if the original idea came from Miyuki or Katoaka, though the implication is this was Miyuki's plan, and Chris agreed with it when approached, reversing his previous stance that Sawamura could recover on his own.

Regardless, all three seem hopeful that this new set of pitches can get Sawamura back in the lineup and help him recover mentally. Even with that hope in mind, they know he may or may not ever be able to pitch inside again. That isn't the point of teaching the out-low, though it would (and does) make him more dangerous if he can regain his original pitches. The point is to catalyze a return of Sawamura's confidence for his own sake and that of the team.

It also serves as a foundation for an important mental skill. Relaxing. As goofy as it looks, it works well for Sawamura and makes an enormous difference in his pitching.

Stage 5 (hopefully) - Oh hey, it's back!

With a lot of repetition, experimentation, and a healthy dose of luck, you spontaneously regain what you lost.

If you're one of the lucky ones, your mental block may disappear as suddenly and quickly as it appeared. Something 'clicks' and you're able to perform as you used to. The recovery isn't always permanent, unfortunately, and even if it is, you'll need to practice on your good days to make the consistency stick after so long away.

Ultimately, Sawamura is able to recover after persevering through several games. It was both a joy to see and unsurprising, considering the nature of the story. In Sawamura's case, he ends up stronger for having gone through the yips. Not only mentally, after having his often naively optimistic nature challenged, but physically with a wider pitching repertoire.

One thing I want to make clear before I finish

Although dealing with the yips does require incredible mental strength due to its frustrating and demoralizing nature, recovering or not recovering doesn't prove your superior or inferior character as a person. No person, technique, attitude, or therapy has been shown to reliably reverse the yips once they've occurred. All you can do is work hard, experiment, and hope it pays off. Thankfully for Sawamura, it did, and it allowed us to see him mature significantly as a person and a pitcher.

[quaddmgd]

Thoughts on Yakuza

I finished the original Yakuza for PS2 with Yakuza Restored re-translation patch I was talking about. I beat the game, including every substory (except hostesses) and Amon. I enjoyed it much more than I originally assumed I would, I had a lot of fun throughout the week, however I can't say it's a must-play PS2 classic, even though I really want it to be. Yet I believe it's a good way to either start your journey with the series or play more of your favorite franchise while you wait for a new game.

First things first, the translation patch is a godsend, without which I wouldn't be able to approach this game seriously. My japanese is non-existent as of now, so the original Ryu Ga Gotoku release wouldn't be for me; on the other side the western translation + dub don't do this game justice, to put it lightly. Ability to play it with english subs more in-line with later games in the franchise, with the original dub, is a dream come true and I can confirm that now, it's writing is on Kiwami level of quality.

This review contains spoilers for Yakuza/Yakuza Kiwami. Comparisons to the latter are a big focus throughout this text, so it's mostly for people familiar with the story and the overall structure of either one. This game is a good start for newcomers, especially with the patch, but this review isn't.

Plot

I'm not a fan of the plot of the first game, albeit it was much more bearable now, than when playing Kiwami, just after 0. Judging it as a first game in the franchise was much easier. People that played only Kiwami should feel right at home, and sometimes even better.

Contrary to Kiwami, Yakuza is much more straightforward. Additional Nishiki cutscenes are absent here and his Joker arc will probably raise eyebrows for most. It's not well explained at all and, due to pacing of the story leaving a lot to be desired, most of his motivations are touched upon during the finale. Fortunately, Nishiki is charismatic enough to make a good villain and I enjoyed following his development throughout the game nonetheless.

What's also missing is the entire "get the ring" quest that is forced on the player in Kiwami. Honestly, I'm happy with it being gone, as its inclusion wasn't really done well. I'd love to see those cutscenes, but during my first Kiwami playthrough in 2019 it really confused the heck out of me timeline-wise. My biggest problem with it was, that the gameplay consisted only of rage-inducing fetch quests, that don't have a place in the prologue of such a story-focused game.

I feel like I need to talk about Majima for a bit. No matter if you play the original or Kiwami, his behavior is out-of-place in context of the entire franchise. Playing Yakuza and judging it on its own merit helped me see him as this unpredictable chaotic evil psycho with a questionable motivation. The lack of "Majima Everywhere" works in favor of that feeling, as there are no longer those weird out-of-place pace-breakers, where he pauses the entire plot development to have Kiryu fight with his goofy self from future installments, after which he goes back to being his Yakuza 1 self and almost killing people for no reason (chapter 11 in Kiwami was the worst in that regard). Here, he just diversifies the cast without becoming a nuisance.

