#i dont mean of course that you cant have a different opinion

[zeddylux]

I'll be honest Arcane is really important to me so I thought I would give it one more shot but after all this...I think I'm done with fandom. It's just become too exhausting to deal and as much as I want it to go back to what it used to be it just simply isn't. People are just so profoundly cruel and awful if you dare to have a different opinion. I tried opening my asks in case anyone wanted to debate me on my posts in private but regretted it immediately. The messages were just so NASTY and I cannot understand how people justify hurting real people over fictional characters. Fandom decorum is out the window and no one wants to even hear that their behavior is wrong much less attempt to fix it. Idk. It just makes me sad. We need community so much right now but it just seems like online is no longer the place to look for it.

[eir-trixa]

WOTTG SPOILERS AFTER THE CUT

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Can you believe Rick is validating me in my Percy-is-the-most-empathic-character take? I have legal basis but boi does it feel nice to have canon confirmation.

Second that book was short af I got the gist of it all while reading for like an hour.

Third, we addressed everyone else’s trauma. Percy’s still the group therapist LMAO 😭😭😭

Fourth, my son is such a good kid yall, this is why I lose five years of my life when someone insults or when he insults himself jfc my child.

Im honestly still processing and I have to reread the ending. Did it address Percy’s issues? Im going to go with “a bit” and call it a night. I mean, I guess it did? Percy got to unload and help Gale and Hecuba. We got an insight to how he’s managing to stay up and fighting and good despite all the shit he’s put into. Honestly the fact that he saw the humanity in Gale and Hecuba, that he saw their pain and grief and thats what made them trust him, that is so good. And the way he related to them. Goodness. And it highlights again how good a person he is, how much he feels and cares. I mean, he cried cause he had to send Mrs O Leary away, I cant with this kid-

I supposed what Im left unsatisfied with is how he still perceives himself as dumb? Baby, you survived San Fran for two months as a homeless kid without memories and pursued by different monsters who cant die. Youre the furthest thing from dumb.

He cant see this of course and while it was slightly addressed(?) by Annabeth telling him to his face that she doesnt give him enough credit, that he’s pretty smart, I dont think thats enough for addressing this particular issue. There was a time in the middle that he almost snapped because he thought Annabeth probably thinks him too dumb to know what to do next. Which I understand is frustrating to him. But to be fair this book made him look at Annabeth for a solution a lot. Theres also little comments about how when he cant think of anything - which is every 60 seconds apparently according to him- he looks at Annabeth. This doesnt help the co dependent allegations LMAO. Idk, I will die on the Hill that Percy is one of the smartest people in the series, not just emotionally but also in strategy. And theres, of course, nothing wrong with looking at the genius strategist for answers. Ive mixed feelings because definitely this is more of a Percy-insecurity issue than an Annabeth-being-bossy issue. But okay. One more book, heres to hoping we get more heart to heart on that front because Im 999998% sure she doesnt mean to make him feel stupid, Percy’s just got a lot of demons to fight but this in particular they need to figure out together. Still, its obvious how much they care for each other still. If only Dave and Hana did not piss me off at the start Id probably be a little more lenient about this.

Annabeth’s fatal flaw also makes a comeback, we love to see it.

And Sally Estelle Jackson. Now we have to find out wth is Percy’s middle name cause if Sally has one odds are she gave her son too. Trust me. Im Filipino. Iykyk.

Lastly, while I will forever and ever and ever support the trio from pjotv (theyre perfect and have done nothing wrong ever) I can see Rick’s injecting their personalities into the books. Im not sure if he does this on purpose or just subconsciously LMAO. Some of Grover’s dialogue is definitely inspired by Aryan. Percy being Lanky? Walker through and through, especially with his growth spurt lmao, and Annabeth’s confidence? All Leah. I can see what Rick’s trying to do. Ive no opinion on this, just pointing it out. I do love love love the live action. Just. I can see you Rick. You aint slick.

So there. I probably would need to reread the book properly at some point.

[where-does-the-heart-lie]

I'm up way later than I need to be and listening to music while I draw and this song gives me SUCH Sabo feelings and I would love to hear your opinions!! (Never Love An Anchor by The Crane Wives)

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Y07xArvIvjw&si=ffMbMHTWuHHnxY2C

You dare bring. The Crane Wives. Into this peaceful household.

Never Love an Anchor no less.

RELATING THE SONG TO THE BLORBO FROM MY SHOW NO LESS

The audacity.

Anyway.

Yeah it makes me think about how Sabo left Ace and Luffy on his own accord at the end. Of course it was a last resort but he left them because he knew that this was the only way for them all to be free.

He left knowing that he would probably not see him until they were 17. Or maybe even never again.

He left them so that they could be safe. Because as long as long as he was with him, as far as he could see, hands would still try to claim him, resulting in the ones he loves getting hurt.

There was no winning for Sabo or any of them. As long as he tried delaying the inevitable, it just never would have happened.

He had to give up what he loved so he could keep it.

And then after he regains his memories, him thinking how much he’s changed. His claws might hurt the one he loves so dearly, even though at this point he doesnt even know him anymore. What if when Luffy finds out that he was alive, it only hurts him deeper. Knowing that there was someone who would have made a difference that day wasnt there. Reliving not only that day in the moment of reuniting, but the say he lost Sabo, too.

I dont find it strange that Sabo didnt try to reunite with Luffy until dressrosa. And in fact i think that reuniting with luffy is something he did as an absolute last resort. I think he truly didnt want to meet him that day at all.

In the anime alone, it doesnt much show it, but in the manga and the Episode of Sabo his hesitance and nerves are really clear to me. He takes a second before he starts walking to talk to luffy. His hand is clutched and shaking. He walks as slowly as he can. And also he only does it after he knows that Luffy cant get the fruit.

They both need that fruit safe. An heirloom of their precious brother, the only thing they have left that can life on from him.

If Luffy could’ve finished that tournament, im fairly certain Sabo would’ve never revealed himself.

I think he feels like he might hurt luffy if he did, but i also think that he didnt feel he deserved it. To reunite with Luffy after all that time. After all that happened.

Going back to the song, the lyrics

“So, I did the only thing that i could And severed the rope to set you sailing from my harbor.”

Even though it was Sabo who went sailing from the harbor, what he was doing was sever the rope from his connections with luffy and Ace so that they could grow and be free without worrying about being held back by him and the weight of his life keeping him suffocating at the bottom of the harbor he’s being drowned in.

If sabo had successfully left Goa that day, and he had reunited with Ace or Luffy somewhere down the line, i think he would act the same way he did in dressrosa that day. I think he would feel his baggage is too much, someone could be after him. And he wouldnt want to reunite. Especially after how he left them.

To me, that letter didnt read as a “i hope i see you again”, but a “goodbye forever”. Which i mean,,,, it was one, at least in Ace’s case, so … 🤷‍♀️ kill me

Anyway, the sentencing of your crimes of Crane Wives-ing me will be capital punishment, i hope you understand.

Thanks for the ask!

