#hero!remus tl

[soysaucevictim]

He dived into the magma, hoping it would wake him up, that it would incinerate him. It did nothing. He was a monster. He thought of the things Remus would say and it just made him curl in on himself again, while the molten rock sheltered him from everything. This couldn’t be real. He’d wake up. This couldn’t be real. He’d wake up. This couldn’t be real. He’d...

I meant to be working on the Gymrat!fic... but I just felt like making a companion drawing to that Hero!Remus picture.

This is a non-canon timeline for the Begotten!AU... is gonna be really rough for Roman. (Will work on it some more, after the Gymrat drabble though.)

[an-organized-confusion]

I like entertaining Bad End timelines for my AUs.

Like how “what if iZ!Roman never left the Dead Enders?“

But now just thinking about stuff like, “what if the Begotten!Twins weren’t both Beasts?“ Like if Roman was a Beast and Remus was something else, possibly even a Hero.

In the canon TL, Roman already is slow to fully accept his monstrous nature, but it’s considerably tempered by the fact he never was alone in his experiences with Remus. (Remus just embraced it right away.)

But the sheer identity crisis potential for Roman in that other timeline? He would probably elect for some of the most violent and self-destructive Inheritances (they’re kinda like End Games, not necessarily Deaths in all cases, in this splat) that exist for Beasts.

No telling where Remus would go, depending on how the Bright Dream fucks with him here too. (Might lead to a demise, might lead Remus enabling those more tragic/violent goals... like Erasure/Inversion.) :Ic

And if Roman was the Hero he thought he dreamed he wanted to be (reminder that Heroes in that setting aren’t always/often The Good Guys)? And Remus was the only Beast between them? Whooo boy.

(Thematically speaking, this would be very much like the alt iZ!Roman idea. And would probably end in someone committing fratricide. Oof.)

[celestemagnoliathewriter]

Seeing your reply on the HP books, what disappointed you in DH? What would you have changed in it? Less deaths?

On HBP and why I didn't care for DH: get ready for a long post/ran that the tl; dr version is: *it makes narrative sense but not logical sense and I wanted both*

I didn't *love* the intro of the battle of the seven potters, to begin with. Obviously I know that we needed some introductory action to get going, and what's better than a battle where both Hedwig and Mad-Eye die? Even warriors die, childhood ending, etc. It makes *sense* for the narrative, but not in-world. Just make an illegal portkey. Apparate, ffs. Put Harry under the invisibility cloak, side-apparate him to Diagon Alley, and then re-apparate to a safe house, if you want to avoid the trace issue. Or illegal portkey that noise because Harry's already wanted and so are the others. Remus would've been a great pick. Everyone hates werewolves. (and ok, I get why they did what they did, because Snape put it in Mundungus' ear to keep Voldemort's trust, but also, it just seems like shoddy thinking it through, JKR's inconsistencies drive me crazy).

Grimmauld Place and Yaxley. Ok, so this is also going back to JKR inconsistencies. If Snape was Secret keeper (as were all Order members after Dumbledore's death) why wouldn't Voldemort just ask Snape for the location and ambush them? But ofc Snape is protecting Harry, there's that tongue-tying thing so Snape couldn't say, I suppose, but still. Part of me wonders why Hermione didn't try to obliviate Yaxley, or stun him, and then ask Kreacher to come with them so they wouldn't starve. Kreacher would've been delighted to hunt for horcruxes. Or why Hermione didn't apparate them to nowhere first, shake Yaxley off, and THEN go to GP? But again: hero's journey has to be alone, character development, whatever. I'm just saying it doesn't make sense.

Camping: so boring. Harry Potter and the Haunted Camping Trip. Pass. I get it; it's boring to them, it's boring to us, it's dry, it's dull, it's reflecting what the characters are going through. But at the same time, why didn't they call for Kreacher? Or Dobby? And why did they wear the locket when they could have shoved it in the beaded bag, put a sturdy string around that, and worn the beaded bag around their necks? Give them some kind of protection? Sigh. It's for narrative purposes, not sense-making purposes. Or give us more deaths during that process, they come across some cool dead bodies of Muggleborns and it freaks them out.

The deaths: ok, let's start with my clear frustration with Remus and Tonks dying (for narrative purposes, I also get, orphaned child, last Marauder is gone, Tonks is young and dies early like Alice Longbottom, whatever). Andromeda Tonks is left with Teddy. Wtf, did JKR forget that Andromeda existed when she killed Remus and Tonks off? Did she realized she killed a whole family? What? Narrative purposes, I say to myself, but also want to scream.

I would've had more deaths, but different ones. Instead of Fred, I'd have killed Bill and Molly. Fleur would be newly pregnant and not know it, so Victoire would still exist, but Bill dying would bum everyone out, and have a fatherless child. Then Molly--just imagine Arthur without her. Do it. Kill the next closest mother figure Harry has. Have Neville kill Bellatrix instead, but make it more of an accident. Ron will kill Nagini. That's the stuff right there. Or hell, get Andromeda Tonks all up in there, have HER kill Bellatrix, and die in the process. Leave Tonks with her little family. Oh, and as an added kick, set the epilogue only a year later, have it be Arthur's funeral because he died of sadness or whatever but things are looking up elsewhere.

That epilogue. While I'm ok with it giving us the Potter kids and Tedoire, I would have loved to have left it to the imagination. You know what would've been good? Arthur's funeral, but have all the canon couples be together as engaged or newly married, Fleur's holding fatherless Victoire, and Arthur is joining his oldest son and his wife in the grave. Lupin and Tonks are there with Teddy and then they go see the Tonkses' graves to put flowers there or something. Remus wasn't really a father figure to Harry but Arthur was. Kill all the real parent figures. Get Vernon and Petunia in the ground too just for shits and giggles.

Anyway. That turned into a much bigger rant. I was more or less dissatisfied with the how of everything, a little bit of the why, and I like the how and why to be congruent. Why things made narrative sense was fine enough, but let me scream about how dumb the camping trip, secret keeper rules, battle of seven potters, and screech about Remadora.

at the end of the day they're all fragments of fiction that are vehicles to tell a story, and while I understand the story that was ultimately told, it doesn't mean I like the ending or that I think it was satisfying for the saga that came beforehand.

that's what fanfic is for!

