#i ended up doing some marginal swapping of genders but details

[mikzhyu]

you know what? fuck you. *swaps my chara and frisk*

[heeres-suffering]

Be More Alluring: a Personality Swap AU

[pic description and source will be at the bottom of this post, under the read more]

Start of summary:

“You need to be more alluring.”

"... don’t you mean attractive?”

“I do not. Your attractiveness is adequate, Brooke; if you want to mask your apparently latent queerness, you have to make them want you straight. Isn’t that why your step-father defended you?” 

Brooke Lohst is a loser.

But you know what? That was okay.

She always knew she was a weird one. The intensity of her affection for puppies, picture books, and near-constant daydreaming has lasted well-past a normalcy she can’t seem to grasp; when coupled with her inability to befriend anyone (besides the similarly self-identified loser Michael Mell), it’s not a surprise the rest of her peers have left her behind.

However, there were... ah, worse things in her life to worry about then some mild bullying. She liked her passion well enough, and all of her true insecurities went largely unnoticed, so any insults or weird looks rarely lingered in her mind. It’s not like she was a constant target either, which helped a lot. All in all, she just planned to hunker down, wait out the awkwardness of High School like everyone else, and move on to the rest of her life... 

Except.

When Brooke develops a crush on a girl she’s never talked to, after years of avoiding fairy tale romance and trying not to think about the inevitability of marriage (or how finicky her attraction to boys is in the first place), it feels like her whole world is about to cave in. She’d do anything to make sure her parents, especially daddy, never find out... including buying an edible super computer from the loudest, tiniest guy in school.

End of summary.

Alright!

Hi, hello, it’s Mod Seb, and here’s an AU I’ve been rolling around for a few days! You are free to do with this concept whatever you want, but I wanted to introduce it with a good chunk of the info I’ve already worked out in my head.

So. As the CWs are... too numerous, I’m going to go with a blanket “Dead Dove: Do Not Eat” label and encourage you not to read the rest of this if you have any big darkfic triggers that could be upset by mere mention; this isn’t a fic tho, so descriptions of anything awful won’t last long. 

Although, I will mention upfront that Brooke isn’t a binary lesbian. I know the description might read like I’m setting her up to be 100% homosexual; she’s bi with a strong preference for girls, and anyone who presents soft enough in gender or appearance. If it wasn’t for the end-game pairings, her unfamiliarity with smaller details/history of the LGBTQ+ community, and general “gay newb” status, she’d likely ID as a bi lesbian!

(ships and everything else under the Read More)

Okay. That out of the way, there’s quite a number of pairings; I’m pretty sure it’s a super polyamorous and sexual AU, though you’re free to change this list as much as you’d like:

[bolded are end-game ships. italics physically hook up at least once. strike-through means they were in a relationship but break-up in some way before the ending. (H) stands for healthy, while (T) is toxic and/or noncon. underlined characters are pining for the other and may never confess their true feelings]

Brooke/Christine (H), Brooke/Rich (H), Brooke/Jenna (H), Brooke/Michael (H), Brooke/Chloe (T), Brooke/her Daddy (T), Brooke/Squip (H), Brooke/Jeremy (soft T at first bc of mirrored canon-compliant manipulation, H later on), Brooke/Squip/Jeremy (H), Brooke/Squip/Jeremy/Rich (H), Rich/Moses (H), [insert every form of Rich/Mo/Squip/Jeremy here] (H), Jeremy/Chloe (T), Jeremy/Michael (H), Michael/Christine (H), Michael/Christine/Mr. Heere (H; no, seriously), Madeline/Brooke (H)

This is, of course, a role swap AU where Brooke and Jeremy trade places based on my personal lore for their home lives. I always have some pretty fucked ideas as I don’t imagine MB is a great place with great adults, and I pick and choose which parts of canons I use and which I don’t. 

There is no definite ending planned in mind as this isn’t an outline; it’s meta (or an imagine or w/e) for an AU that you’re free to do whatever with. 

So,

The big difference is that Brooke was picked by Michael, while Jeremy was picked by Chloe. Jeremy is trans and hadn’t come out yet; if Chloe had known he was a boy, she wouldn’t have grabbed him. In contrast, Michael’s never gave a shit about potential friends genders.

Jer and B’s personalities... are altered some. Not ALL the way, but kiiinda fusing into their roles, kinda tweaked (I'll get back to that).

The main point of this for me was Brooke/Squip/Jeremy, with B/Jer having a MUCH stronger focus than in canon, and a really bad Chloe acting as one of the major villains.

Michael gets roped into Chloe’s shit, even tho he's still generally a good guy here, bc he's worried about B and thinks she can't properly take care of herself.

While B DOES have a strong crush on Christine, she’s the opposite of the Squip’s “goal”; that’s (obvs) masking, or making passably digestible, her queerness.

Her Mom and step-’Daddy’ have reacted to her friendship w/ ‘openly gay moms, also very flamboyant and GNC’ Michael... poorly.

Michael thinks the solution has to be “act as aggressively yourself as you can, and if they reject you, you know me and the mom’s have a space for you”. This works for him bc he’s permanently hyper-visible, what with all of his own marginalized identities. But, not only has she flied under the radar in comparison to him for years, he doesn’t know everything about her life.

In fact, he doesn’t know most of it. She’s very good at hiding things.

Meanwhile, Jeremy, one of the more popular ‘boy... ish’ (we’ll get to this, too) people in school, is mid-psychosis and self-destruction. He actually has schizo-affective disorder--as is the case with all of my versions of Jeremy--which he needs medication for. Combined that with so many bad influences and trauma, he can no longer fully control himself or his life.

The way he handles this (badly) is to ‘whore around’--which, besides being Chloe’s pet, is kinda why he’s so popular. Nobody respects him, but he’s viewed some form of favorably.

