#how do i write him to be silly but not one-dimensional

[crabsnpersimmons]

Last Line Challenge

Rules: in a new post, show the last line you wrote (or drew) and tag as many people as there are words (or however many as you like).

Tagged by @thatmooncake ! Thank you!

Here's my last line:

No sooner had you plugged in the USB did Clip start rotating his faceplate like a loading wheel.

And here's my last little doodle, since it's also Clip:

Been exploring Clip a lot recently! He's just a silly little guy.

18 words so 18 friends! No pressure of course, this is just for fun:

@starriegalaxy @vacantfields @lunarmoves @spadillelicious @restinsodaroni @mulatto-macchiato @cacaocheri @ren-054 @craykaycee @betweenblackberrybranches @thecourtjester12 @crystalmagpie447 @paggylyn @sinnabee @wenchfry @haruka-636 @ramblingsofacotlfangirl @ohno-the-sun

+ and anyone else who wants to share!

[torchstelechos]

I love that Isabeau is the one to bring up the "what do we do if you die" conversation cause its a very good insight to his character at the very start of the game. Isabeau is practical, smart, and loves everyone dearly and wants to know how to help them when shit goes sideways. He's the one to ask about Bonnie too, which is a delightful read on how he thinks because everyone else shuts that down instantly as a "That wont happen and cant happen" but we see later in the game it can happen which is such a startling thing for a game to do but justifies the foreshadowing of Bonnie can die what do we do if that happens? Isabeau, despite everything, is also the one who gets to the heart of the matter even if its not something must people are willing to talk about. All without it being part of his friendquest, thats just him naturally. Which! Says so much about him and how he is! His character when its not about his relationship with Siffrin is a very intriguing thing because it feels like a very classic hard intellectual stance that's been softened after many years of learning to better communicate healthily with others. A reflection, if you will, of Odile but in a very drastic direction. I find him fascinating and I also want to scoop his brains out and study them under a microscope to see all his little brain thoughts.

[sophieinwonderland]

The Plurality of... Bill Cipher (The Book of Bill)

Spoiler Warning for Gravity Falls, The Book of Bill, and the nature of reality as you know it

Hello dear reader.

I recently found in my possession a strange book with no explanation as to how it got there. A bizarre tome known only as The Book of Bill.

I recognized the name and imagery from someone else's memories. Bill Cipher, a character from Alex Hirsch's hit series Gravity Falls.

It honestly seemed too perfect. I've been doing this "Plurality of..." series where I look at plurality in media. And an important part of Bill's shtick was possession.

It seemed simple enough. I can read the book, learn a bit about Bill and his possession, and then write an article about his plurality. But the reality was anything by simple, with far more than I bargained for.

And by the end of this post, this book will have driven me to break a fundamental rule I've held sacred through my "Plurality Of..." series.

What is Plurality?

Before we begin, I should explain what plurality is for anyone new here. Plurality is a term for being multiple in one body in some way.

We call the body's occupants "headmates". These can be anything from alters in dissociative disorders to spirit guides bound to a mortal, to... yes... even literal demonic possession.

Yeah, even being possessed by a demonic triangle from a 2-dimensional universe is a type of plurality. If there are multiple self-conscious agents of some kind there, it's plural!

Time To Get Weird!

(Art by magentasnail)

Let's catch you up on the basics real quick. Again, there will be huge Gravity Falls spoilers.

In Gravity Falls, Bill Cipher is a yellow a 2-dimensional triangle demon bent on causing chaos.

Through the series, Bill makes deals with multiple characters to possess their bodies. This includes both gaining full control over the body of protagonist Dipper Pines for an episode, and more interestingly, sharing control over the body of Stanford Pines for an extended period of time.

Bill's possession of Dipper left Dipper outside his body like a ghost. But his deal with Stanford is much more plural in nature, where they shared control, with Bill only controlling the body in his sleep.

Obviously real plural systems don't have headmates controlling their body while they sleep like this, but the experience can be seen as analogous to dissociative identity disorder, where it's common to experience blackouts and "wake up" in situations unsure how you got there.

That's all you really need to know about Bill for the time being.

With that out of the way, it's time get weird and dive straight into the Book of Bill!

The Book of Bills

As I begin reading the Book of Bill, I'm given a warning from Stanford Pines that the book will rewrite itself based on the mind of the reader. This seems silly, and I of course dismiss the idea out of hand. Surely there's no way a book could change itself based on who's reading it.

As I venture further into this tome, I find the occasional point of interest. References to Bill living in people's brain, him being an idea, etc.

I stop briefly to ponder that. Why does Bill refer to himself as an idea? Isn't he canonically a being from a physical 2-dimensional world? Him being described as an idea is peculiar, but something I tuck away for the future.

The first thing I find that really piques my interest in regards to plurality is the multiple times that it's just referenced that there are multiple Bills in Bill's head. Such as when Bill refers to "the voices in his head" teaming up.

In the plural community, there's a concept known as median system.

A median system is typically a system which has separate parts that are less distinct from each other. There's a pretty solid case that Bill, having a bunch of Bills in his head, could be considered a median system on his own.

In fact, the book itself actually depicts communication between multiple Bills, in the form of an interview.

And throughout the interview, there are times where the Prime Bill seemingly gets annoyed at the interviewer's questions. As if they are actually different people. While this could be Bill simply duplicating himself and pretending for comedic effect, it could just as easily be that both Bills are headmates in Bill's system.

Bill being a median system is a pretty interesting direction.

As I read on though, the book dragged me down yet another rabbit hole, and raised an important question.

Does Bill Have A Dissociative Disorder???

Let's talk about dissociative identity disorder. There are two main criteria for DID. Criterion A is the presence of two or more distinct personality states. You know, like those Bills in Bill's head.

The second is memory loss.

Recurrent gaps in the recall of everyday events, important personal information, and/or traumatic events.

This is what was on my mind when Bill was describing how he was uniquely gifted with the ability to see into the third dimension, and wanted to teach others this same skill.

But when he tries to recount it... this happened...

To me, this sounds exactly what was described in criterion B. This is also called dissociative amnesia.

And it's not just this one-off example. Bill actually references later that he dissociates (his words) and "wakes up" later after a conquest.

With everything we know, it seems incredibly likely that Bill has DID, or at least a related disorder.

Bill is what he eats

Okay... wait...

So Bill can ALSO imprison the souls of those he eats inside himself, and they can apparently take over Bill's body too???

What actually is going on here? Is this one of Bill's powers? He can just eat entire universes and then whatever he consumes becomes a part of him? Or maybe it's something else...

Maybe if we looked at this less literally and consider the previous hints of Bill having a dissociative disorder then perhaps what is going on is that Bill is introjecting these people.

Maybe whenever he enters somebody's mind, some piece of them remains...

I would love to speculate more on this... But this is the only mention of it in the entire book!

At this point, I begin to reflect on the words at the beginning. Maybe it was true that the book was changing itself to give me what I wanted. Little hints of plurality to keep me reading, to ensnare me in its vicious trap and ultimately drive me to madness.

And the worst part was, I was falling into it anyway. Because I had to know, even if this was a trap, I was in it to the very end. My thirst for knowledge and understanding unquenchable.

Even if I knew I should stop here, there was no going back.

Stanford Pines, Bill's Perfect Host

At last, beyond all of the misdirects that were put in my way, I arrived at the reason that I started on this journey.

Stanford Pines.

I need to say that when I started this journey, planning to delve into what the plurality of Bill and Ford might be like, I never imagined that it would be handled so... Beautifully.

I mean that genuinely!

I love the relationship of these two characters in the book!

They are both very out of place in their own ways. Both are aware of things in their world that are denied by others, leaving them ridiculed and ostracized for it. They manage to form a genuine friendship. Even if Bill was using Stanford the whole time to achieve his Weirdmageddon.

The two compliment each other surprisingly well. Bill provides Stanford with a friend who can get him out of his comfort zone, which is something that I think Stanford really needed.

There's a really fun part of the book where Bill just gets Stanford mind-drunk, which is apparently something he can do.

Bill fills a role in Stanford's life that nobody had since he lost contact with his brother. While Stanford had friend in with Fiddleford, his lab partner, and we do get to see parts of that friendship in the book, they are more like work acquaintances.