[romulanslutempire]

I have too many alternate timeline options for my Star Trek “evil empire” ‘verse, and now I can’t decide which one to run with...

Confederation of Earth

Project Khan  — a project involving the creation of augmented Humans carried out at the Noonien-Singh Institute for Cultural Advancement — culminates in the Eugenics Wars with Khan becoming absolute ruler of Earth. 

When the Vulcans make first contact, Khan rejects their greeting, kills them, and boards their vessel, appropriating any item of value. This action results in the early expansion of the Confederation of Earth, allowing Humans to drastically increase their technological capability and begin a campaign of warfare and conquest.

Mirror Universe 

By the mid-23rd century, the Terran Empire is the dominant power in the Alpha Quadrant. Made up of a small number of Great Houses sworn directly to the Empire, ruled at the time by Emperor Philippa Georgiou, one such noble lineage was the House of Khan. At some point in the past century, the Empire conquered Qo'noS; defeated the Romulans, and made the Vulcans their vasals after Khan’s brutal execution of Sarek on the steps of the Vulcan Science Academy in front of a crowd that included his wife and son.

In rebellion against the Terrans’ rule formed a resistance movement made up of Andorians, Vulcans, Tellarites, Klingons, and even Humans, including Khan’s own descendant, La’an Noonien-Singh, who operated an underground intergalactic alien network that sought to provide refuge for persecuted species and fight back against the Empire’s rule.

Star Trek Prime

Timeline fuckery by the Romulans and the Department of Temporal Investigations alters certain events, moving them up and around, which results in Khan’s successful capture of the Enterprise circa “Space Seed” and her crew being marooned on Ceti Alpha V. 

Over a period of time, he conquers Earth and establishes his former empire, gaining a further reputation as the most bloodthirsty, merciless, ruthless tyrant to ever set out to conquer the galaxy. Remoulding the Federation in his image to further his goals, Starfleet becomes his personal army as opposed to the peacekeeping  and humanitarian armada it once was. 

Federation-Romulan War 

The SS Botony Bay is discovered by Captain (possibly Admiral) Christopher Pike instead of Captain James T. Kirk. Pike awakens him, hoping he will join their cause. Khan agrees, however, the price of his aid results in the destruction of Remus and the end of the entire Romulan Star Empire, with the Romulans committing (TW) mass suicide after their defeat rather than make peace with their enemies and be subjugated by them. An even darker timeline then transpires with Earth being divided about whether Khan is a hero or a villain, resulting in a splintering of the Federation (and Starfleet) with Khan ultimately seizing power.

TL;DR: 

All of these alternate timelines result in a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad future under a repressive, tyrannical, interstellar rulership centered around an empire ruled by terror and an iron fist. 

It’s not all completely awful, though, because where there is darkness, there’s always a light, which in all of these timelines is a resistance movement fighting back (secretly and openly) to oppose everything Khan and his fellow augmented Humans stand for. 

[ask-fantasy-sanders-sides]

hey mango! how would you say the boys fit into the five man band trope? not just in their current group, but in the two trios they were beforehand. i'm really curious, and I have a hard time figuring out what patton is in either combination

Well, that is an interesting question, with some interesting answers >:)

First, let's make sure we're working on the same definitions:

Leader — Center of the team! Rallies the other characters around them without too much difficulty, tends to take charge of the team and give orders, often also makes the plans. Usually the defacto protagonist, but not always; they can also play a mostly support role, complimenting the rest of the team by finding ways for them to bounce off of each other.

Lancer — A foil for the leader, and usually their second hand! They contrast the leader, and typically have a complicated and/or deep relationship with them, since they must have opposing characterization. They must challenge the Leader, but don’t have to be antagonistic. Often, they are allowed to be more evil/morally dubious than the Leader, since they function as a contrast. Just as often, the Leader and Lancer can switch roles back and forth depending on the situation!

Heart — The emotional glue of the team! Responsible for keeping everyone else grounded and bound together. Compassionate towards their teammates and aware of their needs and feelings, but not always nice. An advisor to the Leader, and the most common second hand, if it’s not already the Lancer.

The Big Guy — Tough, loyal, reliable, and notably impressive in a specific martial/combat skill (usually strength). Don't have to be physically "big," just more individually powerful/capable than the rest of their teammates (though the Leader can be an exception here). Usually a tank or one man army, and sometimes a point man, but not always. Usually a foil for The Smart One, though they can be the same character.

The Smart One — Notably the most intelligent member of the team! This intelligence can be specialized or general, but it is a defining part of their team role. They give exposition, make plans, and usually are better at predicting the enemy's plans. Usually a foil for The Big Guy.

The Sixth Ranger — A semi-wildcard who usually joins the party later than others. They are not as tightly knit into the team as everyone else, and are usually Lone Wolf types, or were previous to joining the band. They function as a powerhouse ally, who can step in as an additional Big Guy or second Lancer. More morally dubious than the rest of the team (even more so than the Lancer), and generally one of the most capable individual fighters, which also makes them prone to the Worf Effect and/or late game betrayals.

Tag-Along Kid — The small child that somehow joins the party and is dragged into their shit! Can function as a primary or secondary Heart, Smart One, or Big Guy if they are competent, but they can also be dead weight and/or a potential repeat captive of the villain’s.

Ok, so now that we’ve got that down, lets start from the beginning! (Only doing groups of 3 or more people, no duo dynamic analysis here)

      When Remus and Virgil semi-forcefully adopt Janus into their group, Remus acts as their Leader (used to playing the role for Virgil and Roman), Virgil as their Big Guy, and Janus fell in as Remus’s Lancer. Remus tended to do whatever he felt like in the moment, impulsively start fights, and let Virgil engage on the surface as if he was still working under Underdark rules, while Janus liked to plan his every move, rely heavily on diplomacy, and tried to reel Virgil back. This combination was clearly not the best for them, and made them a very ineffective team.