Jeremy is in a relationship with Rich, but he won't let him get as close/protective as Rich wants; Mo and Rich were doing their own man-whoring (but healthy, just droppin’ panties and making dudes and chicks swoon--yeah, Rich is out as bisexual, this is a very ‘the Squips are a good thing’ AU) to gain their standard reputation, but in the course of that, they got together with Jeremy and it became... complicated. Both of them are very "nnn" about how bad his life is for Jer.

The way that their personalities are altered is... okay. To explain this, I have to talk about my characterization of canon-Brooke and Jeremy in relation to this, starting with Brooke:

I imagine B as just a liiittle below the line of "all the way there" for sorta-similar reasons to Jeremy here: trauma, and Chloe (which is why that’s what Jeremy gets in this, it’s just WAY worse when compounded by everything else). She’s also--like me, and like almost every character I write as a result--autistic, in a near-permanent state of “not enough accommodations” and over-stimulation. This leads to a lot of dissociation and a very wandering mind, as well as being perceived as a bimbo or dumb blonde or w/e misogynistic bullshit is projected onto her by the boys she dates (she’s also much more down the middle bi outside this AU).

So, going back to how she is for this AU: she's actually not super nerdy, despite the close connection she and Michael have. Honestly, it’s their general neurodivergent weirdness that bring them together, and so she’s mostly adopted her nerdy interests through him, whether directly a thing he likes, or finding a whimsical variant that fits her tastes.

Obviously, unlike Jeremy, she doesn’t mind being called a loser. She does any insinuation she might be queer. This including anyone who calls her gay or a dyke.

She has too much Cis Male Trauma (unlike canon, where it comes from both cis angles) to really entertain the idea of a Traditionally Male Partner. This means she skews HEAVILY towards hard GNC guys at the very least, and generally finds herself most interested in the idea of enbies and women. she's also not super into butches tho, bc her trauma mixing with her sexuality has latched on to Strong Masc People Are A Threat. 

An expansion on her interests, in canon and otherwise: animals, ASMR/sensual service work (including massages and stuff), spending hours just sorta sitting by herself and letting her imagination wander, fairy tales, and YA-and-under fantasy books.

(Here, she tries to avoid het or f/f romance... except that, this past year or two, she’s started really like m/m stuff--esp after getting REALLY into drag shows, which she could enjoy safely since girls like Chloe have gotten into them too; in canon, she’s a romance fanatic)

Now... this is one of the really darkfic element; she's fucking her step-dad. 

She does this so that he doesn't walk out on her, her mom, and her little sister*. Her mom has a good-enough job as a standard office woman, but he makes enough to pay the rent on their nice townhouse and all the bills she can’t. So, after he expressed interest in Brooke and then casually mentioned he could always just leave if she wasn’t comfortable, she reluctantly entered a relationship with him

(* = her sister is currently know as her brother; he’s like 12 or 13, and started showing signs of trans/queerness which have been Heavily Discouraged. Brooke worries about him a lot)

((I didn’t use she/her pronouns bc I’m not entirely sure he would change them? This is an OC Oli created at the beginning of our interest in BMC, and we haven’t worked on him at all since, so how his characterization will be is up in the air))

Canonically, Brooke's "in love" with her daddy, which is a self-imposed delusion; if she actually addressed it, she’d says she’s well aware that’s not true, but it's so much easier to pretend when you’re cornered like that. Brooke’s life blows.

She’s a lot more honest to herself about hating him here; still, she tries to be as polite and generally-friendly as she can, doing what he says whenever he wants.

OKAY, THAT’S BROOKE. If any of that is badly described or potentially-offensive, it’s just bc I glossed over SO MUCH DETAIL, even in that amount of it!

So. Jeremy.

I don’t have to go over him much and we’re all mostly aware of how I feel about him and also I don’t have the energy to do this again--

(just... read my fics The Devil at your Door or hello yesterday or something... eyyy actually do that, my ao3 username is Sedusa, blah blah blah ANYWAY)

--but basically: He's still very nerdy, like, he’s super into film as well as video games (which is another constant for me), but after being largely ignored in elementary, he's been trailing behind Chloe at her orders since they were in 6th grade. As a result he isn't very open about... any of his interests.

In 7th grade, he came out as trans to everyone. Chloe was furious, but at the same time, intrigued; this was around the time Chloe gets her own... ah shit I gotta go into that too--

--yet another hc of mine is that Chloe gets a Squip on accident around this time at a party (there was one in a “”candy bowl””), and from there, she claws her way up the ladder. I... will not go into that much, but her Squip was crippled by the drugs and alcohol in her system, and therefore largely at her mercy. She’s used his power to manipulate certain things about herself and to sharpen her focus on popularity to the point she’s full-blown Alpha Bitch.

Man, I’ve had to go on so many tangents, I apologize.

Anyway, she drags Jeremy around as a punching bag. She constantly mocks Jeremy's transness, even though she usually calls him by his correct name and pronouns.

This has made the rest of the school follow her lead, hence why I said “boy-ish”; he’s popular, he’s technically ‘well liked’, but nobody really takes him seriously. This is compounded by Chloe’s refusal to let him dress in 'dorky' casual clothes, and, as he’s both too poor to afford designer clothes and also generally hates popular guy fashion, he has to wear the hyper femme clothing Chloe specifically tells him too/

As such, people call him a boy but largely see him as either an idiot, a slut, an attention seeker, or all of the above.

So of course, in Brooke's place, his neurodivergence is more prominent than ever; every day he slips further into this psychosis and self-infantilization haze, as his his mom leaving, his dad severely depressed, Chloe's sexual violence, and other repressed trauma (see: my fic hello yesterday on ao3) all weighing on him. This makes him INCREDIBLY regressed, like, all the time by Junior year.