[year2000electronics]

Ford is such a fascinately flawed character, If he not keep in check he unintentionally brings ruin to everyone around him.

this is literally how i feel talking about ford. ^

because dont get me wrong at many times i am a ford defender when people slander him for the wrong reasons, but also a lot of the time i will be like "YOUR HONOUR HE DID THAT SHIT AND I THINK HE WAS HOT WHEN HE DID IT" and then at other times i will be like "YOUR HONOUR HE DID THAT SHIT AND ISNT IT AMAZING THAT SUCH A COMPLEX AND FLAWED CHARACTER IS NOT DEMONIZED AND VILLAINIZED BY THE NARRATIVE BUT INSTEAD GIVEN A CHANCE TO GROW". so a lot of the time i just end up walking in circles rotating him a lot because i end up wanting to play devils advocate from like literally every angle of "so how much harm did ford do Really"

but i think when you look at ford in the show, hes a very interesting character, specifically because he's this very "loadbearing" character. he's the author, so he has to be the driving force behind the mystery, but he also has to have met and have ended things badly with mcgucket, so we have their falling-out as a tease to the mystery. we need him to cause conflict in the show thanks to his arrival, so he'll do some unlikable things like punch stan and demand his house back and offer dipper the apprenticeship. but he cant be TOO unlikeable because this is a member of the family stan has fought for 30 years to get back, and he also needs to be integrated as Officially A Pines in the VERY limited time we have with him on screen. not only that, but you have to explain his entire backstory in one episode where he harms and is mean to a character who has had two seasons' worth of love behind him SEVERAL TIMES. but you also need to make us feel for him, and you have to make stan's part of the conflict sting too. and THEN! ON TOP! OF ALL! THAT! YOU ALSO NEED TO PAY-OFF THE SETUP YOU HAD OF BILL CIPHER AND THE AUTHOR'S MYSTERIOUS RELATIONSHIP!

and so a lot of the time what i end up thinking is yes, ford is flawed. yes, he can be really callous and unfeeling at times. but i think because he's constantly needing to carry like 10 different plot elements on his back at once, constantly needing to drive conflict along, he ends up being really divisive to people- especially since he has no time to just goof off like everyone else!

so i circle back to this idea of ford as the "ruin-bringer". i think about that wording most meticulously. because that walks this VERY delicate line between saying something about fords character, his flaws, his backstory, and dipping right into "omg lets blame ford for EVERYTHINGGG!" but you think a lot about ford and his self-isolation and his EGO and the way he lifts himself above others both out of pride and out of shame.

ford is almost doing that to himself, really. making himself this common denominator black hole that people keep getting sucked into. because he is of the opinion that there are Special People who need to rise above, he ends up either isolating himself or isolating others to Join Him on the Path. and obviously that in and of itself is a gesture of companionship, of reaching out, because he says "i see the same greatness in you that i do myself"! but of course there IS no secret hidden greatness! so its all inherently flawed! you cant be rising above simply because youre "special" and you "deserve it"! but "special" is the only thing ford knows how to be!

ford is deeply hurting i guess. he seems deeply hurt the way that stan does to me, where everything he does just BLEEDS his trauma. you can see it staining everything. stan's need for companionship and ford's self-isolation. ford's hurting and he needs a healthy outlet but he has a path of destruction in his wake. and that just makes it so much crazier

[newtonsheffield]

I know you're super knowledgable about Bridgerton so I wanted to get your thoughts and opinions on this. As someone who hasn't read the books (but Idc about spoilers), I wonder how the show is gonna have Eloise end up with Mr. Crane. From what I know of the books from the wiki fan page and Tumblr the books really seem like a suggestion at this point lol and I just cant conceptualize her ending up with him but I'd love your input or theories.

I hope Eloise is one of the very last seasons. I hate so many of her decisions but I empathize w her and I'm so fucking invested in her growthI and thats gonna take time and I dont want them to rush that for the sake of order

I Don’t know about super knowledgeable 😂

I think… they’re going to have to pull some pretty major changes to that story to get it to work within the context of the show at this point. That’s why for a split second I thought Eloise and Michaela Stirling were getting paired up. And truthfully I think one of the major problems the show has to face is the Marina of it all.

I have said many times and I will stand by it still that Julia Quinn is not the world’s greatest author. But something she is good at is giving you only the information you need to invest in the relationship that she wants you to invest in. In the books we have no idea who Marina is (A distant Bridgerton cousin in the books) until Phillip starts talking about her at the beginning of the book. That means, we find it a little tragic that she suffered from these mental health issues but were distanced from it. That’s very different from the darkness of a character that we know suffering the same fate. It also I feel… won’t really play that well given she was the one who gave Colin a speech about the fact that she was content enough with her life and didn’t need saving. That’s a switch up.

I think… there’s a lot of work to do to get Eloise and Phillip to a place where they’re right for each other.

I have been critical of the line they’ve taken with Eloise because I feel like she fails to recognize the privilege she has that she doesn’t need to marry. Violet might nudge her a bit over enthusiastically in that direction but she really seems to have given up on that after last season. And Anthony, after the disaster of making a match for Daphne and after finding that his life is SO much improved being married to Kate ho he loves very much is NOT going to arrange her a match and force her to go through with it. Few women were afforded this. And Eloise does not recognise that at all. They got SO FUCKING CLOSE to her acknowledging this through her friendship with Cressida this season. And then they threw it back in my fucking face! True feminism is about having the CHOICE.

I feel like Tyra Banks.

Eloise has a lot to learn and one of my criticisms of season three is that I felt Penelope and Colin weren’t ready for each other and needed to grow more so I hope they take their time with Eloise.

This is just one person’s opinion of course. Has no bearing on anything.

[personasintro]

i know mentioming kiko triggers most of the readers but i think yall should grow tf up like shes my roman empire and i think about her a lot u know 😔😔 when this chapter, where she told jungkook the truth, came out i hated her just like others and i was like "shes so evil like how can she do this to jungkook". but as time passed i just realized that shes the realest character because if i were in the same situation i might have done the same thing(?) Like i dont know exactly what id do but because of fear i couldve done the same so i cant really judge her. like we all know having a child is a big responsibility and she was scared and of course she wasnt ready for this and obviously its her body and her choice and she did whatever she thought was good for her. I think throwing a mud at her and criticising her is too much because she suffered enough already and i truly dont understand why do yall hate this woman so much?? I mean yeah she shouldve told jungkook everything because jungkook really deserved to know and we all knkw he would understand her and her choice but she was scared and not ready. Like we cant even imagine the pain she was going through because as i mentioned before having a kid is a big responsibility and she was the one who had to carry the baby for 9 months and give birth and everything and she was not ready. like yeah jungkook would be on her side but so what?? his support would be a great help but mothers still have to go through pain, fear, uncertainty and so many emotions and i think men would never get this (im sorry, i know jungkooks an amazing man but he still wouldnt get it okay???) and i trully feel sorry for her and of course the way she handled the situation was so wrong and i do not support her for that, for example, for lying to jungkook, breaking up with him without telling him everything, then lying to him that she cheated 😭😭like she was so stupid for that and she made him suffer so much like imagine u told him u cheated on him and he still wanted to give u a second chance,even though he was in so much pain??? like i understand him and yes he deserved to know everything and she was so wrong for getting back to him and still makkng him believe she cheated but I feel so sorry for both of them and i really understand kiko and her fears and im her apologist because everyone makes mistakes and obviously she wasnt a perfect person. I hope she will be happy in the future because she dont deserve all this pain.

thank you for sharing your thoughts on this! we've had quite a lot conversations about her character and to be honest, she might be one of my favorite characters i've ever written. not because I love her or anything, but because she's so interesting to me. and i've said this before many times, but i guess people perceive things differently based on the point of view which is completely understandable – if the story was about them, kiko being y/n – some opinions and reactions might've been different. i do believe there would be many opinions of what she did and it being not right, but i guess readers would show more mercy with the way of how they talk about her character or they would definitely not use so many curse words ahaaha

[jinbeisluffy]