Alas, it wasn't meant to be. Because in the end, Bill is still an evil demon who was bent on bringing about the Weirdmageddon and was manipulating Ford the whole time.

And when Stanford found out, he tried to shut Bill out. This led to Bill trying to communicate through sticky notes to get Ford to stop ignoring him. He would front in the body at night while Ford slept, and they carried on a conversation through these sticky notes.

Wait... Sticky notes?

This is such an interesting choice for the character! Especially after so many hints of Bill Cipher having some sort of dissociative disorder.

Why?

Because sticky notes are an actual method that real DID systems use to communicate with their alters, as seen in this post from the NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) website.

It's fascinating how, if you were to try to depict how headmates with strong dissociative barriers might communicate, this is one of the ways you would want to do that!

Is this coincidental? Maybe. But the talk of dissociation earlier suggests the author also has at least some basic knowledge of dissociation and how it works. And, perhaps, plurality as well?

Overall, this whole section with Bill and Ford was fantastic, and it was well-worth the read for that on its own.

The End?

I suppose this is the end. I found what I wanted. I got the content I was after. A cool plural story of a guy and his headmate from another dimension who wants to take over the world.

Through all the strange distractions and hints of Bill himself having headmates that seemingly went nowhere, I got more plurality in the book than I expected.

And yet, as I turn the final page of the book, I feel unsatisfied. Unsettled.

"Is that it?" I think to myself.

This is Gravity Falls, a show built on mysteries, and looking deeper than the surface. Surely there has to be more. Right?

What if... all the plurality in this book, is obscuring something deeper? Or maybe hinting at something deeper...

And then... I see it!

After the final page, I come to the About the Author section.

Which means it's time to talk about...

The Plurality of... Bill Cipher Alex Hirsch

Yes, I am going there!

In the beginning, I promised that this post will require me to break a rule I've held sacred through these posts.

That rule... is to never speculate on the plurality of the author.

But, Alex Hirsch, at least in a fictional sense, hasn't exactly shied away from the idea of being "possessed" by Bill. This dates back at least a decade, with him making Tweets like this one.

"Bill Cipher" even did an AMA on Reddit through Alex, playing it off as Bill possessing Hirsch while he slept.

It's a pretty open secret in the Gravity Falls community that Alex Hirsch is "possessed" by Bill. At least in some meta-fiction way that may not be canon to Gravity Falls but isn't quite real either.

And were my analysis to stop here, I wouldn't really be saying anything new or valuable. A lot of this was covered by MatPat on Film Theory.

But there's something I want to go back to that confuses me in this book.

That Bill Cipher... is an idea?

Let's bring this full circle, back to the beginning of the book where Bill mentions that he's imaginary and describes himself as an idea.

These are such weird lines because Bill didn't seem to have originated from people's minds within the narrative of Gravity Falls.

His story is of being a being from a literal flat world. So why then, does he describe himself as an idea? Why does he describe himself as imaginary???

Bill Cipher as Alex Hirsch's Tulpa

While Bill being an idea doesn't make sense if he's speaking as a being from a 2-dimensional world that's real to him, it does make sense if we consider that the Bill talking to us, who wrote the Book of Bill, is a tulpa sharing the body of its creator.

Before going on though, we need to answer an important question. What is a tulpa? The r/tulpas subreddit gives its own answer to this in its FAQ.

The simplest way to describe a tulpa is simply another person who was created intentionally/unintentionally through repeated interaction and shares a body and mind with their creator. A more complicated definition can go as follows: A tulpa is believed to be an autonomous consciousness coinhabiting a brain with their creator, often with a form of their creator's initial choice and design. A tulpa is entirely sentient and in control of their opinions, feelings, form and movement. They are willingly created via a number of techniques to act as companions, muses, and advisers. Tulpa forms can either be visualized in the mind's eye, or, with practice, seen as a hallucinatory figure using a technique called imposition.

And let's stop there on the line about being created as muses, because this is something that's found repeated throughout both The Book of Bill and Journal 3, with Stanford referring to Bill as his "muse."

It's a curious term that doesn't appear in the show, but was added to the lore in these two supplemental books.

The FAQ goes on to explain that while tulpas are often considered to be intentionally created, there are also accidental tulpas that can arise through imaginary friends or from writing characters.

Is it possible to accidentally make a tulpa? Yes - many people join the community after realizing they have had tulpas all their lives, but without knowing what they were called. These "accidental" tulpas often arise from imaginary friends and writing/roleplay characters.

On the point of roleplay characters, something I also haven't mentioned yet is that Alex Hirsch didn't just write the character of Bill Cipher. He WAS Bill Cipher. In the show, Bill is one of the characters Hirsch voices along with Grunkle Stan and Soos.

Writing tulpas and how they come about are discussed a bit more below:

Is this a new phenomena? No, it's a practice that goes back in recorded history at least as far as the Greek philosophers. The present name of the phenomenon is derived from the word used by Tibetan monks in the early 20th century. There's also evidence to suggest dedicated prayer can lead to the development of 'religious tulpas' in the minds of the particularly devout, and on the secular end, writing techniques similar to tulpa development techniques can and have resulted in writers creating accidental tulpas from their characters. Having a tulpa is nothing new, although it's gone by many names throughout the course of history and does so even today. However, we believe we are one of the first groups to address this practice as a psychological phenomena rather than a magical, occult or divine experience.

Tulpamancy and Attention

There was another passage from the book that I found noteworthy.

At the end, Stanford describes what truly sustains Bill isn't power, but attention, which Stanford describes as Bill's "lifeblood."

It's even underlined for emphasis.

Why is this important? Well first, this line goes back to the weird lines earlier suggesting Bill is an idea.

But more importantly, feeding on attention is something which is actually a pretty popular philosophy in tulpamancy. That tulpas feed on and are sustained by the attention of their hosts.

How do I give my tulpa energy? Tulpas are sustained by attention, and energy is a convenient metaphor for this. So, you can give your tulpa energy by interacting with them. It is also possible, through no shortage of work and time on the part of host and tulpa alike, for a tulpa to grow beyond this need and to learn how to sustain themselves.

How much attention/energy/interaction does my tulpa need? During the creation process you should aim to interact with your tulpa daily, anywhere from a few minutes up to a few hours, and narrating to them as and when you can. After they're fully vocal and active, the bare minimum is just acknowledging their existence, but spending time talking to them and interacting with them is very much the point of bringing them into existence. Just don't ignore them, and you'll both be fine.

On Parallels in Writing

Adding another layer, it's likely that Stanford Pines is at least partially based on Alex Hirsch himself.

One point of trivia is that Alex Hirsch has a twin sister, and Gravity Falls was inspired by vacations they would take as children. Dipper and Mabel being based on Alex and his sister is pretty well-known. But towards the end of season 2, it's revealed that their Grunkle Stan is a twin himself, with his brother being Stanford Pines, the author of the journals.

During this part of the story, it starts creating a parallel between the relationships of the younger and older twins, with Dipper (who is based on Alex) bonding with Stanford over how much they have in common. Both are nerds who are into writing and science and uncovering the mysteries of the world. Both are a bit socially awkward as well.

And while not much attention is drawn to this particular connection, both had experiences of making deals with Bill that let Bill takeover their bodies at different points.

Based on the parallels between Dipper and Stanford, one might speculate that Alex based Dipper on his younger self, while Stanford was loosely based on himself as an adult.

The personalities of these two characters are also the most likely to create a tulpa based on the psychological profiles of most tulpamancers.

In 2016, Dr. Samuel Veissiere, a psychiatry professor at McGill University, found the following in his study of tulpamancers:

From coding of qualitative interviews collected in large surveys, the most common tulpamancer profile to emerge is one of a highly cerebral, imaginative, highly articulate, upper-middle class, formally educated person with many consistently pursued interests, talents, and hobbies, but limited channels of physical social interaction. Typical tulpamancers are confident about their talents, but are quite modest and socially shy. They possess – or have cultivated – a high propensity for concentration, absorption, hypnotisability, and non-psychotic sensory hallucinations.