      Janus leaves the team for a while to handle some personal mission. When he returns, Janus demands to be recognized as the team’s new Leader. The other two have no complaints, and quickly fall in place behind him; Remus becomes the team’s Heart, and Virgil becomes Janus’s Lancer while still being The Big Guy. In opposition to Janus’s scheming (often, at first, making plans without telling anyone what they are), patience, and total lack of battle prowess, Virgil is in no way a talker. Instead, he’s fiercely protective, brash, violent, and incredibly capable in battle. Virgil and Janus switched Leader/Lancer positions whenever they ventured into the Underdark, and Virgil slowly but steadily taught Remus to be an incredibly skilled warrior, allowing him to be a second Big Guy. With Remus to keep their emotions in check, Virgil’s dedication to honing the skill of their team, and Janus’s emphasis on leaning the party towards patience and diplomacy, the three quickly grew to trust each other absolutely.

      Markedly, they do not have a Smart One. To the shock of absolutely nobody.

      Then, Logan and Patton meet Roman! Logan is instantly recognized as their trio’s Leader and Smart One, at least by onlookers, with Roman as his primary Lancer, and Patton as a secondary Lancer / their Heart. Logan is somewhat challenged by Patton’s distaste for professional diplomacy, Patton’s higher emotional intelligence, and Patton’s refusal to be open with his feelings (Logan is much more of an open book and Patton frustrates him), but he’s much more challenged by Roman’s refusal to ever use his brain when he could instead go apeshit and play Protagonist. Logan is well aware that he functions best as a team player and supportive coordinator, but Roman likes to think himself a Lone Wolf Hero, and refuses to defer to Logan when he thinks his own plan is better. Which is all the time. Patton tends to listen to Logan’s instructions out of respect, but also isn’t afraid to defect from Logan’s careful plans when he sees fit. 

      Unlike J/R/V, they do not have a foundation of trust: Logan doesn’t trust Roman or Patton to listen to him (because they don’t) or to keep themselves safe without him hovering over them. Patton doesn’t trust Logan and Roman to have his back when he needs them (because they haven’t), or to not claw each other’s faces off while he’s not looking. Roman is afraid that Logan and Patton don’t really respect him (because they don’t), and doesn’t trust Patton and Logan to work well with him anyway, so he would rather they just sit back and let him do his thing. They stick together because they are best friends, and Patton and Roman are certain Logan will get himself killed without their protection, but they don’t actually function as a cohesive team.

      Notably, they do not have a Big Guy. But, then they are joined by Virgil, their Sixth Ranger! Virgil refuses to be absorbed into their team at first, keeping himself at a distance, but still does his best to protect them with his superior battle prowess. Eventually (largely due to the Whisper’s and Patton’s meddling) he starts to feel more comfortable engaging them as actual teammates, and he is starting, very slowly, to lean into a new role as their Big Guy. Then Aninsliee joins the group, and, of course, she is their Tag-Along Kid!

      Then, finally, Remus and Janus join the party! But, this causes some problems...

      Remus joins as the team’s Big Guy, but Janus is still determined to be the Leader. Remus seconds this, and still acts as if Janus is his leader, refusing to respect Logan. Virgil is still functioning mostly as a Sixth Ranger, but the more comfortable he grows with the return of Remus and Janus, Virgil will fall into his old role as their Big Guy, also deferring to Janus over Logan. 

      Patton refuses to engage with Janus and Remus quite the same as he does with Logan, Roman, and Virgil, so Patton is quickly being edged out as the team’s Heart, being replaced by Roman, who has fully embraced Virgil & Annie, and also trusts Janus and Remus (though Remus is on a very fine line with him). Patton is now a sort of tertiary Big Guy.

      Janus is Logan’s new primary Lancer, as someone who both contrasts his characterization in almost every way and explicitly challenges him all the time, on purpose, for fun. Logan is still the defacto Leader & Smart One, though Janus is pretty transparently attempting a party coup under his nose...

~

So, TL;DR 

Remus, Janus, and Virgil pre-breakup:

Janus — Leader

Remus — Heart, Big Guy

Virgil — Big Guy, Lancer

(No Smart One)

Logan, Patton, and Roman pre-Virgil:

Logan — Leader, Smart One

Patton — Heart, Lancer

Roman — Lancer

(No Big Guy)

Present Time:

Logan — Smart One, Leader

Patton — Big Guy?, Heart?

Roman — Heart, Lancer?

Virgil — Sixth Ranger

Janus — Lancer, Leader?

Remus — Big Guy

Ainsliee — Tag-Along Child

[potestessemagishomosexualitatis]

Open Letter To The Sanders Sides Fandom

Okay, this is kinda a long one but stick with me? It’s important.

If you watched a movie, and the only character of colour was the villain, that would be a bad time. Same if the villain was the only gay character, or disabled character - but all of these films have definitely happened in the past! Society's view of what makes a fictional villain has always been coloured by real-world prejudices.

So about The Duke -

Remus’s villainhood may be arguable (and I’m not interested in arguing about it on this post) but he is undeniably an antagonist of the Sanders Sides series. More importantly for our purposes, he is explicitly associated with things which are gross, upsetting, and societally unacceptable.

I’m not the first person to point out that in fan-art, Remus is often the only side drawn with visible body hair. Me and some other people have recently discussed the same pattern cropping up with other traits: things like uneven teeth, excessive sweating, a large nose, or acne. All traits which society's image of beauty generally tries to exclude.

To some extent, it’s good that people are drawing those traits, because they’re too often ignored by artists! But at the same time, it can really suck to be a person who has one or more of those traits in real life, and to see yourself only ever represented in fanart as the socially unacceptable one.

As you can imagine, it can feel real close to being told “these things about you are things you should want to hide about yourself, just like Remus is for Thomas” - especially since people with those traits are often explicitly told that very thing by society’s beauty standards! Even if the Remus in question is in an AU where he’s one of the good guys, it’s impossible to escape the connotations we all have for him in canon.

Stepping out of my lane a little, I can’t help but wonder what any fanders with facial birthmarks or scars have to say about these being common depictions of human Deceit. On the one hand, it’s another form of representation which is often skipped over - but on the other hand, Deceit has his own set of negative associations, including manipulativeness, deceit, and villainy. Again, it can be deeply hurtful to only see yourself as the villain.

To some extent, the original sin here lies with the canonical character designs. Remus is designed to look gross, and society has a certain view of what that means. But Deceit in particular plays into an old, old trope of villains with prominent facial asymmetry - and that trope is inherently, implicitly tied to society’s bias against people with facial disfigurements. I’m sure that link was unintentional on the part of @thatsthat24​​​ and @thejoanglebook - it’s not something that society often talks about, and I didn’t think about it much before I saw this excellent pair of videos by The Princess & The Scrivener. But the mistake still happened, and now we as a fandom have to collectively decide how we’re dealing with it.