And then Brooke's Squip (IE: canon Squip) falls in love with Jeremy extremely fucking hard. He pushes her to date him as a way to compromise on her queer desires, since Jeremy is technically a boy, and certainly a few other straight-ish girls have hooked up with him in the past.

WHEW. That is a fucking lot. To wrap this up, lemme go over the interpersonal relationships not already mentioned, and what directions I think it takes.

First off, Madeline has a more prominent role, as I quite like her tbh; she’s a sex worker, she has her own Squip, she’s one of Chloe’s most hated enemies, and she gravitates towards both Brooke and Jeremy. She’s also Actually French, Chloe’s just weird.

(Anyway she prolly sees through Brooke’s straight act and asks her why she’s pretending to be a good little cishet. It rattles Brooke.)

Chloe is scum. This bears repeating. She DEFINITELY rapes Brooke at the Halloween party, and becomes obsessed with her, along with already being obsessed with Jeremy and Jake. 

Jake, by the way, has a lot of regressive behavior and impulsiveness bc he’s been in an abusive relationship off and on with Chloe for years now.

Speaking of Jake, moving on to his best bro: Rich doesn’t set himself on fire. He’s having a good time with his Squip.

But.

He IS set on fire at the Halloween party.

Instead of the Smartphone Hour being about Rich's instability, it's actually about the mystery of Someone Did It To Him But No One Saw Who It Was, They Were Disguised.

The answer relates to the fact that Rich and Brooke are ALSO hooking up, after she’s already with Jeremy, bc he Properly introduces her to him and the three of them hit it off really well.

(She initially wasn’t interested, but while Rich is loud and still kinda abrasive, his Squip doesn’t drive him to act like a bully--and in private, his nerdiness is really obvious and he’s extremely gentle with her and Jeremy. Add to that that he’s bi and trans*, when Brooke connects best w/ queer men over cishet one, and it off-sets his masc-ness enough to make him an Exception.

* = I always imagine him as trans. See: all of Vanceypants fics.)

Sooo... the culprit is actually Brooke's daddy, who sees her with this obvious heartthrob and Cannot let that be.

Chloe convinces Michael that the Squips are Very Very Bad and has him team up with her to force Brooke into drinking Red, with the intention to convince him to kill himself after to get him out of the way, bc she’s really going nuts at this point.

Eventually, he snaps out of it when he and Christine get together (he’s thought he was Full Homo all of his life, but Christine’s prolly genderqueer-ness makes him realize “oh shit, I’m bisexual”) and she starts to question why he’s acting the way he is towards Christine.

He also definitely has a crush on Jeremy and during his time with Chloe he kinda tried to flirt a little but couldn’t really... he’s not up for dating someone as sexually active and a push-over as Jeremy is in this.

However, when he snaps out of Chloe’s manipulation, he and Christine approach Mr. Heere to convince him to straighten up and help Jeremy and also bc they really need an adult to successfully fight Chloe.

This requires a month+ of Christine getting him to see her psychiatrist (the one who prescribes her ADHD meds). Jeremy spends the majority of his time staying with Chloe, and very rarely comes home to gather things or to make sure his dad is eating/still alive, as much as he can remember to in his own haze of mental illness. Anyway, point is, he doesn’t know Christine and Michael are there often... not that, in the course of growing close to Mr. H, they both fall for him hard and it becomes one of my stranger OT3s.

(God, Jeremy goes through a lot of shit in this, tho.)

Pre-Squip, Jenna was kinda-sorta Brooke’s friend--or, well, friendly. However, she’s actually full blown “oh my God she’s wonderful” in love with Brooke.

Brooke isn't aware of that, esp since Jenna tries her not to be around her a lot. She's also trying to hide her own queerness, bc she’s a trans woman and she knows Chloe finding that out would be extremely dangerous.

Eventually, Chloe succeeds in making Brooke take the Red months after canon usually ends, w/o Michael’s help. If you’re curious, Red doesn’t affect her normal Squip bc she’s had him too long and a lot of his receptors and stuff are damaged, so it’s the second one she gets in canon that turns off.

This plan backfires, however, as Brooke’s Squip comes back with a physical body w/ help from Rich and also-bodied-now Moses.

With a body, and shenanigans, Mo and Squip take out Brooke’s daddy too. His life insurance more than makes up for the loss of his income, as it’s a sizable amount. Now that Brooke feels more empowered and strong, she overrides her mother’s neglectfulness and takes control of the household w/ her boyfriends*, comes out as queer, helps her sister transition, and begin to heal from all of this trauma.

(* = Rich and Mo move in, as does Jeremy eventually, after graduation; Jeremy gets a psychiatrist and a therapist and prolly has to go through some intense outpatient care and possibly a stay in the hospital, before finally making major breakthroughs and looking like himself again. The five of them are now happy and in love.)

Chloe, after her arm gets twisted by the Squip’s protective presence so thoroughly, gives up on Jeremy and Brooke to focus on Jake. This too gets abandoned when Rich and Mo help him cut her off, and so she stays in her own popularity bubble, bitter, until graduating and going to a community college in a different state.

All in all, things work out well in the end, but getting there is a long, difficult process. This AU fascinates me immensely and feels like a great way to examine some of my really dark headcanons about MB, as I think it’s a town similar to Derry in Stephen King’s IT--as in, just chronically The Worst Place Ever, with this, like, miasma of low-key despair around it. People adjust and don’t question it, which is why so much of BMC is this flippant dark humor in the face of some highly questionable shit.

I’m so sorry this post is so long (I’ll be uploading it to AU under my usual Sedusa account, as metas like this are more than allowed), but I really adore these characters and the way they can be twisted around, so I had a lot to say!