The psychological profile of tulpamancers fits both Dipper and Stanford to a t. And many of these same traits could just as easily be true for Alex Hirsch if these characters were meant to be stand-ins for himself.

Is Alex Hirsch trying to tell us that he's plural?

In the end, this is just a theory. And it's one that I feel nervous making because plurality is so deep and personal. That's why I've avoided speculating on the plurality authors in the past. Even when the writing feels so true to the plural experience that it's hard to imagine that someone who isn't plural wrote it.

So why am I making an exception with this one?

Well, in this particular case, I think that the breadcrumbs are being left intentionally, and if he is plural, then he expects somebody to follow them. I'm not worried that I would be outing somebody who didn't want others to find out.

With Alex Hirsch's love of codes and clues and mysteries, if he were plural, I have to imagine that the hints weren't accidental and he would be wondering if anybody would follow them.

And if I am completely off base and he's not plural, I think that he would still appreciate the theorizing anyway. 🤷‍♀️

But if these are intentional clues that were left behind to hint at a real life plurality, one might ask why.

Why would he want people to know about it, and hint at it in this way?

Well, I think the Book of Bill might have an answer to that too.

Shame is a powerful emotion. But it grows in the dark. The more I've tried to hide my past with Bill, the more hold it's had over me.

Perhaps this line is meant to reflect Alex Hirsch's own feelings. Because many plural systems have felt this same way about their plurality, having hide their relationships to their headmates.

The actual end now

Finally, we come to the real ending of this.

This is, again, just a theory. I don't want anyone taking it as fact. I admit that I could be completely wrong about everything that I've said here.

But if nothing else, it's at least fun to imagine that Alex Hirsch does have a Bill Cipher tulpa in his head that has been acting as his muse this whole time. And it would give a new meaning to the gag of the Weirdmageddon intro saying Gravity Falls was "created by Bill Cipher" all those years ago.

Thanks for reading, and if you have your own muse that you think might be more than a simple muse, be sure to read my guide on how to know if your imaginary friend is sentient.

And if you like this post and want to see more like it, you may want to check out The Plurality of… Avatar: The Last Airbender or The Plurality of… IF

[mossy-chaos]

These are all of the codes I could find in the Book of Bill!

The order is decoded message-page-type of cipher

Spoilers under the cut (for those of you who decode yourselves):

Black and white-back of the cover jacket-authors cipher

Even his lies are lies-inside the front cover-theraprism cipher

Praise the fallen angle-first actual page-Cipheric (this is the only time Cipheric is used for some reason)

Olaf was here-same-rune (not sure what this is a reference to)

Remember us-same-Bill's cipher

Let him in and break the seal between what's fiction and what's real-books new master-Bill's cipher

The Axolotl thinks he's won but Ciphers games have just begun-handprint page-color cipher

Irregular-fake covers(very top)-color cipher

The one who writes the codes-about me-Caeser cipher

Glotto/slotheny-Magazine cover(7 new sins)-Bill's cipher (I love the new sins lol)

Not a phase-Stanford pines here(on the goth moth)-Authors cipher-love the jack skellington reference (if thats what that is lol)

Warning/Folding this card may/result in crossovers-the universe is a hollogram-rune (Maybe that's how we finally get an owl house/gravity falls crossover)

My optometrist never saw it coming-What is a human-Theraprism

Paper is book skin/Shave your grandma-Skin-Bill's cipher

Love pain-Bill's tattoo knuckles-Same

Lies-How to trick everyone into loving you-same

Regrowing limbs is Axy's art/but can he regrow a ripped out heart-How to cheat death-Bill's cipher (he must really be mad at the Axolotl)

Eye doctor of a different kind/who wants to make his patient blind-silly straws-caesar

The doctor says/three sips a day/will make the visions/go away-Same

Fussy eater/baby Billy/wouldn't drink/unless it's silly-same (love how this implies that he only drank out of silly straws)

Mason-Embarrassing memories-Bill's cipher (love seeing Dipper's real name again)

Booberry-the meaning of life(popsicle stick)-Bill's cipher

One eyed king-the early years-theraprism

Suck it-The good times(liscense plate)-Caesar

Can warp narrativity/protect fourth walls-Alert from time baby-A1Z26

Lone survivor of the Euclidean massacre-Rune (I wonder what happened during that event and what that event actually is)

Tantrum-Bill's Cipher

Which henchmaniac ratted me out-The shaman-Theraprism (I find this one funny)

Titans blood-the dark ages(Wizards hat)-Rune (Love the owl house reference here)

Suck it Merlin-Never trust a wizard-Rune

Daryll-Cipherstitions(lobster lord of the deep)-Theraprism (love how that's his name)

Curse Wittebane-Witchcraft-Rune

It's all made up-America(the dollar)-Caesar

Countries aren't-Bill's cipher

Rubberhose-Animation-A1Z26

Bill cipher-top secret file-Same

Six fingered freak-Lost in the woods-authors cipher

Stanley would have made her laugh-same (he just rolled better charisma dude)

If lost return to Bill-my muse and me-Theraprism (love how he said this means wise one and also more billford hehe)

Forget the past-A voice from the past page 2-Bill's cipher (this implies that Bill wants Ford to forget Stanley so he won't get in the way)

Hopefully F's gloves will hide what Cipher has done to my hands-I was wrong about everything page 2-Author's Cipher (I love this one <3)

Ouroboros-Wakey wakey here's a snakey (on the snake)-Bill's Cipher (I guess this is the snakes name?)

Miss you-try to forget (on window)-bro's secret code

Have I been too harsh all along?-Should I contact S-Bro's secret code

Hotxolotl-Dimensional authority call transcript (on the sauce packet)-Bill's cipher

I can write codes too it's not that hard!-Dipper's page-Bill's cipher (he do be flexing his intelligence there)

(What a buncha) Love ya bro-Stanley's letter-Bro's secret code (love how this shows that they both still remember the code they made up as kids)

Just fit in (repeated)-SSSSTANNNNLEEEYY-Rune

Holy mackerel-color cipher

AXOLOTLLOTAXOLOTLLOTLAXLOTLAXLOTLAXOLOTLLOTLAXLOTLAXLOTLAXOLOTLLOTLAXLOTLAXLO-Theraprism

Wellwellwellbeing-message from the theraprism-A1Z26

Spheremonger, Eternalor, Bill cipher, The Logicube, Paingorious, Jessica, Shadorg, Mr Silly, The beast-recent inpatient names-Theraprism (the hallucination dog is still creepy lol)

Justice for Scrimbles/Remember Grembley-inside Back cover-Theraprism/Rune (JUSTICE FOR SCRIMBLES!!!!)

Those are all of the codes that are in this book! (Or at least that I could find lol)

[jellybeanium124]

Don’t hate yourself for liking someone’s works. Something to remember is that Neil Gaiman wrote his stories to target young, vulnerable people. He was writing his stories to attract fans, and interacted with the fans to entice and groom them. Some of his victims met at book signings. All were fans of his books.

The stories were written with your admiration in mind. It’s not your fault he wants to hold the admiration of people of your demographic.

First, I don't.