So what now? Well, I’m not going to pretend there’s an easy answer.

First of all, don’t freak out. A lot of people (including me) have played into one or more of the above tropes, and if you’re one of them, I am not saying you’re a bad person. This is a complicated issue, not a black-and-white one, and just because I want us to think more about how and when we include this kind of representation doesn’t mean I think this fandom would be better with no representation at all.

As always, one of the best ways to make your representation of societally-disapproved-of traits fairer is to include more of it, on a wide variety of characters, so that the implications are not always the same. That might feel strange at first - but please bear in mind that no-one is immune to society’s biases, not even you. If something feels “out of character” for a hero character but fine for a villain one, you should always question where that impulse is coming from.

If you do decide to assign a trait like this to only Remus and/or Deceit, you can help to mitigate the potential harm by making sure not to connect these physical traits with the negative personality traits of the characters. No-one’s personality is determined by their physical appearance, even if our fiction loves to pretend otherwise.

Most importantly, if someone questions you on how you’re representing your villains and/or the dark sides compared with the heroes/light sides, please listen to them with an open mind. No-one is above constructive criticism, and getting defensive doesn’t help anyone.

TL;DR: Representing traits that society considers unattractive is not good representation if you only ever include them on villain characters.

[raevenswritingdesk]

Hear me out; Janus snapping at Roman for his mocking of his name was completely justified and he had every right to do so.

Yes, what Janus said was rude aswell and clearly hurt Roman a lot, but it was in response to what Roman said to him first; Janus’s anger towards Romans comment was just as justified as Romans distress at Janus’s.

The two of them were both in the wrong here in their own ways; after all it does take two to argue, but you can’t just blame one or the other in the scenario. Roman hurt Janus when he put a lot of trust into telling him his name and yes it can be argued that Janus may have went a bit too far with his Remus comment towards Roman when he knows it’s a touchy subject but it was a knee jerk reaction out of anger for being mocked for his name just like what happened when Virgil revealed his name and Roman mocked him for that too.

Romans problem is that he sees things simply as good and bad, black and white; literally so with “the prince and the duke wearing the black and the white”

He sees the “dark sides” as bad and himself and the “light sides” as good. Simple as that. He refuses to see the so called dark sides as good in any way and point blank doesn’t trust them. He’s accepted Virgil sure, but that took a long time and even so it is stil depicted as being hard for him at times.

He’s so set on this image of himself as the Disney prince and them as the Disney villains that the minute someone points out for example that “the prince killed the dragon when all she was trying to do was protect her home” or how “maybe the only difference between heroes and villains is who’s side of the story you are seeing” he shuts them down immediately. How he believes “no. The heroes are good, the villains are bad. That’s it”

He sees Remus as his evil twin and has openly referred to both Janus and Virgil as the “bad guy” before. Not to mention he was the one to initially come up with the name “the dark sides” for the others. He was literally the one to label them as bad and himself Logan and Patton as good, because that’s what he believed.

In the last couple of videos the main focus has literally been showing how they, “the dark sides” aren’t as bad as you think they are, and how the “light sides” aren’t as good as they think they are either.

Anxiety isn’t bad; he was just trying to keep Thomas safe. He himself feels anxious and scared more easily than the others as he is literally anxiety and can go a bit overboard appearing rude or paranoid. He can be overpowering and distressing at times for everyone, but he doesn’t mean to be and has even been show to try and hide when he is feeling stressed from the others to not worry them aswell. He tries his best to not bring the group down too much even though it’s hard for him and really cares for the others even if he doesn’t always show it.

Intrusive thoughts aren’t bad; they don’t make you a bad person for experiencing them, and they are nothing more than mere thoughts your brain has and are completely healthy. Intrussiveness doesn’t mean any harm, he is just as impulsive as Roman is with ideas and behaviour, even if his are a lot more “dark” than that of his brothers. He can’t control what he says at times and just speaks his mind without thinking. He never says any of it with bad intention though, and appears to just want to have fun rather than actually hurting the others like he sometimes does unintentionally.

Deceit isn’t bad; he just does what he believes is best for Thomas. He may be seen as the villain as he is the patron of lies in the group but as it was covered, lying can be good and it’s alright to be a little selfish sometimes. He cares for Thomas’s mental health and wellbeing and doesn’t want him getting harmed if it means helping others. He believes that it’s okay to put yourself first before others at times and that is completely valid. Some small white lies at times are good, and in the recent video he has even shown that he himself knows when not to lie and be open with others, speaking genuinely to Patton and taking off his glove to prove he was telling the truth when he then told them his real name.

The same goes for the others.

Morality can be bad; it’s his literal job to be the distinguishing factor of right and wrong decisions meaning sometimes the decisions he makes aren’t inherently “good” or “bad” they are just the ones he sees as the best choice in the situation, and it has been clearly shown in the most recent video that it doesn’t always work out for the best and he can often hurt himself and Thomas whilst trying to avoid hurting others. He can be so obsessed with doing the right thing that he often neglects Thomas’s mental state in order to care for that of another’s and continuously suggests unhealthy repression in the name of helping others, even if unintentionally.

Logic can be bad; he can often cloud the judgement and freedom one needs and make one focus more on “logic” than passion. Being the embodiment of logic he can often be overbearing and demanding that others agree with him, when he isn’t the only voice at the table and should allow others to have input on the decision making aswell. He can be aggressive and demanding and doesn’t understand emotions so he can be extremely cold and uncaring at times without thinking about what damage his words can have on others, literally being the brain to morality’s heart and the restraint to creativities freedom causing the so called “light sides” to constantly fight.

Creativity can be bad; he can be loud and obsessive and controlling over scenarios at hand and focuses too hard on the stereotypes of what’s good or evil to the point that he puts others down without giving them a chance. He often forces others to do what he wants to do rather than giving them a choice and is incredibly impulsive and gets upset when things don’t go his way, obsessed with the idea of being the hero and the star of the show that the minute anyone else is in the spot light he shuts them down. He is extremely egotistical and full of pride and sees himself as never doing anything wrong ever.