Thank you for reading <3

-mod Seb

image description: virtual-like stairs pointed forward and bathed in neon yellow and blue to represent Brook and Jeremy, which I’ve modified from the original blue-only design.

source: x (link description: a free Wallpaper Flare image that I found off Google Image’s “filtered by ‘labeled and reuse with modification” feature) 

[doedipus]

I finally finished moyashimon

it’s honestly one of my favorite anime/manga that I’ve read in a long, long time. there are definitely some aspects of the work that frustrate me, but it’s not quite enough to sour the work as a whole in my eyes. if you’re in the mood for a really chill slice of life series with a lot of well-developed and respectfully portrayed female and queer characters, definitely give it a shot.

first of all, to anyone who’s only seen the anime adaptation, definitely, definitely, definitely look into the manga. some of the best parts in the series happen after the anime ends, esp. the craft beer adventure in volume 8 and american road trip in volume 10. plus, if you’re like me and are mostly drawn to the work because of kei, her involvement in the story only starts ramping up immediately after the anime ends, and she’s essentially the main character of the last 3 volumes. Plus, ishikawa and his team have a lot of fun with the medium that doesn’t always translate into animation.

All in all, picking up the manga is 100% worth your time if you’re even vaguely intrigued by the premise

more detailed thoughts and a handful of good reaction images under the break

I think overall the beer, france, and america arcs are the high points of the series.

The beer arc sticks out to me mostly because of stuff happening in real life during the time I was reading it. Basically, some of my friends talked me into taking a beer tasting class at uni with them. I’d never really liked beer very much beforehand, but it turns out I was just drinking the wrong kinds of beer. I’ll put my life on the line for a good IPA now that I know what that even is.

The beer section of moyashimon has mutou go through a similar process- she starts out by going on a huge tirade about how craft beer sucks and it’s only appealing to pretentious weirdos, and then over the course of the volume, they go over what different kinds of beer are like, how they’re made, etc. It ended up giving me a good idea of what to look out for in the beer class, and it was fun being able to compare what I was sampling to what the fermentation lab crew talked about.

There’s also a pretty cute gender-affirming moment for kei in there, where the gang gives her a women’s costume for the faux oktoberfest celebration the book culminates in. it’s a small plot point, but I liked it a lot.

The france and america arcs are pretty similar and I like them for basically the same reasons. Essentially it boils down to them tying really dynamic plotlines in with the usual culinary intrigue. There’s a real sense of tension to what’s happening in the story, and the food stuff is more directly related to what’s happening in the story than it usually is. In a lot of the other plotlines, the writers have a tendency to frontload all the technical stuff into one or two extended dialogue scenes, which can be kind of hard to get through in comparison

I also found ishikawa’s assessment of american food pretty fun to read through, and a lot of his comments make me want to try out some western restaurants in japan if I ever end up going there. For instance, he has the characters talk a lot about how burgers and stuff are much sweeter than they’re used to them being in japan, and it’d be neat to have a point of comparison for that.

Also the america arc is where kei and marie probably do gay things, which I am very down for

ultimately, I think upwards of 90% of people who stumble upon this series now, 5 years after the last chapter and last episode were released, are here specifically for kei. she’s the strong bad to sawaki’s homestar: you might not know it yet, but she’s the reason you’re here. if you’re impatient and wanna speedrun straight to the part where she transitions/goes full time/whatever, it’s halfway through volume 4 of the manga and episode 10 of the first season of anime. there’s a lot of fun plotlines that happen before that point that really deserve attention on their own merit, though.

I’m a big fan of kei’s characterization. she’s possibly my favorite trans (or trans-adjacent josou danshi, post-colonialism ho!) character I can think of, and certainly the best I’ve seen written by a cis author. being manga, there’s some dumb missteps that happen, but they seem to be mostly a result of the creators not knowing better rather than them just putting her in to gawk at like a lot of other creative teams tend to do. plus, I think a lot of it boils down to localization error. for instance, the scanslation I read consistently has characters and margin notes refer to her as “he,” but like, japanese doesn’t really use gendered language the way english does, so it’s more representative of the scan team’s biases than the writers’.

One of the things I really like about Kei’s depiction is that the author doesn’t try to make excuses for her behavior. There’s no throwaway line in her backstory about how her parents saw three crows and a capybara on the way home from the hospital and decided to raise her as a girl. She’s clearly attracted to Sawaki, but that’s never framed as her primary motive for transition. She just flatly explains that she thought about it real hard and decided that this was best for her. To me, that’s a much more compelling narrative than one where it’s something either foisted upon the character or something they just sort of haphazardly stumble into.

Another thing that sticks out to me about Kei is that she exists in a series that doesn’t construct its cast as a harem around a singular main character or the reader, which gives her much more room for personal motivations and interests. Like, even though I love Luka from steins;gate to pieces, she and the rest of the female cast in that series really only exist in order to be Okabe’s, and by extension, the viewers’ romantic interests. This ends up sort of limiting their ability for character growth because at the end of the day, they all have to remain available and receptive to Okabe’s advances. As a result, Luka can never really call Okabe out for mistreating her because the writers won’t risk making her route or subplot unappealing. The same goes for plenty of other series trans characters find themselves in, and it shows. So many of them are either smug tricksters there to tease viewers or utterly submissive waifs, and often lack development beyond what’s necessary to get otaku motors running.