Second, I think you are making up a story here bro. I think once upon a time there was a teenager in england who worked in journalism but wanted to write books, and then he was the one-in-a-million lucky soul who wrote his books and they became wildly famous and successful. and then after he accrued power and fame he started exploiting it. I'm not saying people who abuse power don't tend to try and get themselves into positions of power, but "famous author" is a pretty difficult career path and one likely to fail.

with this narrative you've concocted, you've removed his humanity from him, as well as any sort of genuine love of storytelling or creation he definitely has. like he's just as human as the rest of us, and I simply do not believe that he is a monster who only cares about attracting 20-something women and does this by crafting beautiful stories for the page and screen.

there's a concept I've talked about before, the Fetishist. as someone with a widely hated fetish, I've thought a lot about how people think people with my fetish are not humans but Fetishists, monsters who look human but only care about fulfilling their fetish, and see all other people as Objects They Can Use or Nothing. you've turned gaiman into the Predator, which is the same thing just a bit broader. the Predator is a monster shaped like a human, but unlike a human who cares about a myriad of things and has a three-dimensional personality, the Predator only cares about Preying On [usually young women or children], and every human being is, to them, either a Target To Prey On or Nothing. neil gaiman is not the Predator because the Predator doesn't exist. I don't think he had a long term plan. I don't think 19yo neil gaiman was going "hehehehe I can't wait until I become world famous so I can use that to coerce women into sleeping with me!"

turning ng into something evil is easy. because then you don't have to think about the good he's done. then you don't have to think about how he's been a supporter of queer people since the 90s. then you don't have to think about how he's supported refugees or ukraine. you don't have to think about his works of tzedakah or tikkun olam, and you don't have to think about the beautiful art he's made (and while we're here, let's think before dehumanizing a jewish man, hm?). it also handily makes it so you never have to worry about your own behaviors. because you're a three-dimensional person! so of course you could never be the Predator. or the Abuser. or the Fetishist. or the Narcissist.

until I see proof debunking this, I am going to continue believing he made the art he wanted to see in the world out of a genuine wish to be an author, and not primarily to put himself in a position of power to abuse women. maybe he always had tendencies towards manipulation. maybe part of him always knew that if he became famous then there would undoubtedly be women falling over themselves for him. because we all know that. we all know that if we became famous there would be people who we could exploit for sex. that's not a secret. part of me would like to be famous. I wanna work in the film industry. I have silly dreams, of course. but I'm not pursuing this difficult line of work in order to someday abuse people, I'm pursuing it because of a genuine love of making movies. neil gaiman was a guy who wanted to become a writer, and then he did, and then he abused that position, repeatedly. we have three examples now. I wouldn't be surprised if more women started coming out about their experience, because three is absolutely a pattern, and because claire did the brave thing of being the second one to speak out (since scarlett and the other one whose pseudonym I can't remember atm came out at the same time). and now that there's been two exposés, two podcasts, three stories total, more are going to come. I'd be more surprised if they didn't. but that doesn't make neil gaiman the Predator. it makes him a man who did shitty things repeatedly.

[mysterycitrus]

i know you've been talking about jason lately so i'll ask about smth different... robin jason (sorry)

idk idk lately i've been wanting to take a peek at his robin comics for the sake of writing fic (ofc...) but i'd like to hear what u think before that, a summary of sorts if u may (i also wanna contrast what u say with what i get out of it so yeah)

i feel like his robin days are so muddled by his identity as red hood later on, and even before that it was his death. u had people constantly blaming jason for dying in text (or else they'd have to admit bruce can make mistakes and everyone in dc is allergic to doing that) and painting him like someone reckless and violent (classist editorial u need to DIE), and then people in fanon painting him like a sweet fella who would do nothing wrong and as well as being bruce's Only Actual Son etc etc for the sake of making the situation around him all the more sadder (yeah yeah pathetic meow meow we've all seen it)

and i'm just curious bc i rlly wonder what the actual comics say about him, most likely something in the middle of this? exams are killing me but my god i'll come back to life after im done just to read jason robin's days... have a good day !!!

the difficulty with reading about jason as robin is that there are three primary periods that all differ fairly dramatically from each other — pre-crisis jason todd is a strawberry blond acrobat who’s almost adopted by dick grayson before becoming robin; post-crisis jason todd is a kid from crime alley who steals the wheels off the batmobile before becoming robin; and post-crisis, post-utrh jason todd is a very angry, very violent kid who becomes a cautionary tale after he gets himself killed (something he is often blamed for).

we can walk the line here. pre-crisis jason isn’t particularly relevant because so much of robin!jason’s stories depend on his reinvention after the reboot. all the crucial factors leading up to death in the family — growing up in the alley, both his mothers, his relationship with the robin mantle, his developing relationship with dick grayson, his slow schism from bruce, his relative isolation from other superheroes — are all crucial to who he is, especially after his death.

fanon about jason is annoying because there are valid criticisms that can be made about how he’s written with regressive, classist stereotypes, but as always it pivots way too far in one direction. jason wasn’t the “happy” or “angry” robin in the same way that dick wasn’t the happy or angry robin — they’re both characters that possess more than a single emotion. it’s true that jason was later written to be more explicitly violent (to contrast him with dick) but also like… they’re both pretty similar characters that differ in interesting ways. dick created robin to be a symbol of hope and joy. jason carried that on when he took up the mantle. they can both be angry at stuff without the world falling apart. it’s not that serious.

the dialogue about dick being a child soldier but jason being the true son makes me want to tear my hair out. jason became robin because bruce missed dick and was afraid of being alone. they’re both his gd kids. acting as though bruce wayne doesn’t love dick grayson so much that extra-dimensional beings can clock it is so fucking stupid. it once again ties into fanon’s obsession with each character only getting to be “one” thing. tim is smart, which means he’s the smartest. jason said robin made him magic, which means he’s happy all the time. dick chased after zucco in a grief spiral, which means he’s the violently angry one, with no other character traits. dick can’t have been nice to jason because he’s nice to tim, etc. seems a little silly, no?

i think i’ve only read jason’s brief run as robin once, though ive gone through a death in the family + a lonely place of dying a bunch of times, so ig my advice for reading him is to keep in mind the context in which he was created. dc comics was reeling from losing dick grayson as robin, and were really throwing anything at the wall to get something to stick. many, many negative tropes are baked into his introduction, and thanks to writers like jeph loeb and scott lobdell they have compounded over time. jason’s updated backstory is, with actual critical intent by the writer, a really good examination of how poverty and class will affect how someone views the world. his death was not his fault — and removing sheila haywood from that warehouse purposely makes his story less tragic. he was a good kid! and he was angry for a good reason. if jason had lived, i believe he would’ve carried on the robin tradition and left bruce behind once their differences became insurmountable.

[okaystoptellingmetomakeanaccount]

Guys. Scrooge McDuck already traveled the multiverse in 1995

Hey look, it’s the doors from doctor strange

-my dad

This year will mark a historical moment in Disney comics history. The first Marvel-made Scrooge McDuck comic. Uncle Scrooge and the Infinity Dime coming up in June will have Scrooge travel through the multiverse to defeat an evil AU version of himself.

To some unfamiliar with Disney comics, this might sound like a lame idea in the trend of many multiverse stories that we are seeing in the cinemas today.

To some familiar with Disney comics, this sounded exactly like the plot of Zio Paperone e il predone dimensionale.

Truth is, the multiverse has always been a part of… just comic books. It’s now starting to slip into other mediums because of the many, many comic book adaptations just getting to that point of the lore, but the comic books themselves have had it for a long time now. Including Disney comics.

Though for Disney it’s less a case of: we wanted to explain continuity errors and then went a bit too far, and more a case of: if you have comics coming out literally every single day of the week then at some point you just get to the multiverse.

There are many of these to be found in Disney comics, which we might talk about later if someone is interested or I feel like it, but today we are going to go over the one most similar in premise to the upcoming Marvel release.

Because I just think it’s really funny how similar they are. Like at this point I would call it a reboot.

Oh oh, Scrooge and multiverse, look at this. I’m pretty sure the Loki tv series just copied their time doors from this comic.

Federico Povoleri wrote a pretty simple story. Someone is stealing from Scrooge again, and this time, the culprit turns out to be… himself!

‘Our’ Scrooge is signified by the red coat (and later the multiverse hopping suit). All the alternates will be clad in blue. DT87 Scrooge is just another AU that no one cares about confirmed

This stealing Scrooge is our ‘Scrooge above all’. He wants to be richer than all his other variants and steals from them for that or something. I don’t remember very well but why he does it doesn’t matter. It’s evil Scrooge and he steals that’s all we need to know.

As we have seen already, he escapes with an universe hopping door. As he always does within these kinds of situations, Scrooge calls Gyro who finds some kind of dimensional energy lingering around where the door used to be. He does the usual explain the multiverse bit.

Then Gyro does in a few hours/days/wedontactuallyknow what Red Raider has been trying for years. There’s a reason they kicked him out of PKNA he would be too overpowered.

Yeah altronave my nose.

Scrooge arrives in the bin of another him, and explains as well as he can. This repeats a few times and I would love to show it but there is a 10 image limit on tumblr mobile for some reason.