Both Logan and Patton have been shown to accept the “dark sides” even if they do disagree with them at times. Patton and Logan in the recent video accepted Janus and agreed with what he had to say, and whilst we didn’t see Logan’s reaction to his name reveal we saw that Patton did by no means react like Roman did and was quite shocked at Janus’s openness and trust with them. Whilst Patton was scared of Remus at first come the end of the video they were all on neutral terms per say, with Logan stepping in and explaining to everyone how Remus’s ideas were just that; ideas, and how it was okay for Thomas and him to think those things at times. And it’s self explanatory how Patton and Logan were easily accepting of Virgil, taking his opinion into count and treating him fairly. Yes Patton can be the overbearing parent sort at times but it’s easy to see that he does mean well, he can just be a bit “much”.

Roman on the other hand was literally stated and called out by the others to have been the last to accept Virgil, and this doesn’t change when it comes to Remus and Janus. To him, he is the good guy and they are the bad. Patton and Logan have both admitted they have been in the wrong before and have addressed their behaviour to help work with the others; Roman has not.He sees Janus as the deceiving plotting snake and Remus as the Intrusive evil twin and that’s it.

In order for Roman to accept that the others are “good” he has to first accept that he himself is somewhat “bad” and I am fully on board with the angst that may follow with this idea.

After all, as pointed out by @cinnamonrollorder the remaining “dark side” character slot on the new videos thumbnail looks a lot like a certain prince of ours...

tl;dr - what Janus said to Roman was a valid response. Roman was and is still rude to the “dark sides”. The dark sides aren’t as “bad” as you would think they are, and the light sides are not as “good” as you would think they are. Roman has a problem with continuously insisting they are evil when they are all equal parts of Thomas and deserve to be treated as such. Logan and Patton have even had their moments of agreeing and understanding them, but Roman is still distant. Only way he can accept they are somewhat good is if he accepts that he is somewhat bad. Also his silhouette fits perfectly in the extra character slot in the new thumbnail...

[becca-becky]

I've seen a few posts going around about Roman and making him more diverse in terms of race and gender and just making the sides in general more diverse in fan works. So, take it from someone who's been in the PJO fandom (my example for this post) long enough to understand that diversity (especially decently done diversity) is incredibly important: you can't control how other people look at characters.

I know, I know, I probably sound insensitive, but hear me out. The PJO fandom (on Tumblr at least) is well aware that the rep we have (while a surprisingly wide spectrum for YA and Middle School books) is utter dogshit. Piper -a Native American daughter of Aphrodite- is basically treated as though she was biracial even though Riordan explicitly told us that demigods get all of their non-magic DNA from their mortal parent and therefore, are their parents race or ethnicity, since the the gods have no set race in terms of skin color anyways (supposedly (and that's just scratching the surface of her character, there's a lot more misogyny and racism where that came from)). Hazel -a black daughter of Pluto- is exoticized for her '24 karat gold eyes' and 'cinnamon colored hair' and (despite being 13) is with Frank, a 16 year old chinese son of Mars in the Heroes of Olympus books.

The whole entire saga of the PJO franchise is rooted in white supremacy and racism, basically, but I'm not here to discuss that today. What I'm saying is that the Tumblr PJO fandom (well, at least a third of it) is aware of how much the representation we have kinda sucks but work with what we have. Our versions of the characters are entirely different from the canon versions because they're just so awful that we just decided 'ew, no, I just want the concepts of these characters, not the execution' and rebuilt them so that they weren't so fucking terrible.

Now, the point I'm trying to make here is that you can't change how other people interpret a character. Unless you go out of your way to do it (which is a dick move), you really can't, at least not intentionally. Rick Riordan, the fucking author and creator of the PJO series, could come through my window and say, "hey, Percy Jackson's white and straight," and I would refuse to believe him. You wanna know why? Because it's my interpretation of the character (and also because I never want to listen to what Riordan says about the franchise anyway if I can help it). Sure, I can't force people to see why Percy's totally an afro-latino and definitely bi, but I can sure as hell decide how I see him because that's just my choice, plain and simple.

And it's your choice to see Roman as black. It's your choice to see Logan as autistic. It's your choice to see Remus as trans. It's your choice to see Virgil in a wheelchair. It's your choice to see Patton as aromantic. It's your choice to see Janus with depression. It's your choice to see your favorite characters however you want to see them. But just as you can see a character from a franchise as asexual, genderfluid, Asian, or with ADHD and don't want to change it or don't want other people to try and force you to change it, you can't force others to interpret a character the same way you do.

You're being a massive hypocrite otherwise. And you know what they say about glasshouses...

(This is, of course, different when it comes to already repping characters. There's a difference between headcanoning a white character as hispanic and whitewashing an already hispanic character.)

But TL;DR: if you interpret a character a specific way, that's cool, but if you try and force that view onto other people without them asking or wanting it, that's uncool.

This is probably incredibly confusing so I'm sorry about that

[briandthemoon]

character!thomas ?

Oh my, this should be interesting. 

Also! This is only CHARACTER!Thomas, not Thomas Sanders himself so please do not think that any of this applies to the man himself!

favorite thing about them:

For C!Thomas, I think it’d have to be how absolutely relatable he is, in terms of both his ups and downs and his reactions to a lot of the situations he’s put in. That and I’m also a piece of dirt who has no control of their life and feels like a raging dumpster fire so- 

least favorite thing about them:

This one’s going to be fun, but I’m gonna say it; he puts too much pressure on certain sides compared to others and its annoyingly inconsistant to see how it affects them. And the way he kind of seems to brush off the sides’ feelings or problems can feel so upsetting.

favorite line:

“I don’t fear DEATH“ ”Oh I’m already full rainbow ALL the time.”

 or from the bloopers “Buckle up, we’re on the Logan Express of Education.“

brOTP:

C!Thomas and Logan being friends is really cute, I’ve seen it in a few fics and its always so wholesome.