Since Moyashimon doesn’t use that kind of restrictive casting structure, the author is able to untie Kei’s sense of self-worth from how Sawaki feels about her and allow the romance subplot to take a back seat while the cast works on their various projects. As a result, she ends up being more independent than most other trans characters and her self-confidence is more genuine. She’s designed from the ground up to be a more complete character, and it makes her inclusion in the main story as well as her subplot with Sawaki feel organic.

on the other hand, as punlich​ pointed out in their post, the series does take a couple passes at introducing characters that seem to be designed with the intent of giving the reader an outlet to vent their sexual frustration around kei, particularly marie and madoka. the former is frequently referenced within the work as being a cis palette swap of kei, and madoka is another of itsuki’s proteges who begins insisting that she’s going to marry sawaki shortly after she’s introduced and receives little characterization beyond that. Marie ends up being a strong character in her own right, but the work probably would’ve been better off if they’d given her basically any other design.

at least in my reading of the work, neither is really taken seriously as a preferable alternative pairing to kei/sawaki, since marie ends up being more into kei than sawaki in the end, and madoka just makes sawaki uncomfortable more often than not. it’s a clear step up from works like steins;gate, re:zero, blend-s, or oregairu, where the trans or GNC character is the one who’s never taken seriously to the point of being a joke inclusion more than anything. still, it’s irritating that the creators would feel the need to include that sort of character, given how they’re usually pretty good about not harem-izing their cast.

uh, and speaking of that, fuck most of volume 11. the central plotline for that section is that the school holds a beauty pageant for the cast, which is, uh, wildly out of character for the series to say the least. it’s to the point where I’m inclined to suspect some form of executive meddling. like maybe they were gonna get dropped due to lack of readership and the brass told the creative team to do a dumb fanservice arc or something. they talk in a sidebar about how they changed editors around the start of this arc, so I have a hunch that has something to do with it?  I guess only they would know, though. it’s not like I can read any interviews or anything lol.

there’s still good content in there, and like I mentioned earlier, it’s when kei starts to really dominate a lot of the screen time, which is a big plus. it’s just dumb and out of place.

I also kind of found the conclusion to kei and sawaki’s “will they, won’t they” subplot really unfulfilling. namely, there really isn’t a conclusion to it at all. at the end, it’s clear that kei’s finally become comfortable with her attraction to sawaki, but sawaki is still kinda hesitant about going anywhere serious with someone he’s been friends with since forever. and like, I can get that, it’s sort of a natural aspect of where that arc would have to go, it’s just a frustrating note to end on. it seems likely that they would get together in the future, at least. (and that’s why you should read my fanfics!)

One thing I really liked about the ending section is sawaki comes up with some proactive uses for his superpower. for most of the series, it’s just a vehicle for ishikawa to exposit about his fascination with microbiology and fermented cuisine, which works great with the lower-key tone the series went for. still, the ways he uses it at the end are pretty clever, and it would’ve been neat to see him go on to use it in other ways. It’s frustrating that one of the uses he comes up with involves doing mouth-to-mouth with madoka, however.

I kind of get the feeling that the series got cut short because a lot of plot threads get addressed and tied up really quickly and sloppily in the last four or five chapters, while a ton of others just sit there. idk if it was a popularity thing, or if ishikawa decided to go all-in on maria the virgin witch, or some other factor, but I guess that’s kind of the nature of serial fiction. it just goes on as long as the creators and publishers are engaged with it, and then it’s over and they all move onto something else.

I’m being pretty hard on the ending portions of the series, but honestly pretty much everything not directly related to the beauty pageant or madoka is really solid. I’m just laying it all out there so nobody gets caught off-guard by the jankiness more than anything.

For one reason or another, moyashimon really struck a chord with me, and it’s kind of hard to put into words why. A big part of it is that kei is a character that I feel a sort of kinship with, which is a rare occurrence as a trans person. She feels like a real person that I’d meet through a message board or discord lobby. The rest of the cast has shades of that as well- the students feel like people I could have met in school, and itsuki harkens back to aspects of professors I’ve had, from his weird sense of humor to his rather alarming past working for the military. It’s easy for me to subconsciously insert myself into their fictional friend group. I guess it’s kind of like how people tend to engage with redlettermedia or ensemble let’s play channels like game grumps or super best friends play. Reading about the gang’s antics confers a sense of belonging that I’m perpetually starving for.

Another aspect of it is that it’s just fun to indulge in someone else’s hyperfixations for a while. It’s why sci-fi authors like heinlein and crichton are so influential, and why internet personalities like cgp grey or jon bois are so engaging: they’re really adept at articulating how utterly captivating some concept or ideology is to them at the moment. Somewhere between most and all of what ishikawa has to say about food and microbiology goes directly over my head, but the passion he has for those topics is readily apparent in every jargon-infested, chart-saturated debate he has his characters get into, and I love it. In that sidebar he goes on about his relationship to his editors, he mentions that the top boy editor chewed him out a couple times for basically trying to sneak a textbook into the magazine. It ends up being compelling based on passion alone, even if I only really internalized a fifth of what he actually had to say.

Is moyashimon for you? Ultimately I don’t think it’s really for anyone besides ishikawa himself. But if you’re at all like me, chances are you’ll fall in love with this bizarre and charming edutainment series anyway. If any of this sounds even remotely interesting to you, I can’t recommend checking it out highly enough.

[jessaminepress]

A TERRIFYING NEW ANTHOLOGY LOOKING FOR MARGINALIZED WRITERS

When nightmare becomes real, when the thing in the wood awakes, when the swap gets its first monster, when the airlock opens to the dead floating in space, there is Malaise.

Jessamine Press is proud to present our first anthology, Malaise, whose focus takes root in tales of horror, discomfort, and unease, all told through the lenses of marginalized writers. We’re searching for unique tales that no one else could quite convey, all laden with things dark and scary. Whether you plan to make an audience screech or squirm, Malaise is there to cater to the those looking to convey dread, the dead, and more.

We’re looking for 13 horrific short stories to showcase all things that go bump in the night. We seek to promote those with voices often unheard, particularly in this genre. What we hope to share are scary stories that are unique - especially to those writing them - exploring concepts and stories that echo deeper than simple jumpscares.

There is no preference when it comes to the subgenre of submitted pitches. Echoing reality with unease, exploring fear in a fantastical setting, or setting up scares in space, whatever best sets up the story you wish to tell, we’re open to. However, it’s the harmful horror tropes that we want to leave behind. After all, horror doesn’t have to mean horrible.