Finally he arrives at the bin of the Scrooge who steals and they have a little typical multiverse discussion (I am the real one. No bitch I am. But which one are you. A real me would never do this. That kind of stuff)

But he gets defeated by bad Scrooge. Oh no the only one who could defeat Scrooge has defeated him. What will happen now?

Exactly what you think happens. prime!Scrooge never closed the AU doors and so everyone he visited could just hop through and arrive at Scrooge above all’s office. Yay.

It is not a bad comic. It has the single idea, it sticks to it, it executes it well. The interactions with AU Scrooge’s are just plain fun. At the time of writing the story has place 6020 on inducks which is pretty dang high for such a silly comic.

It’s very much a multiverse story in a classic Disney comics way. It’s not used to bring multiple continuities together. No storia e gloria Scrooge VS life and times Scrooge. Nothing dramatic happening or high stakes. Just Scrooge going on another adventure, and for being one of the first multiverse comics involving Scrooge that didn’t pull random bullshit, it’s considered good by most of the fandom it seems. That the Comicup artists was pretty decent helped as well.

But now, what can we expect from what is totally gonna be a remake of this?

Infinity Dime is Marvel. It’s gonna take a Marvel approach. Assuming it’s not gonna be parody (which i kind of really hope it isn’t), then what will it be? Are we gonna see something similar to this, where Scrooge will just meet different versions of himself or will we see established AU’s? Both Ducktales and all his other animated counterparts (i heard the americans like christmas carol scrooge) seem like easy picks. Will they fight? Will it be Secret Wars? Or will they work together like in this comic?

Marvel has still given out zero information about the story (hell, they haven’t even made clear which artists aside from a few are drawing. “celebrated Scrooge artists” does NOT narrow it down) except for that super vague premise. So the best we can do is imagine this story but with the Marvel flavor. Not that I have read enough Marvel comics to properly understand what that means but ive seen some movies okay.

We can probably imagine there will be more ‘evil’ Scrooges. Some Scroogehenchmen. And they will fight. We gotta have action scenes. Which I trust will look good because Mangiatordi I believe his connection to the project alone will secure that the art department will be amazing. His existence is enough.

I’m also expecting DT17 Scrooge to at least cameo. He’s the perfect character for this type of story, fits way better than any other non comic variant. DT87 Scrooge could work as maybe a younger version? Who is not sure what he got caught up in. But then we would need emotional scenes between Scrooge and Scrooge and that’s probably asking too much from Jason Aaron.

Oh hmm actually. I can see when good Scrooge fights bad Scrooge in the climax he will do a big speech that will last a good 4 pages and will teach bad Scrooge what it takes to be a real Scrooge. That sounds stupid enough to be a Marvel thing but not so stupid as to become completely ridiculous.

I’m not expecting actual references to other established comic Scrooge AU’s. We will probably have Barks and Rosa references and that’s it. I’m not even expecting a Van Horn reference tbh. It’s all Barks and Rosa we gotta keep it beginner friendly. It might even just be Rosa. Which indirectly will result in a Barks reference because every Rosa reference is just a Barks reference but with extra steps.

I’m trying to make predictions okay? So I can go I SAID SO when it comes out. It’ll be really funny for me and annoying for you guys. You don’t even have to read this (yet). This is just for in the future so I can look like a wizard.

The scene where Gyro explains the multiverse might just get copied one on one. Maybe Gyro will be replaced by Ludwig? At least I don’t think they will have Scrooge just go: oh yeah ive seen this before. Maybe another Scrooge will explain it to him/secretly the reader. It WILL involve a big cosmic looking image that will represent the multiverse. It just has to. Even if just to show the Marvel audience how good these Italian Scrooge artists are.

I don’t think Donald or the nephews are gonna play a big role. Maybe at the beginning and end, maybe they will somehow stay in contact with Scrooge or he thinks about them a few times to remind us of hey this is Donald Duck. But I think most is gonna be a solo Scrooge adventure just like we have already seen.

Idk. I really want to talk more about Infinity Dime because it’s the most exciting US made Disney comic in ages. Idk why no one else seems to be hyped. Where is all the rambling and speculation guys?? Not about the covers, but about the actual story!

Anyways now we get to the most important question: do i think it will feature Magica?

Maybe. (Definitely not gonna play a big role if she even appears. Maybe a cameo when at some point there will be a dramatic flashback… Or she could show up in one of the AU’s. Maybe just a short scene in the beginning showing his usual life but that sounds lame. Probably not gonna have a role in the story at least, and I kinda hope it won’t have any Magica at all because I’m scared that they will go of off Rosa’s characterization lol.)

Ok Remember to infinity your dimes and uncle your scrooges gby

[whynotjohnlock]

Hey, would you mind to (maybe if you have time) write some headcanons or a small fic about how the tenth doctor would react if the reader had a panic attack or an anxiety attack? No pressure though, it’s fine if you don’t want to:) thank you in advance and have a great day

*awkwardly walks away, tripping over their own feet*

look at this man. Look at this silly little time lord who wants nothing more than for you to be and happy.

A/N: I have Anxiety around people too anon, no need to walk away. Also, I tryed to just do a reaction, but I may have gone a bit overboard.

Hedcanons:

At first, he's probably oblivious. He's ranting about the slightest differences in coffee on different countries around Earth and Avantiam 5, and the ways they are worse than tea because apparently the time lords invented that too.

When he turns his head toward you during an adventure and he sees you hyperventilating and anxious hands flailing or just any nervous stimms you have he stops and forgets what he was ranting about immediately.

Whenever you're in a panic, he will walk up to you very slowly to show he means you no harm.

Then he man will ask if you're ok to be held. If you've said yes he will give you a nice hug. "Hey, just listen to my heartbeats, ok?"

If not, he understands and regardless of your answer, is most definitely giving his dark oncoming storm eyes to anything or any anyone that made you feel this stressed. "You don't need to do anything other than breath." "Let's get you to the TARDIS."

If it's a person ridiculeing you for any reason, like weirdness, weight, neurodivergence, height, beliefs, or not raseing your eyebrows correctly on a planet that talks only with facial expressions, he is here for you.

Will definitely use his sonic to scan for embarrassing secrets about the person insulting you. "Looks like someone busted their netocrosis pathalovain tube!" (What that means only the doctor knows, but apparently that was enough to make the Alien back off.)

Sonic won't work for whatever reason? He'll just use psychic paper. "How dare you insult the grand leader of the Draconia-Morphious-Nebula! I could have you filed for high treason!"

If all else fails he is not above being all like, "I am a 900+ year old time lord an you will respect my friend or you will never have the ability to disrespect anyone else."

Once you get away from the thing causing you to have a panic attack, and he's stoped whatever everyday universe ending phonominon was happening that day, he's driving the TARDIS to stationary floating in space to ensure that you're alright.

Is a full blown Mother Hen™ and will get you snacks and blankets so you can snuggle up with warmth. "Are you sure you're ok to go to the next adventure already?" "Doctor, we've been here for like three days!" "I know but humans- I don't want to traumatize every companion I have."

The TARDIS is an infinite dimensional spaceship and you have full access to billions of shows or videogames or VR. Literally, all you have to do is be nice, and you have a world of comfort and distractions to get your mind off of any troubles.

If you're alright with it, he's totally down with cuddles to calm any remaining nerves. When you hold each other, he can rest knowing he's not alone and live in a wonderful moment of contentment.

As you fall asleep in his arms or not, he takes a moment to reflect before going back to tinkering on the TARDIS.

You have stood with the doctor facing down Galactic Empires and Gods, and he is never ashamed of you for having panic attacks. He thinks of you, as he does of his previous companions. Humans only have one life of usually no more than 100 years, and yet they are brave, far braver than most time lords who can live millennia with around 12 lives.

He almost feels silly for being afraid of life ending threats just thinking about it. Him, the doctor, afraid.

The Doctor is amazed. He is in awe of you.