OTP:

I really don’t like shipping real people, and character!Thomas is really tiptoing that line a little too close to that. But if I had to pick, C!thomas and Remy is really funny to me as a crack ship.

nOTP:

Again, I don’t ship character!Thomas in general so like, technically I just have a bunch of nOTPs.

random headcanon:

Personally my favourite headcanon for Character!Thomas is that he’s a maladaptive dreamer. Because SAME.

unpopular opinion:

C!Thomas needs to stop contributing to Roman’s self esteem issues. Like he puts SO much pressure on him compared to say Virgil or Patton, and Logan especially gets away with a LOT he shouldn’t. For example, Thomas does reprimand Logan at times or will be like “hey what you did isnt cool” and Logan will just be like “Um, but I’m the smart one so shut up” and Thomas just barely acknowledges it [a good example of this being Am I On The Right Path?] whereas Roman will apologise the second he’s called on his bad behaviour but C!Thomas will be unnecessarily harsh in how he handles it. 

It feels like because Roman is supposed to be C!Thomas’ hero, C!Thomas holds him -subconsciously or not - to a higher standard than the other sides which is VERY hypocritical considering he reassured Virgil that he shouldn’t be held to higher standards than the others. And yeah, C!Thomas did give Patton a hard time over the wedding too, but when Patton also apologises, C!Thomas actually verbally tells him it’s okay and reassures him. About the only sides we’ve seen C!Thomas be pretty neutral with and treat with the proper attitudes at the best of times considering context, are Janus and Remus and thats saying something.  

Tl;Dr : character!Thomas needs to really work on how he treats his sides smh.

song i associate with them:

Recipe For Me by, you guessed it, Thomas Sanders.

favorite picture of them:

I haven’t drawn Character!Thomas yet so I can’t pick anything of my own, but for an artist who has, I love @parano--vigilant ‘s animations for Thomas’ vines, they draw such an adorable character!thomas!! A personal fave for C!Thomas is the tide pods vine animation they did, it’s so good.

[soysaucevictim]

Remus had consumed mythology voraciously and instantly recognized the lamia’s true form. Without a thought, Remus fired the speargun through her chest. She screamed, trying to remove the spear, but its jagged barbs hooked sure to her rib. Remus wasn’t sure how he had the strength drag her away from Roman. But he did, he snarled, “Next time I see you. You’re DEAD.” No matter how much she flailed and clawed at the wound, Remus practically threw her off deck. Watching that THING drown delighted him. The thrill put a twisted grin on his face and-

Some rough draft snippets for the Hero!Remus fic. I just wanted to sketch up this version of the guy...

[void-tiger]

"Good" Guy who does bad things can genuinely provide for an interesting character+ dynamic of the character as well as story plot provided if they are called out for that shit AND get development for doing it (for example Glimmer)

I think I laid out by beef with the trope pretty clearly.

Also Glimmer is framed as being in the wrong by both the narrative and her friends’ reactions. She’s a teenage queen at her wit’s end being manipulated by her best friend’s abuser but she can’t see an alternative. Glimmer is flawed.

Dumbledore, however, is an adult who willfully perpetuates gross child neglect and abuse. We get the clearest look at this with Harry’s Situation, which Harry was put in by Dumbledore willfully. Oh and the blood wards are a sham. The twin cores did more. Are you a wizard or not, Voldemort? Stop touching him and use your cronies’ wands...which Voldemort eventually did. And he definitely didn’t lift a finger to protect the rest of the student population, but intentionally placed it all on a child’s shoulders and made sure to gaslight said kid at the end of every year when Harry was at his most vulnerable.

But it’s not just Harry—Tom Riddle’s an orphan that Dumbledore felt the need to terrorize to “teach him a lesson” instead of TRYING to get this kid some stability; Severus Snape was also willfully ignored and left to the mercy of his yearmates simply for “looking too much like Tom superficially with a similar background”. Sirius Black came from a rich family but was also troubled, but since he was in Darling Gryffindor he was treated permissively; yet there isn’t even an effort to investigate and hold a trial before he’s tossed to the dementors for a decade. Then when he escapes (to seek revenge and a side of protect Harry), he’s kept in what’s not only a hovel and inside for 24/7/365, it’s also the place of Sirius’s abuse. (Hell for that matter so is Hogwarts for Snape, and the guy’s clearly not a healthy temperament for students, anyway.) Filch, Hagrid, and Remus are all also kept indepted to Dumbledore...because stale crumbs or none.

So in text Dumbledore is an asshole, not flawed.

But it’s his author describing him as “the goodest good” on top of it all—when his lines are literally emotionally abusive and he did, actually, have the clout and resources to do SOMETHING before and after Harry’s 5th Year. (And even then he could make things go his way at least a little. Imagine what he could’ve done if he’d actually tried and were kind...instead of choosing a child-now-man with which to play Sherlock vs Moriarty.)

TL;DR:

It’s not whether a character’s always a paragon of kindness and good decisions. It’s how their poor decisions and outright cruelty are framed—in universe and text, by other characters and their society, by the content creators.

Greek Heroes and the pantheon of gods are basically all assholes. But for the Heroes they’re not supposed to be good—they’re an exploration of human hubris. The gods are then personified abstract ideas (like Athena and Ares being different aspects of warfare) or literal forces of nature (like Poisidon as the ruthless major ocean god, or Demeter and Persephone and Hades being why the seasons change instead of the land always being warm and fertile.)

[metaphysical-human-being]

Okay idk if this has been said yet but Roman being raised to be "the good twin" makes his actions in the newest video make a lot more sense.

Like, in SVS he was seen as horrible for siding with Janus. For even entertaining the thought of going to the call back and acting "selfishly" which is why he made Thomas go to the wedding.

So now in this video he makes does things to counteract his previous actions like:

Defend Patton against Deceit. Did anyone notice that whole "rights and wrongs! Should and shouldn'ts" line. Do you recognize it? Cus I think a certain father figure figment said something similiar in SVS

He also made fun of Deceits name. If he was raised as the "good twin" then he was raised knowing that the "dark sides" are wrong(his brother especially which is why he shouldn't be like him). Then he's shown that Virgil isn't but that doesn't mean that the others are good. The whole basis of how he was raised was kinda crumbling down around him(Deceit being trusted and accepted) and he lashed out. Trying to hold on to the few things he understood (much like Patton)

It also explains that one line....the one that kinda rubbed me the wrong way? It was;

"Did you forget that he's[Janus] evil! You're not! Or-you're not supposed to be! You're supposed to be good! You cant-"

I mean...switch it up a bit and

"Did you forget that he's [Remus] evil! I'm not! Or- I'm not supposed to be! I'm supposed to be good! I can't-"

Which, if you remember, was the response made to them after Janus not only called him Remus but he was basically told, by Thomas(and Janus) that he was no longer his hero. No longer...what he was supposed to be.