I see so many posts over different social media platforms about sexuality/gender hcs for the strawhats and i want to add in my own two cents because i believe im very correct (but anyone’s opinion is valid so long as it doesnt go against canon coding)

Luffy - the most aroace and trans guy to ever BREATHE. i dont mean aroace in that hes somewhere on the spectrum where he can still be attracted to people, because he cant. this guy had never grasped the concept of romance and never will, because theres no reason for it to him. hes trans because i say he is, i dont have many reasons for THAT but its just the signals hes sending me. trans to trans communication trust

Zoro - gay. thats it thats the post. no but i dont ship luffy with anyone but zoro is just attracted to literally any man who is strong, thats his criteria and thats all he ever needs. is he aware of it? not at all, he has no idea that its not normal to get bricked up by the thought of other men

Nami - i havent seen a bigger lesbian in media ever, genuinely i dont think any other character is as obviously lesbian as she is. she loves girls unapologetically no matter what, supports all girls at the end of the day (cough kalifa) . i also hit her with the asexual beam because i can, specifically demisexual because i THINK so

Usopp - while i wanna consider kaya, i wanna consider sanji too and thats making me lean between bi or omni even if omni is a label under the bi umbrella. its more a question of if he recognises his preference for men or not, because he does prefer then at the end of the day. the ace beam bounces from nami to usopp because he too doesnt feel anything and doesnt think about it either

Sanji - oh my god where do i begin. maybe just the blatant queer coding of wci as a whole?? of course hes attracted to women, thats not an aspect you can remove or just toss around to being something else. he loves and respects women, but he is so QUEER. all of wci is just queer coding, its a queer story and sanji is a queer character i will die on this hill. he probably has some kind of gender issues too, what specifically? no clue, but he likes people of multiple genders and is in deep denial about it all the time he wont ever truly accept it but he can one day as a treat live with that fact

Chopper - oh hes a reindeer he cant really have a sexuality DID WE FORGET THE FACT HES HUMAN TOO ISNT THAT LIKE HIS WHOLE THING, NOT BEING A MONSTER BUT ALSO A HUMAN. HE IS BOTH? i dont have any specific labels to slap onto him, just that hes a people lover and encourager of literally everything. ace beam bounces onto him too

Robin - trans trans trans trans trans trans trans trans you will accept robin transfem into your life right here right now. she can like anyone, she has no label on it, she just likes people and cant bother with genders or anything like that. the ace beam actually skips her because if they were doing a hear me out cake she’d be the one putting all of the crazy things. freak. (lovingly)

Franky - HOW TRANS CODED IS IT NOT TO REBUILD YOUR OWN BODY TO BECOME A BETTER VERSION OF YOURSELF AND TO REBUILD YOUR LIFE IN A WAY YOU WANT, BUT GOING BACK TO WHAT YOU LOVED ABOUT YOUR OLD SELF, AND EMBRACING IT. literally, trans goals. he modified his body and went i might as well give myself top surgery and an awesome dick while im here!! sexuality wise hes a lover of everyone, but he has preferences for women (robin) but encourages all bromances (with brook)

Brook - THIS IS WHERE IM MOST PASSIONATE!!!! people can say that hes the token straight grandpa. but theyll never understand the joy of old gay brook had a romance with his captain, the joy of brook trying to subtlety let the other strawhats know he accepts them (he isnt subtle at all and everyone knows). look at brook in drag twice for no reason and tell me he isnt queer, in some way. the ace beam finally hits someone and its brook, insert skull joke here

Jinbei - very specifically old gay man who didnt really do much throughout his youth, he always knew he liked men but he never had TIME to do anything, too busy being awesome and a father i fear. now that hes with the crew he isnt automatically gonna seek anyone out, but hes also not gonna restrain himself from finding interests in people, hes being more selfish now and thats good for him. finally the ace beam hits jinbei and proceeds to fly off towards other op characters that i might talk about some other time

can you tell im asexual and love projecting onto characters with it !!!!

[funnyscienceman]

Ok but like WHYY did ubisoft have to insist with the one game a year thing. Why couldnt they let syndicate cook in the oven more. Why do they have THREE queer men in the same game and not do ANYTHING with them!!!

Like yes, yes, i get it, i get wanting to for once make a story in a fun setting where you dont have to think about real life prejudice and hardships and bigotry and just have characters be silly, i love that too. I do! And id be all for that if doing it just didnt waste a potentially banger study of the characters and the setting ;-;

Like god i go back and forth on this constantly. I already love syndicate as it is, i think it's fun and neat and the happy gaming vibes about it is core to its identity, it's just that simultaneous to that, three queer men in the same game!!!

like GOD im still miffed that there are only, like, two or three fics about this, and so far i havent found any discussion or anything of it, but oh my god how different all three of them are from each other. You could do so much just with having any of them in the same room — and they are often enough in the same room (jacob and either ned or roth at a time), but nothing's really done there!

we have roth who sees fcking nothing wrong with getting kids hurt, because he doesnt actually care about anyone or anything, he's just some fucking joker wannabe that yeah, sure, probably has some anger and resentment at society because he's a gay man in his 40s or 50s by now, but jesus fucking christ retaliation against homophobia does not equal rampant needless unproductive violence roth!!!

then we have ned, who — i mean he doesnt ever give his opinion on whether kids deserve any respect or anything but considering in every other department he's pretty much just Some Guy, it'd be fair to assume he also has the extremely average stance of 'dont fcking kill kids and dont blow up buildings for no good reason??' in the grand scheme of the templar-assassin stuff he has just about as much relevance as roth: roth was just the boss of the blighters, ned just finances the fryes by virtue of them working for him. He probably doesnt even know about it, and tbh i dont even know if he'd care??? But like i imagine roth doesnt care in the way of 'as long as you dont get in my way, it's all set dressing,' ned i imagine would be smth like 'are yall fckin serious? are you kidding me rn? i have to skirt around transphobes on a daily basis, now youre telling me there's a secret society on top of that with even worse ideas?? What the fuck???'

like uh, not caring about it as in 'I cant deal with this rn i need a nap'

HE'S JUST AN EXTREMELY REGULAR PERSON (besides the crime lord stuff) IS WHAT IM GETTING AT.

then there's jacob, who's the youngest out of these guys btw, fckin 21 good god he should be at the club not trying to disassemble systemic oppression— ANYWAY

(ned is 27-28 over the course of the game, btw; we dont actually have a solid timeline for anything, just the year, so tbh jacob could've also been 20 and not 21 yet during the game. both he and ned have late birthdays, just a month apart)

so, yknow, being extremely early 20-somethings, both frye twins just take a train to london completely on impulse and dive headfirst into undoing the templars that've had an iron grip over the city for basically as long as they've been alive, yknow, as you do; and throughout the game jacob has to deal with goddamn daddy issues and fighting with his sister and insecurity and trying to be an assassin — and that's a lot for a guy to handle!! Especially one who's still just a couple years out of being a teenager! That's a fucking lot and if the devs are right, then he hasnt even realized that he's bi yet! Not until roth fucking kisses him while jacob's got a knife in his throat for the aforementioned indiscriminate, unproductive violence!

i mean, granted, yeah there were gay undertones during sequence 8, but i have to admit my bias here because i honest to god cannot take those missions seriously. Roth fucking preaches this and that about freedom and whatnot and then im plopped into the mission and it's the most rule-heavy shit ive ever seen in my short life as an assassin's creed player. Like what the hell, those missions were atrocious. Apprently i need to detonate the bombs a specific way, i cant just shoot them from a distance, i have to hold a button crouching down right next to the bombs, and then run the hell away! I have to avoid THIS and THAT while kidnapping xyz! Like there's freddy's apprehend missions and then there's THIS.

at least with ned's missions all you have to do is get the shit and go… i'm still salty that ubisoft cut his questline because they fucking insist on releasing a game a year >:((

my battery's dying. All these guys are different flavors of queer on top of just being pretty different and pretty similar in various ways, and there's just… barely anything about it. Ned especially, since he's just a quest giver whose screentime totals to, like, 2-5 minutes. I just wish they really did more with the setting; not just the queerness and these three specifically, but like, evie, henry, the class conflict — like there are shreds of it, seeds, but there's not much before you kill starrick and credits roll :((

idk. im just gonna refresh ao3 again cjemddjekjx

[runner5ive]

Hello hello hello I LOVE your art it is so gorgeous and constantly in my queue. Your Five is adorable and I love them. And I have questions for them!