[ihopesocomic]

I love how despite Fade being goofy and constantly getting bullied, he's not just a one dimensional punching bag

He's got personality and character and has his own worries about life. He has a big head but he doesn't seem to actually want to hurt people from what I'm getting

unless he feels like they're disrespecting him it seems, then he wants to fight eventhough he keeps losing lol but the way he reacted to Adamant being caught and how he was the only one to speak up against Edge when Hope was being tortured, makes me go hmmmmm

I really like his character and I can't wait to see what yall are gonna do with him

And same goes for Bright, it wouldve been so easy to just make her the "funny over the top sibling who is goofy and silly all the time" character but she's clearly more than that. She's visibly upset learning that her sister going to leave and she takes the fight between Edge and Hope seriously

I love those two so much and can't wait to see them again(same goes for Radiant! Don't have much to say on her but I like her too and I really want to know more about her)

Thank you so much, anon!

We really wanted our quote unquote "bad guys" to have bonds and things going on in their personal life because it gives a 'hey, they're people just like anybody else' vibe and we've always enjoyed that with some of our favourite villains.

Another thing I really wanted to explore is how the sibling bond between these three is strong despite their completely different personalities because that's always fun too and it's also how a lot of my irl sibling relations have worked out due to growing up in foster care. Fade is especially great to write because he's something of a combination of all the teenage guys I've grown up with: they have a mouth and a desire to appear tough but when it comes to actual confrontation, shit just goes south for them so fast and they bail out of the situation. It's just funny when it happens.

And with Bright, it's a simple case of girls not being allowed to be chaotic without some underlying reason. Especially when that reason is neurodivergency and/or mental illness because it's stereotyping at this point. Bright is just chaotic because that's her personality and we love that for her. lol

I'm also looking forward to showing more of Radiant. There's something underneath her icy, deadpan exterior fo' sure. c: - RJ

[pong03]

Towa analysis

Towa, fan fave and a personal favorite of mine. Lets get started: I think we all know that Towa has powers beyond his stigma or maybe his stigma consists of multiple powers. Regardless, Towa is extremely powerful and quite possibly the most powerful ghoul at darkwick currently, given Ed's state and how he alludes to his possible looming demise. With all this power though it makes me quite curious about the Zenji and Towa scene from chapter three and if Towa is actually capable of perceiving Zenji, whether or not if he can see Zenji the marks of his "wins" are visible to Towa, he is the one who marks them down. In the photo cut scene Zenji is visible but that doesn't mean Towa sees anything more than the biwa. The dates, I'm assuming they're dates, he writes could just be the days the biwa visits the cave, and Towa is unable to see or hear Zenji, given the disjointed nature of the conversation. I feel like it is up to the viewer's interpretation as of now even with the knowledge of chapter five, given his ability to talk to plants I would not be surprised if he could see Zenji. I feel though it could truly go either way. The disjointed nature of the scene is a foreshadowing to Zenji's lack of presence, or foreshadowing to there being much more to Towa than we gather from even chapter 3. I think if we just left off from the reveal in hotarubi's chapter it would be logical to assume Towa is just responding to the biwa, but there is a point to the scene in chapter 6 that Towa has additional powers allowing him to hear things others do not. Along with a bit more about Towa's personality, although he is silly, I think Towa's major flaw is the fact he is selfish. I think every ghoul has their flaws and that is what makes the characters so real. I don't think of Towa as being particularly malignant he just little concerns himself with the needs of others. This wouldn't be so bad if the people who surrounded Towa weren't so stubborn to ask for help. Haru works and works without much of a break as we have seen, and Towa can often be harmful to these efforts. Although I think if Haru asks for help Towa would frequently oblige, it's just when things don't go Towa's way he can become explosive and Haru seems aware of that and would rather not risk it. over all I think of the characters Towa is a flawed character where people ignore incorporating flaws he has into his characters making him seem flat and one dimensional in fan fiction. This guy is impatient if anything and quite careless and you can do a lot with them if you included those features into your work and it would make him seem less out of character for those who struggle with writing him. He is sweet when people are direct but doesn't care to look deeper than what people give to him on the surface, that doesn't negate from his sillyness, it kind of adds because it makes his character more disjointed from the surrounding characters, especially MC and Haru.

[mdhwrites]

Gravity Falls Versus The Owl House: How Did It Write It's Women; A Flawed Comparison

If you compare a wlw story and an mlm story and ask which story used women better, 9/10 you're going to to get the answer you expect. One story prioritizes a gender over the other and so they are going to utilize that gender better, just how like some genres will inherently be in a better place to use certain elements better. Would you compare a shounen show and a slice of life show for which one has better action? No, because that would be an unfair comparison.

That is what this blog is actually about. It's about rhetorical devices we use in our debates and arguments. Because why do people even ask this question? Dipper is the main character of Gravity Falls, above all others. Luz is the main character of TOH, above all others. His core supporting cast is mostly guys with one who is a girl, Mabel, who is used as a comedic balance to him and then one more beyond that with Wendy. Luz has a primarily female cast around her with the exceptions of one core member, King, who is used as a comedic balance to her, and Gus beyond that. Both shows include both genders but by all means, they do not use them in the same way. Their priorities are different. Gravity Falls is a very male centric story. TOH is a very female centric story. So... What's the better comparison?

Does The Owl House write male characters better than Gravity Falls writes its female characters? I can't give an answer to that because I haven't watched Gravity Falls but so long as you take in the legwork to make comparable comparisons, fair comparisons, I would say the core issue people have with how the secondary gender is used in each work is valid.

From what I have heard, the problem people have with the female characters in Gravity Falls is that they're underutilized and that their plots focus around romance. Now, romance is not a negative thing in and of itself so we need to properly analyze this complaint. The problem with the focus being on romance is that the homogeny of it across characters flattens them, made worse by using something that is seen as such a stereotypical, basic plot for the gender. Is there a counter to that amongst guys? Yeah. Machismo. If you write a dude character, inadequacy, proving himself and flexing his toxic masculinity is essentially the number one most basic plot because that's what testosterone does to someone.

We all remember that S1 King is literally just toxic masculinity incarnate, right? Like literally every episode is just about him using others in order to make himself look better before learning to treat people better but then not actually doing so. It's really shitty, one dimensional and oh right, that's also what Gus is doing in his two episodes (both of them include lying to make himself look better) and also Hunter's entire life in the EC is about proving himself better than others, even at the cost of others which is the closest this element comes to actually being addressed. So... Yeah, I would say that they are 2 dimensional, homogeneous characters who are all just some amount of stereotype of 'dude'. The loud dude, the silly dude and the tragic dude. And yes, we can argue that these change but Gus loses his entire character, Hunter just becomes tragedy and Gus goes with most common plot B for both genders: Daddy issues. It's like trying to say because Mabel also likes girly things, she's some nuanced character. A second stereotypical trait does not a stereotype fix.

So, once again, why do we ask which show wrote women better? Well, there's two cynical answers and one I find more interesting but sadly the least likely. The first is that Gravity Falls still has more clout than Amphibia, TOH and many other cartoons with female focus coming out right now. As such, being able to get an easy, cheap win makes the show you like more look better. It's explicitly using the unfair comparison maliciously, even if not consciously maliciously.

Two: For a lot of extremely valid and good reasons, we analyze how women are written and kind of just ignore writing the male gender. Like when was the last time you saw something, outside of I guess the times I've talked about how TOH is fucking awful at writing guys, analyzing male writing that wasn't just whining about not putting a female lead into the work they want. To make it clear, that's not what this is. Even now, I do have to include that I don't think TOH's writers were being misandrists or the like. No, this comparison explicitly showcases how the show recycled how other shows handle their secondary gender and thus recreated all of its problems. It's not malicious but it is something that happens when you aren't being actually smart about your storytelling .

Three: TOH never really even attempts to pretend like its male characters are anything but jokes. Like... Literally ever. The closest is trauma child Hunter and the point of him is "Look how miserable this fucker is." Otherwise, they rarely come up in plotlines, especially plotlines the fandom remembers, and are the constant butt of jokes. Episode one of TOH has King be mocked for the things he will be mocked for for the entire season and his one moment of real pathos being how childish he is and that being a bit charming. Compare that to episode one of Gravity Falls where even as early as that, the push and pull of priorities between the twins is creating conflict between them but also strength between them. The first time a male character is given ANYTHING like that is Hunter, who shows up in S2 and Hunter is not complex. People want him to be, which is why people talk about JUST Hunter, but in general, he isn't. He's just a worse Amity because he is simplified to just trauma and the need to prove himself and little more.