TL;DR: Romans life is crumbling and he doesn't know what to do anymore.

[racke7]

Prefects of Hogwarts

Controversial opinion, but Ron shouldn't have been a Prefect.

Neither should Harry, or even Hermione.

This is less because of some belief that “Neville deserved the position as a Prefect”, and more because these three socially inept idiots are about as rule-abiding as Peeves.

It's like, a Prefect is supposed to work as an extension of the authority and aid of a professor. Meaning that they're supposed to follow the rules, and be generally highly regarded in their House as someone who could be turned to for aid.

Cedric Diggory and Percy Weasley are both excellent examples of Prefects.

Percy might be considered a bit too pompous and rule-abiding, but he's friendly, hardworking, and always willing to help. With these traits combined, he really is a fantastic pick for a Prefect.

Harry is a snarky little shit who spends nearly as much time in detention as the twins, and has all the friendly charisma of a wet towel. He's fiercely loyal to those he considers “his”, and in case of danger he always steps up, but outside of that he'll sit and brood by a windowsill like a particularly scrawny gargoyle. Friendly and approachable he isn't, and trying to get him to abide by rules he disagrees with is basically impossible.

An excellent hero, and a good-hearted young man through-and-through. But a halfway-decent Prefect he's not.

In comparison, Ron sticks to Harry like glue, and if there's a fight in Hogwarts, then odds are pretty good that Ron threw the first punch. He's a good friend, and despite his terrible studying-habits, he's not a bad student either. But whilst he's less likely to break a rule than Harry is, he doesn't particularly care if he has to break rules in order to punch someone whom he considers deserving of it, and he has a grand temper that flares up with a deceptively cutting tongue.

A kindhearted young man with a fondness for sports, who can be relied upon to protect people in need, but who'll also casually disregard rules that he doesn't care about and is about as likely to pretend at spontaneous deafness as he is to actually help a younger student with studying. A good Prefect he really isn't.

As for Hermione, she's bossy and perfectly capable of following the rules. She's also judgmental to the extreme, dangerously vicious to anyone she perceives as an enemy, and about as capable of dealing with people as a cat dunked in a bucket of ice-water. She's very passionate about studying, but also very unlikely to offer to help someone else with their work, since they'd undoubtedly slow her down. She's unapproachable in her bossiness, she constantly hangs out with two of the biggest rule-breakers in the castle, she harps on about studying to the extreme, and for all that she disapproves of rule-breaking she's clearly incapable of keeping either of her friends in check.

A bright young woman with an excellent career ahead of her in anything other than dealing with other people. But whilst she might react badly to seeing someone whom she considers vapid (as in, literally any other girl in the series, because Hermione is like that) elevated to the position of Prefect, she herself is really not Prefect-material.

TL;DR: The trio are a lovely bunch of nutcases, but friendly and rule-abiding they ain’t.

(An argument could be made for Remus Lupin's stint as a Prefect having been a failed attempt to curtail the Marauders, hoping that the “nicest” of them would be enough to stop the rest of the group, not counting on the fact that Remus is hopelessly bad at saying no to people he likes.)

(James Potter seems like a bit of a long shot for a Prefect when Remus is demoted, until you realize that at this point Sirius has tried to murder someone, and Remus has shown himself as incapable of the task, and Peter is widely known as a bit of a silly doormat. The fact that James takes the position seriously and becomes a good Prefect is mostly down to timing, and various personal realizations from his side of things.)

[an-organized-confusion]

Watching “Trope Talk: Are We The Baddies?” made me think of what iZ!Roman went through.

I think the canon TL has him in between variations 1 & 2. Like, the guy’s somewhat disillusioned about the kinds of thinking the Dead Enders had him stuck in - made more clear/obvious with the help of Patton. But Remus being his first actual mark was the revelatory moment that maybe he wasn’t an unassailable hero like he thought he was being.

The alternate TL where he doesn’t get that wake-up call? Well. He’s somewhere between 2 & 3. He gets worse and worse, digging himself into a moral quagmire he may soon believe irreversible. This Roman WILL and HAS killed members of Team Z... and getting Remus truly breaks him. The moral injury is too grievous, and all he has is maladaptive coping strategies for the cognitive dissonance.

And I really liked this comment under the vid (even tho I’m not that cynical):

And then there's the Backfire Effect.  In real life, when someone is confronted with evidence that contradicts their beliefs, they almost always reject the evidence and double down on their belief.  The more evidence that they are wrong, the more strongly they will insist that they are right.  If the hero works for KittenSquishers Inc and someone tries to tell him that he's working for the bad guys, the hero will work very hard to find reasons to question this information and justify rejecting it.  If someone tell him that he's one of the good guys, he accepts that without question.  We accept stories where the heroes can be shown the error their ways and change because we like to think we can convince other people that they are wrong, but that's pretty much pure fantasy.

[we-pay-for-everything]

Harry Potter rant - Dumbledore

This is the first of my HP rants. I’ve been thinking about posting on Tumblr for a while, but I’ve been down lately and not in a mood to actually verbalize my thoughts... I’m new to the HP fandom (and 10 years too late) but I hope that someone reads what I’ve got to say. I’m very interested in discussing the series to the best of my ability and encourage you to talk to me!

Anyway... I find the series frustrating in many ways. Rowling clearly had a very political agenda when writing the books - and by agenda I mean that she was trying to criticize and educate - and I don’t fully agree with it. There are two characters that Rowling seems to use as a mouthpiece for her own views and opinions - Dumbledore and Hermione. The few interviews I’ve seen of her kind of confirm that they’re her favorite characters and that she identifies herself with them. 

It’s difficult to articulate what it is about Hermione that drives me up a wall, but it’s easier with Dumbledore. 

Anyone who has read the books knows how manipulative, secretive and ruthless Dumbledore is. He’s a complex, problematic character who planned a boy’s death from his birth, who used Hogwarts as his own personal playground (he kept a dangerous artifact there, the Philosopher’s Stone, which attracted Voldemort to the school; many Order members were students; he hired professors based on his plans and kept useless professores like Trelawney or bullies like Snape around because of it, etc). 