Do they have a daily routine? What’s it like?

What traits do you and Five share?

Which ones are purely Fives?

What color(s) do they wear the most?

When’s their birthday? How do they celebrate it?

What’s their ‘default’ state?

Do they have a survival mode they put on? Or are they think about that kind of stuff all the time? If they ‘put on’ a survival mode, what sets that off? 

Favorite place to be?

Do they have a pre and post run routine? What’s that like?

What do other characters associate them with and why?

How would they describe themselves? Whether it’s true or not.

Which characters are they really close to and why?

How would these characters describe them and why? Whether it’s true or not

What’s a precious object they have? Why is it special?

Who will they take advice from, no matter what it is? Who won’t they take advice from, no matter what it is?

Hello! Apologies about the wait! I cant even form the words to explain how intense work has been recently lmao.

Long post is long! So I answered everything under the cut below!

Do they have a daily routine?

Uhhh yes? But its mainly the runners routine. Get up early - earlier than most in Abel. Breakfast. Pick up running rota from Sam. Depending on when theyre needed they either spend the day running or fixing up Abel/dealing with repairs/training in the runners areas. Then the evenings are mostly to themselves, but they tend to help Janine out a lot and have an early night.

What traits do you and Five share? Which ones are purely Fives?

Oh my gosh I have no idea? Five isn’t a self-insert so they differ from me in lots of ways. Uhhh. I asked a few friends for their opinion on this and they they said the following:

I would also add that we’d both walk into a horde of zombs for a coffee

What color(s) do they wear the most?

Honestly? Probably a dark red. Mostly because I headcanon that Abel’s uniform is any red/maroon shirt they can find.

When’s their birthday?

Nobody knows (: They’re rather forget everything about their life before the apocalypse and do not want to reveal anything that can trace them back to the person they once were. Sam figures it out of course (but he’ll take that information to the grave)

How do they celebrate it?

They dont (: although their friends throw them an annual ‘adoption day’ party, to celebrate the day they joined Abel

What’s their ‘default’ state?

They’re actually quite quiet (I mean, theyre mute, but you know). They’re a bit of a wall flower. They like to listen, which is what makes they a perfect match for Sam, who likes to talk.

Do they have a survival mode they put on? Or are they think about that kind of stuff all the time?

Childhood trauma means theyre always in survival mode :D Although they can relax more nowadays thanks to feeling safe with their pals.

If they ‘put on’ a survival mode, what sets that off? 

New people, or people of authority. They are very affectionate in general, but people tend to have to prove themselves to them. They find it easier to trust new people as the seasons go on.

Favorite place to be?

Janine’s farmhouse

Do they have a pre and post run routine? What’s that like?

Theyre quite good at being mindful of warm ups/cool-downs and stretching. Other than the things expected of them, such as a decontamination shower, the only real post run routine is that they never really say goodbye to Sam before a run, and he doesnt say bye either. Feels too much like inviting bad luck to do so.

What do other characters associate them with and why?

Sunshine and big smiles. Sunflowers. But also like... Garbage lmao.

How would they describe themselves? Whether it’s true or not.

Expendable (:

Which characters are they really close to and why?

They’re closest with Sam, as the two of them tend to understand each other better than anyone else in Abel. But Simon is a close second. Simon and Five have a ride together or die together kinda friendship. I cant remember specific episodes, but there are specific moments where everyone is like ‘lets throw Five into this severely dangerous situation because they are Runner Five and theyre most likely be okay’ and he is like ‘???? Lets not ???? That’s ??? Actually fucked up???’ He’s the easiest for them to be goofy with too.

How would these characters describe them and why? Whether it’s true or not

Brave to the point of idiocy. Self-sabotaging. Goofy and silly. Loyal. Dependable. Tragic.

What’s a precious object they have? Why is it special?

They arrive at Abel with nothing except the mullin’s uniform (which gets burnt they decide theyre not going back) so they dont really have anything from the before. Most objects are like massive spoilers so imma not mention them. But the thing they cherish more than anything - which is not really an object - is when they get their own room. Theyve never really had a proper home before.

Who will they take advice from, no matter what it is?

Janine. Janine says jump they dont even ask how high before theyre launching themself off a burning building!

Who won’t they take advice from, no matter what it is?

At first I was going to say there isn’t really anyone they wouldnt hear out, but then I remembered a fic I’ll never actually write and my answer to this is their biological parents who are alive and well during the apocalypse (:

[solowinx]

where do specialists come from? my theory

i was scrolling on reddit today and i have found a post about specialists. the comments were full of ppl invested in their lives and backstories. one user in particular pointed out that we actually don't know where some of the specialists come from. so i decided to show off my theories. im obviously gonna talk about Riven, Timmy, Nex and Helia since we already know where Sky, Brandon, Nabu and Roy come from. THIS IS MY OPINION/THEORY, FEEL FREE TO DISAGREE

Riven

this man is from Magix. ive read some fanfictions that headcanon him as an inhabitant of some misterious far planet but honestly i disagree with that. your personality doesn't need necessarily to match with your home planet. i think he comes from a poor neighborhood of magix city, probably because of his punk style and the jokes he makes about the prince Sky. i dont even get why some ppl exclude the fact that some of them could come from Magix anyway. it's a planet like the others after all so of course someone is gonna live there

Timmy

this one is pretty complicated. i personally headcanon him as a solarian, mainly because of his slightly tan skin and then his hair reminds me Radius' one. i tend to exclude the theory of him being from zenith since he doesn't speak like tecna (they both talk about technology very often but she uses idioms related to technology, he doesnt), then he doesn't dress up like tecna and finally he doesnt act like her. if we base zenith culture over season 6-7 we discover that ppl tend not to show their emotions on purpose while timmy is more shy than "emotionless" (he even met tecna's parents in season 7 and you can notice the difference between them).

He doesnt come for sure from Magix, or at least from Magix City. in season 1 during the episode of "the day of the rose" we discover timmy isnt at Magix City because he went home so that means that his family doesnt live there...

Nex

idk about this one. since he used to be a paladin and paladin school is on Linphea he could PROBABLY come from there but he doesn't give off linphean vibes. he might be an abroad student. someone headcanons him as andros citizen but if it was true they would have mentioned it like in the case of roy. at this point we'll never know

Helia

he is from Magix as well. his grandpa is literally saladin so they probably all live in Magix. in the comics he was friend with flora since childhood but since it doesnt make sense with the canon (in general comics arent canon) he CANT come from linphea

[bar-cat73]

This is very important for me to know…

What’s your take on one-sided radiostatic as well as their dynamic in general?