Quick note: Yes I'm focusing on the guys on the good side but the Collector and Belos are still both examples of toxic masculinity, just, you know, very explicitly and in very awful ways when related to the modern day. Also, neither get much screen time really. They're both absentee villains, leading to stuff like how The Collector is an entirely inconsistent character and Belos doesn't get things like a backstory.

All of this though, the lack of attention, importance, etc. like that creates the fact that... Why would you want to talk about the guys? Why would you consider them to be a similar grouping to the girls in Gravity Falls? It is genuinely a fair blind spot. I mean, who fucking remembers the fact that King has three plus B plots in S1 where the whole premise is "King gets a minion and learns that using people is a bad thing?" Those parts of the show are boring, bland and repetitive so just dump them and move on.

People compare the girls in Gravity Falls to other shows because they care about them. That's WAY better than you can say about the guys in TOH. That doesn't make the comparison fair though so if you really wanna do some proper analysis, maybe think a little broader next time? Otherwise, you might forget to take a whole gender of people seriously, just like both of these shows. See you next tale.

======+++++======

Small note: Just like how a romance plot for a female character is not inherently a bad idea, neither is one about incompetence and machismo for a male one. It's the stereotypical story for that gender for a reason because boy are we some stupid dumbasses out to prove ourselves.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[marley-manson]

Out of curiosity, how would you describe ways people are misogynistic about female characters they like? I can probably guess, ("she's a perfect angel", "she's two dimensional now because everything she does is excusable", "she's the mother", etc.) but I would like to hear your take on it

Yeah that's definitely one of the categories of commentary I was thinking of. Reducing her down to a badass lady with the sole braincell, ignoring flaws and complexities and completely smoothing out her personality, mom friend lol, you nailed that. Also the classic awesome lady and her silly boys style threesome stuff, or the canon love interest in m/m who is totally understanding and supportive and steps aside or welcomes an open relationship happily. It's super annoying and tbqh I'd by far rather see people completely ignore a fictional woman's existence than frame her like that. Honestly, I'd rather see genuine character bashing of a love interest lol, because at least in those fics she usually has a personality, and sometimes even gets to do interesting things.

On the het fan side of things I'd also include a loooooooot of the ways people write and talk about het romance. I see a lot of female character fans, usually the kind who are resentful of m/m and call gay shippers misogynist a lot, who act like their favourite fictional woman can only attain personal fulfillment if she gets together with the dude they ship her with and see anyone who doesn't ship her with a dude (often including f/f fans) as like, maliciously depriving her of happiness lol.

But also all those little heteronormative things that add up - the woman is 'spunky' or 'sassy' (because the man has the power), she falls very neatly into the small weak feminine category to contrast with the manly dude with rough calloused hands (no matter how effeminate the dude actually is lol), she's nurturing and comforting and reads the dude's mind to provide him exactly what he needs and is tolerant and indulgent of his shittiness, her good looks are pointed out a lot, she's a great mom no matter what her canon personality is, etc etc.

And then there's the ship wars lol. Being a fan of a fictional woman absolutely does not mean you love all fictional women, and a lot of the absolute nastiest most misogynist statements I've seen in fandom have come from rival hetshippers wanking. You want to see a woman called a screeching harpy or a fugly slut or a manipulative whore or whatever else lol dive into a fandom with rival het ship wars. My favourite woman is practically perfect in every way and deserves the dude, your favourite woman is a wanton hussy.

This also holds true for the very few f/f fandoms that have rival f/f ships ime. Even Xena fandom regularly had plenty of misogynist things to say about any woman who makes eyes at Gabrielle who isn't Xena lol.

Also I would argue that wider f/f fandom's really fucking annoying compulsion to smooth away all relationship and character flaws and write two perfect women braiding each others' hair and maybe delicately finger-fucking at best in fear of problematic dynamics and kinks is also misogynist at its core, at least as an inescapable trend if not on an individual basis. Though, on that individual basis, the rhetoric around policing problematic f/f is absolutely misogynist (and homophobic). Good women don't get off on power and abuse, we can only like totally egalitarian sex, you're probably a predator if you're into dark fiction, that kind of shit.

And of course that also goes for the rhetoric around fic in general and how much misogyny is aimed at women writing kinky shit or m/m etc, but that's a bit of a digression since it's aimed at real women rather than fictional characters, so I'll stop there.

Thanks for asking and giving me a chance to complain more lol <3

[amphiptere-art]

I've been on vacation and I don't know if I've shared any of these ideas. I think they've mostly stuck to discord conversations. So I'm going to post them out here.

Number one thing. Blue Moon will exist in arcade in a more... Standard fashion. Arcade Eclipse. While technically looking exactly like Blue Moon and supposed to be blue moon. Isn't really Blue Moon. They are blue moons origin. They are what Blue Moon was supposed to be. Blue Moon evolved far past that. So I'm going to be making a new Blue Moon in Arcade! As cannibalistic and teenager/child-esk as possible. Now of course dimensional travel does not exist in arcade. Magic does though. And so can shitty parents. I'm still working on this version. So I'm not sure what the new sporadic danger will be. But this is going to be based on after story Blue Moon a little bit. Where they are totally with crimple, and old lunar is a much bigger force.

Onward to objective number two. Which is something I've actually been holding on to for the Stardust arcade storyline. But vapor will be existing. Vapor still has a tragic ass backstory and suffers from abandonment issues. But they will exist. Hopefully I will get to the part where I explain their story at some point. As they will be fading out of Stardust arcade once I introduced them. But the basic is. Vapors smoke still does stuff. But it's more out of a magic-y panic. Vapor wasn't forgotten because of some star juice magic. But instead just because the company was being an ass and told everybody he was dead when he wasn't. Wondering around thinking is abandoned until the Stardust storyline catches up to him.

Another thing! Again to be introduced in Stardust. Sundown, Sköll, Leiðr, code Moon, are all existing. They will be introduced in Sundown for a small scene. Sundowns entire little town is also coming with. And also. For those of you who were really confused about that one post where I talked about how relationships are going by my own arcade rules now. Sundown and Sköll are a thing.

Also! The sulky star cluster. They are also being moved over because I fucking love them. Stories are remaining mostly the same except doled down, and singular worlds are just establishments. I still haven't quite settled on the biker gang concept. But they are leaning that direction. Where they are basically a gang of delinquents that wander around and just kind of do shit. They have a Hangout spot at Sundowns. Also to be introduced in Stardust.

Another thing. I have been calling this thing the Neptune pack. But it is essentially a pack of blood moons run by a leader. They are going to be a bunch of hyenas. Might play a part with vapor. But either way they are going to be a group of aggressive fighting robots. Only held together by what I can only describe as a gang leader. It's an interesting concept and it will be coming soon.

Another thing. I have been thinking of honey and cider. I'm currently caught between doing a similar thing that happened in sulky star cluster. Or trying to figure out what happened to their singular establishment that would lead to the same results as cannon. Might do a bit of both. But they will be coming. Although I think they will also be separated like it's tough to be a god AU. As their interactions have been quite sparse.

Last thing that is not related to arcade. I have come up with this concept of a clockwork sun, and shipwrecked moon. I have been listing off little scenarios in a discord. And I will definitely make a separate post for them. I'm just not going to post the whole idea here because this is mostly around arcade. But this little silly scenario is currently in the works.

Anyways I think that's everything I thought about over the vacation. Have a nice fun time reading this because I'm not actually going to write a shortened version until I have these figured out all the way. Toodles.