If you find yourself prepared to present an idea that’s as horrifying as it is unique, we’re ready to hear from you. Follow us on Tumblr, Twitter, or Facebook for more details and announcements as they come. Just make sure you’re ready for All Hallows’ Eve, October 31st, for when submissions open!

SUBMISSIONS

Initial pitches must be submitted through the appropriate Google form. Final submissions must be sent in .doc form or through Google drive by the final deadline.

All submissions will have a minimum word count of 7,000 words and a maximum word count of 10,000 words. We will accept final products that go slightly over the maximum but ask that our contributors do their best to stay within the given limit.

The submission must be a standalone original work created specifically for Malaise. It cannot have been previously published nor may it include intellectual property owned by a third party. The submission must meet a horror theme.

We ask that each author limit themselves to one pitch. This will make it easy for our editors to pick the final list of contributors and will level the playing field in the interest of fairness. All pitches should have a beginning, middle, and some idea of an end. These pitches can be rough but please try to give us as much detail as possible so we can get a good idea of your story.

Submissions should be appropriate for adult audiences but excessive gore/violence, sexual themes, etc, will be edited and/or removed.

As this anthology was created with marginalized creators in mind, please note that precedence will be given to underrepresented contributors.

We ask that all stories are free of discrimination and that our writers avoid harmful portrayals/stereotypes of race, sexuality, gender, etc. We trust our authors to interpret this guideline in a responsible manner but our editors and sensitivity readers will have final say.

Please note that special or unconventional formatting will need to be discussed with the editors prior to writing.

As editors and organizers, we reserve the right to request edits to manuscripts or deny entry into the anthology if the final product differs too much from the original pitch and/or contains harmful content. We reserve the right to deny pitches we deem inappropriate for this anthology.

Submissions will open October 31st, 2017, at 1:00 a.m. and will close November 17th, 2017, at midnight.

SCHEDULE

October 31st - Pitch Submissions Open

November 17th - Pitch Submissions Close

November 20th - Final List of Contributors Posted

December 15th - First Check-in

January 15th - Second Check-in

February 15th - Final Submission

March 1st - Kickstarter Launches

FAQ

What does horror mean exactly?

We are giving our creators the freedom to decide. As long as the story lurks somewhere under a horror umbrella, you can write about any number of things: space horror, zombies, monsters, apocalyptic horror, ghost stories, psychological horror, gothic romance, etc. Your stories can have sad endings, happy endings, or ambiguous ones, but we simply ask that they have a complete ending.

Can we take inspiration from x, y, z?

As long as the story falls into a broad horror genre the creator has as much freedom with interpreting that as they like. We only ask that you do not use existing IPs for your stories and that any inspiration drawn from other sources is either free source or extremely minimal. If you wish to do a horror retelling of a story please note that we will not accept pitches that use the same characters. As in, you are allowed to do a western horror retelling inspired by the myth of Hades and Persephone, but cannot write about Hades and Persephone themselves. We also ask that creators be mindful and respectful if writing outside their own culture.

Can we submit fanworks for our samples?

Absolutely! We use the samples to gauge writing and storytelling ability and using fanwork examples will neither harm nor hinder your chance of acceptance. However, this anthology will focus on wholly original work, so we would appreciate a mix of original and fan fiction.

Who can apply?

Malaise (and Jessamine Press) is dedicated to giving voices to marginalized and underrepresented creators and we ask that all authors be over 18 years of age.

Can we apply in teams?

Unfortunately we are not accepting teams for this anthology as we’d like to focus on individual efforts.

Do I need to have previous anthology experience?

Nope! As with fanworks, previous anthology experience will neither harm nor hinder your chance of acceptance. We aim to shine a spotlight particularly on new and upcoming authors, however.

How will funding work? Payment?

All authors will be guaranteed compensation regardless of funding. Funding for the final anthology will be secured through a Kickstarter campaign and payment will be distributed to contributors after the campaign ends, regardless of funding success. Any money made over our initial goal will be put towards stretch goals, improved book quality, and increased contributor payment.

Things to consider:

Horror relies on a number of tropes that we strongly encourage- alright, we flat out ask, our creators to keep a wide berth from. Racist, ableist, bigoted or homophobic pitches will not be accepted and we will not be publishing anything akin to torture porn or rape fantasies, either. We reserve the right to ask our creators to change a story at any time. While this does not mean we expect these stories to be cheerful (it is horror, after all) we ask that you approach the subject matter with care and caution. We have a team of editors and will hire sensitivity readers as needed. We understand that horror themes can be used by some to cope, but ask that our contributors be mindful that their coping mechanism may be extremely harmful to others’ mental well-being. At the end of the day, we’re simply asking you to care about other people.

I have a question about:

Please feel free to send this blog an ask or contact us directly at jessaminepress@gmail.com

[julissazambrano-blog]

Immunology Information.