Ooooo let me think 🤔🤔🤔

Tbh as much as I love watching those silly gooses…YOU COULD CUT THE TENSION WITH A KNIFE 🔪🔪‼️‼️‼️

We know Alastor likes to be this way with everyone, push people’s buttons and watch them short circuit, but vox is taking this PERSONALLY‼️‼️

and I know damn well it’s not just cuz he’s pissy abt Alastor rejecting his offer to join his team. So let’s get into some theory’s~~~

One of my personal favorites however~~~

(and imo one of the most realistic)

✨ One sided radio static✨

Vox fell head over heels for this adorable psychotic monster (who wouldn’t) and Alastor broke his heart. WHY IS THIS A POSSIBILITY❓❗️‼️ SURELY YOU CANT BE SERIOUS

WELL I AM AND ILL TELL YOU BUT DONT CALL ME SURLEY 😏😏😏

So I don’t think it’s been confirmed by Viv but google says Vox is bisexual and with this being a very diverse queer show I’d say there’s a PRETTYYYYYY good chance

from what we’ve seen of the degenerate television he’s a charismatic, not so educated, formal attitude, power craving showman. He acts big and bad, like he has any sort of control over anything, but as soon as someone mentions the radio demon SHIT. HITS. THE. FAN.

LOOK AT HIS FACE❓‼️ U CANT SIT HERE AND TELL ME HE AINT SHITTING IS PANTS RN

HES SCARED. HES NERVOUS. HES VULNERABLE.

BUT WHY. that’s the LAST thing you need to be as an overlord, especially a weak one. (Sorry Vox)

My theory is when our little silly goose saw this beautiful triangle ass after his overnight carnage-

he was hooked, hooked, HOOKED.

of course being the childish piss baby that he is, I wouldn’t think he would’ve DIRECTLY confessed. Only small subtle hints and YOU KNOW Alastor was looking like this the entire time-

But my Voxie baby is fucking clueless, doesn’t get the hints and Alastors done with his shit so when Vox FINALLY musters up the BALLS to ask him to join the Vs he kindly declines and it’s assuming he took it personally ever sense…

after all who was ALASTOR to decline this offer, a chances with the VEES❓‼️ HOW. DARE. HE.-

I mean obviously ANYONE would take the offer of becoming one of the VEES, “the most powerful overlords, amazing, blah blah blah” but you know at the end of the day they don’t have power over SHIT at least not compared to THEM.

In conclusion, I can confirm one sided radio static is canon because I was alastors microphone and I can’t wait to see more of the sillies. 💃💃💃

Extra: I LOVE Alastor and Voxs rivaling opinions on technology, the radio and television are both so alike yet so different and I love how that’s portrayed in these characters.

[mbat]

ok i always hesitate to compare varian and cassandra because i know varian is the fandoms baby but i am always comparing them when it comes to the fandoms reactions to the characters

and theres definitely several factors at play as to why people react differently to them, but the main one im thinking of is the things that made the characters break the way they did

moreso how varians is a very external and fairly universal thing. his father was basically taken from him (by varians own creation no less), and he was begging for help that he sadly would not get for reasons that we understand, but hes a teenage boy and was going through the worst thing he ever couldve, so of course he wasnt understanding, he was begging for help from someone that shouldve been able to help, but because of the circumstances, that just wasnt possible. you really cant argue with the motivation there.

but cassandras pain was always more of an internal thing, something that isnt laid out so clearly for the viewers to grasp, especially if they dont care to pay her enough attention. her motivation is there from the beginning, even. in the first few episodes we saw her trying to be someone, be something, by trying to win that one competition and such. i think its even in the beginning of that episode that we see her do something really cool and some kids start cheering and shes proud for a second, before its revealed the kids were simply only cheering because rapunzel was arriving, which sets up the episode in general.

this theme of her trying to be more but never getting to, and being outshined by rapunzel, or not seen/heard by anyone including rapunzel, it lasts through the entire show. but her breaking point comes when this theme is brought to its strongest, with gothel.

shes shown that her own mother was gothel, and gothel abandoned her to take care of rapunzel instead.

personally i think that that alone is pretty damn understandable of a motivation even without the further context, but seeing as this theme has been going through the entire run of the show, its just even worse. rapunzel never means to make cassandra 2nd place, but she has been before she even had memories or thoughts. of course cassandra would break about that.

but if you dont care about cassandra... it just looks like shes throwing a little tantrum about it.

but spending your whole life in the shadow of others, and then several years in this one specific shadow, its not fun. its not great. you grow resentful, you wonder why its like this, you blame others for not bothering to ever truly look your way. at some point you fully blame everyone else and not yourself because youve been doing everything you can and it still isnt enough for them.

im gonna go even more off track here but i also think about that one episode where its a flashback and its an episode that i think bothers some people when it comes to this, i know it bothered athena p (good youtuber but her opinions on my favorite shows hurts me inside). when cassandra had the chance to live her dreams, go to the kingdom of women warriors, but she chose to stay home and be rapunzels friend.

and i guess my best summary of it is... wouldnt you rather stay home and have your first friend ever, whos offering themself up on a platter to you? instead of going somewhere far away that youve never been to before, surrounded by strangers? she could likely always try going to that place later (i headcanon that she does after the show after all), but i cant really blame her for wanting to stay home if she could.

so of course it has to suck that the whole reason you gave up on getting your dream sooner only hurts you more. that she put her dream on pause to make her first friend right there at home, and that friend only (unintentionally) hurt her.

and idk like i said i definitely think theres more factors at play as to why people like one more than the other (for example theres way less time for varian to do fucked up things even though he does do a few lol, but cass has a lot more time)

(also i didnt even MENTION that she was being manipulated the entire time she was using the moonstone but whatever. i can absolutely see people being like 'wtf just dont listen to zhan tiri lol ez' and that would just scream that they dont understand manipulation but whatever whatever whatever)

but yeah i just think a big thing is that. not everyone has experienced what cass experienced, not everyone paid enough attention to her to even care about what her whole deal was, not everyone even sees the big deal with the things she went through. but varian has this very understandable reason that you dont need to think too deeply to see why he does what he does.

this isnt a hate post to varian btw i dont dislike or hate him lol, i just think about cassandra so much its unreal

[ultimateloserboy]

you seem like the kind of guy who just understands them better than anyone else, so i’m curious: what do you think about how old they are? you don’t have to give specific numbers, i just mean like who’s the oldest and are they young adults or middle aged or even older? i used to be a fan of yellow guy as a child, but after seeing people say that was infantilizing and he’s probably just autistic or something i like that better (makes him feel more human and relatable and have more depth)

thank you very much for trusting me with these guys. Now, i have many opinions on this— please read my whole opinion before getting upset (not directed at you but everyone because i think people might be upset at me for this one, sorry guys…)

first off let me address the yellow pig in the room. i feel people project onto yellow so much that they forget— from becky and joes own mouth— he is “the stupid character.” yes of course hes more than that, and definitely supposed to be more human as the series progresses— but he absolutely isnt intended to represent autism or any real diagnosis. as a matter of fact if that was the intention i would be criticizing it because of the way they talk about him in QnAs and such. of course hes very relatable but the truth of the matter is that it was not intended. i fear that people claiming it was is actually a bit harmful in this case. (though im not saying its bad to relate at all!)

calling him a child is not infantilizing, because hes implied to be multiple times, along with the fact hes the only character with a dad in the picture that paints him as the only one not old enough to be around on his own. i feel they make this very apparent. He doesn’t understand adult things and by GOD HE CANNOT CONSENT!!! Ive seen people use this discussion as an excuse to draw inappropriate shit and i dont approve of that. Hes unable to learn how to read in his usual state so he DEFINITELY cant fucking consent!