Fighting

Before I touch on the gameplay, in need to mention that I played through the game doing every substory as soon as they became available, due to many of them being missable. That being said, I fought Amon in Chapter 11, just before visiting Shangri-La with Haruka. Soon, after visiting the place, I maxed out my skills in the menu and with Komaki.

The biggest issue of Yakuza is its fighting mechanics. Kiryu is really slow, which isn't a problem on it's own, but his inability to lock-on while performing a combo makes it hundred times worse. For the most part I didn't have an issue with that, as most enemies are quite slow (gosh Shimano was so easy in contrast to his Kiwami self), but performing almost any combo on characters that constantly dodge attacks, sends Kiryu punching air. The faster the enemy, the bigger this issue becomes, so for example, both fights with Majima were quite hard to get through. Same goes for enemies with guns, like Arase or Amon. Hell, it's safe to say that most of Amon's difficulty is related to Kiryu's slowness and lack of lock-on in this game.

That being said, most fights weren't a problem, and even those that were, were much easier and more enjoyable than in Kiwami. In the original, enemies don't heal themselves and aren't based off other bosses that made appearance in the franchise starting with PS3 games. I can count the times I died while playing main story on one hand (barely) and went through bosses with ease, including Arase, and even more surprisingly, Jingu - I hated their guts in Kiwami.

Keep in mind, that at any time, Kiryu's skills were as developed as possible, due to me focusing on beating substories over story, while I played Kiwami the opposite way. I am also a big Yakuza 3 apologist, so I don't have an issue with a more technical approach to fighting. I kinda learned how to exploit the weaknesses of most enemies, but dealing with fast enemies was problematic anyway. I can imagine that people that want to just enjoy the story, will encounter some serious difficulty spikes, whenever someone fast appears. That can be a dealbreaker for some and it's the biggest flaw of the game. It's not a good brawler. There were times where I died fighting during substories or random encounters, because my opponent happened to be good at dodging and blocking.

Playing only for the plot could be troublesome in the case of Yakuza. Kiryu doesn't even have his □□□□△ combo until he levels up a bit. Not only that, but this time Komaki won't teach him anything until he levels up quite much, and as always, there are some useful Komaki moves you want to learn. I'm not gonna try it anytime soon, but I reckon doing some of the best substories in the game would improve the overall experience greatly. Fighting in Purgatory helps to level up too.

Substories

By and large, Yakuza's substories are nothing special. Most of them are uninteresting and short. There are some quests that flesh out Kiryu's and Haruka's relationship or help develop him into a better person he becomes in the end. Most of those are in Kiwami too, but there is a caveat.

Yakuza has the biggest amount of substories with animated cutscenes. These are present in Kiwami with an exception of one, that is set entirely in the underground casino (I don't know why they left it out, it has some good implications). Yakuza, though, has a time limit for most of them. After certain points in the story (mainly finishing chapters), the most interesting substories become unavailable. It's a big flaw, obviously, especially that at times there is no mention of them being available (or, in case of "The Truth Behind Fake Mizuki", they are accessible only in-between two consecutive interactions with story characters). The fact that substory locations aren't visible on the map doesn't help; playing with a guide is essential to beat them all, especially if you don't want to fail any.

There are advantages to these substories of course, but I'm really glad they aren't like that in every game. Time-sensitivity is a thing only for the most important quests, and that ensures you play them when developers want you to, even if their availability often isn't conveyed to you at all.

I also loved how many times Kiryu can get scammed when interacting with people on the streets. In general, NPCs Kiryu's interacting with are either unpleasant or someone is being unpleasant to them. Thanks to that, fights that often break out feel more natural and Kamurocho really feels like a place you wouldn't want to be in.

There is one more upside worth of mentioning - there are substories that have animated cutscenes, whereas in Kiwami they don't. Now, there are only two I'm aware of: "The Price of an F-Cup" and "The Truth Behind Fake Mizuki". Both of them being animated like story cutscenes, enhance the weight of stories they want to tell. In the former, Mai goes into a physical contact with Kiryu, they don't just sit and awkwardly look at each other. But it's the attention to the latter that makes it worth mentioning at all. The finale of "Fake Mizuki" is really somber due to what it implies. Where in Kiwami plays a typical sad substory music and there practically no animations, in the original it's fully voiced and animated, with emotions visible on pAres's owner's face with the nightsky and snow falling in the background (the quest is time-sensitive after all), accompanied by a dedicated sorrowful track - finished with nothing but silence and the weight of implications it made.