Time investor who strategy is based upon arbitrages in preferred stocks and closed end team consists of 10 exchange each and every preferred stock or closed end fund that supplies an arbitrage option. And also for this, our profits for the year is actually currently cooked as a result of the annual devote that we enclose Q4 will not possess an effect to revenue until Q1. So, this's a small amount from viewing that, also our company've spoken in pair various other telephone calls, our team have actually accelerated a small amount from the cash basis revenue, and also our experts have actually seen that can be found in as well as that is actually been actually a little bit of a benefit for that. This leadership type can easily seem to be especially appealing so that may be hard to think about circumstances where this would not be useful, however when there is no time at all for mass appointment and also the expense of creating the inappropriate decision is actually just too high, the advisory democratic type could have to take a rear seat. Paul made a speech that featured pointing out exactly how he is actually saved Josh a number of opportunities this summer, as well as he really hopes Josh will definitely come back the favor as well as conserve him. 5. Meet Sooner Than Later on: Swapping lots of emails and telephone call prior to meeting face to face might really feel much safer, however a meeting is actually an extra dependable way from collecting relevant information. ( At that time of this particular creating, a lot of financial institutions in the United States are actually trying to draw folks in to opening up interest-bearing accounts through tempting all of them with interest rates of 1 percent annually.) The association between education as well as persistence had not been spuriously brought on by the results of education on adult income, either: better-educated folks were a lot more patient after statistical commands were actually implemented to control for any causality-muddling impacts from profit, gender, as well as age. Expertise Chart is actually a Google.com venture that has actually been actually readily available for a long time, yet handful of informal searchers have actually actually utilized this. It tries to determine and highlight the hookups between factors, spots, and individuals and then give insight into these relationships via its own results. This feels like costs have gone away some, and our company actually feel that there is a considerable amount of possibility for development. Our team possessed a great third one-fourth with healthy operating frames and cash flows, and also our team continue to be on rate for a sound financial 2017. So I count on hockey stick in the A2B market over the following 3 years and that will certainly ramp in '18 and '19. As well as you likewise observe substantial census enhancements in our Managed Services organisation, where our experts are actually increasing along with more combined and integrated program as well as folks solutions that are different. If a person else can possibly do that, you do not have to spend any sort of cash performing this. You spend all your time on exploration, transforming that records into details that after that indiscernible company, whatever this is, your objective might be actually. And so that's obliviously the stimulating portion of that. Beginning Wireless' software application scans for such adjustments 50 opportunities every second, as well as with a little estimate all over delays plus machine learning, it can find any sort of movement along with a remarkable accuracy of 1 to 2 cm. For this reason the "Time Change Machine" name. I believe I mentioned earlier our experts succeeded at placing a couple of brand new SECTF quarters on there certainly, which will drive much higher margin on that job, yet the proportion of what does it cost? initial contract consolidation work, that's still far surpasses what it is our company are carrying out on the duty credit rating basis. Thus, John, having been actually covering this firm a long period of time, I can not recall the last time we possessed a conversation on reasonable prices. This improvement actually begins today in order that Ms. Coholan can sit on the Strategic Preparation group which satisfies for 2 times today as well as helps to set our program for following year. Acquiring a substantial expenditure from Constellation is actually a primary recommendation for the firm, http://behealthy-onlineblog.info confirming the growth technique and market possibility. Additionally influencing our 2017 end result is a scheduled major turnaround from a dragline at our Sunshine Hillside mine that will affect our exploration operations as well as boost our expense.

[dsfcrt-blog]

The Fashion Industry

Advertising strategies vary greatly between different types of clothing. High fashion brands rarely advertise, whereas clothing that may be described as ‘normal’ such as sportswear or cheaper brands are advertised heavily. For example, in recent years the streetwear fashion scene has blown up with ‘Supreme’ being one of the most recognisable brands in the movements. 

“No offense, but if you don’t know about Supreme, maybe it’s because you’re not supposed to.

For much of its 18-year existence, Supreme was confined to the in-crowd, a scruffy clubhouse for a select crew of blunt-puffing skate urchins, graffiti artists, underground filmmakers and rappers.

“It is a little club, a secret society,” said Tyler, the Creator, the rapper with the group Odd Future, who showed up at last year’s MTV Video Music Awards decked out in Supreme.

Word, though, is getting out. Once dismissed as skate-wear by fashion people, Supreme has been embraced by a new global tribe eager to crack its code.” - newyorktimes.com

Supreme is a brand that releases a batch of clothing once a week, for the most part it sells out immediately. The exclusivity and instant recognition from people who know feeds its popularity. The business was recently valued at $1bn after a 50% stake was bought for half that. Yet most people over 30 have probably never heard of it. 

At the other end of the spectrum you have a brand like Adidas who run massive advertising campaigns in 2015 14% of sales was reinvested into advertising. Adidas in 2015 was valued at quadruple was Supreme is worth and this could be done with their massive budget.

“Hainer said Adidas would lift its marketing budget from 13% to 14% of sales in 2015, raising it by up to €200m (£159m). Adidas on Thursday cut its profit margin outlook for this year after a 13% slide in operating profits to €220m in the second quarter.” - theguardian.com

Operations

In recent years clothing brands have moved their production to LEDCs where costs are lower so that they can make a greater profit. Also robotics have been used to speed up the process and cut costs further. Some brands like New Balance made in the US and made in the UK lines that they charge a lot more for. 

“The benefits of producing overseas

Costs: offshore production is generally more cost-effective, especially when producing large volumes. Production costs will vary from country to country.  

Machinery and technology: unfortunately there has been a lack of investment in manufacturing for many years in the UK, and offshore factories are more likely to have the most up-to-date machinery and CAD/CAM systems. This is particularly applicable to accessory and shoe production.

Large pool of skilled labour: some countries still have a pool of skilled labour of specialists workers, particularly in craft areas and embellishment. If the process is time-consuming, with cheaper labour you are able to be far more adventurous.

The disadvantages of producing overseas

Costs: economies of scale dictate that small volumes would not achieve favourable costs, and some factories have high production minimums. This is changing, however, and more and more overseas units are gearing up for smaller volumes. Also, you will most likely be subject to currency fluctuations which can affect your profit margin.

Quality control: it will be harder for you to control your production. You will have to factor into the production cost your travel expenses to visit the factory. You can sometimes work through an agent; however, they will charge you a fee and it is not always easy to find an agent you can trust to adhere to your high standards

Communication: does your factory have English-speaking staff, or can you speak the local language? How easy will it to communicate what you want? You also have to take into account the time differences and whether they have good broadband connections.