However, the most alarming aspect about his character is how no one seems to acknowledge that he’s the most terrifying wizard in Harry Potter. No one in the books seems to realize or care that he shares many similarities with Voldemort. 

Dumbledore frequently abuses his power. He wins people their undying loyalty - either by doing them favors or by being the biggest protector they can find - and demands to be followed and respected. Although people are free to do as he says or not, no one truly has a choice. He keeps the members of the Order uninformed and in desperate need of him. People follow him and do exactly as he says because he is powerful, cunning and holds all the cards in his hand. 

Dumbledore had the knowledge to defeat Voldemort and shared it with no one. People died and risked their lives to follow his plans and he didn’t even share what he knew. He kept everyone at arm’s length and told them only what he thought they had to know. A prime example of this is how he treated Harry in OotP. Information is power. You can only make educated, smart decisions if you have all the information necessary to do so. And Harry didn’t. He wasn’t told exactly why he had to learn Occlumency and Sirius died as a consequence. 

Deathly Hallows finally confirms to Harry and the others what I, and everyone, knew to be true all along. It’s satisfying seeing Harry revolt against Dumbledore like that. However, he, and everyone else, still follow Dumbledore’s last orders and his many wrong choices are never questioned or criticized. While Harry learns that Dumbledore was too ambitious and couldn’t handle power, he never questions why Dumbledore was never questioned himself. 

TL; DR Harry Potter is, partly, about defiance and resistance, about questioning authority figures like the government. Yet, no one questions Dumbledore. Well, that’s not true. The Ministry of Magic does but it’s for the wrong reasons, Sirius does in the OofP and is ridiculed - even though he was proven right. 

The fact is that all of the wise, trustworthy characters like Hermione, Minerva, Remus, Moody, etc. put their full trust in Dumbledore and the unreliable characters are the only ones who ever questioned him - like Ron and Sirius. 

So we have six books of Dumbledore making questionable decisions and never being called out on it and that is just about the most frustrating thing about Harry Potter. One should never blindly trust anyone because people always fail you - that’s not cynicism, it’s just a natural part of life - and yet everyone blindly trusts Dumbledore, and, in the end, are proven right. Since Dumbledore’s plans do end up saving the day, he, like Snape, are heroes. Their wrong doings are almost romanticized (Albus Severus Potter) and it’s such a failure that impressionable children might read the books and not realize how dangerous Dumbledore was. 

[extremelyxshabby]

Do you ever think about how Albus Dumbledore ruined Remus Lupin because I do.

“If Dumbledore trusts him, I trust him.”

Remus’ words, and I think illustrative of how Remus viewed Dumbles. He was Remus’ hero since he opened up Hogwarts to a lonely and ostracized little werewolf. This is great and lovely and progressive, but if you want to really read between the lines (which I do), it’s also setting Remus up to be Dumbledore’s creature. Remus was indebted to Dumbledore twice over if you count making sure Snape kept his condition on the DL. He was basically groomed into lying about everything while at school, which of course is a skill he only perfected later on.

I think Dumbles saw a potential chess piece in little Remus Lupin. He knew Voldemort was getting bigger, he knew Voldy would go after the werewolves since they’re marginalized and Greyback probably turned a decent chunk of the werewolf population of Britain. He knew if that happened he’d need someone on the inside. I’m not saying this was his sole motivator because you can never know the future, but I think Dumbledore was stacking his deck just in case.

I don’t think in a million years Remus would want to hang around with Greyback, the fucker who turned him when he wasn’t even five, unless pushed. I think Remus is a gentle soul who just wants to do right by the world and make people happy and the boy was born to be a teacher, not a spy. But Dumbledore asked him, so of course he did, because he was indebted to Dumbledore and Dumbles is an excellent salesman.

So now this gentle soul is placed in one of the most stressful situations a person can be in - an undercover operative in a murderous, literally evil gang who work for an even eviller(?) gang, at the age of EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD. A fucking child. He clearly is good at it, because he’s able to jump right back into it some fifteen years after the end of the first war without raising too much suspicion. He’s so good at it that his own best friends suspect him of betraying them (jury’s out on whether this inkling of an idea might have been stoked by Peter, which would’ve been pretty damn smart given that it shifts the blame and places him in a position of trust), such that they try and pull one over on everyone by changing the Secret Keeper to Peter just in case.

Mind you, this whole time, who knew Remus was actually working for the Order? Fucking Dumbles, but did he stand up for him when the gang was thinking of Remus as the traitor? No. It’s a strategic move, of course, because Dumbles probably figured either Sirius or Peter might be the traitor and thus revealing it would jeopardize his man on the inside, but still I just wanted to mention this. Dumbledore is a master strategist, yo.

Fast forward thirteen years and to get poor, tired old Remus to come teach at Hogwarts, which remember Remus resisted, Dumbledore dangled Wolfsbane Potion in front of him - the only thing that can help relieve the fucking awful werewolf transformation process. A potion Remus, who sucks at Potions, can’t make and likely can’t buy because he has no freaking money. You can’t tell me that’s not also a setup somehow. Get Remus back at Hogwarts the same time Sirius is escaped from Azkaban. There’s no good reason for Remus showing up then, there really isn’t, aside from his connection to Sirius and the deaths of the Potters. Idk what Dumbledore’s game here was unless he’d started to suspect that maybe Sirius didn’t betray the Potter and that Remus might be able to draw out the truth from him if they caught him?? but anyway I’m confident there was a game.

Dumbles’ manipulations throughout OotP are so obvious they barely require mentioning. Even after all this, Remus is Team Dumbledore, even more than he is Team Harry in a way, since he lets Dumbles continue to manipulate the poor fucking kid even while Harry is going through rather a rough patch. He defends Snape, because Dumbles trusts Snape and also bc Remus is a mature adult and can see things in more than black and white. 

AND this entire rant fest is only about Remus, and Dumbles’ manipulations of everyone are elsewhere well documented but I’d just like to say that Albus is good at chess and sometimes I admire him and other times I want to kick in his kneecaps. 

tl;dr Dumbledore manipulated this gentle, cheeky soul who should’ve been a teacher into an undercover operative and im sad.