And this is the part where people bring up his clean-battery counterpart. Who I also think is a child. The difference is that he’s not impaired by his batteries and can see things more clearly with his thoughts together. I think what a lot of people fail to realize is.. kids are people??? And kids can be complex and understand way more than you think!!! Hes not less human by being a kid!! as a matter of fact i think thats an important part of him!!

I think that red and duck are both old enough to where their families are completely out of their lives. (i dont believe their families are real, but just in a figurative sense that theyd be old enough to grow away from those who would raise them)

i think that red and duck are so bitter and cynical because they never got to be children— they were created to be always be pushing 40 while yellow is forever a child. He never becomes cruel or cynical because hes too lost in wonder of the world. he still cares about things that adults grow to be apathetic towards. he manages to find the stairs and lesley and all of that, in my opinion, because hes a child in a house with loser adults whove given up on life

Now with that being said, I do not think their mental and physical ages align. i think theyre physically the ages of their puppet, which changes drastically because their bodies can be replaced. i also think yellow can easily be an adult age even in his puppet, but hes still forever a child anyway. His mentality is of a child, which makes him a child— Their physical ages are impossible to guess and also probably inconsistent.

TLDR i absolutely think that yellow is a kid and i think the fact people think he cant be because hes human or because hes smart sometimes is exactly why i think he is— i feel thats the point.

red and duck are forever stuck in a limbo of pushing forty if not already forty. i think red could easily pass as a younger guy but i think he and duck are the same age mentally.

Adding on a slightly related note though— I do think red and duck are yellows guardians but i dont think theyre good nor are they parents. I see them more as older brothers (Which by the way red calls yellow!) or at the very least theyre his uncles that Really DID NOT fucking want kids. Theyre absolutely not his parents but they do have to take care and watch him. They treat him as older siblings being cruel to a younger one. Duck calls yellow a pet because he doesnt see him as his son but he still has to care for him. its definitely dehumanizing but its said for a reason. which goes hand in hand with what i was saying— people dont see children as people because they cant do anything on their own. but again, yellow absolutely can still be a complex and human character while being a child

if you disagree im not hating— i would love to have a discussion. i personally just dont believe its problematic to call him a child when the only reason that would be a problem isnt canon in the first place?

[moonschocolate]

Tom Riddle headcanons!!

because lately i've been thinking about this tragic little human <3

tw: mention of torture as a topic

first of all I wanted to clarify that in this there's no Voldemort, no interest in practicing dark magic, just a teen who goes to Hogwarts soo... :)

proud slytherin. no matter how much other people can say 'slytherin = bad' he just doesn't care, he will not argue with you if you think or say that cause he will find it pointless

I don't now where I read this, but if I'll find it I will tag the person who said this before me: he has autism!!

which means he is not a very social person, and he has little/no friends

and he is deeply attached to an object/topic

the topic in question is dark magic

he doesnt want to practice it, he just finds the whole thing interesting

which deeply concerns professors

he knows everything. about horcruxes, the three unforgivable curses, origin and all

he simply thinks that knowledge is knowledge

IF HE READS?!?! OH DAMN

i strongly believe he has one hell of a library in his dorm

the most dramatic myths ever? knows them

he's just a nerd

read books about t0rture, c0mmunism, n@zism, because knowledge is knowledge

also reads light books of course i dont want to scare you

maths is not his thing

like yes he's good at it but he doesnt really care

did i say hes dramatic?

and an absolute pessimist

since i do not believe that his hair is like that just because it is, he HAS to have a hair routine (DROP IT TOM)

has an infinite collection of bookmarks

no person is allowed to touch his books

doesnt write on books even with pencils

listens to DRAMATIC classical music

EXAMPLE

(also y'all have to teach me how to put spotify songs with the blue rectangle cuz i dont have a clue on how)

JUST THE START

Idk it reminds me of him (and regulus but this is not about him)

this goes against the fact that he's dramatic, but i think that in a relationship he would be a good-old fashioned lover boy

flowers, love letters, POEMS, kissing in the rain, handing you his jacket when you're cold

and of course he wears suits

NOT a sports kid

mf doesn't know a single sport

he just learned how to swim

that's it

is defo the kind of person who is SOSOSOSOSO SKINNY

He's skeptical af on food

like i believe he's a picky eater

and i dont think he eats a lot

like he will go through the day with some coffees, some water, breakfast and a snack in the afternoon

is always gentle doing anything

when he's mad he's even more mad that he can't throw anything because then he would be even more angry that it got broken

has NO PHYSICAL FORCE AT ALL

Like his arms are spaghetti

im sorry but imo he's short

like 1.70 cm (5'5''-5'6'')

which is not really short

I CANT SEE HIM AS A TALL BEING

will not admit it but hates the sea

like as long as he can reach with his feet the "land" below then it's no problem

if he can't he'll try to act cool and say he's tired and immediately get out of the sea

it gives him a sense of pure confusion because he doesnt know what he could run into

which annoys him

because when he cant know something it hurts him physically emotionally psychologically

he knows plenty of languages

english, french, latin, russian and german

why?

because it's cool

also knows how to play the piano and the flute and the viola

"never judge a book by its cover" he does exactly the opposite

especially with books he judges the book by the cover, if he likes the cover he'll like the book too

and people can gain his interest only at first sight

he hates how lots of people can easily change their opinions as long as their group/loved ones have a different opinion

or how people always follow the crowd

people who judge mudbloods just because they're mudbloods are too stupid for him

i think we all know that he is THE teachers' pet

he's the Hermione of his generation

which means that while there are plenty of people with their hands raised the only one who will be listened to is tom

is a MANIAC in cleaning

his bed and his overall room is always tidy af

he hates getting his uniform dirty

he has plenty of nightmares about his past

which he never talks about with anyone

is the kind of person to have 4 or 5 cats

he is absolutely quiet

i got a strong feeling that this man was bullied before hogwarts at the orphanage

he has a cute little stuffed animal in really bad shape which he has from his years at the orphanage and it's hidden at the end of his wardrobe

he strongly despises children because he doesn't have a clue how to deal with them

acts like he has patience

lacks patience

in a modern au, the only thing he'd have going to school would be a black pen

not because he didnt care or was too lazy to get other things but because he didnt find having 3985729947 pens and highliters necessary

dada would be boring for him because out of curiosity he would've already learned most of the spells or wtv

i dont remember if i said it but quidditch is NOT something he likes

or just flying on a broom in general

(remus lupin behavior)

(I had to say it)

studying consists in him burying his face in the books for like 4 or 5 hours straight (my man has some serious issues)

you could tell im completely delusional because he became a killer and nothing's good-old fashioned lover boy about canon him but oh well🥰

[pwnyta]

HUH

So no one was gonna tell me about The Old Guard?

I was supposed to just find it on a random ass Halloween 4 years after it aired... aight.

I mean I thought we were cool but I see how it is.

Anyways I watched it and I loved it IF YOU EVEN CARE.

Opinions-

Andy- Phenomenal. Never seen Charlize Theron look so damn hot. Even with her spooky eyes. Crazy butch bisexual(?) wielding a labrys sometimes. Love. Her church fight was sick as hell... im in denial about the stab tho... you can pry her from my cold dead fingies Netflix.

Booker-Like... OK. Like I get he was sad but its so hard to feel bad for him sometimes and like.. I dont hate him at all but just... I do wanna strangle him a little. JUST A LITTLE. I dont want him to be gone and never see Andy again... I hate that. I hate this movie.