[c6jpg]

natlan act 3 and 4

act 3

i feel like i liked this act if i just. ignore everything closely related to the main plot LMAOOO

idk everything about natlan's main plot just feels very like. unfocused and wishy washy??? mavuika's plan sucks, capitano's plan sucks, the backup plan sucks, despite everything i'm not really feeling the urgency of the crisis either???

the writing in general just feels like they needed the plot to move in a certain direction but they didn't really know how to execute it so everything just feels half-assed

in short the plot sucks and they're just trying to cover it with spectacle

but i think i enjoyed act 3 just because i like the characters more in general. citlali was a pleasant surprise i quite like her so i didn't mind that it focused on her and ororon, unlike the everyone loves kachina nonsense we got in the first 2 acts

that being said ororon's whole thing for me was like... i can see the bones of an interesting character there but his reasoning/actions didn't really feel believable it was just convenient for the plot at the moment

his intended gap moe also didn't really work imo like it was oscillating too much between serious angst and the soft boy granny shit lol. the khaenrian possessing him for a sec was just so fucking random too

the whole infiltration scene with chasca and chuychu would have been good if we could actually.... play it.... it felt rather pointless otherwise. like we can run around as mavuika but not chasca???? it's not like we're doing anything with a kit here!!!!

i also really liked the sister dynamic between those two. chuychu should have been playable damn it and i feel like she would have been if not for. well. the next act

capitano idk. i cannot take him seriously he just feels so goofy cartoony villain but not actually to me lmao

act 4

i can't say that act 4 redeemed the natlan archon quest, but it was significantly better than the previous 3 acts, specifically because of the invasion part

the circumstances that led to the fatui and us joining forces still feel silly and wishy washy to me but now that we're over that we can actually get to the meat of the plot

i'm still gonna shit on capitano being a goofy character for me but he was better in this act

the invasion part was by far my favorite, the map intel thing was an amazing mechanic. it had me super immersed AND emotionally invested - it was really cool being able to see who was doing what where, and each fight and update just got more and more distressing and heartbreaking

i kept harping in previous acts about how the stakes did not feel like they were there and how the abyss didn't really feel like a threat but they sure damn did here

one of the few instances it felt like genshin was really showing, not telling, and it worked

also fucked up that chuychu dying was necessary for chasca to awaken her ancient name they should have given her playable character plot armor

anyways the entire invasion arc was fun. i don't have much to say about it otherwise since it wasn't really a lot of plot just a lot of action.

i'm gonna be real with you all though i really don't care for mavuika she feels very nothingburger of a character to me. compared to the other archons she feels incredibly flat and one-dimensional even my goofy friend capitano over here is more interesting at the moment

that one shot of the false sky was hype though like GIRL WHAT THE FUCK IS THATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

[supervisormeero]

please tell me all of your thoughts about our little wet cardboard son syril <3

CEREAAAAAAAAAL MAN MY BELOVED

How I feel about this character: I could fix him. He just needs a hug. He needs a hug, and someone to take him away from his mother, and someone to Tell Him He's Good, and a closet full of pretty outfits. GOD. Aside from the obvious, I love him because there's so much complexity to him. Villains in Star Wars can tend to be a bit one-dimensional, but Syril (and Dedra) are so alive. He's not just Imperial and Bad because He Is and That's That: we get to know the environment that created him, the internal torment and lack of self-worth that drives him to tailor his uniforms, and yell at his underlings at Pre-Mor, and go on the galaxy's most ill-advised power trip, and believe that status is everything. Do I believe in his beliefs? Hell no, but that's not the point, is it? The point is that Tony Gilroy created a character whose beliefs I oppose, but I grew to appreciate and go insane over because of how well he's written, and how accessibly human he feels in a franchise where antagonists are often very flat.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: You'll never guess... clearly, Dedra. They're twin flames. They're two halves of the same awkward, striving, rigid whole. They finish each other's obsessions. They are in each other's lives to make each other worse, but the tragedy is that if they were both... I don't know, 50% more normal, maybe it could work out. Maybe they'd have a chance. As it is, they're doomed, but I'm popping popcorn to watch them crash. (And I also feel bad for Cereal Man here, because I think he's going to end up genuinely loving her at some point in Season 2, and she's going to have no idea what to do with that besides shoving him away, hard.) Also Krennic, even though they might never meet in canon.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Huh. Do I even have one? Maybe Mosk. I do love their whole feedback loop of absolute dumbassery. "Well said, sir."

My unpopular opinion about this character: I don't know how far I want to get into this. Uh. Without turning this into several thousand words' worth of a rant that no one needs to read, I think there's a tendency across the Internet to melt Syril down to "pathetic, stupid, cereal-eating stalker who serves no purpose except to be a punching bag, symbolically, for fascism as a whole." I say this with complete respect to people who dislike him, and there are many valid reasons to: I don't think that's how Tony Gilroy intended him to read. In fact, Tony Gilroy has said he holds "tremendous sympathy" for Syril, and that he writes him sympathetically — he's not, like, cackling maniacally when he writes Syril's scenes, I don't think. Was the stalking bad? Yeah. Clearly. Is it funny when he sits at the breakfast table of shame and slurps his sad Star Wars cereal? Yeah. But I think people tend to get so caught up in either throwing punches at or laughing at him that they forget he's smart, and I think those same people might be surprised by him being a competent and valuable Imperial asset in Season 2. At least, I hope.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I want him and Dedra to kiss, just once, just to see what happens and how weird they are about it I want him to get into the ISB. I know it might not happen, and that's fine, but the thought of him ending up there when Blevin's also there is so fucking funny to me. Also, I'm excited to see all of his new outfits in Season 2. LET'S GO SILLY BERET SYRIL LET'S GO BROWN SUIT SYRIL 2.0 LET'S GO CURLY-HAIRED SYRIL

Send me a character, and I'll break them down!

[ledgends-of-the-stars]

Gellow! Still doing Traditional Doodles!! I got inspired by a Kirby Ask blog featuring these little guys but rightfully feral!

So basically a What-If Mari and the Meta Crew had to deal with 10 Smol MKs who would always remain by her side? I thought it would be cute!

Then here is the even better second What-If inspired by a piece made by a Japanese Artist! They basically made MK Mass Attack! Love to play that!

I even broke down each MK with a piece of his personality (how I write him)!

⚔️ I'll start with the Angry one holding Lvl 1 Galaxia! He's the overprotective part of Caudillo! He will always be by Mari's side no matter what! He will instantly see anyone approaching as a threat, unless they are one of the Crew Members.He's very extreme!

⚔️ The MK clinging to Mari's other hand is, obviously, the Clingy one! The one craving affection from her! He too will be by her side at all times! Though he will try to lead her away from danger! He will cling on to her first before the other MKs could get close!

Start cursing each other in Spanish for being selfish!

⚔️ The MK with his cape flowing, back turned, is the Tsundere! He thinks he's so cool! Definitely "not" trying to impress Mari or anything with his coolness! Will leave secret gifts for her and run away before she sees him via Dimensional Cape!

⚔️ The MK upside-down is the playful one! He's the side of MK that will play flirtatious games with Mari! Even so, he's silly! He's also the one who will snatch her out of nowhere! He's always thinking of many games!

Silly schemer!

⚔️ The MK beside him flying is the more neutral part of MK! He's the more thoughtful and gentlemanly one! Very honest!

⚔️ The MK behind Mari is the Proud one! The Ego of being a Married Man got to him! He's proud to call Mari is wife! He will boast about her, compliment her eveytime!

⚔️ The one behind him is the Fantasizer! He gets lost in his Wife's beauty and imagine so many romantic scenarios with him and her! He just sits in the shadows and stares lovingly! Absolutely distracted!

⚔️ The one above him is the Flirty One! He will romance Mari anytime he sees her! Brings her flowers, pulls her into a dance, bride carries her suddenly, and is the part who came up with the nicknames! He's so lovey dovey romantic, it's down right cheesy! And you can tell MK definitely read Romantic Novels in secret! He's also very poetic and will make up poems on the fly! Sometimes he'll write them down and read them to her! Also easily distracted!

⚔️ The MK behind him revealing his face is the Flustered one! He can be so flustered, he stumbles on his words like a damn fool! But he makes his intention clear as best he can!

He'll chuckle sheepishly and hide behind his mask! Mari loves all of Caudillo Martinez, but the Flustered one makes her giggle from how cute he is!

⚔️ The last one is the Shy one! He is very quiet and sneaky! He'll be in Mari's shadow close to her, but will disappear before she could see him much like the Tsundere and Fantasizer!

💜💛⚔️

I'll make a version for Mari too!!