Graphics and audio

When it comes to visuals, the original impressed me much more than Kiwami. Crowds and the environmental detail are superb for a PS2 game - Kamurocho is simply full of life, even in 2005. I completely understand decisions behind the fixed camera view and splitting Kamurocho into separate zones, even if it means constant loadings between camera cuts. While loading was getting tiresome after fifteen hours, the intended feeling remained.

Even though for the most part locations are comparable, I loved how Tojo Clan HQ looks in the original. Even if it appears only two times, it nails the atmosphere, especially in chapter 3. Contrary to sunny and clean presentation in Kiwami (a good one, I must say), the original adds to the significance of the funeral, with an overcast weather, paths laid out with fallen autumn leaves, covered in a slightly yellow-ish filter that makes it look like it's about to rain. How is it that any time Tojo Clan HQ appears in a RGG Studio game, it becomes my favorite location in that game?

My knowledge on music is non-existent, so I can't really say much about the soundtrack, other than that it's great to listen to and Kiwami's electronic spin on it is quite good too. I prefer the original due to it's use of vocals (I can't remember that well, but Yakuza seems to have more of them) and dirty guitar riffs, that in my view slowly disappeared from the franchise over time. They greatly emphasize the rawness and brutality of the combat.

What I can say, though, is that I love finally hearing original Receive You in the opening and the instrumental version during both Majima fights. I love this track so much, it defines the entire franchise, just as it should. Whenever I hear it, it's instant goosebumps for me.

Is it worth to play now?

From my standpoint, yes! But only in japanese or with Yakuza Restored patch. For the newcomers to the franchise, it's a good way to start, as long as you are ok with janky gameplay. That way you can assist Kiryu, as he and the nature of this series develop. If you're like me and already played through the franchise, but didn't play the original, why not try the game that started it all? It does some things differently than Kiwami; some even better. It's worth keeping in mind that it's a flawed PS2 title, the one to start a still ongoing franchise, but a lot of love has been put into making this game and it shows.

To think that the original western release would put me off for the entire four years since I know this series. Compared to the original version, tonally it's so different and seems out-of-place. I'm so grateful for this patch, so if you're interested, please try it and give some love to the creator.

[waywardangel-wilds]

Which The Hunger Games characters :

1. Do you relate the most?

2. Do you think missunderstood by fandom?

3. Do you want to know better?

Please give reasons for your answers. And you can pick more than one character for each question.

Thank you :)

@curiousnonny

Hi! Thank you for the question!

This is an interesting one because it isn't just one character, it is the amalgamation of Peeta and Katniss. I cannot relate to them 100% when separated but I feel like I can relate to them when they're a pair. Peeta puts on this 'show' of charm or outgoing behavior, which might be truly natural to him, but is also used as a shell. He uses it to protect himself and others, we see him use that when he's trying to protect Katniss. I think I use socializing as a tool a lot, especially since I'm an introvert who has learned to mimic extroverts. It's just a generally useful skill to have. I often find myself 'turning on' my smile and thinking of Effie Trinkett. Katniss is introspective, somewhat vulnerable, and stubborn. She's also nurturing to the point of it sometimes getting in the way of her own needs. I feel like I can relate to those aspects. I also love Katniss's devotion to family (not just Prim, I think that Katniss cares for her mother too, but also keeps adding people into her 'family' category throughout the series), which I 100% relate to.

2. Hm. I might exist within a thoughtful and wonderful Hunger Games fandom bubble, so it's hard for me to think of who is misunderstood the most. I think all the characters are misunderstood by the wider fandom. I know for sure that some of my friends do not understand Peeta, Haymitch, or Gale at all. But in my opinion, Katniss has got to be the least understood character. She's an unreliable narrator, first of all, so it's easier to confuse a younger audience there. She's also been presented as tough and somewhat unflappable in the movies, which is not 100% accurate to who she is either. I think Katniss is this wonderfully fragile, human, kind, brave, strong, and young character. She's just so preciously unique to me and it bothers me when she's simplified as mean, unkind, or selfish. She's none of those things. She's just too hard on herself.

3. I need to get to know Peeta, Johanna, and Finnick better. I need to know what their thoughts sound like. I need to know what their personal lives are like. I need to know who their friends are, what their favorite childhood memories are, and their relationships with their parents. Everything. Peeta, Johanna, Finnick, and Katniss are my favorite characters and it's sort of a shame that we don't actually get to know them too well. We know Katniss, and we know what Peeta, Johanna, and Finnick are like around Katniss, but we don't know them as individuals, not really.