Nicky- Great side profile, terrific nose... what in the Ben Linus is going on with the eyes tho? Those pale buggy eyes... This is your man, Joe? This Italian priest Templar knight with ghost eyes? Aight. Ribbing aside... I love him. Even if hes got spooky eyes.

Joe- Mortal enemies to immortal lovers is diabolical work. If you give me friends to lovers... it better be Crusade era enemies to begrudging companions to understanding friends to soul mates or fucking dont talk to me about it. NGL Joes kinda my favorite. Hes a silly little guy. Maybe my love for Sayid has made me soft for hyper-competent, deadly, romantic, shiny eyed Muslim men IDK.

Nile- LOVE. ..Ya know when Andy was like 'shes just a baby' I was like I sure hope this movie dont make me ship them cuz the fandom is probably gonna be annoying about that line but their plane fight was so hot... SUE ME. ANYWAYS... I love her. Apparently theres a second movie coming out & I cant wait to see her get to be a silly lil guy with the fam cuz she is silly lil guy. I love her relationship with Andy & I hope Andy gets better so they can be together forever & there can be some messy lesbian love triangle nonsense when Quynh.

Quynh- Dont got like... the deepest opinion of her just yet but her and Andy were like the Sapphic Nicky & Joe but in reverse.. like Nicky & Joe killed attacked each other then became lovers and it seems like Andy & Quynh were close and might become enemies? Of course IM GONNA IGNORE THE BAD STUFF AND PRETEND THEY JUST FIND EACH OTHER & ARE IN LOVE FOREVER. So...

Copley- Similar to Book I get his mindset but also I wanna strangle him a little. He is beautiful tho... so... Im interested in how hes gonna fit in with the gang... Im hoping for some drama at the start maybe them being like '...ya but hes not Booker...' and then Copley like... having some big hero moment saving the team or at least one of them and they get real close and then more drama because their new family is also just a normal guy & theyre gonna hurt to lose him some day. ANYWAYS.

MISC stuff I like-

The difference in how Nicky and Joe hug Andy.

Everything about this scene tbh. I just wanna see these types of scenes from now on. Silly lil guy moments.

Also Andys baklava addiction. Baklava is one of those things Ive always wanted to try... like boba and churros... ONE OF THESE DAYS.

This sick ass take down. Actually all the fight scenes were pretty sick. I like seeing them fight baddies all together... ODA TAKES NOTES. Also... full offense to guns but seeing Andy Nicky and Joe wield their old-school weapons is so much cooler... who brings a knife (labrys, long sword, scimitar) to a gun fight? THE COOLEST PEOPLE. THATS WHO.

Joe spitting out a bullet that he got shot in the face with.

'Shes just a baby!' (me with the whole team) Also TBF to Andy... Nile has such a cute baby face.

The development of Andy and Niles relationship. THO TBH I was bothered about Nile getting shot in the head because the exit wound woulda fucked her braids up.... I had a hard time focusing cuz I couldnt let that fact go lmao... It was driving me nuts...

The girls are fighting! (gone sexy)

Eepy not-boyfriends

Ancient head bonks of desperate affection. I hope all three of them head bonk Nile in the next movie. If this doesnt happen... im killing everyone in this room (its just me) and them myself.

This silly bitch in this moment.

Joes 'Hes not my boyfriend' speech. Incurable romantic indeed.

Honestly the soldiers tryin to insult Joe by mockingly asking if Nicky was his boyfriend and getting way more than they bargained for was fucking funny.

I just wish we coulda seen the faces of the guy driving the van as he heard the massacre in the back LMAO. Just keep drivin bud... aint nothin you can do about your boys in the back.

Immortal not-boyfriends gettin silly!

This is a nice plane! Theres a TV Joe!

lmao. The sillies.

Andy and Nile continuing to make me ship them.

Reunited and it feels so.... something but they were fighting together and it was real cool.

THEMB.

'You shot Nicky... you shouldnt have done that....'

Joe- Im a silly lil guy but (suplexes a man and breaks his neck)

Whyd he look so devastated after?

She wont jump out of a plane... but....

You betray Miette? You betray her like the bastard? Oh! OH! BANISHMENT FOR 100 YEARS!

Joe lookin at Booker the whole time... :c

[deadtiredghost]

oh sorry I meant your opinion on the character.

I love all the turtles but have differing opinions of them across itterations.

Raphael is such a great character with so much potential and I think that this potential isnt explored enough in any of the series really - though I think the same about all the characters really. I know there is only so much you can include in a kids series etc. which is why we have fanfiction!

Obviously everyone associates Raph with anger issues, but I really dont; I think the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Raph is protectiveness and sensitivity. Raphael definately has issues with regulating his emotions but not much more than any of the other turtles tbh. The main issue with his 'anger' is that he resorts to violence first while others like Leo or 2012 Donnie resort to shouting first. ya know? Siblings argue and are competitive, especially when you live in the sewers with no one but your father and brothers for company. They're teenagers who only really have each other, so of course they're gonna act kinda odd and sometimes innapropriate to us - humans who have grown up in normal society.

When it comes to the canon relationships, I can't see Raph with a human. full stop, I personally dont see him attracted romantically to humans. I enjoyed 12!RaphMona, I like the fact that Raph crushes on a woman who can beat him up, its cute and their relationship is cute puppylove which is refreshing, but I enjoyed it more as an idea than the actual episodes that were shown, sorry I cant get over the betrayal (he deserves to be happy tho). Would have loved more episodes about Mona adjusting to earth - or Raph trying to learn her language and adorably mispronouncing her actual name. On the other hand 03!Raph aromantic anyone? anyone? just me? okay.

favourite itteration of Raph: I love them all equally!(lie) I would love to say I love them all equally but my favourite always will be: 'Don vs. Raph' by Jhonen Vasquez from SDCC (check it out)

In a brief few words I'll include my thoughts across the cartoon series:

(in retrospect: this is not brief. I wrote much more than I intended rip.)

(tldr: I like the Raphs and want more content about them.)

1987 - uses sarcasm and insults as a defense mechanism because they have lived in a world that continuously rejects them despite saving it over and over. When they meet the other itterations in crossovers they are delegated to 'comedic relief' and no one takes them seriously. So of course they're annoyed about everything half the time. Despite this they are probably the only 'passive' Raphael and can take an insult but doesnt enjoy fighting physically - though this doesnt mean they are incapable of it, they're still a ninja. the 1987 slander is large and unjustified, it's great. There is also not a day goes by that I remember that Raph chose to spend their 'last moments' playing superhero for humans who will never accept them - i think this reflects all the Raph's really. they dont want to be monsters they want to be accepted by humans deep down, even if part of them resents humans for all that they have put them through

2003 - his accent and whole demenour is 'cause he enjoyed movies with characters similar to how he presents himself growing up - obvi. I think he would be that judgemental and protective wine aunt over Casey and April's kids. We know he has a soft spot for kids across all the itterations and he would be every kid's favourite babysitter. He is a wine drinker not a beer drinker and no one can convince me otherwise. Casey thought he was an adult for like at least a year because of the way he sounds and talks, and Casey only realised he was a teenager because Raph rejected a beer etc. Raph was a stickler for 'health' as a teenager - like paranoid about junk food, smoking and drinking fucking up his health and ability to fight etc. As an adult he might drink recreationally but I still see him and Leo as the paranoid ones about 'drinking too much' and getting caught unawares by their enemies. or something.