Logistics: if you are having samples made overseas you will have to allow for the courier costs of sending raw materials/toiles/samples back and forth. Some of this would be avoided if the factory are sourcing materials locally for you. When working out your production schedule you must allow shipping time (could be several weeks) and also be prepared for production getting delayed or goods stuck in customs. Transport, delivery and insurance costs will also need to be factored in.  

Cash flow: until you build a relationship with a factory, they may well want 30 per cent payment upfront and the final payment when goods are collected” - enterprise nation.com

Finance

It costs a lot to start a clothing company. There are a lot of overheads, from production to delivery and frequent returns can cripple start up companies. Few companies are started by ‘nobodies’ for want of a bette term. They often know someone who knows someone and have to invest a lot of savings and get investment to start. This article goes into great detail about the different costs incurred:

https://hypebeast.com/tags/the-costs-of-starting-a-fashion-brand

Takeovers/Mergers

It is rare for takeovers to happen within the fashion industry as most brands are private companies however there are some occasions where it has happened.

Designer brand Hermes endured a hostile takeover from LMVH known to you or I as Louis Vuitton. 

“Then in 2010, Mr Arnaud launched what appeared to be his most ambitious and spectacular takeover battle to date by announcing that he had amassed a 17.1pc stake in Hermès.

The offensive took the five dozen descendants of Thierry Hermès, a saddlemaker who founded the company in 1837, by surprise. LVMH was able to hide its stealthy share build up through cash-settled equity swaps with three banks that dated back to 2008, when the luxury industry was in freefall.”

LMVH owns much of the very high end, luxury items market holding stock in Moet, Louis Vuitton, Hermes, and Christian Dior. 

Globalisation and International Trade

The fashion revolves around brands. It is one of the most globalised industries in the world, clothes are often made in Southeast Asia and are shipped all across the world. Furthermore, the prevalence of brands in different countries is immense. Brands like Tommy Hilfiger, and Ralph Lauren can be seen in just about any country you visit along with brands like Nike or Adidas being almost impossible to get away from. The widespread recognition of the brands shows just how globalised they are. 

“For consumers in dominant Western countries, globalization means an abundance of fashions sold by giant retailers who can update inventory, make transnational trade deals, and coordinate worldwide distribution of goods at the click of a computer. It means that what people are consuming is less the clothing itself than the corporate brand or logo such as Nike, Victoria's Secret, or Abercrombie & Fitch. Consumers are purchasing the fantasy images of sexual power, athleticism, cool attitude, or carefree joy these brands disseminate in lavish, ubiquitous, hyper-visible marketing on high-tech electronic media. But much less visible is the effect of globalization on the production of fashion.

As fashion images in magazines, music videos, films, the Internet and television speed their way around the world, they create a "global style" (Kaiser 1999) across borders and cultures. Blue jeans, T-shirts, athletic shoes and baseball caps adorn bodies everywhere from Manhattan to villages in Africa. Asian, African and Western fashion systems borrow style and textile elements from each other. Large shopping malls in wealthy countries house all these styles under one roof. Like high-tech global bazaars, they cater to consumers of every age, gender, ethnicity, profession, and subculture.”

Competition

Competition is fierce within the fashion industry but it is rarely over price. Competing brands in the ‘casual’ and ‘streetwear’ scene C.P Company and Stone Island do not compete on price but instead on design philosophy. Both brands feature simple design with an iconic logo, but where C.P Company stick to a more utilitarian approach to design Stone Island employ and somewhat gimmicky philosophy featuring 3M material and unorthodox patterns. Both brands are owned by Massimo Osti but this competition still exists.

“C P Company first began production in 1975, and since then has produced over 40,000 individual garments all following the brands philosophy of “Function and Use”. The brand have gone on to develop many popular CP company jackets using the unique textiles and fabrics, but also developing technical aspects such as goggles, masks and gloves to further the uniqueness of the brand. The goggle jacket has become synonymous with the brand since its release, and provides wearers with a retro styled jacket, that really sets the tone for CP Company jackets. CP Company’s clothing collection also has some amazing shirts and t shirts, with the focus on the materials and fabrics used.

Stone Island was born out of the success of CP Company in 1981, and since have developed a desire for innovation in both construction and detail in the garments created. Like CP Company, Stone Island create their collections with functionality in mind, however tie this up with unique design and fabrics created in Osti’s archives. Stone Island jackets are the main focus of the brand, and represent everything that the brand strives to achieve: style, innovation and function. Stone Island clothing is a huge seller for Mainline Menswear with much of the growing attention placed on the Stone Island t shirts. These t shirts offer the Stone Island branding and design, but at a much more everyday price. As it isn’t every day that you can afford an amazing Stone Island coat or even a piece of winter warming Stone Island knitwear from their extensive Stone Island clothes collection.”

PESTEL

PESTEL is an anagram that shows the different influences on business practice.

P: Political

E: Economic

S: Social

T: Technological

L: Legal

E: Environmental

PESTEL is commonly used in the Fashion Industry. Political change often leads to new fashion trends. To exemplify this we can look to Tyler, The Creator’s use of white nationalist symbolism in his design changing the wording into a message of gay pride. The economy heavily effects the fashion industry, if it is doing well people tend to buy more expensive products and vice versa. Social change also influences the fashion industry. The switch from leading reserved lives to become more outgoing prompted the avant-gardism of the 60s and 70s and the call for retro design in the last few years has allowed brands like Gosha Rubchinskiy to come into the mainstream. Technological change help brands to make more profits but doesn't impact consumers, brands charge based off of their reputation. Legality is often not a big factor of the fashion industry aside form the expected things like making the clothing safe and workers rights. Environmental impacts are taken seriously in the fashion industry. Brands like H&M have recycling scheme and online retailer Zalando will advertise if the product is ‘sustainable’.