Honestly though on the first watchthrough of 2003 I was happy that they made Raph progressively get more mellow and all that, becuase 2012 Raph's 'anger issues' were handled so badly. But now as an adult I was like... he deserves to be more angry if anything. Like with everything they go through all the turtles realistically should get more and more emotional as they react to the trauma of everything going on in their lives. So I would like to see more fanfic of Raph in 2003 dealing with his emotions which are too strong to control after the series is over, and how he deals with controlling his emotions. He is impulsive and nearly gets himself or everyone else killed quite a few times - I think this is key. We know his greatest fear is himself becoming the person who hurts his family, so I think this self-loathing is a part of how he deals with his anger issues. His main driving force for everything he does is how he wants to protect his family. But is self-loathing a stable and sustainable way to deal with your emotional issues? You decide!

2007 - following on from that, I see 07!Raph as very similar, especially if 07 follows on from the 1990 movies. Raph is depressed and in denail and becoming a vigilante is just as much out of some obligation he feels to justify his existence (to prove he isn't a monster,) and a way to vent his frustrated emotions at everyone and everything. He is angry with Splinter for sending Leo away but Splinter is his father who (is a bit of a shit dad in the movie lets be honest) demands perfection and respect, he is angry with Leo for leaving and never taking their emotions into account (all four of them have been together their entire life, they have never spent a significant amount of time away from each other and something bad could happen to Leo without Raph knowing or being there to protect them), he is angry at Donnie for being gifted the 'leader role' when Raph barely just adjusted to listening to everything Leo said and hates being told what to do by anyone; his dad, his older brother let alone his younger brother/twin (however you want to see their relationship). He is resentful of his brothers for 'making' him be a vigilante alone and he is angry with himself the most for being unable to adjust to this change and for feeling like if Nightwatcher is taken away from him he might have a breakdown -(he will have no outlet for his emotions). Raph = Angry Angsty Emo Boi. But he is still Raph and he is still soft on the inside, he is just a little traumatised from everything and needs therapy. Unfortunately therapy doesn't work if you dont actively want to change.

2012 - the audhd is strong with this one. Unfortunately when I see 12!Raph I just see myself *sob*. This entire family is so traumatised and have no adults in their life that they can rely on. I said his 'anger issues' were handled the worst: I stedfast believe that his 'anger issues' were simply undiagnosed neurodivergence and that the majority of his emotional outbursts were ENTIRELY JUSTIFIED. His entire family call him the 'angry one' and tread on egg shells around him a lot of the time waiting for him to blow up or just expecting him to and having really irritating (to me) reactions to his emotions. for example, when Mikey ruins his stuff on purpose and Leo just tells Raph that 'posessions are fleeting' or whatever. Like sometimes Mikey is just teasing and riling Raph up to get a reaction, normal sibling behaviour, but sometimes they just go overboard - case en point, Leo's comics being used as toilet paper which he then proceeds to beat Mikey up for. All his brothers piss him off sometimes (on purpose I might add) but there is a big difference between a snide comment and ruining someone's possession methinks. I wouldn't do that to my bro and he wouldn't do that to me - but I understand that the turtles grew up with no one but each other and that Mikey tries to joke around for a laugh and/or attention sometimes. But Splinter singles out Raph in training and nothing that anyone says or does actually helps Raph in his attempts to control his emotions. Not out of maliciousness or anything, just that they dont understand him or incorrectly assume where the anger is coming from (in Splinter's case I think he sees himself and all his own flaws in Raph, clouding his judgement). But ya, Raph's emotional crutch was venting to Spike who was his only friend and his beloved pet... and we all know how that turned out. But also he probably doesn't do the same with Chompy because of how Slash turned out. I think he consciously realises that he only talked shit about his family to Spike and thats why Spike incorrectly assumed he hated his family and was better without them, so now, he consciously choses not to do that. I like to think that after everything the entire family get better coping mechanisms becuase April's dad is a therapist, please by god let him be useful for once. 12!Raph is incredibly protective and incredibly paranoid and rightly so with how their lives have gone, but it isnt a sustainable mindset and he will run himself dry with that if he continutes - much like his brothers.

2018 - this is such a fun take on what things might be like if Raph was the eldest! I like to think that biologically Leo and Donnie are older than Raph but Splinter just aged them based on how big they were and how their development went (Raph talked first or something). Raph is more responsible but still the headstrong idiot that we know and love. I think the protectiveness is inherent to all Raph's and all that, but that deffo stems from an accident in his childhood. I'm thinking he got angry or overstimulated and hurt one of his brothers because he is so much bigger and spikier, which leads Splinter to giving him a few books on anger issues or child psychology - this could also be a fun source of Mikey's interest in psychology. Donnie is canonically ASD and Mikey is canonically ADHD, I think Splinter got some parenting books on neurodivergent kids and helped Raph with his own emotional issues better than in the other itterations. Either that or Raph is repressing, repressing repressing - both ideas are fun to write! But then Raph's whole 'Savage' thing, which stems from getting lost in the tunnels as a kid - we have seen before that mutants can go feral when left alone over time like 12!Splinter. etc. ALSO! never forget that Draxum created them as super soldiers which might imply that they have some propensity for violence ingrained in their DNA and all that - possibly why he used animals instead of humans at first.

Raph also probably had no strict education along with the rest of his siblings, and they all definately grew up on more modern tv which I think separates them from their counterparts a bit - more chaotic than uniform. They get that from their father of course. 18 makes jokes that are self aware and this leads me to believe that Raph is very aware of his issues "tire, laceface - my emotional crutches" he has plushies and physical affection that he relies on to help his self-esteem issues (the clothing episode "i'm a disaster" as soon as he faces a tiny amount of criticism). It's all reading really nerodivergent to me - wouldn't supprise me is every single one of the 18!turtles had issues with rejection sensitive dysphoria.

Raph has eldest dughter syndrome of course but I firmly reject the idea that Splinter was neglectful as a father when they were kids and Raph was parentified, because it's canon that Splinter was involved in his kids lives and did a lot of things with them, including lemonade stands which would have to be playing protend as they were in the sewers, and the Lair Games. But Raph is shown to not really know how to deal with his bros (such as using a baby voice with Donnie and trying to baby Mikey etc). I do not think that my beloved Red raised these chaotic motherfuckers.That being said when they got into their teens they become more independent etc. sneaking around as to not worry their dad (same as 2003 where they go against their dad's orders to stay home multiple times) and there is clear evidence for emotional neglect, especially with the twins. (personal info here: I have an anxious attachment style, but both my parents were present and doting my entire life, they were just not exactly what I needed etc. and worked 24/7 throughout my childhood - I see Splinter to my dad, down to the depressed infront of the TV 24/7 as I got older.) Splinter clearly loves his sons, but with Leo being so similar to Splinter personality wise (similar to 12!Raph I think that Splinter has a hard time connecting because he sees everything he hates about himself but of course he loves it in his son and conflicting emotions etc.) and Donnie having a very independent and headstrong personality, I think Splinter misstepped and needs to fix it properly, but wasnt entire shit.

MM - mutant mayhem Raph looks fucking hillarious and I'm so excited to see him in the series. Easily knew I would love him from the trailer and after watching the movie he looks like he has a great relationship with his bros, even if he can be critical of Leo - which is just teenager behaviour. I loved that in MM the turtles acted like kids, because they are kids and thats how kids act. I also anticipate that Raph might be a bit insensitive while getting absorbed in his own things, which I was thinking would be a fun conflict to write of course. He just wants to beat people up and I love that.

Mikey: you have a violence problem

Raph: it's not a problem; its a solution!